New Attitude

October 17, 2011 — Craig T. Owens

“My job is boring. It’s the same-old-same-old every single day. My coworkers are incompetent, and my boss is clueless.”

If you knew nothing else about the person who made that statement, I think you could still predict how they treated their job. Would you think this person values their job? Do you think they work hard? Do they treat their coworkers with respect? Probably not.

How about this one: “My car is a piece of junk. The mileage is lousy, the radio doesn’t work when the weather is cold, and it leaks when it rains.” Can you guess how this person treats their car?

Now flip it around: What about the one who is thankful for his job, or grateful for her car. Now how will he treat his job? his coworkers? her car?

What we praise, we treat with greater respect.

Look at the last of the 150 psalms in the Bible:

Praise the Lord!

   Praise God in His sanctuary;
      praise him in His mighty heaven!
   Praise Him for His mighty works;
      praise His unequaled greatness!
   Praise Him with a blast of the ram’s horn;
      praise Him with the lyre and harp!
   Praise Him with the tambourine and dancing;
      praise Him with strings and flutes!
   Praise Him with a clash of cymbals;
      praise Him with loud clanging cymbals.
   Let everything that breathes sing praises to the Lord!

   Praise the Lord!

Thirteen times in just six verses the psalmist says PRAISE. Because what we praise, we treat with greater respect, awe, reverence. The more you praise God, the more you will find to praise about Him. And the more you praise God, the more your attitude will change about the things around you: your job, your car, your family, your friends, your country, and on and on.

Praise will change your outlook. Let everything that breathes sing praises to the Lord!

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United

September 9, 2011 — Craig T. Owens

These are the pastors of the Cedar Springs Ministerial Association praying together before our UNITED service. We truly are united. I am so blessed to have such a wonderful group of colleagues who will put aside any denominational differences, to simply focus on winning people for Christ!

How good and pleasant it is when brothers [and sisters] live together in unity! (Psalm 133:1)

I hope other pastors can learn from this group and experience the blessing of being united.

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Integrity At Home

August 30, 2011 — Craig T. Owens

I read this verse the other day in my devotions, and it’s really been doing a number on my heart.

…I will lead a life of integrity in my own home. (Psalm 101:2 NLT)

I would hate it if I was considered a hero at work, but considered a zero in my own home.

Here’s what I’m processing:

  • Do I earn the same level of respect at home as I do at the office?
  • Do I put in the same diligence into growing my home life as I do growing my career?
  • Am I as forgiving with my family as with friends and coworkers?
  • Do I have the same level of preparation at home as I do at work?
  • Am I learning the craft of being a husband and father like I’m learning the craft of being a pastor?
  • Do I honor my commitments at home like I do with others?

I don’t want to live as John Bunyan described Talkative in Pilgrim’s Progress: “He was a saint abroad and a devil at home.”

Instead one of my life verses is this: I have no greater joy than knowing my children all walk in the truth (3 John 4).

The only way this will be possible is if I led a life of integrity in my own home.

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Backcasting

July 19, 2011 — Craig T. Owens

Psalm 22 is a prayer of raw desperation. I love how transparent David is with his emotions. Many people would hide this sort of thing: never daring to admit that they had doubts. But David freely admits that he’s frustrated by what is happening—or actually not happening—in his life.

I see three points of David’s desperation:

  1. God, why don’t You answer me (vv. 1-2).
  2. God, why don’t You defend my honor (vv. 6-8).
  3. God, why don’t You rescue me (vv. 11-18).

Do you think David had a right to say these things against God? Remember Jesus said them too!

Do you think David was over-reacting when he said these things? Remember Jesus said them too!

David truly, deeply, felt these things. He truly believed that God wasn’t answering him, or defending him, or rescuing him. At least, AS HE THOUGHT GOD SHOULD!

But David says something VITAL after each of his points of desperation. It’s summed up in one conjunction each time…

  • Yet (vv. 3-5).
  • Yet (vv. 9-10).
  • But (vv. 19-21).

In all of these David recalls past history. David looks to the past to help him look to the future.

He BACKCASTS so that he can have a better FORECAST!

Looking back gives David assurance of God’s faithfulness. This assurance gives David hope for the future. So now look how he responds in his present desperate situation:

  • I will declare Your name (v. 22a)
  • I will praise You (v. 22b)
  • He calls others to join him in praise (v. 23)
  • He realizes that God has not hidden His face… but He has listened to his cry for help (v. 24)
  • He decides to praise God in spite of the temporary disappointments, giving all glory to God (vv. 25-31)

This is what is called a typio-prophetic Messianic psalm: what David experienced, Jesus would both experience and fulfill. So although Jesus cried out, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me,” He too could backcast to forecast and get the strength He needed to persevere…

Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith, Who for the joy set before Him endured the Cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. (Hebrews 12:2)

This is why I’m a big believer in journals: writing things down now will give you ammunition for future trials. Then when you are in those trials, you can backcast to get a better forecast of the hope for God’s deliverance. That will give you joy in the present, just like David. And just like Jesus!

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Thursdays With Oswald—Pray Early, Pray Often

July 14, 2011 — Craig T. Owens

This is a weekly series with things I’m reading and pondering from Oswald Chambers. You can read the original seed thought here, or type “Thursdays With Oswald” in the search box to read more entries.

Pray Early, Pray Often

     The only way to find God is through prayer. In the religious life of the Pharisee, prayer becomes a rite, a ceremony. In all religion based on sound principles prayer is an exercise, a ceremony, it is not blood or passion, not actual from the whole manhood. In such prayers there is magnificently beautiful diction which one needs to be in a calm, quiet state of mind to appreciate. The most beautiful prayers are prayers that are rites, but they are apt to be mere repetition, and not of the nature of Reality….

      We do not pray at all until we are at out wits’ end. ‘Their soul fainted in them. Then they cried unto the Lord in their trouble’ (Psalm 107:5-6). … When a man is at his wits’ end it is not a cowardly thing to pray, it is the only way he can get in touch with Reality.

From Baffled To Fight Better

Why do I wait until I’m at my wits’ end to pray?

Why don’t I just pray early and pray often?

One more from Oswald Chambers:

“The man who prays ceases to be a fool, while the man who refuses to pray nourishes a blind life within his own brain and he will find no way out that road.”

I don’t want to be a fool, so I guess I need to pray more.

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My Blind Spot

June 24, 2011 — Craig T. Owens

Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible.

Blind spots can be deadly. I simply don’t see what’s right there until—wham!—it crashes into me.

These blind spots have been called our “unconscious incompetence” zone. I’m not doing well in a certain area, but I just don’t know it yet until—wham!

Up to that point everything seems fine, but wise King Solomon said, “Smugness will destroy fools” (Proverbs 1:32).

It seems there are two ways I could deal with my unconscious incompetencies. (1) I could wait until I get blindsided by one of them; or (2) I could ask the Holy Spirit to reveal them to me. Neither option seems very pleasant, but if I’m going to get hit—wham!—it seems like a better option to let Someone who loves me, and wants the best for me, to do it (see Hebrews 12:5-11).

David thought so too. He prayed—

Search me thoroughly, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there is any wicked or hurtful way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. (Psalm 139:23-24)

Or, how about Sir Francis Drake’s prayer:

Disturb us, Lord, when
We are too well pleased with ourselves,
When our dreams have come true
Because we have dreamed too little,
When we arrived safely
Because we sailed too close to the shore.

Disturb us, Lord, when
With the abundance of things we possess
We have lost our thirst
For the waters of life;
Having fallen in love with life,
We have ceased to dream of eternity
And in our efforts to build a new earth,
We have allowed our vision
Of the new Heaven to dim.

Disturb us, Lord, to dare more boldly,
To venture on wider seas
Where storms will show Your mastery;
Where losing sight of land,
We shall find the stars.

We ask You to push back
The horizons of our hopes;
And to push us into the future
In strength, courage, hope, and love.

The wham! moments will come. The question is how do you want them to come?

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Majesty On Display

June 4, 2011 — Craig T. Owens

These pictures from NASA (and video compliments of Chris Abbas) show the majesty of our Creator…

The heavens proclaim the glory of God.
      The skies display His craftsmanship.
Day after day they continue to speak;
      night after night they make Him known.
They speak without a sound or word;
      their voice is never heard.
Yet their message has gone throughout the earth,
      and their words to all the world. (Psalm 19:1-4)

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Thursdays With Oswald—Stay Away From Controversies

June 2, 2011 — Craig T. Owens

This is a weekly series with things I’m reading and pondering from Oswald Chambers. You can read the original seed thought here, or type “Thursdays With Oswald” in the search box to read more entries.

Stay Away From Controversies

     That is the danger of putting theology first; it leads a man to tell a lie in order to be consistent with his point of view. …In a theological dispute the theologian is apt to put his point of view in the place of God. … Only one man in a thousand can maintain his spiritual life and controvert; he may increase his intellectual vim, but he does not increase his spiritual grasp of things. Dr. Alexander Whyte put this better than any other when he said:

     “…Eschew controversy, my brethren, as you would eschew the entrance to hell itself. Let them have it their way; let them talk; let them write; let them correct you; let them traduce you; let them judge and condemn you; let them slay you. Rather let the truth of God suffer itself, than that love suffer. You do not have enough of the divine nature in you to be a controversialist.”

From Baffled To Fight Better

Augustine prayed: “Heal me of this lust of mine of always vindicating myself.”

When David was attacked he prayed: “I cry out to God Most High, to God, who vindicates me” (Psalm 57:2).

Who cares what others say? Who cares if you “lose” the argument? What does God say? Let Him—and Him alone—vindicate you.

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If Anyone Ought To Be Happy

May 27, 2011 — Craig T. Owens

I remember once going to play golf with two other friends. When we got to the course, the starter added another guy—someone we didn’t know—to our group to round-out our foursome. We began to “play” our round of golf (I use the term play loosely), and joke, and laugh, and enjoy ourselves.

About 4 or 5 holes into our round, our new friend asked what we all did. I responded, “He’s a pastor, I’m a pastor, and that guy over there is a missionary.”

Our new friend looked shocked. “You mean you’re all Christians?!”

“Yes, we are,” I said. “Does that surprise you?”

“Yes,” he replied, and then quickly added, “But I’ve never had so much fun playing golf before!”

It’s funny, and yet sad. Why would Christians be thought of as boring? dull? killjoys? Shouldn’t we be the most happy and joy-filled of all?

Here’s what Charles Spurgeon said—

We ought to be glad and rejoice forever in that which God creates. Ours is a heritage of joy and peace. My dear brothers and sisters, if anybody in the world ought to be happy, we are the people.

How large our obligations! How boundless our privileges! How brilliant our hopes!

What should make us miserable? Sin? That is forgiven. Affliction? That is working our good. Inward corruptions? They are doomed to die. satanic temptations? We wear an armor which they cannot penetrate. We have every reason for delight, and we have moreover this command for it: “Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart” (Psalm 37:4). May God bring us into that blessed condition and keep us there!

God intends not only that we should have joy but also that we should spread it among others. He intends that wherever we go we should be light bearers and set other lamps shining.

Can people tell you have the joy of the Lord? Are you bringing light and laughter to dark and somber places? If you are filled up with God, how happy you should be!

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Safe

May 20, 2011 — Craig T. Owens

There is no safer place to be than in the arms of your Heavenly Father.

I have cared for you since you were born. Yes, I carried you before you were born.  I will be your God throughout your lifetime—until your hair is white with age. I made you, and I will care for you. I will carry you along and save you. (Isaiah 46:3-4)

So we can pray with confidence as the psalmist did:

Keep me as the apple of Your eye; hide me in the shadow of Your wings. (Psalm 17:8)

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