Ten Ways: Worship in Trial

But when Jesus heard it He said, “This illness does not lead to death. It is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.” Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So, when He heard that Lazarus was ill, He stayed two days longer in the place where He was. (John 11.4-6)

You want to see God work? You want to know God in a deeper way than you ever have before? Then you need to see the glory of God!

One final way that the glory of God can be seen in your life is if you worship God during hard times. If you rejoice in the Lord, singing praises to Him--when life is tough--you will see the glory of God.

It should be relatively easy for a child of God to praise his or her Father in good times. When you meet someone you love, and you get married. When you want to get pregnant, and you have a child. When you're short on funds, and money shows up. When you want to do things, and your health is good. When you feel down, and friends show up.

It can be harder, however, for a believer to worship God when he or she is in trial, in suffering, or in difficulty. Maybe the last thing you feel like singing about is God's love, when you feel rejected. Or God's sovereignty, when life seems to be swirling out of control. Or God's holiness, when sin around you seems so prevalent.

God calls us to know Him and be close to Him. He is sovereign. He is in complete control. He knows everything. He is all-powerful. And He loves us. He is working all things for good. He lives for His glory (which is our joy).

The above story illustrates this so clearly. Jesus loved Mary, Martha, and Lazarus. A lot. Strikingly to us, when He hears that Lazarus is sick, He doesn't rush to Lazarus' side to heal him. Rather He lets Lazarus die (v. 6), for the glory of God (v. 4).

He loves Mary, Martha, and Lazarus so much that He lets Lazarus die--so that God would be glorified. This is hard for me to understand. Piper helps when he says: "Love is doing whatever you need to do to help people see and savor the glory of God in Christ forever."

Jesus was working so that God would be glorified, so that the three siblings would love Jesus even more, and so that even greater good would come.

Rather than complain, whine, despair, and get frustrated at God for our misunderstandings of what He is doing, we ought to be trusting our God and worshipping Him, even when we can't see the outcome.

God calls His people to a life of faith. (Understatement coming...) God has a good track record. He keeps His Word.

Even if we never received one more good gift from God for the rest of our earthly life, we would still have enough (in Christ) to worship, rejoice, and love God forever.

Worshipping God in trial is the mark of a believer. He gives and takes away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.

Ten Ways: Witness

“And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come preaching to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in the demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.” --1 Corinthians 2.1-5

We want to see the glory of God. We want to see God at work. We want fuel for our Christian life. The 9th way: Witness.

Share your faith. Tell someone else about Jesus. Tell someone the good news. If you claim to be a Christian, you should know the Gospel. You should know the message that saved you.

Here's the Gospel in a sentence from John Piper: The Gospel is the good news that Jesus Christ, the Righteous One, died for our sins and rose again, eternally triumphant over all His enemies, so that there is now no condemnation, for those who believe, but only everlasting joy.

This is the good news we are to preach. You don't have to know the ins-and-outs of the creation/evolution debate, you don't need to have the end times all figured out, and you don't have to have the minds of Tim Keller, Cornelius Van Til, and C.S. Lewis all rolled into one. You just need to know and believe the good news. That's it.

The reason a lot of Christians don't share their faith is fear. They're afraid of people or afraid of the unknown, or afraid they'll mess something up. From the above verses, we can see Paul was afraid when he shared the Gospel. It says he came in weakness and fear and much trembling. Sounds like a lot of us. Weakness. Fear. Much Trembling. In spite of his fears, Paul was compelled to preach. Though he had fear, he prayed that God would give him boldness. He didn't wait for his fear to subside, he prayed and he witnessed.

Even if you're not the most eloquent speaker, God still wants you to share your faith. You don't need to have a slick sales pitch or be really great at speaking in front of groups (again, see verses above). God is the One who saves people and changes people's hearts. Its not up to us. Its not up to you. God just wants us to preach the Gospel--Jesus Christ and Him crucified.

I need to get better at sharing my faith--telling other people about Jesus. Every time I have, I get the biggest boost of joy and faith. I'm so excited to be a Christian and I so believe God exists and loves me. I get these feelings regardless of the reaction of the person I was witnessing to.

You want to see God's glory? Get out of your comfort zone (aka: your selfish, prideful, fleshly zone) and share your faith.

Ten Ways: Stay in One Book

You want to see the glory of God? You want to see God at work and know Him better? Do you want to be changed by beholding His glory?

An eighth way to see God's glory is to spend significant time in one book of the Bible. Pick a book and read through it (or part of it) every day.

While it is beneficial to read through any part of the Bible, there is real profit in spending time in one book. God commands His people to meditate on His Word. Meditation involves thinking about what one has read: what it means, how it fits with the rest of the Scripture, and how it applies to your life. Without meditation, God's Word often seems boring, irrelevant, or ineffective.

Meditation deepens our walk with God. God's Word is no longer just another line on our daily checklist, it involves the whole of our being. We think about it when we are in the car, we see its meaning in our relationships with others, and we have it in our minds when temptation comes.

Some people get only a little out of their time in the Bible because they fail to meditate on what God's Word says. They bounce around God's Word, getting bits and pieces of it, while failing to dwell on what they have read.

By spending time in one book--and really soaking in God's Word--meditation on God's Word is more natural. If you spend a month (or more) reading the same book, you'll better see how powerful and meaningful God's Word is.

I spent time in 2009 trying this. Every day in my time with God from March through August I spent time in 1 Peter. Some days I would read through the whole book, some days I would read through just a paragraph. It changed my life. Really.

The first week was great. I was seeing new things, having verses pop out at me, and enjoying the freshness of the book.

The next week was a little harder. Some days I would read 1 Peter and say, "I just read this yesterday. I don't know if I learned anything new."

Then, slowly, the book really came to life. I started seeing the flow of what Peter was talking about. I saw little connections between some of the verses. Parts were becoming familiar. I was unintentionally beginning to memorize what I was reading.

It just kept getting deeper. Sundays were deeper: I'd hear sermons from other parts of the Bible and see the relation to 1 Peter. Worship was deeper: Themes like salvation and forgiveness in 1 Peter meant more as I sang or praised God. Fellowship was deeper: Talking with friends about what God was teaching them from 1 Peter and being blown away at how rich God's Word is. Prayer was deeper: I knew how to pray for people--I'd pray verses for them right from 1 Peter.

Soaking in God's Word had such a powerful effect on me last year, I'm doing it again this year. I'm reading through the Gospel of John. Its harder to read through all in one sitting, but reading about Jesus is fantastic.

So, if you want to see God's glory, soak in His Word.

Ten Ways: Pray Because You Need To

You want to see the glory of God? Then you need to pray.

Prayer is one of those obvious things in the Christian life. We all know we should do it. It doesn't cost us anything to do it and its pretty easy to pray. Yet, I haven't met too many people who would give themselves an "A" for their prayer life.

One of the biggest reasons we don't pray more is because we don't believe. If we really thought prayer worked, if we really thought we desperately needed to pray all the time, if we really believed we were weak creatures who had a special link to the God of the universe, we would pray more.

Pastor Kevin DeYoung wrote a blog post about this topic and it really hit home for me. If you've got two minutes, check it out.

Ten Ways: Visitation

You want to deepen your walk with God, obey Him, and grow in your love for His Son Jesus? Then you need to see God's glory at work!

Another way to see God's glory in your life (today!) is to do visitation. You can visit someone from your local church who is in the hospital, bed-ridden, or unable to get out from where they live.

These senior saints are older and often failing in health, but they have much to offer the body of Christ. They have ample time to pray and some of them pray--literally--hours a day. Some have walked with Jesus for 30, 50, or 70 years or more and are a great source of encouragement to those who are younger.

By spending even 30 minutes with them, sharing what God is teaching you, and praying together, both you and the one you are visiting will be encouraged. I have gone in to visit people, hoping to brighten their day. More often than not, I have left encouraged, joyful, and having had my day brightened by them.

If it seems uncomfortable for you to visit someone you don't know alone, bring some friends and go as a group. Many older saints/shut-ins struggle with loneliness and are unable to get out of the house to even come to church. Having some younger, growing followers of Jesus drop by will encourage them and build them up.

Ask to hear their testimony of how God saved them, have them share with you stories of God's faithfulness in their life, and have them pray for you. It won't be long in your visit before you are seeing God's glory at work.

Ten Ways: Pray Consistently

Do you want to see God's glory and see your life dramatically transformed by Him? Then you've got to pray consistently. Pray repeatedly. For the same thing. Every day. Again and again.

For the rest of 2010, pick one request. Maybe for a character trait in you or a friend. Maybe for somebody's salvation. Maybe for resolution to a problem.

And watch God work.

See what Jesus says about it:

Whatever you ask in My name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son (John 14.13)

If you ask me anything in My name, I will do it (John 14.14)

If you abide in Me and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish and it will be done for you (John 15.7)

You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in My name, He may give it to you (John 15.16)

In that day you will ask nothing of Me. Truly, truly, I say to you, whatever you ask of the Father in My name, He will give it to you (John 16.23)

Until now, you have asked for nothing in My name, ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full (John 16.24)

James 4.2 says that we don't have because we don't ask. Luke 11 tells us that God wants to give us good gifts. Luke 18 tells us that we are to be persistent in prayer and not lose heart.

But we get impatient. We want God to hurry. We pray and things get worse. We pray and don't see progress. Maybe we even develop a bitterness towards God for promising and not delivering.

Isaiah 5.19 says: "Woe to those who say: 'Let Him be quick. Let Him speed His work that we may see'."

Pray and be persistent (Luke 18.1). Wait on the Lord and you'll never be put to shame (Psalm 25.3). God is working even when we don't see it (Habakkuk 1.5).

Pray. You'll see God's glory and you'll be changed.

Ten Ways: Fast

You want to bring glory to God's name? You don't just want to profess to be a Christian, but you want to love and enjoy God? You've got to see God's glory.

A fourth way of doing this is by fasting. Fasting is the voluntary denial of a normal thing for a spiritual purpose. Being punished and having your car keys taken away isn't fasting (fasting is voluntary). If you don't eat broccoli, you can't give it up and call it fasting (fasting is from a normal part of your life). And if you give up soda because you are on a diet, it isn't fasting (fasting is for a spiritual purpose).

In America, we live in a society that never says no. Just do it. Have it your way. If you can afford it, buy it. We indulge ourselves in every possible luxury at every possible turn. We love comfort. We love more. We love stuff.

Fasting teaches us to deny our impulses. In short, fasting teaches us to say "no."

Just look at King David. He slowly built a harem for himself. Even though God's law taught one man and one woman, David followed in step with the other kings of the times and added wife upon wife. He got used to saying yes. He got used to indulging in physical pleasure. He got used to doing what he wanted to do. Then, he saw Bathsheba. He was so used to saying yes to his desire for women, his sin was almost inevitable.

Fasting can be an expression of finding your greatest pleasure and joy in this life from Jesus. It shows that seeking God is more important to you than: ____________.

Of course, denying the flesh doesn't save us or even grow us. God does that. But, we can use fasting to show that we do love God most. That knowing Him is our highest pursuit. That following Him is our greatest desire.

In the Bible, fasting involved giving up food for a time. That's a great way to start. Skip a meal, like lunch, and spend that time praying. Have a goal in mind when you fast. Don't just skip a meal and hope God zaps you. Pray for an unsaved friend, pray for a sin you are struggling with, or cast a trial/care on Him.

Another type of fasting could be for a season of time. Giving up the Internet, the movies, or sports would be a great way to carve out more time in your schedule for prayer.

You want to see God's glory? You want to see God work? Fast.

Ten Ways: Read a Book

"So Philip ran to him and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet and asked, 'Do you understand what you are reading?' And he said, 'How can I, unless someone guides me?' And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him." --Acts 8.30-31

Do you really want to know God more deeply? Do you want to grow in passion for God? Then you need to see God's glory! You need to see how great God is!

One way to to do that is to read a book. For most people "reading" and "fun" don't belong in the sentence. Maybe you don't feel like you're very good at reading, maybe you don't know any good books, or maybe you've been force-fed a steady diet of Shakespeare, Hawthorne, and Chaucer to the point that you think all books are written in unintelligible old English.

Reading in general has its benefits, but that's not a way to see God's glory. To see God's glory, read books about Jesus by authors who really love Him. These kind of books help us to better understand the Bible. They take truth from God's Word and help us to understand it and do it. They magnify Christ, cause us to more deeply appreciate the gospel, and help us to live holy Christian life.

I want to recommend three books, two that have really changed my life (and helped me to see God's glory) and one that has really changed other people's lives (and that I want to read this month).

1. The Gospel According to Jesus--I read this book when I was in high school and it gave me a totally new understanding of what it means to be saved. I read it when I was a new Christian and it blew me away to learn that not everyone who says they are a Christian really is one. The chapter that still sticks out to me is on the parable of the soils. Dr. MacArthur explains that only the fourth soil--the soil that actually produces fruit--is a believer. This encouraged me to talk to other students in the youth group about their walks with God and to challenge them with their need to repent.

2. Living the Cross-Centered Life--This book is written by CJ Mahaney, who breaks down the gospel--what God has done for us. Each chapter makes you stop to thank God for His wonderful gift of salvation. The best part of the book is the end, when he explains how the gospel is essential for everything in the Christian life. The gospel is the basis for our prayer life, is at the heart of our hope for the end times, and is the foundation for human relationships. We can never fully appreciate the gospel, but this book helps us better stand in awe of the God who won this salvation for us.

3. Crazy Love--I haven't read this book yet, but hopefully it will be on the February book log. Several people in the church, and several more in the youth group, have been really encouraged to walk more obediently because of Pastor Chan's book. God calls His children to live radically holy lives--totally distinct from the world. This book is a push/encouragement towards that end.

I hope that you take time this month to read one of these books. There are many others that I could add to the list, but these are three of the best. I want to know God and see His glory. And what better way than learning from three great men of God and hearing how they've seen God's glory?

Ten Ways: Give Money

"For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also"--Matthew 6.21

You want to be on fire? You want to know God more deeply, love Him more fully, and enjoy Him more richly? Then you need to see God's glory. One way you can see God's glory is to spend time with every day. Another way is pretty simple, give money to God.

Why Give? We are naturally greedy, especially in America. God has blessed us with so much and, yet, we want more. We confuse needs and wants. We are materialistic, covetous, and discontent.

While the Bible is clear about the sinfulness and deceit of greed, we don't see in ourselves. We don't see the problem. We don't see how it affects our relationship with God.

But, it does. Jesus said that where your treasure (read: money) is, there your heart will be also. You can claim to love Jesus. You can claim that Jesus has first place in your heart. You can claim that God is your top priority.

But the proof is found in how you use your money. Does your money show that your priority is God and His Kingdom or that your priority is Yourself and Your Kingdom? Do you look forward to giving? Do you seek out ways that you can give to God? Do you give at all?

So, take a look at how you spend your money. It will be a good test to see where your heart is.

Essential Way 1: Give to Your Local Church

God has specially designed the Church (read: Bride of Christ) to represent Jesus, magnify God, build up the saints, and preach the truth.

As you can see, God views the church highly. You should too. God wants you to give to the local church to support this ongoing ministry. Your offering helps heat the building, support the pastors (thanks!), and funds world-wide missions. Give, and give generously.

Essential Way 2: Creatively Be Generous to Others

Obvious Statement 1: Instead of always spending your money on yourself, spend it on others. Obvious Statement 2: After all, God's the One who gave you that money in the first place.

Obvious Statement 3: Other people will really like it if you are generous to them.

Five quick ideas:

- pay for everyone when you go out to eat

- buy a friend a book you like

- pick up a nice gift for your folks

- over-tip

- get someone a gift card and slip it to them anonymously

Result of Giving: Joy! (Don't believe me? Try it!)

Few things break the power of greed in your life like giving...

Ten Ways: QT Every Day

"Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation--if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good." --1 Peter 2.2-3

I don't want to be lukewarm. I don't want to live a lame, hypocritical Christian life. I really want to love Jesus. To do so, I need to see the glory of God regularly. One of the best ways to see God's glory at work in your life is to spend time with God. A lot of time. Like, every day.

If you really are a Christian, if you really have passed from death to life, if you really love Jesus, won't you spend time with Him? It seems like in some Christians this most basic, foundational part of life is missing.

Peter says that we are to long for God's Word. We are to desire God's Word. Like a baby craves food, we are to crave God and how He's revealed Himself--through His Word.

A big problem, though, is that many Christians have their appetites filled elsewhere. Like a little child stuffing his face with candy before dinner, Christians fill themselves up on junk food rather than on the nourishing Word of God.

How is it that we have so much time for Internet, Facebook, Twitter, TV, music, friends, worried thoughts, lazy times of laying around, entertainment, and sleep? How is it that we don't have time for what really matters?

It is hard for me to look at pictures of children overseas who are malnourished. It is sad to see young children lacking what is needed for life. It is harder and sadder for God to look at His children, who are spiritually malnourished, when the food is sitting right next to them. Seeing Jesus in God's Word is how we grow and are fed.

Peter's reasoning for spending time with God in the Bible couldn't be better. He doesn't give threats or try to logically convince us. He says, "if you have tasted that the Lord is good."

Haven't you tasted how good God is? Haven't you had times where you've shut the door, turned off the cell phone, shut down the computer, gotten away from friends, woken up early, whatever, and had God really speak to you?

Haven't you seen God's goodness in your life? Don't you know how wonderful Jesus is? Don't you know God's love for you? Don't you know where true life is found? Don't you know where true peace can be had? Where worry can end? Where hope is renewed? Where joy abounds?

Once you've tasted how good God is, you want more. And, He always satisfies.

How can you do it? Try reading through John. 21 days left in February. 21 chapters in John. Read a chapter a day. Taste the goodness of the Lord.

The Glory of God

But when Jesus heard it He said, "This illness does not lead to death. It is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it." --John 11.4

Do you have a lame spiritual life? Are you lukewarm? Do you feel like your love for Jesus is getting weak? Maybe its because you don't see God's glory.

In John 11, Jesus raises His friend Lazarus from the dead. Jesus, at the very beginning of the story, tells His disciples that the reason Lazarus is sick (and will die) is so that the glory of God can be seen. God allows a horrible event to happen so that Jesus can be glorified (v. 4).

God allows all kinds of circumstances to come into our lives--good and bad, exciting and mundane, new and routine--all so that Jesus can be glorified.

But we often miss it.

We miss God's glory.

Like Martha in John 11 (read the chapter and watch Martha and Jesus' conversation), we take our eyes off God and we stop believing in God. Yes, we know God exists. Yes, we believe He can do anything. Yes, we know He works out all things for good. But we stop believing Him. We look at our problems and our trials. We forget that this world serves to bring God glory (and not immediate comfort and pleasure to us). We miss what God is doing, because we aren't living to bring Him glory.

When we don't see God doing amazing things around us, our walk with Jesus can get boring and lame pretty quick. The problem isn't with God (He is always living for His glory), the problem is with us (we aren't always living for His glory).

So, for February, I'll post ten ideas on how to see God's glory in 2010.

Jesus said to her, "Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?" --John 11.40