The Battle For Your Mind

by Randy Schroeder

Have you ever been utterly amazed by what your mind does and can do?   I had a friend in high school that could multiply 3 numbers by 3 other numbers and give you the answer without using a calculator.  I remember being amazed by his mind.  I am amazed at my mind too, but for a different reason.  I am amazed at what a battlefield it is, and how often I am losing the battle.

So, if Ephesians 6 is true, and it is, that our struggle is not against flesh and blood, then it makes sense that a big part of the war is going to be fought in our minds.  And Satan’s forces will often come against me at the point of what I think.  Paul said in 2 Cor 10:5 that he was taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ.  I think he knew he was in a war and that his mind was a big part of the battlefield.  For example, someone says something that sounds like it could have been a criticism, and before you know it the mind has given it all kinds of meaning and started down an unhealthy path. 

If you are married, have you ever done that with your spouse?  Ever find that you read into the situation more than actually happened?  Why do we do that?  I think part of the reason is Satan knows God wants to speak to us in our mind, and tell us He loves us, and that we are His precious beloved son/daughter in whom He is well pleased.  If our mind is confused and cluttered with bitterness, resentment, and anger about the past, or fear, worry and anxiety about the future, then we will have a hard time living in the present and hearing that loving voice of our Father.  So for me, this is the year of the mind.  It is the year of hearing the voice of my Father with new clarity.  It is the year of taking thoughts captive in a new way.  It is the year of living out Phil 4:8, which says, “whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, let your mind dwell on these things.” 

In this crazy fallen world, there are tons of things to think about that are unhealthy.  Lets go radical this year with our minds.  Lets all agree we are going to control our minds like never before, by the power of the Holy Spirit and for the great name of our great God, and for the advance of His great Kingdom. 

God Wants Our Daily Surrender

BY STEVE LOO

When the Psalmist prays, “Teach us your ways, O Lord, that I may walk in your truth, unite my heart to fear your name” (Ps. 86:11) it’s a day by day call to surrender anything in our hearts that prevents us from fearing God’s name. 

So what are you surrendering? 

We say we want to fear God’s name, to teach us, walk in humility, but what are we daily surrendering to the Lord?  Missionaries did not go immediately from believing in Jesus to dying for Jesus. Rather there were many small steps of surrender in between.  If I am not daily surrendering my every minute to the Lord and refuse to give him my day, that is not surrender.  To say that “this is my day, I’ll do what I want with it” is withholding from God what is rightfully His. 

1 Corinthians 6:20 says, “You have been bought with a price; glorify God with your body.”  Are you surrendered in your diet?  Are you simply just focused on getting the next meal, or are your meals spent with Jesus and in deep community with others? Can you give up a meal at the drop of a hat if you sense God calls you to fast and pray instead?  Have you surrendered your daily commute to listening to what God wants to speak to you that morning? When you wake up to your house in a mess, have you surrendered that your hope is not in neatness or perfection, but simply in Christ and His delight of you?

Sometimes I think we are discipled by Facebook more than the Father.   Is your screen time at night surrendered to Jesus?  Are you fixed on your feed more than what your Father feels when He sees you? What controls you, the latest show on Netflix at night, or the new mercies God promises us in His Word each morning?

As I write this, I’m reminded the Christian life is a daily surrender. And oftentimes it’s not easy. But what we do give up, we gain back something far greater.  Jesus said that everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands, for His name sake, will receive a hundredfold and will inherit eternal life (Matt. 10:29).  My small act of surrender today - no matter how small - does matter. 

What Catches God's Eye?

By: Steve Loo

We are the most distracted culture this world has ever seen. Not only that, but sometimes we think God is distracted and does not see us in our struggles.

In the sixty-sixth passage of Isaiah, the people are wondering whether God had “looked upon them” because they haven’t seen his salvation yet. Those who have forsaken God have wondered where God was and have sought the favor of other gods through sacrifices. In other words, God seems to be distracted.

Yet Isaiah makes clear that God is not a distracted God. He holds out His presence and has always offered a relationship with us. And His gaze is not just on one person, but on the affairs of the entire world. When God says, “Heaven is my throne, earth is my footstool, what is the house that you would build for me, and what is the place of my rest?” (66:1) God is not saying that He’s disinterested in temple sacrifices or us going through the motions of worship. He is just saying the mere practice of them is not what catches his eye.

So what does God look for? What really catches God’s eye?

What catches God’s eye is a humble heart.

Isaiah says: But this is the one to whom I will look: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word. (Isa. 66:2b)

Isaiah pictures God gazing at us like a parent gazing into their newborn’s face. His gaze is riveted on those who are humble. Secondly, God leans into the “contrite of spirit.” These are people who are not depressed, but who are desperately dependent on God to give them help. Lastly, God’s attention is on those who tremble at God’s Word.

Isn’t that amazing that our God who is king over all is above all drawn to the humble? As James puts it, “God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” (James 4:6)

I remember reading a book about this passage that “God finds our humility irresistible.”

True humility is not looking at ourselves lower than who we are. But really true humility is just seeing ourselves the way God sees us. And God’s gaze is irresistibly drawn to us whenever we come before His Word, simply declaring our unworthiness and confessing our deep need for Him.

In this attention deficit world, God’s attention is not saved for the proud. But His gaze rests on the humble. May that be true of us.

How can I cultivate humility?

• Make the first thing you do when you wake up each morning to get on your knees and thank God that He allowed your heart to continue beating last night.  Confess your desperate dependence on him for the rest of the day.

• Come before His Word and plead for greater humility, and confess you can’t understand His Word apart from the Spirit’s help. Pray Psalm 43:3 and ask Him to send out His light and His truth so that they may lead you, so that you may know God as your exceeding joy.

• Ask a Hopeful for their honest take if they see any pride in you, and be open to their rebuke, correction, and counsel.

People Are Not Projects

BY STEVE LOO

I remember going through an evangelism course where we drove to the mall looking for a “target.” There he was, a guy who was sitting on one of those massage chairs.  A captive audience!  I dove straight into a passionate presentation of the Gospel. Everything went according to plan, until the very end.  He said, “I’m actually a Jehovah’s Witness, and I just went along with your presentation to be nice.” I was embarrassed as I slunk away. I had treated him as a project.

I believe nothing is further from the heart of Jesus than treating people like projects.  Jesus was authentic in His love for people. He touched lepers out of compassion (Matt. 8:3). He invited tax collectors and sinners to do life with him at the table (Matt. 9:10).  He preached an entire day to a crowd of five thousand (plus!), and then provided dinner (Mk. 6:37-43).  At Lazarus’ funeral, Jesus wept with Mary (Jn. 11:38).

Here’s some ways to love people as you seek to share Christ with them:

Listen more than you talk.

Listen with both ears – to your listener and to the Holy Spirit:  “Lord, how do you want me to go about this conversation? What do you want me to say?”  And ask God, “Even if they don’t turn to Christ in this conversation, how do I love them well?” 

Ask questions, progressing from casual to engaging to meaningful. 

Casual questions are small talk originating from the context:  Did you grow up here in Houston?  Then this leads to engaging: “Tell me more about that!”   Lastly, go to meaningful:  What’s the most important thing that happened to you? Be genuinely interested in them, not in moving on to what you want to say to them.  These questions – and the answers you get – will help you to discern a person’s spiritual openness to hearing the Gospel.

Affirm them. 

If they have had emotional struggles, say, “Wow, that sounds draining. I’m so sorry.”  Or “So, you’re saying you feel [briefly paraphrase the feeling] because [briefly paraphrase the thought]. Is that right?” 

When people feel listened to, affirmed, and loved, evangelism will just flow naturally. You will know it when you hear them say, “Thanks for listening! What about you?”

I remember working at Starbucks one day at the community table where this actually happened.  I had gotten into a conversation with a person who specialized in outdoor landscaping. I just sensed I needed to listen and affirm. Afterwards, he said, “Thank you so much for listening.  What about you? What do you do?” That’s when he found out I was a pastor at Hope. He immediately shared about his brokenness in life, his struggles in trying to get back into church, but was not quite ready to turn his life to Jesus yet. I realized he needed help to process roadblocks and needed encouragement to go deeper with God.  So I used the opportunity to ask, “What really holds you back from trusting in Jesus?”   It was then where I was able to speak to his brokenness, share the Gospel, and encourage him.   After our conversation, he thanked me again for listening.   He said for the first time he understood where he was spiritually.

No, he didn’t receive Christ on the spot.  But I believe he walked out of there knowing he was not just a project. He was a person whom Jesus loved and died for.

Pitch Darkness

By: Steve Loo

Ever been in a dark season where you have cried out to God to turn things around? Challenged him to act? And waited expectantly for your prayers to be miraculously answered only to hear God say...nothing? Ever feel totally abandoned, alone in pitch darkness?

I’ve been there. And I’d be willing to bet that you’ve been there too.

Thankfully the Lord didn’t give us all Psalms with Disney endings. There is a Psalm that is known as the “pitch darkness Psalm” – Psalm 88. When you look at this Psalm, there is no hope anywhere. When you look at how it ends, you cannot help but ask, “What is that doing in the Scriptures? This prayer is depressing. Where is the hope in this?” As theologian Derek Kidner writes in his commentary, “There is no sadder prayer in the Psalter.”

At the end of Psalm 88, after Heman the Ezrahite literally rips open his guts to the Lord, things don’t get better – they actually get worse. The Psalm opens and ends with him complaining to God. He asks, “Why have you cast my soul away? Why do you hide Your face from me? Afflicted and close to death from my youth up, I suffer your terrors, I am helpless. Your wrath has swept over me, your dreadful assaults destroy me.” (vv. 15-16) His last line strikes an ominous tone:

You have caused my beloved and my friend to shun me;  my companions have become darkness.

Psalm 88:18

The ESV footnote translates that last line, “Darkness has become my only companion.” No spectacular Disney ending.  Only darkness, where he finds himself even more utterly alone.

Why is this Psalm even in the Scriptures?   How can the saddest Psalm in the Psalter provide us any hope?  When we look at the progression of this Psalm, we see him cry out to God, challenge God to act, but God seems to ignore him.  How does this even console any hurting Christian? 

But I think what brings life from this Psalm is that there is room to feel pain, and to complain.   There is room for complaint – as long as we bring our complaints before God.  We complain and pour out our pain to Him, on the basis of who He is and what He can do.  When you look back, you see the Psalmist crying out in this way: (v. 1, 9, 13). At first it seems like so much darkness.  But the hidden hope in Psalm 88 is that he keeps on praying.   “Even in the deepest hopelessness God alone remains the one addressed.” This a complaint, that very often takes the form of a lament. Lament, according to pastor Mark Vroegop in his book Dark Clouds, Deep Mercy: Discovering the grace of lament, is a prayer in pain that leads to trust. The fact that Psalm 88 made it into the Scriptures tells us there is a place for godly lament in gut wrenching complaints.   Especially in times when God does not answer to our deepest prayers, and we are left alone in the darkness. 

 I believe that Psalm 88 validates us to complain to God, even when all we feel is pain. He wants us to take our struggles of feeling alone, forgotten even by God Himself – and to continue to take it to Him.  It takes faith to lament.  We see that the only hope at all in the Psalm – is that the Psalmist keeps praying at all!

In my situation, my prayers did not result in the clouds parting and the angels descending from the clouds.  In fact things, got worse. We encountered real spiritual danger and deep pain. But what I learned is that I don’t need to try to hide those feelings. Or theologize it away. God wanted me to come hot and heavy, and lament. Bring my pain before Him. And to have faith to complain. Godly laments are not optional, they are vital.

I know that this post leaves you with some tension. Questions like, “Is it really right to complain before God? That’s not biblical. Shouldn’t we give thanks in everything?” But that’s fine, I’m going to leave it there. I simply challenge you the conception that all complaining is wrong. Complaints of “Why” and “How long” are all over the Scriptures – even on the dying lips of our Savior Jesus Himself. Are there any hard and painful questions you simply need to get out in the open before God now? It’s not that He doesn’t know already, He’s searched you and known you. Deeply. But perhaps in the midst of your complaining, it will give way to trusting God, no matter how pitch dark the season you are in.

Not Alone (Part Two)

by Randy Schroeder

Please see last week's blog for the backdrop to this one.

We discussed last time that we were created with a need for a relationship with God and people, which is why God told us in the Great Commandment to love God and love people.  The second half of that commandment does not make sense if I am supposed to declare that all I need is God. So what is it that we need?  

There are a lot of things, but to start with, we need an intimate relationship with God that launches with the forgiveness of our sins through our total acceptance of what Jesus did on the cross, as we see in John 1:12. A great list of our needs is found in the "one another" passages of the New Testament.  It is the place where we see God meeting needs in our life which must mean that it's okay to have those needs. For example Romans 15:7 says to accept one another as you have been accepted by God in Christ. So evidently we must have a valid, legitimate need for acceptance and that need is not only met by Christ but also people. Another example of this can be found in 2 Corinthians 1:3 where God says that he is the God of all comfort so that we may comfort others with the same comfort that we receive from Him. So I have a need, and God is the supply line for that need. After tasting the goodness of God in Him meeting that need, I pass on the goodness of God by meeting that same need in my wife, children, and friends. Of course they too will be involving both God and people in this process.

This need for comfort is one of the hardest to implement I have found. Most of us don't naturally see God as a compassionate, comforting God.  We tend to see Him as an examining, evaluating God, or a distant, uninvolved God. Rom 12:15 says to rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep.  Doesn't that imply that God is also doing what He is telling us to do. So you and I have a God that has great compassion at the point of our pain. And He wants us to represent Him well by doing the same for others. But my tendency with family and friends, is to throw Bible verses and truth at their pain. Rather than respond heart to heart, I respond to their heart with my head. It is a huge battle of the enemy to keep us from accurately representing the heart of God in the world and especially with our spouses. Sometimes I wonder if Satan doesn't care if we accurately represent the mind of God as long as he can get us to misrepresent the heart of God. Of course he goes after both. For me all of this started with a repentance from the self reliant, independent, all I need is God mindset, that kept me emotionally distant from my wife and kids and friends.  

May we represent you well in this world, Father.