Declaration of Faith

The Bible gives several examples of people's "declarations of faith." Luke 23:39 records the declaration of faith of one of the criminals that hung next to Jesus when he was crucified.

³⁹One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: "Aren't you the Christ? Save yourself and us!" ⁴⁰But the other criminal rebuked him. "Don't you fear God," he said, "since you are under the same sentence? ⁴¹We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong." ⁴²Then he said, "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom." ⁴³Jesus answered him, "I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise."

Daniel 3:28-29 records Nebuchadnezzar's declaration of faith once Shadrach, Meschach and Abednego were rescued from the fiery furnace.

²⁸ Then Nebuchadnezzar said, "Praise be to the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, who has sent his angel and rescued his servants! They trusted in him and defied the king's command and were willing to give up their lives rather than serve or worship any god except their own God. ²⁹ Therefore I decree that the people of any nation or language who say anything against the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego be cut into pieces and their houses be turned into piles of rubble, for no other god can save in this way."

John 20:26-28 records Doubting Thomas' declaration of faith.

²⁶A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you!" ²⁷Then he said to Thomas, "Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe." ²⁸Thomas said to him, "My Lord and my God!"

Well yesterday I had the privilege of hearing my daughter's first declaration of faith. Here's what happened. Ally got Disney's Snow White DVD for Christmas and yesterday Kristin was looking for it so they could watch it together. Well after looking around for quite some time (and after Kristin got very frustrated) we still could not find this DVD. I joined the search and we turned over every item in our house. We looked upstairs, downstairs, we lifted the couches, turned over the cushions, etc. etc. Finally, in frustration we all sat down and Kristin suggested we pray and ask Jesus to help us find the DVD. Allyson prayed something like this: "Dear Jesus, please help us to find the movie. Amen." No joke - immediately after we prayed we got back up to keep looking for the DVD trusting by faith that God would help us find it when Kristin saw it hanging inbetween the tree branches of our Christmas tree (one of the kids had shoved it in the tree). Allyson in near disbelief shouted "Jesus IS real!!!" She was beside herself with excitement. It was such a special moment. And THAT was Ally's declaration of faith.

All of us at some point in our spiritual journey need to make our own "declaration of faith." There's no right or wrong way to do it. I love that the criminal on the cross next to Jesus simply said "Remember me" and Jesus responded "Today you'll be with me in paradise." It's not in the words we say but the sincerity of our hearts. When was YOUR declaration of faith? If you haven't made one, I'd encourage you to do so right now!

Missing My Kids

My kids are away in VA right now. It's been like 3 days or something and I totally miss them. Specifically, I miss talking to them. I love hearing their little voices and discovering what's on their minds, etc.

And this got me thinking about how God must feel when some of his kids are away (i.e. they are prayerless, backslidden, etc.) I'm sure that He misses us terribly when we don't pray or when we drift away from Him.

When I do see my kids I can't wait to give them gifts and take them out to eat and do fun stuff with them. I wonder what God is waiting to do with those who return to him? I'll bet he has blessings in store. In the story of the Prodigal Son in Luke 15:11-32, the father was overjoyed when his son returned home. And I know that God feels the same way when we return to him.

Is it time to return to God? Is it time to come home to a church family? Is it time to give your life back to Jesus?

Perfect Conditions

Ecclesiastes 11:4 says "If you wait for perfect conditions, you will never get anything done."

I remember when we started New Day Church we couldn't find a space to meet on Sunday morning, which is what we originally wanted. And since a nearby church was just about to start a Saturday evening service, we decided to start meeting on Friday nights. In retrospect that's probably the worst possible time we could've chose to meet. But again, Sunday morning wasn't an option for us when we first started. It's not that no spots were available, it's that we couldn't afford to meet in any of those spots. But we didn't let that stop us. We prayerfully chose March 21st 2008 as our first meeting and said that even if we had to meet in someone's living room we would have our first meeting at that time. We didn't wait around for perfect conditions to start. As grateful as I am for our first meeting location (the Longmeadow Community House), it was a terrible place to meet for church. It was built back in the day before microphones were used so it naturally amplifies everything. This is a nightmare for a modern day church with a band, etc. Everything echoed so bad you could practically come back Saturday morning and hear Friday's worship and message still bouncing off those high ceilings. And talk about less than ideal conditions for our kids meeting space. They met right behind the adults with only a thin wall separating us from them. In addition to the terrible acoustics, we had to compete with all the noise the kids were making as they had a blast in kids church! Those were crazy times. But we didn't let that stop us. And when we first started we only had 2 people on the worship team. That's hard to believe now since we currently enjoy three drummers, several bass guitarists, several acoustic/electric guitarists, lots of talented vocalists, etc. But we started with two singers and NO musicians. Those were not perfect conditions for leading the kind of worship I had in mind. I could go on forever. I still often work in my unfinished basement which gets cold in the winter. When that happens I have to come work upstairs which is hard because I have two young kids and my house isn't big and it's easy to hear them playing and talking while I'm trying to work. My point is this: If we had waited for perfect conditions, we'd still be waiting. But instead, after starting from scratch with only 6 people inititally, we now have over 100 meeting regularly (and on Sunday morning now! Praise the Lord!)

Ecclesiastes 11:4 says "If you wait for perfect conditions, you will never get anything done." How can you apply this verse to your own life?

Missing Out

Yesterday at Costco Kristin bought some Pop Tarts for the kids. I happen to know that Pop Tarts are delicious when they're toasted, but when I went to toast Ally's Pop Tart she said she wanted it not toasted. I said "Ally, these are really good toasted." But she said "no". I said "Ally, you've never had them toasted. How do you know you won't like it?" She still said "no". So I bent over and said "Ally, I'm your dad and I love you. I only want good things for you. I've had Pop Tarts toasted and they are delicious. I really think you'll like it if you give it a try." Guess what she said? Still a "no".

This got me thinking. How many good things do we miss out on when we say "no" to God? We say "no" because we don't trust God. Ally has every reason to trust me but for some reason she didn't. And in the same way, we have every reason to trust God but for some reason at times we don't. And what happens when we don't trust God? WE MISS OUT!

I personally want to get to the place where if God says "do it" I trust him enough to obey. My challenge will be to realize the truth: that God's way is always better than our way, just as a toasted pop tart (in my opinion) is always better than a non-toasted pop tart.

Know that even if you've been saying "no" to God for quite some time, it's never to late to start saying "yes." As I was writing this blog Ally came over to me with a change of heart. I stopped writing, toasted her pop tart, gave it to her and then heard her say "Mmmm, this is good Daddy."

I think everyone who says "yes" to God has a similar experience. All I can say is "Try it!"