a fresh faith.

Someone asked me the other day how it is that I seem to stay "fresh" in my walk with the Lord.  They noted that I always seem to be sharing new truths and new ways the Lord is at work in my life, and didn't feel like they had felt touched or used by the Lord in a very long time.

As I've been thinking about how that is, the answer isn't as fun and fresh as they probably wish it was.

It takes a lot of hardship, struggle, and hard work to stay fresh in Him.

But if that doesn't deter your desire, here's some of the keys for me.


Difficulty.

Speaking to my old roomie yesterday, she mentioned how, after years in the dessert of Africa (in the middle of civil war, nonetheless), life in Tennessee continues to shock her by how "easy" things are.  What she wants or needs, she can get.  Water, power, internet, restaurants, they are all there and working.  Medical care.  Mechanics.  McDonalds.  But on the flip side, she noted how much harder she has to work to live a deep and meaningful life and walk with the Lord and with others in the midst of survival being so much easier.

That resonated with me.  Life in Haiti is really, really challenging.  Don't get me wrong, LIFE is hard, everywhere.  Period.  Like you, we all continue to have medical problems in our families and friendships, sin problems, heartbreaking issues, worries about money, frustration with work, etc.

But when you pile on either water, power or internet ALWAYS not working, a broken truck--two "mechanics" actually making it worse and the only basic part for it only available 8 hours from here (read: 8 people + all the Seminary food/fuel/supplies needs relying on 1 small truck)--security issues, terrible roads, no real grocery stores, no take out....when you feel the weight of the seminary and all of it's many needs, physical and financial...when (this is no exaggeration) at least five people approach you daily needing money (and they REALLY need it)...when the poverty around you is so great...when the injustice around you is so great...when every student or alumni we have has a school or a church or a family badly in need of help.  When medical care for your kid includes emailing a doctor photos, waiting for a diagnosis, then going from pharmacy to pharmacy (do NOT picture CVS here, folks) trying to FIND that medication, and not-expired...

LIFE IS HARD in a fifth world country.

End result:  hopelessness, despair and discouragement --OR-- a VERY fresh walk with Jesus.

I know it is easy to wish struggle away from ourselves.  Easy to beg for relief from pain, easy to ask the Lord to remove our burdens.  But I promise you that it is our suffering, our burdens, the painful things in our lives that often MOST draw us near to Him...it is in our pain that He will GROW us.

Don't flee pain and suffering.  Suffer successfully...Approach Him with it, and STAY there.


A refusal to NOT be in His Word.

The first few years we lived in Haiti, I didn't have this.  I mean, I TRIED to be in His Word, and I was, most of the time.  I knew it was important, I knew I needed it.  But there were periods of craziness that I would lose that grip, and then struggle to get back in, later.  My hardest times to stay in the the Word are summers, when we are traveling and speaking and when life is, well, more convenient and cooler and smoother!

Two summers ago, I was sitting on my mother-in-laws couch in a very rare quiet moment, feeling convicted over not being in His Word and trying to get back in, when the Lord spoke very clearly to me.  He didn't give me guilt, or assure me that it was understandable.

Instead, He whispered me a promise, without me even asking, without ever expecting it.

If you spent more time in my Word, you would know Me so much better.

Yes, the Lord rarely speaks to me with rocket science.  He knows what I can handle.  This simple truth was so powerful to me that day.

I could know the Living God, MY God, SO MUCH BETTER if I would only spend more time in His Word.  That day changed everything for me, from a desire to be in His Word, to a REFUSAL not to be.

On days it feels fresh, on days it feels stale...on days it speaks to me and on days it feels pointless...I READ IT.  I started in Matthew 1 that day, and do you know that I am only yesterday hitting Hebrews 4?  I'm not flying.  But whether it be a few verses or a few chapters, I can't TELL you how many times the "next passage" has been God's Word to MY life right now.

THAT is Fresh.  Like YESTERDAY, when Hebrews 4 changed e-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g.  (blog on that soon)

No matter how you feel or what your schedule, refuse to NOT be in His Word every day, and watch yourself grow closer to Him.  That'll keep you fresh.

Oswald.

Yeah, you knew he was going to be in there somewhere.  I KNOW there are a TON of great devotionals out there.  There are.  There are some GREAT authors and some great works and I've done lots of them and there are more I want to do.

But when I found My Utmost for His Highest by Oswald Chambers in college, I have gone through that daily devotional every single year since.  Matt reads it every day.  No matter what other reading I'm working through, my dog-eared "Graduates of 2005" version of My Utmost is studied every day.

There is NO frill.  There is NO fluff.  There are no little stories to illustrate his points, no desire whatsoever to tickle the readers ear.  He takes scripture and preaches it as boldly, as honestly, and as directly as I have EVER heard it expounded upon, urging us on to ONE goal...not happiness, not success, not self...ONLY our very utmost for His highest.

I strongly believe that my time under his teaching of God's Word each day keeps me longing and desiring to grow in Him and die to myself on a daily basis more than anything.

Please.  If you do ONE thing for yourself or loved ones this Christmas to help their lives be challenged and drawn to Him this upcoming year, buy them a copy of this devotional.  It's no cake walk.  Stick with it.

NONE of these key points are cake walks, I guess. Draw close to Him in suffering, refuse not to be in His Word, dig through O. Chambers.  If having a fresh walk with the Lord were easy or took only a few minutes once or twice a week, I'm pretty sure the world would be a very different place.

There is a LOT that feels messed up, difficult and stressful in my life right now.  But I promise you, it is HIM that continues to lift up my head in a way that NO ONE ELSE CAN, NOTHING else can, and breathes His breathe of life in me...truly putting a song in my heart this morning when I couldn't even imagine the chords this past weekend.

Praise the Lord, for His glory.