BEST TO WAIT

Have you thanked Him?

Have you praised Him?

Have you made it your priority to agree and cooperate with Him today?

Have you taken that deep breath and listened for what He has for you today?

1 Timothy 2:1 (The Message)

^1-3The first thing I want you to do is pray. Pray every way you know how, for everyone you know.

I was talking with a distraught sister last evening. She is a faithful lady for sure. She has a huge and loving heart and a gentle and compassionate spirit. Her smile is infectious and reflects her faithful and giving demeanor.

But last night a situation was pushing her to the brink.

Her situation, while not unique to my line of ministry, was most certainly unique to her and it was getting worse.

She has a dear friend who she is watching destroy his life with alcohol. Her friend has so much potential and so much opportunity, but is desperately stuck in the cycle of a severe addiction.

She is deeply burdened.

She is confused. She is angry. She is frustrated.

Often it is the “loved ones”, the ones who have been relegated to spectator who suffer the most when addiction interrupts. I know my wife Beth spent many a sleepless night in conversations with GOD as to what to do with me, my disease, the impact it was having on the family and what to do next. My friend is now in the same boat.

Yet as we talked we continued to come to the same conclusion.

We must wait.

We must give it to GOD.

We must trust.

And while all of those are easily said they are all incredibly hard to do.

I have learned it can be very “Pastor-ish” to encourage patience in others, but we all know that patience is not something easily developed and is even harder to exercise; especially when someone we love is hurting and on the road to a painful end.

Waiting can feel as if we are doing nothing.

We ask ourselves how can we stay in a holding pattern before the Lord when we have a problem that needs a solution, a question that requires an answer, or an urgent decision that must be made. We often look to the sky and shout “Come on GOD or really GOD?”

But we must wait.

GOD sees what we see. GOD is burdened by what burdens us.

Psalm 5:4

I know you (GOD) get no pleasure from wickedness and cannot tolerate the slightest sin.

And GOD has the solution. Never forget GOD can be implicitly trusted. His timing is perfect. So we are always better served to wait, watch and pray.

Psalm 130:5

I pray to God—my life a prayer-and wait for what he’ll say and do.

Ecclesiastes 8:6

For there is a time and a way for everything, although man's trouble lies heavy on him.

I won’t kid anyone today. I am NOT a patient person. I struggle when GOD clearly calls me to wait. I like things moving and shaking; I like to make things happen; to fix things.

But GOD is teaching me day by day to be more trusting and less fretful; to spend more time listening for Him than formulating patches and half-baked solutions. GOD is pressing me daily to recognize His sovereignty in situations and to trust the impeccable nature of His clock and calendar.

So my friend and I will wait. We will trust the truth.

Ecclesiastes 3:1

For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:

But how bout you?

I am certain she and I are not alone in this challenge of waiting. Perhaps a similar circumstance is swirling around you. Perhaps there are a myriad of unanswered questions raining on your life right now. Take a breath. Pull away from the drama and pause.

Trust GOD’s timing. Trust His truth. And wait. GOD has got it. And GOD has GOT you.

Isaiah 40:30-31

…He (GOD) knows everything, inside and out.

He energizes those who get tired, gives fresh strength to dropouts.

For even young people tire and drop out, young folk in their prime stumble and fall.

But those who WAIT upon God get fresh strength. They spread their wings and soar like eagles, They run and don’t get tired, they walk and don’t lag behind.

I love you all!

Freedom Church

Pastor GDelaney

NOT TO BE TRIFLED WITH

Have you thanked Him?

Have you praised Him?

Have you made it your priority to agree and cooperate with Him today?

Have you taken that deep breath and listened for what He has for you today?

1 Timothy 2:1 (The Message)

^1-3The first thing I want you to do is pray. Pray every way you know how, for everyone you know.

“It nearly killed me,” he said.

I don’t get to many AA meetings these days. Time and ministry just don’t allow me to traditionally“work the program” as I have in the past. But last night after FREEDOM I poked my head into a lead meeting in support of a budding friend. It was his first lead and those can be tough.

In a lead you are called up to dredge up a smattering of “how you got there”and hopefully inspire those in the room to “follow your path” as the AA preamble states. It is a big responsibility and even the most sure-footed can get a little nervous from the pressure.

My friend did wonderfully. I was proud of him!

His story is not all that dissimilar to mine. He was a late entry into the world of alcohol abuse, but like me he did a lot of damage in a short amount of time. But praise GOD he is alive, well and sober.

But why bring him up today? Why share?

Go back to the little quote at the start of today’s thought.

“It nearly killed me”.

Before my buddy gave his talk last night he shared that the message he wanted to deliver was a warning. He wanted to warn those in that room last night of the progressive and aggressive nature of the disease of alcoholism. The BIG BOOK says it is “baffling and cunning”; but I think my friend described it better. It is a cold, calculating killer.

That got me to thinking beyond just the challenge of alcohol to the real core problem; SIN. And I thought I would “follow his lead” and issue a little warning as well.

Sin is our nemisis. Sin is cunning and baffling. Sin is a cold and calculating killer in its own right.

Romans 6:23

For the wages of sin is death…

Trouble is while not every who gets this little DISPATCH each day has struggled or struggles with addiction like my friend and I, we all are challenged by sin. That is a fact don’t kid yourself

1 John 1:8

If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves…

Sin, like alcoholism, is a progressive and aggressive adversary. It starts small but left unchecked it will grow and will do its best to stifle our hope and make every effort to cloud our relationship with GOD.

But you know that!

What I want you to walk away with from today’s DISPATCH is just a reminder that sin left unchecked will do its best to kill you.

Now I know that is a little dark for the DISPATCH, but my friends talk hit home last night. He was a living (THANK GOD) example of the progressive and powerful nature of unbridled sin. It is not something to be trifled with or trivialized!

James 1:15

Sin grows up…and becomes a real killer.

And because I love each of you so very much, I wanted to at least encourage you to take a quick step back and pause.

Is there a sin or sins in your life that you are leaving unchecked? Is there a challenge that you are choosing to ignore thinking it will work itself out or just go away? Are you entertaining this cunning and deceitful enemy?

Don’t be deceived! Sin grows up!

And never forget it wants to kill you!

John 10:10

The thief comes only in order to steal and kill and destroy.

So deal with that sin right now. I know you might be at work or school, or maybe the coffee shop, but don’t trifle with it. Confess it and clear the deck; don't leave it unchecked and don’t allow it to progress any further!

1 John 1:9

But if we confess our sins, he will forgive our sins, because we can trust God to do what is right. He will cleanse us…

Have a blessed day!

I love you all!

Freedom Church

Pastor GDelaney

GO THROUGH IT

Have you thanked Him?

Have you praised Him?

Have you made it your priority to agree and cooperate with Him today?

Have you taken that deep breath and listened for what He has for you today?

1 Timothy 2:1 (The Message)

^1-3The first thing I want you to do is pray. Pray every way you know how, for everyone you know.

“When the GOING gets tough the tough get GOING”…

That was the title of a talk given by my dear friend Anna yesterday. Sadly due to some other commitments, I was only able to catch a portion of the content. But what I did catch packed a wallop.

Far too often when the going does get tough we do tend to “GO”…

We GO to the bar.

We GO to the “pity party”.

We GO to the “affair”.

You know what I am talking about right?

Too many times when the going gets tough we don’t stick around or stick through it, we run, hide, medicate or quit instead.

Yet as Anna pointed out yesterday, there is always PURPOSE in our tough times, there is always a REASON to ADVANCE THROUGH adversity rather than run from it!

Proverbs 24:10

You are a poor specimen if you can’t stand the pressure of adversity.

What each of us needs to realize is that adversity is one of God's most effective tools for growing us in our faith!

Charles Stanley puts it this way: “What puts us on our knees is what grows us up.”

Don’t you love that quote?

GOD allows adversity in our lives to bring us CLOSER to HIM, to make us more DEPENDENT on HIM, to bring focus to HIM, and to build our TRUST in HIM. As Charles says it, to GROW US in HIM!

That is why God carefully chooses where He wants to work in our lives and uses pressure and adversity to accomplish His plan.

Therefore we can’t wilt under the pressure or go running from the adversity. Instead we must be courageous and press through it; seeking GOD’s purpose in all of it!

2 Chronicles 15:7

But you (who are devoted to being with God and searching for God) be strong and do not lose courage because your actions will reap rewards.

In intense times of difficulty, we may be hard pressed to understand what God is doing but we can be certain God has a divine purpose in it. It does not matter what the source of the trouble is either. Whether it is from something we caused, from someone else's actions, straight from the enemy or from God Himself, God has a purpose and a plan for it. We can’t lose sight of that fundamental truth!

Romans 8:28

And we know that ALL THAT HAPPENS TO US is working for our good if we love God and are fitting into his plans.

So ask yourself a couple of tough questions today.

How am I handling my circumstances? Do I run to the pity party or the “medication” when times get tough or am I looking to GOD for the purpose in my pain? Do I seek to advance through my adversities or prefer to cower and retreat?

Remember, adversity is the most accurate barometer of our spiritual life. If we want to know the strength and quality of our faith, we need only look at how we handle our troubles.

Never forget!

1 Corinthians 10:13

No test or temptation that comes your way is beyond the course of what others have had to face. All you need to remember is that God will never let you down; he’ll never let you be pushed past your limit; he’ll always be there to help you come through it.

So make a commitment today!

Choose to advance beyond that adversity! GOD promises you will GET through it and be BETTER for it!

2 Corinthians 4:8-9

We are pressed on every side by troubles, but not crushed and broken. We are perplexed because we don’t know why things happen as they do, but we don’t give up and quit. We are hunted down, but God never abandons us....

I love you all!

Freedom Church

Pastor GDelaney

THAT HANDS AND FEET THING

Have you thanked Him?

Have you praised Him?

Have you made it your priority to agree and cooperate with Him today?

Have you taken that deep breath and listened for what He has for you today?

1 Timothy 2:1 (The Message)

^1-3The first thing I want you to do is pray. Pray every way you know how, for everyone you know.

Yesterday was an ACTION PACKED day. Lots of clients! Lots of volunteers. The "TREE" was BUSTLING! But sandwiched in between all the requests for assistance was a brief little chat with one of my most dedicated and hard-working volunteers.

She got to talking about what it is like to be the helper rather than the “help-ee”. For many years she was the one on the needy end of the spectrum. But now she had taken her place on the other side and she was learning that life on that side of the coin has its share of frustrations too. To be honest she was “venting” a little if you want to know. But I don’t blame her.

Helping can be hard. Giving can be grueling.

You see she was struggling with the way in which some of the folks she had been helping were either “unappreciative” or dare I say “greedy for more”.

But as we talked, I shared a little lesson that I have been and continue to be learning when it comes to helping. I explained that when we help; when we give, we don’t do it for the “help-ee” or even for ourselves; we do it as an act of worship.

Hebrews 13:16

Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.

I want to give her a ton of credit! Once she caught that drift, her tone completely changed. I think she even appreciated my help!

But it is true.

GOD honors our help and heart no matter how it is received or how it makes us feel.

Proverbs 19:17

Mercy to the needy is a loan to God, and God pays back those loans in full.

The reality is sometimes when we are helping other folks it is easy to get caught up in their response or worse yet merely help so that we get noticed or feel better about ourselves.

Instead we should merely help to represent GOD!

Proverbs 3:27

Never walk away from someone who deserves help; your hand is God’s hand for that person.

Isn’t that a cool passage?

To know that when we offer a helping hand to someone in need that we are an extension of the hand of GOD Himself?

That puts a new perspective on that whole, “hands and feet thing”now doesn’t it?

"Christ has no body on earth but yours, no hands but yours, no feet but yours. Yours are the eyes through which Christ's compassion for the world is to look out; yours are the feet with which He is to go about doing good”… ~Saint Teresa of Avila (How do you like that one NJ?)

So when you REACH your hand to help today or during this holiday season, remember a couple of things.

YOU are GOD’S hands.

It is an ACT of WORSHIP.

And when you give and help with a generous heart and mind you’re helping and giving will never escape HIS attention and YOU WILL BE BLESSED!

Luke 6:38

Don’t hold back—give freely, and you’ll have plenty poured back into your lap—a good measure, pressed down, shaken together, brimming over. You’ll receive in the same measure you give.

I love you all!

Have a blessed weekend.

Freedom Church

Pastor GDelaney

TRY NOT TO TRIP

Have you thanked Him?

Have you praised Him?

Have you made it your priority to agree and cooperate with Him today?

Have you taken that deep breath and listened for what He has for you today?

1 Timothy 2:1 (The Message)

^1-3The first thing I want you to do is pray. Pray every way you know how, for everyone you know.

“Tripped me up again.”

“Man, I hate when I go and do that, yet again.”

“Should have seen it coming.”

What you say?

You know, that habit, that pesky transgression, that troublesome, persistent, reoccurring sin.

That's what!

You have one of those?

Hair trigger temper or a loose tongue?

Leering eyes or a gossipy chatter?

A less than honest streak when the pressure is on?

Come on be honest, you know what I am talking about. That thing or those things that we are desperately striving to not do, things we want to rectify and put behind us but seem to keep on doing.

You know, those things our buddy Paul is talking about here:

Romans 7:18-25

…the power of sin within me keeps sabotaging my best intentions, I obviously need help! I realize that I don't have what it takes. I can will it, but I can't do it. I decide to do good, but I don't really do it; I decide not to do bad, but then I do it anyway. My decisions, such as they are, don't result in actions. Something has gone wrong deep within me and gets the better of me every time.

It happens so regularly that it's predictable. The moment I decide to do good, sin is there to trip me up. I truly delight in God's commands, but it's pretty obvious that not all of me joins in that delight. Parts of me covertly rebel, and just when I least expect it, they take charge.

I've tried everything and nothing helps. I'm at the end of my rope. Is there no one who can do anything for me? Isn't that the real question?

The answer, thank God, is that Jesus Christ can and does. He acted to set things right in this life of contradictions where I want to serve God with all my heart and mind, but am pulled by the influence of sin to do something totally different.

There are some things Paul recognized when it came to this little reoccurring sin issue; those troublesome “tripping” transgressions.

He realized that:

…those sins sabotaged his heart for GOD.

…those sins often led to more bad choices that in turn led to feeling bad about himself.

…those sins, those “tripping sins” had become so prevalent they were predictable.

Clearly they frustrated him. Clearly they frustrate me too. I am pretty confident you probably feel the same way.

I can fully empathize with Paul’s lament about wanting to do the right things only to find himself tripped up time and time again.

I don’t know about you but there are days where this passage comes to mind more than once; those days where I could actually see myself hanging out and commiserating with Paul over a little lamb kabob or something about the issue because I can't seem to shake it either.

Thankfully Paul, after all of his exposition and lamenting, does keep things in perspective for both himself and us. I am so thankful he did!

He reminds as that in spite of all the mistakes, all the failed attempts, the trips and all the predictable patterns, Jesus is still there. Jesus is ready to help and guide. And Jesus has already set things right for us!

Romans 8:1

So now, those who are in Christ Jesus are not judged guilty

Maybe today’s little thought is just for me as I lament an afternoon that was a little more contradictory than Christ-like, perhaps more rebellious than reverent.

Or maybe, just maybe, you have one of these reoccurring sins that keep tripping you, hurting you, nagging you and keeping you from being your best for GOD.

If so, join me and Paul in confessing that challenge. Then thank GOD for clearing the fate of our sinful nature through Christ Jesus and resolve to move forward today with a renewed zeal to walk in obedience and grace!

1 John 1:9

But if we own up to our sins, God shows that He is faithful and just by forgiving us of our sins and purifying us from the pollution of all the bad things we have done.

And let’s do as Paul wished to do, “serve God with all of our hearts and mind!”

And try not to trip!

I love you all!

Freedom Church

Pastor GDelaney

HOPE AND POSSIBILITY

Have you thanked Him?

Have you praised Him?

Have you made it your priority to agree and cooperate with Him today?

Have you taken that deep breath and listened for what He has for you today?

1 Timothy 2:1 (The Message)

^1-3The first thing I want you to do is pray. Pray every way you know how, for everyone you know.

I have some “neat” benefits with my job and while some days I kind of wish they were bonuses or trips to Tahiti (that is for you KH), they are actually much more valuable than cash or time on the sandy shore.

My benefits come from the friendships and partnerships that have been birthed out of both the FREEDOM and JEREMIAH TREE ministries.

There are times when I pause and take a napkin at the coffee shop and start to jot down all of the friendships and alliances we have been blessed to form over the years and I quickly have to go to the counter to grab a another handful in order to have enough room to write.

One such alliance is the one we have forged with SAFE HARBOR HOUSE in Springfield Ohio. (http://www.safeharborhouse.org/)

This is a truly remarkable place staffed and inhabited by some truly remarkable people. I had the chance to go up there yesterday. When you walk in the door you immediately sense the presence of GOD. The Spirit permeates every crevice and cranny of the house; meandering His way in and among the brokenness of the clients offering healing and hope at every turn. It is hard to describe to someone who has never been there that a house occupied by SO many who are SO hurt could be SO hopeful and SO healthy.

And while I could wax and pontificate about the “Harbor” for hours, I mention them today not so much for who they are but for what they embody and represent.

They represent HOPE and POSSIBILITY; something many of us sometimes sorely lack yet most definitely need.

Far too often we roll out of bed aching from yesterday’s slugfest, dreading what awaits us “out there”. We dread another day in the dead end job; another day with the “less than congenial” boss or bully. More times than not, our days seemingly don’t offer much hope or possibility.

But I want us to take a page from our sisters at SAFE HARBOR today and be reminded that there is ALWAYS HOPE and ALWAYS POSSIBILITY for one who is in CHRIST!

1 Peter 1:3

All honor to God, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ; for it is his boundless mercy that has given us the privilege of being born again so that we are now members of God’s own family. Now we LIVE IN THE HOPE of eternal life because Christ rose again from the dead.

In CHRIST we live in and with continuous and eternal hope and that simple message should serve to shake any doldrums, depression or anxiety!

That eternal hope should brighten the bleariest of situations!

The team at SAFE HARBOR daily deals with women who have been sold, trafficked, abused, and forgotten; women who have turned to substances to ease the pain or take the place of relationships; women whose window of hope was small and sadly shrinking.

Yet through CHRIST the “Harbor” is able to offer the unquestionable hope and truth that is JESUS!

And that same hope, that same truth is available to you this morning and in your circumstance! You just need to do what they do. Trust and pray for GOD to deliver it just as He promises He will!

Romans 15:13

…pray that God will help you overflow with HOPE in HIM through the Holy Spirit’s power within you.

If today can be ripe with hope and possibility for a young woman recovering from a life of prostitution and pain, don’t you think HOPE is available for you too?

I do!

The LORD does too.

2 Thessalonians 2:17

God loved us and gave us through his grace a wonderful HOPE and comfort that has no end.

You see?

There it is! HOPE and POSSIBILITY!

I love you all!

Freedom Church

Pastor GDelaney