More Than Bread

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In the last episode, I told you the story of Carl McCumb. He died in the Alaskan wilderness because he didn't know the universal sign for "I need help." Do you know what the universal sign for "I need help" is? You raise both hands with palms to heavens. That's the universal signal for I need help. It’s not a bad thing to come to God's Word with a posture of helplessness, rather than independence. 

In fact, before this episode is done, I'll encourage you to do that. Stand and raise your hands with your palms to the heavens and say, "God I need help.” Maybe you are thinking, what will people think. It doesn't matter. If you are in the wilderness in need of help, it doesn't matter what the caribou think...if you are desperate for help and help is in sight, raise your hands and ask for help! 

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We prepare for things that matter to us. So let me ask you what are you doing to prepare to thrive? Well I guess it depends on what we think will help us thrive, right? For those of us who are Christ-followers, preparation probably involves scripture. There's more to it than just scripture, but if you came to me and asked me how to thrive as a Christian, sooner or later I would point you to the Bible. Hard to thrive without the Bible. It has value for us in so many different ways. But for a few moments, in this episode, I just remind us about what I think is the glorious goal of scripture. 

It's Jesus. Even the book of Daniel is a witness to Jesus.

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One of the principles fueling Daniel's thriving in the midst of hard times, is his deep conviction that God is in control of whoever's in control. This doesn't mean that we are just puppets in God's theatre of life. When we say that God is in control, we mean that nothing is beyond him. Nothing catches him unaware. What He purposes to do he will do. No power in the world is greater than his power, no wisdom in the world is deeper than his wisdom. No hate in the world is greater than his love. No evil in the world is more real than his goodness. And this is the truth that empowered Daniel to thrive when lions roared. 

But if we don't give Him our ears, if we don't listen to His Words, we don't really believe that God is in control. Who's got your ears?

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Let me start this series on the book of Daniel by stating an obvious truth. We live in turbulent times. From the life of an individual to the culture of our own community to the headlines of our nation to the suffering experienced across our globe. We live in turbulent times. And yet in the midst of life-draining seasons, let me suggest that deep within every heart is a desire to thrive. Deep within every orphaned and refugee heart, every depressed and party-hard heart, every next-gen and retired heart, every fatherless and every family-healthy heart, there's a deep desire to thrive. We long for a life that goes beyond mere survival!

So this podcast series, on Daniel, is all about "Daring to Thrive.” Dare to thrive when lions roar and the flames threaten to consume you, and you're living in Babylon. Dare to thrive, because God is with you, even when the lions roar! 

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"If you remain in me, your life will be filled with fruit!" Jesus is saying that if we  connect with him and his words go deep into us and stick, our lives will be fruitful. You will make a difference in people's lives. You will have an impact. There will be fruit.  Some of that fruit will be the changing of our lives and some of that fruit will be seen in the lives we have touched. In fact the Bibles says that there will come a day when you stand together with those whom lives you have touched, and  standing there with them will bring you great joy.  

In this episode, we are going to take a few moments to imagine that!

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Everytime we open the Bible, it can be like sitting down with Jesus. I really believe that, no matter what page we are on. So here's what I want you to do for just a few moments; picture yourself with Jesus, walking by a stream, catching up over a grande coffee. You're sitting by a fire in a little cabin, or talking a walk in the afternoon with the snow gently falling, or like the disciples one Thursday night over 2000 years ago, you are walking through a vineyard. It's evening. You don't know it but Jesus is sharing his last thoughts before he dies on a cross.

 And  in the space of about 10 minutes he will use the word "remain" at least 8 times.  It's a word that he wanted to leave with them...and speak to us. "Remain in me. Let my words remain in you...if you do, your life will be fruitful. In this episode we start to unpack what it means to remain.

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On this podcast, I often talk about the three L's; if we want to thrive on every word that comes from the mouth of God; we need to listen, we need to learn, and we need to lean in. Listening and learning, I find those two L's to be a bit easier than the last L. Leaning in, doing it, that's the hard part, isn't it?  Studying it is one thing. Trying to have an encounter with God that's kind of exciting. I'd like to be able to say, "I've heard the voice of God, the whisper of the Spirit." 

But doing what He says, leaning in, relentlessly responding, that's a little different. Responding requires trust. How I respond to God's word gives my answer to the question, "Can God be trusted?"

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This episode is about two different character qualities... trust and meekness. Do you trust God and do you receive His Word with meekness. Some of us think the reason we can't believe is because of our minds... when really the problem is our hearts... our hearts have become so broken, so fragmented...that we're afraid to trust God. That's why this journey, this call to hear God is interwoven with the call to trust God. And if we trust God, we will receive His Words with a meekness of heart. I'll have to describe that one a bit, because not many of us think meek is a good thing to seek!

 I so deeply want us to get into this Book, and hear God's Words, but ultimately it is not abt chckng off boxes in a journal.  It's about hearing the whisper of the Spirit.  It's about developing a life-giving relationship with God, that is characterized by trust and meekness.

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As we get started back up with this podcast, I want to take some time, after 400 episodes to remind us why we are doing this. In Psalm 119:72, the psalmist writes, "The words of your mouth are better to me than thousands of shekels of gold and silver..." Similart words are found in Psalm 19:7-11, "The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple; the  precepts of the Lord are right... More to be desired are they than gold..."

Honestly my primary goal through this podcast is that we would be drawn to the Words of God, that we would develop a hunger to hang out with Jesus and listen to the whisper of His Spirit through our hearts and out our ears.  My goal is that we would go to this book again and again in search of gold.  Because we need more than bread for our stomachs to thrive, we need His Word for our souls!

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As we close our series on "Praying Scripture" it’s a bit different episode; not so much a prayer in scripture, as it is a scripture for praying people, or a scripture about a praying person. The scripture is in James 6, and the praying man is Elijah. Elijah prayed for a miracle and he got a miracle, then later he needed a miracle and all he got was a gentle whisper. But God was in the whisper!

I think this episode will encourage us to listen for God to speak a word in the gentle voice of silence. The whisper. Sometimes hearing the whisper of God is the miracle we truly need!