The Phil Files

What a week! Or maybe I should say, “What a weak!”

The latter more reflects the reality. When there is more challenge, more ministry, more need, and just plain ol’ more of more, in a collection of seven days, I am much more reminded of my weakness more than I think of it being just another week. Yet somehow, grace sustains me, God uses me, and people are blessed by my feeble efforts.

I fully admit, this does not make sense. Stellar accomplishments, a great week of work, clicking off the to do list items, making a great presentation, and other things I might “pull off” well could lead me to celebrate my sufficiency. But, it has not been that kind of week. Instead, it has been full of hurt, crisis, frustration, risk, conversation, failure, flawed efforts, grief, battling for life, unexpected awful surprises, wrestling with memories, and a deepening sense of insufficiency. So, at what point does it become perfectly clear that the challenge is beyond my ability to pull off?

The apostle Paul puts it this way:

But he [God] said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me (2 Corinthians 12:9 tniv).

In our “Time in the Word” at Southern Hills, our focus is Colossians. So I came in after a day of ministry — with all its opportunities and reminders of insufficiency — and began to read Colossians … again … looking for some clear word of God to refresh me and help satisfy my spirit. Do you know what struck me?

In this vital letter to help this church stay on track, Paul repeatedly — even nonchalantly — speaks about God being the one who does the “heavy lifting” in the life of His people. Look at some of these key thoughts:

God called Paul to be an apostle: it was His will and commission of Paul (1:1, 25).

God can fill them with the knowledge and wisdom they need to be fruitful and live out His will (1:9-10).

God can strengthen them with endurance and patience (1:11).

God has qualified, redeem, and forgiven His people through Jesus (1:12-14).

God, in Jesus, created everything — seen and unseen — and reconciled them back to Himself (1:15-20.

God empowers Paul to proclaim Jesus and help bring people to maturity in Christ (1:28-29).

There are definite moments when I wonder, “God, who is sufficient for this? How can my feeble words be a blessing? How can my weak efforts make a difference in the face of so much hurt?”

And in those moments, God reminds me that no one is sufficient, but the Father has chosen to work with broken, simple, earthen vessels so that the power and the blessing are clearly not my own, but come from Him (2 Corinthians 4:5-10).

Ascribe to the LORD, you heavenly beings,
    ascribe to the LORD glory and strength.
  Ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name;
    worship the LORD in the splendor of his 1 holiness.

  The voice of the LORD is over the waters;
    the God of glory thunders,
    the LORD thunders over the mighty waters.
  The voice of the LORD is powerful;
    the voice of the LORD is majestic.
  The voice of the LORD breaks the cedars;
    the LORD breaks in pieces the cedars of Lebanon.
  He makes Lebanon leap like a calf,
  Sirion like a young wild ox.
  The voice of the LORD strikes
    with flashes of lightning.
  The voice of the LORD shakes the desert;
    the LORD shakes the Desert of Kadesh.
  The voice of the LORD twists the oaks 3
    and strips the forests bare.
  And in his temple all cry, “Glory!”

  The LORD sits enthroned over the flood;
    the LORD is enthroned as King forever.
  The LORD gives strength to his people;
    the LORD blesses his people with peace.

\o/ — Comments Psalm 29: The LORD blesses his people with peace! — \o/

Having spent the last week in a part of the country where floods have raged, lightning has sent it’s jagged crackles of electricity across the sky, thunder has rolled across the heavens, and torrential rains have caused flooding, this is a welcome and challenging psalm.

Like the psalmist, I’m reminded of the LORD’s indescribable power and my small place in the universe by such a massive display of natural power. Knowing God’s power if infinitely greater than these limited, but overwhelming displays of power, is both astounding and at the same time comforting. Clearly, I cannot control my own destiny. In the face of natural power, I am small and insignificant. Yet, the LORD chooses to know me and care about me and include me in His people. Because of this grace from the LORD, the LORD who sits enthroned above the flood, the LORD who is enthroned as King forever, I can trust that He will give me the strength I need and the peace I crave.

To this God, the only true and living God, belongs all glory, honor, and praise!

So frequently, we hear the descriptive phrase “crime of opportunity” used to talk about a robbery or act of violence as if it almost happened by sheer luck or fate. Most “crimes of opportunity,” however, are carefully arranged situations where the criminals have planned what they are going to do, they are just waiting for the right person and situation to come along to do it.

Since Jesus faced down Satan in the wilderness in the time of temptation (Luke 4:1-12), the evil one has been “lying in the weeds” waiting for his great opportunity to assault the Master (Luke 4:13). All the talk of Satan, darkness, betrayal, temptation, repentance, and faithfulness in this chapter let’s us know this is the moment the evil one has waiting to happen. Judas has now become the devil’s co-conspirator in waiting and arranging for this moment to come:

//Inspiration: Luke 22:3a, 6
Then Satan entered in to Judas Iscariot … So he agreed and began looking for an opportunity to betray Jesus so they [the religious leaders] could arrest him [Jesus] when the crowds weren’t around.

//Incarnation:
I must realize that evil and the powerful one behind evil are real, determined, cunning, and deadly. Paul warns early believers of this truth (Ephesians 6:10-12. I ignore this truth at my own peril. Satan lies in wait for the perfect moment to strike and bring me down. I must hear the message of this chapter and always be ready to resist him and also be ready to confess and return if I fall!

//Invitation:
O LORD God, strengthen me to withstand the inopportune attacks of Satan in my moments of weakness and vulnerability. Give me courage to admit my sins and failures of faithfulness. But, dear Father, bring the right people into my life that will keep on the path of your grace and power. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.