Lay Down Your Circumstances

Posted on February 27, 2012 by Carl Simmons

I have to admit: I’ve always been perplexed by people who talk about the “comfort” of the Christian life, especially in terms of it being the primary reason for believing in Christ. To be sure, there’s “comfort and joy” to be had in knowing Christ, and “a peace that passes all understanding.” But humanly speaking, there’s still life to be lived. And life can be painful, so much so that it cuts through the veneer of all that joy and peace people both inside and outside of Christianity think we’re supposed to be exuding 24/7.

The good news is: God’s OK with that. In fact, He’s the one who’s allowed those circumstances to happen. And a big reason He allows them is this: Our circumstances reveal who we are and what we really trust. The situations we face each day—especially the bad ones—tend to bring out what we’re made of, whether we want them to or not. We may be shocked by what our circumstances reveal about us, but God isn’t. And He wants us to stop being shocked, too, and instead put our trust in Him rather than ourselves to get through them.

But very often, we don’t approach it that way. We think that if God cared about us, He’d change our situation. Consider this, then: That was pretty much the serpent’s argument in the garden, and it worked. Even Paradise wasn’t good enough for us.

On the other hand, when we lay our circumstances before God, He provides a way through them, even when we think things might be impossible—or probably closer to our real issue, even when we have no control over our circumstances. I already have the control, God reminds us; are you going let Me do what I need to do, or are you going to continue to fight Me?

We see a great example of laying down circumstances in the Exodus account. After the second plague out of 10 (frogs, by the way), Pharaoh asks Moses to remove this lousy set of circumstances. Moses’ response in Exodus 8:9 is worth noting: “Be pleased to command me when I am to plead for you and for your servants and for your people, that the frogs be cut off from you and your houses and be left only in the Nile” (ESV).  Moses is actually giving Pharaoh, the enslaver and persecutor of his people, permission to set the dates for this plague to be removed. Yet by doing this, he’s acknowledging that no matter what Pharaoh decides, God is still in control and will ultimately deliver Israel.

In contrast to this attitude is the well-known (and often over-argued) hardening of Pharaoh’s heart (Exodus 8:14, 19, 32, 9:12, etc.). The best definition I’ve seen of this “hardening” is “the continuation of a prior condition.” Put another way, God was pressing Pharaoh’s buttons and revealing his heart, knowing how he would respond to his circumstances. Because God had something better in mind for Israel, and that way led directly through those hard circumstances:

For by now I could have put out my hand and struck you and your people with pestilence, and you would have been cut off from the earth. But for this purpose I have raised you up, to show you my power, so that my name may be proclaimed in all the earth. You are still exalting yourself against my people and will not let them go (Exodus 9:15-17, ESV).

Sometimes, parting the Red Sea is a lot easier than opening up a human heart.

And that brings us back to… us. We want to change our outer circumstances; God is more concerned with changing our inner circumstances—the very ones we seemingly should have more control over but don’t. (Read Romans 7 if you don’t believe me, or even if you do.) When that happens, our outer circumstances already begin to change. And God will be there for the rest of it as well.

Lay It Down Today

Let’s spend some more time with a question you hopefully began addressing during last week’s small-group session: What circumstances are you facing right now that seem impossible to you—and maybe, therefore, also seem like they’re impossible for God to handle as well?

Ask God to open the way for you to walk through your circumstances—not a solution (although He may well provide one), but to see clearly how to follow Him through whatever it is you’re facing right now. Resolve to wait for God’s answer, and ask Him for the strength to wait. Start that waiting right now. Don’t just throw up a prayer and close this book, but spend time right now, waiting. Give God the chance to speak—and for yourself to hear.

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Lay Down Your Kingdom: a small-group session

Posted on February 24, 2012 by Carl Simmons

To work through this session, it may help read through the devotionals that go with this study, especially the “Lay It Town Today” pieces. You can find them in bits and pieces under the following names:

Lay Down Your Independence
Lay Down Your Strength
Lay Down Your Reputation
Lay Down Your Possessions
Lay Down Your Relationships

For this session, you’ll need….
• enough name tags for everyone
• pens/markers for writing

 

Laying Down Your Day (15 minutes)

Make sure everyone has a name tag and something to write with. Then say something like: Think of something you’re especially proud of—for example, an accomplishment, an award you won, a title or position at work that you earned, or that major purchase you could finally make. Write it down on your name tag, but don’t show anyone else yet.

Give everyone up to a minute to write.

OK now, very quickly, peel the backs off of your name tags and slap them over your hearts where everyone can see them. And then, let’s talk.

1. Why did you choose that thing? And why are you so proud of it?

2. Looking back now, where was (or wasn’t) God as you worked toward obtaining or achieving that thing?

God has given us great gifts throughout our lives. But we need to remember that that’s what they are—gifts. Even our greatest accomplishments in this life are the result of how God has gifted us, and how faithful we’ve been to that gifting. That’s why this week has been all about laying down our kingdoms—which, after all, are only the kingdoms God’s let us have. As we lay down our kingdoms, we open ourselves further to God’s kingdom work in our lives. Let’s dig more into that right now.

Laying Down the Word (25 minutes)

Read the following passage from Day 3, and then discuss the questions afterward.

“[O]ne of the biggest reasons that God calls us to lay down our reputations…. is [that it’s] a way of securing and encasing ourselves in a human love that, even when genuine, is less than God’s love for us.

“Thomas Merton, in his book New Seeds of Contemplation, described it as ‘winding experiences around myself… like bandages in order to make myself perceptible to myself and to the world, as if I were an invisible body that could only become visible when something visible covered its surface.’”

3. When have you seen a person or group get too wrapped in his/her/their reputation? (No “bashing” permitted; just explain the situation, from your perspective.)

4. When have you been guilty of getting wrapped up in how others see you—or on the other hand, felt like “an invisible body”? How did (or does) focusing on that separate you from God and how He sees you?

In Day 2, we examined the example of Abraham. We observed how God had to deal with Abraham’s natural strength—and the image he tried to maintain before others—before Abraham could receive the even greater gifts God wanted to give him. We’re not going to re-read Abraham’s story today, but let’s reflect again on it as we discuss these questions:

5. Why do we rely on our own strength instead of God’s when it comes to the challenges we face? Put another way: Why do so often so go the “Ishmael route” rather than the “Isaac route”?

6. When have you found yourself tempted to go the “Ishmael route” lately? Why? How have you responded so far to that situation, both positively and negatively? What still needs to be laid down before God in that situation?

Read Matthew 19:25-30, and then discuss:

7. Think again about the situation(s) you’re facing right now. What seems impossible to you right now—and maybe, therefore, seems like it must be also impossible to God?

8. How do Jesus’ promises assure you otherwise? How can you live in those promises, rather than in what you believe?

Laying Down Your Life (20 minutes)

Have group members get into subgroups of three or four.

Have someone read the quote from Day 4 below, then talk about your “Lay It Down Today” assignments from this past week. Which assignments did you find most useful or interesting? Which were more difficult, or harder to connect with? In each case, why? Go on to discuss the questions below. Take 15 minutes to talk together in your subgroups, and then take a few more minutes to pray together about what you’ve shared. Once you’re done, remain quiet until everyone else is finished. May God bless you as you submit your lives ever further to Jesus, and discover His love and freedom as you do.

“We do not serve a God of either/or, but a God of both/and—if we’re willing to surrender all of our tiny little kingdoms and properties and belongings to Him. God must rule over the things He’s given us, and be the one who determines how they’re used.”

9. Which part of your kingdom—your independence, strength, reputation, possessions, relationships—is the hardest for you to lay down before Jesus? Why?

10. What would laying it down look like, in your case? What could Jesus do with that? What are you afraid He might (or might not) do if you took that step of faith?

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One Small Step for Man… but a step, nonetheless

Posted on February 16, 2012 by Carl Simmons

We have a new member on the blogroll… and in turn, they have a new contributor.

David Showers, whose book Ten Steps to a Closer Walk With God I reviewed recently, has just relaunched his online magazine Extant. And as part of that relaunch, starting immediately yours truly will be a regular columnist there. (My column is called The D-Word — I expect by now you know what that word is. :)) Longtime and/or incredibly faithful readers may recognize the material there (although my initial entry there was from scratch); the rest of you get another shot at some good reading.

And you’ll find plenty more good stuff there—videos; news; articles on spiritual growth and parenting; blogs; book, movie, music and technology reviews. It’s a work in progress, but you (and I) will get to see it progress from the ground up.

So go check it out, stand up and be counted, and we’ll talk again soon.

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Lay Down Your Relationships, Part 2

Posted on February 14, 2012 by Carl Simmons

The good news is that loving Jesus above all doesn’t obliterate our love for those here on earth; it transforms it. Remember, “laying it down” is really laying our selves down. If we’re honest, we’ll probably admit that much of our love for others is about what we get out of the relationship. We love others, or are attracted to them, because they make us feel good, special, important, worth something. Obviously that’s not a bad thing. The problem occurs when we base our lives upon those feelings and rely on those around us to constantly replenish those feelings. And when those people or feelings fail us, we’re devastated in more ways than we’re even aware—because we’re now also feeling how far we’ve let ourselves drift from God.

No matter what our worth to others, we’re worth so much more to Jesus. Likewise, no matter what others are worth to us, Jesus should be worth so much more. As we learn to live out of that reality, we not only enter further into the presence of that infinitely greater love but are now able to truly share that love with those we love.

Yes, I’m talking very loftily here. It’s true, we seldom live in this place. But I fear that many of us have given up even trying to truly pursue Jesus’ love—that we have found even his “easy yoke” of obedience to Him too restraining. And the fact that we have given up is the principal reason why we settle for something—or in today’s case, someone—less than Jesus.

As one of my favorite songwriters, Bill Mallonee, puts it, “Love is just a plea / Deepest point of need / We take a reasonable facsimile, most of the time.” We desire to feel something, and Jesus just seems too far away. And so we unwittingly (or bitterly) turn away from the One who’s right next to us, who we’d see if we’d only truly desire Him long enough to see past the troubles we face today.

Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him…. Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures (James 1:12, 16-18, ESV)

So let’s start living as “firstfruits.” Let’s begin cultivating the deepest and most satisfying relationship we can ever have—our relationship with Jesus—and allow Him to transform our earthly relationships into what He desires. Let’s lay it all down, and move on to receiving His life and living that out day by day.

 

Lay It Down Today

Take a 15-minute mini-retreat right now, as soon as you’re able to do so.

For the first 10 minutes: Quietly reflect on the time you first drew close to Jesus. You can focus on either one specific moment or that general season of your life, but try to really reflect and recapture the sense of what that time in your life was like. Who was with you (or who were you close to, then)? Where were you? What were some of the sights, sounds, smells you associate with that time? What were you thinking and feeling? Replay all of it in your mind and heart.

Then: Take another five minutes to quietly reflect on where you are right now in your relationship with Jesus. Think also about where you are in comparison to those first days, and why. Finally, think about Jesus coming alongside you right now. What’s different from before? What’s better? And what do you miss from that first time you drew close to Jesus?

Close by thanking Jesus for the time you’ve spent with Him and how your relationship with Him has grown over the years. Also, if there are places where you feel you’ve “lost your first love,” ask Jesus to restore and rekindle your heart toward Him.

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Lay Down Your Relationships, part 1

Posted on February 7, 2012 by Carl Simmons

Let’s pick up where we left off yesterday, at the end of Matthew 19: “And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands, for my name’s sake, will receive a hundredfold and will inherit eternal life” (Matthew 19:29).

Is Jesus always trying to separate us from our friends and family? Is that really what He wants? I don’t think you can make a rule out of this. However, we are always to choose Jesus first. Whatever their proximity, Jesus’ brother and sister and mother are those who choose to do God’s will (Matthew 12:50). Jesus is, however, warning us of the division His presence, and our allegiance, may cause. We may indeed be forced to choose a side. But Jesus promises that no matter whatever, and whoever, we leave behind for His sake, we “will receive a hundredfold and will inherit eternal life.”

But let’s cut this a couple other ways than how we might be used to thinking about it:

  • Is the abundant life Jesus promises us purely just a pleasant existence among a bunch of “Christian friends”? To be honest, I think that’s the way most American Christians live it out. We may not have to leave our church behind, but we’ll almost certainly need to step outside of the comfort of it, in order to follow Jesus.
  • Perhaps the bigger yet lesser acknowledged fact is: We are never alone in our relationships. Jesus is always there, in our midst, whether we acknowledge Him or not. To believe anything different is to cultivate the kind of relationship Jesus says we must lay down. And yet, the friendships where we know Jesus is ever-present, and put Him first, are the richest friendships we have. If you’ve ever experienced this, you know it’s true.

The Bible repeatedly tells us that this world is only temporary, that everything in it will pass. That doesn’t just go for the present world system and its evils, but even the people and things we love. This is a tough truth to accept. We’re being prepared for an eternity with Jesus. We must learn to love Him first. Will we be reunited with the people we love in heaven? There are strong biblical arguments in both directions. But Jesus makes it clear that our ultimate priority must be Him.

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Lay Down Your Possessions

Posted on February 6, 2012 by Carl Simmons

Now the rubber starts hitting the road even more violently. Not that it’s easy at all to deal with all the internal stuff we’re been addressing for most of these previous devotionals, but let’s face it: At some point, all that inner conviction has to begin manifesting itself as outward fruit. As Jesus’ half-brother James said, “What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead” (James 2:14-17). Or, even more pointedly:

And behold, a man came up to him, saying, “Teacher, what good deed must I do to have eternal life?” And he said to him, “Why do you ask me about what is good? There is only one who is good. If you would enter life, keep the commandments.” He said to him, “Which ones?” And Jesus said, “You shall not murder, You shall not commit adultery, You shall not steal, You shall not bear false witness, Honor your father and mother, and, You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” The young man said to him, “All these I have kept. What do I still lack?” Jesus said to him, “If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” When the young man heard this he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions (Matthew 19:16-22, ESV).

It’s easy to distance ourselves from this story. After all, to put it 2012 terms, we’re part of the 99 percent, right? We’re not really rich. Many of us are even having troubles meeting our bills on a day-to-day basis.

But consider this: Someday, hopefully, all these little devotional will be compiled into a nice little book. And the money you’d spend on that one book would be more than the daily income of more than a third of the world’s population. Still feeling like a 99-percenter?

Ultimately, it’s not about what we have or don’t have. One can be genuinely poor and still greedy. It’s about our incessant need to have it. We want to possess and be possessed, and those are our biggest problems. Are we willing to put everything we have at Jesus’ disposal—or, if called upon like the rich young ruler, dispose of it altogether in order to follow him in the way He calls us to?

I think we know the answer to that one, if we’re honest. In fact, I think the real “1-percenters” are those who can say yes and mean it. And yet, Jesus does call every one of us to lay down our possessions—or more specifically, our possessing. What do we hang on to more than Jesus—and for that matter, than the people He puts in front of us? It’s time for us to release our grips.

“Then Peter said to him, ‘Look, we have left everything to follow you!  What then will there be for us?’ Jesus said to them, ‘I tell you the truth: In the age when all things are renewed,  when the Son of Man sits on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging  the twelve tribes of Israel. And whoever has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life’ ” (Matthew 19:27-29).

God is not a God of either/or, but a God of both/and—if we’re willing to surrender all of our tiny little kingdoms and properties and belongings to Him in the first place. He must rule over them and determined how they’re used, not us. As John Piper says in Desiring God, “It is better to love than to live in luxury!” Are we willing to test that?

Lay It Down Today

I can’t tell you what to do here. But again, if you’re honest with yourself and are willing to let God address this area of your life, you’re going to come up with things to lay down in a hurry. So, really, that’s your assignment. Spend time, just you and God. Ask Him to point out those things that you’ve let posses you. Scream and cry about having to let them go, if you must, but resolve to follow Jesus, no matter what the temporary cost. Trust that He will provide what you truly need—all the while remembering that He may not be providing it only for you.

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Lay Down Your Reputation, part 2

Posted on January 30, 2012 by Carl Simmons

In the first part of this meditation/devotional (found here), we looked at the reputations we try to keep, and how we tend to use them as a way to rely on the love of others rather than the love of God.

Here’s the other half of that: We not only play this game with others, but we try to play this game with God, too. We not only want to be remembered by God, but have the audacity to think we deserve being rewarded for the good things we’ve done. To be sure, Scripture says that God rewards the faithful. The problem comes when we put the focus on doing good—and making very sure others, including God, know it (as if He didn’t)—rather than seeking our joy in what is good. When we seek to be recognized for our good behavior, Jesus says, we already have our reward (see Matthew 6:1-16), and shouldn’t expect anything more than the massaged egos we already have. The Apostle Paul got this:

“In my zeal for God I persecuted the church. According to the righteousness stipulated in the law I was blameless. But these assets I have come to regard as liabilities because of Christ. More than that, I now regard all things as liabilities compared to the far greater value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things—indeed, I regard them as dung!—that I may gain Christ, and be found in him, not because I have my own righteousness derived from the law, but because I have the righteousness that comes by way of Christ’s faithfulness—a righteousness from God that is in factbased on Christ’s faithfulness.My aim is to know him,to experience the power of his resurrection, to share in his sufferings, and to be like him in his death, and so, somehow to attain to the resurrection from the dead” (Philippians 3:6-11).

Again, anything we’ve done apart from God is… apart from God. To lay down your reputation is to experience the life of Christ (turn one chapter earlier to Philippians 2 for a fuller illustration). So lay it down, and let Christ be the one to raise you back up.

Lay It Down Today

What are the “plaques” in your life, whether they’re physical or not? What do you point to as evidence of your own goodness or righteousness? Put another way, what do you find yourself defending other than God—or even perhaps in the midst of “defending God”?

A.W. Tozer, in his “Five Vows for Spiritual Power,” put it this way: “We’re all born with a desire to defend ourselves. And if you insist upon defending yourself, God will let you do it. But if you turn the defense of yourself over to God He will defend you.… For 30 years now it has been a source of untold blessing to my life. I don’t have to fight. The Lord does the fighting for me. And He’ll do the same for you. He will be an enemy to your enemy and an adversary to your adversary, and you’ll never need to defend yourself.”

So where do you need to lay down your reputation? Spend some time submitting that part of you to God in prayer right now. Resolve not to defend yourself, but to allow God to be your defender. And then, get up from prayer and start walking it out.

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It’s the Song, Not the Singer

Posted on January 26, 2012 by Carl Simmons

Let me put my personal prejudice on the table, and then we can all feel free to ignore it: I’m not a fan of Leonard Sweet’s style of writing. Nonetheless, because of the focus of this book, I took a chance on Len’s latest. Sure enough, the first 20 pages (and the last 30, for that matter) had me thinking, “Here we go again.” But the 200+ pages in between are a message that needs to be heard. And it boils down to this: It’s time to stop creating and following “Christian leadership” as it’s become, and start becoming people who follow Jesus.

Leonard Sweet. I Am a Follower: The Way, Truth, and Life of Following Jesus. 288p, $15.99, Thomas Nelson.

As he puts it (right at the point the book ramps up), “You and I are never leaders, only followers. The best we can aspire to is to become first followers, not followers who then go on to be leaders…. Even when we are summoned to the front of the line, we are still behind our Leader.”

From there launching point, the writings break down into three different aspects of followership: Via (The Way), Verita (The Truth) and Vita (The Life). Really, each section is a collection of short essays that can be read independently of one another. Nonetheless, they hold together well. And he drops some great lines as he goes along. The samples here should give a good indication of where he’s coming from:

“What are many of the most popular Christian leadership conferences but celebrity worship orgies?”

“For the most part, the Father’s business has been replaced by the corporate business of church, patterned after the business world itself. We have lost our passion for the winds of the Spirit and have become mesmerized by the machinery of success and the propellers of prosperity.”

“[W]e don’t think we are the bride of Christ anymore. Instead, we are in the ‘get my needs met’ business or the program business or the feel-good business or the franchise business or the social-justice business.”

And for me, the most poignant, “For the church today to fail in discipling followers is the ultimate failure.”

At the end of each section is a series of “interactives”—questions and/or activities that readers can work through to deepen their understanding of the message of each section. I wish I could say these did more for me, but there clearly was thought put into them so they might work better for you.

So again, no matter how you feel about the writing, work through the message here. Learn to follow Jesus. It’s worth it.

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Lay Down Your Strength: the fuller version

Posted on January 24, 2012 by Carl Simmons

Our strength—or rather, our reliance upon it—is still pride. And because of that, it must be broken. Watchman Nee, in his book Changed Into His Likeness, put it this way, “The characteristic of those who truly know God is that they have no faith in their own competence, no reliance upon themselves.” When we reach that point, then we’re truly useful to God.

Even much of the strength we think we have comes from our need to compare ourselves to others. We may be correct in thinking we’re much more gifted in a certain area or areas in comparison to others. But what is that in comparison to God? Before Him, even our strength is weakness. Until we’re willing to acknowledge that, even what little strength we have is useless to God.

On a personal level, studying the life of Abraham may have been the most rewarding thing I’ve ever done in terms of understanding God’s work in our lives. Over and over, you see this cycle:

a) God calls Abraham.
b) Abraham tries to do things his own way, and fails miserably.
c) Abraham finally “gets it,” relents and allows God to accomplish His will in His way, and with His timing.
d) Abraham himself begins to truly reflect God’s will.
e) God brings Abraham to a new level—and a new test.
f.) Repeat b.-e.

In the end, Abraham gets where God wants him, but in God’s way and God’s way only. Abraham was an ordinary man with an extraordinary God. So let’s take the cycle and use it to break down what’s probably the best-known example:

a) God promises Abraham a son (Genesis 15).
b) God doesn’t appear to be doing anything, so Sarah pushes Abraham to take matters into his own hands. “Here, sleep with my servant Hagar; we’ll have a son that way.” The result: A ton of family contentiousness (Genesis 16)—as well as millennia of religious contentiousness, via the birth of Ishmael, the forefather of Islam.
c) God waits 13 more years, until Ishmael’s has reached adulthood and neither Abraham nor Sarah have the human ability to bear any more children, and repeats his promise to Abraham (Genesis 17-18).
d) Oh, and Abraham also has to pray for an entire kingdom’s worth of barren women first, because he hadn’t managed to break that nasty habit of calling Sarah his sister whenever another king was around—yet another trust issue for Abraham. Imagine for a moment how it must have felt to pray for the barrenness of those women, in light of the years of waiting Abraham’s already had. But once he does, then at last God delivers on His promise (Genesis 20:17–21:1).
e) Years later, God commands Abraham to sacrifice Isaac—the very same son God had promised, and given. But now, Abraham doesn’t flinch. As a result, God spares Isaac, and makes a great nation of him and his offspring (Genesis 22).

Likewise, we often want to do God’s work, but nearly as often we don’t want to do it God’s way. We rationalize why we shouldn’t wait, or why some other way would be so much more “efficient.” But unless what we do starts with God, it’s worth nothing. We must not will to do, but will to receive, and then share what God gives us.

When we lay down our strength, we give God permission to exercise His strength through our lives. We give birth to Isaacs instead of Ishmaels. We grow fruit that lasts, not dead branches to be burned. We witness God doing something so much greater than we ever could have imagined that we have to choice but to praise Him—and rejoice in our weakness that gave Him the opportunity to work in our lives.

And when it comes right down to it—when you look at the results instead of the circumstances—what’s really the easier and more rewarding route, to give birth to an Ishmael or to an Isaac? Think about it.

 

Lay It Down Today

If you’re a reader—and since you’re reading this, I’m guessing you are—take the time to read through Genesis 15-22 (or at least Genesis 15:1-6, 16:1-6, 20:1-7, and 20:14–21:3). Don’t try to analyze it; just read the story of this part of Abraham’s life and let God speak. To help you process (and even if you don’t read through the Genesis passages), take the time today to think and pray through these questions:

• What right now has got you wondering, “Why hasn’t this happened yet?”  If your impatience were to get the better of you, what would you try to do on your own strength? In other words: What would your Ishmael look like?
• What small successes and evidences of God’s presence in your life could you focus on, while you wait for “this” to happen?

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It’s a New Day… because it HAS to be.

Posted on January 23, 2012 by Carl Simmons

I’ll try to keep this one short but personal.

Well, first of all: If you’re reading this, thanks. I hope you’ve found these postings useful, inspirational, or something positive. ‘Cause now, things are gonna change up a bit.

Over the last 10 months — particularly on Mondays and Wednesdays — you’ve been enjoying devotional reiterations of lessons from my small-group series Growing Out: From Disciples to Disciplers. And again, if you’ve enjoyed them, click that link I just posted and show Growing Out some love (or get some free review copies and tell yr friends — details, again, here).

But now I’ve exhausted that significant motherlode of content. So from here, it’s all new, baby. You’ll either find reviews of brand-new releases here, or excerpts from the work-in-progress, Lay It Down. You’ve already been seeing pieces from the latter on Fridays, and thanks for the positive feedback so far; it tells me I’m on the right track. But now it’s time to stop coasting and get serious, for any number of reasons. In short, you’ll be encouraged to lay down a whoooole lot more in the days to come.

So here we go. Stay tuned, and thanks again for all yr support. — Carl

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