Part 6 (1/2)

Remember Christ's courage. Remember his obedience. Remember how his uncompromising cooperation with the Father altered the course of history, affording us freedom and peace with G.o.d. Remember guys like Paul (formerly Saul) and Barnabas, whom G.o.d frequently nudged into enemy territory-but who stayed the course anyway.

It could be that right here, right now, as you are reading the words on this page, G.o.d has something to say to you. He might be telling you that it wasn't only Paul and Barnabas he chose to set apart for something new-he also is choosing you to accomplish something new for him. Is it a new opportunity? A new a.s.signment? A new adventure? A new start in life? Is he asking you to ditch a bad habit; adopt a good one; serve the poor, your spouse, your best friend? If you sense G.o.d is trying to tell you something, let him know your ears are open, your heart is pliable and your hands are ready for action. Tell him you're ready to get gutsier about doing what he says. And commit to him that whatever the whisper, you stand ready-right now-to obey.

CHAPTER 5.

G.o.d'S WRITTEN WHISPERS

DURING A RECENT TEN-DAY PERIOD, I NOTICED A SPIRITUAL pattern in my life that I hadn't reflected on in quite some time. It has been ingrained in me for so long that I sometimes forget it is even there. I'll explain its importance in a moment, but first, to the pattern itself.

It was the final week of an annual three-week initiative at Willow called ”Celebration of Hope,” when we as a church put our faith into action by directing practical and financial resources toward people in dire need around the world. I had told the congregation that on the final weekend of Celebration of Hope, we would be collecting a special offering to ease the plight of people struggling against extreme poverty in various countries where Willow has ministry partners.h.i.+ps. With that final weekend just days away, I received an email from a man in our church who wasn't too thrilled with the idea of this special offering.

”I'm still gainfully employed,” his message read, ”but I haven't received a cost-of-living adjustment or wage increase in more than eighteen months ” He expressed how ridiculous he thought it was to take money from our church and give it to the poor, when there were so many ”real needs” right here at home.

Now, my reflexive reaction to a message like that is to defend the decision of our church leaders (which is laudable) and then-in a move that on most occasions has proven something less than laudable-to inform the sender of such a note that there is a big difference between not getting a raise and watching your children slowly starve to death because of water-borne illnesses they can't prevent, detect or treat.

I wanted to give this guy a piece of my mind. As I framed my thoughts, pulled my desk chair up to my computer and was about to hit Reply, the Holy Spirit sent me a message instead: ”Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one other, even as G.o.d in Christ forgave you.”1 Still focused on the cursor that was blinking invitingly on my screen, I pretended I didn't hear what G.o.d so obviously had said. I poised my fingertips above the keyboard and tried to focus on the retributive task at hand. But the whisper crept in again.

”Be kind and tenderhearted, Bill. Kind and tenderhearted...”

I knew the words well, because they form a verse of Scripture I had memorized forty years ago, Ephesians 4:32. I didn't grow up in a very nurturing home, and whatever thimbleful of gentleness I have collected over the years is due to having written that single line from the New Testament on my heart and then playing it over and over again in my mind like a CD on Repeat.

Back in front of my computer, my spirit protested, ”But how am I supposed to zing this guy if I have to be kind and tenderhearted?”

No response. Not surprising, given my spirit.

I sighed, pushed my chair back and turned to stare out my window and think. When I re-approached my laptop a few moments later, I tapped out a response that was far different from the one I'd planned. That afternoon, I received a respectful reply from this man. I thanked G.o.d for his whisper, which once again had kept me from doing harm.

ONE EVENING THAT SAME WEEK, LYNNE STOPPED ME IN THE kitchen. ”I've been thinking about the gift you and I will give toward Celebration of Hope this year,” she said. ”Maybe we ought to think and pray about it together, rather than just write out some sort of obligatory check merely because we've been challenging everybody else in the congregation to partic.i.p.ate.”

Now I know my wife did not mean to insult me by implying I would just write an ”obligatory check.” She was merely suggesting we mutually engage G.o.d in our decision-making process. But I had just returned from a multi-city trip and was exhausted. Or at least that's the excuse I'm giving myself to explain the stinging litany of responses that popped into my head. Thankfully, this time, my lips stayed shut. In the split second that those ugly comments festered their way through my brain, G.o.d impressed this verse on my heart: ”Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.”2 G.o.d was reminding me through the words of a three-thousand-year-old psalm that he could and would direct our paths regarding how we should partic.i.p.ate in the Celebration of Hope offering. Instead of responding with wisecracks, I said, ”Yeah. Let's do that. If you pray fervently and I do too, then maybe G.o.d will direct us toward the specific amount he wants us to give.”

Sure enough, several days later-again in the kitchen-I asked Lynne what she was sensing about the direction in which G.o.d was leading us. She stated an amount, and my jaw dropped. It was within two percentage points of the exact number G.o.d had been stirring in my mind. We gave the agreed-upon amount joyfully, confident that G.o.d had directed our path. And I thanked G.o.d for speaking to me through his Word-and for once again saving my marital hide.

DURING THAT SAME TEN-DAY SPAN OF TIME, MY SON, TODD, stopped by the house. He was in the process of rebuilding his own house, which had recently been destroyed by fire. (Thankfully, no one had been hurt). Most of our conversations of late had been centered on riveting topics like foundations, floor plans and finis.h.i.+ng materials. On this particular day, the subject at hand was sump pumps; he was having some drainage issues and recalled that I'd faced similar problems with our home, some years back. As I bemoaned those decades-old challenges, Todd asked a reasonable question: ”Why didn't you just route a drainage pipe from the sump pump to an external drainage ditch somewhere? Then you'd never have to run your pump at all.”

His solution would have made perfect sense except for two minor details: first, if all the homeowners in our area had followed that solution, our neighborhood would have been declared a bona fide floodplain; and second, according to city ordinance, it was an illegal thing to do.

”One of my subcontractors actually suggested we do just that,” I said. ”We both knew that in function, it would be the perfect long-term fix. But, unfortunately, it was against code...”

”You were that fond of the building code?” Todd asked.

We laughed, but as I dug a little deeper inside myself for the real reason I had followed the rules, a realization came to mind. ”You know, Todd, I was twenty-eight when we built this house,” I said. ”It was a big house for a kid in ministry who had walked away from a family business that would've left him set for life. This house felt like a generous gift to your mom and me directly from the hand of heaven, and the last thing I wanted to do was screw that up. True, it was just a little building code, and no one would have been the wiser if I'd not followed it. But there's a pa.s.sage in the Bible that says obeying the authorities is a big deal to G.o.d,3 so sticking to that code, for me, was a tangible way that I could honor him.”

Some thirty years ago, G.o.d had whispered his wisdom to me about obeying authorities, and it had stuck.

Once G.o.d's wisdom gets written on your mind and heart, your actions feel compelled to comply-which brings me to the pattern I mentioned at the start of this chapter. What I reflected on during that ten-day span of time was that throughout the course of my life, on an ever-increasing basis, my actions and reactions (or lack thereof) have been powerfully dictated by promptings that come directly from G.o.d's Word.

The most predictable way to hear from heaven is to read and apply G.o.d's Word. When you increase your biblical engagement, you increase the odds that you'll hear from G.o.d-that's as complicated as it gets. After all, if G.o.d already has written down his advice on the most common dilemmas we will face in this world-things like relations.h.i.+ps, communication and money management-wouldn't we do well to take advantage of that? Psalm 119:105 says that G.o.d's Word is ”a lamp to my feet and a light for my path.” For more than four decades, whenever I've needed illumination in life, the Word of G.o.d has never disappointed.

ONE OF THE GREATEST GIFTS MY PARENTS GAVE ME AS A child was placing me in environments where I'd be motivated to memorize Scripture. Some of those opportunities panned out better than others-as a kid, those pizza bribes for reciting twenty verses correctly got a little old-but when all was said and done, I was given dozens of biblical sound bites that I still carry with me today.

Recently during a weekend service at Willow, I walked our congregation through many of those verses, which I'd arranged by topic. I'm including those same categories in this chapter, and feel free to add a few of your own. (A stripped-down listing appears in Appendix 1 on page 261 to make it easier to log these verses in your mind.) And I challenge you with the same promise I promised our congregation: The more devoted you become to learning and living G.o.d's Word, the more you'll sense his divine voice in your life.

The Truth about Salvation

In my view, every Christ-follower needs to know at least one key ”salvation” verse. Think about it this way: if someone was to ask you about what made you devote your life to Christ, one of the clearest, most compelling ways you could answer them is by citing a pa.s.sage of Scripture related to your spiritual transformation. I've explained how I came to faith in Christ hundreds of times over the years, and the single verse upon which it hinges is t.i.tus 3:5: ”Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the was.h.i.+ng of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit.”4 By quoting this verse, I remind whoever is listening that people can't save themselves by good works, that salvation is a gift of G.o.d's grace alone.

What's more, when I miss the mark of perfection in my own life (an astoundingly frequent occurrence), I can come right back to t.i.tus 3:5 and remind myself that my sins have been washed completely clean. I was saved by G.o.d's grace, not by my good works-or lack thereof!

If my choice for a salvation verse doesn't stick in your memory easily then find one that does. John 1:12 says, ”Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of G.o.d.” Romans 10:13 says, ”Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” Both of these verses-and others like them-are ideal for people who don't remember a specific date or time when they surrendered their life to Christ, but they definitely recall an era of life when they knew that they needed to be saved. If you have committed your life to Christ, write the words of one of these verses on your heart so that G.o.d's truth will be given a louder voice than any worries about whether or not you're saved.

The Truth about a.s.surance

Next up is ”a.s.surance.” Romans 8:1 says, ”Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”

If you read those words and think, ”Okay, so there's no condemnation. Big deal. What does this have to do with me?” then perhaps you've never experienced what it's like to feel terribly, tragically condemned by your own actions and shortcomings.

People who have been closely acquainted with feelings of condemnation understand that ”no condemnation” is a very big deal. If you've ever felt the looming certainty of oncoming judgment or punishment, or the sting of guilt and shame after having been caught doing something that violated your own standards of morality (or G.o.d's), then you grasp how utterly sweet it is to be told that you'll never again be condemned.

RECENTLY I SPENT EXTENDED TIME REFLECTING ON ROMANS 8:1, just trying to grasp more fully what this ”no condemnation” concept truly means. Around that same time, I received a whisper from G.o.d that I willfully disobeyed. It wasn't a federal case; it wouldn't have made headlines. But on this particular day, G.o.d had clearly asked me to do something-and I had chosen not to do it.

I went for a run later that afternoon. In the solitude of that time, the accuser-the evil one-started in on me: ”Bill, after everything that G.o.d has done in your life, you couldn't even obey him in this one, small thing? Why?”