Tommy O's Blog: doubting Thomas

Showing posts with label doubting Thomas. Show all posts

Jul 23, 2020

A Billion Dollar Headache

It was 1980 something and my paternal grandfather was in a hospital, fighting the terminal cancer that would eventually take his life.

Growing up I never knew or even met him because he had been estranged from my dad and our family and had only recently reconciled due to my mom’s intervention and pleas for reconciliation on the previous New Year’s Day.

In an attempt to work on the relationship, my mom went to visit him in the hospital and he (somewhat roughly) blurted out to her;

“Hey, what do you know about this faith healing stuff?”

Apparently, a nurse had been witnessing to him about how the Lord can heal and still does miracles today.

My mom, led by the Holy Spirit, responded to his sharp tone by saying;

“More important than your healing you need to know where you will spend eternity. Either way you will get a new body.”

My mom then shared with my grandfather God’s plan of salvation through Jesus Christ. My grandfather, that day, chose to place his complete trust in the completed work of Jesus and received him as his Lord and Savior.

He died one week later.

I thought of him when I was recently reading Isaiah 53 verses 5 and 6 which says:

V5 But He [Jesus] was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities;
The chastisement for our peace was upon Him,
And by His stripes we are healed.

V6 All we like sheep have gone astray;
We have turned, every one, to his own way;
And the Lord [has caused to land on Him] has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.

So often we as Christians will quote that passage when someone needs a healing; especially the part that says; “by His stripes we are healed”

The focus being that if you are sick, you can claim this passage that because of what Jesus did, you can be healed.

And I would say that is true.

However, Isaiah isn’t telling us this just so that I can get my headache healed (or cancer, etc.…) No, it is much bigger than that.

What Jesus did through His death, burial, and resurrection was so much greater than just provide healing for my headache.

In other words, His provision is so much greater than just a physical healing. He provided the only way to fill the great gap between my sin and holiness. That is the main point of the passage.

I had a sin issue and Jesus died to pay for it with His life!

Isaiah is telling us that what we are healed of is our sin problem. After all, if I die from whatever is “killing” me, I will get a new body…

Isaiah is also telling us that what Jesus went through is so much greater than just death.

What was heaped upon this Jesus (who knew no sin) was ALL of the sin and accompanying punishment that was required to pay for the sin.

Look at verse 5 again.

V5 But He [Jesus] was wounded [pierced through] for our transgressions

· that’s means my rebellion, sin, transgression, trespasses

He was [crushed] bruised for our iniquities;

· that means my perversity, fault, iniquity, mischief, my sin.

The chastisement for our peace was upon Him,
And by His stripes [blows that cut in] we are healed.

Verse 6 says that the Lord [has caused to land on Him] has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.

The depth on both sides is so much greater than we may ever fully grasp: My problem and His provision. My need and His grace. Eternity was hanging in the balance.

It is as though Jesus was willing to pay over a billion dollars to pay for my sins; which provided healing for my sin issue.

Paul wrote to the Galatian church;

“Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”) that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. (Galatians 3:13-14)

Which can also be appropriated towards other healing that I need.

Apr 23, 2020

Drinking the Wrong Kind of Tea

I was on a twenty-one day fast and was (for most of it) consuming only water. At some point during the transition back to food, I started drinking watered-down vegetable juices.

And some green tea.

That is until I discovered that green tea doesn’t mean that it is caffeine-free as I had wrongly assumed it was.

I discovered this when, after drinking some green tea, I felt a slight caffeine rush in my system. I had been drinking the wrong tea and educated myself by more carefully reading the box that the tea came in before making myself a cup.

Today, many people are drinking the wrong kind of tea. They are consuming it as they watch TV or stare at the news feed on their smart phone.

Commercial after commercial uses the phrase; “So much uncertainty… So much uncertainty… So much uncertainty!”

As Christians this statement should cause us to stand up and shout; “Uncertainty? Certainly NOT!”

Our God is the God of CERTAINTY!! Hebrews 13:8 tells us:

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever!

And because of it we have so much certainty!

Lysa TerKeurst said it best:

“I do know that what makes faith fall apart isn’t doubt. It’s being too certain of the wrong things.”

We can be free from doubt or reservation; confident; sure. We can exclaim to EVERY situation: I am certain that the LORD will come through!

He tells us in the Bible that He will provide. For our part we are to seek His face and His Kingdom and His righteousness.

We don’t need to live in uncertainty when we have so much certainty from One who is and will always be faithful!

Another phrase that commercials use is the phrase; “Unprecedented…” referring to the times that we are in.

UNPRECEDENTED?? How can that be? Ecclesiastes 1:9 says

That which has been is what will be, that which is done is what will be done, and there is nothing new under the sun.

The LORD preceded EVERYTHING! He created EVERYTHING! Nothing throws Him off. We may not have gone through it before but the LORD has seen it all.

Some of what has been troubling us is our plans are out of whack. Everything that we planned is up in the air and on hold.

We had been riding a healthy economy with employment at an all-time high. Everywhere you looked companies, stores, and restaurants had “help wanted” signs.

Real estate was a seller’s market and bids were raised way above the asking price in order to purchase a home.

We hadn’t seen the possibility of the whole system crashing. We had not listened to the wisdom in James 4:13-15

Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit”; whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.”

If you, too, have been drinking the wrong tea as you drink the media that exclaims that time are unprecedented and uncertain.

Or if you are struggling to find hope for tomorrow, I have some good news for you.

Every day you can awaken with the hope that as you turn to God each day, you will find His mercy fresh and new waiting for you. Great is His faithfulness; in that you can place your hope!

How much have you acknowledged Him so far this day? He’s not upset with you; He just wants to be with you and have you acknowledge that He is there.

Are you ready to start today over? Have you tried to change your life with no success? Are you tired of trying to do it your way?

Come to Jesus who will exchange your uncertainty for a certainty that cannot be shaken.

Call 1-888-NEED –HIM; someone is waiting to talk with you.

Feb 22, 2018

He Sees You When You're Sleeping…

And he knows when you're awake

He knows if you've been bad or good

So be good for goodness sake

As children we were told and we believed that Santa Claus COULD see us and that he DID know what we were doing ALL day and ALL night.

Because he could see us we knew that he was making a list, and checking it twice, and that he was gonna find out who was naughty or nice.

So, we were told that we had better watch out, and we had better not cry, and we had better not pout (I'm telling you why) because Santa Claus was coming to town.

Now this might have been a great plan by parents to get their children to behave by putting the fear of Santa Claus in them!

And it actually affected how children acted and thought; or at least for the short time around Christmas!

But it took years to realize how much damage this ‘theology’ did to us; even as adults.

We grew up with a ‘faith’ that there was someone out there who knew everything about us and watched us to make sure that we followed his laws. That this someone kept lists and double checked the lists in order to decide whether or not we made the cut.

This was the place as children where many of us who still struggle as adults with a perfectionist or performance mentality got off track.

This is the place where many of us who struggle with trust got off track. Because it is hard for us to believe that there was someone who would actually care for us if we simply believed…not performed.

This is the place where many of us who have struggled with being vulnerable got off track as we learned to constantly have our emotions in check, and not cry, or be disappointed, as we put our walls up knowing that someone had a notebook and was writing everything down.

And so, fast forward to adulthood and perhaps we can better understand why we have issues pertaining to faith in a God we can’t see when it collides with our perception of reality based upon our understanding of Santa Claus and his monitoring system.

Perhaps that is why we struggle to grasp the notion that there is a Creator; a God who made us and loves us deeply and wants to take care of us.

Perhaps we never separated that the LORD (as described in the Bible) is NOT the same as Santa Claus; no matter how good Santa Claus was to us…assuming we had been on the “good” list.

Or perhaps we have read ONLY the sections in the Bible where God is shown as angry, and so we assume that He is just like Santa dealing with people on the “bad” list.

And the idea that there is Someone who knows all about you and I and is able to see us when we cry or are disappointed; both when we are good and when we are bad, comes across as not good news.

And the only Santa Claus we ever personally encountered (at the mall) smelled like cheap cigarettes and booze or else he rang a bell as he asked for money that we didn’t have and made us feel guilty if we didn’t drop something in his bucket…

And if he ever did come to your house, he sounded a lot like uncle Mike.

So, maybe this is why it is hard for us to believe that God really cares and really knows and really sees us.

No thank you! We already lived out our childhood performing and we’ve had enough.

My friend, if this is your view point I implore you to reboot your mindset. In spite of what they told you, Santa Claus isn’t real, but there IS a God who IS real and He cares for you.

And, yes, He is watching you and He knows if you are crying, pouting, awake or asleep; good or bad. Yes, He sees all; but I am telling you not to be afraid. Or as the angels in the Bible frequently communicated; “FEAR NOT”.

He is watching you (when you are asleep and awake) because He cares about you and your needs; He wants to help you!

And He isn’t keeping a list to decide about whether or not you will be cared for. He points out our sin because He wants to inform us so that we stop doing what we are doing, and change, and go a different direction…

Because He really does know what is best for us.

For those who question whether He can really see us in our struggles I implore you to check out the Bible; the WHOLE Bible, so that you can encounter how He cared for people like these:

HANNAH who longed for a son and thought that God couldn’t see her. But He did and provided a son for her named Samuel whose name means ‘the LORD heard me’ (read 1 Samuel chapter 1)

HAGAR who was rejected by Abraham, who got her pregnant and then tossed her aside on her own, because Abraham’s wife Sarah (who agreed to the encounter) was jealous that Hagar was carrying Abraham’s baby. She was sent away with Abraham’s son into the wilderness and felt all alone until the LORD revealed to her that He heard her and that He saw her and that He would provide for her (read Genesis chapters 6 and 21).

JACOB who had been at odds with his brother and his father since birth; fighting for favor and blessing and provision, found himself all alone and on the run. He ended up working for a man named Laban who mistreated and lied to him. Jacob wondered whether God really saw him and knew about him. And the LORD revealed that he KNEW and SAW everything that was going on in Jacob’s life and met his needs for deliverance and provision. (read Genesis chapter 31)

I love how the LORD years later tells his prophet Isaiah to talk to Jacob’s descendants as they too wonder why the LORD doesn’t seem to care:

“O Jacob, how can you say the Lord does not see your troubles?

O Israel, how can you say God ignores your rights?

Have you never heard? Have you never understood?

The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of all the earth.

He never grows weak or weary.

No one can measure the depths of his understanding.” (Isaiah 40:27-28)

KING DAVID who had been on the run from kings, family, and enemies for a portion of his reign had a revelation of just how much the LORD REALLY does know who EACH of us are.

As one who was a shepherd, David knew the importance of having One who ‘knows when we are sleeping and when we are awake’. David wrote

“You’ve kept track of my every toss and turn through the sleepless nights…” (Psalm 56:8a MSG Version)

David KNEW that the LORD cared about his tears and he KNEW that the LORD kept track of them all (made a list) to settle the score with those who caused us pain and made us cry. David wrote:

“…Each tear entered in Your ledger, each ache written in Your book”. (Psalm 56:8b MSG Version)

One of David’s best Psalms describing the LORD’s knowledge of us is Psalm 139, which sums up what I have been trying to say about how deeply the LORD knows us. This is not something we should be afraid of, but rather something that should bring us great comfort in this world.

Psalm 139

¹O Lord, You have examined my heart

and know everything about me.

²You know when I sit down or stand up.

You know my thoughts even when I’m far away.

³You see me when I travel

and when I rest at home.

You know everything I do.

⁴You know what I am going to say

even before I say it, Lord.

⁵You go before me and follow me.

You place Your hand of blessing on my head.

⁶Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,

too great for me to understand!

⁷I can never escape from Your Spirit!

I can never get away from Your presence!

⁸If I go up to heaven, You are there;

if I go down to the grave, You are there.

⁹If I ride the wings of the morning,

if I dwell by the farthest oceans,

¹⁰even there Your hand will guide me,

and Your strength will support me.

¹¹I could ask the darkness to hide me

and the light around me to become night—

¹² but even in darkness I cannot hide from You.

To you the night shines as bright as day.

Darkness and light are the same to You.

¹³You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body

and knit me together in my mother’s womb.

¹⁴Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex!

Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it.

¹⁵You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion,

as I was woven together in the dark of the womb.

¹⁶You saw me before I was born.

Every day of my life was recorded in your book.

Every moment was laid out

before a single day had passed.

¹⁷How precious are Your thoughts about me, O God.

They cannot be numbered!

¹⁸I can’t even count them;

they outnumber the grains of sand!

And when I wake up,

You are still with me!

¹⁹O God, if only You would destroy the wicked!

Get out of my life, you murderers!

²⁰They blaspheme you;

your enemies misuse your name.

²¹O Lord, shouldn’t I hate those who hate You?

Shouldn’t I despise those who oppose You?

²²Yes, I hate them with total hatred,

for Your enemies are my enemies.

²³Search me, O God, and know my heart;

test me and know my anxious thoughts.

²⁴Point out anything in me that offends You,

and lead me along the path of everlasting life.

Santa really is the wrong representative of Christmas; after all he isn’t God.

Jesus (who was the BEST representative for God because He is God) came that we might have real life and real relationship. We need Him as our Savior and as our Lord. He was crucified, died, buried and rose on the third day.

And the Good News is that He wants to take burdens off our shoulders, give us rest when we are weary, hope when we are hopeless, healing when we are brokenhearted, liberty when we are held captive and oppressed, and recovery of sight to areas where we have blindness.

Jesus wants to help you today. Simply call out His Name right now.

Call 1-888-NEED-HIM for more assistance

All Scripture taken from NLT New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007, 2013, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

All Scripture taken from The Message (MSG)

Feb 23, 2017

Increasing Trust

Last week I had surgery to repair the meniscus on my right knee. Too many sleepless nights and painful years had taken me to a ‘fork-in-the-road’ of decision that it was time to get it repaired.

Mentally, this surgery recovery time has been difficult for me. No, not more difficult than any of my other surgeries. But it took longer than I thought it would. Part of this was because prior to surgery, my surgeon said that when he had this surgery, the next day he was on a bike.

Cathy jokes that perhaps when he sat on the bike, his wife said to him; "Hey, get back to bed; you shouldn’t be doing that!"

The surgery did go very well and after two days, because I had a lot of meetings and because I didn’t really have any pain, I went back to work.

But at the end of the day, my knee swelled up and made it difficult to walk or be comfortable so I decided that I needed to work from home; which, with technology and a great staff, should have been easy to do.

I say; ‘should have been’ because I really don’t like depending on others to take care of me or to do things for me. And because at work there were many fires that needed my attention and I was stuck trying to run the world laying in a bed in one of our guest rooms with my leg packed in ice and propped up as I tried to let my body heal.

And, to make matters worse, a squirrel was outside chewing on the soffits just outside the bedroom I was in! I knew how quickly a squirrel could damage a house and my mind went crash!

I wanted to let the staff try to do their jobs, but in-between emails, texts, and phone calls, I had way too much time on my hands to think and mentally get off track.

So, as I lay here writing this, I must admit I don't trust God as much as I think I do. Oh, I have trust for others, but I still look to myself to get stuff done. I trust my ability to work and my brains to complete tasks. But, my trust is really in me; not in God.

This was driven home to me when a coworker sent an email to me that said; "Tom, will you stop playing superman and take the rest and time necessary for your body to heal, please?!"

As I pondered his words, I thought about the theme message for our church.

Every year at church we have a theme message as a way to get some direction as to where we believe God is leading us as a congregation. Some of the themes in the past have been "joy", "simple devotion", and "thriving".

The theme is then woven into messages throughout the year sort of an anchor cornerstone for reference to what "prophetically "the Lord is saying to us as a congregation. Occasionally, I will hear that other congregations have the same or similar theme for their church as our church does… which makes me sit up and ponder what He is saying to the larger Body of Christ.

This year our theme is; “A Year of Increasing Trust”.

When I first heard of the theme I didn't think about it because I think that I do trust God…which basically means: ‘confident expectation of something or someone; hope, to rely upon’.

He has been faithful over and over and over again. He has been our provider and confidant. He has proven David’s words from Psalm 37:25 which says; “Once I was young, and now I am old. Yet I have never seen the godly abandoned or their children begging for bread.”

But the theme is trust that is “increasing” which basically means: ‘to make greater, as in number, size, strength, or quality; enlarging; augmenting’.

This is about increasing trust in HIM for: finances, healing, others to do the work that I need to get done, in the team in my life.

Even as I write this I think about all the other times I've had surgery and wondered when I would be able to run the world all by myself again. I thought about when I wondered when my hands would finally be able to work again, when my ankle would finally work again, when my shoulder finally work again. Today all of them work excellently.

Do I trust that God's presence is enough? What has God promised? What is the problem for you personally? What has He promised us as His children? What is the potential? What are the problems, giants, walls? How do we discover and obey God’s strategy?

What can I do to increase and trust? How will I study, meditate on, and obey God's word? What will I pray against? Say, "I trust you Jesus”; and then ask.

No, this was a new opportunity for me to trust God for everything.

Let me say that again: everything!

He wants ME to INCREASE in my trust in Him. To look to Him. To believe Him.

He doesn't want me just talking about who He is and what He can do for others.

He wants me to simply trust Him to increase my trust in Him.

Trust Him that He will do the work.

Trust that He will bring the increase and show His faithfulness once again.

“God answer you on the day you crash,

The name God-of-Jacob put you out of harm’s reach,

Send reinforcements from Holy Hill,

Dispatch from Zion fresh supplies,

Exclaim over your offerings,

Celebrate your sacrifices,

Give you what your heart desires,

Accomplish your plans.” (Psalm 20:1-4 MSG)