KLOVE RADIO FEATURES – DECEMBER 2023

BLIND IN PARADISE –

Recently, someone invited me to play golf at what is considered the most beautiful golf course in the United States. It was truly majestic. Hole after hole on the ocean in the Pacific Northwest. Our caddy had been working there for many years, and even worked a round of golf with Bill Gates. Hour after hour, in a truly majestic place, I came to find out that our caddy was an atheist. He didn’t believe in God at all. Everything in his life was a cosmic coincidence. I prayed with him at the end of our round, as he was open, though indifferent, and I walked away stunned that someone whose life was blessed in so many ways, who daily worked at a place that looked like Heaven on Earth, and yet missed the entire reality before him. Every day since, I’ve prayed for Todd. I’d love your prayers for him as well!

COMFORTING GOD –

I did something recently that felt really strange but, the more I contemplated it, I sensed it was the right thing to do. I expressed my sorrow to God for the pain in His heart related to a great leader who had fallen into sin. It wasn’t so much believing that God wouldn’t be able to recover from it. I was just grieved in my heart that a Friend of mine, the God of the Universe, would be wounded by someone He had trusted to represent Him well. Part of me still thinks I’m being silly, but I clearly sensed I needed to comfort God. And when I tried to dismiss that emotion, I did not have a peace. Weird! Believing that the God of all comfort, needed to be comforted. But, even now, it’s a deep cavern I’m drawn to explore. 

MY LIFE PLEASES GOD –

Is there something more satisfying than knowing our lives please God? If there is, I don’t know what it would be. But the challenge behind basking in this place of Divine satisfaction is that it can only be accessed by faith. We have to BELIEVE that our lives please God. The Bible says, “God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it.” (Ephesians 2:8-9) It is an insult to believe that our human efforts are more pleasing to God than our faith. And so, if, as Revelation 4:11 says, we were created for God’s pleasure, the pleasure He has in us is in His heart, not in our deeds. 

RELIGION IS SMOKE WITH NO HEAT –

What is it about dry, dead religion that is so tedious? It offers the promise of more and yet delivers the reality of less. Painful, like trying to start a fire with rain-soaked wood. Lots of smoke but no heat. It’s about as much fun as struggling to remember an old password that wouldn’t work even if you did. As tasty as day-old manna or burnt toast, only a daily pursuit of the unrepetitive God will bring the freshness we long for. Dead religion drove me to atheism and provided the most boring memories in my life. A vibrant, living relationship with the God Who is madly in love with me is precisely what I was created for. Though not ever present, it is always within reach if I’m willing to do as He asked, “…you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.” (Jeremiah 29:13)  

MISREADING PERFECTION –

It’s been said, “A life is a terrible thing to waste.” It’s true. If a loving, all-powerful God created us for His pleasure, and we’re not experiencing the Abundant Life He specifically wrote into our script, that would have to be the most significant loss we could ever experience. Just because we haven’t experienced something doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. I can’t see the slight curvature of the Earth, but a different perspective reveals its reality. “Jesus, change my perspective of the life you’ve given me. Help me to believe what You believe about who I am and see what you see about the one-of-a-kind, perfect script you have written for me. You don’t make average, and You’ve promised to give me, exceedingly abundantly, above and beyond all I could ask or think.” (Ephesians 3:20)

THIS IS NOT A TIME TO SHUT UP –

One of the biggest insults you and I will ever hear is someone telling us to “Shut Up!” But that’s precisely what religious leaders told Peter and John in Acts 4. One day, when Peter and John were preaching about Jesus, they were arrested, jailed, beaten, and told never to do it again. Instead of seeing it as a rejection of what they had been doing, they saw it as a confirmation of the value of what God had asked them to do. The Bible says, “Preach the word of God. Be prepared, whether the time is favorable or not.” (2 Timothy 4:2). Don’t be intimidated by man. Opposition only affirms that what you are doing is right if you have the right heart and are speaking the truth in love. Stand up! Speak up! Don’t shut up!