A "Wow" Night

Tonight is one of those nights where I find myself very deep in thought, and feel the need to share some insights and ideas on my blog. Tonight, I have been challenged with the amazing truth we can find in the Sovereignty, faithfulness, and steadfast love of God, and just how evident that is. You know those moments when you come across something and you can’t help but respond by saying wow, leaving you speechless thereafter. That is the power of God’s word! I was reading through Psalm 40 and came across a couple passages that really struck me as wow moments tonight, so I wanted to share.

Psalm 40:11-17 says,

                      ¹¹As for you, O Lord,

            you will not restrain your mercy from me;

            your steadfast love and your faithfulness will

ever preserve me!

                ¹²        For evils have encompassed me

beyond number;

                        my iniquities have overtaken me,

and I cannot see;

                        they are more than the hairs of my head;

my heart fails me.

                ¹³        Be pleased, O Lord, to deliver me!

O Lord, make haste to help me!

                ¹⁴        Let those be put to shame and disappointed altogether

who seek to snatch away my life;

                        let those be turned back and brought to dishonor

who delight in my hurt!

                ¹⁵        Let those be appalled because of their shame

who say to me, “Aha, Aha!”

                ¹⁶        But may all who seek you

rejoice and be glad in you;

                        may those who love your salvation

say continually, “Great is the Lord!”

                ¹⁷        As for me, I am poor and needy,

but the Lord takes thought for me.

                        You are my help and my deliverer;

do not delay, O my God! ^[1]

I was taken aback by the power and of these words from the psalmist. The idea that God’s love and faithfulness will preserve, even amongst all the storms that life throws at me. Even when I fail, and when I screw up to the point that I can’t see what is right and what is not, God’s love and faithfulness preserves me. The psalmist then goes on to ask for help. I don’t know about you, but I have a hard time asking for help sometimes. I like to fix all the problems and do it my way, someone else’s way my complicate everything! I can’t begin to imagine what God feels like when we are always doing our own thing, even though he has already planned our life. Why am I not seeking God for deliverance from my enemies, from my struggles, from my pain? Why am I so ignorant, that I can’t realize the help I need to survive?

My favorite part of this verse comes at the end, when the Psalmist says, “As for me, I am poor and needy, but the Lord takes thought for me. You are my help and my deliverer; do not delay, O my God.” wow….I honestly couldn’t say any more to that. Why, might you ask? Because I am that person. I am poor and needy. I will NOT survive unless I realize that God is my help and my deliverer. People around me might temporarily encourage or sustain, but I can rely on no one but Christ.

I hope my rambling has spoken to you in some way, and if not, I hope it has encouraged you to at least look at the scripture with a new light. One that isn’t just reading it to read, or studying it to study, but with an attitude of “I need help!” or, “God, I need to be delivered from this sin in my life!” Because when we can approach God with a willing heart, the return is phenomenal. God will respond, we just fail to let him most of the time.

                Blessed is the man who makes

the Lord his trust,

                        who does not turn to the proud,

to those who go astray after a lie!^[2]- Psalm 40:4

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^[1] The Holy Bible : English Standard Version. (Wheaton: Standard Bible Society, 2001). Ps 40:11–17.

^[2] The Holy Bible : English Standard Version. (Wheaton: Standard Bible Society, 2001). Ps 40:4.

Total Abandonment & Total Surrender

It’s been a while since I have blogged, and I have decided that I would like to at least attempt to get this thing going again, haha. I would love it if anyone has any questions or things to cause me to think through, so feel free to message me or comment at any time.

            Tonight I was bored and needed a break from writing my last big paper of the year, so I decided to do some pleasure reading (I have so many books I want to read…its insane!). Anyway, I started reading the book “Radical” by David Platte. From the first chapter that I have read, I would definitely recommend this book. If you don’t trust my judgment by one chapter…..well then I guess you will just have to be patient as I read through the rest. Part way through the first chapter I came to a section called ‘Radical Abandonment.’ It was directly after a section talking about Luke 9:57-62, and the implications and power that come out of that passage. If you don’t know this passage, I would encourage you to take some time and read through it slowly, thinking critically about how it applies directly to you and your current circumstances.

            In this passage, Jesus is traveling out from a Samaritan village after just being rejected by the people there, and he meets three different men. The first man says he will follow Christ wherever he goes. Jesus replies, “foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head. In an interpretive sense, he was telling this man that homelessness is to be expected as part of following Christ. To a second man, Christ says to follow Him. The man asks to first be able to bury his father that has just died, but Christ says to let the dead bury their own dead. The third man says too, “I will follow you,” but this guy has a catch, he wants to first go and say goodbye to those at home. Jesus replies to him, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.” What is going on here?! These people are presenting themselves before Christ as willing followers, and all he is doing is rejecting their small wishes before they go. In our culture today that seems unimaginable! It would appear that Jesus is convincing these men NOT to follow him…..

            Later on in Luke 14:25-33, we see Christ surrounded by a group of people and he says, “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and bothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.” Woah…now we are crossing a line…surely this isn’t what Christ really meant…surely there is some deeper meaning or metaphorical context to this passage. He wouldn’t really tell us to hate those that are closest to us would he? Oh but wait, He then says, “Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.” As Platte puts it, “This is taking it to another level. Pick up an instrument of torture and follow me. Imagine a leader coming on the scene today and inviting all who would come after him to pick up and electric chair and become his disciple. Any takers?”

             Platte makes a good point. We are so scared of this ultimate reality, that we deny it completely. We ignore the great price that Christ is asking us to pay in order to truly follow Him. Hate our families? Leave everything behind? Give up everything? Would the loving God I know really do that? To summarize Platte’s thoughts, this is when we come to that realization that we DO have to give up everything! We DO have to love him in a way that makes all of our other relationships look like hate. And who is to say that when we are totally devoted to him, that he won’t call us to sell everything and give it to the poor, after all, he did command that of the rich man in Mark 10. But we are in denial. We don’t want to believe it, so we shape Christ and his meanings into what we want it to look like. We make Christ into a God that doesn’t mind materialism. We make him into a God that is ok with only doing a half job on our devotions and slacking off, just because we tell ourselves that God still loves us even when we mess up. We have fallen in this pattern of changing who the Jesus in the Bible is, and often times we don’t even realize it! We are molding Jesus into our own image….yes, its true. We are doing this because we are most comfortable with ourselves, therefore the Jesus we know looks better and fits better in our lives when we make him more like us. Have we forgotten that we were created in GOD’S image?! Shouldn’t this pattern be reversed? However, its not. “The danger now is that when we gather in our church buildings to sing and lift up our hands in worship, we may not actually be worshiping the Jesus of the Bible. Instead we may be worshiping ourselves.”

            The thoughts brought out by Platte’s insights brought me to tears this night, because I too am guilty of this pattern. I too am guilty of making Jesus what I want Him to be. So I am encouraging you to analyze yourself and ask who you are serving? Who are you worshiping? Who is on center stage in your life right now? Our first reaction might be to say God…but when we take a step back, ask ourselves if we really could give up everything… who is central now? I pray that the spirit would work in any of you that read this, and that something awesome would come out of it! Our God is truly amazing, and there is none like him! I know I am going to place my energy into totally surrendering it all to Him, I ask you to join me in this Journey.

In Christ,

Matt Spangler

The Heart of Worship

“Give praise to the LORD, proclaim his name; make known among the nations what he has done. Sing to him, sing praise to him; tell of all his wonderful acts. Glory in his holy name; let the hearts of those who seek the LORD rejoice. Look to the LORD and his strength; seek his face always. “- 1 Chronicles 16:8-11

“Sing joyfully to the LORD, you righteous; it is fitting for the upright to praise him. Praise the LORD with the harp; make music to him on the ten-stringed lyre. Sing to him a new song; play skillfully, and shout for joy. For the word of the LORD is right and true; he is faithful in all he does. The LORD loves righteousness and justice; the earth is full of his unfailing love.”- Psalm 33:1-5

“Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth. Worship the LORD with gladness; come before him with joyful songs. Know that the LORD is God. It is he who made us, and we are his^; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture. Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name. For the LORD is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations.”- Psalm 100

What is worship? So often we think of worship as simply singing praise songs at church on Sunday morning. Or maybe worship is just what we do every Sunday when we go to church. Something I have been really convicted of this past weekend is looking at what true worship is. I had the opportunity to work a concert this past Saturday by a band named Starfield. They are Christian Contemporary band that just released a new worship CD. In the middle of their concert they sang the song “Heart of Worship.” As I sat there, I realized that this was the first time I had ever just stopped and listened to the lyrics of this song. The whole song hit me really hard, and I realized something that we, as humans, have been lacking in what we call “worship.” I have found myself just reading these lyrics over and over again.

When the music fades

And all is stripped away

And I simply come

Longing just to bring

Something that's of worth

That will bless your heart

I'll bring You more than a song

For a song in itself

Is not what You have required

You search much deeper within

Through the ways things appear

You're looking into my heart

I'm coming back to the heart of worship

And it's all about You

All about You, Jesus

I'm sorry Lord for the thing I've made it

When it's all about You

It's all about You Jesus

King of endless worth

No one could express

How much You deserve

Though I'm weak and poor

All I have is Yours

Every single breath

I'll bring You more than just a song

For a song in itself

Is not what You have required

You search much deeper within

Through the way things appear

You're looking into my heart

I'm coming back to the heart of worship

And it's all about You

All about You, Jesus

I'm sorry Lord for the thing I've made it

When it's all about You

It's all about You Jesus

Its all about you

Jesus

The lyrics and meaning of this song ring so true. We get so wrapped up in what we like in worship, and how we like to see worship done. We talk about the “worship experience” at our church and whether we like it or not. We complain about the worship. But in reality…..the center of true worship is Jesus Christ. The heart of worship really is all about Him. True worship should be rooted in the truth and the greatness by which we were created to worship him. From the beginning of time, man was made in God’s image to worship and obey his commands. But rather than making God the center of our worship, we tend to make worship our own. We put a standard on what worship looks like. We criticize worship if it doesn’t meet our specifications, and we judge others when they worship. We should listen to the second part of that chorus and be sorry for the things we have made worship to be, when it really is all about Jesus.

            So next time you think of worship, I would encourage you to think of it in a broader sense. Take a moment and look at the world around you. The lush landscape, the bright blue sky, the wonder of the sun in the sky, the creation of life, and most of all the price paid for us as totally depraved human beings. In Luke 19, the Pharisees tried to get Jesus to silence the worshiping of the disciples, Jesus turned to them in verse forty and said “If they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.” Lets do our part and not get to the point that the stones are the only ones worshiping our God. Take time today to recognize the blessings in your life, and the many reasons we have for worshiping God.

What do we Say?

I've been wrestling a lot with what to say in certain circumstances this past week, and maybe you can relate. Occasionally someone will say or do something that completely ticks you off, or that just gets on your nerves like crazy! In an instance we have to chose how we respond, and what we communicate through that response. Occasionally, if it isn't something that big, we can wave it off and go about our day without it bugging us to much. But there is a big chunk of those times where we feel the need to stand our ground or defend ourselves, depending on the circumstances. So we might lash out, or say something sarcastic that implies something about the other person.
The reaction we have, and how we respond in any given situation tells people a lot about our character. Aesop, the ancient storyteller, told this fable: Once upon a time, a donkey found a lion's skin. He tried it on, strutted around, and frightened many animals. Soon a fox came along, and the donkey tried to scare him, too. But the fox, hearing the donkey's voice, said, "If you want to terrify me, you'll have to disguise your bray." Aesop's moral: Clothes may disguise a fool, but his words will give him away.
So often what we say an do is a direct example of the real person inside of us. We can put on outer disguises and try to go about pleasantly, but when something gets on our nerves, we hold on, and just can't seem to let go. When we can't forgive and move on, forgetting what that person said, we eventually respond in any given way, to someone around us. Maybe you are mad at your boss, so you go home and take it out on your family, maybe you are mad at a friend, so you take it out on your siblings, or maybe you are mad at yourself, so you take it out on those around you. None of these instances are ok. 
Ephesians 4:29 says, "Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouth, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen." This is a very powerful statement, especially for those who struggle with their words, and what to say in any given circumstance. Are we using our words constructively to build others up, or are we tearing people down with each phrase we emit? God calls us to be encouragers, and representers of His name. We can't let the flesh get in our way and cause us to sin against other people.
So I want to encourage you today to look at yourself and those around you. First of all ask yourself, Am I being uplifting to people around me today, in what I say, in what I do? And second, How can I better be an encouragement to those around me, even if I don't get anything in return? How can I build people up today? Henry Ferguson once said "If someone paid you ten cents for every kind word you said about people, and collected five cents for every unkind word, would you be rich or poor?" Lets think about that today. 

Someone's Always Watching

Phillipians 1:12-14 "Now I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel. As a result, it has become clear throughout the whole palace guard and to everyone else that I am in chains for Christ.¹⁴Because of my chains, most of the brothers in the Lord have been encouraged to speak the word of God more courageously and fearlessly."
Each tuesday night, I meet with a group of guys for a small group time where we discuss God's word and lift each other up. Last week we started going through the book of Phillipians, and I have really enjoyed it. Last night in particular there were some things in the passage that we discussed that really stuck out to me, so I thought I would share those this morning. The first thing we have to realize here is that Paul is in prison in ROme when he writes this. He isn't just going about his normal life of traveling and such not. So that kind of sets the tone for how powerful these words are coming from him. 
The first thing that stuck out to me is how he refers to the fact that as a result of his suffering, as a result of what has happened to him, it had become known throughout the entire palace guard, that he was imprisoned for Christ. In other words, there had to be something visible about what he was doing. There had to be an attitude coming from him that was different from the other prisoners. Not only was his attitude and zeal for God in prison a ministry tool, it was also an encouragement to fellow believers. It says next that because of his chains, his fellow brothers are preaching with more power, more courage and fearlessness.   I think the thing that stuck out to me the most was the fact that it was because of his chains, and his struggles that this ministry occurred. It wasn't just because he was a nice guy that was standing up for Christ, it wasn't because he had a perfect life, no, it was because of the struggles and the hard times that he saw the response of those around him. 
This really made me think about the power of ministry we have within our struggles and hard times. I believe that people tend to watch us more closely when we experience a trial or a hard time, just to see how we react. It is in those times that we often don't think about our actions and just respond depending on the situation at hand. Sometimes that is with anger, sometimes it is depression, sometimes it is just how we communicate with our body language. Nevertheless, people are watching. 
So the point I want to make today is that we are constantly being watched. As believers in Christ, and as people who preach the word of God, we are watched extremely closely. We can chose to respond in the way that first comes to mind. We can chose not to think about it and just react. Or we can chose to think about how this struggle could be used as a powerful tool for God, and then react accordingly. What do people see you as today? Can they see a strong follower of God, or just another person? Food for thought. 

WHY ME GOD?!

2 Corinthians 1:3-7 "Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows. If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer. And our hope for you is firm, because we know that just as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our comfort."
How many times do we look at our lives and the circumstances in our lives and wonder, WHY ME GOD?! I know for me this semester, it has been quite often. For those of you who don't know, this is my second year here at Moody Bible Institute. I decided last year that I was going to take 19 credits this semester, that way I wouldn't have to worry about doing 19 my senior year. Coming into this semester I had a strange feeling that this was going to be one of my hardest semesters, and it no doubt proved to be right. After the first week, I was feeling completely overwhelmed, I had 7 classes, 12 text books, and a lot of goals for the coming year. To top things off, that first week I found out that the job I was guaranteed to have, all of a sudden couldn't afford to hire me. Now for any of you that know me, you would know that I have had a job since I was 11 years old. I had never dealed with this before in any way shape or form. At first I just kind of shrugged it off and said to myself, its all good I will just find another job. So I started looking everywhere I could, but nothing came up.....So i prayed about it more and kept looking...for two weeks I looked for several hours each day, trying to find anything. But still nothing turned up. By this time I not only was mad about this situation, but I was also starting to regret that I had taken 19 credits to begin with. What was I thinking?! And within this, I started to question God. I started wondering why this was happening. Why is all this pressure being put on my life now? WHY ME GOD?! 
Then one day, I was reading 2 Corinthians, and I came across the verse that is posted above. It starts out, "Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the father of compassion and the God of all comfort who comforts us in all our troubles..." That first part hit me really hard. The attitude in which that is expressed in is amazing! Praise be to God! There is a spirit of rejoicing there, a spirit of knowing that God is in control. The verse continues to give a reason for the comfort we receive from our Father in heaven. It says, "so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God." Wow! That is all I can say about that. It definitely gives us a different perspective on how we react to the situations in our lives. 
We are called as God's people to be an example to those around us, to both Christian and non-Christian people. Are praising God, and looking for the areas that he is showing us comfort? Or do we sit around and ask ourselves WHY ME GOD?! We forget our true purpose. My thoughts then went to one of my favorite verses in James chapter one verses 2-4 which says, "Consider it pure joy my brothers whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature, and complete not lacking anything." God has a reason for the struggles we go through. He has it fixed into his plan in some way or another, we just have to trust him. We can chose to try and deal with it and figure it out on our own, or we can come back to God and remember that the more we put our faith in him, the more he will strengthen our faith, and mature us in a way that people can see a difference. 
The last half of the verse in 2 Corinthians is such an amazing part of it.  Verse 5 says, "For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows." How awesome is it that we have the opportunity to share Christ and the gospel, through our struggles. We never know who is watching us, how we react could essentially be the changing factor in someones life. The key to that though is when it says through CHRIST, our comfort overflows. Not through ourselves, not through another method we might use to find comfort, but through Christ. 
I have given up trying to solve all the problems in my life on my own. Its really a lot harder that way than if we just give it all to God. We like to be in control of things, and manage our lives the way we want them to be, but in reality....its God who has the final say. But we have to chose to give it to Him, and chose to look for the areas in which He is working.
So my encouragement to you today is to look at the difficult situations in your life. Maybe it is relationship issues, maybe it is mourning the loss of a loved one, maybe it is financial problems, whatever it is, you know. Try to look at it, not from the standpoint of WHY ME GOD?! But rather from with the attitude of a servant, and ask What for God? Seek him for how he will fit this into the plan for your life. Come to him with your tears, with your struggles, with everything you have. He always wants to listen, and He will always give an answer.


In Christ,
Matt Spangler

Rest in the Arms of God

Matthew 11:28 says, “come to me all who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest.” What does this mean for us? How can we apply this to our lives. I had never really thought about the principle of rest in the sense that my devotional book describes it. When we think of rest we think of relaxing, maybe taking a nap, getting reenergized for the rest of the day, so what does that mean when we are referring to our spiritual lives? We obviously can’t just take a break from being the Christian example that we are called to be. In the book My Utmost for His Highest, Oswald Chambers says this,

·      “ A complete life is the life of a child. When I am fully conscious of my awareness of Christ, there is something wrong. It is the sick person who really knows what health i. A child of God is not aware of the will of God because he IS the will of God. When we have deviated even slightly from the will of God, we begin to ask, ‘Lord, what is your will?’ A child of God never prays to be made aware of the fact that God answers prayer, because he is so restfully certain that God always answers prayer. If we try to overcome our self awareness through any of our own commonsense methods, we will only serve to strengthen our self-awareness tremendously. Jesus says, ‘come to me, and I will give you rest.’ That is Christ’s awareness will take the place of self-awareness. Wherever Jesus comes He establishes the rest-The rest of the completion of activity in our liives that is never aware of itself.”

I don’t know what this means to you, but what I found in it is that, as children of God, we need to act like it. We need to be able to rest in the arms of our father, who knows everything. We need to be able to go to him and not doubt that he is in control. We don’t need to question whether he will hear our prayers or not, because he has promised us that. We can come to him no matter what, and he will give us rest. Rest being, we don’t have to worry about this life or what is going to happen, because it is all in his plan, and he has us in his hand no matter what. We can relax about life. We can chill, because He is in control. I think the picture of rest is one that really sums up how our attitudes should be towards our lives as believers. God expects so little of us, and takes care of so much, yet we put so much of it on our own shoulders. We need to be able to come to God and give it to Him.