Prepare for Rain

Michael Catt's book, Prepare for Rain: The Story of a Church that Believed God for the Impossible, should be required reading for all pastors and interested laymen. He does a great job explaining the ministry at Sherwood Baptist Church. The book tells a little about the movie, Facing the Gaints. This is where part of the title of the book comes (the first quote below is from the book, but taken frm the movie). I've only included a few quotes from the book, but please do not think any less of the book, it is excellent!

GrantI heard a story about two farmers who desperately needed nrain. Both of them prayed for rain, but only one of them went out and prepared his fields to receive it. Which one do you think trusted God to send the rain? Well, the one who prepared his fields for it. Which one are you? God will send the rain when He is ready. You need to prepare your fields to receive it. p. 11

Revival comes by agonizing, not organizing. p. 160

Revival is a divine interruption. I long for something to happen that is not on our planned-out, pre-arranged calendars. In 1975 I heard James Baker Cauthen say, "We're so organized and planned out that if the Holy Spirit left we could run for ten years and never know He was gone." We don't have time to seek God because we have to sell the latest product.p. 160

Un fortunately, the circumstances will rarely be completely favorable for believing God. We're forced to believe in darkness, crisis, tragedy, grief, suffering and uncertainty. Have you ever considered the following:

• Alexander the Great conquered the world by his thirtieth birthday but never went to college.
• Shakespeare was one of the greatest writers in history, but he didn't know to type.
• Knute Rockne, a legendary coach at Notre Dame, never won an NCCA championship.
• The twelve disciples never had a best-selling book or renowned religious talk show.
• Paul was never voted TIME Magazine's "Man of the Year."
• Martin Luther was considered a heretic by his peers.
• John B unyan wrote Pilgrim's Progress in prison.
• A church in Albany, Georgia, made a movie! pp. 168-169

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You Were Made For More

Jim Cymbala's new book, You Were Made for More, has many good thoughts. I have listed several below:

God’s kingdom will not be achieved by halfhearted measures. When we begin to act on our special assignment, it is pretty much guaranteed that we will be pushed beyond our comfort zones. We may be called to do things we don’t feel prepared for, even if we are capable. The assignment may call for more faith and courage than we have ever known. p. 27

We would do well not to focus on the top troubles lined up against us. Instead, we need to celebrate the God who has already demonstrated His power and provision in our past. p. 37

One word picture in the Bible for the Holy Spirit is fire. P.74

Fire has at least three remarkable properties that help us understand the work of the spirit. p. 75

1. Fire penetrates whatever it touches. p. 75
The Holy Spirit destroys whatever is flammable. He burns up what doesn’t belong in our lives, the “wood, hay, or straw” (1 Cor. 3:12) that are going to be exposed on the day of judgment anyway. They might as well get burned out now. p. 76
2. Fire serves as a light p. 76
The Holy Spirit is a bright and shinning guide for us. p. 76
3. Fire is contagious p. 76
If we are ablaze with God’s Spirit, we are bound to affect other people. p. 76

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There is a place for human logic and judgment - but not if these things undermine God’s plans for our lives through the ministry of the Holy Spirit. p. 110

The principle behind almost any form of exercise is that resistance is required to make a person stronger. Muscles can’t build without force working against them. The same is true in the spiritual realm. Without “powers and principalities” working against us from time to time, our spiritual muscles don’t have a chance to be developed. p. 137

God is always into making His children channels of blessing. Remember this every time you face a difficult challenge. The day is coming when you will be a source of inspiration and hope to someone else who is undergoing a deep trial. p. 144

God develops testimonies of victory out of settings of difficulty and sometimes even desperation. Then He puts them to use with people who are struggling today just like we did yesterday. p. 145

Many of us today are in danger of missing out on a great future with God because of our concern over qualifications. p. 170

But God knows what He is doing, and when we take the risk to follow Him, He will meet all our needs. If we need financial resources, He will supply them. If we need strength and endurance, He will fortify us. If we need wisdom, He has promised to give it to us. We simply have to take God at His Word, trusting and obeying, regardless of the what-ifs and regardless of our fears. p. 170

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Mountain In My Rearview Mirror

One of my favorite storytellers is Bill Butterworth. In his new book, Mountain In My Rearview Mirror, he does not disappoint!

I highly recommend this book for everyone. I think after you read the quotes below, you will agree!

If you speak to the hurting, you will never lack for an audience. p. xv

Honestly, I see things in my life today that I never would have seen without the opportunity to overcome the overwhelming obstacles in my life. I'm a different man-a better man-today. For all the theologians out there, let me be clear. I don't think God caused my obstacles, but He certainly did allow them to happen. And I think He did so in order to strengthen me in the way I live my life. He was building character. p. xxv

God is interested in more than an occasional glance. He wants to be our total focus. p. 54

All of us develop some level of SADD (spiritual attention deficit disorder). p. 59

When we dwell on life's circumstances, anxiety and fear return. p. 60

Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God Philippians 4:6

This verse may be the most helpful because of its simple formula. Don't be anxious. Instead, take all the time and effort normally expended on anxiety and replace it with prayer. Don't worry about anything; instead, pray about everything! p. 61

Worry and doubt are signs that we have lost our focus. p. 62

For we walk by faith, not by sight. 2 Corinthians 5:7

For our purposes, perhaps we could paraphrase it this way:

For we walk by focus, not by vision.

In the end, it's not what we can see, but how faithful we are to trust God. Seeing only complicates the situation. For what we see often is perceived as opposite of what God should be doing.  p. 63

We don't need to fight, but we do need to stand in order to see God deliver us.

You will not even need to fight. Take your positions; then stand still and watch the LORD's victory. 2 Chronicles 20: 17  p. 123

Our adversaries will stand against each other and destroy each other.

The armies of Moab and Ammon turned against their allies from Mount Seir and killed every one of them. After they had destroyed the army of Seir, they began attacking each other. 2 Chronicles 20: 23  p. 127

We're being faithful. We're trusting God. But nothing seems to be happening. Hang in there, friend. Just because it isn't happening now doesn't mean it isn't going to happen. It's all a matter of timing-God's perfect timing.  p. 127

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A Tale of two Sons

John MacArthur in A Tale of Two Sons does an excellent job of examining the parable in Luke 15:11-32.

I have a quote about sheep and a shepherd.

A sheep separated from the flock and left to wander by itself in the wilderness will die, even with an abundance of food and water all around. It's only a matter of time before the lost sheep would succumb to the stress of being separated from the flock, the threat of predators, or exposure to the elements. Any or all of those could be fatal in short order. p. 28

There's an image of compassion and an illustration of divine grace in the way the shepherd "lays it on his shoulders" and brings it home. He doesn't bear or berate the wandering sheep. He doesn't even leave it to the sheep to travel home in his own power. He lifts it up and carries it, and he does so with joy and delight rather than anger or exasperation. In fact, in Jesus' account, the shepherd is so delighted over the return of the sheep that he calls together his friends and neighbors to celebrate. p. 28

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FireProof Your Life

The book, FireProof Your Life, is a study based on the movie Fire Proof. It is a very good book.

Here are a few quotes:

Trials show what we are made of - they reveal our hearts, our faith, our level of maturity. p. 14

Noah built an ark.

"Are you kidding, Lord? What's an ark?"

Abraham, set out for a city.

"What city? Aren't You going to give me a map?"

Abraham, you've going to have a child.

"At my age? Do You know how old my wife is?"

Joseph, I've got big plans for you.

"Lord, You're going to have to get me out of this prison first. I'm a forgotten man.

Israel, take the land.

"Are you crazy? We're grasshoppers and they're giants."

 (Remember the Bible records the failures of faith and its consequences as well as the stories of those who trusted God and took Him at His Word.).

David, you are going to be the next king of Israel.

"How? If I don't keep running, King Saul is going to kill me!"

Elijah, pray down fire from heaven.

Are you sure, Lord? It seems to me I'm out numbered."

Job, trust Me with your loss and pain.

"Lord, nobody knows the trouble I've seen."

Isaiah, prophesy in My name.

"Lord, don't You know my friend the king just died? I'm grieving right now."

Jeremiah, buy the land.

"Lord, I'm no expert in real estate, but it seems to me that's not a very good deal."

Micah, tell them Messiah will come from Bethlehem.

"Lord, most folks can't even find Bethlehem on the map."

Peter, get out of the boat.

"And do what? Walk on water?" pp. 44-45

The biggest problem we face is not knowing what is right, but being willing to do what is right. p. 71

We think getting is the answer to all our problems, but in God's economy giving is the answer. Through our giving we understand that Christ supplies all our needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus. p 126

God always reserves something for Himself in the physical realm, where man obtains his living, to remind man that God is the owner of everything. God reserved for Himself a tree, a day, a city, the tithe, a year when the land was to stand idle. The facts here are clear. What God sets aside as holy, as His, is a reminder that we are stewards, not owners. p. 131

If God is your Father, please call home. Corrie ten Boom said, "The Devil smiles when we make plans. He laughs when we get too busy. But he trembles when we pray." When you feel swept off your feet, it's time to go back on your knees. (John Mason in Why Ask Why? If You Know the Right Questions You Can Find the Right Answers) p. 142

Acknowledge that conflicts are a part of of life. Where there is movement, there is friction.

Thank God for the conflict. Yes, you read that correctly. Anything that causes you to seek the Lord is a blessing.

Leave the results to God. When we have taken our stand on His Word, we can rest knowing He will respond as He has promised.  p. 145

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Where the River Ends

Charles Martin's new book, Where the River Ends, is an excellent read, but I would not call it Christian fiction.

I have just a couple of quotes from the book:

I don't care what trash the world throws at you, don't let it muddy your reflection. p. 3

... I felt valued. Valued because that person in front of me, that "subject," was trusting me with one of the most valuable things they owned-their reflection. p. 145

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Where Is God When It Hurts?

God always gives us what we need when we need it. I just finished reading Philip Yancey's book, Where Is God When It Hurts? The quotes I share below are just what I needed.

The symptoms and the illness are not the same thing. The illness exists long before the symptoms. Rather than being the illness, the symptoms are the beginning of its cures. The fact that they are unwanted makes them all the more a phenomenon of grace-a gift of God, a message from the unconscious, if you will, to initiate self-examination and repair. ~M. Scott Peck, The Road Less Traveled p. 25

Dr. Brand declares, "Thank God for inventing pain! I don't think he could have done a better job. It's beautiful." p. 32

The sensation of pain is a gift-the gift that nobody wants. More than anything, pain should be viewed as a communication network. p. 34

Pain-it's often seen as the great inhibitor, keeping us from happiness. But I see it as a giver of freedom. p. 44

. . . depriving some senses, such as through fasting, heightened others. Spiritual experience is nourished best in the wilderness. p. 53

I was prepared to honor and admire these servants, to hold them up as an inspiring examples. I was not, however, prepared to envy them. But as I now reflect on the two groups side by side, stars and servants, the servants clearly emerge as the favored ones, the graced ones. They work for low pay, long hours, and no applause, "wasting" their talents and skills among the poor and uneducated. But somehow in the process of losing their lives they have found them. They have received the "peace that is not of this world." p. 58

Imagine a set of people all living in the same building. Half of them think it is a hotel, the other half think it is a prison. Those who think it a hotel might regard it as quite intolerable, and those who thought it was a prison might decide that it was really surprisingly comfortable. So that what seems the ugly doctrine is one that comforts and strengthens you in the end. The people who try to hold an optimistic view of this world would become pessimists: the people who hold a pretty stern view of it become optimistic. ~C.S. Lewis, God in the Dark p. 61

But there is a huge difference between the suffering most of us encounter-a skiing injury, a rare form of cancer, the bus accident-and the suffering-as-punishment described in the Old Testament. There, punishment follows repeated warnings against specific behavior. To be effective, in, fact, punishment requires a clear tie to behavior. Think of a parent who punishes a young child. It would do little good for the parent to sneak up at odd times during a day and whack the child with no explanation. Such tactics would produce a neurotic, not an obedient, child. p. 81

Against all evidence, he holds on to two seemingly contradictory beliefs: he, Job, does not deserve his tragedy, but still god deserves his loyalty. Job holds firm in the face of such jabs as "Are you more righteous than God?" p. 88

We are here to be changed, to be made more like God in order to prepare us for a lifetime with Him. And that process may be served by the mysterious pattern of all creation: pleasure sometimes emerges against a background of pain, evil may be transformed into good, and suffering may produce something of value. p. 95

In some ways we in the East understand suffering from the opposite perspective. We believe that suffering may be a sign of God's favor and trust in the Christians to whom the trail is permitted to come. p. 98-99

"In fact, everyone who wants to live a Godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted" (2 Timothy 3:12). A sick person is not unspiritual. And Christian faith does not magically equip us with a germ-free, hermetically sealed space suit to protect against the dangers of earth. That would insulate us from complete identification with the world-a luxury God did not allow His own Son. p. 99

Every time a non-Christian gets cancer, God allows a Christian to get cancer as well, so the world can see the difference. p. 109

"Rejoicing in suffering", does not mean Christians should act happy about tragedy and pain when they feel like crying. Rather, the Bible aims the spot-light on the end result, the productive use God can make of suffering in our lives To achieve that result, however, he first needs our commitment of trust, and the process of giving him that commitment can e described as rejoicing. p. 110

As Job himself said so presciently, "those who suffer he delivers in their suffering; he speaks to them in their affliction". p. 111

Where is God when it hurts? He is in us -- not in the things that hurt-- helping to transform bad into good. We can safely say that God can bring good out of evil; we cannot say that God brings about the evil in hopes of producing good. p. 111

As Corrie said, "However deep the pit, God's love is deeper still." p. 158

We never know in advance exactly how suffering can be transformed into a cause for celebration. But that is what we are asked to believe. Faith means believing in advance what will only make sense in reverse. p. 161

The medical community now freely admits that in a larger sense a person's attitude is one of the chief factors in determining the effect of all suffering. p.168

I believe we in the body of Christ are called to show love when God seems not to. p. 184

I sometimes dream of producing my own line of get-well cards. I already have an idea for the first one. The cover would have huge letters, perhaps fireworks in the background spelling out CONGRATULATIONS!!! Inside, this message: "... to the 98 trillion cells in your body that are still working smoothly and efficiently." p. 190

Orville Kelly, the founder of Make Today Count, expressed this quality of courageous hope well: "I do not consider myself dying of cancer, but living despite it. I do not look upon each day as another day closer to death, but as another day of life, to be appreciated and enjoyed. p. 215

How did God-on-earth respond to pain? When he met a person in pain, he was deeply moved with compassion (from the Latin words pati and cum, "to suffer with"). p. 229

Jesus' decision to operate as the invisible head of a large body with many members affects our view of suffering. It means that he often relies on us to help one another cope. The phrase "the body of Christ," expresses well what we are called to do: to represent in flesh what Christ is like, especially to those in need. p. 241

Pain is the very mechanism that forces me to stop what I'm doing and pay attention to the hurting member. In short, the healthiest body is the one that feels the pain of its weakest parts. In the same way, we members of Christ's body should learn to attend to the pains of the rest of the body. In so doing we become an incarnation of Christ's risen body. p. 242

In the body one cell or group of cells grows and flourishes at the expense of the rest, we call it cancer and know that if it is allowed to spread the body is doomed. It would be much easier for us to avoid people in need. Yet ministering to the needy is not an option for the Christian, but a command. 243

Today if I had to answer the question "Where is God when it hurts?" in a single sentence, I would make that sentence another question: "Where is the church when it hurts?" We form the front line of God's response to the suffering world. p. 247

After a few moments' thought McQuilkin replied, "I think God has planned the strength and beauty of youth to be physical. But the strength and beauty of age is spiritual. We gradually lose the strength and beauty that is temporary so we'll be sure to concentrate on the strength and beauty which is forever. It makes us more eager to leave behind the temporary, deteriorating part of us and be truly homesick for our eternal home. If we stayed young and strong and beautiful, we might never want to leave!" p. 255

"And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast" (1 Peter 5:10) p. 257

An irony: death, the one event that causes the greatest emotional pain, in reality opens a doorway into the great joy of eternity. p. 258

Keith Miller once said, "Pain is like fertilizer. It stinks when you're around it, and you hate it. But after a while you realize that that despicable stuff provided the nutrients for your growth." Do you agree? p. 269

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