The Petersen Page

“But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.”
-Philippians 4:19

Man hungers for food, and God sends the sun and rain upon the golden fields of grain. The grain is made into flour, and flour into bread, and man’s physical hunger is satisfied. Man hungers for love; and God ignites the fire of affection in another heart, and two hearts are made complete in the bonds of holy matrimony.

Man hungers for knowledge, and God raises up institutions of learning, calls men to be instructors, puts it into the hearts of the rich to endow them; and men are satisfied in their thirst for knowledge. Man hungers for fellowship; and God allows him to build cities where men can share their industry, and their knowledge, and their skills.

Don’t tell me that God can supply man with an abundance of everything material and yet will let him starve spiritually! . . . God will satisfy the hunger and thirst of those who desire His righteousness because He loves the world with an undying affection.

-Billy Graham

“Yea, and if I be offered upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I joy and rejoice with you all.” Philippians 2:17

Are you willing to be offered for the work of the faithful – to pour out your life blood as a libation on the sacrifice of the faith of others? Or do you say – “I am not going to be offered up just yet, I do not want God to choose my work. I want to choose the scenery of my own sacrifice; I want to have the right kind of people watching and saying, ‘Well done.’

It is one thing to go on the lonely way with dignified heroism, but quite another thing if the line mapped out for you by God means being a door-mat under other people’s feet. Suppose God wants to teach you to say, “I know how to be abased” – are you ready to be offered up like that? Are you ready to be not so much as a drop in a bucket – to be so hopelessly insignificant that you are never thought of again in connection with the life you served? Are you willing to spend and be spent; not seeking to be ministered unto, but to minister? Some saints cannot do menial work and remain saints because it is beneath their dignity.-Oswald Chambers

One of the best things about my line of work is the amazing people I get to meet on the road and the faith stories I’m blessed to hear. I remember a few years back meeting a man who I’ll call Robert. Robert picked me up at the airport and during the two hour drive to the church, we shared a little of our stories with each other. I learned that He had done well for himself a few years earlier and had become independently wealthy, with all the comforts and accoutrements of affluence that one could hope for: nice cars, a beautiful home, and a luxuriant lifestyle.

As a Christian, he saw his wealth as a blessing from God and was sure to give back. He helped plant a number of churches and was generous in his support of many ministries. He did good things with his money and was passionate about building the kingdom. But then he lost it all – every penny. He told me his awful story of riches to rags, with visible sores all over his arms and legs that were brought on by stress, his relationship with his wife and kids strained nearly to the breaking point, his voice was hoarse and faltered as he related his journey.

“There have been so many people around me who have told me that this is the work of the devil, a spiritual attack. I thought it was, too, at first. But now I’m not so sure. I think it might be the Lord. I see now that I had become arrogant and even my generosity to the church came with strings attached. We may have loved our things like our cars, our house, and our lifestyle too much. This has been the hardest thing I’ve ever gone through, and sometimes it doesn’t feel like I’m going to make it. But there are moments of clarity where I’m aware that it’s doing something good in me. It may sound strange, but it feels like God’s love…”

Here was a man who was the closest thing to Job that I’d ever personally met, yet he proposed that it was God’s love that had brought him low! Such faith is humbling and must certainly be a gift from God. I’ve often met people who have a seemingly supernatural faith in the face of great crisis, and am always aware that even when our world feels like it’s spinning out of control, the presence of God is still apparent in our lives if only in the super human faith that He seems to give us in the midst of the storm. It’s almost as if he rises in our hearts and believes for us in those times.

Shortly after my time with Robert, my friend David told me of a recent tour he took of a vineyard. The proprietor told him of how they harvest the grapes: going out when the vines are first beginning to bear fruit, then cutting off the first fruits and throwing them away. David was floored by this, and asked if it didn’t seem wasteful. He was told that by doing this, the grapes that follow will grow back heartier and more flavorful. That was how they got to the good stuff, and – make no mistake – he wants the best for his wine.

It was a terrifying story to me in light of John chapter 15:

1″I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.”

I understand the concept of God cutting away whatever doesn’t bear fruit in my life, and I’ve more or less made peace with it. But the thought that He may even come after fruit-bearing areas of my life is more than a little distressing. I thought my fruit was safe and that as long as I was bearing fruit, I would be safe from the pruning blades. It makes me wonder: how many of the “good” things I do – giving to the poor, ministry, etc. – do I do in hopes that God will leave me alone?

And yet I have to trust, like Robert, that any time the pruning blade is put to my life, it is to make room for new growth, to get to the good stuff. Though a good pruning can be painful, we are asked to trust that God wields the blade precisely and in love, and that whatever is cut away does not diminish us, but makes more of us – makes us even more fruitful.
Sometimes this trust is the only thing we have to anaesthetize ourselves against the pain of the cut, the wound that is making us whole.

Prayer for the Week: Lord, help us to yield to your pruning blade, trusting that you are carving out your image in us, with the hope that your cut makes us whole and your wounds heal.

John 14:10, 24

Reading through the Gospels, over and over again we see Jesus talking about how He only does the will of the Father who sent Him. But we can’t imagine what that’s like. He can’t see God, so He must hear God, right? So, maybe God talks to Jesus, and Jesus does what He says. But then scripture says that in order to follow Christ, we must live like Christ! But didn’t Jesus have God right there all the time telling him what to do? So how can we be expected to live like Jesus?

This is a problem that we cannot solve on our own, but we try anyway. We doom ourselves to lives of frustration – knowing that peace is supposed to be within our grasp but unable to find it for long. We try to love unconditionally but fall short and end up thinking of ourselves instead – the very thing we didn’t want to do. We try to be patient, but we lose our patience. We try not to worry, but we worry anyway because if we don’t, who will? And so we come finally to the realization that this crazy, peaceless journey is the Christian Life. It’s just going to be hard because of the Fall and the fact that we are sinners. There’s nothing we can do about our sinful nature, so PRAISE GOD for Jesus who came so that we might be forgiven and join Him in heaven one day.

But doesn’t this make a mockery of the message of Christ? Jesus said “Do not worry,” “Do not fear,” and “Do not let your hearts be troubled.” Can we have it both ways? Can we follow Jesus and also fret about what we can’t control? The real question is, “why would we want to?”

When the heart of Jesus was troubled, he sought His Father and was comforted. John 12:27, 28. He was in the Father and the Father was in Him. In John 10 He says “I and the Father are one.” And then in John 15 He says
“remain in me and I will remain in you… for without me you can do nothing.”

Let’s not miss that verse from John 15. I missed it for 20 years. “I will remain in you. Without me you can do nothing.” One chapter earlier, Jesus says “If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him and we will come to him and make our home with him.”

“Don’t you know that your body is the temple of God?”

The truth is, we can live like Jesus because He is inside us waiting for us to let Him live. We have been given “every spiritual blessing in Christ” (Eph 1:3) through the presence of the Holy Spirit. But to live like Jesus, we must give up ourselves—not just once for salvation, but every moment of every day, just as Jesus did. Jesus knew that to submit to the will of the Father was no sacrifice, it was Life itself!

If anyone loves me, He will obey my teaching (Obedience is the proof of the love. Obedience does not equal love). This is worth truly pondering. Just because you obey His teaching does not mean you love Him! In order for you to love Jesus, you must give yourself up for Him. Your life must diminish into nothing, and His life must grow in influence until He reigns supreme.

In order to follow Jesus, we must acknowledge God as Lord over every aspect of our lives, submitting the will of our spirit to His Spirit. Then, and only then, can the Holy Spirit reign supreme in our lives. Luke 14:33 says we must give up all we have. If that was just about giving away all our possessions it would be much easier. We must now live without regard to our desires, our plans, our hopes and dreams for the future, even for the present moment. Only then, can we begin to live like Jesus. We can only claim to be His disciple if we live in submission to His Spirit.

-Randall Goodgame

In my first year in the industry, I discovered something unsettling. Christian music fans come to Christian music concerts to hear Christian music. Now, I know that sounds pretty obvious, but hang in there with me for a minute.

I also found out that Christian music fans go to Christian music concerts to see Christian musicians. I know, I know. It’s brilliant, but that’s not what’s unsettling to me. What disturbed me was that Christian music fans go to Christian music concerts to hear Christian music and to see Christian musicians, but rarely expect to actually encounter Christ.

Now I am the Christian musician playing Christian music, but I know I am only human. I am a sinful person. I have nothing to offer. The name of Todd Agnew does not change anything or anyone. The only name with any power is the name of Jesus Christ. We don’t need any more Christian CD’s. We need more Christ. We don’t need more Christian t-shirts, which are usually just rip-offs of secular t-shirts. We need more Christ. We don’t need more Christian stars. We need more Christ. “He must become greater. I must become less.”

The words of John the Baptist in John 3:30 are just as applicable for us today. John realized he was only important as a vessel to bring attention to Jesus. The relationship with John only offered someone to watch, while the relationship with Christ offered life.

I think one of the reasons we have such a hard time focusing on God instead of people is that it’s harder to see the benefits. Many times we describe them in such abstract ways that it’s hard for us to weigh them against anything. When I go to a concert, a worship service, or read a book, I am entertained. I feel more spiritual afterwards. I feel like I’ve done something for God. So what is the benefit of actually encountering God?

We all know that the benefits of knowing God must be immeasurable, but it’s hard to get our hands around that sometimes. It’s hard to apply the indescribable goodness of God to our very darkly describable world. I’ve found it’s easier to look at the little things, rather than always gaze at the big picture.

The goodness of God is found in a ray of sunshine in the middle of a day of rain. His gift of joy even reaches through our darkest pain. His love gives us captivating things in the middle of the dreariest moments. In short, every little bit of goodness in my life originated in the heart of my God. Every thing that made me smile. Every ounce of beauty that caught my eye. Every color, every giggle, every cloud, every shower, every touch, every taste came from Him.

He is the source of all good things, the fount of every blessing, the giver of ten thousand charms. That is why He must become greater, and I must become less.