God’s workmanship – Page 3

My Story #10

I believe that God has woven an original “voice” in me. By voice I don’t only mean a speaking or singing voice. I am talking about a unique way of introducing life into the world.

From my earliest memories I have been part of a family and a community of people who know God exists and more than anything else they want to be at peace with how they are supposed to relate to their Creator.

The biggest gift of my life was being born into a family who introduced me to Jesus Christ. Now, wait a second before you figure you already know where I am going with this…

In some pretty fundamental ways I feel like I am just really beginning to get what it means to be a follower of Jesus.

I didn’t realize until recently that one of the most important treasures that I can find and share with God is my voice, my way of expressing my heart. For me, it happens when I listen to music, play an instrument or sing. When I find and express my voice, especially when I am focused on my heart and not distracted, I come to the moment with a genuineness that washes over me with the understanding that life is real and I am alive. There is something else that happens… God meets me there. Many times I plan on the meeting. But, most of the time I am surprised as I become aware of the the presence of God’s Spirit just being in the moment with me.

Often I wonder what He wants from me. But, with the eyes of my heart I peak over at my Creator and He just seems to be enjoying the music… weird, eh?

But, frankly it’s nobody else’s business because this is my voice and I am expressing it with the One who made me and still has a purpose for me. That purpose starts in our enjoyment of each other’s voice.

You see, I am coming to see that when I worship God with my real voice, He is able to come and begin to bring His voice to me and it is there that I can be set on fire and be a bright refection of His image in my world.

More than anything, I would love to see in my lifetime a movement of people young and old who have found their voice and discovered God there.

I believe that is what Jesus Christ showed us in his birth, life, death and victory over death.

To be honest, all of creation is waiting for you and me to raise our voices and make it our business to shine the image of God once again.

My story #7 “Awesomeness”

I know that God the Creator has been having a private conversation with me my whole life. I didn’t always know it. But, I understand now that I have never been alone.

I have been misunderstood many times. I have felt disappointed, bruised, broken, guilty, sad, angry, rejected, etc…

In my life I have also been celebrated, loved, hugged, kissed, thrilled out of my mind, accepted, promoted, honoured and respected as well.

But, I have never been alone.

If I take the most honest look at myself, I have to admit that I have even been more ready to condemn and reject myself than my Father God has been willing to walk away from me. It has been His patience and kindness toward me that has given me the strength to always try again.

Many of us are waking up to God’s appointment of us through a burning love

for Jesus and His way of living (His kingdom).

He has designed us and given us life so that we will be walking signs of His awesomeness.

But, the way of entering that awesomeness is not what I expected. Much of the journey that I have taken would probably have been labeled a “waste” by many people. The question the “friends” of Jesus asked on that day when the woman broke open her treasure and poured it out on Jesus was “Why this waste…?”

I used to care about that question. But, I don’t anymore. In order for a plant to grow, the seed must die

In order for me to live in the awesomeness of my

destiny, I must smash my treasure (dreams, hopes, agenda, ambitions, etc…)

and pour it out in love on Jesus.

That is “why this waste…” 🙂

Do you honestly think that your Creator and lover will abandon you? You are his artistry.

My Story #6 – Grade 5 Sunday School and Weapons of War

I had a memorable dream several years ago. I was part of a group being led on a tour of a historic battleground. As we made our way along the smooth paved pathway, there were carefully placed stacks of weapons all along our route. I saw piles of rifles, automatic weapons, along with swords, shields, maces, axes, etc.

It seemed to me like there were weapons from the different ages of world history.

As our tour guide was in the midst of her rehearsed speech, she made a special announcement. She explained to us that this was a special day at the battlefield exhibit and on this day we would each be allowed to take one of the weapons of war home with us. It wasn’t going to be the weapon of our choice. But, she and the staff would give each of us their choice of weapon for us.

I was handed a leather bound book, it looked like a journal. I was immediately disappointed! A book?? Out of all of epic weapons stacked all around us, all they could manage to send home with me was a book? In my bitterness, I decided to untie the case and look at the book.

As I looked inside the leather cover, I discovered that it was a bible. But, it wasn’t just any bible. It was a gift edition I had received from my Grade Five Sunday School Teacher, Mrs. Sears. It was a reward for memorizing and reciting the books of the Bible. I knew that’s what it was because the inscription inside the cover had the words she had written there in her own hand writing:

“Sin will keep you from this book, but this book will keep you from sin.”

I have discovered that book several times throughout my life and fondly remembered Mrs. Sears. She was a tough cookie and you didn’t mess around in her class. But, she poured out her love on us and into our lives. I have often read these words she wrote more than thirty five years ago. I can still smell that musty classroom and the wooden folding table and I can remember her distinct voice. I had no idea at the time that she was spending her time with us every Sunday morning because she loved us and wanted us to never fear this world knowing that the Lord would never leave us or forsake us. She volunteered her time and energy and endless patience in order to open our eyes to the best thing in life… “Because of Jesus and all He had done, we could be friends with God.”

I’m still not sure exactly what she meant by the words on the inside cover of my gift Bible. But, I do know about sin and the hundreds of times I have failed and how much darkness has made me feel separate from my Creator. And I have learned that my only hope for survival in life is knowing what God has stored up in His word for me.

Yeah, I do believe that the Bible is God’s word. But, I don’t want to ever forget that it would have no power or authority unless it had come from God and unless it leads us to know Him in a deeper way.

So, I guess the moral of my dream is that the best weapon of war I can ever take into my life and my home and be skilled in using is God’s word.

This life is war and we can’t be surprised when we have to fight for our lives against ruthless enemies. We never know when hardship will strike and try to take us out. But, our God does something crazy for us along the way if we will open our eyes to it. David talked about it when he penned the words in Psalm 23:

“You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.”

Thanks King David and thanks Mrs Sears. You both helped to change my life!

My Story #5 – For God’s Sake, Be Yourself!

For those of you who have been following my story, I would love to hear yours! If you are already telling it in a blog or some other way, please let me know 🙂

I met a friend of mine almost 30 years ago. His name is Karl Ingersoll. He was a youth pastor near Jamestown, New York at the time. I had just finished my second year of Bible College and was touring the North East USA with a music & youth camp counselling team. We were on the road recruiting students. But, I was on a desperate search to find God’s calling for my life.

Karl spoke into my life on that night. We were standing in his youth room with about 5o of his youth group students. It was loud and chaotic and we were watching four of them play fooseball. I had never met him before. But, he was asking me to tell him my story. So I laid it out there and he intuitively picked up on the fact that I was aching for some peace over the issue of finding my way in life as a young adult.

I don’t remember all that he said to me in our 10 minute conversation. But, one statement has stayed with me to this day. He said,

“I think you are a great guy and you are going to speak into people’s lives.

God’s gonna use you. Just be yourself. That’s His call for you… be yourself.

It’s gonna be great!”

There was something about that moment that broke something on the inside of me. It was like someone walked by my prison cell and slipped me the key to break out into freedom.

The journey hasn’t been easy and there are lots of haters in the unseen world and maybe a few in the seen realm that have come against me. But, I am still being myself and it has been great! It’s all to Jesus credit and glory. He has never left me and always fills me back up with hope and grace whenever I turn to Him.

And I just want to say today, “Hey Karl!, ‘Thanks buddy’!”

My story #2

My dad, John Lamos was a pastor in a city church in Springfield, Ma. The church wasn’t located in the suburbs but in a multi racial inner city neighbourhood. He was raised in an Adirondack Mountain town in New York State called “Long Lake”. So, he brought his hard working blue collar attitude and his “fight to the death” loyalty to family and friends attitude to our city life.

It is hard to imagine today, but he was a full-time Junior High School teacher in a town about a 20 minute drive from our house and he served as a pastor in his “free time”. Oh and he was a husband and a father to five children… Darlene, Darrell, Dawn, Danny (or Dana depending on whether we were at a school event or not) and Doreen.

For my dad, mom and our family, God was in charge of it all. And like most Christians living in New England in those times, we understood God through our religion. Ah Religion… that Goliath of a giant is another story that we will get to another day.

From my earliest memories, I have believed that God exists and loves all of His creation. I have known that He created humans as the only creatures that could choose whether or not we would live the way He does and choose not to violate any of the house rules of the universe. Pretty heavy stuff for a little kid, right?

I also have known that Adam & Eve and all of the rest of us can’t seem to help ourselves and we break the house rules pretty much every day.

Here’s where it got freaky and scary for me. This might take me some time to sort through, so please be patient…

Remember this is a story and not a text book on Theology.

As a young boy I believed in heaven and in Jesus, God’s Son. I knew that He was “standing at the door of my heart” knocking in hopes of being invited in. That didn’t seem right to me to leave him out in the dark and cold night. So, as a young boy I invited Him in. That was awesome! The bible promised me that He would come right in, hang out with me and even eat with me. I always hoped that he would bring something amazing to eat, like popcorn and Chocolate Almond Chip Ice Cream or something like that.

But, I also knew His Father. Together they were kind of confusing to me. His Father would never stand at the door and knock. He would probably blow the door in or just walk in whenever He wanted. What He said was the rule and I was required to ask “How high?” whenever He said “Jump”! Somehow I felt that Jesus understood this and would be there as my older brother and buddy to help me deal with His dad and the rest of life.

I didn’t really get what heaven was going to be like. But, I pretty much figured my family would be there and they would work it out and I would be fine as long as I stayed with them and of course, my dad and Jesus would take care of us.

I also wasn’t convinced I was going to like heaven with an eternity long church worship service. After 10,000 years we would still be singing Amazing Grace… Wow! I was afraid that was going to be a little much for me!

And then there was hell…

to be continued

Birthday wish

There is a huge statement recorded in the Bible:

“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms

with every spiritual blessing in Christ.”

… every spiritual blessing?

Today is my birthday. I am sure considering the population of the world, there are thousands of us who share this date set aside as our DOB.

What do I wish for on my birthday?

Well, I woke up very early this morning and couldn’t go back to sleep. I was thinking about my life and honestly worrying about some things. Then I began to connect with my heart, the things that matter most… and I thought about what I wish for. So, here on my birthday I thought I would post this as a prayer:

Father God,

Thank you for blessing me and all of creation in and through Jesus Christ. The indescribable gift of the kingdom You ushered in through him is everything we will ever need. Today is the day on the calendar when me and my friends and family will celebrate the fact that I was born and get to have a life. I am so grateful for them. Thank you for them and thank you for life. I don’t know if “wishing” is okay with you or not, but in this prayer I want to express my wish to you. I do wish that we would experience an era of time when all of creation would love you and the dwelling place and the family you have welcomed us back to and blessed us with more than we love ourselves. I wish that the prayer Jesus prayed for all of his followers would be our pilgrimage and chosen destiny:

“My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one— I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.”

It would be so amazing to live in a time where that prayer became the heart cry of enough of us on the planet that we reached the tipping point and your glory would be clearly seen and known in all the earth. When I pause to think deeply about all of this I know a day like that is coming and it motivates me to pray and live for a world like that. So, as I give and receive love today with my friends and family, I just want you to know, God that I thank you for it all and for welcoming me back home in and through Jesus.

Amen

John 17:20-26 Living Jesus prayer

I love this prayer of Jesus recorded in John 17. There is life giving power in knowing that who we are as God’s children and the Body of Christ… the Church is a result of the desires of His heart.

I have decided to write a series of blogs based on this scripture. I am excited about it because there is so much contained in Jesus prayer. Here it is:

John 17:20-26

New Living Translation (NLT)

20 “I am praying not only for these disciples but also for all who will ever believe in me through their message. 21 I pray that they will all be one, just as you and I are one—as you are in me, Father, and I am in you. And may they be in us so that the world will believe you sent me.

22 “I have given them the glory you gave me, so they may be one as we are one. 23 I am in them and you are in me. May they experience such perfect unity that the world will know that you sent me and that you love them as much as you love me. 24 Father, I want these whom you have given me to be with me where I am. Then they can see all the glory you gave me because you loved me even before the world began!

25 “O righteous Father, the world doesn’t know you, but I do; and these disciples know you sent me. 26 I have revealed you to them, and I will continue to do so. Then your love for me will be in them, and I will be in them.”

Jesus’ heart for us as his people is that we would be one. That unity comes together in our experience of his glory and his love.

It should be the longing of our hearts to live as a resounding “yes” to Jesus prayer!

Let me suggest this prayer that we could pray together in light of this scripture: “Father, I ask you to do a work of the Holy Spirit in my heart that I would love Jesus with the same passionate love you have for him. I also ask you to help me to see & embrace the unifying glory of your presence joining me with all of my brothers & sisters in Christ.” Amen

Re:FUEL May 8 recap

Every Wednesday night we gather on site @ Kings Valley Church for “FUEL”. Our focus for FUEL is always worship & prayer in the presence of Jesus Christ.

As we gathered in last night, Pastor Kelly called us to remember 2 Cor 10:3-5:

We are human, but we don’t wage war as humans do. We use God’s mighty weapons, not worldly weapons, to knock down the strongholds of human reasoning and to destroy false arguments. ⁵We destroy every proud obstacle that keeps people from knowing God. We capture their rebellious thoughts and teach them to obey Christ.

As we worshipped and listened for what was on the heart of God, it became clear that we should agree together for a clearer revelation of Jesus in the midst of us and in our region.

Many received personal prayer ministry in their prayer group and there was a profound sense of speaking the word of the Lord into each others lives!

It was so refreshing and such great food for our souls to hear a great testimony of a mom who has recently come to Jesus for a fresh start!

Everybody needs a time and a place to worship with a group of good friends in the presence of Jesus! That’s what FUEL is all about and we would love for you to be part of it… every Wednesday night in the KV worship center @ 7 pm.

Embracing this life AS you but not FOR you

I love the song Hope for Now by City & Colour. The lyrics refer to the deep fulfillment that we artists feel in dreaming that we could save somebody’s life through our art. As a musician I am deeply moved as I listen. One line in the song especially grabs & disturbs me: “How can I instill such hope, but be left with none of my own?”

Life for a Jesus follower is not meant to be hopeless! It is full of hope and full of light. But, how does that really work?

You were designed by God to be a light in this life. But, the path to shining as that light may surprise you. I Corinthians 5:15 says:

“¹⁵And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves

but for him who died for them and was raised again.”

The “good news’ is that we don’t have to live for ourselves anymore! Living the way Jesus did means discovering the passionate life of loving service to God and everyone around us!

But, you can’t afford to confuse no longer living FOR yourself with not living AS yourself. Your hope is found in Jesus because he frees you to embrace this life AS yourself but not FOR yourself. God restoring you as a new creation through faith in Jesus is the first step to real life!

As Christians, we have entered the life that the whole world is thirsty for. We have been rescued by Jesus to embrace our true identity as true children of God. So, ask God to grant you the grace to live this day AS yourself FOR the One who lived, surrendered His life and was raised again for you.

If you don’t know what you are doing…

These words from James 1 from “The Message” grabbed me and shook me this morning; “If you don’t know what you are doing, pray to the Father. He loves to help. You’ll get his help and won’t be condescended to when you ask for it…” And there is more. I encourage you to read the whole chapter and listen for the Holy Spirit speaking to you. I know it seems completely counterintuitive, but God actually loves to hear us admit that we don’t know what to do. When we are willing to throw ourselves on him and cry out that the only thing we really know to do is to trust him and depend on his agenda, we are actually getting somewhere.

A Jesus follower is someone who operates from a place of wisdom, honesty and gritty surrender to our real situation… We are completely lost unless we depend on the Father every moment of every day. Check your heart and ask yourself whether or not you actually believe God loves to help you. He does! And there is no moment like this one right now to cry out to Him for wisdom!