Standing in the breach

I was reading in Psalm 106 today and verse 23 stood out to me. The psalm recounts the history of the Israelites. It highlights some of their sins against the Lord, rebelling against him, giving in to their cravings and not waiting on Him, being envious, exchanging God for the image of a bull, despising the land they had been given . . . the list goes on. The incredible thing to me was how God in his unending love continued to care for them, continued to offer them mercy and forgiveness, it is truly a psalm which highlights His long-suffering. But now verse 23 -

21 They forgot the God who saved them, who had done 

great things in Egypt, 22 miracles in the land of Ham and 

awesome deeds by the Red Sea. 23 So he said he would 

destroy them— had not Moses, his chosen one, stood in the breach 

before him to keep his wrath from destroying them. 

It made me think of all the people who must have been "standing in the breach" for me during some of the darkest times of my life. People I know who were praying for me, coming before God on my behalf, pleading with him for my sake. The reality is I probably do not know all the names on that list, all the people who were lifting me up before God in prayer. But I know their prayers worked, I know God heard them and had mercy on me and turned my heart to Him once again. I am astounded every time I think of how God was working through others in my life. 

After reading that psalm and reflecting on that reality in my own life I prayed. I prayed for the youth I work with, for the youth of Ponoka and the surrounding area, I prayed for them by name and circumstance. I want to stand in the breach for these kids, and what is being revealed to me is that the only way I can stand in the breach is if I get on my knees in prayer. Please join with me, please pray for the youth of Ponoka, and please believe that your prayers on their behalf make a significant difference in their lives. 

heavenword . . . which way is that?

Philippians 3:7-14 is one of my favorite Bible passages, and as I was thinking about it this past week a new thought hit me. I'll be honest, it's a fairly elementary thought, one which maybe I should have had a long time ago, but something hit me in a new way. This whole passage is about "leaving your past behind you and moving toward the future which God has called you to" it talks about "pressing on," being "called," "attaining to" "arriving". Well the reality is you don't arrive without departing and you can't press on if your not moving, these are action words.

Here is the passage
7 But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. 8 What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith. 10 I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead. 12 Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. 13 Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.  

It struck me how that whole passage is about the direction in which we are moving, that might not be the first thing that jumps out at you, but I really believe that this is a passage that encourages us in the direction that we are to go as Christians, the action we must take. See verse 14 doesn't say "I stand here and wait to win the prize for which God will deliver to you in Christ Jesus" no it says "I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which god has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus." It is a direction, it is us moving. I recognize that as a Christian I am far to comfortable with standing in my comfort zone, waiting for heaven to come to me, maybe your like that too. There needs to be a change, we, I, need to realize that's not what it's about, that's not what we have been called too. We need to be Christians of action, sometimes the hard part is answering the question "what does it look like for me to be moving heavenward?"

P.S. If your interested in following my blog by email, you can subscribe via the email subscription link at the top.