Soli Deo Gloria

Soli Deo Gloria

I often hear this latin phrase, especially at tournaments. Translated it means “To God Alone Be Glory.” At face value it is a great slogan, and one that I hope to live up to. But I realized lately that when I am saying “To God Alone Be Glory” most of the time what I really mean is “God please take the credit for my glory.” They may sound like the same thing, but they are very different. 

One of the first time in my life when I adopted the phrase Soli Deo Gloria, was when I decided to start debate. For those who don’t know my story in debate, I won’t bore you since it is a bit long. It is enough to say that I joined a week before the Minnesota qualifier and didn’t have any idea what I was doing. So I gave it to God. Whatever you want to do with this situation, Lord. Soli Deo Gloria. I eventually went on to take first in my Region. There was a lot of surprise, a few tears, a ton of nerves, and a blur of activity leading up to the moment when I walked across the stage and took a fancy plaque from Mrs. Hudson’s hands. Anyone who heard that I had started a few months earlier agreed that God had worked through me. For reasons yet unknown to me, God decided to put me up on stage and hand me a first place in Lincoln Douglas. And my heart cried out that this moment was what Soli Deo Gloria truly meant. 

Soli Deo Gloria means letting God do amazing things through you and for you. That’s the definition most people use, and it’s accurate. But it’s also an incomplete definition. That’s not all Soli Deo Gloria means. 

Last week I learned another definition of Soli Deo Gloria through a painfully embarrassing situation. I was contacting actors to perform in our church’s VBS skits. It was late in the evening, and I had just walked through the door from soccer practice when I heard the phone ring. Answering it, I was excited to hear that my uncle (who happens to be an amazing storyteller) was willing to help me with a skit, but he had heard two different dates and needed to know which one was correct. I told him the date, thanked him profusely, and hung up. As soon as I hung up I realized I had told him the wrong date. 

I called back immediately, but it made little difference. He wasn’t available the date that I needed him, and had put the wrong date on his calendar. I knew I had messed up bad. To my shame, I got really tense and snapped at my brother unnecessarily. I was so angry at myself for forgetting such an important, and simple detail that I let myself make many other mistakes that evening. But that night, as I lay in bed, still mentally kicking myself, the words Soli Deo Gloria came back to my mind. 

Soli Deo Gloria? That hardly seemed to fit! I had just messed up. I had made a stupid mistake. I was going to have to call our children’s ministry director in the morning and tell her what I had done. I had created hours of work for myself, and possibly for others as well. There wasn’t any glory in this moment! 

No, there wasn’t any glory in that moment for me. But as I lay there I realized that I had been mistaking glory for me as the same thing as glory for God. There was no way I could be glorified in this situation. But that didn’t mean God couldn’t be. As the full meaning of Soli Deo Gloria sunk in I prayed, “God, I have no idea if you can be glorified through this. But if my mistakes, and my looking like a fool brings you glory, than it’s worth it.” 

I learned that Soli Deo Gloria means that you want God to glorify Himself through whatever means necessary. We often picture those means to be like my experience with debate. Glorious, important, and life changing. But sometimes, they aren’t. Sometimes God is glorified most through our failures. Through our embarrassment, and disappointment, and frustration. But if we turn to Him in those moments He can make even the most disastrous circumstance display His glory.

There is another side to my debate story, a side most people don’t see because it isn’t flashy or impressive, or really all that glorious. I would like to share that side of the story with you because I think it really illustrates what Soli Deo Gloria means. That side of the story is my sister. 

While I vowed that I would never do debate, my sister poured her life into it. She lived and breathed evidence, tags, moral obligations, and something called a meta framework (still no idea what that is). She spent hours of work on it, and in the end convinced me to try debate because she seemed to enjoy it so much. She even let me use her case. But after all her hard work, my sister didn’t break at the Minnesota Qualifier. She went 3-3. One of those three rounds she lost, she lost to me. 

Anyone in that place has a right to be upset with the older sibling who came out of no where and wrecked their dream. But my sister wasn’t resentful. She gave me a hug and encouraged me, and probably did more to prepare me for Regionals than I did to prepare myself. Of course she was disappointed and frustrated, and a bit angry at times. But through it all she was supportive and loving. She set a clear example of what it means to truly say “may God have the glory” in every situation. Her response to my victory brought far more glory to God than my victory ever did. 

God can, and should, be glorified in every situation. But that is only going to happen if we are willing to respond in the way He wants. So as you prepare for this next speech and debate season, as you go about your everyday life, I pray that you would also realize what it truly means for God to be glorified. May we each desire His glory so much that we forget about our own. 

Soli Deo Gloria. 

Written by "Aletheia" (author's pen name)

Treasuring Christ

Colossians 3:1-4 “If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.”

I felt so hopeless after reading this verse. I had tried and tried and tried and tried to seek after the “things that are above”. I knew that I could never measure up to that standard. I felt like I was running after God, and just as I would get close, I would lose sight of Him again.

Seek the things that are above. That is the true mark of a Child of God.

But I was lost in the panic of being lost. That seems so oxymoronic, but that’s how it was.

That week, I heard a sermon that changed my life. It wasn’t much, by itself. Just a young pastor giving a long sermon in a small church with lights that hurt your eyes and babies crying in the background. But what really mattered was the joy, the passion that he had for Christ.

The sermon was about the power of prayer and treasuring Christ.

Ephesians 3:14-19 (ESV) “For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.”

We are called to adore Christ. We are called to “seek the things that are above”, called to pursue holiness. This thing that we are called to is beyond our capacity. We can neither crave nor treasure Christ in our own strength. Trying to do that is like telling a blind man about a wonderful treasure and giving him a map where “x marks the spot”. We are left longing for a glorious state that we can never achieve.

Paul says in Colossians 1:9 “And so, from the day we heard (of your faith), we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding.”

We can only achieve what we desperately want through prayer. Prayer is the answer to our problems.

This kind of prayer is NOT small. It is powerful. It is meaningful. It is victorious.

Father,
According to the riches of Your glory, empower us with strength in our inner being. Help us see Jesus and be satisfied with Him as our Greatest Treasure. Let us lay hold of the riches of Your glory and a spirit of wisdom and revelation.  Give us endurance and patience with joy.
Amen

Everything is like a pale shadow in comparison with Christ. To settle for mediocre faith is like settling for a two-volt battery when you could be hooked up to a nuclear power plant! His power and glory will never be exhausted!

How far short does my adoration of Christ fall!

As a church culture, there is a gap between how much we treasure Christ and how much we should. Don’t let the promises of God get stale.

The glory of God is like a river.

A great, rushing river, with a strong current. Are you standing in the shallows or swimming in the middle? Is the water swooshing by your ankles, or are you immersed in the water, being swept along by the mighty current? If you are only experiencing trickles and wooshing, then the problem isn’t with the river. The problem is with your placement in the river.

We need to get on our knees and cry out for God according to His great power and glory so that we can crush sin! Shallow swimming produces shallow knowledge and shallow treasuring. Don’t dive into the shallows because you could break your neck. We need to dive deeper in and be swept toward the Greatest Treasure!


Link to sermon:
https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/providence-community-church/id585104277
click on set you gaze on Christ and then view in iTunes.

Please take the 50 minutes to listen to the sermon. It’s really worth it!

Written by Alyse Laporte

Heroes

Heroes.

What's the first thing that comes to mind when you hear that word?  For many of us, images of the world's superheroes instantly come to mind. Spiderman, diving head-long into the burning car to save a civilian, with his magic sticky stuff. Captain America, fending off forces of Hydra in a mission to save the nation. Superman, flying into the air to rescue Lois Lane in his arms.

Each of these comic book heroes contain an incredible element of true victory and heroism. And the best news is, legends like these are not just the stuff of comics.

There once was a warrior who saw his nation defamed. A rival territory stood mocking the forces of his king, and refusing to back down. This man saw the enemy, and knew his position. In faith, he raided the enemy territory, and single-handedly killed 800 foreign mercenaries.

There once was a king, who saw a tiny, undefended parcel of land, home only to a few insignificant people and their crops, being threatened by enemy forces. This man, with only two faithful mighty men at his side, stood his ground, and dove head-long into the fight to save that which was his own.

There once was a hero, who saw his bride falling from the sky, into enemy territory and certain death. He reached out to her, destroyed all the forces of the enemy coming against her, and with his own precious, bleeding hands, turned their own greatest weapon of destruction against them in triumph, before picking up his beloved and riding home with her in his arms.

Jashobeam, one of David's three mightiest fighters, standing against the hostility of Canaanite empires. David, guarding Pasdimmin. Jesus, rescuing his beloved with his own blood.

Heroism is one of the most breath-taking things the world has, and will ever, see. But how often do we see true heroism today outside Marvel films?

Heroes are real. But sadly, the American church today looks anything but heroic. We have never, or rarely, tasted spiritual victory. We are surrounded by people who want more, but don't know where to find it. We see the world at every turn, and are constantly having to fight off distractions. We struggle to believe that God could bring back the heroism of the Bible, because we've never seen Him do so in our weak hearts.

But we do not have to stay where we are. God is willing to build us, in a heart beat. If you look around the world, you can already see Him at work.

Voice of the Martyrs recently released a story of how brave Christians are reaching out to North-Korean defectors. It's almost impossible for Christianity to get into that severely guarded and hostile nation..... and yet it's happening. Bibles are filtering into prisons, and the good news of Christ is being spread. The world cannot stop it, no matter how strong.

Jim Elliot, who was attacked by the Auca Indians he had spent his life to reach, but did not see his life as worth saving, if his death could save them. His wife, Elisabeth, who went straight back into Ecuador, to forgive and minister to her husband's murderers. Richard Wurmbrand, who spent ten years in a Soviet prison under severe torture, for defending Christ, and endured it rejoicing.............. the men and women that Hebrews 11:38 refers to as the ones "of whom the world was not worthy".

There are nations today, in which "taking up your cross" is a tragically literal command. The news last week contained stories of eight Syrian Christians, who would not back down in spite of severe oppression and threats. They had a battleground, and were determined to take up their sword and fight for the priceless hearts of the people around them. The news article relayed the story of their murders, and subsequent crucifixions, at the hands of Islamic radicals.

These men lost their lives..... and yet they were heroes. They were moved so deeply and completely outside of the Enemy's realm that he had to build crosses for them. Yet even in death, the victory was theirs. Christian history portrays a beautiful picture of a message that spreads even more when the messengers lose their all. The world is not worthy of heroes like these...... but it is forever altered by them. To paraphrase Eric Ludy, real Christianity will either turn the world completely on its head, or they will build crosses for us. But there is no in between.

It's time for the church of Jesus Christ to start acting like the true body of our savior. It's time for the heroes to rise up, with the war cry of God's mighty warriors.

THE CRY OF A HERO:

{Larger view on the Ellerslie website}

In Christ

Spiritual warfare is an exciting topic. It's so incredible to think about the promises in God's Word, when it comes to defeating the enemy and living victoriously!  We are more than conquerors when we take up the armor of God and wield it against the prince of this world, who has been destroyed by a weapon of his own arsenal, called death.

As a young Christian, newly awakened to and in love with the lifestyle of a "Gospelteer", I was eager to see this victory played out in my own life. And in many ways, it was. I gave my life to Christ, and spent a long, painful, but beautiful season cleaning out the temple of my heart. I wrestled in prayer passionately for the first time, and was given an incredible answer. I started to write devotionals for a little blog, called Real Christianity :) and watched to see God at work through it.

But then I came across the words of Jesus in Luke 10:18-19:

“I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you."

These verses quickly became my favorite promise of victory from God. And yet, the more I thought about them, the more it bothered me. My spiritual walk was growing..... but I was becoming less and less convinced that it was "victorious". I was sometimes able to say no to elements of selfishness in my life, but I was defenseless to trample any scorpions in the lives of others, and even in areas of my own walk. There were moments when I made a small choice to take a less traveled route because wouldn't lead me into sin, but could I really say that I had overcome the power of the enemy?  And even though some elements of sin had been denied, there were still areas of my life where the flesh was on the throne... it was there to harm me, and it was often succeeding.

It wasn't until a few months ago that I realized my spiritual battleground was missing the most important factor in gaining a victory: the simple Biblical phrase "In Christ".

An analogy Pastor Eric Ludy often uses to illustrate this idea is the law of gravity. You can jump off the ground, and temporarily defy the law of gravity. You can have some form of "victory" over it. But you can't stay in the air forever; gravity will keep pulling you back down. The only thing that can defy the law of gravity is the law of aerodynamics, and flight. And you don't have it.

But a plane does. A plane was built to defy the law of gravity, and rise above. And that plane's doors are open to you. But you are not going to defeat gravity by believing that the plane exists. You're not going to defeat it by looking at the plane, praising it, or even touching it. Even if you go so far as to hold onto the outside of the plane, gravity will still pull you down in the end. It's only when you're in the plane that the victory is won.

One Ellerslie sermon from 2011 gives a list of 66 elements of victory found in Christ. Each one of them, if you stop and think about it, are beyond belief!  Here are ten of them:

      1)  Our sins will be removed from us
      2)  We will have peace with God
      3)  We will overcome the Devil
      4)  We will bear much fruit
      5)  All the promises of God will be "Yes" and "Amen" to us
      6)  Nothing will be able to separate us from the love of Christ
      7)  We will be new creations, and all things will be made new
      8)  We will be the temple, the very dwelling place of God
      9)  We will have the power to rejoice!
    10)  The love of God will be perfected in us

Talk about victory!  And the offer stands fully available to us today. The plane door is open. In Christ, there is freedom and forgiveness, and newness, and the complete fulfillment of the work of God. There is true, real, tangible victory.

Over the past few weeks, my spiritual growth partner and I have been taking up the challenge of spending one hour in prayer every day. At first, it was difficult. I couldn't keep my focus, and I found myself continually stopping to read Bible verses just to keep my mind awake. But last week, God opened up a whole new door to me. I found myself on my floor, praising Him for all that He was, and finding a deep love and security I had never experienced before. The hour passed by so quickly I hardly noticed it. I had found myself in Christ, abiding in the depths of His presence, in a way I didn't know was possible. And there was victory that night.

The plane door is open. Are you ready to defy the chains of this world?