Could things get much worse?

He was alone. He was in prison. And, he had an indefinite sentence.

How did it come to this?

He used to have a fabulous life, but that was all a very long ways away now. Gone was his freedom. Gone was an abundance of comfort. Gone was connection with family and friends. Gone was connection to his people, to his country of origin – he was imprisoned in a foreign country.

His life had completely fallen apart. His brothers hated him – they were consumed with jealousy. He had been abused and abandoned by his brothers. He was sold as a slave to a foreign country. He had been falsely accused of sexual assault by his new master. He was now rotting in prison.

He is, of course, Joseph.

“What happened to the dream of my brothers bowing down to me? What happened to the dream of my father and mother bowing down to me? Where is the goodness of God? Where is God in all of this? Why have I been abandoned and forgotten?”, were questions that must have crossed his mind a number of times.

However, he was not abandoned and forgotten.

Where was God in the midst of all of this? He was right in the middle of it all…

“…because the Lord was with Joseph and gave him success in whatever he did.”

What? You call this success – Joseph is in prison.

And here is where the lesson is found. Joseph has two lenses through which he could see his situation: he could look at what is, or he could look at what isn’t. He could look at what he has, or what he hasn’t. He could look at the glass as half empty, or half full.

He could choose his attitude.

The fact is, according to scripture, the Lord was with Joseph and was giving him success and favour. Joseph could have been consumed with anger, resentment, bitterness, pride, self-centeredness, self-pity and the like, but it appears he was not.

He chose to conduct himself righteously, he chose to maintain his character, he chose to remain faithful

Joseph chose an attitude of surrender, and faithfulness to God.

Like Zig Ziglar said, “Attitude determines altitude.”

Joseph’s attitude was to see beyond his circumstance, to somehow by faith see what he had instead of what he had lost. Sure, I have no doubt he had times of deep sorrow and doubt in the midst of his distress, but it appears he didn’t waiver in his faithfulness to God.

And God was with Joseph giving him favour and success even though his brothers were consumed by jealousy and hated him; even though they abducted him and sold him into slavery; even though he was falsely accused of sexual assault, even though he was in prison…

God was with him, even though…

What will your attitude be in your situation?

Will you look at “God with you” or will you look at the “even thoughs”? Will you remain faithful in the midst of the trials and the testing, or will you abandon your beliefs, character and right actions in the midst of difficulties? Will you choose faith and gratitude, or will you choose anger, resentment and bitterness?

Will we choose to humble ourselves, or will we stand alone in arrogance? Will we choose self-pity and feel sorry for ourselves, blaming others for our condition and situation, or will we surrender our hopes, dreams, expectations and shortcomings to the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords?

What will we choose?

The Lord is more concerned about our courage, character, conviction and calling than our comfort and convenience. The Lord sees who He has created, crafted and called us to be and has invited us into the epic adventure of the Kingdom of God in us and through us. He loves us enough to refine us like gold.

However, in the midst of His purposes He has given us the free will to choose our attitude. Will we align with the plans and purposes of God, or be at odds with the plans and purposes of God? We can choose.

Our attitude determines our altitude.

Genesis 39: 2-6

“The Lord was with Joseph so that he prospered, and he lived in the house of his Egyptian master. When his master saw that the Lord was with him and that the Lord gave him success in everything he did, Joseph found favor in his eyes…the Lord blessed the household of the Egyptian because of Joseph. The blessing of the Lord was on everything Potiphar had…”

Genesis 39: 20-23

“But while Joseph was there in the prison, the Lord was with him; he showed him kindness and granted him favor in the eyes of the prison warden. So the warden put Joseph in charge of all those held in the prison, and he was made responsible for all that was done there. The warden paid no attention to anything under Joseph’s care, because the Lord was with Joseph and gave him success in whatever he did.”

Joshua 24:15

“But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve…But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.”

What would life look like without emotion? Not very good. No happiness, no surprise, no sadness, no anger, no fear, no disgust, and no contempt.

Emotions are powerful and profound gifts from God. Emotion is part of what makes us human. To be truly human is to be able to experience a full range of emotions.

Have you seen the movie Inside Out? Though it is an animated movie written for children it is a profound analysis of the human emotional psyche. We are taken on a journey into the mind and heart of a 10 year old girl and the impact decisions have on her emotions and the impact emotions have on her decisions. Joy, sadness, fear, disgust and anger are the main characters in this incredible story.

Our own emotions, though a significant aspect of our everyday life experience, can be an aspect of ourselves we little understand. We all struggle with emotions in different ways: some men struggle to experience emotions, while others struggle to keep their emotions in control. If we were to look at a spectrum of emotions we would see at one end being controlled by emotion, with the other end being more or less “robotic” or emotionless.

I believe neither end of the spectrum is how God has created us to function. We are not designed to be controlled by our emotions, nor are we designed to live without emotion. I learned recently that we need to be able to perceive, understand, use and manage our emotions.

We need to be able to perceive what is going on with our and with others’ emotions; we then need to be able to understand what has led to this particular emotional state; then use those valid emotions to move us forward; while managing our emotions in a way that does not negate their reality, nor allow them to rage unabated in our hearts without the reigns of Truth to manage them.

I discovered much to my chagrin that I tend to jump from perceiving emotions to managing them. Take anger for example, if one of our sons – or even my wife – was angry, I would perceive it, then move right to managing it without validating the emotion, what was causing it and how it can be a motivator for change. My goal was to stop the anger.

Shameful really. Continuing in that emotional strategy creates robots – and alienates relationships. No room to be human. No room to safely share emotion.

Not good.

I was recently speaking with a young man who is very emotionally driven. We talked about how his emotions are a gift from God. His open and tender heart enables him to experience emotion in a profound way. Although, he does not necessarily see this as a blessing. He feels like his emotions control him more than he controls his emotions.

And therein lies the quandary: How do we control our emotions without denying them, yet also not letting them control us? How do we create change in our lives in the midst of emotions that may not necessarily be conducive to facilitating that change? I want to change, but I don’t feel like it…

I pictured a train in my mind. As you know, with trains all the cars are in line – there is a sequence and an order to them. I believe creating change is similar to a train: there are certain cars we need to put in order if we are going to change behavior. I call this the Change Train:

Beliefs – Thoughts – Actions – Feelings

Beliefs are the locomotive driving the train, followed by thoughts, then actions, with feelings the caboose. Feelings are a key part of the train, but they can’t drive it. The Change Train is driven by what we believe. We bring our thoughts in line with what we believe, our action changes based on what we believe and what we think about, and our feelings come in line with our actions.

Creating change starts with addressing our beliefs. What we choose to believe informs our thoughts, actions and feelings.

Feelings are a wonderful gift from God and have their rightful place in the Change Train.

Hebrews 3:19

“So we see that they were not able to enter, because of their unbelief.”

Proverbs 29:11

“Fools give full vent to their rage, but the wise bring calm in the end.”

Proverbs 14:15

“The simple believe anything, but the prudent give thought to their steps.”

Mark 9:23, 24

“‘If you can’?’ said Jesus. ‘Everything is possible for one who believes.’ Immediately the boy’s father exclaimed, ‘I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!’”

Click to watch “Set a Fire” worship song

Do you like fires? I love fires.

There is something very soothing about basking in the warmth of a fire. The sound of the crackling wood, the scent of smoke, the power of the fire contained in such a way that it brings life and not destruction…all very compelling.

I’ve noticed something about guys: we can sit for ages in front of a campfire just hanging out, talking about nothing and poking at the fire. There is something magical about fire – it’s almost hypnotic.

It’s alive.

We have an older home so we have the pleasure of having two wood-burning fireplaces: one in the living room and one in our man cave. It’s tough to beat sitting beside the fireplace reading a book on a cold winter’s day while watching snow fall outside.

It’s magical.

This Christmas holiday was perfect for doing just that. Lots of snow fell and we had lots of down time to enjoy the fireplace. Chillin’ by the fire – which is a bit of an oxymoron I guess. But you know what I mean. It’s just relaxing to sit beside a fire.

But here’s what I think is most compelling about fires: you can interact with them. You play with them. You tinker with them. You build them. You mess around with them. The best part about a fire is shifting the wood around to keep it burning; adding wood to ensure the fire keeps going; engineering the fire the way you want it to burn. That’s what makes for good fire time.

Sure, it’s good just sitting beside a great fire, but you take things to another level when you are the architect of the flame: when you are master of the blaze. The real fun is stoking the fire. There is a primal pride involved in making a fire. It’s a manly sense of accomplishment.

So, as I sat by my fire reveling in primal pride, savoring my mastery of the blaze, I learned something simple yet very profound…

Left unattended, fires go out.

There are 2 critical stages to a good fire: 1. Starting, 2. Stoking. By “stoking” I mean “keeping it ablaze”. Sure, starting a fire is a feat all of us need to master. However, stoking the fire requires ongoing effort and perseverance. If you want a fire to keep burning you need to keep feeding it. You need to keep stoking it.

What do I mean by stoking the fire? Simple, shift the wood around to ensure the pieces are close enough together to feed on each other’s heat and flame, and put more fuel on the fire (wood) when the burning wood has been mostly consumed by the fire.

Playing with the fire I began to ask myself,

“Am I stoking the fires in my life that need to be stoked, or am I letting them go out?”

How about you?

What are you doing to stoke the fire of your commitment to the Lord? How are you feeding the fire for your love of Truth – God’s Word? How are you feeding the fire of love for your wife? What are you doing to ensure the fire of passion for fathering your children does not go out? How hot is your commitment to serving others burning?

These are some of the questions we need to answer.

There are a few things we can do to stoke the fires of passion, commitment, conviction, and courage in our lives: We can ask the Lord to set a fire in our hearts – to fill us with the fire of the Holy Spirit. Worship. Pray. Fast. Give. Serve.

We can get closer to other men who are “on fire”. We can choose to dive into opportunities to learn from others at conferences, through books and podcasts, sermons on Sunday, bible studies in house group, breakfast meetings with other men, creating a community of allies with whom we do life…

Bottom line: Get closer to God. Get closer to others.

Our passion, commitment, conviction and courage are like fires, if we don’t stoke them, they will go out. We must add fuel to our fires to keep them burning brilliantly.

Let’s stoke some fires in 2016.

Luke 3:16

“John answered them all, ‘I baptize you with water. But one who is more powerful than I will come, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.'”

Acts 2:3

“They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them.”

2 Timothy 1:6

“For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands.”

Hebrews 6:12

“We do not want you to become lazy, but to imitate those who through faith and patience inherit what has been promised.”

The troops were ready. This was it. The time had come. The fulfilling of the ages was upon us.

This would be the largest invasion the world had ever seen. Never before in the annuls of human history had a force of this magnitude been assembled. It had been meticulously planned out – every detail of this massive endeavor was precisely calculated. The stakes were high: the freedom of mankind lay in the balance.

Heaven was ready to hit the beaches of human history.

The hosts of heaven were poised to invade enemy occupied territory. Sure, for millennia there had been war in the spirit realm on planet earth, but this mission was designed to be a decisive blow to defeat the enemy of mankind – to break the curse of sin and the legal title Satan had on the sons and daughters of God.

The key to this plan was God Himself. God would become a man to demonstrate the government of God – the way humans were designed to live. Jesus, God’s Son, would come to earth as wholly God and wholly man to show us the way home to our Father; to show us the family rules – the true nature of the Kingdom of God.

But Jesus mission was far more than being a good example for mankind. He did not simply come to show us how to live. No, His mission was far greater than that.

The sons and daughters of God has been duped by the one who was evicted from Heaven due to his pride, jealousy and hatred. For too long Satan had meted out his jealousy, hatred and rage on the children of God. Too long mankind had been held hostage by sin in the kingdom of darkness on earth.   Satan held legal title to the hearts of men and women.

It was time for Divine Liberation. It was time for a Divine Rescue Mission.

This was the announcement given by the initial Angelic invasion force:

“’Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord.’…Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, ‘Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.’”

Great news: a Savior is here to rescue us. Peace on earth.

Do you know why that was the announcement? Because mankind were prisoners of war.

The General of the Hosts of Heaven – Jesus, God’s own Son – would become a man. He would grow to become the Divine Warrior who defied the empire of darkness. He would pay the blood price for the redemption of God’s children. He would set the captives free.

A Hero would rise.

The true Hero is risen – He is risen indeed!

It is the resurrection that sealed the deal. On the cross Jesus shattered the power of our legal indebtedness to sin, and triumphed over our enemy by His death and resurrection. His resurrection from the dead secured all authority in His name over the enemy or our soul. Jesus completed His rescue mission by rising from the dead, setting free the prisoners of war.

Jesus resurrection broke the chains of sin over mankind. He took the keys to sin and death from the enemy. He has all authority in Heaven and on Earth. He has conquered the enemy of mankind. The enemy of our soul has been defeated.

The prisoners of war are all free if we so choose to follow the Savior. Or, we can choose to stay captive to sin, imprisoned by the enemy of God who is committed to steal, kill and destroy all the good news of great joy that is ours in Jesus.

Do not surrender your life through sin to the enemy of your soul and become a prisoner of war. You have been divinely liberated. The Landing was the fulfilling of the ages when Heaven hit the beaches of human history to set the captives free. Let us choose to follow the Saviour of our souls into the freedom, joy, hope, peace and favour God has for us.

Galatians 5:1

“It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.”

Colossians 1:13, 14

“For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves,  in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.”

Colossians 2:13-15

“When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross. And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.”

1 Peter 1:3

“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,”