Believe for It, page 11
I don’t know if life is good for you right now or if you’re being tossed around in the storms of life. I do know that the God of the universe is more powerful than any storm. The reason I know is not only because God’s Word says so, but because I have personally experienced it. In the words of the old hymn “My Hope Is Built on Nothing Less,” “In every high and stormy gale, my anchor holds within the veil. On Christ the solid rock I stand. All other ground is sinking sand.” As I have put His words into practice, Christ has been my solid rock.
In every high and stormy gale, my anchor holds within the veil. On Christ the solid rock I stand.
More than that, He is a tender companion when we go through suffering. Many of us experienced loss during the coronavirus pandemic. From stay-at-home orders to quarantines to health crises, we’ve all lost experiences, familiar rhythms, relationships, opportunities, and peace of mind. Those kinds of losses take a toll and result in collective grief. We may have moved forward, but the effects are still evident in the world around us. Many of us are hurting from those circumstances or others. As a Christian, I know “I can do all things through him who gives me strength” (Philiphians 4:13). The problem arises when I skip the lament and attempt to jump straight to the joy in my own strength.
When we’re going through a trying season, we may also forget how intensely our Savior cares for us in our lowest moments. He sits with us in our pain. When Jesus’s friend Lazarus died, Jesus wept with Mary and Martha mere moments before He brought their brother back to life. Jesus knew the joy that awaited the women, and still He cried with them. I find that incredible. That is the kind of Savior we have. He sees our pain, understands it, and cares.
Whenever we lament—whether over a broken relationship, medical diagnosis, or heartbreaking loss—Jesus, the “man of sorrows,” is right there with us. He knows when and how healing and restoration will occur, but He also sits with us in our pain. He invites us to bring our sorrow to Him and allow His Spirit to turn it to joy.
THE POWER OF PRAISE
As a girl, I witnessed the power of praise firsthand. Rain or shine, my dad was always praising Jesus. He didn’t care how loud he was or where he was. He had only to think on the goodness of God, and praise would flow out. At times this could be surprising, like when it happened in the line at a department store. “We thank you, Jesus!” he would exclaim. “Lord, you are so good!”
My mother also kept praise on her lips, though she was less boisterous about it. Whether she received good news or bad, I would hear her say, “Lord, we bless your name.” I never doubted how my mom or dad felt about the Lord or how deeply they trusted Him.
I inherited the practice of praise from my parents. One day, when my children were in elementary school, I realized just how much my habit of praising God out loud had impacted them. While I was out of town, they made me a video of part of their day. As they climbed into the car for school, Ashley, pretending to be me, raised her hand and said, “Oh God, we bless Your name.”
“God, You are so good!” Alvin III chimed in.
I smiled, both at their amusing impersonation of their mother and at the fact that they had picked up on my inclination to praise. Psalm 34:1–2 says, “I will extol the Lord at all times; his praise will always be on my lips. I will glory in the Lord; let the afflicted hear and rejoice.” Praise is an antidote to affliction. When I have walked through hard times in my life, praise has been a proven path to victory. As we praise, God becomes bigger and our problems become smaller. Here are a few times Scripture commands us to praise.
In the morning. Multiple Scriptures tell us to praise God first thing in the morning. This helps us gain the proper perspective before we begin our day. One morning I was doing devotions with my grandson, Wyatt, and we read Psalm 59:16: “But I will sing of your strength, in the morning I will sing of your love; for you are my fortress, my refuge in times of trouble.”
“Oooo, Wyatt,” I said. “That’s what we do. We sing praise to God in the morning! We remember He is our fortress.” I turned on some kids worship music, filling the room with praise. As he started dancing and praising God, I was reminded of the importance of praising God throughout my day. As I do, my family and those around me are affected by my praise. At Nashville Life, I’ll often come in Sunday morning with praise on my lips, and some of our young congregants have started imitating this kind of spontaneous worship.
When we’re in need. The Word says that God is present in the praises of His people. And Philippians 4:6 tells us, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.” You start with giving thanks to God and remembering who He is. You make your requests with thanksgiving, proclaiming that He is big enough, wise enough, and good enough to handle any problem in your life.
I think of Paul and Silas, imprisoned for preaching the gospel. After receiving a severe beating, the two evangelists sat, their feet in stocks, in the inner cell of the jail. Scripture tells us how they responded to this hardship: “About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them. Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken. At once all the prison doors flew open, and everyone’s chains came loose” (Acts 16:25–26).
Reading on, we discover that when this miracle occurs, Paul and Silas don’t seize their opportunity to escape prison, but instead witness to the jailer, who comes to saving faith in Christ. The men praised God through their hardship, and as a result, God brought about something far greater than their immediate rescue.
As an example to others. Earlier in this book, we examined Psalm 145:4–7, which talks about influencing the next generation:
One generation commends your works to another; they tell of your mighty acts.
They speak of the glorious splendor of your majesty— and I will meditate on your wonderful works.
They tell of the power of your awesome works— and I will proclaim your great deeds.
They celebrate your abundant goodness and joyfully sing of your righteousness.
The focus of this entire passage is praise. We don’t just teach our children about God, we praise His works to them. We talk about how good He is, we speak of His mighty acts, we sing of His righteousness, and we celebrate His goodness. As odd as my father’s outbursts of praise may have seemed in the moment, he was doing this 100 percent! We could see that God was number one in his life. He always testified of God’s goodness and worthiness.
We must be lifting up God’s name and magnifying Him so the next generation understands this is not a boring religion or a passionless daily grind; it’s an exciting walk with God. We must broadcast that we believe God is bigger than our problems. We praise Him according to his excellence, not what our feelings or circumstances dictate.
WHO DO YOU WORSHIP?
We are created to worship. Praising God has helped me to overcome adversity in my life. Praise is one of our greatest weapons against the attacks of the enemy. Praise brings in the light and keeps you from dwelling on darkness. As you worship, you’re not denying the reality of whatever difficult circumstance you’re walking through. But praise shifts your focus from the problem to the answer, from the mountain to the mountain mover. It reminds you of the glorious truths that you are more than a conqueror, God is for you, and greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world. Praise allows the Holy Spirit to move and work in ways that proclaim the glory of God even in the direst circumstances.
At Ronald’s memorial service, I declared as part of my tribute that we were “choosing to take on a garment of praise for any and all potential spirits of heaviness.” Because we chose to praise, the service was filled with laughter, love, and honor of my brother, a man whose legacy would long outlive him.
At my brother’s memorial, I said,
Ronald passing twice changed my life forever twice. The first time when God brought him back my faith went somewhere it never went before because when you witness God bring back someone from the dead, you know He can work out anything. This time when he passed, I changed again. My mind went straight to heaven and I’m so focused to live for God like never before, and I’ve realized there is nothing else more important than loving God and loving each other.
The surgeon who had operated on Ronald in 1997 also spoke. Holding back tears, he talked about the surgery he’d performed on my brother nearly eight years earlier. He said, “Ron helped bring me back to God after I walked away from Him, thinking that it was me who was responsible for the patients I helped, when the reality is it was God.” After experiencing the miracle God did for Ronald, that doctor turned back to the Lord, offering Him all praise for what He had done.
God had used tragedy to point our eyes toward heaven and to His eternal purposes. Ronald brought people to the Lord both in life and in death. That evening the Lord was present in the praises of His people. We declared His mighty acts in and through the life of our brother and friend Ronald. I would never be the same. But I would keep building my life on the rock of Jesus as my brother had done. Because one day, I will see them both face to face.
QUESTIONS to CONSIDER
• What is a trial you have experienced in the past or are currently experiencing? What impact has it had on your life?
• What spiritual disciplines or practices have strengthened you in times of adversity?
• How does it make you feel that Jesus cares about you enough to enter your suffering?
• Have you experienced the power of praise in your life? What happened?
CHAPTER
• nine •
PASSING THE BATON
When God called Alvin and me to pastor Nashville Life Church in 2012, He revealed to my husband that our son, Alvin III, would be our successor. So we knew from the start our leadership of the church was temporary. We had been pastoring for eight years when my husband felt the prompt from the Holy Spirit that the time for the handoff was near. From my perspective, my son did not look ready. He was only thirty-five years old, and though he had been serving in a pastoral role from the start of Nashville Life, I wondered if he was ready to take on the rigors and responsibilities of lead pastor.
In addition, the timing felt strange. We were in the middle of a global pandemic with social, racial, and political unrest in the culture that was also affecting our church. Alvin III would have to lead our very diverse congregation during arguably one of the toughest times to be a pastor. At the time, the church was doing well and there was no obvious reason to change up the leadership, but our instructions from the Lord had been clear. He had stirred in my husband’s heart that the timing was right.
So at the end of 2020, we began taking the steps necessary to officially hand over the lead pastor duties to Alvin III at the start of the new year. Since the Lord had taken hold of our son’s life nearly fifteen years earlier, I had watched Him develop some beautiful leadership qualities in Alvin. We decided to seek help with the transition, we had already hired a coach several years earlier to come alongside us during the handoff. We wanted the process to be as seamless as possible. Our top priority was not to disrupt the work God was doing at the church.
“You’re going to have to allow him to drop the ball sometimes,” the coach warned us during one of our first meetings.
“Why?” I asked, my mother’s heart fretting for my son. “Can’t we just catch the balls for him?”
“No,” he told us. “You have to step back. He’s watched you two do it. You have taught him. You have raised him. Now you have to take your hands off.”
We learned that sometimes when churches go through a leadership change, the previous pastor is asked to leave for at least six months to allow the new leadership to take. But after seeking the Lord on the matter, Alvin and I felt strongly that God was calling us to stick around to visibly show support for our son in his new role. The coach assured us that Alvin would make mistakes. “But I’m here to help him,” he said, “and it’s going to be okay.”
It’s going to be okay. Those words can be so hard to believe sometimes. The enemy is intent on stealing our peace. Even though Alvin and I knew it was God’s will to pass the leadership of the church to Alvin III, the exact details of how to do it weren’t written down for us in Scripture. There wasn’t an exact blueprint. It was going to be a little messy. Something that reassured me was that Jesus never ran away from the mess. He walked through it. He sat in it. He ministered to the mess.
If I ask my one-year-old grandson, Wyatt, to come help me clean up a mess, I can expect things to get worse before they get better. There will be times when I’ll think, I’d just rather do this myself because I can get it done quickly. But if I ask him to help and allow him to make the mess he’s going to make, he’s learning the principles and the work ethic to eventually do the task on his own with excellence.
God was asking us to hand something over to someone who might not do the job to our exact standard. We had to trust that He had called our son to the task. First Thessalonians 5:24 says, “The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do it.” The Lord had called Alvin III to be our lead pastor, and He would do it. Our job was to hand over the task with grace and get out of the way.
WHO ARE YOU TEACHING?
The story of Paul and Timothy is a classic example of spiritual mentorship. Paul, who referred to the young pastor as “my true son in the faith,” shared a close connection with Timothy (2 Timothy 1:2). In 2 Timothy 1:5–7 we observe a powerful mentorship moment:
I am reminded of your sincere faith, which first lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice and, I am persuaded, now lives in you also. 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. For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline.
Several things stand out to me in this passage. First, Paul knows Timothy’s history. Although he’s not physically related to Timothy, he acknowledges that the young man’s grandmother Lois and his mother, Eunice, have passed down the faith to him. This passage offers me inspiration for obvious reasons. As a mother and a grandmother, my role in passing down the faith matters. Also, you don’t have to be related by blood to have a spiritual influence on someone’s life. Many of us may be a spiritual mother or father to someone. In knowing who Timothy is, Paul can remind him of the faith that has been growing in him since childhood. I have been encouraged in this way many times throughout my life.
The second thing I notice in this passage is that Paul encourages Timothy in his specific gifts and calling. The apostle has firsthand knowledge of Timothy’s spiritual gifts, and he encourages the young man to step into them more fully. This is what my husband, Alvin, and I needed to do with our son. God was calling us to empower Alvin III to step into his gifts and be our lead pastor. In addition to reminding Timothy of his gift, Paul reminds the young pastor that God’s Spirit will give him the boldness, power, and love to step into his calling. In doing this, he points Timothy to his true source of strength and help.
You don’t have to be related by blood to have a spiritual influence on someone’s life.
In the next chapter, Paul charges Timothy with the important task of passing down faith to others: “You then, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable people who will also be qualified to teach others” (2 Timothy 2:1–2). With these instructions, Paul lays out a model for multigenerational disciple-making. He invites Timothy to take what he has learned and pass it on to faithful people who are then able to teach others. Bringing this principle to my own experience—I pass the spiritual wisdom that my mom and dad entrusted to me to my children so that they may teach the next generation.
This is an exciting task but not always easy to execute. Part of the problem comes in the form of generational conflict. This tension happens when the interests or ideals of one generation clash with those of another—for example, a baby boomer believing a millennial is lazy or entitled. While there are many varieties of individuals within each generation—typically those born within a twenty-year period—each individual shares similarities in behavior, philosophy, and attitude, as well as a sense of common identity. Like gender, race, or nationality, age is one more social dynamic that can divide us and cause us to be distrustful of those not in our own camp.
Perhaps this is the reason so many churches struggle to retain the young people in their congregations. As Alvin and I discovered firsthand, millennials (those born between 1981 and 1996) have struggled to find their place in the church. But one study reports that 45 percent of Gen Z Americans (those born in 1997 or after) rarely or never attend church, with one in four attending weekly or more.1
And the younger generations aren’t the only ones whose church attendance is flagging. Church attendance patterns reveal that baby boomers and Gen Xers are just as likely to stop attending church as millennials and Gen Zers.2 Not only are these statistics heartbreaking, but they also show a generational breakdown. Instead of the discipleship flow Paul describes, churchgoers are failing to plug in, get discipled, and, in turn, disciple others.
I see a big opportunity here, which is why I started Generations. We need to bring people together from all generations and start a conversation so that we can effectively pass on faith the way God intended. We are better together than we are apart. This phrase can apply to many arenas, but I believe intergenerational relationships is one of them.
