HEAD’S UP! It’s Day 3 of my 12-book giveaway contest. Enter HERE!

It takes an extreme makeover. Life does, I mean.

Our daughter Amy and son-in-law Stone (and, of course, the grandbabies, Katherine and Levi) live in Laurel, Mississippi. Laurel’s a sweet southern town, but in recent times has gained national exposure because of a show on HGTV, Home Town.

The show is centered around Ben and Erin Napier, a thirtysomething couple who work with individuals, couples, and families in restoring homes in Laurel. Laurel is full of quaint, historic homes – if you’re a fan of the arts and crafts/bungalow style, you’ll be as happy as an alligator on a chicken farm. Erin’s the artist and designer, Ben is the hands-on craftsman, and with their team of friends, relatives, and other geniuses, they work what I think are little miracles with the properties they tackle. Since Laurel is a smallish town, and distinctly southern, everyone knows everyone else – or are just a couple of degrees away from knowing everyone else. Amy, for example, works for Adam Trest – his and Lily’s was one of the first homes the Napiers tackled for the show. They’re all good buddies.

(Shameless promo here. Check out some of Adam’s handiwork. It’s also available here.)

In other words, the Napiers do makeovers. In the world of HGTV and DIY, they are not alone. Their fans eat it up.

There is something appealing about taking something in shambles and restoring it. Part of the appeal of Home Town is that, in the course of one episode, you can see a home that looks like the most unlikely place to live transformed into a cozy showplace. Indeed, all of Laurel is in the midst of a renaissance. Old timers scratch their heads, bemused that their little town has become a destination spot for road-trippers. I love it.

Think you need a makeover? It takes an extreme makeover.

People are into personal makeovers too, y’know. There are gyms, and diets, and plastic surgeons. There are life coaches. There are about a gazillion self-help gurus out there.

I’m not devaluing any of these. What they are evidence of, though, is this internal sense people have that they are not completely what they want or need to be.

Most folks would think of personal makeovers as a physical thing. Makeovers could also be educational (like going back to school to learn a skill, trade, or just to have a degree). Certainly mental and emotional makeovers can happen through counseling and therapy.

But. How can one’s spirit be made over?

Our current pervasive worldview would inform us that being spiritual, as opposed to being religious or (gasp!) Christian, is a good thing.

But I’m driving a personal stake down right here. I’d contend that nothing can makeover your spirit and soul except Jesus Christ Himself.

I never wanted my blog to be just a feel-good devotional thought. However, I’m about to go full-throttle Christian on ya. If I took any other route, I’d be dishonest and disingenuous.

I have tried to make over myself many times.  I live in a fairly constant state of being hard on myself, simply because I’ve felt that I was capable of so much more than I was contributing to the world. I’ve taken on all sorts of self-improvement tactics (I won’t take time to catalogue them here, but I’d just say I’ve been down a lot of roads), and the results at best were fleeting.

I guess I’ve always known that the only change, the only makeover that lasts, happens to come from the hands of God. Heck, I’ve known that for years. Problem is, I’ve sometimes been guilty of turning to Him as the last resort.

These things I know (and you might just know, too. But let’s take a refresher.)

• If you’re a Christian, God did not give you eternal salvation because of anything you’ve done, good or bad. He saved you because of His love for you. I know that’s Christianity 101, but the implications are just staggering. In essence, all the pressure is off you. You don’t have to perform or produce to stay in God’s good graces. There is nothing you can possibly do that would cause Him to not love you.
• He has plans for you. He delights in watching you work and develop those plans. You are His favorite project.
• His love doesn’t depend on you being the smartest person in the room. Listen again – you don’t even have to be good to be loved by Him. (You should probably want to be good, though.)
• His love is based on His goodness, not yours.

This is amazing stuff. Fill your mind with His wonder. Let it flood your body. You’re safe because His loving arms are around you and His heavenly angels surround you.

This is life: Burdens will weigh you down. Wickedness will hold you back from experiencing joy. Don’t you long to be set free, to feel clean inside and out?

The beauty  is that you don’t have to strive to fix things on your own. As a believer, you have a supernatural helper. A counselor. A friend like no other.

Ancient script states this:

He saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior. *

You probably aren’t looking for some theological treastice here, so I’ll not offer one. This isn’t the time to deal with the doctrine of the Holy Spirit. Just considering the verses I cited, here’s the breakdown:

• From the moment you grasp onto faith in Jesus Christ, you are “possessed,” if you will, by the Holy Spirit. He shapes your life in a new way. You are no longer your own. Jesus takes you and renews you. Like a makeover, right?
• See how special you are? Christ knew in this life you’d have questions and troubles. You may feel alone, but God makes a way for you to never be alone. Embrace this.
• The question must be asked: What might keep you from doing this? It’s an exchanged life – yours for His. I’m guessing many folks balk at the thought of not being “the master of their fates, the captain of their souls.” Here’s your sign – you have never had the final say-so over your life. You may think you do, and you have all sorts of free choices you can make, but the final outcome is forever and all time out of your hands. My reasonable faith teaches me that if I don’t have the last word, it’d be wise to trust the one who does, and be moldable and available to Him.
• The implication, then, is that no matter what the world throws at you, you are spiritually bulletproof.
• I mean, dang. In the flesh, you may not be anything special. But because He’s shown extraordinary compassion and mercy to you, filled you with His Holy Spirit, you are totally cleansed from all guilt, shame, and perceived inadequacies. Whatever good is in you, whatever abilities you have, is there because He’s poured out His Spirit on you. He wanted to do this.

I’ll tell you what this means. It means He can transform your desires, rearrange your priorities, and realign your mind with Christ’s. In His power you can break the chains of addiction, conquer giants, and discern the lies of the Enemy. He can enable you to overcome every obstacle the world puts in your way so you can become everything God asks you to be.

I’m not sure why only a handful of believers choose to claim these promises. I may try to deal with that later. I have some thoughts about why most Christians lead fruitless, defeated lives. (Hint: It ain’t God’s fault. But beating yourself up over it doesn’t help, either.)

Here’s my marching orders for all of us:

• Let God revive your heart.
• Ask Him to renew your faith.
• Beg that He fill you with childlike energy so you can persevere through trying times.
• Sense His all-consuming love.
• Relax in His goodness.
• Learn to listen to His promptings and obey. Right then.
• Let the world see His beauty and His transforming life-changing power in you.

These are lofty thoughts, and God knows that I fail, and spectacularly. But just because I have to soar on eagle’s wings to experience Him is no excuse for me to be content with plodding along with my eyes on the ground. It takes an extreme makeover to experience the reality of Christ. I’m open to that.

*Titus 3:5-6

HEAD’S UP! It’s Day 3 of my 12-book giveaway contest. Enter HERE!

(Note: I’ve invited Gene Whitehead to write a guest blog for us today. Check out his bio and links below. You’re really, really gonna like his stuff. Trust your Uncle Tony on this one!)

Blame it on the Devil

Some time ago at a church my family and I attended, we were preparing for a special teaching on evangelism. Getting the church outside the walls of the church is something that usually excites me, and I was thrilled with the guest we had coming to help with this teaching.

Setup time had arrived and we had several people buzzing around on various tasks. Chairs were aligned, coffee was brewed and the necessary information was on display. Everything seemed perfect. And then we tested the audio and the video.

Silence.

As the one leading the endeavor, I was a bit frustrated to say the least, but I’ll never forget what our special guest said. “See, the devil doesn’t want us to talk about outreach and evangelism!” Turning to me with a grin, he said, “I know the enemy most likely didn’t cause this problem, but it sure is more fun blaming it on him!”

The truth is, the devil probably did not cause that issue with the sound and video. But he could have.

That’s because in this fallen world, things often work against you and life can just go all kinds of wrong.

And sometimes, there is a cause that you cannot see.

The Seen and the Unseen

The reality is that you and I live in a natural world with natural bodies, but it was all created by a supernatural God who exists outside of time and space.

That means there’s a supernatural element to everything around us, whether or not we acknowledge it.

Of course, the problem with talking like this in our modern, technologically advanced society is that most people have a difficult time accepting what they can’t see. Modern man has a tendency to recognize only that which he can analyze.

We have come to rely on our ability to build, repair, create, and even re-create. At large, mankind today places a lot of weight on what we can see and touch, and very little faith in what we cannot see. But in the cultures of the early church, ideas like atheism simply didn’t exist as we know them.

That’s exactly why we have subjects like spiritual warfare in Scripture. The Apostle Paul touches on the unseen in his writing and teaching throughout the New Testament, but in his letter to the Ephesians, he really unravels some things that can be tough to chew on.

“Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.” Ephesians 6:10–11 (ESV)

See there? Paul, in a conversational-style letter acknowledges that there is a devil. And he does so in a very non-startling, unassuming way. And the stuff he unpacks over the next 10 verses is even more astounding. Actually, just the next verse alone is enough to make you stand still!

“For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.” Ephesians 6:12 (ESV)

I want to pause on Paul’s extraordinary teaching for a moment with you. In the verses above, Paul has instructed the church in and around Ephesus to “put on the armor of God.” He writes that the purpose of doing so is in order to stand against Satan’s strategies.

Against authoritative, unseen agents of darkness.

A Better Hope

While we won’t get into how to do that in this space, I think it’s valuable to stop here and acknowledge that you do in fact have a supernatural enemy. Just like our guest speaker I mentioned at the start, the devil can’t be blamed for every unpleasant thing that happens, but it’s critical to understand that you most certainly will face trials, temptations, failures, pain, and more.

And some of that junk (and then some) does come from an unseen enemy.

The essential point to grasp onto here is that no matter what the source of your suffering or unpleasantry is, whether it’s supernatural (which by now I trust you agree is possible), or if it’s just life happening, know that there is no better place to put your hope than in the Lord.

Just the natural stuff alone is enough to wrestle and struggle with and against in this life. Throw in the supernatural and we have a serious battle on our hands. Your life with or without Christ will have its share of conflict, but facing the natural andthe supernatural with God’s armor is a much better way to go.

For more on how to put on the armor of God, I invite you to check out my study guide on Ephesians 6:10-20, Preparing for Spiritual Warfare: The Full Armor of God, which offers application and discussion questions and is great resource for personal use, devotions, or for group study.

About Gene:

Gene Whitehead ditched his first career in order to serve people and share hope, serving in full time, cross cultural ministries with his wife in Northern Europe. His passion is to help people embrace Christ and to apply Scripture to daily life in practical ways. You can read about that at genewhitehead.com.

by Joe McKeever

(From Tony: I’ve invited my buddy Joe McKeever to share  with us today.  I can’t even. I’m honored, and we’re all blessed. Check him out on Facebook and  at www.joemckeever.com. He’ll encourage ya.)

Start with the children.

Frank Pollard used to enjoy telling about a friend named Claude Hedges of Olney, Texas.  Mr. Hedges taught a class of 10-year-old boys in the local Baptist church.  Frank said, “He didn’t just teach the ones who showed up.  He thought every 10-year-old boy in Olney, Texas belonged to him.”

Frank said, “I knew he was coming.  Because I was boy number seven in our house.  Mr. Hedges had led all my brothers to Christ, and three of us became preachers.”

Now, Frank is the only one of the brothers I knew, but let me tell you something about him.  For over 25 years, he pastored the great First Baptist Church of Jackson, MS.  At one time, he served the FBC of San Antonio and then was president of our Baptist seminary in the San Francisco area.  Sometime around 1980, TIME magazine named Frank one of the 10 outstanding preachers in America. And, for a number of years, Dr. Frank Pollard was the featured preacher on the Baptist Hour, a television production literally beamed across the entire world.

Anyway …

Frank said, “I used to go back and visit with Claude Hedges.  I would say, ‘Thank you for doing the best thing anyone ever did for me.’”

By leading him to Christ.

Frank added, “Last year one of my brothers and I went back and did his funeral.”  One man. One little man, if you will.  Someone you never heard of who literally changed the world from his small town in rural Texas.

He did it without ever leaving town.

Frank Pollard has been with the Lord for a dozen years or more, I’m not sure.  Heaven alone knows how many lives he touched with the good news of Jesus Christ.

I think about Dennis Agajanian.  He’s billed as the world’s fastest guitar player.  The only time I’ve heard him was early in 2006 when Billy and Franklin Graham came to New Orleans for a weekend of ministry. In both services in the New Orleans Center, Dennis opened with a 10-minute presentation of guitar playing and testimony.  He said something I’ve never forgotten.

“I grew up in a church that was so small, my brother and I were the youth department.  And our pastor was 75 years old.”

That’s imagine that.

Suppose you went back to that small congregation.  Suppose you told them that one day, someone from their church would be touching the world for Jesus, sharing the Gospel before vast crowds in huge arenas.  Would they have said, “Not us.  We’re too small.  We can never do anything important.”  Or would they have said, “You bet.  We’re asking the Lord to raise up someone from our church who will touch the world for Jesus.”

Wouldn’t you love to have been the one who led Dennis Agajanian to Christ, the one who taught him and encouraged him along the way?

Somewhere in your town, in your church, in your class, is a person who can become a mighty instrument of the Lord.  Someone just needs to reach them, to tell them of Jesus and to disciple them.

Are you teaching a class?  Working in Vacation Bible School?  Grandparenting some special children?  Volunteering in the nursery? Raising your own young’uns?

Then you are strategically placed to make an eternal difference in this world for the really important things.  You can change the world without ever leaving your town.

But you have to be faithful.

Start by becoming a person of prayer and asking the Father to grow you, then guide you, and use you.  Pray for those children by name every day.  And encourage them.  They receive so much discouragement from people all around them.  You be an encourager. Believe in that child.  Love that child.  See him or her not as they are today but for what they can become.

Ask God to show you that child twenty years from now.  And then, go with that vison.

Bro. Joe

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I am intrigued by lighthouses (and if you look at the icon at the bottom of this blog,  you might’ve suspected as much. A lighthouse lends itself to all sorts of symbolism.) There is the practicality of the light as a warning of dangerous shoals and reefs, but also as a beacon to come home to safe harbor. Cool. I wanna be a lighthouse keeper. Some years back, male child Jeremy married the love of his life, Kathleen Fleet. Kathleen’s home is Traverse City, Michigan, and that’s where the wedding took place. Teresa and I found Traverse City to be absolutely delightful, a quaint storybook town. Actually, we came away feeling that Michigan was a state we could easily vacation in … the Pure Michigan commercials on TV are a great representation of the beauties of our neighbors to the north (and for this Southern boy, I’m glad to be open-minded enough to consider life above the Mason-Dixon Line as actually liveable!) We visited the Mission Point Lighthouse during the wedding. This lighthouse was built in 1870, and warned seamen of the dangerous shoals extended out into Grand Traverse Bay. Michigan has more lighthouses than any other state, but what sets this one apart, at least among the lighthouses around Traverse City, is that it has a keeper program, during which you sign up for a time slot and actually serve as a keeper. The light has long since been decommissioned, but you live in the tender’s house, manage the gift shop, answer questions, do maintenance, all that. Lovely. Just lovely. That’s as close as I’d ever come to being an actual lighthouse keeper. One day, perhaps. My understanding is that the life of a lighthouse keeper and his family is a solitary one. He must, however, look to the needs of those he may never meet. Think about it. He is steward over a light that lives literally depend upon. And should his light go out … I don’t want to torture this metaphor, but you see where I’m going. I know of people who were once lights who, for whatever reason, no longer shed the light they once did. What does this imply about faith? It’s possible that those (us?) who were once lightbringers are now shadows of what we once were. We got tired. We gave up. Those who once looked to us turned away. Pity. I wonder if part of the problem might be that we never realized that our light was fading. We became so routine and used to our role in life that we left the light untended, without sufficient fuel, until it was too dim to make a difference. Perhaps we only wanted light for ourselves. It might be that our light was never build on the Light that never fails. God is light, ancient script says, and in Him is no darkness at all. When you are in the dark, you feel isolated and alone. Light gives us the ability to not only see what is around us, but to give others comfort in knowing that they are not alone. We aren’t called to draw people to our own light. Rather, our call is to be a tender of God’s light. We don’t have to be something we aren’t. We don’t have to depend on our own luminescence. His light never fades. It never gives false guidance. We depend on it for ourselves. We depend on God alone. And, as He sees fit, He allows us to not be the light but to reflect the light. His light can cut through the fog, give guidance in the storm, and ultimately lead those seeking harbor a place to lay anchor in safety. “Whenever, though, they turn to face God as Moses did, God removes the veil and there they are—face-to-face! They suddenly recognize that God is a living, personal presence, not a piece of chiseled stone. And when God is personally present, a living Spirit, that old, constricting legislation is recognized as obsolete. We’re free of it! All of us! Nothing between us and God, our faces shining with the brightness of his face. And so we are transfigured much like the Messiah, our lives gradually becoming brighter and more beautiful as God enters our lives and we become like him.”(italics mine.) 2 Corinthians 3:16-18, The Message [/av_textblock]