When it seems God is missing

When it seems God is missing
08.13.08

“Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles come your way, consider it
an opportunity for great joy. For you know that when your
faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow.

So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will
be perfect and complete, needing nothing.”
- James 1:2-4

Earlier this evening, as I was thinking about my current life status – no, not the single, or “in a relationship” status; I could not help but wonder where God is in the events that surround my life at the moment. I thought to myself “where is God?” I know that he’s here, I know that his word says that he loves me and that he has a good plan for my life, but there is this undeniable absence that has been troubling me greatly.

Relentlessly pursuing God through doing my devotions, God has been leading me, guiding me through questions and answers, and, in a way, keeping me reaching after him. Even though frustrating defiant feelings of abandonment sweep through my heart, filling my thoughts with anger and certain disappointment, I calm myself. I lay down and I begin to pray. A book of my favorite author slapped across my face, dimming the light of the lamp above me, I speak out to God in my head – most of which is silence followed by subtle sighs.

As the silence between us grows, I decided to open the book and begin to read the first chapter. I’ve read it at least four times by now, but I read it again. “Listen” it says, and goes on speaking about learning the first lesson of success, using Martha and Mary from the book of Luke as it’s opening and primary example. Unadmittingly, I was looking to just get through the chapter and move on to play “Army of Two.” But since I was already reading it, I decided to slow down and attempt to take in what was being taught through its message.

It’s a good thing that I did, because God began to speak to me through Pastor Wayne Cordeiro’s book – The Seven Rules of Success. He quotes an excerpt from John Ortberg’s book titled Love Beyond Reason:

“An unweaned child is a noisy child. The unweaned child has learned that eventually noise leads to the satisfying of his desires. And even if it doesn’t right away, the noise itself seems to bring him some type of relief. At least it makes others as miserable.
The weaned child, on the other hand, has learned that the presence of his mother is more than just gaining immediate gratification. This child has become capable of stillness and can have a whole new communication with his mother because now the mother is more than simply someone who exists to satisfy his needs or take away his hunger...Weaning means learning to live in stillness with unfulfilled desires for a while, but it is a mark of maturity, isn't it?”

A chord in my heart is struck, this is the answer; God has answered me. To be honest, the feelings of abandonment, and months of unanswered prayers I’ve been enduring, sure does not feel good. Moments of panic and disheartenment are not something that I treasure or look forward to, especially when this is “real-life.” But God is God, who can tell him what to do and be more right, or more loving in their answer or motive, than God?

You can be sure that I’ve complained more than once to God, said things that I won’t repeat here, and even tried to “pick a fight” with God. I’m not perfect, and believe it or not, frustration is frustrating. But I did not stop seeking after God, nor did I stop praying. I’ve learned to seek God with more intensity, and even worship God when so much stress and painful events surround me. It is hard to sing “You alone are God, I am yours and you are mine, and I know the heavens will call out your name if I don’t,” when you don’t even know where God is. There was, and still is, difficulty giving God praise and thanking him when there are “big pieces” of the puzzle to my life missing.

Then I remembered that God has already paid the price for my mistakes by coming down in human form, allowed his son Jesus to die in my place; I do have much to be thankful for, God has given me much already.

Is it right for God to wean us like he does at times?

I remember when I used to take swimming lessons when I first began to learn. The swimming instructor would back away a foot or two and then call out for me to swim to him. Trusting him, I would swim, and he would then help me back to the wall. This continued till I was proficient at that distance. One day, seeing him back out to the same distance, he called out to me to swim towards him again. Thinking, “I got this,” I begin to swim. One foot...two feet, no instructor, where did the bugga go? I look up, he’s right there. “I guess he slipped a little,” I thought, and got back to swimming. Another foot goes by – one foot is plenty for a small Filipino/ Hawaiian boy, so no laugh! – And I look up again, “What’s going on? My arms are getting tired!”

This time I don’t put my head down and begin to give the instructor “stink-eye” mixed with a look of panic, which should be sign to him that says “move again and I’m going to whack you.” By now I’m not really swimming anymore. I’m partly yelling, partly drowning, and am doing my new move the “claw-stroke” – where I’m going to try to claw your eyes out if I don’t drown first.

What seemed like forever, the instructor came and brought me back to safety. Just like a child being weaned to be more mature, my instructor was trying to get me to become more mature in my swimming. God does the same for us. Not to hurt us, or to cause pain, but so that we would mature in our faith and draw closer to him.

This past Sunday my pastor, Pastor Jim, asked a question that made me think. He asked, “Why do you think that the persecuted church grows, where as others don’t?” He did not give an answer, but I have one. It is because they have to rely on God more. Their maturity, faith, and beliefs are stretched, pruned, and are optimized to see the miraculous. Here, where there is virtually no persecution, and where everything you need is in a grocery store, we don’t rely on God as much. Yes, the miraculous does happen here and yes the church does grow here, but the difference between the persecuted church and the non-persecuted church are significant.

When we learn to rely on God more, when we seek him with all of our hearts for his will to be done, then it will be easier for God to move and we will see more of “God’s will being done on earth as it is in Heaven.”

Seek God through every season,

Ikaika Mossman

Listening

Listening
08.10.08

“Listen, all the earth!
I will bring disaster on my people.
It is the fruit of their own schemes,
because they refuse to listen to me.
They have rejected my word.”
- Jeremiah 6:19

When we were young, our parents would always tell us to look both ways before crossing a street. There are those of us who have listened, and there are those of us who haven’t listened. Now our listening can become conditional, which is why we’ve gotten many constant reminders growing up. At the intermediate school I attended there was a boy who left home that day one reminder short. After school was over, walking towards the bus stop across the street, he was hit by a car. Luckily he only had a few broken bones, but perhaps if had listened to his parents, the entire situation could have been avoided.

Personally, being hit by a car has not been written on my list of “Oh Wows!” At least not yet it hasn’t. However, there have been other mishaps that, if I had only but listened, would have saved me from both physical and emotional pain. Listening is most certainly an acquired skill, it takes effort, and for some, a certain amount of skill. Jeremiah, a prophet for God, continually warned the Israelites of the destruction and agony that was going to hit their nation. They didn’t listen and only got angry with Jeremiah. Sadly enough, the reason why God was angry towards the Israelites was because they didn’t listen to Him; they followed their own cravings and ideas. God warned them to change their ways, they didn’t listen, and here God is warning them again that disaster will strike, once more they didn’t listen.

Stubborn hearts and stubborn minds got this nation in its bind (lol...it rhymes). When we become stubborn and choose not to listen, whether to our parents, the government, or most importantly God, we put ourselves at risk – of getting into trouble with the law, with the landlord, and with God. Now I enjoy certain risks of smaller magnitudes, like certain investments, racing a car on a track, or even asking the cute girl next door on a date. However, getting in trouble with the law, or worse yet, getting into trouble with God, to me, does not sound like a well thought out plan.

We all need our listening skills to improve and jump the next “leap and bound” to the next level. It will require wise decisions, focus, and being conscientious of what we are doing and saying. It also requires knowledge and being close to the Holy Spirit if we are to be like Jesus – who did all that God asked him to do. For this I strongly recommend reading God’s word daily for the purpose of knowing what God asks us to do. And just as Jesus was constantly praying to God, for His will to be done, as followers of Christ, it too would be wise to keep in constant consistent communication with the God who loves us and gives us purpose.

It is my prayer that both you and I, will be motivated to listen well, being obedient. For if we do, the time we save ourselves from hospital visits, and the agonies of backsliding will tremendously shrink. We will grow closer to God and in turn will allow ourselves to be used by God more frequently – our purpose.

Seek God with all of your heart,

Ikaika Mossman

A Hard Humbling Lesson

A Hard Humbling Lesson
08.06 - 07.2008

17 Though the fig tree does not bud
and there are no grapes on the vines,
though the olive crop fails
and the fields produce no food,
though there are no sheep in the pen
and no cattle in the stalls,

18 yet I will rejoice in the LORD,
I will be joyful in God my Savior.

19 The Sovereign LORD is my strength;
he makes my feet like the feet of a deer,
he enables me to go on the heights.

- Habakkuk 3:17-19

I’m no farmer that has fields of fig trees, grape vines, or olive crops that has gone barren and empty. Nor do I have empty pens of cattle and empty stalls of sheep. But I do know what it’s like to have much taken away, to have an empty fridge, and to have lost people I loved – to both death and unwise decisions. Even more so, I know what it’s like to be without a job and to have no family, or old friends, around to comfort and pick me up when I am down, out, and depressed.

I have lived on both sides of this spectrum, having before had so much to having so very, very little.

"He replied, 'I tell you that to everyone who has, more will be given, but as for the one who has nothing, even what he has will be taken away. (Luke 19:26)

I used to think to myself, what the heck does that mean, “for the one who has nothing, even what he has will be taken away.” How do you take away something from nothing, right? Being Humbled by God like this, I finally understand. I had everything I needed – friends, church, money, cars, a wonderful girlfriend – all right there for me. God even blessed me with leadership, allowing me to lead a men’s devotional group, as well as a mini-church. I saw prayers answered like I never seen before. This was me, being given more by God.

Then came the last two years of my life, where I gradually fell into drinking excessively; where I acquired alcoholism – stage 4 (if you’ve been to an alcohol class, like I have, then you would understand). I tried to kill all the pain in my life with alcohol, but it only made things worse. I began to blackout, have uncontrollable fits of anger, and depression. During this period I started cutting and burning myself with knives, lighters and cigarettes when I was drinking, and when I wasn’t. This terror in my life devoured me, my relationship with friends, the love of my life, my relationship with God, church, and work.

If you were to tell me, years before, that this would happen, I would have never of believed it.

Through this season and up until this very day, God began to take things away from me. My leadership, friendships, jobs, integrity, and even family were now significantly gone. My decisions lead to these things, and God allowed these things to be taken away so that I would be humbled and once again turn back to who should have remained the foundation of my life – Jesus Christ.

I was left with nothing, and what God took away from nothing was the God sent gifts, talents, responsibilities, and even answered prayers.

Now here I am in my own dark world, cut off from everything and everyone I had known. But instead of getting angry and furthering myself from God, I turn to him once again. I seek him more diligently then before, I slowly change my ways as God gives me strength. Even being jobless, not having very much, I give God praise as Habakkuk once did. My actions are not because God is being favorable to me, but because he deserves my worship to him, because my hope is in Him who both gives and takes away.

From having much, to having little, I will give God praise. Whether I get a job, and through whatever hardships come my way, as hard and as hurting as it feels and seems, I will continue to believe, trust, and worship my maker.

A hard humbling lesson indeed...

Living day to day, give God praise,

Ikaika Mossman

Source of Life

Source of Life
08.05.08

“On the last day, the climax of the festival, Jesus stood and shouted to the crowds, “Anyone who is thirsty may come to me! Anyone who believes in me may come and drink! For the Scriptures declare, ‘Rivers of living water will flow from his heart.’”
- John 7:37-38

Jesus, even though he was speaking to the Jews, is calling out to “Anyone” who desires true life, a life with purpose, meaning, and pure joy. Are you thirsty for more than what you already have, or don’t have? Not physical possessions, the luxuries in life, or anything else but what your life was made for, this is what Jesus was talking about. Are you thirsty? Does routine and the ever seemingly mundane, or even exciting and wild life, you live feel empty – like your missing something vital? When you hit your “means to an end” in the many activities and side adventures of this life, what’s next?

If you are thirsty for life, true life, with a purpose that will quench and dissolve that feeling of emptiness, then Jesus promises that if you come to him and drink, you will have true life. Be sure to take him in, accept him as your savior for your sins, because he sacrificed himself for all of us. Some people will come, but as quickly as they come, they will go. Others will come and drink, be satisfied for a little while, but then leave him, forgetting where the source of pure life comes from. But still others will come, drink and be satisfied, then in turn be an extension of that living water from Jesus to others who are thirsty.

This is similar to the parable of the seeds, or the story of the olive tree and the branches – that we have been grafted to the source of life. Jesus was telling them, and he tells us today through his word, through the Holy Spirit, and through others, that we need a source of life. Just like the branches attached to the olive tree; as long as we stay attached, God will prune us and enable us to produce fruit – life to others.

Don’t wait to the end to realize this, come to Jesus and have life abundantly! Even if you don’t completely understand now, when you see what God will do in your life and in the lives of those that you share this living water with, you will.

Come to Jesus, receive life and purpose, and share this life with those around you – let “rivers of living water...flow from your heart” from the source – Jesus Christ.

Jesus is the source of life.

Drink well,

Ikaika Mossman

Never Rejecting

Never Rejecting

08.04.08

”However, those the Father has given me will come to me, and I will never reject them. 38 For I have come down from heaven to do the will of God who sent me, not to do my own will. 39 And this is the will of God, that I should not lose even one of all those he has given me, but that I should raise them up at the last day. 40 For it is my Father’s will that all who see his Son and believe in him should have eternal life. I will raise them up at the last day.”

- John 6:37-40

I believe that being humans, we have a natural tendency to fall away from God, do our own thing, and flow to the beat of the crowd. It is for this reason that God required the kings of Israel to study his law everyday, that they would consistently be refreshing their minds and souls to be aligned with his will, not their own. The whole reasoning behind this is because God knows better than us, and will never lead us astray.

But as many followers of Christ know, we all fall short from time to time; there are even times when we forget to come back to our first love. Even so, there is still hope, there is good news that Christ will never reject any of us from coming to him when we go back. He loves us and desires for our salvation, our success, and our lives to be lived to the fullest of our potential. He made each and everyone of us, there would be no you without him, and with each life comes a plan that extracts our abilities, talents, and even pure longings.

God does not want any of us to ever feel rejected by him, but desires to be the foundation of each and every one of our lives. Listen, “And this is the will of God, that I should not lose even one of all those he has given me, but that I should raise them up...” This is God’s will, that we would all be a part of God’s family – O’hana.

When these times happen, when we fall away from God because of bad choices, or because of the distance we have allowed to grow between us, God is searching for us. If he came for us through his son Jesus Christ to save us from the affects of sin, then certainly he will continue to search for us now, presently, during times when we fall.

It is my hope that we will take a pro-active stance on this and seek after God daily, speak with him and pray that his will be done on earth as it is in heaven (just as our example Jesus did).

Before We Even Ask

Before We Even Ask

08.02.08

“I will answer them before they even call to me.
While they are still talking about their needs,
I will go ahead and answer their prayers!”
- Isaiah 65:24

God’s love and care for his people is greater than we know, I believe. His patience and mercy is beyond compare, that he would answer and meet the needs of those who choose to follow after him. It’s hard to understand or even believe that God will answer our prayers and meet our needs when there is so much pain, poverty, and senselessness in this world we live in. I could easily say that God does not answer prayers and that he doesn’t seem to care about this world, or us, the people, living in it.

It’s too easy to see and view only the bad, I think that it is our view and understanding of the world we live in that blinds us to the truth – a higher and better perspective on life. God created us in his own image. He knew before we were even born that our ability to choose could lead us into a life that was separated from him. Even so, God still created us and loved us with his entire being. Eventually our free choices got us into trouble, our relationship with God was severely severed, but we were not completely lost. God had a plan.

As lost as we were, God, worried about us, chose to come to earth in human form to find us, to save us. Love drove him to take every wrong we’ve ever done, place it on his self, and willingly paid the price – death; He was our sacrifice. For those who would choose to follow him, he willingly died, for those who would deny him, scorn him, and hurt him, he died. God made the way for our return into his Kingdom, and into a wonderful relationship with him, even before we asked, before we knew we’re in need of a savior.

What could show that God would answer our prayers, even before we asked, better than this? Still it is hard to comprehend why so many evils in this world exists, and why it seems like God does not answer prayers and meets needs like for those who are homeless, poverty stricken, and addicted to drugs. Personally I pray every day for God to help me get a job, I’ve applied at over twenty different companies and at one employment services agency. I’ve gone to my church for help, talked to my pastor and have asked numerous friends and family to pray that God blesses me with a job. Still, nothing seems to be happening. What do I do from here?

The only thing that I can do - cling to God! As down as I may get at times, I seek God and choose to continue to trust him. Believe me; I’m not always happy and cheery when I pray to him. I get angry too, I get frustrated. But if I don’t turn to God, who do I turn to. If God chooses not to answer my prayers, who can I complain to, or who has authority and power equal to his that I can turn to. No one and nobody is equal to God, so when I complain, I complain to God