I Know Somebody Who Knows Somebody

What’s your lowest point? When in your life have you thought you hit rock bottom? Everybody’s “rock bottom” experience is different, yet in a few ways it’s the same for us all. In that lowest point in our lives, we all felt alone. I have an aquaintance that I know of, but never had the privilege to meet yet. He is a missionary, and they were in a wreck that took the life of his 3 year old daughter. Talk about rock bottom. My rock bottom experience was in January, when I felt forsaken after losing my job, all the while knowing in my heart of hearts that God was, and still is, preparing a job He has just for me. Your rock bottom could have been when you felt that no one loved you , or nobody cared.

There’s a popular song by Ricky Skaggs called “Somebody’s Prayin”. It’s a slow, emotional reminder that no matter what road life takes us down, whatever circumstance stops us in our tracks, whatever valley we are led through, that there are people who are praying for us. Maybe it’s a parent. Maybe it’s a spouse, a pastor, a friend who knows about your struggle when no one else does. But the song continues on to remind us that, though we may never have one prayer on this earth whispered on our behalf, we have an advocate with God himself. His Son, Jesus Christ, sits right there by His Father, praying for you, and praying for me. See, he already knew the need before it happened, and since He was a Man Himself on earth for those 33 years, He knows what we feel like. That’s how He knows how to pray for us. See, it pays to know Somebody who knows Somebody :).  Because He went through all those same earthly human struggles, He knows exactly how to minister for our needs. He knows what it’s like to lose a child, because He’s God the Father, too. He knows what it’s like to live by faith. He created faith. He ministered for 3 years living by faith. He knows what it’s like to feel alone and forsaken. The God of heaven turned his back on Him as He took a punishment He didn’t deserve, just so He could have a relationship with someone who would be born 2000 years later: me.

 

When you get your mind around the fact that the Son of God prays for you, it will change your outlook on things. The burden becomes just a little bit lighter, and the light grows a little bit brighter. The fear, the bitterness, the sorrow all becomes a little more bearable, because now and forevermore, you’re not alone. God prays for you. Right now He is. It’s good to know Somebody who knows Somebody. But even better? We have the same access. Use it. It cost that Somebody their own Son. What a Saviour…

 

Humbled,

Matt

One More Step

Do you ever get bored? I’ve had my dose of boredom during my “hiatus” from employment. I try to stay as busy as possible. Do you ever get bored with what you’re doing with your life? Maybe I shouldn’t use the word bored. Maybe, apathetic? Does Sunday Morning ever seem less vibrant than other days of the week? I admit Sunday mornings are similar to a decathlon in my house. We’re hustling through the halls getting ready, taking turns entertaining a baby, cleaning up after a baby, looking for diapers, burning bagels, waffles, and whatever else we can fit into a toaster. Consider this: do you ever look at your life, what you’re doing with it, what you’re dedicating your time and efforts to, and say, ” I could or should be doing so much more” ? After I was laid off, I re-evaluated what I did, and why I did it. I began to realize that like every other child of God, I was meant to do more. I’ve been called to be something. That “something” has yet  to unfold. I was meant to go a step beyond what the world would do for someone. Not for my own self-gratification, but so that I can accurately show the love Christ has for someone. My life and my actions are an open Bible for the world to see, and for me to waste it would be a shameful thing.

I’ve always been of the persuasion that God has one specific thing He has for us to do. That one thing that will fulfill us inside and out. Salvation fulfills our spiritual thirst, and with salvation comes a gift that God gives you for you to do. Something He wants you personally to do. I’ve always felt called to music. That’s one of the reasons that we moved back to North Carolina in the summer last year, so that I could get more involved with my calling. Since I’ve been laid off, I’ve prayed every single day, more than once a day, for God to give me a chance. A chance to minister through music. Maybe on a bigger level one day, but just a chance. Let me shed some light on the faithfulness of God for you here. Don’t pray something if you don’t mean it. I meant it, and February for Matt Baker has been an ADVENTURE! I am busier musically than I have ever been in my life. I can’t begin to thank Him enough for the chance to do this. Filling in with some groups, singing some solo dates, arranging for weddings, all kinds of stuff. I’ve got my hands full, and I love it. I was meant to minister through music. God giving me that chance is just another one of those undeserved gifts. God’s called you to do something, too. Maybe it’s be faithful at your job right now. I’m still looking for a full time job, too. Maybe it’s serving more at your church. I want to encourage and challenge each reader who has made it this far in the blog to listen real good to me one second: I challenge you to take your service to the Lord one small step further this week. Don’t do it for self glory. Do it to put God to work. Do something extra. Talk to one more person about Christ. Pay for the person behind you in the drive-thru at McDonald’s. Make it your goal to show Jesus Christ to someone. Remember show and tell at school? I could describe my G.I. Joe pretty darn good, but until I showed it to you, that’s when you got the full effect of it. We have Christ in us. It’s time to let someone know. Time is short. God is at work in your life, in my life, for a purpose: to pass it along. Go one more step for Christ, and watch the blessings fall.

 

Praying for rain with the umbrella open,

Matt

A Never-Exhausted Subject

Quickly. Describe God in one word. What did you choose? Grace? Mercy? Saviour? Holy? Creator? Good news.  You get an A+ ! You’re all correct! In this time of being out of work, I’ve struggled with one main thing: impatience. Frustrated that God didn’t bring me my dream job yet with the incredible salary, outstanding benefits, and minimal hours. Yeah, right. I get impatient when I search online for jobs, and find out I’m not qualified enough, or I don’t have the experience necessary. I get tired of the emails saying that a company is “targeting more qualified candidates”. I have lots of emails that say that. I get frustrated trying to do right, trying to make sure my life is right, trying to be the Dad, the husband I know I need to be, expecting God to do my bidding just because I’m living right. And by doing right with that attitude, I’ve completely destroyed it all. I noticed that as I dove deeper into God’s Word and just simply examined myself according to the Word. I looked at myself, and wondered a little if I had it all wrong. I didn’t, but I sure was going about all this the wrong way.

Now, I know God honors those who do right, and those who are faithful. But why do right, why keep tithing when there’s much less income coming in, why live a life that would point others to Christ? Am I searching for a personal favor from God? I would rather have favor WITH God. When I learned that, it totally changed my viewpoint. I want to do right because God asks me to be faithful through it all. What kind of Christian would I be if I stopped doing right because I was out of work, or bitter at God? Hasn’t God been faithful through all of this? When it comes down to the nitty gritty, I want to be faithful, first, because no matter what happens to me or my situation, I’m still saved. That can’t be taken from me. God’s already met my greatest need by providing salvation. Secondly, I want to be faithful, because He’s faithful to me.  Let me elaborate by saying in God’s faithfulness, He honors those who are faithful to Him. Do I want God to meet the desires of my heart? Of course. But if He doesn’t, does that change who He is? Should that change how I live, because I don’t get what I want? Absolutely not. That would make me a toddler. I want to be faithful through all of this to help turn this test into a testimony. I know will meet the need in His time. It’s up to me to be faithful, praise Him anyway, and walk on knowing that the provision is on its way. That’s encouraging news. My Redeemer is faithful, and true.

 

Praying for rain with my umbrella open,

Matt

A Love Story…

I’ve heard all the timeless anthems about love.When A Man Loves A Woman. I Will Always Love You. Endless Love. I’ve seen all those icky love movies the guy contractually is obligated to watch with his significant other: The Notebook, Gone With the Wind, all of them. Our big ol’ world has a very small window to what the definition of love is.

My wife and I have a great story. It’s a lengthy one, with ups and downs, big moments and small, cherished moments. There’s story after story I could tell about us. Here’s a quick one: I’m in Pigeon Forge, TN. Ash has joined my family for vacation. Little does she know this week that I’m about to pop the question. I had it all planned out. I had a song written and recorded for her. I had the scene set. I was about to top every movie she had ever seen with proposals in it. We went out to the balcony overlooking the mountains where all this was supposed to go down, but when we went out there, there was a senior citizens’ group playing bingo. In my spot. Long story short, I proposed with her sitting on a couch, starving, wondering why we hadn’t gone to dinner yet. I was too nervous to eat :). Each of you reading probably have some sort of story. My wife is my best friend. I love to make her happy. I live to watch her smile. Nothing pleases me more than to know that she is pleased. I would die for her in a heartbeat. I would give everything up to protect her.

Sure, I could die for her. But that’s where it would end. I could never rise again for her. Someone else already did that for her. I was driving back today from the store and I popped in a new CD I got. There was a song on there called “What Love Is This”. Not many songs just slay me, but this one did. You see, in love, Christ, without ever personally meeting any of us, took a punishment we were meant to take, and on a cross, with arms open wide, he looked through time, thinking of me, reaching for me, and made a way through himself that I didn’t have to live with the punishment for the wrong that I did. According to His law, I was a murder, a thief, a liar, an adulterer, a blasphemer. I was helpless, hopeless, with no way to bridge the gap between God and me. But with 3 nails, 2 pieces of wood, and a broken heart, I was redeemed. Think back to the story of Hosea. God told him to marry a prostitute. The lowest of the low. He did it. She left again, going back to the same life she lived before. God said, “Go get her back”. He goes to the an auction. Not the place where the upstanding citizen would be found. He goes in there, and she is brought before the potential buyers. She will go to the highest bidder. Bids are being cast all across the room. People trying to outbid one another. But one man makes a bid no one else could match: her husband. He knew her worth beyond a number. God orchestrated this whole circumstance in the Old Testament as a picture of his love for Israel, and ultimately down the line, His love for you. So love, it’s more than a dramatic moment on a movie set, it’s more than lyrics on a paper in a recording studio. Love, in its most precious form, is quite gory. Love is a cross. Love is a rusty nail being driven in a hand of someone who didn’t deserve it, but willingly laid himself down to meet a need of someone who would need it 2,000 years later. “I love you, I love you, that’s what Calvary said…I love you, I love you, I love you, written in red.” What love is this?

So Thankful,

Matt

 

The Way You Pray…

Wow. I was on YouTube earlier, and I came across a testimony from someone who had walked the road of cancer. Several times. I listened as he told the stories of how he made it through by grace, and was healed. He was then diagnosed with yet another brain tumor. In a moment of weakness, a nurse came in asking if he was okay. “I’m okay. Just a little scared”, he said.

She asked him, “Do you pray?”

“Yes. A lot.”

“What do you say when you’re praying?”

“I just take time to thank God for the many blessings I’ve been given. I want Him to know I’m grateful.”

She asked, “Who is God to you?”

He said, “Well, I guess He’s my Father, my Savior”.

“Oh..you’re a father, right?”

“Yes, ma’am”.

“If you knew one of your children were hurting, wouldn’t you want him to come to you for comfort, for strength?”

With tears streaming down his face, he replied “Of course”.

So he changed the way he prayed. He asks. Uninhibitedly. Now you see why I started my post off with “Wow”? I’m still stunned over how this spoke to me. If God really his our Father, like His Word says He is, wouldn’t He want us to come to him with anything on our mind, to find our deepest sorrows relieved, our hardest realities softened by the Hand of Grace, our lonliest nights filled with the unmistakeable presence of God?

I sat in church yesterday, and I watched as a lady made her way to the altar to beg God for grace. You see, her husband and son were taken from her by a drunk driver in November. I watched my wife and other ladies weep with her as she audibly sobbed for God to take the pain away. She has been a trophy of God’s grace since this accident, but there are those days like yesterday when all the sorrow, all the emotion is too much to handle. But here’s the good news: that’s God’s wheelhouse. That’s when He likes to work best. So tonight, thank Him. Thank Him over and over and over for His endless mercy and grace, and His bountiful blessings. We’ve been richly blessed. But ask Him for the things you need. The grace to survive. The mercy to forgive. The finances to make ends meet. He’s there. He’s waiting. Go talk to your Father. I didn’t grow up with a dad who was around all the time. I couldn’t go to him with my problems because he wasn’t at home to listen. But now…I have a Father who prays..for me. All day long. He prays for my needs. He waits for me to spend time with Him. He longs for a relationship and communion with me. He’s also the Father who allows things to enter our lives that change us, and mold us into the people we need to be. Tonight, ask God for something bold. Something that only He can do. Ask it according to His plan, and watch His plan unfold. He’s my Father, and he’s got a big thing up His sleeves in the works for me. I’m just trying to do my part and wait patiently for that time.

Praying for rain with the umbrella WIDE open,

Matt

Too Much To Gain To Lose

I tend to be a bit nostalgic. I’m not a history buff, but I remember landmarks really well. Little dates that mean a lot to me. Of course, the day I got saved. The day I got married. The day my daughter was born. But for some reason, my memory has always run deeper. I remember the day I knew God called me into ministry. I was in Pigeon Forge, TN, at a conference. The Whisnants were singing a song called “I Wonder If You Know”. They had just finished cutting it for a new project, and they said they felt like the Lord wanted them to sing that song, that day. It was for me. God was steering me in that direction for that day. I can remember the day that I proposed. Also in Pigeon Forge :). I can remember the day I decided moving back to NC was the best choice for us. I can remember the day that we didn’t have a place to live yet, and we were supposed to move in just a few weeks, when we got a call that we could live in the house I grew up in. I can remember the first time Bella smiled at me. I can remember the day I got the job I had been praying for right out of college. One day, by God’s grace and provision, I will finish this blog by saying I can remember the day God showed faithfulness and got me the job I needed, right when I needed it. That’s what keeps me going. There’s a lot more valleys and mountains ahead just like this one. Sometimes I lose my “big-picture” mentality that I need to keep. But at the same time, with this big picture mentality comes a daily dependence on the Lord that must be kept in check and refreshed every day through time spent with Him.

So, in short, there’s a phrase from a Dottie Rambo song that really encourages me, challenges me, and keeps me in check: “There’s Too Much To Gain To Lose”. A pretty simple phrase with a WHOLE lot of meat on it. There’s too much ahead of me: in this life, but mostly the next, to give up. Why should I give up now? Lord knows I’ve felt like it at times. But then, I cool down, take a look at a pic of my family, and listen to this song. I can’t give up. I can’t. I don’t want to. I won’t. God always rewards faithfulness, and I want God’s best for me. So I’m buckled in, ready for this ride as long as it takes, because God is good all the time, and He’s faithful. I dare you to disagree.

 

Praying for rain with my umbrella open,

Matt

See You Next Fall

Normal day. We’re going about our business, and we’re headed over to my in-laws to eat supper tonight. I go out the door, miss the last step and take a major tumble. My ankle rolled, my knee made first contact with the driveway (as noted by the scraped strawberry on my knee), then came my left elbow, followed by my hand. All scraped up. I’m fine, just my ankle is still swollen and sore. Why just my left elbow that got scraped? Because in my right hand was Bella. Somehow, my natural instinct kicked in, and made sure she didn’t get hurt. It didn’t even phase her. But it sure scared the fool out of me.

As we’re driving over there, I silently whispered a prayer of thanks from my heart. That situation could have had a much different result. Just as soon as I finished praying, some lyrics instantly hit me: “you took the fall, and thought of me, above all”. As a daddy, I didn’t even realize the blood trickling down my knee until after I had made sure Bella was okay. It wasn’t something I had planned, it was second nature. And then I began to think a little bit ago. Was it that easy for Christ to take the fall for us? I know as human flesh, He was apprehensive, but as God, He knew that was the only way, and jumped at the task at hand. He took my fall for me. He assumed the pain I would have otherwise had to endure. Just like my little girl, there was no way I could have stopped that fall myself. Someone had to do it for me. It was a sobering reminder of how much I need Him in my life. How many other things has He kept from us that we don’t know about? That’s our Father.

It’s good to know you’re in good hands. But it’s even better to know that the scars on those Hands…they were meant for you. But you felt no pain, because all along that pain had been taken for you. Christian, we all go through things in our life. I’m in the middle of a deep valley as I blog this. The devil is constantly throwing things at us. How much more has Christ kept us from enduring that we’ll never know about this side of eternity? We have a loving Savior who bears the scars of love. One day we’ll see it with our own eyes. As far as I’m concerned, this bloody knee never felt so good, knowing she didn’t get hurt. And I’d do it all again in a heartbeat. So would He. Thankful tonight for a God who loves me more than my feeble words can describe. But I’ll keep on trying to describe it the best way I can with feeble words and a heartfelt melody 🙂

Thankful,

Matt