“But Naomi said, ‘Return home, my daughters…No, my daughters. It is more bitter for me than for you, because the LORD’s hand has gone out against me!’ … ‘Look,’ said Naomi, ‘your sister-in-law is going back to her people and her gods. Go back with her.’” Ruth 1:11, 13, 15
Poor Naomi! No doubt, over the past ten years with her daughters-in-law Naomi had shared the faithfulness of her God with them. They had grown up with many gods and were only introduced to the One and Living God through Naomi. It is most probable that on many occasions they had watched Naomi pray in tough times, asking for provision, deliverance, and for the protection of her men. As the Israelites were accustomed, this family would have participated in the annual feasts and festivals throughout the year for the sole worship and praise of Yahweh – the One and Only! But this was the part of her testimony she didn’t wish to share with her daughters-in-law. It was what I call ‘the ugly side of testimony.’ She tried to convince the girls to go back to their family and everything they had known growing up. She finally threw it out there – she was angry with God, and her desire was to neither praise nor glorify Him in her pain. The only traveling companion for which she wanted was bitterness and resentment. Stewing in her circumstances was where she wished to pull up anchor, allowing her emotions to navigate this part of her spiritual journey. Thankfully, she had been a good tutor to Ruth who developed a Godly love and commitment for the woman Naomi was in better times.
I do not judge her because bitterness towards God many times accompanies our grief. I facilitate Griefshare at our church and counsel others in grief, and have certainly met a few Naomi’s in this ministry. God frames this ministry as a safe setting for His children in pain to be honest about their feelings. God doesn’t take the pain of losing a loved one lightly. Our grieved heart grieves the heart of God. In Confessions of a Grieving Christian, Zig Ziglar writes, ‘God understands this need. God also desires for you to bring any doubts and fears to Him. He wants you to talk to Him about these emotions and read what He has to say about them in His Book. Until you face these emotions in God’s presence, you will not be able to reaffirm your faith completely and accept His grace.’ P. 73. Whether your grief stems from an actual physical death or another form of grief, God can handle your emotions - after all, our emotions were given to us from God.
The importance of accountability in our faith during painful times is paramount in our walk. We must allow those whom have a Godly love for us to walk with us in our pain. They will remind us of our past testimonies and commitment to God. They will help bring us back around to the one Anchor for which we can count on to secure our foundation. We cannot push our Ruth’s away in our pain but must allow the accountability of the LORD to work through other Christians when we can barely see our way.
Monday, February 28, 2011
Sunday, February 27, 2011
I Will Set Out...
“In the days…there was a famine in the land, and a man…together with his wife and two sons, went to live for a while in the country of Moab…When she heard in Moab that the LORD had come to the aid of his people by providing…Naomi and her daughters-in-law prepared to return home from there. With her two daughters-in-law she left the place where she had been living and set out on the road that would take them back to the land of Judah.” Ruth 1:1, 6-7.
This is a story of a family that turned to a land forbidden by God when times got lean. It is a story of an impatient heart, a disbelieving spirit and stepping out of God’s provision. It is my story and it may be yours. Throughout the Bible, God used different kinds of famines to teach His children dependency on Him, trust in Him and circumstances to define His character. Whether the famines were physical, spiritual or emotional, the differences among these stories are highlighted in their response. The family above has responded to the famine by hitting the road and joining a city full of false gods and forbidden resources. During their stay in Moab, Naomi’s husband dies and she watches both sons take Moabite women as wives, a move strictly forbidden by God. ‘They were from nations about which the LORD had told the Israelites, ‘You must not intermarry with them, because they will surely turn your hearts after their gods.’ 1 Kings 11:2. One tragic disaster after another eventually ended with the death of both sons. We are not given any details about these tragedies – they are simply recorded history. It is an understood fact that moving out of the ‘land of God’ and into forbidden areas in life will end in devastation and loss.
When Naomi had nowhere else to turn, she turns back to the land of God. She hears that He has come to the aid of His people and she longs for home and provision. No doubt after being indoctrinated into the forbidden land for ten years, her life had become a series of compromises, settling for less and missed blessings. She eventually turned back to God out of her necessity for something…for anything…for the familiar. It was only after loss and tragedy did she turn her eyes back upon the ‘land of God.’
Does this story sound familiar and does it strike a spiritual cord in your soul? I have certainly set out for a better land in my own pursuit for comfort in my past. I have pursued the life of the parable son only to return with a hungry heart. ‘I will set out…and go back…Father, I have sinned.’ Luke 15:18.
If we do not reside squarely in the middle of our discomfort out of a faith offering to God we will be tempted to pursue other lands that will never satisfy, never provide and always fail us. If we pursue faulty gods we will eventually have to turn back to God out of our necessity and what we lack. We cannot glamorize and pursue the ‘have not’s’ only to long for the ‘used to have’s.’
Don’t be tempted to say the words, ‘I will set out…’
This is a story of a family that turned to a land forbidden by God when times got lean. It is a story of an impatient heart, a disbelieving spirit and stepping out of God’s provision. It is my story and it may be yours. Throughout the Bible, God used different kinds of famines to teach His children dependency on Him, trust in Him and circumstances to define His character. Whether the famines were physical, spiritual or emotional, the differences among these stories are highlighted in their response. The family above has responded to the famine by hitting the road and joining a city full of false gods and forbidden resources. During their stay in Moab, Naomi’s husband dies and she watches both sons take Moabite women as wives, a move strictly forbidden by God. ‘They were from nations about which the LORD had told the Israelites, ‘You must not intermarry with them, because they will surely turn your hearts after their gods.’ 1 Kings 11:2. One tragic disaster after another eventually ended with the death of both sons. We are not given any details about these tragedies – they are simply recorded history. It is an understood fact that moving out of the ‘land of God’ and into forbidden areas in life will end in devastation and loss.
When Naomi had nowhere else to turn, she turns back to the land of God. She hears that He has come to the aid of His people and she longs for home and provision. No doubt after being indoctrinated into the forbidden land for ten years, her life had become a series of compromises, settling for less and missed blessings. She eventually turned back to God out of her necessity for something…for anything…for the familiar. It was only after loss and tragedy did she turn her eyes back upon the ‘land of God.’
Does this story sound familiar and does it strike a spiritual cord in your soul? I have certainly set out for a better land in my own pursuit for comfort in my past. I have pursued the life of the parable son only to return with a hungry heart. ‘I will set out…and go back…Father, I have sinned.’ Luke 15:18.
If we do not reside squarely in the middle of our discomfort out of a faith offering to God we will be tempted to pursue other lands that will never satisfy, never provide and always fail us. If we pursue faulty gods we will eventually have to turn back to God out of our necessity and what we lack. We cannot glamorize and pursue the ‘have not’s’ only to long for the ‘used to have’s.’
Don’t be tempted to say the words, ‘I will set out…’
Friday, February 25, 2011
Goings and Comings
“He brought us out from there to bring us in and give us the land that he promised on oath to our forefathers.” Deut. 6:23.
If you have never read Chapter 3 of Joshua you will be blessed to take in every word as drips of honey. Leading up to this chapter, the Israelites have roamed in the wilderness for 40 years. They had known of God’s promise to deliver them to their promised land which kept getting delayed, due to the lack of faith in God on the part of the Israelites. They had burned their feet on the sand, avoided venomous snakes and scorpions and had fed on nothing but manna day after day. Finally, the time had come and they were getting ready to cross into the promised land.
God gave specific commands prior to the crossing which were requirements to receive all that was promised. They followed the commands to the letter and were the recipients of a land flowing of milk and honey. A land of abundance and blessings was their's based upon their obedience to God and their willingness to believe in His promises.
I am in holy awe as I stand in the middle of my Jordan and realize that God is marching me across dry land to claim His promises of a new land. It is a land that I approach with my arms full of God’s revelations. I will not embark upon its shores empty handed, nor will I ever forget the weariness the wanderings left in my soul. I will find my fresh berries of blessings in its land and will praise God for the fruit. While I will respect the vast and waterless desert from which I came I will not focus on all that was taken.
I know that anything God removed from me ‘out there’ will be replaced by Him on the shores on my new land. He had to bring me out of myself before He could bring me into Him. All the promises are based in Him when we believe that the wilderness is about more than merely surviving. It is about relinquishing and regaining what He has asked us to take hold of in triumphal victory. 'No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.' Romans 8:37.
He brought us out…to bring us in… and give us the land He promised! Thank you Lord!
If you have never read Chapter 3 of Joshua you will be blessed to take in every word as drips of honey. Leading up to this chapter, the Israelites have roamed in the wilderness for 40 years. They had known of God’s promise to deliver them to their promised land which kept getting delayed, due to the lack of faith in God on the part of the Israelites. They had burned their feet on the sand, avoided venomous snakes and scorpions and had fed on nothing but manna day after day. Finally, the time had come and they were getting ready to cross into the promised land.
God gave specific commands prior to the crossing which were requirements to receive all that was promised. They followed the commands to the letter and were the recipients of a land flowing of milk and honey. A land of abundance and blessings was their's based upon their obedience to God and their willingness to believe in His promises.
I am in holy awe as I stand in the middle of my Jordan and realize that God is marching me across dry land to claim His promises of a new land. It is a land that I approach with my arms full of God’s revelations. I will not embark upon its shores empty handed, nor will I ever forget the weariness the wanderings left in my soul. I will find my fresh berries of blessings in its land and will praise God for the fruit. While I will respect the vast and waterless desert from which I came I will not focus on all that was taken.
I know that anything God removed from me ‘out there’ will be replaced by Him on the shores on my new land. He had to bring me out of myself before He could bring me into Him. All the promises are based in Him when we believe that the wilderness is about more than merely surviving. It is about relinquishing and regaining what He has asked us to take hold of in triumphal victory. 'No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.' Romans 8:37.
He brought us out…to bring us in… and give us the land He promised! Thank you Lord!
Thursday, February 24, 2011
On The Throne
“Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego replied to the king, ‘O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter. If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it, and he will rescue us from your hand, O king. But even if he does not, we want you to know, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.’” Daniel 3:16-18.
This is one of my favorite Bible passages in the entire Bible. It is the statement of belief that I want to speak in my heart as loudly as on my tongue. It is the resolve that I want lifted in my spirit before my mind ever contradicts. It is facing our circumstances which have risen above our abilities and now rule our lives. It can be the king of materialism, power or bitterness, just to name a few. The throne could impose upon us the cruelty of loneliness, medical illness or spiritual emptiness. I am sure we each have a king whom, if left unchecked, can rule over our lives.
Whatever kingdom has risen in power above us will beckon our worship daily. With God at the center of our focus, we have the ability to say no to bowing down to the compromises it offers. Most times, we bow to our king in an effort to avoid the ‘hot messes’ for which our choices have found us. We ask for a resolution instead of recognizing that God is the Savior in all of our self-made kingdoms.
Our three gentle spiritual giants above make sure that the king knows he is just that – a self appointed position that God continues to rule above. We must stake our faith on solid ground that God will save and deliver no matter what. We cannot predetermine what the rescue may look like but we can prepare for the Savior.
As we climb the steps to the heated mouth of the furnace, our faith must stay focused on the redemptive work that is about to be accomplished through the season. We will all walk through fires and wade through deep waters but the hand of the LORD will never leave us nor forsake us. 'When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze. For I am the LORD, your God...Since you are precious and honored in my sight and because I love you...You are...my servant whom I have chosen, so that you may know and believe me and understand...apart from me there is no savior. No one can deliver out of my hand.' Isaiah 43:2-4, 43:10-13.
When I reflect over the past five years as I walked through the blindness of what seemed impassable valleys, I know in my heart that I would never have known Jesus the way I know Him now without those dark, silent and excruciating experiences. I praise God for the dark kingdom for which I just passed through, for in this kingdom a new King arose to the throne. Praise be to God for in the dark valleys He turns them to light!
This is one of my favorite Bible passages in the entire Bible. It is the statement of belief that I want to speak in my heart as loudly as on my tongue. It is the resolve that I want lifted in my spirit before my mind ever contradicts. It is facing our circumstances which have risen above our abilities and now rule our lives. It can be the king of materialism, power or bitterness, just to name a few. The throne could impose upon us the cruelty of loneliness, medical illness or spiritual emptiness. I am sure we each have a king whom, if left unchecked, can rule over our lives.
Whatever kingdom has risen in power above us will beckon our worship daily. With God at the center of our focus, we have the ability to say no to bowing down to the compromises it offers. Most times, we bow to our king in an effort to avoid the ‘hot messes’ for which our choices have found us. We ask for a resolution instead of recognizing that God is the Savior in all of our self-made kingdoms.
Our three gentle spiritual giants above make sure that the king knows he is just that – a self appointed position that God continues to rule above. We must stake our faith on solid ground that God will save and deliver no matter what. We cannot predetermine what the rescue may look like but we can prepare for the Savior.
As we climb the steps to the heated mouth of the furnace, our faith must stay focused on the redemptive work that is about to be accomplished through the season. We will all walk through fires and wade through deep waters but the hand of the LORD will never leave us nor forsake us. 'When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze. For I am the LORD, your God...Since you are precious and honored in my sight and because I love you...You are...my servant whom I have chosen, so that you may know and believe me and understand...apart from me there is no savior. No one can deliver out of my hand.' Isaiah 43:2-4, 43:10-13.
When I reflect over the past five years as I walked through the blindness of what seemed impassable valleys, I know in my heart that I would never have known Jesus the way I know Him now without those dark, silent and excruciating experiences. I praise God for the dark kingdom for which I just passed through, for in this kingdom a new King arose to the throne. Praise be to God for in the dark valleys He turns them to light!
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Planted By The Water
“But blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, whose confidence is in him. He will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in the year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.” Jeremiah 17:7-8
This passage has such an anchoring meaning in my life as it was the passage that God gave me in setting up Emerging Life Ministries. The older I become the more I see how fluid our faith should be. Our faith should always be open to movement, testing, growing and transforming. Our dependency on anything is bound and anchored by our trust in whatever we feel can carry and delivery us. Once that dependency falls short, we move into another area of trust over another substitute for God.
It isn’t until we base our trust in the LORD, who never fails us, that we really begin living divine destinies for which He created each of us. As I look over my life I realize that the deepest and darkest valleys were the times when He was the most faithful, the most trustworthy and the only sustaining force in all of my suffering.
Life will always plant us by the streams of adversity but God will not fail us in nourishing our faith in the dark times. I do not have to fear the trials and storms in my future because He has been faithful and mighty to save in my past. For every tear and every sorrow I have experienced, I have shed another layer of earthly flesh enabling me to see the spiritual beauty that God was creating in my life. I only have to anchor my trust and confidence in Him so I can continue to bear fruit apart from my circumstances.
Trust in the LORD in all things and all times and you will come in for the blessing!
This passage has such an anchoring meaning in my life as it was the passage that God gave me in setting up Emerging Life Ministries. The older I become the more I see how fluid our faith should be. Our faith should always be open to movement, testing, growing and transforming. Our dependency on anything is bound and anchored by our trust in whatever we feel can carry and delivery us. Once that dependency falls short, we move into another area of trust over another substitute for God.
It isn’t until we base our trust in the LORD, who never fails us, that we really begin living divine destinies for which He created each of us. As I look over my life I realize that the deepest and darkest valleys were the times when He was the most faithful, the most trustworthy and the only sustaining force in all of my suffering.
Life will always plant us by the streams of adversity but God will not fail us in nourishing our faith in the dark times. I do not have to fear the trials and storms in my future because He has been faithful and mighty to save in my past. For every tear and every sorrow I have experienced, I have shed another layer of earthly flesh enabling me to see the spiritual beauty that God was creating in my life. I only have to anchor my trust and confidence in Him so I can continue to bear fruit apart from my circumstances.
Trust in the LORD in all things and all times and you will come in for the blessing!
Monday, February 21, 2011
Exalting the Power
“…there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ …That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” 2 Cor. 12:7-10.
Sometimes some of the most powerful Christian principles are played out in some of the simplest terms. This application is not to minimize the thorn in Paul’s side as we are told from commentaries that this was an incredible and on going burden for Paul that was never removed. I do feel the importance of seeing Scripture in every situation possible. This is what has happened over the past few days.
After we attended my father-in-law’s funeral, Bruce and I decided to get away for a week at the beach following a grueling year. Within two days after arriving I experienced such excruciating pain that I ended up at the dentist. Turns out I need a root canal and crown asap but was able to get antibiotics and pain killers until I return home. Over the past 6 days I have had to manage my pain at the mercy of how effective my pills have been. God has used this time to make me totally dependent on Him for pain relief. Sometimes the pills have worked for a long span of time and other times they haven’t been as effective. The times when they were less effective were the times that drove me into solitude and on my face asking God to lessen the pain if not to remove the agony.
Over and over again, the times that are staying at the forefront of my mind are the ones where I received relief because of Jesus alone. Last night during my petition for relief, God encouraged me to pray for the pain of others who were experiencing a greater portion. Not only was God able to strengthen my walk and dependence on Him through my temporary thorn but was able to be powerful in the lives of others who came to mind for whom I prayed. When praying for some temporary relief in our lives, God knows He has our utmost attention and will focus on Him intently. When we have been given relief there is an amazing remembrance of how God delivered power in that weakness. Without the thorns in our lives which drive us to our knees we tend to take for granted the power of God and all that it accomplishes. Without my tooth pain I wouldn’t have thought to pray for the pain of others at that moment.
Paul never did reveal his thorn, thus exalting the weakness but instead exalted the power in Christ during his weakness. We cannot live a life of victimization highlighting what has been done to us, how we have been wounded and what weakness we have to endure. We must instead relinquish the belief that life is without weakness and trials, and embrace the reality that our weaknesses will always usher in God’s power and greatness!
Sometimes some of the most powerful Christian principles are played out in some of the simplest terms. This application is not to minimize the thorn in Paul’s side as we are told from commentaries that this was an incredible and on going burden for Paul that was never removed. I do feel the importance of seeing Scripture in every situation possible. This is what has happened over the past few days.
After we attended my father-in-law’s funeral, Bruce and I decided to get away for a week at the beach following a grueling year. Within two days after arriving I experienced such excruciating pain that I ended up at the dentist. Turns out I need a root canal and crown asap but was able to get antibiotics and pain killers until I return home. Over the past 6 days I have had to manage my pain at the mercy of how effective my pills have been. God has used this time to make me totally dependent on Him for pain relief. Sometimes the pills have worked for a long span of time and other times they haven’t been as effective. The times when they were less effective were the times that drove me into solitude and on my face asking God to lessen the pain if not to remove the agony.
Over and over again, the times that are staying at the forefront of my mind are the ones where I received relief because of Jesus alone. Last night during my petition for relief, God encouraged me to pray for the pain of others who were experiencing a greater portion. Not only was God able to strengthen my walk and dependence on Him through my temporary thorn but was able to be powerful in the lives of others who came to mind for whom I prayed. When praying for some temporary relief in our lives, God knows He has our utmost attention and will focus on Him intently. When we have been given relief there is an amazing remembrance of how God delivered power in that weakness. Without the thorns in our lives which drive us to our knees we tend to take for granted the power of God and all that it accomplishes. Without my tooth pain I wouldn’t have thought to pray for the pain of others at that moment.
Paul never did reveal his thorn, thus exalting the weakness but instead exalted the power in Christ during his weakness. We cannot live a life of victimization highlighting what has been done to us, how we have been wounded and what weakness we have to endure. We must instead relinquish the belief that life is without weakness and trials, and embrace the reality that our weaknesses will always usher in God’s power and greatness!
Saturday, February 19, 2011
Legalism Replaced By Love
“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean…In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.” Matt. 23: 25-26, 28.
Jesus was rightfully accusing the Pharisees of legalism over the law of love. He was challenging them to discard their inner selfishness and operate in the truth with love for God as their motivator. None of us as Christians wish to admit that we walk the path of legalism vs. the path of love. Legalism is walking in Christianity out of a sense of obligation and image.
For me the image of a Christian was put in place from birth. I knew intuitively from my grandparents, parents, pastors and teachers what was required by the Bible. This legalistic view, while it was important to understand God’s commands, was void of love and devotion to God as the sole motivator. Before February of 2006, I marched to a legalistic tune of ‘can not’s, do not’s, and better not’s.’ We can never live up to the Christian standard when living a life of legalism. I did what I was told out of obligation and desire for my ‘cup and dish’ to appear clean. When God called me to ‘do some spiritual dishes’ and really got in there and cleaned out my heart, I realized how veiled my walk had been with legalism. The veil was lifted and my journey is now powered with the ‘want to’s and the privileged to’s.’
Legalism walks in an obligatory and mundane march but love soars above in a panoramic life giving flight. Until my walk was powered with love for God over the image of being a Christian, I was just making noise in my testimonies.
‘If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.’ 2 Co. 13:1
Jesus was rightfully accusing the Pharisees of legalism over the law of love. He was challenging them to discard their inner selfishness and operate in the truth with love for God as their motivator. None of us as Christians wish to admit that we walk the path of legalism vs. the path of love. Legalism is walking in Christianity out of a sense of obligation and image.
For me the image of a Christian was put in place from birth. I knew intuitively from my grandparents, parents, pastors and teachers what was required by the Bible. This legalistic view, while it was important to understand God’s commands, was void of love and devotion to God as the sole motivator. Before February of 2006, I marched to a legalistic tune of ‘can not’s, do not’s, and better not’s.’ We can never live up to the Christian standard when living a life of legalism. I did what I was told out of obligation and desire for my ‘cup and dish’ to appear clean. When God called me to ‘do some spiritual dishes’ and really got in there and cleaned out my heart, I realized how veiled my walk had been with legalism. The veil was lifted and my journey is now powered with the ‘want to’s and the privileged to’s.’
Legalism walks in an obligatory and mundane march but love soars above in a panoramic life giving flight. Until my walk was powered with love for God over the image of being a Christian, I was just making noise in my testimonies.
‘If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.’ 2 Co. 13:1
Friday, February 18, 2011
Promise Keeper
“The LORD had said to Abram, ‘Leave your country, your people and your father’s household and go to the land I will show you…I will bless you.’” Gen. 12:1-2. “By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. By faith he made his home in the promised land…” Hebrews 11:8-9.
Over the past 4 years I have been primarily in the caregiving role for a family member in one way or another. I believe to some extent it became my idol. I would display it, keep it polished and continue to look to it to satisfy some need. Don’t get me wrong…I know in my heart that God called me to be active in each of these caregiving roles. The question is when did my activity become more than obedience? When did my obedience to God become more about satisfaction to self?
Abraham turned his back on everything he had built and known when God decided it was time for him to go to a new land. God didn’t send him out of punishment but out of a desire to bless him. I know that God is asking me to turn from the land from which I know so well and look towards a seemingly empty horizon. I know without certainty that His desire is for me to look to Him for a new land although I come ‘not knowing where I am going.’ It is time for me to step out into my promised land although I am uncertain of what promises it holds. Like Abraham, I must turn from everything I know that is comfortable and familiar and make my home where God calls me to settle. I feel that I must pack my bags, leave my comfort zone and head out into nothingness to inherit the fullness of God.
We all have seasons where God both encourages and commands us to leave what is safe in an effort to experience what is unknown in order to achieve spiritual growth. If, by faith, we make our home in His will, we will be blessed and inherit our promised land.
I may not know what promises and blessings are on the horizon but I trust in the Promise Keeper.
Over the past 4 years I have been primarily in the caregiving role for a family member in one way or another. I believe to some extent it became my idol. I would display it, keep it polished and continue to look to it to satisfy some need. Don’t get me wrong…I know in my heart that God called me to be active in each of these caregiving roles. The question is when did my activity become more than obedience? When did my obedience to God become more about satisfaction to self?
Abraham turned his back on everything he had built and known when God decided it was time for him to go to a new land. God didn’t send him out of punishment but out of a desire to bless him. I know that God is asking me to turn from the land from which I know so well and look towards a seemingly empty horizon. I know without certainty that His desire is for me to look to Him for a new land although I come ‘not knowing where I am going.’ It is time for me to step out into my promised land although I am uncertain of what promises it holds. Like Abraham, I must turn from everything I know that is comfortable and familiar and make my home where God calls me to settle. I feel that I must pack my bags, leave my comfort zone and head out into nothingness to inherit the fullness of God.
We all have seasons where God both encourages and commands us to leave what is safe in an effort to experience what is unknown in order to achieve spiritual growth. If, by faith, we make our home in His will, we will be blessed and inherit our promised land.
I may not know what promises and blessings are on the horizon but I trust in the Promise Keeper.
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Engraved Invitations
“One will say, ‘I belong to the LORD’; another will call himself by the name of Jacob; still another will write on his hand, ‘The LORD’s,’ and will take the name Israel.” Isaiah 44:5.
When I was a teenager I was crazy about this guy during my eighth grade year. It was the spring with warm days and beautiful evenings. I remember lying on our trampoline one night and decided to do something that would define me as his girlfriend. The next day I spelled out his name with scotch tape on my stomach and laid out for the sun to tan the exposed areas. (Weird, right?) Of course after a few days of tanning, his name marked my stomach for the rest of the summer. We broke up a few weeks after this great idea.
How many times do we mark our lives with worldly things that define us? We highlight who we are as we build a certain image defining ourselves as lovers of the world. The transformation between who we are before God marks us and who we become after His touch is life transforming. Our passage this morning names three ways we show the world that we are lovers of God. We proclaim with our mouth through testimonies of how God has chosen us, loved and carried us. We replace who we were with the reality of who we have become. (Jacob means supplanter which means one who takes the place of something used, inferior, or irrelevant.) Our actions will ‘write upon our hands’ the presence of God in our lives.
Our new position in Christ will redefine us, re-establish us and redirect our lives. He will place upon our lives the mark of Christ and no matter how dark our valleys appear, His mark will always be predominant. The beauty of this choosing is the knowledge that before we wrote Him upon our lives He had already marked us as His. ‘See, I have engraved you upon the palms of my hands.’ Isaiah 49:16.
Luckily my markings faded by the next summer but our names will always be etched in the palm of our LORD and Savior…Our names will never fade.
When I was a teenager I was crazy about this guy during my eighth grade year. It was the spring with warm days and beautiful evenings. I remember lying on our trampoline one night and decided to do something that would define me as his girlfriend. The next day I spelled out his name with scotch tape on my stomach and laid out for the sun to tan the exposed areas. (Weird, right?) Of course after a few days of tanning, his name marked my stomach for the rest of the summer. We broke up a few weeks after this great idea.
How many times do we mark our lives with worldly things that define us? We highlight who we are as we build a certain image defining ourselves as lovers of the world. The transformation between who we are before God marks us and who we become after His touch is life transforming. Our passage this morning names three ways we show the world that we are lovers of God. We proclaim with our mouth through testimonies of how God has chosen us, loved and carried us. We replace who we were with the reality of who we have become. (Jacob means supplanter which means one who takes the place of something used, inferior, or irrelevant.) Our actions will ‘write upon our hands’ the presence of God in our lives.
Our new position in Christ will redefine us, re-establish us and redirect our lives. He will place upon our lives the mark of Christ and no matter how dark our valleys appear, His mark will always be predominant. The beauty of this choosing is the knowledge that before we wrote Him upon our lives He had already marked us as His. ‘See, I have engraved you upon the palms of my hands.’ Isaiah 49:16.
Luckily my markings faded by the next summer but our names will always be etched in the palm of our LORD and Savior…Our names will never fade.
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Grace to the Humble
“Or do you think Scripture says without reason that the spirit he caused to live in us envies intensely? But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says, ‘God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.’ Submit yourselves, then, to God…Come near to God and he will come near to you…Humble yourselves before the LORD, and he will lift you up.” James 4:5-8.
This first line seems so difficult for me to understand. We all give the word envy a negative connotation due to the word being a ‘don’t do this’ commandment. When I watch the challenges my children face I have an intense envy for them to draw near to God for resolution and revelation. I believe this verse has the same basic meaning in the Spirit of Christ whom was sent to dwell within each of us. This Spirit is responsible for many things regarding our Christian walk and desires to be active in our lives.
The Spirit is an active and living person of the Trinity with the ability to feel, act and be passionate about our intimacy with God.
‘…for the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans…’ (Romans 8:26).
‘And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God…’ (Eph. 4:30)
‘Do not put out the Spirit’s fire…’ (1Thess. 4:19)
He feels and He acts so He also envies intensely for each of us to live our lives with God as our Master. ‘The Holy Spirit whom God caused to dwell in us yearns over us with jealousy for our entire devotion to Christ.’ Believer’s Bible Commentary, p. 2237. The more we submit ourselves to God by approaching Him, listening to Him, and obeying Him we posture our hearts for more grace. The proud heart sees no reason to approach Him for he feels the answers lie within himself. Just as humans are repelled by proud and boastful people, so is God. Just as we cannot resist the brokenness of others, neither can God. When we approach God with a humble and contrite heart we will be keenly aware of the nearness of God.
We live our lives out of our passions, quenching the fires of things less important. The more passionate we are about God the more passionately He returns what we need as penned so eloquently by Annie Johnson Flint.
'He giveth more grace when the burdens grow greater,
He sendeth more strength when the labors increase,
To added affliction He addeth His mercy,
To multiplied trials His multiplied peace.'
This first line seems so difficult for me to understand. We all give the word envy a negative connotation due to the word being a ‘don’t do this’ commandment. When I watch the challenges my children face I have an intense envy for them to draw near to God for resolution and revelation. I believe this verse has the same basic meaning in the Spirit of Christ whom was sent to dwell within each of us. This Spirit is responsible for many things regarding our Christian walk and desires to be active in our lives.
The Spirit is an active and living person of the Trinity with the ability to feel, act and be passionate about our intimacy with God.
‘…for the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans…’ (Romans 8:26).
‘And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God…’ (Eph. 4:30)
‘Do not put out the Spirit’s fire…’ (1Thess. 4:19)
He feels and He acts so He also envies intensely for each of us to live our lives with God as our Master. ‘The Holy Spirit whom God caused to dwell in us yearns over us with jealousy for our entire devotion to Christ.’ Believer’s Bible Commentary, p. 2237. The more we submit ourselves to God by approaching Him, listening to Him, and obeying Him we posture our hearts for more grace. The proud heart sees no reason to approach Him for he feels the answers lie within himself. Just as humans are repelled by proud and boastful people, so is God. Just as we cannot resist the brokenness of others, neither can God. When we approach God with a humble and contrite heart we will be keenly aware of the nearness of God.
We live our lives out of our passions, quenching the fires of things less important. The more passionate we are about God the more passionately He returns what we need as penned so eloquently by Annie Johnson Flint.
'He giveth more grace when the burdens grow greater,
He sendeth more strength when the labors increase,
To added affliction He addeth His mercy,
To multiplied trials His multiplied peace.'
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Looking to God
“Abraham answered, ‘God himself would provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.’ Abraham looked up and there in the thicket he saw a ram.” Gen 22:8, 13
The story of Abraham and Isaac is full of Christian principles for which we can apply to our own lives. One of the most powerful principles is God’s promise of being our Provider in all things. Abraham’s example of following God’s lead down to the last detail highlights his obedience to God and his faith in His provider. We see the actions on Abraham’s part in Genesis but we are told the reasoning behind his actions in Hebrews 11:17-19.
“By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice. He who had received the promise was about to sacrifice his one and only son, even though God had said to him, ‘It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.’ Abraham reasoned that God could raise the dead, and figuratively speaking, he did receive Isaac back from death.”
Several treasures may be mined from our spiritual landscape this morning. The first treasure involves recognizing God’s provision. Abraham had already surmised that God’s provision would be a lamb. What if Abraham had scanned the horizon for only a lamb? It could have been the difference between life and death for his son. He kept an open mind and eye out for whatever God sent as a provision, thus recognizing the ram as a God-send. We cannot be narrow-minded regarding the provisions of God, but must be willing to receive His assistance through any means He sends.
The second treasure involves understanding that God will test us even to the point of contradicting a revelation He had already given us. Nonetheless, our obedience is paramount in deepening our intimacy with God. The instruction from God may not make sense but we must reason that God is God, and His power and wisdom are sovereign above everything.
Looking back to only a few weeks ago, it was God who placed Hospice in my mind when I had no where else to turn regarding my father-in-law. Hospice was my ram caught in the thicket that I recognized as His provision. I ‘reasoned’ that God would use Hospice to sort things out but God did something much greater for Bud – He raised him from his earthly body and gave him a spiritual body.
When we cry out to the LORD, we must keep a spiritual openness to recognize the manner in which God will deliver us from our circumstances. We must allow God the right to test our faith and focus on Him instead of our dark circumstances. We must reason and accept by faith that what God has ordained is for His divine purpose.
…Abraham looked up and there … he saw…
The story of Abraham and Isaac is full of Christian principles for which we can apply to our own lives. One of the most powerful principles is God’s promise of being our Provider in all things. Abraham’s example of following God’s lead down to the last detail highlights his obedience to God and his faith in His provider. We see the actions on Abraham’s part in Genesis but we are told the reasoning behind his actions in Hebrews 11:17-19.
“By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice. He who had received the promise was about to sacrifice his one and only son, even though God had said to him, ‘It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.’ Abraham reasoned that God could raise the dead, and figuratively speaking, he did receive Isaac back from death.”
Several treasures may be mined from our spiritual landscape this morning. The first treasure involves recognizing God’s provision. Abraham had already surmised that God’s provision would be a lamb. What if Abraham had scanned the horizon for only a lamb? It could have been the difference between life and death for his son. He kept an open mind and eye out for whatever God sent as a provision, thus recognizing the ram as a God-send. We cannot be narrow-minded regarding the provisions of God, but must be willing to receive His assistance through any means He sends.
The second treasure involves understanding that God will test us even to the point of contradicting a revelation He had already given us. Nonetheless, our obedience is paramount in deepening our intimacy with God. The instruction from God may not make sense but we must reason that God is God, and His power and wisdom are sovereign above everything.
Looking back to only a few weeks ago, it was God who placed Hospice in my mind when I had no where else to turn regarding my father-in-law. Hospice was my ram caught in the thicket that I recognized as His provision. I ‘reasoned’ that God would use Hospice to sort things out but God did something much greater for Bud – He raised him from his earthly body and gave him a spiritual body.
When we cry out to the LORD, we must keep a spiritual openness to recognize the manner in which God will deliver us from our circumstances. We must allow God the right to test our faith and focus on Him instead of our dark circumstances. We must reason and accept by faith that what God has ordained is for His divine purpose.
…Abraham looked up and there … he saw…
Saturday, February 12, 2011
Free Bread
“Come…you who have no money, come, buy and eat! …without money and without cost…Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy?” Isaiah 55:1-2. “Then Jesus said, ‘I am the bread of life.’” John 6:35
Jesus basically ask the age old question, ‘Why are you searching for something you already have?’ He tells us to ‘come, buy and eat.’ It is His offering to each of us with His hand extended to us. He asks us to come…to pursue Him; He encourages us to buy…to invest in Him; He tells us eat…to feed upon Him.
Christ is the bread of life for which we all have free access to enjoy. We run around this place called earth in search of that which will satisfy our appetites regardless of its nourishment. We feed upon the ‘fatty of life,’ that which fails to build our spiritual muscle. We ‘labor on what does not satisfy’ as we move from idol to idol wanting to worship a god but failing to recognize the God for whom we are called to worship.
This week marks the 5 year anniversary of the day I stayed home from work with the flu and decided to ‘invest in Jesus.’ It was the day that I decided to ‘come, buy and eat!’ I made the purchase although I never had to spend a penny – He had already paid the cost. Since that day I have been through three deaths of my loved ones and have been fully fed by God’s word, His comfort and the enabling, sustaining and amazing grace of fresh baked Bread everyday!
Once you taste the warm and mouth watering Bread of Life you then know the counterfeits. You know what no longer satisfies and tastes flat. You are aware of the bread you are missing when you feed on the circumstances instead of the giver of life.
The invitation is the same for all…come, buy and eat…it doesn’t cost you anything.
Jesus basically ask the age old question, ‘Why are you searching for something you already have?’ He tells us to ‘come, buy and eat.’ It is His offering to each of us with His hand extended to us. He asks us to come…to pursue Him; He encourages us to buy…to invest in Him; He tells us eat…to feed upon Him.
Christ is the bread of life for which we all have free access to enjoy. We run around this place called earth in search of that which will satisfy our appetites regardless of its nourishment. We feed upon the ‘fatty of life,’ that which fails to build our spiritual muscle. We ‘labor on what does not satisfy’ as we move from idol to idol wanting to worship a god but failing to recognize the God for whom we are called to worship.
This week marks the 5 year anniversary of the day I stayed home from work with the flu and decided to ‘invest in Jesus.’ It was the day that I decided to ‘come, buy and eat!’ I made the purchase although I never had to spend a penny – He had already paid the cost. Since that day I have been through three deaths of my loved ones and have been fully fed by God’s word, His comfort and the enabling, sustaining and amazing grace of fresh baked Bread everyday!
Once you taste the warm and mouth watering Bread of Life you then know the counterfeits. You know what no longer satisfies and tastes flat. You are aware of the bread you are missing when you feed on the circumstances instead of the giver of life.
The invitation is the same for all…come, buy and eat…it doesn’t cost you anything.
Friday, February 11, 2011
The Terror of the Parting
“When he had cut enough wood for the burnt offering and placed it on his son Isaac…When they reached the place God had told him about, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar on top of the wood…Abraham looked up and there in the thicket he saw a ram…and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son. So Abraham called that place The LORD Will Provide.” Gen. 22:3, 6, 9, 13-14.
A large part of my writing ministry is transparency. God always leads me to pen the good, the bad and the ugly. As I have written many times, over the course of my adult life I have been continuously wounded in spirit by an extended family member. I have built up bitterness of heart and resentment in the actions against me. It has always felt to be a barrier in my heart between me and my Father. My insistence for justice and consequences has gone unanswered by God and has become a rival in my heart to God’s fullness. It is time to lay my Isaac down!
Every one of us ‘gathers wood’ as we go through life. In our hearts we collect attitudes towards others that we stack as firewood for the future. We pile it on top of our right to entitlement giving flame to our passion in whatever the circumstance. It lays there stacked on top of each other eventually rotting and decaying when the offering should have been made to God long ago.
When we reach the place that God tells us to build an altar and lay something down, we cannot tarry or we will miss the blessings. No doubt I have missed many blessings because I just couldn’t light that match and wasn’t ready to let it go. I am ready for freedom and tired of cutting wood! The sacrifice and surrender of anything is about obedience, not about the object of the sacrifice. Whatever we give up God will replace it with a ‘ram in the bush.’ He won’t leave us empty but will provide on His mountain. A.W. Tozer writes a prayer in his book, The Pursuit of God, which I wish to share for anyone who has an Isaac for whom they wish to lay upon the altar of the LORD.
‘Father, I want to know Thee, but my cowardly heart fears to give up its toys. I cannot part with them without inward bleeding, and I do not try to hide from Thee the terror of the parting. I come trembling, but I do come. Please root from my heart all those things which I have cherished so long and which have become a very part of my living self, so that Thou mayest enter and dwell there without a rival. Then shalt Thou make the place of They feet glorious. Then shall my heart have no need of the sun to shine in it, for Thyself wilt be the light of it, and there shall be no night there. In Jesus’ name, Amen.’
…enter and dwell there without a rival.
A large part of my writing ministry is transparency. God always leads me to pen the good, the bad and the ugly. As I have written many times, over the course of my adult life I have been continuously wounded in spirit by an extended family member. I have built up bitterness of heart and resentment in the actions against me. It has always felt to be a barrier in my heart between me and my Father. My insistence for justice and consequences has gone unanswered by God and has become a rival in my heart to God’s fullness. It is time to lay my Isaac down!
Every one of us ‘gathers wood’ as we go through life. In our hearts we collect attitudes towards others that we stack as firewood for the future. We pile it on top of our right to entitlement giving flame to our passion in whatever the circumstance. It lays there stacked on top of each other eventually rotting and decaying when the offering should have been made to God long ago.
When we reach the place that God tells us to build an altar and lay something down, we cannot tarry or we will miss the blessings. No doubt I have missed many blessings because I just couldn’t light that match and wasn’t ready to let it go. I am ready for freedom and tired of cutting wood! The sacrifice and surrender of anything is about obedience, not about the object of the sacrifice. Whatever we give up God will replace it with a ‘ram in the bush.’ He won’t leave us empty but will provide on His mountain. A.W. Tozer writes a prayer in his book, The Pursuit of God, which I wish to share for anyone who has an Isaac for whom they wish to lay upon the altar of the LORD.
‘Father, I want to know Thee, but my cowardly heart fears to give up its toys. I cannot part with them without inward bleeding, and I do not try to hide from Thee the terror of the parting. I come trembling, but I do come. Please root from my heart all those things which I have cherished so long and which have become a very part of my living self, so that Thou mayest enter and dwell there without a rival. Then shalt Thou make the place of They feet glorious. Then shall my heart have no need of the sun to shine in it, for Thyself wilt be the light of it, and there shall be no night there. In Jesus’ name, Amen.’
…enter and dwell there without a rival.
Thursday, February 10, 2011
The 'What'
“Jesus looked at him and loved him. ‘One thing you lack,’ he said. ‘Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.’… ‘I tell you the truth,’ Jesus replied, ‘no one who has … for me and the gospel will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age…and in the age to come…’” Mark 10:21, 29-30.
When I was having the interior walls repainted I had to go from room to room cleaning out closets and removing things from under the bed. I knew that I wanted that new and fresh feeling in every room. In an effort to get something new I had to deal with the old. Decisions had to consistently be made regarding the place each item would hold in the newly painted rooms. Our hearts house many idols that God wishes to remove from our lives.
This passage spells sacrifice…the white knuckled, tightly fisted hold on something that stands between the child of God and the Father. We all claim that we want to follow Christ in devotion and commitment. But, like the rich young ruler, we approach God asking for more intimacy with Him and pursuing a more righteous life exemplifying Him. We ask the question, ‘what?’ of the Savior only to walk away saddened in heart because the very thing He wishes us to surrender is that ‘thing’ that we have so meticulously built and protected. We hoard our idols in secret places as if He cannot see them. In our pursuit of Him He shines the light on those secret idols in hidden places and opens the fist, peeling back finger by finger. He works with us, for us but never against us.
He replaces trash with treasure and sacrifice with abundance. God promises that what we surrender in His name will be received back ‘100 times as much in this age and the next.’ What greater altar can we lay our sacrifice on than His altar of promise? Whatever we hold too tightly will entrap us but whatever we freely give to Him will liberate us.
What we sacrifice in the present will bring abundance in the future.
When I was having the interior walls repainted I had to go from room to room cleaning out closets and removing things from under the bed. I knew that I wanted that new and fresh feeling in every room. In an effort to get something new I had to deal with the old. Decisions had to consistently be made regarding the place each item would hold in the newly painted rooms. Our hearts house many idols that God wishes to remove from our lives.
This passage spells sacrifice…the white knuckled, tightly fisted hold on something that stands between the child of God and the Father. We all claim that we want to follow Christ in devotion and commitment. But, like the rich young ruler, we approach God asking for more intimacy with Him and pursuing a more righteous life exemplifying Him. We ask the question, ‘what?’ of the Savior only to walk away saddened in heart because the very thing He wishes us to surrender is that ‘thing’ that we have so meticulously built and protected. We hoard our idols in secret places as if He cannot see them. In our pursuit of Him He shines the light on those secret idols in hidden places and opens the fist, peeling back finger by finger. He works with us, for us but never against us.
He replaces trash with treasure and sacrifice with abundance. God promises that what we surrender in His name will be received back ‘100 times as much in this age and the next.’ What greater altar can we lay our sacrifice on than His altar of promise? Whatever we hold too tightly will entrap us but whatever we freely give to Him will liberate us.
What we sacrifice in the present will bring abundance in the future.
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
Land of Giants
“They gave Moses this account: ‘We went into the land to which you sent us, and it does flow with milk and honey! Here is the fruit. But the people who live there are powerful and the cities are fortified and very large…’ Then Caleb silenced the people before Moses and said , ‘We should go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it…The land we passed through and explored is exceedingly good. If the LORD is pleased with us, he will lead us into that land, a land flowing with milk and honey, and will give it to us.’” Numbers 13:27, 14:7, 8.
There are two attitudes of faith in this passage – one of trust and the other of fear. One attitude is the focus on the promise and the other is the focus on the circumstances. Both attitudes saw the advantages and blessings (the fruit) but one was willing to forego the blessings to avoid the challenging circumstances.
We all will pass through our individual land of giants and fortified walls that will challenge us and even frighten us. We will face circumstances that will threaten our faith and dismantle our security. I have just passed through my own valley of giants and explored the landscape recognizing the thorns and the fruit. It was a land flowing with milk and honey when I focused on the LORD. Like Caleb, I had to silence the voices in my mind that shouted out the challenges of the circumstances and attempted to redirect my focus off of the LORD.
Our Father will lead us into the land at His choosing and will show us the blessings that will emerge after taking possession of that season. Only through placing our lives in His hands and viewing the horizon from His vantage point, will we be able to truly take possession of our land of giants.
Will we conquer our promised land with the fruit of faith or will we experience the folly of fear?
There are two attitudes of faith in this passage – one of trust and the other of fear. One attitude is the focus on the promise and the other is the focus on the circumstances. Both attitudes saw the advantages and blessings (the fruit) but one was willing to forego the blessings to avoid the challenging circumstances.
We all will pass through our individual land of giants and fortified walls that will challenge us and even frighten us. We will face circumstances that will threaten our faith and dismantle our security. I have just passed through my own valley of giants and explored the landscape recognizing the thorns and the fruit. It was a land flowing with milk and honey when I focused on the LORD. Like Caleb, I had to silence the voices in my mind that shouted out the challenges of the circumstances and attempted to redirect my focus off of the LORD.
Our Father will lead us into the land at His choosing and will show us the blessings that will emerge after taking possession of that season. Only through placing our lives in His hands and viewing the horizon from His vantage point, will we be able to truly take possession of our land of giants.
Will we conquer our promised land with the fruit of faith or will we experience the folly of fear?
Monday, February 7, 2011
Spiritual Amnesia
“… ‘they gave no thought to your miracles; they did not remember your many kindnesses…’ Yet he saved them for his name’s sake, to make his mighty power known…The waters covered their adversaries; not one of them survived. Then they believed in his promises and sang his praise. But they soon forgot what he had done…In the desert they gave into their craving…So he gave them what they asked for but sent a wasting disease upon them.” Psalm 106:7-15
We find our Israelites suffering from spiritual amnesia. God had continuously granted miracle after miracle and provided for every need that arose. In the brief periods following the miracles we are told that the Israelites believed and gave glory to God. The next word following their response is one of the heaviest words in the Bible – ‘But’. They immediately became forgetful in His faithfulness, impatient in His timing and demanding in their requests. Sound familiar?
Why is it so much easier to recite what we feel we are missing instead of recounting how God has provided for in the past? We see God in His provisions and we feel Him in His comfort so why in the world do we make impossible pleas of passion to Him as if we know better? He will give us what we ask for when ‘it’ becomes our god. With that granted request He will send ‘leanness in our soul.’
When one of my children was around 10 years old, she begged and begged for me to allow her to ride her bike to Harris Teeter which is about 2-3 miles from home. I continuously told her no giving her the reasons why it would not be good for her. Her pleas were so passionate that I finally gave in to her request. After 30 minutes I got a phone call from her crying and begging me to come and pick her up. The trip was too much on her and her strength had failed her. She had abandoned her bike in the ditch half way there and walked to the payphone the rest of the way alone. She never asked to do that again – she learned through experience instead of words.
God will give us what we plead for when the object becomes our god. We cannot demand things of God without receiving consequences with our requests when they are not His will.
As Matthew Henry said, ‘What is asked for in passion is often given in wrath.’ Believer’s Bible Commentary.
We find our Israelites suffering from spiritual amnesia. God had continuously granted miracle after miracle and provided for every need that arose. In the brief periods following the miracles we are told that the Israelites believed and gave glory to God. The next word following their response is one of the heaviest words in the Bible – ‘But’. They immediately became forgetful in His faithfulness, impatient in His timing and demanding in their requests. Sound familiar?
Why is it so much easier to recite what we feel we are missing instead of recounting how God has provided for in the past? We see God in His provisions and we feel Him in His comfort so why in the world do we make impossible pleas of passion to Him as if we know better? He will give us what we ask for when ‘it’ becomes our god. With that granted request He will send ‘leanness in our soul.’
When one of my children was around 10 years old, she begged and begged for me to allow her to ride her bike to Harris Teeter which is about 2-3 miles from home. I continuously told her no giving her the reasons why it would not be good for her. Her pleas were so passionate that I finally gave in to her request. After 30 minutes I got a phone call from her crying and begging me to come and pick her up. The trip was too much on her and her strength had failed her. She had abandoned her bike in the ditch half way there and walked to the payphone the rest of the way alone. She never asked to do that again – she learned through experience instead of words.
God will give us what we plead for when the object becomes our god. We cannot demand things of God without receiving consequences with our requests when they are not His will.
As Matthew Henry said, ‘What is asked for in passion is often given in wrath.’ Believer’s Bible Commentary.
Sunday, February 6, 2011
The Savior's Touch
“When the Lord saw her, his heart went out to her and he said, ‘Don’t cry.’ Then he went up and touched the coffin, and those carrying it stood still. He said, ‘Young man, I say to you, get up!’ The dead man sat up and began to talk, and Jesus gave him back…” Luke 7:13-15.
As we prepare to memorialize my precious father-in-law this next weekend, I cannot resist the parallels from which I draw from the story above. It is a story of a widow who has lost her only son to death. It is the story of a compassionate Savior who walks up in obscurity to this mother and replaces death with life. It is your story and it is mine.
Over the past year our family has marched through the streets carrying our own coffin containing circumstances that would inevitably lead to the death of our loved one. We each served as pallbearers carrying our own corner of the coffin as we felt the individual heaviness in our situation. The burden was unique to each of us as God was teaching, molding and transforming new life in every one of us. Jesus watched and ‘at the proper time’, He came up and touched the coffin and my father-in-law burst forth in eternal life. The coffin that has been holding him holds him no more. God gave life for all with that sweet touch of eternal promise for Bud, also lifting that coffin off of our shoulders in freedom, awe and joy for Bud. The knowledge that Bud is free and living fully healed is a comfort that will carry us through our days.
Bud has life but many things in my own life will be buried thanks to the transforming work of Christ in this experience. My personal memorial service will include marking the end of a life showing self. It will hold the graves of years of 'less than lovely' attitudes and some days of self-righteousness. I can close the coffin lid on my self-made hero that really never was and my self-appointed title of savior that fell short every time.
‘…what counts is a new creation.’ Gal 6:15b. My new creation is what I have learned and holding on to the ways I have become more like Jesus. ‘The new creature is not an improvement of or addition to the old, but something entirely different. He (Paul) pronounces the double blessing of peace and mercy on all who ask and judge by the question, ‘Is it of the new creation’ – and who reject all that is not.’ Believer’s Bible Commentary, p. 1897.
It will be a memorial service I hope to never forget!
As we prepare to memorialize my precious father-in-law this next weekend, I cannot resist the parallels from which I draw from the story above. It is a story of a widow who has lost her only son to death. It is the story of a compassionate Savior who walks up in obscurity to this mother and replaces death with life. It is your story and it is mine.
Over the past year our family has marched through the streets carrying our own coffin containing circumstances that would inevitably lead to the death of our loved one. We each served as pallbearers carrying our own corner of the coffin as we felt the individual heaviness in our situation. The burden was unique to each of us as God was teaching, molding and transforming new life in every one of us. Jesus watched and ‘at the proper time’, He came up and touched the coffin and my father-in-law burst forth in eternal life. The coffin that has been holding him holds him no more. God gave life for all with that sweet touch of eternal promise for Bud, also lifting that coffin off of our shoulders in freedom, awe and joy for Bud. The knowledge that Bud is free and living fully healed is a comfort that will carry us through our days.
Bud has life but many things in my own life will be buried thanks to the transforming work of Christ in this experience. My personal memorial service will include marking the end of a life showing self. It will hold the graves of years of 'less than lovely' attitudes and some days of self-righteousness. I can close the coffin lid on my self-made hero that really never was and my self-appointed title of savior that fell short every time.
‘…what counts is a new creation.’ Gal 6:15b. My new creation is what I have learned and holding on to the ways I have become more like Jesus. ‘The new creature is not an improvement of or addition to the old, but something entirely different. He (Paul) pronounces the double blessing of peace and mercy on all who ask and judge by the question, ‘Is it of the new creation’ – and who reject all that is not.’ Believer’s Bible Commentary, p. 1897.
It will be a memorial service I hope to never forget!
Saturday, February 5, 2011
Set Above
“Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God…Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature…clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience…And over all these virtues put on love, which binds then all together in perfect unity.” Col. 3:1-3, 5, 12, 14
What a year it has been! It has been a year where I dressed myself in things that were never meant to even hang in my closet. It has been a year wherein many days my mind and heart resided in the lower nature of my soul. It has been a year where the image of Christ was hidden in some of my responses. It has been a year where I wore my super hero cape proudly only to fall short every time. Boy, am I ready to put to death that which belongs to my earthly nature and hang up my cape!
‘To set’ is to solidify, become permanent, decide on something and establish example or standard. I love the last definition. The sub-definition under the last one is ‘to establish something that others have to emulate, follow to try to beat.’ Christ has established His image that each of us must try to live by, thereby showing Him to others around us.
We are to remove all garments of the flesh for which we wear and clothe ourselves in His example so that He will be visible to others. Another definition of setting something is ‘to heal up and become solid after being broken.’ The things we learn when going through our dark valleys will break us, bend us but move us from the worldly to the spiritual. It will set us for future journeys and impose upon us something that determines our future direction.
With my father-in-law’s death I am confident of his new life and praying for my new life...a life emptied out of the flesh for the most part, and clothed with a new cape, a cape of Christ’s love in a renewed life.
What a year it has been! It has been a year where I dressed myself in things that were never meant to even hang in my closet. It has been a year wherein many days my mind and heart resided in the lower nature of my soul. It has been a year where the image of Christ was hidden in some of my responses. It has been a year where I wore my super hero cape proudly only to fall short every time. Boy, am I ready to put to death that which belongs to my earthly nature and hang up my cape!
‘To set’ is to solidify, become permanent, decide on something and establish example or standard. I love the last definition. The sub-definition under the last one is ‘to establish something that others have to emulate, follow to try to beat.’ Christ has established His image that each of us must try to live by, thereby showing Him to others around us.
We are to remove all garments of the flesh for which we wear and clothe ourselves in His example so that He will be visible to others. Another definition of setting something is ‘to heal up and become solid after being broken.’ The things we learn when going through our dark valleys will break us, bend us but move us from the worldly to the spiritual. It will set us for future journeys and impose upon us something that determines our future direction.
With my father-in-law’s death I am confident of his new life and praying for my new life...a life emptied out of the flesh for the most part, and clothed with a new cape, a cape of Christ’s love in a renewed life.
Friday, February 4, 2011
Go With God!
“O LORD, you have searched me and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. You hem me in – behind and before…Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast…How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them!” Psalm 139:1-24.
Reading the words of this chapter for me is like diving into fresh water when I am burning up under the scorching sun. This past year has been a year of going to the heavens in prayer…God was listening. It has been making my bed in the depths of despair…God knelt with me in comfort. It has been a year of rising on the wings of morning hope…God kept promising. It has been a year of settling on the furthest side of the sea of loneliness…God never left me. He was there to guide and hold me, and to eventually deliver me.
The night after Daddy died, I was tucking Bud in when I felt the most amazing presence of my dad’s spirit in the room with us. I felt he was watching and loving me, pleased that I was serving Christ through caring for Bud. Throughout this journey there have been continuous God sightings. With God at the helm, there have been tears of joy and tears of frustration. There have been humbling experiences and mountaintop celebrations. Christ offered me drinks daily of restoration and endurance when my throat was parched and my soul was hungry. Wherever I was God came walking. He accompanied me in the car the morning we rushed Bud to the Hospice House. He sat with me by Bud’s side day by day as Bud did the work to pass from one life into the next. God drenched me in His peace as I was seated next to Bud as he took his final breath and reached out, grabbing the hand of Christ. God was there and God is here.
Wherever you are and whatever you do, allow Christ to navigate you through this journey. I have always heard the simple phrase, Go with God, but now I have heard it with my heart.
In the words of Job 42:5, ‘My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you.’
Reading the words of this chapter for me is like diving into fresh water when I am burning up under the scorching sun. This past year has been a year of going to the heavens in prayer…God was listening. It has been making my bed in the depths of despair…God knelt with me in comfort. It has been a year of rising on the wings of morning hope…God kept promising. It has been a year of settling on the furthest side of the sea of loneliness…God never left me. He was there to guide and hold me, and to eventually deliver me.
The night after Daddy died, I was tucking Bud in when I felt the most amazing presence of my dad’s spirit in the room with us. I felt he was watching and loving me, pleased that I was serving Christ through caring for Bud. Throughout this journey there have been continuous God sightings. With God at the helm, there have been tears of joy and tears of frustration. There have been humbling experiences and mountaintop celebrations. Christ offered me drinks daily of restoration and endurance when my throat was parched and my soul was hungry. Wherever I was God came walking. He accompanied me in the car the morning we rushed Bud to the Hospice House. He sat with me by Bud’s side day by day as Bud did the work to pass from one life into the next. God drenched me in His peace as I was seated next to Bud as he took his final breath and reached out, grabbing the hand of Christ. God was there and God is here.
Wherever you are and whatever you do, allow Christ to navigate you through this journey. I have always heard the simple phrase, Go with God, but now I have heard it with my heart.
In the words of Job 42:5, ‘My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you.’
Thursday, February 3, 2011
Give Me God!
“Jacob lay with Rachel also, and he loved Rachel more than Leah…When the LORD saw that Leah was not loved, he opened her womb, but Rachel was barren…When Rachel saw that she was not bearing Jacob any children, she became jealous of her sister. So she said to Jacob, ‘Give me children, or I’ll die!’” Gen. 29:30-31, 30:1.
This is a story that will have your head reeling. Take the time to read Genesis 29:14 – 30:22. These were two sisters who fought for the love of their husband after he was tricked by the sisters’ father into marrying both girls. Jacob originally was working for their father in an effort to marry Rachel. When his appointed work obligation had been fulfilled the father placed the condition onto Jacob of marrying Leah first. This set in motion the creation of a false god for whom both sisters would worship. One sister was determined to provide sons for Jacob in an effort to win his love and adoration. The other sister who had Jacob’s love was determined to have children to establish her desire for family. Both sisters had exalted their obsession for something greater than God to rule their minds, hearts and decisions. Both ended up building families through any means for which they could create. Leah built idols to worship out of her ‘lack of’ and Rachel built idols to worship out of her ‘fullness.’
At any point in life, we could be Leah or we could be Rachel. When we are living life miserably because we lack something, we are tempted to create a way to obtain that void through our own means instead of waiting on God. We make decisions trying to fill that void which comes up empty and hollow. On the contrary, when we have everything we want and are living life in fullness it is easy to get dissatisfied and self-focused on what everyone else has or is doing. God becomes less than our desire to seek what we do not have or tightly secure what we wish to hold onto.
Whether motivated by ‘a lack of’ or ‘a passion to hold onto’, we cannot say these fateful words, ‘Give me…or I’ll die!’ When we live our lives with a frantic longing for something other than God we will birth circumstances that God never intended on us parenting.
Every passionate plea regarding our lives should be ‘Give me God!’”
This is a story that will have your head reeling. Take the time to read Genesis 29:14 – 30:22. These were two sisters who fought for the love of their husband after he was tricked by the sisters’ father into marrying both girls. Jacob originally was working for their father in an effort to marry Rachel. When his appointed work obligation had been fulfilled the father placed the condition onto Jacob of marrying Leah first. This set in motion the creation of a false god for whom both sisters would worship. One sister was determined to provide sons for Jacob in an effort to win his love and adoration. The other sister who had Jacob’s love was determined to have children to establish her desire for family. Both sisters had exalted their obsession for something greater than God to rule their minds, hearts and decisions. Both ended up building families through any means for which they could create. Leah built idols to worship out of her ‘lack of’ and Rachel built idols to worship out of her ‘fullness.’
At any point in life, we could be Leah or we could be Rachel. When we are living life miserably because we lack something, we are tempted to create a way to obtain that void through our own means instead of waiting on God. We make decisions trying to fill that void which comes up empty and hollow. On the contrary, when we have everything we want and are living life in fullness it is easy to get dissatisfied and self-focused on what everyone else has or is doing. God becomes less than our desire to seek what we do not have or tightly secure what we wish to hold onto.
Whether motivated by ‘a lack of’ or ‘a passion to hold onto’, we cannot say these fateful words, ‘Give me…or I’ll die!’ When we live our lives with a frantic longing for something other than God we will birth circumstances that God never intended on us parenting.
Every passionate plea regarding our lives should be ‘Give me God!’”
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Arm of Flesh
“When Hezekiah saw that Sennacherib had come and that he intended to make war…Then he worked hard repairing all the broken sections of the wall and building towers on it… ‘Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or discouraged because of…for there is a greater power with us than with him. With him is only the arm of flesh, but with us is the LORD our God to help us and to fight our battles.’” 2 Ch. 32:2, 5, 7-8.
Hezekiah was a king whom had proven himself worthy to be called a servant of God. He had removed the high places and altars of false gods in the City of David. He returned God to the central focus of the City and began to rebuild Judah and Jerusalem. He knew the price that God’s chosen people had paid due to the worship of false gods. He was determined to rebuild and protect.
My life has been peppered with the high places of focus that did not include Christ. Altars were built and offerings were sacrificed only to realize they offered nothing back to me. Through the last three years I have been broken on so many occasions due to circumstances, but like Hezekiah, I am in the process of repairing broken sections and fortifying strong watchtowers over my life.
No matter what battles I see on the horizon there are the beautiful promises of God. He tells me that no circumstance will enter into my life before passing through His hands. He tells me to be brave and to live in encouragement since His power dwells within. He convinces me daily that what is of the world is diluted compared to the full strength of Him in my life.
He reminds me that He has put me out of reach from the ‘arm of flesh.’ My adversities may burn and bend me but they will not destroy me, for the hand of God is much greater than the weak arm of flesh.
Hezekiah was a king whom had proven himself worthy to be called a servant of God. He had removed the high places and altars of false gods in the City of David. He returned God to the central focus of the City and began to rebuild Judah and Jerusalem. He knew the price that God’s chosen people had paid due to the worship of false gods. He was determined to rebuild and protect.
My life has been peppered with the high places of focus that did not include Christ. Altars were built and offerings were sacrificed only to realize they offered nothing back to me. Through the last three years I have been broken on so many occasions due to circumstances, but like Hezekiah, I am in the process of repairing broken sections and fortifying strong watchtowers over my life.
No matter what battles I see on the horizon there are the beautiful promises of God. He tells me that no circumstance will enter into my life before passing through His hands. He tells me to be brave and to live in encouragement since His power dwells within. He convinces me daily that what is of the world is diluted compared to the full strength of Him in my life.
He reminds me that He has put me out of reach from the ‘arm of flesh.’ My adversities may burn and bend me but they will not destroy me, for the hand of God is much greater than the weak arm of flesh.
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