Ever Changing Work

“At daybreak Jesus went out to a solitary place.  The people were looking for him and when they came to where he was, they tried to keep him from leaving them.  But he said, ‘I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God to other towns also, because that is why I was sent’” Luke 4:42-44.

My sister-in-law whom I adore has spent her entire adult life moving from one city to another.  Her husband has a wonderful job and has been blessed to advance in his company.  The downside has been the many people to whom they had to say goodbye, the wonderful schools from where they had to withdraw their children and the great communities of which they were involved.  They have moved six different times all requiring them to start over…it was what was required to advance his job.

Jesus understood this concept better than anyone.  He would work wherever God instructed Him to work, and would depart from one work to move to another.  He would remain as a teacher, mentor and healer until the nudging of the Holy Spirit directed Him to another person…another group…another location.  God places us in spheres of influence to do His work…not our work.  He bases our relationships on the needs of His kingdom, not our needs.  Through our focus on His message we ‘bloom where He has temporarily planted us.’ We serve, we listen, we encourage and we love just as Jesus did.  We are to be essential where God has determined we will be essential.  When He is ready to move us on to other people, groups or ministries, we must allow ourselves to be moved…to be advanced…to be essential in a new sphere of influence.  We must be like Jesus. 

I don’t think for an instant that it was easy to Jesus to walk away from those with whom He had shared amazing miracles.  As He reclined with friends knowing full well that His time was not about leisure and luxury, but about advancing the message and good-byes.  He stayed surrounded with a few precious friends, but for the most part He lived His life on the move.  He moved from miracle to miracle, person to person and town to town.  He couldn’t look back to see the things He was required to walk away from for He knew it would distract His future advancement. 

We must all thank God for the blessings of those people, groups, and ministries that He allowed us to be a part of and focus on the future relationships where we can advance His kingdom.

See-Through Christians

“Don’t be afraid.   Am I in the place of God?  You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done…So then, don’t be afraid.  I will provide for you…” Genesis 50:19-21.

I just need to emphatically say that prayer and Scripture are alive and well!  I have been asked to speak at a women’s conference early next year which always leaves me feeling insecure.  I had originally thought I would tweak a previous speech, but after reading it I was disappointed that it didn’t fit the day as well as I had thought.  Through the night the devil began attacking me with his mean words…you will not be relevant… you must have been crazy to accept this…you have nothing since that speech won’t work.  I began praying to God that He would give me an anchor word…a phrase for the conference …anything!

I would love to say that my prayers were immediately answered but they were not.  I felt as if I wrestled in my mind…with my mind…despite my mind throughout the entire night until around 3:00.  All of a sudden, the Lord dropped the phrase into my heart.  My spirit caught on fire and my mind was racing!  It is the most beautiful topic and one that I have experience with.  It will involve me being totally transparent with over 100 women bearing the thing in life I am most ashamed… secret spending.  But I know for there to be power in our testimonies there must be transparency in our words.

We all walk this earth wounded and bruised.  We have sinned and will sin again, but God is faithful in forgiveness and redemption in our secret places.  He will teach us how to take the thing that has plagued us our entire life and gain victory over it.  He cannot use our weaknesses until we have submitted them to Him.  Whatever weakness we struggle with cannot be a testimony until we have put in place the accountability and spiritual strategies required.  When considering our weaknesses we must make promises to God in controlling them and keep those promises.  How can we expect God to keep His promises if we are unwilling to live out our promises?  We must be both self-disciplined and transparent for our testimonies to be authentic and relative.

Lord, thank you for taking the evil things of this world and turning them to the good things to further Your message.  May we all become both accountable to You in our weaknesses and transparent in our lives to serve others.  In your faithful name, Amen!

A Life Worth Remembering

“She is clothed with strength and dignity; she can laugh at the days to come.  She speaks with wisdom, and faithful instruction is on her tongue.  She watches over the affairs of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness.  Her children [and grandchildren] arise and call her blessed…Give her the reward she has earned, and let her works bring her praise at the city gate” Proverbs 31:25-31.

It would have been enough just to call her Grandmother but she was so much more.   Grandmothers are made up of loving tenderness, sustaining wisdom with a layer of special ingredients created through life’s experiences.  Our grandmother was no different.  Memories of butter cookies on each finger, vanilla ice cream and glitter on her ceiling are just a few of the millions of memories shared between four little girls and their grandmother.

She followed us from giggles and grins to wedding marches and hospital nurseries.  She was the constant spiritual force who gave us the gift that never stopped giving – prayer.  Even before our births she was praying for each of us.  Throughout our childhood she was praying without ceasing.  She taught us not only to petition God for things in our life but to praise Him in advance for being faithful in His provisions.  She ferociously believed God was orchestrating every detail in all situations.  When we became women and came to her with our fears or broken dreams she confidently took our hand and boldly approached the throne of God on our behalf.    At some point in our lives during these intercessory prayers she slipped out of the throne room leaving us with confidence to speak to God ourselves.  Her prayers always had authority through the name of Jesus and we knew that God was hearing her on our behalf.  Through watching her we learned to look for the Spirit, to live in the Spirit and to walk in the Spirit.

To four little girls she was someone who epitomized the essence of a grandmother.  As children we were unaware of the spiritual warrior for which she served for others.  We were happy just to call her our grandmother, the loving woman who filled our stomachs with the best southern cooking around and who accepted and loved us for who we were individually.  But she was so much more than a grandmother.  She was the constant spiritual anchor in our lives as different storms arose and taught each of us that all that she had with her Father was available and afforded to each of us.  As we matured and grew up it became very clear to us as young women that we were surrounded by one of God’s special creations.  As I reflect on this amazing daughter of God I am comforted in knowing that the peace and spiritual optimism that she lived out can be mine and yours.  The invitation is for all!

Wisdom Is Her Name

“Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.  Do not be wise in your own eyes…blessed is the man who finds wisdom…she is a tree of life to those who embrace her; those who lay hold of her will be blessed” Pro 3:5-7, 13, 18.

Once upon a time there was a beautiful tree named Wisdom.  She had been planted in love by her master before she could even remember.  At first her shoots were small but very healthy, to be followed by years of grander growth.  The tiny buds she offered were progressive and cumulative transforming into beautiful blooms and fruit.  Her master knew what kind of fruit tree she would become but she didn’t know until it came to fruition.  She gave herself to the master from the beginning, and although she had thoughts of her own as to what she would become, she stood firm in that soil.  She allowed the one who had planted her many years ago to determine her future, her blooms and her fruit. 

God formed every one of us with His tender hands and planted us in this world on a specific day.  Every day since then has been mindfully orchestrated through His supreme wisdom, wisdom He desires to share with us.  But we were also created with minds of our own, acting up our own perceptions and conclusions.  We convince ourselves through our own calculations and fears that we know what is up ahead.  We embrace our limited knowledge instead of embracing the all knowing wisdom of a beautiful Father who has already worked everything out.  Just because we see the loose threads of life doesn’t mean that God isn’t using those to mend a different garment for our lives.  Our limited knowledge and perception is only that…our perception rooted in theory.  My commentary states that by acknowledging God’s wisdom over our own, God will provide the path to our desires.  To acknowledge His wisdom is to be ever mindful of God and serve Him with a willing and faithful heart, being confident in wherever He is taking us.  Through leaning on His wisdom the obstacles in our pathway will be removed and will bring us to God's best in His timing.  When we lean on Him we embrace the wisdom that will bring in the blessings.  When we lean on our own wisdom we bring in fear, insecurity and overwhelming disorientation.

May we trust the One who planted us and lay hold of the wisdom that there is an orchestrated day for every movement under the heavens.  ‘There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven…a time to embrace and a time to refrain…He has made everything beautiful in its time’ Eccl 3:1,5,11.

Taking Time to Linger

“…but his young aide Joshua son of Nun did not leave the tent.” Exodus 33:11.

Joshua was a mighty military soldier who was the aide of Moses.  Moses had complete confidence in Joshua as he was appointed to lead many battles.  Joshua trained under Moses, fellowshipped with Moses and trusted Moses.  He learned the importance of time with God by watching his mentor and leader.  In our passage Moses left the tent after speaking with God, but Joshua lingered.  I wonder on that day what made him stay behind.  What was in his heart that required the personal precious time with God?  Was there a longing that needed to be settled in his spirit that only God could accomplish?  Although it was during the workday Joshua chose to lay before God whatever was on his heart…loneliness…fear for the next battle…anxiety for the future.  Whatever Joshua was feeling he knew that no one outside of that tent could fix it for him.  The One who had the answer to his heart longing was right there with Him. 

What is your heart longing for today?  Are you expecting others to fill the longing that only the Presence of God can fill?  When was the last time you truly lingered before God…remained in the holy tent of His presence?   ‘When I skip such moments, I tend to be less aware of God throughout the day. I miss divine moments when God wants to meet me or reveal a new facet of His character.  I find myself less sensitive to the nudges of the Holy Spirit, the sacred echoes that call me to give, serve, or say that kind word.’ Wonder Struck, p. 48.

Many times God will place a longing or lack of peace in our spirit to draw us to Him.  If we always feel settled and satisfied we would never see the point of meeting Him in the tent.  There would be no reason to linger and experience His amazing Presence.  If we allow the echoes of our flesh to crowd out the echoes of the Spirit we are no better for the experience…no gain…no peace.  God uses these times of discontent, searching and feeling all alone to invite us to linger.  ‘We are created for a relationship with God, and that means we’re meant to experience God’s presence.  We need God’s presence and the awareness of His nearness if we’re going to grow into the fullness of all God intends.  Apart from His presence, we can begin to convince ourselves that somehow God is distant; somehow we can handle things on our own.’ Wonder Struck, p. 49.

So take time to linger…this morning, this afternoon and every tomorrow.

Our Ugly Prayers

“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?  Why are you so far from saving me, so far from the words of my groaning?  O my God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer…Yet, you are enthroned as the Holy One…In you…they trusted and you delivered them.  They cried out to you and were saved; in you they trusted and were not disappointed” Psalm 22:1-5.

Being involved in grief counseling allows me plenty of opportunities in hearing cries of lament.  Much like David feelings of abandonment and hopelessness are communicated.  Anger seems to rise in words regarding God doing miracles for others but being less than faithful with their loved ones.  Question after question…tears after tears…jealousy and disappointment towards others.  All communicated to others but not directly to God.

When reading between the lines of David’s lament, his stinging words also insinuated God being a less than truthful God.  In considering this parallel to our cries several verses came to mind showing David’s unbelief in God’s nature and promises.  ‘Why have you forsaken me?’  (‘I will never … forsake you’ Jos 1:5)  ‘Why are you so far from saving me?’  (“Turn to me and be saved…for I am God” Isaiah 45:22).  ‘I cry out by day, but you do not answer.’  (‘Call to me and I will answer you’ Jer 33:5.)  His prayer of lament goes on and on with brutally honest and accusatory statements.  David shows us that even our accusatory prayers to God are words of fellowship and communication.  Our disappointments and despair expressed in emotions give God an opportunity to transform our hearts in that very moment.  It allows us the spiritual freedom to ask why and why not.  ‘The shocking statements and tough questions found in the lament psalms aren’t intended to sanctify our vindictive thoughts or bad behavior.  Rather they invite us to come honestly as we are into the presence of God and experience transformation.  The crux of a lament is about…embracing the work of reflection and soul-searching, a kind of spiritual self-examination.  A good lament will always move us from the Why to the Who.’ Wonder Struck, p. 40-41.

There will always be something or someone who has what we do not have.  There will always be pain and confusion as to why certain situations arise.  Everything must be dragged in before God… the good, bad and ugly.  Whatever we withhold from God, even our unlovely emotions, we withhold from ourselves the peace, comfort and understanding God imparts upon us in these raw and fragile moments.  We must trust God with more than our pretty praise…we must bring our ugly doubts before Him to witness another facet of God.

Amazing Jesus

“‘But say the word, and my servant will be healed…’ When Jesus heard this, he was amazed at him…he said, ‘I have not found such great faith’” Luke 7:7, 9.  “He could not do any miracles there, except lay his hands on a few sick people and heal them.  And he was amazed at their lack of faith” Mark 6:5-6.

Over and over again I am amazed at how God works in the lives of people.  We see situations that are unraveling before our very eyes only to see God knitting them into a greater plan.  Where we see despair, hope eventually rises through the power of God.  We see God work in sinfulness and righteousness appears on the horizon.  The marvels go on and on.  But were you aware that we also have the ability to amaze God?  In the Bible there are two instances recorded where Jesus was amazed and they are on opposite ends of the spectrum.  Jesus was completely amazed at the faith of the centurion who knew that Jesus only had to speak healing without even being present.  On the other end were those in His family and hometown who did not believe, and missed out on multiple miracles.  ‘It was not that Jesus did not have the power to perform miracles, but that he chose not to in such a climate of unbelief.’ NIV Study Bible, p. 1532.

Interesting thought and interesting question…how do we amaze God?   Do the angels come before Him with a report of our faith?  ‘O Holy One, you should see how this one displayed her faith or hear the life giving response of that man?’  Does God roll back heaven’s floor to witness how our faith stands firm for the weak and despaired?  Or on the other side, does God give us provision after provision…comfort after comfort…peace after peace and we still worry, fret and grumble?  Do our actions of faith take His breath away or make Him sigh under His breath?  The question is not about love for He loves us regardless of our faith performances.  The question is about living in the abundance of God while on earth.  The question is in which climate do we move and live– the climate of belief or of unbelief? 

 

He wants us to live in total freedom and freedom is found in our faith…freedom from fear… freedom from panic…freedom from despair.  When we walk in the freedom of our faith we position ourselves in a climate of belief despite our circumstances.  As we amaze others with our faith, our faith amazes the citizens of Heaven as they cheer us on to our own finish line.  “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders…and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.  Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith” Hebrews 12:1.

How do you amaze Jesus?