What Slaves Don't Know

“You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” John 8:32.

Looking back over my life I can identify things that held power over me…community image… pursuit of being a perfect mother…other people’s approval…secret spending.  I’m not proud of these masters but thankfully God is relentless in liberating His children.  In all of the above, they had one thing in common…I was unaware that I was a slave to them. 

Priscilla Shirer, author of Breathe, wrote:  Harriet Tubman, the great emancipator of thousands of slaves in America, is quoted as saying, ‘I freed thousands of slaves.  I could have freed thousands more, if they had known they were slaves.’  Powerful words coming from a woman who understood her own reality of needing liberation from someone or something
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We all have God-given blessings in our lives that on any given day can morph into something that has the power to incarcerate us, withholding the key to freedom.  Our society is notorious for offering freedom for everyone in anything they wish, when in reality this ‘freedom’ locks down our spirit and hides the key.  We’re not sure how we ended up peering through steel bars watching the world pass before us.  But we don’t have to continue to stay locked up in spirit for Truth was born into our world to show us a better way.  Truth climbed up on that cross to liberate us once and for all.  Truth drew His final breath only to be raised by the power of God.  Truth holds the key that lovingly meets our eyes through the steel bars and opens the door to our self-made prisons.  And when we trust to follow Him through those doors we experience freedom and victory in Christ.  When we know Truth is when we will triumph over our earthly masters.

May we all ask God to reveal our places of captivity, trust Him for the process and walk in Truth.  ‘Recognition is the prerequisite of liberation.’ Breathe, p. 9.

A Gospel Sandwich

“To my dear friend…whom I love in the truth…I pray that you may enjoy good health and that all may go well with you, even as your soul is getting along well” 3 John 1-2.

3 John has found a tender resting place in my heart as this letter was written to a man whom he considered a child of his in the faith. John’s love and admiration for him is apparent, along with his desire for good physical and emotional health. John cared about the whole make-up of... the man…the spiritual, physical, mental and emotional being.

The tenderness of this letter for me is because I can relate so perfectly to his emotions because of someone in my life whom I ‘love in the truth.’ About 4-5 years ago, God brought a woman into my life through a class I facilitated on grief. She was in a deep state of sadness, desperately searching for comfort and healing. Over the course of these years she has never been satisfied with a stagnate level of faith. She has searched and reached higher even at her lowest. When she felt like she hadn’t anything more to give, she reached down in her God-reserve and accessed the things of Christ. She has applied everything she has been through in her past to understand her present. She works feverishly on her faith showing others the truth by which she lives. She serves to show truth to others through loving them.

I am so proud of my daughter in the truth and how she lives outside of herself. I both pray and desire for her the same things John did for his child in the truth. When God places a person in our lives to walk alongside we must pray for their complete health. We are made up of spirit, soul and body and they work in unison like a beautiful symphony. When our physical health is compromised it can affect our emotional health, and an out of balance emotional season certainly affects our spiritual health. This was John’s desire for his dear friend. We cannot just focus on one piece of a person whom God brings to us for mentoring. I read a statement this morning that made me smile and wish that the words had come from my thoughts. I am blessed by it as I know you will be.

“If you give a man the gospel, wrap it in a sandwich. And if you give a man a sandwich, wrap it in the gospel” Charles Spurgeon. So I say to my dear friend…daughter in the truth…I pray that ALL may go well with you today and every day.

Jockeying for First Place

“I wrote to the church, but Diotrephes, who loves to be first, will have nothing to do with us…Do not imitate what is evil but what is good.  Anyone who does what is good is from God” 3 John 9, 11.

There is nothing more obnoxious than a person who exalts himself.  His or her audience stands by drenched in the self-love and self-promotion of someone who loves to be first.  You know the type…they constantly talk instead of listening…they promote themselves instead of promoting issues…they bulldoze in conversations instead of allowing others their time.  They take instead of receive, they demand instead of offer and in the end we depart from them exhausted.  Ironically, the only thing worse than being in the presence of someone who promotes themselves is being that person.

I know that there have been times when it was important to me to gain credit for something I had done or said. The closer I get to the Lord the more bitter taste I have in my mouth when those self-promoting words tumble out.  John writes that in trying to jockey for first place we are submitting to our evil flesh.  But when we do ‘good’ we are submitting to the Spirit.  So what is good?  Good is what Jesus defined as the spirit in which we must live.  John echoed what Jesus taught him:  ‘Instead, the greatest among you should be like the youngest, and the one who rules like the one who serves’ Luke 22:26. 

Doing good means serving others instead of serving ourselves.  Doing good means building up people instead of tearing them down.  We do good when we limit our words and sharpen our ears.  The earthly kingdom demands us to clamor for first place, while the spiritual Kingdom invites us to take a seat in the back.  Through our service will come our leadership.  Jesus served over and over again until the end of His life at which point He became the ‘first fruit’ in Heaven as a result of God’s plan.

May we all pursue a servant heart in a world that calls all to be masters.

The Urgency and Clarity of God

“Timothy, guard what has been entrusted to your care.  Turn away from godless chatter and the opposing ideas of what is falsely called knowledge, which some have professed and in doing so have wandered from the faith.  Grace be with you” 1 Timothy 6:20-21.

Yesterday was an interesting day…I might even say disturbing.  A while back I met with a wonderful group of ladies from a local church who wanted to get involved with our ministry, On Eagles Wings.  We moved forward in that relationship and began building future plans.  In order for their church to become involved they needed the blessings of their board.  I spoke with the woman yesterday who informed me that due to one of our faith statements they would not be moving forward as a partner.  I asked her which statement since I believe firmly in every one of our faith statements.  She said that the board as a whole was very uncomfortable with the statement that the Bible is the infallible word of God.  She went on to say that while they believe the Bible was God-inspired, they were more ‘forward thinking’ than to think that every word of the Bible was true.  (I fully understand that many people feel this way including possibly some reading this.) 

I just adore the Lord and how He works in our lives.  Sometimes I can’t hear Him, even when it seems very important to me.  Sometimes, I can’t feel His presence and have to rely on my faith that He is near.  Sometimes I must wait and wait to receive an answer to a prayer.  And then sometimes I barely even get a prayer out of my mouth when a resounding and glorious answer strikes like lightning.  Today was that experience and I am sure it is because the very integrity of God’s word was at stake.  I was praying about the leadership of that church, and how disturbed I was the stance they took.  I didn’t waver in my beliefs but was wounded in heart for their congregation.  Then God led me to our passage above as I considered the words they used…forward thinking...'opposing ideas of what is falsely called knowledge.'

Paul was writing to Timothy about believers, not to non-believers...‘wandered from the faith.’  I believe Paul went on to encourage him to impart grace since he had been entrusted with grace.  We are called to grace when dealing with those people who have wandered from the faith.  With church pews full, hearts sometimes remain empty when dealing with the Word of God.  It is important to measure everything the church stands for against what the Word of God says.  God went on in His sweet manner to lead me to further confirmation that His word is true…perfect…God-breathed…infallible.  I am not apologetic for my conviction on this for how would we measure what is right and what is wrong…what is literal and what is actual.  Drawing those lines would be left up to our individualism, agenda and experiences.  The most beautiful part of this morning was God’s urgency and clarity to reveal and confirm to me the importance of every word in the Bible.  He led me to a sermon given by a contributor of www.gty.com who cautions every believer.  “But there's only one basic essential in a church.  There's really only one thing you're looking for and that is how they handle the truth, that's it.  How they handle the truth.  That's the essential thing.  What do they believe about the Word of God and what do they believe it teaches?  That's the essence.  Do they believe that this is the inerrant authoritative determinative Word of the living God?”  He is right…the integrity of God’s character and truthfulness is at stake, and He will move heaven and earth to make sure we understand.

May God be urgent and clear to each of us every morning so that we may be reminded of who He was, who He is and who He will be in the days to come.

A Free Heart

"This is how we know that we love the children of God: by loving God and carrying out his commands…This is love for God: to obey his commands. And his commands are not burdensome” 1 John 5:2-3.

The letters of John can be very confusing and sometimes seem contradictory. I applaud Kelly Minter for taking a noble and thorough swing at this illusive ball. It has been both complex and confusing with many moments of head-scratching. But the very fact that God inspired John to pen 5 books of the Bible (John, 1-3 John, and Revelation) I trust that his message is imperative for our lives as children of God.  When considering this morning’s passage, I was blessed with an impression from God to help me gain wisdom for its application.

Last year it was clear (although I didn’t want to admit it) that God’s will was for me to step out of my comfortable life, and accept a position with On Eagles Wings as their Director of Development. It was something I chewed on for quite some time that wasn’t easily reconciled.  It finally came down to this: to not move forward in the position would be to rebel against Him…and to rebel would not be loving Him. So, in love and obedience I walked into the calling He laid upon my life for this season. By loving and obeying Him, the impact lessened the load of our founder for the ministry. Whenever God sees a way to ease the burden for her through my work, she is being loved. Therefore, if I wasn’t obedient to Him by walking it out, I would not be loving her.

One of the basic Christian principles is that IT IS RARELY ABOUT US! The word obedient itself seems restrictive and negative, but I am discovering the beautiful truth of obedience that is echoed in our passage. Our obedience to God will bring blessings to others, while we walk in the ease of the power of the Holy Spirit. The tough part of obedience is living in the tension of the decision, not walking it out after the decision has been made. There is much freedom in obedience and shared fellowship with Christ in the decision. I can relate to Kelly’s description of the before and after of being obedient to God out of our love for Him. ‘For me, obedience has at times meant intense loneliness. It’s meant walking in the exact opposite direction of my hopes. It’s meant doing what I didn’t want to do and not doing what I wanted to. Obedience has required surrender. It’s meant following Him above all my individual desires and dreams, so I can live the life for which He’s created me. Today, I couldn’t be more thankful to have chosen His way over my own, because it was at the table of obedience where I got to know Him. Obedience is where relationship with Christ is forged’ Kelly Minter, What Love Is, page 120. Bottom line is that to love God is to obey Him, and through our obedience we are loving His children.

"I run in the path of your commands, for you have set my heart free" Psalm 119:32.

The Origin of Love

“We love because he first loved us…For anyone who does not love his brother…cannot love God” 1 John 4:19-20.

I am always trying to gain a better understanding of God by applying His heart to my heart as a parent.  Before our children were even conceived thought went in to their very existence.  Should we have another child?  How will the other children relate to a new family member?  Will that child be healthy?  Can we love that child as much as the others?  Well of course, these were only fleeting thoughts compared to the love that was already filling up our hearts.  Nine months passed by and the love grew before the introduction even came.  We loved them before they loved us.  Once our family was determined complete there were many days when disharmony was our companion and unity seemed distant.  I remember one thing for sure…when one of my children were being mean to another I felt some distance from that child.  I took it personally and wanted to be advocate for the underdog.  My fellowship was broken with one child when they broke fellowship with each other.

Any love that we experience is a result of the love that God gave to us first.  Apart from Him we don’t have the capacity to love in its purest form…love that isn’t easy…love that places others ahead of yourself…love that requires forgiveness, grace and mercy.  We are commanded to love all of our brothers and sisters, and not just those we choose to love.  It is our tendency to see others as the reason for a broken relationship – I’m just as guilty as the next person.  I was blessed this morning by the writing of Kelly Minter in What Love Is, page 117.  ‘John gives us really obvious markers for our love for God, or lack of it.  If we’re bitter toward someone, unforgiving, angry, constantly in a bad mood, biting people’s heads off, gossiping about others, irritated at them, we need to look at what is broken in our relationship with God, because loving God and loving others are inextricably connected.  God’s love for us goes before our love for others – loving others doesn’t help us earn God’s love, rather God’s love for us grants us the capacity to love others.  We love because He first loved us.’ 

To me this simplifies the message but not the behavior.  Bottom line is that everything we do and all that we are is based on the level of love we have for God first and others following.  Even the Bible states that all of the other commands of God hinge on these two.  ‘And He said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul and with all your mind.” This is the great and foremost commandment.  The second is like it, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets’ Matthew 22:37-40.

So as we look to the New Year that is upon us many resolutions will be made and many will be broken.  If all resolutions are aligned with increasing our love for God and for others, it seems to me that everything else will follow.