“In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness.” 1 Co. 1:25
When Hurricane Katrina hit, it was one of the most devastating catastrophe on record. It wasn’t only the impact of the storm but rather the reality of weak levies to protect against the storm. The debate began and was just as tumultuous as Katrina itself. It was reported that memos and reports had been repeatedly forwarded to appropriate personnel that exposed potentially deadly weaknesses in several of the levies that surrounded the region. It was the flood waters that broke through the levies that were determined to be the source of so many deaths. If only the appropriate people would have paid attention to the warnings. If only…
In our lower nature, the flesh, we have compromised and weak spiritual points in which sin can break through and flood our region. We can maintain strong spiritual levies in our walk but if we refuse to look at the weak ones we will have catastrophic results when the storms hit. We will walk with false confidence during the calm though we are one storm away from total disaster.
Through pursuing God and heeding the warnings of our spiritual weaknesses, we allow the Spirit to strengthen them and rebuild them into strong walls of faith. We develop a spiritual awareness of our earthly faults as the Holy Spirit reveals and exposes these weaknesses. We must not ignore the Holy memos sent from the One who sees our faults and recognizes our weaknesses. God desires to bring healing in areas that hinder and weaken our faith.
I love the description of Joanna Weaver’s weakened levies or ‘fault lines’ as she refers to them. ‘…we have a mighty God who is able to redeem…a loving Father who promises to keep watch at our points of vulnerability, to strengthen us where we’re weak, to correct the lies that have led us astray, and to heal the rifts in our souls. But only if we give Him access.’ P. 67
Thursday, September 23, 2010
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
Minding the Gap
“I put this in human terms because you are weak in your natural selves.” Rom. 6:19‘Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires.” Rom. 8:5
About 7 years ago, Bruce and I went to Brussels as he was invited to speak to a group of people in the nuclear field. We were very excited as this was one of the first clients when he started the new business. (Actually, it was one of the only clients that year!) On our way we decided to stay a few nights in London so we could do a little sightseeing. Whenever we would board the underground transportation system this lady’s voice in a beautiful English accent would caution, ‘Mind the gap.’ This was a warning to watch where you were stepping since there was an open space between the platform of the concrete and the floor of the subway. This gap could be a means to stumble or fall.
Where was my bold warning to ‘mind the gap’ when approaching my own sinful nature? We all have a gap in our hearts being of the flesh, our natural selves. For me, it has always been the hunger for approval which in my belief meant approval equaled love. Feeding the feelings of our natural self will always result in missteps and stumbles. We will fall into the gap separating ourselves from the higher nature only attained and accessed through God.
Joanna Weaver writes in Having a Mary Spirit, ‘For there is nothing like adversity to reveal what we’re made of. In fact, I am convinced that trouble and stress are two of the most common ways God shows us the weakness of our flesh and the futility of our self-efforts. In His mercy, He often allows stress to build up until the weak areas in our lives begin to give way under pressure.’ p. 60
For me, my gap was filled with the hunger to be hero for acceptance and taking credit for my activities for approval. This insatiable thirst for the flesh can never be met by the flesh – man. When Christ hung on the cross only to be victorious in resurrection, He filled this gap and bridged the way from the lower into the higher.
Look for the warnings to ‘mind the gap’ so you will not stumble or fall.
About 7 years ago, Bruce and I went to Brussels as he was invited to speak to a group of people in the nuclear field. We were very excited as this was one of the first clients when he started the new business. (Actually, it was one of the only clients that year!) On our way we decided to stay a few nights in London so we could do a little sightseeing. Whenever we would board the underground transportation system this lady’s voice in a beautiful English accent would caution, ‘Mind the gap.’ This was a warning to watch where you were stepping since there was an open space between the platform of the concrete and the floor of the subway. This gap could be a means to stumble or fall.
Where was my bold warning to ‘mind the gap’ when approaching my own sinful nature? We all have a gap in our hearts being of the flesh, our natural selves. For me, it has always been the hunger for approval which in my belief meant approval equaled love. Feeding the feelings of our natural self will always result in missteps and stumbles. We will fall into the gap separating ourselves from the higher nature only attained and accessed through God.
Joanna Weaver writes in Having a Mary Spirit, ‘For there is nothing like adversity to reveal what we’re made of. In fact, I am convinced that trouble and stress are two of the most common ways God shows us the weakness of our flesh and the futility of our self-efforts. In His mercy, He often allows stress to build up until the weak areas in our lives begin to give way under pressure.’ p. 60
For me, my gap was filled with the hunger to be hero for acceptance and taking credit for my activities for approval. This insatiable thirst for the flesh can never be met by the flesh – man. When Christ hung on the cross only to be victorious in resurrection, He filled this gap and bridged the way from the lower into the higher.
Look for the warnings to ‘mind the gap’ so you will not stumble or fall.
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Favorites
“One of them, the disciple whom Jesus loved...” John 13:23
“When Jesus saw his mother there, and the disciple whom he loved…” John 19:26
“Then the disciple whom Jesus loved…” John 21:7
“Peter turned and saw that the disciple whom Jesus loved…” John 21:20
You can separate any of my three children on any given day and would be told that it is their belief that they are my favorite. They look upon the other two with confidence that my love for them is a little bit greater than my love for their siblings. We even laugh about this as I sit in silence while their banter continues.
John, the author of the Book of John, on four different occasions both describes and defines himself as ‘the disciple whom Jesus loved.’ What a wonderful way to define ourselves when we describe who we are in our life. I remember when Beth was in the Hospice House she had a visitor from the clergy who described Beth as one of God’s favorite's. Now, I was brought up to believe that we are all equal children in the loving eyes of our Father so this claim really rubbed me the wrong way. Could it be that my Heavenly Father had favorites, after all the Jews were His chosen people. Could it be that no matter how much I loved Him, there would always be those whom He loved more?
I decided to see what Scripture said about this claim and was relieved and blessed by the truth. Acts 10:34 states, ‘Then Peter began to speak: ‘I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism but accepts men from every nation who fear him and do what is right.’ Rom. 2:11 states, ‘For God does not show favoritism.’ Eph. 6:9 states, ‘…since you know that he who is both their Master and yours is in heaven, and there is no favoritism with him.’ Col. 3:25 states, ‘Anyone who does wrong will be repaid for his wrong, and there is no favoritism.’ The flip side being ‘and anyone who does right will be repaid for his ‘right’, and there is no favoritism.’
What a powerful God of love that through the Holy Spirit we feel like we just may be His favorite! The more deeply we encounter Him the more love we possess. Instead of our description of ourselves including ‘me, myself and I,’ I am proud and honored to describe the author of this post as ‘the woman who Jesus loves.’
During your conversation today replace the word ‘me’ with ‘the one whom Jesus loves and adores.’
“When Jesus saw his mother there, and the disciple whom he loved…” John 19:26
“Then the disciple whom Jesus loved…” John 21:7
“Peter turned and saw that the disciple whom Jesus loved…” John 21:20
You can separate any of my three children on any given day and would be told that it is their belief that they are my favorite. They look upon the other two with confidence that my love for them is a little bit greater than my love for their siblings. We even laugh about this as I sit in silence while their banter continues.
John, the author of the Book of John, on four different occasions both describes and defines himself as ‘the disciple whom Jesus loved.’ What a wonderful way to define ourselves when we describe who we are in our life. I remember when Beth was in the Hospice House she had a visitor from the clergy who described Beth as one of God’s favorite's. Now, I was brought up to believe that we are all equal children in the loving eyes of our Father so this claim really rubbed me the wrong way. Could it be that my Heavenly Father had favorites, after all the Jews were His chosen people. Could it be that no matter how much I loved Him, there would always be those whom He loved more?
I decided to see what Scripture said about this claim and was relieved and blessed by the truth. Acts 10:34 states, ‘Then Peter began to speak: ‘I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism but accepts men from every nation who fear him and do what is right.’ Rom. 2:11 states, ‘For God does not show favoritism.’ Eph. 6:9 states, ‘…since you know that he who is both their Master and yours is in heaven, and there is no favoritism with him.’ Col. 3:25 states, ‘Anyone who does wrong will be repaid for his wrong, and there is no favoritism.’ The flip side being ‘and anyone who does right will be repaid for his ‘right’, and there is no favoritism.’
What a powerful God of love that through the Holy Spirit we feel like we just may be His favorite! The more deeply we encounter Him the more love we possess. Instead of our description of ourselves including ‘me, myself and I,’ I am proud and honored to describe the author of this post as ‘the woman who Jesus loves.’
During your conversation today replace the word ‘me’ with ‘the one whom Jesus loves and adores.’
Monday, September 20, 2010
Fire Breathing Dragons
“…but the people there did not welcome him, because he was heading to Jerusalem. When the disciples James and John saw this, they asked, ‘Lord, do you want us to call fire down from heaven to destroy them?’ But Jesus turned and rebuked them. And he said, ‘You do not know what manner of spirit you are of.’ And he said, ‘for the Son of Man did not come to destroy men’s lives but to save them.’” Luke 9:55-56 (NKJV)
When my kids were little Bruce would play a game with them which would get them all worked up. At bedtime I never wanted to hear those words from Bruce that prompted screaming, running and out of control playing, ‘I’m a fire, I’m a fire, I’m a fire-breathing dragon!’ This was the igniter of chaos! It was where father and kids ran about wildly, loudly and excitedly. Looking back now it is one of my fondest memories.
I can’t help to believe that when these disciples made the same claim about producing fire Jesus felt the same sense of dread I did though for different reasons. How many times have we looked at a situation and breathed our own fire of indignation and judgment upon our prey? How many times does Jesus look upon our hearts and whisper those same words, ‘You do not know what manner of spirit you are of.’
In my own past I know that I have flung on that hero cape and shot myself like a bullet out of a gun telling Jesus, ‘I will take care of this!’ I was self-appointed savior in my circumstances as the role of fire breathing dragon came way too easily for me. God stepped aside and allowed me to feel the weight of a so-called hero which made me buckle at the knees. My fire became a puff of smoke extinguished with no light. All that was left was the bad breath of a dragon. No matter how hard we try to respond we will default to our lower nature, our flesh.
Joanna Weaver writes, ‘Carnal thinking and carnal responses come naturally to us humans. Pre-programmed into our operating system since the Fall, our lower nature is our default mode. But what seems right to our natural minds rarely aligns with what God would have us do.'
So I pray the prayer of David, Psalm 139:23-24, ‘Search me, O God, and know my heart…See if there is any offensive way in me.’
When my kids were little Bruce would play a game with them which would get them all worked up. At bedtime I never wanted to hear those words from Bruce that prompted screaming, running and out of control playing, ‘I’m a fire, I’m a fire, I’m a fire-breathing dragon!’ This was the igniter of chaos! It was where father and kids ran about wildly, loudly and excitedly. Looking back now it is one of my fondest memories.
I can’t help to believe that when these disciples made the same claim about producing fire Jesus felt the same sense of dread I did though for different reasons. How many times have we looked at a situation and breathed our own fire of indignation and judgment upon our prey? How many times does Jesus look upon our hearts and whisper those same words, ‘You do not know what manner of spirit you are of.’
In my own past I know that I have flung on that hero cape and shot myself like a bullet out of a gun telling Jesus, ‘I will take care of this!’ I was self-appointed savior in my circumstances as the role of fire breathing dragon came way too easily for me. God stepped aside and allowed me to feel the weight of a so-called hero which made me buckle at the knees. My fire became a puff of smoke extinguished with no light. All that was left was the bad breath of a dragon. No matter how hard we try to respond we will default to our lower nature, our flesh.
Joanna Weaver writes, ‘Carnal thinking and carnal responses come naturally to us humans. Pre-programmed into our operating system since the Fall, our lower nature is our default mode. But what seems right to our natural minds rarely aligns with what God would have us do.'
So I pray the prayer of David, Psalm 139:23-24, ‘Search me, O God, and know my heart…See if there is any offensive way in me.’
Friday, September 17, 2010
Barefoot Cinderellas
“Those along the path are the ones who hear, and then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe…” Luke 8:12
I am coming out of a season of attack from the enemy who convinced me that I had control over my spiritual development and holiness. I was under a veil of self-condemnation for my responses to emotions invoked by an extreme set of circumstances in caregiving. I was continuously measuring myself against the perfection of Christ. In the end, I always fell short emotionally and suffered continuous spiritual failure. My jailbreak was through God showing me that only through His sacrifice are we complete enough to be holy. While we can live a life of transformation we can never live an earthly life of perfection and complete holiness. He confirmed this lesson through two wonderful sets of writings as I prayed for God to release me from this self made prison. You will be blessed like I have been.
‘Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest, warns against dangerous preoccupation with our own ‘personal whiteness’ as he calls it, referring to the unhealthy kind of introspection that focuses on our inadequacies rather than on God’s power to redeem and change our lives. As long as our eyes are upon our own personal whiteness we shall never get near the reality of Redemption…The continual grubbing on the inside to see whether we are what we ought to be generates a self-centered, morbid type of Christianity, not the robust, simple life of the child of God.'
Joanna Weaver, Having a Mary Spirit, writes: ‘For Satan loves to twist our salvation stories and insist that, while for a moment our pumpkins may have become carriages and our rags glistening gowns, midnight has tolled, and it’s time we face reality. He insists we’re nothing more than barefoot Cinderellas, beggar girls trying to find our way back home, with no happily-ever-after to close our stories and no handsome Prince to call our own. That no matter how much we wish and hope and dream, we will never experience lasting change (in our spiritual growth)…We act like slave girls instead of daughters of the King. p. 18
I don’t know about you but I am going to put on my glass slippers and go dancing with my Prince! The great part is that Satan didn’t get an invitation!
I am coming out of a season of attack from the enemy who convinced me that I had control over my spiritual development and holiness. I was under a veil of self-condemnation for my responses to emotions invoked by an extreme set of circumstances in caregiving. I was continuously measuring myself against the perfection of Christ. In the end, I always fell short emotionally and suffered continuous spiritual failure. My jailbreak was through God showing me that only through His sacrifice are we complete enough to be holy. While we can live a life of transformation we can never live an earthly life of perfection and complete holiness. He confirmed this lesson through two wonderful sets of writings as I prayed for God to release me from this self made prison. You will be blessed like I have been.
‘Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest, warns against dangerous preoccupation with our own ‘personal whiteness’ as he calls it, referring to the unhealthy kind of introspection that focuses on our inadequacies rather than on God’s power to redeem and change our lives. As long as our eyes are upon our own personal whiteness we shall never get near the reality of Redemption…The continual grubbing on the inside to see whether we are what we ought to be generates a self-centered, morbid type of Christianity, not the robust, simple life of the child of God.'
Joanna Weaver, Having a Mary Spirit, writes: ‘For Satan loves to twist our salvation stories and insist that, while for a moment our pumpkins may have become carriages and our rags glistening gowns, midnight has tolled, and it’s time we face reality. He insists we’re nothing more than barefoot Cinderellas, beggar girls trying to find our way back home, with no happily-ever-after to close our stories and no handsome Prince to call our own. That no matter how much we wish and hope and dream, we will never experience lasting change (in our spiritual growth)…We act like slave girls instead of daughters of the King. p. 18
I don’t know about you but I am going to put on my glass slippers and go dancing with my Prince! The great part is that Satan didn’t get an invitation!
Thursday, September 16, 2010
Groans of the Spirit
“…the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for; but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God’s will.” Romans 8:26-27
This passage has been a multi-generational reality for my family during deep seasons of suffering. Many decades ago my grandmother wrote of an experience wherein the Holy Spirit took over and groaned on her behalf. She and my grandfather were moving to begin a new pastorate and had to leave her mother. Grandmother was paralyzed with fear and she wrote: “My Mother was with us recovering from the latest hemorrhage of her lungs. Mother decided that she could not accompany us when we moved the following week because she had to stay near her doctors. Mother went back to where she and Daddy lived which was 17 miles in the country. She was without a car or telephone. My brother was in service overseas and there were no other family members. I was in a panic and terribly afraid another hemorrhage would be fatal. That Saturday, as I was trying to cook the noon meal, tears were streaming down my face and splashing wherever there was a “catching place.” After the meal was over and the kitchen cleaned, I went into the back bedroom and got down on my knees - BUT NOT TO PRAY. I WENT TO CRY. I had prayed all the prayers I knew for Mother’s healing over and over again. I had begged God, agonized and claimed all the promises of healing that I knew. The healing had not come. I was kneeling and weeping but there were no words. I now understand that there comes a point in intercession where words are left behind. Where the person himself “becomes” the prayer he is making and “words” as such are unnecessary. After awhile, through my sobbing, I heard, (not with my physical ears, but with the ears of my spirit) a sweet Voice, saying, “You don’t have faith enough for this, but I have, my faith will never fail, and it will encircle your faith, so yours will not fail.” In that moment, I saw the “secret” of faith, His faith quickening mine so that I could believe.”
Fast forward to 2004 as my daughter was in a 30 day rehab center attempting to get clean from heroin addiction. She called and said that she was in despair and needed us to pray. Both Kristen and I went outside in our separate locations and prayed. The Holy Spirit searched my heart and gave voice to my prayers and also gave voice to Kristen’s. She told God that she didn’t even know what to say anymore and that all of the pleas, promises, compromises and deals had already been spoken and broken. She simply sat and allowed the Holy Spirit to groan on her behalf and what she heard was the Father’s divine answer that the Spirit knew she needed to hear, ‘You are my child and I am your Father.’
When your suffering is so intense and the silence from your prayers seems to be deafening, we can be confident in the prayers of the Holy Spirit even when our confidence is gone.
This passage has been a multi-generational reality for my family during deep seasons of suffering. Many decades ago my grandmother wrote of an experience wherein the Holy Spirit took over and groaned on her behalf. She and my grandfather were moving to begin a new pastorate and had to leave her mother. Grandmother was paralyzed with fear and she wrote: “My Mother was with us recovering from the latest hemorrhage of her lungs. Mother decided that she could not accompany us when we moved the following week because she had to stay near her doctors. Mother went back to where she and Daddy lived which was 17 miles in the country. She was without a car or telephone. My brother was in service overseas and there were no other family members. I was in a panic and terribly afraid another hemorrhage would be fatal. That Saturday, as I was trying to cook the noon meal, tears were streaming down my face and splashing wherever there was a “catching place.” After the meal was over and the kitchen cleaned, I went into the back bedroom and got down on my knees - BUT NOT TO PRAY. I WENT TO CRY. I had prayed all the prayers I knew for Mother’s healing over and over again. I had begged God, agonized and claimed all the promises of healing that I knew. The healing had not come. I was kneeling and weeping but there were no words. I now understand that there comes a point in intercession where words are left behind. Where the person himself “becomes” the prayer he is making and “words” as such are unnecessary. After awhile, through my sobbing, I heard, (not with my physical ears, but with the ears of my spirit) a sweet Voice, saying, “You don’t have faith enough for this, but I have, my faith will never fail, and it will encircle your faith, so yours will not fail.” In that moment, I saw the “secret” of faith, His faith quickening mine so that I could believe.”
Fast forward to 2004 as my daughter was in a 30 day rehab center attempting to get clean from heroin addiction. She called and said that she was in despair and needed us to pray. Both Kristen and I went outside in our separate locations and prayed. The Holy Spirit searched my heart and gave voice to my prayers and also gave voice to Kristen’s. She told God that she didn’t even know what to say anymore and that all of the pleas, promises, compromises and deals had already been spoken and broken. She simply sat and allowed the Holy Spirit to groan on her behalf and what she heard was the Father’s divine answer that the Spirit knew she needed to hear, ‘You are my child and I am your Father.’
When your suffering is so intense and the silence from your prayers seems to be deafening, we can be confident in the prayers of the Holy Spirit even when our confidence is gone.
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
Indispensable Weakness
“…those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable…But God has combined the members of the body and has given greater honor to the parts that lacked it…but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. If one part suffers every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.” 1 Cor. 12:22-24
A few years ago it was determined that my husband Bruce required a knee replacement. He had suffered with pain in his knee for years and had several procedures to avoid knee replacement. Eventually, the inevitable was necessary and surgery was performed. During the months to come I am sure he doubted his decision as his knee pain was replaced with other issues from the surgery. It would take 6 months before he would truly benefit from the surgery and become free from pain. As he rehabbed, the weakness of the knee which was operated on forced him to depend more heavily on his other leg. While on crutches his arms became stronger to allow him the ability to navigate more efficiently as his arms supported his limited movement. The other body parts benefited from the weakness in his knee.
This is the same concept of our weaknesses in the Body of Christ. God uses the weakness of one to minister and grow the others in the Body. All of the members of Christ, the family, benefit from watching and encouraging others as they go through their pain and adversities. I cannot begin to express the manner in which fellow believers supported our family while going through the cancer of both my dad and my sister. While we were weak they became stronger for us and carried us in our weakness. Through our experience many in the Family became stronger in their own walk with Christ. They hurt when we hurt and they rejoiced with each success in which we experienced. They prayed for healing of our hearts when God called both of my family members home and through their strength of prayers my weakness of heart began healing.
I thank God each day for those Body parts who rose to the occasion to be strong while I was weak.
A few years ago it was determined that my husband Bruce required a knee replacement. He had suffered with pain in his knee for years and had several procedures to avoid knee replacement. Eventually, the inevitable was necessary and surgery was performed. During the months to come I am sure he doubted his decision as his knee pain was replaced with other issues from the surgery. It would take 6 months before he would truly benefit from the surgery and become free from pain. As he rehabbed, the weakness of the knee which was operated on forced him to depend more heavily on his other leg. While on crutches his arms became stronger to allow him the ability to navigate more efficiently as his arms supported his limited movement. The other body parts benefited from the weakness in his knee.
This is the same concept of our weaknesses in the Body of Christ. God uses the weakness of one to minister and grow the others in the Body. All of the members of Christ, the family, benefit from watching and encouraging others as they go through their pain and adversities. I cannot begin to express the manner in which fellow believers supported our family while going through the cancer of both my dad and my sister. While we were weak they became stronger for us and carried us in our weakness. Through our experience many in the Family became stronger in their own walk with Christ. They hurt when we hurt and they rejoiced with each success in which we experienced. They prayed for healing of our hearts when God called both of my family members home and through their strength of prayers my weakness of heart began healing.
I thank God each day for those Body parts who rose to the occasion to be strong while I was weak.
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