"Random" Acts Of Kindness

I love to knit!  I am rarely ever idle so even when I'm sitting in front of the t.v. relaxing  I have to be busy doing something other than staring mindlessly at the t.v. screen.  So I knit.  I've been knitting for 26 years and in all those years, I have never once knitted one thing for myself-not one thing.  I did get a sweater by accident once because the person I knit it for is someone I hadn't seen in awhile and they lost a bunch of weight so the sweater was way too big.  They sent it back knowing that I could probably wear it, which I did for awhile, even though it didn't fit me as perfectly as I would have liked.  I had decided that the next thing I knit would be something for me.  I picked a sweater that has a lot of forgiving qualities just in case I didn't get the gauge right and I would sit and read and re-read the instructions so that when I did finally get yarn, I would be ready to start.


This is the sweater I am knitting but I'm making it in black.  I hesitate to show this because now my friends will know if it doesn't turn out right! LOL!

Christmas left me yarn-less.  Every time I would sit down in my chair I would say to my husband "I'm in the mood to knit, but I don't have any yarn to knit with!"  (You see, I'm not part of the YHA-translated Yarn Hoarders of America whose motto is "the person with the most yarn when they die wins".  I use up all my scraps making things for charity or some of my "smaller" friends.)  


I think my hubby finally felt sorry for me because he understands the feeling of wanting to go to the shooting range and not having any ammunition or wanting to re-load and not having any bullets or primers or powder.   So one day, out of the blue, he just said to me, "go to Michaels and get yourself some yarn".   I LOVE my hubby!  He's the best!


So that afternoon found me in Michaels walking through the yarn section touching every skein, hand knitting it through my fingers to get an idea of what it would look like, looking for the perfect color and dreaming of all the things that yarn could create.  I do that quite often.  Some call it window shopping, I call it "coveting". LOL!  I go to the store and "covet" all the yarn they have on the shelves!  LOL!  But this day, I actually had money in my wallet to buy something!!!  I was so happy!


After shopping for a little while I filled my arms to overflowing with yarn and was waddling up through the store to pay for my purchase trying not to drop anything and kind of hurrying because I was afraid there would be a yarn explosion at any moment if one of the skeins moved from it's precarious position!!  All of the sudden I heard a voice behind me that said "Excuse me."  I stopped and turned to see an employee of the store behind me with a white envelope in her hand. She said,  "today at Michael's we are celebrating 'Random Acts of Kindness' day so I'm giving you this gift card that will take $5.00 off your purchase."  "Oh, WOW!  Thank you", I said.


Between my member discount, the yarn sale, and the "random" gift card, I saved a considerable amount of money on my purchase which made it all that more sweet!


I almost skipped from joy to the car.  As I got in the car I thought to myself, of all the people in that store she could have picked, she picked me.  It made me feel pretty special.  I even called my hubby to tell him that I had been the victim of a random act of kindness!  As I drove home I pondered my good fortune and a thought came to my mind.  As a child of God, nothing that happens to me is "random".  All of the sudden, I felt even more happy as I realized that God had laid it on that woman's heart to give ME that card and I realized that God's favor is never random!  He is very particular about blessing us!  And he knew just what would make me happy that day.


The Bible tells me that" EVERY good and perfect gift comes down from the Father of lights in who is no variance nor shadow of turning.  EVERY good thing in my life is a result of either the mercy or the favor of God.  I looked up the word :favor" and this is what I found.

"For His anger is but for a moment, 
His favor is for a lifetime..."


"For it is You who blesses the righteous man, O LORD, You surround him with favor as with a shield."



"Let Your work appear to Your servants

And Your majesty to their children.

 Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us;

And confirm for us the work of our hands;

Yes, confirm the work of our hands."

"A good man will obtain favor from the LORD, But He will condemn a man who devises evil."

"The teaching of the wise is a fountain of life,

"To turn aside from the snares of death.

Good understanding produces favor,

But the way of the treacherous is hard.

Every prudent man acts with knowledge,

But a fool displays folly."

One of the benefits of being made righteous through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ is that the favor of God resides on you, just as it did on Christ.  I really hadn't thought much about this before but my experience at the store made me ponder.  So I set my mind at that moment to listen to the teaching of the wise so that I will have good understanding so that I can believe, by faith,  that God's favor is with me wherever I go and to expect through faith that I will see it.  Something about that mindset just automatically sets you up for a good day!

And most of all, to take the time to thank God for every good thing that was in my life and that happened to me. If God knows when a hair falls off my head, He certainly controls what comes into my life as well.  I receive from God through faith, so by believing that God's favor is upon my life, I will receive much more of His favor.  He is a good father and desires to bless His children with as much blessing as is possible to give them.  That coupled with the abundant mercy that He has already shown me and continues to show on a daily basis makes me one blessed woman!  That just makes me feel pretty special!

I'm So Thankful for My Bible!

As I closed my Bible after reading this morning, I just pressed it to my chest and said "Lord, I'm so thankful for Your Word!"


 Everyday I'm so anxious to open it.  When I close it, I just feel different. I'm more at peace, more settled.  I feel full and satisfied yet more hungry, looking forward to the next time I read it all at the same time!  I'm so thankful for men, inspired by the Holy Spirit who took time to write it, for those who copied it and re-copied it all through history so that it would be preserved.  I'm humbled when I think that it cost people their lives to guard it, to keep it and to hide it as well as to publish it in a language that I could understand!  How could I ever treat it as common?  I'm thankful that Paul didn't waste his days languishing away in a Roman jail, but he used that time to write.  If he hadn't we'd be without a majority of the New Testament!  I'm thankful for the Jews that recorded and wrote down all the acts of God throughout history, the teachings of Jesus Christ, and the acts of the Holy Spirit.


The Word is my truly my source.  When I am hungry Jesus beckons me to go there and a table is already spread just waiting for me to come and eat until I'm full.  When I'm frightened there are admonitions telling me "do not fear", at least enough for one every day of the year.  They call out to me and comfort my soul by reminding me that the one who said it is well able to handle anything that concerns me that day.  When I am hurting, His words soothe my soul, pouring out the oil, the balm that soothes, heals and restores. When I feel deserted, His Words surround me and that cloud of witnesses calls from it's pages to remind me that I am not alone.  When I've allowed unbelief to cloud my way and my strength to persevere is gone, His Word comes running to me and picks me up and runs the race right beside me reminding me to be strong and courageous for He is with me.


His Words are like cool water after a long, hard day in the hot sun.  It quenches the spiritual thirst in me.  And just as water strengthens and rejuvenates from the blistering heat, so His Word reaches and soaks into every fiber of my being and fills me up giving me strength and energy to continue on. The promises on those pages are sure.  They are a rock beneath my feet, a sure foundation.  They are guardrails to keep me on the straight and narrow path away from harm that awaits me if I wander.  They are the lamp that shines on the road I am to take and they are the light at the end of the tunnel, my destination, my great reward!


I'm so thankful that I don't have to wait til the next Sunday meeting, the next Bible study, the next chance meeting with another believer to receive all that I need at any given moment.  It's there sitting on my nightstand always working, always powerful, always true!  It's hidden in my heart by the Holy Spirit who brings it to my remembrance so that my mind is stayed and in peace.  It never ceases to amaze me at it's accuracy, it's pertinence, it's ability to pinpoint whatever is going on in my life and to give instruction, encouragement, and revelation.  


Jesus said that "I and the Word are one."  What an incredible thought!  When I pick up that book, with it's worn cover, smudged pages and colorful markings, smelling of glue and tape that has put it back together so many times, I am conversing with Jesus Himself.  I'm hearing "power words" that are active and working in my life.  


My Bible, the Word of God-truly the pearl of great price, truly a treasure worth selling all to have.


Thank you God for writing it all down for me but for not leaving me alone when I read it.  Of how many other books that we own can we say that "every time we read it, the author is sitting right there with us"?


Lord, I'M SO THANKFUL FOR MY BIBLE!

Hurry Up and Wait

My husband met me for lunch the other day at a local restaurant that is near his work.  We were engrossed in conversation when all of the sudden he jumped up and said "Oh, I have to go!  I have to be at work in 5 minutes!"  "I laughed and said "hurry up and wait!"  You see, my husband is a substitute school bus driver.  He gets paid to sit in a room and wait.  If one of the bus drivers is sick or they don't show up then he is there to cover their bus run.  He has to be one of the first ones there in the morning and the afternoon, but he may not even drive a bus that day.  


I've noticed that people are always in a hurry.  Twice in the last month I've noticed people in cars driving like maniacs through traffic, weaving between lanes like a snake weaves through the grass, cutting people off, almost causing accidents.  


The other day I was driving side by side with another vehicle down the main street in our town.  Suddenly, the woman behind him started honking her horn.  When he pulled a little ahead of me, she zoomed in front of me passing him on the right and then jammed on her breaks so that she could swerve into the lane she had just zoomed out of.  She continued this erratic pattern all the way through town. Eventually my mind drifted off to somewhere else as I putzed along in the traffic to the other end of town.  Just before I reached my destination, the car in front of me abruptly turned into a local business (without using a signal) and once again I had to jam on my breaks to avoid smashing into the back of their vehicle.  Guess who it was?  That's right!  It was the woman from the other end of town that had been in such a big hurry.  She must have caught every red light all the way through town.  She hadn't ended up any further ahead than I was when we had first started out but I was definitely more calm and at peace than she was. 


Not two days later, I was sitting at a red light.  When it turned green the guy beside me crushed his gas pedal to the floor and zoomed ahead in a cloud of smoke from burning rubber.  He sped past me and the public transportation bus that I was behind and got into the lane ahead of the bus just in time to make the exit that leads to the local university.  At the end of that exit is the longest light in town.  I've timed it several times and it's at least a minute and 15 seconds long.  It doesn't stay green for very long either so I almost always catch it when it's red.  As I approached the light, the bus in front of me took the exit to the right.  I stayed left towards the light.  Just as I got up to the intersection the light turned green. I didn't even have to use my brakes to make the turn.   Guess who was in front of me?  You guessed it.  Mr. Smoke and rubber!  He had been sitting at the light waiting for it to turn.  


A verse of scripture passed through my mind. 

Many are the plans in a person’s heart, but it is the LORD’s purpose that prevails. Proverbs 19:21


We are always in a hurry.  As children we are in a hurry to become teenagers, to get a driver's license, to graduate from high school, to graduate from college, to get a job, to get married, to have kids, to get the kids out of the house, to retire.  It's a vicious mentality.  We are always looking ahead to what's in front of us and when something gets in the way of us getting there as fast as we can, we tend to get irritated and start driving erratically through life! 


It's just silly to think that we can somehow beat God's timetable.  Instead, we ought to just sit quietly where we are, moving ahead as traffic allows and enjoy the scenery along the way.  When we reach our destination, we will be much more ready to handle the tasks that await us there.  I'm sure that when both of those drivers reached their destination they were frustrated, irritated and not at all in right frame of mind.  It probably took some time for them to calm down and get on task with whatever they were rushing to do.  


Scripture talks a lot about waiting on God.  It gives us 21 reasons to wait on God and over 21 blessings received when we wait on God.  Psalm 40 says:


 ¹ I waited patiently for the LORD; 
And He inclined to me and heard my cry. 
² He brought me up out of the pit of destruction, out of the miry clay, 
And He set my feet upon a rock making my footsteps firm. 
³ He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God;
Many will see and fear 
And will trust in the LORD.


So in life, why not just go with the flow?  Trust that God has designed the "traffic" you are in. Every red light and green light is specifically designed so that His plan for your life can unfold in a way that completes His purposes, both for you and for the world. ( Do you ever think about that?  A red or a green light in our lives may just be completing a purpose of God for the world!)   Sit back, be patient and enjoy the ride.  Arrive at your destination ready to do whatever He sent you there to accomplish and enjoy the company of His presence until you get there!


If you are the type that has to hurry, then hurry up and wait at the throne of grace!  Sit at the Lord's feet and wait to hear what He would say about the course and timetable of your life.  Scripture promises us it's a perfect plan because it was designed and initiated by our God who is perfect in all of His ways.  










  

Bonds or Bondage?

Bonds or Bondage?

2Timothy 1:7-15

 ⁷ For God has not given us a spirit of ^[f]timidity, but of power and love and ^[g]discipline.

 ⁸ Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord or of me His prisoner, but join with me in suffering for the gospel according to the power of God, ⁹ who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was granted us in Christ Jesus from all eternity, ¹⁰ but now has been revealed by the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel, ¹¹ for which I was appointed a preacher and an apostle and a teacher. ¹² For this reason I also suffer these things, butI am not ashamed; for I know whom I have believed and I am convinced that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him ^[h]until that day. ^13 [i]Retain the standard of sound words which you have heard from me, in the faith and love which are in Christ Jesus. ¹⁴ Guard, through the Holy Spirit who dwells in us, the ^[j]treasure which has been entrusted to you.

Paul knew that God had called him as a preacher, teacher and apostle.  In order to do this he traveled to people and people traveled to him.  At times, it must have seemed to Paul and others that he could not fulfill his calling because he was locked in prison, but Paul never allowed his bonds to become bondage.  Paul never viewed himself as on hold or on a shelf.  Instead Paul continued to do what he could do-pray, teach through his writing, govern through letters and his disciples.  He never allowed his present circumstances in the natural to hinder his spiritual work and calling.  By many he was made to look like a failure, a common criminal in order to hinder his effectiveness and his influence but Paul continued on in ministry, even though he was kept in prison.

The previous scripture it tells us that God's calling is according to his own purposes.  Because of Paul's imprisonment, we have most of the New Testament.  In prison Paul was not spending time traveling or in tent making.  He spent that time writing through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.  He continued right on with what God had called him to do.  He made no excuses for his imprisonment and he never used his imprisonment as an excuse.  He knew that God had led him to prison, so prison became to him the will and purpose of God.  Paul did not sit and pout in prison.  Instead he used prison to further the Kingdom of God.

Where are you today? Do you feel that your present circumstances are binding you or keeping you from what God has called you to?  Do you look at ministry as a future goal or destination?  Are you allowing your present circumstances to become bondage to what you can do for God?  Do you view your marriage, your children, your socio-economic status, your job, or where you live as bonds that keep you from fulfilling your call?  Are you using them as an excuse to do nothing because you can't do it as you envisioned?  

What if instead of doing what he did, Paul would've sat in jail rotting, stagnating and feeling sorry for himself?  What revelations, what insights what life we would have missed!  How his ministry would have diminished!  In face, he might have not been remembered for much at all.  His life would not have had the impact for the Kingdom of God that it did.  

Paul probably never dreamed that people in the year 2012 would still be reading his writings or that his writings would become part of the guidebook for Christian living for generations to come!

What has God given you do do?  Do it with all of your might!  What has God gifted you with? Do it as much as you can within the confines he has led you to.  Don't allow your flesh the luxury of viewing your circumstances as a prison and render yourself useless to God.  You may never fully realize God's complete purpose for your placement in life, but there IS a purpose-HIS PURPOSE!  

Ephesians 2:10 tells that God has already prepared good works for us to do.  He is certainly able to lead us to them!  We have to be open to recognize them!  Have faith to believe in God's purposes in your life even when you don't understand them.  Don't be a child being led somewhere kicking and screaming because it doesn't look like where you wanted to go.  Don't sit in that place with your eyes closed, arms crossed and checked out from the world until God lets you out of that place.  You may just miss the opportunity to really make a difference for Christ!

When World and Word Collide!

Did you ever glance at something and think, "oh, that's a great thing" but then after thinking about it for a few minutes come to realize how stupid it was?  That's what I thought when I read this quote.  I have to admit I'm no fan of Oprah's but I didn't even realize that it was her quote when I read it because all I could see on my computer screen was the quote itself.  So we can set aside any kind of prejudice or personal preference and just examine this statement for a minute from a Christian perspective.


My first question was, if everyone had this attitude then there would be no one to lift me a little higher because they wouldn't bother with me at all since I would not be able to benefit them.  So the facts of the matter would be that the only time I would bother with a "lesser" human would be if there was some way my interactions with them would benefit me, right?


Secondly, is this really what life is all about anyway?  Is it all about us getting as "high" as we can in life?  Is that what determines a person's success in life?  Is it like a contest and the person with the highest position wins?


And what happens then when the person that is elevating you has reached their own plateau?  Do you then shove them aside or use them as a footstool to climb to the next person forgetting that it was them that got you to that point?  That's happened to me.  It's called ungratefulness.


What if we thought of our children this way?  What if God thought of his children this way?


Thank heavens God did not have this attitude.  Or Jesus!  If he had, he would have only hung around the religious leaders and left the dregs of society to rot on their own.  Realistically, he wouldn't have come at all!    But Jesus did come and he went to the broken, the poor, the sick, the hurting.  They had absolutely nothing to offer him.  In fact, his associations with them often brought him stout criticism from those who could have elevated him in his earthly ministry.  And there lies the heart of the issue, I guess.  Jesus was not concerned about earthly anything.  His eyes were on an eternal kingdom.  An eternal kingdom that does not operate on earthly principles.  He was not moved by the pressures of his culture to be or do or achieve a certain position.  


When I first read this, I immediately began to think of people that I could get around that might elevate or benefit me in some way.  That is when reality kicked in because immediately I thought of many people whom the Lord has given me to shepherd and care for through the years.  Very few of them had anything, in Oprah's way of thinking, that would have elevated me in any way.  Fact was, God had placed them in my life so that I could reach down and elevate them to where I was.  Furthermore I believe that I am to give them all I have so that they can move beyond where I am!


Think of it.  The Apostle Paul, as great as he was, poured into young Timothy!  Timothy, therefore, did not have to re-invent the faith-wheel, but was able to take Paul's wisdom at a young age and apply it.  This set him up potentially to exceed where Paul was when he reached Paul's age.  Perhaps this is what Jesus meant when he said that we would do "even greater works" than He did.  What could be greater than raising the dead?  But if we take His Spirit within us and go into all the world, we can be so many places at one time, affecting so many people at the same time, filling the earth with his glory by being willing vessels of His Spirit and power!  This is what I believe Jesus was talking about.  Not the "Wow factor" of the deeds, but the volume of deeds!  Instead of one bottle of oil, there would be many, everywhere, pouring out over all the earth until the earth was truly filled with His glory!


Scripture is very clear that Jesus did not elevate Himself.  He humbled Himself.  Psalms even tells us that Almighty God humbles Himself when he minds the things of earth.  Christ was our example.  The perfect reflection of the Father.  And we are to follow His example.  Personally, the people who have elevated me the most in my spiritual walk are those that are extremely humble and unassuming.  Their joy and security is found solely in the fact they know and love Christ and they know His love for them.  This frees them to be and touch whomever the Lord desires regardless of the public notoriety or position they receive.


"But, you say, the Bible says that if we humble ourselves then we will be lifted up!"  Yes, that is true, but we can never ascend any higher than Christ is, who still sits under the Father's authority and who still serves those that are lower than Him by constantly interceding on our behalf.  He came and remains in servant hood.   


Servants do not look to their masters as someone that can elevate them.  A servants heart looks to see how they can elevate their master.  That is our highest calling and our greatest joy!  Our reward is not of this earth.  It resides in those heavenly principles that dictate a heavenly kingdom.  Their perspective and their duration is eternal.  

"But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal."  Matt. 6:20


As for me, I will focus on "the least of these", as Jesus did.  It's only fitting that another paradox of scripture is that when you reach lower to those who can offer you nothing, then you are elevated in the Kingdom of God and given all it's blessings.  Because "when you have done good to the least of these, you have done it unto God."  And God takes notice of it and he repays.

Our Remembering Forgetting God

Life has a way of causing us to always think about what's coming next.  We find ourselves strategizing, planning, saving, and striving to reach some point that is ahead of us.  Normally I would say that this is a good thing.  It's good to be proactive and prepared and I'm a big one for "forgetting those things which are behind and pressing ahead.." but...it's also good to remember those things that are already passed.

When I get discouraged with my daughter's progress in recovering her life from brain injury because I get to looking at all the things she still can't do or at how she is so different from other kids her age, and I start to strategize at how I'm going to help her find gainful employment, or I think about her future spouse or if she will ever marry, and I wonder who will help oversee her when I'm no longer able to do so, well, it is just very easy to be overwhelmed!  But when I look back to where she was after her initial injury, what the doctors said was possible and how far above and beyond she has gone, it gives me strength to continue on knowing that the same God who got us this far will get us the rest of the way.

In the last few days, I've had many opportunities to look back at my spiritual roots and to remember a lot of "firsts" in my Christian walk and I've once again experienced the wonder, the awe, the amazement and the grace that was present the first time.

Most of the time we focus on God forgetting.  He forgets our sins and our transgressions after he declares us not guilty and cleanses us of the stain of them.  He forgets our failures and weaknesses too and when figuring out our worth, they do not come into play in His mind.  But God is also a great remember-er as well.

Genesis 9:15
I will [earnestly] remember My covenant or solemn pledge which is between Me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters will no more become a flood to destroy and make all flesh corrupt.


Genesis 19:29
When God ravaged and destroyed the cities of the plain [of Siddim], He [earnestly] remembered Abraham [imprinted and fixed him indelibly on His mind], and He sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow when He overthrew the cities where Lot lived.


Jeremiah 2:2
Go and cry in the ears of Jerusalem, saying, Thus says the Lord: I [earnestly] remember the kindness and devotion of your youth, your love after your betrothal [in Egypt] and marriage [at Sinai] when you followed Me in the wilderness, in a land not sown.


From these three verses we find that He remembers His covenant and works to keep every word of it.  He remembers his people.  He knows exactly where we are, what is going on and where we need to be and then takes whatever step He needs to take in order to get us there.  He remembers the good things about our relationship with Him instead of allowing everything that is wrong about it to influence His feelings toward us.  Oh, if we, as humans could learn to do this, it would make such a big difference in our marriages, our families, in our relationship with God, and in the church.


God's desire is for us to push ahead, run the race, fight the fight and keep our eyes on the prize ahead.  Sometimes, in order to do that, we need to look back and remember from whence we came.  You see understanding our origin and how we began helps us to understand ourselves and when we have an accurate understanding of ourselves, we can be honest with ourselves and God and we can push ahead, run the race and fight the fight until we obtain the prize because we can see that our beginnings are what give us the DNA to do it!!!  We've been hardwired for victory through the indwelling of the Holy Ghost!

Ephesians 2:10-12

Amplified Bible (AMP)

¹⁰For we are God's [own] handiwork (His workmanship), recreated in Christ Jesus, [born anew] that we may do those good works which God predestined (planned beforehand) for us [taking paths which He prepared ahead of time], that we should walk in them [living the good life which He prearranged and made ready for us to live].
¹¹Therefore, remember that at one time you were Gentiles (heathens) in the flesh, called Uncircumcision by those who called themselves Circumcision, [itself a mere mark] in the flesh made by human hands.
¹²[Remember] that you were at that time separated (living apart) from Christ [excluded from all part in Him], utterly estranged and outlawed from the rights of Israel as a nation, and strangers with no share in the sacred compacts of the [Messianic] promise [with no knowledge of or right in God's agreements, His covenants]. And you had no hope (no promise); you were in the world without God.


I love this next verse!  God is writing a "book of remembrance"  of those who fear Him and talk often of Him.  He wants to remember and record the words of those who reverenced, meditated on, worshiped and feared His name.

Malachi 3:16
Then those who feared the Lord talked often one to another; and the Lord listened and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before Him of those who reverenced and worship fully feared the Lord and who thought on His name.

Lord, I pray that the book of remembrance you are writing or my life will a thick one!  That I will talk often of you, extol you, magnify you, witness of you, fear you, reverence you, worship and fear you.  May my life, my thoughts, my words and my actions all speak of the glories of you!  May the works that you prepared for me to walk in be a testament of you're calling me out of sin and into the light and manifest the power of the cross of Jesus Christ!  May I never forget!  May I always look back and remember from whence you brought me and may my life always reflect the gratitude and thanksgiving due you for Your marvelous work and deeds in my life.  

Sometimes the Ground Does Not Feel So Firm

As I mentioned in an earlier post, the end of my year was rather chaotic on many levels.  At some points I felt as if I was sinking.  At others, it felt as if the ground was shaking.  Many times I was searching for "the green pastures and the still waters."  I wish I could say that everything is completely resolved and life is back to normal, but it's not.  The events of the last half of last year still haunt me, cause me to wonder, and spur me on to search God's Word for solid answers.

The most disturbing, perplexing and troubling thing that happened was the death of a friend from Lou Gehrig's disease.  She had been one of "my girls", a student that was involved in our campus ministry at PSU.  I can't rightly explain the connection that I had with those young women.  I only know that although time and distance have separated many of us, I still think of them as "my girls."  A part of my life was invested in them and that connection is still strong in me.  They were and are, for all intent and purposes my "kids".

Although I lived in the same town as this young woman, I rarely saw her.  I visited her a few times when she had children and we would see each other in stores from time to time.  Her and her husband attended another church in town, so we didn't have occasion to spend a lot of time together.  Our little congregation keeps me busy and my main focus is the people that God has given us to shepherd.

When I found out that she was sick, I immediately called and set up a time to go and see her.  I ended up having to cancel because my father also fell ill and I was running between 2 states to visit him.  I happened to see a member of her church soon after that who told me that there were people ministering to her on a regular basis, praying with her, helping her and her family.  I kind of got the impression that what they didn't say was more strong than what they did.  I felt very unwelcome.  After speaking with my husband about the situation he reminded me that there are certain ministerial ethics that we have to abide by, one of which includes not going into another shepherd's flock to minister.  He reminded me that they chose the church they would attend, the Pastor they would come under, the people they would fellowship with, the teaching they would embrace and we had to respect that.  So, other than sending my well-wishes, there really wasn't much I could do except pray, which I did, through all the years that she was sick.  There were some other circumstances that came into play that really hindered my being highly involved with her, even in her sickness which I won't get into, but it was very hard for me-to say the least.

One Thursday afternoon I got a call from her husband.  She wanted to see me.  I knew she was deteriorating.  I felt the nudge of the Holy Spirit so I decided to go see her the next day.  I went out to breakfast and was walking out of the restaurant to get in my car and go see her when I got a call.  Someone had gone by her house and saw a hearse in the driveway.  I was too late.  I was devastated.  For days the thoughts of "what did she want to say to me", "did she want me to do something for her?", "was she angry because I didn't come sooner?", they haunted me.

For weeks I was tormented by the feeling that I had failed her in some way.  The only thing that finally brought me some relief was the word God spoke to my heart.  He reminded me that she was with Him and she understood EVERYTHING and that if she was angry or hurt or disappointed by my actions, she no longer was.

In retrospect I learned some things and made some decisions about what I will do if I am ever in that situation again.  There were some things I could have and should have done much better.  There were some things that I did right, even though they were hard for me.

The ground feels a little firmer beneath my feet now but I still think of her quite often and I pray for her husband and four children who are left to press on without her.  Her death has caused me to ask many questions of God and I know that God has used it to open up His Word to me and to teach me about faith.  It's funny.  God brought her into my life so that I could minister to her as a young woman, but now it seems that God is using her death to minister to me.  My comfort lies in the fact that this is not over.  Some day she and I can walk and talk about all that transpired here on earth and we will both understand.   I look forward to that!

When Things Don't Add Up...part 4

The second statement the Father made to the oldest son in Lk. 15:31 was
"All I have is yours."
Now usually we find this statement being spoken from man to God, especially nowadays.  I can think of several songs that have this line in them.  Unfortunately, when we say this to God, He isn't getting much, even though it's all we have to give.

It's amazing to consider this statement.  ALL God has is ours!  We have His best.  We have His all.  He gave us Christ!  He did not withhold, even the very best from a sinful, God-dishonoring world.  The oldest son had everything that belonged to the Father.  His proximity to the Father gave him many benefits!

Not only are we given close proximity to God through the reconciliation and cleansing brought through the blood, we now are sons and daughters and have inherited all that Christ has inherited!  What has Christ inherited??? Everything!!   We know that "all things" are under his feet!  He is Lord over ALL!  Every power, every principality, every authority is subject to the name of Christ.  And we are his fellow heirs!  This is what the Bible states and I'm one that believes that God meant what He said.

So why....why do we not experience this in every day life?  Why do people die before their time?  Why do people die of sickness at all?  Why can catastrophic things happen to people and take their lives?  Why do many believers live in lack and want and despair?

I'm no theologian but there has to be a logical explanation to this.  God is logical.  And if He didn't want us to know and understand Him why did He go to all the trouble to write the Bible and give us the Holy Spirit so that we could come to understand it?

One reason I believe that bad things happen to Godly people is that we live in a sinful world.  We are in this world, but we are not of it.  Still the things that affect the world affect us as well. We're not immune from everything that happens in the world.  Often the consequences of other's sin affect us.   However, as Christians, sin should not affect us.  We are no longer under it's dominion if Christ lives in us.  The two cannot reside in the same body or we would explode!

But as the scriptures say, we are not OF this world.  There is a plethora of blessing and rights and privileges that are ours as born again believers.  We should not be living as the unsaved do.  But many times we do.  Many times we needlessly suffer through things just as the unsaved do when it's not necessary. 

One reason is ignorance of the Word of God.  I was barren until I saw that God's will was for me to have children.  Even after conceiving and giving birth to our first child,  I needlessly lost 3 children to miscarriage because I was ignorant of the promises made to the redeemed concerning miscarriage.  Miscarriage is a curse in scripture.  Until I realized that I was no longer under a curse, I lost baby after baby.  But when I realized that Satan was stealing from me something he had no right to take, the miscarriages stopped and the births started. 

One of my friends lost a child at 16 weeks.  It was devastating to her.  When I tried to show her scripture, she said to me "I would rather believe that God took my baby than that Satan stole something from me."  That sounds all well and good to some.  But to me, she had just opened the door for a lifetime of burglary.  Furthermore, the truth was not that God killed her baby.  What kind of a God would give a child and then steal it before it was even born???  He's not schizophrenic!  Yes, He allowed it to happen, but He neither desired for it to happen or caused it to happen.  It's not God's will nor desire that ANY should perish, but they do, by the millions everyday.  God doesn't cause it, but He allows it.  WHY?  I believe that the answer lies more with us than with Him. 

Everything we receive from God must be by faith.  It we don't have faith to believe that a promise is ours, it cannot come to us.  The circumstances that we find ourselves in sometimes are not always God's will.  Those that perish and end up in hell are not there because God didn't love them.  They are there because they did not receive the promised one by faith!  So why would any of the other promises be any different?

Too many times Christians read something in scripture and pray that it will come true in their lives and it doesn't.  What then is their response?  So many times I hear this statement.  "God is sovereign."  Yes, he is, but He has revealed His sovereign will in scripture which is why we can pray about things and expect that they will come to pass.  His Word is what our faith can attach itself to to receive from him. But when we don't we immediately say "God is sovereign" and off we go until we hit the next crisis in life and we start the whole process all over again.  If God is so sovereign that He can say one thing in His Word and do whatever even when it contradicts His Word, then can we really believe anything that He says?  Can we believe what He says about provision, healing and most importantly salvation?  We can accept God's sovereignty over our finances and the healing of our bodies, but we wouldn't ever say that about our salvation.  But the truth of scripture reveals that healing is part of the atonement!  So if our sins have been atoned for, so has our health! 

Instead, when our experience does not line up with the Word of God, we ought to be looking at ourselves.  Where did my faith fall short?  Where was there doubt and unbelief in my approach?  Was there unconfessed sin? Did I ask amiss?  Did I try to apply a promise to this situation that does not apply or was out of context?  Because if we don't do this, what has happened to every movement of God throughout most of history will happen to us.  We will start to change our doctrine based on our own experience until it looks nothing like what it was originally.  In fact, based on the knowledge that this has happened so many times, maybe what we are basing our beliefs on is already faulty thus yielding the wrong results.  As I study Christian history, it amazes me how much doctrine has changed especially in the last 50 years.

I believe that people die "in the Lord."  But I don't believe that God ever intended that to happen except for the case of dying in persecution of the gospel.  He said if any man suffer, let it be for the sake of the gospel.  Many people who believe that their poverty, their lack, their suffering is "suffering for Jesus" are actually accepting something that God has already provided for so that they don't have to suffer it.  The only cause of this is either ignorance, or unconfessed sin or doubt and unbelief.   That sounds harsh, but in light of scripture, what other explanation can we really offer?  At the end of the day, fault will not be found in God, His promises, or His Word.  It will be found in us.

If we study scripture, we find Jesus forgiving sin as part of healing.  We find doubt and unbelief hindering healing.  We find also that sickness can be caused by demonic forces as in the woman bent over.  So many times especially with healing, I find myself just praying for healing without identifying what might be causing it.    When I was having miscarriages, God helped me identify what was causing them.  Literally, the moment I prayed about what God had shown me, the miscarriages stopped and I got pregnant.

I know some will think I sound judgemental.  I'm not trying to be.  I'm trying to figure out why I don't live in the promises of God the way He has set them forth in His Word and as I have been open before God to inquire for understanding I am coming to the conclusion that I, and many other Christians that I know, do not understand what faith really is.  The problem is not God's will being contrary to what His Word says He provided through the cross.  The problem is that my faith is not an appropriating faith in that I can appropriate all of God's promises into my life and see them working there.  I have knowledge, but knowledge is not faith.  I have experiences, many of them miraculous but that does not mean that my faith is completely perfected.  So, my first priority this year is to seek and find the true definition of faith and begin to exercise it.  It's daunting, challenging and exciting all rolled up together!

Hebrews 12 tells us of the faith that has gone before us.  There is a great cloud of witnesses that can attest to the true-ness of the promises of God.  They were men and women who appropriated faith without the indwelling of the Holy Ghost!  Then there are those who came after the cross.  Men and women who we revere as part of our Christian history and heritage who also did the "greater works" that Christ promised his disciples.  None of them were any different than I am.  They were flesh and blood.  So if I will do what they did-fix my eyes on Jesus and run the race-I can see and know and experience all that they did, perhaps even more!  It's a lofty goal.  I realize that.  But it's a good goal.  I will never be perfect, but I can be better, much, much better.

Finding Christ in Christmas

I've noticed this year that more stores have put Christ back into their store.  Before Thanksgiving had even arrived, Wal-Mart was playing Christmas carols--and I mean Christmas carols, not holiday songs.  The web is full of people outraged over our society's attempts to remove Christ from the holidays.  Many Christian activists are up in arms over the attempts of society to remove all references to the birth of Jesus.

While Christian activism is the joy of some, I prefer to take a quieter approach.  Christmas could be removed from the calendar, but no one can remove Christmas from my heart.  In my way of thinking, Christmas was absconded years ago by merchandisers.  The day has had so much hype and pressure attached to it that by the time the day arrives and the 30 minutes of frantic "stuff unwrapping" has ended, everyone falls exhausted to the floor while the true meaning of the day is lost or is no more than a fleeting thought like "oh yea, Jesus came to earth today."   It's almost as if Christ is lost in Christmas!

After becoming a Christian, a wise person asked me one year, what are you doing to stay focused on the true meaning of the holiday?  It kind of surprised me a little because up until then all I knew was what I had always done.  You buy gifts for as many people as you can afford.  You go to church on Christmas eve and sing carols and give Jesus his well-deserved head nod, you get up the next morning to a nice breakfast, followed by gift opening and long distance phone calls to missing family members and then you spend the rest of the day playing with "stuff."  When I weighed in the balance the amount of focus the Lord was getting against the focus spent on cultural tradition, Christ was being left out in the cold, just as He was the night He was born.

I resolved to change this "tradition".  About the middle of November, I begin to pray and ask the Lord to focus my attention on the birth of His son in the coming month so that the true meaning of Christmas will not be lost in the holiday hysteria of my culture.  I can honestly say that in the 20 some years I have done this, God has never failed to open the eyes of my understanding and to thrill my heart with some aspect of Lord's coming to earth. 

 One year He brought my focus to the miracle of the incarnation.  Another year He fascinated me with an in depth look into the character of Mary.  Another year seemed to bring the richness and the depth of the Christmas carols to life to the point that I couldn't sing them without crying.  Yet another year I was enthralled with all of the miracles that occurred in such a short time after 400 years of God's silence in Israel as He solidified in my heart that new beginnings are always wrought with miracles. And so it has been, year after year, God brings my spiritual eyes into focus around a manger in Bethlehem. 

This year I feel the Lord leading me again, as is His holiday custom, not to the manger but to  redemption.  I'm finding that the word "redemption" is a BIG word, not in the number of letters it contains, but in the meaning that it represents.  I'm finding that my definition of redemption was way too small, and that smallness has hindered my experience of the fullness of all the benefits that it provides.  Contained in redemption is reconciliation, cleansing, pardon, union with God, sanctification, victory over sin, life everlasting and many others.  Honestly I think that the study of this may lead me all the way into next Christmas!  After all, it is the theme of the Bible from Genesis to Revelation!  As I have been studying the last few weeks, God has been opening my understanding of His redemptive plan to me in a way that I have never known before. 

Now some may say that this is elementary, something I should already grasp and understand.  But I believe that just as the mind of God is unfathomable, so is His Word in the depth of meaning and richness that it can supply to a human heart.  We've all experienced reading a verse and gaining an understanding of what it means and how it practically applies to our lives.  Then when reading it at a later time, we get something totally different from the same verse that again blesses us and helps us in our walk with God.  I don't believe that redemption is a cut and dried issue except when it comes to faith in the blood of Christ.  Although I don't totally understand it, simple faith in it's authenticity is what counts me reconciled to God in Christ.  God had to make that part simple because He knows the human mind is very limited-especially my own! LOL!  But in each living, active Word of scripture, there is a depth and a fullness that is without end and as a child of God I have the awesome blessing of being able to search and seek out all of it's richness for my own life.

As I once again read the very "Christmassy" words in Isaiah 9:6, my eyes observed the context in which the verse was written.  It almost seems out of place.  Amidst the judgment of God for sin, the promise of redemption is interjected.  A few verses later this statement appears, not just once but three times.

"For all this His anger is not turned away, but His hand is stretched out still."

This is the root of all redemption.  Reconciliation. 

God's dilemma?  Our sin has caused his wrath to be stirred.   His justice has declared us guilty and demands punishment.  But yet, His love for us remains unchanged, in spite of the sin that now defines us.  

God's solution?  Reconciliation that then opens the doors to all the fullness and the richness of redemption.

That is the essence of Christmas.  Our reconciler has come to begin the great work of redemption for all mankind.

Glory to God in the highest and on earth, peace, goodwill towards men!

Integrity in the House of God

As I mentioned before, my brother-in-law came to preach at our church in October.  During the time he took on Sunday morning, he delivered what is really more like two sermons than one.  In America, we refer in joke to the first sermon as being "for free".  Of course, we don't charge people to get into church, but in the USA money seems to be at the bottom line of everything!


I shared already what he preached about valuing the things of God.  That was the "free" part. LOL!  I also want to share what the Lord had laid on his heart to share originally.  Some of the things I shared in my blog about Happy Valley really were a result of thinking about this sermon and the recent events in my locale and how those things relate to the church at large in the world.  Of course, not being a world traveler in any respect, my main focus is on the American church mostly and it's seemingly free-fall from grace and integrity.  I'm not that old, but in the years I have been a Christian I have seen some monumental and fundamental changes in the church, it's doctrine and it's practice.  Recent events are just fallout from these changes and I pray are a wake-up call to all sincere believers in the Lord Jesus Christ.

He preached on "Integrity in the Church"  His premise was that the church in America has lost her integrity.  

When the church lost it's integrity, it lost it's impact on society.

In August, I experienced my first earthquake.  The epicenter was in the state of Virginia not too far from Washington DC.  As a result, the Washington Monument was damaged.  They have found several cracks in the structure.  Although it is still standing and looks the same as it did before, the "integrity" of the building has been compromised.  Yellow caution tape has been placed around it's base to warn any approaching that the building is unsafe.  Anymore shaking or even a strong wind could place those in or around it in danger if it collapses.

My BIL's definition of integrity was this:  "the amount of pressure something can take without caving in , falling down and being compromised.:"  He went on to say that if you have been through a trying experience and all you can say "all I have left is my integrity, then you will make it through alright."  Scripture tells us that "those who endure to the end will be saved"-we have maintained our spiritual integrity!

When we lose integrity, we lose authority with God.  If we choose to lie on Monday and then pray in Jesus name on Tuesday, it won't do any good.  In fact, if you find that Satan is not submitting to the name of Jesus in your life, you'd better examine yourself to see if you've lost your authority with God.  The devil has no option but to bow to that name, but if it appears he has an option, then you have probably lost your integrity and thus your authority along the way somewhere.

Obedience through the week gives quality and integrity to your worship on Sunday.

Integrity is not born.  It's made by consistent living in obedience.  A weak structure of heart and soul is the result of inconsistent living.  Each act of obedience strengthens integrity in your life.

Church going people need to learn to tell the truth.  We've all been dishonest and inconsistent with our brothers and sisters in Christ.  For instance, we have all seen someone in the store that we really don't care for on a personal level and we do all we can to avoid having to stop and talk to them.  But on the occasion that it's unavoidable, the first thing we say to them is "Oh, it's SO nice to see you."  We didn't mean a single word we just said!

Some parents tell their kids to do something.  they may tell them several times.  When the kid doesn't respond, they say "I'm counting to three." What they have really taught their children is that words don't mean anything. 

In Genesis, God spoke and there was.  Now that is integrity.  What He said came to pass.  We tell the church and the world that we can pray and be healed, but we very often don't see it.  The church must have faith to the level that we can back up what we say.  Instead, we explain it away by coming up with some different theology that presents God as weak or partial.  Or we hear "Well, God is sovereign."  God IS sovereign and He has sovereignly  presented His will to us through His Word.  And that Word says that healing is part of the atonement and that He will heal every time and anything when faith is present.   It's not His will that we are sick or die of illness.  But it happens.  It's not His will that any should perish, but they do.  That's not God's fault, it's our fault!  But instead of looking at ourselves and examining our own faith, we spiritualize our weakness and ignorance by pinning the blame on God's sovereignty.  

Just recently two people I know, who were professing to believe God for healing died.  I don't believe it was God's sovereign will.  Neither death brought any glory or honor to the name of God.  They mostly left questions, confusion and pain.  I'm not judging them.   I'm just saying that what happened to them and what the Word of God says should happen were two totally different things.  And I can't believe that the problem lies with a perfect God.  The church has lost her integrity when it comes to healing.  What we used to see, we don't see anymore.  Has God changed?  Has His power or will to heal diminished?  NO!  In fact, I told my husband that if I ever get sick and die of a disease that I want him to stand on top of my coffin and proclaim that it is God's will to heal all-all the time and that the problem in receiving the healing is lies with the person in the coffin, not with God.  Okay, the last 1 1/2 paragraphs was "for free!"  LOL!

Ps. 25: 21 

 May integrity and uprightness protect me, 

   because my hope, LORD, is in you.

The word integrity does not occur in the New Testament, but the words sincerity, truth, and a single eye do.  Integrity protects and preserves us.

Psalm 26

 Vindicate me, LORD, 

   for I have led a blameless life; 
I have trusted in the LORD 
   and have not faltered. 
² Test me, LORD, and try me, 
   examine my heart and my mind; 
³ for I have always been mindful of your unfailing love 
   and have lived in reliance on your faithfulness.

We must have a lifestyle of integrity.  We must have a  strong personal relationship without any backsliding.  To backslide, you have to first lose your integrity.  The devil tries to weaken your structure (compromise your integrity)  until you collapse.

Prov.11: 3  

The integrity of the upright guides them, 
   but the unfaithful are destroyed by their duplicity.

integrity guides you when facing a decision.  If a decision is going to compromise your integrity, don't go there.

Prov.  20:7

The righteous lead blameless lives; 
   blessed are their children after them

Even our children are blessed after you if you live in integrity.

So many want to see miracles again in the church.  And when God does start to move we sometimes grow arrogant and wear His moving as some kind of spiritual badge on our shirt.  God's miracles are not a short cut through your spiritual responsibility.  

In Gen 20:5  Abraham lost his integrity by lying about Sarah.  Abimilech was wrong but not in the integrity of his heart. Eventually,  Abimilch became a God-fearing ruler.  In v. 6 he states that he was kept from sin because of integrity.  Integrity will save you from the pain of sin.   

Integrity is co-joined with obedience and is the product of obedience.

Gen 13:1-  Lot was a distraction to God's plan for Abraham.  God never told him to take Lot or his father along.  And Lot caused distraction and was a problem for Abraham along the way.  If he had obeyed totally what God said, we might read a slightly different story in scripture.  Of course works is not what saves us, but you'd better have works after you're saved and you'd better have a maintenance program for your spiritual life in place!

I've often compared salvation and the life following to receiving an expensive car as a gift.  The car was a gift.  It cost me nothing to get it.  But after it's mine I am responsible for insurance of the car, gas, and repairs on the car.  That cost's me something.  Salvation is very much this way.  It's the free gift of God, but it will cost us everything!

Not having integrity in your spiritual life will cause you to lose out with God.  You miss a service one Sunday and you feel guilty.  The second time you miss, you feel bad, but not as bad as you did the first time.  Soon, you lose all guilt and you lose the desire to even be there.  Your conscience is seared. 

In spiritual maintenance, we have to live ahead before we get there.  We have the law of this and the law of that.   He called it the law of inevitability.   Think ahead.  If I eat 2 pieces of pie every night,  I'm not going to look the same.  People smoke two packs of cigarettes a day and are shocked when they get emphysema.   To be healed, you have to lay down the cause of the illness or sickness or problem. 

Integrity is a binder.  Love is made up of all kinds of attributes.  One of them is integrity.  Water is the binder with flour, yeast and salt that produces bread.  Integrity is what holds things together.  It's a moral fiber to the human soul.

Civilizations implode from within, not without.  This is why we must have integrity with the Word of God and why the church to some extent is imploding.    The church has lost it's integrity when dealing with God's Word.  And it is imploding, slowly and surely.  

We shouldn't have to think about our answers to questions concerning sin.  Many preachers get on t.v. and him-haw around trying to say the right answer in a palatable way.  Even if we're on t.v.  We just say yes it is.  God said it. Take it or leave it.  Jesus never worried about being politically correct or "sensitive" to a person's position in life.  He just told the truth and they had to deal with it.

The church has paid a high price for the loss of integrity.  We're a joke to the world.  We're just like the world.  And God is not honored in that.

Gen 25: 34  Jacob and Esau.  Esau lost his birthright.  The birthright meant everything.  It was the key to prosperity and legacy.  He didn't value it.  He valued this earth more than the spiritual not realizing that his earthly life was greatly affected by his birthright.  We cannot compromise church attendance for a better shift or better pay.  We are, in effect, losing our birthright in God.  Joseph's integrity took him from the pit to Pharaoh's house.

 If you want to succeed, maintain your integrity.