I am so eagerly anticipating the beginning of this next 365: Life cycle! For those of you who are new and may be unfamiliar with 365 Life, it is our daily Bible in a year reading plan where we read together daily as a community of believers striving to attain the abundant life that Jesus promises through his word.
I personally can attest to the absolute abundance of life that reading his word every day brings. I have experienced it personally. I was amazed at the marvelous light it brought into my life. The Word of God is a powerful double edged sword that nothing can compare to. It is more than able to slice through any sticky situations you may encounter during your everyday life.
I can’t even begin to count how many times I have been so thankful that I spent time in the word before I did anything else during the day. It totally and completely sets you up for success in your life, no matter what you’re facing, no matter what you’re doing, no matter how crazy your schedule is, God is still there.
We will be starting this next life cycle this coming Saturday, June 1st. I hope that you will very prayerfully consider joining me in this year’s challenge. I can guarantee that even if you fail to meet the entire challenge, you will not be sorry that you tried! In Jesus name, you will never be the same!
(If you want to skip the spoiler, go straight to paragraph 2.)
This Memorial Day, I have taken the rare opportunity to immerse myself in fiction. I have spent the majority of this day in the world of Panem fighting the Capitol with Katniss Everdeen a.k.a the Mockingjay. She’s the face of a rebellion against the slavery that has been enforced by the Capitol for 75 years. The Capitol has taken absolutely everything she holds dear. Her family, her friends, her home they have turned them upside down. They have even succeeded at turning the man she loves against her to the point that he sees her as an absolute threat that must be killed. The Capitol has brainwashed him to the point that he really believes she is the one who killed his family and friends, not them.
This is where I am the books, blown away by the mind control of the enemy. In these books, the Capitol has used the people’s TVs to convince them of their impotence against the Capitol. They’ve used the Hunger Games to force the people of Panem into constant submissive fear. They fear the Capitol’s Police Force, their children’s names getting picked for the games, never having a full belly. And as I read I can’t help but think of the mind games Satan plays on us. The strings he pulls to make afraid to leave our homes, afraid to take that crucial step toward freedom. He crouches at the doorway like a roaring lion, a toothless Tiger as harmless as a kitten playing with a ball of string. Yes he still looks ferocious and terrifying enough to keep us from taking that step towards rebellion and freedom.
Will there be a battle to gain that freedom? Absolutely! But there’s already been one, on the cross at Calvery. We need only to step up and claim that victory as our own. We have to gather together the courage to take that step toward freedom. That’s the one thing He can’t do for us. He won’t force us to accept His gift of salvation. Neither does He force us to claim his victory as our own. He simply waits patiently on the other side of the door, encouraging us to take that step. Willing us to believe Him and His words of Truth over the Toothless Tiger’s.
Honestly I think that is what Jesus longs for more than anything else, for us to believe Him. Not just in Him, but to believe Him. To trust His Word, His Spirit’s leading and comforting us every step of the way. To believe the life-giving truth that Jesus loves us, I mean really loves you … personally. And that everything He did, does and will do is completely out of an intimate love for you.
That my friends, is the stuff rebellion is made of. It started at the cross and hasn’t stopped since. Rebellion against Satan. And the weapon we weild is a weapon of Love and Truth.
Jesus loves you.
Take a step through that door past the kitten and into His arms – you will never regret it.
Not ever.
This is the sight that greeted me as I walked into the bathroom to get ready for bed tonight. I turned to my husband and said, “That girl,” our daughter, “just can’t help but leave a mess behind her can she? I’m going to start calling her Pig pen!” And I was only half joking. Yet part of me smiled as I looked at her clothes shed for her nighttime bath. Someday there won’t be a little blonde-haired girl running through the house half-naked and dripping a trail through the living room and giggling as she goes. Someday our house won’t be the loud chaotic mess it is now. It will be quiet and things will stay where I put them. Some days that thought thrills me… others not so much.
Someday I’ll walk through this house and it will be clean, no traces of sticky finger prints on the windows or door knobs. There won’t be any dirty socks stuck between the couch cushions or any toy trucks to stub my toe when the lights go out. My house will be quiet and clean… maybe a little too clean if you ask me. For years I fought the mess with everything I had in me. Some days I still do, but not usually.
Yes, tonight as I brushed my teeth I smiled at the mess and, of all things, thought of Thomas’s famous statement of doubt. “Unless I see in his hands the mark of the nails, and place my hand into his side, I will never believe.” (John 20:25) Thomas wanted to see the scars, the mess left behind from the cross. He wanted the proof that it had really happened, that Jesus had really been there at the cross and come back. And he wasn’t disappointed either. Eight days later, Jesus came to him in a locked room and told Thomas to touch His scars and believe. Jesus kept His scars from the cross, He’s God, He could have easily erased them from His resurrected body but He chose to keep them. Why? Because they are the proof, the only proof, that He truly hung on the cross and died. They are proof that He came and conquered Death itself. They are proof that He has overcome the trials, troubles and tribulations of this world and won. Which means that we can too.
Paul tells us in 2nd Corinthians chapter 4 verses 16 through 18, “do not lose heart. Though our outerself is wasting away our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing us for an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient but the things that are unseen are eternal.”
Whatever you’re going through today, a messy house or cancer treatments, it won’t last forever.
“We will not hide them from their children, shewing to the generation to come the praises of the Lord, and His strength, and His wonderful works that He has done,” Psalm 78:4
As a parent, I value what my children are being taught, not only in school, but in life. I care about what they see and hear, and what information is being processed in their minds. Our age of technology has a lot to offer. A lot of ways to take things in but, as with food, everything that goes in is not good for you or your children.
Over and over again in the Bible we see the importance of passing the wonderful truths on that we have learned. I don’t care who you are. I don’t care what your socioeconomic status is or what is your educational background, there are valuable experiences in you that…
This winter I dropped my precious camera and broke it while taking pictures of an icicle that had formed over our Christmas lights. Since then I have been begging God for a nicer newer one, you know, so I can take *better* pictures of course. My lovely friend Jennifer let me borrow her camera for a time, which helped me cope with my loss, but it just wasn’t the same. My camera is my lifeline to the absolute breathtaking beauty of God and without it I have seriously lost something very special in my life. I can hardly begin to describe the absolute thrill of the hunt for that shot that captures the beauty of God’s artwork.
Anyway, so a month or two ago Jennifer needed her camera back and I was left alone with Mr camera phone. Not terribly professional looking or exciting, but God wasn’t seeming to provide anything else soooo I had to make due.
My daughter picked one of the wild violets out of our yard and brought it to me while I was sitting under a tree reading. The lighting was delicious, the flower was so lovely and the gesture so sweet I just had to take a picture, real camera our not. I grabbed my phone And this is what came out:
That’s when God started getting through to me. Maybe it’s not the camera that takes the pictures, but the person behind it! Maybe there really is a gifting here that can’t hide behind fancy technology and expensive editing software because with those things He doesn’t get any credit. But take all those things away and the only thing left is Him! I have often said that He is the one who creates the picture I just stand there and push the button. And over the last few months He has really proven that to be true.
It seems to me that this isn’t the only area of my life where God has been doing this for me either. Little by little he seems to be shaving things away, carving me into this new and improved version of who I’ve always been.
I heard that Michelangelo said God had the statue of David already in the rock all he did was uncover it. That’s kinda how I feel right now, like this person I am now has always been there inside just waiting to be uncovered. And it makes me wonder how I will continue to change as God continues to carve away pieces, and sand away the rough spots in me. Although man plans the way, the LORD guides his steps. (Proverbs 16:9)
And OH the plans that He has for us if we were to just let go and let God do His thing!
(P.S. Every picture in this post is from my phone.)
“This is like the days of Noah to me: as I swore that the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth, so I have sworn that I will not be angry with you, and will not rebuke you. For the mountains may depart and the hills be removed, but my steadfast love shall not depart from you, and my covenant of peace shall not be removed,” says the Lord , who has compassion on you. Isaiah 54:9-10
I don’t know about you, but for this girl who desperately wants to please God there are few words that could ever taste sweeter on my lips than these.
God is not angry with you.
So often in books and sermons we hear about the wrath of God. We tremble at the thought of falling under that wrath, what would be like? What horrors would await us there under the wrath of an almighty God?
But according to this scripture we will never know what that is like. All because Jesus took that punishment for us. At the beginning of this verse God points to the promise he gave Noah that he would never again flood the whole earth. Now in all these thousands of years since He made that promise has God ever gone back on His word?
NOPE!
Not even once!
So is it fairly easy for us to believe with confidence that God is going to continue keeping that promise and that he won’t flood the earth ever again? It’s easy for me to believe that. I’ve seen it over and over again, floods that only go so far while other regions of the world experience drought.
Now if a God who can’t lie has kept His promise about no more global floods, then wouldn’t it stand to reason that He would then also keep this promise to you? He is not angry with you. He is not rebuking you. Though the mountains may fall and the hills may tumble, His steadfast love will always be with you. No matter how far you run, from the highest height to the lowest point He is there with you still. He has promised never to leave you or forsake you. He will never turn His back on you no matter how many times you push Him away. He will always be there. He is always in love with you. Always praying that you will accept His affections.
Your eye shall not pity. It shall be life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot. Deuteronomy 19:21
Reading this today it just seemed so harsh! Have no pity? None? And yet this just proves to me how AWESOME our God is.
Take a look at Deuteronomy 21:18-21 again:
“If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son who will not obey the voice of his father or the voice of his mother, and, though they discipline him, will not listen to them, then his father and his mother shall take hold of him and bring him out to the elders of his city at the gate of the place where he lives, and they shall say to the elders of his city. ‘This, our son, is stubborn and rebellious; he will not obey our voice; he is a glutton and a drunkard.’ Then all the men of the city shall stone him to death with stones. So you shall purge the evil from your midst,, and all Israel shall hear, and fear.”
How often are we that rebellious child? I don’t know about you, but I’ve lost count myself! So while that punishment is what we deserve, it’s not what we receive!
Take a look at the very next passage, Deuteronomy 21:22-23:
“And if a man has committed a crime punishable by death (like being a rebellious child) and he is put to death and you hang him on a tree, his body shall not remain all night on the tree, but you shall bury him the same day, for a hanged man is cursed by God. You shall not defile your land that the LORD your God is giving you for an inheritance.”
A man hung on a tree is cursed by God eh? Mark 15:34 records that on the cross Jesus cried out, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Did you know that the twenty second Psalm starts with those exact words?
“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning? O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer, and by night, but I find no rest. Yet you are holy, enthroned on the praises of Israel. In you our fathers trusted; they trusted, and you delivered them. To you they cried and were rescued; in you they trusted and were not put to shame. But I am a worm and not a man, scorned by mankind and despised by the people. All who see me mock me; they make mouths at me; they wag their heads; He trusts in the LORD; let him deliver him/ let him rescue him, for he delights in him! Yet you are he who took me from the womb; you made me trust you at my mother’s breast. On you was I cast from my birth, and from my mother’s womb you have been my God. Be not far from me, for trouble is near, and there is none to help. Many bulls encompass me; strong bulls of Bashan surround me; they open wide their mouths at me, like a ravening and roaring lion. I am poured out like water and all my bones are out of joint; my heart is like wax; it is melted within my breast; my strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue sticks to my jaws; you law me in the dust of death. For dogs encompass me; a company of evildoers encircles me; they have pierced my hands and feet – I can count all my bones – they stare and gloat over me; they divide my garments among them and for my clothing they cast lots. But you, O LORD, do not be far off! O you my help, come quickly to my aid! Deliver my soul from the sword, my precious life from the power of the dog! Save me from the mouth of the lion! You have rescued me from the horns of the wild oxen! I will tell of your name to my brothers; in the midst of the congregation I will praise you; You who fear the LORD, praise him! All you offspring of Jacob, glorify him, and stand in awe of him, all you offspring of Israel! For he has not despised or abhorred the affliction of the afflicted, and he has not hidden his face from him, but has heard, when he cried to him. From you comes my praise in the great congregation; my vows I will perform before those who fear him. The afflicted shall eat and be satisfied; those who seek him shall praise the LORD! May your hearts live forever! All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the LORD, and all the families of the nations shall worship before you. For kingship belongs to the LORD, and he rules over the nations. All the prosperous of the earth eat and worship; before him shall bow all who go down to the dust, even the one who could not keep himself alive. Posterity shall serve him; it shall be told of the Lord to the coming generation; they shall come and proclaim his righteousness to a people yet unborn, that he has done it.”
In John’s account of the cross he tells us that Jesus’ final words were “It is finished”. He had done it. He had finished the work God had sent him to do. He had been hung on a cross (also known as a tree).
You see, Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians,
“if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. Working together with him, then, we appeal to you not to receive the grace of God in vain. For he says, ‘In a favorable time I listened to you, and in a day of salvation I have helped you.’ Behold, now is the favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation.” (5:17-6:2)
My friends, today is the day of favor, today is the day of salvation! Jesus is alive. He has paid the penalty FOR US! “it shall be a life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.” Our lives should have been taken on that tree, but He put His Son there instead. Our eyes were the ones that deserved to be spit in, but He did that for us. Our teeth deserved to be gnashing outside the gates of heaven but because of Him they’ll be singing inside them. Our hands, our feet, they deserved to be nailed to that cross on that day, but He took them instead. For me. For you. For all of us, because that’s how Amazing Love really is.
And it shall be with him, and he shall read in it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the LORD his God by keeping all the words of this law and these statutes, and doing them, that his heart may not be lifted up above his brothers, and that he may not turn aside from the commandment, either to the right hand or to the commandment, either to the right hand or to the left, so that he may continue long in his kingdom, he and his children, in Israel. – Deut. 17:19
Wow! How quickly things can change! As many of you know, last year God issued me a challenge to write through the Bible in a year. And I’ll admit I have failed miserably in getting all the way through in a year’s time. BUT I’ve come SOOOO much farther than I’ve ever been before and learned so much more than I ever thought possible, but I still have not completed the task I was assigned. Specifically, getting it accomplished in a year. Yesterday God blessed me with a terrific birthday present for the website, pens with the name on them!
I sat by the door waiting for the UPS guy to get up to the porch with them, I was soooo excited! I ripped open the box grabbed the first pen and immediately put it to paper… nothing. It refused to write. I tried another one, nothing. It wouldn’t write either! “Oh you have GOT to be kidding me! I can’t give these away, people will hate them! They don’t work.” I grabbed another one out of the box, “Lord! Please! Why won’t these work!?!” This one tried to work. The ink started to flow and then stopped and then started again and then stopped again, “UGH! They are so inconsistent! None of them are writing the first time I go to write with them! What is the deal?”
“Really annoying isn’t it.” God says.
“YES! It’s driving me crazy! I don’t want people to not like their pen because it’s inconsistent. I mean this has my name on it!”
And He says, “Then how do you think I feel?”
BAM!!!!! Conviction!
“Yes Lord. I will do better at writing every day like You called me to.”
When I started writing for the Lord I fondly referred to myself as His pen. I wasn’t the author of these books, He was. I wasn’t the writer of this blog, He is. Yet as time progressed I became less and less reliable to do what He had called me to do. I was getting tired. Very tired to be honest. I have never, not ever been able to read through the Bible from cover to cover. I’m not really sure why, I just haven’t. Yet I am DETERMINED to make this happen. Period. God challenged me to do it and if there’s one thing about me you need to know it’s that I am STUBBORN. Just ask my husband or my parents. When I get my mind set on something there is very little that can stop me. This is one of those things. I don’t want for people to throw God’s pen away because it writes inconsistently. God is constant, so I need to be too. He has given me the mission of reading and writing through the Bible in a year and helping others do the same. I’ve seen the change that it’s made in my life, TREMENDOUS change! I want others to know the joy that comes from those daily intimate moments with God in His word and through writing about it in a simple little journal. It’s amazing to me how something so easy can make such a HUGE difference in a life. I want others to know the POWER of God’s word living and acting in their lives. The system that God has helped me create to help us on this journey is amazing. I’ve never seen anything like it! It’s something that is variable in depth where you can spend as little or as much time digging into it as you want. Knowing full well that the deeper down the rabbit hole you go the closer you get to God’s wonderland! He is so magnificent! I hope you can see that today. I pray that you can see that today, His glory, His marvelous love for you in wonderous ways. (Jennifer)
So after the conversation about the pens, I was convinced that writing daily was imperative for me and my schedule. I knew that it was something that I was supposed to protect in my life. So of course, what is the very thing that became next to impossible to get to today? My pen and paper! I retreated into my bedroom with my Bible and shut the door behind me for some really precious intimate time with Jesus. But I made a huge mistake; I brought my phone with me. So of course, it kept ringing and I kept answering it between paragraphs. Until finally the Holy Spirit says to me, “If you were being intimate with your husband in here right now would you be answering the phone?”
“Of course not!”
“Then why are you answering it now?”
WHOAH!!!
Now I need to tell you, convicting conversations like this don’t happen between us very often. Usually they’re very different and very lovey toward each other. So when I get two in a row like this I realize just how much this means to Him. I’ve seen the difference consistent reading of the Word can make, I’ve lived it. I’ve preached it. And yet here I am, having fallen from it. I have allowed the business of life to get in the way of the romance of life. Intimate alone time with my Savior is PRECIOUS and yet I have forsaken that and that hurts Him. I could hear it in His voice. I mean, here He’s busting through walls to get me where I am and I’m not willing to spend 30 minutes reading His love letter to me every day? What kind of gratitude is that?
And yet, there is my Savior, loving me and cheering me on all the same. A couple of days ago I was jumping on the trampoline with Anna. She asked me to lay down on the trampoline with her and make a leaf angel. I told her “No, I don’t want to get leaves stuck in my hair.” And the moment the words were out of my mouth I could sense that the Holy Spirit was saying something to me, I just wasn’t exactly sure what until yesterday while I was reading Darrell Creswell’s blog. He mentioned Matthew 18:3-5, “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever receives one such child in my name receives Me”
I just kept staring at this picture. It’s PRECIOUS. Yet I knew that there was something in it that Jesus wanted me to find. As a teacher I have lived my life around children. They are some of the wisest beings on the planet! So this verse is tucked down deep into my heart because I KNOW that children have more to teach us than we have to teach them. So what did these two children have to teach me? I asked Him, “Lord, what are you trying to show me?”
“What do you see?”
“They’re so DIRTY.”
“Is that often a characteristic of children?”
“YES!” I laughed.
“Why?”
“Because they’re not afraid to get dirty.”
“Why?”
“Because it’s fun.”
“Do you think maybe that’s My message when I’m telling you to be more childlike in your faith? Don’t be afraid to get dirty. Go have fun then come wash in the water of the Word, that’s what Grace is all about.”
I get so afraid of doing things wrong, of messing them up, that I forget why I’m doing them in the first place; because they’re FUN! I LOVE writing! I LOVE my alone time with God! Yet so often I catch myself thinking it’s something that I HAVE to do instead of something that I GET to do. We are the FIRST generation to have God’s Word as accessible to us as it is. Being in the Word every day is a luxury that NO ONE before this time has EVER been able to indulge in. Not like this. Abraham was never been able to curl up in a comfy chair with a steamy mug of joe tickling his wiskers and scan the pages of a well worn Bible. Moses never had that, Sarah didn’t get that, and even the Disciples didn’t do that, only us. The printing press is a very recent commodity not to mention smart phones and the internet that put His word in our pockets at the touch of a screen. We are so spoiled and we forget that all too easily. I forget that all too often.
So today, after grappling with my hectic life to get to my desk and my computer to write something down, I open it up and my ever-changing background is a picture of my husband at the Tough Mudder he ran last June. And I just stare at it as my computer is booting up. In this picture he is at the top of a VERY difficult obstacle helping someone else get to the top. He is COVERED in mud from head to toe, he is absolutely exhausted, yet he’s not moving on to finish his own race, he has paused to help someone else accomplish the task that he has just tackled. And not on his lonesome either I might add. You see, that’s how difficult this obstacle is. You can’t really accomplish it by yourself. You have to have at least one person helping you. That’s kind of the point of this obstacle, actually the entire Tough Mudder race. It’s all about team work and helping the other runners get to the finish line together. The people ahead of you help you up, and then you help the people behind you and everyone finishes.
Staring at this picture of my Beloved today I was so struck by how perfectly it mimics the race of life and faith. We can’t do this on our own. We just can’t. No matter how much we try, no matter how much we want to, we can’t run this race alone. We NEED the people who have gone ahead of us to help us up. And the people behind us NEED our help to make it through the obstacles ahead of them. But together we ALL finish the race to win a prize that is imperishable and secure and VERY well worth the effort. We strive to enter into His rest; a promise for the centuries before us, for us, and for those after us. To enter into the rest is realizing that the work has been finished from the beginning.
“Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God FINISHED his Work That He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work that He had done.” Genesis 2:1-2
The work has been finished since the beginning. God set all the dominoes in place in six days. On the seventh, He tipped over the first one and sat down to watch them all fall into the PERFECT pattern that He created. How beautiful is that!?! The work is finished, and all we have to do is REST in knowing that the work is over. We have to rest in confidence knowing that our lives aren’t about what we do or don’t do, they’re about what GOD is DOING in them and through them. I used to think that we would sit up in heaven and chat about the things that WE did here on earth. Now I don’t think that’s what we’ll be doing at all. From heaven we will be able to see the big picture God created with the dominoes and we will stand in such absolute awe of it that all we will be able to talk about is what GOD did with us. Not the other way around. J
AS struck as I was with this picture of my husband helping others finish the race well I know I wanted to share it with you. So I went to my picture program and pulled up all the photos from that day. I found three video clips of Sean’s three attempts to scale the half pipe. I want you to watch them and notice, the “cloud of witness” surrounding the racers, cheering them on, urging them forward as they try their hardest to scale this insurmountable mountain. I also want you to note that this obstacle is within sight of the finish line and comes after about 12.5 miles of pure hell. These people are past the point of absolute exhaustion. They were “done” about ten miles ago, yet chose to keep running simply because they wanted to finish. Sheer determination is the ONLY thing that is keeping them going at this point. That, and the cheers of those surrounding them. These videos may be of my husband, the strikingly handsome man in the orange shirt, but place yourself in them when you watch them. Picture that mountain you’ve been trying to climb as the half pipe. Picture the people in your life as the people at the top trying to pull you up. God has surrounded you with a great cloud of witnesses, some you can see and hear and others you can’t. But know that they are ALL cheering for you as loudly as they possibly can. With every fiber of their being there are pulling for you, praying for you, doing everything they’re allowed to do to help you get past this obstacle.
I may not have met my goal of the entire Bible in one year. But that doesn’t mean I have to stop trying. Like Sean in this video, I made it farther than I’ve ever made it before and THAT IS an accomplishment. A huge one. Now it’s time for me to back up, take what I learned from the first attempts and do my best to make it all the way up this time. And if I don’t, there’s always next year. J
I’m going to be taking the next few days to pull together all the resources from the last year, pray and with the Holy Spirit create a more efficient plan of attack for this coming year of reading and writing. I would greatly appreciate your prayers in this as I am learning how absolutely critical this challenge is for ALL of us. Also, during this time I would like for you to very prayerfully consider joining me on this next attempt up the pipe. I can fully attest to the power of daily reading, even if I wasn’t successful in fully accomplishing the goal. I got close enough to know that it is a worthy goal to attain. And I would love to go through this TOGETHER with YOU. Let me know in the comments section if you’re in this with me. The reading plan is available in its entirety on the “Printables” page. It includes links to every single day’s readings! Together we can do this my friends!
What I am about to share with you is one of the most liberating statements of truth I know. Are you ready?
“It’s not about me.”
I know, something so simple and so obvious yet so often overlooked. But as a recovering Pharisee I struggle with legalism a lot. I’ve always been adamant about following the rules… even if it meant hurting someone else or disobeying God.
Mmmm… I heard that! Someone just said, “God doesn’t tell us to disobey rules!” Not so my friend. It was a rule to obey those put in charge over them, yet God called Daniel and his friends to disobey the king’s order to eat non-kosher food. (Daniel 1:8-16) It was a rule to wash your hands before meals, yet Jesus didn’t. (Matthew 15:1-20) It was a rule that you couldn’t pick grain on the Sabbath, yet Jesus and His Disciples did. (Mark 2:23-3:6)
Am I saying that God is telling us to burst into anarchy and break ALL the rules all the time, no, of course not. He is, however, telling us to TRUST JESUS.
Let’s say you just happen to be standing with the Governor of Indiana and the President of the United States. If the Governor tells you to do something and then the President jumps in and says not to do that thing, whose word trumps whose? Which one of them do you choose to trust and obey? The President! He is the highest authority in the land.
My point is this; throughout the Bible God repeats, over and over again, “do not fear” and “I am with you.” In fact many times they’re found together in the same sentence. Right now some of you may be facing a mountain of debt that just isn’t seeming to move, or a tumor(s) that just won’t seem to go away. You may be facing a situation at work where you’re stuck between a rock and a hard place. Don’t be afraid of what those things can do in your life, because the highest authority in ALL the land is right there facing that thing with you! He is on YOUR side. He’s not fighting against you, He’s fighting with you. He is the creator of those mountains we can’t seem to climb on our own. And He has given us the promise that apart from Him we can do nothing (John 15:5), which translates into, a part of Him, we can do EVERYTHING.
EVERYTHING!
When we realize and remember that Jesus is always with us through His Holy Spirit, WE can move that mountain of debt, WE can dissolve that nasty cancer, WE can get out from between that rock and the hard place. Because Jesus is on our side we can suddenly do things we couldn’t before because we’re suddenly fighting with His strength, His talent, His power through the Holy Spirit.
My friends, today because of Christ we can say with confidence, “It’s not about me.” Because we know the Truth; it’s ALL about Jesus!
Friday was an anniversary of sorts for me and my ministry. And looking back over it all I am so overwhelmed with how far we’ve come and how much things have changed. And looking forward at the calendar, things are still changing! It’s all very exciting, and a little nerve wracking as I’m trying my best to simply keep up with everything that God is doing. But He is so faithful and He has held me through it all. I am so blessed by you all and the work that I have been called to do for you. It has changed me in ways I NEVER could have expected and yet I look at myself today and I am so very thankful for the work the Father has done in me. I love myself today. I love who I have become and who I am. I don’t know that I could have said that four years ago; at least not in a completely honest way. I didn’t love who I was because I wasn’t looking at myself from God’s point of view. I wasn’t seeing my situations, my past or my faults through His eyes of complete love. I was choosing to see them through Satan’s eyes of condemnation. When I think back on how I treated myself it makes me want to weep. I never gave myself permission to fail. And when I did fail, I would lay there and let Satan beat me brutally – because I thought I deserved it.
Last Thursday I visited a home for troubled girls. I didn’t really sit and talk with any of the girls, but I was able to hear a few of their stories and experience a small nibble of their day with them. I walked the same halls they walk, I ate the same lunch they eat, and I talked with their teacher. And through it all I realized how alike we all are. We all deal with the same demons, we all fight the same Enemy, we all allow him to beat us verbally until his face turns blue. And we do that because he has us convinced that we deserve it.
There was a time when we might have deserved it, if we had lived before Christ came. But we don’t. We have the luxury and privilege of living after Christ’s death. And what a privilege it is! Because of Jesus we can look at ourselves through Son-glasses. Glasses that were forged through the fires of hell as Jesus walked through them FOR US, because He knew that they were far too hot for us to stand.
In a strange way I almost envy those girls. Because at the ripe old age of 17 (give or take a few years) they will have walked through something so tremendous, with Jesus, that their faith will be far less shakable throughout the rest of their lives. Their foundation for their life will be so much firmer having gone through what they have been through. Not to mention the works that the Lord will have them do once they have finished the program! Yes. While I do not envy their sufferings, I do envy the relationship with Christ that will come from those sufferings. These girls will be leaders, strong leaders, you just wait and see! God has big plans for them!
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Working together with him, then, we appeal to you not to receive the grace of God in vain. For he says, ‘In a favorable time I listened to you, and in a day of salvation I have helped you.’ Behold, now is the favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation.” (5:17-6:2)
And it shall be with him, and he shall read in it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the LORD his God by keeping all the words of this law and these statutes, and doing them, that his heart may not be lifted up above his brothers, and that he may not turn aside from the commandment, either to the right hand or to the commandment, either to the right hand or to the left, so that he may continue long in his kingdom, he and his children, in Israel. – Deut. 17:19
It’s PRECIOUS. Yet I knew that there was something in it that Jesus wanted me to find. As a teacher I have lived my life around children. They are some of the wisest beings on the planet! So this verse is tucked down deep into my heart because I KNOW that children have more to teach us than we have to teach them. So what did these two children have to teach me? I asked Him, “Lord, what are you trying to show me?”
