Acts

Tomorrow’s Worries

Posted on March 19, 2012 by Tamar

Come Holy Spirit, fill me with Your fire so that I can be more like You; help me, I trust You. Father, open my eyes so that I may see You clearly. Open my ears so that I may hear You soundly. Open my mind so that I may understand You more. Open my heart so that I may love You more. Open my hands so that I may give generously and receive humbly, In Jesus‘ name, Amen!

Today‘s reading: Acts 20:1-22:21

And now, behold, I am going to Jerusalem, constrained by the Spirit, not knowing what will happen to me there, Acts 20:22

If you‘re like me, the future is a scary place. I know I am going there, whether I like it or not, but I don‘t know what will happen to me there, and that can be a scary thing! Today is a difficult day for the Knochel family; this afternoon we lost a dearly loved member of our family, my husband‘s grandma. She was a beautiful woman who loved God dearly enough to spend her summers out west working as a missionary and living out of their RV. As a family in this moment, we don‘t know what the future will look like without her in it; it looks a little darker and sadder right now. However, while those of us here on earth will be crying tears of sorrow and loss, her family in heaven will be crying tears of joy. We can‘t be sad for her, she‘s not missing anything, she‘s gaining everything. So our tears are obviously not for her benefit. If they‘re not for her benefit, then for who‘s but our own? And isn‘t that nothing but selfishness? Yet, when someone dies how can we do anything but cry? How can we do anything but morn? How can we feel anything but sorrow? How can we see anything but our loss?


Her salvation is secure, so what does she have to be sad about? Nothing!

The other day I told you about finding solace in photography and looking closely at the things that God alone created, and that‘s what I‘ve spent the morning doing today. As the kids and I were getting ready this morning it was a dreary dark morning, the feeling of the day was simply depressing and it was permeating our moods as well. But shortly after I dropped my daughter off at her play date and my son off at school God made my plans take a sharp right turn. I had planned on spending the morning in prayer with friends at the school, but that wasn‘t God‘s plan for me in this day, He knew what was coming for our family. So He canceled Mom‘s in Prayer for the morning due to our leader‘s sickness, then He sent me in His direction with a phone call from a friend. In that brief call I shared with her my current struggle with a “glass-half-empty“ attitude that I‘ve picked up somewhere. And God used her to shake some sense into me (He uses her a lot for that, I‘m tellin ya, everybody needs a friend like Kelly in their life)! And then God used the Holy Spirit and Kelly both to give me my new plan for the day, go take pictures.


For the last year I‘ve been struggling with this idea that “nothing good is going to happen to me“ in a worldly sense. Sure, I totally get that everything works for the good of those who love the Lord (Romans 8:28), but I‘d lost the hope that… oh, I don‘t know, maybe God would cut us a break! It seems like all we ever do is struggle. Struggle to manage our time, our money, our kids, our house, our jobs, sigh… it‘s exhausting! And so I‘ve been praying that God would show me His goodness in the land of the living. That I would get to SEE those blessings He promises in Deuteronomy 28. My flocks (or finances) becoming abundant, my bread pan (food) overflowing, you know, those kinds of things. Please don‘t misunderstand me, spiritually I am so blessed it amazes me… but physically… well, maybe I‘m just spoiled and I‘m not seeing things the way I should, but I want more!

OK, just reading that sentence makes me cringe, total selfishness! But, it is the truth. Honestly, right now I feel like I‘ve just been so beaten down by the world that I don‘t feel like getting up to get beaten back down again. But then, God speaks, and you really can‘t argue with Him, try as you may! This morning during my quiet time with Him, while I was reading today‘s passages, He says to me “Times of refreshing will come.“


This winter I kept expecting the snow to just dump on us and bury us like it did last year and yet it never did. And then about three weeks ago when it really started looking like spring was really here to stay I began to adjust my thinking and realized that just because the snow buried us last year doesn‘t mean that it will this year… and maybe God gave us this winter to make up for last winter! I held on to that thought pattern for a few days while it was in the sixties. But then it got up into the seventies the very next week and little Mr. Bad Attitude on my shoulder started whispering in my ear, “If it‘s in the seventies in March, what‘s it going to be like in July? It could be like a thousand degrees!“ And I started accepting those thought patterns and spitting them back out as my own!!! Ugh! What was I thinking? I was failing to realize that maybe, since God gave us such a mild and wonderful winter, and an early spring, that perhaps maybe He would also choose to bless us with this very weather for all of the summer as well! Maybe. Who knows?

You see, my dread of the future “bad“ weather was stealing my enjoyment of the current beautiful weather. And that‘s exactly what my attitude has been doing for my life as well. I have been so caught up in worrying about the future and what it holds that I‘ve been missing the beauty of the moment that I‘m in right now. I‘ve missed so very much.




Do not be anxious for tomorrow and let tomorrow‘s worries steal today‘s joys!

Categories: Acts, Writing Through the Bible in a Year

From “They” to “We”

Posted on March 18, 2012 by Tamar

“Come Holy Spirit, fill me with Your fire so that I can be more like You; help me, I trust You. Father, open my eyes so that I may see You clearly. Open my ears so that I may hear You soundly. Open my mind so that I may understand You plainly. Open my heart so that I may love You more. Open my hands so that I may give generously and receive humbly. In Jesus‘ name, Amen.“

Today‘s reading is: Acts 17-20

And Paul went in, as was his custom, and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them from the Scriptures, explaining and proving that it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead, and saying, “This Jesus, whom I proclaim to you, is the Christ.“ And some of them were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, as did a great many of the devout Greeks and not a few of the leading women. Acts 17:2-4

Yesterday I shared with you the idea of writing down your own gospel story of how God has worked through your life. Did you know that that‘s exactly what Luke was doing when he wrote Acts! I want you to look back at Chapter sixteen, up to this point in the story of Acts all we‘ve read is things like “they went through…“, “the next day he…“ & “As they went on their way…“ but if you take a close look at chapter sixteen you‘ll notice something special.

So, passing by Mysia, they went down to Troas. And a vision appeared to Paul in the night: a man of Macedonia was standing there, urging him and saying, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.“ And when Paul had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go on into Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them. So setting sail from Troas, we made a direct voyage to Samothrace… (Acts 16:8-10)

Did you catch the shift? It‘s subtle, but it‘s there. It is at this point in the book of Acts that Luke himself joins the story! It‘s the part of the story where their journey became his journey. The entire Bible is a story; it‘s the story of God and His interactions with His beloved children. Today, right now, God is inviting you to join His story. He‘s inviting you to be part of His life, to be part of the journey, to be part of the family, the family of believers. And just like the believers in Casarea (in Acts 10), there is nothing required of you for you to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit in your life, you need only to hear the word that God is speaking to you today. You know, He‘s always been there for you, you may not have seen Him, He often finds Himself cast into the shadows of our lives. But He‘s there, waiting for us to turn around and notice Him. You may be thinking that you need to say a prayer to be saved, that you have to repent of all your past sins and get right with God before He will accept you into the kingdom of heaven and give you the gift of the Holy Spirit living within you, but you‘d be wrong. Just look at Acts 10:44

While Peter was still saying these things, the Holy Spirit fell on all who heard the word. And the believers from among the circumcised who had come with Peter were amazed, because the gift of the Holy Spirit was poured out even on the Gentiles. For they were hearing them speaking in tongues and extolling God.

While Peter was still speaking the Holy Spirit came, not when he was done, while he was still talking! And in Acts 11:15-17 when Peter is reporting to the church about what happened there we see that he wasn‘t even close to being done!

As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell on them just as on us at the beginning. And I remembered the word of the Lord, how He said, “John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.‘ If then God gave the same gift to them as He gave to us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could stand in God‘s way?

Romans 3:23 tells us that we all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, we all make mistakes, we all screw up, and no one is equal to God. As humans we want to do something to earn God‘s favor and grace. But we can‘t. Period. We feel like we need to do something to make ourselves right with God that we need to spend a long time saying some prayer that goes through all the bad things we‘ve ever done in our entire lives before God will accept us. But that‘s just not the truth. Look at the proof in the word of God! The people listening to Peter‘s message in Cornelius‘ house never had an altar call, they never got down on their knees and told God they were sorry, they just listened and accepted the story that Peter was telling them. You know, Peter never even said anything about repenting in his speech. The closest he comes to that is in his introduction

“Truly I understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears Him and does what is right is acceptable to Him.“ (Acts 10:34-35)

According to this, as long as we revere God and from this moment on make the choice to sin no more and instead do what is right then we are acceptable to God. And He can not only read our minds, He can read our hearts. He knows when we are truly repentant, He knows when we have accepted Him into our lives and He will honor that. God knows you, for better or for worse, He knows everything about you, and He adores you. Not only that, He cherishes you and He wants to spend more time with you; all day every day in fact. NO! You don‘t have to become a monk and turn to a life of prayer and study alone, to spend all day every day with God is to simply make the conscious effort to acknowledge His presence in your everyday life. Basically, you just have to pay attention to Him during the day. When the traffic light turns green just as you‘re pulling up to it, you say “Thank You Lord!“ and drive on. When you see a beautiful sunset on your way home from work, you say “Lord, thank You for painting the sky for me to enjoy! I love it!“ God doesn‘t usually call you to change your entire life overnight, although sometimes it does happen that way but usually He just wants you to make Him a part of the life that you‘re already living. He loves you and He wants to be a part of you. And when you fall in love with Him you want to become part of Him. When we get married it‘s because we want to be part of each other forever. That‘s what being a Christian is all about, getting married to God, being part of His life forever, and allowing Him to be a part of your life forever. Your two separate lives becoming one life, joined for all eternity.

Amazing things happen when you get married to Jesus, you start to change from the inside out. It‘s like I‘ve been saying, spending time with Jesus changes you! Being a Christian is so much more than simply going to church and singing pretty songs. Just like being married is so much more than simply living together and having sex. It‘s all about having a relationship with one another. It‘s about spending time with one another, talking to each other and doing things together. The beauty of being married is the promise that you‘ve made to one another. You‘ve promised that you will both make the conscious choice to fight for your marriage and never give up on one another; that you will cheer each other on and lift one another up. God does that for you. Not because He has to, but because He wants to, because He loves you.

Being married to Jesus means that you don‘t read the Bible because you want to know more about Him, but because you simply want to know Him. The Bible is the Word of God and Jesus is the Word of God, while we may not have Jesus in the flesh sitting right next to us right now, in a way, we do! Every word in that little Bible has been written down through the Spirit of Jesus (aka the Holy Spirit).

When you‘re married to Jesus you pray because you want to talk to your heavenly husband; not just because your religion tells you to. You pray because you want to spend time with Him and tell Him about your day. Sure, He went through that very same day with you and saw everything that you saw, but He still wants to hear you talk to Him about it. Did you know that God likes to hear the sound of your voice? While your earthly husband may get annoyed by your constant talking, God loves it! However, He does enjoy it when you stop talking long enough to allow Him to have a side in the conversation too. That‘s usually where the Bible reading comes in. He will speak to you through your daily Bible reading. It‘s amazing to me how I can sit down to read my Bible with my head filled with questions and somehow I‘ll read something albeit completely unrelated to my own situation and God can still use those words to speak straight to my spirit about His will for me. It‘s nothing short of miraculous to be honest! I have no clue how He does it, I just know that He does it! And not just for me, but for everyone!

Jesus is calling us to a GENUINE relationship with Him. He doesn‘t want to be our acquaintance; He wants to be our husband!

Categories: Acts, Writing Through the Bible in a Year

Impossible

Posted on March 16, 2012 by Tamar

“Come Holy Spirit, fill me with Your fire so that I can be more like You; help me, I trust You. Father, open my eyes so that I may see You clearly. Open my ears so that I may hear You soundly. Open my mind so that I may understand You more. Open my heart so that I may love You fully. Open my hands so that I may give generously and receive humbly, in Jesus‘ name, Amen.“

Today‘s reading: Acts 11:19-14:7

And when he knocked at the door of the gateway, a servant girl named Rhoda came to answer. Recognizing Peter‘s voice, in her joy she did not open the gate but ran in and reported that Peter was standing at the gate. Acts 12:13-14

So, you know how yesterday I was talking about my personality and how when I get my sights set on something I just bulldoze through things to make sure that I get accomplished what I have set in my sights to accomplish? Yeah, I no more than finished writing about that, and then I did it! It was a good thing, but still, it‘s just who I am. Yesterday I was Rhoda, my Lord knocked on the door of my heart with an idea for a new photography branch for my ministry and I was so excited about it that I forgot to open the door and let Him in!!!

I have always loved photography, especially landscapes. I took photography in 4H when I was younger and that was pretty much the extent of my experience until my husband and I moved to the Chicago-land area so that he could go back to school. We just aren‘t city people. Both of us were raised in the country, we love large fields blowing in the breeze and quiet dirt roads. When we moved to the big city I missed the wild-life and the flowers, but mostly I missed the large trees. All my life I‘ve loved God‘s creation, but during that time in my life when I was so surrounded with cement, metal and glass I really found out just how much I love nature. And that‘s when I picked up my camera and started taking pictures of God. I had to search for Him in that place, not that the people I worked with weren‘t great, because they were, but because the natural creation that was made with God‘s hands alone was so scarce. I longed for the openness of home and was amazed at how, through the lens of a camera, I could catch glimpses of home through nature. I photographed flowers, the few I could find, mulch, shapes in the cement, wooden table tops, but mostly I photographed the sky!

The sky was the one thing that even in such a foreign place; it was the same there as it was at home. The clouds were puffy and white just like at home. Or it would be dark and looming just like at home before a rain storm. The wind blew them the same and the sun streamed through them down onto me the same as at home too. I found so much comfort and solace in staring at the sky during that time. That was a very dark time in my life; I was putting my husband through school by working as a daycare teacher. At the same time we discovered that I had a thyroid problem and figuring out what dosage my medication should be was proving extraordinarily difficult. I was absolutely exhausted ALL the time, so much so that I could barely walk up the three flights of stairs to our apartment at the end of the night. I‘d get to the top and I could barely breathe and could see stars. Because my husband was working and going to school I really never got to see him, so our relationship became more of a living arrangement than a marriage. We didn‘t live through that situation, we survived it. And we brought a lot of scars home with us when his schooling was over too.

Through that dark time there were two things that brought me great joy, photographing nature and music. At the time I was working in a church daycare and one day several men (a rarity in a day care) came downstairs to the classrooms where I worked. They went into one of the empty classrooms and came out with an old battered piano. Curious beyond measure I asked them what on earth they were doing and they replied “Pastor asked us to carry it out to the dumpster.“ I almost cried at the thought of an almost perfectly good piano getting thrown in the trash! I had always wanted a piano of my own and here was one they were going the throw away! I asked them to give me ten minutes, and they happily agreed. Go figure, it was a piano after all; they weren‘t looking forward to carrying it up the stairs to remove it from the building! I literally raced up to the pastor‘s office to throw myself at his mercy and ask him to allow the neglected piano to stay in my room. I knew I didn‘t have space in our apartment for a piano, but I had PLENTY of space in my giant classroom, which was almost the same size as my apartment! Plus with the addition of a piano I would be able to play songs for my kids to sing along to! How cool would that be??? (I was overestimating my abilities as a piano player at the time, but I was excited and really didn‘t care that much about the kids at the moment, God was doing this for me!) Although the pastor was a little disappointed that he wasn‘t getting rid of this old piano today, he was happy to see my enthusiasm about it and simply couldn‘t refuse my passionate request. I practically skipped back down the stairs to tell the men that they got to deliver it to my classroom instead of having to carry it up the stairs and outside. I think they were about as excited as I was! In the days to come I spent an hour every day playing that piano after work. I was finding music online and printing it off at home, then bringing it to work and practicing on the piano after the kids left at night. During that one quiet hour of my day, I didn‘t pray with my mouth or even in my head, but I‘m pretty sure I was praying with my fingers. The music penetrated my soul; it calmed me and soothed away the stress. I was by no means a good pianist, but it wasn‘t the success of my fingers that brought me peace, it was being alone with God. It was taking the time for myself, in that period when I was living everyone else. Photography and Piano were the only things that I did for me. They were what brought me joy and peace, and when I didn‘t do them, I was agitated and frustrated.

Since then it‘s always bothered me that I haven‘t done much with the pictures I took during that time. For the most part they‘re just hanging out on my computer. There are three that have successfully made it from my computer into my life. One I turned into a postcard for friends going through a rough time, it has Jeremiah 29:11 on it. Another I turned into a poster that has the “worry section“ from Matthew, it hangs above our bed as a constant reminder to me that if God clothes the lilies of the valley with more splendor than Solomon then how much more will He provide clothes for me? And He has! The third photo is the photo that was at the end of yesterday‘s blog, For nothing is impossible with God. When God first gave me the itch to write and planted that dream in my heart of becoming a missionary mom He had me pull that photo off my computer and onto the wall right in front of me while I sit at my desk and work. Constantly reminding me to resist the doubt that the Enemy throws into my life to try and convince me that something isn‘t possible for me or our ministry. A while back we got some new-to-us furniture and rearranged our library where I was working, in the move that picture got taken down and lost. And ya know, I‘ve felt the difference! During that time I struggled to fight the Enemy‘s attacks against me, I lost a lot of hope that our ministry would ever take off. I was forgetting to remember that NOTHING is impossible with God!

In today‘s reading, Herod had just killed one of the apostles and taken Peter captive in order to kill him as well. Peter was in what most of us would consider a fairly impossible situation. But not for God! God had Peter‘s brothers and sisters in Christ praying earnestly for him. And I have to point out that Jesus Himself had also let Peter in on a secret, that he would live to a ripe old age where others would have to dress him and take him places he didn‘t want to go, remember John 21:15-19. So we, as the readers know that Peter‘s gonna get out of this no-win situation, but HOW is the real question. I love how Acts 12:5 starts to tell us about the situation that Peter was in: So Peter was kept in prison, BUT earnest prayer for him was made to God by the church. I just love those “buts“ in scripture! You know, where there‘s this really hopeless situation and then it gets followed with a BUT GOD. There was Peter, not just in a prison cell alone in the middle of the night, but he was guarded by FOUR squads of soldiers, he was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, and sentries before the door were guarding the prison. Now, that‘s what I call an impossible situation! There was honestly no human way to escape. Peter could never have done it alone, and even if his friends had attempted a prison break, they most likely wouldn‘t have been successful.

BUT GOD!

His friends knew the real way to get him saved from this life and death circumstance, prayer! Appeal to the only force that has the power to help us out of impossible situations. Just like Mary we may be looking at the things God has told us and at our situations and thinking “How can this be since I am a virgin?“ And that‘s when God answers us “Ahhh, but my Beloved, NOTHING is impossible for Me! Trust Me, I can handle this.“ Which leaves us with only one response “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to YOUR WORD.“ (Luke 1:34-38)

When we surrender our impossible situations over to the Lord, He makes them possible! Peter‘s friends prayed, and while the scripture isn‘t specific about the fact that God heard their prayers, it‘s evident in the manner in which the information is shared with us. The simple evidence that their prayers are mentioned tells us that God heard them. God hears our prayers, all of them, all of the time. God hears them, and He sends the help that we need. Keeping in mind that it might not take the form that we want or expect, but He always answers our prayers with what we need. And what Peter needed was a miracle! God sent the help that he needed to get out of that impossible situation in the form of an angel.

One of my favorite verses in this story is verse seven: And behold, an angel of the Lord stood next to him, and a light shone in the cell. He struck Peter on the side and woke him, saying, “Get up quickly.“ And the chains fell off his hands. There was no toil involved, no searching for the keys, or “be quiet, don‘t wake the guards“, just a smack to the side to wake him up and then an abrupt “Get up! Quick!“ and the chains that bound him to this impossible situation just fell off! They just fell off!!! My friends, prayer does that, it makes the chains binding us to our own impossible situations simply fall off, in Jesus‘ name! Hallelujah! What is impossible for man is possible for God! No, it‘s not just possible for God, it‘s EASY for God, because, well, He is GOD.


Categories: Acts, Writing Through the Bible in a Year | Tags: , ,

Rise

Posted on March 15, 2012 by Tamar

“Come Holy Spirit, fill me with Your fire so that I can be more like You; help me, I trust You. Father, open my eyes so that I may see You clearly. Open my ears so that I may hear You soundly. Open my mind so that I may understand You plainly. Open my heart so that I may love You more. Open my hands so that I may give generously and receive humbly. In Jesus‘ name, Amen.“

Today‘s reading is: Acts 9:1-11:18

“I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. But rise and enter the city, and you will be told what you are to do.“ The men who were traveling with him stood speechless, hearing the voice but seeing no one. Saul rose from the ground, and although his eyes were opened, he saw nothing. So they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus. And for three days he was without sight, and neither ate nor drank. Acts 9:6-7

I started “Live Boldly“ with the words “Being with Jesus, well, it changes you.“ And truer words could not be spoken over today‘s passage! Saul was a religious zealot. He was obsessed with stopping these people, who were calling themselves “the Way“, from speaking blasphemous things. And by the looks of it he was willing to go to about any lengths to stop them, including murder. But, it‘s impossible to have a personal encounter with Jesus and not be changed from the experience. Saul was just walking down the road, minding his own business, when BOOM! Jesus stops him in his tracks and the sudden appearance of the glory of God knocks Saul to the ground, as it should. Saul was so overwhelmed from his experience with Jesus that he was blind for three days! While Peter accepted Jesus‘ messiah-ship immediately, Saul took a while. I‘m sure some of us can relate to this!

Personally, I‘ve accepted Jesus‘ role in my life as Savior immediately and easily; but His role in my life as Lord (or leader) has been much more difficult for me. I don‘t know if I was a strong-willed child when I was younger, but I certainly am now, just ask my husband! When I get something locked into my sights, I go for it, and I don‘t stop until I get it. When we took the Laugh Your Way to a Better Marriage seminar by Mark Gungor we took a great personality quiz called the Flag Page. The symbol for my secondary personality was a bulldozer; that describes me to a “T“! I am unable to leave things alone. If I‘m in the middle of a project, it‘s next to impossible for me to leave it unfinished before I move on to something else. I get very stuck holding on to an idea or a thing just because it‘s what came along first. When I first started writing my husband and I wrote a book about Godly sexual intimacy in marriage (True Intimacy). And for the longest time I thought that we would be doing ministry work together and it would be all about marriage and sex. It took two years for God to wrangle that concept out of my grasp and get me to open up to the idea that maybe God had an even wider scope for our ministry. I was so focused on what I thought His plan was for us that I couldn‘t see His actual plan. I thought I knew what it was and I was pushing everything else aside. On top of that, because I knew that He has called me to be a writer for Him I had this concept of being a “published author“, you know, someone with books in print. I have held on to that dream and image of myself for three years. But as the director of the local library told me “You have to get into the modern era! E-books!“ It‘s taken me three years to give that one up to God too. But I think I‘ve actually gotten to that point… I hope so anyway. God helped me with that the other day by making sure that I heard on the radio that Encyclopedia Britannica is no longer printing their books anymore, they‘re going totally digital. That made me feel so much better!

You see, GOD knows the plans that He has for us (Jeremiah 29:11), and those plans may not look like the plans we have for ourselves. And they might not look like the plans that we even think that God has for us. But I can guarantee that His plans are WAY better than our plans, because unlike us, He can see the whole picture. He can see the whole plan from “In the beginning“ to the “Amen“. He‘s helped me realize that my dream of having printed books was severely limiting my own creativity. You can‘t put links to other websites, songs, other bible verses, pictures etc into a printed book. You generally can‘t put color text or color pictures in the interior of a printed book either. But with a blog/website the sky is the limit, with the internet there are no rules, no “trade standards“ and no denominational guidelines to follow. I can write precisely what He leads me to write and I don‘t have to worry about someone telling me that I‘m not allowed to post that. Sure that opens me up to plenty of criticism from every side, but that‘s just part of ministry. Someone will always tell you that you‘re doing something wrong. (Like Saul.) But we‘re not supposed to be following the direction of the people around us, we‘re supposed to be following the directions of the Holy Spirit. And when we do that, we are truly living according to the Spirit!

When I was reading this morning there was a word that caught my attention. It caught my attention because it kept coming up, over and over and over again in the reading. It first appeared when Jesus spoke to Saul on the road, “rise and enter the city…“, and then “Saul rose from the ground“. I was so taken by the repetition of these two words that I actually took the time to go back through and count them, fourteen in all! In these three short chapters the words “rise“ and “rose“ appeared fourteen times in the ESV translation. Now I‘m a big believer in the idea that if God says something once you listen. But, like I said, sometimes I‘m a little hard of hearing. Thankfully God is patient! He knows that usually He has to tell me things over and over again before I will hear them let alone listen. By the end of the reading I was starting to get the picture, but I‘m a digger, I love to dig deeply into the fertile soil of the Word and see what treasures I can find. Each and every word in scripture is important and can hold a treasure within it. There is this wonderful site www.biblos.com in it there is a WEALTH of knowledge and the tools to discover it on your own as well! My favorite tool on this site is the lexicon, where you can look up any verse in the bible and click on the word that you want to learn more about and it will tell you the original Greek or Hebrew word and what they mean. It is amazing to me how the Holy Spirit has used this tool in my life. Knowing all the possible translations of a word gives that word so much more depth and meaning within the verse, which then gives the verse itself more depth and meaning as well.

Of course, I‘m telling you all this to tell you about the word “rise“ that Jesus speaks to Saul on the road. In Greek the word rise is pronounced “anistaymee“ and according to biblos.com means: “I raise up, set up; I rise from among (the) dead; I arise, appear“. Did you catch that my friend? It means to rise from among the dead!!! Up to that point in his life Saul was DEAD. His body was animate, but his soul was dead… until he came face to face with Christ. It was from that moment on that he was truly alive. When Jesus said “rise“ he was commanding Saul‘s soul to LIVE.

While I held on firmly to my own plans for my writing and ministry they were dead. But the moment I encountered His glory and released my plans to the grave, that‘s when God was able to breathe life into them. My plans hindered God‘s plans, and who am “I that I could stand in God‘s way?“ (Acts 11:17) Do you have any idea how many times I questioned if God was really blessing my ministry? I don‘t know for sure, but it was a lot! And it wasn‘t because He wasn‘t blessing my ministry either, because He was in huge ways, it just wasn‘t in the one way that I wanted Him to bless me. The ways in which He was blessing my ministry didn‘t line up with my plans, so therefore they weren‘t blessings in my mind. Thankfully, I couldn‘t stand in God‘s way. Oh, let me say that again! You can‘t stand in God‘s way. Period. Who are you to think that you can? He‘s GOD. And, I‘m sorry, but anyone who says otherwise is underestimating who God is.

He is God ALL-mighty,

He is ALL-powerful,

He is ALL-knowing,

He is Yehovah God, the maker of the heavens and the earth.

WE were made by Him from the dust of that earth. We are worms compared to Him. And yet, not only does He love wormy-little-ole-us, but He tells us His plans for us in Isaiah 41:14-16 to

Fear not, you worm Jacob, you men of Israel! I am the one who helps you, declares the LORD; your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel. Behold, I make of you a threshing sledge, new, sharp, and having teeth; you shall thresh the mountains and crush them, and you shall make the hills like chaff; you shall winnow them, and the wind shall carry them away, and the tempest shall scatter them. And you shall rejoice in the LORD; in the Holy One of Israel you shall glory.

We may be mere worms, and we are, HOWEVER nothing is impossible with God (Luke 1:37). While we are fragile and weak worms unable to defend ourselves in any way, He is the one who helps us. He is the one who has redeemed us and made us so much more than worms! A threshing sledge, NEW and SHARP, not only are we alive and made new in Christ, we are also made powerful and strong. With the baptism and indwelling of the Holy Spirit comes the power to turn “impossible“ into “possible“, “weak“ into “strong“. Jesus told Saul to “rise“ because he was on the ground; he was a dead worm in the dirt. But because Jesus had plans for Saul, just like He has plans for each and every one of us. He told him to rise and go into the city where He would instruct him further at the proper time. And until that time those instructions would have to be sufficient for Saul. So Saul rose from the ground. He got up! He came to life for the first in his life. No longer a weak worm, but a tool used for harvesting!

Oh rise up my friend! Have you been like me? Clinging to plans that are getting you nowhere fast? Give those plans a fast burial! Cast them aside and empty your hands so that they are free to receive the plans that GOD has for you! Get rid of those black and white paper and ink dreams and allow God to dream for you in full and living color! The sky is the limit.

Categories: Acts, Writing Through the Bible in a Year | Tags: , , ,

Mouth

Posted on March 14, 2012 by Tamar

Today’s reading: Acts 7&8

But he, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. And he said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.” Acts 7:55-56

Today has been an interesting day so far. I had this post started before I went to Parks & Prayers this morning and now I’ve come back to it and I’ve just got to go in a whole different direction than what I started with. First I suppose I’ll start with Parks & Prayers, it’s a group of moms of all ages that get together once a week to lift one another up in prayer. We meet at a park or an indoor play-place so that the kids have something to do so that there’s no childcare necessary. While the children play we moms are free to share our burdens with one another. We’re all reading through the bible alphabetically so when we are finished sharing prayer requests and praying we talk about that as well…but generally we never get there in the two hours we set aside for our group time.

Listening to all these beautiful ladies’ requests I was amazed at how many were dealing with words. They were asking God for the right words to say to this person or how to deal with that situation and it struck me how wonderful God is to answer those prayers! Follow along with me on the rabbit trail that God lead me on this morning through the scriptures!

Stephen, in Acts 7, saw the heavens open and saw Jesus standing at the right hand of God. As the stones were being thrown at him the heavens opened up and he could see into the throne room of heaven! He could see the Father, he could see Jesus, he could see it! Isaiah saw the throne room of God while still alive as well. In chapter six we read:

“In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of His robe filled the temple. Above Him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one called to another and said: “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory!” And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke. And I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!” Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. And he touched my mouth and said: “Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.” And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Then I said, “Here am I! Send me.” And he said, “Go, and say this to the people…” (Isaiah 6:1-9a)

God apparently called for Isaiah, because Isaiah was suddenly whisked away to the throne room of God Almighty where he encountered angelic beings and God Himself. And what was Isaiah’s reaction? I’m not good enough! But God had a solution for that and the angel brought the coal to remove the sin from Isaiah’s mouth. How incredible is that? While Isaiah had a hot coal brought to his lips, we have the blood of Christ to atone for our sins. And with that God follows up the coal with a question. To whom He is asking the question is unknown, perhaps He is simply pondering the question out loud for Isaiah’s benefit. “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Kind of like when I want to tell my kids that we’re going to the park, but I want them to think that it was their idea, “Hmmmmm…. I wonder who would like to go to the park with me?” Both kids jumping up and down with their hands in the air reply, “OH, OH, OH MOMMY! I’LL GO, I’LL GO!” I don’t know, maybe He was actually thinking about whom He would send, but it kinda makes sense to me that since He had already called Isaiah up there it was pretty obvious who He really had in mind to do the job to begin with. So when Isaiah offers to be a part of God’s plan God then starts to explain the plan to Him. “Go, and say this to the people…” God GAVE Isaiah the words to say. Isaiah didn’t need to come up with them on his own, he didn’t have to be educated or a brilliant speaker, he only needed to be available to do God’s bidding.

What about Moses? God called him to speak for Him too. God brings Moses into His presence by luring him with a bush that is on fire but isn’t burning up. I like in Exodus 3 & 4 where it says “When the LORD saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, ‘Moses, Moses!‘” It wasn’t until God noticed that Moses was taking an interest in the bush that He actually spoke to Moses. It was at this point that God starts to explain to Moses part of His plan, that He has seen the suffering of His people and heard their cry for help and… I want you, Moses, to go talk to the most powerful man in all the world and tell him to let my people go. Now, for Isaiah it was when he realized that he was in the presence of God that he felt unworthy, for Moses it was when he was given this mountainous task that he replies to God:

“Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?” He said, “But I will be with you, and this shall be the sign for you, that I have sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain.” Then Moses said to God, “If I come to the people of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what shall I say to them?” God said to Moses, “I am who I am” And he said, “Say this to the people of Israel…“

Both Isaiah and Moses were given huge tasks to do in the name of the LORD, and both questioned their own ability to accomplish those tasks. Both men were face to face with the holiness and majesty of God and asked themselves “Who am I that I would be called to do this?” And yet they are who GOD CHOSE to do those tasks. Both men were called to be God’s spokesperson and neither was able… on their own.

After a slew of questions and semi-reasonable arguments that Moses offers God to try to “help God” understand that He’s picked the wrong guy for this job Moses tries one last resort.

“Oh, my Lord, I am not eloquent, either in the past or since you have spoken to your servant, but I am slow of speech and of tongue.” Then the LORD said to him, “Who has made man’s mouth? Who makes him mute, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? Is it not I, the LORD? Now therefore go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall speak.” Exodus 4:10-12

Who has made your mouth? Who has called you into His service to be His hands, His feet AND His mouth? We, like Moses, can offer up a page full of excuses as to why we are ill-equipped to fulfill the calling that He has given us; but just like Moses, it won’t do us any good. God has chosen YOU for this, so you might as well get used to the idea. God chose YOU, probably not because you were the best prepared or the best educated person for the job, but because you weren’t. I find it no small coincidence that God chose a man with a speech impediment to be His spokesperson. Because it is through our imperfections that God’s perfection shines the most brilliantly. Don’t dwell on your own inabilities; instead dwell on God’s abilities. Don’t stare at that mountain that you can’t seem to climb, stare at the One who MADE the mountain. HE is able. And because He is able, you don’t have to be. HE is perfect. And because He is perfect, you don’t have to be. HE is equipped. And because He is equipped, you don’t have to be.

The Sovereign LORD has given me an instructed tongue, to know the word that sustains the weary. He wakens me morning by morning, wakens my ear to listen like one being taught. Isaiah 50:4 (NIV)

I am the LORD your God, who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar – the LORD of hosts is His name. And I have put my words in your mouth and covered you in the shadow of my hand, establishing the heavens and laying the foundations of the earth, and saying to Zion, “you are my people.” Isaiah 51:15-16

Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O LORD, my rock and my redeemer. Psalm 19:14

Anxiety in a man’s heart weighs him down, but a good word makes him glad. Proverbs 12:25

Gracious words are like a honeycomb, sweetness to the soul and health to the body. Proverbs 16:24

A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in a setting of silver. Proverbs 25:11

Every word of God is flawless; He is a shield to those who take refuge in Him. Proverbs 30:5 (NIV)

Categories: Acts, Writing Through the Bible in a Year | Tags: , , , , ,

Waiting for God to ACT

Posted on March 12, 2012 by Tamar

Today’s reading is Acts 1-3:15.

“It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by His own authority.” (Acts 1:7)

I can’t tell you how excited I was this morning at 5 AM when my alarm went off announcing the fact that it was time for me to get up only a few short hours after falling asleep. To be honest, it was all I could do to drag myself out of bed to turn the alarm off, and for a moment I seriously considered hitting the snooze and going back to bed, but my heart wouldn’t let me… and neither would my bladder. (Thank You Lord.) As I sat in the cold bathroom reading my morning devotion, that I honestly can’t remember a word of right now, the fog of sleep started to drift lazily away from my head and I remembered just why I was getting up so early this morning. My writing challenge starts today! God has challenged me to find Him in my life every day; then write about how He applied His word in my life during the day. After remembering that getting up wasn’t quite so hard anymore! So as my heart rushed to my desk, my feet stumbled sleepily out to my bible and computer waiting expectantly to both be opened and used at this early hour. The stillness in the house was bliss for a busy mom who is always on the go. And as I cracked open this brand spankin’ new ESV Bible it begged to be snuggled into the rocking chair behind me with a blanket over my cold legs, so I agreed that we should move to a slightly cozier spot where this new book and I could get a little more familiar.

For years I’ve held onto the hope that I would be able to read through the entire bible at some point in my life, but I have yet to do it. Then not so long ago I heard a story of a man who read through a new bible every year. As he read he would make notes and comments in the margins of the bibles, making them his own, creating a kind of documentary or record of his life and how those scriptures had applied to him at the moment that he was reading them. Then after the year was over he would then gift those bibles to his children to keep as a legacy, a piece of their father’s life. That story struck me in its genuineness and romance; in the significance of a father’s handwritten heartfelt thoughts captured between the margins and those beloved words of our Savior, what a gift for a child to receive! Today, I’ve gotten to start my own adventure. My new little three dollar ESV Bible already has two and a half pages all marked up! So many notes in just one short day! But OH what a story it already tells. The scriptures themselves also tell of a new beginning! (How cool is that???)

Acts chapter one starts with an ending. It starts with Jesus leaving earth and ascending into heaven with the instruction to His followers to “wait for the promise of the Father” (Acts 1:4). I just find that funny that this story starts with waiting… and yet so does my story today. Well, sort of anyway. I’ve been waiting for a lot of things to happen in my ministry, waiting for God to act, waiting for God to provide, waiting for the answers to my multitude of questions, and honestly looking for all of it in the wrong places. I completely lost sight of where my focus really should be! I was so focused on the ministry and the waiting and the providing and the questions that I forgot about WHY I was seeking those things! God really used the stillness of this morning to remind me that it really doesn’t matter as much what I do in that quiet time with Him, as long as it’s a quiet time WITH Him! I’ve been still and I’ve prayed lately, but it wasn’t to get to know Him better, it was to get my questions and requests heard and answered in a timely manner… in MY time.

This weekend the most amazing thing happened to me! Someone turned the lights off on me while I was in a public restroom. I know, you’re thinking that’s amazing!?! But it was; not for what happened, but for how God used it for me. I’ve been busily planning my very first conference where I will be the speaker all day long. Thirteen hours, it’s intimidating beyond words. Not only am I teaching, but I’m planning too. Phone calls, ordering supplies; you name it I’ve been working on it! All the while freaking out about HOW I’m going to get all the people to get it all done like the vision God’s given me for it. I’ve been freaking out about what He wants me to teach. I’ve been freaking out about where this conference will take place and who will be there. Basically, I’ve just been plain old freaking out. So much so that it’s been leaking into my family life as well!

Case in point Friday was grocery day for me. I had planned my menu for the next two weeks including breakfast, lunch, dinner even some snacks! Every square on my planner was filled. Then I transferred my shopping list into my phone complete with costs and everything. I had ALL my shopping bases covered. I had my plan and I was going to follow it to the letter… until God threw the proverbial wrench into the works.

I was an hour and a half into my three-hour trip when my phone died! I’m not even kidding you I could almost see my battery running out as I held my shopping plan in my palm. And when that screen was plunged into darkness my plan flew out the window and I was forced to shop blind. I was forced to roam the aisles searching for things that I remembered being on my list, and HOPE that I didn’t miss anything that I would need for my fully planned menu. I’ll admit, there were several times that I stopped on the side of an aisle, bent over my daughter pretending to talk to her and prayed desperately for God to lead me to what I needed. I felt like I was flailing in the dark, groping for clues to where I was supposed to go next, buy next. My groceries cost much more than what I was expecting, but I also came home with more than I needed too. And if I did forget something, I can always improvise; I’m really good at that.

Well, Saturday, in the public restroom I was again praying about the groceries. Wracked with guilt about spending so much and having so much trouble trusting God to lead me to the things I needed. I was sitting there silently pleading with God to help me understand while doubts about my shopping decisions and conference plans swirled through my head. When suddenly the “last” person to leave the room thought she was the LAST person in the room. So she turned off the light and I was suddenly plunged into… light! Although I sat in darkness the LORD was my light. He said to me, “One step at a time”. And He reminded me, I need to let go of my determination to know ALL the details and TRUST that when I get to that step He will lead me in the way that I should go. That I need to continue walking toward that sliver of light coming through the crack under the door and trust that it’s the direction HE wants me to go in.

As much as I desire the comfort and control of having every minute planned, I must leave space for the Holy Spirit to work! I must leave space for trust and faith. Otherwise I’m simply crowding Him out. And you know what always happens? MY plans fail. My plans fall through. My plans frustrate me because my plans aren’t happening. When I pray “Thy will be done” and then determine to do my own thing without ever consulting Him first disasters occur; and I get frustrated and angry. Which spills onto my family and they had nothing to do with it!

I have to let go and let God do what He needs to do. I have to allow Him to hold the remote and let Him pick what I watch… or let Him take my phone and let Him pick what we eat and determine how much it will cost. And I have to trust that He loves me enough to choose food that will be good for us and perfect for our schedule. I have to trust that He loves me enough to make sure that it will cost exactly as much as it needs to. Point of fact, my groceries cost precisely the amount of money that I had with me at the time. I didn’t want to spend all the money I had on groceries, that had not been my plan at all, but God was making a point. The point He’s been trying to make for weeks now. The point I pray that I have fully grasped now after my experience in the dark bathroom. The point that I am NOT in control and that I need to relax and simply enjoy the ride. This isn’t work, it’s not a job, it’s a relationship and a really wonderful one at that! I need to stop stressing and start trusting… but it’s so hard!

I like my independence. I am proud of my ability to take care of myself. I like the fact that God has called me to be a teacher. But I think I’ve forgotten one of the biggest and most important parts of being a teacher. I don’t have to know all the answers, I only have to know how to direct the students to where to find them.

One step at a time

I don’t need to know all the answers.

I don’t need to know all the steps.

I don’t even need to know all the ingredients.

I only need to know God and His goodness.

I only need to know that GOD is there with me in the darkness.

I only need to know that God IS there holding my hand and guiding my steps and making them firm.

I only need to know that God is THERE speaking to my soul even when my ears can’t hear.

I only need to know that He is HERE loving me even when I can’t feel it.

Beloved, GOD IS HERE.

-Tamar Knochel

Categories: Acts, Writing Through the Bible in a Year

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