Writing Through the Bible in a Year

Today’s Reading: 2 Chronicles 35:10-36:23

Find You on My Knees by Kari Jobe & Lead Me to the Cross by Francesca Battastelli

I had a dream last night that I just have to share with you! I was trapped in a house and I couldn’t find my way out when I walked up to the attic of the house, came around the corner and there was Jesus! He was dressed completely in white, His dazzling eyes just danced with excitement when He saw me and promptly stood up and held His arms out to me. I cried “Yeshua!” (the Hebrew pronunciation of His name) and was instantly in His arms with my arms around His neck. With my head on His shoulder like a child and my hands in His hair (which was the softest hair I’ve ever felt) He held me firmly in His grip, picked me up off the ground and spun me around in a little jig. When He stopped spinning me from the joy of my coming to Him, He just stood there and held me letting my feet dangle in the air by a couple inches. As I hung there limp in His arms and clinging to Him with my arms it felt like I was floating in the air because my feet weren’t touching the ground. Then just as I decided I didn’t want to leave that moment The Dragon came up the stairs and saw us there hugging. Jesus quickly put me down and stepped in front of me, shielding me from the Dragon’s fiery breath with His own body. His body was big enough to completely shield me from the Dragon. Somehow in all the fighting I was separated from Jesus and was hiding in the house from the Dragon and his people. They kept finding me, but somehow I kept getting away from them and would find a new spot to hide until the next one would find me. Finally I found a closet and opened it to find a life size skeleton staring me in the face, death. And then I woke up.

I Choose Jesus by Moriah Peters

Dreams are interesting things my friends. I am a dreamer, which you have probably noticed if you’ve followed my blog for very long. I have very prophetic dreams, most nights, but Jesus Himself has never been in one, He has always represented Himself in my dreams by my husband Sean. So just the fact that He came to me Himself last night thrills beyond belief!!! God speaks to us in our dreams so I suggest you pay close attention to them. They aren’t always from God, they can be from other sources like the Enemy, those are terrible dreams – his voice is the most evil thing I’ve ever heard! But most of the time they are, especially when you pray before you fall asleep and ask God for your dreams to only be from Him (that’s what we do). This dream is one of my most precious, for obvious reasons, but right now it’s precious to me because it’s given me a perfect illustration of the story I am about to unfold to you. It’s a story that is hard for me to tell because it contradicts what I’ve always been taught through religion, but God has shown me over and over through life, scripture and now two dreams that it is the truth that the Holy Spirit is revealing to me. I encourage you to read this entire entry before jumping to any conclusions of your own. I also encourage you to pray and seek Him first for yourself to discover is this something that He desires for you to put into practice. I can’t tell you what to do or what He wants for you, but I know that for me finding His grace has set me free and made me feel like I was firmly in His arms and floating while stroking the softest hair I’ve ever felt. Through His grace He has stepped in front of me to protect me from the fire breathing Dragon and protects me from all harm. Jesus loves me and through seeking Him and His goodness I am quickly discovering that He is so much sweeter and more good and kind than I EVER gave Him credit for before now.

My friends, God is good. And not the kind of good where He’s good some of the time but the kind of good where He is good ALL of the time. I have to tell you, for almost a year now I have been hooked and bound in chains of bronze. And the worst part of it was, they were the chains of religion that bound me! I had gotten hooked by the lie that I had to continually ask God to forgive me for the sins I continually commit in order for me to have an ongoing relationship with Him. For example, whenever I would have a mean thought about someone I would feel like I would need to spend half an hour in tears on my knees in penance for my sin, begging God to forgive me for my human nature. The accuser was camped out on my shoulder pointing out anything and everything that I did or thought that was “ungodly” and “unbecoming” for a Christian. If there was a scripture in the Bible that said a woman should have long hair, then I grew my hair out (check out the cover of True Intimacy). If there was a verse that said women shouldn’t wear men’s clothing (in other words pants), then I stopped wearing pants. (And consequently fell in love with skirts – in the summer when it’s warm!) I was very literal with my faith. If I heard a sermon on family values and the importance of having dinner together then I would make sure that we would have dinner at the table with homemade food every single night. I was spending all my time listening to all the voices talking about Jesus without ever reading His Word asking Him how He felt about what all the voices were telling me to do. And the interesting thing to me is that the farther I go in this Bible in a year project, the more I’m realizing that that isn’t the abundant life! I was so completely hooked by all the religious rules and requirements that everyone was spouting off that I was literally tying myself up in knots! (Seriously, that’s why my massage last week was so painful! My body was filled with knots!!!) I am so in love with Christ and I want so desperately to please Him and I was doing anything and everything that I could to do just that. If His word said long hair then I had long hair, despite the fact that I look really cute with short hair that totally fits my personality. I was jumping to follow a direction that *might* not have been directed at me. And if I wasn’t following that direction then I felt horribly guilty and wrong. I felt condemned and dirty. Which made me feel the need to constantly confess those things and ask for God’s forgiveness so that I could once again be in right standing with Him and worthy of Him listening to my prayers. I really wasn’t understanding grace. And during that time I was begging God to help me understand grace, because I knew I wasn’t getting it. So you know what He did? He took me through it.

When I first asked God to help me understand grace, I actually understood it, but only on a head level. Now, I understand it on a much deeper level because I’ve lived through it. God’s grace is so much deeper and farther reaching than I had ever given Him credit for. Before my journey through the Law I understood that God’s grace forgave us for our sins… when we asked Him to forgive us for those sins. But we had to ask. That’s not true. God’s grace forgave us for every single sin we have, are or ever will commit in one fell swoop – the cross. It was on the cross that God’s wrath was completely and totally exhausted. And when I accepted Christ’s sacrifice on my behalf I accepted God’s forgiveness for each and every one of my sins that I would ever commit my entire life long. Does God know what they all will be? You betcha He does! Does He forgive me for them today? No. He forgave me for them two thousand years ago when Christ suffered for them. So should I need to keep asking Him for something that He’s already given me? No!

About a month and a half ago my daughter and I visited Barnes and Noble where she found a little stuffed pink polka dot kitty that she absolutely loved and begged me to take it home. I said no and we left. Last week we walked back into that same Barnes and Noble and the first words out of her mouth were “Mommy, can I get the pink polka dot kitty?” We weren’t even IN the store yet! Right then and there I decided that if they still had the kitty I would get it for her. If it meant enough to her to remember it six weeks later then it was worth the eleven dollars it cost. We searched and searched and couldn’t find any pink polka dot kitties and we had pretty much given up the hope of finding one until a very helpful lady that works there came over and asked us what it was that we were looking for. I explained the little kitty to her, “pink with white polka dots”, I showed her where we had found it the first time, I even showed her where the kitty might be if they still had one, because they had others like it just we couldn’t find that one. But as I pointed to the shelf where the other animals were a little white face with a pink nose poked out from the corner of the shelf, it was the little pink kitty! They had two left! Anna snatched her up lovingly and snuggled her soft pink polka dot fur against her cheek, she was so happy. And I was so happy because I had made that moment possible for her. It brought me so much joy to see her that happy. That was three days ago and she’s barely put that kitty down since! And you know what, she may have told me thank you for the gift, she may not have, I don’t really remember and honestly it doesn’t matter to me. What matters is how much she loves that kitty and how I can tell she loves the kitty because it’s with her everywhere we go. She may put it down for a moment, but then it’s in her hands again the next moment. It’s gone all over Indianapolis with us on service calls with Daddy on Saturday, it went to church on Sunday morning, a birthday party on Sunday afternoon and it even went to Ms Peggy’s house with her this morning while I was at a prayer meeting. And even now it is lying next to her in bed and she’s reading a book to it before she falls asleep. The way she loves that kitty is all the thanks I need, watching her play with this beloved new pet that I got to give her delights me and makes me smile.

What’s interesting to me though is that not only has she not continued saying “thank you” she hasn’t continued asking me to give her the kitty either. It’s hers and she knows that. She knows that I’m not going to take it away if she thinks a bad thought or says “Mommy I’m mad at you!” In fact, just the opposite happened! When I told her it was time for nap. She, being VERY tired, kicked at me from the floor and very rudely said “I don’t want to lay down!” and then screamed at the top of her lungs. I tickled her and made her smile, playfully picked her up and carried her to her bed and plunked her down with a flop making the pillows and comforter bounce on her bed. And as I was getting her snuggled and settled in for her “rest”, not “nap, I noticed that she didn’t have “Pink Kitty” so I went and got her and brought Pink Kitty to her in bed so they could snuggle and read together. When my daughter was rude to me I could have disciplined her and taken her kitty away from her, but I knew that she was tired and that if I argued with her it would simply upset both of us. But instead to help her rest the way she needs to I brought her the object of her affection, Pink Polka dot Kitty.

When we lash out at God and when we make a mis-step in our walk He doesn’t remove His forgiveness from us! He brings it to us! He reminds us that we are already forgiven. So why was I asking Him for something that I already have? It’s not like He brings His forgiveness to the side of my bed and holds it out and says “You have to say you’re sorry first before I will forgive you…” Only humans do that! God isn’t like that.

When my husband confessed his adultery to me I was crushed, but I forgave him. When he confessed his masturbation issues to me I was crushed, but I forgave him. And what’s more, I knew that the battle with the masturbation would be an ongoing battle. I knew that he wouldn’t be able to kick that habit cold turkey – and he didn’t. And you know what I did? I forgave him before he ever fell. That’s right! I knew that there would come a time when he would come to me again and confess that he had been masturbating again and I decided right then and there that I would forgive him 7×70. That together we would work through that struggle with the flesh and that together with Christ we would win. But I knew that it would take time. I knew that there would be times when I would be called to forgive him and decided that I would.

We still fall, we still struggle, we still battle the enemy of Temptation, as human beings we’re not perfect! But God is! He knows that we’re not always going to be able to choose the escape route that He provides and that there will be times when we will need to be forgiven. He’s already made the choice and the provision to make that happen. But if we’re continually asking for God to forgive us when He’s already done it then doesn’t that prove our lack of faith in the fact that He’s already done it? If my daughter was still asking me for that kitty wouldn’t that prove that she doesn’t believe that it’s hers? I’ll be honest; I’ve been battling with this concept for five months, well longer than that really, but actively battling it in my brain for five months anyway. But Sunday morning God finally broke through to me. I was going back and forth about the idea because all I’ve ever been taught my entire life is that I needed to be asking God to forgive me for my sins. So this new information that God had placed in front of me was really hard for me to accept. I tried grasping onto it back in October when I was first told the truth, and for three days I lived in that freedom that came from accepting the idea that I’ve been forgiven. Not just for the moment but for life. But then on day four the Enemy hooked me again, and the old deceiver is sly because he even used scripture to do it. Contorted scripture, but still it was enough to wrap me back up into those bronze chains all over again. But I had tasted that freedom in Christ, I had tasted and it and knew that it was good and it was pure light. A pure light like nothing else on this planet! It was a light where I was free to be ME. I didn’t have to be who all these other godly people told me I should be, I could be who God made me to be. I could be who GOD told me I was. I could see myself through His eyes and I was radiantly beautiful. And I wanted that again, desperately, but my brain just wouldn’t let me accept the truth for what it really is. God is that good. So, since the Winter Jam concert I’ve really been “getting it” and living that freedom every day. Every time I’ve tried to ask God to forgive me I can feel Him giving me that look like “why are you doing that?” And I’ve moved on.

Before I was seeing Him as my shepherd, with His rod and His staff they’re supposed to comfort me… except I felt like He was beating me with them. He wasn’t, but that’s how I was receiving it all. His rod and His staff are my guidelines. When I am beginning to get near the edge of the cliff He takes His rod and places it in front of my little sheep chest and says “Don’t go any farther”. But I was receiving it as a smack to my face with an angry “This is the wrong way you idiot go back, you’re doing it all wrong”. So yesterday morning I was feeling that hook from the Enemy trying to sink in again and I was struggling to release it from my tender skin when we walked into church. I wanted so desperately to believe that His grace has covered me for all time but I was struggling with it still when I decided I wasn’t going to think about it anymore I was just going to worship Him and be in the moment with my family. We sang the first song “Open the eyes of my heart Lord” and I only got through the first verse before God opened the eyes of my heart and spoke straight to my spirit.

“What? You don’t believe I can be that good? You don’t believe that My grace has covered your future sins as well as the past ones? Just as you are – come – give Me your heart. Believe in My goodness. Believe that I don’t just forgive you in the moment, I HAVE forgiven you COMPLETELY, past, present and future. I made you who you are, faults, shortcomings and all. I made you and you are not a mistake. Period. I don’t make mistakes I make miracles! Yes, you have imperfections, but that’s OK because when you are filled with Me I fill in your imperfections with My perfection. With My Spirit. Child listen to My Words, listen to My voice of Truth, you are forgiven. I am enough. My sacrifice is adequate, my grace is sufficient. Abraham’s righteousness came through faith not through any work or effort on his part. Including asking Me to forgive him over and over again. That’s not righteousness, that’s work and unbelief! I forgive you, now move on! Walk in that forgiveness, embrace that forgiveness, LIVE abundantly in that forgiveness!!! Yes, you make mistakes, lean on Me and they’re no longer mistakes their opportunities! Do NOT conform any longer to the pattern of this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind! Be washed by the word, MY word every day and let Me tell you what I think of you, who I want you to be, who I made you to be. Stop listening to all those voices out there that are telling you you aren’t good enough for Me and My grace, they’re LYING TO YOU! My sacrifice makes you righteous, My goodness sets you free, My truth is the way to the Father and it’s the way to Me. Let the Holy Spirit pour out over you like honey drenching you in Our sweetness, covering you like a pair footie pajamas in our love. In us there is no darkness there is no captivity there is no condemnation or guilt, only light and freedom and love! Tamar, do not spend your time telling them how bad they are – that’s the accuser’s job and you don’t work for him, you work for us. I died for you so that you could draw near to Me, so that I could tell you how much I love you. How I don’t care about what you’ve done wrong I only care about you. I care about how you see Me. On the cross I cried out “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani” or “My God, My God why have you forsaken me”. I was forsaken… for YOU! In that moment on the cross the entirety of your past, present and future sins were poured out over My holy shoulders and I took it all and bore the punishment for you. My Beloved, there is nothing wrong with you. You are the way I made you to be. You are the creation the Father’s hands made, how dare you judge against His creation! How dare you condemn yourself when I’m not even condemning you. Who do you think you are? God?”

God has taken me on a journey of faith through His word.

Romans 3:23 I’ve heard since birth “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” but you know what I’ve missed? The comma. For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God COMMA, not a period. That’s not the end of the sentence, that’s not the end of the story, it’s the beginning! Romans 3:23-26 “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, AND ARE JUSTIFIED BY HIS GRACE AS A GIFT, THROUGH THE REDEMPTION THAT IS IN Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by His blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance He had passed over former sins. It was to show His righteousness at the present time, so that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.”
Yes, we all have sinned and will sin. Yes, we all have fallen oh so short of the glory of God BUT we are JUSTIFIED. Do you know what justified means? It means that God has made it just-as-if-I’d never sinned. And that justification, it’s not something that we earn, it’s a GIFT. Just like the little pink kitty, my daughter didn’t earn that cat, she didn’t do anything special or say some special prayer to get it, I gave it to her because I love her and she loves it. End of story. It was a gift with no strings attached what so ever. That’s justifying grace. No strings attached. You are sinless in Christ. He took your sin away at the cross; don’t even think about taking it back, that would just be stupid! But wait, there’s more! God in His divine forbearance passed over former sins to show His righteousness at the present time so that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. When I read this part of the verse the Holy Spirit pointed out to me, if He is good enough to “pass over” the former sins why is He not then good enough to “pass over” the future sins as well. If Christ has truly paid the total amount due for the bill why do we feel like we have to keep paying? It’s not like a tip for the waitress! He paid that too! God’s wrath has been poured out on Jesus and there is none left for us!

But then there’s Romans 11:29 the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. Did you catch that? Just in case, I’ll say it again, the gifts of God are irrevocable. The gift of justification is non-refundable it’s not returnable; He refuses to take it back from you. It’s yours to use and to love and to live in as much as you want. Be that a little or be that a lot, it’s yours. God’s grace is abundant and sufficient and it’s a gift for YOU. It’s up to you to USE that gift, to live in and clothe yourself with the righteousness of Christ! You are forgiven my friend, for all time! Now live like you’ve been forgiven.

1 Peter 4:10-11 (NIV) Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms. If anyone speaks, he should do it as one speaking the very words of God. If anyone serves, he should do it with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen. You have received the gift of being “just-as-if-I’d” (never sinned), USE that gift! Use it to serve and to FORGIVE OTHERS! People can be cruel to one another, forgive them. People can hurt each other without ever realizing it, forgive them. God has forgiven you for all time, pass that forgiveness on!!! You certainly don’t deserve an ounce of that forgiveness that Jesus provided for you, and neither does that person you’re holding the grudge against, but you know what, God has forgiven you both. And if God has forgiven that person then don’t you think maybe you should forgive them too?

Today’s Reading: 2 Chronicles 32:24-35:9

Bear with me, I’m working on something. I’m just not ready to release it yet.

Read: 2 Chronicles 30:1-32:23

Wow. That’s the best way that I can describe this day. Wow. From start to finish, wow.

I got up dark and early like I normally do, snuggled with my Cinnamon Apple tea and my Bible while I periodically snuck peeks into the living room to watch my husband doing his morning workout. While reading I laughed out loud at king Sennacherib (32:9-19) and rejoiced with the Israelites in their victory over the pompous windbag (32:20-23). When I finished I felt like a gigantic weight had been lifted from me that I didn’t even realize was there. God takes care of his kids! It’s so funny because of all the times I’ve attempted to read through Chronicles I’ve always done it casually (read slowly) and have gotten lost in all the battles. I’d come to another one and think “Ugh! Not another war! BORING!” But that hasn’t happened at all this time. By reading it through with a specific time limit in mind and 2 ½ pages a day to get through the battles haven’t drug on like they usually do and I’ve been able to see with amazing clarity the overlying message that I’ve always missed before. GOD TAKES CARE OF HIS KIDS! When His children are drifting too far away from Him, He pulls them back in by sending an attacking army at them and helping them remember that they need His help so they cry out to Him. When they’re right on track with Him the attacks still come, but in these times He delivers them in amazing ways.

I liked how today’s reading started out with a celebration of the Passover Feast that had been long overdue. Of all the feasts to read about them celebrating, that is the one that I think is the most significant. Because although the Day of Atonement is the most sacred day of the Hebrew calendar, Passover is one of the most jubilant, it’s a feast! And these Hebrews were having such a great time celebrating the LORD’s deliverance of their ancestors from Egypt that they decided they needed to celebrate for an extra week! Have you ever been to one of those kinds of parties before where you’re just having such a great time that you don’t want it to end? I just finished up a party like that in our back yard to celebrate God’s revelation of our mission to pass out Bibles. Hallelujah!

What a day that God gave me today! I started by reading this great story of deliverance and walked away feeling ten pounds lighter because of the way that God delivered them from the hands of their enemies, yet again. After that I had a great conversation with my husband about the scriptures I had just finished reading. Next I got the boys (my husband and son) out the door to school and work and sat down in the recliner with my laptop to get some writing done before my daughter woke up, since she had amazingly slept through the usual morning chaos. But as I opened up my computer for the day, I couldn’t seem to get even word one on to the screen! Here I was all pumped up about getting to talk to you about this great story we’ve just read and I suddenly had writers block! Sigh… So I opened up some other projects that I’ve been working on and played with them for a while, although I really would have preferred to have been writing, but I figured I might as well make the best of my time. After two hours had passed, Anna had woken up I’d gotten a little done on the other project, nothing written still, and taken about ten phone calls and twenty texts I came to the realization that I probably wasn’t going to get to write today. And I was pretty close to right since I’m writing this at 11:30 pm. In all the phone call/texting madness I was asked to babysit a friend’s boys (close to my sons age), invited to be treated for lunch at Chik-fil-a with another friend and her daughter, received news that another friend’s aunt with terminal cancer was doing worse – prayed with her what little we could in the chaos of texts coming in and calls, made an appointment with the massage therapist to work out all the kinks I’ve managed to fill my body with by sitting very improperly at my desk while I write for hours on end. All in a short two hour span! Just as my friend was pulling in to pick us up for lunch I was finishing the phone call to the school to change the after school transportation plans for my son. My daughter and I hopped into their van and they whisked us away from, at least some, of the craziness. And in the car ride over I marveled at how quickly MY plans for my day had changed from a quiet afternoon at home writing and working on the website, to a crazy fun filled day with a free lunch at a favorite restaurant, a stop by Barnes and Noble to talk to a guy about starting a writer’s guild and check in with him on my “Christian Fiction Book club” that meets there. Then they dropped us back off at home where we threw our leftovers in the fridge before we headed back out to the Dollar General to pick up some hot dogs, buns, marshmallows and graham crackers for the impromptu “fire party” that had somehow managed to get planned via text for dinner during our lunch out. I had just enough time to pick up our supplies before it was time to be at the school to pick up my son and run around the pick-up line shouting to the moms I knew and letting them know about the party at our back yard tonight. “Be there or be square!” We have so much fun around here! Then I shuttled the kids off to home before racing on to my massage appointment where my new friend Dianne Lawson practically beat me up working out all the kinks that I had worked into my arms and legs and neck! That poor woman had to WORK! But oh was she good!!!!

You know it’s funny, I learned quite the lesson on the massage table today as Dianne was causing me so much pain…. and yet, not only was I PAYING her to cause me pain, but I had called her and asked her to cause me that pain… because I had been in pain to begin with!!! How messed up is that? It started because I spend hours a day hunched over a computer keyboard without moving from where I’m sitting, stopping to take a drink or apparently even remember to breathe. I’m not sure how that works, but she kept telling me that I need to remember to breathe, and I would find myself holding my breath! How did she know that? (Cause she’s that good!) Anyway, all that hunching was causing my neck and shoulder muscles to tighten up. Eventually they got so tight that they started hurting. Yesterday it all came to a head, literally, as the pain started creeping up the back of my neck over the top of my head all the way to my eyebrows! By the end of the night last night my head hurts so badly I could hardly see straight! So that’s when I called Dianne, I knew I needed help and the Holy Spirit had been nudging me for the last few weeks that I needed to get a massage, but I’ve been too cheap to spend the money on one. My thinking was that massages were for luxury, not really anything else. Well, last night as I was debating whether I should call Dianne or not the Holy Spirit says to me “When you hurt something what’s your first instinct?” “To put my hand on it and rub… Oooooooohhhhhhhhhh…… OK Lord, I get it, massage is THE most natural healing method there is, so natural that we just do it by instinct when we’re in pain. Alright, I’ll call her.”

Then today after all the craziness, there I was, lying on her heated massage table breathing in the heady scent of a fragrant oil on the headrest towel, with Dianne applying pressure to my already aching muscles to release the tension and stress that I had allowed to build up in them it hit me. That’s exactly what God does! When we’re in pain we cry out to Him, and He comes and He applies pressure to the tender spots with His healing hands. And while it may hurt for a while and cause us even more pain, it’s a “good pain”. If you’ve ever had a massage you know exactly what I mean when I say “good pain”. It’s a pain that’s, well, painful, but it’s a good pain because you know that it’s making the other pain better in the end. There were several points in my massage where Dianne asked me, “is this OK”? And I would say, “It hurts but it’s not more than I can handle. I’ll tell you if it’s too much. It’s a good pain, I know it’s helping.” The first time I said the words “good pain” it struck both of us at the same time – there aren’t many things you can say that about. And yet as I sit here tonight pondering it all again I’m realizing, it is ALL good pain. No, it’s not all fun pain, or enjoyable pain, but it is all good pain. Because it’s all good for us pain.

Romans 8:28 tells us

And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good for those who are called according to his purpose.

And 2 Chronicles 32:7&8 say
Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or dismayed before the king of Assyria and all the horde that is with him, for there are more with us than with him. With him is an arm of flesh, but with us is the LORD our God, to help us and to fight our battles.

Take confidence in these words – they are the truth.

If God is for us, who can be against us? Romans 8:31

I‘m feeling led to take a break from writing today, but keep reading (2 Chronicles 27:1-29:36). I‘ve been a day ahead for quite a while now and I can tell you it‘s exciting, so take this extra time today to be still and prepare for today. J

Pray: Come Holy Spirit, 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 fiercely, open my hands so that I may give generously and receive humbly. Fill me with Your fire so that I can be more like You. In Jesus’ name, Amen!

Read: 2 Chronicles 24:1-26:23

God is helping me do what He’s called me to do! God had to bring me to the end of myself by allowing the Enemy to frustrate me with my inability to keep our house clean on my own. Sure I could keep up when it was just Sean and I, and even when the kids were tiny and didn’t really make much of a mess, but now that they’re older and making huge messes, well, even that wasn’t so hard. But when I started writing I had to choose write or clean. And I about drove myself to madness trying to keep my house spic and span all by myself while at the same time writing the way I felt God calling me to write. I was staying up until all hours of the night trying to get it all done. Notice I said “trying”, I didn’t say getting. Even when I was spending extra sleepless hours I still couldn’t keep our house clean the way I wanted it to be. In fact, it was just getting worse! (Check out “Rest” for more details on this time.)

Slowly, step by step God helped me let go of the idea of a perfect house. And He did that by whispering “You can’t do this all by yourself” every time I would try and get frustrated. He was pointing out my need for Him in my life; my need for His direction and wisdom. And that’s just it; I wasn’t asking Him for His opinion! So I just kept getting more and more frustrated until finally (praise God) I broke down and told my family “I can’t do this by myself any more. You have to help me.” And do you know what happened? They were thrilled to help! The kids had been craving the responsibility of chores, which is obvious by the fact that they’re now ASKING to do them! When they do a chore they are so proud of the fact that they just did something for themselves and for our family and it helped me. All that time that I had been doing those things for them, I was denying them that privilege and honor to help me. I was too proud to admit that I needed help and I was too hungry for the feeling of power that I got from keeping things MY way around the house. As if my way was the only way to do things or that it was the right way even! Who am I to say that the way the kids put the dishes away is wrong? If the job is done does it matter if it’s perfect?

God knows that we’re not perfect; He knows that He would do things way better than ours, yet He still allows us to be part of His plan and do work for Him instead of doing it Himself. Not because He can’t do it, but because He knows that it’s good for us and that it blesses us to do things on our own and for Him. So if God is OK with things not getting done perfectly so that His children can be part of the plan, then why can’t I be like that too? I am still discovering things that I need to let go of, I probably will for the rest of my life, but I’m thrilled with the control that I have let go of and allowed my family to be a team. Where we all work together to keep our house running smoothly and not just me doing it while they watch TV and make more messes for me to clean up.

As I have been praying the following prayer over the last few days I have been visualizing Christ coming and opening my eyes, ears, mind, heart and hands and then the Holy Spirit coming in fire and filling those areas of my being with His magnificent presence. Its powerful stuff folks, you should try it!

Pray: Come Holy Spirit, open the curtains over my eyes so that I may see You clearly, open the windows of my ears so that I may hear You soundly, open the skylight of my mind so that I may understand You better, open wide the French doors of my heart so that I may love You fiercely, lay open the fingers my hands so that I may give generously and receive humbly. Fill me with Your fire so that I can be more like You. Help me Lord, because I trust You. In Jesus‘ name, Father Thank You! Amen.

Read: 2 Chronicles 20:24-23:21

Yesterday was a difficult day for many of us apparently. The more I talked to people throughout the day yesterday the more I realized that there was a serious attack launched upon the people of God yesterday! Family members putting themselves in dangerous situations, widely known Christian political candidates family‘s health attacked, ministry financial supporters dying suddenly, the list could go on and on! For me personally, both my husband‘s ministry and my own were attacked yesterday. Mine through a mental attack on my dreams (explained in more detail in yesterday‘s post) and my husband‘s is being attacked in a much more physical sense.

His ministry is driving in Demolition Derbies around the country in order to pass out a free Bible to anyone who wants one. We pray over every Bible, insert an Alphabetical Bible in a year reading plan along with this website so they too can follow along with this devotional blog and have a support system for getting into and staying in the Word of God every day! It‘s an absolutely amazing ministry that we will be launching this summer (we are looking for volunteers and financial support if anyone is interested let us know).

His ministry is being threatened because the town we live in has decided that they do not want “junk“ cars in town and the fence that they are currently behind is on town property (aka an easement). Now, he could take his cars out to his buddy‘s house in the country to work on them, but then we, his family, would never see him! That‘s how we got into the ordeal we were in that inspired True Intimacy. He was never home because he was always out at his friend‘s house. And when he was home, he was on the derby websites talking to his friends. I was so alone during that time and honestly, neither one of us wants to go back there.

This morning as I was doing my daily reading God was speaking to me about the situation with the fence and cars. The word “fortify“ kept popping out to me. After reading I spend a few minutes meditating on what I have just read. I sit and listen for the voice of God to speak to me. Today He put a picture in my head. I was standing in the middle of the section of fence that is currently under attack, with my hands outstretched on the fence, head bowed praying for God‘s blessing and protection over it. I was fortifying it with prayer. Then He showed me walking around our entire property and marking off our territory with my feet, showing the enemy where He was drawing the lines of protection. And it wasn‘t just over our property either! I walked around two of our neighbor‘s properties as well!

In yesterday‘s reading we started chapter twenty and finished it today. I would really like to take a closer look at that chapter right now because I think it perfectly illustrates what many of us are facing at the moment. Opposition.

Some men came and told Jehoshaphat, “A great multitude is coming against you from Edom, from beyond the sea; and, behold, they are in Hazazon-tamar“ (that is Engedi). Then Jehoshaphat was afraid and set his face to seek the LORD, and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah. And Judah assembled to seek help from the LORD: from all the cities of Judah they came to seek the LORD.

Here is our first key, when Jehoshaphat was afraid he “set his face to seek the LORD“. Whether by a town letter head, a police officer at our door, or a phone call from a family member, however we receive the news that the Enemy forces are approaching our first reaction needs to be to seek the LORD. Honestly, how we do that will vary but the main point is to open our hearts to Him in that moment. Trust Him to take care of us within our circumstances and to lead us in the way that we should go. Jehoshaphat‘s response was to pray aloud:

O LORD, God of our fathers, are You not God in heaven? You rule over all the kingdoms of the nations. In Your hand are power and might, so that none is able to withstand You. Did You not, our God, drive out the inhabitants of this land before Your people Israel, and give it forever to the descendants of Abraham your friend? And they have lived in it and have built for You in it a sanctuary for Your name, saying, “If disaster comes upon us, the sword, judgment, or pestilence, or famine, we will stand before this house and before you – for Your name is in this house – and cry out to You in our affliction, and You will hear and save.“ And now behold, the men of Ammon and Moab and Mount Seir, whom You would not let Israel invade when they came from the land of Egypt, and whom they avoided and did not destroy – behold, they reward us by coming to drive us out of Your possession, which You have given us to inherit. O our God, will You not execute judgment on them? For we are powerless against this great horde that is coming against us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on You.“

When disaster is upon us do we stand before God and cry out to Him? When we do not know what to do where do we look? Do we try to fix the problem ourselves? The answer to those questions is a critical one my friends so be sure to question yourself. What our first reaction is in a disaster is the tell tale sign of where we are looking for help. When we look to our own strength and power it results in failure because “we are powerless against this great horde that is coming against us“. We are powerless but God is all power-full. Because Jehoshaphat looked to the LORD in his time of trouble, God‘s response to him was:

Do not be afraid and do not be dismayed at this great horde, for the battle is not yours but God‘s. Tomorrow go down against them. Behold, they will come up by the ascent of Ziz. You will find them at the end of the valley, east of the wilderness of Jeruel. You will not need to fight in this battle. Stand firm, hold your position, and see the salvation of the LORD on your behalf. O Judah and Jerusalem. Do not be afraid and do not be dismayed. Tomorrow go out against them, and the LORD will be with you.

Did you catch that? You will not need to fight in this battle. Uh… WHAT??? God is telling them to go down as if they are going to fight, but then instead of running ahead and attacking the enemy they are told to Stand firm, hold your position, and see the salvation of the LORD on your behalf. I think that‘s interesting because God said almost the exact same thing through Moses to the Israelites as they were exiting Egypt! The Red Sea (yet to be parted) was before them and the army of Pharoah was behind them and rapidly closing in. The Israelites were crying out and asking Moses why he had brought them there to die when he said to them The LORD will fight for you, and you have only to be silent (Exodus 14:14). I‘ve been talking a lot about it lately, but here I go again. There is POWER in stillness. There is strength in being still and remembering that He is God, not you. There is wisdom in simply standing firm, holding your position and waiting for the LORD to act on your behalf. When you wait for the LORD to act for you, you get to WATCH God work. You get to see the miraculous salvation He has planned for you!

In verse twenty Jehoshaphat imparts the plan to the people:

“Hear me, Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem! Believe in the LORD your God, and you will be established; believe his prophets, and you will succeed.“ And when he had taken counsel with the people, he appointed those who were to sing to the LORD and praise Him in holy attire, as they went before the army, and say,

“Give thanks to the LORD, for His steadfast love endures forever.“ And when they began to sing and praise, the LORD set an ambush against the men of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir, who had come against Judah, so that they were routed. For the men of Ammon and Moab rose against the inhabitants of Mount Seir, devoting them to destruction and when they had made an end of the inhabitants of Seir, they all helped to destroy one another.

Jehoshaphat‘s big defensive strategy was to sing praises to the LORD! How many times as Christians have we heard the saying “praise Him in the storm“, this is what that saying means! Jehoshaphat‘s army had no chance of standing up against the massive army of the Enemy, at least, that‘s how the Enemy saw it anyway. But because they sought their help from the LORD Almighty instead of trying to help themselves the end result of that battle was that their enemies ended up killing each other and never even touching Judah!

When Judah came to the watchtower of the wilderness, they looked toward the horde, and behold, there were dead bodies lying on the ground; none had escaped. When Jehoshaphat and his people came to take their spoil, they found among them, in great numbers, goods, clothing and precious things, which they took for themselves until they could carry no more. They were three days in taking the spoil, it was so much. On the fourth day they assembled in the Valley of Beracah (which means blessing), for there they blessed the LORD. Therefore the name of that place has been called the Valley of Beracah to this day. Then they returned, every man of Judah and Jerusalem, and Jehoshaphat at their head, returning to Jerusalem with joy, for the LORD had made them rejoice over their enemies. They came to Jerusalem with harps and lyres and trumpets, to the house of the LORD. And the fear of God came on all the kingdoms of the countries when they heard that the LORD had fought against the enemies of Israel. So the realm of Jehoshaphat was quiet, for his God gave him rest all around.

Not only did God use Judah‘s praises to fight the enemy that was marching against them, but He used their praises to confuse the enemy to the point of defeating each other and leaving behind more abundance than the army of Jehoshaphat could carry in one trip! It took them THREE DAYS to pick up all the things that their enemy had left behind! God used their enemy to make His children rich! God used the battle to bless His children.

God used the battle to bless His children. God used the battle to bless His children. (I want to make sure you heard me on that one.) Before the battle if we aren‘t focused on God then the result of the battle will be the blessing of returning our focus to God. And when we are looking at God the result of the battle will be the blessing of greater intimacy with God and potentially material abundance as well! We will return home from the battle with joy, for the LORD will make us rejoice over our enemies and the fear of God will come on all the kingdoms of the countries when they hear that the LORD fights against anyone who opposes us.

Sing: