Anticipation!

Do you know what I was doing before this moment? For weeks, and even months, I was preparing and anticipating being joined to this guy—to spend the rest of my life with him. I could not WAIT!! The smile you see on my face was a climatic moment for me. I was married to Andy Dietz, the love of my life. 

I always shake my head a little when I talk about the last days or about anticipating Jesus’ return and someone says, “Yes, but we don’t know the day nor the hour.” It makes me think they don’t want it to happen. Or at the least, it sounds as if they don’t want to get too excited ahead of time. 

Jesus told us with specific detail what those days would look like—and then he told us to “Watch!”  It’s kind of like my wedding. I knew every detail that needed to come together—and as they did, I knew the day was close. Now I knew the day and hour…but just because we don’t know the day nor hour of Jesus’ return, it doesn’t mean we can’t know it’s CLOSE! And just maybe the Father wanted to give us the surprise of all eternity by not disclosing the exact time. Don’t you think He loves when our anticipation builds?

Jesus is our bridegroom. He’s coming for his bride, the Church. That truth causes me to get stirred up with full-on anticipation, excitement, and giddiness. I can’t WAIT!!!

Look for me when it happens—my smile will be bigger than this!

Famine

Is there a famine where you live? I’ve been visiting Zach & Shanna and their church in Bixby, OK. They’ve told me how people are coming to their church “because they’ve looked and looked for a church where the Word was being taught—and they finally found it at Evergreen!” One family Zach knows is driving nearly 2 hours to come to their church. The pastor at Evergreen boldly and faithfully teaches the Word of God and the church is growing exponentially.  

God’s Word tells us there will be a famine of the Word being taught in the last days. Zach suggested an interpretation of that is that people will drive for hours just to hear the truth of God’s Word taught. 

There doesn’t have to be a famine. We should all be students of the Word of God! The Holy Spirit is the best teacher ever. And we don’t have to wait on a pastor to teach us. We can teach. Be faithful. Be fruitful. 

Bear. Fruit. 

“Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord God, when I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but [a famine] for hearing the words of the Lord. And [the people] shall wander from sea to sea and from the north even to the east; they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the Lord [inquiring for and requiring it as one requires food], but shall not find it.” Amos 8:11-12

Roaring

Life is mostly about Satan roaring—trying to instill  fear in us to the point of making us powerless. Can he do damage? Oh yes. But compared to the One True God…he is nothing.  

I believe when we get to heaven we’re going to see just how impotent Satan really was all along. He can do nothing without God’s permission. (Consider Job.) He knows his greatest power is making us fearful. If we’re consumed with fear, we won’t move forward. We won’t damage his kingdom or his plans. But we also won’t impact God’s kingdom. 

But if we are filled with God’s Word and see how powerful God’s mighty arm really is, courage rises in our hearts. Are we more powerful than Satan? No. But we have authority over him—and we belong to the One who is most powerful! I love what David had discovered about God when Saul was trying to kill him. He said, “He reached down from on high and took hold of me; he drew me out of deep waters.

17 He rescued me from my powerful enemy, from my foes, who were too strong for me. They confronted me in the day of my calamity, but the Lord was my support. He also brought me out into a broad place; he rescued me because he delighted in me.” 

Psalm 18:16-19

I don’t want to get to heaven and realize how much more powerful God could have been in my life if I’d just trusted him and cried out to him—believing His Word! I want to practice it now. I want “fear” to become the signal that Satan is lying to me and that I need to declare God’s Word and then cry out to my God to deliver me!

Satan roars to show his power and to instill fear in us. But we serve the Lion of Judah who holds ALL POWER and will some day destroy Satan and his demons. We can trust this fearsome Lion to deliver us!

19 brought me out into a spacious place;he rescued me because he delighted in me.

Check Your Heart

This is something very important to me. I fear a lot of my friends think they’ll go to heaven when they die because they quoted a “prayer of salvation” at some point in their lives.  By quoting a prayer, I mean they said something like this with their MIND: “God, I know I’m a sinner. Please forgive me of my sin and come into my heart. Help me to follow You all of my life.” They may not have even prayed this prayer. At some point they just said, “Yeah, I believe in God,” and thought the job was done.  

It’s one thing to believe God exists and that Jesus was born, died for our sins, and rose from the dead three days later. Even Satan believes that. 

But have you truly REPENTED of your sin? Did you do a 180° and turn from your sin and give your life unreservedly to God? Did you make him Lord of your life—which means He is now your boss? Did you give up control completely to Him? I won’t lie…it’s a hard thing to give up control. But have you let go??

I don’t mean have you quit sinning! Sin will always be around. Jesus told us there was a way to know that we’re His. Is there fruit in your life—fruit like love, joy, peace, patience, kindness? Do you talk about God? Do you have a desire to read the Bible and pray? Do you want to be different? Have you CHANGED? When you give God your heart, He begins changing your desires. 

Jesus told his disciples to “follow me.”  It’s the same for us. Are we following Jesus? Do we want to be different? Have we completely given Him our heart? It was obvious that the disciples were following him—they went where He went. It should be just as obvious that we’re following Jesus. But we don’t know how to follow Him if we’re not reading His guidebook, the Bible. 

It boils down to this. It’s not about believing with your mind. It’s believing with your heart. It’s understanding that you’re a sinner and need a savior to go to heaven. Jesus is the only way.  God made it fair for everyone by making one way. You have to repent of (turn away from) sin and follow Jesus. It’s an act of faith—trusting God’s words and letting go of your control and giving control to God. I’ve found it’s not only an initial decision in giving up control—I’ve had to frequently give up my control to His once I began following Him. Also…He’s never promised His followers an easy life. In fact, He told us to expect tribulation. But our reward isn’t here on earth—it’s in heaven!  

I just don’t want you to THINK you’re going to heaven when you’re not. Check your heart. Have you given up control to a God who loves you? The prayer above is a good prayer if you understand what it means and do it with all of your heart. 

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16

Snow Tunnels

It was around 1963 and there had been a big snow. We had big ones back then! I’m guessing the snow was 3-4 feet deep. And we were at the home of our best friends, the Ward’s. It was exciting to get together when something so monumental had happened—it meant hours of playing—even though I was the only girl in the crowd and had to adapt to the boys’ games. There was no playing “house” with this crew. Bob & Lonnie, the two oldest kids from each family, decided to dig a snow tunnel in the Ward’s back yard. 

I’m sure the moms never expected it to last long. You know how kids spend 30 minutes putting on snow gear for a 10 minute romp in the snow! But Bob & Lonnie we’re determined that day. They dug and dug. I think the only time they came inside was to collect more digging tools or to try to get me or Marvin to come take a look. But maybe Marvin helped dig…I don’t quite remember. Now I love the snow, but I don’t like to freeze. And I especially don’t like to die in an avalanche.  

But one time…one time I crawled through their day’s labor. It was eerily quiet and beautiful. I went to the end of one tunnel where I could peer into the next and then quickly made my way back to the door and inside the house. I didn’t want to die. And I wasn’t sure those guys were the builders their dads were. But they were sure proud of what they’d built!

I don’t know why that memory popped into my head this morning. Maybe it’s because I was thinking about faith. It’s not about how much faith we have. We all have some kind of faith—faith in our money, faith in our government, faith in our spouses, faith in our employer, etc. But it’s about the OBJECT of our faith.  Do we have faith in God? Not just do we believe He exists—but do we believe He sent His Son (Jesus) to die for our sins and that He rose again and lives in heaven right now, praying for us?  Do we have a teeny, tiny mustard seed of faith in God? Have we done a free fall into His arms knowing He will catch us and love us for all eternity? Have we said, “I give you my entire life!”? 

I could have fully trusted Bob & Lonnie with the snow tunnel—even though it was their first foray into building alone.  They both became gifted builders.