Nursery or Boot Camp?

I'm afraid many churches and Christian ministries have become nurseries.  Intending to show mercy and grace, we've instead coddled, rocked and nursed new believers way past their infancy.  They've needed hand-holding and we've been eager to comply.

But maybe we should be boot camps instead of nurseries.   When they leave boot camp, they've toughened up and know the basics in handling a gun, surviving impossible terrain, and how to storm a beachhead.  They know they have an enemy who wants to destroy them.

Controlling Wives & Churches

"Then he said to the woman, 'I will sharpen the pain of your pregnancy and in pain you will give birth.  And you will desire to control your husband, but he will rule over you.'"  Genesis 3:16 (NLT)

I had a thought the other morning.  I wonder if The Church is suffering from the same dysfunction as wives?  Or is it...wives are suffering from the same dysfunction as The Church?

Let me explain what I mean.  When Adam & Eve chose to sin, God removed them from the garden with these curses:  men would work by the sweat of their brow and women would have pain in child birth and want to control their husbands.  Jesus came to break those curses at the cross.  (Galatians 3:13)  But...we have to appropriate that work in our lives.  It's one thing to know the curse has been broken, but we have to choose to live in freedom and grace.

So...a dysfunction would be for a woman to still control her husband.  She's been set free from that curse.  But she has to appropriate it.  (FYI: Personally, I believe a woman controls her husband when she doesn't feel loved by him.  And a man resists a controlling wife.  So they can get caught up in a vicious cycle until someone steps up to redeem the relationship with love and respect.)

My question...is The Church walking in that same dysfunction?  Is she walking under the curse and trying to CONTROL?  After all, The Church is the bride of Christ.  And since the pastor is the manager of God's household (the steward left to oversee in Christ's absence), is he loving The Church?  Or...does The Church really know Christ's love?  Have they received the love He has for them?  

Who will break the cycle of dysfunction and redeem?  Are wives only mimicking what they see happening in The Church?

"For wives, this means submit to your husbands as to the Lord. For a husband is the head of his wife as Christ is the head of the church. He is the Savior of his body, the church. As the church submits to Christ, so you wives should submit to your husbands in everything."  Ephesians 5:22-24

If The Church isn't submitting to Christ, we have no example for marriages.   

The Power of the Holy Spirit

Thought continued from yesterday....

How often do we deny the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives?   

There's the ultimate denial of the power of the Holy Spirit (which is what II Timothy 3:5 is really talking about) which produces an unbeliever.  God tells us to avoid people who act religious but have no power.  That's pretty strong stuff!!  But those are the people who want to entangle us in legalism--to the rules and regulations of religion.  There's a reason God wants us to avoid them--that's not what He wants for our lives!  He came to break us out of that bondage and bring us life and freedom!  Jesus called these legalists a brood of vipers.  He's pretty serious about avoiding these people.

But then there's the believer who avoids the power of the Holy Spirit.  That was me for years.  I grew up in a denomination which taught us to fear the Holy Spirit.  We were all about the Word (which is good--but is full of the Holy Spirit, by the way!).  My denomination saw the abuses in other denominations (which threatened to spill over into ours) and it snapped down its tent corners so the Holy Spirit knew He wasn't welcome.  Were there abuses in those other denominations?  Yes.  But I wonder which is worse--people who are open to the Holy Spirit and imagine things He hasn't instigated or people who never allow Him in?  The Holy Spirit is a gentleman and won't go where He's not welcome.   But let me also say here that there were denominations teaching the truth about the Holy Spirit during that time and walking in freedom.

Jesus told us the Holy Spirit was coming and he would teach us, guide us, counsel us, help us, comfort us, bring truth from the Father to us, strengthen us, and intercede and advocate for us.  And yet many believers walk alone--without all of that help.  They've rejected the power of the Holy Spirit.  They want to do it themselves.  And they can; He lets them.  But what that means is they never have the power of the Spirit working in their lives and they will never have the fruit of the Spirit.  We can't "work up" the fruit ourselves...it's a natural overflow from allowing the Holy Spirit to have control of our lives.

I remember when I went to God and opened my heart and confessed to Him, "God, You're going to have to help me.  I'm afraid of the Holy Spirit.  I don't want to be, but I am.  Please help me get past my fear and receive all He has for me."  That's all it takes.  God very gently began opening my heart to see the power that was available to me.  

But it's a battle--because it's all about control.  Do I give up and allow the Spirit to control my life (walking in the Spirit)  or do I control myself (walking in the flesh)?  I've been walking in the Spirit for many years now, but I still have to make a conscious choice to ask for the power of the Spirit in my life--and submit to it.  I can be going along and realize I'm making lots of decisions for myself, my ministry, my family which are pure flesh--what I can do.  It shakes me!  Because I want to see the power of God--what only He can do in my life and all around me.

There are some books I can recommend.  I'm reading Spirit Rising by Jim Cymbala right now.  Years ago, I read Surprised by the Power of the Spirit by Jack Deere and intend to re-read it this week.  Last week, Zach told me about The Holy Spirit--an Introduction by John Bevere.  It will be next on my reading list.

I encourage you to open your heart and mind to the Holy Spirit.  There's power when you do!

All that current and nothing plugged in...

II Timothy 3:1-5
"But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with such people."

I wanted to give you context for the verse that has been bothering me the past few days.  Bothering me like a splinter in my finger which I keep trying to dig at and can never quite get.

It's this part:  having a form of godliness but denying its power.   I had to ask myself if I was denying the power available to me--the power of the Holy Spirit.  I'd like to ask you the same question.  Have you been denying the power available to you?

All of that current running through us and nothing plugged in.

More to come...

Disciples who DO!

Have you ever had those moments when God has just lifted a veil from your eyes and you see something in a totally different way?  It usually comes after I've been questioning or searching for truth.  I may have read that scripture dozens of times but suddenly, it comes alive!  I see from a completely new paradigm.

That happened to me this morning.  There are so many sick people around me.  People I desire to see healed--completely.  And I've been praying and asking.  And I began to wonder when we became learners instead of doers.  I mean...Jesus modeled healing others.  And then he called twelve disciples and sent them out with power and authority to cast out demons and heal the sick.  (Matthew 10:1)  What is a disciple anyway?  Dictionary.com says it's a personal follower of Christ...someone who is taught or trained.  And Jesus did both.  He taught His disciples as He was modeling what they were to do.

When did we just become learners--students who sit in Bible classes?  Did it start with Paul's letters?  But if you stop and think about it, Paul was writing letters to people who were doing.  They'd seen and learned how to be a disciple.  Paul was mainly correcting the way they were doing ministry.  In fact, in Acts 15:12, it says Paul & Barnabas rehearsed what signs and wonders God had performed through them among the Gentiles.  James 5:14-16 tells us how to anoint and pray for the sick.  I think the church has adopted the misguided notion that teaching the Word is all we need to be doing with our disciples.  But we never show them how to step into using what we've learned--except to perpetuate the teaching process.  Or we just believe those gifts stopped.

Before Jesus went to heaven, his last act with his 11 disciples was to tell them to go and make disciples of all the nations.  (Matthew 28:18-20)  WE are those disciples.  Have we become what Jesus intended?  Why are we content to sit and learn...over and over and over...and never DO?

Satan loves secrets

Satan loves darkness, isolation, and secrets.  He knows that if he can isolate you and fill your mind with his dark thoughts and convince you to keep them secret, he can win the battle to destroy you. (John 10:10) That was the very first act we see of his in the Bible.  He got Eve alone.  He filled her mind with dark thoughts, "Can it really be that God has said you shall not eat from every tree of the garden?"  He inferred these things:  "God is holding out on you!  Does He really love you?  He doesn't want the best for your life.  I can offer you more." And then he makes it very enticing.  And once we bite, we enter into his destructive, dark snare of isolation.

But God has told us that there's nothing hidden that won't be brought to light.  (Mark 4:22)  God IS light.  And He exposes secrets for our own good.  He knows how destructive they are and how they don't end in just being a secret.  They will spiral us to a place of isolation, fear, lies, and death--and that mainly being separation from God. God came looking for Adam & Eve after they'd eaten the forbidden fruit.  He found them hiding in their nakedness.  They wanted to hide their sinful state from God.  They didn't want to be exposed...and neither do we.

If Satan comes whispering secrets in your ear, RUN!  Don't stop and listen.  Don't be enticed.  He has nothing good to offer and only wants to lure you into darkness away from the God of Light. His secrets will isolate you not only from God but from people who love you.  He will make you feel hopeless and feel there is no way out.

But there is a way out!!  Trust God when He gently urges you to Himself and into the light.  He wants to expose your secrets--not to harm you, but to heal you.  His full purpose is to restore fellowship with you.  He called out to Adam & Eve, "Where are you?"  He wanted them to admit their secret.  He wanted them to willingly come out so He could lead them home--to Himself.

And He only wants the same for you and me.

Judas

Andy was preaching on tithing Sunday and mentioned how Judas was the treasurer for the disciples.  Who gave him that position?  Jesus.  Did Jesus know Judas had the heart of a thief?  Yes.  Judas is the one who rebuked Mary for pouring perfume on Jesus.  He wanted to know why she wasted it instead of giving that money to the poor.  Was he really concerned about the poor?  No.  He was pilfering money from the money box and was concerned about what he was losing.

As I've thought on this, there have been so many applications for me.  First, I have to ask myself, "What am I hanging on to?  Do I have the heart of a thief?"  Those times when I don't want to tithe or give means I'm wanting it for myself.  Jesus told us we couldn't serve God and money.  It was either one or the other.  It really is all about our hearts.

The second application is this:  We don't have to worry about God's reputation.  If He's not concerned about a disciple--who is a thief--taking care of the money box, He's not worried about a preacher who is consumed with himself or a church treasurer who wants control or someone who doesn't want to tithe or a modern-day disciple who just doesn't want to walk in the truth!  

God is big enough to take care of His own reputation!  Too many times, I think we get concerned for God and want to fix things for Him.  We want to be the spiritual policemen instead of trusting the power of the Holy Spirit to bring His own conviction.   He's simply told us to love others.  When we do bring correction (which we are to do with a brother), we are to come in the spirit of meekness and to speak the truth in love.

Father, please purify us of the Judas spirit!

Here's My Weakness, God!

Has God spoken something into your life?  Have you then watched as Satan tried to destroy it?  Me, too.

That was my thought as Zach preached this sermon last week.  Joseph had a couple of dreams--ones where his family members bowed down to him.  Which meant he would some day have some kind of authority over his own family.  And Satan (using his jealous brothers and a spurned woman) did his dead-level-best to destroy that prophecy.  Joseph was sold into slavery and then ended up in prison.  But I believe God used those situations in his life to temper Joseph...to strengthen his integrity, determination and courage.  And God wasn't hampered by those details--He used them!  He took the dire circumstances of Joseph's life and lifted him to a place of leadership...one where his family came and bowed before him.

This gives me so much encouragement!  I've been meditating on this all week.  And it goes hand-in-hand with II Corinthians 12:9-10, "But he said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.' Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong."

Whether God has spoken into our lives or we just have a weakness...we can know Satan wants to destroy us in that area.  But God wants to fulfill His good plan and turn our weakness into a strength.  The very thing Satan wants to destroy in us is the very thing God will use.  And he may use the dire circumstances of our lives to fulfill His promise.

This has caused me to come to God anew and offer Him my weak place.  Here's my weakness, God!  I want it to become strong through the power and workings of the Holy Spirit.  In fact...God said that's exactly what He would do!  And I believe Him.

"As for you, you thought evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring about that many people should be kept alive, as they are this day."  

Genesis 50:20

Making Cookies with Granny

I've been lazy today.  I'm still in bed in my pajamas reading an old journal.  In it (from 1999), I read the story of me remembering how my mom let her grandkids make cookies with her.

Granny had the recipe, she mixed the ingredients, but she let the kids stand on a chair and "help."  They agreed for the cookies.  Each ingredient didn't look like a cookie.  The dough didn't look like cookies.  But those kids trusted Granny.  If she said, "We're making cookies," they believed her and chose to participate in making them.  Now some grandkids didn't like getting their hands dirty.  They didn't want to help--they just wanted to eat the cookies!  But they missed out on the sense of accomplishment of "our cookies."  God bless Granny!  (The best I've been able to do with my grandkids is open a Pillsbury refrigerated cookie package and let them put dough on the cookie sheet.)

It reminds me of our lives.  God's promised so much.  And in the middle of our "cookie making," it may not look much like cookies--or the fulfillment of God's promise.  But we can say "It is Good!" just because we know He's in the process and we trust Him.  He has the recipe for our success!  By our act of getting on the chair, we're participating.  We're standing there in faith believing that He'll do what He says He will do.  And it may be a messy process and not at all like we think it should look.  We have to trust Him.

There's delight in sharing a cookie with Granny--a sense of working together and enjoying eating the fruit of your labors. There's also delight in looking back and seeing how God has fulfilled promises, how He's been at work in your life all the time...when each ingredient looked nothing like a cookie!

Racing to the Ever-Moving Finish Line

"But understand this, that in the last days will come perilous times of great stress and trouble [hard to deal with and hard to bear]."

II Timothy 3:1 (Amp.)

We have more conveniences than at any time in history.  We have greater technology than ever before.  And yet our burdens haven't lessened.  In fact, I believe they have increased.  Why?

I used to read this verse and think it was talking about terrible persecution for the Church (and that still may be ahead for some of us).  But I'm seeing it differently now. I think our abundance of technology has increased our burden.  

I know that when my parents were kids, life was much simpler...think "farm life" with a large family.  Heck!  Even when I was a kid, life was much simpler!!  Most of us didn't have air conditioning, so it was cooler to play outside than stay indoors--with a neighborhood full of kids.  We didn't have lots of "things"--we created our own entertainment.  I remember making hundreds of mud pies and feeding them to my younger brother.  My brothers made garden battle grounds where their army men fought in great wars.  We swung on the rope hung on the only tree in our neighborhood--put there by a fun dad.  We walked to the "little store" for entertainment and a treat.  We spent a whole afternoon in the public library--where our flip-flops irritated the librarian.  Yes, life was simpler.  

I believe dishwashers, air conditioners, TV's, laptops, iPhones, and instant messaging has served to complicate our lives.  Even though I love these conveniences and the help they've been to my life and the way they've made me more comfortable, life has become harder.  Even if we do those things I did as a kid, there's pressure to do more stuff...talk to more people...inform our audience of every move we make (write blogs ;))...compete...and race to the ever-moving finish line.  And because we don't interact face-to-face as much as people did in generations past, more relationships are broken...which only adds to the stress and pressure.  The conveniences we have have only made us more internal.  We just want to go home and relax at the end of a day.  We don't have time or energy for people and complications.

Whew!  I'm tired just writing and thinking about this.  I'm so grateful that many of our younger generation are trying to simplify their lives.  It's going to take a concerted effort on our part to pull ourselves away from the great stress.  We don't have to give in to it.  God was warning us...but not without solution.  Here's the end of that discourse Paul was giving in II Timothy 3:

"But as for you, continue to hold to the things that you have learned and of which you are convinced, knowing from whom you learned [them],  And how from your childhood you have had a knowledge of and been acquainted with the sacred Writings, which are able to instruct you and give you the understanding for salvation which comes through faith in Christ Jesus [through the leaning of the entire human personality on God in Christ Jesus in absolute trust and confidence in His power, wisdom, and goodness].  Every Scripture is God-breathed (given by His inspiration) and profitable for instruction, for reproof and conviction of sin, for correction of error and discipline in obedience, [and] for training in righteousness (in holy living, in conformity to God’s will in thought, purpose, and action), So that the man of God may be complete and proficient, well fitted and thoroughly equipped for every good work." 

We must be conformed to God's will in thought, purpose and action.  When's the last time we asked God how we should be thinking?  What His purpose was for our lives?  What we should be doing?  We've GOT to slow down long enough, and be still and quiet while we ask God these questions.  We have to let that God-breathed Scripture change our thinking.  THAT'S how to get out of the race we seem to be in--the one with the ever-moving finish line.

Hadassah

I've begun teaching my favorite Bible story to the kids at FBC Groom...Esther.  Did you know Esther's Hebrew name was Hadassah?  But of course, since neither she nor Mordecai, her cousin who reared her, wanted to reveal their Jewish roots, she went by her Persian name, Esther.  Their family had been taken captive in Jerusalem and carried to Babylon and they
were now living in Persia (which stretched from India to Ethiopia) and Mordecai was serving under King Ahasuerus.  Mordecai must have loved Esther and taught her the things of God and especially  "obedience."

As I was teaching this to the kids last night and taught how Esther was brought to the ultimate beauty contest and went before the king, she stood out among all the other women.  I asked the kids what they thought made her stand out.  And they all agreed it was her obedience.  I left them with the cliff hanger of the secret she and Mordecai shared and how it would affect not only their lives, but the lives of a kingdom.

Obedience.  It's so appealing, so beautiful, so magnetic.  And of course, I would go on to say that as a woman (adult), it was her submission to God that made her stand out.  Obedience/submission...you can't have one without the other, right?  I can't obey if I don't first submit my heart to God.  I Peter 3 says that submission yields a gentle and quiet spirit which is beautiful before God.

The thing I was thinking on yesterday is that Esther's story is really God's story.  He just spoke it through Esther's life.  Through Esther, we learn that God loves His people and will go to any length to rescue them.  I think it's why I love this story so much.  My heart yearns to know how much God loves me...and that He will go to any length to rescue me.  I also long to know that He will speak His story through my life.

*Fun Fact

Hadassah of the Bible was in Persia, which stretched from India to Ethiopia.  Our Hadassah is from Ethiopia.  Hadassah of the Bible was an orphan taken in by a relative.  Our Hadassah was orphaned and taken in.  Esther means "star."  When Jay & Amy first got a photo of our Hadassah, she was wearing a little gown that had a star on it.  It was just God's confirmation to them that this was their child (Because they had already chosen the name, Hadassah.).  Esther 2 says that Hadassah was beautiful.  I rest my case on that one!   

Chasing God

Chasing God.  It sounds right, doesn't it?  It did until I read my friend's blog.  Hope Huddleston challenges me in many ways.  And she challenged me with her blog.  I couldn't stop thinking about it!  She read the book, Chasing God, by Angie Smith.  Here's a quote from that book which has stayed with me since I read it:

It's the difference between following and chasing.

The key that finally turned the door of my faith was understanding that we are called to one and not the other.

Angie goes on to say in her book that God revealed this to her:

You chase Me because you trust your own legs more than you trust Me.

You chase Me because you can feel the air in your lungs, not because you want to breathe true life.

And as long as you can chase, you still get a say.  You maintain part-ownership of our relationship.  You would run forever in the wrong direction if it meant your flesh didn't have to admit the truth.

You chase because it feels like you can.

Chasing vs. Following.  I've run hard for many years chasing God.  Doing it my way, in my own strength, having a say in how it looks.  In fact, if I'm honest, I've often pushed God trying to get Him to go faster or even just gone around Him setting my own pace and going where I wanted to go, asking Him to bless it.  But I'm called to FOLLOW.  Following seems to be a much slower, easier pace.  It's walking behind my Shepherd knowing He's leading me to still waters and green grass.  It's waiting on Him.  He has my best interest at heart.

Thanks, Hope, for posting this.  You've challenged me once again.  By the way....I LOVE your new look and hope you'll blog about it soon!!  You are one gutsy, beautiful lady to emulate!

Life-Changer

Andy was singing with Vicki & the Royalheirs when we met.  My college roommate had the 8-track and we listened to this album all the time!  Little did I know I would marry this incredible musician!  

(Andy's on the top left)

I'm going through Beth Moore's study, The Inheritance (again), and one of the first questions she asks is this, "What was the year that changed your life?"  I've been thinking on that and there have been many life-changing moments throughout my life and most came through difficult circumstances.  But I want to tell you about the first moment which came through Dale Younce's teaching.

I was 12-years-old and at CEF camp.  (That is Child Evangelism Camp, for those not familiar.  You can check CEF out here.)  My mom taught CEF and we went to their camp every summer.  Dale Younce was the pastor at Faith Covenant (Bible) Church in Borger and he was teaching on dating at camp that year.  He encouraged us to begin praying this way:  "God prepare me for my spouse.  And prepare my spouse for me."

Remember...I was 12-years-old.  But I took up his challenge.  I consistently prayed that God would prepare me for my husband and prepare my husband for me.  Andy was 17-years-old when I began praying that way.  I didn't meet my future husband until six years later.  I've often wondered what those prayers did...

And then when we did meet, it was on a blind date set up by two of our friends.  And I can tell you that I KNEW when I met Andy that I was going to marry him!  Later, he told me the same thing.  It was if our spirits recognized one another.  I'm not saying it's a formula, but I am saying God prepared us for one another and we knew it when we met.

My life changed when I was 12-years-old.  I believed God would hear and answer my prayers and I took this one prayer very seriously.  So did God.

I Recommend Change

I highly recommend change.  Don't we all get in ruts in our lives?  We may live in the same place for years, go to the same church, see the same friends, know everyone at our kids' schools, and talk to the same people all the time.  I love familiarity.  As I've said before, I'm a person who loves deep roots.  And God allowed that in my life.

But then God told my husband to "get out of the box."  I'd seen it coming for quite some time.  I felt God loosening my grip on things I held dear and turning my face towards the Son who was full of creative ideas.  And I told God I was willing to do anything or go anywhere...and I meant it.  I wanted Andy's dreams realized.  (Don't think too highly of me--it took me 38 years to get there!)

I love familiarity, but change is oh, so good!  It forces us to readjust our lives.  We have new people to get to know, a new way of thinking, new places to shop, and friends to make.  It stretches us in ways we may never have been stretched.  And it gives us a fresh outlook--we're seeing things in new ways and with an adjusted mindset.  I think it's pretty clever of God to uproot us and transplant us.  It shakes things up and keeps us dependent on Him.

I grieve now when I hear someone groaning over change--or just having a negative, rotten attitude.  Here are some things I recommend.

• Have a positive mindset.  Purpose to speak positive things about your situation.  Remember that life and death are in the power of the tongue.  The more you speak positive things, you'll find your mind quickly follows.  And remember you are the guage for your children--they're learning from you.
• Keep God's Word close to your heart.  Remember His plans for you and your family are GOOD!
• Ask God what He wants to teach you.  You can be sure He does.  
• Be adventurous!  See what your new home has to offer.  Get a library card, visit the shops, try new restaurants, go a different direction each week and see what landmarks are around you.  Meet new people as you go.
• Be brave.  Put yourself out there and meet people.  Everyone needs a friend.  And the best way to have a friend is to be one.  S-t-r-e-t-c-h yourself in this!!
• Invite people to your home.  It may be initiating a life group, inviting some kids over to play with your kids, having a mom over for coffee, inviting a family to dinner.  Just do it!

Don't sit at home groaning.  That won't solve your problem.  I can tell you I've done it that way before and the difference is life and death.  You're not allowing the power of the Holy Spirit access to your heart when you do that.  Give up.  Allow God to speak to you.  And begin to look for the silver lining in your cloud--I can promise it's there!  God didn't bring you this far to leave you.  He's got great purpose in bringing you to this new place.

I've found change to be very good.  God is good.  And His plans for us our good.  We can trust that.

Stop Fear

If you hate the way you keep responding to someone or some situation with the same bad response over and over, stop and examine the root of that response.  My guess is that the basis of it is fear.  Fear seems to be the basis of most bad things in our lives.  I challenge you to stop and examine and just see if fear lives there.

Satan is behind that fear.  He wants us to fear.  Because if we allow fear in our lives and imagine that fear long enough in our minds, we'll act on it.  But God says that He hasn't given us the spirit of fear; but of love, power and a sound mind.

Draw a line in the sand with fear.  No more!  Don't allow it to have free reign in your mind.     Keep examining your responses and stop fear from controlling you.  Ask God for truth which will set you free.  Do that over and over until it becomes a way of life--and you can stop the cycle of bad responses.  You'll be transformed by the renewing of your mind.

I know this sounds simplistic, but I promise....it's stopped fear dead in its tracks in my own life.

Live in the love...the power...the sound mind.  Live in truth.

Greatness

I think we are all born with a desire for greatness.  That's why kids emulate superheroes, princesses, rock stars, or pro athletes.  There's a seed in us desiring to achieve, to attain, to burst into greatness.  Amazingly, I was thinking on this as I was going to bed last night.  And I'm not sure what happened...but it was something of the Spirit.  Truth washed over me and I lay there crying.  It was a beautiful moment.

Ephesians 2:10 (Amplified) says this, "For we are God's own handiwork, recreated in Christ Jesus that we may do those good works which God predestined (planned beforehand) for us (taking paths which He prepared ahead of time), that we should walk in them (living the good life which He prearranged and made ready for us to live).

God does have a destiny for us.  It was planned long before we were born.  Think about Joseph in the Bible.  God told him early in his life through dreams that he would be in authority and his brothers would bow down to him.  David was anointed king many years before he ever became king.  Both of these men had an inkling of their destiny early on.  They were bound for greatness.   But I don't think the greatness was in their positions of authority.  And I don't think they thought that either.  Their greatness was in the process.  Their greatness was in the breaking and remaking of their lives.  And their greatness was in relationships.

God did fulfill what he promised to both men.  Joseph's brothers did bow before him--he was in great authority.  David became king.  But what is the highlight of their stories?  The highlight of Joseph's story is in the restoration of his relationships with his brothers.  The highlight of David's story was his relationship with God--a man after God's own heart.

We may never do great things--at least in the way we've imagined.  But let me ask you--how's the process been?  Has there been a breaking and remaking going on in your life?  Is God restoring relationship or are you building relationship with God?  If the answer is yes to those questions, then you're on the path to greatness.

As that truth washed over me last night, I could do nothing but weep.  God doesn't count greatness as we count greatness.  But He's already planned great destiny for each of us.

Blindspots

Blindspots. We all have them.  We look in the mirror and think we're seeing clearly.  When there's clearly a truck coming--which we can't see without help.  It takes a wide angle mirror or turning around to actually see what is there in truth.

Truth.  We all need it.  I can remember a time in my early 20's when I thought I was always right.  God quickly dispelled that nonsense by giving me a clear and true picture of myself in a dream.  (Wow!  If it hadn't been from God, I would have called it a nightmare.)  But even though I know  that I'm not always right, I can still have an over-inflated view of myself and my position on issues.  I'm learning to approach differences with others with a few questions of myself.  Like...

• What is truth?
• Why do I feel so strongly about this issue?
• Is this issue more important than this relationship?
• Do I press this point because it is truth?
• Am I God's spokesman in this situation...or do I just want to be right?
• Am I extending grace?

God doesn't need me.  Thankfully, He allows me to be a part of His plan at times.  And even though I have a strong sense of justice, right & wrong, and truth...I know it's not enough.  Paul instructed us to grow up, become mature.  And part of that maturity involves speaking the truth in love.  Truth without love is harsh.  Love without truth is weak.  The perfect combination we should all seek is truth in love.

"Then we will no longer be immature like children. We won’t be tossed and blown about by every wind of new teaching. We will not be influenced when people try to trick us with lies so clever they sound like the truth. Instead, we will speak the truth in love, growing in every way more and more like Christ, who is the head of his body, the church. He makes the whole body fit together perfectly. As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love."

Ephesians 4:14-16

What Would You Do?

What would you do if you had a vision like Ezekiel had?  Ezekiel had never seen anything fly through the sky except a bird.  But he saw wheels with eyes flying.  He saw the likeness of four men with straight legs and feet like calves, each had four faces--each different--and each likeness had four wings.  He saw above that a lining like ice and above that a throne like sapphire.  A man was on the throne and it was as if fire was radiating out of him with a glory above him like a rainbow.  What would you do if you saw something you'd never seen before?  Imagine being at a loss for words to describe something flying if you'd never seen an airplane or spaceship.  

Ezekiel was supernaturally transported back to his people to deliver a message from God.  When he got there, he sat among them for seven days--at a loss for words over what he'd just seen.  I imagine he was a little traumatized.  God had told him to not fear the people or fear their faces (don't we get intimidated when someone looks at us angrily or with contempt--and tend to back off?)  The message was hard...and God had already told Ezekiel they wouldn't repent.  What would you do?

We are told in Acts 2:17, "And it shall come to pass in the last days, God declares, that I will pour out of My Spirit upon all mankind, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy [telling forth the divine counsels] and your young men shall see visions (divinely granted appearances), and your old men shall dream [divinely suggested] dreams."

What would you do if you were given a vision or a dream?  Would you be willing to share it to whom God directed you?  It all sounds amazing to give a word to people until we realize it may be to angry people who may want to kill us.  We want to be a people "for such a time as this," like Esther, until we realize she was fighting for her life in the modern-day country of Iran, among a people who hated her people.

We're also told that in the last days, Christians will be hated among all nations.  If we're going to be given dreams and visions in the last days...and be hated by all nations in the last days...I think we better be praying.  Ezekiel couldn't do his job without being filled with the Spirit...and neither can we.

What would you do?

God's Patterns

God gave us many patterns to follow.  Not rules...but patterns.  And I've been learning there are many.  For instance, the tabernacle.

The tabernacle is a pattern of many things, I'm sure, but it's a pattern for worship.  We enter God's outer court with thanksgiving and praise. 

"Enter into His gates with thanksgiving and a thank offering and into His courts with praise! Be thankful and say so to Him, bless and affectionately praise His name!"  

Psalm 100:4  

We don't even enter the gates without thanksgiving and His outer court without praise.  I think this is why the enemy has made praise music such a huge issue in the church!!   Praise is the pattern to enter His presence....in worship and prayer.

Another pattern is the wine and bread in communion.

There's been a huge trend in the modern church to present any kind of bread for communion.  The pattern is unleavened bread.  Why is that so important?  Because it represents Christ.  And leavening represents sin.  If you present yeast bread, you're saying in effect that Christ had sin.  It's a misrepresentation of who Christ is.  We need to give a true representation of Christ when we have communion.  I love the matzah bread because it has stripes and is pierced--like Christ's body was when he was sacrificed as a pure offering for our sin.

I'm sure there are many more patterns.  Patterns are given so we can model ourselves after God's way of doing things.

Candlelight Dinner in Prison

Imagine being in prison and being offered fine clothing and a candlelight dinner with all of your favorite foods.  Just think about that for a minute.  Would you feel better about your circumstances?

Jehoiachin had been carried away captive from Judah to Babylon and put in prison.  But the Babylonian king brought him up out of prison, gave him a seat above the other kings in prison, gave him fine clothing, allowed him to dine at the king's table, and gave him an allowance the rest of his life.  (You can find all of this in Jeremiah 52:31-34.)

I've read of people in concentration camps during WWII who were given privileges during their internment.  It did relieve the strain of prison life.  So I'm sure Jehoiachin was appeased in much the same way.  But no matter what...you're still in prison.

As I read this portion of scripture years ago, this story leaped off the pages and reminded me of my own life.  I was in a prison of fear and the enemy was offering me position, clothes, food--and even an allowance--to stay there.

But one day, I had a vision.  I was sitting in a prison cell with unlocked shackles on my hands and legs and the prison door was wide open.  All I had to do was get up and walk out!  When Jesus died on the cross, those prison doors were opened.  The curse was broken.  And once I accepted Christ as my savior, that finished work was mine.  But I had to appropriate it.  I could spiritually possess freedom...but I had to physically, emotionally, and mentally choose to step out of that prison cell.

Are you in a prison?  The enemy would want you to think there's no way out.  He's offering you the world to stay right where you are.  You can accept his pittance...or you can choose to step out and receive the inheritance that is rightfully yours.  You may be in a prison of fear (like I was), anger, bitterness, unforgiveness, lust....or any number of things.  But there is a way out.  Knowing the truth sets you free.  God is offering you abundant life and He's already bought your freedom.  Believe it today and step out of that prison!

You can have a candlelight dinner in prison...but you're still in captivity.