My eldest son came in the den last night and said, “I just don’t understand. Why would the dogs drink out the nasty water that is in the puddles in the yard, when they have clean, fresh drinking water in their bowl.” I just sat and smiled. He responded by asking “what are you smiling about.” I just said, “it is a good word picture, isn’t it.” That is when my fourteen year old piped into the conversation, saying “why would we drink out of the sewers of the world, when we could drink from the fountain of God-His pure water?”
I didn’t even have to give an answer. My sons clued in pretty quick. It made no sense that the dogs would walk right past the pure drinking water and lap up the water from the puddles in the grass. And yet, don’t we do the same thing. Don’t we walk right past the fountain of living water and drink from our own cisterns, from the world’s sewer.
It doesn’t make sense for the dogs and it doesn’t make sense for us. Except to say, we are no smarter than the dogs. Wisdom would help us to choose to drink not from the sewer but from the Savior. Not from the puddle but from the pure. And yet, much like a sow that returns to the mire or a dog that returns to its vomit, we return to the world instead of drinking deeply from the pure water that will satisfy every thirst.
Perhaps, we need to double check what we are doing. Are we no better than the dogs?
ALL FOR YOU
Tuesday, March 01, 2011
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
exodus 22
Have you ever heard someone blame shift when it came to their sin? Of course you have. You have even been one who does it. It started in the garden with Adam blaming Eve. Eve blaming the serpent. It is the age old deflection technique-that by the way-NEVER WORKS. It just makes you look even worse. Why? Because everyone knows and you are lying, justifying, blameshifting and/or covering up in hopes that you will look better than you are, when in reality you look worse.
This was the case with Aaron. Moses had been up on the Mt. to see God, to receive the 10 commandments. While there, the people got impatient and asked Aaron to make them a “god” to worship. Despite knowing better, Aaron makes a golden calf for the people to worship. When God sees what the people are doing, He is furious and He sends Moses down to confront them and to face God’s discipline.
When Moses confronts Aaron, asking what the people had done to convince him to do such a ludicrous thing, this is his response.
Exod 32:22-24
22 And Aaron said, "Do not let the anger of my lord burn; you know the people yourself, that they are prone to evil.
23 "For they said to me, 'Make a god for us who will go before us; for this Moses, the man who brought us up from the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.'
24 "And I said to them, 'Whoever has any gold, let them tear it off.' So they gave {it} to me, and I threw it into the fire, and out came this calf."
Aaron blames THE PEOPLE for being evil and then proclaims that he is not sure how it happened. He just threw some gold into a fire and OUT POPPED this calf. Sounds like an excuse a toddler would give. “I don’t know Mommy, it just popped out. But I didn’t do it.!”
But before we are too harsh on Aaron, let’s self evaluate and confess, that we are no different. We too, blameshift, cover up, lie and justify our sin. And the anger of the Lord burns against us when we do this. Why? Because He is mean and angry and just wants to punish us? NO! God is full of grace and ready to meet us in HIS mercy, however, HE does require that we OWN our sin. We can’t cover it up, make it look or sound nicer than what it is or pretend it just “popped out”. All of us want to be a people that receives His grace, but grace only comes in the confession of and repentance of sin.
I Jn 1:9-10
9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.
For most of us, confession is an issue. Self evaluation is absent and blame is the name of our game. Perhaps it is time for us to learn from the pages of Scripture. Own it and walk in His grace. Hide and you die.
ALL FOR YOU
This was the case with Aaron. Moses had been up on the Mt. to see God, to receive the 10 commandments. While there, the people got impatient and asked Aaron to make them a “god” to worship. Despite knowing better, Aaron makes a golden calf for the people to worship. When God sees what the people are doing, He is furious and He sends Moses down to confront them and to face God’s discipline.
When Moses confronts Aaron, asking what the people had done to convince him to do such a ludicrous thing, this is his response.
Exod 32:22-24
22 And Aaron said, "Do not let the anger of my lord burn; you know the people yourself, that they are prone to evil.
23 "For they said to me, 'Make a god for us who will go before us; for this Moses, the man who brought us up from the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.'
24 "And I said to them, 'Whoever has any gold, let them tear it off.' So they gave {it} to me, and I threw it into the fire, and out came this calf."
Aaron blames THE PEOPLE for being evil and then proclaims that he is not sure how it happened. He just threw some gold into a fire and OUT POPPED this calf. Sounds like an excuse a toddler would give. “I don’t know Mommy, it just popped out. But I didn’t do it.!”
But before we are too harsh on Aaron, let’s self evaluate and confess, that we are no different. We too, blameshift, cover up, lie and justify our sin. And the anger of the Lord burns against us when we do this. Why? Because He is mean and angry and just wants to punish us? NO! God is full of grace and ready to meet us in HIS mercy, however, HE does require that we OWN our sin. We can’t cover it up, make it look or sound nicer than what it is or pretend it just “popped out”. All of us want to be a people that receives His grace, but grace only comes in the confession of and repentance of sin.
I Jn 1:9-10
9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.
For most of us, confession is an issue. Self evaluation is absent and blame is the name of our game. Perhaps it is time for us to learn from the pages of Scripture. Own it and walk in His grace. Hide and you die.
ALL FOR YOU
Thursday, February 10, 2011
reset
I was cooking meatballs in my crockpot for dinner. I just love the crockpot. It makes for easy cooking when you have to work and need to get something for dinner together for the family. So, I put the meatballs in the crockpot and turned the power to low. About an hour and half later, I came back to check on them only to find that they were still uncooked. I began to investigate and I realized that there was no power getting to the crockpot. Somehow the test button had gotten pushed on the plug and the power was not getting to the meatballs. I hit the reset button and the power came right on. But now, my dinner was going to be late because I had no power because of the test.
Sometimes I feel like my meatballs. A test comes and it seems like I have no power and what I need to get done, doesn’t get done. Or I find myself frustrated at the lack of power. However, I am realizing that sometimes the answer is as simple as a reset button. The power is readily available, the test is in play, all I need is to reset and go.
For me, the reset often looks like a change in perspective, but most of the time it consists of me allowing my heart to sync up to the power source itself instead of just plugging in and going-without ever checking to see if the power is actually flowing. This means taking the time to reset. Taking the time to adjust my lens, adjust my heart and letting the power of God within do the job. I have all I need readily available in the test, I just have to reset so that I don’t try in my flesh or assume all is well, but instead lean into HIS power for the accomplishing of all things.
Perhaps you are like me and in need of a reset. Sometimes that takes getting still. Other times it means a friend holding you accountable or asking the right questions to hit the right “button” to make the power come on. Whatever it is, in the test, the meatballs never get done if you don’t reset.
ALL FOR YOU
Sometimes I feel like my meatballs. A test comes and it seems like I have no power and what I need to get done, doesn’t get done. Or I find myself frustrated at the lack of power. However, I am realizing that sometimes the answer is as simple as a reset button. The power is readily available, the test is in play, all I need is to reset and go.
For me, the reset often looks like a change in perspective, but most of the time it consists of me allowing my heart to sync up to the power source itself instead of just plugging in and going-without ever checking to see if the power is actually flowing. This means taking the time to reset. Taking the time to adjust my lens, adjust my heart and letting the power of God within do the job. I have all I need readily available in the test, I just have to reset so that I don’t try in my flesh or assume all is well, but instead lean into HIS power for the accomplishing of all things.
Perhaps you are like me and in need of a reset. Sometimes that takes getting still. Other times it means a friend holding you accountable or asking the right questions to hit the right “button” to make the power come on. Whatever it is, in the test, the meatballs never get done if you don’t reset.
ALL FOR YOU
Monday, February 07, 2011
replacement value
Replacement Value
Insurance companies don’t just insure for the cost of something when it is purchased. Most insure for replacement value. In other words, what it would cost to replace that item now, in the condition it is in. It is a pretty good concept, if something is torn down or lost it is vital to insure that you can replace it. Most of us understand this principle when it comes to insurance, but what about in our spiritual lives.
The Word says that we are to tear down strongholds and vain imaginations. (2 Cor 10:5) And EVERY lofty thought that exalts itself above God. For many of us, we need to do some demolition work in our minds. We need to tear down that which has is a stronghold of thought. That which doesn’t match up to the Word. We need to destroy those thought patterns in us that don’t lead us to live in a manner that lines up with the Word. But the work doesn’t stop with the demolishing. There is a need for REPLACEMENT VALUE.
Psalm 119:11 says that as we hide the Word of God in our hearts, we will not sin against God. In the previous verses it says that we can keep our way PURE by living according to the Word. We can live what we don’t know and we can’t know what we don’t study, read and meditate on. It is NOT enough for us to tear down destructive thoughts and thought patterns or things that don’t line up with the Word. We must replace those thoughts with the WORD itself, so that we will not sin or return to the sin we tried to tear down.
So often, we try to tear down the thoughts, refute them, deny them, but we do so without clinging to or replacing those thoughts with truth and the Word. We must REPLACE the sin, with the WORD. If we are not, we WILL return-not to God, but to the sin. It is the Word that sets us apart and does the sanctifying work in our lives. (John 17)
The question for us is are we tearing down the strongholds? But more importantly, do we understand replacement value? That we must immediately replace the stronghold of thought with truth so we don’t fall temptation to sin.
As for me, “I will run in the path of YOUR COMMANDS for you are setting my heart free.” Psm 119:32.
“My soul is crushed with longing after your commands at ALL times.” Psm 119:20
Tear down what is keeping you from and replace with what will!
ALL FOR YOU
Insurance companies don’t just insure for the cost of something when it is purchased. Most insure for replacement value. In other words, what it would cost to replace that item now, in the condition it is in. It is a pretty good concept, if something is torn down or lost it is vital to insure that you can replace it. Most of us understand this principle when it comes to insurance, but what about in our spiritual lives.
The Word says that we are to tear down strongholds and vain imaginations. (2 Cor 10:5) And EVERY lofty thought that exalts itself above God. For many of us, we need to do some demolition work in our minds. We need to tear down that which has is a stronghold of thought. That which doesn’t match up to the Word. We need to destroy those thought patterns in us that don’t lead us to live in a manner that lines up with the Word. But the work doesn’t stop with the demolishing. There is a need for REPLACEMENT VALUE.
Psalm 119:11 says that as we hide the Word of God in our hearts, we will not sin against God. In the previous verses it says that we can keep our way PURE by living according to the Word. We can live what we don’t know and we can’t know what we don’t study, read and meditate on. It is NOT enough for us to tear down destructive thoughts and thought patterns or things that don’t line up with the Word. We must replace those thoughts with the WORD itself, so that we will not sin or return to the sin we tried to tear down.
So often, we try to tear down the thoughts, refute them, deny them, but we do so without clinging to or replacing those thoughts with truth and the Word. We must REPLACE the sin, with the WORD. If we are not, we WILL return-not to God, but to the sin. It is the Word that sets us apart and does the sanctifying work in our lives. (John 17)
The question for us is are we tearing down the strongholds? But more importantly, do we understand replacement value? That we must immediately replace the stronghold of thought with truth so we don’t fall temptation to sin.
As for me, “I will run in the path of YOUR COMMANDS for you are setting my heart free.” Psm 119:32.
“My soul is crushed with longing after your commands at ALL times.” Psm 119:20
Tear down what is keeping you from and replace with what will!
ALL FOR YOU
Wednesday, February 02, 2011
why do we go to church
Why do we go to church? It really is a good question. And for many a struggle. We seem to make it work on time, to play on time, but worship? I’ll get there when I get there. We seem to make school a priority, homework, housework and entertainment something we won’t miss, but church? Despite the fact that one of the 10 commandments says “remember the Sabbath and keep it holy. Six days you shall labor but on the seventh you shall rest from your labor.” Sounds like a good idea. A day off. But is that really what the Sabbath is about?
In Exod 31:12-17, the Word makes it even clearer why we OBSERVE the Sabbath.
12 And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,
13 "But as for you, speak to the sons of Israel, saying, 'You shall surely observe My sabbaths; for {this} is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I am the LORD who sanctifies you.
14 'Therefore you are to observe the sabbath, for it is holy to you. Everyone who profanes it shall surely be put to death; for whoever does any work on it, that person shall be cut off from among his people.
15 'For six days work may be done, but on the seventh day there is a sabbath of complete rest, holy to the LORD; whoever does any work on the sabbath day shall surely be put to death.
16 'So the sons of Israel shall observe the sabbath, to celebrate the sabbath throughout their generations as a perpetual covenant.'
17 "It is a sign between Me and the sons of Israel forever; for in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, but on the seventh day He ceased {from labor,} and was refreshed."
To observe the Sabbath is to cease from labor and be refreshed. To observe the Sabbath is to celebrate the Covenant God has with us. It is a sign between God and us. It isn’t optional!
Yet, it is so much more than a day off. It isn’t about taking long naps, enjoying our favorite hobby. It is about setting aside time to be refreshed by God-a HOLY day. A day set apart to focus our hearts fully on the Lord. So much of our “Sabbaths” are not this. They are about family time, family dinner, watching ball or catching up on what was left undone from the week. The Sabbath was a HOLY time set apart by God to let the LORD refresh our hearts because we were focused on Him and sitting in HIS PRESENCE all day. Ever come to the end of a Sunday and feel like the life has been drained out of you by all the people? Perhaps that is because focus wasn’t on HIS PRESENCE for the day, but being present for everyone else who is calling your name, but HIM. My favorite moments at church are when I can get still in HIS PRESENCE and just BE-cease striving and just listen. But I also love the moments where as a body we lift our praise to HIM or read HIS Word together. I love finding a friend and praying together or gathering around a table to eat, but truly dine on HIS WORD. These are moments of refreshing.
Acts 3:19 "Repent therefore and return, that your sins may be wiped away, in order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord;
Refreshing comes from the presence of the Lord. Not a nap or some form of entertainment or even time with our family. The Sabbath is a time to cease from all that and seek the LORD so that we might be refreshed.
ALL FOR YOU
In Exod 31:12-17, the Word makes it even clearer why we OBSERVE the Sabbath.
12 And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,
13 "But as for you, speak to the sons of Israel, saying, 'You shall surely observe My sabbaths; for {this} is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I am the LORD who sanctifies you.
14 'Therefore you are to observe the sabbath, for it is holy to you. Everyone who profanes it shall surely be put to death; for whoever does any work on it, that person shall be cut off from among his people.
15 'For six days work may be done, but on the seventh day there is a sabbath of complete rest, holy to the LORD; whoever does any work on the sabbath day shall surely be put to death.
16 'So the sons of Israel shall observe the sabbath, to celebrate the sabbath throughout their generations as a perpetual covenant.'
17 "It is a sign between Me and the sons of Israel forever; for in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, but on the seventh day He ceased {from labor,} and was refreshed."
To observe the Sabbath is to cease from labor and be refreshed. To observe the Sabbath is to celebrate the Covenant God has with us. It is a sign between God and us. It isn’t optional!
Yet, it is so much more than a day off. It isn’t about taking long naps, enjoying our favorite hobby. It is about setting aside time to be refreshed by God-a HOLY day. A day set apart to focus our hearts fully on the Lord. So much of our “Sabbaths” are not this. They are about family time, family dinner, watching ball or catching up on what was left undone from the week. The Sabbath was a HOLY time set apart by God to let the LORD refresh our hearts because we were focused on Him and sitting in HIS PRESENCE all day. Ever come to the end of a Sunday and feel like the life has been drained out of you by all the people? Perhaps that is because focus wasn’t on HIS PRESENCE for the day, but being present for everyone else who is calling your name, but HIM. My favorite moments at church are when I can get still in HIS PRESENCE and just BE-cease striving and just listen. But I also love the moments where as a body we lift our praise to HIM or read HIS Word together. I love finding a friend and praying together or gathering around a table to eat, but truly dine on HIS WORD. These are moments of refreshing.
Acts 3:19 "Repent therefore and return, that your sins may be wiped away, in order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord;
Refreshing comes from the presence of the Lord. Not a nap or some form of entertainment or even time with our family. The Sabbath is a time to cease from all that and seek the LORD so that we might be refreshed.
ALL FOR YOU
Thursday, January 27, 2011
cloud or crowd
Today, I am struggling with words. Not mine, but that of another. So, in an effort to go to the Word for answers, the Lord has brought me to a passage in Numbers 9. God is preparing the people to enter the Promised Land. He has numbered them and set them out to follow the cloud by day and the fire by night in a wilderness where they could easily be lost. God is teaching them to trust Him in every step, not moving without, ahead or behind Him.
Then Moses said to his father-in-law, “We are setting out to the place of which the Lord said, “I will give it to you; come with us and we will do you good, for the Lord has promised good concerning Israel.”
Would it be that we would say these words- COME WITH ME-I am setting out for the PROMISED LAND-to the place of more, good and what the Lord has. COME AWAY WITH ME and let’s seek what God has for us.
For many of us, we are not seeking this path. We are not following the cloud. We are merely wandering in our wilderness. For others of us, we are ready to set out and trying to get those we care about to come along on the journey. It is a great statement. “I am going, come go with me!”
The response Moses got wasn’t the preferred one. He was hoping to get a “YES, I will go” answer, but instead. This is what he got; “I will not come, but rather will go to my own land and relatives.”
It doesn’t make any sense? Why would you say no? Why would you look at someone who is asking you to come find more of God and say, I think I will NOT choose what God has, even though it is good. Instead, I will choose MY OWN LAND and RELATIVES. In other words, I will choose MY OWN way, my own family, my own path, my own friends, what I like, what I want, my comfort, instead of going with God.
I read these words and thought, IS HE CRAZY? Why would you say-I will not come, rather choose MY OWN? Yet, isn’t that what so many say. Offered a chance at more, knowing it is their good and standing on the edge, they choose their OWN LAND and RELATIVES instead of what God has for them.
For many, when others choose not to go, it deters them. They are hindered by those who say no. They would rather stay with those who refuse to go, than journey on with God. What would have happened if Moses had chosen to NOT go because who he asked to go said no? An entire nation would have missed the promised land. What will happen if we choose NOT to go because those we love are interested in making that journey?
Don’t you think that years later his father-in-law regretted choosing the safety of his LAND and RELATIVES? I don’t know the answer to that. But I KNOW that Moses NEVER regretted moving on. He chose every time to follow the cloud, not the crowd. And so must we. We can ask others to come, but we can’t force them to follow. We don’t beg and we don’t stop going if they choose differently.
The passage ends with Moses SETTING OUT following the cloud, without the one he asked to go.
There will always be those who choose not to GO. Who don’t want to follow the cloud, but the crowd. There will always be those who are more interested in the CROWD than the cloud. The question is….are you that person?
ALL FOR YOU
Then Moses said to his father-in-law, “We are setting out to the place of which the Lord said, “I will give it to you; come with us and we will do you good, for the Lord has promised good concerning Israel.”
Would it be that we would say these words- COME WITH ME-I am setting out for the PROMISED LAND-to the place of more, good and what the Lord has. COME AWAY WITH ME and let’s seek what God has for us.
For many of us, we are not seeking this path. We are not following the cloud. We are merely wandering in our wilderness. For others of us, we are ready to set out and trying to get those we care about to come along on the journey. It is a great statement. “I am going, come go with me!”
The response Moses got wasn’t the preferred one. He was hoping to get a “YES, I will go” answer, but instead. This is what he got; “I will not come, but rather will go to my own land and relatives.”
It doesn’t make any sense? Why would you say no? Why would you look at someone who is asking you to come find more of God and say, I think I will NOT choose what God has, even though it is good. Instead, I will choose MY OWN LAND and RELATIVES. In other words, I will choose MY OWN way, my own family, my own path, my own friends, what I like, what I want, my comfort, instead of going with God.
I read these words and thought, IS HE CRAZY? Why would you say-I will not come, rather choose MY OWN? Yet, isn’t that what so many say. Offered a chance at more, knowing it is their good and standing on the edge, they choose their OWN LAND and RELATIVES instead of what God has for them.
For many, when others choose not to go, it deters them. They are hindered by those who say no. They would rather stay with those who refuse to go, than journey on with God. What would have happened if Moses had chosen to NOT go because who he asked to go said no? An entire nation would have missed the promised land. What will happen if we choose NOT to go because those we love are interested in making that journey?
Don’t you think that years later his father-in-law regretted choosing the safety of his LAND and RELATIVES? I don’t know the answer to that. But I KNOW that Moses NEVER regretted moving on. He chose every time to follow the cloud, not the crowd. And so must we. We can ask others to come, but we can’t force them to follow. We don’t beg and we don’t stop going if they choose differently.
The passage ends with Moses SETTING OUT following the cloud, without the one he asked to go.
There will always be those who choose not to GO. Who don’t want to follow the cloud, but the crowd. There will always be those who are more interested in the CROWD than the cloud. The question is….are you that person?
ALL FOR YOU
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
exodus 19
God leaves nothing to chance. He can’t. He wouldn’t be God if He did. He is all knowing, all present, all powerful and nothing escapes His notice or His plan. He is not taken by surprise, nor is He left wondering what He should do. He is God and there is none other like Him.
Somehow, sometimes, we would like to think we get one over on God. Or that He doesn’t know or see. Or perhaps that He doesn’t care. But what we fail to see is that the joke is on us. God sees and knows.
We think that because God doesn’t act in that moment or because there seems to be no consequence that perhaps we have gotten away with it. But what we fail to recognize is that the very consequence we receive is the very worst thing for us. It is a loss of Him…as we back away from Him.
From the earliest of recorded instructions, God had a plan. He had a way of doing things. A pattern to follow. And when that plan wasn’t followed there was grave consequence.
Think about Adam and Eve. The plan was that they could live in the garden. There was only ONE rule. Don’t eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. And when we didn’t follow the plan, withdrawal happened. God removed us from His continual presence and provision, casting man out of the garden.
Think about Noah, the only righteous man on the planet. God saw that every intent of man’s heart was evil and so He chose to destroy all the living creatures, except for Noah and His family. The consequence for sin was deep and had effects far more reaching than eating what was forbidden. Man didn’t follow the plan and now death and separation ensued.
When God gave a pattern for the tabernacle, He intended for it to be followed. He was building a place to meet with His people. We didn’t deserve it, some didn’t even want it. Nevertheless, despite the separation and death, God was at work to restore what we had thrown away. And He had a pattern that had to be followed for that.
His desire has been to make a way for us to be WITH Him. But there is a pattern that MUST be followed. We see this in the intricate detail God gave when He instructed Moses on how to build the tabernacle that He would dwell in. He left nothing to chance or to the imagination. He directed every step.
We can learn a lot from this one idea. God DESIRES to be WITH us, but He is not so desperate for our communion that He tolerates a half way, half hearted effort in meeting with Him. You either come to Him all the way, His way or not at all. He sets the pattern. And when we don’t follow it. We back away from the Living God and find distance-not because God moved, but because we did. Backing away from God’s pattern is a bad idea. It was a bad idea in the garden. It was a bad idea for Jonah. It was a bad idea for Israel. And it is a bad idea for us. His pattern is not a bad idea. It is the only one that gets us into His Presence.
ALL FOR YOU
Somehow, sometimes, we would like to think we get one over on God. Or that He doesn’t know or see. Or perhaps that He doesn’t care. But what we fail to see is that the joke is on us. God sees and knows.
We think that because God doesn’t act in that moment or because there seems to be no consequence that perhaps we have gotten away with it. But what we fail to recognize is that the very consequence we receive is the very worst thing for us. It is a loss of Him…as we back away from Him.
From the earliest of recorded instructions, God had a plan. He had a way of doing things. A pattern to follow. And when that plan wasn’t followed there was grave consequence.
Think about Adam and Eve. The plan was that they could live in the garden. There was only ONE rule. Don’t eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. And when we didn’t follow the plan, withdrawal happened. God removed us from His continual presence and provision, casting man out of the garden.
Think about Noah, the only righteous man on the planet. God saw that every intent of man’s heart was evil and so He chose to destroy all the living creatures, except for Noah and His family. The consequence for sin was deep and had effects far more reaching than eating what was forbidden. Man didn’t follow the plan and now death and separation ensued.
When God gave a pattern for the tabernacle, He intended for it to be followed. He was building a place to meet with His people. We didn’t deserve it, some didn’t even want it. Nevertheless, despite the separation and death, God was at work to restore what we had thrown away. And He had a pattern that had to be followed for that.
His desire has been to make a way for us to be WITH Him. But there is a pattern that MUST be followed. We see this in the intricate detail God gave when He instructed Moses on how to build the tabernacle that He would dwell in. He left nothing to chance or to the imagination. He directed every step.
We can learn a lot from this one idea. God DESIRES to be WITH us, but He is not so desperate for our communion that He tolerates a half way, half hearted effort in meeting with Him. You either come to Him all the way, His way or not at all. He sets the pattern. And when we don’t follow it. We back away from the Living God and find distance-not because God moved, but because we did. Backing away from God’s pattern is a bad idea. It was a bad idea in the garden. It was a bad idea for Jonah. It was a bad idea for Israel. And it is a bad idea for us. His pattern is not a bad idea. It is the only one that gets us into His Presence.
ALL FOR YOU
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
snow
I spent Christmas at my Mom and Dad’s. They live in North Georgia, where it snowed almost 10 inches over Christmas. We woke about 7:30am Christmas morning to dry ground. But by 8:30 there was an inch on the ground and it just got deeper and deeper. I was able to play in the snow with my boys, build a snow man and just enjoy the beauty of the pure white blanket that God had sent to cover the earth.
However, after an hour, I was done. It was time to go in. But my precious 8 year old, just couldn’t get enough. He spent hours playing in it, rolling in it, wallering in it. He jumped and rolled in it like it was the delight of his soul. When it was time to go home, I had to literally pull the snow balls out of his pants.
My mom shared later that as she looked at the pristine, pure blanket of snow, that she almost didn’t want anyone to wreck it by trampling through it. It is just such a word picture of what we do to God’s perfection. Our steps can wreck it with our trampling of His courts.
While that thought is true…I had a totally opposite one. I couldn’t get past my son playing in it non stop. So many of us are like me, we get a taste and enjoy it for a few, but then retreat to the safe, risk free environment that we are comfortable in. But he…no, he didn’t just taste it…it was ALL OVER HIM. It was stuffed up his pants, in his shoes, down his shirt, in his ears. He wallered in it. Few of us are like my son. Few of us will choose to enjoy Jesus like he did the snow. We will enjoy for an hour or two, but then we want to retreat to what is comfortable. However, we need to be like my Micah. We need to have a WANT to-to just waller in and get Jesus all over us. Not just for a few minutes. To let the white, pristine, purity of God stick to us because we have just jumped, rolled and lingered in it.
I want to be 8 again…not an 8 year old, but to never lose that childlike faith and wonder to wallering in Jesus and finding a few minutes is just not enough. I want Him to be all over me, in my ears, my mouth, stuck to me. Don’t you?
ALL FOR YOU
Wednesday, December 08, 2010
whats wrong with this picture
So what is wrong with this picture? I was sitting in my car this week and saw this and couldn’t believe what I saw. Do you see it?
Yep, it’s true. They even advertise it this way. You can get mouth cancer for $1.59. What a bargain.
Isn’t that crazy? And yet, even with the advertising, people will purchase the product. Now, please don’t misunderstand, I am not for or against this product. I am actually just amazed that we are a people who will knowingly pay $1.59 for something that says right on the package that it can cause mouth cancer. Why am I intrigued by this? Because it is indicative of who we are as a people.
God Himself tells us in His Word what will bring long life and blessings from Him and yet we choose to disobey. God tells us what will bring cursing and destruction to our lives and yet we choose our own way. We are a people who will knowingly walk into destruction for a cheap price and cheap thrill.
As crazy as it seems to pay $1.59 for mouth cancer is the fact that we knowingly disobey a God who gives us just as clear a warning about what we should or shouldn’t do in order to avoid destruction and discipline in our own lives-and yet we walk our own way.
Perhaps, we ought to choose differently.
ALL FOR YOU
Monday, October 11, 2010
exodus 1
AI am starting a new series of thoughts with the blog. Recently, I got a new Bible. I am funny about my Bible. It is one of, if not my prized possession. When I had my three sons, I made a commitment to one day have studied the Bible, to write in my margins and to mark it with all God teaches. Not in just one Bible, but three of them. One for each of my sons. It’s funny though, as much as this is one of my goals, I always have a hard time letting go of the previous Bible for the new one. However, I looked at the pages of this one and was excited about the opportunity to start afresh. New Words from the Lord, fresh pages and new lessons to learn.
So, I started on those new pages this week in the book of Exodus. And honestly, as I read I couldn’t help myself. It was like I was starved and had this insatiable desire for the Words on those pages all over again. I did all 40 chapters of Exodus in five days. Studied, marked, listed and smoldering in my heart. It is because of these past 5 days, that I will write lessons from the Exodus.
Perhaps this sounds boring, but I can tell you the story of God’s deliverance is far from boring. I found myself so intrigued with the fact that Pharaoh was afraid that the people of God would multiply and become more powerful than he. Therefore, he chose to afflict them in hopes of discouraging them. Ironically, life today isn’t much different. God has called us to go and make disciples, to multiply. Due to a fear that we might actually do that and in an effort to discourage, many afflict those who are trying to multiply in order to stop that process. There will always be those who stand against the multiplication process. Those who are threatened by the process and those who will work diligently to stop it. Why? Because they fear the loss of control that will bring for them.
Multiplication has always been God’s plan. And God multiplies by addition. One on one, life on life to multiply His Kingdom. Perhaps you are facing opposition. Then rejoice, that is a good thing. If you aren’t multiplying then you are not a threat to the enemies kingdom. It is only when you threaten the power and control of those who want you to stop influencing and multiplying that you can rest assured you are living in the book of Exodus. With a Pharaoh whose heart is hard coming down on a child of God merely trying to multiply for the Kingdom.
Don’t let the affliction stop you. My favorite verse in chapter 1 is verse 12. It says, “but the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and the more they spread out , so that they were in dread of the sons of Israel.”
So, multiply and spread out, become the dread of all. Don’t let whatever you are facing stop you.
LL FOR YOU
So, I started on those new pages this week in the book of Exodus. And honestly, as I read I couldn’t help myself. It was like I was starved and had this insatiable desire for the Words on those pages all over again. I did all 40 chapters of Exodus in five days. Studied, marked, listed and smoldering in my heart. It is because of these past 5 days, that I will write lessons from the Exodus.
Perhaps this sounds boring, but I can tell you the story of God’s deliverance is far from boring. I found myself so intrigued with the fact that Pharaoh was afraid that the people of God would multiply and become more powerful than he. Therefore, he chose to afflict them in hopes of discouraging them. Ironically, life today isn’t much different. God has called us to go and make disciples, to multiply. Due to a fear that we might actually do that and in an effort to discourage, many afflict those who are trying to multiply in order to stop that process. There will always be those who stand against the multiplication process. Those who are threatened by the process and those who will work diligently to stop it. Why? Because they fear the loss of control that will bring for them.
Multiplication has always been God’s plan. And God multiplies by addition. One on one, life on life to multiply His Kingdom. Perhaps you are facing opposition. Then rejoice, that is a good thing. If you aren’t multiplying then you are not a threat to the enemies kingdom. It is only when you threaten the power and control of those who want you to stop influencing and multiplying that you can rest assured you are living in the book of Exodus. With a Pharaoh whose heart is hard coming down on a child of God merely trying to multiply for the Kingdom.
Don’t let the affliction stop you. My favorite verse in chapter 1 is verse 12. It says, “but the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and the more they spread out , so that they were in dread of the sons of Israel.”
So, multiply and spread out, become the dread of all. Don’t let whatever you are facing stop you.
LL FOR YOU
exodus 2
Have you ever heard the expression “you need to stop and smell the roses.” We miss so much because we don’t stop to listen, look and learn. We rush right past. I am the world’s worst at this. However, the Lord is teaching me the art of just coming aside and looking for Him. Whether in a field, on a beach, in the backyard, HE always speaks in the moments where I pause.
Recently, I took 17 middle school girls into the field on quilts just to play look up. Look up is a game I play, where we simply get still, quiet and look up, wait for Him to speak and then share what He says. It is amazing to hear what the Spirit of God says in the silence, when we turn down the noise, come aside and listen.
Moses was a great picture of this. Many of us know the story of the burning bush from Exodus 3, however, we have probably missed the life principle found in that story. While the burning bush is incredibly fascinating, the beauty to me in the story comes before the revelation of the Great I Am, the holy ground He stood on or the fact that Moses got to talk to God.
Exodus 3 says that Moses saw the burning bush and that it wasn’t consumed. After seeing the bush, Moses said, “I MUST TURN ASIDE NOW and see this marvelous sight, why the bush is not burned up.”(emphasis mine)
It was in the turning aside that Moses got to have an encounter with God that is beyond what most of us could ever imagine. He saw it, but it was because he chose to TURN ASIDE NOW to see the marvelous sight that he got more. I am wondering if the reason we don’t see more and hear more from God is simply because we don’t turn aside to see and hear from Him?
There is such a life lesson in Moses’ act of turning aside. Just like my girls in the field, when we stop and listen, He speaks. Perhaps, it is time that we stop and smell the roses, play look up or turn aside… whatever words you want to use, there is a marvelous sight waiting, don’t miss it.
ALL FOR YOU
Recently, I took 17 middle school girls into the field on quilts just to play look up. Look up is a game I play, where we simply get still, quiet and look up, wait for Him to speak and then share what He says. It is amazing to hear what the Spirit of God says in the silence, when we turn down the noise, come aside and listen.
Moses was a great picture of this. Many of us know the story of the burning bush from Exodus 3, however, we have probably missed the life principle found in that story. While the burning bush is incredibly fascinating, the beauty to me in the story comes before the revelation of the Great I Am, the holy ground He stood on or the fact that Moses got to talk to God.
Exodus 3 says that Moses saw the burning bush and that it wasn’t consumed. After seeing the bush, Moses said, “I MUST TURN ASIDE NOW and see this marvelous sight, why the bush is not burned up.”(emphasis mine)
It was in the turning aside that Moses got to have an encounter with God that is beyond what most of us could ever imagine. He saw it, but it was because he chose to TURN ASIDE NOW to see the marvelous sight that he got more. I am wondering if the reason we don’t see more and hear more from God is simply because we don’t turn aside to see and hear from Him?
There is such a life lesson in Moses’ act of turning aside. Just like my girls in the field, when we stop and listen, He speaks. Perhaps, it is time that we stop and smell the roses, play look up or turn aside… whatever words you want to use, there is a marvelous sight waiting, don’t miss it.
ALL FOR YOU
exodus 3
Have you ever spoken what is right and true only to find out that it made things worse instead of better? It kind of makes you not want to do what is right or true. However, just because it doesn’t make things better, doesn’t mean you shouldn’t have spoken it. How do I know this to be true?
When Moses was sent by God to deliver the children of Israel, Pharaoh did not choose to listen. In fact, not only did he not listen, but because Moses spoke what God said, when he said it, to the person he was to say it to and it didn’t make things better for ANYONE. Reality is that it made it MUCH worse. As a result of what Moses did, Pharaoh chose to batten down the hatches and make things much harder on the children of Israel. He had the taskmasters increase the labor, remove extra help and discipline them when they didn’t accomplish the work.
Consequently, the children of Israel were not at all grateful for Moses showing up. Exodus 5:21 tells us that when Moses and Aaron left Pharaoh, that they were waiting on them to say “may the Lord look upon you and judge you, for you have made us odious in Pharaoh’s sight and in the sight of his servants, to put a sword in their hand to kill us.”
The people were mad at Moses and asking God to judge him for making it harder, when in fact it was God who sent Moses with the words that brought the harsh treatment. How’s that for irony?
So, what’s the point? There is a great lesson for life in this passage. Sometimes speaking the truth makes things harder for a while before the Lord delivers. Before things got better, things got worse. Reality is that just because we speak truth, doesn’t mean freedom will come automatically. Sometimes we have to fight for it. Or better yet, watch God fight for us in it.
Maybe you have spoken words of truth and it only made things worse. Perhaps you have backed away from truth for fear that it would get worse. Odds are that it might. But deliverance will only come when we do as He commanded. It may not get better right away, but hang on, help is on the way. The point is that for better or worse, speak the truth of what God says and trust Him to deliver in His time. Hang on though, it could be a bumpy ride.
ALL FOR YOU
When Moses was sent by God to deliver the children of Israel, Pharaoh did not choose to listen. In fact, not only did he not listen, but because Moses spoke what God said, when he said it, to the person he was to say it to and it didn’t make things better for ANYONE. Reality is that it made it MUCH worse. As a result of what Moses did, Pharaoh chose to batten down the hatches and make things much harder on the children of Israel. He had the taskmasters increase the labor, remove extra help and discipline them when they didn’t accomplish the work.
Consequently, the children of Israel were not at all grateful for Moses showing up. Exodus 5:21 tells us that when Moses and Aaron left Pharaoh, that they were waiting on them to say “may the Lord look upon you and judge you, for you have made us odious in Pharaoh’s sight and in the sight of his servants, to put a sword in their hand to kill us.”
The people were mad at Moses and asking God to judge him for making it harder, when in fact it was God who sent Moses with the words that brought the harsh treatment. How’s that for irony?
So, what’s the point? There is a great lesson for life in this passage. Sometimes speaking the truth makes things harder for a while before the Lord delivers. Before things got better, things got worse. Reality is that just because we speak truth, doesn’t mean freedom will come automatically. Sometimes we have to fight for it. Or better yet, watch God fight for us in it.
Maybe you have spoken words of truth and it only made things worse. Perhaps you have backed away from truth for fear that it would get worse. Odds are that it might. But deliverance will only come when we do as He commanded. It may not get better right away, but hang on, help is on the way. The point is that for better or worse, speak the truth of what God says and trust Him to deliver in His time. Hang on though, it could be a bumpy ride.
ALL FOR YOU
exodus 4
Have you ever felt like the weight of what you are called to or supposed to do was so heavy that you weren’t sure you could do it? Or maybe you are struggling with feeling inadequate, ill-equipped or not good enough to accomplish what lies in front of you.
Well, you are not alone. I am quite sure that all of us, everyday, struggle at some point with insecurity, inadequacy and feeling undeserving. If you say you don’t, you are not very self aware or perhaps you are just arrogant. Our insecurities and inadequacies cause us to respond, over react or mask our true feelings, our fears and our failures. The fear in that often causes us to hesitate and shrink back from what God may be asking us to do.
Moses is a great example of this. In Exodus chapter 4, God has called Moses to go to Pharaoh and command him to let the children of Israel go. Context would be important here. In this day and time, the Pharaoh had absolute power and was considered a god who owned the land and the people. He was also the high priest of all the religions. Therefore, for Moses to walk in and to command not only the ruler but the “god” of Egypt to let go what he owned because another god-the TRUE GOD commanded it was not only frightening, but fiercely overwhelming.
Moses had already confessed to the Lord his insecurities and inadequacies in chapter 4:10, stating that he was not eloquent, slow of speech and tongue. He even suggested to God that He should choose another. God quickly reminded him that HE made Moses and his tongue. That He was quite aware of his shortcomings-HE made him that way.
Even with those assurances and a friend to go with him and help him in his weakness, Moses asked the question TO GOD…the question we all want to ask and have asked at some point or another. In Exodus 6, he asks “how then will Pharaoh listen to me, for I am unskilled of speech?”
I absolutely love that! Why? Because that is so me! God calls us and equips us and then when it is time to speak, we doubt because we are relying on our own abilities. We are trusting on what we think we can do instead of relying on what God has said HE will do. We are leaning on our own understanding, instead of leaning into the calling and equipping of God. We are looking at our smallness instead of God’s bigness. We rely on our flesh instead of trusting His Spirit.
Moses was so concerned with what he thought he was unable to do, that he forgot to look at and focus on what God can do. I don’t know about you, but I so sit in that seat. But today, I am so convicted about trusting in my own abilities instead of fixating on the truth that NOTHING is impossible with GOD. He is our HOPE. He is our STRENGTH. He is…what we are not. And that is everything. It isn’t God AND you, it is Christ IN you. Moses forgot the same thing I do…that my God is bigger and stronger than ME. I know that sounds crazy. But I can’t limit God to what I can do and accomplish in my flesh. I can’t say to pick someone else because I am ill-equipped. I must trust the calling and equipping of a very Big God who made me and will make glory in my weakness.
What is the life lesson? Don’t lean on your own ability or skill, trust in the greatness of a big God who doesn’t need you, but chooses you to make Himself look big in something so small. God reminded Moses and He is remind you.
ALL FOR YOU
Well, you are not alone. I am quite sure that all of us, everyday, struggle at some point with insecurity, inadequacy and feeling undeserving. If you say you don’t, you are not very self aware or perhaps you are just arrogant. Our insecurities and inadequacies cause us to respond, over react or mask our true feelings, our fears and our failures. The fear in that often causes us to hesitate and shrink back from what God may be asking us to do.
Moses is a great example of this. In Exodus chapter 4, God has called Moses to go to Pharaoh and command him to let the children of Israel go. Context would be important here. In this day and time, the Pharaoh had absolute power and was considered a god who owned the land and the people. He was also the high priest of all the religions. Therefore, for Moses to walk in and to command not only the ruler but the “god” of Egypt to let go what he owned because another god-the TRUE GOD commanded it was not only frightening, but fiercely overwhelming.
Moses had already confessed to the Lord his insecurities and inadequacies in chapter 4:10, stating that he was not eloquent, slow of speech and tongue. He even suggested to God that He should choose another. God quickly reminded him that HE made Moses and his tongue. That He was quite aware of his shortcomings-HE made him that way.
Even with those assurances and a friend to go with him and help him in his weakness, Moses asked the question TO GOD…the question we all want to ask and have asked at some point or another. In Exodus 6, he asks “how then will Pharaoh listen to me, for I am unskilled of speech?”
I absolutely love that! Why? Because that is so me! God calls us and equips us and then when it is time to speak, we doubt because we are relying on our own abilities. We are trusting on what we think we can do instead of relying on what God has said HE will do. We are leaning on our own understanding, instead of leaning into the calling and equipping of God. We are looking at our smallness instead of God’s bigness. We rely on our flesh instead of trusting His Spirit.
Moses was so concerned with what he thought he was unable to do, that he forgot to look at and focus on what God can do. I don’t know about you, but I so sit in that seat. But today, I am so convicted about trusting in my own abilities instead of fixating on the truth that NOTHING is impossible with GOD. He is our HOPE. He is our STRENGTH. He is…what we are not. And that is everything. It isn’t God AND you, it is Christ IN you. Moses forgot the same thing I do…that my God is bigger and stronger than ME. I know that sounds crazy. But I can’t limit God to what I can do and accomplish in my flesh. I can’t say to pick someone else because I am ill-equipped. I must trust the calling and equipping of a very Big God who made me and will make glory in my weakness.
What is the life lesson? Don’t lean on your own ability or skill, trust in the greatness of a big God who doesn’t need you, but chooses you to make Himself look big in something so small. God reminded Moses and He is remind you.
ALL FOR YOU
Thursday, September 30, 2010
children lead
At a recent church event, (Piedmont Baptist Association) Jr. Hill gave a powerful invitation for “church” people to get saved. He preached and was clear to point out that many are sitting in pews, still lost and then presented the opportunity for the lost, but churched to get saved. I stood in the balcony, praying and asking the Lord if it could be me. Having settled that years ago, I began to pray for the others in the room. When I looked up, I was amazed at the sight I saw. The altar was filled with children. Children walking past the preachers and laying on the stairs of the altar. Children not coming to get saved, but coming to pray-for the lost in the room. There were probably 50 or more children laid across the front of that church, on their faces praying-then going back to their seats. It was evident they were praying for the lost adults in the room.
It was then, I was reminded of a verse of Scripture that says-“and a child shall lead them.” I am quite certain many in that place were praying. And not condemning or judging anyone-just amazed that it was the children who led out with the freedom to entreat the Lord from the altar, on their faces, while all of us adults stood respectfully in our places. (me being one of them.) It was a beautiful word picture. It is the faith of a child that God is looking for and honors. Sometimes, I am just too proud. But they led the way.
So, perhaps the next time I hesitate to respond, I will remember what I saw. Not the leaders, men and women-but the leaders, being children paving the way to the throne and the altar as they covered it in prayer. May we follow in their footsteps to Jesus.
ALL FOR YOU
It was then, I was reminded of a verse of Scripture that says-“and a child shall lead them.” I am quite certain many in that place were praying. And not condemning or judging anyone-just amazed that it was the children who led out with the freedom to entreat the Lord from the altar, on their faces, while all of us adults stood respectfully in our places. (me being one of them.) It was a beautiful word picture. It is the faith of a child that God is looking for and honors. Sometimes, I am just too proud. But they led the way.
So, perhaps the next time I hesitate to respond, I will remember what I saw. Not the leaders, men and women-but the leaders, being children paving the way to the throne and the altar as they covered it in prayer. May we follow in their footsteps to Jesus.
ALL FOR YOU
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
jelly fish sting
Have you ever been stung by a Jelly Fish? Well, this weekend was a first for me. My family and I were at the beach, all swimming together, when the worst instant pain I have ever felt hit my leg. I was up to my neck in water, when all of a sudden it felt like a branding iron hit the back of my leg and was just left there. I started screaming and immediately left to get out of the water, the back of my leg began to swell instantly and turned purple and red, whelped up and hurt like crazy.
My immediate thought was that I needed someone to pee on my leg, to help with the hurt. I had seen on Survivor that doing that was supposed to help and because we were on the beach with no quick fixes to ease the harsh pain, I looked at the boys in my family and asked them to pee on my leg. I know, it sounds gross, but when you are hurting like that, you will do ANYTHING to get relief-and I mean anything.
While I have 4 boys in my family, none of them at that moment had to go to the bathroom. I am thinking “you have got to be kidding me!” Limping back to my chair, my husband grabbed a bottle of water, handed it to my eldest son and told him to go with me and pee on my leg. We arrived at the bathrooms, only to find there was NO family bathroom. I can’t go in the men’s room. He can’t go in the ladies room. Dilemna….hmmmm….what to do? I am dying and looking for any available solution. So, we head into a deserted parking deck, where I hope he can help me.
I lean up against the wall and tell my son to hurry up because I can’t stand the pain- just do it. To which he looks at me and says “Mom, I just can’t pee on you.” After fussing with him for a few seconds and trying to explain that it is okay, we finally decided for him to go in the bathroom, pee in the bottle and we would pour it on my leg. (probably a better plan anyway!) And yes, I think I am relieved to know my son can’t and won’t pee on his mother, even when given the chance to!
Minutes later, I am standing on the edge of the beach and he is pouring that on my leg. It didn’t stop the pain, but it did help a little. (I later discovered that HOT water is much better. Wish I had known that BEFORE I had urine poured on me!) I called a friend and asked her to look up what you could do for a sting and that is when I learned that hot water seemed to be the recommended treatment. But I am on the beach-no HOT water. I finally found a tide pool that had been heated by the sun, sat in that, took some pain reliever and found some more relief. But I can’t tell you, how quickly that pain came and stayed. How I would have done anything to relieve it. It was crazy.
While processing all of those crazy events, the Lord was clear to reveal truth to my heart. Standing in the midst of the ocean, minding my own business, I got stung. It is so easy to be caught in the drift of life, doing your own thing and to be stung-not on the surface, but deep down, underneath-where no one can see. And for that hurt to be so deep that you would be willing to do anything to find relief. The drift is a crazy a place…where deep hurt and pain can make you choose to do things you would never dream of.
Not in a million years would I have ever thought I would have begged my guys to pee on me. But the things you will do to find relief from the sting that is found in the moments of drifting is crazy. I am living proof of this. For many of us, we have been drifting and we have been stung. The pain from that may lie deep under the surface, but the reality is we have chosen some crazy things to try to get relief from the sting of that pain.
However, the remedy isn’t what we think. It isn’t what the world tells us. And though we try it, it doesn’t fix the pain.
I don’t know what has stung you or what you have done to try to bring relief to that pain. Maybe you didn’t even realize you were drifting and got stung. Maybe you have tried some crazy remedies and are looking not for relief but a way to make it go away totally. If that is true…get out of the water. Stop the drift. Don’t listen to the crazy remedies this life tells us about and know that JESUS alone fixes us from the inside out. STOP the drift…so you don’t get stung. And then run to the HEALER of all.
So, yes…I am sure you are all laughing that I got stung and peed on, but mine was just a jelly fish sting issue. Where have you drifted, gotten stung and tried a crazy relief idea that didn’t work because you chose something other than Jesus?
ALL FOR YOU
My immediate thought was that I needed someone to pee on my leg, to help with the hurt. I had seen on Survivor that doing that was supposed to help and because we were on the beach with no quick fixes to ease the harsh pain, I looked at the boys in my family and asked them to pee on my leg. I know, it sounds gross, but when you are hurting like that, you will do ANYTHING to get relief-and I mean anything.
While I have 4 boys in my family, none of them at that moment had to go to the bathroom. I am thinking “you have got to be kidding me!” Limping back to my chair, my husband grabbed a bottle of water, handed it to my eldest son and told him to go with me and pee on my leg. We arrived at the bathrooms, only to find there was NO family bathroom. I can’t go in the men’s room. He can’t go in the ladies room. Dilemna….hmmmm….what to do? I am dying and looking for any available solution. So, we head into a deserted parking deck, where I hope he can help me.
I lean up against the wall and tell my son to hurry up because I can’t stand the pain- just do it. To which he looks at me and says “Mom, I just can’t pee on you.” After fussing with him for a few seconds and trying to explain that it is okay, we finally decided for him to go in the bathroom, pee in the bottle and we would pour it on my leg. (probably a better plan anyway!) And yes, I think I am relieved to know my son can’t and won’t pee on his mother, even when given the chance to!
Minutes later, I am standing on the edge of the beach and he is pouring that on my leg. It didn’t stop the pain, but it did help a little. (I later discovered that HOT water is much better. Wish I had known that BEFORE I had urine poured on me!) I called a friend and asked her to look up what you could do for a sting and that is when I learned that hot water seemed to be the recommended treatment. But I am on the beach-no HOT water. I finally found a tide pool that had been heated by the sun, sat in that, took some pain reliever and found some more relief. But I can’t tell you, how quickly that pain came and stayed. How I would have done anything to relieve it. It was crazy.
While processing all of those crazy events, the Lord was clear to reveal truth to my heart. Standing in the midst of the ocean, minding my own business, I got stung. It is so easy to be caught in the drift of life, doing your own thing and to be stung-not on the surface, but deep down, underneath-where no one can see. And for that hurt to be so deep that you would be willing to do anything to find relief. The drift is a crazy a place…where deep hurt and pain can make you choose to do things you would never dream of.
Not in a million years would I have ever thought I would have begged my guys to pee on me. But the things you will do to find relief from the sting that is found in the moments of drifting is crazy. I am living proof of this. For many of us, we have been drifting and we have been stung. The pain from that may lie deep under the surface, but the reality is we have chosen some crazy things to try to get relief from the sting of that pain.
However, the remedy isn’t what we think. It isn’t what the world tells us. And though we try it, it doesn’t fix the pain.
I don’t know what has stung you or what you have done to try to bring relief to that pain. Maybe you didn’t even realize you were drifting and got stung. Maybe you have tried some crazy remedies and are looking not for relief but a way to make it go away totally. If that is true…get out of the water. Stop the drift. Don’t listen to the crazy remedies this life tells us about and know that JESUS alone fixes us from the inside out. STOP the drift…so you don’t get stung. And then run to the HEALER of all.
So, yes…I am sure you are all laughing that I got stung and peed on, but mine was just a jelly fish sting issue. Where have you drifted, gotten stung and tried a crazy relief idea that didn’t work because you chose something other than Jesus?
ALL FOR YOU
Monday, August 09, 2010
We got up today and just on a random whim decided to take the boys to the beach. My youngest had been asking all summer to go and so we took him to play in the sand and waves. When we got to the beach there was a beautiful sandcastle right in front of where we chose to sit. The tide was coming in and it threatened to destroy the cool sand edifice and my boys decided to make it their mission to build a HUGE wall around the sandcastle in order to protect it, keeping it from being destroyed. For the better part of an hour, they worked and built. It was funny to see them work so hard to protect a castle that wasn’t even theirs. As I sat watching, I was proud of their efforts, but knew in the end it would be futile. The tide would take it.
That got me to thinking…
So many of us are like my boys. Trying to defend a KINGDOME, a castle bound for destruction because it is made of sand. We work hard to build walls, protect our “stuff” and to work diligently to spend our lives shielding the “beautiful edifices”. But it is inevitable. We can spend our days doing that, but IT IS COMING DOWN. We work so hard to put our money in purses with holes, build houses made of sand and invest in what will never last. We are just making castles out of sand and trying to protect it from the tide.
The wise man builds upon the rock. The catch to that passage of Scripture is that the wise man HEARS and ACTS, building his house on the rock so that when the rains come, it is not swept away.
Matt 7:24-27
24 "Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine, and acts upon them, may be compared to a wise man, who built his house upon the rock.
25 "And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and burst against that house; and {yet} it did not fall, for it had been founded upon the rock.
26 "And everyone who hears these words of Mine, and does not act upon them, will be like a foolish man, who built his house upon the sand.
27 "And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and burst against that house; and it fell, and great was its fall."
The key to not being swept away is THREE FOLD.
HEARING, ACTING and WHERE YOU BUILD. So, the question for us is three fold.
Have you heard the Words of the Lord? Have you acted on them? And where are you building, sand or rock? Perhaps we are just building on sand and trying to build walls around what will inevitably fall? Perhaps we have heard, but haven’t acted?
This afternoon was a good word picture of what building in the wrong place, not listening to the Lord or acting on His Words can do for us.
ALL FOR YOU
parenting
I was in the grocery store today and got REALLY frustrated with a Mom that was in front of me in line. She had a small 2 year old with her that she continually called to come to her. The little girl continually ran from the Mother. The Mom stood in line and talked about how bad the little girl was and how she never comes when she calls. She called and fussed the entire time, until the sentence she dropped absolutely stunned me.
Let me first preface this by saying, my thoughts were-quit yelling at the girl to come and GO GET HER. Quit griping about how she isn’t doing what you said and DISCIPLINE her. The little girl needed a spanking and a reminder of who she was to obey-NOT HERSELF!
It was in the midst of those thoughts that the Mom blurted out, “come here, or I am not giving you a quarter.” Oh Man, I almost scolded the Mom. Now, she was trying to bribe the little girl to obey. No wonder the little girl was rotten; the Mom was doing a horrible job of parenting.
We don’t teach our children to obey because there is reward. We teach them to obey out of honor, respect and love. What happens when we tell them to get out of the street because a truck is coming and there is no “reward”-no quarter waiting to get them to move? This young girl totally disregarded the Mom because she didn’t care about the reward and knew there would be no discipline, consequently giving her no respect, love or honor.
My greater concern is that by parenting this way, we give our children a wrong view of God as well. That we only have to obey when it benefits us. That we can disregard His voice and there be no discipline. The young girl needed discipline so she could learn to love and honor. Without it, she will be rotten, for sure, but she will also end up never understanding the joy of obedience.
After the woman left, (by the way she told the girl to listen to her 12 times on the way out the door.) the girl checking me out talked of how that woman was going to have a hard time with that little girl if she acted like that at 2. I agreed. But more than that, I thought if she acts like this at 2, what is she going to bribe her with at 15?
Delayed obedience is Disobedience. We don’t bribe, count or reward such, we discipline, so that our children will know the joys of obeying out of love and honor to a heavenly Father that will discipline because He loves.
ALL FOR YOU
Let me first preface this by saying, my thoughts were-quit yelling at the girl to come and GO GET HER. Quit griping about how she isn’t doing what you said and DISCIPLINE her. The little girl needed a spanking and a reminder of who she was to obey-NOT HERSELF!
It was in the midst of those thoughts that the Mom blurted out, “come here, or I am not giving you a quarter.” Oh Man, I almost scolded the Mom. Now, she was trying to bribe the little girl to obey. No wonder the little girl was rotten; the Mom was doing a horrible job of parenting.
We don’t teach our children to obey because there is reward. We teach them to obey out of honor, respect and love. What happens when we tell them to get out of the street because a truck is coming and there is no “reward”-no quarter waiting to get them to move? This young girl totally disregarded the Mom because she didn’t care about the reward and knew there would be no discipline, consequently giving her no respect, love or honor.
My greater concern is that by parenting this way, we give our children a wrong view of God as well. That we only have to obey when it benefits us. That we can disregard His voice and there be no discipline. The young girl needed discipline so she could learn to love and honor. Without it, she will be rotten, for sure, but she will also end up never understanding the joy of obedience.
After the woman left, (by the way she told the girl to listen to her 12 times on the way out the door.) the girl checking me out talked of how that woman was going to have a hard time with that little girl if she acted like that at 2. I agreed. But more than that, I thought if she acts like this at 2, what is she going to bribe her with at 15?
Delayed obedience is Disobedience. We don’t bribe, count or reward such, we discipline, so that our children will know the joys of obeying out of love and honor to a heavenly Father that will discipline because He loves.
ALL FOR YOU
Saturday, July 31, 2010
inoculated 2
Ok, so this preacher is killing me. Not literally, but REALLY making me think. (love that, by the way. I want my thinking challenged not placated.)
So, not 10 min later in the same sermon where inoculated thoughts got stirred, he begins talking about an old preacher named Barnhouse. He was a pioneer in radio preaching in his day. In one of his sermons, he asked the question, “what would America look like if the devil took over?”
His answer was that there would be no swearing, all the children would say yes mam and no sir, all the bars would close, pornography would be banished and the churches would be full every Sunday where Christ IS NOT preached.
What is scary about that is that most of us would be satisfied if our lives and cities looked just like this. Jesus or no Jesus we just want to be safe. Jesus or no Jesus, we just want our kids to turn out okay. Jesus or no Jesus we want our marriages to be easy. Jesus or no Jesus we want our churches full. Is it really about wanting Jesus or wanting life to be what we want?
For wanting Jesus does not include safe, okay, easy or full churches.
Though we would never say it out loud, most of us would say we are more concerned with our kids turning out okay, our marriages being simple, our churches being full and the bars being closed, than we are with Jesus. So a world in which the devil has taken over is simply a world where we can have what we want, but without Jesus. The question remains, is that really what we want? Do we really want what we WANT, regardless of whether we get Jesus or not? Or do we want Jesus regardless?
Wow, this has sparked conviction in my own heart. Are we willing to give up Jesus so that our marriages will be easy and our children okay and our churches full? Wouldn’t that be the way the enemy works? To gain the whole world, but forfeit our soul? We can have the easy life, but without Jesus? It would be like entering the Promised land without God.
Isn’t that what God told Moses? You can go in, but without me. And Moses’ response was what good is a promised land without you. If you don’t go, we don’t go!
Wouldn’t it be just like the enemy to convince us that we know better and can achieve better without God. Wasn’t that what happened in the garden with Eve? Are we not just as deceived?
Is our concern that people, family, friends and ourselves GET JESUS and LIVE JESUS and LOVE JESUS-or that Jesus or no Jesus life happens the way we want?
Isn’t the enemies goal to merely convince us that this life is better than all that Jesus could offer us? To make us love the world and forfeit our soul? To convince us to live for now instead of eternity? To cause us to want the creature comforts of this world over the lovingkindness of a Savior? To get us to a place where Jesus or no Jesus it is all about achieving life as we want it?
What if the goal is to just get us NOT to preach or teach Christ. To not make Him first and only? What if the enemies goal is not to make us wicked as we so often think, but to make us separated from Jesus? What if the enemies goal is to slyly and deceptively cause us to love the good things of this life and to cling to them, so that we don’t even care if Jesus is in them or not?
What if the enemy let life be SO good, so that we don’t care if Jesus is a part of it or not? What if we began to understand that following Jesus is a life of suffering, persecution and hardship, while NOT following is easy, safe and comfortable?
Oh wait…that is what the enemy is doing. Man…
Just thinking…
ALL FOR YOU
So, not 10 min later in the same sermon where inoculated thoughts got stirred, he begins talking about an old preacher named Barnhouse. He was a pioneer in radio preaching in his day. In one of his sermons, he asked the question, “what would America look like if the devil took over?”
His answer was that there would be no swearing, all the children would say yes mam and no sir, all the bars would close, pornography would be banished and the churches would be full every Sunday where Christ IS NOT preached.
What is scary about that is that most of us would be satisfied if our lives and cities looked just like this. Jesus or no Jesus we just want to be safe. Jesus or no Jesus, we just want our kids to turn out okay. Jesus or no Jesus we want our marriages to be easy. Jesus or no Jesus we want our churches full. Is it really about wanting Jesus or wanting life to be what we want?
For wanting Jesus does not include safe, okay, easy or full churches.
Though we would never say it out loud, most of us would say we are more concerned with our kids turning out okay, our marriages being simple, our churches being full and the bars being closed, than we are with Jesus. So a world in which the devil has taken over is simply a world where we can have what we want, but without Jesus. The question remains, is that really what we want? Do we really want what we WANT, regardless of whether we get Jesus or not? Or do we want Jesus regardless?
Wow, this has sparked conviction in my own heart. Are we willing to give up Jesus so that our marriages will be easy and our children okay and our churches full? Wouldn’t that be the way the enemy works? To gain the whole world, but forfeit our soul? We can have the easy life, but without Jesus? It would be like entering the Promised land without God.
Isn’t that what God told Moses? You can go in, but without me. And Moses’ response was what good is a promised land without you. If you don’t go, we don’t go!
Wouldn’t it be just like the enemy to convince us that we know better and can achieve better without God. Wasn’t that what happened in the garden with Eve? Are we not just as deceived?
Is our concern that people, family, friends and ourselves GET JESUS and LIVE JESUS and LOVE JESUS-or that Jesus or no Jesus life happens the way we want?
Isn’t the enemies goal to merely convince us that this life is better than all that Jesus could offer us? To make us love the world and forfeit our soul? To convince us to live for now instead of eternity? To cause us to want the creature comforts of this world over the lovingkindness of a Savior? To get us to a place where Jesus or no Jesus it is all about achieving life as we want it?
What if the goal is to just get us NOT to preach or teach Christ. To not make Him first and only? What if the enemies goal is not to make us wicked as we so often think, but to make us separated from Jesus? What if the enemies goal is to slyly and deceptively cause us to love the good things of this life and to cling to them, so that we don’t even care if Jesus is in them or not?
What if the enemy let life be SO good, so that we don’t care if Jesus is a part of it or not? What if we began to understand that following Jesus is a life of suffering, persecution and hardship, while NOT following is easy, safe and comfortable?
Oh wait…that is what the enemy is doing. Man…
Just thinking…
ALL FOR YOU
Friday, July 30, 2010
inoculated
So, I am listening to a sermon today, by Billy Grahams grandson. He was speaking on the power of the gospel. However, the word he used was that we in the South have been inoculated against the gospel and that he has to spend more time convincing people that they are not saved so that they can truly meet Jesus, instead of embracing the religious ideas they have been brought up under.
It kind of stunned me. So, I have been processing the thought…
Okay, so the concept of being inoculated is that they give you a little bit of the real thing so that you miss out on the true full thing altogether. They give you a little bit of the flu in an inoculation so that you miss out on the full blown thing. They give you a little bit of the chicken pox, so that you miss out on the true thing.
The thought was we have inoculated people against the gospel. We have given them a little bit of it and that has kept most from the true, full thing. We have spent our time trying to get them “saved”, instead of making disciples. Jesus is clear in the GREAT COMMISION. We are to MAKE DISCIPLES, not merely give people an ABC gospel that brings them to a mental ascent of truth. We are to walk and talk the WORD alongside them, until it marinades and resonates in them. We are to call them not to merely confess to truth, but to be obsessed and possessed by truth, compelling them to follow HIM. The gospel is not merely about salvation, but about sanctification, justification, glorification-from sins penalty, power and presence in our lives. The gospel is the power of God unto salvation, but that salvation creates Christ followers.
As Francis Chan so adequately describes, we have made following Jesus something it isn’t. Even kids know that when you play follow the leader, you DO what the leader does. When you play Simon says, you do exactly what Simon says or you lose at both games. However, we have made the gospel something altogether different. Instead of making followers who DO what Christ did or obey exactly what Christ said, we convey a message that says you don’t have to do that because He is forgiving and loving-full of grace. (which is TRUE-by the way, but the very inoculation we are talking about.) Just memorize it, study about it and pray for it, but you don’t really have to DO those things. It would be absurd to really count it all as loss, know nothing but Christ crucified, find your treasure in heaven and follow Him, be crucified with Christ, Forget what lies behind, keep the Sabbath, come away with Him, Love Him with ALL, worship Him alone, grind our idols to dust, love our enemies, stop pleasing people and please Him, not lean on our own understanding, not seek wisdom of man, walk by the Spirit of God, let Him be the voice we listen to, wash people’s feet, pray without ceasing, enter into Covenant, love one another, MAKE DISCIPLES. After all, He didn’t really mean these things to be LIVED? Did HE?
We study these truths and then justify why we don’t live them. Inoculated against gospel. We give people just enough truth that they say yes to the inoculation, but never experience the full thing. All the while thinking they are “safe” from the dreaded consequence of sin. But the truth is the inoculation doesn’t work.
In fact, we have sold the true gospel short. We have not communicated the full gospel, the full truth. We have given just enough to get “saved”, but not what was needed to be a follower. And yes, it is OUR FAULT, for communicating poorly. Yet, the truth remains. People feel inoculated. Like they have what they need, while missing what they must possess. And the deception in this is that they are still lost.
I have been thinking all day about the inoculation concept. Could it be that the reason so many are not FOLLOWING, but believe they are His is because we have deceived them by not giving them the full dose of the gospel, but only just enough to ward off what the real thing might be?
It seems to be a conversation circling among pastors these days. Men like Matt Chandler, Andy Stanley, David Platt, Francis Chan, Tullian Tchividijan, John McArthur, Ravi Zacharias, Paul Washer, Louie Giglio, Craig Groeschel, John Piper and many more are addressing the issue of the watered down gospel. While I am not looking for the validation of man on these thoughts, it seems to be a running theme in Christendom right now. Even at the Southern Baptist Convention this year, many addressed our easy believism and watered down faith that is not reproducing followers of Christ.
Could the reason for this be inoculation? I don’t have an answer…but it is food for thought. And has made me evaluate my communication of the gospel. Are we inoculating or MAKING DISCIPLES? Look at those following you and you will have a pretty good idea of which. Do they look more like Jesus? Or more like your opinions, desires and preferences? Or maybe they do look like you and the better question is how much do YOU Look like Jesus? Does your following look like the full experience or just a shot of Jesus? Is it just about being saved or about chasing and following Jesus as if your life depends on it….because it does.
Are we just trying to inoculate people against the behaviors we don’t like or are we trying to give them the full experience of ALL JESUS desires? Are we settling for just a small portion, instead of giving them the Full Deal? Or perhaps, we are the ones inoculated. Maybe we have settled into the idea that we have gotten “saved” and that is enough. Does our life look like we are FOLLOWING JESUS or that we just got “saved” via our inoculation.
Not saying I have the answers to any of this…but it is something for us all to think about.
ALL FOR YOU
It kind of stunned me. So, I have been processing the thought…
Okay, so the concept of being inoculated is that they give you a little bit of the real thing so that you miss out on the true full thing altogether. They give you a little bit of the flu in an inoculation so that you miss out on the full blown thing. They give you a little bit of the chicken pox, so that you miss out on the true thing.
The thought was we have inoculated people against the gospel. We have given them a little bit of it and that has kept most from the true, full thing. We have spent our time trying to get them “saved”, instead of making disciples. Jesus is clear in the GREAT COMMISION. We are to MAKE DISCIPLES, not merely give people an ABC gospel that brings them to a mental ascent of truth. We are to walk and talk the WORD alongside them, until it marinades and resonates in them. We are to call them not to merely confess to truth, but to be obsessed and possessed by truth, compelling them to follow HIM. The gospel is not merely about salvation, but about sanctification, justification, glorification-from sins penalty, power and presence in our lives. The gospel is the power of God unto salvation, but that salvation creates Christ followers.
As Francis Chan so adequately describes, we have made following Jesus something it isn’t. Even kids know that when you play follow the leader, you DO what the leader does. When you play Simon says, you do exactly what Simon says or you lose at both games. However, we have made the gospel something altogether different. Instead of making followers who DO what Christ did or obey exactly what Christ said, we convey a message that says you don’t have to do that because He is forgiving and loving-full of grace. (which is TRUE-by the way, but the very inoculation we are talking about.) Just memorize it, study about it and pray for it, but you don’t really have to DO those things. It would be absurd to really count it all as loss, know nothing but Christ crucified, find your treasure in heaven and follow Him, be crucified with Christ, Forget what lies behind, keep the Sabbath, come away with Him, Love Him with ALL, worship Him alone, grind our idols to dust, love our enemies, stop pleasing people and please Him, not lean on our own understanding, not seek wisdom of man, walk by the Spirit of God, let Him be the voice we listen to, wash people’s feet, pray without ceasing, enter into Covenant, love one another, MAKE DISCIPLES. After all, He didn’t really mean these things to be LIVED? Did HE?
We study these truths and then justify why we don’t live them. Inoculated against gospel. We give people just enough truth that they say yes to the inoculation, but never experience the full thing. All the while thinking they are “safe” from the dreaded consequence of sin. But the truth is the inoculation doesn’t work.
In fact, we have sold the true gospel short. We have not communicated the full gospel, the full truth. We have given just enough to get “saved”, but not what was needed to be a follower. And yes, it is OUR FAULT, for communicating poorly. Yet, the truth remains. People feel inoculated. Like they have what they need, while missing what they must possess. And the deception in this is that they are still lost.
I have been thinking all day about the inoculation concept. Could it be that the reason so many are not FOLLOWING, but believe they are His is because we have deceived them by not giving them the full dose of the gospel, but only just enough to ward off what the real thing might be?
It seems to be a conversation circling among pastors these days. Men like Matt Chandler, Andy Stanley, David Platt, Francis Chan, Tullian Tchividijan, John McArthur, Ravi Zacharias, Paul Washer, Louie Giglio, Craig Groeschel, John Piper and many more are addressing the issue of the watered down gospel. While I am not looking for the validation of man on these thoughts, it seems to be a running theme in Christendom right now. Even at the Southern Baptist Convention this year, many addressed our easy believism and watered down faith that is not reproducing followers of Christ.
Could the reason for this be inoculation? I don’t have an answer…but it is food for thought. And has made me evaluate my communication of the gospel. Are we inoculating or MAKING DISCIPLES? Look at those following you and you will have a pretty good idea of which. Do they look more like Jesus? Or more like your opinions, desires and preferences? Or maybe they do look like you and the better question is how much do YOU Look like Jesus? Does your following look like the full experience or just a shot of Jesus? Is it just about being saved or about chasing and following Jesus as if your life depends on it….because it does.
Are we just trying to inoculate people against the behaviors we don’t like or are we trying to give them the full experience of ALL JESUS desires? Are we settling for just a small portion, instead of giving them the Full Deal? Or perhaps, we are the ones inoculated. Maybe we have settled into the idea that we have gotten “saved” and that is enough. Does our life look like we are FOLLOWING JESUS or that we just got “saved” via our inoculation.
Not saying I have the answers to any of this…but it is something for us all to think about.
ALL FOR YOU
Monday, May 24, 2010
Covenant 10 fyi
We are not to follow our human reasoning or understanding, but the teaching of our Covenant God. Too often we lean on our own understanding instead of studying to know and live in ways that God can approve of because they line up with His heart. We often baulk at and reject teaching that makes us feel uncomfortable because it defies human reasoning or understanding. However, the things of the Spirit are not naturally discerned, but are revealed by the Spirit of God. Too often we do what SEEMS right, which leads to destruction instead of embracing truth.
So the question in context of Covenant, IS DO WE BELIEVE WHAT THE BIBLE says and will we obey it? Or will we try to justify our responses because they make us uncomfortable?
When Jesus said “He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood” He was saying those who enter into Covenant with me. His Words…”He who eats my flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life and I will raise Him up on the last day.” John 6:54
Christianity is not about a commitment or an acceptance of the gospel, but a Covenant with Christ. When covenant partners walked between the pieces of flesh it was a walk into death that led to life-the life of another besides yourself. Thus, as well as becoming friends through covenant, you and your partner now embrace common enemies.
Covenant is a 2 way street. Many embrace Jesus and/or covenant on their own terms, thinking that Jesus/Covenant exists for their own benefit and forget that they are bound by covenant to live for another.
Because you are bound to Jesus, people will hate you. The Word is clear that they hated Jesus and they will hate you. (John 15:18-19) The world hates Jesus because He takes away the excuse for sin. They hated Him because of His righteous life. Those who are NOT in Covenant with Jesus do not like righteousness and are opposed to the truth of the Word. They set their standards and philosophies towards things that are opposed to God. They may even call themselves Christians, but they have crawled in bed with world and have united themselves with it’s likeness and not taken on the identity of Christ.
For do you not know that friendship (covenant term) with the world is hostility towards God. Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an ENEMY of God. (James 4:4)
This would be the equivalent of having an affair with our spouse or betraying our Covenant friend. To love the world and adopt it’s standards is to say “Jesus, I know I belong to you, but before you return, I want to have an affair with your arch enemy”. And so we crawl into the world’s bed to sleep with the enemy of God-commiting spiritual adultery in our Covenant. (This is the Scriptures analogy…not mine.)
Few of us would tolerate this in our marriages or even from a friend, but we expect God to continually accept our half hearted commitment, while His expectation is Covenant. A reciprocal, two way Covenant that offers an exchange of life…and demonstrated by how we live. Would we remain in a relationship that was half hearted? I think not….we expect our spouses and Covenant friends to be ALL IN…and it is what the Father expects from us. The question is….are we? Or are we deceiving ourselves into thinking our commitment not a covenant will save us because that is what we are comfortable with? Or will we embrace what the Word says about Covenant….ALL of them?
ALL FOR YOU
So the question in context of Covenant, IS DO WE BELIEVE WHAT THE BIBLE says and will we obey it? Or will we try to justify our responses because they make us uncomfortable?
When Jesus said “He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood” He was saying those who enter into Covenant with me. His Words…”He who eats my flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life and I will raise Him up on the last day.” John 6:54
Christianity is not about a commitment or an acceptance of the gospel, but a Covenant with Christ. When covenant partners walked between the pieces of flesh it was a walk into death that led to life-the life of another besides yourself. Thus, as well as becoming friends through covenant, you and your partner now embrace common enemies.
Covenant is a 2 way street. Many embrace Jesus and/or covenant on their own terms, thinking that Jesus/Covenant exists for their own benefit and forget that they are bound by covenant to live for another.
Because you are bound to Jesus, people will hate you. The Word is clear that they hated Jesus and they will hate you. (John 15:18-19) The world hates Jesus because He takes away the excuse for sin. They hated Him because of His righteous life. Those who are NOT in Covenant with Jesus do not like righteousness and are opposed to the truth of the Word. They set their standards and philosophies towards things that are opposed to God. They may even call themselves Christians, but they have crawled in bed with world and have united themselves with it’s likeness and not taken on the identity of Christ.
For do you not know that friendship (covenant term) with the world is hostility towards God. Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an ENEMY of God. (James 4:4)
This would be the equivalent of having an affair with our spouse or betraying our Covenant friend. To love the world and adopt it’s standards is to say “Jesus, I know I belong to you, but before you return, I want to have an affair with your arch enemy”. And so we crawl into the world’s bed to sleep with the enemy of God-commiting spiritual adultery in our Covenant. (This is the Scriptures analogy…not mine.)
Few of us would tolerate this in our marriages or even from a friend, but we expect God to continually accept our half hearted commitment, while His expectation is Covenant. A reciprocal, two way Covenant that offers an exchange of life…and demonstrated by how we live. Would we remain in a relationship that was half hearted? I think not….we expect our spouses and Covenant friends to be ALL IN…and it is what the Father expects from us. The question is….are we? Or are we deceiving ourselves into thinking our commitment not a covenant will save us because that is what we are comfortable with? Or will we embrace what the Word says about Covenant….ALL of them?
ALL FOR YOU
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
