Faith and Mustard Seeds

Even though I have retired from my career in education, I still work a couple of days a week at my former school as a tutor. One day I went to work wearing a necklace with a mustard seed pendant - a gift from my late daughter-in-law.

A mustard seed is a symbol of faith. In Matthew 17:20, Jesus told his disciples, “If you have faith like a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move.” I’ve heard it said that faith has to be planted as a mustard seed is planted. Faith requires action, not just mental agreement.

When my lunch break came, I walked into the teacher’s lounge and noticed a silver chain on the table. I instinctively reached up to my neck and found that my necklace was not there. I began looking around the room for the pendant, but I couldn’t find it anywhere. As some of the other tutors and teachers came into the room, they helped me look for it under furniture and behind doors, but we had no success.

I knew that in a busy school building that is cleaned every evening; the custodian was likely to sweep up and discard such a tiny item, never even noticing it in the rest of the debris. I put the chain back around my neck and believed I would never see that pendant again.

Then, about a month later, I received a Facebook message from another tutor. It said, “Are you at the school today? If not, could you stop by? I think I have something for you.”

Of course, my first thought was that she had found the mustard seed. What else could she just “think” she had for me, other than something she had never actually seen? Sure enough, while monitoring a student who was taking a test, she began pacing in the conference room next to the lounge, out of sheer boredom. Something shiny in a dusty corner caught her eye, and she remembered my pendant and went to investigate. There it was, ready to be returned to me.

The last few years have been extremely difficult and challenging for me. I’ve been thro ugh grief, stress, financial issues, medical issues, and have been “ghosted” by someone close to me for no apparent reason. It’s been difficult sometimes to find my faith. It got lost in the dusty corners of difficulty and circumstance, but just like my work friend found the pendant and returned it to me, many friends and family members have encouraged me and helped me to find it again every time discouragement has come my way.

As Christians, we have a responsibility to hold one another up and to encourage others to walk out their purpose. We also have a responsibility to ourselves to “stir up the gift” within us, as Paul said to Timothy in 2 Timothy 1:6. God used the necklace story to remind me of these two responsibilities in my life. Maybe this will remind you too.

The Seed You Didn't Know You Planted

 

Last year, my son grew a vegetable garden.  Somebody put a late-season squash on the patio table in the fall and it never made it to the kitchen for its intended purpose.  Eventually, we tossed it on the soil of a large planter and left there all winter.

My granddaughter picked it up this spring, and it was light and hollow.  She played with it on the brick patio and it broke in half, spilling the seeds on the hard surface. We threw the broken pieces in the trash can, which was that squash’s entire life story.  At least, I thought it was.

One summer day, we noticed a plant growing at the patio’s edge. At first, it was hard to tell what it was, but we soon identified it as a squash.  One of those escaped seeds fell or was rain-washed into a crack in the brick and it took root.

This squash is now a massive plant with huge leaves and several large fruits ripening on the bricks below.  It was an accidental planting - one we didn’t know we had done.

I wonder how many times we “accidentally” plant seeds in someone’s life?  It’s easy to recall when we’ve spoken an encouraging word, prayed with someone, or explained the gospel to them plainly.  It’s harder to know when someone has overheard or observed us in a situation and we’ve ended up having a life-changing influence on a stranger without ever knowing that we even planted a seed.

There has been an incident or two in my life when I later learned about the results of my unintended seed planting, but if there are more, I may not know about them on this side of heaven.  I think it’s probably enough to know that it happens and that I need to be aware of my words and actions because they can have profound results. I hope to find many “accidental saints” greeting me in heaven who are there because of some words that were heard or an attitude I displayed.

What are you planting when you think you are just going about your day?

Purchased, Downloaded, and Activated!

 

The other day I noticed a charge on my credit card statement that I didn't recognize.  After a little research, I found that it was a yearly renewal of virus protection software.  After a little more digging, I found the email I had received when I signed up for the service, and to my surprise, I realized that I had never actually downloaded the software!

Not only that, but in the process of downloading the file, there was a final step that asked me to activate the software.  That's right - I purchased something that I never downloaded, and once I downloaded it, I still had to take another action to activate it.

It only took a few minutes for the Holy Spirit to use that little episode of computer business to get my attention.

Our salvation has been purchased with the very blood of Jesus.  It's paid for; it's ours; it's settled in heaven with our names written in the Lamb's Book of Life.  The problem is that sometimes we stop right there when there is so much more included with that "salvation subscription", but only if we take the proper action.

We have to receive a download from heaven and that includes so much.  We have access to the baptism of the Holy Spirit and all the wisdom of the Word of God.  We have guidance, power, the fruit of the Spirit, and the gifts of the Spirit. We have everything available to us that pertains to life and godliness.  His Word tells us about all of that and more.  Some of us download all of that through studying the Bible and praying, while others neglect those disciplines.

However, even if our minds know all about the elements of the download, we don't see changes in our lives or results from our prayers if we don't learn to activate the download.  On my computer, it was as simple as clicking a button on the screen, but activating the things of God takes a bit more intentionality.  We activate the Word by speaking it in faith.  We allow the Holy Spirit to be active in our lives when we surrender to Him.  We develop the fruit of the Spirit by walking with Him daily and renewing our minds.  We exercise the gifts of the Spirit by seeking them and learning to listen to His voice guiding us to release those gifts for the benefit of the body of Christ.

Without all three of these things happening in our lives, we can't reach the goal that the Apostle Paul talked about in this scripture. 

I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 3:14)

How often do we just count on our salvation relationship to carry us through things, without specifically activating faith in any given situation? Just because we know Him and we are hoping for a thing to happen does not mean we are activating our faith.  We don't walk in power in our ministries just because we know things - we must activate the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives.  

It's so easy to coast in this Christian life sometimes.  When circumstances are difficult, it's tempting to just operate in the "realm of overwhelm" and forget all the tools we have at our fingertips that God has provided to help us navigate those hard paths.  

I'm experiencing a lot of "overwhelm" right now and the Holy Spirit used this crazy credit card charge to remind me of all the things I should be activating in my life.  My mind knows what to do but my spirit-man has allowed the enemy to keep me in "download only" mode.  I'm determined now to activate it. How about you?

Move Toward the Light

 

We have an outbuilding on our property that we call the "Prayer Shed".  Sometimes I also call it the "Escape Room" because it's the only place I can find where I can truly be alone, unobserved, and unheard.

I was there tonight, reading the Word, and praying.  The prayer was difficult.  So much is going on in the life of our family: health issues, uncertainty, financial pressures, and relationship challenges.

Because of all of this, I've been pulled in many directions lately. and I've been expected to fulfill many different roles. In times like these, it's easy to get spiritually weary and discouraged.  Sometimes I feel so dry and so inadequate for the tasks set before me. 

I got brutally honest with God because He already knows my questions, my not-so-holy thoughts about things, my frustrations, and my resentments.  I'd love to say that the shed lit up with holy light and angels came to minister to me and now everything is perfect, but that didn't happen.  I turned off the desk light and plunged the little room into total darkness.  

It's only a few steps to the door of the building and on the other side of that door were the lights of the patio that could lead me to the house. As I took those steps, I heard, "Move toward the light".  God wasn't giving me directions to my house.  He was reminding me that in the middle of the most difficult situations in our lives when we are tempted to turn into our own emotions and wall ourselves off from God in desperation, the only wise thing to do is to move toward Him instead.

In John 6:66-69, many who were following Jesus turned away from Him and deserted Him because of offense at some of His sayings which they misinterpreted.  He asks the twelve disciples in His inner circle if they would also leave Him.  Simon Peter replied, "Lord, to whom would we go? You have the words that give eternal life.  We believe, and we know you are the Holy One of God."

I still don't understand all the "whys" of this situation. I still face the same uncertainties and the same challenges, but where else could I go?  Who else could I seek for help in this difficult time?  He is still the answer and the light of the world and I'll continue to move toward Him and not away so He can lead me where I'm going.

God and the Clogged Drain

 Can a problem in your life become a solution in someone else’s life? I believe it can after I had this experience.

A couple of weeks ago, my daughter-in-law asked my husband and me to come upstairs because she needed help with a clogged kitchen sink. We tried the typical homeowner solutions but did not get results. Fortunately, we have a warranty on the inside plumbing, so we called the company for some help. Unfortunately, it took several days for them to find a plumber to pick up the job.

So we carried plastic dishpans of dirty dishes downstairs to the kitchenette in our part of the house for several days so we could hand-wash them there. Finally, the company informed us they had assigned a plumber to the problem and help was on the way!

The plumber, Marc, came in and got straight to work. We chatted a little as he was diagnosing the problem and he noticed a dirty cup to the right of the sink on the countertop. It was a cup with a church name on it - the kind that is often given to visitors as a gift. It wasn’t from the church where I attend and serve, but it started a conversation.

He told me he had been in this area for several months, but hadn’t settled on a church home for himself and his family. So I told him about my church, Covenant Fellowship, and invited him to visit.

I watched for him in the church lobby that Sunday morning, but I didn’t see him come in. The service that morning was alive with the presence of God. It was a Celebration Sunday. On those Sundays, new members join the church, parents dedicate their babies to the Lord, and the service ends with water baptism after the sermon.

As I observed the baptism, I felt a tap on my shoulder. There was Marc, in the borrowed clothing we keep for people who didn’t come prepared for baptism, but who wanted to be baptized. He had been so touched by the sermon that morning that he felt a prompting of the Holy Spirit to come and be baptized.

Marc has returned to church on several occasions since that first Sunday.  I don't yet know if he will make it his permanent church home, but if he does, the church will provide a place for his gifts and talents to flow and flourish. He will have fellowship and develop friendships. He can receive spiritual nourishment here - all because our sink got clogged up.

Romans 8:28 says, “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.” What good did that clogged drain do me? Anything that strengthens a brother or sister in Christ also helps me. Any benefit to my church is a blessing in my life.

Did I enjoy carrying dishes up and down the steps for three days? Not really. Was it worth it for the outcome? Absolutely!

When life brings challenges and difficulties of any magnitude, that’s an opportunity to trust God. It may also be a divine setup for a totally unexpected result.

You'll Find It Where You Focus

My husband and I are reorganizing, redecorating, and reconfiguring our living space to make some major changes. We’d like to do that while spending as little money as possible. One way we do that is to look for second-hand items in thrift stores, antique malls, and junk shops, as well as an occasional retail store.

When we go to the shops, we’re very single-minded.  He starts on one side of the store and I start on the other. We cruise the aisles quickly and meet in the middle, looking for all the possibilities for that one item we are seeking, like a loveseat.  We don’t take time to examine all the other interesting things in the booths because we are on a mission.  If no vendors have a loveseat, then we’re on to the next store.  There’s no time to browse when you have a target in mind.

After one such day of searching, we ended up purchasing a loveseat and getting it home and in place. As the room arrangement progressed, we realized we needed another table lamp. Neither of us could remember seeing lamps at any of the places we had visited, though we knew there were probably some there.  Why didn’t we remember any lamps?  Our focus was on loveseats and that is all our brains would let us process.

I saw this kind of thing happen several times in our weeks of searching for various items, and then the Holy Spirit used that realization to remind me of something. Just as I blocked out all other distractions while seeking that loveseat, I can focus on my pursuit of God with tunnel vision. I don’t have to allow anything the enemy throws in my path to interfere with my fellowship with Him.  

If we focus on the things of God first, we will find them.  Jeremiah 13:10 says, “And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.”

Matthew 6:33 says it this way, “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”

You will see what you are trying to see if you maintain your focus.  All other things will move into the background of your life. They are still there, but they are not the objective.  Jesus is and always will be the primary focus of the soul that is sold out to Him.

That's Not My Name!

Last month, several packages were delivered to my house that had my exact address but bore the names of other people. An online seller that I ordered from has stolen credit card information from three other people. For some unknown reason, he is charging them for items, but sending them to my address. Law enforcement is investigating, and it’s been an interesting and annoying few weeks.

I realized today that the enemy of our souls does this all the time. He sends things right where we are. They are things we didn’t ask for. They don’t belong to us. I haven’t accepted the merchandise that has overwhelmed the front porch of my house, and I don’t have to accept what he sends my way either.

These physical packages just needed to be returned to the store that shipped them, but these bogus packages the enemy tries to unload on us need to be dealt with in this way:

“Sorry, devil. This package isn’t mine. Oh, I know it has my address on it, but you’ve got the wrong person. My name isn’t Defeated or Unloveable or Broken. My name is Overcomer, Beloved of God, His Masterpiece. I don’t want what you’re sending. Take your fraud and your lies and go somewhere else. I will only accept good and perfect gifts - the ones sent by my Abba Father. He provides everything that pertains to life and godliness - not some counterfeit that leads to heartache and moves me away from Him.”

Then write on that package in permanent marker “RETURN TO SENDER! Addressee unknown!”

"Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights with whom there is no shadow of turning." James 1:17

"...as His divine power has give to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue," 2 Peter 1:3

There's More!

 

On Christmas morning, I went upstairs to join my son, his wife, and my granddaughter Bella for a few minutes before they left the house to go to a brunch with my daughter-in-law’s family.  The plan was that they would empty their stockings before they left, but would save the opening of gifts under the tree until they returned in the afternoon.

Bella joyfully drew out small gifts, one after another; getting more excited the deeper her arm disappeared down the stocking.  She had candy, and hair accessories, and gift cards to her favorite places to eat.  At one point she squealed, "This is the best morning ever!”  

I’m glad she was so excited and grateful for what she had received, but the day held so much more for her.  There were gifts at her Pappy’s house and gifts right back here at our house that afternoon. Not only that, but there would be another gift or two the next day when she and her parents were going to another family dinner.  She had only scratched the surface of what she would receive this Christmas. She stopped short of realizing all that was about to come to her that day.

She was much like many of us are as Christians.  We are excited and grateful for the amazing gift of salvation that was bought for us by the blood of Jesus, as we should be, but God never meant for us to just stop there.  He has so much more prepared for us once we have joined His family and kingdom through being born again.  We shouldn’t quit when we’re just getting started!

God is showing us gift after gift that is available to us after we take that first step.  There are experiences and levels of understanding and depths of fellowship that we don’t even realize are waiting because we just open the stocking of salvation and declare that this is the best thing ever.  Jesus is the best thing ever, but He’s just getting started.  Look at what God says about this life that He gives us.

Ephesians 3:20-21 Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

We are born again, but our transformation is not just a one-time thing.  There’s so much more coming as we continue this walk with Him.

2 Corinthians 3:18 But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.

Eventually, this season, Bella’s gifts will stop coming. She will have received all that people have chosen to give her and she’ll settle into a life of enjoying the good things she has now, but with God, there is no end to what He is pouring out on the lives of His children. There is no end to His season of giving.  It’s more than we could ever imagine.

1 Corinthians 2:9 But as it is written: “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, Nor have entered into the heart of man The things which God has prepared for those who love Him.”

So as the world packs the Christmas decorations, throws away the used wrapping paper, and forsakes the holiday food for the new year’s diets, please remember to keep looking for and expecting the gifts and plans that God has for you.  Be thankful for what He has already done, but don’t get comfortable there.  There is always more!

Connecting When It's Not Easy

 

In a recent church service, we could feel the tangible presence of God.  The sense of peace that swept over the congregation was heavy and sweet. The Holy Spirit moved among us and ministered to all who had a heart that was listening for His words.  I wrote on the church’s Facebook page I wished every day was a Sunday.  That time together with each other and with Jesus was deeply meaningful.

Then I realized how easy it is to praise with the praisers and worship with the worshippers.  Prayer comes more effortlessly when you are praying with others who agree with the word of God.  There’s nothing wrong with the feeling that God is more accessible when we are together, but there is something wrong if that is the only time we connect with Him.

If you search the internet, you’ll find prayer notebooks, Bible study guides, and spiritual journals to help you in your time of personal devotions. There are ideas using colored pencils and illustrating the verses you are reading. There are suggestions for background praise music to set the atmosphere for your meeting with God. The websites that talk about these things paint a lovely picture of you surrounded by your Bible and your spiritual tools, sipping on coffee or tea, looking out the window at a beautiful view of God’s creation while you spend time with the Lord.  There’s nothing wrong with that either, but if they took all those tools away from us, could we still connect with God? 

In some countries today, there are Christians that don’t even have a Bible or have only a few pages they value as the most precious possession they own.  The persecution in those places means they don’t have easy access to worship music or podcasts or sermon videos - all the things that so easily are available to us. If we were in that situation, could we still bring praise to God? Could we get in His presence without all the tools that we enjoy?  Could we connect with Him if they threw us into jail because of our faith?

Because of our freedoms, the worst persecution we’ve ever faced is usually no more traumatic than someone calling us a holy roller or a Jesus freak.  Our pastor has been talking about being disciples; being the “disciplined ones” who follow God wholeheartedly.  Considering all these thoughts, I’ve been examining myself more and more to see if I’m prepared to stay in fellowship with God when it’s not easy anymore.  I pray that kind of persecution never comes, but the setup for it is already in our culture.  I’m asking that you give this topic some thought as well.  In difficult times, we need that connection more than we need our next breath.

Kingdom Work

 

I had a dream of a man who was building a brick structure.  He created a low wall of brick and mortar that barely reached his knees and was not very long.  All the while, behind him, there was another man working on the structure, but the first man never looked back to notice the second.  

It came time for the first man to die.  He looked down at the short wall that he had built and lamented that he wished he could have done so much more.  He thought of all the years he had wasted before he worked diligently on the project.  As he entered heaven’s gates, the man who had been laboring behind him ran ahead of him and was there to greet him. It was Jesus.  As the man looked into that beautiful face, Jesus said, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant!”  

The man protested. “All I did was build this one little short wall.  I wish I could have done so much more for you.”

Jesus put his hand on the man’s shoulder and said, “Turn around, son.”  As the man looked back at the place where he had been working, he saw a magnificent cathedral rising into the heavens.

We aren’t doing the work of the kingdom on our own.  The Holy Spirit Himself is working behind the scenes, adding to everything we do.  Our brothers and sisters are doing their little part- building their little sections of the structure alongside us.  The same Jesus who multiplied five loaves and two fish to feed five thousand people is multiplying our work far beyond what we can see.

We may serve in such anonymous ways behind the scenes that we don’t see the people that received salvation because we prepared the environment where they heard the word of God and responded.  That person’s life may, in turn, touch the lives of hundreds of others, turning them to God, and it’s all because we taught their child in the nursery so they could attend a service, or worked on the media team that brought that live video into their home or did any of a dozen other tasks that created an atmosphere that brought about an encounter with God.

We will be astonished in heaven to see how many people that we never met have been brought into the kingdom because of something we have done that we considered to be of no consequence.

Just because you can’t do everything doesn’t mean you should do nothing.  We all have different callings and gifts that God has given us to use to build His kingdom.  We need every brick. 

1 Peter 2:4-5 says, “Coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious, 5 you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.”

We are building and we are being built. Align yourself with the purpose of God to take your place in that spiritual house; it’s where you belong.

Connections

 

I don’t know why some people dream all the time and others never do.  All I know is that my mind is a virtual movie theater every night.  While most of those dreams fly out of my head as soon as the alarm goes off in the morning, I always look for meaning in those dreams that stay with me long after the day is underway.

My most recent dream involved a house on my uncle’s farm.  It’s a little place - just a little over 700 square feet because my grandparents built it as a place to spend their retirement years.  It sits on a little knoll overlooking the family farm, and it’s blessed with a gorgeous view.

In the dream, I was in the house with a couple of other women.  Looking out the window, I could see some men in the front yard and a few others in the backyard.  It was a beautiful sunny day, but the breeze coming off the mountain made it feel comfortable and cool.  Suddenly, from nowhere, there was a stream of water that lifted the little house from its foundation and floated it across the property over to an adjoining piece of land that belongs to my cousin’s widow.  

I felt no fear for my life as the house moved across the grass toward that plot of land.  The day was still calm and pleasant, and the house was smoothly gliding to where it would come to rest. All I could think about was that now we were going to have to get the house towed back to its original site and how much trouble it was going to be to get someone to come in and reconnect the water lines, the electric lines, and the septic tank.  That’s where the dream ended.

I’m not trained in dream interpretation, though I have read about it several times because of the many dreams that flood my brain, but when I meditated on this “movie in my mind” the next day, God showed me what it meant for me and for all of us.

The circumstances that moved the house weren’t big, scary, frightening things - just a gentle movement that somehow still had the power to move it from its connection to the foundation.  If we aren’t careful, even the daily events of our lives that are pleasant, or at least neutral, can move our attention away from God just as easily as a major tragedy that rocks our entire world.  Maybe those day-to-day events are even more likely to distract our attention because we aren’t guarding our hearts in situations that don’t seem threatening on the surface.

The connections that I worried about in the dream were symbols of three things that we lose when we allow distractions from our focus on God.  The first was the water lines.  Just as natural water is vital to our lives, the water of the Word of God is necessary to our spiritual lives so we can be both nourished and cleansed.  The electric lines represent the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives, which guides and teaches us as well as making possible miracles in our lives and the lives of others.  

How am I going to spiritualize a septic tank?  This represents discarding any “stinking thinking” that we have about ourselves and others - all the negative attitudes, lies of the enemy, sin, and worldly “junk” that our minds have picked up in the course of our lives.  Through repentance and renewing our minds, we can discard all that waste in prayer.

1 Corinthians 3:11 says, “For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.”

That foundation provides all that we need if we don’t allow the circumstances of our lives to break us away from it.

2 Peter 1:3 puts it this way. “....as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue...”

Why would we build on anything less, and why would we ever want those connections to be severed?

Unclaimed Property

 

I saw an online news article last week about the unclaimed property office in the state treasurer's office in West Virginia, where our family used to live.  It said that there were millions of dollars in abandoned bank accounts, in insurance proceeds, etc. that the office was trying to return to the rightful owners.

So, hoping that there was something there for our family, I went to their database and entered the names of all of my immediate family members.  It turns out that my husband's name was listed as having some unclaimed property.  I called to make sure it really was his and that it didn't belong to someone with the same name. They matched his name with a former address and sent us the forms to claim the property.

Foolishly, I forgot to ask how much was coming to him so it could be $4, or $40, or $400.  Time will tell, but it made me wonder what unclaimed property the body of Christ has stored up in the heavenlies, waiting for us to realize what belongs to us.

I'm not just talking about the material wealth that God gives us to steward and use to build His kingdom.  The riches of God go far beyond money.  

To claim those things, there are steps that must be followed. 

First, you have to be a citizen of the place where the property is stored.  If you are born again, you are a citizen of heaven, even if you aren't living there.

Next, you have to realize that there is a record of what belongs to you.  In our case, it was a database, but your heavenly property is documented in the Word of God.

Then, you must make sure that the listed property is yours by establishing your identity. You must talk to the person in charge of determining that those things belong to you.  In prayer and the Word, you can learn who you are in Christ - your true identity.

The next step is filing a claim.  For us it was filling out a form and again, proving identity by sending a copy of a driver's license and a social security card.  For the Christian, it's claiming the promises of God by reminding Him of His Word and accepting by faith what He has declared is yours.

The last event is receiving what has always been yours - when faith becomes sight.  That's when you enjoy the blessing that God has given you and when you use it to bless others, whether it's a monetary or a spiritual blessing.

While I was on the website, I found the name of another family member who has some kind of property available to them. I took the time to make a phone call so they can claim what is theirs.  In the Kingdom of God, our job is to tell our brothers and sisters where to find what belongs to them and how to obtain it.  

The Bible says, "For all the promises of God in Him are Yes, and in Him Amen, to the glory of God through us."  2 Corinthians 1:20

1 Peter 1: 2-4 gives us more detail about these promises. "Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may partakers of the divine nature having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust."

The promises wer given to us to provide everything we need for our physical and spiritual well-being so that we could be partakers of the very nature of God.  Riches like that are worth identifying, claiming, and sharing.

No Walls

 

If you are a regular reader of my blog, you may have noticed that you haven’t been able to be a regular reader for a while, because I’ve not been a regular writer.  I used to have a firm commitment to writing a blog post every Sunday night, but here we are at eight months into the year and I’ve only written a handful of posts.

This year, I have found myself in a dry season in my relationship with God.  It’s not the first dry season I have ever had, but I should have learned from the past ones how to deal with it correctly. I went through the motions a little, but that’s all it felt like - just a ritualistic, wooden attempt that I finally just stopped doing.  It was like a brick wall between God and me that made it basically impossible for me to hear His voice and feel His presence.  I didn’t hear those lessons from God in the everyday happenings in my life like I used to hear, so there was nothing to write.  I didn’t understand what had even happened, and I felt powerless to change it.

So I parked my life right there.  I accepted the wall instead of fighting to knock it down.  I went on with the daily routines of my new life in retirement, kept going to church, and just pretended that everything was fine.  However, there wasn’t a day that went by that the wall didn’t enter my thoughts.  God created us for intimacy with Himself. He designed us to hear His voice, and nothing else in this world can compare to that.  

I guess I was ashamed to admit that I had an issue, so I suffered in silence.  Then, on one recent Sunday morning, my pastor was ministering to the congregation at the end of a service as he gave the altar call.  He said that God showed him a wall that reached up very high, covered in claw marks.  I immediately recognized that wall.  It had been in my face for quite some time. Those claw marks were mine as I fought against it at first, but then I had grown tired and just sat down in defeat.

I didn’t go to the altar that morning. I told myself that because I couldn’t figure out what was causing me to see this wall up in my face every day, that I couldn’t knock it down, but I went home and even though my prayers seemed dry and cold, I asked God to show me the building blocks of this obstacle.  He brought things to my mind one at a time over a period of days, and I wrote them in my journal.

In my case, it was a very long list of things that had piled up gradually. There were many little stresses and changes  - some of them even good - that had taken my time and attention from God until I no longer felt close.  There were some major life changes and some frustrations and offenses, and I let the enemy use them to build a wall that stifled my intimacy with God. 

Once I could see the elements that made up the wall, I could deal with them through prayer and some wise counsel.  I found that as soon as I addressed the problems, my hunger for the Word of God and prayer returned as if the wall never existed. God had never hidden Himself during this time and as soon as I demolished the wall with God’s help, we were communicating face to face once again.

Are you feeling disconnected from God?  Is your prayer life routine and stale?  Are you avoiding the Word of God?  Do you see the same wall I was facing every day?  If so, please be wiser than I was and confront it today.  Ask God to help you understand and dismantle the thing that’s keeping you divided. 

James 4:8 says, “Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.......”

John 15:15 says, “No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing, but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you.”

It is God’s desire to be near to us and to treat us as friends and children.  As I reestablish that intimacy with Him, I hope that I’ll be giving you more to read as He communicates to me the way He always has been faithful to do. All I have to do is immediately kick any brick away that threatens to build that wall again.

The Key to Winning the Race

Recently my son purchased a used game system to play with our four-year-old granddaughter, Bella.  One game they’ve shared is a racing game.  At first, she had limited ability to navigate using the steering wheel, but she’s progressively doing better.

One evening, I was in the kitchen fixing dinner and overheard her say, “Look, Daddy!  I’m staying on the road”.  Her daddy’s quick reply was, “That’s the key to winning the race, baby”.  

I don’t know if he realized just how right he was.

No matter how fast you travel, if you don’t stay on the road, you won’t reach your intended destination - both in the natural and in the spiritual.

In a natural race, injury or exhaustion can sideline runners. In our spiritual race, something can also sideline us.

Hebrews 12:1 says, “Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.”

This verse mentions weight and sin as the two factors which keep us from racing successfully.  The New Living Translation says “strip off every weight that slows us down”.  There are a lot of weighty things going on in my life and probably in yours as well.  Some are good and needed things, like caring for family members or making a living. Others are tough challenges, like dealing with illnesses or broken relationships.  There are other weights that we don’t think of as that significant, yet we devote so much time to them it becomes an impediment to our spiritual growth. These are things like hobbies or entertainments that are harmless in themselves, but grow to become enormous time wasters which interfere with our focus.

How do we then run the race as we should?  The writer of Hebrews continues in verse 2 of chapter 12. 

“Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”

We stay on that track by remembering the One who paved the way for us to even begin to run on this road and focus on the same thing He did - the joy that is set before us if we are willing and obedient and can say as Paul did in 2 Timothy 4:7:

“ I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.”

Remedy

 

Bella, my four-year-old granddaughter, loves to play a game she calls “Hotel Doctor”.  She sits at my desk acting as receptionist and asks me very detailed questions as I check in to her hotel.  Then she escorts me to the couch and tells me to wait for the doctor. 

I think this game came from her love of staying in hotels on vacation and hours spent in doctors’ offices and waiting rooms because of her mother’s many medical issues.

Finally, the time comes when Dr. Bella shows up with her medical kit.  After checking my blood pressure and temperature, her immediate diagnosis is that I need heart surgery - performed with a pair of scissors and some tweezers.  The scenario never changes.

Though it’s just a childish game, Bella is closer to the truth than she knows.  The remedy for all of humanity’s woes is a change of heart or the mending of a broken heart.

Jeremiah 17:9 says, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; Who can know it?  However, Ezekiel 36:26 gives us the same hope that Bella offers in her childish play.

“I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.”

All we have to do is to check in to the Great Physician’s hotel.....

A Special Offer on "Over the Circumstances"

Mother's Day is around the corner! If you purchase a copy of "Over the Circumstances" from me (not Amazon or another seller) I will enter your name in a drawing for a free second copy to give as a gift. The drawing will be on April 30 to give me time to get your free book in the mail in case it will be a Mother's Day gift.

To purchase, just put your name in the comments and we'll work out details. I can take cash, credit or debit card, PayPal, or Google Pay. I can meet you in person if you are local, or ship the book for free.

Also, anyone who buys a book between now and June 11 will be entered again for a drawing for the same deal to prepare you for Father's Day.

I Want to Listen to Myself

 

My granddaughter, Bella, just celebrated her fourth birthday.  She's had quite a stressful year with several changes of residence and separation from her parents for a couple of weeks while her mother had heart surgery.  While still being a responsible grandmother and expecting good behavior from her, I also give her some grace because of all the emotions I know she is trying to process.

One day in the car, we were talking about how she needed to listen to her parents and her Papaw and me when we ask her or tell her to do something.   Her response to my mini-lecture was, "I want to listen to myself"! 

Well, of course, she does!  The sin nature we all share tells us that we are in charge, which is something else she has asserted from time to time.  We all want what we want.  We think that our plans and desires for our lives should supersede everything else.   

So much drama gets added to Bella's life because of those little battles of the will that she engages in with us.  Likewise, so much stress is added to our lives when we struggle with our Father God.  

Sometimes I have tried to talk to her about how much easier her life would be if she would just do what she is told to do or if she stopped doing something when we direct her to stop.  I tell her how so many good and fun things could be added to her life if she would just simply listen.  Then I realized that I was preaching to myself.  How many more good things could God open in my life if I was truly obedient in all things?  

I must really be a difficult student in this life, because the lessons I learn through Bella's young life are a curriculum that God really needs to review with me frequently.   I'm so glad that He doesn't throw up His hands in despair, but continues to be a patient, loving Teacher.

Deuteronomy 28:1-2 puts it this way.  "And if you faithfully obey the voice of the Lord your God, being careful to do all his commandments that I command you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth.  And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, if you obey the voice of the Lord your God."

Something Valuable in the Mess

 

Today I watched a video of a man who bought the contents of a house from the heirs of an estate.  They wanted to improve and sell the house, but the former owner had been, at best, a collector and,at worst, a hoarder.  After seeing the video, I'm leaning toward the second description.

In the initial tour of the house in the video, he found massive piles of things in every room, leaving no room to walk.  Everything was dust-covered, outdated, and of little value.  There was everything from clothing to sheet music to nail polish to bad artwork.  He wondered if he would find enough items of value to recoup his investment, and he had only eight weeks to totally empty this large, massively cluttered home.  

I thought how daunting a task that must be; seeing nothing but junk piled three feet or more up the walls of every room and figuring out how to go through it all and decide what was trash and what still had a use, much less what had any great value. He could have spent eight weeks moving mountains of trash and only find a few hundred dollars worth of salvageable items.  On the other hand, there could have been hidden stacks of cash, expensive jewelry, or dusty priceless antiques under all the clutter.  It would just take an enormous amount of time and effort to uncover what was valuable in the mess.

Our lives are like that hoarder's house.  We have collections of sin, guilt, rebellion, and pride.  Even though we knew it was smothering us and taking over our lives, cluttering up all our relationships, creating an unhealthy environment for us - we still kept piling bad over bad until we had destroyed any hope of living comfortably in that house.  We took the promise of a clean, empty space and turned it into chaos.  Then, along came Jesus.  He paid for the contents of that house because he knew there was something of value in us.  When we surrender the contents of our soul to Him, He cleans out all that is useless, dirty, negative, and toxic and replaces it with His righteousness.  He unearths the beautiful and priceless things He has put within us and helps us to function as we were designed to operate.  As Ecclesiastes 3:11 says, "He has made all things beautiful in His time...."

It's not just a one-time event either.  It's amazing what Jesus has done for us and continues to do in our lives.  We are initially cleansed as we are born again, and then the Holy Spirit works in our lives to sanctify us, setting us apart to be useful in the kingdom of God; reaching a level of fulfillment which we never would have dreamed possible. However, none of that happens without our consent and our cooperation.  Allow Jesus to take your messy life and find all that is valuable within you to use for the glory of God.

Just Read the Manual!

Does anyone remember using an actual camera to take pictures?  With a cell phone in every pocket, sporting a built-in camera, I don't see one-purpose cameras very often. 

I walked into our bedroom the other day and my husband, Paul, was reading from pages in a three-ring binder.  When I got closer to determine what he was studying, I saw it was the manual for his fancy camera.  We've had that camera since before we moved to Virginia eight years ago.  We read enough of the instructions initially to be able to point the camera and take a picture, review the shots on the screen, and put the memory card in the computer to upload the images we had taken.  After that, the manual was dutifully packed and moved from house to house and took up shelf-space without being examined again, at least until a few days ago.

The minute I saw what he was doing, the Holy Spirit spoke to my heart.  He said, "Some people treat the word of God that way. They read enough of it initially to find out how to be saved, familiarize themselves with a few inspirational Bible stories, and read enough promises to know what they can ask God to do for them.  After that, they feel like they know all they need to know to get by and they neglect the word from that point on, not even realizing how much they are missing."

Ouch!  Sometimes I neglect the Word myself, so that puts me in the category of "some people". 

I'm sure there are countless special features on this camera that could have used to improve all the pictures we've taken for the last decade.  Paul might have learned by now how to handle this camera as well as a professional photographer, but he's just now really digging into the manual.

Where could we be as Christians if we really knew the word of God?  Here's what the Word says about itself.

2 Timothy 3:16 - "All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work."

Hebrews 4:12 - "For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart."

Knowing the actual word of God, not just the lyrics to popular Christian songs, is the basis for doctrine, for knowledge, for a relationship with God, and for the power of the Holy Spirit to truly flow in our lives.  If we really desire all these things in our lives, we just need to read the manual!  Only then will we know how our lives are supposed to be operated, just like that those camera instructions tell us how to use it to its full potential.

Same Room - A Different Perspective

 

In my elementary school, I share a classroom with my friend and colleague, Laura.  We've worked together for 8 years now and have shared three different rooms in our building during that time.  Our working and teaching styles complement each other, and we've cooperated very well over the years in designing our schedules and setting up our various classrooms in an order that works for both of us.

Teaching in the time of COVID- 19 looks very different than what we've ever done before.  With the changes in our teaching situations, we decided that we needed an adjustment in our room arrangement. Laura teaches some groups that needed to have more room between their chairs for proper social distancing, so we've adapted how we had divided our space to give her that additional room.  A free-standing partition wall that we've used for several years was turned diagonally in the room and it changed the look of the entire space. Very little of the furniture on my side of the room was moved, but the whole space looks different.  Even though there is probably a little less square footage there than before, it looks bigger and more open.  Same room - a different perspective.

This experience made me think about all the situations in our lives that can look a certain way to us, but we have the freedom in Christ to look at them from a different perspective.  We can endeavor to see circumstances the way God sees them.

The apostle Paul is a stellar example of this way of viewing life.  He saw shipwreck, beatings, danger, and imprisonment as a means to an end - the spreading of the gospel throughout the world. He looked beyond his current circumstances and saw God working behind the scenes to bring glory to Himself.  In Philippians 4:11, Paul writes, "Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content". He was able to look beyond the "room " of his situation and see a different perspective than others who might have experienced similar hardships.

In the Old Testament, Joseph went from being a favored son to a slave to a trusted servant to a prisoner before being raised up to become second in command to only Pharoah himself. The Bible doesn't tell us whether he held on to his boyhood dreams and expected release from prison, but it does tell us that he experienced favor in the midst of the worst situation of his life.  He continued to operate in the gifts God had given him, even in a jail cell.  He saw a perspective that didn't negate his previous walk with God, even though he didn't know exactly how it would all work out.

I can't count the number of times I've heard the words "unprecedented situation" in the year 2020, but I know that all of us have been touched in some way by either bewilderment, distrust, inconvenience, financial distress, illness, grief, or frustration.  This room that we are in has changed.  Life is not the same as it once was, and what we first thought might be a temporary rearrangement of our lives is feeling more permanent, even though we still hope and pray for a lifting of this burden in all of our lives.  

But what if in the midst of all this, we look at it from a different perspective? Same situation; different view?  What if we looked upon this time as a season for the church to shine like never before?  What if we took the time spent at home when other places are closed to us, and we used it to seek God with a renewed enthusiasm and intensity?  What if we use the gifts that God has imparted to us, even in a less than ideal situation?

Give those questions some thought and prayer this week and ask God to help you see the potential He sees in the problems in your life.  Ask Him to alter your perspective so that instead of seeing what you've lost, you can see where He is taking you next.  His view is far superior and He knows exactly where He wants you to go.