Side by Side Hand in Hand

Just about used up all my rescheduling options so I have no recourse but to show up for… wait for it… Jury Duty! And what day should this privilege of adulthood in America be assigned to me? Wednesday! It seems the Justice Department has no sympathy nor mercy for our Website Wednesday meeting.

I could take my “stuff” along and find a corner to play with the blog…

Or I could write tomorrow evening in the dark hours of the “quietest time”…

Or… I could think (and pray) about and for y’all for the next week! Yea! That’s  it!

I will miss writing to you but I will bless and keep you in my thoughts all week.

Until next Website Wednesday…

Numbers 6:23-26 (the Lord speaking to Moses) “Thus you shall bless the sons of Israel (and the grafted in orphans). You shall say to them:

The Lord bless you, and  keep you;

The Lord make His face shine on you, and be gracious to you;

The Lord lift up His countenance on you, and give you peace.”

And you know what…

When the Lord blesses you… you are BLESSED INDEED!

**All Scripture quoted comes from the “Bible Gateway” app and is the NASB  version of the Bible

 

 

 

Philippians 4:4-7 Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice! Let your gentle spirit be known to all men. The Lord is near. Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

The other day I told my friend that my “patience” was being tested. And, as usually happens, more and more things and events present themselves to do the work of testing. Like steel, the strength of your patience is determined by the STRESS it can handle without buckling or allowing the structure to fall. Also like steel, patience is made stronger by forging it in fire.

But… I was wrong!

It is not the steel of patience that is being forged in my life. Though patience is necessary to build a strong vessel for the soul, the most important product of this fiery furnace called life on earth, is FAITH. An enduring vessel built on a solid foundation of Peace with God and built with the supernatural material, the Peace of God.

James 1:2-4 Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. 

I realized this week that the various trials happening in my life are useful for so much more than mere patience. Whereas patience is useful, it is a human characteristic found in WILLPOWER. We can power through those times that hold some amount of frustration but are within our range of strength to handle. These exercises in character building, no doubt make us happy when they are finished.

But… the result of patience is NOTHING compared to the victory dance of enduring faith. JOY! Not just an internal happy… but a perfect and complete, lacking in nothing sense of PEACE!

Rejoice (in the Lord) always; again I will say, rejoice!

The peace with God – the internal knowledge that… neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:38-39) 

The peace of God – the internal knowledge that… I have learned to be content (ENDURING) in whatever circumstances I am. I know how to get along with humble means, and I also know how to live in prosperity; in any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need. I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.(Philippians 4:11-13)

Joy! The Lord is near! 

Peace! Be anxious for nothing… the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Contentment! I can do all things through Him who strengthens me

Note to Self… tell your friend… not testing of my patience, testing of my JOY!

I’VE GOT IT… no, I’m getting it… perfect and complete, lacking in nothing… the victory dance of endurance…

I’ve got the joy, joy, joy, joy… along with the peace and contentment of an enduring faith…

down in my heart… down in my heart…

to stay!

What a great song!

**All Scripture quoted comes from the “Bible Gateway” app and is the NASB  version of the Bible.

 

 

 

 

 

Mark 10:13-14 And they were bringing children to Him so that He might touch them; but the disciples rebuked them. But when Jesus saw this, He was indignant and said to them.

Mark 10:14-15 “Permit the children to come to Me; do not hinder them; for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child will not enter it at all.”

When someone puts their faith in Jesus Christ and accepts the ransom He paid for their life, when they turn their lives over to the God who did not spare His own Son, we are told by Scripture, that they are born again”(John 3:3). 

Babies… in need of the most basic things in life.

So, where do we send them?  Nursery School or Divinity School? Or… better yet… anywhere EXCEPT in my care!

Granted, when the gospel is being preached in stadiums filled to capacity, it is impossible to expect infant care from the same Good News Team. Babies need one-on-one, personal, face to face care. It is absolutely essential to have a trusted team of spiritual pediatricians to do the heavy lifting of raising children… this would be Discipleship.

Evangelism might only require presentation, but Discipleship requires both presentation and God-Parenting. If you (or I) claim to be a disciple of Jesus, we must be involved in both.

Who better than the children who already know God as Abba? We have first hand experience, from birth (we too were born again), to growing up Godly, to seeing in a mirror dimly our future eternal home.

Who better to speak the truth in love than those whom the truth has set free?

Who better to understand that training up takes a lifetime? Who better to treat others as they want to be treated? Who better to understand the needs of a child, than those who remember their childhood? When I was a child, I used to speak like a child, think like a child, reason like a child; (1 Corinthians 13:11)…

Paul says, “when I became a man, I did away with childish things” I think some of us interpret this to mean that we need to rush ourselves and others through childhood. That somehow, childhood is not a good and holy state, it is more of an unclean state that must be exorcised out of us. It is in this cleansing that sometimes we are determined to throw the baby out with the bath water.

Evangelism is about the birth. It is the first part of Jesus’ instructions… Permit the children to come to Me…

Evangelism without child care is a hindrance.

Evangelism at it’s finest encourages all the children, like newborn  babies, long for the pure milk of the word, so that by it you may grow in respect to salvation (1 Peter 2:2)

Evangelism at it’s finest is the nursing mother, who having just given birth, is staring in amazement at the newborn at her breast and singing “Jesus Loves You… This I Know”

The dictionary says that the origin of the word evangelism began in 1620 and was “preaching or promulgation of the gospel” (dictionary.com). REALLY?

We have to receive the kingdom of God as a child… Is there ANY child you know or have known that could or would respond in a positive way to “preaching or promulgation”? (I had to look it up too… promulgate = to make known by open declaration; publish; proclaim formally or put into operation)

Evangelism without the intimacy of child to child is like the disciples before they were schooled by Jesus…

Mark 10:13-14 And they were bringing children to Him so that He might touch them; but the disciples rebuked them.

But when Jesus saw this, He was indignant…

For those Evangelists out there who just want to talk to and never touch the children… Jesus reminds us all that the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.

These are the future princes and princesses… these are HIS future kingdom dwellers!

He wants to touch them!

And WE want Him to touch them!

Let’s be the finest Evangelists… let’s be Disciples… let’s bring our baby brothers and baby sisters to Jesus… and while we’re at it… let’s do it Side by Side and Hand in Hand…

Sshh…

**All Scripture quoted comes from the “Bible Gateway” app and is the NASB  version of the Bible

 

 

 

 

 

 

Isaiah 30:21 Your ears will hear a word behind you, “This is the way, walk in it,” whenever you turn to the right or to the left.

Do you hear voices? I definitely hear them. Maybe not physically but definitely whispering in my head! For every event, action or opinion, there is an equal and demanding assessment, recap and judgement of what just took place in my head.

Mostly the voices sound like… me! But because I have long memory of those who took authority over my life, I still hear the words in my MOTHER’s voice. And we know, for some mothers, the primary mission is to have and make PERFECT! But, since there is no perfection in me… her work was is never done.

Do you hear what I hear?

In our world today there must be a whole lot of mothers because, “THIS is MY way, walk in it!” is a constant mantra. In today’s version of a mother’s voice, the message is definitely NOT whispered, it is yelled! Everyone has an opinion… everyone has a judgement of what YOU should’ve, would’ve, could’ve done.

Do you hear what I hear?

Everyone tries to take and/or be the authority.

I hear a definite frenzy in the voices surrounding me… a panic… a fear that the “right” voice (theirs) won’t be heard.

Do you hear what I hear?

Wise words, worthless words, condemning words… words and innuendos that used to be but are no longer forbidden in our public arenas. They used to reside only in the pit of hell and if brought to the public would immediately call for the mouth to be filled with bar of soap.

Words of honor, words of shame… most spoken with little or no concern for the effects they have on the innocent. We become immune to them, desensitize to the harm that could be done to ourselves and others.

We have been “vaccinated” so to speak, and, like all vaccines, it is done by injecting more of the very virus that makes us sick.

But… the truth is… we are never immune to the words spoken in our hearing. Whether we admit it or not these things we hear and live by and make our stand on, are stored in the deepest part of each and every one of us.

Matthew 15:18 “But the things that proceed out of the mouth come from the heart,

Do you hear what I hear?

Are we hearing the heart of the speaker?

Do we hear your heart?

Our words matter! Whether it is a mother or a father speaking, a teacher or a minister, what is spoken will have an effect and sooner or later, if not sifted and scrubbed and renewed by the grace of God, these words will proceed from our heart to infect our listener victim with the same sickness it has been marinated in while it dwelt in our heart.

For years, I heard certain words of condemnation spoken over my life (in love of course). Years later, even after leaving the presence of those speakers, I whispered and dwelt on those words as THE WAY! I essentially lived those words hidden in my heart for 32 years.

We think we are doing someone a favor by telling them our view of their life. We think that they NEED to know and that the “truth” will only hurt for a little while. We think that sometimes the situation requires the shock of our most harshest discipline… labeling the person for life!

Is it the truth? I doubt it! Truth, without God, is no more than a human perception… When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate…Genesis 3:6 

Perception is reality, right? We definitely would like to think so!

There is TRUTH… there is REALITY… but without God, man will never know it. Or, if we do know it, without God, we will never honor nor obey it. We will “tweak” it to make it our own, more manageable way of life.

John 8:32 “you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.”

Truth sets you free! Truth is the language of love.

John 3:16-17 “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. 

For 32 years I heard that I was never “good enough”… for 32 years I was taught to strive to be better in order to please those around me… for 32 years I carried the bitterness of failure to please anyone (including myself).

And then I heard… “You need Jesus!’

And I did! But before I could find Him… He found me!

I heard Him speak to me and I believed what He said.

Romans 8:15 – 17 For (we) have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but (we) have received a spirit of adoption as sons… and daughters… by which we cry out, “Abba! Father!” The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, 

Do you hear what I hear?

For 32 years I listened to the wrong voices… even today those voices can sneak in to the council room of my mind and for a moment begin the recorded message of ages past.  But today, after many years of training up in the way I should go… Proverbs 22:6, I want to hear with my heart filled with Jesus, so that I know what needs to be heard by your heart. I don’t want to be just another voice saying the wrong thing to your heart.

I want to speak God’s language… the language of love!

Colossians 3:12-17 So, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience; bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone; just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you. Beyond all these things put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity. Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body; and be thankful. Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God. Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father.

Our enemy knows that strife is the way to separate us from each other. But mostly he wants to separate us from God because he knows that it is only through the power of the God that we can resist his temptation to speak the words of violence, hate, retaliation, bitterness, vile judgement, all in the name of vengeance for a perceived threat. A threat which find it’s authorship and power only in the bowels of hell.

Our hearts speak of what we know. I want to speak what God speaks to me… LOVE!

Do you hear what I hear?

If you don’t… let me just say… You need Jesus!

God knows you before you know Him… Go to Him. He not only speaks love, He IS LOVE! And He loves YOU with an unconditional love that knows no end. What a difference the message will be and the effect it will have on your life when it is God speaking His words into you.

Go to God… let Him deal with all the other voices that are screaming at you.

John 8:32 “you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.”

Do you hear what I hear?

Isaiah 30:21 Your ears will hear a word behind you, “This is the way, walk in it,” whenever you turn to the right or to the left.

**All Scripture quoted comes from the “Bible Gateway” app and is the NASB  version of the Bible

 

All of a sudden my life got… FULL! Today I have about 2 hours before I have a little guy to fill my world with trucks, cars, and everything on the go. Tomorrow we head to Tampa, FL and his new home… but it is Website Wednesday and I WANT to blog too… so I asked and was given permission to choose one of my favorites and “Do the Redux” dance.

“Feed My Lambs”… the second blog I published (with just a little tweaking in the redux).

John 21:15-17 So when they had finished breakfast, Jesus *said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love Me more than these?” He *said to Him, “Yes, Lord; You know that I love You.” He *said to him, “Tend My lambs.”

I believe we are ALL called to ministry. But I also believe we’ve been scammed by our enemy to think we could never qualify or accomplish the task or be the one called to the work involved. We are afraid we will have to give up everything and travel to far away lands in order to have a “REAL” ministry – one that COUNTS with God.

He *said to him again a second time, “Simon, son of John, do you love Me?” He *said to Him, “Yes, Lord; You know that I love You.” He *said to him, “Shepherd My sheep.”

Jesus asks… __(your name goes here…)__ Do you love Me?”

He *said to him the third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love Me?” Peter was grieved because He said to him the third time, “Do you love Me?” And he said to Him, “Lord, You know all things; You know that I love You.” Jesus said to him, “Tend My sheep.”

Do YOU love Me?”

Let the stuttering begin… our mouths can’t keep up with all the reasons why this can’t possibly be directed at me.

“No No I can’t, but I will pray for the one you send…”

“Not me, but I’ll help you send the one who should go.”

“Surely someone else could do it better!”

To be sure, we have been duped. Our enemy (For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. Ephesians 6:12) does all he can to separate us from our God and His will, our neighbors, and even our own hearts which crave to love and be loved.

But… and I hate to be the bearer of bad news… we are wrong to think Jesus isn’t sending us!!  We have been lulled into lethargy with the idea that someone else will be sent, that as long as we are supporting those that go with prayer and finances we are excused from the work ministry. We are chosen to stay home and be about all the other business that “somebody” has to do!

WE don’t have time…

WE don’t have the skills…

WE don’t have the call…

WE don’t have the missionary desire…

But Jesus says… “Do you love Me?”… Ummmm… How do YOU answer His question?

We have everything we need do what He asks us to do. The only question left is will we GO and DO?

What does a call on my life look like? I imagine the worst and I know I can never live up to the missionary standard.

Before I go any farther, let me just say that some are called to go to the ends of the earth… and they are given great gifts of faith hope and love to allow God to fulfill His will in their lives so that they may minister to those He brings before them. But God gives those same gifts to those He calls to stay and minister.

Ephesians 2:10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them. 

Let’s go walking! “Feed My sheep!”

Let’s minister the good work that Jesus prepared for us to feed them with!

Where? Right here… When? Right now… Who? The one God brings before you… What? Side by Side Hand in Hand LOVE!

My friends there is no mystery to being God’s missionary in this life. Everyone of us, those sent to the field and those not sent today, are called to the SAME MISSION.

Galatians 5:15 “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

Both, mission field and ministry… Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into accord a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things endures all things. Love never fails; (1 Corinthians 13:4-8)

I have admitted to the many days (years) that I have sat in anxious prayer for God’s plan for my life… waiting for MY calling… MY turn at bat… MY direction in life.

And Jesus smiled… and said… “Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.” (Matthew 25:40)

Do you love Jesus? “Tend My lambs”… “Shepherd My sheep”… “Tend My sheep”… “love your neighbor

As Heidi Baker (IRIS Ministries) says, “Love the one in front of you.”

Blogging Redux… Feeding the Lambs – with the food of love!

**All Scripture quoted comes from the “Bible Gateway” app and is the NASB version of the Bible

Job 38:3 “Now gird up your loins like a man, and I will ask you, and you instruct Me!

Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind… “Put on your big boy panties and then we’ll talk!”

Talk about being taken to the woodshed! Where as we use an instrument of pain in punishing and correcting, God used Job’s own complaints and his growing bitterness to achieve a deep and lasting repentance.

Yes, Job was a righteous man and his faith in and relationship with God remained solid and unchanging. But not because he, Job, was strong and reliable but because God IS!

Job 1:8 And God said to Satan, “Have you considered My servant Job? For there is no one like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, fearing God and turning from evil.”

God loved Job! Only Satan would accuse and set out to prove that God (because this wasn’t really about Job) only loved this “human creature” when they were being nice and respectful to God. And… this “human creature only loved God when they were spoiled rotten!

What Satan meant as evil… God used for good! Satan thought he had a twofer… both God and man would hate, despise and turn on each other, when Satan was given permission and access to show them all the truth!

Satan wanted to test this creature in order to destroy him… God allowed the testing, NOT for Satan’s benefit, but because He knew that in the end it would serve His purpose to strengthen and deepen His relationship with Job, His man-child, created in God’s own image at the beginning of the world.

If it depended on Job’s actions and reactions, Satan probably would have won the challenge. Job did great in the first and second test. He gave God the authority and power (which He deserves) over his life and reaffirmed his faith by humbling himself and worshipping God.

Job 1:22 Through all this Job did not sin nor did he blame God!

Even when Job’s wife encouraged him to give up and “Curse God and die!” in order to stop his suffering, Job preached the truth… “Shall we indeed accept good from God and not accept adversity?”

Job 2:10 In all this Job did not sin with his lips.

But then… his FRIENDS came. With friends like these, right? For seven days and seven nights they sat on the ground with him with no one speaking a word to him… they saw that his pain was very great.

Then it all started to head south… NOTE to self… too much sympathy can turn all eyes inward! Empathy will keep one humble but sympathy will begin to demand a fix.

The “brothers” began the discussion that would end in some serious DISCIPLINE and TRAINiNG UP. All of them would indeed have a discussion with Daddy. And all of them would be called to task for the WORDS they spoke. Every one of them in the end had a big plate of “trash talking” to eat!

Whereas Job spoke the truth about God… He does indeed have the power and control and authority over His creation… Job’s friends declared God’s motives and judgements falsely. They focused on God’s judgement of every action and declared that Job could change God by just doing the right thing. Their solution to Job’s problems was in his own hands… confess and obey! They believed God DESERVED our perfect obedience, and He does, but they also believed that God was without compassion and  mercy… He is the Almighty… the JUDGE… the JURY… and the PUNISHER!

Job 42:7 “My wrath is kindled against you and against your two friends, because you have not spoken of Me what is right as My servant Job has.”

So, why was Job taken to the woodshed if he spoke the truth about God? Because, just like all of us, Job, in trying to defend his own honor before his friends, began to believe the lies of the enemy… “You DESERVE better treatment from the God you serve so well!”

Like a snowball rolling down the mountain, a child grumbling about his/her parent’s discipline, will continue to gather more and more evidence of their unfairness and continue to speed toward the final confrontation in which the child will be shown to be completely righteous in his/her condemnation of the parental’s judgement. THEN the TRUTH will SET ME FREE!

We’ve all done (and will do again) what Job did. We have all given in to the bitterness and rebelliousness this sort of tantrum creates. We have all shaken our fist at God and said, “I’ll show You!” We declared in a fit of rage, “You are UNFAIR!” We have cried tears of bitterness and sobbed, “You do not love me or You would not allow this!”

Job evidently kept it up long enough to incur God’s whirlwind… “WHO is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge?” (Job 38:2)

Whoa! Dad heard it all and NOW I am in really deep dodo!

No longer shivering with anger at the audacity of letting him suffer, Job is trembling at the power and majesty in the presence of our Almighty God.

Satan thought he could incite God to destroy man. Job thought he could change God and manipulate Him to gain favor in place of suffering. Both imagined that they had power over God.

God knows and declares Himself and does not apologize! Can you hear Him? “I AM!”

And then He says, “Who are you?”

God’s version of a trip to the woodshed…

I can only imagine, that this must have been the ride of Job’s lifetime. It certainly changed his attitude! No longer was he mumbling about the unfairness of his lot in life, he did the 180 degree turn of repentance.

Job 42:1-6 Then Job answered the Lord, and said, “I know that Thou canst do all things, and that no purpose of Thine can be thwarted. Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge? Therefore I have declared that which I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know. Hear, now, and I will speak; I will ask Thee, and do Thou instruct me. I have heard of Thee by the hearing of the ear; but now my eye sees Thee; therefore I retract, and I repent in dust and ashes.”

Now I see Thee… What did Job see?

I think he saw that we are in a relationship with a God who is NOT a thing but a Person who desires and demands a Person to person relationship with the creature He made in His image.

I think Job saw that everything God does is based upon the His perfect purpose.

And I believe that Job realized that, whether he could understand the whys and wherefores of his circumstances, God would never leave him nor forsake him.

Hopefully we can learn from Job, that by having conversations with God instead of with everyone but God, we may avoid our own woodshed moments.

Conversations, not to “instruct” God, but to know God. Conversations with our Daddy who knows us like no other and loves us like no other.

A conversation that starts with…

John 3:16-17 “For God so loved ________, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send the Son to __________ in order to judge _________, but that ____________ might be saved through Him.

God’s final blow to Satan… God is always and forever incited to LOVE not to judge and destroy.

What Satan means as evil, God uses for good… Daddy ALWAYS gets the LAST WORD!

“Have you considered My servant ____________ there is no one like ___________ on the earth”

**All Scripture quoted comes from the “Bible Gateway” app and is the NASB  version of the Bible

 

 

Psalm 118:24 This is the day which the Lord has made

As Christians we are taught to seek God’s Will for our life. Some of us have taken this directive and turned it into our little god of life. Like everything else we do, we focus in on the minutia of our destination and lose sight of the journey meant to supply us with everything we need or can imagine by the end of our trip.

We ask children at a very young age, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” We ask them to make decisions for their entire career before they’ve even had their first real job. Very few of us know what we want to do today much less what we SHOULD do with our life, but still we expect the young to know! Secretly I think we would rather live through them than shoulder the very same burden in our own life.

By becoming Life Coaches to someone else, we can pretend that not only have we FOUND God’s will but we have become experts in this job search. In other words, we have been promoted to God’s Head Hunters, hooking everyone up to the job ministry they were meant to do… for God.

Please hear me… I am not dissing ministry or seeking employment in God’s business ventures.

Ephesians 2:10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them. 

My point is much more about the time and energy and emotional attachment to the search of fulfilling our Employer’s Will instead of spending it all on our Employer.

Psalm 139:16 …in Your book were all written the days that were ordained for me, when as yet there was not one of them.

What if… every moment of every day IS God’s will? What if you don’t have to search, you just have to TRUST and OBEY. What if… the ONE THING we need to DO FOR God is BE His baby?

Here we are, trying to fit ourselves and everyone else into positions of leadership and power within Daddy’s kingdom while still wearing diapers. We go from newborn to CEO of our piece of the inheritance pie in minutes. If not already taking over the power and authority, we prepare to take over through the “Christian School of Acting like God”. Unfortunately, the diapers (and their smell) do sully the hero/heroine we imagine we are portraying/becoming.

This is the day which the Lord has made, why do we waste THIS day to pursue days that may or may not be in our future?

The fact is, IF the days we pursue are to be in our future, THIS DAY is essential to God’s plan for your life… ignore it at your own peril!

“But… But… I have all of these examples IN SCRIPTURE of men/women of God doing and speaking amazing things… I’m going to grow up to be just like them!”

Men/Women of God… yes!

Men/Women of God DOING… NOT!

God doing… through men/women.

Amazing, miraculous, astounding, impossible deeds have been and are being done. YES!!! I want to be one of those people! So, we name it and claim it, and believe that it will be us someday.

Our focus? The minutia – the deeds. We see in the mirror dimly, and fail to recognize that, in each and every saint we see in Scripture, is a lifetime devoted to the journey. We don’t have time for that… we have DEEDS to do! Amazing, miraculous, astounding, impossible DEEDS. Deeds which are meant to elevate us to the Ministry of the Saints Hall of Fame.

For a lot of years, I pursued God’s Will career famous deeds path for my life. I sought out all the options according to the all the test results for my personality and giftedness (compiled by the experts in the industry of Ministry Deeds).

I worried that I wouldn’t choose the right ministry… I worried that I would have to give up my life as I knew it (oops, I’m sorry honey, you and the kids are not part of God’s Will for my life)… I worried that I had to “Go Big or Go Home!”

Let’s just say… I worried (and was encouraged to worry)!

In all my worry, though I did do some deeds of ministry, I didn’t add even one moment of “Hall of Fame” stature to my resume!

 

I worried because I knew deep down that the only voice I was listening to was human (mostly my own). I didn’t know if God approved of my plan (thus the worry), and the best that anyone could tell me was, “You’ll JUST know”. And so… I waited – and worried – and waited…

I became stuck! I didn’t give up wanting to serve the Lord but I wasn’t about to waste my passion on those part-time positions of busyness until the REAL ministry came along.

Know what happened? I became tepid! Neither hot nor cold!

Know what Jesus says about that?

Revelation 3:15-16 “I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot; I wish that you were cold or hot. So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My mouth.

My deeds… mmmmm… spit out? Should I be worrying some more?

No… the key word here is MY… verse 17-18 “Because you say, I am _(fill in the blank_ and you do not know that you are wretched  and miserable and poor and blind and naked,

I admit it… I was! Jesus tells the truth!!…verse 19 Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline; therefore be zealous and repent.

The solution to my blind, wretched, miserable, poor, blind and naked life?

Wait for it…

THE DIVINE APPOINTMENT…

Revelations 3:20 “Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me.”

DINNER WITH THE KING… dine with him/her and he/she with me…

THIS IS THE DAY which the Lord has made

Let us not… make our own plans. Let us not… focus on the minutia – the works of our hands. Let us focus on dining with God Himself.

This is our journey and this is our destination… This is the day which the Lord has made…

WE WILL do amazing works prepared by God beforehand, so that we would walk in them.

Guaranteed!!

All of the days God has made (the days that were ordained for me)… were all written in God’s book, when as yet there was not one of them.

Surely… This is God’s Will for our life. A Divine Appointment each and every moment of each and every day…

Let us rejoice and be glad in it!

**All Scripture quoted comes from the “Bible Gateway” app and is the NASB  version of the Bible

 

 

 

 

2 Peter 3:9 The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but or all to come to repentance.

If you LOVED me…

If you REALLY LOVED me…

You PROMISED…

You’re NOT being FAIR…

I realized recently, that most of us are children at the core of our nature, and some of us preparing to melt into a mega tantrum. Can you spot it? The red face of anger, the cutting eyes of belligerence, the quivering lips of unbelief, the tears of frustration just below the surface… the thunder of the coming meltdown if we don’t get our way SOON!

We say the right words and with all our might we try to hide what is just below the surface. We try the way of sweetness and obedience but there is only so much patience in the best of those gifted in waiting. We try to understand the mature sounding explanations of “human rights experts” and believe that “they” want only what is best for “you”.

I have to admit, when I try to view us as mature, logical adults who have searched and researched and considered all, and then I SEE the rejection of God’s perfection and wisdom… I am confused and unable to live in peace and unity with my world.

However… if I realize that we are not adults but children in relation to God… I can begin to understand… I can begin to love with the love of a parent who views the future NOT the past and present.

We are children of IMMEDIATE GRATIFICATION. Though we must live (in order to survive) in community, our nature demands exclusive honor to self. To go against this Soul DNA Mandate, is to go against “life” itself.

From the time of creation when God said, “Let us make man in our image” and then He blew into us the “breath of life”, we, as a human being, have the ability and responsibility to choose whom or what we put our faith and lifeblood into.

Before sin there was no struggle… we WALKED with God in the garden, we TALKED with God, we LEARNED and PARTICIPATED beside God, with our God-given authority over the garden and it’s creatures.

After sin… LUST (lust of the eyes and lust of the flesh) and PRIDE (pride of life which is our independence and arrogance)

set up our struggle of our lifetime… from birth to death we fight our nature! Lust and pride will always be in conflict with walking, and talking, and learning, and participating with God.

Much to our consternation, God wins! Always! Which, somewhere inside every human being, we know. And we know He should win… that which is know about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. (Romans 1:19-20)

Our ONLY EXCUSE for our battle with God is childishness! And… THANK GOD… He sees and oversees us as children. And because He is Abba, it is with perfect parental LOVE that He continues to… Train up His children in the way they should go (Proverbs 22:6).

God does not wish for any to perish and for all to come to repentance.

I would have given up on us a log time ago… especially on those who in complete rebellion, disparage the name, reputation, and even the existence of the source of their life breath.

But as a parent, I can see in the mirror DIMLY and understand the hope of a parent… until there is no more opportunity for hope.

 

2 Peter 3:8 But do not let this one fact escape your notice, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day.

THANK GOD! Despite our tantrums… despite out rebellion… despite our foolishness… He has hope and His days are long!

John 1:12-13 But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. 

THANK GOD! Despite our tantrums… despite out rebellion… despite our foolishness… He is the giver of life!

John 3:16-19 For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.  For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. 

What IF… God didn’t LOVE us…

What IF… God didn’t REALLY LOVE us…

What IF… God was not slow but is patient toward us

THANK GOD! Despite our tantrums… despite out rebellion… despite our foolishness… He IS love!

As children we believe we are already are big enough or will be big enough to fight and defeat every enemy… ALL BY OURSELVES… IF that is what we HAVE TO DO because YOU won’t help us!

As children we believe we are the smartest, cutest, most deserving and we believe the only job of those who serve us (which is every other child) is to make us happy.

As children REALITY SUCKS…

2 Peter 3:11 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief , in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up.

THANK GOD! Despite our tantrums… despite out rebellion… despite our foolishness… He is our reality!

THANK GOD…  Despite our tantrums… despite out rebellion… despite our foolishness… He is our What IF!

**All Scripture quoted comes from the “Bible Gateway” app and is the NASB  version of the Bible