Side by Side Hand in Hand

Philippians 4:8 Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things.

We have Walking… just walking… no place we have to be or a plan to get there.

We have Talking… just talking with no walking… those who are just full of… talk.

We have Working the Walk… the type A personalities, where everything is about pushing every envelope and MAKING ourselves winners. The belief that, with enough will-power and self-discipline, YOU can be all you want to be.

I am NOT a proponent of Working the Walk. The idea that we can bully ourselves (and others) into perfection, to me, is the epitome of the road to hell… besides, I’ve been there, done that, and failed miserably every time! Besides which, the time spent working is time spent we could be focusing on God and not on ourselves!

Perfection… is NOT possible! It was left in the garden when we gave our allegiance to the imperfect creature and became like him. We only knew good… we only knew perfect… we only knew God our creator who made us in His image. But when we chose to agree with our enemy that God was wrong and WE could handle something we knew NOTHING about… we lost our perfection and we lost the opportunity to live in perfection. By eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, we gave evil a position that only we could live with. God could not nor would He allow the place that grows and protects the tree of eternal life to be at risk for an eternity from evil seeking to corrupt and destroy… THANK GOD, evil is limited and temporary.

We all, every one of us, wish we could have a “do over”. Some claim, even in our churches where we have the Word of God telling us “No, it’s not going to happen.”, that we can and should pursue perfection by legalistically doing everything we should have done before and more. We can make up for Adam and Eve by being holier than they were. But let me say it again… perfection is not possible for the creature. Only God can be… only God IS perfect.

Scripture says, “You shall be holy, for I am holy” How can we do what is impossible? We can’t! Only Jesus… Only our perfect God… could come… and take our place… and pay the price required to “own” our lives… and in owning, to cover us with His perfection… and  make us acceptable once again to live with perfection… to live with Him!

Does that leave us off the hook… do we just get to eat, drink and be merry all the days of our earthly life? Does all of earth get to live with impunity… without regard to rules and regulations.

A lot of people do… Even in our churches there are those who worship the creature, making themselves the ruler of all things, rather than honoring and obeying the Creator. Though they may not be pursuing perfection through legalistic works, they are declaring themselves as the authority and pretending that their own perfection has been achieved.

And then we have… Whatever is… true, honorable, right, pure, lovely, of good repute, excellence, worthy of praise…  DWELL (walking and talking and everything else we do) on these things…

Whatever IS… ALL ABOUT GOD!

The only thing about us is… our response to whatever.

Romans 12:1-2 Therefore I urge you brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.

Our spiritual service of worship… to present our bodies by the mercies of God and to God.

The work required… do not be conformed, but be transformed by the renewing of our mind.

For the purpose of… proving that God is good – all the time… AND… all the time – God is good.

Instead of just walking and talking we PURSUE God with our whole hearts, our whole soul, and our whole mind.

It’s not a work… it’s not a task… it’s not a project… it’s not a destination…

It is an abundant life of pursuit! Knowing that…  Philippians 2:13 for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure… He loves being pursued!

Let us pursue Him with all our might!

2 Peter 1:5-8 Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge, and in your knowledge, self-control, and in your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness, and in your godliness, brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Whatever! The perfect tool for our Ministry of Encouragement tool bag.

As long as it whatever is…  the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ!

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

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jeremiah 29:13 You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart. 

Have you seen my (fill in the blank)?

I’ve looked EVERYWHERE!

Everywhere?

How about where you left it?

And don’t forget to look UNDER all the stuff you’ve since laid on top!

Every parent, across the world, in every generation has been asked and has answered this question… thousands upon thousands of times…

The same is true for God. We whine that He isn’t answering our cries… We throw a hissy fit that includes declaring our foolishness of unbelief… We search in the corners… we search in the man-made places of worship… and we search in the “Rock Stars” of Christianity and the concerts they play at. We read all about Him in the pages of every book written by the Paparazzi showing what He’s done for others and plan our strategy to corner Him when He comes out of hiding… the hiding place we have prepared for Him… the place under all those layers and layers of things we use to cover our need for Him.

And we still claim we can’t find Him.

Maybe we really don’t want to find Him… or maybe… we want to find Him ONLY if it requires little effort and NO, NADA, ZIP commitment to participate in keeping Him found. Is there an APP for Him? Can I just enter my zip code and have a little pin show me where He is and the three routes to get to Him? And once found… I want Him to stay where I put Him… in the little box I call religion!

Don’t mess with me, Jesus! I am ready, willing, and able to throw a tantrum… and I will do it in a heartbeat rather than facing the truth about You, me, and my old nature. I don’t want to hear the bad news of mankind (of which I DO NOT DESERVE the same politically incorrect lies about my ways). I refuse to embarrass myself in front of all those just like me, looking for a way to escape the true judgement of God, our Creator. So, if I find You, we need to keep it all anonymous… Shhh!

So… I have to ask you… I know you’ve searched (at least once – for a minute)… but…

What was/is the condition of your heart?… when you search for Me with all your heart.  

Have you assessed your heart? Have you stood before the truth, cast all your desires aside, and asked Jesus to come to you? Come, Lord, come… as YOU are! Have you asked and asked and asked with a desire that builds with each asking? A desire, whose flame can not be extinguished no matter how many ways and means to avoid are applied.

In my life, I KNOW there have been times that I have asked in a whisper, hoping He didn’t hear me. I KNOW there have been times He has been there and rather than jumping into His arms, I have turned my back because I didn’t want to hear. I KNOW there are times when I purposely look in all the wrong places so I can lie to myself and others that He didn’t come!

Oh, it is with my whole heart… but what does my heart want?

Jeremiah 29:14 I will be found by you,’ declares the Lord,

And here… is the crux of the whole dilemma of our heart… He will be found! But at what cost to our heart?

Jeremiah 29:12 Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you.

He promises to LISTEN… But He can no more change His nature than I can overpower Him and make Him into the idol of my dreams.

Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.

He will listen… But He will act according to His will because it is PERFECT.

1 Corinthians 13:11 When I was a child, I used to speak like a child, reason like a child; when I became (an adult) I did away with my childish things.

This world is FILLED with children! Children who play everyday, all day long with the toys and dolls of a world created in our imaginations. We bully each other on our playgrounds and we declare victories in our constant game of King/Queen of the hills. We stomp our feet and yell to be heard over any and all competition. We say, “Yes ma’am” and “No sir” and snicker because SOMEDAY we will be the one in charge. We have no intention of our obedience, we intend to make every way, OUR WAY. We intend to manipulate people, places, and things to OBEY US. When we come up against the pain of reality, we grieve… we wail… we suffer!

Because the reality is… Romans 8: the whole of creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now. And NOT because our Creator wanted it this way! But because we get to choose. Because true love is not based on slavery… true love is solely based upon not only the willingness to love but the commitment to love and the actions of love in the midst of our rejection of our Lover. We CHOOSE who we love and we CHOOSE to receive or reject the love we are given. And we CHOOSE to give or withhold our love in return… Free Will… the gift of our creator God to every man, woman, and child.

And, when in our childishness, we handed it over to our enemy who then became the Prince of our earth… God refused to allow His creation to suffer for eternity.

John 3:16-17 For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever 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.

However, the God of this kind of love, would never allow His children to continue in the childishness of a world that is now not their home. The God of love would “Train them up”… Our God of love would make them His own…

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, 

He listens… then He loves us!

Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.

So…

If you say you’ve sought God but He hasn’t answered…

If you say you want to find God…

If you say it must be God who doesn’t want to be found…

You haven’t STALKED Jesus!

Jesus IS… Jesus is God’s plan for your life… Jesus says… “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.”

That’s the GREAT news!

He will be found… but you will have to grow up and KNOW THE TRUTH… You will have to give up your version of Jesus and pursue… STALK… the great I AM!

The good news… when you STALK the TRUTH…

John 8:32 you will know the truth (Jesus) and the truth (Jesus) will make you free.

In this case, stalking is the only way to go!

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

 

 

 

 

 

 

Romans 1:20 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.

Last Wednesday I was in California… taking a ride on the 1 – the CA 1… heading toward Big Sur. Breathtaking beauty in both land and sea. Amazing examples of human determination to challenge the power and fierceness of nature. The humbling of one such as me to look and know that I am weakest of the weak… of no threat to man or beast. I admire those that have come before and those that are now and to come, that do battle with anything that stands in the way of mankind subduing/enjoying the fullness of the earth, however, I am as clueless and powerless as the little anchovies that the BIGGER mammals live on in the sea.

For some, this realization would be a nightmare, not a dream. For me, though, the waking is humbling (only because I insist on pretending I AM when I am NOT), the dream reality of God’s eternal power and divine nature as seen in His creation, becomes the basis for my hope.

I can pretend to be bigger and more mature and cooler and wiser and more perfect than I am, so what, I’m still just a LITTLE fish! My hope is not on me or any other created being or thing.

My hope is on God and the opportunity to see Him up close and personal in the California portion of creation, added to the fullness and clarity of my eyesight and understanding of Him.

Joshua 24:15 If it is disagreeable in your sight to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves today whom you will serve: whether the gods which your fathers served which were beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living; but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”

We all must choose… every one of us. There are some who smile at this little anchovy, thinking that I made make my choice without any thought or intelligent reason. There are those who believe they are the BIGGER fish and have few, if any, natural enemies, so the gods (little g) they choose will eventually serve them. And then there are the few who believe there are no gods (big or little g) so they believe they are the only choice for the position… they will serve themselves… and choose the most demanding and insatiable god of all – SELF.

Everyone of us must choose… but what knowledge and wisdom do we use to make such a life-altering, life-sustaining, life-determining choice.

The knowledge and wisdom of me, myself, and I… this is for making the choice that “there is no choice”… we are all just one long or short novel. When the end comes, there is no sequel… “Eat, drink, and be merry for tomorrow we die”. There is no reason for worry, no purpose for morality except to make this life “happier”, and no need for commitment to anyone other than self. Convenience, happiness and self-concern replace the vows of love for a lifetime.

The knowledge and wisdom of the super stars of this world… this is for making the choice that “The easy way is the only way for me”. All you need is the recipe… the ABC’s of the god of happy, healthy and wise. This is the Hollywood version of your long or short novel – the difference here being that there is indeed a choice and you can be the author and perfecter of the ending. There is no reason for struggle, no purpose of patience and no need for sacrifice. Image, ideology, and idolatry replace the worthiness of being loved and loving in return.

Or… the knowledge and wisdom of the One who created life, sustains life, and determines life… Deuteronomy 6:4 Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD is one!… 7:6  For you are a holy people to the LORD your God; the LORD your God has chosen you to be a people for His own possession out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth… 7:9 Know therefore that the LORD your God, He is God, the faithful God, who keeps His covenant and His lovingkindness to a thousandth generation with those who love Him and keep His commandments;

Israel, and all of us Gentiles who have been grafted in, are taught to OBSERVE and REMEMBER all that God has done, is doing, and will do. We are not told to close our hearts, minds and souls to anything or anyone and “just believe”. In fact we are told to… Psalm 34:8 O taste and see that the LORD is good;

THIS… tasting and seeing… is the knowledge and wisdom I use in making my choice of who I serve. And the more I know… the more I understand God’s love for this little anchovy. It is not my love for Him that makes my choice righteous but His love for me that makes no other choice acceptable for LIFE.

We all… every one of us… must choose. We all… every one of us… DO choose.

I’d like to say it stops there and each of us gets on with the life our god gives us. NOT… then comes… “as for me and my household”…

I wish I could say that I am in control of the choices of those I love (and even those I don’t love) make. I’d like to have the words and/or actions that convince all to MAKE THE RIGHT CHOICE! I’d like to do more than just swim in patterns with the other anchovies to avoid being eaten by the bigger fish who seem to know I am their appetizer du jour.

But… as I said at the beginning… along with the dreaming came the humbling. I am the weakest of the weak… that’s the good news…

The GREAT news… Philippians 2: 13 for it is God who is at work in you (and me) both to will and to work for His good pleasure. 

That my friends is the ultimate Ministry of Encouragement to all the anchovies of this world!

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

 

 

 

Isaiah 55:8-9 “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,” declares the Lord. “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts. 

In a world that is upside down, sideways and crazy mixed up… what is real? Is it just my perception or is what I think I know, reality?

Just when I think I know, I’m told, “No, No that’s not REALLY what you think it is.” You have to take in the motive/intention/perception/judgement. You have to make it what you want it to be, instead of what it LOOKS LIKE. I once was told I had “taken my brain out and put it on a shelf” because I believed something this other person could not believe.

So, who’s right? Who gets to decide? Who gets to tell the rest of us what our lying eyes really didn’t see? Who gets to change the truth with a new, more modern version of popular speak – another term for politically correct.

What is real?

According to the free dictionary on my laptop… Real is…

1. actually existing as a thing or occurring in fact; not imagined or supposed:…  Philosophy relating to something as it is, not merely as it may be described or distinguished. 
2. Reality, the state of things as they actually exist, rather than as they may appear or may be thought to be.

So… not my imagination… not my opinion… not my belief. What sets real apart from these? I believe it is the unchangeableness at the core of the object… or the standard… or the principle… or the event. If the item’s core definition/description remains the same, whether I or anyone else tries to paint it as something different, it is definitively REAL. If it can be changed through the words used to describe it or classify it, the REALNESS of the item must be put in the category of yet to be determined as true or false.

Sickness is real, whether I want to be sick or not. The mind, though it is truly miraculous cannot, by itself, make sickening things go away or make them stay away. Nature effects life… and the Laws of Nature remain in place even when we temporarily find a way around them. Gravity has taken rocket scientists to find a way for us to experience life without its effects. However, gravity itself has never been changed.

The majority cannot make something real by declaring it so or by passing a law like the “knowledge” of our earth… The belief that the earth was flat never changed the REALITY and yet life was lived with this principle for generations. When the truth was discovered, earth wasn’t changed to round because it always was, AND the believers of the lie didn’t make their earth flat, no matter how mean and angry they professed their beliefs. For some, even after the PROOF is in, they continue to proclaim their beliefs and invent complex and bazaar reasons that their truth is the only truth. They think that by denying any and all evidence to the contrary to their truth, they have made or can make their own reality.

It is my opinion that this is exactly what is happening in our world today. So many of our population have declared themselves free of the unchangeable. There is nothing nor anyone who can dictate (prove) what is real. Reality is as flexible and malleable as my own imagination. The truth is as easy to color and change as my ability to shout louder than the other guy. There is no need to live peacefully in community because each of us is the author and creator of our own world… our own reality. However, each of us do have a need built inside for partnership. We have a need to be seen and have an effect on the world around us… another odd item that is unchangeable. We do gather together and separate ourselves into communities of like-mindedness. The problem is that it is becoming harder and harder to agree and the requirement is becoming TOTAL AGREEMENT.

I can’t agree with that…

So how do I recognize reality? How do I KNOW the truth?

There are so many voices that sometimes it sounds like a roar with no recognizable words.  Sometimes I cannot tell the difference between reality and the worst case scenario my mind insists on scaring me with. And sometimes… even the truth is scary and incomprehensible. I can know the truth… and I want to… but not be able to “live” with it… I become as desperate as if I am drowning. I am not free, I am a slave to my desperation to SAVE MYSELF. I reach out to grab the nearest buoy which usually turns out to be someone else who appears to be swimming well (until of course he/she has to support my weight as well as their own and anyone else who has already “come onboard”). Should someone drown because of my insistence they should care for me, the world will give me all the anecdotal evidence and permission that I need to find my next lifesaver… and the next… and the next!

John 8:31-32 … “If you continue in My word, then your are truly disciples of Mine; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.”

The real freedom… the reality that never changes whether it is believed or not…  the truth that makes us free is twofold…

THERE IS UNCHANGEABLE TRUTH… AND… HE IS GOD!

In order for the TRUTH to make me free to LIVE the reality that is today. I must know and depend on the Author and Creator of all that is real and all that is true. The ONE who is in complete control.

To know Him is to know peace beyond comprehension. I don’t have to understand reality (all that is happening), I have to leave it in His hands. If I have a task that is mine to do, I don’t have to be in control of every major &/or minor detail of the task to insure its outcome. I have to trust that He knows exactly what He is doing and it is GOOD.

For me to “Keep It Real”, I must know, with all the clarity and truth I can muster, who I am and who God is. I must discern the voices around me and the content of their message. I must always seek true REALITY… as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts. 

It is my choice… I can seek my way and my thoughts which declare only those things that make me believe I am in control of my life.

Or I can seek the truth… John 14:6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.”

I do not call myself a counselor because I have very little, if any, authority to tell anyone what to do (although you must understand that I am somewhat opinionated). But I am an encourager and by the grace of God and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit I do receive Words of Wisdom which are given from Scripture to be applied to the various steps we are given to take in this earthly life. Exodus 3:14 God said to Moses, I AM WHO I AM

I encourage you to “Keep It Real”… or might I say… Be kept by the One who Is REAL!

Jeremiah 29:13 – 14 “You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart. I will be found by you,” declares the LORD

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

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Matthew 6:6-8 But you, when you pray, go into your inner room, close your door and pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you. “And when you are praying, do not use meaningless repetition as the Gentiles do, for they suppose that they will be heard for their many words. So do not be like them; for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him. 

I admit it… I am a Prayer Warrior Wannabe! I dress up in the very serious, very grown up armor and I raise my sword and shield and I shout our battle cry that “God is good all the time!”… and then… I pretend I know what I am doing as I swat at windmills that look like the giants and I declare my foolishness in boldly proclaiming what myself or anyone else NEEDS.

Somewhere in the recesses of my imagination, I suspect that I am just a kid playing dress up with no real idea of what real world, standing in the gap, spirit battling warfare actually is. Thank God, I AM a kid… because it is only in the naive world of pretending to be giant killers that we can also be completely free to cry like a baby to our Daddy when the real world bursts our bubble and hits us with the flaming arrows that burn us to our core. The kind of arrows that make us shrink back and decide to pretend we want to be butterfly chasers instead!

Is that what encouragement and the prayers we lift up are? Butterfly nets of the Butterfly Chasers?

Instead of a Joan of Arc type Prayer Warrior, am I becoming a Pollyanna who hangs the rainbow making crystals in the windows? (Well, now we know why prayer begins in the closet, in secret, with our Daddy who will not laugh and embarrass us with Facebook pictures to prove how “cute” we looked in each costume we put on.)

I go through this all the time… just when I start to think I KNOW HOW to pray, I become a puddle of uncertainty in WHAT to pray. When people ask me to pray during these times, I just smile and nod, hoping that the Holy Spirit will fulfill my promise. I try to look forward to the training that is to come in my prayer closet, but there, before the throne of God, my game of pretending becomes a boot camp of spiritual aerobic exercise that on a good day will leave me breathless and on any other day leaves me a quivering mess.

I confess… I don’t RUN to my prayer closet often… I want to… I beg to become brave enough… but most days I’m the kid running out the door with an emergency excuse to avoid the parental training.

Lately though, I feel the tug of desire to begin to “grow up”. My friend Kay (who now LIVES WITH GOD) skips through my mind with her, “If you don’t, who will?” song.

I’m beginning to question what I want to be when I grow up… seriously question!

And the Holy Spirit whispers that God prepared that position before I was even in the womb. He’s got me… I am curious… did God fearfully and wonderfully make me to be a Prayer Warrior or a Butterfly Chaser… or both?

I begins with… “What would Jesus pray if He were here today?” OMG… He is here! Let me rephrase my question… “What DO You pray for us, Jesus?”…  John 14:14 If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do it.

We have His very prayer as He was preparing to fight the epic battle of all times, the defeat of death so that we might live. He knew what He was fighting for… John 17:20-24 “I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word; that they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me. The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one; I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me. Father, I desire that they also, whom You have given Me, be with Me where I am, so that they may see My glory which You have given Me, for You loved Me before the foundation of the world.” This my friends, is the ultimate – the gates of hell cannot prevail against it – prayer.

I have spent years wondering WHAT to pray and HOW to get our needs/desires met (mine especially). I have run around and around the rabbit hole, trying to pull the magic out of the dirt of this earth.

Yes, yes, I know… Matthew 7:7-11 Ask, and it will be given to you; seek , and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened, Or what man is there among you who, when his son asks for a loaf, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for fish, he will not give him a snake, will he? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give what is good to those who ask Him! Definitely we CAN and SHOULD and MUST ask for all our needs… DAILY, as in…give us this day our daily bread.

But I am starting to see that there is the prayer that is the responsibility of the individual child and then there is the prayer of their brother/sister standing in the gap with and for them.

I don’t feel comfortable asking for my perception of your need today. Even if you give me a descriptive list of all that you want me to “agree” with, I don’t have any idea if any or all of them bear the name of Jesus Christ in His knowing, all-good, will and plan for their life. I don’t know this for my life either but I do know that God never leaves us nor forsakes us so He will deal directly with me and you on the individual answers to our daily needs.

Where do I come in on the global prayer chain? What is the encouragement I can give to myself and others? Is it… agreement… Matthew 18:19-20 Again I say to you, that if two of you agree on earth about anything that they may ask, it shall be done for them by My Father who is in heaven. For where two or three have gathered together in My name, I am there in their midst. AWESOME POTENTIAL POWER… but will you blame me for my agreement should things go south because we insisted on the wrong thing, thinking we know what we need? Is our encouragement the idea that God is obligated by the number of petitions He gets on each request? WHO am I bowing to and WHAT am I pledging my support for?

It’s not that I KNOW BETTER!

It is that I DON’T KNOW!

I want to pray what I DO KNOW… I want to pray for the BEST… I want to fight in the army that WINS…

Jeremiah 29:11-14 For I know the plans that I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart. I will be found by you, declares the LORD, and I will restore your fortunes and will gather you from all nations and from all the places where I have driven you, declares the LORD, and I will bring you back to the place from where I sent you into exile. (exile, until we are willing to search for Him with all our heart).

So… my prayer… the GOLD STANDARD of all my prayers… for you and everyone I am called to stand/walk beside… is the same as our brother Paul’s prayer (Ephesians 1:17 & 3:16-19 with my plagiarized tweaks).

Hello, Daddy… God of our Lord Jesus Christ, Father of glory, (may You give to me/us) a spirit of wisdom and of revelations in the knowledge of You (would You grant us) according to the riches of Your glory, to be strengthened with power through Your Spirit in the inner man, so that Christ may dwell in (our) heats through faith; and that (we) being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpassed knowledge, that (we) may be filled up to all the fullness of You.

Now THIS is prayer closet, heart pumping, sweat producing, boot camp, warrior training 101, Ministry of Encouragement weaponry… before you come out… put on your armor cause the devil ain’t going to like you now!

As for me… I think I might be starting to realize the truth about prayer that will set me free WHEN I submit myself fully to it… Prayer isn’t a “church” thing (although it happens before the throne of God)… Prayer isn’t a recipe on a recipe card we measure, mix and bake (although we have some powerful words we can use in Scripture when we don’t have any words of our own)… Prayer isn’t a mundane task to do at certain times of the day and night, in a certain room of our house (although God is always up and He always leaves the light on)…

Prayer IS… an intimate conversation with my Daddy… Abba, Father… with Jesus  our big Brother and Savior and Lord, sitting right beside Him (and maybe sometimes on the floor of the throne room “wrestling” with us).

Amen? Amen!

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

 

 

I don’t want to grow up! It’s too hard! It’s not fair! But I NEED—–! Those people YOU sent me!

I admit it… I threw a tantrum this week. A better description would be a hissy fit. But nobody knew… well, that’s not true… God knew. And this is where He took me.

Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 There is an appointed time for everything.

Yessiree… And I know it very well… in fact I (humbly) demand to appoint the time for everything to do with me (and some of my especially good friends)…

Not so fast! The time IS already appointed… Genesis 1:1 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. Created in perfection… Genesis 1:31 God saw all that He had made, and behold it was very good.

Genesis 1: 26-28 Then God said, “Let us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; …God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. God blessed them; and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

God created and gave to man… If God had His way, perfection would have remained. But man ruled…

Man chose (ladies, don’t be offended because we were right there cheering him on)… the earth-shaking event of wanting to be god of their own life.

Yes, Adam & Eve were tempted (as I am by the torture of not being allowed to have and be all that I COULD BE). They were lied to (just as I disguise my sin of self-concern with prayer-like requests for mercy… sympathy… justice… and just to be sure God’s  aware of my intent… the full explanation of my individual situation.)

Because of our sin… our attempt to replace God… there is a now a time… in the future… for God’s hope. Romans 8: 19-22 For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God (those who live and thrive in His image). For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope (got that? HOPE not PUNISHMENT) that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption (self rule) into the freedom of the glory (our inheritance) of the children of God. For we know that the whole of creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now.

We wanted a “do over”… another chance to live in paradise… a time with no consequences… But creation demanded that There is an appointed time for everything.

Unfortunately, the wages of our sin was/is death so our appointment would have been with death… But God… who does not wish for any to perish… chose hope. God chose, not to destroy creation but to offer His plan to save His creation… He chose an appointed time for SALVATION of everything… Romans 8:28-30 And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren; and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified.

What then shall we say to these things?

A time to give birth and a time to die;

A time to plant and a time to uproot what is planted.

A time to kill and a time to heal;

A time to tear down and a time to build up.

A time to weep and a time to laugh;

A time to mourn and a time to dance.

A time to throw stones and a time to gather stones;

A time to embrace and a time to shun embracing.

A time to search and a time to give up as lost;

A time to keep and a time to throw away.

A time to tear apart and a time to sew together;

A time to be silent and a time to speak.

A time to love and a time to hate;

A time for war and a time for peace.

If God is for us? Who can be against us? Sometimes WE are the ones against us as when God called me out… “You only want the people who make you feel wonderfully smart and witty. You only want the easy peasy path to health, wealth, and wisdom. And when do you want it? NOW…

You do the math… ”

Life Lesson #1… Timing Is Everything…

Life Lesson #2… Your Timing stinks…

Life lesson #3… Everything owes its life and breath to My Timing… God saw all that He had made, and behold it was very good.

Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the plans that I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.

He has hope for us… He is our hope!

Now, about my tantrum… I stopped the screaming, but I have to admit I may still be pouting. When I am sent to sit in the corner to “contemplate” the truth, I may be sitting on the outside BUT STANDING UP on the inside. No matter how much I want to be a “good girl” and “make my Daddy proud of me”, I am by nature a PERFECT child. One who challenges the best parenting practices known to mankind, one who demands surrender to all of my demands, the one who sobs for hours from the pain of life on the playground, and the one who fears that she will be abandoned for all her wicked ways. Life and it’s timing, as displayed in Ecclesiastes,  can be both wonderfully challenging and desperately dangerous to the PERFECT child…

Why did the Holy Spirit lead me here this week? “Timing Is Everything”… Probably for many reasons not the least of which is confession, but I suspect that He knew that when my tantrum as the PERFECT child was over, I was going to need the comfort of being a perfect CHILD… Yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil…

My PERFECT DADDY… who will not, no, cannot give up on me because… He IS LOVE and LOVE NEVER FAILS. No matter how much or how many times my nature rebels against Him and His training, my nature, and the nature of every other created thing on this planet, doesn’t win… In every moment of every day… Romans 8:38-39 For I am convinced that neither death, not life, nor angels, nor principalities, not 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.

Though I may not always “look pretty” doing it… or I do it in the midst of a full-on tantrum… or with the maturity of the spoiled brat I sometimes am… this one thing I do:

Philippians 3:13 …forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

I was just thinking… maybe God gave me the gift of encouragement because I NEED it so often. And maybe He calls me to the Ministry of Encouragement because I have so much experience RECEIVING it.

And this is how my tantrum (and it’s timing) can be pertinent to a blog about encouragement… in case you were wondering.

Just a thought…

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

 

 

John 10:24-30 The Jews then gathered around Him, and were saying to Him, “How long will You keep us in suspense? If You are the Christ, tell us plainly.” Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe; the works that I do in My Father’s name, these testify of Me. But you do not believe because you are not of My sheep. My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.”

Tell us plainly… Baaaa…

Quick, get ready, here comes the wolves! They won’t believe us either because they are not His sheep…

I don’t think most people intend on “killing sheep” but something happens when they are confronted by the idea that you KNOW something they will never know, and HAVE something they will never seek or receive. Instead of being satisfied with their enlightened choice, they insist they have to KILL the message, the messenger, and the addressee of the message, for the sake of HUMANITY. They are so sure of the truth (or maybe so unsure) that they must eradicate any hint in word or deed that they are wrong.

When I was the one with the little lamb that followed me everywhere I went… I was told the rules. My little lamb Jesus, could not come to school with me, this was against the rules. Oh, I tried to include Him… “See how cute”, “See how harmless”, “See”.  And the people rightfully judged me and my lamb… “He’s not real.” “He’s just a children’s rhythm.” “You need to grow up and stop depending on weak things that cannot save you, nor make you strong, nor provide for your future.”

And then I grew up (when I was 32)… and heard His voice… and became one of His flock… Baaaa! 1 Corinthians 1:27-29 but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong, and the base things of the world and the despised God has chosen, the things that are not, so that He may nullify the things that are, so that no man may boast before God… 

What does this have to do with the ministry of encouragement? It is… He is the foundation of encouragement… and we are… SHEEP!

I was praying (actually worrying before God) this morning, for a friend whom I think is under tremendous attack because she too is a sheep in His pen. I was declaring all the things that could be dangerous to her and all the pitfalls she could walk into if she is not careful. I was moaning that I did not know how to warn her or if she would even listen to such a laundry list of negative do’s and don’ts.

And Jesus said to me, “Just say Baaaa!” (My wording of the above Scripture I was given this morning.)“I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand.”

He is the foundation and the substance of our Ministry of Encouragement. We are… the sheep of His pasture…

Psalm 23:4-6 Even though I we walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I we fear no evil, for You are Jesus is with me us; Your His rod and Your His staff, they comfort me us. You He prepare a table before me us in the presence of my our enemies; You have He has anointed my our head with oil; My Our cup overflows,. Surely goodness and lovingkindness will follow me us all the days of my our life, and I we will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.

I hope… no, I pray… when our Holy Spirit prompts my fellow sheep to “worry ” in prayer over me, I pray they will pray this Psalm with my name substituted at all the appropriate places.

If… no… WHEN they do, I will have received their ultimate ministry. And I will be encouraged!

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