my wings are made of faith

Wasting Precioius Time

I wasted a lot of years letting past relationships play into how I dealt with things in present relationships. Who knew that a bad relationship with a parent could bring bad patterns into every relationship you develop in your adult life, for instance? A relationship with anyone from a teacher, spouse, pastor, employer, and child can suffer  from the way you learned to react to issues with parents, for example.  It is for this reason, that we can take a good long look at the issues that come up in our relationships over and over, and identify when we have the same old reactions each time things begin to fall apart. Then we can search scripture to see the way God would have us deal with those repetitive issues. 

I don't know that everyone feels at some point like they are in a revolving door, stuck with the same old things going wrong each time they attempt to have a close friend, intimacy with a loved one, or a conversation with a child.  Does every job end up with an employer who takes advantage of you.  Maybe you have had more than one job where other employees succeeded in putting a large share of the work load off on you.  Whatever it is that seems to happen again and again, may require a "Heavenly Father" intervention.  And it starts with praying for the other person. It ends with finding the image of God that best describes how we should choose to develop our relationship, not what our heart says. 

If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him? Luke 11:13.

When I look back and think about how I fell into letting old feelings of abuse, cause me to mistrust people, or react to someone as if they were my father when he was mean, when actually the situations might not have merited the same fear or mistrust....I just wonder how feelings had so much power over me. I have said before that the Lord spoke to me when I was driving down the road feeling sorry for myself, and saying,  "God how could you...." To which God replied to my heart, "I AM NOT YOUR (earthly) FATHER." It came from out of nowhere, because I hadn't thought of my father recently, at the time.  I had expectations that it was  God taking things back from me, when my car broke down, or I lost a job. Where did that sense of having things taken away come from?  My  Father of course. God wanted me to know that he isn't like that. It was a wake up call to know God didn't want me to build my vision of a loving father on anyone but him. That day turned my relationship building completely around.  I realized for the first time, that God is the only one upon which I can honestly build any concept of relationships.

When I have counseled through the years, I have discovered others who never stopped to see that repeated failures can come out of  false concepts.  If you journal, a great journaling project is to alot several pages to listing the charcter of God, as Heavenly Father.  A good place to start is with the statements of Jesus concerning his Father.  And secondly, when scriptures speak of God wooing the nation of Israel. Changing my expectations of relationships, definitely changed my relationship disapointments.

And not the God that "religion" often teaches - the condemning, out to get you, God. Rather, the one who is actually in the scriptures.  The one who gives unconditional love. If I can reject the feelings, and choose to pray that God will help me be more like him, I can expect that some unique things may happen that heals the breaks in my relationships.

Dear Father, mold me ever more in your image, that I might always bring healing to the relationships in my life. Help me give more grace to all who are around me. May your gift of the Holy Spirit open my eyes to the way you desire me to act, rather than react out of feelings, and misconceptions. AMEN

God Wants You To Have a Strong Voice

On Monday, Christy introduced the element of deliberate breathing to ease our anxieties.  When I was on a deadline down through the years at work, I would tend to hold my breath.  If I just realized it, I would benefit greatly by taking every opportunity to breath in extra deeply. But here's another suggestion about when to become aware of how you are breathing. Know those days when you are around someone who is so about drama that they aren't happy until they have involved everyone in the room.  If they can't get the focus on themselves they make your day miserable? Have you been there?

Well, if you think about it, your levels of annoyance rise, and you find it difficult to keep your thoughts on track.  Without realizing what it is doing to you, you begin kicking yourself for getting drawn in - to the point of letting it affect your work.  First thing you know, you are anixously having to redo work.  The best remedy is to Breeeeaaathhhe. In, then out, slowly...In, then out, SLOWLY.  And while you breathe, repeat your favorite verse. Choose the one that gives you peace in stressful situations.

Our high school choir director taught deep breathing as a means of strengthening our diaphram for singing with power and projection.  He wanted us to do the exercises before we fell asleep every night. I did it so often that it became a natural part of my going to sleep every night for years afterwards. I also found that telling your body to relax during the process actually works.

I have started with my feet and concentrated on relaxing only my feet. I would roll them around at the ankles and think, my feet are relaxing, and without a pause, "my ankles are relaxing".  I would continue up my legs, lifting first one leg slightly and saying, "my calves are relaxing," and then the other leg. Continuing to breathe slowly and deliberately, I focused on every muscle, especially if it was tight or stiff.  I frequently fell asleep before I got to my eyelids.  It felt especially good relaxing my neck and jaws.  If you should decide to try this exercise, and make it past your eyelids, don't leave out your brain. Make it the last thing you speak to..."I rest my brain, I relax my brain...Lord give peace to my brain."  Even if you don't go to sleep, you have trained your body to do something other than what you have taught it to do all during the stress of most days. 

This is a great midday exercise, too.  Regular practice of deliberately telling your body to relax, makes the process go more quickly the more you do it.  I also practiced relaxation when riding my bike. And I found that the deep breathing on my bike really did strengthen my diaphram.  There were other advantages to these execises as well. A strong diaphram, helps eliminate the whiney feeling symdrom.  When you feel like others are running over you, you can get a stronger firmer voice in the face of someone who belittles you, for instance.  It's amazing when you decide to speak with power to someone who is attempting to control you. The shakiness and whine leaves your voice, and you speak with empahsis, firmness. When you frimly say "No!." you benefit emensely. You would be amazed how this overcomes someone's attempt to rule you.

Deep breathing also helps alleviate fear. So if you find yourself in a very scarey situation, remember to fall into the pattern of what you practice before sleep. Concentrating on the breathing tends to refocus the brain from the fear. And it seems to be one thing you can do simultaneously with other things. For instance, if you needed to swim for your life, deep breathing would help settle you and give you strength to succeed. In fact, if you see most situations that tend you make you feel sheepish, or small, fearful, or manipulated...as times when you feel like you are drowning, you will resolve to not drown in those situations.

These exercises are often practiced in group therapy sessions too. Therapists realize that many people who are in therapy, are there because they haven't found their own voice, and certainly haven't found the power to use it firmly and with strength of conviction.  Breathing is a powerful tool.  Practicing it is how you learn to control it. It is an element of learning to have inner strength. Prayerful breathing gives the savoir permission to aid you into wisely using one of the life-giving elements meant to enrich our being and our health.

Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. Ephesians 6:10

Never forget that the Holy Spirit himself is represented in scriputure as the wind. And when Jesus endowed the saints with his indwelling power, He breathed on them. The parallel correlation is real. Inner power, and breathing go hand in hand. Think of the spirit like being the breath of your soul, in the same way as oxygen invigorates your body.

And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost: John 20:22.

Lord, in the garden of Eden you breathed into us the breath of life, and man became a living soul.  The connection is more real than many of us realize. Empower us with life, and a strong voice, both to sing praises, and to stand up to one who tries to control us. May we not give that control to anyone but you. In Jesus precious name and by the power of the Spirit...we accept the power you give. AMEN

In Tune or Enslaved

Someone taught me years ago that to be perfect in God's eyes, means to be in tune with him.  To resonate on the same frequency as the Holy Spirit.  Although I can't remember who held it up, I totally remember the tuning fork this person tapped to the table over and over, as we listened to the two prongs ring the same note. Musical intruments sound amazing when played if in tune.  You want to leave the room if they aren't.  An instrument is perfect when it is in tune. WE are perfect when we are in tune with his design for us. We are his instrument to be played. Perfectly paired with God.

Thou shalt be perfect with the Lord thy God. Deuteronomy 18:13

But there are things this verse does not mean. It does not mean that we have to perfectly keep the laws, or be perfect at all things we do, or perfectly fit into some box that people have designed. To be the best always, or on top 100% of the time. Or to never fail, or falter. Yet that is the image we get stuck in our heads. Even knowing perfectionism is unhealthy we promote it with our actions and criticisms. We impose some degree of expectation on our work associates and friends, or spouses and family members, always requiring something in our world to be perfect. We verbalize what we think is God's perfect person and ask others to step in to the image. Whether we know we do it or not, we set standards that exceed reality.

God's expectation for each of us is different than for every one else, yet his criteria for perfection is the same - have a heart that desires to be in tune with him. It's that simple and he repeats it in example after example.  I can do that if I let  him :

1.design his expectations for me, and

2.encourage me to meet the challenges with his power, not my own. 

In tune with how he designed me and only me, not someone else. Any other  attempt is an illness called perfectionism.

Let your heart therefore be perfect with the Lord our God. I Kings 8:61.

If we fall prey to the expectations of anyone except God, we allow ourselves to become enslaved, to ideas, images, and degrees of good that simply aren't God's.  God knows how he made us, and he knows how to challenge us to new heights. He also never cares if we fail as we learn and grow. He loves to encourage us to growth through the struggles of failure. None of this is what God requires for perfection, however. The 10 commandments aren't a picture of perfection, the beatitudes are not a picture of our perfection. No amount of goodness is the image of God's perfection. In fact, our Christ-likeness is not a result of our own attempt to be like Christ. We were made in his image, and our Christlikeness, is a result of his renewing that image within us. Again - God's picture of  our perfection is that we have a heart in tune with him. Dozens of verses say it over and over.

God is my strength and power: and he maketh my way perfect. Ii Samuel 22:33

It is God that girdeth me with strength, and maketh my way perfect. Psalm 18:32 

 

As with so many scriptural principles, the responsibilty for our perfection doesn't fall on us either. We can forgive ourselves of falling short even when we feel we have lost our resonance with the Spirit.  It is God's responsibility to create in us his ideal.  As long as we have a willing heart, God will work his renewing miracles.  Why do we struggle so with this. I do. It is a daily push pull in one form or another... On my emotions, on my self worth, on my relationships. Until I just do what I do, thinking only, "What is the Lord asking of me at this moment?"

If we fall into the trap of having perfect expectations for ourselves we will also enslave those around us.  They will fall victim to the extremes of the falicy. The joy of striving for excellence, of pushing ourselves beyond good measure, of knowing we never left a job undone, or half done is not perfectionism, until we become extreme in some element of it.  Being driven is a long way from being persistant.  Being tenacious is not the same as being malicious. And being thorough is a long way from being manipulative.  One is Christ-like, one is full of self motivation.

The same is true of falling victim to those self-motivated actions in others.  To someone who attempts to draw you into their perfectionism, draw clear boundaries, and learn to say "NO" clearly.

Lord, break the chains of perfectionism in our lives. Live out your perfect image in me, for I offer an willing heart, a desire to be in tune with your and your perfect will for my life.  Help me shush the voices of influnence that nag at my image of what is perfect.  Give me wisdom to reject the false images around me, and mostlly help me not to  impose a false image of perfect on others.  In Jesus name, Amen

 

 

How to Speak the Truth in Love

After 20 years of marriage all I could see we had accomplished was 3 incredible kids and building a giant wall between us, my husband and I.  How could two people who honestly loved each other be so hard on each other that we needed that wall? I was genuinely afraid to pull it down too. There had been so much dynamic painful issues in our marriage, that I just could not bear being hurt even one more time. I was very much aware of my proverbial wall. It was as real as the fact that I had to do something about that wall or die.

...but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ— Ephesians 4:15

My husband was not really aware how much he was hurting me.  How empty I felt, helpless, hopeless, EMPTY.

I had spent that 20 years trying to please him, saying, "If I just do this or that, maybe he will be happy. If I , If I, If I..." Changing, Changing Changing. The result was I became more and more the person he required me to become, and I hated her.  She was so far from the real me that I didn't know myself.  I hated constantly playing the role. And the worst part was, this woman my husband created out of me, wasn't even someone he liked. I still wasn't good enough. And the moment I couldn't play the role, Jimmy exploded.   

Jimmy was a rage-aholic.  And beleive me, that is as bad as any other addiction. He had an addictive personality. Although he finally stopped smoking, he still drank colas like they were a drug. He went from being nice one instant to being off the charts angry in a split second. It made no sense. Always, when we had what I considered a good day, of romance or fun, or accomplishment, I let my guard down, and BANG! Something I said, or did sent him into an in your face screaming rage, full of threats and hurt.  And I often didn't know what I had done. I found myself actually hiding from him, or emotionally hiding from him.  I would cry for days sometimes and wonder what on earth God expected of me.  I honestly didn't believe God truly expected me to continue to be submissive to this kind of behavoir. Surely, he had some responsibility to God, but I was to the point, I didn't care what God thought.  I WAS DONE.

I faced God with my confusion, and found that He was asking me to take down the wall, and let him work on my marriage. In addition, he was going to let me have some say in what it meant to  take down that wall.

BEST THING EVER FOR MY MARRIAGE!!!!

For years the "wall" had made me feel safe, had been the place I ran to survive. I lived in survival mode so much with my father, that I hadn't learned how not to live in survival mode. So now I was going to have to learn. To GROW UP. Here's how.

1. Commit your safety to God. Decide the wall is coming down, and you are willing to let God test your faith.

2. Tell your partner about the wall, your decision to pull it down, how unsafe you feel, and exactly what things  scare you about your relationship.

3.  Set boundaries.  Explain that you will no longer accept that behavoir any longer. Draw specific lines, no beating around the bush. Say: "You will no longer do ..." whatever it is that causes you fear, or anxiety, or like you are being forced to change for your partner.  

4. Set an unmistakable, un-negotiable consequence. For me, I explained that our marriage was over, if things didn't change. Final. I laid out things I would no longer accept in our marriage, PERIOD. EVER AGAIN. 

5. Set a time frame. 3 months as a trial to see if your partner is willing to take the challenge to work on the marriage. 6 months for final decision. 2 weeks question/ answer to lay ground work.  Zero opportunity to be a rage-aholic for instance.  In an abusive situation the one thing that must be a final is the abuse. Verbal or physical. Neither is allowed.  Not under any circumstance. It ends or the break in relationship is final. Absolutely no "I'm sorry," and taking them back. 

Jesus Was Obedient to God's Command To Rest

We all know that God rested on the seventh day, not because he needs rest in the physical sense, but because setting boundaries for our world was important to him, and because he took time ot reflect before he moved on.  Rest is a very large part of the human existance because our whole being needs it. Think about the words that are derived from the word rest: rest, restore, restoration, restraint. Stopping within a boundary to be revived.  And this one - restlessness, another word for anxiety.  It goes without saying that rest is about more than just sleep, but do we really think, when we are unrested, about what the lack of it is doing to our lives and those around us? Rest is about boundaries, having the mental strength to reflect on where we have been, deciding when to stop, bringing things back to normal,  and taking a stand for our own well being.

Scriptures define the boundaries for our rest with the number 7. It is the number for completion, being finished, and for rest. On the cross, Jesus said:

“It is finished!” And bowing His head, He gave up His spirit. John 19:30

Therefore, because it was the Preparation Day, that the bodies should not remain on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a high day), the Jews asked Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away...John 19:31

It was because it was the time for the Sabbath, the same 7th day that God established after his work week was finished, that Jesus called for his suffering to end. He made the decision for himself before the Jews went to Pilate. The same 7th day about which so many old testament laws revolve. The same one that is repeated over and over throughout centuries when referencing times frames for the feasts. He decided that an end had come to his work, and it was time to honor God's seventh day, to rest.

And He said, “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.”Exodus 33:14

Each day we seek rest for our bodies, each week - rest from our work, and periodically we find rest to restore our joy, be replenished spiritually, and to begin again. As I have gotten older I have seen the patterns of life require this third kind of rest as on intervention from God to close the past and begin a new episode in my future. Let us not forget that there is a time when the kind of rest we need is the rest that brings closure to the pain, the suffering, the hardship, the education...whatever period of endeavor that has been a long time coming to fruition.  And we need to pause and let God walk us back through the good and bad of it, and find a new beginning.

Lord, as our readers study your word, make the number 7 jump out at them. May they see the fervant reminder of a Loving God that rest for our bodies, minds, and souls comes in many forms, but is not only available, expected and provided by you, but that you go before us to prepare it and ask us to do the same. In Jesus name. AMEN

 

Of Wind and Bee Stings

The word repent in the old languages – Hebrew and Greek forms – carried the meaning to be sorry for one’s decisions to follow one’s own path, rather than the instructions of God. Someone who was repentant would turn from following his own ways and return to following the path of God’s instruction.  Like turning the rudder of a ship, it took a form of action to repent. A sail boat won’t turn itself into the wind. But once the action of turning about was taken, then the Spirit of God was meant to come along side and provide guidance, support, and would energize the repentant one’s walk. The Spirit, who is symbolized in the wind, fits the image of the Wind. The rudder turns the boat about , a symbol of taking the action of repentance, facing it to take advantage of the wind (the Holy Spirit.)  Every sailor knows that progress is not made under man power. The dynamics of the wind’s power so amplifies the sailor’s efforts and speeds the boat along toward the destination, in a way no human power could muster.  Even with dozens of men at the oars, wind in the sails moves the vessel effortlessly in comparison.  But it remains the choice of the sailor to set the sails to take advantage of that power. We as Christians often try so hard to meet God’s expectations under our own power. Often we tire of living in the difficult realm of progressing against the dragging anchor of sin.  If only we would pull up anchor and turn our effort toward using the rudder of grace to turn about. Instead of struggling with life, to be empowered by God.  How do we gain the power of God on our lives?  By repentance.

It is important to see that the act of crying and being sad is not the complete act of repentance. Making the decision to turn about is. It is then that we can release the struggle with our sin and give the Holy Spirit the power to move us forward away from the power sin had in our life. Notice, I am not saying you have the power to stop the sin alone.

For some, repentance comes with emotions of deep sorrow for sin, but for others, feelings of great relief for being released from the struggle.  Paul, the apostle is one of the greatest types of resisting repentance. Of how living for God under one’s own power takes you in the opposite direction from God’s perfect will. His whole demeanor changed when he stopped resisting God.  Saul, whom God renamed Paul, totally believed he was serving God perfectly, piously, and with the utmost fervor.  He was willing to go to great lengths to bring “Christians” to a place of death, in the name of God, because he believed they were not serving God and were leading others away.  But when God himself confronted Paul, he pulled up the anchor of everything Paul had been taught to believe. He commanded Paul to turn completely about, and begin to serve the very persons he had persecuted. 

And when we were all fallen to the earth, (a symbol of repentance,) I heard a voice speaking unto me, and saying in the Hebrew tongue, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks. Acts 26:14

The image God uses is a comparison: Saul’s resistance to believe that Christians were actually true believers was like kicking a cactus-like plant. He was only hurting himself with a hurt that keeps on hurting. Cactus “pricks” continue to dig toward the bone and become festered until the body ejects them or they are removed. It is senseless, God was saying. God wanted Paul to stop hurting himself. It would seem reasonable to ask people to stop hurting themselves by resisting repentance. Yet that isn’t the image most people have of repentance. God was not asking that Paul yield to a form of punishment in order to repent.  I have never understood why established Christian religions add such to repentance. He was asking Paul to cease the senseless acts, and turn his life around, where-in Paul would find God’s constant blessing.

Please note that God wasn't calling a man who was a kind-hearted Jewish saint. Saul was killing saints! His understanding of right and wrong was totally askew!

A mother who sees her child playing near bees, asks that they come away.  Or don’t swat at them, or step on them.  She warns that the child turn away from that act. Often calling the child to herself for safety. A child who disobeys, gets stung. The mother doesn’t then punish the child for discovering the pain of playing with bees. She cradles the little one up, helps them run from the bees, and dresses the wound.  She gives recognition to the pain of the sting, and with hugs and kisses, she soothes and shares information on how wise it is to avoid bees, and other things that hurt.  Next time, a child generally is glad to come running to Mom.  God is like the loving mother.  All he wants is for us to recognize the dangers of sin and run, into his arms. If we are already stung by the pain of sin, God wants to hug us, tend to our wounds, restore us to health, and make us wise to avoid being stung again. Not hurt us some more!

So, often, when life becomes more and more difficult, the harder we try to serve God, it is because we have determined in our hearts what we believe to be right, according to what we learned at church, or from parents, or maybe just by desiring to be zealous for God.  Our intentions may be the best, most religious of anyone around.  But only when we hear God’s voice to repent of following our own way, and submit to turning our vessel about, do we find the wind filling our sails. Sin isn’t always about breaking one of the 10 commandments that we most
often think of as sin. Lying, stealing, coveting…etc.  More often than not, it is breaking the first commandment.  When we fail to love the Lord our God with all our heart.  He isn’t standing over a whipping post saying, bend over… He is saying, “Turn about! And catch the wind!”

The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit. John 3:8

And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. Acts 2:2 (at Pentecost when the Holy Spirit was given to all who believe.)

Unless you are afraid of a little wind in your sails, LIFT ANCHOR AND TURN ABOUT! Don’t let sin's drag anchor your boat to a place of pain. Lift anchor and let God!!

Help me see Lord the anchors of sin in my life.  Whatever has stopped my life from making use of the power of your Spirit in my life, show me, teach me, draw me near, call me away from it, and sharpen my aversion to its stings. Thank you for your ever present love.  AMEN

HE MADE

As  an artist, I often find inspiration in the things God made. The beauty and detail in the tiniest things, including bugs and spiders, snakes and rocks simply amaze me in the intricacies of their form and function. A lot of what is in nature goes to the root of my love of design.  I have always seen God as a designer. The ultimate artist, who  gave us all the elements of art and placed the ember of oneness with that part of himself into us, who love to make, create, design, draw, photogragh and paint.. or by any other means to imagine something and make it
become visual, useful or decorative. I see anyone who is able to take an element and coax it into something else as an artist. Even the gardener who plants seeds, can use the plants as a color palette.  And there are few things so beautiful as a hillside or meadow covered in only one lovely flower or grass. The wood beams of a house, the steel beams of a super structure, the girders and cables of a bridge - all are beautiful to me.  And the persons who use the materials to make them into something new and wonderful are all artists. Within each one is a bit of God’s character, innate, because God chose to create man in his own image.

 For in the image of God He made man. Gen 9:6

One day as I was contemplating how close to God I sometimes felt when I was in “creation mode,” I wondered about what the scripture said, specifically, about the phrase, “He made.”  I thought when I began to search that I would find a set of verses that would inspire me by the descriptions of the grandness of the things God made. I supposed I would use them as a guide to praise the Lord. Wow was I surprised.

In only the second chapter of the book of Genesis, was the first time the phrase popped up. I was so surprised to see what was on the mind of God when this phrase about “designing something” first appeared, that I cried instantly.  It was like a huge hug from God. He was thinking about how to make a woman.

 Then the rib which the Lord God had taken from man He made into a woman, and He brought her to the man. Genesis 2:22 

God was contemplating a gift for man, someone who would complete him, complement him, and balance him and make that union productive. This design was to become a helper in “man”’s” life, but also be a mate for life – two very powerful concepts. He wanted her to be a beautiful design that the man would genuinely love.  I could go extremely deep into this concept, because in this verse is established a truth, about the loneliness of God.  When God made woman he was instilling in her the traits of his own eventual wife – THE CHURCH.  In every way parallels can be made through out scripture to the love of God for his people, and how he longs for that love in return. 

 Knowing this, and all the verses that lead up to the proof of that truth, I was awash with amazement. In those two words were the value of a woman in God’s mind. HE MADE > WOMAN!!!!  We, not man, were made in the image of what God imagined would complete himself.  Man in his own image, woman in the image of  what God wished a lifetime companion should be. WE were designed in a special way. Different than all other beings on earth! Designed from the rib of man.  In essence, God started with his own image, from which man was made, and then he added to that a uniqueness, things that God longed for in his own mate.

Women, have you ever doubted your value in life, your place in the love of God? My understanding was totally reinforced, in the moment I came upon this verse, that as a woman, I am precious in the eyes of God.

Sometimes we become so overwhelmed with holding our own in a “mans” world, we forget to celebrate and pursue with proper ferver, just being women.  I know I have been lost a time or two, understanding how I fit.  But I was MADE for exactly that – to fit.  I am one of those unique puzzle pieces that God is fond of making. I am most often the opposite of my husband, but I was meant to be opposite in such a way as to complement him, complete him, balance him, help him.  Not his crutch, but his flagpole. Strong in the wind, firmly standing where I am placed, supportive even in the storms of life, always there when he is up, or he is down. 

As the Lord spoke specifically to my heart, I thought, "How often have you ever seen a flagpole and thought how worn out the pole looked?" No, we often see tattered flags and think, "My goodness how tattered that old flag looks." Statistically, women out-live men, and we must be ready if that time comes to stand alone. It would seem that without the flag, the pole is useless. But think about it. Even with the flag gone, the pole is still a stantion whose purpose is to fly an emblem. And there may come a time when we stand only to fly the invisible flag of God.

 I was designed that way. Made for a purpose. Designed as a gift, from a definite thought process, to uphold and support someone I love, but not by giving myself away. Rather, made to be powerful as the person God made me to be.  The Bible concept of women is much different than that of the world. And therein lies the majority of our conflict in life.  But focusing on what God thought of me, helps me stand tall, and strong.  I am praising God for giving me more than just his love of design, but by designing me, he gave me power, purpose, and promise.  He MADE ME by his own hands, thoughtfully, craftily, artfully, designed me to be a WOMAN. I still am basking in the joy of it!

 

THANK YOU DEAR FATHER! Praise and Honor to You, who spoke a universe into existence saying:"Let there be…" but YOU paused to actually MAKE ME.  Much love.

Please help a woman who is struggling today, with a sense of pupose, of value, of place, of her future.  Where ever sheis help her know the place she holds in your heart. Then for every man who reads, may he realize that if you found extra value in making women unique, than may they find a respect and honor for that uniqueness as well. May he see the blessing the woman meant for him truly is.  AMEN

(Nowhere in the above did I mean to infer that God didn't design all the things he made. But the scripture itself takes pause to bless us with how God lovingly designed woman, so we should take note. And technically, the mate God invisioned in the church is the BRIDE OF CHRIST. The Israelite people, and the Nation of Jews are also frequently portrayed as a wife. But to keep it simple I used the term God in as the Godhead.)

For futher study on the verses with "HE MADE":

Gen 21:6 And Sarah said, “God has made me laugh, and all who hear will laugh with me.”

1 Chronicles 16:26 For all the gods of the peoples are idols, But the Lord made the heavens.

Psalm 111:4 He has made His wonderful works to be remembered.

Luke 11:40 New King James Version (NKJV) Foolish ones! Did not He who made the outside make the inside also?

MATTHEW 14:36 And as many as touched it were made perfectly well. (see week 9 of the Wholly Healing series.)

Jesus Is the Reason

Tonight my husband and I went for a ride to see Christmas lights, just to get out of the house.  I love lights. On the short winter days when the darkness falls, it gives me great pleasure to see lots of lights on homes, because to me it is significant of what Jesus is to the world.  He is the light of the world, and he sheds light into the darkest hours of our lives, first as glorious savoir, but then as the keeper of our souls.  Christmas has always been more festive for me, to celebrate Him with lights. 

We decorate with lights, on the eaves of our house and with the several spiral trees in the yard.  And a few lights on the shrubs. I like it simple. But when I can I add a wreath high above our door, and something for the mailbox. This year we have the basics up but no wreath and no mailbox bow.  While we were gone tonight, two boys rode up from the dark corner below us, and began to pull up my lighted trees, starting on the end near our drive because our car wasn't home.  Luckily, my neighbor had stepped out on his porch and they had not seen him, but he ran them off, or more damage would have been done. They tossed the stars from atop my trees around the yard.  My neighbor called and alerted me, saying she had tried to set them back up for me, but that they were tangled and she couldn't. 

We had just left a neighborhood where most of the people on one short street had signs which read, "Jesus is the Reason for the Season."  I had been thinking all night as we road around that same thought. How fitting I thought to finish our drive on the street which made it clear how they felt about it.  I was trying to think about how I might put the same sentiment in my yard, just as my my neighbor called.

I have a dear friend who is dealing with a death in her family, and her testimony of peace has had me thinking all day about what if a baby had not been born, and angels had not come to sing to proclaim him "Christ the Lord", and declared "peace to all men."  When we arrived home, and saw the trees lying on the ground, my first thought was relief that my neighbor had been out there to stop them from doing more. My second thought was a Thankful Prayer that no real damage was done. My third thought was, about how the daughter of a friend was constantly being blamed for such things elsewhere in my neighborhood, because of her mental illness when I knew she hasn't done some of the things mean children are blaming her for. I was delighted that if I hear about how she is accused of this act later, that I myself  can vouch for her, knowing we have eye witnesses.  But lastly, I thought, "Am I just numb, or do I really not feel any animosity toward these boys?"  They need to know that Jesus is the reason for the season. He is why I put up my lights. They need this Jesus.

 Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life. John 8:12

When I looked back toward the darkness, I thought, "This is how ole Satan sneaks in to rattle our cage." He comes out of the darkness and can not stand the light. He would do whatever to make us believe that the light has no meaning.  But no matter what those boys might have done to disrupt my lights of celebration, they can't remove the generator of the light in my soul.  Tearing my lights down doesn't in anyway undo Christmas. So even though annoying, all I really want to do is pray for them, and have more determination to get that message in my yard.  My lights aren't a celebration of frivolousness and fun, they are because they mean something to me. 

He shall be driven from light into darkness, and chased out of the world. (Satan's day will come.) Job 18:18

I have always wanted angels in my yard as well. But I haven't found the right ones. I couldn't help but think, I guess I don't need the ones made of lights when you have the real thing. LOL

I have an obligation to let the light of Christ shine through me. Now more than ever, I want to convey that at Christmas, and I want to find a way to do it...starting with my front lawn.

Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. Matthew 5:14

Thank you Jesus, for taking care of my decorations. I know they aren't worth so much that I should be angry about them being messed with.  But you know how meaningful they are to me. How they remind me of the coming of the angels to announce your birth, of you, who came to be the light of the world, of how you bring light into the darkest hours of my life.  YOU know my heart.  My Christmas isn't focused on the stuff. Thank you for keeping me focused on YOU, the reason I celebrate this season. AMEN

The Benefits Of A Savoir

Blessed be the Lord, who daily loads us with benefits, even the God of our salvation.

He that is our God is the God of Salvation. Psalm 68: 19 & 20. KJV

In every other translation, including the Hebrew one, this verse reads differently than the KJV. 

Praise the Lord; praise God our savior! For each day he carries us in his arms. > The New Living

Praise be to the Lord, to God our Savior, who daily bears our burdens. > The New International

Blessed be the Lord, who daily bears our burden,The God who is our salvation. > American Standard

Praise the Lord, who carries our burdens day after day; he is the God who saves us. > The Good News Bible

Blessed be the Lord, Who bears our burdens and carries us day by day, even the God Who is our salvation! Amplified

When I first began to study the verse, I was disappointed, because I was all revved up to Praise God for the loads of benefits he is supposed to be giving us everyday. I was surprised to find the best translation was about him carrying our load, instead. Images come to mind of how this would mean so much to a saint in the lands and days of the Psalmist. They relied heavily on camels, elephants and donkeys to bear their goods, and belongings, purchases, livelihoods and possessions of all kinds. Pack animals might, at certain times in their lives, be carrying everything they owned. They didn't just make life easier, they made life possible. People were able to bring home the crops, plow the fields, grind the grain, hoist their water, lift heavy stones, and pack their tents to new lands, if they had the help of a "beast of burden."

And if people were weary, or in need of moving quickly...they counted on this beast to carry them personally. The new living translation interprets this one who carries them, to be like a loving father who carries his child in his arms, or one who rescues the needy by picking them up and carrying them to help. That brings up the image of resting in his arms, like a sleeping child.  No matter the image that is represented, I think the Psalmist would like any of these, because --- one word that does not change in every translation is the word "Selah". It follows this verse and can be found following verses throughout the Psalms.  Now this isn't a word we would understand readily, but when I looked it up, it means,  "rest and think slowly about what you just said." The Psalmist intended that we take the words and each of us think about how our God saves us day after day. In what way does he lighten our load, make life possible, bear our burdens, move our mountains, is bigger than our heaviest burden...or however you choose to think about it. But, when all the thinking is done, we owe him praise.  In fact, would be delighted to praise him for all his benefits to us. How many times a day, does God save us from more than our sins? And how many times can we apply the more spiritual meaning to this verse - when God lifts our heaviest burden and carries it?  It is our sin.  I really wouldn't have stopped to think about this verse in quite this way if it were not for the varied translations.  God taught me a lesson today. He helped me not to pass by that word "Selah," so easily, and he reinforced the belief I have that there is usually way more to the word of God than the words.

I praise him for that, for the fact that he carries my load whether physical or spiritual, and for the fact that he is making life possible on every level. I want to be more aware of just how involved he actually is in my daily life. He probably carries burdens I am totaly unaware that he carries. I praise him for that. I praise him that he is the God of salvation and that he saves me day by day.  How nice to lie back like a child and sleep, knowing he will carry me in his arms when I need him to. So the King James isn't wrong that God is pouring out his benefits, but I certainly get a better picture of it but looking at it through a whole lot of other persons who spent a little time thinking about it. Selah!

Thank you Jesus for the burden of sin you chose to bear for me. Thank you Sweet Spirit for the way you carry my innermost burdens. Thank you Amazing Father for lifting me when I fall. Thank you for all your benefits that come from how you carry me and all that makes life work for me. Everyday, I am blessed by you.  Now its time to think a little about how you are blessed by all of that?  Blessed be the Lord? I'll have to give it a little more thought. Much Love, my Savoir and Friend. AMEN

A Metaphor of Wind and Water

When Jesus' disciples awakened him in the ship when they believed their lives were in jeapardy because of the violent storm and the high waves, what do you think they were expecting him to do to save them? 

In Jesus' day, boarding a ship for transportation across the lake was as common as us getting into our car. It was no less or more risky.  It was just what they did. Why if Jesus cared enough to quiet the storm for himself and the disciples, why would he not do that for storms of today? Because it is not about the storm, it is about the perfect will of God.

Jesus stopped that storm, because he and his disciples were not supposed to die in a boat on the lake. In order for the perfect will of God, and all the prophecies that Jesus was intended to fulfil, to be carried to full term, they must not die in the storm.  When Jesus prayed before his death in the garden he said to the Father that he had not lost any of his disciples, except the son of perdition, so that all could be fulfilled.  Jesus knew the job he came to do, inside and out, and dying in a ship on a lake in a storm did not fit.  So he just commanded the winds and waves to be still. Wouldn't you just love to know the perfect will of God in your life with such assurance? There have been times in life I was so assured, and have known the comfort that nothing else could befall me, regardless of what Satan threw in my path, even the the storm in which it appeared I would surely die.  It is easy to have faith while knowing God's perfect will.  What about when you don't? Aren't we more often exactly like the disciples, who go to Jesus, feeling more like he doesn't care that the waves are crashing about them with threats that overwhelm.  At least they sought Jesus to know what he would do.

 And when they had sent away the multitude, they took him even as he was in the ship. And there were also with him other little ships.  And there arose a great storm of wind, and the waves beat into the ship, so that it was now full.  And he was in the hinder part of the ship, asleep on a pillow: and they awake him, and say unto him, Master, carest thou not that we perish? And he arose, and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace, be still. And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. And he said unto them, Why are ye so fearful? how is it that ye have no faith?  And they feared exceedingly, and said one to another, What manner of man is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him? Mark 4:36-41.

Have you ever thought that Satan sent that storm to Jesus when he was weary, just as he sends storms into our own lives. He hoped to catch Jesus off guard perhaps? Satan certainly hopes to catch us off guard. No doubts. But Jesus doesn't always calm the wind and waves. Instead, we are allowed to know the great power of these elements. The Spirit of God is compared to both the wind and the water. Knowing how these elements can move huge stationary things, helps us have a clear understanding why the comparison is made.*

 Imagine what we might move forward to do, if we totally believed that the Spirit of God was able to move in our lives with the power of a Katrina or a Sandy. Is there something stationary in your life, in mine, an obstacle that we have just decided can't be moved.  Envision the Spirit of God being incredible enough to do what has never been done before, able to move upon our circumstances with a mighty force.

There are a lot of people who have survived a mighty storm, and possibly are in limbo as to what their futures hold. The need of the people who were victims of Sandy, is a metphor for the greater need of our nation.  We need a shaking from the Spirit of God.  Not a disciplinary shaking, but rather an empowering grip on our spirits to cause us to want to know the best God has planned for us. There is one thing that I would hope to think of if I were one of those incredibly injured people.  I would want to believe that if God brought me through that storm, he could bring me through anything. And also that if God brought me through that kind of devastation alive, He had a future for me, and was waiting with grace and power to set me on the path to that plan. There it is! A reason to have faith, the kind that you have when you know that God will take you there no matter what Satan throws at you. True faith is faith without a reason, but God wants us to know that his plan for us is worthy of the faith he asks us to place in it.

Please Lord, give these dear people, whatever their heart needs to strengthen their faith. And may they see the Holy Spirit as able to move upon their storm ridden lives with something far greater. But send to us leaders with a heart secure in your will for our country.  May they seek the plan and the power that will bring a change worthy of our Faith. Make your will clear to the people of this nation. Let us not be decieved. by the evil one. In Jesus name, AMEN

*The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit. John 3:8

*For I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground: I will pour my spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon thine offspring: Isaiah 44:3

 

The Seven Spirits of God

Have you run across the reference to the 7 Spirits of God lately?  I hadn't in a while, but when I saw it with references and notes written all around it, I realized I must have once known a little about it.  The Bible itself, mentions this several times directly. Revelation 3:1, 4:5 and 5:6. All add dimension to this concept, or rather person of the trinity.  But the verse that actually tells us what are the seven spirits of God is in Isaiah. I love this verse!

And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom, and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD. Isaiah 11:2

Doesn't that describe all the things the Holy Spirit is for us? Now if you counted, you might have left one out, just like I did the first time. The one that is all important is the spirit of God himself.  This is a unique spirit which isn't a description of how he engages with us, but who he is, when he engages with us - the essence of God with us, and endwelling us. One is the number which represents the "one true God" in scripture numerics.  It is as I said, the one who represents the part of God, which is large enough to be present in all of the earth at once, and small enough to indwell the essence of who we are. He is the anchor, of relationship development between God and man.

 But the number of spirits left are 6 and that is the number of man.  In some references, the number 6 carries negative representations of man, and involve judgement, or a warning to not follow the direction of man while ignoring the plans of God .  But in this case, it simply describes the number of ways God is able to reach you.  He deals with your mind, heart and spirit. Both physically and spiritually.  We sometimes have a bit of difficulty helping people understand a triune God, much less a 7 fold spirit, unless we don't over complicate it.  It just means that the God who indwells us is able to become one with us and deal with our needs on every level. He is multi-faceted. Like a six sided nut on a screw.  He fits  in such a way as to become one with us, and surrounds us completely, with his six sides. He has the ability to pair himself to our very deepest needs.  On every level, he is involved in knowing and helping us completely.

 By the way, the number 7 is the number of completeness - being finished, whole, total and all of the synonyms that would mean "complete". He makes us complete. I love that the Word uses numbers sometimes. One, it gets my attention, and two, it speaks to my analytical self.  Somehow God knew that I would need a Spirit who could quench my thirst - for numbers being a building block, to understand so many things. . He is so good.

I will let you find the other references from Revelation.  What special nook in your being does the Spirit of God fill?

Thank you so much God for being everything I need, even the quirky things about me.  You loved me before you knew me. And you knew my needs before you fashioned me.  Praises to the Father, the Son, and the Seven Spirits of God. In Jesus Name on whom you dwelt, AMEN

Lord, give me a clue...

In the story of Abraham sending for a wife to marry his son Issac, a significant thing happened which gives us one example of how to pray when we truly desire to know the Lord's will. I personally don't think this kind of prayer is meant for everyday stuff.  I think it is significant to making special decisions in life. The life altering ones.  As in this case, when Abraham's servant was afraid to fail on his mission, and desired God to give him help and assurance that he was doing the right thing.

In Genesis 24, Abraham sent his most reveared servant on a trip to chose a bride for his son Isaac. Abraham had no qualms whatsoever in doing this, and I thought that was interesting.  It indicates 2 things for certain. One, Abraham already knew God's will about where he should live, what family his wife's son should come from, and where his son should live. These were things that he had established from God at some previous time. But, secondly, it indicates that Abraham had enough faith in God that he wasn't afraid to send a servant to bring back this very important person. He believed God's hand was already involved and working things out. In fact, he said so. In his instructions to the servant, he gave strict directions according to what he knew God had already told him. And he said:

"...he (God) shall send his angel before you..." Genesis 24:7b

It seems in the story that this servant was just learning about Abraham's God.  I thought that was interesting, too, especially that Abraham placed his faith in this servant, knowing this man was still learning to trust God. Verse 12 of this passage says soooo much in so few words.

And he (the servant) said, O Lord God, of my master Abraham, I pray thee send me good speed this day, and show kindness unto my master Abraham. Genesis 24:12

A couple of other translations that I checked, used success instead of the words good speed.  That he was praying for success is an absolute and makes the verse very pertinent to our lives, for a number of reasons. But I do like the term "good speed" because later in the story, it becomes very important to the servant to return to Abraham with Isaac's wife with "good speed." So they ask Rebekah whether she will stay 10 days at home to say her goodbyes, or will she go immediately to marry Isaac. Rebekah chooses to go immediately, once again affirming to the servant that she was the correct choice.

So in the servant's prayer he had several things in mind that he was asking of God.

1. In a way, he was asking God to prove he was God.  He said - "Lord God of my master Abraham."  He was placing faith in Abraham's God, but he was sort of relying on Abraham's say so that this God had already put things in place. Sounds like a prayer of someone who had not previously placed faith in God when he prayed, expecting an answer from someone he could not see.  Although, tentative, that is powerful faith. It is the kind that Jesus would have recognized.  The servant was acting on Abraham's testimony, and deciding to believe for himself. But he was putting this God to the test.

2. Here's another scenario. Maybe this servant had prayed before, and knew God well, but he didn't feel worthy to claim God as his own God.  Abraham was a man of importance, and God did things for him. Was there a bit of reluctance to believe that God would do something for a mere servant? He did however, pray and with faith. And he lived up to Abraham's expectaitons of him.  Perhaps Abraham knew this dear servant needed assurance that God was willing to be involved even in the life of a common man. Abraham knew that if God was in control, and this man was willing to trust that God was leading Abraham, then the servant would see for himself exactly how God could reveal himself to absolutely anyone who would trust him. The servant was asking God to send angels ahead of him, just as Abraham had said God would.

3. This servant was choosing to agree with Abraham in his prayer for a proper wife for his son. This is an early mention of the principle of when two agree in prayer, there is a power unleashed upon the circumstances.  If I have faith to ask God for his guidance and intervention all day, and no one else knows, there is no signigicant blessing to the testimony of a living God except to me. My faith doesn't yeild growth in helping someone else's faith unless I involve them. Then not only I see God working, but someone else sees God working, and thier faith is increased as well. This also speaks to the principle of not forsaking assembling yourselved together.  Coming together to share what God is doing in our lives, changes lives. I have personally seen the benefits of this kind of witness to both new Christians, but also to some who were seeking to know if God was real. He is a God who will prove himself.

4. He was asking for success. Are we sometimes too timid to ask for success. I watch the postings on facebook and notice that lots of times, people tend to choose the sentimental sayings that encourage you when you are going through tough times, and they stop there. I have always wondered why so many Christians stop there. Including myself. We are OK with God just giving only enough help to sooth our emotions and help us tough it through.  How much more optomistic is the outlook, that we pray instead that God's kindness would include our success. I believe this is another thing that the servant learned from Abraham. Abraham was extremely successful. He was wealthy. He was accepted in a foreign land. He was owner of many servants. He was like an owner of a successful business. His products had done quite well. And he was not afraid to give God credit.  Someone who served Abraham closely saw him ask God for success.

5. This servant wanted to please his "employer".  We are told in the story that even though he laid out a scenario before God, and said, "if you will make things happen like this, then I will know what choice to make." He asked God to show kindness to his master.  This principle is part of the "Give and it shall be given to you principle." Asking the blessings for his master and not himself was a giving thing. He did ask for success for his mission. But he also saw the value in realizing he was not there for his own benefit, but for his employer's benefit. I am using the word employer to make a point, because we don't know the payment status of this servant. We are given no indication that this servant would benefit in any way from doing this thing right. Yet we have a story that has made this man a hero for several thousand years.  He understood that his job was about doing what his employer needed done.  No qualms about it.   

6. This servant prayed that God would allow a certain set of circumstances to occur. By this he would have a clue to God's leading. Some people in Jesus's day were depending on signs to know he was the Messiah. He offered up signs and miracles by virtue of just being God's messenger. God's desire is to demonstrate his power in our lives all the time. Yet we are timid to ask for evidence that he is there. However, this story makes it entirely clear that God not only wants us to know he is involved, but that he has sent angels ahead of us to prepare the way. I would say that is very involved. So all this servant was doing, was not asking for a sign, but for a clue, so that he could see the evidence of the angels at work, and know how to do the Lord's will. He asked for significant and appropriate guidance.  He was saying, God, if this happens, then I will know what to do next.  When we are faced with the unknown, we may have assurance that the angels aren't unaware of where the Lord is leading us, so asking for a clue for God's direction to go in the way that is already prepared, is not an unreasonable prayer.

I want to close by giving a single example of how this worked in my life in a time when I knew the Lord was leading me to make a significant change in direction in my job.  I had some trepidation about choosing a new job, so I asked the Lord to let me know it was the right job by allowing the correct interviewer to mention my high school in some way.  I knew most potential employers didn't make note of where you went to high school, but they sometimes asked about your education.  I had several reasons for wanting them to bring it up, but I also wanted to allow God to use this key to give me a direct clue. Curiously, the manager was the person my interview was set up with, from the start. No pre-interviews...straight to the manager. Then to my amazement, after a bit of small talk, he asked me point blank about my high school, by name. I am not sure he knew that he was acting by God's lead, or that angels had prepared my way, but I knew two things. One, he was my new employer, even long before he actually hired me. And two, he was willing to let God lead him too. For you see, he had to be willing to do what he was being led to do to even meet my expectations from God. I knew, immediately, he was a Christian.  As it turned out, he was from my home town, and new exactly where my high school was.  I didn't need a sign, I needed a clue. An indication that I was on God's track.  It's OK to ask for clues along the way.

My last comment would be that Rebekah, whom I have focused on the most when I previously studied this story, was also prepared to make a life altering change, so much so that she was willing to leave immediately when she heard how God was involved.  How exciting to have been in anticipation of God's movement upon her life so much that she followed without hesitation.  The key to the servant knowing she was the right person is the word "kindness." The servant asked that God would show kindness to his master Abraham.  Who better to fulfil that request than one who could show so much kindness. Isn't it interesting that God placed this word into the servant's heart, knowing the character of sweet Rebekah.  Isn't God Good?

Lord, I don't always ask for clues along the way, but thank you, that when I need them, you are willing to give them.  You desire so much that I know that anyone in any station can ask for you to be involved in our success.  You don't choose one person over another to bless. But help someone to know that you are not only involved but you are not waiting on us to pray in desparation to act in our lives. Instead, you send angels ahead of us to prepare our way, and if you do that, you want us to know what it is.  Let us get a handle on this truth and use it.  Let me be in tune with you that I might know the clues. Or know how to ask for them.  Make this a genuine element of my faith. AMEN

 

 

 

 

In His Image

Christi’s scripture Monday discussing God’s marvelous gift of grace which over rides sin from Adam’s time to present, says that Adam was a likeness of the Christ to come. In verse 14, the translation she reads uses the word “pattern.” (Romans 5:14) This principle of repetition of a theme throughout the Bible, (especially when the theme represents a symbolic picture of Christ so we can know for certain that he fits the pattern,) is one of my favorite ways to study scripture.  Seeing the pictures of Christ is something Christ himself directed his followers to do. He often told them to look back at their own scriptures, which had been taught with extreme dedication to repetition of the things God taught them in the past.  He said that they could see him in the Word.

You study the Scriptures diligently because you think that in them you possess eternal life. These are the very scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life. John 5: 38-40 NIV

Paralleling Romans 5:14 in Biblegateway’s online resource, we see that various translations all use a synonym of the word which we would now call” picture” or “graphic”, but the implication of the writer is that this picture of Christ is repeated throughout time with the same image. It implies the ability to compare scripture with scripture to see how they have an image of Christ hidden within. So my favorite two translations use the words that more define this truth. So I like the word “type in the American Standard and the word “pattern” in the New International Version.  When I write, I often use the term, “type of Christ.”  I am referring to this principle.  

King James says  - who is the “figure” of him that was to come.

American Standard reads – “Type” of Him who was to come.

Today’s New International Version reads – “pattern” of the one to come.

Before reading Christy’s blog, I had been playing with creating graphics by repeating patterns. It occurred to me one night that if I took one eighth of a circle and drew a design along the axis, then repeated the pattern 7 times, it would create a circular design. I have used this concept in art for years, creating scissor cut paper designs, and geometric modern art which was popular in my youth. It is possible to make a pattern from one half and one fourth of the circle but detailed designs are difficult and time consuming. By making details on a smaller portion and allowing the computer to repeat the pattern more times, the resulting finished work is much better, and so much
faster.  So with my head so into making patterns, this word jumped off the page, knowing I was already considering
doing a blog about the pictures of Christ in the scriptures. It is a difficult
concept to get people to see sometimes. But with the Holy Spirit’s guidance, the Bible could look like one
beautiful image of God’s Grace through Christ, one God drew, by repeating the image of him throughout its verses.

All great truths of scripture are repeated throughout. If a pattern is repeated it becomes familiar. Sometimes so much so that we miss the original image for seeing the big picture.  Christ and all of Gods truths are in the details, and are the exact same pattern in every case. From the very beginning, God overcame the sin of man with Grace. Even the shedding of blood was a picture of Christ giving his life for the redemption of ours. Grace supersedes sin to bring new life.

The opposite is the repetition of sin which leads to a spiritual death.  Satan’s desire is that we fall into a pattern of repeating sin, so that it too will become familiar, or falsely beautiful. Think of how any addiction consumes one’s life.  In the beginning it is a beautiful feeling, perhaps, that one repeats, initially with no concern for the imprint it will make on the brain. No one is thingking: this is going to alter how my body and mind will perform.  But the repetition of the original act becomes a pattern, which if continued leads to death. The body cannot live by an addictive pattern. Patterns of habits within themselves aren’t bad.  God made our minds to function by repeating what it learns – walking, blinking, our heart beat, hunger, sleep…almost every action is a repeat of an action learned or built into our DNA.  Therefore, the mind desires to repeat other things… especially biochemical ones. 
Therefore, if the brain has the chemical of nicotine it thinks it is supposed to repeat the act of having nicotine and creates a desire to go get it.  It is a chemical connection, not a decision made, but it occurs due to a decision made to expose the brain to this chemical. The decision to Sin is exactly like that. So something like smoking is a picture, or type of a greater pattern of unnatural things in our life.

Satan took our God given blessing of patterns of life, which speak volumes about who God is, and he turned it against us.  But Satan is not the culprit altogether. We make choices by freewill which kinds of patterns to adopt into our lives.  The scriptures which recommend that we choose to live as God made us also recommend that we choose not to involve ourselves in things that will zap life, both physical and spiritual.  Why is it that people think God is against them? God is for us, and reflected in us.  The smaller elements of our life could reflect the original, the “figure”, “type” of Christ in us…and also, us made in his image. I like to think of myself as a repeat of
the pattern, us - as sons (and daughters) of the living God. Put all Christians together and the whole of the pieces
is the “church.”  From God’s point of view seeing us as a whole, through his grace, we are one beautiful design.

So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. Genesis 2:27

My Prayer today, Lord, is to ask you to open the spiritual eyes of our readers, to see the image of Christ in the scripures.  But also to see ourselves made in the image of Christ. The pattern of your great plan of life, woven with care and repeated to make something beautiful of our lives.  We praise you for the blessing and gift of Grace. Through that Grace you see us as a beautiful reflection of Christ, and a part of the circle of life as you intended it.  If only we could see the picture of how you planned our life.  Maybe we would do more to seek to be involved in the plan. Love you more every day, dear savoir. AMEN

A Place Where the Wind and Waves Obey

I want to be as direct as I possibly can with my post today. 

If you have duress, contorversy, family animosity, critical friends making judgement, or an otherwise dividing spirit invading the peace in your life, ask yourself:

"What is all this doing to aid the devil in directing my attentions from the greater thing that God wants to do in my life?"

You can rest assured - the more afraid Satan is that your eyes will be opened, and you will turn from the thing drawing your attention away from what God wants to do in your life, the harder that Satan assaults you. Satan will  lose his power in your world, if you look away from his chaos. He won't be happy with that.   

If Satan can keep you occupied with something that keeps you upset, then it is unlikely that you will be effectivelly winning souls, or encouraging saints.  You will miss the person closest who has fallen victim to depression for instance, and you never noticed. Or you will not be the one your child turns to when they are ready to say, "I have been thinking about being baptised, 'cause I ask Jesus to forgive my sins every night." Your neighbor will hear it instead. (recent true stories) We are on earth to serve God, not legalisms.  I am not good at interacting with people sometimes.  But I can look around me and see the pain people are inflicting on one another.  And for what?

And they came to him, and awoke him, saying, Master, master, we perish. Then he arose, and rebuked the wind and the raging of the water: and they ceased, and there was a calm. Luke 8:24

Recently a bad wind storm, with extreme winds came through my neighborhood.  Afraid I would be hurt by limbs coming down from my trees, I ran outside to an area where there were no trees. I found my neighbors there, doing the same thing. We kept watch in every direction,  hoping to save one another from falling trees.  We wisely found safety supporting one another. Once the storm had past we dealt with the results of the storm. We weren't injured or in pain, or dead. There had been no lightning, or heavy rain, or anything otherwise related to storms...just wind.  That wind had driven us together, away from danger.  I can't help but think of how Jesus related the Spirit to *wind. In the time of a storm where wind was present, we rushed to support one another.  If this is not what is happening in the storms in your life, you can mark it for certain - Satan is involved and is blinding you from a greater truth in some way. This answers the sometimes confusing question, "Is it Satan, or is it God?"  Distracting you is a tacticle battle plan that Satan relies heavily upon.  BEWARE.  REFOCUS. Allow God to open the eyes of your heart.  Don't be blind-sided. Seek the place where Jesus brings calm.

Isn't Satan called a theif?  What to theives often do? They get someone else to create a diversion, and they steal what you have taken your eyes off of.  (Bad English) What ever is precious to you, if you allow Satan to concentrate your attention on some battle in your life, he will steal the precious thing.  Which would you rather take care of? The vague and escalating battle, or what is precious to you.

Give the battle, the danger, the chaos, the heartache to God. How? By walking away from it yourself.  I am oversimplifying it, I know.  Yet sometimes it is exactly that simple. Ask God, "What am I missing?"

*The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit. John 3:8

Dear Jesus, help us not be distracted by the power plays of Satan.  Teach us like a good police officer would teach a safety class, how to recognize the diliberate distractions that take our eyes off of what's important.  Turn us about, and draw us to you, and help us support one another in times of attack. In Jesus name,  AMEN

 

Restoration Requires a Trash Bin

When I was looking for a word to describe my artwork, and brand the intent of my work, I went searching in the dictionary.  I spent a couple of years looking for just the right word. I used a couple, and still like their message, but when I ran across the word “PRINK” which means “dress for show, preen,” I knew I had found my word. I have no idea when this word was ever used, but I love it.

 As I have intently thought about how God deals with mankind over the last several months, I found a new personal value in the renewal process of God’s great plans.  The word prink fits that process, because it not only means to dress something new, but it also means preen, which is to redress something old. Hang in here with me… When a bird preens, it is resituating its feathers so they effectively do what they were intended to do.  Molting is what birds do when they get new feathers, and preening is a vital part of organizing those feathers. But first the old feathers must fall away. Otherwise, birds could not fly and ducks could not float. Preening is a freshening of something in the bird’s life, which is extremely necessary. The process begins when feathers are new and continues, day in and day out, as elements destroy the feathers - year after year. AND it also is a part of the transition from old feathers to new ones.

 In scripture we are taught that whatever we start with in life that is new, will need renewal at some time.  It is an integral part of God’s design to make, allow weathering to occur, and remake – almost everything.  To build up. break down, and build up again. Jesus spoke of this principle several times.  Consider these  two verses.

 No one puts a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; for the patch pulls away from the garment, and the tear is made worse.  Nor do they put new wine into old wineskins, or else the wineskins break, the wine is spilled, and the wineskins are ruined. But they put new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved.” Matthew 9:16 - 17 NKJV

Jesus spoke of making things new as something done with consideration of the consequences.  He makes it clear that there is a time when the old is necessarily discarded.

In the Lamentations of Jeremiah, he “laments” that he has gotten old and his teeth have broken, and he is no longer living in prosperity.(ch.3.)  He seems defeated until starting in verse 19 he says:

Remembering my afflictions…and 20 - 23: My soul has them still in remembrance and is humbled in me. This I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope. It is of the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning.”

He sees the sequence of God to include a breaking down, but not a total consumption, because God in his compassion wants newness every day. Jeremiah was a rebuilder. The themes of his books in the Bible continually speak of a God who was designing newness in their lives:

The Lord hath done that which he had devised...Lamentations 2:17

He hath builded…3:5.  And in Jeremiah 33:3, &7: Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and show thee great and mighty things which thou knowest not….I will cause the captivity of Judah and …of Israel to return, and will build them as at the first.

For the nation of Israel, Jeremiah counted on the character of God to be of one who rebuilds and brings newness, and he used it to encourage a nation.

To take courage, we must first come to a realization that we need newness, and then understand that the newness, which God desires to bring us, is more wonderful than we can imagine. Then thirdly, we must be willing to give up the old - to weep for it’s brokenness or loss, but be inclined to allow it to be destroyed. Recognizing that putting away the old allows that the new can totally be built on a better foundation. The breakdown and renewal of all elements of life are an ongoing cycle. The foundations of the universe are built upon the principle of things turning day by day in a cycle, and though always moving forward, it is always in a process of breakdown and renewal. 

Galatians 6:15 said that the circumcision didn’t avail much, but the fact that a man became a new creature in Christ is what counts. In the letter to the Corinthians Paul said:

Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature; old things are passed away; behold all things are become new. II Corinthians 5:17 

When you own a house, the grind of keeping it from falling down around you can become discouraging until you remember that God made earth to be in a constant need of daily attendance. He realized that we would need to be always changing the old into something new. I believe that since we are made in his image, we should find joy in revitalizing nearly everything in life. We should embrace the inner yearning to adjust and change, to sometimes give in and tear down, and  always look to God to supply our needs to rebuild, and refresh. 

But all of this should give us a new outlook on God as well. We should see in his character a yearning to “prink” the things he makes.  He goes out of his way to dress up this world, so isn’t his desire to dress and redress our lives as well? When we love to do something, and are constantly drawn to doing it, we call it passion. God has a passion for grand design, but he also has an ongoing passion for making things new.  Isn’t that a bit opposite of how our expectations of God’s supply often run? Are our prayers centered around a God who wants our lives to be in a constant state of renewal?  Do we see that it is he who must provide for such a life style to be possible?  If God is in it, can we see his passion for change? Do we factor in that God’s pan’s include certain parts of our lives to be totally replaced with something new. Next time you see painting a wall as a chore, think of Jesus’s joy that you are doing the work he created in you, so that you might be more like him.  Maybe it will at least make you smile. But when you are discouraged as things around you collapse and decay…try to see what God sees. He is just thinking of his new design. Look out beyond the things that are falling apart.  He is planning to “PRINK YOUR WORLD!”  So rejoice!

Lord, I confess that I hang on to things in this world when I often should let go. I have a need to trust you to supply for the newness that is needed in many areas of my life. I now realize you have great joy in dressing up my world, my environment, my life. I ask Lord that, as I resign to a need for old things to pass away, you will allow me to share your passion for the new.  I know you already have a great design in mind! In Jesus name, AMEN

He's a Colorful Character

In John 8 Jesus calls himself the light of the world. This is one of my favorite references to how God describes himself.  I think it is meant to tell us so much more that just he shines light on spiritual things so we can understand them.  I think that the more we know about light, the more we can know about his personality and value to our everyday lives. 

I have used this subject to tell children in classes I have taught about how fun and amazing God is.  When you ask children what is the most fun thing they know about the colors of light, they always answer that it's the rainbow.  If you take only a few minutes to think about light, there are a multitude of things you know about it. Did you ever stop to relate what you know to God?

1. Light which passes through a prism breaks into colors. Without the prism, (or droplets of rain, or anything that would otherwise act like a prism) we might not have known that white light is comprised of many colors of light. The spiritual application is that we act like a prism.  When God shines through us, we should be able to demonstrate the miriad ways that he brings joy to our lives. The great big unknown of who God is, breaks down into lots of more recognizable bits of his character that we can understand and interact with. He is indeed a colorful, multi-faceted being who can relate to each of us as the personality he made us to be. White light is giving, always coming to us for our benefit.  I really like that concept.

2. The opposite of light is darkness, or black.  Even the blackest light has spectrums that we cannot see, but that is more of the  mystery of how God shines into darkness. Even in the depths of the ocean, fish glow and make their own magical colors where darkness abounds.They reveal there is light anywhere there are creations of God.  But the opposite of this, is that where there is no light or darkness abides, it is because darkness absorbs light. Black absorbs heat and light, which is benficial if you need to stay warm. But in the scenario of light vs dark, dark is a taking entity. The opposite of God who is very giving.

3. In addition, there is the contrast between the two.  I often enjoy art that shows that contrast. Amost any primary color looks amazing against black backgrounds. So if we are like Jesus, we will stand out against the darkness of places that lack his presense.

There are dozens more impications and comparisons and all of them fit when you think about God.  It stands to reason that if God made light, and he also compared himself to it, in fact said he was light, then anything we learn about light will reflect something wonderful that we can know about God.  Next time you watch a NOVA program about the sun and stars, or see a rainbow, consider what character of God might be revealed. 

Example: Light makes plants grow and provides nutrients for us.  Again giving, again an element of life.  Light heats our world, and reveals the colors in everything around us. Light is ambient, and brightens our spirits. Can you think of more. Please share. 

One more thing. When we long for the daylight to come, it is becasue we are more comfortable in the light.  Somehow we are encouraged that things can be faced when the sun is bright and shining on our day. Isn't that true of knowing you are in God's grace. Seek the Light of life. And to know what you are looking for, see how light affects us, helps us, strengthens us, feeds us, guides us....and you will know how God desires to be the light of your life.

Then spake Jesus again unto them saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life. John 8:12

In Him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darknes comprehended it not. John 1: 4-5

Arise shine for the light is come and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee. For behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people; but the Lord shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee. And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy arising. Isaiah 60: 1-3

Thank you, Father, for glimpses into who you really are.  Although light has always been a magnificent and amazing thing to mankind, how marvelous that, as we are able to know more about it's make up through the endeavors of "science," it only gives us more to love you for.  Praises!! In Jesus name, AMEN

 

Turn Their Hearts

When I think of how I relate to Jesus, I am saddened that more people don't want to know about him around the world. One of the reasons God sent his Son, is so that we might know how much he wantts to be our friend. People around the world worship the oddest things and do it with gusto, and sincerity and flare.  Their holidays are full of fun, and all about the gods they worship.  Ours progressively get less and less about our Savoir. The life and fun, the joy and admiration of our God sort of dwindles away.  We don't do a lot as Christians to make our Savoir someone others would like to know. We burden the whole concept with what to do and not do until it snowballs into a load much to heavy to carry.  It becomes a religion to serve our King. Not at all what Christ presented. 

That should be what is different about serving Christ.  God wanted Jesus to be a picture on earth of a God who doesn't want religion, but rather wants to be someone we look on with so much fondness and genuine love that we share him joyfully as such with everyone we know. Jesus compared himself to many personalities whom we would gladly want to have in our lives: a friend who sticks closer than a brother, a friend who would die in our stead, a Father who lovingly provides for his children, a King who loves his subjects and deals with them wisely and judicously, the friend of the groom who stands by him at his wedding, a friend of children who would not have them rejected, and oh so many more.  Who doesn't need a friend like that - one who is available any time of day or night? He is worth celebrating, and worshipping, and extoling profusely in every way possible.

 We really don't need to dress him up. He's a pretty wonderful person to know, if we spoke of him in truth.  Down through the years, I have  had occasions when someone would say something like: "You talk about God like you knew him in person or something."  I am always amazed when Christians don't feel like they know God personally.  So many times, when God allowed me to be used to lead someone to Christ, it was when they came to realize that Christ is a personal savoir.  It is Christians who are sometimes our own worst enemy.  We are the real reason the whole world does not know Christ as a wonderful savoir and friend. 

Jesus is a real threat to evil in this world. Satan  loves nothing better than to have us misrepresent our Lord as something he is not.  Or to have us represent him in such a way that people just plain don't want to deal with him.  We don't serve him because he is a mean slave driver to whom we are ever more indebted.  We serve him because we love him, and because he is the greatest thing to come into our life.  Where is the excitement that comes with knowing that?  I once had that eeking from every ounce of my being.  But the restrictions other people tend to place on serving my savoir, diluted it. I don't know about our readers, but I don't want to serve the diluted version. I want to serve the Christ who is everything he said he was. With joy and enthusiasm. And perhaps we might turn the hearts of the world to join us.

 And they kept the Feast of Unleavened Bread seven days with joy; for the LORD made them joyful, and turned the heart of the king of Assyria toward them, to strengthen their hands in the work of the house of God, the God of Israel. Ezra 6:21-22

Lord, help us put the fun back into being your Saints, that we may tutn the hearts of all men. AMEN

Thy Face

When you said, seek ye my face; my heart said unto thee, Thy face, Lord, will I seek. Psalm 27:8

When my children were little, scarcely a day went by that I didn’t say a dozen times: “Look at me.”  It was difficult to get them to focus on what I was saying to them, unless I could get them to look at me.  Every mother must go through a period of seeing their child discover how to ignore Mom’s instruction, and act as if they don’t hear her reprimands and direction.  When this happens, Mom’s go through a period of repeating themselves, over and over, unless they get smart and outwit the child.  With 3 toddlers, I finally learned that it was important to get them to at least look at me. In order to not just be talking to the air, I learned very quickly that I had to get down face to face with them, and insist they look at me. 

Well they resisted, and when they resented my forcing them to look at me, I learned that there must be some distance between us, but they needed a reason to look my way.  Without that reason,  they simply found lots of reasons to ignore me until I was frustrated with them.  I really can’t remember how I came upon the solution, but it was the best answer to my exasperation, and I really don’t know why it works.  I decided that I would not give my children unlimited opportunities to listen and respond to my voice.  They didn’t realize that their lives might depend on it one day, especially if I already had two of the three of them by the hand.  Since I didn’t have 3 hands, my voice would simply have to be the thing that held them back from harm, or sent them in a direction that was functional to us all.

So, I began to make them look at me, but I instructed them to look first at my face to see what I was saying, and then at my hands to see how long they had to get busy doing what they were told.  It was a hand signal of “one, two, three.”  Initially, my instructions were that they look at me, and if they didn’t obey quickly, I would say, “one.”  If they didn’t respond, I would say, “two.”  If I got to “three,” they knew they were going to be punished, or disciplined in some way.  I made sure there was enough time between the numbers to give them response time.  Just like stopping your car, it takes a bit to make the decision to just move your body.   But, eventually, I could tell by the attitude of their bodies, if they heard me or not, and if they intended to obey right away.  I could see them quicken their movements to complete what they were doing, and they would look at my hands to see if I had said one or two, to know how much of a hurry they needed to be in.  The time came that I almost never got to “three.”  In fact, the time came that I could have my back to them, and have my hands behind my back, using only my fingers to designate the numbers.  I held up one finger, then two, and usually by three, they were either standing by my side, or had quieted themselves and were busy doing what I had asked them to do. This was especially good when I was talking to someone, but needed them to be quieter, or get ready to leave.

Eventually, my children would look at me often just to see if I was simply waiting on them to look my way so I could quietly instruct them to do something.  Or to see if they missed something and I was already holding up fingers to count down their time.  By this time, the decision was now theirs. I believe this worked because they needed the limits on the time it took them to look at me and obey.   When I was able, I also sometimes used the "Come to me," instruction to give them a reward for paying attention and looking at me.  If I had to go back, I would have spanked them far less, and would have given far more rewards for having them respond appropriately. 

The “Look At Me” Principle is very Biblical.  Learning to practice it as mindful children, looking to a loving heavenly Father, helps us focus and obey the voice of God as much as it helped my children. He too, needs not to have to repeat over and over his will for us, nor should we tarry 'til he gets to "3."

Let us decide today to look to the face of our heavenly father, several times during the day.  May we not miss his guidance and give him opportunity to need to place discipline in our path to redirect us toward looking to his face and listening for his voice.

Mine eyes are ever toward the Lord: for he shall pluck my feet out of the net.  Psalm 25:15

Lord, I desire to be like David and be an obedient Child, focusing often on you, to know your will and recognize your voice.  If there is a frustrated mother or teacher, needing a way to have their children listen, help them apply the principle, and find the joy getting their children to choose to respond will bring. Bless their efforts and ours as we look to thee. Amen.

Three Thousand Souls

Now when they hear this they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and the rest of the Apostles, Men and  brethren, what shall we do?  Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ, for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord Our God shall call.... 41. Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls. Acts 2: 37 - 39, and 41.

This is such a lovely set of verses, which tell in a couple of brief statements exactly what to do to receive the Lord Jesus as your Savoir. Several things delight me that they are included in this "summary." 

1. I totally love this phrase "pricked in their hearts."  It refers to the "call" of the Lord, that is a little like the love attraction of a young man or woman. It is new, is often constant, and is attention grabbing.  When God calls to your heart, it can be a bit of a stabbing heart ache, for something you may not understand.  Here we find a new phenomenon, where 3 thousand people have been "pricked in their heart" to move to some kind of action, and they could do nothing else but find someone who could give them answers. 
2. Secondly, the question: "what shall we do."  They were certain in a very innocent way, that there was something they were being impressed to do.  Being baptized for the repentance of sins was not something new. Since the time of John the Baptist, and maybe fefore, Jews were seeking something to do to be faithful, to acknowlege before God their sins, and their repentance.  What was new was receiving the Holy Ghost as a gift, and not being a prophet or king or priest.  In years gone by, they knew only of God's special interaction of speaking to his people through his Spirit, as coming through some sort of leader, whom God chose.  God speaking to individuals was an incredible concept.  Notice they didn't shy away. Instead they came by the thousands to receive this gift. These people were craving the one-on-one love of God.

Pursuing the Proverbs: Day 6

God wants to provide guidance for us that we might be able to get through life easier, safer, healthier, wiser, and having built good character. In the Proverb today, the phrase “reproofs of instruction are the way of life” refers to discipline.  Our minds sometimes jump to the emotional reactions that come with discipline and we withdraw and wince. But the whole verse conveys a more pleasant picture than painful discipline. 

Today's reflection: God prefers that we use the law and commandments as a means of lighting our way so we can easily stay on the path.  Ever thought about walking a path in darkness? We naturally are deterred from getting off the path if we can’t see what’s there. Instincts and experience tell us that getting off the path in the dark will get us lost.  This is the image God would have us visualize. He would have us fear to get off his path more than fear staying on his path.  We have it backwards when we are afraid of where the Lord would lead us.  Or fear that we might fall or fail to get there when he is lighting our way.

God’s plan will shed light on only a small section of the path at a time.  We seldom visually see to the destination, rather, just the section of the path where we must walk our next steps.  God wants us to not become overwhelmed on His path.   Take life a few steps at a time. Seek to know the destination, if he allows, but don’t stress about not being there yet. 

On our “birdcount” this weekend, my husband and I did some “owling,” (seeking out and counting owls,) in the dark.  We park along roads where the habitat is right, and we play a tape, which is a recording of a screech owl’s calls. This is a small owl, usually less than 12 " tall. Several kinds of owls will respond to the tape, hoping to warn the presumed "intruder" of territory bounderies.  When we hear them call in response to the tape, we can count them, because we know which owls have which calls. My husband and some of our birding friends cannot hear certain bird calls.  This weekend, the little screech owls needed to be very close for him to be able to hear their low, very soft, “bounce call.” To put them on his personal list, he needed to hear them if not see them.  So he was patient and listened for them to come in very close. Often, with a flashlight, we can also see them.  Sometimes, just after dawn, we get good looks at them.  And it’s a good thing, because they seldom call after dawn. In this instance, we stand still and let the birds come to us.  Sometimes, when God seems not to be shining his light on our path, his instruction is clear: stand still and listen for his still small voice. Or wait for the dawn, the point in time when he will enlighten the wonders along his path.

Today’s Prayer: Jesus, I have wasted a lot of time in my life stressing over not seeing the path in minute detail.  I don’t know why it fractures me so, when I know you are in control, to not see all the way down the path to the destination. I know I fail miserably sometimes at taking life in smaller segments. I ask forgiveness for the wasted energy and time that I could have spent joyfully awaiting your light for my path. I could have embraced the silence in this noisy world while listening for your warnings that I am in someone else’s territory.  Maybe you called like the little owl, and I had a deaf ear, and didn’t wait for you to draw near, and intently listen. Forgive me, and come close, Lord, and call a little louder, please, like the little owls who heard our recorded call. Most of all, please help me not to be the broken record, like my tape just calling over and over, begging you to come near.  When I stop the "tape", help me paitiently listen. Open the eyes of my heart like the dawn, as I search your word, and let the commandments be my flashlight and your law be my morning sun. If all you desire me to have is a look where the tiny focus of the flashlight is aimed, then help me to rejoice in what you are letting me see. Glory to your name. AMEN

For more wisdom read Chapter 6 of Proverbs.

Pursuing the Proverbs: Day 4

As a Sunday school teacher, I often sought ways to make a principle stick with kids. It isn’t only the scripture, but the principle, which bears learning.  And the fun thing I discovered early on, was that the first letter of words – alliterations, helped the children remember “The Principle.”  What was even better, the letter that kept coming up in all the principle words was “P”. So if I asked, “Can you guess which letter the principle this week begins with,” they would all chime, “P”, because they knew from experience, it always began with the letter “P”. 

I am loving our theme this month, because, guess what?  Proverbs begins with “P”. And it is all about adventures in principles, and the first of my selected scriptures also begins with the letter “P”.  Are you feeling like we are on Sesame Street and the letter of the day is “P”, yet? LOL

So what is this Perfectly Principled word?  It is Plan.

Today's Reflection: Proverbs 4:26 says: Ponder the Path of thy feet. 

Oh, yaayy! More “P” words!   Say it three times fast. I mean it. 3 times beginning - now. That will help it stick. OK. You are not 6.  So why do most of us act like 6 years olds, living day in and out without sitting down and pondering what steps we should take for the day? Then share that with God? 

If for a few minutes each day we do four things:

1. Ponder our path – give the day a little thought.  Rather than striking out into it blindly doing what we did the day before. 
2. Like most of you I need lists.  So as part of your Plan try to:

        Pray the list – if you have a list of things to do, pray for –

• guidance – let God point the way.
• presence of mind -  defined as “existence in a certain place” in the mind
• peaceful and prosperous productivity
• and passion for the purpose

   3.  Purpose to Prove God’s Power – Claim that power by filtering our plan through his word. Then prove him, put God to the test. On Purpose… have purpose.

 A reason to do what is on the list makes certain things Priority.  So –

   4.  Prioritize the plans.

Then: 

• We might get everyone in the family on the same page.
• We might see God in our day.
• We won’t walk alone.
• We might realize some things were not as important as we thought.

Result? Things will go wrong anyway, the plans won’t always pan out, and you will feel like a pitiful failure at the end of the day - IF you forget that the plan was a guide, not the perfect will of God.  Please put a little fun in and plan to laugh and make changes to the plan. Proverbs are Character builders, not the “LAW OF GOD.”  Use them as tools to fashion a little more perfect YOU.

 Then above all – refer to Acts 2: 21 often, at the end of your day: and remember the old joke which quotes only half the verse but reeks with wisdom: “it shall come to pass”.  Tomorrow’s another day. Think about it! And Ponder a new Plan.

Today's Prayer: Lord Jesus, your word helps us know that everything about you is one big plan. There is purpose in every element of your creation. Help me be a part of that plan, but also help me to include you in my daily plan.  But most of all, help me to emulate you and have a plan. Lovin’ having fun as part of the plan. I think I see you smiling.  AMEN

For more wisdom, read Chapter 4 of Proverbs.

Who Will Recognize Him?

Have you ever looked out over a lake and thought what it must have been like to have Jesus come to where you were docked, and say, “ I will make you fishers of men.”   He was an adventurer who was willing to share the risks of the lifestyles and workloads of his disciples. It must have been more common to use a boat for transportation than we might imagine.  It appears that when he was physically tired, he retreated to the ships and cast off from the ever-present crowds for escape.  Tired enough to sleep through a storm that scared everyone into believing they were going to die. 

Did he go to the water’s edge looking for disciples, watching for the men who displayed tenacity and faith; or did he stumble upon them just teaching curious men, and recognized in their personality a flair for engaging family and friends in every exciting new thing in their lives Were their hearts already prepared, since the social and political environment of their time had men looking to God for a savoir of some sort.  Did they expect such a King to come to them as they worked by the sea? Were these successful men whose boats were decked with beautiful white sails?  Did they have vendors waiting by the shores to buy their harvests?  Was Jesus drawn to them because they looked successful?

You are probably screaming at me in your head. He was Jesus, he already knew everything about them.  Ah well, duh…but why these particular men? Were they so burned out on their present occupation that they just laid everything down and followed him?  Why did they just leave the life they obviously put enough into to own a boat? 

Have you ever seen where they are unearthing the antiquities and only in recent years understand the capacity of the rulers of Jesus’ day to build the most modern cities of the world, until that time.  Jesus didn’t live in a dumpy world of uneducated, struggling, poverty stricken populace.  Yes those people reached out to him.  But his world was one of fashionable cities, full of vigor, architecture, lovely landscapes and gardens, massive homes on hills surrounding a beautiful little sea.  Imagine Jesus showing up on the dock in Alaska and asking one of the skippers of “DEADLIEST CATCH” to drop everything and follow him.  Seriously??? But these were the sort of men He asked. Except for the freezing cold temps, it was just like that.

 Was there already a burning desire to do God’s will in the hearts of these men?  If we read the stories of the disciples on the dock when Jesus called them to follow him, the questions they asked among themselves indicated they were seeking someone who could do miracles.  They believed that the man who would come to lead them would show them things they never saw before.  They only knew the half of it, for after his death and resurrection he spent many days teaching them how he fulfilled the prophetic scriptures as the Messiah, and what he yet had to do to continue to fulfill the prophecies. But it didn’t require that they know everything about him to follow Him.  And that was what He wants us to know. If your heart is seeking… If he is standing at your dock saying “follow me,”… and your heart has been burning to have God in your life, do you respond, “I think I need to wait ‘til I know everything about you?”  They recognized him!  On that day their hearts were open, and they were full of expectancy that God was about to do something with their lives.

We recognize him too. We know when He has called us to follow Him.  God is willing that you are first at a place to want a Savoir before he asks you to follow him.  And Jesus comes to you where you are. He knows you have skills that will be useful to His glory.  And he only promises that if we follow him, our yield will be the hearts of men. The first thing these men knew of him was his poetic, curious way of giving us information. ” Follow me,” He said, and I will make you fishers of men.” He was saying I can use you, just as you are.   Out of thousands,  Jesus  picked only 12. And He set them on a mission to win the world.  

   Then He said to them, “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.” Matthew 4:19

Just a note: Every time you go fishing, you don’t always catch fish.  But, you seldom don’t get at least a nibble. LOL

Lord, all I intend to do is just a little fishing.  Use me, to say or do something that will help someone recognize you, to know you are the one they have been looking for. AMEN

Instant Prayer

My baby grandson had a minor surgery this week that resolved a problem, which left unattended could have been a big problem when he’s older. Though it pains me to see him twinging in pain now, how much better to know that it could be resolved now with a little pain, rather than being a “big pain” in the future.

 I could not help but relate to how we sometimes won’t face our problems and take them to the Lord early, but because of the pain they bring up, we let them ride until they consume us.  How much better to let the Savoir in and let him do a little surgery now, than be living with the results of our sins or heartaches later.

Sometimes it takes a bit for us to realize we have a need either because we are busy, in denial, or just didn't understand things were out of kilter.  Procrastination is not the answer once we become aware!

Romans 12:12 says: continuing instant in prayer.  We want instant food, instant messaging, and instant money.  Why not an instant remedy for whatever is burdening our hearts. 

Jesus didn’t wait a second to respond to our prayer for Salvation. In fact he doesn’t wait to answer our prayers ever.  Sometimes we have to wait for the answer to be revealed, but in God’s book, prayer and response are “instant.”

 ¹¹Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me? hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God.  Psalm 42:11(KJV)

 Rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing instant in prayer.  Romans 12:12

Thank you, Lord, for instant conversation between you and me. Help all the people who think they are not worthy, or must go through someone else to get prayers answered, see the truth provided in your Word that prayer was meant to be an easy conversation with an all powerful God. You speak to the lowly the same as the most “righteous.”  You hear us one and all.  I praise You for being the health of my countenance, and instant hope. AMEN

 

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Two is a Number of Hope and Blessing

The number 2 has been on my heart this month, and I have been surprised by the wonderful things the Lord is teaching me about this very symbolic number. I wrote on an earlier blog about the most significant meaning, which is “BLESSING.” A great example is when Jesus fed the masses, he first blessed the food and then he broke it into pieces to feed them. As he did at the Lord’s Supper. Breaking the bread would be of course into two pieces, thus making two pieces to feed two persons, and each time breaking it in two again and again, thus giving us the multiplicity of blessing. It is meant to be a blessing that, like all of God’s gifts, should grow and continue to bless. But this example also gives us a ground-work for the second meaning of the number “2”. Many of the numbers have double or intertwined meanings. “5” for instance means either gift of God, or grace and they are intertwined. Grace is a Gift of God, etc.

But the number “2” was initially understood by Hebrews to mean divided, broken, split, separated or changed. From the oldest scriptures, allusions were made to separation from God being the difference between Heaven and Earth, or “in the world” as opposed to “in the temple”. And that separation has a symbolic “place”. It is the Mount of Olives, east of the city of Jerusalem. There is a brook called Kidron which flows between the temple site in Jerusalem and the Mount of Olives where Jesus often went in the evenings after preaching in the city during the day. From day to night, from West to East, from work to rest, from seeking religion to seeking God in prayer, and many, many more examples of allegories can be extrapolated from the image of Jesus moving between the two.

But, the one the early Christians could relate to most was that King David made that same trek from Jerusalem to the Mount of Olives when being pursued by his Son Absolom for possession of the crown. There are numerous examples, but this one bears such a striking comparison to what Jesus did, and we know that Jesus himself was saying, “I am the king who walks from the temple to a place of rejection, but I will someday return to be your king.” It is one of the reasons they captured him in the early morning hours at the foot of the mountain, because they thought it would destroy the symbolism to stop him before he went back into the city. All Hebrews knew that David returned to Jerusalem as King. When Jesus rode into the city on a donkey, he was making a definite reference to him being the fulfillment of that as prophecy, something expected of their future Messiah. The Jewish leaders were not about to allow Jesus to become the people’s King. It would mean that they would be in definite danger of Roman retaliation. They did not understand that Jesus was the Spiritual King of their people, and that He would come only as physical King when the whole world was able to benefit. They were not expecting God to be their Messiah, they were expecting another man. Yet when God came as man, they rejected him.

What has all of that to do with the number 2. Well, in the time of Jesus, the way to cross over the Brook Kidron was by a road that topped an arched bridge…How many arches? Want to guess?  >2 of course. It was a beautiful modern stone structure, a grand part of the marvel of the city of Jerusalem in the day. The mountain ridge itself is a picture type of the number 3, referencing it as a place where all the persons of the trinity were symbolized. But, it is prophesied that the ridge will someday be spilt by an earthquake into how many pieces? > 2. These underlying twos refer to the fact that when Jesus passed back over the bridge for the last time on earth, it was to heal our separation from God and bring to us a blessing of freedom from the legalisms of human religion.

Jesus went to the Mount of Olives almost daily and to the garden called Gethsemane at the foot of the mountain to spend time in prayer with God the Father and for rest, often. He genuinely wanted us to look back at the frequency with which He went to this place and wonder why. This place provided a picture type of the Holy Spirit, whom Jesus had not yet revealed to the believers. Gethsemane means “place of the olive press” or simply “olive press.” At the olive press the oil of olives was pressed for sale. Oil is a type of the Holy Spirit, so he was going to the place where oil might be obtained, symbolizing a purchase price must be paid to receive the Holy Spirit . The olives must be sacrificed to obtain the oils; Jesus to obtain the Spirit.

The trek over from the place of religion - the temple, to a place of choice - a garden, symbolizes crossing the gap between God and man. He wanted us to see the place as a type of rebirth, as going from being merely a companion to God, to becoming one with God through the Spirit, by taking him inside, allowing Him to indwell, as with the ingesting of the oil. But also to see the Spirit pictured in all the other uses of oil. As a light if burned, as warmth, as the base for healing ointments, and oh so many other references. He wanted us to see that we would no longer be separated from God, but that He wished to become our daily and constant companion by indwelling us. Choosing to walk to this garden of symbols was an invitation for us to make a daily decision to "walk the walk."

Now the Garden of Gethsemane was not at the summit of the mount, but at the base of the ridge, near the Brook Kidron, where there was water. Another illusion to the Holy Spirit- water is a symbol of receiving the Holy Spirit and his power to divide between good and evil. It was a symbol of how easy it was to become one with God. By simply walking over they were already in the place where the oil dwelled. No climbing the mountain to get there. No hiding away as King David had to save yourself. No work, for that was all done for the day. Only resting in the place where the Spirit dwells.

Now, how many picture types of the Spirit does that make? “2” Yet the greatest of all the typology here is the pairing: between 1) the elements of separation, division, and the eventual brokenness of Christ’s physical body (beginning with his capture in the Garden of Gethsemane) and 2) the element of blessing that will come from all of this symbolism and fulfillment of the prophecies.

There is hope in this pairing. It is the promise that out of brokenness, division, the separation of death, etc., there will come blessing if Jesus is our King. Jesus will come again, and scripture says he will come first to the Mount of Olives, where those buried on that hillside are said to be the first to be resurrected, but when he returns as King He will cross back over the Brook Kidron into Jerusalem as our Lord and earthly King. Just as he returned every morning from the Mount of Olives to teach and minister to his followers during his walk as Jesus of Nazareth, He will come again to minister to us and it will begin when he touches the Mount of Olives and crosses the Brook Kidron entering the city once more. Until then - separation. Separation before blessing. Two elements to a Bible truth that go hand in hand. Never under estimate the power of a number in the Bible. Believe it or not, I have only touched on the twos that are symbolically significant to the Mount of Olives and the Garden of Gethsemane. Or to the principle of Twos. And all of them tell the story of this principle – the one Jesus demonstrated every time he broke bread. Brokenness leads to blessing, separation to reunion, crossing over from religion leads to communion with a real God. There are always two sides to every story, and this is the greatest story of all. Jesus was saying, although I leave you in body, I come to you in a way that they cannot kill, able to provide you with even greater blessing – by the indwelling of the Spirit.

My brother-in-law crossed the Brook Kidron this week, from earth to Heaven, to be where Jesus is with the Father, in that Beautiful Garden of Heaven….leaving us broken and separated from him. The same is true of all our loved ones who have gone before us to the Heavenly Garden Of Gethsemane, to be with Jesus and in the Father’s presence by the power of the Holy Spirit. One day all who have gone over will return, bringing to this earth a blessing like we have never known. Whether I am still here on this earth or have gone over too by the time it happens, I can be certain of one thing. All of the principles of God, made clear by the emphasis on the number "two" give assurance to my heart that God will honor his promises. This Blessing is something I can count on, place Hope in, and believe with all my heart.

For where two or three are gathered together in my name, I am there in the midst of them. Matthew 18:20

Lord, Christy, Lori and I are gathered in your name, with one heart - to serve you. We wish to minister truth, freedom, joy and encouragement to those who have been led into a fearful religious world. We want to emmulate what you would have said if you were here saying it. Help open the eyes of our readers to see that every part of your Word has significance and power to show your love and grace. Even the numbers are full of meaning. And every symbolic or prophetic meaning is meant to edify us. I rejoice in the Principle of Twos, and thank you that my favorite "two" is me and You. AMEN

 Please, readers add your own scriptural reference to the number two, express how it shows the Brokenness/Separation to Hope/Blessing principle.  What are your favorite pairings.  Can you think of twos that just jump right to blessing from the pairing? Leave us a message.

 

Promises of God

From the file box:

Prosperity = The Fulfillment of the Promises of God…

 In 1993, my husband had a surgical procedure done to clean a blocked artery and save his heart and life.  Seeking comfort, he ran across the verse: A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you. And I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh and I will give you a heart of flesh. Ezekiel 36:26

Followed by: 37:14:  And shall put my spirit in you and ye shall live…. 

Now these verses were taken out of context, but when you are facing something that might mean your life, you don’t care how the Lord gives you peace of mind.  The whole Biblical text is written to the Israelites who needed restoration as a nation.  This is the text where the “Dry Bones Parable” is found.  A promise is given by God to raise up the floundering nation and give it new life. Even though it is presumed to be as dead as dry bones, God promises to “resurrect” it, and give it full life once again.  

Ezekiel was a colorful writer, but God used him to give strong mental pictures of how God was able to do whatever was necessary to keep his promises to His people.  In the depths of these verses, so much more can be gleaned.  The resurrection promise itself was a “type picture” of Christ.  Jesus’ disciples would come to understand that the real resurrection for the nation of Israel was through their Messiah. Israel became, not just a great nation, but the ancestral parent of a greater work - the birth of a church, to which any who believed might be born. Through them God gave life to a family that would affect the world. But this great work would come only when His followers thought all hope was lost.  It would only occur if this long awaited Messiah died. Never did they dream he would be resurrected.  Yet the picture was there, just as Jesus said, in the very verses they studied and believed.

Jesus did not remain dead long enough for his bones to dry.  But the prophecy was about an Israel, which came to a place where they feared all hope was lost. They lost their ability to believe that God was able to give continued life to their failing nation.  Mmmmm. Parallels all around this one, but I am not going there.  (Yes the people of our nation would do well to seek the truths in these chapters.)  God does wish to give continued life to the nations he has blessed, even to the point of bringing them back from dry bones.  But my actual point is - these verses give us a visualization of the lengths to which God is willing to go, to give the people he loves the promise of life.  Out of that life was the promise of a savoir, and if Israel failed, would there be no savoir?

In a discussion with my son, recently, I asked him to use the litmus test of basic Gospel truths, against which to test the doctrines of various religious faiths as he studied. We talked about why one of the most important of these is the fact that God wants us to choose life in every circumstance. Life and the regeneration of life are extremely important to God.  But when you are facing a circumstance or illness, which threatens life, death, not life, can be the reality.  I have often thought that if I were facing cancer, I would not have the desire to fight for life. Mainly, the reason is that death is the better than life, because of Christ.  I see the after-life as my resurrection to the best form of life. But, I am not seeking death. Yet God prefers that I choose to love life.

For my husband - where he was, wanting to live, and who was facing a life-threatening event - any promise from God that He cared about life, which could give an assurance that life was really important to Him, was timely.  My husband loves life. He loves living every day.  He has a God attitude about life. He holds each day precious. Even before he was threatened by his blocked artery, he treasured life.

So when God gave him these verses, they were not out of context for him.  The “ye shall live,” of Ezekiel 37:14 was as if it were written to him and for him, because God was comforting his heart and giving peace to his mind. God was saying to my beloved, I care about YOUR LIFE.  It was personal. 

It is a wonderful thing that our Bible is so multifaceted.  My mind is opened to the vastness of God’s ability to use His Word to bless and inspire us in so many ways.  Every story, and parable bears a witness to the truths He wants us to focus on and in fact, to bank our hopes in the vaults of their promises. 

So Jimmy claimed those verses, and went to surgery with a renewed confidence that God would use this scary time in his life to give him not just renewed physical life, but renewed spiritual hope for a greater, longer, fuller life.

I have a flip-calendar of scriptures, given to me by my daughter, from Heartland Samplers, Inc., which is one of a Series called “Bless Your Heart.”  It is appropriate for me because I often use the southern phrase “Bless your heart.”  And not as a derogatory remark, but in the sense of this calendar, that the Lord can bless your heart in a spiritual way through the Word and Prayer.  Anyway, on February 4 of this particular year’s calendar, it says:

“God can mend a broken heart, but we have to give him all the pieces.”

Followed by the verse:

“The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit. Psalm 34:18.”  

On this page I scribbled: the year, a note about the surgery, and the verses my husband had claimed, so I could remember the day the Lord resurrected us to new life, when we could share in the second half of  Ezekiel 37:14 which says: 

“then shall ye know that I the Lord have spoken it, and performed it, saith the Lord.” 

Thank you, Lord for promises to claim. For scripture, that calms our minds and spirits when the days of comfort are needed. Give comfort today to those who need it and seek a word from you.  Help us all to appreciate that You are the champion of life in all aspects of life.  You have made life a precious thing. Help us to live like we cherish it too.  In Jesus’ precious name, AMEN.

 

Memories from God's Perspective

 
My husband (boyfirend) and I in the sixties, the day after our Seniors Banquet, held by our church for a place to go instead of Prom.  We were standing in front of a rose bush that I had babied since it was a stem. And I was in my favorite dress, one I loved more than my "Prom Dress."  Sixties Hair LOL

In a post from Max Lucado’s daily thoughts, for Aug. 24, he wrote the following:

“Present Tense - By Max Lucado

“Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.”  Hebrews 13:8 NLT

The present-tense Christ. He never says, “I was.” We do. We do because “we were.” We were younger, faster, prettier. Prone to be people of the past tense, we reminisce. Not God. Unwavering in strength, he need never say, “I was.” Heaven has no rear view mirrors . . .

Can God be more God? No. He does not change. He is the “I am” God. “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.” “

 I am a person who looks back a lot.  I have had a need for healing of my memories, and in looking back I find myself faced with two situations.  I can live in the memories and be sad – for the extremes of the bad times and the memories of the hurts that still hurt me, and sad that I am not younger, faster, prettier, thinner, etc. Or I can look into the past seeking the glad memories to help them out weigh the sad ones, while always allowing that thing from the past to bolster my now, while, at the same time, seek healing for the memories that still hurt.  Memories are like wounds if they are bad ones.  And they must heal. I said  MUST HEAL.

Bad memories must be dealt with. Stuffing them into the past to stay is not what Mr. Lucado is talking about in the comment above. He is helping us remember that God was in our past and when we were hurt, we were not alone. God knows what hurt us. But He wants us to have a resurrection attitude –realizing that we can be free from the past and healed of the pain.  But looking to a future with Him as well.  For me, when intense pain was a part of a long period of my life, the past was my life. It was hard to break free from that stronghold.  I became hurt with God.  I found myself in what seemed like a pattern of living hurt over and over, as if something I was doing was causing my hurt, and as if loving and serving God meant I had to continue to be hurt.  That was true to the extent that I was in a pattern, but there was an escape. 

Thinking about your memories is only the surface result for what can happen to a person living out of the past.  The mind can actually develop a pattern to respond to every situation in life the same way as it did when hurt.  So when someone else hurts you, you will react as if that person hurt you again, and also the next time someone hurts you. It is subconscious, and you often don’t realize it. You are actually LIVNG IN THE PAST. When you do, you may not know how to get out of the pattern.  Max Lucado is soooo right when he says God is the “I  AM.”  Because living in the present does not have to be a reflection of what you lived in your past. God wants healing for our past pains and traumas.

I know how the Lord chose to heal me, and the mental scars as well.  For someone else he may chose a different path to healing, but seeking healing from my past was the best thing I ever did for the prospect of living a better today and a better future.  And now, I love to reminisce about the lovely things in my past, because they bring me joy, and help me remember that God has always been there.  Yet, the one thing I still bring into check, while looking back, is to not fall into the pattern of saying I was prettier, thinner, faster, whatever’er, because whatever I have today, is still better than what is gone, as long as I know Christ is still there.  And of course we all know that our Future is only brighter looking to live it walking in His presence.

If someone reading this has trauma to heal from way back in their past, Pray: “Lord heal my hurts, Heal my memories.”  And hang on for the ride of your life.  It was not easy for me and it may not be easy for you.  Unlike a roller coaster, it was not a ride I want to take again, because my memories suddenly were as clear as if they were happening all over again.  However, it is a ride I would not turn down. NO. NO. Never! Unlike a surgery that you might say, “If I knew what this was going to be like, I would have never agreed to it,” I would recommend to anyone to seek God for the chance to revisit bad memories and find healing from the pain. For what God was able to do was to rewrite those memories, so that I always see Him there in power, in control and bringing me through. 

For example, my worst memory haunted me in my sleep sometimes. I could see the face of the person who hurt me, glaring at me showing his power over me, proud of his power and frightening me.  I could see the evil one in his eyes.  And I remember how frozen with fear I was.  He laughed a haunting laugh back then.  How did God heal my memory? The day the Lord healed my hurt, he gave me a new memory.  Now when I remember that night, I see the evil one afraid of the Spirit in me, and I see him draw back, knowing that the Spirit in me is greater than any evil thing the world can throw at me. Now, I sometimes remember fear in his eyes, and forget the evil laugh. Yes, I had to live through the experience, but I don’t have to continue to live in the experience, because God healed my hurt, and my fear.  I actually, look back now with joy, and I look back less often.  Just as God would have it.  God is willing to give us new memories, not just today, but by healing the ones in the past.

He is the God of Yesterday, Today and Forever.  If ever God says in the Scriptures to look back, He often is saying, “do you not remember how I …?”  He wants us to not see the past as “everything was better then”, nor as “I was such a victim then that I still am.” God wants us to be able to disconnect from carrying the weight of the past, so that we may move freely in the present.  Not that we should live so much for the future dreams and hopes that we forget to live, LIVE, in the present.  Today is the Day we Live.

One final note: when I was a child, I experienced a lot of trauma.  Yet as a child, I was always happy.  I cried for a short time, and I came into the present with a good happy outlook on my life.  I loved living. It was only when I became an adult married to a man who hated to see me cry, (so much so that he put a stop to it,) that I lost that child-like ability to move on.  I knew when I was losing it too. I felt as if I were losing life itself, and I was right.  It was only in the healing of my memories, coming to a point of freedom from repeating the pattern, and living apart from the subconscious repetition of that cycle which develops from living out of memories, that I was renewed to that childlike place. I no longer react to new hurt the same old way every time.

Heaven doesn’t lack the ability to see the past.  Heaven just doesn’t drive looking in the rear view mirror.  Therefore, no need for rear view mirrors. LOL

 Can the children of the bride-chamber mourn, as long as the bridegroom is with them?

No man puts a piece of new cloth into an old garment, for that which is put in to fill it up takes from the garment and the tear is made worse.

Neither do men put new wine into old bottles, else the bottles break, and the wine runneth out, and the bottles perish. But they put new wine into new bottles and both are preserved.         St Matthew 9:15-17

Lord, Thank you for healing from memories that draw us into the old ways of life. Thank you that each step we take is new, and to be lived as if it were new.  And thank you that you are able to change our past memories so that we may have power over the pain, frustrations or wishful thinking that holds us to a past.  Help me accept this day as a gift, and cherish it. Renew my mind.  Heal the one out there who reads this and wishes for healing from the past. Loving you today. Amen

PS. In the picture above there were trash cans behind the rose bush. The bush was so enormous that it needed pruning so the trash collectors could get to the can. Behind that big smile was a young woman who had covered her pain, by growing a rose bush that kept not only the trash collector from gathering my trash, but kept me from putting the trash in the cans.  My favorite picture is also my most revealing.

 

Opening the Box of Blessings

There are times in my spiritual life that I fall into a routine with God: seasons where I read my devotions and pray small, regular, bland prayers.  It’s like I frequently put God in a box where my petitions are safe and my prayers are assuredly answered in my favor. 

However, lately, I sense that the Lord is calling me to pray bigger, bolder, more daring intercessions about His will for my life.  James 4:2 says,

“You do not have, because you do not ask God.” 

How often are we limiting ourselves because we simply don’t ask for the favor of our Heavenly Father?  

Being a mother of two children, I want to give good, healthy blessings to my children especially if they are asking for great choices in situations that I can control.  Our Heavenly Father loves us so much more than the depth of love a mother can feel for her own children!  God desires for us to sit at His feet in holy communion with Him and ask for the desires of our hearts.

Another important passage that demonstrates this principle is 2 Corinthians 9:6 which says,

“Remember this:  Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously.”  

This scripture is often used in reference to tithing, but let’s realign this idea into prayer and petitions.  According to this verse, if we sow fellowship with God generously, we are going to generously reap in blessings from a closer relationship with the Lord.  We will live each day assured that we have spoken with our God; we are filled with the Holy Spirit and seeking His perfect will for our lives.  Life just doesn’t get any better than that!

Our challenge lies in opening the lid to the box that we have idealized our God to live in.  Let’s choose to believe the Bible which tells us what a powerful and mighty God we serve.  Lastly, let’s pray brazenly while seeking God’s path for our lives.

My Prayer:  Oh God, I confess my sin in believing you for so little!  I choose to trust you with every area of my life.  Holy Spirit, remind me to pray for my dreams that fall into your perfect plan for me.  Thank you for pouring out blessings on your children.  

Scipture to memorize today:

"The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective."

                                                                                                ~James 5:16

A Deeper Understanding

I love the morning light. In morning light I can see well, but in evening light, I have difficulty seeing.  Morning light cheers me, awakens me, and makes me want to get up and get going. Conversely, a gray sky will darken my spirits and I have to fight my mood to arise with a smile. 

In the morning light, I have taken the best pictures of any time. Most photographers and artists are aware of this phenomenon.  Direct sunlight causes us to have to adjust everything on our cameras and color palette. So I enjoy getting out, when the dew is still breaking into beads of mirrors along the spider webs, to take photos, exercise, or clear my head and plan my day - When the light is new, and causing the world around me to awaken.

Lately, I’ve been thinking about the way light has such an effect on our lives. And I have been thinking of how Jesus used light to describe his Godliness. Not his righteousness. His being God side - not his being a man side. “I am the light of the world,” he said in John. 8:12.

We know Jesus spoke to people in terms of things they already knew.  I have always loved that about his ministry, because it made his teachings relatable to children as well as adults. The simple truth is the real truth. Yet certain things he spoke about, from God’s standpoint, have incredibly intricate, unimaginable depths in truth. Light is one of those things.

The people, of Jesus’ day, knew light by the sun, moon, stars, fire; their knowledge about the science of light was limited. And yet it made just as good a “type picture” for the saints of old as for us today, who are more science minded individuals. We - who think we have harnessed light - who use it almost without thought of its source -  who are not bound by day and night, but go 24 hours a day. WE don’t quite understand the impact that speaking about light would have on the audience of Jesus’ day. Light was precious to them.  So, does the typology of light still apply to us today?  Sure it does. Jesus knew that it was a subject that whether spoken of thousands of years BC, or AD, LIGHT would carry the same point of reference in the minds of any seeking what God was like. Jesus totally knew how very much God was like the light.

Most of the time, discussions about light revolve around the “camera/picture” benefits.  In short, it makes you able to see things more clearly.  Things that are lit may be captured by our brains with a certain clarity, with understanding.  We get better mental pictures, clearer images of who God is and how he functions.  But as science minded people, we can add some visualizations to that  “type” that our forefathers might not have.

A rainbow for instance:

They had rainbows and perhaps, in Jesus’ day, they even had opportunity to see something crystalline break the sun’s rays into a rainbow. I don’t’ think they were stupid. They, of course, knew that the sun caused an arc of colors after the storms.  But did they actually understand that the rainbow was light being broken into its spectrum of colors and why?  That white light is made of many colors of light? One thing they would have known was that darkness was the absence of that light. And while watching a fire burn, they would have seen the flames break into myriads of hues on the color bands. Did they understand that light being bent/reflected in different directions and speeds was pretty much the same thing causing colors in the fire as well as colors in the rainbow?  Did they relate to the fact that God is like that? I wonder if anyone watching a fire ever thought, “If God is like the light in this fire, then He is a colorful God.” He is warm, like the red flame, and cold and refreshing like the freshly fallen snow.  God is a God of many hues and varied depths of those hues. God is able to affect our moods, enliven our world, paint in our imaginations, and bring vision to the darkest parts of our inner soul. Color in itself, as an element of light is a huge area on which to expand about the enormity of God.

Let’s go deeper. Light is also an empowering energy. In order to be viewed, it must enter our eyes and be focused on the lens, be converted into energy impulses in our head that are converted to an image. Like in a camera.  Can you understand that this is a "picture type" of the indwelling and work of the Holy Spirit? He must be allowed to enter through the shutter of our heart’s door, into the place where our soul dwells.  The image of God is then both imprinted on our souls, and reflected from our souls, so we may be seen as being like him.  You see, understanding light is why we can have a camera in the first place. And the truth is - God is even more like the picture of what light is, than those listening to Jesus would have ever understood. 

Does it say something to your heart that anyone who denies there is a God, can’t possibly know about God?  Jesus understood everything about light. His God side understood that the illustration was powerful through and through. We know enough about light now to know how fast it travels. Jesus already knew that. We know enough about light to know that we cannot go any faster than light. There is a barrier there for now.  Jesus knew that.  We now know that after things get to going about the speed of light, they disappear for us, on the most complicated equipment. Jesus already knew and understood that what God had created had as much to do with his spiritual realm as it does for our physical realm.  God knew that light traveled for millions of miles. God knew that humans would need the light of stars and moon to not be lost in the presence of darkness. Otherwise we would not have eyes.

How do I know that Jesus knew? Because he used the things of creation to describe God to us.  Jesus knew the enormity of God.  How better to tell us that he knows the creator than to illustrate him in his creation. To use something bigger than us to be able to say, “God is Bigger, than everything we can figure out about Him.” He is bigger than all the knowledge we will have in two thousand more years. The more we learn about light, the more we have opportunity to understand Him. The more there is to realize we really don’t know everything we thought we knew about God.  How much more WE should be held responsible for not seeing Him as bigger than anything we can stick into our mental God Box. I challenge you to stretch the visual image you have of God.

Thank you God, for illustrations that are so simple that even when the complexities of your creation stretch our imagination, we can still see you in the truth.  Help us see you the way Jesus tried to help us envision you. Amen

Then, spake Jesus again unto them saying, I am the light of the world. He that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.  John 8:12

I would love for our readers to expand on - “WHAT LIGHT IS” - as food for thought.   As a comment here or on our Facebook page, tell us what light is to you, which might evoke a sense of the “light of Life” of which Jesus spoke. 

Example: “Light can be focused, and expanded.”   Therefore, it is flexible, and can be a tool.