Mulling it Over - Romans 8:14-17

We have been working our way through the 8th chapter of the book of Romans in the New Testament. Paul’s letter to the Jewish Christians at Rome is full of doctrine relevant to the Christian faith including the infamous “Roman Road”, a miniature gospel in just a few verses (Romans 3:23, 5:8, 6:23, 10:9-10, and 10:13). It also gives plenty of teaching on how to conduct ourselves with relation to others.

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Today we are looking at the following verses:

“14 For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.
15 For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, “Abba! Father!”
16 The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God,
17 and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified ”

— Romans 8:14-17 (NASB 1995)

These verses are essential to understanding our position in God’s kingdom. When we receive Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we are instantly received into God’s family. What does this really mean, especially in light of the dysfunction of so many families in the world around us. Today it seems we know more broken families than whole ones; blended families than original families; families filled with struggles and heartbreak. Why would I want to be part of that? As we dissect these verses we will gain a better understanding of the beauty of being part of the family of God.

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For all who are being led by the Spirit of God…

These verses are meant to describe those who are believers in Christ. Not just belief that He existed, and was a great teacher, but that His purpose was to live, die and rise again so that we might be able to be part of His family. If we are part of this family we are led by His Spirit. Yes, we can quench and grieve the Holy Spirit, but if we are growing in our relationship with Him and becoming more Christ like, we will respond to His leading.

…these are the sons of God.

Right away in this first verse we receive our positional attribute. We are “the sons (and daughters, of course), of God.” Paul will spend the next few verses putting an exclamation point on this position.

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For you have not receive a spirit of slavery, leading to fear again…

This is an important sentence, so read it again! If you are a child of God, a daughter of God, you are not enslaved, no matter how you might feel; no matter your struggles, fears, addictions, bad habits, failures, or worries. When you begin feeling enslaved, know right away, that spirit is not from God. God does not want us to be fearful. Everything He has done for us was to raise us out of the valley of fear, so that we might wander freely on the mountaintops of peace.

The reason Paul wrote these words, by the inspiration and leading of the Holy Spirit, was in part to confirm to the Christians in the church at Rome that they were not enslaved to anyone or anything. Rome may be the governing entity, a believer might even by a slave in their socioeconomic standing, but they were not to be enslaved to any teaching or doctrine that tried to add to the gospel. Christ, and Christ alone.

Any time we add to the gospel of Jesus Christ we bring ourselves under the enslavement of ideas, thoughts and teachings that are not accurate. In turn this thinking leads to enslavement and that leads to fear. We will never be good enough. We will never do enough. Our purpose, worth and standing is given to us by God through our relationship with Jesus. To do anything else will find us never able to be that person, or attain that level of “goodness”. We will be enslaved, and that will leave us always feeling fearful.

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…but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons, by which we cry out, “Abba! Father!”

Again, Paul reminds us we have been received into the family of God. He makes it legal by using the term, adoption. God didn’t just invite us to come dwell with Him, eating His food, using His resources, and in turn benefiting from His limitless wealth and love. He went so far as to actually adopt us. That adoption is both a binding legal act, and a practice is interesting. Not only do we legally belong to the family of God, but we can take on the characteristic of children belonging to their biological parent by calling God in the familial and familiar sense, “Abba! Father!” Calling God Abba is an intimate term and acknowledges Him as the one who knows us best.

But how can we be sure of all of this?

The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit, that we are children of God…

The Holy Spirit who dwells in you when you call upon the name of Jesus; when you believe in what He did on the cross and that He rose again; that Spirit testifies with our own spirit that we are children of God. There is a deep, solid confirmation within us when we turn off the noise and really allow God to speak to us that we are one with Him. We are His kin, His children, His daughters and sons.

…and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs of Christ…

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If the last few verses didn’t convince you, then this should. Adoption means we are not only children of God, but children of the King. We are fellow heirs with our brother, Christ. We will inherit, as He will inherit the glory and riches of His Father’s heavenly kingdom. This inheritance is not without cost.

…if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified.

Living life as a Christ follower in this fallen world means we suffer. But our suffering is not in vain. We suffer, as Christ suffered, for a great a mighty purpose, the glorification of our God and King, our Abba, Father. The beauty is found in the last phrase, “…that we may also be glorified.” You see, just as God the Father will glorify His Son, Jesus, He will also glorify us. What a glorious day that will be!

Mulling it Over - Romans 8:9-11

In this series we are looking at the eighth chapter of Romans. It is commonly believed that Paul’s letter to the church at Rome was written from Corinth and was written to provide guidance and encouragement. The church in Rome was probably rather large and had been established early on after Pentecost. Today we are going to unpack Romans 8:9-11, only 3 verses, but a lot of information.

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“9 However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him.
10 If Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness.
11 But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.”

— Quote Source

Let’s take this a verse at a time.

Verse 9 - The emphasis here is that the individuals being written to are believers. They already have the Spirit of Christ. Paul reminds them they are not in the flesh, but in the spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. From reading other writings of Paul and even in this letter, we know there were plenty of false teachers around, and in turn false believers.

How can someone be a false believer in Christ? For an answer to that we have to look at the Parable of the Sower and the Seeds.

“3 And He spoke many things to them in parables, saying, “Behold, the sower went out to sow;
4 and as he sowed, some seeds fell beside the road, and the birds came and ate them up.
5 Others fell on the rocky places, where they did not have much soil; and immediately they sprang up, because they had no depth of soil.
6 But when the sun had risen, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away.
7 Others fell among the thorns, and the thorns came up and choked them out.
8 And others fell on the good soil and yielded a crop, some a hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty.
9 He who has ears, let him hear.””

— Matthew 13:3-9 (NASB 1995)

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From this parable we learn that the seed, which represents the Word of God, can have four outcomes after it is sown:

1 - It can be eaten up by birds, meaning those who hear it have no interest at all.

2 - It can fall on rocky soil, where it takes root, but because it has no depth it withers away, meaning those who heard it, took it to heart, but in never took deep root, and as soon as the camp high is over they forget about it.

3 - It can fall among thorns, and the thorns take over and choke it out. I am unsure with this one whether the seed actually developed at all, or if it never has a chance, because the thorns, or the cares of life, difficulties and struggles overpower its development.

4 - It can fall on good soil where it takes root and grows and yields a crop one hundred fold. These seeds take root in a person’s heart who is truly searching for the truth and here they grow, and grow, and eventually they deliver the word to others, and so on.

Which of these would you say is the person in whom God’s Spirit dwells? Remember the word dwell means to abide or take up residence. Are you a person in whom God’s Spirit dwells?

Going back to verse 9 of our Roman’s passage. Pauls continues, “…if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him.” It is important to know whose spirit we have allowed to take up residence in us. If it isn’t God’s spirit, then it is Satan’s, there is no middle ground.

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Verse 10 - In this verse the emphasis is on Christ’s part. “If Christ is in you…” Once again, Paul is reiterating the importance of knowing Christ and of inviting Him in to dwell with you. It is Jesus Christ who took us from death to life. It is only through Him that we are able to be righteous.

You can be a good person doling out kindness, love, generosity, and helps, but still be dead in your sins. Remember:

“For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.”

— Ephesians 2:8-9 (NASB 1995)

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Verse 11 - The truth is driven home once again, if God’s Spirit is in us, the same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead, then He will give life to our mortal bodies. This work is done in the afterlife, through His Spirit, but it is also done in this life. There is never one more alive, than the one who is in complete communion with his/her God.

Speaking from my own experience, I know the days that I give to Him, and the days I spend time with Him are the days I have focus, energy and joy. Unfortunately, so often I don’t do this. I roll out of bed feeling fatigued, and I think about doing some exercise, and spending time with God in His word, but it doesn’t happen. I get distracted by my phone, or my spouse, or the dishes that are still sitting in the sink, or my grocery list and on and on it goes.

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If there is only one thing in life I need to do better, it is this: living in His Spirit. I need to allow Him to consume me and give me the gift of His presence every single moment of every single day.

Faith Inspiration: Psalm 23

The following are my own musings on Psalm 23. It is a prayer. It is a testament. It is a poem of praise. It is the work of a writer following the inspiration of one of David’s most famous psalms.

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The Lord is my shepherd - You are the one who cares for me. You tend my every wound. You collect my every tear. You always know where I am at every moment of every day.

I shall not want - How could I want anything when You have given me everything? Yet, even in that knowledge, I yearn. Help me to be satisfied with You alone.

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You make me lie down in green pastures - Pastures of peace, lush with your provision, and goodness. Pastures of rest. Help me to lie down and know I can rest, because You have provided a place of peace.

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You lead me beside quiet waters - These waters are not tumultuous, they are quiet. They flow along with only a rippling, gurgling whisper. These waters are meant to drink from. You are this living water.

You restore my soul - It is beside the quiet waters that you fill me, quenching my innermost thirst and refreshing me to my very core. Only you can restore on this soul level. You make all things new again.

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You guide me in the paths (tracks) of righteousness, for Your name’s sake - These paths are worn. These tracks are easy to follow, because of all who have gone before. Let me be like those who have walked these trails before. Help me to follow hard after your righteousness, so that you are lifted up and glorified, forever; so your name is elevated above all others.

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Even though I walk through the valley of deep darkness (the valley of the shadow…of death) - It is inevitable, I will, I am walking through this dark valley. The darkness is - I can’t see my hand in front of my face - darkness. Yet I am upright. I am walking. I have not given up. I have not fainted from the shadowed ones all around me.

I fear no evil, for you are with me - My good shepherd You are here, with me. You are here in this darkness.

Your rod and your staff, they comfort me - Your rod is not there to beat me into submission. It is there to guide me, to comfort me. The feeling of your rod at my head, by my side, on my back, remind me You will never leave me. You are the good shepherd and You love Your sheep…You love me. What comfort!

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You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies - What a bountiful table this is, full of every good thing. This table is always available for me. All I need to do is come. Why would I not come? My enemies are on every side. Most, I cannot see, but they are doing the will of their master, to bring me grief and turn my eyes away from you. I must come to Your table to refresh and restore.

You have anointed my head with oil - You have lavished me with your riches by anointing my head with oil. You show me that I am set apart for your purposes and my life matters.

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My cup overflows - Again, You show your riches in grace and mercy as you refill my cup over and over again. You remind me, that I am not just a welcomed guest at your table, but your daughter.

Surely goodness and lovingkindness will follow me all the days of my life - Just because circumstances are difficult, doesn’t mean you have withdrawn your goodness and love. Indeed, that goodness and lovingkindness are even more pronounced during that valley of darkness. Your character does not change and never will as you journey with me for as long as I live.

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And I will dwell in the House of the Lord forever - Dwell, live together, abide, with You, the three in one - Father, Son, Holy Spirit, forever. Amen!

Mulling it Over - Romans 8:3-4 - Easter Thoughts

When I study scripture, one of the first things I do is exactly what I do here with you, I take the verses I am studying apart. Words are important. How those words are used is important. Obviously, we are looking at English words, not the original language of Hebrew or Greek, so the words have already been translated into a form for us. It would definitely be advantageous if we could read the Bible in it’s original language to truly understand the nuances and meanings of some of the words, but I trust God. I know that the book that He allowed to be translated into our language is just as true and powerful as the original documents that were penned so many, many years ago.

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Last month we looked at the first two verses of Romans 8, which reminded us that we do not stand condemned if we are in Christ Jesus, and the law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus has set us free from the Law of sin and death. Let’s continue our study by looking at verses 3 and 4.

“3 For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh,
4 so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.”

— Romans 8:3-4 (NASB 1995)

As we move into Easter weekend and contemplate what our Lord Jesus did for us, it is apropos that we look over these two verses.

Let’s change it up just a little bit this week and instead of going through this phrase by phrase, let’s look at what we can learn about the Law in these two verses.

1 - The Law was weak - The Law, given in the Old Testament to Moses on the mountain, was given as both a mirror and a shadow. It was given as a mirror to reflect sin. The whole point of the Law was to point out and remind people they are sinners, separated from a Holy God.

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The Law was also a shadow of the spiritual reality. The reality is that we cannot save ourselves. No matter how much we try to obey the law, we still fall short of God’s holy identity. Romans 3:23 says, “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” There is only one way to have right standing with this Almighty being and that is through the sacrifice of blood. That sacrifice came through His son, Jesus.

2 - The Law was flesh - Everything that the law encompassed in the Old Testament had to do with deeds of the flesh. The sacrifices, the portions, the building, the lineage, the priesthood, the garments, the tabernacle and temple furniture and ornamental pieces, the commandments…all of it had to do with this life, in this flesh. Even today, we are all about doing, or what can be done or accomplished in our flesh.

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Don’t get me wrong, doing is good and it absolutely should be a part of our lives as human beings and as Christians. However, the ability to save ourselves has nothing to do with our flesh. Even Paul in the book of Galatians reprimands the Jews who are trying to add to the gospel by telling new converts to Christ they have to be circumcised. (See Galatians 3 and 4.)

3 - The Law and the Flesh are associated with sin - God created Adam and Eve with fleshly bodies, but in the Garden of Eden that flesh was meant to be enjoyed, and used to take care of the animals and all the things that God had created. Sin came about when Eve, tempted by Satan in his serpent form, wanted to taste the fruit that was forbidden. It was the desire of the flesh that caused her and her husband to fall. If they would have immediately ran to their loving Father with their fleshly desire, not only would they have remained pure, but then sin wouldn’t have been given reign in the flesh. As it was, they were cast out of the Garden and became painfully aware of now frail and sinful their flesh was.

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From that first connection of flesh to sin, came about the need for the Law, a shadow of what was to come in the fleshly form of Jesus Christ who would take away the sins of the world.

4 - The Law was fulfilled in the person of Jesus Christ - God in His great goodness and fathomless love provided! Isn’t it amazing that the very God with whom we in our flesh, broke covenant, was prepared from before the foundation of the world to provide the needed, perfect and unblemished lamb to be a sacrifice for our darkened hearts. Not only did he provide the perfect sacrifice, but it came in the person of His own son, Jesus Christ. In this, He and the Father were one. The son did what the Father wanted, because the Son loved the Father and loved us.

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Christ was made flesh and dwelt among us…it is important that we understand He had to take on flesh for His sacrifice to fulfill the requirement of the Law. The Law required a fleshly sacrifice particularly for the atonement of sin. What was a shadow in the Old Testament became a reality in the New Testament. The Old Covenant was set aside for the New Covenant.

What a blessing is ours, for we were born in the time of the New Covenant, or the New Testament. We are not dependent on our own flesh to be one with God. The requirement of the law is fulfilled in our flesh because Jesus became flesh, and was the perfect sacrifice for all. Now we live, not according to the law of the flesh, but the law of the Spirit.

I hope you enjoyed this week’s post. Have a beautiful Easter weekend! Until next time, keep seeking Him.

Relentless - Part 3: The Pursued - Mercy upon Mercy

Laney had just brought the pups in from their walk and all three of them were wet. It had turned gray early in the day and soon after started to rain. She didn’t like having to walk the pups in the rain, but she knew it was good for all of them. Laney had become very disciplined in her life. It was something she was proud of.

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“Okay, guys, no jumping on the furniture until I get your feet wiped off.”

She grabbed a towel she left hanging by the door for just that purpose, and began to wipe Myles’ paws. Sophie sat obediently waiting her turn. Myles gave her plenty of kisses, then padded into the living room where he jumped up to his spot on the couch. Just after she finished Sophie’s paws and hung up the towel, there was a loud clap of thunder that made her jump. Both dogs barked. The lights flickered.

Laney spoke gently to calm the pups down. “It’s okay. It’s just a little thunder. You know it happens a lot when it rains.”

It went dark.

She looked out the front window and the whole neighborhood was dark. The rain was coming down in sheets, while thunder and lightening rumbled and flashed simultaneously.

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She looked at her phone, thinking she had better log the outage with her electric company. It lit up for one second then it went dark, just like the neighborhood.

She felt panic, the same kind she had felt in the bar on that night over two years ago. She could still hear the whispers. She clenched her teeth.

“Alright, guys! We need to find the flashlight and get some candles lit.” She forced her voice to be calm and upbeat.

It made her think of her dad. He had always been buying candles at garage sales for just those occasions. Her mom would light them all over the house when the lights went out and it always made her feel safe, so she was going to do the same.

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The pups padded along behind her as she found the flashlight and then grabbed a variety of candles and their holders from various places in the house. She soon had the living room and kitchen looking like a bright fairy festival at Christmas time.

She gave the dogs their dinner, then scooted down the hall with a candle to her bedroom to change into dry clothes. She looked out the bedroom window and was stunned by how hard it was raining. It looked like there was a wall between her and her neighbor whose house was only a grassy patch and a driveway away.

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She noticed the reflection of the candle in the window, but there was someone standing next to it. She whirled around fear catching in her throat. There was no one there. She nervously pulled the curtains closed without looking back at the window, quickly changed her clothes and went back out to where the pups had curled up on the couch.

She closed all the other curtains as well, then sat between the dogs pulling a blanket over her lap. Myles yawned and rested his head on her lap, while Sophie put her back against her leg. The dogs were her salvation. She did not know what she would do without them.

She began to doze, hoping the rain would stop and the electricity would come back on soon.

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Laney woke with a start. Blinding light filled the room and in front of her was the silhouette of what looked like a man in a suit. Both Myles and Sophie had gotten off the couch and were sitting by the man and looked to be licking his fingers.

“Who…who are you?” Laney’s voice trembled. “What do you want?”

Myles barked. The man bent his head towards the dog, then said, “Oh…yes…you are so right, Myles.”

The piercing light diminished. Laney could see the candles she had lit around the room. The light continued to recede until it was just a warm glow around the man. She saw him smiling as he looked around her home.

Laney grabbed her phone still laying in her lap from when she had dozed off, but of course it still had no charge. She stood up.

“What are you, some sort of utility worker? It’s great that you got out here to fix the power so quickly, but you really shouldn’t be coming into people’s homes without being invited!”

The man chuckled. “Well, Myles and Sophie said I was completely welcome. Besides, I was sent here to talk to you.”

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Laney glanced towards the front door. If she could make a mad dash, she might be able to get out of the house. She could run to a neighbor’s.

“Laney.” The man’s voice was gentle. “I’m not going to hurt you. I am here at the request of the King. He wants you to come home.”

Laney rolled her eyes. “Here we go again. Why does he keep bothering me? Doesn’t he understand I want nothing to do with him or his silly kingdom. He doesn’t own me.”

The gentleman moved towards one of the chairs opposite the couch. “Do you mind if I sit?”

Laney was about to say of course she minded, but he sat.

“You say he doesn’t own you, but you gave him your heart oath and in turn he placed his seal on you. Let me show you. Myles, Sophie, here.”

Laney was aghast as the dogs moved obediently to wear the man sat. He raised his hand and it began to glow brighter. He lifted up Myles’ ear. Placing his hand behind the dog’s ear, Laney could plainly see something that resembled a royal seal glowing.

“Sophie’s is embedded near her heart, and yours…” He stood and moved towards her gently taking her wrist.

“You wanted yours on your wrist so it looked like a tattoo.” He smiled as the glow from his hand revealed the same royal seal on her arm.

She pulled her arm away angrily. “You need to go! Now!”

The man’s face looked sorrowful. He turned towards the door, but stopped and said. “Laney, it is easy to cling to bad things that happened in your life, but it blinds you to all the times mercy was extended to you in the form of his protection, his provision, his love. Open your heart to him again. Even this evening, this storm…it was his way of watching over you.”

He turned towards the pups. “He knows you are doing everything you can and he is so pleased. Don’t give up on her. He isn’t.”

Myles and Sophie barked and followed him to the door. He opened the door, his glowing silhouette backlit by a flash of lighting, then he was gone.

Laney rushed to the door, slamming it and turning both of the locks. She even went to all the other outside doors and the windows and made sure each one was locked.

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“Stupid, weird utility man…” she muttered as she finished.

* * * * *

Laney woke to the clock on her bedside table blinking, and the sun shinning through a slit in between the closed curtains. The thought crossed her mind that perhaps the whole incident with the stranger in her house was just a dream. She decided it must have been and began her morning routine.

She turned on the TV, starting her healthy morning smoothy. As she cut up the fruit to throw in the blender her ears tuned in to something the local news anchor was saying.

“…Late last night police finally caught the Urban Exterminator, notorious serial rapist and murderer. It seems the Exterminator was looking to take his next victim from one of the neighborhoods near 8th and Dernst Avenues and stalled out his vehicle going through a flooded area near a plugged up storm sewer drain…”

Laney’s jaw dropped. Hers was one of those neighborhoods. The stranger’s voice echoed in her head. “…it is easy to cling to bad things that happened in your life, but it blinds you to all the times mercy was extended to you in the form of his protection, his provision, his love…Even this evening, this storm…it was his way of watching over you.”

Relentless - Part 2: The Pursued - The Gift

“Where are they? Myles? Sophie?” Laney called and whistled, but the dogs did not respond.

She had come to the park, their evening routine after she got home from work, but something had caught their eye, or their nose, and they had nearly pulled her down on her face before the leashes slid roughly from her hands.

She felt herself beginning to panic. What if she couldn’t find them? What if they didn’t come back? They were her constant companions. She couldn’t live without them.

“Sophie! Myles! Come!” She called loudly again as she jogged in the direction they had zoomed off.

She pulled out her phone. Her friend Jeremy would know what to do. He was always there to help her out. After a second he answered.

“Hello?”

“Jeremy, this is Laney. Hey, I’m at Preston Park. Myles and Sophie got away from me. Can you come help me look for them.”

“Um…well, I…I’m kinda busy right now, Laney. I’m sure they’ll be fine. Just hang out for a bit and they’ll probably come loping back in a few minutes.”

Laney was disappointed, but she didn’t let on. “Oh, okay. Well, thanks. See you at work tomorrow.”

She kept walking, but slowed her pace. Jeremy was probably right. They would come back in just a few minutes after they were done stimulating their noses. She headed toward the wooded area because she knew the pups loved to rummage around in the leaves.

Laney was proud of herself. She’d finally stopped messing around and started to take life seriously. After that last weird encounter at the bar, she decided to keep her drinking confined to her small home, and only when she had friends over. She had finally gotten an administrative position at work, got a great raise, good health insurance and a title that made her finally feel worth something. People came to her for advice and looked up to her.

Why was it then, she felt so alone?

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Still, he pursued her. She could feel it in the quiet moments, which was exactly why she didn’t allow the silence. She had a routine. As she got home she was greeted by the barking of Myles and Sophie, the two rescues she adored. She changed her clothes, put on her headphones, cranked up the music and took the pups for a long walk. When they returned she turned on the TV to have a show on in the back ground as she made herself a healthy meal. It stayed on until she either went to bed, went out with friends or had friends over.

Her life before she left Him was becoming a blur, almost as though it wasn’t real. She had just about convinced herself it was just some sort of weird dream, a fairy tale of sorts, or it had seemed like a fairy tale until something bad had happened; something that He had not stopped. The question always nagged at her, if he really loved her why hadn’t he protected her?

Laney followed the path that wandered into the heavily treed area of the park. Just as she came around a corner she saw Sophie and Myles sitting in front of an elderly man on a bench.

“There you are! You two are in so much trouble.” She reached them and picked up both of their leads.'

“I am so sorry,” Laney said to the man. “They just took off. Just about dragged me with them.”

The gentleman chuckled. “Oh they were zooming for sure, but I could tell they belonged to someone who cared for them very much. I told them they had to sit with me until you came.”

Laney wasn’t sure what to think of the man, but he seemed quite harmless. Plus it was still daylight and there were people around. She sat down next to him.

She smiled. “You told them?”

He was looking off into the woods. He started, as if noticing her for the first time. “What was that?”

“You said, you told Myles and Sophie to sit with you until I came.”

He smiled gently as he patted Myles on the head. “Oh, yes…yes. This one is all for fun. He wanted to keep running, but his sister told him to listen. She’s the one with the deep desire to please you.”

Laney let out a small laugh. “You understand them…who are you Dr. Doolittle?”

The man smiled. “Oh no, no. That was just a made up story. I…well….I have a gift.”

“A gift?”

“Some would call it discernment. Others might call it knowledge…whatever it is I just know I’ve had it since I was seven years old.”

Laney looked at him, trying to figure out if he was serious. She suddenly felt worried for the man. “Are you okay? I mean do you need me to call someone? Do you live around here?”

He gently put a hand on her knee and patted it. “Now don’t you worry. I am perfectly sane, if that’s what you are wondering. I just know things, that’s all.”

Laney was intrigued. “What sorts of things? Has Myles told you he wants another sibling, because I cannot afford another…”

The gentleman burst into laughter, his eyes crinkling with mirth. His smile seemed to make the shaded path burst into light.

“I can tell you that Myles and Sophie were both rescues. Sophie has always loved to submit. It makes her happy to do her owner’s will. She is gentle and peaceful. Myles…well, he’s a lot like you.”

“Me?”

“Yes. He likes to run. He has very little patience for sitting still. Some days he wants to run and run and never turn back.”

Laney looked at Myles. “What? You would do that?”

Myles barked. The man continued. “Oh, he won’t ever leave you. He has a seal.”

“A seal?”

“Yes. Both Sophie and Myles have it. It was given to them by someone very important. You see, Myles and Sophie were both severely treated and abused. He gives them the most important job, to watch over the lost ones…You are very fortunate. He must love you a great deal. Myles and Sophie were created just for you.”

Laney sat there stunned, a tiny pin prick poking her heart. She took a deep breath and willed her mind to override the feelings. She stood up.

“Well, that’s all very interesting. I really need to go. I’ve got friends coming for dinner. Are you sure you don’t want me to call someone?”

The man patted Myles and Sophie again and whispered something only they could hear, then lifted his head to Laney.

“Thank you for sitting with me, even if just for a minute. It means the world to me.” He smiled again.

Laney had to pull the pups away from him as she moved down the path out of the woods. She turned back one time to see if the old man was going to try to follow her, but he was gone.

Rebooting My Faith, and My Faith Page

Have you ever felt like you needed a reboot. For those of you who are Harry Potter fans, I have always thought it would be nice to have a magical pensieve like the one Professor Dumbledore had in his office. The pensieve was a magical basin of sorts where the Master of Hogwart’s School of Witchcraft and Wizardry could siphon off some of his memories to be viewed at a later date. There are times my brain feels so cluttered up with day to day life, dealing with illness, and taking care of my family, that I don’t think about other things. As I have aged, I have also taken to making lists to remember all the things I need to do.

Image by indigoblues38 from Pixabay

The last two years have been difficult. I have had unexplained health issues since the spring of 2021. I am on my second antibiotic for the sinus infection I got in December. I had a CT scan on December 30th and when my ENT doctor contacted me, he said that there was still infection simmering. The amazing thing was for a whole month after finishing the first antibiotic I was feeling good. My taste and smell were back in full working order and I was not having anything more than my typical sinus drainage. When we got home after my father-in-law’s funeral I got a call from the doctor and he said, I want you on another antibiotic. I told him I was feeling good and would rather not do the antibiotic. He agreed since I have a follow up appointment with him this month. By the next day, my sinuses were all inflamed, my throat was scratchy and I was very fatigued; the exact symptoms of my first go round. I sent the office a message and I was on this new medicine by that afternoon.

Image by Miguel Á. Padriñán from Pixabay

There are times we need to just process. With the death of my father-in-law, I could see that 2023 was not starting off any further ahead than the last two years. However, I feel as though I have a new purpose and drive. Over the last two years, I have felt the pull of God to dig into His word and to have fellowship with other women who are also desiring to move deeper into the layers that are God. He provided my Saturday morning Zoom Bible Study and I also meet once a week via Zoom with a young lady in California who teaches Bible in her spare time. These women have, and continue to inspire me to move closer to the Almighty. My desire is to do the same thing for you.

This year I would like to organize my blog a little better and have given a bit of an outline of what that will look like for Fashion on that page. I would like to do a similar thing on my Faith page. I want to bring you, not just my own thoughts on Faith, but the wisdom and insights of others as well. More than anything I want you to grow a drive to know and love God with all your heart, soul, and mind (Matthew 22:37). A relationship with Christ, His Father and the Holy Spirit makes all the difference in maneuvering this mess we call life.

Image by Steve Buissinne from Pixabay

To mimic my Fashion page, I want to have a plan for more organized content for my Faith posts. The following are tentative. The reason I say that, is because I still want to be open to the leading of the Holy Spirit for what each week holds. There may be times where I need to spend a whole month on a certain passage of Scripture, or on a topic. However, this is what I was thinking:

1st. Thursday - Mulling It Over - a look at a portion of Scripture, a brief background and then ruminating on what it says to us.

2nd. Thursday - Faith Inspiration - drawing inspiration from other sources from teachers or preachers, to books and even music.

3rd. Thursday - Words of Life - looking specifically at passages or verses in the Bible that give encouragement. This would include many of the promises of God, His character, and who we are in His eyes.

4th. Thursday - Creative Christianity - this will be a place for my own creative writing, whether it be from journals, allegories, prose or poetry.

5th. Thursday (once every few months) - Topics - this will be a space for discussing some of the hard bits of walking the Christian life with a look at loving when it is hard, agreeing to disagree, religion or relationship and other things that come to mind. (Please let me know if there is anything you would like to see discussed under these topics.)

If you have been following me for a while, you know my faith in Jesus is real and important. Part of my sharing this blog with you is to let you know you are not alone. Just because I speak a good message, or have on a cute outfit doesn’t mean I don’t struggle. Just as the sufferings of Christ are ours to partake of, I want my struggles and difficulties to be out there for you to partake of as well. Suffering in unity is very important to growing and to living a life without bitterness.

I am excited about where this year is going to take this little blog, so I want your prayers more than ever. The enemy is real and he doesn’t want us to share life with each other. He thrives on isolation, manipulation and deceit. Please know, you are important to me, so if you ever have a prayer request shoot me an email and I will pray for you.

I hope you have a fantastic rest of your week and weekend. Be sure to check back next week for new content.

What am I Rejoicing In?

As I continued to look at the word rejoice, I came across another story in the Old Testament that I thought might be worth sharing. From the beginning of time God wanted to be the center of men’s worship. As we look at the Biblical account of how the world came into being and how God made everything in it, we see that He created man with a purpose much different than any of the other things He created. God made man to have a relationship with Him.

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“26 Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”
27 God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.
28 God blessed them; and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” ”

— Genesis 1:26-28 (NASB 1995)

We see that God gave man a job, to rule over the earth, and that means take care of it, not abuse and misuse it.

“ 8 They heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.
9 Then the Lord God called to the man, and said to him, “Where are you?”
10 He said, “I heard the sound of You in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid myself.””

— Genesis 3:8-10 (NASB 1995)

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From the above text we can reason that God regularly walked in the garden, and he also walked and talked with Adam and Eve. They heard the sound of the Lord, so they were familiar with His footfall, his voice or maybe he was singing as he walked along. They hid from Him, because they were ashamed. They knew they had displeased the One who walked and talked with them in the garden.

It is not that God needs us. He is God and is outside our understanding of what need is. God is, and God moves. One day He decided to create and from that creation came our world, and us. However, His creating wasn’t a random act. He had thought it through and had a plan. Part of that plan was that He would have preeminence in our lives. He created us with His image imprinted on us. He and we are connected.

After the days of Moses leading the people out of Israel and wandering around the wilderness, the people became set on having someone who could rule them. They no longer wanted God to be their ruler. After going through a period of various judges, God gave them what they wanted. They wanted a man who could be king, and so we have Saul, the first in a long line of kings for Israel.

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“15 So all the people went to Gilgal, and there they made Saul king before the Lord in Gilgal. There they also offered sacrifices of peace offerings before the Lord; and there Saul and all the men of Israel rejoiced greatly.”

— ! Samuel 11:15 (NASB 1995)

When I read this verse I was suddenly struck by the question, “I wonder what Saul and the men of Israel were rejoicing in?” In Deuteronomy the act of rejoicing always had to do with the Lord. It was associated with feasts and celebrations of remembrance of God’s provision and salvation. When we read Hannah’s story in I Samuel we also see that she rejoiced in the Lord and in His provision for her and for the nation of Israel. It does say that the people made Saul king “before the Lord,” and “they also offered sacrifices of peace offerings before the Lord.” It does not say that they specifically rejoiced in the Lord or in what He had done.

I may just be nitpicky and perhaps looking for something that is not there, but it does make me ask myself, “In what or whom am I rejoicing?” You see, it was only a few chapters later and we read that Saul had only been king for two years and he messed up.

“8 He waited seven days, the time appointed by Samuel. But Samuel did not come to Gilgal, and the people were scattering from him.
9 So Saul said, “Bring the burnt offering here to me, and the peace offerings.” And he offered the burnt offering.
10 As soon as he had finished offering the burnt offering, behold, Samuel came. And Saul went out to meet him and greet him. 11 Samuel said, “What have you done?”...”

— 1 Samuel 13:8-11 (ESV)

Saul decided he could be both king and priest, which was not God’s plan. Saul was impatient and prideful and we see that he eventually becomes obsessed with David’s demise, eventually making him unfit to be king. It seems trouble followed Saul, which brings me back to the question, who did Saul rejoice in?

There are two questions we should ask ourselves when it comes to rejoicing.

What are the circumstances that led us to rejoice? Was it something we did? Was it a task we accomplished? Or was it something God accomplished?

Who is receiving the honor and glory in this celebration? Is it me? Is it another individual? Or is it God? We honestly like to receive honor and glory don’t we? I’ve often felt if I became a best selling author would I be able to handle that honor and glory? Or would I become big headed about my talent and ability?

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

If we are rejoicing in ourselves and our accomplishments, or if we are rejoicing in someone else and their accomplishments, that celebration is momentary. You see the root word in rejoice is joy. To rejoice is to have and impart joy over and over again. There is only one being who can bring us that sort of deep, unyielding joy and that is God. Yes! It is good to rejoice and find joy in good things and in good situations; to celebrate life and all the special moments, but true rejoicing happens in the wilderness when we remember who got us through every single moment of every single day.

“Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice.” (Philippians 4:4 - NASB)

Rejoice Always: It's Imperative - Part 1

Earlier this month I was talking with the Lord about my purpose and what it is that I am supposed to be doing. Like many people it seems that I have always been looking for some elusive meaning in life, but as I Christian I am fully aware my purpose is to glorify God and live a life that is pleasing to Him. True purpose aside, I am still trying to figure out what that looks like for me.

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As a young person I knew my purpose was to go to school, try to get good grades and stay out of trouble. When I saw adulthood on the horizon, I tried to figure out what it was that God wanted me to do. I went from Christian Education to being a foreign missionary and finally ended up getting married and having a couple of kids.

Now as I approach my sixties I realize that each day my purpose might be different because over all is this idea of the sovereignty of God. Even if I plan and set about doing what I “think” He is calling me to do, He is the one in control and He has an ultimate goal, that of our salvation, and sanctification, which is basically the working out of our salvation in this life.

Still, I would like this working out to be doing that which best utilizes the talents and abilities He has given me. However, I am still presuming that what that will be is something my human mind can wrap around and that my human hands and feet can actually go and do. God is not confined to my human box. In fact, He is well outside those limiting boundaries.

A few years ago, I had a similar conversation with the Lord and He told me the same thing both times. I have to laugh at the way His voice gently chided me. “Amy, you haven’t started doing what I told you the last time. What were the three things I told you to do?”

“Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, and give thanks in all things.”

While I have tried to do better at giving thanks, I definitely fall short in the rejoicing and praying areas. I decided to start off this year with a study of the word rejoice, as that seemed to be the first thing on the list. Right now I am doing a simple word search through scripture. I am only looking for instances of the word rejoice, not rejoicing, rejoiced or joy. What I have found so far is truly amazing.

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I knew, given the context of I Thessalonians 5:16, rejoice is a command. It is snuggled into a paragraph that talks about Christian conduct. Let’s take a look.

“12 But we ask you, brothers and sisters, to recognize those who diligently labor among you and are in leadership over you in the Lord, and give you instruction,
13 and that you regard them very highly in love because of their work. Live in peace with one another.
14 We urge you, brothers and sisters, admonish the unruly, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with everyone.
15 See that no one repays another with evil for evil, but always seek what is good for one another and for all people.
16 Rejoice always,
17 pray without ceasing,
18 in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God for you in Christ Jesus.
19 Do not quench the Spirit,
20 do not utterly reject prophecies,
21 but examine everything; hold firmly to that which is good,
22 abstain from every form of evil.”

— 1 Thessalonians 5:12-22 (NASB)

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A command, or imperative is an order, putting it simply, but it is more than that. To be able to command an audience is the ability to hold their attention as well as gain their respect. The word imperative, also gives us the idea of importance. We could say the imperative is imperative! Ha, ha. When we look at these commands in Scripture we are not just looking at the straightforward order to do something, we are also embracing the importance that action has in the lives of the human throng around us.

My study of the word rejoice has led me to a book in the Bible I would have never thought to associate with this idea of rejoicing. Deuteronomy uses the word rejoice, 12 times. That might not seem like a lot, but it is a book that reiterates and goes into specifics regarding the laws Moses received at Mt. Sinai. It also deals in detail with celebrations and feasts days, all of which were planned out for the benefit of the people. Most of these events revolved around what God did for them: bringing them out of Egypt, providing for them in the wilderness and sparing them from destruction when they didn’t follow His commands.

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“5 But you shall seek the Lord at the place which the Lord your God will choose from all your tribes, to establish His name there for His dwelling, and you shall come there.
6 You shall bring there your burnt offerings, your sacrifices, your tithes, the contribution of your hand, your vowed offerings, your voluntary offerings, and the firstborn of your herd and of your flock.
7 There you and your households shall eat before the Lord your God, and rejoice in all your undertakings in which the Lord your God has blessed you.”

— Deuteronomy 12:5-7 (NASB)

Rejoicing walked hand in hand with remembering God’s goodness and provision. Webster’s Online dictionary defines rejoice as: to give joy to; to feel joy or great delight. Synonyms include the words, exuberate, glory, exult and triumph. Most of the references in Deuteronomy also include eating and celebrating. It would seem that God’s command to rejoice is a sacrifice on our part where we are giving joy back to God. In turn, we are filled with joy as we remember His goodness toward us.

It is easy to remember bad stuff. We might remember in detail the car accident, the illness, the divorce or the wayward child, but do we remember in detail all the many times God’s goodness and mercy brought us out of the captivity of our choices into the land flowing with milk and honey? This is what it means to rejoice. Just as we are encouraged to let our minds dwell on things that are pure, excellent, lovely, commendable and worth of praise (Philippians 4:8), we are commanded to remember God’s goodness and provision to us.

Since I started doing this word study, I have also been doing some praying out loud as I walk around the house. In my prayers I say, “I will rejoice…” and then I say what I am going to rejoice in. For instance, “I will rejoice when the day is sunny. I will rejoice when the day is cloudy. I will rejoice when I am full of energy. I will rejoice when I feel exhausted. I can rejoice in any and every circumstance because I rejoice in the Lord.”

In one of the studies I did a while back with Beth Moore, she suggested making an altar in our homes. Not an altar to worship a false god, but an altar of remembering all the good things that God has done. I didn’t actually make one, but I do try to bring to mind, and am trying to more regularly, those times that God stepped in. Believe me, there have been many.

• Protection on me as a teenage girl.

• Protection in college.

• Guidance in where to go to school.

• Surviving a summer mission trip to Africa where I got malaria.

• Complete healing from malaria.

• Meeting and later marrying a Christian man.

• Staying married all these years. (If you don’t think that is God’s grace, think again. Marriage is hard!)

• Two safe baby deliveries.

• Homeschooling my girls all the way through high school.

• Two beautiful grandsons.

This list cold go on and on and that doesn’t go into all the tiny little details; those special moments when God reached into my life and heart revealing Himself to me personally. When I start dwelling on God’s amazing goodness, I can truly rejoice!

Next week we’ll take a look at a woman who chose to rejoice, even when it was hard. Until then, have a great week.

When Darkness Comes - Part 5: Finding God in the Darkness

This post will be rather long and contains aspects of my own experience in the darkness, but I share the details to help you understand the process.

We have been learning about the darkness. We have seen its beginning; created by an Almighty God for the benefit of His creation. Darkness was not meant to be bad. It was not meant to hide evil and torment the sinner, but our unseen enemy wanted to make the good bad. From the moment he became enamored with his beauty and too proud to place himself under the authority of the divine creator he has chosen to manipulate that which is good, right and true.

Image by Brigitte makes custom works from your photos, thanks a lot from Pixabay

If I came to you and said, “I am going through a very dark time,” wouldn’t you assume I was struggling? Wouldn’t you pray for the light to come back into my life, so I might once again be walking in the blessedness of my Savior’s love? Why do we assume, darkness is not the place we are meant to walk? How did we get to the point where struggle and disappointment in life is thought to be in our lives because of something we did or did not do? Why do we embrace the light, the sun, the beautiful blue skies and gentle breezy days, but not the night, the dark, the gray lumbering clouds over a storm tossed sea? Isn’t all of it allowed by our Heavenly Father? Doesn’t every circumstance that comes into our lives come first through the gentle and loving hands of our risen Lord?

“I form light and create darkness;
I make well-being and create calamity;
I am the Lord, who does all these things.”

— Isaiah 45:7 (ESV)

I will be the first to admit, I do not like this truth, but truth it is. The scripture is full of God’s truth. We are not allowed to take one truth, but not the other. We do have a free will and we can dislike some of the truths that are in the Bible, but that does not change the fact that they are the truths put forth by a holy and perfect God. Part of the key to being able to accept God’s truth is to really get to know Him. Many people read one verse and decide, God is fickle, or angry, or malevolent, but they are not seeing the entire picture. Just as we take time to get to know the person we fall in love with, falling in love with God takes time and a willingness to trust.

Image by S. Hermann & F. Richter from Pixabay

I want to take this part of my series on When Darkness Comes, slowly. These are the things we need to understand, and know with the very core of our being. This is where the Holy Spirit makes effective the work that Jesus did on the cross. This is the time when our head knowledge, must become heart knowledge.

My Experience

About a month ago, I was having a particularly difficult time. I have long struggled with my self image, often feeling worthless and useless. Over the last 34 years as a wife and mother I have struggled with the poor choices I made, my lack of love and compassion for both my spouse and our daughters. I grieved over the death of my father, the ensuing changes in my mother’s life and how that made life more complex. I witnessed divisions and strife in our church. I became aware of the trauma one of my family members suffered at the hands of a supposed “man of God.” I saw this same family member walk away from the church and begin a self-destructive path of rebellion against God and self-indulgent behavior. During this period I sought counsel from a licensed counselor and was told I was “mercy gone wild.” I learned about boundaries and letting go of many of the dreams I had for myself and my family. I was regularly building coffins, throwing my dreams inside, nailing them shut and burying them.

Image by Rob van der Meijden from Pixabay

Life slowly began to be less chaotic, but things were, and still are, hard. Recently, we learned our youngest daughter has a brain tumor. In addition to that she has been having a multiplicity of symptoms such as numbness, pain, tremors, dizziness and nausea. To this day, those things are still unresolved and the doctors do not believe her symptoms to be related to the tumor, which is very small and which, for now, they are keeping an eye on. This is just another straw on that proverbial camel’s back that makes the load heavier and heavier.

In my desire to draw closer to God, He lead me to see there is only one way to do this. I must take Him completely at His word. During that time a month ago, I had a three day period of a sadness so deep, I did not know how God was going to bring me out of it. I was hopeless. Hopeless for our country, hopeless for my daughter, hopeless for those who think they know truth, but are wearing blinders, hopeless for so many young people who have walked away from the church and from Him, and hopeless for myself. I never felt so completely lost in the darkness. I cried. No, I sobbed. I could not stop sobbing. Hour after hour I wondered how I could make so many tears.

Finally, when the tears began to dry up, I heard God’s voice telling me, “Get your journal and tell me what you know.”

This is the first step to finding Him in the deep darkness. Remind yourself of who God is.

Learn Who God is, and then Tell Him

Photo Rebecca Trumbull.

(excerpt take from my journal - Bible verses added after)

Lord, I know Your truth. Your word gives me that truth and it never changes.

“Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth.”

— John 17:17 (NASB)

“The grass withers, the flower fades,
But the word of our God stands forever.”

— Isaiah 40:8 (NASB)

I know Your lovingkindness is everlasting.

“But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting for those who fear Him,
And His justice to the children’s children,”

— Psalm 103:17 (NASB)

I know Your mercies are new every morning.

“For His anger is but for a moment,
His favor is for a lifetime;
Weeping may last for the night,
But a shout of joy comes in the morning.”

— Psalm 30:5 (NASB)

I know Your grace is matchless.

“For of His fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace.”

— John 1:16 (NASB)

You have freely given, so I might freely receive.

“Now we have not received the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the things freely given to us by God.”

— 1 Corinthians 2:12 (NASB)

You have bridged the gap between our sin laden world and your perfect heaven. I know You gave us Jesus. It was Your plan that He be the perfect sacrifice.

“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish, but have eternal life.”

— John 3:16 (NASB)

I know all have sinned and fall short of Your glory.

“for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,”

— Romans 3:23 (NASB)

I know the punishment for sin is death.

“For the wages of sin is death, but the gracious gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

— Romans 6:23 (NASB)

I know, whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.

“for “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.””

— Romans 10:13 (NASB)

I know it is not by my own power and strength, but because of your mercy, that you saved me.

“For by grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not of yourselves, it is the gift of God;
9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast.”

— Ephesians 2:8-9 (NASB)

I know you have removed my sin as far as the east is from the west.

“As far as the east is from the west,
So far has He removed our wrongdoings from us.”

— Psalm 103:12 (NASB)

Every truth, I believe about God is backed by scripture and these are just a few of them. You could do whole studies on the attributes and characteristics of our Almighty Redeemer. It is important when we are in the darkness to go back to what we know is true and to cling to it.

Next week we will look at the next phase of our journey as we walk in the dark. Thank you for following along.

A Walkabout with God

The term walkabout was first heard of in 1897 and was used to describe the Aboriginal period of wandering bush life. A young man between the ages of 10 and 16 would go on his walkabout to make the journey to manhood, spending anywhere from a few weeks to six months out in the Australian bush country fending for himself. In more recent times the term walkabout is used in Britain to describe a casual outing among other people, mingling and socializing.

Image by falco from Pixabay

The other day I was struggling. I am human and real life often weighs heavily on me, causing me to lose clarity about who I am and who I belong to. I was sitting at the small, bar height, table that is strategically placed in the corner of what used to be a dining room, right next to a window. I love to sit there, (see below) especially in the winter, as that is where the sun light streams in for a good portion of the morning and afternoon. I was trying to pray, pleading with God to clear the fog out of my brain and help me to get back to His center, because that is always where I am most content.

Picture from Pantone Spring 2018 photo shoot by Rebecca Trumbull.

As I am often inclined to do when I am alone in the house, I got up and started to pace around the kitchen table and pray out loud. At times, I will stray from my elliptical orbit around the table, and walk a lap or two around the living room. I told God how I was feeling. I confessed my struggles: those of the flesh and those of the spirit. Like a young Aboriginal boy on his quest for manhood in the open country of the Australian outback, I walked, searching for a way to survive. I needed to find my place, my purpose and His peace.

The journey to spiritual maturity, or what we as Christ followers often refer to as holiness, or Christ-likeness is not an easy one.

“10 For they disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them, but He disciplines us for our good, so that we may share His holiness.”

— Hebrews 12:10 (NASB)

Life is often harsh and unrelenting, much like the heat of an Australian day or the deep, bone chilling cold of that same country’s nights. Survival depends on a variety of factors, including food, water, and a way to keep cool during the day and warm at night. In the same way, the process of maturing in our life with Christ is dependent on several factors. Let’s look at these more closely.

1 - The Need for Food

Image by cattalin from Pixabay

Obviously, we are talking about spiritual food, but the analogies I am going to draw apply to both our physical and spiritual beings. What we put into our bodies directly affects how we feel, what we are able to do and our quality of life. Believe me, this is an area I struggle with, and I know for a fact when I am eating better, eating less and getting enough water and exercise, I feel like a new person.

The need for the right kind of food for our spiritual lives is just as important. If we are feeding our minds a steady diet of news, social media, music without a positive message, movies, books or other forms of entertainment that do not glorify God, we are going to feel it. I am sure most of you, like me, were caught up in watching the news nonstop when the pandemic began. I am also sure many of you followed the media storm leading up to the election and its ensuing aftermath. It is very easy to become discouraged and hopeless when things are out of control, thus the need to feed on the good food of God’s word.

We are living in different times, but our God has not changed. He has provided all the nutrients we need to endure in this harsh reality we now find ourselves living in.

“For the bread of God is that which comes down out of heaven and gives life to the world.””

— John 6:33 (NASB)

“Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; the one who comes to Me will not be hungry, and the one who believes in Me will never be thirsty.”

— John 6:35 (NASB)

Jesus said He is the bread. He also says that if we come to Him we will not be hungry. Are you feeling a bit peckish in your spiritual life? Come to Jesus. Is your heart longing for fulfillment and satisfaction? Come to Jesus. What spiritual food are you longing for? No matter what your heart is aching for, Jesus can fill it up and make it feel whole again.

2. The Need for Water

Image by Arek Socha from Pixabay

The human body is made up of approximately 60% water. Our cells, tissues and organs cannot operate effectively if we do not have enough water. I am constantly telling my family to drink more water. This life giving substance is even more important if you are in a survival situation like the Australian outback. The area is arid and there are very few trees. Having water with you, or finding a clean water source is essential to survival.

Once again, we see this need for water extends to our spiritual lives. Without true water, we will always be returning to the well to try to quench our thirst. That well may be food, alcohol, drugs or sex. It could also be buying more things, or immersing ourselves into romance novels and pornography. It seems to satisfy for a time, just like drinking a soda or a cup of coffee can give you a little hydration. The problem is, it does not last.

Jesus told us in John 6:35 that if we come to Him we will never be hungry. He also says we will never be thirsty. Many of you know the familiar Biblical event of the woman at the well, found in John 4. You can see two posts I did on that passage last fall: May the Source Be with You: A Woman, a Well and Some Water and May the Source Be with You: An Exclamation, an Explanation and an Effect. What did Jesus tell her?

“13 Jesus answered and said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again;
14 but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never be thirsty; but the water that I will give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up to eternal life.””

— John 4:13-14 (NASB)

Imagine you are walking in that dry, arid bush country, or perhaps you are crossing a vast desert. How would you feel after days and days without so much as a drop of water, to come upon an oasis; a place of palm trees and a cool, bubbling, trickling spring of precious water? Wouldn’t your heart swell with relief and your throat constrict with tears of gratitude? My dear friends, Jesus is our oasis. He is the water we need when our lives have become a long journey through the arid regions of living. He is that cool, sweet, bubbling brook, when we no longer have the strength or the will to go on. He is the God who fills our hungry stomachs and soothes our parched throats. All this He does for us, and more!

3 - The Need for Comfort

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We all want to feel comfortable. In the cold of winter we never give a thought to turning up the heat. In the heat of summer some of you switch from heat to air conditioning. Others of us, throw open the windows and get out the fans. When we have a headache we take medicine and when we are anxious or upset we find a friend to talk to who will listen and give us comfort. Is our God, not so much more than heaters, fans and pain medication? He is the God who comforts.

“When my anxious thoughts multiply within me, Your comfort delights my soul.”

— Psalm 94:19 (NASB)

“Shout for joy, you heavens! And rejoice, you earth! Break forth into joyful shouting, mountains! For the Lord has comforted His people And will have compassion on His afflicted.”

— Isaiah 49:13 (NASB)

“3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort,
4 who comforts us in all our affliction so that we will be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.
5 For just as the sufferings of Christ are ours in abundance, so also our comfort is abundant through Christ. ”

— 2 Corinthians 1:3-5 (NASB)

These are just a few of the verses in the Bible that mention the word comfort, but there are so many more. In addition, if you look up the attributes of God and the characteristics of those attributes you begin to realize, God loves to comfort His people. Yes, He is a righteous, holy and just God and He cannot tolerate sin, but He has provided the way, through His son Jesus Christ, the Lord of all comfort.

When we are faced with difficulties, it is easy to run to things that are convenient and well, comfortable. I have gone shopping when I am stressed. I eat junk when I am discouraged. I veg out on Netflix shows when I want to escape, but none of those things are going to give me the comfort I really need. God, and God alone, truly knows how to comfort the deep layers of my soul.

4 - The Need to Change our Mindset

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I have to believe that a young man who walks off into the Australian bush country alone, to survive for who knows how long, has to be going into it with a certain mindset. He knows what is expected of him, because it has always been expected of young men by his people. His mother may feel anxious about this step for her son, but she knows it is what he must do to become a man. She knows he will draw upon all he has learned up until this point to survive, including how to find food and water, and how to get through the harsh conditions.

I think that we have done a disservice to our children. We have coddled them. We have protected them. We have neglected to put the expectation on them, that one day they have to grow up and be men and women. We have also not taught them the truth, that life is harsh and hard; that people will hurt them and that they will need to understand forgiveness and love are choices, not feelings.

“And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.”

— Romans 12:2 (NASB)

One of the most important things I have learned over the last decade as a Christ follower, is growing in Christ is a choice. I cannot just sit around thinking I’ve got the ticket to heaven so all is good. I want to know God. I want to enter in to His inner most layers, because that is where I will truly find His peace, His joy and His contentment. That only happens as we walk, run and fly with Him. That only happens in the dark places, when the clouds are relentless and the pain is an hourly companion.

If you are struggling, take a walkabout with God. He will bend you, stretch you and sharpen you. He will also encourage you, comfort you and remind you of His great, undying love!

“37 But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us.
38 For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers,
39 nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

— Romans 8:37-39 (NASB)

Thinking About Christmas - A Closer Look at Scripture

Happy Sunday, everyone. I don’t usually post on Sundays, but my schedule has been all over the place, so I figured I would post, when I get something out there for you to read.

I was going to keep plodding through my series on Our Unseen Enemy, but then I began to feel that we needed to take a break from that, to put our minds, and focus on the beauty surrounding the birth of Christ in the Scriptures. I know that many people celebrate Christmas without any regard for the birth of Christ. In fact, there are some movements to do away with the greeting of “Merry Christmas”, because we are a nation of mixed religions and belief systems. I would hope that those who desire to do away with the Christ in Christmas would at least take a moment to think about what they are asking. It is the case, in fact, that if I must tolerate and have respect for the many religions and thoughts systems that do not honor Christ, then ought not the same be done towards those of us who still choose to believe in the Christ of Christmas? I am not going to spend any more time on that, but I am going to encourage everyone who takes the time to read my blog, to extend the kindness, goodness and gentleness of our Lord Jesus to everyone you come into contact with at this time of year. Many are suffering and dealing with tragedies and brokenness and we are to be the light of the world.

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I came across a challenge on Instagram put out by Lauren Ash Lambert, a Faith, Fashion and Lifestyle influencer, who also does videos which are posted on Instagram. The challenge was called, Writing my Way to Christmas and is basically a list of scriptures in both the Old and New Testaments covering the prophecies and actual story of the birth of Christ. I thought it would be a great thing to do. My only problem, I haven’t gotten past the first day. I got so wrapped up in the first scripture and have just been spending time each day savoring that, that I have not gone any further. That’s when it came to me, to do a few blog posts on these beautiful Words of God.

The passage I want to look at first is Isaiah 9:6-7. Just like we do in my Mulling It Over series, I want to delve into these verses and take them apart piece by piece.

“For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given;
and the government shall be upon his shoulder,
and his name shall be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
7 Of the increase of his government and of peace
there will be no end,
on the throne of David and over his kingdom,
to establish it and to uphold it
with justice and with righteousness
from this time forth and forevermore.
The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.”

— Isaiah 9:6-7 (ESV)

You may recognize this passage from Handel’s Messiah. Turn up your speakers if you listen to it and imagine the angles in heaven singing this on the night of His birth.

For to us…

This announcement was made to us. To every single individual on this little, blue and green gem of a planet. Why is this important? Because if this announcement was made to the angels, or to some other entities that might be out there some where, it would be meaningless. We are God’s created beings. It is us, He chose to have a relationship with and place His image upon. This three word phrase is mentioned twice. I believe something twice mentioned is worth listening to twice as close.

…a Child is born…

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I chose to use the English Standard Version in this post, but I want to point out, in the New American Standard translation, there are several words that are capitalized. I will be showing those as capitals in the subtitles. I think it is important to look at several translations of the Bible when you are doing a more in depth study to see the different nuances of each.

The capital letter on Child causes me to believe this child is one of great importance. All of us, when referred to by our proper names, receive a capital letter at the beginning of our names. We all were taught that proper nouns, names of people, places, days of the week, months and so on, all begin with a capital letter. I am not sure why these details vary from one translation to the next, but this passage has long been looked at by theologians as a Messianic prophecy.

…a Son is given…

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Once again, we see that Son is a proper noun. The belief is, both Child and Son, are referring to Jesus. Jesus, the Child of Mary; Jesus, the Son of God. He is fully God, but also fully man. The blessing in this phrase is that the Son is given. If it is the case that the Son is given, we need to ask ourselves, why was He given? Revisiting a familiar verse, will remind us of the why.

“16 “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish, but have eternal life.”

— John 3:16 (NASB)

…and the government shall be upon His shoulder…

My NASB version gives several cross references for this phrase. What does it mean, exactly, that the government will be on His shoulder?

“18 And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me.”

— Matthew 28:18 (NASB)

First of all, it means that Jesus was and is, the complete authority. This authority was placed upon Him by His heavenly Father. The Father did this, so His Son would have the final say.

“25 For He must reign until He has put all His enemies under His feet.
26 The last enemy that will be abolished is death.
27 For He has put all things in subjection under His feet. But when He says, “All things are put in subjection,” it is clear that this excludes the Father who put all things in subjection to Him.
28 When all things are subjected to Him, then the Son Himself will also be subjected to the One who subjected all things to Him, so that God may be all in all.”

— 1 Corinthians 15:25-28 (NASB)

Second, this phrase, “…and the government shall be upon his shoulder…” reveals that he alone will have the ultimate power over his enemies, who will all be subject to Him; even the most final enemy of all, death.

Take a look at verses 27 and 28 of the 1 Corinthians passage. The Son, who was given the authority and responsibility by His heavenly Father, recognizes His place and subjects Himself, “..so that God (the Father), may be all in all.”

You have probably heard the quote, “With great power, comes great responsibility.” Truly that applies to our Savior. He took on this responsibility to save us.

There is so much in these verses, and I don’t want this post to get too long, so I am going to stop there and pick it up again in a few days. It is my hope that taking a look at these verses will remind you of the hope that you have, no matter what your current circumstances are.

Have a great day!

Our Unseen Enemy - Part 4: The Liar - Lies About Ourselves

Last week we saw how Satan uses lies about God to manipulate our feelings and beliefs towards Him. I showed you specifically lies about the earth’s origin, God’s goodness, God’s authority and God’s desire to have an intimate relationship with us. There are many more lies that Satan weaves about our sovereign God, but I only want to spend one week on each of these areas.

Today we are going to look at lies Satan tells us about ourselves. Have you ever noticed that voice that whispers in your ear, telling you, you aren’t pretty enough, smart enough, good enough and so on. Have you ever felt that your rights are being infringed upon, that you deserve better or that you are not being treated fairly? I believe most of us could say yes to at least a few of those questions, if not all.

Let’s look at a few of the lies Satan tells us. Be prepared for a multiplicity of opposing messages.

I am Not That Bad

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Aside from our struggles with self-worth I think many of us like to think, we really aren’t that bad. But, what does God’s word say about us?

“23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,”

— Romans 3:23 (ESV)

“6 For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.”

— Romans 5:6 (ESV)

“ 8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

— Romans 5:8 (ESV)

“23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

— Romans 6:23 (ESV)

We really are a hot mess aren’t we? We are sinners. This is a word we rarely see in our society and one that is preached on less and less in the church. We are sinful. We have missed the mark of perfection that God ordained from the first day of creation, because Adam and Eve chose to listen to that beautiful, beguiling serpent.

No matter how good you are, you are not good enough. That doesn’t mean we aren’t capable of doing good things, of serving others, of donating money, of helping those who are not able to help themselves, but that does not make us good enough for heaven.

“8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not of yourselves, it is the gift of God;
9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast.”

— Ephesians 2:8-9 (NASB)

This is an important tenant of the Christian faith. Look at that verse again. What was Satan’s biggest sin? Pride. If he had never been prideful, consumed with his beauty and desirous of God’s position, he probably would still be in heaven. Pride, is an insidious sin. It reaches its tendrils deep into our hearts. Why is salvation a gift of God? Because he knew our capacity for pride. Humility is key to entering the Kingdom of God. Remember the Rich Young Ruler? (See Matthew 19:16-26 for the full story) How many will be kept away from the streets of gold, by Satan’s lie, that they really aren’t that bad?

I am Not Enough

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Is it any wonder we feel confused all of the time? When we listen to Satan’s lies, we hear messages like the first, telling us we aren’t that bad, we are all going to get into heaven in the end. On the other hand he is constantly telling us, “You are a loser, a failure and you are never going to measure up.”

Our enemy is quite proficient at making us feel like we don’t quite hit the mark. We are constantly being bombarded by these messages through social media, movies, books, advertising and so on. Believe me, even in the blogosphere there is a great temptation to compare ourselves to each other. I fall easily into the message that I am not as pretty as, as thin as, or as productive as. When we hear these voices (or more specifically, our enemy’s voice) in our head we need to go to scripture and see what God says about us.

Yes, we have already established that we are sinners and nothing we can do will measure up to God’s perfection, yet, there is something we can do. We can acknowledge Christ as our Lord and Savior. It is by His perfect sacrifice and His spilt blood that we come to realize our worth in God’s eyes.

“There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”

— Romans 8:1 (ESV)

If we are Christ followers, then Satan’s words are useless against us, as long as we claim truth. I have done a study on Romans 8 and if you remember verse 1 is one of my favorites. Every time, I hear those thoughts in my head that say, “You are an idiot; What a failure; You’ll never amount to anything,” I take that verse and I wield it like a sword. No one can condemn me, because I AM HIS! His blood made me enough, no matter what anyone else says or thinks.

I Deserve This

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Being a wife and mother, as you have no doubt heard, is a thankless job. One of the lies that Satan loves to taunt us with is the idea that I deserve something. How many times have you felt let down because your husband didn’t notice your new hair cut, or remember your birthday or anniversary? How often did your kids neglect to say thank you or acknowledge all that you have done to make their lives easier? How did it make you feel when that friend who said they’d meet you for lunch, never showed up? It definitely makes a person feel invisible. I know, because I have been there.

During these times, it is easy to listen to Satan’s voice telling us we deserve to be angry, feel slighted or discouraged because of the way others have treated us. In addition, we often feel, that because we have been wounded we deserve to treat ourselves whether it be to a shopping trip or a pint of ice cream. Unfortunately, the only thing that listening to Satan’s lies gets us is a bad attitude, bills and extra pounds.

Our best defense is to be on the offense. Recognize that your spouse, kids, friends and others who have let you down are human, just like you. We will look more at that when we look at Satan’s lies about others. The best thing to do when we are feeling like we deserve something is to take those feelings to our Lord and let Him examine them. Are they feelings brought about by a success or an accomplishment? By all means treat yourself, but if they are feelings brought about by pain and discouragement there is only one place to feel fulfilled and at peace. At the nail pierced feet of our Lord, Jesus.

Read the whole of Psalm 139 for a reminder, that God knows you inside and out and He is always attentive to your feelings.

“23 Search me, O God, and know my heart!
Try me and know my thoughts!
24 And see if there be any grievous way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting!”

— Psalm 139:23-24 (ESV)

I Have a Right

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The desire for rights is innate in us. We want things to be fair. We want to be treated with respect and dignity and want that all people are treated that way; at least we say we do, until our rights are infringed upon.

I do believe there is a place for rights in our world, but I also believe that what God intended as a preservation for those who were and are afflicted and needy has become the war cry of anyone who wants to get their way. Look at all the law suits that have gone to court over attempts at misplaced rights. How much money did McDonalds have to pay to compensate the customer who spilled coffee on themselves and sued the retailer because she got burned? I’m sorry, but if I am buying a cup of coffee at McDonalds, I want it to be hot. If I spilled scalding coffee on myself, I would automatically think, “What a klutz I am,” and then go home and nurse my wounds. I would have never thought that my rights had been infringed because the retailer gave me exactly what I asked for.

The problem with a rights based mentality is that everything that does not measure up to your standard suddenly becomes about your rights. How many of the riots that happened over the last few months were truly about rights? How much of the violence that ensued at many of them were instigated by people who had nothing at all invested in the protest? Please don’t get me wrong. I believe racial, and economic disparities need to be investigated and changed, but in a true rights oriented society rights are for the good of the whole society, not just one particular person or group.

Satan will use whatever means it takes to create division, hatred, lust and covetousness among us all. He knows that these things will be our undoing and undoing is exactly what he wants.

Martin Luther King, Jr. is probably one of the first people we think of when we think of human rights in our country. He was a man of spiritual depth and wisdom. Read the following quotes.

“Property is intended to serve life, and no matter how much we surround it with rights and respect, it has no personal being. It is part of the earth man walks on. It is not man.”

— Martin Luther King, Jr.

“An individual has not started living until he can rise above the narrow confines of his individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity.”

— Martin Luther King, Jr.

“The limitation of riots, moral questions aside, is that they cannot win and their participants know it. Hence, rioting is not revolutionary but reactionary because it invites defeat. It involves an emotional catharsis, but it must be followed by a sense of futility.”

— Martin Luther King, Jr.

“We are not makers of history. We are made by history.”

— Martin Luther King, Jr.

“Love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into friend.”

— Martin Luther King, Jr.

“People fail to get along because they fear each other; they fear each other because they don’t know each other; they don’t know each other because they have not communicated with each other.”

— Martin Luther King, Jr.

“In the process of gaining our rightful place, we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred. We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again, we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force”

— Martin Luther King, Jr.

There are many more tidbits of wisdom from this man. Being a black man at the time, he completely understood the gaping crevice caused by the disparity between blacks and whites, but he also understood that the way to bring about change was not through hatred. Demanding our rights through anger, violence and force is a plot of the enemy, to be sure, both for those who are angry and for those who are fearful.

I Shouldn’t have to Feel Pain

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Perhaps one of the most detrimental lies the enemy dangles in front of our faces is that we shouldn’t have to feel pain, have things go wrong or live without pleasure. I am lumping this all together, because so often pain and pleasure go hand in hand.

God created a perfect world; a world without pain or suffering, but Adam and Eve’s choice to eat from the tree God had told them not too, ushered in a lifetime of generations of pain, sorrow and hardship, most of which are directly related back to sin. Childbirth, as most women who have had children naturally know, is painful. Kidney stones are painful. Surgery, cuts, headaches, achy joints and aging can all be painful. The amount of money, time and effort that our world spends trying to deal with pain is overwhelming and the ramifications of the desire to live without pain is evident in the catastrophic use of pain meds, psych meds and related therapies that cost millions of dollars every year. Many of these drugs lead to permanent addictions, that are extremely hard to pull out of and cost millions more to pay for different drugs, counseling and therapies.

In addition our society is consumed with pleasure. The desire to feel good all the time has become a way of life that eats away at our time, our pocketbooks and our very souls. Pleasure seeking and its related pursuits also results in many forms of addiction and bondage from eating disorders and drug use, to pornography and human trafficking.

Satan would like us to think that we shouldn’t have to deal with pain or that gnawing sense of emptiness. His lies tempt us to believe that people, or things, drugs or drink, sex or perversion will assuage the numbness that becomes our death companion when we are alone. People do not want to be alone and they don’t want it to be silent, or they will remember they are not fulfilled or happy.

“Man is also rebuked with pain on his bed and with continual strife in his bones,”

— Job 33:19 (ESV)

“For I am ready to fall, and my pain is ever before me.”

— Psalm 38:17 (ESV)

“But I am afflicted and in pain; let your salvation, O God, set me on high!”

— Psalm 69:29 (ESV)

“Why do you cry out over your hurt? Your pain is incurable. Because your guilt is great, because your sins are flagrant, I have done these things to you.”

— Jeremiah 30:15 (ESV)

“He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.””

— Revelation 21:4 (ESV)

Pain is a reality and the yearning we feel that often goes unfulfilled is the imprint of God on our hearts. He was, is and always will be the One who was meant to fill all of your longings.

Satan is lying to us about God and he is lying to us about ourselves. He uses our desire to be “somebody”, our desire to get what we think we deserve, our demand to have our rights fulfilled, and our desire to not feel pain, but only pleasure, to control us. The freedoms we as people are yelling about have become the shackles binding our hearts and our minds. He has us bound and has thrown away the key.

But, there is good news. Someone has a copy of the key and He can release us from these binds.

I hope you are encouraged in your walk with Jesus through this study we have been doing on our

Our Unseen Enemy - Part 4: The Liar - Lies About God

There are two books I want to recommend right off, before I even get started. I have been through both of these books as part of a women’s Bible study at the church we used to attend. These are excellent books, both by women. I referred to Lies Women Believe: and the Truth That Sets Them Free by Nancy Leigh Demoss, last week. The other is Battlefield of the Mind by Joyce Meyer. I am not receiving any compensation to recommend these books, I just believe they are two of the best books on this topic of lies of our enemy. I will definitely be using some of the same ideas as Nancy Leigh Demoss’s book and I want to say that at the outset. I would have never gotten to the point in my walk with Christ that I am at if it weren’t for the teaching and wisdom of other believers.

Let’s start by taking a look at why Satan would seek to discredit God. He can’t possibly think it will make any difference in the long run. Of course not, but remember we are dealing with a creature who is full of pride. Even though he knows the ultimate outcome is his demise, I believe he is seeking to take as many unbelievers down with him as possible. I also believe, he finds great joy in every failure on our part as Christ followers. Can’t you just see him, “Ha! You are a failure! So much for being bought with the blood. So there!”

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

Let’s take a look at some of the main areas where Satan lies with regard to God’s character and His relationship with His creation.

Earth’s Origin

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You might wonder why I am delving into this particular lie. I believe when we don’t adhere to the Biblical teaching of Creation, we set ourselves up for additional problematic issues concerning other truths that the scripture teaches, the first being the omnipotence of the Almighty God. As my husband always says, “I don’t know why God took so long. He could have created the whole world and all that is in it in six seconds!” I try to reassure him God did it for our benefit, because only one second of sleep would certainly not be enough. Ha. ha.

“In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth”

— Genesis 1:1 (ESV)

“And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.”

— Genesis 1:31 (ESV)

Why would this lie be so important to Satan and what does it mean with regard to God? Taking away the dignity of the creative effort with regard to humanity takes away the dignity of the human being. Why do we have issues with race and hatred? Could it be one man believes he is more “evolved” than another. What exactly was Hitler doing when he condemned millions of Jews to concentrations camps? What about the whole history of slave trade. Black slaves specifically, were looked at and talked about as being less “evolved”, even by people who called themselves Christians.

If you don’t believe Satan is involved in this lie, then take a deep breath. Do you smell that? Doesn’t it smell like pride? Isn’t pride the very thing that brought our enemy from his lofty position to a place of “going to and fro on the earth…” Pride can be blatantly worn on the sleeve in the form of white supremacy, or it can be as subtle as the thought, “They are not the same color as me, so they must not be as smart as me,” or “They live in that part of town, so they must be criminals.” By believing the lie that the earth evolved over millions and millions of years, we deny the most beautiful part of being human, the imprint of God on our very beings.

God’s Goodness

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When God created the world, He “saw that it was good.” It was good, because the Creator was and is good.

“Good and upright is the Lord; therefore he instructs sinners in the way.”

— Psalm 25:8 (ESV)

“Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him!”

— Psalm 34:8 (ESV)

“Remember not the sins of my youth or my transgressions; according to your steadfast love remember me, for the sake of your goodness, O Lord!”

— Psalm 25:7 (ESV)

“And he said to him, “Why do you ask me about what is good? There is only one who is good. If you would enter life, keep the commandments.””

— Matthew 19:17 (ESV)

While the Bible does not have a ton of verses that say specifically that God is good, it does contain plenty of verses that show the results of God’s goodness.

“And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.”

— Romans 8:28 (ESV)

“For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving,”

— 1 Timothy 4:4 (ESV)

The reason Satan focuses on God’s goodness is simple. If we question His goodness, then we will begin to doubt His love. When bad things happen we are all tempted to question whether God really has our best at heart, this is a result of questioning His goodness. The problem with that is, our doubts about God’s goodness do not change the fact that He is good.

There is a place where a choice has to be made to believe what God says. Faith is the tool that enables us to take the step out into the unknown. Choosing to believe, when the tsunamis of life assail on all sides, is the process that takes us into the deeper layers of God. You see, God’s characteristic of goodness does not change. He is fully good, all of the time. The only thing that changes is our perception of Him. If we allow pain, tragedy and discouragement to become the focus of our thoughts, we slowly begin to believe the lie, that God is not really good.

“Listening to counsel or ways of thinking that are not according to the Truth is the first step in developing wrong beliefs that will ultimately place us in bondage. Once we have listened to the lie, the next step toward bondage is that we . . . DWELL ON THE LIE.”

— Nancy Leigh Demoss - Lies Women Believe: and the Truth that Sets Them Free

God’s Authority

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This is an area that Satan has done intense work to spread the lie that God is a tyrant and does not truly love His creation. The very essence of secular humanism is to take away authority from a good and sovereign God and give it to the created being. While humanistic ideas such as equal treatment of all individuals, looking out for the good of others and being involved in entities that help others are good and needed parts of society, the more militant secular humanists, insist that we are perfectly capable of muddling through life without a tyrannical God looking over our shoulders waiting to squash us the very moment we mess up.

Just like a young person begins to question the ideas and authority of his/her parents, when humanity begins to question and cast aside the authority of God, he/she becomes a chaotic tangle of questions, emotions and doubts. When Satan steps in during these vulnerable times, it is easy for the teen, or other seeking individual to look to places, teachings, people and experiences that have nothing to do with a Holy and loving God. From there it is just a step into beliefs and mindsets that are either destructive or at the least blinding. During these times, many people would rather believe the lie, that they themselves are the ultimate authority, than believe there is a God who is bigger than they are.

Just like with God’s goodness. The fact that people choose to not believe in God’s authority, does not make it disappear. God was, is and always will be the One who has complete control over the whole picture. We may think it is our vote that determines the outcome of the upcoming election, but God has already determined the outcome. Does that mean we just don’t vote, or get involved? Certainly not. Everything in this life is allowed by the authority of the Almighty God, yet He gives us the freedom to make choices.

“And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.”

— Matthew 28:18 (ESV)

Who was it that gave Jesus “All authority…?” It certainly wasn’t Satan, and it wasn’t Aristotle or Socrates. God the Father gave His Son, all authority in heaven and on earth. Only one who has ultimate and full authority could give another deity, ultimate and full authority.

God’s Intimacy

Image by My pictures are CC0. When doing composings: from Pixabay

While there are many other lies our unseen enemy bombards us with about God I only want to look at one more. This one, I believe, is important to us as Christ followers. When I was a child being taught Bible stories in Sunday School, my teachers talked about “asking Jesus into my heart.” I wanted Jesus to be in my heart, because then I knew he would always be with me. When I got older and learned more about God, I began to see that He didn’t just want to be in my heart, He wanted to have a relationship with me. I surrendered my life to Christ when I was 12 years old, but it wasn’t until I was a senior at Moody Bible Institute that I realized God didn’t just want a relationship with me, He wanted to be intimate with me. This came about in a counseling session with a theology instructor, who helped me to understand, that my father issues with my own dad (he was somewhat distant and uninvolved in my life as a young person), were affecting my understanding of God.

Now, before some of you start accusing me a blasphemy, saying that a Holy God would never assume an intimate relationship with his creation, let me take you back to the Garden of Eden.

“8 And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.
9 But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?”
10 And he said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.”
11 He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?”
12 The man said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.”
13 Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this that you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.””

— Genesis 3:8-13 (ESV)

God walked in the Garden. He talked to Adam and Eve. I have to believe that this was a regular occurrence. If God had simply created them, gave them a few instructions and then left, I don’t think we would see this conversation play out the way it did. He speaks to them gently. He already knew what they had done, but like a gentle parent he coaxes the truth out of them and then delivers the consequences.

I know that we must have respect and “fear” towards this Almighty, Omnipotent being. He made us from dust and to dust we will return, but I also see repeatedly throughout His word, His desire to have a relationship with us. Satan will say there is no God and there is no greater being who controls the things that come in and out of our lives, but the truth is, He is! The last thing Satan want for you and I is to be an Enoch.

“Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him.”

— Genesis 5:24 (ESV)

“By faith Enoch was taken up so that he should not see death, and he was not found, because God had taken him. Now before he was taken he was commended as having pleased God.”

— Hebrews 11:5 (ESV)

A number of years ago I did a Beth Moore Bible study (I don’t remember which one, because the work book has been packed away), but she talked about how Enoch walked with God. Enoch’s name means dedicated, trained or diligent. Beth, who is an avid student of the Hebrew roots and meanings of words explained that Enoch’s name conveyed the idea of narrowing. As he walked with God, his focus narrowed, so that his main desire in life was to please and glorify God. Can you imagine how much demon butt we could kick if we were more like Enoch?

I hope you are learning and enjoying this study. Be sure, our unseen enemy does not want you to benefit from this study. He wants you to remain focused on the pain in your life and not the God in your life. The truth: God is the Omnipotent Creator of the world, God is good, God is the true Authority and God desires to have a relationship with you.

Have a good weekend!

Our Unseen Enemy - Part 4: The Liar - Introduction

We have seen that Satan is a manipulator, and a schemer, but one of the characteristics that we most often associate with this unseen enemy is that of lying. We often hear of Satan referred to as the Father of Lies. Jesus called him this in the following passage.

“39 They answered him, “Abraham is our father.” Jesus said to them, “If you were Abraham’s children, you would be doing the works Abraham did,
40 but now you seek to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. This is not what Abraham did.
41 You are doing the works your father did.” They said to him, “We were not born of sexual immorality. We have one Father—even God.”
42 Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and I am here. I came not of my own accord, but he sent me.
43 Why do you not understand what I say? It is because you cannot bear to hear my word.
44 You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.
45 But because I tell the truth, you do not believe me.
46 Which one of you convicts me of sin? If I tell the truth, why do you not believe me?
47 Whoever is of God hears the words of God. The reason why you do not hear them is that you are not of God.””

— John 8:39-47 (ESV)

Image by GeorgeB2 from Pixabay

The Bible doesn’t talk a great deal about Satan being a liar, yet there are various passages that talk about lying, our thought life, and being truthful. It makes sense that a being whose sole desire is the fall of what God created, and whose characteristics include scheming and manipulating, would also feel at ease with lying.

God has commanded us to not lie.

“11 “You shall not steal; you shall not deal falsely; you shall not lie to one another.
12 You shall not swear by my name falsely, and so profane the name of your God: I am the Lord.”

— Leviticus 19:11-12 (ESV)

“Lying lips are an abomination to the Lord,
but those who act faithfully are his delight.”

— Proverbs 12:22 (ESV)

“9 Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices
10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.”

— Colossians 3:9-10 (ESV)

“12 “Behold, I am coming soon, bringing my recompense with me, to repay each one for what he has done.
13 I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.”
14 Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life and that they may enter the city by the gates.
15 Outside are the dogs and sorcerers and the sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.”

— Revelation 22:12-15 (ESV)

It would seem that God absolutely does not approve of lying, in fact, to Him it is an abomination. Those who practice lying will not be allowed into the Celestial City of God. I am a firm believer in honesty. Have I lied? Yes, and I have always felt bad about it and tried to repent as soon as possible.

Do you know why Satan uses this tactic so frequently? He uses lying because it is easy. His ability to prod and manipulate a person might cajole them into telling a small lie, but the small lie becomes another, and soon another, and eventually, lying is a chronic condition. All Satan had to do was get the ball rolling.

Image by Smim Bipi from Pixabay

An analogy comes to my mind about the ferocious carnivore, the Tyrannosaurus Rex. It has long been touted that this beast was the king of dinosaurs, tromping about in prehistory, gobbling up his prey like a toddler would gobble up candy that was within his grasp. While it is true that he was large, toothy, and made a formidable opponent, many times he fed off the carcasses of other beasts that had previously died. It seems Mr. T-rex wasn’t always the most motivated when it came to obtaining his supper.

Satan is much the same way. He will do as little work as possible to obtain his desires. He knows the sinful nature of humanity will go a long way to achieving his goals; all he need do is arrange a meeting, whisper a lie, and let hatred, pride and lust take over.

“Listening to counsel or ways of thinking that are not according to the Truth is the first step in developing wrong beliefs that will ultimately place us in bondage. Once we have listened to the lie, the next step toward bondage is that we . . . DWELL ON THE LIE.””

— Nancy Leigh DeMoss - Lies Women Believe: And the Truth that Sets them Free

In order to do this tactic of Satan justice, I feel that I need to divide this into three more posts. It is essential that we understand what this tactic looks like and how it affects our world view. Over the next three weeks I am going to look at three areas that are affected by our unseen enemy’s lies and how these are brought about. I will divide these posts as follows:

1 - Lies that affect our view of God.

2 - Lies that affect our view of ourselves.

3 - Lies that affect our view of others.

May the Source Be With You: An Exclamation, an Explanation and an Effect

Last week we looked at John 4:7-26. This passage of scripture tells us about the encounter a Samaritan woman has with the Lord Jesus. We learned that Jews and Samaritans had long been bitter enemies and would not talk to each other, let alone would a Jewish man approach a Samaritan woman to give him a drink. Jesus did, however, and a conversation ensued that would not only change the woman’s life, but the lives of many in her village. Let’s look at the next part of the passage.

“27 At this point His disciples came, and they were amazed that He had been speaking with a woman, yet no one said, “What do You seek?” or, “Why do You speak with her?” 28 So the woman left her water pot, and went into the city and *said to the men, 29 “Come, see a man who told me all the things that I have done; this is not the Christ, is it?” 30 They went out of the city, and were coming to Him.”

— John 4:27-30 (NASB)

Image by JamesDeMers from Pixabay

The Exclamation

We can see in the verses above, the disciples were “amazed that He had been speaking with a woman.” They did not question him however, and the woman, who was obviously so excited she left her water pot behind, went into the city and exclaimed, “Come, see a man who told me all the things that I have done; this is not the Christ, is it?”

I find it interesting that the men of the city listened to her. Once again, I think this woman, while not the most proficient at keeping a husband, seemed to have some amount of sway in the community. She asks them to confirm what she was already on the verge of believing herself: Jesus was the Messiah. She was not afraid of being laughed at, bullied or ridiculed. Her excitement seemed to overflow and she could not resist the urge to let the truth of what had happened to her and what Jesus had taught her, bubble forth, like a spring of water.

Image by Achim Böhmer from Pixabay

“31 Meanwhile the disciples were urging Him, saying, “Rabbi, eat.” 32 But He said to them, “I have food to eat that you do not know about.” 33 So the disciples were saying to one another, “No one brought Him anything to eat, did he?” 34 Jesus *said to them, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to accomplish His work. 35 Do you not say, ‘There are yet four months, and then comes the harvest’? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look on the fields, that they are white for harvest. 36 Already he who reaps is receiving wages and is gathering fruit for life eternal; so that he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together. 37 For in this case the saying is true, ‘One sows and another reaps.’ 38 I sent you to reap that for which you have not labored; others have labored and you have entered into their labor.””

— John 4:31-38 (NASB)

The Explanation

After the woman left, the disciples seemed overly concerned with Jesus’ physical need for food. Knowing their eyes were still not open at this point to His true identity he takes a few moments to teach them about His true purpose and mission, to do the will of His Father and to accomplish His work. He draws an analogy from the fields around them likening them to the harvest of souls for eternal life. While I am not Bible scholar, it seems to me, Jesus was not only teaching them about His purpose, He was going back to answer their initial question as to why He was talking to that woman. She was part of the harvest that He was going to reap. He was also drawing the parallel that physical food is not as important as doing the will of God.

Image by Free-Photos from Pixabay

“39 From that city many of the Samaritans believed in Him because of the word of the woman who testified, “He told me all the things that I have done.” 40 So when the Samaritans came to Jesus, they were asking Him to stay with them; and He stayed there two days. 41 Many more believed because of His word; 42 and they were saying to the woman, “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves and know that this One is indeed the Savior of the world.””

— John 4:39-42 (NASB)

The Effect

It is with excitement and awe we read about the effect of this woman’s testimony. The Word is clear, “From that city many of the Samaritans believed in Him because of the word of the woman who testified, ‘He told me all the things I have done.’” Jesus stayed on two more days at their request and, “Many more believed because of His word.”

There are several things I want us to take away from this: As women we have value, we can and should be bold, and we have the source of living water.

What prompted me to go this direction on my Faith page was a devotion I read in Oswald Chamber’s My Utmost for His highest. If you regularly follow me, you know that is one of my favorite devotional books and I use it regularly. The title of September 7th’s devotion was, “Fountains of Blessing.” You can read the entire devotion by clicking on the link.

Image by Arek Socha from Pixabay

Our value is directly tied to the fact that we are a creation of God, and His Son, Jesus, chose to give His life for our eternal well being. It doesn’t matter if you are a man, woman, adult, child, black, white, red or yellow; you have value because of who God is and who you are to Him.

Image by skeeze from Pixabay

We can and should be bold in our witness for Him. That doesn’t mean we need to know special verses or have just the right words to say. All we need to do is be obedient. If He gives us the opportunity to share the gospel, we need to do it. If we merely share what Christ has done for us, or as the Samaritan woman did, share that Jesus knows everything about us, yet He still loves us. There is nothing in the Bible that says we have to be another Billy Graham to share God’s love. Believe me, in the world we are living in right now, we need to speak truth, His truth, even if it is uncomfortable.

Image by Pezibear from Pixabay

If we have the Spirit of Jesus living in us, we are a fountain of living water for everyone around us. A fountain continues to give water, at all times. It doesn’t get tired or turn itself off, because its source is coming from deep down inside. Recently, I have seen how Christ has been this source of living water in my own life. It seems everyone around me, needs something and many around me are tired, overwhelmed and negative. All of that has the tendency to suck us dry. However, when I know the source of my strength, joy and peace is coming from Him, I never do run dry. His living water keeps me from becoming a desert wasteland.

The best way to receive the living water is to know the source of that living water. If you know Jesus as your Lord and Savior you already have that source and you only need ask and He will give you refreshment over and over.

I hope you are having a great weekend and don’t forget to spend some time going to the source .

May the source be with you always!

Tended Dreams

This is a fiction piece by Amy D. Christensen

So many coffins! Why were there so many coffins?

Image by Lisa Yount from Pixabay

The One who stood beside me looked out over the vast area filled with every manner of death box imaginable. There were pine boxes, reminding me of the Old West, golden sarcophagi, dark cherry wood polished until it shimmered and many, many more. It would take days to count how many coffins filled the valley: literally a valley of dry bones. Here and there I could see beings of light, I assumed were angles, tending to the coffins.

“Who are they,” I asked looking up into his dark eyes.

They were brown, but seemed to be edged with golden light; a light that came from deep within His heart.

He smiled at me, though I could tell there was a deep sadness behind that smile. “Not who, but what?”

“I do not understand.”

Image by Jackson David from Pixabay

He took my hand, squeezing it firmly. It felt as though just a bit of strength tingled from his fingers into mine filling my whole body with warmth. It was as though someone had just draped a warm blanket over my shoulders.

“These coffins hold dreams.”

“Dreams?”

“Come. Let’s walk and I will show you.”

I was afraid. I had always been afraid to be around death. I never liked going to funerals and walking through grave yards was fine during the day when the sky was blue, but when the sun went down and the mists began to creep along the ground, no thank you! I planted my feet firmly.

He turned to look at me. “It will be alright. You are with me, and I would never let anything hurt you. Not any more.”

His eyes took in the depth of my soul. It was then I knew. He knew everything about me and yet, it was completely obvious how much He loved me.

“Come.” He smiled again and I let myself be pulled along.

We moved in among the elongated boxes and I couldn’t help but admire how intricately beautiful some of them were. Many were very simple and completely unadorned, while others had been carved and embellished with decorative swirls and etchings, some of which looked to be letters in various languages.

He stopped before a dark box whose wood was so polished and smooth I could see myself in it.

Image by composita from Pixabay

“This one belongs to a man who took great pride in his work. He built his own business from the ground up. When he met his wife, he knew he wanted to have a family. He wanted many children, hoping that a few of them would one day carry on the family business. His wife died in child birth. He never remarried and eventually sold the business.”

He moved me along to another box a little ways away. This one was much more ornate than the last one. It was covered in beautiful scroll work.

Image by JamesDeMers from Pixabay

“This one belongs to a woman who married young. She had dreams of becoming an archeologist, but her husband said her place was in the home with the children. She had a brood, and when there were no more children to be birthed, her husband left her for a younger woman.”

“How terrible!”

The next coffin he stopped before was smaller. Not the size of a child, but not a full adult either. It was white and decorated with pretty pink and yellow flowers.

Image by S. Hermann & F. Richter from Pixabay

“The girl whose dreams reside here was only 16 when a drunk driver took away her ability to walk. She wanted to be a dancer hoping that sad people would find joy in the movement of music and dance.”

He stretched out his hand and rubbed the top of the pretty box, as if remembering.

I felt my eyes sting with tears. He began to walk again and I pulled my hand from His.

“Why are you showing me these things?”

He did not speak. I could see tears in his own eyes. He held out his hand.

Once again, I placed mine in his and we walked for a while in silence.

The next box we stopped in front of was rather simple and unassuming. In fact as we had walked it occurred to me there were many coffins like this. They weren’t plain and simple like an Old West pine box, nor were they richly adorned. They were, in fact plain and unnoticeable.

“Why are there so many like these?”

He looked out over the valley, turning his head from one side to another. “These are the dreams of mothers for their children; wives for their marriages; grandmothers for their grandchildren. As is so often the case these go unnoticed. Mothers go about their lives, most often never asking for the help they need, the desires that go unmet and the thanks they so deserve. Unlike many, who have one major dream of what they want to do with their lives, mothers, wives and grandmothers often have the most dreams and, as you can tell by these coffins, so very many of them must be laid to rest.”

Image by Richard Mcall from Pixabay

“Well, if that’s the case, why aren’t their coffins more ornate and noticeable? Why are they so plain?”

“Because their desires were simple. They wanted their children to grow up without damage and problems. They wanted their husbands to talk to them. They wanted their families to get along…simple things really, yet so important. Unfortunately, very few take into account the dreams of a mother. They love her and are glad for her, but they rarely get to know the woman that she is underneath all that she does: the writer, the singer, the artist, the leader, the warrior. So very many dreams that had to die.”

“But why?” I was beginning to feel upset. “Why should they have to give up their dreams?”

“Because they knew what was really at stake. They knew that the most important part of life was relationship. They were willing to give up everything else, so that relationships with their children, husbands and grandchildren could continue. You see life is not about the dreams that come true, it is about the relationships that are built, or abandoned, along the way.”

He stepped away from the box. “Come. I have one last thing to show you.”

Again, he took my hand and once again I felt the mild tingle of His strength moving me forward and warming me.

The sight we came to next took my breath away. A sea of tiny, infant sized coffins, each adorned with a small, flickering candle, floated silently on a huge glassy lake. The light on each coffin produced a shimmering reflection in the surrounding water. It was all at once beautiful and horrifying.

Image by Hans Braxmeier from Pixabay

He sensed my discomfort and putting his arm around my shoulders, pulled me close.

“Even a baby has dreams. In the world as you know it, when babies are born they do not have language, but the truth is, all that are conceived have the imprint of heavenly language. It is in this realm that they dream. They dream of small things, but still they are dreams. Smiles, green grass, blue skies, their mother’s face, their father’s laugh, the feeling of human touch, but alas, none of these dear ones ever got to realize their dreams.”

I gasped, as the sea of coffins seemed to go on forever. Tears slipped down my face.

He turned me towards him.

“You have dreams too. I showed you all these things because I want you to know that each and every dream you have is important to me. Each and every dream that you must give up, I will know about and I will tend to. That is how much I love you!”

* * * * * * *

Often, when I write a piece like this, I feel it is God giving me a way to express my own feelings and thoughts, but in the form of a story. An allegory tells a story in the form of imagery. I hope that the picture I painted above shows you, that Jesus loves you with an everlasting love and that every single dream you have achieved, and every single desire you have had to give up, He is aware of and He holds in the palm of His hand. I write, because I need to remember this, and maybe you do too.

You are deeply loved!

Be Encouraged! Remembering the Spirit.

The last two weeks, I have been taking you through a journey of encouragement by looking first at the characteristics of God, then the characteristics of Jesus. I find encouragement during these difficult times by remembering these unchanging characteristics of the triune Godhead. The reason these things are encouraging is based on Philippians 4:8.

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

— Philippians 4:8 (NASB)

Image by Jeff Jacobs from Pixabay

We are told in this verse to dwell on these things; the things being whatever is true, honorable, pure, etc. What I do know at this point in time is that not everything that is being written and put out by the media is true. Certainly, many of the goings on in our country are not honorable or pure. When this sort of chaos ensues, I think the best place to focus our minds is on God Himself. He characterizes every single one of the traits mentioned in Philippians 4:8. How do we know these things to be true? This is where we look at the Holy Spirit. One of His main jobs is the communication of truth to our spirit.

The Holy Spirit is the third person of the trinity. God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. Each of these Holy Beings is separate, yet they all have one mind and one desire: our salvation and glorification. There are churches that place too much emphasis on the Spirit, claiming that without the filling and subsequent slaying of the Spirit we are not saved. There are also churches that don’t place enough emphasis on the Spirit, claiming that it is the mind that is influenced by God and emotions have little place in the Christian religion.

Image by Mediamodifier from Pixabay

My view, is one of balance. The Holy Spirit is just as important as God the Father and God the Son, but He is not more important than them. He is not mean to be worshipped as first and foremost, but is is also not meant to be excluded.

Let’s look at a a few of the traits of the Holy Spirit.

He is a helper.

“26 But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you.”

— John 14:26 (NASB)

I think the Holy Spirit helps us in many ways, but Jesus points out a few important ones in this verse.

He will teach us all things. I believe that when we become a Christ follower, the Spirit comes and takes up residence in us. He then works to teach us things we didn’t know; things like what sin looks like, who Jesus is, and how we are able to relate to an Almighty being like God.

He helps us remember what Jesus said. Have you ever memorized Scripture? It is amazing how, the Spirit will bring it back again and again. even when we no longer remember exactly what book and chapter it is in. Even when our minds are cluttered with so many things, the Spirit can still bring to our memory concepts and truths, even when we don’t remember the actual scriptures.

He baptizes and fills.

Image by Ahstubbs from Pixabay

There is plenty of confusion and debate over the baptism and filling of the Holy Spirit, and I am not claiming to know exactly when and how each of these things happens. I believe we are baptized with the Spirit when we receive Christ as our Lord and Savior. This happens once, just as the literal baptism with water is a one time act to identify ourselves in the life, death and resurrection of Christ.

“for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”

— Acts 1:5 (NASB)

Filling, seems to be a more repetitive act that occurs as we give ourselves to God and to His work, not only in ourselves, but in the world.

“And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit was giving them utterance.”

— Acts 2:4 (NASB)

“Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, “Rulers and elders of the people,”

— Acts 4:8 (NASB)

“And when they had prayed, the place where they had gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak the word of God with boldness.”

— Acts 4:31 (NASB)

“And the disciples were continually filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.”

— Acts 13:52 (NASB)

He speaks and directs.

Image by Ryan McGuire from Pixabay

The Holy Spirit is the one who leads and directs us. He helps us to have wisdom, make decisions and understand the will of God. Some people will claim that the little voice inside our heads is our conscience. For those of us who claim to be Christ followers we believe those whispers and urgings are from the Holy Spirit Himself. This is especially true when we are faced with a temptation to sin. Have you even felt that tug or check from the Spirit I am talking about? Often, it is a thought that pops into my head. “Don’t do that,” or an urging in my spirit, “Go talk to that elderly lady.” Many times the Spirit brings back to my mind those Scriptural truths that I need to remember at just the right time. During this overwhelming time of Covid life, He constantly reminds me of Philippians 4:4-7 which is one of the best passages for dealing with anxiety.

“While they were ministering to the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for Me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.””

— Acts 13:2 (NASB)

“So, being sent out by the Holy Spirit, they went down to Seleucia and from there they sailed to Cyprus.”

— Acts 13:4 (NASB)

““For it seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to lay upon you no greater burden than these essentials:”

— Acts 15:28 (NASB)

He embodies fellowship.

Image by emailamyd from Pixabay

One of the things that many of us are missing right now is the ability to fellowship with other believers. It is good that churches are doing live streaming and a number of them are also doing outdoor services to provide another option for people to be together and still maintain social distancing. My spouse and I left the church we had been attending for over 20 years a few years ago, for reasons I am not able to disclose, so we have been without regular fellowship for a long time. We have looked at other churches, but as of yet have not found a new church home. I believe there are times that God leads us out into the wilderness for reasons only known to Him. While this journey has been difficult, I will say the Holy Spirit has been a true and faithful companion each and every day. There are moments where my fellowship with Him, the Lord Jesus, and God my Father, are sweeter than anything I have ever known with a person. If you are feeling alone and cut off from your family of believers, remember the Holy Spirit lives in you and you can have sweet, blessed fellowship at any time with Him.

He gives gifts to us.

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One of the reasons we are able to have sweet fellowship with and through the Holy Spirit has to do with the gifts that He gives to us.

“for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.”

— Romans 14:17 (NASB)

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Righteousness - It is through Jesus’ work on the cross and the Holy Spirit’s work in our lives that “we become the righteousness of God in Him,” (2 Corinthians 5:21). This is such an encouragement to me and where Christianity differs from all other religions. It is not our goodness that makes us righteous and holy, but Christ’s shed blood and the Holy Spirit’s possession of our hearts.

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Peace - Who couldn’t use a little peace right now? Yet peace is something we are guaranteed as a Christian, if we put our minds in the right place.

“These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.””

— John 16:33 (NASB)

“In peace I will both lie down and sleep, For You alone, O Lord, make me to dwell in safety.”

— Psalm 4:8 (NASB)

“The Lord will give strength to His people; The Lord will bless His people with peace.”

— Psalm 29:11 (NASB)

“Those who love Your law have great peace, And nothing causes them to stumble.”

— Psalm 119:165 (NASB)

“For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace,”

— Romans 8:6 (NASB)

“for God is not a God of confusion but of peace, as in all the churches of the saints.”

— I Corinthians 14:33 (NASB)

“And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

— Philippians 4:7 (NASB)

If you are lacking peace right now, do a Bible study on the word. You will find many scriptures that talk about peace. It is definitely worth while to know some of these scriptures.

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Joy - This is another word that has been the focus of some debate in the Christian community. What is the difference between joy and happiness. I personally think joy is much deeper and more enduring than happiness. Happiness is based on our present circumstances or attitudes, whereas joy is ours simply because we are His, no matter what the circumstances. I am sure many of you have heard the phrase, “Choose Joy.” While this might seem a bit trite in our current circumstances, it is a good idea. Just as we need to think on those things that I mentioned at the beginning of this long post, we also can choose to focus on the joy we have because of our relationship with Christ.

“You will make known to me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy; In Your right hand there are pleasures forever.”

— Psalm 16:11 (NASB)

“For His anger is but for a moment, His favor is for a lifetime; Weeping may last for the night, But a shout of joy comes in the morning.”

— Psalm 30:5 (NASB)

He intercedes for us.

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The Holy Spirit does many things for us, but this is perhaps my favorite. We went over this portion of scripture when we did our study of Romans 8.

“26 In the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words;
27 and He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.”

— Romans 8:26-27 (NASB)

To know that the Spirit is praying for me, not just praying, but interceding with groanings to deep for words makes me feel overwhelmed with gratitude. How many times, especially over the last few months, have you found yourself not even sure how to pray? I know I have many times, but it is during these difficult days our Holy Spirit is taking up the cause and praying to the Father on our behalf. The beautiful thing is, He is praying according to the Father’s will which is always for our good.

There are many other characteristics of God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit in the Bible. If you are feeling discouraged, I want to encourage you to dig deep into the truth of God’s word. It will lift you up, mentally, emotionally and spiritually.

Have a great week!

Nothing Can Separate Us from Him

This week, I hope to finish our study of Romans chapter 8. We have learned a lot from this one chapter of Scripture. We have been reminded that “there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” We are told that “what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering.” We learned that the “Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children.” We also are reminded that, “the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us.” We are given testimony of God’s desire to adopt us, Christ’s desire to be a sacrifice for us, and the Spirit’s delight to make us like Him.

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“36 As it is written:
“For your sake we face death all day long;
we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”
37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.
38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers,
39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

— Romans 8:36-39 (NASB)

Verse 36 might be a little confusing, yet as we look at it we must admit that we are indeed facing death each and every day, each and every moment. We do not choose this death, but Christ did and He did it, so that we might be victorious.

“We are conquerors: though killed all the day long, yet conquerors. A strange way of conquering, but it was Christ’s way; thus he triumphed over principalities and powers in his cross. It is a surer and a nobler way of conquest by faith and patience than by fire and sword. The enemies have sometimes confessed themselves baffled and overcome by the invincible courage and constancy of the martyrs, who thus overcame the most victorious princes by not loving their lives to the death,”

— Matthew Henry Bible Commentary on Romans 8:36

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“They triumphed over him
by the blood of the Lamb
and by the word of their testimony;
they did not love their lives so much
as to shrink from death.”

— Revelation 12:11 (NASB)

Verse 37 says that we are more than conquerors, and it adds that it is through Him who loved us. You see we are not conquerors on our own. Sure, there are times when we pull ourselves up by our own bootstraps, but more often that is how we keep going: keep working, keep loving, keep running, keep caring, keep on keeping on. To truly conquer all the things that the enemy and life throws our way requires someone much more like a super hero than I.

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The beauty of this idea, is that Christ, not only saves and conquers for us, but he loves us. Once again, we are reminded of His love. I think that truly believing God loves us, is very hard for us to do. We often find it much easier to love and forgive others, but when it comes to loving and forgiving ourselves we stumble, fall and sometimes just give up. Aren’t you glad, that our view of ourselves does not limit Christ’s view of us?

Verse 38 and 39 begins with Paul’s confidence in the person of the Christ. If Paul can be confident in Him, should we also share that confidence? Paul says he is “convinced.” From that we can derive that at one point in time, Paul did not share this conviction or confidence. If you are familiar with Saul’s conversion on the road to Damascus, the Lord Himself changed his name to Paul and convinced him of the truth and solidity of the Gospel and the person of Jesus Christ.

What is Paul convinced of?

“That neither - “

death nor life

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angels nor demons

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the present nor the future

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nor any powers

height nor depth

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nor anything else in all of creation

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Will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

We must realize that God’s love is only fulfilled through the sacrifice of His perfect Son. It is that love, the love that we obtain when we call Him Lord, that will keep us forever with Him. Nothing, will be able to separate us from Him and from His love. If you want a real romance story, then this is it. He is the great warrior prince who will never leave you, and if you are taken away and enslaved by the enemy, He will not rest until you are back in His loving arms.

I wanted to share this chapter with you, because it is such an encouraging one to me. I hope you have been encouraged by it as well.

He Intercedes for Us

As we slowly come to the end of Romans chapter 8, I am simply amazed at the amount of “good stuff” in this single chapter of the Bible. God’s Word is, indeed, living, active and sharp. I hope that this chapter has had a deep impact on you, as it has on me. Today we need to look at some questions.

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“33 Who will bring a charge against God’s elect? God is the one who justifies;
34 who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us.
35 Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? ”

— Romans 8:33-35 (NASB)

The questions continue as we look at these verses.

Who will bring a charge against God’s elect?

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We are living in times where the more we talk about not judging and not hating, the more we judge and hate. People are angry, upset, frustrated, sick and tired. It it so easy to want to judge. We fall into this mindset easily as we are normally prone to want to defend ourselves and our actions. However, there is only One who judges with truth and equity.

“And He will judge the world in righteousness; He will execute judgment for the peoples with equity.”

— Psalm 9:8 (NASB)

God is the one who justifies.

The definition we looked at a few weeks ago for justification reads this way, “to judge, regard, or treat as righteous and worthy of salvation.” This definition is specific to situation where salvation is needed, as in a prisoner’s salvation from the death sentence, or our salvation from eternal damnation. Only God is able to justify. He is the perfect one.

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“Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”

— Matthew 5:48 (NASB)

Who is the one who condemns?

We often act as though we are judge and jury, that what we say goes and there is no other alternative, but only Jesus who passed through the gates of death, walked into Hell and vaporized the chains of sin, is able to condemn.

Christ Jesus is He who dies, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us.

It was because of our sin, that His sacrifice was necessary. It doesn’t matter how we try to justify our actions, our words, our thoughts or our yearnings, we are sinners. Each and every one of us. The only way to get out of this bramble of thorny sin infested vines is to give our lives to Him. The reason He makes the difference, is because He rose again. Not only did He rise again, he returned to His place at the right hand of His Father, and ours, and there He intercedes for us. He speaks to His father about us.

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This image of Father and Son conversing over our behalf is an emotional one for me. My dad and brothers did not always see eye to eye. My dad was also not a very affectionate person towards us kids. As we got older, that changed, but growing up it was my mom that took care of us and met our emotional needs. The thought of Jesus the Son and God the Father having these talks over you and I is an amazing concept.

Who will separate us from the love of Christ?

I find it interesting that Paul asks this question, but then follows it with another question.

Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril or sword?

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This is not an answer to the Who will separate us, but a further questioning of the What will separate us. Will tribulation? No! Distress? No! Persecution? No! Famine? No! Nakedness? No! Peril? No! Sword? No! None of these things will separate us from Christ and no person will separate us from His love.

“The Lord appeared to him from afar, saying, “I have loved you with an everlasting love; Therefore I have drawn you with lovingkindness.”

— Jeremiah 31:3 (NASB)

I found this song when I was looking for something that would go with the idea that Jesus is interceding for us. It might be a little old fashioned, but the message is clear and the harmony is beautiful. Enjoy!

Next week we will finish up Romans 8. Have a great week everyone.