Trouble Trusting God?

Is the problem with trusting God that you feel He’s let you down?

If I’ve failed you, I hope you would come to me about it. Offenses divide us, driving a wedge between us. God deserves no less. Talk with Him about it. Let Him shine His light on the matter.

Today I learned the definition of the word prodigal: one reckless in their spending. I presume that means in their spending of money, but how are you spending your life?

At the appointed time – Christ came into the world as a newborn.

At the appointed time, He was crucified.

And again, at the appointed time, He rose from the grave.

At the appointed time – we all meet Jesus. When I meet someone new, I choose whether to carry on with them in relationship or not. God allows us that same choice with Him. But at the appointed time, every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess Him as Lord. (Philippians 2:10-11)

Lord, I offer up a prayer for all the prodigals, for those straddling the fence and for those of us who are weak or hurting.

Lord, You’ve not lost hope –

You’ve not lost faith –

You see us as we are

You love us as we are

You’re not able to doubt

You’re creating and recreating Your image in us

You never lose sight of us

You know, Lord, that we’ll not walk so far away that Your arm cannot reach us

Nothing takes You by surprise, nothing

You’re not willing that any should perish

Thank You for peace that melts even the stiffest shoulders

and the hardest of hearts, the pain-filled, the frightened and the angry

Thank You for grace

Thank You for love that never ends

For the one praying for the lost –

The enemy will try to deceive you with words that there is something required on your part for the salvation of your loved ones. Treasure in your heart the knowledge that it is by grace that we are saved, and by grace alone. (Ephesians 2:8-9) The salvation of your loved ones is not a reward for anything you do or don’t accomplish in this life.

Selah.

Pointing Fingers?

No one blamed Judas….. How odd. We don’t read of a single soul pointing a finger at him for this hateful betrayal. When Jesus was betrayed by Judas there in the Garden of Gethsemane, His disciples were there with Him, Peter even cutting off the ear of the high priest’s servant. They saw that it was Judas that betrayed Him, yet we never hear of any of the disciples condemning him for doing so, or gossiping amongst themselves over how he’d done it.

No one accuses Peter for denying Jesus, either. Jesus plainly said it in front of all the disciples there at dinner, that Peter would deny knowing Him three times before the cock crowed the next morning.

Maybe they were all ashamed of themselves for scattering the night the soldiers took their Jesus away. Or did they feel the guilt of not having stood up for Him when He was accused by Jewish leaders? When Pilate himself washed his hands of Jesus’ fate, did they watch from behind pillars, wanting to cry out and run to His rescue?

Oftentimes when we feel guilt and shame over our sin and fears, we point fingers at others around us, to take the focus off of ourselves. If someone else looks small, we feel bigger. Instead of lifting each other up, we often kick our brothers and sisters when they’re down.

The disciples didn’t do that.

No, there wasn’t any dissention amongst the ranks at all. The Disciples of Christ loved each other as He’d commanded them……………………just as He commands us.

We Are Precious In His Sight.....

We don’t judge a pillow by the pretty case it’s tucked into. No, we hold it; we notice how it feels in our arms, snuggled under our head.

So why do we tend to judge each other by the flesh that encases who we are? We are spirits, with souls (mind, will and emotion), wrapped in a body.

Maybe, just maybe, if we took the same care in looking past the pillowcase to choose the pillow that will allow us rest and bring us peace, to look into each other, perhaps peace and rest would prevail in our hearts and lives.

All sorts of divisions exist because we look at the shell that contains us, rather than the common spirit we share. Hatred rears its ugly head over race or gender or wealth or beauty. We take offense because someone looks or behaves differently than we do. Why do some of us insist that we’re better than others? Quite seriously, I couldn’t handle a world full of Helens that look and behave just as I do.

We all received life from God the creator of everything. He didn’t create one to be loved more, or one to be despised. We’re simply encased differently – equipped with varying gifts with which we can edify each other – but instead, choose to turn everything into a competition and are driven to come out on top.

You’re a part of me – and I’m a part of you. We are part of a much bigger picture. We make it “all about me” when we fail to look for that bigger picture, and we miss out on some of the very best things in life.

We were created for intimacy, with each other and with God Himself.

Intimacy – into-me-see! Just do it.

Did You Have a Fuzzy-Haired Doll?

Yesterday morning in church I sat two rows behind a woman I see weekly. I don’t know her, but I can’t help noticing the “fuzzy” look to her hair – like that of a baby doll that’s been loved on a little too much, one that’s been held, slept with, played with, one who’s hair has been brushed and shampooed repeatedly. Immediately my mind went to the picture of a young girl holding her favorite doll, stroking its hair, smiling at her with a reassuring look that said no harm would come to her and she’d never abandon her for a newer, flashier toy.

The woman’s smile always catches my attention. There’s something special about it; smiles sometimes betray our heart. I’m never quite sure what’s just beyond the curl of her lips, it could be the extremely happy heart of God’s Princess that is loved beyond measure; her silent testimony of His love. It could be her expression to say, “Hello, I’d love to be your friend.” It could be the face she wants us to see instead of the one with tear stained cheeks and bloodshot eyes from personal sorrows. Sunday morning I found myself wanting to approach her and feel her hair, to smooth in with my own hand, like she was my own little girl, as I believe God does every day.

Can she be loved too much? No. But I want to know her, simply because Jesus does, and He loves her every minute of every hour of every day, just as He loves me.

Keeping my hands to myself, I’ve purposed in my heart – that next Sunday morning I’ll meet her face to face, smile to smile.

“When I smiled at them, they scarcely believed it; the light of my face was precious to them.” ~ Job 29:24 (NIV)

Working On Love

Here’s a familiar verse of scripture, in fact, so familiar, many who don’t know God personally, can quote it better than a line from Shakespeare. “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.” 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 (NIV)

True, we can replace the word “love” with “God” – because God IS love.

When being honest with myself, if I put myself in place of the word “love”, it goes more like this:

I am often impatient and unkind, I’m rude. If I’m proud and boasting, I don’t even recognize it, so what does that say? I seek liberty for myself above that of others. I’m far too easily angered, even by petty things, I repeatedly rehearse the wrongs of others that give voice to my complaints in life. I could be accused and found guilty of being over-protective at times, yet I can excuse wrongs done, if I’m the one doing them. I’m probably more trusting of people than I am of God. I do hope, but sometimes I wonder if my hope is misplaced. My perseverance can be paper thin. And yes, I fail.

So, though love is in me, I quench it. I look for excuses (and call them reasons) to be selfish with it. But because I’ve invited God to live in and through me, I grow in Him daily, and He grows in me – we’re becoming One. And the more I give place to Him and yield to His love for me, the more He loves through me.

“Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.” 1 John 4:7&8 (KJV)

Letting Him love me is key, even when feelings of selfishness or unworthiness try to overtake me; He loves me.

Sisters VS Friends

“Friends are the sisters I picked out for myself” – that’s what it says on my new favorite mug, and I love it! My precious friend gave it to me in a restaurant the other day and her son told me to pour my soda into it. Always one to oblige a child when I can, I did. The waitress loved the mug, too. Since then I’ve enjoyed coffee, tea and even chicken noodle soup from this big, meaningful mug. Another incredible friend gave me a mug that reads, “God is using you for His special purpose – to shine His light, to share His love, to shape His people.” What an awesome revelation to take to heart. God uses all of my sisters and friends this way, whether they know it or not.

The ladies are my friends and they’re also my sisters.

Sister vs friends: You sometimes get mad at your sisters, but then, that happens with your friends on occasion, too. Friends are there for you – when you let them know you need them, but yes, sisters are, too. Sisters were born into your family, but friends just prove that families grow. You discover new things about your friends all the time, but there are mysteries about your sisters you need to find out about, too. Some friends come in and go out of your life, but sisters can choose to do so, too. Sisters confide their secrets into your secret-keeping vault, but if you couldn’t do this with your friends, too, they probably wouldn’t be your friend for long. Friends can betray you, but so can sisters. Friends love you like sisters!

Is there a difference between sisters and friends? I will argue, no. No discernable difference at all. (Who knows, maybe one of your parents has a secret and your best friend is even your sister by birth!)

Proverbs 18:24 tells us in part, “…there is a friend that sticks closer than a brother.”  I’m going to feminize that and tell you there is a friend that sticks closer than a sister… God has blessed me with some of these amazing treasures and they’re worth more to me than gold. Thank you to all my sisters and friends for being there with me and for me in this journey called life! I love you all!



One Little Revelation

‘Being’ love is easier than ‘doing’ love. When love makes up who we are, how can it be hard to love someone?

Food for thought, apply it somewhere if you can:

‘He came into my life disguised as a man with a past. Should I have been able to tell? Should I have recognized him? Now I see he wasn’t simply the man I thought he was. But then, it’s only revelation when you’re the one it’s revealed to.’

This short story has brought me one step closer to being a truly loving person.

Jesus said, ‘What you do unto the least of these, you do unto Me.’ (Matthew 25:31-46) Did He mean: when you love the least of these, you love Me? At this point in my life I add yet another layer of knowledge and wisdom to my repertoire as I apply this revelation to the disguised man that came into my life to expose God’s truth to me, though in reality, he doesn’t know God at all.

Who are ‘the least of these’? Perhaps they are the people we would be least likely to choose to rub elbows with, the ones we look away from when, suddenly, there they are right in front of us, without warning.

Might God choose to visit us in their skin?

Years ago, I heard God say to me, ‘Would you still love me if I was ugly?’ I heard this while looking at a poorly made wall hanging of Jesus with a flock of sheep. The person who made the hanging clearly took little pride in their work. The Jesus looked like a Star Trek alien, and not a pretty one.

Can I look beyond my reservations to see God in every human soul I encounter?

Do you hear me wrestle when I blog?

Intimacy

Everything I’m reading in my current studies relates to and resonates within me and shakes something up inside of me. In another book that I just finished, the author asks God to unsettle her. That's what I feel is happening to me, I'm being unsettled. I feel like God has just pulled the covers off me and proclaimed, 'Come on, get up. Get out of your sleepy [Christian] bed and follow me, stop laying there saying you're a Christian with your eyes closed and your body at rest.'

Some days it seems that in becoming a Christian, all I did was climb into bed with Jesus and find comfort there - but now there's work to be done and He's [more than gently] nudging me. And those aren't slippers next to the bed for me to slip on; they're leather sandals waiting for me to break them in...

Before I can do anything with God or allow Him to do something through me, it’s essential that I have ‘climbed into bed with Him…’ He requires an intimate relationship with His people. Before we can serve Him, we need to know Him. A few years ago I read a great definition for the word intimacy. I may have already mentioned it at some point – because I really love it: Intimacy = in-to-me-see. When I share intimately with someone, I’m allowing them to see into me. A truly intimate relationship requires them to allow me to see into them as well. That’s what God wants with us! He wants to share His heart and mind and purposes with us, intimately. Since He sees into us with or without our permission – vulnerability is completely void in this relationship. We have nothing to lose and everything to gain.

I love how the psalmist declares God’s knowledge of him in Psalm 139:1-18 (NIV):

1 You have searched me, LORD,

and you know me.

2 You know when I sit and when I rise;

you perceive my thoughts from afar.

3 You discern my going out and my lying down;

you are familiar with all my ways.

4 Before a word is on my tongue

you, LORD, know it completely.

5 You hem me in behind and before,

and you lay your hand upon me.

6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,

too lofty for me to attain.

7 Where can I go from your Spirit?

Where can I flee from your presence?

8 If I go up to the heavens, you are there;

if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.

9 If I rise on the wings of the dawn,

if I settle on the far side of the sea,

10 even there your hand will guide me,

your right hand will hold me fast.

11 If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me

and the light become night around me,”

12 even the darkness will not be dark to you;

the night will shine like the day,

for darkness is as light to you.

13 For you created my inmost being;

you knit me together in my mother’s womb.

14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;

your works are wonderful,

I know that full well.

15 My frame was not hidden from you

when I was made in the secret place,

when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.

16 Your eyes saw my unformed body;

all the days ordained for me were written in your book

before one of them came to be.

17 How precious to me are your thoughts,[a] God!

How vast is the sum of them!

18 Were I to count them,

they would outnumber the grains of sand—

when I awake, I am still with you.

How can we not join the psalmist in crying out?.....

As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, my God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God? -Psalm 42:1-2 (NIV)

Harder to Love?

Love is tough, but it has to be. I read a great blog post the other day, you can find it here: Hope Flinchbaugh

It challenged me. There are so many places I don’t really want to go. It’s not like God is going to send me to hard places because He’s mean and wants to see me squirm. But because He loves me so much, and wants to see me conform to His image and reflect His beauty in this world, He takes me places that require me to love like He does. I’ll be honest, there are times that I’m tempted to shirk that responsibility. He loves unconditionally. That’s not always a fun thing for me to do in this mortal body. There are people that know how to ‘push my buttons’ and get away with it.

I find myself wanting to challenge God with, ‘Does loving them mean I have to like them?’ Love the sinner, hate the sin. That’s the truth, but so often, a person’s sins follow them around and scream in your face as you’re trying to love through the hurt they’ve caused.

I don’t think I’ve met anyone that I cannot say I love, honestly. But there are people that try my patience and challenge my sanctification. Yet, I constantly feel the hand of my Father on my shoulder as He reminds me yet again that this is easier to do when I allow Him to love through me. And it’s easier to do when I let Him help me forgive. 7 x 70? (Matthew 18:21-22) Who keeps count? I don’t have time for that – besides, the point is to always forgive. Always.

Is someone having a hard time loving me today? Is someone struggling with forgiving me for something?

For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. - Matthew 6:14-15 (KJV)

And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have ought against any: that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses. But if ye do not forgive, neither will your Father which is in heaven forgive your trespasses. – Mark 11:25-26 (KJV)

And forgive us our sins; for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us. – Luke 11:4 (KJV)

Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do. – Luke 23:34 (KJV)

Thanks For The Love!

(imgkids.com)

While helping my daughter move I got to know one of her friends a little better. She’s a precious young woman, strong and tender, fun and gracious. But only having met her once before, I asked myself, ‘Why do I love her so much?’ As quickly as I asked myself the question, the answer came rushing to the forefront of my mind, ‘Because she loves my child so dearly.’  

Before the words had completely formed in my brain, I heard a voice echo the sentiment. ‘Why do I love you so much? Because you love My Son so dearly.’

Giggling and welling up with tears at the same time I cherish the thought. God loves us even before we know Him. He’s loved us since before we entered this world. But what’s more exciting than being loved back?

I’m one of those people that just loves everyone. I may not always like a person’s behavior or agree with how they think, but it’s usually a pretty easy thing for me to truly love the people around me, and even those I haven’t actually even met in person yet. But my children’s friends hold a special place in my heart. I’m genuinely thankful that they love my children the way they do. And it hurts in an extremely painful way when one of those friends hurts or betrays my children. I can’t imagine the anguish our Father must feel.

When I see people loving each other – putting their love into action, I see the light of God in them. To see them loving my children, the joy makes me cry, literally.

2 Corinthians 4:6-7 For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us. (KJV)

To Get His Point Across

This morning as I woke up praying and thanking God for all the good things in my life I got a mental image of an old man, one that looks a bit like pictures of ancient philosophers, maybe Plato, writing in a book. He leaned his head on one hand while contemplating what to write with a fancy quill in the other.

Joy welled up inside of me as I thanked God for evident blessings. I wanted to just thank Him for being God. Is that something He can even be thanked for? He is God.

John 3:16 came to mind; For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son… He gave His Son. He GAVE His Son. To whom did He give His Son? [Selah]

I know He gave His Son for me, to bear the punishment for my sin, in my place. So I realize what He gave His Son for – but to?

He gave His Son to us, His lost and dying people. But moreso, as I watched this old man in my mind looking at what he wrote, it dawned on me; God gave His Son for His Word. To back up His own words, His own decrees, He chose to give up His only begotten Son. It was necessary to fulfill His own words.

God could have torn the pages from His book and started over again. He could have declared a new decree.

God decreed that the penalty for sin is death. He needed a spotless sacrifice to pay that penalty, knowing that there was none on earth without sin, none spotless. I don’t believe God wrestled with this choice. He made it not only out of love for us, but out of respect for His own Word. He valued the power and authority of His own Word so much that He kept it. He’s not a man that He should lie, or change His mind.

As I pondered on this image of an old man writing the most important of all documents, I realized: The covenant was with Himself – He could have changed the terms of agreement. But He wrote, or spoke that covenant – and kept His end of it….

Real Love

Agape love gives freely, even when rejected. In his book, The Bait of Satan (page 14), John Bevere tells us: ‘Without God we can only love with a selfish love, one that cannot be given if it is not received and returned. However, agape loves regardless of the response.’

By loving others, I am in the act of loving God. By not loving others, I am keeping my love from God. My love for Him filters through the people I love; it makes its way to Him through them. (Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me. Matthew 25:40 KJV)

“But I’m not gaining their love – or even their affection.”

“They don’t see or appreciate my love, they’re using me.”

“It was easier to love them when I held hope that love would be returned or that their heart could be softened.”

“I don’t want to love them anymore. I’m tired.”

It doesn’t matter – keep loving them. Never give up on love. Love is more powerful than we can imagine, even when we don’t see its impact. A lot goes on in life that we never see with our eyes.

Luke 10:3 “Go! I am sending you out like lambs among wolves.” We don’t expect wolves to love lambs (except perhaps how they taste).

There’s a fine line between loving and becoming a doormat. When we have to say ‘no’ to someone it doesn’t mean we stop loving them, sometimes it shows a greater love. Enabling someone to continue in their sin isn’t love. But loving them, regardless of their sin, is loving the way God loves.

True love is unconditional. When those we love most offend us, the hurt is beyond measure. When we allow that offense to stifle our love and snuff it out, we lose.

Pray. Repent. Start over, falling in love with God all over again through the freedom gained by laying it all out before God’s throne. He understands. He promises He’ll forgive us, again, freeing us to love His way.