Partiality AKA Discrimination

“My brethren, pay no servile regard to people [show no prejudice, no partiality]. Do not [attempt to] hold and practice the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ [the Lord] of glory [together with snobbery]!” James 2:1

^“Finally, all [of you] should be of one and the same mind (united in spirit), sympathizing [with one another], loving [each other] as brethren [of one household], compassionate and courteous (tenderhearted and humble).” 1 Peter  3:8

God wants us to be one. United. How shall we ever do that when we constantly divide and discriminate among ourselves? In Corinthians Paul makes it clear that it’s the body working together that keeps it healthy, yet we so often divide ourselves in groups by age, sex or marital status.  What else do you call “women’s groups”, “men’s groups”, “children’s groups”, “teen groups” and on and on? Oh my brothers and sisters if we would just be united!

I have heard many reasons for the divisions; we want to talk to people we have something in common with for aren’t those the people after all, who will understand our plight? Please, my friends, stop practicing the faith of our Lord together with partiality! Have you considered people older than you have learned more from the Lord and would therefore, be better qualified to offer you Godly advice than someone “your own age” might? Or that people younger than you need to hear about your struggles and triumphs and the thing the Lord is showing you to grow in wisdom? And that your level of wisdom has nothing to do with your marital status or gender? And most importantly, that the Lord makes no such distinctions on who He talks to or through.

We all are members of one body with unique and varying gifts from God to be used in the maturing of the body of Christ and we could do that if we would stop assigning value to one another and judging one another’s worth based on fleshy and worldly standards.

For my friends, what else do you call it when you only wish to fellowship with people in your same social status? Aren’t you in effect saying, “Well So&so  couldn’t know anything about my struggles and my walk with God because she isn’t married like I am.” or “She isn’t my age and doesn’t understand what it’s like!”

What do we all have in common? We have one Lord and one faith and maybe, just maybe, we should be focused a lot more on Him, living full of Him, and talking about Him rather than what music we like, what clothes we wear, or what movies we watch.

We need each other! I need you ! You need me! Let’s all get together and grow up.

That is the challenge for all of us.

The Corrupting Influence of Control

“And He sat down and called the Twelve [apostles], and He said to them, If anyone desires to be first, he must be last of all, and servant of all.” Mark 9:35 Amplified

“[Live] as free people, [yet] without employing your freedom as a pretext for wickedness; but [live at all times] as servants of God.” 1 Peter 2:16 Amplified

Control; it’s led to countless evils and oppression, slavery, abuse, corruption. Control is very corruptive.  When Jesus came He made it clear that this was not God’s way; this was not The Kingdom Way. It’s without a doubt the world’s way and I am never surprised to see it at work in the world. What has surprised me, alarmed me, saddened and grieved me is how much of it I have seen within the organized church. My parents were pastors for many years and I saw the inside of how things operated.  I saw a system largely designed around control. 

I’ve seen pastors work to control their congregations, elders fight to control the pastors, children’s church leaders, worships leaders and every other person who had the name “leader” attached to their title fight to keep control; feeling threatened if another came along with an anointing, calling, or even talent to do what they were doing, scared that person might threaten their control and then going to great lengths to drive that person out of their fellowship. Sadly, it happens in every area. I even see men trying to claim control of women asserting “authority” using scripture that has a vastly different meaning.

This isn’t meant as a criticism of people who attend or participate in church services, I have known many wonderful people who do, it isn’t even meant to expose a system which I see as having a great power to corrupt good people, but as an example of the dangers we face when we desire control; a plethora of very deceptive evils that can work in our hearts just by wanting one wrong thing; control.

Why do people want control? The answers are varied and only God can show us on an individual level, but I do know what the cure for control is; a servant’s heart.

The servant’s heart is a beautiful, sweet thing and it eliminates the power struggle completely. It is the heart Jesus has:

“Let this same attitude and purpose and [humble] mind be in you which was in Christ Jesus: [Let Him be your example in humility:] Who, although being essentially one with God and in the form of God [possessing the fullness of the attributes which make God God], did not think this equality with God was a thing to be eagerly grasped or retained, But stripped Himself [of all privileges and rightful dignity], so as to assume the guise of a servant (slave), in that He became like men and was born a human being.” Philippians 2:5-7 (AMP)  

He didn’t come to control; He came to serve. Men wanted to make Him a “leader”, to overthrow the government, to set up an earthly kingdom but He would have none of it. He showed us another way, a way where “leaders” are servants, and where love motivates not control.

The servant’s heart is the heart we all should have. The servant’s heart doesn’t feel threatened when someone else comes along who can do something better than we can, doesn't fight to protect it's own interest and self, for the servant’s heart cares about the good of all, about giving, about meeting someone else’s need.

This is my challenge. To develop this servant’s heart, knowing that I have the mind of Christ and hold the feelings and purposes of His heart, to keep a prayerful eye to not yield to the desire to control. And when I feel it rise within me to yield and to "live at all times as a servant of God".

The Heart Doctor

“That first tent symbolizes the present time, when gifts and sacrifices can be offered; but it can’t change the heart and conscience of the worshiper.” Hebrews 9:9 The Voice

The heart, infinitely precious to God, can be so easily corrupted.  Jeremiah says,

“The heart is deceitful above all things, and it is exceedingly perverse and corrupt and severely, mortally sick! Who can know it [perceive, understand, be acquainted with his own heart and mind]?”  Jeremiah 17:9 Amplified.

Why we do what we do only God knows. But if we ask He wills show us and the answer is not usually pretty. When I battle bad attitudes, yield to the same sins, or find myself absorbed with my own problems, no matter the symptom I can trace the source back to a problem with my heart. And that is what God always deals with.

God in His infinite wisdom moves past our symptoms and outward expressions of sin (the act) and goes straight to the heart condition that is causing the manifestation of sin in our lives. Which, I have discovered, is why being sorry for your sin isn’t nearly enough.  For example, if a married man commits adultery and then is filled with regret and professes that regret, the mere profession isn’t enough to restore him to his past relationship with his wife, because unless the heart problem that caused the manifestation of sin in the first place is dealt with, then the symptoms will just resurface again and again, as sorry and truly grieved as he may be.  No, what this man needs is an evaluation by The Heart Doctor. What he needs is go before the throne of grace and implore the Holy Spirit to search his heart, to reveal the problem, to heal him of this condition.

Many don’t. Many people walk around with sick hearts because they don’t like the taste of the medicine. It’s rarely easy and most often painful. Dressing a wound usually does cause pain. So many times it’s the idols in our lives that make us sick, our self-love, our little fleshy indulgences, and those things the flesh fights giving up.  Hebrews 12:11 put it this way:

“When punishment is happening, it never seems pleasant, only painful. Later, though, it yields the peaceful fruit called righteousness to everyone who has been trained by it.  So lift up your hands that are dangling and brace your weakened knees. Make straight paths for your feet so that what is lame in you won’t be put out of joint, but will heal.”

“So what is lame in you won’t be put out of joint, but will heal.”  Daily I find I must go to the Heart Doctor. I must spend time asking Him to search my heart, daily I must wait before Him as He reveals to me the things that could make me sick. It hurts as I yield to God and submit to His will in matters where my flesh wants its way, but I keep focused on the prize; deeper intimacy with God and “the peaceful fruit of righteousness”.  It will mean changing the way you think about things and people, humbling yourself when you want to be exalted, forgiving when you want to punish, letting go of relationships that are toxic or unhealthy, giving instead of receiving, and so much more.. but oh the peaceful fruit of righteousness! What can compare to it?

“But the fruit of the [Holy] Spirit [the work which His presence within accomplishes] is love, joy (gladness), peace, patience (an even temper, forbearance), kindness, goodness (benevolence), faithfulness, gentleness (meekness, humility), self-control (self-restraint, continence). Against such things there is no law [that can bring a charge]. And those who belong to Christ Jesus (the Messiah) have crucified the flesh (the godless human nature) with its passions and appetites and desires. If we live by the [Holy] Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit. [If by the Holy Spirit we have our life in God, let us go forward walking in line, our conduct controlled by the Spirit.]” Galatians 5:22-25 Amplified

This is my challenge:

“Let us go forward walking in line, our conduct controlled by the Spirit.”

And this: “So lift up your hands that are dangling and brace your weakened knees. Make straight paths for your feet so that what is lame in you won’t be put out of joint, but will heal.”

And a crucial part of that is daily visits with The Heart Doctor as He is the only One who truly knows my heart.

Expecting the Best

“But just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the glad tidings (the Gospel), so we speak not to please men but to please God, Who tests our hearts [expecting them to be approved].” 1 Thessalonians 2:4 (emphasis mine)

“Love bears up under anything and everything that comes, is ever ready to believe the best of every person, its hopes are fadeless under all circumstances, and it endures everything [without weakening].” 1 Corinthians 13:7 (emphasis mine)

What is my expectation of people? How can I knowing humanity (after all I am a member of it) believe the best of them? Even Proverbs 20:6 brings up the lack of faithfulness among mankind.  So then, how do I deal with the reality of humanity and still have the right expectation? This is what I asked God and He showed me this is done by looking for and focusing on the good things in people.

The devil is the accuser of the brethren, the fault finder, but God nurtures the good things in us, expects the best from us, and leads us to repentance with His loving-goodness.

 How do I expect the best from people? By seeing how God does this with me.  It is critical to know how God thinks about a matter, because until I accept His way of thinking about it and believe it as truth and receive it from Him I can’t think that way or behave that way toward others. I can only give to others what I, myself, have first received from God.

And because God expects the best from me, I expect the best from others and am, as 1 Corinthians says, ever ready to believe the best of every person.  And what if they fail? Then I pray for them, and expect God to work on their behalf while keeping my focus on the good things I see in them. Admittedly, seeing the best in people requires more searching with some than with others but that in itself is an important point. I should be aggressively looking for the good.

Faults we all have in abundance, and the world and devil are quick to point them out to us often, but as a Christian I should be a treasure seeker, not a fault finder.

I’m not saying that we should ignore destructive behaviors we see others engaged in or never offer loving correction when needed, certainly God does neither, but what I am saying is that while sometimes it is necessary to warn others of sinful behavior , we must always cherish and look for the good qualities in people, nurture those, and delight in even their smallest steps of progress. 

I know for certain that God does all that with me. While I tend to focus on my faults and failures, He is delighted with me and thrilled at my progress in the work He is doing to mold me in the image of His Son.  He never focuses on my failures, reminds me of them, or berates me for them. And I very much want to be like God.

As one, who in the natural, would be a fault finder, I am greatly challenged to give up my carnal way of looking at myself and other people and instead be a treasure seeker, like my Father.

Oh God, thank you for revealing this to me. We both know I have no power to change on my own and unless You do this work, unless You help me, I will stay the same. I don’t want that, God! I lay down my way and repent of my carnal thinking. Please change me, Holy Spirit and thank You so much for challenging me.

Internally vs Eternally Minded

What does it mean to be eternally minded? Many Christians would say that this means you think of heaven and of the second coming and meeting Jesus in the air, and I wouldn’t disagree this is true in part, but the danger I have witnessed from this interpretation of being “eternally minded” is that we often become oblivious to the responsibility and urgency of building God’s kingdom where we are at and instead unintentionally live very self-serving lives while we wait for the day Jesus returns.   I would like to add to the interpretation of eternal mindedness to include also being aware of what your actions now, what your choices now mean for eternity. It means asking questions such as, “Does this have eternal value?” or “Is this the best use of my resources and my life in light of eternity?” Jesus says this to Peter and I believe He is still saying it to us today:

“And Jesus answered him, “And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” Matthew 16:17-19 ESV

The gates of hell shall not prevail. We must be mindful of our responsibility to gain ground for God’s kingdom wherever we go. We gain ground and the forces of darkness cannot withstand us. Being eternally minded is part of aggressive Christianity.  It also means as we wage war on this earth we are mindful for what and for Whom we are fighting for, and Whom the battle belongs to.  

In war it is incredibly important to know and have deep conviction about what you are fighting for. In the American Revolution, for example, though the Americans were vastly outnumbered and out gunned their convictions , their purpose was much stronger than their enemies and it was what kept their resolve during the hardest of times. It wasn’t what won them the war, but it is what kept them from quitting during it.

Paul often talks of keeping his mind set, and remembering the reward that lies before him.  I believe if you are internally minded you only think of the battle you are currently engaged in, the hardness of it, the price of it, but if you are eternally minded you think of the  eternal reward that lies before you.  Moses was a great example of this. The Bible says this about him:

“[Aroused] by faith Moses, when he had grown to maturity and become great, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, Because he preferred to share the oppression [suffer the hardships] and bear the shame of the people of God rather than to have the fleeting enjoyment of a sinful life. considered the contempt and abuse and shame [borne for] the Christ (the Messiah Who was to come) to be greater wealth than all the treasures of Egypt, for he looked forward and away to the reward (recompense). [Motivated] by faith he left Egypt behind him, being unawed and undismayed by the wrath of the king; for he never flinched but held staunchly to his purpose and endured steadfastly as one who gazed on Him Who is invisible.” Hebrews 11:24-27

Moses was definitely eternally minded.

There is much to be said about how we wage war against the enemy and build the kingdom of God, and the methods aren’t natural at all. For me, I have learned that loving people, praying about everything, trusting God, and taking the time to meditate on His word and spend time in His presence have been battles, I am sure as I grow in the Lord that there will be new levels and I know there is so much I don’t know, but for now, my challenge is this; to be eternally minded.

Aggressive VS Passive Christianity

“And from the days of John the Baptist until the present time, the kingdom of heaven has endured violent assault, and violent men seize it by force [as a precious prize—a share in the heavenly kingdom is sought with most ardent zeal and intense exertion].” Matthew 11:12

There is nothing passive about Christianity. Christ was never passive and He tells us that only aggressive or violent people will have a part in the kingdom of heaven. What does that mean? That means if I want God in my life, if I want His will done, and if I want to establish His kingdom on this earth I cannot be passive. I can’t just float through life going with whatever current is flowing.

 I cannot be passive in seeking God and in my prayer life, I cannot be passive in my love walk, I cannot be passive in my spiritual growth. Jesus tells us to ask and to keep on asking. It is dangerous to be passive! Why do I say that?

“Be well balanced (temperate, sober of mind), be vigilant and cautious at all times; for that enemy of yours, the devil, roams around like a lion roaring [in fierce hunger], seeking someone to seize upon and devour.”  1 Peter 5:8

Firstly, because we have an enemy and there is a war going on. Passive people do not survive in wars. Secondly, because love isn’t passive. If it is it isn’t love. God wants to be sought passionately. He deserves this, He inspires this.

And that is why I believe the first thing I must be aggressive about is seeking God. I can’t seek God one time, say one prayer, and go on my merry way. No, God says that if we seek Him with all our whole hearts THEN we will find Him. Every day I have to seek Him, every day I have to meditate on the Word, speak the Word, and aggressively cast down every vain imagination that would exalt itself against the knowledge of God.  Every day I have to aggressively and with my whole heart seek God and violently cut off all that hinders me from Him. I must insist that God be involved in EVERY area of my life. And  I must set aside time to wait on Him and spend time with Him. If I don’t seek God like the Vital Necessity He is to me I will not find Him.

Another thing that I have to be aggressive about is loving people. Passive Christianity says I will do something if the perfect opportunity presents itself, but aggressive Christianity looks for, prays for, and when possible makes opportunities to demonstrate love. Who can I give to? Am I looking for people to be good to? What kind thing or word of encouragement can I offer? I must look for these thing on purpose. Aggressive Christianity is done on purpose!

I must also be aggressive in being uncompromisingly righteous. Of course I will never do everything perfectly, but I will be quick to repent, sensitive to the Holy Spirit’s leading, and prompt to obey.  Delayed obedience is disobedience.

Really God has shown me that passive Christianity is nothing more than lazy Christianity. It’s saying, “Well, here I am God if You want to spend time with me then You know where I live. If You want me to obey You and what You said in Your Word than You need to create the perfect circumstances for me to do that. If You want me to love people than give me a sign.”

It grieves my heart knowing that I have been as guilty as anyone of this. God doesn’t serve me, I serve Him, and He has given me His word not only filled with wonderful promises but urgent mandates. And it is way past time that I start acting like it. That is my challenge.

My Redeemer Lives

By Natalie Swagger

“Why, when I came, was there no man? When I called, why was there no one to answer? Is My hand shortened at all, that it cannot redeem? Or have I no power to deliver? Behold, at My rebuke I dry up the sea, I make the rivers a desert; their fish stink because there is no water, and they die of thirst.” Isaiah 50:2

Your Redeemer lives. It’s the message throughout Isaiah and I can almost sense God’s frustration at their lack of belief. Repeatedly He asks why they are afraid of man when God is on their side.

“[The Lord God says] And the redeemed of the Lord shall return and come with singing to Zion; everlasting joy shall be upon their heads. They shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away. I, even I, am He Who comforts you. Who are you, that you should be afraid of man, who shall die, and of a son of man, who shall be made [as destructible] as grass, That you should forget the Lord your Maker, Who stretched forth the heavens and laid the foundations of the earth, and fear continually every day because of the fury of the oppressor, when he makes ready to destroy or even though he did so? And where is the fury of the oppressor?” Isaiah 51:11-13

When I read Isaiah I can sense God’s heart grieved and pleading for His children to turn to Him in obedience and trust, I can feel His passion, His love and jealousy for them, and the longing He has for them to enter into all He has provided, His longing for them to accept and return His love.

“Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: I am the Lord your God, Who teaches you to profit, Who leads you in the way that you should go. Oh, that you had hearkened to My commandments! Then your peace and prosperity would have been like a flowing river, and your righteousness [the holiness and purity of the nation] like the [abundant] waves of the sea.” Isaiah 48:17-18

I certainly never have faced anything as terrifying as what Israel faced in those days and yet still when problems come panic will try to rise in my heart and mind. Why? Why should God have to remind us that He is much mightier than our problems? Usually, because we spend so much more time thinking about the problem than on how mighty God is and oh how much He loves us! “You forget the Lord your Maker” Isaiah says, and how often have I been guilty of that charge?  We can so easily forget how powerful our God is.

If I hold on to two truths then panic has no place in my heart, fear has no ground on which to lay hold. #1. God is all powerful. #2 He passionately loves me.

No matter what I face or what blunders I may make God’s hand is not shortened that He can’t redeem. Even when Israel had betrayed God, when they had hardened their hearts and turned away from Him, His heart still longed to redeem them, if only they would turn back to Him. He wanted them to know, your Redeemer lives!

God is all powerful and He passionately loves me. That is the truth; all the whispers the enemy whispers to my mind about lack, destruction, or loss are lies. God is all powerful and He passionately loves me!

My Redeemer lives!!

And my challenge is to never forget that. To meditate on it until it becomes a truth so deeply ingrained into my way of thinking that the next time I face a problem, the next time the enemy whispers his lies to me, immediately the truth will rise up, “God is all powerful, He loves me passionately, and His hand is not shortened that He can’t redeem!”  My Redeemer lives!

Set Apart

“External religious worship [religion as it is expressed in outward acts] that is pure and unblemished in the sight of God the Father is this: to visit and help and care for the orphans and widows in their affliction and need, and to keep oneself unspotted and uncontaminated from the world.” James 1:27 (emphasis mine)

“And now [brethren], I commit you to God [I deposit you in His charge, entrusting you to His protection and care]. And I commend you to the Word of His grace [to the commands and counsels and promises of His unmerited favor]. It is able to build you up and to give you [your rightful] inheritance among all God’s set-apart ones (those consecrated, purified, and transformed of soul).” Acts 20:32

We are called "God's set-apart ones". Set apart from what? From the world is the obvious answer we are given in James 1, but in practical terms what does that look like?

I have heard, and would agree, that it is Jesus Christ who separates us and sets us apart, that the work is not ours and while yes, once again I would agree that is true, it is not the whole truth. When Jesus was talking about forgiveness He said this,

“In prayer there is a connection between what God does and what you do. You can’t get forgiveness from God, for instance, without also forgiving others. If you refuse to do your part, you cut yourself off from God’s part.” Matthew 6:14 The Message

I cannot afford to be passive and simply say that God has set me apart and I have no responsibility for anything else.  James would obviously disagree as in the above scripture he implies responsibility on our part. 

Now , unspotted to me speaks of purity. To be pure you must keep yourself from anything that would contaminate you.  It goes way beyond religious observance straight to the heart. Jesus says to his disciples when they asked him the meaning of a parable:

“But what comes out of the mouth gets its start in the heart. It’s from the heart that we vomit up evil arguments, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, lies, and cussing. That’s what pollutes. Eating or not eating certain foods, washing or not washing your hands—that’s neither here nor there.” Matthew 15:17 The Message

The real question is, “What corrupts you?”  I believe prayerful study of the Word and sensitivity to the Holy Spirit are a crucial part of our responsibility to discovering all of the varied contaminating influences.  And how do we separate ourselves from them? Jesus put it this way:

“Let’s not pretend this is easier than it really is. If you want to live a morally pure life, here’s what you have to do: You have to blind your right eye the moment you catch it in a lustful leer. You have to choose to live one-eyed or else be dumped on a moral trash pile. And you have to chop off your right hand the moment you notice it raised threateningly. Better a bloody stump than your entire being discarded for good in the dump.” Matthew 5:29 The Message

I cannot afford to be passive; I have to be aggressive against corruption. As an example if I want to guard against lust then the moment I have a lustful thought I must cast it down, the moment I see lust on tv I must shut if off, I must be aggressive and vigilant against that corrupting influence.  As Jesus says, it’s not easy, and I definitely cannot do it alone, but I must do my part and I know that God is faithful to do His. For I surely do not want to be educated above my obedience level.

And that is my challenge, to cooperate with God to keep myself unspotted from the world. I must prayerfully go before the Father and ask Him to reveal what is corrupting me and then aggressively and diligently guard against it.

Holding vs. Retreating

Holding onto something for a long period of time is exhausting! Even holding onto something small for a prolonged period of time requires a lot of strength and endurance. I have faced the fact that I am not that strong. Sometimes I find myself trying to hold onto God, staying focused on Him and being aware of His presence, in my own strength and end up exhausted and frustrated. In a world that constantly tries to pull my attention away the mere effort of holding on overwhelms me. I remember on one particularly difficult day I cried out to God in weariness, “God, I need you.” And His answer “Natalie, I am here.  You are not holding onto me; I am holding onto you.” led me to re-examine my approach to how I was staying focused on God.  I’m not to “hold down the fort” I am to retreat into “The Fort”.  God was to be my Refuge.

So that led me to ask two questions. What is a refuge? And then a refuge from what?

A refuge is a place of protection, shelter, and safety. A refuge would be all of that whether you believed it or not but you wouldn’t go into a refuge unless you believed it to be safe and to do so you would have to trust that it was.  Trust is critical. What is trust? Webster’s defines it as: reliance on the integrity, strength, ability, surety, etc., of a person or thing; confidence.  Do I trust God that He is always holding onto me as He says in Hebrews 13?

“Let your character or moral disposition be free from love of money [including greed, avarice, lust, and craving for earthly possessions] and be satisfied with your present [circumstances and with what you have]; for He [God] Himself has said, I will not in any way fail you nor give you up nor leave you without support. [I will] not, [I will] not, [I will] not in any degree leave you helpless nor forsake nor let [you] down (relax My hold on you)! [Assuredly not!]” Hebrews 13:5 (emphasis mine)

So believing this, when I feel anything pulling me away from God I don’t try to hold on in my own strength, I just turn to God and run into Him and He is my Refuge. I can do this with a prayer as simple as, “God, I need you.” or “God, I love you.” I must exercise that child-like faith that trusts in my Loving Parent to protect and help me. He is my refuge.

Refuge from what?

So many things! But here are a few that I have discovered most recently:

Overthinking. One time when I had been churning a problem over and over in my mind trying to figure it out and was exhausting myself, I told God I didn’t want to think about it anymore and He told me to think about Him instead and that He was my Mental Refuge.

Worry & Anxiety. No matter the problem I can run to Him knowing that He has the answer, that I no longer have to take care of myself but that He has taken over that responsibility and all I need to do is listen, obey and trust.

Emotional Pain.  Broken heart, hurt feelings, or even over sensitivity, I can retreat to God who will always love me, accept me, comfort me, heal me and teach me.  

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of sympathy (pity and mercy) and the God [Who is the Source] of every comfort (consolation and encouragement)” 2 Corinthians 1:3

He is my Source of every comfort!

Criticism and Judgment. Whether from myself or from others when I face criticism I can turn to God knowing He loves, accepts and understands me and He alone knows my heart.  If there is correction to be done God will surely do it, but I don’t need to criticize myself and I don’t need to listen to others who would do likewise, and when that happens I can find refuge in God knowing that loves and understands me.

The most beautiful example that I’ve read of God as a refuge is the story of Stephen in Acts when he was being stoned.

“But he, full of the Holy Spirit and controlled by Him, gazed into heaven and saw the glory (the splendor and majesty) of God, and Jesus standing at God’s right hand; And he said, Look! I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing at God’s right hand!” Acts 7:55-56

My challenge is to retreat into God as my refuge; to do as Stephen did and fix my gaze upon Him. Not holding in my strength but retreating into His. God, thank you for being my Refuge.

Can I do this?

As I am challenged daily to not conform to this world but to be renewed in my mind and be like Christ the question is raised.  Can I be spiritual? Can I love with God’s love? Can I die to my own desires and selfishness and live for God and His will and heart? Can this be done? And can I, of all people, do it?

The disciples asked a similar question in Matthew 19, after Jesus was describing the difficulty a rich man would have in entering the kingdom the disciples responded this way, “The disciples were staggered. ‘Then who has any chance at all?’ Jesus looked hard at them and said, ‘No chance at all if you think can pull it off yourself. Every chance in the world if you trust God to do it.’” Matthew 19:25-26 The Message

And there is the answer to the question. Can I do it? Absolutely not. But God in me can.

Colossians 1:27-28 says:

“To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ.” ESV (emphasis mine)

This verse shows me that the only way I can ever realize “the hope of glory”, ever become “mature in Christ” is through Christ in me.  I must cooperate with His leading, repent of my sin, and draw close to Him but the power to do it is His alone and I must “trust God to do it” as Jesus says in Matthew 19.

So what is my part then? How do I obey what God tells me to do? How did Jesus do this? Hebrews 5:7-8 gives us this answer:

^“In the days of His flesh [Jesus] offered up definite, special petitions [for that which He not only wanted but needed] and supplications with strong crying and tears to Him Who was [always] able to save Him [out] from death, and He was heard because of His reverence toward God [His godly fear, His piety, in that He shrank from the horrors of separation from the bright presence of the Father]. Although He was a Son, He learned [active, special] obedience through what He suffered.”

He prayed and asked the Father for everything and trusted Him to do it. Indeed, He shrank from the horrors of separation from the bright presence of the Father. And when I do that, the question about what I can or cannot do becomes irrelevant. What is relevant, what matters, is God; spending time with Him and trusting Him to do what only He can do. And that is my challenge. Romans 8:5-8 puts it this way:

“Those who think they can do it on their own end up obsessed with measuring their own moral muscle but never get around to exercising it in real life. Those who trust God’s action in them find that God’s Spirit is in them—living and breathing God! Obsession with self in these matters is a dead end; attention to God leads us out into the open, into a spacious, free life. Focusing on the self is the opposite of focusing on God. Anyone completely absorbed in self ignores God, ends up thinking more about self than God. That person ignores who God is and what he is doing. And God isn’t pleased at being ignored.” The Message

I am challenged to just focus on God and trust Him knowing that He who began a good work in me will be faithful to complete it.

Note: I think it is a very important part to remember that even Jesus learned obedience through what He suffered, and there is so much more in Hebrews 5:7-8 than what I touched on but that is a different challenge altogether!

The Key to Awareness

One major goal I have in my life is to live in the awareness of God’s presence. It is one thing that I regularly ask Him for and about. Lately, He has been telling me that the key to awareness is stillness. I have heard the scripture, “Be still and know that I am God” so many times but never really grasped the practical application of it. I would often interpret this to mean I should cease from talking and try to make my mind blank and just know that He was God.  But I have learned to think of it much more as Psalm 131 describes:

“Lord, my heart is not haughty, nor my eyes lofty; neither do I exercise myself in matters too great or in things too wonderful for me. Surely I have calmed and quieted my soul; like a weaned child with his mother, like a weaned child is my soul within me [ceased from fretting]. O Israel, hope in the Lord from this time forth and forever.”

I have meditated a lot on this short chapter. And God has shown me that one of my biggest interruptions from commune with Him has been an overactive mind. My mind can race a thousand different ways in a short amount of time if allowed and will leave me little time to be still and be aware that God is here right now, right in this moment. And never more so than when I’m trying to figure out a problem. I can reason things out in my mind until I make myself nearly ill. And that is how I apply the first verse of this chapter;

“Lord, my heart is not haughty, nor my eyes lofty; neither do I exercise myself in matters too great or in things too wonderful for me.”

I cease from reasoning. I cease from trying to figure everything out on my own and know that God alone is God and He is the One who has it figured out. It’s too lofty and too wonderful for me and I must not be so haughty and of full of pride as to think I can figure it out on my own. In this area too I must be still.

Another obstacle has been my emotions; bad ones such as feelings of anxiety or fear. And even good emotions unbalanced can cause your mind to be so busy that you don’t hear God such as excitement, anticipation, etc.

“Surely I have calmed and quieted my soul; like a weaned child with his mother, like a weaned child is my soul within me [ceased from fretting].”

So I am learning, that when my emotions are raging to take a moment to calm and quiet my soul. How? The best way I have found is through prayer, thanksgiving and trust.

“O Israel, hope in the Lord from this time forth and forever.”

I place my hope in God because I trust Him. I know His character, I know His love and I assuredly know His goodness. And so I pray.

Phillipans 4:6-7 says this;

“Do not fret or have any anxiety about anything, but in every circumstance and in everything, by prayer and petition (definite requests), with thanksgiving, continue to make your wants known to God. And God’s peace [shall be yours, that tranquil state of a soul assured of its salvation through Christ, and so fearing nothing from God and being content with its earthly lot of whatever sort that is, that peace] which transcends all understanding shall garrison and mount guard over your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.” (bold mine)

I must pray, I must thank God and then I must trust. I must trust in His goodness, His wisdom, His sovereignty and His love. It’s simple, not always easy, but always doable when I ask God for help and do it through Christ Jesus. So even when I am hurt I remind myself that God loves me, and I trust Him that He is working everything into something good in my life because He has told me He is.

My challenge today is from 1 Peter 3:3-4

“Let not yours be the [merely] external adorning with [elaborate] interweaving and knotting of the hair, the wearing of jewelry, or changes of clothes; But let it be the inward adorning and beauty of the hidden person of the heart, with the incorruptible and unfading charm of a gentle and peaceful spirit, which [is not anxious or wrought up, but] is very precious in the sight of God.”

I am challenged to be still in every situation and know that He is God.

Expecting Perfection

For years I believed God expected perfection and as a result started expecting it myself. It made me hard, critical, and judgmental.  Yet, those were not attributes of God.  At the end of Matthew 11 there are beautiful verses that talk of ease and refreshment and relief for our souls if we come to Jesus. The verses also speak of God being gentle, not hard, harsh, sharp or pressing. His offer stands in stark contrast to religion. Religion expects a perfect performance; God looks for a perfect heart.  

I learned my expectation for perfection was causing much damage. When I expected my circumstances to be perfect, I would complain when they weren’t. When I expected people to be perfect, I would become critical and judgmental when they weren’t. And when I would expect perfection from myself, I would open the door for the devil to poor on the condemnation and the guilt.

This expectation of perfection was one of the major stumbling blocks in my way to intimacy with God. I remember when God told me as I would struggle to achieve a perfect performance and then harshly criticize myself when I failed, “I am not a tyrant.” And then, “I am not the accuser of the brethren.”   As I experienced His true character and I started learning about the awesome facets of His personality this became one of the most comforting truths I knew.  He would encourage me, cheer me on, support me, expect the best out of me, and comfort me. He is my biggest fan and adores me.  He does not look for fault in me. He gave me His righteousness and that is how He sees me. He has sympathy with my humanity,

“For we do not have a High Priest Who is unable to understand and sympathize and have a shared feeling with our weaknesses and infirmities and liability to the assaults of temptation, but One Who has been tempted in every respect as we are, yet without sinning. “ Hebrews 4:15 (emphasis mine)

He doesn’t expect me to be something besides human. He wants me to surrender, to grow, to become more like Christ but He knows this is a process and while the process is going on He is looking at my heart and is pleased with me.  Matthew 5:48 says this:

“You, therefore, must be perfect [growing into complete maturity of godliness in mind and character, having reached the proper height of virtue and integrity], as your heavenly Father is perfect.” AMPLIFIED

GROWING; it’s a process. And God is cheering us on and encouraging us the whole way; looking at our heart, being proud of our progress, not focusing on our faults or expecting a perfect performance.  

  Correcting us? Yes. Criticizing us? Never.  One of my favorite chapters of the Bible says this:

“He has not dealt with us after our sins nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. For as the heavens are high above the earth, so great are His mercy and loving-kindness toward those who reverently and worshipfully fear Him. As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us. As a father loves and pities his children, so the Lord loves and pities those who fear Him [with reverence, worship, and awe].  For He knows our frame, He [earnestly] remembers and imprints [on His heart] that we are dust.” Psalm 103:10-14

I love the last part! He knows our frame, He remembers that we are dust. And that is my challenge today. To remember my frame. I am human. And I must not expect myself to perform perfectly. Instead, my expectation should be on the goodness of God to forgive me, cleanse me, restore me and love me unconditionally.  I must not expect perfection from my circumstances, or from people, but in humility learn to be content with my circumstances, and love people, knowing that God uses imperfection to create the perfection I desire in me, to create the fruit of the spirit; love,  humility, patience, long-suffering, faithfulness, joy, goodness, and self control.  As you have done so many times, Holy Spirit, please continue to remind me of this as You work your fruit in my life.  Amen.

 

Guard your heart

“And He replied to him, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind (intellect).” Matthew 22:37 AMP

“Keep and guard your heart with all vigilance and above all that you guard, for out of it flow the springs of life.”  Proverbs 4:23

The one thing God requires in order to have close fellowship is passion, to be wanted more than anything else.  Jeremiah 29:13 states, “Then you will seek Me, inquire for, and require Me [as a vital necessity] and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart. “ If you want to have intimacy with God you must be passionate about it.

Not too long ago I noticed my own passion waning. Alarmed, I asked God what the problem could be! Where was my hunger, my desire, to spend time with Him? God told me, that in my case, it had been a lack of focus, spending too much time pursuing other things, being entertained, and not enough time drawing away to be alone. I had simply become too full of the cares of life, and this world and therefore had no hunger for anything else. Since then, God has continued to speak to me about guarding my heart.

Besides just being too busy and not drawing away mentally to be aware of His presence, and developing a distracted heart, God has shown me that my heart can become divided as well when I hold on to an unsanctified desire. It is ever so easy to accept Jesus as savior but so much more challenging to accept Him as lord. Yet, we can’t do one without the other.  1 John 2:6b states that “This is the only way to be sure we’re in God. Anyone who claims to be intimate with God ought to live the same kind of life Jesus lived” (The Message) And what kind of life did Jesus live? 

John 5:30 makes it clear, “I am able to do nothing from Myself [independently, of My own accord—but only as I am taught by God and as I get His orders]. Even as I hear, I judge [I decide as I am bidden to decide. As the voice comes to Me, so I give a decision], and My judgment is right (just, righteous), because I do not seek or consult My own will [I have no desire to do what is pleasing to Myself, My own aim, My own purpose] but only the will and pleasure of the Father Who sent Me.”

When God tells me, “don’t buy that now”, or “this relationship isn’t right for you” or “wait for my timing on this” I have decision to make. Am I going to live the life that Jesus lived and seek only God’s pleasure or am I going to allow my heart to become divided as I value my own will more? We all have desires, and not every desire is wrong, but it is wrong when God tell us to wait, it is wrong when we want this desire above pleasing God. 


My challenge today is from Psalm 119:9-10 “How shall a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed and keeping watch [on himself] according to Your word [conforming his life to it]. With my whole heart have I sought You, inquiring for and of You and yearning for You; Oh, let me not wander or step aside [either in ignorance or willfully] from Your commandments.”  My challenge today is to guard my heart and lay aside my will to seek God’s. Please help me, Holy Spirit.