No Fear Just Faith

I love the way the Lord can speak through anything – even a basketball game!  Last night, my husband was watching the final game of the NCAA Championship.  I came in just in time to see the Butler Bulldogs fall apart as fear robbed them of their moment of glory.  Apparently the UConn team had blocked their shots in the paint time after time until they simply gave up trying for anything close to the goal.  Even the shots they attempted from the outside refused to go in.  They shifted from confident dominance to cautious surrender.  They traded playing to win for playing to not lose too badly.  What I hear the Lord saying in this is that giving in to fear is a sure way to achieve failure. 

Sunday morning fear was once again dogging me.  I struggled to worship and finally sat down and grabbed a pen, so I could pour out my heart on paper.  This really helps me because as I write, my swirling emotions become concrete thoughts that I can get a grip on.  The fear was a familiar one – I’m afraid of missing out on all God has for me and my family.  I’m afraid we’re messing up so badly He will never be able to fix our mistakes.  I fear failing to do some crucial thing that will finally release a breakthrough.  Can’t you just imagine how fun it is to live with me when I am in this mode?  Remember what God said to me about giving in to fear?  When I live as a wife, mother and friend from this fear of failing, I continually fall flat on my face.  I also expect far too much from those around me.  There have been times when I’ve pinned my hopes on the help of some particular person, only to struggle with disappointment when they didn’t live up to my expectations.  This is a sad bad place to live, but it is not where I plan to stay, because here is what the Lord told me in the face of all my fears:

Be yielded.  Be willing to do what I tell you to do.  Wait on Me until I tell you to do something.  Wait in joyful hope and peaceful trust.  I WILL do what I said I would do.  It is My work done for My glory.  You will know that it wasn’t you that made it happen.  Pray for grace to stay out of My way.  Trust Me for the salvation of your family with the same trust you have for your own.   

Deep sigh of relief on my part. It is on Him, not me to make His will happen in my life.  I don’t have to be desperate anymore.  He will bring what I need and even who I need in His time, and He will complete His work in me and those I love.  I will stand in awe and give Him praise for what only He could do.

For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things.
To him be the glory forever! Amen.  Romans 11:36

Abba Father, please help us walk in joyful hope and peaceful trust, excited to see Your kingdom come and Your will be done in everything.  In Jesus’ Name, Amen. 

Choosing Joy No Matter What

Here’s what I hear the Father saying today:  Joylessness is a reproach to love.  In the light of His amazing love for us, walking with a continually heavy spirit is just plain wrong.  There will be times when we are grieved.  Mercifully, the Lord is near to those whose hearts are breaking.  What I believe the Lord is asking is that we make the effort to turn our hearts deliberately toward His goodness to us.  Focusing on His love won’t change our circumstances, but it makes all the difference in how we face them. 

When I said, “My foot is slipping,”
   your unfailing love, LORD, supported me.
When anxiety was great within me,
   your consolation brought me joy.  Psalm 94:18-19

Abba Father, thank you for supporting us with Your unfailing love.  Thank you for keeping Your grip on us even when our grip on You is slipping.  Open our hearts to receive Your joy, even on the hardest days.  Jesus, thank You for proving that no situation is ever hopeless.  In Your Name, Amen.

Worthy Because He Says So

This morning I woke up feeling down, depressed and unworthy of saving.  It may have been the fried chicken and frozen cheesecake I had for dinner last night. (Not a combination I recommend!)   It may have been my bedtime reading of the writings of a Chinese Christian whose harsh experiences are so far removed from my cushy life that I feel like a worm in his presence.  However, when I got in my quiet place this morning and began to tell the Lord how I felt, it didn’t take long before the Holy Spirit was reminding me that God sent His Son to save and redeem me despite my worthlessness, felt or actual.  Our Abba Father placed value on human life with the extravagant price that He paid to redeem us all – the blood of His Son.  We have no right to call worthless what He clearly values. 

Psalm 105 recounts the wonders God performed to deliver His people Israel from slavery in Egypt.  Verse 39 just jumped out at me this morning.  It says, “He spread out a cloud as a covering, and a fire to give light at night.”  I knew from reading the story in Exodus that God had sent a pillar of cloud to guide the Israelites during the day, but I never thought about the cloud giving His people a covering.  What a beautiful thing to think that the Lord cared enough to give them shade as they trudged through the desert!  Psalm 121 also refers to the Lord as “your shade at your right hand.  The sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon by night.”   Not only did he shade them through the day, He gave them a nightlight!  Imagine what a scary place the desert was in the dead of night.  Isn’t it encouraging to know God didn’t leave them alone in the dark? 

I don’t know how you are feeling this morning, but I do know there are some truths that should make the day a little easier to face.  Your Abba Father loves you.  He has invited you to His table.  His banner over you is love.  If you have received Jesus as your Savior, then you are covered with a robe of righteousness and your sin has been forgiven, every last bit of it!  Choosing to believe it is all we need to do to turn our whole outlook around.  The enemy wants us believing the opposite so he can keep us out of the fight.  Let’s don’t give him the satisfaction! 

“And the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen”.  Romans 16:20

Time to Unwind

Do you ever find yourself feeling like a little windup toy?  Every stressful thing turns your crank one more time, until you finally reach the snapping point where you end up running around like crazy until your energy is spent and you fall over.  I’ve been there so many times I should own stock in the t-shirt company!  I think one of the enemy’s favorite tricks is watching godly women fall prey to this temptation.  Rather than waiting on the Lord in quietness and trust, we go pinballing around trying to accomplish what our humanity simply cannot achieve.  A woman on a mission is a formidable force.  If human effort could do it, it would already be done, but our Abba Father set this life up as the perfect classroom for Him to teach us that without Him, nothing good is going to come.  We need Him, not just to bless our plans, but to get us on board with His plan.  The Sovereign of the Universe has asked us to dance, but too often we want to take the lead.

I’ve been blessed this week as I’ve watched things fall into place that were completely beyond my control.  I’ve also felt my winding key being turned more than once.  Today I feel the Lord drawing us to Himself in the place of the still waters.  He is saying, “Come, sit still here in this peaceful place, and rest your soul.  Trust Me to take care of all your needs and concerns.  In quietness and trust is your strength.  I know what you need.  I see every situation that has you anxious.  In fact, I see it far more clearly than you do.  Trust Me to be the One who brings the answers for all the questions you haven’t even thought of yet.  Breathe in My peace.  Stop running.  When it is time to act, you will know and I will make it clear what to do.  Confusion and agitation are not from me.  Renew your focus on Me and My peace will be your heart’s bodyguard.  Rest, my beloved.  I’m here for you.”

Isaiah 30:15  Matthew 6:27-33

Thank You Abba Father, for being the One who has it all under control.  Thank you for the strength You give us when we rest in You.  Help us enter into the quiet place, and please help us remain aware of You as the peace within us throughout each day.  In Jesus’ Name, Amen. 

Sure of His Love

March 2, 2011

Once you were far away from God, but now you have been brought near to him through the blood of Christ.  Ephesians 2:13

Now all of us can come to the Father through the same Holy Spirit because of what Christ has done for us.  Ephesians 2:18

Because of Christ and our faith in him, we can now come boldly and confidently into God’s presence.  Ephesians 3:12

Do you see a common theme here?  This week I hear our Abba Father saying that He wants to settle it in our hearts, once and for all, that He wants us in His presence.  He wants us near.  We were far away, but He sent Jesus to bring us near.  Not only that, He wants us coming to Him in freedom and assurance of His love.  That assurance is something we all frequently struggle to find, but enough is enough!  It is time to believe the truth!  It is time to receive with an open heart all that the Father has for us. 

If you have kids, you probably saw the movie Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs.  It tells the story of an island where the skies rain down food.  Whenever a new cloud rolls in, everyone runs outside with whatever container they can find to catch the latest treat falling from the sky.  I’ve been thinking about this in regard to the condition of my heart toward the Father.  I imagine my heart like a big mixing bowl.  It can hold a lot, but only if it is turned right side up.  Ever had one of those days when your heart is upside down?  I hate those days!  At other times, my bowl has a lid on it.  The rain of my Father’s love is coming down, but it rolls right off the cover instead of filling up my bowl.  The lid goes on when I choose to listen to the enemy’s lies about who I am and how God sees me.  Sometimes it’s just a film of distraction, like a piece of plastic wrap on my bowl.  I’m too wrapped up in all my activity to allow the Father to fill me.  Sisters, it’s time to turn our bowls right side up and start looking for the Father to fill us up with His love, His truth, and His joy.  It may be cloudy, but there’s a certainty that we will be blessed when we do.  His resources are unlimited and so far beyond what we can imagine:  unending love, mercy, grace, forgiveness, healing, restoration, creativity, provision, peace and so much more.  Whatever we need, He has it.  Come to Him with confidence, and don’t forget your bowl!

I fall to my knees and pray to the Father, the Creator of everything in heaven and on earth.  I pray that from His glorious, unlimited resources He will empower you with inner strength through His Spirit.  Then Christ will make His home in your hearts as you trust in Him. Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong. And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep His love is.  Ephesians 3:14-18

Accepted and Beloved

I want to tell you about a woman.  I’ve known her for as long as I can remember, but to be honest, I haven’t always liked her.  Whenever I look at her, all I can see are her flaws.  Her behavior at times just baffles me.  She does things that don’t make any sense and she says things that make me cringe.  There have been times when I actually wished she would just go away and not come back, because I am tired of dealing with her.  Those are the times when my Abba Father has to remind me that He loves her, she belongs to Him, and she is precious to Him.  He tells me to give her grace, just like I would want grace extended to my precious daughters.  It’s easy for me to know He loves my girls.  Knowing I’m His girl – that is something that doesn’t come so easily.  You see, that woman I was telling you about – she’s me.  Here’s what I hear the Father saying loud and clear this week:  You’ve got to embrace who I’ve made you and love yourself even as I love you. 

One of the things I remember kids saying when I was little was “God says you have to love everybody.”  Unfortunately, this was usually followed up with, “But I don’t have to like everybody and, I sure don’t like her!”  We thought we had a loophole and as long as we didn’t say “hate” we were okay.  I think I’ve played that game with myself.  Sure, I love myself, but I don’t have to like me, do I?  I can even put a spiritual spin on it and convince myself that what I’m really doing is preferring others before myself, not engaging in the sin of self-hatred.  Dear sisters, our Daddy God does not want us beating up on that sweet little girl who belongs to Him.  Remember, we don’t belong to ourselves anymore.  We are His and He calls us to take good care of what He has entrusted to us – even ourselves.  Rejection, hatred, having a judgmental and critical spirit toward someone – all of these are sins even when directed at ourselves.  We may be jars of clay, but the Lord Himself is the potter Who shapes us.  He has spilled the blood of Jesus to redeem us.  No higher price could have been paid for our salvation.  Not only that, but He has honored us by filling us with His Spirit.  Romans 15:7 says, “Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God.”  How can I call unacceptable what Jesus has accepted?  When I embrace who He has made me – my unique heritage, skill set, life experiences, even appearance – then I will bring praise to God and be ready to be used by Him.  How can I love my neighbor as myself, until I first learn to love myself?  (Matthew 22:39)

Beloved, learn to love that woman who lives in your skin.  Accept her as God’s gift to you.  Be kind to her and show her abundant grace, because she is the precious daughter of the Lord Most High. 

Abba Father, please teach us to be gentle with ourselves. Don’t let us be our own worst enemies.  Please help us learn to love ourselves, not in selfishness, but simply resting in the grace and patience that comes from You.  In Jesus’ Name. Amen. 

Confident in Love

I have a confession to make. I did not have my quiet time this morning.  I did get up early, but instead of sitting right down with my Bible, I went and made coffee. Then I thought I’d better open my email.  I had two messages that needed replies. Then I figured I’d better find out if anything important happened in the world while I was asleep.  The next thing I knew, it was past time to wake my kids up!  So, then I felt like I had blown it.  I’ve started my day wrong, probably my whole week wrong.  God must be so disappointed in me.  And I can’t even fix it until tomorrow because having a quiet time that isn’t a “great while before day” doesn’t really count.  Just look at Mark 1:35 KJV  “And in the morning, rising up a great while before day, He went out, and departed into a solitary place, and there prayed.”

Anybody laughing?  Anybody ever been there?  Well, here’s the great thing - I didn’t stay there.  I actually decided to walk in grace and believe that Jesus still loves me, my Abba Father still loves me, and the Holy Spirit has not forsaken me.  I moved on into my day and decided to act like a woman who knows she is loved.  I’ve heard there is nothing more beautiful on a woman than confidence.  I would add that there is nothing more attractive than a woman who is confident that she is loved.  Do you remember those elementary school conversations that went like this:  “Are you mad at me?  Because it seems like you’re mad at me.  Are you sure?”  Oy!  How many fine friendships ended over conversations like this because it is such a pain to have to constantly reassure someone that you really are on their side?  I wonder if the Lord ever gets weary of having to reassure me of His love.  He has definitely gone out of His way to show me His unconditional love and commitment.  He didn’t hold back from sacrificing His most precious Son to redeem my life from the death sentence of sin.  He has been faithful every day of my life to provide all my needs.  He has healed me, forgiven me, and blessed me in ways I can’t even comprehend.  Isn’t it about time I quit worrying that His love is affected by my performance?  Having a quiet time is important, but not so I can check it off my mental list and feel good about myself.  That is religion and in the face of His amazing love, it is disgusting.  It’s important because it is my time to be with Him and Him alone.  It is time not only to pour out my heart to Him, but also to listen - to hear His plans for my day, to gaze into His face and soak my heart in His truth and love.  I’m bummed that I missed that special time today.  Somehow, all joking aside, it really is different after the day has gotten going.  My heart is receptive to Him first thing in a way that it never really is later in the day.  Still, I believe I honored the Lord this morning by choosing to reject condemnation and move forward in confidence.  When I did that, it gave me the grace to look around for someone to pour His love on today.  I don’t think that would have happened if I had camped out on the failure mud flats. 

Lord Jesus, I love you.  Thank You for loving me.  Help me remember that time with You is a treat and a treasure. Give me a heart that thirsts for spending time in Your presence more than my first cup of coffee!  In Your Name.  Amen.