Getting The Victory By Giving Thanks

I’m writing this week on Monday morning.  Today was one of those days when you want a rewind of the last seven hours when the alarm rings in the hope that next time it goes off you’ll actually be ready to face the day, instead of wanting to hide under your pillow.  As I moved through my morning routine of getting kids up and out the door to school, collecting laundry, and making myself get ready to go the gym, I stayed busy enough not to notice the heaviness.  But when I pulled out of the driveway and joined the rush of traffic out of the neighborhood and onto the freeway, it became almost overwhelming.  Thankfully, just as the enemy was pouring a wave of discouragement over my head, the Holy Spirit began to speak to my heart.  I remembered the thank offering verse He showed me last week.

He who sacrifices thank offerings honors Me, and he prepares the way so that I may show him the salvation of God.  Psalm 50:23 (NIV)

I knew this was battle time, just as clearly as if I had heard the bell that rings to sound the beginning of a boxing round.  I began to sing to the Lord, just making it up as I went.  (This is a wonderful benefit to being in the car alone!)  I told Him how I felt and then I began to thank Him for things anyway.  It was singing in the face of discouragement and sadness and somehow I know it was powerful.  I sang some more and it morphed into a prayer time for friends who are going through very hard things.  By the time I reached the gym, I was refreshed and encouraged.  My heart was back in alignment with the One Who is in control and my soul had been reminded that He is good no matter what.  This is what incarnational life looks like:  Jesus’ Spirit speaking to and empowering us and enabling us to draw on His strength to get through the day.

I want you to know something.  Every life lived in pursuit of relationship with our Abba Father through His Son Jesus is important.  Not one is more valuable than another.  The Kingdom of God is not a contest or a tournament where we try to outdo one another’s exploits and compete to win our Lord’s favor.  We have His favor because we wear the robe of righteousness bought for us by the blood of Jesus.  He delights in each and every one of us as individuals.  I write because He’s put it in my heart to do it, but my life with Jesus isn’t any more than yours because of it.  Now more than ever, I believe we need to live for the audience of One, knowing that His eyes are smiling at us with compassion and encouragement, just like a proud parent watching a beloved child take on any challenge whether it is their first steps or their first wrestling match or recital.  We need to face each day knowing our Abba is rooting for us, Jesus is praying for us, and the Holy Spirit is as close as our next breath to give us grace to get through each moment. 

Hallelujah!  Praise His Name!    

Hearing God Through His Word

This week I’ve been reviving a practice my dad taught me; reading the Psalms and Proverbs that correspond with the date.  So on Monday I read Proverbs chapter 19 and I began reading the Psalms at 19 and continued reading by adding 30 each time – 49, 79, 109, and 139.  It’s always interesting to see what treasures I’ll find.  Yesterday, I came across a verse that really blessed me. 

He who sacrifices thank offerings honors Me, and he prepares the way so that I may show him the salvation of God.  Psalm 50:23

Isn’t that an amazing verse?  When we focus our hearts on all that our Abba Father has done for us, it creates a highway for His saving grace to flow toward us.  Wahoo!  That’s pretty cool.

Then there are those other verses that pop out because they are charged with conviction.  I had one of those yesterday, too.

You speak continually against your brother and slander your own mother’s son.  Ps. 50:20

How easy it is to pass judgment on those around me – almost as if I thought this were my job.  Nope.  Jesus talked about the harvest fields being white and He talked about sowing seed on good ground, but He never said anything about appointing me as a fruit inspector for His Body.  James 4:11-12 covers this pretty thoroughly. 

Brothers, do not slander one another. Anyone who speaks against his brother or judges him speaks against the law and judges it. When you judge the law, you are not keeping it, but sitting in judgment on it. There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the One who is able to save and destroy. But you—who are you to judge your neighbor?

Busted!  I hadn’t even really realized how much I’d been doing this until I saw the Word telling me not to and then I knew.  That feeling of conviction from the Holy Spirit is pretty unmistakable.  The great thing is that with it comes grace to repent and ask forgiveness. 

As always time in the Word of God is time well spent.  I believe our Abba Father can speak to us in so many ways, but spending time in His Word is definitely one of the best. 

Abba Father, please give us hearts to listen for Your voice, and hunger for Your Word.  In Jesus’ name, Amen. 

Storm Season

I have a love/hate relationship with springtime in Texas.  I love to see the fresh green leaves coming out on the trees and all the beautiful flowers blossoming in every direction, but I hate fighting the symptoms of seasonal allergies my children endure.  I also really hate the fact that it is storm season.  I love a good storm.  Thunder and lightning don’t bother me a bit.  It is the tornado warnings and watches – never can keep the difference between the two straight – that cause my anxiety to rise.  Last night, I was musing over this problem and I realized that the terrifying thing about tornadoes is that I can’t control them.  I have no way to guarantee the safety of my family if one hits.  We are completely in the hands of God.  Of course, when I actually had that thought I saw the foolishness of my isolated fear.  After all, whether I realize it or not, we are completely in the hands of God every single moment of our lives.  This is at once a wonderful and terrible thought:  wonderful if you believe He has your complete best interest in mind; terrible if you like to imagine that you have some control over your life.  At any given moment, a crisis of any kind can whirl into our lives and reveal the fact that we are completely at the mercy of our Creator.  Again, the nature of our relationship with Him will determine how we feel about embracing this idea.  I have to admit, as much as I love the Lord and see Him as my loving Heavenly Father, I also really love the idea of having a storm cellar where I can go and be safe from whatever happens.  Ideally this would be a charming, comfortable space stocked with everything my family could possibly need to survive any type of calamity.  It would be so easy to put my trust in a place like that.  Maybe that is why the Lord hasn’t seen fit to get my husband on board with building one!  What I hear the Lord saying today is that He wants to be my storm cellar, my hiding place in time of trouble.  He wants me to trust Him with the ones I love and believe that He will bring us through whatever crisis may befall us.  Security will not be found in a list of 47 essential items.  Any supply we may put our trust in is subject to destruction or theft.  In the end, all we have for sure is our hope in the Lord.  We have to believe that He is all we need.  Dear sisters, I don’t know what high winds are blowing in your life this morning, but I do know how scary it is.  I’ve wept as I’ve written today and I’m not sure if it is my flesh, my spirit or both.  I only know it is hard to say, “Yes, Lord, I trust You – with everything,” but I believe with all my heart that it is the only way to survive, thrive, and walk in the joy and peace our Abba Father means for us to have. 

In His unshakeable love,

Jennifer

For you are my hiding place; you protect me from trouble. You surround me with songs of victory.  Psalm 32:7  New Living Translation

What if?

Slow down and take time to be with me.

Slow down and stop running. 

Be still. 

Breathe.

Listen.

Rest.

This is what I hear the Father saying today.  He’s been talking to my heart lately about the things I do to refresh myself.  He’s been daring me to find out if spending time with Him could be better than picking up a book or flipping on the television.  I’m being honest here – I’ve spent most of my life finding rest for my soul in a plate of nachos and a good book.  I love the Lord and I love spending time with Him, but I think this may be one more wall in my brain that needs to be torn down.  Early in the morning and last thing at night seem like natural times to seek the Lord, but there are lots of times throughout my day when I turn in other directions for rest and relaxation.  Still…there’s that quiet voice in my heart saying “What if you turned to Me instead?”  What if I found relationship with Him on a whole new level when I let Him into all of my day? 

Abba – my loving Father God, Jesus – most faithful Friend and Lord, Holy Spirit – Comforter and Helper to You I pray. Please help me believe You to be this big in my life!  Please help me trust You to be all I need all day.  Please help me be brave enough to lay down my crutches and really walk with you.  In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

Waiting for "Well Done"

Have you ever found yourself incredibly discouraged by hearing someone else’s success story?  All of the long nights and endless days are reduced to a couple of sentences and it seems as if the hard times really didn’t last very long.  It’s kind of like watching Julia Child.  You see her begin to make a really complex dish and then after the next commercial break, suddenly she is pulling the finished product out of the oven looking picture perfect and saying, “Voila!  Bon appetit!”   We’re all sitting there thinking, “I’d be a chef, too, if it were really that simple.”  The problem with all of this seemingly instant success is that it is incredibly discouraging to those of us living in real time, isn’t it?  We are waiting on some situation that involves people dear to us to be resolved and it seems like it will never happen.  We pray, we cry, and we resolve to leave it in the Lord’s hands and then, bam!  The smoke alarm is going off and we are calling our 911 prayer line again.  That is where I am today - opening the windows to clear the smoke out and getting on my knees again to put this dish back in God’s oven, trusting His timer to be the right one.  As dearly as I would love to already be at the “Voila!” moment, I know the Father is asking me to trust Him for as long as it takes for this dish to receive His “Well done.” 

What I hear the Lord saying today is simply, “Don’t faint.  Don’t let go of my promise.  Keep holding on and trusting that I am holding on to you.”  Hebrews 10:23 puts it this way, “Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for He who promised is faithful.”

Yes, He is!  Keep holding on.  One day, we will have a joyous celebration when all of the works of the Lord are complete, and all the waiting will be worth it! 

Leaping Over Walls

For a while now, I’ve been aware of walls in my thought patterns.  Barriers that only exist in my head and yet, they still keep me from doing things I need to do.  For example, I have a wall in the area of my head where I plan meals, buy groceries and cook.  The reasons for this are mostly fear-based.  I’m afraid I’ll spend too much.  I’m afraid no one will want to eat what I make, including me.  I’m afraid it won’t be healthy enough.  When I hit this wall, I usually sit there and beat myself up for not having licked this thing 20 years ago.  This is one of those places where I need the Lord to step into my everyday life and set me free.  Today, I am choosing to believe that the amazing God who has saved me from my sin is also willing to help me live moment by moment.  Regarding this wall, His answer to me is to step past the fear and just do it.  Make a plan.  Stop sitting there stewing and wishing for perfect.  My family will be blessed if I make them food – period.  It isn’t just fear that makes a wall.  Wishing for perfect is another wall builder for me.  Last night, my ideal was sitting down to dinner together.  Unfortunately schedules didn’t come together and I only had one family member out of four around when it was dinnertime.  I was frustrated and hungry (never a good combo!) and then I realized, my daughter and I could just go ahead and eat.  The rest of the family would eat later and it wasn’t the end of the world.  Again, I heard the Lord saying: Just do what you can.  This may sound really lame and obvious, but for me I’ve felt like each day was an obstacle course.  I thought for a long time it was because of all that I had to do, but now I am beginning to wonder how much has been the mental/emotional baggage I’ve been dragging around as I tried to do what needed to be done perfectly.  Today the Lord is saying to me:  Just do it.  Just do what you can.  And finally:  Just do what I give you peace to do.  How many times do we tie ourselves up in knots doing things that we really aren’t called to, but they sounded like good ideas?  I’m not saying there won’t be times when we are called to do something out of our comfort zone, but if God is saying “Go for it!” we will have peace even as we push ourselves. 

Abba Father, thank you for being so faithful to speak to us right where we are.  Please help us turn to You always, no matter what kind of wall we are up against.  Thank You, Jesus, for being the Good Shepherd who promises to lead us and never leave us! 

John 10:27

My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.

Psalm 18:28-29

For You will light my lamp;
The Lord my God will enlighten my darkness.
For by You I can run against a troop,
By my God I can leap over a wall.  

Standing in Grace

This week, I’d like to share with you some verses from Romans, at the end of chapter 4 and on into the beginning of chapter 5 from the paraphrase called The Message.  One of my prayers for this year is to have new eyes.  Looking at these powerful verses through a different pair of lenses has given me a fresh take on the truth they express.  My prayer is that they will bless you, too.

Abraham didn't tiptoe around God's promise asking cautiously skeptical questions. He plunged into the promise and came up strong…sure that God would make good on what he had said. That's why it is said, "Abraham was declared fit before God by trusting God to set him right." But it's not just Abraham; it's also us! The same thing gets said about us when we embrace and believe the One who brought Jesus to life when the conditions were equally hopeless. The sacrificed Jesus made us fit for God, set us right with God.

By entering through faith into what God has always wanted to do for us—set us right with him, make us fit for him—we have it all together with God because of our Master Jesus. And that's not all: We throw open our doors to God and discover at the same moment that he has already thrown open his door to us. We find ourselves standing where we always hoped we might stand—out in the wide open spaces of God's grace and glory, standing tall and shouting our praise.

There's more to come: We continue to shout our praise even when we're hemmed in with troubles, because we know how troubles can develop passionate patience in us, and how that patience in turn forges the tempered steel of virtue, keeping us alert for whatever God will do next. In alert expectancy such as this, we're never left feeling shortchanged. Quite the contrary—we can't round up enough containers to hold everything God generously pours into our lives through the Holy Spirit!

There’s a victory being described here that is definitely beyond where I am living currently, but I certainly hope it is where I am headed. 

Abba, please help us stand in Your amazing grace, instead of being willing to crawl through our days under the burden of condemnation, hopelessness and frustration.  Please fill us again with your Holy Spirit, so we can know Your love in all it’s fullness.  In Jesus’ Name, Amen.