Forget Perfect!

Heart to Hear is going to be a little bit different today, but I believe this is God’s word for us.

She dreamed of a jar of magical cream whose contents smoothed away every blemish, each spot and wrinkle.  When she saw herself in the mirror, the face reflected was completely flawless, like a painting of a beautiful woman by a rather unimaginative artist.  Gone were the worry lines etched by loving concern.  Also gone were the lines of frustrated patience delved in the trenches of motherhood.  Not a trace remained of the joys and sorrows of a lifetime of loving, struggling and overcoming.  It was like the face of a doll – lovely, but without a soul.  Devoid of any human imperfections, it had ceased to be attractive and was now merely decorative and easily dismissed.  In horror, she dropped the jar and covered her face with her hands.  This empty soul-less beauty was grotesque on a living being.  She wept as she realized that true beauty doesn’t come from the lack of imperfections.  It comes from the light and life of the person inside shining past every line and scar and making the individual unique, alive, and real.  When she awoke to the morning sun and looked in the bathroom mirror at her own face – spots, wrinkles and all – she smiled and said, “Forget perfect.  It’s over-rated.  Let’s just focus on being real.  Be yourself.  Love other people.  And hey, let’s quit spending so much time looking at each other!” 

Abba Father, thank You for being the One who will present us to Yourself blameless and perfected.  Thank you that though outwardly we are wasting away, inwardly we are being made new.  You are amazing!  Your love is astonishing. Help us see others, as well as ourselves, through Your eyes.  In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

“…as Christ loved the church. He gave up His life for her to make her holy and clean, washed by the cleansing of God’s word. He did this to present her to Himself as a glorious church without a spot or wrinkle or any other blemish. Instead, she will be holy and without fault.” Ephesians 5:25b -27 (New Living Translation)

“Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.”  2 Corinthians 4:16 (New International Version)

Does it Matter?

Most of us would agree that what matters to us matters to God.  The Bible tells us that our Father God is a God who cares about us personally, even going so far as to number the hairs of our heads.  He stores our tears up in a bottle, and He hears the cries of our hearts. (Psalm 56:8)  Today, however, I believe He is challenging us with this question:  Does what matters to God matter to us?  Are we as interested in knowing how He is feeling and what He is wanting as we are in telling Him how we feel and what we want?  When was the last time we wondered what was on God’s mind and heart without it being all about us?  As I have prayed about this thought, the words to one of Steven Curtis Chapman’s songs came to my mind. 

“There’s more to this life than living and dying,
More than just trying to make it through the day”

Lately, I’ve wondered about my life and what it means.  I’ve been seeing things in Scripture that have challenged me and caused me to wonder if my life is all that it is meant to be.  Matthew 25:31 – 46 really has my attention.  Here in my comfortable suburban home, I never see need.  My prayers aren’t for daily survival.  The naked, hungry and desperate are far removed from view.  Even if I am confronted with the needs of the world through the Internet or television, it is all too easy to click away or switch channels.  Jesus told Judas, “The poor you will always have with you, and you can help them any time you want. But you will not always have me.”  (Mark 14:6-8)  I grew up hearing this quoted, but usually without that middle phrase, “You can help them any time you want.”  Instead, my take-away was that there would always be poor people and there really wasn’t anything we could do about it, so we should just focus on Jesus instead.  Now, I am beginning to wake up to the fact that my thoughts in this area have been wrong.  Jesus never advocated ignoring poverty and need.  Which takes me to back to the question – what does God care about and do I care, too?  What if I am His answer to someone else’s prayer?  I’ll be honest – this is scary, unfamiliar territory.  I’m not sure where this path will take me.  On the other hand, I’m wondering if this isn’t the answer to my heart’s cry for more to this life.  Pray for me, and I will pray for you that our Abba Father will give us hearts to hear what is on His heart and the grace to respond in ways that bless Him. 

No More Sloppy Thinking!

Early this past Saturday morning, this thought ran through my head: “No more sloppy thinking!”  I believe the Father was telling me that it’s time to be more intentional about my thought life.  The enemy often takes shots at me via little condemning thoughts pinging off my brain.  “Can you believe you said that?”  “What were you thinking?”  On and on, but now I believe the Lord is saying, “Enough!”  It’s time to crack down on this unnecessary personal verbal abuse, and start making more of an effort to think the truth.  When I did the Breaking Free Bible study by Beth Moore, one of the best things I took away was the idea that you can cover the walls of your mind with the truth of God’s Word instead of the lies of the enemy.  In my mind, I like to imagine a big poster on the wall that says, “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”  I do not have to listen to these thoughts anymore.  It isn’t the conviction of the Holy Spirit.  It is just the enemy trying to find out how much torment I’m willing to take.  I used to think I deserved the torment, but now I believe the truth.  I am beloved of my Father God, so much so that He put His Spirit of adoption into my heart that calls Him “Abba” which means “Daddy”.  I am accepted in His beloved Son Jesus.  I am clean and righteous before Him.  That’s the truth and that is where He wants me living.  After all, He set us free so we could be…free!  Why would we settle for anything less?

Abba, thank You for the amazing love You have shown us. Thank You for sending Jesus to redeem our lives from the pit and set us free to live in You and for You.  Help us think the truth, and please show us the places where we aren’t.  In Jesus’ name, Amen. 

Romans 8:1, 15; Ephesians 1:6, I John 1:9; Galatians 5:1

Where is the Joy?

Where is the joy?  Anybody besides me been wondering that lately?  I haven’t really been seeing it or feeling it.  Joy.  I know it’s something followers of Jesus are supposed to have and yet, for some reason I just don’t.  I think part of the problem is simply not maintaining my awareness of all that the Lord has done for me. 

One of the things David - psalmist, shepherd and king – did best was to remind himself of all that the Lord had done for him.  Psalm 30 is an enthusiastic declaration of how wonderfully God saved, healed and redeemed his life.  Look at the last two verses with me. 

You turned my wailing into dancing;
You removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy,
that my heart may sing Your praises and not be silent.
LORD my God, I will praise You forever.  Psalm 30:11-12

David remembered what the Lord had done and he used those remembrances to stir his heart to worship and praise.  That my heart may sing Your praises and not be silent.  I was convicted when I read that because all too often my heart is silent.  If I do feel moved to worship, I can turn on a cd and while I know that I can genuinely worship the Lord with the help of a recording, I also know it is easy to let the singers on the cd do all the worshipping while I just enjoy the music.  To truly worship, I need to think about the Lord and who He is to me.  I need to remind my heart of all that He has done for me, and I need to open my mouth and sing His praises.  I need to remember all the times He has met me at the point of my need and declare that I know He always will.  Worship isn’t a weekly event at a building.  It’s something I need to engage in every day because when I do, joy isn’t hard to find.  It’s a well springing up inside me, a river of living water. 

Abba Father, please help us take the time to focus on You and Your goodness.  Please bring to our remembrance all the good things You have done.  Help us learn to sing Your praise and not be silent – not just at church, but in our homes and cars, too!  Help us engage in true worship.  Thank You for giving us a reason to sing.  In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

Relationship Not Religion!

Last week I found myself having one of those days where it is a struggle to string one clear thought to the next.  Too many things were screaming for my attention and I couldn’t decide where to put my focus.  Ever have one of those?  I hate that kind of day because I always end up feeling like I didn’t accomplish much more than spinning my wheels and driving myself crazy.  When I got up the next day, I made a point of talking to the Lord about how the day before had gone.  I sure didn’t want to repeat the experience.  It didn’t take long for the Holy Spirit to take me straight to the bottom line.  Yesterday had been so miserable because I was trying to figure out what God wanted me to do without actually asking Him.  Why?  Because I was afraid to ask for fear of it being too hard, not what I wanted to do, or both.  Yep, I was totally busted; nailed for trying to find a way to make God happy without it interfering too much with my plans.  Isn’t it insane that I would rather stumble around in the darkness of my own mind rather than turn to my Father and simply ask Him to light my way?  That’s religion for you and it flies in the face of the fact that what the Father wants for us is a relationship built on trust.  If I trust Him and His love for me, I won’t be trying to weasel out of doing what He has for me.  I’ll know that even if it looks hard, Jesus is in me, enabling me to do what He asks.  I’ll trust the Holy Spirit to lead me and tell me which way to go and I will have peace,  knowing that I’m right where my Abba Father wants me.  Jesus went around doing what the Father told him to do and that’s what He wants for us, too!  Just in case you were wondering, once I submitted my agenda to the Lord, I had a great day!

 No one can come to Me  unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day.  It is written in the prophets, ‘And they shall all be taught by God.’ Therefore everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to Me.  John 6:44-45

Abba Father, thank you for drawing us to Your Son Jesus.  Thank You for being a patient teacher.  Please help us stop running from You.  Help us believe Your plans are good and not evil.  Help us live in unbroken fellowship with You.  In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

More Than Able

More than able.  God spoke those words to my heart during worship Sunday.  It is so easy to slip into a mindset of seeing our problems as mountain- sized in comparison with the small strength we have to meet the crisis.  But God is not a man that He should be perplexed by our difficulties.  He is more than able to handle whatever we face.  Not only is His strength enough, He says it is actually perfected when we are weak and unable to stand on our own.   (2 Corinthians 12:9)

This week, my Abba Father has been challenging me to thank Him even in the face of difficulty.  Paul told us in 1 Thessalonians 5:18 to give thanks in all circumstances.  When I thank Him for my problem, I invite His presence and His power into the situation and free Him to make something wonderful out of something the enemy wanted to use to tear down my faith.  That’s what being a Redeemer is  all about!  He can redeem ANY thing in our lives and use it to bring His name glory and transform our hearts.  Just in case you were wondering, I’m not thanking Him for evil, but I’m thanking Him for being more than able to overcome it with His goodness.  Our problems are where we can meet our Father God face to face if we choose to take them to Him with thankfulness. 

Abba, please help us trust You in the hard things -  even to the point of thanking you for them.  Please bring Your Kingdom to life in our lives.  Thank You for being more than able!  In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

Believing His Promises

This week, the Father is talking to me about trusting Him to do what He has promised.  I don’t know what you might be waiting on the Lord to do in your life, but I do hope that you have some things that you are believing He will do.  If you don’t, I hope you will take a look at your life, especially those messy areas you have no idea how to straighten out, and ask Him what He wants to do about them.  In at least one area of my life, I’ve asked the Lord to give me a picture for my heart’s wallet of what He plans to do so that I can take it out and look at it whenever I start to doubt.  This week, I needed His reminder to do just that.  Here is what He had to say:

You must not look with your eyes and think that is all there is.  I’ve called you to trust Me – to believe Me for what your eyes don’t see.  Believe Me!  Believe what I’ve promised!  Call those things that are not yet revealed into being in your life.  Trust me to make happen what I have shown you with your spiritual eyes.  As in heaven, so on earth - as you believe and trust Me for it all. 

To be honest, I wrote those words down during worship on Sunday and Monday morning I sat down with my Bible to be sure what I heard lined up with the Word.  The good news – it does!  Romans 4:17 states plainly that the God Abraham put his faith in is “the God Who gives life to the dead and calls those things that are not as though they were.”  Abraham believed God’s word to him concerning his righteousness and concerning his circumstances.  As one of Abraham’s children of faith, I can do the same. 

Bottom line, faith in our Abba Father brings peace.  Looking at our own meager resources brings anxiety.  Even when we have nothing, He says, “I am enough!” 

Thank You, Father God, that You are all we need.  You are faithful and You keep all Your promises.  Help our unbelief.  Help us hold on to your promises without wavering.  In Jesus’ Name, Amen.