Luke 7:7 -9 says, "When he was still quite far from the house, the captain sent friends to tell him, "Master, you don't have to go to all this trouble. I'm not that good a person, you know. I'd be embarrassed for you to come to my house, even embarrassed to come to you in person. Just give the order and my servant will get well. I'm a man under orders; I also give orders. I tell one soldier, 'Go,' and he goes; another, 'Come,' and he comes; my slave, 'Do this,' and he does it." Taken aback, Jesus addressed the accompanying crowd: "I've yet to come across this kind of simple trust anywhere in Israel, the very people who are supposed to know about God and how he works."
So many people in the church seem to think that they know all about God. They have been studying and learning for years and they know how it all works.
But look at this passage. Here is a man who is not a Jew, not a believer. He lives among the Jews as a Roman soldier, and he probably knows a lot about them, but he is not a Jew. He asks for healing for someone else, and also recognizes the authority of Jesus unlike anyone Jesus had encountered! Jesus knew even back then - people on the 'outside' are watching. They are always watching what we say and do. By observing and listening, they probably understand more about God and how He works than many of us realize.
When a person who was not raised in the church is saved, their lives are brand new. They truly live out the verse about being a new creation. You can see the changes and they embrace this new sense of security and freedom.
But when someone who has lived all thier lives in the church is saved, it's not that much of a change. They already know the lingo and all the regular liturgy of the church. I think sometimes we do (mostly younger) new believer a disservice when we don't treat them like a new believer from the 'outside'. How many of these kids and young people fall away because they never go through a life-changing event? They may say all the right words and do all the right things, but how many of them are put into a position to really have to make the choice?
How do we do that? I don't know. But we cannot just assume that they know it. They must be given words and actions to use in situations. They must be given alternatives to do and say in place of the things they know in the world. They must learn to go out and tell. New believers usually go out and tell all their friends, the change is that drastic. But I rarely hear a young person do the same. How can we make the change that drastic so that they cannot help but tell?
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Floods and Trickles
John 6:19 says Everyone was trying to touch him - so much energy surging from him, so many people healed! MSG
This is how ministry feels! Everyone wants to be right by the pastor - close quarters - intimate. I remember how I felt when Jeff wasn't the senior pastor. I wanted to be noticed as someone special by the person who, really and truly, represented Christ in the church I attended.
We represent Christ. All Christians represent Christ, but those in the pastoral ministry are put in a position to be that earthly figure that people look at when they are looking for Christ.
What a responsibility!
Jesus was putting out energy all over the place as the crowds pressed in on him and he healed them!
How do we handle the stress of all those around us pressing in on us? We know that all the things we do make a difference - that's not the point. I know that Jeff and I love to know how God has worked through some small thing we have said or done. That's what we are passionate about. That's what keeps us going. But there are so many things that we could be doing and saying. There are so many things we WANT to do and say! How do we handle that stress and keep going?
Prayer is the answer. We need to stay pray-up.
But do we do it? I know I have not been the best at it. I know in my head and I teach in my classes that Jesus must come first (JOY - Jesus first, Others second, myself last)
I have translated that as: work for Jesus first, help others second, find quiet time for myself last. And last it usually is. Even now, as I spend some quality quiet time with God and the Bible I find that it is time for bed. I have to teach tomorrow and need all the physical rest I can get! So how do I find time for all of it like Jesus did?
I need to put time with God first. I need to get up and spend quiet time with God every morning before the rest of the house wakes up.
I will do that tomorrow. I will get up when I plan to.
I will pray before I go to work.
My day has to be better! It can't get much worse!
And I will pray throughout the day.
Jesus did it.
He was human.
I can do it with God's help!!!!!
This is how ministry feels! Everyone wants to be right by the pastor - close quarters - intimate. I remember how I felt when Jeff wasn't the senior pastor. I wanted to be noticed as someone special by the person who, really and truly, represented Christ in the church I attended.
We represent Christ. All Christians represent Christ, but those in the pastoral ministry are put in a position to be that earthly figure that people look at when they are looking for Christ.
What a responsibility!
Jesus was putting out energy all over the place as the crowds pressed in on him and he healed them!
How do we handle the stress of all those around us pressing in on us? We know that all the things we do make a difference - that's not the point. I know that Jeff and I love to know how God has worked through some small thing we have said or done. That's what we are passionate about. That's what keeps us going. But there are so many things that we could be doing and saying. There are so many things we WANT to do and say! How do we handle that stress and keep going?
Prayer is the answer. We need to stay pray-up.
But do we do it? I know I have not been the best at it. I know in my head and I teach in my classes that Jesus must come first (JOY - Jesus first, Others second, myself last)
I have translated that as: work for Jesus first, help others second, find quiet time for myself last. And last it usually is. Even now, as I spend some quality quiet time with God and the Bible I find that it is time for bed. I have to teach tomorrow and need all the physical rest I can get! So how do I find time for all of it like Jesus did?
I need to put time with God first. I need to get up and spend quiet time with God every morning before the rest of the house wakes up.
I will do that tomorrow. I will get up when I plan to.
I will pray before I go to work.
My day has to be better! It can't get much worse!
And I will pray throughout the day.
Jesus did it.
He was human.
I can do it with God's help!!!!!
Friday, January 11, 2008
BE!
As I read my devotional this morning, I kept asking myself - how do you lead people to take Jesus from their heads and 'to do' lists and soften their hearts so He can enter and grow? Doing for Christ is not being in Christ. Being in Christ leads to doing for Christ, but doing does not guarantee being. There are so many people out there doing and doing and doing, but they don't know they need to BE IN Christ to get to heaven. Doing won't get you there! You can KNOW all you want. You can DO all you want. You can SAY all you want. None of these three will help me see you in heaven! You have to ask Christ to enter your body and clean in up. You have to let go of your control issues and your pride and allow Christ to clean. Once Christ enters, you will have desire to DO, KNOW, and SAY, but it will be with such less effort that you DO KNOW and SAY that you will be amazed at how much simpler and easier it is!
If you are a doer, but not a be-er, then I urge you to give over your life right now. Get out of the driver's seat of the car of your life and let Jesus drive. At first you'll be a totally annoying backseat driver, but as you watch and learn, you will see that Jesus's way is the best way, even if you don't know where he is going at the time. Let him lead you. Let him guide you. Let him drive! I have yet to meet anyone who is sorry they ever did that. I only hear laments about not doing it sooner.
It won't be easy. It will be difficult and it will be scary. You will end up with different friends a lot of times. You will end up with a whole new life! But it's like a butterfly! The caterpillar has to give up his old self completely before he can become a new creature. You have to do the same. Just like the caterpillar, who turns almost completely to liquid inside the chrysalis, you have to give all of your being to Christ, who will mold you and change you into a beautiful creature unlike anything you could ever imagine!
Let me know how it works out for you!
If you are a doer, but not a be-er, then I urge you to give over your life right now. Get out of the driver's seat of the car of your life and let Jesus drive. At first you'll be a totally annoying backseat driver, but as you watch and learn, you will see that Jesus's way is the best way, even if you don't know where he is going at the time. Let him lead you. Let him guide you. Let him drive! I have yet to meet anyone who is sorry they ever did that. I only hear laments about not doing it sooner.
It won't be easy. It will be difficult and it will be scary. You will end up with different friends a lot of times. You will end up with a whole new life! But it's like a butterfly! The caterpillar has to give up his old self completely before he can become a new creature. You have to do the same. Just like the caterpillar, who turns almost completely to liquid inside the chrysalis, you have to give all of your being to Christ, who will mold you and change you into a beautiful creature unlike anything you could ever imagine!
Let me know how it works out for you!
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
Promises Promises
Tonight's family devotion was on promises to God. We had to make a promise and write it down. Talk about tough! I promised to spend quiet time with God every day. That's going to be a big one and the kids are going to be watching for it, which makes it even harder.
Why is it harder to keep a promise to God when people are watching?
Isn't that backwards?
Shouldn't it be EASIER when just people are watching? Shouldn't it be more disconcerting when we know God is watching? But God remains silent so much that we tend to blow Him off. People say things we can hear. God is easier to ignore. But shouldn't God's disappointment in us mean more to us? Why do I feel guiltier when people are watching me mess up than when God is watching me mess up? Why do I feel worse when someone here on earth sees my mistakes than I would normally? God sees all my bloopers and blunders - even the ones that are in my head and nobody else can see!
When God makes a promise, He keeps it faithfully. We can trust that there will never be another worldwide flood because God promised and used a rainbow as a reminder of that promise. May I learn to look to God for approval, not man. May my own promises be as faithfully kept as God's promises are!
Why is it harder to keep a promise to God when people are watching?
Isn't that backwards?
Shouldn't it be EASIER when just people are watching? Shouldn't it be more disconcerting when we know God is watching? But God remains silent so much that we tend to blow Him off. People say things we can hear. God is easier to ignore. But shouldn't God's disappointment in us mean more to us? Why do I feel guiltier when people are watching me mess up than when God is watching me mess up? Why do I feel worse when someone here on earth sees my mistakes than I would normally? God sees all my bloopers and blunders - even the ones that are in my head and nobody else can see!
When God makes a promise, He keeps it faithfully. We can trust that there will never be another worldwide flood because God promised and used a rainbow as a reminder of that promise. May I learn to look to God for approval, not man. May my own promises be as faithfully kept as God's promises are!
Friday, November 2, 2007
Love Your Neighbor
Jesus tells us that the greatest commandment includes "Love your neighbor as yourself." What does that mean? Someone even asked him "Who is my neighbor" which launched Jesus into the parable of the Good Samaritan. Most of us are familiar with that story. The story focuses on how a man, being beat up and left for dead, doesn't receive help from the religious leaders of the time, but from a Samaritan man, who, from the Jewish point of view, is the scum of the earth.
OK - I would guess that I am the man who was beaten up and left for dead. The lesson is that we should not expect to receive help from the higher-ups, but accept it from the scum. I can live with that.
But I don't think that's the point Jesus was trying to make.
The Jews thought of themselves as better than the Samaritans for a lot of reasons, but Jesus is telling us to be like the Samaritan, not the Jew. Jesus isn't telling us where our help will come from. Jesus is telling us to get down off our high horses - that those so-called 'scum' are better than we are!
Hurts a bit, doesn't it?
Who are the 'scum' today? For a lot of us it's the people who actually look dirty. They often don't have a lot of money to spend on name-brand cleaners or water softeners so their clothes don't come as clean. Their washers and dryers aren't as efficient, or maybe they have to go to the laundrymat and put it off because of the cost. Some are wearing hand-me-downs so old that 'bright' left years ago. Some are working such dirty jobs that getting clean is not a visual possibility, that the stains are permanent, or they are sun-scorched unevenly and therefore look a bit 'dusty' all the time.
I could probably learn to live with that and overlook that to the inner heart like God does.
Then there are those who truly are unclean and smelly. They may have a physical condition that causes the smell or prevents regular bathing. They may be homeless and unable to bathe. Whatever the reason, we need to see that Jesus was talking about them, too.
Love your neighbor as yourself.
Love your neighbor as yourself.
Can you love from afar? We sure want to sometimes, don't we? But can we really do it? Think of your children. Can you show your children your love without ever getting near? Of course not. So what do you do?
We have got to change the way we think.
In our society, we are bombarded regularly with how to move up in the world. A better house, a better car, better furniture, better beds, better cleansers for body and house, and they all lead to better ways to pull away from the people we are supposed to love the most. If we are constantly concerned about making more money to 'get a better something,' then we are working more. If we are working more, then we are home less. If we are home less, then we have less time to make the house as presentable as it should be - like on TV, right? Their houses are never messed up like mine! - and we spend all our time doing that.
We have got to start making time to help those around us - especially as a church. Sending money to far-away places is easy and clean and quick. We need to get down off our own spiritual high horses and get dirty! The man who was beaten in the parable was messy. He was bleeding. He would have made the helper 'unclean' for quite some time. Are you willing to get a little dirty for God?
There are all kinds of ways we can better help those in our community. Every town I've lived in has volunteer opportunities. Where is God calling you to help? Maybe it's not even the organizations you are called to help. Maybe it the crazy man across the street, or the cat lady down the road. Make extra dinner some night and give it away. Invite someone over to eat with you. Take down the walls we erect in our lives and invite people in.
You're afraid, aren't you? Someone might make fun of you when you ask them to come over. Someone might refuse to accept you dinner offering. They might do something wierd at dinner or stay too late. They might be mean or talk about you to their friends later.
Just what are they going to say? "I can't believe that neighbor! She cooked dinner for me! How dare she do that!" No - they might be a little suspicious of you actions, but doing nice things is not a bad thing! Try it 5 times. You'll be hooked before you know it.
Doing nice things for people is the best drug around. Believe it or not, it is God's own pain reliever. Our brains release natural chemicals into our bodies that make us happier and less painful when we do things selflessly.
Train your brain - do something nice for someone else once a week until Christmas. Go even further and do it anonymously! Try to outdo yourself each wee and just see what happens!
I dare you!
OK - I would guess that I am the man who was beaten up and left for dead. The lesson is that we should not expect to receive help from the higher-ups, but accept it from the scum. I can live with that.
But I don't think that's the point Jesus was trying to make.
The Jews thought of themselves as better than the Samaritans for a lot of reasons, but Jesus is telling us to be like the Samaritan, not the Jew. Jesus isn't telling us where our help will come from. Jesus is telling us to get down off our high horses - that those so-called 'scum' are better than we are!
Hurts a bit, doesn't it?
Who are the 'scum' today? For a lot of us it's the people who actually look dirty. They often don't have a lot of money to spend on name-brand cleaners or water softeners so their clothes don't come as clean. Their washers and dryers aren't as efficient, or maybe they have to go to the laundrymat and put it off because of the cost. Some are wearing hand-me-downs so old that 'bright' left years ago. Some are working such dirty jobs that getting clean is not a visual possibility, that the stains are permanent, or they are sun-scorched unevenly and therefore look a bit 'dusty' all the time.
I could probably learn to live with that and overlook that to the inner heart like God does.
Then there are those who truly are unclean and smelly. They may have a physical condition that causes the smell or prevents regular bathing. They may be homeless and unable to bathe. Whatever the reason, we need to see that Jesus was talking about them, too.
Love your neighbor as yourself.
Love your neighbor as yourself.
Can you love from afar? We sure want to sometimes, don't we? But can we really do it? Think of your children. Can you show your children your love without ever getting near? Of course not. So what do you do?
We have got to change the way we think.
In our society, we are bombarded regularly with how to move up in the world. A better house, a better car, better furniture, better beds, better cleansers for body and house, and they all lead to better ways to pull away from the people we are supposed to love the most. If we are constantly concerned about making more money to 'get a better something,' then we are working more. If we are working more, then we are home less. If we are home less, then we have less time to make the house as presentable as it should be - like on TV, right? Their houses are never messed up like mine! - and we spend all our time doing that.
We have got to start making time to help those around us - especially as a church. Sending money to far-away places is easy and clean and quick. We need to get down off our own spiritual high horses and get dirty! The man who was beaten in the parable was messy. He was bleeding. He would have made the helper 'unclean' for quite some time. Are you willing to get a little dirty for God?
There are all kinds of ways we can better help those in our community. Every town I've lived in has volunteer opportunities. Where is God calling you to help? Maybe it's not even the organizations you are called to help. Maybe it the crazy man across the street, or the cat lady down the road. Make extra dinner some night and give it away. Invite someone over to eat with you. Take down the walls we erect in our lives and invite people in.
You're afraid, aren't you? Someone might make fun of you when you ask them to come over. Someone might refuse to accept you dinner offering. They might do something wierd at dinner or stay too late. They might be mean or talk about you to their friends later.
Just what are they going to say? "I can't believe that neighbor! She cooked dinner for me! How dare she do that!" No - they might be a little suspicious of you actions, but doing nice things is not a bad thing! Try it 5 times. You'll be hooked before you know it.
Doing nice things for people is the best drug around. Believe it or not, it is God's own pain reliever. Our brains release natural chemicals into our bodies that make us happier and less painful when we do things selflessly.
Train your brain - do something nice for someone else once a week until Christmas. Go even further and do it anonymously! Try to outdo yourself each wee and just see what happens!
I dare you!
Sunday, October 21, 2007
Brokenness
We sang "Holiness" on Sunday. One of the verses goes:
"Brokenness, Brokenness is what I long for
Brokenness is what I need.
Brokenness, Brokenness is what You want from me"
and the chorus goes:
"Take my heart - and form it
Take my mind - transform it
Take my will - conform it
To Yours, To Your, O Lord.
During this verse a vision came to my head. I want to record it here.
To give a bit of background, this incorporates teaching from the weekend at Come to the Fire about God's Glory.
Glory is a word that is heavy with its idea that it holds within it all the attributes of God:
"Brokenness, Brokenness is what I long for
Brokenness is what I need.
Brokenness, Brokenness is what You want from me"
and the chorus goes:
"Take my heart - and form it
Take my mind - transform it
Take my will - conform it
To Yours, To Your, O Lord.
During this verse a vision came to my head. I want to record it here.
To give a bit of background, this incorporates teaching from the weekend at Come to the Fire about God's Glory.
Glory is a word that is heavy with its idea that it holds within it all the attributes of God:
Infinite
Sovereign
Holy
Triune God
Omniscient
Faithful
Love
Omnipotent
Self-Existant
Self-Sufficient
Just
Immutable
Merciful
Eternal
Good
Gracious
Omnipresent
Truth
Healer
Comforter
Redeemer
Righteous
I AM
God of the Beginning
God of Justice
God of Forgiveness
God of Heights
God Who is Near
God of My Strength
God of My Praise
God of My Salvation
God with us
Holy God
Living God
God of Gods
Sovereign
Holy
Triune God
Omniscient
Faithful
Love
Omnipotent
Self-Existant
Self-Sufficient
Just
Immutable
Merciful
Eternal
Good
Gracious
Omnipresent
Truth
Healer
Comforter
Redeemer
Righteous
I AM
God of the Beginning
God of Justice
God of Forgiveness
God of Heights
God Who is Near
God of My Strength
God of My Praise
God of My Salvation
God with us
Holy God
Living God
God of Gods
This Glory is what we want to be filled with - but it's too heavy to be a thin substance! I picture it as a Jell-O-type substance.
Now make it glow-in-the-dark.
So now we have God's Glory in us - shining in the dark!
Then we become BROKEN -
Now picture a figuring (mine is a Willow Tree) that has been dropped and shattered. Tiny Tiny pieces!
But wait! There's the Jell-O Glory!
All the pieces are held in place - sort of - by the glowing Jello-O Glory of God!
We now have an outside figuring, representing ourselves, that has been made broken. The Glory of God now shines through. It also can now mold and shape this figuring.
WOW! Just think of what God can do in your life if He's got permission to mold and shape you. Just think of what God can do in the world if all Christians became filled with the Glory of God and were broken!
I want God's Glory in me!
I want to be broken!
Work in me, God...
Now make it glow-in-the-dark.
So now we have God's Glory in us - shining in the dark!
Then we become BROKEN -
Now picture a figuring (mine is a Willow Tree) that has been dropped and shattered. Tiny Tiny pieces!
But wait! There's the Jell-O Glory!
All the pieces are held in place - sort of - by the glowing Jello-O Glory of God!
We now have an outside figuring, representing ourselves, that has been made broken. The Glory of God now shines through. It also can now mold and shape this figuring.
WOW! Just think of what God can do in your life if He's got permission to mold and shape you. Just think of what God can do in the world if all Christians became filled with the Glory of God and were broken!
I want God's Glory in me!
I want to be broken!
Work in me, God...
Monday, October 15, 2007
Come to the Fire
I just spent the weekend at the 'Come to the Fire' women's conference in Olathe, Kansas. It was a wonderful time of renewal and healing!The display behind the speakers at the conference was beautiful! Long yards of brightly-colored satin draped on a tall backdrop. Red, yellow, orange, and cream - arranged to resemble a fire.
The center of the 'fire' was drawn back to reveal royal purple cloth behind the fire.
Fire represents making something pure in the Bible. It is called 'refining' - referring to how a metal smithy must separate the impurities from the metal by melting the ore. Silver is the most common metal used in Scripture because at that time silver was the most precious metal. Today we think of gold - back then it was silver!
Purple represents royalty - referring to Jesus as the King of Kings.
Old Testament references to refining -
"... in all the land, two parts shall be cut off and die; but the third shall be left. And I will put this third into the fire, and Refine them as silver, and test them as gold. They will call on My Name, and I will answer and say, 'They are My people'; and they will say, 'Yahweh is my Elohim!!!'." (Zec 13:9)
"... when He Has Tried me, I shall come forth as gold!" (Job
But who can endure the day of His coming? And who shall stand when He appears? For He is like a refiner's fire, and like fuller's soap. (Malachi 3:2)
Behold, I have refined you, but not with silver; I have chosen you in the furnace of affliction. For my own sake, even for my own sake, will I do it: for how should My Name be polluted? and I will not give My Glory unto another. (Isaiah 10-11)
And many of those who understand shall stumble, to refine and purge them, and to make white, to the time of the end because it is still for the appointed time. (Daniel 11:35)
And in the New Testament:This is the fulfillment of the scripture in Zechariah 13:9 (see above) - the persecutions of the early church, the 'fiery trial' which tried the people of God then. Those whom God sets apart for himself must pass through a probation and purification in this world. They must be TRIED that THEIR FAITH may be FOUND TO PRAISE AND HONOUR as Abraham's faith was when it was tried by the command given him to offer up Isaac. They must be tried, that both those that are perfect and those that are not may be 'made manifest.' they must be refined from their dross, their corruption must be purged out, they must be brightened and bettered. (Excerpted from Matthew Henry's Commentaries)
I've often gotten the idea from people that once they come to Christ they think it's easier. But it's not - it's only the beginning. Now, it IS easier in the sense that there is someone else to lean upon to get you through, but it is not the end of the work or the end of the pain. Once you've come to Christ, asking Him to come into your heart, the refining begins.
One of my favorite speakers, Carolyn Johnson, speaks on the rooms of your heart. Each room represents an area of your life. Jesus will go through your rooms, ridding each of the dross. Unfortunately, there is often a refining fire to go through to get it cleaned out!
But Jesus does not just barge in uninvited - not into your heart and not into any room within your heart. Revelation 3:20 states, "Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me." The rooms of our heart have no outside doorknobs- only you can open the door and let Jesus inside. But once you do, you will be amazed at the weight that will fall away - dross and impurities weigh a LOT!!!
And the refining doesn't stop - it continues unto death! As you spend time with God in prayer and quiet time, as you read and study your Bible (two separate acts, not one), and as you hear the preaching and teaching of the Word, Jesus will knock on doors. He will knock on doors to rooms you thought He was done with! He will knock on doors to rooms you built as you went through your life. He will knock on doors to rooms that you didn't even know you had!
As He purifies those rooms, you will begin to shine. The light of the Son will be reflected out into the world for all to see. You will become a light in the darkness. Those living in the darkness will be drawn to you - wanting to know you, be with you, to learn what it is that makes you shine. Get out there into the world! Shine before men! Let the Glory of God ooze out of every crevice of your being so that others can come to Him and be saved.
The following story I found on the internet. It is a copy of one of those email stories that go around. Very good picture...
Malachi 3:3 says:
“He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver.“
This verse puzzled some women in a Bible study and they wondered what this statement meant about the character and nature of God. One of the women offered to find out the process of refining silver and get back to the group at their next Bible Study.
That week, the woman called a silversmith and made an appointment to watch him at work. She didn’t mention anything about the reason for her interest beyond her curiosity about the process of refining silver.
As she watched the silversmith, he held a piece of silver over the fire and let it heat up. He explained that in refining silver, one needed to hold the silver in the middle of the fire where the flames were hottest as to burn away all the impurities.The woman thought about God holding us in such a hot spot; then she thought again about the verse that says: “He sits as a refiner and purifier of silver.” She asked the silversmith if it was true that he had to sit there in front of the fire the whole time the silver was refined. The man answered that yes, he not only had to sit there holding the silver, but he had to keep his eyes on the silver the entire time it was in the fire. If the silver was left a moment too long in the flames, it would be destroyed.
The woman was silent for a moment. Then she asked the silversmith, “How do you know when the silver is fully refined?” He smiled at her and answered, “Oh, that’s easy — when I see my image in it.”
May the Glory of God shine in you today!
Jillian
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