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That Our Faith Would Not Fail

Jesus told Peter that Satan had asked permission to sift him like wheat but that He was going to be praying for him, that his faith would not fail. (Luke 22:31-32) Then Jesus gave Peter a picture of what it would look like to follow Him. He said: You’ll be taken places you do not want to go. You’ll have zero control. When Peter asked if the others would have it that bad, Jesus answered: None of your business and not your problem! You must follow Me. (John 21:18-22) Whew. Those must have been some life altering moments for Peter. And like a few other life altering moments for Peter that I can call to mind from Scripture, I fit in his shoes quite well. Stepping out, sinking. Demanding, head lowering. Zealous, unfaithful.

What can we take from these encounters of Jesus with Peter when we ourselves have a crisis of faith, a mountain ahead we just don’t want to have to climb?

1) We can take from these conversations a realization that we ourselves may be in the process of being “sifted”, meaning when it’s over (this particular circumstance and this earthly life), some of who we are will be left and some of who we are will be gone, thrown out, dead. Satan intends the sifting for our pain, in hopes our faith will fail, but Jesus intends the sifting for our benefit, so that we are refined like gold. It hurts. There are cancers being cut out of us. He sees what we cannot, and if we are to be His vessels here to show His Kingdom to the world, there are things in us that simply cannot remain.

2) We can see this unbelievable truth right along with the first: Jesus Himself is interceding for us. And He is interceding to the Father on our behalf, praying that our faith would not fail. He is the leader of that great cloud of witnesses cheering us on! Is He praying we will get everything we’re wanting? Is He praying our answers would come quickly and easily? I don’t see that here. I see His concern is our perseverance and character. I see His concern is our encouragement and an ability to keep going even when our plans fail and our hearts break.

3) We can see while our relationship with the Lord is incredibly enriched by community, there is an element of this relationship that is naked, alone, face to face, “just you and me here now”. We can’t worry about the size of other people’s mountains, callings, or pain. We can’t worry about the magnitude of other people’s success, riches, or ease. If we have given our lives to the Lord, they are just that: His.

It’s a death, a real death, to realize these things. We’re dying to self, to immaturity, to trying to make things true just because we want them to be true, not because they’re scripturally sound. It’s not taking on bitterness or apathy, it’s taking on the yoke that we chose in accepting Christ, the yoke that is only easy and light once we lose our strong opinions and absolute need to be in charge.

By His Spirit, we have joy in the journey, yes, even this leg of the journey. By His Blood, we have peace and friendship with God. By His dwelling in us, we have resurrection life that is the very breath in our lungs. Friends, in whatever mountain you’re climbing, whether you chose that mountain and now see how impossible it is to climb, or whether you are going through a trial you did not choose at all, I want to tell you this:

Whatever you have lost and whatever you feel you lack, you do have what you need to make it through.

“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written: ‘For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.’ No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, angels nor demons, present nor the future, any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in ALL creation, will be able to separate us from the LOVE OF GOD THAT IS IN CHRIST JESUS OUR LORD.” (Romans 8:35-39)

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What We Do When Our Naysayers Are Proved Right

I don’t know. Do you? I’m really tempted to just keep crying and find someone else much wiser and much more mature who can tell me. What do we do when our naysayers are proved right? What do we do when we finally “get” what they meant, when we finally see the pain they foretold?

We see ourselves as dreamers. Hopers. Big-time believers. We feel called. We don’t want to waste our lives just doing what’s easy, what’s normal. Nope, we have to pick the tallest mountain to climb. And not to gain attention, but because deep inside we have a sense that fully living means forgetting the status quo and living from our hearts. We have a sense that fully living means taking the words of Jesus as literally as we can figure out how to.

But yes, there’s a piece of this kind of person that is easily fooled, too. The naysayers see with complete clarity what we cannot. The passion and zeal and ideas and hope are so strong that no matter how many times we nod our heads in the beginning, saying, “Yes, of course I know this may fail and I’m okay with that, but I just have to try”, we really don’t know that. We really don’t accept the possibility. And if we genuinely do realize the possibility of failure, we aren’t in touch with just how painful and devastating it could be. The naysayers are feeling that for us. In advance. Thanks so much!

So when they’re proved right, that can only mean one thing: it happened. The worst, or close to it, happened. We find out we don’t have what it takes. We find out the path is steeper than we imagined. Maybe we will quit…maybe we can’t, because we’re in too deep. Maybe there will be miracles…maybe there will be regret. Maybe we’ll get over it, maybe we truly never will.

What do we do? Well, like I said, I don’t really know. But here’s a start…

*We grieve.

We grieve the dream or at least the version of the dream we had in mind, the process we expected. In grieving will come acceptance. Eventually. Acceptance of what is rather than what we hoped would be. Grief isn’t quick or easy. His disciples never need to grieve without hope, though. Hope that we’ll get what we’re aiming for? No, sadly. It may be time to die to that. We do have hope that He is good though, hope that He is with us, and hope that He hasn’t forgotten our story…no risk in this. It’s true, even if it doesn’t feel true.

*We take courage.

We get up every day and say, “I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength.” (Philippians 4:13) We put one foot in front of the other, and focus on what is in our lap, given by God, for that day, for that moment. Do we pout and rage? No. We dig deep and find that bravery that seemed to force us to take the risk in the first place, and we use that courage to do the work at hand whether it is the work we planned to do or not. We are still the same people! Our fire inside must be used for something else instead.

*We learn.

We are willing to be honest with ourselves and others about it, no matter how many excuses we want to make or how stupid we feel. We’re willing to learn specific things from mistakes. We’re not embittered by the naysayers. We learn to see the value in their gifts, in a spirit of humility.

*We live.

Maybe our head is hanging low and our heart is broken and the tears won’t stop flowing…but we recognize that’s fully living, too.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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What a Savior, What a Day!

I am going to keep this short and sweet (gasp! I know! Am I capable?) but I had to write a moment about today!

At church this morning, they did have Children’s Church but I felt led to keep my kids in church with us for worship and the baptisms. Our time worshipping together was so precious, so powerful! Gosh, I love to look to Jesus and sing His praise. He is WORTHY!! Sometimes, it is my only escape, my only way out of my worries, my fears, my mood, my SELF. As I was worshipping, I had these thoughts on my heart:

Words like grace, love, forgiveness…they are hard to explain, they aren’t concepts you could easily draw a picture of, but they took form and shape and being in the body of Jesus. In His day to day life. In His body being nailed to the cross for our sins. In who He was, because He was God…in skin and bones. I looked at the cross just steps away from me in the worship area, and saw grace, saw my rescue, saw all I would ever need. How can I not worship, how can I not raise my hands and sing my heart out?

Then I thought about how the body of Christ still today is to be the embodiment of these hard to define words. We, now, carry God…in skin and bones. He’s alive in us. His holiness abides in us…so when we have holy living, wise and kind living, it’s really just a matter of our selves–our skin–getting thinner and His light shining brighter. It’s a matter of Him increasing and us decreasing. It’s not us getting holier, ever. It’s us getting lesser and smaller and Him gaining more and more ground, more and more freedom, more and more invitation to take over and do what He wants to do in and through us. Loving and blessing the world as Jesus did won’t come through us trying to be better and do more, it’ll come through shriveling up and dying more and more each day to the old self, to the self-centered deserving-better wanting-more self…so that His life can take over in us.

Oh how I want this to be made manifest in me. All the time and not just for an hour or when I’m happy and “together” for goodness sake.

As I close I want to say, too, it was an incredibly special day for my family, because Yemi, my youngest (6 years old) decided to follow Jesus and was baptized! It was not planned, and I actually tried to keep her in her seat, but wow, I was reminded later of the verse where Jesus says, “Do not hinder the little children from coming to Me!” I’m very glad I didn’t force her to ignore that voice compelling her to go and be baptized, in her big fluffy new Easter dress and everything. So now both of my daughters have made public professions of their faith and you know, I don’t know all of what she will remember about this day (and the same for Selah who also asked Jesus into her heart at a young age) but I want to teach them something I didn’t realize until I was much older:

As believers, we are DAILY renewing our salvation! We are daily turning our faces back to Him, asking forgiveness, asking for His resurrection power to free us from the enemy’s clutches. This walk with God is not a one day thing…today Yemi just made the phone call. Now He’s on the line, not hanging up, until the day He sees her face to face in Heaven. As camp counselors, we used to joke about kids getting saved every summer or for the 27th time…Sure, they might not have completely gotten that right, but we sure didn’t either. What harm is it going to do to decide to follow Jesus every day, friends? What harm is it going to do to remember the cross, and thank Him and ask Him to come and take over yet again? He died once and for all, but nothing I, in my humanity, ever do is once and for all. Life is so daily. So is our salvation. We admit. We believe. We commit. I’m finding it’s an every day thing. We shouldn’t expect anything less. We shouldn’t expect a few landmarks in our timeline to guide our walk with Jesus…

I need Thee every hour. We need Him every hour. We need to plan on it…and guilt and confusion will melt away in just acknowledging our salvation is an active and living relationship, not a moment we prayed and hoped we got the words right. Jesus isn’t complicated, friends. He just says, “Come.”

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#HowToBuild: Standing Your Ground

One of my favorite shows used to be ALIAS! Awesome music, Jennifer Garner kicking butt and saving the world, and of course I can’t leave out it was one of the first shows where the writers decided it’s not really necessary to leave a dead person dead! So an important character dies, but somehow they are back in Season 4. Love it! But anyway…

On that show, there was an evil man named Alvin Sloane. Time after time, he was always showing up with manipulation and just enough truth to get his lies accepted by his co-workers. Mr. Sloane wasn’t genuinely trusted by the third season or so, but there were times the CIA needed to use his expertise anyway and he would be in the brainstorming room giving suggestions. In one particular scene, they were discussing a problem and he piped in with his suggestion rather strongly, and the heroine, Sydney Bristow, who especially was aware of his ability to trick people, said: “Excuse me, you have no authority in this room.”

Remember that.

We are waking up every morning to an opportunity to walk in the flesh or walk in the Spirit, right? Like it or not, and actually even believe it or not, we are also waking up to the presence of both light and darkness, Jesus and the enemy of our souls. If we are in Christ, we have His presence around us and His Spirit within us. We can awaken to it and acknowledge it, by worshipping, digesting His Word, praying…or we can do nothing and sink deeper into the flesh, which is more Satan’s playground than we like to think.

He’s having a blast wreaking havoc in us and around us when we have chosen to stay in the flesh, yet he never actually had the authority to do that. He does it simply because we didn’t tell him not to. We have to stand our ground.

It may look like a sudden sense of confusion, or a sudden line of thinking that brings you back to an old habit or addiction. It may be frustration and anger that just takes you by surprise, and you can’t believe you’re feeling and acting so ugly. It may be a habitual thing or an acute thing, but it’s negative, harsh, unforgiving, or fear-filled.

In those moments, I don’t always realize it is the enemy. And of course, sometimes it isn’t directly the enemy. Sometimes we have a process to work through to get where we need to be emotionally, mentally, and spiritually. But thank God, it’s not always a big long process! Sometimes it’s just as simple as recognizing what is going on. Whether someone is coming at us with one of these negative, irrational, overreacting emotions or we feel it rise up in ourselves, we are the ones with the authority in the situation, not the enemy. The name of Jesus makes the enemy flee! He can’t fill us, he can’t control us, and he knows it. He can only make suggestions that turn to thoughts that turn to feelings that turn to words and actions and habits and sin!!! We must know his schemes but also his gaping weaknesses.

Speaking, singing, and praising the name of Jesus makes the grip of the spirit of fear, confusion, bitterness, unforgiveness, laziness, lust, and anger loosen. We don’t have to stay in that place, abused and oppressed. With the knowledge that “greater is He that is in me than he that is in the world” (1 John 4:4) and the armor of God (Ephesians 6:10-18) we can know our place of authority over the enemy.

Here are some further scriptures on this, and just in writing this, I am so spurred on to ask the Holy Spirit to help me be aware when evil, un-peaceful, and divisive spirits are at work so that I can choose to not go along with them. We need a new normal, brothers and sisters in Christ, and that new normal is recognizing what is going on in the unseen and standing our God-given ground!

Ephesians 4:17-5:21

Colossians 2:13-15

James 4:7-8

1 Peter 5:6-11

Matthew 4:1-11

 

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Spring Sister Bridge Sales!

Hey girlfriends!

Rahab’s Rope is seeing such incredible, God-sized dreams come true in India. Women are being freed from prostitution and finding hope in Christ! They are making beautiful items and earning an income they can be proud of. Women of God, don’t we want to rise up and let them know we applaud them, support them, and stand with them? Timbali Crafts is staying faithful and true to their calling, giving 100 amazing women a job making functional and beautiful items from African cloth, so that these same women, mostly widows, can volunteer all day at the local orphanages. We can minister to them by simply buying some birthday and Mother’s Day gifts from them instead of Target!! 🙂

We don’t usually do parties in the Spring, but I don’t think I’ll be able to do it in the Fall, so here we go! There will probably only be a handful of parties but I am excited about getting together and blessing these ladies as much as we can. This blog post is simply to provide all the info you need if you are hosting or attending a party. I will post parties and info on the Sister Bridge Facebook page as they are scheduled.

Who and What is Sister Bridge?

Sister Bridge is simply a “middle-woman” helping women in need sell their crafts. Missionary organizations are working with women to free them from human trafficking or help them earn an income with a respectable skill, and they need people to help them sell their beautiful handmade items! We have been doing this for several years now and have sent back $50,000 to these ministries, 100% of the money going to the women themselves as these ministries are financially supported through other means (churches, families, etc.) We mainly do home parties or booths at events, and just for a small season of the year.  This Spring we will be specifically supporting the ministries of Timbali Crafts and Rahab’s Rope.

How You Can Help

Host a party and invite your friends, co-workers, neighbors, and church family! It can be at a women’s event at your church or at your home, it doesn’t matter. You give out invitations or make a Facebook party page, and perhaps make some snacks 🙂 I will bring all the inventory and take care of the money side of things. Yay!  I will mail you invitations once we have put something on the calendar!

What to Except Regarding Prices and Products

I will have aprons, bags, purses, overnight totes/diaper bags, children’s purses/aprons, one type of new colorful beaded bracelet and a small assortment of summer scarves. I will not have Beads of Java jewelry this time or COI card sets. The prices are great gift prices, ranging from $13 to $37. Most items are in the $15-$20 range and it is very good quality stuff! Every item will be individually priced. I can take checks or cash, and in some cases (depending on the Wi-Fi) I can take credit cards with a 4% fee.

Please just let me know if you have any questions! You can always send people to our Facebook page or sisterbridge.org if they would like more information, too. Hope to see you soon as we get the opportunity to bless these women together.

 

 

 

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#HowToBuild: Prayer

Every. Single. Day. I keep thinking I’ll wake up one day and I’ll already be gloriously in the Spirit, patient with others, self-disciplined, ready to come to Jesus. Hasn’t happened yet, friends. I wake up to my hair plastered to my face, a serious dread of the exercise DVD, and temptation to watch movies in bed. Every. Single. Day. And you know what? It’s important that I realize this may never change. It’s important that I realize this decision is mine. Every. Single. Day.

Every morning we’re faced with this need for a death to self and an awakening to our new Life, who we are in Christ. We can stay in the easy-peasy already warmed up vehicle of the flesh or we can do the work, pulled up out of ourselves by the grace of God, to walk in the Spirit! One of the greatest ways to make that transition from flesh to Spirit, and then remain there in Him, is prayer.

Prayer can be talking, listening, or just connecting. It can be serious intercession for others or it can be journaling your thoughts, needs, and thanks. It can go on all day while you’re doing other things, a continual turning your face to Him, or it can be a time of sitting or walking while specifically focused on prayer. For me, it’s all of the above.

All in all, it is simply learning that beautiful practice of abiding in His presence, like John 15 describes, and acknowledging His nearness. A partnership grows, secrets are shared, and new purpose is given to life! We can actually learn to pray exactly what He wants us to pray, and a cycle is formed: He invites us to pray what is on His heart, we listen and agree with Him, we pray His Word back to Him and ask for specific things for ourselves and others, and His hand moves. He lets us in on this, friends! Our prayers spur His action!

A few basics of prayer that I’m not ashamed to say are still rocking my world:

1. Philippians 4:6 & 7//Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.  We present our requests, many of which He put on our hearts in the first place. We can offer up thanks with these requests–thanks for all He has done, for His nearness, and for the beauty of where we are at this moment even before He answers. I think of this verse as I’m going before a trusted Judge or committee, and presenting my request, laying the file before them, asking for their careful thought and decision.

2. 1 John 5:14//This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. Isn’t this amazing? We didn’t mail in this request and wonder if it got lost in transit! He hears us and is actively working on our case. This blesses me tremendously. I can relax under this truth, while still asking, I’m at rest. Knowing He has heard me lets me move on and make sure my prayer life isn’t all about asking! It’s about dwelling and communing, too. Intercession and intimacy cannot be separated from one another. One might get heavier than the other at times, but for either to be true, we must have them both.

3. 1 John 3:21-22//Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God and receive from Him anything we ask, because we obey His commands and do what pleases Him. Kind of a risky verse to post, but I believe it. In God’s timing, as we learn surrender and obedience and the sound of His voice, I do believe we will receive from Him anything we ask. Who we are while we wait is key…In prayer, it really is more about the journey than the destination, whether we like that or not. When we pray, do our hearts condemn us? Do our hearts tell us what we’re asking for really isn’t God’s will? We need to listen for that, and find out what He actually does want us asking for.

4. Psalm 75:2//You say, “I choose the appointed time; it is I who judge uprightly.” He hasn’t forgotten. And He is good. Deep breaths. The time will come.

When we are asking and waiting for specific things, or confessing sin, or giving Him total freedom to rule our day, all of which are prayer, a death to self happens. And finally, there is room for our new Life in Christ–who we really are in Him–to raise up. Day by day, morning by morning, we choose to live.

This is a new song I wrote last month, “Turning the Tide”, about a vision He gave me during my prayer time. Please forgive my really boring video technique! It’s just the quickest way to share the song, but hopefully soon I will be doing more recording.

 

 

 

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#HowToBuild: Worship!

The definition of worship is “the feeling or expression of adoration or reverence.” Yes!  I love this, and I love to worship!

Worshipping God can happen in just being happy, content, or thankful; it can happen in surrender and faith; it can happen in the words we say or sing; or it can happen in the quietness of a heart turned toward Him in utter dependence and desire to obey.

One of the greatest ways to stay in a spirit of worship, and thereby building yourself up in your most holy faith (Jude :20), is through music.

I remember as a teenager the big debate about whether or not we should be listening to “secular” or “Christian” music. Now I understand to just listen to whatever the Spirit will let me listen to, but back then I had not learned the sound of His voice. I don’t know if God told me to do this or not, but I remember throwing away all of my “secular” music (tapes, haha)…and I’m glad I did. I didn’t have to do so in order to be a Christian, but it wasn’t doing anything for my ability to grow in a personal relationship with Jesus either. There are so many avenues for our heart and mind to go down, every day, both then as a very impressionable young person and now. What I put in my head matters. I’m glad I sought out music that would speak life into my soul and teach me truths that would stick with me. Today, my family and I listen to all kinds of music, but we definitely have Christian, contemplative/lyric-less, and worship music on more often than anything else.

Why music? How can a song make such a difference in our hearts turning toward God?

1. We are stating truth, and God’s Word never returns void! Isaiah 55:11 says: “…so is My Word that goes out of My mouth: It will not return to Me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which it was sent.”  Whether we are singing songs that are prayers straight to God, or singing songs that simply are statements of truth, we are strengthened by these reminders, because they are God’s holy, living, active Word. The truth goes in and begins to frame our lives and give us a renewed vision and hope, even if it is not immediate. Many times in my life, songs have lifted me out of darkness and were like a rope lowered down to me when other forms of truth were harder to connect with for some reason.

2. We are taking our eyes off of the wind and the waves of our circumstances, taking a break from our worrying and stressing, and turning our faces to the Lord. When we come back down from the mountain with Him, situations we are in are able to take on new meaning. We are always strengthened for the task ahead; we are given what we need specifically in His presence. Most of all, we are reminded He is with us and wants to abide with us every moment, not just in those somewhat rare times we stop “to worship.” He’s a refuge, He’s a cleft in the rock. Isaiah 26:3 says: “You will keep in perfect peace, him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in you.” The whole of Song of Solomon beckons us to look to the One who loves us! Look at this from SOS 2:14, when the Lover (the Lord) says: “My dove is in the clefts of the rock, in the hiding places on the mountainside, show me your face, let me hear your voice, for your voice is sweet, and your face is lovely.” That’s Jesus talking to you! He invites us to come in and hide for awhile. Remember this hymn: “Turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full in His wonderful face…and the things of earth will turn strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace.” It’s true. We are transformed in His presence.

3. When we learn to gaze and meditate on the Lord and all His beautiful characteristics, His heart is filled with joy…and others are affected as well! Psalm 69:30-32: “I will praise God’s name in song and glorify Him with thanksgiving. This will please the Lord more than an ox, more than a bull with its horns and hoofs. The poor will see and be glad–you who seek God, may your hearts live!!” I love the joy on a person’s face when they are worshipping. I can only imagine the look on the Lord’s face as He receives our praises! And when others see our lives of worship, or us literally singing and enjoying His presence, they will experience a change in the atmosphere, too.

The definition of worship doesn’t just say a feeling of adoration, it says “an expression”! If there was one thing I could say to the Church today about worship it would be to stop being afraid to really express their adoration and thankfulness to God. We are all different in what we’re comfortable with, sure. No problem. But when the words on the screen in your worship service say “Christ has regarded my helpless estate, and has shed His own blood for my soul” and all we can do is stand there barely mouthing the words, what is going on? Will unbelievers walk in that place and see an adoration for Jesus? Or will they see people just getting through “the program”? Only God knows our hearts, but I know for me, He has said these words very clearly about corporate worship: “Give it to Me! Give me the worship I deserve! Don’t you hold back anything!” And that means confession of sin, laying down of worries, interceding, hearing next steps, lifting hands, singing out, or sometimes sitting in silence and tears as I listen. I cannot encourage you enough to enter in to this kind of daily experience with Jesus, and music is a wonderful door to get there.

Revelation 4 & 5 describes the Throne Room of Heaven…can I share just a brief moment of this scene, this example of worship?

“Then I looked and heard the voice of many angels, numbering thousands upon thousands, ten thousand upon ten thousand. They encircled the throne and the living creatures and the elders. In a loud voice they sang: Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise! Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them, singing: To Him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honor and glory and power, for ever and ever! The four living creatures said ‘Amen’ and the elders fell down and worshiped.” Revelation 5:11-14

I’m not waiting until Heaven to worship with all that is within me! “How good it is to sing praises to our God, how pleasant and fitting to praise Him!” Ps. 147:1

Great worship resources and my particular favorites:

Kansas City IHOP Prayer Room and Archives

Vineyard Campbellsville (iTunes)

Cageless Birds

All Sons and Daughters

Jesus Culture, Hillsong United, Bethel (YouTube)

 

Here is the song “Hallelujah” from my and Joanna Black’s worship CD, Beloved. All of my lyrics and chords are also available on this website, just click on lyrics on Home page. 🙂 Pray this song will bring you into the peace and reality of His presence!

 

 

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Our Words

So…anyone who knows me knows that I am not a sports person. I don’t play, I don’t watch, I don’t care! I don’t understand the rules, and if I was on the field or court, I would be the one who gets hit in the head with the ball or runs the wrong direction. I was lucky enough to marry a non-sports person as well, so we’re just blissfully ignorant together. But something we didn’t think about was that we would have offspring, and those offspring might actually want to play sports.

Enter 9 year old, 4 ft. 10 in., sweet and sparkly Selah Taylor, playing basketball for the first time ever.

After the first couple of practices, I knew it wasn’t going to be the experience I had hoped for her. I had hoped she would get on a team of kids who wanted to just have fun playing, learning the game, taking turns in the different positions, etc. I’m such a girl, I guess? I don’t know…I still don’t think I was entirely crazy with those hopes! What she ended up with instead was a team of very close friends, all guys, who had known each other forever and apparently had been playing basketball forever as well. Then there were three beginners tagged onto the group. Two of them were girls, and the other was a shy boy. You can imagine how this has played out. They have equal playing time, and that’s about the only positive thing I can say! The crowd goes wild when the same boys play after play after play drive the ball down the court single-handedly for a lay-up, or maybe a pass to their friend. Maybe once a game, a newbie will accidentally get the ball. Usually, they don’t know exactly what to do with it, they may dribble a little too high and lose control of it, they may break a rule, they may run to the opposite goal. It’s like they’re thinking, “Oh, wow, this is what a basketball feels like!” and by the time they’re done with that thought, someone has stolen it. And the worst thing that I sensed from the beginning is some of the adults who are “encouraging” their children from the sidelines or even the bench. This “encouragement” comes in the form of belittlement and phrases like, “What were you thinking?” My sensitive heart beats out of my chest. The kid’s face is red and he’s trying not to cry. No one does anything.

Okay, so all of that was to set up the story. This blog isn’t going to just be a bunch of complaining. I know God is doing something in me, God is always doing something on a deeper level and as I dig, there it is! I needed these truths and reminders, and this lovely basketball season was just the way for God to show me.

1. Sometimes our kids will do embarrassing things. Maybe its a sin they commit, bad behavior in a public place, or maybe their skill level in a certain area will be low! We’re watching them, we’re seeing the disappointment others may have in them, and it hurts. We don’t want them to feel ashamed, and quite frankly, we don’t want to feel ashamed. But I think God is saying to parents, to me, that if my self-confidence is so low as to care what others think of my child, I need to spend some time with Him remembering what matters, remembering my identity and who I am is wrapped up in who I am in Christ, not what I do or have to show for myself here on earth. Only when we remember that, and nail that down, can we teach our kids to do the same. We need to be bold and extravagant in our encouragement to our kids so they can hear what God wants to say to them about who they are! Also, they can accomplish great things, but they are also going to fail… a lot! We need to show them how to do that gracefully, with a firm grip on how much they are still loved and exquisitely designed for great purpose. So there’s a pit in my stomach on that basketball court. I don’t know that I want my daughter to get the ball. Who will be mad at her when she messes up? Maybe some parents, maybe some kids? Well, who cares? I love my daughter and I’m proud of her for trying. Anyone who thinks we are silly for still being happy after a mistake is missing out on some very good living.

2. If that embarrassment or frustration at our children leads to saying belittling things to them like: “What were you thinking?”, “What’s wrong with you?”, “Are you ever going to get this?” or “You drive me nuts”, we are flat out bullies. We’re standing over these little people and saying in essence the most ridiculous thing in the world: “Why aren’t you as good at this as I am?” We have 30 extra years on this earth! We may have gotten better at cracking eggs and solving math facts, but apparently we haven’t matured in character in all that time if this is how we’re acting. I am so convicted about this! That father at the basketball game made my heart hurt, and while I’m very sorry for the little boy, I am glad I could see my own wrong so clearly.  I’ve asked forgiveness and God is giving new phrases that are kind and patient: “It was so cool how you learned that concept, I know you’ll be able to get this one, too!”, “One day, we’ll look at this book and it’ll seem so easy!”,  or “Let’s dig deep and do our best, but if we don’t get it today, it’s ok!” Again, sometimes our frustration toward our kids isn’t even about them and our hopes for their improvement, it’s about us. I’m not any better than that dad. And we all have the daily moment-by-moment choice to be who God is calling us to be in the relationships we have with others, especially these little people.

We have the power to change the atmosphere and the atmosphere for future generations. We will either pass on the ability to gracefully make mistakes or pass on a policy of being harsh or ignoring failure completely. We will either pass on self-confidence and a deep sense of significance given to every creation of God or perpetuate the belief that we “are” as good as we “do.” We will either pass down kindness, security, and patience which sure does go a long way in helping a person of any age learn anything, or pass on the nerve-wracking demands that never gave anyone character or quality of life.

For anyone who is learning this and wants to pray with me…

Lord Jesus, You always spoke with kindness and love. Even when you corrected people, You spoke to their heart in a way that still cherished them as a creation of God and always let them know they had a safe place in You if they would be willing to leave their sin behind. You do not look at us as we deserve. After all of our sins, but also failures and things we aren’t good at, You look at us directly, in the eye, and just love us so much. Thank You! Help us receive this love and acceptance so that we can easily and freely give it to others!  I acknowledge my behavior as sin and I ask Your forgiveness for the times I have said things and acted in ways that were not loving and accepting. I have been frustrated, embarrassed, and at my wit’s end over this particular person and situation… Please forgive me. I will go to this person and ask their forgiveness… Holy Spirit, will You be like an alarm clock in my heart, warning me when I am beginning to think and feel in an ungodly way so that I will stop and not allow myself to do any more damage. Lord, I seek complete and total freedom forever from this attitude and way of interacting with this person/these people. Give me a new way to think of them and speak to them, in Jesus’ Name. You are so powerful and the only way I can be changed, and I praise You!

Amen.

 

 

 

 

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#HowToBuild: The Living Word

“…We are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, God’s building. By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as an expert builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one should be careful how he builds. For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. If any man builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, his work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each man’s work. If what he has built survives, he will receive his reward. If it is burned up, he will suffer loss…Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple?” 1 Corinthians 3:9-16

We are in the building process, every day, through the circumstances God allows into our lives, but also through the choices we make to add layer upon layer onto our faith!

One choice that we must make in order to build (and build upon) a firm foundation is to be daily and regularly in the Word of God.

Communication between us and God is set in motion when we are in His Word. There is always something new and always something more, if reading is accompanied by openness to the Holy Spirit. If we ask Him directly for His input, He will open new truth that speaks to the current status of our heart and life! I have that much confidence in the Holy Spirit/Word of God duo!!! If the Word feels dull, confusing, irrelevant, infuriating, boring, or even wrong, we can tell Him how we feel. The Word is alive, interactive, and meant to bring conversation with Him.

Being in the Word of God is one of the main ways we can hear God’s voice, because His Word IS His voice! When we have begun to recognize His voice in Scripture, we begin to hear Him speak outside of it, too. A thought while we’re driving the car, an answer to a particular prayer or question. Reading His Word is one of the main ways we can learn to differentiate between which thoughts (and even words from others that are directed toward us) are from God and which need to be dismissed and forgotten. It gives us an innate discernment, what is called the “mind of Christ”, because our hearts are melding into His as we read more and more about what He loves and hates. It grows in us a change of opinion when our opinions were wrong. It grows in us a softness where there needs to be mercy and a fierce determination where there is meant to be justice. His Word is living and active. It goes in and it changes things. It is the nutrient our souls were meant to ingest daily! I can’t help but think of the yogurt with the “1 billion acidophilus cultures” in it. The package declares this incredibly wonderful but creepy message: Active bacteria, live cultures! Gee, thanks!! (But really…thanks!) That healthy bacteria that we’re ingesting, as weird as it sounds, is making our digestive system a much happier place. The good bacteria needs to be there to overpower and kill off the bad bacteria that would make us sick. Think of God’s Word, all of it, any of it, as a living and active ingredient that goes in where He knows it needs to go, to whatever parts of our heart need to be cleansed, overpowered with truth and goodness, and made healthy again. And just a side note, most of us don’t get these live cultures in the food we normally eat. Very few restaurants are handing out rejuvenating, life giving food; we have to go out of our way to find it and consume it…hint hint!

Love and respect for the Word of God grows the more we become acquainted with it. Psalm 119 is an intense chapter of appreciation and longing for Scripture. The wisdom and the joy of the writer! He had found something worth going on and on about…!

In different seasons of life, we have to get creative and make being in the Word happen. Here are some ideas and resources for that, just to name a few:

*Listen to podcasts, such as Passion City Church , Martha Kilpatrick , Bethel Church , and Beth Moore. Even if they are just playing in a sometimes-empty room, grab what you can as the Word of God streams through the air of your house!

*Watch preaching and teaching videos. Some of my favorites are: Anyone from International House of Prayer, Kansas City , especially Misty Edwards. We don’t have to agree with every point teachers make on videos we watch, but our hearts will feel if someone is just not lining up with God’s Word. Obviously, not everyone out there with videos online is preaching truth. The more we are in His Word for ourselves, the more we will be able to discern.

*Get involved in group or personal book studies, that dig into one particular topic or book of the Bible. Here’s a good resource: Women of Faith. I have personally always gotten a lot out of Beth Moore studies, but those were my pre-children season type of studies!  I highly recommend them though. I also read books and resources by Martha Kilpatrick regularly. You can find her info on the link above under podcasts.

*Read blogs! The transparency of blogs from people truly seeking God are invaluable! Here are some great ones I read: Ray Hollenbach and Ann Voskamp There are so many I could share, but those are the ones I usually click on when they go through my Twitter feed…

*Hide His Word in your heart. Memorize verses with your family. Write a verse a week on a poster and tape it to the wall next to the dinner table! I never realized the work, honestly, that the Word of God that I had memorized in the past was doing for me all these years. So many times that I had hope or bravery or the words to say, that was a direct result of hiding God’s Word in my heart throughout my life. Some of those verses were learned just so I could earn a piece of candy! Haha!

*Pray His Word…back to Him.

*Sing His Word…out loud!

*Just open it up and read. Daily, if we feel overwhelmed, we can read a Psalm and a chapter from a book of the New Testament for starters, and then see where He leads. There’s no right or wrong way to be in the Word. Sometimes God will keep me on one passage or sentence for weeks. We can’t be all about quantity with this. There are no stickers on any charts here!

I want to share this new song with you that I’ve been writing the past couple of weeks, “Your Voice”.  He is speaking…because He loves to. His Voice, His Word, these are some of the sweetest gifts He could have given us…and they are our’s in abundance.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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#HowToBuild: Intro to New Blog Series

Some time ago I wrote a blog that mentioned how I’m re-learning this truth: “Build yourself up in your most holy faith…” Jude :20

How often I forget that just like my physical being needs continuous nutrients, my spiritual being needs continuous nutrients as well! So, what are those nutrients? How does one get to a deeper level, a more life-giving place, with God? And the even bigger question: How does one continue with that growth in a steadfast way, rather than the roller coaster ride most of us are accustomed to?

There’s a lot to explore here, but I do know this: It comes down to a daily decision. A daily choice. And that’s no one’s choice but our own.

For today…will we choose to turn our faces toward the Lord and do the work necessary to abide in Him?

A couple of weeks ago, I had a dream that spoke exactly to this and it really amazed me! I dreamt I woke up and the very first thing I did was go into a garage that was connected to my house (I don’t really have a garage but in my dream, I did.) I opened the door and saw two cars. One car was already warmed up for me. The engine was already purring. It looked like I wouldn’t have to think about it, do a single thing for it, in fact it seemed as if I wouldn’t even have to drive it but that it would drive me!  The other car was cold. It was on E. The battery was barely hanging on and would need a jump. Which did I have time for? Which seemed the most attractive? Which was easier to hop in and start my day with?

I woke up knowing exactly what the Spirit of God was saying to me, and oh how I needed to hear it. I could choose to walk in the flesh all day, which is always warmed up and ready to go, and let my natural (read: ungodly) responses to people and life rule my mind, mouth, attitude, and actions…or I could choose to pause for a little while and let my heart and mind be renewed and transformed in the presence of my Savior, a work that is His work but that I have to ask for and acknowledge my need of.

So this is just a picture of our choice. It’s just spelling out the simple truth that loving God, embracing His love for us (being changed by this gift), and being able to show His love to others don’t just happen spontaneously. No, we shed the garments of the flesh, and we put on the garments of righteousness. Not just on the day of salvation, but everyday, through confession of sin, prayer, worship, being in the Word of God, putting on our spiritual armor, being in fellowship with other believers, obeying, using our spiritual gifts, and many more practices that refresh, remind, and revive. I used to be so aggravated that I would wake up to a battle every morning. I would go to bed peaceful and in love with Jesus and wake up as fleshly as flesh can be. I still do. The difference is that now I expect this! Take that, Satan! Now I know that battle will be there, and it stands as my opportunity to consciously choose to walk in the Spirit instead. Amen!

For the next month or two, I want to write a series of blogs talking about how to “build yourself up in your most holy faith.” I have been the victim of the enemy for so long, in emotional and mental battles, in morning misery, in thinking I should be better, be stronger, live closer to the Lord…But now I know the truth. #1, it’s not just me!! #2, the Word of God clearly details how we can be strengthened for those battles, no longer a victim, no longer caught off guard. So, what I’m writing about is elementary, the blog titles will not wow anybody, but still, many of us including myself need to hear these truths and walk in them in a consistent manner in order to see the victory we long for, to be the people who will bring His Kingdom ways into this day, and to have the joy that should characterize a child of God!

Today’s blog is the introduction to the series, and we’ll jump into specifics, in no particular order, soon! I also have some songs I’m writing that I would like to include in these series, so I pray that the Lord will speak these magnificent truths through my very small offering of words.  The first song I want to share to go with this series is We Come Out Shining. This is on the CD Who We Are While We Wait available at: http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/lyndsaytaylor3 or iTunes.

“I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that He who began a good work in you will be faithful to complete it until the day of Christ Jesus.” Philippians 1:3-6