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Just Be

Posted in Biblical, Christian, Devotional on November 25, 2013| 1 Comment »

Be still and know that I am God.   Psalm 46:10

At a church women’s conference, a new friend shared with me a more meaningful way to read this way-too familiar Woman Meditatingverse. Sometimes we hear a Scriptural verse so often, it loses its impact.  Take John 3:16.

This was true for me for Psalm 46:10. I have it on my bulletin board near my computer and see it every day, yet way too often I do not be still. In fact, I am anything but that. I know He is God, but do I let that absorb deep into my soul? Breaking down the verse as she showed me renewed its meaning.

Be still and know that I AM . . . Even though I know He is God, do I let Him be God over my life, or do I, more often than not, put Him on the back burner until I need His presence? He is my Father and Provider, My Lord and Savior, Omnipotent Creator, King of all kings. When Moses asked Him what His name was, God replied I AM. Jesus told the Pharisees that before there was Abraham I AM. He is here and now, not just in the Bible stories of the past. He is forever present, be it two thousand years ago or two thousand years from now. There is nothing that is more powerful than He, and He is in control.

Be still and know . . . know not just with my brain, but with every fiber of my being. To know is to be certain, without a shadow of a doubt, or an ounce of hesitancy. We say, “I know for a fact . . .” when we are adamant about something.  Do I know God?  How can I know Him better? The answer is simple – by spending time with Him. That requires that sometimes I don’t do all the talking in my prayer life, but I stop and listen.  And to listen, I must . . .

Be still. . . How very easy, and yet very hard.  To be still is also for me to be silent. Silence is hard to achieve in today’s world. We are surrounded by noise. But often it is only in silence that we can hear the powerful voice inside of us that we know is not from us. Being still requires effort, a conscious act of not being distracted. But, when you get right down to the heart of the matter, this is where you can find God and understand He has always been right there.

Be – that is all God requires of us. We just need to be what we were created to be. Jesus’ death on the cross restored the relationship of man to God before the Fall of Adam and Eve. It returns us, through Christ’s blood, to our natural state of grace once we accept Him as Savior  . But, our human nature mucks that up, doesn’t it? So, we need to remember to just be. Our merciful God accepts us as we are, with all our short comings and all our faults, and through the eyes of His Son, sees us as pure, blameless and made worthy when we come into His presence and ask for forgiveness. We don’t need to be perfect- Christ makes us that way.  We only need to be willing to “be”.

If a Bible verse starts to lose its impact, dissect it down. Read each word and find new meaning, with God’s help. Scripture is alive and breathing with His Spirit. We are not to just read it, but to digest it, make it a part of us, and live it.

Heavenly Lord, breathe in us the desire to know You more and more. Instill in our hurried state the yearning to be still, and to be content to just be, knowing that in You we are made complete. Amen.

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Divided and Enslaved

Posted in Christian, Devotional, Life Experiences, tagged , , , , , , on November 20, 2013| Leave a Comment »

Almighty and everlasting God, whose will it is to restore all things in your
well-beloved Son, the King of kings and Lord of lords: Mercifully grant that
the peoples of the earth, divided and enslaved by sin, may be freed and
brought together under his most gracious rule; who lives and reigns with you
and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen

 

If you ever watched one of the Three Musketeer movies, you’d see them all with swords raised high and points touching as they cried, “All for one and one for all.”  Another saying, often used for the United States, is “united we stand, divided we fall.”

Satan wishes to divide. God wants to re-unite us back to the right relationship before sin entered the human heart. That is the story from Genesis through Revelation, and on into today. But why does sin divide and enslave?

Sin divides because it causes each person to put him or herself as the center of focus. I once heard a speaker on a retreat say both sin and pride have “i” in the middle. But the other deadly sins focus on the “me want” factor as well-  gluttony, envy, greed, wrath, slothfulness. Lying has “i” in the middle as well, doesn’t it? People lie to try to get out of messes they have caused, or to look more important out of envy and low self-worth. The more people do it, the stronger the chains of sin wrap around them, making it harder to break free.

Yet, through Christ’s sacrifice on the cross, He comes to restore each of us back to a state of grace- free from sin. He frees us from the guilt, the anger, the isolation, the misguided pride that so often rule our thoughts and actions. Of course, this is still a daily battle  because our human nature wants to crawl back into those chains. Why? It is the norm. Change takes effort. But God knows that- that is why He sent His Spirit to guide, correct and comfort us in this effort.

With Christ as our center, our focus is now off ourselves. It is on loving God and our neighbor (the two greatest commandments onto which all else is hinged). Some call it servitude attitude. Since all find worth in Him- all have a common bond, so there is no more envy or greed, pride or a need to lie.Low self esteem won’t lead to gluttony or slothfulness.

As Chris Tomlin sings in his version of Amazing Grace from the movie by the same name- “these chains are gone, we have been set free.”

Click on it. Listen, and then pray. Be released.

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Mapping Your Spiritual Journey

Posted in Christian on November 18, 2013| 1 Comment »

Finding your way back to God is a way to show He had never left you- great exercise by Shelly

Shelly's avatarDeeply Rooted in Him

Image

This past weekend I had the privilege of speaking at a retreat for the women of Grace Anglican Community. It was an amazing weekend with some wonderful women. We talked about mapping our spiritual journeys.

Jeremiah 31:21

“Set up road markers for yourself;
    make yourself guideposts;
consider well the highway,
    the road by which you went.
Return, O virgin Israel,
    return to these your cities.”

The Lord told those who were exiled to “set up road markers” and to make “guideposts” so they would be able to find their way back to their cities. In our lives when we find ourselves in a desert time, we have difficulty feeling connected to God. However, if you have created a spiritual map of your walk with the Lord you will be able to look back at the road markers and guideposts on your path and find your way back to Him.

To…

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Highway Theology

Posted in Christian, Life Experiences, tagged , , , , , , on November 16, 2013| Leave a Comment »

ID-10024045A major six-lane highway runs close to my apartment complex. But, that is not enough to handle the growing congestion. So, they are building new routes. Expansion construction will last for years. Each day, you are not really sure which direction the signs will lead you. Will there be a detour? Is your exit closed? I imagine they have a master plan, and are carrying it out step by step, but often, I wonder, “What are they doing?” It all looks like a tangled web of rubble and dirt to me.

Inevitably, especially when traffic is heavy, there will be a few people who ignore the signs. Then, they get stuck, and jam up everyone else. Why? Perhaps they want to go the way they are used to going, or they are too busy yakking on their cell phone to pay attention to the signs. Maybe they’re distracted by their tunes blasting through the radio, or zoned out as they re-hash their stressful day in their minds. Some try to make their own path, weaving through orange cones.

On the road of life, isn’t the same thing true? God gives us directional signs, but at times we ignore them, choose to not follow them, or are too distracted by everything else that grabs our attention to notice them. Then, we get stuck. We are not going the way we thought we were to go.

Is God showing you a directional sign that you are ignoring? It may ID-100126659be to slow down, turn here, or maybe even STOP!  Will you? Or are you in too much of a hurry trying to get where you think you need to go?

He may be pointing you in a direction you think detours you way off your normal path. Where is He taking you? Will you ever get to where you thought you were going?

On the road of life, you have to daily decide: who do you trust for directions? My way, or the High way.

 

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Have You Mooned Anyone?

Posted in Biblical, Christian, Devotional, tagged , , , , , , , on November 13, 2013| Leave a Comment »

Think back to your school days. What did you learn about the moon?

It revolved around the earth, which revolved around the sun.ID-10077869

It doesn’t have the ability on its own to create light, but the sun reflects off of it to shine upon the earth.

It goes through stages. Sometimes it is full of light, while at other times it is just a slivered crescent.

It makes the dark not so dark, but sometimes it even appears in the daytime, though then it is not so shiny.

It has pull on the tides, and some say on human behavior.

And of course, there is a man in it – or so it appears!

 

We Christians should be like the moon. We revolve around the Son and even though we are not of this world because our world is His Kingdom in Heaven, we are called to be His shining Light to this world. Our purpose is to reflect His love. Our Lord uses us to shine into the darkness of others’ lives. But even when their lives are fine and they do not think they need our directional light, we can still be hovering as an example that God is ever-present.

As the moon has pull on the tides, we have the ability to pull others to Christ. However, let’s be honest. Like the moon, we also go through phases, don’t we? Sometimes we are not so full of His Light as other times. But, we will always reflect Him in our lives, even if it is just a sliver. No matter what we are going through, or how sure our faith walk is at the moment, Jesus still is evident in our lives. We can still be a beacon to others trapped in darkness.

And just as people look up and envision a man in the moon, so can they envision the Son of Man in us.

In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven. Matthew 5:16

Who have you “mooned” today?

 

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If Only

Posted in Christian on November 8, 2013| Leave a Comment »

A poem that touches every heart from Shelly. May you find God touching yours through her words.

Shelly's avatarDeeply Rooted in Him

Here is a poem I wrote about how different things would be if we put our trust in the Lord.

If Only

If only I trusted that I am worthy of love, I wouldn’t let people use and abuse me.

If only I trusted that I was chosen to be a child of God, I wouldn’t dwell so much on the times my earthly father disappointed me or hurt my feelings.

If only I trusted that I am God’s masterpiece, I wouldn’t believe what others have said about my appearance.

If only I trusted that I am holy and dearly loved, I wouldn’t listen to the hurtful comments people have said to me.

If only I believed I was an heir to the King of Kings, I wouldn’t spend so much time and energy trying to acquire material things.

If only I trusted that I belonged to a royal priesthood…

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Out on a limb

Posted in Biblical, Christian, Devotional, tagged , , , , , , on November 6, 2013| Leave a Comment »

“Whoa, he  went way out on a limb with that proposal.” A businessman carrying a briefcase laughed as he left the boardroom.

His colleague shrugged, “Well, it must have been important to him, I guess. ”

To go out on a limb is to take a chance, isn’t it? One man in the Bible did that, literally. Zacchaeus climbed a tree to get a better look at Jesus as He walked towards town.  Zacchaeus was too short to see over the crowds, so instead of putting about how unfair it was for God to make him that way,  he found an innovative, and somewhat risky way, to make sure he got a better view. It was that important to see Jesus. (Luke 19)

Are you willing to take such a daring action of faith to seek your Lord?  That as the question I heard in a recent sermon on this passage. Zaccheus crawled as far as he dared out onto a limb, the preacher suggested. Jesus noticed him for his faith.

Many of us believers become comfortable with Jesus after a while. We stay near the ground with our feet well planted in our daily lives. We enjoy the canopy of His grace, and seek protection there from the elements that may beat down on us – heat of controversy, storms of life, winds of change. We might even say God made us to be where we are, and since we are human, complain about that a bit too much.

ID-100210229What if we climbed up to get a better view of the way Jesus sees things? What if we risked standing out instead of blending into the crowd? If we stopped making excuses and turned them into opportunities?

What if we stretched ourselves, inch by inch out onto that limb, and even when it began to bend, held on because we knew that was where God would touch our lives in a new way?

The Good News is that Jesus meets us wherever we are.  We don’t have to win His attention. But what if, out of faith, we stretched ourselves  and scooted out of our norm ? We just might get a whole new perspective.

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Red Letter Day

Posted in Biblical, Christian, Devotional, Life Experiences, tagged , , , , on November 4, 2013| Leave a Comment »

IMG_20131030_091447_725Have you ever heard the term, “it’s going to be a red letter day?”

It means the day is going to be special, outstanding, worth remembering. Here is what the source of all sources (hmmm) Wikipedia says:

The term originates from Medieval church calendars. Illuminated manuscripts often marked initial capitals and highlighted words in red ink, known as rubrics. The First Council of Nicaea in 325 decreed the saints’ days, feasts and other holy days, which came to be printed on church calendars in red. The term came into wider usage with the appearance in 1549 of the first Book of Common Prayer in which the calendar showed special holy days in red ink.
 

My first real Bible- the one I was given when I confirmed Jesus as IMG_20131030_075636_787my Lord and Savior- is precious to me. It is the first one I read cover to cover, eager to absorb all the heavenly wisdom it contained.  In it, all the words attributed to Jesus were in red letters. They were special. Our Lord had uttered them. They stood out from the page and made the rest of the words fade into the background. The red letter words were the ones worth noting.

As I grew, I began to realize they were not just words. They were not just wisdom. The Bible is alive, a breathing extension of my faith. The old acronym – Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth –  is true. With the Holy Spirit’s help, these words are God-inspired,  breathed into me to guide, instruct, correct, convict and comfort me. (2 Timothy 3:16)

I want today to be a red letter day- a special holy day because I choose to include the holy in it.  I want it to be a day where I  read, hear and act upon the words of Jesus. A day where He dominates the page of my life. A day where my thoughts, words and actions, solely for my benefit, fade into the background while what I think, say and do for Him and for others stand out.

Who knows? Maybe that will make it a red letter day for someone else- someone I least expect!

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Worry’s Growl

Posted in Christian, Life Experiences, tagged , , , , on November 1, 2013| 1 Comment »

My guest blogger today finds God, even in scattered worries. Please check out Kathy Collard Miller’ new book- just released:

I headed out on my jog, eyeing the storm clouds that threatened rain above me. Oh, I so want to run, and I can’t run tomorrow. I’ve got to do it right now even if it rains. But by the time I’d run a mile, the drops started and got bigger and bigger.

Oh. I’m so disappointed, I mourned, as I turned and headed back. But then, a new resolve overwhelmed me. By golly, I’m going to run even if I get wet. It’s just too important for my health.

I continued running and the drops fell continually but were not drenching. As I ran, the rain slackened, yet clouds off in the distance were a dark, threatening color. Will it hold off? By the time I’d passed my three-mile mark, the sprinkles stopped, and when I looked up at the sky, the dark clouds were gone. Where did they go? I turned to look for them, but they had dissipated, though the sky was still overcast.

For the next two miles, no rain fell. As I reached the last half mile, the storm clouds opened up again and my clothes were reaching the wet category. But I didn’t care that my hair was wet; it had been an exhilarating run. Walking for my cool-down, a few rays of sun broke through the clouds, splashing the luscious, colorful hues of a rainbow across the sky. Wow. I would have missed it if I hadn’t risked getting wet.

My run could have been a really unpleasant experience but the warning of rain had turned out to be a worse threat than the actual rain. In the end, I was rewarded with a beautiful rainbow that I would have missed had I not run.

That day as I ran, I saw an analogy to worry. Its growl is worse than its bite. Worry can easily cause us to focus on disaster while taking away our ability to trust God. Yet even if what we fear happens, it’s often not as bad as we thought it would be. We might even experience the “rainbow” of God’s blessings in some unexpected way.

k collard bookBOOK SUMMARY AND BIOGRAPHY:

It is possible to worry less through trusting God more. Regardless of the storms of trials, temptations, worry, uncertainty, confusion, or regrets that you’re facing, you can trust God more. Partly Cloudy with Scattered Worries offers a conversational style, personal testimonies, practical illustrations, and solid biblical teaching for breaking anxiety and the devastating effects of worry. Each chapter includes Discussion Questions for individuals or groups, along with a “Letter from God.” In addition, a profile of a woman in the Bible who struggled with or experienced victory over worry is featured in each chapter to inspire every reader to see God’s hand in her life.

Kathy Collard Miller is a speaker and author. Her passion is to inspire women to trust God more. She has spoken in 30 states and 7 foreign countries. Kathy has 49 published books including Women of the Bible: Smart Guide to the Bible (Thomas Nelson) and she blogs at www.KathyCollardMiller.blogspot.com. Kathy lives in Southern California with her husband of 43 years, Larry, and is the proud grandma of Raphael. Kathy and Larry often speak together at marriage events and retreats.

Order at: http://www.amazon.com/Partly-Cloudy-Scattered-Worries-Collard/dp/193849976X/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1380319647&sr=8-2&keywords=partly+cloudy+with+scattered+worries

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Saints Alive

Posted in Christian, Life Experiences, tagged , , , , , , on October 31, 2013| Leave a Comment »

“I sing a song of the Saints of God,patient and brave and true …”

I grew up singing that song in church. Did you?

lay handsNovember 1 has for centuries been designated as the day we honor and pray for  the saints. In the Bible, the “saints” mentioned in the Psalms and the letters of Paul and John were living, breathing humans for whom we should pray, support, and emulate. Not the ones who are long gone with formal names and days venerated to them like St. John, St. Paul and St. Francis. Not  the dead– that is reserved for November 2, All Souls Day.  But, All Saints Day is the day we honor and thank God for the ordinary saints – folks just like you and me – who live their lives trying to live out the Gospel.

“They love their Lord so dear, so dear, and His love made them strong; and they followed the right, for Jesus’ sake, the hole of their good lives long…”

You know who they are. They may not have three miracles attributed to them or have been blessed by a pope, but their lives have influenced others to turn to Jesus. They are the ones we recall have been strong in times of turmoil, and positive even when it seemed the worse was happening to them.  They are the ones who are there when we need them, who reach out a  hand, and take the time to call even when it is not convenient for them. They are the ones we go to when we need clarity. The ones who know the Word because it is so a part of their lives. They are the ones who will wear out their knees in the wee hours for a stranger they heard or read about. Thy are the ones who silently scrub the commodes in the church or mow the lawn and never want any recognition.

“…you can meet them in school, or in lanes or at sea,  at church, or on trains, or in shops, or at tea…”

Think of the saints who have influenced you.  If they have passed on, thank God for them. If they are still on earth, why not write them, call them or even text them. Tell them you are praying for them. But above all,  thank them for being a shining example of what defines being a follower of Christ.  Let them know how much they have meant to you in your faith walk. Tell them, it is partially because of them that you can sing–

“…For the saints of God are folk just like me, and I mean to be one, too.”*

*Words by Lesbia Scott (b. 1898)

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