That the World May Know

Sometimes, I just feel better in my “prayer closet”. Some may call it “quiet time”. Some may just refer to it as praying. You know, being all alone, just me and God. I can read my bible a little; tell God anything. I am safe and loved and accepted. God-thoughts enter my mind and I am uplifted. My prayer closet is a nice little place. Some days, I would like to stay there.

Keeping God all to myself. Relishing that special time together. So much more comforting and comfortable than dealing with people. Besides, sometimes it’s just hard to explain what the experience is like – in human terms. Being with God can be amazing!

There are some passages in 1 Corin. 14 that refer to speaking in tongues but a lot of it can also be applied to speaking or not speaking - God’s truths.

So, when you pray in your private prayer language, don’t hoard the experience for yourself. Pray for the insight and ability to bring others into that intimacy. 1 Corin 14:13

What I read here is that we should ask for ways in which to reveal to others the awesomeness of time spent with God. Others should know about that “feel better” feeling I get from my special prayer time.

But if some unbelieving outsiders walk in on a service where people are speaking out God’s truth, the plain words will bring them up against the truth and probe their hearts. Before you know it, they’re going to be on their faces before God, recognizing that God is among you. – 1 Corin. 14:25

I have thought about this a lot as well. Especially in churches seeking growth. There are many things we do in a church service that has become old hat to the regulars, but to the newcomer, to the visitor… well, a helping hand close by to show which songbook to use, and which page the apostles creed is on, etc. – not to mention a friendly smile and a handshake, an invite to coffee hour and a little conversation with them there – would go a long way. Certainly a sign that Jesus is among you. Your kindness could be a catalyst to softening their hearts toward God.

But when you proclaim his truth in everyday speech, you’re letting others in on the truth so that they can grow and be strong and experience his presence with you. – 1 Corin. 14:3

Whether someone is a new Christian or has years under their belt, living out acts of love and kindness are all aspects of the Christian walk that bring people to a greater sense of believing His loving presence is here – with us.

What a friend...!

I have a circle of friends. Actually, several circles.

One circle I don’t see very often, but am comfortable calling them by their first name. On occasion we catch up with the highlights of our lives. And that's okay.

Another circle is a group of friends I love dearly and used to spend much time with, but due to circumstances, I don’t see them as much as I would like. Daily life and its obligations get in the way. We send hugs and love over the internet once in awhile. Are sometimes able to share a concern or a joy. We promise coffee or lunch sometime soon. But other daily demands push to the forefront and time passes.

And then there are still others, a delicate few others, who share every joy and sorrow; every tear and laughter; every deepest thoughts and silliest sillies. These are the ones who are high priority. Not everyone you know can be in this elite circle. These are the relationships that are constantly being nurtured and the roots go deep – no matter what comes along. They are steady and strong and forever. (reminds me a little of the Parable of the Sower - Matthew 13).

There is a plan and purpose for all the different kinds of relationships in your life, and their various levels of intimacy. The question I pose today is: which group is your Jesus in?

·        Are you comfortable calling Him by His first name? Connect with Him once in a great while with a highlight or two regarding the direction of your life?

·        Do you profess to love Him dearly but just have too many other responsibilities to spend much quality time with Him?

·        Or do you see Him and share with Him and walk and talk with Him regularly? Do you belly laugh and cry real tears together? Is He the One you want to nurture a real, deep, abiding, forever relationship with – is that a priority?

Many people may know you. But there are a few you can be “real”, open, comfortable no-matter-what with. Is Jesus one of them?

I'm up! I'm awake!

Get rid of the old yeast, so that you may be a new unleavened batch—as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. – 1 Corin. 5:7

This passage caught my eye this morning. Because as I continue on with my dieting battle, I realize I’m battling with the wrong attitude. I see myself as with the old yeast all the time - old habits, old attitudes. And I’m hanging on to them until some unforeseen date in the future when I will wake up and have the battle won. I am waiting and wanting change, but using all my old useless “stuff”. Someday I will be a person who exercises on a regular basis, and loves fruits and vegetables and makes healthy choices on a regular basis.

What I really need is to believe I am – new unleavened bread (as you really are) – NOW. I need to start living “the dream” NOW. I need to start telling myself NOW that I am a healthy person. I don’t mind a little exercise. I do love fresh fruits and vegetables. Gooey, sugary baked goods can be a wonderful once-in-awhile treat that I can thoroughly enjoy without guilt – but it doesn’t need to be a “gotta have it cuz I’m sad, mad, lonely, bored, whatever” mood on a daily basis. No. Not anymore. I am getting rid of the old yeast in my life. It’s springtime and a beautiful day for a walk. And the farmer’s markets are opening up soon. It’s time to pump up the tires on the bike. It’s time!

Whether you’re battle is with food, or laziness, or lack of purpose, or some other time-consuming baggage, choose now to live the way you wish it could be. One of my mom’s favorite words of wisdom to me: “Don’t wish your life away.” Indeed. Live it NOW.

Romans 13:11-14

The Message (MSG)

^11-14 But make sure that you don’t get so absorbed and exhausted in taking care of all your day-by-day obligations that you lose track of the time and doze off, oblivious to God. The night is about over, dawn is about to break. Be up and awake to what God is doing! God is putting the finishing touches on the salvation work he began when we first believed. We can’t afford to waste a minute, must not squander these precious daylight hours in frivolity and indulgence, in sleeping around and dissipation, in bickering and grabbing everything in sight. Get out of bed and get dressed! Don’t loiter and linger, waiting until the very last minute. Dress yourselves in Christ, and be up and about!

Tasting and Seeing

Who tells the sun where and when to shine so brightly? Who orders the clouds where to stand and where to block the sun’s burning rays... where to let rain fall just so? Which farmers made it out to the fields even when they were fighting off some flu bug – so that produce would appear on our table today? And whose retirement plans did He direct to be put off another year so we could have experienced care and attention in some way this week?

Oh, the many details going on behind the scenes! I remember well a dinner I had at a spiritual retreat where all the guests had to eat in silence. At first, I imagined it would be unbearably uncomfortable. But while others were finishing up, in the silence, it dawned on me how God’s hands, GOD’S HANDS!... got the very food on my plate from farm to truck to store to retreat to me. I just sat there will an overwhelming sense that the Creator of heaven and earth (!) brought me food.

I pray to be awakened from my slumbering lack of awareness and be more fully present, more fully aware, more fully, abundantly joy-filled by the presence of God in my daily life. Lord, I want to relish all You send and be abundantly grateful. May I be more keenly aware of Your loving hands and heart. I pray for divine, transforming, renewal of my heart and mind. Nothing is too difficult for You. I am not forever set in my ways. There is hope. With You, there is always hope! Thank You for hope over the seemingly impossible, where You may have something uplifting right around the corner. I pray for eyes that see God; ears that hear God; to taste and to sense God’s goodness in every thing. What a humbling, awesome thing to realize His hand is present a zillion times a day.

Where can you go where God is not? What can you taste and see that God has not produced and delivered to you this day? What kind of knowledge do you think you have without God’s hand in it? What kind of love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, kindness, gentleness, faithfulness, self-control… all gifts - to you, and through others to you – by God’s Very Own Divine Holy Spirit?

Lord, I pray for an unending thankful, grateful, humbled-by-all-You-do heart. May I be ever conscious and overwhelmed by Your amazing outpouring of love – and be satisfied – as my response should be. This day, and all days, may I truly see You and know You as my ALL IN ALL.

The Best Advisor

Sometimes I want to tell people what to do. It’s true. Those of you around me know it’s true. I mean, I’ve lived over 50 years, so I know a thing or two. I think I’m “in the know” and can advise you exactly how you should proceed with your life in any given circumstance.

But the real truth is – I’ve lived MY life for over 50 years. I’ve chosen and functioned based on my experiences and my character traits. Not yours. What might work for me will not work out for you at all. If you ask for my opinion, I can relate to you only what’s in my head and heart. Which may seem like the very best as far as my knowledge stretches. You, also, may want to advise me on how to live out my life. But only God knows what is truly best for you and for me. He alone has seen it all – past, present and future.

I have been taller than most – most of my life. I have wished to not be so tall. During my teen years, I prayed about it. But I am still tall, and will forever be… tall. And it’s something I have grown to accept. I think the same applies to various other traits: some people are wired to be very energetic, very productive without getting tired. Others would become exhausted physically and emotionally trying to keep up. For those more quiet and pace themselves, it would be wrong for them to judge the more active person; and it would be wrong for the more active to judge and call the quiet one lazy and nonproductive.  Maybe, like being tall, we are what we are.

 For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. – Romans 12: 4-6

So I’m reminding us all, that we are all different parts of the one same Body. We all have different abilities but serve the one and same God. You are who you are, and what you are, for a very good reason. Serve the Lord and bring glory to God in the way you’ve been formed and gifted. And accept that others are doing the same in the way they’ve been formed and gifted. May it all be – to the glory of God.

Oh, the choices I've made!

I have a favorite quote from a book. (It’s posted on my facebook if you want to see the actual wording). It’s a famous southern belle exhausted by the all the traumas of life and one day realizing she felt like she handled everything wrong. Feels like she made a mess of so many things in her life. And how did that happen? Have you traveled down that same “woulda, coulda, shoulda” road too? Do you look back and see too many mistakes?

But the sage, elderly woman she was talking to spoke with such compassion. The Lord sends some pretty heavy burdens. And you do the best you can with where you are mentally at the time. Don’t beat yourself up over it. What’s past is past. You did what you could at the time.

I like to remind myself of that on occasion. Mercy me, but I’ve made some bad choices, especially in my younger (and not so young) years … hurt some folks, loved ones even. Hurt myself too.

But the Lord is not mad at me. He still loves me. He has used those times and keeps them in my memory so that I can relish the change He’s brought about in me. Oh, how I’ve grown as a Christian woman!

Part of me wishes I hadn’t ever made such foolish choices. Wishes I could have grown up in the straight and narrow and stayed there. But it’s these very painful, poor choices that have helped me best recognize God working on me.

Now I don’t want to continue making bad choices so that I can see God doing more work on me. But I am thankful that He, knowing the sinner that I am by my human nature, can use those times in my life for good.

Don’t beat yourself up. Don’t focus on past failures. You did what you had to do at the time. You did what made sense at the time. Instead, realize all that God is and does. Recognize His work in your heart and mind; the changes, transformations… the difference He’s made in how you choose now. Those bad choices of the past come to mind for a reason – not to tear you down with despair but to see how God has touched you personally. Through the Spirit of God within you, you’ve grown. You can make better choices. You’ve grown. He has not left you as you once were. You are continually moving forward… upward… in Christ.

Saying Goodbye

Death. Seems like such a horrible business. Pretty final. No turning back. Once your body dies, your body is gone. Sadness. Goodbye.

But this morning I was reading about death…. to sin. In Romans 6, it says we died to sin. Which means we hate it and don’t want it to be a part of our life any longer. We want it done. A clean break. We want it dead. But just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. The life of deadness was put behind Him.

It goes on to talk about being in bondage to sin and I thought about that a little bit. I thought about what I learned in school about slavery and bondage and no freedom to make choices for yourself. Someone else made choices for you and you were helpless to do anything else but what you were told. It was the way of life for the slave – to accept that which was the only option.

Freedom on the other hand, offers you the same options and more. Freedom means you can make good or bad choices. And by choices, I am also talking about desires. Because Christ died to sin (and so, we too, died to sin), sin becomes something we sense is wrong. Once we accept Christ into our lives, sin leaves a foul taste in our mouths, and there is no turning back from that now. When we become dead to our sin, it is dead. No turning back to thinking a sin is acceptable. Forever changed. Forever gone is any joy in sin. It will from that day forward bother us deep inside. Just as Christ died and was raised from the dead, He can not die again. It is finished. And so it is with us as well. Sin will forevermore bother us.

In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires… offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death – to life!... for sin shall not be your master. (Romans 6:11-14)

That really hit me. Brought from the jaws of death  - to life! The option to choose living for Jesus is mine! Living with Him every day, is a choice now made available to me. Fullness and richness in life with Jesus is a choice. Let us be dead to sin and choose Christ Who reigns forevermore!

Where have I been?

I've been out of town... being refreshed and refreshing others. But I'll be back to writing and posting again real soon. Thank you for your continued love and support! Julie