Slave to what? Slave to whom?

July 29, 2023

Maria 2 Corinthians 3, Acts 17, Freedom, Galatians 5, God's love, Holy Light, John 8, Kingdom of God, Love, Slavery , , , , , Leave a comment

Suppose I remark, “Say, friend, you claim to be a Christian, a believer and follower of Christ. Let me ask you; do you live as someone whose freedom Jesus died for?”

Your first response should be, “Maria, what do you mean by ‘free’? What freedom are you talking about?” 

I would explain, “I mean to what or to whom do you conform?” 

You might not be able to respond to my abrupt question. Or you may defensively shoot back, as did the Pharisees to Jesus, “Of course, I’m free!  Do you think I’m a slave or something?”

That’s no surprise. Often, we lack awareness of what really drives our behavior.

I’m not one to conform to societal pressures, but I am skilled at keeping myself on a short leash, one that is self-imposed.    

I thank God that three years ago, he broke into my little prison and started expanding my boundary lines. Having been released from bulimia earlier, and definitely not anorexic, I had, however, become skilled in a different form of food slavery, ‘orthorexia’.  That’s the concept that there is only ONE right way to eat.  It’s all about control in order to feel safe.

Against my desires at the time, the Lord started shining a light in my darkness. He perfectly timed some rational observations from three different people. My creative and dear friend shared truth about me, using gentle images. Then two loving family members boldly confronted me with uncomfortable truth about patterns of behavior I had developed over time.

Gradually, I have made significant strides and DO feel freer. But as we know, all growth hurts. For me, stage one of this providential forced change dealt with food and some rigid daily ‘routines’. But I now see there has remained another dark area I didn’t recognize.

‘In the fullness of time’, the Holy Spirit said, in effect, “Let’s examine some more of your self-imposed rules and practices.” More ‘freedom’ work beckoned.

Saying ‘yes’ to God’s loving invitation to greater liberty, I now sense that I am on a train speeding me toward a new place, where there are NO rules or laws, just a Person named Jesus. And his rule is Love. Love God and love others.

It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not be encumbered once more by a yoke of slavery. Galatians 5:1

Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 2 Cor 3:17

….. if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. John 8:36

(all 3 from Berean Standard Bible)

Just what do I mean by being free?  What are we freed from?  We need questions like this to help us identify lies we believe. Especially those false narratives we tell ourselves. We create stories based on insecurities, fears, pressure we sense, resentments, envy, anxieties etc.

God is changing my perspective via books, podcasts, and conversations he sovereignly brings across my path. Like the good Bereans who examined God’s word for themselves when they encountered new teaching from Paul, (Acts 17:11), I now see principles and promises in the bible whose significance has taken on new meaning.

The freedom I am slowly embracing as I continue to meditate and study is beginning to release me from two categories of expectations. The first group are those standards of conformity that either I believe I SHOULD meet, the kind I imagine people have explicitly laid on me. 

The other group are actually more deadly, because those drivers of behavior bury themselves in one’s subconscious.  They are the unnoticed, unarticulated, and unevaluated.  Only when we have the guts and force ourselves honestly to bring to Jesus’ light our thoughts, our judgements and our self-woven narratives, can we judge whether they are true.

Right now, I am focused on noticing and breaking free of the ball and chains Maria has placed on herself.  One by one, the Lord is guiding me to identify and evaluate these controlling rules or boundaries.  I’m asking “Were those chosen habits fear-based or love-based?” Control is all about fear.

Each day, I feel a bit lighter, whetting a hunger for more of this freedom for which Christ died.

But here’s the ‘twist’.  Reread how Paul taught the Galatians in Chapter 5, pleading: “Don’t go back to your old slave master of rule-based righteousness.  Live in the freedom which you experienced upon hearing the good news of free grace. I know you Galatians, how you accepted Jesus’ offer of life and stepped away from the yoke of oppression.”

Paul obviously is free, yet in at least three places in the New Testament, (Romans 1:1….Titus 1:1….Galatians 1:10) he described himself as a ‘slave of Christ’, a doulos.

What’s up with that? Ah, this is the beauty of the distinction.  Paul was no slave to a set of rules, but he willingly gave himself to a living Person to be his servant. Out of stupefied wonder at God’s electing love and grace.

We, too, are no longer slaves to a system of rules.  We live in a new category called beLOVED ‘son/daughter’ and ‘bondservant and friend to Jesus.

Where does someone start? Where is the entry point to this Kingdom of the Freed?  There’s one narrow door or gate by which we gain access. And it is purposefully narrow.  If someone still carries ‘baggage’, he won’t be able to pass through. You know, those costumes of carefully-crafted identities and self-righteousness coverings.  No, we must come naked, just as we are in reality. We step out of crafted coverings into this new world spacious and lush, but with boundary lines of love whose design guards our freedom.

As bondservants, we keep our eyes on King Jesus who is Love personified. We, always refer to him for direction, wisdom, provision and help.

Now doesn’t that sound inviting?  Come! Won’t you join me on this quest for true freedom? We need each other to remind us of the liberty we actually possess.

Do you believe the minority report?

July 22, 2023

Maria Discouragement, Faith, Fear, Healing, Job 34, Mark 5, Pain, Romans 8, Satan, Trusting God, Unbelief , , , , 1 Comment

While He was still speaking, people came from the house of the synagogue official, saying, “Your daughter has died; why bother the Teacher further? But Jesus, overhearing what was being spoken, said to the synagogue official, “Do not be afraid, only believe. Mark 5:35-36 NASB

You’ve heard it said that God doesn’t waste any of our sufferings. That he works them for our good.  John Piper, pastor and theologian, has angled this principle in a challenging way, encouraging believers themselves NOT to waste the suffering appointed for them.

My daughter-in-law asked me the other day about sleep irregularities, “What do you think the Lord is showing you?”   Useful question, for it reenforced the truth that we should always be praying as did Job, ‘Teach me what I do not see!’ (34:32)

My latest adventure has been into the world of pain.  Specifically, hip and back pain. Today is day 65. (Yes, I’m keeping a record of this journey).

‘Father, this pain seems to have gotten worse in the last week.  I’m afraid I won’t get better!’ I confessed yesterday morning.  Mark gave me the first scriptural exhortation NOT to fear, but instead to trust what Jesus says and does. A little while later, the Holy Spirit asked, ‘Have you truly handed this pain and fear over to the Lord?’ I responded, ‘How can I, when IT keeps coming back each time I move?’ He shot back, ‘That’s a false report. This is only psychological warfare, employed by the enemy. Don’t believe it.’

This morning, my hip hurt even in bed. Once up, coffee at hand, I journaled to encourage myself: ‘The evidence points to ongoing ‘pain’.  But I will not fear.  I will trust you, Jesus.  No weapon formed against me will succeed, neither poor sleep, nor pain, nor any other distraction. Help me!  I bring my total self to you, Father, Lord, Spirit, Holy Three, worthy of my full attention.  I know you are working this pain for my good, as you do with all affliction and suffering.’

What next came to mind stunned me. A resolve, a conviction. I’m not going to believe the ‘Minority Report’ of:

  • My flesh
  • The world, or….
  • Satan

Instead, I am going to believe the ‘Majority Report’ of:

  1. 66 Biblical writers
  2. The Holy Spirit
  3. Jesus
  4. Father God
  5. All the angels in heaven
  6. the ‘Crowd of Witnesses’ who have gone on before me
  7. Phil and Adrienne, my 2 physical therapists.

I don’t know what tomorrow holds, but this day, I will look to the Lord.

Is anything too unimportant to pray about?

July 15, 2023

Maria Answers to Prayer, Healing, Luke 13, Patience, Persistence, Prayer, Self-Righteouness , , 3 Comments

…..everyone who asks receives… Matthew 7:8 NASB

“Oh, I don’t want to bother God.  I’m sure he’s got more important things to worry about than my______!”

Have you ever met someone who takes this sort of pseudo-pious posture?

When I’m feeling sarcastic inside, I’d LIKE to retort, “Oh, you believe you don’t need God for this, that you can handle this issue yourself?”

But more often than not, I experience sadness for any such dear soul who doesn’t believe that our Father in heaven CARES about every detail of her life and mine.  Has she forgotten that He created her! We tend to love what we paint or fashion or bring order to.  Do you know many artisans, composers, painters, sculptors or gardeners who aren’t partial to what they’ve labored over in love?

I regularly find delight in praying about the ‘little’ matters.  (One pastor I’ve read recently commented that from God’s perspective, ALL our requests are little.) I am comforted that Mike, too, depends on God for the many details of each day.  From tech issues, to conversations with colleagues to untangling sticky issues with a customer service rep and even a foreseen lack of time. On this earth 1.0, a fundamental law of nature is ‘As is the day, so too are its challenges’.  But, the good news is that God promises strength and wisdom and sometimes even a way out for each obstacle that challenges us, IF we stop and ask him. Nary a day goes by that we don’t both experience God’s provision and answers.

For example, yesterday a replacement single Airpod arrived from Apple.  Mike has faced various issues with these Airpod Pros he bought a couple of years ago. Since I was away doing errands when the replacement arrived, he texted me for prayer because he couldn’t seem to pair this new device with his cell.

Immediately responding, I typed out and prayed that he would trust God to provide patience and wisdom to figure it out.  Within 5 minutes, he signaled his praise for God’s timely provision!

Later when I was home again, we talked about God’s rapid help, juxtaposing his speedy affirmative answer with those many as-yet-unanswered, ongoing and long-term AND daily pleas for relief, ways forward, healing, conversions, solutions etc.

My theory about these ‘little things’ is this: Our Father wants us to depend on him for all that concerns us in order to train us to count on him for each and every one of our daily ‘ordinaries’.  He grants many, many requests in order to prove that he always responds to our cries for his help. Training us to cast all our issues, the teeny and the major, is how he creates in us an automatic and trusting response to life’s bumps and sufferings. 

For an example of something very long term, consider the woman who suffered as an outcast for more than a decade due to her constant bleeding. Nevertheless, she received from God’s hand food, work and some kindnesses during those seemingly-interminable twelve years.

We all have our long-term versions of this single woman’s desire. For one more example, how about the crippled woman Jesus heals on a sabbath?

….should not this woman, a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has kept bound for eighteen long years, be set free…… Luke 13:16 NIV

So, dear friends, as you carry a heart heavy for the ‘biggies’ such as the salvation of a family member, or healing, or reconciliation with a friend, remember to keep asking the Lord for every one of your ‘little’ needs. His answers will strengthen your faith as you persistently pray, without doubting.  Rest assured, that when God deems the time is right, he will provide.

The Gospel according to Ted

July 8, 2023

Maria Common Grace, Encouragement, Forgiveness, Grace, Humility, Matthew 5, Psalm 145 , , , , , , , 1 Comment

The Lord is good to all, and his mercy is over all that he has made. Psalm 145:9 ESV

He makes the sun rise on both good and bad people. And he sends rain for the ones who do right and for the ones who do wrong. Matthew 5:45 CEV

If you would like to see a contemporary picture of the power of humility and forgiveness, then watch the Apple TV series “Ted Lasso.”

No, it’s not a Christian series. And yes, it’s replete with worldly cultural values. But boy will it encourage you, make you smile and shed tears over the many moments of personal growth and reconciliation. 

Ted Lasso is a college football coach who catches the eye of a fictional British Premier League football club owner when he transforms his American players from a group of discouraged individuals into a united team that wins a championship.  The Club’s new owner, a recently divorced woman, just happens to be searching for the worst possible coaches to replace the here-tofore winning leadership. Her goal? To drive AFC Richmond into the ground to spite her former husband.  She selects Ted and his assistant Coach Beard because they are a bit weird and most likely to be off-putting to team and fans alike.  And they know next to nothing about soccer. 

During the show’s three seasons, we see a beautiful picture of how God has created and wired all humans in his image. The scriptwriters develop characters who display what we all long for, the need to share freely who we are without fear or shame, and after a conflict, to be reconciled with another.

Over the course of the show’s three seasons, I saw echoes of biblical accounts as well as literary classics such as Les Misérables:

  • Several situations reminded me of the Samaritan woman at the well who reveled in being truly known: “This man told me all about myself!”
  • Ted Lasso’s own suffering and personal pain don’t deter him from his own principles of offering multiple chances to people.  He appears to be cut from the same cloth as the bishop who extends grace to Jean Valjean in Victor Hugo’s classic. At times Ted reminds me of the father, who represents God, in the Prodigal Son.  Lasso never resorts to: Didn’t I tell you so? Nor, does he want an apology. Rather he affirms his confidence in players and associates encouraging them to learn from their mistakes and do better.

We see scenario after scenario of the power of humility and serving others, illustrating the principle of ‘he who desires to be great, let him humble himself.’

The script writers outdid themselves developing quirky and endearing personalities. We saw the importance of unity, honesty, forgiveness and humor during the three seasons of Ted Lasso. 

This series left me with the impression that people CAN and DO change in an environment of love, respect and safety, and that we should think the best of everyone we meet. 

Pretty remarkable for a current series.  Well done Apple TV!

Focused on the wrong thing

July 1, 2023

Maria Anxiety, Kingdom of God, Luke 12, Worry , , , , , Leave a comment

And do not seek what you are to eat and what you are to drink, and do not keep worrying.  Luke 12:29 NASB

Do you ever find yourself amazed at how the Lord persistently brings to your attention just what he INTENDS for you to put into practice?

These Holy Spirit messages don’t come with a hint of exasperation, as in:

‘What is wrong with you, woman!  I’ve been showing you this for years now.  Are you a slow learner, or what!’

On the contrary, although, for the record, I am a slow learner.  Whether in acquiring another language or memorizing scripture or simple life lessons, I require LOTS of repetition.  For instance, throughout our marriage Mike has exhorted me over and over to go for a larger-sized pan or container in the kitchen than I think I’ll need.  Irrationally I default to one too small, reasoning that: if I use something smaller, it’ll take me less time to clean.  Predictably, I end up transferring the food to the larger pot or dish and extend my washing-up time.

Over the past twelve months, a successive series of physical challenges have exacerbated my already-obsessive focus that I by nature bring to any new topic. I have ‘binged’ on videos about nutrition, sleep, pain, little ‘t’ traumas and emotional healing.

But Christ’s holy spirit, determined to redirect me away from what might be a ‘good’ thing, that is taking care of my body, to the best thing, God, himself, has changed his means.   He has raised the volume of his communication with me from whispered guidance as described by Elijah to bullhorn-style but loving instruction. It’s become obvious to me this week that up to now, I have heard, but ignored his softer, quieter voice.

Yes, he has unceasingly shown me that my focus is completely misplaced. This morning, the Spirit pointed me to Jesus’ teaching as recorded by Luke when our Lord exhorted his followers to seek foremost his kingdom. In a bit of research, I learned that another word for ‘seek’ (Greek Zeteo) is ‘to focus on’.

That bit of Greek word study hit its intended target.  I have been focusing (seeking) and investing an unhealthy and inordinate degree of energy and thoughts on my body. Furthermore, through practice, I have become a minor expert in concentrated anxiety. 

Luke’s manner of describing the habit of anxious thought or worrying struck me particularly when I looked up the Greek. Appearing only once in the New Testament, Luke employs a graphic image to illustrate what Jesus meant when he warned us of the dangers that befall us in fretful thinking.  Occurring only once in the New Testament, meteōrizomai means to rise up and down, unmoored, like a ship tossed about in a storm.  For me and maybe for you as well, we often create our own tempests through our wrong thinking.

Last night, reading R. T. Kendall’s latest book, The Sermon on the Mount, I copied down Luke 12:31 (ESV) Instead seek his kingdom…… With that teaching fresh in my mind, coupled with what the Holy Spirit brought to me this morning, I found myself dumbfounded by the two uses of the word, Seek.

That’s it!  I’ve been focusing my attention, letting myself BE consumed by the wrong matters.  For me, I need to give up that almost all-consuming meditation on what will make my body feel good. The Holy Spirit is directing me to shift my day’s purpose into focusing on or seeking the conscious presence of Jesus and his enabling grace. 

What a contrast!  The one has become soul-sucking and the other promises to be life-giving.

What is mine and yours to manage?

June 24, 2023

Maria Freedom, Galatians 5, Peace, Romans 12 , , 3 Comments

If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Romans 12:18 ESV

I don’t know what prompted me, but when I was sixteen, I started to work at engaging my dad in conversations that would set him to talking with me. I interpreted his animation over the topic to be evidence that he enjoyed me, that he found me interesting. That felt good.

Monday through Friday during the school year, Pop would pour himself some Frosted Flakes, coffee and orange juice.  I would join him at the little breakfast table in the kitchen with my Shredded Wheat or Grape Nuts cereal.  He probably would have been content to eat in silence, but I interpreted the lack of conversation to be his disinterest in me.  So, I sought questions to draw him out.

Practicing this conversational skill over our morning cereal before we both set out for the day, set me on a fifty-year trajectory of obsessive efforts to manipulate others. I invested energy and thought in ‘managing’ family relationships in ways that I self-centeredly deemed ‘best’. I carried this self-imposed burden, oblivious to the damage it was doing in and to me. But at a deep level, I knew this was not healthy.

Good therapists, and Jesus is the best, teach us to focus our energy on our own responses, not those of others. For one, we can’t control how others react.  It follows logically, that we shouldn’t try to manage others. Not only is it futile, but I know others find it annoying. Instead, we are to work on our own thoughts, feelings and actions. There’s plenty there to last until Jesus heals us for good.

Do you recall Peter’s post-resurrection conversation with Jesus?  Picture their early morning breakfast chat along the shore.  Jesus is outlining Peter’s new leadership assignment when the apostle shifts his attention, looks at John and says, “What about him?”  Jesus tells him basically, ‘it’s none of your business what I am calling him to do! You focus your assignment, Peter. That’s more than enough for you!’

Look again at Paul’s command to Roman Christians about living peaceably. To influence what people might think or feel is not our responsibility. Paul clearly teaches that ‘as far as it depends on you and me, if WE find it possible’, we are to live and be at peace with all.  In ordinary daily life among neighbors, family, colleagues, friends, God has NOT called us to be peace manager or peacekeepers.

Seeing this truth has stunned me. As I approach turning 66 next month, I thank Jesus for living and dying for me.  I want to live out this reality, that:

It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Galatians 5:1 NIV

Trying to do life on my own

June 9, 2023

Maria Dependence, Isaiah 30, Psalm 46 , , , 4 Comments

Be still and know…… Psalm 46:10

Seeing the 18-week-old baby moving his fists and arms on the ultrasound screen thrilled me.  What a gift technology can be!

As a volunteer counselor at our local Christian pregnancy resource center, I’m privileged to be present when gals come in for a scan.  Afterwards, I spend some time with the mom to talk over her options. The father of the baby, if he comes to the appointment as well, meets separately for a while with my male counterpart.

As Christians, we are upfront about our hope they will parent. But we aren’t afraid to educate them about abortion, what it does to the baby as well as to them. We also offer on-site counsel about how adoption might work.

To the extent that they are willing to listen, we explain who Jesus is and why they should care.

The day after this week’s volunteer shift at the ‘preg center’, I was out back on the patio for my ‘morning meeting’ with the Lord.  Psalm 46:10 popped up in a cross reference.

What is it that God wants us to know that takes being still and releasing our grip? I sighed thinking about my futile and fruitless attempts to control circumstances around me so I’ll feel secure. 

Then I pictured a baby safe in a mother’s womb, receiving all he needs from the placenta via the umbilical cord. How ridiculous and fatal it would it be for the baby to disconnect from mom and try to do pre-natal life on his own?

Bingo! and back to Psalm 46:10. That’s at least one truth our Father wants us to know. He planned and created each one of us to be needy, even during the 40 weeks of our life within our moms. After a mother pushes her baby out through the birth canal, that child still depends 100 % on ‘life-support’ from his parents. 

Likewise, we Christians having been ‘born from above’ into God’s kingdom also require sustenance. But the spiritual kind.  Like the newborn, we can’t provide what we need to bloom and grow. Jesus painted a picture of just what kind of life support he has planned for us. As a branch ingrafted into Jesus, our Vine, we receive heavenly nourishment without which we wither. We risk being another case of ‘failure to thrive’.

How we are to conduct our pilgrimage, journeying toward our true Home with God, is analogous to life for the preborn and newly-born baby.   But I forget that fact almost every week. So, fall back into thinking I CAN and should attempt to control what scares or threatens me.

It takes stopping and getting still in order for me to re-calibrate how I think about God. Isaiah offers another reminder:

This is what the Sovereign LORD, the Holy One of Israel, says: “In repentance (turning back to God) and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength”…..Isaiah 30:15 NIV

Can you be passively active?

May 29, 2023

Maria 2 Corinthians 5, Ezekiel 37, John 3, New Birth, Philippians 4, Romans 12 , , 2 Comments

So don’t be surprised when I say, ‘You must be born again.’ John 3:7 NLT

Don’t we sometimes long for a ‘do-over’?  For years, I’ve celebrated new beginnings. But coming upon Jesus’ words this morning I spotted a new way of thinking about the new birth as he startled the learned Nicodemus.

What do people assume when they speak of a ‘do-over’?  I know my mind goes directly to inaugurating a fresh start. A chance to try again and to better THIS time.

But is that what the Bible teaches? That we all receive a clean page, unblemished by sin in order to ‘make it good this time’?

Knowing me, that’s not good news.

I don’t have confidence that I can do better.

Praise God that Jesus’ conversations point to a passive plan of action.  He does this by using the passive form of a verb, BE born again.

Okay, let’s pause for a brief grammar review.  Just what is the passive ‘voice’ in language?  Wikipedia simplifies it this way:

“…..In a clause with passive voice, the grammatical subject expresses the theme or patient of the main verb – that is, the person or thing that undergoes the action or has its state changed. This contrasts with active voice, in which the subject has the agent role….”

Jesus holds out to the current and most influential religious man in Jerusalem a different way of doing life.  It’s a receiving of an action done to him that is going to change his life forever. That is, if he submits.

Is this good news?  To me it is. For ‘try harder….do more….change your ways….start fresh’ no longer hold out hope. They simply remind me of how I CAN’T!

I remember the years that I loved January 1.  The calendar proclaimed the tempting possibility of maybe getting it RIGHT this time.  I’d pull out and unwrap a brand-new planner and write down goals and steps and the intermediate milestones, tagged to specific dates. I dared to imagine that THIS year would be better.

I don’t do that anymore.  Oh, I still have hope.  But a new kind, one that causes my entire body to relax.  I can’t change myself, but God can. Not only does he want to, it is his express plan of how we are to live.

Let’s start with what happens after what Jesus describes as the second birth. Consider this biblical fact:

Now, we are new and different living beings. And that condition is right from the start. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. 2 Corinthians 5:17 ESV

Okay, now what?  Is there something we are to do?  Paul tells us what to expect as new boys and girls, men and women:

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind….Romans 12:2 ESV

If you and I were meant to do the change, the Holy Spirit would have exhorted: Don’t conform yourself to the world, but transform yourself by……

Can you SEE or maybe FEEL the difference?

Countless verses and passages in the Bible lay out for us just how much we have received (a passive action) from grace, to strength, to riches, to comfort, to guidance, even to the gift of wanting to repent.  

But here’s one of my favorite examples and this is VIVID.  Do you remember Ezekiel’s encounter with God in a vision in the Valley of Dry Bones? Read all of chapter 37 for the details, but let’s look at verses 5 and 6s showing that God is the agent.

Thus says the Lord God to these bones: Behold, I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live. And I will lay sinews upon you, and will cause flesh to come upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and you shall live, and you shall know that I am the Lord.

It’s ALL of the Lord’s doing.

Maybe you are you questioning:  So, we don’t do anything?  We just let ourselves be DONE to?

To the contrary! Yes, primarily we are to receive, but Paul DOES strongly exhort us to practice various ACTIVE behaviors.

For example, given ALL that God has done for us and IS doing every second, we are to:

Per Romans 12:12

  1. Thoroughly enjoy the hope, the expectation we have of permanently belonging to God as his ‘do-over’ children.
  2. Bravely and calmly bear whatever affliction or suffering he ordains.
  3. Chatter to God all the time through thanksgiving and praise and handing over all our requests.

Per Philippians 4: 8 ESV

Here is where we are to direct our thoughts:

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.

Of course, we are to read, study and meditate on God in his word daily to receive his counsel. And he DOES lay out actions we are to take like helping others and offering hospitality. 

However, I think Christians can fall into the trap of thinking it’s all about their DOING.

Let’s add thanksgiving back into our daily lives,  the ‘being done to us’ side of the Christian life.  Remember, WE don’t cause fruit to grow on our branch.  That’s the Holy Spirit’s job, too.

My words to Maria and to you are: “Relax, little branchlet, little twig, little offshoot of the trunk who is Jesus. You have a gardener who knows what he is doing.  Just be glad and receive his care and let him grow you into a strong branch.”

Do you dread getting old?

May 19, 2023

Maria Exodus, Joshua 14, Miracles, Nehemiah 9, Psalm 78, Unbelief , , , , , , , Leave a comment

We hear of death and disease all around us, whether the circumstances concern people we know firsthand like family, friends and colleagues or those we only know of, like Tim Keller.

These accounts can scare us and even depress us once we reach a certain age.

Given that context and being in my mid-60s, I’ve been thinking a lot about the Hebrews whom God miraculously and almost inconceivably delivered out of Egyptian enslavement.

But you know their story of appalling unbelief after having lived through and witnessed God’s protection of Goshen, the housing area assigned them, as plagues struck their captors and not them. But God’s visible and tangible working on their behalf continued. Miracles included:

  • The astounding night flight with all their belongings, not to mention gifted riches from their neighbors.
  • Safe and dry passage along the seabed when it looked like they were trapped, only to be slaughtered.
  • God’s judgment on their cocky pursuers by drowning when the sea walls were released and the water found its previous equilibrium.

With all that ‘seeing-MUST-be-believing’ evidence, we scratch our heads with incredulity as we read about their complaints and selective memory regarding water and the lack of food choices.

I know you are familiar with all these accounts, but have you considered the less showy, but the other astounding ways God provided for them?  Take the manna, for instance.

Reading in Psalm 78:24-25:

…..and he (God) rained down on them manna to eat and gave them the grain of heaven. Man ate of the bread of the angels; he sent them food in abundance. (ESV)

And in Nehemiah 9:20-21:

…….You gave your good Spirit to instruct them and did not withhold your manna from their mouth and gave them water for their thirst. Forty years you sustained them in the wilderness, and they lacked nothing. Their clothes did not wear out and their feet did not swell. (ESV)

Think for a moment.  The food God provided turned out to be supernatural power food.  It must have been perfectly balanced with enough energy to enable them to do the hard labor of unpacking household gear, tabernacle construction, herd tending, packing up family belongings and worship materials and then walking mile after mile (in circles).

The women did not have to do much meal prep, for God consistently provided what they needed and they ate their full.  And about their clothes, young girls didn’t learn to card wool, weave yarn, sew or repair clothing. For nothing they put on wore out, even their sandals. That doesn’t describe the life I know. For I buy replacement clothes and shoes on a regular basis!

Furthermore, the detail I REALLY love, the one that makes smile, is that among all twelve tribes of aging men and women no one’s feet swelled. That’s such a real fact of life about our bodies as we age.  Just praise God as you consider how he thought of everything.

God’s ability to sustain the generation that WAS to receive the promised inheritance makes me recall Caleb.

Do you remember this valiant man?  Shortly into the wilderness wanderings, he and Joshua took part in a recon assignment to investigate the new lands promised them.  Sadly, these two men were the only ones among the twelve who reported that the new territory lived up to God’s description and waited to be received.  The other tribe representatives skewered the group’s analysis out of fear and the people believed the majority report.

Therefore, God caused that generation of Hebrews to die before seeing or crossing into the promised land.

But Joshua and Caleb made it through the wilderness and entered the inheritance God had readied for them. Just as he promised.

Look at Caleb’s evaluation of the previous years in Joshua 14:10-11:

Now, as you can see, the LORD has kept me alive and well as he promised for all these forty-five years since Moses made this promise—even while Israel wandered in the wilderness. Today I am eighty-five years old. I am as strong now as I was when Moses sent me on that (scouting) journey, and I can still travel and fight as well as I could then. (NLT)

If we take the Exodus wilderness journey of 40 years with all its trials, deprivations and suffering as a metaphor for life on earth 1.0 and if making it safely to the promised land presents a picture of our arrival in heaven, then Caleb’s words and example should give us pause.

The ageing process doesn’t HAVE to be ‘downhill all the way and then we die’.

Caleb shows us (and Joshua as well) that it is possible some of us will still be physically and mentally vigorous and vibrant on the day God has predetermined for us to cross over.  

Why am I drawing out this point?  Because I listen to many friends my age and older who think and expect that decline and pain are inevitable as we approach our last days. I don’t doubt that those days have been scripted by God. What I’m pushing back on is how I hear my friends talk about what they think is bound to happen at the slight indicator of decline.  It’s so negative.

But why not aspire to be a Caleb, as much as we can.  We have the power to choose our thoughts and our words.  And the words WE say to ourselves, our heart and mind receive as ‘truth’. 

God is always doing more than we choose to ask for or dare to imagine!

Has how you pray changed over the years?

May 4, 2023

Maria John 17, Luke 11, Prayer, Spiritual Growth, Spiritual Practice, Spiritual Warfare, The Lord's Prayer , , 2 Comments

“Lord, teach us to pray….” Luke 11:1 ESV

Today, 4 May 2023, is our country’s National Day of Prayer, a time to renew our practice of prayer and perhaps adjust it.

I can sense changes in how I now talk to God, especially in how I intercede for others.

Have you ever noticed how children pray?  They blurt out exactly what they want. “Jesus, give us a good day.” And rightly so. We must enter the kingdom with that same simple but cheery, trusting and care-free approach. Our Lord wants us to hand over every material and immaterial situation to him. But our Father also expects us to grow in our understanding and practice of praying.

For a while my care for God’s honor, for his name has increased. His expansive goals and perspective are slowly replacing my limited ones, or maybe amplifying them.

Remember how God planned to liberate Israel from Pharaoh as well as cause Egypt to know experientially that HE is Yahweh, the LORD? He had dual purposes.  And so can we.

This morning, I asked Jesus that the four men in my immediate family would honor God in how they pray for their wives. That he would give them the spirit of wisdom and revelation in their work. As well as draw them deeper into intimacy with our Father. Then reading Oswald Chamber’s meditation for today, I felt resolve to pray more like this expand.

With razor-sharpness, Chambers diagnoses the limited ways we intercede for others. (May 4 meditation from My Utmost for His Highest)  “We do not identify ourselves with God’s interests and concerns for others…..we are always ready with our own ideas, and our intercession becomes only the glorification of our own natural sympathies…..Vicarious intercession means that we deliberately substitute God’s interests in others for our natural sympathy with them.”

So, where do you start if you want to mature in how you pray for others? You can’t go wrong by allowing ‘the Lord’s Prayer’ to shape and change your approach.  Think of it as a framework, a springboard for a personal and God-honoring way to intercede.

Focus first on God’s goals and purposes. If we are believers, then our primary goals, our ‘first concerns’ should be the Lord’s, such as the honoring of his name, kingdom expansion, and all his purposes to become reality.  Then we are invited to hand over what we need this day, personally as well as for others.  This is where we can mention the immediate situations and needs, such as Jim’s surgery or travel safety for Sally, or a peace-filled resolution to the war in Ukraine.

But, don’t you want to talk to practice talking with the Father like Jesus?  For inspiration and guidance, we can sink our teeth deep into John 17 and study how Jesus prayed and for what.  We can select one of his petitions for the day and model our prayers for others on that.

For sure all and any sincere conversation with the Lord is a GOOD and RIGHT thing. This is not a suggestion to leave one way behind and replace it with something new. It’s a both/and.

Who knows, maybe Jesus is calling you into a grand adventure.  Maybe this shift will cause you to look forward to praying for others with a greater sense of expectancy.

Beware, though, Satan will not be pleased. So, armor up each morning with all the spiritual defenses and the one offensive arm we are to use, God’s Word.  

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