This Is the Day

 

Note: Not sure why I chose this picture. Maybe because the girls are now grown and I reflect on the younger days. Maybe it was because of the moms I know that are in the thick of it. Maybe it is the reminder to rejoice in what I have been given. I think it might be the last part..

This Is the Day

“In addition, my brothers and sisters, rejoice in the Lord. To write to you again about this is no trouble for me and is a safeguard for you.” Philippians 3:1 

I am not sure why this verse stood out as I listened to this sermon recently. That word “safeguard” was painting a picture within my mind. Paul had every single reason to give up. He was in prison warning them because once again they thought salvation needed some adjustment. Jesus saving them alone required them to release what they were holding onto nothing that they could earn.  It was never about me adding to salvation thinking God needed my self righteous spirit. It is asking myself, “What am I holding onto that I need to lose so I can gain more of Him?” 

“Faith is like an empty, open hand stretched out toward God, with nothing to offer and everything to receive.” John Calvin

I think that the reason that word safeguard was standing out to me is because I am preparing for something. And honestly that something is what I thought going through would be a one time thing. Even knowing when I did what I knew He was asking me to trust He would provide. Showing me how He showed up time and time again is again the reminder to open my hands and surrender my heart toward God and show up so He can use me the way He desires. And knowing that it will be hard is what reminds me I am not in control. And that is the safeguard and boundary that He has created around me. Knowing when it is hard we can rejoice. And knowing because it is hard we can rejoice. 

I won’t gain that in my understanding. That is the wrestle I will always face. Having no confidence in my flesh. And that is my biggest hurdle when it comes to this next step. Remembering because of my challenges what I gain is only His Strength in me. Loss of my ways help me to gain His. 

So what is it you need to lose? I know what that is for me. Ask Him. 

Father,

This is your day. I will rejoice and be glad. It is because I know you Jesus I can be glad in it..

He Searches

 He Searches

“In the same way the Spirit helps us in our weakness, because we do not know what to pray for as we should, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with unspoken groanings. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because he intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.” Romans 8:26-27

What does that mean when Paul says that the Spirit intercedes for us?

I have prayed for things that haven’t been answered yet. I prayed for things to look back and see how God answered them in a way I could never have seen. It has been in that ongoing relationship of learning how the Holy Spirit works that has slowly revealed things I couldn’t have even voiced. The heart prayers became the ones that He worked within my heart to changed things I didn’t even know needed changing. 

He moves within our prayers. 

I can look back a year ago. Finishing up my final year as a lead teacher in the classroom that even makes me smile now was my greatest joy. Leading that classroom and seeing the growth of those little ones was something I treasured. I remember that closing program of that year was closing a door and I wasn’t even sure what the next step would be. Journaling all those things with God became this outpouring I couldn’t say out loud. What I was internalizing was fear, insecurity, and unknown and the heart remembrance that He was in control. “I want to release it Lord and know you have something different.” Even those feelings of not even knowing and trusting that whatever it was would provide. Here I am a year later seeing how He provided in ways I couldn’t have even imagined and that has been the biggest blessing. Still getting to be with preschoolers is something I can’t get off of me. In was in those heart groanings and feelings of sadness He was moving to make a way into a new beginning. A fresh start. A new journey.

The decision to not lead was made in part because physically it could be challenging. My new position doesn't require dodging toddlers but even more that what I surrendered has produced in me a greater gain. A understanding of that when I released what I was holding onto and allowed Him to intercede for me was when He could move in and show me I once again He had a new plan for me. New people for me. Releasing those things I was holding onto and putting me into a place where I would encounter a whole new environment. I had to let go of what I knew to give life to what God wanted to do. I had to allow Him to search my heart to guide my prayers to Him.

What could you be holding onto? What if you released the grip of that?  

 

Will and Work

 

 Will and Work

“For it is God who is working in you both to will and to work according to his good purpose. Do everything without grumbling and arguing, so that you may be blameless and pure, children of God who are faultless in a crooked and perverted generation, among who you shine like stars in the world, by holding firm to the world of life.” Philippians 2:13-15

This is not something I can do on my own. That word "work" is one that is done by the Holy Spirit within me to change my will to follow God's. Paul is reminding them to adopt the same mind as Christ. Emptying themselves and remembering that what they are enduring is because they live something greater than themselves. And that will be a heart remembrance every single day I wake up. He is the only Way, Truth, and Life. He counsels my heart and mind to remember that.

Fight the good fight of gratitude and thankfulness. Those were words I heard recently. Sometimes I don’t want to fight, I want to tap out. When it feels heavy and overwhelming. When more bad news comes to those closest to us. When it doesn’t seem to let up. It is almost like I can hear the mocking voice of my enemy, “Aren’t you done yet?” God fights for me.

I will have days when it seems like it is pressing in. One more person has texted me with other things they are dealing with. Knowing the One who goes before me and is with me in the battle. It is in praise I can remember that it is God working in it even as hard as it is something that I can’t see. Holding firm to the word of life.

When we leave prison we tell them, “Go shine your light!” It is the huddle up shaking hands when they part we look them in the eyes and say that. "Go BE the Light." Those hands that shake ours leave to go back into the cells to their reality but for a time we get to gather with them reminding them they are not their choices and God has a plan for them. God has a plan even in the really hard things. You are not your choices. He is still the rescue plan.

But it is up to me to be that Light even when everything feels dark. Not because I can but because I know that what He is working on in me will be accomplished by growing more dependence upon Him. 

Father,

Sometimes it is hard to praise you in those things we don’t understand. But you aren’t asking us to trust in our feelings, you are reminding us that you hold it all. Giving you that authority places me back at your feet Jesus. It is because of those really hard days we can know in the quiet you are working. Forgive me when I rely upon what I feel and think. I turn back and know that you will turn me back towards what you desire. So Jesus keep working your will in me. Amen

Every Branch

 

Every Branch

“I am the true vine and my Father is the gardener. Every branch in me that does not produce fruit he removes, and he prunes every branch that produces fruit so that it will produce more fruit. You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. Remain in me, and I in you. Just as a branch is unable to produce fruit by itself unless it remains on the vine, neither can you unless you remain in me.” John 15:1-4

What is the Holy Spirit working to produce in you? 

I am not a gardener. Anyone close to me will know this. I will forget to care for plants and they die. My husband on the other hand loves plants. He spends time making sure they have water, names them, tenderly checks on them. I have learned that he loves to do things with his hands and feels accomplished when he does this. It makes him feel good to see things and the result of caring for them. How much more does the Father care for me?

I love that Jesus always painted a picture for his disciples. Walking around teaching them in a way their eyes would see what he was trying to relay to them. A branch apart from the vine and without the care of the keeper cannot produce fruit. That is the same for me.

He tenderly cares for me and that is the reason for the pruning. Burning those things away so I can receive more of His Peace and Joy. His Word spoken to me in a way that can remind my heart and mind that this too will produce something.. 

He has been showing me lately how taking me through things again is continuing to make me more like Him. I don’t like it. I would love for it to be one and done. I ask Him, “Are you sure about this because we did this before and I know how hard that was?” To have Him gently remind me, “If I was with you the last time, what makes you think I won’t be with you again?" He isn’t even concerned with giving me an easier time around which that part is pretty mind boggling. He is more concerned about me remaining in Him. Close by. And unless I do that I won’t get to see how He is going to show up once again. Even typing that last part settles something within my heart and mind.

So what would that promise of remaining in Him look like for you? It is only Abiding in Him that I can receive that nourishment He provides. Anything else I choose will produce more fear, doubt, and insecurity.

So ask Him. Tell Him your fears and invite Him into it He already knows anyway.

Father,

I am here again. I know you will meet in that place. I will trust in you alone. I surrender what I am holding onto forgive me when I forget you tend and grow me allow that to keep happening within my heart and mind. Making me more like you Jesus is so that others can see you. It is all for your glory. Amen

Not in a Hurry

 

 Not In A Hurry

“When Pharaoh let the people go, God did not lead them along the road to the land of the Philistines, even though it was nearby, for God said, “The people will change their minds and return to Egypt if they face war.” So he led the people around the road of the wilderness. And the Israelites left the land of Egypt in battle formation.” Exodus 13:17

God led the people in a direction that was longer. The promise remained He would deliver them but the three day journey turned into a forty year journey and He led them the whole time. He knew their hearts. He knows mine and promises to lead me if I allow Him to lead me.  

I have been spending time in Exodus and there has been this reminder in the unseen things. The faithfulness of God even before they saw it. The promise made to Moses as God provided everything that would be needed as He led them. Even the battle formation of how God would do it was made clear before they entered the promise land. Moses himself was rescued to be the one used by God to rescue His people that began to show Moses what that leadership would mean even as all those things continued to come against him. It was the heart of God on mission for His people and Moses got to be the active participant in what God was doing. It was his obedient heart and his willingness to go. God wasn’t in a hurry because God was showing the Israelites what that meant to have a relationship with Him. He walked with them and during those years of slavery they had been under a different ruler He was teaching them to allow Him to rule their hearts.

He wants to rule my heart. I forget this all the time. Looking back is the reminder that He sees what I cannot. It is that slow steady walk learning what that means to allow His Spirit to lead. In my thoughts, feelings, circumstances in all of it. It is flourishing in the journey of the unknown. All of it. It is me allowing Him to provide that space to move within it.

Father,

Thank you that in all it we can know you more. Your Presence is always with us. The spoken word to Moses is the same Word you speak into our hearts as the reminder that you are with us. Quickness doesn’t produce focus; it is only when we slow down and remember to stay in step with you King Jesus. So we give that rule and reign in the only thing that matters and that is our Eternal focus. Give us  missional hearts so that they will know you Jesus. 

Amen

Patient Gentleness

 

  Patient Gentleness

“Therefore, let us approach the throne of grace with boldness, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in time of need.” Hebrews 4:16

How do you view God? 

I think one of the wonders of teaching is being able to teach them about relationships. At the young age of four and five they are learning how to interact with one another and how to problem solve. Even when they might “accidently” knock a friend over it is always our intention to stop them and help them recognize that even as it wasn’t intended that it did occur and to stop and help that friend back up. Forgiveness is a taught thing. And if we force it we will never understand the power of grace. Understanding why we hurt someone or how we have been hurt won’t always be an easy thing to move past to get to the heart of forgiveness. It is the very heart of God. 

I have had the hardest time forgiving myself. Does anyone else relate?

I know the deeper I learn about His heart for me the quicker I move toward that willingness He has to meet me once again. Even those intentions of my heart, especially those intentions of my heart are the ones that stand in the way of receiving that mercy and grace that He desires to move toward me to receive.

“Grace is a word telling us that the One who sits on the throne moves towards with a pure love in action with unearned abundance and generosity for our good. Grace says we have a connection. Grace tells us this King is a King of presence with us. Grace tells us we’re forgiven freely. Grace tells us this King is for us in all of His power and dominion.” Justin Mosteller

Even as I decided to live for Christ as a young kid it would be many more years before I discovered this connection of grace and mercy to the heart of my Father. I viewed God as wagging his finger at me and being disappointed in me because I went there again. And all the while His grace and mercy were pursuing me. I only realized into my twenties that what I had created within my mind was nothing like the heart of my Father. He moves toward us in our weakness. That recognition grows more and more as my relationship with Jesus grows deeper. And the more my heart is drawn to Christ the more I will feel the weight of my sin. And that is so good. That keeps me where I need to be connected to my Savior. 

Father,

The enemy wants us to dismiss all this. But you Jesus tells us to bring it all to you so we can de-throne ourselves. Thank you that we have a praying King that intercedes for us on our behalf. Thank you for loving us that much Jesus.

Amen

Walk in Victory

 

  Walk in Victory

“God’s love was revealed among us in this way: God sent his one and only Son into the world so that we might live through him. Love consists of this: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins.” 1 John 4:9-10

Have you ever thought about how God makes the first move in Redemption?  Even before I chose to pursue a relationship with Him was His plan for redeeming me. Not just a one time redemption but an ever present Living God that desires that I know Him so I can die to my ways. Love is from God and was revealed through Jesus. 

I can walk in that victory given to me because I am crowned in it but that again is a daily choice. I have been learning more about how my will and His will is a choice I will have to choose each day. Those feelings are ever present but it is allowing my heart to choose His. I can’t just wake up and read His Word and then expect to receive the mind of Christ. I find myself more these days as I try to align my thoughts and what I am feeling in that mental struggle. Even today as I was getting ready to do something God was leading to today there were those feelings waiting for me. I am all too familiar with doubt and fear.  I haven’t really been obedient to that acknowledgement part but I am starting to realize that is the part that I can determine how my mind and heart will find the Authority to give Jesus to Reign. This time as I went into my kitchen on my knees, a posture I am beginning to recognize more and more, I pictured Jesus washing me with Truth as I stood back up after that repentant heart. A mind that is bathed in His Truth and washed clean of my thoughts and receives that crown of Victory I was meant to wear. Every single day He makes that move to remove my thoughts to make me more like Jesus. And I forget all the time. Father, thank you for that reminder of that available grace and mercy help me to recognize that quicker.”

I heard someone say just today, “Rising up is about moving forward and upward.” It is about my recognition within my heart what needs to go. Asking Him what is preventing me from giving you my whole heart. Call to mind what that is. And then asking Him to forgive me and knowing that He will meet me and redirect me. His continual forgiveness as I continue to move in that. There is strength in His forgiveness and that keeps me in the posture of forgiveness. Letting Him rule. 

Father,

Help us to recognize we walk in Victory because we can rise up each day and move forward because of that continual grace and mercy. Confess because the transaction is complete and there is restoration. Our victory was made complete because of you King Jesus. Thank you!

Amen

Be Known

 

   Be Known

Living in a digital age it isn’t a surprise what is happening around us. Just last night our youngest texted us to tell us of the latest hacking that happened to over 9,000 different Universities all over. At the end of the semester a platform students use to find out how they study and test has been taken over. They way they have learned in a matter of few hours now had been taken over. Stumped as to how they would now do things changed and they had no idea what to do. 

“Hold on to the pattern of wholesome teaching you learned from me- a pattern shaped by faith and love that you have in Christ Jesus. Through the power of the Holy Spirit who lives within us, carefully guard the precious truth that has been entrusted to you.” 1 Timothy 1:13

Timothy has been given instruction from Paul who is in prison. This letter from someone Timothy came to know and now his charge as Paul is held in prison to carry on. Holding on to what he was taught that had shaped his heart and through the power of the Holy Spirit carrying on that mission. Timothy was known by Paul but even greater Timothy knew the Holy Spirit lived within him and that would guard his heart and mind when that suffering would come.

I love that word “entrusted” and I was thinking about that as I walked today. We learn to trust God. We learn little things and that builds our trust. But even greater is that He entrusts us. That partnership and relationship that builds within us fanning into flame the Spirit of God. He trusts us to be empowered with His Holy Spirit so we will continue to know we are known and loved. And that isn’t like those hackers that is something that is Eternal. 

Where do you need to remember that truth that you are known by our Father?

The Bible has been something that has become this delight I can’t get enough of. Reading Scripture with a community of other people encourages me in more ways than I could ever imagine. Words such as “hold on” jump off the page in ways that cause us together to gather that very truth as we go out. We remember because it is that daily reminder guarding it means that precious truth is something that can become grounded so deep within our hearts and minds that love and patience we can’t explain is the only because of the Holy Spirit overflowing in us. Together. Picture that. I do sometimes. Before we go out our door being encouraged in Spirit and Truth. The exact way we were intended to live. Be known BY our Father. 

Contentment in His Time

 

  Contentment in His Time

“We all, with unveiled faces, are looking in a mirror at the glory of the Lord are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, this from the Lord who is the Spirit.” 2 Corinthians 3:18

God reveals things in His timing. This for me is both frustrating but also can be assuring at times. That transformation that occurs when I recognize what He is forming me into will take time and a growth process day in and day out. But what a sweeter way when I can know that the Joy of Jesus is living in a way that reflects the heart of God!

Paul was giving them a message of living in a new understanding. That veil would be something that would trigger something within their minds of what they knew was separation to reveal they could now experience the overflowing grace. That grace that was available for all would change the world. The new way of receiving the Holy Spirit was new promise of them not just knowing about God but knowing God in a way that could reflect the reflection of God’s heart for all mankind. That mission hasn’t changed.

What do you see when you look in the mirror? 

I am at an age where what I see I really don’t care about. I have even decided to let stop coloring my hair and allow the grey to show. Every time I go to get it colored I ask myself, “At what point do I stop because at some point I will have to stop.” It is much more than letting that hair grow grey it is that recognition that within my body what is normal and that aging is apart of the process. What I see in the mirror really doesn’t even matter because God is about doing that inside transformation within me. Making me look more like Jesus is making what is on the outside become more invisible to my understanding to reflecting the glory He could only produce when I take what I see and give it over to Him. That can produce freedom. Health, problems, things I desire to change within others and myself start to just not be reflected in the way the enemy is hoping they will as stumbling blocks putting the focus back on me. Instead it is the reflection of my perfect Savior. The One who saves me again and again and reminds me, “Look to Me and not to this world.” 

So what would happen if I asked God. “What do you want me to reflect to this world?” 

 It is because His light shines in our hearts that overflow of His love can become the reflection of Christ. Despite the things that won’t change, the things that will continue to change God is about making me understand in His time He is all that matters.

So what if I practiced contentment in everything? Daily.

Contentment in His timing can reflect His light for this world.

Wonder of God

 

Wonder of God

“LORD, you have searched me and known me. You know when I sit down and when I stand up; you understand my thoughts from far away. You observe my travels and my rest; you are aware of all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue, you know all about it, LORD.” Psalm 139:1-3

The All Knowing Ever Present God wants to know me. Have you ever thought about that? All of me. 

We matter to God more than we can ever imagine. The more I grow in my relationship with Him the more I realize that relationship with have ups and downs like any other relationship. But I have realized the more I share it all the more I know Him and the more He knows me.

I heard recently to not edit your words with God. This is a learned thing. In the world we live in we will be told a different message to share our words with the world. This can be seen through Social Media in a way that if we aren’t careful that word heard can begin to determine our thoughts. I am sure I am not the only one. Words matter to God. 

God made me to wonder and my heart is prone to wonder. Left on my own, that is where I will find myself trying to make sense of things. 

At the place I work, a wall was created for Teachers Week. It was an opportunity to put up on the wall little notes from the parents to the teachers. Not a quick tweet or text but actual print for all to see. Encouragement was seen on a wall that they could pass as they came and went words of truth about each of them. Showing them they mattered and taking the time to identify those things in their teachers they saw daily in a way that could be seen. 

How much more does God desire to reveal His love to me? Daily. In the feelings. Of doubt, insecurity, that fear that creeps in all of it. He already knows it but somehow I have a hard time allowing Him those thoughts. Oh but what a sweet release when I let Him have that. No longer am I reminded of the fear but how once again how He already knows what is there and in that He can remind me that He is my Provider.

Ask Him how He sees you. Father, how do you see me? Search me and know my heart. The wonder is knowing His presence is always with us. Unlike those words on the wall that will soon be taken down His Word can capture our hearts and minds to know His Truth. It never fades..

Deep Fellowship

 

Deep Fellowship

“He also raised us up with him in the heavens in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might display the immeasurable riches of his grace through his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.” Ephesians 2: 6-7

My husband loves plants.  He nurtures them and even names them sometimes. This recent plant he got named Rhoda. It of course came from its original name Rhododendron, a bush he bought at Costco. On the way out the door he had to greet one of his favorite guys who checks receipts and he told him and the guy instructed him, “Take a raw egg and banana and put it in the ground before you plant it.” So what did he do? He followed those directions from someone who knew what they were talking about. That bush is now thriving because he values something that he could see before it even bloomed. Putting in the ground didn’t just make it bloom, he had to nurture it and keep watering it. It will only stay alive if he keeps tending to it. Our spirits are the same way. 

The Spirit causes us to actually feel Christ’s love for us. Understanding the written Word that God has given us and applying that to everything can grow in us an ability to see things in a way that reflects Christ’s heart. My heart isn't going to naturally grow in love for the things Christ loves. Growing a deep fellowship won't happen automatically. Getting to know the heart of God and His ways for me to flourish will come from feeding on His Word, spending time with Him, and praying for a understanding of who He is and what that means for me. That can result in Christ alive in me pouring out his immeasurable grace and mercy in ways that continue to draw me in deeper fellowship. Nothing I can do on my own but everything that can be done with the asking. “Holy Spirit create in me a heart to know you more.” 

I have to ask myself daily, "Am I nurturing my heart to grow deeper with God in my relationship with Him?"

Father,

The Bible tells us, “We have not received the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who comes from you, so that we may understand what has been freely given to us. You are the Giver who we could never out give and you don’t require that. We have been given all the graces and riches so that we can display that immeasurable love so when we look around, give us your eyes to see those that need that kind of love. Growing up deeper in our relationship with you allows us to see others around us more. As One having that kingdom mindset loving this world around us. It is all so that they would know you Jesus. Take us deeper.

Amen

Music of the Gospel

 Music of the Gospel

“If then there is any encouragement in Christ, if any consolation of love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any affection and mercy, make my joy complete by thinking the same way, having the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose.” Philippians 2: 1-2

How have you witnessed the faithfulness of God?

I was visiting my sister's church in North Carolina and a song was sung about how we pour out our praise when we witness all God has done for us. Worship has been something that will reset my mind and heart. When I feel the enemy pressing in my thoughts over His I will play some worship to remember the promises He has for me. Sometimes those lyrics that are sung become an anthem in my heart, an outpouring of not understanding but knowing the One who does. As the song was sung that Sunday the lyrics were beginning to play in reminder of knowing no matter what I will trust His goodness even when it doesn’t feel good. I used to lead worship but somehow sitting in the congregation has become this different place of affection. As I worshiped one of the ladies behind asked me as we left, “Do you know sign language?” I replied, “No I was just worshipping.” But when did it become “just” worshipping because that is the greatest way we can pour back thanksgiving to God for all He has done.

We are the music of the gospel. We have seen Him do things that didn’t make sense. How He has provided in ways that didn’t make sense. Worship is our heart response when we allow that. 

Fellowship with the Spirit as One. I wasn’t with my church community but I was with people in that room that knew that kind of faithfulness. As One we worship holding firm to the word of life. We worship in Spirit and Truth. 

“The Spirit takes what we read in the Bible and believe on paper about Jesus’s heart and moves it from theory to reality, from doctrine to experience.” (Dane Ortlund)

Worshipping in Spirit and Truth is knowing our Father in a way that creates a heart of knowledge no matter what we can trust Him. It is wrapping His Word around our hearts in a way that we are rooted in an act of worship when we step out our doors each day. 

We become the music of the gospel when we pour out the heart of Christ in this world. Go Tell Them.