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The prayer of the upright is His delight.
– Proverbs 15:8
It’s with you day and night.
It’s always there for you if you are in trouble or just need to talk. It’s as close as your fingertips and you never go anywhere without it.
I love my cell phone, too.
How did we make it all those years before communication was this easy? So many of life’s daily problems could have been easily solved, if only we’d had the ability to call others while on the move.
Decades ago, there was more than one time that I had to accept a ride with a stranger or had my flat tire changed by someone I didn’t know. Then there was the time my daughter had to sit and cry on our front steps after getting off the school bus, because I had no way of letting her know I’d been held up at the doctor’s office and would be home soon.
There were all those nights my husband drove home in bad weather from a construction job while I spent hours worrying if he was okay or not.
All it would have taken was a quick call or text to ask a favor, send assurance, or get help quickly.
Technology has created instant communication with others. But I know if I send a text or email to someone, I may not get the response I want or need. And I know it isn’t the fault of the phone if the person on the other end doesn’t answer or tells me something I don’t want to hear.
I love getting messages and calls from people I care about. Often, it’s just a quick text; other times it’s a long talk. Sometimes I need to just send along some information. At times I need to hear the voice of someone I miss desperately.
This is communication. It’s not magic.
Neither is prayer.
Prayer is a message we send to heaven. God doesn’t need satellites or phone lines to receive our prayers. But in much the same way as these, our thoughts and voices reach the heart of God. Sure, He hears those long, involved lists of needs. But He also hears our silent groans and sees our tears in the night.
Prayer is not a formula for getting the ear of God. Prayer “works,” because its only job is communication.
Through it, we can talk to our Father in heaven; our heartaches, fears, joys, and needs instantly transported to the most powerful person in the universe.
According to Proverbs, God is delighted with the prayers of His children. I know it delights me when one of my kids call me. God loves to hear from us in the same way. He may or may not answer our prayers in the way we want. After all, He chooses what’s best for us. But whether He says, “Yes,” “No,” or “Wait,” He is filled with joy when we talk to Him.
This holiday season, you should talk to your mom. And your dad. And your Father. They’ll be delighted to hear from you.
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It is good to give thanks to the LORD, and to sing praises to Your name, O Most High.
– Psalm 92:1
When you see Christmas coming…
The well-known Bible commentator Chuck Missler once said, “When you see Christmas coming, you know that Halloween is almost here.” Every year, nearly as soon as the new school year begins, the stores initiate a frenzy of holiday merchandizing. In some stores, the poor workers take down the Halloween displays as boxes of Christmas decorations sit in the aisles waiting to be unpacked. If you hunt hard enough, you might be able to find a few paper plates and napkins depicting a turkey or cornucopia—the marketers’ passing nod to Thanksgiving.
Uniquely an American tradition, the first Thanksgiving was celebrated by the Pilgrims in 1621. Set aside by President Lincoln in 1863 as a national day of giving thanks to our Creator, “Turkey Day” has largely become a day of gorging, lounging, and football.
But don’t get me wrong. I love gorging, lounging, and football.
I love the pregame chatter and the warm smells of turkey and all the trimmings emanating from the kitchen. Once the gang gathers around the table and the blessing is given, two days’ worth of preparations are consumed in twenty minutes, just in time for the kick-off. The day is festive and fun.
It’s one of the things I’m thankful for this season.
Thankfulness is a big thing with God. The Scriptures repeatedly entreat us to be thankful. It’s not that God needs to be praised. He knows thankfulness is good for us. A heart full of gratitude has little room for envy, jealousy, and strife.
Praise guards, guides, and strengthens us.
Praise honors our Father. It purifies us and draws others closer to our precious Lord. Living in an attitude of praise frees us and draws us upward out of the clutches of our own deceitful hearts.
This Thanksgiving season, I will awaken and thank God for the gift of life and good health. I will ask God to help me pray more for those who are suffering.
I will eat turkey and thank God for the gifts of my home and a full refrigerator. I will ask God to help me be more generous, so others may not know hunger and cold.
I will watch football and thank God for the gift of my family. I will ask God to help me be more loving to them.
I will go to church and thank God for the gifts of freedom and fellowship. I will ask God to help me be a better citizen and sister in the Lord.
I will look beyond my window and thank God for His creation. I will entreat Him to teach me how to be a better ambassador to His hurting world.
This Thanksgiving, I will give thanks. And I will ask God for the grace to live every season with gratitude, to offer a lifetime of praise.
Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
– Philippians 4:6
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For the eyes of the LORD move to and fro throughout the earth, that He may strongly support those whose heart is completely His.
– 2 Chronicles 16:9
One of my best friends proudly wears the nickname “Mama Bear.”
She’s one of the most loving people I know. She quietly endures the occasional gossip and rude remarks directed to her with much grace. She doesn’t care what people say about her.
But don’t hurt someone she loves.
No creature may display God’s protective nature toward His children as well as a bear. Mother bears are legendary for their fierce anger when their cubs are threatened. Stories abound of hapless hikers who have accidently come between a female bear and her offspring and paid a gruesome price for their blunder.
I have a hard time comprehending this depth of God’s protective love. I believe God loves me, but in the heat of daily battles I often give in to the feeling God is either an angry father waiting to discipline me, a distant benefactor, or just too busy running the universe to worry about me at all.
This is far from the truth. God loves us passionately, completely, and yes, even fiercely. Jesus warned his enemies:
Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it is better for him that a heavy millstone be hung around his neck, and that he be drowned in the depth of the sea.
– Matthew 18:6
God’s commitment to us is so strong He is heartbroken when we turn from Him. He cried out to the wayward children of Israel:
My people are bent on turning from Me…
How can I give you up, O Ephraim?
How can I surrender you, O Israel?
…My heart is turned over within Me,
All my compassions are kindled.
…I will encounter them like a bear robbed of her cubs….
– Hosea 11:7a, 8; 13:8a
You can almost feel His tears.
God loves us passionately. He invades time and space for us. There is nothing He hasn’t sacrificed for His kids.
We are in His heart every moment, no matter how lost we feel.
He loves us intensely. He protects us fiercely. It doesn’t matter if we’re living in victory or huddling in despair. It has nothing to do with our worthiness.
In the mud or on the mountain, He finds us.
It’s not based on who we know, who loves us, or who hates us. Doctrine doesn’t save us, and positive thinking doesn’t deliver us. We are safe because we are His kids. We wear His name. We carry His image. We can face today with hope, for He has promised to always be with us.
I will never desert you, nor will I ever forsake you.
– Hebrews 13:5
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The woodcarver… cuts down cedars or retrieves a cypress or oak. He lets it grow strong among the trees of the forest. He plants a laurel, and the rain makes it grow. It serves as fuel for man. He takes some of it to warm himself, and he kindles a fire and bakes his bread; he even fashions it into a god and worships it; he makes an idol and bows down to it. He burns half of it in the fire, and he roasts meat on that half. He eats the roast and is satisfied. Indeed, he warms himself and says, ‘Ah! I am warm; I see the fire.’ From the rest he makes a god, his graven image. He bows down to it and worships; he prays to it and says, ‘Save me, for you are my god.’
– Isaiah 43:13-17 (Berean Study Bible)
The tree thudded to the ground.
The woodworker wiped the sweat from his face and looked it over. It was a beautiful tree, solid and strong. It would do just fine.
One half of the tree he chopped into firewood for his home. The rest of the tree he kept in one piece, though. He had something special in mind for it.
Later, he began work on the piece he set aside, carving an image into the beautiful wood. When it was finished, he set the carving upright in a shrine in the house.
It was a chilly evening when he stirred the embers of the dying fire. A fine roast sat on a spit. He pulled a fir log from the new pile of firewood and set it under the spit, careful not to stir a plume of ash into his dinner. He settled down by the fire and pulled a generous chunk of meat from the roast. The ache in his muscles began to ease as he feasted on his meal and warmed himself at the flames, content with all he’d accomplished.
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As the sun broke over the hill, the woodworker trembled in the chill of a new day. His carved idol stood in its place in the shadows of a red dawn. He admired his handiwork. It really was a beautiful piece of wood. He set his offering at its feet on the floor and fell on his face before it, as a thousand heartaches flooded his heart. He felt helpless against the suffering his family endured, unprepared to face another day. He needed help. He needed advice.
He needed deliverance.
A groan escaped his lips. He gazed in reverence at the wooden statue he made with his own hands. “Deliver me, my god,” he whispered to his creation.
Oh, the irony.
Mankind naturally searches to satisfy the instinctive need for a realm higher, mightier, and wiser than himself.
Apart from direct revelation from God, man is left to fill that need with gods of his own making.
The Creator makes the dirt from which the tree springs. He sends the rain and the sun that warms and waters it. He forms the seed with the specific genetic properties that will make it a tree. God makes the tree and the man who worships it.
The book of Genesis tells us about a bitter dispute that arose between Abraham’s wives, Sarai and Hagar. Finally, Hagar ran away to the wilderness, where God found her huddled in despair.
After instructing her to return home, God blessed her and encouraged her. In awe she called Him Elroi, meaning “a God who sees.” This was no chunk of wood she met in the wilderness, but a living being. His image was not carved into a tree but emblazoned upon her soul. She learned that He hears, sees, and speaks to us because He is real. Heaven and hell can’t contain Him, yet He lives in our hearts. He sees our pain, and He hears our prayers.
He can, and He will, deliver us.
The eyes of the LORD are toward the righteous,
And His ears are open to their cry.
The righteous cry and the LORD hears,
And delivers them out of all their troubles.
-Psalm 34:15, 17
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Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues came and spoke with me, saying, ‘Come here, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb.’
– Revelation 21:9
The pain in their eyes is indescribable.
It is a suffering worse than death, because it is one they must live it out every day. There is no resolution, no undoing the affair. Their faces tell it all:
Shame at being disgraced by a spouse who has left them for another
Loss of trust
Heartache at knowing the intimacy they once knew has been shared with someone else
Anger at being betrayed
Devaluation of their own personhood
Sadness at facing the future alone
I’ve never experienced the betrayal of a spouse, but I’ve seen the destruction adultery has caused in the lives of others. I’ve wept with them as they were split in half by the news, prayed for them as they bled from the open wounds, rejoiced with them as they found healing in God and moved onward in their lives.
A friend whose parents divorced when she was a child once told me that watching her parents split was worse than having them die. A person doesn’t usually choose to die but choosing to leave one love for another tells the whole family they are not that important.
In Jewish tradition, an engagement was considered as binding as the marriage ceremony.
This is why Joseph considered quietly divorcing Mary when he learned she was pregnant. Though they were not yet married, it took a divorce to break the engagement. God assured him Mary had not committed adultery but was with child through the power of the Holy Spirit.
If you are a believer, you are engaged. The Lord Jesus is your Groom. He takes His commitment to you seriously, and He expects His Bride to return this love and devotion.
Every act of adultery breaks our marriage vows and destroys our relationships. There is no small way to break our vows. Adultery is not an “indiscretion” or a “mistake.” It is a selfish act that devalues everything we hold precious.
In the same way, when we commit acts of immorality, we commit adultery against our beloved groom. And it breaks His heart. Knowing ourselves just how much pain it causes, how can we do the same thing to Him?
He has given everything He has for us. All He wants our hearts in return. All He asks is that we look to Him for love and fulfillment, leaving the idolatrous liaisons of this world behind.
He’s worth it. He deserves no less than our complete devotion.
Is He your one love?
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I will remember my song in the night.
– Psalm 77:6
It could be a story in the news anywhere in the world today.
This event, however, occurred two thousand years ago in the city of Philippi.
Two Christian men were on their way to pray with other Christians when they were attacked by thugs. The men were taken to the Roman magistrates in the city, where they were condemned and beaten.
According to the account in Acts, they had done nothing worse than free a young slave woman whose fortune-selling talent had profited her masters. For this sin, they were dragged before the authorities and thrown into the stocks of the inner part of the prison, probably because it was the most secure.
The men were the apostle Paul and Silas. The date was the first century after the appearance, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
For all they knew, they would be there until they rotted. As the night deepened around them, they could do nothing buy lay wounded in their chains in the bowels of the earth. As midnight approached, they were too miserable to sleep. They couldn’t even escape for the few brief hours dreams could afford.
But about midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns of praise to God, and the prisoners were listening to them; and suddenly there came a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison house were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone’s chains were unfastened.
– Acts 16:25-26
How did the men react to injustice? In the depths of the night, they sang. Chained in the heart of their prison, they sang. To the Lord of Light, they sang; the Voice of God reaching out in that hell-hole to the men in the other cells. They listened raptly, accustomed to the sounds of cursing in that place, but not to the sacred sacrifice of worship.
Someone else heard, too. God heard their voices lifted to Him, and He answered them out of the night. With a mighty earthquake, He shook the place, opened every door to every cell, and unfastened every chain. The jailer and his entire family were saved that night, and a prison full of dazed prisoners were released by the grace of God.
Praising God despite our circumstances frees us.
The enemy has no hold on a person whose heart cannot be chained by the indignities of life. That man is truly free.
When you are chained by circumstances beyond your control, you only have one thing to remember in the night:
Sing.
Excerpted in part from the book Song in the Night by Pamela Thorson
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Not to us, O Lord, not to us,
But to Your name give glory– Psalm 115:1
“Here’s how to stand out in a noisy world,” the ad in my inbox promises.
Like many writers, I’m regularly bombarded with advertising for the newest tips or book or webinar that will surely teach me how to be heard above the crowd. And that’s the goal, right? Isn’t that what every musician, speaker, author, and teacher really needs?
Or is it?
You could argue it’s useless to spend time, effort, and money on something no one will see, read, or hear. Self-promotion for most artists is expected. In our culture, it’s also become a driving force behind such social media sites as Facebook and Twitter.
We need to be heard. We need to know someone thinks we’re important. We need to know our lives count to somebody. So, we try to get everybody to look at us.
When Jesus walked the earth, He often went to public places to tell His message. But He shunned the limelight.
His mission was to save a planet. But His goal was to please the One who sent Him.
And while the world busied itself with living and the angels watched in shock, Jesus Christ hung on the cross and lifted His eyes to His Father. To God, whom He obeyed all the way to the grave, Jesus gave every drop of His blood.
His resurrection and ascension were carefully orchestrated to be revealed to a select group of believers. No media caught the action to broadcast to the world. So how did the message travel so quickly?
God gave it power. God protected His Gospel and revealed it to the world through those who were changed by it. That’s the message He wants the world to hear.
Jesus never shied away from the public arena when it served the purposes of His Father. But neither did He seek out attention, and at times He purposely kept a low profile. His all-consuming goal was to faithfully complete the assignment given Him by His Father in heaven.
He served at the pleasure of one king, an audience of one.
God did the rest.
This is our example. God has placed His message, His mission, in each of His people. He promises to lead us each step of the way. How and when that message reaches others is up to Him. We may be noticed by others. We may not. That’s not for us to worry about.
We serve an audience of One.
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Without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is
and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.
– Hebrews 11:6
Remember when you first discovered God?
Remember praying for the streetlight to change or the car to make it to the gas station? I remember praying as a young girl for God to help me find a cheap ring I had lost. I immediately found it after praying and was sure I had witnessed a miracle.
And I had. I had experienced my first baby steps in trusting God. These early simple lessons give us the foundation to fall back on as the trials get harder and God pulls us deeper into the mysteries of His love.
But God doesn’t intend for us to splash in the shallow creek of faith forever. Walking with God is a terrifying and exhilarating adventure that begins with training wheels and ends in the rarefied air of the heavenlies. Often, along the way, there will be many treacherous crossings at the abyss of despair, heartbreaking treks along the valley of Baca (weeping), and lonely journeys through the shadow of death.
In the beginning, God doesn’t give us more than our new natures can handle, just as we don’t allow a child at the controls of a plane. But as we grow up in Christ, God begins to take us up higher into new and more difficult territory. With each step toward Him, we wind up throwing away the baggage hindering the climb. This includes our own pre-conceived notions about Who this God is.
God intends for the true believer to grow in faith.
Since faith is, by definition, believing in that which we have not seen, the only way to grow in faith is to be pushed beyond what we know.
As we grow up in God, we begin to understand His personality, His ways, His expectations. We learn to recognize the sound of His voice. But if that is such a large step for us, it is but a baby step for an infinite God. He always has a new adventure of faith to reveal to us. The riches of His life are unfathomable for us, and completely unsearchable.
We don’t even know how to begin. And we are always surprised when He brings us to the next door of growth and we discover that it involves a greater exercising of our faith, more walking blindly toward His voice.
Like the early pioneers to America’s West, we find ourselves lurching along in the heat and desperately pitching the beloved remnants of the old life that we tried to bring along with us.
And that involves pain.
In the middle of nowhere, when we can see neither beginning nor end of the trail, we forget that we truly are heading somewhere, and it’s easy to lose both our heart and our trust.
But God is never confused, lost, or uncaring. He knows the end from the beginning, and He knows where we are headed. His timing is impeccable. He does everything perfectly, even when we haven’t a clue what is happening. Once again, God surprises us with deliverance, and our trust in Him is renewed and strengthened. We learn more about Him; we lose some unnecessary baggage along the way; and we get a bit closer to Home.
Excerpted from Song in the Night by Pam Thorson.
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He who has the seven Spirits of God and the seven stars, says this: ‘I know your deeds, that you have a name that you are alive, but you are dead.’
– Revelation 3:1
Without Christ, we are worse than zombies. With Him, we are more than conquerors.
Someone once asked English evangelist Leonard Ravenhill if he prayed for the dead. He answered, “No, I preach to them!” He went on to lament that church pews were full of people who sang about God and talked about God, but who didn’t have a living relationship with Him.
Most people you ask on the street will probably tell you they believe in God. Unfortunately, that’s not enough. Jesus’ half-brother James reminds us, “You believe there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe—and tremble! But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is dead?” (James 2:19-20 NKJV)
According to the Bible, we’re all dead in some way. Those who have never accepted the sacrifice for their sins are spiritually dead. Those who have, are dead to sin and alive to righteousness.
Someone has noted dead men don’t feel pain. No one can talk them into anything. They can’t be tempted. They don’t hear the voice of their enemy.
But then, neither are they capable of feeling joy or hearing the voice of their Captain. That’s why it’s important to be dead to the world, but alive to Christ. In Him we live on a deeper level than we can ever experience without Him. Although turning away from the pleasures of wickedness gives us momentary sorrow, obedience to His Word ushers us into worlds without end, an eternity of life.
The question, then, isn’t whether or not we are dead. The question is: To whom are we dead? To God, or to the devil? And how do we know?
The key is to look at what voice we obey. Of course, everybody is tempted. Everyone sins. But is our belief that of the demons, who merely know God exists? Or is it a faith demonstrated by more than an outward show?
It is by obedience to His Word that we demonstrate our belief, our trust, our faith in Him.
During the short journey upon this earth, we are dead men walking. By the power of His grace, may we walk toward God in the newness of His life.
I affirm, brethren, by the boasting in you which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily.
– 1 Corinthians 15:31
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Do not use a hatchet to remove a fly from your friend’s forehead.
– Chinese Proverb
You know it’s happened to you.
That one guy in your office or your class constantly needles you. He cajoles you into taking on more of the work he’s supposed to be doing. Or the new female co-worker repeats gossip about you to people you respect and admire under the guise of asking for prayer. They both offer copious and unsolicited advice on every decision you make.
Day after day, their irritations buzz around you like persistent flies. You swallow down the anger fermenting in your gut, smile, and tell yourself you are doing the Christian thing to bite back the urge to speak up. You seethe in silence.
Then you have a bad day. An innocent remark or minor disturbance finally pushes you over the edge. You lash out. From the shocked faces of the people caught in the crossfire, you realize you may have over-reacted a bit.
Sometimes, it’s worse. Sometimes you have smashed a hatchet into the forehead of a friend.
What should we do when an iceberg of disaster lurks under the surface of our relationships?
Most of us grew up being taught to “turn the other cheek.” It’s true God commands us to respond with grace in the face of an attack. But Jesus never walked away from speaking the truth, in love, to those with whom He came in contact every day. It’s healthy and more respectful of others to face an issue before it has grown into a full-blown disaster.
I, too, am learning from painful experience how to dodge the icebergs of disaster on the tumultuous sea of relationships. Here are a few tips I’m learning in my own journey:
- Draw reasonable boundaries around your personal and professional life and refuse to let others cross them. If you gently pull someone back at their first step into forbidden territory, it’s so much kinder and easier on both of you.
- Give to others the respect and honesty you want from them. If you have shared gossip about others, it smacks of hypocrisy to be shocked when they share gossip about you, too.
- Pray for them. “Pray for those who despitefully use you.” (Luke 6:28) Resist the urge to turn a prayer session for them into a mental replay of all their sins against you.
- Live in grace. The word grace means “undeserved favor.” Favor is a gift bestowed on the undeserving. It helps to remember we, too, are undeserving. We live in a fallen world. People will fail us, just like we fail them and God.
- Focus on the good traits in those around you. Let them know you appreciate these traits. You might be surprised how much that changes their attitudes toward you.
- Respond, don’t react. When a problem looms on the horizon, don’t ignore it. It’s so much easier to address an issue before you invest so much emotional energy in it you can’t be impartial or fair in your response.
While we live on this earth, our relationships with others will be an ongoing learning process. But with the Spirit of God living inside us and leading us, we can be the extension of His grace instead of condemnation to those with whom we share this moment in time.
Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person.
– Colossians 4:6 (ESV)
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Do not be as the horse or as the mule which have no understanding,
Whose trappings include bit and bridle to hold them in check.
-Psalm 32:9
She sits in the coolness of the green grass in the shade of a large Austrian pine.
It’s a sparkling fall day. A hint of autumn scents the late summer air. It would be perfect day for this young German girl, except for one thing.
A long chain is anchored to the pine and attached to a collar that always encircles her neck. She learned a long time ago not to fight the metal. She sits in resignation and yearns for the freedom just beyond her reach.
Someone walks over and offers her water. She stands hopefully and wags her tail.
We would love to let her go, but we know what will happen. The moment she is unchained, she will be gone.
Our son acquired Solo, a German Shepherd cross dog from the local animal shelter, a couple of years ago. We soon realized she would not be a dog who would tag along at our heels on a walk outdoors. Her time living large on the street and her boundless high energy made her a challenge to control, let alone enjoy.
Two years of hard work have turned Solo into a sweet companion. She now loves her daily walks with the leash. She lives in the house, thrives with her new “family,” and is generally well-behaved.
But despite lots of hard work, if we don’t keep her restrained, she will run away from the generous acreage allotted her onto the neighbors’ property and through the fence onto the highway. Worse yet, she refuses to obey our calls to return.
Because of this, she can’t even sit in the yard with us without being chained. She hates it. We hate it. She misses out on so much because she won’t obey us. We all miss out on the joy.
Some days I look at her and wonder:
What freedom have I lost because I haven’t learned to listen to God?
In what ways is my life chained to my disobedience and lack of trust?
What does my Master have planned for me that awaits my surrender to His voice?
Like Solo, our past can shape our responses and hinder our future. Like her, we miss out on so much because we refuse to obey the one who bought us, because we do not understand the nature of our Master. He is good. He is wise. He loves us. We can trust Him.
Obedience brings freedom.
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So that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God.
– Ephesians 3:17-19
I grew up with the idea God was a harsh taskmaster and distant deity.
It wasn’t my parents’ fault. They were loving people who never spoke of God in those terms. It wasn’t from church, either, since we rarely even went to a church in those days.
Somehow, those, I believed God as a mysterious entity, either forsaking us altogether or sitting back on His throne in heaven with His arms folded across His chest as He waited to pounce on us at the first hint of misdeed. I desperately wanted to believe in something beyond myself, but I had no idea what that meant.
As I grew up, my hunger for God drove my search for Him. Who was He? What did He look like? What would happen to me when I died?
I finally picked up a Bible, started in Genesis, and read it all the way through.
I was flabbergasted by what I read.
Every chapter and every book revealed a Person I could never have imagined.
From the pages of Scripture emerged a being so holy, so beautiful, so much more in every way, it took my breath away.
To Him I gratefully gave my heart.
Shortly after my conversion, I took a walk in my yard one lovely summer day. The clean rays of the sun bathed my small flower garden in sparkling light, beckoning me to join the splendor. I strolled around to my roses.
I had never really paid much attention to them before. Now they, like the whole world around me, seemed more alive. I felt quite literally like a new person, as if scales had fallen from my eyes.
I once lived as one born blind. Now, for first time in my life, I could really see.
Absorbing the wonder of it all, I gingerly clasped the stem of a thorny rose between my fingers and pulled it toward me. The petals danced in rosy hues of pink around a fragrant center. I bent down and breathed in deeply.
As its sweet aroma filled my senses, it occurred to me that this rose in all its delicate design came from the mind of my God. This both thrilled and intrigued me. What kind of a God could throw lightning down from the sky and yet craft something so fragile?
By then I understood He was my Savior. The idea that He could also be so amazingly creative, tender, powerful, and caring totally rocked my world. Saving people is just the beginning for Him. There is so very much more. Decades later, I realize I have still only just begun to fathom Him. It will take an eternity to plumb the depths and heights of this incredible King. His kingdom, like His great mind, is limitless.
Now I see why we have been given forever.
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And Jesus said to them, ‘Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.’
– Mark 12:17
Whose image is stamped into your soul?
They slithered into the Temple, snakes on the hunt. A group of Pharisees and Herodians sent by the Jewish leaders conspired to catch Jesus in a statement appearing to foster rebellion against Roman authority. The Pharisees were a sect of the Jews. The Herodians were a political party of affluent Jews who backed Herod Antipas, the ruler in Galilee during Jesus’ ministry.
They put on their most sincere faces and circled Jesus as they sprung the question.
Teacher, we know that You are truthful and defer to no one; for You are not partial to any, but teach the way of God in truth. Is it lawful to pay a poll-tax to Caesar, or not? Shall we pay or not pay?
– Mark 12:14,15
Jesus saw the trap. He wasn’t fooled by their deceit. He asked them to bring Him a denarius. This common first century coin represented a day’s wages to most people. Jesus didn’t even have that much money to His name. Someone produced one for Him, and He asked, “Whose likeness and inscription is this?” (Mark 12:16)
They were confused. Jesus had neatly sidestepped their trap. It was obvious whose inscription was on the coin. “Caesar’s,” they answered.
“Pay to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s and to God the things that are God’s,” He replied. (Mark 12:16-17)
The Bible tells us that those present that day were “amazed” at His answer. It’s no less stunning two thousand years later.
The Greek word for “render” means “to pay back.” It implies a debt is owed to the one whose image is reflected. Money bears the image of government, so we must pay our taxes to the government.
Our souls, on the other hand, bear the image of God.
Our bodies belong to God. Our minds belong to God. Our children belong to God. The Body belongs to the Head.
To God we owe our hearts, minds, souls, and strength. The Bible commands us “To present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, which is your spiritual service of worship.” (Romans 12:1)
To others, we owe a debt of love. We are commanded to “Owe nothing to anyone except to love one another.” (Romans 13:8) This is not a Scripture forbidding the borrowing of money, but an admonition to pay all debts when they are due.
True submission to God’s authority rises above personal and national politics. It both frees us and reminds us of where our true allegiance should lie. Now, at a time when more and more people live for themselves and withdraw from the lives of others, God commands us to give.
Now, more than ever, it’s time to “pay back.”
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Then God said, ‘Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness…’
God created man in His own image, in the image of God. He created him; male and female He created them.
– Genesis 1:26-27
You were born to create.
Do you ever wonder what God looks like, and what it means to be created in His image?
The Bible doesn’t tell us God’s physical appearance, although we get intriguing clues. In Genesis 3:8, Adam and Eve “heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day.” In Exodus 33:19-24, Moses was given a glimpse of the back of God as He passed by. In Exodus 3, He spoke out of a burning bush. Yet John 4:24 tells us God is spirit. He is three Persons but one God. John 1 tells us Jesus Christ existed as the Word before His coming in the flesh.
What God looks like is a mystery. In what other ways, then, are we made in His image?
We mirror Him in that each of us is three parts: body, soul, and spirit. Our bodies are the physical manifestation of who we are, as Jesus was the incarnation of the Godhead. Our souls are our essence, the part of us that makes us who we are. Our spirits are the part of us that communicate with God.
But wait, there’s more. Much more.
God made us with the capacity to love deeply, to sacrifice ourselves for others, and to desire the best for them. We were never meant to live alone. He placed in us a yearning for fellowship, acceptance, and companionship.
He gave us the ability to appreciate beauty. He created us with the desire to create for the pure joy of it. From the mind of mankind flows a ceaseless fountain of paintings, sculptures, architecture, mechanics, music, literature, and theatre. Not all of it honors the Creator. Much of what we do, in fact, springs from rebellion to the very Father who gave us life.
This must surely grieve Him. But think how He rejoices when His children use the gifts He gave them to honor Him.
What secret dream do you have? Whatever the outlet, be assured it’s never too late to begin creating for God.
Sure, we all must work and pay the bills. But don’t be ashamed to listen to the voice calling you to reach beyond your comfort zone.
You were made for more. Go for it.
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I called out of my distress to the LORD, and He answered me.
– Jonah 2:2
God gave a tough assignment in a big city to His servant Jonah, a mission the prophet was loathe to accept.
The ancient city of Nineveh took three days to walk through and is thought to have been the home of over 600,000 people. The capital of Assyria, it was well-known for both its cruelty and its pagan worship.
To this city God called the prophet Jonah to preach repentance. He wasn’t happy about the assignment and tried to run from it by boarding a ship to Tarshish, apparently believing God didn’t check boarding passes. God promptly schooled Jonah on the principle of His omniscience.
God knew where to find him.
A terrific storm arose and threatened to sink the ship. Jonah knew the storm was a result of his disobedience, and he convinced the sailors to throw him overboard. That stilled the storm, and the sailors turned to God in awe and thanksgiving.
Relegated to the sea, Jonah probably prepared himself to die. God wasn’t going to let him get off the hook so easily as drowning, though. He arranged for a whale to scoop him out of the water and deposit him in its stomach. In the whale’s belly, Jonah had time to reflect and pray for three days before he was vomited out onto dry land.
The God reminded him once again of his calling. This time, Jonah obeyed went to Nineveh and gave this message to the city: “Forty days from now Nineveh will be destroyed!” (Jonah 3:4 NLT)
The people of Nineveh were cut to the heart by the edict. The king of the city commanded every person and animal to be covered in sackcloth, a symbol of mourning. No creature was allowed to eat or drink. Every person was ordered to cry out to God in repentance for his sins. God saw this, withdrew the judgment, and an entire city was saved.
That made Jonah mad. All this trouble just to look like a fool.
He went outside the city just in case and built himself a shelter to sit under while he waited for destruction to hit. He was happy when a plant grew up to provide him some shade from the sun.
To his dismay, the plant was destroyed the next day by a worm. Not only had his prophecy proved wrong, but now he sat in misery in the heat. He begged God to take his life. Instead, God rebuked him for his hard heart.
Jonah, the reluctant prophet, grumbled and stumbled in his calling and left thousands of saved souls in his turbulent wake.
People love to argue whether Jonah was really swallowed by a whale and lived to tell the tale. But what was the real miracle? That Jonah survived three days in the whale’s belly, that an entire city repented at the preaching of one man, or that God could use someone so very flawed to bring salvation to others?
This should give us hope as we grumble and stumble our way through life. When we run from God, He will pursue us, discipline us, deliver us, and repeat the process until we obey. He will send us into the belly of the whale if that’s what it takes to get our attention. He will expose our hard hearts and teach us His compassion for a world poised at the edge of destruction.
We may struggle. We may fall. We may thrash against God and get swallowed up by our rebellion. But God’s plans will triumph, because it is His power and love, not ours, that secures the victory.
Where can I go from Your Spirit?
Or where can I flee from Your presence?-Psalm 139:7
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Then Jesus again spoke to them, saying, ‘I am the Light of the world.’
– John 8:12
Our newborn son was very ill.
Kevin lay in a sterile room fighting pneumonia. He was just three weeks old; so tiny, so new on this earth, already having to fight for life. I stayed with him as long as I could, unable to hold him, watching his efforts to breathe as I broke into little pieces.
The doctor was hopeful, though. Kevin would recover, unless there was some undiscovered birth defect affecting his little body. My mother’s heart melted in the face of the unknown. I felt so very helpless.
Finally, I needed to leave him and get back to our other two children. Reluctantly, I left the hospital’s neonatal intensive care unit with a heavy heart and climbed into the car for the hard drive home. A spring storm darkened the skies, adding to my gloom. How I hated returning to that empty crib!
This trial was the first challenge to my faith since my recent conversion to Christ. I wanted to trust the Savior, but I was consumed with fear. I was still dealing with lingering doubts about His existence.
As I turned onto the main highway heading out of town, the clouds parted behind me. The sun hit the squall ahead of me and a glorious rainbow arched across the sky. At that moment, something alien washed over me. I was bathed in a powerful and golden sense of the presence of God as understanding flooded my soul. In that moment I knew these three truths:
God is real.
Everything will be okay, whether Kevin lived or died. God assured me Kevin was safe with Him, whether in life or in death.
This is why the Holy Spirit is called The Comforter.
I cried all the way home. That day God radically invaded my comfort zone to reach me, filling me with the knowledge that He is not a concept, a principle, or a force. He is a sovereign being, and He wants to reveal Himself to mankind. Kevin quickly responded to treatment and was soon discharged from the hospital. But my journey in learning about the God to Whom I committed my life had only just begun.
Only much later could I appreciate the fullness of that moment with the rainbow and what God wanted me to see.
In science, a prism is a transparent object that breaks white light into its spectrum of colors. Light is made up of all the wavelengths we perceive as colors, but our eyes can’t see them until the light is broken. The rainbow we see after a rain is the result of the refraction of sunlight by water.
Hence the physical illustration of a spiritual phenomenon.
God is light, the source of all life and all power. Because we are limited beings, we can’t comprehend Him, necessitating the incarnation of the Word into flesh. Christ’s coming and sacrifice broke the holy light of God into the many facets of His divine nature for us to see.
We often rage at God for the heartache He allows in our lives. We resist the tears. We beg Him to remove the source of brokenness that could be the very place where God is revealed in all His beauty. Don’t despise the grief. He can use our heartaches to pull back the veil on the holy place to find a multicolored cloak of grace.
Your tears are His prism, the place where God’s light is broken to display His beauty in your life.
Believe this and trust Him. Praise Him in the storm. Listen for the holy whisper in the rain:
God is real.
You will be okay.
This is why the Holy Spirit is called the Comforter.
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When the Nazis came for the communists,
I did not speak out;
As I was not a communist.When they locked up the social democrats,
I did not speak out;
I was not a social democrat.When they came for the trade unionists,
I did not speak out;
As I was not a trade unionist.When they came for the Jews,
I did not speak out;
As I was not a Jew.When they came for me,
there was no one left to speak out. *– Martin Niemoller
They have new faces, a different mantra, but spew the same hate.
On June 10th of this year, when the Islamic State was declared in Mosul, Iraq, the militants promised tolerance to the Christians living there. Iraq has been the ancestral home to millions of Christians since early Christianity.
The promise of tolerance quickly dissolved. Those Iraqi Christians who had not already fled Mosul on June 10 were surprised when loudspeakers began blaring this edict from the new Islamic State:
Convert to Islam, pay a tax to the State, or face death.
Thousands of Christians have fled the city. Militants confiscate their possessions at the Islamic State checkpoints. Does this sound familiar?
This is 2014. But change the date to 1938, the place to Germany, the oppressors to Nazis, the oppressed to Jews, and you have the beginning of the Holocaust. The Nazi regime targeted the Jewish nation, Christians, and anyone else who did not fit into the ideal Aryan Nation.
Today is another time and place, with a new oppressor.
But the dark clouds of hate emanate from the same source, from an enemy whose one goal is to destroy all who worship the true God on this earth. Its grip is quickly spreading through the nations.
Once again, politicians deliberate while tragedy unfolds across the continents. It is not time to be complacent. It is time to pray without ceasing, to speak out for what is right, to reach all we can with the gospel, and to support our suffering brothers and sisters around the world.
Or one day, there may be no one left to speak for us.
Remember the prisoners, as though in prison with them, and those who are ill-treated, since you yourselves also are in the body.
– Hebrews 13:3
*http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Martin_Niem%C3%B6ller
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Awake, O north wind,
And come, O south!
Blow upon my garden,
That its spices may flow out.– Solomon 4:16
Mother grew up in the South and often longed to surround herself with reminders of her old haunts after she and dad moved to the Pacific Northwest.
One thing she really wanted was a mimosa tree. Grandpa Griggs brought the seeds up to Mother from Arkansas one year and told her, “I don’t know why you want a durn old mimosa.”
Mother ignored him and managed to get one seed to sprout and grow. She planted it under the yard light, for some inexplicable reason. It grew slowly in the inhospitable soil and stayed small.
But we kids loved it. Its leaves were magical.
Grandpa’s “durn old mimosa” was a Mimosa pudica, a native of Central and South America that found its way to the Old South of the United States. Mother managed to get one growing against the yard light pole in northern Idaho, far from the motherland.
Mimosas are also called “sensitive plant,” or “touch-me-not.” The stems of its branches are lined with little leaves that recoil and instantly fold up when touched. They also close up when the sun goes down each evening. Because we lived in the country and had little to entertain us, my brother and I liked to go out and torment the mimosa.
As the tree matured, it bloomed frothy pink pompoms that smelled heavenly. When I grew up, married, and had my own home, I got some seeds from Mom and managed to start a durn old mimosa of my own.
We put it in a sunny corner of the yard where it had good soil and gave it lots of water. Since Mom’s plant had always struggled, I had no idea they could get big and bloom prolifically, shedding sheets of pink pompoms in the grass.
That was probably why Grandpa Griggs didn’t like mimosas. But to me, their surpassing beauty, sensitive nature, and fragrance is worth the annual mess. When it’s covered with flowers and the summer breeze blows its sweet perfume across the yard, it fills my heart with joy.
I wonder if that’s how God feels about us.
I am a transplant. I don’t belong in this place. I belong somewhere else, in a heavenly garden fit for a King. He took the seed of faith that I offered to Him, watered it, and planted me in this world to grow, reach to the sky, and bloom for Him.
When life has tormented me; when I recoil against Satan’s taunts; when my soul folds up against the night, I am still the plant God has nurtured, watered, and loved. When life gets messy and I shed remnants of my old nature all over God’s green earth, He delights in the fragrance of my trust.
He chose me to be here. Now. In this season. He has chosen you to grow where He has placed you, too. Rejoice in the knowledge that His Spirit moves across your soul, releasing its beauty to the world.
You are worth the work and the mess. Bloom on.
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I know your deeds and you toil and perseverance, and that you cannot tolerate evil men, and you put to the test those who call themselves apostles, and they are not, and you found them to be false; and you have perseverance and have endured for My name’s sake, and have not grown weary.
But I have this against you, that you have left your first love.
– Revelation 2:2-4
Ephesus was a thriving harbor city in first century Asia.
It served as a center both for trade and for the pagan worship of the Greek goddess Artemis, the equivalent of the Roman goddess Diana. The splendid Temple of Artemis was considered one of the seven wonders of the ancient world.
The early Christians there endured much opposition to the gospel. Acts 19:21-41 relates the account of a silversmith named Demetrius, who made a good living crafting silver shrines of Artemis until the gospel pulled people away from pagan worship and hurt his business. He was nearly successful in creating a riot that threatened Christians and the work of God in the city.
The Ephesian church had this and other challenges to its existence. Besides the attacks from the outside, the church suffered from false teachers propagating their own brand of theology. The Epistle to the Ephesians addresses their struggles, correcting their doctrine and offering encouragement to this beleaguered Body of Christ.
Paul personally warned the Ephesian church:
After my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; and from among your own selves men will arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them.
– Acts 20:29-30
Some thirty years later, in His revelation of the last days to John, Jesus acknowledged the Ephesians’ tenacious fight for the faith but chastised them for leaving behind their first love. He told them:
Therefore remember from where you have fallen, and repent and do the deeds you did at first; or else I am coming to you and will remove your lampstand out of its place—unless you repent.
– Revelation 2:5
Today the area of Turkey where the Ephesus once stood is nearly devoid of Christian influence. A city that once fought for the faith and shone for Christ now sits in darkness.
This is a sobering reminder for us. Christ’s words were directed to Ephesus, but they were meant for us, as well. We must remember our faith is not about what we are fighting against, but what we are living for. Our love for Jesus ignites the oil of the Spirit in our lives. Our passion for the Savior alone is the flame that drives away the night and illuminates our world.
It’s good to contend for the faith. It’s wise to test those who want to exert authority over us. It pleases God when we endure through hardship and persecution for Him.
But it’s not His goal.
He wants us to be in love with Him. If we do that, the rest will follow. And our faith will set the world aflame.
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But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, so that the surpassing greatness of the power will be of God and not from ourselves.
– 2 Corinthians 4:7
We are jars of clay.
Earthen vessels, cheap to make, easily breakable, disposable. At the time of Jesus’ first coming, these jars were used for everyday chores like holding garbage and sewage.
They were just mud fashioned into common containers.
Like us. The apostle Paul describes us in 2 Corinthians 4:8-10 like this:
- Afflicted
- Perplexed
- Persecuted
- Struck down
- Carrying around in our bodies the dying of Jesus
It hardly seems a fitting description for God’s crowning creation. We don’t like to think of ourselves as common and disposable and carrying around death. We try instead to make people believe we are powerful and indestructible. We hate weakness in ourselves and in others. We feel like failures when we can’t measure up to society’s and God’s standards.
God doesn’t hate weakness, though. Our weakness is essential to the revelation of His glory. Our frailties are the perfect backdrop against which He can paint His grace.
If we could save ourselves, we wouldn’t need Him. If we could serve Him in our own strength, we would be revealing our greatness, not God’s.
And although we are jars of clay, we’re not made to carry sewage and garbage. We’re created to contain the surpassing treasure of God Himself. We are the new temples, earthen containers overflowing with His majesty.
His sacrifice has made us clean; His Spirit has sanctified us to be vessels of honor. Now we are complete:
- Afflicted, but not crushed
- Perplexed, but not despairing
- Persecuted, but not forsaken
- Struck down, but not destroyed
- Always carrying about in our bodies of the dying of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus also may be revealed in us
So don’t despair when your humanity overtakes you. It’s the perfect time to look to the God of grace and watch His power overcome your darkness. Acknowledge and revel in your weakness. Let the great treasure within you pour out of your being.
Embrace your frailty. In Christ, you are anything but common.
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