from hell and ashes

Many times we don't even realize that we are living in hell; that we have separated ourselves from God. We don't know it until all the things that we are holding on to, clinging to, all the things that are blocking our view of the truth, affecting our judgement, have been burned away and have been turned to ashes.

God yearns to replace those ashes with crowns of beauty and give us his joy, peace, and love in place of all the things that we have lost.

Isaiah 61:1-3 NIV

The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me,

    because the Lord has anointed me

    to proclaim good news to the poor.

He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,

    to proclaim freedom for the captives

    and release from darkness for the prisoners,

to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor

    and the day of vengeance of our God,

to comfort all who mourn,  

   and provide for those who grieve in Zion—

to bestow on them a crown of beauty

    instead of ashes,

the oil of joy

    instead of mourning,

and a garment of praise

    instead of a spirit of despair.

They will be called oaks of righteousness,

    a planting of the Lord

   for the display of his splendor.

HOW DO I LEARN TO “GO DEEPER”

I had been asked a while ago to consider how I learned to “go deeper” in God, in the Spirit. I am still learning and yearning for so much more. But, soon after I had been asked, I woke up during the night and I believe that God gave me the following that I want to share.

            I believe God is always with us; turned towards us, with arms open; waiting for us to see him, to approach him, to embrace him, to be embraced by him, to be immersed in him, and to know who he created us to be.

            There have definitely been times, maybe when I actually just “turned away” from myself and focused on God instead of MY problems, wants, needs, and desires. Instead, I am turned towards God, praying to him, communicating with him, praising and worshipping him. In those times, it seems easier or maybe the “veil” is removed or the “scales” fall off of my eyes, and I “see” God. I become aware of him, the overwhelming, holy, fiery, loving presence of the Living Spirit of God.

            This is not something that I can “will” into happening, not something that I can manufacture by doing certain things; but, it is definitely something that I yearn for, wait for, and believe that God also desires for me.

God yearns for us to be in relationship with him, but many times, our human tendency is to complicate things. We overwhelm ourselves with “to do” lists. We think that we need to first get our lives in order, stop our sinning, learn and practice a whole list of spiritual disciplines, and THEN we will truly know God, THEN we will be able to hear his voice and do his will. We have is SO backwards.

We are told to “love the Lord, your God, with all of your heart, soul, strength, and mind,” and, then “to love your neighbor as yourself.”

But, that almost feels impossible, harder than following a bunch of rules.

So, we basically give up. We settle for following as many rules as we can, repenting when we break them, resolving “with God’s help, of course,” to do better, trying again, and therefore circle around in an endless, draining, depressing cycle, with more lows than highs, hoping and praying that heaven really is all that we want it to be, and that Jesus comes back soon.

We have is SO backwards. Only God can give us the faith and the ability to “love him with all of our hearts, souls, strengths and minds, and to love our neighbors as ourselves.” Only God can open our eyes and ears and soften our hearts so that we can truly know him.

So, “give up”, but give it up to God. Ask him, beg him, plead with him to open your eyes and ears; to soften your heart; to give you faith; and to help you see, hear, feel, and know the Lord, your God, right there with you, holding you, helping you, loving you with all of who HE is, with all of HIS heart, soul, strength, and mind.

Every day, every time you think of it, pray and ask him to reveal himself to you, and then believe. Believe the truth. Believe that as you are asking, as you are seeking, as you are loving; that God IS speaking to you, guiding you, leading you, answering a prayer that is according to his will and desire.

If you fail, if as you seek God, he reveals that you moved or spoke out of your own preferences, thoughts, or desires; make it right. Stand up, ask forgiveness, and then keep moving. Move, trusting that God is leading. Speak, trusting that God is guiding. Love, trusting that God is empowering you.

Pray and move, just move. Do something. With practice, comes a greater knowing. With practice, we learn more easily and more quickly to discern between the Spirit’s leading and voice versus our own thoughts and logic.

Ask and believe and receive.

I echo what Steve McVey says in his book Grace Walk, “God has never spoken to me audibly, but at times he has spoken louder than that.”

And I pray over you, from Colossians 1:9-14, “… [I] have kept on praying and asking God to help you understand what he wants you to do; asking him to make you wise about spiritual things; and asking that the way you live will always please the Lord and honor him, so that you will always be doing good, kind things for others, while all the time you are learning to know God better and better.

[I] am praying, too, that you will be filled with his mighty, glorious strength so that you can keep going no matter what happens – always full of the joy of the Lord, and always thankful to the Father who has made us fit to share all the wonderful things that belong to those who live in the Kingdom of light.

For he has rescued us out of the darkness and gloom of Satan’s kingdom and brought us into the Kingdom of his dear Son, who bought our freedom with his blood and forgave us all our sins.”       

Amen.

Acts 10

Acts 10:15b: "Do not call anything impure that God has made clean."

Peter was being asked to embrace the Gentiles. They, for most or all of Jewish history, were considered unclean, unworthy of God's favor. Among many things, Jews were not permitted to marry them and, in Peter's time, were not even to enter their houses.

Peter was now, not only being asked to interact with them, but to love them, embrace them, accept them as "clean", and this was before God changed their lives forever,

They were still Gentiles. They still did not truly know God, had not accepted his plan of salvation for them. They were still as they were. Nothing had changed except Peter's attitude toward them and that opened a door for God to do something miraculous. These Gentiles, formerly considered "unclean" and unworthy of God's attention, were now filled with the living, holy Spirit of God, even before they were baptized! (vs 44-48)


Who do I consider unclean? Who do I feel, maybe deep down inside where I might not even admit it, who do I feel does not deserve God's favor or attention? Who is God asking me to notice, to love, to embrace?


Lord God, open my eyes, soften my heart. Help me see, help me love. Purify my heart and refine my attitude so that I may never disdain or reject any that you love and have called me to show your love to.

Jeremiah 1:4-10

Jeremiah 1:4-10 (NIV)

4. The word of the Lord came to me, saying,

5.  "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,
          before you were born I set you apart;
          I appointed you as a prophet to the nations."

6.  "Alas, Sovereign Lord," I said, "I do not know how to speak; I am too young."

7.  But the Lord said to me, "Do not say, 'I am too young.' You must go to everyone I send you              to and say whatever I command you. 8.  Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you and              will rescue you," declares the Lord.

9.  Then the Lord reached out his hand and touched my mouth and said to me," I have put my               words in your mouth. 10.  See, today I appoint you over nations and kingdoms to                         uproot and tear down, to destroy and overthrow, to build and to plant."

          I love Jeremiah. He and his book resonate with me. I feel that his words, his warnings, his doomsday messages are as pertinent to today and God’s people as they were in his time.

          Israel was the chosen people of God. Sometimes they may have felt that they were privileged, above others, special; maybe that they should be exempt from trouble, able to do what they wanted.

Now, Christ followers are the chosen people of God. Sometimes we may feel that we are privileged, above others, special; maybe that we should be exempt from trouble, able to do what we want.

Jeremiah warned the people of upcoming trouble. When they wanted to know why God was doing this to them, God’s word came reminding them of their rejection of him, their pursuit of other things before him.

I believe that there is trouble coming, more than we already feel that we have. And when we want to know why it is happening to us, God’s word will come, reminding us of our rejection of him by our pursuit of other things before him: like comfort, downtime, safety, and any other thing that we give priority over God’s will for us, because his will might take us out of our comfort zones or might even put us and our families in danger.

You see, I relate to Jeremiah, especially when he’s called the “weeping prophet”, as I can’t seem to say most messages that come from God without crying. J

          I believe that we, God’s people, need to be, as it says in vs 10, “uprooted  and torn down”, our will and desires need to be “destroyed and overthrown”, so that God can “build” us back up and “plant” us where  he needs   us   to   be. And then we are able, with God's help,"to uproot and tear down, to destroy and overthrow" the kingdoms of darkness and evil and "to build and to plant" God's kingdom here on earth.

          Because, as it says in vs 8, “we must go to everyone he sends us to and say whatever he commands” and he also promises in vs 8 that we should “not be afraid of them”, whatever “them” is to you: loss of control, lack of comfort, looking like a fool, risk of hurt or pain, the people that you are sent to, etc. You are “not to be afraid of them, for God is with you and will rescue you!” 

          How is all of this possible? 

          Because in vs 5, “Before God formed you in the womb, he  knew        you, before you were born,  he  set  you   apart.”     

        And, in vs 9, “He has put his words in your mouth.

love

I love this man, this man that God has gifted me.

I love him...

     through better and worse, through sickness and health, through richer and poorer.

     through laughing together, through yelling at each other.

     through watching a movie together with our family, through sitting in separate chairs reading                        books.

     through wanting to be as close together as possible, through wanting to just be away from each                      other.

     through cherishing each other, through disliking how we are mistreating each other.

     through being together with arms and legs entwined, through being at separate edges of the bed                   wondering why relationship has to be so hard.

I love this man.

Thank you, God, for being so wise, for knowing me and what I need.

I choose to love because you, oh God, are love and you love me.

when?

When are we going to stop looking to our leaders, government, and nation for help and salvation?

When are we going to stop placing our hope and trust in them?

When are we going to stop using our leaders, government, and nation to take the place of God in our lives?

The United States of America is not the chosen people of God. Those who have chosen to put God first in their lives, those who display his sacrificial love for the widows, the orphan, the foreigner, the poor, the downtrodden; those are the chosen people of God. (Read Zechariah 7:9-10)

Our future president will not, cannot, save us anymore than the ones before. Only God can be our strength, hope, and salvation.

"Turn your eyes upon Jesus. 
Look full in his wonderful face, 
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim, 
In the light of his glory and grace."      Helen Howarth Lemmel

maturity

Galatians 3:23-25 (The Message):

"Until the time when we were mature enough to respond freely in faith to the living God, we were carefully surrounded and protected by the Mosaic law. The law was like those Greek tutors, with which you are familiar; who escort children to school and protect them from danger or distraction, making sure the children will really get to the place they set out for.

But now you have arrived at your destination: By faith in Christ you are in direct relationship with God."



Vs 23: We had the law until we were mature enough to respond freely in faith to the living God, the Holy Spirit

We have long been surrounded and protected by the law, the rules and traditions of our churches. It is time to walk in  the maturity given to us by God to respond freely in faith to the living Spirit of
God residing in us. It is time to stop doing things JUST because that is how we have always done them. It is time to stop relying on tradition and rote for our salvation. It is time to look to the living God who is leaning towards us, yearning for relationship with us, wanting us to hear and understand the love, the joy, the forgiveness, the redemption, the salvation, the life that he is speaking to us every minute of every day.

Vs 25: We have arrived at our destination, a direct relationship with God, through faith in Christ.



Rejoice! devotional (June 25, 2016) by Tyler Hartford:

"When our lives are reoriented toward Christ, outward appearances might not change, but our personality is transformed and renewed. Only when we clothe ourselves in Christ and allow him to change our behavior does harmonious unity become possible."



Unity with God and those around us becomes possible when we choose to look beyond our own wisdom, our own preferences, our own wants, and allow the living Spirit of God to transform us into the likeness of Christ.




Rejoice! devotional prayer from the same article as above:

"Holy Spirit, there is so much about me that cannot be changed, but help me clothe myself with you."




Amen.