Don't step back!

Acts 27:13-15 (NIV)
13 When a gentle south wind began to blow, they saw their opportunity; so they weighed anchor and sailed along the shore of Crete. 14 Before very long, a wind of hurricane force, called the Northeaster, swept down from the island. 15 The ship was caught by the storm and could not head into the wind; so we gave way to it and were driven along.

In this passage of scripture Paul was on a boat with other prisoners. He had warned the leaders that the way they were sailing was going to end in destruction of their ship, their belongings and cause harm to themselves. But they did not listen.

Until verse 15 came along, and they finally realized that they could not fight the wind any longer, so they just gave way to it.

After the fighting, and trying to take matters into their own hands, they gave up and let the winds take them where they were going to take them.

Do you ever feel like that? Like you are fighting to get to something, and it just is not working out like you planned?

Maybe you are in that place today. You have done all you can. You have prayed. You have believed. And yet, nothing has changed in the situation.

There comes a time when we need to do like verse 15 says, and give way to it. Relinquish control. Let the storm take you where God wants you to go. God will never take you someplace that He wont sustain you.

We can choose to say God, I trust you. I don’t know where this thing is headed, but I trust you. Control these winds God. As long as they are pushing you forward, then that is where you are supposed to be.

The storm is not a surprise to God. We have to turn loose the sails and let His wind blow us where He wants us to go. The winds may be blowing, they may be raging tougher than ever before. But if we take the step of faith, and trust Him today, we will get the victory every time.

We all face situations that don’t turn out the way we had hoped they would. We all have prayed for something that did not get answered the way we wanted it to. It’s easy to allow yourself to fall backwards in those moments, to get negative, to get bitter, to give up on your dreams.

I heard something years ago that has stuck with me, and that’s this:

In your setback, don’t step back, because God’s got a comeback!

Don’t allow yourself to step back. Not for a second! Don’t give way to doubt, and fear and confusion. Don’t do it!

That battle is not yours, the battle is the Lords! Let God shift those winds for you. Instead of blowing you back, it will push you forward.

My little Super Girl!

Here is my little Super girl Lily! She came across the cape yesterday and is obsessed with it. I love this photo of her, wish I had used my regular camera rather than my phone but such is life. She is running free, not a care in the world, except protecting it of course. She is, after all, a super hero. And apparently she comes from a family of super hero's. She has one brudder and three sisters, and they all wear capes. She works at Starbucks, because "in her world there are TONS of Starbucks." That's a world I want to live in Lily. Oh wait, I do.

She has been running around the house today asking what she can help me with; of course regular chores like cleaning up are far too mundane for her powers. And in case you wondered where she gets the power from, she gets it from her thigh. It goes into her skin and she just takes off with full force.

At one point her thighs began to fail her (Oh honey that's only the beginning of thigh woes) and she was feeling weak and without power. So I told her that God would give her power...she went into the kitchen, and in her sweet little 3.75 year old voice said, "God, please give me more power, Amen."

And with that she came running back declaring she had power from God and was ready to take on the world again! You go Lily!

If only it were that easy.

But wait, it is. Acts 1:8 says that "you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you." I like that! I need power.

I need power to raise my girls in this corrupt world. I need power to be a Godly wife. I need power to be a good friend to my friends. I need power to maintain my cool when I really would like to say what comes to mind. I need power to encourage those I come in contact with on a daily basis, to hope that the love of Jesus would shine through all I say and do. I need power.

So, if Lily does not mind, I think I will don her cape for awhile. After all, I could use some power...and Starbucks!

Living Epistle

I read a great devotional today that just allowed scripture to jump off the page at me, love when that happens. Although I've read this particular passage of scripture before, I never saw it in this light.

2 Corinthians 3:7-8
"But if the ministry of death, written and engraved on stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of the glory of his countenance, which glory was passing away, how will the ministry of the spirit not be more glorious?

Oh man, I gotta continue to vs. 9. "For if the ministry of condemnation had glory, (notice HAD glory, past tense, not present tense, it HAD glory) the ministry of righteousness exceeds much more in glory."

What jumped out at me was the law being referred to as "the ministry of death." And indeed it is. I'd never thought of it like that. However, I've met numerous people that have spiritually died as a result of the law being forced upon them. Rules & regulations to follow in order to supposedly gain God's approval. Don't watch this, don't wear that, don't say this, don't go there, don't think this, don't think that...do this, do that, wear this, wear that. Rules. Law. Death.

But the ten commandments were given for a reason right? God gave the law to Moses & he in turned shared the law with the Israelites, and of course with all who have read the Old Testament, right? Right.

But if you go to the prior verse in chapter 3, we are told in vs. 3 that we are a living epistle, that we are "not written with ink but by the Spirit of the Living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of flesh, that is, of the heart."

So how do we reconcile the two then? How do we hold true to the law of the Lord, but yet live in the freedom that the Spirit brings?

By being a living epistle. When I become a living epistle for Christ, then the will of God becomes my delight. My hearts desire becomes pleasing the Lord, and in so doing, the law of the Lord flows out of my life, hence being an epistle. I will automatically live by the commandments of the Lord, because it will hurt my heart not to do so. Murder, deceit, adultery, theft - you can go down the list of the commandments, they won't be something that even appeals to the person made new in Christ. Not because you are told by a religious leader or an authority figure, but because according to Phil 2:13 "God is working in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure."

When we accept Christ, our old nature is out the door. It dies. We take on this new nature, and as we feed this new nature with the Word, with prayer, by serving, by doing the things of the Lord, we can truly come to a place of delight in the Lord. We begin to live a life of righteousness, not because we are ordered to, but because our hearts cry is to please the Lord. Out of our love for Him, and for what He did on the cross, our hearts yearn to express our gratitude. Our lives are epistles.

I dress modestly because I love the Lord and don't want to ever offend with my clothing. That, and I am extremely modest by nature. If I could rock a turtleneck without looking like a turtle, I would! That being said, I love clothes! And I'm thankful that God looks passed what I'm wearing to my heart, He sees the intent of my heart in what I wear. I'm not out to draw attention to myself, I just like clothes. God loves me just as much right now as I sit in my jammie pants as He does when I feel that I'm looking my best. Perhaps I'll just wear my jammies to church Sunday. Or not.

I go to church because I love church! I've loved church ever since I accepted the Lord. Ps. 122:1 is a favorite verse, "I was glad when they said to me, Let us go into the house of the Lord." Love me some church! Not because I'm told to be there, but because my heart delights in the Lord and there's no place I'd rather be.

I share those examples because they are often rules placed on people, BY people. There are many other examples I could share but I'm getting all jittery from my coffee now and this could go real bad, real quick ;)

This new covenant we have with the Lord is so cool. The old covenant was written on stone. The new covenant is written on our hearts. The old covenant was death. The new covenant is liberty & life through the Lord. The old covenant brought condemnation. The new covenant brings righteousness, out of hearts cry to serve God. The old covenant was passing away. The new covenant remains forever.

The Israelites could not look on God without a veil in the old covenant. But in the new, we can look upon the glory of God. We have instant access to Him! This new covenant is ever increasing. 2 Corinthians 3:18 says that we are being transformed from glory to glory...we are ever changing, ever growing, ever falling in love with the Lord. Not because of a rule, but because of pure love.

In the devotional I read today by Smith Wigglesworth it said this: "In this new life in the Spirit, in this new covenant life, you love the things that are right and pure and holy, and you shudder at all the things that are wrong. Jesus was able to say, "The ruler of this world is coming, and he has nothing in Me." (John 14:30) The moment we are filled with the Spirit of God, we are brought into a wonderful condition like this."

Oh wow! May we be able to say the same thing; that old filthy devil aint got nothin in me. Because I am the redeemed of the Lord. Because I'm set free from me. Because I'm a lover of Jesus. Because I'm in the new covenant. Because I'm a living Epistle.

Amen and amen.

How much more?

My favorite flower is a Tulip. I’ve always wanted to plant tulips, always. In our previous home, the backyard had no landscaping sense to speak of, so I never had the motivation to plant them. But where we live now, it’s so beautiful here that I finally took the time to do it back in the fall. I planted the bulbs all around the yard, different places, and then it hit me, I would not see the results for months! And it began to eat at me. Drove me nuts that I had to patiently wait until spring to see my favorite flower bloom. I’m a tad compulsive. I like to see instant results. I worked to plant those bulbs and nothing. Just wait. And wait. And wait. I would look out the kitchen window and dream of the day that I could see my tulips! It was becoming a bit creepy, what with my staring at the ground and all. I had to smack myself very dramatic like and yell "get it together man," and carry on.

So finally, I decided to let it go. Slowly, slowly and more slowly, I began to forget about the tulips. Winter came, sort of. No rain, but it was freezing! So my mind was on that, and on the mounds of leaves in the yard, and all the other stuff you think of that winter brings. My focus was elsewhere all winter (I guess it's still winter right, February and all) but I really forgot about the beautiful tulips that I planted! Until finally, the other day, I remembered the tulips! With such excitement I hollered (I love that word. My grandpa used to say it. I try to use it on many an occasion, minus the actual hollering that grandpa would do) at the girls and we ran outside and began to look at all the spots I had planted them. And there they were, little bitty stems…my tulips are on the way. Now it’s driving me nuts because they aren’t growing fast enough but hey, at least they made it. Most of them anyhow. I planted some that have not come through yet. Either I didn’t dig them deep enough, they didn’t get enough water, or they could not stand the cold temperatures we had but for whatever reason, some of them just didn’t make it. They did not make the journey.

It got me thinking, I don’t want to be like the tulip that didn’t make it! I don’t want to be the one that wasn’t dug down deep enough, not rooted in the Word - the one that wasn’t able to endure the temperatures that life brought me. I want to make it!

Romans 10:17 says “faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.” Reading the Word of God will create an irresistible faith in us, a faith that is never daunted, and a faith that never gives up. No matter what life throws our way, our faith will carry us through it. We often fail to realize how large God’s supply is. He has a supply that cannot be exhausted. He tells us to ask and we shall receive. We may not receive the way we think we should, but you can be sure that we will receive.

Matthew 7:11 says “If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your father in Heaven give good things to those who ask Him?”

HOW MUCH MORE. We limit God. We limit Him by our lack of faith. The Bible says, HOW MUCH MORE…how much more will God do when we step out in faith. When we step out and do the crazy thing God has asked us to do. When we step out and believe God for the impossible! When we step out and decide that we are not going to live in our past any longer. How much more can God do with a life that is sold out for Him, not looking back, not looking at our particular temperature of life, but looking at the "Author and the Finisher of our faith." HOW MUCH MORE?

How much more.

Like Precious Faith

2 Peter 1:1-2
To those who have obtained like precious faith with us by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ: Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.

Like precious faith. That is a phrase full of such power! This faith is indeed precious. It’s precious to me. It’s precious to anyone whose ever been delivered from anything. It’s precious.

To those who have obtained “like precious faith.” We all have the potential to obtain that precious faith, it’s given to us the moment we believe on the Lord Jesus. And once we obtain that faith, the scripture says that grace and peace will be multiplied to us in the knowledge of God.

Knowledge is learning, knowledge is growing, knowledge is changing. So the grace and peace is there for us, as we grow and as we change.

This like precious faith that Peter writes about is a gift for all of us. It’s a gift of faith that will cause us to do that thing that we are afraid to do. It’s a gift that will shut the mouths of lions. It’s a gift that will open doors that no man could open. It’s a gift that will lead us in triumph over our foes. It’s a gift that will cause us to believe God for the impossible! Like precious faith!

We should be able to triumph over all circumstances, not because we have confidence in ourselves, but because we’ve grabbed hold of this precious faith.

It’s always the people that are full of faith who have a good report, who don’t murmur and complain, who are in the place of victory, who are not in the place of human order but of divine order, because God has been asked to dwell in them through this precious faith!

We all have been given this precious faith. Let’s grab hold of it today, activating it in every area of our lives. With that faith, comes grace and peace. And that grace and peace will flow over every situation we face in the natural today; that grace and peace will supernaturally do what can’t be done naturally. Like precious faith.

Lent

Today is Ash Wednesday - I have personally never observed Lent or Ash Wednesday. I always saw it as a Catholic tradition (My tiny little Italian Grandma always had ashes on her head every year) and out of my limited knowledge on the topic, would often pass by the subject. But, I love what it leads up to, Easter! Resurrection Sunday! The day that Jesus said "take that Satan" and conquered death, hell & the grave. The day that Jesus finalized my freedom. I love Easter.

A friend posted a wonderfully written blog post that got me to thinking about Lent and all it means. So I've been doing some reading for myself. While indeed it remains a tradition that Catholics do observe, many other faiths observe it as well. I love this from Wikipedia:

"There are traditionally forty days in Lent which are marked by fasting, both from foods and festivities, and by other acts of penance. The three traditional practices to be taken up with renewed vigour during Lent are prayer (justice towards God), fasting (justice towards self), and almsgiving (justice towards neighbour). Today, some people give up a vice of theirs, add something that will bring them closer to God, and often give the time or money spent doing that to charitable purposes or organizations."

Although I don't feel we need to pay penance for our sin, as Jesus did that in totality on the cross, I do think it's necessary to continually check our hearts, to be sure there is no sin in us. It's so easy for that junk to creep in. Oh thank you Jesus for continual forgiveness the moment we ask...

Our church has participated in a few corporate fasts and let me tell you, I saw God move not only on our churches behalf, but in my own personal life as well. God did some amazing stuff while we fasted; we saw tremendous breakthrough in many areas. So there is most definitely something to be said for fasting, it's powerful stuff. You combine that with prayer and look out Jack! God will move on your behalf.

But more than what God will do on our behalf, I think about Jesus, my sweet, sweet Lord - the Savior of my life. The man that has given me so much, without me deserving it in the slightest. The man that has picked me up out of the muck and mire more times than I can count. Jesus. When I think about Him fasting in the wilderness for 40 days, being tempted by Satan - Satan trying with all he could to abort the mission of the Cross, there's Jesus, quoting scripture right at the devil and conquering His own personal flesh - because remember, He was TOTALLY flesh.

Then he goes on and heals people, He gives people hope, He reaches down to the lowest of the low, He befriends the unfriendly, He went where nobody else wanted to go and sought out the people nobody else wanted to seek out...

And as if doing all those wonderful things and more that we don't even know about, as if that were not enough, He goes to the Cross. Oh the Cross. He was nailed there. But they didn't even need to bother with the nails; because He would have stayed there anyway. He would have stayed there anyway. HE WOULD HAVE STAYED THERE ANYWAY. For me. And for you.

Then comes Easter Sunday! My favorite. Sweet freedom.

So I share all that to say this, I don't know yet what the Lord would have me do to observe this season, but when I think about my best friend Jesus, My Father, when I think about Him enduring a 40 day fast, ministering to anyone and everyone, going to the cross and then triumphing over it all - I have to do something. My heart longs to do something. I love Jesus. And he loves me. Enough to stay on that cross, without the nails.

Can you make me laugh?

Lily did not get enough sleep last night, as evidenced by her morning of crying over every last thing she could possibly cry about. At one point, in the midst of an episode of tears, she said, "Mommy, can you say something that will make me laugh?"

She is a funny kid, that's for sure. Sensitive as all get out. And funny. But in that moment of upset, she was not able to channel her funny bone, AT ALL. She needed someone else to do it for her! Unfortunately I had no wit at that moment but rather scooped her up and put her down for a nap! Hopefully when she wakes up, all will be right in the world of Lily, and she can laugh again.

But it got me thinking, we need each other! No matter where we are in life, we need friends. We need people that we can call on at a moments notice and say, "hey, can you make me laugh please?" Do you have anyone like that in your life? If you don't, ask God to bring that for you. I have a few people that I could call and know that they would genuinely crack me up if I desperately needed a good laugh.

We all face junk in life; bad news, disappointments, hardships, the list goes on and on. It's not necessarily what the outcome of the situation is that makes the difference, although of course it's a huge part, but rather, it's the journey through the situation that makes the difference. If we can come out to the other side of the negative thing we are up against, then we have won! If we can stand with our head held high, albeit barely standing, then we have won. If we can laugh through the junk, then we have won.

So I guess I say all that to say this, we need friends. My goodness how we need buddies in our lives! I love friends. Funny friends. Dramatic friends. Smart friends. Quirky and kooky friends. And friends that like to eat ;)