Cause & Effect

Mark 4:35-41
New International Version (NIV)
Jesus Calms the Storm

35 That day when evening came, he said to his disciples, “Let us go over to the other side.” 36 Leaving the crowd behind, they took him along, just as he was, in the boat. There were also other boats with him. 37 A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped. 38 Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?”
39 He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Quiet! Be still!” Then the wind died down and it was completely calm.

40 He said to his disciples, “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?”

41 They were terrified and asked each other, “Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!”

This portion of scripture is one of my favorites because there is tons that we can take and apply to our lives. All the way from Jesus' ability to sleep in a great storm, to the disciples actually questioning His love for them...so much great stuff. But today I wanted to share a thought that I apparently jotted down years ago. I recently found a binder full of notes I'd written; some all the way from when I was probably 18 years old! Boy I was a dork. With my overall jeans and low heeled shoes and insanely short hair. And shiny shirts. Oy.

Regardless of my 18 year old awesome self, this thought really hit me recently as I read through many of kooky statements. Although I probably wrote this in my 20's, when my dorkiness turned into "hello my name is Jen, I may be 20 years old but I dress like I'm 35." Hey, wait. I'm almost 35 now and I dress fairly decent. If you can count my pajama pants and tank top I currently have on as decent. You know, I probably just need to move on here...

Back to the thought. Jesus rebuked the wind and said to the waves, "Quiet! Or PEACE, be still." The wind was the effect but the waves were the cause. Jesus dealt with the cause; He dealt with the source of the problem first, the wind. He rebuked the root of the issue. All the disciples were noticing was that the boat was filling with water, as a result of the waves jumping higher and higher. We do the same thing; we pay no attention to the cause, rather, we look at the effect. We forget there is a great wind(cause) when we are drowning in the waves(effect.) How often do we deal with the outer issue, rather than digging down deep to find the source of the problem, to get to the cause.

Jesus simply spoke peace to the manifestation (effect) of the cause, and it had to obey, because it's power was no more. Since Jesus had already rebuked the wind, the cause was crippled at the very root, therefore the waves had no choice BUT to obey, since the cause was no longer productive! Can I get an amen!

How can we apply that to our own lives today? Take any stronghold that you may be facing, this concept can be applied to it, therefore gaining a freedom this very day! Do you struggle with an unhealthy relationship towards food? Has that become a stronghold? I use this example as it's one I deal with and have dealt with for many years. If we ask God to show us the root of the struggle, we can ask Him to put His healing touch on that root, crippling it at the very core of the cause, therefore our new effect will not be sabotage of our diet, and eventually of our success, but rather we would begin to see food in a healthy manner, and for a purpose.

Is your marriage struggling? Get to the root of the cause, rebuke the cause, and let God bless your marriage with the most wonderful effect you could ever imagine having!

Do you battle insecurity? Find the root of the cause. From there, you can begin the healing process. Once you can expose the things that trigger your insecurity, the devil can no longer play games in that arena with you! Sure, you may fall to it now and again, but you will recognize it for what it is.

Do you have no direction? Do you feel stuck in a rut? Do you feel like your existence does not matter? Rebuke the cause! Take charge of the negative effects that are spilling out from your life...remember, the effect has to obey once the cause is dealt with. Does that mean you will instantly see new effects take place? Maybe not. And maybe so. Every person & every situation is different. But there is something to be said for having knowledge of the root issue. Once you can call that thing out, once you expose it for what it is, it takes the power away! It may be a process, and it may be something that just quickly changes for you. But regardless, getting to the root of the issue is the best way to go! There is such power in saying "the truth shall set you free!"

Do you need peace today? Rebuke the cause. Expose the devil for what he is, a fake. A phony. A liar. A devourer. A stinking, no good peace stealer. Rebuke him. And welcome the new effects of peace, joy, love, clarity of thought & direction!

I love this hymn: "peace, peace, wonderful peace. Flowing down, from the father above..."

Thank God for His peace. The peace that He gives in the midst of our storm. You may still go through the storm, but you can have peace as you do.

Psalm 29:11
New King James Version (NKJV)

11 The LORD will give strength to His people;
The LORD will bless His people with peace.

Well I hope that made sense. And if not, just blame my pajama pants.

Pride.

I read the following exceprt in Beth Moore's book about Praying God's Word. This is a great book! It's chock full of scriptures to pray us out of any stronghold we may face. Today, I'm reading about Pride. It's a stronghold that shows itself in so many different ways. When we hear the word "pride," we often assume it to mean that a person thinks they are just so super awesome and nobody can touch their awesomeness. But that's not always accurate! That's why I love what Beth (yes, we are on a first name basis, Beth & I, she's my long distance mentor, she just does not know it yet!) says here. Pride comes to us through many avenues...and it's something the Lord is shining light on in my own life. I wanted to share this:

"My name is Pride. I am a cheater.
I cheat you of your God-given destiny...because you demand your own way.
I cheat you of contentment...because you "deserve better than this."
I cheat you of knowledge...because you already know it all.
I cheat you of healing...because you're too full of 'me' to forgive
I cheat you of holiness...because you refuse to admit when you're wrong
I cheat you of vision...because you'd rather look in the mirror than out the window.
I cheat you of genuine friendship...because nobody's going to know the real you.
I cheat you of love...because real romance demands sacrifice.
I cheat you of greatness in Heaven...because you refuse to wash another's feet on Earth.
I cheat you of God's glory...because I convince you to seek your own.
My name is pride. I am a cheater.
You like me because you think I'm always looking out for you. Untrue.
I'm looking to make a fool of you.
God has so much for you, I admit, but don't worry...
If you stick with me, you'll never know."

See yourself in any of that? Regretfully, I do.

Oh Lord, thank you for your light that shines ever so softly on the area's of our heart that need a work. You are so full of grace & mercy. I take delight in serving you Lord. Thank you for having me, Jesus.

Finger lickin good

It hit me tonight, on the way home from Kate's ballet class; hunger. The famished kind. Almost could have passed out. Ok, that's dramatic. But still. Well, turns out that I had trail mix left over in my cup holder from my Target trip earlier today, where I also was hungry, it was lunch time though, cut me some slack man! Back to my drive; I excitedly began to munch it tonight in the car, as it was just one of those delightful little joys in life where you think, man, that is so cool how that worked out! Like, the last few french fries in the bottom of the McD's bag. Good times. Or the left over slice of pizza in the fridge that nobody got to. Or your kid comes home with a really fun goody bag from a party! Do I have food issues? Nah. Well anyway, it had chocolate in it. And it had been sitting in the car since lunch time. Did that stop me? No. I kept gleefully eating the trail mix. Until my right hand was covered in chocolate. And I was 20 minutes away from my destination. And the wipes were way in the back seat. And no way could I lick the chocolate off my fingers, I'm so anti finger lickin. I would not be a poster child for KFC, cuz aint nothin taste that good to make me lick my fingers. See, no food issues here! I'm speaking by faith. So anyway, I drove the rest of the way one-handed. The moral of the story here is this: don't eat melted chocolate in the car. Unless you have wipes.

The end.

A change will do you good

That song has been stuck in my head...but that's the only part I know! "A change, will do you good." Yep. That's all I know. I can't even tell you who the artist is. I suppose I could google it, but that would require to much finger tapping on the mouse and, well, don't wanna. So there. But regardless, I've been humming it all week!

I've posted on the topic of change before, but it always hits me in different ways. Fall is coming. The Crepe Myrtle tree (my fav) is starting to look not so pretty anymore...the evening temps are lower, it's getting dark quicker...all signs of fall. Fall gets me thinking about change, hence the song that I don't even know and don't know the artist being stuck in my head all week! Ah but I digress. Sheryl Crow? I think so. She seems nice. I love her hair.

Anyhoo. I shared on this topic Sunday at church, and I was reminded of when the iphone first came out. I was so anti the iphone! I had my little Razor phone and it was all I needed. Text and call. I'm good. Joey got one pretty early on, and I would fly into a panic every time I tried to figure that darn phone out! It was no use. I was like a fish outta water. A bird with no wings. Cereal with no milk. Playing Duck Duck Goose when nobody says "Goose." Sheryl Crow without her guitar as she sang about change. Or did she?

You get the picture. But, alas, the time came that I needed a new phone...and reluctantly, I caved into the iphone. And let me tell you friends that I HAVE NEVER LOOKED BACK! I have apps that track my food, track my moods, track my every blessed move. And i have not even tapped into the world of apps really. Point being, I use my phone now for quite a bit, it's extremely handy. I never knew I needed it until I had it. Did I "need" it? Well, no. But has it been handy? Yes.

Change. We don't like change! Very few people say how much they love change. Except Sheryl Crow. I think. But really, most people don't proclaim their love of change from the rooftops. "Good morning Change! I love you! I love being uncomfortable, I love stepping out into the unknown. I love not knowing what's around the corner. I love wondering where my paycheck is coming from now. I love not knowing which way to turn. I love using different shampoo." NO! Very few people can say they love change...that is, until they change.

Because once we change we think doggonit I wish I had embraced this before! Like the iphone. That's a silly analogy, I know. But makes a good point.

Changing, learning, making adjustments, all are part of growing. But so often we get stuck in the same place, we fear change, we fear the unknown outcome, and so we stay the same. We don't launch out into the deep. We don't tackle that weight problem we've battled for years. We don't fix that friendship. We don't start that new business or ministry. We don't change our attitude. We don't change the way we treat people. We don't set healthy boundaries for ourselves when we know full well we need to. Because we fear that the outcome won't be what we expect. Or we fear that we will fail anyway, so why try. And so we stay right where we are. The same.

Proverbs 1:5 says, "A wise man will hear and increase in learning." I want to be wise. I want to always be learning, always increasing in knowledge, always growing. But in order for that to happen, I have to embrace change. It's never easy. Never. But man, once you walk into it, you wish you had done it so much sooner.

As fall is fast approaching, join me in looking for some opportunities for change. If we don't look for them, we just might miss them. Take the advice of my friend Sheryl, a change will do you good!