Part 13: 2013 The finale

Romans 14:19

19 Let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification.

It is hard for me to believe that this series 13 Thoughts for 2013 began way back in January.  Little did I know when I started it that the Lord was taking me on a journey and that these verses would be progressive stepping stones for me.  The journey through these verses included many tears, sleepless nights and wrestling out these truths in His presence.  I hope that I have emerged refined by the process.  

This journey is sealed with a truth that is for the ages: Let us make EVERY effort to lead to peace and the edification of others.

On Friday, I had to do that very thing and so I took the time to reread this entire series.  I realized that the truths that came before - especially regarding the heart of God towards others - were exactly what I needed to see manifestation in my life.

As I was finalizing this post, I came across these thoughts found in Tell it Slant by Eugene Peterson, which seal the process that I have been in over the last 6 months:

Prayer accomplishes with us, within our spirits, deep within our souls, what is later lived out in the circumstances and conditions of our obedience.  A stiff upper lip won't do it.  A fierce resolve won't do it.  An exemplary life won't do it.

Prayer goes beneath the surface and penetrates the heart of the matter... When we pray we willingly participate in what God is doing, without knowing precisely what God is doing, how God is doing it, or when we will know what is going on - if ever. (pg.237)

So, I would like to close this series with a prayer from Saint Patrick.  I think this prayer encapsulates this series:

  As I arise today,

may the strength of God pilot me,

the power of God uphold me,

the wisdom of God guide me.

May the eye of God look before me,

the ear of God hear me,

the word of God speak for me.

May the hand of God protect me,

the way of God lie before me,

the shield of God defend me,

the host of God save me.

May Christ shield me today.

Christ with me, Christ before me,

Christ behind me,

Christ in me, Christ beneath me,

Christ above me,

Christ on my right, Christ on my left,

Christ when I lie down, Christ when I sit,

Christ when I stand,

Christ in the heart of everyone who thinks of me,

Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks of me,

Christ in every eye that sees me,

Christ in every ear that hears me.

Amen

As the finishing touch to this series - I am sending us back to the beginning.  For the next 13 weekdays I will be running each post in consecutive order.  I hope you will be blessed, renewed, refined and encouraged by the process.  If you've enjoyed this series, consider asking a friend to come along with you the second time through.  They can follow via Facebook, Google plus or as an email subscriber.

In Christ,

How far does "Father, forgive them..." reach?

I was reading in Ezekiel the other day and came across this vision:

Ezekiel 8:9-16

9 And he said to me, “Go in and see the wicked and detestable things they are doing here.” 10 So I went in and looked, and I saw portrayed all over the walls all kinds of crawling things and unclean animals and all the idols of Israel. 11 In front of them stood seventy elders of Israel, and Jaazaniah son of Shaphan was standing among them. Each had a censer in his hand, and a fragrant cloud of incense was rising.

12 He said to me, “Son of man, have you seen what the elders of Israel are doing in the darkness, each at the shrine of his own idol? They say, ‘The Lord does not see us; the Lord has forsaken the land.’” 13 Again, he said, “You will see them doing things that are even more detestable.”

14 Then he brought me to the entrance of the north gate of the house of the Lord, and I saw women sitting there, mourning the god Tammuz. 15 He said to me, “Do you see this, son of man? You will see things that are even more detestable than this.”

16 He then brought me into the inner court of the house of the Lord, and there at the entrance to the temple, between the portico and the altar, were about twenty-five men. With their backs toward the temple of the Lord and their faces toward the east, they were bowing down to the sun in the east.

In this vision, Ezekiel is observing the elders of Israel worshiping false gods in God's holy temple.  An atrocity to be sure.  But as I read it, my thoughts were brought to Jesus on the cross being crucified and His words: "Father, forgive them for they know not what they do." And as I thought about that I asked myself, how far do these words reach?

The image I had was like a stone thrown into a body of water and you can see  the ripple effect extending farther and farther.  So as Jesus said these words "Father forgive them" who exactly were those words directed at?

• The soldiers who crucified him?

• The Jewish leaders who handed him over to Pilate?

• Pilate and Herod who did nothing to stop it and asked for Him to be beaten?

• Judas who betrayed Him with a kiss?

• His disciples who abandoned Him in His moment of need?

Did the words extend back in time?

• To the elders of Israel worshiping false gods in His Holy Temple?

• To David when he committed adultery with Bathsheba and killed her husband?

• To the Israelites who grumbled and complained in the desert?

• To the Egyptians who persecuted God's people?

• To Cain when he killed his brother Abel?

• To Eve as she took a bite into the forbidden fruit?

Did the words extend into the future?

• To the trampling of Jerusalem in 70 AD?

• To the massacre of Native Americans?

• To the bonds of slavery past, present and future?

• To the Nazis during the holocaust?

• To me when I lost my temper with my daughter?

The night before Jesus went to the cross, He said:

John 14:7

7 If you really know me, you will know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.”

If in the moment of killing the Son of God - the offer was forgiveness - and this act was a revelation of the heart of God - then just how far does it reach?

In Christ,

Following the Good Shepherd

One of the advantages of blogging is that when I need encouragement for my soul I can go on a search and find it.  Since I know the essence of what I wrote, I can easily go back and peruse around and reread the things that the Lord has ministered to my heart over the years. 

Another advantage of blogging is that I know some of my readers personally - and I know that some of them too are in a season of struggling, discouragement and loss.

So today's post is sharing a "story" of the Good Shepherd.  As I read back through these posts, I saw the threads of connection between them all and what I was reminded of was that we do indeed have a Good Shepherd who is walking in those dark valleys with us.

So if you need encouragement for your soul today follow along this humble path:

360 Vision: Lacking Nothing
Relishing in His Beauty and Grace
Surrounds

Listen to:
Stranger in a Strange Land: I AM the Good Shepherd (audio 114, 3/27/11) 

Music to minister to your soul:
Stay Beside Me: Future of Forestry

In Christ,

Spiritual Editing

One of my favorite characteristics of Jesus is that He is the author and perfecter of our faith (Hebrews 12:2).  I have always thought of this as a "future" truth that Jesus is busy writing the next page of my faith... but as a writer, I began to view it more fully.  Whenever I write, I am always going back, making edits, moving paragraphs around, refining what I have said and deepening it.  Thinking about this helped me to realize that editing is a natural and necessary part of the process. 

As I sat before His Word this morning, I felt like I was going in for an edit.  Some rearranging needed to take place in my mind, some clarification and some renewal.  As a human author, I enjoy the process of reworking my words, strengthening what I have said, deleting confusing paragraphs, etc.  As the author of our faith, Jesus uses our time in His presence to edit us.

"Lord, how do you edit our stories?" The process He uses is called grace.  See we are a work of art, an entity. But within our being lies patches of confusion, misunderstanding and chaos. When we come in for an edit the Lord doesn't scratch the whole thing, nor does He get frustrated and disappointed that work needs to be done. Instead, I believe He smiles, grateful that we've come to work with Him and that He actually enjoys the process of filling in the gaps, removing sources of confusion, adding detail and understanding to truths that were already there. 

I know that there have been seasons in my life where I have dreaded going before His Word. Sometimes it has come out of fear of what I might hear.  Other times, it has felt like a lifeless duty. But the more I have grown in understanding God's great love I truly treasure these times in His Word and it has become as necessary for my ability to function as food and water. 

My prayer for this post is: if you've been absent from spending time in His Word for whatever reason that you would see His heart towards you and His call to come:

Matthew 11:28-30

²⁸ “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.²⁹ Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. ³⁰ For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

In Christ,

 

P.S. If you are looking for a way to get into God's Word check out Daily Prayer.

Relishing in His Goodness and Beauty

I feel like I'm having an "epiphany" of sorts.  Some of my ways of thinking are being shaped, squished and reformed all at once by various sources.  However, as I step back and reflect on it all, I see the fingerprints of God all over this reshaping.

I don't know if you've ever experienced something like this, but I feel like half of myself is stepping away and evaluating my other half.  I am watching "how I've lived" in my thought life and I'm asking if this has been the right way or if perhaps there is a better way.  The "how I've lived" has been shaped by a quiet fear of the unknown, fear of everything suddenly crashing down and as a result even in the moments of great joy, I find myself holding back a little back because I somehow think that if I get too excited it might all fall apart.  So my thought process is, "If I don't get too high in my enjoyment, then when I fall it won't hurt so much." As I step back from these thoughts and evaluate them, I realize that I am allowing the unknown, the fear of the future steal my present joy.

In my edge of the world, spring has managed to sneak through on a few days and on one absolutely gorgeous day, I was on a run when I was struck by the beauty that surrounded me - the green grass, the beautiful blue sky, the singing birds, the cool breeze and the frogs croaking in the pond.  It was one of those moments of complete joy, where at the same time I found myself hesitating from entering in and then I questioned myself, "If the ratio of God's goodness and beauty far exceeds the moments of evil and sadness, why do I find myself more occupied with the thoughts and fears of evil than resting in the beauty of God's grace, goodness and beauty that constantly surrounds?"

The day after I asked myself this question, I was bombarded (in a good way) by Scripture and I was overwhelmed as I saw the invitation of God to live not in a place of constantly being prepared for the bottom to drop out, but rather being able to relish in His goodness:

from Psalm 139:

You encompass me behind and before

and lay your hand upon me.

Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,

so high I cannot attain it.

from Psalm 146:

The Lord looses those that are bound;

the Lord opens the eyes of the blind; the Lord lifts up

those who are bowed down; the Lord loves the righteous...

the Lord shall reign forever.

from Isaiah 61:

To give them a garland instead of ashes,

the oil of gladness instead of mourning,

the mantle of praise instead of a faint spirit, that

they may be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the Lord,

that he may be glorified.

from Proverbs 4:

I have taught you the way of wisdom;

I have led you in the paths of uprightness.

When you walk, your step will not be hampered;

and if you run, you will not stumble.  Keep hold of instruction;

do not let go; guard her for she is your life...

the path of the righteous is like the light of the dawn, which shines

brighter and brighter until full day.

from Luke 1:

This was the oath God swore to our father Abraham:

to set us free from the hands of our enemies, free to worship without fear,

holy and righteous in his sight all the days of our lives.

from Exodus 15:

In your unfailing love, O Lord, 

you lead the people whom you have redeemed. And by

your invincible strength you will guide

them to your holy dwelling.

You will bring them in and plant them, O Lord,

in the sanctuary which your hands have established.

from 1 Peter 2:

For you were going astray like sheep, but

now you have returned to the shepherd and guardian of your souls.

These Scriptures overwhelmed me with the grace of God and His promises to lead and guide His people.  I realized that I am unable to contain the glory of God in my small meager self - it far, far exceeds any capacity that I have.  Yet that inability does not disqualify me from being able to drink it in and relish in His goodness.

During Lent, my pastor gave each person a seed to remind us about who we are in Christ.  As I've held that seed in my hand and reflected on it, I've continued to feel more layers fall off of "trying to be" something for God; that burden is too heavy.  However, the ability to solely respond to the glory of God and to soak it in as a plant soaks in the sun is a beautiful and freeing.  That is what I see, that is what I feel as I read these verses over and over.  Freedom to be, to live in a place of joy held by the shepherd and guardian of my soul.

In Christ,

For more thoughts on this theme check out my other posts:
Worrying
360 Vision: Not Lacking Anything
Being Changed by Contentment