A Valuable Lesson

I read Waking the Dead: The Glory of a Heart Fully Alive by John Eldredge 8 years ago.  Reading this book laid a huge memorial stone in my Christian journey and it has had a huge impact on my walk of faith.  It is now 8 years later and I want to share with you one of the valuable lessons that I have taken from this book, applied to my life and seen the truth of it lived out:

The Enemy will always try to get you to do to someone

what he is doing to that person.  Heads up - it's not you, and being aware of it

becomes a very helpful diagnostic. (170)

I would like to take this thought one step further, by adding that the enemy, by getting you to agree with these lies, would like to prevent you from being able to be used as a tool of God for good in this individual's life. This understanding has had a huge influence in my life, especially in my ministry to women. 

If you are willing to admit it, there are some people that just annoy you!  You walk into the room and they are annoying.  Everything they say or do gets under your skin.  The best way to deal with it is to AVOID them, right?  That used to be my solution, but ever since I read this quote the Lord has challenged me to push beyond my initial reactions and learn to love these people through His eyes.  I would like to say that it is easy to do and required a simple prayer, and voila, everything was better.  But in my experience that wasn't always the case.  Often times, it required lots of prayer, denying and fighting against the agreements that my mind and the enemy wanted me to make about those people.

Are you ready for some good news yet?  The good news is that it is worth FIGHTING through the "annoying" attitudes to get to God's perspective on the issues.  I can name at least 4 women (and for all you self-conscious friends of mine out there ~ yes, it was you - just kidding - maybe...:) that used to drive me absolutely crazy, but I applied and fought in this truth - that I cannot settle for what the enemy has to say about them, or over them.  I had to fight for friendship and for Christ's love.  As I look back over the last 8 years, those people whom I fought to love have now become some of my dearest friends and the Lord has bound us together to fight for some very significant areas of freedom.  What I now see, is that the enemy did not want us to become friends because he knew the significant roles we would play for freedom was dependent upon the bond of unity we discovered through God's love.

It is almost humorous to me now when I meet a woman who initially drives me crazy.  I often chuckle to the Lord, "what is it that you have for the three of us together?"  The enemy has also laid off in this area, I believe, because he knows it is not worth his time to try and disrupt this relationship through initial lies and attitudes.

So this post is written to share with you what I believe is one of the most significant, tried and true life lessons that I have faithfully put into practice in my life over the last 8 years.  As you know, I have a passion for the Lord and for people to experience the freedom that only comes through Him.  It is important to put on our spiritual eyes and recognize that not every attitude, emotion and initial response we have to people and situations is correct.  Instead, we need to fight for God's truth and learn to love people the way God loves them, even when it is hard.  Time will prove that it was worth the fight, worth the pain, and worth the denying of yourself to do this.

In Christ,

A glimpse of my parenting perspective

As I have walked through life I have met a lot of people that have pain from their childhoods.  For a variety of reasons, whether traumatic or not, things happened in their youth which they have carried with them into their adulthood.  Often times their parenting styles take on nuances designed to prevent the same type of pain from occurring in their own children's lives.  The goal for them becomes creating a world where their children will be pain free.  While I, myself, have tried this and see the good aspects to it there can also be negative aspects to it as well. This style of parenting is primarily fear-motivated and ends up ignoring the role of the enemy in our lives, how to effectively fight him and how to receive healing from inevitable pain.  Also, this style of parenting can cause parents to be frustrated with themselves and feel like failures because they eventually do fall into the very patterns they are trying to avoid.  The past 8 years of my Christianity I have spent a lot of time allowing God to heal a variety of wounds in my heart.  As I have done that, I have learned more about God's heart toward me and about the enemy's strategies.  I feel like this part of my journey has also changed the way I feel about parenting.

Instead of having "avoiding pain" as our parenting goal, our goal as parents should be to train our children to see Jesus and to know how to access His TRUTH to find healing from pain. My children are still relatively young so in our lives this often translates to ending time-outs in prayer. I have learned in my own life that I cannot do the things I want or need to do without the help of Jesus and that I need to ask for His help. I've also learned that He is more than GENEROUS in providing help in my time of need. My children and I often come into His presence and learn how to rely on Him to move on from our places of need.


Formerly, I thought my goal was to be "Jesus" to my kids; that by looking through me and my life they would then be able to see God.  While the intent of my heart was good, the results were not.  This perspective often caused me to fall into anger and frustration at myself when I failed because I was not able to provide a perfect picture of God.  But God showed me one day that I don't need to be perfect, He had already provided the perfect mediator and that I kept getting in the way.  The following is what I have been learning since that day and applying in my own life.  I am not perfect.  If my children look through me first to see God there will ALWAYS be imperfection in the way and it will blur their picture of God.  How often have you heard people say they cannot understand the Father heart of God because they had an imperfect father here on earth?  The problem comes in because we are translating God first through our human perspective.  This model of parenting goes: 

Kids (see) Parents (then see) God. 

The result of this sytle of parenting is a skewed perspective of God. 

I truly believe our goal instead is to direct our children to see Jesus and see Jesus first:

Kids (see) Jesus (see) God. 

Where are we in all of this.  We are NEXT to our kids looking at Jesus. 

Hebrews 12:2a

Fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith.

We do not need to be the stepping stone to God for our children.  He is more than able to meet them directly.  Instead, we need to teach and train our children to see Jesus and to see the world as Jesus sees it.

How does Jesus see the world? "He (the enemy) has come to steal, kill and destroy (John 10:10a)."  But Jesus also says, "I have come that they may have life, and have it to abundance (John 10:10b)."  Your children WILL have pain in this life because the enemy still exists.  If your goal as a parent is to help them avoid pain at all costs then you will end up being very frustrated because it is an impossible goal. 

What does this style of parenting look like? For me it has been:

1. Being vulnerable with God and allowing Him to heal my heart in many areas. 
2. To learn what spiritual warfare looks like and learning how to fight it. 
3. To take these lessons and principles I've learned and apply them practically with my children.
4. Letting go of the concept of trying to raise children who will never experience pain.
5. My goal instead is to raise warriors who recognize how to fight and when the pain does come, even from me, that they know who and where they can ALWAYS go to find safety and healing.

God has not asked us to be perfect parents.  He has asked us to point the way to Him, the perfect FATHER.  For me the safest place to do this from has been next to my kids, down on my knees instead of standing between Him and them.

(As a bonus: If the pain from your childhood has skewed your perspective of God, take the source of the pain out of the way and put the cross between you and them.  They weren't meant to be there in the first place.  The best step to find healing in that instance is to have YOU then THE CROSS and then the source of pain).

In Christ,

Becoming Untangled from Fear

I recently had the opportunity to watch Disney's newest movie Tangled.  My family and I thoroughly enjoyed the movie and it is currently vying with Cinderella for my favorite Disney movie ever.  One of the reasons it ranks so highly, is because Rapunzel with her green eyes and golden hair reminds me of my own  blond green-eyed princess Mercea.  The other reason it resonates with me is because it opened my eyes to some of the things going on in my own life spiritually right now.  There are two scenes which I would like to share with you.

Background: In case you haven't seen the movie here is a little background.  Tangled is a story about Rapunzel with her long golden hair.  She was born a princess and her hair had magical powers which could bring healing.  As a baby she was kidnapped by an evil woman, Gothel, and placed in a tower so high she could never get free.  Gothel kidnapped Rapunzel because the power of Rapunzel's hair keeps Gothel young forever.  Rapunzel grows up believing that Gothel is her mother.  Gothel tells her that she must never leave the tower because of evil people would mistreat her and use her for her hair. Rapunzel longs to enter the world she sees from her tower but her trust in her "mother" Gothel keeps her locked up in the tower.

Scene 1: There is one scene in the movie when Rapunzel leaves the tower for the first time in her life.  She has felt called to the outside world but is torn because she feels she is rebelling against her mother.  The scene cuts back and forth between the different emotions Rapunzel feels:

She is dancing  and doing cartwheels in a field of flowers.

The next second she is crying because she is afraid.  She remembers all the things her "mother" would tell her about why she must stay locked up in the tower.

The next second she is running and screaming with joy "I'm free!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

The next second she is feeling like the worst person in the world for leaving the tower.

This continues on for several rounds but you get the idea.  Perhaps it's a female thing but I could totally relate.  Before my season of rest, fear was beginning to have a strong hold in my life.  I've been dealing with the fear of death, the fear of failure, the fear of loving my family with abandonment and more.  During my time off I've dealt with all the emotions Rapunzel experienced.  I love being free and God would speak to me about being free and my heart would leap for joy.  Later, however, the places of fear would remind me why I want to stay locked up and not care anymore.  It has been a back and forth emotional teeter-totter as God has been wooing me out of fear into trusting Him.

Scene 2:  This scene was the most powerful scene for me because it "revealed the face of fear" to me.  Rapunzel eventually realizes that Gothel is not her true mother and as it dawns on her she tells Gothel:

"All along you have been telling me that you kept me

 here to protect me from others,

while the truth of the matter is that you

were keeping me here for your own selfish gain."

That was extremely eye-opening for me.  Rapunzel had believed everything Gothel had been telling her because she believed Gothel was telling her those things to protect her.  She realizes, however, that Gothel only said those things to protect herself and it has nothing to do Rapunzel's own good. As you know, I believe we are in a spiritual battle with the enemy.  The words from this scene revealed the motives of the enemy.  He absolutely loves it when we choose to let fear reign in our lives because it keeps us holed up and out of his way.  Yes, fear can masquerade for a while as something good and something that protects you but soon you begin to realize that this isn't where you belong.  As I heard this, it helped me to see that living in these places of fear is not for my good or benefit it is actually for the enemy's benefit and he would more than love to keep whispering these lies and keeping me entangled for his gain.

Whenever God reveals to me the lies I've been living under I ask Him to replace that area with His truth.  So here is what the voice of Truth has to say about fear:

2 Timothy 1:7

For God has not given us a spirit of fear,

 but of power and of love and of a sound mind.

Romans 8:15

The Spirit you received does not make you slaves,

 so that you live in fear again;

rather, the Spirit

 you received brought about your adoption to sonship.

And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.”

John 10:2-3

The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep.

The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice.

He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.



In Christ,

When the going gets tough, what will the tough do?

I was at a Rita Springer concert this last fall. During the concert, she made the following statement, "The Lord told me, I would only write songs out of what I've walked through. I was never to write songs from something I've never experienced." At the time, it kind of bothered me. Obviously, I like to share my opinion and I thought, "Really? Can we not share truth about things we've never experienced?" As time has gone on I am beginning to understand the value of what she said.

Another statement I've often heard people say is, "when you are experiencing times of peace, you should be doing all you can to prepare for times of battle." I had a chance this morning to look through my journal two years ago. I was amazed at how much truth, "how to steps" I was receiving and words of encouragement. At that time in my life, I was faithfully journaling and now I am so grateful for that.

A while back, I wrote about how I felt I was in a desert place. I was hoping I was in the Carcoss Desert (the world's smallest desert) but it appears I might be in the Sahara. Ah well, this morning I realized it was time to stop feeling bad for myself and lamenting about where I am at and that it was time for me to walk out the things that I have learned and taught.

I titled this post, "when the going gets tough what will the tough do" because I asked myself that this morning. I have written and received much truth. Have I "experienced and walked it all out?" Some of the things yes, some of the things no. But I am being presented with the opportunity to apply those truths that I learned in my real life (not just theory) and I am going to do it. Everything I've written over the last year I believe is true. It is summed up in the vision of For His Glory: I believe God is a God of love desires His people to experience freedom in their daily lives. If you are in a time of peace, enjoy and gather up your resources. If you are in a time of battle, be strong, take heart and do that which you know is right.

In Christ,



PS I added a Rita Springer song to my site as the main song this month. It goes along with today's post.

Warning: Do NOT Attempt Alone

Most items today have warning labels attached to them. This lets the user know what dumb and stupid things they should NOT do with the item in order to not get hurt. If Christianity had a warning label attached I think it would say:

WARNING:

DO NOT

ATTEMPT

ALONE

I believe Christianity is best walked out in relationship, not only with God but in partnership with others. Before I go off on my personal opinions let me list a few Scriptures that support this:

• Galatians 6:2: Carry each other's burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.


• Hebrews 10:23 Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.


• James 5:16 Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.


• Titus 2:4-5 Then they (older women) can train the younger women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind, and to be subject to their husbands, so that no one will malign the word of God.

These are just a handful of Scriptures to support what I am saying that Christianity isn't meant to be lived out ALONE. Now many of you are saying, "I don't walk my faith out alone, I attend church service every Sunday." Sunday church is a great way to worship in a corporate setting and to hear the word of God preached but I don't believe the 2-hour event on Sunday morning is enough. When there are 500 people in a service, I don't believe you will be bearing each other's individual burdens, taking time to confess your sins to one another and taking time to train one another.

Now I know we all have busy lives and to add one more "thing" to our plate might break us. I am not saying that one more "thing" be added to our plate, but rather take into consideration being in real relationship with other Christians in whatever it is you are already doing. I am sure you already have events that you are involved in and that there are Christians at those events. Find someone who is trustworthy and begin to cultivate a relationship where you can be real with them.

I believe it is vitally important for you to be looking into another Christian's eyes and being real with each other. Life is HARD and even harder if you try to live it on your own. How many times have you looked at other Christians and said, "Their life must be perfect, I can't be real with them, they have everything together." Then months later you find out that individual is getting divorced, they didn't have everything together. Believing the lie that everyone else has it together causes us to hide in our individual pain and sorrow afraid to share it with others and the result is that we end up crushed, dazed and confused. I've heard enough people's individual stories and I can tell you I have yet to meet someone who "has it all together." We all have areas of weakness, they may not look the same, but everyday everyone ends up having to lean fully on the cross of Christ for guidance, healing and help. One of the ways God ordained for this to take place is in relationship with each other.

I have personally experienced the blessing of being in relationship with others. I am finally at the point where I will swallow my pride and call one of my friends if I am feeling overwhelmed and say, "Pray for me." Every time, I have stepped out in this way I have found relief. Why? Because sometimes we get so stuck in ourselves, we can't see the truth, often times those outside of us can see, hear and minister God's truth to those wounded areas faster then if we did it on our own. The teaching I've heard on the shield of faith states that the Roman soilders' shields were full body but they also could lock together with others. They could literally lock together in a circular shape and then they would be protected on all sides. So when you are putting your armour on, the shield of faith is not only for your individual benefit but it is also to be used for the benefit of those around you!

The Bible describes satan as a roaring lion, wandering around looking for someone to devour. Do you know who lions like to attack? They like to attack the sick ones, the ones that are away from the crowd, the ones out on their own. When animals are in their herd the lions don't want to attack, the lion could get trampled and injured by the herd; their powerful in one on one situations. Please take to heart the analogies the Bible offers us and understand that satan operates in the same way. If you have yourself in the group, in relationship with others, he isn't going to be able to devour you.

The final argument you may have against relationship is that you've tried relationship before and you ended up getting hurt. Brian White always says, "If you are involved in ministry just assume that you are going to get hurt; it will happen." When you are close to someone you will get hurt and you will hurt others. It is inevitable because we are still sinful, selfish people. That is when we have to apply the truth of God's word, through forgiveness and love (love keeps no record of wrong). I have hurt people and I can't think of a person who hasn't hurt me. That doesn't make me shut the door though. What it has helped is to keep my eyes on the right person, Jesus. If you choose to venture out into relationship it is key that you keep Jesus as Jesus in the center and keep others right next to you. The picture I have is this, Jesus is on the cross and we are kneeling with our brothers and sisters in Christ around the cross. We are equals with one another at the foot of the cross. If we spend time staring and critiquing one another, we will take our eyes off of Jesus. Our job in relationship, is to encourage and help one another because this race is hard and we can't do it alone. When you are in relationship with others they are not Jesus, but they are a vessel Jesus will move through. There will be times, however, when it isn't Jesus ministering through them, and to be able to recognize that and let those times fall to the ground is needed. It is better to be wounded by a friend then an enemy (Proverbs 27:6 Wounds from a friend can be trusted, but an enemy multiplies kisses.)!

If you liked this, you might also enjoy reading:
Loving Your Neighbor
How Do You Taste?

Smorgasbord Tuesday: Fruit of the Spirit Self-Control

Okay, get out your box of Kleenex (sniff, sniff) this is the last week with the fruit of the Spirit! This has been a 9 week journey and I hope that you have had as much fun as I have had. Okay, I could go on and on but I'm really just stalling because today's fruit of the Spirit is self-control. Who really wants to talk about self-control? Anyone? I see no hands!

This journey began with the fruit of the Spirit love and I think that was the perfect start, because love is the foundation of this whole thing: knowing that we are loved by God and then giving love to all those around us. The journey ends with self-control and I again think this is the perfect ending to this topic. Just like we can't do any of this without love, self-control is the perfect way to get all those other things we talked about into action.

Self-control as a fruit of the Holy Spirit is a perfect example of this balancing act that we've been in this whole journey. One the one hand, these are fruits of the Holy Spirit and so we know that it is an attribute of God that we get to have in our lives. On the other hand, we know that these fruits aren't just "mystical" things bestowed on us without any effort on our part. Self-control is something that we need to put into action, but we also see that it is a fruit of the Spirit, so to have it in a life-changing way will not exist apart from our relationship with the Holy Spirit! I don't know how you've landed on this journey with understanding this balancing act but I've definitely leaned way more into the Holy Spirit to receive all these fruits than I ever have before, and self-control will be no exception!

As we probably all well know self-control is not an attribute of American culture rather the opposite of self-control i.e. self-indulgence is rampant in our society. From Nike's "Just Do It" to commercials that say "Have it NOW" we and our children are being bombarded by the exact opposite message. I am asking you to take an extra minute to step back with me and see exactly what the Bible has to say about the benefits of self-control in our lives.

Proverbs 25:28
Like a city whose walls are broken down
is a man who lacks self-control.

The full appreciation of this verse is lost on us because of cultural differences, but today's version might say "like a country whose missile defense system is broken, is a man who lacks self-control." As we see in this verse and will see in verses to come self-control is our system of protection. I believe one of the most important things you can teach your children is self-control. The ability to control yourself and not give in to every urge that comes your way will go a long way for your kids. Also, as I said earlier the other fruits such as patience and faithfulness will not work very well unless you have learned to control and stop those initial fleshly reactions.

If you read the book of Titus you will see the word self-control emphasized and given out to everyone. It asks older men, young men, older women and young women to be self-controlled. It also states that elders and deacons should exhibit self-control. We learn in II Timothy that the lack of self-control will be a sign of the last days. Let us, as the people of God, rise above our society and our culture and exhibit self-control and teach our children to be self-controlled. This is not something that is for the "mature" in Christ but it is a necessity for our protection and the protection of the church. We have seen far too often in our culture the damage that is done to the body of Christ when those in leadership are caught in a sin that took place because of the lack of self-control.

I Peter 5:8
Be self-controlled and alert.

Your enemy the devil prowls around

like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.

Resist him, standing firm in the faith.

This verse warns us to be self-controlled and alert. Guess what, you have an enemy out there prowling around and he is looking for a wide open door to run through. It seems like the lack of self-control is one of the ways of opening up the door to the enemy and saying pick on me, pick on me! We, however, can and should resist him and one of the ways we do this is through exhibiting self-control.

I Thessalonians 5:8
But since we belong to the day, let us be self-controlled,

putting on faith and love as a breastplate,

and the hope of salvation as a helmet.

Putting Your Clothes on will be one of the ways you can operate in the area of self-control.

2 Corinthians 10:3-5
For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does.

The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world.

On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds.

We demolish arguments and every pretension

that sets itself up against the knowledge of God,

and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.

A second way to grow in the area of self-control in your life is to take this verses to heart and begin applying them. Take whatever area you are struggling in the area of self-control whether eating, anger, lust etc and begin to submit those thoughts to Christ. We have the power to demolish strongholds. Lets begin doing it!

Smorgasbord Tuesday: Fruit of the Spirit Goodness

Pulasan by the bunch by goosmurf

So how was patience exhibited in you this past week? I was satisfied with my week and found myself intentionally looking to the Holy Spirit when I needed patience. I often thanked Him when I got it. My sister Wendy, checked in on me too during the week and asked me how I was doing in the patience category. She mentioned that the topic of patience had been brought up in her home already 2-3 times early in the week. I love how the Holy Spirit will run through an open door to help bring light to a topic. If you have a minute let me know how patience operated in your life last week.

This week's topic is goodness. I realized as I was getting ready for the post this week that I don't recall ever hearing a sermon on this subject. In addition, I've never really contemplated what goodness actually means or tried specifically to ask the Holy Spirit for more of it in my life. Love, patience, joy ~ those are all things I've thought and heard a lot about. So I'm excited to spotlight this fruit this week. What I have to share in this post comes from what I've already started learning with the Holy Spirit.

I started out by typing "goodness" in the keyword search at Biblegateway.com and was able to see all the times it was used in the Bible. When the word shows up in the OT it is only used in reference to God not man. Then I was reminded of what Jesus said to the rich young ruler, "Why do you call me good? No one is good - except God alone (Mark 10:18)." After contemplating these two thoughts, I was then very humbled that the Holy Spirit offers us the opportunity to have goodness in our life. What I am continually astounded by as we are studying the fruits of the Spirit, is that the fruits are pieces of God, who He is as a person (comes through relationship not religion:). As Jesus said, only God is good, yet because of Jesus we are offered the gift to have goodness in our life. We not only benefit personally by having goodness in our life, but we also benefit others by offering them the goodness of God through our lives (check out How Do You Taste? for more on this topic).

My prayer for this week is rooted in Psalm 139:23-24:

Search me, O God, and know my heart;

test me and know my anxious thoughts.

See if there is any offensive way in me

and lead me in the way everlasting.

Goodness in our lives will only exist because of God and because He offers Himself to us. We need to submit our hearts to God on a daily basis. We learn from Galatians 5 that the fruit of the Spirit is our way to experience freedom in Christ. We have a daily battle occurring between our flesh man and our Spirit man. Just like exercise, it is not enough to know what to do. You can fill your brain with knowledge but at some point if you want to see results you need to apply what you have learned to your life. If you don't apply it you won't see the results. The same is true of our walk with God, it is not enough to know about the fruits, we need to put them into action when we come across a situation where the fruits need to be applied:

Romans 2:13

For it is not those who hear the law

who are righteous in God's sight,

but it is those who obey the law

who will be declared righteous.

So I encourage you to look to God this week to learn more about what His goodness in your life means and how it will look. Remember that:

Ephesians 2:10 says,

For we are God's workmanship,

created in Christ Jesus to do good works,

which God prepared in advance for us to do.

You are God's workmanship, He loves you and has offered all of His goodness to you. He has good works for you to do this week. Keep your eyes open and see how you can bless others on behalf of your Father.

Smorgasbord Tuesday: Distinguishing through taste

“But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. Peacemakers who sow in peace raise a harvest of righteousness.”

James 3:17-18

One of my favorite sayings by John Eldredge is, "You will know them by their fruit." If you are unsure whether the things happening in your life are from God or from the enemy you can figure it out by looking at the fruit of what is happening.

James 3:17-18 provides a glance at the some of the "evidence" that would show us things are coming from heaven. God provides us a "check-off" list to see if things came from Him or from the enemy. Is it pure, is it peace-loving, considerate, full of mercy, impartial and sincere? If you can answer yes to these questions, then you know it is from Him.

The verses prior to this section state some of the evidence we can look for to see if it comes from the enemy:

James 3:13-16

Who is wise and understanding among you?

Let him show it by his good life, by deeds done in the humility

that comes from wisdom. But if you harbor bitter envy and

selfish ambition in your hearts,

do not boast about it or deny the truth.

Such "wisdom" does not come down from heaven

but is earthly, unspiritual, of the devil. For where you have

envy and selfish ambition, there

you find disorder and every evil practice.

I think as Christians we sometimes hurt ourselves by assuming that since we are children of God everything that happens in our life comes from God. We get involved in a situation where we are being hammered and we are surrounded by disorder and evil and we embrace it. The Bible says in Romans 12:9 "Hate was is evil, cling to what is good." I think it is time we start calling things by their face value: evil is evil, we can and should hate it and we can cling to the things that are good and from the Lord.

If you are having trouble defining which category something falls into then run it through the checklist: You will know them by their fruit. I firmly believe we are in a spiritual battle. If we keep running around with our eyes closed thinking the enemy who hate us and is making war against us can't touch us because we are God's children then we will keep getting blown out of the water.

Revelation 12:17

"Then the dragon was enraged at the woman

and went off to make war against the rest of her offspring—

those who obey God's commandments

and hold to the testimony of Jesus."

The sooner we open our eyes and realize that God says we are in a battle and that He has equipped us and has given us the ability to say some things are right and some things are wrong, the sooner we can start fighting effectively.

James 1:2-5

Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him.

1:13-17

When tempted, no one should say, "God is tempting me."

For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone;

but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire,

he is dragged away and enticed. Then, after desire has

conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin,

when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.
Don't be deceived, my dear brothers.

Every good and perfect gift is from above,

coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights,

who does not change like shifting shadows.

If you find yourself caught in a situation where the evidence is from the enemy, don't give in to him. Instead of embracing it and trying to put God's name on it, call it what it is: evil. Then invite Him in to do what only He can do: redeem it and bring good from it. Put Your Clothes On and fight the battle.

Smorgasbord Tuesday

Since I'm new to blogging, I've been looking at other people's blogs to see how to effectively do this thing. It seems a popular thing to do with blogging is to have a Theme Day. It gives the readers something to look forward to and gives the bloggers something to blog about. So I've decided to start a theme day called: Smorgasbord Tuesday.

As I've looked through my posts I have seen a food theme emerging. I had Everlasting Gobstopper, Cream-filled Doughnut and How do you Taste. As you can tell I enjoy food and I like God's Word, so I guess I also like putting the two together hence the emergence of Smorgasbord Tuesday.

Smorgasbord Tuesday will simply be "delicious Scripture" passages for you to meditate on during the week. I will probably add a few comments, etc. I do recommend if you enjoy the Scripture that you write it down on a 3x5 index card and post it somewhere for you to look at later.

Finally, you are always invited to "feast" with me. Food is always more enjoyable when shared with others. So there is an "open invitation" on Tuesday's for you to add your two cents to the Scripture shared or if you have a Scripture burning on your heart to post it, too. So thanks for joining and enjoy!

Isaiah 59:16-20 (a combo of NCV &NKJV)

And He saw that there was no man,

and wondered that there was no intercessor;

therefore His arm brought salvation unto Him,

and His righteousness, it sustained Him.
for He put on righteousness as a breastplate,

and a helmet of salvation upon His head;

and he put on the garments of vengeance for clothing,

and wrapped himself in the coat of his strong love.

According to their deeds, accordingly He will repay,

fury to His adversaries, recompense to His enemies;

to the islands He will repay recompense.
So shall they fear the name of the LORD

from the west and His glory from the rising of the sun.

When the enemy shall come in like a flood,

the Spirit of the LORD shall lift up a standard against him.

I love the book of Isaiah, because you see Jesus so clearly portrayed 300 years before He was even born on earth. The Jesus who is described here is the same yesterday, today and forever! Our Saviour is our Intercessor and he intercedes for us daily (Hebrews 7:25 Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them).

And guess what, do you remember Ephesians 6 (discussed in Put Your Clothes On), don't these clothes Jesus dresses himself in sound familiar? Jesus offers to dress us in the same clothes that He wears when He goes out to battle!

One of my favorite parts from this Scripture is that "he wrapped himself in the coat of his strong love." Wow, what a beautiful picture. Our Redeemer is coming cloaked in love and not just any love but his STRONG love and He is wrapped up in it ~it is not going anywhere!

He will be paying back our enemies!

My last favorite part is "When the enemy comes in like a flood the Spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against Him!" I don't know about you but sometimes I do feel like the enemy comes in like a flood. I am going to rest (or hide) behind the standard the Lord lifts up against him.

Back to Eph 6 it says after we've done everything we are to just stand. I believe we are in a battle but I also believe we have the ultimate Warrior fighting for us and sometimes He asks us just to stand firm wrapped up in His clothes while He steps out and fights on our behalf.

If you find yourself in a battle against the enemy this week hide yourself this week in the Man described in this Scripture and allow Him and His strong love to take vengeance against your enemies.

Enjoy, I'm full!

Breaking the Cycle with TRUTH

I decided to do a little word search on the word "truth" in the Bible. I decided to see how many times it was used. Thanks to Bible Gateway this was a very easy thing to do! In the whole Bible, the word truth is used 228 times. Of those 228 times 104 times it is used in the Gospels. Most of the time it is used by Jesus.

So what, you may ask? Well what started my curiosity was John 8:32 "You will know the truth and the truth will set you free." Jesus is all about speaking the truth and He states that truth is really that powerful ~ that it can set you free.

I then stumbled upon John 16:13 "But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come."

Who is the Spirit of truth = the Holy Spirit and He desires to guide you into all truth!

I've had some major "breakthroughs" in my personal life over the last month. I really attribute it to revelation by the Spirit of truth. Have you ever been caught in a cycle? It seems like you work through something but then a month later the same issue rises up again then you bury it, but it rears its ugly head again a month later and on and on and on....

How do we break these cycles? I really believe it all comes down to finding the Truth. If you are stuck in a never ending cycle then you need to get to the root of the problem ~ the truth of what is causing it. Often the issues we acknowledge and the emotions that surface are the junk we spend our time swimming in. We are not noticing the source which is way down deep. The only way to find the source is to invite the Spirit of truth to guide you into all truth.

For me, it was simply inviting the truth to be revealed. I acknowledged that what I was "understanding and seeing" was not the truth and that there was more to it. I then prayed that it would be revealed. Next I waited and watched (a good thing to do when you make a request). The next time I was approached with the situation, I invited the Holy Spirit to help me not react in my self-defensive ways and to help me to listen and hear the truth. It took a couple of different times of me doing it and it didn't happen as "beautifully" as it sounds in a blog post but when the root was revealed it was an "Ah, ha moment" and it made all the difference in the world. It was like the blinders were lifted off and now I can see. When you understand the TRUTH than you can attack problems at the real source.

So beloved ~ you have within you the Spirit of truth who will guide you into ALL truth. Give Him the chance to guide you, invite Him and then listen!

Part 2: Uprooting a Besetting Sin

Part 2 of 3: This blog will come out in more of a list form because that is the way that I think. I do what to restate, however, that I am just sharing my journey and not a “do these 10 things and you will be over anger list.” I firmly believe that our Christianity is about a journey of walking with God in the midst of our mess. We can learn how to walk effectively by looking at others but even in that we need to take what we learn from others back to God and see how it applies to our lives. So the next 2 postings contain some of the things I learned in my journey:

1. First, I had to acknowledge that I had a problem.

• This may seem obvious but there are a few routes I could have taken instead of acknowledging my problem. I could have said, “I am making too big a deal of this. It’s not like I’m hitting my kids ~ I’m just using words.” Jesus likened lust to adultery and hating your brother to murder. In God’s eyes, sin is sin and it is serious! I was sinning against my kids and God and I needed to acknowledge the seriousness of it.
• The second route I could have taken was it wasn’t my fault. I think I could have stayed there for a while. To me, it was my kids. If they would just learn to obey and wouldn’t test me I wouldn’t have to yell at them. This is a slippery road. Yes, my kids need to learn to obey but that was a totally separate issue than the way I was responding and it did not justify my behavior.
• The last route I could have taken was, “that is just the way I am, it is part of my personality.” I will address this more in depth in another point below. It may be a part of your personality but when it crosses the line it is NOT okay and it is not an excuse for you to remain in that place.

2. I had to walk in humility!

• Again this may seem obvious but it was hard. I had to say sorry to my kids and every single time. I would take my kids and sit on the floor. I would look in their eyes and say sorry that Mommy was wrong and she should not have reacted that way. I would ask them to forgive me and then we would pray together. To me, forgiveness is one of God’s most powerful tools and our kids are so willing to use it. Yes, I know what was happening was hurting their spirits and I needed to stop but I was sooo thankful for the power of forgiveness as I walked down the road to freedom.

3. I surrounded myself with truth.

• Check out my posting called Put your clothes on! This talks about putting on the Spiritual Armor on a daily basis. I realized in trying to uproot this sin that I was in a spiritual battle. I also realized God had equipped me to fight. This was one of the most powerful tools to protect me during the fighting.
• The second set of verses I clung had e putting more clothes on (I personally find them more beautiful to wear than wearing the armor!)
  Colossians 3:12 Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.

4. Get to the bottom of it!

• Anger and most behavioral sins are just a symptom of a bigger problem (remember the posting The Overflow of the Heart). I could chop off the anger but it wouldn’t be getting at what was causing me to be angry. I wish I could say there was this huge revelation, or an incident from my childhood that caused me to be this way. I can’t. I wasn’t raised the way I was acting so that one didn’t work for me. I think sadly enough what it came down to for me was I like to be in control, I don’t like being challenged and I don’t like to fail!
• I had to learn to not take myself so seriously and realize that I was going to be challenged by my kids.
• I had to accept that my kids were going to sin and that was okay. What I mean is they are sinners too, to expect my kids to always obey and always listen perfectly was an unfair expectation. I wasn’t failing when they disobeyed me and so I didn’t need to “protect myself” by lashing out at them.
• I had to take on an eternal perspective. Really, in the light of eternity the little stuff that would cause me to blow up really was not important. The only thing involved that was eternal was their little spirits and that was what I was harming. The fact that we were going to be late and they weren’t cooperating with me was not going to have a lasting effect on eternity!I had to refigure out what my job was. My job was not to control these little creatures who had their own free wills! My job was to train them to make wise choices. I guess that helped me to release this idea of control and take on a new perspective of my job.
• As a side note: For those of you who know my family I am so grateful that my first child was compliant and that I began battling this anger issue before my second one came along! Her name is Mercea Grace (which means Mercy and Grace). I thought we named her that because she was going to be an example of Mercy and Grace to the world. But at least thus far it has been to teach Mommy how to be merciful and graceful! She is one strong willed little girl and I realize that I am probably the one to blame for that! She has a power and a fire to her that I can’t wait to see released for the Lord, but until then…

So that's all for today. There is a little more to the list for tomorrow! I saved the best for last so that you would have a reason to come back.

Uprooting a Besetting Sin Part 1

Well, I told you a few weeks back that one day I would try to blog about my journey out of anger. The next couple of days I will try to do that.

Before I start, let me tell you what I am not doing. I am not giving you “10 steps” to overcoming anger (or a besetting sin). Instead, what I am doing is sharing my journey with you and the things I have learned along the way. Hopefully, whether you struggle with anger or some other stronghold you will be able to glean some new truths that will help you in your journey to overcome.

I guess before I had kids I never really considered myself to be an angry person. But when my son was about 6 months old something seemed to “snap” inside of me. A frustration arose in me and I began reacting angrily. Luckily for me, I had a very compliant first child and so the incidences of anger were far between. But the older he got the more I was being “challenged” and the more I began reacting to him out of anger.

I was never pleased with myself for this and I spent many a time at my bed crying and praying to be different and I couldn’t understand why I couldn’t get control of this thing. At times, I could go for a couple of months without an incidence and then there would be a day when I would break again. For those of you who struggle with anger you might know what I am talking about: a rage would build up inside of me and all I could do was scream to get it out. Unfortunately, I wasn’t alone while this screaming would happen and my son would be the receiver of the anger. It was really frustrating especially when I felt like there were 2 mes: the one watching this happen and saying stop and the other part of me that was screaming.

In October 2007, after 2 years of battling this thing I put a rock in my rock bowl and from that day forward I knew there would be a day when I was free from anger. I would love to say that I never reacted in that way after that but I still did. I do now think it has been about 6 months where I know that I am different and can say I am free from the stronghold of anger that I was under.

So here are the things I have learned along the way in this journey from anger:

First, one reason we fight to be free is to fighting so that the next generation can be free. I hated how I felt when I was angry and it truly did frustrate me that I couldn’t overcome it. I, however, looked at my kids and I did NOT want them to be stuck fighting a stronghold of anger because I wasn’t able to overcome it. My former Pastor Shane Holden used to preach about being a David for your family line and taking out the Goliaths of your family line. I was well aware that one of the reasons I struggled with anger was rooted in generational sin and I did not want to pass it out to my children. However, things did not seem to be changing. I love the idea of being a David for your family and I think there is a very powerful picture. But one thing I’ve learned from all of this is that not every battle can or will be taken out in just one blow. If your mindset is that you just have to throw one rock and it will be over then like me you will get very discouraged with yourself and think that you are doomed to be under this thing for the rest of your life.

Now I do believe there are times when God can and does remove things in one swoop however there are times that He doesn’t and this is the picture that I did get for this circumstance. Of course, at this moment I can’t find the reference but it is in there! In the OT, God says that He did not get rid of all of the Israelites enemies because He wanted them to be able to teach their children how to fight. This to me is sooo powerful and freeing! As Christians, we get so discouraged when we struggle with sin and we think there is something wrong with us. But have you ever thought that maybe we need to learn how to fight? I am so glad in retrospect that God did not just take my anger away. If He had I would have missed out on a lot of character building (which you will see in the upcoming blogs). It also would not have gotten to the root of the problem because at that time I was just concerned about “anger” and not concerned about what was broken inside of me and was causing the anger. Finally, I think I’ve learned how to fight. I do not expect perfection from my kids. I do know that when they grow up they will not be perfect and they are going to have struggles. My firm belief is that they will not struggle with anger because that stronghold has been broken but they will struggle with other issues. One of my jobs now as a parent is to teach them how to fight. Instead of getting down in the dumps that we struggle with sin we can rise up and know that we can be set free and that we do need to learn how to fight for freedom.

So this is part one. There is more to come so check back tomorrow…

The Rockets Red Glare

This one is for my "3rd sister" Amber.

In case you don't know this about me, I've been on a journey pressing in to understand what healing means for today. I read the Bible and hear what God does throughout the OT and NT in regards to miracles and I hear Jesus say "if you ask anything in my name it will be done" & "greater things than this shall you do in my name." I personally am unsatisfied with the level of "miraculous healing" in our time. Don't get me wrong, I see the hand of God move often and in situations but I never ever want to settle for second best. I want to see the dead raised, cancer healed & the lame walk ~ which brings me to my post today.

My "sister" Amber has had a hard year. Her 2 year old nephew died from complications to a disease he had. Her sister just miscarried at 15 weeks along. Throughout this year she has pressed on, fully giving God glory and trusting in His sovereignty. I admire her and all of her courage.

I am not an expert in the least but here are the thoughts that I am leaning on in this stage in my spiritual journey. We are in a battle and sometimes we lose. Unfortunately, the church seems to be losing more than winning and this losing truly effects the lives of real people in real ways. I thank the Lord that He is our Comforter and He will sustain us. To me, however, these are battles that we have lost but for those of us left fighting may these losses push us on to keep fighting and begin winning.

I was at a basketball game the other night and I was singing along with the "Star Spangled Banner" and was caught up in the words "and the rockets red glare, the bombs bursting in air gave proof to the night that our flag was still there." We sing this song all the time to remind us of the cost of our freedom. Real people died on that night, and in all the battles fought for our freedom. And now I am sitting comfortably with my two kids watching a basketball game without a care in the world. The cost of other people's lives and belief in the dream and fight purchased our freedom for us.

It is my sincere pray that the "ones we have lost" are not lost in vain rather that those of us left fighting will keep fighting for freedom. In addition I pray, that my children's generation will receive the benefits of us fighting for the reality of God's miraculous freedom in America. That they can know healing as commonplace instead of the "far between" that it is today.

So even in this battle may we remember: "As the rockets red glare, the bombs bursting in air gave proof to the night that the cross was still there."