Living Light

Stirring The Deep

Author Archives: Rachel


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Why Bad Things Happen to Good People

Why Bad Things Happen to Good People

 

The problem with this statement is there are no good people. Therefore, goodness doesn’t protect us as this phrase implies. I think this is the lesson in the book of Job: not that bad things happen to good people, but that no one is good in the eyes of a holy God so we shouldn’t rely on our perceived goodness. Mark 10:18

In the last chapter, I think the verses Job 42:5-6 reveal what the book is about “I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear, But now my eye sees You. 6 Therefore I abhor myself, And repent in dust and ashes.” Why is Job repenting if he is blameless? Why does he abhor himself if he is one of the most upright men to live?

I believe he finally realized that his goodness and righteousness were nothing compared to a holy God. Instead, we are completely dependent on God’s mercy in every facet of our lives. It isn’t about our goodness because we have none. It is about God’s mercy that covers us. Psalm 33:13-22

The fact that we can never earn our goodness or be truly good is why Christ came. We need someone to stand in our place and do what we never could – fulfill the holy requirements of God. When we accept Christ we accept His life in place of ours. Then God sees us with the righteousness of Christ. It is an incredible sacrifice and amazing gift that affects every area of our lives now and for eternity.

People aren’t divided between good and bad since we all fall short whether feet, inches or centimeters. When we think of “bad” stuff happening, the division lies between those who are God’s people and those who aren’t.

Without God

For those without God in this world (Ephesians 2:12) they are susceptible to the whims of this world, a world governed by evil and death. (1 John 5:19) They suffer by the work of their own hands and by the ways of this world that breed death. Only God is life. Any life apart from Him manifests death despite people trying to convince themselves otherwise.

With God

For those with God, all that happens to them serves the purpose of drawing them closer to Him. Trials, afflictions or sufferings have the ultimate goal of moving us into a more intimate union with God built upon truth and love. God is constantly calling us deeper and deeper into Him. This is why we can sincerely praise God in our troubles, because they aren’t just fostering pain and suffering, they are bringing about newness of life that is united to Him if we are seeking God in them.

God doesn’t want us to remain in these troubled states that is why He promises deliverance from troubles, trials, and afflictions. Yet, difficult times, suffering, and afflictions, have a way of making us call out to God, to trust, to seek Him with passion and fervor in a manner we otherwise wouldn’t do. “Bad” stuff gets our attention, makes us seek, ask, and go deeper into Him and His truth where we find true freedom and deliverance. But for us the bad isn’t bad, it is good if we seek His truth in all things. (Romans 8:28) Even if we are experiencing the consequences of sin, those situations serve the purpose of motivating us to turn from our ways and to His. Only His ways bring life. Everything in our lives is a lesson and an opportunity to draw closer to God if we will seek Him and His truth.

Since God has been the center of my life, my Lord, everything that has happened has brought me closer to Him, which wasn’t the case before. Before I created paths of destruction piling up pain upon pain, now all that happens moves me further into abundant life inside out. Though difficult, hard times have a completely different meaning and purpose. Through them I learn that what I thought was life wasn’t. It was bondage. Then God brings me into true life.

This life isn’t about how good we are; it is about depending and trusting on God’s mercy alone and nothing of ourselves. When we do we will draw near to Him in truth as He desires and our lives will continue to move out from under death and destruction and into life and true abundance.


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Corporate Worship???

Corporate Worship???

 

People talk about needing to be in or part of a church for many reasons and one a often hear is so they can participate in corporate worship, something they feel God has commanded them to do. But what is it that God wants and not what has man engrained in us? I believe God desires worshippers in spirit and truth and it is no longer about a building. John 4:20-24

John 4:23-24 But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. 24 “God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”

Worshippers in spirit and truth are those who have a spirit life born of God and those who seek Him to know Him and His ways so they can be united to Him and honor Him in truth.

Spirit

Worship means to bow down with affection. When we bow down before someone we are recognizing their sovereignty in our lives with adoration. Bowing down is turning over our lives to God’s reign and doing it in love. Only those born of the spirit can worship Him because only those of the spirit have surrendered (bowed down) lives to His Kingship.

Once spirit, only when we are dwelling in a spirit-mindset and not a mindset of the flesh can we worship Him. When we live in the spirit we worship Him and when we live in the flesh we don’t. Romans 1:9 The spirit is surrendered to Him; the flesh rebels against Him. Romans 8:7

Truth

Second He calls us to worship Him in truth. If we don’t exert the energy to intimately know Him and to learn His ways, then how can we worship Him? We are praising some image of Him. Our objective is to venerate Him and not our image of who we want Him to be. To suppose He is whoever we want Him to be is nonsensical, then He wouldn’t be God but we would. We all make assumptions and believe things this very moment that aren’t true about God and don’t know the things that are. We stereotype Him; we fit Him into what we can accept, what we want to believe and what fits our lifestyle. But do we accept this lack of truth or do we passionately search for all He is being mindful that there is much more to be gained?

Acts 17:24-25 God, who made the world and everything in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands. 25 Nor is He worshiped with men’s hands, as though He needed anything, since He gives to all life, breath, and all things. 26 And He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their preappointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings, 27 so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us;

God is seeking relationships not just creatures to worship Him. Coming to Him in spirit and truth is about being in a relationship with Him. He desires an intimate union with us, our heart engaged with His. When we abide in that union, we worship Him with our lives. We don’t worship by simply singing a song, but with hearts born of Him who abide with Him in truth. All we do in our spirit lives: thoughts, actions, words, songs, and prayers worship Him or not. True worship is a state of the heart. Matthew 15:8

Worship as the Body of Christ

As spirits we make up the temple of God, a temple built without hands that holds the Spirit of God. Those of the spirit are united together because we are of one spirit and our lives worship Him. Wherever we are, we are part of the true church and whatever we do in the spirit we worship God together with the rest of the spirits born of Him. Churches are full of believers and non-believers. Only those who are born of the spirit and abiding in truth can worship God so it isn’t about the physical location, it is about those united together in His spirit worshipping with our lives.

It seems that man’s definition of worship is gathering in a building and singing songs with emotion and God’s definition is coming to Him in spirit and truth as the true temple and worshiping Him with our lives, songs and all.


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Power of Thanksgiving

Power of Thanksgiving

Philippians 4:6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God;

My prayer journal is divided into three parts; praise, prayer and insights. And praise being first is essential.

Each morning, I start with praise – thanking God for all that He has done, for all the ways He has revealed Himself to me, for dwelling in His presence and all it entails. It is overwhelming. When I get to my requests my doubts and wavering have subsided, and I present them with conviction, power and faith that every care is His concern and He will provide in the perfect way and time.

This wasn’t always the case. I used to just start pouring out my heart, but my prayers lack the same confidence and faith. Putting praise first I believe made a significant difference in the impact of my prayers because it altered my mind from a state of lack and need to one of power and faith.

I think this resolve is why we are to make our requests know to God with thanksgiving. When we acknowledge all that He has done and who He is to us then it puts our requests in the right perspective – in the hands of a mighty God who loves us more than we can imagine and who is faithful to the end.

Giving thanks fuels our faith so that when we pray we do so with conviction because we focus our minds on the power and love of God at work in our lives. Faith pleases God because it is acting on our beliefs in God’s wisdom and truth, not this world’s. Faith, our beliefs in motion, is the foundation to everything we do. Faith is the power of our lives. It changes the world around us. When we meditate on what He has done it strengthens our beliefs in Him and the power of our beliefs affect our circumstances. If our faith is weak His power will be weak in our lives, if it is strong He will be strong. Matthew 13:58 Faith is everything. Thanksgiving ignites our faith in our prayers.

As I reflected back on this year, all that God has done my jaw drops. I can’t imagine going through this life without God as so many do. Why would anyone what to? Out from under the lies and control of religion . . . what God desires for us is what we all desire deep in our souls.

Without Him this year I would have missed out on; abiding in His presence on a daily basis, experiencing true, unconditional, and pure love to know and to give, witnessing His work in the lives around me, hearing His voice of counsel, guidance, and comfort, enjoying a stronger marriage, healing in several of my relationships, blessed with new meaningful friendships, being set free from fears, healing inside and out, provision during a trying financial year, protection on many levels, peace through a questionable economy, experiencing an underling rest each day, comfort in my soul in the midst of trials, insights into the truth about me and others, understanding about this world, and on and on.

Reflecting back gives me great anticipation as I welcome each new day, how will I see His perfect love played out today? From a gal who once struggled with depression and questioned why live, meeting the day with excitement and anticipation is amazing.

When our lives our infused with Him, He is glorified.


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Hypocrisy vs Immature Spirits

Hypocrisy vs Immature Spirits

 

Hypocrisy, saying one thing and doing another, is one complaint I hear more than most about Christians.

In their brethrens defense, Christians often reply with a chuckle that is why they are in church, they need it!

Hypocrisy on any level shouldn’t be tolerated. Jesus didn’t tolerate it and neither should we among each other. (Matthew 23:28-29, Romans 12:9. James 3:17) Yet, I feel too often we overlook it. We will whisper behind Susie’s back about what she is doing and wonder how she can claim to be a “good Christian” . . . but to her face in private exhorting her in truth and love? We don’t see this accountability very often and possibly because of the fear of appearing self-righteous. It isn’t self-righteous it is love, and we should expect Susie to hold us accountable as well.

However, what I think happens more often than not is what non-believers are witnessing are immature spirits more so than hypocrisy. Immature spirits live mostly in their flesh lives and not of their spirits. And with the mistaken identity of “goodness” hanging over Christians’ heads when others see us not acting in the expected manner then we are called hypocrites. If we don’t claim to be good then we aren’t hypocrites. People misunderstand what authentic Christianity (not the copycat religion of Christianity of following rules, trying to be a good person, and following a strict code of behavior) means; we have to share with them the truth.

1. It is a huge fallacy that being a Christian means you are good. Conversely, it means you realize you aren’t good and never will be and therefore need the goodness of Christ so you can intimately abide in the presence of a Holy God.

2.  Authentic Christianity entails becoming a new creation by having a new spirit born within and from that spirit true life blossoms. The new spirit is born small and needs proper nourishment to grow and mature. When the new spirit grows then it desires to do the will of God. It isn’t a forced obedience but a natural desire. However, because the new spirit co-exists with our old, we will never perfectly do the will of God that is faultless and good, but hopefully we become more inline with it.

3. Christianity isn’t a performance based religion of good works like every other religion. It is a union with God that is made possible when we become a living spirit as He is spirit. The world and religious Christianity imposes rules and behaviors on us, but true Christianity isn’t about rules but being connected to God, us in Him and Him in us. As a result, good things may come from us, but is has nothing to do with us. It is the fruit of God’s Spirit flowing through us because we are connected to Him.

4. This flowing fruit that comes as we surrender our will to His isn’t instant. It takes years of abiding in God’s truth, learning, growing. And even then our flesh is a strong contender to our spirits’ wills. In my experience to live as a new creation is a long process that I imagine will last a lifetime.

5. Authentic Christianity teaches people have no goodness of their own. No one is good but God. Matthew 19:17 The key to understanding this truth is how we define goodness and how God does is different. His goodness is defined by His omniscience, pure love and complete truth – three things no human has. Therefore only He is truly good. The rest of us have warped versions and ideas of goodness. Christians who praise, claim, or try to be good don’t get this truth. They have a copycat religion of because we can’t have our own goodness.

We, Christians, need to be comfortable with who we are and who we are not, and stop claiming, giving and accepting the praise from others that we are good. We all have a desire to be good that is why there are so many performance based religions but that desire is to draw us to God’s goodness not our own. We need to stop focusing on goodness like every other religion and put our energy into cultivating a relationship with God, what the gospel is all about.

Our response to the accusers shouldn’t be to excuse our brethren, but to say to you are right, hypocrisy is wrong and educate them on who we truly are – we aren’t about goodness we are about abiding in a relationship with God and if good flows from that then give credit where credit is due.

Psalm 71:16 I will go in the strength of the Lord GOD; I will make mention of Your righteousness, of Yours only.


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God’s Workmanship, Not Ours

God’s Workmanship, Not Ours

 

One of the most difficult areas for me to learn to trust in God has been internal change. I am bit of a perfectionist . . . and when I don’t like something about myself I try my best to fix it. Before God became the center of my life, I was a slave to self-improvement. I tried endlessly to be a better and stronger person prompted from a past that left me passive, withdrawn, defensive and closed off.

I can fix me. How hard can it be? Isn’t that the one thing we do control? Isn’t that what the billion dollar industry of self-help is all about? In my stubbornness and impatience of wanting to be different right now, for years I carried the burden of trying to change and never sought God’s help. The uncertainty of His timing and if He would help at all was too great a risk. Sure, I would superficially ask for His help, but I continued to hold on to and trust my latest instant gratification scheme. We either trust Him or ourselves. Blindly, I opted for me because I didn’t know Him enough to trust Him.

As the years passed, I set out to know Him. Then one day the power of these verses drew me in and set me free from the endless unsuccessful attempts to inner transformations.

Ephesians 2:10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.

Psalm 29:1-2a Give unto the Lord, O you mighty ones, Give unto the Lord glory and strength. 2 Give unto the Lord the glory due to His name;

God showed me how tightly I was holding onto my power to change and not attributing power to Him. He was the one to work in me and I needed to trust in His power to do so and stop trying to develop my own strength and glory. With this new awareness and finally admitting my efforts had been in vain, I vowed to stop. I started to sincerely ask for His help.

Surrendering to His timing and His methods wasn’t easy. It felt like letting go of a steering wheel going 60 miles an hour and trusting someone you can’t see to grab a hold. But I got rid of all my books, stopped trying to do it myself and let Him take the wheel. He probed into the depths of my soul and traversed places I didn’t know existed. He went to my core and worked outward. In time, I started to change for the first time, one layer at a time. My soul has become a fountain of praise for all the afflictions He has healed. Once I saw His work in a few areas it became easier to trust Him with the rest.

We, the problem, can’t fix ourselves because we are the problem. We can masquerade temporary alterations, but true change is only possible by someone outside ourselves who is bigger and more powerful working in us. We go to the symptoms and God goes to the core, a core whose details we are rarely consciously aware of until He shows us. With new awareness, I stepped aside and started giving God strength in my life by believing He would and could work in me in all areas. That journey set me on the path to freedom and continues today.

I still have to remind myself when things come up to leave the work to Him. And today I write to remind myself to let go. He works in me. It is His job. Mine is to trust in His work, rest in His promises, follow Him His lead, surrender to His timing and be still and know He is MY God.

God loves us more than we can comprehend. He doesn’t want us trapped in afflictions and states of mind that bind us. Afflictions are to motivate us to search for Him and His ways that are perfect in love and truth and set us free. He wants us to be free, healthy and thriving. But He is the one to take us there. He is the only one who can. I have pushed, tried and work long and hard enough to know my efforts are fruitless and in vain.


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The Father Connection

The Father Connection

 

From personal experience and from a multitude of conversations, I see a very strong correlation between the type of relationship we have or had with our earthly father and the type of relationship we have with God . . . initially.

Unfortunately, many of our dads have given us negative ideas of what a father is: selfish, controlling, neglectful, abusive, overbearing, pushover, passive, and tyrannical. These poor images are often obstacles to overcome when we are seeking the truth of the character of God. Our dads’ traits create a framework of what a father means to us. Initially, we place that structure onto God, good or bad.

If your dad abandoned you, you believe God will leave you, if he was difficult to please, you think God is never satisfied, if he was distant, God seems inaccessible, if he gave conditional love, God will withdraw His love, if he was judgmental, God is seen as critical, and if he rejected you, you believe God will. On the other hand, if your dad gave you security, God is secure, if he protected you, God is your shelter, if he gave unreserved love, God gives unconditionally, if he was accepting, God will receive you no matter what, and if he was involved, God is too. Our challenge is to seek who God truly is and not what our particular experience of a dad dictates.

Whether we call him dad, daddy, pop, pops, poppa, father, sir or nothing because he wasn’t there, we all have dads who made a tremendous impact on how we view God. To understand that our natural inclination is to put our dad-filter onto God is the first step in learning the truth about Him. Without this self-reflection, we walk around unknowingly believing misconceptions about God. We will relate to Him not as He is but as our filter dictates. Our beliefs are everything and therefore it is important to abide in the Word to get to know Him as He is. It is essential to our lives, because God is life, to remove our old dusty filters and replace it with the pure, true reality.

John 8:32 “And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”

Understanding and acknowledging the impact that our dads have on our perception of God helps us to move closer to understanding who He is and therefore gain the relationship we were meant to have with Him. His intimate presence in our lives is His desire for us and to realize that most us have misunderstood who He is as a father is a monumental step to a fulfilling that purpose.

I have an amazing father. I am very blessed because he instilled in me trust, security, mercy, and love, which made it easier for me to believe and accept these traits in my relationship with God. However, it doesn’t require a good dad to be intimate with God. I have friends whose fathers were distant and negligent and God has filled a very special void in their lives creating an incredible bond. We didn’t choose our fathers. God chose them for us regardless of how they were to draw us to Him.

Me and My Dad

Me and My Dad

The intense hunger for an idyllic dad was placed in us by God to be ultimately for Him. Therefore, we are to seek Him to fill this role because He is the only One who can. If we continue to look to our earthly dads to fulfill it or have suppressed the desire out of continued disappointment we will never find what our souls hunger for. God created us with this yearning that we might grope for Him.

Just realizing this connection doesn’t change it but it is an essential step because it puts our hearts in a seeking mode. We have to personally dive into God’s Word and learn who He is. Our heavenly Father far surpasses any concept we have a dad and He wants to reveal this side of Himself to each one of us in a personal way. As always, our part is to seek.

Take a piece of paper divide it into two columns. Write down all the characteristics of your earthly father. On the other side write down all the characteristics you currently believe about God and be honest. Don’t write what you have heard, write what you believe. How does He respond when you do something good? How does He respond when you do something bad? What does He think about you? And so on.

Then start seeking out who God truly is in the Word. Write down the verses where He is telling you who He is as your perfect eternal Father. Try not to filter but come with an open heart to know Him as He is. If we seek, we will find.


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Living Free Because of Christ

Living Free Because of Christ

 

In Ginny Owens’ song Free, she sings we have been made free. Free in every way including free to dance without concern or worry because of God’s great love toward us. Yet, how many of us experience this light heartedness on a daily basis that moves us to dance before our Lord like King David? 2 Samuel 6:14 “Then David danced before the Lord with all his might; and David was wearing a linen ephod.”

Jesus Christ came to set us free. Isaiah 61:1 Not only did He bring freedom from the bondage of sin and its penalty of death, but also He brought it to every area of our lives. Freedom from troubles, afflictions and fears. Psalm 34:4, 17, 19  Freedom from worry, anxiety, and concern. Matthew 6:25-34  Freedom from proving, earning, and striving for internal wholeness. Colossians 2:10 And so on.

The freest people in the world are those who are completely surrendered to God. Sounds like a paradox, but I have found it true in my life. When we believe, trust and live by the ways of God we experience freedom for our souls. It is God’s design. We follow Him and we live free. All this world offers puts us in bondage in one way or another because it is counter to the ways of God. Only living in God’s truth do we experience true freedom. Most believe the opposite is true. That He binds us to rules and regulations. But this is not the God I have met.

Take a glimpse at what God does for us:

Changes our circumstances to help us
Moves the minds and hearts of others in our favor
Gives us purpose, value, meaning
Opens doors, closes doors
Heals us, blesses us
Renews our minds to what is true and real
Gives us a spirit of power, love and a sound mind
Fills us with His love to pour into others
Delivers us from poor decisions
Gives us mercy for our foolishness, gives us what we don’t deserve
Defends, protects, and delivers from the evil plans of others
Makes our paths smooth
Fights for us
Gives us insight, direction, counsel
Provides for our needs internal and external

As for His rules, they all boil down to love. True love doesn’t bind, but frees. Oppressive rules and regulations come from man’s ill attempt to speak and work on God’s behalf to control others.

There is nothing God won’t do to bring about good in our lives if we seek, ask and trust. Psalm 84:11 God is in control of everything, therefore there is no limit to what He can do for us in any given circumstance. Tremendous freedoms come when we aren’t limited to ourselves or others but have God on our side working for us.

The main hindrance to living free outside of lack of knowledge is trust. Trust is the result of continually seeking Him with all our heart, soul, mind and strength. It is born out of an intimate relationship with Him; a relationship that requires time, attention and devotion to nurture. When I feel the weight of a chain wrapped around my ankle keeping me from dancing, I know it is because of lack of trust. God is on my side. What do I have to fear or be worried about? Is His love to small or His power to weak? The truth is in my mind but it has yet to fully become my truth, because when it is mine I am free.

My husband said trust is like a light shining into our souls that extinguishes fear. Trust and fear can’t coexist at any one time and fear is the core emotion that keeps most of us from dancing. Because we have lived for years in a reactive mindset of fear, it is easy for this habitual response to take over.  Though it may sneak in we no longer have to succumb to it.

Our response to its invasion? Abide in His truth. As we continue to fill our minds with His Word we will start to think and respond differently. For seven years, I have been intimately seeking God in His Word. He has dispelled many fears, worries, and afflictions. What lingers is a remnant of what once was. Though fears still creep in they are fewer in number and less powerful than they use to be. I have found the path to freedom to conqueror what remains – abiding in His presence in His Word.

For believers, fear is an illusion. The truth is we are in the palm of a mighty, powerful God who loves us beyond measure. He desires to show Himself strong to those who are loyal to Him. 2 Chronicles 16:7 He desires for you and me to know Him as God in our lives. He wants to show Himself to us, but He wants us to seek Him with all our heart, soul and mind. When we seek our trust will grow, His promises will manifest in our lives, and we will dance with all our might because we are living free in the arms of a mighty loving God.

2 Samuel 22:33 God is my strength and power, and He makes my way perfect.


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Biblical Meditation

Biblical Meditation

 

Don’t worry . . . I haven’t been corrupted by eastern religion, but I have found a nugget of truth in amongst their practices . . . meditation. However, biblical meditation isn’t an emptying of the mind, but a focused filling of God’s truth.

I recently started practicing a few minutes of meditation after my quiet time each day. After I shut my Bible and my notebook I close my eyes, relax my body, and sit in silence and solitude dwelling in my Lord’s presence. Even with the short amount of time I spend in this simple act, I am amazed at the effects it has on my spirit. I have found being in a meditative state is empowering in many ways and here are a few:

• It evokes a state of trust in God’s power and not my efforts. When I feel I should be getting on with the day, I sit still and focus on Him. It forces me to trust Him to be my strength to accomplish all that I need to that day because I am not rushing off, but simply being with Him. The days I have the most do to are the hardest to be still but those are the days I need it the most.

• It encourages me because I am focusing on one or more attributes of God or a verse. For example, I may focus on His love and its consuming nature in my life. How I feel after spending 5-10 minutes focusing on any of His attributes or truths after being in His Word is solid, grounded, secure, hopeful, strengthened and grateful. The two working together, abiding in and meditating on His Word, put me in the right frame of mind for whatever lies ahead that day.

• It puts me in a mindset of resting in Him. I am a proficient task master. The under current of my life is efficiency and getting things done. Meditating forces me to come out of that state of mind and simply rest. The unwinding and letting go does wonders for my soul, mind and body. I am trying to incorporate that state of rest throughout the day and starting it off with meditation is fundamental.

The practice of meditation has gotten a bad rap because of pagan associations or no rap at all in the Christian community. As a result, we are missing out on the benefits of being still and knowing God is God in our lives. We need this discipline more than ever before in our busy, over-stimulating, and demanding world. Not to mention, in a world that has forgotten the power of God and relies on man’s power, intellect, wisdom and strength. We have been so inundated with doing and we have lost the art of being.

Psalm 46:10 Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!

Our duty is to call upon God, believe, trust and rest in Him. His part is to work through us, but many of us try to take on His job. Biblical meditation, being still in presence of God and focusing on His truth, helps to train us to do our part and let Him do His. It prepares our minds to let go and let Him work through us and not in our own strength.

If you aren’t currently spending time each day meditating after being in His Word, I would encourage you to try it.  If you are like me you will find it difficult to be still. Our restlessness reveals how much we don’t trust and rest in Him as He commands us. But as we continue to be still, our spirits learn to give in and let go. It is a simple act that accomplishes a lot in our lives as are most things with God. In addition, when we stop and enter into a state of trust and rest we honor God because we are acknowledging Him as God in our lives.

Here is a link to an article with some interesting points and ideas on biblical meditation.


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The “Energy” We Project

The “Energy” We Project

Sofi & Malcom

Sophie & Malcolm

This past week we got two Ragdolls kittens . . . adorable does not suffice to describe them and any picture doesn’t do them justice.

Now that we are pet owners we have been taping episodes of Dog Whisper. I know they are cats, but Cesar Millian, the Dog whisper, has fantastic insights into animals in general. The other day he delivered another one – animals respond to our energy, period.

Every living thing responds to our energy – plants, animals, and people. The energy we put off is the key to healthy plants, sweet loving pets, and good relationships.

The Bible teaches us this same truth but it instead of energy it describes this soulful projective power as heart. If our heart is hateful, negative, critical, judgmental, resentful, fearful, or anxious that is what people will feel and respond to regardless of what we say or do. If it is full of truth, love, understanding, forgiveness, mercy, peace, and calm that is what others will feel and respond to. People react to what we project from our heart, not so much our words or actions. Therefore, our heart or energy affects the outcome of our interactions.

Consider for a moment the ripple effect of this underlining constant dynamic in our families, our marriages, at work, and with our children. Often the problem in our relationships is what we are communicating when we are just standing there without saying a word.

For example, how many times has someone said or did the right thing but you knew he or she felt negatively about you? People can’t hide their true colors. We may not know exactly what they think but we can sense the hypocrisy of their words and actions. We can’t stand when others do this to us, but yet we do it all the time.

Because the state of our heart affects us and everything around us, it is what matters above all to God. Remember the sum of all commandments? Love God then others. Love comes from the heart. If we are bound by rules and force goodness then we are a negative testimony to the love of God. We actually do more harm than good. We are to love from the heart not wear valentine masks painted in red and pink. And God is the only one to make our love toward others increase and abound. Unfortunately many think it is in their power and duty to manifest love.

1 Thessalonians 3:12 And may the Lord make you increase and abound in love to one another and to all, just as we do to you

Christianity is all about love and love flows from the heart. That is why He gives us a new heart. He doesn’t repair the old, but replaces it for one that is a part of Him and capable of giving His pure love grounded in truth. However this heart starts small and needs nourishment in His Word to grow. When it does and we begin to live from the heart of the spirit and not the flesh then that pure love manifests relationships as they were intended to be whether with Him or others.

Our important role is to seek God’s love by abiding in His Word and wait for His work in us. If we don’t seek and ask we don’t receive. If we force it or try to fake it we end up being the worse hypocrites of all – professing God’s love and giving a warped decrepit version of our own.

If we seek God’s love then in time little by little it will consume our lives. It is a process that takes time and there is nothing instant about it from my experience. It takes time to know God and to cultivate a relationship of trust so we can truly surrender our lives. Then we can yield to Him, be filled with Him, and let down our walls to let His love flow through us and out to others.

It is better to admit we are a work in progress than be a counterfeit. Because people feel our hearts, if we try to pretend and neglect to wait on His true love our testimony of who God is destroyed. We end up pushing people away from God instead of toward Him.

Abide in Him and wait for God to truly transform you so that your words and actions come from a place of love. If you want love then spend time with the One who is the source of true love. We need a new thriving heart of Him to experience any true change otherwise we are putting perfume on a stinking corpse. Waiting is hard, but when you begin to see a real difference in your soul your praise will be true and glorifying to God. Then when people experience your love there will be no doubt your love is of God and not you. His love is the most important and best energy we can project.


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Who Do You Trust?

Who Do You Trust?

 

Who do you trust: John McCain, Barack Obama, Sarah Palin, Joe Biden, the government, religious intuitions, the media, the financial system, or big business? Trust in any man or system is building on a foundation of sand. Who knows when the wind will come and stir them up, tear them down, and wipe them out?

Times like these put our trust to the test. Once again we are being tossed about in a huge wind tunnel, this time a failing economy, to see who will trust what. The choice is between trust in people and institutions whose bottom line is profits or trust in God whose bottom line is love. If we chose the former then our sandcastles will fall because the wind is upon us. For further explanation read the Three Little Pigs .

When we trust God we don’t fear man or his ignorant ways but we fear God because He controls everything including money. And for His true flock they have nothing to fear. When the Lord is your portion, you have everything, He is on your side, He fights for you and He is your hope. Think about that for a moment.

Psalm 118:6 The Lord is on my side; I will not fear. What can man do to me?

Lamentations 3:24 “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul, “Therefore I hope in Him!”

In these times and all times I chose to trust God, the One to controls the wind. That way any interaction I have with others and institutions, which it is unavoidable living in this world, I will be encased in the protection, love and the sovereignty of God. Otherwise, my life will be at the whim of the world. Ephesians 2:12

Psalm 91:2 I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress; My God, in Him I will trust.”

Trusting is Hard

However, trust in God is easy to say and hard to do with sincerity and conviction. It is difficult and it takes time. It is difficult because God’s ways aren’t our ways. It takes time because trust is the fruit of cultivating a personal relationship with the God.

The majority of us lack authentic trust because most have neglected to nurture a genuine relationship built on knowledge. God is God we can’t change Him to fit our preferences though that is what we try to do. It is personal battle to trust God, because we are facing the truth that we aren’t in control. If we are honest with ourselves, most of us prefer a god that we can bribe, influence and control to some extent – in other words for us to be God. It is a battle we all face but it is worth the struggle to come to a point of surrendering to His sovereignity, because that is the only solid ground there is.

Yet, most don’t bother to really engage God and they lack a personal relationship built on knowledge as a result. They trust in a two dimensional god-like image created by their minds and when times like this come that vaporware trust is worthless. Their trust is like clothes in the story The Emperor’s New Clothes. An artificial relationship with God creating false trust can’t protect, defend, or provide. It can only leave them naked and vulnerable. Therefore their trust is in vain.

Hosea 4:6 My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I also will reject you from being priest for Me; Because you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children.

I don’t know about you, but I want a solid trust in the True God because this world in all areas has been screaming lately – YOU CAN’T TRUST ME! Going through the trials of putting self aside is nothing compared to the reward of a real relationship with our Creator. I am fighting my fear and lack of trust in Him, how about you?

Mark 9:24 Immediately the father of the child cried out and said with tears, “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!”

How to Gain Trust

How do we cultivate authentic trust? We abide in the words that God gave us about Himself. Like a spouse, we listen, cherish and long to spend time with Him in intimate conversations in His Word. Trust comes from knowing.

God is calling us to come to Him in truth and spirit. Are we listening? Do we really care what He has to say in ALL 66 books? Do we really want a relationship with Him or just to be bailed out? Christ came to give us a personal a relationship. He won’t settle for less. As Kay Arthur stated last night at a gathering of the Women in Christian Media, “the Word of God is lost in the House of God.” We have pushed the Word of God aside and put everything else above our first love including laundry. We have neglected Him and acted in self-righteous arrogance. But if we humble ourselves and come back to Him, not our images of Him, in His Word and put it as THE priority in our lives, then He will be our first love, the object of our trust and we will be safe in His hands.

Psalm 91:14-15 Because he has set his love upon Me, therefore I will deliver him;
I will set him on high, because he has known My name. 15 He shall call upon Me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him and honor him.

Psalm 37:40 And the Lord shall help them and deliver them; He shall deliver them from the wicked, And save them, Because they trust in Him.

2 Chronicles 16:9 For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him. In this you have done foolishly; therefore from now on you shall have wars.”