You turned my wailing into dancing; you removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy, that my heart may sing to you and not be silent. O Lord my God, I will give you thanks forever.
Psalm 30:11-12

It brings me so much peace in times of trouble to know that everything that Christians go through in this life has been sifted through the loving hand of God the Father first. When I encounter difficulties whether they be with finances, friends or family I can know that the Lord has given His approval for this situation to occur. His reason is always to draw me nearer to Him and teach me one more thing about becoming Christlike.

When Paul tells us in Romans 8:28, “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose”, we know because of verse 29 that the word good here means “that which conforms us to the likeness of his Son.” Now to allow this trial to conform me to His Son’s image I must have the proper response to it.

The first response can be found in James 1:2. I must consider this trial pure joy. Joy? Yes joy, because I must understand that the testing of my faith develops perseverance. Next I thank the Lord for this trial, yes now I’m saying that we should be thankful in tribulation. With a proper response we already know by faith that we will grow through this trial as we go through it. I want nothing more in my life than to be like Christ my Savior and if suffering will do this, then (as I breathe a deep sigh) bring it on. I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength.

And finally for me, my next response is to drop to my knees and ask my God what it is that He would have me do; what is it that He would have me learn? I already know that the trial, no matter what it looks like to the secular world, is a spiritual battle. Ephesians 6:12 says, “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” And God has made it clear to us many times over that spiritual battles are not to be fought in our might but the Lord’s. “For the battle is not yours, but God’s”, 2 Chronicles 20:15.

So as I wait on the Lord, I pray. I pray that He would show me any sin, that He would make a clear path for me to follow and that He would guide my thoughts and actions so that only His Will be done.

Lord God, I pray for all that will read this, that You would fill them, as well as me, with the knowledge of your will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding. I pray this in order that we may live lives worthy of You, Lord, and please You in every way; bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of You, being strengthened with all power according to Your glorious might so that we may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully give thanks to You the Father in all circumstances.
Amen and Amen

I have not updated lately and I really don’t have all that much time to do so even now. Yet I just wanted to stop by my blog tonight and wish all of you a very, merry Christmas. May the joy of the season and the life of the Son overwhelm you today and throughout the coming new year. Merry Christmas!

Luke 2:1-20

In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) And everyone went to their own town to register.

So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them.

And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”

Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,

“Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”

When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”

So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.

There is a humbleness or humility that pervades our society today that is not biblical. It is a false humility that the enemy deceives us into thinking is exactly what God desires of us. Satan would have us believe that we are to have a low opinion of ourselves and our God-given talents and abilities. He rejoices when we continually try to convince ourselves of our pitiful position in life, no matter what we actually believe.

In this way, the successful businessman may think being humble is considering himself to be inadequate and the talented dancer might believe denying her dancing ability in public is displaying humility.  Not only are they trying to believe what is not true; they are spending valuable time reflecting only on themselves.

One definition of Biblical humility I found stated, “not the making of one’s self small when he is really great, but thinking little of one’s self, because this is in a sense the right estimate for any human being, however great.” So we aren’t supposed to be trying to think little of ourselves when down deep we are really quite impressed with ourselves, that’s false humility. The above definition is a good one, but I believe there is much more to it than that.

True Biblical humbleness is something quite unique. Biblical humbleness is first understanding we are nothing without Christ. He is our next breath, our very life. If there is any good in us it is only because of Christ. Once we recognize this truth, we can finally see ourselves as no more valuable than any other human on this earth. But hang in there a second because now we’re getting to the good stuff, the easily palatable truths. We have established that we are the ones in need of God, not the other way around. But guess what, He wants us. He may not need us, but He loves us and wants us. The Lord God Almighty loves us beyond words and His greatest desire is to walk with us, or I should say that He desires that we walk with Him. He wants this for not only you, but for me and for everyone on this earth. He desires to have a relationship with every single person He created. Having become the humble people that we are, we want this for all who He created also. We rejoice when others are willing. Having no bias one way or the other, we also rejoice when our Creator God uses others in mighty ways. We rejoice when Godly talents are used to glorify the God we so love, whether it be by ourselves, a loved one, or a brother or sister we have not yet come to know. Just let God be glorified!

Biblical humbleness is when God allows us to be completely stripped of all of our disgusting self-love and clothed in His unselfish, unbiased love for all people. It is true humility when one displays it with no thought or effort on his part. Biblical humility brings glory to God.

I marvel at God’s unmerited favor toward us each time I read this by C.S. Lewis, “He [God] really loves [those] He has created and always gives back to them with His right hand what He has taken away with His left.”

Heavenly Father,
Your goodness and love towards us is simply amazing. Your word tells us that no eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what You have prepared for those who love You and I believe this truth more every day. Your ways are so far above our ways. You take from us the self-love what will so hinder our walk with you and restore to us love that is not selfish but kind, patient and selfless. Thank you Lord for your love that not only covers me but also fills me.
In the powerful name of Jesus, Amen

Do you keep a journal? Maybe a prayer journal?

Have you ever read through an entry that was written years back and felt your heart nearly leap from your chest because as you sit in stunned amazement you come to realize that God did everything and more than you asked for there in writing?

I’ve just had such a moment reading through this old entry from 2007:

LABORED ATTENDANCE

Twice in the 12+ years I’ve known the Lord I have felt completely and totally ensconced in a church. I have been: involved, encouraged, taught, stretched, plugged-in, an-integral-part-of, needed, and thrilled to be there. Only twice.

In the first church, I enjoyed this for two years and in the second, three years. And when I say “the first” I mean it literally but “the second” is said only figuratively. There were many churches and many years in between those two experiences. So many that I began to think that my very first church experience of feeling truly a part of a family was quite the anomaly. I wished we had never moved out of state and longed to be a part of this first church again. When I finally “belonged” once again I purposed never to leave this church. I purposed; my sovereign God had other plans.

Currently we attend a very nice church along with a very nice body of believers in a very nice, brand new building. Each Sunday we sit in very nice chairs listening to a very nice sermon. It’s all very nice. Really. Nice.

And I want so much more than nice.

I want passion and belonging; I want accountability, conviction, and tears. I want to gasp and hold my breath, without even realizing it, as I hear the Holy Spirit speak through the words of the pastor. I want a sermon that makes me hang my head and silently weep for forgiveness. And then just as it so often happens when I read the Psalms, I want that same sermon to point me to the God who loves faithfully so I am lifted from my pit of despair, buoyed by His grace. I want to be needed in this fantasy church but not in the nursery or children’s ministry where they send all the newest volunteers. Haven’t I paid those dues? I want to be used in a ministry that reaches outside of the church to love the unlovely and to care for those who can’t care for themselves.

I’m tired of church ministries that only care for their own.

I’m tired of nice. I want more.

And I want to find a church that is filled with believers who feel the same.

And here I sit, just 4 years later, in that very group of believers that I described. One year ago we began attending a brand new church plant without realizing that it would be the answer to our prayers. You can even read here how unlikely I felt it was that this church would be the perfect fit for us. But oh how it is. Perfect for us that is.

We love ONEchapel. We love the Pastor, Ross Parsley and his wife Aimee. We love all of our church family members and how they love us and others. They are passionate about Christ and bringing others into relationship with Him.

We are once again ensconced in a church family and we are thrilled.

I do feel bad about one thing I wrote in the post above though and that is concerning the children’s ministry. I certainly didn’t mean to sound like I don’t like children. I’ve had three and still love them after all these years.

It is just not my calling and yet I’ve always been placed there. It happens in some churches.

I’ve seen how this ministry is supposed to work though here at ONEchapel. I’ve seen the passion and love that exude from those who feel called to serve in children’s ministry. Our children deserve no less.

Labor Day, for most it means a three-day weekend, a relaxing end to summer spent grilling out with friends and family. It means swimming for one of the last times of the year, potato salad, watermelon, and don’t forget the brownies. It kicks off the more organized, less chaotic, scheduled life of school, work, Bible studies and the like.

Not this Labor Day though. Not for us anyway.

This Labor Day weekend in Texas saw the beginning of the worst wildfires in Texas history. As I type this the Bastrop fire continues to burn days later. Hundreds, with the possiblility of it being well over a thousand, of homes have been lost in this one fire alone. We Texans have officially survived the hottest summer on record for any state, ever. EVER. Coupled with the worst single year for drought the combination was a set up for the perfect storm, the perfect fire storm that is.

On Sunday of this past weekend, I came home from the movies to find my husband locating and packing up our important papers, pictures, cameras,  computers, jewelry, and of course the recipe box. I mean what man wouldn’t think of packing up his wife’s recipes. A man who likes to eat does! We had been alerted that we may have to evacuate because of a fire headed our way.

It’s surreal wandering around your house looking for keepsakes, things that can’t be replaced by a check from the insurance company. It makes you think and reevaluate. It brought me to the conclusion that I own a lot of nothing. Now don’t get me wrong, I love my life, family and my home. We have some nice things and some sort of “okay” things. What I mean is, none of it really meant anything when I was faced with losing it.

My sons are away at college so they were both safe. My husband and daughter were here with me and we had plenty of time to get to safety should we need to leave. Other than people, nothing really matters. Warning the neighbors who hadn’t heard, that mattered.

Now this may sound strange but I stood in my bedroom, looking at my twenty-year-old bedroom set, actually thankful that God had not given me all of the things that I had always told him I wanted. I don’t want to be so in love with this world and it’s trappings that I forget what’s really important. I don’t want to be so comfortable that my comfort zone becomes a prison disguised as paradise.

I know that the only reason I felt this way is because I know the unfathomable love of Christ.

God spared our home but so many others are not able to say that today and my heart breaks for them.

More importantly though, most people in this world can’t say that they know the unfathomable love of Christ either and that breaks my heart far more.

Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.”

Do you recall this verse in John Chapter 4? Jesus is talking to a Samaritan woman. As I was reading the other day I realized that this one verse speaks volumes of who Jesus is.

It is the sixth hour, which is around noon and Jesus asks the woman to draw Him some water from the well. She responds with complete surprise not only because people normally drew water at the end of the day but also because she is a Samaritan and being a Jew He would be considered ceremonially unclean for even having touched the same drinking cup as she did. What He is asking is extraordinary. Jesus has such a way of confounding the merely religious, doesn’t He?

Now if we are honest with ourselves, there are also statements that Jesus has made that us, his disciples who believe we are free of religion, find extraordinary and difficult to comprehend. And when our response is to question Him, we can imagine that His answer is the same to us as it is to this woman. “If you knew,” say it with me … “If you knew the gift of God,” now stop there and ponder just those seven words. “If you knew the gift of God.” If I truly know the gift of God, Jesus, why would I ever question anything He says? How could I dare? Revere Him, and fear Him sure. Honor, worship, adore, esteem, and praise Him, absolutely. Trust Him, glorify Him, magnify Him, and exalt His holy name, without a doubt. But question Him, no never, not if I know Him intimately.

And then Jesus tells us if you know Me “you would have asked … and (I) would have given….” If we truly know Him – His character, His will – we can ask and His immediate response is to give. We see this happen again and again in the New Testament. It’s time to take God at His Word, to delight ourselves in Him so He can give us the desires of our hearts. Remember what He has told us; no good thing will be withheld from him who walks uprightly.

If you are reading my thoughts today and you do not know Jesus personally, I have some wonderful news for you. There is something even you can ask Him for right now and be assured of getting. It is the greatest gift you could possibly receive. It is the gift of eternal life in heaven. You can ask Jesus to come into your life right now today, tell Him from your heart that you want Him to be the Lord of your life and ask Him to forgive you of all your sins.

Jesus has already promised in His word if you ask … He will give.

Recently, I have had two thoughts swirling around in my head. That’s two more than usual, folks, pat this girl on the back.

The first is concerning this verse,

“Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.

Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.” (Ephesians 4: 2-3)

In that verse there is a word that makes me pause for an instant, each time I read it. The word is keep. We are told to keep the unity, we are not told to create or manufacture church unity. We are commanded to make every effort to keep the unity that God produced through the reconciling death of Christ. Sadly there are times when truth is brushed aside for the sake of creating unity. If truth is not comfortable residing in the midst of any group of believers, the very Spirit of truth is not present.

The truth is of the utmost importance but it must be the Spirit’s truth not just another Christian’s truth, or maybe I should say, opinion of the truth.

This brings me to my second swirling thought.

Truth being of the utmost importance, how is it best delivered? Are all Christians supposed to be running around telling people what we see wrong in others’ walks? Should we be more concerned with throwing hard truth in people’s faces than anything else?

Twice in my life I have found it necessary to call another Christian on the carpet for their actions. I prayed incessantly before I spoke to each of them. I believed I was called by God to be the one to speak the truth. I deeply wished that God would choose someone else and release me from the burden. I spoke as kindly as possible. It hurt me to speak the truth. I believed I was speaking the truth in love, yet both relationships ended, badly.

I assumed that the reason for this lay in the refusal of each of the women to accept the hard truth about themselves. While this was most likely a factor I think something else contributed to the problem. Recently while reading in 2 Corinthians 7, the Spirit of God pierced my heart with a truth that I had never perceived before.

Besides living out the truth, which in and of itself is an extremely important way of teaching truth, Paul does a lot of truth speaking and rebuking throughout the New Testament. No church receives more of his attention in this manner than the Corinthian church. He speaks truth boldly to them and orders tough action regarding the sin amongst them.

And in 2 Corinthians 7:2-3 Paul makes clear his feelings for these brothers and sisters in Christ.

“Make room for us in your hearts. We have wronged no one, we have corrupted no one, we have exploited no one. I do not say this to condemn you; I have said before that you have such a place in our hearts that we would live or die with you.”

Can’t you almost picture Paul crying as he penned these words? Having to wipe tears off the parchment?

The depth of his love for them was incredible and I believe the very key to the effectiveness of his rebukes. After I read this I made a note in my Bible, it says, “To rebuke someone we should already have this heart for them, this love. If not, then let someone who loves them rebuke them or ask the Lord to fill your heart with love for them first.”

I’ve determined to never again rebuke another Christian without having a heart filled with we-would-live-or-die-with-you love for them first. I believe it makes all the difference.

…but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint. Isaiah 40:31

My excitement was irrepressible. I hadn’t been this giddy in a very long time and never EVER about vacuuming. Last week we finally purchased a new vacuum. I spent the following day on my knees cleaning the tiniest of crevices, on my toes reaching the highest ceiling corners and all the while sporting the absolute brightest smile.

Vacuuming has never been something I long to do. The old, broken-down vacuum we had made the job quite tedious. It has been on its last leg for months and since replacing it had not yet fit into our budget, I’ve just had to make do. So vacuuming fell into the same category as the dreaded chore, dusting. But now as I raced around the house viciously attacking every speck of dust and dirt my eyes could see, I was absolutely amazed at how painless, almost effortless this job had become.

How could something that used to take forever and wear on me so, become practically fun?

Then as it has so many times before, my mind wandered. I began contemplating the difference between the old vacuum and the one I was now using. The new equipment had strength and power that the old vacuum just couldn’t equal and it seems to me that we in and of ourselves are exactly the same.

We can not in our own strength match the power of the Holy Spirit working through us. Every job that we do, whether it be at home, work, or at church, we are to do wholeheartedly as if we were serving the Lord (Ephesians 6:7). This can become very tiresome when done in our own strength. When this weariness, sometimes even crankiness,  becomes all that others see in us, it is NOT to the glory of the Lord. But God has made available to those of us who believe, His incomparably great power (Ephesians 1:19) so that our deficiency will reveal His total sufficiency.

Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians Chapter 12 how God revealed to him that His grace is sufficient and His power is made perfect in our weakness. Then Paul declares that for Christ’s sake, he delights in his weakness, “For when I am weak, then I am made strong.”

If you are finding service to the Lord tedious and tiresome, there is a good chance you are serving in your own strength. There have been times when I have found myself in this same place, wondering why something I once loved has become such a chore.

If this is your situation today, look to the Lord for help. In Isaiah 41:10 the Lord tells us He will strengthen and help His chosen ones and Isaiah 40:29 tells us that the Lord gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak.

For those of us whose hope is in the Lord, we need only ask and He will renew our strength, we will soar on wings like eagles; we will run and not grow weary, we will walk and not be faint. In God’s strength our service to Him becomes painless and takes almost no effort.

I don’t know about you but I think the world needs to see more of us smiling and giddy with irrepressible excitement too!

I’ve been meditating on these verses lately.

One very important premise can be found here, the cross and it’s effect on us.

These verses come just on the heals of Paul’s exhortation to the Galatians to ignore the teachings of the Judaizers concerning a number of ceremonial practices of the Old Testament. These Jewish Christians were trying to convince the Gentile believers of Galatia that among other things it was still necessary for them to be circumcised because the law required it.

First, Paul makes it clear that all of the outward things we do to impress people mean nothing. The effect the cross has on us from within means everything. On that cross Jesus fulfilled the law when He died to take away the sins of the world. We who believe on Him are no longer under the law but under grace. And as such we will follow His will and serve Him out of the love and gratitude that overwhelms us because He first loved us.

We, as well Paul, have been crucified to the world and the world has been crucified to us. The world and all of its trappings are to hold no interest for us. Born again believers no longer belong to this world system, we are just passing through. As aliens in a strange land, we are to live in a different manner than the world does, never comparing ourselves to their sinfulness or even to other Christians’ righteousness for that matter. When we determine to glorify our Lord even in the smallest detail of our life, we have eliminated our need to compare ourselves to anyone else. We are now living only to please God.

Also, we must never compromise our faith to make it acceptable to the world or as these Christian Jews were doing, to avoid persecution. Persecution from the world is not to be avoided, if we are genuinely trusting Jesus as our Lord and Savior then persecution is inevitable. The result of our new birth is a new spiritual nature in place of our old sinful nature. With this new nature inside of us, we are now a new creation in Christ. This new nature automatically makes us an enemy of this world. In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted … 2 Timothy 3:12.

The cross is an amazing display of God’s wisdom and power and should affect the lives of every one of us. Upon examination, can I honestly say that because of the cross God’s wisdom and power are displayed in my life?

My sister is in surgery right now. The description the surgeon gave to her husband of how he will get to the brain tumor isn’t a pretty one. He gave him the list of possible outcomes, some of which are not pleasant, just before they wheeled her away.

I’m keeping strong by praying and loading up on the carbs. It’s just what I do best.

I’m believing God too though! I’m believing for a quick, perfect recovery, the tumor to be benign, and for family members to come to know Christ through this journey.

When my sister was being wheeled off to surgery she told her husband the exact way he was to say goodbye to her. Because he loves her, he acquiesced to her odd request. He waved, smiled and said, “See ya, wouldn’t want to be ya!”

This waiting is hard. I have a feeling he lied.