You Are That Which is Sought!

Psalm 27:8
My heart says of you, "Seek his face!" Your face, LORD, I will seek.

How do you seek God? How do you find Him in the midst of your week? Do you find yourself running to Him, or do you hold back and wait for Him? Do you have a solitary place where you sit in awe of Him and His presence? Do you bask in Him as you walk? Do you listen to worship music on your way to work?  Do you use every ounce of your being to grasp even just a little more of Him every day?  In a dependent state of needing His grace…how do you find it? In all your seeking thus far what does His face look like?

Hosea 10:12

¹² Sow with a view to righteousness,
Reap in accordance with ^[a]kindness;
Break up your fallow ground,
For it is time to seek the Lord
Until He comes to ^[b]rain righteousness on you.

Haven’t read the book of Hosea in a while, but it’s all about God’s unconditional love in the midst of His children dishonoring Him and worshiping other gods and a wife being unfaithful to her husband. Whether we can relate to worshiping other “gods” or being unfaithful in any manner or not, we are each called to seek the Lord in every capacity. With all intensity, focus, ambition, and desire we can accumulate. Then maybe in your seeking you will find the one who seeks you too!

You are that which is sought!

What do you seek? Who do you seek? And how do you seek?

Maybe your seeking needs a little work…mine sure does!

He Holds Our Hand

A little girl and her father were crossing a bridge. The father was kind of scared so he asked his little daughter, 'Sweetheart, please hold my hand so that you don't fall into the river.' The little girl said, 'No, Dad. You hold my hand.' 'What's the difference?' Asked the puzzled father. 'There's a big difference,' replied the little girl.

'If I hold your hand and something happens to me, chances are that I may let your hand go. But if you hold my hand, I know for sure that no matter what happens, you will never let my hand go.'

In any relationship, the essence of trust is not in its bind, but in its bond. It’s a big deal. And the BIG difference between trusting and not trusting, is life and death. Sounds drastic, but I’m not talking about trusting or not trusting your friend to come through with something for you, your son or daughter to do their chores in a timely manner, or your spouse to stay faithful through your entire marriage. It’s not an earthly trust that causes life or death, it’s a godly trust. It’s actually quite simple you either trust God or you don’t. But why does TRUST have such a detrimental connotation?  

According to the dictionary trust is, “reliance on the integrity, strength, ability, surety of a person or thing; confidence.

2 Corinthians 3:4-6 (NIV)

“⁴ Such confidence we have through Christ before God. ⁵ Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God. ⁶ He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant—not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.”

Many times it’s hard to trust, most psychologists believe this is because of experience rather than the failing of human nature. I would have to agree. When I was little, I trusted everyone and it wasn’t until I experienced a personal breaking of trust that I began to question the reliance of others. Is it fair to cast those feelings of distrust towards others because of one experience? Well, no but it doesn’t help in any situation and often times can result in un-forgiveness.

Whether experience leads you to trust or not, there is a special bond with Christ that we can have, and a place to put our trust. Isn’t it comforting to know, that HE holds OUR hand, even when we tend to pull away. Don’t let negative experiences get in the way of putting your trust in CHRIST!!! 

Proved Faith

July 27^th, 2004 a man from Illinois stood up in Boston, MA and addressed all who listened. He said, “Hope in the face of difficulty. Hope in the face of uncertainty. The audacity of hope! In the end, that is God’s greatest gift to us, the bedrock of this nation. A belief in things not seen. A belief that there are better days ahead.” Just 5 short years later, that man who said those words became our 44^th President of the United States; President Barack Obama. Whether you are a republican, a democrat, somewhere in between, or nowhere to be found, with all politics aside and pure focus on his words, there is truth in what he speaks.  

Besides salvation, hope is one of God’s greatest gifts to us. We have hope through eternal life.  

2 Peter 1:3-12 says, "What a God we have! And how fortunate we are to have him, this Father of our Master Jesus! Because Jesus was raised from the dead, we’ve been given a brand new life and have everything to live for, including a future in heaven- and the future starts NOW! God is keeping careful watch over us and the future. The Day is coming when you’ll have it all-life healed and whole. I know how great this makes you feel, even though you have to put up with every kind of aggravation in the meantime. Pure gold put in the fires comes out of it proved pure; genuine faith put through this suffering comes out proved genuine. When Jesus wraps this all up, it’s your faith, not your gold, that God will have on display as evidence of his victory. You never saw him, yet you love him. You still don’t see him, yet you trust him- with laughter and singing. Because you kept on believing, you’ll get what you’re looking forward to: total salvation.  The prophets who told us this was coming asked a lot of questions about this gift of life God was preparing. The Messiah’s Spirit let them in on some of it- that the Messiah would experience suffering, followed by glory. They clamored to know who and when. All they were told was that they were serving you, you who by orders from heaven have now heard for yourselves- through the Holy Spirit – the Message of those prophecies fulfilled. Do you realize how fortunate you are? Angels would have given anything to be in on this!”

What BOLDNESS there is in HOPE! It brings about proved faith. May you have hope in what your heart breathes. May you have hope in the struggle that life brings. May you have hope in the moments you cherish. May you have hope as you remember the memories that make you smile. May you have hope in the seasons as they change. May you have hope in time as it passes. May you have hope in the little things. May you have hope in what you proclaim. May you have hope in the relationships you have. May you have hope in the things unseen. Because all of these things are from the Father above, who embraces us, and lavishes His love upon us. He had the audacity to send His Son into corruption, so we could have HOPE!

What does your hope say about your faith?

Just Ran into a Door...

I’m sure we have all had those times in our lives, when we think we have it all figured out. When you’re 2, 13, 18, 21, 25, 40, 45, etc., we all go through stages where we think we have it all together. I will be the first to admit I just had one of those moments in my life, where yet again I thought I had everything under control and then my expectations were unmet. I thought God was telling me to go through a certain door, and felt like the door wasn’t even open in the first place and ran right into it! (Yes, I have ran right into a door before LOL...see pic below. ) Maybe my ears were plugged and I just didn’t hear God calling me to stop my pursuit, or maybe I was getting the directions confused…okay who am I kidding…I was opening a door that I wanted open and clearly I wanted through it. Although I do think that God is calling me in that direction, I think I took matters in my own hands and fought all the way through it until I came running full impact into the door.

If I wouldn’t have pursued it, would I have prevented myself from being hurt in the end? Maybe, but at the same time I learned some valuable lessons that I may not have learned or experienced if I hadn’t pursued it. I will be honest, I truly felt in my heart that this door was open, but I also felt the door close a lot sooner before I stopped pursuing it. Does this mean we should go after what “we want” in life? No, absolutely not! I do believe that God gives us the desires of our hearts, “Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart.” Psalm 37:4

There is a part of that verse that I miss sometimes. The beginning, where it says to “delight yourself in the Lord”. Sometimes I don’t do a very good job of delighting in the Lord. What areas do you need to delight in the Lord more? Is it your daily walk? Is it a struggling relationship? A bad habit? Busyness? What do you need to do to change how you delight in the Lord? There are several things in my own life I know need changed and as I read God’s word I try to implement what it says into my daily life.

The truth of the matter is, God’s timing is perfect! Whether we soar graciously through the open door, or break our noses trying to plow it open, God knows what He is doing. He sees the bigger picture. When we embrace expectations that are faith based, we no longer allow the chances for them to become unmet expectations. When we have unmet expectations that when we allow hurt to affect us emotionally, spiritually, and physically. But what are faith based expectations and how do we get them? – Go to the WORD!!!

"We ask less of this life because we know full well that more is coming in the next. The art of living with suffering is just the art of readjusting our expectations in the here and the now." -- Joni Eareckson

Isaiah 26:3- At that time, this song will be sung in the country of Judah:

We have a strong city, Salvation City, 
   built and fortified with salvation.
Throw wide the gates 
   so good and true people can enter.
People with their minds set on you, 
   you keep completely whole,
Steady on their feet, 
   because they keep at it and don't quit.
Depend on God and keep at it 
   because in the Lord God you have a sure thing.
Those who lived high and mighty 
   he knocked off their high horse.
He used the city built on the hill 
   as fill for the marshes.
All the exploited and outcast peoples 

   build their lives on the reclaimed land.

Philippians 1:19 - So how am I to respond? I've decided that I really don't care about their motives, whether mixed, bad, or indifferent. Every time one of them opens his mouth, Christ is proclaimed, so I just cheer them on!

   And I'm going to keep that celebration going because I know how it's going to turn out. Through your faithful prayers and the generous response of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, everything he wants to do in and through me will be done. I can hardly wait to continue on my course. I don't expect to be embarrassed in the least. On the contrary, everything happening to me in this jail only serves to make Christ more accurately known, regardless of whether I live or die. They didn't shut me up; they gave me a pulpit! Alive, I'm Christ's messenger; dead, I'm his bounty. Life versus even more life! I can't lose.

Psalm 62:11 – od said this once and for all; 

      how many times 
   Have I heard it repeated? 
      "Strength comes 

   Straight from God."

Hebrews 13:5 – Don't be obsessed with getting more material things. Be relaxed with what you have. Since God assured us, "I'll never let you down, never walk off and leave you," we can boldly quote, 

   God is there, ready to help; 
   I'm fearless no matter what. 

   Who or what can get to me?

These are some great passages to read about expectations and how to develop our own faith based expectations. This week evaluate what your expectations are, and how you can revise them to be faith-based! I have a lot of evaluating to do this week, what about you? Here is a good place to start...

Philippians 4:6-7- Don't fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. Before you know it, a sense of God's wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It's wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life.

Have faith based expectations and stop running into doors!!!! 

(Yes, that would be me in the red shirt, holding my face...and that would be my friend Tyler as she rolled on the floor laughing. And my friend Tammie who took the pic, probably had a hard time taking the picture because she was laughing hysterically too! 

Creaking Rusty Gate

These last couple of days, I went to the shelf and picked up my Message version of the Bible to do my devotions and I found a passage that is one probably most of you know, but I just love the way The Message portrays it and the imagery that goes with it! J

  

 ¹ If I speak with human eloquence and angelic ecstasy but don't love, I'm nothing but the creaking of a rusty gate. ²If I speak God's Word with power, revealing all his mysteries and making everything plain as day, and if I have faith that says to a mountain, "Jump," and it jumps, but I don't love, I'm nothing. ^3-7If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don't love, I've gotten nowhere. So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I'm bankrupt without love. 

   Love never gives up. 
   Love cares more for others than for self.
   Love doesn't want what it doesn't have.
   Love doesn't strut,
   Doesn't have a swelled head,
   Doesn't force itself on others,
   Isn't always "me first,"
   Doesn't fly off the handle,
   Doesn't keep score of the sins of others,
   Doesn't revel when others grovel,
   Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth, 
   Puts up with anything, 
   Trusts God always, 
   Always looks for the best, 
   Never looks back,
   But keeps going to the end.

 ^8-10Love never dies. Inspired speech will be over some day; praying in tongues will end; understanding will reach its limit. We know only a portion of the truth, and what we say about God is always incomplete. But when the Complete arrives, our incompletes will be canceled.

 ¹²We don't yet see things clearly. We're squinting in a fog, peering through a mist. But it won't be long before the weather clears and the sun shines bright! We'll see it all then, see it all as clearly as God sees us, knowing him directly just as he knows us!

 ¹³But for right now, until that completeness, we have three things to do to lead us toward that consummation: Trust steadily in God, hope unswervingly, love extravagantly. And the best of the three is love.

Can you guess what passage this is?

1 Corinthians 13:1-10, 12-13…It’s the way of love! Don’t you just love this passage? J

Have you ever stumbled upon one of those tags that says “One Size Fits All”? The same goes for Christ’s love; One Love Fits ALL! How many times in your life do you speak with human eloquence and angelic ecstasy, yet recognize the creaking? I creak one to many times for my liking (<- that does not look like a real word…LOL ), but see where I lack in love and compassion and the areas where I can grow. We won’t see things clearly sometimes, that’s because we are indeed human, but our time is coming shortly! God is molding us and crafting us to be the women of God that He intended us to be, and we won’t reach perfect eloquent speech and angelic ecstasy until that day. Yet, we still strive towards the goal.  

Philippians 3:14 says, “I’m not saying that I have this all together, that I have it made. But I am well on my way, reaching out for Christ, who has so wondrously reached out for me. Friends, don’t get me wrong: By no means do I count myself an expert in all of this, but I’ve got my eye on the GOAL, where God is BECKONING us onward – to Jesus. I’m off and RUNNING, and I’m NOT TURNING BACK.”

Where is Christ reaching out to you and where do you need to reach back? Where are you running, and are you looking to turn back? If you are not reaching…REACH! If you are not running…RUN! And if you think you might turn back…DON’T! Press onward toward the goal, knowing that in Christ your running with a purpose! Make that your Christian apologetic (your discipline of defending your position of faith)…that Christ poured out His blood for you, and has saved you through this act of mercy! That He cares and loves you, and that you are going to accept that with all your being, and live in such a way that pleases HIM and impacts HIS Kingdom! For this very moment in your life, is the time, and every moment after is the time to claim Jesus as your own, and make Him famous…NO APOLOGIES!!! And NO MORE CREAKY RUSTY GATES!!! His love fits all and so should ours! 

Deep Breath, Right Direction

I have thought a lot about Psalm 23. We went over it in Bible study recently and it was mentioned again on Sunday morning at church. I looked it up in the message and I just love the way the first three verses are translated. It says, “God, my shepherd! I don’t need a thing. You have bedded me down in lush meadows, you find me quiet pools to drink from. True to your word, you let me catch my breath and send me in the right direction. “

What tenderness and care we are given from our good and great “Shepherd”. We are in need of nothing, because He satisfies us, in a way only He can, that we are to want no more. The part of the passage that gives me goose bumps is “True to your word, you let me CATCH MY BREATH and send me in the RIGHT DIRECTION.” What a great illustration of the love of Christ. We all have those days, where they are overwhelming and stressful, and the next person to approach us might just get the effect of the day we have. In those moments we think if we could just take a second and catch our breath that we would be able to continue despite the madness. Where do you run to catch your breath? Do you run to the first person who will listen? Do you scream and fuss out of anger? Do you slam your fist on your desk and moan? Do you think if only you could get a hold of the person who upset you could give them “what they deserve”? I know sometimes I do, especially with people who are upset over the phone and call me at work to complain about something I don’t even have control over, yet I am put on the front line? The fact is, God is True to HIS WORD. He lets us catch our breath. There isn’t even a running requirement. He’s just there to let us catch our breath. I’m guilty of all of the above, but know that it would just be easier to bask in the “air” God gives us. To say, “Okay God, you are IN CONTROL.”

Now what about that “right direction” part of the passage. There are days, when I know and feel that I am where God wants me to be, but there are those days, when I don’t feel like I am where I am supposed to be in my walk with Him. Some days my walk with Christ can feel like a treadmill. I don’t know about you, but if you walk or run on a treadmill, it’s not really something one really desires to do. I mean think about it, who really wants to get up early and run? Okay, maybe those crazy people who really enjoy exercising, but I will be honest when the alarm says it’s 5:45 and time to get up to go to the gym, it’s not all rainbows and skittles, yet I'm still part of the crazies because I do that every once in awhile! Like a treadmill my walk with Christ can feel very repetitive. Going at the same pace, not deviating from the path, trying to do what’s right, over and over and over and over and over again. Some days my walk with Christ can feel like every 5 minutes there is another hurdle to jump over. Trying to trust God with everything, giving Him control once again over those things, that I surrendered to Him before. Some days my walk with Christ can feel like shoveling snow. When you start out and you can finally see a path that you created, just to realize that some of the snow (not all of it) blew back to make the path a little unclear. And other days my walk with Christ can feel like a GPS, saying “turn left, drive 5 miles to destination on right”(YOU MADE IT). But it’s not about the “feeling” of where our walk with Him may or may not be, rather knowing the TRUTH of GOD’s WORD…that HE LET’S US CATCH OUR BREATH, and SENDS US IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION…whether we “feel” like it or not. So whatever your “treadmill-like, snow hurdle GPS”  walk might be in, remember where your breath and direction come from!

Regaining Wonder

According to Webster wonder means to be filled with admiration, amazement, or awe; marvel. In working with children in the past I find that they have a higher awe factor than adults. For instance, take the 4^th of July. Have you ever sat outside and watched fireworks with a group of friends? Did they bring their children? Think about how the children reacted? The adults? Having 11 nieces  and nephews (and 1 on the way), the typical reaction of a child when they see fireworks is complete amazement. They say WOW to about everyone that is set off; that is if they are not traumatized by the loudness they produce and run screaming in the opposite direction. I will be honest, even though I adore children about the 10^th one that goes off, I’m usually annoyed with the ooohs and ahhhs for each one. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy watching fireworks and I’m sure you do as well, but a child regains WONDER come every firework every year. They find something in each one to AWE over. Whether it’s the vibrant colors, kaleidoscopic design, or the noises that can vibrate the very ground you stand on, children love fireworks. For some adults, the colors become dull, the designs become redundant, and they can’t stand the noise.

Just like fireworks, our faith can lose its spark, shape, and joy if we’re not careful. (Maybe that’s why the scriptures say that “anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.” The message says it best, “These children are at the very center of life in the kingdom. Mark this: Unless you accept God's kingdom in the simplicity of a child, you'll never get in." Then, gathering the children up in his arms, he laid his hands of blessing on them.” Mark 10:13-31) How many times have you heard that same guilt-tripping sermon about (insert sermon topic of choice here)? How many Sunday mornings do you roll out of bed, and find your comfy normal spot? How many times have you sang the same worship song, that seems to have lost its meaning? Let’s face it, our faith can become stagnant over time, if we don’t learn, grow, and do all for the glory of Him and for His Kingdom! So why the burnout? Why the lack of spiritual energy? Is it really all those “church” related issues or are those the easiest target to cast blame? I remember growing up and fighting with my sister, and when it came time to confess who “started” it, the first thing that flew out of my mouth was always, “SHE DID IT”! Cause let's face it, it was her fault most of the time...Just Kidding...Sometimes I can get like that when I find myself searching for that “wonder” and “awe”…when in reality I have no one to blame but myself.

So how does one regain that wonder?

In reading Beauty Will Save the World I have discovered what it means to regain wonder in our Lord. Brian Zahnd writes, “We wonder at two things-the beautiful and the mysterious. A life stripped of beauty and mystery is a life barren of wonder, and a life without wonder is a kind of deep poverty.” The author depicts the incarnation of Jesus as a beautiful and mysterious wonder. It’s the idea that the Word, the idea, the reason, the reflection , the meditation, the self-understanding of God became HUMAN! He says, “The tragedy of growing up is not that we put aside childishness, but that we lose the capacity for childlike wonder. As children we dream of finding our own real-life adventure…the loss of wonder is what we experience as boredom, and boredom is a real problem.” I think sometimes we lose the wonder because instead of just looking at something amazing and saying “how awesome”, we try to figure it out or put reason behind its existence. Why does the sun produce such color schemes? How did this gigantic hole become The Grand Canyon? We try to rationalize what we visualize. However, when we focus on the incarnation we find it’s “an eternal fountain of mystery and wonder. And in the mystery and wonder of the incarnation… is found the BEAUTY that SAVES the WORLD.”

In thinking through the incarnation and what it’s wonder I ran across the Lord’s Prayer in The Message version, and I love it, and wanted to share with you what it says…

Matthew 6:9-13

Our Father in heaven,
Reveal who you are.
Set the world right;
Do what's best— as above, so below.
Keep us alive with three square meals.
Keep us forgiven with you and forgiving others.
Keep us safe from ourselves and the Devil.
You're in charge!
You can do anything you want!
You're ablaze in beauty!
Yes. Yes. Yes.

What wonder in a simple prayer, prayed by our Father. So this week when you’ve got the “spiritual blahs” remember the WONDER of God. Dig deep into HIS WORD…and just reach out your hand. The beauty is, all you have to do is reach…He will secure your hand in HIS, and bring you into His arms!