Works Aren’t the Way

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John 6:29

“Jesus answered, “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.”

The Law of Moses didn’t save anybody. Paul tells us that the law was given so that we might recognize sin for what it is: falling short of what God requires. But many people of Jesus’ day put their faith in the law. They thought they could keep the law well enough that they would be considered without sin, and they would be saved by it. It was a “works” mentality. Many people today still struggle with this. There are many who believe they will make it to heaven because they are “good people” or because they do good deeds, but the Bible says there is only one name whereby men might be saved. Works won’t do it for us. We can not earn righteousness. It’s simply not possible.

Jesus had just fed the five thousand. He had walked on water to get to the boat His disciples were in, and now they had pulled up to the dock in Capernaum. The people who had been fed realized that Jesus and His disciples had left, so they went looking for them. They found Him at Capernaum. Jesus told them that they didn’t come looking for Him because of the miracles He did or because they were hungry for His message. He recognized that they came looking for Him because He had given them food. Then He told them not to work for food that would spoil but for food that endures to eternal life. Jesus was telling them that putting our efforts into things here on earth can only yield temporary results. We have to set our sights higher, on the things that have eternal worth, in order to truly see a difference in our lives.

As usual, the people misunderstood and asked Jesus, “What must we do to do the works God requires?” They still had a works mentality. They thought eternal life could be condensed into a checklist: do this, don’t do that. But God doesn’t care about our works. All our efforts are as filthy rags to God. He cares about our hearts. So Jesus told them that the work of God is to believe in the one He sent.

All of human history has been wrapped up in the story of God’s great love for us. He intended us for relationship. We fell into sin instead, so God made a way to restore us. That way was not based on our works. It had nothing to do with us at all, other than our acceptance. The work could only be done by God, and so He did it. He completed the work. What is required of us is that we understand the story of salvation, that we believe that God did the work for us, and that we accept that work on our behalf.

Father, I thank you that you are a loving God. You knew I could never do enough to make myself righteous before you. You knew that all my works are like filthy rags when held up to the standard of your holiness, so you did the work required to make me righteous. I thank you, Father, that even when I was deep in my sin, you loved me enough to make a way. I thank you that all I have to do is believe in Jesus, that He did the work you set for Him to do, and that it is enough. I accept that work on my behalf. Thank you for saving me. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

To The Woman Who Feels Unseen

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To the Woman Who Feels Unseen:

I see you.

I’ve stood where you’re standing right now. You’re struggling. You’re doing your best to keep your head above water, but you feel as if you’re drowning. There are responsibilities you have to handle. There may be kids you have to take care of or a job you have to perform. Either way, it’s too much. There’s no time left for yourself. And when you look for comfort all you hear about is the importance of self care, and most of the time the suggestions on the internet for exactly how you’re supposed to accomplish self care are so far out of touch with your reality that you sink a little further in that ocean of struggle.

“Doesn’t anyone understand I can’t do this?!” you scream to no one in particular. Your friends try to sympathize, but they don’t get it. Their life is so vastly different from your own that they just downplay what you’re going through, and even the ones who admit they don’t understand don’t comfort you like you thought they would. It’s tempting to isolate yourself even more. It’s tempting not to show your face at church. The thought enters your mind that “maybe everyone will see what I’m struggling with and know how weak I am.”

And at the heart of it all is this overwhelming feeling that you are just simply inadequate. You aren’t enough. I mean you recognize that you have talents and skills and abilities. You see that you have had blessings in your life…maybe you even see some of those same blessings now, but no matter what there’s this empty feeling inside that says your con will be found out. Someone somewhere will realize that this is all a charade..that you’ve been faking it…that you can’t handle all this…that you’re inadequate…and you’re terrified that they’ll figure it out soon. Maybe it’s the people at church. Maybe it’s the people at work. Maybe it’s your family. Maybe it’s even your husband.

No matter who it is that you fear will find you out, the fear is real. It’s overwhelming sometimes. You sit through church and listen about how much God loves you, and you wonder how He could possibly love you when your life looks the way it does…when you feel the way you do….when it’s a struggle. How is that love? And there are times you are so hurt and angry and overwhelmed that you yell at God about how cruel He is…about what a horrible job He’s doing with your life….or maybe you just think about it…too afraid to voice those words because if God turns His back on you, you really will drown.

I see you.

I’ve been you.

So, I want you to know. You are not alone. You are not the only one feeling that way. There are others. If you actually have the courage to talk about your struggle, you will find there are way more people feeling the way you are feeling and going through the things you’re going through than you ever thought possible. You may find out that people you respect and admire most…people who seem to have their life all together…have been where you are. They’ve stood where you are. They’ve felt what you feel right now.

I want you to know. You are seen. God sees you. He has put you on the heart of others around you. There are people all over the world praying for you simply because God has prompted their hearts to pray for you. The body of Christ really is one big body….and when a part of it hurts, it all hurts. So there are people waking up in the middle of the night with an overwhelming urge to cry out to God on behalf of someone…somewhere…. They may not know you. They may never meet you this side of heaven. But they are praying for you. They are interceding on your behalf.

I want you to know that it’s okay to be mad at God. It’s okay to feel what you’re feeling. It’s okay to scream out all the things you want to scream out because you can’t hide anything from God. He already knows how you feel and what you’re thinking. The truth is that there is nothing you can do to make Him love you less. He is big enough to hold those emotions for you, and it will feel so freeing to let them out and then rest in His arms as you let Him heal those hurts within you that seem impossible to heal right now.

But don’t park there. Keep walking. Scream at God if you have to, but realize that He DOES love you. That this IS love. When you don’t understand it, when it feels unspeakably cruel, that’s only because He isn’t finished yet. He is working ALL things for your good if you love Him and you trust Him. Yes. All things. Even this. It will be for good. And someday in the future, you will see it, and it will be so miraculously amazing the way He turned this heartbreak around that you will stand in awe of how big God is. Because He is big…enormous really…and the best prayer you can pray right now is that He shows you a bigger picture of Himself than the one you had yesterday. He will. And it will be enough for you to make it through today.

I want you to know that self care is possible. Oh, not the way it’s portrayed on the internet or by most people, but it is possible. And it looks like 5 minutes alone in the bathroom, crying on the toilet because it’s the only place that people leave you alone and you just really need to cry right now because crying will get rid of all that pressure in your chest and you’ll feel better. It looks like a few more seconds under that hot water in the shower, praying for the strength to face this day. And on a good day, when you actually have a few minutes to spare, it looks like coloring like you used to when you were a kid or playing a game with your kids that you loved when you were their age or rocking out to your favorite music in the car on the way to somewhere or dancing in the rain just until you get too cold or anything….anything at all…that makes you smile, even if it’s just for a second.

I want you to know that God will answer your prayers in the best way possible. That somehow He always seems to know just what we need. There is nothing too small that He doesn’t care about it. He will get you through this. I promise. I know….because I’ve been there, and He got me through it too.

So, picture this path you’re on as the path through the Valley of the Shadow of Death. If you look to your right or to your left it seems scary and impossible and dark and overwhelming and all those negative things that keep you up at night and gnaw at the pit of your stomach, but if you look straight ahead you’ll see Jesus. He’s wrapped around you so closely that the reason it looks so dark is because your head is buried in His chest. He’s holding your hand and leading you through. You can close your eyes and feel His hand, holding yours. You don’t actually need to look around you at all. Just close your eyes and trust Him. And beyond Jesus, see the people who’ve walked this path before you. We’re cheering you on. We’re praying for you. We can’t wait to celebrate victory with you when you make it through this valley. Because the truth is, that you will make it through as long as you keep walking. Don’t give up. Don’t park here.

I see you. God sees you. You are beautiful. You are enough because no matter how weak you feel, God is in you and He is more than enough. You are enough. You are special. You are cherished. You are needed. You are loved. Really and truly and madly and deeply… you are loved. You are not alone. I am praying for you. I am praying that you feel God’s arms wrapped around you in the hug that you so desperately need. I am praying that your spiritual eyes may be opened so you can see yourself the way God sees you. I am praying that you keep walking. I am praying that you feel the truth of these words to you in the very depth of your soul and that they comfort you and build you up and give you the strength to keep going.

I see you. You are enough.

Love,

Laura

World Conquerors

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1 John 5:4-5 (MSG)

“Every God-begotten person conquers the world’s ways. The conquering power that brings the world to its knees is our faith. The person who wins out over the world’s ways is simply the one who believes Jesus is the Son of God.“

Do you think of your faith as a spiritual weapon? Probably not. But the truth is that faith is one of our spiritual weapons, and it’s a powerful one at that. Why is faith such a powerful weapon? Because faith is what brings those things that exist in the spiritual realm over to the reality of the physical realm. When we exercise our faith, we are accomplishing God’s plans and purposes here in the “now.” We are taking ground for the kingdom.

Faith calls those things which are not as though they are. It opens doors for God to work in people’s lives. Faith allows us to face giants with nothing more than a slingshot, confident that it is God fighting the battle. Faith realizes that we aren’t standing in victory because we’re such an awesome person. It recognizes that victory comes because of who Christ is. Casting out demons? Absolutely! Because faith goes in the authority of Christ. So it’s not me casting out demons, healing the sick, or conquering the enemy, it’s Christ doing it in me.

When we live out our faith, loud and proud, the enemy has to flee. We actively resist him, and we claim victory in Christ. The temptations of the world, the way the world thinks, all the bells and whistles it can offer are a pale comparison to what God has in store for us. Faith claims God’s best for our lives. When we have God’s best, the things of the world are not even tempting any more! That’s why Satan works so hard to make us doubt. He wants us doubting our identity in Christ. He wants us doubting what Christ can do through us. He knows if we’re full of doubt, we’re not using our most powerful weapon: faith.

So pick up your Sword, strap on your shield, armor up, and begin using one of your most powerful spiritual weapons: faith! With faith, you can conquer the world!

Father, I thank you that I don’t have to fight my battles unprepared or alone. You have provided me with spiritual armor to protect me from the enemy, and you have given me powerful spiritual weapons in order to take back the territory Satan has stolen from me. So today, Father, I strap on my armor. I pick up my weapons, and I prepare to fight this battle. I know that it’s you fighting the battle through me. I know that I am already victorious because of what Christ has done. I know that I am more than a conqueror because greater is He that is in me than he that is in the world. There is nothing that you can’t do God. I claim victory by faith. Today, I unleash my faith, knowing that you are at work in me. Thank you, God. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

A Tale of Two Seas

There are two “seas” in Israel. Actually, there are two lakes in Israel that somehow got the title of sea in their names, but I digress. These seas serve as a wonderful picture of the potential of our life with God.

The Sea of Galilee lies in the northeastern part of Israel between the Golan Heights and the Galilee region of Israel. It’s one of two of the lowest lakes in the world, being approximately 700 ft below sea level. The Sea of Galilee is fed by a combination of underground springs and by the Jordan River which flows through it. It’s a freshwater lake. The lake supplies about 10% of Israel’s drinking water. In the past it supplied far more. It’s an important tourist location, and it has numerous species of plant and animal life. The Sea of Galilee has served as a commercial fishing sight for nearly 2000 years!

The second sea in Israel has some similar characteristics, but also some huge differences. This lake is located in a similar position to the Sea of Galilee in the Jordan Rift Valley. It’s father south than the Sea of Galilee and is a staggering 1400 feet below sea level. It is also fed by the Jordan River and is an important tourist location, but this sea is incredibly salty. In fact, it’s saltier than the ocean. As a result, nothing lives in it. I’m talking, of course, of the Dead Sea.

It’s hard to imagine such a vast difference in two bodies of water that are fed by the same river. What happens between the Sea of Galilee and the Dead Sea to make such a huge difference to the water quality and the plant and animal life? Well, it’s something you may not give much thought to. You see the Sea of Galilee is not only fed by the Jordan River, it’s emptied by it as well. Water flows both into the Sea of Galilee and out of it. The Dead Sea on the other hand has no outlet. Water flows in and has nowhere to go from there. As a result, all the deposits carried by the water simply stick around in the Dead Sea.

Our lives are a lot like this. Consider two Christians. They are both filled with the Spirit of God. They attend church regularly. They read the Bible. They pray. On the surface, they appear identical, and yet one has a vibrant, favor-filled life while the other is depressed, discouraged and seeing very little benefit in their life. What’s the difference? Perhaps like the seas it comes down to what is flowing out.

When we fill up on God’s spirit, we’re meant to allow the overflow to spill out of us onto the people around us. We are blessed to be a blessing. Our abundant life in Christ is meant to bless us, our families, our neighborhoods, our communities, our cities, and on to the rest of our circle of influence. We are the salt of the earth and the light to a world in darkness. When we fill up on all God has to offer and then put that abundant life into practice, blessing those we come into contact with, we are being the salt and light we were designed to be. People around us see how much blessing pours out of us, and they are attracted to Christ in us. They are attracted to the gospel message because it is clear how much Jesus has impacted our lives for the better.

But what happens if we fill up on God’s spirit and do nothing with it? I mean our lives will still be blessed to some extent. We may experience some personal blessings, but if we fail to share our blessings with others, will anyone in our circle of influence see anything attractive in our lives? If we get a promotion at work with a higher income, but we don’t give generously in tithes and offerings, will anyone feel the blessings besides us and our immediate family? If we don’t bless others, what blessings we do have will pile up on the inside and begin to stagnate. After all, if we’re always full of only things that benefit us, we make no room for more of God. There is no room for more blessing. No room for more of His Spirit. No room for more fruit. We’re full, and what we are full of is going nowhere fast.

We have to pour out. We have to allow the Spirit to flow through us. Emptying ourselves by blessing others gives God room to do more. We have room for more of God. Room for more blessing. Room for more of His Spirit. Room for more fruit. And as we make room for more by pouring out, we accomplish incredible, miraculous things for the kingdom because we are pouring blessings out everywhere we go. We are attractive to those seeking after something more in their life. We show God to the world around us.

How about your own life? Do you feel stuck? Do you feel like, while you are blessed a little bit, there are others being blessed far more than you? Does your life leave you feeling depressed or unsatisfied? Do others around you find your Christian life attractive or do they reject it because their life seems more fulfilling? If you feel like any of these things describes you, consider what you’re doing with your blessings. Are you keeping them to yourself? Do you bless others?

You can change your life today. If you’re Christian life feels stagnate and unchanging, start looking for others to bless. Ask God to lead you to people who need blessings that you can provide. It doesn’t have to be financial. Maybe you don’t have extra money to give but you have time and attention or a special skill. Maybe you start with pouring out a smile, a kind word, and prayer for those who need it. As you begin to bless others, your spirit will rise up. Depression can’t stick around when you shift your focus from your feelings to doing something for others. And as you pour out, God will have room to pour more in. He is looking to pour out a blessing upon you that is so large you can’t contain it. He wants to bless the world through you. Are you letting Him?

And on a related note, as you pour out to others, be sure you are open to receiving as well. Sometimes givers have a hard time receiving. They pour out their life into caring for others, but when they need care they wave it off. They don’t allow others to pour into them. It is a blessing to give, yes! But if you don’t receive, you are preventing another person from giving. You are stealing the blessing from them by refusing to allow them to pour out into your life. Be a good blesser as well as a good receiver. Allow living water to flow into you as well as out of you, and you live an abundant life.

And…..Action!

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James 2:17

“In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.”

Talk is cheap. It’s a phrase we’ve all heard before. Or how about: Put your money where your mouth is. It’s easy to claim to believe something. After all, if all you’re doing is claiming to believe, if your belief is never tested, there’s no risk involved. But true faith allows itself to be tested. It proves itself through action. If you really believe something, it should be easy to take the next step and act on that belief. If you believe that there’s a good chance of winning the lottery, you’ll buy a ticket. If you believe that God wants you to tithe, you’ll tithe. The action flows naturally out of your belief.

Faith comes from hearing God’s Word. It’s a gift God has given us. We hear about God’s goodness, about His faithfulness, and about His provision, and we have the choice to believe it and put our faith in it. But if we stop there, do we really believe? Can we really claim to believe that God will provide for us if we’re spending our time worrying about how to make it happen ourselves? Can we really claim to love Jesus if we don’t do what He tells us to do?

That’s what James is saying here. It’s all well and good to tell someone you’ll pray for their situation and to offer words of encouragement, but if you have the ability to actually help them, you need to go the extra step and do so. Faith isn’t something we can see. Faith is invisible, just like God is invisible. But what we can see are the actions prompted by faith and rooted in faith. That’s when an invisible God becomes visible: when we match our faith to action!

Father, I thank you for the incredible gift of faith. I thank you for your goodness, for your faithfulness, and for your provision. God, sometimes it’s easy for me to give a quick word without doing what I can to help others. Sometimes, God, I claim to believe in you, but I neglect to do what you ask me to do. Forgive me for my disobedience, for my reluctance, for my sin. Help me to match my faith to action, to put my money where my mouth is, and to reach out and make an actual difference in my world so that others might see you. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Freedom Strategies

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Ever put a puzzle together? You probably have a strategy for doing it, right? Like find all the straight edge pieces, or start with the corners, or even “just look at the box.” We all have strategies for things in life. Some of our strategies are helpful. Some of our strategies aren’t. There are strategies when it comes to things like freedom as well. There’s a right way and a better way of approaching freedom. There’s our way, and then there’s God’s way. We each have a part to play.

The overarching strategy for seeking freedom is to seek first the kingdom. Seeking first the kingdom isn’t just something that we do. It’s the way we live our life. It’s shifting from relying on our own knowledge to make decisions and relying on ourselves as the source to relying on God’s wisdom to make decisions and relying on God as our source. That’s the way we were designed to function: relying on God as our source for everything. God has already done everything needed to bring freedom within reach for us. Freedom is within our grasp, it’s possible, because of what Jesus did for us on the cross. Without the saving work of Christ, freedom would be an impossible goal.

Think of a sailboat out on a lake on a sunny day. God provided the water. He provided the perfect day for sailing. He provided a breeze. He even provided for a boat and a sail. But the boat is just floating in the water not going anywhere. Why? Because no one raised the sail. God has done everything possible for the person in the boat to sail along the lake and make progress, but they haven’t done their part. Freedom is the same way. God has done His part. He has provided everything we need to achieve freedom, but we need to position ourselves in order to receive from Him.

Part of the way we do this is by accepting our identity in Christ as our true identity. We need to see ourselves the way that God sees us. 2 Corinthians 3:17-18 says: “Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.  And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.” We are being changed from glory to glory. 1 John 3:2 says: “Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.” Sometimes we don’t see ourselves as children of God now. We are looking forward to being fixed or cleaned up, but God doesn’t see us as a mess. Romans 8:29 says, “For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.” And Ephesians 1:4 says, “For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight.” God sees us as holy and blameless when we are in Christ. That’s who we are now.

We’re not holding down the fort. We’re not waiting around here for some future time when God will change us. We’re on a journey of life in the kingdom right now. It’s a journey to learn how to see ourselves the way God sees us, to live life according to God’s thoughts and ways. Isaiah 55:9 says, ““As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” The more we live with God’s thoughts as our thoughts the better our relationships will be and the better our life will be over all. In the Old Testament, the temple was the place where heaven invaded earth. It was the place that God chose to have His presence abide. Now, we are God’s temple. 2 Corinthians 6:16 says, “For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people.”

We grow in how we allow heaven to impact earth through us. By utilizing all the things we have been given in Christ, we allow more of heaven to flow through us. Think of a cell phone. Some people use the phone only to make phone calls. Other people use their phone to make calls, take photos, send messages, google things, listen to podcasts, keep their calendar, etc. Younger people may even use their phone for more things than that. The increase in their knowledge about what the phone can do and how it works means they have an increase in their ability to use that phone to its full capabilities. Freedom works in the same way. The more we know about God’s way of doing things, the more we are able to utilize His way in our own lives, and the more freedom we walk in on a day-to-day basis.

God’s main strategy for our freedom is: when Jesus is Lord, we surrender and win. That seems upside down. We don’t usually think of surrender as winning. Philippians 2:9-11 says, “Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” Bowing is a sign of honor and surrender. It gives God glory. It’s not working harder to change that brings God glory. It’s not thinking What Would Jesus Do and trying to copy that by altering our behavior that brings God glory. Doing it that way is relying on our own knowledge and judgement to do things. It’s figuring things out for ourselves. Instead, God wants us to go to Jesus Himself and ask for His guidance and instruction. We don’t have to imagine what Jesus would do and then try to emulate it. We can ask Jesus directly what He wants us to do in each and every situation we face.

We are three-part beings. We are a spirit. We have a soul. We live in a body. The spirit is the real us. It’s eternal. It’s designed to connect to God because God is spirit. Our soul is our mind, will, and emotions. It’s the way we connect to others: human to human. God created our spirits to rule. Our souls were made to make choices. We are meant to have our souls take the information from our spirits and reinforce the choice to do things the spirit’s way. As born-again Christians, that means our souls were designed to reinforce the spirit’s decision to do things God’s way. Most people aren’t ruled by their spirits though. They are ruled by their will. Proper use of our will was to choose God’s will. Instead, our wills have been warped to choose our own way. Our will was not designed to choose between good and evil. It was designed to be surrendered to God and to choose His will.

If we’re not submitted to God, we’re actually resisting what God wants to do. We are working against God’s kingdom and His plan here on earth. People struggle with the words “surrender” and “submission.” To many people, these words bring up ideas of slavery and no free will and just negative things in general. Satan has twisted the idea of surrender and submission because he doesn’t want us to live fully free lives. He doesn’t want us living for the kingdom. Satan knows that if we are completely surrendered to God’s will and living fully for the kingdom, we’re going to be taking ground for the kingdom and defeating his plan.

Think of submission this way. You have a beautiful, decorative floor lamp in your living room. When you plug that lamp into the electrical outlet, it is submitted to the outlet. It is not enslaved by the outlet. It is not controlled by the outlet, but it is empowered by the outlet. By being plugged into the outlet, submitted to it, the lamp can now allow the electrical power to flood through it and serve its created purpose to shine a light in the dark room. If the lamp is not submitted, if its unplugged, the lamp doesn’t serve its created purpose. It doesn’t light the room. It just sits there looking nice.

God doesn’t want to enslave us. He doesn’t want to control us. In fact, God doesn’t force anything on us. He is willing to allow us to be the Lords of our own lives as long as we want to. He’s also willing to allow us to face the consequences of that choice. But God knows that if we would submit ourselves to Him, His power would be able to flow through us, empowering us, and allowing us to live the way we were created to live: in full freedom.

God’s part in all this has already been done. He’s provided us with everything we need. He steps in to do the things that we can not do. He completes the changes within us and our transformation. God changes us at the level of identity and belief, which are the levels that produce lasting change. God is faithful. He always keeps His word.

Our part is to surrender, hear, believe, and do what God says. We agree with God’s word and confess it. We cooperate with Him and allow Him to change us. We receive what God provides by believing that what God says is true, agreeing with what God says and with what He provides, and by confessing our agreement. We can grab God’s promises and begin to apply them to our lives because of God’s faithfulness to keep His word. We have to lift the sails. We have to position ourselves to receive.

It’s a process. We are people of process. It’s a process of walking in more and more freedom. This walk is also characterized by moments. Those times when God speaks directly to us, it immediately impacts us, and results in instantaneous change. God understands that growing up in freedom is a process. If you’re a parent, think about how you felt watching your baby learn to walk. You didn’t berate her for falling. You didn’t lose patience while she toddled. You were proud of her achievement and patient with the process. God is our Heavenly Father. He is proud of us. He is proud of YOU. He is proud of you right now, while you’re in the process. And He is patient with us while we learn to walk in His freedom.

So how do we put this into practice? We need to stop allowing Satan to gain a foothold in our lives by listening to his voice. When something happens that causes us hurt or pain, Satan is quick to point an accusing finger and tell us that we somehow deserve this, that it’s somehow our fault or due to our lack, or to say that God is angry with us or punishing us, etc. When we feel pain from a situation or from something someone says, we need to stop in that moment. Instead of letting Satan put his spin on what happens, we need to take it to God, ask Him how He sees the situation, and allow Him to speak truth to us. God will tell us the things He wants us to know, and we will prevent the enemy from gaining a foothold in our life.

The kingdom of heaven has dominion everywhere on earth, but does it have dominion everywhere in your heart? Until it does, you are not walking in complete freedom.

Activation

Quiet yourself. Close your eyes.

Ask God: “Is there an area of my heart that I have not fully surrendered to you?”

Really expect a response from Him. Trust that God will bring things to mind that He wants to address in your life. As He does, confess those things that He shows you. It could be a picture or a verse or an impression or a thought.

Pray: Lord, I hear you, and I believe you are right. I confess, and I agree with you. There have been places in my heart that I have not surrendered to you. I repent. I’m changing the way I think. Will you please forgive me?

Listen for His response. You can always weigh what you hear against God’s word in 1 John 1:9: “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” Remember that God never tells you something that violates His word. He has promised that if we confess our sins, He will forgive us and cleanse us.

Pray: Lord, thank you for forgiving me. I receive your forgiveness, and I use my will to surrender more fully to you. Thank you that, as I do, you will change me from the inside out.

Ask: Jesus, will you show me how you see my heart right now?

What is Faith?

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Hebrews 11:1 (AMPC)

“Now faith is the assurance (the confirmation, the title deed) of the things [we] hope for, being the proof of things [we] do not see and the conviction of their reality [faith perceiving as real fact what is not revealed to the senses].“

Sometimes figuring out what faith is and how it works is tricky. The quick answer to the question “what is faith” is that faith is trust. But actually faith goes a bit farther than just trust. Faith isn’t a gamble. It isn’t a shot in the dark. Faith is trust based on certainty and assurance. We have faith when we know that we know that we know that we know that something is TRUE. It’s fact. When we have that kind of certainty, we can’t be shaken. It doesn’t matter if we can see it right now. It doesn’t matter if our certainty matches our circumstances. When given the choice, faith chooses the sure bet.

The reason faith is a sure bet is that it’s based on the character of God and on His promises. We can have faith because we know that God is who He says He is. We can have faith because we know that whatever God says is true. We know it will come to pass. We know that we know that we know that we know. God isn’t moved by our circumstance. He isn’t shaken by the unexpected. In fact, to God, nothing is unexpected. God is unchanging. He is stable. He is constant. He is rock solid. He is dependable.

So faith is the assurance and certainty of whatever God says, even if we haven’t seen it come to pass yet. It’s trust in a sure thing. It’s a title deed. It’s a legal promise. It’s a guarantee. It’s a confirmation. This trust can’t be misplaced if it’s placed in God. It can’t be broken. It’s a done deal. It’s a sure thing.

Father, I thank you for your faithfulness. I thank you that you aren’t shaken by circumstances. Nothing surprises you. Nothing catches you off guard. What you say will happen will happen. What you promise will come to pass. Your word never returns void. It does just what you sent it to do. I can place my trust in you, knowing that you will never let me down. You will never break trust with me. You can be counted on. No matter what is going on around me, no matter what my circumstances, no matter what my physical senses are telling me, I know that I know that I know that I know that you have a good plan for me and that you’re working all things for my good. Thank you, Father. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Wilderness Lessons

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Ah, the wilderness. We’ve all been there…that time in your life when you seemed to be stuck in a spiritual desert. The wilderness is not a fun place to be. In fact, it can feel a lot like wandering aimlessly around instead of traveling from point A to point B. We may wonder why the wilderness even exists, but the truth is that God has a special plan and purpose for the wilderness experience in our life. It’s the same plan and purpose He had for it in biblical times when He led the children of Israel to the Promised Land via the wilderness. Even Jesus was led by the Holy Spirit into the wilderness, and if it’s good enough for Jesus you can bet it’s good enough for us, too. The wilderness has some pretty important lessons for us to learn. They’re lessons that can’t be learned anywhere else, and if you want to have a Promised Land experience with God–a life of abundance–you have to face the wilderness first.

The wilderness is often a desert. It’s dry. It’s harsh. It’s painful. It’s dangerous. When you picture the desert, you probably picture mile and mile of sand dunes in all directions. But God’s wilderness doesn’t look like that at all. In fact, the wilderness of the Bible is rocky. It’s craggy. It has narrow valleys and canyons to walk through. When the children of Israel lived in Goshen, they had nothing but wide open spaces. They could see in all directions. But in the wilderness? There are times you can’t see anything at all.

In the wilderness, you have to trust God’s guidance.

The wilderness is the time in your life when you wonder where the heck you’re going. Every turn seems like a dead end. There’s no end in sight, no clear path, no direction. You’re whole world has been flipped upside down, and there’s no clearly marked GPS-navigated path through this barren place. God led the children of Israel by a pillar of cloud by day and by a pillar of fire by night. Every step of the way, God was in the lead. He knew exactly where the children of Israel were headed, and He knew exactly how to get them there.

Of course, when Israel left Egypt the Promised Land of Canaan wasn’t that far away. There was a pretty clear, direct path right to their destination, but God knew if they took the direct path, they would be attacked by enemies they were unprepared for. So God took them to Canaan by way of the wilderness. In the wilderness, they had no idea what direction to go in to reach the Promised Land. All they could do was follow God’s guidance on their journey.

The same is true for us. We might have a clear idea of where God wants us to ultimately end up. It may even look like a straight route all the way, but sometimes God takes us there by way of the wilderness. He knows we won’t be prepared for Promised Land living and the spiritual warfare we might encounter along the way without some serious maturing, so to the wilderness we go. The lesson for us is the same as the lesson for Israel. Will we follow our own ideas? or will we wait for God’s direction? If you want out of the wilderness, the first lesson you need to learn is to move when God moves and to stop when God stops. There’s not one step to take without God’s direct guidance, and God has promised to be in the wilderness with us, going before us.

In the wilderness, you have to trust God’s provision.

The wilderness isn’t flush with resources. There aren’t grocery stores on every corner and running water whenever you need it. The wilderness is hot and dry and dusty. It’s a whole lot of nothing a whole lot of the time. If you try to provide for yourself in the wilderness, you’re going to fail….miserably! And that’s pretty much the point. You see as long as you can provide for yourself, you don’t have to trust God. You’re walking in your own power. You’re dependent upon your own strength. That’s not the abundant life God wants us to live. It isn’t the life Jesus died on the cross to give us. It’s a life of way, way less.

God’s desire is for us to trust in Him. He has promised to be our provider. In fact, the Bible tells us that in Christ He has already blessed us with every spiritual blessing. We can read it. We can even believe it a little bit, but to truly know it–I mean deep, deep down in your heart know it at a level that you’d bank your life on it–you have to test it in the wilderness. God doesn’t take us out into the wilderness to watch us suffer. He doesn’t take us there to punish us or to cause us harm. He takes us there so we can learn about who He is and what He can do.

When the Israelites ran out of food, God provided manna from heaven. When they complained about a lack of meat, He provided quail. When they needed water, He provided water from the rock….twice. The children of Israel had God’s divine provision of manna from the time they ran out of their own provisions packed in Egypt to the time they first ate the produce of Canaan. See, at some point, our own strength runs out. Our supply runs out. Our ability runs out. But that’s the place where God shines! If we let Him, He’ll provide manna from heaven and water from the rock! God knows what we need even before we do. He promises to provide exactly what we need exactly when we need it, but living that truth means exercising faith–more faith than we think we have at times.

The wilderness experience is an experience of God’s miracles. There are some great stories of God’s provision. It’s a person showing up on your doorstep with milk and bread because the Holy Spirit told them to. It’s a check arriving in the mail for the exact amount you needed for that bill. It’s a friend stopping by to check on you and remind you that you’re not alone. It’s a word spoken in due season that is an exact answer to your prayer. God cares about the details of our lives. There isn’t a single detail too small for God. In the wilderness journey, I am currently on, God has provided in some truly miraculous ways.

One small gesture that I remember so well came in the form of a flower dropped off by a friend. I was struggling emotionally. I just needed some life in my house. I had talked to my husband about purchasing some hanging plants or some flowers that I could keep inside to tend through the winter. But every time I tried to find the plant I wanted or buy the flowers, the money just wasn’t there. I was becoming discouraged. I remember crying out to the Lord and saying, “Please, God, I just want a flower. Can you send someone to bring me flowers?” I also had the passing thought that my husband hates cut flowers and might be irritated if someone brought me cut flowers because they die so quickly.

Not long after, my neighbor knocked on my door. She had a small potted plant in her hand. It was a white tea rose. She said, “I just felt like God wanted me to get you some flowers. I don’t know why I bought this one. It’s just so small! I wanted to get you a big bouquet, but when I went to pick them up, God said “No. Not those.” She went on to detail how she had moved through the flower shop until God stopped her at that small white tea rose. She thought it was a pretty pathetic substitute for a large bouquet, but she was obedient and bought it anyway. Imagine her surprise when I told her how perfect that tea rose was. Roses are my favorite flower…not just any roses..white roses. And once upon a time, my husband had bought me a white tea rose for my kitchen. Now I had exactly what I’d asked for–my favorite flower, in a pot, to grow in my kitchen. A small detail, really, in the scheme of all our other needs, but God provided even that small thing.

In the wilderness, you meet God.

The wilderness journey of the children of Israel included Mount Sinai, the place where God gave Moses the Ten Commandments. God spoke to the people. They heard His voice. He made a covenant with them. He had already miraculously brought them through the Red Sea. He had supplied them with food and water. He had taken care of their needs. Now, He met them in person.

In the wilderness, when your world feels like it’s ending, when everything you’ve ever known–your comfort zone–is long gone, when you’re at the end of yourself, God meets you there. He meets you there. In a personal way. In a real way. In a way that He couldn’t meet you when you were busy with your own plans. In a way that He couldn’t meet you when you were relying on your own ideas and your own strength to meet your needs. In a way that He couldn’t meet you when the road looked clear and straight and didn’t require faith to walk.

Here in the wilderness, in the midst of pain and suffering, God meets us in ways that we can’t imagine. He is more real in the wilderness. His mercies are more beautiful and precious to us. His provision a little more miraculous. His care a little more tender. He leads us a little more closely. We learn to hear His voice a little more clearly…to follow His footsteps a little more closely. We learn to depend completely on Him. We learn to hold tight to His promises, which are “yes” and “amen” in Christ. We learn to exercise our faith. We learn to pray in a different way. We get stronger in our knowledge of God…of who He IS. He prepares us.

After our wilderness journey with God, we’re ready to take on some spiritual warfare. We confident to press through to the Promised Land because we’ve learned that God is faithful to us in the wilderness. We know that if He’s faithful in the wilderness, He’s faithful anywhere and everywhere we might find ourselves. We know God is always with us. We know He is always leading us. We know He is always ready to provide for us. We know how to trust Him at a new level. And now we are ready to enter in to the next level of abundant life that He not only prepared for us, but that He prepared us for in the wilderness.

Bread of Life

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Have you ever tried to give up carbs? Or maybe just give up bread? If you are anything like me, it was a nightmare experience. I love bread…and cheese…I just can’t imagine life without them. I think the early Christians would have felt a lot like I do. Bread was important to them. Bread has been important for a really long time. It’s one of the first prepared foods. The Greek word for bread is even used more expansively to refer to food in general. That’s how important bread is. Bread was life-giving. I think in today’s modern world with keto diets, we tend to forget that.

So, then, how do we process the sermon where Jesus refers to himself as the bread of life? How do we relate to that when bread is easily gotten and easily given up in our modern times? For me, I have to see Jesus as an integral part of my existence. He is life. He is food. He is source and provider.

When we’re hungry, interesting things happen in our bodies. We can ignore signals of hunger and thirst. We can tune them out and starve ourselves to death. We can even confuse thirst for hunger and hunger for thirst. Our brains do some crazy things sometimes, and I think the same is true on a spiritual level. Often when I feel some kind of emptiness or lack in my life, I run after physical things. I claim boredom and run after entertainment. Or I claim malaise and run after something fulfilling. Maybe I try to fill that lack with relationships or with hobbies and projects. How often do I consider that feeling as spiritual?

The answer is not often enough. I can ignore my spiritual hunger and thirst for so long that I deaden my heart’s response. I can starve myself to death, spiritually. It becomes harder to press in. It becomes harder to seek God. Sometimes, I find that I am only seeking Him in times of hardship when I want something from Him. I’m not seeking Him for relationship with Him. I’m seeking His hand, but not His face.

When Jesus becomes the Bread of Life to me, I won’t be able to go long without him. I need to turn to Jesus as often as I turn to food or water. I need to consider relationship with Him to be just as essential to my survival as meeting this most basic of physical needs. I need to take Him in–feasting on His body and drinking His blood until it becomes a part of me like physical bread and wine become a part of me when I eat and drink. If you are what you eat, then feasting on Jesus means I become more and more like Him. Isn’t that what I want?

I need to see myself going without time with Jesus the same way that I see myself going without bread or cheese–impossible! Certain death! Because truly, it is exactly that on a spiritual level. The Jews surrounding Jesus remembered manna from heaven. They remembered the works of the law. They were desperate for Jesus, but not for the right reasons. They were focused on the wrong thing, and so often in life so am I. When God provided manna, these people attributed the miracle to Moses. Even when manna was miraculously falling day by day in just the right amounts to provide for their needs, these people found grounds to complain, and so do I. I ignore the daily miracles around me as commonplace, and I seek for new miraculous signs just like they did. But Jesus is calling us, just as He called them, to refocus. It wasn’t Moses that provided. It was God. It wasn’t Jesus’ miraculous abilities that were going to meet their desperation, it was His person–who He IS. It isn’t new miraculous signs that we need; it’s an opening of our spiritual eyes to God’s everyday provision and miraculous presence that we desperately need.

Oh, Lord, increase my hunger for you. Increase my thirst. Re-calibrate my spirit so that I hear those signals again with the same urgency I hear them from my physical body for food and water. Let me not go one day without quality relationship time with you. Help me to go all in with you. Help me to take you in until you become such a part on me that more and more of me becomes more and more like you.

An End to Differences

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Galatians 5:6 (TPT)

“When you’re placed into the Anointed One and joined to him, circumcision and religious obligations can benefit you nothing. All that matters now is living in the faith that is activated and brought to perfection by love.”

The early church was made up of Jews and Gentiles. The Jews, being the chosen people of God, sometimes pointed to circumcision and all their religious practices as somehow making them superior to the Gentiles, who had none of these things. Paul was telling them that this was silly. The church is different. It’s a place of unity in Christ. When we depend on Christ for our salvation and identity, nothing else matters. There are no outward signs that make us better than anyone else. All of us are depending on Christ for our salvation.

Outward religious signs, obligations, rituals…they’re all worthless. What counts is what’s in your heart. Are you living your life in faith? Do you have a faith that is active and working in your life? Do your deeds spring forth from the love you have for God, or are you doing them to earn something? Grace can not be earned. It is a freely offered gift. Grace can only be received.

So stop striving. Stop relying on works of the flesh to get you somewhere. Recognize that salvation and favor comes through grace, and we receive it by faith. We are all equals. We are all joined to Christ. Our identity is now linked to Him, and so our normal divisions of Jew/Gentile, slave/free, even male/female have no relevance to our relationship with God. All that matters is Christ in us.

Father, how beautiful it is to be a part of your body! How wonderful it is to be equals together, sharing in the finished work of Jesus, without divisions! Thank you that I don’t have to do outward demonstrations or feel obligated to do certain things or follow certain traditions. Thank you that I don’t have to have a “religious life.” Instead, God, I can embrace your grace and have a free life. When I place my faith in you and allow my deeds to flow out of my love for you and my desire to obey, I have an activated, living faith. That’s the kind of faith that pleases you. It’s not an outward thing. It’s a matter of the heart. Help me to remember this when I am tempted to rely on my own works. In Jesus’ name, Amen.