A Beautiful Mess

Atoning Sacrifice

Photo by Mateus Campos Felipe on Unsplash

1 John 2:2

“He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.”

Jesus is the atoning sacrifice for the entire world. Every sin that has ever been committed, every sin that will ever be committed, is forgiven when it is brought before the cross of Christ and submerged in His atoning blood. What a gift! God has given us the ultimate means of redemption. No more yearly sacrifices that only cover us for a short time. No more sin offerings to atone for us in between. We have all the atonement we need in Christ.

Sometimes we carry our sins with us even after we claim to have given them over to Christ. We allow feelings of guilt and unworthiness to haunt us even though we’ve repented and placed those sins under the blood. Satan wants us to think that God hasn’t really forgiven us. He wants us to feel like there is more that we need to do. Why? Because Satan wants to diminish Jesus. If we continue to try to atone for our own sins, we turn our back on the finished work of Christ. We say in our hearts that His death and resurrection were not enough to cover our sin. It might be enough for someone else’s sin, but not for my own. And so we hang on to things we don’t need to hang on to, and we separate ourselves from God’s love and work in our lives.

Don’t let Satan rob you of the blessing of an atoning sacrifice. Place that sin and guilt and shame and any other negative feelings that go along with it under the atoning blood of Jesus once and for all. Tell Satan that Jesus is who He says He is and that His offering is more than enough to cover every single sin….even ours. Then refuse to pick that guilt back up again. God never meant for you to carry it. That’s why He sent Jesus.

Father, thank you for the gift of your Son Jesus Christ. I thank you that that sacrifice is more than enough to cover over everything I have ever done wrong and anything I ever will do wrong in the future. When I bring my sin to the cross and put it under His blood, I can leave it there. I don’t need to pick it up again. I don’t have to carry any guilt or shame that the devil wants to put on me. You already carried it all for me. I will accept your offering on my behalf and I won’t insist that I need to do more than you have already done. It is finished. It is enough. Thank you, God, for your great love for me. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Ash Wednesday

Today is Ash Wedneday. If you’re not Catholic, you may have no idea what that means. If you live in an area with a large Catholic community or in an area with denominations that celebrate the liturgical calendar, you may see people walking around with ashes on their forehead in the shape of a cross. Maybe you’re curious about this whole Ash Wednesday/Lent thing. Maybe you think that’s just for those overly religious types, but I think Lent holds a lot of deep, spiritual significance. We celebrate Lent in my house, and I encourage you to consider celebrating it in yours.

Ash Wednesday occurs 46 days before Easter. It’s considered a holy day in the liturgical calendar, and it’s marked by penitence, prayer, and fasting. Ash Wednesday serves as a reminder of the mortality of man and our need for repentance and redemption. Ash Wednesday marks the start of the Lenten season. Throughout history, the length of time that marked Lent has varied, but in the seventh century 40 days became the norm. This 40 days signified the time Jesus spent in the wilderness after His baptism in the River Jordan. This 40 day fast marked the start of the ministry of Jesus and preceded His temptation by Satan in the wilderness. You may be saying, “Why is Ash Wednesday 46 days before Easter if the fast only lasts for 40 days?” Well, the short answer is that there are certain days, like Sundays, that are excluded from the fast.

Ash Wednesday is characterized by the placing of ashes on the forehead. The ashes are made from burning the palms used in the Palm Sunday celebration of the year before. The ashes are then placed on the forehead in the shape of a cross to symbolize penitence and repentance. The use of ashes in association with penance is an old one. When Jonah preached to the Ninevites, they covered themselves with sackcloth and ashes to symbolize humility before God and repentance from their sins. Ashes also symbolize grief. For some, these ashes represent the grief they feel from the separation that their sin causes between them and God. For others, the ashes symbolize the grief they feel over Christ’s death on the cross.

The 40 days of Lent are meant to prepare us for the beautiful miracle of Easter. Often in our lives, the busyness of life and the distraction of all the activities that come with the start of Spring draw us away from really contemplating the meaning of Easter. Many times, especially with small children, I found Easter arriving before I knew it and passing without much contemplation or thought on my part. If I wasn’t taking the time to contemplate the meaning and significance of Easter for myself, how could I expect my children to understand the importance of Easter? That’s when I began looking for ways that would draw attention to the true meaning of Easter and to help me celebrate it fully. That search brought me to Lent.

Now, if you’re familiar with Lent at all, you may be thinking about fasting. Many people give things up for Lent. Anything from coffee to alcohol to sugar to meat can be given up as a sacrificial fast during Lent. This is probably the aspect of celebrating Lent that keeps most people from joining in. The purpose of Lent is to focus our minds on the crucifixion and resurrection. For some people, fasting helps them die to self. It mimics Jesus’ fast in the wilderness. The Easter season is definitely a time for thinking about dying to self. But it’s also a time of freedom and of life. The years that I’ve done the fasting, I didn’t necessarily find any real meaning in it, but then I realized that I was so focused on what I was giving up that I wasn’t actually using the fast for it’s intended purpose. If you’re going to sacrificially give something up, you need to focus on the sacrifice Christ made on your behalf. Giving up food without replacing it with prayer and contemplation is just a bad diet. Fasting happens when you take the time you would normally spend on that thing and put it toward time with God–time spent in prayer or in worship or in meditating on God’s Word.

I like the idea of freedom going along with the fast. If I look at my life, if I search my heart, I can probably find something that has become an idol in my life, something I spend way too much time doing or that has way too much power and control over my life. That’s the thing I want to fast from during Lent. It is a sacrifice in the beginning, to be sure, but by the end of the 40 days, I will have given it up long enough to put it back into its proper place in my priorities or to get rid of it from my life altogether. At the end of Lent, if I have sacrificed one of my altars at the foot of the cross, I will have gained freedom on Resurrection Sunday, and how very fitting is that!

Last year, I ran across the idea of focusing on the life-giving aspect of the Resurrection during Lent. Instead of fasting and focusing on doing with out, this author advocated adding something life-giving into your Lent celebration. That worked much better with young children I have to tell you. We added in a Lenten devotional reading to our family time. We added in acts of kindness and service to others. What a great way to give life to those around us!

If you’re looking for unique ways of celebrating Lent, you need look no further than Pinterest. I found a lot of great resources there, especially resources for celebrating with young children. Yes, I have to make some adjustments occasionally because we aren’t Catholic, but I can still use the resources fairly easily with my family. This year, I’ll be using “In Pursuit of Jesus: 15 Easter Reflections” from Our Daily Bread. I’m also using “Preparing to Celebrate Christ at Easter“, a weekly study from Joyce Meyer that comes to my email every week. I’m considering using this paper chain idea to mark off the days of Lent for my children, or possibly this reward jar to keep track of acts of service. In the past, I’ve used this journey calendar to help my kids keep track of the days. In the future, I might do something like this Lenten tea to mark the celebration.

Aside from all the fun things I can do, I want to make sure that during this time, I do a heart check up. 2 Corinthians 13:5 says “Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you—unless, of course, you fail the test?” This is a great time of year to examine myself, to examine my heart. What are my motives on a daily basis for the things that I do? Where am I getting my identity from? Is my heart in the right place before God? If the answer to these is not what I want them to be, Lent provides me with a 40 day opportunity to make the necessary changes to be able to answer these questions the way they should be answered in my life.

David did this in the Psalms when he prayed: “Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.” (Psalm 139: 23-24). Sometimes, I need to take the time to get before God and let Him show me what He wants to change in my life. Lent is a great time to go before God and ask Him to do a heart check on us. What areas of freedom and life does He want to bring to us this year?

At the end of the day the Bible tells us it’s important to “guard our heart” (Proverbs 4:23). I want to be sure that I have a clean, pure heart before the Lord and that I’m working hard to keep it that way. I hope this encourages you to consider celebrating Lent in your own way. God will take any opportunity we give Him to breathe new life into us and into our circumstances.

Where Is the Fruit?

Luke 13: 6-9: “Then he told this parable: A man had a fig tree growing in his vineyard, and he went to look for fruit on it but did not find any. So he said to the man who took care of the vineyard, ‘For three years now I have been coming to look for fruit on this fig tree and haven’t found any. Cut it down! Why should it use up the soil?’ ‘Sir,’ the man replied, ‘leave it alone for one more year, and I’ll dig around it and fertilize it. If it bears fruit next year, fine! If not, then cut it down.'”

Jesus told this parable immediately after some people came to him to discuss a tragic event. They told Jesus about the Galileans whom Pilate had murdered on the temple grounds. Why did they tell Jesus about this event? Perhaps because they wanted to know if He was going to overthrow the Roman government. Perhaps because they wanted Him to confirm that these men had suffered because they were sinners, since they were murdered on the way to offer their sacrifices. Luke does not provide us with the motivation of the speakers. He does not tell us what response they were looking for, but it probably wasn’t the response Jesus gave them.

Jesus answers in verse 2: “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish.”

It was common in that culture for people to believe that any heinous act, any great tragedy, was an act of God to punish sin. Think about the reaction of Job’s friends to his suffering. They insisted that Job could not be as righteous as he claimed. Instead, they insisted that God was punishing him for unconfessed sin. What was wrong with this line of thinking? It attributed evil motives to God. It distorted the character of God. Yes, God is a righteous judge. Yes, He takes sin very seriously. But God is also merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in love. He isn’t sitting in heaven looking for any and every excuse to punish humanity. In fact, at this point in history Jesus was on the earth as the first step toward God’s ultimate act of love: dying on our behalf!

Jesus pointed out that God wasn’t looking to punish sin like this. He calls them to repentance. He literally told them to change their thinking–their thinking about God, their thinking about suffering–all of it. Perhaps these men were gleeful thinking that God had punished those rotten sinners. How often do we look at tragedy and rejoice that God is punishing the wicked? Jesus response shows that God does not rejoice, even when evil is punished. God mourns the loss of those souls who die without redemption. The Bible makes it clear that God does not desire that any should perish but that all should come to everlasting life (2 Peter 3:9). These men were thinking about God all wrong. They were thinking about the situation all wrong. And if they didn’t change the way they were thinking, they were in danger of missing out on redemption.

In order to reinforce the concept that God is merciful, that He is offering salvation to everyone, and that He doesn’t want anyone to remain in a lost state and be cut off from His presence for eternity, Jesus tells the parable of the fig tree. The Bible often uses the image of a fig tree to represent the nation of Israel. It can also represent an individual person. In the parable, the landowner (God) sees that the fig tree that has been planted in his vineyard is not producing fruit. We know that the Bible refers to fruit as evidence of a changed life or evidence of the Holy Spirit (fruits of the Spirit). Producing fruit shows that God is at work within you. This tree was not producing fruit. It had lots of leaves. It looked healthy, but it had no fruit.

How often do we do lots of good deeds for the wrong reasons? Are we serving at church while hiding sin and judgment in our hearts? Are we volunteering and giving for the acclaim it brings? Do we serve because we want to be seen and acknowledged by man or are we truly serving out of a place of humility and out of our love for God?

The nation of Israel as a whole at this time was full of pious people who were serving and following God for the prestige and acclaim it brought them. They were going through elaborate rituals and ceremonies to prove their devotion to God, but in reality they had no real knowledge of who He is. They had no real devotion and love for Him. Their works were all empty show. They had lots of beautiful, healthy-looking leaves, but they had no fruit.

The landowner sees that even after several years, this tree is not producing fruit. He asks the gardener for a reason not to cut it down. After all, it’s a waste of space if it isn’t producing! The gardener asks for more time. “Give it another year,” he says. “I’ll dig around it. I’ll fertilize it. Then, we’ll see.” The gardener is Jesus. He steps between God’s wrathful judgement and humanity. He offers to provide a way. He’ll dig around it. He’ll break up the hard soil of their hearts. He’ll fertilize it. He’ll give it all the blessings they need to grow and mature spiritually. He’ll provide for the salvation of the “tree.” If the tree does not respond to that personalized attention, then and only then does it deserve to be cut down.

We are often like this tree. We are doing all kinds of outside works, but we are ignoring the sinful rot in our hearts. Jesus’ desire is to do a work in us. He breaks up the hard and rocky soil. He makes sure air gets in there. He removes the weeds and things that inhibit our growth. He fertilizes us. He gives us everything we need to thrive. He atones for our sin, BUT we have to receive it. We have to take that nourishment and provision into our roots. We have to claim that salvation. We have to accept that atoning sacrifice on our behalf before it will do us any good.

Jesus calls us to change our thinking. He calls us to see God as He really is. He calls us to see the work He has done on our behalf, to embrace it, and to grow from it. He calls us to leave our old way of life, our stuck-in-the-mud hard-hearted roots, and become new. When we embrace Jesus’ work on our behalf, we produce good fruit. We produce fruit in keeping with righteousness, like John the Baptist talked about. We avoid the wrath of God.

But if we ignore the call… If we neglect the gift of salvation that Jesus holds out to us…If at the day of judgement we are found to have only shiny leaves and no fruit, God’s wrath will come upon us. And we will deserve every bit of it.

A Cover Up

Proverbs 28:13 (MSG)

“You can’t whitewash your sins and get by with it; you find mercy by admitting and leaving them.”

We often hear of cover ups in the news. Some government agency or organization has done something wrong or illegal and has sought to hide the evidence from the public or others. They thought that by masking what they did, by covering over it, they would keep everyone else in the dark. They thought they would get away with it and not suffer the consequences of their actions.

Often, we have the same thought. When we sin, our first response is to hide and try to cover it up. We might ignore it. We might pretend it didn’t happen. We might make excuses for it. No matter what we do the Bible is very clear that the only way we can truly be free of the guilt of sin is by confessing it and leaving it behind. When we confess our sins, God washes them away for good. They are erased. They no longer exist. A cover up will eventually be found out, but when God takes care of our sins, they are gone for good.

Father, I thank you that you are a merciful God. You provide a way for me to be totally and completely free from my sin. I don’t have to cover it up or pretend it doesn’t exist. You make that a reality for me. You wash me so completely clean that my sin is gone for good. Thank you for your amazing love and mercy toward me. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

God’s Love

It’s the end of February and time to wrap up my monthly theme of love. So far, we’ve looked at loving our husbands, loving ourselves, and loving others, but now it’s time to look at the source of all this ability to love: God Himself. What we know of love, we learn from God. It’s that simple. Every bit of human understanding about love comes from the eternity that God set inside each of our hearts. Like in Plato’s allegory of the cave, we see only the shadow, not the substance. Human love is shadow. God’s love is substance.

1 John 4:8 says, “Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.” God is love. It’s an attribute of His character. We don’t have love as an attribute of the human character. For us, love is something we do. More often than not, for humans love is something we feel. But for God, love is who He is. You can’t separate God and love. You just can’t. So what do we know about love? We know what God has given us in His Word. We understand the nature of God’s love from analogies that the Bible gives us. Ways that God puts Himself into terms we have a chance at understanding. The wonder here is that no matter how clear a picture we might think we have of God’s love, it’s only a small piece. God is infinitely bigger!

Agape love is the kind of love that we associate with God. It is a love of moral preference. It is not a sentimental feeling. This kind of love does not produce butterflies in your stomach. It isn’t the romantic kind of love we think about on Valentine’s Day or look for in our relationships with spouses, etc. No, Agape love is a chosen love. It’s a purposeful love. It’s a preferential love. It’s an act of the will. Because agape love is an act of the will, it does not fade away. You can not fall in or out of agape love. That’s great news! Because that means God’s love for us is unchangeable. It won’t fade. It is always the same. It is always at the highest level possible.

This brings us to the next point. Agape love is unconditional. Because God’s love for us doesn’t change, it’s unconditional. We don’t earn this type of love. Agape love flows naturally from God’s very essence. Remember, it’s what He is. So nothing we do makes God love us any more than He loves us right now at this moment. Conversely, nothing we could ever do makes God love us any less than He does right now. It’s this unconditional quality of God’s love that allowed Him to love us while were still sinners. When we were enemies of God, when we actively worked against His plan, He loved us enough to die for us.

Why? Because agape love is sacrificial love. It is a giving love. Because it flows out of who God is, there is never a short supply of it. It’s God’s love for us that began His plan of redemption. God knew we would not be able to redeem ourselves. He knew we would not be able to pay back the sin-debt we owed, so God paid the debt on our behalf. His love redeemed us. It atoned for our sin. And it is God’s love and His goodness that draws us to repentance. We can’t help but respond to this kind of love.

Let’s take a minute and look at Paul’s famous passage on love and see what we can learn about God’s agape love from it:

Love is patient. The Greek word here is makrothumeo. It means: to persevere; to demonstrate patience. But it also means: long-tempered; to defer anger or refusing to retaliate with anger. It means to be long-suffering, forbearing, long-spirited, and to endure a long time. Agape love is not quick to respond with punishment. God’s love is not quick to punish us for sin, but He waits for us to come to repentance. He is slow to anger. He does not desire that any should perish, and so God loves us in a way that gives us every opportunity to come to repentance and to be redeemed.
Love is kind. The Greek word here is chresteuomai. It means: full of service to others; gentle. It also means: to show oneself useful; to be benevolent. To be kind is to “furnish what is suitable.” We have no adjective in English that blends this idea of kindness and goodness together. God’s kindness includes providing us with things that are eternally useful. He gives from His fullness.
Love is not envious. The Greek word here used for envy is zeloo. Zeloo is an onomatopoetic word that sounds like the boiling of a kettle. It means: something that is bubbling over because it is so hot; burning with zeal. It’s the idea of zealous possession of something or to boil with hatred, envy, or wrath. Here the term is negated emphatically. God does not desire us as a possession. He does not boil over. He is not moved by negative things like hatred, envy, or wrath. His love for us is not an obsessive love.
Love is not boastful. The Greek word here used for boastful is perpereuomai. It means: to act as a braggart; to show off; to need attention. Again, the term is negated emphatically. God does not need to draw unnecessary attention to Himself. He does not love as a means of boosting His own ego. Instead, love flows out from Him. His agape love is a giving love. It is a quiet love.
Love is not puffed up. The Greek word here is phusioo. It means: to inflate; to puff up; to be arrogant; to be proud. It refers to a person who swells and spews forth arrogant thoughts. Again, the term is emphatically negated. God doesn’t spew forth arrogant thoughts. Again, it is a quiet love. It is a meek love. It is a love with great power under control.
Love does not act unbecomingly. The Greek word here for “act unbecomingly” is aschemoneo. It means to act unseemly, unbecomingly, or dishonorably. It carries the idea of something without a proper form; indecent. God’s love does not dishonor. God’s love is an honoring love. God’s love honors us. Because God’s love is a defining love, it has the proper form that love should take.
Love does not seek its own. This Greek phrase is zetei ta heautes. The idea here is a reflexive demanding. This kind of love would be demanding of its own fulfillment. A love solely focused inwardly on itself. But God’s love doesn’t focus inwardly. It doesn’t demand its own fulfillment. God’s love is always outwardly focused. God’s love seeks our fulfillment first. God’s desire is to give to us, to bless us, to meet our needs. It’s an outwardly focused, expressive love.
Love is not easily provoked. The Greek here is paroxuno. The idea here is someone who comes along side and jabs at or stabs at in order to incite anger or an emotional outburst. God’s love does not incite emotional outburst, nor does it show emotional outburst. God’s love is controlled. It is a love that is steady and stable. It is a love based on preference and choice and not wild emotions, which means it does not fluctuate or change.
Love does not keep an account of wrongs. The Greek phrase is logezetai to kakon. Logezetai means to reckon, to consider, or to suppose. It conveys the idea of logical thought, like an accountant adding up a tally sheet. It’s the image of someone taking an inventory, gathering all the data together, adding it up, and drawing a conclusion from it. Kakos refers to evil in the widest sense. God’s love does not look for evil. It does not tally up all the crimes done and hold them against a person. Agape love is a forgiving love.
Love does not delight in unrighteousness. The Greek phrase is chairei epi te adikia. Chairei means to delight, to incline toward. It comes from the root word that refers to grace. Adikia means the opposite of justice; going against God’s standard. Together the picture is of a person who inclines themselves toward those things which go against God’s standards or justice or right living. So we can see that God’s love is always in line with His standards. It is a just love. It is a love that is right at a fundamental level. There is no deviation to it.
Love rejoices in truth. The Greek is sugchairo de te aletheia. Sugchairo means to rejoice; literally, to identify with God’s grace. Aletheia means truth in a divine sense of God’s truth as revealed to mankind. This truth goes beyond spoken truth. It refers to the absolute epitome of truth. So God’s love rejoices in truth. It comes along side us and brings joy as a shared experience in the ultimate representation of what truth is. Truth is another attribute of God, and here love magnifies it.
Love bears all things. The Greek word for bears is stego. It means to cover closely or to bear up under. It is the picture of a roof that covers something and protects it. God’s love provides a protective cover over us.
Love believes all things. The Greek word for believes is pisteuo. It refers to faith believing, to credit, and to placing confidence in. God’s kind of love is a faith kind of love. The belief it has is not human belief; it is faith belief. This kind of love entrusts itself to others.
Love hopes for all things. The Greek word of hope is elpizo. This is an expectant hope. It is a hope that actively waits for the fulfillment of the object of faith brought about by God through the power of His love. This is an active hope, not a passive wishing. God’s love is full of hope. It’s a love that brings things about through its own power.
Love endures all things. The Greek word used her for endure is hupomeno. It means to stay behind, to wait, to stand one’s ground. It means to remain or to tarry. God’s love is a love that stays. It lingers. It waits. It does not seek to get out from under the current situation or circumstances.

God’s love is an amazing kind of love. It is a love that we are supposed to try and emulate in our relationships with others, but the truth is that God’s love is a love we can only truly know experientially. We can have a lot of knowledge about the analogies and words God uses to describe this kind of love. We can have a lot of knowledge about what it means for God to love us, but to fully understand it, to have a deep and abiding sense of knowing, we have to feel that love in our own lives. God’s love is an experiential love. He pours it out into our hearts by the power of His Holy Spirit.

It is my prayer that you will feel God’s love for you every second of every minute of every hour of every day. That you will come to know how high and how long and how wide and how deep that love can be. And that your picture of God’s love, of this aspect of His nature, will grow bigger each and every day!

God’s Power Is In You

How often are you asking God to do something for you? How often are you asking for more faith? How often are you asking for God to move? What if I told you that God’s part to the equation of your life has already been done?

Ephesians 1:3 says, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in heavenly places in Christ.” Take a look at the emphasized words here: has blessed, every, and in Christ. Ephesians 1:3 tells us that every spiritual blessing that we will ever need for our lives at any time has already been given to us. We don’t have to ask God for more blessings. Every blessing is already ours. The words “has blessed” are in the past tense. This is a finished work of God. How is that possible? It’s possible because of the last phrase, “in Christ.” When Jesus died on the cross, He said “it is finished.” All the work necessary to provide every spiritual blessing to you was done on the cross when Jesus died.

You may be thinking, “If I have every spiritual blessing already, why do I not see those blessing in my life now?” The answer is that as believers we are not trying to get something from God; we’re fighting to receive the full manifestation of what’s already ours in Christ. There are two realms: the physical realm (those things we can see and touch and access with our five senses) and the spiritual realm (those things that is present by faith that we can not access currently with our five senses). Our goal is to use our faith to build a bridge between the spiritual realm and our physical realm.

God has given us everything we need in the spiritual realm. To see it in the physical realm, we have to receive it and pull it forward by faith. In Hebrews 11:1 (AMP) we find that “Now faith is the assurance (title deed, confirmation) of things hoped for (divinely guaranteed), and the evidence of things not seen [the conviction of their reality—faith comprehends as fact what cannot be experienced by the physical senses].” The things we are asking God for are already real in the spirit realm. Our faith is needed to call them forward into the physical realm where we can access them with our five senses.

The problem does not lie in the supply end of the equation. The supply end is God’s work. God’s work was done on the cross. The problem lies in the receiving end of the equation. The receiving end is our work. It’s the work of faith. The problem on the receiving end is not that we don’t have enough faith (Romans 12:3 “God has dealt to every man the measure of faith”), but rather we may not know how to use the faith we already have in order to receive the blessings God has already given. The key to learning how to use the faith we already have is to renew our minds with the Word of God.

God’s Word is true. God’s Word works. All. The. Time. Even when we don’t see it with our physical eyes, it is still working. We have the same faith in us that operate in Jesus Christ and in the apostles (2 Peter 1:2). Jesus told us that all the authority He possessed, He has given to us as His followers (Matthew 28:18 and Mark 16:16-18). Faith only appropriates what God has already provided by grace. So my confidence and assurance that I will receive is not based on my own ability, my own spirituality, or my own merit; my confidence is in what Jesus has already done and has given to me.

In Mark 9:23, Jesus says, “Everything is possible for the one who believes.” The thing is that we can operate in faith and unbelief at the same time. We can believe intellectually that God has done this for us, or that God has promised this to us, or that God can do something and still feel in our hearts that He won’t do it for us or that we aren’t worthy to receive it. We can have head knowledge about something without having heart knowledge, and it’s heart knowledge the makes the difference. You have to tip the scales to the side of faith.

The same power that raised Jesus from the dead lives in us (Ephesians 3:20). Satan doesn’t want us to know that. He works hard to get us stuck in “works,” trying to do something to get something from God, but faith is not something we do. Faith is simply our positive response to what God has already provided by grace. Faith does not speak to God about the size of our mountain. Faith speaks to the mountain about the size of our God.

How do we do this? We have to believe God’s report about things. We have to search the Word and abide in the Word and have the Word within us so that we know God’s will for the situation we find ourselves in and so that we know what God has promised us about that situation. When we have God’s Word alive on the inside of us, we can stand with confidence on the promises of God, believing His report about the matter.

Consider the nation of Israel. Moses had brought them to the edge of the promised land and sent 10 spies into the land to bring back a report. God had already told them to enter the land and drive out their enemies and take possession. God’s report was: Go ahead! Eight of the spies came back with unbelief. They said there were giants in the land and they were grasshoppers in their own sight so they were grasshoppers in the sight of the people who lived in the land. They spoke from unbelief. They had more faith in the report of their physical senses than in the report of God. As a result, they were not able to go into the land and receive the blessing God had provided. Only the two spies–Caleb and Joshua–who believed the Lord’s report from day one and were willing to act on it were ultimately allowed to enter.

Think of the story of David and Goliath. Goliath had come into the valley and was taunting the entire army of Israel. Every Israelite in that army had the promise of God that no one could stand against them (Deuteronomy 32:30). Every single one of them had God’s report that they would be victorious, but only David believed God’s report and acted on it.

When you find God’s report on your situation, act on it. It doesn’t matter what your physical sense tell you. It doesn’t matter what the world around you tells you. It doesn’t matter what your reasoning mind tells you. God’s report is the final report on the situation. Believe God’s report enough to act on it. That’s using your faith and authority to pull those things God has already promised you and already done on your behalf from the spirit realm into the physical realm.

Getting Away With God

This past weekend was our annual Midwinter Getaway for the women at my church. It’s a two day event at a local retreat center just for women. We meet up Friday night, share dinner, have a message and then break for either a fun movie fellowship time as a group or fellowship with your roommates. Saturday is filled with breakfast, more messages, breakout sessions (which include a craft), lunch, more messages, and departing blessings. We have wonderful praise and worship times at the start of each session. It’s a great time!

I have been attending my church for the past 3 years. We began attending in November of 2017 when my youngest son was just a few months old. When February of 2018 rolled around, I heard about the Midwinter Getaway, but I lacked the funds to go. Still, I felt the desire in my heart to go away with the women of my church. I’m an introvert, but I was coming to enjoy the times shared together at weekly Bible Study on Thursday mornings. I had made some casual acquaintances. Plus, I had heard all the wonderful stories of the amazing things that God did on these weekends away.

As the end of 2018 rolled around and I was asking God about my goals for 2019, I felt led to write down the goal to attend Midwinter Getaway. I started putting money into savings every week in order to buy my ticket. Then my daughter’s mental health went into crisis, and we began our struggle with the dual broken systems of mental health and foster care. I had managed to save up the money for the ticket. I had arranged child care for the weekend for the younger kids. Everything looked good.

Then the kids were placed in foster care. My babysitter called to say that the predicted snow meant she might not be able to watch the kids after all. “That’s okay,” I replied numbly. “The state took them.” But I had my ticket, and I tried to be grateful that I could go and enjoy this time without the pull of the kids being home without me. There were no other responsibilities now to keep me away. There was even a wonderful donation given on my behalf that allowed me to attend the event for free. I used the money I had saved and purchased a ticket for my oldest daughter. We never get to spend time together, and she isn’t really living the Christian life. I thought this would give us a chance to spend some mother-daughter time together, and it might open a door for God in her life.

As I was seeking God in prayer and crying my brokenness out to Him, I heard God whisper this verse from the Song of Solomon. “You are altogether beautiful, my darling; there is no flaw in you.” (Song of Solomon 4:7) Then I heard “Come away with me.” I went to the conference that year full of heartbreak and yearning. I didn’t know what God had in store for me, but I was praying it would be something that would get me through the darkness that was trying to surround me and take over. The conference theme for 2019 was Flourish. The messages shared were about not giving up, about getting your breakthrough, about fighting through the hard times. I felt hope rise up in me, and I clung to the many promises that God gave me that weekend. My daughter agreed that the time away was wonderful. She even said she would gladly do it again.

So I made the commitment then and there that as long as our family was in Michigan, I would attend this conference every year. I began saving up again at the end of 2019 in order to purchase my ticket for 2020. This time I not only invited my oldest daughter, I invited some of my friends who I thought could use a break from everyday life and some time with God. Only one of my friends was able to come. My daughter couldn’t afford a ticket this year. So I packed my bags, grabbed my friend, and set off for the retreat center.

Once again, the retreat did not disappoint. This year’s theme was Declare and Decree. We heard messages about declaring the Word of God over our lives, how important it is to speak life over our circumstances, and how to rest in the promises of God. I arrived at the conference center full of joy. It just bubbled out of me. I had so much joy in me that I gladly participated in the ice breaker (as an introvert this is the worst part of the entire weekend!). I was amazed at how many women I knew at the conference this year, and how wonderful it was to share this time away with them.

God honored this weekend. He spoke directly to me as He always does when I quiet myself and tune in to what He’s saying. The guest speaker had prayed over me when this whole dark situation in my life started. I was honored to have her pray over me again. She has prayed over me at key times within the last year as well, and I am taking it as a sign that these dark times are nearly over. At the closing blessing ceremony, my volunteer leader gave me a parting blessing. She commented on the dark times I had gone through this past year and on the brightness of my smile and the joy she always sees on my face. “It’s clear you’re trusting God, and that He’s putting that joy in your heart. Your testimony is so powerful to me.” she said.

Wow! Thank you, God! You bring beauty from ashes. In this dark time in my life, you are pruning me to grow new fruit for you. You have given me new vision, called me out of my comfort zone, and allowed your light to shine brightly through me to be a testimony to others of your power and your peace and your miracles. I am so thankful that you are using me, even now. Even when a year ago I thought I was too broken to be any earthly good. You have used your creative words to speak life into me.

“You are altogether beautiful, my darling; there is no flaw in you.” I hear it in the dark moments when I doubt that God is there…when I wonder if He sees me or hears me. He whispers it to me over and over again. He is refining me. He is making pure gold out of me. This winter season seems so long, and yet I can see small signs that show that Spring is on its way. I can’t wait to see what blessing God brings forth when this winter turns to Spring and the harvest of this waiting time in my life comes forth!

A Remedy for Our Sin Problem

Acts 13: 38-39 (MSG)

“I want you to know, my very dear friends, that it is on account of this resurrected Jesus that the forgiveness of your sins can be promised. He accomplishes, in those who believe, everything that the Law of Moses could never make good on. But everyone who believes in this raised-up Jesus is declared good and right and whole before God.“

Everyone is welcome. Salvation is open to every single person on this planet, but there’s a catch. You have to believe in your need for salvation and your utter inability to do anything to remedy your sinful state on your own merit. There are people all over the world who believe they will get to heaven because they are “good people.” They think their works will get them there. The Pharisees of Jesus’ day believed the same thing. They looked at all the rules and regulations that they believed they were fully following and declared themselves righteous before God.

But Jesus was quick to call them a brood of vipers and white-washed tombs. Why? Because the truth is that the Law of Moses was never meant to make anyone fully righteous. It was given to show us just how far we are from God’s standard of holiness. Sacrifices and rituals didn’t remedy or solve the sin problem. They just delayed the consequences one year at a time.

It was the ultimate sacrifice of Jesus that remedied the sin problem once and for all, and it was God’s resurrection of Jesus from the dead that was the certificate of authenticity that proved that He had the ability and authority to carry out that mission. When we recognize that all our good deeds, good thoughts, and good intentions are just filthy rags that do us know good, when we recognize that we can’t get to God’s standard of holiness on our own merit, we are in the perfect position to receive Jesus’ gift of salvation. We trade our filthy rags in for His robe of righteousness, and because Jesus is who He says He is, He has the authority to remedy our sin problem and make us righteous forever. He does for us what we could never do for ourselves.

Father, I thank you that you saw my sinful condition and my need to be cleansed. You knew that I could never reach the level of holiness that I would need to reach in order to be in your presence, so you sent your son Jesus Christ to fix my sin problem. You sent your son to die in my place so that I could have a remedy for my sin. Jesus does for me what my own good works could never do. He makes me righteous and whole and holy before you. Because of Jesus, I can enter your presence. Thank you. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Investing in Our Kids

We invest in a lot of things throughout our lives. We invest our time. We invest our money. We invest our talents. We invest in education, in careers and occupations, and in financial avenues for building wealth. But do we take the time to invest in the lives of others? Do we take the time to invest in relationships? Sometimes in the busy day-to-day activity of life, these areas of investment become neglected. It’s not that we intend to withhold investment from relationships or that we intend to short our relationships, but life gets in the way and our relationships just get pushed to the side.

One of the most important relationships we have is with our children. We know children are like sponges. They soak up all kinds of knowledge and information. They are thirsty for it. Some kids can never have too much. We look for schools that feed this thirst for knowledge and don’t squelch that desire for more. We know that that’s a sign of a good school and a good education: where knowledge is seen as desirable and where knowledge is readily available. Our kids have a thirst for more than just information. They are thirsty for our time and our attention and our unconditional love as well.

I’ve had a lot of time in the past year with the situation our family is going through right now to consider whether or not I’ve fed my children’s thirst for time and attention and unconditional love. When we take a look at our parenting, we can often find some room for improvement. As a stay-at-home mom, it’s easy for me to look at the 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year that I spend with my children and feel like that’s enough. But what am I actually doing with that time and those moments? Am I being intentional? Am I capitalizing on the teachable moments in our day to build connection and relationship with my children?

If I’m being 100% honest, the answer is “not always.” Some days I’m so busy with the other details of life that I miss the teachable moments. My kids might approach me at a bad time and I may shoo them away with a “in just a minute,” but often I forget to every make that “just a minute” happen. I get busy, and I forget to take some extra time. After all, there’s always tomorrow. It’s a dangerous trap to fall into. So this past year, I’ve thought a lot about what I want the culture of our family to look like. What do I want my house to feel like when someone walks in the door? What do I want my house to feel like when I or someone in my family walks in the door? What atmosphere do I want to create in my day-to-day life that makes sure I’m intentionally pouring into my children the things that they need most.

So I decided to make some changes to the way we do things around here:

I want my house to feel welcoming to not only strangers but to my family as well. If there’s a spirit of heaviness in my house because we’ve been arguing, or I’ve lost my temper and yelled at my kids, the atmosphere at my house will not feel welcoming. How do I avoid those situations as much as possible?

1. I spend time with God. When I get my time with God at the start of my day, my attitude throughout the day is better. I’m more likely to deal with situations in a peaceful, calm manner. I’m more likely to feel God’s strength when I need it. I’m more likely to turn to him for the big things that would make me angry. Spending time with God minimizes my temper and loss of self-control. There will still be moments when I fail, but they will be fewer moments than what I would have if I neglected this important aspect of my day.

2. I try to get plenty of rest and make sure I’m eating well. We all know that lack of sleep and hunger can make a person cranky. If it’s true of my toddler, it’s true of me, too. So I need to make sure I’m doing the best I can to get plenty of rest for myself, and I also need to make sure that I’m providing an environment where my kids can get plenty of rest and good nutrition as well.

3. I’m beginning my day with worship music. Instrumental worship music helps lift the atmosphere of my home. It helps me ease into my day with a good attitude. If we’re having a crappy day, worship music can turn it around and lift us up.

In addition to these atmosphere changes, I’m trying to be intentional with my interactions with my kids during the day. A ministry friend of mine offered me this handy guide to living out Deuteronomy 6:6-7 in our modern daily life. Deuteronomy 6:6-7 says: “These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.” How can I do that in our busy life? I can view different parts of my day when conversation naturally occurs as opportunities to cover different aspects of relationship with my kids.

In the morning, I want to set the tone for the day. I’m instilling purpose into my kids. My role in the morning is the same as a coach. So, in the morning, I want to offer my kids encouraging words. I do this in the form of daily blessings. As I wake each child, I take a few minutes to pray over that child and bless them with the things I want them to have for the day. I say things like, “Good morning, (kid’s name). God loves you, and we love you. Today, I bless you with a good day. I bless you with patience with your brothers and sisters. I bless you with a teachable spirit. I bless you with peace in your heart and with protection over you today. I pray that you know how much we love you throughout your day today.”

You have a little more time to talk at family meals, especially if you make it a priority to sit at the table and share meals together. My goal at meal time is to share family values, to talk over important things that happened during the day, and to pass on life lessons in a relaxed atmosphere where we have a bit more time to get into deeper topics. This is the time for a more formal discussion, and my role here is more that of a teacher.

Driving to and from activities and events offers another opportunity to talk with my kids. This is a great time for informal conversation. It’s my opportunity to play the role of a friend. I can listen to their thoughts and worries. I can help them interpret life. These don’t have to be long dissertations. Just a quick chat as you go about your business.

Finally, we’re at bedtime and the close of our day. This is a great time to spend one-on-one time with my children. My goal at bedtime is to build intimacy with each child. I’m playing the role of counselor. This is the time for intimate conversation. I close our day with a similar blessing to the one I started our day with. We pray together, and then I bless them with good dreams, protection through the night, and a sense of how much God loves them and how much we love them as their parents. As your kids get older, bedtime is probably the best time to just listen to what’s going on in their lives and keep those doors of communication open. My teen girls like to spend this time talking long into the night on weekends. They know they can come to me with anything because I’ve worked hard to cultivate an open, honest, accepting atmosphere.

Sometimes you’re kids will tell you things that upset you or make you mad. That’s only natural. Try to take a deep breath and a step back (this is a great time for a quick breath prayer). It’s easy to get caught up in the knee-jerk reaction, but knee-jerk reactions are conversation stoppers. If your child is afraid of your judgement or anger, they won’t tell you the important stuff, and it’s the important stuff you really want them to be able to tell you. Sometimes I’ll tell my kids: “You can tell me anything. I can’t promise I won’t get upset or angry because I’m only human. But I can promise to listen to what you have to say without judgement and to work really hard to hear you out and not react badly to what you need to tell me.”

Be intentional about pouring into your kids. Be intentional about the atmosphere of your home. Be intentional about your conversation. The time goes by so fast!

For some additional resources check out: Sacred Parenting, Think Orange, and The Blessing. If you find yourself in a tough spot with subjects you don’t know how to discuss, Focus on the Family is a great resource. They offer free counseling as well as resources to help with all your relationships.

Distractions: How to Keep Your Focus Where It Should Be

Lately, I’ve been struggling with distractions during my day. I have a list of things I want to accomplish, but I find myself flitting from one thing to another without real purpose or thought. When I go to pray, I find myself doing the same thing, flitting from one topic to another with no real purpose or thought. Sometimes I don’t even stay awake long enough to complete my list of things I wanted to talk to God about, and forget giving God the opportunity to speak to me! So I found it fitting that our latest Women’s Ministry message was on keeping our focus in a busy and distracting world.

There are lots of sources of distraction in our life: kids, spouses, our health, the health of others, financial challenges, job challenges, deadlines, social media. Pretty much everywhere you look there is something waiting to distract you from your goals. So what do you do? How do you keep focused?

First, I think it’s important to figure out what things are distracting you. Make a list of your worries. Figure out what you’re spending your time thinking about. Are you letting your worries and emotions control you during the day? Are you so worked up in thinking about all the things that you need to do or being blown about by every piece of information coming at you all day that you can’t find peace? When you have an idea of what kinds of things are stealing your focus, you can make a plan to address them.

Next, look at your time wasters. Part of figuring out your list of distractions includes figuring out where your time is actually going. If you’re not accomplishing your list, maybe it’s because you’re putting too much of your time and energy into things that aren’t actually on your list! Are you spending too much time on the phone? Take a break and give yourself some time when you let your calls go to voicemail so that you can accomplish your priorities first. Are you sitting down and getting sucked into the vacuum of Facebook? Take a break and give yourself some off-the-grid time, or set a timer so that you have more control over the time you spend online. Tracking where you’re actually putting your time will also make you more aware of the expectations you have for your day. Perhaps you aren’t finishing your list because you have an unrealistic idea of what you can accomplish in a day. Tracking your time will show you if you’ve bitten off more than you can chew. It will help you scale back if you are overdoing it, and it can show you where you need to set boundaries and say “no” to things that aren’t high on your priority list.

Third, be intentional. Make a plan and write it out. Be intentional in what you put your mind and energy into doing. Make sure you’re doing things that are high on your priority list. Accomplish your high priority goals first. Being intentional with your planning and time can keep you focused on what you’re doing.

Finally, write it out. Make sure your vision of your day, your week, your month, your year, whatever is plain, and write it out. Writing it out helps you run with it. Keep it in a place where you will see it often. Check your progress occasionally to make sure you are sticking to the plan.

Since my biggest struggle has been in my personal prayer and quiet time with God. I asked the ladies in my group for suggestions on how I could cut back on the distractions and be sure that I got the time with God that I need. After all, it’s number one on my list of priorities, so it should be something that I am accomplishing each day. Here were their tips:

Make sure you’re rested. One woman suggested that the reason I was falling asleep during prayer might be because I really needed that rest. If you’re over-packing your day with items to do and you’re shorting yourself on much needed rest, you may not be aware how tired you are. Rest is important. God gave us the Sabbath to be sure that we had scheduled rest in our lives. So take a look at your schedule and make sure you’re getting the rest you need.
Prepare a place and time. God honors a prepared place. The women of my group recommended setting up a War Room like in the movie of the same name. Have a quite area where you can seek God’s face. Write your prayer requests, your questions to God, your dreams and visions, whatever you need to. Write it out and keep track. This can help strengthen your testimony of what God is doing during your prayer and quiet time. I don’t have a separate closet or area that I can go to to pray or read my Bible, but I can still set a time and prepare my heart.
Play worship music. Part of preparing a place includes preparing your heart. One mom of several very young children said that she would pray in her livingroom. Before she began to pray, she would turn on worship music. Her children began to learn that the worship music was a signal that mom was praying. They would settle down and give her a bit of space. They even encouraged her on days when she was feeling rushed and wanted to skip worship time. Her kids were holding her accountable! They were learning through her modeling the importance of time with God.
Add movement. If you find that distraction is coming from your flesh, you might try adding movement. If you’re a kinesthetic learner or find yourself tapping your pencil or twitching your leg while you read, walking around while you pray or read might help minimize those bodily distractions. For me, if I find that I’m getting plenty of rest, moving would tell my body that we’re going to be awake now.
Write out the Scriptures. During your quiet time, write the verse you’re reading in a journal or notebook. The act of writing slows you down and gives you time to ponder what it is that you are reading. This is a great technique if you find yourself reading the Bible and realizing that you don’t remember a thing you’ve read!
Write down distracting thought. This is going to be a big one for me, I think. Joyce Meyer often tells the story of how she would be distracted with thoughts during her prayer time. She began keeping a notebook near her while she prayed. If a thought came to her during prayer time, she would right it down and go back to praying. This freed up her mind to continue to pray for the things she wanted to pray about and also allowed space for God to speak to her. When prayer time was done, she could look at her list and see what things she really needed to do and what promptings God may have given her during her prayer time.
Take advantage of the time and space you have. With small children, it’s hard to find long periods of time to pray or read your Bible. You have to take advantage of the time that you have. Pray in short periods throughout the day. While you fold laundry, pray for the person whose clothes you are folding. If some worry pops into your head while you’re cleaning house or running errands, say a quick prayer about it right then. Place Scripture around your house. This can be a helpful tool for memorizing Scripture or just for reminding yourself of various Scripture promises that you are standing on in faith for something you want to see happen in your life. Place the Scriptures in places where you spend a lot of time: by the sink where you wash dishes, on the bathroom mirror, etc. When you’re doing dishes or getting ready in the morning, read the card and meditate on the Scripture you have chosen. We end up going into the kitchen and bathroom for various reasons throughout our day, and this is a good way to use that space to add a bit of time with God to our normal routine.
Leave the Bible open where you can see it. I have my Bible out on the table most of the time. But I’m not always aware of it throughout my day. One woman said she had begun the habit of leaving her Bible open on the island in her kitchen. It was a location she saw frequently throughout her day. Seeing her Bible open reminded her that her conversation with God wasn’t over. It prevented her from just checking “Bible reading” off her daily to-do list. It kept her open to speaking to God throughout her day and also to hearing from God. It gave her time with God a more natural feel rather than an item to do, be done with, and forget about.
Give yourself some grace. Planning things out and making sure things happen a certain way can easily tip the scales from quality time with God to just checking of a box in our own strength. God blesses the intentions of our heart. He blesses our attempts, no matter how many times we fail, to connect with Him and to seek Him. God can not bless works of the flesh. If you find that you are ticking all the boxes but you aren’t seeing any benefit, you might be operating in works. Re-evaluate your motivation for doing what you’re doing and make sure that your intentions are righteous. And remember that God does not condemn. If you miss a day or you make a mistake or you fall prey to distraction, it’s okay. Confess it to God. Repent. Get back on the wagon. Try to avoid a black-and-white, all-or-nothing mentality. Life happens. We are only human. It’s okay. God offers forgiveness and grace to us when we ask Him; we need to offer the same to ourselves.

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