Salt and Light

Thanksgiving No Matter What

My Dear Sisters,

The Holidays can be stressful and sometimes lonely times. Often we forget God is with us and knows our every need.   The whole purpose of Thanksgiving is to have a day of remembrance and gratitude for all the blessings that the Lord has brought to us, but we can get lost in the celebration and wind up discouraged.

I am looking at my list of things to do before Thanksgiving which is this Thursday. The Apostle Paul’s words in 1 Thes. stand in sharp contrast to my racing heart and desire to cram too much into each day.

Be JOYFUL always, PRAY continually, Give THANKS in all circumstances;
For this is God’s Will, for you, in Christ Jesus.
1 Thes 5: 16-18

Lord, help us, teach us how to live to please You. Teach us to be thankful.

Paul’s letter applies to us today, not just the people of ancient Thessalonica, to whom the letter was originally written.   What a marvelous thing that God wants communion with us, through His Son, Jesus Christ, how amazing is that?!  We are not just flesh and blood, the Spirit of God dwells within us. Our God desires to be with us, what a gift we have to be thankful for. Joy, praise and thanks this should be our attitude not just on Thanksgiving, but every day, filled with an overflow of gratitude for His blessings. 

Always give thanks, continuously, and in ALL circumstances we are to give thanks.  Today’s circumstances may be tough, but the Lord works from the vantage point of eternity. He will bring good from the pain and suffering of our lives. There will come a day when He will wipe away every tear.  He has promised us that, and so we keep our focus there, and live in hope.

We need to give thanks from the inside out.  Starting with our heart, the love of God, moves outward through our behaviors and into the world.  His love changes everything.

God intended us to live, not as rushing, crazy, plastic people trying to have the perfect thanksgiving, but as true worshipers whose hearts are centered on Christ. And we do this by the power of His Holy Spirit. We live with eyes focused on eternity and not on present circumstances, we obey Jesus’ instruction to love God and love others

This year Lord, teach us to be more focused on You, and less focused on ourselves.

-M

Whom Then Shall I Fear?

The other day I looked up the word “fear” in Webster’s Dictionary, and interestingly enough there were 2 definitions in there.  It seems that when people, places and things are associated with fear, there is “unpleasant emotion.”  But in the 2nd definition when fear is associated with God….the result is “awe”.

Fear- 1) an unpleasant often strong emotion caused by anticipation or awareness of danger;
intense reluctance to face or meet a person or situation, aversion, anxiety, trepidation implications of timidity, trembling, and hesitation

2) to have a reverential awe of God

There is one healthy fear, it’s one that I never want to give up.  It is one that brings on reverence and awe: The Fear of the Lord.

In Proverbs we read that the Fear of the Lord is the starting place of knowledge. Pr. 1:7 “ The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline.”

Turn over all fears to God, for he is the only one worthy of our fear.  We stand in awe of the Lord, his holiness illuminates our unworthiness; and yet, God loves us.  He said so, he even said he loved us first, before the foundations of the earth were laid; and that he has gone to prepare a place of us. He has promised to love us with an everlasting love.  If God loves us like that, then, what should we fear from anyone or anything?

When fear strikes trying recalling scripture like Ps 91:2, “I will say of the LORD, He is my refuge, and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.”  Make a choice today, decide now, that this will be your response when you are faced with fear.

Writing on fear, I am reminded of a young man from Kenya who used to work in the office next to mine.  I loved the melody of his voice and he had a million African expressions that always tickled my funny bone.  One winter night I was working late at my office on a big presentation.  Time had slipped away and I began to fear the thought of walking into the parking lot alone. As I locked the office door, I saw that the young man, my Kenyan friend, was walking ahead of me, exiting our building at the same time.  I called out for him to wait, and I confessed that I was afraid to walk alone into the dark.  I asked him if he was ever fearful in our country.  His face got very serious and he got teary-eyed as he begin to speak about his Kenyan Grandma, who had raised him. “She was a strong Christian woman who loved us dearly and she had her hands full with me as I was such a fearful child.  She would always say to me, “My sweetie, When fear knocks at your front door, send faith down to answer it!” “

When you are face with fear and can’t see chose to let faith lead the way! “When I am afraid I will trust in you.” Psalm 56:3

-M

Perfect Love Drives out Fear

Fear is like a snake which strikes, sinking in it's teeth tainted with venomous lies.  Yet God promises us healing and protection from these lies if we will turn to him and his Word to find the antidote we need. Consider the words of 1John 4:18, “Perfect love drives out fear” 

What does that mean really? Is it in the Bible? Who wrote it? How can this verse be a lifeline when the undertow of fear tugs at my thoughts?

The verse is found in 1John-Chapter 4, a testament of God’s Love for us. When I read 1John, I always think of the man who recorded it. This is the same guy, who, as a young man wrote The Gospel of John. 
He traveled with Jesus; became His beloved friend. John sat next to Jesus at the Last Supper; then stood at the foot of the cross and watched Him die. He saw the empty tomb and he touched the Risen Christ.  He knew Jesus intimately; they loved each other as brothers.

When 1 John was recorded, John was very old, living in exile on the Island of Patmos, all but forgotten there. The other Apostles were gone, martyred for their faith. John could have spent his last earthly season fearing for His own life; instead, he grew in faith. He reflected on all that He knew of Jesus, and, by the power of the Holy Spirit, John’s recorded words increase the faith of others to this day. 1 John-Chapter 4 always serves to shift my thinking from fear of man to faith in God.

Take time to sit with this beautiful progression of thought. Allow God to cast fear out, and fill your mind with the knowledge that you are dearly loved.  Rest in the palm of His hand, no fear there, you are safe.

1 John 4:16-19:    God is love, whoever lives in love, Lives in God, and God in her. In this way love is made complete (perfect) among us, So that we will have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are like HIM.

There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.  We love because He first loved us.

Wow, no fear in love, accepting His love, spreading it to others… this perfects us and completes the circle of God’s love, first to us, then out toward others. And, conversely, choosing fear stops the process.

-M

Thy Will Be Done, On Earth As It Is In Heaven –Part 2

When we seek God he opens our minds to the truth that both His will and our will can and should be the same. When we truly want to live for God and love Him back; then, Heaven reigns in our heart, the peace that passes human understanding rushes in. He begins to transform us, conforming us into His Image.  This desired outcome, His will for us that our will be conformed to his will, is something we must keep at the forefront of our minds, because the daily walk, the work that is done in the valley, is filled with adversity.  It is easy to get discouraged, “Humility Hill” is very steep, and the old nature does not lie down easily.  The process of having our wills broken is not easy, but death to ourselves brings new life in Christ.

Os Hillman describes the process dying to self this way: “If we desire to walk fully with Christ, there is a cost.  The Bible is clear that humans do not achieve greatness without having their sinful will broken.  This process is designed to create a nature change in us, not just a habit change. The Bible calls it circumcision.  Circumcision is painful, bloody and personal.”

“IF God has plans to greatly use you in the lives of others, you can expect your trials to be great, Why? Because, like Joseph, who went through greater trials than most; your calling may have responsibility that God cannot afford to entrust to you without ensuring your complete faithfulness to the call.  He has much invested in you on behalf of others.  He may want to speak through your life to a different degree than another.  The events of your life become the framework for the message He wants to speak through you.”

Do not fear the path that God may lead you on.  Embrace it.  For God leads you down a path to ensure the reward of your inheritance.  “For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.” (2 Cor 4:17) Our “light and momentary troubles” refer to our lives, life here on earth, and the eternal glory that outweighs them all awaits us in heaven.  If we choose to follow God’s will for our lives and learn to sync our will with his (because He loves us!) then, we can taste heaven on earth… thy will be done here (on Earth, in my life) as it is in heaven.

-M

Thy Will be Done, on Earth as it is in Heaven –Part 1

Imagine this: In front of you there are two doors:
Door #1 leads to God’s will for your life
Door #2 leads to the life you have envisioned for yourself… all your hopes, dreams, every wish already fulfilled.

Which door would you choose?
No, this is not “Let’s Make A Deal”, there is no “Monte Hall”, and there is no Door #3.  So, which door will it be? Most Christians will say they want God’s will for their life, but most of us still want our own wills too. Perhaps it would be simpler to say: “Please select one or the other for your life: “The God Door or The Self Door”…which is it for you?

We like to follow God up to a certain point, then, when tough gives way to treacherous or trials go on too long we have a tendency to bail and retreat back to the low road, scurrying on down to Door #2 with our tail between our legs; but still professing loudly to love God.

Andrew Murray defined heaven as “the place where God’s perfect will is always done.” That’s why Satan needed to get out; and thus, took up residence here in this wishy-washy fallen place, tormenting God’s beloved and encouraging humans to go their own way.  “Choose Door #2,” he whispers; “You deserve it, you’ve worked so hard already! Door #1 is narrow, boring, straight, and old-fashioned; you’re much too creative for that. Look there’s a big wide world over there with your name in lights (and free apples.)”

Could we have heaven on earth? What does The Lord’s Prayer say? 

“Thy Kingdom come
Thy Will be done
On Earth, as it is in Heaven…” (Matt 6:9 – 11)

Maybe if more of us were picking Door #1 and truly casting aside our fears, fantasies, and inflated egos and allowing Jesus complete access to our hearts we would see more of heaven right here. But, O how we love to be first and not last, that’s for losers.  We admire self-made-men and strong-willed-women; we revel in our own self-righteousness and fail to seek God’s righteousness; we think we know what’s best for us, but we don’t have a clue. Only the God who created us knows best, our Father, who is in heaven, knows best, and holy, holy, holy is his name. Can we ever come to that place and truly rest there, while we are still here?

Psalm 37:4-7 says, (*note the covenant name ‘LORD’ is used here)

“Delight yourself in the LORD
and He will give you the desires of your heart.
Commit your way to the LORD, Trust in Him and He will do this:
He will make your righteousness shine like the dawn, (Him in you, the hope of glory)
The justice of your cause like the noonday sun. (What if your cause was His cause?)
Be still before the LORD, and wait patiently for Him. (Wait for His cause, His purpose for you, His will aligning yours)”

There is an order in the above verses. First, when our delight is in the LORD, when he is our heart’s desire, first and foremost.  It is only then that His will begins to become our will as well. When Door #1, God’s will for your life, is accepted and lived out then suddenly you see how Door #1 and Door #2 hold the same path and the same desires. Surrender takes place and then there can be a perfect lining up of wills, because now we only want what He wants for us. Our Heavenly Father is the giver of all good things, and we can trust and believe him. His promises are true, He has never proven himself to be anything but faithful. This is the anchor for our souls.

-M

Commit, Companionship & Continue

3- Commit
"Lord, help me to develop some daily habits that please you."

I have been praying about different commitments I have made in my life. I see that I have too much on my plate and must start the process of removing unnecessary tasks. Which things should go and which ones did God want me to keep? The Lord graciously made the answers obvious. In some cases I need to complete “my term” so to speak and in others I need to back away, explaining that I had taken on too much. Time with God and family need to come first. It is my desire to stay committed to his plan for me.

4- Companionship
Accountability to another person on the path.

God’s perspective is so upside down from ours, or should I say that His is right side up and we are upside down? He knows that certain areas of our lives that will never change without us tapping into His strength.

The Apostle Paul wrote that His Grace is sufficient for us and that our help comes from Him, I agree. I read in His Word that iron sharpens iron, and two are better than one. In the Spirit of His Word, I have asked God to bring me an accountability partner, someone also seeking after Him.

All roads lead to my next door neighbor. She has recently retired, but even before that she never looked stressed. This woman seems to be sprinkling the fruits of self-discipline and rest on her cereal each morning. “Lord, give me the courage to ask her for help.”

Update: I approached my neighbor about the idea of accountability, she said she loved the idea. We meet for coffee once a week and share what God is doing in our lives. She is the Godly companion I had prayed for.

5-Continue
Daily staying the course.

Learning to slow down is a process of waking up. Our time is not unlimited, it is finite and it is up to us to seek God’s Will and to live it out before Jesus and others.

We are lost without Him, it’s just too hard to make these major life changes on our own. We may be able to work up the will power for awhile; but over time we’re too weak, we need a Savior. And we have a wonderful Savior in Christ Jesus. remeber this is a daily walk with him and we must latch onto his Word.

-M

Confession

Lord, I confess my busyness results in prayerlessness.

The other night I read The Gospel of John and noticed how often it recorded that Jesus went off to pray, he stayed constantly connected to the Father. In my busyness I have often neglected to spend time in prayer. My prayer life is something I am still working on. Knowing this I went to the bible bookstore and asked for a good book on prayer. Beth Moore’s book, Praying God’s Word was suggested.  The book speaks of responding to God’s words with our own, and so I have begun praying scripture back to him in my own words. For example:

John 11:35 “Jesus wept”  -God you cried real tears over us.  Thank you Lord for not just observing us like a ring leader in a circus, thank you for compassion over us.

John 14:21 “Who ever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me.” -Your word, God, goes straight to the heart.  I want to obey you.

The more time I am spending with God, he is changing me. I wanted to memorize the 23rd Psalm.  I sort of knew it, but I didn’t own it. God was asking me to be able to recall this passage whenever the stress from my busyness came knocking.  Here was my chance to dwell on God’s Words and not my own negative thinking. Memorizing his words helps me to see my unhealthy thinking and confess it to him. I was to cleanse my mind with the living water of his word.

Just this afternoon, I felt myself speeding up. There I was returning e-mails while talking on the phone and filing papers. He brought the words of Psalm 23:1,2 to mind, “The Lord is my Shepherd I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures.” I confessed that I was letting the tasks wind me up and responded to his words, “Lord teach to rest. My strength has been sapped and I’m still trying to run, help me to understand that it’s ok to rest.”

Don’t get too busy to talk to the Father; He’s the only thing on your schedule you can’t afford to miss.

-M

Conviction

Life change begins with the conviction of sin

The other day I went up to my bed in the middle of the afternoon, put on some soft worship music and asked the Lord to reveal why I was saying, “yes” to so many things. I serve at church, in the community, I volunteer with non-profit groups, all while still having a full-time job, full-time family, full-time laundry, and the start of full-time migraines.  I rarely say “NO” to invitations for help. I want to be all things to all people. Truth, I thought my motives were pure and altruistic, but suddenly I felt the weight of exhaustion. God began to reveal that my busyness stemmed from putting other things before time with him.

When I was willing to see my busyness for what it was: pride, then the Lord was finally able to begin dealing with me.  The Word tells us that the heart is deceitful above all things (Jer. 17:9); but, we can pray as the Psalmist did and ask God to search us, know us, and reveal any sin in us (Ps. 139). Then, He is Faithful to do so. Amy Carmichael writes in her book “IF”:

“The searchlight of The Spirit discovers us to ourselves, and such a discovery leaves us appalled.
  But the Light is not turned on to rob us of our hope.  There is a lifting up.  If only we desire to be purged from self with it’s entangling nets, its subtleties, its disguises….
  Love is pressing on all sides like air. Cease to resist, and instantly Love takes possession.”       

That afternoon I suddenly understood exactly what she had written.  I was appalled as I truly stopped to be still and look at my life; I felt the Spirit lift me and as the tears rolled down and His Love rushed in. I hate to grieve the One who is nothing but good. 

Jesus Christ is our Prince of Peace and if we observe him in the Gospels we will see that he is never hurried, frazzled or rushed.  If I am to be like Christ then I must repent and step away from putting other things before him.  It is only in his presence that we, you and I will become more like him, maybe someday, princesses of peace!

-M

His Good Plan Revealed

Remember the plan I had talked about God revealing to me? Here it is, an actual plan; action steps to helping me conquer my busyness addiction. I’ve referred back to this plan for months now; it has been like a guidepost. There are 5 core areas:

1. Conviction
2. Confession
3. Commit, Re-Turn to Him
4. Companionship
5. Continuing with Him

As I share God’s truth about each of these areas I hope that these steps will bring light to how God changes us. Even ingrained tendencies like “busyness” can be transformed by Christ’s ways.  He designed us; only he can change us into who we were made to be. We must begin by trusting that God knows us better than we know ourselves.

-M

Busy, Busy Bee

The overwhelming need to change washed over me, threatening to drown me. I needed help, so I asked God to bring true life back to the “slave to busyness” life I was attempting. God is good; He answered me with a plan and direction. Was I willing to listen and follow His instruction? Yes, I was. Are you? Each day I’m learning that real life is found in Christ alone. Am I perfect now? Not yet, but I hope that my journey will encourage you.

As I have cried out to God he has always graciously answered me.

“Teach me to be still and know that you are God. Lord, I come to you today with the conviction of sin in my heart.  Your Holy Spirit has brought an awareness of my extreme busyness. I have been running for so long, my co-workers and friends are runners too.  We have become “human doings” not “human beings”, and our task lists have pushed you out of the picture. I have not been willing to view my busyness as “sin;” but you have revealed its root, my pride is to blame.  Lord, I have a love/ hate relationship with busyness.  I am resentful and stressed when I’m too busy, yet I don’t feel important unless my schedule is packed with people, places and things. Show me what am I filling up my life with?”

I am learning to ask myself the following questions:
Q: Are you in my daily agenda Lord?
A: Barely. I want to trust Him and get to know Him better.      
Q: Is my family in my daily agenda? 
A: Barely. They’re used to taking a back seat to my activities. 
Q: Are close friends in my agenda? 
A: Barely. They know I am often late, and frequently frazzled. 

I‘m sick of barely living and I’m starting to see that all this self-centered living is sin. The scary thing is I don’t even know how to stop; I have to ask the Lord to slow me down, turn me back around and put my tired feet on his narrow path. I am learning to pray each day that God will make things clearer to me, to show me where I am wasting energy, sometimes living to please other people who barely know me.  The “pleasing” drive squeezes out my time with God until he is the one I barely know.

Are we willing to do what it takes to get back on track, surrendering our lives to Him? He created us and knows what is best for us. Let’s allow God to turn us back around and I believe that our joy in living will return as we are turned to him.

-M