His faithfulness on our behalf

“Let me ask you something: What kind of action suits the Sabbath best? Doing good or doing evil? Helping people or leaving them helpless?” (Luke 6:9)

If Jesus just came right out and said, "Let me ask you something...", we wouldn't have to ask if the little voice we hear "mulling things over" in our minds was just us or if it was his Spirit speaking with us. We might just take a few more steps forward in confidence, step back when danger is imminent, and be so in tune with God's next steps that we never are out of touch with what he is doing. We get so bogged down in 'is that God' because our minds have a hard time wrapping themselves around the idea of God talking with mortal man. Maybe we just don't quite "buy into" what he is saying and doing in our lives, so we stand there finding a way to "discount" it. Either way, we often miss out on the best he has for us because we don't act upon what we hear!

There are times we come to God quite expectantly; at others, we find ourselves in the place where we might discover his awesome power if we would stop long enough to pay attention. Most of the time, God speaks to us in the everyday stuff we do. The discoveries we make about Jesus and his faithfulness in our lives are in the "everyday" stuff we walk through with him. Even in the "regular", we sometimes need to act a little "irregularly". God wants us to be faithful in the things he wants of us on a consistent basis. When we find ourselves consistent in our walk, perhaps we will also find ourselves in these moments when the "regular" becomes the "supernatural" in our day!

I know I have faltered on occasion - how about you? In those moments of 'faltering', we need to learn to just step out - for in the regular we find our opportunity to experience what we could only imagine apart from his power displayed on our behalf. God doesn't need our religious piety - he needs our heartfelt sincerity. He doesn't speak to our religious performance - he meets us in our deepest moments of need. He speaks in ways we may not notice because we are so intent on what we might believe will be the way he will act. If we just listen closely, we will hear his call to come forward. In that moment, his faithfulness on our behalf is made alive in our need. Just sayin!

Get up and move on

I want you to get out there and walk—better yet, run!—on the road God called you to travel. I don’t want any of you sitting around on your hands. I don’t want anyone strolling off, down some path that goes nowhere. And mark that you do this with humility and discipline—not in fits and starts, but steadily, pouring yourselves out for each other in acts of love, alert at noticing differences and quick at mending fences. (Ephesians 4:2)

Devotion to God doesn't happen by accident - we have to actually 'get up' and 'move forward'. Two very specific actions that require more than just mental investment. They require movement on our part. To 'get up' one has to actually stop sitting right where they are at - there must be a change in position. Too many times we think we will manifest change in our lives all while we are taking little to no action to see change occur. To 'move forward' means we have to put one foot in front of the other. There can be no good growth where there is stagnancy. Yes, there may be growth, but it is muck and mire, not good growth!

A few weeks ago, they drained the canals around us and we noticed many things at the bottom of the canal that had no business being in the canal. Street signs, grocery carts, pylons, furniture pieces, and lots of dirt or debris of some sort. While the canal was full, the murkiness of the water made it impossible to know those things were down there. The catfish and carp probably loved all those things they could hide in, but those things actually created obstructions in the canals. It was apparent to us that a 'clean out' was necessary. In one small section of the canal, many small fish were busy growing, but due to the lack of water flow through that area, they all died in the murkiness of the stagnant waters.

That is the problem with stagnancy - it leads to us getting filled up with things that actually bring death, not life. We need the flow of the Holy Spirit in our lives - the Word of God getting into places within us that would otherwise be untouched and unnoticed. We need 'movement' in order to see growth! The things that 'don't belong' are only exposed when there is a full 'clean out' of those areas - that may mean we stop totally, allow the clean-up to occur, then allow ourselves to be filled again. 'Sitting around' is the worst thing we can do. We only see life flourish when we are moving without all those 'obstacles' in our path - those obstacles are removed in times of purposeful 'clean-up'.

We may not be moving very well on the path God has called us to be on right now. Perhaps it is time we need to ask God to 'drain us' of the murkiness that has surrounded our lives and remove those obstacles that impede the flow of the Holy Spirit within us. Maybe we just need to get up from where we are and take the first step on the path we know God is asking us to travel. In humility, we need to ask for God's 'clean-up' and in discipline we need to act upon the truth we know God has shown us. Just sayin!

His ways are discoverable

The work of God in our lives is sometimes misunderstood, isn't it? We don't actually 'get' why some things happen, like the present pandemic. Why is it the world is set into absolute chaos, economies hit so hard, and people left jobless all as the result of one tiny virus? In this day and age, you'd almost expect the CDC and  WHO would have found a way to put a bubble around the virus and eradicate it as quickly as it emerged. The advances in medical science have come to be 'counted on' in times of extreme crisis as we are seeing now, haven't they? The work of God in our lives is sometimes as easily misunderstood as our knowledge of medical science is at times. We don't fully appreciate the extremely difficult job it is to eradicate a virus and we understand even less of how God moves or works in our live at times!

You can no more predict the path of the wind than you can explain how a child’s bones are formed in a mother’s womb. Even more, you will never understand the workings of the God who made all things. (Ecclesiastes 11:5)

You've heard it said that God moves in mysterious ways, but I would have to add that he moves in 'discoverable' ways, even though they seem to be a little bit of a mystery at first. The more we get closer to him, the easier it becomes to appreciate how he moves. We may not understand all the things behind each movement he makes, but we begin to sense his moving and we begin to move with him. When I was pregnant the first time, I read every book I could get my hands on to figure out what was going on inside of me with that tiny fetus under development. Although I read about how the nerve pathways are growing and being connected one right after another, all occurring between this week and that week of gestation, I still cannot fathom how one cell divides into two and two into four and so on. It is a concept I can appreciate, but can I honestly say I understand how it happens? Nope! I don't have the power of creation, so I don't really know how God does that!

I understand that a virus can mutate, divide, and even replicate at break-neck speeds, but do I understand how it came to emerge right now, in this virulent form? Nope. Do I have to understand it to appreciate it has some pretty awful potential in that one tiny virus 'body'? Nope. What I do have to understand is that God has people in key spots working diligently to understand it way better than I ever will and who are working overtime to 'break the code' so to speak on how to get this pandemic under control. What does God require of us if we aren't required to fully understand these things that are just 'bigger' than our ability to fully comprehend? I think it might just be he requires us to rest in him, lean upon his understanding of the matter, and then rely upon him to work all things out according to his knowledge, not ours.

We sometimes get stuck in the place of having to 'understand' in order to allow change, adopt a particular practice, or avoid something altogether. Understanding takes on different forms, but the most basic form of understanding God asks of us is to trust the one who we don't fully understand, but who we know loves us more than anything on this earth. God isn't limited by our understanding - but he is limited by our lack of trust. When we choose to not trust him because we don't understand how he is moving, we are putting up roadblocks to his movement in our lives. This isn't something we want to engage in very often (if ever), though. We want to allow God free access - to move in our lives as he sees fit and as he knows will best serve our lives. It is hard to trust when we don't see or fully appreciate, but if we always saw or fully understood a matter, would there be much basis for trust? Just askin!

Get up, you're all done here

I like the song, "Rise", as sung by Danny Gokey. Why? The words speak to me because they speak of the brokenness inside each of us - the wounds that still remind us all so often of the fear we have faced, the shame we have endured, and the rejection that seems to come on the heels of wrong actions. He goes on to tell us we all know it is time to get up - to rise up from our fear, shame, and rejection - but we are paralyzed, stuck in place, no idea of how to rise above these things. Does that speak to anyone else other than me? As the song continues, we are reminded that we hear a clear voice calling us to rise - even when we see no way out, when life is too hard to handle. Rise - the heart once so hardened by life's tragic choices is made new once again - beating, coming back to life, all because of the call of our Creator.

You can be sure of this: The Kingdom of Christ and of God will never belong to anyone who is impure or greedy, for a greedy person is really an idol worshiper—he loves and worships the good things of this life more than God. Don’t be fooled by those who try to excuse these sins, for the terrible wrath of God is upon all those who do them. Don’t even associate with such people. For though once your heart was full of darkness, now it is full of light from the Lord, and your behavior should show it! Because of this light within you, you should do only what is good and right and true. Learn as you go along what pleases the Lord. (Ephesians 5:5-10 TLB)

Rise - what a powerful word. Jesus spoke it to the ones with withered limbs, but he also speaks it to those of us with withered hearts. Jesus spoke it to the one who never walked at all, but he also speaks it to those of us who have taken so many missteps in life it would have been better for us to never have known how to walk at all. Rise - above the mess, out of the mire, into light. This walking thing isn't all that easy and it will be riddled with falls, bunged emotions, and hurtful memories. Yet, those things don't have to define us today. We can rise - heart renewed, light penetrating areas where only darkness has been felt, and emotions set right.

Rise - it is a call, not a passive request. It is a word similar to the command to charge the gates of a stronghold. Rise - take on what stands in your way of victory. Rise - put down the burden that drags you back down into the mire and be free of that place of bondage. Rise - take his lead and begin to 'do again' the work you were prepared to do. Words of 'command', not a passive request - words spoken deep into our weary and burdened hearts - commanding us to let light shine forth. How do we begin to rise from where we are? We take the first step! Jesus could pull us up, holding us there, but it is as we place ourselves into his arms that we are held!

Learn as you go along what pleases the Lord - this is what happens after we take the first step 'out' of our fear, away from our shame, leaving behind those things that have caused us to feel rejected and unloved. We 'learn as we go' - we don't learn as we 'stay'. We must walk into freedom to understand it! We cannot stay where we are and expect to ever 'feel' any differently! We must 'rise' and move - learning as we go. It is a new year - what a better time to begin to live again. To embrace the command to 'rise' is to embrace newness and freedom. Just sayin!

Waiting doesn't mean we won't move on

"I waited, and waited, and waited for God..." Have you ever been in the position of just waiting, and waiting, and waiting - all the while growing more fearful and frustrated that nothing is happening - at least nothing you can see? If you have walked with Christ for more than an hour, I think it is safe to assume that you might have experienced this kind of agony in waiting - not because he wants us to experience agony, but because we might just not realize all that is going on behind the scenes to get everything ready for the ultimate answer! We don't understand the delays and we don't remember the next time how long of a wait it was the last time!

Now God, don't hold out on me, don't hold back your passion. Your love and truth are all that keeps me together. When troubles ganged up on me, a mob of sins past counting, I was so swamped by guilt I couldn't see my way clear. More guilt in my heart than hair on my head, so heavy the guilt that my heart gave out. But all who are hunting for you—oh, let them sing and be happy. Let those who know what you're all about tell the world you're great and not quitting. And me? I'm a mess. I'm nothing and have nothing: make something of me. You can do it; you've got what it takes—but God, don't put it off. (Psalm 40:11-12, 16-17)

"At last he looked; finally he listened." When the answer is delayed, we come to that "FINALLY" moment. I don't want us to miss something else contained within the text of this psalm, though. David really gets down to the crux of things in the middle of the psalm - when he begins to describe what he had come to realize about his own personal condition of heart. Here's just a taste of what David had been through: "Doing something for you, bringing something to you—that's not what you're after. Being religious, acting pious— that's not what you're asking for. You've opened my ears so I can listen." Like us, he had been in a place of "doing" - being religious, acting pious - perhaps it is he has been doing all this with a lack of genuine heart devotion behind those actions. In fact, he goes on to say that it was when he actually took time to read what God wrote about him (from the Word) that he made the turn-around. I think that is a natural response to the "waiting". We sometimes experience waiting with whatever it is we expect God to do, how we expect he will answer. We "fabricate" all kinds of "doing" in order to see if in the "doing" God will take notice and act on our behalf! All the "doing" in the world really does not move the heart of God - our heart devotion is what moves him!

"I am so swamped by guilt - I could not see my way clear of it!" Perhaps, like with David, the "wait" is sometimes to bring us to a place where we see our need for heartfelt repentance. God allows his children to experience some delay in the answer they are seeking so they come to a place where they recognize unrepented sin in their lives, and when they begin to reveal their desire to be free of their guilt, God begins to intervene. For some, waiting results in an instant time of self-examination and repentance. For the rest of us, we wallow a while in our misery of sin's guilt and try to figure out why the prayers we lift are not answered! Yet, look at what David said, "More guilt in my heart than hair on my head!" He was pretty down on himself at that point, yet he acknowledges that if God would "unleash" his passion over David's life, his guilt would be lifted. It was God's love and truth that would restore him - hold him together when all else seemed to be working to tear him apart. This is true of us...nothing holds us together, puts the pieces back together quite like the passion of God unleashed in our lives.

There are always going to be men and women around us who are "stronger" than we are at the moment. We need to turn to them and ask them to proclaim the truth over our lives when we are unable to do so ourselves. Let this be our proclamation - God is NOT quitting! We may be a mess personally, but it is God that can take that mess and turn it into a glorious thing. You may be in the place where you feel that all you have to bring to God are the "messes" of your life. That is okay - God can deal with the total honesty of our repentant heart. He already knows about the messes anyway - at the moment we bring them to him, we begin to realize that he is NOT quitting on us! He has us in his sights and he desires to intervene right where we need the greatest interventions! We may need the strength of another who is walking this path with Christ to proclaim that truth over our lives until we finally "get it". That is okay! Let me be the first to proclaim it -- "God is NOT quitting!!!" He has you in his sights and he is at the ready to release his passion in your life once again! Open up to him and see him restore what your doubt, fear, fatigue, and wrong attitudes have destroyed! God is NOT a quitter - don't you be either! Just sayin!

Mooooove back to where you belong

God respects the choices we make. We can either choose our own path, or his. The simple fact is that it is OUR choice - and he honors it. If we choose to hang out in places or with people that present opportunities for compromise in our lives, we may choose that course of action. If we choose to be in the place where God can bless us, he honors that choice. This does not mean that we never "hang out" anyplace but church, a convent, or a monastery! God intends for us to be light and salt in this world. He does expect us to make choices that are honoring to him WHILE we live in this world and hang around with others in this world.

God blesses those people who refuse evil advice and won’t follow sinners or join in sneering at God.
instead, the Law of the Lord makes them happy, and they think about it day and night. They are like trees growing beside a stream, trees that produce fruit in season and always have leaves. Those people succeed in everything they do. That isn’t true of those who are evil, because they are like straw blown by the wind. Sinners won’t have an excuse on the day of judgment, and they won’t have a place with the people of God. The Lord protects everyone who follows him, but the wicked follow a road that leads to ruin. (Psalm 1)

God gives us the tools to help us make the right choices. The first "tool" he gives us is his Word - the Bible. We are to "chew on" the Word we receive - not just do a cursory 'fly over'. In other words, we engage in a process of meditating on it. Meditation is not something "mystical", but is simply a process of reflecting on something over-and-over again, until we get something out of it. Something that is considered that frequently begins to have an affect on us - it begins to 'get into us'. The second "tool" outlined is our "proximity" to God - a tree planted well can bear fruit! If we are not staying close to God - enjoying times of his refreshing - we will be influenced by what we are closest to at that moment in time. God gives us the ability to bear new fruit. Fruit is a result of the process of growth. If there is no active growth, there is no fruit production. Choices affect action. Action affects where it is that we end up (our location). Location affects the next steps we take - after all, don't they always say it is location, location, location?

Simply put - if we make the right choice, we manifest actions that yield fruit in the right season. Think about a small calf in a large pasture. That calf has many fascinating things that may attract his attention along the way: a butterfly flits about out of some bush and draws his eye; the strands of grass moving in the wind a little farther off might lure him for a nibble; the rustling of the leaves in a stand of trees could even get him a little spooked. As the calf is distracted by these things, it wanders farther and farther from the safe source of nourishment, protection, and sense of safety (his MOM). Soon, the calf is growing hungry and kind of concerned because he doesn't actually see his mom any longer. It begins to bellow out in absolute misery - calling for the security and nurturing of mom. We are sometimes like that - wandering away, in seeming innocence, then realizing that our wandering has made us miserably hungry, lonely, and with a deep sense of needing the security we once knew! As long as we stay close enough to the source of our growth, we are content. When we wander, we "feel it".

God has given us "feelings" as one way to "measure" our location in life. When we are not quite "feeling right" about where it is that we are at, the choices we have made, the acquaintances we have been keeping, it is likely that our feelings are pointing out the fact that we have wandered too far from the source of our nourishment and nurturing - from that place of absolute safety and security - God's protective arms. Remember this: The tree "planted" is the one that bears fruit! It isn't the tree uprooted, or the tree torn down by the winds - it is the one 'planted' securely, firmly, and committed in that placement. Just sayin!