Testing? Ugh...

Testing.  It's definitely not something most of us like.  From the time we are children in school we are conditioned to dread testing.  There's spelling tests and math tests, to the infamous ACT's and SAT's.  Just the other day my daughter was talking about impending APUSH, precalc, and AP Bio tests.  Throughout our lives we continue to go through testings, whether we realize it or not, and unfortunately whether we like it or not.

As I sat reflecting on this today I was reminded of portion of Scripture the Lord had placed in front of me recently.

These are the nations that the Lord left in the land to test those Israelites who had not experienced the wars of Canaan.  He did this to teach warfare to generations of Israelites who had no experience in battle.

These people were left to test the Israelites—to see whether they would obey the commands the Lord had given to their ancestors through Moses.

Judges 3:1-2, 4   NLT

We all have times of testing in our lives.  Even when we may appear to be on the top of the world and have it all together, each of us is still going through something.  Some testings are greater than others, but God is using each and every one of them to grow us and to prepare us for what is just around the bend and beyond our sight, just as he was preparing those Israelites for what He knew still lay before them, the battles yet to be fought.

You may not know exactly what God is preparing you for, 

       but what is it He is trying to teach you during this season of testing you are in right now?

Everything God does is for a purpose, everything God allows is for a purpose, even those icky times of testing.  Because in the end He wants each of us to succeed, just as every school teacher wants her students to succeed.  And just as that school teacher is preparing her students to be successful in "what's next", know my friend that God too is preparing you to be successful in whatever that "what's next" is.

So embrace those times of testing, 

as icky as they are, 

and know 

Your Father, who loves you, 

 is preparing you to SUCCEED!

Wrestling with the Master

Jelly shoes, Pac Man, and Donkey Kong.  Roller Derbies, Bryan Adams, Madonna, and MTV.  Big hair, spandex, and WWF on Saturday afternoons.  This was growing-up in the '80's, with names like Randy The Macho Man Savage, Hulk Hogan, and Andre the Giant being part of our teen age vernacular.

Not that I was much into wrestling.  Me, really??  Yeah right!  But professional wrestling was just something many of us would dull our brains with on a Saturday afternoon growing up, at least where I was from.  Not that you could ever truly believe all that flash and antics playing out on the screen in front of you.  Yet still there you sat watching the drama, and yes I mean drama, unraveling before your very eyes (any of you who ever watched WWF growing up will know what I mean).


 Never in a million years (pardon the cliche') would I have imagined that wrestling would be a part of my daily existence.


As I sit here and chuckle a bit to myself at the image of all of my childhood friends grown-up in the flashy professional wrestling attire of the '80's, NO that is not what I mean.  What I am talking about is how every day of our Christian walk you and I are wrestling.

Who are we wrestling with?  Well it's not Hulk Hogan, although some days it may feel like it.  The answer to who we are wrestling is revealed to you and me by God himself in His Word.


The apostle Paul writes in Ephesians 6:12:

                                  For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood,

                                   but against the rulers, against the authorities, 

                                against the cosmic powers of over this present darkness,

                                  against the spiritual forces of evil in heavenly places.

                                                                        (ESV)

Paul is speaking to us about wrestling with Satan, the very enemy of our souls, the one who wishes for us to share his fate in that fiery furnace at the end of days.  And my guess is that each and every one of us as believers knows what Paul is talking about.  We have felt this wrestling more times than we may have liked, always looking forward to its end.

But what about the times when it is not Satan who we are wrestling, the times when it is someone else?  

 The times when we are wrestling the Master himself.

Recently as I was reading through the book of Genesis, and I found myself drawn to Genesis 32:22-32, that well known portion of Scripture where Jacob wrestles with God one night while on his way back to reunite with his brother Esau.  And it is verses 24 through 26 that continue to resonate in my spirit:

                                            This left Jacob all alone in the camp, 
                                   and a man came and wrestled with him until dawn.  
                                    When the man saw that he couldn't win the match, 
                           he struck Jacob's hip and knocked it out of joint at the socket.  
                                     Then the man said, "Let me go, for it is dawn."

                          But Jacob panted, "I will not let you go unless you bless me."
                                                                     (NLT).



Jacob was wrestling with the Master, with God himself, for the promised blessing.


And as the reality of this thought struck me I couldn't help wondering about all the times that we as people, in our flesh, wrestle with God for his blessings.  I know that I have, more times than I would like to count.

We wrestle with God
         Over His fulfillment of the promises He gives us in His Word,
                 Over the fulfillment of the dreams He plants in our hearts and minds,
                            Over the personal promises He whispers to our spirits.


When the promises and dreams He gives to us do not happen as soon as we would like or the way we would like, no matter how hard we may have tried, it is then that we wrestle....not with the enemy....but with the master.

And it is then that He reminds us of two very important things:

For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD.
(Isaiah 55:8 - KJV)

and

...Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the LORD of hosts.
(Zechariah 4:6b - ESV)


So on the days when we feel like we are wrestling, who are we wrestling with?  The enemy of our souls or the Lord?

Because if we are wrestling over dreams and promises the Lord has given us and has yet to fulfill, dreams and promises that no matter how hard we have tried, we cannot make happen, then we are not wrestling with the enemy.  We are wrestling with the Master, our Father in Heaven.  And it is a match we are not meant to win.

So hang up your wrestling attire....the spandex, the head gear (and sometimes the attitude).....and rest in the faithfulness of the Master, our Father in Heaven, and allow His Spirit to bring all His promises and dreams for you to pass.

Because He will.
In His Time
In His Way
And it will be so much sweeter, so much better than anything we could have done in our time
and on our own.

He Speaks

Communication!  We do it in so many ways.  Today it's texts, emails, Face Book, Facetime, Snapchat,
Skype, Twitter, and Instagram.  In the past it was letters, cards, phone calls, and the oh so rare today....face to face.  Whenever there is something important in our lives to tell, something we just can't keep to ourselves, whether good or bad, we share it.....with our family, with our friends, with our coworkers, with our neighbors.


But do we realize our Heavenly Father wants to do the same?


This was the question that began resonating in my heart as I began preparing a message to share with the kiddos one Wednesday night. I had been asked to share something with the children from the book of Matthew, and as I began asking God what it was He would like me to share, I found myself being led to an oh so familiar portion of Scripture.


Matthew 2:1-10


It's that portion of Scripture in God's Word that tells you and me about the wise men, how they saw the star in the night sky announcing the birth of our Lord and Savior, and how they came in search of him, following that star the entire way.  And as I sat and pondered these verses I found myself thinking of how amazing it must have been to have had the birth of the long awaited Messiah announced to the world in the stars.  THIS was some very exciting and very important news that had to be shared, news that God just could not keep to himself, news that He wanted all of man to know, and He was willing to go to any expense to share it.

So what does God do?  He announces it to three wise men in the night sky through the brilliance of a star.  It was like a flashing billboard sign saying,


                        "Extra, extra, the long awaited Messiah has been born!"


But God did not stop there, only sharing the long awaited birth of Jesus with the wise men by speaking to them through the appearance of a star in the nighttime sky.  We know from Luke 2:8-14 that God also spoke to shepherds watching over their flocks that night, the night of Jesus' birth.  And how did He speak to them, sharing the Good News of His son's birth?  It wasn't through Face Book or Instagram.  It was through angels.

See God had something very important and exciting He wanted to share with man, something He just couldn't keep to himself, something He didn't want to keep to himself.  So He shared it, speaking to man through the stars, through angels.  And God still has very important and exciting things He wants to share with man today, with you and me.  But just as we have at least a dozen different ways to share important and exciting things in our lives with others, God also has a plethora of ways in which He shares with you and I, speaking His Truths and His Will so that we may know.


He speaks to us through His Word, whether during our personal study, Wednesday night bible study, Sunday morning's message, or a podcast.

He speaks to us through the beautiful world He has created around us, from the first spring flowers breaking through the snow to the glorious sunsets and sunrises that grace us from our shores and back porches.  He reminds us of His great love and provision as we gaze at the world around us.

He speaks to us during our prayers and during our worship, whispering things to our hearts, much as He did to the heart of David throughout the Psalms.


And this just a few of the ways God attempts to speak to you and me today.


What about dreams and visions?  We read of many throughout God's Word who He spoke to through dreams and visions......Abraham, Joseph, Isaiah, Daniel.....the list goes on and on.  God still speaks to us through dreams and visions.  Just ask my husband how God called him to ministry, and he will tell you it was through a dream God gave him over and over again for several nights.

Then there are those times when God speaks to us through someone else .........a neighbor, a friend, a teacher, a family member.  When words of wisdom or knowledge come from their lips at just the right time, when we need to hear them most.


God is still ALWAYS trying to speak to us, because He still has so much to share, important things, exciting things, things for our good, that we may prosper and have a hope, a future.

               But in order for us to "hear" all that He is trying to share we must be open.....

                      open eyes,

                          open ears,

                              open minds,

                                   and open hearts.

 Are our eyes and our ears open, or has the busyness of life put blinders before us and fluff in our ears?

Are our minds and hearts open to what God is trying to share with us, or are we choosing to shut them to what He is speaking, not wanting to understand or allow His words to change us?


We can be like the wicked kings of the Old Testament and the Pharisees of the New Testament, refusing to see, refusing to hear, refusing to understand or let what God is trying to speak to us change us,

Or

We can be like David, the prophets, Mary, and the disciples, choosing to be open to all that God is speaking to us in whatever way that He is speaking to us that our lives can continue to be blessed, strengthened, and guided by all that He reveals.

My prayer is that each of us will be the latter, so that none of us will miss the important and exciting things Our Father in Heaven wants to share with us, that we may truly embrace the glorious future and hope He has for each and every one of us.


So be open today my friends, and hear all that the Father wants to share with you. 
And may you be blessed, strengthened, encouraged, and guided by all He speaks to your heart.

The Legacy You're Meant For

Have you ever been somewhere and heard a phrase that just stuck with you?  Sometimes it is a catchy advertising slogan, sometimes it is a team motto, and sometimes it is part of a mission or vision statement.  But no matter what you do, those same few words continue rattling around in your brain, replaying like an old cassette tape (for those of us who still remember those).  Well there has been just such a phrase rattling around in this brain of mine for the past few months, maybe longer.  And as God has left the reality of this phrase simmer in my spirit, it has been life changing.

So what is this phrase that continues to rattle in my brain?  It's a simple phrase really, but its meaning is HUGE.

ON PURPOSE FOR A PURPOSE.

This phrase is part of the common language our youth pastor uses in the youth ministry at our church, and the results of this 5 word phrase are life changing for all who embrace it, youth and adult alike.

How many of us have walked through this life at times wondering what in the world we are supposed to be doing with our lives?  Does what we are doing mean anything?  Are we making an impact, a difference?  Are we doing whatever it is we are meant to do?

Let's face it, these questions don't only hit us growing up, during adolescence, but they hit us as adults, in those moments when we wonder what in the world are we here for?

Well I am here to tell you friends:

 You are here for a purpose, a purpose you alone were created for!

Paul writes in Ephesians 2:10, "For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them".

God didn't just randomly create you, but He created you on purpose for a purpose, for good works that He has planned beforehand as part of your story, important things that He has planned throughout the pages of your life for you to do.

Girlfriends, God has a legacy you are meant to leave, lives you are meant to touch, an impact you are meant to make, in the lives of your family, in the lives of you friends and coworkers, in the lives of the strangers whose path you are meant to cross on any given day.  Don't let the enemy rob that from you!

God has knit you together in your mother’s womb for such a time as this.  

So get out there and embrace the legacy God has meant you for!

Living your life on purpose,  for a purpose, the purpose you alone were created for!

That Scary 5 Letter Word

Have you ever had one of those times when it just seemed as though God was putting that same scripture verse or topic in front of you over and over again in a matter of days?  Until finally you say, "Alright God, I get the picture."  Let's face it, we know from God's Word, and I am sure from personal experience, that when God repeatedly places a word or verse in front of us, He is trying to get a point across.

This is exactly where I found myself not that long ago.  It all began one Wednesday night during the children's ministry, when the adults sharing God's Word with the children gave them an object lesson.  The teachers had one of the boys come to the front of the sanctuary and stand on the platform.  Then they asked his dad to also come and stand at the foot of the platform.  What they did next was to ask the little boy to run and jump off the platform into his father's arms.  When the little boy came to a screeching halt at the edge of the platform before jumping everyone giggled.  The teachers looked in mock confusion at the small boy and asked why he stopped before he jumped. "Don't you trust your father?" they questioned.

Wow!  What a question.  What if you and I were asked the same question?  "Don't you trust your Father?"  God is our heavenly father.  Do we trust Him?  Really??

The writer of Proverbs, in that oh so familiar verse, writes "trust in the LORD with all of your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding" (Prov. 3:5).  Many of us know the verse, but still in our flesh we struggle with the principle behind it.  The struggle is especially hard during those times when, as Lauren Daigle so beautifully sings it, God doesn't move the mountains we're needing Him to move, He doesn't part the waters we wish we could walk through, and He doesn't give the answers as we cry out to Him.

Yet God so wants you and me to understand the importance of trusting in Him, so much so that He had the various writers in Scripture share of this very thing with the same Hebrew word at least 79X in the Old Testament alone.  Jesus himself taught the people and His disciples that all could trust on the Father, Our Heavenly Father, who values each of us more than the sparrow, that He actually knows the number of hairs on our head (Matt. 10:29-31).

But in our flesh, in these earthly lives we lead, that little 5 letter word, trust, can be one of the scariest words in our vocabulary.  Why?  I believe there are many possible answers to this question, but one of which I am very familiar with is this:

            Trusting God means giving up control of your life,

            handing over the reins, the steering wheel,

    and 

     sitting in the passenger seat.  

How many of us hate sitting in the passenger seat?

When we truly trust God and sit in that passenger seat we are giving Him control of our lives, allowing Him to guide our steps and walking by faith, not by sight (2 Cor. 5:7).  Ultimately trusting God and giving Him control means admitting that someone other than ourselves knows what is best for us and holds the answers we cannot find on our own.  Sometimes that can be a tough one to swallow.  But if we will only look to His promises as we trust in Him, it will make it oh so much easier to loosen our grip on the steering wheel of our lives and hand over control to Our Father who loves us.


                                    "But blessed is the one who trusts in the LORD,
                                                   whose confidence is in Him.
                                     They will be like a tree planted by the water
                                              that sends its roots by the stream.
                                              It does not fear when heat comes;
                                                   its leaves are always green.
                                              It has no worries in a year of drought
                                                    and never fails to bear fruit

                                                Jeremiah 17:7-8 (NIV)

Today as you hand over the reins or steering wheel, I pray that you will be blessed with an overwhelming peace and confidence in the one who holds your life in His hands. 

 May you be deeply rooted in Him, who loves you more than you can imagine.

 And may you be refreshed by His living water no matter the heat around you,

bearing fruit all of your days.

The Camel's Back

Ok ladies.  So this might sound like a silly question, but I'll ask it anyway.  Have you ever had one of those days when you feel as if there is one more thing thrown at you, you are just going to break?  That "one more thing" will prove to be the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back.  Sometimes it's a day, sometimes it's a week, and sometimes it's a season.  Maybe it was yesterday, last week, or last month.  Maybe it's today.  Regardless of when these days, weeks, or seasons come they often tend to make us want to cry, scream, or rip our hair out.  We might not actually follow through with the crying screaming, or ripping our hair out but the feeling is still there.  Those times when we want to lift our eyes up and say "REALLY!", or better yet cast our gaze downward and utter the same thing.

It is on days like this when it is hard to swallow the words of James as he writes, "My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations;" (James 1:2), or the words of Paul in Romans where he writes, "but we glory in tribulations also" (Romans 5:3).  But both James and Paul go on to remind you and I as believers that these temptations and tribulations we are going through, the ones threatening to break the "camel's back”, are developing the patience and perseverance of our faith.  They are not pleasant and do not feel good when we are going through them, but just as Job’s perseverance through the trials and tribulations thrown at him proved his faith, so too will our perseverance be proof our great faith in the Lord.

Take a look at Job 1 and 2.  The LORD had great confidence in Job’s faith, and He has great confidence in your faith as well.

So on those days when you feel as if one more thing thrown at you is going to break “the camel’s back”, just remember:

                                                      The Lord believes in you.

                                                      He has confidence in you,

                                                                 In your faith.

                                                                       and

                                                    In your commitment to Him.

So embrace this day, week, or season of trial knowing of Your Father’s great faith and confidence in you.  And let this not be a time of defeat, but instead a time of victory!

Defining Labels

We live in a world today filled with labels, words used to classify everything.  From the foods we eat....organic, gluten-free, to the beverages we drink....diet, sugar-free, to the movies we watch....action, comedy, drama, to the music we listen to....pop, hip-hop, country, Christian.  It seems everything in our lives bares labels, right down to the people themselves.  Society labels us as individuals from the time we are children, by our physical features...short, tall, brown hair, blonde hair....and continues to label men and women throughout their adult lives.  No matter how we try, it seems we cannot escape the labels used by the world to define us.

As adults we find ourselves defined by labels based on our physical health, our educations, our religion, our careers, our marital status, whether or not we have children, our ethnic background.....the list goes on and on; it's endless.  All of these labels used to define you and I are based on circumstances in our lives.  Just take for instance being labeled by your economic status when the plant you worked at was shut down over a year ago, or maybe you are a single parent after your spouse has left you and your children behind.  Perhaps you come from a family riddled with generations of infidelity or abuse or addiction.  All of these circumstances in our lives lead to labels, labels placed on you and me most times by the society in which we live.

Did you take note that I just said most times it is society that labels us, defining us by the circumstances in our lives?  That is because sometimes this is not the case.  Sometimes you and I can be the culprit, and the worst one at that, defining ourselves by circumstances in our lives, both past and present.  We slap labels on ourselves that at times seem almost impossible to remove.  It's as if we have applied them with gorilla glue. (Yuck!)

I say this with love and compassion, because like you, I too have been there and some days I am still there.  We compare ourselves to the world's standards of "enough".  Are we pretty enough, thin enough, successful enough, smart enough?  Do we make enough money, do we dress the right way.....you fill in the blank.  Or maybe you live your life under the numerous labels tied to growing up in a broken home or dysfunctional family, circumstances from your past, circumstances beyond your control that still threaten to define who you are by labels stuck to you by the world around you.

I am sure there were many in the Bible who knew exactly what we are talking about.  For instance, let's talk about Rahab, living in Jericho during the time Joshua and the Israelites were claiming the Promised Land.  The Bible is very clear on the fact that Rahab was: 1) an Amorite heathen (Gentile), 2) a harlot or prostitute.  Yet Rahab did not let the labels society placed on her define who she truly was, and look at where we find her later in God's plan.  She becomes part of the royal bloodline of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Then there is Ruth who herself was labeled by society due to the circumstances in her life, and the labels she was given were not glorious.  First off she was a widow and second, she was a Moabite, a pagan Gentile whose people were known to worship idols.  When she accompanied her mother-in-law Naomi to Bethlehem she was a foreigner.  Yet like Rahab, Ruth did not let herself be defined by her circumstances or the labels the world around her was attaching to her, and she too became part of the royal blood line of our Lord Jesus Christ.

What about King David, a man after God's own heart?  David knew what it was like to live with labels due to his circumstances.  He was a shepherd's son, a shepherd himself, which during his time was not an admirable trade.  Plus when we first meet David he was but a boy, the youngest of all of his brothers.  But David too did not allow himself to be defined by his circumstances, and he went on to be a mighty king of Israel and also a part of Jesus royal blood line.

Jesus himself chose those for his disciples who the world had labeled due to their circumstances.  Matthew, for instance, was a tax collector in Capernaum.  Tax collectors were despised by their own culture, seen as traitors and sinners because they worked for the Roman government, collecting excessive taxes from their own people.  Yet Matthew too cast of the labels placed on him by the world around him, refusing to be defined by his circumstances.

Friends, the circumstances of our lives, either past or present, are not meant to define us, and neither are the labels slapped on us by society because of those circumstances.  I believe Rahab, Ruth, David, Matthew and many others in God's Word knew this.  Instead they found the definition of who they were in the eyes of God himself.

And what they found in God's eyes, His definition of who they were, is the same as His definition of who you and I are.

We are CHOSEN.  -  1 Peter 2:9

We are REDEEMED.  -  Galatians 3:13; 1 Peter 1:18-19

We are CHILDREN OF GOD.  -  Romans 8:14-17

We are a ROYAL PRIESTHOOD.  -  1 Peter 2:9

We are COHEIRS with Christ.  -  Romans 8:14-17


This is the true definition of who you and I are, not the circumstances of our lives.  So rip off those nasty labels the world has placed on you and the labels you may have placed on yourself.  No amount of gorilla glue can stand-up to the love and grace or our Lord Jesus Christ.

And live according to Lord's definition for you!


 CHOSEN                                 CHILD OF GOD
                        REDEEMED                                     part of a ROYAL PRIESTHOOD,
                                   
                                                COHEIR with Christ