Dodie

comfort, held, hurt, pain, suffering, trials, Oh Lord Help Us, Christian, women, mentor, ministry

Suffering: God is Sufficient Amidst Our Worldly Pain

DevotionalsJuly 10, 2019July 9, 2019

God promised pain and trials in our lives, but He holds the victory over our suffering. It may not be easy, but we can allow Jesus to hold us amidst hurt.

This morning a precious friend came to mind. I pray for her and her family often because, from my vantage point, her life burdens are heavy, painful, and very hard to bear.

Trading Suffering…

I remember the first time my heart knit with hers. We lived in the same state then and attended the same church. Our worship leader was leading the congregation in a lively, spirited song called, “Trading My Sorrows.” The words to the song were discordant with the upbeat rhythms…at least for where my life was at the time, and incidentally, what my friend was experiencing in her life, too.

Standing silently next to each other in the choir while everyone around us loudly sang, “Yes, Lord, yes, Lord…,” she muttered, “I’m not singing that! I can’t sing that right now!” I murmured back, “Me neither. It’s too close to home right now.” I’m not sure I ever sang that song, again.

How Do We Sing?

My friend had a very ill baby. My father was dying of cancer and my husband had recently been diagnosed with cancer. It was a difficult season of life.

Neither of us knew the long years of sorrow and suffering that lay ahead of us. If we had, the weight of it might have broken us both right there in the choir loft. But God graciously hid our earthly eyes from that vision and walked us one step at a time into the future. At times, He held us.

How do we, as the song states, ‘trade our sorrows, sickness, pain, for the joy of the Lord’? How does one sing and dance about these things when in the midst of them?

Trust He is Sufficient

I’m not convinced that we are called to sing and dance, but trusting in Him is key…

And lest I should be exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelations, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I be exalted above measure. Concerning this thing, I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me. And He said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
2 Corinthians 12:7-10, NKJV

Suffering is Normal

Pastor and writer Tim Keller wrote a book called, Walking With God Through Pain and Suffering, in 2013. One Amazon reviewer had this to say: “Americans seem to suffer more due to the fact that they are even suffering – than because of the suffering in and of itself. Keller wisely shows that suffering is a normal part of living in a fallen world.”

It does seem to be an affront to us when we suffer – as though we should all be given a ‘pass’ on suffering because we are living in the 21^st Century! Or because it’s not on the schedule, or because we are Christians, or, as Joni Erikson Tada said:

We are infected by our culture of comfort and convenience, and would rather erase suffering out of the biblical dictionary. We want a God who supports our plans, who is our “accomplice”; someone to whom we can relate as long as he is doing what we want. If he does something else, we “unfriend” him.
Joni Erikson Tada

Finding God

But He doesn’t always do what we want, does He? Daily, our lives are touched with suffering and death, if not personally, then vicariously. Keller wrote:

As I took up life as a minister, I tried to understand why so many people resisted and rejected God. I soon realized that perhaps the main reason was affliction and suffering. How could a good God, a just God, a loving God, allow such misery, depravity, pain, and anguish? Doubts in the mind can grow along with pain in the heart…
But at the same time, I learned that just as many people find God through affliction and suffering. They find that adversity moves them toward God rather than away. Troubled times awaken them out of their haunted sleep of spiritual self-sufficiency into a serious search for the divine…It is an exaggeration to say that no one finds God unless suffering comes into their lives—but it is not a big one. When pain and suffering come upon us, we finally see not only that we are not in control of our lives but that we never were.
Tim Keller, Walking With God Through Pain and Suffering

Biblical Suffering

A careful search of the Bible will find, beginning in Genesis, two of the main themes are suffering and adversity. And as Keller noted, the Psalms are filled with cries of pain. Full of questions concerning injustice and why God allows suffering.

Vindicate me, O God, and plead my cause against an ungodly nation; Oh, deliver me from the deceitful and unjust man! For You are the God of my strength; Why do You cast me off? Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?
Psalm 43:1-2, NKJV

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Awake! Why do You sleep, O Lord? Arise! Do not cast us off forever. Why do You hide Your face, and forget our affliction and oppression?
Psalm 44:23-24, NKJV

How have we missed this? Or have we simply denied it? Exodus, Job, Ecclesiastes, Jeremiah, Habakkuk, Hebrews, I Peter- all these and more, my sisters, address suffering, adversity and sorrow. Our Lord, Jesus Christ was a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief, (Isaiah 53:3).

Upsidedown

Recently, Pope Francis took the authority to change some wording in the Lord’s prayer considered offensive to this world’s senses, opting for a more sensitive approach. We too often choose our finite ideas, which are continually distorted by sin and culture, requiring what John Piper calls a hermeneutical headstand. As Piper stated in his blog post: “We must continually refine them, [our ideas] by what the Bible teaches.”

Right side up, we would say, ‘The Bible teaches that God does such and such. Therefore, we should seek to discover the wisdom and goodness of why he would act that way.’ But standing on our heads, we would say, ‘We already know what is wise and good before the Bible tells us. So, if this text tells us God acts contrary to what we know, we will conclude that the text can’t mean that, or it’s mistaken.’
Daring progressive Christians say the text is mistaken; less daring progressives claim to hold fast to biblical authority while changing the meaning to fit their prior view of God. In either case, authority has shifted from heaven to earth.
John Piper

Jesus Holds the Final Word

Oh, precious one, if you are suffering, I hurt with you. More importantly, Jesus holds you and comforts you if you will allow Him.

After all, doesn’t He have the final word on suffering?

In our suffering, Jesus holds and comforts us if we will allow Him. He holds the final word over our pain! Click To Tweet

JOHN TOWNER

sovereign, trust, questions, prayer, rest, Oh Lord Help Us, Christian, women, mentor, ministry

The Potter: Trusting Our Sovereign God to Take Care of Us

DevotionalsJune 25, 2019June 25, 2019

Asking God ‘why’ is natural. But we can rest and trust in God; His decisions, His timing. He is the Potter; Sovereign over us, His children.

The Life-Force is a sort of tame God. You can switch it on when you want, but it will not bother you. All the thrills of religion and none of the cost.
C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

I wonder, sometimes, if we Christians don’t wish for a tame God as opposed to One who has given us a way in which to live our lives…and actually requires it of His followers. You know, a god who is just nice and loving and gives us what we want. I had to ask this of myself recently when I realized that I was questioning God about a prayer that seemed not to be answered.

The Potter

Oh, I wish it was the first time or the hundredth time I had questioned Him about the way my Father handled things, but sadly, it wasn’t.

Have you ever prayed for a long time for a loved one to come to Christ and they remain unconverted? Or for someone to be healed and they weren’t? Have you asked for (fill in the blank) and it hasn’t happened?

Me too.

But this time, when I began to question God’s working, the Spirit reminded me of an old song called ‘The Potter’s Hand’, from a 1998 Hillsong album. He uses music with me often because it has been such a pivotal part of my walk with Him since the time of my salvation. This, in turn, led me to several scriptures concerning God as our Potter.

Woe to those who seek deep to hide their counsel far from the Lord, and their works are in the dark; They say, ‘Who sees us?’ and, ‘Who knows us?’ Surely you have things turned around! Shall the potter be esteemed as the clay; For shall, the thing made say of him who made it, ‘He did not make me’? Or shall the thing formed say of him who formed it, ‘He has no understanding’?
Isaiah 29:15-16, NKJV

Why, God?

When I was a hospital chaplain, I often heard the agony of heartbroken family members asking why ‘God had done this’ to their loved one who had a terminal illness, died unexpectedly, or suffered in a prolonged way. At the beginning of my career, despite my training, I wanted to defend God while comforting them.

It wasn’t possible.

And God didn’t – and doesn’t – need my pitiful defense.

But now, O Lord, You are our Father; We are the clay, and You our potter; And we are the work of Your hand.
Isaiah 64:8 NKJV

What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? Certainly not!…You will say to me then, “Why does He still find fault? For who has resisted His will?” But indeed, O man, who are you to reply against God? Will the thing formed say to him who formed it, “Why have you made me like this?” Does not the potter have power over the clay, from the same lump to make one vessel for honor and another for dishonor?
Romans 9:14-21, NKJV

I hope you will find time to read the entire chapter of Romans 9, as it reveals God’s compassion and sovereignty more completely than these few verses.

Historical Familiarity

In my lifetime, we have developed a familiarity with God that generations before us did not possess. Sermons such as Puritan preacher Jonathan Edwards’ “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God,” would hardly be tolerated today in most churches. Although it is considered the most famous sermon ever preached in American history, I dare say the majority of Christians in the 21^st century have never heard of it or Him.

Somewhere in the ’60s, we decided we liked the soft-sell of the Gospel as if there is one. A loving Father full of mercy was more palatable than the complete picture, which adds a Father who disciplines those whom He loves (Hebrews 12:6; Proverbs 3:12).

Do you recognize the peace and love of the 60’s-70’s permeating the church? The Potter, Who molded and created us…well, He was so 1800’s!

The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying: ‘Arise and go down to the potter’s house, and there I will cause you to hear My words.’ Then I went down to the potter’s house, and there he was, making something at the wheel. And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter; so he made it again into another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to make. Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying: ‘O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter?’ says the Lord. ‘Look, as the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are you in My hand, O house of Israel!’
Jeremiah, 18:1-6, NKJV

And as His children, we, my friends, are no different.

Just Puppets?

Does this mean we can never ask God why? Are we His docile puppets? I believe we know the answer to that.

Let’s frame that in the context of a parent with a child. If you are not a parent, then look back to your childhood. How do you respond when your children ask you questions concerning a decision you have made on their behalf?

What was the motive for your decision? Was it out of anger or love? For their good? Their safety or health? This is vitally important because our Father’s motives are always pure and loving (Hebrews 12:10).

Were their questions for understanding or due to defiance, opposition, or insolence?

Don’t we believe that our Heavenly Father can be trusted to be a better parent than we are/were/had?

He is Sovereign

See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him.
I John 3:1, NIV

Whatever you are living in at the present, trust Him.

Ask, but trust. Rest and trust.

As the beautiful, lyrical song professes, He is Sovereign over us.

We can trust our Sovereign God. It doesn't mean we can't question, but we can rest in His timing, decisions, and goodness. Click To Tweet

Andrew Buchanan

apology, forgiveness, grace, pain, freedom, Oh Lord Help Us, Christian, women, mentor, ministry

Apology: Asking for Forgiveness is Difficult but Freeing

DevotionalsJune 10, 2019June 11, 2019

Admitting we have hurt someone and asking for forgiveness can be difficult. A genuine apology shows obedience to God and frees us from sin and pain.

Be kind to one another, compassionate, forgiving one another, just as God in Christ also forgave you.
Ephesians 4:32, NET

Polarizing Tactics

For the first twenty-five years of our marriage, Gary and I seldom argued. That isn’t to say that we didn’t disagree, didn’t hurt each other’s feelings, or give each other the silent treatment; I’m simply saying we seldom argued.

Neither of us came from homes where disagreements were handled in a healthy way- his dad went to the basement; mine hid behind the newspaper. Therefore, neither of us were equipped to manage conflict well… so, we didn’t. We went to our separate corners and waited for the storm to pass. Or, perhaps more realistically, I waited for him to apologize and he waited for the storm to pass!

What it took me many years to learn was that his family, (and men in general,) didn’t learn to express regret when they were wrong or wronged someone else. Apologizing, admitting mistakes seems to be a learned trait for about half of the population. Yet, I felt like I was saying, “I’m sorry,” for everything, sometimes even my existence! But that was my own issue, not Gary’s.

Deteriorating Foundation

One of the many problems with this scenario in a marriage or friendship is that the tiny papercuts and the buildup of infractions can become a gaping, bleeding wound which eats at the foundation of the relationship. Then someday, an incident that is seemingly a 4 on a scale of 1 to 10, becomes an immediate 10, and your spouse or close friend, doesn’t know what hit him, (or her, as the case may be).

That was our cycle. Build-up, build-up, build-up, BOOM. My anger would explode at something Gary had done or not done. He would remain quiet, calm, and in control, while I ranted; then I felt shame because I would be reminded of how my mom reacted toward my dad, (and I promised myself that I would never be like her, of course).

Each time this happened, my heart closed a bit more toward my husband, like the bloom of a flower closing against the night. (Now granted, I wasn’t exactly the Proverbs 31 wife with a gentle, quiet spirit. Our five years of marriage counseling was for both of us!)

One-Liner Apology

During our marriage counseling, Gary began learning the importance of saying he was sorry when he had hurt me. However, for many years it continued to feel disingenuous and rehearsed to me, probably because he usually followed up with, “but I didn’t know” -or- “but I didn’t mean to,” which left me feeling hollow.

Ted Cunningham wrote for Focus on the Family about ways not to apologize. These are some famous one-liner apologies that should never be used! (Do they sound familiar?)

“I’m sorry you feel that way” is another way of saying, “You shouldn’t feel that way.” It’s one of the world’s worst apologies.
“If I offended you, I’m sorry” is another way of saying, “You shouldn’t have been offended by that” or “You’re too sensitive.”
“I’m sorry you took it that way” is another way of saying, “That’s not what I intended.” What your spouse hears is more important than what you say.
“I’m sorry I said it that way” is another way of saying, “What I said was right, I just said it in the wrong way” or “What I told you was truth and you needed to hear it, but maybe my tone wasn’t right.”
www.focusonthefamily.com/marriage/communication

Apology

Dr. Gary Chapman, author of The Five Love Languages, has also written that there are five languages of apology. He believes that this is the reason why so many marriages stutter at the apology and don’t travel forward to much-needed forgiveness.

Expressing regret – This is the emotional aspect of an apology. People who speak this language believe it is important to acknowledge that you offended them and to express your own sense of guilt, shame and pain that your behavior has hurt them deeply. Actually being able to say “I am sorry” is very important to a person who speaks this language.
Accepting responsibility – In this instance, an apology means accepting responsibility for one’s actions and being willing to say “I was wrong.” This is often very difficult because admitting you are wrong can be perceived as weakness.
Making restitution – For an apology to be genuine, it isn’t just about saying “I am sorry.” Instead, it’s all about making things right for a person who speaks this language. They want acknowledgment of the wrongdoing and they want to know what you are going to do to make it right.
Genuinely repenting – The word repentance means “to turn around” or to change one’s mind. If a person speaks this language of apology they are expecting that you not only apologize but that you will seek not to repeat the offense again in the future.
Requesting forgiveness – A person who speaks this language believes that an apology not only includes “I am sorry,” but also a request for forgiveness. Requesting forgiveness indicates to some that you want to see the relationship fully restored.
www.firstthings.org

Biblical Forgiveness

While I have great respect for Dr. Chapman, my guiding principle is always the Word of God. It speaks clearly about forgiveness. Jesus delineates the need to take all the steps which Dr. Chapman has laid out, not one that we choose to be our personal language.

Be on your guard! If your brother sins, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him.
Luke 17:3, NET

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“For if you forgive others for their transgressions, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.”
Matthew 6:14, NET

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Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with a heart of mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience, bearing with one another and forgiving one another, if someone happens to have a complaint against anyone else. Just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also forgive others.
Colossians 3:12-13, NET

Abundant Grace

And there it is, the inarguable point; how can we contend with this? The Lord’s forgiveness has been abundant, vast…how can we withhold grace and the mercy of forgiveness from one who has offended or wounded us? I had to learn…am still learning…to forgive half-hearted – or no – apologies. My brother was one who never asked forgiveness for the pain he inflicted.

And there are unfathomable wounds some of you have endured, aching wounds for which no one has borne responsibility or asked forgiveness.

But God…

He knows your pain and He covers it with His balm of healing grace.

Forgive them, so that you may go free.

The Lord’s forgiveness has been abundant, vast…how can we withhold grace and the mercy of forgiveness from one who has offended or wounded us? Click To Tweet

Dallas Reedy

God’s call, God’s love, righteousness, communication, Oh Lord Help Us, Christian, women, mentor, ministry

Abandon: Answering God’s Call to Surrender Our Lives

DevotionalsMay 27, 2019May 27, 2019

God would call us a thousand times if He has to. May we not ignore His call and surrender our lives to live for Him with reckless abandon.

A few weeks ago, while driving to the beach with our oldest granddaughter, we drove Gary, my husband a bit mad with blasting chick music. Since she and her sister were young, the three of us have jammed to the likes of Adele, Sara Bareilles, and of course, Taylor Swift. I even remember dancing around my family room holding their baby brother a few times… He’s now eleven!

Nevertheless, Gary surreptitiously turned down our tunes with his steering wheel control, (he needed earplugs, I suppose,) but when I noticed, I cranked it back up so that Anna and I could belt it out, singing with abandon to our old favorites.

We didn’t care who might be watching in passing cars or how we sounded, (although she is an accomplished musician who performs publicly). The two of us were just, well, jamming our hearts out.

Hello…

One of the all-time favorite songs that my daughter and granddaughters have joked around with, in the past few years is Hello, by Adele. It’s so melancholy that we naturally feel the need to overdramatize it when we mock-sing it.

Hello, it’s me
I was wondering if after all these years
You’d like to meet, to go over
Everything
They say that time’s supposed to heal ya
But I ain’t done much healing

Hello, can you hear me?
I’m in California dreaming about who we used to be
When we were younger and free
I’ve forgotten how it felt before the world fell at our feet

[Pre-Chorus 1]
There’s such a difference between us
And a million miles
[Chorus]
Hello from the other side
I must’ve called a thousand times to tell you
I’m sorry, for everything that I’ve done
But when I call you never seem to be home
Adele, “Hello”

I know this has happened to you…

Earworm

Since our trip, this song WILL NOT LEAVE MY MIND!!! I can be vacuuming, applying makeup, planting flowers and what wafts through my head? “I must have called a thousand times…”

Oh, my sweet Lord! How can I rid myself of this song, which I used to enjoy, but has now become a pesky irritant?! My addled brain has gotten stuck in a groove that just might cause permanent damage!

Finally, recalling that God has a record of speaking in various and, to us, unusual ways, (Numbers 22:28, through a donkey; Exodus 3, through a burning bush) I finally stopped fighting the words in this song and began to listen. What in all that is righteous and good are You trying to say to me, Jesus?! Because, slow as I am to hear, SURELY You are speaking through this song.

I must have called a thousand times…

Those words played a loop in my head. Often, I ask God to speak to me about specific situations or decisions that need to be made. At times, I find myself pleading for direction. The truth is, He is speaking all the time. If there is a problem with communication, it’s on my end.

Are You Home?

Statistics reveal a lack of communication is one of the top complaints in couples seeking marriage counseling.

God has the same issue with us… He calls; we don’t answer…or pretend we didn’t hear: “Was that God or the devil?”

As Adele said in her song, “When I call you never seem to be home.”

I wonder if we don’t “meet (with God) to go over everything,” (Adele, verse 1), because unconsciously we fear He may require something of us which we aren’t willing to give. Or, perhaps He may want to tear down that invisible wall we erected around a deep wound, inflicted years ago.

Even the thought of God asking us to take these actions is too painful to contemplate, so we don’t answer His call…or abandon our will to the Father. We settle for His gifts and working for Him.

Abandon

In Mark 10:28, ESV, Peter proclaimed boldly:

“See, we have left everything and followed you.”

As a young man, Oswald Chambers wrote:

Our Lord replies in effect, that abandonment is for Himself, and not for what the disciples themselves will get from it. Beware of an abandonment which has the commercial spirit in it…Abandonment is not for anything at all. We have got so commercialized that we only go to God for something from Him, and not for Himself. It is like saying, “No, Lord, I don’t want You, I want myself; but I want myself clean and filled with the Holy Spirit; I want to be put in Your showroom and be able to say – ‘This is what God has done for me.’” …Abandonment never produces the consciousness of my own effort, because the whole life is taken up with the One to Whom we abandon.
My Utmost for His Highest

Oh Beloved, in moments of total honesty, stripped bare of our false piety and bangles of good works, can we truly accuse our Father of wanting to harm us? How can we entertain the notion that we can’t trust His goodness when He loved us enough to hold nothing back from us, not even His only Son?

Missed Call

Many years ago, Gary and one of our sons went to Russia on a two-week mission trip. We were never apart for that long, so I did not want to miss the one phone call he was going to make while they were gone. The other two kids and I were getting out of the car from church when we heard Gary leaving a message on the answering machine, (I told you it was years ago).

I was frantic to get in the door to catch him but was too late. Needless to say, I was very disappointed and cried. My oldest child thought I was being a bit dramatic, but I didn’t care. This was my Beloved. I loved and missed him; I needed to hear his voice. (He called again later.)

Apple of His Eye

Multiply that a gazillion trillion times and that is how the Father loves us. We are His Beloved, the apple of His eye.

For this is what the Lord Almighty says: “After the Glorious One has sent me against the nations that have plundered you – for whoever touches you touches the apple of my eye…
Zechariah 2:8, NIV

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Keep me as the apple of Your eye; hide me under the shadow of Your wings, From the wicked who oppress me, from the deadly enemies who surround me.
Psalm 17:8-9, NKJV

I pray we won’t miss the times the Lover of our souls calls us to abandon our lives to Him in a fresh way. May we not expect Him to ‘call a thousand times,’ although He will. May we run to Him like a gazelle each time He whispers our name, and joyfully obey whatever He asks.

Do we not meet with God because we fear He will ask something of us? Or maybe He wants to tear down the walls we’ve built around pain? His call is for us to abandon our will for the Father’s. Click To Tweet

Annie Spratt

comparison, identity, love, pride, Oh Lord Help Us, Christian, women, mentor, ministry

First: Longing for God, the Lover and Keeper of Our Souls

DevotionalsMay 7, 2019May 7, 2019

Slipping into the rhythms and mindset of comparison is dangerous. We have illusive visions of ourselves, promoting self. We must remember the first longing of our souls, God’s love.

To the angel of the church of Ephesus write,
‘These things says He who holds the seven stars in His right hand, who walks in the midst of the seven golden lampstands: ‘I know your works, your labor, your patience, and that you cannot bear those who are evil. And you have tested those who say they are apostles and are not, and have found them liars; and you have persevered and have patience, and have labored for My name’s sake and have not become weary. Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your first love.

Revelation 2:1-4, NKJV

I first read the term Brocken Specter in “The Problem of Pain”, by C. S. Lewis, (Chapter 10).

According to Weather Online, the “Brocken Spectre (or Brocken Bow) is an apparently greatly magnified shadow of an observer cast against mist or cloud below the level of a summit or ridge and surrounded by rainbow coloured fringes resulting from the diffraction of light. The effect is an illusion. Depth perception is altered by the mist, causing the shadow to appear more distant and to be interpreted as larger than normally expected.”

Ah, of course…Lewis’ usage made perfect sense. We’ll come back to that…

Illusive Identity

Identity and image have become the cancers which are decimating our era – more specifically, self-identity and self-image. That isn’t to say we humans haven’t always been consumed with ourselves, but two decades of social media feeding insecure kids (and adults) has resulted in an obsession with self-satisfaction, self-image, self-identity, self-efficacy, selfies. Need I go on?

For they loved praise from men more than praise from God.
John 12:43, ESV

Sadly, much of it is fueled by comparison and envy, an illusion of lack…

I’m not pretty enough. My body isn’t thin enough. We aren’t involved in enough ministries. We don’t make/give enough money, go to the right church, have our kids in the right sports leagues.

It’s usually a subtle thing, hardly noticeable, but beneath the running thoughts of our daily minds is too often the ongoing shout: WHAT DO PEOPLE THINK OF ME?

For we dare not class ourselves or compare ourselves with those who commend themselves. But they, measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise.
2 Corinthians 10:12, NKJV

Heads up – Jesus was referring to religious people who believed in Him but were afraid to admit it for fear of being ostracized from the temple. Paul wrote, as you know, to the church at Corinth. These people were believers, Christians, struggling with the sin of self-focus and comparison, too.

Comparing Whispers

When we compare ourselves with others, as in the Brocken Spectre (or a glory), an illusion occurs. While we gaze into that mist-altered perception, which is surrounded by rainbow fringes, (read razzle-dazzle,) it appears beautiful. We lose objectivity. We lose focus. Ultimately, we lose wisdom. In time, the self grows into an enormous, insatiable monster. It’s all we think about. In so doing, we give it the praise it hungrily grasps from God…but self is a cheater and a liar.

How can you believe, when you receive glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the only God?
John 5:44, ESV

One would think that when you reached a certain decade of life that one would realize how futile, yes, even ridiculous it is to give a moment’s thought as to what others think of you. However, I enter seasons when the enemy constantly whispers in my head a barrage of negative comparisons, which, at the time, when I am vulnerable, seem very true.

First Love

Then, beneath the desire for approval, beneath the longing for friendship or love, isn’t there something deeper for which we’re all longing? Something written on our hearts at the moment of conception?

…that something which you were born desiring, and which beneath the flux of other desires, and in all the momentary silences between the louder passions, night and day, year by year, from childhood to old age, you are looking for, watching for, listening for?
C. S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain

Ah, Sister, that longing, which we can never completely quench, that ongoing desire of our hearts, that passion which we can’t quite fulfill here on earth is Jesus, the Lover of our souls. When we meet Him face to face, every longing and aching desire will be completely fulfilled.

For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.
1 Corinthians 13:12, ESV

As Lewis wrote, when we see Him at last, God will look like our first love because He is the first love of every soul.

I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you.
Jeremiah 31:3, ESV

Let us continually remember His pure love.

Sister, that longing, which we can never completely quench, that ongoing desire of our hearts, that passion which we can't quite fulfill here on earth is Jesus, the Lover of our souls. Click To Tweet

Jesse Bowser

Deliverance, freedom, hope, plans, redeemed, salvation, Oh Lord Help Us, Christian, women, mentor, ministry

Hoped: Past or Present, God Reveals and Restores

DevotionalsApril 21, 2019April 22, 2019

Circumstances can pull us away from our once fierce hope in the Lord. We don’t know the whole story and must submit our “hoped for’s” to God’s plan.

But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel…

Luke 24:21a, ESV

The road to Emmaus…Cleopas, (and several scholars believe), his wife Mary, were decimated by the crucifixion of Jesus. After the Sabbath finally came and went, with heavy hearts and dragging feet the couple gathered their belongings together to return home. Despite Mary’s news of seeing the angels at the tomb, despite the unthinkable announcement that the tomb was empty, Cleopas and Mary headed out of town, shrouded in sorrow. In the words of Dr. James Boice:

…they were going home. It was all over. The dream was dead, and they were sad.

Many, many years ago, the infant daughter of some friends of ours was diagnosed with a brain tumor. At the time, our church was in the throes of an unusual months-long, Spirit-filled revival. We experienced the power of God in numerous, unexplainable situations and we were excited to incorporate it in prayer, at times without wisdom and discernment. Oh, how we prayed for that baby! How we entreated God’s healing hand, anointed with oil, trusted He would intervene, despite what the doctors said…

Precious baby girl died three months later. Our small group was devastated, not to mention her parents. We had trusted. We had believed God. Had hoped He was who He said He was.

Hoped…

Not unlike Cleopas and Mary, our hope and trust became past tense for a season.

When Jesus joined them on the road home to Emmaus, He didn’t allow them to recognize Him. After all, the last time they had seen Jesus, He had been a bloody mess, beaten and beyond recognition, hanging on a cross. Their story borders on comical, however. Jesus approached them on their journey, behaving as though He was clueless to recent events. Jesus asked them why they were sad. Cleopas and Mary were incredulous!

Art thou only a stranger in Jerusalem, and hast not known the things which are come to pass there in these days?” Jesus said, “What things?” They answered, “Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, who was a prophet, mighty in deed and word before God and all the people; and how the chief priests and our rulers delivered him to be condemned to death, and have crucified him. But we hoped that it had been he who should have redeemed Israel.
Luke 24:18-21, KJV

But we had hoped that He should have…

I wonder how often I have looked into the face of Jesus and claimed, I had hoped, I had trusted, I had believed, but You didn’t do what You should have done.

For we hoped that He should have redeemed Israel. We had hoped. We had trusted that He should have redeemed Israel.

Irony

If it didn’t feel so sadly familiar, I would feel sorry for the Emmaus disciples. I wish they had said, “Even though everything we see assaults our hope, and it looks as though we have trusted in vain, we continue to believe that we will see Him, again!” But instead, they walked beside Him declaring their lost faith, and He had to say to them, “O fools, and slow of heart to believe!” (L. B. Cowman, Streams in the Desert).

The irony is that Jesus, indeed, came to redeem Israel, whether each of His disciples held to their faith or not. That is exactly what lead Him inexorably to the cross – our redemption from sin. This kind of redemption, this freedom from bondage and subjugation isn’t what Cleopas, Mary and many others had in mind; not at all. Their sights were set too low. They only wanted a physical king to bring emancipation for an earthly season.

Jesus offered so much more…immeasurably more.

Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree’—
Galatians 3:13, ESV

knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ.
1 Peter 1:18-19, ESV

Deliverance

In today’s culture, everyone seems to have their rights violated in one way or another. It might even be labeled oppression. Sometimes the pervasiveness of that attitude becomes wearisome.

But let me be clear, the Jewish people had experienced centuries of severe oppression, so I don’t want to be too critical of Cleopas and Mary. Their hopes were soaring. Jesus was finally going to bring the longed-for deliverance for which their hearts had yearned for generations.

And then He was crucified.

Hopes dashed against a cross.

What else was there to do, but to go home?

But then Jesus, in His infinite love and mercy, showed up on the road to Emmaus. He began revealing to them the Scriptures. He told them the rest of the story.

And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.
Luke 24:27, ESV

Eyes Opened

Do you ever stop to realize that we don’t know the whole story? The beginning, middle, and end? Has it ever occurred to you that maybe we only have a minuscule speck of awareness concerning what God is doing in relation to the vast scope of things? We see through a glass darkly (I Corinthians 13:12); unless and until the Spirit reveals His truth to us, that is our limitation.

And their eyes were opened, and they recognized him. And he vanished from their sight. They said to each other, ‘Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the Scriptures?’
Luke 24:31-32, ESV

Their eyes were opened. Their hearts burned within them.

Where do we need our eyes opened? When did our hearts stop burning and our hope fail? Did God’s answer refuse to fit the parameters we had set, Beloved? It happens to all believers at some point. For reasons of sin or reasons of growth or both, we have each known times when we were convinced God was going to answer one way and He didn’t…or hasn’t.

Has God failed? We may never utter those words, but what does our walk with Him look like today? Do our hearts burn within us or is our hope a past tense thing, our faith a yesterday or last year topic?

It doesn’t have to be. Cleopas and Mary were desolate, hopeless. Yet, Jesus restored them to resurrection hope by opening their eyes to Truth.

May He do the same for each of us.

Did God’s answer refuse to fit our parameters, Beloved? Do our hearts burn within us or is our hope a past tense thing, our faith a yesterday topic? Jesus restores us to resurrection hope and opens our eyes to His truth! Click To Tweet

Annie Spratt

discernment, God’s guidance, peace, prayer, reckless, Oh Lord Help Us, Christian, women, mentor, ministry

Prayer: Avoid Living Recklessly by Inviting the Lord’s Daily Leading

DevotionalsApril 8, 2019April 8, 2019

When prayer isn’t a daily part of our lives, it causes us to live recklessly. Lacking prayer causes us to fall asleep to the Lord’s leading.

I was standing in Home Depot with my husband when I received a text from our daughter. She relayed a glorious, long-awaited answer to prayer for a beloved friend. I wanted to shout HALLELUJAH and dance a happy dance in praise to our almighty, merciful God! (We didn’t shout, but Gary and I had us a little praise service in the hardware aisle.)

I wonder, sometimes, why we don’t pray more than we do…

Necessity

As I was pondering this topic my mind was taken back to an article I read years ago by Ruth Graham, wife of Rev. Billy Graham. The Grahams had five children and Rev. Graham traveled around the world preaching the gospel the majority of each year.

For many years, Mrs. Graham did not have an hour or two per day for prayer. Instead, Mrs. Graham prayed as she washed dishes, prayed as she cooked meals or vacuumed. She prayed without ceasing, at all times, during every part of the day. Prayer had been a vital part of her life since she was a young teen; she was convinced it was a necessity.

In Matthew 26, after the Lord’s Supper takes place, Jesus takes the disciples out to Gethsemane.

‘Sit here, while I go over there and pray.”

Matthew 26:36, ESV

Most of you know this story. Jesus took with Him Peter, James, and John while the other disciples were expected to pray, (minus Judas, who had left the supper to betray Jesus). Jesus became very troubled and sorrowful, even to death. He asked the three, the men who were closest to Him, to watch with Him. Jesus then went a bit further still, and fell on his face before the Father, wrestling in prayer.

And He came to the disciples and found them sleeping. And He said to Peter, ‘So, could you not watch with me one hour? Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.’ Again, for the second time, He went away and prayed, ‘My Father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, Your will be done.’

Matthew 26:40-42, ESV

Friends Who Pray

You’ve guessed where this is going, haven’t you? Even if you didn’t know this story, you’re fairly familiar with even the best of human intentions.

Sadly, when Jesus returned the third time, He found them sleeping. So, Jesus went back to prayer alone, “saying the same words again” to His Father. When He returned to His disciples, He said to them:

‘Sleep and take your rest later on. See, the hour is at hand, and the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. Rise, let us be going; see, my betrayer is at hand.’

Matthew 26:45-46, ESV

It is a difficult concept to ponder – Jesus wanting company, Jesus wanting His friends to be near Him as He struggled with conflict in prayer. We can’t fathom Him wrestling with His will about doing His Father’s will. After all – He was God.

But Jesus was also man. The Man, Jesus, knew taking on the sins of the world meant separation from His Father. Asking for that must have felt like more than He could bear. Jesus needed His friends to pray with Him, to be near Him. We, too, have experienced the need of friends praying with us.

But they fell asleep…and one could ask, who could blame them, really? It was Passover Celebration. They were exhausted. Jesus was doing and saying strange things to them, (He actually washed their feet!) Now He, their Teacher and Master, was behaving as though He was troubled about something. The cumulative effect was overwhelming to the point of – well – physical shutdown.

What Lay Ahead

If the Holy Spirit decided to run a video of me revealing each time I fell asleep, either literally or figuratively, when He has instructed me to pray, I would be deeply ashamed. Or what about the times I told someone else I would pray for them and then forgot?

However, the beauty of this story is not that Jesus berated the disciples or shamed them. Aside from inviting them to join Him as His friends, He was attempting to warn them. They still needed to learn that only through prayer would they be prepared to face what lay ahead; that night and the days to come.

Because without prayer, we are powerless, (Romans 6:6; Ephesians 6:10-18). Without prayer, we can be reckless.

What better example can I offer than Peter? Peter, who had been snoozing, was still rubbing the sleep from his eyes when traitorous Judas arrived with the band of soldiers and officers of the chief priests and Pharisees to arrest Jesus. Despite repeated warnings from Jesus, like us, unprepared Peter did not expect the lightning strike of the serpent. Therefore, he responded in his flesh…

Then Simon Peter, having a sword, drew it and struck the high priest’s servant and cut off his right ear. (The servant’s name was Malchus.) So Jesus said to Peter, ‘Put your sword into its sheath; shall I not drink the cup that the Father has given me?’

John 18:10-11, ESV

Reckless

Sometimes recklessness can feel like boldness. Peter probably felt courageous pulling out a sword to protect Jesus! However, Jesus rebuked him and healed the ear. Had Peter been in prayer, He would have known the mission of our Lord.

We’re no different. We can mistake courage and boldness for recklessness, but in our hearts, we know. How do we know? If we have a relationship with the Father, and His Spirit lives within, He isn’t going to keep it a secret, girl! Believe me! There will be no peace within.

Without prayer we respond to shame and failure with sin and denial.

Without prayer, we respond to shame and failure with sin and denial. But if we have a relationship with the Father, He isn't going to keep silent! He will guide us! Click To Tweet

Purpose for Prayer

Then they seized Him and led Him away, bringing Him into the high priest’s house, and Peter was following at a distance. And when they had kindled a fire in the middle of the courtyard and sat down together, Peter sat down among them. Then a servant girl, seeing him as he sat in the light and looking closely at him, said, “This man also was with him.” But he denied it, saying, “Woman, I do not know him.” And a little later someone else saw him and said, “You also are one of them.” But Peter said, “Man, I am not”…another insisted, saying, “Certainly this man also was with him, for he too is a Galilean.” But Peter said, “Man, I do not know what you are talking about”…and the Lord turned and looked at Peter…and he went out and wept bitterly.
Luke 22:54-62, ESV

What a revealing picture we have here! Peter, missing Jesus’ purpose for praying, behaving recklessly, now following at a distance. He’s ashamed and frightened; he’s feeling like a failure.

Then Peter, brash, impetuous, proud Peter denies his Lord and Master… not once, but three times – the same number of times that Jesus reminded him to pray.

Can we dare not pray, dear sisters? Do we dare risk living without God’s discernment in this present evil age?

How can we take the chance of our daily actions becoming reckless? And risk denying our Lord?

There is too much at stake.

Evie Shaffer

altars, past, present, promise, brokenness, sin, Oh Lord Help Us, Christian, women, mentor, ministry

Altars: Readying Our Hearts for New Transformation

DevotionalsMarch 26, 2019March 26, 2019

We can be distracted by the ways God showed up in the past, that we miss how He is showing up in the present. We dance around old altars, instead of readying our hearts for a new transformation.

It seems to me that we often, almost sulkily, reject the good that God offers us because, at that moment, we expected some other good. Do you know what I mean? On every level of our life…we are always harking back to some occasion which seemed to us to reach perfection, setting that up as a norm, and depreciating all other occasions by comparison.

Readings for Meditation and Reflection, C.S. Lewis

When those words crossed my vision path I was staggered to a halt. Like Sleeping Beauty’s finger, my spirit was instantly pricked with sharp conviction, prohibiting me from continuing on to the next paragraph. How often I have gazed longingly back to previous seasons of my life, whether spiritually or otherwise, and viewed those times as perfection.

I wonder, now, how much I have missed in all my present moments while I stood gazing backward at the altars I had erected.

But these other occasions, I now suspect, are often full of their own new blessing, if only we would lay ourselves open to it. God shows us a new facet of the glory, and we refuse to look at it because we’re still looking for the old one.

Readings for Meditation and Reflection, C.S. Lewis

Old Testament Altars

Altars are scattered throughout the Old Testament. God instructed Noah to build the first altar in Genesis 8:20. He later instructed Abram, Isaac, Jacob, Moses and many others to build altars). They are mentioned often in the New Testament, as well, (Matthew 5:23-24; Acts 17:24-25; Hebrews 13:10; Revelation 6:9-11, 16:7). Sacrifices were involved in the Old Testament. The ultimate Sacrifice had come in the New Testament.

Thomas W. Davis wrote in Baker’s Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology: “Altars were places where the divine and human worlds interacted.” I personally identify with how former Pentecostal Pastor and songwriter Jack Hayford said it:

Altars represent the occasion and place where we have had a personal encounter with God.

Past Encounters

I imagine that many of you can envision times in your past, even the recent past, when you have had beautiful encounters with God. The presence of His Spirit was more real than the person sitting next to you or in the next room. Jesus felt closer than your best friend.

My husband and I have been mightily blessed in our lives to be involved with a few spiritually rich churches. While different, each was graced with Biblical pastors and anointed worship leaders. Each offered altar moments for us – beautiful, corporate encounters with God…which helped increase intimate, individual altar moments. Those were amazing grace gifts from our Father.

Everyone knows we can’t live on the mountaintop, don’t we?? But…isn’t it pretty up there? Isn’t it a gorgeous view?! Wouldn’t it be wonderful to stay on that high peak forever?

For us, life changed; sometimes sin invaded, (as it usually does, since we humans are prone to let our guard down,) and the mountaintops crumbled. A church split, a pastor caught up in sin, a move, whatever the circumstance that created the change, Gary and I found ourselves gazing back at our altar moments rather than looking ahead expectantly to new encounters God had in store for us in the present. In essence, we had taken our altar moments, our powerful, grace-filled encounters with God and demanded an encore!

Repeat Appearance

That, my friend, is a travesty, in the least, and sin at most.

And the joke, or tragedy, of it all is that these golden moments in the past, which are so tormenting if we erect them into a norm, are entirely nourishing, wholesome and enchanting if we are content to accept them for what they area, for memories. Properly bedded down in a past which we do not miserably try to conjure back, they will send up exquisite growths.

Readings for Meditation and Reflection, C.S. Lewis

Altars appear throughout scripture for different reasons – a place of encounter being one. The most common altar built was the altar of incense, the holy place where the priests offered worship to God on behalf of the people and themselves. Even the pagans used an altar to worship their false gods.

We can stumble into error when we take a gift of God, such as an altar moment, a time of a holy encounter with the Lord, and attempt to turn it into a precedent or demand for God. We can become like the prophets of Baal in I Kings 18:20-40, when they attempted to dance furiously around their altar, demanding Baal to perform, attempting to prove that he was more powerful than Almighty God.

Our attempts to stay in the past, clinging to old altars, are perhaps out of fear that our Father won’t show up again. Fear that despite His power and nearness in that moment, He won’t love me enough to do a repeat appearance.

Our attempts to stay in the past, clinging to old altars, are perhaps out of fear that our Father won’t show up again. It's sometimes easier to look back at what God did then than to allow Him to work in us today. Click To Tweet

Price of Altars

However, my sisters, it could also be our fear of the price that altars have. It’s sometimes easier to look back at what God did then than to allow Him to work in us today. As Jack Hayford stated:

God intends that something be ‘altered’ in us when we come to altars. To receive the promise means we make way for the transformation.

In Genesis 22, Abraham was required to offer his only son to God on an altar – a test of Abraham’s faith. Was God truly His provider? Indeed, He was.

After Jacob encountered God in a dream in Genesis 28, he built an altar. Jacob was so overwhelmed by God’s promise to him that he vowed to God a tenth of everything He gave to him.

Jesus said in Matthew 5:23-24:

Therefore if you are presenting your offering at the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your offering there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and present your offering.

And there is the beauty…no shame, no guilt…just go and reconcile, repent, then return to the altar and worship. We can bring our brokenness to the altar; His arms are open wide.

Olena Sergienko

broken, beauty, pain, idols, Oh Lord Help Us, Christian, women, mentor, ministry

Stripping: When God Begins Removing To Bring Brokenness

DevotionalsMarch 10, 2019March 10, 2019

God reveals idols in our hearts that keep us from being able to draw near to Him. This stripping process can be painful, but the outcome is a beautiful result.

Stripping – it isn’t a word we use often in the course of our daily lives. Unless we’re referring to furniture, the word has a rather negative connotation. Consequently, it isn’t something we generally discuss with our friends at the coffee shop. Talk about questioning looks from the nearest tables!

I’m kind of a word-nerd, so the meanings of strip interest me: to deprive of covering; to deprive or divest; clear out or empty; to take away or remove…

To Deprive of Covering

These definitions describe perfectly how it feels when the Spirit of God begins shining His light into my life to reveal what doesn’t belong, what doesn’t reflect His image. This is usually due to a heart problem within me. Truthfully – I asked for it! But I’m never prepared for the pain of the stripping process.

Remember Adam and Eve after they sinned against God? What is the first thing they realized? They were naked…and ashamed. Their instinct was to hide, and we’re still hiding today. I don’t know what you hide behind, but when I’m feeling exposed, I have a few favorite fig leaves to hide behind.

When my kids were home, I could hide behind being “the-best-mom” and “a-better-mom-than-my-mom.” Ladies, I had the cleanest house, baked the best bread, cooked dinner every night, and homeschooled before it was cool. Then those kids began growing up. Oops, my mom-covering was slipping off my shoulders!

To Deprive or Divest

While my husband Gary and I had taught Bible study classes or Sunday school since we were in our twenties, we began leading a community group when our children were older. Each summer, I taught in or directed a grade in Vacation Bible School. I led Baptist Young Women, a mission organization. In addition, my husband and I sang in the choir and later, on a worship team.

When our youngest was a senior in high school, I felt a calling on my life to return to school to complete a degree in counseling. Did I slow down at church? Of course not! I began a support group for families in crisis! However, after a few years, deep, spiritual problems were discovered at the leadership level in our home church. Ultimately brokenhearted, our family moved to another church…and later, another denomination.

All that meaningful busyness was over for a season. Another fig leaf was batted away from me.

To Empty

Being ever the resourceful woman, I soon filled the hours with graduate school and chaplaincy work. During this time our family experienced each of our children’s marriages and one of them going through a painful divorce. Also, my father and my husband had been struck by cancer; my father had ultimately died from the disease.

I didn’t have enough sense to stop and rest, so my body finally stopped me, almost literally in my tracks. One day, while walking the 2 blocks to my car from my job at the hospital, I seriously wondered if my legs were going to get me to the parking lot. It seems I finally reached empty…for a while, that is.

Shattered

What do you trust in more than the Lord? God will break your dependence upon anything other than Himself no matter how long it takes or how difficult the process may be. He is committed to bringing you to a place of wholeness and spiritual maturity—conforming you to the likeness of His Son (Romans 8:29)
-Charles Stanley

Those of you who have been reading my posts for a year or so know that this incident was the beginning of the Fibromyalgia and chronic migraine story I live daily. Please don’t read this post as a narrative blaming God for the bad things that happen. However, as a loving Father leads a child away from danger, and as Scripture repeatedly bears out, He will break our dependence on anything other than Himself, (which results in idolatry). That process will always be painful.

Thankfully, our Father doesn’t leave us like a shattered vessel dropped at His feet.

The Lord is near to those who have a broken heart, and saves such as have a contrite spirit, [or a crushed spirit].
Psalm 34:18, NKJV; See also Psalm 147:3

To Take Away or Remove

“When I was in my early 30’s, I seriously thought I would have this spiritual stuff all figured out by now,” I told Gary last week. We both laughed heartily. There is NO FIGURING IT OUT, dear sister; there is no secret formula. No matter our age or maturity level, we are each traveling on a journey headed toward our Home with Jesus.

The context of my earlier statement was spurred by a Brennen Manning reading:

Trust is purified in the crucible of trial. From the depths of a purified heart, trust clings to the belief that whatever happens in our lives is designed to form Christ within us. Unwavering confidence in the love of God inspires trust to thank God for the spiritual darkness that envelops us, for the loss of income, for the arthritis that is so painful…

Many things have been removed from my life which I thought were essential-most of them good things, Godly endeavors, my health. But years ago, when I asked God to make me holy, to form me into His image, He took me seriously and began slowly stripping away areas where I placed my treasure rather than in Him.

God Alone

Jesus said the entire Law rested on loving God with our whole, undivided hearts, and loving our neighbors as ourselves (Matthew 22:37-40).

Therefore, the stripping is necessary, because our hearts so easily run after other lovers, (see Hosea; Psalm 78:10-11; 2 Kings 5-17). In fact, we’re witnessing it occur throughout the Church at large, as one leader after another loses his fig leaves. We may hide our idols from other people for a season, but they are never hidden from our Father. His breaking is required to unclasp our grip from the idols which have taken supremacy in our hearts. The stripping takes place to bring about our brokenness, to reveal our deep need of Him alone, not God + _____.

Behold, You desire truth in the inward parts, and in the hidden part You will make me to know wisdom…
The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and a contrite heart – these, O God, You will not despise.
Psalm 51:6 & 17, NKJV

I sincerely desire to know His wisdom, but it requires giving up my fig leaves…daily.

We may hide our idols from other people, but they are never hidden from our Father. His breaking is required to unclasp our grip from the idols which have taken supremacy in our hearts. Click To Tweet

Ankul Singh

beloved, confidence, reflection, trust, God's love, Oh Lord Help Us, Christian, women, mentor, ministry

Reflect: Living A Life That Expresses Confidence in Our Savior

DevotionalsFebruary 27, 2019February 27, 2019

Current Christian culture can tempt us into checking spiritual boxes to feel ‘good’. Our lives are to reflect confidence in a perfect, loving Savior.

Have you ever met a new acquaintance at a function, and she didn’t take a breath, talking about herself the entire time you were together? For maybe 30 minutes? Do you remember thinking, “Dear God, please help that poor woman find a friend. I am not it! Help me to never be that self-consumed!!!”

Well, sister…in many ways, we all are.

Cheap Christianity

Our life always expresses the result of our dominant thoughts.

Soren Kierkegaard, a Dutch philosopher and theologian, wrote these words between 1843 and 1855, a period when his pen seldom rested. During these years he railed against Christendom, or rather a cultured and respectable Christianity in which one could mentally check off the boxes of prominent religious mores. Thereby satisfying the need to feel spiritually good about oneself. Kierkegaard expounded:

The tragedy of easy Christianity is that existence has ceased to be an adventure and a constant risk in the presence of God but has become a form of morality and a doctrinal system. Its purpose is to simplify the matter of becoming a Christian. This is just paganism, ‘cheap’ Christianity, with neither cost nor pain…It is like war games, in which armies move and there is a great deal of noise, but there is no real risk or pain—

Interestingly, Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote something similar in 1937 in The Cost of Discipleship, but he called it cheap grace.

Culture-Current

I wonder how different we are today. While socially we have made a major shift away from “cultured and respectable” Christianity. Now the siren call is to be culture-current. Almost every evangelical church has a band and screens with the music, words and Bible verses displayed. The pastor wears jeans…and please, don’t forget the aromatic coffee served in the lobby! (I love coffee!)

Some teach pleasant Bible thoughts to live by; some preach expository sermons through entire books of the Bible. I have visited both types of churches. Regardless, the majority offer a great children’s ministry or they don’t survive long; youth ministry is a plus, too…

Self-Conviction

I digress.

Are you asking where I am going with this? I’m just following my heart, my own conviction, really. Bear with me…

What do we think about when we think about our spiritual lives? Or our Christian selves?…or do we think about it at all?

What is my life expressing?

Too often, I think, my own life becomes entangled with what my church culture has told me a Christian is supposed to reflect or reveal as much as Jesus taught. Or perhaps it’s just what I have come to believe myself – or a combination of both or all three!

For instance, I’ve been a Christian for most of my life and I believe I can say that I’m a good, moral person, but to whom am I comparing good? Jesus said no one was good except God, (Luke 18:19). Comparing myself to others and finding myself good is not wise, according to Paul, (2 Corinthians 10:12). Yet, how many of us, whether consciously or unconsciously, fall into this trap on a regular basis? I know I do.

Good and Moral?

And what if I am moral? Seriously. Apart from a relationship with Christ, morality, while good for our culture, is conforming to rules of right conduct. Throughout history, there have been many good, moral men who have not been Christian, (think Socrates, Jewish historian Josephus, or someone you know personally).

Is Jesus calling His disciples to be good and moral? A loud chorus quickly agrees that, of course, this isn’t enough! Christians are to be loving, kind, giving – even sacrificial, humble, patient, or…as my granddaughters would say – all the things!

The trouble is, we can’t…we won’t…we aren’t capable; not really, not every moment. Despite our best and most valiant efforts to reflect Christ, we end up expressing whatever dominates our thoughts. For most people, it’s me, myself, and I, (or my kids, my husband, my ministry, my church, my pastor, my weight, my job, my successes, my busy-ness, etc).

While we each desire to reflect the image of God and the Fruit of the Spirit, (Galatians 5:22-23), sadly, too often we instead express – well – US.

Human Praise

Tony Merida, pastor of Imago Dei Church in Raleigh, NC, and speaker for Acts 29 Network stated recently: “When we soak up human praise, we rob others of an encounter with God. We choose to promote our own identity because we don’t want to follow God’s mission for us… Misconstrued identity is the atomic bomb of this generation.”

But why is it the atomic bomb of this generation? Was it not also in Genesis 3 for Adam and Eve or chapter 11 when the people wanted to build a tower to God? Neither narcissism nor distrust in our Father is new.

No, you yourselves do wrong and cheat, and you do these things to your brethren! […] And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.
1 Corinthians 6:8, 11, NKJV

Reflect as Beloved

I believe much of our constant self-focus has to do with insecurity in our identity as beloved children of the Father. Our ears remain open to the whispers of doubt and lies of the enemy and closed to the truths of our loving Father.

When you lose touch with your chosenness, you expose yourself to the temptation of self-rejection, and that temptation undermines the possibility of ever growing as the Beloved.

-Henri Nouwen, Life of the Beloved

An intimate knowledge of being chosen and loved brings an unshakable confidence, one which does not need to be fed with narcissism or man’s praise. As the Psalmist declared in Psalm 9:10, when we are intimately acquainted with His name, we will trust Him because we will fully understand that He will not forsake us.

Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by your name; You are Mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned, nor shall the flame scorch you. For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior, I gave Egypt for your ransom, Ethiopia and Seba in your place. Since you were precious in My sight, you have been honored, and I have loved you…
Isaiah 43:1-4, NKJV

This doesn’t sound like Someone Who is going to abandon me. It sounds like Someone Who will love me until the end of time – and beyond – like Someone who always has my back. It sounds like Someone I want my life to express…and reflect.

I, even I, am the LORD, and besides Me there is no savior.
Isaiah 43:11, NKJV

An intimate knowledge of being chosen and loved brings an unshakable confidence. One which does not need to be fed with narcissism. When we are intimately acquainted with His name, we will fully understand God will not forsake us. Click To Tweet

Priscilla Du Preez