Fireside Reflections

This evening, we had to wonderful opportunity to be at a friend's house on the lake.  There was a bonfire and picnic food.  Some folks we knew.  Some folks we didn't.  A beautiful collection of people. 

We watched the sun go down.  The clouds turned that pretty peach/pink that can happen with some sunsets.  It was lovely.  The snapping of the wood in the bonfire does something restful to you.  It was very calming and beautiful....and a really special way to end a day of rest.   

It made me think of Jesus by the lake after the resurrection.  He had fish on the fire, and He called to the disciples to come eat.  They were so glad to see Him.    

When we think of the disciples, we think of them in the collective sense.  We don't always see them as individuals.  Their unique personalities being mixed like the ingredients of a great recipe!    

Although, I am sure that none of us there gave any thought to being disciples...we really are.   I saw smiling faces, caring faces, fun faces, interested faces--it was a delightful mix of precious people.  In that fellowship of gratitude in the moment, we were all ministered to.   

 I came home rested and feeling somewhat put together in that lazy, peaceful sort of way that comes when we have been at the water's edge and felt the warmth and restfulness of the fire.  Reflecting upon the experience and writing about it gave me an additional gift. 

My friend who invited us to her home is such an easy hostess.  Actually, she can make a party out of peanut butter and crackers!!!  I love this about her.  It was an impromptu get-together.  She is so good at "shepherding" people.  She actually tends goats, and I am thinking that she has learned many lessons that she applies to people!

 

When I thought about Jesus on the lake inviting the disciples to come eat, I saw Jesus in her.  Everyone there was blessed because of her willingness to entertain, and together we were more than what we are apart.  My friend is a treasure and everyone is better for her presence in their lives.  Thank you, my sweet friend, for a wonderful evening.

This World Is Not Our Home

We only want the right god, created in our image, to overthrow what we perceive as the evil of life.  We do not want a God who walks in the middle of the storm or even sleeps in the middle of the storm.  We do not want the storms.  We have our own storyline of our god, and it is not the God of heaven.    

Like Israel of old who wanted a king in place of the King, we have put someone or something between us and the one true God...our high priest and our King.  We prefer to listen to the false prophets, to slay  true prophets, and to crucify God. 

We have ears that do not hear, eyes that do not see, and we have hardened our hearts to the things of God.  We are in bondage and believe it is freedom.  We think we are rich and increased with goods and know not that we are poor, blind, miserable, and naked.   

We do not want to be discomforted with this information.  We prefer to believe our myths.  Deep down inside we know that something is wrong.  Life is NOT manifesting as our myth proclaims.  What do we do?   

Like Peter who knew that the Lord was the Son of God, yet did not know that the earth was not the Kingdom...he did not get it that the way to the Kingdom came through crucifixion...our life changing event via denying Christ is coming upon us.  

"Peter, I have prayed for you, and when you are converted..."  Isn't it good to know that the Lord is praying for us to have eye salve?  He knows we need a daily conversion to more and more truth.  Praise God.  In His Truth, we can break down the myths that have us in bondage.  They are not working for us...it is time to see this.  It isn't the world that will bring us the Kingdom. The world cries peace, peace, and there is not peace.  It is a myth.    

 

It is time to revisit the counsel of the prophets of old.  Their message is still vital and has meaning to us today.  All of God's Truth is for our admonition and instruction.  God is love.  If we do not see that in the Scriptures, we need to ask for new eyes for we have misunderstood a text or a story.   Let us not be like the Jews who sang over and over again the songs of redemption but misapplied them to an earthly kingdom.  This world is not our home

Sunrise Reflections

I am watching night turn to day, and the peachy / pink coloring of the sky is absolutely beautiful.  The trees have lost their leaves.  On this cold winter day, they stand like naked sentinels. 

There is something beautiful about trees at anytime of year, but in the Winter it is as if they whisper a promise.  I do not really like Winter.  It is cold.  The trees are my friends, and their endurance gives me courage.  They speak of the nakedness of a season.  Gethsemane was like this.  So was Calvary and the tomb experience. 

There are no leaves to soften what you see...nothing is hidden.  Gethsemane, Calvary, and the tomb are like this--aloneness and acceptance of not my will but thine be done are full of this.  It is a season for endurance.  There is beauty in endurance.  Some of our finest moments come through endurance.  The splendor of our weaknesses, with no leaves to soften what you see, witness to our humanity. 

Each season has its beauty and its lessons.  I am grateful for a time that lets me contemplate trees!  Observe life.  Listen to the lessons.  Extract joy from what seems cold and barren.

I remember as a child washing dishes--there were tons of dishes for a family a eight, and  I would stand at the sink in every season, looking out the window.  I observed the trees, flowers, weeds, the weather.  I loved it all even then.  No matter the season, it spoke to me.  Washing dishes was a quiet escape in a busy, noisy house.  Washing dishes was a way of restoring harmony from the chaos of cooking.  It met a need in my spirit.

This morning, I see again how quickly the sunrise fades, and I feel catapulted into the day.  This quiet interlude of communion with the season and its trees whispers to me of God's unfailing love no matter the season of my life.

There is order and harmony to be found for a child washing dishes who longed for harmony or as an adult who lingers with sunrise reflections of the trees.  Praise God.

Take My Yoke

Our differences become our strengths when we are united in a common goal like Pentecost, Overton Lea.

Before Pentecost, the disciples had their own ideas of the kingdom that Christ was establishing.  They thought it was of the world.  They were envious and jealous...jockeying for the highest positions.  They were together, but they were not united in a common goal.

We often have to have our dreams and ambitions laying at the foot of a cross of crucifixion.  We are forced to behold the truth about ourselves and our goals...that they are so self-centered that there is no kingdom on earth that is ever enough for them. 

The disciples were chosen by Jesus.  Recently, I learned that in Bible times when a teacher called students, he would say follow me.  This meant that they were being called to take his "yoke" or set of teachings.  So, when Jesus called the disciples and said "follow me, and I will make you fishers of men," he was inviting them into a very respected position of trainee.  You see, not everyone that was called to be a student, was chosen to fulfill the role of rabbi when training was over. 

Inherent in the process is competition.  Jesus needed for the disciples to get over the competition.  His analogy of being a body with each member doing its part is very important.  We cannot do everything by ourselves.  We have been gifted with certain talents and skills, and together we can be a whole.  This process brings us lots of life lessons in letting go of having to have our way all the time.

Matthew 6:33 -- "Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things will be added unto it."  There is no lack in God's plan.  We need to adjust our vision to that of kingdom living.  God takes all our different gifts, talents, skills and creates something amazing in us...unity of purpose.  Then Pentecost comes.  It doesn't mean that they have suddenly lost their identity...it does mean their identity is fulfilled and wrapped up in Him. 

They still had their differences...see Peter and Paul having their disputes.  See the early church having relationship difficulties.  Sameness is not unity.  That is a man centered works orientation.  Unity is a thing that is accomplished in us by God when we wait together for Pentecost.  Our waiting may or may not be in an upper room.  It may be a waiting on God to see where He leads us next.  It may be a waiting on God to hear what He will share..."Shall I hide from Abraham that thing I am going to do?"  He wants our involvement.  He wants our communion. 

I see all around me the beginning of a revolution in spiritual matters.  People are beginning to think on spiritual things in a different way.  They are "coming out of the father's house" in obedience...not knowing where they are going. 

There is a hungering and thirsting after righteousness that is refreshing.  I want to be a part of it.  I think Jesus is calling us again to follow Him.  He is turning over the tables in the temple as He cleans the Father's house.  He is bringing new life and vitality to His word.  People are seeing the truth of the Father.  He is breaking down the man-made image of God created in our own images, and He is establishing again the kingdom that is based on the truth: If you have seen me, you have seen the Father. 

Why does it matter?  Our identity is wrapped up in this truth. 

He Delights in Me

He brought me forth also into a large place; he delivered me, because he delighted in me.  Psalm 18:19

I’ve been thinking about this text the last several days.  I believe it has a principle in it that is so very important to our freedom…emotionally, spiritually, and physically.  It is the issue of being delighted in.  If we do not have an awareness of being delighted in as a child, or get an experience of it as we mature, I am thinking that there is a real problem when it comes to being delivered of anything. 

I say this because this week I had my first experience of being delighted with me.  It was phenomenal.  It was as if in this experience I could feel that I am a beautiful, delightful person.  It has given me a great deal of peace…kind of like I have found something that has been missing all my life.  It feels like contentment with me. 

Sometimes we play little.  It is false humility.  I have to be less than so others can feel they are more than.  We have probably all done it.  Christians, in particular, get trapped in this because we do not correctly understand humility.  Moses was called the most humble man on earth.  The correct definition of humility is obedience to God.  Humility that is obedient to God has the strength of Moses in standing up to people.  This humility worships God; not people.

I work with folks every day who are full of self-hate. I have done my own work on that.  I think it is because we have never been delighted in, or as we grew the struggle to be ourselves got in the way of what others wanted us to be.  We learn very quickly that if others are happy with us, it feels better.  We confuse this feeling with acceptance, significance, love, etc.  When we get older it wears us out trying to please all these gods in our lives.  We learn that there is no way to please everyone.  The message we get is that we are not delightful.

 I saw this picture on facebook of a man holding a little child.  The caption: It is easier to build up a child than it is to repair an adult.  Choose your words wisely.  Wow!  In your mind’s eye see yourself in the arms of God.  See Him delighting in you.

Since I have only just had this experience of being delighted with myself, I cannot speak deeply about it, but I think that maybe we should each make it a matter of prayer…ask God to show us, tell us, give us His eyesight and His feeling for us.  I would like to hear from you about your experience.  We love because He first loved us.  That is another way of saying “delighted.” 

We are so in works mode.  That is man-centered.  Let us move to love mode.  I do not mean a nod to love.  I mean the real stuff…the awareness that He delights in us and delivers us.  Reclaim God’s original intent for you.  He promises that He will restore what the locust has eaten. 

 

I feel much more relaxed.  I think it may be that when you can see/know yourself as delightful, you are no longer trying to fill up the voids and empty places of your soul.  What others think just doesn’t matter.  Even responsibility issues take on a different color...they feel less heavy.   

 

God is love.  He delights in us.  He delivers us.  See the parent delighting in the little child.  See the child delighting in herself because she has the Father's love...the Father's heart. 

The Father Wants to Play With Us

God knows who we are and how we are.  He has created us a certain way.  The generational combinations of possibilities for who and how we could have been makes us distinctly us.  Isn't that an amazing thought?

Do you ever feel just ordinary?  This thought eliminates that fallacy.  We are anything but ordinary.

I wonder sometimes at God's patience in waiting for us to embrace how special we are..."I know the plans I have for you...." He says.

Do we see the heavenly Father waiting to play with us?  This thought recently occurred to me.   We are so busy being grown up that we don't take time to play...we make appointments to play, party, picnic, etc.  Daily living play...not so much. 

How does God want to play with us?  How do we mix playing with God with chores and errands?  How come we don't see this as another type of playing.  I hope I am not the only one who missed the class that told me they are one and the same.

It's a new thought.  It's a new question for me.  I don't have many answers.  I just see a group of girls having fun with God...and He is very glad we showed up for the fun as well as the worship.  I wonder if playing with children is the closest we've gotten to playing with God?

I don't like to shop.   When I have do so, I ask God that He come along and make it something fun...maybe just what I need and on sale!  Some people think this is disrespectful.  I do not.  I ask for a parking space near the front door.  He seems to regularly work that out.  God turns a parking space into a miracle and a love note.   It's kind of fun when He shows you that you are special to Him.

Remember the kids game of hide and seek?  I think maybe it's a good example for us!  As a child, we played hide and seek with excitement and joy.  We had fun.  Then we grew up and hide and seek game opportunities became work and drudgery.  This just occurred to me so grant me some liberty.

It takes a child's perspective for a game to be fun.  The games we play as we get older are really no different.  Somewhere along the way we lost the ability to play with no investment in outcome...it's just having fun.  Somewhere our perception changed--games are different than work. 

Maybe there is some heavenly genius in everything being a fun game...suffer the little children--allow the child in us--for of such is the kingdom. 

Maybe I could pretend that I am one of the King's kids on a mission.  Oh wait!  I am!  Could I turn this into fun?   How much of a stretch is it for me to think this?  Huummmm...does that measure how far away I have gotten from game playing?

I am 63.  I think the first part of my life has been so serious.  I want the rest of it to be flavored with fun!  I know life can hand us that which is not fun.  Maybe our recovery program is FUN. 

Our challenge--my challenge:  can I take this and make something else out of it?  Kids take boxes and turn them into cars, houses, buses, etc.  They take mud and fashion little dishes.  They turn every situation into a game or creative endeavor.  They come to the end of their day completely exhausted in a healthy way because it was all fun and good.  They live each day as if it is the only one they have, and they just have to get all that fun into it!  I want that!  

God grant us eyes and hearts of children.  Help us remember how to play.  I believe He has been waiting a long time for us.   Do you remember how to play?

Pitiful

The Lord has been talking about being "pitiful."  Every once in a while, I recognize that I'm being pitiful.  Have you ever seen this in you?  I hope I'm not the only one!  When I asked for guidance, I had the realization that in my upbringing, you were commended when you worked hard, and you really got approval if you worked very hard and looked pitiful.   The underlying issues is about being worthwhile.    

A lack of personal worth was passed down in my family.  Your worth came from being a hard worker.  Your affirmations from others made you feel worthwhile and significant.  If you overwork and look pitiful then you are really worth a lot! 

Now, on the one side of the coin I really dislike pitiful.  So, you see the struggle...you don't like what you are.   

For me, God speaks to me in pictures and in "a knowing."  So, when He showed the picture of "pitiful," I was impressed with a truth.  It takes a lot of energy to be pitiful.  We have to embrace the truth about ourselves....our wounds, our imperfections, our darkness...if we are going to be free and these things no longer have power over us. 

As long as I fight against it, it will have power over me.  You empower what you fight against.   

When God brings truth we can have the faith which will lead to action.  Working together to clear the lies results in seeing Himself and yourself more clearly.  It purifies the soul.   

Truth is a sanctifier.  God's truth has the potential to reach mind, body, and heart.  It transforms.  When allowed into the inner sanctuary of the soul, it goes down to our depths and brings the whole being into harmonious action. 

God has removed "pitiful" from me.  I feel much better!

Enthroned

 I have been studying Revelation for a while, and one of the things that fascinates me is Revelation 4:8 which says a heavenly creature in heaven rests not day or night saying Holy, Holy, Holy.  Can you imagine saying that for twenty-four hours around the clock.  It reminded me of Psalms 22:3: But You are holy, enthroned on the praises of Israel.   Our praises create a throne for God!  Isn't that amazing. 

In my chapel time, I decided to experience the word "holy."  My intent was to see how if would feel to be in the energy of that word for a while.  I know that science is saying that our words change our reality.   

I spoke the word "holy" and held it in my heart for a bit.  I took my time before repeating the word, but I kept speaking it.  It was really amazing.  In doing this, I moved from saying the word to experiencing God in that word.  What I mean is that just the word has put me in place to where it was all about God.   

I realized that so often in our worship it is still all about ME.  Each time I said holy...and I allowed some minutes between repeating the word...I got greater clarity about God.  His is holy.  Because we have the fullness of the Godhead in Christ Jesus, we have access to this.  Instead of wanting something from God, I found myself being content wrapped in His holiness...like a hug from Heaven.  Words do not do this justice.   

As for my prayer list, I think maybe this could be a preferred state in which to present those prayers before the throne of grace.  

1 Peter 1:16: "...be ye holy, for I am holy."  How can this experience help me understand and apply this text?

God said it, and His biddings are His enablings.  We do not need to feel that it is impossible.  And it is an invitation into oneness (John 17).  It is an energetic hug that pulls us into a deeper experience of Him. 

Dr. Masuri Emoto did some experiments on water showing the effects of the written word on water.  Taking water from the same source, he wrote words on paper and taped them to the jars.  Words conveying positive energy (love, peace, joy, God) and words conveying negative energy (fool, hate, Satan).  Then they froze the water.  Later, when they looked at the ice crystals, they discovered the positive words had created beautiful crystals and the negative words had created really distorted crystals.  

If you have not seen his work, go on-line and look up Emoto's messages in water.  The book is also fascinating. 

Why do I bring this up?  Our body is 50% to 80% water.  If I am staying in the presence of God and bringing Him heavenly words, I just bet I am changed at a crystal level.  You know we have crystals in our body, too.  I bet that my DNA is being changed to reflect that word.  I am counting on it!!
 
During this time, God gave me some real awareness for heart healing.  He showed me some more of the tendency that I have to be a perfectionist and reminded me, again, that He is there to help me overcome.

An Undivided Heart

Psalms 86:11

Teach me your way, O Lord, and I will walk in your truth; give me an undivided heart, that I may fear your name. 

This year, God has been giving me guidance on the scripture that says a house divided against itself cannot stand.  He has shown me powerfully how I was a house divided against myself.  You know, it affects our ability to stand and walk...emotionally, spiritually, and maybe even physically.   

This scripture is asking that we be given an undivided heart, that we may fear His name.  I am a rather curious person, and I know that "fear" as we understand it today must not mean the same as the Bible means.  I am sure that it can mean the same as we define it today, but it seems that it must mean something more. 

I looked up "fear God" to see what I could find on the internet.  What a great study!  I have been studying Revelation for a long time.  It seems the more I study, the more questions I have.  One of my "fear" questions is from Revelation 14:6,7.  The everlasting gospel is: "Fear God and give glory to Him for the hour of His judgment is come; and worship Him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters." 

Since I generally don't think of the gospel (good news) in terms of fear, this intrigued me.  I would say that Psalms 86:11 has something special to say to us. "...Give me an undivided heart, that I may fear your name."   This is saying that divided hearts do not fear Him.  Wow!  My new prayer will be for an undivided heart.   

Why would you fear someone you love...like God?  That is a good question, and, for me, it just means I need to understand something more about how this is used in the Bible.  It is always best to let the Bible define itself.  Hence, I looked up the words "fear God."  Here is the website:  http://www.feargod.net/verses.php 

One of the texts in the list is Deuteronomy 10:12-13 And now, O Israel, what does the Lord your God ask of you but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to observe the Lord's commands and decrees that I am giving you today for your own good? 

Fear God / for your own good

·         walk                in all His ways

·         love                 Him

·         serve               the Lord your God with all your heart and soul

·         observe          commands and decrees 

You know that when we are bringing up children, we given them rules that they do not understand.  As they mature, they get some understanding.  At first, however, they have to obey without understanding.  I heard someone say one time: You can obey your way to good feelings, but you never feel your way to obedience.  That's pretty good.  Overton, my husband, and I were talking the other day, and he reminded me of this C. S. Lewis quote:  The road to the promised land leads through Sinai.   

So, from this, I can understand that "fearing God" means something about my walk, my love, my service, and my obedience.  I have found that when God gives lists, there is a hidden gem to be found.  In this case, my walk is the observable outward thing.  My walk is not going the manifest fearing God if I'm disobedient.  Being obedient is a first step which then creates service, love, and walking in the fear of God.   

Have you ever seen an obedient child have pleasure in their obedience?  It is a beautiful thing, isn't it.  Finding pleasure in this, the child learns to enjoy serving.  Their self-love and love of others grows.  Gradually, you have a child that is walking in the fear of the Lord.  What a wonderful gift to God and to the child.   

Proverbs 1:7 "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline."  Sounds like Parenting 101!

Creating Sacred Space

One day in my devotional time, the Lord directed me to go upstairs to a room that no longer had furniture in it.  It is a small room next door to my bedroom.  I went upstairs and looked at the room.  He said for me to sit on the floor.  I did so.  He next told me that this room was to become my chapel, my sanctuary, and that He wanted to meet with me in this room. 

I looked around and said, "Lord, what do I put in this room?"  He said that I was to buy a picture of Christ in the garden of Gethsemane.  I love that picture but often find that Jesus looks rather feminine.  I did an internet search and found a masculine Jesus in the garden, ordered it and waited.  In a few days, it arrived.  As He had said that I would be sitting on the floor, I hung the picture on the wall (over a trunk upon which I put candles and communion items). 

I was not really sure why God instructed me to get this picture.  I had never really thought about it in connection with the sanctuary study.  This was in November 2012, and now that I've been enjoying this sacred space with the Lord, He has given me the answer for why He wanted me to have this picture.  These thoughts are shared with you in case they have meaning for you, too.

 

1.            When I come into the room from the hall, I sense that I am leaving the world behind.  However, it is not always easy to leave the world behind in my mind.  As I sit and look at the picture of Jesus in the beauty of candle light, I sense a release of the things of this world.  It truly is a beautiful experience to come into the garden with Jesus.

 

2.            One morning, God instructed me to study the picture.  What does it mean?  I said that I thought it meant something about Jesus accepting the cup that was His.  "Yes," He said.  "What else?"  I prayed and asked Him for guidance.  Then I understood.  There are cups that truly are ours.  There are also cups that we've taken that are not ours.  This is when I began asking each morning to know what my cup is for the day and checking to see if I've picked up a cup that isn't mine.  This has been really powerful for me. 

3.            God knows that I am a visual/kinesthetic.  This means that seeing and feeling is going to be a part of His process in communicating with me.  I cannot look at Jesus in the garden now without going into a place of gratitude.  This experience is teaching me some important lessons.  One is that while  I understand the early church's desire to avoid idolatry, I believe that we have gone too far in removing symbols and beautiful emblems of Christ.  When we study the sanctuary, it is full of symbols, colors, gems, fragrances, and sounds.  God uses these things to help us experience Him.  He uses these things to bring healing to our body, emotions and spirit. 

At the beginning of this adventure, I asked God what I should put in my chapel other than the picture of Gethsemane.  He directed my thoughts to the wilderness tabernacle.  The things that I've put in it are things I have had a long time...except the Menorah and the garden picture.  At one time in the early 90s people started giving me angels.  I do not collect things, but because these came from special people, I kept them.  They have been in a box in the closet.  I decided they could go in the chapel.  That way, I could take all those special people with me into the chapel.  I have a devotional book, writing journal, candles and matches...and Kleenex, of course.  Sometimes I think that my tears are my prayer language.   

Someone recently said to me that they wished they had a little room like mine, but they do not have the space.  I reminded them that the tabernacle in the wilderness was portable.  I wanted to do a little gift for this person, and I went to Michaels and found a pretty box (you know it looks kind of like a little trunk with wallpaper on it).  Then I got some little glass candle holders, candles, journal, little dish for communion bread, a little "shot" glass for grape juice, and a little angel.  I also gave her some essential oils.  Later, I gave her the portable sanctuary.  Fun.  She really liked it, and has shared it with her nine-year old daughter who just loves it. 

 

I know my room is a luxury not everyone can have.  I am convinced that their is a way for all of us to have a special place.   My daughter has one of those oversized chaise chairs.  That is her special place.  Maybe you have some clever ideas that you could share.  I'd love to hear what others are doing to bring more of experiencing Jesus into your day.