In Little or In Much, It Is the Same

 

 

 

The LORD presented these words to me a while ago.  I have held onto them and have noticed the truth in it over and over again. 

In little or in much, it is the same. 

His love, His grace, His tenderness, His mercy, His peace, His hope, His strength, His security, His goodness, His wisdom and His joy comes through whatever state I am in.  It is in nearness of His presence and His Word and it does not wane.  All I need to do is think of Him.  He remains the same for me in whatever condition I am in.  

In little or in much, He is the same.

The power in His Word reaches me just as deep.

Having spent seven weeks teaching a Bible study in a location where people have great wealth and ministering to those privileged enough that they could speak of their travels, building projects and their latest lesson from a book or DVD they viewed; their hearts longed for more of the LORD and Him in their life.  They came as humbled students to hear more of His Word and to know Him more and to recognize the love He has for them.  They also came with prayer concerns and heartaches for family and children.

As I taught and read from the Bible they were sometimes moved to tears, sometimes filled with joy with exclamations of praise, sometimes strengthened and hopeful and sometimes humbled by a comprehension of how much God loves them.  Prayers were lifted and they needed Him.  He was there for them in exactly what they needed through His Word and connecting with them in their prayers. 

They left filled.

Last week I was invited to teach at Marie Sandvik Center.  They feed the local poor and offer Bible teaching.  I was told that they are allowed a meal after they listen to a Bible message.  I pained in my heart as I thought of them waiting in hunger as I taught and I was having a hard time bearing the thought of me being in between them and their food.  The LORD pressed upon me that their need for Him was just as hungry.  Even as I type, I have tears in my eyes.

That morning I had planned to spend several hours preparing for them.  I wanted to give them my best.  The time was stolen from me in one work related problem after another.  I was to leave in just seven minutes and my mom called me.  I started crying.  I felt empty, like I didn’t have anything good to give to them.  I hadn’t had the time to pray and draw fully on God as I always had prior to teaching before.  The time I wanted to be my best, I was at my least.  As my mom prayed over the top of my sobs, I began to feel a bit more peace.  I had to leave.  I knew it was going to be up to God and if anything good came out of my teaching it was going to be all Him.  I was nothing.

I arrived at the same time that several other women arrived there from my church.  They had made sandwiches and cakes and were there to serve the hungry after I taught.  I saw all that they made and the heart from which they made it.  Then, they offered to gather around me and pray.  My head was swimming with thoughts still of inadequacy, but I knew these saints, along with my mom and a dear friend, were putting me before the LORD and asking for all He had to use me for His good.

 As the room began to fill, I saw their sweet faces.  Many came with little children, some came with aging parents.  Old and young, mostly women, the room was filling.

I began to teach.  At first there was talking among each other and then they got quiet.  They were listening.  I spoke of Jesus and His love for them and His presence in their lives.  I read His Words.  I told some stories.  Just like the women in the summer; sometimes they cried.  Sometimes they were filled with joy and exclaimed in praise.  Sometimes these hugged one another.  At the end of the message I told them I was going to pray and then give them a blessing.  I suggested that I’ve known people that like to hold their hands out as in receiving when a blessing is said.  The room that held over 100 people was now fully packed with people who eagerly held out their hands to receive the LORD’s blessing. 

 Just as He said, they were also hungry for Him.

These lovely experiences of little and much and God being the same are imprinted upon my heart.  Even His lesson of Him being fully upon me as He calls me to serve when I feel I had much or little in way of teaching was that He was the same.  His Word does not return void and His Spirit of love reaches all that we need.

 We all hunger for Him and in Him we are filled.

 Hebrews 13:8 NIV   Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.

Matthew 5:6  NIV  Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.

Psalm 107:9 ESV  For he satisfies the longing soul, and the hungry soul he fills with good things

Isaiah 55:11 NASB  So will My word be which goes forth from My mouth; It will not return to Me empty, Without accomplishing what I desire, And without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it.

 



Stop Thief!

This morning I read an article written by a beautiful, young woman. Her photo was next to her article. She was questioning the money she just spent for a retreat of meditation, crystals, and a pendulum.  She left empty and because she felt nothing she was told she was already full of “light.”  She wrote her doubt-filled article and wondered about the methods of finding God.  She was left disappointed.  My heart broke for her and many women like her.

We have a nation of young women mostly, some men, that are searching in this way for their connection with God.  They didn’t find it in church or they didn’t go to church.  

 

As a pew sitter, I know that much of the teaching given in my half century was done from a platform that cried, “Fire!”  Most  of those who chose to connect to God was through a fire escape avoiding Hell.  Often what was missing was the love.  The power. The peace. The joy. The fulfillment of a relationship with the One and Only and how to have it in hearing Him and knowing Him.

 I managed to find these things through a charismatic experience when I was twelve years old.  I got to know His power in healing, in the gift of peace and joy through His Holy Spirit and that He continues to talk with us and through us.   Most churches didn’t teach about the power of God through His Spirit.  They didn’t place hands on people for healing, but instead would pray from a distance.

 

Some did the Job’s–friends-thing and sat and discussed what Job could have possibly done wrong to bring all of this illness and woe on himself.  Wrong!   These people were judgmental.   When Jesus walked the earth His biggest criticisms were on religious people that were judging others and making rules more important than grace and love and the gifts of His Spirit.

 

We have people reading horoscopes, the counterfeit to prophecy. What they are looking for is a prophetic word from God.  By His Spirit, He gives the gift of prophecy.  We crave this and most of our churches are not supplying it or encouraging people on how to hear God for themselves.

 

No wonder why we have a generation of women headed to retreats like the one the writer wrote of this morning and men, too, looking for Who God really is.  But, what is happening is that it is being masked.  Some of it is brought through methods called reiki,  a named energy of healing from their own energy and God of Life and Universe. I believe this is a name meant for the power and healing of His Holy Spirit.  This generation has not been taught of the fullness of God in this healing from His Holy Spirit for them.  They look for it, they crave it, they are created to long for it; for the power of His Spirit in healing physically, mentally and emotionally.   

 There is counterfeit.  Where there is real there is false, truth and lies, good and evil.  These things are in the physical world and in the spiritual Universal world.  Satan is said to masquerade as an angel of light. 2 Corinthians 11:14.

 

This energy seeking, light searching, crystal worshiping generation wants what they have not been taught or given.  Their souls are longing to be filled.  They are led to what they desire and they get tantalized, but eventually they end up disappointed.  Empty.

 

I stand guilty in not having made the kind of power in His Spirit more known out of fear of, “What would they say?!” from conservative church goers or doubters.  Those that moved in the fullness of His Spirit that I knew of were a handful of women.  They would meet in private settings like their houses and pray in the Spirit, share prophecy and lay hands on one another and walk and live in this power, but we were often too timid to bring it to the masses.  

 

A lot of churches that know God have not taught the fullness of God, His mercy and His power of His presence of His Spirit.  Resulting, we have these precious and beautiful starved souls searching and getting caught in a mysticism that is not giving them what they really need; freedom, life and value! 

Freedom in the saving grace of what was given to them through Christ Jesus and in that His Spirit and power they so desperately seek. 

Valued and loved so much that Christ made that sacrifice for them so that they could live a life in all that He has!  We aren’t supplying through His Spirit everything that Christ died for, for them. 

 

Despite these energy healing sessions and meditation moments, they are not finding freedom nor are they comprehending their full value and how much they are loved.  Guilt is still prevalent, fulfillment is not met and discontentment and discourse prevail.  They are not freed, but appear to become more tangled, frustrated and searching.   When we understand how much we are loved, we can’t help but love others in return.

 

These dear people seek mercy.  Mercy from illness, heart-aches, weariness, confusion and guilt.  When the guilt is removed then there is peace.  No religion, meditation or reiki is capable of removing guilt, except by Jesus and His forgiveness.  

 

With the “Fire” teaching, we are taught to stop the sin, but we rarely understood the love of the “once and for all” sacrifice forgiving every sin done and yet to be done; the total removal of guilt and condemnation.

 

Romans 8:1-2 ESV  1There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 2For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.

 

This is the place of the deepest, filling, fresh, breath no meditation can provide unless it is the meditation of that love.  And honestly, the more I love someone, the less I want to do wrong by them.  When we receive His love, we can’t help but want to show our love back.  

 

This is my plea to all in the churches in ministry proclaiming Jesus Christ.  Teach His love, His mercy, His promises kept, His power, His Spirit in healing and empowering.  Stop sending our beloved daughters and sons into dark rooms with wounds or emptiness to the hands of healing they so desperately seek but are not in His Name. Let them come to His power, Spirit, presence, healing, love and wholeness the way He started the church, by the powerful wind of His Spirit.  Let our children find it taught, given and provided for them.   No more inflicting wounds of condemnation, because it has been removed.  Instead, offer hands of healing, words of love, the vibrations of His Holy Spirit moving through them and balms of oils that anoint, bless and give life and hope in a near and real relationship with God that once and for all fulfills them. 

 

As the huge growth of Christianity continues in Eastern cultures, the irony is that people here are going to the Eastern practices that the East is leaving.  My interpretation of this is that the message of Christ has been distorted here.  It had not taught the power through His Spirit that they so desperately seek or the peace of His love, breathing Him in.  

 

I think of when we train our pets.  I can get them to obey by scolding them, but they will not want to be near me or walk with me.  But, when I train them in love, rewarding them but also letting them know where the boundaries are, we are in a relationship and the trust and nearness in that is good for them and for me.  

 

As Job’s friends considered themselves friends of Job, they tried to help, but had misunderstood.  They were causing more hurt than help.  They themselves were not understanding the LORD and hadn’t had a close and trusting relationship with the LORD. Their message was as good as it could be for what they had.  

 

Yet, Job knew and revered God enough not to curse Him.  God drew near to Job and let Job know Who He was as Job drew near to Him even in his complaints.  That’s relationship.

 

Following this time, Job understood God for himself.  Instead of being angry with his friends for their wrong take on who God was in relationship to his suffering by ending their friendship, he remained friends and prayed for them.  He prayed for the ones that added a little more misery and misguidance.  He forgave them.  What followed is beautiful.  It says that God blessed Job.  As Job came into a fuller relationship with God and prayed for those that caused him hurt by showing love and the power of God, it says that God gave Job double blessing of what he had before and the most beautiful daughters.

Job 42:15  Nowhere in all the land were there found women as beautiful as Job's daughters, and their father granted them an inheritance along with their brothers

 

In praying for our churches and leaders we have had over our life time that may have added more misery than mercy, we don’t take a place of judgment, but rather, some of them really didn’t know any better.  It was taught from what they knew.  If they weren’t in the full relationship and power of His Spirit, they couldn’t teach it or offer it.  

 

As we pray for them I know that the LORD will bring blessing.  We release the wounds, we move freely with Him and knowing Him and our daughters will be beautiful.  Don’t let your past hurts from church keep your daughters and sons from knowing His love, His freedom, His peace, His presence, His power and their value in Him.  Let’s grant our daughters and sons their inheritance.

 

If you are looking for churches that offer more in way of healing through the Holy Spirit, I recommend in the Twin Cities area groups that are called SOZO.  It is a Hebrew word for healing and deliverance.  These are a few that I am familiar with.

Hosanna! in Lakeville, MN

The Blessing House in Victoria, MN

Also, there are small groups all over the Twin Cities for women on hearing God and living in His power through Arise! Women’s Ministry.  You can get more information on this organization and other things that they do here.

 

 

Help Me to Trust You

Help me to trust You!

 

My plea came out of hurt.  My plea came out of painful trials.  I reacted in the trial as an indignant, spoiled child.  It was hard and I didn’t think I deserved it.  I searched why I was so hurt, why I was so afraid.  I wasn’t trusting Him in this kind of hardship. 

 

I asked Him to prove Himself, to show me that I can trust Him.  In a way it was manipulative and angry, coming out of hurting and fear.  I wanted Him to show me He was good.  That I could trust.  I expected Him to remove the pain and hardship and give me security in the way I wanted to see it.  

 

He did begin to do the things I had hoped for.  He showed mercy.  Mercy in His grace because what I was asking for came out of my motives of self gratification and earthly security.  And even in that place of asking, He was answering me. I couldn’t reflect on this or even recognize it until He showed me the other...

 

As I listened to a song, the realization of God becoming man from His great holiness to someone like me in great lowliness was never more real.  I closed my eyes and sensed deep within me His transition from the breath of Creator to the breath of a babe.  His beauty and might to something so fragile and meek.  I felt His descent into flesh.  It was as though I was there amidst His Spirit’s transition.  It was so real.  I felt all the universe watching with me in darkened, reverent silence.

 

Then, I saw Him.  He was on the cross.  His head crowned in thorns and hanging down.    He slowly lifted and turned His head and  looked up at me with His blood wet face and eyes filled with love and longing.  He looked right into my eyes as if saying, “For you,” and then slowly lowered his head again.  

 

I cried like I never had before.

 

It is everything.  It is what He did, truly what He has done that is my place of trust.  There is no greater love than that.  No greater desire for my well-being than that act of incredible love.  That is the place of my trust.  That is it, in its purest form.  No act can compare to that kind of faithfulness and love.  Yet, He was showing me mercy even in my original heart of selfish fear to prove I could trust Him by doing some of the things I wanted.  

 

The comparison of that kind of humble love and mercy even to satisfy my selfish want reaches me to a depth within that I had not known went so deep.  Deeper than my person, His mercy and love is made known.  In an imperfect, self-centered request, as my mistrust were thorns upon His head, He fulfilled answering my desires and in His loveliness, He showed me the ultimate depth of His love to mine.

 

Who is this LORD that we were made for such love?  One Who walks with us, carries us and selflessly shows one so weak how strong He is. By His Love.

1 Corinthians 13:4-8   Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. ⁵ It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. ⁶ Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. ⁷ It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. ⁸ Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away.

Philippians 2:5-8   Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, 6who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.  

Soul Food For Your Prayer Life

 

 

Sometimes one person can say something that changes the way you do life.  Just over twenty years ago, one of those times happened.  A young mom shared a story.  Her daughter had nearly drowned and was in route by ambulance to a hospital.  She talked about how in the past, whenever she would see ambulances, she always said a prayer for the people needing them and for the workers on them.  Her thought of how she prayed for ambulances brought her comfort as she believed others were praying for her little girl now in one herself.  She held to those thoughts and comfort and hope.  Her daughter was fully revived and did not suffer any losses.

 

This was a new beginning for me.  I had never thought to say a prayer in those cases.  I began to.  I prayed for police.  I would pray for those in a hospital that I drove past. Then I took it further to other places, situations and people.  I especially prayed for kids that were in the school I passed or for kids playing, walking or biking down a side walk. 

   

One time in particular, I saw a little boy standing on a street corner by a main road.  His mom was taking a picture of him.  It looked like he may have been at a bus stop.  He was dressed up like one of the characters from The Blues Brothers and he resembled Jake, John Belushi’s character. He was a little shorter and rounder.  He wore a hat and sunglasses and he held a saxophone.  I prayed for him.

 

As I prayed in the Spirit the prayer became stronger than I had any mind for as I continued driving down the road.   I was surprised by the intensity of the prayer and I wondered why I cared so much for this little boy as I drove down the street on my way to work.  Sometimes God would move like that as I prayed for people.

 

My Mom told me she always prayed for people in airplanes when she would see one.  She thought of people going to see a sick relative or going to a funeral, for people on business or on vacation.  She lived near an airport so she was busy.

 

 Praying for strangers began to be a part of my every day.

 

When our daughter was in her late teens she started dating a boy.  They both were on the school swim teams.  He didn’t share the same faith as she did, but she told him that if he wanted to date her, he had to go to church with her.  He agreed.  He was interested in her enough to make the effort.

 

He was a gifted musician and enjoyed the music at the church.  During one of the songs, he was moved.  The words, “LORD, reign in me” became his heart’s request.  He came to Christ in that moment and through the music.  Later, he would play with our worship team.

 

After they had been dating for a while they started to talk about when they were kids.  They both had said they were shorter than most of the other kids back then and slightly over-weight.  It was hard to believe.  They were both now thin and he was super tall.  They each went and located their pictures from that time and were looking through them.  She was laughing and said, “Mom, you have to see these.”

 

I went through his stack of photos and there he was.  There was the photo of the little boy I had driven by years before dressed as a Blues Brother holding his saxophone.   He was standing at the street sign that I remembered having been driving by.   I was astonished!  I had prayed for him!  God had a plan on his life and I got to be a part of a moment in time to pray along and over this child that the LORD loved so much.

 

One moment given.

 

One moment partnered with God can change lives.

  

 It changed my life in a way of faith and purpose.  

 

As they got older they no longer dated, but he continued to attend the church.  As a young man, he got up and shared his testimony of how he came to Jesus during one of the worship songs.  He even has a tattoo that says, “Lord, reign in me” with a cross.  His gift of music and his saxophone has blessed that church many times and later he married a woman that had attended that church, too.

 

The blessing of God letting me see a result of a prayer for a stranger has impacted me for the rest of my life.  I know the prayers are heard.  I know He loves all of those we see and come across.  Your place, your timing, and the people around you have purpose.  

 

 Live in your purpose.  Live in love.

 

I shared this story with a group of women five years ago.  As I shared, one woman in particular gasped.  She was back in the states on a missionary furlough.  She was obviously moved by the story.  Just two weeks ago, on another furlough from their work in Sri Lanka, her husband approached me.  He told me that he shares that story I told of one prayer to everyone he gets to meet in Sri Lanka.  

 

One prayer.

One story.

 

You matter.  Your prayers matter.  Your words matter.  Your life has the ability for great purpose. God hears and He moves.  Be encouraged today that you and your prayers matter.  Believe.  There is hope. 

 

 Romans 5:5 And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.



Where Did This Come From?

                                                           
                                                     Where did this come from?


I wish I could hear your thoughts right now.  Some of you know we have a young son and you may be thinking he made it.  Maybe one of our daughters made it when they were little. Some of you know I worked in an Elementary School on a grant project and it could be one of my student’s work.

Maybe some of you think I made it. 

Did any of you think it came together randomly on its own?

It’s simple. 

It’s mostly two dimensional.  

It is only made out of a few materials.

It doesn’t even breathe.

Why do we believe it was intentionally made by someone and it didn’t evolve from say…a tree?  I’m sure not one of you thought it randomly came together on its own.  Your critical thinking skills won’t lead you there.  Neither will your reason.

It’s made in the image of something.  It’s made in the image of someone with much more ability than it.

So why do we teach our children when they are in school, who are complex, have great value and are wondrously made, that they just randomly came together?

Why is it hard for some to believe that we are made in the image of someone with much more ability than us?

Children are natural receptors to their spirituality.  We come wired for it.  But, why are we allowing their switch to be turned off in school?  Why isn’t that part of Design or spirituality allowed in critical thinking in school?

During my time with higher level learning first grade students, I heard multiple conversations and comments made by the students.  Their youthful spirits had not yet been squelched.  They weren’t tall enough to reach the switch, so to speak, to turn it off.  Kids say what's on their mind and they believe. They trust.  Often times, as adults, we are delighted by their thoughts and freedom of expression.

Some of the things I witnessed followed a poem that we read written by Julia Carney 1823- 1902, called, “Little Things.”  It ended with the words, “of eternity.” One of the children quickly said, “That’s God.”  There was no hesitation on his part to hold that in.  It was where his mind went.  The same poem was read by two more groups and each group had a child that responded in the same way.  In looking up the poem now, I just discovered that there were two more stanzas that were not a part of the curriculum that I was given to teach.  It reads on in a way that clearly is based on faith in God. The children perceived this.  Here is the poem in its entirety.

Little Things

Little drops of water,
Little grains of sand,
Make the mighty ocean
And the pleasant land.

And the little moments,
Humble though they be,
Make the mighty ages
Of eternity.

So our little errors
Lead the soul away,
From the paths of virtue
Into sin to stray.

Little deeds of kindness,
Little words of love,
Make our earth an Eden,
Like the heaven above.

A considerable conversation started between the students following the reading of the ending of The Polar Express.  The characters in the story could only hear the bell ring if they “Believe.” Again, the students began sharing their faith with one another.  One child did not believe and stated in an angry voice, “If there is a God, then God is mean.  Look at all the terrible stuff. There is no God.”  Other children argued back and said there is.  The child again retorted the negative description and one of the children looked at me with upset on his face and said, “That is so mean to say!”   I did have to step into the verbal fight and asked that they speak respectfully to each other and not yell.

There is a depth of belief in these young people.  From my experience, the large majority believed in God. Why then, if it is a minority that doesn’t, that both parts are not allowed to be considered and taught?  Why are children that live spiritually, denied the ability to think spiritually?

 Another child was commenting about his ancestors’ homeland and said, “God lives there.”  Another child quickly followed up and said, “God lives everywhere, but not the devil.”  The quieter children nodded their head in agreement.

 In another situation, a group of students played “Catholic.”  They did this completely on their own and I saw no stimulation that led up to it as each pretended to be a person of the Catholic Church.  I was surprised by this play. One was a priest, another, a Bishop, another, a Cardinal and the other and more dominating child, (who had previously said there was no God) played Pope.  They set up a hierarchy of position and then related to each other based on it.  The priest was not allowed to speak directly to the Pope and the Priest was told he could only talk to “the people.”  

Sometimes children shared with me their Festivals they just celebrated and talked about the foods that they ate as part of their faith celebration.  They live it.  They shared their lives with me.  Why can’t they live it freely longer?  Who turns off the switch?  When does it get turned off?

My teaching situation was in a public school.  Our work time was relaxed and with smaller groups of students, usually seven or less.  There was more time for them to have conversations with each other as they colored or worked on projects or discussed poetry or literature.  They had freedom to speak.

Today I read and saw on Life and Liberty,  a man that puts critical thinking into practice regarding Evolution and God as he interviews people that believe in Evolution.  Some of the points at the beginning could have been made in a shorter amount of time. But, it is worth watching those that do think, start to think in a way they had never been taught until then. 

Genesis 5:1b-2 ESV  When God created man, he made him in the likeness of God. 2 Male and female he created them, and he blessed them and named them Man when they were created.

 Matthew 19:14 NIV  Jesus said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these."

 

Kiss

 

Let the thought of a kiss come to mind.  Think of giving one.  Think of receiving one. Think of someone that gave you a safe place or you gave a safe place in a kiss. As a child, as a parent, as a friend, as a family member, and to one you love; it happens in relationship.

 When you approach someone to kiss them, you are letting go of anything between you.  You come so close that you are vulnerable.  You trust in a relationship that will receive a gesture so near that you can breathe them in.  You probably remember the fragrance of those you love and care for because of how near you have been to them.   Producing a kiss to give to another is a pouring out of yourself.  It can be an expression of caring or protection, affection, comfort, assurance and a seal of how you feel about them or honor them.  You care.  You are there…and they matter.  

 When you receive a kiss you have allowed someone to draw near and offer themselves to you.  You allow yourself to be vulnerable to them as they have become vulnerable to you.  You allow them to connect to you; the breath and fragrance of their life near your own.

 A handshake is a connection literally at arms-length.

 But, the kiss is a place of great trust, vulnerability, relationship and grace. 

 It is a place of refuge…a place of peace.

 

Psalm 2 is filled with words that speak in advance about Jesus, the Son, and at the end of the chapter, a kiss.

 Psalm 2:12 ESV  Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and you perish in the way,

for his wrath is quickly kindled. Blessed are all who take refuge in him.

 In the near relationship of the Son is the place of safety and peace.  The LORD is saying to “Kiss the Son.”

 

There is blessing there! In the nearness of a kiss there is refuge.  We are given permission in a direction to approach Him and to bring ourselves in such vulnerability to place a kiss upon Him.  We are not harmed in kissing Him, but instead given security and acceptance as we come near enough in affection to offer a kiss.  It is a place of love.

 When we distance ourselves from Him we are in the places of our own making or way that fails.  We perish in the way. We aren’t at peace no matter what we have tried.  When we finally realize this, that is when most of us turn to Him.  He always receives us.  He always makes Himself open for a kiss.  That is grace.  That is love.

The deepest betrayal to Jesus came by way of Judas.  Judas is described as, “one of the Twelve.”  These were those who were closest to Jesus.  They traveled with Him, ate with Him, slept near Him and served with Him.  They were the most privileged of all and He was nearest to them.  

 

Luke 2:47-48 NIV  While he was still speaking a crowd came up, and the man who was called Judas, one of the Twelve, was leading them. He approached Jesus to kiss him, 48but Jesus asked him, “Judas, are you betraying the Son of Man with a kiss?”

 Let that verse reach the fullness of understanding of the betrayal.  This was the way that Judas revealed who Jesus was to the high priests who were taking Him away to be crucified.

Judas was taking what God had given as a command for refuge and security, grace and peace to be used against the very One Who provides it.  It is staggering.  

 
Luke 22:49 NIV When Jesus’ followers saw what was going to happen, they said, “Lord, should we strike with our swords?” 50And one of them struck the servant of the high priest, cutting off his right ear.

 
51But Jesus answered, “No more of this!” And he touched the man’s ear and healed him.

52Then Jesus said to the chief priests, the officers of the temple guard, and the elders, who had come for him, “Am I leading a rebellion, that you have come with swords and clubs? 53Every day I was with you in the temple courts, and you did not lay a hand on me. But this is your hour—when darkness reigns.”

In that time the others wanted to defend Jesus, but being Who He is, the place of refuge, He healed the one that was injured and said, “No more of this!”  He spoke against the place of fighting, betrayal, lies and animosity and He placed the wickedness to when, who and where they belong to …

  “when darkness reigns.”
 
Notice Jesus.  Notice His healing.  Notice His refuge.  Notice His grace.  Notice His Truth. Notice His peace.  Notice His love and forgiveness.
 
Yes, kiss the Son.  Kiss Him for all that He is for you.

God speaks about the ones that did not kiss Baal.  Baal is a pagan god and the name is also used in way of an idol.

 1 Kings 19:18  Yet I will leave seven thousand in Israel --all whose knees have not bowed down to Baal and whose mouths have not kissed him."

These seven thousand were kept well and remained in Israel. These are the ones that have not gone so far as to find their security someplace else in an idol, or given their affection  or made themselves vulnerable. By not bowing their knees, they stayed strong standing up against Baal.  The kiss means a lot.

 We aren’t done kissing. 

As Christians, the Bible says to, “greet each other with a holy kiss.”   This is a gesture that does not allow anything to come between each other.  There is vulnerability, trust, caring, security, and peace. Forgiveness and grace are present.

In fact, it says it in MANY places to greet each other in Christ with a holy kiss.

•   Romans 16:16
• 1 Corinthians 16:20
• 2 Corinthians 13:12

A kiss that is holy is holy in Christ.

It is the purity of love, forgiveness and grace.

It is the heart of the message of grace.

Animosity aside is the peace within for a brother.

This is the message of the kiss.

 1 Peter 5:14  Greet one another with a kiss of love. Peace be to you all who are in Christ.

 

Launched and Waiting

                                                      Photo courtesy of James N. Brown

That new day of living in the power of the LORD can be a lot like a rocket launch. Or, maybe it was a revelation and a start of a project that launched you.  Maybe it was the first encounter with the power of His Spirit and you started doing things only God could do through you.  Maybe it was a “Call.”

It’s a place of exhilaration. The launch pad, the vast acceleration, the g-force that is impossible to move out from under the weight of His presence… and you don’t want to.  Then suddenly, you reach out away from the gravitational pull.  The speed isn’t noticed or are you still moving? Are you still in motion or floating?  It’s quieter. It seems still.  There’s peace, but it’s different.

It’s the quiet, the waiting, the not quite there yet, but you definitely aren’t where you were.

I’ve found myself there.  It isn’t a lack of doing. No, it is taking the better part of my faith and strength and effort to wait. 

Trusting that I am on my way to where this launch is taking me. 

Trusting that the Power that launched me has a flight plan.

If I start pressing the buttons to make something happen out of order, it may mess things up a bit.

Sara decided to do a little button pushing of her own.  She was promised that Abraham would be the Father of many nations and instead of waiting, she tried to make it happen. She didn’t believe the Promise that she would conceive, but believed there would be many nations. She set up Hagar for Abraham and Ishmael was made.  Not long after, her own Isaac came along.  The Promise did come.  What if she had waited?  What if we stopped doubting what God said about us and really waited?

 Waiting is sometimes the most grueling of all exercises.

Actively waiting.  I’m watching our daughter nearing her sixth month of pregnancy.  She’s used to making things happen and she makes things happen fast.  Here she is. Waiting.  She has no control over the wait time. It’s hard.  A friend of hers told her that it seems like it is going to take forever, then suddenly, you’re six months along and you realize there isn’t much time left and you start to panic wishing there was more time.  There is expectancy with waiting. 

As her child rapidly developed and cells multiplied, body parts formed, systems began; the child became fully formed in a short amount of time.  But now, the child waits growing stronger, bigger and strengthening lungs, kidneys, muscles and more so that it is strong enough to live life outside of his mother.

I’m finding this in the waiting for Promises to be fulfilled, the new life and His will.

In the quiet, the waiting is a place of growing, strengthening, learning and maturing.

Finding contentment in the waiting is key.  Finding the good, the peace, His presence in the quiet is also part of the experience. It is active faith.

It isn’t unusual.  It happens much more than we have noticed.  Jesus’ big launch came with the fanfare of angels singing and Wise Men tracking Him down and giving Him gifts.  Then came tension and they fled to Egypt and then… it went quiet.  The next time we hear about Jesus is when he is a boy and He is learning and talking with the Teacher’s in the temple and even quietly unnoticed by His parents until three days later they realized that they had left Him behind.  Then, it is quiet again, until His baptism at the Jordan River.  We don’t know what all happened in His quiet, but we know He grew and learned.

David was anointed future King of Israel as a child.  It was years later before he became King.  He grew, matured and his faith strengthened.  John the Baptist spent his quiet in the wilderness.  All we know about that time is his poor wardrobe selection and cuisine. (camel hair and locusts) Until the day came when he began preparing the way for the LORD through baptism and Jesus later saying that there had been none greater than John the Baptist up until that time. 

I have experienced my own frustration in the time it takes for God’s time, but I see how much growing I am doing as He turns over every rock and finds a little more that I need to have Him improve on in me.  I learn.  I mature and I am strengthened.

Having listened to many Bible teachers, often their stories go back to that frustrating place of knowing they were “Called” to something, but tried to make it happen their way and it turned out outlandishly embarrassing or frustratingly slow with just a few people to teach.  There are others that expected their new faith to give them an instant “everything is going to be great” ticket.  We have learning, we have growing, we have maturing and strengthening to do.  I find myself most inspired by those that go through hardships, but hold fast to their faith and joy.  Those are the lives that impact me.

If we are honest about it, the learning isn’t always pretty.  I have found lows that I sunk to and needed His forgiveness and that are too embarrassing to confess to here.  I have been grumpy and pouty.  I have been scared or worried.  Those were the behaviors I needed maturing in and still at times need maturing in.  The more that I go through, the quicker I come out of it.

 I am learning His faithfulness while learning to be faith-filled.

What is working is that I have been purposely looking to God. “Starting with His majesty,” a friend recommended to me.    It’s learning to praise and thank Him more instead of pray my lists as often, worship more instead of worry, love more instead of lament, relax more and rest.  There is more of a smile now.  I’m not pressing my nose against the glass saying, “Are we there yet?” nearly as often.  I’m learning how to wait.   

Isaiah 40:31 KJV But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint. 

 

God gives and builds strength and endurance in us in the waiting on Him.  His peace is renewing, His goodness is grace and His love comforts and gives hope.

One of my favorite great waits is found in Acts 1 and 2 as Jesus told them to wait for what the Father had promised.

Acts 1:4 Gathering them together, He commanded them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for what the Father had promised, "Which," He said, "you heard of from Me; 5for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now."  ESV

Luke 24:9 I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high." ESV

It reads in Acts that as they waited, they gathered together and prayed together, women and men and it says, “they were one accord.”  They were in agreement and expectancy. They were waiting on a Promise.  Jesus didn’t want them out trying to begin the ministry of The Good News, His Kingdom come, until they had waited and been strengthened and given the power of His Spirit. Because they waited, they were “clothed in power.”  Their ministry took off and Christianity began to reach the ends of the earth.

Settling in and getting comfortable.  Enjoying where I am and knowing I’m growing.  It’s still work, don’t get me wrong.  Waiting is working.  My hope is that I can look back fondly at the times of faithful waiting and know that I enjoyed that time, too.  All of it is part of the journey.  It builds faith.

It makes one look straight into the face of the Promise Maker and trust.

In the waiting is the receiving.

In the waiting is a receiving of great power and strength.

 

Even as the fish made their great escape at the end of the Disney movie, Finding Nemo, they got to where they wanted to be, but it wasn’t quite as they’d imagined. They still weren’t completely done.  My favorite line from the movie…

 

 

Keep holding to your faith.  Keep waiting as you have been told. Growing, maturing, strengthening and if you are told to, “Go” then, “Go.”