A Different Guy

 

 

 

“Pay attention to the weird,” a friend had said.  Out of the 12 disciples, John was a bit different in the way he referred to himself.  “John, the one whom Jesus loved,” he wrote, is sprinkled in the gospel of John.  No other gospels say this about him, nor do other disciples like Matthew, Luke or Mark refer to themselves as, “the one whom Jesus loved.”

 Weird.

Teachers I have sat under recently through DVD or television have trended to make fun of John and his sense of ego in his own gospel.  I’m seeing it differently.  I’m paying attention to the weird and seeing John.

John used more symbolism throughout his gospel  as Jesus being God than the others.  It opens in John 1:1 “In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God.”  John is seeing much more.  He’s revealing more spirituality and bigger picture things.  

What is it about him?

John receives.

John doesn’t appear to hesitate or work on coming up with his own stuff.  He receives. 

He received Jesus’ love.  He believed it.  He walked in it and he claimed it for himself. 
“John, the one whom Jesus loved.”

John also wrote that others were those whom He loved.  John 11:5 Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.

John recognized and received Jesus' love and saw that He had it for others.  If you do online searches on Bible verses about love you will find that the larger majority are in Psalms (David was a man after God’s own heart) the book of John and the three small books 1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd John.

“Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God and everyone that loves is born of God and knows God.  He that doesn’t love, doesn’t know God, for God is love.” 1 John 4:7-8.

And in the Aramaic translation, John 3:16 For God loved the world in this way: so much that he would give up his Son, The Only One, so that everyone who trusts in him shall not be lost, but he shall have eternal life.

This is the difference.  John was one of the inner circle guys because he confidently followed closely knowing he was loved.   At the time of eating the last meal together it says that Jesus said one would betray him.  John 13:23-25 reads that the one whom Jesus loved was close to Him and Peter asked that one to ask Jesus who it was.  John did so as he leaned back into Jesus’ bosom and asked Him who it was.  Jesus answered him.

Looking at this, here is John so close and comfortable knowing the love Jesus has for him and leaning right into his “bosom” or chest.  He presses into his chest, leaning and asks.  He is relaxed, near, intimate and confident that Jesus will answer him.  John is receiving and believing and living in the position of love and nearness of Jesus.  In that, he is also answered.  Peter, in his own uncertainty, asks John to ask Him. 

John is also the disciple that receives the great revelations of Revelation.  He receives.  He is open and believing.  He believes in such a level of spiritual awareness and openness to all God is that he sees huge things. 

He was at the transfiguration.  This was when Jesus’ human body took on a heavenly body and He conversed with Moses and Elijah.

He was at the crucifixion and there, he received more.  John 19:26-27 When Jesus then saw His mother, and the disciple whom He loved standing nearby, He said to His mother, "Woman, behold, your son!" 27Then He said to the disciple, "Behold, your mother!" From that hour the disciple took her into his own household.

From that moment, he received her.  He didn’t say, “O no Lord, I’m not worthy of your Mom” or “I need to check and make sure it’s okay with the rest of the family.” 

He received her as his mother.  And Jesus knew he would.  Also notice his proximity.  Again, John is near.

He was at the ascension.  This was when Jesus was taken into a cloud and went into heaven.

Being receptive is everything. 

It is the beginning place of incredible blessing. 

It is the vision through eyes of grace and the fuller view of His glory. 

Many teachers teach the portion that Jesus spoke about having child-like faith.  That the Kingdom of heaven belong to such as these.  Children are strongly faith filled. They trust, they don’t come with agendas to confirm their own views, and they are open.

 I see them as receivers.

They are dependent on others to provide for them and care for them and they readily receive.  They started life that way and have yet to acquire anything significant on their own.  They have to receive.  Have you ever seen a child reject a gift?  Have you seen an adult?  I have seen adults say, “Oh, no you shouldn’t have done that” or “No, I couldn’t possibly take this.”

 We play unworthy.  Children don’t.

A little boy named Samuel was serving Eli.  Young Samuel received the words of God as God called to him he responded, “Speak to me LORD, for your servant is listening.”  1 Samuel 3:10  He received.

My husband traded his car in for a different one that was a convertible.  He gave the convertible to me and took over driving the older car I was driving.  I could hardly handle that kind of generous gift!  I couldn’t even initially drive it and had to have my husband drive it for the first 20 minutes because I was crying and feeling like it was more than I should have, that I wasn’t worthy of it.  It took me a month to fully receive it and enjoy it and accept it as a blessing.

 Now it is nearing November and I can’t have the top down anymore because it is too cold.  We live in Minnesota.  I wasted a month of warm summer days not feeling the fullness of joy, even with the top down, of this incredible gift by instead feeling like it was more than I deserved.  Now that I got over myself, and I realize how much he loves me and it is his expression of love,  I enjoy it and I see how much of a blessing it and he really are.

 I receive that love.

Those that receive from God and His love see a bigger picture.  They see more spiritually and they speak it more freely because they are not encumbered by doubt, unworthiness or have worked to acquire their own view.  To those that receive, it just is and they got it and they trust it and they enjoy it.

That was John.  He received Jesus’ love and he trusted it. 

Think of what your life could be like if you said your name and after it, “the one whom Jesus loves.”

Because, you are.

Receive.

In the receiving we are told to give, too.  As John received the revelation, he wrote it out so others would have it. He didn’t keep it for himself.  As God does things in your life, tell that story to others.  It encourages them or sets their eyes on His glory. 

Matthew 10:8 Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received; freely give.

John was also the only apostle that did not die in martyrdom and lived a long life, believed to have died of natural causes.  Hmm, weird.

 

 





Head to Heart

The difference between reading and knowing, to believing and living it out, is through the heart.

Head knowledge is mostly facts I have taken in and can draw from or recall.  When that knowledge roots itself in my heart it brings out a life change.  It produces. I not only know it, I believe it. It becomes a part of me; active and bearing something.  There is something to show for what you know.  It is part of your belief and being.  It becomes part of your life.

There are many challenges, endless challenges that I am met with in this faith-walk.  The challenges grow me.  They often take my knowing into believing.  That kind of inspiration can only be by the Spirit of the LORD. 

The word inspiration in Latin, has a literal break down meaning of “drawing air into the lungs.” Another recognizable word from the Latin regarding breath is “respiration.”  You also see the portion of “spira” or spirit.  The word Spirit is related to breath.  In Hebrew the word Ruach also means Breath and Spirit. 

To be inspired is like being given a Spiritual Breath for Life. 

Growing into stronger belief and faith is a provision of His Spirit.  He gives us opportunities to see Him and know Him more and it is up to us if we take it from our head to our heart, breathing it in and being inspired by it.  I wrote and teach sessions on the examples of this based on King Saul and King David.  Both men were chosen by God, inspired by His Spirit, but Saul only kept it in his head and didn’t live it out and David took it to his heart and did live it out.  God refers to David as “a man after My own heart.”  Acts 13:22 After removing Saul, he made David their king. God testified concerning him: ‘I have found David son of Jesse, a man after my own heart; he will do everything I want him to do.’  Notice the portion included with him also doing. His belief became an active part of him living it…doing it.

The differences in King Saul’s and David’s lives were vast and it was based on what they took to heart or just to head.  It was whether they believed or didn’t believe.  A subtle reference of the LORD pointing to this in His Word in the physical description of Saul, that “Saul stood a head above all the others.”             1 Samuel 10:23.

 At the end of King Saul’s life, after he had taken his own life, it reads that the enemy came across his body and cut off his head and took his body and attached his body to the wall of Bethshan.  Beth means house and shan has meanings of quiet, tranquility, and dawn.  When you know the story of King Saul, he was not quieted or tranquil and his turmoil was all head thoughts.  He did not live out his faith through his heart.  More in this is that his body wasn’t even brought inside the walls of the House of tranquil-dawn, but attached to the outside of the wall. 1 Samuel 31.

Where I find myself in believing and living it, or either just having head knowledge, shows up often in me as just head knowledge as I have studied the Word.  I need inspiration to believe.  Some would consider me strongly faith-filled, but I have an endless stream of His Word that needs to be taken from my head to my heart. 

The LORD inspired me to one of them in particular last week.  It is a simple and widely known group of verses, but how rarely do I find myself believing it to the point of living it and growing in it.  Worry is head turmoil and not a heart of tranquil belief of a new dawn.

 I was sitting at my desk and working on my computer.  The weather had turned to heavy rain and strong wind.  As I was focusing on my work, I heard a long bang on our front window.  At first I thought it was a bird and quickly dismissed it because I didn’t think there was any way a bird would be flying in this kind of weather.  I figured it must have been a branch.  We have a big maple tree right out front.

As I continued responding to e-mail correspondence, I heard the LORD say, “You have an animal to care for.”  It was not a thought I would have generated and I stood up thinking, “Don’t tell me it was a bird.”  I walked to the door and opened it to look along side of the window. There on the ground was a wood thrush.  It lay with its chest in the dirt, at an angle and it wasn’t moving.  I could see its eyes opening and closing.

I thought, “I don’t know how to ‘care’ for a bird like this!”  Then I quickly went to what I knew I could do in way of care, I started praying for it.  The bird’s eyes opened brighter and it began to move its head as I prayed Jesus’ healing, relief from pain, restoration inside and out, and new strength.  The bird straightened and stood up on its legs.  It hopped under the shelter of the overhang of the bay window.  I went back inside, closed the door and let it be.  When the rain stopped I went to check on it and it flew away.

A little girl growing up, I would hear the verses over and over again from Matthew 10:29-31 Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside your Father’s care.  30And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. 31So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.

I finally, really believed it. 

It went to my heart! 

He had known about the fallen bird.  He called my awareness to it too, in telling me to care for it as I cared in the only way I could, by prayer!  I watched Him care.  I had not paid attention to the word “care” in the scripture before until he used that very word with me that I had an animal to care for.

The peace of having that verse now firmly planted in my heart of belief has lightened me to a degree I never have been before. By just having it in my head, I wasn’t living it out.  The stresses I have since recently endured have not brought the worry as they have in the past.  I KNOW HE KNOWS and He cares!  As I care I pray and I leave them to Him to bring about His goodness into those things.

Let the things that God is showing you inspire you!  Let the breath of His Spirit bring what you know to a heart of belief and into a life that lives it.

 

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."