Author: Christine Wyrtzen

Painting Slavery With Too Broad A Brush

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They answered him, “We are offspring of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone. How is it that you say, ‘You will become free’?  John 8:33

The necessary and beneficial conviction of scripture is lost on me if I paint with too broad a brush.  I am like the Pharisees who heard Jesus speaking about knowing the truth and being set free.  They took a broad glance at their lives and didn’t see slavery anywhere.  They were indignant at his inferences.  They couldn’t see that they were enslaved to the deception that veiled His deity.

I can also paint with too broad a brush.  I should stop and ask Jesus, “What do you mean by that as far as I’m concerned?” Instead, I take a quick peek across the horizon of my life and check ‘enslavements’ off my list.  Alcohol, prescription drug addition, anger, sexual immorality. As they’re crossed off, I’m beginning to feel good about myself.  I declare that I am absolved completely of Jesus’ words.

Not so fast.  I have not entered the territory of my soul where thoughts run rampant, where fears control, where depression taunts and ensnares.  I have my default ways of thinking that lead me to places like hopelessness, like resentment, like futility.  Am I not in slavery to my own soul without repeated applications of scripture?  Others around me may not see the chains on my wrist as my countenance often bears no trace of bondage.  Yet, without application of Jesus’ words, the minefields of my mind will never be disarmed.  The doorway to a new world of new thought processes will never be made available to me.  David said that God delighted in him, rescued him, and brought him out into a spacious place.  He was not referring, I believe, to something geographical.  He was speaking of a spacious inner world where faith, hope, and trust shatters prison bars.

How can I identify places where I’m enslaved?  Look for what keeps me up at night?  Look at the issues over which I obsess.  Put my finger on the problems I keep trying to problem solve but can’t.  These are the places where, if I’m quiet, I can discern the bars of my cell.  Jesus promises truth for every worry, truth for every trap, and when applied, the cage that Satan promoted will begin to rattle, loosen, and then fall away.  Jesus turns the walls into a dance floor.

I don’t want to apply Your Word with a wide paint brush.  I need  a surgical strike.  Amen

When Changes Come In Waves

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Deep calls to deep at the roar of your waterfalls; all your breakers and your waves have gone over me.  Psalm 42:7

Have you ever been knocked over by a huge wave?  I have.  As a child of 5 years old, I almost drowned when I was knocked under, then tumbled round and round for what seemed like an eternity.  I couldn’t get my footing for the next wave that came so down I went again.  My parents plucked me out of the water.  To this day, I’m not real fond of the ocean deep.

Too many changes in one’s life, all at once, put a person in a fragile place emotionally. It seems too much to process as each change knocks me off my feet like a towering wave.  I have no perspective as I struggle to discern direction.  When I initiate the changes, it’s easier but most change is what happens to me and I have no control over it.

How do you handle change? Do you have a strategy? It’s easy to conceive man-made ones. 1.) Cope with today and don’t borrow tomorrow’s trouble. 2.) Lean on family and friends.   This is usually the best that we can initiate without God. If things are really hard, these won’t sustain. Inner stability will deteriorate.

There is a certain kind of personality that thrives on change but I contend that it’s change they control. No one likes an unexpected knock on the door that brings tragic news. I’ve had my share of seasons where everyday brought some kind of bad news. Difficult times never seem to last a year. Instead, five years, twelve years, even twenty-two years. I’m very familiar with how that looks since severe depression runs in my extended family. I’ve seen some break with reality. Feeling that I could also follow my genetic leanings, I knew that I must draw close to Jesus and follow His lead in developing spiritual strategies.

What did Jesus do when he felt the pressures of his life? Got alone with His Father to pray. He reviewed the scriptures and God’s history. This is the prescription for any of us today who know that the only stability available to us is the foundation of our faith in God.

  • God knows all things future. He’s not wringing His hands over this change in my life. Acts 8:26
  • God already knows the outcome and, if I’m willing, will lead me safely to the other side. Numbers 23:19
  • God is unchanging. Though my life shifts, He is always the same. I cling to Him and not temporal things. James 1:17
  • God is still a righteous Judge even when it appears evil is winning. Psalms 7:11-13
  • God is faithful and true.   Deut. 32:4

When I’ve lost my footing and can’t see my way forward, when too many changes are happening all at once, I bind myself to You since You are my future.  You pluck me out of the deep and set my feet on solid ground.  In Jesus name, Amen

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Living In The Forever Story

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Your faithfulness endures to all generations; you have established the earth and it stands fast.  Psalm 119:90

The oldest thing I own is a cradle that dates back in my family to around 1780.  Before our daughter was born in 1979, a friend and I stripped it and refinished it.  My husband, Ron, repaired some spindles and fortified some slats.  It rocked both our children.  It still exists today and has rocked my two grandsons as well as our family’s cats.   In light of how old antiques can be, I supposed 1780 isn’t that impressive.  European antiques can date back many more centuries.

The fact that a chair, table, or cradle, made by men’s hands, still exists today and is still functional isn’t very impressive when compared to the durability of our planet earth.  Most of what men makes erodes over time.  Its components are not permanent.  God, however, made our planet, touched it with life, set its courses in motion, and hung it permanently in the sky.  However old the earth is, it still works.  It feeds us, keeps us alive, and is stable in its orbit.  God’s faithfulness and power are still the major storyline in the plot of our planet even though it groans for ultimate redemption.

Only God’s hands create something permanent; something trustworthy for us and our descendants, but it goes far beyond that.  What comes out of God’s mouth is also eternal.  The age of the earth serves to remind us of His promises that also know no end.

What kind of WORD can I pass down to my children – that they can tell their children – that will be found true and trustworthy 500 hundred years from now?  Only the Word of God.  When I hug my grandchildren and tell them that God loves them, will always love them, and will be a loving, caring Father their whole life, I give them a message that outlives every family antique.  They will test it, tell their children the same good news, and in eternity, we will share similar stories around a banquet table. No matter who the person to our right is and when he lived His life, his testimony of God’s faithfulness will have the same ring as my story. Enoch’s experience of God’s character will match the experience of my father and mother.  God is unchanging.

What is God establishing in my life today?  Whatever it is, it will last forever because He is the builder.

I stand on my Rock today and trust that You are my everlasting foundation.  I feel the joy of being part of your everlasting story.  Amen

Trembling For Home

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Now therefore, O kings, show discernment; Take warning, O judges of the earth. Worship the LORD with reverence and rejoice with trembling.  Psalm 2:10-11

Worship and trembling go together.  I’ve been so moved during worship that I could no longer stand up.  It’s a beautiful thing to be overcome by the Spirit.  He may be my home but I never get so used to Him that I fail to be affected by His glory.

 In Hosea, God calls His children silly doves.  They fail to know where their true home is and their heart has grown too cold to pursue it.  “There will come a day,” God foretells, “when they will come trembling again to their houses.”  “Trembling” means to “flutter with haste”.

A woman ceases to make God her home when she no longer believes He can offer her what she needs.  The promise of the abundant life no longer appears abundant.  There can be many reasons for this.  1.) She has experienced too much pain in this world and God is blamed for it.  She runs from the One she believes is responsible instead of understanding that He is her healing.  2.) There has been no instruction on how to make God her home so she sojourns in distant lands, looking for anyone who will offer her temporary shelter.  3.) Satan has taken advantage of her in her time of vulnerability and offered her some counterfeit ways out of distress.  Whatever the reason, leaving home is rarely a short trip.  It can often span the first half of someone’s lifetime.

There comes a day when God begins to clarify.  The fog of misunderstanding of who He is begins to clear and a woman shakes her head and realizes her folly.  God’s true character materializes in full-blown pictures in her spirit.  Hunger for His presence is awakened.  She prepares for her trip back home, back to her roots.  “Before the foundation of the world, I knew you.”  Ah yes, she remembers the verse now.  She realizes that the only place she can find the person, the Love, she’s been looking for is at home with God.  She comes trembling, with awe and excitement, to the land that has always been hers.  She comes to claim it with joy.  The theme of her life is finally summed up in one phrase ~ LOST LOVE FOUND.

Home is sweetest to the one who has been homeless.  Seeing the lights of home makes her hasten her steps.  Walking over the threshold brings waves of contentment.  It’s home.  Everything is just like she needs it to be.  Never is she more at peace than when resting with God.  Any who loses her life in Him will find it.

It took me over forty years to find my home in You.  I lived many places, emotionally, even though I called You, “Father.”  I’ve never gotten used to the wonder of living with You.  With time, ‘home’ means more, not less.  Thank you. Amen

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The Spirit Led Jesus Where?

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And when he came up out of the water, immediately he saw the heavens being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.” The Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. And he was in the wilderness forty days, being tempted by Satan. Mark 1:10-12

The same Spirit of God that descended on Jesus at His baptism proceeded to lead Him out into the desert to be tempted. That can be emotionally confusing to me as I seek to find a comfort zone in God’s character. One incredibly tender moment during His baptism ushers in stark moments when the humanity of Jesus is stretched to new limits. Why was that necessary?

Many bible teachers weigh in on the answer. One belief is that Jesus needed to be tempted in every way that we are tempted so that we know that we can run to Him as our High Priest. That was certainly accomplished in the wilderness. But there is another possibility.  By being led into the wilderness to be tempted, and by prevailing with righteous choices, He fulfilled what the Israelites had not been able to do during their 40-year wanderings. They had been led from Egypt to the Red Sea, then to the wilderness, in order to test their new faith. The pressures revealed the immaturity of their faith.

Ah, but testing would reveal the perfection of Jesus’ faith. He repeated Israel’s journey to complete what they had failed. One indication that this might be true is the passage Jesus quoted when Satan first tempted Him to turn the stones into bread. Jesus quoted Deuteronomy 8:3. “Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.” The context of Deuteronomy 8 is Israel’s wilderness experience.

Jesus came to redeem what was broken. The nation of Israel failed miserably while on their journey to the Promised Land. Jesus redeemed it by going into the same wilderness and doing it right. As His child, I am called to share in the redemption of what is broken. The Spirit of God leads me into situations where I can redeem the sinful patterns of my family. I am often led into places that mirror my own past experiences so that I can do it right the 2nd time around. I find that the stakes are high when I feel the most fragile. I can enter a wilderness with the best of intentions and with great resolve to succeed. But the nature of my wilderness will test my limits. Passion to succeed never brings success. This is a spiritual endeavor, not a human one. For me to pass the tests that the wilderness brings, I will have to humble myself and acknowledge my utter helplessness without the Holy Spirit’s help. Prevailing with righteous choices will only happen as the Spirit of God, resident in me, rises up to empower what is impossible with human effort.

Jesus redeemed Israel’s sin. What sin, whose journey, might He want to redeem through me today?

It’s exciting. It’s impossible without You. I am Your servant. Amen

Making Critical Choices With My Senses

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Make me to know your way, O Lord; teach me your paths.  Psalm 25:4

I can judge nothing with my senses correctly without consulting God.  Nothing!  What looks lush one day can be a wasteland tomorrow.  What looks barren today can become lush once the hand of a miracle-working God touches it.  I can never judge a book by its cover.  I just never know enough to run my life successfully!

May I learn from those who have walked before me.  Does history not teach me that God chooses the least?  The ones others pass over?  He chooses the uneducated, the spurned, the unpopular.  When people choose leaders, they choose with their senses.  They go for charisma and good looks.  God’s man, as with Jesus, may be someone others walk by and never give a second thought.

God might call me to embrace a place, a calling, a companion, a direction in life that appears to be wrong.  It may not glitter.  It may have little earthly appeal.  I should not second-guess God’s voice.  Jesus was born in a stable, not a palace.  What seems so common is transformed by the wind of the Spirit into something heavenly.  That principle of the kingdom applies to people, to land masses, and in fact, to anything that waits to be touched by a God who turns deserts into gardens.

Are you facing a crossroads today?  Does one way appeal more to your senses because it seems more fertile?  Be careful.  Commit yourself to prayer.  It would be a tragedy to suffer a bias caused by a feast for the eyes.  We risk settling, working, and marrying in Sodom.  Remember Lot?  Abram let him choose his future home.  Lot chose a city in a lush valley, pitched his tent there, and it ended up being Sodom.

I shut the eyes of my flesh and journey with You through the back door of blessing.  In Jesus name, Amen

A Drop In An Ocean Of Need

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“What shall we say the kingdom of God is like, or what parable shall we use to describe it? It is like a mustard seed, which is the smallest of all seeds on earth. Yet when planted, it grows and becomes the largest of all garden plants, with such big branches that the birds can perch in its shade.” Mark 4:30-32

Kingdom seeds are so powerful when they are planted on earth. Jesus gave an example of this when talking about the tiniest of seeds, the mustard seed.  Each one grows into a 10 foot plant. Great things always start small.

How much do I really believe in the seeds of scripture? When a need is so great, whether in someone else or in me, it can seem hopeless to personalize a few verses. What difference is it really making when I don’t see immediate results? Does speaking a few kingdom words over an ocean of need even impact the void?

My greatest mistake would be to be misled by earth’s odds. If I look at the probability of change like I look at filling up a beach ~ one grain of sand at a time ~ of course I’ll give up. But that is not what happens when I consistently sow the seeds of heaven. These agents of the kingdom are energetic and highly effective. When inspired, and then spoken, they begin the process of change. How do I know? Jesus said, “If you plant it, it will bear fruit.” Whether I can see the changes is immaterial. God works in the deep, in the unseen and imperceptible.  He does soul surgery in masterful ways long before human beings can see the fruit.

What kind of seeds do you need to plant today? Belief. Joy. Peace. Unity. Sobriety. Pure sexual appetite. I need to plant faith seeds ~ faith that God holds the answers to unanswered questions and is trustworthy.  So, I speak God’s Word outloud over myself.  When declared, faith is ignited and spiritual forces are put on notice. It is the legal equivalent of serving the enemy legal papers. Oh, the cumulative effect of God’s spoken Word over time – spoken over me – spoken over the earth.

I believe and I have seen with my own eyes ~ my own transformation. Amen

 

Jesus ~ What Kept Him Going?

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. . . so that the world may know that I love the Father, I do exactly as the Father commanded Me Get up, let us go from here. John 14:31

The Trinity had always been together, functioning in perfect harmony from before time. Their synergy is described in terms of a rhythmic slow dance. They moved in perfect sync. Each had a clearly defined role and the execution of them was achieved without the slightest hint of friction. So, imagine how their rhythm was disrupted when the Son left the Trinity to go to His mission field. Intimacy was disrupted as the Son became a child in Mary’s womb. God the Father bade His Son goodbye and watched Him leave. God was able to see into the future and though there was no fear of the unknown, there was still pain. He knew what awaited His child. Jesus did too – until He woke up as an infant in His mother’s arms.

What kept Jesus going? He was born in political upheaval and Roman rule was crude and cruel. The first way Jesus survived would due to His connection with His Father. The way He persevered was due to the love He felt for each of us. The way He endured resulted from His desire to be obedient to His Father’s call.

Jesus wouldn’t have made it without the fuel of all three catalysts. Before time, God envisioned the 40 days of temptation in the desert. He knew Lucifer intimately and could predict the all out war that would be waged. God knew who would accept Jesus as the Messiah. He knew the faces of those who would openly reject Him, too. He foresaw the close calls; the brushes with death as crowds plotted to kill Jesus. He meticulously planned each way of escape to ensure that His Son would fulfill His mission at Calvary. And yes, the Father also rejoiced, in advance, over the disciples that would be called and mentored. He looked down through the ages and saw an unstoppable church on the move. It would be battered but it would prevail. He saw it all and He felt what human parents feel at their child’s departure. Joy and agony.

The exact same way the Father infused fire and endurance into the life of His Son, He’s willing to infuse fuel into you and me. No magic formula. It’s about connection. This is the joy set before us.

I never want to live again through my iron will and gritted teeth. Always Lord, be near and fill me with Your fire. Amen

May He Not Be Unknown To Me

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O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you;
my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water. So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary. Psalm 63:1-2

If someone told me that I would be taking someone into my home for the next twenty-five years, I would pause. Who are they? What are they like? Can this person be trusted? Will our personalities clash? Setting out to find the answers, I’ll research him well. Then, if possible, I’ll ask for several face to face meetings to see if what I’ve heard bears true when in this person’s presence

If I would do this much for someone who would live with me for two decades, shouldn’t I do far more for someone with whom I’ll live for an eternity? Especially knowing that this person gave up everything so that I could eventually be with Him. I was banned from this possibility because of my sin, He knew that, and made a way for me to come home to Him. Very costly to Him personally, I might add.

Yet, I can be full of excuses when it comes time to invest in the relationship. God remains very much a stranger if I don’t take the time to know Him and spend time with Him. Unless I do love-driven research and ask Him to draw me close in prayer, I won’t have any experience of Him. Knowing that He is merciful and knowing how He is merciful to me are two different things. By the time I get to heaven, I should have had thousands of encounters and a myriad of shared experiences.

Wouldn’t it be a bit embarrassing to get to heaven, meet Jesus, and know almost nothing about Him?   Wouldn’t it be sad to have nothing to review? “Lord, remember when….” should encompass the first hundred years of eternity.

“Lord, remember when you rescued me in 1997?”

He nods and then asks, “And remember when I asked You to trust me when it looked like you couldn’t? I was so proud of you.”

I’ll nod ~ ever grateful that, in this life, I didn’t miss out on making memories.

“Oh Jesus, and My Father, and Holy Spirit inside ~ let me know You and take part in Your slow dance. Amen

When I Momentarily Give Up On God

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There are many who say, “Who will show us some good? Lift up the light of your face upon us, O Lord!” You have put more joy in my heart than they have when their grain and wine abound. PSALMS 4:6-7

David and his closest advisors are on the run from his son Absalom. The king and his royal court are living in hills and caves. How un-king like. Doesn’t this give us a picture of the political shifting in the Middle East today? Leaders are deposed quite easily by an overnight revolt. David is innocent. His son is evil – following the promptings of the prince of darkness. Things appear to have deteriorated permanently. His closest advisors certainly think so as David overhears them ask the question, “Who will show us some favor, Lord? Will you?” They refer to the Aaronic blessing from Numbers. ‘May the light of His favor shine upon you and give you peace.’ They long to see proof of it. Momentarily, they have given up on God because of their dire circumstances.

David, amazingly, hasn’t lost sight of who God is and what God has promised him. He sincerely tells them that God has put more joy in his heart, in his present circumstances, than the joy his enemies feel as they sit on their stolen throne. There has to be a lot of spiritual preparation before a storm for a child of God to know such things. All the more reason for me to prepare for dark times because they will come to all of us. My response is shaped ahead of time ~ in the light.

Has God’s favor left me when I am persecuted? No more than it left Jesus as He walked to Calvary. Jesus could separate His circumstances and the hatred of others from the favor of His Father and his awaiting glorification. When I’m giving up on God, what can I focus on?

  • I am still forgiven of every thing I’ve ever done.
  • I am still dressed in the undeserved righteousness of Jesus.
  • I am still walking toward a destiny that no man can steal.
  • I am loved unconditionally by my Father though I suffer the arrows of another’s scorn.
  • I can rest in every single promise God has made to me. Not one has been taken back.
  • I am bathed in the favor of God and every spiritual enemy can see it.

Though I may look at others today and see that their personal power is at its height, that their grain and their wine abound, I must know that it is fleeting.  Present circumstances mean nothing if they beg to nullify the awaiting glorification of God’s children.

I consider all the reasons I might give up on You. None of them will stand. In Jesus’ name, Amen