Author: Christine Wyrtzen

Prayer Before A Potentially Explosive Discussion

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Examine me, O Jehovah, and prove me; try my heart and my mind. Psalm 26:2

Prepare my heart, O God, to think Your thoughts and speak under the constraints of Your Spirit. I have no agenda other than Yours. I do not need to be right. It is Your reputation that is at stake when evil prospers. You are the one being wronged. Make me Your mouthpiece. Let me speak what You would speak if You stood in my place.

Others have shut my mouth when they accused me of judging them. I have feared hearing such words again until I remembered that You told your disciples to judge with righteous judgment. So I crucify my own self-righteousness that would want to judge others in order to stand taller than they. I raise up Your standard to discern righteously. I use my mouth to humbly proclaim Your truth. Let Your judgment fall from lips. I am Your servant.

Make this a holy confrontation. You prepared each of Your children to thrive in a wicked and perverse world. You said, “Have no fear of them, for nothing is covered that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known.” Matthew 10:26 Let today’s conversation pull what is hidden out of the dark. Let secret thoughts be exposed. Let true intentions rise to the surface. Let truth be spoken no matter the consequences.

I can be fearful of a confrontation but You are my banner. “You, Lord, are my light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear? You are the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?” Psalm 27:1 Let me see the one I must face today as You see them. “It is You who arms with me strength and keeps my way secure.” Psalm 18:32 I need not fear their intellect. I need not fear their retaliation. I need not fear their cunning arguments. When You speak, none can stand. “You made my mouth to be a sharp sword and in the shadow of Your hand You hide me.” Isaiah 49:2

I confess that, on my own, I have lost my objectivity. The battle has worn me down. But You, Lord, have illumined my thoughts. I am seated with You in heavenly places and You have graced me with insight to view events as You see them, not as they appear on earth. I rise today with supernatural knowledge only born of Your spirit. You are the one who “gives the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, of counsel and might.” Isaiah 11:2

Make me Your ambassador today and bring Your kingdom to earth. Come, Holy Spirit, to our conversation and let Your sword of truth fall. May righteous outcomes arise. In Jesus’ name, Amen

Getting To The Dance Part

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GETTING TO THE DANCE PART

Praise him with tambourine and dance; praise him with strings and pipe!  Psalm 150:4

How comfortable are you at the thought of dancing before the Lord?  Our answers will differ according to our denominational affiliation and history.

In scripture though, a ‘dance’ is referenced many more times than the way it is in this Psalm.

For instance, when the creation of the world is described, the interaction between the God the Father, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit is described as a continual slow dance.  They move within their unity with grace, joy, and precision.  I was also surprised to discover that something the Apostle Paul wrote connects to the idea of a dance.  Here it is.  Finally, then, brothers, we ask and urge you in the Lord Jesus, that as you received from us how you ought to walk and to please God, just as you are doing, that you do so more and more.  I Thess. 4:12   I miss a lot of the meaning of scripture once it is translated from Greek to English.  Unless I become adept enough in my Bible study skills to do some word studies, I’ll never know I passed over something golden.  So Eugene Peterson, in THE MESSAGE, translates Paul’s verse this way.  “One final word, friends.  We ask you ~ urge you is more like it ~ that you keep on doing what we told you to do to please God, not in a dogged religious plod, but in a living, spirited dance.” I love this!  Having lived for decades in a religious prison camp, I was overjoyed to discover that there was another way of life in Christ.  Dancing surely describes it.

When I choose to learn a new skill, it seems like it is all work.  It is not natural for me to perform it.  The thinking and coordination it takes to accomplish it can feel daunting.  I fear I’ll never master it.  Practice is the key because once it becomes second nature, the joy kicks in.

So it is with God’s instructions and my obedience.  When I first decided to follow in His footsteps, it was like walking in foreign territory.  It was all struggle on my part; impartation of grace on His.  At some point, the practice began to pay off.  Now, I wear some of His ways like a second skin.  I no longer have to harness every inclination.  I more fully understand the ways of Jesus and find that practice makes them a part of me.

I know, in part, what Peterson speaks of in his paraphrase today.  Oh, to dance with the labor part behind me!  To no longer have to look at my feet and think over every move means that I can close my eyes and enjoy the waltz.

Help me not lose heart today, Lord, over things I’m still learning.  One day, doing it will feel like breathing.  In Jesus’ name, Amen

Hanging On To What Others Ridicule

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You make us an object of contention to our neighbors, And our enemies laugh among themselves.  Psalm 80:6

Those who live without Jesus hope for things they cannot see and have no assurance of ever getting.  “I hope I get picked for the team.”  “I hope things work out okay.”  “I hope I will be loved in my new marriage.”  They watch us live by faith and taunt us as we assure them that our Father answers prayer and keeps His promises.  We’re human though ~ and we ache as we seek to hang onto our hope.  It’s easy to lose it in the company of those who try to talk us out of it.

Children of God hope for things they cannot see but know that what they hope for already exists.  They have a Father who has promised it.  They hope for heaven; knowing it will be there when they take their first gasp of celestial air.  They hope for deliverance; knowing that there will be one whether on earth or in heaven.  They hope for healing; knowing that the Healer is vested in them and will provide it.  They hope for redemption; knowing that no pain is ever wasted.  Why?  God said so.

Waiting patiently is not passive but pro-active.  In order to keep hope alive (and keep the lies of hopelessness at bay), I must be reviewing the promises of my Father.  I re-read the stories of my spiritual ancestors and their similar dark times in order to be reminded how God was faithful when onlookers ridiculed them.  I find scriptural promises that relate to my struggle and live in the hope of them, knowing that promises are a sure thing because of “who” it is that made them.  I hang those promises on my mirror, on my walls, and post them in a prominent place in my car.  This is the fight for faith.

Loss, grief, betrayal…these all visit the lives of Christians and non-Christians alike.  Though weeping visits us all, the nature of our tears differs greatly.  The laments of God’s children are temporary and though they cry, they cling to the robe of their Prophet King and recite the promises of His good will.  Resolution of the heavenly kind is just around the corner.

If I harbor disappointment today in any area of my life, it is only because my deliverance has not yet come.  I know it will and my hope is sure in You.  Give me grace while I wait.  Give me strength to fight for my faith by speaking Your Word to the lies of my own soul.  Amen

Prayer For Someone To Know God

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I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to <him> a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him.  I pray that the eyes of <his> heart may be enlightened, so that <he> may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints.  Ephesians 1:17-18

Thank you for hearing my prayer, not just casually listening, but invested.  You bend your ear to hear every pause, false start, and You discern the emotions behind my words.  No one listens like You.  No one understands all the questions I’ve not yet asked. You do.  You lead me to a place of understanding.

My heart aches today for someone who says they know You.  He knows ‘of’ You because he knows stories about You.  He’s heard us talk about You and I fear he is deceived into thinking that he knows You well.  I do not know if he would seek You if he were not influenced by friends and family.  Father him ~ and don’t let his pursuit of You depend on others.  Awaken his hunger so that it is self-generated by your gift of grace.

I pray that You will open his eyes to see You.  Give him a spirit of wisdom and revelation to realize that unless He has personal experience with You, he doesn’t know You at all.  He doesn’t know how You think and process things.  He doesn’t know what moves Your heart to beat passionately.  He doesn’t know about his hope and spiritual inheritance.  Not really.  If he did, Lord, he would not be checked out, living life by putting one foot in front of the other.  He has no purpose and little significance.

Break through the fog of indifference with Your glory.  Stun him and give him a Damascus road experience.  Let him be privy to an intimate relationship with You.  Let his knowledge of You have personal content.  Penetrate his heart of stone.  Kiss his soul to life and melt the walls of resistance.  He is afraid of love.  Afraid of feeling.  Afraid of change.  Afraid of Your calling on his life.  And in each of his fears, there are lies about your heart.  Tell him the truth, Lord.  In truth is his freedom.

You love him more than I do.  Call him to Your embrace and teach him to live as Your son.  Amen

When I Can’t See Them Changing

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The unfolding of Your words gives light; It gives understanding to the simple. I opened my mouth wide and panted.  Psalm 119:130-131

Some are called to plant spiritual seeds and to take the Gospel to remote parts of the earth.  Others are to come along behind to water what’s been planted.  We who are called to water others seeds are the majority.

I talked with a mother yesterday who is heartbroken that her adult son is so far from Christ.  She is reading the prayer every day over him that God led me to write about a week ago.  She is not alone in her grief, is she?  Every one of us loves someone in whom the seed was planted long ago but shows no signs of becoming tender toward Christ.  We can easily despair and lose hope.  But seeds are just that.  Seeds.  Out of sight.  Beneath the soil.  They are there but just not visible yet.  And, they need watering.  If I despair and abandon the process of spiritual gardening, I won’t hasten the work of God in their lives.

God promises that if I speak the Word of God over the lives of people and into desperate situations, it will not return void. I have spiritual dynamite in my hands in the form of the Word of God but if I never speak it or pray it, I will never see my garden flourish.  When I see nothing but brown soil, it is not the time to quit!  It is the time to till, cultivate, and use my mouth to, either plant, or water what is already there.  Every prayer I’ve prayed, every scripture I’ve spoken by faith, these acts are not in vain.

“Is not my Word like fire, declares the Lord, and like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces?” Jer. 12:29   Hearts of stone are broken, warmed, reshaped and transformed into hearts of flesh only one way.  Through the speaking of the Word.

Who am I to declare anyone hopeless?  I’ve planted the Word of God in their lives yet I don’t see any evidence that the seeds are changing them.  In faith, I still water them.  I abandon the illusion that I am speechless in my pain.   Speaking Your Word is a way of life and as I water the seeds with Your Word, please bring vistas of green where there is only a brown wilderness.  I wait for You with tears and faith.  In Jesus’ name, Amen

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The Secret of Joy

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When the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion, we were like those who dream.  Then our mouth was filled with laughter, and our tongue with shouts of joy; then they said among the nations, “The Lord has done great things for them.”  Psalm 126:1-2

Jesus came to show me what God was like.  That He came is a miracle.  That He would leave heaven so I would know His Father is a miracle.  That He would die in order to show me the vastness of His Father’s love is a miracle.  That He would be so radical as to forgive all my sins and never bring them up again is a miracle.  That I would have nothing to feel guilty about is a miracle.  That I could dare go behind the veil and approach God intimately is a miracle.   There are enough grounds here to rejoice all day, every day, no matter how well or poorly my day is going.  King David only dreamt of such intimacy with God but in spite of that, he knew laughter and joy.

Yet, I’ve lived much of my life without joy.  What has been the problem? I have found, for me, that no joy means one of two things, and how I wish someone had told me this thirty years ago.

1.) I have not allowed the truth of God to impact my heart. Symptoms?  I know a lot but feel little.  I can pick apart doctrinal stands on issues but never let the truth of them affect me.  I can preach humility but be arrogant.  This is the fruit of study without meditation; about knowledge void of experience.  The cure?  I come to God everyday with the Word in my hand and ask Him to awaken my heart to the message.  “Search my heart, do surgery on my heart if necessary and let me feel what You feel, Lord, about this passage.” This begins a transformation that, over time, produces joy!

2.) I believe things about God that aren’t true that block joy. I can be full of contradictions.  I say that I believe Jesus came to save sinners but then I have trouble admitting that I am one.  I can easily give testimony that God is love but privately believe that He is punishing me when things go wrong.  I must ask God to make me self-aware, in touch with my emotions.  When I feel helpless, what do I believe that is causing me to feel helpless?  Therein lies the lie.  When misjudged and feeling outrage, what lie do I believe about God’s justice and His sovereign rule? I must name it before I can know freedom. I must hold up my emotions, the beliefs behind them, to the truth of God’s Word.  My beliefs, and the feelings which mask them, must be subject to Truth, always.

Joy begins when I know the truth.  Joy begins when I feel the truth.  Joy begins when I am delivered from misjudgments about God.  Joy begins when my heart of stone is touched by King Jesus and begins to beat hard with passionate responses to His glory.  I was made to feel joyful about God, not a shortsighted kind of joy that is dependent upon in my circumstances.

Some who have been martyred walked to their death singing.  Help me know what they knew.  In Jesus name, Amen

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Glory, Compliments, and Encouragement

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Good and upright is the LORD; Therefore He instructs sinners in the way. He leads the humble in justice, and He teaches the humble His way. Psalm 25:8-9

God will not share His glory with another but since He’s not around in a form where we can physically see Him, we’ll try to steal it. Like a child who can’t get enough attention, we take every opportunity to make ourselves the center of the world.

Knowing that all glory belongs to God, knowing how to handle compliments is hard. And what is the difference between a compliment and a word of encouragement? In the past, admittedly, I had no clue how to step around this minefield. For a long time, I asked audiences to refrain from any applause when I sang. It made me uncomfortable. But I came to understand that audiences need to express themselves. They need the artist to know when something has touched them. Additionally, I also deflected every compliment and denied that what they were saying was true. This made the person who meant well feel like they were being corrected.

Contrasting the two, here’s a compliment. “You are the best teacher I know.”  And a word of encouragement. “I’m so grateful that you know your gift comes from God and you use it beautifully to make Him glorious.” The first builds the ego. The second encourages humility and faithfulness.

So what can I do when complimented in ministry? What can you do when someone praises your hospitality, leadership, and/or counsel? We can craft our answers to God’s glory. “Thank you for your kindness but I will tell you that I’m so grateful that God has chosen to use me. I feel blessed and unworthy.”

In a ministry that has gotten a lot of personal feedback over the years, and as someone who has struggled with the platform, I want to be clear where God has me now. Jaime and I have had meaningful discussions about ‘gifts and service’ this week, so I am confident that I speak for both of us.

When God shines His light on a passage and a devotional is born, to God be the glory. When someone feels that the devotional was written just for them, to God be the glory. When God gives grace to write something on a bad day and an empty page is filled, to God be the glory. When a heart is stilled and comforted by what was written that day, to God be the glory. When a ministry has been around for 3+ decades, to God be all glory.  Pray for us ~ that Daughters of Promise would always be about God.

Father, You give undeserved grace and we give You much deserved glory. Amen

 

 

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Do Something! They’re Getting Away With It!

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To You, O Lord, I lift up my soul.  O my God, I trust in You; Let me not be ashamed; Let not my enemies triumph over me.  Indeed, let no one who waits on You be ashamed.  Psalm 25:1-3

The only way I can bless those who persecute me is to have faith in the justice of God.  I have to trust that my Father does not take sin lightly and is anything but passive when His children are righteously persecuted.  Otherwise, I will see the command to ‘bless those who persecute me’ and believe that God shrugs His shoulders and fails to care about how much I may have been hurt.  The only thing I’ll perceive He’s concerned about is keeping the peace between enemies.  Does He love peace more than He loves truth?  Does He love reconciliation more than He angers over injustice?

These are the questions that can keep a child of God up at night ~ especially if they have been raised in a home where pain was not acknowledged.  Parents saw their children’s tears, heard them cry, and may have even heard the story of what caused the tears, but then walked away and appeared unmoved by it all.  “Pray for your enemies” is a hollow command in the halls of stoic homes.

 Against the backdrop of loving my enemy however is the reality of imprecatory passages, like Psalm 69:23-24 Let their eyes be darkened, so that they cannot see, and make their loins tremble continually. Pour out your indignation upon them, and let your burning anger overtake them.

Paul loved this Psalm and quoted it several times in Romans.  Jesus loved this Psalm as well and quoted it twice from the cross. Putting those who hurt me into God’s hands is to be assured that there will be justice served.  Either our enemy will come to the cross, repent, and Jesus will justify them through taking the wrath they should suffer upon Himself – or – at the end of the age, God will pour out His wrath and indignation upon them to the fullest extent.  One way or the other, no exceptions, sin must be dealt with.

God rules with justice and mercy.  He is passionate about mercy; about sinners coming to Jesus to have their sins forgiven and to experience a Savior who takes the wrath of God upon Himself.  And He is also passionate about justice; bringing down wrath on those who persecute the saints, perpetrate evil, and shun repentance.  His plan is perverted when I get in the way and try to wear His crown.  Justice is God’s business and never should I usurp His jurisdiction and take matters of revenge into my own hands.

Imprecatory Psalms and praying for our enemies are the practical applications of God’s justice and mercy here on earth.  If I am more bent toward one than the other, I misrepresent the nature and character of God.  If I’m soft on sin and have no righteous anger, then mercy stands alone and God’s holiness is in question.  If I live angry and cry out for justice, then the radical love that Jesus showed on the cross is obscured.

Dangerously, I am more bent toward one than the other.  God must work in me to make me balanced.  I am in prayer about this in my own heart.

Lord, you know my personal obstacles and only You can show break through my confusion and conflicted heart.  I wait for Your wisdom.  Amen

A Way Where There Is No Way

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Keep me free from the trap that is set for me, for you are my refuge. Psalm 31:4

Last night was one of those nights when God was speaking loudly in my ear. A very powerful dream, the kind that I get once a year, visited me. The message was, in one way, for me. Yet, to the extent that I can write about it, it may also be for you.

We often find ourselves hemmed in. We didn’t see it coming. We traveled along, thought things were fine as we acted upon the advice of well meaning people, but ended up at this dead end nonetheless. Perhaps the brick wall also puts us in peril. We try to re-trace our steps to find someone to blame but we discover that our way was shaped by well-meaning companions who were also doing the best they could to dispense advice. They’re just not God. And so we stand in a place where it’s impossible to go forward and equally impossible to go back. It’s as if we ascended a mountain through switchback turns, barely survived, and the only way is forward.

While we rail and fret, God is listening. Our anxiety doesn’t bring Him to the scene to start problem solving. He knew way back that we’d be here and put everything in place long ago to make a way of escape. His sovereignty allowed the trap and His sovereignty has devised a glorious solution for our salvation and His glory. What’s difficult to see is that the trap is really our friend. The proposition seems preposterous. How can it be that the very thing that threatens my life is my doorway to glory! Yet, it is. It always is because from God’s vantage point, the steps of a righteous man are ordered by Him.

Traps are illusions. Traps take us to hidden doors that only God can see. Traps lead us to God’s arms. Traps show us that God is the hero of our story. Traps reveal the brokenness and limitations of the people around us but then reveal the power and glory of our Father. Traps end one way of life and introduce us to a better way. Traps offer us the chance to embrace new spiritual paradigms.

Perhaps what I’m cursing under my breath is really something for which I should give thanks. I also need to stop looking for what I think salvation will look like and ask God to give me supernatural vision for the door that leads to spacious places. This wall is God’s window to my future.

I will stop crying and dare to believe. Amen

When Anger Crosses The Line

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Be angry, and do not sin; ponder in your own hearts on your beds, and be silent. Psalm 4:4

This verse sounds familiar. Paul told believers in Ephesus to be angry but not to sin. To whom is David talking? Is he addressing friends of God? Not at all. He’s addressing his enemies and telling them to check their anger. Are they angry for themselves or for sins done against God? He gives them good advice. Get alone. Lie flat on your bed and ponder what you’re doing.

I’ve heard this great advice and probably you have as well. “When you’re angry, leave the scene until you calm down.” But calming down in order to evaluate the long-term fruits of my anger is new food for thought. Since acting on my anger conceives many trails of regret, pondering would be wise. What is at stake and what would contemplating uncover?

  • I can rehearse why I’m angry and what words I will use to strike back. In my anger, I want to do the most damage.
  • I can become further enraged and decide never to forgive what was done to me. That vow feels good and feels justified.
  • I can conceive a plot to get revenge. When I get up from my bed, I will feel better. Satan will give me a physical and emotional ‘high’.
  • I can decide to withdraw emotionally from the relationship and freeze the other person out. I dream of how hurt they will be.
  • I can weigh the spiritual damage of staying angry. I consider what it will be like to have my fellowship with God broken.
  • I can weigh the emotional damage. I think of some angry people that I know. I consider how difficult it is to be around them. I remember their faces and how toxic is their company.
  • I can weigh the physical damage. I remember that long-term anger hurts my body. Joy promotes well-being. Stress is the #1 killer.
  • Finally, I review God’s forgiveness of my own sin. Even when I wasn’t sorry enough (and none of us really sees our sin as God sees it), He heard my repentance and forgave me where I was.

I’m not naïve. If the offense is deep, I will not forgive them after 30 minutes of pondering. Forgiveness is a process and may take another year to complete. But I can arise prayerful, asking God to carry me through my hurt towards a readiness to forgive. That kind of humility annihilates revenge, emotional withdrawal, and physical damage. At the heart of all anger is a willingness or unwillingness to trust God to rule righteously. Do I really trust him with those who have wronged me? Or am I prideful enough to believe that they are better off in my hands. Forgiveness is not letting people off the hook. It’s taking them off my hook and putting them on God’s hook.

Father, Satan feeds my anger and wants me to fail. I will have to fight for my joy and restored peace with the sword of Your Word and the help of Your Spirit. Please help me to the other side. In Jesus’ name, Amen