Poised In The Perfect Position

Published on by Christine WyrtzenLeave a comment

And Isaac went out to meditate in the field toward evening, and he lifted up his eyes and saw and behold, the camels were coming. And Rebeccah lifted up her eyes and when she saw Isaac, she fell off the camel. Genesis 24:62-63 

Human eyesight and spiritual eyesight are far from being the same thing.  Each perceives life differently. A total stranger can stand ten feet away from me and if I am looking at him with human eyes, he may not be significant to me at all. But, that person might actually be God-sent and someone important to my future and if I was in tune with God, as Isaac was in today’s scripture, I might recognize that person as significant somehow. I’d know deep in my spirit that that God put him in my path.
One day, Abraham gave his servant specific instructions on how he was to go about securing a wife for his son, Isaac. Concerned that Isaac would marry someone in close proximity (a Canaanite woman), Abraham went to great lengths to make sure Isaac married among his own people. He sent his servant on a long journey, back to Abraham’s home country, to find a bride from his own tribe. Isaac, it appears, knew nothing about this as he worked a southern piece of land in his father’s territory, far from home base.
Isaac was a young patriarch and his connection to God was alive. He had seen God reveal Himself by providing a lamb on Mt. Moriah. How could any person ever be the same after that! One evening, as Isaac went out in the field to meditate and enjoy God’s presence, he looked up to see his father’s servant approaching with a young girl on a camel. He wasn’t expecting anyone nor did he have any idea who the girl was. But because he was aligned spiritually and in God’s presence, his whole being responded to the significance of this young woman. And as for her, she viscerally reacted to the sight of Isaac. She had obeyed God by leaving home and was also walking in the light of His favor and guidance. And don’t you love it that she fell off the camel at the sight of her future husband?
Bible study is one thing. Meditation on the scriptures is quite another. The latter centers our thoughts on God’s thoughts. It aligns us with heaven’s purposes in such a way as to enable us to recognize the movements of God all around us. I wonder how many holy moments I’ve missed because I was out of sync with the Spirit. When I fail to make biblical mediation a way of life, I not only miss the voice of God, I miss the unveiling of sandaled footprints in front of me.

There is nothing, absolutely nothing, more important on this day as resting in Your Word and Your presence. I don’t want to miss you. Amen

I Start With Myself

Published on by Christine WyrtzenLeave a comment

Jesus became troubled in spirit and testified, “Truly, truly, I tell you, one of you will betray Me.” The disciples began to look at one another, perplexed as to which of them He meant. John 13:21-22

The atmosphere at the Lord’s Supper grew tense. Jesus announced that one of the twelve would betray Him. In that pregnant moment, I do not believe that each wondered which of his brothers had done such a thing. I believe a dark cloud came over each of them personally as they feared it might be them.  I believe they knew some of their own weaknesses.  After all, they had been with Jesus for three years to see the stark contrast between holiness and sinfulness.

Three years is a long time to travel with someone. Their relationship with Him was intimate. What they expected Him to do, He rarely did. What they anticipated He might say, He rarely said.  Whom they didn’t expected Him to heal, He did.  When they expected Him to honor sacred Jewish traditions, He surprised them by doing the opposite.  They had had plenty of time to understand their own sinfulness in light of the contrast.  They knew pretty quickly that they fell short of God’s glory – resident in Christ.

For Judas, the bait was money. His love for riches challenged fidelity. But for any one of the disciples, there might have been another temptation to hit home and cause them to walk away.

It is imperative that I know my own weaknesses well. Self-indulgent introspection doesn’t reveal them. Only the mirror of the Word of God does. I must let the Word judge my heart. I must accept what God shows me, and then I must allow God to start changing what I love too much that could threaten our relationship. Yes, I could easily be a Judas. I have had Judas moments.

I have known the bitter gall of failure. I have drunk the wine of self-hatred. I have questioned God’s radical forgiveness. But grace won. Failure, repentance, and forgiveness are great teachers. I remember from where I’ve fallen and, because of the grace of God, He will empower me to finish the race well and avoid a Judas kind of detour.

I don’t love others unconditionally without Your help. I can only love YOU unconditionally by Your grace, too. Challenge me and my affections. Amen

Coming Home With Words

Published on by Christine WyrtzenLeave a comment

I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not cover my iniquity; I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the LORD,” and you forgave the iniquity of my sin.  Psalm 32:5

King David is clear in today’s scripture about the importance of words in the process of repentance.    He’s not preaching a sermon to his subjects.  He’s reveals his own path back to God by letting us hear the nature of his personal prayer.

Imagine if you had a prodigal son who spurned your love and went off on a long journey.  You mourned for him, prayed for him, and waited for his return.  One day, you wake up to see him sleeping in his old room.  He gets up in the morning and says little.  It’s obvious that he’s come home to stay because he unpacked completely.  He started engaging in household routines but gave no explanation about where’s been or why he’s come back.  It wouldn’t be long until you’d erupt and say, “Look, we have to talk about this.  Where have you been?  What have you been doing?  Why are you home?”  

We can never stray from God and go back without a language of repentance and self-disclosure.  “Lord, I went away because ___________.  I’ve been off doing _______________.  My heart feels ______________.  Please forgive me for ____________.”

The only way to make a solid return is with words.  It’s not because He needs to hear them. Unlike we human parents, He knows the thoughts and intents of His children’s hearts.  We need to speak because, by speaking, we are changed.  The dam breaks and acknowledgement of our actions and feelings brings what was hidden into the Light.  The elephant in the room of our relationship with God has been acknowledged.

Words are a gift we give to God that only come back to benefit us in the long run.  When we speak words of repentance, we are bathed in forgiveness.  When we speak words of praise, we are delivered from the chains of darkness.  When we speak words that reveal our own story, we gain self-awareness.  When we speak words of faith, we surmount the barriers of unbelief.  When we sing, we push back the darkness.  Let’s take our words and live in the presence of the Lord today.

If I am wordless, I am poor.  Breathe on my tongue, Jesus.  Release my language of remorse and repentance.  Amen

At What Point Do You Give Up?

Published on by Christine Wyrtzen2 Comments

I will praise the Lord no matter what happens. I will constantly speak of his glories and grace. I will boast of all his kindness to me. Let all who are discouraged take heart. Let us praise the Lord together and exalt his name. For I cried to him and he answered me! He freed me from all my fears.  Others too were radiant at what he did for them. Theirs was no downcast look of rejection!  This poor man cried to the Lord—and the Lord heard him and saved him out of his troubles.  For the Angel of the Lord guards and rescues all who reverence him. Oh, put God to the test and see how kind he is!  Psalm 134:1-8  TLB

I shared a meal recently with someone who just needed to talk. She admitted that her heart had shut down. One storm after another had overtaken her but for a while she believed things were manageable. There was more right than wrong so she stayed optimistic. She believed in her natural problem solving skills.   Eventually though, things fell apart with most every family member. She wept as she admitted that she had lost her voice, lost her hope, and lost her fight.

What’s missing from this picture is a mention of God. Prayer, faith, and strategy, are absent. It’s not that she doesn’t know God. She does but her prayers are way too sporadic. Passivity means that she has abdicated the outcome to stronger forces she doesn’t have the will to fight anymore.

When the enemy comes in like a flood, I don’t have to stand back and wring my hands over the invasion. When sickness overtakes a family member, I can do more than watch. When bad news is announced, I can do more than listen. When sin dominates another part of the house, I can do more than worry. When a family member succumbs to depression, I can do more than offer platitudes. When the bank account is depleted, I can do more than expect destitution. God will raise up a standard and He will use me to be His temple of faith and praise.

If you’re lying down because you feel hopeless, get up. If you’ve lost your voice, get it back. If you’ve stopped praying, fall to your knees. The language you need is the language of the scriptures. If you have a mouth that can read the Word of God out loud, you’re not wordless. No home need permeate darkness when praise music plays twenty-four hours a day. No mother need cry herself to sleep with hopeless tears when God gives her scriptures to address every single thing that assaults her household. God’s daughter is meant to walk the house and pray scripture out loud. She does it in the morning. She does it again at night. Her faith is revived as she speaks God’s promises. They are the battle cry that declares war on God’s adversary.

What happens when the enemy hears her scriptural pronouncements and when God’s Word assaults his ears? His schemes are threatened. He is reminded of his limits and flees. Know this ~ he will try to re-group, only to be met again with the the child of God who knows that the secret is persevering. Let that be you. Have a word ready for his next act of aggression.

Is everything you’ve read merely my attempt to give a good sounding pep talk? No. I’ve lived long enough to have experienced life falling apart on many fronts and, oftentimes, it happened all at once. There were periods when I capitulated to a serious depression. But somewhere in the night, there was an infusion of faith and God tutored this child to learn strategy and warfare. The turnaround didn’t happen all at once. His Word drove out the despair like the slow drip of a life-giving IV and it revived me. What I thought I needed to tolerate became history. God’s glory came to rest but not without my full engagement and cooperative effort. There’s a reason scripture trembles in my hands. It’s wonder – not fear. Let me pass along my well-founded confidence to you. It is a gift from someone who once lived in the pit of nothingness.

I’m praying for the one whose hands are limp and whose tongue is silent. Nudge her to pick up her sword. Help her conceive a strategic plan to take back what the enemy has plundered. Lead her to scriptures for every area of defeat. Give her a voice to speak them out loud. Let the enemy know that You are raising up a standard against him with a resurrected daughter. In Jesus name, Amen

Will It Be You?

Published on by Christine WyrtzenLeave a comment

Last night was the night for dreams.  This was one of them.

**************************

There was a gathering at church.  There were a few who believed that God was going to do something powerful in the meeting.  They saw hints of glory, the stirrings of something holy, but their expectations were dormant so nothing ever manifested.  People mingled normally, hugged each other and said how long it had been since they’d seen one another and before long, the scheduled time for the meeting to end was upon them.  For the few who had hoped for God’s presence, it felt like the time had been a waste.  People had gotten dressed up, came a distance, spent the time, made refreshments, brought gifts to one another, but if the point was meeting together with God’s Spirit, the time proved empty.  The people were so used to a dry outcome that the majority didn’t even register disappointment.

The emcee looked around for someone to close in prayer.  Then it happened.  A servant, with a heart alive to God, opened her mouth with an imploring, passionate plea for the Spirit of God to touch people’s hearts.  Need after need was verbalized and the possibilities of what would happen if God came to breathe on each one was born.  The desperation for such a move of God was acknowledged.  The desire for a miraculous outcome was painted with words and then time stood still as the Spirit of God began to stir the hearts of God’s people.  The tease of heaven entered the room.  Normal disappeared.  Extraordinary came into view and no one knew where God would take them.

How many meet together without an expectation of glory?  How many know, and quote, the verse of God being in the midst of two or three but rarely anticipate anything out of the ordinary?  How many have stopped hoping to see God?  How many have never felt Him, or heard Him, nor seen what happens when His Spirit takes over the room?

Someone needs to step up to pray; some dreamer who is in touch with heaven’s possibilities, some quiet saint who knows God and what He can do, some experienced child of God who understands people and sees their desperate need and steps forth to set the stage in prayer.   Fresh fire needs to fall.  Who will rise up to shatter the form of godliness  with petitions for the real thing?

As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell on them just as on us at the beginning.  Acts 11:15

 

Wasted Tribulation

Published on by Christine WyrtzenLeave a comment

For they did not get the land in possession by their own sword, neither did their own arm save them, but Your right hand and Your arm and the light of Your countenance, because You favored them. Psalm 44:4

 Resilience is wonderful unless God, who is the source of all strength and life, is an afterthought and human beings take credit for having what it takes to overcome hardship.

I wonder how many Israelites took credit for conquering the Promised Land. I hope none of them did but I know human nature. We are proud beings with fragile egos. We will think better of ourselves if we believe we had something to do with our victories. How sad if any one of them went through 40 years of wandering, testing, victory, defeat, even judgment, and came out the other side not understanding that it was God who spared them. It was God who saved them. It was God who showed mercy because He was the covenant God. The suffering (upon those who ended up boasting of their own power) was wasted.

Tribulation can be for naught in my life too. Don’t these sentiments sound familiar?

  • I come from strong stock. I will get through this.
  • Nothing is going to take me down. I’m a survivor.
  • They haven’t heard the last word from me yet.
  • It will take more than this to defeat me.

What’s missing are acknowledgements of need. I am alive because God gave me breath just a second ago. What does it take for me to come to the end of myself and confess complete dependence on God? Unfortunately, it takes a lot. And not hard to fathom, there are some who will never feel they need God despite crushing personal pain.

How about you? Don’t you want to squeeze the most wisdom out of hardship? I do. We are not sadists. We don’t wish for travail but we also know that, when it comes, it is a trial or two that brings the treasures of darkness to the children of God. Christ is sweeter and sweeter when need increases.

If I am strong, You made me strong. If I survive, You have gifted it. If there is re-building, You gave the resilience. Let me never forget. Amen

House Of Cards

Published on by Christine WyrtzenLeave a comment

Everyone who comes to me, and hears My words, and acts upon them, I will show you whom he is like. Luke 6:47

There is a saying, “he’s a house of cards.” A person who appears strong can really be someone who crumbles when the right storm comes. We just can’t see beneath his intimidating exterior. If you’re old enough, you could tell numerous real-life stories about those whom you once feared but who were revealed for the weak people they really are.

Jesus goes on in this Luke passage to reveal that there are those who have built their life on sand. When the wind comes, their house blows over because they fashioned a foundation outside of Christ. Like ~

  • Someone who controls others in the need to feel powerful.
  • Someone who rules with fear in order to be feared.
  • Someone who hides from emotional engagement in order to avoid vulnerability.
  • Someone who bullies others in a an attempt to feel powerful.
  • Someone who pretends to know everything for fear of being wrong.

If you have been the victim of someone who appeared strong, perhaps even scary, you know how long it took for you to realize that there was weakness underneath the façade. When you finally took your stand in Christ, you saw them morph into the person they really were.

As I write this, I am listening to the news about the mass shooting in Las Vegas. Heartbreaking! A recent poll shows that 60% of our people believe that our world is unraveling. Yes, God is clear about the message of foundations and that upon which we build. Whether a person, or even a nation, any infrastructure that fails to be God-centered will crumble.

A house built on sand can look pretty impressive for a while but in the end, inevitable storms will test the bedrock.

In whom do we have our trust? Anyone other than you is a house of cards, Lord. Give me wisdom as I take stock of my own foundation and as I assess whom I fear. You are my Light and my Salvation. Whom shall I fear? Amen

Be Careful!

Published on by Christine WyrtzenLeave a comment

. . . and we sent Timothy, our brother and God’s coworker in the gospel of Christ, to establish and exhort you in your faith, that no one be moved by these afflictions. For you yourselves know that we are destined for this.   I Thess. 3:2-3

Suffering and prosperity are not given in proportion to the evil or the good in a person. Righteous people suffer and the righteous also enjoy times of prosperity. Evil people suffer and evil people also enjoy prosperity.

What trips up those of us who judge others too quickly is the misintrepretation of ‘blessing’. God promises to bless those who honor Him and send into captivity those who disobey Him. But, if I interpret these two principles as external blessings and external hardships, I easily become another’s judge. How many times have I viewed someone in a prolonged season of travail and concluded that they must be living in sin. How many times have I heard a joyous person tell one happy story after another and concluded that they must be blessed. I must be more careful. These indicators are unreliable compasses.

What is blessing and what can I count on if I obey God? Peace. Calm. Wisdom. Joy. I can experience all of these internally even if, externally, I am in perpetual distress rather than ease. God entrusts many of His children with life-long travail because He knows that they will faithfully share in His Son’s sufferings. They will advance the kingdom and glorify their Father in heaven.

Job knew times of prosperity, both at the beginning of his life and at the end. In the middle though, we are familiar with the testing of his faith. God gave Satan permission to afflict him. As onlookers, his friends concluded what we are prone to conclude today. Job must have sinned and displeased God. They withdrew their compassion and started voicing assumptions of his guilt. Yet, who could know except God what great plotline was really behind the affliction. In the end, God spoke directly to Job’s friends and said, “My wrath is kindled against you because you have not spoken of Me what is right as My servant Job has.” Job 42:7b

It’s chilling to think that some of God’s choicest servants walk with the heavy burden of false guilt. They have internalized words of judgment that are not from God. Guilt has been heaped upon their suffering and it has caused their confidence in God to be shaken.

What is confusing is that God also sends times of ‘external’ captivity to those who have turned aside from their faith. He also sends times of ‘external’ blessing to those who have honored him with their lives of faith. But to use these latter realities as the only measuring sticks by which we judge others is to end up potentially throwing stones at a saint like Job. Stoning may not take his life but it will annihilate his hope. I must be slow to speak and quick to pray.

Comfort the one who has known perpetual hardship. It has not been a season for them but much of their life. Send them wise and intuitive comforters with life-giving words that will help them finish the race well. Amen

Speaker Of The Promises

Published on by Christine WyrtzenLeave a comment

This is my comfort in my affliction, that your promise gives me life.  Psalm 119:50

    A promise is only invaluable to me if the promise came from someone precious and trustworthy.  The same words, spoken by a casual acquaintance, don’t carry the same weight as words spoken by my dearest friend.  There is comfort and meaning only because of the relationship.

    To experience true life-change from the Scriptures, I must understand two things; 1.) They are words.   2.) And, they are just words unless the Spirit reveals them to me.

  •     If I read the Bible just to entertain myself with stories, just to acquaint myself with concepts, I will miss the relational meaning behind them all.  It will feel the same as reading a novel or the morning paper.
  •     If I seek manifestations of the Spirit, in worship, in prayer, without the Word, I will feel some sense of the Lord’s presence but He will have no definition without the Word behind Him.

    To fully engage with Him and the life-changing power of His Word, I must engage with both.  My life was forever changed in 1997 when I came to the open scriptures and said, “These are just words on a page, nothing more.  Where are you?  Please open my heart to your words and reveal them to me.”  That prayer (still made every single day) transformed me from a ‘once-in-a-while-Bible-reader’ to a passionate student and disciple.  I don’t study it because I love to study.  I study because I’m wild about Jesus and I know He wrote the words.

    So, I contemplate the psalmist’s words this morning.  He reveals that God’s promises give him life.  How do words on a scroll drip life into his afflicted heart?  He has a throbbing, pulsating relationship with the One who wrote them.  The author and inspirational force behind the scriptures, when engaged, becomes the One who whispers the Torah in his ears.  In the context of love and faithfulness, promises spring to life.

    Every one of us who has trusted Christ knows that the Spirit lives inside us.  He is ever with us – because He promised that He would be.  So, why is that not more comforting?  It’s because we have not asked Him to fulfill the role He was meant to fulfill in our lives.  Interpreter, teacher, revealer, speaker of the Word to our souls. I’ve often said, “I know You’re here, Lord.  But I can’t feel it!”  I failed to realize that seeking the Spirit, void of the Word, was like asking someone to comfort me but putting a muzzle on their mouth so they couldn’t speak and putting a blindfold on my eyes so I couldn’t see them.  If I want the full effect of God in my life, I must embrace the Word and embrace the Spirit as speaker, teacher, and revealer.

I long for your Words to penetrate my heart as deeply as You intended.  Teach me.  Move me.  Speak your Word over me that I might see, that I might life.  Amen

Silenced By Glory

Published on by Christine WyrtzenLeave a comment

Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God.  Romans 3:19

The radiance of God’s glory is veiled even though so many of His children, including me, ask everyday, “Show me your glory today.”  I’ve seen enough of it to change my heart but the amount I have seen is a grain of sand in the vast ocean of glory.  What happens when God shows His face and gives more than a small dose?  Apparently, silence.

Job was silenced in his accusations when God became present and started asking him questions.

Isaiah was silenced when He saw God in all of His glory.  Immediately, he pronounced himself unclean.

Habakkuk tried to speak and nothing came out.

John, as well as he knew Jesus, saw him in his glorified state and fell as dead at His feet.  Jesus had to touch him and bring life back to John’s body.

One day, all of us will stand before God.  We will see him in all of His glory.  It won’t be the same as standing before human judges.  There, we are often acquitted, even though guilty.  Our judges are fallen and we grow cynical of earthly laws and their consequences when we are tempted to discount those in higher authority.

The most eloquent will be silenced on the day they see God.  He who has been self-impressed, insistent that his good deeds outweigh his bad deeds and are enough to earn him a place in heaven, will tremble and lose his voice in the presence of holiness.  Even the most faithful of God’s children will bow low in humility.  God is more glorious than any human description; more holy than flawed people can even conceive.

As a fallen woman, I can not imagine what perfection is like.  For now, I see glimpses of Him and it stirs me to worship and defer my will to His.  Since I was created to worship and to love God, this is the most exhilarating experience I will ever know in this lifetime.  Any of Satan’s counterfeits pale in comparison.

Let me see as much of Your glory as I can see and live.  Please, Lord. Amen