THE EMOTIONAL LANDSCAPE OF A NEW YEAR

I sought the Lord, and he answered me
and delivered me from all my fears. Those who look to him are radiant, 
and their faces shall never be ashamed.  Psalm 34:4-5 

         I’ve been praying about what to write at the beginning of this brand new year. Yesterday, God gave it to me in a beautiful moment of breakthrough with our new golden retriever named Mollie.

         Last summer, our 13-year-old family dog went into kidney failure and had to be put down.  It was an awful day as it is for anyone who makes their pet a part of the family.  A month later, I decided to surprise my husband with a new golden retriever.  Because we are ‘rescue people’, I went straight to the Golden Retriever Rescue of Atlanta.  After a 6-week process, and after much prayer that God would bring us the dog of His choice, Mollie became ours.  As with any rescue dog, she came with a story and with some fears to overcome.

         The day we picked her up and drove home, I stroked her face and said to her, “You’ve just had your last bad day!”  From that moment on, she’s been loved well.  She’s my companion and spends the day with me in my office.  As with all our pets, I’ve come to make up little love songs for her; short songs like jingles on TV.  I sing them to her a dozen times a day.

         How long has it taken her to relax in this atmosphere of love?  Quite a while.  The love is safe but she doesn’t fully know it yet.  Just yesterday, there was a breakthrough moment.  Continue reading “The Emotional Landscape of a New Year” →

JUSTIFIED BY FAITH AND WORKS

Then Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife to slaughter his son. But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” He said, “Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.”  Genesis 22:10-12

         Here’s the stuff of Christian maturity.  First, I am justified by faith.  But then, I am to be justified by works as well.  I am to walk to my Mt. Moriah in obedience to whatever God asks of me.  To say I have faith, but then not have the courage to walk it out, cheapens, if not nullifies, my words.

         God asked Abraham for one of the hardest things anyone has ever done to obey God.  Though I’m sure there was inner anguish, there is no account that he argued with God or postponed his obedience.  God spoke, Abraham acted. He trusted God that there would be a redemptive ending.  He believed that God would raise Isaac from the dead.  For us, that may be a stretch but nothing like it was for Abraham.  To date, there had never been a resurrection from the dead.  Abraham stretched his faith to include something for which there had been no precedent.

         I am not saved by works, but by faith.  I know that.  But faith without works is a tragedy.  When God calls me to do something difficult but my faith falters and I run away from my ‘Ninevah’, the purpose for which I was created falls apart. I miss out on the exhilarating provision of a lamb and those around me miss out on the story God wanted to write through my obedience.  If Satan can’t take away my eternal destiny, he’ll do the next best thing ~ convince me that I can’t trust God.  His rhetoric will posture God as unreasonable and reckless with my life.

         “Was not Abraham justified by works when he offered up his son, Isaac, on the altar?”  James 2:21  Indeed.  From that moment on, the world has re-told the story.  As much as it is recounted, we still can’t grasp the breadth of his faith.  It is a God-story and defies the inclination of every Christian to play it safe.

Show me how others view me and the many words I offer about You and the life of faith.  Do they take them seriously?  And do You, Lord?  Amen

Journal Question:  Is there something God has called you to do and you’ve put it aside for a time?  What has been the effect on others?  What has been the effect on you and your walk with God?

THE MOMENT THAT HANGS IN THE BALANCE

And Isaac said to his father Abraham, “My father!” And he said, “Here I am, my son.” He said, “Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?”  Genesis 22:7

         Perhaps you’ve gotten a phone call, or several, that started with… “I’m sorry but I’m afraid I have some bad news to tell you.”  You had a physical visceral reaction and your mind was scrambling to prepare for what was coming.

         I remember calling my parents from the Pittsburgh airport to find out the results of my mother’s recent sonogram.  I was thirty at the time.  My sister, Nancy, was kind and soft.  Asked me how my trip was going.  But I knew in my spirit she was giving me time to prepare for the bad news she had to deliver.  My mother had inoperable cancer with a short time to live.  I will never forget that day nor how I felt.

         Can you feel this pivotal moment between Isaac and Abraham?  Isaac knows there’s going to be a sacrifice.  The wood is ready.  But there is no visible sign of a lamb.  Did he even think it possible that he might be the sacrifice?  From the look on his father’s face, mostly likely he knew something cataclysmic was at stake.

         These kinds of pivotal moments are terrifying.  No amount of personal power and self-sufficiency can prepare me to feel like life is under my control.  It isn’t.  My gut knows it and that’s why I grasping for anyone to tell me this is a bad dream and I’ll wake up.  At that moment, I’m a child.

         God knows.  At conversion, God became my new Father.  He offered me a relationship where He would become my personal, sovereign, all-powerful Parent.  I was invited to live as a daughter, a much loved daughter, one who could feel safe to need Him for every breath.  To live childlike with Him, even on good days, especially on good days, is to secure a posture that prepares me for awful moments when I will cry out, “Abba, Daddy!”  It won’t feel awkward on my tongue.  In fact, it will be instinctive when I run home to Him for strength.

         The world says, ‘Maturity is becoming more independent.’  God says, ‘Maturity is becoming more childlike.’  For any of us who feel like our lives hang in the balance, it is an illusion.  Our Father holds us securely.  I need to run home, recall His reassuring words, so that I can feel what ‘is’.  Life may seem like it is unraveling but God holds the threads.

Every day of my life is planned, not only the events but the provisions.  I need nothing more than I need You, Lord.  Amen

Journal Question:  Has there ever been a moment where you felt God didn’t care about you?  Is that moment resolved in your heart?  If not, it will become a spiritual cancer that metastasizes that next time you face a crisis.  Work this past experience out with God in prayer.  Ask Him to show You the truth about it.

TRUSTING GOD WITH MY CHILD

         And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son. And he took in his hand the fire and the knife. So they went both of them together.  Genesis 22:6

         We can watch our children suffer from many causes.  They may get sick just because we live in a fallen world.  They may groan under the consequences of their own choices.  But additionally, if they have heard the call of God on their lives, we will see their faith tested.  Perhaps we’ve walked a similar road and we know how crushing this testing can be.  There will be moments when we cry out, “Lord, it’s all I can do to trust You with my child.  Please strengthen my faith!”

         As I watch my child come to the end of their resources as Jesus did in the desert of His testing, I will do about anything to end their torment.  But the worst part of divine shaping is not the physical pain but spiritual anguish.  To see childlike faith crack into pieces rocks a parent’s heart.  I stay on my knees and ask God to preserve my child’s confidence in His love and promises. 

Continue reading “Trusting God With My Child” →

HOW FAITH TALKS

         On the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place from afar. Then Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey; I and the boy will go over there and worship and come again to you.”  Genesis 22:5-6

         I must know my God well to have the kind of faith necessary in times of testing.  There was at least one thing Abraham knew going into this experience.  His God was against human sacrifice.  That’s a critical piece to this story.  God had no intention of allowing Abraham to go through with this sacrifice of Isaac.  Did Abraham know that?  Down deep, I believe he did.  What he spoke to his young servants confirms it.

         In Hebrew, the language is much stronger than in English.  Here is what he told the servants.  “We are determined to go, we are determined to worship, we are determined to return.”  Abraham predicted the return of, not only himself, but his son as well.

         This is how faith talks.  I know my God.  I know what He has promised to do.  I see my circumstances with eyes of faith and predict an outcome as if it’s already happened.  But most of the time, the language of my prayers doesn’t match the language of my everyday conversations.  I am a dual fountain.

Continue reading “How Faith Talks” →

TAKE THE FIRST STEP!

So Abraham rose early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and his son Isaac.  And he cut the wood for the burnt offering and arose and went to the place of which God had told him.  Genesis 22:3

         I am a worrier.  I admit it.  I obsess over things from every angle, especially in the night, and work myself up into a crisis.  So when God is clearly leading me down a path of pain, a path of difficult obedience, my history has been this ~ I have tried to take in the whole journey and everything I will experience along the way, and then I end up declaring that it’s all too much.  I can’t do it.  It’s overwhelming.  Such were the laments of a woman who needed wisdom.

         Abraham knew the ultimate test that awaited him at the top of Mt. Moriah.  Isaac would be sacrificed.  There were many steps before placing his son on the altar, beginning with making preparations for the trip.  He took the first step by saddling his donkey, getting his team together for the trip, cutting the wood, and saying goodbye to Sarah.

         God gives daily manna.  Not enough for the week or the month.  I can’t collect enough wisdom and grace to last the breadth of a journey; only what I need today.  For today’s challenges, the wind of the Spirit will blow across my path and strengthen me.  I will find coping resources outside of myself as God faithfully infuses me with the faith of His Son, Jesus.

         What has God told you to do?  Like Jonah, are you running because you are considering the breadth of your entire faith pilgrimage?  Dear daughter of God, it is too much.  You cannot carry the load of all your tomorrows. Take the first step.  What is it?  Then, harness your mind against thoughts of the future.  This is the recipe for the way of the cross.

Oh Lord, I breathe deeply of You.  I’m packing my bags for the journey. Amen

Journal Question:  Imagine this.  Your child tells you on the first day of school that he can’t handle the final exams next June.  He’s having nightmares about them and wants to quit school.  Write out what your advice would be.  Can you hear God speaking to you about your own faith journey?

IS THERE SUCH A THING AS BLIND OBEDIENCE?

He said, “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.”  Genesis 22:2

         When God calls me to a difficult act of obedience, because there appears to be great risk involved, I label it ‘blind obedience’.  But, is it really?

         There is nothing more difficult than what Abraham was told to do with Isaac.  To obey was agonizing.  Yet, I contend that his obedience wasn’t blind.

• Blindness is not having any idea where to put your feet.  Abraham walked each step toward Moriah on the foundational stones of God’s character.
• Blindness is not being able to perceive what is ahead.  When I obey God, I know what’s ahead; the blessing and spiritual prosperity that comes with following God’s instructions.
• Blindness involves the fear of falling and causing great personal injury.  Abraham knew the God who held him fast and had already experienced His supernatural protection and provision.
• Blindness involves great risk.  But ‘risky’ usually means foolish.  God is not careless with His children.  There is no risk when I walk in the purposes God has always had planned for me.  Though pain will be part of it, the joy of eternal purposes being fulfilled far outweigh it.  No risk involved.

Obedience is not blind.  With my faith in tact, there are so many things I can count on and see with my spirit-eyes.  In fact, there’s 20/20 vision.  God’s history, recounted in the pages of scripture, show me the outcome of those who remember God and walk in His ways.

         What has God told you to do.  You’re fainting, perhaps.  Frozen in place.  You were told to leave a family business.  Start a new ministry.  Confront a family member.  Stay in a marriage where you are not loved.  Without faith in God’s character, courage will not come to you.  Please know that you can embark on this journey to Moriah with a full backpack.  Love, promises, a solid history of the One you follow, future blessing, and perfect companionship.

Silence the voice of the accuser who reminds me that the stakes are too high.  The only voice I want to hear is Yours, Lord, urging me to follow You and live!  Amen

Journal Question:  Make a chart.  On one side, list all your objections and fears.  On the other, God’s promises and spiritual benefits.  Which side of the list will characterize your life?   What will you risk losing if you play it safe?

WHO’S TALKING?

Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs.  Eph. 4:29

         Don’t you wish people were consistently encouraging with their words?  I can carry one nasty comment with me for years, but my future can also be shaped for the good by a few words of praise.

         Oftentimes the negative things I hear from others confuse me.  When do I know if I’m hearing the truth about myself?  I need a grid for sifting what goes into my ears before it enters my heart.

         How about some initial questions I can consider before just owning another’s words and setting myself up for a painful detour:

• Who’s doing the talking?
• Does this person really care about me?
• Would this person be happy if I succeeded in life?
• Does this person have the reputation for being a cheerleader or someone who discourages?
• Is there anything this person can gain by putting me down, such as power or control?
• When I see this person coming, do I think, “Oh no, now what will I hear from her, or him?”

        

Continue reading “Who’s Talking?” →

EXPECT SPIRITUAL SPARKS!

At that time Abimelech and Phicol the commander of his army said to Abraham, “God is with you in all that you do. Now therefore swear to me here by God that you will not deal falsely with me or with my descendants or with my posterity, but as I have dealt kindly with you, so you will deal with me and with the land where you have sojourned.”  Genesis 21:22-23

         Why would a king with an army be intimidated by a traveling herdsman and his family?  Because he saw evidence of the presence of God.  God calls the poor and inadequate, shows them His favor, surrounds them with His presence and power, and even kings will tremble.

       God’s people have always been outnumbered.  Kingdom mathematics never make sense on paper.  Gideon drove off 135,000 with only 300 soldiers.  Samson killed 1000 men with a donkey’s jawbone.  God predicted these incredible odds.  He said, “Five of you will chase a hundred, and a hundred of you will chase ten thousand – your enemies will fall before your sword.”  If I put the two fractions side by side – then one hundred should only defeat two thousand.  But God promises ten thousand.  I ask my king, “Such blessing is really mine?”  Yes.  I can rely, as God’s child, on kingdom mathematics.  The effect of the presence of God on my life is intimidating to my spiritual enemies.

Paul wanted each of us to know that when we put on the spiritual armor our Father has provided to us for our protection, we are really putting on the Lord Jesus Christ.  The effect of ‘wearing’ Christ like a cloak around our shoulders has cataclysmic kingdom effects.  There will be sparks and I should not be surprised by them.  The greater the oppression in the person I’m facing, the greater the friction.  I will see this person act out aggressively out of fear.

      Clothed in spiritual power, I am to be bold when Jesus would be bold and humble when He would be humble.  I must wear my power lightly and never as a ‘Barnie Fife’ kind of authority.  Prayerful, faith-filled leadership is my template.

Clothed in Your power, I ask that You make me gentle as a dove but also wise as a serpent.  Jesus, You are my example.  Amen

Journal Question: From whom have you run, and then said, “That person doesn’t like me, Jesus.  Poor me.”  Could it be that they were reacting to Jesus, the Living Cloak around your shoulders, and not really to you?  How would Jesus respond to them instead of retreating?

REMEMBER AND REVIEW

I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man.  I Timothy 1:13

         One of the prevailing themes of Scripture is ‘remember and review.’  Remember where you came from.  Remember what you were like before you knew God loved you.  Remember and tell your children.

         Are any of you ashamed of what you used to be?  If so, do you hide your dirty laundry in the closet, wanting to never reveal the extent of your brokenness?  It’s a desire we all fight.  If anyone had reason to be ashamed of his past, it was Paul.  Yet he did not give in to the urge to make himself appear better than he was, which is a temptation for all of us.

Continue reading “Remember and Review” →