The Egg and I

Posted on July 8, 2015 | Leave a comment

Acts 1:21 …Therefore it is necessary that of the men who have accompanied us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us….

The pastor’s idea of considering a two-word based testimony, was such a simple one. But it gets my award for the best “2 or 3 minute” class on witnessing. That was information #1. Then in Sunday School we took it a step further with a moment of silent prayer to choose our two words.  Then we had the chance to share them and to hear why they were chosen. This is a practical idea that can be used in at least two ways to develop your story…Before and After OR Cause and Effect. That was affirmation #2. And here I am this morning reading chapter 1 in Acts and there are the exact two words I chose; “IN and OUT” from v21. I call that confirmation #3  Pay Attention! So here’s my own two-word based testimony.

IN and OUT
There’s a way to protect yourself from the negative effects of life and disappointment. You just carefully build a nice little protective egg shell around yourself. If you do it well, you look just right to people around you and you can safely live IN that shell and ignore that all is not well. The only problem occurs when you realize you’re trapped IN it as well.

Thankfully Jesus can show you a way OUT. This is what He does best, moves IN and OUT among us. It’s just the same way that a baby bird begins the journey OUT of it’s shell. First there’s just a small hole IN that shell. After all you’re working IN a confined space and it’s a big shell. It doesn’t happen all at once. You work a bit, rest a bit and then repeat it all over again. The difference is now you’ve had a little glimpse of a new world –  a world OUT of that shell – a world with Jesus. The promise of a world where you’re not trapped; a world where you’re good just as you are, right now.  It’s a brand new world where Jesus promises to make you all you can be. Suddenly there’s a goal. Get OUT of that egg!  Finally the shell falls away. You may be exhausted and vulnerable but you’re safe IN the nest until it’s time to fly.

Watch this visual. http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=6JCSNvoQl20

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Posted in Acts, The Egg and I

Worldliness

Posted on July 6, 2015 | Leave a comment

I Timothy 4:14-16
14 Do not neglect your gift, which was given you through prophecy when the body of elders laid their hands on you.  15 Be diligent in these matters; give yourself wholly to them, so that everyone may see your progress. 16 Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers.

—Dietrich Bonhoeffer LETTERS AND PAPERS FROM PRISON
“I discovered later, and I’m still discovering right up to this moment, that is it only by living completely in this world that one learns to have faith. By this-worldliness I mean living unreservedly in life’s duties, problems, successes and failures. In so doing we throw ourselves completely into the arms of God, taking seriously, not our own sufferings, but those of God in the world. That, I think, is faith.”

Today’s Surprise:
Bonhoeffer’s description of worldliness is not the dismal, possibly even evil, description that would have come to my mind. The world is  God’s creation. He has not given up on it.  We are His people in the world.  How did it happen that “living completely in this world” became a bad thing?  Maybe it’s time to rethink just what Jesus’ prayer on our behalf in John 17:15 really means.  “My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one.”  Isn’t that our clue that we should have the courage to embrace our world absolutely?

Life is all about continuing to discover how to live our life in Christ in the midst of life’s duties, problems, successes and failures.  It’s the effort that diligence requires that makes our words begin to take on meaning that actually changes us.  That change becomes visible evidence to those around us that something special is happening.

Maybe Bonhoeffer got it right that the world is the place God created where “one learns to have faith.”  Paul urges us to “give yourself wholly” and persevere in that effort to get it right.  Jesus’ prayer should give us the assurance to throw ourselves unreservedly into HIS kind of faith-building worldliness.  May it be so Lord.

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Posted in 1 Timothy, Bonhoeffer, Jesus' Words

Celebrate Freedom

Posted on July 4, 2015 | Leave a comment

Colossians 2:16-23
16 Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day. 17 These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ. 18 Do not let anyone who delights in false humility and the worship of angels disqualify you. Such a person also goes into great detail about what they have seen; they are puffed up with idle notions by their unspiritual mind. 19 They have lost connection with the head, from whom the whole body, supported and held together by its ligaments and sinews, grows as God causes it to grow.
20 Since you died with Christ to the elemental spiritual forces of this world, why, as though you still belonged to the world, do you submit to its rules: 21 “Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!”? 22 These rules, which have to do with things that are all destined to perish with use, are based on merely human commands and teachings. 23 Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-imposed worship, their false humility and their harsh treatment of the body, but they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence.

My Thoughts on this Fourth of July
I do love rules.  They seem so organized, so helpful, so easy a way to check whether you’re really OK.  Unfortunately they are easy to ignore too….and then come the “shoulds” and the guilt.  Guilt is the bad guy’s favorite tool to deform people.  One thing I’m absolutely sure of is that God’s freedom NEVER uses guilt as a way to transform people.

I remember things I wish I hadn’t done.  Those memories leave me faced with these two choices:
a) I can listen to the bad guy tell me what a useless disappointment I am that can’t get the simplest thing right…OR
b) I can thank God for caring enough to remind me that after all this time I really do still need him and he’s not forgotten it.  This is the reality of my freedom.
• Romans 8:  There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus
•2 Peter 1:12 So I will always remind you of these things, even though you know them and are firmly established in the truth you now have
• Philippians 1:6 He who began a good work in you, will be faithful to complete it
This is the reality God’s freedom for all His people.
Celebrate Freedom!

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Posted in Colossians, July 4th

The List Begins…

Posted on July 3, 2015 | Leave a comment

I Timothy 2:8-15
8 Therefore I want the men everywhere to pray, lifting up holy hands without anger or disputing. 9 I also want the women to dress modestly, with decency and propriety, adorning themselves, not with elaborate hairstyles or gold or pearls or expensive clothes,10 but with good deeds, appropriate for women who profess to worship God.  11 A woman should learn in quietness and full submission. 12 I do not permit a woman to teach or to assume authority over a man; she must be quiet. 13 For Adam was formed first, then Eve. 14 And Adam was not the one deceived; it was the woman who was deceived and became a sinner. 15 But women will be saved through childbearing—if they continue in faith, love and holiness with propriety.

This chapter is where Paul gets himself in trouble with me.  I don’t like verses 11-15 at all.  This list is how they read to me.
• Be quiet about what you’ve learned
• Don’t question
• Don’t disagree
• Don’t be a teacher
• Don’t be in charge
• Eve pushed Adam into deception
• Having a child will validate a woman

I admit my list is pretty contrary and defensive.  I have a whole different slant that in my mind reconciles my list and Paul’s writing.  It goes way back to Creation and Genesis 1:27  “So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.”

This is scriptural truth about God’s Creative seven days. HE made the decision that his image required both Adam and Eve to complete.  Then he created two unique and complementary individuals with no hierarchy or appropriate behavior list needed.  All was right…AND God said it was good.

I don’t know how long it was from that first week until when Paul wrote these strong words about the role of women in I Timothy.  I don’t like them but I do give him Godly credit for this: he put his finger on the tension and the conflict men and women have lived with since then.  It began way back in that perfect place when the two perfectly created people made their choice to take charge of their own lives instead of being Godly.  And so the list begins…

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Posted in 1 Timothy

AHA Moment!

Posted on July 3, 2015 | Leave a comment

I Timothy 1:16 But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his immense patience as an example for those who would believe in him and receive eternal life.

On of the most difficult things in my life of belief has been that dreaded word “outreach.” I am expected as a faithful believer to tell others of Christ and to offer them entry into His forever Kingdom.  I know the facts.  I know what they need to know to have eternal life.  What I’ve been less sure of is why I’m so timid about speaking up.  I think it scares me that people’s response to the message of eternity is sometimes tepid and sometimes really negative.

This morning I had a reading blip in I Timothy.  Here’s what I read for that last part of verse 16…“as an example for those who would believe in him and receive EXTERNAL life.”  The moment I realized my mistake I also realized this may be really important. When you’re telling somewhat what walking into the Kingdom might mean to them, “outreach” may mean telling them more about how God will impact their EXTERNAL life than the glorious, but far-off, facts that impact their eternal one.  What do you think?

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Posted in 1 Timothy

Knitter’s Proverb

Posted on July 1, 2015 | Leave a comment

I’ve had a wonderful experience being a part of a group that knits Prayer Shawls for gifts to help encourage people or celebrate with them.  They’re just what the name implies, shawls full of prayers.  We’ve practiced learning to rely on God to make the connection of who the shawl is to go to.  We’ve discovered the gift of a shawl to someone else gives us new courage to reach out on a personal level  We’ve learned a profound lesson that God can use even such a simple skill.


Proverbs 31:10-31 The Message

“She shops around for the best yarns and cottons,
    and enjoys knitting and sewing.
She’s like a trading ship that sails to faraway places
    and brings back exotic surprises.
She’s up before dawn, preparing breakfast
    for her family and organizing her day.
She looks over a field and buys it,
    then, with money she’s put aside, plants a garden.
First thing in the morning, she dresses for work,
    rolls up her sleeves, eager to get started.
She senses the worth of her work,
    is in no hurry to call it quits for the day.
She’s skilled in the crafts of home and hearth,
    diligent in homemaking.”

The Knitter’s Proverb
That good woman is on my mind, Lord
This knitting of mine, these Prayer Shawls,
Have shown me hearts that long for warmth,
That need a tangible gift of your caring love,
And the blessing of your embrace in their lives.

There are long hours of knitting that only you see.
Yet they have told others the story of your love.
Those hours have praised & honored you.
This is the gift you’ve shared through my hands.

Somehow this time with yarn and needles
Seems to be a part of your plan for my life.
It is a special part of who I am becoming…
A good woman, too, wrapped in your blessing
With knitting needles and a ball of yarn.

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Posted in Proverbs

To Life!

Posted on June 29, 2015 | Leave a comment

Galatians 2:20 I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

This was one of the very first things I ever wrote after meeting Christ face to face.  It was published in a monthly devotional guide called Alive Now! in the olden days 1980.  Today I read the words and still “feel” the same awe of newness in them.  That’s truly writing about Life!

“Imagine the position of a body on a cross.  Feel your feet pinned with your ankles together so that your legs are useless.  Sense your arms pinned outstretched as far from your body as possible, unable to provide any defense or protection, leaving you completely at the mercy of your surroundings.

As I hung there, pinned not by nails but by my own feelings of inadequacy and insecurity, excuses and tears dripped from my wounds, not blood.  At last, when the pain was too great I could barely speak “Be with me , God, I’m so alone,” and it was finished.

There were friends, then, who cared for me in my brokenness who prayed and stayed with me until slowly the pulse of new life grew stronger and steadier and I was free of the shame of my scars – able to say, My wounds are healed, but the scars remain as a sign of the resurrecting love of God Amighty.”

Alleluia!

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Posted in Galatians

The New Devotional Direction – The Inside Story

Posted on June 27, 2015 | Leave a comment

Looking for Jesus in all the right places.
I John 5:6-9
6 This is the one who came by water and blood—Jesus Christ. He did not come by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth. 7 For there are three that testify: 8 the Spirit, the water and the blood; and the three are in agreement. 9 We accept human testimony, but God’s testimony is greater because it is the testimony of God, which he has given about his Son.

Of Interest from William Barclay:
When he [Jesus] told us to eat his flesh and drink his blood, he was telling us to feed our hearts and souls and minds on his humanity, and to revitalize our lives with his life until we are filled with the life of God.  But John meant more than that, and was thinking also of the Lord’s Supper. He was saying: “If you want life, you must come and sit at that table where you eat that broken bread and drink that poured-out wine which somehow, in the grace of God, brings you into contact with the love and the life of Jesus Christ.”

My Thoughts:
A couple of years ago I wrote The  3R’s of Communion.  Recently I reviewed and rewrote it.  This is part of my own growth, finding words to make what I write more real than ever before.

The 3R’s of Communion.
• Responsibility — I believe what Scripture tells me that it’s Christ’s responsibility to continue and complete His work in me.  He has the power to pull it off, I don’t.  My responsibility is to regularly give Him back the gift of my faith as it grows and changes and trust he’ll do just what he says he will, build more in me.
• Revelation — Flesh and blood – the elements of communion shared between Christ and me have a powerful purpose. That little bit of bread or wafer that feels so dry in my mouth for a moment and the tingle of that small sip of wine on my tongue are actual physical reminders to wake-up and consider the “now” reality of my life in Him.  They are reminders that his plan is to show himself to me and as importantly to show myself to me.  Communion is Christ’s plan to feed, to cleanse and to nudge me one step closer to what He sees I can be – with a little taste of Grace and His life in me.
• Regeneration — Those “elemental” moments are blessings to remind me that this beautiful act is more than a ritual.  I can feel them as I take them!  I believe it is the perfect reminder that Christ meant it to be, my outside reaction to a real “inside” story –  the regenerating power of Christ living up to His promises to build and renew my life in Him.

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Posted in 1 John, The 3Rs of Communion

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Great is Thy Faithfulness

Posted on June 26, 2015 | Leave a comment
Genesis 45;17-28
17 Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Tell your brothers, ‘Do this: Load your animals and return to the land of Canaan, 18 and bring your father and your families back to me. I will give you the best of the land of Egypt and you can enjoy the fat of the land.’ 19 “You are also directed to tell them, ‘Do this: Take some carts from Egypt for your children and your wives, and get your father and come. 20 Never mind about your belongings, because the best of all Egypt will be yours.’” 21 So the sons of Israel did this. Joseph gave them carts, as Pharaoh had commanded, and he also gave them provisions for their journey. 22 To each of them he gave new clothing, but to Benjamin he gave three hundred shekels of silver and five sets of clothes. 23 And this is what he sent to his father: ten donkeys loaded with the best things of Egypt, and ten female donkeys loaded with grain and bread and other provisions for his journey. 24 Then he sent his brothers away, and as they were leaving he said to them, “Don’t quarrel on the way!” 25 So they went up out of Egypt and came to their father Jacob in  land of Canaan. 26 They told him, “Joseph is still alive! In fact, he is ruler of all Egypt.” Jacob was stunned; he did not believe them. 27 But when they told him everything Joseph had said to them, and when he saw the carts Joseph had sent to carry him back, the spirit of their father Jacob revived. 28 And Israel said, “I’m convinced! My son Joseph is still alive. I will go and see him before I die.”

 Of Interest:
26 They told him, “Joseph is still alive! In fact, he is ruler of all Egypt.” Jacob was stunned; he did not believe them.

My Thoughts:
Reading this part of Joseph’s story will have to stand on it’s own today because a really weird thing happened as I was working on this post.  I was copying and pasting scripture from Biblegateway into my iPad Chapters app.  All of a sudden after clicking somewhere in that app the hymn Great Is Thy Faithfulness began to play.  I tapped everywhere to figure out how it was being controlled and actually had to leave the writing app and go to the music app icon on my iPad desktop.  I saw that it was playing but not from my iPad.  It was still in the Cloud [maybe that’s a hint?]…BUT it was playing.  I honestly haven’t a clue about it so I’m taking it as a sign from God.

I’m certain many of the characters I’ve been reading about were humming along with the hymn because they understood that God’s faithfulness was great.   I know that too, but this song mysteriously playing was an astounding reminder meant for me…today.  Doing devotions daily can easily become habit instead of heart.  Just this morning lying in bed I told The Lord I realized that I’d gone off on another devotional tangent and needed to re-charge my time in a new way today.  My heart and my eyes are both really full right now.  What  and amazing way He chose to catch my attention.  WAY TO GO GOD!  GREAT IS THY FAITHFULNESS!!!

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Posted in Genesis, OT Snippet Slog

Run!

Posted on June 25, 2015 | Leave a comment

Genesis 39:6-18
6 So Potiphar left everything he had in Joseph’s care; with Joseph in charge, he did not concern himself with anything except the food he ate.  Now Joseph was well-built and handsome, 7 and after a while his master’s wife took notice of Joseph and said, “Come to bed with me!”  8 But he refused. “With me in charge,” he told her, “my master does not concern himself with anything in the house; everything he owns he has entrusted to my care. 9 No one is greater in this house than I am. My master has withheld nothing from me except you, because you are his wife. How then could I do such a wicked thing and sin against God?” 10 And though she spoke to Joseph day after day, he refused to go to bed with her or even be with her. 11 One day he went into the house to attend to his duties, and none of the household servants was inside. 12 She caught him by his cloak and said, “Come to bed with me!” But he left his cloak in her hand and ran out of the house.13 When she saw that he had left his cloak in her hand and had run out of the house, 14 she called her household servants.“Look,” she said to them, “this Hebrew has been brought to us to make sport of us! He came in here to sleep with me, but I screamed. 15 When he heard me scream for help, he left his cloak beside me and ran out of the house.”  16 She kept his cloak beside her until his master came home. 17 Then she told him this story: “That Hebrew slave you brought us came to me to make sport of me. 18 But as soon as I screamed for help, he left his cloak beside me and ran out of the house.”

Of Interest:
8 But he refused. “With me in charge,” he told her, “my master does not concern himself with anything in the house; everything he owns he has entrusted to my care. 9 No one is greater in this house than I am. My master has withheld nothing from me except you, because you are his wife. 

My Thoughts:
Those three words “But he refused” make me very proud of Joseph’s response to temptation.   Don’t be fooled by how easy those three words make it sound.  There’s no “just do it” lecture here.  Temptation is being trapped “between a rock and a hard place,” a nasty situation.  Joseph recognized the trap and he was smart enough to run.

The longer temptation goes on the tougher it gets, until you’re in its vise-like grip.  Don’t let temptation fool you into believing that you can keep the situation under control. That’s the very thing James warns us about in 1:14. “Temptation is the pull of man’s own evil thoughts and wishes.”  Don’t trust your own strength and resolve, sometimes you just have to tear yourself away and run!  There may be circumstances in your life that bring to mind rocks and hard places.  I’ve got good news for you.   You can run from that hard place and “Go to the Rock of our Salvation.”  That’s a BIG difference and that’s worth running to! 

Lyrics of the Chorus from I Go to the Rock by Dottie Rambo
I go to the rock of my salvation
I go to the stone that the builders rejected
I run to the mountain and the mountain stands by me
When the earth all around me is sinking sand
On Christ the solid rock I stand
When I need a shelter
When I need a friend I go to the rock

 

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Posted in Genesis, OT Snippet Slog