May God himself, the God who makes everything holy and whole, make you holy and whole, put you together—spirit, soul, and body—and keep you fit for the coming of our Master, Jesus Christ.
1 Thessalonians 5:23 (The Message)
Hope trusts. 10,000 reasons why and still counting
As I look at today and what it represents I find with in me a heavy heart.
I know what it feels like to lose a son. It's hard to imagine that I could have this experience in common with God..
but I do:(
I often wonder what God was thinking. I also wonder what Jesus was thinking. At the cross we get a glimpse
"Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?" that is, "My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?"
Matthew 27:46
This cry from Jesus's heart brings a stabbing pain to my own heart. I could not imagine hearing those words from my own son before he died.
In this moment.. as we hear Jesus cry out to His Father... we must TRUST that the Father's heart is "Good" towards His son.
Trust in the Lord with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding;
in all your ways submit to him,
and he will make your paths straight.
Proverbs 3:5-6
This passage is telling us to acknowledge Him ,
to know Him in all our ways
because He will make the crooked places straight.
The crooked places are places of disappointment.
Places where we do not know how to navigate.
They are sometimes places that we've prayed
for a different outcome than what we were given.
What do we do in these places?
What I have learned
in this place
we sit at the table prepared before us by God Himself and feast on His Truth.
The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.
He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters,
he refreshes my soul.
He guides me along the right paths
for his name’s sake.
Even though I walk
through the darkest valley,
I will fear no evil,
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
they comfort me.
You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies.
You anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.
Surely your goodness and love will follow me
all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the Lord
forever.
Psalms 23
So many times we hear this scripture quoted at funerals. I heard it at Jack's and many others. I used to hate this scripture... but now.. finally .. I see truth in it that brings comfort to my broken heart and soul.
I am now going to show you my true colors.. what really motivates me.. my hate for the enemy
This scripture say that God prepares a table for me in the midst of my enemies.
What does this mean?
A table is a place of communion, feasting, hospitality .. a place for an intimate gathering.
It is at this place
the table
we sit at in the midst of the crooked places
in the midst of the chaos of disappointment
Even as we walk through the valley of death
We find the table of communion
and we feast on the GOODNESS of God!
Let me share with you how I picture this
God, has prepared a beautiful table.. Candles, a beautiful linen table cloth, fine china and silver. The table is loaded with all my favorite food..
Fried Chicken, mashed potatoes, collard greens, cornbread and some cold ice tea with lemon
Not to leave out desert and a glass of my favorite wine.
The music that is playing in the background brings such joy to my soul and spirit that I can hardly stay seated..
But I do
I lean over and grab a chicken leg and take a big bite
and then give a small nod of acknowledgement to the one sitting on the other side of the table
The enemy himself
he's not at the table..
because the Lord Himself is at the table feasting with me
The enemy is sitting in the distance, handcuffed, watching me feast on the goodness of God
right in the midst of what he intended for my bad
God is actually making it for my Good.
In the end it all turns out good.
I will see Jack again
because we saw Jesus again.
The tomb is empty
I am determined to allow my life to reflect this truth on this earth until I take my last breath.
The power of God in our life is to demonstrate the
power of the Kingdom of heaven here on earth.
The power He gave me was to still have a "yes" to Him even after loss
because I understand that in the Kingdom
Jesus overcame loss with the power of Resurrection!
So, with this truth in my heart I will lean on enduring faith so I can receive the promises of Heaven.
31 It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
32 Remember those earlier days after you had received the light, when you endured in a great conflict full of suffering.
So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded.
36 You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised.
I heard someone say the other day, "Hope for the best and prepare for the worst".
Is this any way to live?
Although I hate to admit it, I often see that my actions
align more with preparing for the worst that expecting the best.
Why is this?
I think it comes from the heartbreaking disappointments and
unmet expectations we crash into during life.
It would only make sense to lower your expectations.
To think good thoughts, hope for the best... but all the while prepare for the next storm already seen on the radar.
Living this way leaves no room for God to work.
When we live preparing for the worst we are motivated by fear.
Fear Controls
It makes choices to take action in the opposite direction of what we hope for. If we hope for the best yet prepare for the worst.. we take our eyes off God.
We actually step into Gods place and take over His job.
What happens when we hope for the best and prepare for it?
We fix our eyes on God and know His heart of love is for us.
When we live preparing for the best we allow love to lead the way.
Love always leads to freedom
Which reminds me of Isaiah 61
It has to be the best way to look at how we hope for the best and prepare for it..
The Lord's Promise to us is
He will bind our broken hearts
He will set the captives free
He will comfort all who mourn
He will rebuild to ruined cities
This is our Hope- Prepare for it:)
The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; 2 to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn; 3 to grant to those who mourn in Zion— to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit; that they may be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he may be glorified. 4 They shall build up the ancient ruins; they shall raise up the former devastations; they shall repair the ruined cities, the devastations of many generations.-Isaiah 61
Hope walks out of the cave The lyrics to this song reminded me of the hope that was whispered from God's Spirit to my broken soul as I took courage to leave the cave.
"A philosopher is like a prisoner who is freed from the cave and can now see reality as it truly is."- Socrates
A philosopher is a person who seeks wisdom or enlightenment.
A few years ago, I had a friend tell me it was time to leave the cave. The only reason I was still in the cave was because someone I loved dearly was "stuck" in the cave. I had tried for years to help her see that her view was distorted by darkness and lies.
I had come to a point in the relationship that the only way to help her was to leave.
My hope in making that decision was that someday she would follow.
The only way she would follow was to see that life for me was better outside the cave than her life inside the cave. The hard part of this decision was that I had to commit to not turning back. I had to prove once and for all that following Jesus was the only way to freedom.
It was time to stop talking and start walking.
"if you’re going to talk the talk, you've got to walk the walk"
I was filled with doubt, I was filled with fear.
My biggest questions were..
Will she ever follow?
Will she think we left her?
Will her feelings of what she sees as abandonment aid in the death of her hope to find freedom?
I began to pray.
I asked for truth
I asked for wisdom
I sought Godly counsel
I put her in Gods hands
&
I began to walk as I held on to His promises.
"And I will bring the blind by a way that they know not; in paths that they know not will I lead them; I will make darkness light before them, and crooked places straight. These things will I do, and I will not forsake them."-Isaiah 42:16
God is within her, she will not fall; God will help her at break of day.
Psalms 46:5
But the LORD says, "The captives of warriors will be released, and the plunder of tyrants will be retrieved. For I will fight those who fight you, and I will save your children. Isaiah 49:25
The beginning of the journey was dark. The only light seen was through the eyes of faith.
Send me your light and your faithful care, let them lead me; let them bring me to your holy mountain, to the place where you dwell. Psalm 43:3
Seeking and following Jesus led me to finding His care that slowly changed me to become a light of hope for her.
My hope was that she would look out from the cave that held her captive to see new life and that change was possible.
For most of us, there is a season in the cave. I'm going to borrow the words of a song that perfectly put to words how I felt at the beginning of my journey from the cave to new life. "The Cave" Mumford and Sons It is a season where it's empty in the valley of your heart and you realize that the harvest of this time has left no food for you to eat.
It is in this place that you hear God's "SPIRIT" say to your broken "Soul".. "It's empty in the valley of your heart The sun, it rises slowly as you walk Away from all the fears And all the faults you've left behind The harvest left no food for you to eat You cannibal, you meat-eater you see But I have seen the same I know the shame in your defeat
But I will hold on hope
and I wont let you choke
On the noose around your neck
And I'll find strength in pain
and I will change my ways
I'll know my name as its called again
Cause I have other things to fill my time
You take what is yours and Ill take mine
Now let me at the truth Which will refresh my broken mind
So tie me to a post and block my ears
I can see widows and orphans through my tears
I know my call despite my faults
and despite my growing fears
But I will hold on hope
and I wont let you choke
On the noose around your neck
And I'll find strength in pain
and I will change my ways
I'll know my name as its called again
So come out of your cave walking on your hands
And see the world hanging upside down
You can understand dependence
When you know the maker's land" I especially love the ending to this song. You really feel as if your coming out walking on your hands to see the world upside down.. Everything that pertains to walking out the gospel on this side of heaven seems upside down in this world.. but you understand it when you understand the maker of this land:)
I will lead her into the wilderness and speak tenderly to her.
Hosea 2:14 NIV
In this particular scripture we see that God is alluring Israel back to the wilderness.
Why?
She took her eyes off Father God .. and He found her focused on lesser gods. He is calling her back because she had once again forgotten her first love.
God has a history of leading her to the wilderness. When He first set her free from Egypt, she found herself wandering hopelessly through a desert. He led her there so He could have her undivided attention. He spoke instruction and love to her as she journeyed to the promise land. She learned to trust Him in the wilderness.
In Hosea we see God once again leading her back to the wilderness of heartbreak valley.I find comfort in the way God is leading her there. He is alluring her, whispering to her "come away with Me so I can speak tenderly to your broken heart".
You would think that if He was doing this for the 2nd time He would be mad at her. That He might had said, "haven't you learned by now, there are to be no other idols in your life?! Shame on you for loosing focus! "
But He didn't, because love never shames.
in fact real love hung on the cross to defeat shame because He despised it.
Love gets our attention by speaking to the brokenness in our hearts. He understands why we loose our focus on Him because He knows the battle is fierce. That is why He leads us to a place where we can be face to face with Him. A place where heartbreak becomes a door of hope.
"There I will give her back her vineyards,
and will make the Valley of Achor a door of hope.
There she will respond as in the days of her youth,
as in the day she came up out of Egypt." Hosea 2:15NIV
In that place of hopelessness is where we find the greatest hope of all.. His heart that leads to us to the promise land.. the place we've waited so long to see what we believed in.
Here are the lyrics to the song above.. It speaks so tenderly to the one who is in the wilderness who's waited so long to see what you believe.
Whisper my name, so only I can hear
Call to my heart, chase away my fear
Stand up in this place, fight for the one you love
Won't you come surround me, so I can rise above
Explode my soul, let these walls come down
All these prison thoughts crumble with the sound
Of my deliverance from my enemies
I stand up beside you, let's watch these giants flee
Let the silence be broken, and the winter be done
Will you come out of your hiding, kiss me sweet warm sun
Let the wind of your spirit blow the dust off my feet
I ran to you broken but now I am complete
Hello Promise Land, we've waited for so long
To see what we've believed in, to sing this Promise Land song
The other day I tried to host a pity party for myself. The invitation read,
"Come, poor pitiful you, who never sees things turn out for the good. Who's always asking, Why won't you do this for me God?
Come you who are weary , lay back down and wait until God does what you keep begging Him to do for you."
I have been praying that certain circumstances would change in my life...that I would begin to see more hope, more light at the end of the tunnel. Due to the length of time I have prayed these particular prayers, I find myself tempted to become hopeless. Hopeless because of the deep weakness and weariness I feel because the circumstances have not changed.
But really, I need to see my weariness and weakness as an opportunity for hope. Hope that offers God's strenght for future victory.
Hope says :
"For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength." -
Philippians 4:13
Hope allows Christ to work through me...
Sometimes Christ does work for me, but I have come to realize that most of the time He wants to work things through me. He wants me to move from the victim mindset to the victor mindset. Victoms never walk in victory Victims blame others and are held hostage by their pain.
Victors journey towards forgiving others and are released from their pain. When I submit my weakness to Christ, I qualify for His promise of grace that strengthens me to walk out His perfect plan.
"Each time he said, "My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness." So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me."- 2 Cor. 12:19
I decided to let hope write a new invitation to my pity party, and the invitation read:
"Come, weary and weak child, who eventually will see things turn out for the good. Who's asking, Lord, you do this through me because I am too weak?
Come you who are weary , lay down your worries and wait for Gods power to do through you more than you could imagine to do on your own.
On St. Patrick's day we are reminded of the story of a man who found hope when he thought he was alone.
During Patrick's boyhood, the Roman empire was near collapse and too weak to defend its holdings in distant lands. Britain became easy prey for raiders, including those who crossed the Irish sea from the land known as Hibernia or Ireland. When Patrick was sixteen, he was seized by raiders and carried off to Ireland.
Most of what is known about St. Patrick comes from his own Confession, written in his old age. In his Confession he wrote about his capture:
After Patrick was captured and taken to Ireland as a slave by an Irish chieftain named Niall, he was sold to another chieftain in northern Ireland. Much of Patrick's time was spend alone on the slopes of Slemish Mountain, tending his master's flocks of sheep. During the long, lonely hours in the fields and hills of Ireland, Patrick found comfort in praying. In his Confession he wrote:
... " every day I had to tend sheep, and many times a day I prayed -- the love of God and His fear came to me more and more, and my faith was strengthened. And my spirit was moved so that in a single day I would say as many as a hundred prayers and almost as many in the night, and this even when I was staying in the woods and on the mountains; ... and I felt no harm, and there was no sloth in me -- as now I see, because the spirit within me was fervent." "As a youth, nay, almost as a boy not able to speak, I was taken captive ... I was like a stone lying in the deep mire; and He that is mighty came and in His mercy lifted me up, and raised me aloft ... And therefore I ought to cry out aloud and so also render something to the Lord for His great benefits here and in eternity -- benefits which the mind of men is unable to appraise."
St. Patrick found hope during his time of slavery. He was taught by God the power of the trinity. As he prayed from his spirit he connected with his savior who presented his lonely heart to the creator of the universe. In return God's peace flowed through the Son to the Spirt who lived within St. Patrick. He was being taught relationship, community and unity alone on the slopes of a mountain. I'm guessing the mountain was covered with shamrocks because he used them to illustrate to others the relationship of the trinity. The shamrock has one stem, but three leaves.. We are the stem that connects to the three; Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Our hope is found in the Holy Spirit who is within us... We are never alone. "I still have many things to tell you, but you can’t handle them now. But when the Friend comes, the Spirit of the Truth, he will take you by the hand and guide you into all the truth there is. He won’t draw attention to himself, but will make sense out of what is about to happen and, indeed, out of all that I have done and said. He will honor me; he will take from me and deliver it to you. Everything the Father has is also mine. That is why I’ve said, ‘He takes from me and delivers to you." John 16:12-15 MSG
Thought of the day: fasting
hopelessness I see hope in the "pits" of life.
"So when Joseph came to his
brothers, they stripped him of his robe, the robe of many colors that he wore.
24 And they took him and threw him into a pit. The pit was empty; there was no
water in it."
Genesis 37:23-24
I have been studying the story of
Joseph, on and off, for the past 2 years.
During this time I have also been
running into a reoccurring theme of :"love God, love others."
Jesus replied: "Love the Lord
your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’[a]
38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it:
‘Love your neighbor as yourself."
Matthew 22:37-39
I was not sure why these two themes
kept presenting themselves to me ... until this past week.
In the beginning of the story
of Joseph, we see his brothers ,who hated him, throw him into a pit. They
wanted him dead because he was a dreamer and he was his father's favorite. God
had given him a dream that one day he would reign over his father and brothers.
When he shared this dream with his family, he ended up on a path that led to
pits of slavery and prison.
Lets just say this did not look very
promising. He spent the next 13 years in captivity wondering if his God dream
would ever come true. He suffered greatly in the pit, but he also must have
hoped greatly too. I believe the pit was a place where God prepared him for his
dream.
His pit was his school.
In the pit he learned all the skills
he would need to reign. I think he also learned in the pit to love God so he
could love others. Which by the way is the greatest of all the
commandments.
He made the pit a place where he
learned to lean on God. It was a place where God filled his hollow broken heart
with love so he could some day love "the others" who tried to kill him.
Could our pits be a place where we
learn to do what Jesus said was most important? A place where we learn to love
God with all our heart, soul and mind so that we can love our neighbor as our self.
While we lean on God in our pit, His
perfect love restores our hearts. It is a journey where the heart goes from
hollow to whole. When your heart is whole with Gods love it will overflow to
others.
The pit restored Josephs heart to be
able to say to the brothers who hated him, "do not fear , I will
take care of you".
"Joseph replied,
“Don’t be afraid. Do I act for God? Don’t you see, you planned evil against me
but God used those same plans for my good, as you see all around you right
now—life for many people. Easy now, you have nothing to fear; I’ll take care of
you and your children.” He reassured them, speaking with them heart-to-heart."
My hope is: I have a Savior; I'm not mine or anyone else's savior.
Have you thought?
1. I've got to fix this.
2. This is my fault, so I will fix this.
3. I feel so bad for them so I will fix them.
The burden we feel to fix ourselves or fix others can be overwhelming. I believe that we can get in the way of how God wants to deal with us by thinking we can do the fixing on our own. Truth is God will allow us to choose “our will” over “His will”. That is what makes Him a loving God. He will never make us choose Him or His will. We must see that our need to fix is really our way of taking on the role of "Savior". When we do this we eventually become overwhelmed and worn out. Not a bad place to be if you turn to the true Savior, Jesus Christ and confess you've stepped in His place. Then confess your need “to fix” and ask Him to take the place of the fixer, healer, deliverer. Our obedience in this area is foundational to hope. It ushers in rest for you "the fixer" and builds trust that God's heart is best. Remember, God knows this is a process. It’s all about recognizing good and evil, real and false.
"There could be no true obedience from the heart unless there was the freedom to disobey"-Rick Joyner
Being Obedient by allowing God to be God is hard! Especially when someone we love hurts for a long period of time. We must remember that our job is to encourage and pray. To be an example of God’s healing and delivering power. To know and trust that we have prayed and placed that person in God’s hands. And to realize that sometimes all we can offer is a hug and the simple words of hope "This is a season and it will pass." You can believe it because it’s proven to be true in my own life. God saved me and He will save you!
The hope we hang onto is if we do our job God can do His Job.
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