Saturday, December 22, 2012

Leaving Heaven- Matthew West


I wanted to write something for Christmas this year, but I haven't really had anything on my heart regarding a message this Christmas. I've been working on something else and I felt God was leading me to stick to it for the time being. I heard this song on the radio the other day and I thought in lieu of writing something I would share it instead! This season don't forget who its really about!
Merry Christmas!

Friday, November 9, 2012

The Hand of God


            In light of Tuesday’s election and hurricane Sandy I thought this post particularly fitting. I first wrote it down on paper months ago when tragedy seemed to hit our nation over and over again. This past Wednesday I felt God prodding me to complete it. I hope the words he graced me with help others as much as they helped me.

            Lately there has been a lot of talk about how God’s hand has been lifted from our nation and in light of the many tragedies that have befallen our nation in the last year alone it is easy to think they might be right. 

            I must confess this utterly terrifies me. Why? For several reasons: 1.) I hate the thought of being hurt or losing the things I love (whether they are things or, even more importantly, loved ones), 2.) I hate not being in control and ironically when the world is spinning out of control there is very little control to be found, 3.) I hate to think that we’ve finally gone far enough that God has forsaken us. The thought that we no longer have his protection sinks fear into my heart. I’ve always taken it for granted and now the thought of it being gone scares me through and through, and 4.) I am a worrier by nature even though I try hard not to be. 

            I wrote the above last July right after a horrible storm came through the town I live in. Just hours before I had sat alone and scared in our basement desperately praying we’d all be alright.  That night as I lay on the couch to afraid to sleep God gently spoke into my terrified heart. 

            God reminded me, as I lay in there in the dark sweltering in 100 degree heat, that I can never be plucked from his hand (John 10:28-30). Even though he may remove his hand from our nation it doesn’t mean he’s removed it from his children. 

            We are promised that he is with those who love him.  In Romans 8:28 we are reassured that God works for the good of those who love him, who were called by him. Promises like this abound all through Scripture. Scriptures like,

Psalm 56:1-3 God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging.” 

Psalm 34:4, 7-8 “I sought the Lord, and he answered me; he delivered me from all my fears. Those who look to him are radiant; their faces are never covered with shame. This poor man called, and the Lord heard him; he saved him out of all his troubles. The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him, and he delivers them. Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in him.”

Psalm 33:18-19 “But the eyes of the Lord are on those who fear him, on those whose hope is in his unfailing love, to deliver them from death and keep them alive in famine.”

Matthew 10:28-31 Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell.  Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside your Father’s care.  And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.

But here’s the thing, just because we’re promised God’s protection and hand on our life doesn’t mean that we will live a life of ease as others go through the hard times. Joseph was betrayed by his brothers, sold in to slavery, and sent to prison, Noah was ridiculed for years only to see everything he knew washed away, Moses had to deal with a whiny wishy-washy nation, Job had everything taken from him, Elijah suffered through a famine, Paul was thrown in prison, flogged, shipwrecked, and stoned, and most of the disciples died horrible deaths.

 I don’t know if they ever questioned God and what he was doing, but what I do know is they never lost faith in the God who promised he’d be with them through the famine and through the abundant times

The life of following God is fraught with perils but it is through the hard times that we truly learn to lean on him.  James chapter 1 warns us that we will go through trials but it also encourages us to find joy in them for by the testing of our faith we are developing perseverance so that we may lack nothing (vs 3-4 paraphrased). These trials are blessings in disguise for in them we learn what it means to need God completely. Most of them time we go through life knowing that we need him but never truly leaning on him except in moments of greatest need. A time is coming when we will need him more than we ever have before. A time that we, as Christians in America, have never seen. Oppression may be on the horizon but our darkest hours are also our greatest because they are the moments where we learn to fully draw on God causing our roots to grow deep.

The purpose me writing this today was not meant to produce warm fuzzy feelings or for us to think that we are safe from the wrath of God. I honestly believe this not the case. I think that we must stand and face the consequences of a nation who has turned from God just as Daniel, Meshach, Shadrach, and Abednego did when they were taken into captivity along with the rest of the people of Israel. 

Just because we obey and follow God doesn’t mean we are safe. What it does mean is that we have a hope for the future (Jer 29:11) and a reassurance in a God who promised to never leave us or forsake us (Deut 31:6). He will stand with us through the fire and through the storm just he stood with Meshach, Shadrach, and Abednego.                                                                                               

Isaiah 43:1-3b
         But now, this is what the Lord says—
                he who created you, Jacob,
               he who formed you, Israel:
                  “Do not fear, for I have redeemed you;
                     I have summoned you by name; you are mine.
                     When you pass through the waters,
                 I will be with you;
                    and when you pass through the rivers,
                        they will not sweep over you.
                     When you walk through the fire,
               you will not be burned;
                the flames will not set you ablaze.
                   For I am the Lord your God,
               the Holy One of Israel, your Savior;
           
The thought of God’s wrath coming upon our nation is a scary one but he has not called us to a life of fear but one of freedom in him (Josh 1:9; 1 John 4:16-18). In 2 Timothy Paul writes to remind Timothy that God has not given his children a spirit of fear, but one of power, love, and discipline (2 Tim 1:7 paraphrased). We can choose to live in fear but all of the worry in the world won’t change anything (Luke 12:22-31). Once God’s plans are set the only one who can change them is God himself. Psalm 33:9-11 states that the plans of the Lord stand firm forever and the purposes of his heart through all the generations. No matter what God’s plans are for us as individuals and as a nation we have the wonderful reassurance that God works for the good of those who love him (Rom 8:28). Despite storms that may rage he has plans for us, amazing ones that include a hope for the future (Jer 29:11).

Matt 6:25-34 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes?  Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?  Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?
 “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin.  Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these.  If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’  For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.  But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

God wants us to be stretched beyond what we can bear because it is in those times that we learn we can’t do it alone. He doesn’t want to beat us down until we can’t take anymore, but he does send hard times our way in order to make us grow. Honestly, I don’t like the election results from Tuesday, but a part of me is excited because I know that times are coming where I will need to rely on God more than I ever have before and I want that. I want to wake up every morning and know that without him I’ll never make it through. I want to wake up knowing I can’t meet the needs of the day but that I have a God who can. I’m not saying that I am looking forward to the times when life is daily struggle just to get by, but I am looking forward to the times that stretch my faith.

In conclusion I just want to add that while the election may not have turned out the way we had hoped, we still have a God who is in control. Nothing is outside of his hand. Life may be changing but he knows our needs and the love and worry we have for our families, especially our children. The world will be different for them but God hasn’t changed. He still loves us more than we can fathom and desires good things for us and for our children. Life may be hard but he is faithful to meet the needs we have. It may not always be in the way we’d like, but he see’s so much more than we do. No hardship seems pleasant at the time but the everlasting benefits are so much better then we know.       

Wednesday, November 7, 2012

Tearing Down in order to Build Up


           I was recently going through the some old paper’s trying to find some something for a Christmas gift I’m working on when I came across a homemade book I’d made as a teenager. In it I’d compiled a bunch of different writings I’d written at the time. 

I cried my way through the whole thing.  A few because of the memories they evoked, but other’s because they convicted me of a sin I hadn’t wanted to see.

                As a teen I keenly felt the emotions of those around me. Now that I am older I know that it was because God has gifted me with the gift of empathy, but at the time I didn’t know how to process all of the emotions that I constantly felt bombarding me. I had the wacky mood swings and changes of a teenage girl plus those I’d pick up from people around me. 

I could barely stand to be around people, other than my family, for more than a couple days at a time because I’d feel so drained and tired. I think this stemmed from personality as an introvert, but I believe my ability to perceive other’s emotions also played a part. It wasn’t until I was older that I learned to build a wall against other’s emotions making it easier to deal with more people for longer periods of time. Plus, I finally left the hormones of my teenage years behind making life so much easier!

Reading through my old writings one in particular hit me hard. It was the one that brought me to my knees in tears and sorrow. I want to share it with you today in order to show what God was doing in my heart then and now (be forewarned it’s not very well written).

A Whispering Wind
A whisper in the wind, a voice
              calling me to some place unknown.
              A whisper in the wind, some voice
              is gently whispering in my ears
             the hurts of others.
A whisper in the wind is gently
              calling me to a place I know
           not where.
A voice in the wind is calling my name
           to heal the hurts of others.
Who is calling me to these places?
              Who’s voice am I hearing in the wind
               wind gently calling my name?
               Who but God can whisper on the wind
             to tell me the hurt of another?
So as I hear Him calling I answer,
             “Through a heart full of pain for another
              you are calling, so I will go
            as you tell me; to a world of broken hearts
           I will go to help heal another.”

                God had been working in my heart as teen to help those who were hurting and broken. I had no idea how he wanted to use me only that he had burden my heart with the hurts of others. I believe that God gives each of us gifts and talents to in order to carry out the plans he has for our lives. He had given me empathy for a reason and he was calling me towards a plan greater than myself, but this is also the point where here sin first started to creep in. 

I began building walls and constructing a shell around my heart to keep the pain out. It hurt too much to constantly feel that others were hurting and be unable to do anything about it. Soon I became impervious to much of the brokenness around me. I no longer felt the call to mend broken and battered lives. I didn’t even notice the call was gone at first because I was reveling in the silence of my own heart. I longer felt as though I was constantly battered about from emotions on all sides or that I would break down and cry in the solitariness of my room every time I came in contact with someone who was broken. 

Over time I began to notice though. Something would happen and my heart wouldn’t be moved the way it used to be. It bothered me a little but not enough to change. I knew what lay on the other side my wall and I didn’t want to go there. I prayed that God would soften my heart to the things that broke his, but only if I could keep most of my wall, I was willing to let some of it go, but not all of it.

I think God began a long time ago to chip away at my wall. Breaking down little pieces here and there, slowly tearing down the shell I had hid behind for so long. I think the first big break through came when I started writing again. I’d given up writing somewhere in my late teens. Nothing I ever wrote had seemed right to me and the creativity I’d had before seemed to have dried up and left, and yet two years ago on cold day in March God prodded me to write again and this time, instead of pen and paper, I picked up a computer and started a blog. 

I never had any intention of starting a blog and yet somehow in the space of a day and half I suddenly had one. I believe this where God first started his some of his biggest work within my life. He showed me things about the world around me that I had failed to notice for years and he gave me back a passion for the broken and hurting once again. 

Yet I still resisted letting my walls completely down, but God didn’t let up. Despite my stubbornness he continued his relentless pursuit of me. He kept bringing people, books, and events into my life that slowly forced me to crack the shell I had hidden in for so long.
Today on the floor of my bedroom I cried tears of guilt and sorrow as I realized for the first time what I had done. I had never seen my walls as a sin. To me they were a means of protection and comfort, but in building my walls I had stifled the voice of God. 

This past month God has been chiseling away at my walls harder than he has in years. I can feel them crumbling around me and you know what? I found that I much prefer this side of the wall. Yes, I feel like I might cry over everything and my heart hurts more than it has in a long time but I’ve come to realize that it’s okay. God is breaking my heart for what breaks his and I want it no other way. 

I like to hide myself from the world in order to protect myself from pain and hurt, but I can’t hide if I’m to be part of God’s work. I need to be all in even when it hurts, even when there’s joy and when there’s pain. I can’t half-heartedly do the will of God. He is calling me to part of something greater but in order to truly be a part of this great work God is calling all of me even the part that still suffers from sin and imperfection. He knows I’m not perfect and I never will be. All he’s asking is that I truly try each day to be like him; every day shedding a little more of the old me in order to grow into the person he’s calling me to be. It’s not going to easy and it’s going to hurt but in the end I’m guaranteed it’s going to be worth it.

I still have a long ways to go in tearing down walls, especially since three quarters of the time I don’t even notice they’re there. However, God knows what needs to go, so as long as I am pliable he’ll work in me and together we’ll continue to tear down the things that hinder me from fully following him.

Wednesday, October 24, 2012

A Great and Noble Task- Part Two




I read a blog today. A blog written by a beautiful young lady whose heart for God seems bigger than mine could ever be. The way she writes slips into my heart and makes me weep. The emotions she emits from the written page stagger me and once I again I question my own writing talent. How could I ever write like that? To take words and make something more with them? To wring emotion from the heart and make people really feel what I am trying to say? To make a difference in someone’s life because of the words I’ve written? And you know the answer I find within me? I can’t. 

The voice that never truly goes away whispers those two little words and I believe it every time. No matter what anyone tells me, no matter how much I may like something I’ve written, that voice is always there whispering doubt in and every time, without fail, I believe it.

I don’t know if I’ll ever silence the voice or that I’ll ever see greatness within my own works, but I’ve been learning something lately; that each of us has been given an extraordinary gift by God. This precious gift was given by God for the sole purposes of serving him, to bring glory to name, and to further his kingdom.

Glorious tasks, and yet I look on my gift with derision, constantly comparing it to others. I don’t necessarily see it as gift given to bring glory to his name or to serve him. All I can see are my own imperfections and weaknesses. The little voice in my head constantly whispers that I’m not good enough or that no one will ever read what I’ve written so why even try?

But here’s what I am learning: My gift was given with a purpose. Do I know what this purpose is? No. Will I ever? I don’t know. Do I believe that God will use it? Yes. Do I want to know why? Um…YES!!! I want to know that my gift is worthwhile and benefiting the world, but I also understand that there are things I may never be privy to. There is a reason why he gave me this particular gift and even though I may never know why, I will trust him.

I don’t think I’m the only one who feels this way. I think most of us are cursed with this particular weakness. We either don’t see the gift we bear or we compare it to the gifts of others effectively stopping ourselves from ever using it. 

            Comparison is an ugly thing. It robs dreams and steals joy. And yet each of us does it every day in small ways and big ways. It’s not an easy thing to get rid of and in some instances becomes a security blanket. We use it as an excuse to never try because if we never start we’ll never fail. 

            Satan uses our insecurities and fears against us because if he can stop us before we ever begin we’ll never change the world with the God. So he whispers lies and we’re all too willing to believe them because we’re prone to comparing ourselves to others. So the lies slip in along with the fears. 

I believe Satan rejoices in these moments. He does everything he can to stop us from using the gifts we been given because they are some the greatest weapons we have in the war against him. Our gifts have been given to edify (encourage) the body of Christ, to help bring a lost world to Christ, and to glorify the name of God; all things the devil hates and yet we suppress them because so many times we believe them to be inferior to the gifts given to others. 

We’re afraid that our gift won’t meet up to our expectations or the expectations of others. We’re terrified we might fail, that we might not be good enough or talented enough which causes the value of our gift to be diminished in our own sight. The sad thing is by listening to our fears we are effectively stopping the work of the Holy Spirit.

I think our lives are a bit similar to butterfly trapped in its cocoon. Just like that butterfly we’re trapped in our own cocoons of doubt, insecurity, and excuses. We have to unwind ourselves from the lies we’ve wrapped ourselves in if we ever want to achieve God’s full work within our lives. If we live within our cocoon of doubts and insecurities we’re really telling God that we don’t trust him and that he made a mistake when chose us. When we let go of these insecurities and doubts and let God have full reign of our gifts I think we must feel a bit like that butterfly the first time it unfurls its wings upon exiting the cocoon. There is a sense of freedom and joy incomparable to thing else. 

Recently I was talking with a friend who works with broken and hurting adults who’ve had horrendous pasts. She shared how there are so many days when she feels she lacks the skills and life experiences to truly  minster and reach out to the people she works with. 

My friend grew up in a loving home with parents who provided for their children not only physically but spiritually as well. A blessing she thanks God for, but there are days when the blessings come with feelings of guilt because of the pain and hurt she sees in others. These blessings leave her feeling as though she cannot truly understand and empathize with her clients. Despite her feelings of inadequacies she rejoices in her blessings and continues to push on because she knows that God has called her to this place.

She may not feel equipped to handle the mission God has called her to, but you know what I see? Where there is gloom I see a young woman shining bright for the Lord—a light that draws those in darkness in. Where the world is hard, I see softness. I see someone who is pliable in the hands of God and is growing. I see someone who is using the gifts God graced her with. Not many may notice what she is doing, but to a few she may be the light pointing the way to shore. 

Here is young woman living inside the calling God gave her. She has stepped up and begun using the gifts and blessings God has given her even when she feels insufficient. I think this is the best place to be for God uses our insufficiencies to work in marvelous ways. 

            My friend is gifted in ways that I never will be just as she will never be gifted in the same ways I am. Each of us has been made uniquely to complete a purpose God created for us long before we were a twinkle in our mother’s eyes. We just have to be pliable in God’s hands and let him work.

It’s a marvelous thing that God created us all differently with different gifts and talents. That one person may have the gift of teaching while another the gift of serving. The beauty of our gifts is that they differ so much. I know that I don’t have the gift of learning new languages or doing artist endeavors and I probably never will, but that’s okay because I know that others do. Each of us is called to work differently within the body of Christ and we’re each given specific talents to complete these tasks. 

            So many times we think that only certain gifts can be used in the work of the church. Things like teaching, serving, praying, and leading small groups, but these are only a small part of the gifts God has given us. God has graced some with the ability to work construction, run a business, or create things. These things (and so many more) may not be used in the typical setting of a church but they can be used to further God’s kingdom and bring glory to his name. We just have to be willing to be used where God calls us. 

            I also believe that God grants us different gifts at different times in our lives. Someone may not have the gift of leading when they’re young but find that later in life God has blessed them with this particular talent in order to carry out something he has called them to. 

            Just because God hasn’t graced us with a particular gift doesn’t mean that we can’t gain it with hard work. I don’t have the gift of serving but I know that God has called each of us to be servants so I work towards attaining this talent even though it’s hard and I have to consciously push myself to do it. The same with music. I can’t play piano but with hard work and determination I could learn to play and use it within the church. 

            It is important to use the gifts given to us. Just a muscle that is not used weakens and wastes away so to do our gifts and talents. They may still be present but without use they weaken and deteriorate. When we let ourselves believe the lies Satan feeds us and let our gifts fall to the wayside they often become unnoticed and forgotten never being used for their true purpose: God’s work within the world.  If we just let go of our fears and let the glory God has given us shine through just think of what we could accomplish with him in this dark world. I guarantee we will find joy and peace, even amongst hardships and trials, if we just let God work in us towards his purposes.

~~~~~~~~



                        When I was young the Lord gave to me a box; a gift wrapped shiny and bright. He smiled gently and quietly spoke, “Here is a gift made especially for you. None other has a gift just like it. It will aid you as you walk each day so use it well.”     
             At first I marveled that so wonderful a gift would be given to such as I, but once the first  awe subsided I began to worry that my gift might not be as good as those others had receive. What if it wasn’t as useful as theirs? Worse, what if when I opened my package and brought it out for all to see, they laughed instead of marveled?
             So in fear and trepidation I set my gift upon the shelf to afraid to see what God had granted. Uncertainty stilled my hand and so year upon year it sat upon the shelf gathering dust and yellowing with age. My fear held me captive despite my desire to see what lay within.
           Finally, after years of disuse, when life’s bright flame began to flicker and fade within my breast, my desire to look overcame my fear. I took the box from its shelf and carefully tore the wrapping away. With great care I lifted the lid to gaze upon the gift I waited so long to see, but to my dismay I found the box empty and hollow.
            In hurt and anger I turned to the Lord and showed him the box filled with nothing but air.
           “My child,” he gently responded, “When I gave you the box it was full, but the longer you ignored your gift the more it diminished. Your gift was not meant to be forgotten and laid aside--it was created to be used. Great things could have been accomplished with such a gift if you had just opened and used it. The only thing left now is the knowledge of what could have been.”