God's Word is Alive!

"Make God's Word come alive for me!" How many of us have ever thought or said this out loud? Many of us have. There are a couple of reasons we may say or even pray this: we want to deeply feel the words of scripture; we are asking God to open our hearts, minds, and souls to receive the words of His heart; and/or we most often hear persons read the Bible like they are dead words - the readers stumble on words throughout the passage, there is no emotion exuding from the reader, i.e., no audible or visible evidence that they are impacted by the words; there does not appear to be an impetus, emphasis, or priority expressed during the reading, and/or the reading is done so quickly as if the words are putting a bitter taste in their mouth, or in the very least, the reader sees them as only mere words, lifeless scratchings on paper. 

Do they not know what a precious treasure they are reading? Are their hearts on fire with the words? Compare the response to a couple of hearers of God's Word here. They responded because the very voice of scripture was speaking to them. He spoke words of scripture from His heart, so unlike the didactic and monotonal readings they may have heard at temple. 

Friends, we do not have to entertain a hopeless wish for the Bible to be alive for us - God's Word is already alive because it's author is God the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit's life-giving power is evident all through scripture; as He Himself says at Hebrews 4:12 - "For the Word of God is living and active, and sharper than any two-edged sword, even penetrating as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart." No other book can even come close to the life-power of Holy Scripture. It's author is eternal, and thus His Words live on forever; what He says, does, or feels as captured in those holy words is beyond the framework of what we know as time. Thus, His Word - gifted to us - is God-breathed, is alive through the power of the Spirit, created to enliven the believer, refresh them / renew their spirit, bring comfort, and impact our very consciences and wills, and more. 

We cannot literally 'make' the Word any more alive than it already is; it is us who need to come alive! Our natural humanity longs for the things that the world offers; our fleshly hearts want instant spirituality on our terms. We don't want to read words that disagree with our world view, our moral core; in our flesh we are anti-holiness. In our flesh, we put a barrier between us and the Spirit's words. In our flesh we want to be entertained, titillated, to feel 'good'. In our flesh we are like two-year olds who don't want to eat their vegetables and rather want candy. In our flesh, we do not long for the things of Christ, for the Living Water. So, we will at times not feel the 'aliveness' of God's Word because we are not interested; our hearts are turned off to holy things.

But, can we be like the psalmist who said his soul is consumed for longing for God's Word? In Psalm 119 we see repeatedly the strong, expressed desire to be nurtured by God's living word. For the psalmist, God's Word is life, has power, is discerning. Even his prayers are shaped by God's Word! Have we ever experienced that? What was it like for you? 

Jesus said, "The one who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves me; and the one who loves me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and reveal myself to him. If anyone loves me they will follow my word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our dwelling with him. The one who does not love me does not follow my words;" - John 14:21-23a. God has given us the ability to choose what we wish to do, to seek Him in His Word, or to ignore His written heart to us? Will we gladden the heart of God, or will we elect to neglect and/or reject His Word, and thus grieve God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit - i.e., God? (Psalm 119:118; Genesis 6:5-6; Isaiah 63:9-10; Mark 3:4-5; Ephesians 4:30) 

PRAY: Almighty God who, in the vastness of your love for us and in whose image we are created, have given us your heart in writing through your Spirit-wrapped and infused Holy Word: Touch our distant hearts, let us hear your heartbeat in the pages of your Word, let those words penetrate us to the dividing of soul and spirit; let them awaken in us the truth you have deposited that is buried so deeply only you can reach it. Let our hearts come back to life again as we feed on your ancient words, ever true; let them change me and all who claim the name of Christ so that we can live forever in your truth. In the mighty name of our blessed Savior, Jesus Christ, we pray. Amen.

Invitation to Dinner

When a person hosts a special dinner for a close friend or two, he or she takes time to set the table, making it inviting and comfortable, a delight to the eyes as well as to the palate. The best dinnerware is brought out, the chairs are clean and comfortable, the table dressed in the best linens or covers and perhaps have a ‘tablescape’ that complements the event. Such care is taken because the person loves his or her guests, wants them to be encouraged, to feel valued, and to thoroughly enjoy the fellowship to which they have been invited. The person is especially inclined to be intentional in setting the table when those friends are enduring difficult times. The fellowship time generates enhanced relationships, a tighter bond.

When what we know as Psalm 23 was being penned by David under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, he was moved to write in the midst of great challenge – people were seeking his death. David was running for his life. In the entire circumstance of challenge, sadness, and despair experienced by David (the person who had wanted David killed was the King of Israel, and one whom David had drawn close to with a fondness seeing in the king a father-like figure). Can you imagine the rollercoaster emotions David had to be experiencing?

David turned to his Heavenly Father for comfort, companionship, and encouragement in such times of discouragement. When we experience difficulties and trials, a key impact is the opportunity for increased intimacy with our Heavenly Father. David describes the intimacy and blessing of a special time of fellowship with his Heavenly Father: “Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.” Can we picture just what David is writing? Can we see the circumstance through his eyes? God the Father set the table and invites David. Although David was the servant and God the host, David’s Father God arranged a unique and special time of sweet communion and intimate fellowship in the midst of David’s severe troubles. God carved out special times of communion with David, and was committed to fellowship with him. God Himself sets the tablescape, bringing all the perfect accoutrements required.

Do we aspire to that kind of intimacy with God as David did? When we are facing trials so much bigger than us, and possibly in deep pain, do we thank God that He is always present and so willing to share intimate time with us? Do we find the grace of God in the tablescape of His desire to enjoy the opportunity to ‘sit’ with us and bring us the peace and contentment of a relationship with the Prince of Peace, God of Love? (compare Luke 24:13-15, 28-32) Don’t put the opportunity aside, saying you will get around to spending time with God; RSVP now to God’s invitation to fellowship with Him. The table is set just for you.

Patient Waiting

Living our Faith

Ours is an ‘instant everything’ culture, where patient waiting is a challenge even for Christians. Psalm 130 and Mark 5 intentionally offer us a stark contrast. 

Stepping into those readings, we first witness the incessant striving of the people – the psalmist cries out to God repeatedly from the depths of his soul; the synagogue leader and the woman with the chronic illness have both been praying for what seems like an eternity for healing. Then we note that the psalmist has learned to wait for the LORD, the Sovereign God, the Living God, in whose hands is all of time. He finds deepening trust and hope in God’s word of promise, and profound grace, mercy and forgiveness. The synagogue leader Jairus in the Mark passage has by career and heredity known of God, prayed to God the regular prayers of his people, however, in this season his prayer life changes. His relationship with Yahweh in this time of waiting on His mercy has grown more personal because of his daughter’s illness (do you think Psalm 130 was a continual prayer for him?). The woman in the Mark passage has endured a devastating illness that her culture and the law exacerbates so that she is forced to live in the shadows, to abandon meaningful relationships, and is bankrupted by medical bills. She awaits God’s healing, doing all the law allows, crying out to Yahweh incessantly for twelve lonely, painful years. God answers both of their prayers in an unexpected, personal way in Jesus. 

At the beginning of Mark 5, Jesus’ healing of a demoniac initiates a groundswell of proclaiming of the Gospel throughout the region by those who witnessed the miraculous healing  – the telling of the good news of God coming to His people. Jairus and the woman hear about what Jesus has done and believe He is the answer God has sent in response to their pleadings. For Jairus his seeking Jesus could mean a loss of job and reputation, but he knows doing nothing could cost him more. His faith pushes him to boldly go to Jesus and fall at his feet, seeking mercy and redemption. The woman knowing that her willful violation of the law could cost her her life, nevertheless walks stealthily in faith for just a touch from Jesus. And look how Jesus uniquely answers each one! 

Can't you feel the woman’s fear, then divine joy, as Jesus restores her publicly, Jesus who has seen and known her true value to the Father and by grace and in mercy forgives and redeems her life? Can't you feel Jairus’ complex emotions as he hears his daughter has died, but is immediately reassured by the same Jesus who redeemed the woman known throughout the community as a lost cause? Can't you feel your heart pound as you walk into his house where his dear child is laid out in death until that same Jesus calls her back to life right before your eyes? 

Had both Jairus and the woman not waited in faith, would they have experienced these outcomes? As the psalmist explains, their waiting was purposeful. The waiting on the God of all Creation, the anticipation that He would act based on His word, was an opportunity for each of them to grow in faith and trust. They could see with eyes of faith God’s answer was certain in Christ, and found not just physical restoration, but a divine revelation of God himself and an eternal blessing. What blessings have we missed because of impatience? What if we see waiting as an opportunity to trust our Sovereign God, to let Him use our seasons of waiting to uniquely act in our lives to push our faith forward?

Thanksgiving

When I realize that Thanksgiving for a believer is a daily occurrence, then I'm never late publishing this message:

Reflections on Thanksgiving… God is here and has blessed us with His presence. We are not alone! Bless you all and may God give you grace to use the blessings you’ve received to be a blessing to others! -jo

1 Chronicles 16:34

New American Standard Bible (NASB)

³⁴ O give thanks to the LORD, for He is good;
For His lovingkindness is everlasting.

Psalm 9

A Psalm of Thanksgiving for God’s Justice.

    For the choir director; on Muth-labben. A Psalm of David.

 ¹ I will give thanks to the LORD with all my heart;
I will tell of all Your wonders.

1 Samuel 2

Hannah’s Song of Thanksgiving

 ¹ Then Hannah prayed and said,

   “My heart exults in the LORD;
My horn is exalted in the LORD,
My mouth speaks boldly against my enemies,
Because I rejoice in Your salvation.

Psalm 30:4

New American Standard Bible (NASB)

⁴ Sing praise to the LORD, you His godly ones,
And give thanks to His holy name.

Psalm 50:14

New American Standard Bible (NASB)

¹⁴ “Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving
And pay your vows to the Most High;

Psalm 50:23

New American Standard Bible (NASB)

²³ “He who offers a sacrifice of thanksgiving honors Me;
And to him who orders his way aright
I shall show the salvation of God.”

1 Chronicles 16:8

New American Standard Bible (NASB)

Psalm of Thanksgiving

 ⁸ Oh give thanks to the LORD, call upon His name;
Make known His deeds among the peoples.

Psalm 69:30

New American Standard Bible (NASB)

³⁰ I will praise the name of God with song
And magnify Him with thanksgiving.

Psalm 95:2

New American Standard Bible (NASB)

² Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving,
Let us shout joyfully to Him with psalms.

Philippians 4:6

New American Standard Bible (NASB)

⁶ Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.

Colossians 4:2

New American Standard Bible (NASB)

 ² Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with an attitude of thanksgiving; 

Lamentations chapter 3

Hope of Relief in God’s Mercy

¹⁹ Remember my affliction and my wandering, the wormwood and bitterness.
²⁰ Surely my soul remembers
And is bowed down within me.
²¹ This I recall to my mind,
Therefore I have hope.
²² The LORD’S lovingkindnesses indeed never cease,
For His compassions never fail.
²³ They are new every morning;
Great is Your faithfulness.
²⁴ “The LORD is my portion,” says my soul,
“Therefore I have hope in Him.”
²⁵ The LORD is good to those who wait for Him,
To the person who seeks Him.

Revelations 7

⁹ After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could count, from every nation and all tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, and palm branches were in their hands; ¹⁰ and they cry out with a loud voice, saying,

   “Salvation to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.” ¹¹ And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures; and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, ¹² saying,

   “Amen, blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might, be to our God forever and ever. Amen.”

Sabbath Rest

It's less than two hours before midnight and I'm writing a post about sabbath rest. What does that tell you? God graced us with a period of rest on purpose - we need the un-wind, decompression, refocus and most of all physical rest. He did not make us to be a 24/7 machine. This principle applies universally - a need for adequate rest and refreshment of spirit. We are desperate for sabbath rest whether we admit it or not. Stress takes a chunk out of our lives, leaving us sometimes in emotional distress, and rushes us sooner than we would like to the grave. Our cognitive skills are strained and our bodies' organs must work overtime to compensate for how the stress is affecting us. We retain body fat when living in stress because the body reacts to stress relative to fat the way that squirrels react to the changing fall weather, storing up vittles for themselves. The body clings to the fat. Google "fat and stress" to see the results of research in that area. Scary.

I am one of those persons who needs to be busy. At least, that is what I have been for x# of years. Since I couldn't say no, and did not include sabbath rest in my schedule as a fixed event, it was only a matter of time before I hit the wall so to speak. It's not that I wasn't warned - I was warned countless times. You know -- 'you can't burn a candle at both ends,' 'even Jesus slept' (to which I have cynically replied inaudibly at least once, 'but He arose early'; tsk tsk), and - well, you've heard them all, too. See, sometimes us women of faith think that as long as we are doing ministry and keeping the home fires burning, God is going to keep us going even when we start to violate the parameters (we don't see it as violation - we see it as a failure or some kind of  - dare I say it - lack of faith to reject or say no to new challenges that never ever end). I kept thinking, well, that probability of crashing is way off in the future, and besides, I'll be able to tell when I need to stop and wind down. Deception! Even after hitting the burnout phase, thinking that maybe one more year will be ok before I take a vacation or take time off to do nothing, and step down from the responsibility of those things outside of true life necessities (arrrgh - we even blur 'necessities'). An individual with this personality doesn't have guardrails that are reliable. We keep moving them so they have no permanency. Eventually, we will move and move and keep moving and never see the brick wall until it is 2 feet away.

I am a recovering workaholic trying to practice a sabbath rest that works in real time for me - time when I can relax, lay back, read, and not have to be anywhere or required to be doing something. And I don't mean vegetating before the TV necessarily. It's hard, though, to go from 200 mph to 0. Especially the time for exercise - well, I'm supposed to be a steward of my time so why don't I act like it? The reality is that very few of us women who are householders, moms, or business owners, working a night shift, engaged in ministries, and/or any combination of these and other life needs can take a full day 'off' each week. But can we schedule 2 hours two or three times a week that we fix into the calendar to take a sabbath for restoration of our spirits and bodies? If you are graced to do so, could you take a full day once a month or bi-monthly to do something outside of your routine to give yourself a fresh perspective? I won't disrespect anyone reading this and needing sabbath rest in their life to draw a picture of how to do this in 7 easy steps. Each of our circumstances are unique - unfortunately/fortunately, we have to work it out for ourselves in ways that fit our realities. Women of faith need sabbath times especially as an opportunity to commune with our Heavenly Father to strengthen that relationship.

Take the idea of sabbath rest to God in prayer asking Him to give you wisdom in this area of your life. Ask Him to bring into your life women from similar lifestyles and routines as yours who have learned to do sabbath rest so that they can show you how it may work in your life. Ask others to pray for you, too, that you will find a blessing in your effort to establish this in your routine as a way of life, and a way of thanksgiving to God. As the psalmist says boldly in his own stress in Psalm 30: "To you, O LORD, I cried, and to the LORD I made supplication. 'What profit is there in my death, if I go down to the Pit? Will the dust praise you? Will it tell of your faithfulness?' Hear, O LORD, and be gracious to me! O LORD, be my helper ... you turn mourning into dancing; you take off my sackcloth and clothe me in joy, so that my soul may praise you and not be silent."

I will listen to my own exhortation and shut down the computer and dim the light. Time for rest.

"Lawd Jesus, a fire!"

There is a video on youtube that went viral a few months ago. It was an interview with a woman awakened by a fire in her apartment building complex. When she fully awakened to what was going on around her, she remarked, "Lawd Jesus, a fire!"

That expression has stuck with me in a special way. Going through various trials, I know from whence my help comes. I cannot linger in discouragement. "I lift my eyes to the hills -- from where will my help come? My help comes from the LORD, maker of heaven and earth." Psalm 121 is one of those scriptural passages we need in our face daily to help us recall that when the fires of trials come to us that God has allowed, and we cry out "lawd Jesus, a fire!" and pray in the will of the Father, He will hear us. Our God who never sleeps, who keeps us from destructive evil that would try us beyond what He allows, our God who can keep our life for eternity, who keeps us in view marking our going out and coming in now and forevermore is able to do these things and come to the help of those who are tempted (Hebrews 2:18). I encourage you today to keep the psalm close and the Lord closer. Peace and joy from the Spirit of Christ.

A Spiritual 'Byte'

The next time you go to get your hair ‘did’ or done, and/or cut, shampooed or whatever, remember Matthew 10:30: “And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered,” and Luke 12:7 “And the very hairs on your head are all numbered. So don't be afraid; you are more valuable to God than a whole flock of sparrows.” Our all-knowing God, who knows better than our hair-care professionals the number of hairs on our heads, and which hairs will fall out, turn gray, or welcome new growth, is all-wise enough to know everything we need and what is best for our individual lives. Don’t worry, the price for this intimacy has already been paid! But don’t let the offer expire!

From Psalm 139: “O Lord, you have examined my heart and know everything about me. You know when I sit down or stand up. You know my thoughts even when I’m far away. You see me when I travel and when I rest at home. You know everything I do. You know what I am going to say even before I say it, Lord…You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed… Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life.”