Stiletto Army

Just Checked my Reader!

2010-07-29T13:52:00.000-05:00

Hey! I am so excited that people keep subscribing to this blog! So humbling! If you're one of them LISTEN UP! ;)

So, here's the deal, if you guys like this blog and the studies I put out here then, well, I need to hear about it. You see, I am currently trying to format it so ALL my blogs are in one spot. That way I have a regular ol' blog and this one on the same site.

If you'd REALLY like me to continue putting new Bible studies on the web and making them available for download, then give me a hear shout on this here blog! Just leave me a comment telling me what you'd like to study and that, yes, you'd like it all in one place.

Once that is up and running, then we can all move over there together. My goal? September!!

Let me hear your voices!!

WHAT YOU WILL FIND

2010-06-15T13:54:00.000-05:00

Thanks for coming over! If you are looking for some great Bible studies to do on your own or with a group, simple scroll down the right side of the blog and take a look! Thanks for coming by!

The Gift

2009-12-07T07:50:00.001-06:00

Good morning Stiletto Peeps! This year I am running The Gift again over at my personal blog I AM (not)! Please come over there, grab you some hot cocoa, and enjoy the wonders of Ariana opening her gifts from the Father again this year!

Tell your friends!

Key #5-- Health of Body

2009-11-25T07:58:00.007-06:00

Let's wrap up this study!

As we have learned, or bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit. He operates in and through us and we, I hope, have discovered that this truth will affect all areas of our lives. We have come to the one that it should affect as well, but it just seems more difficult.

Let me pose a question: If the Holy Spirit is in our bodies, shouldn't they reflect that?

In other words, are broken, overweight bodies a good reflection of a person under the influence of the Holy Spirit?

Hear me out, I realized that we have an enemy and we are in a broken world that will not receive full, redemptive healing and "new bodies" until Jesus comes back. BUT, if our spirits, minds, heart, and souls can become healthy under the power of the Spirit, what's to say our bodies can't?

Our bodies can, and to some degree should, be a reflection of our humility to God. If we have very broken, overweight bodies that are never attended to, then there is something in our belief system that tells us we aren't worth it...and well, that's just a lie.

Just as brokenness in us can manifest as bitterness or unforgiveness, I believe brokenness and a faulty belief system about who we are can result in a broken and unfit body; a reflection of what we believe about ourselves.

Again, a little pudge is no sin, it's what is in the heart. How we treat our bodies might give us an indication of how much we believe the Spirit owns us and might show if we do love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength.

Some reasons a healthy body is important:

-You will have a better and more healthy mind.

-You will have a better body to follow through with the calling of God.

-You will be using your temple to it's fullest to honor God and his calling.

-You can show the devil who owns your temple!

We know the reasons to be healthy physically. Shoot, Oprah can tell us that! But, think about why God might want our bodies healthy. Give it some time. Weigh the pros and cons to both.

What if your body was under his control?

What if you body was fit enough to do all you feel called to do and be?

What if you could say, "This entire body; heart, soul, mind, and strength are really his."?

Answer those questions and you might find that your sick of the world and the devil telling you how to treat your body.

Some Tips and Tricks

1. Get before Jesus and talk to him about this. Ask him if there is anything you need to confess, change, hear, or understand. Then, take the steps to obey.

2. GET A JOURNAL! I cannot stress enough the value of journaling!

3. Read some books. All sorts of books. Go to the library. Learn, ingest, understand.

4. Get an exercise program that works for you without taking up too much time or thought. We don't want to give our bodies too much attention in the name of "health".

5. Find a friend you can do this with. Talk about it, but don't obsess. Do what is necessary. Intense focus for a season might be necessary, but then get back on task of fulfilling God's calling.

Anything we give thought to that is more than our relationship with Christ is pert near idolatry.

6. Find out what you need to be focused on and how your health can facilitate your purpose. Write it down. "If I was healthy, I could do more with _____________________"

7. Start with some short goals. 2 weeks of _______. 4 weeks of __________. This is about changing our thoughts about our temples. New discipline for the work of the Spirit.

8. Plan your menu. Saves on budget and helps you make good choices.

9. DO NOT OBSESS!

10. Stay humbled before the Holy Spirit of Christ and remember this is so that he is glorified, you are satisfied, and his kingdom multiplied!

I hope that this journey (although I ended it very late!) was one you found truth in. I pray that we are a people that honor God in all ways, in all areas, to the fullest!

I love you guys!!

Resources:

"Lose it for Life" by Stephen Arterburn. Sooooo good!

"The Maker's Diet" by Jordan S. Rubin

"The Seven Pillars of Health" by Don and Mary Colbert

http://www.stickk.com/ A personal goal setting website

Couch to Five K Program http://www.coolrunning.com/engine/2/2_3?181.shtml

http://www.winsorpilates.com/ GREAT Pilates program. I love it!

THE BIBLE!!

Oops!

2009-10-05T15:09:00.002-05:00

Hey everyone! I'm in Colorado this week wasn't able to get this weeks final lesson on! Be sure to come back next week so we can wrap up Keys to Godly Body Image!

Oops!

2009-10-05T15:09:00.000-05:00

Hey everyone! I'm in Colorado this week wasn't able to get this weeks final lesson on! Be sure to come back next week so we can wrap up Keys to Godly Body Image!

Keys to Godly Body Image--Key #4 Health of Soul

2009-09-28T09:31:00.004-05:00

Keys to Godly Body Image--Health of Soul from Natalie Witcher on Vimeo.

Key Thoughts

Soul: represents our calling. It is the Inner Court where the Holy of Holies, the Holy Spirit dictates our service. It will be at it's best service according to the amount of control we allow Him to have.

What does this have to do with a healthy body image? A lot! How can we serve to our best when we are undisciplined, tired, sick and unable to get our body to match our calling? Health of body and soul are bound together, relying on one another.

How can your love, or lack thereof, of our body help or hinder your calling?

What are you doing physically in your temple to support your soul?

Our enemy is out to destroy the work of God and he will do it by any means possible. We have to realize that yes, he's real, but our distraction with body image is a smoke screen; a way to get our focus off of God and what He has planned for us, and on to ourselves.

Honestly, the enemy doesn't care what we struggle with as long as we are distracted. He's happy with the fact that we glorify something other than Christ, good or bad.

Here's some reasons to be healthy in body and soul:

-to be able to serve

-to be able to care for our children

-to be able to care for aging parents

-stay OUT of the hospital

-help keep our bodies off a bunch of meds

-have sharp minds

-hold back disease

The list goes on and on.

You are a minister of the new covenant. What can you do today to uphold your body so that your soul can flourish?

Keys To Godly Body Image --Key #3 Health of Mind

2009-09-21T07:17:00.002-05:00

Keys To Godly Body Image--Key #3 Health of Mind from Natalie Witcher on Vimeo.

KEY THOUGHTS

Remember the commercial, "Your mind is a terrible thing to waste."? Well, it's true. If our minds are neglected and we stuff in them everything but the Word of God, how can we expect to think Godly thoughts about life, much less how we think about ourselves.

Our minds, as Joyce Meyer's call them, are battlefields. It's where the Truth of God and the Lies of Satan duke it out for control. Get the mind, get the person.

Recently I watched a National Geographic documentary on the suspicion of mind control tactics by the CIA years ago. There were people who believed that if programmed long enough with the right force and the right repetitiveness, they could make people do things they didn't want to do and without their knowledge. Fascinating...but impossible.

The mind is powerful enough to overcome influences of that magnitude, but we let the simplest lie of the enemy determine our moods, our views, and ruin our understanding of the Truth.

Don't let the enemy convince you that he has control. Just like the accusations against the CIA, they never really did have control of the person. They caused much damage and pain, but never really took control. If you are a follower of Christ, the Bible says you are sealed in the Spirit. The enemy will cause you much damage and pain, but only you allow him to have control.

Kick him out of your mind with the power of the Word.

The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God and we take captive
every thought to make it obedient to Christ. 2 Corinthians 10:4-5

You have at your fingertips the very weapon that will demolish all things set up against the Truth. Take time to exchange the lie for the Truth and be set free from everything that tells you you're not good enough, not pretty enough, skinny enough, or whatever, and get the truth that you are a workmanship designed to do good works!

You have great purpose and the enemy knows it. Beat him at his own game.

Keys To Godly Body Image --Key #2 Health of Spirit

2009-09-13T15:01:00.003-05:00

Keys to Godly Body Image-- Health of Spirit from Natalie Witcher on Vimeo.

Key Thoughts

Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought with a price. Therefore, honor God with your body. 1 Corinthians 6:19

Now, last week we did the work of dedication, of consecrating ourselves to God. This week, we are going to get out of the way of the Holy of Holies and become people yielded to Christ and to His Holy Spirit inside us. Right? Right.

Yielding to the Spirit will cause us to follow in obedience more easily and more readily in the inner and outer courts. Meaning, the more you yield to the Spirit, the more you will honor and obey him in all areas of your life.

Come back to the concept of the priest leaving the Holy of Holies so that the glory of God could fall.

In what ways do you need to remove yourself from the throne room?

In what ways do you take control of your body that might be His job to lead and guide you?

Consider again the magnitude of the original temple and the indescribable honor to have God come down on in and in it. This is how I want you to view yourself: a vessel, a house, a place where God's Spirit has descended.

In light of this, how do you need to respond?

What does this do to your thoughts about yourself?

About God?

This is where we begin. This is where change starts. Not just for body image, but for all things. Having our lives dedicated to God will, in turn, affect everything We're focusing on body image, so think of ways you could see that playing out.

How could you see your view on body image/health change if ruled by the Spirit?

Keys To Godly Body Image Week 2-- Dedication!

2009-09-07T05:00:00.000-05:00

Ummm, sorry, it's so not shorter than the first week. It's about 7 min. So, I lied. There, now you know. :)

Keys to Godly Body Image---Dedication from Natalie Witcher on Vimeo.

KEY THOUGHTS

Dedication. Any thoughts? Any ideas on how you can dedicate your temple to God? What does that look like for you personally?

Here's a great prayer to use that Solomon used when he built the temple:

2 Chronicles 6:19-21

Hear the cry and the prayer that your servant is praying in your presence. May your eyes be open toward this temple day and night, this place of which you said you would put your Name there. May you hear the prayer your servant prays toward this place. Hear the supplications of your servant and of your people Israel when they pray toward this place. Hear from heaven, your dwelling place; and when you hear, forgive.

Remember, YOU are the temple of God, and having a statement like this will help you stay focused on the things of God and not the things of the world. Remember, Solomon built the temple for one purpose, God's glory. If we keep this our purpose, we will find that much of our perspective will change.

You might start eating differently. You might do different things. Maybe you turn off the TV more often. Get out and walk. Whatever it looks like for you, you will be different. You will learn to honor yourself more and your physical body if you have a clear understanding concerning your temple as Solomon did the one he built.

God's glory.

If this is our focus, what changes can we make? In what ways does this inspire you to reconsider how you look at yourself?

Be like Abraham: offer yourself as a sacrafice

Be like Araunah: offer yourself freely to be used by God

Be like David: humble yourself and repent. Make it cost you something.

Be like Solomon: dedicate yourself to the renewal of your temple from the inside out.

Now, offer your own prayer of dedication.

Keys to Godly Body Image--Introduction

2009-08-30T05:00:00.000-05:00

Keys to Godly Body Image--Introduction from Natalie Witcher on Vimeo.

Key Thoughts

If you’re like me, you know there is plenty out there to teach us how to be healthy. There is plenty out there to guide us in the way of exercise and food. I want you to use those resources, but I want more than that, for those resources to be just that…a resource.

What I want you to find life-changing is the Word of God! Take note of the verse I used just now in the video and then answer the questions below. Either answer them to yourself, or go ahead and leave me a comment.

“The temple I am going to build will be great, because our God is greater than all gods. But who is able to build a temple for him, since the heavens, even the highest heavens, cannot contain him? Who then am I to build a temple for him, except as a place to burn sacrifices before him.” 2 Chronicles 2:5,6

Now, we are not going to “build” the temple. If you’re breathing, God has already done that. Our focus is on giving it back to Him. I want you to take a look at your whole self: heart, soul, mind and body, and see if you could say, “Yes, I want a temple that is great because my God is greater than all gods.”

Can you say that?

Are you at a place where you want Him to be honored just because He’s God?

How can you begin today?

The last part, “Who then am I to build a temple for him, except as a place to burn sacrifices before him” will become a wonderful place of freedom for us. You see, God is the builder in us now! He has given us a tool for His glory! He is the one who has placed His Spirit in us, we then, become the ones that humble ourselves before Him and bring “sacrifices before Him.” How that looks in all practical ways will be uncovered more and more as we go on our journey.

What does it mean to “burn sacrifices before him” now as a New Testament follower of Christ? What does that have to do with us being a temple?

Okay, next week: The week of Dedication! UGH! Just kidding!

It's July! How'd that happen??

2009-06-30T22:28:00.002-05:00

Hello, dear Stiletto Readers. Here it is July 1st, and what do I have for you dear reader?

nada

zip

zero

zilch

How has the month of June flown by so fast?? How has this time slipped by us in the heat and hustle and bustle of swimming and playing in the water hose? Well, probably exactly that way, huh?

So, in order to "feel you out" I want you to talk to me. Where are you? What can I do for you? What do you need?

I don't know about you, but for me July and August are sort of difficult months. They're not normal, they don't have the "flow" like the rest of the year does. There is just something a bit more flowy from September to May.

So, to help with that, what do you need? (assuming you need anything from me ;)

Any topics you're interested in? Anything bothering you? What if we just did question and answer?

You question, I'll try to answer?

Then, when fall rolls around we'll kick off in September with something wonderful? Who knows, maybe through our talks here, we'll find we need to study something!

So, start asking...........

2009-05-31T17:23:00.000-05:00

Hey guys and gals! Looks like Stiletto Army will be taking sort of a summer break. Not for too long, mind you, because I lurve teaching! So, I should have something new for July, but June is going to be a time of rest!

I hope you ALL take one too! Enjoy your summer!

Do It

2009-05-18T07:01:00.004-05:00

I'd like to say it's not hard, but I think we make it hard and our brains make it harder. We talk about it. Our pastor's preach about it. We desire it, or at least I think we do. It sounds good in theory, but it actually is more difficult in reality.

It's necessary. It allows the Spirit of God to come in closer and do His work more deeply. It's an act of obedience. It shows a desire for Christ to be a priority. It makes Him a priority. It's cleansing. It centers us for the day, the week.

Being Monday we all begin again in the hustle and bustle and we all need to do this, not just because it's Monday, but because it's the only time we have to do it. Now, is our reality so what are we going to do with it? We need to do this because it's a New day, not just Monday, but a New day. Tomorrow will be another New day and we need to do it then.

Find time today to do it. Find time everyday to do it. You will discover it is the greatest treasure next to knowing His great love. However, by doing this, you might discover that even more.

Be still and know that He is God.

Grow a Brain

2009-05-15T08:18:00.003-05:00

I love that saying! I used to use it all the time with my brother and sister. We'd laugh and laugh.

Now, however, I wonder how many of God's created don't use the one He's given them. If you are a follower of Christ, you have an obligation to use your brain, not just your emotion, which are wonderful, not just your experiences, which are vital to our growth, you must use your brain.

Here's what I mean. The Bible teaches us that we, through the Spirit, can have wisdom, insight, knowledge, understanding, discernment. These are all found in our intellect. However, these are wrapped up in the Spirit and many times fall outside the parameters of our own human knowledge. The point is that we need and should make the study of God's word, and outside sources, something we love, something we desire, and something we give priority to.

I'm not saying we should all go get a theology degree, but I do believe that we need to be able to answer to anyone why we have our hope. We also need to have the humility to say, "I don't know...but I'll find out."

The Bereans, in Acts, were commended for their study of the Scripture to see if what they were being told about Jesus was correct. Many times believers will take a Pastor's word or a teacher's word for it without having a clear Biblical understanding of a topic. Thousands follow false teachers and false prophets because of a lack of Biblical knowledge.

Biblical knowledge goes beyond knowing chapter and verse. God has provided many men and women who understand the original language of the Bible and have taken great pains to make sure we get those resources in hand. On top of that, there are many other resources that, though might need some explanation, are easy to use: concordances, study books, commentaries, web sites. Each of these will not only enhance your study of the Word, but enrich it!

Finding out the original words or the author's original intent, or even the connection between the ancient Jewish beliefs and our beliefs, is only found in taking time to study the works of those who have given their time and careers to offer us such great resources.

All in all, study of the Word is valuable, necessary and down right awesome!

Microwave Mentality

2009-05-13T07:53:00.002-05:00

Have you ever noticed that it seems like God does not, or will not, move at the speed we'd like? I mean, He created light, certainly He could move at the speed of it now and again.

Let's take a look-see at our culture:

Cell phone's that text, email, find your favorite restaurant, take pictures, blog, and could track Dorothy in a tornado.

Microwaves make our food hot and toasty in a matter of seconds.

Computers connect us with one another in lightning speed.

We have fast cars and drive thru's.

We have everything so very convenient. So very fast. (That is to say, at least in the US we do.)

But the Bible teaches that our ways are not His ways. Our ways might be quick and we might get responses faster than a click of a mouse or keypad, but in the ways of the Spirit, life does not always work like that.

It's something we know, but we might not like it. Even the idea of waiting on God for weeks is hard. What about months? Years? Has it ever occurred to us that God might with hold something for more than a day?

He sent Moses to go get the Israelites FORTY years after He met him at the burning bush. 40!

Jesus didn't start his ministry until he was 30. Paul waited 14 years before he really hit the scene.

Time in our minds is not like God's. Things do not always happen quickly and we must heed the word when it tells us to Be still and know that He is God.

In our waiting we must learn to see Him, and know Him, not for what He's going to do, but really learn His character. Listen for His voice to direct you.

It could be hours, it could be years, but we must learn to be still and wait. The work is not what is going on around us, the real work of God is what's going on inside of us.

The Taming of the Shoe

2009-05-11T05:00:00.001-05:00

Learning how to walk isn't easy. I've watched my baby girl figure this out just recently. One afternoon after her nap, she took off walking. It was like she thought, "Welp, I'm going to start walking now." It was crazy!

Since she is a little human, it's perfectly natural for her to start walking. And even though she had figured it out, she still has some troubles. Balance, stability, strength, turning, stopping. She simply has to practice. What I notice in babies, however, is they don't get mad about it. They just get up and keep going.

As followers of Christ, we can learn a lot from toddlers. We too are admonished to learn to walk in the Spirit.

Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. Galatians 5:25

If you have given your life to Christ, it's perfectly natural for you to start learning how to walk with Christ. Even if you have followed him for years, there is always more to learn. There are always new places to go, bigger faith to learn, disappointments to go through, and joys to run in.

Keeping in step with the Spirit looks much like a toddler at first. We hang on and fall down...but we get back up. Soon, walking with Christ becomes the norm. Walking in the Spirit becomes so natural that falling down is surprising and difficult. However, as we grow in Christ, just as a baby's body grows, we become stronger, more determined and more able to discern what will cause us to fall.

If you feel you are still a toddler in Christ, keep walking. Get up, look up at your Father and keep going. He loves you more than you know.

For those of you who have walked this road with him for a long time, reach back and help the newbies, will you? Oh, our Father loves you more than you know too. Don't let being all grown up cause you to forget!

Punk!

2009-05-08T05:00:00.001-05:00

I've heard people call someone "Punk!" usually in fun. For instance, I was wandering into my bedroom to go to bed, and on the way I was picking up random things off the floor. So, my head was down as I entered the room. As I turned into the room, my husband had placed a blanket over his head and was standing very still just around the corner. Need less to say, it startled me.

Perfect example of a "punk." It was a punk move and I might have to retaliate.

I wonder, however, if too often I give the label "punk" to too many undeserving people. Someone who cuts me off in traffic. The teller who might be moving a bit too slow. The person on the other line wanting to sell me something.

Feeling that someone is a punk or is being punk-ish shows us that we are being easily offended.

Now, that's not to say there aren't things to be offended by. What I'm talking about is the offense taken when it inconveniences us. I wonder if being offended all to often is simply an indication that we are feeding our ravenous flesh and those who get in the way or slow that self-gratification down are worthy then of being labeled "punk" in our book.

Consider then going after the things of the Spirit. Feeding the appetite of the flesh for things to go our way in our time will make us quick tempered, prideful and easily offended. Before you call someone a punk (either out loud or in your mind) consider this:

My dear brothers, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, for man's anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires. James 1:19,20

and

So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. Galatians 6:16

Zip It, Lock It, Put It in Your Pocket

2009-05-06T05:00:00.000-05:00

I have three kids, two of which talk well. I have to remind them in certain situations we must "zip it, lock it, put it in your pocket" when it comes to talking. Library, movies, you know the drill. However, it's a great reminder for you and me.

There are too many times I should keep my mouth shut and I just don't. For instance, someone really bugged me the other day and instead of keeping it to myself and Jesus I decided a few friends needed to know about the audacity of this other person.

First of all, it was at a grocery store and I didn't even know the person. Secondly, it did nothing to bring any kind of encouragement to the group I was talking to. It was just ugly. Of course, I justified it telling myself that anyone in their right mind would have felt the same way, so I just kept on talking. Talk, talk, talk, blah, blah, blah, complain, complain, complain!

Next time I feel the need to complain about someone I don't know and about something that has no relevance what so ever, I need to "Zip It, Lock It, Put It in My Pocket!"

With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God's likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers, this should not be.

Cornnuts or Peppermint

2009-05-04T05:00:00.001-05:00

Welcome back! It's a new month, May, obviously, but that means that school is winding down and summer is winding up. It's sort of like Christmas. There seems to be a lot to do in the month of May and so for this month, I thought I would do short, yet thought-provoking posts for you.

We'll stick to the three times a week, but hopefully, you'll be able to read them in about two minutes. Whew, that will be a challenge for me to keep them short! Still, the point is to get you to focus on God in all things. Picture these as though we have met on the sidewalk, you have a map in hand, and I point down the street. We've briefly exchanged information, but it points in One direction: to Christ.

So, this weeks?

Corn nuts or Peppermint

Have you ever been in the car when someone opens up a bag of Corn nuts? Oh mercy those stink! What's worse is the person's breath when they start talking after they've consumed the already stinky food. They speak after corn nuts and we scrunch up our face. Eew.

I have to be honest, I like them. But, to save my family from dragon breath I don't buy them. I stick to little waxy chocolate donuts and all is well.

On the other mouth, peppermint is never really a bad thing. Someone starts sucking on a little peppermint and the whole car smells better, not to mention their breath. (Note to self: buy corn nuts and peppermint.)

They speak after peppermint and we smell the freshness. Aww.

Both flavors produce strong, bold scents. They are not subtle or inconspicuous like lettuce. I mean, you don't really know when someone has been chompin' on a bit of iceberg.

Read what James 3:5 &9-10 say:

Likewise the tongue is a small part of the body, but is makes great boasts (think corn nuts and peppermint, boastful scents). With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God's likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing.

So, the next time you open your mouth consider what the other person might be smelling.

Praise (peppermint)
or
cursing (corn nuts: gossip, bickering, complaining, etc.).

It's your choice.

2009-04-23T22:22:00.001-05:00

New Study will start Monday, May 4th! Come back later to find out!

The Spirit of Hope

2009-04-10T08:12:00.002-05:00

We have chewed up so much stuff concerning the Holy Spirit that I hope we have enough to live on for awhile! I pray that you have been encouraged in your life with Christ and that this has been something that has pointed you closer to Him! That's my goal: to point others to Him.

This is our last day and it seems fitting that on a last day I leave you with the Spirit of Hope.

In all the days when we feel our flesh has gotten the best of us, we have a Spirit of Hope.
During the seasons when our lives deal out difficult and possibly unbearable circumstances, we have a Spirit of Hope. When our kids walk away, we have a Spirit of Hope. When loved ones get sick, we have a Spirit of Hope. When our dreams come true, we have a Spirit of Hope.

And what is this hope? Everything.
Life
Peace
Joy
Fulfillment

This hope is what we hold on to when we don't feel hope. This hope is what we cling to when we're falling off a cliff. This hope is what we hold close as we watch our dreams come true. This hope is what keeps us telling others about the One who gives us this hope.

In all things, rest in the love of Christ in His Spirit and look to the hope He has given us.

And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us. Romans 5:5

I pray sweet blessings on you in Christ.

Power

2009-04-08T05:00:00.000-05:00

This is the last day (not counting Friday's wrap up) on our study of the Holy Spirit! What an amazing God we have!

I have to tell you what happened just yesterday morning! It has everything to do with listening to the Spirit direct us in the Word.

I have been praying about something for well over six months now and really do have some pretty good confirmation on it. However, I'm not sure when to step out in it so I was praying again yesterday. I had the whole house to myself so I was walking around with my coffee praying and talking with Him about this.

I stepped back into my office and literally prayed, "Lord, I don't want to step up to the Jordan and step in if you're not telling me to." Then I sat down and waited for Him to send me to the Word if He wanted to.

I listened quietly and sensed that I was to go to 2 Kings chapter 2. Who goes to 2 Kings!? Well, when I got there, would you believe it was the story of Elijah and Elisha at the JORDAN and it was about the passing of Elijah's mantle of ministry to Elisha and how the Jordan opened with Elijah touched the water with his cloak!?!?

I just about did back flips through my house. If I was limber and a gymnast I might have done so. Instead I called JT and my best friend and we laughed at how cool God was!

This stuff is real! I couldn't have even told where that story was, much less get the right book and chapter! Amazing.

Humility.
Waiting.
Listening.
Yielding.
Reading.
Hearing.

They all work together for Him to do His thing: reveal Christ and His will in power.

That moment yesterday was one power-packed moment. I was so thrilled, excited, overcome, and full of wonder that there is nothing on this earth that could produce the same thing. Powerful. Our God is powerful and He is more than willing to produce His power in us.

I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms... Ephesians 1:18-20

Pray that your eyes will be opened to:

hope
the riches of his inheritance
and his POWER for us who believe.

This power is above all things. ALL things. This power in Christ through His Spirit is above your fear, doubt, failure, strength, idols, sin, nation, government, complacency. His power is above all of that and we would be wise to find our position at the feet of that power. In such a position we recieve all the riches of Christ! In such a position do we find ourselves able to be lifted up by Christ! There is the power--Christ in us, The Indwelling.

Recieve it. Honor Him. And watch Him do His wonders.

The Spirit and the Word

2009-04-04T16:31:00.004-05:00

Only three more days until we end our study on the Holy Spirit. I most certainly did not do Him justice and this wasn't even close to what can be uncovered and discovered about Him. I just pray that maybe there were a few nuggets you took away as choice gold from Him. Thank you for being here. I know you're out there reading and I'm praying for you!

Today we'll be talking about one of my most favorite things: the Word. Just recently, I was with a group of women and personal Bible study/quiet time came up. Many of them confessed that they struggle with consistent Bible reading and prayer time. I've totally been there for sure! There is that feeling that I should be reading and praying, but either I didn't have time, or I didn't feel like it, or both.

Those issues, sadly, are pretty much a norm for many Christ followers. I used to be that way, but I'm not anymore, and lemme tell you, I'm not tooting my horn here, I'm tooting HIS!! There is no way I'd be who I am today if He weren't boss.

In 2000, I sat at the feet of Becky Tirabassi, who (at the time) had met with Christ every day for 16 years. SIXTEEN YEARS! I was amazed. I couldn't meet with Him two days in a row! She said something that changed my life forever,

"Make an appointment with the King and keep it."

Huh, really? That works? It did for me. I didn't make it all the time, but it was the launching pad, no, it was the spiritual hands on my shoulders turning my focus, my priorities, to Him all the time, every day. Those words began my journey with Him and has brought me where I am today.

I've had other people say, "Natalie, you know the Word so well!" To which I say, "I don't know enough, and it's only because my face is in it so often." Again, I tell you this because I want you to know that He is the power, not me. He is the amazing thing, not me. I'm normal with weaknesses, failings, issues. If I don't strive after Him every day of my pea-pickin' life, I would not even be close to what I am and I'm not even close to what He is!

What does this have to do with the Word? Everything.

Take...the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. Ephesians 6: 17

The Word is the weapon of the Spirit. The Word, when we feed our own spirit, becomes that which the Spirit uses to do His job of reminding us of everything Jesus said. The Word, in and of itself, unless fallen on fertile soil of a Spirit filled life, is not just the power. The Word of God, used by the Spirit of God in and on a humble Child of God--that's the fullness of it's power.

Many unbelievers have read the Bible and nothing has happened. Many unbelievers have read the Bible and their lives were changed. What is the difference? A person bent toward knowing Truth. A person, even if it's just a tiny bit, interested in the things of God.

I'm going to stop typing my own words for a bit and let Andrew Murray take the stage. He really says it much better than I do.

It is the Spirit that comes from God, the Spirit that brings life, and through the Word assimilates truth and power in us.
In our study of the work of the Holy Spirit, we cannot be too diligent at gaining a firm hold on this truth. It will save us from error. It will keep us from expecting to enjoy the teaching of the Spirit without the Word or to master the teaching of the Word without the Spirit.
In the Holy Trinity, the Word and the Spirit are intertwined-one with the Father. ...The Holy spirit has for all ages embodied the thoughts of God in the written Word, and lives now for this very purpose in our hearts--to reveal the power and the meaning of that Word. If you would be full of the Spirit, be full of the Word. If you would have the divine life of the Spirit within you grow strong in every part of your nature, let the word of Christ dwell in you richly. ...Think not for one moment that the Word can unfold its life in you, except as the Spirit within you accepts and appropriates it in the inner life.

We must go to the Word with a keen awareness of the work of the Spirit. We need to approach the Word as though God has taken a moment to lean down specifically, every time, and tell us something. And even if you don't "feel" it, that doesn't mean you don't keep going back. We go to it humbly, in expectation of what He will do, not in expectation of what we will feel. Let the wonderful feelings that come with truth be the icing on the cake, not the other way around.

I pray that when we approach the Word of God, we picture ourselves handing it right to God's hands and saying, "Do with this what you will in me, Lord."

Take the time. Do the reading, and wait for the Spirit to guide you into all truth.

Praying in the Spirit

2009-04-03T07:39:00.004-05:00

In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. Romans 8:26

And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. Ephesians 6:18

Looking back at Monday and Wednesday's study on having no confidence in the flesh, we get the idea that there is an opposite Person to put confidence in! Of course, that is an understatement! We must learn to put all our confidence in the Spirit of Christ. It begins and ends in humility, faith, and love. And that practice between us and Christ, is prayer.

Oh man, prayer is all sorts of wonderful things. You know this: songs, quiet, thought, spoken words, tears, a sigh, laughter. We can pray in so many different ways on so many occasions and have a consistent, open conversation with Christ.

So, what does Paul mean when he says "pray in the Spirit?" Well, my Christian background would certainly say it's not praying in tongues, while your Christian background could say it's most certainly is praying in tongues.

However, I believe speaking in tongues, or your "prayer language" (if you have one) is more than that. I believe praying in the Spirit is about learning how to involve ourselves so much in the things of the Lord that our lives become an attitude of prayer. That our minds and hearts are set on waiting for the Lord through the work of His Spirit to even guide us in prayer.

There are many times I am quiet before the Lord. There are other times I have told Him, "I simply cannot put into English what I hear in my heart, but I know you are speaking it for me." I've been unable to verbalize what was being expressed in my spirit. What is so wonderful about that is the promise of Romans 8:26 up there. Go ahead, slide back up and read it.

Prayer cannot be something that gives our flesh the chance to flex it's muscles. Prayer is meant for us to relinquish ourselves to the Father and guide us into His presence. We cannot force God to behave certain ways because we have great, flowery words to pray. We come to Him in faith and humility, wrapped up in His great and amazing love and do two things: Lay our requests before Him and wait in expectation. (I stole that from David)

In the morning, O Lord, you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait in expectation. Psalm 5:3

We can develop an expectation for what God is going to do. Not what He is going to do for us, but that He is just going to do. He's a promise keeper, and the more we know and rely on the love God has for us, the more we will see when He fulfills a promise. Prayer is not about getting what we want, it's about knowing who He is.

How you do that is up to you. Journal, dance, whisper, talk out loud, what ever you do, learn to pray. Learn to pray in the Spirit. Learn to bow in your spirit to the wonderful promise that He will pray with you and for you. Wait for Him to reveal Christ to you in what ever way He wants, even if our little brains are straining to figure that out.

For whatever reason, God designed that our prays would be the conduit of His power through His Spirit. Our prayer in Him and with Him can release what is in heaven. Our prayer can remove the enemy from our lives. Our prayer, in faith of the Holy Spirit, can change our spiritual DNA.

Relinquish your strength in prayer. Be weak so that He can be strong and fill you with words and prayer and thought that you never thought possible. Let Him fill you so that you become a powerful pray-er for Him, with Him, and because of Him. Carve out time in your day to be still before Him. Strive to make it the first-fruits of your time (morning), if you can.

Prayer is a life-long commitment, let's have the One who invented it teach us well.

No Confidence in the Flesh

2009-04-01T05:00:00.000-05:00

Here's Part 2 of No Confidence in the Flesh. Just thought it was time for another video!!

No Confidence in the Flesh from Natalie Witcher on Vimeo.

No Confidence in the Flesh

2009-03-30T05:00:00.000-05:00

Oh boy, this is a HUGE subject so I will trust in the Spirit to say all He needs to say to us. I realize I say this all the time, but go get Andrew Murray's book, The Indwelling Spirit for even more teaching on this here topic. You will be blessed!

The flesh. What is it? How do we deny it? How do we operate in the Spirit and not in our selves? Let me take this two ways: 1. Flesh that causes us to sin, and 2. Flesh that we use to try to do the work of the Spirit. Today we'll talk about #1 and Wednesday we'll cover #2. Will that work?

Good, because I don't want to hog your blog reading. :)

There are two ways at looking at having no confidence in the flesh in regard to sin: 1. We can't count on it to stop wanting sin, and 2. We can't count on it to be able to stand up against sin either.

Let me expound a bit. Our flesh is, what the Bible calls, our sin-nature. It's what is pretty much in direct opposition to the things of God. It is what Paul so eloquently talked about in Romans 7.

I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.

That's what we're talking about in regard to the sin-nature. It is what we are born with, what was placed on us through the sin of Adam way back in the beginning of things. Fair? Nope, but if you've lived long enough, you know life ain't fair and we've got to figure out what to do.

So, we can all agree we have a bend toward sin. There are things about it we love and things we hate. There is a satisfaction to it, and yet we all know it leaves us empty and void. There is a seduction about it that when fulfilled leaves us dirty and frightened. We know the consequences of our habitual, chosen sins.

What about those sins that sort of seem to "pop" up. For instance, you slam your hand in the door of your car and a darling little four letter word flies out of your pretty little redeemed lipsticked mouth. Well, that was not some sort of premeditated sin, it was just a response to a situation.

Whether it be a sin, a deep habitual sin maybe of gossip, bitterness, slander, unforgiveness, over-eating (which is really related to something deeper), complaining, cheating, stealing, oh the list is endless; or it's those slip-of-the-tongue kind of sin, truth of the matter is...it's all sin. It's all from the sin-nature.

Oh man! Not fun.

But, (and there is always a "but" in Christ)

But, we don't have to be ruled by our flesh.

Let me give you an example. I'm Irish. I like to joke about it, but I can sometimes be a short-tempered person. Usually not at people, but at things like a door not closing all the way, or if I drop the same pen four times in a row, I can really get twisted. Not pretty. I'm really not easily angered by people, it's just I can get bent out of shape over stupid stuff. So, I've just chalked it up as personality, my Irish nature, and moved on. I moved on in habitual sin.

I've had worse, believe me, but the point is, I did not have the guts or the belief in me to think that the Holy Spirit could actually do something about it. And to be honest, I didn't want Him to because it felt good at the moment. So, when I went to tell Him all about it He reminded me that He have given me a new nature.

Riiiight.

We have to start believing the Word. When it says that we are a new creation in Christ the old has gone the new has come, we have options:

1. We can be free to behave differently.
2. We can actually live without being bound to those old sin habits.
3. We can be free to stop feeling guilty.
4. We can look forward to being more and more like Christ.
5. We can be free in the Spirit to pray more.
6. We can start believing that we are who He says we are, not what our sin says we are!

I can keep going!......

7. We have the freedom to walk away from that which tempts us.
8. We can be ruled by the Spirit and not ourselves.
9. We can live out His dreams for us.
10. We won't go to hell, but live forever with Him!!

When He says we have a new nature, we're the ones who don't believe it. Does that mean our old self, our flesh, our sin-nature is gone forever? No! It just means it is dead to us by the power of Christ! It means that we do not have to be ruled by our flesh. It does not hold the power unless we give it the power!

For is you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. Romans 8:13, 14

Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. Romans 8:5

We have options. We have the choice to walk in faith that by the Spirit of Christ our old nature is put to death!

But, (here it comes) HOW do we do that?

Oh mercy, it's in recognizing in faith and in humility that the Spirit will do His job. We, in turn, set boundaries, watch what we say, watch what we do, and most of all, live in a deep, conscious faith that the Spirit is putting those things to death.

Do not try to do His work...oh wait, I get ahead of myself. More on confidence in the flesh on Wednesday.

Single Spirit-Mindedness

2009-03-27T05:00:00.001-05:00

We are thinkers. We are feelers. We are both of those things and we rejoice in that which God created us to be. I love being a thinker. I love the sensations of feelings. Joy, laughter, reading, pondering, tears. What a beautiful mosaic of art created by God.

But, just as a picture may not always reflect the true nature of that which is portrayed, so we must recognize that what we feel does not always reflect the true nature of the Spirit. At times what we feel and express most certainly does reflect what Christ has done in us and for us, but we must be careful to judge what he promises based on what we feel about that promise.

Why is she saying this again? you wonder...because I need to hear it.

I used to be really bad about thinking that God wasn't doing His job or what He promised simply based on what was going on around me. I have learned that regardless of my situation, God is still God and His Holy Spirit is still revealing Christ to me and guiding me into all truth. Does that mean I believe God never works in situations? Shoot, I'd be a fool to say something so foolish. I'm simply saying our focus is not to be on what is around us, but Who is in us.

Single Spirit-Mindedness. Singular thought. Laser focus. Cognitive recognition of the Spirit of Jesus always working. Let me back up and paint you a picture. Well, God painted it first, but I'm going to use it.

Genesis 1. We are really backing up!

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep and the Spirit of God was hovering over the water.

That word "hovering" is more like energizing, trembling, shaking. In other words, the Holy Spirit was there bringing energy to the creation. The low sub-woofer of creation bringing deep energizing life to it. Constant. Holding it together.

He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. Colossians 1:17

This is Jesus in us. He who is before all things and holds us together. His Holy Spirit in us is the life-giving energy in spirit that keeps us attentive to the things of God while being able to fold laundry, wash dishes, feed children, balance a checkbook, kiss boo-boos, kiss husbands, go to work, drive to school, drink coffee and even shower, at some point in the day.

If we can learn the art of single spirit-mindedness and keep our spirit's tuned and turned to the truth of the work of the Spirit of Christ in us, we will find that we are fulfilling Paul's command of never-ceasing to pray. We can hear the low, sub-woofer energy of the Spirit all the time. Deep down we can sense His presence and hear His voice beyond the cry of the newborn, or the fights of the brothers, or the chatter of the gossip, or the noise of the traffic, or the shame, guilt, and pain. We can know the Spirit of the Lord and we can always center ourselves to Him.

Be mindful of He who is in you. Pull yourself back to that humbled position in the throne room. Picture yourself there even when you are at your busiest. Remember, it is not He who stops His power and His work. It is we who fail to humble ourselves and recognize it and honor it. Never stop learning how to humble yourself more and more. Make your single Spirit-mindedness a priority, and He will shape your life into more than you dreamed.

You'll look up....and you're different. It is indeed a mystery: Christ in us.

Deep Thoughts

2009-03-25T05:00:00.000-05:00

The degree I am yielded to the Spirit is the degree I will be filled with the Spirit.

Well? What do you think? Is that a fair sentence? I think so, lemme 'splain.

I know that the first argument in my heart against that statement is this: I have the fullness of the Spirit and all of the Spirit lives in me, how can I be filled any more than I already am? It says right here is Colossians 2:9 and 10, "For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and you have been given fullness in Christ..." I have all the Spirit.

True, and praise God!

But, I can have a millions dollars, but if I bury it, it cannot do it's job.

I can hold a nuclear bomb in my hand, but if I don't detonate it, it cannot do it's job. (okay, that might not be the best picture, but you get the idea...power!)

I can have water in my home, but if I don't turn the faucet, it cannot do it's job.

I can have the Spirit of the Living God in me, but if I don't yield to Him, He cannot do what He lives to do: transform me into Christ's image.

The power of the Holy Spirit is not the light switch, He is the Light. We are the light switch. His power never changes! The power of the Blood of Christ never stops flowing! We are the ones who yield to the power of Christ by turning ourselves off to ourselves and on to Him. In our hearts, minds, and deepest place that we cannot even vocalize about, we must turn to Jesus. Speaking of Him, let's take a look-see at His take on the Spirit.

In Luke 4, the first verse says, "Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the desert, where for forty days he was tempted by the devil." Huh, Jesus, the man, was "full of the Holy Spirit." Does that mean that at other times he wasn't?

Hard-lay!

I believe that Luke is making a point about Christ's attitude and focus. He himself was humbled to God and did nothing without the Father's leading, even into battle. Christ was so yielded to God's will and power of the Spirit, that at the times where He would have been weak in His flesh, we was able to be completely strong in the Spirit.

Just after that, Luke says in verse 14, "Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit..."

The Spirit is not given to us to hold our hand and show us what things to avoid and lean over and whisper to us sweet nothings like an imp who encourages us through the forest. God, may we never see you that way!

The Spirit is in us to be the life in us. He is in us so that we can be filled with Him to defeat the devil schemes. He is in us so that His power can pour forth and we become a mighty minister of the gospel! Does He help with everyday stuff? You bet! But, if we limit Him to just helping us through what house to buy or an attitude adjustment, we have underestimated His power available to us and in us.

The lower we go in our spirit, the great He becomes. The more we actively make Him elevated in our lives, the more He is able to raise us up in victory and power. He isn't a force that is acted upon us, He is the power of life in us. And we must learn to bow to that power in order for Him to flow freely through us like a conduit.

I challenge you this week to make a deep, willing effort to make yourself yielded to the Spirit. We may not understand all of what that means, but the promise is that He will guide us into all truth. He will teach us the deep things of God, but He will only do it to a willing heart, humbled to the reality of His dwelling within it.

Take time, as often as you can, to stop, rest, and bow to the incredible truth of the Spirit in you. Ask Him to make Jesus greater in you as you get out of the way. Repent of trying to run Him and trying to be Jesus by your own power (again, more on that). Learn to yield, listen, and obey.

You will not be disappointed.

Yeilding

2009-03-23T05:00:00.000-05:00

It's a new week and I am excited to jump back into our study of the Holy Spirit! I've been staring at my notes seeking Him on where to go next and all of it is so fun I'm having a hard time deciding what to do!

Last week we ended with looking back at the fundamental truths concerning the Indwelling. That, while we may know we have the Spirit, we might be tempted to think He comes and goes like the wind. It may feel that way and I have most certainly experienced that feeling. However, our feelings don't always reflect truth. Just because we feel a certain way doesn't mean it's true. We can't necessarily gauge the Spirit's work based on our feelings, thoughts, and emotions.

This was somewhat of a new concept for me. I wanted to really feel Christ, and I do, but that is not the primary indicator of His working in my heart. Again, the Bible says that the Spirit of God expresses spiritual truths in spiritual words and we are only able to discern them...spiritually. (I Corinthians 2).

Here is what Andrew Murray says on this:

When contemplating the promise of the Spirit, Christians want some idea as to how His leading is known in their thoughts; how His quickening affects their feelings; how His sanctifying can be recognized in their will and conduct. They need to be reminded that deeper than mind, feeling, and will, deeper than soul, where these have their seat, in the depths of the spirit that came from God, there the Spirit comes to dwell. This indwelling is to be, first of all, recognized by faith.

What Mr. Murray is saying, is that regardless of how we feel at a given time; regardless of what the outcomes of life are or the going's-on around us, we must believe that the Holy Spirit is doing what He does best: transforming us by revealing to us the resurrected Christ.

It is of faith, first. If we look to how we feel, we are simply relying on our flesh to tell us what is going on (more on the flesh/nature later).

But HOW do we do this?, we all cry to our computer screen!

Humility. Yielding. Waiting.

In the Old Testament, before the Spirit of God could fall down in the Holy of Holies, the deepest room in the Temple, the priests of the Temple had to get out. They couldn't even be in the room where His glory fell. It was His place to rule, and His place alone. When His glory fell, the priests were at His disposal, doing what He wanted and waiting on His guidance.

It's the same with us. When the Holy Spirit takes up residency, we too must leave the Holy of Holies. We must make a cognitive decision in prayer to believe that the Spirit of God has seated Himself in the deepest place in us. We decide to humble ourselves to that power and believe that He will do what He says He will do.

Andrew Murray says this in regard to our humility to the Spirit:

The Holy Spirit is not given to us as a possession of which we have control and can use at our discretion. The Holy Spirit is given to us a our Master, who have control of us. We do not use Him, He uses us.

I know I have had that backwards before. I have lived and believed (even if I didn't say it out loud) that I had control. I have believed that I can just summon Him to do something powerful and God-like in my life without even considering that, um, I'm the one who is alive because of Him, not the other way around. Such thinking kept His power from really breaking forth. I was not yielding. Not humbling myself.

I thought I was, but it was really just me trying to force the Spirit to do His job. I figured out that humility and yielding to the Spirit takes great patience and most certainly I found that it rubbed my flesh nature, my natural self, the wrong way! One of the hardest things for me to do a few years ago was go from my butt to my knees. Some of you may not have that problem, and I'm glad!

It wasn't that I was all so into myself, it was just something I hadn't practiced, hadn't understood. But the Lord says to us things like this:

I will give you treasures of darkness, riches stored in secret places, so that you may know that I am the Lord, the God of Israel who summons you by name. Isaiah 45:3

Wait for the Lord; be strong, and take heart and wait for the Lord. Psalm 27:14

Be still and know that I am God. Psalm 46:10

There is great reward and holiness in waiting before the Lord. It shows a soul determined to believe that the Spirit of Christ is the fullness of God in her. That He has the right to do as He wills and that He hold the deepest place in us and in that, we are changed.

Let me say this and you ponder it and tell me what you think

The degree I am yielded to the Spirit is the degree I am filled with the Spirit.

We who are followers of Christ have His Spirit. Now, are we letting Him have full authority? Do we get out of the Holy of Holies and believe that regardless of what we feel, He is at work?

Be humbled.
Be yielded.
Be filled.

Fundamentals!

2009-03-20T07:32:00.002-05:00

Good day to you! It's Friday, and I am still so excited about this study! We are just getting started!

Before we go on in actually looking at the person of the Spirit, I want us to get one fundamental truth inside of us: if you have accepted Christ as your Lord, made Him boss of your heart and soul, confessed your sin to Him, accepted His forgiveness, and understand the He is the Son of God, born of a virgin, who was sinless, and who died on a cross and was resurrected from death...if you have confessed and believe all of this, you have the Spirit of Christ in you. (see Acts 2:38)

Some of you might be saying, "Yeah, yeah, I know. I cut my baby spiritual teeth on this." But, have you ever considered that maybe you are challenged that? Do you ever struggle with, "Man, are you really in there?"

Let's just be clear. He is.

In the Old Testament Ezekiel, God gave a prophetic promise to His people.

I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. Ezekiel 36:26, 27

Look through to find the word"you"? There are five, I believe, and they are all the subject upon which the promise is acted. Now, look back and read over how many times you read the words "I" and "my"? He is the subject who is doing all the work. He is the one making the promise. And He never breaks a promise.

To the New Testament. Check out what Jesus said about Him.

When the Counselor comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of Truth, who goes out from the father...

Again, this is from God.

Some more? M'kay. This is a verse we will return to, you can count on it!

And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession--to the praise of His glory. Ephesians 1:13,14

Oo, and there's that reason again for His coming to us -- glory.

Listen, I've lived long enough to know that there is a great temptation to believe that my mistakes and behaviors might keep the Holy Spirit away. But, there is no away. I have been sealed by Him. I have been marked by Him, branded, if you will. Covered in the blood and fill with the Spirit.

What happens from this point on is the reason for this entire study. Too often, I believe, followers of Christ stop at the promise of the Spirit. We know He is in us, but what in the world do we do? What does it look like to live with the Spirit as Galatians says in 5:25?

I wanted to back up just for a minute and make sure we are on the same page. Go back to Acts 2:38 and back to the top of this post. If you have become a confessed follower of Christ, you have His Spirit in you. If you have not confessed those things and believe in Christ and made Him your Savior, you do not have His Spirit, and honestly, much of this, or all of this study will not make much sense.

The Bible tells us that we are taught by the Spirit in spiritual truths expressed in spiritual words and they are spiritually discerned (I Corinthians 2:13, 14).

I want to give you an opportunity right now to make His Spirit in you a reality. All you have to do is what has been done for thousands of years: Repent and believe in the name of Jesus for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. After that, get yourself baptized so as to make this marriage a done deal. Baptism is the first step to a long a gratifying obedient walk in Jesus. Something wonderful happens in that water and you don't want to miss it.

Now, if you are new to Christ and your relationship with Him, let me know! I want to be praying for you! If you've been around for awhile in Christ and believe you will benefit from this study, I want to know! The study of the Spirit can never be exhausted!

Next week, we're jumping in to so many things. I pray you come back and that you will lean on Jesus to teach you. I'm just a voice.You trust in Him to lead and guide you because He promised He would.

Here's a quote I leave you with from Andrew Murray. This is another thought launching pad for us. Ingest it and I'll see you next week!

It is only in relationship with Jesus, in faithful fellowship and obedience to Him, that a Spirit-filled life can be maintained.

The Glory of it All

2009-03-18T05:00:00.000-05:00

The Lord declares to you that the LORD himself with establish a house for you... 2Samuel 7:11

And now, Lord God, keep forever the promise you have made concerning your servant and his house. Do as you promised so that your name will be great forever. - David, 2 Samuel 7:25b-26

In the early stages of the Temple, David was thrilled at the thought that he could build God a dwelling place. He was humbled that such a task could quite possibly be his. He could think of no greater thing than to supply God with a permanent dwelling. His heart was pure. His motives had no hint of self-worship. He understood the task at hand was great and awesome. Still, that which we find so respectful, so amazing in one man, was not enough.

That was not the plan of God. Yes, God would have a dwelling place, but it would come on His terms, by His plan, His hands, His design, and through a different person, David's son, Solomon. Not only that, but God turns around and promises David that He would not only give the task to Solomon, but would establish David's throne, David's house, forever.

God took away one, but establishes another.

He does the same for us. God stripes us, removes us from the possibility of trying to establish God's dwelling place on our own terms. We have the right motives, our hearts are pure, and we truly want to honor God with our lives, but we are inadequate, unable, and quite unfit for the task.

So, what does God do? He offers us an alternative: He will build in us a dwelling place on His terms, by His plan, His hands, His design and through a different person, His own Son, Jesus through the power of the Spirit, for His glory.

Our prayer should echo David's, "And now, Lord God, keep forever the promise you have made concerning your servant and his (our) house. Do as you promised so that your name will be great forever."

Take a look at our poll from a few weeks ago at I AM (not):

We know what God's primary objective is, don't we? We know it, but so often fall short of doing what He has destined us to do. And why do we fall short? Because we are trying to do the job of the Spirit.

He will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you. John 16:14

Through the Spirit we are enabled to know what is of Christ, in Christ, and purposed through Christ and in that, and only that, are we able to truly glorify Jesus. The Spirit so indwells in us (to the extent we allow him...more on that later) that He reveals to us Christ in His glory.

It is not as a thought or a feeling that this is always expressed. In fact, the Spirit speaks spiritual truths in spiritual words as He teaches us. This is not something easily accepted or understood. We are told to believe in the work of the Spirit, watch for it, manifest it, but do we really consider that our minds might not be able to conceive it? That is quite true: "...no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him, but God has revealed it to us by his Spirit." (1 Corinthians 2:9, 10).

And so, what do we seek? Truth? Feeling? Understanding? No, we do not seek these first. We seek first the Kingdom. And where is the Kingdom? Where ever God is---within us. We seek then, the Indwelling Spirit of Christ in whom all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are found, so that we may know Him better and might be for the praise of his glory! (Matthew 6:33; Colossians 2:3; Ephesians 1:12, 17)

We have been given the Indwelling Spirit of Christ not as a tool to be used to make us feel better, although He does that, or as a tour guide to our life who leads us down the halls of history, although He leads and guides us. Nor is He a fleeting ghost who plays hard to get, although He dwells in the deep places where we seek Him in silence and faith.

He is not these. He is the power of the resurrected Christ that was used when God raised Him from the dead. He is the voice of Christ who whispers the mystery of heaven so that we will tell of Him to the nations. He is One who points our face to the face of Christ and says, "This is the way, walk in it." He is the Counselor, the Revealer, the Teacher, the Glorifier. And He is waiting for us to humbly remove ourselves from our seat in the inner place of the Temple in our hearts so that His glory can come down.

Are you ready to remove yourself? Are you ready to discover this Spirit more deeply, more intimately so that you may know Him better? It was Paul's prayer to the Ephesians. May it be ours as well:

...keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give us the Spirit of wisdom and revelation so that we may know Him better. (Ephesians 1:17)

Begin today asking God to reveal Christ in you through His Spirit. Not through your understanding of the Spirit, but through the inner power of the Spirit. Wait for it. He will glorify Himself, and you will be amazed at who you become in Him.

The Indwelling -- Introduction

2009-03-16T05:00:00.001-05:00

Welcome! I'm so glad you came to this new study. I am so excited, humbled, and feeling somewhat out of my league to be teaching on this topic. However, God is way bigger than I am and he will be the one doing the teaching anyway!

The Indwelling

The Holy Spirit.

The Spirit of Christ.

The Holy Ghost.

The Third Person of the Triad.

This is Who we will be (for lack of a better word) studying over the next few weeks.

Who is He?What does He do? How do we live by Him? In Him? Is He a partner, partaker, or is He power?

Why do we feel like we don't feel Him all the time?

Questions. Answers. Mysteries. Revelations.

These are what I hope to uncover for us. As usual, I have a mentor, a guide that will help us in our study, and I so encourage you to get this book as soon as you can.

It's The Indwelling Spirit by Andrew Murray. Yes, yes, it's good ol' Andrew again, but I can't help it, he's my favorite.

Let's begin.

Do you ever feel like you know Jesus, but wish you knew Him better? Do you ever wonder why you don't feel Christ all the time? Are you ever frustrated with yourself because you feel like you'll never understand Him or never know all that Bible stuff?

Do you ever wonder if the Spirit is really in you? Maybe that doesn't bother you as much as wondering if He's really doing all that people say He does.

Do you have a sense of powerlessness? A lack of knowledge? Weakness?

Or, do you know the Spirit, but sense there is more? More to know, more to uncover, more to understand?

I can answer yes to every one of those questions. I've wrestled with each one and rejoiced in the moments I feel like I "got" it. But is that the goal? "Getting it"?

I must break it to us, the only "getting" we should be after is getting more of Him so that He is glorified!

There it is. The word we will have weaving all through this study. We'll come back to it over and over---glory. That word is the red thread of truth found from Genesis to Revelation and is God's primary goal for Himself: His glory.

I fear that for most of my life, and even now, I do not fully live in a place where I allow Him to have the most glory all the time. I dare say I don't even know how to do it. I fail so miserably at it. Even Romans 3:23 backs me up, "...for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God."

I can't do it. You can't do it. It is only Himself who can bring Him the most glory and He has given us Himself to see it come to pass. And so what does that mean for us? Do we stop trying to glorify Christ? Do we see our attempts at worship and adoration as merely false attempts, unable to really do Him justice?

Maybe. Possibly. Most likely.

What! Stop glorifying Christ! Have you lost your mind, Natalie! You crazy!

Hmm, that's not what I said. I asked if we stop trying, attempting, striving. If we fall short of it then how are we ever to do it?

By His Spirit.

And thus, the can of worms is open.

Oh, I am heavy with this. Heavy with what I will learn, what we will learn and be changed by.

Here, just to give you a peek, here are some of the topics:

The Deposit Given

The Priority

Christ Filled

Single mindedness

No Confidence in the Flesh

The Spirit and The Word

Yielding to the Spirit

Praying in the Spirit

Freedom from Sin

Just to name a few. I'm not exactly sure how long this study will be. Possible 3 weeks (3 days a week--M, W, F)) maybe four. Please leave a comment with some of your questions. Hopefully, we'll get to them in our study.

For now, I leave you with this:

But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. John 14:25

Next Study

2009-03-12T10:11:00.001-05:00

So excited about the next study. Little nervous. Little anxious, but I think it will be good. So watch this short video to get you ready!

Untitled from Natalie Witcher on Vimeo.

2009-03-02T00:37:00.001-06:00

Next Study for Stiletto Army will start on...

MONDAY, MARCH 16th!

You'll want to come back!

Final Thoughts

2009-02-26T21:01:00.004-06:00

Did you write your letter? Or at least write it in your head? I hope you did! I hope that you had some nugget of truth that helped you accept who you are and then give it all to Christ.

This is the last day of Living with Me and I thank you so much for going through this journey with me. I pray that through the power of the resurrected Christ in you that you will be able to release all of yourself to Him and find your True Self in the love of Christ.

For further reading, get Brennan Manning's book, Abba's Child!

Love to you all!

Check back in on Monday to see what's coming up next at Stiletto Army!

Saying Good-Bye

2009-02-24T22:28:00.003-06:00

I want us to do something before our final day on Friday. Taking a cue again from Brennan Manning in his book "Abba's Child" I want us to write our Impostor a note. It can be lengthy, short and sweet, direct, one liner, whatever. I want us all to put REAL in action. Here, I'll go first and then you guys take some time with Jesus to get this moving.

Dear Me,

There is something I'd like you to know (and I know you know this) but I don't belong to you. You see, someone else controls me. I know, I know, there are too many days when I turn to you for affirmation, intimacy, acceptance, and well, I'm kinda done. You've offered me nothing but empty promises, selfishness, and guilt and I think more than anything, you make me tired of Me.

Now, I've got to be honest, sometimes I fall for it. Sometimes you have me convinced that if I had more of the applause of man then I'd feel fulfilled. Yes, I've listened to you and when those moments came, I simply felt the same and longed for more of empty fulfillment. But, the truth of the matter is; you are me and I am you, but, you see, I have a new Me. When Jesus took over my life I was told that I'd be a new creation and you? well, you'd die. Seems like you keep resurrecting.

Here's what I'd like to do. First, I'm going to stop denying that you are me and I am you and stop pretending that what you are isn't a real thing. Secondly, I'm going to tell you that you are now going to shrink. Third, I'm going to strive for a single-minded focus on the New Me, that is Christ in me. His promises are Yes and Amen. His ways are good and holy. His love is fulfilling and true. His grace is a balm on my soul. His laughter is what I long for. His nod of approval is the only approval I need.

My dear Impostor, you are me and I am you, but I'm ready for you to shrink even more. There's many areas where you a simply an afterthought or no thought at all. These are areas that Jesus has simply transformed and you are quiet, dead. However, there are some places where you are running in the fields of my mind laughing, alive, healthy, and causing me to be distracted from my Real Lord.

I need you to sit down for a minute. You, my dear Impostor, are going to meet Jesus and He has some stuff to do in Me. I realize that as I gaze into the face of the Real Me, the Real Lord, you will simply disappear into the shadows and no longer run these areas. I know this because He promised me. I am "putting you off" and letting the Spirit renew my mind. I am being renewed in the image of my Creator and am being created as a workmanship for Him.

I hope you understand, but you've got to go now. We'll both be better off.
Love,
Me

Would the Real You Please Stand Up

2009-02-22T20:02:00.004-06:00

It's our final week for Living With Me. Although y'all may not comment, I know you're out there. This isn't really an interactive blog and is good for just having in your reader. I do hope that you were touch by something this month in Christ. I know that personally a lot has been happening, especially this past week and I hope to teach on it one day...but not now. I have much to sort through first! :)

So, with that said, thank you for being here. Thank you for reading and thank you for subscribing.

With our final week, I want to drive home the thing that will shrink your Impostor and foster the Real You in Christ. It's not rocket surgery and we've heard it before: Increase Christ.

That's it. In order for us to be set free from those things that hold us in bondage we must learn how to go to Christ, lay all of ourselves at His feet, engage with His Holy Spirit, and have Him increase Himself in us.

Sounds easy when you read it in your head, doesn't it? But, is it practical? How DO we go about increasing Christ and decreasing ourselves? What does that look like?

Well, in a word, humility.

Oh sheesh, you say, here she goes again with that dang word! I hope that's not what you're mumbling, but I just can't get around it. Humility to the power of Christ is the key. THE key. This key is what will cause you to decrease and Him to increase. And it's not like you disappear. In fact, it's quite the opposite. You come alive! You become strong, confident, powerful, loving, kind, free!

Humility in mind means being aware of His supremacy in your life regardless of what tries to be lord.
Humility in your heart means actively giving Him your love everyday.
Humility in spirit means knowing that His Spirit is at work regardless of how you feel. He does not stop working and transforming simply because you don't feel it. Humble yourself to this awesome truth.
Humility in flesh means submitting your life to His, your lusts to Him, your insecurities to Him...everything.

This humility is simply acknowledging that He is Lord and you are not. It's bowing yourself to Him in love, joy, and honor and then realizing that it is He who lifts you up.

This is so practical, but it does not go without effort. Make it a daily relationship with an active mind, heart, soul, and strength to make Him your single focus.

The Real You is Christ in You.

How to "Win" or "Lose"

2009-02-20T05:00:00.000-06:00

At this point in my life, my Impostor is rather huge in one area. Not many, but there is one where she stands tall and wins much of the argument. However, I'm no fool, there is a way to make her shrink.

First, let me just go over some sure fire ways to make sure your Impostor stays right there on your couch with you eating your popcorn.

A) Stay out of the Word of God.
B) Never talk to anyone else about what's going on in your pretty little head.
C) Consider and ponder what's in that pretty little head more than you pray.
D) Gripe about your Impostor more than taking her to Jesus.

Got it. Good. I only write those because I'm so good at doing it. On the flip side, there are some sure fire ways to belittle your Impostor into submission to Christ.

A) Refer back to getting R.E.A.L.
B) Get your face in the Word and your heart in prayer.
C) Confess what holds you captive. There is such a power that comes with confession. It diffuses and diminishes that which seems so big and so real.
D) Stop feeding your Impostor by talking about what ails you all the time.
E) And finally, submit your whole heart to the power of the Holy Spirit. No matter how you feel or don't feel, the Holy Spirit is always at work. Trust Him.

We do not have time to be run by our Impostor's. We must die to it so that we can get on with living in Him. We weren't just saved to die to ourselves, but to live for Christ!

Over the weekend, take more time to be even more honest with Christ about what's going on in your head. Ask Him to direct you to the verses you need for battle and also what you need to do to humble let the Spirit have complete control.

I pray you have a blessed and freeing weekend!

Sorting Through It

2009-02-18T05:00:00.000-06:00

A good look at my Impostor is not always easy, but it's not hard either. She's right there.

Here's the deal, I don't want her to be "right there" anymore. I don't want her in my ear and in my mind. I don't want that natural self to rule places that Jesus should be ruling. So what is a girl to do? Those thoughts are my thoughts. Those things are a reality to me. Are they to you? Is it as easy as saying, "Welp, I just won't think like that anymore!"

Hardly.

Some things, I'd wager, can be gone in a flash when the light of Truth shines on them. Others, need a spotlight of Truth held close before they even start to melt away. Some of my, or our, "issues" can be like a styrofoam cup in a fire; others, like Frodo's ring, fire can't even touch it.

But the point is this: there is a level of intensity in the Word and in the Spirit that can melt away any hang up, stronghold, unbelief, sin, and fear.

This might be corny, but I've just got to run with the whole Lord of the Rings thing. You see (if you haven't seen the movie) there was a ring, a terrible evil ring, that the hero of the story had to return to the place it was made. The ring could not be destroyed except at the place where it was created. Until Frodo tossed it in to the fire from whence in came, it was unstoppable.

It is no different for us. The things that hold us back and bring us down must be brought to our Creator. Only in the white hot glory of the King will those things become obsolete.

I've experienced this in my own life. For a time, I was so drawn to such an intense and dangerous sin that I could hardly make it through a day without wanting a taste. I had accountability, I had knowledge of the Word, I had prayer. It was through taking this to the Source, over and over, and setting it at the feet of my Creator, over and over, and my "ridding myself" of it that His love and Truth melted that away.

Will I never be tempted again? Oh, I already have. And through the years the temptation has seem less and less appealing. My Impostor was finally overcome. That was my Frodo's Ring.

I've had others things that were more like the styrofoam cup. Poof! I had a misconception or wrong perspective concerning something or my belief system needed to be checked and when I would experience the Truth those things fell by the wayside rather easily.

Either way, it was up to me to do this:

...to put of your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds, and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. Ephesians 4:22

In those times, we literally have to consciously make decisions to put off those thoughts, habits, attitudes and sin, and put on Christ. A huge part of that is knowing the word!

Just as Paul did for those he served, I too

...pray that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ. Philippians 1:9

Pray for your knowledge to increase! Pray for your love, for both yourself and others to increase! Pray that you would know the word in order to put it on in your mind and heart through the power of the Holy Spirit! Put off those things of your nature, your Impostor, and put on the things of Christ.

Ask Him to help you sort through it. What is styrofoam and what will need more time, favor, discernment, discipline, and honesty?

Remember:

...you...have put on the new self which is being renewed in the image of its creator. Colossians 2:5

An Invalid at the Pool

2009-02-15T21:39:00.002-06:00

I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, sot that you may know him better.
Ephesians 1:17

Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God... John 17:3

See a theme?

What do you think would happen if we made our primary objective the pursuit of knowing God?

Knowing Christ? Knowing His Holy Spirit?

Would we be totally disconnected from reality? Would we be unable to have normal, fun lives?

What would happen?

I'll tell you one thing that would happen: we'd find ourselves. We'd find the "real" me.

If we pursued Christ (which, by the way, it's not hard because he's not allusive), if we did, we might just find that so much of what pulls us down, makes us feel crappy, feeds our insecurity and/or pride, and pours guilt over us would fall to the wayside. The more of Christ, the less of "Me." The more of Christ, the more we see how much all that stuff doesn't matter.

More Christ = Less Insecurity
More Christ = Less Need for Materials
More Christ = Less Need for Applause
More Christ = Less Need for People Pleasing
More Christ = Less Shame, Guilt, Pain, Loneliness, and Rejection

To know Christ is to know who we really are. And Who are we? Who is the Real Me? Let me see if I can't find some things. Hmm, oh hang on, here's some stuff...

We are people at peace with God. (Romans 5:1)

We are alive to God. (Romans 6:11)

We are a people under no condemnation. (Romans 8:1)

We are controlled by the Spirit of God. (Romans 8:9)

Oh, I could go on and on in Romans, but I'll let you go read it and see all the goodies in there.
Umm, oh, here's some more...

We are people being kept strong by Christ. (I Corinthians 1:8)

We have the mind of Christ. (did you know that! I Corinthians 2:16)

We are daughters of God through faith in Jesus. (Galatians 3:26)

We have been blessed with every spiritual blessing in Jesus. (Ephesians 1:3)
Okay, this one right here is one we could stop on for a bit. This one line in Ephesians could be the freedom verse for us. We have every spiritual blessing in Christ. Think on that: what do you need? Freedom? Insight? Strength? Patience? Joy?

What do you need? Do you want to get well? Jesus asked that very question to a man in John 5.

There was a man who had been an invalid for thirty-eight years and had been at a pool in Jerusalem where people believed they could be healed if they go in the water. Well, being an invalid he couldn't just jump in. So, when Jesus strolls up, he sees this guy and asks him, "Do you want to get well?"

At first glance it looks like a pretty silly question. The guy shoots back, "Sir, I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me."

I wonder...does Jesus ask the same of us? Here we are surrounded by "healing waters" in Jesus and so many of us go on sick, broken, and bound up in so much stuff that we can't even get in the water, or we believe that everyone else is getting more of Jesus than us, or we just like the broken place because it's familiar. (ouch)

What if we preoccupied ourselves with knowing God instead of knowing ourselves? How long have we hung around in our brokenness and given excuses?

Jesus asks us, "Do you want to get well?"

Do we?

Do you?

I do, and that means I have to get honest and get to know Him. We've been saved and we've been redeemed, but sometimes we keep living like an invalid at the healing waters.

Jesus said one more thing to the man, "Get up! Pick up your mat and walk."

It's time to stop living paralyzed by our own "Me's" and get up and walk in the power and love of Jesus!

I want to ask you again, what do you think would happen if we made our primary objective the pursuit of knowing God? What if we lifted our eyes from our brokenness and looked into the face of Christ? What would He say to us? I have a clue..."Get up...and walk."

I am the Lord you God, who brought you out of Egypt so that you would no longer be slaves to the Egyptians; I broke the bars of your yoke and enabled you to walk with heads held high. Leviticus 26:25

Just Try It

2009-02-13T05:00:00.000-06:00

Have you considered the love of Christ over the last two days? I have. And to be honest...it's refreshing. It makes me feel relieved and light. Wait. I've heard that somewhere before.

Come to me all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden in light.
Matthew 11:28,29

Have we ever considered that our burden might be that we don't love ourselves? Have we ever thought that our heavy yoke is one of legalism, or hypocrisy, or shame? Do we really know what His yoke is? What is He putting on us? More rules? More jobs?

No.

It's love.

I'm a natural thinker, not a natural feeler. I love my husband and kids and I laugh at the drop of a hat, but I'm not really the kind of person who feels her way through much. So, the concept of love has always made me think of sappy stories and puffy hearts.

But, this is not that kind of love. This is the kind of Love that empowers me. The kind of Love that makes me walk a little bit taller even if I'm dragging chains. This kind of Love allows me to say anything, admit everything, and abandon all reservation.

I want to ask you a question. Do you wrestle with loving yourself? If so, tell Him. If we cannot love ourselves enough to expose all things and be healed, then what are we doing? We offer the Savior to a dying world, but do not let that Savior raise us to life.

This is your assignment over the weekend: Take inventory (again) of all that makes you cringe, all that charges you up or that fuels your flesh, and then, talk to Him. It's such an amazing feeling to say to Him, "Lord, I have such a hunger for the applause of man. Help me hunger for your love so deeply that the lust of my heart would die!"

There is so much freedom and peace in knowing that Jesus loves that we come to Him broken. Yes, we will be changed, but we cannot be healed in places we do not expose.

Try it. Expose yourself to the love of Christ and tell me you don't feel loved.

Love in the Now

2009-02-10T22:18:00.002-06:00

If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him and he in God. And so we know and rely on the love God has for us...There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. I John 4:16 & 18

Those are some power-packed words. Words that will help us with our Impostor. Words that will enable us to come under the authority of love in Christ, accept who we are where we are, and believe that this love will free us from what has a stranglehold on us.

If you believe in Christ and have made Him your ruler then you have the very Spirit of God IN you. With that being said, you know House the Love of God. You house Love. And in that love there is no fear and no punishment and no condemnation (Romans 8:1).

There is no fear.
No punishment.
No condemnation.

And here's why. When Jesus died, He took all of that. The fear of separation from God, the punishment of sin which is death, and the condemnation we deserve. He drove out fear because when we fear we are wincing at the possibility that we are going to get smacked by God--punished.

So, what do we do? We try and try to get it right. We fight ourselves, our lusts, our desires. We chastise ourselves for all our issues, attitudes and imperfections and wait for the hammer to fall. But the only hammer that falls is the one we use on ourselves.

Now, now, before you hear me sayin' that God doesn't "punish" us, I'm saying that the punishment of sin is taken care of. Discipline is a whole different issue, but still, discipline from God come out of Love.

I've said this a bazillion times: If you walk around in condemnation (guilt, shame, pity) you are not hearing from the Spirit of Christ. However, if your heart is panged in conviction for a particular action or attitude, then you are hearing from Christ and you need to humble yourself to His leading and authority, repent, confess and get on with it.

Condemnation is not of Christ. Conviction is. There is a difference. Ask Him to help you differentiate between the two.

So, where does this leave us with our Impostor? Where does this leave us when we look in the mirror and see the Ugly and Prideful? It leaves us at the feet of Love. Great and merciful Love.

Even now, I can sense the Father's approval and the nod of God as I type this. He is not out to "get you!" He is not out to check off the list all the good and bad you did today. He is not offering you your world on a platter. He does not bow to your needs and desires and greed.

He will envelope you in His love.
He will give you the applause of His holy hands as you humble serve Him.
He will lift your gaze and kiss your face.
He will guide you into all truth.
He will transform you by the Living Spirit in Him as you humbly offer all things to Him.
He will shatter your idea of what is the best plan for you and give you a better plan in Him.
He will rebuild your broken places.
He will fulfill every desire.

He will do it because He loves you. All of you. Your inability to "get it right." You overwhelming need for the applause of man. You desire to please every one. You pain. Your shame. Your dreams. Your envy. Your self-loathing.

He loves us.

He loves us.

Rest in that.

I want so much to say, "He loves us enough to not let us stay where we are." Well, yeah, okay. But, does He just love me for me? Not where I am or where I've been or where I will be? Doesn't He just love me right now?

Yes. Right now.

And in that moment of "right now" there can be no other time for Him to love you. Now is the time of the Lord's Love. Now is the only time there is. In that love we can't help but be changed.

In that love we love ourselves and our "Me's" disappear into the darkness. Oh, she'll peek back out, but when she does just rest in His love again...and again...and again...until Me cannot take over again.

Rest in His love....now.

And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.

Get REAL

2009-02-07T15:45:00.004-06:00

Welcome back to week Two of Living with Me. If you're new, or didn't get to all of last weeks posts, please scroll down and read them. They're not long, but in order to keep going here, I want you to take a look at them.

To start us off this week, I want to give you a quote.

The Impostor must be called out of hiding, accepted, and embraced. He is an integral part of my total self. Whatever is denied cannot be healed. -Brennan Manning, Abba's Child

Remember that big long list of things that we quizzed ourselves on to see if we listen to our Impostor? 'Member that? Yea, I do. But, here's the deal. We can keep going on and on about how broken we are and we can keep beating ourselves up because we don't live up to par; and we can snub our noses at those who don't fit our mold; and we can love Jesus while we struggle with with materialism, greed, anxiety, lust, envy, and fear and we will still be saved.

Or,

We can be all those things and stop for a moment, realize it, examine it, accept it, and love ourselves in spite of it, just like our Savior does.

Like it or not (and we clearly don't like it) we are who we so hate being. Our Impostor IS us. My Impostor IS me, but you have

...taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator...Christ is all and is in all. Col. 2:9, 10

It's time to do something about, and with, and for our Impostor. The enemy has lied to us long enough that we are either not worthy of the blood and forgiveness, or we would be desperately better off with the ways of the world. It's time to get REAL.

R-Recognize that you have "Me" to live with. Just be strong enough to say, Yes, this is me.
E- Examine what things, ways, attitude and lies are set up against the Truth.
A- Accept that, yes, this is me. This, Lord, is me.
L- Love yourself enough and trust Christ enough to be transformed.

He did not free us so that we would walk ourselves into more bondage.

It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. Galatians 5:1

Man, this is hard for me. I have such an appetite for applause and such a fear of being over-looked that I forget that my full identity, peace, and satisfaction is found in Christ! He set me free from what would hold me captive to this world and I chose to burden myself with it!

Oh, people, we have got to get REAL. If we aren't, then we are fooling only ourselves. He knows the struggles. He knows the lies. He sees the hypocrisy. He hears the foolishness. He feels the pain. He understands the doubt.

He cannot transform what we do not bring to His feet.
He cannot heal what we do not let Him touch.
He cannot free us from what we hold so dear.

Go back to the Quiz. Look over your lists of what whispers in your ear. Think about what is in the deepest places of who you are and then...tell Him. Get real with Him. Lay it all out there. He is your best friend, your greatest lover, your biggest fan, your softest teacher, your Most Honorable King. Tell Him. He is not surprised and welcomes your honesty. Remember what Manning said at the top up there: Whatever is denied cannot be healed.

Do not deny yourself the opportunity of complete healing, freedom and finding the Real You. Watch as your Impostor bows to the King and His authority. Watch as You find yourself in Him and He lives Himself in You.

Pray for each other this week. It could be a hard one for some of us.

The Beloved

2009-02-05T15:13:00.002-06:00

Well, how ya doin'? Been thinking much? Again, let me express to you this: I am so humbled and thankful that you keep coming back to this blog. It is my prayer that we all discover what has become our Impostor and what we can do about.

If you're just joining us, please scroll on down and see what we've been talking about. We are uncovering, er, admitting that we might have a tiny problem called "listening to Me" or, in other words, "listening to a bunch of lies!"

For those of you who commented on Wednesday's little quiz, I'm a bettin' that you're not alone. Those of you who didn't comment probably nodded your head, maybe even sighed, or thought "Blast!" If you didn't, that I praise God for you and the victory you have....or....you're a liar.

After reading those comments, I want to make a proposal:

Yes, we are those things. Yes, we behave badly. Yes, we struggle and fight against that which displeases the Lord. Yes, yes, yes.

But, what if--what if we take a moment, look at her in the face, look at yourself in the face and all that you dislike, all that you find irritating, all that you find out of place, sinful, hypocritical and annoying and tell yourself that regardless of all that and all you think of yourself...

You are the Beloved of God.

Your Impostor IS you and YOU are the Beloved of God.

We might separate our beauty from our ugly, but Jesus does not. He sees us whole, a whole person with weaknesses and strengths; with pain and joy; with frailty and strength; with sin and holiness.

Over the weekend, every time you hear the voice of condemnation or commendation, tell yourself, "I am the Beloved." Every time you fear rejection or welcome applause; every time you are envious or humble; every time you are rude or gracious; every time you desire money or desire holiness tell yourself, "I am the Beloved." See if you don't begin to see yourself differently.

This is the challenge: If Christ's accepts all of us with all our imperfections, why don't we?

Next week we'll unpack that giant piece of baggage!

Identity Quiz

2009-02-03T23:20:00.005-06:00

I got to thinking about all the different ways that we could discover whether or not we are controlled by our other "Me" and, quite honestly, I believe there are as many Me's as there are as many individuals reading this post. What I'm trying to say is that not all of us will exhibit the same weaknesses, the same failures, the same narcissistic ways, but we must at least look and see if there is indeed another voice, another Me calling some shots in our lives.

So, I devised a test. Because there are so many things in us that could stand against the truth of Christ, I tried to narrow it down a bit. Here are 15 things for you to read over. Chances are every one of us can nod our head in agreement to some of them.

Now, all I want you to do today is read over the 15 things and be very honest with yourself. If you can say yes, to I'd say three or more of these, chances are you listen to Me. Ready?

You might be Living with Me if you:

1. Feel annoyed by your actions....often.
2. Belittle and condemn yourself for not being able to maintain a Christ-like attitude.
3. Feel the rush from the applause of others.
4. Feel the pain of failure when others succeed.
5. Feel the shame when you step on the scale.
6. Desire popularity.
7. Fear what people think of you.
8. Feel the need to please others even if it's destructive.
9. Find purpose in busyness.
10. Define yourself by what you do.
11. Preoccupy yourself with what you have and don't have, do and don't do, feel and don't feel.
12. Lack real times of solitude with Christ and real intimacy with His Spirit.
13. No one makes you happy.
14. Can't forgive yourself.
15. Hate yourself.

Remember, this list is not exhaustive, although it may be exhausting. Where are you going with this? you ask. To a place of healing, not judgement. To a place of acceptance, not rejection. I want you to take the time to identify the pain, the reality that yes there is duplicity in our thinking. Yes we struggle with self-hatred and self-loathing. Can we at least admit that the struggle is real, but is it right? Is this duplicity something to hate? Or, is it something to embrace?

I dare say....we'll find out.

Living with Me

2009-02-02T05:00:00.000-06:00

My house has all the normal things, living room, bedroom, bathroom, kitchen, office. There's nothing fancy, no extreme bells and whistles. There's five people who live here and often times there is (as Brennan Manning calls her) my Impostor walking right next to me.

She will follow me from room to room doing many a mischievous thing: a critique, a nag, a reminder of what I don't have or what I think I need, a jab, an applause, a telling of an old story of what I used to do. She's not my friend. She's my Impostor, but I live with her and she with me. We cannot be separated...or can we?

I wonder, dear reader, do you ever struggle with the voice of yourself? Do you ever find that you want more than you have? Do you ever struggle with wondering why you're not noticed? Do you find that you crave the applause of those around you even if it's just a small golf clap? Do you struggle with feeling significant? Beautiful? Pleasing? Pure?

I do. I have.

And so, what do we do with all these things? Are they supposed to be of people who claim to follow Christ? On the one hand, I am to be pure and humble, self-sacrificing and meek, and yet I want to scream "NOTICE ME!", but not too loudly because we don't want to be First when the First with be Last.

Aren't we to be holy as God is holy? What happens if I think really poorly of someone or consider that that other man might be better than mine? What if I really like her house or her figure?

Bad me.

Bad, bad me.

I'm a Christ follower! I'm not supposed to think all this! Feel all this! Shame. Shame on me.

And so the chastisement goes. Your thoughts might be different. Your chastisement of who you should be might be a whole other set of lines. What are they? Can you identify them? Do you even know you're doing it?

How do you live with the other "Me" in your life? Do we all struggle with "But I died in Christ...why do I still feel like this?"

If so, then please, come in to my home for awhile, I have someone I'd like you to meet. Her name is Natalie, and she's my impostor, she...is me.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Over the next few weeks, we'll be talking about living with all the lines in our heads about ourselves. We'll look at the struggle between who we are, who we should be, and who are really are. We'll discover that maybe, just maybe, the impostor can be someone we look at in the eye, accept and bring hand in hand to Jesus. Sound impossible, even sacrilegious?

Good, it's time to shake up the religiosity of our lives a little bit and meet the Love of Christ.

Stay with me through the month of February every Monday, Wednesday and Friday as we learn about "Living with Me."

2009-01-13T05:00:00.001-06:00

Thank you so much for reading "The Gift". It was such a pleasure to write and it taught me so much about the Lord! If you'd like to pass it on to others, here is the link to all the chapters. There is also a button to the right of the blog that will take you back to all the chapters.

Again, thank you so much!

We'll pick back up with something new Monday, February 2nd.

Chapter Eight -- The Keeper

2009-01-11T05:00:00.001-06:00

The final gift awaited Arianna. Out of all the previous gifts, this one was most certainly the grandest. It was a gold box, with an alluring uncertainty about it.

The markings on the box were captivating. She could make out palm trees and pomegranate. Etched along the bottom were, what looked like words, but certainly not English.

The ribbon, that wrapped the circumference of the box both ways around, and the met at the top, was made of soft, plush, purple velvet. And the box itself produced some sort of power over her. There was an intense sense of energy coming from this box. In a way, it frightened her. It was like it was too much to consider, to even look at, and yet, there was no way she couldn't look at it.

I haven't even opened it! She thought.

He spoke to her, "Arianna, this is the final gift. This gift will consume all the other ones. This gift will not only consume them, but bring life and meaning to all of them. This gift, if honored, respected, acknowledged, and glorified, will not only bring you satisfaction, but will even consume you.

"This gift is untouchable, unless I allow it to be so. It is wild and untamed, unless I direct it otherwise. It will not share a place of honor with you, nor will it force itself upon you. This gift will teach you, guide you, reveal to you Truth, and ruin you. The more you allow this gift to unfold, the more you will see the Glory of God.

"This gift will bring you freedom, power, humility, wonder, strength, frustration, simplicity, and hope. If you and my people would understand the gift by humbling yourself to it, you would find that many of your questions are answered, your fears stilled, your thirst for knowledge quenched, and your need for affirmation fulfilled."

The words he described made her want run to her bed, and yet there was no way she couldn't open such a gift. It sounded terrible and thrilling all at the same time. Was this a gift she was ready to receive? Could she handle such a treasure? Would it be possible to contain such an honor? She would find out.

She hadn't moved from the floor in a few hours and she wasn't about to with this in front of her. Her body naturally felt the need to stay low to the ground just being in the presence of such a gift.

She didn't even pick up the box, but slowly pulled the ribbon. It unwound from itself and fell to the ground. She laid both hands on the lid and when she did and surge of energy moved through her entire body.

"Oh, Jesus," she whispered.

She lifted the lid off, set it to the side and peered down into the box. There, sitting on a padding of more of the delicate, plush velvet was a ring. It was a large, gold ring. Certainly too big for her slender fingers. The top of it was round and flat. She couldn't see what was on top because she was a bit leary about picking it up.

It was mysterious, and certainly not what she expected, although she had no glimmer of imagination for what could be inside this box. Still, if she could have guessed, it wouldn't have been a ring.

She shifted to her knees, put both hands on her thighs, and leaned in a little closer.

"You can pick it up," He said.

She wiped her right hand on her pants, unconsciously trying to clean it off. She rubbed her fingers together as if to ready them up to pick up such a magnificent thing.

She picked it up between her fingers and let it roll down into the palm of her hand. It was heavy and thick. She took it between her forefinger and her thumb to get a look at the top. It was at least the size of a quarter. The engraving on the ring was breath taking. It was the most gorgeous face of a lion. The mane encircled the rim, and the face was stately, strong, and even though it was small, some fear passed through her.

She looked up from the ring and as she did so, her room transformed one last time, and she was in the middle of a extraordinary courtyard to an even more extraordinary building.

She stood up, right hand out in front of her, cradling the treasure.

She took a moment to take in her surroundings.

Encircling her was a high, white stone courtyard wall. The ground was covered in grass, but there was no other plant life, trees, or any kind of statuaries or benches. Just a plain, wide open courtyard. The only thing that was quite obvious were the large framed paintings on the stone wall. Each were the size of museum pieces, framed in wide golden frames. She stood in one spot and looked at them.

The first one was the surgery room where she had aborted her baby, but just as she had left it with the first gift. She read through the words on the walls one more time. The second was green glade where she met all those who carried a bead of influence. The third was a black background with a picture of the earth. Her heart felt the pain for the lost once again. The fourth displayed the cup of suffering she drank. She bitterness returned to her mouth and she was reminded of His faithfulness. The Tapestry hung by itself, still moving with Life. And the final piece of art was a a a painting of a large, black piano. She smiled and offered a word of worship.

She had yet to hear from him as she turned to face the building. It was broad, no windows, just a large double doored entrance. Four shallow steps went the length of the building that led up to a large porch. There we seven marble columns that extended across the front.

The building was also made of large, white stones. It was a rectangular building, no pitched roof, very Greek looking with a grand moulding across the top. That was the extent of the architectual beauty. The building itself commanded appreciation and applause.

She walked toward the steps and made her way to the doors. Once she got to the doors, she realized they weren't doors but thick, purple curtains hung from large gold rods at the top of the opening. She stuck her hand through the middle and found where they separated. As she opened them, she stepped into a candle lit room.

After her eyes adjusted to the light, she could see that this room was also the white stone. Now, a lush carpet padded her feet, and a spicy aroma fill the air. In the center of the room there was another set of curtains, most likely leading to another room. These were blue with gold tassels and looked as thick as a wall. For some reason, she had no desire to even get close to those curtains.

She looked around and saw things that were familiar, but as if a memory: a rocking chair, a book from her childhood, her Bible, a broken piece of pottery. She stared at the obscure things in the room, but remembered something about each. Those things marked moments of learning, change, "a-ha" moments in the quiet of her study or prayer time. Those were the things inside her heart, tucked away that tied her to times of transformation. They weren't secret, but they weren't always offered to others. They were between him and her.

She took in a deep breath and let the memories flood her mind. It was then that he spoke again.

"Do you have an idea of where you are?" he asked.

"Not really. I mean, it's familiar and I know all the things around me, but I'm not sure what this place is," she said.

"This is you," he explained. "This is the inside places of Arianna. Out there, the courtyard, is where you interact with life. The gifts you receive and give to others, the times you serve, laugh, meet new people. The Outside you, your Body.

"This room, the one we're in now, is your soul. Here is where you are touched and affected by what happens outside. Here is where you feel, think, reason, and have will. Here is where your conscience lives and moves for me. This is the room closest to the Holy of Holies. Your Holy of Holies. This room is the soul tie between Me and what you are in the world."

She knew it was familiar. It was a shadow, a resemblance of the Temple. The outer court, the Holy place, and...her heart stopped. If this is what he is showing her, then behind those curtains in the middle of this room is a place that even causes her to get nervous about when she reads the Old Testament.

He knew her thoughts, "It is as you think. The next room is the Gift. The final Gift. The one I've been waiting to give you the whole night. But, you have to go through those curtains to see it."

The stories of old flooded her mind. She remembered that even the Priests could only go in the Holy of Holies once a year, and even then they were scared to death that they would die! I mean, was she going to see him? No, not possible. Not yet, she wasn't dead for cryin' out loud!

She took another look at the ring in her hand. She squared herself with the curtains, stood a little bit taller, took a deep breath, and made her way toward the doorway. With each step, her heart picked up the pace. Her palms grew sweaty and she held tight to the ring. Her mouth went dry and she felt as though if she wanted to say something it would only come out as a squeak.

Finally, she was nose to velvet. Her nerves were just about to break when she slid her left hand between the two great pieces of material. She pulled the one back and stepped inside.

The air was rich and dense. The smell of spices was thicker and a low hum filled her mind. A light shown down directly in the middle of the room over a large, marble chair sat upon a raised step. A long, blue velvet pillow fit the seat. The chair back had a dense blue velvet pillow as well. It really looked more like a throne. High armrests rose up on each side. And, at the top of the chair back, a word was cut into the stone: "Keeper".

Was she supposed to sit down? She looked around the room as best she could as if looking for someone to direct her.

"Lord?" she whispered. "I'm assuming this is the..." She was cut off.

"Arianna, be still."

She didn't dare open her mouth again. Her body was paralyzed. The only thing moving were her eyes. They jetted all around while her stomach turned over on itself. She dared not even think.

It felt like if she stood any more still for any more minutes, she might pass out. She had to remind herself to relax her knees. Finally, he broke the intense silence and spoke to her in a way he had never done. His tone and the strength of his voice demanded her complete attention.

"We are in the deepest place inside your heart," he explained. "This is your Holy of Holies. This is where one of us sits on that throne. This is where one of us is the Keeper of your heart, soul, mind, and body."

As he talked, she stared at the Throne. It was beautiful. Her legs relaxed a bit and she felt free to move again. She started walking around the Throne, looking at it from all angles. She touched the arms and seat. She even turned her body to have a sit down.

"However," he continued and she stopped in her tracks, "when you decided to follow me you made a choice that I would dwell in you, in here, in this place. And, when you decided to do that, I placed my seal of ownership on you. I am the guarantee of what is to come. Only Kings can give out Rings like the one in your hand."

She had forgotten about the token in her palm. A King's signet ring. Of course! She had been carrying with her the representation of his seal on her life. Her mind began to race! What, no, Who has been sealed in me? She thought to herself. Him! His Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit!

Her thoughts moved out into the open. She whispered, "If You are sealed inside this heart; if you are the Indwelling in the Holy of Holies in me, the deep secret place of my very being, then I can do nothing but remove myself completely from this room! That is your Throne. You are the Keeper of my heart. You are the Keeper of my soul, and mind and body."

She took a step back toward the curtain. As she did the weight of the air in the room intensified. She slipped to her knees as a thick cloud descended on the Throne of her heart. Her body bent over and her face kissed the ground. She could hardly look back up.

He spoke to her, "Arianna, I AM the same as I was when my people worshipped me in a literal Temple. I still require the innermost part of the sacred places of my people. I still require sacrifice and obedience. I will not share this place with anyone. Because of Jesus, all that was required is fulfilled. The veil is torn, and I now dwell in the deepest places of my people.

"Here is where I live. Here is where you will find all joy, satisfaction, purpose, and most of all, life. I offer you participation in the Divine. I give you all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. I will guide you into all truth and remind of you what He says. I will challenge you. Chastise you. Change you.

"This cloud of glory over your heart, in your heart and consuming all of you, is The Gift of the Everlasting. Only I can bring you freedom and peace. You, dear one, have to be willing to humble yourself to Me. I will not always be this way in you. You will feel that I am silent and inactive, but remember, my power is not shut off like a light, you must believe in faith that I am working. Always working, regardless of how you feel.

"In order for you to know that work, you must learn to believe in faith that I dwell here. Quiet yourself before me. Quiet yourself to the Truth of Jesus. Learn to listen. Learn to be transformed by the renewing of your mind, then you will be able to discern my will.

"Who knows your thoughts better than you. So I know the thoughts of the Father and I will reveal them to you. Remember, they are spiritually discerned. You must trust in me to discern them in you. I will wield my sword in your heart. Arm yourself with the Word. It is in the truth of the Word that I break all things in you, change all things in you, and transform you to look like Him."

She hadn't moved. The air was so thick she could almost taste it. She knew that what he said to her then stole her forever. The Indwelling had become a true reality. Her theology had sprung to life and she would never think of him as a partner, or helper. He was her life.

She lifted her head to see that the room had lightened. The Throne was still there, but it had no allure to it. She walked up to it and stood in front of the seat of Who she was. She opened her palm, looked at the ring, and laid it on the seat of the Throne. She was sealed, and he sat there in her.

She took a step backward. Then another. She stepped backward until she felt the heavy curtain wall against her back. She reached behind her, found the opening and stepped through. Just as the Priests of old, the Holy of Holies was reserved for One. She would be about the Kings business.

Just as she stepped out of the curtain, she was standing in her living room. The fire had died down to glowing, snapping embers. The tree was the only other light in the room. The clock was ticking slowly and began chiming seven o'clock.

She looked at the tree. All her beautiful gifts were gone. She knew they would be. The light in the room began to change as the first fingers of sunlight tickled the night sky. She put her face in her hands and rubbed her eyes hard. She left her eyes closed for a few minutes longer, trying to keep the images fresh.

She lowered one last time before the tree, placed her hands over her heart and prayed once more, "Jesus, what you have shown me is strangely what I have always known inside. You have always revealed Who you are in me. Now, though, I will surrender to the Keeper. I will keep you as the Lover of my Heart. I will be conscience of the Indwelling and live my life by You. Oh, Father, I know that a heart given wholly to you can do nothing but delight in bringing you glory. In that, my dearest Love, I know I will find complete and utter satisfaction."

And Arianna treasured all these things in her heart.

Chapter Seven -- Symphony

2009-01-05T05:00:00.001-06:00

There were only two more packages left to open. The mystery of five had been revealed and now only two kept her curious attention. She glanced up at the clock. Four-thirty! Oh man, this was most certainly going to be an all-nighter. She hadn't pulled one of those since she waited up all night on Kate. Come to think of it, she had pulled all-nighter with all her kids. Mercy, how she loved them.

She went to him in prayer, "Father, be with all my kids right now. I pray it again, pull Kate to you."

Her heart was so full and warm. She had gone through every emotion imaginable in the last few hours and knew that she would never be the same. Her faith had grown and not because of some experience of life, but because of the Truth the Father had shown her. So many times in her life she had waited for her faith to grow as if it was some sort of plant, but now she understood that faith grows only when it is exposed to the life giving truth. Faith does not come from striving to understand, she learned that from the Tapestry. No, she was beginning to see that faith comes from hearing.

She smiled when she had that thought. She knew full well that's what the Bible said, but too often hadn't lived it. She wanted faith to come through her sweat and tears, and she supposed it had, but only because those times had been lifted, trained, and lead by the Word of God.

She wondered what parts of her life might never be explained. What parts of the Great Tapestry would only be clear when she sees him? All she knew was that it would be beautiful.

Her thoughts we interrupted. Coming from under the tree was a single melody. She could hear music beginning to play and it was the most tender melody she had ever heard. She scooted toward the flat, orange box. It was like a shirt box and didn't weigh a thing. She slid it onto her lap, but before she opened it she just let the music rise up to her like breathing in an aroma from a delicious soup. She closed her eyes and listened.

It was just piano music. It wasn't fancy, but it drew her in and her mind wandered. She could see mountains, lakes, trees, fish, birds, stars. It was like she was flying over creation. The music stopped, and she was drawn back into reality (if that's what you want to call it) and she opened her eyes. She looked down at the orange shirt box, lifted the lid and placed it on the floor.

Under two folds of tissue paper was a single sheet of music staff paper. No notes, no notations, no title or artist. Just blank staff paper.

The music started up again. This time it was rich with deep lower melodic tones of the bass notes of a grand piano. It rang through her mind and carried her heart away. It rolled and swayed with a line of music that could calm a baby and make grown men cry. It had the force of the wind, but the steadiness of a summer rain. She loved him for whatever He was doing right then.

A high melody sang to her. It was just a piano. No other instruments joined the soloist. Oh, she had always wanted to play like that. There was no other instrument that could capture her like the piano. Unless, of course, a cello joined in. Just as she thought the thought she heard the bow smooth across the string of a cello as it joined the song of the piano. The duet stole her heart and she let it take her away.

A piano. A cello.

"Worship me, " he said to her.

His voice made her jump, "Oh Father, I do! I do worship you! I wish I had a voice that could sing or hands that could play that music I'm hearing and man, would I ever worship you!"

"Arianna, do you hear that music?" He asked, knowing full well she could, but it made for a dramatic effect.

"Oh yes. It is so beautiful!" she replied.

"What you hear is what is in your heart for me. It's your worship made into song. Not that worship is just music or singing, I'm showing you, or really, playing for you a reflection of your worship of me," he explained.

"But, as much as I love what I hear, it does not do you justice!" she returned. "You deserve a symphony of my heart. I love the piano, the cello, but Father, tell me that my worship to you is more than just two instruments!"

"Arianna, it's not what you play, it's how you play that brings me worship, honor and glory. Look at the sheet music. What do you see?" He asked.

"Just plain paper," she answered.

"I want you to begin to talk through what you think of me. Just say it out loud. Give word to what you feel about all you've been through, all you know of me, all you wish you knew."

Arianna, looked at the paper, and although she felt a little silly, she began speaking all that was in her heart. "Jesus, I am so humbled by your love for me. You forgave me when I was in a pit of sin..."

She stopped for a moment because her voice created the music. The piano started up again, followed by the cello.

"...be glorified in me by your Holy Spirit," she continued.

All of the sudden, there were more instruments. She could make out violins taking up their place among the melodies. The low hum of the bass slid into place as she thought more and more of her God.

She continued, "You have saved me, shown me all that you will do through me. You have promised your glory in our suffering and you have shown yourself faithful. You made all things and all things from you are good. You are the greatest thing that has ever touched my heart and shaped my mind. You are holy and worthy of all I have to give!"

The more she prayed the more the symphony built. The greater glory she gave to God the greater the music and the crescendo filled the room. She looked at the paper. As she spoke, the sheet was filled with music notes. They danced onto the paper as she prayed her worship to he God. The spilled onto the paper and her Symphony of Worship was created before her eyes.

"Arianna," He said, "there is no greater thing to me than worship. There is one goal I have and that is to have my Name lifted and glorified. My Name is the Name above all and the more you worship and honor me, the greater the glory; the greater the symphony. My goal is to have all men worship me.

"The more you are filled with me and the more you give yourself to me, the greater the wonder of the music. I bring glory to myself through you. Together, we make the greatest music, the purest Symphony of Praise. Remember, without me, you can do nothing. It is I who bring you Me inside of you. It is I who make my Name famous in you and the rest of the earth. Your response to that is what allows me to be the fullest in you.

"This Gift is the surest way to bring me the most glory and you the most satisfaction. When you honor me, when you worship me in all things, for all things and through all things you understand how to write a symphony. I will not share glory. I will not share honor. It is I who lift you up and make you a minister of this new covenant. It is I who draw all me unto me. It is I who go before you, behind you, and in you.

"If you want to know the greatest symphony of your life; if you want to see the most spectacular piece of music ever written; if you want to experience peace in a storm, life in death, joy in pain, laughter in chaos, and love in darkness, then, dear one, worship me. It is there that I inhabit my people. A heart of worship is like the inner Holy of Holies. It is where I dwell. Make your heart a Holy dwelling place of worship, and you, dear one, will find that you are most certainly satisfied."
That was the most he had spoken over her the entire night. She figured if he had spent that much time saying all he said then he was serious.

The music had been playing the entire time. It swelled with his voice. It dove to deep, resounding depths and spiked to high, full tones like multitudes of birds flying over. It was like it followed the tones and pitches of his voice. Maybe it did. Maybe his voice directed his own praise.

She pondered that thought for a moment. "Maybe," she said out loud, "maybe the more in tune with his voice, the more he directs his own praise in me. The more I have of him, the more glory there will be."

Made sense to her. Complete sense.

She looked down at the paper in her hand. Although, she couldn't make heads or tails of it, she knew that it was the Symphony of her heart. It was beautiful. She could tell where it swelled and crescendoed. She could see where her heart was still before him. She could make out where it grew strong and loud as she clapped for Him.

Her music. His music. Their Symphony.

At the top a title appeared: "Arianna's Song".

The music was dying down, but she knew it was not to end. She knew that her subconscious would even worship from now on. If worship meant another way to receive more power, give more glory, and love more deeply, then she would worship even in her sleep!

As she laid the paper back in the box and folded the tissue paper back over the sheet, the music was back to a single line of piano. The cello had slipped off silently and all that was left was the sweet line of a tiny melody.

She picked up the lid, slipped it back on and rubbed her hands over the box. The last few notes of the piano trickled away like a lullaby.

"Worship me," he said once more. "Worship me, and you will find greater music than was ever written. And one day, I will play you a song, dear one. I will play you a song."

He was silent for just a moment and then said, "You have one more to open, Arianna. Are you ready?"

With that, the room went dark and the one package left to open began to glow with an energy that made Arianna's heart stop.

Keys To Godly Body Image

2009-01-01T15:23:00.000-06:00

Want a new look on your body? Great! Look here! We'll uncover what God has to say about us, our physical bodies, and what they are designed for!

Introduction

Key #1 - Dedication

Key #2 - Health of Spirit

Key #3 - Health of Mind

Key #4 - Health of Soul

Key #5 - Health of Body

Chapter Six -- The Tapestry

2008-12-29T05:00:00.002-06:00

She sat and cried for a good thirty minutes after The Cup. Suffering for her had come in many ways, but never had she experienced some of the emotions that had just run through her mind, body and soul. She considered the homeless, the poor, the persecuted, the lonely. So many different levels and experiences of suffering, and He knows them all. He felt them all. That was her solitary comfort in those moments on the floor. His love and His strength pulled her through that Gift. She found herself considering drinking it again just to know that love and strength from him. It was unlike any she had ever experienced.

Three-thirty. She wiped her eyes one last time and realized how puffy they were. Oh great, that'll look good tomorrow! she thought.

She straightened herself up in her chair, pushed her hair away from her forehead, and took in a deep breath.

"Father, oh God, I can hardly move. Please tell me this next one won't be so hard!" she said with a slight plead.

There were three gifts left. She could only imagine what was in them, and that wasn't even sufficient. She had no idea what could come next. For a fourth time, she knelt at the base of the tree.

"The long white one is next," he said. When He spoke, she felt rejuvenated and alive. All the heaviness from the last Gift was lifted and she felt she could breathe freely again. Her mind became sharp, her heart began to beat faster, and the excitement began to build again.

It was a brilliant white tube with gold etching, that, at a closer look, was moving and forming and changing. It was about eight feet long and so big around that she couldn't get her hands around it. She had to hug it with her arms as she pulled it out from under the tree and drug it out to the middle of the room. She stopped to move the coffee table out of the way and rolled the package on to the carpet. She looked at both ends and found where one end had a lid that popped off like a poster tube.

She took the lid off, went to the other end, lifted it end up, and pulled backwards so whatever was inside would slide out. She could see the end of what looked like a curtain rod come out first. It was very ornate, large, gold and shaped like the end of a spear.

She pulled the rest of the tube off. Lying there on her carpet was a thick, heavy tapestry. It was already anchored on a curtain rod. Her assessment was right. Heavy, gold clips held the end of the tapestry tight to the rod as she began to unroll it. She picked it up by the rod and heaved it away from the tree to the end of her carpet and unrolled it all the way back to the fireplace. It swallowed her room and was as big, or bigger, than a king sized comforter.

"Lord?" she asked.

The tapestry began to levitate as the rod end lifted higher and higher until it was hanging in mid-air, as if hung on a wall in a museum. The bottom of it was just inches above the ground. She looked it over from top to bottom. It towered over her. The firelight lit up the great work of art before her.

As she stood there she realized the Tapestry was moving, like it was being stitched by some unseen hand. The fabric, strings, and stitches were alive. It was being created as she watched, but, within all the beauty of the colors and energy, it didn't look right. Actually, it didn't look like anything at all. It was, to be honest, messy.

The fabric wasn't complete, the stitching was mismatched and inconsistent. There were rogue pieces of string moving like tiny worms searching for their place. Only in a few places did it look like it actually made sense. She could make out a flower budding with wild red petals. A long vine with fruit was climbing up the side before it turned off into a black patch of confusion. White, full and strong clouds floated across the lower parts of the Tapestry when suddenly they turned violent and changed into a ball of grey strings, knotted and lost.

There were places that seemed complete and not moving anymore. Those were actual figures and pictures. They were strong and concrete, but were presented more matter of fact than as a piece of art. They made her feel as though she was looking at a photograph and not the real thing.

She stepped closer investigating and trying to figure out what in the world she was looking at. She touched it lightly as not to disturb it's work. She felt the material moved under her fingertips. It didn't seem as though this was the work of a creative, in control God. It was wild, unpredictable, and difficult to follow. And yet, it was though the fabric couldn't help but keep working, keep trying, keep creating.

It was brilliant, fascinating, frustrating, and beautiful.

"Faith," he said.

She didn't respond. She just stood at it looking it up and down, unable to take her eyes off it. She took a few steps back to see the full view. Everywhere the movement of the creation formed and fashioned both beauty and chaos.

"This is what faith looks like to you and all who follow me," he explained. She listened.

"On this side of the Tapestry, this side of eternity, you look at life, your life, the life of the world, and there are moments where it makes perfect sense. There are moments when your faith creates beauty and you are charmed by what you see; moments when your faith in me creates a masterpiece.

"There are times, however, when your faith is tested. Your faith becomes shady, difficult to hold on to, chaotic, and yet, do you see, Arianna, that it still makes beauty? Do you see that although it may not always make sense, it is always at work, as am I. Arianna, you must strive in your faith. Keep believing. You will struggle to find the place to connect the faith strings to create and see the beauty, but do you see it, Arianna?"

She watched and waited. She followed a pattern of a tree forming. She watched the trunk form and roots dive deep into the ground. Branches formed and budded with wild leaves and fruit. A blustery wind of string blew over it. It stood firm. The roots buried deeper down and the tree was blown and whipped by strings of white and silver and black. Suddenly it stopped. Slowly the tree began grow more branches and bud more growth. It was slow, but she could see it. Then, right at the very ends of the branches, it blurred and became difficult to make out.

"Arianna, not all things of faith make sense this side of eternity. There are difficult things for you to manage through. There are difficult times for my people to walk in faith through. But, you know what Scripture says, 'Without faith, it is impossible to please God'? Right?" He questioned.

"Yes," she whispered.

"Step around to the other side, Dear One," he said.

She slipped around to the back side of the Tapestry. The edge brushed her face as she squeezed between the couch and the Tapestry. She could have sworn she felt a kiss.

As she came around the back and turned, her breath was taken from her. What she saw, she could have never imagined.

She was staring at the most beautiful images, patterns, and creations of perfection unlike she had ever seen. The tree she just watched form on the other side was now was huge, mighty, strong, and full. The clouds at the bottom were unmoved, and shading the ground. The vine was covering the full perimeter of the Tapestry, full of fruit that looked good enough to pick and eat right there. The flower with the red petals was still growing and producing more and more.

What she also noticed was that each picture, each pattern and shape was lined with gold. Brilliant gold stitching outlined each shape, accentuating all the unique features.

There were no stragglers or dark places. It was complete, perfect, organic, and made sense in all the chaotic places on the other side. Where the clouds had turned grey, it was high, dense, white clouds. Where there was blackness, new and unusual patters and shapes were forming.

It was stunning.

He spoke again, "This, Arianna, is what I see and what you will see one day. And, my dear child, it is very pleasing to me. Every small string, every large swooping pattern on the other side, brings me pleasure. Those are the moments of faith. They are big, small, frustrated, vibrant, and childlike. They are the moments, the lifetimes, the seasons of Faith of my people. And I am very pleased.

"Do not think that I do not make all things new and beautiful. I know it can be frustrating. I know it can be hard, but your faith, though tested, tried, smashed, crushed, will come forth as gold."

More tears. She thought she didn't have any more, but there they were. She took a step toward the Tapestry once again, but as she moved closer to the Perfect side, it went blurry.

She was confused. Wasn't she on the Good side now? What happened?

"You know in part and see in part, but a day is coming when you will see clearly. It's just not now," He explained.

She hadn't said two words since she unwrapped the gift. All she could get out now was, "I believe."

The Tapestry began to roll up. The rod turned down into the top of the Tapestry and shortly the entire piece was rolled up again. The outside of it was the messy, chaotic side with a few pieces of beauty. It laid itself on the floor. She bent over and rubbed her hand down the length of it. She felt it move again under her fingertips.

Now, what seemed strange and violent was beautiful. She understood that though what she sees here on earth can seem ugly, imperfect, even disheartening, is making for her a Tapestry of Faith.

She would keep believing, keep trusting, keep living her faith in him. She knelt at the Tapestry, closed her eyes, and once again prayed, "Father, may my faith in all it's seasons, all it's chaos, all it's beauty, bring you glory, pleasure, and honor."

When she opened her eyes, the Tapestry was gone and the cylinder shaped gift was back under the tree, it's white paper featuring it's gold, moving and organic etching.

She stared at it and whispered, "I see in part, but one day I will see clearly."

2008-12-22T00:41:00.001-06:00

...to be continued...

Join me next Monday for the next chapter of The Gift.

Merry Christmas!!!

Chapter Five -- The Cup

2008-12-14T19:29:00.005-06:00

She was still holding the small necklace from her last gift when she heard her stomach growl. Not now! she thought. Maybe a short ten minute break wouldn't be so bad. She had been through so much going through these gifts it felt like she'd run a marathon, and she had four to go! "Father, I've got to get a sandwich," she said standing up.

She stood all the way up, reached to the ceiling, stretched her back, and let out a sigh a little bit louder than she intended. She giggled at herself all the way to a turkey sandwich and sweet tea.

As she quieted her stomach, her mind raced with thoughts, prayer, and anticipation of what was going to unfold next. There was no way she could have guessed anything that the Lord was doing in her right now. One prayer, one simple prayer had changed her life.

Remembering the prayer she spoke just hours ago, she prayed it again, "Father, how can you be most glorified in me and I most satisfied in you? Show me more of how your love and life in me brings you the greatest glory through me and in that I am completely satisfied and filled."

She tossed the crumbs in the trash and her plate in the sink, threw back her last sip of tea and headed back to the tree.

She knelt down at the base of the tree again, grabbed her blanket and laid it over her lap. She looked out the window. A fresh, new snow had snuggled up to the glass. A white Christmas was on it's way. She smiled and then said, "Father, what's next?"

"Arianna, the next gift is one that my people have always had a difficult time receiving." Uh-oh she thought. He continued, "It's not the first choice, but it's always one that those who follow me must open and receive. This gift, and the next, have much to do with each other. For now, you get the one that many of my people have run from, been angry with me because of it, and yet, many have received it through tears and have understood. Are you ready?"

"No, but I'll open it away. Which one?" she asked.

"The gold one. I warned you about this gift," He explained, "because it's not any different than opening my word and seeing it there too. However, it's one thing to know about it, and quite another to accept it."

She rubbed her hand across her mouth while trying to discern what he was talking about. She was looking right at the gold gift when it felt like the turkey sandwich might come back up.

Come on, Arianna! She thought. What? Is he going to give you something you can't handle? I don't think so. He promised he wouldn't.

"Excuse me," He interrupted, "I never promised that."

Her eyes darted around the room. Shoot! She forgot he could hear her!

"Oh. Well, I thought the Bible said that you wouldn't give me more than I could bear" she explained.

"No," He replied, "it says that you wouldn't be tempted beyond what you could bear and that I would always provide a way out."

"Oh. Have I had that wrong this whole time?" she asked.

"Yes, my love, but don't worry, you've yet to meet your match in temptation. But, that, Arianna, is a different gift. Now, to the gold one please."

He tried to shrug that last comment off, hoping she didn't hear him right. However, she could feel the tug-of-war inside. She wanted to open the gold one and knew that there was no way around it, but couldn't she just skip this one? She didn't even know what was inside, but based on that speech, she wasn't looking forward to the ripping the paper off.

Okay, just open the thing!

She grabbed it quickly before she could talk herself out of it.

The gold wrapping was incredibly beautiful with intricate designs and detail, but it felt like a rough potato sack. She lifted the lid and looked inside.

A cup.

She realized she had been holding her breath and let it out as she lifted the cup out of the box.

It wasn't a typical cup. It was short, stocky and had a handle on each side. It was more like a large mug. Brown, rough, and heavy. It fit in both hands and was designed to be held by both hands in order to take a drink.

A drink. Was she supposed to drink anything? She held it just below her chest and looked down into it. She had both hands wrapped around it as she tried to peer into the darkness of the cup. She could feel a sensation of confusion come over her. All of the sudden, whatever was in the cup didn't make sense. She wanted to drink it, knew that was what was required of her, but everything in her knew that it would not be good.

How could a good God give me such a terrible cup? she thought. I haven't even tasted what's in there, but I don't think I want to. It can't be good. It can't come from a good God!

She felt angry and couldn't figure out why. She began to tremble and her heart raced. She knew she had to drink it, but what was it?

"Arianna," he said.

Just hearing her name calmed her down. Whatever she was just feeling felt like it ran away when he said her name, like it was afraid of him.

"Arianna," he continued, "what you hold in your hand is the Cup of Suffering. What you felt when you held the cup was what my people feel at even the thought that suffering is in the destiny of each man and woman....whether they follow me or not. I just happen to be quite frank with you and tell you that, yes, you will suffer. What you let me do with it will determine how you drink it."

She stared into the cup. A think, black, syrupy liquid formed.

He went on, "Suffering is in the future of everyone. However, those who follow me suffer in different ways. Many suffer because they believe in me. My children are killed every day because of me. Churches hide in the darkness waiting until they can speak openly. Families are ruined and destroyed because members have chose to follow me. It's part of the broken creation. Everyone suffers. Death is still ripping mankind apart as it struggles to fight to the end before I return. Sickness is claiming my people and stealing their faith. The Cup eventually sits in the hands of everyone. Again, what you let me do with it will determine how you drink it."

Arianna replied, "You've said that twice and I still don't understand. Shouldn't I go through the suffering and pray that you do something with it? Do I have any part in how I drink or go through suffering? If we all drink the cup, how can we drink if differently from one another?"

"Arianna, if you look into that cup and see the darkness of suffering, you have a choice before it ever touches your lips. You have a choice before anything comes into your life. I'm not saying that you will be prepared for everything. You can't prepare yourself for loss and pain. You're not me; you can't see the future. However, what you can prepare yourself for is me. If you look into that cup, knowing that in your future some sort of suffering will come, then you have the choice to offer me the cup before you drink it. In other words, you offer me the chance to make your suffering something that glorifies me even before it touches your lips."

She thought about his words for awhile. She looked in the cup and understood that for her life, this kind of cup had not been in her hands for years. The darkness in the cup glistened back at her. She could see her reflection in the liquid. It was her drink. Her cup of suffering. There was no time or date. The was no tag on the box that said when and where her cup would appear. But, she had a decision to make in that room right then: How would she drink it?

In faith? Or in fear?

She believed that one would be bitter in the mouth and life-giving in the soul, and the other would be bitter in the mouth and death to anything that still held out faith. How about a fear-faith drink? Couldn't they go together? A little bit of fear? What if she called it apprehension? Would that make it okay?

She shook her head as if trying to shake away all the question and reasoning. There is no reasoning when it comes to suffering. There is only faith. Faith in a holy and good God to take what is foul when we drink it and make it beautiful and glorious.

She lifted the cup to her mouth. The blackness touched her lips, and as she let it pour into her mouth the taste sent her reeling. She held on tightly to the handles as she let the cup be emptied into her. It was more than she could bear. She threw the cup down and her body followed after it as she hit the floor weeping. She felt that she would burst from grief, anger, and loneliness all at the same time. The cup of suffering was most certainly more than she could bear.

As the laid of the floor, curled up in a ball, the blackness settled in her stomach. Every muscle cramped and she cried out in pain. She wrapped her arms around her knees and tucked her face in tight. Her stomach twisted and hot pain went through her entire body.

She began praying, "Father, before I drank the cup I made a decision that when the Cup of Suffering came I would believe that you would make it strength and life in me. Now, Jesus, do your work. I'm helpless to this! Please God, do your work!"

She knew that what she was experiencing was a snapshot of what happened in the lives of those who love him. She felt their pain and grief in the midst of the everyday life. Suffering was no respecter of persons or age or time or position. It shoved it's ugly cup in the faces of all who walk this earth and all must drink.

"Oh Jesus," she cried through the pain, "make it glorious!"

At the sound of his name her stomach released its grip of pain inside her and her body relaxed. She didn't move. She stayed in the position of her suffering just for a moment, but felt the healing come on her.

"Don't move yet," he said. "Know, that in the midst of your suffering, at the beginning and the end, I was there. Settle in your suffering for a moment and know that it was me who brought you out."

Soon, every muscle began to release. Her body let the tension out slowly. Her breathing slowed and she stretched her legs out. She tucked one arm under her head and looked up at the tree. After a few minutes of complete silence, she sat up.

She leaned over and picked up the cup. Even though empty now, she could see a few drops seep up from the bottom.

He spoke to her, "The Cup of Suffering will never be empty until it is replaced with the Cup of Salvation at the end of the age. When Christ returns, He will take the Cup of Suffering with it's drink of death, pain, crying, and fear and He will destroy it forever. And in His hand will be the Cup of Salvation. Until then, you drink, and in you the Cup of Salvation begins its work expressed on earth. And that, my dear Arianna, is glorious, indeed."

As she placed the cup back into the box, it had already filled back up. She blinked back the tears as she closed the lid. "Father, though the cup comes to all of us, I pray what fills us beyond any drink of suffering, is your sweet, powerful Spirit. Yes Jesus, fill us with You so that when we drink, You drink, and in that bond, no cup of suffering could ever give us a poison too great for You."

She brushed off the free falling tears on her cheek, walked over to her chair, slumped down and as she did, she gave way to her emotions and wept.

The clock stuck three.

Chapter Four--Heartbeat

2008-12-07T21:48:00.004-06:00

Could there possibly be more? Arianna was still staring off into space reliving the last gift of Influence when the Holy Spirit spoke for a third time. "Arianna, there's more," He said.

"I know, Lord, but really, can I just breathe that last one in for a minute? I mean, Kate! you showed me Kate as someone I influenced" she said trying to hold back the tears.

"Yes, but I did not show you her choices. That is still left to be seen. But, you can be sure of this - you do influence her."

Arianna stole a glance at her daughter's picture and whispered another prayer. How many times had she prayed for that girl?

The grandfather clock struck 1:00 a.m. She could feel the sleepies crawling into her eyes. She rubbed them away and sat back down on the floor. She wasn't sure how much more she could take! What could he possibly have for her after all that he has done already? Her past. Her future. Her testimony. Her influence. What? What could there be that could bring him more glory?

"Open the green one, please," he said.

Sitting with her legs crossed, she slapped her hands on her knees bracing herself as she looked for the green gift. It had moved. It wasn't in line with the rest. There, under the backside of the tree it sat in the shadows like it had been forgotten.

She reached deep under the tree. Why was it so far back? Why was it out of reach and so small? She had to grunt a little to reach that far back making her very aware of the pooch from four children. She rolled her eyes at the thought what her stomach looked like at that very moment, but kept reaching.

She set her hand on the top to scoot it closer. It fit right in the palm of her hand, but as she pulled it out, it got heavier and bigger. By the time she had it out from under the tree it had grown to the size of a large toaster. She muscled it onto her lap and said, "Lord! What do you have in here?!"

The weight of the box grew in intensity, so much so that she had to push it off her legs and let it thump to the floor. By that time it had to have weighed more than a cinder block. Not only did the weight of the gift grow, but she noticed that as the weight intensified, the sound of her heartbeat did as well.

She could no longer hear the clock although she could see the second hand moving. The hum of the heater was muffled out and although the fire was dancing all around. there were no pops or hisses to be heard.

Thump-thump
Thump-thump

Soon it was her, the box, and her heartbeat.

Thump-thump
Thump-thump

As stange as that would seem on any other day, she just went with it. The gift, now the size of her small yoga ball, was sitting directly in front of her. She sat on her knees and back on her feet to open it. As she slipped the lid off, her heartbeat picked up pace and volume.

Thump-Thump

What she saw not only took her by surprise, but made her cock her head to the right and scrunch up her face trying to figure out just what she was looking at. She could tell it was the globe for sure. Blue seas and the familiar shapes of the continents gave it away, but it wasn't round. It wasn't round at all. And it wasn't as big as the box. She reached down into the box up to her armpits to get the object.

When her hands touched it, her eyes shut and her nose crinkled up. She opened one eye to make sure she had a firm grip on it. It was warm, heavy, and sticky like a fresh piece of meat or chicken...before it's cooked.

Once she got it out of the box she realized that the heartbeat was not coming from her, but from the globe, if that's what you want to call it. Now that she had it out she could see that it was in the shape of a heart. Not the pretty hearts you cut out at Valentine's Day, but normal every day human kind of heart.

It pulsated in her hand.

Thump-thump
Thump-thump

She turned it over. It was tacky in her right hand as she offered it to her left. Sure enough, there was Asia and Russia. She turned it all around. Each continent was in its place.

It was a heavy heart of the world.

"Father, um, I could use a little clarification on this one. I'm a little grossed out and extremely curious," she confessed as she continued turning it in her hands taking in the detail. She could see mountain ranges, rivers, cities, town, plains, and deserts. As she looked at each place it came more to life and more details rose off the object.

After about four or fives turns in her hands, the surface changed. In places all over the tiny world she held in her hand, sharp thorny slivers of what seemed like glass started coming out of different places. "Ouch!" she yelped. They weren't all over the place, but it seemed there were places that the glass thorns were denser and sometimes covered entire cities, even countries.

She was extremely delicate with the globe, trying not to get cut. She held on to the Pacific and Atlantic as best she could, but soon enough her hands were covered in blood. "Father, seriously, I could use a little help," she pleaded.

“Arianna, what do you think you are holding?” He asked.

“Well, I’m guessing the world,” she said with a hint of teasing.

“Yes, but it’s more than that. You’re holding my heart,” He explained.

She looked back at her hands. They were covered in blood as she watched the throbbing heart-world beat in her hands. She sensed she should close her eyes. As she did, God gave her a vision.

It was like she was flying over the places of the glassy thorns. She looked down and could see thousands of people. They were all walking on those thorns. She could see their faces. Asian, African, European, Western, and Middle Eastern. She could see faces of people she couldn’t even categorize. They were beautiful, and yet seemed completely unaware of their pain.

“Why Lord? Why can’t they feel that?” she asked.

“Those people, my child, are the ones that have yet to hear about my Son. They walk in a land of thorns. Each one slowly bleeding to death in sin and all they need is to hear of Jesus and He would heal them and bring them to a spacious place. Their pain is my pain,” He explained.

Arianna opened her eyes and looked at her hands. The heartbeat still pounded in her ears. It wasn’t deafening or irritating, just present and matter of fact.

“Do you know why the gift was little and at the back?” He asked.

“No,” she answered.

He continued, “It was like that because there are many in my Church that view the world that way. They don’t mean to, but there are many who forget that there is an entire world out there that needs me. They forget that my primary objective is to make my Name glorious and famous in all the world! The busyness of life and the reality of their own worlds with their own needs and wants tend to push the needs of the world to the back. It becomes peripheral, a second thought. This gift to you is to remind you that you have a part in my heartbeat for the nations. It is up to the Church to make the mystery of Christ known and to share my love. It is in your hands, literally. By the power of my Spirit, all nations will know my Name. Find what I have put in your heart for the nations and get to it. This gift is for you to make your own.”

She knew what He meant. She hadn’t always considered the rest of the world, to be quite honest. She knew there were nations who needed Christ, but to see it this way was different.

His heartbeat. His love. His mission. His purpose.

Not only did she know what he meant, but she knew what to do. She looked at the heart, cupped it in both hands, and bearing the pain, pressed it to her own chest.

“Father, give me your heart for the nations. I want to love who and what you love,” she prayed.

She could hear two heartbeats. She knew one was hers and one was His. They were beating in two different patterns. One was completely out of sync with the other.

She pressed harder. The tears were beginning to fall and her face bore the pain of the thorns in her chest. Her breathing quickened and she could feel warm blood sliding down her arms.

She pressed and pressed until the two heartbeats were no longer beating out of sync, but until they pounded the same glorious rhythm.

Thump-thump
Thump-thump

Her heart was now beating simultaneously with his heart.

His love for those outside of Christ around the world now warmed her heart. She opened her eyes and reluctantly looked down at her chest.

The cuts and blood were gone. As she pulled her hands back from her chest, she was holding a beautiful silver necklace. Hanging on it was the most glorious charm she had ever seen. It was a silver transparent sphere and inside was a free floating globe. As she turned it over in her hand, she could see all the way around the globe to each continent. She wrapped her hands tightly around it and brought it to her lips. "Oh God, thank you."

She reached around her neck and set the clasp. The tiny world rested right over her heart. She placed her hand over it and whispered, “Whatever You would have me do for Your nations, to make Your name famous, I’ll do it Lord. I’ll do it.”

She placed the lid back on the empty box. His love for the nations was no longer a peripheral thought to her anymore. His love was her love.

Chapter Three -- Beads

2008-12-01T00:18:00.003-06:00

Arianna stood up for a stretch. That walk down memory lane to her past was wonderful, but intense. Her body resisted her attempt to stand up, but she willed her knees and stiff back to obey.

She put her hands on her lower back as she leaned back with a deep sigh. She stood still for a minute looking at each gift. Her previous gift had lead her to another level, another place, and new perspective. What more could there be? Was this not plenty for the rest of her life? Would the testimony of His healing not be the message of her heart?

Her eyes bounced off of each gift as her heart searched for God's voice.

She began praying, “Father, show me more of you. Show me how you can be glorified more and more in me. If you have six more ways, I’ll do them all. If you had a thousand more ways, I’d live my life to complete each one.”

Anxious to get into another gift, Arianna sat back down in the floor. She grabbed the blanket off her chair, slipped a pillow under her backside, and leaned up against the couch. Her socked feet crossed as she waited for his reply.

Silence.

She took the moment to look around the room. What else was she going to do? Open one? Leave? Go make a sandwich? That idea was sounding pretty good now that she thought about it.
She looked at the wall across from her. Her kids teased her a little bit about that wall and called it her "Shrine.” It seemed that every moment she could capture of her kids was now a photograph on that wall.

Mike and his first gerbil that ended up dead because he forgot to feed it. Sam and his first hockey uniform. Kate in her cheerleading outfit that didn’t make her dad feel too hot about the whole thing. Derrick holding a chess trophy.

There were so many memories on that wall. None of which had her picture in it. She preferred it that way. That wall was about her kids, her little ones that were now out on their own. They were her…

“Open the red one,” He told her.

Her thoughts were cut short and she looked to her left and found it. It was ruby red with a silver ribbon. She picked it up and she could feel the contents shuffle around inside. It sounded like it was full of marbles or something.

She set it on her lap, lifted the lid, and sure enough, she was close. It was full of tiny little silver beads that made her think of those ice cream beads from Dippin' Dots.

She scooped a few up in her left hand to get a closer look. With her right index finger she scooted them around, letting each on roll in her palm. They were silver with what looked like etching on each one. She picked one up between her fingers and brought it close. She finally made out a word on the bead – "Marcie."

“Marcie?” she thought, “Why in the world in that name on there. I don’t know a Marcie.”

“No, you don’t,” He said. “And you won’t. Well, not until you get here.”

She knew what he meant. Not until she gets to heaven, but she was still unsure about the name on the bead. She took another look at the other beads. They too were all silver with a small name etched on it. She dug her hands deep down into the box and randomly pulled one out.

Kate

Her heart rushed a little bit as she looked at the tiny object with her daughters name on it. She could only speculate what all these names meant, but she hoped for the best.

“Father,” she began praying, “why is Kate’s name on this bead? Why are any names on these beads?”

“Spill them out and I’ll show you,” He said.

Oh great, that’ll be a pain to clean up, she thought. Still, she couldn’t help but wonder what this would bring. She stood up and slowly turned the box to let the beads spill out. They hit the floor and went rolling everywhere. Every crack was filled in the floor, every dark place under the furniture sucked the beads with no intention of returning them to light.

She watched as every bead made its way to a stop. She looked all around the room and all the tiny silver balls on the floor. Once again, her mind was transported as she watched a miracle happen in her living room.

The silver beads began to melt together to make a solid silver floor. The room grew to an open field nestled in the most beautiful snow capped mountains she had ever seen. She looked down. She was standing on a silver floor out in the middle of the field. The breeze was light and refreshing. The sun was warm on top of her head and shoulders. She could smell the pine trees and hear water rushing nearby.

Off in the distance she saw movement. It was faint and low to the ground at first. She shifted her weight on her feet to try to see it more clearly. She shielded her eyes with her hand to try and make out what was moving. Whatever it was, it was coming closer.

It went as far left and right as she could see. She brushed her hair out of her face and stood on tip-toe to try and pull the image closer. After a few more moments, she figured it out.

A sea of people was walking toward her. They came up off the horizon and were slowly making their way to her. She turned around to see what was behind her. All she saw were the mountains and trees. There was nothing behind her.

She turned back around. The sea began to take shape. Those on the far left and right began to move toward the middle. They were forming a line. She could tell they were picking up the pace and her heart began to match their speed. As she watched, she noticed that the first person in the line, leading the way, was Kate.

“They are coming,” he said quietly in her spirit.

“Who?” she asked, “and why is Kate leading them?”

“Remember your wall? The Shrine, I believe it’s called?” he said with what seemed a laugh.

“Yes, You know I love that wall!” she giggled.

“You didn’t get to finish your sentence a while ago when you were looking at all those pictures. You were thinking about how your kids were grown and almost all of them were out on their own. You were just about to comment on something. Do you remember what it was?” he asked.

The crowd was getting closer. She could see that all of them were smiling and waving. She saw Mike and Sammy and even Derrick. Stephen was meshed in with all his kids too.

“What were you going to say, Arianna? What were you going to say?” He prodded her.

“I was saying that they were my…,” she hesitated because there were tears on the edges of her eyes and her throat was burning, “They were my legacy.”

“Yes!” He exclaimed, “Yes! And they aren’t the only ones.”

She watched the crowd come closer. They were so close that she could hear their voices and laughter. She wondered who they all could be. She only had four kids and there’s no way those kids could produce that many grandkids!

“It’s not just your kids, Arianna. I’ve given you a picture of what your influence could become. I’ve given you a picture of your influence 200 years out. Generation after generation of your influence is seen here in this crowd. I’ve given you a picture of what your love, tenderness, purpose, and even daily decisions could affect. Walking toward you is a picture of eight generations of those affected by your direct descendants. You, my dear Arianna, can affect thousands because you chose to let me live through you.”

The very idea stole her breath away. Instantly her mind was filled with Biblical memories. How many times had God honored generations because of their grandparents or great-grandparents? How many times did the people of God receive mercy and grace because of the influence of previous ancestors? How many times did she wonder about Christ’s blood line and sit amazed at who God used to bring about his own Son? A harlot? An unwed mother? She had never seen it before, and now, here it was in living color...

Influence.

Kate was yards from her, and as she walked up, she held out her hand with her palm closed. She reached for Arianna’s hand, turned it over and laid in it one small silver bead.

Without a word, Kate kissed her mother’s cheek and stood far to Arianna’s right. The same happened with Mike, Sam, Derrick, and Stephen. Each laying a silver bead in her hand and moving to the right. Instead of making a new line, each person stood shoulder to shoulder. She looked at the five of them and they smiled back at her. As if to help her in the process, they all looked at the line. Her gaze followed theirs.

Next in line was a young girl about eighteen years old. She walked up to Arianna and stood looking at her for a moment. As she pulled Arianna’s hand toward her to put in her silver bead she said, “I am your great-great-granddaughter, Marcie. You are the reason that Christ is in our family. You. Thank you for telling those bedtime stories to Great-Grandma Kate.”

That did it. Arianna’s heart burst. She stood there sobbing as she held the tiny beads. Person after person walked up to her, handed her a bead, told their story, and then stood shoulder to shoulder with the next person.

Soon, both hands were full of silver beads. She couldn’t even wipe her face any more. Kate came and stood next to her. She took some of the beads and held them with her mom.

People from different nations came to her telling her that it was her great-great-grandson that first came to their nation with the news of Christ.

Another one said that Arianna’s great-great-great-great granddaughter drug her to a Bible study in college where she met Christ.

Still another said that Arianna’s own son sat next to him on a flight and shared the love of Christ over coffee and peanuts.

Others came that were of no relation. Some had been touched by her generosity. Others had been influenced at church in Bible study. Some were old neighbors and class mates.

Arianna knew what the Father was showing her. She had always underestimated herself. There were days she wondered if being a stay-at-home mom was the best thing for God and all the work there was out there to do. She even wondered if her life would make a difference at all. Now, she could see that her life made all the difference and that His life received all the glory.

She looked at the silver beads in her hands and Kate’s. She had Kate dump as many as she could back into her hands. Arianna turned around in a circle, following the now human circle around her. She looked into as many eyes as possible before kneeling down on the silver floor.

Once on her knees, Arianna prayed, “Father, every face here reflects your glory. Every person here is not because of the greatness of me, but the greatness of You! I give you all the glory for all that is done here.”

She let the beads fall out of her hands as a kind of sign of relinquishment of glory. Once again, the beads made their way across the floor. This time they rolled off the silver floor into the soft grass around her.

She closed her eyes as she tried to hang on to every face she could. Oh, if she could only memorize them all.

When she opened her eyes, she was once again back in her living room floor. All the beads were in the box shining up at her. She squished her hands deep down in the box and held on to them for a while longer.

She knew that her life was not her own. She knew that even though her kids were grown and the last was about to leave that she had many more “children” to raise. She thought of the young couples at her church, the young girls in the youth group, the small babies in the nursery, the elderly neighbor. Each one now would represent a bead in her life. Although they may not know it, she does, and this gift will be a standing reminder that her life has purpose, power, and influence in Christ.

The put the lid back on, slowly sat the gift back under the tree, and simply uttered, “Thank you.”

Chapter Two -- Fragrance

2008-11-23T20:47:00.006-06:00

Arianna’s breath was stolen from her the instant she looked at the gifts. It was like she was swept into a dream, taken into a place familiar, but new.

She took the time to examine each gift from her three foot distance. Time didn’t matter. The grandfather clock seemed to stop ticking. The moment was hers.

The range in size was as unique as the wrappings. Each gift was different, brilliant, charming and alluring.

She scanned them from left to right. Six had almost a magnetic way about them. It was all she could do not to rip them open like she did when she was little. However, the seventh one was not so alluring. To be honest it was beautiful, but strangely distracting. She reached for it.

“Not that one. Not yet,” she heard the Spirit say.

“Which one first?” she asked, as she pulled her hand away.

“See that one?” She looked at the one that was the most fascinating. When sitting on the floor, it was white with red words written all over it, but once she lifted it to her hands, it turned black and iridescent.

After she had sat it back down, she bent over to read the words out loud, but they didn’t make sense, “Bought, crave, summer, winter, scar, sifted, hand, balm, power.” They went on and on, disconnected, but faintly understood.

She picked it up and set it down over and over. She was simply stunned at what was happening.

“This is crazy!” she mumbled.

“Just to you” she heard. For some reason that made her grin.

She picked it up one more time. She actually picked it up real fast hoping to keep the white in her hands, but the instant her fingers grazed the bow, it turned black. That made her very uneasy.

“Open it,” He urged.

“No,” she whispered. Something in her told her this would not be good. The warmth of the fire seemed to have been sucked from the room. A different scent replaced the smell of burning wood. She knew that smell. Her stomach dropped.

“Arianna, you have to open this one first in order to get to the next ones,” He explained.

She felt her palms break into a sweat and her heart began to make way for her throat.

“Don’t make me do it. Don’t make me go there,” she begged Him. Not because she was scared, but because she didn’t want to look at it again. She had dealt with it already. Done. Forgiven. Over. ‘Nough said.

“It’s not what you think. In order to be able to see the package white in your hands, you must open it when it’s black. Trust me.”

She took in a deep breath through her nose as she picked it up one more time. She leaned her head back, looked up at the ceiling, closed her eyes, and as she lowered her head to look at the package, the whole room went dark and cold.

The fire was snuffed out. The clock stopped. The tree was gone. The other packages were gone. No chair, couch, or pictures. It was just her on the floor. The carpet was replaced with tile and the black box sat unopened on her lap.

“Oh God, no,” she cried.

“I’m not doing this to hurt you. I’m doing this to get you to the white box.” His words warmed her from the inside.

She lifted the lid.

When she did, the same sickening smell filled the room. She had to resist the urge to throw up.

Once again, the room transformed. She was sitting in a doctor’s office. The doctor’s office. She looked around. The same pastel pink waiting chairs. The same silvery, shimmery wallpaper with flowers lined the walls. The same candle burned on the receptionist desk as it did in 1980-- apple pie. That was the smell. No telling how many candles she has thrown out in the last 28 years.

“Father, why am I here? This place has been long put in my past. This place only brings me grief. This place is where…” Her words stopped in her mouth. Even though she had felt the wonder of healing from Christ and the forgiveness from His love; even though she had been delivered from her shame, there was a tender scar left from the day she walked in as a seventeen hear old girl and “got rid” of her baby.

She slowly walked up to the receptionist counter and stared at the candle. From there, she looked to her right to the door that lead to the operating room.

“Go in” He said.

Her hands slipped off the counter as she gave up the last little bit of resistance to what He was going to have her do. She walked up to the door, pushed it open, and as she took a deep breath, she stepped across the threshold.

As the door moved out of her way, she stepped into a white room. No patient’s table. No instruments. No nurses. No doctor. Nothing. Just a white room.

“Arianna. What you do with this room is up to you now,” He said.

“I don’t understand,” she answered.

“In this room, you made a choice that would change your life forever. Here is where you took things in to your own hands, not without the help from the enemy, no doubt, but still, you made the choice. Now, I am giving you another choice to make in this room. You’ve been healed, freed, renewed, and even have come to the point where it doesn’t plague your dreams. However, this is the one thing you have yet to do: tell others.”

All the color left her face. “Oh Jesus, no. This is between you and me. This is my thing. This was my mistake. This was my suffering. Please don’t make me tell people. Stephen knows, but, oh God, the kids! I can’t tell them. Oh Jesus, don’t make me do this!”

“I’m not going to make you do anything, but I want you to do something for me,” He said.

A sigh of relief came out of her unexpectedly as she said, “Anything, really, anything.”

“Pick up that marker over there and go stand at the wall,” He instructed.

She looked to her left, and there against the wall was a small, white stool with a giant red Sharpie on it. She loved those kinds of markers. Those are the best for all those posters she and Kate used to make for game days. A slight smile crossed her face.

She picked it up and stood at the wall. The gross apple pie candle scent began to fill the room.

She rolled her eyes as she said, “Oh Father, can you please blow that out!?”

“No, it’s important that it fills the room. Now, Arianna, begin writing on the wall everything that has come from this one choice in this room. Just write the words that come to mind.”

She stood there staring at the wall. She popped the lid off and put it on the back end of the Sharpie. At least that smelled better than the candle!

The very first thing that came to mind was the one thing she thought saved her life-- Stephen.

“Write his name down,” He said.

She turned the Sharpie so the big fat side would write Stephen’s name broad and bold.

“What else? What else has come from this choice?” He asked.

Within moments, her hands were flying all over the room. Words, people, phrases, worship songs, scripture—it was all released through that marker. She took a moment to look back and read some of the words.

Grace

Power

Freedom

Strength

Insecurity

Position

Motherhood

Tears

Rejection

Pain

Rejoicing

Healing

Balm

Wound

Singing

On and on she wrote. As she drug the stool around to get higher up the walls, all the years since 1980 came flying to mind. So many things were tainted by this one event, yet so many things made that one event go to a resting place forever. So many people touched her life and didn’t know that they were loving a broken woman. So many people had wounded her even more deeply without even knowing it.

Still, in the years gone by, there was one thing that never changed, and that was God's love for her. Even if she walked through insecurity, heartbreak and shame more than once, his love walked with her until the day came when they quit walking through it. She hadn’t realized it until just now that she had gone years without walking down those roads of shame and guilt.

She was really free.

As she thought of all this, the walls of that operating room were filled with words of hope, words of truth, words of someone being real and honest. Her words. Her life. Her testimony.

There were two blank spots left in the room. One on the floor below and one on the ceiling above where she laid during that operation. She first knelt down, and stared at the spot for a moment to let it sink in. As she whispered a prayer of gratitude, she wrote the largest word yet-- Jesus.

She grabbed the stool, stood on it and wrote above her head the same life changing word-- Jesus.

Stepping down, she looked around. Then, she saw it-- the white box with the red words written on it.

Instantly, the Spirit spoke to her, “This is your testimony. You didn’t even really know you had one until you began writing it. These words of your testimony and the blood Jesus have overcome he who would have seen you rot in your own misery. It’s time for your testimony to silence him.”

She stood stunned, yet full of confidence. The last time she was in this room she was a frail, insecure, frightened young girl. Now, she walked in the power of the Spirit and would be silent no more. She went to the door, turned and looked one more time, and pulled the door open.

The apple pie filled her senses again. Boldly, she walked up to the counter, leaned over the candle and blew it out. He would be the fragrance now. She would be the one to carry the fragrance of Jesus. No more apple pie, just Jesus.

As the candle blew out, the room was restored. She was still sitting at the tree. The fire was warm and popping as before. In her hands she held her white box with red words and red bow. As she sat it down, the words were emboldened and the gift tag read, “To Others.”

A few tears fell as she stared at the Gift. This was hers for the world. This would bring Him the most glory, and her the most satisfaction. He had already answered her prayer.

“There’s six more, you know” He said. “Ready for your next one?”

Chapter One -- Extraordinary

2008-11-16T05:00:00.003-06:00

There is a chip in the brick on the fireplace hearth where her first born, Mike, used his teeth to leave the mark. She can smile at it now, but at the time she could have sworn that her three year old would never have teeth again and that surely he was going to die from loss of blood.

Just across the room there’s a faint mark from the sharpie that her only daughter Kate used when learning to write her alphabet. For years, the old bookshelf covered it, but now, there it was, exposed in the firelight again.

Arianna looked around the room taking in the sights of the years gone by. She still has one of the four at home, their youngest, Derrick is 17 and is in his senior year. There is a slight pang in her heart that all of her babies are grown.

Mike, the tooth warrior, is ironically now a dentist. He's a few months from his own practice. Married, one son, Carson.

Sam, Arianna’s second son, is a fire-packed hockey player. Just a crazy off the ice as on. He married his sweetheart from college, Kathy, however, to Arianna’s sadness, that marriage does not look like it will weather another hockey season.

Kate. Ah, Kate. Her free spirit. Never in her life had Arianna been around a more pleasing person. From infancy, she was a delight. She is still as free now in college as she was as a young girl. The only thing missing, was her freedom in Christ.

Out of the four kids, Kate decided she didn’t need Jesus. Arianna watched her sweet Kate dance her way into the free life of a major university. She’ll come back, Lord. I know she will. Arianna has always felt that Kate’s love for life would bring her back to the love of her life.

The fire in the room popped and Arianna turned to stare into it. How many times had she sat in that chair looking into that fireplace? Tonight, December 24, was no exception. It’s where she’s always sat the night before Christmas. This year, however, it was different. Only one kid left in the house. She took in a big sigh and let her mind wander a bit more.

“Mom? You in here?” Derrick poked his head in to find his mom sitting in her chair. That was his favorite place to see her. The split second it took for her to lean forward and come around the wings of the high backed chair never got old. He loved her face.

“Hi, babe. You in for the night?” Arianna asked.

“Yeah, we finished early at the church, so I thought I’d come on home. Anything to eat?”

“Yep, there’s some leftover chili in the fridge.”

“Thank ya kindly, ma’am.” He teased. “Tomorrow is going to be great. Even though I’m 17, I secretly still love tomorrow.”

“I know you do. So do I.”

Derrick, in all his long seventeen year old awkwardness wandered out of the room. She could hear him clanging around in the kitchen. That boy couldn’t do anything without making noise! As so his life with Christ…loud, bold, and vibrant. He gets on Kate’s nerves so fast, but her tender heart for him softens as soon as she punches him in the arm.

Another pop of the fire, another sigh.

Her husband, Steven, was out in the shop, also known as the garage, working on the final touches to a self-designed and handmade boat for their grandson, Carson. He knew that his first son loved it so he thought it only made sense that his first grandson would love it too. Never mind he was eight months old. That didn’t matter. This was a masterpiece.

Arianna grinned at the thought.

Soon, another thirty minutes had passed. Derrick was in his room. Steven had come in and said, “Welp, I’m headed up. You comin’?” She loved his southern drawl.

“I’ll be up soon. Just taking in the fire and the Christmas lights.”

The movement in the house had stopped. She clicked off the lamp next to her chair, pulled the old quilt her grandma had made up close, tucked her feet up under her, leaned her head back and quietly prayed, “Father, a new season is coming in my life. Show me You. Show me how to bring you the most glory. Show me how to be satisfied only in You so that you are most glorified in me.”

She loved that line from John Piper. She prayed in almost every day since the first time she heard it. How could she be most satisfied in Christ and give Him the most glory? What did that look like for her now that her kids were leaving?

Her eyes stayed closed for a moment.

“Arianna.”

She jumped, looked around and figured she had just had one of those “sleep jerks” there in the chair. She leaned her head back again, scratched her cheek, and moved her hair out of her face. "I’ll just close my eyes for a minute, then this old momma is headed upstairs.”

As she drifted off, her great-grandfather's old clock helped lull her to sleep.

“Arianna.”

This time she knew she wasn’t asleep. A cold rush of adrenaline shot through her chest and up her face. Who is saying that?

“Arianna, you asked me a question. You want to know how you can be most satisfied in me and I most glorified in you, right? Well, let me show you.”

Without moving her head, Arianna let her eyes move around the room. This was the first time she really felt like she could “hear” Jesus. She always said that she could hear Him, but it was like in her reading voice. You know, the voice you hear when you read, like right now. That’s how she described hearing the Spirit, but this time, it was different.

She looked around the room. Steven's boots were by the door. Her purse was tossed on the couch across from her. The faces of her children through the years looked back at her from behind the glass frames on the coffee table.

“Keep going.”

The tree. She stopped at the Christmas tree. She pulled her feet out from under her and gently slid out of her chair. Thankful she had put on some sweatpants after a huge dinner, she knelt at the tree and looked at it for awhile. The glow of the light had her mesmerized. The warmth from the fire wrapped her like a blanket as she sat on the wood floor.

“Look at the gifts.”

Slowly, she followed the lights down the tree and saw something that would change her life forever. There, under her tree, were seven extraordinary packages. Funny thing was, she didn't put them there.

The Gift

2008-11-12T19:01:00.002-06:00

This time of year lends itself to a good story. As the weather cools and our hearts warm, stories begin to come alive once again: children acting out the manger scene on the stage of the old church down town; twinkling Christmas lights flicker igniting the smiles of children looking for Santa; the old claymation movies call for popcorn and hot chocolate. It's a magical time of year.

Stories touch our hearts and, hopefully, change our lives. I pray that through this holiday season you’ll allow one more story--a story about Arianna and her gifts. A story about all of us really and what we’ll do with each package offered us. Which will tickle our fancy and call to us to come, open and see what’s inside?

Come every Monday, here at Stiletto Army, and unwrap

2008-11-10T15:41:00.002-06:00

Beginning November 17A Story

What's Next

2008-11-03T07:58:00.002-06:00

8:00 am here in the middle of the continent and I am doing super! Hope you enjoyed our study on The Vineyard. If you're new here and you missed it, the study was all of October. Please go back and read those!! You'll love what we learned!!

Now, for the rest of the year, I'm cookin' up sompin' sompin' as we approach Christmas. I can't tell you yet because I have to work on all the kinks. I know where we're headed, but the details are fuzzy. Be praying as these days go by! I'll have it ready by Monday, November 17th!!!

Really, I will.

One Final Word

2008-10-31T05:00:00.000-05:00

You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go bear fruit - fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. This is my command: Love each other.

And that's how He wrapped it up: Love each other.

But, back up a bit and catch the few lines before that. He chose us. He loved us before we even took breath. He appointed us. Do we really understand the gravity of this? I know I do not always find myself stupefied like I should be over this. I can get caught up in how much I love Him and how great I am for all I do for Him and can forget that the only reason I love Him like I do is because He is absolutely crazy about me!

I think He also said this to empower us. We can do the opposite and find ourselves feeling unworthy of His love. He would remind all of us that we are His chosen, His appointed, His idea, His plan, His Branch.

He brings this thing all the way back to Him, just like in the beginning of the passage when He said, "I am the True Vine." He starts and ends all of this with Him.

And what is the reward of such a thing? We get what we ask! We get to enjoy the great fellowship of Christ, the reward of obedience, the joy of transformation, the splendor of knowledge, and the great wonder of seeing others come to Him!

And then He says it: Love each other.

Can you picture Him looking every one of those disciples square in the eyeball and maybe even repeating Himself. "Peter, love each other. Matthew, love each other. John, love each other."

I wonder, after all that talk about the Counselor coming, after all the talk about the fruit they would bear, what did they feel when He looked them in the eye and said, "This is my command: Love each other."?

Wrapped up in that statement is the prerequisite that if are to love each other then we must love ourselves last. We serve one another. We serve mankind.

Recently, I was listening to John Piper teach on loving God and finding all our pleasure in Him. One of the arguments against his teaching is that whole idea of denying ourselves and giving our lives to service. His rebuttal is this: Jesus does not need us to serve Him. The joy of it is that our service in the Body and to mankind does not come out of an ambition to prove our loyalty to Christ, but from deep inner relationship with Christ. Also, Christ, not needing our service, then still remains the Giver through us. Out of this fellowship with Him, He gives Himself to mankind through us over and over. And this from our Love Of One Another.

His fruit from the True Vine to the Branch.

Love each other.

Bear that fruit and we will find that all fruit will be glorious. As John Piper says, "God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him."

Be satisfied in Jesus and watch and see if your most glorious fruit doesn't pour forth out of abundant love.

This satisfaction in Jesus comes through abundant prayer. Our lives should be lives of prayer and intercession. We should be people marked with prayer. In order to know that what we ask will be answered, we must know the mind of Jesus. We have learned that to abide in Him, is to be in prayer with Him.

Let me finish out this study with one more quote from our dear teacher, Andrew Murray.

Beloved disciple, seek above everything to be a person of prayer. Here is the highest exercise of your privilege as a branch of the Vine, here is the full proof of your being renewed in the image of God and His Son; here is your power to show how you, like Christ, live not for yourself, but for others; here you enter heaven to receive gifts for men; here your abiding in Christ has lead to His abiding in you, to use you as the channel and instrument of His grace. The power to bear fruit for men has been crowned by power to prevail with God. Andrew Murray, The True Vine

Thank you so much for joining me in this study! I have learned and grown and been challenged in way I never have before. I pray that you too have been changed by the Word of Jesus Christ and will find that there is no better thing to be in Him that a Branch connected to the True Vine.

Blessings to you!!

Check back Monday, November 3rd to find out what's next on the docket!!

My love to you all!

Natalie

There is No Greater Love

2008-10-29T05:00:00.003-05:00

We'll be coming to a close on this month's study in a few days and I have to say that, for me, this was an amazing study! I have learned so much from Jesus about being His branch and I hope you have too. Let's keep moving, then we'll wrap it up on Friday.

I also wanted to thank you all for reading this month. I know you're out there and I wanted to tell you I love you and love serving you this way.

Now, about that picture. Let's just get to the passage and you might get an idea as to why I chose it.

Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.

I've been reading a book called "The Heavenly Man" and the main character/real person let himself be beaten almost to death so he could protect those he loved. I sat stunned at what he endured to ensure that his friends, his brothers and sisters, would be protected.

Not unlike Christ. I've sat stunned at what He endured to ensure that I would not die in my sin. He went through torture and shame and pain to make sure that the enemy, The Enemy, would not hold my name captive any longer.

And now, because of our love and obedience to Christ we are called His friends. We have been let in on the mysteries of the heavenlies. We have had the secrets of God whispered in our ears to shout from the mountaintops! We have been brought into the greatest elite circle in the universe and in that we are servants, and yet...friends to a Most Holy God.

Again, I am stunned at the wonder of it all.

Jesus even goes on to say that those who obey Him have now been let in on what God knows! He already made that clear in regard to the Spirit. Slide over to 1 Corinthians 2:7. Here, I'll show you.

No, we speak of God's secret wisdom, a wisdom that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began. None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. However, as it is written: 'No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him,' but God has revealed it to us by his Spirit.

The things of God are revealed by the Spirit of Christ, showing us Jesus in all His glory. Paraphrasing Beth Moore, we can know things we don't know! Amazing!

We must position ourselves close to the Vine. Be willing to be pruned and learn from Him. Learn from others that have traveled harder roads. Learn from other Christ Friends that have taken the road of suffering. Honor them. And honor Him with your obedience and love.

We have no greater friend.

Supernatural Nature

2008-10-27T05:00:00.000-05:00

"As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father's commands and remain in his love.

I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that you joy may be complete.

My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you"

That last line right there should be an easy one to follow, but if we look around at our church, is it something that we obey? If we look at our home and families, is this something that comes naturally?

Um, no.

That's the point of this entire thing. Nothing that is of God comes naturally to us. It's not in our nature to be like Him. Unless, of course, we have been given a new nature. Ah, that Jesus we have been given one! Therefore, we can only rely on His super-nature to create us in us a new, supernatural nature.

Follow?

We must remain in Christ to love like He did. We must remain, cut close to the vine to have His life-giving sap change us to His likeness. What how has the Father loved Jesus? By making what is God's, Christ's. By making them inseparable, congealed, cleaved, and one. By being in Christ and Christ in Him.

It is the same for us. And through that love, through the inseparable love of Christ in us and we in Christ, we too can love others.

This is the way of the supernatural. We are a Branch, an extension of the True Vine, designed to take on the very nature of the vine and yet rebellion lives in our hearts.

I pray we, I, humble myself to the Vine. I pray that I am so close the heartbeat of Christ I can hear it over the roar of life's busyness. I pray that this love of God, this love of Christ would well up in me joy unmatched.

He prayed that our remaining in Him would bring HIS joy to us and would fulfill our joy. Are we going to take Him at His word?

I pray we do!

I pray we find ourselves seeking the face of Jesus to know this love so that:

His may be in us!
Our joy may be complete!
Our love can be freely given through the power of Christ in us to others!

"What the Father's love was to Jesus, His love will be to us. If that love made Him the true Vine, His love can make us true branches." Andrew Murray, The True Vine

The Greatest Amount of Glory

2008-10-24T05:00:00.000-05:00

"This is to my Father's glory that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples."

Oh mercy, can I ever get tripped up on this little verse. Just reading it makes me want to begin writing down all the dreams, ideas, and plans I might have that could really give to the Kingdom as a whole.

I can come up with a hundred different ways to serve Jesus and serve people, but will those hundred different ways bring about the best and greatest glory? I doubt it.

It's funny, though, we tend to think that it's all up to us bring glory to God.

Think on that for a minute.

Can we bring glory to God? YES! We can do it in so many ways! But, in this verse it says it is to His glory that we "bear much fruit."

We've already discovered that we cannot bear fruit on our own, much less a lot of it. There is no way for us to bear fruit unless we have the living Spirit in us doing the work of bearing the fruit. We cannot produce a product that is not within our power to produce!

We must rely on the Spirit!

And what does that do but bring glory to God! Jesus Himself brought glory to God by only doing what the Father asked of Him; by only doing that which God could do through Him. That kind of power in us can do nothing less than produce glory to the Father.

Relying solely on the Spirit does three things:

1. It keeps us from thinking we're hot snot and a bag of chips!
2. It gives Him the freedom to produce as much fruit as possible for the greatest glory.
3. We get to watch God do His best in a broken human because we were humbled and willing to simply and gloriously be a Branch.

I probably say this every day, but if you want to see God do His best and greatest in you then you must humble yourself to the filling of His Spirit and walk in the sweet relationship with Christ, the Vine, the Leader, the Guide of your life. He is your Life.

We must be quick to listen to the Holy Spirit call us deeper in Christ. We must be willing to be cut closer the Vine to gain the greatest amount of His Spirit in order for Him to put forth the greatest amount of His power to produce the greatest amount of fruit for the greatest amount of glory! Whew!

How can we glorify God? Not by adding to His glory or bringing Him any new glory that He has not. But simply by allowing His glory to shine out through us, by yielding ourselves to Him, that His glory may manifest itself in us and through us to the world. Andrew Murray, The True Vine

Don't Die on the Vine

2008-10-22T05:00:00.000-05:00

"If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you." John 15:6-7

The first part is the one that makes me turn my head and think Uh-oh...am I one of those?

I'm sure that if I fear this, there is a good chance I'm not one of those withered plants, but...are there things in me withered and unproductive? Maybe. Probably. I'll have to ask.

However, there are those who have tasted the heavenly relationship and have chosen to step out of that abiding with Christ. There, I believe, is when they begin to wither and could suffer the consequence of being thrown out. We must pray that such things don't happen!

This is one of the reasons I sit here and do what I do! To encourage you to remain in Christ! Remain in the Word. Abide with Him. Live with Him. Talk to Him.

And, this is not for our glory or our benefit or our consumption, it is for the bearing of HIS fruit. Turn and look at your life for a moment and search for the rich, luscious, green life that you are to bear. Do you see it? Do you long for it? Is it there?

I pray that it is. If it isn't, begin "re"abiding in Him. Ask Him for His abundant fruit in you life.

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But, what about that second part? The who ask for whatever you wish part? I've asked, and it hasn't always happened. Does that mean I'm not remaining in Christ?

Hardly.

My constant striving to know Him will only gain me greater access to the heart of God, and in turn, my heart is changed, molded, formed into His heart, His thoughts. And before you know it, what I ask becomes what He asks.

And how is this done? From the pen of our Mentor, Andrew Murray, he says it is in unceasing prayer.

This passage is a promise! If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you.

This isn't a prayer that will be just for our fulfillment. Looking at the life of Jesus himself, we know this cannot be. Our lives must be for the longing of others to know the love of Jesus. The asking for what we wish doesn't come from looking around to see what we need! It comes from looking with the eyes of the Holy Spirit to see what the world needs.

Man, He is teaching me right now with you! This is such an amazing thing to realize! Andrew Murray says,

Many try to take the promise, and then look around for what they can ask. This is not the way, but the very opposite. Get the heart burdened with the need of souls, and the command to save them, and the power will come to claim the promise.

This is not a new teaching. We watched as Jesus gave Himself up to the leading and power of God and saw men come to Him. His love with God drove Him to ask for what the Father wanted...and it was us.

We can follow the same thing. Our hearts given to Christ in full humility and surrender might find themselves asking for what He wants rather than seeing that verse and looking for what we can find to ask for.

Let us all remain in Him, seek His heart, and ask for what He desires. We might find that love is the answer for every good thing we ask.

"The promise (of getting what you ask) is given in direct connection with fruitbearing. Limit yourself and your own needs, and you rob it of its power, you rob yourself of the power of appropriating it." Andrew Murray, The True Vine

Much Fruit. Way Better Than Some Fruit

2008-10-20T05:00:00.000-05:00

"I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing."

Nothing Nada Zip Zero Zilch

That is what we have when we strive to bring forth in our lives something that only Jesus can give. Certainly, there is so much humanitarian things we can do in our world, but what of humanity things? What of the things that change the fancies of men's hearts? What of the things that tilt the head of the skeptic and raise the eyebrow of the atheist? Could we possibly, truthfully, in our own efforts bring forth spiritual things?

My Tender Branch Friend, no, we cannot.

I do not pretend I have not been one who has most certainly tried to tickle the ears and emotions of those from Jesus with my Christian antics and intellect. I have danced a Monkey dance of piety and judgement and they are left unmoved.

What did Jesus do that was so unique, so different than what I do? Oh, I don't have time to list those details, but what I do know is that what He did to sway men's hearts to love is not far from my reach. Indeed, it is but a bent knee, and humbled heart, an emptied soul away.

The more I abide in Christ Jesus, the more I humble myself to the life altering power of His Spirit in me, the more I will produce only that which the Spirit can provide. Why, in all of my life, do I ever think I can produce fruit can only be produced by the Spirit? My fruit, then, must come off more like wax fruit fit for a painting, rather than the mouth-watering fruit of the Spirit that draws men to the table where they are satisfied, nourished, refreshed, and redeemed.

Only in the resting in the Spirit where we receive the life-giving sap and vitality can we then produce much fruit as the Branch who lives to extend the Vine to all Nations.

You see to the abiding; He will see to the fruit, for He will give it in you and through you. Andrew Murray, The True Vine

Come and Stay

2008-10-17T05:00:00.001-05:00

Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.

Remain. Stay. Wait. Hold. Live. Abide.

This is what Jesus means when He says "remain." It's not like a parent pointing to a spot on the floor and telling the child to stay put. It's more like a parent asking the child to climb up into their lap and listen. Climb up and understand. Climb up and know the love they have for the child.

Remain with Me. Remain in Me.

I also don't think it's some sort of ultimatum like His relationship with us is conditional. Still, He will never force Himself upon us, but He understands the inability we have to be like Him if we are not remaining in Him.

We often struggle with wondering why things with Christ aren't as we suppose they should be. Could it be that we spend too much time asking Christ to abide in us, while we flitter around and do not take the time to abide in Him? Do we take time to bask in His love and presence? Do we submit ourselves in humility to receive the work of His Spirit so that we can then bring forth His fruit?

What then is the danger of not abiding or remaining is Christ? To seek fruit by our own efforts. I've tried this and it left me hungry, empty, and in need of more than man could offer - satisfaction. Only through abiding in Christ and He abiding in me do I find all things fulfilled and all His glory shown best through my fruit.

And this, my friends, can only be done through an act of the will to humble ourselves to the filling of the Spirit so that we may KNOW Christ. There is no greater determination of man. There is no greater thing to do than to abide, remain, in Christ.

Abiding in the Vine then comes to be nothing more or less than the restful surrender of the soul to let Christ have all and work all, as completely as in nature the branch knows and seeks nothing but the vine. Andrew Murray, The True Vine

Getting Cleansed

2008-10-15T05:00:00.000-05:00

“You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you.” John 15:3

In order for us, the Branch, to be of and in the Vine, there is cleansing that has to happen. You know, getting rid of the “old man” or the natural self with its selfish ways and sinful desires. That sucker has to die. We have to be cleansed from it.

Here Jesus said that we are clean because of His word. What word?

The Word He spoke when He said He was the Son of God and whoever believed that would be saved.
The Word He spoke over them when He washed their feet.
The Word of Truth He spoke when He claimed to be I AM!

That Word. That Truth. That is the pruning knife in all of us-- His mighty Word.

Hebrews 4:12 says that the Word of God is living and active. It says it’s sharper than any doubled-edged sword and that it penetrates us soul and spirit, joints and marrow and judges our thoughts and attitudes of our hearts. This Word is what we hold up next to us as a mirror that allows the Holy Spirit to cleanse that which is not like Him.

Not only does His Word cleanse us, but it protects us, warns us, strengthens us, provides for us, and changes us. The Word is the power of the Spirit in us. That mighty power extending through us as the Branch to bring out the best fruit that only the Spirit of Christ can bring forth.

The cleansing of the Word must be a daily part of our lives. It doesn’t have to be large portions of the Bible, but I encourage you to be in the Word asking the Holy Spirit to enlarge Christ in your spirit so that you can be cleansed by His righteousness and made more ready for His calling.

What is more, you’ll find a new level of relationship with Him!

“It is as the soul gives up its own thoughts and men’s thoughts of what is religion and yields itself heartily, humbly, patiently, to the teaching of the Word by the Spirit, that the Father will do His blessed work of pruning and cleansing away all of nature and self that mixes with our work and hinders His Spirit.” Andrew Murray, The True Vine

Pruning is Good....Real Good

2008-10-13T05:00:00.001-05:00

“He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.” John 15:2

Welcome back to week two of The Vineyard! We're just getting started, but if you're new here head on back to last weeks to get caught up. Were in John 15 where Jesus is teaching His disciples about being a Branch on The Vine.

Remember, this time around it's just Monday, Wednesday, and Friday! Here we go...

I’m not a gardener, but from what I can see, those people really love doing it! I don’t mind buying some already flowering plants, i.e. mums, and sticking those suckers in the ground. That’s easy. What I’m not all that interested in is getting the ground ready, making room, tilling the dirt, planting the seed, waiting, waiting, weeding, waiting, and then ooooo, there’s a flower. I just don’t get much out of it. The problem is… I’m impatient.

However, there are those blessed people who exhibit patience far better than I do that love to garden. Get their hands in the dirt. Wait for the perfect bloom. Feed it. Fertilize it. Watch for it.

They create their garden and it is precious to them.

Think about that in relation to Christ and what He said about God. One of the most awe-inspiring things about God is that He is a Pursuer. He created us in pursuit of relationship. He died for us in pursuit of reconciliation. He calls us in pursuit of His glory. He plants us in Christ in pursuit of intimacy.

He initiates everything.

In my own life right now, I am experiencing the love of God and His pursuit to draw me deeper in Him. It’s a strange thing, yet it’s familiar and welcomed. But, it wasn’t until my sister-in-law pointed out that God is the one who initiates relationship did I find myself struck with wonder, humility, and excitement at the idea that He pursues me.

That’s why this description of Him being the Gardener is so precious. We are the very creation of His heart, and just as we work in our natural gardens to have them produce the best features, He does so in our hearts.

We often think of being pruned as God cutting off the bad. However, that’s not always the case. Sure, there are always things that He must get out our of our lives. He gets after our sin-self and disciplines us. That’s a kind of pruning. But the pruning in this passage is something else. Crucifixion of self is the work of refinement, holiness, and purity. I believe John 15 pruning is the work of focus, excellence, production, and humility.

When a vine keeper comes to prune a vine, he cuts off that which is producing fruit. He even cuts the branch all the way back to the vine. He cuts off fruit! Good, plump fruit. And, he cuts off long, vibrant branches. Cutting off of the more immature fruit is called Green Harvesting. It’s for the purpose of decreasing yield and is most often used to produce fine wine. By removing these grapes while they are still green induces the vine to put all its energy into developing the remaining grapes. (ref: squidoo)

There are times in our lives when Christ will prune out of our lives things that, while producing some good things, need to be stopped in order to produce a greater return.

It is between you and Christ what those things will be, but the best news is is that when He prunes He cuts you all the way back to Him. He will draw your focus back on to the strength and sap of the vine in order that we work out of His strength, His Spirit, His leading and His love to produce Spirit-fruit.

The branch of the vine produces its best, sweetest fruit when all things that would sap us of His perfect fulfilling Spirit are cut away and we are left close to Him to bear His abundant fruit.

If we grow and grow in Christ, and we use all that He has given us in service for His Kingdom, there is a danger of those long branches of service becoming our focus and what we trust in.

There is the pruning. He cuts back even the good we do to ensure the Good we become. As Andrew Murray says, “God has to bring us to the end of ourselves…” The less of ourselves, and the more of Christ the greater He can use us for His glory.

We tend to measure our lives by what we are doing. Christ measures our lives by who we are becoming and who we are bringing along side to become as well – Christ-followers.

There is still that whole issue about Him cutting of those who don’t produce fruit. Ouch. I’m not going to be so presumptuous to know who those people are, but also have the ability to see someone who calls themselves a Christ follower, and well, there ain’t much to show that to be true. I’ll let Jesus do His job there, and I’ll stick to focusing on being a branch that produces fruit! How about you?

“There is not a plant of which spirit can be so abundantly distilled as the vine. And there is not a plant that so soon runs into wild wood, that hinders its fruit, and therefore needs the merciless pruning.” Andrew Murray, The True Vine

The Gardener

2008-10-10T05:00:00.000-05:00

“…and my Father is the gardener.”

In regards to those who want to plant vineyards, winerackshop.com gives this advice. “Growers need to properly evaluate and prepare their site well in advance of planting.”

I gave some thought to that statement as it relates to what Jesus said about God. His Father properly evaluated and prepared the site of our eternal resting and salvation well in advance of “planting” Christ as the True Vine.

From the beginning of time, God watched our world become a sin-cracked and broken creation. His eye was on the barren, dry land, unfit for any kind of planting. If Jesus is the True Vine and God is the Gardener, then God took the time to “prepare the soil”. Better known as humanity.

But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law, to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons. Galatians 4:4

God knew the exact moment to send Christ that would turn the world on its hinges and cause her to look up to Him. And here in John 15, Jesus makes sure we do just that. He points out that He is the vine and His Father is the Gardener. His Father is the one that holds us all in His hands. He turns the soil of our lives and ensures that our Vine will never die. He cannot. And He will not ever leave us to do anything on our own.

But, that’s for our next post!

Before we begin to think of fruit or branches, let us have our heart filled with the faith that as glorious as the Vine is the Husbandman (gardener)…As surely as the Husbandman made the Vine what it was to be, will He make each branch what it is to be. Andrew Murray

The True Vine

2008-10-08T05:00:00.000-05:00

“I am the true vine…”

Welcome to our first day of study! My prayer right off the bat is that you will be refined, challenged, and loved on by Christ in this. I pray that you listen to the Gardener as He teaches us what He meant for us when He said we are the Branch and He is the vine.

Our main text for this month is John 15. Please take time to read the whole passage. I’ve put it here so you can refer back to it when you want. Ingest what Jesus is explaining to us and ask Him to teach you something new over this month.

My goal is to keep these devotions short yet poignant and hopefully filled with a choice bite of fruit every day for you to, well, chew on. We’ll study the Word, look at one of my favorite outside sources for this study, The True Vine, by Andrew Murray, and also we’ll take a look at resources that explain real vineyards for those of us land locked in the red dirt of Oklahoma!

I’m so excited to begin our day with the Words of Christ.

“I am the true vine…”

Why did He say the “true” vine? Well, many times in the Old Testament, the people of God, the Israelites, were referred to as God’s vineyard. However, she produced no fruit. She became a wasteland and Jesus was telling them He was restoring her to her place. Only this time, He would be the Vine. He would be the life source. He would be everything the people of God needed. They most certainly understood what He said when He used those word “the true vine.”

I wonder as those words sunk in if there wasn’t a sigh of relief in their hearts. They no longer would have to strive to fulfill the law. They would no longer have to feel a sense of hard labor for fruit that would be pointless. Could they really rest in the true vine?

The True Vine?

We can ask ourselves the same thing. To get us started this week consider what you think it means to have Christ say over you, “I am the true vine…”

Do you feel a sense of striving to fulfill the commands of the Bible? Do you feel like you have to work hard to have some sort of fruit of goodness in your life? Do you ever feel like you are spinning your wheels for the church, for others, for Christ?

Can we really rest in the True Vine?

Ask Christ to begin teaching you by His Holy Spirit what it means for Him to be the True Vine in your life. He is the only one who can explain it in your heart.

When Jesus says: ‘I am the true vine,’ He tells us that all the vines of earth are pictures and emblems of Himself. He is the divine reality, of which they are the created expression. They all point to Him, and preach Him, and reveal Him. If you would know Jesus, study the vine. Andrew Murray

The Vineyard

2008-10-06T05:00:00.002-05:00

It’s not your typical morning. Something different in is the air. There is a hint of subtlety and quiet. A light fog lies down for a morning nap over the vineyard. It’s just you and your heartbeat that fills your ears for a moment.

Before you take one step into what seems to be sacred, you take a long look at the place. Rows and rows of vines create a landscape of beauty and mystery. What lies behind each row of vines and fruit? What sits on each vine as it slowly and quietly generates its choice fruit for its Gardener?

You almost feel out of place, like you’ve interrupted something reserved only for nature and its Maker. Still, it welcomes you to walk through, take it in, and learn from its ways.

The grass bows to your step as you enter the row in the middle of the vineyard. It’s almost as though the land-kissed cloud moves out of your way so you can get a better look at the vine. You can tell that the Gardener has taken time to place the branch of the vine on the exact position suited for it on the trellis. You smooth your hand over the leaf, hold the heavy grape cluster in your palm, then feel your way down the branch. Finally, kneeling down, you softly touch the trunk of the vine.

His words return to you, “I am the vine; you are the branch.”

You realize there is no great distinction between the vine and branch. The lesser comes out of the greater. The lesser has the same attributes, characteristics and beauty as that of the vine. And yet, the branch is useless without the vine. In the same way, in order for the vine to produce it’s sweet, life-giving fruit, it needs the branch.

Someone’s coming. The Gardener comes from around the end of the row. He has on overalls, boots, a gardening hat, gloves, and hasn’t shaved this morning. In his hand you see the pruning knife.

“Good morning!” He says joyfully. “I’ve got some work to do, but feel free to keep looking around. There’s a lot to see.”

You take a step back, eager to watch what happens next. He clips the fruit, lays it in a bucket and then proceeds to keep cutting the branch back.

“But, that branch produced such beautiful fruit,” you say.

He replied, “Oh, I know! But, I need it to produce even more fruit. Better fruit. Lasting fruit. That’s why I’ve got to cut it back to the vine for awhile. It gives it strength, vitality, focus. Next year, you come back and you’ll see what I’m talking about. Yes, indeed, this batch will make some delicious wine for many to enjoy!”

You spend a few more hours just walking around. You can hear the Gardener faintly as you continue through the rows. You notice some branches are fragile and don’t have any fruit. Some have small fruit, the kind you’d be afraid to bite into lest your face crinkle up in surprise of its bitterness.

And still, the ones you are most taken with have the rich, dark, luscious fruit hanging down as if to be heavy with Life!

There is much to learn in the vineyard, you decide.

And so we will.

Welcome to our study for October. We’ll meet back here every Monday, Wednesday and Friday for a walk in the vineyard. Here, deep in the misty rows of His Vineyard, we will uncover truth in these vines that will change your life forever.

Welcome to... The Vineyard.

2008-09-14T18:03:00.003-05:00

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Put That Stuff On!

2008-09-12T05:00:00.000-05:00

We're wrapping up Stiletto Army's study of Ephesians! Stick around, there's something fun to tell you!

This is probably the most famous passage of Ephesians - the Armor of God. And rightly so! This passage us crammed with stuff that has literally saved my life!

When I was in a heap o' sin, this armor was what began to help me get out of the pit, change my thought life and eventually free me from that habitual sin. Take time to read 6:10-end of the book today.

I love the visuals we can picture in our minds. It's somewhat tangible and make so much sense that it is a very powerful tool against the enemy! Who, according to this passage, is exactly who we are fighting against!

Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.

This is no game. This is the real deal. Everything that tempts us, haunts us and wages war against our thought lives, families, finances, relationships, marriages, bodies, all of this is from our Enemy. We must be prepared at all times to fight!

Just to change it up a bit, let's run down the list backwards!

6:18 Pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. I walk around the house talking to Him about whatever whenever. That's a great practice to get into with the Lord!

6:17 ...take the Sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God. Well, we pretty much do that everyday here, but do you do it? The more you study the word of God, the more you have to wield!

6:17 Take the helmet of salvation. Know that you know that you know that you are loved and saved in Jesus. Don't let anyone try to take that from you!

6:16 Take up the Shield of Faith with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. My husband and I joke about how his shield of faith is like what you picture in the movies- huge and able to stop all kinds of arrows and spears. Where as my shield of faith is like Wonder Woman bracelets. tink! tink! It's getting bigger though!

6:15 Have you feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In other words, be ready to share Jesus!

6:14 Belt of Truth. What does a belt do? Hold everything together. You must know the Truth in order for you life to hold together!

6:14 Breastplate of Righteousness. Get that heart covered with the righteous blood of Jesus. Guard it. Keep it pure.

And finally, for your back, get some accountability. Know your weaknesses and make sure there are others around you who know them too so they can pray for you and guard you!

I have women in my life that know my weaknesses and how to pray for me when I need it most. You too must have those around you who know the weak places in your armor so you can be fortified with them. Your enemy wants to TAKE. YOU. DOWN. Don't give him the opportunity!

Back to 6:18 With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.

We've got to pray for one another! I'll pray for you and you pray for me. Find people that you can have real, honest relationships with and get to praying for one another. Pray as Paul did...

...that whenever we open our mouths, words may be given us so that we will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel... Pray that we may declare it fearlessly, as we should.

Peace to you, my sisters!

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Thank you all for joining me through the book of Epesians! I've loved it all! I hope you have been encouraged and uplifted!

Now, for something else exciting! I've been asked to be the Bible Teacher Contributor for the month of October at A Second Cup from Internet Cafe Devotions! It will be linked up here and there both.

We'll be looking at the concept of the Vineyard; what it means to Christ and what it means to us as His followers! VERY EXCITED about studying this! I'm thinking I'll have to do some wine tasting to make sure I get the idea! ;)

We'll be starting October 6th!! So, y'all come back now, ya hear!

Love, Honor, Respect, Serve, and other stuff

2008-09-11T05:00:00.000-05:00

The next section of this book will either ruffle your feathers, or it will be just fine and dandy with you. Either way, it's in here and we have to look at it.

It's THE section for husbands, wives, kids and, well, workers, even though the Bible used the word slave. That doesn't set real well in the good ol' US of A anymore so we'll use it as those who work for others.

I'll make this quick because this subject has been covered AT LENGTH by people better equipped than me and I'll send you to their sites/books at the end of this post.

BOOM! "Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord."

Pretty clear cut. There are no disclaimer like, "unless he's a jerk, or doesn't love God." It just says submit to him as to the Lord. That right there is the key. You do or don't submit to him because of him, you submit to him out of submission to Christ. I'm not sayin' it's always easy, but through the power of Christ, IT CAN BE DONE!

Slide over to 5:33 "...and the wife must respect her husband." Again, no disclaimers like, "unless he isn't worthy of respect..." What will make your man feel like a man and in return make you feel like a woman is if you give him respect.

Now, we are quick to read very quickly through the verses to us and get on to the verses about the men! Yes, they are to love us and make us feel loved, but we can't make them do that. What we do is pray for them and respect them.

I know that not all husbands love their wives "...as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word..." It's a TALL order!! Maybe, to help them, we pray for them, we respect them and we honor them. What you cast over your husband in front of him...he has the potential to rise to.

See my post at I AM (not) for a better glimpse into what I'm getting at.

The good news is if you don't have a husband who loves you like he should, you have a God who loves you like you should be loved. He will be the one to wash you with the Word, to present you to himself as a radiant bride. He will love you and cleave to you as no one else will or can. This is the husband you can dream of and he will come true!

Here are some great resources for marriage!
Love and Respect
The Five Love Languages

And if you're not married but will be someday, or hope you will be! :)
Saving Your Marriage Before It Starts

For those verse concerning how our kids should honor us and how we can love them...
The Parent You Want To Be
Grace Based Parenting

And finally, the last part, 6:5-9. Basically, if you work for someone do it like you were working for the Lord. And, if you have employee's treat those who work with you like you were treating the Lord. Pretty cut and dry.

Well, that ended quickly! Tomorrow, we'll end with a bang!!

Don't Do That, but Do Do This (ha, I wrote do-do)

2008-09-10T05:00:00.000-05:00

We're going to take a big chunk of Ephesians today and chew it right up! Paul is going to keep going on with what we should be getting rid of as followers of Christ. It's a pretty huge list and if we're not careful, we can make it into a list of To-Do's and find ourselves chained to the ugly monster called Legalism. That dude will put you right back into bondage and call it "following Christ."

I've met this monster and once I found that Jesus operates out grace, what Paul is about to list off didn't seem hard. I respond to Christ and these things come a bit more naturally because I've let His nature take over mine.

Grab your Bible and read Ephesians 4:25-5:20 when you have a chance. For now, I'll give you The List as best I can. I want you to see what Paul is getting at. I have a sneaking suspicion that the Ephesians were having trouble letting go of the old self and still maybe living it up!

Put off falsehood
Don't go to bed angry
Don't give the devil a foothold
Don't steal anymore, but work
Do something useful with your hands so you can share
Don't let unwholesome talk come out of your mouth
Don't grieve the Holy Spirit with all this
Get rid of bitterness, rage, anger, brawling, slander, and malice
No sexual immorality
Or impurity
Or greed
No obscenity, foolish talk
Don't be partners with people who deceive with foolish words
Have nothing to do with fruitless deeds of darkness
Don't get drunk on wine

WHEW! That is a HUGE list of Don'ts! I'm certain I can go through that list (like yesterday) and give you examples of where I've missed the mark. I'm not sure what brawling is, but there could be a chance I've done it! :)

The point is is that Paul wants followers of Jesus to strive to be like Jesus! In 5:1 He sums it up by saying "Be imitators of God and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us..."

Aaaaand then he goes into another list of don'ts. Still, it comes down to what you and the Lord are dealing with. Above all these don'ts, there is One DO...

Love like Christ loved. I believe in that and through that, much of those don'ts tend to find their way out of our lives.

We are children of the light (5:8) and we are to find out what pleases the Lord (vs. 10). And we understand the Lord's will by the filling of the Spirit (vs. 17, 18).

I like the Do's of this text much better. Do love. Do find what pleases God. Do understand His will. Do be filled with the Spirit, and finally,

Speak to one another spiritually
Sing to the Lord!
and DO give thanks always.

I think Paul's call to the Do's is what I'll strive after rather than focus on all the Don'ts! The more I focus on all I shouldn't do tends to be the line I look at. Rather, I'll focus on the things of God and there is where the real fun happens!

What about you!?

Putting On New Clothes

2008-09-09T05:00:00.000-05:00

We're in our final week of Ephesians and I've got to tell you, it's still one of my favorite books!

Grab your Bible and read Ephesians 4:17-24.

When I read through these passages the first part (17-19)not only has me nodding in agreement with the pictures it stirs up, but grieves my heart for those who do not know the love of Christ. Here are some highlights of those verses.

No longer live as the Gentiles do:

Don't live like them in the futility of their thinking.
They are darkened in their understanding
Separated from the life of God because of their ignorance
They are ignorant because of their hardened hearts
They have lost all sensitivity
They've given themselves over to sensuality and indulge in every kind of impurity
And they continue to lust for more

If that doesn't describe our world without Christ to a T, then nothing does. I'm sure if someone who didn't know Christ read this, they would be highly offended. Not everyone outside of Christ is all of these. However, not everyone in Christ is without all of these either. That's why Paul says that we are no longer to live this way.

I've thought useless thoughts. Wasted away time on things that didn't matter. I've been darkened in my understanding and felt separated from God because I had hardened my heart to something. I've lost sensitivity and just let the world come on into my heart and mind. I've given myself over to impurity and it only cause a lust for more.

What about you? Any of these a ringin' a bell?

So what do we do? Have no fear...PAUL is here! (corny, but that was fun to hear it in my mind)

Paul says that we came to know Christ in truth, implying that what the world offers is lies and falsehood. We came to him in truth when we heard of him and "...were taught, with regard to our former way of life, to put off your old self...and to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness."

Okay, Paul, easier said than done. Now what?

I think we have covered this before in Stiletto Army, but I always can use a good dose of remindin'!

If there is any way we are to keep from slipping back into any of those descriptions, we must be humbled to the work of the Holy Spirit and we must take action to set ourselves up for victory!

Here is it...uh-gain....

Do not conform any longer to the patter of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Romans 12:2

And Who is the only one who can transform us? You got it, the Spirit of Christ.

When I lived in a nasty habitual sin, I had to go to Christ daily, if not at some point, hourly to realign with His Spirit. I knew verses. I had people around me who knew my weakness. I was on my knees A LOT. Over time, through humility and discipline, that old self was killed! Oh, she tries to rear her ugly head at times, but I have a much stronger sword to knock her back down with. I no longer live like that. In that area, I have "put on the new self created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness."

I have other areas that we are working on, but, just like my jeans, sometimes to "put on" Christ, it takes me one leg at a time.

What are the areas in your life that you can identify that need the transforming power of Christ to come in and make it new?

You've Got It

2008-09-08T05:00:00.001-05:00

I have a yummy cup of coffee, some piano music sweetly oozing out of my computer, kids are still asleep, husband is at work and I'm with you! I wouldn't trade my seat for anything right now!

We're moving along in Ephesians and we'll be wrapping it up by Friday. Then I'll have something fun to tell you! So, at least, come back by Friday!

Last week we ended with talking about how we have the opportunity to live a life that seeks peace with everyone. Paul most certainly is talking about in the church, but Jessica said this verse applied in her personal life as well, "I know Paul is talking to a church, but this is so applicable to my life at home--my husband, my kids, especially my in-laws! With the Holy Spirit, I'm making a renewed effort to be humble, gentle and patient." And that is certainly what our Father would want!

Continuing on in Ephesians 4, I first want to remind you how Paul ended that part about how we are to live a life worthy of the calling. In verse 4 he says, "There is one body and one Spirit...on Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all."

Using that as a springboard, Paul takes us to something that should inspire us all in Christ!

Verse 7,8

But to each of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it. This is why it says: When he ascended on high, he led captives in his train and gave gifts to men.

There is a way to live a life worthy of the calling and be an effective part of keeping the unity of peace in the Spirit. It's in living out your life with the gifts of God on you. YOU have the unique opportunity to be used of God to serve the church, make a difference in your world around you, and be an incredible influence in your family.

Paul goes on in verse 11 and gives us a small, but not exhausted list of gifts God has given His people.

It was he who gave some to be apostle, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers...

Hold here. You might be thinking, "I'm not any of those!" Maybe not in the fullest sense of each word, but each of us can look at those who are coming up in the next generation and be teachers. You could simply be someone that lives a life that "teaches" as you live. You might be an evangelist simply because you were kind to the cashier at the store. You might be a prophet because you shared truth with a friend. Each of us may not have a full gift, but each of us can use them. Does that make sense?

There's other lists of gifts and I'll send you to them right here. But, the POINT is this:

We are given these....

to prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.

THAT is a mouthful of incredible hope!!

Let me unpack that a little bit.

You and I have been given gifts to serve each other with. I'm doing it right now. This is what I do at this season in life. It's not just on the internet we have a LifeGroup that my husband and I teach. I minister to so many people because they call, email, or approach me to ask about the Bible or my opinion on something spiritual. I'm not tooting my horn, I'm just sharing with you how these gifts can play out in each of our lives.

We use our gifts to encourage others so that they too can serve. And not just to serve and serve and serve, but to be built up in Christ so that we can reach unity! We use our gifts to get to that unity that Paul is telling us to strive for.

And finally, how we use our gifts will help others reach maturity in Christ. I'm sure we can all point to someone who poured into our lives in such a way that it drew us closer to Christ and we were changed and grew in Him. This is serving one another in love and faith. This is how we grow. We cannot all have all the gifts of the Spirit. I need you. You need others. We need each other to experience all the different characteristics of Christ so that we can all be filled to the fullest measure of Him.

It's a beautiful thing. Don't let the enemy tell you that you are not a valuable person in the Kingdom. We must rely on one another. You gifts are different than mine and in that we find comfort, grace, faith, strength, and the ability to mature one another.

And what will all this do? Here, let me let Paul tell you.

Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men and their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ. From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in live, as each part does its work.

That pretty much says it all. Ah, it's nice to sit back and let Paul use his gift!! Great way to wrap up today's post!

Think about how you can use your gifts to serve and build up others! I guarantee you'll be blessed!

Make Every Effort

2008-09-05T07:02:00.003-05:00

I'm sure that those who read this blog are not all from the same church or even city, but we will see in Chapter 4 a call to all of us who say we follow Christ to be different than the "norm" of the world.

After Paul gives us such hope in our God, he brings it back down to real, raw, practical living.

As a prisoner for the Lord, the, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received.
Be completely humble (ouch)
and gentle (double ouch)
be patient (okay, now he's stepping on my toes)
bearing with one another in love (uhhhh)

Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. (every effort?) There is one body and one Spirit - just as you were called to one hope when you were called - one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. (I added some extra stuff. Ephesians 4:1-6)

Did you see all of that?! My goodness I haven't done very well at times. I remember when we were at a church a few years back and things got pretty rocky. There was plenty of others NOT making every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. In fact, it was quite the opposite. My husband and I decided we were not going to be a part of that crowd. I'm not saying we were perfect, but I am saying we tried very hard not to be a part of those who stirred the waters and broke the unity.

Remarkably, even though he was on staff, we did not receive one phone call from anyone to "talk" about anything. I believe our faithfulness to God kept us "out of the loop." And that was a good thing. When JT ended up leaving to work at another church, we were loved right on out. They supported us and sent us with their blessing.

We must be people who realize that through humility, gentleness, patience, and a constant effort to keep unity we will make a difference not only in our churches, but in the world. We have to keep our sights set on ONE thing. Paul makes it very clear what that one thing is - Jesus.

Jesus.

Jesus.

Jesus.

This kind of attitude does not set us up to be walked on. If we follow Jesus we follow The Warrior! However, He will be the one to wield the sword of discipline, not us. I'm also not saying that if there are things in your church that are sinful that you should bow your head in the name of unity. No, there is a time for discipline in the church.

What I am saying is that there should always be a humility before God in anything. Good or bad. Any situation in your home, family, church, work, any situation should be brought to the Lord before we open our mouths. We have been urged by Paul to live a life worthy of the calling we have received.

We've been called to live for Christ. How are we doing? Is He the first person you go to for anything so that you can live it out in His love and attitude? I'm still trying to get that right! :)

Inside Out

2008-09-04T06:00:00.001-05:00

Have you ever struggled with the idea that God is able to do something and it seems He just won't? I have often. Babies dying at birth. Friends and loved ones sick with cancer. Unforeseen financial fall-outs. Broken marriages. Addictions that just won't stop.

It seems that since God is GOD and quite capable to fix things why doesn't He?

Let's look at the last verse in Chapter 3.

Now to him who is able to do immeasurable more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.

This verse has so often, and is most often, used when we are dreaming and praying about good and great things in life. We celebrate the idea that God is able to go beyond what our little minds can come up with. He can bring the lost to church, he can bring us fortune and unsuspected checks in the mail. He can open up ministry opportunity. He is able to do all those things and he does.

I like this verse. It makes me feel good for the good things.

But, what about the bad things. Is he still "able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine"?

The answer is yes, He is able. But he doesn't always do it that way. We know it. And He knows it. But, there is something in this verse we need to look at closely.

he does the immeasurably more..."according to his power that is at work within us."

Within us.

Inside.

The deep places.

It's not just or always circumstances that He's able to bring the immeasurable to.

Our prayer should be, although I admit it's not always my prayer because it requires something of me, it should be that God would do immeasurably more than I can ask or imagine according to his power that is at work WITHIN me. Wait, isn't that what the Bible says? That's my point. I get so caught up in what he is doing on the outside in my circumstances that I often forget that His power is made perfect inside this weak body.

For the years before Christ, God was doing the immeasurably more on the outside: fire licked bushes, parting seas, angels guarding the garden, frogs, gnats, darkness, famine, stopping the sun, an angel speaking to a virgin. With her, it all changed. She birthed the New Way for man.

God switched His focus. The immeasurable more would now come inside man. His power would now be most recognized on the faces of humanity. And why would He do this?

...to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen!

Glory. His glory. A changed heart is the strongest testimony to a Great God. Once again, this is our calling.

He might not do the things I so want Him to do. He doesn't. And it's not because He can't. He just doesn't. It's this broken creation that causes all this junk and pain, not Him. And just because He doesn't swoop in and save my day every day doesn't make Him less God. It should make me hang on tighter to the fact that He is God even in this broken place. It's always been this way.

Does God do immeasurably more than we can ask or imagine in our outer circumstances. You betcha! I've seen it. Babies that were supposed to die have lived. People with cancer healed. Financial recovery. Healed marriages. Broken addictions. He is able and He does do it.

However, His goal for everything, for His followers, for His church is a changed heart, a transformed mind, a man or woman conformed to the likeness of His son. He knows what will draw us close. He knows our pain. He loves our joys. In all and through all He is able to do immeasurably more than we ask or imagine.

He can do all of it outside or inside, but I've learned that much of what His heart is after....is mine.

Rooted in Deep

2008-09-03T06:00:00.000-05:00

The idea of being planted is a concept in the Bible that inspires so much in our walk with Christ.

In Psalm 1:3, someone who is committed to the Lord is described as someone who is like a tree planted by streams of water. In Isaiah 61:3 those Jesus sets free are called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of His splendor. The very thing that will be ours for the taking when God creates the new heaven and new earth will be the tree of life with leaves that are for the healing of the nations. Israel is often described as God vineyard. Jesus referred to us as the branches of Himself, the vine. (okay, that right there would be a humdinger of a study...hmmm, my brain is working!)

It is then, not surprising to see Paul use the same kind of language in Ephesians.

Ephesians 3:17b-19

And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power (there it is again) with all the saints (you and me) to grasp how

wide and long
high and deep

is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge-that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

Holy. Smokes. That is some good eatin' right there.

We, when we come to meet Jesus, are firmly rooted and established in love. We don't get our spiritual ground from works, or how well we did in the Bible drill, or how cleaned up we can get. We are rooted, grounded, established, marked, fixed in L. O. V. E. There is no getting around it. You can't do enough right to get it, or be bad enough to lose it.

And there, right there where our feet are so entangled in the roots of love that we can't move out of it, there is where everything comes out. Those roots of love feed everything else we could ever want or imagine. Peace. Joy. Faith. Hope. Promise. Safety. Strength. Life.

Everything comes out of His love for us. And we can know this love that surpasses knowledge. Its doesn't make sense. We might not experience anything like it here on earth. It goes beyond knowledge down to the fleshy parts of who we are and it takes us to a place where we can be filled with God himself.

That kind of love wrapped around the feet of who you are will bring you to your knees so that you can be brought to a place of surrender and emptiness to be filled up with Him.

Did you catch that last part of the verse? ...that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

Seriously. Let that sink in a minute.

I'll wait.

Read it again.

Oh Father, that we would be filled to the measure of all your fullness! Keep us rooted and established in love so that you are glorified, we are satisfied, and the kingdom magnified!

We love you Jesus and thank you for giving yourself so that we would have all of God. It's too much Lord. Too much. Thank you.

Over There Today

2008-09-02T06:00:00.000-05:00

Ladies and Gentl...wait, Ladies!

I'm going to direct your attention to Mandy's blog today. Over there she is talking about how we can influence our worlds, make a difference, DO something. And wouldn't you know, she has me as a guest. I want y'all over there because it's kind of my blogging testimony, if you will. You are the reason I do what I do and I want to share with you the little journey it took to get here!

Thank you for coming back every day.

We'll be back tomorrow with more Ephesians!

Power: It's a Good Thing

2008-09-01T05:00:00.001-05:00

Happy Labor Day! I'm home with my family just hanging out! This will be a quick look at something that we'll take with us all week.

Ephesians 3:16-17a

I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in you hearts through faith...

This seems to be theme around here at Stiletto Army: dwelling. You remember our chit chat about the Temple. Same stuff here. Paul prays that the people he loves and serves would be strengthened with power. Not peace. Not love. Not wisdom. Power. Why? Why power? So that Christ may dwell in their hearts. And in all this we will be strengthened in faith. Faith that He dwells. Faith in His dwelling and faith in live our lives with Him, for Him and by Him.

Think about that. It takes God's power in us to overcome us so that Jesus can live in us. It's a good thing. That power comes from the riches of Himself. Riches. Power. Strength. Sounds pretty Kingly. And all this given to us so that Jesus would rule in our hearts. He doesn't muscle Himself in. He doesn't shove us out of the way. He offers Himself over and over and yet gives us His everything.

He simply asks the same of us.

How can you be strengthened in the Spirit to make even more room for His dwelling? Is there anything that the power of God needs to overcome in you to ensure that you are filled up all the way? (oops, I get ahead of myself! :)

Freedom and Confidence

2008-08-29T05:00:00.000-05:00

I'm just going to settle a bit on one verse in Chapter 3 today, and then on Monday, we'll get to some kickin' amazing passages in the rest of Chapter 3. Go ahead, you can read them early. S'all good.

Here is it....

Verse 12

In him and through faith in him we may approach God with freedom and confidence.

I'm sure you know Paul is talking about Christ. *wink*

I know that there have been many times that I didn't approach God with either freedom nor confidence. I could have been wrapped up in a sin and figured He wasn't all that happy to see me. Or, I let good ol' insecurity keep me from feeling confident. Those two words, freedom and confidence, haven't always been easy for me when it came to God.

The problem was that I was trying to approach God based on my own fragile, broken, and sinful abilities. You know, trying to rely on my charm, good looks, and all the ways I "served" Him. It just doesn't work that way. It's the first part of the sentence that bring us the freedom and confidence.

In HIM and through FAITH.

It's in Jesus that we are ever free to go to God with any kind of confidence. I'll never be perfect enough to be confident before God. it's only through the fact that Christ's Spirit dwells in me that I have a shred of guts to even say, "Um, Lord?" It's because He loved me first. He called me first. He chose me first.

In that confidence and freedom we are met face to face with the same God who told Abraham to leave everything. The same God that talked to Moses in a flame-ified bush. The same God who shut the mouths of the lions and walked around the fire with those boys in Babylon.

This is something we are not to take lightly, but still can have the freedom to be who we are. It's such an overwhelming paradox...but it's truth. It's real. And it's been made available to us.

Do you feel that you have the freedom and confidence to approach God?

Psssst!

2008-08-28T07:43:00.003-05:00

Have you ever been left out of a secret? I have, and man, it's irritating. But, have you ever been pulled into the group, someone cups their hands around your ear and tells you the secret? Me too, and it's great! Even if it was something silly like Katy likes Jason, we still knew the secret.

In Chapter 3, Paul is letting us in on the secret that had been hidden for ages. It's like God decided, at the perfect time, to cup His hands around our ears and tell us the wonder of the universe...

"Jesus loves ALL of you and through Him you are now mine."

There is no better secret for man to know!

Take time to read 3:1-13 sometime today and think about the implications we are going to talk about for just a minute.

Paul says he is revealing a mystery.

In reading this you will be able to understand my insight into the mystery of Christ, which was not made known to men in other generations as it has now been revealed by the Spirit of God's holy apostles and prophets. This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise of Christ Jesus.

Paul is serious about making sure his readers understand Who they are and what that means.

For him it meant that he was to become an evangelist to the Gentile (verse 8-9). For us it means, well, we are too.

Verse 10

His (God's) intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms according to his eternal purpose which he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Wait. Through us His wisdom is made known? Wow. I'll say that again. Wow. And not only that, but our becoming one in Christ is to show the rulers of the spirit world the manifold wisdom of God.

How well are we doing that? I'd say in many ways we are kickin' hiney! In other ways, I know I've contributed to not showing off God very well.

Thankfully, He has promised His power to the church to make His name famous and He will provide forgiveness when we fall, and power to stand up again and walk with glory.

We have an awesome privilege to show the world, both physically and spiritually, just how magnificent God is!

There, now you're in on the secret!

We Are One

2008-08-26T21:21:00.002-05:00

I just love what we're about to look at today! This is one of my favorite topics and I'm sure you'll agree!

We're going to wrap up Chapter 2 today, so I hope you take the time to read the rest of it today.

I've always joked about being a Gentile girl who lives in the middle of a continent, but this year, the Lord changed my sentence. I now would say something like, "I'm a chosen child of Israel, who lives in the middle of a continent."

You see, Gentile in the New Testament was a former name for those who used to follow the world and not Christ. It was a pagan. Now a days, we consider any one who is not a Jew, a Gentile. Well, that's not entirely the case. According to Scripture, anyone who is a follower of Christ is now Israel.

Look at Chapter 2 verse 11

Therefore (therefore, since we are God's workmanship), remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth and called "uncircumcised" by those who call themselves "the circumcision" (that done in the body by the hands of men) -- remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise..

God has never had a problem establishing those outside of Israel as Israelites. And it's still true today.

Verse 13

But now, (there it is again!) in Christ Jesus you who once were far away (meaning Gentiles) have been brought near through the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace who has made the two (Israel and Gentiles) one and has destroyed the barrier (no foreigners), the dividing wall of hostility...His purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two...

We are now Israel! We have been given rights as heirs of Abraham!

Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and alien, but fellow citizen's with God's people and members of God's household...

Here's the throw back to what we studied last time...very cool

In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord.

All of us are now the temple of God. Each of us as individuals make for Him a dwelling place in which God lives!

I believe I did nothing but let the Word teach us today, and that's alright by me!

I Like It When He's Cool (which is pretty much all the time)

2008-08-26T05:00:00.000-05:00

I want you to take the time to read chapter 2:1-9 again on your own. Today, we are going to stop and look at verse 10.

The previous verses are ones that we hold dear to our hearts. We've been saved by His grace and we are truly thankful, no, crazy thankful.

Verse 10 then puts a twist on things. A chocolate/vanilla kind of twist.

For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works which God prepared in advance for us to do.

One of my greatest weaknesses for a long time was believing that I was left out of the things of God. I believed that I would be the girl in the choir of life that thought she could sing, but really someone just needed to tell her to stick with something else. I used to struggle with wondering if God was ever going to need me for anything. This verse would actually haunt me. It led me to a performance based relationship where I believed that if I did really good at something, He'd let me do other things.

As much as I wanted this verse to be beautiful and real in my life, it left me feeling, for lack of a better word...lonely.

It seemed for a long time that so many people around me were doing what they wanted and doing what they felt they were called to do while I was at home doing "nothing." I was duped beyond duped.

Until one night, when I was giving God an earful again about how He wasn't letting me do all the stuff I dreamed of doing, He gently said, "I never promised you those things."

"Uh, s'cuse me? These are my dreams! These are the things we've talked about for years! These are my gifts and talents and I need them."

He was right, aaas usual. He hadn't promised me any of those things. He had promised me plenty of other things, and this verse was one of them.

He had things prepared for me and He had them prepared a long time ago. HE had things prepared, not me. And until I released my ownership on my dreams I would remain disappointed, disillusioned,and dissatisfied.

What He promises us far outweighs what we think we deserve. He has given us gifts beyond measure and if we let Him call the shots, we'll find ourselves Appointed, Illuminated and Satisfied. (how'd ya like me turning those words into positives!)

Guess what... what I'm doing right here right now, yeah, one of those dreams.

He's pretty cool.

As For You

2008-08-25T09:00:00.000-05:00

Whew! I'm telling you, writing something from the Word seriously takes time! I never want to come to these posts and just slam something down. So, if you got here earlier and I wasn't here yet, just know I was making sure that I took time to take time. Make sense?

Okay, we're in the book of Ephesians if you are new here and we're about to go to chapter two.

Buuuut, we're not going to get very far (you're not surprised, but you'll like it)

Chapter 2, verse (would you believe) ONE, and part of two

As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live...

What strikes me about this verse is the first three words, "As for you..."

There is something tender about that. We could take it like Paul spun around and pointed his finger with one hand on his hip like we were in trouble for forgetting something, but I don't think it's the case. I think it's the predecessor to all the encouragement he's about to dump on his readers.

As for you...

You who were once lost and are now found.

As for you...

Blessed of God and chosen by Him

As for you...

Forgiven one of Christ and redeemed from all sins

As for you...

You who are lavished upon

As for you...

Holy and pleasing to God

As for you...

Sealed in the Spirit

As for you...

You were dead in your transgressions and sin, in which you used to live.

Paul goes on to describe in more detail what that looked like when we followed the ways of the world in the rest of 2 and verse 3. You can read that and get a good idea of where Paul is taking his readers.

Verse 4 is where he adds the beautiful word "But"

But because of his great love for us, God who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions -- it is by grace that you have been saved.

"But," it's such a great word in the Bible. There's another one I'm fond in Romans 3:21. Again, Paul is going on about how everyone is sinful and unrighteous and there is nothing we can do to fix that on our own. Then he throws in a "but!" A BIG but

But now a righteousness from God, apart from the law, has been made known...

There is no other way to go from being a worldly, sinful person, to an "As for you..." person. It all comes from God! We know that, but sometimes I still live like I have to be the one to make it right. We can't forget that we who are sealed in the Spirit are set apart in the group labeled "as for you." He directs His attention, affection, and purpose to those of us who have joined the "as for you" ranks. Those are ranks we want to be in. That's the Army we want to march with, Stilettos and all.

There, we find strength, purpose, joy, stamina, safety, power, blessings. If you are a follower of Jesus, you have joined the "as for you's."

We'll talk more about what that group has coming to them and what's expected from them tomorrow!

As for you, go read Ephesians!

My Coveralls Need a Better Name on the Pocket

2008-08-22T05:00:00.001-05:00

What a great minute I have right now! My mom stole my girls to take them swimming for an hour so I'm going to type, type, type! Baby is asleep, house is quiet, and I'm up for some Bible Study!

I want to direct your attention to the last few verses of Chapter Uno. We left off yesterday settled into the fantastic idea that God has given us His power! The same power that raised Christ from the dead.

I purposefully stopped at that part of verse 20 and didn't finish it because I wanted to use it to catapult us into today's finish.

Here is the verse in it's entirety.

That power is like the working of his mighty strength, which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead...

STOP

That's where we ended, gazing at that wonder all by itself. He used His POWER to raise Jesus from the dead. Not because it was hard, but because it was a display of His glory! Same for us. He uses His power in us to display His glory in us.

CONTINUE

...which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at this right hand in the heavenly realms...

STOP

Picture that in your mind. Jesus is now seated at the right hand of God. That is a position of authority, finality, power, and strength. Paul is setting us up for what he is about to point out concerning the authority of Christ.

God raised him up and seated Him

...far above all rule and authority, power and dominion and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.

I want you to see that line that I made bold because it's THE one we're going to bring home and let soak down into the fabric of our beings.

Every title that can be given.

Think about how many titles there are. From President to Janitor. From Teacher to Mom. Pastor. Governor. Professor. Technician. Journalist. Nurse. Manager. Teller. Consultant.

We could list and list and list all sorts of titles. Christ is over every one of those. He has rule and authority, power and dominion. He is FAR above them and untouchable when it comes to the ability to rule others.

What about other titles. Titles that aren't found on documents and plaques. Titles that are hidden in hearts and souls. Here's a few I've had on the pocket of my coveralls from time to time.

Liar
Cheater
Procrastinator
Lazy
Worrier
Busybody
Angry
Shameful
Unimportant

Each one of these titles is under His authority and rule as well. If that's the case, then He has the right to take away that title and give me a different one. If He is the ultimate Boss Man, then He has the right, the rule, the authority to strip me of either my self-imposed title or one given me by man or the enemy, and give me a new one.

Here are a few of the new names on my pockets!

Free
Beautiful
Fun
Talented
Giver
Teacher
Mentor
Gracious
Strong
Redeemed
Chosen
Forgiven
Renewed
Blessed
Joyful
Loving
Peaceful
Bold
Real
Truthful
Loved
Favorite

This is no joke. I feel every one of these from the Lord. He has the ability to, not only be Lord and ruler of all Titles in the physical world, but every unseen title and name I have ever had over myself that is not from Him.

He rules. He says we are His and He means it. He died to ensure that we would know it. And now, He sits in heaven as the Ultimate Authority of all of it.

There is one more thing He will do when we finally see Him face to face. One more title exchange

To him who overcomes, I will ...give him a white stone with a new name written on it, known only to him who receives it. Revelation 2:17

One more title. One NEW name. That is a title worth waiting for!

More to Know

2008-08-21T05:00:00.000-05:00

We're going to keep peeking into what Paul prayed for the people of Ephesus and take it on as a prayer for ourselves. Yesterday, we look at the prayer to Know Him. Above all and before all is the prayer that we will Know God Better! (caps make it more poignant)

There are plenty of other things Paul wants his reader to know.

Verse 18: He prays the they (read, we) will have their hearts enlightened to know the hope to which God has called them...

to know the riches of God glorious inheritance in the saints

and to know God's incomparably great power for us who believe.

Here's where this gets dad-gum amazing!

That power Paul is referring to is described as the working of His mighty strength that God exerted in Jesus when He raised Him from the dead! That power is at work IN US and FOR US and THROUGH US! I cannot get over this truth when I really let it set in for a minute.

The power the rolled away the stone.
The power that raised Jesus up.
The power that conquered death.
The power that defeated sin.
The power that touched Mary and told her to go tell everyone He was alive.
The power that caused Him to open His eyes, sit up, and walk out of death's jaws.

That is the same power has been given to us in Christ.

Is there anything, ANYTHING in your life that sits above that kind of power? Do you ever doubt God to be big enough? Do you ever feel like something is more than you can handle? Do you ever feel over-powered? Do you have anything that can be more powerful than that kind of power we just read about?

There is nothing that can touch that kind of power good...or bad.

No depression.
No insecurity.
No pride.
No perfect family.
No independence.
No boss.
Nothing is more powerful than the love it took to raise Christ from the dead.

His power is what gives us life through His Holy Spirit. His power is what is made perfect in our weakness. His power is what lives and moves in us to cause us to follow Him. His power is what transforms our minds in Christ Jesus. His power is what over comes the enemy. His power is what brings you peace. His power is what keeps our chests moving in and out to live. His power is what keeps our earth from collapsing on itself. His power is what draws us in and holds us close.

And it is His power that sets Him up as King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

The is no greater power....and it is ours. It is the working of His mighty and marvelous strength.

And it is good.

Knowing Him

2008-08-20T05:00:00.000-05:00

I hope you enjoyed reading Ephesians chapter 1 yesterday, cuz I'm certain you ALL DID!

Now, flippity-flip your Bible open back to Ephesians and let's take out some munchies today!

I'm sticking with Chapter 1, but it's the last half and even though I'd like to, we just can't get to the end today. There's TOO much to talk about to cram it into one post.

This portion is Paul telling his readers what he prays for them. It's beautiful and powerful to boot! It's something I have prayed for myself and for others I love.

We're going to focus on some key things that will be certain to empower you and that coming off of what we talked about yesterday, you know, that be BECOME like Christ.

Right out of the hat we read what Paul prays for the Believers. There's an urgency in his voice for them to really "get it!" It's almost like he couldn't describe it well enough so he used as many wonderful words as he could get out!

The first thing he prays for is that God would give the people the Spirit of wisdom and revelation so that they may know Him better.

Not so they could know his will. Not so that they could know what ministry to be a part of or if they should start one. Not so that they will have the answers they need for the stubborn child or difficult person. He didn't ask they have wisdom for the church committee or for the planning of the service. He asked that God would give them wisdom and revelation through His Spirit so that they would know Him better.

It's what Jesus said the Spirit would do.

"But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all t hings and will remind you of everything I have said to you. ...He will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you" John 14:26, 16:14.

Through the Holy Spirit is where you will be able to know the Lord. Know Him. Not just about Him or about His Word, but really know Him. And it's through wisdom and revelation by the Spirit. It isn't always in black and white pages of the Bible. Anyone can know the words, but it is by His Spirit that the Word becomes Life in us! He speaks to us "...in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words." (1 Cor. 2:13)

Make this a prayer of your own that God would give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation so that you may know Him better. Isn't that what we all want? Isn't that what catapults and empowers everything else? Pray this in your life. Surrender to the work of the Spirit so that you may know God better. That is a prayer He will answer quicker than you can pray it!

We'll see tomorrow what else he prayed for. You might find yourself on yo knees prayin' over yo-self!

Becoming Him

2008-08-19T05:00:00.001-05:00

There's a little bit of sompin' sompin' that's been rolling around in my mind for a few days now. It's something that maybe we all know, but might not be something that we operate out of.

I was praying about some things concerning my weaknesses (again) and I believe the Lord told me something that might, no, will encourage all of us.

Yesterday I mentioned it...becoming. Becoming like Christ isn't something that we just do. The word in and of itself has action to it, progression, time. Many times I have looked at my life and wished that areas were more like Christ. Then somewhere in my lapse of memory I figured I was the one to get me to that spot. You know, "BE" like Christ. A Nike sort of aggression to just magically turn myself into a mini-Jesus.

Sadly, those Nike's wore out quickly and I found myself sprawled out on the court with scuffed knees and elbows, still looking like myself.

Anyone?

What I think we must all understand and realize is that Jesus in not only asking us to become like Him, but He is the one making it possible. Each area that is weak and unattractive and so un-Christ like is not a place that ignores until we get it right.

There is no picture He points to and says, "Be like that on your own." However, I have tried.

Tried to be nicer.
Tried to be more organized.
Tried to be happier.
Tried to have more mercy.
Tried to control my quick fuse.
Tried to not be envious.

Try
Try
Try

But let's look at Ephesians for a minute and see if we can't start this book off with letting ourselves off the hook.

Now, hold the horses for a minute. There is real value in being attentive to our own weaknesses. It's important that we take real steps to train our minds and bodies to go after the things of Christ. But, the real transformation come only through surrender to the work of the Spirit.

I want us all to know that God is in the transformation. He's in the middle of all our weaknesses helping us look at them at all angles and gently reminding us these are areas. They do not define who we are.

Take a look-see at WHO you are (even with your weaknesses)

You are chosen - 1:4
Adopted - 1:5
Holy and blameless - 1:4
Redeemed - 1:7
Forgiven - 1:7
Lavished upon - 1:8
Made known mysteries - 1:9
Included - 1:13
Marked with the Holy Spirit - 1:13
That's just the FIRST chapter!

If we let our weaknesses define who we are rather than let Christ say who we are, we will bow to them rather than Him. We will bow to their power, their influence, their habitual interference.

But, shift your mind to the things of God and your view of yourself will change. You are all this in Christ... wiiiiith some weaknesses. He is in the business of making all things new. You are a new creation in Him. You just have some residue of an old self clinging on.

Take time to read Ephesians Chapter 1 a few times tonight between Olympic events and ingest the richness of Who you are in Him!

New Week New Study!

2008-08-18T05:00:00.000-05:00

Have you ever felt like God was sitting there tapping His foot and looking at His watch waiting for you to get things right? You know, waiting for you to be all those things the Bible wants you to be?

Man, I have.

But, what we will find as we study EPHESIANS that what God IS doing is getting down in the work with you so that you BECOME so many wonderful things, mainly, you become more and more like His Son.

SO THAT,

You may be a testimony to the greatness of God in this world.

How's that for an introduction!?

I'll give you some bits and pieces of Ephesians before we get started so that you can know where we are headed and what to look forward to.

Over the next few days, (you know I've learned not to put a time frame on these because I never stick with it) but, in these next days here's some of the things we'll discover, talk about, and get all excited over...

Ephesians has an eternal vision set plainly before the Believer, but has an uncanny way of teaching us to keep our attention fixed on the practical ways of life in Christ.

There is a heavy message of Authority:

Christ's Authority
-over us
-over all things
-over the enemy

Our Authority
-in Christ
-over our sin
-against the enemy

Ephesians expresses a calling to the church as a whole, which is obviously made up as individuals to each become like Christ and to express to all authorities the mystery of Jesus.

There is an incredible hope-filled way to maturity in Jesus laid out in this book.

This book instills hope, power, strength, encouragement, and even pride in who are are in Christ.

This powerful book will make you want to RISE UP as it elevates the Believer in Jesus!

Take time to read through the book tonight. Look for themes and things that you find encouraging. Be in prayer as we open this book together and pull out riches!! It's packed full of so much stuff that we're going to eat it up like a bowl of chocolate ice cream without the fat!

Wrapping It Up

2008-08-15T05:00:00.000-05:00

I'm so glad we all have learned so much more from His word about what it means to have a quiet time with Him!

I've been thinking about you and praying that you have found more time to spend with the King!

Come back Monday, we'll be taking scoops out of the book of Ephesians!

His Love is IT!

2008-08-14T09:26:00.003-05:00

Better late than never!!!

Good day to you all! Today I have one more thing to talk about with you concerning your walk with Jesus. One thing that can help you find peace with Him and let the chains of legalism fall off.

It's simple, we hear it all the time, but it's True.

He loves you.

Many times I can get caught up in all the stuff I am doing or I am not doing. Or how "holy" I'm being or what sins I'm going through. Not that it's not important to take inventory of our lives in regards to what service we do, and of course, if we are walking in sin or not. But, I can make it my focus rather than just part of the relationship.

Just yesterday I was wrestling again with a weakness that really gets under my skin about me. I was repenting and talking to Him about this weakness and expressing how much I dislike this and want to be different. I guess He decided I needed to know something because I heard Him say, "You realize that this is a weakness, an area, it doesn't define you. I'm proud of you and what you do and the fruit you produce. This is an area we are working on together."

Oh, I needed to hear that. Later, I was just doing my thing and when I reached to open His word again when I "heard" Him say, "I love it when you read my word."

On down the day, I went to the church to sit in on a video taping our pastor was doing and we had a short worship set. I heard the Father say again, "I love it when you worship me." And then, while I was listening to our pastor, I heard one more, "I love it when you learn."

Three times He confirmed, in the best way for me, His love for me. Yes, I have weaknesses. Yes, I mess it up. Of course, I can be selfish and short-sighted. BUT, His love covers it all. His mercy brings me out of it. His grace transforms me. He is why I'm in this relationship. He is why I do what I do. His love for me is the reason for everything!

Praise the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits - who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion, who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's. Psalm 103:2-5

As you continue on your walk with Jesus (everyday, right!) keep it close to your heart that His love is there reason you live, the strength to wrestle through stuff, the power to overcome, and the passion behind everything you do.

Tomorrow, we'll wrap it up!

I love you guys...er gals!

What I Do

2008-08-13T05:00:00.000-05:00

Before I go to my final-final point, some of you have wanted to know what I do on a daily, practical basis. I've noticed that many of us deal with the daily discipline of meeting with Christ and how to incorporate different tools in our quiet time.

I'll give you my little two cents on what He and I have come up with.

In the beginning it started with me and a journal I got from Becky Tirabassi. I saw her at a conference about 8 years ago and I heard one thing stand out...

Make and appointment with the King and keep it.

That was it. That was the turning point for me and my walk with Christ. Mind you, I stumbled here and there and cancelled many appointments or didn't show up for our scheduled time together. It was all over the place. There would be days when I would sit with Him for hours when the girls were sleeping. And I would do that for many days in a row.

Then, there would be times where a week or two would go by. Mountains of guilt would come upon me and I would feel like I was always going back to square one with Him. I struggled with feeling like I was in any kind of relationship at all.

I had the journal format from Becky and I loved it. It was exactly what I needed to get started.

Over time, those infrequent days grew less and less. My charting of days paid off. Years later I read a book called Grace Rules. Again, a life changer. I had no idea I lived much of my spiritual life by rules rather than relationship.

My quiet time took another turn. I began living out life with Him rather than calculating the days I'd sat down and prayed.

I eventually stopped using Becky's outline and began to own my own organic relationship with Him.

Many things have been uncovered: sin, character, gifts, talents, strengths, weaknesses, passions, purpose.

All of this because I showed up for my appointment every day. He was always there. And He still it.

Today, I grab my cup of coffee, journal and Bible and find time to sit and chat and read. Now it's rare that I go more that one or two days without actually journaling. There is never a day I go without Him.

Ladies, this is a relationship. He calls to you to make an appointment with Him...and keep it. There is no greater relationship on earth. No other relationship can give you hope, wisdom, joy, and the ability to love more than you do naturally.

Do what it takes to build in a discipline of meeting with Him. He will give you grace and mercy every time You come to Him.

Over time, you too will find that you have become someone who meets with Him every day. And, over time, when you miss those days, THAT's when you feel weird. The missed days become the thing that stand out to you, not the days you met with Him. No, those will become the norm.

He will become the norm.