Hope is calling

The stewardship of everything God has given us

2023-01-31T13:07:00.001-05:00

God has been teaching me about stewardship lately, and I want to share some encouragement.

There are four categories of things that God has called us to steward.

1. The first category is our abilities, gifts, and talents. Most of us are familiar with the parable of the talents that Jesus told in Matthew 25. Even though a talent was what they called a unit of money back then, we know that this parable refers to what we call gifts and talents today—the abilities that God gives us. Jesus's parable taught us that we are responsible to God for how we use what we've been given. We cannot bury our talents. God has given them to us for a reason. Woe to the servant of the Lord who does not use his talents for the kingdom of God! However, we do not truly know our loving Heavenly Father if we are using our talents for the kingdom out of fear. There is great satisfaction, fulfillment, joy, and blessing to be using what He has given us to return blessings to Him and His kingdom!

2. The second category encompasses our calling(s) and the tasks that He has created us to accomplish. Often, the talents that He has given us are needed for the calling that He's placed on our lives, but sometimes they are separate! Sometimes God calls us to do something that we are not skilled in, so that His grace may be proven as sufficient, or to humble us, or to teach us something. He very likely has other reasons as well, but we all know that we sometimes find ourselves faced by tasks that we are not good at, but we know that we have to do them anyway. Our faithfulness in the difficult things and the little things that we face every day is how God leads us to our calling. It is part of our calling, for God tells us (through Paul) in Colossians 3:23 to do everything as if God is asking us to do it, rather than men. We do it all for Him! We should never feel like we are waiting to discover our calling, for our calling always starts today in the tasks that are in front of us. As we are faithful, God leads us to the future things that He has prepared for us. This is how we steward the callings that He has placed on our lives.

3. The third thing that we are stewards of is time. There might be a lot of variety in the gifts, talents, and callings that different people are given, but all of us are given exactly 24 hours in a day to steward. That does not mean that our stewardship responsibilities are the same, though! Our gifts and abilities, the country we were born in, and many other factors affect how much we can do with the time we are given. We should never make the mistake of thinking that God compares our use of time against others. He desires that we combine the time that He's given us with the gifts and talents and abilities that He's given us to steward the calling that He's placed on our lives!

4. Finally, we are stewards of the money and assets that we control. I'm including assets, because the things that we own can be used for His kingdom (or not!) just like money. We can use our home and our car and our belongings for His glory, or we can use them selfishly.

But here's what I'm finding most eye-opening. Much of society today places a monetary value on those first three categories.

1. We think of someone with gifts and talents that are uncommon and which can command large sums of money as being "amazing" and we tend to discredit gifts and talents that are more common, even if the world clearly needs lots of people with those gifts! We also tend to overlook the value of gifts which have no monetary value, such as the gift of compassion. No one pays high salaries to someone with the gift of encouragement, even though it is priceless! Consequently, those with this gift often are not aware of just how precious the gift they've been given to steward really is.

2. Callings are also often valued according to the dollar amount assigned to them. Remember that I'm not referring here to a calling such as a pastor, prophet, or evangelist. I'm referring to the tasks that God created each one of us to do and the things that we do day by day, whether that's a job, being a stay-at-home parent, ministry, volunteering, school, or something else. These are all things that many of us are called by God to do, but our society tends to value those things more if they earn money. People often don't honor the stay-at-home mom or dad the same way they honor a business owner or CEO.

3. Our society definitely places a monetary value on time. Most of us are paid by the hour, and money dominates capitalist societies so much that time spent not earning money is often devalued—even when the thing we are doing is extremely valuable in other ways! Sure, we all like time off, away from the job, but think about someone in their 20s who isn't earning any money (someone you don't know well), and then test yourself to see if that automatically affects your opinion of how they spend their time. Are you tempted to judge them for it, even though you don't know them well and don't know what their life's situation really is? I am! Do you see how the monetary value of time often affects how we value whatever we or someone else does with their time? Another example is that we often don't consider time spent encouraging other people (which isn't paid) as being as valuable as time spent earning money, even though it is much more valuable in many ways.

What is the result? Even though money is a very small portion of what God has given us to steward, it tends to dominate thoughts and conversations regarding what we "should" be doing with our lives. Too many of our own decisions are based on how much money it'll make, and too many of our judgments about other people are affected by how much money they make doing whatever it is that they do.

Even worse, many of us don't really understand what it means to be a steward of the money God's given us. I certainly didn't understand this until recently, and God is still teaching me. I considered that my tithe was God's and the rest of it was my responsibility. I thought I got to (or had to) decide what to do with the 90%. Not so! It's all God's because I am God's! He wants me to seek Him for direction on every dollar. He wants to tell me which dollars He gave me as a gift to spend as I choose, which dollars He gave to supply one of my needs, and which dollars He gave me to supply someone else's needs.

So if we set aside the monetary value of everything, what do we have? We then realize that God has given each of us four types of things to steward, and three of them are priceless.

1. Our abilities, talents, and gifts are priceless, for they are given by God for eternal purposes. How much money the world gives for doing them is irrelevant.

2. Our calling is eternal, and its value in God's kingdom is priceless, for no one else can fulfill the calling He's given us! How much money it does (or doesn't) earn has no bearing on its eternal value.

3. Our time is priceless, for only God knows the days allotted to us. Every one is written in His book according to Psalm 139:16, and our calling is threaded through every single page, equipped by His grace and often colored by the gifts and talents He's given us.

4. The money that He's given us to steward is not priceless—though our obedience in how we steward it is, for that is part of our calling! But now we see that whatever amount of money we earn each month is nothing more (or less) than the money He's asking us to steward.

My prayer is that we would all learn to value the stewardship of our gifts, calling, and time even more than we value the money we earn. If you're someone who hasn't been asked to steward a lot of money, remember that this has zero effect upon His promise to provide for you, if you are His child. Ask Him to teach you to be a faithful steward of the money you've been given. But devote even more attention to the stewardship of the gifts and time He's given you and the calling He's placed on your life, for those are priceless! And if you are someone who has been given larger amounts of money to steward, ask God to show you His perspective, for that money is only the very smallest part of what He's asking You to steward.

No matter what you've been given, ask your Heavenly Father to teach you how to be faithful in it all, regardless of the amounts. This is what pleases Him, and this is how we flourish where God has planted us.

You are blessed, you are called, and you have a priceless, eternal purpose in His kingdom!

Official song release: "All He Was"

2022-12-29T22:44:00.003-05:00

Ten years ago I shared the lyrics of the song God had given me the year before. I've wanted to record it for eleven years now, because this song God wrote is worth sharing. It's an amazing song full of powerful truth! We sing it in our tiny church, but I've always felt that the reach of the song is meant to be bigger than that.

The day to share it more widely has finally come. Today. For God has made it possible for me to record it, and the final audio editing is done. Today is finally the day to let it go!

Feel free to give it a thumbs up and share if you feel inclined.

It's also available on Spotify and iTunes.

When spiritual battles are real and we behold our Salvation

2022-12-13T07:57:00.002-05:00

I haven't written here in over a month, but that's not because nothing happened. Quite a lot has actually happened in my family!

Problems that I had been crying out to God over for a couple of years were completely resolved.

Demonic spirits were exposed and evicted.

Their lies (which had been causing problems for years) were replaced by the Truth that sets free... and marriage struggles completely disintegrated in the love of God.

20 1/2 years of prayers were answered when God's Spirit exploded revelation in a heart that had all but given up.

Strongholds that had held someone back for 40 years were disintegrated, changing a life so dramatically that it almost feels like a dream to witness, except it's more real than anything.

All in one week.

Then in the next week, more lies were exposed and dispersed, and another evil spirit was evicted and someone was physically healed.

God is still working on things and in situations. This is only the beginning. Or rather, the middle.

.~*~.,.~*~.,.~*~.,.~*~.,.~*~.

Sometimes God moves fast...and sometimes He moves only after what appeared to be decades of very little.

Sometimes He does things gently and slowly in small bits and pieces with plenty of time to reflect...and sometimes He unfolds both new things and long-awaited things and never-dreamed-of things in an symphony of revelations and breakthroughs so powerful and life-changing that it feels like a lifetime has passed in just a few days.

I can't really share right now everything that has happened. My husband and I have tried a few times to share our parts of the story with close family and friends, and it's hard to find the words to explain things that are indescribable. It'll come out in bits and pieces as God gives me words.

.~*~.,.~*~.,.~*~.,.~*~.,.~*~.

I find myself thinking about how I have for many years longed to see the power of God at work changing lives. He's done so many things in my own self over the past 40 years, and the pace has increased dramatically since April of 2020.

I'm now looking at the past month and I'm awed that I have now seen what it looks like when someone who walks with God lays hands on someone who is seeking...

... And God reveals what must be prayed in that moment...

... And then His power changes a life. Immediately!

This is what I've longed to see for decades... And I've seen it four times in the last few weeks!

Some people say that the devil is attacking like a storm. Yeah, but never mind that.

I say that God is leading an offensive on the forces of darkness like I have never seen in my lifetime.

Why focus and talk about the devil's attacks when we can focus on and talk about and be a part of God's offensive force?

We belong to a kingdom of heaven--a kingdom that Jesus said almost 2000 years ago that He had brought to earth.

The church in America has been focused for too long on political wars and gender wars and social wars and racial wars and religious wars. Our battle is not against flesh and blood people. Let me repeat that.

Our battle is not against "them!"

Our battle is against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. (Eph 6:12)

The darkness that Christian gossips talk about is just a symptom of the real darkness. We're not called to treat symptoms. We're called to be the light and reflect Him--the Light of the World... for Light shatters darkness.

We're called to take up our cross and follow our Servant King who has been calling us to serve with love ever since His disciples first asked who was the greatest.

We're called to abide in the One who did only what He saw the Father doing and who said only what He heard the Father saying. Jesus lived His life 100% in submission to the Father's will through the power of the Holy Spirit... and He has made it possible for us to live in that same way... if we're hungry to live that way.

.~*~.,.~*~.,.~*~.,.~*~.,.~*~.

Christmas is almost here.

Christmas. It's all about Him.

Christ means the Anointed One.

Jesus.

The name Jesus means "my salvation." He was our Savior 2000 years ago, and He still is our Savior.

He came to save us from sin and all the effects of it. He is still saving us.

There is no situation so terrible that He cannot deliver you through it. He is our Redeemer, and there is nothing so terrible that He cannot redeem it.

To behold Him is to see Him and know Him.

Ask God to permit you to behold Him in a fresh new way this Christmas season. Ask Him to open the eyes of your heart to see how Jesus meets the needs that you have right now. Ask God to show you how to receive what He is showing you.

Let Him be your Savior!

From the Mountains to the Valleys

2022-10-08T20:00:00.005-05:00

I kept meaning over the last two weeks to share my mountaintop experience... but I hadn't gotten around to it.

Now I'm in a valley. This is life, isn't it?

,.~*~.,.~*~.,.~*~.,.~*~.,.~*~.,

So back in August, my employer starting talking about having me to go Zurich, Switzerland for some meetings, asking if the third week in September was open for me. I told them it was, but the bigger problem is that I had no passport (having never before had any good reason to spend the money and get one.) They said, "Get one," so I applied, knowing that getting one in four weeks was a somewhat questionable endeavor. I left it up to God, trusting that if He wanted me to go, then my passport would be quickly approved. If it didn't come in time, then I didn't need to go.

I had total peace that it was perfectly okay if I didn't go, but at the same time I couldn't help thinking of a childhood dream I'd never quite let go of.

You see, I'd always wanted to see the Alps.

I love mountains. To me, they are some of God's greatest creative masterpieces. Growing up, we'd have to travel through the Appalachians of western Pennsylvania on our way to visit my grandparents, and that was always my favorite part of the journey -- just driving through the mountains. Then I got to see the Rocky Mountains and the Cascades a few years ago when my brothers moved there, and we went to visit each of them.

I still sometimes wondered if I'd ever get to see the Alps in Switzerland. So when the possibility of this trip came up, I knew it might be my chance.

If they did want me to come.

And if my passport did come in time.

So I started making cautious plans for my husband and I to go, looking for the best way to experience the Alps on a limited budget and schedule, but leaving the whole trip in God's hands, whether or not it happened.

Well, our passports came in two weeks... which should be considered a miracle from everything I've heard.

The trip was approved by my company, and I hurriedly figured out details like how to get cell phone service there and what chargers I needed for our electronics and which bank cards could be used there without racking up huge fees. I started to worry about how I'd handle jet lag (since inconsistent or inadequate sleep has a profound affect on me), but I decided to ask God for a miracle... and I promptly began waking up at 4am in the morning! This did make me tired for those two weeks before we left, but I was still functioning pretty well despite a lot less sleep. I had to laugh and shake my head everytime I was suddenly wide awake a 4am... which never happened before I asked God to work out the jet lag thing for me!

Our departure day came, and we said goodbye and prayed over our youngest who would be home alone for the week while she worked on college classes and kept up with her job. We said goodbye and prayed over our son who lives a few minutes away. We said goodbye to our oldest and her husband and our granddaughter, and I prayed over their unborn child. And we headed out for our first trip overseas.

We made the extremely tedious series of drive and flights and layovers and trains from the middle of rural Ohio to Zurich over Friday and Saturday, and we found our way around Zurich (sort of) by the end of Saturday. Sunday was our day to see the Alps, so we boarded a train for Luzern. As we drew closer to the town, I saw the looming profile of Mount Pilatus rising beyond. That was our destination, for the view up there of the Alps (which stretch to the south beyond the mountain) was supposed to be amazing. Equally important was the fact that the mountaintop is easily accessible to tourists who don't speak German and who aren't conditioned for hiking up vertical mountainsides in high altitudes.

We took the cable cars up the mountain.

It takes almost an hour to ascend about 5,500 feet.

As we went up, clouds started to gather at the top of the mountain. I remembered reading about tourists who had scheduled their own trips and paid the ticket costs, only to get up there and find the whole view blocked by clouds. But I stubbornly refused to worry. At home, I had been leaving the whole trip in God's hands, and I was still leaving it there. He knew how much I wanted to see the Alps. He had sped up our passports and He had known what the clouds would do that day since before we had planned the trip.

We finally got to the top, and sure enough, we were literally in a cloud.

As the clouds loomed and swirled around the top of the mountain, you could sometimes see a little bit of the ridge and slopes to the east for maybe a mile or so. Sometimes you could only see a couple hundred feet.

There were two peaks right there, about 500 feet apart, and each had an extremely-steep trail with rough stairs zig-zagging up to the lookout. We went up the one to the north. (The equivalent of seven or eight flights of stairs is not easy in high-altitude, when your body is used to being 6000 feet closer to sea level where there's more oxygen!) The clouds thinned so we could see to the north, which is hilly and looked (to me) not much different than Southern Ohio. It was a beautiful view, but it was not the view I had gone there to see.

But when we turned to the south, the clouds were so thick that we couldn't even see the other peak, 500 feet away.

Still, we went down and climbed up to that peak. The cloud went back and forth between surrounding us and hanging just off to the south.

I stood there, staring into the side of a cloudbank, knowing that on the other side of that cloud was a view I had wanted to see my entire life. Other people who came up would wander around for a few minutes, disappointedly say that they missed it and should have gotten up there sooner, and leave. Not me. "Father," I prayed, "You know how much I've wanted to see this. I know that one tiny whisper of Your breath would chase these clouds away!"

So I waited.

And I waited some more, and talked to God some more, and waited some more.

I wondered how long I should wait and if it was a lack of faith to give up -- at least temporarily -- and go down. I worried that if I did go down, the clouds might clear for just a minute and I'd miss the view. Every once in a while, a hole in the cloud did appear, showing me a tiny glimpse of the mountains beyond! But it never lasted longer than a few seconds.

I prayed at one point, "God, I know You can clear these clouds. It's up to You how much pleasure You'd like to bring me," and I prayed it with full acceptance that if God had chosen to bring me this far and yet deny me the view I wanted to see so badly, then I was okay with that. I would accept that.

Still the clouds persisted.

Finally my husband said that he was getting too cold, and we had to go down soon or he wouldn't be able to warm up. It didn't seem fair or kind to him to keep him up there, so I agreed, and we went down a few minutes later.

We had a few hours before we had to catch the cogwheel train that I'd booked for us to get back down the mountain, so I tried to figure out what to do next. We literally stood around doing nothing, inside the warmth of the hotel that's up there, for several minutes while I asked God what we should do and where we should go. I didn't hear anything, but since we were standing near a staircase, I said, "Let's see what's down these stairs. Maybe there's a place to see the view from the warmth inside."

I didn't know that God was leading me. I only knew that I had asked Him to.

Downstairs, there was a bank of windows, and outside was a balcony that continued for those who wanted to see the view. This was a much more limited view in between the peaks, but it was still beautiful.

After a little while, it looked like the clouds on the far end were clearing a little, so I went outside to see. My husband followed.

The clouds slowly cleared, and I continued farther, and farther, trying to get to where the second peak didn't block the view.

There turned out to be a small path at the end of the balcony that went for about a mile, just down from the top of the ridge.

It wound along the curving side of the mountain, and the farther we went, the fewer people there were... and the more the clouds cleared.

The view was amazing. The mountains stretched for miles and miles, so huge and just... there... that I felt surrounded.

At one point, a curve ahead hid the people ahead of me, and my husband had not yet come around the curve behind me, so I could not see anyone else at all. I stood there with a mountain cliff dropping before me and rising behind me, and a panorama of majestic peaks spread from the east to the west. It was just me... and God

And I worshiped wordlessly, for there were no words that were adequate.

Tears ran down my face as I felt the presence of the God who created these mountains, and who had brought me so far and worked so many things out so that I could experience this part of His breathtaking creation. He did indeed choose to bring me so much pleasure! But I felt His pleasure as well, because here was one of His children who was enjoying what He made so much and giving Him full credit for it! Just like when we make something, and we're pleased with how it turns out, then a part of us wants to show it to others, and we want them to love it too! We want them to give us the credit for what we made, because it feels good to be recognized. That's what I sensed God was feeling in that glorious moment that He and I shared.

You know what? If He had cleared the other peaks of their clouds while I was up there, they would have been crowded with people, and I wouldn't have ever found out that this quiet, unfrequented trail even existed. I would have missed out. But He knew what I would enjoy most!

We continued along the path to another peak at the end, where there was a full 360 degree view.

It was amazing, but there were a few other couples up there so it wasn't quite as special as that moment alone with God.

We enjoyed more scenery that day as we descended the mountain and then took a boat ride on the lake, and much of it was beautiful.

Then I spent the rest of the week in meetings in Zurich as planned.

But for me, the whole point of the trip was those moments on the mountain with God.

As were coming home and flying into New York, the plane banked over the water of the Atlantic Ocean, and the sunlight sparkled and shimmered across the water, and for a brief moment, I experienced the same breathtaking awe at what God had created.

I believe that God whispered that I can continue to have moments like that with Him, if I'll just open my eyes to appreciate the little parts of His creation. Parts that I overlook and take for granted. Even a little wildflower along the side of the road can -- if I let Him show it to me -- evoke the same sense of awe and wonder at what He'd created. (A few days later I gained a new appreciation for a clover flower and the gradient of purple shades that each little spike in the flower has.)

,.~*~.,.~*~.,.~*~.,.~*~.,.~*~.,

Life went back to "normal" fairly quickly, except for the moments when I'd open up my collection of photos I took up there.

It was normal for 9 days.

Ten days after getting back home, my daughter and her husband learned that their unborn baby's heart had stopped beating.

I have a lot harder time finding words in the valleys. I wrote pages about my mountaintop experience, but here, in this valley we're currently in, my words are clipped and raw and inadequate in the opposite way.

My husband and I cry when we think of how we'll never get to watch our second grandchild smile... learn to crawl... learn to walk... do goofy things. All the precious little moments we've had so far with our young granddaughter -- those will never happen with this grandchild.

I cry when I realize that for the rest of my life, when people ask how many grandchildren I have, I'll struggle to decide what number to give.

I cry over how little I can do to ease the pain my daughter and son in law are dealing with.

I cry over the things I know they will deal with in the future... and the things they will face that I know nothing about.

And then I turn on worship music, and I go find something to busy my mind because that is how I handle grief -- by staying busy in between the moments where I face the sorrow, and by worshiping.

I have learned to handle all of life's challenges by worshiping.

,.~*~.,.~*~.,.~*~.,.~*~.,.~*~.,

I will never get to cuddle this tiny grandson here on earth. But this little one is already in the undimmed presence of the One whose love is beyond description. My mountaintop moment is nothing compared to what my grandson has gotten to experience for a whole week already. This knowledge somehow gives me joy mixed in with my sorrow.

This is where I am right now.

This is life.

It has its ups and its downs, and sometimes it throws you from one to the other at dizzying speed.

Nothing here on earth is guaranteed, and very little is constant. Therefore I will hold onto the Unchangeable One who called Himself "I Am." Because He is who He is, and that is who He always will be.

Very often, this year, I have found myself unable to think of any better way to praise Him other to thank Him so very much for simply being Himself -- for being who He is.

Jesus, my Savior.

God, my Heavenly Father.

The Holy Spirit, my Comforter and Teacher.

He is more than I can comprehend, and yet here with me, both on my mountaintops and in the valley of the shadow of death.

Where would I be without Him?

1 I lift up my eyes to the mountains—

where does my help come from?

2 My help comes from the Lord,

the Maker of heaven and earth.
- Psalm 121:1-2

Why God defended Moses (It wasn't his calling)

2022-08-07T19:54:00.006-05:00

This is a message Didier Tison gave in South Africa just this morning. The video is of the whole service, but this link should jump to the 1:03 point where he starts speaking.

The whole message is SO good, but this part in particular I want to share:

"Miriam and Aaron were speaking against Moses, and God challenged them. He said, 'With Moses, I space face to face… and he beholds Me. Why were you not afraid to speak against him?'"

"What does the word 'behold' mean? 'Behold' in the Hebrew is 'nāḇaṭ' which means to consider someone; to give our attention and respect someone. Some of us behold the news more than we behold God. Some of us behold politicians more than we behold God. Some of us behold our smartphone more than we behold God. God said, 'I'm fighting for Moses not because he has this high, mighty call. No! I fight for Moses because He beholds Me. Moses considers Me. Moses respects Me. Moses honors me. Moses puts me first.'

"God said, 'Moses is a person who beholds Me. He is a person who considers me. He is a person who respects me. I know Moses. He's not here for you; he's here for Me. He's not here for anything else but Me. The assignment means nothing to him. It's Me he loves.' In all of Moses's encounters with God, there was a pouring out of hearts. Moses was pouring out his heart to God, and God was pouring out His heart into him. This is what God is seeking from His bride. It's a time of intimacy. It's a time of pouring out of hearts. It's a time where God is saying, 'I need My people to reveal My heart.'"

Wow.

Aligning our desires (and prayers) with God's

2022-07-30T08:05:00.000-05:00

What are we praying for?

When circumstances get tough, the temptation is to pray that the circumstances change, so they're easier to bear.

What is actually better? To have nothing ever come against us? Or to be able to walk in the midst of things that are coming against us and still have joy and peace and still know God's leading and enjoy His presence?

Is it better if the fiery circumstances are quenched? Or is it better if we can walk through our fires without being burned?

A part of us wants to jump up and say, "I want the fires to just go away. The heat is too much." And often our prayers reflect that. We pray, "God, please make my company start treating their employees better. God, please stop those who are lying about me. God, please-oh-please make the gas and food prices stop going up."

And quite often those prayers aren't answered.

Maybe those prayers aren't in line with what God desires.

What if God's desire is to teach us how to walk so closely with Him that even in the midst of terrible circumstances, our peace and joy is not disturbed because it is based on Him instead of being based on our circumstances?

What if this transformation is necessary for the End Time church?

Is the scriptural?

Actually, it is!

Jesus said, "In this world you will have troubles, but fear not, I have overcome the world." (John 16:33) In other words, "Fear not, if you abide in Me, then the trouble in your life has no power over you."

1 Peter 4:12 says, "Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you, as though something strange were happening to you; it comes upon you for your testing. 13 Instead, to the degree that you share the sufferings of Christ, keep on rejoicing, so that at the revelation of His glory you may also rejoice and be overjoyed."

In school, a test is meant to reveal the level that we can excel at. Despite what kids think, they aren't simply given to torment them. Yet aren’t our prayers often, “God, please make this test go away”?

What if instead we prayed, “God help me to excel at this test!” This is what Paul did! He was in prison, and he did not ask people to pray for freedom. This is what he asked them to pray in Colossians 4:2–4: "And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains. Pray that I may proclaim it clearly, as I should."

Maybe your circumstances are weighing on you, and you're struggling with depression because of it. You could pray that the circumstances will change. Or you can pray that God would reveal Himself to you in such a way that the situation no longer weighs you down. Pray that you would be able to live free of depression even if the circumstance does not change.

Maybe you are facing a financial challenge that looks insurmountable, and it's keeping you awake at night and troubling your peace all day long. You could pray that God would just provide the money so you'd have nothing to worry about. Or you could thank God that He has already promised to provide and ask Him to show you how to rest in that promise. Pray that He would teach You how to stand against the voices that are whispering "what if?" all day long and how to draw so close to Him that the glory of His presence would leave no room for fear and worry.

One prayer is focused on the problem. The others are focused on the One who is the Answer and the Way, the Truth, and the Life!

Church, let’s rise to the challenge and allow Him to align our desires and our prayers with His heart. Let’s allow Him to make us into the spiritual warriors that He needs to accomplish His purposes in our homes and communities.

Lord, we want to become the church that Jesus prophesied about – the church that He said the Gates of Hell could not stand against. Open our eyes to see any areas of our lives and thought patterns and even our prayers that are not in line with what You want to do in the earth. Increase our faith in every difficult circumstance to know that Your provision will always be enough, not only for our circumstances, but also for our minds and our emotions and our hearts. Make Your glory known in us and through us. We ask this in the all-powerful name of Jesus, Amen!

Romans 5:2 “…we celebrate in hope of the glory of God. 3 And not only this, but we also celebrate in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance; 4 and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope.”

God's been changing an often-used phrase [Video]

2022-07-13T09:36:00.003-05:00

Transcript (edited for clarity)

Hello everyone! I hope you can hear me because my voice is a little weak today.

I just want to share something real quick. I’ve only got a few minutes, but this is something that I’ve been sitting on for a while that I’ve had in my heart to share, and I feel like God is saying to share it now regardless of my voice and my limited time this morning.

There's a phrase that I’ve often said for many, many years over my life.

An example would be like if I hear about a sale or I think about something in a store, and I later decide I want to go back and get it. And then as I’m thinking about it or talking with someone about it, I say this phrase (or I used to say this phrase) where I would say, “Yeah, I’ve got to go back and get that pretty quick because I’m afraid that if I wait too long it's going to be gone,” or something along those lines.

Or maybe I’m supposed to meet somebody somewhere, and I might say, “I’m afraid I’m going to miss them.”

Or maybe I have a deadline looming and I say, “I’m afraid I’m not going to have enough time to get it all done.”

These are phrases that I would just frequently toss out there all the time, and a number of months back (maybe it was last year; I don't remember how far back) God really started highlighting those words “I’m afraid that.”

When He did, I kind of pushed back and said, “But God, I’m not actually afraid. It doesn't really matter that much if the sale is gone or the items are gone by the time I get back to the store. I just don't want it to be. But I’m not actually afraid. It's not actually fear.”

His response was kind of like I felt like He said, “Isn't it?”

He kept pointing it out until it got to the point finally where I can't utter those words anymore. I can't even think them. It's like He stops me every time.

I think what He's been showing me is that even though I don't think it's fear, and even though maybe according to a lot of definitions that we have it's not fear, or it's maybe not even worry--it's just a thing we say---it still matters because our words have power. It still opens a part of my life to fear.

And even if I feel like it's not doing that, it's most certainly not living in trust with a Heavenly Father who's promised to provide for my needs--and not only to provide for my needs, but to be a good Father! You know in the Bible, Jesus says, "If a son asks for bread or a fish, a good father will not give him a stone will he?"

So no matter what, those words are not the right point of view. It's not the right path that God wants me to take.

The path that he's been leading me down instead is to first ask Him whether that thing that I want to go get at the store or those things that I want to get done or those people that I want to meet up with--if those activities that I’m wanting are in line with His will. First say, "God do You want me to go get that thing at the store? Do You want me to get this done today? Is it important to You that I get this done today? God, do you want me to meet those people today or is the timing off?"

So first ask for His will.

And then, if I feel that it is His will (or sometimes I don't feel like I have a clear answer but the desire is still in my heart and so I pray, "Lord give me the desires of Your heart--make the desires of my heart mirror the desires of Your heart)... and so if the desire is still there, then I’ll start walking and moving towards whatever that thing is.

But I leave it up to Him. I don't say, "I’m afraid that it's not going to get done." I just leave it up to Him if it gets done today. Then if God wants it to get done today, then He will bless my efforts and bless the work of my hands and ordain my steps and my actions and it'll get done. And if it doesn't get done today, then I’m okay with that because I surrendered this to Him. Even my ability to accomplish things in a day is His. Or if I get there at the store and they're gone, then I wasn't intended to get it. But if He wants to me to have it, then it'll be there when I get there and there's no need for me to say that I’m afraid it's not going to be there or there's not going to be any left.

So this is for me. It's been a small thing, but even though it's small I kind of feel like it's been a major shift in my life because of how many probably thousands of times that this has come up in me. Therefore these little teeny tiny bits of changes kind of signify a significant shift.

So that's what I wanted to share this morning, and I hope it blesses someone out there! I hope that you are encouraged to continue moving forward in your walk with God and discovering the things that He has for you that He wants to show you, and share with you, and give to you, and grow in His relationship with you.

So many blessings on your day today!

What it doesn't mean when we encounter struggles

2022-06-02T08:29:00.010-05:00

"Satan does not care when Christians pursue their own visions and their own plans, but when the Spirit of God is in operation, putting the pieces together for a strategic conquest of souls for God’s glory, Satan is worried and all kinds of problems and troubles break out."

This quote came from a message given by someone I trust, and it got me to thinking about a few things.

1) This is not how I thought for many years. I and other Christians would often talk as if struggle and trouble was a sign that we might not be in God's will, but if everything was going smoothly, then God was blessing and we were where we were supposed to be.

2) But I'm realizing that what I used to think (#1) isn't scriptural. The Bible is full of examples where God purposefully led people right into struggles and troubles. He led the Israelites directly to the place where they were cornered by the Red Sea and the Egyptian army! Joseph went through tons of difficulty and he later testified that this was God's plan for his life. Paul was beaten and stoned and shipwrecked and more, yet we don't look at his story and claim that this proved he wasn't following God's will for his life.

If we look at the examples given in how God spoke and dealt with the Israelites when they were on the way to their Promised Land, we see that God purposefully led them (by a cloud and by fire) into impossible circumstances over and over and over again. And then He showed His power and delivered them.

But what He wanted from them in these circumstances was trust. He repeatedly reprimanded when they chose NOT to trust Him, even though He had proven His power to deliver and provide over and over again.

They continued to choose to complain and doubt Him, rather than choosing to trust that where He led, He would provide!

For many of them, this choice that they made kept them out of their Promised Land! For those who learned to trust, they entered their Promised Land... and walked right into more battles!

I think this is a good reminder to me, to trust God's leading and look for His provision in the midst of struggles, rather that looking at the struggles themselves and thinking something is "wrong" because I am going through them.

Romans 5:3-5 ... We also celebrate in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance; and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope; and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.

Mothers are World-Changers

2022-05-06T20:29:00.002-05:00

God gave me this last summer, but this is a month for encouraging women and mothers.

This is Psalm 86:16, which is one of King David’s psalms:

Turn to me and have mercy on me;
show Your strength on behalf of Your servant;
save me, because I serve You just as my mother did.

This is the NIV-UK version. Most other versions have "the son of Your maidservant," but it means the same thing, doesn't it? David was saying that his mother served the Lord, and he includes this as a reason for God to help him.

And that realization made me stop.

Here is David, the man whom God identified as having a heart focused and dedicated to Him… and David is saying that he learned to serve God from watching his mother serve God. He doesn’t credit his father Jesse or his famous great-grandfather Boaz whose names are written in history. He credits his mother, whose name has long since been forgotten.

As far as I can tell, this is the only place in the Bible where David's mother is mentioned, but could anything better have been said of her?

I think not!

Her heart for God shaped history.

David, the most powerful and famous king of Israel, was chosen by God because of his heart for God… and here he says this was due to his mother.

David was a mighty warrior, but he said over and over again that his strength and his victory and his protection in battle came from God. And God said He did this for David because David was His servant. And David said his mother taught him to serve God.

Jesus's lineage was defined by being a descendent of David… because God promised a lasting kingdom to David… because of what he learned from his mother.

Who was this woman? Was David her only son? Why, when Samuel told Jesse to call all his sons, did Jesse ignore David and not include him in that summons? We can only speculate, which might not be profitable.

But we can consider how David's life would have been different if his mother had chosen not to serve God.

I think we can take it one step further and consider how different the entire nation of Israel - and maybe even the world - would be if this forgotten woman had not led her son in being the servant of God.

Just think about that for a minute!

I want to speak to you, young mother or older mother.

I want to encourage you, precious woman who has born no children but who nurtures the children of others.

You who are tired and feeling overlooked and unappreciated as you make the daily sacrifices, and as you pray for your children in both the quiet moments and the noisy ones, and as you wearily fall asleep in the middle of your prayer time, giving your last precious waking moments to the God you serve.

The Eternal One sees you.

And He has a plan.

He sees your heart. If your heart is His, then that’s all He needs.

You, overlooked mother, are a very important part of His plan.

Don’t be jealous of those who appear to be powerful in the 'Now.'

For you, as a mother, have the power to shape the Future. Through you, God will change the world.

Just keep your heart dedicated to Him.

He will do the rest.

Story Time: My car accident and God's care of me [Video]

2022-04-14T10:46:00.001-05:00

Story time!

This is the story of my car accident, how God took care of me, and how He used it to transform my life.

Here are the original website blog posts I wrote as I was going through the things referenced in this story:

- My husband in ICU: http://hopeiscalling.blogspot.com/2014/10/of-this-i-am-convinced.html

- My car accident and struggles: http://hopeiscalling.blogspot.com/2014/11/struggles.html

- What God did: http://hopeiscalling.blogspot.com/2014/11/my-god-takes-care-of-me.html

- Emerging: http://hopeiscalling.blogspot.com/2014/12/steadfast-means.html

The song I mentioned was Francesca Battistelli. The 2:30 point is what bowled me over, when God whispered, "I've got you."

- Listen on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1NHQJWdXfFE

- Listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/track/2lrHKMXyu8LTLxMorzJkTQ?si=374cd5c7d70d42a1

A new question to ask in prayer [Video]

2022-04-12T10:45:00.010-05:00

This morning when I was out walking and talking with God, I asked Him a question that is a relatively new question for me to ask Him... and then I thought some more about why it took me over 30 years of prayer to ever think of it!

Over the years, my prayer life has shifted and changed and adapted and grown and matured as my relationship with God has grown and changed.

There were times when my prayers were list-driven.

There have been many prayers that were extremely random.

There have been times that I set aside to pray and purposefully quieted myself, and many more times when prayer was just me reaching out for God while I was in the middle of whatever messy situation I was in.

There have been hours when my prayer and worship intermingled and merged and overwhelmed me with the goodness of God.

There were seasons when I tried to structure my prayers, and then times when structure made me feel I was faking things.

But throughout all of these times, the prayers typically started with whatever was uppermost in my thoughts. And if I didn't get distracted or pulled away to something else that life was throwing at me, then I'd think about whatever other things I wanted to pray about.

I'd like to highlight something in that last sentence, so I'll repeat it.

I'd think about whatever other things I wanted to pray about.

After all those years, only last year did it occur to me to ask this question:

Lord, what would YOU like to talk about?

I realized that, if prayer is ultimately a conversation, then I had been controlling the conversations... for 35 years or more!

Imagine what would happen with our human friendships if every single time, one of them started the conversation, determined what the conversation would be about, and walked away when they didn't have anything else to think about. What would happen if that person never let the other lead the conversation?

Wow.

I am very, very glad that God has a lot more patience and love and forgiveness than humans do! Because He's still there, ready and waiting for me to go to Him, talk about my concerns, unload my burdens, and feel His love and comfort wrap around me.

I think He enjoys it now, though, when I say, "Well, Lord, here I am. What would You like to talk about?"

Words in the dirt (12 minutes of what's on my heart) [Video]

2022-03-16T12:27:00.006-05:00

This morning I was out walking, and I wanted to share what was on my heart. So here it is.

If we want to see miracles

2022-03-01T08:00:00.044-05:00

Many Christians long to see miracles like the stories in the Bible. I've seen some in my life, but I'll gladly see more! But before I get to miracles, I want to start with something that's been growing inside of me since December.

The Christmas story often starts with Gabriel's visit to Mary. Gabriel explained that she was going to conceive and become the mother of the Messiah, and her initial reaction reflected her natural confusion at how it was going to happen. When she understood what Gabriel was saying, her response seems simple at first. But I've recently come to understand the value and power of it. She purposefully responded to Gabriel and to God by saying, "I am the Lord's maidservant. May it be to me as you have said."

I love this response for two reasons.

First, it demonstrates the faith that Romans 4:21 talks about Abraham also having, because he was "fully convinced that God was able to do what He had promised." Mary clearly had that same simple trust. She was curious about the how, but it does not appear to have even entered her mind that God might not be able to follow through on what the angel said would happen.

But even more than that, I love how she embraced what God had spoken! There was still a lot she didn't know, but she declared herself to be the servant of God. She was saying, "Whatever God desires, here I am. Without knowing all the details. Without knowing where this will lead. God is able to do whatever He says He will do, and I am willing for Him to do whatever He desires in my life."

I am learning to echo Mary's prayer. When I read a passage in the Bible that talks about what God desires of us or what He has promised to do in His people, I've learned Mary's response is appropriate for me as well. For example, Ephesians 2:10 says, "For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them." Even though I might be struggling with feeling equipped or with knowing what exactly He wants me to do in a situation, this verse says that He prepared them, so I respond with, "I am the Lord's servant. May it be to me as You have said."

Recently, I was listening to a message based on the story of Jesus' first miracle, when He turned the water to wine in John 2. Perhaps because of my recent focus on servanthood, I found myself noticing in particular the role that the servants played in the story.

The servants did the work of filling up the massive water jugs. They may not have thought much about that initial direction from Jesus, but surely they had questions running through their minds when Jesus next told them to take some of the water to the headwaiter to taste. We don't know if this was the first time they had ever met Jesus, but we do know that Jesus had never performed any miracle. They could easily have been thinking, "What? Bring him water? Why? He's not going to appreciate a cup of water right now, and I might not be given a chance to explain. I could get in trouble for this!"

And yet they obeyed Jesus and drew a cup from the barrel that they had just finished filling with water.

Then we come to this part of the story:

The master of the feast tasted the water now become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew).
- John 2:9

Why is this significant? Because it means that the servants were the only ones who actually saw the miracle! They were the ones who drew the water from the well, and they were the ones who watched the headwaiter marvel over the quality of the wine.

Even the disciples most likely didn't see it. What reason would they have had to follow the servants to the well or to inspect the water after it was drawn? They didn't know what Jesus was about to do. It's likely they drank some of the new wine, so if they had been aware of what Jesus had told the servants to do (like The Chosen portrayed), then it would have been easy to figure out, of course. And clearly John did since he told the story.

But the disciples played no part in the miracle.

It was the servants who, through their obedience, got to participate in the miracle.

It was the servants who got the front row seats!

There were other miracles where servants got the front row seats as well.

When Jesus told Peter to cast his net on the other side of the boat, and suddenly the net was full of fish, there were hired servants there with James and John, according to Mark's abbreviated version of the story.

When a Jewish father came to ask Jesus to heal his son, the son was left at home with the servants. So when Jesus healed the son from a distance, it was the servants who got to witness the miracle according to John 4:51.

When the centurion came to Jesus and asked Him to heal his servant, he also left the sick servant at home with the other servants. The disciples weren't at the centurion's house to watch the servant be healed. No - once again, it was only the servants who were attending their sick fellow servant who got to see his sudden healing. Even the centurion didn't see it!

The disciples did, of course, witness many other miracles, and in time, miracles happened at their command as well. But I think it's interesting that Jesus taught them that they must be servants.

If anyone serves Me, he must follow Me;
and where I am, there My servant will be also;
if anyone serves Me, the Father will honor him. - John 12:26

It is clear that the disciples learned the lesson, for in their prayer in Acts 4:29-30, they prayed as Mary did, committing themselves as bondservants to God. Their prayer also indicates a connection between their status as servants of God and His miracle-working power.

And now, Lord, take note of their threats, and grant that Your bondservants may speak Your word with all confidence, while You extend Your hand to heal, and signs and wonders take place through the name of Your holy servant Jesus.

Looking through the New Testament, I think it's interesting to see how often the disciples identified themselves as servants of God. Look at these examples:

Rather, as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way. - 2 Corinthians 6:3-5

Paul, a bondservant of Christ Jesus, called as an apostle - Romans 1:1

Paul and Timothy, bondservants of Christ Jesus... - Philippians 1:1

Epaphras, our beloved fellow bondservant, who is a faithful servant of Christ on our behalf... - Colossians 1:7

Tychicus, our beloved brother and faithful servant and fellow bondservant in the Lord... - Colossians 4:7

James, a bondservant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ... - James 1:1

Simon Peter, a bondservant and apostle of Jesus Christ... - 2 Peter 1:1

Jude, a bondservant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James... - Jude 1:1

The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show to His bondservants... - Revelation 1:1

Even the evil spirit in Acts 16:17 referred to them as bondservants of God!

What about us today?

I believe that if we want the front row seats in watching miracles - if we want to be an active participant in the miracles that we long to see - then we need to make the same commitment to God that Mary did and that the disciples did. We must pray, "I am Your bondservant. May it be to me as You have said."

Your will be done on earth as it is in Heaven. - The Lord's Prayer

This is the way any person is to regard us: as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. - 1 Corinthians 4:1

And the hand of the LORD will be made known to His servants. - Isaiah 66:14

For those who worry about their children's salvation

2022-02-19T07:06:00.003-05:00

For those who worry about their children's salvation,

A few years ago I was really struggling with the same fear due to things some of my children were going through. I remember one night when I was laying in bed, praying for them, and I was almost begging God to do this thing or that thing which I felt was needed in their lives. Looking back, I was almost entirely focused on the problems I saw in their lives and how strong I knew "the pull of the world" was. Hence the fear.

But then God stopped me. Suddenly I felt that this question was before me:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Which do you believe is stronger: the pull of the world or God's ability to draw your kids to Him?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It was like God was saying, "Nevermind all the places where it currently looks like the world or the devil is winning. Do You believe that I am powerful enough to pull stronger at their hearts?"

When I thought about it in that way, I realized that the idea that God might not be strong enough to do something was laughable. In that moment of revelation, my fears vanished and my prayers shifted from begging to praise. "Thank You Lord that You are so powerful! Thank You that You are so loving! Thank You for Your faithfulness!" And I began to learn even more about the power of praise and worship in the dark places of our lives.

If this is where you're at, think about that question and examine what you really believe. Talk it out with God. Ask Him your questions and let Him challenge you if He wishes. Your prayers and praise have power in your kids' lives, but that power is multiplied when it's built on revelations God has given us instead of fear.

If you want to read more about the power of praise in the darkness, read more here!

Why God's people flourish in a tent

2022-01-26T08:02:00.002-05:00

I am reading in Proverbs again, and I came to Proverbs 14:1.

The house of the wicked will be destroyed, But the tent of the upright will flourish.

The word 'tent' jumped out at me.

In this verse, the wicked are in a house and the righteous are in a tent. So this is stating something that goes against appearances and worldly wisdom.

Also, the righteous are in a tent, not a hut or a shack. A tent doesn't symbolize something poor; it symbolizes something temporary. This world is not our home.

A tent is something that can easily move. We are called to move and follow the Lord's leading - to move as He moves.

It is this type of life - - living in a way that acknowledges the temporary state of our time on earth and the season we are currently in - - willing and ready to follow His lead with our entire lives - - THIS is where we flourish.

Fundamentals of Hearing God's Voice

2022-01-23T16:00:00.009-05:00

Hello everyone! This video is a follow-up to the long storytelling video from a week or so ago. I felt like there might be people who feel like I once did, thinking, "Wait a minute... God talks to me? What does that sound like? How do I learn what's Him?"

This shorter video attempts to share what I feel are some of the important fundamentals that each servant of God must understand if they want to hear God's voice.

Sharing my heart live Saturday January 15th

2022-01-15T09:59:00.006-05:00

I'm sharing some things that God has placed on my heart, told through stories of what He's done in my life in the last two years.

I did this on Facebook live, but here is the recording which I've uploaded to YouTube.

Discovering what the hope of your calling actually is

2022-01-06T08:22:00.008-05:00

Fifteen years ago, I started this blog on a whim. I wasn't really sure what I'd do with it, and I certainly didn't think I'd be here, fifteen years later, still writing about hope!

I took the name "Hope Is Calling" from the verse that is still, 15 years later, my favorite.

[I pray that] that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him. I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the boundless greatness of His power toward us who believe. These are in accordance with the working of the strength of His might.
- Eph 1:17-19

I still pray that God will give me a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him.

I still pray that He would open the eyes of my heart to know the hope of His calling.

I still ask Him to show me the riches of the glory of His inheritance and the boundless greatness of His power toward me.

And over the years, I cannot count the number of other people I've crossed paths with who are also experiencing their lives being continually transformed... and who also count this verse as one of their favorites.

Fifteen years ago, when I started this blog, I wrote that the most intriguing part of this verse was 'the hope of His calling.' I wrote this:

"When that verse became my favorite, it was for other parts of the verse, such as "open the eyes of your heart" and "spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him" and "riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints." I didn't get the 'hope of His calling' part. I couldn't figure out what it meant, exactly. But during the last two years, I have slowly come to think of the hope of God's calling as summing up the fullness and richness and wonder of everything that we receive of God's love when we respond to God's calling in our life."

In the fifteen years since, I have still, quite frequently, felt like there was "something more" to that phrase, "the hope of His calling." I've asked many times for God to show me what else was hidden there.

He finally showed me a few weeks ago. 😀

At the time, I was reading this passage in Romans 8:

28 And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. 29 For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters; 30 and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified. 31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us?

The first and last verses in that passage are some of the most often-quoted verses in churches, but the middle two are often forgotten, even though they are pivotal!

You see, verse 28 ends with "to those who are called according to His purpose," so verse 29 goes on to declare what God's purpose actually is. It's saying, "This is His goal for the end of the story. This is why He uses everything for good in your life... because He is not content for Jesus to be His only child. He's not content to have Jesus be the only one who walked like Jesus walked. His purpose is for there to be many brothers and sisters who also walk like Jesus did!

Verses 29 and 30 sum up the story. Our story. Take a look at this four-part story:

Those whom He foreknew, He also predestined...
and these whom He predestined, He also called;
and these whom He called, He also justified;
and these whom He justified, He also glorified.

First, He predestined us. What that means is that since God exists outside of time, He knew the entire story of our lives before time even began. We cannot get away from what He knows will happen -- not because we don't have free will to make choices, but because He already knows what our choices will be, and what choices other people will make that affect us, and the next choices we'll make in response, and so forth. And He doesn't waste that knowledge. He has planned - predestined - things that He will show us and do for us at thousands of pivotal moments along the way so that He can bring us to that end goal that He desires. That is where this verse's story begins, with that predestination outside of time.

The second part of the story is when He calls us. This is when He steps inside the Timeline of our story, and we hear His call to follow Him. The gospels recount the stories of when Jesus called a number of the disciples, and the Bible also recounts the moment when Saul was called, when Isaiah and Jeremiah were called, when Moses was called, and many others. Each of us also had a moment in our lives when we first heard His call. Many times, it took us a while to identify what that call actually was and then make the decision to answer it, but the call was there, inside of our life's timeline!

When we answer the call, He justifies us. That means that He takes the sacrifice that Jesus made on the cross, and God applies it to our account. If we compare it to an accountant who is doing the books for a company, they're looking at this big balance that is on the books for Katie, that I owe. But then there's also this absolutely perfect payment that Jesus made. When I answered God's call, He said, "Okay, that payment is now credited to Katie's account," and when that credit was written down, the balance of my debt became zero. It was justified. Perfectly balanced.

The final part of the story is that He glorifies us. This is perhaps the hardest part to comprehend, because God - telling the story from His viewpoint outside of time - is telling it in past tense and says that I am glorified! The reality is that this is a continuation of His choice to justify me. For just as He has credited Jesus's death on the cross to my account to pay my debt, so also He has credited the glory of Jesus's triumph over death when He rose again to my account! I'm stuck inside this Timeline of my life where it's hard to see it, but if I believe He cannot lie and His words are true, then this is true as well!

And that brings me back to my favorite verse and the hope of His calling.

Because in that four-part timeline, there is only one part that we humans can easily grab a hold of. The call.

The predestination happens before time began. We weren't there, and we didn't know when it happened.

The justification is something that we cannot possibly understand unless He gives us the revelation to understand it.

The glorification is the end of the story - where He's taking us. And in the many moments when we're looking for hope, that glorious end of the story doesn't feel real to us...which is why we're looking for hope.

But the calling... that's the part we know. That is the point in the four-part story that is placed into our hands.

The hope of His calling is the knowledge and revelation that this calling that we hear is part of this four-part process and story.

It's not a call that stands on its own.

If you hear Him calling you, then you can rest assured that He predestined you before time began... otherwise you'd never hear Him calling you! Romans 8:30 assures you that the calling IS a result of His predestination!

And then, if you answer the call, then you can know what part three and part four are also! He justifies you, and He glorifies you! It doesn't really matter that our natural mind has a hard time wrapping itself around how we could be so full of glory that we become glorified. This verse assures us that if indeed we have heard the call, then being justified and glorified IS where the story is going!

This is the hope of His calling.

The hope is found in the knowledge that this calling that we hear means so much more.

The hope is found in the assurance that we hear the call and answer the call by giving our lives to Him, but He does everything else. You notice that the verse doesn't say, "Those whom He calls must figure out how to justify themselves and work hard enough that eventually they'll become glorious because of how perfect they've become." Nope. Those whom He called, He justified, and those whom He justified, He glorified. He does it. All of Romans 8 reiterates this over and over again.

Perhaps the most perfect reminder in all of it is how verse 31 ends. If God is for us, who can be against us? Even our own self no longer counts against us.

All we have to do is answer the call and give ourselves to Him, for Him to do His amazing work. All we have to do is repeatedly choose not to take our lives back. To stay fully surrendered. And He'll do the rest!

What is better than New Years' Resolutions? What is eternal.

2022-01-01T20:29:00.002-05:00

Instead of resolutions...

Instead of resolutions, which are typically ideas that come out of *our* own wisdom, of what *we* think *we* can do manage to do in our *own* strength, about what *we* think we need to get to where *we* want to go.

Us. We. Our. Me. I.

Let's shift and instead ask God what *He* wants to do in us this year.

Let's acknowledge that we are nothing without Him and it is His grace and empowerment that will carry out His purposes this year.

Let's ask Him where He wants us to go.

Let's trust Him that He *is* able to lead us!

"Lord, this year, I ask You to give me more revelations of You. I ask You to give me the things that You most desire to give me. I ask You to lead me where You want me to go. I desire to serve You and love You more. I want to finish this year closer to you than I am today, giving glory to You and resting in Your peace and joy no matter what the year holds. Because I know that if I am held by You, then it does not matter what the year holds. I ask this in Jesus' name, Amen!

The best exchange we could participate in this year

2021-12-18T12:08:00.000-05:00

We live in a click-bait world that feeds on fear and anxiety. Advertisers and media earn billions off of our clicks, and they have become experts at offering us more and more of the things we're more likely to click on and read.

The problem is that, for some reason, we humans are a lot more likely to want to know about the scandalous things and fearful worst-case scenarios and disasters than the good things. We're many times more likely to follow something that says "2 thousand dead from ___" than we are a headline that says "280 million Americans lived peacefully today."

Since that's what we click on, is it any wonder that advertisers feed us what we evidently want more of? Thus, we have a constant stream of bad news available, gathered for us from all around the world, and served up through a wide variety of news media and social media. Even worse, if we miss some juicy or outrageous tidbit, the odds are good that the outraged person next to us will pass it on, eager to share!

One result of this never-ending bounty is the epidemic of fear and anxiety that continues to increase its grip on the world. In fact, its grip is so strong that millions of people now own it, calling it "my" anxiety rather than recognizing it as a spiritual enemy originating outside of us and attacking us.

Even if you don't suffer from fear and anxiety, then odds are good that all of this still tries to steal your peace and joy to replace it with anger, outrage, and frustration.

Fear, anxiety, anger, outrage, and frustration… none of these are the fruit/result of the Holy Spirit reigning in our lives, are they?

I think one of the most powerful keys against these attacks is found is an often-forgotten verse tucked away in a chapter more famously known for a later verse that says, "I can do all things…" You know the rest of that verse in Philippians 4.

But let's look at verse 8. Paul says this:

Whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, think about these things.

I think it's too easy to skim read those words without really thinking about what God is really saying.

Without doing a self-evaluation.

Let's consider the opposite. It would look something like this:

Whatever people are lying about, whatever is scandalous, whatever is wrong, whatever sin people are engaging in, whatever is nasty, whatever needs to be denounced, if there is anything bad going on and if anything worthy of condemnation, think about these things, (and post them on social media and make them your main topic of conversation, etc.)

That, of course, is not what God is saying to do.

Or is that maybe what He's saying we should not do?

Let's read the verse again the way the Holy Spirit gave it to Paul:

Whatever is true,
Whatever is honorable,
Whatever is right,
Whatever is pure,
Whatever is lovely,
Whatever is commendable,
If there is any excellence and if anything is worthy of praise,
Think about these things.

What do you think? Is this verse really something He is telling us to do, or is it just a suggestion?

Is He telling us to do it ALL the time, or just sometimes?

If God wants us to make the conscious choice in a world of trouble to think and talk about these kinds of things, why?

Could it be because He loves us?

Could it be that He knows that we empower the things that we focus on, giving them added power to affect our lives?

What can we think and talk about when it seems that there is nothing going on around us that fits the qualifications in this verse?

HIM! For He is true and honorable and pure and lovely and worthy of praise!

.~*^*~.,.~*^*~.,.~*^*~.,.~*^*~.,.~*^*~.

This Christmas, let's celebrate Him and choose to end our year by giving our focus and attention to Him.

His truth.

His ways.

The things that He is doing.

Let's allow everything else that's fighting for our attention to fall away.

Let's shove it away if we have to, that we might obey and honor Him and fix our thoughts on everything good and true and pure and lovely and worthy of commendation and praise!

Let's exchange our thoughts for His and allow Him to renew our minds and transform us! What better gift exchange could we participate in this year?

.~*^*~.,.~*^*~.,.~*^*~.,.~*^*~.,.~*^*~.

"Set your minds on the things that are above, not on the things that are on earth." Colossians 3:2

"Let us run with endurance and active persistence the race that is set before us, [looking away from all that will distract us and] focusing our eyes on Jesus, who is the Author and Perfecter of our faith." Hebrews 12:1-2

"For my eyes are toward You, God, the Lord; In You I take refuge." Psalm 141:8

"Turn your eyes upon Jesus
Look full in His wonderful face
And the things of earth
Will grow strangely dim
In the light of His glory and grace."
- 1922 Hymn by Helen Howarth Lemmel

The battle of testimonies decides the winner of the war

2021-12-03T09:19:00.006-05:00

Recently, when I was talking with God about things, He pointed out something in Revelation 12:10-11 that I'd never seen before. It says:

For the accuser of our brothers and sisters…
has been hurled down.
They [the people of God] triumphed over him
by the blood of the Lamb [Jesus]
and by the word of their testimony;

I suddenly realized that this passage depicts a war of testimonies in what you might say is the court battle of the ages. The accuser - our enemy the devil - testifies against us, the people of God. But we, the people of God, triumph. Note that this is an announcement by a loud voice in heaven making a declaration about something that has already passed in the story that Revelations is telling but is present and future for us in our timeline right now.

How do the people of God triumph against our accuser? We defeat his testimony, not by having a good defense and not because his accusations are false. No, we defeat his testimony by giving testimony of our own - testimony about what Jesus has done for us!

What does this actually look like in our lives?

It often starts with the devil saying, "Look what you've done. You should be ashamed." Sometimes that accusation comes through people, but often it's just a nasty whisper in our mind.

Those accusations can dig some really deep roots, can't they? They affect how we think, how we act, our relationships, and often how we respond to God. We usually don't even know just how deep those roots are or how much they're affecting.

So perhaps it's not surprising that when I look back over the years of God's work in my life, I see that God's process for setting me free usually starts with digging up those bad roots.

The thing is, we're often not aware that that's what He's doing when we're in the middle of it. We just know that life isn't going well. We forget that all the best stories start off with things not going well.

My stories - my testimonies of what God's done in my life - all start with bad situations.

God wanted me to understand what Jesus was talking about when He said in John 17 that He is in me and I am in Him. So 20+ years ago, He let me reach a point where I was unhappy with just about everything in my life, but mostly with myself. To say that I didn't like who I was is putting it mildly. But I cried out to God, over and over again, because I believed that He had the answer. Well... one day I was a klutz (again) and dropped a glass. I stood there amongst the shattered bits… and God spoke right there in my kitchen. And my life changed. That's one of my stories.

15 years ago, we were trying to sell our house in Florida, and God allowed it to lose over $100k of value as the real estate market crashed. Our plans to buy a house debt free went up in smoke that year, and it was rough. But God wanted to set me free from my biggest fear, and His plan to do that continued uninterrupted. It took years because that fear had some really deep roots, but He did it. He set me free. And then last year, in the middle of a pandemic when both of us were experiencing a reduction in income, God spoke… and our house was paid off. Our dream of owning our own without a mortgage came true. That's another story.

7 years ago, I hit black ice, totaling my car in a slow-motion car accident that allowed me to experience PTSD. But God wanted to set me free from my self-sufficiency. I cried out to Him and waited on Him and began learning desperately-needed lessons about relying on Him for everything. And then one day He spoke, and again my life was transformed. That's another story.

These last two years have been the most amazing years of my life as far as my walk with God goes… and it started with a worldwide pandemic shutdown and two emotionally difficult months where I cried a lot and slept a lot and felt very lost most of the time. Ever been there? But I knew where to turn, and over those two months, I cried out to Him over and over again, and finally He spoke, and then He spoke again, and again, and He keeps speaking as I continue seeking Him, and my life keeps changing in another ongoing story.

Every difficult period of my life has led to life-changing revelations.

He does the work.

I do the trusting and the seeking to know Him and the waiting on Him and the worshiping Him.

How many of you also have stories that started in darkness and trouble, but God set you free?

You know, sometimes we're in multiple stories at once. Right now, even though many things in my walk with God are amazing, I'm struggling in one area of my life. But now I'm able to recognize it for what it is -- God is digging up bad roots, and when He does that, it means it's the dark part of another story. It means He's doing something that's amazing.

So when the tears well up and the devil tries to make me think it's hopeless, I think of all my stories, and I say, "No it's not hopeless. This is another story in the making. This is another story that I'll look back on someday and be amazed at what God has done! Because that's what He does, and neither circumstances nor my mistakes nor the failures of those around me have the power to change His character and His faithfulness and His ability and desire and promises to work in my life. He will do it because I've given my life to Him."

Is anyone else also in the middle of a story?

Do you know that we can praise Him and rejoice for the end of the story, even when it hasn't happened yet? We can! Even though we don't know how it'll happen!

Those are the best movies and books, right? The stories where, at the darkest moment, when the world in the story is falling apart, you have no idea how things are going to work out and how the story will end because the story's author is that good. But even though you don't know how they're going to get out of the terrible situation, you're excited anyway because you trust that the author or movie-writer wrote a good ending.

Do you trust the Author of your story to write a good ending?

Jesus is the author of our story and the perfecter of our faith according to Hebrews 12. He paid for our past mistakes. He redeems what others have done to us.

That's what He does.

Isaiah 43:18-19 is one of my favorite passages in the Bible, for God says to His people:

“Forget the former things
And do not dwell on the past.
Look, I am doing a new thing!
Now it springs up; don't you see it?
I will even make a roadway in the wilderness [where it looks like there is no way],
And rivers in the desert [where it feels dry and barren]."

Our enemy - the Accuser - likes to say to us, "Look what you've done." We triumph by saying, "Nope, God says not to dwell on the past! He's doing something new!" And we turn our eyes to our God and Savior, and we praise Him, saying, "Look what You've done!"

Look What You've Done

- Tasha Layton "Look what you've done How could you fall so far? You should be ashamed of yourself." So I was ashamed of myself The lies I believed They've got some roots that run deep I let them take a hold of my life I let them take control of my life Standing in Your presence Lord I can feel You digging all the roots up I feel You healing all my wounds up All I can say is hallelujah Look what You've done! Look what You've done in me! You spoke Your truth into the lies I let my heart believe Look at me now! Look how You made me new! The enemy did everything that he could do, Oh but look what You've done! Suddenly all the shame is gone I thought I was too broken, now I see You were breaking new ground inside of me Standing in Your presence Lord I can feel You digging all the roots up I feel You healing all my wounds up All I can say is hallelujah Look what You've done! Look what You've done in me! You spoke Your truth into the lies I let my heart believe Look at me now! Look how You made me new! The enemy did everything that he could do, Oh but look what You've done! On the cross, in a grave Where the stone rolled away All my debt, it was paid Look what you've done!

In my heart, in my mind

In my soul, in my life

With my hands lifted high, I'm singing

Look what You've done!

The story of our mortgage vs. God

2021-11-25T07:00:00.029-05:00

Over the years on this blog, I’ve occasionally shared testimonies related to housing. In fact, 14 years ago on Thanksgiving morning, I shared the ups and downs of how God had directed us to move to Ohio. Today, I’ll share a story that’s kind of overdue since it’s over a year old. It's a continuation of that story I shared 14 years ago.

I’m going to backtrack even more though, because this story starts in late 2005 when we started dreaming of owning our home without a mortgage. At the time, the real estate market was really high in Florida, and we were almost done with a home remodel. We decided to finish up the remaining work and put the house on the market. The profit was supposed to be enough that we could move up north and pay cash for our next house. Owning a home mortgage-free seemed within reach!

What we didn’t know was that the US was at the height of a real estate bubble that was about to burst. As the months went by and the housing market collapsed, so did our dreams. Our county was listed as having the fastest real estate decline in the nation. We finally sold our house in late 2007 for half its 2005 value, and we moved to Ohio with just barely enough for a down payment, right in the middle of the Great Recession.

So when we bought this house, we took out a 30-year mortgage like normal. I think the interest rate was 7% or something like that, which wasn't bad at the time. But then, in 2010, we 'happened' across a Black Friday deal for a bank that no longer exists, where you could get a 10-year balloon payment mortgage and they would pay the closing costs on the loan. The minimum payments were according to a 30-year amortization schedule, but it was only a 10-year loan. That meant that at the end of 10 years, we'd have to refinance the remaining balance. It had a bi-weekly payments instead of monthly payments though, so that would help pay the mortgage down a little faster. The 4% interest rate (an unheard of rate at the time) would also help bring the balance down.

I ran the numbers to see what would happen if we continued every month to pay the same amount that we'd already been putting on our original loan (which had been paid down very little so far.) This was only a few months after I'd started a part-time job, so we came up with a plan. We would continue to put the same amount from my husband’s paycheck on the mortgage, and I would put another a certain amount from each of my paychecks on the mortgage. If we could stick to the plan, then we'd have the mortgage paid off by the end of the 10-year loan, instead of having to refinance what was left.

So we went for it and committed to paying that extra. We were once again pursuing the dream of owning our home without a mortgage! The loan closed and the new payments started in March of 2011 with a final due date of February 2021 for the balance of the loan (if we weren't successful in paying all the extra that we were planning).

Over the next 8 1/2 years, we fell a little behind our planned schedule a couple of times, but we did our best to stick to our plan.

Then in 2019, my husband made a career change. We knew that him changing from the same line of work for 20 years to being self-employed in a new trade was risky, but we prayed about it and had peace.

In January of 2020, we were down to the last 13 months of that 10-year mortgage deadline, and we were behind schedule. My husband suddenly got the desire to pay it off faster. He had started making better money in the new line of work, and the summer looked promising, so we decided to tighten down on the extra spending and put everything extra we could on the mortgage. We wanted to see if we could pay it off a little early before the end of 2021. The Covid pandemic came, but work was still okay since construction trades were essential services, and by July we were making good progress.

Then the end of July came and Covid started affecting construction supply chains.

Factories making windows and other building supplies were running out of stock, and my husband had to go a few weeks without a paycheck in August.

My income went down.

Then a few various things happened, and we realized that his income was going to decrease a decent amount when work resumed.

Suddenly, not only was our plan to pay it off that year in jeopardy, but our ability to pay it off by the mortgage due date was looking questionable. We had 6 months ‘till that due date, there were still thousands due, we had only a little in savings accounts... and our paychecks were still dropping. If we couldn’t pay it off, then we’d have to take out a new loan to cover what was left. But how were we going to take out a loan with paychecks dropping and banks tightening lending requirements? We put it in God’s hands and refused to worry about that February deadline, even when the bank sent us the reminder that the remaining thousands were going to be due in 6 months.

So all throughout August and the first half of September, that's where we were at. I kept putting off doing the bills because I was so busy. I'd just pay whatever was due (including the small minimum payment on the mortgage instead of any extra), but I didn't have time to go through everything and balance everything out properly. And yet as September came, every time I thought about doing the bills, I remember thinking, "Lord, I'd really like to pay the mortgage off this month." It felt like a pipe-dream with thousands still due... and yet that desire kept rising within me. I kept passing the desire on up to Him.

Then came September 13, 2020.

It was a Sunday evening, and my husband was working on a house project that we were trying to get finished. I was hanging around to see if I could help him at all. I pulled up Facebook on my phone to see if there were any church prayer requests, and I looked at the top of my feed since I have John and Lisa Bevere pinned to show first. And there at the top was a post from John. All it said was this:

"And Moses said to the people, "Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the Lord which He will work for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall never see again. The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to be silent." (Exodus 14:13-14 ESV)

That verse shot through me with a force that is hard to describe. I sat there staring at my phone, reading those words “The Lord will fight for you” over and over again, asking God why I was suddenly struggling to hold back tears. Why was the power in that verse was suddenly so ALIVE to me? In that moment, my husband said, "I guess you won't be able to help me here. You can go do whatever else you need to do." I mumbled something at him and left, not wanting to try to explain why I was suddenly trying not to cry when I had no explanation for myself let alone for anyone else.

Little did I know what God was about to do.

I wandered upstairs, and I did something mundane like laundry until I felt normal again. Then I thought, "Well, I may as well do the bills. I have to balance everything this time. We've got a lot due in the next few days, and it's going to be hard to find the time to do them properly at any other time this week.”

So I opened up my laptop and my spreadsheets, and I once again thought that I’d like to pay the mortgage off… even though I wasn't sure that we even had enough to pay the normal bills. (Thankfully God had set me free of my fear of not having enough money by that time!)

So I went through all the accounts, balancing everything like I do, setting up in my spreadsheets to show which transfers and payments I was going to make here and there, etc. And finally I went to see how much extra we had to pay against the mortgage, if anything.

And I stopped short.

It looked like we had enough to pay it off.

But that made no sense! There’s no way we had that much! I went back through everything, thinking I must have forgotten a payment I’d scheduled. Or maybe I had something set as a positive instead of a negative or made some other error… but everything looked right. I checked the accounts looking for mysterious deposits, thinking that maybe the bank made a mistake, but I couldn’t find anything other than our decreasing paychecks. Yet again, when I added up the money in this account, and the savings in that account, and the extra in that account, etc. it looked like it was enough.

I still didn’t trust that I wasn’t making a mistake. I decided to initiate the transfers and bill payments, consolidate all the extra in just one account, and then wait a few days for everything to clear. So I did that, and a few days later, I looked again. Nothing unexpected showed up anywhere. Nothing negative OR anything positive. No mistakes appeared to take that money, but neither were there any sudden deposits anywhere. And yet that account wasn’t thousands shy of the mortgage balance like it should have been. It had enough to pay off the mortgage.

I finally told my husband, who was just as shocked as I was and kept asking me if I was sure I hadn’t made a mistake somewhere. Then we discussed if it was smart to do it right then. That money was a bit of a safety cushion if needed. And yet, the mortgage balance was due in February no matter what. And as he put it, “This has been our goal for 10 years. It seems crazy to back out now, right at the end.” So I initiated the payments and final processes (which I discovered take much longer than a normal mortgage payment). A couple weeks later, I logged on to see the zero balance. A couple months later, we received our mortgage note with "Paid in full" on it.

I still have no idea how God did it. I might have been able to figure it out if I spent hours and hours going back through every single transaction over the months before, but I really had no desire or time to do that. God said He would fight our battles for us. Did I really need to figure out how? All I knew is that somehow, despite extra expenses and lower income the previous months, we suddenly had extra.

I look back over the years and I marvel at God’s ways. In 2005 when we dreamed of owning a home without a mortgage, I was bound by the fear of not having enough money for our needs. I cannot adequately explain how debilitating that fear was in my life… how little it took for that fear to take over. It controlled many parts of my life, so of course I wanted no mortgage. Then my house couldn’t be taken away!

But God didn’t want to satisfy my fear. He wanted to set me free from it. So He let us move a little too slowly in putting our house on the market, knowing that the value was going to plummet and we were definitely not going to be able to pay cash for the next house. And then He worked and worked, little by little, to set me free from that fear. It took many lessons and a lot of time, and then He spent more years teaching me how to actually walk in that freedom.

And only then, after fear totally lost its power over me and after trust became a habit, did He pay off the mortgage.

His ways are indeed not our ways! But He is oh-so-good!

Isaiah 55:8
“For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,”
declares the Lord.
9 “As the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.
10 As the rain and the snow
come down from heaven,
and do not return to it
without watering the earth
and making it bud and flourish,
so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater,
11 so is my word that goes out from my mouth:
It will not return to me empty,
but will accomplish what I desire
and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.
12 You will go out in joy
and be led forth in peace;
the mountains and hills
will burst into song before you,
and all the trees of the field
will clap their hands.
13 Instead of the thorn bush will grow the juniper,
and instead of briers the myrtle will grow.
This will be for the Lord’s renown,
for an everlasting sign,
that will endure forever.”

Getting lost and stuck in the maze - or not

2021-10-15T07:40:00.007-05:00

Once upon a time, there were two teenage girls who went to a corn maze with their fathers. This corn maze had a tower above it where a watcher could see every twist and turn of the maze.

This was not a small maze where the fun of it was to get lost and find your way out. For this maze, the intent was for the person to go up in the tower and direct the other through the maze from one of many entrances to the center. In addition, many paths had traps which were only visible from above, and some paths had doors that were hidden from the person in the maze.

It was a test in communication.

Both fathers went up the tower, and then both daughters chose their entrance and stepped into the maze.

One daughter looked up at her father in the tower as she took her first steps. He directed her forward to the first intersection and then told her which way to turn.

The other girl saw what appeared to be a straight, clear path and boldly walked the length to the first intersection of paths before looking up at her father. He directed her to the left, and she forged ahead again. But the next time she looked up at him, she had trouble understanding his directions. It seemed like he was directing her backwards, so she tried it but couldn't figure out how far to go. Then, just as he tried to call out explanations regarding the hidden door, wind from an unexpected storm kicked up and rustled the corn so much she couldn't hear him.

Meanwhile, the first daughter continued her careful steps according to her father's directions. When the wind kicked up, that father began using arm and body signals. The girl and her father had spent much time together over the years, so she had no trouble following. She did what she saw her father do. When he mimed a left turn, she turned left. When he acted out pulling open a door, she searched for the door in the same direction, opened it when she found it, and confidently walked through.

The second girl's father tried the same thing, but this father and daughter didn't have a good relationship. They hadn't spent much time together, and the girl had decided that her father couldn't be trusted. When he acted out a turn where there didn't seem to be a door, she got frustrated and wondered if he was playing a trick on her. She decided to check out the path ahead, and she disregarded her father's frantic waving. She quickly fell into a trap that entangled her legs. She spent a weary half hour working her way out of it.

An hour went by, and the storm hit. The first girl's father directed her to a sheltered area where she waited it out. The second girl couldn't see her father and got drenched. Fear took over, as she frantically stumbled around looking for a shelter, and she fell into another trap. By the time the storm ended, she had lost all willingness to trust any directions her father gave.

The storm passed, and the first daughter resumed her careful steps until she reached the center where her father welcomed her.

Night fell and the second girl was still stumbling around in the dark.

Does life ever feel like a maze? It sort of is a maze, with good paths and bad ones, traps and hidden doors, many entrances, but only one end worth finding.

You have a Father who sees the whole maze perfectly, and He is like the first father, completely trustworthy.

But His knowledge and trustworthiness are not enough to get us through that maze.

The girl had choices, and so do we. Two things are required of us.

1) We must be willing to develop a relationship with Him, to gain practice hearing His voice and recognizing His movements, no matter how quiet and small. He doesn’t force us. We must seek Him.

2) And we must obey. We have the choice to ignore His directions. Our trust is proved by our obedience. The first girl's trust in her father made it easy for her to follow every direction, no matter how crazy it seemed. The second's choice to ignore her father was a simple reflection of her lack of trust in him.

God is calling us to spend even more time getting to know Him… to learn to recognize His smallest whisper and most subtle movement. He wants us to come to know Him so well and trust Him so completely that we can walk through this maze of life confidently, obeying as Jesus did. Remember when Jesus said that He said and did only what He saw and heard the Father say and do? (John 5:19) That is what we are called to do as well, for this is the natural result of the relationship that God wants to have with us.

How do you want to go through your maze?

Teach me your way, Lord, that I may rely on Your faithfulness - Ps. 86:10

If we really understand what Lordship means

2021-09-25T18:30:00.008-05:00

I think I finally have the words and the permission to share something that has been getting stronger and stronger inside my heart over the past year or so. Holy Spirit, please open the eyes of our hearts to understand Your Word accurately.

Last year at some point as I was reading my Bible, I read in Matthew where Jesus used the illustration of trees bearing good and bad fruit. I read these words, and I felt like the Holy Spirit underlined them.

Matthew 7:21-23, "Not all who say to me 'Lord Lord' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father will enter. Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; leave Me, you who practice lawlessness.’

It troubled me. Here were people who called Him "Lord." People who prayed and who appeared to walk with God enough that He answered their prayers with miracles... and yet He would not let them enter the kingdom of heaven! Why? Because they did not do His will and practiced 'lawlessness' instead, and because He never knew them.

I have had many conversations with God about this passage in the past year.

All my life, I have heard people say things like, "All you have to do to be saved is to believe that Jesus died for your sins." Then when someone says the sinner's prayer, we celebrate that they are saved. Repentance is sometimes (but not always) mentioned, but it is very rare for anyone to tell the person that they need to do the will of God.

There are other verses and parables where Jesus indicated that people would think they were saved, yet would be turned away from heaven.. often because of something they did or failed to do.

And yet, Paul wrote, "For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast."

God, I begged, When Paul was writing Romans and was spelling out salvation and how it works, he wrote, "If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved." This does not seem to match what Jesus was saying. Open my eyes to understand!

I had many conversations with God over these verses, and finally, one day recently, He encouraged me to think more carefully about what Paul wrote in that verse. As I did, the Holy Spirit pointed out two specific phrases. Here is Romans 10:9 again:

If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.

As I talked with the Holy Spirit about those two phrases, new depths of meaning came out.

What does it mean to call someone your lord? Really?

I looked it up in BlueLetterBible.com to see what the Greek word means. It means, "He to whom a person or thing belongs, about which He has power of deciding; master, lord."

If we think back to feudal times, it was a hierarchy with the king at the top. Everyone except the king -- from the dukes and barons right down to the vassals and most lowly servant -- had someone who was their lord. Each person's lord had the power of deciding things about them. So when the king called his dukes and gave them directions, they said, "Yes, my lord." And when the dukes and barons called their knights and vassals and servants, the reply had to be, "Yes, my lord."

If a vassal wanted the protection of the duke's castle during attack, and if the duke wanted the king to summon his armies in case of attack, then they had to swear allegiance to their lord... and live out that allegiance!

Who belongs in the kingdom is determined according to who has sworn their allegiance to the king.

This is what a kingdom is. And Jesus said He was preaching the kingdom of God.

Some English translations interpret Romans 10:9 as "...confess that Jesus is Lord" while others say, "...confess Jesus as Lord." The words "is" and "as" don't exist in the original Greek. It has the word for confess, then the word for Jesus, then the word for Lord. English grammar requires another linking word to be added.

I firmly believe that "...if you confess Jesus as Lord" is what Paul meant, for as James said, "Even the demons believe in God, and they shudder in fear."

There is a distinct difference between stating that Jesus is Lord in a general sense because God set Him above all things or because someone says He'll save you if you say those words, and confessing that He is my Lord because I am swearing allegiance to Him and making Him the Lord and Master of every detail of my life.

In fact, Jesus said that "not all who say (just words) to Me 'Lord Lord' will enter the kingdom." That is not necessarily the same group of people as those who confess that He is their Lord.

Jesus Himself underscored this when He finished the parable of the houses being built on the rock and sand by saying, "Therefore, everyone who hears these words of Mine, and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock ... and everyone who hears these words of Mine, and does not act on them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand." He drew a distinction between the house-builders who only hear His words and those who act on them. Others who aren't in His kingdom might hear them, but those who have made Him their Lord will act!

But before it starts to sound like I'm saying we have to live a perfect life to get to heaven (because I'm not), let's look at the second thing that the Holy Spirit pointed out in Romans 10:9.

If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.

What did Jesus -- our Lord and Master -- say about the heart?

Answer: A lot!

He said that sin comes from the heart.

He said that if you commit adultery or murder in your heart, you are guilty, even if you didn't do the action.

I don't think anyone would disagree that if our actions are obedient to Jesus our Lord, but in our heart we're grumbling about what He has asked us to do, then our obedience isn't really doing us much good. We are, in fact, sinning because our heart isn't right.

So what about the other way around? What if I have indeed made Jesus my Lord, and I sincerely from the heart desire to do His will, and yet I screw up and sin? In other words, I am a person just like King David, who sinned many times. Well, God still called David "a man after My heart." He assured Samuel, "Man looks at outward appearances, but I look at the heart."

We might also find ourself lamenting with Paul, "I do the things I don't want to do!" Notice that Paul was contrasting his heart's desire to do God's will against his actions which were sometimes contrary. But we can also can say, with Paul, "Thanks be to God who delivers me from sin and death!"

If we go all the way back to Matthew 7:23, Jesus didn't say, "Depart from Me, all you who failed to live perfectly." He said those who practiced lawlessness never knew Him.

He wasn't talking about a list of things people did and didn't do.

He was talking about real relationship that went beyond just empty words saying, "Lord, Lord!"

He said in John 14:23, "If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word, and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him."

I am discovering that the more I know God, the more I love Him and trust Him!

The more I trust Him, the more my heart really really REALLY wants to do His will! My reality now is that I want what He wants. I trust that He knows best, so to want anything apart from His will seems like it might be about the stupidest thing for me to want. Why would I not want the best?

And if I WANT His will, and I really believe that He knows best how to accomplish it, then why would I want to disobey what He asks me to do?

When you really walk with God, you know that this isn't about avoiding a list of sins. It's not about whether or not you lie and who you have sex with and whether you drink or do drugs. It's so much deeper, for we can "keep those laws" and still be quite disobedient and choose our own way and act like we think we know better than God.

Obeying the One that I have a relationship with was about picking up the trash along the road in front of my neighbor's house because that is what He asked me to do that morning.

Submitting to the lordship of God was obeying when God asked me, that particular day, to stop and offer a ride to that particular stranger... even though though on most days He does not ask me to do this thing that is normally considered unsafe.

Submitting to His lordship is forgiving and loving that person who seems to speak against so many things I do.

Submitting to His lordship was giving a $20 tip on a $28 meal because He said to do it that day.

Submitting to His lordship is willingly serving the person who is taking advantage of me, because that's what He is asking me to do in this situation.

Submitting to His lordship was typing out a message of the gospel to one person who emailed me, and saying nothing to another person, because that is the direction He gave me for each of them.

Submitting to His lordship is refusing to follow my inclinations to comment on Facebook when He stops me.

Submitting to His lordship is not buying that thing I want and have the money for because He said, "That's not what I gave you that money for."

Submitting to His lordship is to trust Him when He says to stay silent in the middle of a tirade being leveled against me, and to trust Him when He gives me words that seem to go nowhere.

Submitting to His lordship is to willingly walk into and through that difficult situation because that's where He's asking me to go. Even though I know it might involve heartbreak but I'm still excited because I know that He is enough for me.

When we really understand what lordship means, it's easy to see it reflected over and over again in what Jesus preached.

When we know who Jesus is, making Him our Lord in our heart becomes the natural reflection of our love for Him. This is why He said, "If you love Me, you'll obey Me." It wasn't a manipulative, "If you love Me, prove it!" He was simply explaining the natural outcome of a faulty human (me) loving an all-knowing God who sacrificed everything He was for us.

To know Him is to trust Him. To trust Him is to obey Him. To obey Him is to love Him.

Is He your Lord? Or are you just offering lip service?

What should we be telling people who ask how to be saved?

When holding onto His promises is all you can do

2021-08-31T06:40:00.003-05:00

Philippians 1:6 says, "For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work among you will complete it."

I grew up knowing that verse, yet recently the Holy Spirit opened my eyes to see the context of that verse, and how its truth is more powerful than I had realized.

At the time, I was praying for some people who are very dear to me, and I was facing doubts that God was going to move in their life, enable them to understand His promises, give them revelation, etc. But then one day I found myself thinking of that verse, and I felt the Holy Spirit prompting me to read the context.

He reminded me of the relationship between Paul and the Philippian church. They were, in essence, his spiritual children.

As I read, I began to notice the instructions Paul was giving them in how they needed to live. I found myself thinking about the times when I would give my own kids a bunch of instructions in how to live. Sometimes they were an old-fashioned “Mom lecture” and other times they were late-night conversations about life.

But the thing that struck me most was that my focus was usually on the things I felt they needed to hear. In other words, I’d talk about things that they were struggling with.

So as I read Philippians, I began to realize that, if Paul felt they needed instruction on something, then it probably meant that at least some of them were struggling in that area. Let's look at his admonishments.

Chapter 1:27 - "Only conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or remain absent, I will hear about you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel."

So there's a good chance they weren't conducting themselves in a worthy manner, since Paul felt the need to tell them that they needed to do this. It also seems likely that they were allowing divisions among them, since he was encouraging them to come together in unity. Chapter 2:2 repeats the instruction: "Make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose." (Have you ever repeated yourself when admonishing your kids?)

Chapter 2:3-4 - "Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility consider one another as more important than yourselves; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others."

Can we infer what problem was occuring?

Chapter 2:15 - "Do all things without complaining or arguments."

I have to chuckle. Evidently the first century church struggled with complaining and arguing with each other, just like the 21st century church.

Chapter 3:1 - "Rejoice in the Lord."

I've noticed in myself that if I allow myself to fall into complaining (see above), then I fall out of rejoicing. It's nearly impossible to both complain and rejoice at the same time, so it's understandable that Paul is admonishing them to stop doing one and start doing the other.

There are other admonishments, but why is all of this significant?

Because despite these problems, Paul says, "For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work among you will complete it."

In other words, I am not afraid for your future because of the problems that I see in your life. I know that God's love for you and His power working in Your life are greater than the problems I see.

Paul understood what Jesus meant when He said on the cross, "It is finished!"

He also says in verses 3 & 4, "I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always offering prayer with joy in my every prayer for you all."

I thought again about my prayers for my loved ones, and I realized that too often they were led by fear of what their faults might lead.

I prayed with fear. Paul prayed with joy.

And the difference reflected where my confidence really was. If I was as confident as Paul was in God's ability to finish what He had begun (and I could see that He had indeed begun to work in the life of my loved ones), then I would not be afraid!

And so I realized the choice that was suddenly before me. Going forward, was I going to put my confidence, like Paul, in God's power and love and faithfulness and ability to finish what He started? Or was I going to continue to demonstrate that I had more confidence in the power of their faults and their sin?

It was like my merciful Savior opened my eyes to save me from what I had been guilty of. I was acting like I didn't believe He was able!

Suddenly, it seemed ridiculous that the God of the universe might not be able to do something.

And from that moment, my prayers changed. I discovered that my prayer seemed to naturally shift so that it had a lot less begging God to do this or that and a lot more grateful praise for His promise to finish what He started. A lot more thankfulness that God not only knew how to finish what He started, but He also had the power and ability to do it!

May I encourage you? Those problems you see in your life or in the life of your loved ones… they are not greater than God!

He Is Able!

Look at your life. Look at their lives. Can you see God's hand anywhere, working?

If so, then He's going to finish what He began! Tell fear to be gone, and rest in the power of Your God! Be still and know that He is God! (Psalm 46:10)

And if you aren't sure that you can see God's hand, then ask Him to open your spiritual eyes so that you can see what He's doing. It's amazing!

He is faithful!