“If you have not yet heard the terms ‘negotiated infidelity’, ‘non-monogamy,’ ‘polyamory’ and ‘monogamish’ you soon will….”

SERIOUSLY??? I shouldn’t have been stunned reading the recent magazine article purporting the benefits of “open relationships”. I am not a hermit. I do not live in the American Bible Belt. I do not live under a rock. I fully realize that a large portion of the human race has grossly failed “Relationships 101”. What stunned me was the fact that “negotiated infidelity” and “monogamish relationships” (relationships that are mostly monogamous but allow for some sexual dalliances now and then) were laid out as normal and even expected if you want to avoid the pain of rejection from broken promises.

 “Given monogamy’s abysmal track record [ie: North America’s 1-in-2-couples divorce rate]…in the long run it’s much better to risk rejection by proposing an open relationship than to break a promise to be monogamous.”

If we used that same reasoning, we should tell people to stop eating – given that MORE THAN 1-in-2 North Americans (over 60%) fall into the overweight/obese category. Why risk it? Just don’t eat.

I am not a marriage expert but there are a few things my decades of marriage experience have taught me:

Love IS a 4 letter word: it’s spelled W-O-R-K. 

Love as a verb packs more muscle than love as a noun. Love as a choice, as action, vs. love as a feeling. I love how one wise woman put it: “Feelings are real but they are most often not true. Often times what we ‘feel’ so intently is really just our physiological response to a chemical release in our brain and bodies.”

You get what you expect. It’s called faith and it can work for you or against you. I expect to have a marriage that WILL go the distance. I expect there will be challenges but I also expect that when my love gives out, I can tap into another “love source”: my amazing God in heaven Who graciously releases HIS love to and through me.

If you go into marriage with an escape clause, you will find a reason to use it. When my husband and I pledged our vows to each other, there was no thought of “I hope this works but if it doesn’t….” The D-word is not in our vocabulary.

There are seasons of marriage just like natural seasons. “And this too, shall pass.” Some seasons are much more enjoyable than others. What makes spring so exhilarating? Winter. What makes spring so beautiful? Winter, where a lot of things “die” in order for new life to come. During the winter seasons of marriage, sometimes there are things that need to “die” – not the relationship, but things in us: attitudes, habits, destructive thinking patterns. Understanding the seasons enables you to adjust and grow as needed.

Building God’s House and His Kingdom is one of the greatest “marriage builders” you could put into practise. There is something about having a greater cause that the two of you are building together – something eternal – that keeps you bonded together and focused on what is truly important.

My husband and I are as polar opposite as two people could be yet what bonds us together isn’t simply a “passionate love for each other” (which we do have) – it’s a passionate love for God, His House, and His Kingdom. THAT, my friend, is a bond you can bank on. You weave that element into your marriage and you have a “3 stranded cord that cannot be broken.”

(Next week I will celebrate 20 years with my incredibly amazing, ever-so-hot husband – who by the way is even more sexy than he was 22 years ago when I met him; sexy isn’t what you build a marriage on but it is a wonderful bonus! :) Happy Anniversary Hon! Here’s to 20 more adventurous years – sowing, building, loving…and great sex too! xxox)

Luke 5:4 – When He had finished speaking, He said to Simon, "Now go out where it is deeper, and let down your nets to catch some fish."

Remember as a kid swimming in a lake? It was great as long as you had even a murky vision of the bottom below you. But as soon as you got past the drop-off point where the bottom was no longer visible, your mind started to play tricks on you. At least mine would.

“What’s down there in the darkness I can’t see?”

The unknown always freaked me out.

My mind would start to create all sorts of invisible creatures that were waiting to swim up and devour me – especially sharks. (This was even more irrational given the fact that I was swimming in a slew of fresh water, generously called a “lake”.)

Or my mind would start to create all sorts of worst-case scenarios:

“I can’t touch bottom – what if I get a cramp and can’t swim any more?”

“What if I get too tired to swim???”

“What if I go too far out and can’t make it back to shore???”

I desperately wanted to go out farther into the deeper water but my overactive mind would paralyze me with all sorts of “What if’s…”

Here’s what I’ve since come to realize: what you think you know – not reality – is what eventually causes you to pull back and stay close to the shore where it’s comfortable and easy.

What “deep” is beckoning to you?

What “unknown” is God asking you to trust Him in and step into?

Here’s what I’ve come to know about God’s faithfulness in calling us to trust Him:

1. God calls us to go out deeper because that’s where we’ll find what our heart is truly looking for.

Peter was fisherman. What are fishermen looking for? Fish.

God calls you on your faith journey into trusting Him in the deep because He knows your heart better than you do and He’s the One that knows where the longings of your soul will be filled.

2. God calls us into the deep because that’s where we’ll discover the provision that will overtake the disappointment or frustration of our soul.

Peter was one frustrated man. Earlier in this same story, he’d voiced his frustration to Jesus: “Master we worked hard all last night and haven’t caught anything…”

Could have Jesus sensed Peter’s disappointment at not having caught anything earlier? He was on the shore cleaning his net when probably the other fishermen were still out fishing. “Simon, what you’re really wanting and looking for is found out in the deep.

3. Peter’s fledgling faith: “Master we worked hard all last night and haven’t caught anything…but if You say so I’ll do as You say….”

“Whatever…I guess I’ll do it again but know it’s not going to make a difference…”

When you hear the call to go deeper – to take the bold faith step – say yes, even if it’s a “whatever-yes”. Say yes in spite of what your previous attempts may have brought or hadn’t brought.

Maybe you’ve been frustrated in your spiritual journey…in your faith…in what you know or don’t know of Who God really is….Frustrated because you’re not seeing results in your life like you’d like to see.

Your solutions are found in the deep. 

​​Go ahead.

The sharks aren't real.

You won't get a cramp.

And if you start losing strength, He will give you His. 

“Plank.

Inhale.

Exhale, lower.

Up-dog.

Now go back into downward-facing-dog. And breathe.”

It was at that point I nearly drowned as rivers of sweat ran into my eyes and nose, choking me as I followed the yoga instructor’s directions to “breathe”.

Welcome to hot-yoga where you willingly contort yourself into very unusual twisted body positions in a room that is at least 40C. You sweat like a pig. And THAT is no exaggeration. (For the record, the yoga I practise is simply the stretches, not the weird spiritual side of it, just to clear things up for anyone who might be wondering.)

“Ok, kick your right leg high up in the air; now bring it through and plant it on the ground in front of you, high lunge, arms in the air – Warrior 1…”AND the sweat continued to run in rivers down my body. I glanced over at my husband who was taking the class with me. He was drenched, looked at me, eyes wide, and had the “Oh my gosh, this is HOT!” look on his face. 

Even though both of us are experienced hot yoga-goers, we were nearly dying tonight. This class was killer hot, much hotter than usual. Every breath, every move was excruciating. Sweat pouring off in buckets. Clothes absolutely drenched. Wheezes and heavy breathing echoed in the room and the mirror reflected about 20 exhausted people, most probably thinking, “I am paying money for this??!”

I was bound and determined to finish off the remaining 20 minutes of class. With every “downward-facing-dog” pose, I would tell myself, “You can do this. This isn’t that bad. Hell is hotter. Hell is WAY hotter! Suck it up, princess.” (Not exactly typical yoga lingo.) Then all of a sudden, “Whoosh!” the door opened and a blast of air filtered into the room. COOL AIR! REFRESHING AIR! A loud, unified “Ahhhh!” went up from the class.

Door shut. Pain and sweat once again ensued. A few minutes later, another cool breeze wafts in. “Sorry guys, I don’t know why it’s so hot in here tonight. I’ll try to go a bit easier on you,” our yoga instructor encouraged as she opened and shut the door a few times, waving in some fresh air.

As class was coming to an end and I lay on my mat in “corpse pose”, relishing every slight breeze of fresh air that came in through the instructor’s gracious door-flapping attempts, I heard this little voice, “This is what My Gospel is to your soul.”

God had my attention. (Yes, God will speak to you on your yoga mat if you will listen.)

The Gospel, God’s Good News refreshes. It renews. Restores. Enlivens. Revitalizes.

Throughout the Bible, heat is used in analogy not only for our sin but the combination of sin + human effort. Everything we try to do to make ourselves right or acceptable to God or every sinful craving and indulgence we give into because we recognize we will never be able to live up to God’s standard, so why bother = Heat. Scorching. Pain. Discomfort. Weariness. Exhaustion. Death.

Throughout the book of Ecclesiastes you repeatedly find the phrase, “under the sun”. It was Solomon’s way of describing how difficult, how exhausting, how painful things are when we slave away through life, in our sin, striving in our own efforts to make life work and worthwhile. “Under the sun” – not fun.

That’s why the Good News is such good news: In the midst of the heat of life’s pressure and sin’s weight and our own works, God offers refreshing. HE opens a door and we encounter His grace – His divine Life which He offers us through Jesus Christ. Except God doesn’t just swing open the door, flap a few breezes to us, and leave us where we’re at. He opens the door, says, “This class is over. For good. Follow Me out of here and I’ll bring you to REAL refreshing! Trust Me. It’s much better out here.”

Grace has absolutely nothing to do with us and everything to do with God. That’s why it’s called “Good News” – God does it all. Ephesians 2:8 in The Message says,

“Saving is all HIS idea, and all HIS work. All we do is TRUST HIM enough to LET HIM do it. It’s GOD’S GIFT from start to finish!” [emphasis mine]

That is GOOD NEWS for my soul! God does it all. I can continue to drown in the sweat of my own efforts to “make my life” or I can say “Yes!” to the open door of God’s refreshing grace that Jesus Christ is offering me. And you.

“Under the sun” or “under the Son”. Which will it be?

Pitch black. That is the state of our bedroom at night. I mean it is “can’t-see-your-face-to-kiss-ya” black. I can appreciate a dark room at night but I soon discovered after we were married my husband needed “black-out” for a good night’s rest. (Come to discover that science agrees: the darker the room, the deeper your sleep, the better your body restores itself while you sleep. Smart hubby.)

But pitch-black makes for interesting maneuvering in the middle of the night when your bladder wakes up screaming for relief. While I’ve become very adept at walking with my hands fully stretched to avoid the smashed-nose-on-door experience, I have yet to navigate successfully around our shin-height, very sharp, very protruding bed frame. Its been a long time since my shins have been bruise-free. Our “black-out bedroom” gives me a taste of what it might be like to be blind.

Many times I hear people use the term “blind faith”. Here’s what I’ve come to know: faith isn’t blind; doubt is. Faith very much has sight. It is what leads us as we maneuver our way through life, which can, at times, be dark and uncertain without the presence of faith to guide us. Look at a few verses from Hebrews:

Heb 11:17  When God tested Abraham, faith led him…

Heb 11:20  Faith led Isaac to bless…

Heb 11:21  While Jacob was dying, faith led him to bless…

Heb 11:22  While Joseph was dying, faith led him to speak…

Heb 11:23  Faith led Moses' parents to hide him…

Heb 11:24  When Moses grew up, faith led him to refuse…

Heb 11:27  Faith led Moses to leave Egypt without being afraid…

Heb 11:28  Faith led Moses to establish…

Heb 11:31  Faith led the prostitute Rahab to welcome the spies as friends…

To lead, you very much need sight and faith has sight. Walking and living ‘by faith’ could be compared to wearing night vision goggles. For example: I could be in a room that is totally dark, filled with all sorts of treasure and wealth. I could stumble around in the dark, groping to discover what’s in the room with me. That’s how we often go through life – in the dark, groping around, once in awhile hitting on a piece of the “treasure” – we’re ecstatic at our find. But if I were to put on a pair of night vision goggles I would soon be able to see that it’s not just a random piece of treasure here and there – I’m in a room that’s filled with treasure! What’s the difference? The goggles enable me to see in the dark what’s been there all along. What is very real. What is substance.

God’s Kingdom is compared to great treasure – not simply what we would consider material treasure but treasure in different forms: gifts of peace, joy, love, kindness, goodness, provision, rest, strength, desires He’s placed in our heart and longs to fulfill, talents, abilities, healing, wholeness, victory. What God has made available to us through His Son is beyond our imagination. What we may be believing for, praying for, hoping for, God has even greater for us than that. Ask God for some “night vision faith goggles” to see the exceedingly, abundantly, above all that God has for you – it will change how you pray, how you live, what you expect.

Hebrews 11:1 NCV – Faith means being sure of the things we hope for and knowing that something is real even if we do not see it.

Passion for God and His House. For us, they have always been one and the same. To have a relationship with Christ but not His church is like walking around with a decapitated Jesus as your friend. Not cool. But crazy love for the Two will motivate you AND enable you to do crazy things.

Over these almost 20 years, like most pastors, I’ve had my fair share of “What the heck am I doing here??? And why, please tell me WHY, I’m doing this again?” There was even a moment a few years back at a more challenging time in ministry where I’d seriously contemplated taking a new career path: med school. You know it’s bad when med school looks appealing! Ha! Actually there wasn’t anything really that bad going on in church life – the angst was mostly internal. 
I find though that every genuine believer and follower of Christ – pastor, leader, Joe Christian – will at some point, or points, find their passion challenged. 

One of my favorite stories in the Bible is the story of Hosea. (Side note: my all time favorite novel, “Redeeming Love” by Francine Rivers, is an allegory of Hosea’s story. Get it and read it!) Only the grace of God would enable a man to do what he did. It’s one of the more mind-blowing examples of God’s passionate love for His Bride.

Hosea 3:1 NLT – Then the Lord said to me, “Go and get your wife again. Bring her back to you and love her even though she loves adultery. For the Lord still loves Israel even though the people have turned to other gods, offering them choice gifts.”

“Love her even though….” There’s a continual love, persistence and faithfulness God asks of us towards His Church, no matter Her failures, Her weaknesses, Her rejection.

“Love her even though…She sometimes has stinky attitudes.”
“Love her even though…She doesn’t perform exactly how you want.”
“Love her even though…She lets you down.”
“Love her even though…She’s challenging to lead.”
“Love her even though…She’s weak.”
“Love her even though…She’s a mess.”
“Love her even though…She’s stubborn.”
“Love her even though…She turns Her back on God.”
“Love her even though…She’s given up.”

As believers we’re all called to be ministers and stewards of the House of God, His Church, His Bride. Our main role: “Love Her…even though…Because She’s still growing up.”

Church life is full of seasons. Some are honestly more challenging than others. I’ve had my fair share of “Love her even though…” seasons. For the record, I’m thrilled to say, THIS SEASON IS NOT one of them! Just in case anyone was wondering. 

But just like in marriage, you make the commitment, “‘Til death do us part” – It’s the same as saying “I’ll love you even though…” 

God’s Church – His Bride – I don’t believe there’s anything more powerful or amazing on the planet. She is the living, breathing expression of Christ to the world. He’s passionate about Her. He Loved Her – loved you and I – “even though”. And it’s His grace released through the greatest act of sacrifice that we can lean into in the “even though” seasons we face. 

“Bow or burn!”

That was the ultimatum given to 3 guys who found themselves standing in a sea of backsides lifted high in the air, bowing down to the towering gold monstrosity.

The conversation that ensued may have gone like this:

“What should we do? I think King’s calling us up front. This doesn’t look good.”

“Maybe we could bend over and adjust our sandal straps – it might look like we’re bowing but really we’re not…”

“Seriously? This is crazy! Look at that statue. All that gold – what a waste! It could have been put to a much better use.”

“Shadrach! Meshach! Abednego! Come forward – NOW!”

As they made their way to the King, heads bowed down to the ground turned ever so slightly to look up at the 3 guys walking past, who were trying carefully to avoid stepping on someone’s hand or tripping over their foot.

“You guys shoulda just bowed,” someone whispered loudly. “If you set King off, he’s likely to go in a rage at all of us. Couldn’t you have used a bit more discretion?”

The king remained seated as the men approached. “Is it true, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, that you refuse to serve my gods or to worship the gold statue I have set up? I will give you one more chance to bow down and worship the statue I have made when you hear the sound of the musical instruments…”

“Here’s the thing, King: If our God – the One we serve – is able to rescue us from the furnace of flaming fire and from your power, Your Majesty, then let Him rescue us. But if He doesn’t, know this for certain, Your Majesty: WE WILL NEVER SERVE YOUR GODS OR WORSHIP THE GOLD STATUE YOU’VE SET UP.”

I’ve read this story numerous times, heard it retold in so many different versions, and watched so many times I lost count the VeggieTales’ version of “Rack, Shack & Benny” which my kids loved when they were little. What struck me when I read the story again in a different version I’d never read before, how the 3 guys responded:

Daniel 3:17 Common English Bible  – “If our God…is able to rescue us…”

“IF our God is ABLE…”

They didn’t seem to know for sure whether God was able. They didn’t appear to have any real facts to go on. At least not any facts that caused them to say, “Well, we’ve seen God do this before so maybe He’ll do it for us.”

Their question wasn’t “If it’s God’s will to save us….” Their question was: “Well, if He’s able to…” These 3 guys weren’t some spiritual giants in the faith department. It wasn’t like they’d seen God perform this type of deliverance before. One Bible translation has an even more extreme description of where their faith was at:

Daniel 3:17 HCSB – If the God we serve exists, then He can rescue us from the furnace of blazing fire…

What it boils down to: these guys weren’t relying on the facts in any shape or form. It was raw, reckless trust they were engaging in. I am blown away by the conviction these 3 guys lived by! Their commitment to God whether He showed up or not in their greatest time of need is one of the greatest examples of unwavering trust.

They trusted God beyond any type of results. Their faith was in God – period. Their faith wasn’t in what God would give to them or do for them. Their faith was in God’s character. They had a greater trust in truth and what was true than in the facts.

I love their complete trust in God even beyond what they’d known or experienced of God up until that moment. “If our God is able…” OUR GOD. He’s still our God regardless of how this works out. He’s still our God even though we’re a bit uncertain about Him right at this moment. He’s still our God even if we become BBQ. “WE WILL NEVER SERVE YOUR GODS OR WORSHIP THE GOLD STATUE!!!” I can almost hear that statement come out in a roar.

How deep are you willing to put your trust in God? What aspect of God are you banking on: results – do you need facts? Or are you banking on truth – the truth of God’s character – that He IS, always has been, always will be the last Word — Emmanuel. God with us. It’s from that deep, reckless trust in Who God is that we find the greatest peace, rest, and confidence even in the greatest challenges we encounter.

“Bow or burn!” They didn’t bow, they didn’t burn. They banked on truth. They became 3 guys who got to dance with God Himself in the middle of a fiery furnace. And they came out without event a hint of smoke on their clothes.

You want to experience crazy miracles? Put all your chips in on truth over the facts. Truth trumps facts every time. 

When I was a kid our house was about 800 meters from a lake. It was the place where I first learned to swim. There was a little pier off the shore where small rowboats would dock. It was a great place to get your water-confidence built because at the end of the pier the water was deep enough to canon ball jump into but you could still touch the ground and your head was easily out of water.

But there was another pier in the lake – the place where all the big kids would hang out. Everyone out on the other pier was usually laughing and yelling. To a 5 year old THIS was the coveted place to be in the lake.  Except there was one problem: it was out in water way over a 5 year old’s head. I remember trying to “walk” out to the pier – the “swimmer’s walk” – where you try to bounce your way out because the water is too high. If you bounce you can take a quick breath and if the water goes over your nose it’s not a big deal – you just bounce and breathe and keep doing that until you get to your desired destination. Technically you could still touch and you were still obeying Mom’s instructions of “don’t go past where you can touch”. The problem: the pier was beyond reach of where I could “bounce and breathe” my way out. I was just learning to swim – not confident enough to totally go for it and push myself past the place where my feet still had a tentative connection to the ground – where I was swimming.

I remember when I finally got tired of watching everyone else have fun. I bounced and breathed my way out as far as I could go and then paused bouncing and breathing in place – knowing that my next step would be my last and I would have to swim. The short 10 foot gap to the pier looked so much further. I remember how much the adrenaline was pumping and my heart was racing with that last bounce I pushed off with that sent me dog-paddling into the gap. You’d never seen a 5 year old dog-paddle so fast with a more terrified look. But then I heard the shouts and cheers of the bigger kids that were on the pier, their hands reaching out to actually close the gap by grabbing my hand and pulling me in. OH! WHAT A FEELING! That first real swim in water that was over your head! I’m a big kid now! And it was ridiculously fun being on that pier with all the other big kids. I was also surprised at how quickly it felt normal to make that swim back and forth. The fear and apprehension faded almost completely by the third swim out and back. That pier would become my favorite place to hang out during the summer.

That gap between where I could still touch the bottom of the lake and where I would have to swim in order to reach the pier – we experience that same gap throughout our lives. I call it the “God-gap”.  The God-gap is the gap between what we could humanly accomplish and what could happen only if God intervened. It’s the place where God says, “It’s time to swim!” It’s the place where He invites us to fearlessly trust Him.

What does the God-gap look like?

“What was I thinking when I said yes to this?!”

“I have no idea what to do…”

“I don’t have enough time…”

“I feel so overwhelmed!”

“I don’t feel the least bit qualified…”

“I have zero energy / ambition / desire…”

How often do we default to the habit of looking at things out of our depth as barriers instead of possibilities, as points of discouragement instead of opportunities to trust and learn? There is a fierce and fearless trusting in Him that God beckons us to jump – or swim – into.

Isaiah 30:15 – This is what the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel, says: “If you come back to Me and trust Me, you will be saved. If you will be calm and trust Me, you will be strong.”

When we lean into Him in trust, we tap into a strength beyond our own. When we get fed up with our “bouncing and breathing” techniques of trying to make things work, and just push off, giving a go, paddling our brains out, trusting God to close the gap, He’ll bring us to places and opportunities we’ve never experienced.

Where is the God-gap in your life? In what areas is God saying, “C’mon – you can trust Me. I know you’ve got the ‘swim’ in you!” It’s time to push off.

However my wonderful cleaning lady spends her winters in a much warmer climate. And while I’m genuinely thrilled she is able to enjoy a warm winter, Wednesdays aren’t as much fun anymore. The dishes are piled, it’s been way too long since the toilet paper roll had its nice little “point” put into place, and there’s so much grease on the stove top you could probably scrape it off and reuse it. (Might save us on butter.) The worst: there is a serious dust infestation on nearly every surface of my home. No more glisten. No shine. DEFINITELY no fresh smell.

I started to reflect on how the state of my house is a lot like our lives. We get dusty.

Hebrews 10:17-18 in The Message describes the state of our lives:

“He [God] concludes, I’ll forever wipe the slate clean of their sins. Once sins are taken care of for good, there’s no longer any need to offer sacrifices for them.”

“I’ll forever wipe clean…” – THAT’S CLEAN!

Here’s what’s interesting:

Hebrews 1:3 – …When the Son made people clean from their sins, He sat down at the right side of God, the Great One in heaven.

“When the Son MADE people clean….” – for anyone with English grammar experience, “made” is PAST TENSE. Through the work of the cross, the cleansing was done once and for all . YOU ARE CLEANSED of your sins. We’ve been redeemed, cleansed, made pure and holy through the blood of Jesus Christ.

Does that mean we are forever and always clean? Just like my house – NO! We still accumulate “dust” from the journey. We pick up dust from doing life in a broken, messed up world. We pick up “dusty attitudes” that don’t reflect Christ’s character and frankly sometimes smell really bad too. Our thinking patterns that are in the process of being renewed, are quite old and dusty. We have dusty old habits that should really be put in the trash. We pick up dust from other people who are still living with an old, unclean “house” because they don’t yet know the power of Jesus' work for them.  And sometimes we find ourselves in really bad “dust” –  bucket loads of dust that’s been mixed with all sorts of gook and turns into serious MUD. 

Dust comes when there’s little or no activity – it just settles. In life, when we simply “settle” for good enough, when God has created us for greatness; when we settle for “this is just the way its going to be” instead of pushing forward and pushing through; when we settle in disappointments or defeat or failure –  dust begins to accumulate in our lives.

You know what dust does? It chokes out breath, it dries things up, it corrodes, blinds, it penetrates into tiny, closed off areas – places it shouldn’t be but places where it can cause great damage.

Even though Christ has “made us clean from our sins” we still need a daily cleanse. The Bible talks about “being washed with the water of the Word”. Through God’s Word, we’re reminded of WHO & WHOSE we already and truly are. By bathing ourselves in the presence of God, allowing His Spirit – the “river of living water” – to wash over us, we’re cleansed from the accumulation of dust. Or mud. Don’t allow dust to go unchecked, especially in the little things, the little corners of life that we might not think are important. Put up a dust guard to protect.

Take a few minutes to run your finger across not just the surfaces but all the layers of life. What’s the dust accumulation look like? Time for a clean? Get at it!

I’ll never forget the awakening I received one year. The kids were older, things had gone remarkably well. I was greatly anticipating some stellar family photos. As we were in a bit of a rush to get the annual Christmas card out to the printers our photographer graciously offered to drop off the disc of photos the next day so we could get a jump on things.

Disc goes into computer. Icons of the images begin to load. “Oh these are going to be great!” I muse as I quickly scan through the mini images to find the particular sitting I was hoping to use. “There’s the one.” Click. “Oh this is….YIKES! Oh my! What is wrong with my FACE? Are those wrinkles??? Those are REALLY BAD wrinkles! What happened to the lighting??!” As I was flipping through picture after picture the phone rang. It was our photographer. “I forgot to tell you. These are the none-touched-up ones. I always do a bit of touch up on the finals…” I’ll say! “Do I always look like this?” There was a bit of a pause at the other end. “I only do some VERY MINOR touch ups…”. Yeah.

For the last several years I’d been looking at myself through some nice special effects or filters. And you know what – we’re all prone to look at ourself through filters. However the Bible challenges us to “Put a mirror up to the real you, with no fancy “soul enhancing” lighting FX… (Philippians 2:3, Word on the Street Bible Paraphrase.

How do I see the real me? am I looking at me through the nice ‘fuzzy effects filter’ that reduces all the flaws – eliminates the blemishes, evens out the skin tone, smoothes out the wrinkles? Am I looking a myself through the filter of good works or self-achievement?

There actually IS a filter that isn’t just a nice effect – it literally does away with our flaws, imperfections, & failures. It’s the filter of the life of Christ. When I choose by faith to live according to His identity, it’s not just a nice fuzzy effect – He literally transforms my flawed, sinful, very wrinkled inner man.

Paul worded it this way:
“I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. And the life that I now live in my body, I live by faith, indeed, by the faithfulness of God’s Son, who loved me and gave himself for me. (Galatians 2:20 CEB)

The real me is found in Jesus Christ and the life He made possible. He is the greatest “special effect” you’ll ever need.

Think about it: YOU ARE GOD, You give up every privilege afforded You to put on frail flesh and blood and become a dependent human being Who suddenly needs His diaper changed and can’t even speak an intelligible word. You leave the indescribable glories of heaven to take up residence in a broken, messed up, dying and decaying world. You live with, love, heal, touch, accept, and serve people who only want more, more, more from You and try to kill You. Your closest friends, no matter how much You’ve poured into them and given to them, ditch You in Your moment of greatest need. If I WERE JESUS, I’d say, “Ok Dad, I’ve had enough. Look, I gave EVERYTHING, literally EVERYTHING I HAVE for these people – IT IS FINISHED! I’m coming home!”

And you know what — I think that would have been enough. Romans 5:10 tell us that “our friendship with God was restored by the death of His Son while we were still His enemies…” In other words, technically the bill was paid. The debt humanity owed because of our sin was wiped clean. The penalty we should have served, Jesus took care of for us. All of that accomplished through His death on the cross. DEED DONE!

If I were Jesus, I would have gone home. After the beyond-comprehension experience of the crucifixion? I would have DEFINITELY gone home!

But what was in God’s heart was something greater. He wasn’t content with simply restoring friendship with humanity. There was more in God’s heart. God saw 2 things:

1 – The ultimate blow to His enemy.

2 – Humanity continuing the work on earth He started.

The Ultimate Blow: What could be more humiliating, more demeaning to His adversary than for frail humanity to be granted salvation life and become carriers of the very life and power of God themselves? Not just in eternity would humanity have victory over the enemy but Christ rising to new life ON EARTH made it possible for humanity to live victoriously OVER THE ENEMY IN THIS LIFE. God did “exceedingly abundantly beyond” the requirements and put the icing on the cake by rising from the dead to live new creation life here on earth, giving that same resurrection life and power to those who would believe in Him. This is the power that makes possible the “good works element” of our faith.

Christ’s death took care of the penalty of sin. Christ’s resurrection life took care of the power of sin and made it possible for humanity to now live an overcoming life; to live according by a different life source (God’s life) and according to a different system – that of a perfect, powerful, ever expanding, eternal Kingdom. It made possible for us to now live out our purpose – to carry out the “good things He planned for us long ago”.

God always, always, always, goes far beyond what is simply required – how could we live anything less? 

“I WILL not do it!”

“I WILL do it anyway.”

“I WILL not forgive you!”

“I WILL be my own person.”

“I WILL make supper when I feel like it.”

“I WILL eat this piece of chocolate cake.”

Ever think about why our will is such a powerful force in our lives? My will has gotten me into trouble more times than I can begin to count. It’s gotten me into arguments. It’s caused me to fail. It’s caused me to lose. It’s created rifts in relationships. It’s caused relationships to end. It’s alienated others. It’s hurt me. It’s caused me to stick my foot in my mouth, actually both feet at times. Sometimes I think, “If only my will wasn’t so strong!” That statement is probably true to a point, however I don’t believe God wants us weak-willed either.

Our will is so powerfully strong because we were created in God’s image – God who’s own WILL is powerfully strong. So strong that He willed Himself to become human, willed Himself to carry out our punishment on the cross, willed Himself to buy us back even though we didn’t and don’t deserve it.

It was this same powerful will Jesus enacted as He served.

“Jesus came down the mountain with the cheers of the crowd still ringing in His ears. Then a leper appeared….” (Matthew 8:1, The Message)

After delivering His most powerful, well-known sermon to date, the crowds listening to Jesus went nuts! They’d never heard preaching like this! The cheers were enough to cause even the most humble to get distracted by the stardom. It would have been so easy for Jesus to get caught up in the “Wow, man! That was THE BEST MESSAGE I EVER HEARD! You’re powerful!” or the hands reaching out to touch Him, shake His hand, ask for His autograph. With a mob surrounding you, cheering you on, congratulating you, praising you, it would have been so easy to overlook the insignificant opportunity that planted itself in front of Him.

Matthew 8:2-3 – Suddenly, a man with leprosy approached Him and knelt before Him. “Lord,” the man said, “if You are willing, You can heal me and make me clean.” Jesus reached out and touched him. “I am willing,” He said. “Be healed!” And instantly the leprosy disappeared.

Lepers. The untouchables. The ugliest of the ugly. The outcasts. The filthy. The ignored ones. The ones no one else wanted anything to do with.

“Lord,” the man said, “if You are WILLING, You can heal me and make me clean.”

The leper knew it wasn’t a matter of Jesus being ABLE to heal him. He’d probably been at the bottom of the hill, far away from anyone being able to catch a glimpse of him, trying to catch Jesus’ words as He taught….

“God blesses those who are poor and realize their need for Him…”

“God blesses those who mourn…”

“God blesses those who are humble…”

“God blesses those who hunger and thirst for justice…”

“God blesses those who are merciful…”

“Give to those who ask, and don’t turn away from those who want to borrow….”

“Love your enemies…”

“…let your good deeds shine out for all to see…”

 “…If God cares so wonderfully for wildflowers that are here today and thrown into the fire tomorrow, He will certainly care for you.”

“…how much more will your heavenly Father give good gifts to those who ask Him.”

The leper was banking on Jesus’ WILLINGNESS. And that’s what he got.

“I am willing.” The powerful will of God Himself in action – serving in a situation no one else would have, literally, touched.

God’s powerful will is His GRACE. His grace in action not only to us, but through us. It is God’s grace, God’s willingness we lean into for the power to serve. Every part of our unredeemed will will seriously buck against serving. Our unredeemed will wants to indulge itself, pass judgment, do what it wants, bask in the limelight of fame and popularity or just sit back and be lazy. But salvation’s grace wasn’t just to save us; it was to enable us to serve.

Which will will you lean into today? The one that feeds your ego? Or the one that leads you to lepers?

“Here let me try…”

“Maybe if you loop it around the end and try to pull it through…”

“Nope, won’t work.”

“What about…”

Silence.

“Turn it upside down. Sometimes looking from a different angle…”

“Man this thing is giving me a headache.”

“I’m not going to be able to sleep until I get this **** thing figured out!”

And so my brother and sister-in-law, my husband and I continued to stare helplessly with glossed over eyes at the wood and string contraption my brother was holding. Great birthday present. The four of us had been fixated on this puzzle for the last few days trying desperately to figure it out. For most of the time it sat casually on top of the fireplace mantle until one of us would walk by only to be sucked in to giving another go at it. One of the suggestions was a hammer or saw.

Romans 12:2 CEB – Don’t be conformed to the patterns of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds so that you can figure out what God’s will is—what is good and pleasing and mature.

“So that you can figure out what God’s will is…” Figuring out God’s will? Isn’t God’s will suppose to be something you just know? Or a revelation you have amidst sunburst clouds, singing birds and that ‘Ah-hah!’ moment? Rarely. I wish I could say knowing God’s will has been the easy breezy experience of “Oh yes, that’s it! Of course!”

Not.

I can definitely relate to the “figuring out” dynamic. Figuring out something requires great effort on our part, mental effort, pondering, TRYING something. When you're figuring something out, your mind is a great part of that process, which is why God tells us we need minds that have been made new, transformed, so our mental faculties aren't functioning from a "this world only" perspective and pattern.

If we were going to solve the wood and string puzzle we had to switch into a different way of thinking than what we would typically use in day-to-day problem solving. We had to adjust our perspective to see differently, even to the point of holding the puzzle upside down for half an hour to force our brains to think out of the box. We had to do a lot of hands-on maneuvering of the pieces – trying one way and then the other, flipping the string around one way, sliding a piece back and forth. We’d think we were making progress only to tie the crazy thing up into an even greater mess.

“Figure out what God’s will is…” – We can sit back, pray, beg, write out our prayer requests, write out our 1 year, 5 year, 10 year goals, take off on a cross-country or across-the-world-got-to-find-myself journey, hoping to discover God’s will. The reality: you just plain need to apply some effort and figure it out. Start by asking God to show you what thinking patterns and belief systems need renewing or flat-out overhauling. Its not that God holds out on revealing His will to us but our beliefs and thinking patterns get in the way. They cloud up the atmosphere of our life, they distort our perspective and prevent us from hearing and seeing from Heaven’s perspective.

Then get active in the “figuring out” – just start doing something. Don’t try to figure it out first – how it can or will happen, how you'll raise the money, find the time, find the energy, work it into your current scheduled life or season of life. When Jesus called His disciples, He just said “Follow Me!” He didn’t lay out a plan for them, give them the details, lay out a schedule for them, or tell them how much money they’d make. Heck, He didn’t even introduce Himself, and gauging by later accounts of the disciples’ amazement, I wonder if they even really knew WHO they were following! (See Luke 8:22-25)

Following Jesus…faith…God’s will – it’s messy, unpredictable, and in a lot of ways, you sometimes need to be willing to turn your life upside down in order to “figure it out”.

But you CAN figure it out because God is a good God, a faithful Father Who longs to see His kids flourish in life. He’s had you figured out before you drew your first breath and He’ll stick with you until you “get it”.

(And yes, we did solve the puzzle…without the hammer or saw.)

Colossians 4:2 CEB – Keep on praying and guard your prayers with thanksgiving.

Science fascinates me. Unfortunately in high school I was too pre-occupied with boys and other things to pay much attention to it. It was only years later after having been exposed to the teaching of some amazing science geeks that I fell in love with it. I’ve come to the conclusion that science is a bit like sushi: its definitely an acquired taste.

A few years ago I attended a session in which a medical doctor was presenting in lay-man’s terms something called epigenetics. The simple version: epigenetics is a field of science that has discovered there are mechanisms or triggers that affect our genes. They work like a “switch” to turn off & on the genetics in our body causing health or disease. For example, lab rats that had cancer were found to be deficient in a particular a mineral. When that mineral was replenished, “flip!”, the cancer cells were “shut off”.

Now switch your brain over to your spiritual life. The Bible says that we become “new creations” through the life of Jesus Christ. I love how The Message Bible describes it:

1 Peter 1:23 The Message – Your new life is not like your old life. Your old birth came from mortal sperm; your new birth comes from God’s living Word. Just think: a life conceived by God himself!

1 John 3:9 in the Common English Bible even uses the phrase “Those born from God don’t practice sin because God’s DNA remains in them. They can’t sin because they are born from God”

Sperm, conceived by God Himself, God’s DNA….we have “new creation genetics” working in our lives. We’ll call them “spiritual genetics”. Faith is a “spiritual gene” we all possess. In the same way that science is discovering the on/off triggers in our genes through epigenetics, I believe there are certain elements or attitudes that work as triggers to turn off or on our spiritual genes.

Here’s an example of how this works: faith empowers and is absolutely necessary for prayer, not just to see answers come but to believe that through prayer we are actually having conversation with a God we cannot see, Who resides in a completely different realm than ours. Colossians 4:2 instructs us to “guard our prayers with thanksgiving”. Thanksgiving works as a positive trigger to keep faith “turned on”, active and focused. It also works like trigger “turning off” hindrances to prayer being effective – deterrents such as negativity, hopelessness, despair, entitlement, defeat. These attitudes work like viral infections against the prayers we’ve prayed because they are directly counteractive to faith. They weaken faith and sometimes even neutralize faith that is necessary to seeing prayers answered.

Where has your prayer life been infected? What attitudes have switched off faith? Turn on the right “genetics” through thanksgiving. Begin to shift your prayers from “God, please will You…” to “God, THANK YOU that You have/are/will…”

Flip the switch.

***Click this link to watch a funny video to illustrate – Thanks JD Hornbacher – You got skills!

Watching Extreme Home Makeover use to be a regular Sunday night occurrence at our house. We’d all be huddled up on the couch chowing down popcorn, all of us   sniffing back the tears at the same time.

There was a frequent occurrence in many episodes: some houses were so bad and needed so much work, or it was too dangerous to try to remodel them, that the crew needed to bring in the wrecking ball to tear down the old in order to start brand new.

That is an excellent picture of what Jesus did for me (and on occasion still does) and what He desires to do for all of us. He came in and tore down (wrecked) my pale, small, purposeless, empty, selfish and self-centred life and gave me (gives us) a brand new life – HIS LIFE – instead.

On Extreme Home Makeover you would often hear interviews with the crew commenting on why the family needed this new house: “We want to give them more room” – “There are barriers making it difficult for them to get around” — “The house is preventing them from being able to be the dad/mom they want to be for their kids” – and in some instances, the homes were either dangerous and posed health risks.

I believe that’s similar to God’s perspective on our lives at times: “The way YOU’VE built your life or are trying to build your life is so much smaller than what I see for you…I want to give you room, bring you into this large life!” – “Let Me get rid of these barriers that are blocking you, your potential.” – “The foundation you’ve built your life on – it’s dangerous! You’ll never experience the full life I have for you!”

Can you imagine how ridiculous it would have looked if the Extreme Home Makeover family decided to protest their home being torn down? If they decided to lay on the ground in front of their house, forcing the wrecking ball crew to stop their work? I can’t help but think that’s what we must look like when God desires to come in and destroy the old, decrepit, dangerous structure of our self-directed lives.

“Let Me bring on the wrecking ball and then we can really build!”

God is not out to nicely add Himself into our lives.

2 Corinthians 5:17 – “What this means is that those who become Christians become new persons.  They are not the same anymore, for the old life is gone.  A new life has begun!”

Being a Christ-follower isn’t about adding Jesus to your broken life. It’s about allowing Him to completely destroy the thing that’s been destroying you – belief systems, methods, habits, faulty foundations. He wants to re-build a new you – the real you – who you really are and were created to be.

Take a moment and ask God to show you what areas, what things in your life He wants to take the wrecking ball so His masterpiece can be built. 

“I want Jesus to come back to life! I just love Him so much!”

“Babe, Jesus DID come back to life, and He loves you too. Zoe, do you want to ask Jesus into your heart? Do you really want to know him?”

“Yes, daddy. I do.”

This is the conversation every God-fearing parent hopes to have with their child. But can I be honest? Sometimes I wonder if my child is genuinely seeking to understand, if when she says she “loves Jesus” she really means it, because maybe we’ve just “trained” her to say those things.

Is it really HER who believes it? Can a 3-yr-old “get it”?

Paul, one of the New Testament writers, seemed to think so. In his second letter written to his “son” Timothy, he reminds him that “from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.” (2 Timothy 3:14-15)

You know what this tells me? God doesn’t put an age limit on personal revelation. He’s not deterred if you’re a person who hits your sibling or can’t say the word “yellow” or throws temper tantrums in Safeway or hasn’t quite mastered wiping your bum. God doesn’t care about that stuff. He’s simply looking for an open and pliable heart.

At bedtime Zoe and I prayed, thanking Jesus and asking for the Holy Spirit in her life. When we finished, I asked her,

“Zoe, do you feel any different?”

She looked down and patted her chest.

“My heart is talking.”

“What’s it saying?”

“’I love you, Zoe’.”

That was the moment I knew it was real for her. An answer as innocent and honest as that can only be a genuine response to the very real voice of God speaking to her heart.

So today, this is my prayer for every one of us: That we would quiet ourselves and realize

our hearts are talking.

God is speaking to every one of us, regardless of our age or our past or our current life circumstances. And it’s not supposed to be complicated. Jesus told us in Matthew 18:3 that “unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”

If a 3-yr-old can hear the voice of Almighty God speak directly to her heart, so can we. Jesus just wants us to keep it simple with “childlike faith”.

So stop and listen. Because your heart is talking.

What’s it saying?

It’s sweltering hot – I’ll do the reasonable thing for a quick supper: BBQ burgers. Except we have no buns. “No problem. I’ll just send Samara to 7-11.” She comes back with a slurpee. “Sorry no buns, mom.”

Ggrrr. “OK, I’ll make a quick run to the Co-Op convenience store. 3 minutes tops.” However in the back of my mind begins the argument: “You’re taking a gamble, you should just save time and run to WalMart.” Except I hate WalMart, especially during supper hour. Everyone else who’s scrambling for supper is headed to WalMart. I run to the Co-Op convenience store – no buns. “Awww man, now I HAVE to go to WalMart!” On the drive there my mind is running in multiple directions trying to think of any other close options other than WalMart! I’m drawing blanks. At the corner waiting to turn into WalMart and see the Shell convenience store – SAVED! They have to have buns. Turning into Shell, reality argues: I am probably wasting more time but here’s hoping! No buns. As I’m pulling out I’m thinking, “Would there be any chance Staples would have buns? Maybe Rona Hardware? I wonder if I went through the drive-thru at Tim Horton’s if they’d sell me just some buns???? Anything but WalMart!”

Futilely knowing Peavy Mart and Staples will NOT have buns, I resign myself to WalMart. I pray the parking spot prayer “Up close God please! Yes! Favor!” – a spot up close AND close to the exit. I run in, grab the buns and then notice the winding road called “Express Lane” that is usually anything but express. And then I see my saving grace: Customer Service. No customers are there. I walk past the oodles of people in the Express-Lane-to-nowhere, and march right up to the lone customer service girl. She smiles, “Can I help you?” Can I believe this is actually real? Getting into WalMart, getting my 1 item and getting out literally in under 5 minutes??? If I’d known it was going to be this easy…

And thus my lesson of the day: How often in life are we running around to all sorts of other options, trying to figure things out, trying to make things work, trying desperately to avoid what we think is the long way, the long WAIT, the tedious way – the road to and through God? We look for any other way to get things done or attain the results we want, completely avoiding God, completely avoiding the most certain, direct route called prayer. Our futile thinking tries to take us down all sorts of paths: “Would there be any chance Staples has buns???”

Oswald Chambers said, “In the natural realm, prayer is not practical but absurd.” It doesn’t make sense to our I-can-handle-this nature: “It’ll take too long, I don’t even know what to say, this isnt a big deal…” But we forget that prayer isnt just about getting answers or solutions. Prayer is our connection God. A lifeline. It keeps us connected to eternity, our real home. It repositions us into the place of follower of Christ rather than director of our own life.

Jesus instructions in Mark 11:24 in The Message:
“That’s why I urge you to pray for absolutely everything, ranging from small to large. Include everything as you embrace this God-life, and you’ll get God’s everything.”

God’s everything” is more than just the answers to prayers. Its GOD Himself. HE is the goal of prayer. His life saturating ours. His heartbeat becoming ours. That’s what prayer does: it changes us and then we are able to bring change to whatever situation we are facing.

The Customer Service line is free and clear. God is eagerly waiting: “Can I help you?”

Colossians 3:16 The Message – Let the Word of Christ–the Message–have the run of the house. Give it plenty of room in your lives. Instruct and direct one another using good common sense. And sing, sing your hearts out to God!

“Give it plenty of room in your lives….”

Ever watch the show "Hoarders"? Friends or family members of people who have SERIOUS collection/garbage/fear of cleaning issues call in an intervention and their "transformation" is documented for all to see. Personally I can hardly watch the show. I battle between feeling embarrassed for the featured "hoarder of the week" and feeling nearly claustrophobic as the virtual video tour of their home begins. However, the show is a great igniter of what I call the "chucking anointing".

The "chucking anointing" is one of the key skills I make sure our office admin people are well rehearsed in, especially when it comes to the church storage room we lovingly refer to as the black hole. Stuff that gets left around for too long, whether it's old or broken decorations, scraps of plastic table cloth someone thinks will someday be useful, busted old toys from the nursery, coffee mugs or the never ending supply of plastic food containers (I swear they multiply like rabbits) – CHUCK IT! Curriculum and cassette tapes from a previous decade? CHUCK IT! One of of the most therapeutic days for our office team is the "black hole cleaning day". When the deed is done, it's like there's breathing space! Look at all the room! AWESOME!!!

I think we might all do well to develop the "chucking anointing." Not just for our homes or work space but our lives. Our inner world. That's one of the beauties of fasting and prayer: it helps you de-clutter your life so there’s more room for God’s Word to have ‘the run of the house'.

Sometimes it's not just garbage (sin, unhealthy habits & attitudes, time wasting activities, etc) that we need to clear out. Sometimes it can be good stuff, even things that were once necessary.

Maybe there was a time in your life you needed to set up boundaries and a rigid schedule because your life was in such disarray and extreme measures were needed. However now life is SO scheduled and the boundaries so rigid that even God has a difficult time booking an appointment with you.

Maybe it's practices you developed at the beginning of your walk with Christ that enabled you to experience incredible personal time with God. But that was 20 years ago and to be honest it's been quite ho-hum in the God-time sector of your life.

So what is it? What's been taking up space in your life that you need to clear out to make more room for the fresh, powerful Word of God in your life? How will you de-clutter your inner world so God’s Word can more readily occupy your thoughts, your affections and desires – your entire life?
Time to start chucking!

"CRAAAACKK!!!!"

“What the heck was THAT?!” I thought as I vigorously rubbed my hands together trying to warm up in my -30C car that was pitifully trying to revive out of its frozen state. “Aawww man, you’ve got to be kidding!! Seriously?” I groaned as I helplessly watched the monster crack spread all the way across my iced-up windshield. I tried to ignore my husband’s voice in my head: “Honey get the chip fixed BEFORE the weather turns cold and you have a monster crack on your windshield.” Well, the monster had arrived. And it was time for a new windshield.

Stupid chip.

In life we’re generally quick to deal with the monster issues or “big chips” that occur, mostly because they often leave us little choice. They are the life issues that press us into a corner, or scream loudly above everything else, “Deal with me now!” Usually even the most undisciplined of us comply. Or they are the blatantly obvious challenges to our convictions – the things that even the most weak-willed will stand up to.

It’s the smaller things we tend to overlook. 

Like the little chips and nicks and the even tinier sandblasts to our windshield, we just put up with them. “There’ll be more coming…” However they are the ones that as they accumulate cause serious problems – hey can turn your windshield into a reflective glare of sunlight and actually blind you while you’re driving.

Daniel and his 3 friends are an excellent example of guys that understood the value of the little stuff. In Daniel 1 we see them choosing to deal with something as insignificant as food.

Daniel 1:18 The Message – But Daniel determined that he would not defile himself by eating the king’s food or drinking his wine, so he asked the head of the palace staff to exempt him from the royal diet.

This wasn’t an issue of saying no to sexy girls or bucket loads of gold or a quick leap into promotion. It was an issue of food. But there was something resolute in Daniel and his friends that they would remain true to their convictions, even in the small stuff. Or rather, especially in the small stuff. They would deal with the small stuff. Immediately. Because if you can’t say no to the king’s food, how will you be able to say no to his idol? (Daniel 3) They didn’t know the idol was coming their way but God did and God needed them ready.

The result of their resolute spirit?

Daniel 1:17-20 – God gave these four young men an unusual aptitude for understanding every aspect of literature and wisdom. And God gave Daniel the special ability to interpret the meanings of visions and dreams. When the training period ordered by the king was completed, the chief of staff brought all the young men to King Nebuchadnezzar. The king talked with them, and no one impressed him as much as Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. So they entered the royal service. Whenever the king consulted them in any matter requiring wisdom and balanced judgment, he found them ten times more capable than any of the magicians and enchanters in his entire kingdom.

What little chips do you need to deal with? What little issues have you been putting up with that have actually become vision blinders? What little things is it time to take a stand on? Deal with the little sandblast nicks. Deal with the little scratches. Don’t allow them to accumulate. Replace the windshield of your life – replace your  perspective, your vision, with Heaven’s perspective, Holy Spirit inspired and directed sight. Allow the power of God’s Word to become the window you view life through. Allow the steadfast character of God to be the window you look at circumstances through. 

Philippians 2:13 The Message – for it is God who is at work in you, enabling you both to will and to work for His good pleasure.

A willing will – almost a bit of an oxymoron. (For the grammatically challenged – an oxymoron is an expression with contradictory words.) Because when I think of my will, the image is that of something ‘set’, ‘firm’, ‘resisting’ – not yielding or willing. Our will is our internal motor. Our default response mechanism. The part of our soul that is like the watchdog over the rest of our internal nature. It’s God-designed.

So the question is: are you allowing the Designer to direct it?

Yes

No

Sometimes

If you checked Yes, that’s awesome! You can log-off and go have a latte.

If you checked No or Sometimes read on for some encouragement.

Paul in writing to the Philippians gives the answer for us “No” & “Sometimes” people: “it is GOD Who is at work in you, enabling you…”.

I love how the Amplified Bible words it:

Philippians 2:13 – [Not in your own strength] for it is God Who is all the while effectually at work in you [energizing and creating in you the power and desire], both to will and to work for His good pleasure and satisfaction and delight.

God is at work IN us; it doesn’t say He’s working ON US. Big difference.

That means as a believer in Christ and receiver of His grace, it’s His willingness I have access to, His willingness I can lean into.

The willingness of a God Who left all the advantages and status and privileges of deity and took on the status of a slave and became human…

The willingness of a Son Who said to His Father, “If there’s any other way to do this, Please! But nevertheless, not My will but YOURS BE DONE”…

The willingness of the Spirit Who would allow the divine power of God to reside in frail humanity…

The only true “willing will”.

I could greatly use that will.

When I stop trying to create or grow and develop or train my own will to be more willing and instead embrace and lean into God’s will in Christ, the spirit of willingness begins to invade my life. I find myself willing to give, willing to sacrifice, willing to yield, willing to serve, willing to do whatever-it-takes to see God’s heart become reality here on earth.

If you’re one of the “No” or “Sometimes” people like me, I invite you to make my favorite and constant prayer your own:

“God, thank You that You are energizing and creating in me the power and desire to do Your will and do what pleases You. I lean into and live from the will of my Savior Whose Spirit lives in me.”