Don't be a Spiritual Streaker

"Don't be a spiritual streaker. Wear more than just the helmet of salvation."
Good advice.
13 Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. 14 Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, 15 and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; 16 above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. 17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God; 18 praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints--


Truth-girded waist
Truth is what is absolutely right, correct in all ways. Knowing who God is and what He has done is the first layer of armor.


Breastplate of righteousness
Righteousness is being morally upright. A breastplate protects the heart. I need God's perfect standards to protect my heart.


Feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace.
I need to know where my deliverance comes from, and to go where ever the spreading of the gospel takes me. Travel requires good shoes.


Shield of faith
Faith is knowing without seeing. (Hebrews 11:1) I know my God is ruler above all even when I can't see it. Faith is protection from Satan's fiery darts.


Helmet of salvation
Salvation is when I became a member of God's family and a soldier in His army. First thing issued: a helmet. My soul is now protected by Christ's sacrifice.


Sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God
This is my most powerful weapon, the word of God. God speaks through His word, and there is nothing more powerful than God speaking.


Then there is prayer. A direct line to God. Communication with my General is vital to knowing where to move next and keeping my armor in peak condition. 


This is a lot of rambling, but it's something I've been thinking about. I'd love to hear other thoughts.

Snow and other four letter words

Snow: I actually love snow. And storms. On the catwalk this morning I stared out the window in fascination with the snow. Yes, I am about five. But I love being able to see God through His creation. I can see God's power so clearly through the physical storms I see, which got me thinking about the other kind of storms I face. If I stop feeling sorry for myself because I'm going through a storm, I can see God's power there too. If I don't see Him, it's not because He's not there. It's because I'm too busy having a pity party to see Him. 

Love: I've really been getting smacked with this one lately, and I don't know why. I know all these dots are appearing in my life for a reason, that there is a reason I have been hearing so much about this lately, and not just hearing but being impacted. I just don't know what that reason is. This Thursday at Cru I felt like I had been whacked in the head with truth, and I'm still sorting through that one. The talk was on sacrificial love. We started in 1 Corinthians 13, the love chapter. That makes sense. But we dug a lot deeper into it. First, look at the first three verses of that chapter.

 ¹ If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. ² If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. ³ If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing. 

There is nothing of worth without love. That should be a good indicator of how important this is.

 

⁷ Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. ⁸ Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 

1 John 4: 7-8

 

¹⁶ And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.

   God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.

1 John 4:16

 ¹⁹ We love because he first loved us.

1 John 4:19

Love comes from God, and we would be incapable of loving if God didn't love us.

⁵ But if anyone obeys his word, love for God is truly made complete in them. This is how we know we are in him: ⁶ Whoever claims to live in him must live as Jesus did.

1 John 2:5-6

 ¹⁶ This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters.

1 John 3:16

Jesus loved sacrificially. Sacrificial love is willing to give up everything for someone else. To quote Burt, Jesus was love with skin on. We tend to think of God turning His face away as Jesus died on the cross. But He didn't all His wrath for every sin that had ever been committed or will ever be committed was focused on Jesus. It is more than I can ever begin to comprehend. Yet Jesus suffered the physical pain of crucifixion and the wrath of God willingly. We are asked to love like Jesus loved. But, that usually doesn't involve dying. Doing something uncomfortable, giving up study time, is that really that much of a sacrifice? Yet, it is so easy to let "reasonable priorities" get in the way. It makes sense not to love sacrificially. By the world's standards, living a life of sacrificial love is a life of bad decisions. But it is so worth it. No, it's not going to be easy. It's going to hurt. True love hurts. Look at Jesus again. As Westly says in The Princess Bride, "Life is pain, Highness. Anyone who tells you different is selling something." It hurts, but it's worth the pain. Sacrificial love is radical. Will I continue to be comfortable, or will I step out and love someone? 

This all came from the notes I took on Thursday. 

"If what we call love doesn't take us beyond ourselves, it is not really love." Oswald Chambers

That was the first thing I read in My Utmost for His Highest this morning. Right back to love, and the sermon I heard on Sunday about being doers not hearers only. Love. I seem to be getting this from all angles right now.  Which leads to my third four letter word.

Wait: I don't know why I'm learning all this right now. I don't know if there is something I am supposed to be doing, or if I just need to be still and soak it up. But I trust that God will let me know in His timing. Which means I have to wait. Patience is not my strong suit. So, I get to learn about waiting a lot. But that's good. That's mostly what's been bouncing around in my head lately. Take it as you will.

Seeing the Sunrise

This morning's sunrise was absolutely amazing. And I got to share it with my good friend Michelle. I am just blown away by how awesome God is. The entire world is His canvas. All I have to do is step outside to see His glory. Yet it seems so easy to forget how powerful God is. I get caught up in things that aren't import, and God gets pushed to the side. I don't want that! I want to be crazy in love with my God. My whole purpose in life is to bring glory to Him. He blesses me so abundantly. Still, I get so distracted by whatever else is going on in my life. I love that God is so clearly reflected in His creation. I need the reminder. His majesty is visible just by looking at the world He created. Every day is new, and so is His mercy and grace to us. 

Yours, O LORD, is the greatness,
      The power and the glory, 
      The victory and the majesty; 
      For all that is in heaven and in earth is Yours;
      Yours is the kingdom, O LORD, 
      And You are exalted as head over all. 

1 Chronicles 29:11

Burn

If this is fire, let me burn. Trial and testing isn't fun. I feel like I've been going through a lot of that lately, and failing. God doesn't ever work in the ways I expect. That's awesome. I love how He blows me away. I know He's working, yet I really wonder where He's going with this. All I can see is how much this hurts right now. The sermon I heard this Sunday talked about how things are never what they seem. That really hit me where I needed it. Because I can't see the big picture. I'm seeing an ice cube where God is seeing a glacier. I don't know the why. I just have to trust that my circumstances are working for His glory. I want to be poured out, a sacrifice for His glory. It scares me to write that. God's way isn't the comfortable way. But if I have to go through the fire to be purified for Him, I want that. If this is fire, let me burn.

Unexpected

2 Kings 5:1-19

Naaman goes to Elisha to be healed of his leprosy. But what Elisha tells him to do isn't what Naaman expected. Naaman expected to be taken care of in a certain way, but that's not what happened. Naaman was furious, and he wasn't going to obey Elisha. His servant talks him into it, and he is healed. The power of God is revealed through his obedience. Naaman almost missed being healed and meeting the living God because God didn't work in the way Naaman expected.

God doesn't fit into our nice neat little boxes. He doesn't work in the ways we think he should. God is completely beyond our ability to comprehend. The common phrase is," Want to hear God laugh? Tell Him your plans." God doesn't adapt Himself to our plans. He works in ways that are completely unexpected, beyond anything we would even have considered expecting. We see the awesomeness of God where we least expect it, like Naaman. The question is, am I going to ignore God when He works unexpectedly?

January 26, 2011

Dot to Dot

A lot of the time I feel like my life is a dot to dot. I know God is working, and I can see the dots, but I don't know how they connect. Me trying to figure it out doesn't work so well either. I think God is trying to make a duck, when the picture is really a boat. The thing is, I really have no idea how the dots connect. But God does. Waiting and trusting are two of the things I struggle with most. So I get to learn about them a lot. Because I can't see how the dots connect, I have to wait and trust that God knows what he's doing, knows what picture he wants to draw in my life. He's my everything. I can see that there are dots, but I have no idea how they connect. But that's ok. I know my God knows what He's doing.

Prayer

How often have you heard, or said, "All I can do is pray." ? Let's think about this for a moment. All I can do? Meaning, There is nothing else I can do, I have exhausted all other avenues? Prayer becomes a last resort, something we only turn to when there is nowhere else to go. And there is a good reason circumstances drive us to our knees. But consider this: Prayer is our direct connection to God. That is a very  powerful thing. I know I take it lightly far too often. Prayer is communication with God. But how often does it become "just prayer" ? Yet God doesn't want us to come to Him only when we're desperate, when we're on our knees because things are so bad we can't stand anymore. We need to come to Him first. He doesn't just want a part of our life, he wants it all. He wants us to turn to Him when we're joyful, sad, hurt, angry, whatever. Nothing you or I can say is going to surprise or shock Him. Read Psalms. David doesn't hold back. We don't have to either. Ephesians 6:18  praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints— This is right after the verses about putting on the full armor of God. Pray always. 1 Thessalonians pray without ceasing. Over and over again we are told of the importance of prayer. Obviously, this is a big deal. Yet, I forget this all the time. So often I try everything but prayer. It's something that's been laid on my heart a lot lately. Prayer is so amazing, and it continually blows my mind. Very slowly, I'm learning to fight on my knees. I don't have it down, not by a long shot, but, I'm learning. And it's good.