Category: Growth (Page 7 of 7)

What Do You Want?

April 10, 2021 / ministermaryellen@gmail.com

Although the Easter holiday is behind us, I’ve still been reflecting on its significance this past week. As believers, we set aside Easter Sunday as a day to honor and celebrate our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ’s, resurrection. Yet, for us, celebrating His resurrection moves beyond Easter Sunday; celebrating Jesus’ resurrection is really an everyday occurrence for Christians. Our salvation has led us to come alive in Him—that new life in us the result of, evidence of, His resurrection power. And, we’re made whole as we grow in our understanding of the significance of Jesus’ empty Cross and His empty tomb. The coming of the Messiah, who Scripture assures us is Jesus, changed everything. Literally. His appearing on earth, Jesus’ life and death, His resurrection means that access to God the Father is now possible once again for anyone who will genuinely believe in Jesus. “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” – 2 Corinthians 5:21.

In part, Jesus’ leaving heaven and coming to earth as a God-man means that we can access the kingdom of God and help bring His kingdom into this world. We can witness the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, and the deaf able to hear because of Him because He defeated sin, death, and the grave. “I tell you this timeless truth: The person who follows me in faith, believing in me, will do these same mighty miracles that I do – even greater miracles than these because I go to be with my Father! For I will do whatever you ask me to do when you ask me in my name” – John 14:12-13.

That Truth can mean only one thing: the miracles Jesus performed while He walked among us, are still accessible to us today! Because Jesus defeated death through His resurrection, He is still very much alive today. Not even death could withstand His mighty power! Through Him, because His Spirit lives within us, we have the power to overcome sickness and disease in the body, mind, and spirit. That’s great news, my friends! Why? Because throughout the Gospels, we see many instances where Jesus healed the sick. And we are assured in Scripture that, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever!” –Hebrews 13:8.

And whether people were tormented in their minds by an evil spirit or dealing with a physical ailment, Jesus sets the example for what fearless ministry looks like.

There are multiple instances in Scripture where Jesus took the initiative to heal those who came to Him for miracles—regardless of their intentions. Yet there are also several instances where Jesus asks those who sought Him out if physical healing is what they genuinely wanted. Let’s dive into what the Bible tells us within those particular accounts. “As Jesus went on from there, two blind men followed him, calling out, “Have mercy on us, Son of David!” When he had gone indoors, the blind men came to him, and he asked them, “Do you believe that I am able to do this?” “Yes, Lord,” they replied. Then he touched their eyes and said, “According to your faith let it be done to you”; and their sight was restored – Matthew 9:27-30a.

We see a comparable situation in Luke: ‘As Jesus approached Jericho, a blind man was sitting by the roadside begging. When he heard the crowd going by, he asked what was happening. They told him, “Jesus of Nazareth is passing by.” He called out, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” Those who led the way rebuked him and told him to be quiet, but he shouted all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” Jesus stopped and ordered the man to be brought to him. When he came near, Jesus asked him, “What do you want me to do for you?” “Lord, I want to see,” he replied. Jesus said to him, “Receive your sight; your faith has healed you.” Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus, praising God’ – Luke 18:35-42.

We’ll find the final passage I’d like us to look at in the Book of John: ‘…there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, which in Aramaic is called Bethesda and which is surrounded by five porches. Here a great number of disabled people used to lie—the blind, the lame, the paralyzed. and they waited for the moving of the waters. From time to time an angel of the Lord would come down and stir up the waters. The first one into the pool after each such disturbance would be cured of whatever disease they had. One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, “Do you want to get well?” “Sir,” the invalid replied, “I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me.” Then Jesus said to him, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.” At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked’ – John 5:2-9.

In each of these instances, we witness Jesus’ humility firsthand. Knowing that He is God, and fully capable of healing these people, Jesus nevertheless asks them, “Do you want to get well?” Jesus doesn’t just force His power onto them.

You see, sometimes people can get so comfortable with their sickness and the attention that it brings them they honestly don’t want to be healed. Sounds crazy, right, not the norm surely, this desire is certainly not born from a sound mind, but it’s true, nevertheless. Of course, these same people may say that they want to be healed, yet in their hearts, what they often desire most, is the gaze of man. To be noticed, to receive the attention their illness affords them. Perhaps they’ve become addicted to the attention it gives them, and they fear that in getting well, they may somehow fade into society, into the background, no longer standing out. No longer being noticed. Jesus knows this, and so He asked, “Do you want to be healed?”

As a healthcare worker, I’ve witnessed and treated those who seem to love being patients.

Don’t get me wrong, most patients are genuinely sick and rightfully in need of treatment, but others do come into the hospital because they desire the attention being a patient affords them. Their gaining attention can range from wanting to stay in the hospital so badly that they’ll refuse to get off the treatments only available in the hospital to feigning symptoms that might cause them to remain in or be admitted to the hospital. I’m referring to people capable of caring for themselves, yet they like the attention and ease of someone else doing things for them. I will reiterate that this is not the majority, but I sometimes do see patients who seem like they don’t want to get well. And as I was driving home from work one day, frustrated by a similar situation, I asked the Lord, “why are people like this, Lord?!” And it’s almost as if I heard Him say, so people haven’t changed, huh?

Maybe that’s why I was intrigued by these people as I read over their accounts in Scripture? They caused me to have a new understanding of why Jesus asked the question, “Do you want to be healed?” At first glance, it seemed counterintuitive to me for Jesus to ask a sick person if they wanted to be made well. It seemed odd to me for Jesus to confer with a blind man about his truly believing that Jesus could do what He said He could do. It seemed silly to me for Jesus not to assume that these people each wanted to be well. I believe the default assumption for most people reading the above accounts would agree that it’s just common sense for people to want to be well? Yet Jesus, being God, knows differently. He understands—He sees a man’s heart—his intentions.

This led me to wonder: Just how many people did Jesus ask if they wanted to be healed, but they turned Him away—choosing their illness and the attention it afforded them instead?

I wonder if Jesus asked anyone if they wanted to be healed, and they suddenly realized that it would be easier to sit on the street and continue to beg, instead of accepting the healing Jesus was offering? To have to work then, and perhaps lose the attention their illness had afforded them? I also wonder if Jesus asked them this question to help them truly see? Not just with their physical eyes, but deeper and broader instead, with the eyes of their heart. I wonder if Jesus wanted to help give those we’ve read about not just their physical healing but a fresh perspective as well? Was Jesus attempting to lead them towards an awareness that it is He alone who heals? Or, was Jesus prompting them—encouraging them to examine their motives? To come to that place within themselves where they could honestly say that they wanted to receive all that Jesus was offering them.

There are so many rich and unspoken nuances—so many possibilities, within these passages; we will never realize their fullness this side of eternity. Yet there is this one thing Scripture makes crystal clear: sin causes spiritual blindness. “I will bring distress on mankind so that they will walk like those who are blind because they have sinned against the LORD” – Zephaniah 1:17.

I can’t help but think that Jesus was, in part, pointing those we read of in today’s Scriptures towards this one simple, yet profound Truth. That though they may receive healing in their body, if the deeper wounds in their souls weren’t healed, they would continue to walk around spiritually blind. “Jesus came to bring heaven to earth by preaching The Good News to the poor, [healing] broken hearts and [proclaiming] liberty to captives, vision to the blind, and to restore the crushed with forgiveness” – Luke 4:18.

Jesus completed what His Father bid Him do in eternity past by taking our sins upon Himself when He came and walked among us as a man. By offering His sinless Life on the Cross and rising again three days later so that we might have eternal life in Him one day and live our lives to the fullest now. His resurrection afforded those who have made Jesus Lord of their life the same power He demonstrated while He walked the earth—The power of God’s Holy Spirit alive and at work in us.

So, in closing, I’ll ask you the same question today that Jesus asked those He healed. “Do you want to be well?”

Know this, friend: complete healing is available to you today in no other than Jesus Christ. And If you don’t know this Jesus, I invite you to do so now. Just confess your sins to Him and proclaim Him as your Savior. He will lead you into a life of forgiveness, love, and healing. “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness” – 1 John 1:9.

Once It Becomes Personal.

March 27, 2021 / ministermaryellen@gmail.com

“In the past I heard about you, but now I have seen you with my own eyes. And I am ashamed of myself. I am so sorry. As I sit in the dust and ashes, I promise to change my heart and my life.” –Job 42:5-6.

Perhaps Job’s faith in God had been handed down to him from his parents? Maybe it came to him through his listening to the oral retellings of old? Accounts of God’s goodness and mercy, of His great love for His children.

Whatever the channel used, Scripture clarifies that Job recognized there was a God. Job never denied He existed. We realize this in Job’s response to his wife when she flat out tells him to give up on this God who had just allowed one calamity after another to befall them: “His wife said to him, “Are you still maintaining your integrity? Curse God and die!” He replied, “You are talking like a foolish woman. Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?” In all this, Job did not sin in what he said. –Job 2:9-10.

Job surely had some level of faith. Some belief in the God of the old retellings, the God who went to great lengths to redeem, provide for, and protect His people. “I’ve also done it so you can tell your children and grandchildren about how I made a mockery of the Egyptians and about the signs I displayed among them—and so you will know that I am the LORD” –Exodus 10:2. Maybe Job had lived his life essentially mimicking, perhaps wholeheartedly, what he had observed his parents and family, neighbors and friends—those in his tribe doing or saying—wanting it to be true for himself, wanting to believe it all. Indeed believing, on some level, that this God is real. Remember though, that up until this point in Job’s story, he’d not encountered God personally yet. Job had only known Him as the God of someone else’s relationship. But until Job knows God personally—until anyone does, God remains impersonal, and their lives untouched by the enlivening, relational presence of His Holy Spirit at work

This is the case for so many of us before our relationship with God became personal, Jesus was just a person someone else has experienced. A head knowledge that had yet to touch our heart. A good man hanging on a cross, perhaps? A god among many other gods, maybe? Our mother or father or grandmother’s God? Or the symbol of some unreachable deity whose rules demand more than anyone can give? So then why even try to know Him for ourselves?

I know this is how it was for me.

Raised Catholic, I attended Catholic school in the 60’s—went to Mass daily with those in my class. I learned about Jesus certainly—knew He had a Father, God. I had heard of the Holy Spirit but quite literally never knew Him as anything other than the picture of the Dove I’d seen painted on the Cathederal ceiling, in paintings, or heard referenced in the priest’s homily. I had no clue He was an actual person—the Third Person of the Godhead. Like Job and so many others today, I had undoubtedly heard about God—had some cursory head knowledge of Him, but I did not know Jesus—personally, that is. I had never encountered God face-to-face, so to speak.

But one day, in the blink of an eye, right there in the Catholic Church, all of that changed!

No longer was God someone that lived outside of me in paintings, nor was He a man who hung on a cross over my bed; Jesus Christ was now alive in me—His Spirit at work in me. One minute I was dead in my sin, the next, alive in Christ—just like Job. “But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved” –Ephesians 2:4-5. And, as with Job, I too felt the weight of my many past sins. How I, too, had questioned God at every turn. Yet, by God’s grace and mercy, the weight of my sins drove me to God, towards true repentance. And in that scared moment of His visitation—I unknowingly followed Job’s example and, as the song says, was gracefully broken.

I’ve since learned this one thing over these many years of walking with the Lord:

God does not break us to harm us; instead, He breaks us that He might re-fashion us, working out of us—pruning away those unfruitful habits—those sins that repeatedly trip us up and stunt our growth, muddying His plan for our lives. Sins like pride, fornication, adultery, addictions, stealing, stubbornness, rebellion, and lying, just to name a few.

I know this first-hand because not only does God’s Word make this plain, but, by God’s grace, Jesus enabled me to turn away from the sins that had had a death-grip on me for so much of my life. By His grace alone, I was able to leave them behind me, running after God with all I had in me instead. And I’m still running towards Him today, now, more than ever! Yet, I have miles and miles to go in my learning more and more about this God I love. This man that came and changed everything—in an instant, and counting. See, that’s what happens when He comes; He makes all things new—not usually overnight—but most certainly over time. And, after having met the Living God personally, after having experienced His Love, mercy, and grace, I began to understand the breadth of His forgiveness. In my finite, weak-as-water way, I caught some dim glimpse of what it cost Him to save me, and that revelation drove me so far into God that now, all I want in this life, for the rest of my life, is more of Jesus. Catching a genuine glimpse of your sins against the unblemished backdrop of God’s Purity and Holiness will cause you to cry out in repentance, in humility.

We witness this piercing truth in today’s Scripture verse. Undeniably, this was the case with Job, listen: “In the past I heard about you, but now I have seen you with my own eyes. And I am ashamed of myself. I am so sorry. As I sit in the dust and ashes, I promise to change my heart and my life.” –Job 42:5-6. The Prophet Isaiah also understood this Truth, listen: “I was frightened and said, “Oh, no! I will be destroyed. I am not pure enough to speak to God, and I live among people who are not pure enough to speak to him. But I have seen the King, the Lord All-Powerful” –Isaiah 6:5. The Apostle Peter understood it as well—me too. Each of us touched by God, transformed in an instant by the power of His Holy Spirit coming and taking up residence within us, making all things new, understood, more believed, that we were sinners who’d been brought into contact with a Holy God. “When Simon Peter realized what had happened, he fell to his knees before Jesus and said, “Oh, Lord, please leave me—I’m such a sinful man” –Luke 5:8.

The Pure Light of God’s presence unmasks every lie we’ve ever told ourselves about who we are—and who He is, exposing then the naked Truth, we are sinners in need of a Savior.

When we come face-to-face with the Living God, we face the depths of our depravity and our propensity for sin and sinning also. We become a witness to our self-justification, denial, pride, and those inflated opinions we hold of ourselves.And in this sacred moment, we must choose: to repent of these and accept Jesus into our hearts and lives, or to shut Him out—keeping Him then out there somewhere as the God of someone else’s relationship. And it is smack-dab in the instant of just such an awakening that we witness Job acknowledging God as His Lord and Savior in today’s Scripture verse.

My prayer in this season of hope and miracles is this: If you know of God, yet have not encountered Him personally, then right now, in these days leading up to Easter, to His death and Resurrection, His ultimate display of love—you’ll follow Job’s lead and say yes to having a relationship with Him, Move Him from being the God of someone else’s relationship, to being the God of your own.

The Simple Truth.

March 13, 2021 / ministermaryellen@gmail.com

“I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth” –Revelation 3:15-16.

The days of lukewarm Christianity are quickly coming to an end. For some time now, pockets within the western Church have become image-driven; their performance, the standard of excellence they strive to meet—the smoke, lights, and the number of people walking through the doors week after week, their measure. The Gospel of Jesus Christ seemingly no longer reigning supreme; instead, it has been asked to take a seat right beside the world’s point of view—that ideology found within the hearts of unregenerate man.

Once driven primarily by Biblical principles, the western Church has dimmed the lights on what should be the ever-illuminating Truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, making way instead for the counterfeit freedom that comes, supposedly, by following our feelings. It has forgotten what the word of God warns concerning those feelings: “The heart is deceitful above all things” –Jeremiah 17:9. It has instead taken man’s words as gospel in relinquishing God’s Word as its final authority. Somehow, the progressive thinker has taken the child-like simplicity of the Gospel message and contorted it into some complex ideology of their creation. And by their own doing, they’ve made communion with their Maker so inaccessible that the mere thought of knowing Him has become as far-fetched for them as some fairytale.

Yet the Truth is, while it most certainly is not always easy, following God is simple.

In Proverbs, the book of wisdom, the writer gives us a valuable key to opening our understanding of God. It gives us clear instructions on how to know God, yet this simple principle has been lost in the name of enlightenment. “My son, if you accept my words and store up my commands within you, turning your ear to wisdom and applying your heart to understanding— indeed, if you call out for insight and cry aloud for understanding, and if you look for it as for silver and search for it as for hidden treasure, then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God.” Proverbs 2:2-5.

If you’re anything like me, you know what it’s like to have a loud mind. While coming up with ideas is easy, follow-through proves to be a more challenging feat. Typically, my carrying out an idea requires the know-how that isn’t always inherent in me. For example, if I want to do a house project, I will be more successful if I watch videos or get around someone knowledgeable in the subject. While on the flip side, I tend to give up rather quickly when tackling projects on my own.

Similarly, our desire to know more of God, about Him, His ways, and thoughts, must be cultivated. It’s great to want to know God, but if we’re not putting ourselves in an atmosphere conducive to finding Him, getting to know Him, we may never get there. God draws near to those who seek Him. So, seeking Him through reading His word, spending time with Him in prayer, asking Him for understanding, fellowshipping with other believers, and reading Christian books are just the beginning of our developing our personal relationship with Him. In our search for God, we quickly learn that there is no end to discovering His vast beauty. As we pick up the Bible and find His voice within its pages, He becomes the compass that continually points us towards His Truth.

Let me ask you this: what guides you? Whose voice are you giving ear to? Whose words do you accept as Truth? To what are you applying your heart?

I guarantee that if you fill your mind with the world’s ideologies over the Truth found in God’s Word, having a relationship with Him may end up feeling impossible and become far more complicated than it was ever meant to be. The promise in Proverbs 2 is that you will find the knowledge of God through storing His word in your heart. You will find the knowledge of God when you turn your ear to (in other words: soften your heart towards) Seeking after Godly wisdom, rather than pridefully rejecting it. You will understand the fear of God when you cry out to Him (or pray) for understanding. The simple Truth is this: if you seek Him, you will find Him. God promises this: “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all of your heart.” -Jeremiah 29:13.

God wants your heart, to have a relationship with you—that’s the simplicity of the Gospel message. Not what some western Churches have turned it into, the smoke, lights, and numbers, the celebrity preachers. Not some cleverly-crafted theology that has nothing to do with Him—a theology filled with thoughts and notions that are so complex and far removed from God’s heart that one would need a Ph.D. to follow along! God never said, “you might find me when you try to seek me.” No. The promise is that when you earnestly seek Him, you will find Him. Our pure longing for more of God becomes often corrupted by our striving—by what we’ve turned God into—some false idea that “more is required of us.” When the Truth is, Jesus has already done what we never could! “For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive in the Spirit.” 1 Peter 3:18

From the outside, Christianity, following Jesus, can look complicated. It may seem like it requires so much effort on your part. It may seem as though the standards set in the Bible are unattainable to you. Yet here’s the part that’s only realized as you surrender to God—as you fill your mind with the things of God and apply your heart to understanding His commands: your natural response becomes obedience. Standards you once thought impossible, become natural. And, the more you get to know God, the more you realize that He is your everything. “[Jesus is] the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End” –Revelation 22:13. God is the giver of joy, the giver of peace, the giver of hope, and the giver of Life itself. The simple Truth is this: as we spend time getting to know God through His word, True-Life opens within us, and the secrets of His kingdom begin to take root in our hearts.

Our place in creation becoming clear as His presence becomes our home.

You see, God knew that salvation had to be simple. His desire is for us to be with Him both now and for all eternity, hence Jesus’ sacrifice—His Life, death, and resurrection. He knew that outside of His power at work in us, if we had to jump through hoops on our own to get to know Him, chances are we’d be damned to a life of constant striving and insecurity—never knowing, with absolute certainty, if we were indeed His. So, in His mercy and lovingkindness, God made it so that the Cross of Christ is our security, His promise to us, that can never be revoked. “God can’t break his word. And because his word cannot change, the promise is likewise unchangeable. It’s an unbreakable spiritual lifeline, reaching past all appearances right to the very presence of God where Jesus, running on ahead of us, has taken up his permanent post as high priest for us, in the order of Melchizedek” –Hebrews 6:18-20, Message Bible.

If you haven’t already done so, I invite you to search for God with your whole heart. Pick up a Bible and ask Him to make Himself known to you as you humbly seek His Truth. “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. “Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!” –Matthew 7:7-11.

Previews…

March 6, 2021 / ministermaryellen@gmail.com

Then the Lord said, “Rise and anoint him; this is the one.” So Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the presence of his brothers, and from that day on the Spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon David” –1 Samuel 16:12-13.

The Word of God is full of these—previews, I mean. Of God allowing His chosen to catch some small sliver of a glimpse of the destiny, they’ve been set apart to fulfill…

One minute a young David is out in the field tending his father’s sheep, and the next, his father’s servant is calling out to him. “David, come quickly; the prophet Samuel is asking after you!” And right there, in the presence of his slack-jawed family, in one life-changing, whirlwind of a moment, David, a young shepherd boy, is anointed Israel’s new King. “Thus Jesse made seven of his sons pass before Samuel. But Samuel said to Jesse, “The LORD has not chosen these.” And Samuel said to Jesse, “Are these all the children?” And he said, “There remains yet the youngest, and behold, he is tending the sheep.” Then Samuel said to Jesse, “Send and bring him; for we will not sit down until he comes here.” So he sent and brought him in. Now he was ruddy, with beautiful eyes and a handsome appearance” –1 Samuel 16: 10-12. And although it took only a few short minutes for Samuel to seal the destiny of this newly appointed boy-King, it would take David’s “preview” some 15 plus years and beyond to bear mature fruit. And Scripture is littered with examples like David’s. Of the destinies of God’s chosen suddenly being shifted on a dime. Of the so-big plans of God being carried out by His finite creations. Examples of men and women who were changed in an instant, yet it took years for them to grow into the fullness of their calling. A calling God had deposited within them in less time than it takes us to blink! One such example that comes to mind is Joseph, Jacob’s youngest son…

I have to wonder how many times Joseph thought, “Lord, why all this lag time,” as he watched and waited for his preview to come to pass? (Lag time: that period, however short or long, God uses to prepare us for the destiny He’s allowed us to catch some glimpse of). Remember, Joseph was about 17 years old when God gave him a glimpse of his future via a dream. Then, shortly after sharing that dream with his family, he was violently ripped away from his beloved father and sold into slavery by his jealous brothers. After which, Potiphar’s wife unjustly accused him, and he was imprisoned. While there, he was betrayed by those he had worked to free. Then, finally, some 13 years later, at the approximate age of 30, Joseph entered Pharaoh’s service, becoming the second most powerful man in all of Egypt. And soon after that, the dream given him by God when he was 17 was finally fulfilled when those who had sold him into slavery came and bowed down before Joseph. You can read all about Joseph’s extraordinary life in Genesis, Chapters 37- 50.

My apology; we were talking about David.

Some scholars suggest David was somewhere between 12 to 15 years old when he was anointed King by the Prophet Samuel; you can read about this in 1 Samuel, Chapter 16. And yet, David would not ascend to his throne for another 15 plus years. Sound familiar? Didn’t we just read of something similar happening to Joseph? We’ll need to jump over to 2 Samuel 5 and beyond in order to read the account of David’s ascension and reign. And then, moving on from David, let’s look at others throughout the Scriptures who’d caught a preview of their destinies as well.

We’ll start with a young Galilean girl from Nazareth named Mary. She had been given a glimpse of God’s calling on her life—and so had her fiancé, Joseph. Apocryphal accounts say Mary was between 12 to 15 years old when she became betrothed to Joseph. Yet before they could marry, the angel Gabriel appeared to Mary—changing the course of her life forever—Joseph’s too. “In the sixth month, God sent the angel Gabriel to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin pledged in marriage to a man named Joseph, who was of the house of David. And the virgin’s name was Mary. The angel appeared to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you”—Luke 1:26-28. Verses 30-31 goes on to tell us that Gabriel told Mary, this newly engaged virgin, not to be afraid, that she was going to have God’s baby—and she was to name Him Jesus, listen: “Behold, you will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to give Him the name Jesus.” And then there’s John the Baptist, Elizabeth’s son. And Father Abraham. God called him to leave behind his family and country, all that was familiar to him—to set off towards a destiny that would rival even that of a Hollywood blockbuster! And the list goes on and on. There’s also a young Samuel, woken up one night out of a sound sleep by God’s preview on his life. –1 Samuel 3. And then Moses, who went from a babe being drawn from the Nile in a pitch-sealed basket to a mighty prince of Egypt, turned wilderness shepherd before finally being used by God to free His people from the tyrannical grip of Pharaoh –Exodus, Chapters 2-5. And We haven’t even touched on the Apostles Peter, John, and Paul; each of these men and women hand-chosen by God—and all of them given a “preview” of sorts.

So why the lag time between their being called and that call being fulfilled? Why, since God had chosen them, didn’t He just use them right away? Why so long for David to finally take the throne? Or for Joseph or Abraham to see the call on their life fulfilled? Why did Moses have to experience so many tests and trials? And why will you and I have to endure lag time as well?

The answer is “simple—yet not.”

First, the simple: It’s about election and preparation. The simpler part of it, well, simple for God at least, is election—being chosen in Him: God’s initial call on their lives bubbled up from a deep place within them in an instant—it was effortless. But the preparation part, well, that took some time. That required God to prepare them for the preview He had given them. Preparation then is the “yet not” piece of, “simple, yet not.”

Their preparation would involve God having to strengthen and refine their trust in Him—in His ways and timing as they faced the many challenges and trials that answering His call brought with it. He was teaching them to walk out the “how” of His call on their life—that stepping out in faith part. That, faith over feelings—regardless of what it looks like, part. Think Paul here in Acts 9. Think of the reshaping that God did in Him, the breaking down, and the rebuilding that took place deep within him as he spent three days and nights in that room on Straight Street, having been blinded after seeing God. “He remained there blind for three days and did not eat or drink” –Acts 9:9.

Times of preparation allowed each of the above mentioned to grow into God’s unique call on their life. They afforded them both the circumstances and the opportunities to learn about accepting heartache and loss. To grow in love, they discovered new levels of sacrifice and how to be stretched to the point of breaking yet trusting God that they wouldn’t be. But that’s only after passing their first test, that of answering God’s call on their life. Then, and only then could they start putting one foot in front of the other and, over time, through adversity and times of great confusion or suffering, learn to follow God wherever He led them. And through all of this, they became awoken to what some may say is the hardest of all God’s lessons—trusting His timing. It’s Scripturally sound to say that of the many things God will use to test our calling, His use of time is undoubtedly one of His biggest. “But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day “–2 Peter 3:8.

So, let me ask you, has God shown you a preview? Has He allowed you to catch some small sliver of a glimpse of His call on your life?

Are you heading off to Bible College? Is God calling you into your first pastoral position? Or, maybe, He’s calling you to head up the worship team or become an evangelist or missionary? Perhaps He’s just calling you to get up out of your pew and join in? Does God want to use you somewhere in the board room, city council, or the Nation’s Capital instead of in the pulpit? As a mom instead of a worship leader, or maybe you’ll be both? Wherever that “bubbling up” from your depths inevitably takes you, of this one thing be assured, friend: there will be times of preparation ahead. But oh, the joy they’ll bring with them! The surpassing peace and unplumbed Love of God you’ll experience by stepping out in faith and learning to trust His mysterious ways and timing, learning to accept heartache and loss, love, and sacrifice—the ever-changing-same-ness of God. The fixed fluidness of following Him. And the learning to be stretched to the point of breaking yet trusting God that you won’t be. Learning, as Mary Fairchild so aptly put it: We can pour out our honest desires to God, even when we know they conflict with his, even when we wish with all of our body and soul that God’s will could be done in some other way.

Learning, like Mary, David, Joseph, and Peter did, as Jesus did, to say: “Father, not my will but Thy will be done” –Luke 22:44.

Friend, I hope you know this God who both calls and prepares us for the previews He allows us to catch. But know this: if you don’t yet, you can today. Know that God’s Word brings salvation. Won’t you ask Him into your life as Lord and Savior right now? “But what does it say? “The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart,” that is, the word of faith we are proclaiming: that if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with your heart you believe and are justified, and with your mouth you confess and are saved” –Romans 10:8-10.

Calm my Anxious Heart …

January 23, 2021 / ministermaryellen@gmail.com

“But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.” – Matthew 6:33-34 ESV

At the turn of each New Year, I dedicate 21 days in January to prayer and fasting. I was excited and eager to purchase a new notebook to detail my New Year’s desires with joyful expectancy. All in the hopes that the Lord would bless those desires, making them fruitful, and that He would deliver me from those things I have struggled to release to Him completely.

One of the many things I wrote down in said notebook was my desire to become a first-time homebuyer. The thought of owning a home of my own has been a long-time desire. For the past two years, however, the Lord has continued to show me my desire to purchase a home, and His timing for me to have it haven’t come into alignment just yet. So, since receiving this confirmation, I’ve dedicated these last two years instead to become more disciplined in my finances. And, praise God, my commitment paid off, literally! I have successfully paid off many of my debts while simultaneously accruing money in my savings account. In retrospect, I firmly believe that while these past two years have been valuable in teaching me financial discipline, they were also invaluable in teaching me how to be patient and trust God’s perfect timing for my life. Fast forwarding. It’s now 2021, and as I am standing on this new ground of financial freedom, I am more prepared, more confident, positioned to now become a first-time homebuyer. So, in the first week of January, I decided to seek a loan officer and a real estate agent to begin my purchasing journey. Within a few hours, I was approved for a generous home loan and had booked multiple home tours.

On the morning of my first home viewing, I asked the Holy Spirit to guide me and confirm if any of the houses I’d visit that day were for me. As excited as I was, I was equally as nervous. When I stepped foot into the first home, the Holy Spirit confirmed that this house was someone else’s; it wasn’t for me. I finished the home tour out of consideration for the realtor’s time and having scheduled this appointment for me. My optimism assured me that if I continued browsing, I would see and feel something different at the next house and not what the Holy Spirit had just confirmed for me inside of this one. I applied this same approach to every home I visited that day. Yet to my disappointment, after seeing so many potential homes, my heart never quite felt settled on any of them.

Soon I was noticing that I was losing sleep. I started obsessing over searching for new homes every hour and soon began experiencing spiritual exhaustion. Full of grievances, I came before God: “Lord, I am tired of waiting, tired of fasting. I am plain tired of waiting on your promises and for my breakthrough! I am so tired of hearing other folks’ prophetic words, words that have yet come to pass. You’ve prepared me and then made me wait for two whole years! Now what?” Honestly, this was one of the sincerest expressions of emotion and frustration I’ve ever brought before God. And then, clear as day, I heard the Lord say, “You have forsaken time with me chasing after this dream, and that is why you are lost.” The Lord always speaks to me with just a few simple words, yet they are always profound, nevertheless.

I’ve shared all of this with you to lead you into the heart of my message: I began thinking how tragic it is that out of our heart’s unchecked determined carnal eagerness to have what it wants when it wants it, we sometimes actively ignore or silence the Holy Spirit’s confirmations. Bypassing them entirely at times, all to get what we want instead of what He says is best for us.

In 1 Thessalonians 5:19, Paul tells the church, “Do not quench the Spirit.” In other words, imagine the Holy Spirit as a fire, a flame; we ought not to dampen this flame; instead, we ought to fan it as the gift from God that it is! We ought not to push the Holy Spirit down or away but instead fan His flame that it may grow brighter. When we quench the Spirit, we are essentially overriding God’s principles with our own fleshly, worldly desires. In essence, we are actively ignoring what is right, to chase after what is so wrong instead, and, then, later down the road, end up wondering why we are struggling to hear or experience the fullness of the Holy Spirit. (Typically, it’s because we’ve ignored His guidance for so long.)

God’s response to my complaint made me realize that in being consumed with the bustle of life, the search for what I wanted, I was distancing myself from Him.

In Ephesians 4:30-32, Paul tells the church, “Do not grieve the Holy Spirit, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption….” I was doing precisely that. I was quenching and grieving the Holy Spirit by forsaking my intimacy with God all that I might pursue my desires instead, chasing after my dreams. Truth is, it is typically our fault when we feel distant from the Holy Spirit, not His. We’ve moved away from Him, distancing ourselves. He is ever-present and ever-faithful to direct us; that’s part of His purpose in our lives, in us. So, if He is ever near and ever ready to guide us into God’s best for us, the natural conclusion must be, if we’re not hearing Him, that we’ve shut Him out—choosing our way instead.

So once again, I came before the Lord, only this time in deep repentance, saying, “Forgive me, Lord, for actively disregarding your guidance because I wanted things to go my way. Calm my anxious heart.” It is a contradiction to say you have faith while simultaneously having an anxious heart. These two things cannot occupy the same space within us. An anxious heart is not fixed on eternity, while one that is trusting God’s ways is. An anxious heart dwells or focuses on tomorrow; a trusting heart remembers that tomorrow is God’s, not ours. An anxious heart grabs for their tomorrows with today’s hands, while a heart that trusts the Lord entrusts their tomorrows to God hand’s. An anxious heart lives full of worry for an unpredictable, not promised tomorrow.

In contrast, a trusting heart knows how to live freely today. “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” –Philippians 4: 6-7. During my season of allowing this anxious heart to rise-up in me, I meditated on the following verses for consolation and to help settle my anxiousness: Each of these unique verses makes one common point: that our delighting in, abiding in, and seeking the Lord to direct us, align us to His will; will bring about our delight; creating the atmosphere through which He may, in His timing, grant us the desires of our hearts.

Proverbs 3:5-6: “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not unto your own understanding in all thy ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct thy paths.”

Psalm 37:4: “Take delight in the LORD, and He will give you the desires of your heart.”

Psalm 94:19: “When anxiety overwhelms me, Your consolation delights my soul.”

Friends, an anxious heart may desire to trust in the Lord while simultaneously believing God is operating too slowly, deciding then to step in and “help God out,” as if God needs our help! An anxious heart usually stems from us stepping in to force our will to be done; assuming control then, we fix our eyes on our circumstances and desires and not on the One who is Sovereign and in control of them. The Scriptures refer to this as being double-minded and warns us against living in this way, listen: “But he must ask in faith, without doubting, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That man should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. He is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways” –James 1:6-8.

The effectiveness of the Holy Spirit in us is hindered when we refuse to submit to Him—He has given us this choice after all. Yet when we refuse to yield, we restrict not only the Spirit’s ministry in our lives but also our potential usefulness to God in the life of another. More than anything else, we ought to desire that the Holy Spirit have free reign within us so that we may live under His complete control. How can we understand the will of the Lord if we’re always trying to supersede it rather than yield to it, choosing to carry out the flesh’s desire instead of walking by the Spirit? “So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want. The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God” –Galatians 5:16-17; 19-21.

The prescription to an anxious heart is our yielding and walking in His Spirit so that our heart’s desires will increasingly align with His will, seeking not only the blessings that flow from His hand but so much more, a closer relationship with Him. It is His heart alone, after all, that truly satisfies us.

God has confirmed for me that while I am walking in financial freedom, owning my own home will require more waiting. But this time, rather than complaining, I responded with a gentle heart, “Yes Lord, not my will but yours be done!” I wholly trust that the One who formed my heart, that knows my end from my beginning, knows what I need and when I need it, far better than I. It is no surprise to God when we worry. That is why His word speaks about worrying. “Fear not” is stated nearly 365 times throughout Scripture. It’s also not a surprise to God when we pre-plan our future and become disappointed when we don’t receive what we planned on receiving. Proverbs 16:9 says it this way: “In their hearts humans plan their course, but the Lord establishes their steps.”

We become less disappointed as we become more trusting in the Lord. It can be challenging, indeed, but it’s certainly possible! “For nothing will be impossible with God” –Luke 1:37.

Friends know that our joy and contentment ought to abide in fulfilling the will of the Father and increasingly trusting more fully in God’s heart for us. Be assured, our joy and contentment will never be fully realized, chasing after the things of this world. Great is the Lord’s faithfulness. He is not slow in keeping His promises. “But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance” –2 Peter 3:8-9.

I encourage you to allow the following verses to guide you. Memorize them so that you might apply to them whenever you feel your heart becoming anxious: Psalm 16:5: “Lord, you alone are my portion and my cup; you make my lot secure.”

Ecclesiastes 3:1: “For everything there is an appointed time, an appropriate time for every activity on earth.”

Lamentations: 3:25-26: “The Lord is good to those whose hope is in Him, to the one who seeks Him; it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.”

Friends continue seeking and focusing on the Almighty always and in all circumstances – even in those dry, waiting seasons; remembering to encourage yourself in the fact that God is aware of your needs and desires and that tomorrow belongs to Him. In His perfect timing, you will understand, often in hindsight, just why patience was in order that you might have your heart’s desires. I pray that you cling to God and the verses I have shared if you too are experiencing an anxious heart. I also pray that you will follow my example of chasing after Christ’s will in your desire to draw closer to God. And that you might more fully understand His will for your life. I pray that you ask Him with absolute sincerity to lead and guide you and help you know His perfect will and timing for your unique situation—trusting that He will respond. And, if you’ve not yet come to know this Jesus who calms our fears and holds our future in the palm of His hand, I encourage you to ask Him into your heart as Lord and Savior this day. I can promise you; you’ll never regret that you did! “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus” –Philippians 4:6-7.

New Again…

January 16, 2021 / ministermaryellen@gmail.com

I love the beginning of the New Year. It’s right on the heels of Christmas; people are still filled with joy and cheer. The New Year brings hope for dreams deferred and vision for the endless possibilities that lie ahead. If you’re like me, you typically start the New Year with unwavering confidence to achieve your goals; that confidence slowly waning, however, as the business of life catches up to you and procrastination sets in and begins to whisper, “do it tomorrow.” This year is different, however! I have purposed to read the Bible cover to cover in one year. I am doing it with all the gusto in the world, and so far, so good!

As in the past, I was encouraged right from the get-go as I read through the creation story. As Genesis has it, God created the whole earth in 7 days. On day 1, God introduced light to the earth and separated the light from the darkness. On Day 2, He separated the ocean and the clouds and called it the sky. Then, on Day 3, God separated the waters, creating dry land and sea. He also created all plant life on this same day! Then, on day 4, God made the galaxies. He put the stars and the moon above to reflect their light. And on Day 5, God created birds and sea creatures. Day Six sees God creating all the animals that would populate the land and mankind, the crown jewel of God’s creation. And, then, finally, on day 7, God rested and called that day Holy.

One may ask, why am I so encouraged by this oh so familiar story? My answer, in rereading Genesis 1, I was filled with fresh hope and expectation for what lies ahead of me! In the beginning, we see that God had to create the perfect environment for us before placing us in it. Without God having created the proper environment, we would not have survived. We would have lacked the necessary plants, fruit, oxygen from the trees, water to drink, and a place to lay our heads. God knew what we needed to survive and thrive here. For the first time rereading through Genesis, I realized that this account of creation gives us so much insight into the heart of God’s desire to restore us to Himself. Is it any wonder then that God chose to place it right at the beginning of His Word!

Not long after creation, we witness man’s fall; that instant, we became separated from God because of sin. We were created to walk with God here on earth and live as His sons and daughters always, but sin separated us from remaining in God’s presence. Remember, God is perfect and sinless. He can not coexist with sin and the darkness that comes with it. That same darkness that gained entrance to our hearts through our sin. “This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all” –1 John 1:5. So, because of man’s sin, God was no longer able to walk with man in the garden. Yet, right away, soon after man sinned, God sought to restore our relationship with Him. Starting with Genesis 3:15 and running throughout the rest of the Bible, we read the chronicles of the beautiful story of God setting out to restore His relationship with mankind through His Son, Jesus. “And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, He explained to them what was written in all the Scriptures about Himself” –Luke 24:27. And, as we read the New Testament, we see that Jesus indeed came to restore our sonship to the Father by covering us with His perfect Righteousness—reconciling us once again to the Father.

The Bible assures us in 2 Corinthians 5:17, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!”

For the believer, creation didn’t end when time began. Instead, re-creation happens within us every day. Coming to know God is so much more than just a declaration we make with our mouths; it is a covenant, an agreement we make with God by which, because of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection, God adopts us back into His family. We quite literally become a new creation! To understand what this means, we have to appreciate the beauty of the creation story. I see the events of creation mirrored in our souls. Just as the Holy Spirit hovered over the dark void, He also hovers over the waters of our hearts, searching for what is needed, or needing to be removed, that we might more fully become this new creation. Firstly, He starts by introducing the light of salvation, His light, into the darkest places of our being. He then separates our darkness, our sin, from the light that He birthed in us, illuminating our potential, our purpose. He then begins to create a receptive environment conducive to growth within us. This “receptiveness” within us happens, is made as we read our Word and spend time with Him in prayer. God creates an environment within us that is worthy of His dwelling within. And as we journey through our walk with Him, we begin to eat of the fruit of His Spirit. We love others like we never knew we could, outside of Him. We begin to see an increase of joy and peace in our lives as He makes our hearts His home. We grow in patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, and self-control. “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law” –Galatians 5:22.

And all of this starts with our salvation! That’s amazing to me. More, that we continue to grow in Him, in the knowledge of Him, in relationship with Him, throughout our lives. You see, with God, we’re ALWAYS becoming something new! And, if we open our ears to Him, He is eternally faithful to show us those things in us that must be renewed or removed: roots of jealousy, bitterness, unforgiveness, anger. We are never perfect, but with God, we can rest assured that He has begun a good work in us that only He can bring to completion. “…being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus” –Philippians 1:6.

If you don’t know God in this personal way, I want to encourage you that God still sees you and knows you by name. “She gave this name to the LORD who spoke to her: “You are the God who sees me,” for she said, “I have now seen the One who sees me” –Genesis 16:13. Equally, He knows you in ways you don’t even know yourself!

As I read through Genesis, I see how Abram was of a pagan upbringing, but God called him out from the life he had always know and gave him a new beginning, a new name. He went from Abram to Abraham, which means in Hebrew, “father of a multitude.” Abraham became mighty a man of God. And we see Jacob, who was deceptive, his very name meaning “trickster” Yet after an encounter with the Living God, he received a new name, forever know now as Israel instead. Moses also grew up in Egypt’s pagan culture, never having known God personally, until that is, God introduced Himself to Moses at the burning bush. Moses would forever know Him as the Great “I Am.” He, too, was changed by God. A former prince of Egypt turned Midian shepherd and then to a man God used to free the Israelites from their Egyptian captors. These are but a few examples of God calling what many may call “unlikely people,” those we’d never expect God would use, those who didn’t know Him, yet God made Himself available to them nonetheless, just like He can with you and me.

And, child of God, know this, God’s not finished with you yet! He continues to make you new as you continue to walk ever-closely with Him. Wherever you are in life, I invite you to ask God to make you new, again. He is faithful to forgive you and make you whole.

“God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God… I tell you, now is the time of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation” –2 Corinthians 5:21; 6:2b.

Victory, in Pursuit…

November 7, 2020 / ministermaryellen@gmail.com

Here we are in November 2020, suspended in thin air hoping for release, at any moment. The joy of freely gathering with our beloved friends and family, the privilege of returning to work, the gift of peace of mind. It appears time has decided to just stop without a care in the world about its effects on our human experience. Yet as I sit here asking God how I can share a spark of hope, I am reminded of all the times that God has met me with supernatural strength to fight my way through the muddy seasons of life. I’m not talking about physically, but more so mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. It feels reminiscent of the story of Gideon. It’s one of great courage and redemption which seems like a timely message for this moment.

God tends to catch us off guard by finding us right in the place of obscurity where we thought we were invisible. Let me give you a tiny snippet of Gideon’s situation before we dive into the good stuff.

When we find Gideon in Judges 6, Israel (God’s chosen people) had been under the oppression of Midian for 7 years after they had “done evil in the sight of God”. At this point, much of Israel had adopted the pagan gods of their oppressors. In this case that god was Baal. Now, let’s meet the man of the hour. While Gideon is thought to be one of the greatest judges of the Old Testament, his valor did not come naturally. At our introduction to Gideon, we find that he was timid (although I’d say timid is an understatement). He was NOT the kind of guy I’d pick to lead me into battle. We meet him while he was threshing wheat in secret. Threshing is the process by which the edible portion of wheat (the kernel) is separated from the stalk, a laborious task that I can’t imagine was very subtle. But in this case, he was literally preparing his food in secret out of fear of his oppressors. He feared they would steal the bounty of his demanding work. Yet it is in this secret place that the Bible tells us, “When the angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon, he said, “The Lord is with you, mighty warrior” —Judges 6:12.

The Lord is with you, mighty warrior?

Those words echo so loudly in the caverns of my soul. Perhaps that’s because I’ve found myself in a fearful place where hearing the words “mighty warrior” would have been too overwhelming to bear. I don’t know that I would have believed anyone who would call me a “mighty warrior”. Honestly, I’m not 100% convinced that Gideon bought it either. But I don’t think the angel of the Lord cared whether Gideon believed it, because the angel was speaking to who he knew Gideon was created to be, not to who Gideon thought he was. See, our perceptions of ourselves don’t always reflect God’s intentions for our purpose. He sees the warrior in you long before you can ever even think you’re capable of being strong.

The first thing we learn in this story is that although he was insecure and filled with doubt, God STILL chose Gideon. Instead of being confident in this identity, he came back with skepticism, listing reasons the angel was wrong according to what Gideon could see, God wasn’t doing signs and wonders anymore; God had abandoned them—and his clan was the weakest of all the clans, and, he’s the weakest in his family. These are all declarations devoid of hope. Yet, when hope is all but gone, God can restore your purpose in a moment! The response was remarkable. The Lord turned to him and said, “Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian’s hand. Am I not sending you?” “I will be with you, and you will strike down all the Midianites, leaving none alive.” Judges 6: 14;16. God’s responses are always brilliant. He speaks to the root of the problem and not just the symptoms. Gideon is giving all these excuses as to 1) why God is absent and 2) why he’s not qualified, but it’s almost as if the Lord said, “yeah, and?” In a lot of ways, He does the same with us. Just stick with Him and He will lead you out of the hands of your oppressor! Whether that oppressor is someone, something, or even anxiety, depression, or insecurity. He is faithful to lead you into victory.

The next thing we see about Gideon is how fearful he was. This angel had just given him a divine revelation of who he was, but Gideon was skeptical; he needed proof. So, the angel gave him a sign that he was from the Lord, and then Gideon was *kind of* comfortable following his lead. The first thing the Lord commands Gideon to do is to tear down the altar to Baal. Now, instead of making a scene in broad daylight, Gideon is terrified. He agreed, but he did it at night when no one could see. Let’s stop here and observe something. How often do we get caught up trying to make ourselves good enough to live for God or even do something as simple as going to church? Right here, in this humble story, we learn something about God the Father, He’s not afraid of your fear. Gideon was afraid, but he obeyed while afraid. God knows our fear, but he’s looking for our obedience. He alone will give us the courage to obey His Word in the face of our greatest fears!

Are you getting the gist of Gideon’s personality yet? I hope so!

Let’s fast forward a bit. Now, Gideon is getting used to fearful obedience (which ultimately turns him into that mighty warrior God knew he was). God leads Gideon to fight a battle with Midian (remember, these were the oppressors). Now, the Midianites were a large army; the Israelites were not. But that’s JUST how God wanted it. In fact, as small as the Israelite army was, God wanted it smaller still. God’s power shines brightest in the face of the impossible. So, Gideon chose 300 of the most unlikely men to be in his army, and off they went to war.

Now, if you’ve made it this far, here’s where I REALLY want you to pay attention!

Gideon and his three hundred men exhausted, yet keeping up the pursuit, came to the Jordan and crossed it. –Judges 8:4. The text makes it clear these warriors were exhausted. But they KEPT. ON. FIGHTING. How many times have you been so exhausted and wanted to throw in the towel? I for one have oft found myself too tired to keep moving forward, maintaining joy amid crisis, keeping faith when I felt incredibly let down, finding hope when it felt like I was drowning. I’m sure you can relate in some way? But be of good courage, because if you walk with God, He promises to be with you! He will give you strength. He’ll give you what it takes to keep up the pursuit! Victory is often just around the bend, yet how often we miss it because we quit too soon. Keep fighting. Keep moving. God is on your side!

You may find yourself in the same place Gideon was—just living your life when bam! your all of a sudden moment comes, and you get that sense that there must be more to life than this. We can be doing the most normal thing when God moves us to action, and it’s up to us whether to respond with obedience or complacency. As we think about this time we are living in, may I remind you that God has created you and me for such a time as this, to surrender to Him, be His righteous ones, live with the kind of obedience that “does it afraid”, and fight until the battle your in is won. I know these are trying times, but remember, God’s power shines brightest in the face of the impossible. “His power is made perfect in your weakness” 2 Cor 12:9.

Are you afraid, tired, hopeless, doubtful, lonely, anxious? God sees you. He knows your short-comings, yet He still calls you by name- the name HE gave you. It’s up to you to respond. With God by your side, victory is yours! I invite you to turn to Jesus, repent of anything in your life that may not be pleasing to Him, and ask Him to walk with you, giving you courage and strength to live to your fullest potential.

The Best Thing?

October 31, 2020 / ministermaryellen@gmail.com

“But in fact, it is best for you that I go away, because if I don’t, the Advocate won’t come. If I do go away, then I will send him to you.” –John 16:7.

It is beyond most of us to understand fully why God would ask us to give something up. Especially when we don’t understand the reason why. When we don’t see the benefit or purpose in letting it go—of taking our hands off that—relationship, beloved friend, that job or home, city, or state we love. Deeper still, in being asked to give up some part of ourselves—a child or spouse, a beloved mentor, some long-standing belief, things we’ve come to love, rely upon, trust in, or appreciate about ourselves or others. Now, if you have any knowledge of who God is, His character, you may have already picked up on what is amiss with some of what I’ve just said? Go ahead, go back and reread it. Did you catch it? The “things we have come to love, rely upon, trust in, appreciate about ourselves or others” part?

Allow me to clarify.

In no way am I saying that we should not love people—that would be a deliberate contradiction to the great commandment: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets” –Matthew 22:37-40.

Neither am I saying that we should not enjoy our professions or homes, those relationships we have been blessed with, invested our love, time, and care into. Rather, what I am saying is this: Nothing, no thing, no one, must ever take primacy over God. Ever. Not even the best of things—the greatest of His gifts. Not our spouses, not our children or parents, job, or ministry, not where we live nor any-thing we have been allowed to have or use. Truth be told, most of us are still learning how to apply this Truth to our lives—I know I am. I’m much better at holding on than I am at letting go. And because of this, I am so very thankful that God is patient and merciful with me. He knows the weakness of my frame yet loves me still. I am thankful that He lends me His strength for the heavy lifting!

As I read and studied in preparation for this teaching, it became even more clear to me that we must be willing to continually position our hearts before God. Making room for, readying ourselves, for the ongoing refinement that takes place within them. Allowing all, any of those things that sully us still, to be removed, put away—that we might reflect more purely the One that has called us to Himself. After all, isn’t that a great part of the “why” God allows things to be taken? To refine us. I believe we are being asked to say yes to God, now, more than ever—before we even know or understand just what it is we are saying yes to. Out of love for Him—our deep-seated, abiding need for Him—in trust, we must say yes. Out of a profound desire to rid ourselves, our lives, of anything and anyone that we know God is putting His finger on, saying: Trust me on this, this person, this ministry, this home, job, relationship, this thought process, heart posture, this way your living, this expression, belief or ideal has outgrown its season—you must let go of it now. Left unattended, it will become a distraction that will blind you to where God is leading you next—and, possibly, to who. More, it is rebellion against God. It is saying you know better than He what’s best for you. “What sorrow awaits those who argue with their Creator. Does a clay pot argue with its maker? Does the clay dispute with the one who shapes it, saying, ‘Stop, you’re doing it wrong!’ Does the pot exclaim, ‘How clumsy can you be?’” –Isaiah 45:9.

On our journey with the Lord, we must come to understand those things given to us by God must remain fluid in our hands. Seldom, outside of Christ Himself and the sure promises found in Him are His greatest gifts ever unchanging. This lesson, in part, is what Jesus was imparting to His disciples—to us, in today’s scripture.

They had eaten with Him, walked, talked, laughed, and cried with Him—slept by the fire beside Him. They were fed by His every Word, refreshed in His abiding love and compassion, His mercy. They were emboldened by His justice! They had witnessed miracles in His presence. The dead brought back to life, the blind given their sight, thousands were fed with 5 loaves and 2 small fish. Treacherous storms had been stilled, and the deepest of Truths were revealed with Words spoken so plainly, so frankly, that even the least of them within earshot were able to understand—and marvel. This band of brothers, these disciples, each heard Jesus calling them with such clarity and certainty, that, at His slightest behest, they left everyone and everything behind—and followed Him. Yet now, these few years later, after having done that, after having experienced all that they had by His side, after having become enmeshed with this Jesus in this most indescribable bond of oneness, this deepest mystery of love and loyalty this true “until death we do part” commitment—Jesus says He’s leaving them.

Stop and feel that for a minute before you read on.

Wait, what! Why? Why would you do this to us!! What have we done to deserve this betrayal? No way… No, you simply can’t leave us, not now! NO! NO! You simply can’t go. Not now! Things are just getting started! How will you restore the Kingdom if you leave us now? Why Jesus!

If you’re listening with your heart, you can hear their dazed, gutted cries. I can only imagine the thoughts whipping around in their heads—perhaps even spilling out of their mouths? For anyone who has ever suffered such a soul-crushing loss, who has ever stood in frozen disbelief, in utter powerlessness as you watched the center of your world go away, surely you have some small idea, some slight glimpse into what these men felt after hearing this news fall flat from the very lips of God Himself? These same lips that had smiled at them and called them His friends—His beloved. At that moment they had no idea of the profound love and purpose behind His leaving, His removing Himself from their physical presence—all they knew was this thick, deep grief. They didn’t know Golgotha’s Cross lay just around the bend—the birth of His Church either, they couldn’t get past the fact that He was leaving them. He was taking something they loved away from them.

And it’s no different from us, is it? When we’re told we must let go—give up something or someone—some-place or station in life, our health or husband, wife, or child—our parents or home.

Even after all the time they’d spent with Him, they still had no idea of who it was they had been doing life with these past three-plus years—not really. Truth is, neither do we. The enormity of God is unfathomable. He is so much more, so much bigger, and finer and far more Holy, Righteous, and far-seeing than a mere man can ever take in. Psalm 145:3 says it this way: “Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised, and his greatness is unsearchable.” His friends weren’t thinking about the fact that He stood over the dark void—seeing their beginning from their end. Seeing His plan unfolding from its end to its beginning. Knowing what is needed—and what isn’t, each step of the way. In each season and individual life—all at once. For as much as we believe we have come to know Him, there are whole worlds, universes chuck full of these deep mysteries pointing us towards just how much we don’t yet know, can’t know—at least not now, about this God we love. How can a spirit encased in this limited flesh fully take in the unplumed, boundless love of God? One who willingly offered Himself in our place that we might be afforded a way back to Him. “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” –John 3:16.

We were not created to hang onto anything given us by God, save Jesus, and His Holy Spirit. God takes away what we perceive to be good that we may grow in our dependence in Him, and in the realization that He alone is good. —Barnes. Beloved, nothing. No—thing, no one, must ever take primacy over God. Ever. Not even the best of things—the greatest of His gifts. Won’t you posture your heart today—your very life, that He might refine you? Purify you as precious gold. Won’t you trust in Him when He asks you to return—let go of your understanding of what you think is best, in exchange for more of Him and His will for your life? “Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say? As for everyone who comes to me and hears my words and puts them into practice, I will show you what they are like. They are like a man building a house, who dug down deep and laid the foundation on rock. When a flood came, the torrent struck that house but could not shake it, because it was well built. But the one who hears my words and does not put them into practice is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. The moment the torrent struck that house, it collapsed and its destruction was complete” –Luke 6: 46-49.

Friend, if you do not know this Jesus who died to ensure that you might be restored into a right relationship with God, then know this. This same God has led you here today that you might know His great love for you and accept the absolute best He has to offer me and you–His Only Son, Jesus. Won’t you accept His best by asking Him into your heart right now as your Lord and Savior? You’re not here by chance…

Necessary Endings.

October 24, 2020 / ministermaryellen@gmail.com

“And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever—the Spirit of truth”

Some may find it odd that God would speak of new beginnings amid His farewell address to His disciples. Why speak to them of some future hello in the middle of His saying goodbye? In part, Scripture points us toward the “new thing” on its way. A return to the upper room and all that would soon be birthed from it was awaiting them—they simply couldn’t see it yet. Be that as it may, Jesus assured them that He would not abandon them, leaving them like some poor orphans. Instead, He’d leave a blessing behind—He’d send the unfathomable gift of His Holy Spirit to them, to encourage, empower, and, to lead them into all Truth. “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you” –John 14:18. God knows the weakness of our frames, knows just how easily we lose hope—even as we’re standing in His very presence at times, hope may ebbing out of us. Peter understood this better than most the very second, he felt himself sinking. He had taken his eyes off Jesus, looking instead at the swirling, raging sea around him—but I digress. God is always re-directing us towards a new thing. I say re-directing because being the dumb, stubborn sheep we are at times, we stray off course far more often than we ought and must be put right. Pointed, yet again, towards what lay just ahead—just over that next horizon, around that next corner, just beyond our seeing—not behind us or backward mind, lest it’s part of God’s plan for our edification. God is forever speaking to us of new beginnings, new hope for our future—at the Cross, in birthing rooms, gardens and graveyards, or anywhere in-between. Today was no different in that respect. Jesus was about to re-direct His confused and heartbroken friends that they might soon be fully prepared to partner with Him in the birthing of His Church. They’re pain and confusion used as a springboard then, to propel them into this new Way. Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” –John 14:16.

Save God, nothing and no one on earth remain with us forever. Life is a million little lessons of letting go —of holding loosely to what God has allowed our hands to touch at all.

Just about everyone loves Spring. We look forward to the promises it holds. Its new-ness. Green buds, life, color, and the scent of the not-so-distant summer teasing the air. Spring is like a fresh coat of paint over last year’s lackluster walls—everything seemingly made new again. We all love the sound of hello, its promise, and the hope that simple little word offers us —goodbyes, not so much. Yet they are necessary at times to make room for what’s about to come. That’s the crux of what Jesus was sharing with His friends concerning their need to experience this necessary ending. We must always remain obedient and open, no matter how painful, to receiving God’s best for our lives, marriages, ministry, careers, friendships, etc.—even when His best is born from some painful ending we wanted no part of. To do otherwise is saying we know what’s best for us—not God—making ourselves gods. And Scripture is clear about what becomes of the one who thinks too highly of himself. “Pride ends in humiliation” –Proverbs 29:23. From Genesis to Revelation, we witness necessary endings—fresh spaces being made for some new plan of Gods to take root in. Every-thing alive is cyclical—bringing with it new life, hope, provision, protection—springing forth from what appears to be dead and gone. Parents die and children are born. A leaf buds and falls to the ground only to return in the next season fresh and new. Joseph’s brothers fully understood this the day they stood before Him. “So then, it was not you who sent me here, but God. He made me father to Pharaoh, lord of his entire household and ruler of all Egypt. Now hurry back to my father and say to him, ‘This is what your son Joseph says: God has made me lord of all Egypt. Come down to me; don’t delay. You shall live in the region of Goshen and be near me—you, your children and grandchildren, your flocks and herds, and all you have. I will provide for you there, because five years of famine are still to come. Otherwise you and your household and all who belong to you will become destitute…” –Genesis 45:8-11.

And Ruth may never have fully taken in the plan behind all the necessary endings she had endured while in Moab, the loss of her husband and friends, her childlessness, and Orpah’s choosing to stay behind—nevertheless, God redeemed every drop of her pain and loss. Though Ruth would have no idea that both King David and King Jesus were future descendants born from her God-ordained union with her kinsman-redeemer Boaz, still, God was faithful to give Ruth beauty for ashes, nevertheless. Then Boaz announced to the elders and all the people, “Today you are witnesses that I have bought from Naomi all the property of Elimelek, Kilion and Mahlon. I have also acquired Ruth the Moabite, Mahlon’s widow, as my wife, in order to maintain the name of the dead with his property, so that his name will not disappear from among his family or from his hometown. Today you are witnesses!” –Ruth 4:9-10.

It is not for us to always understand the why of God, rather, we’re simply to obey whatever it is He asks of us.

But back to Jesus and His broken-hearted disciples. Jesus had just washed their feet in this same upper room He’d soon send their Comforter to. The same room we witness them partaking in their very first Communion—and their very last Supper—here on earth that is. Flesh and Blood would soon be offered up that night that they may possess Spirit and Truth and wisdom, discernment and revelation, eternal life too—power from on High as well. How else could His Church withstand the barrage of attacks it was and will endure at satans hand? No mere man or group of men, no matter how loyal, could ever defend His Church alone—only the One who has been charged to stand guard over it is able to fully protect it. “For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work, but the one who now restrains it will continue until he is taken out of the way” –2 Thessalonians 2:7.

We each are temporary stalwarts chosen to stand our post for the few brief minutes that is our life. We are chosen makers, gatekeepers who do not leave their post until their relief shows up—and it always shows up, remember, every-thing in life is cyclical. Forty days, the time Jesus spent being tempted and prepared in the desert for His ministry. Forty days after He defied death by walking out of His grave, Jesus said goodbye to His disciples—yet His goodbye was pregnant with hello’s promise. And, soon and very soon, we will reap the joyful reward of this necessary endings “new beginning”—when Jesus returns! It had been ordained for Him to leave the world that He might return to it in such a way that all men will see Him coming on the clouds—and we’ll be with Him, those once broken-hearted disciples of His too! So, friends, don’t hang on to what God is asking you to let go of. Remember, all life is cyclical, and God has a beautiful plan for the necessary ending He’s allowed to touch your life—even those you wanted no part of.

Friend, if you have yet to meet this Jesus, now is the time—today is the day. We never know when a moment may pass us by, never to return. Please, don’t let this be that moment. Scripture assures you that if you’ll simply and sincerely ask Jesus to come into your life, He will. Won’t you ask Him now? “But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim); because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved” –Romans 10:8-10.

Category: Growth (Page 7 of 7)

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