Tag: Holy Spirit (Page 13 of 15)

Sacred Spaces.

July 17, 2021 / ministermaryellen@gmail.com

“God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us” –Acts 17:27.

“For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: to an unknown god. So you are ignorant of the very thing you worship—and this is what I am going to proclaim to you. “The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands. And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything. Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else” –Acts 17:23-25.

I love God’s written Word. It reveals His character and His kindness to Me. It has the power to remove scales from my eyes, and it softens areas in my heart I never even knew existed. God’s Living Word enables me to drink deeply and often from the very Source of my life.

I love meeting God in His Word, discovering Him there, being drawn into the very depths of Him.

Understanding His Justice and being ever thankful for the laws He gave, all that I might live free, safe, and protected. He is a Loving, intimate, deeply caring Father. A Father who, according to His Word, so loved me, so wanted to ensure that nothing, here and now, nor in eternity, ever separated us, that He gave His only Son in exchange for me, to demonstrate the depth of that love. He then placed His Holy Spirit in me, into this clay vessel, as surely as if He had slipped an engagement ring on my finger. Because He did, He has—I Am my Beloveds, and He is mine. “But God proves His own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us!” –Romans 5:8.

And yet, I also love those Kairos moments when I’m lost in Him.

When God sends His Spirit to enliven that one Word or sentence, when eternity lays exposed for the briefest of seconds, opening my understanding and forever changing me. These moments leave in their wake some intuitive understanding that I’ve just been given a most precious gift. A Pearl of Great Value. Some intimate “knowing” of Him. And all because I serve this Beautiful, Wonder-filled, personal God who loves me and desires that I know Him through His Word and His Spirit both. Relationally—Spirit and Truth, One.

My God, our Father, desires for us, all of us, to want Him, long to be with Him; He wants us to seek His face, look deeply into His eyes as only lovers do, and to witness the unplumbed depth of Him—to be one with Him. And no, I am by no means suggesting that a Pure and Holy God relates to us sexually. But what I am saying is this. The highest form of oneness expressed via human intimacy is between man and wife. And so, our God deigns to bend down to our level and use a language that will leave no doubt in our minds as to the depth of the connection He seeks with us, His beloved. The Song of Solomon is replete with such language and imagery. Solomon penned his love letter to his betrothed, the Shulamite woman. It foreshadows the intimate connection, the sacred love bond between Christ, our King, and His beloved bride. Listen to the bride’s heart-cry to her beloved: “Take me away with you—let us hurry! Let the king bring me into his chambers” –Song of Songs 1:4

Jesus Himself shared this Truth of the Father’s desire for such intimate connection with a Samaritan woman while talking with her near a well. A Truth as radical, liberating, as tradition-shaking, chain-breaking, and ceiling-raising as He Himself was when He walked amongst us—as He is, still. “But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth” –John 4:23-24.

Friends, our God doesn’t parcel Himself out to us. A wink here, a nod there. No, He is an exceedingly, abundantly, more than we can ever think or image, God. A God who still desires you and me. To be with us—Emmanuel, and to be seen by us. And though no longer with us in the flesh, now He openly shows Himself daily, through His creation. That we might catch some glimpse of His love and tender care for us through what He has created for us—wooing us to fall more and more in love with Him because of our seeing Him ever before us. “Of old You founded the earth, And the heavens are the work of Your hands. “Even they will perish, but You endure; And all of them will wear out like a garment; Like clothing You will change them and they will be changed. “But You are the same, And Your years will not come to an end” –Psalm 102:25-27.

“Sacred Spaces.” These two words have been stirring in my belly for the past several weeks now. These places God has created, carved out, that He might transcend time and space as we under it and intimately unveil Himself, show some aspect of Himself, His favor or will, His goodness, mercy, or great love, some personal attribute of His, to you and me. Imagine! Yet this awareness of sacred spaces isn’t new to me; only God has enlivened it, breathed on it, allowing me to see afresh, something I have been aware of for many years. I’ll explain.

From the beginning, literally, in Genesis 2, verse 8, we witness God create a sacred space to fellowship with His children, His beloved. A place to meet with them, sharing, displaying the many facets of Himself that they might witness Him, and drink Him in. Creator God. Abba God. God, our Provider. The Omniscient and Omnipotent God. A Tender, Merciful, Loving Father. The Sole Giver of every good and perfect gift. Supreme Artist and Author. A Jealous Lover of His own, to name but a few. And because of who He is, has proven Himself, shown Himself to be from the beginning. From somewhere back before, He stood over the dark void when He chose me in Himself before the very foundation of the world has even lain. Faithful and True, time and time and time again; I stand firmly on, and take deep comfort in, the Truth found in Matthew 28:20: “…surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age”.

Knowing this Truth, believing it, assures me that contrary to how I may feel on any given day, my ability to sense Abba’s nearness, or not, God is nevertheless closer to me than my own breath.

Still, there are moments and places where, whether for seconds or minutes, maybe hours sometime, God pulls back the veil, and His palpable presence surrounds me—is undeniably with me. And, because of His being “with me,” all else melts away, is melting away still—especially time. I wonder if Adam and Eve ever felt this way when God walked with them in the cool of the day?

So, whenever I am blessed to catch the sunlight settling on some leaf, setting it ablaze, transforming its everydayness into something fiery, glowing, and alive. Or when the full weight of the sun gives itself over to the surface of the water, and a trillion sparkling tiny diamonds bursting forth because of that union. Or when the branches dance just so with the wind. When the morning birdsong fills the air swirling about my backyard, or when I float on my back in the sea, imagining it is God’s own hands, not buoyant force, at work cradling me—upholding me. When the intoxicating fragrance of some flower awakens something in me, allowing me to catch some watered-down heavenly scent of the prayers of the saints that have clung to Him as He passed before me. Sacred spaces each of these; places where God dropped a ladder from heaven to earth, and, in so doing, the things of heaven mingled with earth for one sacred moment, transforming everything in its wake. I know I have witnessed some aspect of my Jesus in those moments.

I know my God has revealed Himself to me in the way only dear and trusted friends do with each other, drawing me ever deeper into Himself as a result. “Call to me and I will answer you, and will tell you great and hidden things that you have not known” –Jeremiah 33:3.

So let me ask you: “Has the Lord been in your midst, wooing you, loving you, calling out for you to come and sit awhile with Him? Has He carved out some sacred space for the two of you to meet, and, like Adam and Eve maybe, you hid from His nearness?” Feared coming too close to His Beauty, His passion for you—His presence? If so, you’re in good company. Moses feared meeting the Lord face to face too. Yet before you turn away entirely, consider this, please. The very God that created you wants you, all for Himself! And He wants you to have an eternal, loving, and wide-open relationship with Him.

Lorraine Espenhain says this concerning God’s wanting us for Himself: How swift was Heaven’s intervention in the day His jealousy was aroused, when He saw you loving, needing, trusting, desiring, enjoying, and reaching out for something other than Him! From His temple He saw you giving to another what solely belonged to Him, and His jealousy was ignited in Heaven. Said scripturally: “I belong to my beloved, and his desire is for me” –Song of Solomon 7:10.

How awesome and humbling it is to know that our God loves us with such a fierce, intimate, and passionate love. That He created—creates still, these sacred spaces, these transformational moments in time when His Holy Spirit overshadows us—Mary-like, enabling us to conceive of Him—some part of Him alive in us! The impossible made possible. A miracle for sure. God allowing mere men to take inside of themself their Creator! Who but God could make such a thing happen! To enable finite man to take into himself the Divine. The Apostle Paul said it this way: “But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us” –1 Corinthians 4:7. And who but God could weave together the 66 books of the Bible, threading the 39 books of the Old Testament seamlessly into the 27 books of the New Testament?

Dear friend, if you’ve yet to experience this kind of love, this God who so loved you that He made sure you’d be reading this today so that you might ask Him to show Himself real to you right now. He’s patiently waiting just for you. His creation leaves us without excuse on that day; every man will stand before the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. So won’t you come to Him now? “The heavens are telling of the glory of God; And their expanse is declaring the work of His hands. Day to day pours forth speech, And night to night reveals knowledge” –Psalm 19:1-2.

Train Up A Child.

May 22, 2021 / ministermaryellen@gmail.com

“Train up a child in the way he should go, And when he is old, he will not depart from it. –Proverbs 22:6.

As Mother’s Day approached, I began contemplating parenting a child in the ways of the Lord. Although I am not yet a mother, I understand both the value and essential responsibility of parenting, especially in our current climate. While there is no manual for parenting, I am sure that raising a child in the Lord’s way presents its unique challenges in a world fueled by social media and conflicting beliefs on what it means to be a Christian? Having experienced a Catholic upbringing, I now realize that I lacked knowledge of the Word of God and instruction on how to pray. And while I had a great childhood, my family did not always model the love of Christ for me. My mother failed to ask the Holy Spirit to guide her in many of her parenting decisions throughout my upbringing.

It was in musing over Proverbs 22:6 which caused me to reflect on my childhood, upbringing, and early childhood experiences. It caused me to reflect on what I had lacked, what I thought could have been better, and how my parent’s choices impacted my personal growth and development. All of this led me to more fully understand that a Godly home and God-fearing parents that are filled with the Holy Spirit are foundational for training a child in the ways of the Lord. “Direct your children onto the right path, and when they are older, they will not leave it” –Proverbs 22:6. Parenting future disciples of Jesus in many ways fulfills the Great Commission. And as a parent, I’m confident it must be an honor to take part in—co-labor with Christ in laying the foundation of a child’s life with the Truth of God. It must be a great privilege and responsibility to help them find and cultivate their kingdom voices and to remind them of their identity in Christ. In parenting with the Holy Spirit, we certainly must see how serving our children daily also serves the Lord.

So, with this in mind, allow me to share three encouraging points on Godly parenting—advice I plan on following with my children one day.

Make prayer a priority.

As I’ve stated, I am not a mother, yet having helped raise my four nieces for the first few years of their lives, I have had some experience caring for children. And, while this time with them was filled with excitement, it was also stressful, anxiety-causing, and frustrating. Lack of sleep sometimes heightened my frazzled emotions, and that led to irrational decision-making. When my nieces would get sick, it caused fear, and their disobedient and rebellious behaviors caused frustration. From my experience and from what I’ve witnessed, parenting pokes a range of emotions. From joyful celebrations to distressing hardships, yet whatever the circumstance may be, regardless of how the scenarios may play out, I’m learning to lift them all in prayer before His throne of grace. The Bible says: “Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need” –Hebrews 4:16.

God is omniscient. He is fully aware of your emotions; He knows what you think, can see what is happening in your life, and, most importantly, He has the power to intervene and guide you in every area of your life. The Lord knows both the value of and the concerns that come with parenting, and He knows that it’s in the daily setting aside of quiet time to seek His face, where He’ll empower you to face those challenges. Even when you feel weary or unworthy, the Lord Almighty never turns a deaf ear to the earnest prayers of His children. “The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit” –Psalm34:18. And though Google tips may prove helpful and the reassurance of fellow parents’ and friends’ confidence-boosting, nothing compares to speaking to and seeking guidance from the Creator of the universe. God created your children. He understands their thoughts, temperaments, and personalities far better than you ever will—or can. “You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knitted me together in my mother’s womb” –Psalm 139:13. Make prayer a priority and give the Holy Spirit an open invitation to lead and guide your parenting. “I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you” –Psalm 32:8.

2. Model the Christian faith.

The Bible teaches us: “The things you have learned and received, and heard and seen in me, practice these things; and the God of peace will be with you” –Philippians 4:9. Loving and raising your children according to God’s Word is honoring them, just as guiding them in how they should live is your God-given responsibility. While teaching your children the Word of God is essential, modeling your faith is, in most instances, a more powerful tool. How can you genuinely teach children to love the Lord yet not model the love of Christ in your own lives daily via submission to His will and your Godly behavior? “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind” –Matthew 22:37.

How can we teach children to “Love your neighbor as yourself” yet not serve others or demonstrate grace and compassion, and patients towards them? –Mark12:31. Or, how can we teach children that “A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger” and yet create an environment of verbal hostility, belittlement, and abuse in our homes? –Proverbs 15:1. As parents, if your desire is for your children to love the Lord, you are responsible for reflecting that in your behavior. Children are sponges in their initial stages of development. What you model before them, they’ll absorb and emulate. The Bible says, “But don’t just listen to God’s Word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves” –James 1:22. As parents, if you are not modeling the very Godly behavior you expect from your child: faith, patience, kindness, gentleness, love, joy, peace, grace, and compassion, then isn’t that, in fact, teaching to them that Christianity can be unreliable and hypocritical?

3. Love your children well.

The Bible teaches us, “Love is patient, Love is kind. It does not envy; it does not boast; it is not proud. It does not dishonor others; it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the Truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres” –1 Corinthians 14:4-8. God’s definition of Love far exceeds a mere emotion. Love is a choice. We choose to love one another. God’s love is rooted and grounded in decision and choice; and our love is birthed from these very actions. Love is not simply an emotion you feel; it is something to be demonstrated. One of the most significant ways to parent with the Holy Spirit is by operating in His Love. “God is love, and he who remains in love remains in God, and God remains in him” –1 John 4:16.

Parents can sometimes respond to their children at the whim of a feeling or mood. Maybe they’re stressed about work, and so they take their frustration out on their children? Perhaps they’re frustrated with a child’s behavior, or they’re not patient with them during homework? Yet, the biblical definition of unconditional love is that they must respond lovingly towards them nevertheless, even when we do not feel like being loving. Godly love for children is never contingent upon whether they deserve to receive it; conversely, they deserve it solely because it is the will and command of God. That unconditional love that God so freely demonstrates towards us, we have been commanded to model before the world—especially in our homes. “This is my commandment: Love each other in the same way I have loved you” –John 15:12. Loving our children ought to be filled with speaking life into them, seeing the potential for the best in them, and believing in and fostering the gifts God has placed in them. Loving children well ought to look like teaching them to read, meditate, and abide in the Word of God, making it their go-to then when they’re feeling fearful or anxious. “There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out all fear because fear has punishment” –1 John 4:18.

And when a child is acting out in panic and anxiety due to the overwhelming demands of school or life, as parents, shouldn’t you offer them, lead them towards peace and calm, and not add to their chaos or confusion? Shouldn’t you attempt to encourage them along the way? As a parent, you ought not to keep a record of their mistakes or let their rebellious nature provoke you to lash out at them. Parent’s ought to act in patience and kindness, just as God does with them daily. Proverbs 22:6 assures us that training up a child in the ways of the Lord is an honorable responsibility, however challenging at times. And, if you have multiple children, you know full-well that their different temperaments require different parenting techniques. In part, training up a child in the way he or she should go is about recognizing that your children are not carbon copies of you. They are to be guided, trained, molded, and shaped in the direction the Lord has willed for their life, and that may mean your needing to understand and be patient and nurturing with traits in them that are foreign to you or different than your own.

The Bible informs us that “Children are a gift from the Lord; they are a reward from him” –Psalm 127:3. Children are a gift entrusted to us by the Lord. Children are not possessions to do with as we please. They will grow up, leave home and live life on their own, and so because they are precious gifts, we must love them, treasure them, guide them, and protect them while we are able. “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change” –James 1:17.

I can only imagine that one of the most incredible facets of parenting is that the Lord will use the very gifts He’s entrusted to your care, your children, to refine you, His child, teaching you to depend on Him even more! I pray this teaching was encouraging.

In closing, I pray that you continue to make prayer a priority. To always model the ways of the Lord before your children and love them well. Remember, even Jesus modeled Godly training to His disciples, and we can do the same. Take heart in knowing that God is with you on your parenting journey every step of the way. And that God’s unmerited grace and mercy covers our temporary, frail, all too human weaknesses, shortcomings, and failures. The Bible reminds us, “If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you” –James 1:5. So ask the Lord for the wisdom you need, and He will generously supply it. And whether you’re parenting or a single person who is without the sweet presence of the Lord, I encourage you to earnestly seek Him, asking Him to come into your heart and life as Lord. His guidance will transform not only your life but your children’s lives as well. That is one promise I don’t need to be a mom to make. I have tasted and seen that it’s True for myself!

The Art Of Waiting…

May 15, 2021 / ministermaryellen@gmail.com

She sat at her windowsill, wide-eyed and waiting for her first guest to appear down the driveway for the celebration. Her mother was in the kitchen preparing for the festivities, pleading with her to help get the house to look presentable for the party. Still, the anticipation of having her favorite people in one place with gifts just for her was too much! How could she just set the table or sweep the floor? She needed to watch and wait patiently, wondering if anything she had hoped for would be in one of their presents? Her heart skipped a beat with every car that passed the house. Between the mundane preparations and her wandering eyes, she dreamt of the endless opportunities that awaited her in adolescence and adulthood. And there was not a single limitation on her imagination! She would never be in the single digits again after today. For some reason, the thought of crossing that threshold of single, into double digits made her think she was grown-up somehow. Unbeknownst to her, life would be filled with uncertainty and waiting. The possibilities she dreamt up on the day of her 10th birthday would not come with as much clarity as she had hoped. She grew to learn that who she would become would be molded in the waiting. Through the years, she came to realize that the more she learned, the less she knew.

The concept of waiting seems to have gotten away from us as a society.

From accessing information with the mere flick of a finger to the satisfaction of receiving a “like” within seconds on our social media accounts, we live in an era of instant gratification. The ability to wait seems like it’s getting further and further away from us as our instantaneous access to everything gets closer and closer. A rare commodity, patience has become valued less and less with each passing generation.

That said, today, I’d like to look at two types of waiting: the kind born from endurance and hard work and the type that exists just beyond our capabilities.

If we don’t have firsthand experience, we can imagine what waiting for a seed to grow into a flower might feel like? We can understand what becoming proficient at a task through arduous work and patience is? We know the feeling of waiting for guests to arrive who said they’d be there 10 minutes ago or waiting for a cake to finish baking in the oven? In this type of waiting, we know in advance what the final result will be; therefore, our waiting produces a reward. However, in Romans 8:24, the Bible says, “hope that is seen is no hope at all.” We cannot hope for our cake mixture to turn into a cake if we already know that’s what it is. It’s not like a pan of vegetables went into the oven, and somehow, we hope that what will come out is a cake. No, we already know what the final product will be. There’s no hope in that, just certainty.

Hope can only exist when uncertainty is factored into the equation.

The second kind of waiting is seen interchangeably across different Bible translations with the term “hope.” This form of waiting goes beyond our ability to produce something. It’s the kind of patience that requires hope. In Kingdom culture, hope and waiting go hand in hand; you can’t have one without the other. The Bible usually refers to this waiting as “waiting on the Lord.” Isaiah 40:31 tells us that: “those who wait on (hope in) the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.”

Wait on the Lord.

This phrase makes me feel helpless in a way, but in the end, it reminds me of the truth that assures me His strength is made perfect in my weakness. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me” –2 Corinthians 12:9.

It’s countercultural to say that rest will produce a product other than, well, rest. But Biblical principles are often paradoxical. That is, they typically don’t make sense. Waiting on the Lord requires a certain confidence in God that can only grow over time. Experientially, one that knows that although the outcome is uncertain, the hands of the One who holds you are good. His plans for you are not to harm you [but plans to] give you hope and a future Jeremiah 29:11. “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” That is the hope that trusts that good things are coming even when there’s no end in sight. This hope comes from experience with repeated faithfulness of God. When you’ve seen the goodness of God, you can’t help but expect that He will come through yet again, even when it doesn’t make sense!

One of my favorite things to do in the face of uncertainty is to sit still in complete silence. For me, these times are reminiscent of what I’ve read in Mark 4:35-41. Within these verses, we read that Jesus is on a boat with His disciples in the middle of a storm. A furious storm suddenly came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so much so that it was nearly swamped. Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?” He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Quiet! Be still!” Then the wind died down and it was completely calm. He said to his disciples, “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?”

So, when I’m going through periods of chaos in life, I like to imagine that I’m sitting still with Jesus on that boat. I close my eyes and allow my mind to see the chaos all around me. I can almost hear the howling wind, and I allow myself to feel the fear of the unknown. The smell of the ocean becomes ripe in my olfactory receptors. Then I look up to notice that the One who commands the seas to be still is the One who’s keeping me safe, my firm foundation, Jesus. At that moment, I begin to realize that the howl of the fierce ocean storm that surrounds me is much louder than its actual bite. I realize, too, that so long as I hold fast to Jesus, He will take care of the uncertainties and turn them around for my good, just as He promises in His word. That doesn’t mean I have no problems, and it certainly doesn’t mean relinquishing control is easy, but it does mean that waiting is a rewarding discipline.

Those moments of chaos and confusion, of fear, require us to cling ever more closely to the Lord, sharpening our faith with each passing wave.

Waiting on the Lord produces peace, not pride. It helps us to look at our many blessings with eyes of gratitude rather than entitlement. Jesus then becomes the object of our affection as we grow stronger in Him. “Wait on the Lord; be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart; wait, I say, on the Lord!” –Psalm 27:14. Culture tries to convince us that we can’t control our emotions, but the word of God says contrary. It doesn’t say, “try to be of good courage.” It says, “Be of good courage.”

To do this requires that we renew our minds daily in His Word. And live with the mindset of courageously trusting in the Lord.

I want to leave you with these encouraging words found in 2 Peter 3:9. “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.” God is patient on His timetable, not ours. He wants to see your character built and strengthened before He can add the weight of His blessings to you.

Our trust in Him builds patience and steadfastness. As this verse indicates, His heart desires to see each one of us come to repentance. Abiding in Him produces more than you could ever produce on your own. Would you repent today and ask the Lord to help you trust in Him? My prayer is that as you repent and make Him your rock, the Holy Spirit will walk beside you, reminding you to surrender your anxieties to Him. I pray that the Holy Spirit teaches you how to trust in Him more deeply every day.

This Is Me, And You. Abraham, too.

May 8, 2021 / ministermaryellen@gmail.com

“Is this blessing then only for the circumcised, or also for the uncircumcised? For we say that faith was counted to Abraham as righteousness. How then was it counted to him? Was it before or after he had been circumcised? It was not after, but before he was circumcised” –Hebrews 4:9-10.

I literally have no idea just how many times I have read these very verses over the years. Nevertheless, today, the Holy Spirit allowed me to see them anew—more profound somehow.

As a Christian, I know the Truth found in these few lines of Scripture, in this chapter, really. More, I believe them.

In them is found the very foundation of who I am and in whom I believe. The Rock-Solid Truth on which I hang the full weight of my hope. Yet as I read them today, it was as if the Holy Spirit allowed me somehow to see their Truth afresh. It was as if His Words took on a life of their own, like some scene unfolding before me, animated. For just the briefest of moments, He opened my heart to understand these verses more personally, and in an instant, I was visually transported back to a little church by the sea. That place where the Lord saw fit, one spring day in March, to first whisper, “Come, follow Me.” Years later, He would whisper this same command when He anointed me to birth this blog. And yet it didn’t start there—my relationship with God, I mean. I didn’t go searching for Him on that Spring day; He called me—had been wooing me. I know that now. All I knew then was I had this pressing, inexplicable need to go to that little church by the sea, so I went.

I now understand I was one of those lost sheep Jesus spoke of in Luke 15:4. “What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open country, and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it?” And way back when so too was Father Abraham—He was a lost sheep as well. I also understand that Jesus had a plan for both of our lives; I know that now, I didn’t then. A plan that would only unfold after He’d pull from our bellies the very faith, He’d placed in them, in eternity past. Faith is the genesis of everything. Without it, we can’t do anything. “And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him” –Hebrews 11:6.

I forget that sometimes as I read Scripture. I forget that Abraham, and Moses, David and Daniel, Martha, and Mary, Paul, and Peter, all of these had been given their own measure of faith—just as you and I have been.

Yet Scripture informs me that though I possess this faith, say nothing of the gifts and talents on lone to me; I cannot lay claim to them as if they were something I made happen. Something I did or found on my own, lest pride swells up in me, and I fall. As with everything else in my life, even the very measure of faith I possess is a precious gift given me from my Heavenly Father. “I say to everyone among you not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think; but to think so as to have sound judgment, as God has allotted to each a measure of faith” 1 Corinthians 12:9. Equally true is this: This measure of faith was given me because God had already accepted me as His own; He’d chosen me in Christ Jesus in eternity past.

Sitting in that little seaside church on that spring day, how could I have known that? For that matter, neither would Abraham have had any idea the day God showed up, of the call, nor the unfathomable blessing that would soon be made manifest in his life as he went about his everyday life in Ur. “And he received circumcision as a sign, a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. So then, he is the father of all who believe but have not been circumcised, in order that righteousness might be credited to them” –Romans 4:11.

See, that’s the thing the Holy Spirit illuminated afresh today. How profoundly personal our conversion is, and how suddenly it is that we are changed. Just how suddenly this literal life-changing gift is bestowed upon us. Abraham and I are both witness to this Truth. One moment we were dead in our sins, and then, in the twinkling of an eye, we were made new. And so too were that great cloud of witnesses that went on to glory before me. One second, we were all dead in our sins, and in the next, in fulfillment of the will and plan of God, all were washed clean; made a new creation in Christ Jesus, His now, eternally.

That’s where it all starts, in that nanosecond in time, determined in eternity past. Hear the Word of God: “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you [and approved of you as My chosen instrument], And before you were born I consecrated you [to Myself as My own]; I have appointed you as a prophet to the nations” –Jeremiah 29:11.

Did you catch what the Prophet Jeremiah said by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit?

God chooses us before we ever come into being. And, not only had Jeremiah been chosen by God, given his measure of faith by Him, more, wrapped up in His being chosen, was Jeremiah’s calling. His purpose. So too is ours, our “one-of-a-kind calling,” our unique piece of the creation puzzle that God will anoint, using it to bring His eternal plan to fruition. “My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them” –Psalm 139:15-16.

The Apostle Paul found this foundational Truth of being chosen in Christ Jesus and gifted with faith of such import that it permeates almost all His writings. “For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned” Romans 12:3.

John Piper says it this way concerning Paul’s writings. Concerning this faith that we who believe are given: God has given all Christians varying measures of faith. This is the faith with which we receive and use our varying gifts. It is the ordinary daily faith by which we live and minister. Paul’s final remedy for spiritual pride is to say that not only are spiritual gifts a work of God’s free grace in our lives, but so also is the very faith with which we use those gifts. This means that every possible ground of boasting is taken away. How can we boast if even the qualification for receiving gifts is also a gift?

The Apostle Paul says it plainly: “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast” –Ephesians 2:8-9.

So perhaps this brief visual journey afforded me by the Holy Spirit today came as a reminder? Maybe He was reminding me how the faith I claim as my own came into being? Perhaps I need re-minding of that sometimes? There’s no perhaps about it; actually, shamefully, I do.

Why? I find it curious, wholly human perhaps, how I can hold something as sacred as my faith so dear, yet so dispassionately at times. As if taking it for granted somehow. At times we forget, in our flesh, that our faith must be stirred up. Watched over and cherished, as the treasure of great price that it is—guarded, with our very lives. I, for one, am thankful that the Holy Spirit reminds me of this Truth when I become lax.

Perhaps today, I needed to be re-minded to cling to this precious treasure I have been entrusted with. Re-minded to continuously exercise my faith on behalf of those who have yet to come into their measure of faith? Re-minded perhaps, that on a day I did not expect Him, the Spirit of the Living God came, suddenly, and blessed me with this precious, Life-giving gift of faith—just as He had for Father Abraham, just as He’ll do for you. And so, friend, if you’ve yet to call this faith your own, you can now. I believe the Holy Spirit has led you here for just that reason, to bless you with your measure of faith.

But first, you must ask Him to come into your life as Lord and Savior. Confess that you have sinned and that you need Him. Then stand still and watch the Lord fight for you—change you, increase with time, the measure of faith He’ll give you today. “Now not for his sake alone was it written that it was credited to him, but for our sake also—to whom righteousness will be credited, as those who believe in Him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead—who was betrayed and crucified because of our sins, and was raised [from the dead] because of our justification [our acquittal—absolving us of all sin before God]” –Romans 4:23-25.

He Knows Your Frame.

May 1, 2021 / ministermaryellen@gmail.com

“But Jesus said, “Why are you troubled? Why do you doubt what you see? Look at my hands and my feet. It’s really me. Touch me. You can see that I have a living body; a ghost does not have a body like this” –Luke 24:38-39.

Jesus wasn’t chastising His disciples; He was comforting them—reassuring them. He knew perfectly well that though his disciples had witnessed others being resurrected (the son of the widow of Nain—Luke 7:11-17, Jairus’ daughter—Matthew 9:18-26, and finally, their friend, Lazarus—John 11:38-44), their witnessing Him return from the dead borderlined on being just way too much for their finite minds to take in.

Remember, these were everyday men like you and me—many, simple fishermen. It was only Jesus who was both fully human—and fully Divine. Plus, up until the time they’d met Jesus, dead had always meant precisely that, dead. People just didn’t come back from the grave. Yet there He was, their Rabbi, standing right in front of them. A savage beating at the hands of the Romans. His Crucifixion. Three days in His tomb. It was impossible! Surely this could not be! And yet, there He stood. There was only one explanation for this. Suddenly, a scene played out in Peter’s mind. In it, Jesus had also asked His disciples a question. “But what about you?” Jesus asked. “Who do you say I am?” Peter answered, “You are the Christ.” And Jesus warned them not to tell anyone about Him.…” –Mark 8:29-30.

So, can you imagine their shock? Their disbelief? Is it any wonder then that Jesus asks them why they’re troubled? Why they doubt who it is that’s standing right in front of them? Honestly, wouldn’t you have been troubled too?

Maybe it was due to their reaction to Him suddenly appearing before them? Or perhaps it was out of His great love and compassion for His friends, in His mercy, and with the most extraordinary tenderness that Jesus offers His beloved and troubled friends, His Peace? “…He said to them, “Peace be with you” –Luke 24:36. I choose to believe that it was the latter.

Jesus knows that as mere men, when we experience seasons of deep pain and loss, of trauma, often it’s the ordinary and the everyday-ness of life that we tether to; it aids in recentering us. He knows it’s’ the route and familiar that helps slow the wild spinning down just enough to feel safe enough to step away from the pain and towards life and living. Their having been eyewitnesses to the savage scourging Jesus had suffered before His barbaric Crucifixion leaves little doubt that John and Mary and the other woman would have shared the details of what they had witnessed with the rest of His disciples. “Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother, his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw his mother there, and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to her, “Woman,[a] here is your son,” and to the disciple, “Here is your mother” –John 19:52-27.

Shared how they’d watched in horror and with the most profound sorrow as Jesus took His last breath. His final exhale perhaps forcing them to release their grip on the last vestige of hope they’d so desperately been clinging to. Jesus’ final breath—meant the end for them all. Its final work, snuffing out any flickering promise that remained in their hearts. Any remnant of hope these past three-plus years spent with Him had offered them. Joy-filled years spent talking with and learning from Him, walking, and eating, and marveling at His wonderful works. Their Messiah was dead. Jesus’ lifeless Body hung before them on His Cross. And with it, in their finite minds at least, the long-awaited, lifeless promise that the Kingdom of God had finally come. That after generations of oppression, their deliverer had finally come. That soon and very soon, they would all taste newfound freedom. And they would—just not in the way they had imagined it would come.

And once again, in verses 41-43 of this same chapter, we witness Jesus’ tenderness. His patient love towards His friends being displayed once more through a familiar, everyday gesture. Remember, Jesus knows it’s the everyday things that help center us. So He asks His friends if they have anything to eat? And when someone hands Him a piece of fish, Jesus proceeds to eat it; but more than just eating fish, Jesus wants to settle their anxious hearts, so He uses this everyday act to assure them that they do not see a ghost. That no ghost could do what they are watching Him do; being omniscient, Jesus knows that they are awed and joyful by His sudden appearance, but He also knows that they’re confused and bewildered by it as well. Jesus knows they need time. That seeing Him do anything ordinary will help put them at ease. “The followers were amazed and very, very happy to see that Jesus was alive. They still could not believe what they saw. He said to them, “Do you have any food here?” They gave him a piece of cooked fish. While the followers watched, he took the fish and ate it.” Jesus knows His sudden reappearance has caused His disciples to have tunnel vision, focusing only on the here and now.

On the possibilities of what His sudden return may mean for them? What His being with them once more is all about? What might it look like moving forward now? But Jesus needs their minds to shift beyond this moment. Beyond themselves and their immediate wants and needs. Time is a precious commodity now. Remember, Jesus also knows that very soon He will be returning to the Father. So He needs their minds to shift towards His eternal plan and purpose for having had come at all. Jesus needs them to move forward. Towards those, He knows are depending on them. So then, for the final time in these closing verses, Jesus does the familiar yet again. This time, He taught His disciples. “Jesus said to them, “Remember when I was with you before? I said that everything written about me must happen—everything written in the Law of Moses, the books of the prophets, and the Psalms.” Then Jesus helped the followers understand these Scriptures about him. Jesus said to them, “It is written that the Messiah would be killed and rise from death on the third day” –Luke 24: 44-46.

Jesus grounds His jittery friends. He recenters them—focusing their attention on the familiar—on the mission. On what they know, the scriptures. On what has been foretold concerning Him, their Messiah. Concerning the bewildering and fright-full moment in which they now find themselves. Then, Jesus goes further still, reminding His friends that they have been His witnesses. That all of what they’ve seen while with Him is now part of their story. Their testimony. The very foundation of all that they will share as they go forth into all the world. It’s their legacy. The unplumbed treasure they’ll leave behind for future generations—for you and me. Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things” –Luke 24: 45-48.

Jesus knew His disciple’s—their frame. He knows ours too. He knows that for us to do what He has destined us to, created us to do, we must wait on Him. Wait for His strength and the power of His Holy Spirit. We must wait for His timing, wait to be gathered together, called, and we must wait to be released. Jesus knows that our minds must first be opened to the Truth—To Him, His Spirit, to His Word just as His disciples were. Just as they had to wait before continuing with the work that Jesus had started—so must we. “Then he said, “This is God’s message to Zerubbabel: ‘Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the Lord Almighty—you will succeed because of my Spirit, though you are few and weak’ –Zechariah 4:6-7.

Jesus knew that the birth of His Church was imminent. That within days He would be ascending back to His Father—our, Father. His work here on earth, in the physical sense at least, being all but finished now. And, that it would be these men, His chosen, these mere mortals that He’d soon empower, baptizing them with His Spirit, charging them then, to carry out this magnificent work of spreading the Good News to all, to you and me, so that we too might carry His Truth all the way to the ends—of the earth that is. “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” After He had said this, they watched as He was taken up, and a cloud hid Him from their sight.…” Acts 1: 8-9.

Friend, if you’ve read this till the end, yet you don’t know this Jesus personally, then do know this: You’re here because He wanted the two of you to meet. He wants a friendship with you, to walk together and work together. He’s done His part by bringing you here. Won’t you please do your part by accepting His invitation? Just ask Him into your heart, sincerely repent of your sins, and He’ll take it from there. He knows your frame, what you truly need. “…if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation” –Romans 10:9-10.

We Have A Great High Priest…

April 24, 2021 / ministermaryellen@gmail.com

“For this reason He had to be made like His brothers in every way, so that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, in order to make atonement for the sins of the people” –Hebrews 2:17.

This morning has been pain-filled—my heart is heavy. Truth be told, this has been a very trying season. Some seasons are just like that. And when we’re walking through our pain—at least when I am, it’s easy to fall into despair. To forget for a time that, even though what we’re experiencing is real, we shouldn’t be surprised that it’s happening—or that it hurts as bad as it does. Jesus assured us that as long as we’re on this earth, things like this will happen. But how easy it is to forget that sometimes. “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid” –John 14:27.

I’m sure it’s because of just how pain-filled these recent times have been for me that the Holy Spirit came as only He can in His gentle, loving way, and reminded me of something this morning that I needed to be reminded of. Something I’d recently heard the character who portrays Jesus in the series, The Chosen, say. A statement He made in response to a question posed to Him by the hostess of a dinner party He was attending.

The hostess asked, “When I was a little girl, my father told me the Messiah would bring an end to pain and suffering. If you are who people are saying you are, when will you do that?” And the character that portrays Jesus responded: “I’m here to preach the Good News of the Kingdom of heaven, a Kingdom that is not of this world, a Kingdom that is coming soon, so yes, sorrow and sighing will flee away. I make a way for people to access that Kingdom but, in this world, bones will still break, hearts will still break. But in the end, Light will overcome darkness.” I needed to be re-minded of that today. And I thank the Holy Spirit, not only for what He deposits within me but equally, for what He re-minds me of when I need reminding. And so I’m here to re-mind you, as well. Because perhaps like me, you may need reminding right now.

But first, notice Jesus’ response to this woman. He pointed her towards the Good News—towards God’s Kingdom, towards The Truth. And then He addressed her concerns. So today, as I share with you what God has placed on my heart, I pray it points you towards God. Towards His Kingdom, and His Word—made flesh. Towards the Truth; towards Jesus and His great Love for you.

Over these past several months, I’ve lost four dear friends. I take great comfort in knowing that I will see them again one day soon as each of them knew Jesus. But it still hurts that they’re no longer with me now. In addition, I’m currently typing this message in an entirely different state, as in location. I’m here because the enemy has attacked my family, and the Lord suddenly sent me here, for now, to help. Also, before I began typing this teaching this morning, I was—I have been, praying with my brothers and sisters back home for a dear brother in Christ who is undergoing surgery today to remove a cancerous tumor from his body. Updates continue to come in via text of complications the doctors have encountered. Suffice it to say that my heart hurts this morning—it’s heavy. Yet, at the same time, by God’s grace, I have great peace.

As I was sitting here praying, pouring my heart out to the Lord, the Holy Spirit, my precious Comforter, came. And, doing what only He can, He began ministering to my broken heart.

He reminded me, as I had just reminded my friend’s wife via a text message, that we have a Great High Priest who has tasted everything—every emotion and situation we can imagine. So, He knows—can personally relate to, exactly what we’re feeling and thinking. He is not a God who is far off. He is close to us—to my friend in surgery and me right now, to his wife and his family as well. He’s close in the hour of our deep need. He’s close to my son and your son or daughter in their moment of need. Closer even than we can fathom. And I, for one, am so grateful for that fact right now because I need what only Jesus can give me—His peace and strength. “Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall. But those who wait upon the LORD will renew their strength; they will mount up with wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not faint” –Isiah 40:30-31.

I am grateful for the assurance that He will never leave me nor forsake me—no matter the circumstances—no matter what every demon springing up around me may be screaming at me right now!

I know God is with me –I trust Him. And He sent me here to you today not only to share my testimony but also to remind you that as surely as God is with me, so too is He with you. If you are His child, then His Spirit at work in us reminds us that we are to walk by faith, not by sight, not according to how we feel. Feelings change; Truth doesn’t. His Spirit in us reminds us to trust Him. Especially now, when so much of what is going on around us makes absolutely no sense. In these trying and uncertain seasons of my life—these dark and challenging valleys, I am so thankful that I don’t have to walk by sight. That I can trust Jesus to lead and guide me instead. Otherwise, I don’t know if I would make it out of this present pain-filled valley in one piece, to experience the mountaintop, once again, that faith and my relationship with Jesus have taught me are waiting for me on the other side of this. “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who was tempted in every way that we are, yet was without sin. Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need” –Hebrews 4:15-16.

I’m also reminded this morning that no matter how painful this valley may be, I’m not walking through it blindly. This pain will not overtake me because Jesus made sure to forewarn me that people will get cancer in this fallen and sin-riddled world—yet He is with them, still. They’ll die what seems like way too early, in my mind at least. Divorce will happen, and we’ll be forced to stand by and watch those we love walk through the pain it brings while not being able to do one thing to stop it from happening. Our children will become addicted—or maybe our parents. They’ll make lifestyle choices that, as Christians, we cannot and do not agree with—and yet we’ll love them despite their choices. Just as Jesus loved us—and still does. Despite those sinful choices we continue to make. “Because He Himself suffered when He was tempted, He is able to help those who are being tempted” –Hebrews 2:18.

We may never understand—or know why God allows certain things to happen to us or to those we love, this side of heaven that is. But if we have a relationship with Jesus, this much we do know about Him now, today, for certain: He’s a loving Father. A Good God. And because we know this, know Him—because we’ve tasted and seen for ourselves that He alone is Good, we can confidently say as Job did: “…What? Shall we receive only pleasant things from the hand of God and never anything unpleasant?” –Job 2:10. In fact, right before Jesus was about to be betrayed—about to willingly take up His Cross. Before His sinless Body was about to be ripped open by the Roman whip, well before thorns were viciously pressed into His forehead and scalp, and before spikes were savagely driven through His wrists and feet and a spear jabbed into His side, Jesus assured His disciples—comforted them really, us too, me right now, with these Words: “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world, you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world” –John 16:33.

All you and I can do is comfort and pray for each other, friends—be Jesus’ hands and feet, honestly, compassionately, and tangibly.

Because whatever valley I may find myself in, whatever my sister and her husband will face once he’s out of surgery today, whatever valley my son or your son or daughter, your parent or parents may be walking through at this very moment. By God’s grace alone, we must remember, as we pass through it, that we have not endured the ultimate betrayal, the pain—physical or emotional, that Jesus suffered for us—for me, lest I ever forget His pain was personal. It was and still is personal for you, too.

So, if like me, and so many others today, you find yourself in the valley of despair—walking through pain so heavy it’s taking all you have to just put one foot in front of the other, please friend, know you are not alone right now. Even as I type, I am still praying—for you this time. I’m praying and take authority over whatever has your heart in its vice-like grip this day, in Jesus’ name. I’m praying you will follow my lead and cry out to the One who knows us better than we know ourselves—the One who sees the end of your situation from its beginning, despite your pain.

Cry out to the One who saw it all coming and will, no matter how it looks to you right now, no matter how hard it is for you to believe you’re going to get through this, more, believe that you’ll eventually smile and thrive and grow and love and heal and forgive and reach out, again. And why? Because we have this Great High Priest who not only felt and experienced everything we have, He will also empower us to overcome this. This same Jesus assures us in His Word that: “I am the LORD, the God of all the peoples of the world. Is anything too hard for me” –Jeremiah 32:27.

So If you’re reading this and have said to yourself, “wait, this is me! This is how I’ve been feeling, too! I’m walking in a valley of my own right now. Then won’t you cry out to Jesus for help? And, if you’ve yet to ask this Jesus into your life and heart as Lord, what better time than while you’re in a pain-filled valley? Why? Because He’s just waiting for you to ask for His help, waiting to help you walk through it. He’ll come and forgive and restore, renew, and heal you, right where you are. Yes, friend, even there in the thick of that sin you think is so unforgivable. Just repent of your sins today and ask Jesus into your heart. Why go it alone when you can do it with Jesus? “He is able to deal gently with those who are ignorant and misguided, since he himself is beset by weakness” –Hebrews 5:2.

The Heart Of Judas.

March 20, 2021 / ministermaryellen@gmail.com

“…Jesus was troubled in spirit and testified, ‘Very truly I tell you, one of you is going to betray me” –John 13:21.

Within the human heart lives a propensity to sin, our fleshly nature at work in us, as it was in Judas. And apart from God’s saving grace—His Holy Spirit alive in us, preserving us from the bent of our fleshly nature, again, like Judas, we are powerless to overcome it. “I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it” –Romans 7:15-20.

The Gospels inform us of Jesus calling each of His disciples. To some extent, they give us a snapshot of the apostles’ lives. Of whom they were before they began to follow Jesus. It also provides us with a glimpse of the settings in which he called them to follow him—except that is, for Judas Iscariot. Exactly how and why Judas was called to follow Jesus is not fully known. Some scholarly texts suggest Judas had been one of John the Baptist’s disciples. That he came to resent Jesus for not saving John from Herod’s executioner, and that this resentment took root in his heart and was a contributing factor in his subsequent betrayal of Jesus. However, we learn from Scripture that Jesus chose Judas to become His disciple—part of His inner circle. “When daylight came, He called His disciples to Him and chose twelve of them, whom He also designated as apostles: And Judas son of James; and Judas Iscariot, who became the betrayer” –Luke 6:13;16.

Judas is ignominiously known as being a traitor. For having betrayed Jesus for 30 pieces of silver—ultimately leading to Jesus’ arrest and His death on the cross. The Gospel tells it this way: “Then one of the Twelve – the one called Judas Iscariot – went to the chief priests and asked, ‘What are you willing to give me if I deliver him over to you?” So they counted out for him thirty pieces of silver. From then on Judas watched for an opportunity to hand him over” –Matthew 26: 14-16. It continues by saying, “When Judas, who had betrayed him, saw that Jesus was condemned, he was seized with remorse and returned the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and the elders” –Matthew 27:3. And Scripture also informs us that Judas, realizing what he had done, was filled with remorse and committed suicide: “And he went away and hanged himself” (Matthew 27:5.

That led me to think about the condition of Judas’ heart? —and what of our own? After all, the Son of God had handpicked Judas to follow him. So, are we prone to fall away also? Betray the very God who called us?

Judas had witnessed the miracles Jesus had performed; he’d been in the boat when Jesus calmed the storm—Matthew 8:23-27. Judas was there when Jesus performed His first miracle, converting water into wine at the wedding in Cana —John 2:1-11. He’d witnessed Jesus feed the 5000 with five loaves and two fish—Matthew 14:15-21. And Judas was a witness to the miracles God performed. He’d also heard Jesus deliver the Sermon on the Mount –Matthew 5:1-48. He’d listened to Jesus’ parables and was present to hear Peter answer the question Jesus posed to each of His disciples—the very same question each one of us must answer for ourselves:” Who do you say that I am? Peter responded by saying, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God”— Matthew 16:16. And, finally, Jesus had also given Judas power and authority to perform miracles: “Jesus called his twelve disciples to him and gave them authority to drive out impure spirits and to heal every disease and sickness” –Matthew 10:1. Judas had been given the privilege and honor of walking beside Jesus daily, knowing the Son of God personally. Yet, still, the devil-possessed Judas, causing him to betray Jesus. “After [Judas had taken] the piece of bread, Satan entered him. Then Jesus said to him, “What you are going to do, do quickly [without delay]” –John 13:27. How could this happen then? Hadn’t Jesus chosen Judas?

Again, all of this led me to contemplate the condition of Judas’ nefarious heart, asking myself then: Is there a little Judas in all of us?

Many of us profess to walk closely with Christ—just as Judas did. We share our witness—talking freely about what God has done in and through our lives—of the grace He’s poured into them. We talk about the miracles, signs, or wonders we’ve heard of or witnessed firsthand. Yet none of that exempts us from walking away from Jesus—from betraying Him, just like Judas did.

Seemingly, only Jesus was aware of Judas’ impending betrayal that fateful night—everyone else at the table appeared unsuspecting. “When evening came, Jesus was reclining at the table with the Twelve. And while they were eating, he said, ‘Truly I tell you, one of you will betray me. They were very sad and began to say to him one after the other, ‘Surely you don’t mean me, Lord?'” –Matthew 26:20-22. Not a single person, besides Jesus, pointed to Judas as being the traitor. And yet, long before this fateful night, there were signs of fissures in Judas’ heart—signs of his double-mindedness. John’s Gospel says this concerning this very issue: “Six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus lived, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. Here a dinner was given in Jesus’ honor. Martha served, while Lazarus was among those reclining at the table with him. Then Mary took about a pint of pure nard, an expensive perfume; she poured it on Jesus’ feet and wiped his feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. But one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, who was later to betray him, objected, “Why wasn’t this perfume sold and the money given to the poor? It was worth a year’s wages.” He did not say this because he cared about the poor but because he was a thief; as keeper of the money bag, he used to help himself to what was put into it” –John 12: 1-6.

Judas treasured money more than Jesus, and what he stole, he stole from God—not man. He knew that Jesus taught, “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” –Mathew 6:21. Yet, the pull to possess the things of this world, his sinful desire for money, and perhaps, past resentment became an overarching factor that contributed to Judas’ betraying Jesus. Knowing this then, it is essential for those who profess Jesus to check their hearts continually—asking God to examine them because simply acknowledging Jesus doesn’t equate to His truly being the Lord of your life.

To that end, you may find asking yourself the following questions helpful:

“What’ treasure(s)’ of this world have you allowed to dethrone the Son of God from your heart?”

“What daily habits are you entertaining that serve the lust of the flesh rather than foster a desire for the things of God’s and His kingdom?”

“And What are the “temporary pleasures of this world” that pull you away from God? Those things that trouble and grieve God’s heart?”

“Is it money? Is it lust? Is it a drug? Popularity? Possessions? Is it greed?”

If you profess to be a child of God, your heart’s greatest desire must be firmly rooted in pleasing and seeking after God and His Kingdom—and not being consumed by the “temporary gains” in this world.

After reading about some of the sin issues found in Judas’ heart, his greed, and double-mindedness, the possible root of bitterness that had taken root. His attachment to the things of this world. His being a liar and thief and his ability to betray Jesus, shouldn’t that awaken the resounding question in our hearts to be: “What can I learn from this?”

I know for me, I learned proximity to God is not an indicator that we abide in Christ, that our proximity to God does not exempt us from the enemy’s influences. I learned that those who refuse to fully yield their lives to Jesus Christ (their will, all that they are and have been given) could, sadly, be enticed away from serving Him, serving the lusts of their flesh instead. Judas walked with Jesus, was fed, and taught by Jesus, was prayed over by Jesus, healed individuals by the authority given him in Jesus, was a friend to Jesus. Judas spoke and acted like a disciple. Yet, his heart was far away from God. Judas knew all about religion, not about a relationship. “Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name drive out demons and perform many miracles? ‘Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you workers of lawlessness!’–Matthew 7:22-23. And this same religious spirit we witness in Judas is still alive today in those who, like him, are merely going through the motions in their walk with Jesus Christ. Those who perhaps attend church faithfully, follow all the rules, and offer their tithes—yet they lack a personal connection or genuine commitment to Jesus.

Judas was “in,” and yet he was still able to betray Jesus. Judas was “in,” yet the devil possessed him. The more religious we are, the more like Judas our hearts may become.

And again, that forced me to look at myself and ask: “If Jesus wasn’t in my life, who might I be now?

I pray this same question drives you never to forget that forsaking God for the “temporary pleasures” of this world will always leave you feeling morally bankrupt.

That it reminds you that for all of Judas may have gained in this world, it never quenched his overwhelming feeling of remorse—that guilt and shame that drove him to hang himself. Neither will the things of this world ever assuage our guilt and shame. The enemy of our soul will make sure of that—just as he did with Judas. Satan always exacts a price far dearer than anyone thought they’d have to pay for the temporary pleasures he offers them. Ultimately, though, Scripture was fulfilled—and whatever the enemy had intended for evil, the Lord turned it around for His good purpose.

Judas’ desire was not for God, to advance His Kingdom – I pray that it is for you. I pray that the kingdom of God is your ultimate treasure and not the things of this world. I sincerely pray that you invite the Spirit of God to search your heart daily—revealing any wrong way within you. I pray that your profession that Jesus is Lord of your life matches your walk. I pray that if you’ve yet to ask God into your heart as Lord, you’ll do it today. I pray that you serve God as your Master. May the motives of your heart continuously be to glorify God. I pray that you’re a Peter, and not a Judas—because Peter died for the One he loved, while Judas followed Jesus yet, in the end, chose Satan over our Savior! “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money” (Matthew 6: 24).

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.

Smoke & Mirrors

February 6, 2021 / ministermaryellen@gmail.com

“Behold! I have given you authority and power to trample upon serpents and scorpions, and [physical and mental strength and ability] over all the power that the enemy [possesses]; and nothing shall in any way harm you” –Luke 10:19.

If indeed you are God’s child, why then is He allowing _____ to happen to you? Why has He permitted this to touch your life at all?

Satan is the great deceiver. And as such, he slithers into the life of every believer at one time or another, shamelessly whispering the above question, accusation really, in our ears, taunting us…

His intent? To plant baleful, hate-filled seeds in our hearts—Satan has a malignant hatred toward God and His people. Wanting nothing more than to utterly destroy, demolish, kill, if possible, our faith and hope in Jesus, His Truth, and promises. He is continuously tossing seeds of doubt everywhere, great mimic that he is; challenges these, concerning God’s goodness, ever calling it into question. Ever hoping some of his seeds will eventually take root in our hearts. Ever challenging a true believer’s immutable belief that we serve a good and loving God who desires only what is best for His children. I’ve intentionally chosen to repeatedly use “ever” here, that I might stress the point of Satan’s never-ending assault on you and me as believers.

Being made aware of this then, be all the more vigilant! You must never ever allow Satan unguarded access into your heart, child of God! “Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour” –1 Peter5:8.

So, what does that mean “to not allow Satan to have unguarded access into your heart?” And how do we stop him once he starts with his insidious whisperings? Hear God’s Word, believer and yet believer alike. “We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ” –2 Corinthians 10: 5. In layman’s words, in the Spirit, you snatch Satan by the scruff of his proverbial neck, and you command him, by the authority Christ has given you, to bow before and answer to, Jesus’ Blood!

Allow me to backtrack a bit here to lay a bit of a foundation…

Satan is not omniscient—he is not all-knowing. Unlike God, Satan does not have the power or ability to read and know your every thought. Neither is he omnipresent—able to be everywhere at once. Nor omnipotent—having absolute power. These traits, or characteristics, being omniscient, omnipresent, and omnipotent, belong solely to our God. Remember, Satan is a created being. And, as such, must ask God’s permission before he can so much as touch one single hair on the head of a Blood-bought believer. Anything that Satan is allowed to do or have access to in a believer’s life must first pass-through God’s hands.

Satan wants you and me to forget about that part—forget that he must-have God’s permission before he can in any way, touch a believer’s life. Each of the Apostles can attest to this. At some point, all of God’s elect will. Having been forewarned by Jesus, The Apostle Peter came face-to-face with this very Truth the night he denied our Lord. “Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift each of you like wheat. But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith will not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers” – Luke 22:31-32 emphasis my own.

And though Peter’s sifting was indeed life-changing to say the least, perhaps nowhere in Scripture do we see this Truth of Satan’s being allowed to sift God’s people more strikingly, more clearly, than in the life of God’s servant, Job.

God dispels any questions we might have about Job’s character or his love for God within the very first sentence of this Book. One cannot say then, nor surmise that perhaps Job had sinned against God. That he had done some-thing that violated God’s law, denied him in any way, allowing the enemy legal access to come in and disrupt his life in any small or significant way. “In the land of Uz there lived a man whose name was Job. This man was blameless and upright; he feared God and shunned evil” –Job 1:1. Chapter One goes on to detail, in part, the conversation taking place between God and Satan concerning Job, this blameless and upright man. How is it God would allow Satan, suggest to him even, to sift Job? Hear God’s answer. “O house of Israel, declares the LORD, can I not treat you as this potter treats his clay? Just like clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in My hand, O house of Israel” –Jeremiah 18:6.

It is here, in these moments, friends, when, like Job, our faith must also travel that distance from our hearts to our feet that we might stand strong in the day of testing; confidently walking out that which we’ve boldly professed. Ever calling to mind that He alone is God, and He will always have His way in our lives. Faithful to finish the work He’s begun in us. “Yet you, Lord, are our Father. We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand” –Isaiah 64:8; Phil. 1: 6.

Satan was convinced that the only reason Job was so loyal to God was because God had placed a hedge of protection around him and everything He had given Job. And though God indeed did allow Satan to try Job, He also set exact parameters as to what Satan could and could not touch concerning him. “Does Job fear God for nothing?” Satan replied. “Have you not put a hedge around him and his household and everything he has? You have blessed the work of his hands, so that his flocks and herds are spread throughout the land. But now stretch out your hand and strike everything he has, and he will surely curse you to your face.” The Lord said to Satan, “Very well, then, everything he has is in your power, but on the man himself do not lay a finger” –Job 1:9-12.

Let the reader have ears to hear; you have this same divine protection around you and everything God has granted you—if you are His child. As it was with Job, so it is with you.

God may well allow, even suggest Satan sift you. Yet know this: when God allows this, and if you walk with God long enough, He eventually will allow it—it will be for His glory and your good; just as it was for Jobs. Trust is built in the fires of adversity—so is dependence. Pride is removed in those same fires. Our wills are given knees there. We’re made ready and able to bend to God’s will, rather than stubbornly clinging to our own. Remember, we serve a loving Father. And that fundamental fact, His immutable character, is not determined by our flighty feelings—nor by what He may allow to happen in, or be taken from, our lives.

God is static in His eternal love for His children. “For the LORD disciplines the one He loves, as does a father the son in whom he delights “–Proverbs 3:12.

Psalm 94:12 calls blessed the one who the Lord allows to be tried. Listen: “Blessed is the man You discipline, O LORD, and teach from Your law…”

And so it was the Lord who permitted Satan to take the lives of all of Job’s children. All his livestock, his camels, and every other animal he had as well. His every servant save the three that survived to tell of the sudden calamity that had befallen all the rest! Talk about a fiery trial! Yet after all of this sudden and tremendous loss, listen to Job’s response to this testing. Pay attention to the level of faith Job displayed in his God. “At this, Job got up and tore his robe and shaved his head. Then he fell to the ground in worship and said: “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will depart. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised.” In all this, Job did not sin by charging God with wrongdoing. –Job 1:20-22.

May this be our heart, my heart, in the day God might allow some fiery trial to visit our lives.

Friends, I’ve shared all of this to remind you that Satan has no power other than what is given him by the Only All-Powerful One—the Everlasting God! More, to remind you, child of God, that His Living, Breathing Spirit is alive in you and is exponentially greater in power than the power on short term loan to Satan from God. “For his Spirit joins with our spirit to affirm that we are God’s children” –Romans 8:16.

Yours is a timeless power: his, only temporary.

Satan is a created being whose limited power exists in this world because it is useful in God’s overall plan for His creation. I’m reminding you also that Satan is a liar and the father of lies! Tirelessly chasing you down, pointing ever back towards who you once were, back towards whatever pit God pulled you out of, whatever foul hotbed of immorality from which God has cleaned you. All this, Satan’s wily tactics—smoke and mirrors, friends.

And yet, make no mistake; he is a skilled and crafty illusionist adept in his fangless attempts of convincing you that he is far more powerful, further reaching, more knowing, and able than he genuinely is—all that he might trip you up and take you out! And so dear believer, you must re-mind yourself than of your God-given authority! Become adept at wielding your sword—God’s Word. Becoming a quick draw of the phrase “it is written.” No more living on the defense. You have the power of God within you to tear down the works of the enemy through the power of Jesus’ Blood. You are a new creation—born again from above. Never forget that what is born of the Spirit is Spirit. Jesus’ Words, not mine. “Humans can reproduce only human life, but the Holy Spirit gives birth to spiritual life” –John 3:6.

In the end, friends, all ended well for Job. Just as it did for our brother, the Apostle Peter, when Satan had finished sifting him. Listen: “Now the Lord blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning; for he had fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, one thousand yoke of oxen, and one thousand female donkeys. He also had seven sons and three daughters. And he called the name of the first Jemimah, the name of the second Keziah, and the name of the third Keren-Happuch. In all the land were found no women so beautiful as the daughters of Job; and their father gave them an inheritance among their brothers. After this Job lived one hundred and forty years and saw his children and grandchildren for four generations. So Job died, old and full of days” –Job 42:12-16.

God will always have the final Word in the life of every believer—over every created thing. And, just as God has the power to use Satan to sift us that it might result in some new level of righteousness within us, God, in that same power over Satan, prohibits that ever-prowling lion from just randomly attaching His elect. “In righteousness you shall be established; you shall be far from oppression, for you shall not fear; and from terror, for it shall not come near you. If anyone stirs up strife, it is not from me; whoever stirs up strife with you shall fall because of you” –Isaiah 54:14-15.

New friend, if you are here today for the first time or maybe it’s been a while since your last visit, but you’ve yet to ask this God who has the final Word over each man’s life into your heart as your Lord. I pray that you’ll ask Him in right now. Don’t allow Satan, that great illusionist, another day to rob you of all that God wants to so richly bless you with; starting with the greatest of His blessings, a relationship with Him. He’s knocking now; please answer. “Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me” –Revelation 3:20.

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.

Tag: Holy Spirit (Page 13 of 15)

Sacred Spaces.

Like this:

Train Up A Child.

Like this:

The Art Of Waiting…

Like this:

This Is Me, And You. Abraham, too.

Like this:

He Knows Your Frame.

Like this:

We Have A Great High Priest…

Like this:

The Heart Of Judas.

Like this:

Previews…

Like this:

Smoke & Mirrors

Like this:

Calm my Anxious Heart …

Like this:

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Sonsofthesea.org

Verified Services

Recent Posts

Search for posts here

New Teachings Every Saturday!

Meta

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Verified Services

Recent Posts

Search for posts here

New Teachings Every Saturday!

Meta