Author: Jana

What’s Your “Must Have” ?

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Proverbs 2: 9-11
9 Then you will understand what is right and just
   and fair—every good path.
10 For wisdom will enter your heart,
   and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul.
11 Discretion will protect you,
   and understanding will guard you.

Sometime we get so caught up in keeping the rules, or avoiding them, that we forget to engage our hearts with God. God is the good path. His wisdom changes our lives and the course of our lives. So to grow in wisdom is to see it as a “must have.” More than hair color, or latest fashions, understanding God’s way of doing what is right and just and fair becomes our greatest gain. He promises when we adjust our lives to that end, we will experience great benefit.

Open, Eager, or Desperate?

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Are you ready? Here we go.

To be “open” to something is to acknowledge that your mind is considering new ways and options of thinking. We often use the phrase “open minded.”  We consider such a person to be a broad thinker and willing to be tolerant of opposing or unknown areas.  A think-er is not always a do-er.

Open-ness is not necessarily eager-ness.  With eager comes a kind of desire that pushes you into action. Not just an open-handed consideration, but an eager desire that needs to be acted on.

Now compare being eager to being desperate. Desperation is a driving force that must be  completed, satisfied, answered.  Acts of desperation are done without regard to personal cost.

Now then. Which are you— open, eager, desperate— when asking for God’s gifts, His spiritual gifts?

1 Corinthians 14:1 talks about following the way of love and eagerly, jealously, ardently desiring the works of the Holy Spirit in our lives. Paul said many times that we are to want all the gifts that God has for us, and to do that in a desperate, driven, longing for fulfillment kind of way.

So, how much of God do you want?

Are You Complacent?

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Proverbs 1 :32
32 For the waywardness of the simple will kill them,
   and the complacency of fools will destroy them;
33 but whoever listens to me will live in safety
   and be at ease, without fear of harm.”

Complacency is a scary word. It means: A feeling of contentment or self-satisfaction, especially when coupled with an unawareness of danger, trouble, or controversy.

When it comes to spiritual blindness, numbness or ignorance, those three things being distinct, complacency is toxic. We don’t look or ask or pursue the things of God because we are content with our own perspective. Yet our perspective is “unaware” of pending danger.

Proverbs is meant for one thing, making one wise. Listen to the way of God. View things through His lenses. Be actively engaged in your world through the power of Christ.  Then you will live without fear of harm.

To Feel His Pleasure

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God has a funny way of talking. And repeating Himself. Again and again.

“Randomly” Chuck brought home the movie “Chariots of Fire.” It is the true emotional story of Eric Liddell who ran for Scotland in the Olympics. The classic line is: “I believe God made me for a purpose, but He also made me fast. And when I run I feel His pleasure.”

When I watched him run in the movie, it made me cry. Because he did not have technique or perfection, or a trained stride. He had passion and dependence on the pleasure of his God. And it was enough. More than enough.

Then last night as we were praying for the worship CD that we are cutting this weekend, different women kept sensing the word pleasure and enjoyment.

It was no surprise then when Melanie came up after class and said, “You know when I am doing my art, I remember that great quote by this guy, Eric Liddell. He said he ran because he felt God’s pleasure. And I try to remember when I draw to do it for His pleasure.”

Yep, God likes to make sure we hear Him, loud and clear. So from Thursday night through Sunday, will you pray for us as a band, as worshippers, as children of God, to play and sing simply because we feel His pleasure?

That will be more than enough.

Worse Than Naval Lint

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“I really hate that my camera doesn’t take better pictures,” Chuck said of his phone. And I retorted, “Well it is a cell phone.”

And so it went for months. Fuzzy, blurry pictures, and missed moments due to lack of a good camera. But then Chuck got a wild hair to clean the lens. Have you seen the lens on a cell phone? You have to get cotton swab and really dig it down into the little lens to clean it.

And Voilá!  Bright clean photos. Even on a cell phone!

So when my photos started blurring on my phone camera, I didn’t hesitate to grab a swab.

You know navel lint doesn’t hinder you at all. But lint on your lenses affects the way you see life. It becomes dull, blurred and not really worth even seeing or trying to enjoy.

Ask the Lord to clean your lenses. Ask Him to remove the fuzz and buildup so you can see what He sees.

There are a lot of colors and lots of beauty in this God bathed world of ours. Enjoy it. He sure does. And He wants to share it with you.

Oh my, the little details…

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So I can say, in all humility, that I make the best oatmeal raisin cookies ever? I know this because I spent the first ten years of my marriage trying to find a recipe that my husband likes. And when I found it, I spent the next ten years perfecting it.

However.

Last night, I was making my famous recipe, mostly from memory, and to my dismay, as well as the groans of my family, they were NOT the best cookies ever. I saw them come out of the oven, and instead of being these moist delightful little rounds of joy, they were clumpy, little knobs of batter.

About an hour later, after I had eaten a few of my chunks, I realized my error. I had forgotten the baking power, baking soda and salt. All combined these three ingredients measured less that a tablespoon of powder. But that powder has all the punch.

Can you see where I am going?  You can have all the right ingredients — oatmeal, butter, brown sugar, egg — but if you don’t have the stuff that makes it all activate, you’ve got nothing. You can have CDs, podcasts, Bible studies, small groups — but if you don’t bring honest prayer and sincere worship into the presence of the Spirit, you don’t have the power to bring about life transformation.

Maybe, go back and check your recipe. Are you sure you’ve got all the ingredients?

Just Do It

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When I even mention the word “discipline,” every group I speak to outwardly groans. You should see the people squirm and watch their eyes roll. I get more reaction to this word than when I occasionally cuss. What’s up with that?

I think it’s because people equate discipline with failure. They put discipline in one of two boxes. It is either akin to the “punishment” they received as a child and have vowed to never repeat, or they liken it to New Year’s resolutions. And they are so sick of letting themselves down they forego both – resolutions and discipline.

Let’s do a little test. Do you regularly:

Brush your teeth
Bathe
Eat a meal
Wear deodorant
Eat dessert or chocolate or candy
Go to see friends
Sing (in the shower, car or to radio – they all count)
Wash your sinks, socks, or car

If you answered ‘yes’ then the next question is, why do you do that? I’m guessing you see some benefit, goal or payoff that matters to you. Bad breath is a very good reason to brush your teeth.  Good tooth health and a pearly smile are good reasons too. So teeth brushing is a “both/and” kind of action. You do it to get both the good and to prevent the bad. I ask this in such a simple way because you already know discipline. In fact you already DO discipline. You just need to broaden your perspective a bit especially as it comes to the spiritual life.

It is very important that you have a Biblical view of God’s discipline. God no longer punishes us for breaking the law. Christ did that for us on the cross. So when God disciplines, it is always and only for our good.  Discipline, in its truest form, is the actions and training that enable the very best to be revealed.

“Don’t look for shortcuts to God. The market is flooded with surefire, easygoing formulas for a successful life that can be practiced in your spare time. Don’t fall for that stuff, even though crowds of people do. The way to life—to God!—is vigorous and requires total attention.” Matthew 7:13-14 The Message

Love Like That

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This passage out of the Message has mesmerized me. So beautifully written but so profoundly teaching us how to love. Read it. Live it. Love Him as He loves us. Love them as He has loved us.

1-2Watch what God does, and then you do it, like children who learn proper behavior from their parents. Mostly what God does is love you. Keep company with him and learn a life of love. Observe how Christ loved us. His love was not cautious but extravagant. He didn’t love in order to get something from us but to give everything of himself to us. Love like that.

3-4Don’t allow love to turn into lust, setting off a downhill slide into sexual promiscuity, filthy practices, or bullying greed. Though some tongues just love the taste of gossip, those who follow Jesus have better uses for language than that. Don’t talk dirty or silly. That kind of talk doesn’t fit our style. Thanksgiving is our dialect.

5You can be sure that using people or religion or things just for what you can get out of them—the usual variations on idolatry—will get you nowhere, and certainly nowhere near the kingdom of Christ, the kingdom of God.

6-7Don’t let yourselves get taken in by religious smooth talk. God gets furious with people who are full of religious sales talk but want nothing to do with him. Don’t even hang around people like that.

8-10You groped your way through that murk once, but no longer. You’re out in the open now. The bright light of Christ makes your way plain. So no more stumbling around. Get on with it! The good, the right, the true—these are the actions appropriate for daylight hours. Figure out what will please Christ, and then do it.

11-16Don’t waste your time on useless work, mere busywork, the barren pursuits of darkness. Expose these things for the sham they are. It’s a scandal when people waste their lives on things they must do in the darkness where no one will see. Rip the cover off those frauds and see how attractive they look in the light of Christ.

Wake up from your sleep,
Climb out of your coffins;
Christ will show you the light!
So watch your step. Use your head. Make the most of every chance you get. These are desperate times!

17Don’t live carelessly, unthinkingly. Make sure you understand what the Master wants.

18-20Don’t drink too much wine. That cheapens your life. Drink the Spirit of God, huge draughts of him. Sing hymns instead of drinking songs! Sing songs from your heart to Christ. Sing praises over everything, any excuse for a song to God the Father in the name of our Master, Jesus Christ. Ephesians 5:1-20

Who’s Your Favorite?

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Early in the morning, during our family snuggles, Charis laid her head on my shoulder and asked, “Am I your favorite child?”

Just then the dogs came in and snuggle time turned into furry chaos but her question has echoed in my heart. I will be sure to answer her question after school, but it has raised some irritating thoughts. As a parent you have to carefully respond to such questions, so I would say, “Well, yes, you are my favorite. And so is your sister.”

But the question has also echoed in my spirit. As a child of God, I want to ask Him the same thing. I don’t doubt that His answer is “Yes, you are My favorite…” But He will also no doubt say, “but so are the other millions of kids I have.”

For me, that is kind of a downer. How about you?

If we are all favorites, all special, all chosen, then are any of us really valued?

Here is the ah-ha. I love each of my daughters 100%. I love them more deeply and intimately that I love— say, your daughters. I love my girls because they are mine. They come from me, they are a part of and reflection of me. I love them in completely different ways and for very different reasons because they are so opposite of each other. But I still love them 100%. Enough to die for them in fact.

In a very finite way, this is a shadow or dim picture of the lavish, outrageous, ever-flowing, abundant love of God who is Father, Son and Spirit. They don’t run out of love. They don’t have to ration their love between their children. They see us and know our unique, funny, quirky, beautiful selves. And They love just that about each one of us, because no one knows you like your Mama does, or your Daddy does. This Holy Family is 100% crazy about you.

Today, dwell on the fact that you are the “Favorite Child.” See if just that one fact doesn’t silence some of the striving, depression, and restlessness you battle.

Follow the Sun

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I have this way of doing life. It has its similarities and routines. I go through motions without even thinking sometimes. I can do my God life like that too. Do you know what I mean? Reading, listening, even praying in a kind of auto pilot sort of way? I can do life without absorbing the beauty around me.

This morning the Lord ever so sweetly turned my attention to Him. I was driving in my old familiar route doing errands and I kept noticing the sunrise. It was amazing with its pinks and purples. When I got back in my car to head home, the same way I always go, I kept getting this urge to look at the sky. As I was driving, I had this moment to choose to go home the same old way, or to go a different way and enjoy the sunrise. In a split second I chose the new way. When I pulled onto the interstate, the sun came up as a vibrant orange red ball on the horizon.

It was breathtakingly beautiful. Like out of body, awestruck, don’t know how to process this much beauty, kind of beautiful.

As I was soaking in the wonder, I heard, “Always follow the beauty of the Son.”

My prayer for you today is that God will show you the new choices you can make. And I pray that you will have the faith, courage, and desire to take new paths that will enable you to see the beauty of the Son. Amen.