Author: Jana

Got Spurs?

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And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Hebrews 10:24
I love it when the Lord puts pieces together. I love it when He calls me, you, us, out of our complacency.  Look at what “spur” means:

  • incite or stimulate
  • goad: a verbalization that encourages you to attempt something
  • give heart or courage to
  • any sharply pointed projection
  • strike with a spur
  • goad with spurs; “the rider spurred his horse”
  • a sharp prod fixed to a rider’s heel and used to urge a horse onward

I was really hitting a wall last week. I kept saying I needed to hear from Him. And honestly, in retrospect, I am not sure I did.  I wanted to be coddled, and excused, and taken off the hook.  I wanted to sit and Do Nothing. I must have sounded to God like my kids do to me: “Do I HAVE to do this? This is SO hard.”

In true God fashion, with love and compassion, and a firm hand, He reminded me, “Yes, you do.” God used His Holy Spurs and goaded me on. He didn’t pat me and ignore the situation. He prodded with a Sharp object (ouch) and goaded me into the direction I was supposed to be going.

He did it like this. He showed His ability to change the circumstances in a moment. I had doubted his ability to provide. Again.
He reminded me of our long-term vision. I had forgotten.
He stressed the short window of time. I was procrastinating.
He told me He loved me. Again.

We dare not waste our lives. May God continue to spur us on and we in turn spur one another on toward His love and good deeds.

Worth Talking About

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Just to keep us connected, smile, I wanted you to know a few important things.

1) Today is Beth’s birthday. So please FB her or email her or pray a blessing over her as she is in Zimbabwe on her special day.

2) “Blended Families Conference” (www.cspc.net) is a phenomenal way to help heal the transition of two families becoming one. Don’t miss this!

3) Our classes are live each Tuesday night and we also offer daily texting. (To sign up, contact Laura Jones.) You can share/download audio files for free (for now!) and access past classes if you missed one.

I know, I know, most impressive. I promise you, it is my team that works the magic.

Okay have  a great day.  I have a “date” today with guess Who. So no time to write right now. Blessings.

Jana

Get Dressed

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Last night at WGR Weekly, we talked about the armor of God. For some of you, the Ephesians 6 passage is almost ho-hum. You have heard it a 1000 times. But do you actually wear it?

For some, you didn’t even know you had supernatural equipment. Here is the list:

Belt of Truth
Breastplate of Righteousness
Feet shod with the gospel of God
Shield of Faith
Helmet of Salvation
Sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God

I have itemized it for you on purpose. I want to you ask God to help you get dressed just like you do in the physical. Go down your own mental list in the natural: brush teeth, lotion, eye shadow, mascara, lipstick, deodorant, etc.

In the same way in the spiritual, “put on the full armor of God” so that you will be able to stand.

We keep talking about divine power. Let’s wear the divine equipment that goes along with the divine power.

Lord, give eyes to see and faith to believe that You are greater and more real than the world with see with our eyes. Help us simply to follow You and to wear the armor You Yourself have provided for us. Amen.

Divine Power

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Sometimes I get twisted about the things of God. I see so much mayhem and dysfunction. I hear stories that make you want to weep. Not stories of “people out there,” but stories of people sitting in my living room, across from me at coffee. I experience in my own life, and see in others’ lives, circumstances that don’t add up. We are not the pagans, but still life feels confounding, complex, and often painful. Our stories simply defy gravity.

In these twisted moments, I wonder where is the reality of God? The prophet Isaiah declared that His “arm is not too short to save,” (Is. 59:1). So where then is the saving?

Do you really believe that God will save you in your circumstances, from your circumstances, through your circumstances? Do you? Really?

I don’t want to diminish the pinch of this question with Christian Band Aids. God does not mind our inquiries, nor does He need us to defend Him. His reputation is secure. Instead, it is what we believe about His reputation that is at stake.

Two thoughts here.

First, I have been asking the Lord for more of the supernatural. More of Him. If He is who He says He is, then I want the “divine power that has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and goodness.” (2 Peter 1:3)

I don’t want to memorize it. I want to live it.

Second, the place I go to in the “twisted moments” is to reflect on the wonders of God. King David said, “I will meditate on Your wonderful works,” (Psalm 145:5). It is hard to have a God box and then say His arm is too short to save.

Today, ask for divine power. Today, meditate on His persistent, loving work in your life. Today, declare to your own heart, and to the hearts of others, ‘His arm is not too short to save.’

Father, Son and Spirit, we submit our understanding to You. We declare that we trust Your heart, Your way, Your sovereignty and Your tender embrace.  Amen.

On My Mirror

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Here’s the verse I have written on my mirror:

“His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and goodness.” 2 Peter 1:3

More to come….

Rain on Us

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It rained really hard in the middle of the night.  It woke me up of out a dead sleep and I remember rolling over and praying, “Rain on us, Lord. Water Your land and wash Your people.”

Today I heard the song “Barren Land” by Shane and Shane. One of my favorites. Its summary message is we can do all kinds of tilling the soil and planting the seeds, but if God doesn’t rain on us – on His land – on the seed we’ve sown, nothing will happen.

Nothing.

Thus said, I can’t believe all that God is planting these days. There are three books being flushed out and edited and refined. And a new worship CD with a shocking cover. (Heh heh heh.)

And I wondered. Will you pray for rain with me? Will you pray that God pours out all the help, all the funds, all the prayers and time it will take to bring a beautiful harvest?

Lord, You are the father of the rain. Please pour down on me and those who help me so that we might produce a harvest to feed many.  Do what only You can do. Come and fill everything in every way. Amen

Let the Redeemed Say So

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Somebody challenged me the other day, If God is so good, and so powerful, then why do Christians sound so miserable?”

Ouch.

I had to think about it. I mean, really. And you know, a lot of Christian music IS often about lost people getting saved, desperate cries of “God are You there?” and pleas of “Help me-help me-help me.”  No offense intended. And yet. . . where are the testimonies of healing? Provision? Comfort and wisdom? Not just salvation, but everyday intervention in our lives?

Is God living and active in our lives or not? Do we see Him, acknowledge Him, give Him the credit He deserves?

Graham Cooke made this great distinction in his sermon “God is the Kindest Person I Have Ever Met.” He said that who we were Before we met God was our History. But who we are Now and what God has done in our lives Since we met is our Testimony.

And since you know how I love definitions: Testimony is defined as evidence or witness. And blow my hair back, look at what it used as examples of testimonies:

  1. a.) the tablets inscribed with the Mosaic law, the ark containing the tablets, b.) a divine decree attested in the Scriptures
  2. a.) the firsthand authentication of a fact, b.) an outward sign, c.) a solem declaration made under oath
  3. a.) an open acknowledgement, b.) a public profession of a religious experience

Can I get a Yes and Amen?!! A Holy Wow?

Jesus said, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”  Acts 1:8

Lord, give us eyes, ears, and Mouths to be receive Your power and be Your witnesses of your goodness even in the middle of our circumstances.
Amen.

When We Get Sick…

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Okay here is a real stretch.  Does God know what it is like to not know what to do? Does he know the feeling of being at the end of His rope? Does He even have a rope?

I would say in the Doctrine World the answer to all of these questions is  a resounding “no.”

But when you have been up for two nights, your youngest has been crooping for three weeks, your husband has been in bed for two days, your oldest is home from school too with first stages of the same crud, your dog is yipping outside the door and you are cramping like crazy from PMS, it really helps to know that God understands.

Really understands.

I was laying on the couch in those first waking moments thinking, “God how am I going to do this today?” And Charis came and snuggled with me on the couch.

“Like this.”  I felt Him whisper in my heart.

Just let Him hold you today. Somehow, no matter how bad it gets, it always feels better when you’re in Their Arms.

As a mother comforts her child, so will I comfort you…” Isaiah 66:13

Lord thank you that You are what’s at the end of my rope. Amen

Face Toward the Sun

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Did you know that sunflowers follow the sun all day long? Their faces follow the pattern of the sun across the sky. If you have seen a field of them, like the one on highway 321 in Friendsville, it looks like the sun has dripped across the field leaving little puddles of sunlight on stalks.

What I love is the notion of faces turned toward the sun. Wherever the sun goes, the plant, without mind, heart or soul, follows. The flower knows the sun is where the nourishment is. The life. And it reflects the golden life so, so well. Then oddly enough, when the seeds are ripening, the sunflower faces only east to protect the seeds from scalding.

If that is not enough, the center of the flowers form circles. Like a crown.

Wonder what God is saying through this simple act of nature?  Follow. Reflect. Glory displayed.

Father, I think You are so smart and so beautiful in how nature teaches us about You. Teach us to look and listen. Warm our hearts and minds, that we would follow You and find life. Amen.