Author: Jana

Listen for Your Love Story

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I am prepping for a retreat today. But I am really just looking for an excuse to have Laura Jones share her love story.  It is a doozy.  What I love about it is she was introduced to the notion of God giving her a new name and she ran with it.  Or maybe she Ran To Him.  So when He started with those “gentle whispers,” her heart was ready and oh so willing to believe and receive.

Be on the look out this weekend for your own love story.  Where do you think Romance came from anyway? Jesus is the Lover of our souls.  Enjoy! ~ Jana

Sparkle

by Laura Jones

“I will also give him a white stone with a new name written on it, known only to him who receives it.” ~ Revelation 2:17” (For more on God giving special names, read this.)

Okay, God’s gushing on me.  I have a new pet name from Jesus! It’s “Sparkle.”

I was looking at my Christmas ornament Mom got me – a seashell with all kinds of glitter on it (because of the way God had spoken to me with the sea shells I found at the beach this summer).

“I love that my shell sparkles, Lord,” I smiled as I admired my shell.

“Like you.”

Then I remembered that my dress He provided for my birthday party (celebrating new beginnings) has sparkles all over it, too. I had asked Him for a gorgeous dress in a size 10 that was under $50. This one was $32! I was surprised at the time that I liked it.

I generally hate things that are too glitzy – I feel like they are fake, over the top, draw too much attention, are cheap looking.  Aren’t lady like. Too out there.  (Is this sounding familiar yet? Those are all the fears I have about being myself. Will I be too over the top, draw too much attention… do I have anything real worth paying attention to anyway?)

He’s telling me I sparkle. Really. And it’s okay.

“Sparkle.  Is that my name? Is the word ‘sparkle’ even in the Bible?”

So I looked on Biblegateway.com.  Get this:

“The LORD their God will save them on that day as the flock of his people. They will sparkle in his land like jewels in a crown.”  Zachariah 9:16

Isn’t it just like the Lord?  I’ve known for a long time that “Laura” means “crown.” So where “Crown” is my name, “Sparkle” really is my pet name!

And get this: something can only sparkle in the presence of LIGHT (Him).  AND the more facets there are (the more there are different sides of me), the more the sparkle. Isn’t God awesome!?

What Are You Doing Here?

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Elijah travels for forty days and forty nights to The Cave and greater revelation of God. And as is God’s way, He begins the revelation with a question.

“And the word of the LORD came to him: ‘What are you doing here, Elijah?’ ”

In this moment of truth, Elijah does a very noble thing. He is honest before the Lord. Elijah just lays it out the way he perceives it. “Okay God,” he says, “here is the way I see it. It ain’t pretty. And it’s gonna get worse. And to beat it all, I am the only one left and even I am a marked man.”  (Paraphrased of course.)

Have you ever been asked, “What do you want?”  I have and it about took my head off. One question tore down all the tasks and oughts and shoulds and left me with, “Wow, I don’t know; what can I have?” This is an explosive invitation to Elijah and to us. When God asks you a question, He already knows the answer. He wants to know if you know the answer.  And after Elijah’s short sighted answer, the Lord does for him what He does when all of His children are scared: He reminds Elijah of His power and strength.

The LORD said,

Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the LORD, for the LORD is about to pass by.

Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the LORD,

But the LORD was not in the wind.

After the wind there was an earthquake,

but the LORD was not in the earthquake.

After the earthquake came a fire,

but the LORD was not in the fire.

And after the fire came a gentle whisper.

When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave. Then a voice said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”

This whole passage is packed.  Look at where it says, “in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.”  See the two expressions of the Lord? This is our Father’s world. Every bit of it. His presence fills everywhere, all the time. Dallas Willard calls it a “God-bathed world.” So we don’t have to fear Him not being near. He truly did come to live with us, Immanuel. And in addition to His presence, there is greater revelation of the Lord Himself. He passes by Elijah. He walks with us.  He talks with us. He LISTENS to us. He protects and encourages us.

He dwells right where we are. Only He is not us. His wind tears down our protective walls. His earthquake shakes the foundations that we stand on. His fire burns up anything but the sheer weight and tenderness of His presence. Powerful, but merciful.

And again comes the question that already has an answer.  If I fault Elijah at all, it is that he said the same thing twice. Did he miss it? Did he miss God’s beautiful demonstration in answer to his very lament? With such a display of tender strength, what or who could come against this Living God?  Elijah could never be more safe than in the presence of God. Perhaps that is why on a different day, but a similar inquiry, Job exclaimed, “My ears had heard of you, but now my eyes have seen you.” Job 42:5

Seek the face of God. Even in then caves.  Ask for eyes to see the goodness and greatness of our God. And ears to hear His very present gentle whisper.

Who’s Running On Empty?

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So we’ve talked about Elijah’s journey through the draught, the brook, the widow and the showdown with the false prohets.The rain has begun again and there are posters all over town that Jezebel is going to kill Elijah. Better than any reality TV.  And even after all this God movement, Elijah is scared and pooped.

Is that okay?  I mean do you ever feel like it is Un-Christian to be afraid and need a break?  I talk to a lot of people, including myself, who have this spiritual notion that if you are “rightly filled with God” you will never get scared or weary.  Or if you do, you’d better not admit it. Lord knows, there are plenty of scriptures that charge us to “press on” no matter what. Here are a few:

“But those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.” Isaiah 40:31

“Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.” Galations 6:9

“But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize….”Phillipians 3:13-14

These are all 100% true. And on the right day  these verses really strengthen me (and you).  But our fear and fatigue is 100% true too. And on the wrong day, these verses just make us feel more afraid, tired and alone. However, if we look at Elijah’s story a little bit differently, we might see God a little differently too. Much writing on this part of Elijah’s story focuses on Elijah.  We despise his weakness. Maybe because it reveals our own.

But like most of the Bible, this story is not about the frail human, but the loving God who reached down and comforted His son. Go back and look at the passage again:

All at once an angel touched him and said, “Get up and eat.” 6 He looked around, and there by his head was a cake of bread baked over hot coals, and a jar of water. He ate and drank and then lay down again. 7 The angel of the LORD came back a second time and touched him and said, “Get up and eat, for the journey is too much for you.” 8 So he got up and ate and drank. Strengthened by that food, he traveled forty days and forty nights until he reached Horeb, the mountain of God. 9 There he went into a cave and spent the night.  1 Kings 19: 5-7

Why did God do that?

The angel touched him. He “came back a second time.” He fed Elijah. He gave him water to drink. He let Elijah sleep. He woke him up. Picture a mother or father standing over the bed of sick child. Watching, waiting, hoping praying for restoration. Again, why did God do that?

I don’t think for one minute that God was disappointed in Elijah. I don’t think He scorned or rebuked him. For sure I don’t think He despised Elijah’s fear or weakness.  That is what we do, perhaps. But that is not what God does. He comforted, supplied and strengthened His child. This is a loving compassionate interchange. God is so pleased to dwell among weak, broken people like Elijah, like us. And where was all this effort leading Elijah? To the mountain of God.

Where are you freaking out? What has got you running blind with fear? What has you so despondent that you would rather die than press on?  Then purposefully take a rest. Take a nap, a walk, a breather. Take a time out and let God feed and refresh you. Let Him remind you that He is right with you in the middle of the mess. And He alone knows where you are really headed — the mountain of God.

Psalm 65

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This Psalm came to heart for us today… Soak in it.

Psalm 65

For the director of music. A psalm of David. A song.

1 Praise awaits you, O God, in Zion;

to you our vows will be fulfilled.

2 O you who hear prayer,
to you all men will come.

3 When we were overwhelmed by sins,
you forgave our transgressions.

4 Blessed are those you choose
and bring near to live in your courts!
We are filled with the good things of your house,
of your holy temple.

5 You answer us with awesome deeds of righteousness,
O God our Savior,
the hope of all the ends of the earth
and of the farthest seas,

6 who formed the mountains by your power,
having armed yourself with strength,

7 who stilled the roaring of the seas,
the roaring of their waves,
and the turmoil of the nations.

8 Those living far away fear your wonders;
where morning dawns and evening fades
you call forth songs of joy.

9 You care for the land and water it;
you enrich it abundantly.
The streams of God are filled with water
to provide the people with grain,
for so you have ordained it.

10 You drench its furrows
and level its ridges;
you soften it with showers
and bless its crops.

11 You crown the year with your bounty,
and your carts overflow with abundance.

12 The grasslands of the desert overflow;
the hills are clothed with gladness.

13 The meadows are covered with flocks
and the valleys are mantled with grain;
they shout for joy and sing.


A Little More Elijah: The Showdown

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I have a couple of more thoughts about Elijah.  Hopefully they will hit you like they hit me. There are four parts to his story that sound a lot like yours and mine. I call them: The Showdown, Running on Empty, The Cave, The Helper. We’ll be looking at these over the next few days.

Last week we talked about God teaching Elijah (and us) to focus on His daily care and provision. And we noted that the private encounters with God prepare, equip, and deposit truth BEFORE the public encounters. We often get that out of order. We go out into the world and ask questions: How am I doing? Does anyone like me? Am I succeeding?

But those questions for Elijah were answered before he went out. At the brook it was just Elijah and God. Then it was Elijah at the widow’s home. Then it was the showdown of taking on the 400 prophets serving Baal.   Elijah may have been scared, but he moved in the power of the Spirit – in the faith that God had poured in, refined and tested in much quieter settings.

I know that God is up to something big when He hems me in for sitting, resting, hearing. I know that He wants me to “get” something about Him.  He wants me to discover a facet of Him I didn’t know before. But as we go to new places, He always reviews core issues.  He alone is God, He alone is truth. I can do nothing apart from Him.  And my heart must be connected to His heart before I DO one thing.  They don’t call him a “jealous God” for nothing.

God knows how to keep the main thing, the main thing.  And it ain’t working for Him. It is loving Him and being loved by Him.

Have you got a showdown coming?  Then get quiet. Allow God to speak His truth over you and in you. Let Him remind you that whomever, whatever you’re facing, that Thing has to face You and God as a team. Wow. Talk about offense.

Here is another thing about Elijah’s Showdown.  The prophets and Elijah were to both build an altar and sacrifice a bull. They were to call on their respective god, Baal or Jehovah.  And the god that answered by fire was the one true living God.

The prophets of Baal shouted and danced around for hours. Then they began to slash their bodies so that blood flowed. To no avail. Don’t miss this picture.  You can shed your own blood before a deaf and mute god (read: addiction, habit, fear, false god) but nothing will change.  Nothing will burn up that offering.

Or you can follow Elijah. Elijah poured water, and more water on the altar. Twelve jars of water. One for each tribe. Elijah stacked the deck and made it so clear that God and only God could receive any glory for the fire. But I also love the picture of “washing.”  The way we enter into the power of God is not by our own fleshly expressions of sacrifice. We enter by letting God wash us.

Our false gods (addictions, past, fears, etc.) will demand more and more of our very lives, our blood, but they have no power. We need the water and fire to be in the presence of the living God. And why did Elijah ask God to show up in this crazy way?  “Answer me, O Lord answer me, so these people will know that you, O Lord, are God, and that you are turning their hearts back again.” Not your effort, but His effort to restore, heal and renew.

May the Lord speak truth in your secret places today. May He wash you. And may He pour down fire from heaven for His glory and your faith.

Yes! And Amen!

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“For all the promises of God in Him are Yes, and in Him Amen, to the glory of God through us.”
2 Corinthians 1:20 New King James Version

Been thinking all day about God being a dreamer. And there is an old saying, “Are you a dreamer or a doer?” And when I think about God, the answer is “Yes.”

He is both. Why would He do that?  Because He is both love and power. Truth IN action.  Here is another sage comment: Lovers do what dreamers only dream about.  Is God a lover or a dreamer? Again, He is “yes and amen.”

If you think for one minute that God is unable, that means He is weak.
If you think He is unwilling, that means He is mean, harsh or not good.
If you think He is not loving, well, then you have a false god. In Christ, we have all of God. All of Him. He has NOT given us a spirit of fear, but He HAS given us a spirit of power, love and self control.  Not we go buy it. We have it.

Just because you don’t get your way, when you want it, how you want it, doesn’t reflect on God’s character. It does however, reflect on yours.

Reflect. Odd choice of word there. Reflect means:

To manifest or bring back;
To chew over: reflect deeply on a subject
To be bright by reflecting or casting light
To show an image of
To give evidence of a certain behavior

I don’t say this to create false guilt or condemnation, but to prompt us to look at what we’re reflecting. Lack of confidence in God only “reflects” the enemy, but there is a power released in us when we focus on the face of God.  What we look at, we reflect. Attention amplifies everything.  If you focus on the past, your weaknesses, then that is all your will see in your present and future. If you focus on the sin of others, that is what you will surely see.

But if you look at the heart of God, if you “See” with your spirit His goodness, His smart way of doing things—even when that causes you pain—you find that over time your character is changed into His image.  You reflect Him because you are sitting in His light. The only way to bring your world into this Reality, is to Be with a Person.

Just think of the possibilities…If God is a lover and a dreamer, if He is all good and all powerful, who can stand against Him? Think of your biggest fear.  Now lay it (him, her, them) down at the feet of this Beautiful, Grace Giving God.  How does the fear stack up?

James 4 says, “You have not because because you ask not. And when you ask, you ask with wrong motives.” Wow, maybe that is the source of our messes.  We want a magic genie, not a Holy, Transforming, Sovereign Lord.

When I surrender my control, my heart softens so that I can believe God is good and He is good for Me, regardless of the circumstances. Then, over time, I can ask with better motives. Instead of bless me, fix me, fix them, my prayers become “I trust You to take care of me, and I ask for Your best.”

“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.” Hebrew 4:16

All of His promises in Christ are Yes and Amen.

Dare to Dream

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If you think about it, God is the most creative, audacious, out there, fearless dreamer around.

Sound crazy? Then you need to get back in your Bible. You need to check out the headlines. You need to let yourself be awed by nature.

But wait, wait. The Bible is old and irrelevant. The headlines are full of mayhem and horror. And nature is on an auto pilot course to destruction.

Maybe. But maybe not.

A dream is a strongly desired goal or ambition. And the thing that most often keeps us from 1) acknowledging our dreams and 2) pursuing them is fear of failure. We have fallen flat one too many times, or had our hands smacked for asking. Somewhere in the living in this world of real life, we have lost connection with our True Life. We have lost permission to know who we really are and what we were really created to do— to achieve, accompish, enjoy, dream.

But if we, in our fallen state, have dreams, or wish we could, then where did we get that? I believe that every aspect of our make up is from God, is in His image. I believe that God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit have dreams and desires that They are presently working on.

If God dreams, and I assert that He does, then this opens up a can of heavenly whoopla. This stupifies our frail imaginations because we dream with an excuse in each pocket. We need some card to pull out so we can justify why our dreams drizzled. Not so with God. There is no fear big enough to cause Him to stumble.  In fact, His perfect loves drives out, casts out, mutes and silences fear.  And since God does not fear and cannot fear, what can thwart His dreams?

You ready? Ask Him what He dreams for you. And then instead of clinging to your shabby little piece of paper with your weaknesses scribbled out and your history of past failures itemized, grab on to His résumé of mind boggling achievements.  Past and Present, Now and Then.  Was, Is, and Will Be.

I mean really. If nothing and no one can stop His Son from the cross and resurrection, what can stop Him in us doing what He calls forth?

Amen and Amen.

Elijah – Take 3

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I heard a phrase a long time ago that God brings back to mind often: “When you don’t know what to do, you worship.”

This is the essence of Elijah’s next adventure with God.  Elijah called for no rain which produces a draught. God provided for him in the middle of the draught through a remote brook and food from ravens every day. But the brook dried up. So God moved Elijah along on THEIR adventure together. He told Elijah to go to a widow’s home. But when he got there, the woman was preparing her last meal.  She and her son only had enough food for one last meal then they would die from starvation because of the draught.

(Talk about economic distress?  God has been rescuing people long before today’s health care mess….)

But Elijah called to the woman and told her to bake a cake for him first and to trust God because God was going to give her oil and flour every day until the draught ended.

Have you been there?  Totally on empty and someone asks you for a ride?  Or trying to scrape things out of the cabinet and someone says they are coming over for dinner? Maybe you are freaking out on how to pay one bill, and you get three more in the mail. Or maybe it’s not money related, but you are already dirt tired, and someone calls in crisis.

For me, God takes me to the very end of my resources, knowledge and strength and says, “Now Jana, let’s begin.” Begin?  I feel more like the widow who is ready to lay down and die for lack of expectation that things will change. But oh the beauty of God!  It is at the end of me, you, us, that He begins.

The widow had to believe that God was going to show up tomorrow when the cupboards were bare today. Don’t miss the day to day provision of the Lord in the story of Elijah. He depended and trusted and thanked God each day for the raven’s meals. Then he and the widow thanked God each day for the flour and oil. Belief in the little so you can learn to believe in the greater.

Jesus said in Luke 16 that “whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much.”  This applies to money, faith, healing, the spirit, all of the God life. Are you trusting in the little for when you need to trust much?

After some time, the widow’s son died. More than daily bread now, they needed resurrection power. And Elijah and the widow saw God’s power poured out as God raised the son back to life. They went from little to much. Belief in the little, trusted with little so they could learn to believe in the greater, trusted with much.

My last thought for today is this:  Are you more like the widow? Or Elijah? Where are you starting from — ready to quit or steadfast expectation?

The good news is, they both grew to believe God in all His goodness. They both learned to worship first before they received. They praised God regardless of the circumstances and saw Him move in their midst.

“Oh, worship the King, all glorious above.
Oh, gratefully sing His power and His love;
Our shield and defender, the Ancient of Days,
Pavilioned in splendor and girded with praise.”

Elijah – Take 2

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So yesterday we talked about God feeding Elijah morning and evening through the ravens.  A sweet time of rest, trust building, reflection. Perhaps. Or maybe it was a time of wrestling, arguing and doubting, waiting for God’s goodness to run out.  Sound familiar?

Guess what happened? The brook dried up.

I love it when God brings us to these pivotal moments.  The “Now what?” moments. The OMG, freakout moments. It is almost as if we think that God  left the cosmos or something. Like He went off line or went to sleep.

For Elijah it was the brook drying up. For me it was the missed deadline for a deposit for Zimbabwe. Same reality: helpless to provide for  myself. Same question: “God, You gonna take care of me?” But the good news is: it is the same God. “Then the word of the LORD came to him: ‘Go at once to Zarephath of Sidon and stay there. I have commanded a widow in that place to supply you with food.'” 1 Kings 17: 8-9.

The King James Version says: “Arise.” I love that. Get up and get going.  God is on the move.

It reminds me of the Narnia stories when they would say, “We hear Aslan is on the move.”  They didn’t know what that meant, or how Aslan would change the circumstance.  But they were strengthened because they remembered that Aslan was the great high king over all Narnia.  And everyone knew he had the power to do anything. Everything. Everyone knew he might not be a tame lion, but he was good.

So it is with God. He has a wild story that He is constantly telling.  Our lives are the plots and twists, the reckless romance, the good vs. evil story played out by this great, untamed God. And what does He ask of us?

Belief.

“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

And what do we believe in?  The power and goodness of God. “He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.”  Colosians 1: 7

Finally, we believe in the Who of God. We trust that He empowers our cries, prayers, and praise. His Spirit is actively changing the world, and our hearts.

“Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective. Elijah was a man just like us. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years. Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops.”  James 5:16-18

Pray for rain; pray for God to heal and feed you. Praise Him for all things: ravens, dried up brooks, and widows. Pray and believe.

Between Morning and Evening

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The Lord has me sitting in the story of Elijah lately. I must be a slow learner because it seems like we have been here a while. But I confess, the longer I sit in these couple of chapters, 1 Kings 17- 19, the more I see of God, and the more I see of me.

What I like about Elijah is his utterly honest humanity. He walked with God when things were really, really bad; when it didn’t look like things would be improving soon. But still he depended on God. And he trusted God to not only understand his weaknesses but to CARE about them.  This strengthens me. When all the wheels start coming off my life, it refreshes me to have a God that won’t despise my weaknesses but help me in them.

Look at Elijah as a flesh and blood example.  He had just declared to Ahab, one of Israel’s most wicked kings, that “as the Lord lives, the God of Israel lives,” there would be no rain or even dew until Elijah says so. Talk about gumption. That is serious confidence in God. Elijah’s whole accusation against Ahab was that the king had turned to false idols and led the nation away also. Elijah was constantly pointing back to the clear evidence God was alive and well and willing to be their Loving God.

Now look what follows. God sent Elijah to a remote place where there was a brook and told Elijah that He had commanded the ravens to provide for him there.  Draught on the land, provision for you. All through the Bible you see how God protects and provides for his own regardless of what is happening all around.

In this quiet place, equipped with fresh water, God sent ravens every morning and evening with meat and bread to feed Elijah.

This weekend in my own head, when the giants seem too big, the desert too hot, the needs too great, the bills too many — this weekend I was struck by the time between morning and evening for Elijah. Did he ever question that the ravens would come? Was he ever surprised day after day?  Why didn’t the Lord just give him a small oven and flour?  What was the Lord teaching Elijah (and us) in the space between meals?

Before every great battle and public encounter, there is a private battle and spiritual encounter. I think God used this time to teach Elijah that he could not take care of himself. Elijah had to look to God to provide, even for the food in his mouth. I think God was teaching Elijah how to faith in the space between meals. I think God was teaching Elijah how to Receive from His hand, in whatever way, by whatever means the Lord decided was best for Elijah. Even when that way was ravens. I think God was preparing Elijah in the quiet space for the battle that was on its way.

I am not going to rush through this story. But for today, I wonder, are you looking for the ravens? Are you receiving what the Lord is sending for your good?  Are you waiting by the brook for your God or are you bustling about trying to feed yourself?   “He leads me beside still waters, He restores my soul.”