Glory on the Horizon

/ Jana / 3 Comments

Dear Bog Family,

While the team and I are in Zimbabwe, I want to invite you to start asking the Lord about Glory.  His glory. Your glory. The glory that we pray will break out in Zimbabwe and cover us at home. 

We have a some fun postings set up for you and we’re  inviting you to dialog with each other on the site while I’m away.
Wonder what the Lord will stir up….?

For His glory,
 Jana

Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances. You will live in the land that I gave to your forefathers; so you will be My people, and I will be your God.

Ezekiel 36:25-28

Take this heart of stone and make it yours. It really was that simple. And that hard. To take something as hard as a stone, my heart, and turn it into a heart of flesh — beauty for ashes, as it were.

Dwell on that a minute. Ashes. Burned beyond recognition. Substance and form reduced to charred, grey dust. Now think of something beautiful coming out of an ash heap. Something wonderful, breath-taking, confounding— out of a pile of ashes.

Who can do that?

God can.

See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland. Isaiah 43:19 

Nothing thwarts the plans of God.

And what is His plan for us?

Beauty for ashes.

God uses many experiences, or tools, in life to persuade us to turn to Him. But often these “tools” look different from our expectations. We want blessing and favor. We want to be comfortable and safe. We want guarantees of success and privilege.

However.  This God is not concerned about comfort zones. He is zealous for glory, for righteousness, for holiness, for His image to be seen in His creations. (Isaiah 9: 6-7)

In our weaknesses, the grace of God blazes and His glory shines the brightest. Why?

Because any measure of self-sufficiency, self-worth and self-esteem has been burned up. Ashes. It leaves only His beauty to be adored.

What we call hard times, God calls release. Release from all that hinders us from being what He has created us to be. Christ in you the hope of glory. (Colossians 1:27)

It is the hope of God’s glory which fuels change. And this hope is based on the very great promises fulfilled in Christ. Christ is IN us. His glory IS IN us. Not by our doing but by God’s doing. There is an unveiling happening here. There is a transformation underway. There is an unleashing of glory on the horizon.

Unhindered.

Excerpts taken from Unhindered, Chapter 37

Let’s Get Real Here:

So as we explore glory, we look to the Creator to be our source, our motivation, our hope. And above all things, we look to Jesus to be the only one to define us. So who am I now and who are you? The Lord says we are beloved, crowned with glory and honor, sons and daughters of glory—His delight. Who do you say you are?

 

Zim Prayer: Arriving

/ Lyschel / Leave a comment

The Zim team will be arriving in Harare about 11:40 (5:40 am in Knoxville) and traveling on to the Lasting Impressions Camp where they will be for several days.  Pray for safe arrivals, and energy in spite of jet lag.  Also pray that the vehicle that was ordered will actually be available.

Don’t forget, today is Pentacost 2010! Pray that the Lord’s Sprit will pour out all over the place.

Godly Wisdom!

/ Jana / Leave a comment

Hey – I love how God connects the dots! Remember the other day when I talked about grieving for couples and people who need not more ammunition but Godly Wisdom?

Check this out:

17But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. 18Peacemakers who sow in peace raise a harvest of righteousness. James 3:17-18

I think this is a chapter of a book because you could break down each one of these characteristics and watch God download a a billion gig of information. Why don’t you do this in the meantime? 

Ask God to show you where you are, where you are stuck.  Are  your motives pure? Are you peace loving or demanding for self? Are you considering the needs of the other person? Are you going low or arrogant? Are you pouring out the same mercy you yourself have been given by God?

Check your fruit and your heart. All you have to do is look at your harvest to see what the reality is.  See when you sow in peace, you raise a harvest of Rightness with God and with others.  If things are not  right in your relationship with Him and others, then check your seed, your fruit. 

His wisdom that comes from heaven is all these things and more.  God is always working for our good. But guess what? He is also working for the good of the other person at the same time.

Seek His face and His ways. Seek to sow in peace so that you will raise a harvest of His way of doing life. 

“Bless You, Lord, that in all our stuck places You do not leave us to sort it out on our own. You truly give wisdom from heaven on our behalf.  Thank You, Lord, that You alone give us the desire and power to be peacemakers. Make peace in us, Lord, so that we have seed to sow. Amen”

Arise

/ Jana / Leave a comment

“Your life is an occasion. Rise to it.”

Yet another profound quote from Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium.

Your life is an occasion. A date worth celebrating. An event worth marking on the calendar. For sending invitations to. An occasion worthy of attention.

Rise in honor of the gift you have been given.
Rise to reach farther than you thought, or were told, you could.
Rise up with wings of eagles.
Rise with the same passion that brought God himself out of the grave.

There is a LIFE to be lived. Yours. His. The two of you together. Your life is an occasion. Rise to it.  Be sure that no one else will do it for you. No one can.

A Voice Calling Out  (Bethany Dillon)

I hear a voice calling out
I hear a voice in this wilderness
Where darkness has reigned for so long
Ground is being taken

The trumpet sounds
And Your glory touches the ground
And we all stand in awe
Who is this?
This glory far beyond us
I hear a voice

I hear a drum beating
Heaven’s drawing near
The sky will open
Your people are being healed
I hear a voice

[chorus:]
Heaven’s battle cry
Rise
See the sun light what was hidden
Heaven’s heart beat
See is moving
What was a whisper is now
A voice calling out

I see a generation rising up
No longer accepting lies
Running to the battlefield
And losing their lives

I see a generation rising up
No longer accepting lies
As a band of worshipers run to the battlefield
They’re finding their lives
I hear a voice

Dear Diary…

/ Jana / 2 Comments

Have you ever had the “song” thing happen?  Remember the high school or college romance when you had “Our Song”? Sigh. But the part that nobody ever told you about was that every time you heard the song from that  infatuated moment forward until you were wrinkled and gray you would think of that person, that time, that romance.

I don’t know about you, but these are not always happy memories for me. I don’t like being reminded of him, or us, or how much it hurt.

But God.

Last night, He showed me how He is the Redeemer of all things. Because last night, I was on this excellent date with Chuck, and over the speaker I hear this song. It was a song God had given me a year ago. I stopped mid-sentence to listen. And to remember. He reminded me of all that was going on during that time, and all that He had healed (obviously with Chuck and I being on an excellent date). But He also reminded me of the His love for me.

No one, no one, no one
Can get in the way of what I feel for you

Who knew? Who knew that Jesus remembered “Our Song”?  Or that when memories come back from this Love Affair they aren’t hurtful. But indescribable. Beautiful. Wonderful. A love affair that will never end.

I am beginning to see that Jesus likes to share His entries in His diary about me — with me. Love notes, whispers, songs, and dried leaf hearts. He is the pursuing Lover we have been looking for our whole lives . . . .

Listen. You will hear Him singing over you.

Holy Roar

/ Jana / 1 Comment

I have the privilege and honor of watching God rescue people. He rescues them from self hatred, God hatred, addictions, legalism, coping, numbness, unforgiveness, and shame. But He doesn’t just rescue them and set them on the shelf. He wakes them up, washes them off, and then gives them a voice. He restores their glory.

It is a truly beautiful transformation to watch. And sometimes it’s humorous even.  Think about how awkward a butterfly looks as she is trying to get out of a cocoon.  She comes out, butt first, wrangling and wrestling, trying get out of the shadowland she had lived in. But her steadfast goal is to emerge so she can dry her wings in the sun and then FLY!  Well, in the same way, some of the women I see are in the “awkward process.”

These are strong warrior women. The Spirit of God is strong on them and in them. They may be unconscious of their full potential yet. (Aren’t we all?) But they are beginning to step out and step up.  They are wrestling to test their new found strength and courage as they feast on the goodness of God.  But I laughed the other day and told Chuck that some of these dear ones are like fierce lions who charge up to you but when they open their mouths what comes out is a ferocious… “meeeeoooow.”  They are still finding their voice. Their God voice. Their ground shaking, tomb breaking God voice that makes the darkness tremble.

In due season. In due season these women’s voices will rise up and become a Holy Roar. Why does it matter? Because we have the power of Christ beating within these bags of bones. We have His voice and zeal to rescue the perishing, to bring the truths of God to a dying world, to rescue other bound and gagged souls. We must open our mouths and let His words wash over this world.

Here is what I got in my email this morning. One woman’s story out of millions of being sold into the sex trade. Any one else want to lean back their heads and let out a Holy Roar?

Claudia (Click the icon to flip the story pages.)

Great Minds: All You Need to Know

/ Jana / Leave a comment

I really enjoy the blogs from Seth Godin. He doesn’t take it all the way home for me sometimes. But I read his stuff and want to let out a Warrior Yell. Read this:

All you need to know…

is that it’s possible.

Mike sent me a great story about an ultra-lightweight backpacker:

“Wolf was carrying a super-small pack which weighed 14 pounds including food and water. When asked how he got his pack weight so low, Wolf would reply, ‘All you need to know is that it’s possible.'”

One of the under-reported stories of the internet is this: it constantly reports on what’s possible. Somewhere in the world, someone is doing something that you decided couldn’t be done. By calling your bluff and by pointing out the possibilities, this reporting of possibility changes everything.

You can view this as a horrible burden, one that raises the bar and eliminates any sinecure of comfort and hiding you can find, or you can embrace it as a chance to stretch.

Most organizations forget to ask the question in the first place.

What I mean by taking it all the way home is the God factor. All you need to know —is that it is possible. And that With God, All things are possible. What are you about? What you shooting for?  What are you letting stop you that others have pressed through? If they can, you can.  Yes and Amen!

Believing is Seeing

/ Jana / Leave a comment

Just got this blog post from my friend.  And I think it is really profound because I am myself amazed at the quitting, disbelief, and negativity all around. I am a Depression grandbaby.  My grandmother and parents lived through the Great Depression and I have learned much from their stories. They believed in a something greater than the moment. They believed in the human spirit to overcome.

Now that I am a Christian, I see there is something in us, the Spirit of God that helps us overcome. Read this and see where you are in it. Then ask the Lord: Help my unbelief.

…Writer Paul Miller describes cynicism as “the spirit of our age” and sees it as a natural reaction to baseless and naïve American optimism’s failure to survive life’s difficulties. Dreams based on people, money, our health, our work, our church or government ultimately disappointment us because they are all transient, flawed foundations for hope. As Miller says, “Weariness and fear leave us feeling overwhelmed, unable to move. Cynicism leaves us doubting, unable to dream. The combination shuts down our hearts, and we just show up for life, going through the motions.”

What’s the basis for a realistic optimism?

So, what’s the basis for a realistic optimism that won’t be undone by life’s difficulties? Ironically, we may need to look back to the past and ask how our predecessors were able to withstand far more harsh life events than ours and still remain steadfastly, if grimly, optimistic? The answer is their faith in something that they understood to be benevolent, unchanging and ultimately trustworthy.
 
I can hear some of you saying, ” He’s talking about God”, but even many of my religious friends appear to be captives of a nagging cynicism. I see people of all stripes finding themselves bereft of real hope. My friends who view God as nonexistent, my friends who view God as indifferent and uninvolved, my friends who are religious but functionally atheistic (God exists and cares, but I am ultimately the master of my own fate), and even my friends who are devoutly religious – all struggle with questions of whether anything in their lives will ultimately prove to be worth their trust and hope.

So, how do I maintain my optimism for my clients?

In a pivotal moment of the film, The Polar Express, the main character is told that contrary to the adage (and cynic’s creed) “seeing is believing”, one must first believe and then the evidence to support belief becomes quite clear, “believing is seeing”.  “Seeing is believing” requires evidence before trust – a typical cause and effect relationship, but “believing is seeing” says faith makes something non-linear happen because we place trust in something/someone not-of-this-world first.

Excerpts from Dr. Jim Bailey’s newsletter at Directions Consultation

Dominos: Better Than Lucky Charms

/ Jana / Leave a comment

Okay, you are not going to believe the Ah-Ha moment I just had.  I am laughing my head off. Yesterday my friend responded to my prayer request letter with a blog post about giving thanks. The author instructed us to thank the Lord for everything. Literally. Even the bad stuff and the hurting places. Even the “how is this going to work out” things.

Now. For the record, I know this already. I have taught this for Heaven’s sakes! But I was still running around like a chicken with my head cut off. (Have you ever really seen this? Not pretty.) Bear in mind, my frantic action is happening right after I have just had a session of prophetic prayer in which they said about me: You are striving. You are not resting. You think your way is better. You have a foundational trust issue with God.

Well then. So I sit down, and I, literally, thank the Lord for everything on my to do list. And the things on my mental freaking out list. One of my entries reads: Thank you for the questions about clothes, meds, and packing.” These are real needs. Real issues that have to be resolved before I leave in a week for Zim. I have been all over town trying to work these issues out. (Striving, not resting. Not trusting.)

Here is the Ah-ha. Yesterday afternoon, after I wrote this entry yesterday morning, I am at a meeting and my friend says, “Hey before I forget, do you need shorts or pants? I have a whole tub for you to go through.”

I couldn’t believe it. It is like they were custom purchased for me, although we have totally different body styles. So I am just thanking the Lord and going on my merry way. But then this morning, He draws my attention to thanks having a Domino effect.  Two people also called me yesterday about help with the meds I need to take with us. I have all the suitcases I need now. I have my pants! And on top of this, if this weren’t enough, I just heard the Lord tell me that I needed to take gifts for the women’s conference I am teaching. I tell our business manager, “I need money for some trip supplies.” And at the very same meeting, someone leans over and whispers, “Hey, I have a check for you, don’t let me forget to give it to you.”

Now if you are not already shaking your head like I am, here is the kicker.  Know what Domino means?

French, probably from Latin —in the ritual formula benedicamus Domino — let us bless the Lord.  A whole new concept of the Domino effect. We bless Him. He blesses us, we bless him.

Praise to the Lord, the Almighty, the King of Creation. O my Soul praise Him, for He is thy health and salvation. All ye who hear, now to His temple draw near, Praise Him in glad adoration. Hallelujah!