women getting real

Living Colors

/ Jana / 1 Comment

Saturday was one of those “threatening to rain at any moment” days. And finally in the afternoon, the threat delivered. But the rain was hardly worth the fuss. A light shower followed by a glorious sky.  Still as I ran to the store, I threw up a prayer, “Lord, I know it is here somewhere. Where is the rainbow?”

I searched the clouds but found nothing. But just as I entered the store, I heard this small invitation, “Turn around.”  There it was. A full rainbow with even a double bow fading in and out. I just stood there. Watching. Worshiping. Enjoying.

Later that night, I was at a meeting and we did Revelation song by Kari Jobe. Her lyrics capture the power of the beauty of God.

Clothed in rainbows, of living color
Flashes of lightning, rolls of thunder
Blessing and honor, strength and glory and power be
to You the only wise King

Holy, Holy, Holy
Is the Lord God Almighty
Who was, and is, and is to come
With all creation I sing
Praise to the King of Kings
You are my everything
And I will adore You.

As I was singing this song, I saw the words, “living color.”  My spirit soared as I realized that is what a rainbow is — living color. More than light reflected on particles, it is the presence of God displayed in our midst. It is not only His promise of deliverance, but the very real evidence of His presence. If His throne is surrounded by rainbows, then is it possible that He is showing us in a fraction of a moment what is ours to experience now?  With even more yet to come…?

His living presence displayed in such beauty that it takes our breath away. And in watching some Youtubes of beautiful double rainbows, I saw for the first time, how they become “archways” like a great entrance into the most beautiful place of all…

Our spirit does indeed cry out:

Praise to the King of Kings
You are my everything
And I will adore You.

With Him, With His Daughters

/ Jana / 2 Comments

“I don’t want to go be with a bunch of women.”

Does this sound like your first reaction when considering going to women’s retreats?  Especially Christian women’s retreats? It was what I heard this morning from a friend when I asked her about the upcoming Yes and Amen Retreat. Sigh.  And you know what? I know how she feels. I used to feel the same way.

But God.

I wish I could somehow convey that this retreat is NOT like other retreats. Yes, there are women. Even Christian ones. But “we” are not the focus. He is. Our comparisons, our insecurities and very real needs are not the focus. He is.

Yes and Amen is a time to really sit and soak in the presence of God. And what happened last year was each individual woman heard from the Lord in a no-pressure, no-performance kind of way, and we all got swept up into a much bigger story than “woman drama.”  We all got a glimpse of His Very Great Story in each woman. It was breathtaking.

It was so very refreshing.

Are you stalling? Are you quitting before you even begin? Are you thinking you are beyond this—I don’t know— notion of needing a bigger picture of God in your own life? Maybe think again. Take small steps in faith. I promise, if you come, He will meet you there.

And we will all be better for the revelation of who He is in you.

But for the Joy. . . .

/ Jana / 3 Comments

The night before Easter, our family watched the movie “The Gospel of John.”  And as is often the case with God, we saw and heard nuances that we hadn’t seen before in the story.  Jesus was so emphatic about what He was going to do. He wanted His followers to be prepared, to believe, to keep on believing, no matter what happened.  And yet, though He knew the “rest of the story,” still He was in great anguish about what He must go through. What was His motivator? What kept Him going? Just obedience? I don’t think so.

Easter Sunday morning we were reminded about all that Jesus did for us. Suffered, sacrificed, raised from the dead.

It is truly an “unbelievable” story unless the Spirit breathes on a person so that they might see and believe and be saved. But here is the ah-ha moment:

“But for the joy set before him he endured the cross.” Hebrews 12:2.  The pastor passed over this verse but the Spirit connected that verse with scenes from the movie the night before. The joy. What joy? What joy could be so great that it could carry Him through His last hours on this planet?

Paying for the sins of the world? Yes, but there’s more.

Jesus was the only person on planet earth who knew what it was to be filled with the Spirit of God and to walk in complete connection with the Father. And He knew, if He endured the cross, that we would be able to experience what He already enjoyed all the time. Talk about a motivation.

His joy was completely based on the benefit for others. For me and you. He was willing to die purely for the purpose that we might have our true lives back with our Father.  Jesus said, “I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.” (John 15:11 ) But for the joy set before Him… He had a long view of the journey and His goal was the the blessing of others.

I don’t think I suffer very long or very often just so that others might come to fullness of life. How about you? But here is the hope. He did it. He went through it all and now we do have the Spirit. We do have fellowship with the Father, the Son and the Spirit. We are restored. We are children of God with His joy inside us. So let us run truly out of His joy for the benefit of others. Allow me to expand this beautiful passage…

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses,
       (People just like you and me who had to walk through hard life circumstances)
 let us throw off everything that hinders
       (So release the counterfeits and coping and quitting)
and the sin that so easily entangles.
       (and silence the enemy’s lies about being unloved and unworthy)
And let us run with perseverance
       (Everyday believe anew, try again without grumbling )
the race marked out for us,
       (the journey of living out His plans)
fixing our eyes on Jesus,
       (allowing Him to adjust our vision to see what He sees)
the pioneer and perfecter of faith.
       (He has done it, He is doing it, He will do it.)
For the joy set before him
       (With a heart full of confidence for our good)
he endured the cross,
       (he made the blood payment that settles every debt)
scorning its shame,
       (shutting up the accuser once and for all)
and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
       (He showed us our rightful inheritance.)
Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners,
       (The Spirit leads you through the maze of living)
so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.
       (so you can experience that He is everything you need for life and joy.)

Hebrews 12: 1-3 (expanded)

Blood for Life

/ Jana / 2 Comments

Have you ever noticed when God is talking to you that He brings the message to you again and again? God has been washing me with a truth as steady and relentless as the waves of the ocean rush upon the shore. Be careful that you don’t dismiss this. The blood of Christ is the only total and complete payment required for forgiveness. His blood payment has taken us from one place to another place, from death to life.

And because He did that, there is nothing I can do to get More forgiveness and nothing I can do to get Less forgiveness.  I know we all heard this upon salvation. But between God’s revelation in the Bible, recent songs, and this amazing book, The Naked Gospel, I am realizing I have been seduced by a partial gospel, even a false one.

Forgiveness ONLY comes by a blood payment. Only blood makes the way for payment of sin. So when I ask for forgiveness from others, am I offering to cut my skin so that blood drips out? When I demand or want others to seek forgiveness from me, do I really want them to rip their flesh to satisfy my offense? Heaven forbid.

And when we, in our half-gospel state, go to the Everlasting Father and “ask for forgiveness,” do we really want Jesus to go back on the cross and suffer for us yet again as if somehow His agony was not enough the first time? Was the blood payment made by Christ too impotent to pay for my sin, or your sin? Again, Heaven forbid.

So forgiveness is a done deal. It is THE blood payment that we stand on again and again for our own offenses and for the offenses of others. His blood paid for the sins of the world. There is truly that kind of power in the Blood.

But WHY did Jesus make this total and complete blood payment? What bill was He paying? He paid for our inability to keep the law — any part of the law — even the good parts we like to measure ourselves by.  Let me say that again: Jesus paid for the sin that came when we lived under the law. And now we no longer live under the law because He has fully paid for our inability to keep it AND He has ushered in a new system, a new covenant.

If there is now no law, something must have taken its place. Christ in you. Not in a religious way. Not in a philosophical way, but in a living, breathing way.  In the same way that we learn to bank our whole relationship on the blood of Christ, NOW we bank our whole living experience on the presence of the Spirit inside us. We once were dead. But now we live because His Holy Heartbeat is within us.

Does anyone else need to go run around the building naked and screaming???  I have lived too many years trying to keep some laws and being free from others. I have lived too many years trying to do the right thing according to someone else’s standard. And now with greater and greater intensity, I see that the Holy Spirit is leading my every step because His goal is to walk me into more and more freedom. Yes, I fail. Blood payment. Yes, I will sin. Blood payment. But I am no longer dead because of my sin. He has taken me from death to life, His life in me.

Let the word of God speak to  you:

He Tore Down the Wall
1-6It wasn’t so long ago that you were mired in that old stagnant life of sin. You let the world, which doesn’t know the first thing about living, tell you how to live. You filled your lungs with polluted unbelief, and then exhaled disobedience. We all did it, all of us doing what we felt like doing, when we felt like doing it, all of us in the same boat. It’s a wonder God didn’t lose his temper and do away with the whole lot of us. Instead, immense in mercy and with an incredible love, he embraced us. He took our sin-dead lives and made us alive in Christ. He did all this on his own, with no help from us! Then he picked us up and set us down in highest heaven in company with Jesus, our Messiah.7-10Now God has us where he wants us, with all the time in this world and the next to shower grace and kindness upon us in Christ Jesus. Saving is all his idea, and all his work. All we do is trust him enough to let him do it. It’s God’s gift from start to finish! We don’t play the major role. If we did, we’d probably go around bragging that we’d done the whole thing! No, we neither make nor save ourselves. God does both the making and saving. He creates each of us by Christ Jesus to join him in the work he does, the good work he has gotten ready for us to do, work we had better be doing. Ephesians 2, The Message.

Friends, there is more, so so much more. Listen to this song and Rejoice. We are free indeed.

Christ Has Risen

“And bled for us
Freely You’ve bled for us
Christ is risen from the dead
Trampling over death by death
Come awake, come awake
Come and rise up from the grave

Christ is risen from the dead
We are one with Him again
Come awake, come awake
Come and rise up from the grave”

Christ Has Risen, Matt Maher