Category: God

Is It My Problem?

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forbes.com

As I am reading through the Old Testament I see that the prophets of old would repent for the people even when they themselves were walking in the ways of the Lord. I read about Moses who throws himself before the mercy of the Lord and begs for mercy for the people and tells the Lord that if he is going to kill the people then to kill him, Moses, as well. 

This past week there was an issue that was happening in our church that was waking me up at night. I was worried about the people who were being caught up and because I am female or maybe just because I am me, I was over-thinking the situation. I felt helpless. 

Then I remembered the prophets of the old testament and their love for God as well as their love for the people. They would repent to the Lord for other’s sin. So I began to pray on their behalf. Isn’t that what intercession is about? Sure, I could say it’s not my problem, but my prayer is that in those areas where I am weak there are people who are praying for me as well. 

Often, I think we come to the Lord with our personal petitions and the petitions of our family and close friends. We throw in some prayers for our internet friends and we move on about our day. Only our maturity in Christ should lead us to pray for the well being of our nation and the nations of our world. It should be prompting us to pray for injustice and also for mercy. I believe that often our own selfishness shines through in the moments of our daily prayer and we miss the opportunity to intercede.

I was reading in Jeremiah where at one point the Lord’s anger is so incensed upon his people that he says to Jeremiah;

Jeremiah 7:16 “Pray no more for these people, Jeremiah. Do not weep or pray for them, and don’t beg me to help them, for I will not listen to you. 17 Do you not see what they are doing throughout the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem?

I thought wow, first off, I never want to be “those people” with the Lord. There was something there that struck me as well. The fact that the relationship with Jeremiah and the Lord was so close that the Lord is venting to His friend about what is going on. Notice, that Jeremiah was pestering the Lord not for his own petition, but in the Lord’s own words, Jeremiah was weeping, praying, and begging the Lord to help them. Jeremiah was in good standing with God, yet he took on the problems of his people.

Let’s begin to take on the problems of our people. Not in a personal way as I sometimes do. Sometimes I try to go and fix problems that are none of my business in my own human understanding. Rather, let’s take on the problems in a way that beseeches the Lord for an answer. After all, if we are the body, the right response is not it’s not my problem but rather, I can take it to the Lord in prayer.

We Are Women

Greeting my uncle who is in his 80’s, we began talking and somewhere in our conversation I referred to myself as a girl. He scolded me saying, “I hate when women refer to themselves as girls. You go through so much to become a woman and then you refer to yourself as girl.” I laughed […]

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Gilbert Caraveo

Greeting my uncle who is in his 80’s, we began talking and somewhere in our conversation I referred to myself as a girl. He scolded me saying, “I hate when women refer to themselves as girls. You go through so much to become a woman and then you refer to yourself as girl.” I laughed and brushed it off in the moment but later I realized that he had a valid point. I’d been mulling it over off and on when I gathered with a group of women for tea yesterday.

I looked around the room. This tea brought 30 women together. We began to speak about the topic at hand that day which was the privilege of being adopted into the family of Christ and what responsibility that carried with it. The women began their stories slowly and softly as is always the case. They began to tell of where the Lord had brought them from and where they thought they were going. These were women who had earned the privilege of being called a WOMAN. Two hours later and a few cups of tea, there were women who were laughing, crying, comforting, counseling and you began to feel the camaraderie of women who had made their way through some STUFF! I realized I was in the company of some strong women, some women who had, as my uncle said, “gone through so much”.

The things that were discussed in that room, stay in that room. Suffice it say that there was breakthrough and prayer and that when women get together and pray SOMETHING HAPPENS. The next day at church, I saw a sparkle in the eyes of those who attended. I saw a look of acceptance and love and knowing, we had opened up our hearts to each other and the payoff was love. One thing I know about women is we can be each other’s biggest enemy but also each other’s biggest ally.

Although we may not have walked in the footsteps of the other, we had walked through things which had hurt us deeply and we had come through. We understood the pain, the trial of overcoming and the triumph. We also understand the gift our God has given us of redemption and restoration and future and a hope.

My uncle is right. We aren’t girls, we’ve come through a lot to be women. Now we need to own it.

Tomorrow is Already Finished In God’s Calendar

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ccfa.org

What’s worrying you this week? Finances? Relationship? Health?

I just want to encourage you to put on the mind of Christ and step into your place as a leader in the Kingdom. Leaders don’t panic when adversity hits them. Leaders plan and access and look for avenues to be victorious. You will come out of your circumstance if you are a child of the king. You are not a orphan living on the street. You are a child of God adopted into the kingdom and as such you have certain rights available to you. Begin to think as your Father thinks.

1 Corinthians 2:16 16 “For who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ.

Then remember that tomorrow is already finished in God’s Calendar and he says he has plans for you.

Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

Remind yourself of all the things that God has brought you through then resolve to stop worrying and live like a citizen of a kingdom who doesn’t conform to the world’s way of doing business but goes about the business of the King!

Adored

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It’s been really foggy here in the valley. I mean the kind of fog where you have almost no visibility at times. It’s in these moments when I remember that when I was a teen I said I would never live in the valley. Only my kids came along and suddenly my upbringing came into play. The thought of bringing up my kids in a big California city or  raising them in a small town in the valley loomed before me and I chose the small town in the valley.

There is something about not seeing the sun for days on end. It makes the time endless and mundane. Going to work in the fog and coming home in the fog gets old. Wednesday, just when it got to be too much to handle, my husband called a meeting. He decided we’d go to the coast to have a sand seminar. So off we went and 30 minutes later we were driving in full sunshine and 20 degrees warmer. We went to sit on the beach. The temperature was 74 degrees, the sun felt so necessary on my skin and our work still got done thanks to the modern technology of an ipad.

It is those little moments of a two hour break in the sunshine that makes me realize how adored we are by God. He really cares about the little things in my life and letting me have a little moment was so refreshing. Recognizing the blessing of a car, an ipad, a job where I can sneak off for a day, the sun, the warmth, the sand, the shore, my husband. I really have a great life. It’s those little things that make life worth living and in those moments where my selfish self doesn’t take the things that God has blessed us with for granted.

I have to say that I have a husband who adores me as well. The fact that he noticed I needed some sun and that he was able to move some meetings around to take me is pretty great. The fact that he sat quietly and didn’t complain when I brought my work with me wasn’t lost on me. He really is a great guy and he loves me. My heart is full!

Doing A New Thing

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wavemaker.com

Isaiah 43:18 “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. 19 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.

Just a quick blog today to point out that everything I read about this one true living God we serve is that nothing stays the same for any length of time. Things evolve, take shape, take new direction, find new avenues to work within. God is not the god of sameness. He is the God of intention and purpose and destiny and that all requires change and an ability to move forward.

So why then do we lament that the church is changing? Why do we cry out for the old music, the old preaching, the old ways of doing things? Could it be that we want to constrain the Constant Visionary King? Why do we admonish the younger generation for their jeans and their service when the Lord says he clearly doesn’t look at the outward appearance? Why do we insist on stifling creativity and movement? I’ll tell you what I think. We are hell bent on making exclusionary clubs for church people. I say hell bent because we will give an account for being comfortably apathetic within the four walls of the church and forgetting about the unsaved, or worse, leaving it up to someone else because we are too tired.

Wake up, lest you be left behind in your good ‘ol days mentality. God says remember where I brought you from and look to where I am taking you. That is the resounding message of the Bible.

Moms Against Hunger

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momsagainsthunger.org

This year I am determined to point those who read this blog to things they can do to make our world a better place. Here is a ministry called Moms Against Hunger that was started by my friend Dr. Gayla Holley. She is feeding, sending medical supplies, and helping mothers worldwide. Imagine you are a mother in a country such as Haiti, an earthquake happens and suddenly your home is gone, there is no running water, there are no diapers, there is no food to speak of. As a mother myself, my first impulse would be to care for my children by whatever means I had. Now a year later, that same mother has made no headway. She hears of rumors of millions of dollars coming into the country. She speaks to many who promise help but a year later she is still in the same position. What does she do?

She has to count on people like Dr. Gayla Holley who got her friends together and the local media of Houston, Texas and asked for help. She asked for a million baby wipes and got two million, she asked for bottled water, baby food, diapers, food bars, water filters all things a mother desperately needs.

Now imagine you’re an American who has lost their job and is in need of help. Government agencies don’t always move at the same rate our hunger pains do. What do you do when the local food bank is out of food? When you need some groceries to get you through a couple of weeks? What do you do when you need to get some warm clothes for your kids and you don’t have enough money to do so? You go see people like Dr. Gayla Holley, and her team and vouchers are provided so that you can go to the local thrift store and get some help with those things.

Don’t just take my word for it. Go see her blog and watch some of her videos. You’ll want to get involved and help her. I do!

Enlarge My Heart

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desicomments.com

During our prayer night, I read Psalm 119. While everyone around me was praying and Jesus Culture was playing on CD softly in the background, I was engrossed in this psalm. I was so impressed in my spirit over this verse:

32 I will run the course of Your commandments, For You shall enlarge my heart.

In a world where we focused on the prayer of Jabez to enlarge our territory and our prayers lean more towards enlarging our salary and enlarging our shoe collection, here in verse 32 we have a significant request.

What does it mean to enlarge my heart? I would think it would mean my heart would grow in love. That means both good and bad because although love is a good thing, it also means my hearts breaks over the things that break the heart of God. It means I don’t overlook things that are uncomfortable, it means I put my desires aside if there is a greater good to be served. It means I am reaching for people who are negative and frustrating. It means I don’t avoid things I don’t want to deal with but rather I do what is right.

Praying to enlarge my heart is a completely different prayer than enlarging my territory, yet, it encompasses the very same thing. For as I enlarge my heart and begin to reach out I will find myself in places I would never have gone. It’s a pretty powerful prayer. Then there’s the statement just before it that says, I will run the course of your commandments, I wonder if I am ready to pray it with any sincerity at all?

I wonder if I’m ready to love the alcoholic, the AIDS patient, the atheist, the person who hates me, myself, the Lord, you? I wonder if I am willing to put down my agendas and my visions, and this time, not excuse my behavior but really run the course of God’s commandments? Heck, sometimes I don’t want to run on the treadmill and fulfill my promise to myself, can I really run a course of commandments? One sentence can change my whole life. It can turn it upside down. Am I up for it? Are you? Maybe it’s time to try!

Acceptable Loss

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Matthew Fawcett, Dale Head Farm

John 21:15 After breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?” “Yes, Master, you know I love you.” Jesus said, “Feed my lambs.” 16 He then asked a second time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” “Yes, Master, you know I love you.” Jesus said, “Shepherd my sheep.” 17 Then he said it a third time: “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” Peter was upset that he asked for the third time, “Do you love me?” so he answered, “Master, you know everything there is to know. You’ve got to know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Feed my sheep.” -The Message

There is estimated over 6 billion people on the planet. Lately, as I watch the news and read reports I see abuses of many kinds, people being gunned down, bombs going off in war-torn countries, babies that have been abandoned, women working in sweat shops to feed their family, men being captured for ransom. In the latest shooting in Arizona, I rationalized and actually thanked God that only six people were killed when a man with an automatic weapon let loose on a crowd over politics. Then I caught myself. Were they saved? If this happened in my city, more than likely I would know one of the six people killed. Did I speak to them about Jesus? Did I do my part to make sure that they didn’t just die to earth but that lived on in eternity?

How many people can we lose in a crisis before it is too many? How many people lose their lives senselessly? And how many people are not dead physically but dead emotionally? Does the 10 year-old girl sold to slavery feel anything anymore? Does she still long for dolls or friends? Has she shut down or does she dream? What is my role in all of this? Is my demand for a $5.00 t-shirt create this environment?

And then the real questions come to mind. Am I doing all that I can do for these causes? Am I informed, am I unafraid to speak out, am I mindful of the orphan, the widow and the stranger? Do I care or do I just say I do?

As I sit here and write this post today, I am sitting under a blanket, as Clash Of The Titans plays on HBO and my dog is snuggled warming my feet. Do I realize the blessing or do I want and expect more?

This year I want to dedicate a part of this blog to speaking out about things going on in the world and how you can help. Today though I would like for you to stop putting off that conversation with that lost soul that the Lord has put on your heart. We have this thought that it’s just one soul in billions of soul but to God it’s the most important soul. Let it be so for us!