Category: Jesus

Hitting The Wall

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Luke 5:16 As often as possible Jesus withdrew to out-of-the-way places for prayer.

While listening to the radio the other day on my drive to work, a runner was describing his ability to run 30 miles a day without hitting the wall. Hitting the wall is a term runners use to describe what happens when they are running and suddenly they feel extreme fatigue and loss of energy.

He went on to describe that endurance runners, those who run long distances even cross country, know that slow and steady are the keys to avoiding hitting the wall. He said there was a formula to endurance and that was to run and recover, run and recover, run and recover.

I began to think of ministry and how often we run but don’t recover and we end up hitting the wall. Jesus seemed to understand that the demands on his life required him to run and recover often. Over and over again in Scripture, Jesus heals, meets needs, preaches, teaches and then goes off to recover. Sometimes he takes his disciples with him. Other times he goes off alone but always he is running and recovering and endurance doesn’t seem to be a problem.

How often do you get away to pray alone? Do you make time and have a place in your life where the cell phone and the demands of daily life get left behind and the only thing that goes with you is a desire to pray and hear from God? Are you like some who are hitting the wall and wondering why you aren’t fulfilled in your calling and why you can’t seem to push beyond a certain place in your ministry?

Sometimes the most urgent thing you can do is rest. ~ Anonymous

If there is anything I have learned this year it’s to run and recover without regret. I used to feel lazy if I took a day off to sleep and rest. No longer is that a thought in my head. I use to feel bad if someone knocked on my front door on my day off and I didn’t want to answer. Not anymore. You see, I understand that if I am going to run this race to the finish, then endurance is key and recovery is necessary. It’s not an option. We must learn to be strategic. We must learn to not bow to every urgent need but instead focus and not lose sight nor neglect the important things in life.

1 Corinthians 9:24 Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. 25 Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. 26 Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. 27 No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.

How Do We Get Anything Done?

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Recently a religious woman in our town threw an accusation my way. “You know, she admits to listening to secular music.” Wow! I thought. That’s the worse thing I do? Well then, I must be in pretty good shape!

Where do we as Christians get the idea that everything is evil and nothing is good?

“No pants on women, it makes them look like men.” 

“Don’t say Oh My God! It’s taking the Lord’s Name in Vain.”

“No sleeveless blouses on women, armpits are evil.” 

okay I made up the armpits are evil but really what is the reason a woman can’t show her shoulders in public?

“No crosses whatsoever, they are demonic!”  

Okay but in movies they ward off vampires….just saying…..

“HIDE! On Halloween.”

Uh, because this is the only day the LORD didn’t make right? (Insert sarcastic snicker here)

“Dance at the altar before the Lord or you are not really worshiping.” 

“Don’t dance at the altar before the Lord. This is not a disco!”

“Contemporary music is just a fad, hymns will come back.”

“You can’t watch a rated R movie, but look the other way, and pass the cash over to your kids so they can go see it.”  

“No spaghetti straps on dresses.” 

This is especially true if you even remotely attractive.

“NO Jewelry!”

This is critical if you are someone in danger of making a golden calf.

Can you think of more?

Then let’s go to the other spectrum:

“We live together because if we got married, I’d lose my benefits. God sees my heart.”

“I taught Sunday School before. Let someone else have a turn.”

 This is usually followed by a rant about children today.

“I don’t report my tips to the IRS. They don’t need my money.”

“I work part-time because otherwise my ex would get her back child support.” 

Bible study? Girl, I’ve read the bible several times, what can you teach me?” 

It’s not gossip if it’s true. 

I’m just wondering at what point we stop fighting each other, live out what the word says, quit making excuses and speaking in half truths, which are lies we tell ourselves to make us feel good, and get on with the business at hand? What is the business at hand? To reach out to people who are hurting and show them a Jesus who loves them, not because they look right, act right or are right, but because he just does.

Christianity without discipleship is always Christianity without Christ. –Dietrich Bonhoeffer

How do we get anything done when we won’t stop living in religious fear and condemnation of one another. As I told the TLC women recently, “What makes you right?”

What Measure?

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Matthew 26:6 When Jesus was at Bethany, a guest of Simon the Leper, 7 a woman came up to him as he was eating dinner and anointed him with a bottle of very expensive perfume. 8 When the disciples saw what was happening, they were furious. “That’s criminal! 9 This could have been sold for a lot and the money handed out to the poor.” 10 When Jesus realized what was going on, he intervened. “Why are you giving this woman a hard time? She has just done something wonderfully significant for me. ~”The Message”

If you’re still measuring out your offering then you haven’t discovered His worth yet. ~Klaus

Nightlight

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deviantart

John 8:12 Jesus once again addressed them: “I am the world’s Light. No one who follows me stumbles around in the darkness. I provide plenty of light to live in.”

We live in a two-story house. It gets incredibly hot upstairs in the summer. Our bedroom is especially hot, so a few years ago we bought blackout curtains, which help somewhat. I mean it’s cooler definitely but still hot in the room. The thing about blackout curtains is the room stays dark all the time.

Today, I threw open the curtains early in the morning and began to clean our room. Things look much different in the light. In the dark, I didn’t see the spiderweb that had started the week before, I didn’t see the thin layer of dust that was on the furniture, and the ceiling fan? Goodness! It needed a good cleaning!

As I got the cleaning supplies together and began to dust and clean I had a God-thought. I realized that many of us live our lives with blackout curtains. They serve to dim the sin in our lives and they serve to hide those areas we don’t really want to acknowledge. Only, we fool ourselves don’t we? Our room looked decent in the dark. In the light of day there were areas that needed attention. Just because we couldn’t see them didn’t mean they weren’t there, it was just hidden in the dark.

I began to see the choices we make. See, we don’t hide anything from God. God is light, and when he enters our life it illuminates that life completely. The problem is we want to see him as a nightlight. We want him to shed a little light, but not expose the all that is going on. It’s painful to see. What I thought would be an hour of cleaning was going to be much more intensive because now that I could see the dust, how could I ignore it and leave it? We were breathing it in, living in it and we could not let it continue. After I had dusted the ceiling fan, I had to then break out the vacuum cleaner, in order to vacuum, I had to make sure all the things on the floor were picked up and put in their place. It took work and determination but it is worth it for our well-being in the end.

The end result of my effort is that in light or dark, the room is substantially cleaner. Don’t be afraid to let the light of God illuminate your life. Then stand back and take a good look around. See the places that need attention. Deal with the garbage that maybe was useful in its time but no longer fits the lifestyle you are creating. Do the work it’s going to take to get things back in order. You’ll be better for it!

Keep Me From Stupid Sins

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What a way to start a day!

Psalm 19:1 God’s glory is on tour in the skies, God-craft on exhibit across the horizon. 2 Madame Day holds classes every morning, Professor Night lectures each evening. 3 Their words aren’t heard, their voices aren’t recorded, 4 But their silence fills the earth: unspoken truth is spoken everywhere. God makes a huge dome for the sun – a superdome! 5 The morning sun’s a new husband leaping from his honeymoon bed, The daybreaking sun an athlete racing to the tape. 6 That’s how God’s Word vaults across the skies from sunrise to sunset, Melting ice, scorching deserts, warming hearts to faith. 7 The revelation of God is whole and pulls our lives together. The signposts of God are clear and point out the right road. 8 The life-maps of God are right, showing the way to joy. The directions of God are plain and easy on the eyes. 9 God’s reputation is twenty-four-carat gold, with a lifetime guarantee. The decisions of God are accurate down to the nth degree. 10 God’s Word is better than a diamond, better than a diamond set between emeralds. You’ll like it better than strawberries in spring, better than red, ripe strawberries. 11 There’s more: God’s Word warns us of danger and directs us to hidden treasure. 12 Otherwise how will we find our way? Or know when we play the fool? 13 Clean the slate, God, so we can start the day fresh! Keep me from stupid sins, from thinking I can take over your work; Then I can start this day sun-washed, scrubbed clean of the grime of sin. 14 These are the words in my mouth; these are what I chew on and pray. Accept them when I place them on the morning altar, O God, my Altar-Rock, God, Priest-of-My-Altar. – “The Message”

My Choice Is You!

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Psalm 16:1 Keep me safe, O God, I’ve run for dear life to you. 2 I say to God, “Be my Lord!” Without you, nothing makes sense. 3 And these God-chosen lives all around – what splendid friends they make! 4 Don’t just go shopping for a god. Gods are not for sale. I swear I’ll never treat god-names like brand-names. 5 My choice is you, God, first and only. And now I find I’m your choice! 6 You set me up with a house and yard. And then you made me your heir! 7 The wise counsel God gives when I’m awake is confirmed by my sleeping heart. 8 Day and night I’ll stick with God; I’ve got a good thing going and I’m not letting go. 9 I’m happy from the inside out, and from the outside in, I’m firmly formed. 10 You canceled my ticket to hell – that’s not my destination! 11 Now you’ve got my feet on the life path, all radiant from the shining of your face. Ever since you took my hand, I’m on the right way. – “The Message”

Where The Rubber Meets The Road

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mcmnetwork.org

A woman called the Dr. Laura Schlessinger show because she felt she was losing her faith in God. She said she was a believer, whose nephew had died in Afghanistan and it was making her question God. Dr. Laura made the statement that the woman really didn’t have faith because she said she believed and had faith as long as tragedy didn’t hit her door but once it did she lost her faith, thereby negating the faith in the first place. Dr. Laura pointed out that many soldiers had died in Afghanistan why didn’t the woman lose her faith then?

I stopped my work to listen to this call because this is an interesting dynamic we face as believers of Christ. We walk steady until the rubber meets the road then some of us waffle. I remember a few days or so after my husband died and I lie in bed one night unable to sleep. I cried out to God, “I need to know you’re with me. I need to know you have a plan because right now it doesn’t make sense to me. I need to know I’m not alone because right now I feel desolate.” God doesn’t mind my questions but c’mon, either I believe he’s with me in the good and bad or I’m lying to myself.

James 2:20 NKJV
But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is dead?

It’s those rubber meets the road decisions that will come to test out if what we believe are merely words or actually action? Let’s be honest, this relates to everything in our lives not only our belief in God. Do we vow for better or worse to our spouse then bale when the worst comes? Or worse, make them pay forever for their sin. Do we believe that adultery is wrong until the sexy co-worker makes a pass? Are you like me, who wakes up with a resolve to eat right each morning, and then someone brings you a chocolate cake and you have two slices instead of a half of one?

Do we really believe what we say we believe or do we believe it as long as it isn’t actually happening to us? Do we live what we believe or are we like Dr. Laura’s caller who loses her faith the moment something doesn’t go her way? Life is life, it will hand us good, bad, ugly, and beautiful days. Will we thank God for them all or will pick and choose only the good ones and turn our backs on Him for the bad ones?

Janina

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Janina’s question:
for many years I live with a deep desire in my heart to hear God’s Voice but I cannot go through. Do you have some suggestions for me. Thanks.
Janina

I remember being right there in that same spot! Most people including myself will say something that we understand but not everyone gets it until it’s time.

Romans 10:17 NKJV
So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

When I was a new believer I tried so hard to hear God speak. I wanted to have conversations with him like more mature believers had but I wasn’t getting anywhere. Some would say to me, read the gospels. Other would say, read the psalms, while others would point to specific scriptures, like I just did here in this post.

For me, I believe that I tried too hard in the beginning. Prayer and relationship is not a forced thing. I can’t walk up to a stranger and demand a conversation on my terms. I can’t come to you and talk and talk and talk and never pause to listen to what you have to say.

So in the simplest terms I can use, I think you must read the bible. Let the stories come alive for you. Pray as you would talk to a friend, and take the time to listen to the other side of the conversation. Take your time and believe that it will happen. You must be ready to listen though because it will come quietly. God’s words to you will come when you aren’t busy, when you are searching and when you are ready. His words will not supersede your will nor will they condemn but they will gently lead. Well, okay sometimes not so gently, but I’ve never felt hopeless in those moments with God, I know he is still there guiding me where I allow him to. Sometimes a word you’ve been waiting for comes from the mouth of a least expected source. Don’t discount this as coincidence.

Ease up on yourself and let your Father in heaven know your desire to hear his voice. It will come. There’s so much more to say here but this is a good start and I don’t want to overwhelm you with too much. Start here. Read and pray and LISTEN. May God bless you and thanks for writing in!