Making Myself at Home

If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his love. John 15:10 KJV

So often I have missed the simplicity of God’s words or misunderstood them all together. Complicated them and kept them out of reach. Misread them and missed the message God wanted me to digest. Approached Scripture with preconceived ideas that hindered me from taking in truth and hence applying truth. What a huge corner is turned when God begins to enlighten me on the meaning and mystery of His Word!

For years I would read a verse like John 15:10 and come away with the idea that God’s love for me is contingent on my obedience to His commandments. Not so! This verse does not say, “Keep My commandments and I will love you.” It tells me if I keep His commandments I will abide in His love. I will make myself at home in His love. Understand it, embrace it, receive it, live out of it, and be changed by it. What a difference! Obedience is the doorway that opens my life to fully experiencing God’s love….it is not the condition, foundation, or prerequisite for that love. If that were the case, how in the world could God love me before I even knew Him? How could He love me while I was still in my sin?

Sometimes I have even limited His commandments to a list of does and don’ts. A type of law keeping. Then I wonder why God seems like a harsh law giver rather than a Shepherd, Father, and Friend. While God certainly has things for me to do and things for me to avoid in this life, His commands are broader. This morning, He is graciously revealing a list of commands that are meant to draw me closer to Him. Abiding in His love results from confessing sin to Him, listening to Him, learning from Him, leaning on Him, seeking Him, meditating on Him, looking to Him, following Him, depending on Him, resting in Him, embracing Him, speaking to Him, yielding to Him, receiving from Him, knowing Him, trusting Him, reflecting Him, believing Him, and living for Him. That list is not complete but it is powerful. Oh what I miss when any of these ingredients are missing from the recipe of my life!

Father, I have always had Your love but I am just now learning how to make myself at home in it! How to revel in it. How to delight in it. Obedience no longer has to be a word that intimidates me but rather it can be a word that invites me to abide in Your love. Amen.

My Ever Present Companion and Guide

For this God is our God for ever and ever: he will be our guide even unto death. Psalm 48: 14 KJV

Moses had similar words to Joshua. As Joshua was about to become the leader of the children of Israel, Moses gave him this powerful charge in Deuteronomy 31:6, “Be strong and of a good courage, fear not, nor be afraid of them: for the LORD thy God, he it is that doth go with thee; he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee.” It is imperative that I realize who is going before me and with me and who is my guide through this life. For it is far to easy too look to human leaders and guides and become secure under their watchful eye.

I am beginning to grasp the truth that a vast majority of my Christian life is a solo walk between God and myself. While God will certainly intersect my world with other people, for the most part they are occasional meetings. It is like each one of us are on an individual path with God and our paths cross the paths of others. Those places of intersection can be enjoyable, delightful, and even exhilarating. Much like a four hour conversation I had the other night with a close friend in Michigan. The phone conversation was a continual dialogue of God’s goodness and involvement in our lives. But finally at 1:30 a.m. the conversation came to an end as the phones were hung up. Once again, it was God and me.

I have reveled under the mentoring of a significant woman. Conversations and emails with her were definite high lights. Her advice was always filled with wisdom that I readily received. But after a year and a half she saw the need to step back and once again it was God and me.

This transitioning use to scare me as I felt safer with a flesh and blood person to encourage me along the way. That is when God’s words through David and Moses have to come and take root in my heart. That is when I need to realize my guide and source of direction and encouragement is my Heavenly Father. He graces my life with people and I praise Him for that! But He is the only constant and consistent companion in my life. May I get to the place where even when I am talking with a friend I sense God’s presence and hear His voice speaking through the other person. Alone with God? Yes, but no longer lonely! He never leaves or forsakes me.

Father, keep bringing me to the place where Your presence is felt and desired above all others. I praise the preciousness of You! Amen.

The Roots and Dangers of Misperceptions

It happened after this that the king of the people of Ammon died, and Hanun his son reigned in his place. Then David said, “I will show kindness to Hanun the son of Nahash, as his father showed kindness to me.” So David sent by the hand of his servants to comfort him concerning his father. 2 Samuel 10:1,2 NKJV

This was the second time David desired to show kindness to someone because of the relationship he had with their father. The first time it was for the son of Jonathan, Mephibosheth. Mephibosheth initially feared David as it was the custom of new kings to completely annihilate the families of former kings. But once he realized David’s intent was to show kindness to him, he became the recipient of extravagant benevolence. The second time, David sent servants to comfort a new king whose father had died. But the servants of this new king were suspicious of David’s motives and shared the suspicions with Hanun. He accepted their view and proceeded to mistreat David’s servants. This lead to war! How sad when wrong actions come on the heels of wrong perspectives.

As a child of God, it is imperative that I guard my thoughts toward others. I have found that because of personal issues and unattended wounds from the past, that I can have a distorted view and misperception of another person’s actions, motives, and agenda. If I am not careful and prayerful I will respond to my perception rather than to the truth of that person. I will back away from relationships that were meant for good. I will miss valuable lessons because I am unable to hear what the person is trying to tell me. My suspicions will crowd out God’s intended blessing through the individual. If not kept in check, my thoughts will eventually lead me to say and do things I will deeply regret later on…..unless pride steps in as well.

I don’t like this part of myself but I am learning the importance of acknowledging it so that God can begin a work of transformation in me. It becomes a daily discipline of asking God to show me my own heart, help me to discern when my opinion of another is wrong, and even help me to see when the enemy of my soul is at work whispering lies to me. If that is the case we work on the heart issue and renounce the lies. If my perceptions are correct, we work on entrusting the individual to God. Either way I am brought into closer relationship with a loving, heavenly Father who definitely wants the best for me.

Father, I don’t want to miss another thing that was intended for my good. Help me to know my heart, know the truth, and know the freedom that will come from both. Amen.

Whose Opinion Matters?

And as the ark of the LORD came into the city of David, Michal Saul’s daughter looked through a window, and saw king David leaping and dancing before the LORD; and she despised him in her heart. II Samuel 6:16 KJV

How easy it is to be misunderstood and even disliked for God’s work in your life. Because people are limited to what they see and cannot discern the heart of another, they can come to a wrong conclusion about your Christian life. This makes sense when it comes from someone who is not a Christian, but it is sometimes hard to digest when it is coming from those within the walls of a church and the body of Christ.

David was despised for his jubilant expression of joy and praise. All his wife, Michal, could conclude was that his behavior was unacceptable and inappropriate. It wasn’t something she would do therefore in her mind it wasn’t something he should do. What was David’s reaction? He did not allow her opinion to become his barometer for behavior. He knew his heart and it was connected to an extravagant God! While he could not persuade her to change her view, he also refused to allow her to dampen his celebration! God’s opinion was the only one that mattered.

Jesus was often misunderstood and criticized for his actions…even his performing of miracles. The religious leaders of His day were constantly watching him and drawing wrong conclusions. Pride and jealousy made them blind and unreceptive to His deity. What should have been undeniable proof that the Messiah had come, became grounds for their rejection of Him. What did Jesus do? Sometimes He walked in silence and other times He used words to silence them. He refused to allow their fears and prejudices to rob Him of one moment of obedience to His Father. Once again, God’s opinion was the only one that mattered.

In the fall of 2004, I experienced the back lash of people who could not discern the work of God in my life. They had an idea of how the Christian life should be lived and I was no longer fitting into their mold. For the first time in my life I was living connected to God, experiencing freedom, devouring Scripture, and excited about my faith and my God. I had stepped outside the box of public opinion and what made others comfortable. While many rejoiced with me, others condemned me. To this day their looks of disgust and coldness of shoulders is perceived and felt. What do I do? I stay connected to God on a daily basis and live my life according to His voice, His Word, His Spirit, and His leading. People have a right to their opinions, but no one but God has a right to dictate how I should live out my relationship with Him. Once again, God’s opinion is the only one that matters!

Father, it is difficult and sometimes lonely to climb out on a limb with You. Thank you for the ones who have sat with me, prayed for me, and cried with me. I look to You alone to define and direct me. Amen.

All That Rests on Me

Thy vows are upon me, O God: I will render praises unto thee. Psalm 56:12 KJV

Often are the times I will read a verse and marvel that I have never seen it before. While I know I have read it in the past, the rich meaning escaped me. Today’s verse is one example. It has caused me to review the many things of God that are upon me. His hand, His eye, His blessing, His Spirit, His power, His shadow, His anointing. And this morning I add to that precious list His vows….His promises. They rest on me and stay with me. They affect the way I view and live my life. No wonder the psalmist responded in praise!

I love to hear a blessing being prayed over me. Whether in the midst of a congregation or in the presence of one individual, the words touch my spirit. Once spoken, they impact my life. And to think that God’s promises are not only upon me but they have been spoken over me by God Himself. His promises of companionship, empowerment, guidance, protection, provision, direction, involvement, intervention, permanence, forgiveness, watchfulness, deliverance, and unconditional, unchanging love.

Last fall, I visited a couple who were my first pastor and wife. She was present when I was birthed into God’s family. God influenced me greatly through them. As a teenager, they spoke many things to me through their words as well as their lives. But as an adult in my late 40’s I desired a spoken blessing. I will never forget the experience of kneeling in their living room as my former pastor prayed a blessing over me while their hands rested upon me.

This morning I want to envision the same thing happening with myself and God. Kneeling in His presence and hearing His blessings and promises being spoken over me and remaining upon me. Drinking in His words as He brings Scripture after Scripture to mind that begin with the phrase, “I will!” The weight of His hand and the look in His eyes will add much to the wonder of His words.

Father, Your written Word is Your spoken word to me. May I daily walk with the awareness that Your vows are upon me. Amen.

Necessary Placement

And set your minds and keep them set on what is above (the higher things), not on the things that are on the earth. Colossians 3:2 Amplified Bible

I like how the Message puts this verse. “Don’t shuffle along, eyes to the ground, absorbed with the things right in front of you. Look up, and be alert to what is going on around Christ.” I cannot afford to let my guard down when it comes to the affections of my heart and the meditations of my mind. For the minute I stop filtering my thoughts through the grid of God’s truth I set myself up for a downward spiral. The minute I allow the enemy to distract me by dwelling on the thoughts he presents to me I am in trouble. Those things I spend my time and energy thinking on will either strengthen me or weaken me in my body, soul, and mind.

Just like the children of Israel kept living out their days in a cycle mode of idolatry, captivity, repentance, deliverance, and rest, the cycles of my mind can spin out of control as well. For me, it works like this. I take in truth and stand in that for a while. The enemy comes along and introduces any number of thoughts to me. At first I see the attacks and proceed to rebuke them. The trouble comes when I let down my guard and begin to consider the thoughts. Not for a moment. Not for a while. But rather for unlimited time. It is an “all you can think” buffet! I have now set my mind on his distorted views and interpretations and very quickly I am filled with hopelessness, discouragement, self-loathing, and helplessness. The sense of abandonment by people and invisibility to God sets in and I find myself in quite a mental and spiritual mess. As if that is not enough, the enemy then begins to condemn me for being in such a place. I am in further trouble if he can convince me this is all my own doing.

My deliverance comes as God reveals to me that the enemy is at work and I will only regain my strength and footing by renouncing the lies, voicing the truth, and once again setting my mind, heart, and affections on God! This includes confessing my lack of trust and acknowledgement of who God really is. It also includes once again proclaiming Him to be my only true Source, Help, and Hope.

Father, my dark thoughts have once again given way to the light of You! I don’t stand a chance of surviving apart from connecting with You, relying on You, and looking to You. Hold me, help me, and heal me. Amen.

A Change of Heart

And Jacob noticed that Laban’s attitude toward him was not what it had been. Genesis 31:2 (NIV)

Have you ever had a “Laban experience” in your life? It is hard when you realize someone you once felt close to no longer looks at you in the same way. Where once you enjoyed friendship and favor you now feel left out and unwelcome. Conversations are strained and warmth is no longer felt when you are together. Jacob knew that feeling with Laban and David knew that feeling with King Saul. God is helping me to come to some understanding as to what brings about such changes.

I can think back to various relationships that turned sour. Some of the changes were due to my own actions. Through something I did or said the relationship dissolved. Sometimes I was aware of what I did and sometimes I wasn’t. But when it was all said and done, the person chose to step out of my life and we just went our separate ways.

For the longest time, I thought anytime a relationship fell apart I must have done something to cause it. If it was a highly significant person in my life the loss would be quite painful. Not only would I spend time grieving the loss of their friendship but I would continually kick myself for having blown it plus torture myself trying to figure out how I had blown it. I don’t have to tell you the enemy of my soul took great delight in my misery. It never occurred to me that the problem might not be me after all….at least not in every case.

Recently, God was gracious enough to enlighten me on a truth I was missing. Sometimes the relationship falls apart because of something that is going on in the life of the other person. It could be a character flaw, a personal change, or a withdrawal that they have initiated for their own personal reasons. Laban’s and Saul’s change of attitude came out of jealousy. Whatever the reason, this can be the most painful way to see a relationship change.

If I was the one who damaged the friendship I must be willing to do what I can to make things right. But if the other person has just had a change of heart toward me, I will need to trust God to redeem what needs to be redeemed. In the mean time I must begin looking to God for the acceptance and approval I have been craving from them.

Father, thank you for having an unchanging heart toward me. Amen.