Category: Inspirations of the Moment

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Pressing On

When I was around 20 years old, I had an encounter with God, and I’ve never been the same since. I was a believer in Jesus Christ, had been since about the age of 11, but I was struggling with how to live the life I knew I should be living as a Christian. I’d been in church all my life and had been taught and absorbed many biblical truths that shaped the way I viewed the world and life, and the way we are to live it. But truthfully, I was nearly biblically ignorant. Though I knew some verses and Bible stories and could recite the books of the Bible, it wasn’t a cohesive whole to me. I didn’t know my way around it.

I was troubled and unhappy. I could tell how I shouldn’t live, but I didn’t know how to live the life that I knew I should be living. I cried out to God for months in my spiritual confusion and powerlessness. Then one evening God turned the light on inside me in a church meeting. There was a special speaker but I don’t even remember exactly what he preached on; something about the Spirit of God. As he spoke, God pulled the string on that spiritual “light bulb” inside me … and I knew. Or to be more precise, I came alive to the One who knows.

I had been taught God’s Spirit lived in me because I was a believer in Jesus, but I didn’t know how to access the power he had to help me do what was right. But when he opened my spiritual eyes, every other sense that could be in tune with God was awakened.

The Journey of a Lifetime Begins

I left that meeting knowing what people meant when they said they were walking on “cloud nine.” That is how I felt for weeks, singing the song that we sang in that meeting, feeling unaccountably happy (the proper term is joyful), and very much wanting only to live my life for Jesus and serve him. And though the euphoria waned, that sense of wanting only to live for and serve the Lord has never left me.

It was at this same time I developed a hunger for the Word of God, and I loved studying it. There was so much I didn’t know! And so much I began to learn from reading the Bible. I’ve been on that journey now for many years. I’m still learning, and I feel more and more like a child who has so much more yet to learn. My journey to grow in knowledge of the Lord and his will, gained through the Word (my own study and learning from godly teachers), began.  My walk by the Spirit began … with baby steps.

In these blog posts we’ve been considering what it means to walk by the Spirit. There truly is a spiritual dimension in our lives that is very real; God is at work, but it is up to us to respond. What Jesus said to the church at Laodicea, he says to us, “Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me” (Revelation 3:20). Jesus is knocking at the heart’s door of each one of us who is a believer. I opened that door as I cried out to him in my need … and Jesus came in to dine with me. And more; he set up house. It is by his Spirit he lives in and is with me each day.

Yes, I believe he was there before, ever since I asked Jesus to be my Savior when I was a child. But he graciously did whatever it is he does to bring us closer to himself and guide, teach, and commune with us. He became Lord of my life as never before.

Each of us has a story and a journey of faith in Jesus Christ. Our experiences may differ and undoubtedly do differ. But it is the same God who works in us all to desire and to do his will, to do what pleases him (Philippians 2:12-13).

When we seek the Lord with all our heart, as I did as a young adult Christian, we will find him. Then one day you may realize, as I did, (or perhaps you already have) that all along he had been seeking you, and you opened that spiritual door in your life, and he came in to be with you and give you meaning and purpose and power to live the life he calls us to.

Keep Pressing On

Wherever you are in your journey with Jesus, keep your eyes fixed on him, keep growing in knowledge of God and make your highest goal to know him and please him. As Paul the Apostle said, “I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. All of us, then, who are mature should take such a view of things. And if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you. Only let us live up to what we have already attained” (Philippians 3:12-16, emphasis added).

Keep pressing on, walking by the Spirit, not by your old nature (the flesh) and by not the ways of the world.

“So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. 17 For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want. …19 The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; 20 idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions 21 and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. 24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25 Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit” (Galatians 5:16-25, emphasis added).

Words of life and light. Let’s live fully, pressing on to live in the light of the words of life, walking by the Spirit, keeping in step with God’s Spirit.

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Snatching Time, Walking with the Eternal

How do you walk by the Spirit when there seems so little time to spend in the Bible to learn what God has told us about how to live?

Maybe you are in a season of life where time seems to be at a premium and you find it very difficult to set aside time for Bible reading and study. And this can be for numerous different reasons. A habit of spending time in God’s Word daily is commendable, and in Joshua’s case, and other leaders in scripture, was commanded (Joshua 1:7-8; Deut. 17:18-20). It is a goal to strive for to learn God’s will and ways from his word.

However, we must not confuse good habits that help us grow in the knowledge of God and his ways, with actually walking by the Spirit in a godly lifestyle. If we are not careful, the former can become a legalistic act, but the latter, which is truly putting into practice what we know of God to that point in our lives, cannot be faked (Philippians 3:12-16).

Love God, Love His Word

God doesn’t want us checking off boxes on our spiritual “to-do” list to try and please him. He wants us to obey his word out of love for him, as we’ve previously established. Jesus said that God’s greatest commandment is, “You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength” (Deuteronomy 6:5; Mark 12:30). The second most important commandment is to love your neighbor as yourself. Everything we do can be tested against that standard (Matthew 22:34-40).

Love for God and his word must fuel and undergird all our good habits (our “spiritual disciplines”) and our obedience to God’s word and will. Choosing to love God, we walk with him every day, keeping our spiritual eyes on him, learning to love him more each day, even, or perhaps because of, the mysteries and the unknowns we are confronted with when it comes to understanding God’s ways. His ways are different, much higher than our ways. That is a good thing! He is God; we are not. Our task is to become shaped to his ways, not the other way around. Recognizing this about God and ourselves is a great deterrent to discouragement with God.

We all have seasons of life when it is hard to make time to be alone with God and his word. I wrote about one incident in my early years of motherhood, in this quote from Teach Us to Pray, a Bible study on the Lord’s Prayer. [1]

“How often have you felt you just didn’t have the time to spend with God alone? Most of us will agree we do need to exert energy to make time to spend focusing on God because it will not otherwise happen. We live in a noisy, demanding world, and must be intentional to make the time to come aside and train our minds and hearts to focus on God. Spending time with God, focusing on him, using a psalm to tune our hearts to worship him, thanking and praising him, is how to nurture a deep love and longing for God.  

“The point of it is to be with God in those moments, and learn to be with him throughout each day, whatever our tasks or responsibilities; this is practicing the Presence of God and is the underpinning of true fellowship with God.

“It was the quiet hour before my eight-month-old son should wake up, the sun just starting to peep over the horizon; the perfect time to read my Bible.

 “Mommy!” his little voice called.

Oh no, I lamented. He’s already awake!

“Lord, how can I be spiritual when he won’t even let me read my Bible?”

Yes, I actually said that to God! Of course, I was immediately smitten with conviction, a chuckle of embarrassment in my throat colliding with my frustration; a mental image of God softly laughing and shaking his head.

There are times in our lives, sometimes years long, when it is hard to snatch a few minutes to read the Bible or focus on anything but the task at hand. God knows this. He understands. At the same time, that doesn’t mean he lets us become slack in our commitment to be with him. When we persist in seeking the Lord, desiring to know him better, and walk in his ways, we will find our way, even though it is by grabbing snatches of time here and there to read our Bible and pray, stutter-stepping to keep pace with our heavenly Father’s patient steps guiding us.”

We have established that love for God and his word are paramount. Even when our time is greatly restricted by other demands (job, children, husband, or other people) we can find time for God when we work at it because it is a high priority for us, because we love God.

Regardless of how difficult it may be to find “quiet time” in our lives—and this is key—our focus must always be on our Lord. Not on ourselves and what we cannot do; nor on others, trying to do what they do. Despite the demands on our time, recognizing that God is with us at all times will deeply enrich our walk with him moment by moment. That brings us to this important reality in walking by the Spirit:

Practice Makes …

Practice living in God’s Presence all the time, not just when you make time to read the Bible or pray or go to church services. It’s all about loving God with all our hearts, souls, minds, and strength all the time. If you have been born again into the living hope of eternity with Christ, you have God the Holy Spirit living in you who is always at work to transform you into the image of Jesus. He is always with us. Let’s learn to be with him.

Walking by the Spirit obviously cannot be done without the Spirit of God. If he is in you, he will teach you that walk. The Bible comes into the process because God had all he wanted to pass on to us written down (Deuteronomy 29:29). All Jesus taught that we need to know is available to us. That is why Bible reading and study should be a high priority.

But Bible study is only a means to an end, it is not the end itself.

Remember Jesus’ words that those are blessed who hear and do the Word of God. Walking with the Spirit of God in loving obedience to God’s word, recognizing the presence of God with us and communing with him at any time and all times, is the journey and the end. That is walking by the Spirit.

There is always so much more that could be said, but I’ll save those thoughts for another blog post as we consider what walking by the Spirit means and what it looks like when we do.

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Photo by Randy Tarampi on Unsplash

[1] Excerpt from Teach Us to Pray, a Bible study based on the Lord’s Prayer, available as a free download at my website JacquelineGWallace.com/books.

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The Need for Holy Campouts

I’ve been discussing walking by the Spirit, and last time I said there were three vital things needed to do that: Love for God, Humility/Teachableness, and Obedience to God’s Word. Almost unspoken, because it is so obvious, is the need to read and study the Bible in this matter of growth in spiritual knowledge and ultimately walking by the Spirit.

I have found that a good long-term practice when reading scripture is to look for the direct commands, what I call the “to do’s” of God. These obviously are there for us “to do,” right? However, when we are reading scripture, it is easy to simply read over these commands to action and continue on our way, not taking time to think them through and act on them. After all, we’ve a time limit on how long we can sit still, be silent, and read the Bible each day before charging into the day’s tasks, so we’ve got to keep pressing on to meet our chapter quota … don’t we? Maybe not. Sometimes, like when we read a “to do” from God, we need to stop and let the words sink in so that we can actually do the “to do.”

I’ve done this numerous times, stopped and took time to think about what I’ve read (when you actually say it, it’s a no-brainer, isn’t it?).  When I do that, spending more time in one passage or even one verse, reading and re-reading over several days (even weeks), I begin to “get it,” that is, I understand more what God is telling us in his “to do,” his command.

I call this “camping out” in scripture.

When I was a kid, my family went tent camping for vacation many times. I loved the heavy green canvas tent, the unforgettable, one-of-a-kind smell of it, the heat of the tent inside when the sun shone on it; food cooked on the Coleman stove, meals eaten at the picnic table, Coleman lanterns and, of course, campfires at night, all of us sitting around it with sticks readied for roasting marshmallows. It was always fun to be in the great outdoors and though camping out took lots of work, it was always worth it, with wonderful memories made as a result.

So, I pull on those kinds of good memories when I think of “camping out” in scripture. What do I mean by camping out in scripture? I take the time to re-read and think about what I’ve read.  Sometimes I re-read a chapter or even several chapters to get the context—that is, the verses surrounding a section of scripture that reveal what the writer is talking about—firmly set in my mind. We read scripture in its context to rightly understand what the writer of that scripture meant, then from there we can make a right interpretation and ultimately an appropriate application, applying the truth in our own context, doing what God said to do.

You’ve heard the saying, “Repetition is the mother of learning.” Well, when we re-read scriptures, go over them in our minds thinking about them (that’s biblical meditation), the Spirit of God gives understanding of the passage. He often brings other scriptures to mind, which shed light on the passage or verse we are focusing on, and we can learn. When we give the Spirit of God the material to work with (mostly his own words) and ourselves the time to listen and process his words, he can and does transform us when we cooperate with him (Romans 12:2; 1 Cor. 2:7-13).

This takes time and effort, but it is well worth it. Just like real camping is worth the effort. Simply reading the Bible, without thinking about what is being said and without being obedient to God’s calls to action, his “to do’s,” does not garner the blessing of God. It is the obedience to his words that gains his blessing. I can say that with confidence because it was not my original idea, Jesus said it; I’m simply restating what he said (see Matthew 7:24; Luke 11:28; John 14:21, 23-24).

The truth is, when we obey Jesus’ words, we can be more blessed than Mary, his mother, who bore and raised him, and who was favored and blessed by God (Luke 1:28, 42). Listen to what Jesus said: 27 “Now while Jesus was saying these things, one of the women in the crowd raised her voice and said to Him, ‘Blessed (happy, favored by God) is the womb that gave birth to You and the breasts at which You nursed!’ 28 But He said, ‘On the contrary, blessed (happy, favored by God) are those who hear the word of God and continually observe it’” (Luke 11:27-28 AMP, emphasis added). [Sidenote: it is obvious that Mary was a young woman who loved and obeyed God’s Word, to receive such accolades from God the Father.]

When we obey his word, our God will make his home in us, his resting place, as Jesus said, “If anyone [really] loves Me, he will keep My word (teaching); and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our dwelling place with him” (John 14:23 AMP, emphasis added).

Harking back to our original topic, to walk by the Spirit means to obey the teachings of Jesus and by inference the whole of scripture; it is all God’s word. The Holy Spirit living in us is our Teacher (John 16:13) and he will work with us to transform us into the image of Christ (Romans 8:29); that is our life goal. We should begin to look and act more and more like Jesus. But that happens only when we cooperate with him. The obedience part is on us.

Let’s make our lifestyles ones of “yes, Lord.” Even when we feel time-deprived, like we don’t have enough time for spending in the Word and meditating on it, then doing it.

Let’s consider that idea for a few days: “How can I make my lifestyle one of ‘yes, Lord’ and read, meditate on, and obey God’s Word when I have so little time to do it?”

In the next blog post we’ll talk about how to continue progressing in our spiritual growth and walking in the Spirit even when time is at a premium. 

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Photo by Rames Quinerie on Unsplash.

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Meeting God in Fig Trees and Ladders

Several years ago I was ambling about in John chapter 1, contemplating Nathanael and his encounter with Jesus.[1] Nathanael was the epitome of the Missourian, “Show me!” He wasn’t about to believe that a guy from the godless town of Nazareth was the Messiah and said so, but Jesus dissipated Nathanael’s skepticism in a moment. Just a few words and Nathanael was nearly falling on his knees in awe of Jesus, ready to follow him anywhere. Something supernatural occurred and it was not wasted on Nathanael. He knew exactly what happened and his life was forever changed.

Jesus’ words to Nathanael, “Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you” held a powerful secret. I believe Jesus’ “I saw you” held a depth of meaning for Nathanael and the fact that Jesus saw him “under the fig tree” clinched it for him.

Photo by Johann Siemens on Unsplash

In a previous blog I likened the fig tree to Jacob’s rock pillow where in a night vision God appeared to him, standing at the top of a ladder which stood on the earth where Jacob was sleeping; the ladder reached up to heaven where God stood. God spoke to Jacob and conferred on him the promise He instituted with Abraham and passed on to Isaac, Jacob’s father. Jacob had the good sense to realize God had met with him there and called the place “The House of God,” Beth-el.[2]

A House Like No Other

This place, this Beth-el, held tremendous significance for Jacob and all his descendants. It was special in the heart and mind of Nathanael as well, who held the scriptures—the laws and promises of God—in high esteem. It is possible Nathanael sought out a private place where he could seek God’s face and listen for His voice and meet with Him. He may have found it under a certain fig tree, away from the eyes of all others; and in his mind he may have thought of it as his Beth-el, the House of God; his meeting place with God.

Perhaps it was because Nathanael knew there could only be One who knew about his fig tree/ house of God, that he was instantly convinced that Jesus was the Son of God when He revealed Nathanael’s secret, “…under the fig tree, I saw you.” Perhaps Nathanael had been fervently praying for the Messiah to come, and he knew in an instant Jesus was the answer to his prayer.

This is all conjecture on my part because the scriptures do not tell us the secrets of the fig tree. We are only told Jesus saw him there and Nathanael knew it was only possible by God’s power. But might not these thoughts come close?

Your House, Your Home

Do you have a place to which you resort to privately pour out your heart to the Lord? A place where you come aside to give vent to the yearnings of your soul? Where no one disturbs, for few know you go there? It is your private prayer closet. Your desert retreat. Your Beth-el.

Photo by Leon Biss on Unsplash

Would you be surprised to realize that what you thought was your longing for God drawing you away to your place of prayer, was really God’s longing for you, calling you to Himself? It was an epiphany for me to realize—after many years of telling others how at a certain point in my life God “met” me after I had been crying out to Him for months—that it was in reality God crying out and calling to me for years, His tears manifest in my own.

And my life has not been the same since that night. This was the beginning of my personal journey with Christ as His disciple.

Coming Home

I believe that the reality of the yearning within us for God is actually God calling to us to “come away” to be with Him and to follow Him. It is there in our Beth-el, in the deeps of our hearts that He can reveal Himself to us and lead us in His paths of righteousness, for His Name’s sake. There is where He can begin to show us the “greater things” he has in store for us to do who believe in Him. There is where we gain more intimate knowledge of Him, for He opens our eyes to see He is the One the angels “ascend and descend” upon. He is the Way. He is the Truth. He is the Life.

Nathanael knew Jesus was his Messiah because he was already acquainted with his God. He knew his God and recognized Him in Jesus.

The fig tree, our Beth-el, our place of deepening intimacy with God, is crucial to increasing our knowing and understanding the heart of God, learning from His Word and following His Way. Then we too will recognize Him when He reveals Himself, and we will say with Nathanael, “You are my God and my King,” ready to follow Him wherever He goes.

[1] John 1:45-51

[2] Genesis 28:1-5, 10-22

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Building a Wall of Prayer and Wielding the Sword of Action

I enjoy reading. I read books for improvement, for entertainment, and for relaxation. Years ago, I read the “Pendragon Cycle” by Stephen R. Lawhead, a series of four books based on the legend of King Arthur. Now, in case I’m about to lose you, hang in there. This is actually a very well-done story, and the author has several excellent spiritual truths woven into the story line. Let me tell you about one that I find both fascinating and instructive.

For generations the Britons had been fighting the invading barbarians and there was no peace. The Romans had come to Britain but now were gone, leaving the Brits to fend for themselves against the barbarians. It was an age of Darkness. Local kings had to raise warbands to defend their holdings and their people. They would set a High King over them who would join all the forces of the combined kings, the better to defend the country. They were a nation used to war and bloodshed, to mighty men of war.

In the third book of the series, “Arthur,” a battle is about to take place between hordes of barbarians holed up in an abandoned Roman fort, led by a traitorous British lord, and the warbands of Britain led by Arthur. His forces are woefully outnumbered by thousands of barbarians. Nonetheless Arthur and his warriors storm the high-sitting fort, its steep slopes strewn with thousands of large stones, a deadly way to have to do battle. The barbarians run down upon them, sheer numbers pushing the Britons back and allowing no advancement in the fight. Thousands are slaughtered but the Britons cannot take the wall of the fort. After the first day of battle Arthur’s men retreat to their camp to rest. Things are not going well, not at all.

The second day is the same. At noon they retreat to take a breather and the lords under Arthur meet with him to discuss strategy. Some want to lay siege to the fort and wait for more men. Arthur, as their leader and knowing better, is against it. Merlin approaches (in this retelling he is a former druid bard who is now a Christian, the Soul of Britain, their spiritual leader) and quietly says, “The hill is cursed. There is distress and calamity here. The slopes are treacherous with torment, and disaster reigns over all.” He goes on to recount the tragic history of treachery and betrayal and the battles fought there, and the spirit of evil which has been awakened by the treachery of the current traitorous lord leading the barbarians against his own countrymen.

The quieted lords, hanging on his words, ask what they are to do. Merlin answers, “This battle will not be won by stealth or might. It will not be won by bloodshed alone. The spirit abiding here will not be overthrown except by the power of God.”

The lords are thrown into a dither. They are used to fighting for their right, using force of physical strength to win their battles. The sword and bloodshed are what they are trained in. But trusting God? “What are we to do about that?” they cried.

“We must pray, Lords of Britain. We must erect a fortress of our own whose walls cannot be battered down or broken. A caer (fort) that cannot be conquered. A stronghold of prayer.”

Arthur heartily agrees to do this very thing. The next day before dawn, Merlin is seen climbing the hill of the fort and starts gathering rocks. Arthur goes to bring him back but ends up joining him in stacking stones. Other lords go up to stop what is going on and end up doing the same thing, and the warriors start flowing out to join them. A wall starts to take shape. When asked what they are doing, Arthur responds by lifting a stone over his head and calling to the men, “What do you see?” They call back “A stone!” “No!” Arthur shouts. “I tell you it is not a stone. It is something stronger than stone, and more enduring: it is a prayer!” He called them to look at all the stones on the steep hillside and see them as prayers. He was gathering the “prayers” to build a wall, a “stronghold to surround the enemy.”

This picture of prayer as a stronghold was given physical form as they built the wall which surrounded the whole hilltop fort.  Within those walls they fought the enemy. They were trapped within the shoulder high wall as much as the enemy they fought.

This story of Arthur and his warbands is a make-believe story, one which likely never actually happened. But the author has penned a powerful truth and painted for us a fascinating picture of life as a follower of Jesus Christ. Can you see it?

An enemy has taken what is not his. He is more powerful than we are. We cannot defeat him by our efforts, though we lay down our lives to the last man. As hard as we work, as much as we give, it will not win the battle. We will wear out and finally give out if something doesn’t change. In the story, Arthur understood it, Merlin voiced it and gave critical insight and pointed wisely to the only solution: trust in the power of God, not the arm of flesh.

Now, you and I know we need to trust God in what we attempt in this life. If we are followers of Jesus Christ we have been called into the fight, which is made up of many battles, to advance the Kingdom of God, the rule of God on earth in the lives of people. No one will be forced against their will to enter the Kingdom of God. But we have an enemy that is adept at deceit, schooled and powerful in lies and deception. This enemy has deluded and blinded humankind, leaving men in darkness. We followers of Jesus are carriers of the Light and as such we have the responsibility to let that Light of truth shine forth so that all may see, and seeing, have the opportunity to leave the darkness and enter the Light.

Prayer to God and reliance on Him must be our first line of defense and attack. Then we must act. Our prayers are meaningless if we are not laying ourselves on the line to act, to do the right things to accomplish God’s goals. To be part of the answer to our own prayers.

On the one hand, we cannot win without faith in God. On the other hand, neither will we win a single battle unless we act, in faith and reliance on and obedience to the living God! These are not mutually exclusive realities. They go hand in hand. Faith without works is dead! Works without faith are powerless!

We must build that wall of prayer, that “stronghold” of prayer surrounding the enemy. Then our “sword swinging” will be effective. We will gain the high fort walls and defeat the enemy. And that’s no Arthurian fantasy.

Where I live there is much spiritual darkness, “there is distress and calamity here. The slopes are treacherous with torment, and disaster reigns over all.” The evil spirits in areas here are awake and busy at work. Do you see it where you live? It is there, make no mistake.

We as believers in Jesus Christ must be busy building that wall, that stronghold of prayer against the enemy who occupies the high ground. We cannot do this alone. Fellow believers must join together in lifting those heavy “stones” of prayer to assist in building that wall around the enemy.

We should also be busy “wielding the sword” of battle against the enemy forces, though we are far outnumbered, and fenced in by that very wall of prayer we have built. Our volunteering work with various Christian organizations, our churches as they reach into their communities, doing good in a multitude of ways, sending and supporting those whom God has called to carry the gospel to the ends of the earth; these are the “swords” wielded in battle! These are the physical exertions necessary to carry out the commands of Jesus Christ to demonstrate the gospel in our world.  

Years ago, when we served God by serving the needy in West Virginia through Mustard Seeds and Mountains, Randy called me into his office to view a video just posted by a church group that had been there for a week doing home repair and Bible clubs. As I watched, I got choked up and began to cry. I was seeing the ministry of Mustard Seeds and Mountains through the eyes of the volunteers who are Mustard Seeds for that week, and I thanked God I was a part of it. Today, Randy and I serve with Mustard Seeds in different ways, predominantly teaching and training, and building a wall of prayer. And like we did in West Virginia, we are doing good things. We are doing the right things, wielding the sword of obedience and good works. I am so happy to be part of doing “something” for the Kingdom of God!

Let’s all encourage one another to keep on. Keep building that wall of prayer, keep wielding the sword … “to win for the Lamb the fruit of His suffering.”

This blog post was first seen on Jacque’s original blog, jacquesjourney.blogspot.com, published August 5, 2009. She now posts on Living with Hope and Purpose, the website of jacquelinegwallace.com. It is reposted here with minor edits and updates.

Photo of Fort by Chris Curry on Unsplash

Photo of Stone wall by Annie Spratt on Unsplash

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Back to Blogging

After four months away from blogging, I’m back and hope to stay here posting more often.  In May, you could say I was thrown a curveball, health-wise, by an exacerbation (a big word for worsening) of the MG (myasthenia gravis). I was out of commission for several weeks as a result.

Thank God, my strength is nearly back to where it was before the curveball hit me and knocked me down.

As I cried out to him with this new hit to my health, the Lord brought this verse to mind, “Cast your burden upon the Lord and He will sustain you; He will never allow the righteous to be shaken” (Psalm 55:22 NASB).

I especially like the note in my Bible indicating the word “burden” can mean, “what he has given you.”

“What God has given me.” That put a completely new spin on the idea of a burden. Somehow, as bad as the burden might be, knowing God has given this burden to me for this time, and knowing God, it is for a reason, gives me hope. Even when I don’t know that reason or how long the ordeal.

How is that I have hope? My hope is rooted in the character of God, not circumstances.  I know God is compassionate and gracious, full of lovingkindness and truth (Exodus 34:6), and is righteous in all he does (Psalm 145:17).

And not only do I know it in my head from reading the words of Scripture. I have experienced God’s compassion and grace, his lovingkindness and truth and faithfulness. This experiential knowledge is part of me now.

 

Even when I cried out, “Why is this happening, God?” he reminded me to throw this curveball back to him.  Knowing that he wants me to give it back to him also gives me hope. I have confidence that “what God has given me” is not for my destruction but for my growth in grace, and God, who gave the burden, will hold me together and not allow me to be shaken to pieces (Colossians 1:17) for I belong to him by faith in Jesus Christ. I will not destruct, because his gracious hand is holding me (Psalm 37:24). Peace follows from the decision to trust God and throw the burden back onto him.

I cannot have hope and peace and confidence if I refuse to throw that burden back onto the Lord, if I turn my questions into a rant and accusation against God that refuses to remember all the goodness of the Lord poured out on my life.

I’m not referring here to an honest pouring out of your heart to God as you wrestle with the real circumstances you find yourself in. The psalmists did that all the time. But they came with humble hearts as well to the God they knew they could trust, even when it felt like he was absent.

I’m talking about continuing to accuse God and harden my heart. If I harden myself to his kindness, I may very well become so brittle that I will be shaken into a thousand pieces. I may very well self-destruct.

I do not want to go there. Ever. From that place, it is a hard, long road to get back to where I should be. And I don’t have to go there, I don’t even have to carry that heavy burden. God will.

If we give the burden back to him.

When we do our part of that verse (cast our cares on God), he does his part (keeps us together, keeps us from falling apart). I can attest to the truth of that.

This hope and peace God gives are available to anyone who will humbly come to Jesus, embrace the truth that God cares for us enough to carry our burden, and throw their burden on the Lord in the midst of their suffering. Hope and peace are there for us because God is faithful to do his part, holding us up and keeping us from falling apart.

Now, because of his goodness and faithfulness keeping me from being shaken to pieces, I am back at the keyboard creating blog posts.

What is threatening to shake your world? Be encouraged to trust in the goodness and faithfulness of the Lord in the midst of it.

 

Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash

Photo by Liane Metzler on Unsplash

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Love Does

“We can measure success by how many people attend church services on Sunday. Or we can measure success by how many people serve God and others on Monday.”[1]

Recently I’ve been pondering Hebrews 10:24, the verse that resonates with me as I think about the way I believe God wants to use me in his Kingdom work. “And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds” (Hebrews 10:24 NIV). Whenever I sign a copy of my book, Brokenness to Beauty, I write the reference to this verse behind my signature.

At the end of the day, I want to measure the success of my life’s influence on others by how many people love and serve God and other people on Monday, and every day. Of course, I may never see that in my lifetime, but whatever I do—whether writing, speaking or any interacting with others—I want people, myself included, strengthened and challenged to do what the Scriptures teach: love God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength and your neighbor as yourself. We’re all works in progress but we should be advancing in that direction.

There are many rich truths to pull out of this one verse. I don’t want to skip over them but like an archeologist carefully dig them out and lay them on the work table for us to consider. Where to start?

“And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds” (Hebrews 10:24 NIV). Let’s start with a look at the meaning of the original Greek word translated love in English.

You may already know or have guessed this one. This love is the Greek word agape; the love God has demonstrated for us and for the whole world. Mounce[2] describes it as generosity and kindly concern. Strong describes it as affection or benevolence.[3]

Though we can define a word with other words, what does agape love look like in action?

Action is a good way of thinking about agape love because when Jesus said God loved the world, his love wasn’t just about words. God proved his love; he did something. “God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16 NIV, emphasis added).

God loved; God gave. This is the essence of agape love. It gives. As a result of God’s active, agape love, “we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person? Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth” (1 John 3:16-18 NIV, emphasis added).

God showed us what his love is, what his generous, giving love is. Therefore, we should be clear that when it comes to loving God and our neighbor, words alone aren’t enough. Agape love is love in action. Agape love is a giving love, even sacrificial giving love. It is not just any action though; agape love is rooted in putting in to practice the Word and will of God.

Jesus was clear on that point when he said, “21Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.” He went on to explain. “22 Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ 23 Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’” (Matthew 7:21–23 NIV, emphasis added).

With Jesus’ words in mind, we could say, “Not all those who say they are Christians, come to church, or even do great exploits in Jesus’ name will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only those who go out and do the will of our Father in heaven: loving God and people and serving them Monday and every day.”

And in order to do the will of God, we need to know the Word of God so we can put it into practice, thus doing the will of God. Then we will love and serve God and others Monday and every day.

How could your actions this week be expressions of agape love, rooted in the Word and will of God?

 

First Photo by Nina Strehl on Unsplash

Second Photo by Claire Trafton

Third Photo Crucified with Christ

[1] Dr. Jim Denison, Denison’s Forum https://www.denisonforum.org/columns/cultural-commentary/560-million-lottery-winner-can-remain-anonymous/

[2] William D. Mounce, Interlinear for the Rest of Us (Grand Rapids: Zondervan) 2006

[3] James Strong, Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers)

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God’s Delights, Our Delights

I feel good when I’m creating something with my hands. There is an interesting phenomenon I became aware of one day several years ago while working on a project. I don’t remember what I was working on or even when or where this realization first came to me. But it was an actual physical sensation of pleasure radiating from inside me. An “inner smile” is the best way I can describe it. It comes unexpectedly when I stop to take a break from working on the item or when I finish a project. And when I sense that inner smile, it makes me smile on the outside too.

It has come at times when I’ve written a piece that has come together through struggle (as most of my writing comes). But when I found the words that were “right,” that resonated in my soul, there was that smile coming from the inside.

More often, though, I’ve sensed that inner smile of pleasure when I’ve been caught up in the creative process using my hands. It has come while creating a mosaic, adhering pieces of broken or cut glass into designs on a substrate. Or like the other day, when I was gluing a paper dust cover onto the back of an old 30″X 40″ frame I had refinished. This frame now holds a large filet crochet piece I crocheted over the course of several years, and a couple of moves across the country (from California to Georgia to West Virginia, a long time ago).

This inner smile I experience, this pleasure at doing something creative, not only causes me to smile outwardly but makes me think of the pleasure of God, that is, the pleasure God takes in his children when we are being and doing what is right and good, in love, reverence, and trust in him.

I started looking for just a few Scriptures that speak to what brings God pleasure and found these (this is not an exhaustive list, of course):

I know, my God, that you test the heart and have pleasure in uprightness. In the uprightness of my heart I have freely offered all these things, and now I have seen your people, who are present here, offering freely and joyously to you. (1 Chronicles 29:17 ESV, emphasis added)

Each one must do just as he has purposed in his heart, not grudgingly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. (2 Corinthians 9:7 NASB, emphasis added)

His delight is not in the strength of the horse,

nor his pleasure in the legs of a man,

11 but the Lord takes pleasure in those who fear him,

    in those who hope in his steadfast love. (Psalm 147:10-11 ESV, emphasis added)

Thus says the Lord: “Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, 24 but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the Lord.” (Jeremiah 9:23-24 ESV, emphasis added)

At that very time (Jesus) rejoiced greatly in the Holy Spirit, and said, “I praise You, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent and have revealed them to infants. Yes, Father, for this way was well-pleasing in Your sight.” (Luke 10:21 NASB, emphasis added)

Doesn’t it make you smile inside, and out, to read some of the things that bring joy, delight, and pleasure to our God? Think of it, we don’t have to be superheroes or wildly gorgeous or do some great feat of strength or daring to please him (sounds like what the world goes after, doesn’t it?). We don’t even have to be “wise and intelligent” in this world to bring joy to our Father. Maybe a sigh of relief is more accurate as a response to what God values and seeks in his children. Because I’m sure not any of those things.

To bring joy to our heavenly Father we only need be like little children in our simplicity and humility, loving God with all our heart, soul, and mind. And loving and treating others the way we want to be treated (Matthew 22:37–39; 7:12). “On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets,” Jesus said (Matthew 22:40). In other words, these two commands of God are the Bible in a nutshell (Romans 13:8–10).

And since God has given us everything we need to live a godly life in Christ Jesus (2 Peter 1:3), we can do this, we can make God smile. He’s given us his Spirit to live in us; “Christ in [us] the hope of glory.”

I’m working on cooperating with God. And learning. It’s my life goal to bring a smile to my Father’s face.

We don’t have to be rich, or good-looking, or famous, or smart, or … anything except actively loving God by “abiding in him,” which is obeying his word, and loving one another (John 14:15; 15:10, 12).

So our response to our gracious and merciful God should include these elements (again, this is not an exhaustive list):

Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven. (Jesus, in Luke 10:20 ESV, emphasis added)

Your words were found and I ate them,

And Your words became for me a joy and the delight of my heart;

For I have been called by Your name,

O Lord God of hosts. (Jeremiah 15:16 NASB, emphasis added)

In the uprightness of my heart I have freely offered all these things, and now I have seen your people, who are present here, offering freely and joyously to you. (1 Chronicles 29:17 ESV, emphasis added)

Therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, I urge you to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God; this is your spiritual worship. 2 Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God. (Romans 12:1-2 HCSB, emphasis added)

Trust in the Lord and do what is good …

4 Take delight in the Lord,

and He will give you your heart’s desires.

5 Commit your way to the Lord;

trust in Him, and He will act,

6 making your righteousness shine like the dawn,

your justice like the noonday. (Psalm 37:3-6 HCSB)

As I said, this is not an exhaustive list. You can add to it Scriptures that come to mind about what God values and delights in. Consider setting a goal for your Scripture reading in 2018 to look for these sorts of verses that clearly state what gives God joy and pleasure. And make being and doing those things your life goal. I guarantee that will give you an “inner smile” of pleasure.

May your New Year be filled with God’s delight in you!

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A ‘Christmas’ song I never thought I’d hear-a reblogged post

Today I am reposting an article by Dr. Jim Denison, from his blog Denison Forum. The subtitle is “How we can respond to the secularity of the season.” This is such a pertinent topic, and the article so well written, I wanted to share it with you.

We need to be reminded that though we believers in Jesus want to proclaim that “Jesus is the Reason for the Season,” and would like to rip Christmas out of the hands of the secular world, that isn’t exactly the Spirit of Jesus, in any season. A lot more could be said about the history of the time we call Christmas; about what Scriptures teach us about how we are to live in relation to God and men, at all times of the year; and how we, ourselves, actually celebrate Christmas. But I won’t in this post.

I’ll simply say, Jesus said we are the light in the darkness of the world. We are to be as wise as serpents and harmless as doves, while we take every opportunity to do good in this world, to those in the family of faith and those outside the family of faith.

I hope you’ll consider what Jim Denison has to say in his excellent article below.
A ‘Christmas Song’ I Thought I’d Never Hear: How we can respond to the secularity of the season

It was a strange weekend in the news.

Astronauts on the International Space Station made headlines after making pizza in space. Back on earth, the Pontiac Superdome survived implosion due to a wiring error. The first and only full supermoon of 2017 was last night. And college football fans are still debating the decision to include Alabama rather than Ohio State in this year’s tournament.

Meanwhile, I’ve been thinking about an event over the weekend that drew no news coverage whatsoever. My wife and I were watching one of the plethora of Christmas specials on television when a musical group presented a rendition of John Lennon’s “Imagine.” The now-famous lyrics begin:

Imagine there is no heaven / It’s easy if you try / No hell below us / Above us only sky / Imagine all the people living for today.

I never imagined that I would hear “Imagine” performed as a Christmas song. But that’s how secular the holidays have become.

According to Gallup, 95 percent of Americans celebrate Christmas, but only 51 percent describe the holiday as “strongly religious” for them. One in four American adults say December 25 is simply a cultural holiday, not a religious holy day. Only 49 percent of those who celebrate Christmas believe that the Virgin birth is historically accurate.

How should we respond to the escalating secularity of this season?

Using a pagan ship to witness to Caesar

Acts 28 tells the famous story of Paul’s voyage to Rome. As I was reading the narrative yesterday, I noticed this irony: the apostle was carried to Rome on “a ship of Alexandria, with the twin gods as a figurehead” (v. 11). These “twin gods” were Castor and Pollux, the twin sons of Zeus. They were believed to be deities that protected sailors at sea.

Such idolatry was anathema to the Jewish people. Saul the Pharisee would likely have refused to sail on a vessel dedicated to pagan gods. But Paul the apostle knew that he had a higher purpose. God had called him to be “a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before the Gentiles and kings” (Acts 9:15). Before his shipwreck at Malta, God said to him, “You must stand trial before Caesar” (Acts 27:24).

Now the Lord had provided a way for Paul to fulfill his call. And the apostle was willing to use the things of the world to accomplish the things of God.

This was Paul’s pattern throughout his ministry. In Athens, he used the pagan altar to “the unknown god” (Acts 17:23) to introduce the one true God. After he was rejected at the synagogue in Ephesus, he “withdrew from them and took the disciples with him, reasoning daily in the hall of Tyrannus” (Acts 19:9).

Through this “secular” strategy, the apostle reached far more people than if he had limited his ministry to the “sacred” synagogue. As a result, “all the residents of Asia heard the word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks” (v. 10).

Lost people don’t know they are lost

How would Paul approach the secularization of Christmas in our day? I believe he would offer this reminder: most lost people don’t know they are lost. They may be as religious as the Romans who dedicated their ship to false gods. Or they may not be religious at all.

Either way, they are deceived: “The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned” (1 Corinthians 2:14).

Here we learn that most secular people who ignore Jesus at Christmas don’t know better. They don’t intend to insult our Lord or his followers. They celebrate the secular traditions of the season with no real knowledge of its spiritual significance.

I know because I was one of them.

Growing up, my family never attended religious services at Christmas or any other season of the year. We never gave a moment’s thought to Jesus’ birth at Christmas.

But that didn’t mean we intended to insult those who did. I wasn’t antagonistic to the gospel—I was oblivious to it. I heard the truth about Jesus only after two men knocked on my apartment door when I was fifteen years old and invited me to ride their bus to their church. Prior to that invitation, I was lost but didn’t know it.

If Christians had responded to my secular Christmas observances by treating me as their enemy, they would have pushed me further from Jesus rather than drawing me closer to him. Instead, members of that church reached out to me with loving compassion. They understood my lack of spiritual knowledge and taught me what I needed to know.

I will quite literally be grateful to them forever.

How can we reach people who are where I was? One way is to use secular holidays to teach spiritual truth.

For instance, Martin Luther was the first to add lights to Christmas trees; he did so to point to Jesus as the “light of the world” (John 8:12). Holly wreaths with their sharp, pointed leaves were chosen to represent the crown of thorns Jesus wore on the cross; their small red berries symbolize his drops of blood. Evergreen wreaths likewise signify eternal life in him.

Nearly every Christmas tradition can be used to share timeless truth. If our Lord could use a ship dedicated to pagan gods to bring the gospel to Rome, he can use this secular season to bring Christ to our culture.

This is the promise, and the invitation, of God.
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How to Pray When You Don’t Know What to Say

“How to Pray When You Don’t Know What to Say” is a blog post by Sarah Forgrave (www.sarahforgrave.com), an introduction to her new book Prayers for Hope and Healing. I read Sarah’s article when she guest posted on Debbie W. Wilson’s Refreshing Faith website.

What caught my attention immediately was Sarah’s reference to her long-time approach to prayer; it was very much like what I’ve written about in my book Brokenness to Beauty, the ACTS in prayer which was so beneficial to me when I discovered it.

Here’s what I wrote in Brokenness to Beauty,  Chapter 11 “Prayer: Just Do It … But How?”:

“I distinctly remember when, as a college student, I cried out … in frustration to God. My ‘prayer life’ wasn’t working. I would make my prayer list and start my prayers by asking God this and that for so-and-so, and I meant it wholeheartedly. This would last for a day or two, but time after time my fervor would dwindle into mechanical words read from a list. I knew I had to pray with my heart, but I didn’t know how to maintain the transfer from my head to my heart. I sincerely yearned to communicate with God and effect change through prayer on behalf of others in need, yet I usually ended up feeling that I was falling short. I didn’t know what to do about it, so I did the only thing I did know to do: I asked God to help me.

A few years later I was introduced to a simple way of entering into God’s presence in prayer, one that’s easy to remember and rooted in the Scriptures. It changed the way I prayed and as a result, changed my life. It is called the ACTS of prayer.[i]

The acrostic stands for:

Adoration. Approach God in humility, reverence, and awe, and worship him for who he is. We learn about him as we read and study the Bible. He is holy, and we must approach him as such (Luke 11:2).

Confession. Sin acts as a wall between us and God, effectively blocking our prayers (Isaiah 59:2). We need to be sensitive to God’s Spirit on a daily basis as he speaks conviction to us, confessing and repenting of all known sin as soon as we are aware of it. That way, communication with God remains open (1 John 1:8–9).

Thanksgiving. The greatest acceptable sacrifice we can make to God (along with laying our lives at his feet as a living sacrifice, as Paul tells us to do in Romans 12:1) is the sacrifice of thanksgiving and praise (Hebrews 13:15). Our prayers are to be seasoned with gratitude.

Supplication. This is the part we normally think of as prayer: asking God for something (Luke 11:9–10). Our requests must be couched in the reverence and worship due to God as we seek first his will in the matter, with our prayer purged of known sin through confession and repentance, wrapped in trust, and infused with thanksgiving.”

As I wrote, “It changed the way I prayed and as a result, changed my life.”  It became the pattern for most of my prayers. When I read Sarah’s article, it seemed she used a similar way of praying.

But I also wrote in Brokenness to Beauty, “There are, of course, times when all we can do is burst out, ‘Lord help me!'” There are times when we are so burdened and feel so deeply our need, we cry out like the psalmists did, in the agony of our heart. We still approach God in humility and reverence, but we burst into his presence in the agony of our situation.

I think this is what Sarah found as well when she experienced tremendous physical struggles coping with a chronic disease,  and she found prayer too was a struggle. Her method of approaching God felt insufficient in her time of need.

I understand fully, having lived with a chronic disease for over 50 years and having faced the trauma of breast cancer and treatment, and then the fractures of both my femurs, rods surgically implanted in them, and months of physical therapy. Life gets hard at times and what is familiar can seem inadequate for the present struggle.

That’s why I want to share Sarah’s blog post with you and introduce you to her book, Prayers for Hope and Healing. If you are struggling right now, or know someone who is, and prayer seems just as hard, the old familiar patterns inadequate, this article and Sarah’s book may be just what you need.

Prayers for Hope and Healing by Sarah Forgrave

From the back cover of Prayers for Hope and Healing:

Amid Pain and Weakness…There is HOPE

Serious or chronic medical issues bring a litany of painful and confusing feelings that only someone else who’s been in a similar situation could possibly understand. Sarah Forgrave has walked the difficult road you find yourself on. And she empathizes with the uncertain future you face.

No matter the road ahead, you don’t have to face it alone. Even in the depths of your worst emotional and physical pain, God is right there beside you, offering His comfort, love, and peace.

As you read these heartfelt prayers and devotions, let this book be your manual to help navigate the difficult set of emotions that come with health issues. Read it front to back or go directly to the devotion addressing how you feel at any given moment…when you need it the most.

Above all, know that you are never, ever alone.

Read Sarah’s blog post as she shares “How to Pray When You Don’t Know What to Say”:

For most of my life, I approached prayer like a checklist. It went something like this. Adore God. Confess my sins. Thank Him for His forgiveness. Ask Him for what I want.

This checklist helped fill the awkward silence, but when life got hard, so did prayer.

Suddenly my adoration wasn’t so quick to rise to the surface. Instead of confession and gratitude, I was mad at God for letting me hurt. There were plenty of things I wanted Him to do, but I frankly didn’t have much faith He would follow through on them.

Have you found yourself in the same place?

To continue to read how Sarah learned to connect with God during hard times, you can see the full article here: https://debbiewwilson.com/how-to-pray/

Bio:

Sarah Forgrave is an author and wellness coach who loves inspiring others toward their full potential. In addition to her book, Prayers for Hope and Healing (Harvest House, October 2017), her writing credits include contributions to The Gift of Friendship, Guideposts’ A Cup of Christmas Cheer, and the webzine Ungrind. When she’s not writing or teaching, she loves to shop at Trader Joe’s or spend time with her husband and two children in their Midwest home. Visit Sarah at www.sarahforgrave.com, or at the following sites:

Facebook: www.facebook.com/AuthorSarahForgrave

Pinterest: www.pinterest.com/SarahForgrave

Instagram: www.instagram.com/SarahForgrave_Author

Twitter: www.twitter.com/SarahForgrave

 

 

[i] The ACTS of Prayer are explained at

http://prayercentral.net/engage-me/ways-to-pray/pray-with-acts