Hopeful Service

Wow, it has been a long time since I've blogged.  I suppose December was filled with cookie decorating and Christmas celebrations.   In January I have been focusing on being more healthy and decluttering.  But today, this really hit me because it is my heart's desire to honor God and encourage others toward Him.

 If your sincere intent is to glorify God & bless people in your efforts,
And you are not motivated by self-focused unloving attitudes,
You will see the hand of God move with you as you do your work.
                                                                      (Dallas Willard, “Who Is Your Teacher?”)

So my job is not to move God’s hand or to make my work effective;  my job is to keep a right heart, one that:
• makes God’s goodness, beauty, strength and power obvious (glorifying God),
• intends to bless people,
• is selfless and loving.

People and circumstances were wearing away my belief that I work with God and God works with me. That despair keeps me from trusting that God’s hand is moving even if I can’t see it. I serve the Lord Jesus Christ, not myself, not publishers, not even my readers, students or directees. Jan Johnson

 "May not a single moment of my life be spent outside the light, love and joy of God's presence and not a moment without the entire surrender of myself as a vessel for Him to fill full of His Spirit and His love."  Andrew Murray

So, my prayer today is to cooperate with God in His kingdom work of spreading the Good News of the Gospel of Grace.  I want to impact others lives but I get discouraged when I don't see anything happening.  Maybe it's because God knows I'd be prone to pride and think it was "my works" that were drawing people to Christ rather than His kindness.  I pray to keep a pure heart before the Lord, ready and willing to be His servant.

 Romans 15:13 (NLT)   I pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust in him. Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit.

 

Sober assessment

I like this quote by David Brooks, "Humility is having an accurate assessment of your own nature. It’s having an accurate assessment of your own place in the cosmos. It’s an awareness that you’re an underdog in the struggle against your own sins. It’s an awareness that individual talents are inadequate to the tasks that have been assigned to you. It’s understanding yourself in the context of a greater divine order. Knowing you’re not the center of the universe and you need redemptive assistance to complete your tasks."

Is that person really a Christian????

Bottom line, only God knows...but this  article by Ed Underwood is good  for if you are wondering where a person really is at in their journey....
http://us6.campaign-archive1.com/?u=14ef0b5c9a2b19b53f26c3e60&id=72694827db&e=d2c4cc85c9

Poem from the IF Gathering 2014

Esther Generation (From IF:Gathering)

 

They say you should travel light

But most of our lives we carry it all on our backs

These days it isn’t our arms that stay weighed down

It’s our minds

We wake up in a panic

Its our thoughts that hyperventilate for fear

Of making mistakes.

 

For fear of failing or succeeding

Or fear that we’ll never move past our past

That we’ll be exactly who they said we’d be

That we’ll never be more than what was done to us

That we will continue to be taken advantage of

That we should accept shame as a companion to carry with us

That we should let the lies befriend us

 

The lies

started in a garden

Spoken slyly by a slithering serpent with his syrupy sweet: “Did God really say?”

 

And we’ve be doubting ever since

 

Allowing an unwelcome guest to make himself at home in our lives, minds, gardens

Keep us bound with slithering fear

that we are damaged goods

 

Never going to be good enough

Not enough brains, not enough brawn

Not enough guts to take anything on.

 

But there is no time for being soft or weak

That at all times we have to be tough

That We’ll never be perfect that

We’ll never be worth it

That we’ll never be enough

And sometimes we feel God calling us, nudging us

Trying to show us

 

but somehow we stay trapped

Behind walls of unbelief and unforgiveness

Our arm’s a weary rope caught in a vicious tension

Tug of war between our fear and our calling

Between worry and peace

Comfort and inconvenience

Comparing ourselves to each other

While battling low self esteem

 

Do we do what’s practical?

Or follow our dreams?

Do we take care of ourselves?

Or meet others people’s needs?

Should we fight?

Should we please?

 

Should we hide from who we are to put other people at ease?

 

And then the lies begin to echo and amplify

Loser

Time abuser

Mess producer

Who needs you?

She’s so much better

Just look at her

You actually thought that was a good idea?

 

Open your mouth and they’ll laugh long enough that you’ll shut your mouth

You aren’t smart enough

You aren’t good enough

You aren’t sharp enough

 

Who do you think you are?

 

Fear is our chain and it’s rattling us hard

It’s the poison that deadens our hearts

 

Fear of failing

Fear of flailing

Fear of the arrows

Fear of the way named narrow

Fear of the shear rock in front of you that begs you sweat and climb

Climb out of that drug dead comforting pit they call status quo

And break right up through the earth and into the life you were born for

 

In the now of your life while there is still time and hunger in your veins

Turn around and shake off that snake

Because it’s head’s been crushed, no pulverized

So let go of the lie.

 

Sometimes we imagine that God’s voice is a disappointed hard lined teacher

Who is waiting to whack our knuckles with a ruler for any imperfections

 

But that isn’t God’s voice at all

 

That isn’t Gods heart at all

 

He speaks tenderly

He doesn’t need to raise his voice

He speaks as if He’s right next to us

 

Because He’s right next to us

 

Because He goes before us

 

Because His spirit lives inside us

 

He starts with love

And not because He is a hopeless romantic

But mostly because

 

He is ALL LOVE and HOPE and SECOND CHANCES

 

Let go of the fanged lie and bind the wound with dressings of Truth that will heal your bloodied soul

Take that sharp edge of His Word and hack that snake creeping up the back your neck

The words

The only life hack that will hack off the lie of the snake and make your life whole

 

We fear that the place we think God’s love will run out or dry up

 

We fear that place where we think God’s love will run out, dry up, fall of the edge

 

And we’ll be left dangling beyond its reach

 

We fear that somewhere God’s love ends

 

But His love never runs out

 

His steadfast love surpasses suburbia

Canvases from skyscrapers to street corners from porch to stoop

 

His love is looking for you.

 

Who would you be?

What would you do?

 

If you weren’t afraid

 

Could be that you’ve always wanted to come up through the ground

in some desolate place that needed a tree

To bear some fruit for someone with their tongue stuck to the dry roof  

of their parched mouth

To be a limb that held some baby abandoned

To be a limb that someone could used to swing over the fence and free

 

We were made from dust

A bit of earth kissed by heaven

made to be groundbreakers

And peacemakers

And freedom shakers

 

So you can take your glossy Vogue covers and use them for washing windows

Because we’ve always thought the most beautiful women have dirt under their fingernails

And could shake a bit of the very earth out of their warn and pioneering shoes

 

And lets redefine comfort zone because wherever He takes you

You are with the comforter

Wherever He calls you

You are always in his comfort zone

 

So live all your present moments in His presence

To keep company with Christ

To get in on the best

 

There’s a whole Esther generation right here and now and it is us.

 

Who come broken

Who are done being defeated by fear and worry and stress

Because it advertises the unreliability of God

 

Who want hard and Holy things because we want more than hallow lives

A life more than self focus and cell phones

More than iPhones, iTunes and iLove

Who want a life of loving the least, the lonely, and the lost

There is a whole Esther generation rising right here and now and it is us

 

Who are done with easy

Who know that being like Christ and caring for the poor in body and soul

 

There’s a whole Esther generation right here and now and it is us.

 

Who come broken

Who are done being defeated by fear and worry and stress

Because it advertises the unreliability of God

 

Who want hard and Holy things because we want more than hallow lives

A life more than self focus and cell phones

More than iPhones, iTunes and iLove

Who want a life of loving the least, the lonely, and the lost

There is a whole Esther generation rising right here and now and it is us

 

Who are done with easy

Who know that being like Christ and caring for the poor in body and soul

Means more than just caring about easing our consciences

It means living real sacrifice

 

There is a whole Esther generation rising right here and now and it is us

 

Who say now is the time for the faith brave

To sky dive and fly

To remember that we don’t have to strive to be anyone

To stop taking issue with what God made

To accept that our perfect God makes no mistakes

 

There’s a whole Esther generation rising right here and now and it is us

 

To take the weight we carry on our backs

And offer it back to the savior who already carried the weight of the world on his shoulders

Who surrender

Who lay out alabaster hopes and dreams at the feet of our Savior

 

There is a whole Esther generation rising right here and now and it is us

 

Who will no longer look for peace in opinions

But to find our solid ground in the truth

 

There are many tomorrows to face

But today, lets open our hearts and our wounds and our stories

To the great story teller

That our lives may be chiseled by His pen

 

That we may

BELIEVE

and LOVE

and PRAY

and FIGHT

and REST

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

http://www.theoverwhelmedwoman.com/2014/02/esther-generation-poem-from-ifgathering/

Okay, I'm listening.....

“I think God wants us to be whole, too, but maybe sometimes the only way he can make us whole is to teach us things we can learn only by being not whole. “

Madeleine L’Engle Irrational Season

“I had gorged myself on all the products of the Christian industrial complex but was spiritually starving to death. I was marked by an overconsumption but malnourished spiritually, suffocated by Christianity but thirsty for God.”  Jen Hatmaker, Interrupted

May God be your greatest distraction.  Karen Spears Zacharis, blog 2/29/13

 I'm pondering:

How Institutionalism Inhibits our Expectation of the Supernatural

February 18, 2013
S. Michael Craven

---

By reducing our conceptions of the church to an institution or organization to be managed, there often follows a decreased expectation of the supernatural in the affairs and activities of the church and, by extension, the individual Christian. Rather than seeking results beyond our human schemes and expectations, we find ourselves managing the church as an enterprise in which results can be forecast and progress measured using metrics common to modern business. The watchword becomes “measurable results,” without which an activity is deemed unworthy of pursuit or, if implemented, unsuccessful. Lost is the concept of faithfulness to our Lord and the principles of his kingdom, which may not always yield success in terms visible to us.

This, I think, is why “making disciples” is often exchanged for proselytism—because conversions are more easily measured than spiritual growth. The result can be evangelistic efforts and campaigns that are aimed at obtaining professions of faith, which as we now know are often nothing more than assent to a set of ideological propositions. This might explain why seventy-seven percent of American adults claim to be Christian and yet a mere four percent agree with the most basic tenets of the Christian faith. In the absence of true spiritual growth—in which our conceptions of reality are informed by Scripture—we can remain immature in our understanding and practice of the Christian faith.

Additionally, conversion through mere intellectual assent may remain devoid of real spiritual transformation. In the absence of an incarnational experience, one is left with an understanding of being Christian as merely following a set of do’s and don’ts—a life of self-reliant sin management. The unhealthy institutionalization of the church only reinforces this false notion, thus perpetuating a false understanding of what it truly means to follow Jesus.

Lastly, institutionalization has a dramatic impact on our expectations of the office of pastor. Instead of shepherd, the pastor is expected to function as the CEO—the person primarily responsible for the so-called success of the organization. As a shepherd, the pastor is devoted to the spiritual well-being and maturity of the flock. This is an activity beyond the scope of measurable metrics. In contrast to task-oriented church leaders, the pastor who shepherds a faith community through the competent exposition of the Scripture in a spirit of self-sacrificial service to those entrusted to his care leads a flock that thrives.

Sadly, the institutional mind-set has little patience for such pastors who invest more in the spiritual growth of their people rather than the numerical growth of the congregation. This might explain why only one out of ten men who enter the pastorate today will survive until retirement. This is an appalling statistic that reveals unhealthy expectations, which when unmet result in the pastor being kicked to the curb. I can’t imagine Jesus treating people the way we frequently treat those who have been called to preach the gospel!

© 2013 by S. Michael Craven
http://www.battlefortruth.org/How_Institutionalism_Inhibits_our_Expectation_of_the_Supernatural.asp?

A Listening Heart

A Listening Heart

There is a magnet in a seeker’s heart
whose true north is God.
It bends toward the Voice of God
with the ear of the heart
and, like sunflowers in the sun,
turns all of life toward
the living of the Word.

This listening is pure of pride
and free of arrogance.
It seeks wisdom—
everywhere, at all times—
and knows wisdom by the way
it echoes
the call of the scriptures.

The compass of God implanted
in the seeker’s heart
stretches toward truth
and signals the way to justice.

A truly listening heart knows
that we lose the chance for truth
if we give another—any other—
either too much, or too little,
control over the conscience
that is meant to be ours alone.

And yet, at the same time
mutual obedience,
real listening,
holy listening
forever seeks the spiritual dialogue
holy wisdom demands.

This listening with the heart
to the insights of another
is not the obedience of children,
or soldiers,
or servants,
or minions.
It is the obedience given to a lover
because of love alone.
– fromThe Monastery of the Heart: An Invitation to a Meaningful Life by Joan Chittister

Is.  50:4 (adapted) O, Sovereign Lord  give me  words of wisdom,
      so that I  may know how to comfort the weary.
   Morning by morning awaken me
      and open my understanding to Your  will.

Teach me to listen.

Tension

I feel a constant tension, but I guess it isn't a bad thing.  As the lyrics to the song, Altar and Door (by Casting Crowns) go, I  am between who I was, who I am and who God is making me to be.

I was also thinking of the song Who Am I, (by Casting Crowns)

Who am I, that the Lord of all the earth
Would care to know my name
Would care to feel my hurt
Who am I, that the Bright and Morning Star
Would choose to light the way
For my ever wandering heart
Not because of who I am
But because of what You've done
Not because of what I've done
But because of who You are...

Thanks, God for a brisk walk and thoughts of you. Thanks for my fluffy, handsome walking partner who drags me along.   Thanks for health and the ability to walk.  Thanks for a balmy day in January and the bright sunshine.  Thanks for an I-pod so I can listen to tunes while I walk.  Thanks for who you are and for working in me.

My mindset

(photo from biologycorner.com)



The issue of mindset has come up several times this week.  I have been thinking about how Christ is not part of my life....but is my very life.  In these verses in Col. 3:1-4 it speaks about how,  if I am dead and alive in Christ I should set my mind on things above.  What does that mean?  The same idea came up in Small Group in Romans 8:5 of the mind set on things of the Spirit.   So as this new year is off and running I want to keep in mind the "1 thing" (Luke 10:42) to fellowship with and abide in Christ;  to seek first His kingdom (Matt. 6:33) and to know Him more fully (Phil. 3:10).  Lord, please teach me what it means and how to set my mind on things above.

I Can Only Imagine, Or Can I?

"God can do anything, you know—far more than you could ever imagine or guess or request in your wildest dreams! He does it not by pushing us around but by working within us, his Spirit deeply and gently within us." Ephesians 3:20 (The Message)

This verse has come up several times this week.  Now, I am not a person with a vivid imagination. I hate to read fantasy fiction or allegory.  I pretty much think in terms of black and white (maybe I'm being stretched in that area?)  But I do need to expand my dreams when it comes to prayer.