Some Christmases I have a harder time preparing my heart for the humility and worship it takes to receive the Christ-child again into the manger of my heart.
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My own flaws are very much on my mind today, mainly because the people in my life are so wonderfully forgiving of them. The mercy and grace I am shown week in and week out in my friendships bows my heart down in humility.
Read MoreMany people are having difficulty these days deciding how to vote. The issues are complicated, and we have the flaws of the candidates before us more than we ever have before. We have always had sinful candidates, but the media and the lack of civility in politics make sure we know the sordid details of our current crop all day long- whether we want to hear it or not. Even Christians are having difficulty trying to decide which candidate to vote for- often feeling conflicted about voting for a sinful man with a Godly platform versus a candidate whose sin is less well known with a platform that goes against God’s will.
To me the answer is simple: I know that God will always forgive a repentant sinner, but He will never condone a platform that violates His Word.
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There will be no trash talking in Heaven. No condemnation of others’ ideas, no constructive criticism, no arguing about theology or politics. There will only be love, praise, worship, fellowship, and devotion. We had better start now practicing speaking truth, love and adoration for the King ALL DAY LONG. We had better start beefing up our vocabulary for conveying tenderness, holy ardor, and worship to better fit us for our future home.
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FAITH
I will not doubt, though all my ships at sea
Come drifting home with broken masts and sails;
I shall believe the Hand which never fails
Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 2 Corinthians 3:17
I park in a cage. In my condo complex, a special area is set aside for residents to drive their cars into; it is enclosed by a giant metal cage that is secure. The gate closes behind me when I am in, and no nonresident can come in.
When I walk from my car to the door of my building even late at night, I feel complete safety inside the cage. I take my time unloading my groceries, walk at a leisurely pace, and am unconcerned if I see someone walking toward me. Outside the cage is a different story. I pick up the pace to get from my car to the building.
Being a Christian is like that.
Read MoreWhen my Dad landed on the beaches of Normandy on June 6, 1944, he was a skinny kid of 23, whose heart was moved to trade the life he lived with his three brothers and one sister in rural Georgia to answer the call to defend his country against evil. He did not know as he approached the coast that he would be in the very middle of 10,000 other men losing their lives in that defense. He did not know that he would be forever changed by what he experienced that day.
Read MoreYou don’t have to be a parent to feel the deep sadness and unspeakable loss of the parents in Uvalde, Texas. When evil took over the mind and thoughts of a young man and he took the lives of 19 elementary school children and 2 teachers, all of America took notice—with very different reactions.
Read MoreI have had a small picture frame sitting empty on a table in my bedroom since I moved almost a year ago. It is almost the exact dimensions of a ruler, a size that begged to have a Bible verse inserted instead of a photograph. What a decision it has been to choose from all the wonderful verses which one would be the first one I would see every morning.
Read MoreIn the past several days, we have watched a forty mile long convoy of well-trained, organized, and heavily armed Russian soldiers bear down on tiny Ukraine. They are now in major cities, and lives are being lost on both sides.
Here in America, some of my friends are despairing over the state of U.S politics and are looking to leaders to emerge to save us from our own conflicts and divisiveness. Looking to human leadership has never been a winning strategy. Our only hope is the Lord. The words to one of my favorite hymns keeps coming to mind as I fix my eyes upon Jesus as my only hope and confidence in matters foreign and domestic.
O soul are you weary and troubled
No light in the darkness you see
There's light for a look at the Savior
And life more abundant and free
Turn your eyes upon Jesus
Look full in his wonderful face
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim
In the light of his glory and grace
I was surprised at my reaction to a devotional I read this week. In Daily With the King, Glyn Evans talks about the wounds of God. He says, “When Jesus asked Peter, ‘Lovest thou me?’ He hurt him.” Evans speaks of Jacob limping away from his encounter with God Almighty. But this is the line that arrested my heart:
“If I have never experienced His grieving, correcting, rebuking, or chastening, I know very little of Him.”
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What happens when you have an encounter with God’s holiness? I can tell you what happened to three men who did and how their lives were transformed; they are still inspiring others to have their own encounters through their writing and their examples.
Read More2022 is off to a wonderful start thanks to the books, sermons, and insights given to me by many friends in the past weeks. When I looked at 2022 in December, it seemed blurry; I could not seem to grasp what God wanted from my year. But I want to share a few gifts of wisdom others have shared with me. I hope it will bless your 2022 as well.
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I hope you have had a wonderful year and are entering Christmas with joy and laughter. You may be in the wide place God sometimes gives us for respite from the world and its afflictions.
But when I prayed for my friends this morning, I realized that many were entering Christmas weary, discouraged, or sad.
Read More14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son[d] from the Father, full of grace and truth…
16 For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. John 1:14 & 16
Christmas is enough of a miracle just by delivering mankind from darkness, sin, and bondage, but just to let me know He is still in the miracle business, the Lord sent me my own miracle on this busy Saturday before Christmas.
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Today I am writing you with great exultation because we all have been given a Christmas outfit that is more dazzling than anything you have ever found under the tree! Isaiah 61 gives us the many reasons Christ came to earth and was born in a manger with the expressed intent to die for our sins and to give us life forevermore in His presence. But He added some beautiful things with that gift, gifts that will adorn us to walk through our daily lives robed in a way that shines for Him and draws the unsaved to the Light of the World.
Read MoreMy recent bout with COVID has left me filled with gratitude. Bet satan did not see that one coming. Neither did I. I would, however, have to be deaf, dumb, and blind not to see all God opened my eyes to when I was forced to be still for a couple of weeks. I am grateful:
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There is a type of hug that only a few people in your life will be able to give you. You can go decades without one of these hugs. It is a hug so tight that it says, “There is not an inch of daylight between us. Nothing is standing between us. There is no embarrassment or awkwardness that is going to stop me from hugging you with all my might. I am going to embrace you totally, with all I’ve got and I won’t quit hugging you like that until you hug me back.” I got one of those today—from the Lord.
I have had good quiet times lately; the Word never fails, but the oneness that I long to feel from the Holy Spirit was just not strong and tight. He was still holding me and hugging me, but I have not been hugging Him back. You see, for a real soul-healing hug to take place, both parties have to be totally in it. I needed to be clinging to Him with the desperation and devotion I had when He first saved me, but I was measuring out my response to Him in spoonfuls. Do you remember when a relative wanted to hug it out with you when you were young and you loved them but you were holding back- almost afraid of all that love coming at you? Well, I was doing that with my beloved Father, the King of the Universe who paid an unspeakable ransom for me. I was being polite and deferential, maybe even reverent, but I was not holding on to Him in a way that said, “I love you so deeply and consumingly that I cannot get close enough to you, but I am going to try. I want to be so aligned with you that I don’t know where you begin and I end. It cannot get too close for me. Give me all you’ve got!”
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Get wisdom, get understanding;
do not forget my words or turn away from them.
Do not forsake wisdom, and she will protect you;
love her, and she will watch over you. Proverbs 4:5-6 NIV
I have just spent the most delightful hour with one of the wisest women I know.
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