Month: February 2019

Leaning Is a choice

The young man leans into the young girl to plant a kiss on her cheek. The angry wife leans into her husband to let him know just how she feels. A child leans into their parent to find comfort. We lean into a heavy object to watch it move. Leaning is a conscious act of movement that a person must do. When we lean into to something we not only choose to do so, but we expect a response in return.

Just like the young man when he leans towards the young girl, she responds by unconsciously leaning back towards him. It’s a natural instinct to respond this way. When the child that is suffering because of hurt leans into their parent, the parent leans down, and comforts the child. Just like our heavenly Father will. Jesus’ wants and desires us to lean into Him. He wants our first reaction when we have anger, hurt, love and so many more emotions, to lean into His arms that are always stretched out for us. Just like our natural instinct is to lean in response to those who lean into us, so is Jesus’ He will respond by leaning down and holding us in the place that we are at. We don’t have to feel we can only bring certain things to Jesus, He wants us to bring it all to Him.

It’s so easy when things happen in our lives to turn to our friends and family, and find comfort, or encouragement from them, but we must first learn to lean into or best friend, Jesus. This past week I’ve learned that its not easy, or natural, for me to automatically go to My Savior each time. The song that keeps coming to mind by John Stallings says, “learning to lean, learning to lean, I’m learning to lean on Jesus. Finding more power than I ever dreamed. I’m learning to lean on Jesus”.

That’s the awesome thing with Jesus, as we practice daily leaning on Him, He gives us the strength each day to get through things we never thought possible, touch lives for Him that no one else could have ever touched. It’s through that practice of leaning on Jesus that we can see mountains moved, and souls saved! Just like when we lean into a heavy object we expect movement, we can also expect movement from Jesus when we lean into Him. This week, when things seem to flood into your life, stop, and cry out to Jesus and lean into Him through prayer and reading our Bible and I Promise that he will lean back into you and you will see movement in the situation. Just like the parent that gets down on their knees to comfort the child, that will be Jesus. He will lean into our lives amongst all the mess, and heartache, and joy, and He will comfort, clean us up, and rejoice with us. Our only job is to LEAN.

Psalm 34:18 The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.
Psalm 40:1 I put all my hope in the Lord. He leaned down to me; He listened to my cry for help (CSB). 

Obedience in the little things

We all like to be noticed, right? We want to be asked to do a job that is big and important. Something that will be noticed when we get done. Many people like to be in the spotlight so that when they do something it is noticed. Our human nature wants to feel important, appreciated, and needed.

Yet, although it’s good to recognize people, and let them know they have done a great job, sometimes God is going to call us to do the ordinary so that we don’t get the glory, but that God does. The man Naaman who had a skin disease, called leprosy, had a problem that many of us have. He wanted to do anything that would make him look better, stronger, or tougher but it was harder for him to do an ordinary thing, so God could do the extraordinary. We see that Naaman came to the prophet Elisha because, he had been told by his wife’s servant girl, that Elisha could heal him of his leprosy. Now remember Naaman was a man that had worked his way up in the ranks of the army. He had strips on his uniform and was well known for his leadership skills. He was a man that could be depended on yet, he had an annoying thing about him that he was ready to get rid of and that was his skin issue. So, when he heard that there was this guy that could make it go away, he was going! He took a bunch of gold, and gifts, and headed out with one of his officers. When Naaman finally made it to Elisha’s house, Naaman expected this man to come running out and just heal him. But, to Naaman’s surprise the man Elisha didn’t even come out of the house! He sent his servant to talk to Naaman. Naaman the man that was a high-ranking official felt slighted because a servant came to talk to him and then, to make things even worse, all the servant told him was to go and wash in the muddy Jordan river seven times. Naaman was so mad he stomped away and pouted. Naaman was headed home, he figured he could go to a river near to him and get the same results that bathing in the Jordan river could do for him. It was the words of his wise officer that stopped him. He said Naaman, if Elisha had asked you to do some great thing you would have done it. Why not humble down and just try. I can see his officer now saying look, were out here in the middle of nowhere, no one can see us, if it doesn’t work then what happens at the Jordan, stays at the Jordan. So, Naaman agrees, he immersed himself seven times and on that seventh time he came up healed!

How many times has God asked us to wash in the muddy Jordan, yet we rebel because its not what we want to hear, the word God gave us came from a place or person we didn’t want to hear it from. Or maybe we don’t do it because its NOT where everyone can see, that we did it. As a Christian were told that we must decrease so God can increase. It’s not till we take ourselves out of the spotlight and agree to let God use us in the small things, and in the quiet ways that we will be able to see God move in the BIG ways! Take a moment to reflect and ask God what is it that He has been trying to get you to do that you have let your pride of being noticed get in the way. And, ask God to help you step aside so he can step up!

John 3:30 He must increase, but I must decrease. (CSB)
Mark 9:35 Sitting down, he called the Twelve and said to them, “If anyone wants to be first, he must be last and servant of all”. (CSB)

Identity

As a young girl every summer I would go to a church camp and spend the week there. When I was a pre-teen and growing up if someone would ask me who I was, I would just tell them my name and they would have no clue who I was, but if I would say I’m so and so’s daughter, ahh then a light bulb would come on and everyone knew who I was. As I got older and went on to Bible Collage people started to know me with out me mentioning my parents because I started to develop an identity of my own. We all have been known for either who we used to be, or who we associate with. Even in the Bible the great men of God were identified this way.

In 2 Kings 2, Elisha had just watched his beloved leader Elijah be taken up into heaven in a chariot of fire. The one thing that Elisha requested from Elijah was to have twice the amount of God’s blessing on his life that Elijah had. When Elijah was taken away, Elisha picked up Elijah’s coat and took it with him. When he came to the river, they had crossed earlier, Elisha called out to God and asked for Him to show Himself to him. The waters of the river split, and Elisha passed back through on dry ground again, just as he and Elijah had done earlier. The people that were watching were impressed and spoke about how God was now with Elisha. Then, the very next chapter, in 2 Kings, the Israelites were going to war against another country and the kings were asking to speak to a prophet. One of the soldiers said, hey there’s a guy with us that used to be the right-hand man for Elijah, maybe he could help. Let’s stop here and think about this. Elisha had just been blessed with double the blessing of Elijah, and he had just split the waters of the river, yet, he was still known as just the “right-hand man of Elijah”. Elisha’s identity was still on who he used to be.

We are so often known by our past, and when we become a Christian it may take some time for our friends and family to see that were different. They may still see us as the sinner we used to be that was out every Friday night, or the mother that was always short tempered with her children, or the husband that didn’t care for his wife like the bible instructs him to. We all have a past that can be hard to separate ourselves from. To change how people see us takes time and walking close to God and listening to His voice. As time starts to pass people will start to forget the man or women you used to be, and you will be known for who you are now.

Although we want to be remembered and recognized for the person God has changed us into we must also remember that what we did in the past good or bad, is what we can use as a testimony to see lives changed. Elisha’s past of always being close to Elijah, helped train him to be able to accept the double blessing from God. Without his past he would never have been ready for that. We can look at Saul, who had a terrible past, he was a murderer, a leader of a terrorist group. His whole purpose in life was to kill the Christians. But, one day he meets Jesus and he was soon a changed man. Saul even changed his name to Paul and it took some time for people to no longer see him as the evil man he was. Every time Paul got the chance to give his testimony, he would tell of his awful past and then tell of how God had changed him.

Today remember that no matter your past, or what you have done, you can change how people view you and how they recognize you. Also remember that your past no matter what it is, is also your testimony because it is that past that can witness to people to show them that there is a way out of the situation they are in. This week I challenge you to share your salvation story with someone, it may change their life! You can share how God uses you in the comments below.
2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, and see, the new has come! (CSB).

God of more than enough!

There was once a woman whose husband had died and left her with two sons. Times were rough, and she did all she could to care for her sons, but her husband had accumulated debt before he had died, and she was struggling. It was so bad the creditors were fixing to repo somethings. There was a preacher in her town that she decided to go visit and discuss what was going on in her life. So, she went and explained to this preacher all about her debt and the struggles she was facing. The preacher asked her if she had anything left in her home. She told him all she had was some oil. The preacher instructed her to go home, borrow as many jars as she could from her family and neighbors. He then told her to take the containers into their house and start to pour the oil that she had into the empty containers. The widow didn’t ask the preacher questions she just acted on what he told her. So, as she poured, and poured, and poured her little oil filled every empty container that she had borrowed. It was so much oil that she was able to sell it, pay off her debt, and have left overs to live on. You may have guessed by now were talking about the widow that Elisha was able to minister to. We have heard this story many times in Sunday school yet how often do we really pay attention to what this means for us?

Over and over we find where God shows up with not just enough but with overflowing answers to prayer. The five fish and two loaves were more than enough to feed the five thousand, they had left overs. The water that was changed into wine was more than enough to get through the rest of the wedding and it was better than they had before God showed up.

We are so scared to ask God for abundance when over and over He has shown in scripture that He’s a God of more than just enough! He wants to bless us so big that we have leftovers to share.

I think of our marriages, and how He wants our marriage to be more than just mediocre, but its His will that it be overflowing and abundant. He wants our lives to be so filled with the Holy Spirit that we aren’t just Sunday morning church goers but that we are overflowing. The ultimate overflowing that I’m reminded of is Gods promise of salvation. He says he doesn’t just forgive for sinning against him but that he has removed them as far as the east is from the west!

No matter what you are facing have the faith to pray for abundance so that you can have more than enough to show others how to find Jesus!

Psalm 103:10-13 He has not dealt with us as our sins deserve or repaid us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his faithful love toward those who fear him. As far as the ease is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us. As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him (CSB)