On my heart…

Hey, everyone! It’s been a while, and it is said that confession is good for the soul. I have been sliding lately. I’ve let this, that, and something else come in between me and the Lord and have neglected to read/study my Bible. There. That’s done. Time for a 180 and run the other direction.

I was scrolling through Instagram this morning and came across a woman lamenting over feeling overwhelmed and under accomplished and under appreciated. She’s a mom trying to do it all and feeling like she is failing miserably.

Well, I put that away because I was so frustrated and upset at not only her laments, but also her language – that’s a blog for another day.

Then I got out my Bible study for today. Here is the bit of a verse that I am focusing on today –

Romans 12:12 – “Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.”

I’m focusing on “patient in affliction”. Now, other versions transcribe it as “in the tribulation, abiding/remaining/enduring”.

Patience/endurance is something that I rarely pray for, if I’m honest. I know that if I choose to ask for this virtue, I’m going to have to go through some tough times to even come close to getting it semi-correct. And, if you are like me, going through tough times is not your cup of tea. But, I have found, they come anyway. Especially in today’s world. It’s hard. It’s hard if you’re working. It’s hard if you’re retired. It’s hard if you are a parent. It’s hard if you are a student. It’s hard if you’re married. It’s hard if you’re single.

That being said – Life is hard.

In John 15:1-8, Jesus isn’t speaking to unbelievers. He is speaking to His followers. He is speaking to people that have made the choice to accept the Truth and have chosen Him as their Savior – their Provider of salvation and freedom from sin and the Law. He is wanting them to stay close to Him. He wants them to allow Him to make them more than they are at that time. He wants them to stay (abide/remain/endure) with Him no matter what. No matter if He changes/alters/fixes the circumstances or situations or not. He wants them to be next to Him. Remain in Him.

Remaining/enduring/abiding is hard. It’s easy to slide away. It’s easy to sit down and just slowly creep away than to stand firm.

The reason for this is tribulation. Tribulation, or affliction in the quoted verse, isn’t necessarily what is talked about in prophecy – The Great Tribulation. No, this is something more like what we see every day. It’s what I saw on Instagram this morning. It’s feeling pressure from every direction. It’s society telling you that you aren’t good enough or smart enough or accomplished enough or pretty enough because you aren’t doing this, this and this. It’s the generally accepted idea that if you don’t have your calendar packed full and you aren’t 100% successful in each and every situation, then you aren’t enough. And if you can’t do these things quickly enough, then you are a failure – you’re weak – you’re not worthy. For me, that is the tribulation mentioned here.

But God….

When you look at the original word for “patient” in this verse, it has a prefix. This prefix means “under, beneath, below, underneath”. In essence, the word used in Romans 12:12 for “patient” means – “to stay under, or behind, to remain, to persevere, endure, to abide, to undergo or bear, regardless of the situation and the corresponding decisions and actions of others”.

To put that into my own words, “in the tribulation, abiding/remaining/enduring” means no matter what the world (Satan) throws at you, no matter how under accomplished/overwhelmed/under appreciated you feel, stay under the wing of your Savior – stay close to Him and don’t sit down and start to slide – stay where it is warm and cozy and safe – you are enough – He has loved you so much that so many years ago He died for you – stay with Him.

Our world needs to hear this. Our world is suffering from all the yuck the devil puts out there. Too many people are feeling they are not enough. They don’t know or understand how to abide because it has never been an option. We have this freedom. We have this choice. Jesus gave it to us and the world needs it now more than ever.

PS – Thanks to Bro. Tom for reminding me of these truths.

A Lesson from Lucy

John 10:27 – “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me”

About a year and a half ago, we got a dog. She is awesome. Her name is Lucy. She is a mini Bernedoodle. Her mom was a Bernese mountain dog (62 pounds) and her dad was a mini poodle (12 pounds). I’ll give you a minute to figure that one out.

We have been trying to train Lucy, on and off, to walk without a leash. Let me tell you this, that is the most terrifying thing to do. My heart is pounding in my chest the whole time. She has her good girl collar on, which helps us to keep her from darting out in the street, but still. I prefer to walk her on her leash. That way, I can keep her close and make sure she doesn’t eat anything that I will regret later. It also keeps her from darting away from me to chase after squirrels and cats and rabbits. It also helps me to keep her on track, that way I don’t have to stand for 10 minutes while she sniffs a blade of grass.

As I was walking her the other day, I got to thinking about my walk with Jesus. Sometimes, I wish that He had me on a leash to keep me from things that He knows can hurt me. He could just give me a gentle tug and get me away from something that I will regret later. He could keep me from chasing something that looks fun. He would also be able to keep me on track easier and keep me from lingering too long at something useless.

But Jesus doesn’t keep us on a harness. He lets us roam free and make our own choices. There is a great big world out there full of distractions and places to linger at and stuff that looks really fun to chase. Yet, it is our choice to stay walking right beside Him.

The great thing about our walk is Him calling out to us. Now, I don’t hear Him audibly but I hear Him in my heart. I hear Him call out to me – “Hey, that’s not something you need to linger at.” or “Melissa, come on. You don’t need to chase that right now.” or “Come on, that thing over there is not worth your time.” But sometimes I don’t listen. That thing is just too shiny or too interesting or I think I just have to go check it out. And off I go. Wandering away.

One of my son’s most favorite sayings is – “Not all who wander are lost.”

And that is so very true of me. I am not lost. I am saved by the blood of Jesus Christ and I am a child of the King. He always knows where I am at. But I do have a tendency to wander. And sometimes, wandering can get me in a heap of trouble.

But thanks be to God, for that still, small voice that calls out to me to come home. Come back to His loving arms of protection. Come back to the place where I am loved and cared for. Come back to the place where I can walk with Him.

Lazarus Story

‭‭John‬ ‭12:9-11‬ ‭KJV‬‬ – “Much people of the Jews therefore knew that he was there: and they came not for Jesus’ sake only, but that they might see Lazarus also, whom he had raised from the dead. But the chief priests consulted that they might put Lazarus also to death; Because that by reason of him many of the Jews went away, and believed on Jesus.”

It is always good to be in the house of the Lord. Yesterday was no exception. 

Lazarus. He was the dead man that Jesus brought back to life. He was the brother of Mary and Martha, the infamous sisters with two different viewpoints. Yet, he was one that loved Jesus and Jesus loved him. In fact, when he was dead, “Jesus wept.” (John 11:35). 

Lazarus had a story. He had a story of friendship. He had a story of love. He had a story of learning from Jesus. He had a story that made other people perk up and take notice. They wanted to come and see this man that had once been dead and in the grave, yet now here he was, sitting at a table eating with Jesus. How could this be?

As followers of Christ, we all have a Lazarus story. We all have a story of walking in darkness and then walking in the Light. The people we are around might know that we are followers of Christ, but do they know how we got there? Do they know why we stay there?

This was the question posed to me during the message last night at church. It really struck a chord with me. People know that I go to church and read my Bible and try to live like the Lord wants me to live. I don’t curse. I don’t drink. I try to treat people with respect even when I disagree with them. But do I make an effort to tell them my Lazarus story?

Just so it is out there, here it is –

I was just a girl, maybe 9 or 10, when I heard Jesus whispering to my heart. I had been to church my whole life. I knew the stories. I had heard the sermons. I knew Jesus. But I had never invited Him to be the Lord of my life and Savior of my soul. My uncle was a pastor. One night, my mom, brother, grandma and I were visiting him and the family. It was a Wednesday night. I don’t remember the message at all. I just remember that I couldn’t sit still and something wasn’t right. I remember going back to my aunt and uncle’s house and going into the bathroom with my mom and telling her, “Momma, I think Jesus is speaking to my heart.” She said, “Let’s go find your uncle.” And we did. And he took me down the road to salvation. I prayed and asked Jesus into my heart that night. I remember that feeling in my heart so very well. I felt as if the weight of the world had been lifted from my shoulders. I remember how excited I was and how excited everyone around me was. It was a good night. And every since that day, I try my hardest to treasure that feeling of being completely and totally loved no matter what circumstance I find myself in that day. Looking back on my life, I can truly and honestly say that making that decision that night was the best thing I have ever done. I have never been alone since. I have had struggles and challenges and trials, joy and laughter and friendships, tears and questions and ponderings – but never have I doubted God’s love for me and His acceptance of my repentance. 

I didn’t live a life of deep, dark sin before I was saved. My Lazarus story happened pretty early in life. But my Lazarus story is one of life long love and faithfulness. Mine is a story of walking. Jesus and I have been walking together for well over 30 years. He has been working on me for that long. He has a lot to do. Have you ever heard that song “He’s still working on me”? Well, that pretty much sums up my life. 

You see, each Lazarus story is different. Each one has a different starting point and a unique set of circumstances that led that person to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. And every person who has made that decision has a different path that has brought him/her this far. Yet, despite the differences, we are all headed to the same place – a eternity with Jesus. 

The purpose and goal of telling our Lazarus story should be to bring along as many people as we can. Ours is a story of redemption and love and relationship that provides others with the opportunity to experience the same thing, no matter their backstory. 

So I want to encourage you this week to share your Lazarus story. People may know that you are a follower of Christ and that you are not like everyone else around them. But do they know how you got there and why you stay there? Tell them! Listen, this is just as much for me as it is for you. 

Flavor Enhancer or Grass Killer

‭‭Matthew‬ ‭5:13‬ ‭KJV – “Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.”‬‬

I had a really good Sunday school lesson this week. I have shared it with my ladies’ group and with my husband’s Sunday school class. But I really feel that I should share it with you today. 

Salt. Yummy, yummy salt. It makes food taste good. But did you know that salt does more than make things taste good? I want to look at the purpose of salt and relate it to our walk with Christ.

1) Preservative – Salt has been used for many years to preserve food. People used to rub a ham with it and hang it in a smoke house to preserve the meat until they were ready to eat it. I know in my house, we use salt in our beef jerky to preserve the meat. Preservation is good. But what are we doing to preserve the teachings and statues of Christ in our life and in our world? You see, followers of Christ are supposed to be the ones restraining the movement toward moral, spiritual and political decline. Yet, too often, I fear that we are sitting on our hands and taking the back seat on way too many issues. We are letting things decay around us faster than we have ever seen in the past. We are not being salt.

2) Flavor – Salt adds flavor to whatever it is applied to. A good salty tortilla chip really adds zest to an already delightful salsa. Salt on a fresh, ripe, summertime tomato is hard to beat. When you leave salt out of a recipe, you can taste the difference. The food is bland. It may be palatable, but not enjoyable. And so is a life without Christ. We need to live our Christ-filled life in such a way that people will see how bland their life is without Him. We need to add flavor to the lives around us. 

3) Create thirst – Now, this one was the one that got me. When you eat those delightfully salty tortilla chips without the salsa, what happens? You are reaching for a glass of water because the salt makes you thirsty. We need to be showing Christ so much in our life that people are thirsty – for the Living Water. (This lovely analogy was brought to my attention by a young man we go to church with – thanks Luke!) ‭‭John‬ ‭4:10, 13-14‬ ‭KJV – “Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water. Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again: But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.” Jesus is that Living Water. When we come to Him thirsty, He gives us Water that will never leave us thirsty again. How beautiful and cool is that!

Salt has to be kept pure in order for it to remain useful. Have you ever been cooking and spilled some salt on the counter with all the other stuff you have spilled? You can’t separate the salt out and try to put it back in the bowl. Once it touches something else, you have deminished it’s usefulness. Yes, we a followers of Christ are supposed be in the world telling others about Him. But we can’t let the world tarnish our usefulness for Him. It is a delicate balance, for sure. But we have to remember to let Him lead us and not go where He doesn’t lead. 

I love how God uses the simple things in life to remind us of great spiritual truths. He knew that we would all understand salt, no matter when the Scripture is read or studied. So take to heart this little lesson on salt. And…be salty!

Permanent Resident

John 15:4,5 – “Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.”

“Without me ye can do nothing.” I don’t do well with doing nothing. I’m busy from the time I get up until I go to bed. And I guess in a way that’s good, but it can be very tiring. 

But when I stop and consider my spiritual life (which should seep over into my physical life), do I try to do things without Jesus? Do I try and read my Bible without inviting Him to come along side me? Do I try to serve at church without asking Him if it is where I’m supposed to be? Yep. 

So what does this have to do with these verses and this blog title? I need to take up permanent residence in Jesus. Now, I know what you’re thinking, “Duh, Melissa. We are followers of Christ. Isn’t that where we should be?” Yep. But are you? Are you truly abiding in the Vine? Are you letting Him supply your every need? Are you producing His fruit or your own? Have you truly established yourself in Him? Could you be the person you are today without Him?

Jesus should be so much a part of who you are that to attempt to disconnect yourself from Him would bring complete and utter destruction. You need to be a permanent resident in Jesus. He has to be your source of life for all parts of you. He needs to be what gets you out of bed in the morning. He needs to be what motivates you to care for those around you. He needs to be the One that you rely upon when the job gets too heavy. He needs to be your Friend when no one else is around. You and Jesus need to be stuck together with eternal glue – no coming apart, ever. 

So let me encourage you today to dig a little deeper. Grow that bond a little stronger. Make Jesus a bigger part of your life. This is what He wants. This is what He desires – a relationship with His child – you. Happy Wednesday. 

The world thru His eyes

John 4:35 – “Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh harvest? behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest.”

What if for one minute you could see the people around you as Jesus sees them? What if you could see their pain, their sin, their fears? How would you respond? Would you ever be able to look at them the same way again?

My kids are going to church camp today. Now, this is camp. No hotel. No linens. No nice bed. This is rustic. And beautiful because of it’s simplicity. There will be kids there from all over. So that means there will be situations, thoughts and beliefs from all across the board. All of them have a past and all of them have a future. But that future depends upon the decisions they make after hearing the Word of God preached boldly to them. 

If we could see a person as Jesus sees them, I think our perspective and priorities would be a lot different. I think that our petty problems that seem overwhelming would be nothing more than a minor inconvenience when compared to the heartaches that some people face. 

Our challenge yesterday from the morning service was to be burdened for the lost souls of the world around us. A burden is a weight that you carry around. It is something that is not easily removed. What if we had that for the lost? What if we truly saw them for who they are and was never able to let that vision go? Would we be different?

This week, I want to challenge you to think about this when you see that person across from you at the gas pump. I want you to think about this when you are walking down the hallway at work. What if you could say something to the next person that you saw that would change their eternity? Would you take time from your deadline to tell them or would you put it off to another time that might never come? 

Extra Icing

John 10:27,28 – “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.”

I had an amazing experience yesterday.

I was seeing a client and this client told me, out of the blue, that they thought their death was close. This client has multiple medical issues but seems to be functioning fairly well. I probed a bit and found out more information but nothing that would necessarily substantiate the fears that were expressed. 

Yet, I felt the Holy Spirit impress upon my heart that I needed to confirm and/or present the plan of salvation to this person. And I did. It was amazing. I told my client very bluntly and candidly about what it takes to KNOW that death is not the end. And my client confirmed that they had the free gift of salvation in their heart. 

I’m a nobody. I love what I do. I love being in contact with people and helping them and walking through all sorts of situations and problems with them. But when I get the opportunity to speak to someone I have grown close to about Jesus and His free gift of salvation- well, that’s just extra icing on the cupcake. I don’t push it but I don’t hide it. And when God was speaking to my heart yesterday, for once, I listened. And it was beautiful!

So I want to encourage you to live it out. We never know how long we have or how long the person across from us has. Yesterday, I heard His voice and I followed and it was truly a blessing in my life. I encourage you to do the same. Happy Wednesday. 

The writing in the dirt

John 8:3-11 – “And the scribes and Pharisees brought unto him a woman taken in adultery; and when they had set her in the midst, They say unto him, Master, this woman was taken in adultery, in the very act. Now Moses in the law commanded us, that such should be stoned: but what sayest thou? This they said, tempting him, that they might have to accuse him. But Jesus stooped down, and with his finger wrote on the ground, as though he heard them not. So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her. And again he stooped down, and wrote on the ground. And they which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last: and Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst. When Jesus had lifted up himself, and saw none but the woman, he said unto her, Woman, where are those thine accusers? hath no man condemned thee? She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.”

It is so easy to judge. We see other people; we think we know them and what do we do? We pass judgment. 

I think it is partly human nature to judge others. We see the negative and automatically make an assumption that they obviously don’t deserve our best because of this or that. We hear things and assume the worst. We have a hard time giving people the benefit of the doubt. 

Notice I’m using “we” because I have a problem with this too. I have to consciously make an effort not to judge. And that’s hard. 

We don’t know what Jesus was writing in the dirt this day but we can guess that whatever it was did not make people want to stick around. They tucked their tunics and took off, one by one, when Jesus started writing. They were ready to stone this woman for her sin. They thought they had it all figured out and were going to involve Jesus in this woman’s death. Little did they understand and appreciate that whatever Jesus was writing in the dirt would expose their judgmental attitude. 

What if Jesus started writing in the dirt every time you began judging and accusing people? Would you want all your dirty laundry aired out for everyone to see? I’m guessing no. We want to keep our dirty little sins tucked away and not discussed. 

What I want to encourage you about is this – be careful. Be careful who you accuse. Be careful who you judge. Be careful how you handle dealing with the past of another. We are none perfect. We all have things we would rather forget. Be kind. Be gentle. Be forgiving. Be cautious. Jesus may be writing in the dirt about you. 

Control

John 10:17,18 – “Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again. No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father.”

Power. We like to think that we have power over our life. We like to think that our date book is our own. We like to think that we have control over when we sleep and when we rise. We like to think that we have control over what the scales say or doesn’t say. We like to think that we have control over how our children are raised and who leads us into the future of our country. 

But do we really have control over any of those things?

I’d venture to say no. No we do not. Oh, our perception may be that we got this. But in reality….we don’t. 

In these verses today, Jesus reminds us of a very important fact – He has control. He has so much control that He has the power to freely give His life and take it back up again. This blew His audience’s mind. How could this possibly be?

We serve an amazingly powerful God. One that has the capability to give His own Son who has the power to willingly sacrifice His own life. One that has the power to raise Himself from the grave because He is all God and all man all at the same time. Did you hear that? Minds being blown all over the place!

What I want to get across today is God is in control. He knows what has been, what is and what will be. And if Jesus can raise Himself from the grave, He won’t forget you when He returns. Sometimes life feels so uncertain, so easily downtrodden, so discouraging. But take heart, God is in control. Truly, we have nothing to worry about. 

New Year, New Mantra

Proverbs 3:5,6 – “Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.”

Let Him be seen in 2017. 

So yesterday at church, we were talking about a mantra for the year – a phrase to sum up what we, as a local New Testament church, want to achieve this year. Well, a couple of us came up with this phrase – Let Him be seen in 2017. 

Why did God lay this upon our hearts?

We need to let Him be seen in our life. We need to stop hindering Him. We need to take the spotlight off our own selfish desires and allow Christ to shine in and through us. 

We also need to pray for His immenit return. It is coming soon. We need to be asking that He hasten it. That’s kind of a scary thing to pray for – it means I need to be ready. That’s a blog post for another day. 

So what do these concepts have to do with the verses above?

We won’t let Him be seen in our life if we don’t trust Him completely. We have to reject our own thoughts and ideas for our future and fully rely upon Him. That’s tough as well. That means giving up what you think is right and believing that Someone you can’t see is fully in control. We are a tactile society. We like to see and touch things in order to make them real. I can touch and feel my Bible. But I have to believe in my heart that it truly is His Word to me. And I do. That is how I touch Jesus, for now. But I trust Him. And as much as I trust Him, I want to trust Him more. I want to give over more control. I want to see Him do more in my life. But that means I have to get out of the way. 

That means that I have to acknowledge Him more. As John said in John 3:30 – “He must increase, but I must decrease.”  I need to acknowledge Him more and me less. 

Let Him be seen in 2017. 

So here is the challenge for the year – choose to show others Him instead of you. Because when they see more of you, they see more of what makes You unrighteous in His eyes. But when they see Him, they see the potential for love and grace and mercy that He extends to every man, woman, boy and girl.