Change Your Situation!

Life is full of ups and downs—some big, others small. That’s just life—no need for anxiety! The questions are—how do we manage life in the seemingly dry or difficult times? How do we turn a desert place into a spring? Make a dead place alive? How do I change my situation???

Psalm 84 has the answer,

Blessed is the man whose strength is in You, whose heart is set on pilgrimage. As they pass through the Valley of Baca, they make it a spring.

1.      1.  We are blessed when we find our strength in God. Blessed doesn’t mean we won’t have ups and downs—no, it simply means we are never alone or left without solutions in our ups and downs.

Finding our strength in God is a trade—we give Him our weakness in exchange for His incomprehensible strength. Acknowledging our weakness—basically humbling our self—makes way for a flood of God’s grace, strengthening us to get through any situation.

2.       2. We set our heart on eternity—ever looking forward. As long as we focus on this world and all the fulfillment it can bring—we will come up empty. We must set our focus on Jesus, knowing we are on pilgrimage—a journey—always moving forward—constantly drawing nearer.

3.     (Next is the answer to the big question…”How do I change my situation?”)

3. When we pass through a desert place, we determine—resolve in our self to make it a spring.

You can change your situation. How? By calling God into it. As God’s presence fills our heart, soul and life even the driest of times are refreshed.The dead places are made alive by His very life in ours.

I love how verse 6 of Psalm 84 says “they” make it a spring. It’s a choice. We can wallow in the dust of our hard place, whining to God or worse accusing Him of unfaithfulness, or we can choose to make it a spring. Yes it’s hard. But worth it! Remember; the purest gold is wrought from the hottest fire!

Please be encouraged—to determine—to make every dry, dead place in your life a spring.

 

Not Just for Kids

Have you read the story of Jonah lately? Every time my grandson and I read the Bible together, we read about Jonah—how he didn’t obey God, fled and got swallowed up by a whale. Read Jonah to get the whole story—it’s not just for kids!

Today I read the book of Jonah on my own. What caught my attention was his faith in God.

In Jonah 4:2 he says this about God;

I know that You are a gracious and merciful God, slow to anger and abundant in loving-kindness, One who relents from doing harm

Jonah knew the character of God and had faith that He wouldn’t be anything but faithful. Why then did Jonah disobey God and run the other way?

Basically, Jonah did not let his faith in God change him.

He lived a life where He knew all about God but didn’t actually know Him.

I’ve lived this lifestyle and understand how comforting it can be. But the truth is—in living this lifestyle we miss the whole point.

Our faith in God must rearrange our life—transform us—causing us to become who we know God is. It must also draw us near to Him—where we actually know Him and experience what we believe. Knowing God causes personal relationship—relationship leads to obedience—the more we are with Jesus the more we become like Him.

Our goal in life is to live and be like Jesus. Please be encouraged to let your faith in God transform you.

Apology: The advertisements on my page are allowed by the blog site WordPress, I personally have nothing to do with them…sorry for any inconvenience.

 

 

 

Change of Season

When the beautiful leaves of fall begin to flood the ground—my heart twinges—it’ll soon be winter. Of all the season changes this one causes me—the born and raised southern California girl, to have to mentally prepare.

My heart and life are experiencing an even vaster season change. Just the term used to describe it sounds wrong. Empty nest.

Truly, it’s not the fact that the kids grew up that aches my heart—it’s the rending—the separation—the change of season it self.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m over being sad, excited for the next season and I am gladly letting go of last season, ready to move forward—I just didn’t realize the ache would be so deep.

Two weeks ago today we packed up our youngest child and moved him to California, where he will begin fulfilling his God designed destiny. Before we left I went into his room to make sure nothing was forgotten—just the sight of the emptiness brought tears. I said oh God—I’m in trouble—it’s not even 6 AM on the first day of the trip and I’m crying! Ten minutes later with tears in his eyes my husband asks if I’ll be okay—more tears—this only lasted a few hours—thankfully our son was in a different car than us!

The day before the trip I sat at mid-day, amongst the chaos of preparations, in my chair needing my Father to hold me. In His faithfulness and this is the gist of what I want to share with you, He showed me that my heart is securely in His hand and He is massaging it. He knows the ache, He understands the season change and He’s put my heart in his tender care.

How faithful is God that He would accept the gift of our heart and take charge of it? I’m so grateful to be in a relationship with the One who knows and understands the smallest to the largest of heartache. He knew this time would come—this ache—and He knew just what to do.

This was an anticipated season change—every parent knows its coming, at times we even long for it. We prepare our children for adulthood—we teach them to walk, talk, feed themselves, use the potty,  get dressed on their own, read and write, take chances, speak out, be who God created them to be—that’s what we do as parents—every step of the way teaching them to be independent of us. By the grace of God we teach them to be excellent, strong, mature, loving, kindhearted, God filled—world changers.

Why then are we so taken off guard when those taught excellence, walk in excellence?

Because we have dared to love.

Dared to take God’s charge of carrying, giving birth to, training and finally releasing—yet again into God’s loving hands.

Letting go—always letting go—such is life.

The night before we said goodbye we were at his new church where he will start an internship, I looked over at my man-child—so handsome and so grown. He was worshiping the Lord—just as I taught him to do—giving God his all. As I wiped my tears the Lord softly said “He also is in my Hand.”

Everyone—everything—every season—always in His faithful hand.

Life—but a vapor is always bursting with season changes—no need to fear, be encouraged in knowing—your heart is being held by the heartbeat of heaven Himself.

Isaiah 43:13 Indeed before the day was, I am He And there is no one who can deliver out of My hand, I work, and who will reverse it?”

Isaiah 41:10 Fear not, for I am with you; Be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, Yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.

Proverbs 22:6 Train up a child in the way he should go, And when he is old he will not depart from it.

Apology: The advertisements on my page are allowed by the blog site WordPress, I personally have nothing to do with them…sorry for any inconvenience.

 

Eternally Minded

To live eternally minded is to set our complete desire on the things of God—exclusively giving all we are and have to what matters eternally.

Do you live with an eternal focus?

Although we may aim to live with an eternal mindset—it is easy to divert our attention to the here and now. After all, life and all its details—do scream for our devotion.

Living mindful of eternity does not mean we live careless of this life—just the opposite—we live as good stewards of all God entrusts to us, because we know everything has an eternal value.

Just the thought that our life and its actions carry an eternal value—should make us stop and evaluate what we spend our time, money, deeds, thoughts and words on.  Likewise this truth causes us to inspect our heart, because we know where our heart is—our treasure will be as well.

Everyone will face eternity and what we do now will matter then. It is important to examine our life and heart in regard to eternity.

• First—are we in right standing with God and Jesus?
• Second—do we live our life wholly devoted to furthering the Kingdom of God?
• Third—are we good stewards to the life God’s given us, and to all He entrusts to us?

Isaiah 55:1-3 says

Is anyone thirsty? Come and drink—even if you have no money! Come, take your choice of wine or milk—it’s all free! Why spend your money on food that does not give you strength? Why pay for food that does you no good? Listen to me, and you will eat what is good. You will enjoy the finest food.  “Come to me with your ears wide open. Listen, and you will find life. I will make an everlasting covenant with you. I will give you all the unfailing love I promised to David.”

Essentially this scripture asks; why spend your life in service to self? Jesus is the bread of life. When we submit all—not just some—or part—but all to Him—we will be without want.

Please be encouraged to focus your heart on what matters—Jesus. In doing so we can’t help but to be eternally minded.

Ecc. 12:13-14

Fear God and obey his commands, for this is everyone’s duty. God will judge us for everything we do, including every secret thing, whether good or bad.

Passion

If someone invited you to a party using these words; “The party will be dull, pretty much boring and very stale—you should come”—would you go? I think not.

How about relationship? What if a young man has interest in a young lady and when asking her to date him uses this line, “I really like you and want to date you, but first you must know—it will be a very dreary and lifeless relationship.” What girl, in her right mind, would date a guy with that personality and perspective?

What would be missing from such a relationship? Passion.

There are a couple of meanings to the word passion—the passion I’m referring to is the zest in life.

The opposite of passion is—mundane, routine, common, boring.

Passion causes people to go beyond normal—in life, relationships, work and play.

All my kids love and play extreme sports. Why play chess for a hobby when you have rock climbing or MMA? Hockey, dirt bike riding, white water rafting, kayaking, snowboarding, skateboarding and skydiving? They are passionate people and could never be satisfied with anything dull or commonplace.

Likewise we should press the limits on our Christianity. Always moving forward—insistent on loving and knowing God more—adamant in service—courageously sharing our faith—undaunted by culture and boldly exhibiting godly character.  We are to be people who go beyond normal in everyday life—faith filled people who represent God—people consumed with passion!

When God created us He set passion inside of us. Just look at the young—who live with child-like wonder, excitement, and enthusiasm about everything they encounter.

Our relationship with God should be one of passion, where we crave His Holy Spirit, and His presence. A relationship packed with zeal and fervor—not mundane—birthed out of obligation.

Matthew 22:37 boldly states what is most important in life,

To love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. (NKJ)

Love the Lord your God with all your passion and prayer and intelligence. (MSG)

It takes passion to love God in this manner.

Many things steal passion—heartache, sickness, offense, doubt, disobedience, selfishness and busyness. Mainly the devil—he loves to usurp our passion, along with it he steals our faith. He is master at causing situations to arise where we question and doubt God’s goodness. It’s what he lives for.

Along with passion for God we must have passion for His Word. God’s Word amongst many things, is where we read about the greatest love story ever! Not only that—but in His Word is the secret to living life skillfully.

John 1:1 says,

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

If you love God and are in a relationship with Him—filled with His Spirit, then you also love His Word and are in relationship with it as well. We must diligently guard our passion for the Bible—the sneaky devil is expert at making the Word seem uninteresting and irrelevant.

Last but not least—another area where passion gets evaporated by the enemy is where church is concerned.

Psalm 69:9 says,

Passion for your house has consumed me

We should be passionate for our church—if we belong to God, then church is our house and we should passionately—with all our heart—not just out of duty—love to be there, serve there and be a part of what God is doing in our local church.

The reason the devil loves to steal passion for God’s house is the isolation factor—he isolates the weak and picks them off. He initiates grumbling, offense and disunity—which make church seem routine and pointless. Fact is—passionless church goers weaken the church.

We have to be intentional in protecting our passion. Making sure not to waste our affections on trivial things of this world.

What’s your passion level? Has the enemy seized your passion for God, His Word and His house?

An incredible attribute of God is his loving-kindness. He will never be content with allowing the devil to steal from His people! He has made a way for each of us, by His grace, to take back what the puny devil steals. It will take an act of our strong self-will, but after that it’s a cake-walk.

We must simply use our will, to turn to God—access grace, confess our passionlessness and lean into His great and awesome love. With an open embrace He welcomes us—here we exchange our dryness for a greater thirst.

Please be encouraged to ask God for more passion—and it will be yours!

Skillful Living 101—18 Our Strong Tower

A life that is lived skillfully would most definitely be a life lived in God’s presence.

Proverbs 18:10, describes God as a strong tower where the righteous run in and are safe. I love how compassionate and loving God is, that He provides a place where we can find refuge and peace. This refuge is not just any old place—no, our place of security is in the very presence of God.

One way to understanding God’s presence is to see it as a shelter, a fortress and a hiding place. A dwelling—where our life is hidden in God, not that we necessarily hide from life, but an actual place where we live life.

Colossians 2:3 says

Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.

Proverbs—the book of skillful living, is all about setting our mind on things above and not on the things of the earth. Living a life hidden with Christ in God, helps us to rise above earthy circumstances—rise above trivial—setting our heart and soul on the most important—the things of God.

A good way to remain diligent in living skillfully—thus setting our mind on things above is to make living in God’s presence our daily objective. In doing so we must grab a hold of His Word—making it our source of nourishment.

In Proverbs 18, we find a myriad of good advice and nourishment. Granted the whole chapter is beneficial but we will look at six main points, found in verses 10, 15, 19, 21, 22 and 24.

Verse 10—“The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous run to it and are safe.”

• The righteous make God their refuge
• God is our help

Verse 15—“The heart of the prudent acquires knowledge, and the ear of the wise seeks knowledge.”

• A sensible person esteems knowledge
• To set our mind on things above, we must pursue biblical knowledge
• The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge

Verse 19—“A brother offended is harder to win than a strong city, and contentions are like the bars of a castle.”

• An offended person, whether they be right or wrong, is harder to talk to, and work things out with, than a fortified city
• It’s better to pray and wait—rather than argue with an offended person
• Remember offence is a choice—we must keep our heart free of offence

Verse 21—“Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruit.”

• Our words will bring life our death to those on whom they fall
• If we love gossip and slander, we will reap its rewards
• We need to make habit of speaking life into people and situations
• Controlling our tongue is a heart issue

Verse 22—“He who finds a wife finds a good thing, and obtains favor from the Lord.”

• A spouse is a blessing from the Lord
•  We have to be good stewards of God’s blessings

Verse 23—“A man who has friends must himself be friendly, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.”

• First be a friend
• Faithfulness is priceless

Skillful Living Tools

• Make it your daily objective to live in God’s presence
• Learn to know God’s presence as a shelter, refuge, a fortress and a hiding place
• Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth
• Grab a hold of God’s Word—making it your source of nourishment.
• To set our mind on things above, we must pursue biblical knowledge
• It’s better to pray and wait— rather than argue with an offended person
• Death and life are in the power of the tongue
• Make habit of speaking life into people and situations
• Treat your spouse good—they are a blessing from God
• A faithful friend is priceless

Please be encouraged to seek God as your strong tower and place of refuge—here your heart can settle and be at peace.

Read and apply all of Proverbs 18 and please share with those who need to live skillfully!

Check out the Skillful Living Tool Box (updated weekly) at the top of this page!

 

 

Whose Reflection is That?

I just saw the movie Mirror Mirror, in this interesting film the wicked queen looks in the mirror and recites the familiar words that we’ve all grown up on “Mirror mirror on the wall, who is  the fairest of them all?” When the evil queen looks in, the reflection is quite different from what she truly looks like. In the mirror is a much younger, flawless looking woman.

Can this be true of our self? When we look in, are we deceived? Do we see who we think we are? Or do we see who God says we are? Maybe we even see who the enemy accuses us of being.

I’m hard on myself both naturally and spiritually. When I look in, I see flaws. When I look in the mirror of God’s Word it’s a different story. Not only do I see His faithful, flawless love but I see the changes I need to make in my life. When I look further, I discover the grace I need to make those changes.

Amongst the countless treasures, I have ascertained mercy and forgiveness—confidence and truth—discernment and direction. Most importantly when looking into the mirror of God’s Word, I find genuine relationship.

Below is a post from December about the mirror of God’s Word, it didn’t really have many reads. As I reread it today, my thoughts were “This needs to be re-posted!” It’s a short but powerful message!

I encourage you to read it and pass it on.

Mirror

Looking in the mirror, have you ever seen anything that needs fixing? Disheveled hair or clothing, something in your teeth or nose? Do you just walk away and do nothing to change your appearance?

As we stare into the mirror of God’s Word, the reflection we gaze upon should distinctly resemble Jesus. The Bible is meant to be a place of reflection, where we view and examine ourselves.

James 1:22 says

“Be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror;  for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was.”

When the mirror of God’s Word is just heard and not heeded, we are that person who looks in and sees what needs to be changed, but walks away unaffected—hearers only, therefore deceived.

The Word is alive and active. Whether we read it, hear it preached or talked about from a friend, the Word must be given the  posture of effectiveness in our life. We cannot just browse God’s Word, looking for the “Bless me” scriptures. No, we must read and heed all of it—being responsible for what we read and know.

As we gaze at His reflection we are to measure our own moral qualities and behavior to His, allowing the power of the Word to mold us into His likeness.

2 Corinthians 3:16-18 communicates this,

“Nevertheless when one turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. We all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.”

As we yield to the Word, becoming hearers and doers, our veil is removed—allowing the Spirit of God to bring freedom to our lives.

The benefits of being hearers and doers of the Word are that  in the reflection, we behold the glory of God; and we don’t just behold it, but are transformed by it—changed by His glory into the same image we see in the mirror—His. What an amazing exchange for those who choose to do God’s Word!

Be encouraged to be a hearer and a doer of the Word of God, reflecting and projecting His beauty.

 “Imitate God, therefore, in everything you do, because you are His dear children.” Ephesians 5:1

Shady

Have you ever been so tired and hot that you longed for a shady spot to rest? Can you remember how revived you felt when you found it?

One of my favorite passages of scripture is Psalm 121.
Verse 5 articulates,

The Lord himself watches over you! The Lord stands beside you as your protective shade.

Ponder the words, “stands besides you” and “protective shade.” Wow. Marvel at verse 6, “The sun shall not strike you by day, Nor the moon by night.” You’ve got to love this! Essentially God stands right next to us and protectively watches over us day and night!

This past weekend I assisted in putting on a bridal shower tea party. It was held in my friends beautiful back yard. When we set up all the tables they were covered by shade, but as the hour approached the shade moved and we were in full afternoon sun. Eventually we sought relief from the heat and moved beneath a large tree. The shade found under its shadow was quite refreshing.

There’ s a stark contrast between God and common everyday shade, the difference is that He remains. Lamentations 5:19 says “Lord—you remain the same forever!” Unlike the bridal shower, we can set our life up under His shade and never doubt its constancy. Why? Because God does not become restless; He never changes or casts a shifting shadow.

We, on the other hand are the ones who get fidgety. We can become uncomfortable and impatient with our life and consequently stray from the shade of His presence.

I want to encourage you to adopt God’s characteristic of—remaining. To permanently set your life up underneath His protective shade, knowing it will never shift.

The secret to remaining, is to become addicted to His presence and completely dependent on His love.

Be inspired to draw so near to Him that you tuck yourself under the shady shadow of His wing, daily finding rest and relief in the nearness of your God.

“Hide me under the shadow of Your wings, for You have been my help, and in the shadow of Your wings will I rejoice.” Psalm 17:8 & Psalm 57:1
“I will lift up my eyes to the hills—from whence comes my help?  My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.  He will not allow your foot to be moved; He who keeps you will not slumber.  Behold, He who keeps Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep.  The Lord is your keeper; the Lord is your shade at your right hand.  The sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night.  The Lord shall preserve you from all evil; He shall preserve your soul.  The Lord shall preserve your going out and your coming in from this time forth, and even forevermore.” Psalm 121

Sober

When you read the word sober what’s your first thought?
The sober that I’m referring to is found in 1 Peter 5:8

Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.

Possessing a sober attitude about life will free us from foolishness and heartache. It will cause us to be vigilant, discerning and intentional with our life. Not only will we be aware of the devil’s schemes but we will be able to live lives that function with purpose.

When I was a new wife and mom I never really thought much about being intentional. In fact it was not until I had my first teenager that I realized being intentional in life is critical.

We can’t just let life happen and expect all will turn out well. No, because if we do our adversary the devil, will devour us and all that we hold dear. It’s pure stupidity to think our enemy won’t do his job—steal—kill—destroy.

When we live sober and intentional we live knowing what we want to accomplish in life. It’s as I tell my kids, “Make a good choice and stick with it, then let every decision support that one choice.”

If we intend to know and love God, living our life in His presence, then we must make every choice in accordance to our first choice to know and love Him.

Being a Christian does not just happen. If we want our kids to love and obey God then we have to intentionally raise them with such a purpose.

Purity does not just transpire. If we desire purity and if we long to raise our kids to be pure, then we need to make deliberate life choices as to what we will teach, how we will live and what we will allow in our personal life and in our family.

Careers, success, financial gain, a good marriage, obedient children, good health—the list is endless—none of these just appear. Accomplishment in any area of life has to be intentional.

This means having a sober/seriousness in the manner in which we live our life.

I’m not talking about being a prude and living a religious life, void of fun—no, not at all.

I’m referring to living a deliberate, calculated life style led by the Holy Spirit, where we make every choice in life in alignment with our first choice.

We love God this way; love our spouse, raise our kids, look for a spouse, we spend our money, guard our words, minister, and love our family and friends—all in this manner.

Please be encouraged—by the grace of God to love and live your life with vigilance, intention and with a sober heart and soul.

God is—the Promise Land

I’ve been pondering the Children of Israel and their wilderness experience. What’s remarkable about stories from the Bible is how timeless they are—continuously relevant words, inspired by the Holy Spirit—never dreary.

The truth that I’ve been reflecting upon, is how God was with the Children of Israel. Yes, they were in the wilderness, but He was very near. God was a pillar of fire by night and a cloud by day.

God’s manifest presence was constantly close.

The truth is; abundance is not always found at the end of a crisis. The promise land was available to the Children of Israel right where they were, right in the middle of the wilderness. Their desire to have their needs met blinded them from seeing Him.

God is the Promise Land.  Jesus—Emanuel—God with us—is the Promise. He is the abundance. Everything else is extra.

This concept makes life good. No matter our circumstance—if we live in the promise land—continually in God’s presence—aware of His great love. Then we will know—there is nothing that can stand against us, nothing too big or too hard to detour our life.

It all depends on which presence we choose to live in. God is omnipresent, meaning He is everywhere.  The presence of God that dwells in an intimate relationship, is the presence I’m referring to. To live in this presence, we have to bypass a casual relationship with God and seek to know Him, not just know about Him.

In Psalm 46:10 we are told “Be still, and know that I am God.” Basically cease striving and struggling to get somewhere in life and know Him. Stop trying to get what you need from God, and just get God!

Surely the [uncompromisingly] righteous shall give thanks to Your name; the upright shall dwell in Your presence (before Your very face). Psalm 140:13

What if the Children of Israel shifted their point of view, and truly perceived that the cloud and the fire was God. What if they had the revelation that He was with them—right there with them, and that He was the Promise Land—He was all they needed. What if they caught a glimpse of how much He loved them?

What if we shift our thoughts about God and realize He is the Promise Land. What if we stop looking for the promises and just look into the eyes of the One who makes the promises? How would that change our life?

Please be encouraged—whether you’re in a wilderness or not, the Promise Land is available to you now. It’s not something to arrive at—the Promise Land is in the journey—always with you—never forsaking you—desiring relationship—always loving you.

 You will show me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy; At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore. Psalms 16:11