R and R

Life gets so filled with frantic activity. We are driven by the need to help our children become all they can be. We want to feel like we are involved in important things and be successful. The drive for stuff and the need to be doing keep us from our Sabbath. What we often forget is that the Sabbath principle established by God.

Even pastors can get lost in the frenzied actions of ministering in Jesus’ name and forget the command of God to come aside and rest and worship. Once again I am learning the power of the Sabbath – of stopping, resting and focusing on Jesus. The Sabbath can keep us from drifting. It renews our spirits, our hearts, our minds and emotions.

God rested on the seventh day. God commanded the Israelites to stop farming every seventh year and every fiftieth year (The end of seven sevens of years) in order to rest and worship. He commands us to remember the Sabbath day as well.

The Sabbath is really about trusting God. Living the Sabbath may mean realizing that everything is in God’s hands. When I live the Sabbath principle I can let go of everything that clutters my life and relax, renew, refresh and review on the Sabbath.

Daily living soils my heart and drains my spirit. The Sabbath allows me to lay my heart before God to be cleansed. It allows me to open my spirit to be filled once again. It provides a time to appraise where my life has been and where it is heading. The Sabbath helps me express that my faith is in God ALONE.

This is what the Sovereign LORD, the Holy One of Israel, says: "In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength, but you would have none of it. Isaiah 30:15 NIV

Lost in LOVE

Do I truly understand the love of God, particularly His love for me? Perhaps we can quote John 3:16 and even tell others that God loves them, but do we really grasp the idea that God loves ME? His love has no conditions. I need not become better, prettier or successful. I do not need to give more, serve more or care more to get more of God’s love for me. He will never love me more nor can He love me less than He does right now! This love for me is INFINITE! Catch that—INFINITE. That means without beginning or end.

We tend to be hard on ourselves. We look at our lives and see the failures, mistakes and outright sin that we have committed. We never look into our hearts. Staring down into the center of our being is too scary. We will see the garbage that is there and realize that no one could love and accept us, much less a holy and perfect God. We do not understand the heart of God! We do not comprehend His love!

We are predisposed to define our value based on looks, money, job description, people’s appraisal of us and our own evaluation of our lives. These are all flawed! Grasp this—FLAWED!

Once we begin to clutch to our spirits the depths of the love of God for us, we will begin to walk in the freedom of His love. This is the freedom of acceptance. Freedom to just be who God created us to be. Free from the expectations of others and of ourselves. Free to enjoy life. Thomas Merton tells us that we need to define ourselves as “One loved by Christ.”

This love is experienced in our brokenness. This love grows in our weaknesses. This love blossoms in humility. This love is the pearl of great price, the treasure hidden in a field that a man went and sold all that he had to buy that field. Why wouldn’t we all do that? This is the heart of the greatest gift ever given. “For God so loved…

Why can I write about this? God has brought me to a turn in the journey that is my life. For several years I have been learning, studying and experiencing the journey of faith. Now I have turned onto the road of love. Where will it lead? Only He knows.

Cat-tastrophe

Ever been misunderstood?

A couple was preparing to go out for their anniversary. They were ready to go and had just taken the cat outside the house. As the taxi cab drove up to the front of their house, they opened the front door to leave. The sneaky cat ran back into the house. The husband told his wife to go out to the cab while he retrieved the cat. The wife got into the cab and apologized for her husband. She did not want the cab driver to know that no one was home, so she told him that her husband went back in to say good bye to his elderly mother. When the husband got into the cab, he apologized for the delay and explained, "That stupid old nuisance was hiding under the bed. I had to slap her with a coat hanger a couple of times to get her out from under there!"

The Storm!

I stood in the midst of a mountain valley watching a gathering storm. As I observed the clouds billowing up God began to speak to me about the storms of our lives.

There are times in our lives when we see the storm brewing on the horizon. We realize that we cannot hold it back. Some of these storms will turn out to be just passing showers. Others will come hard and heavy. Those are the days we will wonder if we are going to make it or not.

How we survive them depends on how we much we have prepared ourselves to handle them. Out in the middle of the storm we will get wet and wind blown. It will be tough to speak and even catch your breath. That is the moment we wonder, “Where is Jesus?” We think he should have protected us from the storm. At least He could have provided shelter. In the midst of praying we hear His voce calling to us from the heart of the storm! “I am here. I am standing with you. Lean on my strength. Trust in me.” He is holding out his hand. Faith grasps it and holds on tightly as the rain pounds down and the hail bounces off of you.

When the storm comes, it blots out the sun, but does that mean the sun is not there? Of course not. So when we are wet, cold, wind blown and beaten up by the storms of life, it does not mean that Jesus is not there. It means he is teaching us about life, about God and about faith. He has a greater purpose than just keeping us dry, safe and warm.

Again today I am confronted with how much of self is still in my heart. For many years I have been reading about how much of self is dwelling in our lives – in my life. So many times I have felt the love of God speak to me as I wallowed in self-focus, self-desire and just plain selfishness. Over the span of these years God has graciously revealed to me the depths of self that still inhabits my soul. When He does this I feel no condemnation, only a gentle but firm nudging from His Spirit telling me to “let go” so He can fill the places my self once dwelt in.

I have experienced the tender compassion of God seeking to draw me nearer to Him. All that holds Him back is ME!

Why is it so hard to let go of me? I have “seen” God’s love. I have “heard” His voice calling to me. There were wonderful moments when He sang in my spirit and brought joy to my heart. Those were the moments after I was able to “let go” of me. Sadly those moments have been too far and too few between.

If Jesus lives in me, if I am developing His character in me and if I allow Him to mold me, then I will constantly be bumping into me. I get in Jesus way when He is growing and stretching me. I discover this when I clash with another person. I discover this when I allow life to direct me rather than Him. These clashes, bumps and collisions are God’s way of revealing me to me. My reaction to these things reveal the depths of my walk with the Lord.

The weakest moments of my life drive me to God. It is here I discover His strength. It is in the height of the moment I can choose to walk in the depths of His grace. It is in the moments I feel the most empty that He can fill me the fullest.