Don't Be Afraid To Ask

She had only been a Christian for seven months when I met her but during those months she had read through the Bible twice and the New Testament six time. She had been raised in a Communist country and for the first thirty years of her life she had been told there was no God. She was taught all things could be accomplished through human effort. Now her eyes were open to a new world she had never known before, a spiritual world. She had experienced the spiritual birth Jesus talked to Nicodemus about in the third chapter of John.

As I listened to her talk I was reminded of two scriptures, "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation;  the old has gone, the new has come!" 2 Corinthians 5:17 and "I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh." Ezekiel 36:26 Her eyes shone with the excitement of this new life.

I was impressed with the enthusiastic way she was reading through the Scripture. It was all new to her and she could not get enough of it. However, she had many questions. What she had been taught and what she was learning in God's word were two very different ways of thinking. When she asked me her questions I was impressed at how different they were from the questions I ask. Her questions were formed in part by the culture she had born into and the things she had been taught from her youth.

To be honest I didn't have an answer to all her questions. But I shared with her what I have learned as a Christian seeking to understand God's word. I believe this is part of God's plan to draw us closer to Him. Jesus said, "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you." Matthew 7:7 Jeremiah 29:13 says, "You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart." Our questions are as different as our experiences but as we ask our questions we are draw deeper and deeper into our relation with God.

Lord Jesus, after all these years of being a Christian I still have so many questions. Please help me take the time to formulate them so that I can ask, seek and knock. Please help me to be as enthusiastic as this young Christian so that I seek you will all my heart,

Between The Years

I call it the hallway between the years. This week between Christmas and the New Year is when I look back and read the journal I've been keeping. Looking at where I have been helps me gain perspective and see where I am going.

This hasn't been an easy year. There have been a lot of changes in my life and I have never found change easy. However, there have been some wonderful blessings as well. Because of the difficulties of this year the blessings seem to shine like stars in the night. I look at my blessings of this year in the same way a sailors looks to the stars to navigate. I choose to record my journey through the past year not based on  the darkness but on the point of light.

When I look at the prophecies in Scripture I see stars by which to navigate my life. In addition to looking back and seeing where God has led me I look forward and gain insight to where He is leading. "We have a more sure, the prophetic word, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shinning in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts." 2 Peter 1:19

Every year when I read through the Bible I trace God's faithfulness to fulfill the promises He made. I can see many of the prophecies that Isaiah, Jeremiah, Daniel and the rest of the prophets accepted by faith already fulfilled. These fulfilled prophecies have become the foundation stones I stand on  as I gaze at the stars in the night sky looking forward to the prophecies yet to be fulfilled.

Lord Jesus, You are the sun of righteousness who has risen with healing in your wings that the prophets foretold. When I reflect on the blessings of this past year I see the lamp of your love guiding me. As I look to this coming year please help me pay attention to your guiding light until the day dawns and Your morning star rises in my heart.

A Deeper Surrender

When I was a little girl I used to think that I could be a better person if only I was in a different setting. I wanted to be good I really did but I was constantly failing. Focusing on my failures often lead to depression. I was reminded of this recently as I talked to a young man who told me that he would be a different person if only he had a different set of circumstances. I shared with him what I learned from the Lord through my constant prayer about my own struggle with sin.

Both this young man and myself had received justification by faith in Jesus. He and I both understood that Jesus himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. We both understood that it wasn't our own good works that brought salvation. We understood that by Jesus' wounds we were healed. The question we had both struggled with was, how. How do we die to sin and live to righteousness?

I shared with my young friend what I am still in the process of learning, a deeper surrender to the love of God. The first step in this surrender is to agree with God when he points out sin. What I usually do when my sin is exposed to focus on the sin. I either try to justify it or I feel guilty about it. When I choose to surrender to God's love I life my eyes away from my sin and look into my Savior's face. Then my heart is full of gratitude instead of self loathing.

"We are at war", I told my friend. "We are at war with the world, the flesh and the devil. No matter where you are or what your circumstances of life are this is simply true." In this war the goal is to die to sin and live to righteousness but how? Again I believe the answer is a deeper surrender to the love of God.

A deeper surrender to the love of God is to be filled with His spirit. Surrendering to his love we rejoice in hope anchoring our expectations in his promise that he has set us free from the bondage of sin. Surrendering to his love we choose to be patient in affliction we don't give up. Surrendering to his love we choose to not surrender to our flesh, the world or the devil but stand our ground and fight. Often standing our ground is done on our knees being faithful in prayer. Refusing to give up or give in but being sure of what we hope for and confident about what we do not see we continue to come to the throne of the Almighty and pour out our hearts.

Something happens in this struggle. I want my Christian life to be easy. I want to be good I don't want to sin but I don't want it to be a struggle. However, I see a different pattern in Romans 12. "I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect." Somewhere in this struggle transformation takes place. Surrendering to God's love and offering my body as a living sacrifice is worship.

Lord Jesus, you did for me what I could not do for myself you took my sin and gave me your righteousness. You also gave me your Holy Spirit. Your word tells me to fight the good fight and to finish the race. Lord Jesus, you are my High Priest always making intersession for me before the throne of God please let the only thing I surrender to in this life be your love! Please let me be an encouragement to those around me not to give up because you won the war let us claim the victory.

A Detailed Plan

I was in High School and discussing the mysteries of the Universe with my friends. It was an interesting discussion because we had all heard different theories and we were comparing notes. One boy spoke with more authority than the rest of us his because brother was in seminary. He explained to us that the world was like a big clock that God wound up. After God set things in motion he stepped out of the picture and was just going to watch to see how things turned out.

This picture of an indifferent God was interesting to me but not comforting. Was my friend right? Was I along with all of creation left to chance? How did what I believe about God's caring or not caring affect anything anyway? As I thought about this I realized my belief about the nature of God was foundational not only in the way I viewed the world but also in the way I saw myself.

When I read the book of the book Jonah I saw a very different picture of God than the clockwork God my friend had told me about. In Jonah I found a God who had boundless compassion for the people He had created. Not just compassion on the Jew's who were considered His chosen people but also on the pagan sailors and the Ninevites. In this story of redemption and compassion God used all of His creation to carry out His plan.

The story of Jonah is full of divine appointments. First, God appointed His prophet Jonah to go to his enemies the Ninevites. Next, God appointed a storm to get Jonah's attention when Jonah had decided to go in a direction dirrent from God's. God appoint a great fish to keep Jonah from drowning and give him time to think about the direction he was headed. God appointed a plant to grow and give Jonah shade and save him from discomfort, while Jonah was waiting for God to destroy Nineveh. Finally, God appointed a worm to attack the plant and make it wither. This made Jonah very angry. God used it as an illustration that although Jonah had compassion on the plant because it gave him comfort from the heat he had no compassion on the city of Nineveh.

Lord Jesus, in this story of the redemptive love of God I see a picture of You. "For God so loved the world, that he sent his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God didn't send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him." John 3:16,17 Thank you for not being an indifferent God but a God of love and compassion. When I see my life reflected in your love it has meaning.



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When The Sunrise Visits Us From On High

One of the things I enjoyed when I worked in the cafe' was hearing people's stories. I didn’t always know their name only their story that was revealed little by little each time they come. It happened once when with a lady who was having lunch with her sister. As they were leaving the woman mention how her sister had been very near death nine months earlier. Her sister came back the next week and told me more of her story.

She told me how she had spent twenty three days in intensive care. She was in and out of consciousness and was not expected to live. She told me about how helpless she had been unable to do anything for herself. She had been a Christian for many years yet while she was in ICU not only was she unable to physically do anything for herself she was not even able to pray. As she was coming back into consciousness she heard God speaking to her. He said, "I am for you, even when you cannot be for yourself." She told how the realization of God's tender mercy had changed her life  and brought her a great deal of peace.

I have been thinking about her experience for days. I think it is a beautiful picture of what God did for us at Christmas when He sent His Son. Zechariah's prophecy after the birth of John the Baptist reflects this. "And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High; for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways, to give knowledge of salvation to his people in the forgiveness of their sins, because of the tender mercy of our God, whereby the sunrise shall visit us from on high to give light to those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace”(Luke 1:76-69).

She spoke of her illness as a gift that showed her God's mercy and had brought her to a place of peace she had never known before.  We talked about how God gives us grace in that He gives us what we don't deserve and how in His mercy he withholds the punishment our sins deserves but there is so much more to His mercy. Another translation for God's mercy is lovingkindness. God lovingkindness offers us a place of rest. "How excellent is Thy lovingkindness, O God! therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of Thy wings”(Psalm 36:7).

The truth of God's mercy and grace don't change but I think my understanding changes as I go through different experiences. When I was a little girl I was filled with wonder that God would become a baby and be born in a manger. Now as I think of God's lovingkindness towards me I am filled with awe. Though I haven't been through a life threatening illness the message that He is for me even when I cannot be for myself fills me with gratitude.

Lord Jesus, truly you are the sunrise from on high who has shone on us in our darkness. Thank you for guiding us in the way of peace and letting us rest under the shadow of your wing. Oh yes and thank you that even when we could do nothing to bring about our salvation You came and did for us what we could not do for ourselves.

You Epidermis Is Showing

I was a self conscious first grader on the bus the first time I heard the word. A much older child looked at me and said, "Your epidermis is showing!" I had no idea what it meant but I was sure it couldn't be good. Because I didn't know what it was I didn't know how to fix it. I got off the bus and went running into the house crying. I found my mother, lifted my tear stained face and whispered to her the horrible truth that my epidermis was showing and I didn't know what to do about it. Mother wrapped her arms around me and choking back the laughter as she explained that epidermis means skin.

I thought about this expression recently in relation to the "flesh". When the Bible speaks of the "flesh" it speaks of natural desires that have become warped or twisted. I was under a lot of pressure and my response was to become angry and unkind. After my emotional explosion I sat there feeling very exposed and the words came back to me, "Your epidermis is showing!" not just my skin but also my "flesh".

One analogy I heard for the "flesh" was a scar on the landscape of your soul. I like this analogy because as I consider my fleshly patterns that are contrary to walking according to the Spirit of God I can sometimes trace it back to a scar on my soul. A scar is a place where once there was a wound. When I was a little girl I used food to comfort myself. There is nothing wrong with food but when I turn to food for comfort instead to God it is a fleshly response to pain and not a spiritual response. When life get stressful sometimes I revert back to this fleshly response to pain and "my epidermis shows".

So what should I do to deal with this? If I go to a bookstore I can find countless number of self-help books. I have bought many myself. However, I have never been able by self effort to bring healing. There is always suppression. I determine that I will suppress my "flesh", but the more I think about suppressing my "flesh" the greater the desire becomes to give into it. In this struggle I identify with Paul who said, "For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is in my flesh. For I have a desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out." Romans 12:18

Is there a solution for this problem? Oh Yes! "There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law weakened by the flesh ,could not do." Romans 8:1-8 It is not by suppression or human effort that I deal with these scars on the landscape of my soul it is a matter of walking by the spirit. "But I say walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh." Galatians 5:16

Lord Jesus, I come humbly before you. Thank you coming to earth to be my Savior. Thank you for setting me free from the law of sin and death. Thank you for setting me free by the power of Your Spirit. Help me today to walk in the freedom of Your Spirit and not in my flesh.

When Darkness Hides His Face

Prayers offered in the night when the darkness of the sky represents the spiritual darkness that I since are heard. Again and again as I read the scriptures I see an invitation to anchor my confidence in the promises and person of Jesus Christ and not to give up but to be faithful in prayer. "I've lost all hope in life", I have heard people say. Hope can be lost only if you place it in the wrong thing. Hope placed in God will not leave me ashamed because, "God's love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit given to us." Romans 5:1-5 Because of this hope I continue to pray in the night.

I have pictures on my refrigerator of children in whose lives I've invested. I hear reports of what they are doing now and it makes me sad. Should I give up and stop praying? Have I given up all hope in them? Is that the right question? I don't think so. What I see in Scripture is that hope involves patience and endurance because I don't hope for what I see but for what I believe. Hope is bound up in faith and faith gives me an assurance of what I cannot see. Because of my hope I choose to pray not because of what I see but because of the one in whom I believe.

I think that two of my enemies favorite tactics are discouragement and anxiety. When I read the book of Ezra I see the enemy using these two weapons. God had spoken to his people through His prophets that if they did not obey His word that they would go into captivity for seventy years. When the seventy years was up and they were back in their land rebuilding the temple they became discouraged. They were being threatened constantly by their enemy. The ones among them who remembered the former glory of the temple that had been destroyed were disappointed that Zerubbabel's temple did not compare with it in size or in beauty. Because of their discouragement they stopped the work.

Isn't this the way it works? When the darkness of doubt and difficulty cloud my spiritual vision I want to give up and just live in the moment. Hope calls me to base my actions not on what I see but what I believe. When the people in Ezra's day stopped work on the temple and just focused on their on houses and their own comfort God sent them two prophets. Haggai and Zechariah, through their prophecies, pull back the curtains of heaven. The people were given an eternal perspective and hope was reborn.

There was a song written by Edward Mote in 1834 one of the verses says, "When darkness seems to hide His face, I rest on His unchanging grace. In every high and stormy gale, my anchor holds within the veil." And so I continue to offer my prayers in the night. When the darkness of doubt or fear hides His face I choose to persevere because I believe in the end the love of God will be poured out.