Let All Who Have Ears Hear!

I grew up in church. Many hymns, praise songs, prayers, and sermons fell on my unhearing ears while I was still in my mother's womb. While I am thanking God as I type this for my raising, I have noticed a down side to growing up in the "bible belt." I somehow became grossly desensitized to the message of God. The things that were given to us to commune with God became repetitive and seemed to lose their power in my life. We can watch sermons from preachers all around the world online or buy them on DVD. Any type of Christian music- gospel, worship, contemporary, rock- is available to us with the click of a button. Bible studies. Sunday school. Small group. Youth trips. Church choir trips.

It is so very easy to become more acquainted with things having to do with God rather than to really get to know God Himself. All of the things I listed above can just be things to do. We know they are good things, and for goodness' sake, they're all church-related. But without a real, constant connection to God they are pointless. Literally. Pointless. Through most of the seasons of my life, I've felt the lack of really, radically committing to my relationship with Christ.  I think it's safe to say that most of us have at some point. But this desensitization to God and who He is makes us feel like it is okay to not really care. We say things like, "I know I should read my bible and I should probably pray more and give to the poor and all of that, but who really has time for all of that? Who actually does that? I'm not doing anything that bad," because we don't realize how truly holy and full of splendor God is. I can't count how many times my mind has had thoughts like the ones I just listed. We are absolutely deceived if we believe those thoughts. This is what our Creator has to say about this condition: "I know all the things you do, that you are neither hot nor cold. I wish that you were one or the other! But since you are like lukewarm water, neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out!" Revelation 3:15-16. In the original language, the usage of the word "spit" in this case literally means to vomit. Lukewarmness is absolutely sickening to God.

In this new season of my faith, I wish I could go back in time and knock some sense into myself. Gosh, I wish I could go back to just days ago when I was struggling with this yet again! How do we not know that by giving God only scraps, as if He were a dog, that we are insulting Him in the most awful way? We owe every breath to Him. He demands that we give Him all of us. Sadly, many times our response to this demand is to "put God on the shelf" and merely acknowledge Him when something bad happens. A prayer before we eat and go to bed, maybe. None of that weird on-fire-for-the-Lord stuff. No fervent prayer. No digging into the Word, knowing that it alone is a light unto our paths. While I won't pretend to know the mind of God, I can boldly say that what He has revealed to me thus far has shown me very clearly that He did not put the fullness of His wrath onto his own Son, letting Him die an excruciating, shameful death so that we could just check a few "churchy" things off of our weekly schedules to make ourselves feel better.

With all of that said, I can't emphasize this enough: with abounding love, God made us and cares for us. I have never in my life  experienced the presence of God more fully or consistently than when I am in constant communication with Him.  Love I cannot embellish or describe enough with the most colorful vocabulary is right here just waiting to be tapped into at any second with only one condition: surrender.  Satan and his demons have absolutely every intention of wreaking havoc in our relationships with God and in our lives in general- please heed my warning on this! Desensitization to this reality of God and His love is step one. Then comes (months or many years later) a very strong desire to actively resist surrendering to God. I speak from experience. Do not give the enemy any ground in this area. Run to God in prayer. And don't just talk at him. Lay things down at His feet and be still. Know that He is God. He has proven it before, and He will prove it again. Listen for His still, small voice. 

In the chapter of Revelation that I quoted earlier, the Lord says this phrase three times, "Anyone with ears to hear must listen to the Spirit and understand what he is saying to the churches." Jesus said this phrase many times during his ministry, "Let all who have ears hear!" It is all through the gospel. My most heart-felt prayer right now is that nothing God says to me will fall on deaf ears. More than anything, we need to hear from Him if we want to wake up from this complacent slumber.

Something To Chew On

Many of us learned to pray repeating the words, "and forgive me for all my sins."  Since the word repentance means to turn and walk in the other direction, we can't possibly repent of something vague and unspecified.  For the Spirit to be released from grief to fulfillment, every known sin must be the object of repentance.  Blanket prayers of forgiveness with no thought to the object of God's disfavor are a waste of time.  We cannot confess what we will not face. We must be specific. Godly grief leads to true repentance (2 Corinthians 7:10).

As long as we experience no sorrow for a sin, we have not fully turned from that sin.  We cherish some sins; we treasure them.  We do not want to let go of them; therefore, we admit to God we have committed them, but we lack the sorrow that would give us the strength to turn away.

-Beth Moore

This is one of many nuggets of truth in the study on the fruit of the Spirit I'm doing right now.  I had to post one, and this was first on the list. 

Galatians 2:20

I am currently going through a bible study entitled Living Beyond Yourself: Exploring the Fruit of the Spirit  by Beth Moore.  Today's lesson was over Galatians 2:20 and entitled "Crucified."

Now, typically when I see a big giant booklet with a bunch of blanks that you're supposed to fill in yourself, I get a little weirded out when it's a bible study.  I love reading the Word, but when it's in the context of read and then fill-in-the-blanks with your observations, answer all of these questions about what you just read...it just looks funny to me.  Like, it takes away the holiness of the bible and forces me to dumb it down into my lingo and limited understanding.  Regardless, I wanted to do a bible study so here I am, and I am so glad that the Lord laid it on my heart to do this one.  I'm just on day three but every single day I've gotten a huge knot in my throat going through the lesson.  (Note to self- it's probably safe to say that the majority of your pre-conceived notions are ridiculous, LB. Get rid of them!)

This isn't a detached, intellectual study of scripture.  It's pulled me into a deeper understanding of His many truths in a very personal, specific way.  Galatians 2:20 says, "I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.  The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me."  Beth goes on to make ten points:

1. Few will understand- When you seriously live life crucified to self and alive in Christ, you find out really quickly that few understand.  Many people even find it confrontational- sometimes even other believers.

2. You must abandon your own will and your own agenda- When you stick to your own personal agenda and continue to cater to your own will, the specific, personalized, daily will of God will be thwarted in you.
Christ himself had to pray, "not my will, but yours."  If the Son of God uttered these words, we're going to deal with this issue.

3.  Your intimate spiritual companions will be few-  She says, "I am not suggesting or encouraging spiritual elitism: nothing could be further from God's will.  I am, however, suggesting that there may be few who choose to walk this same road with you.  Those with whom you can pray deeply and agonize spiritually are unique, indeed! Be thankful for them!"

4. Intense times of aloneness with God are required- Beth states here that, "sometimes God reserves the right to withhold others and pull you aside with Him so that you can experience what David did in 1 Samuel 30:6, 'David found strength in the Lord his God.'"  We're not supposed to just spend time with God in church or small group or sunday school or even with just another close believing friend.  We're called to spiritual intimacy with our creator.  That means one-on-one time.

5. You will be constantly on the witness stand- (referring to Matthew 26:57-67, 1 Peter 3:15-16, and Hebrews 13:12-14) "Matthew describes Jesus' trial.  Peter challenges us to be prepared to give an answer.  There will never be a time when we are not subject to the observation of others.  We will be held under the strictest scrutiny of non-believers and believers alike, continually called to the witness stand...We must decide what we value most. Do we most want to be conformed to the image of Christ, or do we want to be comforted?"

6. You must go "outside the camp"- (Hebrews 13:12-14)  God will demand that we move outside our comfort zones.  There is no way to escape it- it is the only way to spread His gospel.

7. There will be times when your dignity is forfeited- (Matthew 27:27-31) Jesus was mocked, spit upon, hated, and ridiculed.  He didn't lash back.  We will, at some point in the future, if not already, have to follow suit.

8. You must forego your rights- Christ could have rightfully called down hosts of angels to carry him back to heaven while he was being mocked on the cross.  He could have rightfully refused crucifixion and changed the whole plan of salvation, but he didn't.  He humbled himself more than we will ever be able to.  He gave up his rights in order to be crucified, and we must give up ours to die to ourselves. Beth says it better than me "You may have rights of your own.  You may have the right to be angry, the right to be bitter, the right to leave your husband or give up on that wayward teenager.  But to be crucified with Christ means that you volunteer to forego all your personal rights except one: your right as a believer to be filled and led by the Spirit of Christ who dwells within you."

9. You must accept that death is painful- "At times, to choose the will of God is excruciating. We love our flesh and it hurts to have our desires crucified! Never misunderstand pain as permission to forego the will of God...What makes it worthwhile is that, as Christ's life is resurrected in us, other might exclaim in the words of Mary Magdelene, 'I have seen the Lord!' This is the highest calling of all humanity." Amen!!

10. Because He was forsaken, you never will be- "In many ways we identify with Christ.  In many ways He shared our lives and experience.  Here, however, the parallel ends.  Jesus bore the full force of rejection by humanity and separation from the Father. Because He was forsaken, you never will be."

All of these points grabbed me by the heart, but the last one...gosh.  She references Romans 8:38-39 with that last point, and even though I've read and heard it all throughout my life, the truth of it washed over me like the wave of a tsunami.  I'm finally starting to understand the meaning of "His mercies are new to me every morning."  No matter how many times I think to myself, 'God loves me. Jesus died for me. He will never leave me or forsake me,' if God speaks any of those truths to me it's more than I can stand.  And speak He did.  He gave me a seemingly everlasting moment of really realizing that He is always with me. That He loves me.  That He placed all of my guilt, shame, and punishment on his Son.  It's so impossible, but at the same time, the truest thing I've known- His love.  I am so thankful.  So, even though it calls me to die to myself, I'm in.  All in.

"And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love.  No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord." Romans 8:38-39

Everything

Here lately I've really been getting into the Word and praying and just spending time with God alone worshiping Him.  The huge blessing in being here in Louisiana with virtually no friends is that I have a lot of alone time to do this, and nobody but myself to distract me from it.  In this time, God has put a growing passion in my heart for Him.  I look forward to being by myself because I get to speak with Him.

It's funny...It's not like I couldn't have this before.  I haven't followed any set formula to get here.  I haven't changed my behavior to be "acceptable enough" to talk to Him.  I've simply made time for Him; and I've found that giving him just a little quality time sets off a chain reaction.  A few minutes lead to an hour. And then two, three, etc etc.  And in this time, God changes my heart.  Then, my behavior naturally changes with my heart.  It goes beyond "setting aside some time to read my bible."  It's more than a ritual to unwind at the end of the day or to start my day.  It's letting go of whatever issues, stresses, pains, or spiritual struggles I'm going through, placing them in His hands, and diving into all that He is.  When I let go of myself and put my mind on Him, He works things out.  All the gargantuan struggles that I felt so threatened by just moments before are seen through His perspective.  Then they look like ants- easily squashed.

The vastness of His being is overwhelming.  It's incredible to me that I have access to it 24/7.  It is literally IN me: "You, however, are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, since the Spirit of God lives in you..." Romans 8:9  Doesn't that just blow your mind?  The One who spoke creation out of nothingness DWELLS IN those who surrender to Him.  I am so thankful for that.  When you experience this indwelling first-hand, it is no longer possible to think of Him only in passing.  Anything short of everything is too insignificant a sacrifice.  He becomes everything.  I feel him moment by moment in the tiniest things.  I study His Word and my heart warms at the cognition of the words on the page.

Jesus, thank you so much.  Thank you for this passion you've placed within me.  Give me words and actions to use to share this love with everyone around me, and I will use them.  Amen!

Identifiers

I, being the intelligent and organized person that I am, decided that it would be a good idea to start reading three books at one time.  Not an absolutely horrible idea, but in hindsight I think I should've stuck to one at a time.  Anywho, I finished one of the books and now I'm back to reading Think Differently Live Differently by Bob Hamp.  I talked about this book a couple posts ago.  

Basically, I love it.  I forgot how much I loved it until I picked it up again about a half hour ago.  I had it bookmarked in the middle of a chapter so I just picked up where I had left off.  That chapter was dealing some with laying hold of new things and letting go of old things:  an idea I needed to sit and chew on for a good minute.  I know we're all creatures of habit, but I tend to think that I'm more of a habitual creature than most.  Especially when it comes to bad habits.  My bad habits are on a mile-long list.  They range from obvious, physical habits to minute "thought" habits.  I won't even get into that list because I have a feeling I could type about that for a couple hours and then wallow around in how disgusted I felt with myself.  So, let's just skip the list and move on, shall we?

As I sat and thought about all the of things that I tend to do/think that don't match up with the character that is pleasing to God, I realized that in listing all of these things I really felt as though I was describing myself perfectly.  In 100% negative words.  I am capable of identifying with a long list of bad behavior and bad thoughts.  This scared me.  While, yes, that list was a true (albeit unflattering) look at my transgressions, it shouldn't be how I see myself.  When I spend my time thinking about my faults and mistakes and defining myself by them, how likely is it that I'll get up after that and go live a life with a heart for God?  It's not likely at all.  What will happen is this: I'll do what I mentioned above- wallow around in how disgusted I feel with myself.  Oh, how easy it is for the enemy to use this as weapon #1 against me.  He knows that if he can get me to speak negatively against myself and my identity internally or verbally, he can sit back and watch while I drudgingly go through the motions of my day with negative, depressing thoughts running through my mind.

Unfortunately for him, God had other plans for me tonight.  In the middle of my depression parade God nudged at my spirit.  With that gentle nudge I remembered, 'I'm a beloved child of the King of Kings! I'm an irreplaceable daughter of the Most High! I am a completely unique, wonderfully made creation of the Creator. I am redeemed! The old has gone and the new has come!'

In this book the author says that freedom is when you can act and react in life as the person you were created and have been restored to be.  How can I act as the person I was created to be if the identifiers I use for myself are all dealing with my "old self"?  I can't.  End of discussion.  So the next time I find myself wallowing in my "list" I'm going to call a spade a spade and call the devil out for trying to set another trap for me. And I will sit and rejoice over my new list of identifiers:

dearly loved.

blessed.

redeemed.

joyful.

daughter of the King.

unique.

prized.

lovingly created.

called.

gifted.

bought by the highest price.

And I will take a good, long look at my Redeemer and who He is.  

Lost are saved; find their way; at the sound of your great name 
All condemned; feel no shame, at the sound of your great name 
Every fear; has no place; at the sound of your great name 
The enemy; he has to leave; at the sound of your great name 

Jesus, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain for us, Son of God and Man 
You are high and lifted up; that all the world will praise your great name 

All the weak; find their strength; at the sound of your great name 
Hungry souls; receive grace; at the sound of your great name 
The fatherless; they find their rest; at the sound of your great name 
Sick are healed; and the dead are raised; at the sound of your great name 

Jesus, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain for us, Son of God and Man 
You are high and lifted up; that all the world will praise your great name 

Redeemer, My Healer, Lord Almighty 
Our savior, Defender, You are My King 

Jesus, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain for us, Son of God and Man 
You are high and lifted up; that all the world will praise your great name

Let's Be Honest

Hey self.  Other than tonight and at church, when was the last time that you spent some time in the Word?

....well...According to my journal, it was the ninth...so...exactly one week ago.

Ouch.  I've found myself in this cycle since classes started back up for the semester of "doing really well" for about a day or two and then completely falling off of the proverbial wagon for a couple days after that.  Soon after, I go to church during the week and/or on the weekend and get my dose of Jesus, feeling encouraged and wiser.  Then I have my quiet time the next day.  And maybe the day after that.  And then nothing.  Until I go to church again.

Now, I'm not trying to go down the whole legalistic pathway here of "you need to read your bible every day or you're not a real Christian!"  I'm just being honest with myself.  The days that I don't spend any time in the Word, my prayer life usually suffers.  When my prayer life suffers, my everything suffers.  And I literally mean my everything.  When I'm not spending my day talking with God and setting aside some time daily to ask to hear from Him, my life gets drained of its purpose.  I feel this distinct combination of unpleasant feelings {if that's not an estrogen-charged sentence, what is? Okay, back to being serious}. And it's not guilt or shame.  It's the absence of something important.  It's the feeling of being drained when I haven't even exerted any great physical or mental energy.  Any resolve or drive to spend time on my God-given passions slowly dwindles.  And let's not even get into what happens to my drive to do things that I need to do {but don't want to do}.

So...let's be honest for a minute or two.  I have an obsessive personality.  It's far too easy for me to spend hours upon hours doing just one or two things.  It can be spent doing things that are unproductive, but not harmful in small doses: YouTubing random music, watching movies or TV, Facebooking {can we say HUGE time-suck??}, or reading for leisure.  It can be spent doing productive things: practicing piano or voice for school, working out, reading my bible, journaling, etc...Or it can be wasted doing things that have been very detrimental to me throughout my life: overeating and entertaining thoughts that are full of worry, lust, fear, or frustration.

Here's what I've come to realize.  To spend all of my time doing one thing, even if it is a good thing, is unhealthy for me.  Balance is vital in my walk with Christ.  I can't just sit at home and obsess over reading my bible.  Do I need the wisdom and life it provides? Yes.  But my personality tends to take everything I do for more than twenty minutes to some weird obsession-driven level.  This makes it too easy for me to just read the bible for a couple hours but not really learn from it.  I can't just let the text run through my mind.  I've got to meditate on it.  I've got to walk out into the world and live it out!  "But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves." James 1:22

When I stop and think about all of my weaknesses it's easy for me to feel discouraged.  But when I stop and think, really think, about my God, I am encouraged.  "The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you. And just as God raised Christ Jesus from the dead, he will give life to your mortal bodies by this same Spirit living within you." Romans 8:11

So, honestly, right now, I feel completely powerless over myself. But, I will turn to my powerful, merciful God. Especially when I feel this way.

"...We are His portion

And He is our prize

Drawn to redemption

By the grace in His eyes

If grace is an ocean

We're all sinking

And heaven meets earth

Like an unforeseen kiss

And my heart turns violently

Inside of my chest

I don't have time to maintain these regrets

When I think about the way

He loves us

Oh, how he loves us..."

Overwhelmed

Have you ever been in a time of prayer, worship, or of reading the Word and become suddenly and completely overwhelmed by the greatness of God to the point where all you can do is just be still and cry tears of joy?  I hope so.  That's happened to me a lot lately.  And it's by far the best thing I have ever experienced.

As I have been reading through the bible, there have been several passages of scripture that pull my mind to a screeching halt for so many different, wonderful reasons.  They echo the deepest feelings of my heart.  They equip me when I am in desperate need of wisdom.  They assure me in ancient ink of what I sense in my spirit.  They inevitably bring me to tears.  The good kind.  The God kind.

And then there's singing.  If you know me at all, you know that singing has always been my absolute favorite thing to do: my passion in life.  Music is such a mysterious and beautiful thing.  But even the best, most expressive music falls short of moving me the way that music used to worship God does.  As someone who is majoring in/obsessed with music, you would think I would pick a beautiful symphony over a simple worship song.  Honestly, even I would think that..but that's just not the case.  Even if it's just listening to a worship CD while I'm driving.  I feel God's presence so much in moments like that.  It makes me realize how ever-present He is.  His Spirit moves me to tears when I'm singing to Him.  Even while I'm doing something as mundane as driving to the grocery store.  I lift up a song to Him to express my love and devotion and in return He covers me completely with His love to the point that I feel it in every fiber of my being.  He places divinity into my life.  He trades me His extravagance for my simplicity.

I don't know how to expand on this without run-on sentences and word vomit.  So, since I'm averse to both of those things, I'm going to leave you with this scripture.  I have been praying it over myself for the past couple days.  It's one of those that I can read and say over and over.

{Ephesians 3:17-19} "Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him.  Your roots will grow down into God's love and keep you strong.  And may you have the power to understand, as all God's people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is.  May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully.  Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God."

And, of course, a song! (The lyrics are too good to NOT post them on here, so here they are)

You are good, You are good, when there's nothing good in me.

You are love, You are love, on display for all to see.

You are light, You are light, when the darkness closes in.

You are hope, You are hope, You have covered all my sin.



You are peace, You are peace, when my fear is crippling.

You are true, You are true, even in my wandering.

You are joy, You are joy, You're the reason that I sing.

You are life, You are life, in You death has lost its sting.




Oh, I'm running to Your arms, I'm running to Your arms.


The riches of Your love, will always be enough.

Nothing compares to Your embrace.

Light of the world, forever reign.



You are more, You are more, than my words will ever say.

You are Lord, You are Lord, all creation will proclaim.

You are here, You are here, in Your presence I'm made whole.

You are God, You are God, of all else I'm letting go.



Oh, I'm running to Your arms, I'm running to Your arms.


The riches of Your love, will always be enough.

Nothing compares to Your embrace.

Light of the world, forever reign.



My heart will sing

No other name

Jesus, Jesus.



My heart will sing

No other name

Jesus, Jesus.



Oh, I'm running to Your arms, I'm running to Your arms.


The riches of Your love, will always be enough.

Nothing compares to Your embrace.

Light of the world, forever reign.