Christmas is all about a God who sees need – and approaches it.
A God who sees us as we are. Who sees us in slumped state. Who sees our tears. Who sees our pains. Who sees our agony. Who sees our missteps. He sees our trials, troubles and temperaments. He sees our incapability to save our own selves.
Christmas is all about breakthrough.
Christmas is about a God who would go to any lengths for us.
It is about the God of all power, becoming a man of all power. He breaks the force field of our world to break the fortress of sin – around us – that keeps us from him.
Christmas is about humility.
It is about a God who is God. A God who is the great I AM. But, it is also about a God who says I AM great enough to humble myself. I AM willing to do whatever it takes to lead you to my heart. I AM with you.
Christmas is about promises.
It is about a baby who grows up to be a boy and then a man, who unveils the heart of God, who saves. He heals. He helps. He prays. He leads. He fulfills dreams. He sends us into love that casts out fear. He will not stop being faithful to us.
Christmas is about no fear.
It means that the promise born in a stable is a promise that is stable. It means that when Jesus was broken, so was condemnation. It means that when you think you can’t, the power of Jesus…yes, it can. It means that it doesn’t matter so much how you feel, but simply that Christ is faithful.
It means that you are free in Jesus and alive to the Holy Spirit. This is what Christmas is about. It means that what purpose and power -God has sown in you, is released by him who set you free. It means go! It means get out! It means let loosed and lost in Christ Jesus for 2017!
Greater is He who is in you, than he who is in the world. For even though the one in the world tries to tell you Jesus is long gone and Christmas is just another holiday, the life of Jesus is just what is needed for victorious living.
I know I don’t always live this way – victoriously. But, I am fighting to. This is why I wrote Fear Fighting. I wrote it as a prayer, as a dream and as a discovery. I wrote it to see if Jesus Christ could pull me close and teach me new courage. Guess what? He did. So powerfully, he did.
I’d love for you to join the Fear Fight with me. It will bless you beyond compare. Buy it for a small group (10+ books) and I’ll even join your group Facebook page to encourage, teach or to just bless you.
Parked in my car, I stared at my neighbor’s perfectly ornamented outdoor tree. I’d missed it; I missed the moment. It was there for the taking, but I drove right past it. I couldn’t see past my path – to God’s path.
Reflecting on the morning, I considered how it went. My son called out, “Mom…our neighbor liked it. She…” I screamed from the other side of the car, “Buckle up, we’ve got to get to school, son.” At the sound of his click, I was off…
And, like I said, I missed it. The moment. He wanted to celebrate my sweet neighbor’s tree. But, the fact is, in my haste, I didn’t even notice the tree. I hurried past the display of reds and greens, of joy and peace, of excitement. But, most of all, I rushed past the little wind-chimes my son had made her a few months before.
She could have removed them off her grand display. But, she didn’t.
He wanted to let me know that she cared enough to keep them there. He wanted me to know that he was worthy to be part of her Christmas. He wanted to let me know that his heart to love and to show kindness was being celebrated where Jesus is. He was a special part of her Christmas; he loved and felt love.
He wanted to show me the meaning of Christmas.
But, I rushed on.
I saw destination and nailed it, with precision.
I saw my time sans kids, and grabbed it with strength.
I buckled up, grabbed my sunglasses, and peeled out of that driveway like a mother descending on a 3-hour vacation.
I wish I would have stopped. I am sure my son wishes I stopped too.
How often does God wish we stop?
That we stop to see His ornaments of goodness and kindness? That we stop to soak in His still small voice? That we stop to receive His oh-so-gentle prompting to call a neighbor in need, to hug a child or to observe a tree that points to the tree that made up the cross?
But, upwards and onwards we go! We make money. We get coffee. We buy presents. We speed through that yellow light. We answer that cell phone call. All the while, we miss God.
If we want to be led by the Spirit, we have to make room for Spirit. If we are so filled with the angst of progress, we will miss Him in the process.
This has happened to me. My heart is aching, because I’ve left no room. I’ve only left room to keep my heart in comfortable control. Yet, if God decides I should be 5-minutes late to something – can’t I sacrifice? Jesus gave far more than 5 minutes, he gave up his very body; He let it break and tear for me.
There is no shame. There is no condemnation, today, friends. Not for you or for me. There is just a ticket, extended to us, that invites us to go somewhere new. Every time, no matter what kind of pain in the side it feels like, it drives us to the point of joy and to the horizon of new peace.
God’s tickets to slow down and see Him always bring you to the peace that – is Him.
You make known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand. Ps. 16:11
Prayer:
Please God, don’t let me brush past your workings anymore. Please God, stop me in my tracks. Awaken my heart to what you are doing in the moment. Give me eyes to see brilliance and the brilliance within others as I welcome them into my heart in a present moment. Help me rest, with you. Help me go, with you. Help me be, with you. Amen
Do you feel unable? Do you have a dream no one believes in? Have you hit an impossible roadblock?
Maybe you’re after a miracle.
Even worse, maybe your not. Maybe, you’ve given up.
I am well aware, we all have our – “if onlys”, “it’s impossible” or “that couldn’t happen” scenarios. They loom like harbingers of how we will self-destruct, how those we love will get hurt or how we will never come out the other side – alive.
The enemy loves to tell us we can look, but can’t touch. He tells us good things are out of reach. So, instead we put on anti-faith, which is doubt cloaked in the covering of Christian-like behavior. We pretend.
We forget about this: Truly, truly, I tell you, whatever you ask the Father in My name, He will give you. Jo. 16:23
Our real problem isn’t that it’s out of reach, it’s that we don’t believe God’ll put it within reach.
The difference between a miracle and a mirage – is prayer.
If only we asked. And believed.
For 80% of my life, I lived not believing. I mean, half-believing, I guess…if that is such a thing. I lived attending church. I lived trying my best. I lived praying. But, for the most part I lived doubting: doubting I’d ever do good, doubting God would really forgive me, doubting God could use me, doubting people would ever like me.
Fear was my slave master and my inadequacy his whip. I stayed in line.
Until, I started praying. Prayer is the liberator every woman needs, but has no idea how to find.
Me? A girl who stayed back in 3rd grade. A girl crippled by a chest that clenched its own self. A woman afraid that everyone would hate her. A quitter. An anorexic who felt she had to be perfect. A woman who hid from opportunities because she didn’t want to fail. A lady who was told she’d never write, nonetheless be an author.
Me? God saved me – from the overwhelming anxiety of being me.
Me? God opened up purpose and passion.
Me? God lit vision and destroyed the power of rejection.
Me? God inspired my book, Fear Fighting: Awakening Courage to Overcome Fears.
Me? God just put my book on the Today Show. Kathie Lee Gifford named it one of her Favorite Things.
Me? God showed me – He can do anything, free anyone or rescue anyone – if only they ask.
We don’t ask though. This is the real problem.
What if you asked God to be fearless?
What might your life look like?
Where might God take you?
No doubt, underneath this stark movement in my life, were countless prayers. Above it, stood a limitless God. Between these two places, was my belief. I watched everything collide.
God is calling us to step deeper and walk further into the fullness of all he can do. You see, we don’t have to imagine it, or perceive it – forget all that – we just have to believe it.
This is what my book Fear Fighting is all about. It’s about linking arms with the Savior, the Redeemer and the Creator of all good, so that we, as sisters, may walk bold and brave. It’s about leaving behind trembling so we can walk, on sure foundation, into God’s greatest callings. It’s about exchanging comparison and jealousy for the life-charging power of I-am-loved, beyond a shadow of a doubt. It’s about seeing yourself as God sees you. It’s about stepping out when every voice from your past tells you to step in. It’s about finding the you God created you to be.
Join the Fear Fight. The time is now. Your God waits. He will help you. Prayer will be your guide and God will not steer you wrong. Your greatest miracle is just ahead.
I keep going back to what happened – what was said, how it was said and why the person is wrong.
A label was tossed my way; I was called a name. But, it’s more than just that. The bullets run deep – and are hard to pull out.
Sometimes what’s said or done, is not easily removed.
People yakked and hacked an image.
They understood things wrong.
They dissed, offended or disregarded you.
They were insensitive.
Like, I said, with people, what’s said or done, sometimes, is not easily removed. It sinks deep.
So, anyway, here I come, prancing on up to Christmas – a time of joy, a time of Jesus, with a hundred and one holes through my heart – and increasing pain lodged between me and a manger.
I am not sure what to do.
Because, this I know, if I want to meet holy, I can’t walk around hostile. In order to be super-close with Jesus, I can’t be loaded-up with sin. This idea is Christianity 101, but it takes a masters degree to apply.
Waving goodbye to your right to be angry, is like letting go of a bad habit – you love. Everything in you knows you’ll be better off without it, but not walking up to that wine bottle and taking a glass, or three, after a hard day, is hard. Like unforgiveness, it beckons you to hold on.
In some ways, your noble actions have warranted it, you figure. You’ve earned it. Other people have entitled you to carry around that glass, even if it makes you cranky, tired or on edge. Even if it hurts.
Yet, here’s the quandary: God says I should be able to approach him with “freedom and confidence” (Eph. 3:12). I can’t when I carry around this cup of self-righteousness. It spills over onto my eyesight and then I can’t see God. I get all clouded with shame, guilt and discontent.
So there they stand – ones who’ve offended me, tremendously. There Jesus stands – the One who befriended me, groundlessly.
I wonder if Jesus thought about me before he entered the world?
Maybe he thought: “Hmmm…there she stands; I see all Kelly’s offenses. In fact, I can line them up and they’d reach around the world. Join them together, they’d actually wrap it 3 times. How can I go down there, to that place of vile, and forgive her? How can I leave the heights of glory, a throne of brilliance, and all the angelic hosts of heaven – for her likes?”
I would have thought that way, if I was him. I would have thought, “Keep me up here at the banquet, but don’t send me down there into the stink and dirt of a manger – coupled with difficult people.Don’t put me there for that bad girl, Kelly. Not worth it.”
But, He didn’t. And this is the part I can’t contend with: Jesus didn’t abandon me because I abandoned him.
How can I abandon others, when Jesus didn’t abandon me? What right do I have to pick up a right that he laid down? To stand when he laid down?
He teaches me to lay it all down for others so that I can pick up that baby, Jesus Christ, and hold him close this Christmas.
I don’t do it for them, I do it because I love him. I want him. I can’t do life without him. I do it because he’s forgiven them too. He’s set the standard. He shows me the way. And, if I want the way to lead up to his throne, I can’t have mean people blocking my path to him.
So, there they stand. I look at them and, in them, I see me. I see me, because we are all in Christ. I see me, because just as they are covered, so am I. And, what I also accept, beyond the peace that comes with forgiving them, is God’s peace that comes with him forgiving me. For what I’ve held inside, me – the contempt – is covered. And, like a magic trick, but better, with God’s grace it goes – Poof! It’s gone.
And, all that’s left is Jesus. A man, whose small act of entering a large world, changes it all. Whose humility, radically rewires our vision. Whose love, makes our mouth go agape. Whose forgiveness, goes against all odds, yet changes them all the same.
The one “who is, and who was, and who is to come” (Rev. 1:8), remains. He always does. And, what we’ve done is cleared a way for us to bow low, so we can cry, “Holy, Holy, Holy.” So we can get eye-level with a baby, who redeems it all.
Will you let in the baby this Christmas? Who do you need to forgive?
God, we come to you as we are. We come to you with our frustration, anger and irritation. We come to you with our pain and our opinions. We bring to you our perceptions, right or wrong. We hand over to you, what you don’t invite us to carry any longer. God, will you take care of all this? Will do you do justice on our behalf? Will you mend our hearts on our behalf? Will you soften our rough edges and take from us what you know is not healthy for us to carry? We turn it over, God. Today, through the name of Jesus Christ, we release it. We know what you have, in return, is peace and joy that is far better than self-righteousness and pride. Lord, now that we are clean, we ask you to bring us close to your heart. We ask you to walk us up and into your love. We ask you to teach us and grow us as you see fit. We trust you God. Above all, we trust you. In Jesus’ name, we pray, Amen.
Get all Purposeful Faith blog posts by email –click here.
I cuddled with coffee (which is no doubt one of my favorite things to do). It warms me better than mittens on a cold day, which it was. I was sitting on my outside bench and enjoying the frosty morning. Not expecting to see what I was about to see…
Because, after you’ve sat on your porch day in and day out, things start to look, well…monotonous. Been there…seen that – the tree placed on the side of the yard, the bird house a little off to the side and the neighbors car – almost out of line’s site.
I know what’s out there – I can see everything.
My kids? I know their story and what their day will entail. My husband? I know him well, if not, too well. The blog? I know what I do each day. My problems? I can see them ruining me.
I know things – and maybe, this is precisely my problem.
What if by knowing everything, by relying on what I see, I am missing the chance to believe in what I can’t?
What if by seeing things as they are, I am not seeing by faith?
What if, by slightly changing perspective, I could change everything?
If, by believing in what I do not see,…
Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. (Heb 11:1)
I might receive what is best for me…
…so that what was promised, being given through faith in Jesus Christ, might be given to those who believe. (Gal. 3:22)
Why don’t I full rely on God’s eyes to see…
I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. (Eph. 1:18-19)
Maybe my life feels dull and ordinary because I’ve relied far too much on my own vision. God wants me to push pasty my might so I adopt his sight of that frees the captive, that brings beauty out of ashes and that overpowers the forces of darkness. I think I’ve missed out. And, what hits me is – when I seek to see like God sees, I experience a new way to be.
What appears like a shut door,
is really God’s way of sending me off in His new way.
What looks like a kid with a bad attitude is
really an opportunity to bring the gospel to her heart.
What lives like a long waiting period is really time
for me to prepare my heart for what God might want to do.
What comes at me like an in-your-face rejection,
is really a reminder God gives better gifts.
What appears to be time-lost is the chance to see God reclaim, miraculously, what was lost.
If we don’t believe, how will we ever see – God’s greatest works?
For the one who believes God can do all things, for them, they get to see these things – and greater things.
When did I become such a jaded Christian? I am sorry God. Heal my unbelief. Restructure my faith. Pour out grace. Enliven me in belief with no bounds. I don’t want partial faith in your goodness, but an all out allegiance to your way, your truth and your life. Amen.
And, as I sit there on that bench, surrounded by commonplace things on a commonplace day, I see something far less common. I see, beyond a stone’s throw, a leaf – one I had never seen before in my life. It was oddly shaped, as if it should be in some exotic locale. It is beautiful, awe-inspiring and special. It teaches me – when we get expectant to see, God puts his beauty before us.
Get all Purposeful Faith blog posts by email –click here.
I hadn’t thought of it like that. But, perhaps she was right.
I should get it. I am owed it. I’ve missed out, been singled out, treated poorly. Suddenly, she confirmed my worst fears.
I’ve been taken advantage of.
In a split second, her statement touched an open nerve, exposing all I-don’t-have, but should. The words grabbed me hook line and sinker. They make me want to get mad, to fight. Maybe, with some effort to get what I really deserve; I’ll feel 100% happy.
What do you feel you deserve? What have you been passive-aggressively implying you’re owed?
I suppose, under the cover of my steel lid, I’ve been slowly simmering with the idea I deserve respect, answers, and kindness from people. I deserve them to pull through for me. I deserve their help.
Yet (and this is the part that really gets to me – and hard to embrace), Jesus didn’t demand much. Jesus wasn’t known for saying he deserved things – even though he deserved everything. Actually, rather than taking what he deserved, he gave to the world what they didn’t deserve – his very own body.
He got broken for me, when he could’ve stayed enthroned, without me.
If Jesus is my role model…
If I really follow him…
I deserve nothing… but, through Christ, gain everything… the ability to love… to receive grace and to delight in the journey of being with God... …it is more than enough.
It really is. It truly is.
I lose peace when I start to think otherwise. I lose freedom too.
I can do nothing on my own…I seek not my own will but the will of him who sent me. Jo. 5:30
It’s a war of the world for the heart. There’s a tug one direction saying: fight for yourself. Then, there’s the Spirit’s tug the opposite direction saying: Die to yourself and live with me. And, there’s God’s truth saying: While you are silent, I’m fighting for you. (Ex. 14:14)
What if we gave up all our ways – to seek God’s? What might happen? I wonder what might happen to the world if – instead of fighting, we started loving? Call me simplistic or idealistic, but somehow, I not only think this is what God calls us to do, but he, in the process, sets us free to do.
The power isn’t in getting, but in giving.
Hatred stirs up strife, but love covers all transgressions. Prov. 10:12
Love never fails… 1 Cor. 14:7
Quick-fire Prayer: May I have eyes from above to shed love. May I not seek to gain the world, but extend a hand to it. May I fight not for my ways, but give up all my ways, in order to find Jesus.
Get all Purposeful Faith blog posts by email –click here.
Has God ever boomeranged truth – where it hits you right between the eyes? He did with me; it kind of hurts.
My son asked, “Mom, can I have hot chocolate.”
I figured I was being super nice by saying yes. He wanted marshmallows too.
“You can have 6,” I said.
But, six in the cup looked like a swim party of few, so I reached into the bag and grabbed the biggest handful I could. With an overwhelming feeling of generosity, I dropped them into his mug, expecting to see the face of a kid lit up in a candy shop; he didn’t look impressed.
Oh well. A mom can try.
Even so, I figured, I’d made him happy for the morning. Mission accomplished. I figured wrong. As soon as the last drop was licked out of the cup, he was at it again, “Mom, I didn’t get to eat a marshmallow on its own. I only got them in my cup. Those ones were all wet.”
His face was gearing up for WWIII. My face was not pleased either. I’d just given him ten times more than he deserved and he was whining about one marshmallow?Mom. Can’t. Win.
And, this ungrateful kid won’t win either!
“Son,” I said, “You can either be thankful for what you have or be discontent with what you don’t.”
No sooner were these words out of my mouth than they boomeranged. Boing!!!
They hit me like this: “Kelly, you can either be thankful for what you have –
or discontent with what you don’t.”Boing!!!
You may be missing me as much as he is Kelly.Boing!!!
Thankfulness is where you find joy, Kelly. It is where you meet greater trust in me. Boing!!!
You see what you don’t have,
but what you do have is gi-stinking-normous.Boing!!!
You enter my presence with a word of thanks; you find me.Boing!!!
“Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise;
give thanks to Him and praise His name”
(Psalm 100:4)
I want more of God – and all of this is true. God has given me much. He’s reached into the bag of his goodness and made the cups to overflow. He’s gone above and beyond to open up life-changing spiritual insights. He’s provided for me when I saw no way. He’s given me the opportunity to write a book that blessed me beyond get-out with new courage. He has grown me in patience. He has offered me a chance to be near loved ones. He’s grown my faith.
God, hasn’t given me a tad, He’s given me a ton. Yet, sometimes, like my son, I see only the little thing he hasn’t done. I focus on it, forgetting everything else. I get obsessed with that one little marshmallow and forget the sweetness of his providence.
But, what I am coming to today is – I always have something to be thankful for: Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever. 1 Chron. 16:34
Quick-fire prayer:Forgive me, God for my ingratitude. Thank you that you do forgive. Thank you, you love me no matter what. Thank you, I cannot step outside of your love. Thank you, you always have a plan. Thank you, you give me handfuls of blessings. Thank you, you see my way and guide me to it. Thank you, you bestow vision. Thank you, you restore me with eyes of clarity as I approach you with the honor you deserve. Thank you, you withhold no good thing from me. Thank you, God, you are all I need. Amen.
Get all Purposeful Faith blog posts by email –click here.
Maybe he’s called you to something…
Maybe he’s led you to something…
Maybe he’s pushing you to DO something…
Maybe he’s prompting you to change something…
Yet, sometimes, excuses can hold one captive within a fortress wall. They encircle, blocking the greater thing. I should know, I’ve made excuses my whole life. I am not good enough. Smart enough. Able enough. Willing enough. ____ enough.
Are you really going to work, God?
Are you really with me?
God, is it really possible that you will work – if I don’t?
In this place of, God…I-trust-you-uhh,-kind-of…., there are 101 reasons why the plan won’t work. Here, there visions are demise, prayers like desperate pleas and a will all about self. I should know.
Just the other day, I found myself sitting on the couch with these exact emotions. So, not knowing what else to do, I asked God to meet me and walked outside to my front porch…
Was I in a bird sanctuary? As they sounded off, something in me came alive, I was no longer trapped in my vision, my mindset, and my will. I’d pushed beyond the first protective wall. God was taking me somewhere.
I asked him for greater eyes to see; he gave them to me. First, I noticed the nest in my tree – the one neighbor called “a nest for squirrels”. The thought repulsed me at the time. I could somehow imagine them burrowing themselves in my gutters and then my attics and somehow- before the clock struck midnight – right into my bed – and under my covers. Over my dead body – (literally)!
But, as I stared at that nest, it wasn’t rabid squirrels that came out, but the tiniest and cutest of baby birds.
New life. New life always exists outside our walls of our disbelief.
I ventured out more, walking my ordinary path. The extraordinary birds sang something, but what did God want me to come to?
Kelly, if I hold the world together, don’t you think I can hold your dreams together?
Your life together?
Your moving parts together?
…in Him all things hold together. Col. 1:7
A bird swooped down in front of me. Not too long after, another one took a nose dive right along my path. Follow me. Like the disciples followed me, you need only follow me. It’s that simple.
Go as I go. See as I see. Where I go, I give new view.
“They didn’t ask questions, but simply dropped their nets and followed.” Mt. 19:20 MSG
It all sounded good. Because, seeing like me, a manipulating and self-steering girl, gets tiring. There’s a whole lot of things to worry about and people to please and things to do; frankly, I’m overbearing. Just going as he goes, sounds, well? Relaxing almost. So, I walk on and try to just welcome God into my space. I want to see as he sees and to go as he goes. And, what I notice is something I haven’t noticed all the other 200 times I’ve taken this walk. I see nests – ones almost invisible. Big nests. Small nests. Miniscule nests. Leaf-filled nests. I stop. How could I have missed them before?
Kelly, you don’t always see what I am birthing behind the scenes. But, let me assure you – where I go, I bring life. Every time you trust by faith, I hatch something.
“Everything is possible for one who believes.” Mk. 9:23
With this, God fills me up in some sort of transcendent way. He offers me His goodness – and I’m addicted. I crave more. I want more. I really want more. I desperately want more. I believe, God intends it this way, he must know: He’s the best dependency.
Upon arrival at home, my fortress looks different. The drawbridge is down and the front door stands welcoming. And, what I notice out of the corner of my eye are birds giving a final salute. They jump and frolic, enjoy and bathe in the puddles. They live – happy. Unconcerned with the future.
I never celebrate what God has done – for very long. I, so quickly, move on to the next thing.
Is God calling me to celebrate, in advance, what He’ll do through faith?
Kelly, I have a flight plan for you.
Joy launches with it.
It’s never a fight to be on my plight,
for my load is light.
Quick-fire Prayer:May I celebrate what I cannot yet see. May I trust in what I do not know. May I rest in where, with him, I’ll go. Fear need not be my companion, nor excuses my guide. For there is one true fact, and that is, you God, will not leave my side. Amen.
There is one tactic that can literally change the outcome of your daily wars (you will see exactly how below). It can help with people problems. It can reconstruct your mental state. It can abolish the feelings of despair. Do you know it?
Likely not. I think the majority Christians – know of it, but they know not – the power of prayer.
There are 3 reasons why:
1. They got hurt. They prayed for something big, yet nothing big happened. They, now, figure prayer is an outdated practice.
2. They have to wait. They give up before God gets up to fix their predicament.
3. They get bored. They think prayer is pleading endlessly about other people; there’s nothing for them.
Prayer sounds good on face value but on our knees?
Well, we’d rather be anywhere else, doing anything else, to fix our something else –
than praying. We’d rather be – doing, than – praying. We’d rather be – posturing, than – praying.
This is our problem; this is why we stay stuck.
Being on our knees hurts. Our very feet that want to go, fix and control circumstances are cut out from under us.
Yet, what if this is the point?
Perhaps, God has us on our knees, because our feet can’t bring us where our knees will.
And, this I am learning: A man will get more done on his knees than he ever will a lifetime on his feet.
The power of prayer is sometimes subtle, but it is also potent. I call my husband sometimes, and say, “I’ve been praying for you.” He replies, “I know. I can tell. Keep it up.”
You don’t think that changes his moment? It changes mine. My faith is renewed in a God – who answers.
This is not an isolated incident either. Prayer works, I’m finding. It wants to release captives from shame. It wants to change circumstances 360 degrees. It wants to restructure bodies, broken. It wants to change hearts, today.
Moses lifted his hands in prayer and look at how it worked for him:
As long as Moses held up his hands, the Israelites were winning, but whenever he lowered his hands, the Amalekites were winning. When Moses’ hands grew tired, they took a stone and put it under him and he sat on it. Aaron and Hur held his hands up—one on one side, one on the other—so that his hands remained steady till sunset. So Joshua overcame the Amalekite army with the sword. (Ex. 17:11-13)
Our power to win is often held within the power of prayer.
When Moses lifted his hands to pray, the Israelites were front-runners. When he dropped them, and grew weary, they fell behind.
Someone had the insight to realize this. Someone noticed the power of prayer. Do we?
Aaron and Hur responded; they seized constant prayer by: holding “his hands up – one on one side, one on the other—so that his hands remained steady till sunset.” They made it happen.
Do we make constant prayer happen?
There are mountains God, with us, God wants to move. (Mt. 17:20)
Prayer isn’t pleasantries. It isn’t niceties offered up to appease a mean God. It isn’t a way to gain favor with God for the bad stuff you did yesterday. It is the real charge of heaven falling on earth. It is strength for weakness. Hope for despair. Renewal for recovering addicts. Recovery for controllers. Realizations for the real pursuers of God’s heart.
Lift your hands; you’ll win. I think it is that simple. It’s the faith that makes it so. So believe.
Get all Purposeful Faith blog posts by email – click here.
For the longest time, judgments have thrown me off.
If I saw you looking at me weird, I was convinced you hated me.
If you had a comment that I wasn’t doing things right, I’d be devastated.
If you raised an eyebrow at my parenting style, I’d want to go climb into a hole and stay there until you are long gone.
It’s been hard for me to contend with people who condemn.
With certain people, I expect them to act a certain way. I can almost hear the words they’re going to say before they say them. I can almost see the pain strike my heart before the words are even formed in their mouth. With this, I internally fear and steer clear of them. I put up layers so they don’t prick me. I hide to protect my own hide.
I think, today, though, I am ready to admit, I am pretty much tired of this approach. I no longer want to relegate myself to a hole like a tiny mouse unworthy and unable to be myself. I want to step out – into the light – and do my thing, gnaw on cheese, squeak with joy or pounce around without caring what you, or anyone else, for that matter, thinks.
Jesus didn’t tell us to hide our light. He told us to shine it.
Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead, they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house.16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven. Mt. 5:15-16
Recently, I met with a friend. She’s spent every day of her life being who a family member wanted her to be. I could see how it had taken a toll on her. I could see she was ready to, like a butterfly, break out of her cocoon and fly-free. I wanted to see her colors. I knew God had something great for her – when she’d start being – who he made her to be.
God is helping me to see things. If we let external criticisms dwell as internal truths, we’ll live imprisoned. You see, the peanut gallery will always have comments as to who we should be. Yet, we don’t have to be who they say we should be. Who we should be is – who God created us to be.
What if Jesus changed who God created him to be in order to accommodate man’s standards? In order to please Pharisees or religious elite?
Jesus didn’t let criticism and condemnation define him. With this, God gives man’s condemnation no room to define us either. There is simply no one who has the power to destroy us. Because Jesus believed in who Father made him to be, and walked accordingly, he duct-taped the world’s mouth shut. No one could waver the mission of Jesus, because Jesus never gave them the chance to.
I want to be like that. Do you
Like Jesus, if we just hear the Word of God and walk accordingly, it doesn’t matter what man says. He can’t change our destiny. He can’t wreck our future. He may try to tell us we are ugly, we will never succeed or we are always falling short. But…blah, blah, blah he goes.
Jesus is in me.
The Spirit is alive.
The fruits of the Spirit are growing.
With this power working from me, I can turn right back around and say to him words of: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness and self-control.
Why? Not because I am good, but because Jesus’ good love holds me tight and says, I am untouchable. I am unremovable from his care. I am undeniably chosen and wanted. For Jesus is attached in me, not the words of someone trying to take me down.
Loading InLinkz ...
