Imagine with me for a sec...
You're standing in line at Starbucks; it's been a long day that's not over yet and your tummy is rumbling. You look in your wallet to find only enough change for a tall coffee. You sigh and avert your eyes from the last muffin of the day sitting pretty, delicious, and all alone in the display case. Just coffee will have to do. You make your order and dump your change into the barista's hand. Just then, someone slides 2 dollar bills across the counter and a voice from behind you says, "And that last muffin for them, too, please!" Shocked, you turn around, but before you can politely refuse, the kind person next in line smiles warmly and chuckles. You thank them profusely and share a laugh over the kind of day you've had. The barista pulls that precious last muffin from the case and as they are moving to put it in the paper bag, the unthinkable happens. You watch in slow motion as the muffin slips from their hands and tumbles down, down, down....splat! Right onto the floor, sticky and filthy from a long day's work. Tell me, what would your response be towards the person who bought the muffin for you? Would you take your thanks back because you didn't get the muffin in your hand? Would any of your anger or disappointment be directed at the one who paid? No! Their money wasn't bad. It wasn't their fault you didn't get to eat the muffin. You would thank them anyway for their generosity and kindness.
Christ paid for something much better than a muffin. He took 39 lashes and died a bloody mess for our healing. In faith we accept that healing. What is our response, then, when the healing doesn't get to our hands? Do we retract our praise and faith in the One who paid for it? Though healing and wholeness is our right by faith in the grace of God, sometimes the muffin just falls on the floor. But Christ has paid for it already and He is worthy of our praise, worship, and thanksgiving before, after, and even in the absence of the healing restoration. Gratitude is the correct response of the Christian to Christ's work, whether we taste the reality of it in this life right now or not.
One more thing, I can't imagine any Starbucks that I've ever been to letting something like that happen without compensating for it with a free voucher of some kind. I also can't imagine God being outdone in faithfulness by a coffee company! Sometimes we get the healing right away, and sometimes we have to come back again! It's paid for! It's yours! Continue thanking God for it, and come back until you taste it!
Bliss to you!
Sarah
2 Corinthians 9:15
Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!
Ephesians 5:18-21
And do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord; always giving thanks for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God, even the Father; and be subject to one another in the fear of Christ.
Philippians 4:6
Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.
Colossians 3:17
Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father.
1 Thessalonians 5:17
in everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.
Hebrews 13:15
Through Him then, let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that give thanks to His name.
1 Peter 2:24
He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed.
Obedience = Rest
This morning I read Hebrews 4:1-13 (below). A couple of things struck me in this passage about rest. First, Paul says that we have a promise to enjoy God's rest, but if we do not apply the faith to enter in to that rest, then that promise doesn't affect us. Belief opens the door for us to enter into the Promised Land of God's rest. Just as the Israelites who first gazed on that beautiful, pleasant place and turned back in fear and disbelief that God could do what was necessary for them to live there, we have a choice: do I believe that God has accomplished His work and that promise of rest is mine to live in? Or will I disobey His command to enter the Promises and remain outside of His rest?
God's work finished on the seventh day of creation. Jesus' work finished on the cross. They are resting. At peace. Full of joy and hope. God has set before me a promise of rest and commanded me to go in and possess the land. Why do I hang around at the edges of the Jordan, then, wringing my hands in worry and unbelief? That amounts to disobedience. The refusal to rest in God's promise reveals a heart that disbelieves the extent of His goodness towards me. "He brought me miraculously this far, but I'm not sure I trust His ability or willingness to give all that beautiful abundance to me." Why do I still imagine there are limits to God's love for me? After all He's done?!
The good news is that God continually says, "Today! Today is the day! Enter into My rest! Settle down in the belief that I am Good, I do Good, I have Good things for you to enjoy and for you to do!" Entering into God's rest is obeying His heart; realizing that my works are useless to get me into His promises. He has given His word, the word that is never empty or void, but always full and fruitful! His word is living and active! The day assigned for entering the rest and the promises of God is: today! Always today!
I know, some of you are thinking, "Faith without works is dead." Yes! But all my works must flow from a place of resting in the finished work of God and in the bounty of His promises for me! Jesus came to give me abundant Life! Not for me to sit on my hands and wallow in it. He did not intend for me to be a reservoir, but a river. Sitting water becomes stagnant; flowing water is fresh and alive! So I rest in all He has done, and I let the effect of His finished work flow out of me. Obedience does not equal working harder in order to please God; obedience is resting in the undeserved love of Jesus that covers my inadequacies and positions me in God's pleasure, so that I can taste effectiveness through Jesus' obedience. Love is cultivated through rest. Obedience is a result of love. Therefore rest is a first step. How do I enter that rest? By faith. And without faith it is impossible to please God. Faith. Rest. Love. Obedience. It only works in that order.
Life can be very tough. And there are often problems and stressful issues that try to pull us away from rest. We must ignore those demands. The enemy wants to use those things to increase negativity, worry, panic, fear, doubt, and depression in us. God wants to use those things to promote us, changing us more into the likeness of Christ! Holy Spirit has a positive to replace any negative in your life. So often, though, God speaks in that still, small voice that can only be heard in a place of rest. "Be still and know that I am God." Stay in rest, receive the positive from God. Then step out in faith towards your promised inheritance in Christ!
Lift up your eyes to the hills, flowing with milk and honey. A place of abundance and joy set aside for you! God has good plans for your future! He also has good works He wants you to do with Him! Passions you are uniquely designed to carry in the Kingdom! Gifts you possess to minister blessing to the nations! Now look down at your feet...there is a mighty river flowing fast past your toes. It is a time of decision. Will you turn back in fear, doubting the goodness of God? Or will you finally obey in faith, as the priests carrying the Ark of the Presence into the Promised Land. Like the priests of Israel so long ago, God requires the first step from you. Like them also, as you put your foot down, the rushing waters will part for you to cross smoothly into your promise. You carry the Presence! Who can stand against you? His rest is for you! Today!
Bliss to you!
Sarah
Hebrews 4:1-13
1 Therefore, let us fear if, while a promise remains of entering His rest, any one of you may seem to have come short of it. 2 For indeed we have had good news preached to us, just as they also; but the word they heard did not profit them, because it was not united by faith in those who heard. 3 For we who have believed enter that rest, just as He has said, “As I swore in My wrath, they shall not enter My rest,” although His works were finished from the foundation of the world. 4 For He has said somewhere concerning the seventh day: “and God rested on the seventh day from all His works”; 5 and again in this passage, “They shall not enter My rest.” 6 Therefore, since it remains for some to enter it, and those who formerly had good news preached to them failed to enter because of disobedience, 7 He again fixes a certain day, “Today,” saying through David after so long a time just as has been said before, “Today if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts .” 8 For if Joshua had given them rest, He would not have spoken of another day after that. 9 So there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God. 10 For the one who has entered His rest has himself also rested from his works, as God did from His. 11 Therefore let us be diligent to enter that rest, so that no one will fall, through following the same example of disobedience. 12 For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. 13 And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do.
Psalm 121:1
Exodus 3:8
Psalm 36:8
Isaiah 55:2
Jeremiah 31:14
2 Corinthians 8:2
John 10:10
Jeremiah 29:11
God's work finished on the seventh day of creation. Jesus' work finished on the cross. They are resting. At peace. Full of joy and hope. God has set before me a promise of rest and commanded me to go in and possess the land. Why do I hang around at the edges of the Jordan, then, wringing my hands in worry and unbelief? That amounts to disobedience. The refusal to rest in God's promise reveals a heart that disbelieves the extent of His goodness towards me. "He brought me miraculously this far, but I'm not sure I trust His ability or willingness to give all that beautiful abundance to me." Why do I still imagine there are limits to God's love for me? After all He's done?!
The good news is that God continually says, "Today! Today is the day! Enter into My rest! Settle down in the belief that I am Good, I do Good, I have Good things for you to enjoy and for you to do!" Entering into God's rest is obeying His heart; realizing that my works are useless to get me into His promises. He has given His word, the word that is never empty or void, but always full and fruitful! His word is living and active! The day assigned for entering the rest and the promises of God is: today! Always today!
I know, some of you are thinking, "Faith without works is dead." Yes! But all my works must flow from a place of resting in the finished work of God and in the bounty of His promises for me! Jesus came to give me abundant Life! Not for me to sit on my hands and wallow in it. He did not intend for me to be a reservoir, but a river. Sitting water becomes stagnant; flowing water is fresh and alive! So I rest in all He has done, and I let the effect of His finished work flow out of me. Obedience does not equal working harder in order to please God; obedience is resting in the undeserved love of Jesus that covers my inadequacies and positions me in God's pleasure, so that I can taste effectiveness through Jesus' obedience. Love is cultivated through rest. Obedience is a result of love. Therefore rest is a first step. How do I enter that rest? By faith. And without faith it is impossible to please God. Faith. Rest. Love. Obedience. It only works in that order.
Life can be very tough. And there are often problems and stressful issues that try to pull us away from rest. We must ignore those demands. The enemy wants to use those things to increase negativity, worry, panic, fear, doubt, and depression in us. God wants to use those things to promote us, changing us more into the likeness of Christ! Holy Spirit has a positive to replace any negative in your life. So often, though, God speaks in that still, small voice that can only be heard in a place of rest. "Be still and know that I am God." Stay in rest, receive the positive from God. Then step out in faith towards your promised inheritance in Christ!
Lift up your eyes to the hills, flowing with milk and honey. A place of abundance and joy set aside for you! God has good plans for your future! He also has good works He wants you to do with Him! Passions you are uniquely designed to carry in the Kingdom! Gifts you possess to minister blessing to the nations! Now look down at your feet...there is a mighty river flowing fast past your toes. It is a time of decision. Will you turn back in fear, doubting the goodness of God? Or will you finally obey in faith, as the priests carrying the Ark of the Presence into the Promised Land. Like the priests of Israel so long ago, God requires the first step from you. Like them also, as you put your foot down, the rushing waters will part for you to cross smoothly into your promise. You carry the Presence! Who can stand against you? His rest is for you! Today!
Bliss to you!
Sarah
Hebrews 4:1-13
1 Therefore, let us fear if, while a promise remains of entering His rest, any one of you may seem to have come short of it. 2 For indeed we have had good news preached to us, just as they also; but the word they heard did not profit them, because it was not united by faith in those who heard. 3 For we who have believed enter that rest, just as He has said, “As I swore in My wrath, they shall not enter My rest,” although His works were finished from the foundation of the world. 4 For He has said somewhere concerning the seventh day: “and God rested on the seventh day from all His works”; 5 and again in this passage, “They shall not enter My rest.” 6 Therefore, since it remains for some to enter it, and those who formerly had good news preached to them failed to enter because of disobedience, 7 He again fixes a certain day, “Today,” saying through David after so long a time just as has been said before, “Today if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts .” 8 For if Joshua had given them rest, He would not have spoken of another day after that. 9 So there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God. 10 For the one who has entered His rest has himself also rested from his works, as God did from His. 11 Therefore let us be diligent to enter that rest, so that no one will fall, through following the same example of disobedience. 12 For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. 13 And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do.
Psalm 121:1
Exodus 3:8
Psalm 36:8
Isaiah 55:2
Jeremiah 31:14
2 Corinthians 8:2
John 10:10
Jeremiah 29:11
Sweet Water Spring
Last night, I felt God's smile over me like a warmth around my soul. I didn't do anything in particular that day that one might point to and say, "Oh, God is pleased with her service/performance/growth/etc." I just lived out my day as usual. But there are times when I sense His intense pleasure in me just as I am, His beloved redeemed one, and I know that it has nothing to do with my effort. God is pleased with Jesus and I am in Jesus, so I get to taste the full intensity of the Father's delight without lifting a finger. The weight of that love is overwhelming. Last night was such a time. This is what He whispered to my heart...
"You are sweet! Salt water deceives: the more you drink, the more it leaves you parched. This world is the same. But there is a sweet, ever-fresh Water that hydrates in Truth. You have a deep well of this inside, a sacred reservoir of Me that supplies you and never runs dry. You also have a spring of this sweet Living Water bubbling up; it sprinkles, showers, and drenches others around you with My goodness. I love that about you!"
I don't want to hog this beautiful word for myself! I want to bless all you who are the Springs of Sweet Water...Jesus is flowing out of you to refresh a very thirsty world. As He flows through you, He also refreshes you! Rejoice in the Source!
Bliss to you!
Sarah
James 3:9-12
John 7:38
2 Corinthians 2:14
"You are sweet! Salt water deceives: the more you drink, the more it leaves you parched. This world is the same. But there is a sweet, ever-fresh Water that hydrates in Truth. You have a deep well of this inside, a sacred reservoir of Me that supplies you and never runs dry. You also have a spring of this sweet Living Water bubbling up; it sprinkles, showers, and drenches others around you with My goodness. I love that about you!"
I don't want to hog this beautiful word for myself! I want to bless all you who are the Springs of Sweet Water...Jesus is flowing out of you to refresh a very thirsty world. As He flows through you, He also refreshes you! Rejoice in the Source!
Bliss to you!
Sarah
James 3:9-12
John 7:38
2 Corinthians 2:14
The Birth of Compassion
This morning I experienced an unforgettably beautiful and tender moment with my 3(almost 4) year old son. I've been reading "Another Man's War" by Sam Childers, about his life and work with orphans in Sudan. On the back cover there is a heart-wrenching picture of a small child grieving with some unknown, probably unthinkable pain. The child's eyes seem to lock with yours, tears streaming down dusty cheeks, mouth opened in a silent wail of the soul. I was reading this book when Isaac came up to ask me something about his legos. That's when he first caught a glimpse of this crying child's picture. He stared at it for a few seconds. Then his face crumpled, his eyes welled up with tears, and he crawled up into a corner of the couch, face buried in his hands. I immediately set the book aside and went to him. I asked him what he was feeling; he replied that he was sad for the child. With my own eyes brimming with tears and voice choked with emotion, I took the next several minutes to hold him close and whisper with him about that feeling: compassion, to see someone else's pain and hurt for them, and to want to make it better for them. I explained that, though painful, it is actually a good thing; compassion is the heart of Jesus inside of us, moving us to love others as ourselves. Then we prayed softly together for God to be with that child, wherever they were and whatever they were hurting from. Stroking his thick hair and soft cheek, I marveled at my son, eyes so full of pain and love for a child he's never met. Here sits a happy, healthy boy living in a free country, safe and with every physical and emotional need met...and his heart is breaking for the child who has none of that. I long for my children to live compassionate lives, but that is something I cannot give to them. It must grow within them from the Spirit of God inside.
What blows me away is that a year ago God gave me a picture for Isaac: an arrow. At first I argued with God that it didn't fit him, because he is a tender, content boy whose name means "laughter". An arrow felt too hard and cold. Then God showed me the elements of the arrow: the tip is Love, the shaft is Faith, and the fletchings (feathers) are all the Fruits of the Spirit. God revealed that Isaac will be a weapon against the kingdom of darkness by living in Love and Faith and Joy and Gentleness! This morning I witnessed him take a first step towards his destiny: the birth of compassion in his heart. As I watched him encounter this strong emotion for the first time, I imagined what exploits he will undertake in his life, compelled by the love of Christ to protect the innocent and provide for the poor. I snatched that priceless moment to speak those seeds over him (You are a strong and brave boy with a great heart of love, God will use you to help and protect children like that who have no one to fight for them), and watched them fall into the soft, freshly tilled soil of his young heart.
Holy Spirit, rain upon those seeds of Jesus in my children. Father, let the light of Your face shine on them. As they learn to live in love with You, cultivate Your dreams for them in the hidden places, until they grow into mighty oaks of righteousness. And teach me, also, Lord, to live from that deep, powerful place of compassion. Move my heart, as Your heart moves, so that I may pray the prayers that You can agree with! For Your sake, Jesus. Amen.
Bliss to you!
Sarah
Holy Spirit, rain upon those seeds of Jesus in my children. Father, let the light of Your face shine on them. As they learn to live in love with You, cultivate Your dreams for them in the hidden places, until they grow into mighty oaks of righteousness. And teach me, also, Lord, to live from that deep, powerful place of compassion. Move my heart, as Your heart moves, so that I may pray the prayers that You can agree with! For Your sake, Jesus. Amen.
Bliss to you!
Sarah
JUSTICE!
For Christmas this year my mom gave me a book. At first glance, it appears to be an average book. It is not. The stories contained between the covers have forever changed me. The book is Passport Through Darkness by Kimberly L. Smith, and it is her story intertwined inextricably with the stories of a beautiful place tragically oppressed by darkness: Darfur, Sudan. I have been aware of the problem of human trafficking and modern slavery for a couple of years now, but I try not to think about it. I knew it would devastate me, so it seemed safer, and certainly more pleasant, to only think on it briefly. Reading Kimberly's story opened up deep places in my heart and, yes, the pain floored me at several points. But I am realizing that in order to be truly intimate with God, I must open myself up to all of Him. What kind of wife would I be to Sam if I only wanted to share the good things with him, but shut down or walked out when he was going through pain, difficulty, or depression? On our wedding day I vowed to share all of life with him, not just the fun parts. Participating in what the other is experiencing is one of the most fulfilling and sometimes sacrificial parts of intimacy: "I am a separate person than you, but I choose to be one with you, even through the ugly of life." I wouldn't trade it for the world. In the same way, if I desire to be called the Bride of Christ, I must allow my experience of Him to encompass what breaks His heart. Just as He rejoices always, He also sees every evil act and weeps with His womb-formed ones in their pain.
I find the more I hear of the inhuman atrocities mankind is capable of inflicting, the higher my estimation of Christ's blood rises. As I look deep into the heart of Jesus, my heart breaks for the vulnerable and my anger burns on their behalf. Yet, I see His love goes much deeper still: even to the depth of longing for the perpetrators to be washed clean...after all, He has already paid their price for redemption. He bore the blame and shame of EVERY sin as if He had done it Himself...the weight of which was enough to kill Him. This shatters me to bits. What God is this?! How can He love like this?! He is overwhelmingly beautiful.
I challenge you to dissolve the compartments of your heart, open the door just a crack and ask Jesus to let you feel how He feels about His suffering children. It seems dangerous, I know. There is so much pain and abuse of the heart in your life already. But the pain of Jesus' heart is a clean pain. It will not stain or scar you because it is mixed with His powerful, redemptive, joyous, hope-filled love! All evil has an expiration date! Jesus is the God of Justice and He never fails!
Like I said, having tasted His heart in this way, I am forever changed. I do not feel guilty for the blessed life that I live. I have been given freedom, health, and abundance for a reason: to be a voice, a hand, a heart for those who haven't. This is pure religion that pleases my Father in heaven. In honor of Human Trafficking Awareness month, I encourage you to do something to join in the fight against modern slavery and oppression, even if it is only to let yourself feel what you never have before.
Here is a beautiful song: Break My Heart by Tosha Zwanziger. If you like it, purchase the song or album on iTunes, proceeds go to support this cause!
Ministries to check out:
www.makewaypartners.org
www.notforsalecampaign.org
www.sctnow.org
Pearl Alliance
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