Sometimes you are hurting but don’t notice it because you are busy carrying all the burdens. Take a moment and breathe and connect with your feelings. Then take those feelings and turn them over to God. When everyone is relying on you it’s easy to feel like you have to keep a brave face and hold on. But God. God never called you to be strong in yourself, He called you to be strong through Him. Take your pain, anger, fear and sorrow and place it all in His hands, then walk away. I don’t mean stop praying about it, I mean stop holding onto it like it’s your burden to hold. His yoke is easy remember? His burden is light. He is not going to give you a bunch of stuff to deal with and then walk away. God will carry you. Trust Him.
Category: Prayer
He knows
He knows
Those battles you fight. Those problems and pains you go through that you tell no one about. Those needs, fears, desires, fallings, sicknesses, screams in the back of your mind, dark pits that circle, boxes you can’t climb out of, endless nights, days that won’t go away. All of it. Jesus is there. You may tell no one. You may never ask for help or sympathy, but He knows. It’s the moment when you feel you have been fighting alone all night long and you suddenly feel an arm around you. You look and see no one, then you realize, it’s Jesus. Those days when you felt like no one could hear or see you, but He hears and sees you. You feel like you scream alone, but He holds your hand and screams with you until your screaming is done and you feel like you will make it. He will make it so you can make it. You fall, but never hit bottom because He catches you.
No matter what. Jesus is there. In all my circumstances- But God.
In the box of grief
I don’t know who needs this tonight. But grief is like a box. You feel trapped by walls that you can’t touch or see and you feel a need to escape but can’t. This is why so many turn to suicide, because the box is everywhere. You run one direction and it follows you, you go another direction and it’s still there. The worst part of the box is that it is there even when you try and escape into sleep. It follows you into your dreams and makes you feel like you can’t breathe.
No one else sees the box, so they don’t understand how you feel.
But Jesus sees the box. He alone can hear you pounding on its barriers and screaming for help. The best part is, counselors and support groups -though great – can only meet you outside of the box. They try to coax you out and then meet you on the other side. But Jesus doesn’t need to wait until you are free from the box. He goes into the box with you. He sits there with you as long as you feel you need to be there. Because sometimes fighting the box takes too much out of us and we need time to sit and cry. When you are ready, Jesus will hold your hand, tap the box wall and make it fall before you. He will set you free.
If you are in a box right now, take a moment to speak the name of Jesus and realize that you are not alone.
Behind her
Behind her
My dad has been transferring over a bunch of our HFV s so we can watch them. One of them was a two hour production of a play I was in. I was part of the choir, which was pretty large. At the end of the production the leader came to the lead mic and gave an invitation for anyone in the audience who had not yet accepted Jesus as their Savior to raise a hand. No one did. She gave the call one more time and then we all prayed the sinner’s prayer. You could see she was disappointed that no person From the audience had put up a hand. She had felt the call from God that someone needed her to give the invitation, but she saw no results.
My mom was video taping the whole event, this part too. Behind the leader who had given the call, two boys in the choir and one girl, put their hands up to receive Jesus. The leader could not see them, so she thought she had made a mistake but had everyone pray the prayer anyway.
In the back there were three young souls who had never accepted Christ who went home with the Holy Spirit in them, because a woman gave a call, and wouldn’t give up, even though it looked like no one had answered.
Don’t get discouraged. You may never see the results. But you have never made a mistake by inviting people to come to know Jesus. Come and see said Andrew. Come and see said Philip. Come and see said the shepherds.
Come and see says the repentant souls who know that of no one had ever told them to come and see, they would still be lost.
All we can do is give the invite, the rest is up to God.
The shepherd
The shepherd
What is the role of the shepherd in the pasture? He’s the whole purpose. He’s the one who wants the sheep and calls the sheep and cares for the sheep. But not just the sheep. He cares for the collies and the lamas too. He knows each animal in the field and knows how each one needs to be cared for. He also knows which sheep is hurting, which is afraid, which is prone to run away, which gets lost easily. He knows each sheep by name. He sits in the cold, the rain, the dark, the blazing sunlight, the icy snow and he watches over His flock.
God is the great shepherd. Psalms 23.
God knows each of us, He knows our names and He knows our minds, our hearts, our strengths and our weaknesses. He knows who needs a shoulder to cry in or who needs a healing hug. He knows who needs a hand to hold and who needs a gentle poke from the staff. Rain or shine He us always there. Night or day He is with you. He knows you and how to take care of you, not just as one of the flock, but as (insert your name here). He doesn’t say “it’s okay number 33687.” He says “it’s okay Lynne. It’s okay John. It’s okay Max.” Because we are special to Him as individuals.
Some of us are sheep
Some are lamas
Some are collies
But there is only one true shepherd and I thank God for shepherding me.
Collies
Collies
Yesterday we talked about the role of the lama, in the field and in the church, today we will talk about the role of the dog.
What is the dog’s job in the sheep pasture? They keep the sheep in line. Without a dog to herd them the sheep will scatter and wander off when moving from field to field. When it’s time to go from summer pasture to winter it can be a fairly long walk, depending on where you plan for your animals to graze. Without the dog strays will get lost and lambs can go astray. The dog knows the sound of the shepherd’s whistle. He knows what to do when someone falls away from the group, and he will fight any animal that comes against his flock. The dog isn’t always our favorite person in the church. He or she is the one who gently points out the places we are falling short from the commands of the shepherd. But he is also the person who will show up to the house of the recovering addict because she didn’t come lunch like she usually does. He’s the one who will go into the bar to find the sheep who has turned to something harmful to escape his problems. He’s the one who will sit up all night with the person struggling with depression who just can’t take another day. She’s the one who bakes a casserole for a friend who needs help to get by. She’s the person who cries in her prayer closet for the sheep who wouldn’t come home. And she’s the one the world doesn’t want to mess with in regards to her flock, because she’s the one who will go down fighting.
The dog isn’t always loved in the church because he or she can look like someone who is critical or judgemental at times. But the dog is the one who will fight for you against yourself when you become your own worst enemy.
For those of us who are the dog of the church, let’s not be hard on ourselves when we get scolded by the sheep for only listening to the shepherd, it’s His voice we should follow anyway. And next time one of the dog’s points something out to you, pray about it and see if it is something God wants you to fix instead of getting angry.
God bless the dogs of the church.
Tomorrow we will cover the sheep and then lastly, we will move to the shepherd.
Lamas
I just want to be a sheep, bah bah bah bah. Remember that song? Maybe most don’t. But when I was a child we used to sing a song about wanting to be a sheep in God’s pasture. But perhaps not all of us are sheep. God said that He would send shepherds to lead the sheep -pastors. But what about those who aren’t simply part of the congregation but have a specific calling inside the church, not as pastor, but as one of the other ministering bodies in the building?
For this let us take a moment to look at a sheep farm. On the farm you have your shepherds, then you have your lamas or donkeys, then you have your collies or terriers, then you have your sheep.
We all know what the shepherds do, but what does a lama or donkey do? We have several shepherds in our area and they will tell you that the lama or donkey is there to protect the sheep. They will fight off wolves and wild cats and keep the sheep safe. They aren’t social and don’t always spend time with the sheep, but they are always there to silently protect and defend. They are our prayer warriors. Our prayer warriors aren’t always social people, they are often missing from group prayer meeting, because they are in their own corner fighting on their knees in a place where they can’t be distracted. They are battling for you against the enemy and keeping you safe. They are the lamas.
Tomorrow we will talk about the collies and terriers. The next day we will talk about the sheep. But for today, be grateful for the lamas in your church. Praise God that He gives us all a purpose.
Hey there little red. Who have you been listening to?
Hey there little Red. Who have you been listening to?
Imagine how that story would have gone if Riding Hood had listened to the wolf. She would have been a lovely dinner for a hungry wolf family and the story would have been shorter and without space for all the sad remakes.
We too are walking through the woods, we don’t really know where we are going or if it’s going to stop being dark. What we do know is that there is an enemy waiting for us. Prowling. If we listen to what he says we will be dinner. The wolf says stuff like, “everyone is doing it.” “It’s legal now.” “It won’t hurt anyone.” “God loves me despite my flaws.”
The wolf isn’t stupid. He takes things that sound good and use them to twist the truth. Lots of things that are legal are that way because they are fine, but some are legal because the law makers gave into pressure, or chose to lower the law’s standards to make extra money. Sometimes when everyone is doing something it’s a good idea, like brushing your teeth or eating less salt. But lots of stuff everyone does is simply people living according to the flesh and not God’s word. It won’t hurt anyone is a good policy, unless it will hurt you and you haven’t considered that a worthy concern.
God does love you despite your flaws. But it doesn’t stop there. God want you to leave your sins behind and follow Him.
See? Twisting. The wolf is always twisting the truth. He speaks softly in your ear and tells you half truths that pull you off the path and lead you to his den. Sometimes he even infiltrates grandma’s house, (the church, your small group, your friends, your family) and gets to you that way.
You have to not listen to the wolf to get back home safely. Going into the woods is mandatory. Going off the path is optional. Listen to the word of God. As one of my favorite preachers once said, “get to know God so well that when the devil comes to tell you lies, God’s voice blocks him out.”
Take God’s hand and stay on the path. Beware the false words of the preditor and trust the Truth of God.
( disclaimer: I do not believe actual wolves are evil. They are wild animals and need respect but should not be killed or trapped due to fear. Use sense and caution when dealing with all wild animals.)
Don’t take sides?
Don’t take sides?
We see it so often. “Christians don’t take sides, we love everyone.” After that it feels like taking a side means you don’t love both sets of people and that is not true. You have to take a side on many things. Being pro-life does not mean you hate the women who have had abortions, it means that you acknowledge unborn babies as lives that should not be taken, you also know that many of these women did not see the other options as possible and you know that they are broken. Being opposed to the killing of babies does not mean you hate the mothers who choose this, though you hate the action. Being against living in sexual sin (of any kind) does not mean you hate those who are, it means that you are against the sin. The fact is, we all must choose a side in all things. Either we choose the side of Jesus or we choose the side of the world. We can not live as though we are part of the world, or worse, as though we are indifferent to the wrongs that are happening in it. We must take a stand. We need also to pray for people on all sides. We need to pray for our own people and for those who oppose us, and sometimes that feels like it sucks, but once you start doing that it helps you to see past your own thoughts and feelings to God’s. He wants people to live the way He planned it, He also knows that we will go astray, that’s why He is said to patient, because instead of slaying us for our sinful ways He gives is time to see that we are wrong so we can come to Him. He isn’t wishy-washy about sin. What He says is wrong is wrong period, no discussion, but He also says that He will welcome you back as a prodigal, He also says that He will graft you into the vine, He also calls Himself your Father so you know how much He loves you and that He will always forgive you when you come to Him and repent. We must side with Jesus or else we aren’t Christians, but doing that in love can be so hard, we need to pray and trust Him and ask Him to help us take His side with His motives and not ours.
He is the breath
He is the breath
He is the breath inside my lungs, I am just the breather.
I am simply using what He has given me to get through each day. We make everything about us. We make music meant to worship Jesus about our carnal relationships, we make our bodies meant to honor Him a temple of worldly pleasures, we make our minds that were meant to serve Him a battleground against Him. We don’t even acknowledge that God gave us all these things. That they are gifts from Him.
He is the breath inside our lungs, we simply use what He has given us.
Like CS Lewis said when speaking of God. He said, ‘we are like children, who ask their Father for money to go and buy Him a gift. And like the good Father He is, He always rejoices when we give our lives back to Him.’ -Mere Christianity (rough quote from my memory. I recommend reading the book for he says it so much better than I have here)
When we give our lives to Jesus, we are simply giving back to Him what always was His. We think we belong to ourselves, but we belonged to Him first.
He is everything that is important about us. Do we make Him our desire? Do remember to prioritize Him? He prioritizes us. We are His desire. We are nothing but hollow human shells without Him filling us with life. He is our redeemer. Let Him redeem you.
Carried in the cross 