Step Down

Wow I started this blog a year ago and look how it flew, I think because of going back to work. Maybe will be better at it this year. Anyway, I recently went to NYC and in every line at any counter here is what they say "Step Down" I was pressed against a counter in line at the popcorn store and the girl behind the counter yelled. "Next customer, step down!" I said back to her "what does that mean? How do I get any downer than I am" I think for her it was more of a habit of having said it 10,000 times that day. Anyway this got me thinking. Scary I know but my first thoughts were of the world and how it seems to want us to step down. Be like we are. Be crass, rude, immoral, unfeeling, unsympathetic, greedy, selfish.....I am sure you can add your own words to this list. Be anything but what Christ has called us to be. Be in the world but not of it I think is the part of scripture I am remembering. But later I was reading a devotion that I get via email on a daily basis. There was a paragraph that made me think we could look at this another way. It said " you, beloved, must go deeper before you can go higher. A new level of revelation awaits you, but you cannot go up until you go down to the depths of your soul to deal with the reproach that renews the besetting sin of fearing man. These bonds must be broken before you can be liberated to soar in the Spirit. Loose yourself and be free, says the Lord." So perhaps we can not be who God wants us to be in Him until we do to the depths of our soul. Have you Stepped Down?

Turn and take up your journey.

I am currently reading Joyce Meyer's Battlefield of the Mind. On page 35 she talks about the Israelites were with Moses in Horeb and God told them " You have stayed long enough on this mountain, turn and take up your journey and go to the hill country of the Amorites...Behold I have set the land before you; go in and take possession of the land which the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give to them and their descendents after them"- Deuteronomy 1:6-8

Previously it was pointed out that it was only an eleven day journey from the border of Canaan yet it had taken them 40 years. 40 YEARS!!!

Joyce asks, "Have you dwelt long enough on the same mountain? Have you spent forty years trying to make an eleven day trip?"

Well my answer is yes. How about you? Today I decided I had been at the same mountain long enough. I am searching more for the truth of God and living a life of victory. I will not quit and give up until my journey is complete. Won't you come?

Inspired to Love

Love your enemies, do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return. Luke 6:35

I pray that you,...know this love that surpasses knowledge-that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Ephesians 3:17-19

Our teacher led us in a very difficult lesson to accept Jesus' challenge to become like God by loving without condition even those we consider unlovable. Love is not a feeling but an action. The words "I love you" are meaningless no matter who you say them to unless actions go with it. If you are mad at someone, they are controlling you-if you release that anger, you are freed up. We can not change anyone but ourselves. Forgiving and loving others can only be truly done through the power of the Holy Spirit. Can someone tell you are Christian by observing your actions? Jesus promises us pain and persecution if we follow Him. Our salvation is not a promise of safety. Salvation is a free gift-no one can earn it and everyone falls short. The ability to forgive is a gift from God-fake it til you make it!'

The above words are from my Sunday school lesson email from this morning. The title of the lesson was "Inspired to Love" from Luke 6:27-36. Our teacher told us what a difficult this lesson this was for him to teach as he had been through a divorce earlier in life, brought on by his wife leaving him for his best friend. Eventually over the years our teacher had forgiven this person in a face to face conversation but it came at no small cost. Our teacher also explained that this morning while he was preparing for church, Andy Stanley came on the TV teaching about, what else, but FORGIVENESS! Why does this one trip us up more than most. Why is it so hard for us to be willing to forgive. We were told that the ability to forgive is a gift of God's grace and we had to rise above the other person's control over us. During the lesson he shared four valuable points:

1. We must want to forgive. Unforgiveness is fueled on hate. We must want to forgive whoever it is we are angry at, be it our family member, friend, boss, or God.

2. We need to pray to understand the pain and brokeness of our wounders.

3. We need to pray for help to see the consequences of our unforgiveness- be it bitterness, physical or mental illness, or what.

4. We should pray daily for those who have wounded us. One participant in today's lesson told us that after she does this awhile she feels that the Lord truly changes her heart.

The Love talked about in these verses is Agape love. This is a love that takes on action. Not a feeling. You do it as a commandment. It is a sacrifice!! Another person there today thought these verses summed up everything there was to being a follower of Christ. This is what sets us apart. Verse 34... even sinners lend to sinners.

A prayer from St Francis of Assisi was added:

Lord, make me an instrument of thy peace:

where there is hatred, let me sow love;

where there is injury, pardon;

where there is doubt, faith;

where there is despair, hope;

where there is darkness, light;

where there is sadness; joy.

Today's lesson was concluded with an example from Andy Stanley's broadcast. Andy apparently told about two chairs on the stage. He has two prop chairs. In the first chair he invited Jesus to come and tell all that had been done to Him by others while he was here on earth with us. All the accusations, prosecutions, betrayal, pain He had experienced. After that he invited us to come and sit in the other chair to compare. To bring whatever injustice we had to the platform for comparison.

Do you feel like you have experienced the one thing that can't be forgiven. Last line of the lesson- Substituting our "common sense" reaction to injustice for Jesus teaching is finally an act of cowardice on our part and a refusal to entrust our lives into the safekeeping of our Lord.

God, Grant us the courage to respond to hate with love and to build a bridge with you as our engineer to free us from unforgiveness.

http://www.northpoint.org/messages

Song for this lesson: Chris Tomlin- Amazing Grace, my chains are broken. (itunes)

More about doors

Today he also gave me a visual about me/people banging on shut doors. I think sometimes we bang on doors for so long that they start to look like the one in the picture that obviously is meant to stay shut. There is only darkness on the other side. We must learn to walk away from this door. We should make sure that when he presents a closed door, we do not push against it or bang on a door that was meant to be shut. It was kind of like when there is a fire in a building you are told not to open a door until you put your hand to it to feel for heat. I think he was telling me to test everything by his word. That was neat.

Wow- a blog.

I was searching the internet and curious about making a blog and here I am. Now I will have to come up with something profound to say and share. Basically what I have been hearing from the Lord lately is about doors and Him opening doors and also slamming them shut. I think the expression from my devo was "Love Bangs the Door" How he will lead us with shut doors and well as open doors. Not something you want to hear after a promising job interview. Revelations 3:8 talks of an OPEN door, what I really want right now. Also Matthew 7:7 speaks of Ask, seek, knock. Yesterdays word encouraged me that- No door is too stuck for the key of Love- my paraphrase. All of this has come to me from two different sources. Coincidental- do not think so! Will share those sources later.

Oh yeah I added this picture just playing with my options because he represents sweetness and Love. Meet Moses!