Years ago we somehow acquired a box set of cards to memorizes scriptures from The Message. I don't think either of us have ever really used it but we both intend to and somehow it's even missing the week 2 card. Anyway, since Malinda is now memorizing scripture (and trying to use it against others...we'll have to work on that) I figured I should probably give it a whirl myself.
So, week one was Deuteronomy 7:9 "Know this: God, your God, is God indeed, a God you can depend upon. He keeps his covenant of loyal love with those who love him and observe his commandments for a thousand generations." (The Message)There is so much to be said about this scripture alone but it was when I read the chapter in it's entirety that I really got excited.
I am not sure if it's the lesson learned or the simplicity of it all that excites me more! As I read Deuteronomy 7 I see it's a powerful chapter full of instructions and encouragement from the Father to His children as they prepare to enter the land He had promised them. So many lessons to be learned but the simplest most practical lesson, in my opinion, is found in verse 22 "The LORD your God will drive out those nations before you, little by little. You will not be allowed to eliminate them all at once, or the wild animals will multiply around you." (NIV) The Message says it this way, God, your God, will get rid of these nations, bit by bit. You won't be permitted to wipe them out all at once lest the wild animals take over and overwhelm you.
There are so many time that I know I am where I am supposed to be in life. It may look like chaos and a complete mess to anyone else but I KNOW it's exactly where I am supposed to be, yet I get frustrated when Father God doesn't take care of all the hurdles in my way. I get distracted and begin to feel forgotten, abandoned, duped by God. I mean after all, if He wants me in a particular season wouldn't He remove the very things keeping me from living in my dream home? I mean I get it that He is in control and everything is in His timing yada yada yada. BUT this verse gives me an explanation as to why sometimes, He moves slower than makes sense to me or anyone else!
It's because He LOVES me! He is protecting me from an unknown danger. He knows that in the absence of some obstacles other more challenging obstacles will swoop in and possibly overtake me. Yet, again, everything He does, and I mean EVERYTHING He does is because He loves me. Sometimes those obstacles that seem so big and scary and really should have been dealt with already is actually still there, to protect me.
So, I guess I either trust Him or I don't.....my choice won't affect His love for me. It only affects how well I am able to receive it.
Showing posts with label Love. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Love. Show all posts
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Wide Open Spaces
Recently the group of women I get together with twice a month to do a Bible study with has changed it's focus. No longer are we gathering together to hear a lesson brought by one person (namely me) but rather we are now collectively listening to hear what God is saying to us as individuals and as a whole. Pretty crazy idea if I don't say so myself- to actually give everyone the chance to hear and share, but I digress. Anyway so right now we decided to read Romans on our own and share what God shows us when we get back together. This leads me to write this morning.
The phrase that I am left with this morning is Wide Open Spaces. Of course I can not say that phrase without thinking about that country song from a few years a go- was that the Dixie Chicks? Anyways, this morning I was reading Romans 4 & 5. Chapter 4 has been a favorite of mine for years now and yet this morning the Holy Spirit showed me something new and how it connects with chapter 5 mainly verse 2.
To start, Romans 4:1-5 says 1-3 So how do we fit what we know of Abraham, our first father in the faith, into this new way of looking at things? If Abraham, by what he did for God, got God to approve him, he could certainly have taken credit for it. But the story we're given is a God-story, not an Abraham-story. What we read in Scripture is, "Abraham entered into what God was doing for him, and that was the turning point. He trusted God to set him right instead of trying to be right on his own." 4-5If you're a hard worker and do a good job, you deserve your pay; we don't call your wages a gift. But if you see that the job is too big for you, that it's something only God can do, and you trust him to do it—you could never do it for yourself no matter how hard and long you worked—well, that trusting-him-to-do-it is what gets you set right with God, by God. Sheer gift. (Romans 4:1-5, The Message)
What set Abraham right with God was simply trusting God. Abraham walked into what God was already doing for Him. No longer was Abraham praying for God to do this or that but instead Abraham forgot his own agenda and simply and blindly stepped into God's plan for His life. It was His faith- his trusting God that found God's approval. So often we spend our energies praying for God to fix this or that or change this or that when our focus is simply to be TRUSTING God. Walking with your focus on Him and trusting that He is in control and knows exactly what He is doing.
Then Romans 5:1-2 says 1-2By entering through faith into what God has always wanted to do for us—set us right with him, make us fit for him—we have it all together with God because of our Master Jesus. And that's not all: We throw open our doors to God and discover at the same moment that he has already thrown open his door to us. We find ourselves standing where we always hoped we might stand—out in the wide open spaces of God's grace and glory, standing tall and shouting our praise. (Romans 5:1-2, The Message)
When we finally throw open our doors, our arms, to God. When we finally stop holding back for fear of what we lose. When we finally enter into God's plan and quit trying to do our own we will then FINALLY see that all along God has had His doors- His arms wide open to us. When we fling open that door we will be flooded with warmth and light and fresh air. We will be right where we always wanted to be- in a place of freedom, of grace, a place to stand tall and shout praise, a place where we are unconfined!
We hold so much back from Father God for fear of what we will lose, that we are robbing ourselves of all that we stand to gain. How amazing is His love! He is so good and LOVES us so!!! The sad thing is that so many of us have opened the door and thought we were living in that Wide Open Place but really I believe we have only stepped into that place and have not truly embraced all that it is. I am so ready to run head on into that sacred space and dance my heart out for a Father a King who is so worthy of all our love!
The phrase that I am left with this morning is Wide Open Spaces. Of course I can not say that phrase without thinking about that country song from a few years a go- was that the Dixie Chicks? Anyways, this morning I was reading Romans 4 & 5. Chapter 4 has been a favorite of mine for years now and yet this morning the Holy Spirit showed me something new and how it connects with chapter 5 mainly verse 2.
To start, Romans 4:1-5 says 1-3 So how do we fit what we know of Abraham, our first father in the faith, into this new way of looking at things? If Abraham, by what he did for God, got God to approve him, he could certainly have taken credit for it. But the story we're given is a God-story, not an Abraham-story. What we read in Scripture is, "Abraham entered into what God was doing for him, and that was the turning point. He trusted God to set him right instead of trying to be right on his own." 4-5If you're a hard worker and do a good job, you deserve your pay; we don't call your wages a gift. But if you see that the job is too big for you, that it's something only God can do, and you trust him to do it—you could never do it for yourself no matter how hard and long you worked—well, that trusting-him-to-do-it is what gets you set right with God, by God. Sheer gift. (Romans 4:1-5, The Message)
What set Abraham right with God was simply trusting God. Abraham walked into what God was already doing for Him. No longer was Abraham praying for God to do this or that but instead Abraham forgot his own agenda and simply and blindly stepped into God's plan for His life. It was His faith- his trusting God that found God's approval. So often we spend our energies praying for God to fix this or that or change this or that when our focus is simply to be TRUSTING God. Walking with your focus on Him and trusting that He is in control and knows exactly what He is doing.
Then Romans 5:1-2 says 1-2By entering through faith into what God has always wanted to do for us—set us right with him, make us fit for him—we have it all together with God because of our Master Jesus. And that's not all: We throw open our doors to God and discover at the same moment that he has already thrown open his door to us. We find ourselves standing where we always hoped we might stand—out in the wide open spaces of God's grace and glory, standing tall and shouting our praise. (Romans 5:1-2, The Message)
When we finally throw open our doors, our arms, to God. When we finally stop holding back for fear of what we lose. When we finally enter into God's plan and quit trying to do our own we will then FINALLY see that all along God has had His doors- His arms wide open to us. When we fling open that door we will be flooded with warmth and light and fresh air. We will be right where we always wanted to be- in a place of freedom, of grace, a place to stand tall and shout praise, a place where we are unconfined!
We hold so much back from Father God for fear of what we will lose, that we are robbing ourselves of all that we stand to gain. How amazing is His love! He is so good and LOVES us so!!! The sad thing is that so many of us have opened the door and thought we were living in that Wide Open Place but really I believe we have only stepped into that place and have not truly embraced all that it is. I am so ready to run head on into that sacred space and dance my heart out for a Father a King who is so worthy of all our love!
Monday, November 30, 2009
Love is...
There are certain aspects of Love that come easy to me: being encouraging, loyal, supportive, honest. But then there are those areas (namely being patient) that seem so foreign I often wonder if they even apply to me.
Recently my husband, of 12 years on Dec 20, and I hit a roadblock in our relationship. It's actually the same roadblock we have hit over and over again in our relationship- you would think by now we would figure out that this path isn't working and we need to try a new way to avoid this roadblock in the future, but that is for another time. I was very articulate about my view of things and the way I felt things should go. I graciously invited my husband of few words to tell me all the ways I should change. He was too kind or to worn out from listening to my suggestions that he didn't have much to say. I left the table of discussion feeling rather good about where I stood, knowing that there was little I needed to do.
Do you feel it coming??? I didn't, but it didn't take long.
A lesson to be learned that is. So, I began hearing a question being asked over and over again. What is love? I was quick to answer "Love is patient, love is kind, love never fails." I felt pretty confident until I heard God's Spirit ask me- what else. So, I opened up 1 Corinthians 13 1 corinthians 13 - Passage Lookup - The Message - BibleGateway.com: and began reading a list that describes what love is and I began lingering over some of the descriptions and began to feel overwhelmed with how far I miss the mark on a daily basis. There were some on that list that were obvious struggles for me but then He began to show me the areas I have skipped over in the past. Areas I had neglected- areas that were leading me back to this same roadblock.
The biggest one came when I reread the passage in a different version. In most versions it says, Love trusts, but in The Message it says Love trusts God. He began to ask me whether I really trust Him. Do I trust Him to take care of me- do I trust Him to protect me- do I trust Him to continue working on my husband as He continues to work on me- do I trust Him to heal those hurts that seem untouchable - do I trust Him with my future and so on and so on and so on. How have I missed this? In that moment everything I felt so confident about- my view of our present situation and what needed to be done- came crumbling down. I realized that to let go of these things leaves me completely vulnerable to Father God and that was a really scary thing. Not because I can't trust Him but it meant I was no longer the one calling the shots and mapping things out. I realized just how much I have not been trusting God for and at that moment all I could do was pick up all those crumbled pieces and shove them over to Jesus.
It's funny because earlier that week I was listening to a teaching on the radio on a passage in Luke 9. It was a familiar passage - one I have even taught on- but on this day in the state I was in it all came home and became real to me. It's that passage where Jesus tells His disciples that anyone who wants to follow Him must pick up their cross and follow Him. The idea of dying to myself each morning became so real. Dying to what is most important to me. Dying to what I want the most on any given day. Deciding, what I want doesn't matter- because I am dead and I am following Jesus. Deciding, what I want to do, say, feel doesn't matter as much as what Jesus wants me to do, say or feel. One would think that the idea of dying and just following someone else's plan would be stifling and wrong in someway, but I feel so free. Free to know that I do not have to map things out and figure it all out. Free from having to have all the answers. So, daily I am working on this and what's funny is that I now have so much work to do on myself that it leaves me little time to obsess over what my husband is or isn't doing. I guess I will just have to trust that God is doing something over there too.
So, these are my observations about love:
Love is hard
Love is dying to self
Love is growing
Love is work
Love is freeing
Recently my husband, of 12 years on Dec 20, and I hit a roadblock in our relationship. It's actually the same roadblock we have hit over and over again in our relationship- you would think by now we would figure out that this path isn't working and we need to try a new way to avoid this roadblock in the future, but that is for another time. I was very articulate about my view of things and the way I felt things should go. I graciously invited my husband of few words to tell me all the ways I should change. He was too kind or to worn out from listening to my suggestions that he didn't have much to say. I left the table of discussion feeling rather good about where I stood, knowing that there was little I needed to do.
Do you feel it coming??? I didn't, but it didn't take long.
A lesson to be learned that is. So, I began hearing a question being asked over and over again. What is love? I was quick to answer "Love is patient, love is kind, love never fails." I felt pretty confident until I heard God's Spirit ask me- what else. So, I opened up 1 Corinthians 13 1 corinthians 13 - Passage Lookup - The Message - BibleGateway.com: and began reading a list that describes what love is and I began lingering over some of the descriptions and began to feel overwhelmed with how far I miss the mark on a daily basis. There were some on that list that were obvious struggles for me but then He began to show me the areas I have skipped over in the past. Areas I had neglected- areas that were leading me back to this same roadblock.
The biggest one came when I reread the passage in a different version. In most versions it says, Love trusts, but in The Message it says Love trusts God. He began to ask me whether I really trust Him. Do I trust Him to take care of me- do I trust Him to protect me- do I trust Him to continue working on my husband as He continues to work on me- do I trust Him to heal those hurts that seem untouchable - do I trust Him with my future and so on and so on and so on. How have I missed this? In that moment everything I felt so confident about- my view of our present situation and what needed to be done- came crumbling down. I realized that to let go of these things leaves me completely vulnerable to Father God and that was a really scary thing. Not because I can't trust Him but it meant I was no longer the one calling the shots and mapping things out. I realized just how much I have not been trusting God for and at that moment all I could do was pick up all those crumbled pieces and shove them over to Jesus.
It's funny because earlier that week I was listening to a teaching on the radio on a passage in Luke 9. It was a familiar passage - one I have even taught on- but on this day in the state I was in it all came home and became real to me. It's that passage where Jesus tells His disciples that anyone who wants to follow Him must pick up their cross and follow Him. The idea of dying to myself each morning became so real. Dying to what is most important to me. Dying to what I want the most on any given day. Deciding, what I want doesn't matter- because I am dead and I am following Jesus. Deciding, what I want to do, say, feel doesn't matter as much as what Jesus wants me to do, say or feel. One would think that the idea of dying and just following someone else's plan would be stifling and wrong in someway, but I feel so free. Free to know that I do not have to map things out and figure it all out. Free from having to have all the answers. So, daily I am working on this and what's funny is that I now have so much work to do on myself that it leaves me little time to obsess over what my husband is or isn't doing. I guess I will just have to trust that God is doing something over there too.
So, these are my observations about love:
Love is hard
Love is dying to self
Love is growing
Love is work
Love is freeing
Love is worship
Love is beautiful
Love is so worth it
Oh and my husband and I are still working on that roadblock but it's with a whole lot more love which makes it so much more bearable.
Love is beautiful
Love is so worth it
Oh and my husband and I are still working on that roadblock but it's with a whole lot more love which makes it so much more bearable.
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