Breaking Boxes

Written by Elizabeth Mathews

I don't know about you, but from the time I was little, I had this concept of what prayers should sound like. And I guess I got these ideas from hearing other people pray. And so I guess I always prayed the way I heard other people pray. I didn't care to “experiment” with prayer and really open up my heart to God in prayer. I had my prayer life stored away in these nice little spiritual boxes and I was content with that. But recently, God has begun to break down the boxes that I've tried to put Him in.

I've been home from school for three months now and next week I'm about to go back. The way my school works is that I am there for three months and then I am home for three months. And for some reason I always thought that I would learn more during the semester than the off-semester, but God has shown me so clearly how He is my teacher. And while He may use another person or teacher to teach me, it is ultimately He who teaches and reveals those things to me. So since I have been home, God has continued to teach me more about who He is.

I just want to share a few things that He began to show me last semester and has been continuing to teach me since I've been home. I'm afraid that they might seem a bit jumbled and disorganized, but I'm going to give it a shot.

1. My prayers make a difference. God wants me to pray. I've grown up in a very conservative, Christian home but I confess that I had a very pathetic prayer life until more recently. And I think I know why: I didn't believe there was any power in prayer. I didn't realize that the most powerful force in the universe – God Almighty – heard those prayers and that they touched His heart. I may have known it in my head, but I didn't really believe it. I didn't realize that my prayers move the heart of God.

As I began to actually pray, I began to see God working in ways that went far above and beyond what I could have imagined – and through that, God began to dispel my unbelief and still is. God builds our trust and our faith through the experiences that He gives us and I've seen that true in my own life.

2. Prayer is warfare. In the past, I would begin to pray for someone or something for a period of time and then eventually just stop praying and give up because I wasn't seeing results. Looking back, I'm ashamed of that because I see how little endurance I had. I didn't tap into God's strength, but tried to fight the battle of prayer all by myself. I think many of us give up praying for someone too fast because we don't see what is going on in the spiritual realm. When we begin to pray for something that is near and dear to God's heart and pray in accordance with His will, things in heaven begin to shift and move around and Satan is being defeated. The problem is, we can't see it with our mortal eyes, so we begin to get tired and discouraged when we don't realize that progress is being made in the spiritual realm. And when we give up on praying for someone that God has put on our hearts to pray for, we are giving ground to the enemy. Satan cannot win.

Here is a helpful quote that gave me so much insight into what happens when we are praying for someone – particularly someone who is lost: “Legally, all souls belong to Christ because He paid for their sins on Calvary (1 John 2:2). But Satan, illegally and forcefully, continues to hold them bound in spiritual darkness until we take our rightful place and exercise our throne-rights by demanding their immediate release on the basis of Christ's shed blood and our delegated authority from Him. There is absolutely no reason for even one single soul to die and go to hell because Christ has already paid their redemption price. And the only reason why anyone will go to hell is that we have not taken our place of authority and bound the strong man, insisting on their salvation. The devil will not release them until we make him.” (Lee E. Thomas, Praying Effectively for the Lost)

We may not see results immediately when we pray, but our prayers are not in vain! God is working even if we can't see it. Faith is the evidence of things not seen – and we need to have faith that God is working.

3. Prayer is the work. Oswald Chambers said, “Payer does not equip us for greater works— prayer is the greater work.” I can't tell you how many times I heard that prayer – but God has shown me how true that actually is. Missions and evangelism are powerless apart from prayer. Mere words coming out of my mouth will not convince anyone. This is not to diminish the importance of missions or witnessing, etc. but I think that we put too much emphasis on talking and convincing other people and not enough on praying for others. Prayer is more powerful than my own words.

God taught me this in a very personal way recently. One of my closest friends was going through a difficult time and as much as I had tried to encourage this friend and as much as others had tried to encourage this other person, my friend seemed lost and confused. You see, nothing I could say made any difference. I think God brought this situation to me because I realized that only He can change hearts – I can't. So often I think that if I just explain something in a certain way or just say it using different words that I can speak to that person's heart and change their minds. But that's not how it works. God's Holy Spirit is the only one who can change people. So I found in this situation that the only thing I really could do was pray. And so I did pray. And I prayed a lot. I begged God to break through to my friend and to encourage my friend. And things didn't change overnight. They took months and months. But God had me continue to pray for my friend and one day when I was feeling especially desperate, I spent much of the day praying and asking God to come into the situation and change this person. I never felt so weak and so helpless than I did at that moment. I was completely powerless. And as soon as I was in that place of weakness, God demonstrated His strength by turning this person around – at the same time that I was praying for them.

Needless to say, this whole situation built up my faith in God so much. I realized that He hears my prayers and that He cares!

4. Pray God's word. My own words are pretty feeble sometimes and I don't always know God's will in a particular situation, but if I pray God's word, there is such power in those prayers because I can know that I am praying God's will.

For example, if I am praying for someone who is lost to be prayed, I can pray this passage: “I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; ... For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.” (1 Timothy 2:1, 3-4, emphasis mine) So I can stand on this promise as I pray and tell God, “You said that it is your will that all men should be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth – so I ask that you would bring so-and-so to the knowledge of truth and to salvation.” If I pray in that manner, I'm not just praying what my will is, but God's will.

When I pray God's word and base my prayers off of God's promises, there is such power there! Because I am praying God's very heart back to God! There are verses in the Bible that apply to every area of life so there will always be a verse I can pray for every situation. If the Bible is the sword of the Spirit, using it in prayer invites that power into our prayers!! And that's so exciting guys!

So that's a few of the things that God is still teaching me. I don't know if that made a whole lot of sense, but I'm praying that God used at least part of this to encourage you and to help you with your prayer life.

I guess learning how to pray means breaking a lot of boxes of unbelief. I've kept prayer in my own little boxes for so long. I've had all these ideas of what prayer should look like and sound like, but I'd encourage you to seek for more than that.

We tend to pray the way we hear others pray, but that can be dangerous because then we are unwilling to venture into new territory. Don't be afraid to pray in ways you've never heard anyone pray before! Don't be afraid to be vulnerable before God and to tell Him everything that is on your heart. Don't be afraid to be desperate. Don't be afraid to plead and to beg. Don't be afraid to humble yourself before God. Don't be afraid to “experiment” with prayer and test God. Don't be afraid to listen to God and to ask Him how to pray.

Come before God with your prayer life and ask Him what is on His heart and what He wants you to pray about. You don't have to try to muster up spiritual sounding and powerful prayers, you just have to ask God to show you what to pray. Just listen to Him and I guarantee that there will be power in those prayers.

Prayers is conversation with God. If we can only understand that – it will completely transform our prayer lives. 

Letting Go

Surrender is one of the most difficult aspects of the Christian life.

But part of me wonders if surrender is so hard because we make it so easy. A year ago, God called me to surrender a very specific dream into His hands. And I thought I did; whenever I started to reflect on what I wanted, I would always try to pray, God, I leave this in Your hands. But a month or so into this process, God showed me that this was not surrender at all. Yes, I was telling God that I was leaving it in His hands...but I only did that because I was so sure that He would bring it to completion. I wanted that dream so much, and it seemed so right, that I couldn't understand how God could withhold it from me. So I had no problem leaving it in His hands, because I was sure He wouldn't take it away.

The question He laid on my heart as as simple as it was terrifying; what if He did take it away?  Would I truly be abandoned to His will with a full heart?  Or was I just trying to put a Christian label on the situation, in an attempt to justify the fact that I had taken my life into my own hands?

Surrender is a difficult concept. It requires us to put our entire lives in the hands of a God we can't see, and trust that He knows what's best for us. And it can be so tempting to wonder if God, who is timeless and has "been around" for thousands of chronological years, really knows what will help us. It's so easy to believe the lie that we know more about ourselves than He does. That was a mindset I struggled with for awhile. But if that's your perspective, I would encourage you to go read Job 38 and reflect on the vastness of God. And ask yourself, where were you when He laid the foundations of the earth?  Have you seen the dwelling place of light?  Have the gates of death been revealed to you?

God created your heart, and He knows what it truly needs. I am at a point in my life where I am changing a lot; my personality is evolving, my interests are developing, my thoughts are deepening, and I am not completely sure who I am yet. But there is so much rest in the fact that God knows who He created me to be. He knows the kind of person He is building me into, and He knows which passions need to drive my interests.

Honestly, I wish I had more to say on this topic, but this something God is still teaching me. I would encourage you to press into His heart and let Him lead you to the place of surrender.

"You remind me of things forgotten,

You unwind me

until I'm totally undone,

And with your arms around me

Fear was no match for your love,

And now you've won me,

And I'm letting go."

                                                            -Steffany Gretzinger, "Letting Go"

~     ~     ~     ~     ~     ~     ~     ~     ~     ~ 

Worship Song: 

"Letting Go",
by Steffany Gretzinger (Bethel Music)

Addressing the Purity Movement

When I turned 16, my mom asked me if I wanted a purity ring, and I said yes. Like everyone other girl who wore one, I proudly slipped it onto the 4th finger of my left hand. For that first week, I could hardly look at it without smiling somewhere deep inside of myself. This was my commitment to my future husband, to love him well even before I met him. It was my testimony that I was living before God's eyes, and following the path He had shown me. It wasn't political, or cultural, or done to please people; it was something precious that I felt only Jesus and I truly understood.

That's what I saw in my ring.

It wasn't until years later that I came to realize that wasn't the message I was sending to the rest of the world. With a silver band on my left hand, I was an unspoken part of a broader Christian cultural movement, with ideas I didn't necessarily want to promote. 

Please know that I am in no way condemning the heart of the movement in Christianity to be pure; I think that staying pure is undeniably something we are called to as followers of Jesus. Please also don't misunderstand what I'm saying about purity rings; I have absolutely nothing against them, and I am not trying to persuade you to take yours off your left hand if you wear one. It's a valuable expression of commitment and trust and I don't mean to diminish any significance it has. My goal in writing is not to convince you to follow the same route I took in approaching this topic, because I don't believe there's a right or wrong way to wear a ring or show a commitment. But I do hope to encourage you to think about these issues, not as something that some Christian girls do "just because", but as an act of worship to the Lover of your soul.

Why the Purity Movement Concerns Me:

Men and women are both called to be pure in thought and deed. But if you look at this cultural movement, you'll see that purity is stressed much more for girls. (No, that is not meant to be a feminist statement.) That is not to say that young men aren't encouraged to be pure; there are certainly Bible studies and support groups dedicated to furthering that idea in their lives. But these gatherings are usually called something along the lines of "Being a Man after God's Heart". That's the heart of what purity should be, for both genders. The problem with stressing physical purity so much is that we can lose sight of why we're being pure. I think we need to be called to be women after God's heart, not just girls who choose to dress modestly and not sin. A pure heart should be a heart of "do's", not "don'ts". Purity should be about glorifying God, honoring Him, and acting as His vessel, not just a list of things we shouldn't do. The question should not be how far is too far, when it comes to physical boundaries, but how far can we go to glorify Him in this area of our lives?  By focusing on physical purity and so often ignoring the heart of why we seek it, I think it underscores the false perception that women's worth is found in their bodies. 

I'm also bothered by the emphasis on sexual sin, and the idea of being "used". For those who have fallen, God offers forgiveness and redemption completely!  But the movement's underlying ideas tell a different story. If you have fallen, you're damaged goods; you're tainted and you haven't been pure. I get the perception that every other sin is forgivable, but not that one. And I know that's not the way God sees it!  I believe that God will forgive any sinner who repents, and that the blood of Jesus was enough to cover for any sin!  It hurts so much to think that someone could freely enter into the work of the cross, become a new creation by the grace of God, and still feel condemnation from the body of Christ because of past mistakes that no longer define them.

Why I'm Writing About This:

I hope I'm not condemning in writing this. There are certainly leaders who advocate purity while focusing on the heart of it as an act of worship, like Leslie Ludy with the Ellerslie Mission Society, and I am inspired by them. My goal is not to put down, but to hopefully start you on a thinking track about this subject in your own life. 

I also wanted to write to clarify that the Real Christianity purity wall is not a part of this purity movement. The goal of these posts is to hopefully point you back to God's heart on these issues, not to give you a list of actions to avoid. 

Finally, I want us as a body to be equipped to handle the issues mentioned above, whether in our own lives or the lives of others. I want this to empower you in some way to fight the perception that your worth lies in your body; to love those who have fallen, and reach out to them without condemnation. 

When I was 16, I put a ring on my left hand. But over the past month, my eyes have been opened to these issues and I realized these ideas were not something I wanted to be a part of. 

So the week before I turned 18, I took off my ring and put it on my right hand. 

Today, I do not wear a purity ring; I wear what I call a signet ring (Haggai 2:23), as a testimony that I am a bond servant of Jesus Christ and I will follow Him all the days of my life. There's nothing sacred about whether you wear a ring, or which hand it's on; for me, it's just a secret reminder between my heart and His of who I am in His eyes, and who He has called me to be. He is the one my heart loves; I will not let Him go. 

_______________________________

*Concerns with the Purity Movement were inspired by this article: http://tolovehonorandvacuum.com/2016/01/purity-culture-10-things-that-scare-me/  I do not necessarily endorse the way this was written, or all of the content on this blog.

More than Existence

"I'd die for you,

That's easy to say,

We all have a list of people that we would take

A bullet for them, a bullet for you

A bullet for everybody in this room

But there don't seem to be any bullets coming through."

- Twenty-One Pilots, Ride

I am going to open this devotional by expressing my love for Twenty-One Pilots. :)  I love the rawness of their lyrics, the variety of their music, and the meaning behind what they have to say. And I love this line of their song Ride because I think it describes so much of the struggle in the life of the westernized church.

I think we can all say that, in our day to day lives, there are no bullets coming through; no one is actively trying to take our lives for what we believe. A friend of mine recently pointed out that some churches focus so much on dying for the gospel that we forget to live for it.

So the question I want to ask you today is, in this season where no bullets are flying through, are you living or merely existing as a Christian?

Are you seeking God out, or simply hoping that He'll show up?  Is your desire to know Him, or to just get by and make it to heaven someday?

As adolescents, we're all in a really interesting season of discovering who we are. That season is intriguing, but it can be so painful because it brings with it the realization that we don't fully know who we are yet. It was so hard for me to admit that I was in the place of not knowing, because that season of life came for me after I had re-dedicated my life to Jesus. As a Christian who wanted to be on fire for Him, I was supposed to know who I was. I kept going back to the church cliche, that your identity is not in who you are, but in whose you are. It's a beautiful idea, but that doesn't mean it always resonates. Yes, I was God's. But I was still acting differently around different groups of people, to the point where I wasn't sure which one was the "real" me. I continually found myself putting on masks, without even realizing it.

I think it's most painful to wear a mask in the place of worship, and communion with God. Because, if anywhere, that is where there is no condemnation and that is where we can truly be ourselves. And a mask causes so much separation; not because God can't see through it to us, but because so often, we can't see through it to Him.

I'm going to be vulnerable right now and tell you that I don't like coming to God in brokenness, especially in corporate worship. It feels so unholy to bring your struggles before Him when you're supposed to be praising Him, so I tend to push them aside, and put on the mask of pretending to want Him, and pretending to believe that He is enough for me. Most times, I do want Him... but sometimes, it doesn't feel that way. And I leave wondering why I didn't encounter Him that time.

God has so much in store for our lives... but so often, we are content to simply exist behind a mask, because it is so much more comfortable than stepping onto the unknown frontier of a life with God.

Recently, I started reading a book called TrueFaced. It's an incredible, real, raw perspective on identity in Christ, and it has some earth-shattering truths. The authors write that at the root of wearing masks lies the need to hide. When Adam and Eve sinned, their first reaction was to run and hide from God in shame. So often, we're ashamed to be our true selves, and admit the messiness of our struggles to God. We make ourselves believe that we can still have the fullness of what He wants for us, while merely existing behind a mask.

This statement in the book is what caught my attention the most: You will never be more righteous than you are right now.

What??  Where did that even come from?  I'm broken, and disconnected, and so far from the fullness of what God has for me. Of course I'm going to be more righteous down the road; this isn't all there is.

But that's assuming that your righteousness comes from what you do. And if that's true, then the work of the cross is meaningless.

The miracle of God's love is that we are not saved by our own works or our own attempts at righteousness; when He looks at us, He sees the righteousness of Christ, and we can never add to that, or take away from it. If you are in Christ, you are in His righteousness, and that is how God sees you. That is your identity. There may be other facets of your personality that you're trying to work through, but that is who you are; you are not what you have done, but what Jesus has done for you.

He has freed you to walk beyond your masks. He has enabled you to have more than a mere existence. He has given you the chance to live.

There are not any bullets coming through; in this season, He may not be asking you to die for Him yet. But, in Him, you have the chance to more-than-exist; you have the opportunity live. Are you willing to?

~     ~     ~     ~     ~     ~     ~     ~     ~     ~ 

Worship Song: 

"Love is Moving",
by Audrey Assad

Chronicles: A Promise

Part of me feels a little bad saying that I have a least favorite book of the Bible, but I would have to say that for most of my life, 1 and 2 Chronicles was nowhere on my list of favorite books to read. It’s a bunch of genealogies and lists and repeats from Samuel and Kings. Let’s just say that I was not exactly thrilled when my last Old Testament class before Christmas was on Chronicles. When I saw the assigned reading, I commented to my classmate that nothing gets me in the Christmas spirit like reading Chronicles!

That week, I realized that I have approached Chronicles the wrong way for pretty much my entire Christian life. I didn’t see its purpose or its value, except maybe to be able to compare with Kings and see that the two mostly match, except that David’s sin with Bathsheba is not included in Chronicles, and Manasseh repenting from prison is not included in Kings.

The book of Chronicles (it was broken into first and second when it was translated into Greek and didn’t fit on one scroll anymore) is the last book of the Hebrew canon. Chronologically, this seems a little odd. Ezra and Nehemiah come directly before Chronicles, even though they record the events that would have happened directly after. So why is it at the end? And why the differences between Chronicles and Kings? And why do we need the same history twice?

I think we start to find the answers to these questions when we look at the audience of Chronicles and its time of writing. Chronicles was written to post-exilic Israel by someone returning from the exile. (given what we know of Ezra, it would make a lot of sense if he was the writer.) It was written for people who had experienced seventy years in Babylon/Medo-Persia, and then returned to their home. These were people who had access to the Torah, the Prophets, and the writings (including Samuel and Kings), so they would have been familiar with the stories recorded in Chronicles. This would suggest that the book of Chronicles is intended to serve a different purpose than that of Samuel and Kings.

I always find it interesting to try and get into the heads of the people reading, writing, and experiencing the events they record for us. So maybe we should try getting a feel for where those returning from the exile were coming from.

After 70 years in exile, the prophesy of Jeremiah had come to pass, and Cyrus the Great had told the Jews to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the temple. It was a project that was met with opposition from those around them, but finally, the Temple was complete. They had a High Priest from the line of Aaron, his name was Joshua, meaning “Jehovah Saves!” They had a political leader, Zerubbabel, from the line of David. They had Ezra, teaching and leading their nation, instructing them in the ways of their God. They had Nehemiah, who was in a place of favor with the King and was given permission to rebuild the wall around Jerusalem. They had prophets, exhorting them and calling them to serve God whole-heartedly.

In many ways, the story sounds very similar to the story we’re told in Chronicles, when Solomon builds and dedicates the Temple of the Lord. People gathered to worship, the King prayed, and the glory of God filled the temple!

In Ezra, the people return, they rebuild the temple, there is sacrifice and prayer, a priest and a political leader together call the people to return to Yahweh…. And the glory of God doesn’t fill the temple. It’s a detail that is glaringly absent from the narrative. And as the young people rejoice that they have a temple, the elders wept.

No, more accurately, they wailed. Their cry was so loud that people miles away could hear. No cloud, no fire, no glory. In fact, the temple itself was a dismal disappointment. Zerubbabel’s temple was not even half the size of Solomon’s, and couldn’t hold a candle to the splendor of the original. In fact, it looked more like a military fortress. And those who could remember the original temple were overwhelmed with sorrow!

The prophets spoke of a greater temple, one filled with splendor and glory, and a city called GOD IS THERE.

Did this mean that God didn’t make good on His promise? Had He been faithless to Israel?

These would have been the questions in the minds of the readers as they approached the book of Chronicles. And I think Chronicles is subtly pointing that out through little hints that are really easy to miss, that Israel was still anticipating further fulfillment of these prophesies. And as the book builds this anticipation, it points toward the New Testament.

They had a temple, but they didn’t have the true dwelling place of God. They didn’t have Immanuel, God with man. They had an empty temple…. And it almost seems like Chronicles is rubbing salt in the wound, because the big story, the climax of the book, is the Shekinah Glory – God’s presence filling Solomon’s temple. David’s reign builds up to this, and every King after Solomon is weighed by the standard of how they treat the Temple. I think the emphasis on the temple was to point to God’s past faithfulness and present grace, and a reminder to anticipate something greater in the future. There were still prophesies to be fulfilled! They were in the stage of  already, and not yet.

And those tedious genealogies? I think Chronicles is pointing toward the fulfillment of something greater than just the return from Babylonian exile. If Chronicles were just about the Kings of Judah, there wouldn’t be much point in tracing the geneaologies much further than David, and thus bring the focus of the book to God’s faithfulness to the Davidic Covenant. But it doesn’t stop with David. It would make sense, in telling the story of the entire nation of Israel, not just the southern kingdom who returned from exile, to trace the geneaologies back to Judah, thus focusing on God’s covenant with Jacob, the building of a nation in the promise land, and the promise that the scepter would not depart from Judah. But it goes further than that, and it doesn’t just focus on Judah, but on Levi as well, reminding the reader of the Mosaic Covenant. It would make sense to go back through Abraham and focus on the fulfillment of the Abrahamic covenant, but again, it goes further than that. The writer of Chronicles starts with Adam, leaving the reader to anticipate the fulfillment of God’s covenant with Adam and His covenant faithfulness to mankind. It’s like when an author begins their book by giving some obscure family history, or the origin of some sort of tension (like Sir Walter Scott beginning Ivanhoe with a discussion of the English language and the tensions between the Franks and Saxons, leaving the reader anticipating an ending that brings about some sort of resolution or fulfillment of that conflict.)

After building the anticipation of the fulfillment of the Davidic Covenant, the Mosaic Covenant, the Abrahamic Covenant, and finally, God’s promise to Adam and Eve that the Serpent’s head would be crushed, the author of Chronicles leaves us with a cliff-hanger. We’re told that Cyrus allows the exiles to return. Wait, what? That doesn’t fulfill any of the covenants! And then the gospel of Matthew starts out with… a geneaology tracing all the way back to Adam, and then we are told of a Messiah, from the line of David, whose name means Jehovah Saves, and who is our High Priest. The last book in the Jewish Bible builds the anticipation of fulfillment yet to come, and a reminder to see God’s promise and God’s presence, through the history of the Temple. And then we have the New Testament, when God’s presence dwells inside of His followers.

And at the end of the New Testament, we’re reminded once again that there are prophecies yet to be fulfilled.

And for the first time in my life, Chronicles got me in the Christmas spirit. The reminder of God’s promise and God’s presence felt like a cliff-hanger, leaving me excited for the next chapter.

A Renewed Mind

Have you ever gotten emotional?

Hopefully the answer is a given; emotion, especially as women, is a prevalent factor in our lives. These little feelings have the power to transform our entire day, all on their own. When I took Human Anatomy a few years ago, one of the most interesting parts was the study of what emotions were. Medically, they're just a collection of chemicals and enzymes released from the brain, often due to hormonal factors. My first question was immediately: "Can you have them removed???"

Emotional experiences can feel beautiful, but they can also be painful, annoying, and depressing. More than that, we often give them the ability to control us and the way we live.

This morning, I heard a message that, for the first time, made me realize that I didn't have to continue giving them that power over me.

When we are redeemed by the cross, Paul says we become a new creation and, in Romans 12, that we are transformed by the renewing of our minds. Sometimes, I think it's hard to let that change take over. I realized for the first time today that I had been trying to live out the Christian life, but I wasn't allowing my mind to be renewed. I wanted to follow Jesus, serve others, and turn outward, but all of those desires passed through the lens of the flesh, because, for the most part, that was still what was in charge my mind.

A lot happened to me this week... so much more than I could ever have time to write down. I spent time running around downtown Kansas City with amazing people, had sleepovers and coffee dates with friends, and went to an incredible worship conference. There were tears, deep conversations about life and faith, and powerful scenes of hundreds of people re-dedicating their lives to Jesus. But that wasn't what moved me the most. I left that week impacted by a small group of people I had gotten to spend some time with, who seemed to live with renewed minds. You could sense the love of Jesus in them so clearly, and the whole time I was just thinking, I want to be like them.

It's amazing to think about the fact that we can think with the mind of Christ; that we can process everything that enters through the lens of faith, and have the ability to think what Jesus thought, and to see people as he sees them.

This is the gift of grace. Grace can't be earned, but it can be accessed. Just because grace is there doesn't mean we've taken a hold of it in our lives; we have to be willing to live inside of it.

Part of the work of grace is that we can live and walk in freedom, not controlled by our emotions. We have the ability to resist the feelings of depression or fear. Jesus set the pattern in Matthew 4, when he resisted temptation with the famous words "It is written". He combated the lies of the Enemy by speaking truth over the situation.

What would happen if we applied that principle to our own spiritual battles?  If, instead of wallowing in guilty, we spoke the truth over our hearts that there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ. Rather than giving way to depression, reminding our souls that there is a reason and a call to rejoice. And as an alternative to loneliness, standing in the knowledge that He is with us always, even to the end of the age.

In Romans 6:14, Paul writes that sin will not have dominion over us. That doesn't mean attacks won't come; it's going to be an uphill battle. But the promise of God is that the Enemy will not that battle; sin will not stand as the victor. Yes, you will still stumble and you won't be able to live perfectly. But you are no longer a slave to sin; you are a child of God, and there is rest in His arms of love.

You have access to a renewed mind in Christ. Are you willing to fight the fight that He is calling you to?

~     ~     ~     ~     ~     ~     ~     ~     ~     ~ 

Worship Song: 

"We Will Not be Shaken",
by Brian Johnson (Bethel Music)

Hope for the Unlikely

How long have you been willing to search for something?  Have you ever set your heart on anything, and been willing to pursue it for weeks, months or years?

Once, I tried to seek God's will on a certain area of my life. I prayed hard for a week... and then that was it. I prayed sporadically after that, but the intensity of my passion to find Him had fallen away. Life had consumed me again, and God was still in my life, but I wasn't seeking His will with all of my heart, soul, mind and strength.

I am so, so weak. And I'm guessing I'm not alone; seeking God's heart can be so hard, in the midst of life's busyness.

Our pastor gave an incredible sermon on the story of the wise men in Matthew 2 this morning. I love these two points that He highlighted:

Christmas is missed most by those who should see.

Christmas belongs to the unlikely.

Often, in our nativity scenes, the wise men are set right next to the shepherds in the stable on the night of Jesus' birth. But historians would tell us much differently; when the wise men finally saw the Messiah, it was in his own home, not in the stable, and he was probably over a year old at the time.

These men, who had lives, dreams, and plans of their own, were willing to seek God out for over a year. Theirs was not just a passive maybe-I'll-pray-for-awhile-today attitude; they were willing to lay everything else aside to pursue Him, no matter the cost.

Historians estimate that the wise men were probably from Babylon. This city and the nation of Israel were far from allies; throughout scripture, the horrors of Babylon are portrayed vividly, and in Revelation, Babylon is portrayed as the epitome of evil. These wise men were the unlikely, and God chose them to behold His son.

If we were to look at this story without the lens of history, the ones we would have expected to visit Jesus would have been Herod and his officials. After all, he was the king of the Jews at the time, the man who was supposedly guiding God's people to await the coming of the promised Messiah. He was only miles away from Bethlehem, and could easily have made the journey to worship the one his people had been waiting for.

Instead, the so-called leader of God's people tried to kill the son of God.

The men from Babylon followed the light of God for as long as it took; the men of Israel tried to extinguish it.

Christmas is missed by those who should see, and belongs to the unlikely.

This is God's heart for the world; it is because of stories like this that Biblical authors could write with confidence that those dwelling in darkness have seen a great light, and that there is redemption for even the most fallen.

Thousands of years and hundreds of miles removed from these events, we were the outsiders; we were the unlikely. And yet the God of the universe called us close to His heart, and poured out His blood to save us. At the end of Jesus' life, it would be a criminal who received salvation, while the "righteous" condemned the Word of God to death.

Which side are you on now?

We are the unlikely, but in some ways, growing up in good Christian homes, we are also those who should see. Do we realize that this is a hope for all people?  Do we overlook those who we don't think it could ever reach?

Voice of the Martyrs once shared the story of a Muslim sheikh, who literally ingrained the ideology of jihad into the minds of ISIS fighters. He taught them how and why they should kill "infidels", and he did it with pride. If ever there was a person who seemed beyond reach, it was him. And yet, eventually, he left his position, because he was tired of seeing the bloodshed. He left the country, and the thing he wanted to find most was a Bible.

God is capable of turning the hearts of the unlikely. He has called us to himself, while we were still the unreachable, and He redeemed us. Are we willing to believe that the same can be true of others?

This week, I'm keeping Syria on the prayer wall. I would encourage you to challenge yourself with this question: do you believe that these people are not beyond the reach of God?  Do you believe He can save them?  This week, as you pray, don't just pray for those who already know; pray that the unlikely would be brought near to the heart of God.

Because this hope is for them, too.

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Worship Song: 

"We Three Kings",
by Tenth Avenue North

Low Places

He came to the most painful, unlikely place imaginable.

It's so easy this time of year to enjoy the beauty of the holiday season and our cute ceramic nativity sets so much that we forget how real the story of the manger was. We all know the story by heart; an angel came to Mary, she and Joseph made the trip to a little town called Bethlehem, and sweet baby Jesus was born and placed in a perfect manger with soft hay and smiling animals to guard him. It's a cute version of an incredibly raw phenomenon that only God could have created.

I love that version of the Nativity, in some ways. It's sweet, it doesn't distort the actual events that happened. But it simplifies and romanticizes them so much that we often miss one of the most key components to the story: pain.

I know a several of you have had the chance to actually watch the birth of a younger sibling. And while it's a beautiful thing to see a child come into the world, you know that what characterizes those hours of labor is the intense amount of pain it creates. The Bible draws this theme out several times, saying that all creation is groaning in the pains of labor awaiting redemption. More than that, the pain of childbirth is a direct result of original sin; it was part of the punishment in Genesis 3. The agony of childbirth was one of the first visible repercussions of the fall.

And it was through that venue that the uncreated, timeless God of the universe came to earth.

It was more than just the physical pain of labor; it was what it represented. The punishment of sin played a role in the coming of the Messiah.

This was not an ordinary birth, however. Jesus was born into apparent adultery. He lived his entire life as a seemingly illegitimate child, born to a woman who was shunned as an adulterer and cared for by a father who was not his own.

And the birth took place in a cave, barely fit for animals. Because out of all the places in the world He came to rescue, not one door would open to Him.

Jesus was the Living Water from God. Water is such an intriguing concept, from a Biblical standpoint. It quenches the insatiable desire of thirst. It gives life, and without it nothing can live. And it flows downward, to the lowest place.

It's amazing to think about how the Christmas story sets Christianity apart from any other religion. Nowhere else, in all the history of ancient or modern gods, will you find one who loves His people, enough to walk among them as a human, born into humiliation and pain, bearing the shame of the world on His shoulders, and ultimately laying down His life to save them. No other god took the lowest place in that way.

God understands pain, on a level more deeply than anyone. He entered into it, and felt it. And He did it, not through chariots and fireworks, but through the most humble situations imaginable. He created a plan to redeem the world not with armies, but with individuals. He chose a teenage girl and a doubting man to be the key vessels in His plan for redemption.

This is the God we follow. Thank you, Jesus!!!

How many kings stepped down from their thrones,

How many Lords have abandoned their homes,

How many greats would become the least of these?

How many gods have poured out their hearts

To romance a world that is torn all apart

How many Fathers gave up their sons for me?

Only One did that for me.

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Worship Song: 

"How Many Kings",
by Downhere

Building Blocks of the Kingdom

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal..."

Pastor Andy Stanley recently used these famous words to illustrate an incredible truth about the life of Jesus. In western thinking, oppressing those weaker than you is unacceptable. Bullying is reprimanded, minimum wage ensures workers can't be taken advantage of, and shelters are available for the homeless. It seems normal to us in America, but that's not the way the world works. Human nature suppresses the weak, and seeks power at the expense of the powerless.

The reason our nation is so different is because it was set up on Biblical principles. I'm not saying it's perfect, at its founding or today. But look at the American value system, compared to the ancient Roman culture. People are no longer seen as a monetary measure, to be exchanged and owned. Rights are acknowledged, and violators are punished. The foundation of those values is the Christian worldview.

Jesus came to love individuals.

It's amazing, to look at what Jesus was trying to build, in the context of his culture. He was born into the oppressive Roman empire, which would stop at nothing to build their kingdom and expand their power. They sent anyone who might have threatened them to torturous deaths, commanded their armies to conquer neighboring lands, and turned their captives into currency, to build an even greater regime.

Jesus was on a mission to build a kingdom, too. But He did it by loving individuals; by seeing people as image-bearers of God, and caring for them. Not just the clean, organized, pure members of the religious community, but the harlots, the cheating tax collectors, the lowly fishermen, the convicted criminals. He came for the least of these and cherished them. His first sermon made it clear that it was the poor in spirit, the mournful, the meek, the hungry that would receive this Kingdom. It was not an empire built by human hands, and limited by human values. God's hands were not tied by power; He loved in the lowest places, and called individuals to Himself.

This is the Kingdom He has called us to build as well. How often do we overlook people, when we're distracted by the things the world has to offer?  I've been so convicted of how often I do that in my own life. I am so quick to ignore the fact that an image-bearer of God is standing right in front of me, when something shiny and new appears in my peripheral. So often, I turn away from those around me, and fail to see the value they have in God's eyes. I want to be able to look at people, and see the beauty that God sees; not their appearance, not their mistakes, not what they can do for me, but who they are to Him.

Do you know that people are not "safe"?  They're not neat, organized, tidy packages of perfection. Even the people who you subconsciously categorize as those you should spend time with have the ability to hurt you deeply. I guarantee you some of them have. For me, my first inclination is always, always to pull back; to remove trust, put up my walls, and avoid having to love them. And I'm definitely not saying that you should trust those who have proven they're not trustworthy. Love and trust are two different things; God doesn't call you to trust everyone, but He does call you to love them unconditionally. That's what the Kingdom is built on. Does it hurt?  Definitely. It hurt Jesus so much He bled over it on a Roman cross, and had to die. But He faced that death with confidence, for the joy that was set before Him.

That joy was a broken, messy, beautiful person like you.

He knows you; as one worship song by Amanda Cook put it, He has memorized you. He knows you, individually, better than anyone else on earth. If you haven't experienced that, ask Him in faith to reveal it to you; He delights in showing you His goodness.

He has called you by name. Are you willing to follow?

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Worship Song: 

"Sea of Faces",
by Kutless

I Won Battles for You

The battle I was loosing, temptation took its toll,

I couldn't find the strength any more to hold.

Grasped by the enemy I had failed again,

Exhausted, I gave up, and was seized away from Him. 

Willingly I followed, in slavery to sin,

Never, I felt, could I gaze on him again. 

Yet, while I held the enemy,

While there was no good in me,

When I had failed Him again,

He won the battle for me;

He slew my enemies;

He lifted my face to His and said, 

"Even through rejection, I held you in my palm.

"Even when you felt alone, I was helping you along.

"Because I loved you fist, even when you stopped;

"Because I held you still, even when fires got hot;

"Because I am Alfa, omega, I Am Who I Am;

"Because I am Living Love, I will rescue you again."

"And because I'm more than you could ever dream,

"Let me lift you again; let's be more than a team."

Oh, what a proposal, so glorious it seems,

That you can speak this covenant, and hand me the ring!

I have failed so many times, I know I can't stop.

But your voice surrounds again, shattering those ugly thoughts. 

For while I held the enemy,

While there was no good in me,

When I had failed Him again,

He won the battle for me;

He slew my enemies;

He lifted my face to His and said, 

"Even through rejection, I held you in my palm.

"Even when you felt alone, I was helping you along.

"Because I loved you first, even when you stopped;

"Because I held you still, even when fires got hot;

"Because I am the Alfa, the omega, I Am Who I Am;

"Because I am living love, I will rescue you again."

"I'll fulfill your every need, when I hold you you'll be freed,

"I meet every desire, I can lift your spirits higher!

"You can cry on my shoulder; you can sit on my knee.

"You can love me like you have never loved before!

"I fill every crevice, and mend every hole,

"Let me inhabit you, I will bring life to your soul."

"Even when you slip to sin,

"And to the enemy again,

"Whether or not you fight through,

"I will win your battles for you,

"I will slay your enemies,

"Just, hold on to me again!"

I can't resist you any more, too you I will open up this door.

Take me with you, Lord, I plead. Consume me with joy, abundantly!

Jesus, Jesus, make me whole, play my life's leading role.

Lord, fill every crevice, mend my every hole.

Be my guide, surround me, inhabit my soul.

The Beauty of the Human Soul

I think it's interesting how much Jesus had to say about taxes. If we think taxes today are bad, it's hard to imagine how they must have been during His time. Tax collectors were hated, as Jews who had abandoned their families and communities, and become Roman workers. Taxes were often collected unfairly, for extra profits, and those who couldn't pay were given no mercy. One of my favorite stories about Jesus is when the Pharisees posed a question to him about this process, asking whether it was right to pay taxes to Caesar. I love His response: whose image is on the coin?

The coin was distinctive in its build; thick, heavy metal, with an unmistakable imprint on its face.

"Then give to Caesar what is Caesar's, and give to God what is God's."

At first, this may seem like a clever lesson on the Biblical model for paying government dues. But look at the pattern Jesus sets, through His words; image defines belonging. Caesar's coins belonged to Him, because they had his image set upon them.

Humanity belongs to God, because He has set His image on us. 

Awhile ago, I was journaling and thinking about the value of the human soul. We had just talked about the question of when a life scientifically begins, in our psychology class, and it made me wonder... what is it that makes it matter at all?  Why does a human have value, regardless of age, or any other characteristic?

One of the strongest reasons, from the Christian worldview, is that God has made man in His image. God has placed His very heart into mankind; Paul writes that even non-believers have a sense of right and wrong, because God has placed His moral code on their hearts. Humans are image-bearers of the living God. I know we've heard that so many times... but have you stopped to think about what that actually means, in your life and the lives of those around you?

Each one of you will see at least one person this week. (I think I can count on that fact, even if you're a home schooler :))  Just think about what that means; you are interacting with a vessel formed in the image of the uncreated God of the universe. And look at yourself... that description holds true for your life, too. You are an image-bearer of God Himself.

That is your identity. You are His. It's something you've heard a thousand times, but how often does it register into reality, when it comes to your day to day life?  It's so easy to define yourself by the standards of the world. If that's where you find yourself, I would encourage you to sit down and make a list. Write down everything by which you're measuring your worth, and test it against what God has said about you. He calls you His beloved, His Lily among Thorns, His Rose of Sharon, His promised one, the one who ravishes His heart with one glance of your eyes, the one He was willing to shed His blood for. You are not your dress size, your grades, your hairstyle, your number of "likes" on social media. You are not what people think of you, say to you, or treat you as. You are His image-bearer.

And so is every person you interact with. Each human has the image of God on their hearts, and they are beautiful beyond imagination. I believe with all my heart that there is not a single person on earth who doesn't have some kind of depth to them. Maybe you haven't seen it, and maybe you never will. But God sees it. He sees everything about that person that you can't. There is an unspeakable, ravishing beauty inside each human soul, not because of anything they've done, but because of what has been done for them.

I love reading about how Mother Teresa approached this idea. Many people who talked with her later wrote that, when she was in a conversation with you, it seemed like there was not another human in the world, in her eyes. She was fully invested in and listening to you. She wrote that "Every person is Christ to me".

Think of the people you're going to see this week. Are you willing to see them through that lens?  Are you willing to see yourself that way?  You belong to Him; in the end, that is all that matters.

So give to God what is God's.

~     ~     ~     ~     ~     ~     ~     ~     ~     ~ 

Worship Song: 

"Give Me Your Eyes",
by Brandon Heath

The Adventure of the In Between

"What do you want to do with your life?"

It's a pretty common question to hear your senior year. People have asked me this more times than I can count, and I appreciate the interest they have in my plans. So I tell them I'm going to college next year, and I eventually want to be a pediatrician.

Lately, I've been giving that question a little more thought. I realized that other people weren't the only ones interested in my future; I was beyond excited for it. I couldn't wait to study abroad, volunteer in refugee hospitals, and go on medical missions trips. I had wanted to do those kinds of things for so long, but now they were becoming tangible realities, only months away from happening.

We tend to have so many thoughts and dreams for our future. Whether it's vocational, relational, or anything in between, there is so much room in the future to dream about and look forward to. I love that feeling of anticipation that sends thrills through my being, as I think ahead, in the months, years, and decades to come.

But, over the past month, I've been realizing that, as I look ahead, sometimes I forget to look around me. I'm not in the future yet; I'm still in the "in between". Life is exciting right now, too; I have outside classes every day, and I love my professors and classmates. School keeps things moving at a good pace. Still, when things are in such a continuous routine, it's easy to for them to seem mundane.

I think most of us are probably in an in-between season of some kind right now. There's something that we expect or hope for in our future, and we're still in the waiting season. Sometimes, the waiting is enjoyable; classes, activities, and friends can keep us busy. Other times, it can seem painfully slow and monotonous.

Wherever you find yourself, don't waste your in between season. Sometimes, the future looks so exciting that it's easy to miss the adventure of each day, in the here and now.

That's where I found myself last week. As I was reading a devotional email about praying for Muslims, I stumbled across an organization dedicated to reaching Syrian refugees. It turned out they had a base just twenty minutes from my future university!  I was so excited at the thought of being part of that, and getting to show the love of Jesus to "real Middle Eastern people".

I still can't wait for that opportunity. But, this week, I found myself on my knees before God in thankfulness that He didn't let me miss the adventure in between then and where I was. Last week, a friend had sent me some information about the International Club at the community college where I'm taking some classes this semester. She had been involved when she was a student there, and said it was a great place for experiencing other cultures and reaching out to students who had no connections in the states. So this Wednesday, I invited one of my closest friends to come with me to check it out. Although it sounded interesting, I had to admit to myself that I didn't want to go. I had work to do at home, and there would be enough international-related adventures next year. Besides, it was a small community college, and there couldn't be that many international students who needed to plug in.

As it turns out, though, there were. I loved meeting so many new people, and seeing different cultures interact. We had some great conversations with some incredible people. But the one that stood out in my mind was with a young man with heritage in Iran. I had been looking forward to the future, and working with Middle Eastern refugees. But right here in front of me was a "real Middle Eastern person" who was willing to engage in conversation with me. He talked about his culture, his trips to Iran, and was open to talking about his faith, and even what he believed about Jesus, when I brought it up. I don't think I'll forget that conversation; it was amazing, to think that God had plans not just for my future, but for my here and now.

My favorite quote from Jim Elliot put it best: "Wherever you are, be all there!"

You are living on a mission field. Maybe God has placed you on a college campus to spread His love. Maybe He's given you a place to reach out in your city. Maybe He's just put you in your own home with a few outside classes. But wherever He has placed you, He has a plan for it. Don't miss the adventure of every new morning in His presence; be all there, wherever it is.

God isn't just in your future; He is in your in between season with you. And He is all there.... are you?

~     ~     ~     ~     ~     ~     ~     ~     ~     ~ 

Worship Song: 

"The Voyage",
by Amanda Cook (Bethel Music)

Reflections: Fear

Questions for Thought: 

• What do you fear most?

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• Who has God revealed Himself to be?

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• What is His heart toward you?

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• Do you trust God to hold your fears?  How would your life practically change, if that idea of trust became a reality in your life?

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Scriptures:

"You did not choose Me but I chose you." -John 15:16

"Do not fear...I have called you by name." -Isaiah 43:1

"I am with you always, even to the end of the age." -Matthew 28:20

‘You are my servant’;

    I have chosen you and have not rejected you.

10 

So do not fear, for I am with you;

    do not be dismayed, for I am your God.

I will strengthen you and help you;    I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.  -Isaiah 41:9b-10

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Worship Playlist: 

Music by Misty Edwards

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Utbr9dCLVA