“Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” Matthew 11:28-30

Are you tired? Tired of carrying the burden of suffering? Tired of carrying the burden of anxiety, fear, and depression? Tired of carrying the burden of trial? Jesus says, “Come to Me…”

Why can you rest in God? Really rest….

1. You can rest in His SOVEREIGNTY. He is absolutely in control of every single molecule, person, ruler, event, and circumstance in the entire created universe.

a. Colossians 1:16-17 For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities-all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.

2. You can rest in God’s GOODNESS. Not only is He sovereign – in control, He is good.

a. Psalm 34:8 Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him!

3. You can rest in God’s UNCHANGING CHARACTER.

a. Hebrews 13:8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.

4. You can rest in His PLAN AND PURPOSE for your life.

a. Jeremiah 29:11 “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.”

b. Romans 8:28-30 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. 29For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. 30And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.

5. You can rest in His LOVE for you.

a. Isaiah 54:8 “… with everlasting love I will have compassion on you,” says the LORD, your Redeemer.

Diane

“My Dad is stronger than your Dad.”  Remember when we were kids bragging on our fathers or mothers and perhaps even embellishing the truth more than a little?  I remember trying to convince some kids that my father was a policeman and they should be afraid, very afraid.  My beloved dad was a machinist, but who would be afraid of a machinist?  

Have you ever noticed in conversations how subtly we “one-up” each other?  Just start talking about scars, and pretty soon people are rolling up their sleeves and pant legs to show off their scars.  How about conversations about harrowing experiences or difficulties with insurance companies?  Each has a bigger, better story to be told.  

Do you know that God actually tells us in His word to “one-up” each other?  Yup.  It was right there in black and white one morning when I was reading the Bible.  Romans 12:10:

Outdo one another…

…in showing honor. 

Imagine what our homes would be like, our marriages, our offices, our churches, our schools if we did just this one thing… 

If we intentionally, consistently, extravagantly, and earnestly sought to outdo one another in showing honor.

Would you commit to intentionally and genuinely show AT LEAST one person honor today?  Go for it. Outdo each other in showing honor.

Diane

Today, I find myself someplace I have never been before.  I am the mother of two adult children.  For some reason, I sort of figured parenting would be a whole lot easier at this stage of life.  I’m not a worrier or a fretter.  At least I didn’t think I was until I got to this phase.  Many nights sleep is lost.  I can’t seem to shut my brain down.  It wanders around, collecting more thoughts than I can handle.  An upset stomach is all I get for my aimless “what if” wandering, all those horrible life scenarios that my kids could wind up in…if.  What it basically amounts to is not trusting God…again.

When my children were in the phase referred to as “the terrible twos,” I had a blast with them!  Two year olds are the funniest people on the planet.  They also don’t yet know that you are not all wise and powerful.  Nor have they had years of exposure to all your mistakes and foibles.  You are the one with the limitless hugs, the holding lap, the boo-boo fixer and kisser.  You crack up at all their silly little jokes no matter how often they tell them.  They know and believe you love them.  You are “Mommy!” 

Today my children are 24 and 22 and I am no longer Mommy. I’m Mom to one and Ma to the other.  They’ve seen me mess up so often (sometimes at their expense) that they are convinced I need serious therapy. or I’m just crazy.  (The jury is still out on that one.)  My hugs are still given and received.  My lap is still available for holding.  I don’t laugh at all their jokes anymore, because I don’t get them.  It takes so long for them to explain their jokes that they’ve long since stopped telling them.  I think they still know and believe I love them…at least I hope so.  More important than that or anything else, I hope that my children know and believe that God loves them.

Anyway, today, I’m being refined by the Refiner’s fire.  He is teaching me, ever so painfully, that I must let go; I must stop clinging and that other “C” word, controlling.  I must step back and let Him lead.  Over and over, Father is gently – sometimes not so gently – reminding me of the obvious.  There is a God… and it ain’t me!  The other words He lovingly, repeatedly speaks to me are, “Step aside, My beloved one.  Let Me be the One who draws them and woos them.  After all, honey, it ain’t about you, now is it?”

Stephanie

“Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.  And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned but have not love, it profits me nothing.  Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up, does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.  Love never fails…And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.”(1)  

The first several verses clearly state that if I do not love, or behave in a loving way, all the other things I do “for Christ” are basically worthless.  That is a pretty powerful statement.  I could fool myself into thinking I am loving until I look at the description God Himself gives.  I have to ask myself: Am I patient?  Am I kind?  Do I envy what others have or what they don’t have, or how they look?  Do I boast or think more highly of myself that I ought?  Am I proud, or think I am better than others?  Am I ever rude?  Do I think more about my best interests or the interests of others?   Do I get frustrated or irritated (just other words for angry) easily?  Do I keep track of the wrongs done to me or hold grudges?  Do I delight in another’s sin, or allow evil into my house via TV, internet, books, magazines, conversation, etc?  Do I rejoice in the Truth of God’s Word?  Do I bear others’ burdens?  Do I trust  God in spite of…?  Do I always continue to hope?  Do I choose to keep on, keeping on?  

 

“Jesus said to him, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.  This the first and great commandment.  And the second is like it. You shall love your neighbor as yourself.'”(2) (Why is it that it seems easier to love our neighbor than it is to love our own family members?)

“In this the children of God and the children of the devil are manifest: Whoever does not practice righteous is not of God, nor is he who does not love his brother.”(3) 

“My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth.”(4)

“Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.  He who does not love does not know God, for God is love.  In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, the we might live through Him.  In this is love, not that we loved God, but the He loves us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.  Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.”(5)

“If someone says, ‘I love God,’ and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen?  And this commandment we have from Him; that he who loves God must love his brother also.”(6)

 

1 1 Corinthians 13: 1-8,13

2 Matthew 22:37-40

3 1 John 3:10-11

4 1 John 3:18

5 1 John 4:7-11,

6 1 John 4:20-21

We, as women, tend to think we have this “love” thing wrapped up.  God made us to love, right?  I hear many, many women say “In spite of all he has done, I really love him.”  I want to consider for a bit what is God’s description of love.  First of all, 10 or 15 years ago, I did a Scripture search on love and discovered that it was a verb.  Love is an action, not a feeling.  That is so foreign to our American way of thinking, especially us romantics.  Love is an action.  It is a choice of our will.  You can’t will yourself to feel anything, but you can will to love.  

   

1 Corinthians 13: 1Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. 2And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned,[a] but have not love, it profits me nothing.    4Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; 5does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; 6does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; 7bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.    8Love never fails. But whether there are prophecies, they will fail; whether there are tongues, they will cease; whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away. 9For we know in part and we prophesy in part. 10But when that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away.    11When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things. 12For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known.    13And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

I think the first thing we have to notice is that I can do a lot of wonderful things and look great, but if I lack Christ-love as described in 1 Corinthians 13, I AM NOTHING, NOTHING.  That is pretty strong language Paul uses.    Secondly,  I have to ask myself, am I patient? (long-suffering), am I kind? Am I envious? Am I proud? Am I rude? Am I self-seeking?  Do I get angry easily? Do I think the best or the worst?  Do I rejoice in the truth even when it hurts me?  Does my love come and go?  Does my love lose hope? 

Love does not mean covering your eyes in the light of sin.  It does not mean enabling a person to continue in their sin. I think too often we think by letting our loved one “off the hook” it is demonstrating our love. Not always.  Sometimes removing the consequences of a person’s sin is more an evidence of your idolatry of that person than evidence of your Christ-love for that person.

Let me encourage you to take up the challenge.  Read 1 Corinthians 13 every day for 30 days.  If you’re bold-memorize it.  Let it guide your love.  

Christ is at work in you making you more and more like Him.  

Diane

 

If we fail to practice what we know, we are not only disobedient, but Scripture says we deceive ourselves.  James also says it is the person that hears and does that is blessed or happy. Basically, many of us don’t need to learn more, we just need to live what we already know. Philippians 3:16 ” …Only let us live up to what we have already attained…” Consider how different our lives would be and how great an impact we would have if we just lived what we already knew about obedience and faith.  Often times we don’t progress in our walk because we have failed to be faithful with what God has already given us.  If we are truly to be Christ-followers, we must practice our faith, practice obedience, practice holiness, practice, practice, practice.  

I find James very clear on this principle.  James 1:21-27 “Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.  But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.  For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was.  But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer  of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does.  If anyone among you thinks he is religious, and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this one’s religion is useless.”  

 Diane

Do you ever go through seasons when God seems to be working overtime on those touchy areas of your life?  You know the areas I’m talking about, the ones that don’t scream for immediate attention.  Those areas that we limp along with day after day, week after week, year after year.  Perhaps it might be overspending the grocery budget or poor stewardship of your finances, or your resources or your body or maybe it’s that barely tolerable relationship with your Mother-in-Law, or the time wasted on the internet or watching TV.  You get my gist.  

When I was thinking about this it raised the question,”Is the lack of active obedience-rebellion?”  I tend to see rebellion as defiance, shaking my fist at God, stomping my feet, standing my ground, refusing to budge…According to the on-line version of Merriam-Webster, rebellion is “opposition to one in authority or dominance.”  

If I go through my life basically living out my own choices, being my own boss by making decisions to do what I want (within reason), am I not technically living in rebellion to God?  If I make my own choices, you know the quiet ones no one but God and I even notice, am I not living for myself rather than for God?

As I have taught about the concept of active obedience, it has raised a few questions and a few eyebrows.  What is the difference between obedience and active obedience?  What is the difference between respect and active respect?  What is the difference between kindness and active kindness?  Well, to me it is a matter of a conscious choice, a matter of visibility.  Active obedience is making the choice to obey, especially when you don’t want to, when it’s difficult.

If the Scriptures call me to respect my husband in Ephesians 5:33, “and let the wife see that she respects her husband” but my husband is not living in such a way as to make me WANT to be respectful, does it not require active respect so that I may be obedient to God?

  

Don’t I have to choose to respect in spite of my feelings, or in spite of what I want?  Responding according to my feelings, my wants, is choosing to live as my own boss. 

 

If I am living as my own boss, I’ve just squeezed God out of the position as Lord of my life (or I have tried to).  “Bossing ourselves is a ticket to slavery.” (Beth Moore – Breaking Free)

So I’m back to the question, “Is the lack of my active obedience rebellion?”  I believe it is, perhaps in it’s more subtle form, almost imperceptible. Any time I am choosing to be my own boss rather than follow Jesus Christ as my Lord, then I am rebelling. Silently, perhaps, but still rebelling. 

Maybe, like me, you need to ask God the question, “What does active obedience look like in this area of my life?”  because we don’t really know.  

1 Samuel 15:23, “For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry.” I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to be clumped with the rebellious, the witches, and the stubborn.  Let’s choose to put on active obedience.  Let’s live in visible victory!!!!

Diane

 

 

The Lord has been impressing on me lately the importance of practicing what I know.  He has caused me to question how much does what I know impact what I do?  I realize that at every moment I have a choice to walk in the Spirit or walk in the flesh.  If I do not take what I know and use it to change my behavior, what good is it?  

1 John 2:3-6 “Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments.  He who says, ‘I know Him,’ and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.  But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him.  By this we know that we are in Him.  He who says he abides in Him ought  himself also to walk just as He walked.”  

What evidence is there is your life or mine that we walk as Jesus walked?  I realized that my theology is worthless if I do not apply it to my everyday life.  I cannot be a woman of character or of wisdom if my knowledge does not somehow change me. 

Do you desire to be in God’s family?  Luke 8:19-21 tells us who really are Christ’s mother and brothers… “Then His mother and brothers came to Him, and could not approach Him because of the crowd.  And it was told Him by some, who said, ‘Your mother and Your brothers are standing outside, desiring to see You.’ But He answered and said to them, ‘My mother and My brothers are these who hear the word of God and do it.”  Having a head full of Bible knowledge in a life full of self is an affront to the character and reputation of Jesus Christ.  We represent Him in this world.

Diane

 

My husband and I were working through a video series called “War of Words” with 5 couples from our church.  As the title indicates it was about the heart of communication.  (There is a book by the same title by Paul Tripp).  During one of the lessons, Dr. Tripp was commenting about Romans 6:13, “And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead and your members as instruments of righteousness to God.”   

It struck me in a way it never had before, that there are only two options.  At any given moment, I am either offering my members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, or I am offering my members as instruments of righteousness to God.  There is no middle ground.  That is a sobering thought.  I was thinking mostly of my mouth.  I am either allowing God to use it to communicate His words or I am allowing Satan to use it for his purposes.  When I am choosing to speak my mind, I assure you it is rarely to communicate God’s words.  Oh, sure I may think I’m just speaking the truth but because it is wrapped around the motives of my own heart, it ceases to be the truth and it becomes my slant on the truth.  I’ve had a tough week with my mouth.  I don’t mean cursing or anything like that, I mean how I have attempted to use my words to either get my own way or to try to convict another of their sin, or to change them with my words.  How foolhardy!  Dr. Tripp said, “Since the King has come, change is possible.”  I didn’t hear him say, nor will I ever, “Since Diane came, change is possible.” Although I know that, I regularly act as if that is exactly what I believe.    If I just say this, or say it this way, they are bound to see the problem.  So often, I only make the problem worse.  

I need to remember two verses that need to govern my speech. James 1:19, “let everyone be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry…” and Ephesians 4:29, “Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.”  WOW!  Sure doesn’t sound like “speaking my mind” now, does it?

Diane

 

Do you have one?  Have you made a list in case of fire, flood, bad times, tornados, etc.?

Things like flashlights, rope, water, blankets, etc…  These are a few items that we see from time to time in magazine articles.  We really don’t live in an area that would be affected by serious weather damage.  Fortunately we are in a pretty safe place.

Are you in a safe place, do you have your emergency kit prepared just in case.  Spiritually speaking are you in a safe place? Do you have an emergency kit prepared?

I remember a time when things were crazy and unsettled and I didn’t know where to go or what to do.  A few years ago…. a good friend that I worked with in ministry reminded me it might be a time that the Lord has me under His wing (verse).  I know that because of my salvation I am in the palm of His hand.  Sometimes we need to feel that sense of security and we need to remind ourselves He might have us under His wing for a time of rest and to keep us out of harm’s way.  

Psalm 91:4 (New King James Version)

He shall cover you with His feathers,

        And under His wings you shall take refuge; 

        His truth shall be your shield and buckler.

Looking back at that time I didn’t understand it completely but I trusted my friend’s advice and kept claiming that verse.  After a while I could feel His wing lifting and allowing me to go back to a bigger place.  I was still in His palm but I did not need to be protected under His wing as much.  He needed me to fly on my own for a while in the area He made a way for me to embark out in.  

When times are insecure, fearful, crazy or feeling scary….just like if we could see the flood or tornado coming, it is nice to know we have our emergency kit prepared, too.    Just like we find shelter in a basement during bad weather, we can find shelter under His wing during bad times.  What have you done to prepare?  The Bible talks about doing things in orderliness and I’m sure this means to prepare ahead for uncertain times.

My kit that I carry is a small tote bag. It includes my Bible, a notebook, a few pens, a devotional, a Christian book to read and some note cards to send a note to someone,  as the Lord leads.  Whether I am at home or on the go I can take my bag with me and when I feel a spiritual emergency coming I can dig deep and I have the supplies I need with me.  Another thing to carry along with you is a heart always ready to pray and a mind full of Scripture that you can refer to when your bag is not in reach.

So many times we get caught off guard because we did not prepare ahead of time. Take a moment today and ask the Lord what he needs you to put in your emergency bag.  If you feel like you are under His wing, enjoy the security; if He is lifting His wing know that He will never leave you and if you need His wing just ask him.

  Lynn Wilson