Brokenness 

Brokenness

I love you.

When was the last time you heard the words, “I love you?” Take a moment and think. Perhaps you heard it this morning and hear it on a regular basis. Perhaps you rarely hear it and your heart longs to hear these three simple words.

I love you.

What is it about those three words that have such meaning and importance to us? Let’s face it; we all want to feel important to someone, that we matter. I’m not necessarily referring to marriage although that is certainly one relationship where love can flourish.
Friends, children, grandchildren, and other believers can have a profound effect with these three simple words.
I am looking forward to hearing my granddaughter say for the first time, “I wub you” I’m sure I will do a jig.

There are many, many lonely hearts out there desperate to know that someone cares, starving to hear “I love you.”

Someone cares. In fact, not just someone, God Himself loves and cares for you.

Isaiah 43:1-5
Fear not, for I have redeemed you;
I have called you by your name;
You are Mine.
When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;
And through the rivers, they shall not overflow you.
When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned,
Nor shall the flame scorch you.
For I am the LORD your God,
The Holy One of Israel, your Savior;
I gave Egypt for your ransom,
Ethiopia and Seba in your place.
Since you were precious in My sight,
You have been honored,
And I have loved you;
Therefore I will give men for you,
And people for your life.
Fear not, for I am with you

This verse was intended for Israel, but consider the verses, “I gave Egypt for your ransom, Ethiopia and Seba in your place…. I will give men for you, and people for your life. God loved you so much that He did not just give Ethiopia, Seba and men for you; He gave His very own only Son, Jesus Christ in your place. He loves you.

Close your eyes, and imagine Jesus tilting your chin up towards His face and hear the words, “I love you.”

Diane

Leaving or Cleaving?

Old Guys
One thing I love about my husband, Dave, is the fact that he is 12 years older then I am. The way I like to explain it is that he graduated high school when I was graduating kindergarten! Unfortunately, people look at us and say ” I don’t see any age difference.” Therefore, either he looks young or I look old! I love that he is 12 years older than I am because I can feel better about getting older by telling him that I will ALWAYS be 12 years younger then he is! I really do love my “old” guy!

Lately, I have met some other distinguished “old guys”. A.W.Tozer, John Edwards, William Law, R.A. Torrey, Watchman Nee, Charles Trumbell, Charles Spurgeon to name a few. I met them in the books I have been reading. I have found that they have so much to say about our walk with the Lord. The depth of their messages is greatly lacking in what we hear and read today. For the past few years I have been pursuing books with a deeper content. As Betsy Shoppy said the first day we met “I am so tired of reading fluff.” Betsy encouraged me to read a few meaty books like Sitting in Gods Sunshine, Resting in His Love by Alicia Britt Chole (Not an old guy but a no-fluff-allowed contemporary author)and Born For Battle by Matthews (Hard to get but well worth the search!). I want to encourage you to look at what sits on your bookshelf. Do you only see fluff? Cute titles that caught your eye but are low on content? Are there any meaty classics written by “old guys” on your shelf? If not, would you consider investing in one and commit to chew on something meaty?

I can hear the groaning already! Sadly, we have lost the pleasures of reading. I know it takes time and if you only have time to read your Bible please don’t set aside The Book for any other! Sadly, I often hear Christians say that they hate reading. Do you know what? It was a book God left for us not a DVD or audiobook on CD or MP3! He doesn’t download it to your ipod everyday either. Believers, be readers! Remember the slogan “Reading is Fundamental”? Reading IS fundamental to our spiritual growth. Reading, journaling and prayer adds up to spiritual GROWTH! Reading is one of the basic skills that will cause you and I to think, explore and expand our understanding of Jesus Christ. It is worth the effort!
I gotta go. I’m going to start a fire in the woodburning stove, grab a cup of tea and a blanket, and curl up on the couch to read something that an old guy wrote. I may even ask my “old guy” to join me!
“Till I come give attendance to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine.” 1 Timothy 4:13 KJV “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needth not be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” 2 Timothy 2:15 KJV Kathy Withers

Duty vs. Delight

I’ve been a believer/follower of Jesus Christ for 24 years. I have been in many churches in the course of my speaking opportunities, I’ve been to well over 100 retreats/seminars and I heard many, many sermons and radios broadcasts. Somewhere along the way I lost the joy of participation.

I started to believe that to be a good Christian I had to read my Bible every day, pray daily, be at every church service, participate in small group, teach Sunday school and attend every ministry opportunity and if I didn’t I somehow had failed. Oh, the weight of that. For a few years I wrestled in my spirit questioning how did I become such a “bad” Christian? Why did I constantly feel like I didn’t measure up? I’m in full time Christian Vocational Ministry, how could this have happened?

Then I had a V-8 experience (it dawned on me) the reason I feel like I didn’t measure up is because I was hearing the message loud and clear from various sources that to be a good Christian I must do A, B and C. I was feeling like it was my duty to do all those things expected of me. Everything within me was screaming “RUN”.

As I was attending Seminary 15 years ago, at one point Bible study became an academic pursuit rather than relational. I could see that it was becoming an exercise of my head rather than my heart. I chose to drop out of the Bible study. It was an excellent study, but for me at that point in my life, it was drawing me away from God rather than towards Him.

As I am relearning that I don’t have to do, do, do to be a good Christian; I am also learning that I can rest in what Christ has already done through His finished work on the cross and His resurrection life in me. Duty has turned to delight. I desire to be in the Word. I desire to fellowship with other believers. I desire to be in service and small group. To be free of others expectations brings peace to my heart. Oh, the expectations are still there, but I am free to not fit the mold. Who wants to be a ‘moldy’ Christian anyway?

Are you resting in Christ’s life in you or in your own efforts to be a ‘good’ Christian? Are you trying to fit someone else’s mold or expectation?

As Christ lives His life through you, you will pray, read your Bible, attend church, etc because you desire to do so not because you have a duty to do so. Oh, what a wonderful freedom and peace there is in that truth.

Galatians 2:21 “I do not set aside the grace of God; for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain.”
Matthew 11:28-29 “Come to Me, all you 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.”

A recovering Pharisee,
Diane

Unorganized and Overwhelmed!!
When my heart is overwhelmed, lead me to the rock that is higher than I! ~~ Psalms 61:2b NKJV
God, hear my cry; pay attention to my prayer. I call to You from the ends of the earth when my heart is without strength. Lead me to a rock that is high above me, for You have been a refuge for me, a strong tower in the face of the enemy. ~~ Psalms 61:1-3 ~~HCSB I am an organized, unorganized person who is sometimes overwhelmed by all my little messes. I can be ultra organized in one area of my home and work and in another be very discombobulated. So much so, that I cease to effectively function and waste huge amounts of time trying to do what I need to do. At its worst I don’t function at all and that can create a whole downward spiral …if…I forget the Rock that is higher than I am.
It’s so easy for us earth dwellers to get over-focused on our bit of earth -so to speak- and we forget we have a refuge, a strong tower whom we can run to, even when the enemy that we face is a failure to know how to plan our steps.
Recently during a staff chapel service we were encouraged in the area of time management. Now before you yawn, bear with me. As simple as it sounds, I have to tell you, I was greatly encouraged. More so because it was confirmation of what God had already convicted me of (more than once I might add) in the area of my time and the use of it.
You see, recently my boss had encouraged us to do these weekly reports detailing to her what we accomplished that week. Her reason for this was so we could grow in this area. I had a hard time at first because I would come to the end of my work week and with the one-on-one report in front of me, attempt to remember the week (past tense). This proved frustrating because after I do something and cross it off of my mental “to-do” list, I quickly forget it.
So, I’d come up with a plan for how to remember exactly what I had done and voila, overnight I stepped onto higher ground and it felt good. Being proactive in this one simple area freed me from sitting at my desk racking my brain and feeling frustrated.
This new habit of mine is only a few weeks old so, I still have to consciously choose to do the simple list of things every day to get off to a right start and end my day feeling good knowing I haven’t wasted my time or the Lord’s time.
Sisters, I don’t know whether you are like me or not. Whether you are, or aren’t, praise the Lord! Then after you praise Him some more ask Him for help. Ask Him to show you how to take a step forward in whatever area of your life that growth and change needs to take place.
Stephanie

God sustains life. Christ as our life.

As we have had numerous conversations in Higher Ground and in the counseling office about grace recently, I have had the following question posed to me on more than one occasion: I don’t understand what you mean that Jesus lives in me, doesn’t He live in everyone? We can’t blink or breathe without Him.
I see in this reasoning confusion between God’s sustaining grace and Christ’s life in us.

God is creator and sustainer of every created thing. He is the only Self-existent One. He orchestrates the heavens, the stars, all the galaxies, every molecule in the entire universe. “…he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else.” Acts 17:25

God sustains life.

God’s sustaining life is not the same as Christ’s life in his children. God sustains all life, but not everyone has Christ living in them. “…the Spirit of truth whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him’ but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.” John 14:17 “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me” Galatians 2:20

At the moment of conversion, the instant the dead spirit is regenerated, made alive by the power of the Holy Spirit the very Spirit of God indwells, resides in, lives in, that individual. If you have experienced this in your life don’t you just want to jump up and shout?

Let me share a few of many verses about this truth:
Romans 8:11
But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.

1 Corinthians 3:16
Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?

2 Corinthians 6:16
For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said: “I will dwell in them and walk among them. I will be their God, and they shall be My people.”

Ephesians 3:17
that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith

Colossians 1:27
To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.

Jesus Christ desires to live His life through you. By faith He will love others through you. He will forgive others through you. He will be kind, gracious, compassionate and gentle through you.

“It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God…” Gal 2:20

Diane

The Empty Nest

Ahhhh. Peace. Quiet. Rest.

I’m not sure what all the hype is about. I wasn’t sure what to expect with all the warnings I was hearing. I usually heard this season of life referred to with remorse and sadness.

I’m still catching my breath.

I love my children dearly but within the last 12-18 months God has been showing me that I love them too dearly. I had to make a conscious choice to let go of this idol in my life. I know beyond a shadow of a doubt my children had become idols in my life. Yet God has graciously led me out of that bondage. You may wonder how can something as good as our children be an idol. We can worship anything. We have been created to worship; the question is what or whom shall we worship.

When life got difficult, I often poured myself into my children because it made me feel better, they brought me comfort. I had allowed them to become my “god”. Oh, it wasn’t intentional and it didn’t happen with one choice.
It happened gradually as I repeatedly made choices that allowed them to edge God out of first place in my life. So, I am ever so grateful that the One True God challenged their position and graciously showed me the reality of my heart. His timing has been perfect so that when our children moved on with their lives our home has been left a whole lot quieter but there is also peace and rest.

Sure I miss them and the Mark Harris song “Find Your Wings” (The Line Between the Two album) still chokes me up especially the line “I’ll have tears as you take off But I’ll cheer as you fly”
It is my hearts cry that God will give them dreams that He alone can fulfill. That they will soar to heights that I have never known.

Psalm 37:4 “Delight yourself also in the LORD, And He shall give you the desires of your heart.”

Diane