Humans take time

We spend a lot of time talking when we pray. We ask for this and that, we spend some time asking God to help others, and then we start asking things either for ourselves or for our own curiosity. Sometimes we ask God questions about what we should do in our lives or what decisions we should make. Sometimes we wait to ask until the decision really needs to be made and we expect God to answer right then! We say that we believe that everything happens in God's time and it certainly does, but when we wait until the decision absolutely needs to be made to ask God what to do, we are not giving Him or ourselves time. Now God does not need time to process things like we do. He always knows what's going to happen and what decision needs to be made, but the "His timing" part comes in with His timing on when to tell us and sometimes it takes longer because we don't listen! One would imagine that when we ask God a question, we would listen for His answer, but that's not always true. We ask questions and wait for the answer we want, not necessarily the answer we need and when we don't get the answer we want, we stop listening. So God has to bring people and circumstances and whatnot to bring us back around to His way of thinking.

Time, humans take time. We are slow and oftentimes stupid creatures and when we deny God time in our lives, we deny Him the power to change our lives. Ecclesiastes 3 says there is a time for everything. A time to be born, to die, to plant, to uproot, to kill, to live, to cry, to laugh, to mourn, to dance, to search, to give up searching.... to sit down and shut up. We hear in our churches to go out and do, to not be afraid, to learn, to grow, to teach, to blah blah blah and there is nothing wrong with any of those things. But when in all of our going and doing are we spending any time with God? When in our ministry are we intentionally communing with the One who sent us out? Jesus hand chose his disciples intentionally, He taught the lessons that He intentionally at each time and each place. He didn't just throw stuff out there hoping that someone in the crowd would get it. He knew each ear that would hear, each mind that would process, and each hand that would rise in action based on His words. We of course cannot know all these things, we're human. But God can and if we spend time with Him, He wants to tell us. To be prepared is to know the Spirit of God in any given situation. Sometimes we honestly do not have that kind of time and that's why God is God and we are not. But God wants to tell you what He's planning, if we will only sit still long enough to listen.

A new beginning

It's hard to imagine that something that I've been waiting for for what seems like a lifetime has finally arrived! The reality is that I have only been waiting for this to happen since May 2009, but it feels like much longer. Last Friday, January 29th 2010, was my last day working at Automated Horizons, Inc. After working there for two years in various jobs and learning a lot about computers (and lawyers), I'm done. It was an interesting time for me, an in-between time of doing something, but not what I really wanted to be doing.

Behold the power of specific prayer and praying in God's will: This summer I prayed for a house to live in and a job in a church. I asked specifically if my good friend Lewis could buy a house and rent it to me. I asked specifically if I could be the secretary of a church. Ladies and Germs, both of those things have happened!! Lewis bought the house that he now rents to me and two other wonderful Godly Women (SWOGs) and on Monday I start my new job as secretary to Genesis Community Church! It's hard to imagine getting something that you pray for, not because of a lack of faith, but just because when we do get our prayers answered, most of the time we are so busy being happy about it that we forget that this was something we actually prayed for! People are dumb sometimes. :-)

Another thing I would never have imagined (and I'm still trying to wrap my head around it) is the thought of staying in Roanoke, Va for this long! This was clearly not my choice. I had grand schemes of going off to the UK and not coming back for a long time. Not because I wanted to get away from anything or anyone, but just to go off and "have my own adventure". The idea of staying here just didn't really appeal to me at all. It started to feel like such a "small town" with small minded people with bad grammar. But God has given me a home here, a place to belong, a family, a community of believers that I love dearly (even though I don't know all of their names yet). I would never have imagined this!

And now for something completely different:

There are some people in my life who are desperately praying for God's will in their lives, and it feels like He's taking His time answering. But know this, God does what God wants and it is always for our good and His glory. God is not going to set you up to fail, it's not how He works! God is love, but He is also wisdom. It's easy to think that God's love is like a huge umbrella that covers us from all trouble and we can just go on our way thinking that it doesn't matter what we do because God's love has us covered. Or that His love makes Him just a little blind to our faults. God's love is not a get out of jail free card. No, my friend, believe me when I say that He sees every single one of our faults and loves us anyway but that does not mean that He doesn't desire to see something given in return. His love is a gift, a free gift. There are many verses to back that up. But shouldn't such a powerful gift, if we have truly accepted it, make a change in us? If we truly love God in response to His love for us, shouldn't we have a desire to please Him with our lives? When people do something incredibly nice for us, do we not want to reciprocate? Of course we do! Well, God allowed His only Son to die a horrible death; what shall our response be?

to know His voice

I have lived with my roommate for only a few months, but I already know her. I know her voice, her quirks, the things she struggles with, the people she loves and respects, her tendencies and habits. Her character, her personality, her ways. I have a few other friends that I know in the same way: their character, personality, how they think, and even sometimes what they think. Some people I can read as if they were an open book to me. Others I can read like a VCR manual, I understand the words, but the way they are put together doesn't make much sense.

The same is true about my relationship with God. Over the years, I have learned to hear His voice, to recognize His touch, and to understand some basic truths of who He is.

There are so many revelations of God in His Word. The Bible boasts of His greatness, glory, honor, and character. We know that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever (Heb 13:8), that God's grace is sufficient for every repentant heart, and that His power is made perfect in our weakness (2 Corinthians 12:9). We know that His name is above all other names (Philippians 2:9), that there is no other like Him (Jeremiah 10:6), and that His wisdom holds secrets that are hidden from before time began (I Corinthians 2:7). And for as much as we know about the LORD, our knowledge of Him is but a fraction of a grain of sand as held up to all the beaches on earth.

Though He is the mysterious master Creator who hung each star in the sky and calls them by name, He wants us to love Him, to trust Him, to know Him, and to worship Him. That thought alone sets my mind to wonder! God invites us to participate with Him in a vibrant dance of abundant life through His Son, Jesus Christ. Our amazing Heavenly Father bids each and every one of us to come to Him with questions, to be held by His love, to find peace, hope, and healing in His Son. He calls us to seek Him through prayer and to experience new revelations of Him through His Word and through the Holy Spirit.

The voice of all of creation shouts His praise! I encourage you to pause in this moment to consider Him...to respond to Him...to meditate on His glorious splendor. As you do, He will increasingly become the all-satisfying desire of your heart, while at the same time, He will stir up a hunger in your soul to know Him even more.

My cousin is on his way to Afghanistan

My cousin Jonathan (the one in the back) is a United States Marine Helicopter Pilot (My other cousin, Jason, standing in front is in the Marine Reserves). On July 13th he send out a mass email informing all of us that he and his squad were being deployed to Afghanistan. This is his first deployment away from his family. He has been stationed on the base in Hawaii for the past two years and his wife and two children went with him, but now he is on his way to Afghanistan.
He is a strong Christian man and the lay minister to his squad. Here is the email I received on Sunday morning before I went to church:

Hello All,
I appreciate all of your prayers so far because I have definitely felt them. It has been a very long trip so far. We have crossed 16 time zones (yes, instead of flying the other way and crossing 8 time zones) and I spent over 27 hours on a plane over a few days. It was especially exhausting because lucky me got to sit in the middle seat and had two guys on each side from Baltimore to here. Currently, I am sitting in Kyrgyzistan (yeah, I couldn't find it on a map either until yesterday) at the Transient Base for armed forces going into Afghanistan. I will not be here very much longer, but it was nice to sleep in a bed instead of watching the sun come up three times on a plane over four days.

The best part of the trip so far has been feeling God's presence. The base has a chapel and I went to the contemporary worship service this morning. Most of you will probably read this after your own Sunday morning worship service, but I will tell you that I would not trade the experience I had this morning for any service. It was a simple yet powerful reminder of the sovereignty and the size of the God that we serve. Even at the foothills of the Himalayas at a remote base in the middle of Asia, I felt the powerful presence of God from the first note that we sang. God is so much bigger than our home church. He is so much bigger than the community and the country we live in. He is so much bigger than this war and He is so much bigger than the universe that we live in. I am fairly certain that I have spoken those very same words so many times, but today I really felt those words in a powerful new way.

As you can probably guess, it gets fairly hot in the area that I will be flying so I wear a camouflage bandanna underneath my flight helmet that was given to me years ago. On that bandanna I have Psalm 91 and I wanted to share one of those verses that already has brought me comfort.

⁹ If you make the Most High your dwelling—
even the LORD, who is my refuge-

¹⁰ then no harm will befall you,
no disaster will come near your tent.

¹¹ For he will command his angels concerning you
to guard you in all your ways;

¹² they will lift you up in their hands,
so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.

Stay in your fight and I will stay in mine.

-Jonathan


Please pray for Jonathan and his squad! I love my family very much and pray for their safety daily.

The Legend of the Seeker

Yesterday I fell victim to one of the worst headaches I’ve had in a long time. We’re talking migraine here. In an intentional effort to not use my brain, but while I couldn’t sleep, I did what every other red-blooded American girl does, I watched TV. And seeing as how we do not have cable, I had to watch it online, no big deal there. I looked up my favorites to see if there were any new episodes posted. Bones, Fringe, House, How I Met Your Mother, Monk, Psych, and NCIS. Nothing new there and I finished the last season of Doctor Who a while ago. In my search for something to hold my pained interest but not get me hooked; because I don’t have time to get hooked on anything else, I stumbled upon a little show called The Legend of the Seeker. This show is loosely based on The Sword of Truth fantasy novels by Terry Goodkind. I say “loosely” not based on my own evaluation, since I have never read the books, but based on the reviews I have read online by people who have read the books and are now watching the series and are having some canonical issues with the series.

I have nothing to say about the books, I haven’t read them. But there are aspects of this show that caught my attention and hasn’t let go. The premise is that there are three lands in this fictional world: D’Hara, Midlands, and Westland. The magical, evil ruler of D’Hara (Darken Rahl) is trying to take over the Midlands and is working on unleashing a terrible power that will give him complete control over every single person in the world, regardless of their strengths, beliefs, or previous allegiances.

Now, let me say here that I do not believe in magic, faeries, or any of that fantasy stuff, although I do like to read it and think about it, but I know reality from fiction so let's not even get into that. Imagination is a wonderful thing, people should use it more often- especially adults.

Twenty three years previous to the beginning of the show, there was a prophesy told of one who would come to destroy evil, one who would have the power of good to overcome the darkness, he is called The Seeker. The Seeker wields the Sword of Truth and fights not only with his power and strength, but with the power of all the Seekers before him. He is called “seeker” because he will seek out evil and destroy it, he will seek out truth and justice wherever he goes. It has been proven that he cannot use his power or the power of the Sword of Truth for personal gain, only for the “greater good” of the people.

With him is a woman known as a Confessor. She held a special interest for me because her powers are very important to the Seeker’s mission to fight evil and injustice. She can look into someone’s eyes and know if they are being truthful or not (she, however, is a horrible liar). She also has the power to “confess people”, which means that she can hold them under her influence and make them do whatever she desires or needs. The only drawbacks to that are that it takes a considerable amount of strength from her to perform the task and that the person will fall hopelessly in love with her and there’s nothing she can do to change that short of one of them dying. The Confessor is sworn to protect the Seeker with her life and remain with him throughout his mission to destroy the evil that would take over the world.

The Seeker (Richard) and the Confessor (Kahlan- pronounce kay-lan) are in love, but their love can never be requited because the moment that they… ya know… she will no longer be able to control her power and will inadvertently take his soul from him and he will be her slave. They know the mission is more important than their love. At the end of the last episode I watched, they had mutually decided to bury their love deep inside themselves and never speak of it or act on it, though they both know that they love each other (it was a sad ending).

There is also a Wizard with them who is the Seeker’s grandfather, even though the Seeker does not know it, but I don’t really have much to say about him right now.

The author of the books and the writers of the show claim to be making NO religious overtones, to have no affiliation of any sort, but come on! Sword of Truth that fights evil with no intention of personal gain; the Seeker who fights injustice with no thought to himself, only to the people; and the Confessor who sees the truth in every person and cannot be fooled…. Can anyone else see or correlation to the Bible, the Christian, and Jesus? How often has the Bible been referred to as the Sword of Truth with which we fight? Or how about the Christian who fights Satan’s attacks and reaches out to others so that they might also be saved? And Jesus, who sees everything about us, still loves us, and fights constantly at our side?

I tried to not use my mind yesterday, but I watched at least six episodes of this show and one after one I saw the parallel to Christianity. Even the three parts of the world, D’Hara, Midland, and Westland are equivalent to Hell, Earth, and Heaven respectively. I might write more on this as I go, but I think that’s enough for now. I know the author says he intends objectivity in his stories, but I think this is an example of how not much is truly objective anymore.

Climbing Out of the Pit, Part 3

Climbing Out of the Pit, Part 3
Mary Southerland

Today's Truth
"I waited patiently for the Lord; he turned to me and heard my cry. He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand. He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see and fear and put their trust in the LORD." Psalm 40:2-3 (NIV)

Friend To Friend
At some point in life, we all will find ourselves in some kind of pit, the darkness settling around us like a paralyzing blanket of hopelessness. That deep, dark pit may have many names, but easily becomes a prison from which escape seems impossible. The journey out is a process of steps uniquely planned by your Father. He is the Guide for this step-by-step journey.

Step One: Wait for God.
Step Two: Cry out for help.
Step Three: Count on God.

In this world, there are few certainties. God is one. His promises are true and we can wholly trust Him to keep His Word, to do exactly what He promises to do. In the key passage today, we find an impressive set of promises. God promises to free us -- direct us -- restore us -- give us joy and invites us to join Him in Kingdom work. Wow! That is quite an impressive "to do list" when you are sitting at the bottom of an ugly pit, with the shattered pieces of your life scattered around you. But God's ways are not our ways.

In Romans 11:33, Paul writes "Oh, what a wonderful God we have! How great are his riches, wisdom, and knowledge. How impossible it is for us to understand his decisions and his methods." (NIV)

God is drawn to brokenness. What an amazing truth, that He turns first to the broken. Psalm 40:1 says "He turned to me." Notice it does not say that David, the author, turned to God. I don't think that David could turn to God! Knowing the desire of David's heart and understanding his weakness, God heard his cry and turned to David just like God will hear your cry and turn to you!

During the darkest hours, I questioned God continually. I flung my anger at Him like a spear. My heart and soul were filled with fear and confusion instead of faith and trust. Yet, He never turned away from me. He knew every tear that I cried. Out of those tears and brokenness has come the most effective and powerful chapter of my life! I am convinced that the more we are broken, the more we are used. You can count on God. You can credit His grace to your account!

Mercy is when we don't get what we deserve.

Justice is when we get what we do deserve.

Grace is when we get what we do not deserve.

We are trophies of God's grace and we can count on Him.

Step Four: Be patient.

Psalm 40:1 "I waited patiently for the Lord."

In this verse, "patiently" literally means "without tiring" or "with perseverance". Be patient with yourself. Don't give up on you. No one gets depressed overnight and no one conquers depression overnight. It is a marathon, not a fifty yard dash! On my journey, it took 45 years to hit rock bottom. It has taken me four years to climb out ... this far. I am still climbing! We must be patient. We must be willing to persevere. Don't give up! Just give in and allow God to take control. He will turn that pit into an altar on which your broken spirit can be laid as a sweet sacrifice of praise.

Step Five: Don't give up.

Philippians 1:6 "And I am sure that God who began the good work within you will keep right on helping you grow in his grace until his task within you is finally finished on that day when Jesus Christ returns."

God is at work! The very fact that you are reading this devotion is proof that the Father has ordered your steps so that you can hear my story. That may be because you are in a pit and you need help or maybe because someone you love is in that pit and you need to help them. God wants you to experience restoration and then to be a vessel of restoration for others.

Years ago, in a large southeastern city, the great pianist, Paderewski, was scheduled to perform. The city was alive with excitement and the day finally came. In the crowd at the concert was a young mother clutching the hand of her small son. Hoping to inspire him to practice, she had brought him to hear the master perform. As they sat and waited for the concert to begin, she turned her head to look at the people as they filled the auditorium. The little boy saw his chance to escape. He quietly slipped from his seat, walking down the aisle toward the stage. Just as he reached the orchestra pit, a spotlight hit the grand piano and he gasped at the beauty of the instrument. No one noticed the little boy as he slipped up the side stairs to the stage and climbed up on the piano stool. No one noticed him at all, until he began to play "Chopsticks". The concert hall fell silent. Then people began to shout. "Get him away from that piano!" Backstage, the Master heard the crowd and grabbing his coat, rushed to the little boy's side. Without a word, he bent down and, placing his hands on either side of the boy's, began to compose a beautiful counter melody to "Chopsticks". As they played together, he whispered in the little boy's ear, "Don't stop! Keep on! Don't quit!"

Right now, right where you are, understand that your Father is standing beside you, with His arms wrapped around you. Listen as He gently speaks, "Don't stop! Keep on! Don't quit!"

I know that the music of your darkened soul may be filled with chaos and dissonance, but even now, the Master is composing the "rest" of your song. One day very soon, it will be a song of beauty and light! One day, you will come out of the dark!

Let's Pray
Oh God, right now I choose to wait on You, crying out for Your hand of mercy and love to deliver me from this pit of darkness. I abandon myself to You and am counting on You to be my Redeemer and Friend. Give me the courage to share my pain with others and ask for help. Now, in the presence of my enemies of darkness and depression, I celebrate the victory. Thank you, Father!

In Jesus' name,
Amen.

Now It's Your Turn
Memorize Psalm 40:1-3. Accept these promises as a gift from God for every pit -- past, present and future -- in your life. Ask yourself the following questions:

· What is the first step you should take in order to climb out of this pit?

· What do you need to leave behind or step over in order to take this first step?

• Read 2 Samuel 2:29. What does it mean when it says that God is your lamp? How does that change your perspective of life?
• Examine the deepest desires of your heart. Do you really want to escape this pit of darkness? Does the freedom frighten you? Why?
  

He Calls you by Name

Today's Truth
"Fear not, for I have redeemed you. I have called you by name, you are mine" (Isaiah 43:1 NASB).

Friend to Friend
Over the years, several people in my life never seem to remember my name. A few of my more popular aliases are Sarah James, Susan James, Shannon James, and Jane Jaynes. Then there are the people who just can't remember me altogether and don't even try to fish a name from their memory pool. To tell you the truth, I'm not very good with names either.

However, names are very important to God. In the Bible, a person's name revealed a unique quality of their character. Moses meant "drawn out of water." Ruth meant "woman friend." Naomi meant "pleasant," and she changed it to "Mara" which meant "bitter." Her two sons' names meant "Puny" and Piney." Evidently, these two fellows weren't exactly strapping young he-men, and both died at an early age. If a person had an encounter with the living God, many times He changed their name to fit the experiences He had planned for their futures. Abram was changed to Abraham. Sarai was changed to Sarah. Saul was changed to Paul.

Yes, names are very important. That's why when someone very dear to me forgot mine, it broke my heart.

My father accepted Jesus as his Savior when I was 21 years old. The transformation I saw in him was nothing short of miraculous. One of the benefits that I received was that he learned how to love me. In my father's later years, we had a very tender and dear relationship. But it was short lived.

A few years after dad committed his life to Christ, I noticed him becoming very forgetful. At first, it was small idiosyncrasies: forgetting an order at work, misplacing his shoes or keys, not remembering what day it was, drawing a blank on a close friend's name. Then it progressed to more serious absent-minded behavior: forgetting where he parked in a parking deck (and even which parking deck), coming home to take my mother to the market forgetting he had already taken her an hour before, and becoming confused when taking measurements for cabinets which he had been doing for over forty years. In 1987, our greatest fears were confirmed. Dad had Alzheimer's disease. He was fifty-six-years-old.

My dad had been a tough cookie as a young man. From the time he was fifty-six to sixty-six, I watched a competent, quick witted entrepreneur reduced to a man who could not remember how to speak, button his shirt or move a spoon from his plate to his mouth. But what pained me the most was the day he forgot my name.

I still remember holding his face in my hands and saying, "Daddy, it's me. Do you know who I am?" But I was only met by a childish grin and eyes that seemed to look straight through me.

Names. They are important. In Isaiah 43:1, God says, "Fear not, for I have redeemed you. I have called you by name, you are mine" (NASB). In Isaiah 49:1, the prophet announces, "Before I was born, the LORD called me; from my birth he has made mention of my name" (NIV).

As God's child, He has called you by name and the Bible promises He will never forget it. Your name is engraved on the palm of His hand (Isaiah 49:16).

On a Friday morning in May of 1996, the Lord graciously came and took my earthly father to his new home in glory. He's probably up there right now measuring for cabinets and working on all those mansions we've read so much about. His memory has been restored and I look forward to the day when my earthly father and my heavenly Father welcome me with open arms and say, "Welcome, Sharon, my daughter, my child."

Let's Pray
Dear Father, sometimes when I think of you calling my name, I am moved to tears. You know my name! You have it engraved in the palm of your hand. Thank you Lord that you will never forget me. In Jesus' precious name, Amen

Now It's Your Turn
As we have seen, names are important. The most important name in the universe is God's name. Do you ever say His name flippantly or without reverence? ("Oh my God," for example.)

How do you think God feels about His name being used as an explicative? (Exodus 20:7) Make a commitment today to speak God's name in reverence and holiness.

What does it mean to you that God knows you by name?

Write a prayer of thanksgiving to God expressing the joy of knowing that your name is engraved on the palm of His hand.