A House On The Rock

          The house we built in 1980 still stands strong, yet it’s easy to see time has taken its toll on the building.  When we built it, we knew there was a live spring under the basement, so we took precautions and built up the floor.  Still a few years later the water table rose so high from increased rains, the basement flooded, requiring added measures to keep out the water.  The house wasn’t abused, but natural “settling” caused shifting, and through the normal course of time, required knocking in nails that had popped and repairing seams where the dry wall tape curled, as well as needing a good repainting! 

The Bible speaks of building our house upon a rock rather than in sand.  Our physical house was built on a foundation, which is subject to changes from natural weather phenomenon. We have heat, cold, wind, and rain, storms, earthquakes and sometimes, even fires which affect our homes.  

Our lives are much the same.  Financial issues can rock our world causing horrific damage, as can physical illness, relationship problems, career changes, bad decisions by us or even our family members, an accident of some kind or any other unimaginable attack by satan!  If we are not grounded on solid rock in Christ, these onslaughts of “natural phenomenon” have the ability to pull us down into a thick mire of mud.  We can easily get “stuck” and become unable to pull ourselves out.

As our world continues to spiral downward, it is absolutely necessary for survival to keep in the Word and on our knees in prayer, to be able to keep steady from the buffeting winds as our social culture and political arena are turned upside down.  We’re not only going to feel “heavy winds” in the very near future, I suggest the winds will have tornado or hurricane strength! Satan is on the move and devouring those who aren’t solid in Christ, as well as, those who choose to turn their backs to the very idea there is a God.

As Christians we are going to face trials yet unheard of here in the United States. Oppression and aggressive acts of hatred are becoming as prevalent in this country as those in other countries around the world.  It seems unthinkable that Christians can be hated so.  But I’m not sure why we’re surprised.  Jesus told us it would happen, and His word has always been true.

It’s reassuring God isn’t like the weather phenomenon I mentioned earlier. Heat, cold, wind, rain, storms, and earthquakes are subject to His command!  He is the solid Rock we need to build our lives on!   He never changes despite the time that passes.  It is we who change.  We allow ourselves to be altered by the battering weather because we aren’t standing solidly on The Rock. 

Satan uses every available ploy and “weather condition” to wear us down, and like our house that was built on a good foundation, shifting still occurred and repairs needed to be made.  It also applies in our lives.  Even if we are solid Christians, the buffeting heavy winds and hail can tear a shingle here, or batter the window, or put holes on the vinyl.  We need repair, daily!  Find it in His Word and on your knees!

Photo Credit: House on Good Foundation

Picking Up The Pieces

          My granddaughters gave me a beautiful handmade pottery cup a while back, that was embossed with the word “Gran.”  I was so pleased to receive this gift and completely enjoyed using it.  While putting dishes away, however, I somehow managed to knock that beautiful cup out of the cupboard, causing it to hit the edge of the counter just right, so that it broke into a dozen pieces.  I could only cry as I swept up the bits of glass.  

The cup can be replaced, and will be.  My husband however, assured me he could put the broken one back together.  He actually was able to glue the pieces together enough, that it looked like a cup, but it left areas with tiny holes so that it can never be used for any liquid matter again.  

    Like the shattered shards I swept up, lives have a way of falling apart into little pieces when we choose to use deception in our relationships or in our decisions. And it seems regardless of the effort, there are always 'pieces' we miss, when we try to put things back together, that weaken a relationship.

Life requires choices.  Choices require thought and prayer.  Effectual prayer requires a relationship with Jesus.   A relationship with Jesus requires trust and faith.  While Abram had a faith relationship with God as described in Genesis 15, there were times he failed, as demonstrated in Genesis 20, as we all do, because we are human. 

Abram was a righteous man and God showed his grace by assuring him he would have a biological heir who would have descendants outnumbering the stars.  Abram was also a human man with very natural emotions and fears.  He knew his wife, Sarah was beautiful and fearing for her, made the decision, to which she complied, to tell Abimelich, a king in the region they were traveling, that she was Abram’s sister.  It was with this information that Abimelech chose to take Sarah.

 The information given, however, was not a full truth, but Abimelech was a considered a pagan who could not be trusted.  Further, Abram didn’t trust God to be the protector of the woman who was his wife.  The Bible tells us she really was his sister because they shared the same father.  But this mis-information allowed Sarah to be included in Abimelich’s harem and could have had enormous consequences.  Their lives could have been forever altered, like my cup that broke into many pieces.

God had other plans.  He not only protected Sarah from being violated within the harem, but allowed for her release by disclosing her relationship with Abram, to Abimelech through a dream.  Abimelech quickly made arrangements to return Sarah along with gifts he hoped would be conciliatory toward the man he now knew was a prophet.

We all make choices; some of them good, and others not so good.  Abraham chose to not trust God but God used him despite his lack of faith in this instance.  It shows again that God isn’t finished with us yet.  We make mistakes and sometimes even act with blatant opposition and rejection of what we know as truth.  But God still loves us.  This often leaves our lives shattered, and us trying desperately to pick up the pieces.

   We need to remember that our choices are sometimes not prompted by God.  Our decisions are regarded through only human discernment.  It is through God’s grace we can have protection and resolution to the problems we create when we ignore his voice.  But we still must deal with the consequences of our decisions, which often leaves us wishing we'd had conversation with the Father first!  

Photo Credit: Broken pieces

Spiritual Sleepiness

I am a ‘sleeper’!  I don’t ‘need’ at least 6 hours of sleep at night; I require it!  What’s more, I can only do that one or two nights, and then I’m done!  I actually require 7 hours of sleep a night or I become ‘sleep stupid’.   My husband even teases me saying that not only do I need to get my 7-8 hours of sleep a night, but if I’ve failed to get it, then the ‘bank owes me.’  Those hours I didn’t get, I need to reclaim!

My mind does not process when I’m deprived sleep.  I feel like I’m sleep walking and do ‘dumb’ things like putting the sugar in the fridge and the milk in the cupboard; or be in the middle of a sentence and can’t recall what I was saying, or have serious problems processing what’s being said to me.  It seems distorted and outside my understanding capability!  In a nutshell, my mind and body shut down and I can’t function.  

This scenario can also true of my spiritual life.  When I’m not awake to receive nourishment and able to make it applicable to my life, I may be experiencing spiritual sleepiness!

This isn’t a new idea.  Paul talks about it in the Bible.  He tells Believers they need to wake up.  They are reminded that they need to be in the Word in order to keep the interest and ‘fires burning’ for God.  When we don't, we find ourselves more attracted to the things of this world; and slide away from what we know is wrong.  And because of this, we find our prayer life waning, because we can’t talk to God the way we used to.  

Satan is on board with our inability to move productively on the pathway to God.  He uses every ploy on the planet, to feed our drowsy condition.  He keeps reminding us we are too tired to go to church, or shifts our attention in the service to other things because he’s feeding us the word, ‘b-o-r-i-n-g’ and we’re listening, allowing our minds to wander far from the words God wants us to hear!

Our country is preparing for an election in the Fall.  Changes will be made regardless of who wins the election.  New laws will be put in place and we will either agree with what happens or we will feel upended by it. 

Even before all this takes place, we need to look at our world and then our lives and discern how we fit, in relation to what the Bible tells us is right.  Are we on the fence about some things, adamantly opposed, or are we so acclimated to situations we no longer care, or don’t recognize it for being not at all what God says in His Word?  Do we even consider his Word to be ‘inerrant’?  Have we moved to the center isle because it’s safe and rather not pick a side, either as a Believer or one who isn’t?  Does it matter if we have an opinion— or not?

Are we awake enough to hear what the Spirit says to the churches and how we are to live?  Are we living a Holy life like Jesus or are we having a difficult time deciding what is right or wrong?  Are we remembering to seek God when we realize we’ve failed to follow His word, and live in His boundaries?

Or, are we asleep and missing the spiritual nuggets found in the Bible, our ultimate guidebook? Are we ignoring the fact that we are responsible--and accountable-- for what our eyes see, our ears hear, where our feet go, where our thoughts take us, and how we respond, to all that goes on around us? 

       As Paul told the churches in the Bible, 'Wake Up'!  Hear what God is saying and make it applicable to our lives every single day!  Our Eternity insists upon it!

Photo credit:  Sleeping

Living A Double Life

       I read the account recently about a person who was a pastor, worship leader and staff member in other capacities in several different congregations over a period of time.  This person made some really bad and ‘destructive’ choices.  His decisions caused him to not only hurt a lot of people, but ultimately forced him to spend time in prison.

I couldn’t help but think of Paul who was born Saul and was a huge zealot against any Christians before the Lord put him on a different path.  For a while people were afraid of Paul, thinking he might be living a double life.  After all, he was fierce about persecuting those who differed from the way he believed.

Despite all the pain Saul caused for many people before he was converted, God saw something in Paul he could use to further His kingdom.  The change in Saul, not only affected his life, and those he taught in Bible times, but still has a massive affect on anyone who believes the Scriptures today as truth!

We all begin as sinners.  That’s an absolute given.  When we feel the conviction of our sin, we turn to God for forgiveness and commit our lives to service for Him.  There are those who grew up in a Godly home, spent their entire lives in the company of other Believers in church.  It would seem these would have an easier time making the choice to follow Christ.  

That isn’t always the case.  People are easily deceived.  Just as the pastor mentioned above was able to deceive his parishioners, we can deceive not only ourselves, but those around us as we ‘play the part’ of being a born again Believer.  But God knows the truth.  Those who only ‘act’ like Believers are like the Pharisees in Bible times.  They knew the truth, but chose to not accept Jesus for who he was, even though he fulfilled every prophecy of the coming of the Christ Child.  

The pastor I spoke of, once he was incarcerated, realized the error of his ways, after his world collapsed around him.  He’d lost everything; his wife, his children, and everything that he’d held dear.  His callousness toward his sin, God and others who would try to help him, sent him spiraling to a place he hadn’t expected.  His mindset had been to be and look as successful as possible because that’s the ‘American way’!  But that’s not God’s way!

Recognizing his fall for what it was, this pastor made things right with God.  He still had to pay the consequences for his sin, but he was free in a way he couldn’t have fathomed before.  God cleansed him just the same as he cleansed Saul all those years ago.  

God is still the healer of the heart today.  He can take any situation or circumstance that is as ugly as it comes, and change it for His good.  Every life has merit and God has the ability to use even our bad choices for furthering His Kingdom.  No one is exempt from God’s goodness.  But we have to be willing to see ourselves as we are: sinners!  It’s through the acceptance of His forgiveness, after our confession of our sins, that we can move forward, no matter what our sins, when we are sincere.

Whether we are a person who ‘grows up’ in the church and chose to not follow him, or whether our decisions are based on a life without any knowledge of Christ, the decision is equal.  We must be convicted of our sins, and accept we made them; ask forgiveness, accept God’s forgiveness and His working Spirit in our now changed lives.

As we commit to following him, we will no longer be living a ‘double life’ deceiving those around us about who we are, but letting the Light of Christ work in us and through us. 

Photo Credit:  Living A Double Life