Character and Consistency

Have you ever noticed that consistency and character are always revealed?  This can be seen for both the good and the bad. Whatever we do consistently it will reveal our core character. It can build trust or break trust. Our patterns whether big or small over time reveal so much.

This morning as I read Daniel 6, I am in awe because Daniel's character in his 80's was so consistent that the leaders couldn't find anything wrong with him. So they plotted to trap him. Does this sound familiar? It should since it is what the religious leaders did to Jesus.

At this point, you would think they would have caught onto Daniel's God's character as well. He consistently rescued and elevated Daniel as an exile in Babylon and when Persia took over. But one of their consistent patterns was not seeing God's work or believing. 

Both Daniel and His God were consistent in their character. It was observable that they were both faithful and trustworthy.

AND the government leaders were also consistent in their character. It was evident that they were jealous and power hungry. They liked to scheme and plot no matter who they deceived as long as they got what they wanted. Ugh. I have known a few of those in my life. 

It is so important we slow down, listen, and look at the motives behind the activity. It is also important to watch for what is revealed consistently in a person's behavior over time. Patterns reveal so much. Everyone has a one off moment where they can mess up, but patterns are a revelation of a core character trait. 

I find myself asking, "What is revealed by my character consistently over time to others?"

I also find myself praying, "LORD, give me the awareness of character and to watch for consistent patterns so that I can wisely navigate life for Your glory. In Jesus, Name, amen."

I promise it works. Watch for the consistent character patterns. This will help you know when to say, "yes" and when to say, "no."

Shalom y'all!

BY FAITH...

BY FAITH...  

If you could write one line that told your moment of BY FAITH that could go into a Hall of faith list what do you think it could be?

I thought of this idea in our community group last week as we studied Hebrews 11. I love that despite all that each of them did wrong in their lives the thing that God chose to have recorded in the Hall of Faith was their moment of choosing righteousness. 

Do you see the beauty in this? 

God does not see us in our mess or sin. He chooses to see us in our righteousness that has been made possible in Christ. He looks at us in who we are in Christ. Our moments of BY FAITH.

As Greg Rye and I drove home, I invited him to name his moment of BY FAITH or ours as a couple. He said, "Oh, Tara, I am a processor. I need to think on it."

God immediately gave me a few.

BY FAITH Greg believed God when ENRON collapsed that God had a plan in moving his family from Texas to Nebraska.

BY FAITH Greg and Tara believed God would give them children even when the doctors told them she would not be able to.

BY FAITH Greg and Tara continued to share Jesus even after losing it all in the floods of 98. 

BY FAITH when Grace University closed Tara started telling God stories and hasn't stopped trusting that God would provide her the right ministry opportunities.

BY FAITH Greg and Tara sold everything and bought a new house so they could move Papa, Mema, and Aunt Janie in with them. 

I have decided this is a really fun practice to do. In each of these moments, it was hard! Really hard! But we can look back and see our BY FAITH moments. 

It is in our BY FAITH moments that we are strengthened and encouraged. These are powerful reminders of God's work in us. They build hope in us. 

What is your BY FAITH moment? I would love to hear about them! 

BY FAITH...

Where does spiritual cleanliness come from?

Catching a theme or pattern can reveal deeper meaning.

Matthew 15 caught me this morning.

The religious leaders were complaining that Jesus' disciples didn't wash their hands before they ate.

Oh my goodness! They are so unclean! Or atleast that is the declared offense. 

Jesus points out it is not what goes in your mouth but what comes out.

As if to make Jesus' point clear, Matthew writes about two stories with bread to prove Jesus' point.

The first was a gentile woman begging for her daughter to be healed of a demon. Jesus at first didn’t listen because He was trying to reach the religious leaders. Jesus said, "It's not right to toss bread to dogs." She responded and said, "Even dogs eat crumbs from their master's table."

She knew where she needed to be fed even if it was a mere crumb. She recognized His power and authority. Her words revealed her faith in Him.

The second story to follow was Jesus feeding 4,000 at the Sea of Galilee. With an offering of 7 loaves and a few fish, Jesus enabled the disciples to feed 4,000 until they were satisfied.

I had to laugh. Crumbs on the floor and bread on the seashore would not lend to cleanliness of the hands! Ironically, the two stories that followed the religious leaders complaint of cleanliness almost embarrassingly showed that washing your hands was not the key.

The point is hunger for truth. The woman was willing to take crumbs if it meant her daughter was healed. She knew where the source of power and healing came from, the spoken words of Jesus. She was willing to seek Him and even beg Him for her daughter's healing.

The crowds hungered to hear Jesus teach. They gathered and listened even when it meant not physically eating for a long time. They knew the nourishment of listening and learning in order to understand. They knew where healing came from and wanted to take in more. Or if I dare say it, they wanted to "digest" Jesus' healing power and provision while listening.

The religious leaders weren't drawing near to Jesus to listen or understand. They were drawing near to condemn, complain, judge, etc.

What comes out of our mouths reveal what is inside! What we speak reveals if we are clean or unclean. It is pretty convicting for sure. 

The LORD cares more about our heart condition than anything else. He desires us to know the freedom of a heart washed clean and satisfied in Him.

Why I teach the 6 Acts of the Bible with motions

I was taken by surprise when I was asked, "Why did you teach that?" At first, I froze. I didn't know what to say because I wasn't expecting this kind of response. 

My silence gave room for more to be said, "This isn't new!" 

"You are right. This is not new. The Bible tells us, 'There is nothing new under the sun"( Eccles. 1:9). We are also "commanded to sing a new song" (96:1-3). This does not mean a new truth, but a new way. Each culture and each generation have a different way of communicating. It will never be the same, but the message always stays the same.

I created the 6 Acts of the Bible to help a group of women in an Asian context develop a basic metanarrative of the Bible. I discovered that their group loves to use the story in motions. I worked hard to take the entire Bible down to a simple outline that I could share simply, quickly, and it would be easily reproduced. 

The irony is I never got to teach it to them. Circumstances happened and we did not get together. I LOVE YOU MY DEARS AND I PRAY FOR YOU.

But God had a plan. I discovered that many of my partners worldwide love the story in motion, too. God opens doors weekly for me to share.

One leader in Africa this week told me that when he shared it in church the whole room went silent with anticipation. 

This morning a leader in South Asia told me that he and his team are discovering that this simple method makes the message clear. 

This is why I will teach this way. It opens people's hearts to hear the message of what God did through history clearly.

Is this dumbing down the gospel? NOT AT ALL! Quite the contrary. It is making people smarter. A good teacher will bring a truth down to the most irriducible part. Once the most basic truth is grasped then layers of knowledge will be added. It is through the layering of truth that greater depth can be grasped.

Please listen, share and teach so all can know how God has moved through history in their behalf. 

6 Acts of the Bible Story in Motion

The voice of reason with a mob mentality

Have you ever been the victim of a mob mentality? 

Mob mentality is cruel and unjust. 

Mob mentality is unreasonable and quite honestly foolish!  

History has proven over and over you join the mob today and tomorrow you will be the one mobbed. 

Do not think you will escape it. Because mob mentality has lost its voice of reason. 

Did you know it only takes one person to speak with the voice of reason to calm a crowd?  

This morning as I read about the unnamed clerk mentioned in Acts 19:35, I was humbled by this clerk's ability to calm a crowd and send them home. He dismissed a rioting group with the voice of reason.

It only took one person! One person!

It is wise to pray for the voice of reason. It is wise to speak up when it will calm a crowd. It is wise to step up, step in, and move forward even when it is scary.

Sometimes, when I read about or see such courage in others, I fear that in the moment I will not be reasonable. I will join in the emotion. I will celebrate the spirit of judgment and act as if I am justice and even worse act like God. 

This kind of behavior (a mob mentality) should not be tolerated or held up with esteem. It needs to be reasoned with and when it is not reasonable then held accountable for its actions.  

Hiding in the crowd will never hide before God the attitude or behavior acted upon. God sees. God does not forget. God will not be mocked.

So, how can I, we, become the voice of reason? 

As I said before, we must pray for it because each of us are only one short fuse from joining in the emotion of the moment as if we are justified. We are not!

When I taught preschool, there were three rules we enforced in the classroom. 

You cannot hurt yourself.

You cannot hurt others.

You cannot hurt property.

Let's remind this generation these three rules are the start of reasonable behavior! 

Shalom y'all!

OPEN BIBLES

God has put it on my heart to pray for OPEN Bibles. 

O bey the WORD

P ray the WORD

E ncourage with the WORD

to the N ations

This can be done through anything that enables someone to listen, hear, read, and respond with respect to God's Holy WORD which is His Son!

How do you declare His glory among the nations and His marvelous deeds to the people?

The Lion and The Lamb

The Lion and the Lamb. Jesus is both powerful and gentle. He is fierce yet sacrificial. His strength is beyond compare and His sacrifice gives life to all who believe! 

He is peace to those that know Him, but terrifying to those that don't.  

Because someone I love is battling cancer and needed the reminder, I am going to be practicing on various lion and lamb scenes as a reminder to her that He is strong and gentle. Do not be afraid!

The workhorse of orality is steadfast and faithful

God woke me up with a vision of a work horse. I was reminded that a work horse gets the job done because they are faithful and steady. They plod along as the worker guides them day after day and in time the field is plowed. It has worked the ground so that it is ready to be sowed so that it can yield its crop. 

The workhorse might look different in the open range than it does on a small field or in a rural jungle in how it works. The method might be different but the outcome is the same to bear a good harvest.

As I drifted in and out of sleep, I knew the workhorse was orality. The process of plowing the field of education has been done so with a faithful and steady team across the nations. Each one in its own field remaining faithful to the task at hand, to plow the field for a good yield. 

We are starting to see the fruit born on the backs of countless steady work horses. Some have been given names in showcases around the land, but most remain anonymous as faithful and steady contenders that faithfully prodded the field to make it ready. 

Thank you! 

Shalom y'all!

Why can't we see our spiritual growth?

I was recently talking with a friend who shared she was frustrated because she couldn't see her spiritual growth. Why is it that there comes a point in our spiritual walk where we are not as able to see the maturing as we had initially? God quickly gave me a thought.

Have you ever noticed that we cannot see with the visible eye the growth of a tree trunk?

Once a tree reaches a certain stature it's growth really is not visible to the human eye. In fact, I looked up later that depending on the tree the growth rate of the maturing tree will only widen by only a few milimeters a year. To give you perspective it takes 25.4 milimeters to make an inch.

Quite simply we cannot see the growth, but it is there. It is recorded in rings inside the core of the tree.  The first lighter part of the ring shows the early spring growth and the darker part of the ring is darker showing the summer and fall growth. Each ring reveals the history that has taken place. The tree's story is written inside revealing favorable seasons by a wider band to indicate bountiful rain. While a skinny or tighter band reveals drought and struggle. Different trees will reveal the climate change differently because their species and location play a key role in how they respond.

Regardless, the story is recorded in rings and reveals what the tree has endured and celebrated through the years.

What we must understand is that the tree kept growing.  It wasnt visible, but it grew. So do we!  We may not be able to see our growth any more than a tree trunk's growth is visible in the moment, but in time we see it's growth. The things we face in life become a part of our story. They will affect our core. And depending on how we respond, it will be recorded in our story ring.

Regardless, we will keep growing. If we water ourselves with truth (the Word of God), we will know the nourishment that gives us wide rings revealing the strength in us.

When we face the lean, hard, and drought seasons this is when our roots will dig deep looking for water.

Did you know on average a tree roots will grow .5 to 1 meter a year. It takes about 400 meters to make a mile. This is also a slow process that cannot be seen, but it is steady and certain. Healthy roots will never stop seeking nourishment. Aka, water.

In our lean seasons when we think we are not growing, we need to keep digging to find good nourishment through the Word of God. This is what will sustain us. We cannot see it sustaining us, but it is and in time it will reveal itself as God makes a tree planted by the river bearing good fruit in every season.

Growth isn't visible, but it is certain. Keep seeking Him, His Word, and His way.

Shalom y'all.