Do you welcome the movement of God?

"God goes where he is wanted" (Philip Yancey). Powerful thought. 

Do you want the presence of God? This morning after teaching on Rahab in Joshua 2, I found myself praying, "LORD help me to see your movement and let me join you!" 

I love that a Canannite prostitute saw the movement of God in the nation of Israel and when spies showed up at her door unannounced, she knew she needed to find a way into the presence of God and the plan of God. 

Rahab did not wait for someone to give her an invitation to join God's movement. She invited herself.

Rahab pretty much begged for kindness and deliverance.  Her faith not only earned her physical deliverance, but gave her spiritual deliverance. 

Unknown to her this one bold move put her in the lineage of being a grandparent of the Messiah... Jesus! 

LORD, help us to see Your movement around us. And let us boldly join You and Your servants.

Heaven's Hospitality: Joshua 2 Rahab and the Two Spies

I love that GOD is always at work! I love that HE uses unexpected guests in our lives to reveal His plan. I love that He will allow us to give hospitality to people that we may not even know that GOD is orchestrating something far beyond our imagination! I love welcoming people into our home and I love it when we have the privilege of different nations being represented. I often wonder what God will do through my dear friends and our lives as we enjoy a meal or visit. 

In this week's Heaven's Hospitality, we will discover that GOD uses unexpected guests to reveal His great plan in the life of Rahab, a prostitute, that was willing to lie to protect two spies from another land. Why would she do that? Well, if you are following this series you will have caught by now that Rahab was honoring the Biblical middle east ethics of hospitality. She recognized that God was at work and that His plan was unfolding. She did not want to be left out! I know I don't! 

May we all have such a heart to see GOD at work around us!

2 Kings 5 Naaman is Healed

2 Kings 5 A Servant Girl Tells Naaman the Man of God in Samaria can Heal His Skin Disease

In today's Heaven's Hospitality lesson,  we get to meet 2 kings, several servants, a wife, and a commander. It is a crazy situation where two kings that are arch enemies are brought together by a servant girl suggesting that her Master go to the man of God from her land to be healed. 

Theologians call her an unwilling missionary. She was taken captive as a slave and yet she chose to give what she knew would be God's best to her captor. Crazy beautiful and wonderfully powerful. Yet, the servant in the house of God. He chose to seek personal bounty from the benevolence of the healed commander. He used his position to take and receive. 

As I pondered this passage, I realized the word "take" has such potential for power or poison. We can "take" and give blessing or we can "take" and rob blessings. 

I hope you listen and share. I really feel God wants someone to hear this story. It might be you! Will you take and receive the blessing?

You are Free!

On July 1, 2019 at the Open Door Mission I taught this lesson...

We will study the crippled woman of 18 years (Luke 13:10-17). Despite the religious leaders always seeking to trap Jesus or trick Him, Jesus still found ways to be present with them in the synagogue and still teach them. This is the last recorded time that Jesus was in a synagogue. It is interesting that Jesus’ last synagogue moment held a crippled woman that needed release from bondage. Again, Jesus uses a human visual aid to bring home truth!  

The woman was trapped for eighteen years by a crooked spine inflicted by demonic influence. She was all tied up and bent over in misery. Despite it being the Sabbath when Jesus saw her affliction, He had compassion on her. 

Jesus spoke release, “Woman, you are set free!” 

Again, notice that the woman did not ask for help. Jesus saw her burden and lifted it. 

What a dramatic contrast to the religious leaders’ response! “There are six days for work! Heal on those days. Not the Sabbath!” 

How easy it is for us to be so bound by our traditions that we forget that loosing someone from bondage is the greater need. 

We might find ourselves saying inwardly, “Why isn’t this person doing this or that?” 

We should be asking, "When have I allowed rules to get in the way of caring more about a person?" 

How might Jesus ask you or me to be the vessel to say, “Woman, you are set free!” “Brother, straighten up and go forth!” 

The bondage we see most these days is found in an inner dialogue that weighs people down. How might God ask us to speak life into this person so that they might be released from the spirit of bondage that presses them down? 

Go forth and speak truth (Scripture) and set people free! Please know that this is not a name and claim attitude. Far from it. This is about speaking the Word of God in a way that brings healing to find release from a burden and getting rid of hypocrisy that cares more about rules than people. 

What are the crippling influences in our lives?

Remember Me!

When I was pregnant with Mikayla I found myself in the doctors office and him telling me, "If your heart doesn't stop racing we are going to have to hospitalize you until the baby is born." I had three weeks left until delivery and that did not sit well with me. I wasn't stressed but my body was in a distress beyond my control. 

The doctor left the room to start the paperwork. I sat there stunned. Wondering what I would say to Greg. When I remembered the Bible story about Hezekiah in Isaiah 38 and how he turned to the wall and prayed after being told, "You are going to die." I loved how Hezekiah prayed and asked God to remember him. God heard his prayer and answered. 

I thought, "If Hezekiah can do it. I can do it." So, I rolled my giant self sideways and looked at the wall in the doctors office and prayed. I prayed something like, "God, if you can remember Hezekiah and grant him favor, I know You can remember me, too." I then just waited for the doctor to come back. 

The doctor came back in and re-examined me and said, "I do not know how this happened. I have never seen anything like it, but your heart rate is normal again."  I immediately told him what I did and that I prayed. He ignored the prayer part and said it was because I turned on my side. But, he was still putting me on bed rest until Mikayla came, but at home.

I knew it was God. He remembered me. He heard my prayer and He answered. Some might tell you that it is selfish to ask God to remember you. Yes, our remembrance needs to be about the character of God and what He has done, but it is also okay to ask Him to remember you. 

In Luke 23:42, the thief on the cross said, "Remember me when you come into your kingdom."  And the Psalms are filled with requests. Psalm 106:4 says, "Remember me, O LORD, in Your favor toward Your people; visit me with Your salvation."

Remembrance is a gift. It is a gift to remember the character of God and all He has done, but it is also a gift to ask Him to remember us. He desires to give us good gifts. He hears us and He answers. 

Have you ever had a. Moment when you asked God to remember you and you can clearly state how He answered? I would love to hear about it.

Be in the Word. 

Be with Jesus. 

Be Transformed. 

Shalom y'all!

Lessons from the Healing of a Leper

(Taken from https://forcommonground.com/2019/07/05/faith-of-women-series-the-servant-girl/amp/)

Reflections from 2 Kings 5 and the story of the servant girl telling her Master, the mighty warrior, Naaman to go to his enemy's prophet for healing.

1. Sometimes the unwilling placement of a servant girl can lead to the best opportunities for faith. Lesson from a servant girl.

Insignificant people can effect change! 

2. Sometimes people in high places must bow before prophets. Lesson from a mighty warrior.

Pride must be dealt with. Period!

3. Sometimes we create our own uneasiness by misinterpreting the words and actions of others that are well intended. It is a kindness to ourselves if we think no evil. A lesson from a king.

Dwell on the things of God it stops the stressful spiral.

4. Sometimes, the one who has the ear of the king is wise to give ear to his servants. A Lesson from a mighty warrior.

Be teachable it makes you reachable.

5. Sometimes, the hardest thing to do is the simplest step or process. A lesson from a mighty warrior.

KISS... Keep It Simple Stupid.

6. Spiritual healing does not come from showy or big displays, but from simple obedience and cleansing. 

Read your Bible, pray every day, and you will grow, grow, grow.

Heaven's Hospitality: 1 Samuel 25 Nabal, Abigail & David

Sometimes, when we are in a situation where we feel oppressed and not important we can discover that it is in the moments that God can most use us. In today's Bible story, we will discover that two oppressed people: a servant and a wife end up saving their entire clan and reminding the man of God, God's chosen path for him. As you listen to the story of Nabal, Abigail, and David unfold examine the outcomes of their hospitality and how it impacted those around them. The constrasts in this story are quite profound. Let me know what you discover! Shalom y'all!