New Beginnings

Well, I finally finished it. This is my second painting in my Wailing Wall series. This one is for Grant. It is titled New Beginnings. I have the dove in flight front of the Wailing Wall because it represents the presence of God in Israel and a dove because it symbolizes the presence of God in us. I was surprised at the contrast that happened with dark and light. It wasn't intentional but the dove looks like it is taking flight from darkness. 

I painted this one for Grant because of finishing college. He is in a season of new beginnings. As I painted it I prayed for him to enjoy refreshment and renewal. He is in a season of new beginnings. I want to remind him that God's presence is with him.  

As I painted it I also prayed that anyone who looks at it worships God and knows He is the one who gives us flight, refreshment, and renewal. 

I don't know if Greg is going to let Grant take it. Lol. Now, I will begin Zach and Mikayla's on the dance of love.

LORD, teach us to pray and LORD, increase our faith!

“LORD, teach us to pray!” and “LORD, increase our faith!” (Luke 11:1-13; Luke 17:5-10). 

These two requests the disciples asked of Jesus have always intrigued me. When the disciples asked Jesus to teach them how to pray it followed watching Jesus go off and pray and shortly after they were sent out in two to make disciples in search of the people of peace, upon their return Jesus told them the story of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10). When the disciples asked for the LORD to increase their faith Jesus had just taught about the importance of guarding themselves against the temptation to sin and not providing forgiveness. Jesus’ answer was found in the model prayer, He provided when the disciples asked Him to teach them how to pray. The prayer is also found in Matthew 6:9-13. It is a bit longer than Luke’s account. I will use both as the model prayer. 

Jesus said when you pray, pray like this…

Our Father… Notice that this is communal. God is the Father of all creation. 

Who are in heaven… He is eternal and so other.

Holy is Your Name… He is holy and His name is Holy. This means that there is no other like Him. He is set apart/sacred. Therefore, treat Him with respect and awe.

Give us this day our daily bread… Focus on today. Seek to take care of today and trust God to provide for what you need today. 

Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us… Today I should make sure that I forgive others as I seek forgiveness. It is important to keep short accounts with others. Do not allow a debt of the mind, heart, soul, or spirit to get in the way of a relationship. I honor His Name as Holy by honoring others as sacred as one of His image bearers. When I keep unforgiveness in my heart I am not honoring on earth as it is in heaven. I must give forgiveness freely because God the Father gave it freely to me through His Son, Jesus. If I should have past debts against others, I should take them to the Father today and deal with it now. Do not let it grow. 

Lead us not into temptation… Dealing with being forgiven and giving forgiveness is one step closer to walking away from one sort of temptation, but there are a whole host of temptations set before us by the evil one. All temptation is common to man. There is none that each one of us put in the right circumstances would not walk into it. This is why we must pray for awareness and willingness to walk away. God promises He will give us the way of escape, but we must ask to be led away from it! 

Deliver us from the evil one… Our world is wrought with evil. The evil one reigns and loves to lead us astray. Our world loves to call darkness light and act like what it is doing is okay. We are reminded in the Bible that when we call darkness light then our darkness is very deep. We must hate evil as God hates evil. This means we must be willing to recognize darkness and walk away from it. It means we must stand up against it. It means that we might have to face it head on so we must beg for deliverance today! Today, LORD, deliver us from evil. Focus on the moment and the now. 

The Bible does not put an indentation for the forgiveness of sins, lead us not into temptation, and deliver us from evil the way I just did. I did this because it is a daily prayer need. We will face these daily. We must not think that we have it all together and are just fine. And we must not think these are things that are too far off so I don’t need to deal with them now. We also must not be so overwhelmed with what tomorrow will look like or the next year. We must focus on these today. Right now, we must pray “LORD, teach us to pray!” and “LORD, increase our faith!” This is how we deal with the world’s crazy! Pray!

What I have done in the last week as I felt overwhelmed by so many overwhelming needs brought before me through prayer requests, I simply started the model prayer and then after each section, I began to say the need or request. I wasn’t doing this as a form of legalism, but out of these thoughts, “I don’t even know how!” “Do I even have the faith?” By simply praying the model prayer and adding in the requests in my own simple way I sought to honor God and keep His name holy today. 

Maybe, you might want to try it. 

Our Father… Praise HIM!

Who are in heaven… Recognize that HE is eternal!

Holy is Your Name… Recognize that HE is sacred/holy! List out other characteristics of God that you know!

Give us this day our daily bread… Ask Him for what you need today. Go ahead and list them and release them to Him.

Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us… List out any sins you should repent of that you have not already released and walked away from. List out what you need to forgive of others that you have not already done so.

Lead us not into temptation… List out any temptations that have come before you that you need to walk away from and ask Him to help you walk away through the way of escape that He has provided.

Deliver us from the evil one… Ask Him to deliver you from whatever evil you are confronted with that you need help. The Holy Spirit will come alongside and assist you. Remember, He promises that He will not leave you or forsake you.

Shalom y’all!

The Righteous

I can't stop thinking of how Abraham was counted as righteous because of his faith so this morning these just popped.

Blessings are on the righteous.

The memory of the righteous is a blessing.

The mouth of the righteous is a fountain of life.

The wage of the righteous leads to life.

The tongue of the righteous is choice silver.

The lips of the righteous feed many.

The hope of the righteous brings joy.

The righteous will never be removed.

The mouth of the righteous brings forth wisdom.

The lips of the righteous know what is acceptable. 

Amen!  In case you did not know, to say "amen" means "so be it."  To say amen means I want this to be true. So be careful when you say amen. 

As for what I have learned about righteousness, AMEN!

God sent shepherds

I am compiling shepherd stories from Jesus' life to show that HE is the Good Shepherd. I decided to add the story of the angels appearing to shepherds to go see baby Jesus in the manger. Even though there is no reference to Jesus being the Lamb of God, a sheep, or the Good Shepherd, this story shows us that God sent shepherds to go find THE ONE who IS!  

A good shepherd will leave the 99 to find the one sheep not with the flock. Only this time, the ONE will be their GOOD SHEPHERD. 

I love that GOD used shepherds to be the first to meet Jesus and begin telling the world about the birth of God's One and Only Son. God knew their instinct of caring for sheep would kick in and they would have to go and search out to see if this was true! 

Guess what? They found Him exactly as it was prophesied, lying in a manger. What did they do? They ran and told everyone!

The importance of obedience

I have always been bothered by the older prophet that lied to the younger prophet to see if he truly was a prophet of God in 1 Kings 13. 

It is a crazy story. God sends a prophet from Juda in the south to the king in the North to tell him that a descendant of King David named Josiah will tear down the false altars that he made that caused Israel to sin. It was an announcement intended to cause the king to repent.

Instead he raged and sought to arrest the young prophet. As his hand waved his decree it shriveled up. He cried to the young prophet to entreat God and to heal him. The young prophet showing incredible grace and mercy prayed and God healed him. This proved with certainty it was God.

The king immediately showed hospitality. "Come, stay and eat with me." The young prophet said, "Nope. God said take no hospitality in this place and leave a different way."

So he left. He traveled a bit and sat under a tree when an older prophet showed up and lied. "God gave me a message to give you. Come eat with me." 

The young prophet did. He was an older prophet after all and he wasnt asking for anything. Then the prophet told him, "You disobeyed so your gonna die by a lion."

The young prophet then left and was killed by a lion. The older prophet then went and got him calling him brother, buried him, and said, "Bury me with him. He is the prophet that announced against these false idols."

Like I said, it is a crazy story.

But this morning, I realized that it is not about the lie of the older prophet. It is about obedience to God.

The king was given a chance to obey. He did not.

The young prophet was given a message and process to obey. He did not.

History reveals that God never contradicts Himself. I was reminded this week of a time when an older leader some 20 years ago tried to tell me to do something when I didn't feel called to it. I knew I was to stay focused on the task I was currently working on. She pressed in hard. It was scary, but I stood my ground and said, "God did not reveal that to me." With this fresh on my mind this morning, I realize I must make sure I listen to the voice of God.

God will not contradict His Word.

I need to know it and obey it. We are blessed it is written for us. If we are reading it and praying we discover His voice will clearly speak to us.

So I recognize there will be times that I will have to defy...

Kings or people in authority. Position does not mean they are always doing the right thing.

Elders expecting me to obey simply because they are older or been doing it longer. Often this falls into tradition or this is the way we do it.

Prophets or messengers of God that are on the same journey if God made it clear to me what I am to do. Our path will be different, but God's message will never change.

Generosity or hospitality when I have been told to accept none.

All of these can be very hard because our response can cause offense. Culture likes to tell us that as Christians we cannot offend. But the Bible shows us over and over that walking in Christlikeness does bring offense. Mostly because our message like the one of the young prophet will bring the invitation to repent. Most of us don't like the feeling we get inside as we realize we need to repent. We somehow confuse it with something else and start fighting for our rights rather than humbling ourselves.

Father, please keep us faithful to Your Word! Amen

Shalom y'all.

The difference between Romans 7 and 8

I have been reflecting on holiness and I heard a message by Dallas Willard when something caught my attention. A woman said, "I identify with what Paul says about my spirit is willing, but my flesh is weak." 

Dallas responded by saying, "Oh, so you are stuck in Romans 7. You need to move on to Romans 8 because in the Spirit we are freed from the law."

Hmmmm. I knew I had to study this I have quoted this and heard countless followers quote this. So, the last two mornings, I have been reflecting on Romans 7 & 8. Yesterday, I made my lists. It is so messy, but wozer.  I love how Romans 7 exposes the law and the flesh while Romans 8 shows us the beauty and strength of life in the Spirit.

Dallas' statement made me wonder how many followers of Jesus are stuck in Romans 7, but need to move on and live out Romans 8?  

How have we so identified with that statement that we never moved on to freedom?

Where do I live as if still bound by the law?  Do I live in the freedom I have received by the Spirit through Christ?

Our children could write a whole comedic show on the errors we made as young parents that were bound by the law. Often our family stories are of them making fun of us. Our early child rearing definitely showed we were bound by the law. They had to endure our struggle to mature in Christ. Thanks be to God they now see we are free indeed. 

This is so worth meditating on. Are you stuck in Romans 7? How can you move toward Romans 8?  Or said differently, are you still bound by the letter of the law or are you free in the Spirit?

We serve the law with our mind. We serve the flesh with sin. We serve the kingdom of God by the Spirit. Which one is ruling you?

Shalom y'all.

The Holy Spirit Helps

Well over fifteen years ago I attended a prayer conference where Dutch Sheets talked about intercessory prayer. He said something so transformational for me that I memorized it on the spot and never forgot it. I have shared it endless times in many places. 

He said that the word “helps” in Romans 8:26 is “Sunantilambanomai”. WOW! I was blown away by this seventeen-letter word. So much so that I never forgot it and even remembered how to spell it.

When the Holy Spirit helps us, it means that “together with us, with whatever is against us, the Holy Spirit will come alongside us and assist us.” Now that is worth repeating! Our four-letter word "help" does not give the full meaning justice.

Last night as I taught a class for Crown University this word, God blessed me again with a reminder of the power of intercessory prayer. We are so uniquely blessed to have the Holy Spirit praying for us. There is no other religion that has such a beautiful and powerful present God at work on their behalf.

As an intercessor, we do this for others as well. We join them. Together with them, whatever is against them, we come alongside them, and we assist them. If you pray for me then you do this for me and when I pray for you, I do the same. It is humbling and lifting all at the same moment.

Thank you for blessing me with your “help” and thank you for joining the Holy Spirit as He prays. I love to quietly “help” those I am just sitting amidst. They have no idea that someone is sitting among them coming alongside them with whatever is against them and assisting them in prayer. This just delights me! Especially in light of prayer being attacked. No one can stop what GOD is doing in us and through us as we pray. 

EM Bounds says that our presence joins heaven and earth through the suffering of Jesus to bring about God’s will. Our prayers make heaven and earth collide to bring about eternal solutions. What a gift we have in Jesus!

Shalom y'all!