Little Birdie

My church hosted a community yard sale on Saturday. God was so faithful. He caused everything to come together and work smoothly, he breathed on our efforts, and it was awesome. So many people contributed, and I just want to publicly thank all of you. Especially my friend Susan, who worked super hard and provided her invaluable wisdom.

I pulled together some statistics that I shared with the congregation on Sunday. I share this not to boast of our own efforts but of God’s provision over this event:

• 500 flyers
• 13 sellers
• 40 dozen cookies, brownies, muffins, fruit, donuts, and pastries
• 11 gallons of coffee
• 5 hours of face painting
• 100 balloons given away
• 1 giant bouncy slide
• 25+ people surveyed

And most importantly, 2 people received Christ.

It just goes to show you that God can use any situation, any number of willing people, and any venue to accomplish his purposes.

I can’t wait until next year

Bethel’s worship team is going through the book “Exploring the Mysteries of Worship” by LaMar Boschman. I confess I haven’t been all that faithful keeping up with the reading, but the discussions are always thought-provoking.

We got into a couple of things last night that I have continued to wrestle with this morning: the definition of “the anointing,” and the act of entering the King’s gates and going further into his courts.

Mr. Boschman defined “anointed” as the tender heart that results from being in the presence of God. He presented a forumulaic definition of the anointing as what people see when we fast, pray, and repent.

The worship team pretty much decided that Mr. Boschman’s definition was incorrect, or at least incomplete. I did some more research on this and have made the following obersvations:

1. Dictionary definition: Mr. Webster defines “anointed” as consecrated, set apart as by divine intervention, dedicated to the service of God. It also means to smear with any liquid. I like that
2. The anointing is given sovereignly by God. It is completely external and has nothing to do with us. There are numerous references in the Old Testament indicating that God anointed this person or that person as king, or priest, or captain of an army. He anointed David to rule. He even anointed Jehu to destroy the house of Ahab. The anointing is often symbolized by oil, and it is put on a person by another person. I couldn’t find anywhere that fasting and praying resulted in oil coming out of somebody’s face from the inside.
3. When you accept Christ, you are automatically anointed to (1) make disciples, and (2) fulfill the command to love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself. These are supernatural commands, but the anointing is also supernatural and gives us the ability to do such things. Just as the anointing in the Old Testament consecrated priests and kings to rule, that same anointing enables us to fulfill God’s commands.
4. God protects his anointed. The psalms are rife with examples of the favor, blessing, and protection afforded to the Lord’s anointed ones.
5. God allows us to move in the anointing even when we are in sin. We can quench the Spirit, and we can harm ourselves when we sin. But as we discussed last night, the gifts are without repentance. God can, and has, anointed my own actions to His glory even when I am in sin. A biblical example of this is the story of David. God’s anointing over his life still held even when he had an adulterous affair and sent the woman’s husband off to be killed.

Our worship leader asked an important follow-up question about the anointing: Is it appropriate to ask for a fresh anointing, a new anointing? After all, the same anointing from the same Almighty God is available today just as it was yesterday.

I think there are two parts to the answer. First, the anointing itself isn’t “new,” but we might need a “renewed” anointing every day. The Bible encourages us to renew our minds continually with the Word of God. If we ask for a fresh anointing, it’s because we ourselves have been consumed by life’s issues and feel dry.

The second part of the answer is, there are times when that anointing enables us by the Holy Spirit to do miraculous works, lead people into a deeper place of worship, etc. It is those times that when we ask for a fresh anointing, we are really asking for God to show up in power and heal, make His glory known, and manifest His presence (which, by the way, was another topic of discussion in the book).

Well, I think I just opened up more questions in my own mind than answering anything, but it helps to write about it. Second topic, entering His praise with thanksgiving, coming up next.

I’ve been struggling with 1 John. It’s a tough book. John exhorts us to love, and in fact to use love as a test of salvation. If a person is truly saved, he will show love. If a person does not show love but professes to be a Christian, he may not have accepted Christ in the first place.

Another test of salvation is whether a person practices righteousness or evil. A person saved cannot keep on sinning; indeed if she does, was she ever saved?

These points in 1 John taken out of context could argue for sinless perfection. Once saved, we should not sin. Ever. Didn’t even Jesus tell the woman with the issue of blood “Go, and sin no more?” Is that even possible? It must be, if Jesus commanded it.

However, it is by grace we are saved, and I don’t know anyone professing to be a follower of Jesus that has lived a life of sinless perfection. I don’t believe that John is teaching sinless perfection, but he is boldly teaching us that our salvation must produce the character of God.

1 John chapter 1 convinces me that he is not teaching sinless perfection by twice establishing the fact that we, as believers, sin. First, he says “if anyone claims to be without sin, he deceives himself and the truth is not in him.” Again, he says “if anyone says he does not sin, he makes God a liar.” In short, if you say you are sinless, you are a liar, and that makes you a sinner. John also says “I teach these things so you will not sin, but if you do, we have the Righteous One, Jesus, to speak for us.”

The important thing is, when we accept Christ, we shed our nature of sin, even if we sometimes still fall. But if a so-called believer keeps practicing sin, or continues habitually in sin, it calls into question whether that person was ever saved.

What a conundrum.

What about spiritual strongholds? In my own life I continually deal with lust. Sometimes I give myself over to it, and sometimes for periods long enough to be considered “practicing sin.” Does it mean I have never been saved? I don’t think so. It’s easy to forget that we’re in a spiritual war, against the enemy AND against our own flesh. The word says we will always battle against the flesh. It says the heart is deceitful above all things. John encourages us that even when our own hearts condemn us, God knows us, and He is greater than our hearts.

What about the back-slider? I think Paul addresses it in 1 Corinthians 3. There are those who, when all is said and done, will themselves be saved, but will suffer loss because their works were turned to ashes in the fire of judgment. I have been in a back-sliding state before, and I have no doubt those works will not pass the test.

But I know that I know, I have the Holy Spirit dwelling in me, a deposit of Heaven. I just hope there are some works that WILL pass the test–I don’t want to drag around a bag of ashes from all the wood, hay, and stubble I used to build my foundation.

I just wanted to make a quick observation here. Singing songs to the Lord has a MUCH greater impact when you know the Bible. Maybe it doesn’t have an impact on God, but it certainly does on me.

Example. I’m reading I John for my devotional (I know, can you believe I’m having devotional time now?!? I’m pretty psyched) and it’s chock full of how Christians are different because we live a life of love. The flip side: if we don’t live a life of love, we should seriously examine the status of our salvation. But that’s for another post.

So, I was listening to Amy Grant (first time in a LOOONG time), and one of the lyrics just stopped me in my tracks: “They’ll know we are Christians by our love.”

I’ve heard this song a million times. I’ve sung along. I’ve led worship with it.

I’ve had no idea what I was talking about.

A man does not live on worship music alone, but on every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. That Jesus guy really knew what he was talking about.

1. I wish flowy hippie shirts looked good on me.
2. I wish I could get away with chopping all my hair off and dying it magenta.
3. I wish I could sing, write, and dance like a hip-hop artist.
4. I wish I could draw.
5. I wish I could travel through time back to when all the people I love were young, just to see what they were like.
6. I wish I could run a marathon.
7. I wish I had good taste in home decor.
8. I wish I could teleport.
9. I wish I could fly.
10. I wish my innards would quit mistaking themselves as a fart factory.

Yeah, I’m pretty selfish. No world peace or stopping global warming, hunger, and poverty or healing the sick for me. It’s not that I don’t want those things, it’s that I’m absolutely certain those things will happen on their own because God made provision through Jesus. And no, that’s not a cop-out that we shouldn’t do everything we can to improve those conditions while we’re waiting for Him. It’s called good stewardship.

Actually, I believe that Jesus could teleport too. Check it out:

John 6:19-21

When they had rowed three or three and a half miles,[a] they saw Jesus approaching the boat, walking on the water; and they were terrified. But he said to them, “It is I; don’t be afraid.” Then they were willing to take him into the boat, and immediately the boat reached the shore where they were heading.

See, and not just himself–the ENTIRE BOAT. Of course there was no record of the accompanying sound-effect - BAMF! - but I secretly believe it made that sound.

Hmm…if Jesus could teleport, and I’m in him, and he’s in me….

If y’all see me at church tomorrow without a car you’ll know what happened. If my head is on backwards, call 911.

After much consideration, I have decided to withdraw my membership from one of the largest weight-loss megacenters in the industry. I personally think that Weight Watchers is the best way to re-learn (or for many people, learn for the first time) proper nutrition, portion control, exercise, and developing a healthy lifestyle. I am far from perfecting the healthy lifestyle thing, and I am far from my “goal weight.” However, I feel that I have learned the basics, and I can implement them on a daily basis without paying $40 a month to go step on a scale.

I believe that we all need support. I believe the statistics that people who go to meetings lose more weight and keep it off longer. I had almost convinced myself that I would be willing to pay $40 a month for the rest of my life so I would have that community. But the truth is, that’s not really the community I need any more. I need people who believe, and can say in public, that God is sovereign, that he can and has already delivered us from our infirmities, and there is hope in Jesus. I have that community through my local church and to a much larger extent, the entire Body of Christ. I also have a great cloud of witnesses rooting me on.

I believe God cares about weight loss, because he cares for me and all his kids, and being overweight is causing lots of physical and emotional problems. Not to mention I am not treating my body the way I should, knowing that it is a temple and the Holy Spirit lives there.

I know I am not alone. It’s up to me to find the support I need. And it’s up to me to renew my mind daily and not focus on myself so much that weight loss becomes the end all and be all of my existence. The truth is, the more I obsess over it, the worse off I am. When I just focus on my daily routine, which includes eating healthy and exercising, I’m okay.

I’m learning that healthy living is hard work. You have to do pay attention to it. It’s more than eating. It’s taking care of your household. Keeping up with your finances. Developing healthy relationships. Keeping short accounts with God, and worshiping him in all things.

So even though it’s a little scary letting go of my security blanket, I think I’m ready.

I am an intermittent insomniac. Here it is, 12:30 in the morning, and I’m not sleeping. Five dollars says it’ll be 3 a.m. before I get to sleep. It’s happened often enough so that I can pinpoint the various causes:

1. I am repressing anxiety about something that I don’t feel like analyzing and resolving
2. I have had caffeine after lunch time.
3. God is calling me to intercede for something or someone
4. I literally think I’m missing out on something and I don’t want to fall asleep because I’ll miss it for sure

Tonight, I am putting my money on numbers 1 and 2. I drank a 32 oz full-flave Coke because man, I wanted one so bad and it was 95 degrees out and what goes down more smoothly than a Coke? Problem was, it was 9:00. PM. Alas. I was working my tail off and I needed refreshment. Thank you Marty, you are my hero for bringing me that Coke. I don’t even regret it.

Also, I am stressed about various things; work, my relationship with God, etc. All things under my control, yet I am so unwilling to work on them. So, I stay up and watch loser tv instead.

Number four doesn’t happen much anymore, but sometimes I feel like if I close my eyes, I will miss something important. Like, something big is going on and I will miss it. I think it’s just a manifestation of a deeper fear, that I am somehow missing out on life. Maye it’s a four thing, I don’t know.

As for #3, I used to mind God waking me up in the middle of the night to pray, or keeping me up, but now I don’t mind so much. I can tell when it’s Him and I’m honored he would wake me. Of course, my humanity often rears its ugly head and I complain, but I’ve seen prayer work in too many circumstances to ignore its importance. It’s such a mystery to me how God can be sovereign and still hear and answer our prayers. I guess I won’t understand it until I get to heaven. And no, it’s not a cop out because I still search the scriptures for more understanding on the topic and wrestle with it all the time. Just because we don’t understand something doesn’t give us an excuse to quit searching. It should actually encourage us. However, I like how Ben once put it, and I paraphrase, that God requires us to fill the gap between human understanding and supernatural answers with faith. Until we get the answer, we must walk by faith.

Well, happy sleeping everyone. I might end up losing that $5 after all

Ephesians 6

10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11 Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.

13Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.

14Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, …

Lord, thank you for the truth of Your word and Your promises, which girds me up in the core of my body and holds my armor together.

… with the breastplate of righteousness in place, …

Lord, thank you for your righteousness that has replaced my sinfulness. Thank you for the protection it offers my heart. Thank you for the blood you spilled and your life that you gave so that I could be held blameless before the Father.

15and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.

Lord, thank you for the gospel, which is a light unto my path and a lamp unto my feet. Thank you for the path it makes for me, and the protection it affords me as I learn to walk in your ways.

16In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.

Lord, I believe in your word. I believe in your promises. Thank you for the seed of faith in my heart that first led me to the gospel, and that now deflects and destroys the attacks of the enemy. I believe that You have overcome the world. I believe in the things of the spirit, that are not seen in this world. My faith is the evidence of those things and it deflects any doubt of victory.

17Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

Lord, thank you for the helmet of hope and salvation, which protects my mind and thoughts from the evil one. I bind every thought, motive, idea, and feeling to you, the one true God, to Jesus who sits on the right and of God. Lord, fill me up with hope and the knowledge of the power of salvation. Thank you for the word of God that cuts through all the deceitfulness and doubt that the enemy tries to throw against me. Thank you for the truth it wields. Teach me how to use the word of God to thwart the enemy. Increase my capacity to memorize scripture. Lord, grow the desire already in me to bask and soak in your word daily.

18And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.

Lord, I thank you that you are the one who holds all things together, who makes all things to work together in unity and one accord. I pray for the saints, that we will always be fully clothed in the armor of God, that we will walk in your love always, that we will be so filled up with the gospel of peace, and your love, that we will be able to minister with ease, and the enemy will not stand a chance.

All praise, honor and glory to your name O God, who is closer than skin, Lily of the Valley, bright morning star, and mighty to save. Amen.

Q: Why do blondes wear earmuffs?
A: To avoid the draft.

Q: Why did the blonde stare at the can of frozen orange juice for two hours?
A: Because the can said “concentrate” on it.

Q: How do you make a blonde laugh on Saturday?
A: Tell her a joke on Wednesday.

Q: What is the blonde doing when she holds her hands tightly over her ears?
A: Trying to hold on to a thought.

Q: Why don’t blondes have elevator jobs?
A: They don’t know the route.

Q: Why do blondes work seven days a week?
A: So you don’t have to retrain them on Monday.

Q: How does a blonde commit suicide?
A: She gathers her clothes into a pile and jumps off.

…And the list goes on.

Now, I am a blonde, and I take absolutely no offense at these jokes. Why? Because I have a very close brunette friend with absolutely ZERO common sense.

Nah, just kidding. I do have that friend, but I actually have never taken offense to blonde jokes because I have better things to do with my energy. They’re just jokes. If someone is going to judge me based on my hair color, that person has a severe problem with self-confidence.

In fact, I can make my own joke about it. True story: What kind of faith opens locked doors without a key? Blonde faith.
The other day I walked right into a building not knowing it was locked, opening the door with no problem, and the person behind me (who happened to be a brunette) couldn’t get in for anything.

Perhaps the modern-day interpretation of “faith like a child” really is “faith like a blonde.” That statement is problematic though, because our culture equates “blonde moments” with stupidity, which is quite different from child-like innocence and wonder. Talk to any kid for 2 minutes, and he will knock you off your feet with the amount of knowledge in his brain. We’ve got 8-year-olds writing reviews on complicated internet technology, for crying out loud.

A more accurate interpretation might be having “blonde faith” instead of “blind faith.” According to urbandictionary.com, blind faith is “unquestioning of anything that is dictated by the religion of choice, no matter how foolish, or even if one “rule” (or “guideline”) contradicts another.” This assumes of course that Christianity is more about a set of rules than a relationship with the one true living God.

There are at least two interesting points to the definition of blind faith though. First, I suppose faith in God does look blind because, well, the things of God are a mystery, and we do only see in part. But that’s not the whole story. We are admonished to test the spirits and doctrines against the Word of God. Jesus cautioned us to be wary and wise as serpents. So we are not really supposed to take everything on blind faith according to the scripture.

Second, many things about Christianity do look foolish to the world. In a literal example of “blind faith”, John tells a story of Jesus healing a blind man. According to the story, Jesus spat in the dirt, made a mud paste, and slathered it all over the blind man’s face without even asking him.

Jesus did this as a demonstration of God’s glory, and he must have known the blind man’s faith, because if I went out proclaiming the healing power of God and started throwing mud at blind people, I’d probably get punched. And I honestly don’t know if I would risk looking that foolish to the world if faced with such a command from God.

I guess the moral of this is, the wisdom of this world will get you nowhere in the kingdom of God. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 1:27 that God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise.

So take heart, blondes. Our time is coming.

Easter was hard for me this year. I got really caught up in some selfish thoughts and behavior, and at the same time built up a lot of resentment towards our culture that focuses entirely on the easter bunny and not at all on Christ. We were in Wal-Mart on Friday night and there was an ENTIRE AISLE crammed with people punching and pushing and fighting with each other over some stupid plastic easter eggs…meanwhile, 1 little bitty kiosk in the front had a few “positive-thinking” (not really Christian) easter-oriented items.

Yes, I know, we live in a secular society now. I mean, what did we get everyone for easter? Yep, easter bunny baskets with chocolate and other yummy non-Christ oriented crap. And my thoughts and behavior were exactly the opposite of what I should have been thinking and doing. I am hoo-man and so is everyone else. I should have relied on grace to get me through this weekend, but instead I just kind of blocked all that out.

Plus, our easter program, to me, was kind of anti-climatic. I hope that wasn’t really the case, and my bad attitude just clouded my view of the whole thing. Everyone did a great job, but I felt like I missed the mark, didn’t find the river, whatever analogy you want to stick in there.

Anyway, by the end of the weekend I learned two things from this experience:

1. My life is not my own, and the sooner I realize that the easier things will be.

2. Praying out of fear is pretty much worthless. If I’m going to pray, I need to pray in faith. Jesus holds all things together. He reigns supreme over every thing and every situation in the entire universe. This means he reigns supreme over my little dumb selfish problems.

So, here’s to a humbling and sobering beginning to my week.