God’s Love ‘IN’ Us

I John 2:15-17 Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them. For everything in the world – the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life – comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever.

Choices are spread out before me all through my day: What will I eat? What activities will I participate in? Who will I visit with over the phone or see in person?

However, the most important question is: Who will I allow to rule over my life?

When the world and its darkness try to govern me, God and His light will not interfere or force me to come to Him. The world has an advantage. I can see it with my own eyes, hear it with my ears, taste it, feel it and stand within it. My Father desires His invisible nature to develop faith in something I can’t see, feel or hear.                                                            

Yet, God made the world. He provides for us in so many ways through its beauty and comfort. All these abundant blessings in the world that come from our Father are to glorify Him and not be esteemed in excess to the point that it brings us to sin against Him.

When we look at today’s verse in which John’s definition of the word ‘world,’ is found, we see just how dark it can become without our Lord of Lords.

John’s warning guides us to not put our energies, our love and passions toward anything that is not of God, anything against Him that we would rule over us and anything that would draw the self to the center of the universe instead of Him.

In this sense of the word world what is seen is as out-of-control lust of the flesh (instant and perhaps sensual satisfaction), the lust of the eyes (ex: wealth) and the pride of life (ex: perhaps self-importance).

These things lure us every day. Without guarding our hearts and constant prayer, the temptations are hard to resist.

John says that if we follow the world, the love of the Father is not in us. In other words, His love is incompatible with our choice to lean on and belong to what sets itself against Him. I become useless in loving like He loves. Instead, my love is self-centered and manipulative.

God’s love is pure and holy. It gives of itself fully and seeks the best interest of the one being given to. When I am governed by God, I give myself over to love Himself. I depend on Him for all things. My joy comes from following His will (not my flesh), and I am filled with His constant goodness.

Father of Light, no matter how much we pursue the world, the world will never give us what glory and beauty we can gain from only you alone. The world is passing away, but you are eternal, and we desire to be with you forever. In Jesus name, Amen.

Words Matter

…the speech of the upright rescues them. Proverbs 12:6

I love this part of today’s verse, but in order to get the whole picture, here’s the first part: “The words of the wicked lie in wait for blood, but the speech of the upright rescues them.”

All week I’ve been exploring the words my mouth speaks and how those very words can affect the world around me and even my own life. As I began to go back and look at the first part of Proverbs 12:6, it felt like the main character was in a danger of some sort and the words he spoke might get him out of trouble.

Was he crying out to God, saying something clever, speaking some encouragements or truth? One thing I do know is that he wasn’t stirring his foe to anger. He wasn’t badmouthing his foe or arguing. That would have simply quickened his death.

What is it about words that are so powerful they can save my life, whether it is truly a dangerous situation or just a tense moment with another fellow human being? The words I speak must be carefully thought through.

Words matter!

This week I learned in my circumstances that we all have moments of feeling blue. In these desperate moments in which I need to find safety and am ‘depressed,’ what comes out of my mouth to encourage others can turn around to comfort and rescue me.

What may have begun as hurt or embarrassment can change into joy and experiencing God on a level not known before, because I focus my ‘self‘ and my words on Him and not on my frustrating circumstances. I act and speak as if I was His ambassador.

God is the giver of all things, yet ‘I’ am responsible for what comes out of my mouth. There are many things about me that I cannot change, but I can affect more outcomes of my life than I realize.

Sometimes I force myself into self-control that helps me NOT to say what I wish I could say, and other times the situation calls for me to muster up the courage to speak what needs to be said (in careful, thought-out words).

Either way, my soul is changed dramatically when I go against what my flesh wants to do and follow the Lord instead.

Perhaps we all, at times, can become too self-absorbed in always thinking about the inner things of our hearts. Yet, I’m the one who lives in this body and in this mind. If I don’t attend to my ‘self,’ I will not have anything left to promote an outward perspective that gives to others.

I am learning how to speak good things that bless people, not so that it will bless me too. That is just a side effect of righteous speech. Today’s verse is about the great natural consequences of speaking good things.

Father, put on my tongue: kindness and truth in love. Help me to take seriously the fact that my words make a difference, whether they are positive or negative, gracious or selfish or generous or stingy. In heated moments of irritation, help me to value the people you put in my life and promote what is good for them through what I say. In Jesus name, Amen.

Famine Flower

“They will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit” (Jeremiah 17:8).

This week I’ve been thinking about the famines of Bible times. People had to move far away to sustain their lives. Famines can be an upheaval in a person’s life, not just famines of food scarcity. There can be famines of the mind through depression and famines of health through disease.

Today, I want to talk about the famines of the spirit, the drying up of sacred places where God wants to dwell.

It may be easier to spot spiritual famine in other people. But I am so grateful when the Holy Spirit breaks through to my wayward heart, holds up a mirror to my face, and all at once I see the plank in my eye. Conviction is not an easy thing, but acting on truth is so much more peaceful than living a lie.

“You think that you are better than your brother. But you are not. First, you must take the big piece of wood out of your own eye. Then your eyes will be clear and you will see well. After that, you can take the small piece of wood dirt out of your brother’s eye” (Matthew 7:5 Easy English Bible).

In a drought, if a person discovers a rare source of high quality food and water, he will want to share it with his community so all can partake of the bountiful provisions.

If a person finds a source of spiritual sustenance (Jesus), he will want to share his findings with others. Not everyone will listen. Not everyone will come and drink of the life-giving water.

Sometimes, I am the one who doesn’t listen.
It’s why I caution myself. Because of the nature of my flesh, I am endlessly tempted. Sin attracts me, so subtle, at times, that I can’t see my own sin. I picture myself handing Christ out to others as I would food and water in a famine. Yet, I still have that big piece of wood in my eye. I can’t afford to stop looking for the famine of the Spirit within me. In my humanity, I’ll always be susceptible to sin’s power.

Question I ask myself: What is my famine of the Spirit?

“The Lord looks down from heaven on all mankind to see if there are any who understand, any who seek God. All have turned away, all have become corrupt; there is no one who does good, not even one” (Psalm 14:2-3).

While I ask God to open my ears, reveal my sins and repent of them, there is a natural tendency to seek others who will listen to my pitiful story. My story is born of weakness and pain, and sometimes, blindness to what’s in my heart. It is covered with the heroic event of Jesus’ death on a cross, but the enemy still lingers near to make me forget the holy event and shrivel, wither and die in my famine.

As I share my life’s circumstances, I feel the winds of drought attempting to blow hard on the Spirit within. God is helping me see my pride and arrogance. I am recognizing too many words from my mouth and a know-it-all attitude. I repent of these things out in the open for all to see. I accept Jesus’ blood and Holy Spirit working in me. The opposite of what the enemy wants happens every time I yield to my Father, and I begin to bloom and flower in the midst of what seems dry.

The biggest phenomenon in my heart is the desire to know God! I want to lean on Him to win all my battles for me. I want to be a humble woman. I want to share what I have in purity and reverence before the Father, even in times of drought.

That is the first thing I am learning about famines.

The second idea is this: There are some famines from which God moves me away to a land of plenty. I am feeling His bounty more than I’ve ever felt it before. In part, it is because HE is my land of plenty. Everything around me feels lush and overflowing. Yet I am also physically in a place of blessing and rest. In this, I am aware that rest doesn’t last forever, and I must use this time to be ready to deal with the famines that are to come (in me and in others).

This leads to the third idea. Joseph was forced out of his home and away from his family to take on slavery in Egypt (Genesis 37). This terrible event happened for the purpose of eventually promoting him to become second in authority to Pharoah himself. During the seven years of plenty, he was to prepare for the seven years of famine that would follow. Among the many he rescued from death included his own family, who came a long distance to live near him.

“You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives” (Genesis 50:20).

Question for myself: What if I KNEW that seven years (or seven days) of spiritual drought were coming (in me or in someone I love) and there was nothing I could do to stop it? How would I prepare for it?

What about the season of drought YOU are experiencing now? How might your mindset change from panic, anger, and fear to one of strong trust in the Lord, forgiveness for your offenders and intentional time spent in preparing for the worst possible conditions life can throw at you?

There is a difference, for example, between how my flesh wants to treat a rude person and how God moves my thoughts to prepare me for a FAMINE through that person. The former makes me feel controlled and powerless. It causes me to want to react more than respond. The latter promotes something entirely different. I am empowered with energy to seek God and His ways. I see the rude person with new eyes.

In all this, first of all, the famine isn’t really a person. The famine is a naturally occurring evil that I need to face and address within the realities of the situation.

I need to prepare for upcoming interactions with the rude person as Joseph prepared for the seven years of famine.

I ALWAYS have access to what I need in Christ. The granaries are full to the brim and overflowing. God is moving in the situation. I need to be aware of what He wants me to do and how He wants me to respond.

Perhaps this person is on the verge of a breakthrough in Christ, and my kind, frank or silent response (as God leads) is the only example he will have that will open him to commit to a life with Jesus the Lord.

Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come near to you (James 4:7-8).

Second, his rudeness is not the result of something ‘I’ did wrong. Sometimes, in other people’s famines, I begin to think that because of their attitudes towards me, I am the one who messed up or am lacking in something they should have received from me. The guilt can be paralyzing.

In reality, the famine is the culprit. Not me and not him. There is nothing I can do to stop the famine. The fact of its presence results in seeking wisdom to be armed and prepared and to treat people separate from their “famines.” Hate the famine, not the person. Get up and fight the famine. Don’t let IT hinder your work in the Lord.

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” (Ephesians 6:12).

Daily, I go to God for my food and water, and He equips me for what is to come. I am supplied for all my needs ahead of time to face the famine in me and in others.

Lord, rain on me and help me to grow as a flower in the midst of the deserts around me. Let me brighten a dull world. Let me smile when others frown. Give me provisions that I may freely pass on to others. And help me to receive the provisions you pass on to me from them. Help me to hold up my head in confidence and joy. Forgive me when I allow the dryness into my own soul. I turn to Jesus, the spring of life, and drink always from his quenching well. I pray in His name, Amen.