The Best Laid Plans

1 Thessalonians 5:24 He who calls you is faithful, who also will do it.

Sometimes the best laid plans, and the best intentions have no bearing on how things go. In times like these there is an opportunity to stay the course, exercise faith and trust God. Monday I made my plans to drive back to Nashville from Washington DC. I would get up early…4:30 am and be on the road by 5ish to beat any beltway traffic and get out of the city early. I needed to get back to Nashville and make some business calls on appointments I had coming up this week. This would not be an issue for me because I like to get up early and drive with sunlight.

Sooooo……I did not get in bed as early as I wanted. When my phone went off, I started my process. All of a sudden I heard what sounded like thunder! No way….  But of course I had not checked the weather. Did I mention I hate driving in the rain? Needless to say it was not just thundering it was raining, windy and thundering. As I stopped to fill up the gas tank the wind picked up. It did not matter that I was under the covered area, the wind managed to blow just in the right direction to soak me. The gas tank was full and I was on my way to the interstate at 5:30…check. As I get on the beltway I was feeling good until the blinding water started blowing up unto my windshield….I guess my car is too low. So after about an hour and a half, I decide to pull off the interstate because I am sleepy, it was dreary and I was worn out fighting the torrential rain. The good news is that I had made pretty good time in spite of the highway fun. I stop at a Starbucks, parked and slept for about 45 minutes. Then I got my dirty Chai and a breakfast sandwich, and hit the road with a new attitude. I had prayed, napped and was believing God that the rain would let up soon. I even texted some prayer warriors to pray my strength….10 hours is no joke to drive alone. Needless to say about 51/2 hours in, the sun came out and it was a beautiful drive the rest of the way! Where the five hours prior to that pretty miserable, yes, but I made it through.

See sometimes life is just like that. Even though the best plans are made, even though we do everything we can to prepare, and even when we have done nothing wrong.  Even though there are things to do when we get to our destination, the storms of life still come. As I hit the 6^th hour of the drive, the sun came out. The rain stopped and it was smooth sailing the rest of the way. The same is true for life, the day and hour will come when the dark clouds will part, the rain will stop and the Son will shine on your situation. And sometimes just as you planned you will make it to your destination in time to do just what needs to be done….as long as you keep going. See it is by faith that we overcome the storms of this world. God reminded me as I saw the beautiful clouds and felt the sun shine and the wind blow, that He is faithful to get us to our destination if we just press forward trusting Him. I am so thankful not just to have made it back to Nashville, but that I serve a God who promises to ALWAYS bring me through the storms of life to victory through faith in His power! Amen.

RelationSHIPS....

"As in all aspects of our life in relationship we have to realize the importance of the work of God in us during the relationship.  We can become focused on what the other person should be doing or fixing, but God wants us listening to the promptings of the Holy Spirit in us.  This is how we can learn and know how to navigate the “SHIP” or abandon the “SHIP”."

- Relation"SHIP" p. 53 - "I" Can Relate: How Not to Lose Yourself in Relationships by Wanda L. Scott

People stay in relationships - bad relationships - dead relationships because they at least know "that" pain.  They know how "that" person will hurt them. Sometimes they are afraid to hope for something better. They are afraid to hope that there is someone who will love them, respect them, cherish them...  

It is our human nature to accept what is easier especially if we have not seen anything different or don't expect anything different. 

I see people walking together lifeless in their relationship........

I see people sitting together lifeless in their relationship..........

Communication is dead. Love is dead. Hope is gone. BUT we serve a God who restores, repairs, and does the supernatural to any heart and any relationship! Hallelujah & Amen.

Psalm 84¹¹ For the Lord God is a sun and shield; The Lord will give grace and glory; No good thing will He withhold From those who walk uprightly. ¹² O Lord of hosts, Blessed is the man who trusts in You!

I declare and decree that anything that is dead in relationships will either come to life in the name of Jesus, or either it will be removed, released, retired, fired or thrown away for the new thing God has ordained and prepared for those that hope in Him....in the name of Jesus Amen. 

The Secret of Joy

What are you?  Are you allowing God to enable you to be a witness for Him (Acts 1:8), so that you can make disciples (Matthew 28:19)? Oswald Chambers says in The Method of Missions that “….you cannot make disciples unless you are a disciple yourself.” 

This is a powerful statement, yet it is simple.  The power of it can sometimes escape us if we have not truly evaluated to see if we are allowing ourselves to be discipled by the Lord Jesus.  So what does the word Disciple mean? Merriam-Webster defines it as: one who accepts and assists in spreading the doctrines of another: as a convinced adherent of a school or individual; a student or a pupil.  This means if you are a disciple of Jesus that you are learning about and from Jesus, and are convinced in the doctrine (teachings) of the bible.  Does that describe you?

Oswald goes on to say, “Don’t rejoice in successful service— the great secret of joy is that you have the right relationship with Me” (see Luke 10:17-20).  I want the secret of joy…don’t you?  I am a witness to Oswald’s statement, because I can feel the peace and joy of the Lord when I am walking in the Spirit in close relationship with God. Our right relationship comes through the imputed righteousness of Jesus Christ.

So who is for Joy?  Let’s not just do church work, let’s not just do community service, let’s be in right relationship with God as His disciples serving Him with joy. 

FORWARD!

Ok, I am just going to start typing because I have been thinking about writing this last entry for 2014 for weeks now.  There has been so much on my mind!  Everything from the holiday blues, family relationships (that’s big), work expectations in the new year, and finally to what is God going to do in the New Year!!!!  I know I am not alone.  Probably anyone who is reading this will have had at least one of these thoughts over the past several weeks.  To what degree you have them depends on many factors. Some of these thoughts deal with the past, others with what is going on today, and finally the rest with the future.  Thankfully we have choices on how to deal with these thoughts. 

I don’t know about you, but because of Love, I always look to see what God says I should be focusing on.  In one of my favorite books of the bible, Isaiah, we receive some guidance with our thoughts:

Isaiah 43¹⁸ “But forget all that—it is nothing compared to what I am going to do. ¹⁹ For I am about to do something new.  See, I have already begun! Do you not see it?

See what we need, what the “world” needs is hope! (1 Corinth 13:13) We find that in the hope provider, the joy bringer, the life giver, the power deliverer….Jesus.  So God says forget about all that other stuff and watch me work in your life.  Watch me work through you.  Watch as your faith pleases me to action. 

As Isaiah asks, have you not sensed that God has already begun to work?  Can you not see God moving all around you?

So as you end 2014 and by grace enter 2015, I hope you move FORWARD with hope forgetting all that is past and becoming excited about the God who makes all things NEW!  Amen. 

Walk & Not Faint

Isaiah 40²⁸ Have you not known? Have you not heard?
The everlasting God, the Lord, The Creator of the ends of the earth, Neither faints nor is weary. His understanding is unsearchable. ²⁹ He gives power to the weak, And to those who have no might He increases strength. 30 Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall, ³¹ but those who wait on the Lord Shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.

I love Isaiah 40, it is action packed with power, promise and truth.  “Have you not known? Have you not heard? Isaiah asks.  If you hadn’t heard before, Isaiah 40 breaks it down for us.  One of the truths in this passage of scripture that perplexed me for many years, is the end of verse 31 “they shall walk and not faint”.  This portion of the scripture came alive to me, after I had walked a few years with the Lord.  See I am a runner, and if I think about fainting, it would be because I was running too long and too hard….but that is in the physical.  One thing we learn spiritually as a child of God, is that in order to live a life of faith pleasing to the Lord, we must walk with Him.  This race of endurance is not a sprint, some say it is a marathon, but for me it has been more like a combination of a sprint, a run & a lot of walking.  We have to walk in the Spirit.  We can’t sprint, unless it is the season to do so.  Sometimes it feels like a marathon because it takes so long to get to the finish line of a promise from God.  But the hardest times for me in my Christian walk have been the steady pace of not going to fast & not going to slow.  It has been walking with my eyes focused on Christ, and not what is going on around me or even inside me.  It has been in these times that I have felt like fainting, but Christ has empowered me to just take one more step, trust Him a little further, and to hold on just a little longer.  It is the day-to-day monotony, waiting for a change that can wear us out. 

We the children of God can become weary of the troubles of this world, the failings of humans, and trying to do things in our own strength.  But I propose to you today as Isaiah did thousands of years ago, have you not known, have you not heard of the God, my God:

…The everlasting God, the Lord, The Creator of the ends of the earth, neither faints nor is weary. His understanding is unsearchable. ²⁹ He gives power to the weak, And to those who have no might He increases strength.

As we walk together, being empowered by the Holy Spirit, let us be comforted by His love so that we will not faint, if we WAIT on the Lord.  Hallelujah and Amen.

Are you Divergent?

I finally watched this movie called Divergent.  I previously watched a program that was talking about genetics and abnormalities.  They made a reference to superheroes like Spiderman who is different because he is genetically mixed with spider, or wolfman who is mixed with a wolf.  These are “deemed” superheroes, and most people look up to that.  In this program that is said to be dangerous, moving away from God’s order.  They also referenced this movie Divergent.  So I am watching it and noticing things in reference to the Word of God, as I always do.

In the movie, they divide the “of age” children into Factions which represent different orders in society.  These factions are man-made and are used to keep order in a brand new society.  You are to conform to your label and be a good member of your faction…faction over family (blood).  I see a biblical parallel to this.  We as the “born again” of the Spirit don’t fit into society, because we live in this world but are not of it.  We don’t easily fit a label, and tend to stand out in our thinking.  In the movie Divergent, these divergent don’t think like everyone else and are feared.  They also handle fear differently than their faction.  This is the main biblical parallel I see, how we as children of God handle fear.  When the divergent is faced with fear in the movie, she says “this is not real” and moves past the fear.  We are to do the same.  For God did not give us a spirit of fear, but of power, love and a sound mind.  So when we see fear, we face it, call it what it is and say Lord my faith in You says no weapon formed against me shall prosper.  Lord my faith in you says that you will protect and strengthen me.  So I don’t mind being different or diverging from what this world says I should be, I am different, peculiar.  There is no fear in Love.  So how about you?

2 Timothy 1:⁷ For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. NKJV