Join Me On the Journey

Did you know that you are surrounded by television signals? It doesn’t matter where you are, there are television signals coursing through the air. You could say, “Well, I don’t believe they’re there because I can’t see them!”

But, I could prove to you they are there by taking a television set, plugging it in, and tuning it in. Then you would hear and see that the waves are there whether you perceive them or not. The broadcast was there before the set was turned on and tuned it; it didn’t start when you turned on the TV, it originated whenever that station opened its doors and began broadcasting. However, you only began receiving that broadcast when you began to utilize a device designed to receive that signal.

Now, if you’re watching TV and all of the sudden, the channel you’re watching goes dark, what do you think? Do you automatically think that the station stopped broadcasting? No, probably the first thing you’ll do is turn to another station. If all the stations are black, you know that there’s something wrong with your receiver, but the signal is still being broadcast.

We can apply this analogy to God. God has the transmitter. He built the transmitter. He is broadcasting. He is the giver of all earthly and spiritual blessings. Everything comes from Him.

He has already transmitted those blessings and if you aren’t seeing them manifest in your life, it’s not time for you to pray and ask God to fix His transmitter. It’s time for you to fix your receiver.

Most of us, when we’re not feeling the joy of the Lord, we go to Him and we say, “Oh God, where’s my joy? What’s wrong?” We may lament, as David did,

Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me. Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit. Psa 51:10-12 (KJV)

There’s a song that many of us have sung in church that is based on this passage of scripture written by King David; and it is a beautiful song. But, it is based on the Old Testament covenant.

When you or I pray this prayer, it makes what Jesus came to do for us on the cross of none effect (as it says in I Cor. 1:17). David did not have a New Testament covenant that God would stick with him through thick and thin. There were times when God took His hand of protection off the Old Testament man. The Old Covenant was based on performance (sacrifices, etc). Old Testament believers were not born again as we are today.

What we have is infinitely better. Jesus said:

…lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Matt 28:20b (KJV)

This is a covenant promise of the New Testament and if you’ve been born again but you don’t feel the presence of God, there are a couple of possibilities.

1. you may not truly understand the benefits of the covenant that you have with Jesus
2. or, you may be in unbelief

Instead of praying, “Where are you, God?” try praying,

“Father, I don’t feel Your presence. It seems like You’ve left me. There’s no indication of Your presence in my life…But…I know that You are here with me. I know that Your Word promises that You will never leave me or forsake me, so I know that You are here. Whatever is causing me to feel this way, I know it’s not You that’s forsaken me.

So, Father, I’m not going to pray the prayer of David and say, “Don’t leave me! Don’t cast me away! Don’t take Your Holy Spirit from me! Restore unto me the joy of my salvation.” Father, I know it’s already here. And if I’m not feeling it, it’s not Your transmitter, it’s my receiver.

Help me to fix my receiver and release the blessings that reside in me…in my spirit.”

This is a prayer of faith.

Now, what do you do if you aren’t receiving the signal from God; if you aren’t receiving His blessings? What do you do if your receiver is broken?

You go to the owner’s manual and figure out how to fix it. Can you guess what the owner’s manual is?

When we pray and read and study God’s Word, we are studying the owner’s manual.

If you’re struggling to receive the signal from God, spend some time studying the owner’s manual and learn how to repair your receiver. God is so faithful.

God Bless You on Your Journey!

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Offenses come in all sizes, don’t they?

There are the little things: your husband drops your favorite dish, your daughter spills her milk for the third time during dinner, your son rips his last pair of jeans that fit, your teenager forgets to take out the garbage.

There are the heavier, medium-sized packages of failure that hurt a little deeper: your daughter sasses back, your children promise to keep their room clean, and then go back on their promise, you’re expecting a family heirloom and your great aunt gives it to your cousin instead.

Then there are the cumbersome and heaviest of situations that leave you feeling crushed: a divorce, unfaithfulness, an estranged relationship, a rebellious teenager who thinks he is always right, physical or verbal abuse.

How do you deal with the small and the largest of offenses in your life?

First of all, be honest with yourself. When you’re hurt, admit it. Talk to your Heavenly Father about it. He is so faithful. He loves you so much and He wants to be a part of your everyday life.

Father, I know that he didn’t mean to break that dish, but I REALLY LOVED THAT PLATTER!

Lord, I know Aunt Betsy didn’t mean to hurt my feelings, but that tea set meant a lot to me.

Jesus, I don’t even know what to pray, I’m so hurt!

Second, the Scriptures teach that we must forgive others. Forgiveness is not an option in the Christian life. We are commanded to forgive because we have been forgiven.

Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice: and be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you. Eph 4:31-32 (KJV)

To forgive someone means you give up the right to punish them. You no longer hold the offense against them. You may still feel the feelings, but you make a decision to forgive anyway. Thank God for His willingness to forgive you, and pray for a heart willing to forgive those who fail you.

But what about when you’ve been deeply hurt?

I have found that when dealing with a major offense, there are some steps that help me get through.

1. Humble yourself and repent for any contribution you had in the offense. Ask God where you were wrong, how you contributed to the situation. Repentance softens your heart and allows God to begin healing it.
2. Forgive out loud before the Lord. Since your heart is already softened, the forgiveness “sticks” better.
3. Pray for that person. Matthew 5:44 says, “But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you.”

Forgiveness isn’t always easy, but God would never give a command He didn’t provide the ability to accomplish. That would be unjust.

Look to Him when you are offended and He will heal your heart. He will provide the strength to forgive.

God Bless You on Your Journey

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It’s been a busy month. I’ve been helping my husband in the field and also planning for the first “official” year of homeschooling.

I have missed posting here and I’m so excited to begin posting again regularly.

Thank you for continuing to check in with me and there will be fresh material for you to read very soon!

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Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God: and every one that loveth him that begat loveth him also that is begotten of him. By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous. For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God? 1 John 5:1-5 (KJV)

I used to read this passage of scripture and say to myself, “OK. Starting today, things are going to be different! I’m going to start keeping the commandments. I’m going to read my Bible every day. I’m going to pray for an hour a day. I’m going to start going to church every Sunday. I’m going to be nice to people.” On and on the promised went; again and again, I would fail.

Then, someone pointed something out to me. Most Christians suffer from spiritual dyslexia. When they come across a passage like this, they read the words, but jumble the meaning.

“For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments…” When you read that, it’s hard not to think that loving God means that you have to make sure that you keep the commandments of God. But, the next phrase says, “and His commandments are not grievous.”

Well, I don’t know about you, but I found that trying to keep the commandments of God was grievous. It was just plain impossible. There are so many commandments! You start out with the 10 Commandments. Then, there are all kinds of dietary laws, there are ceremonial laws, there are festivals to keep. There are literally hundreds, perhaps thousands of “commandments” in the Bible.

And I thought, “Well, some of those laws don’t apply to me because I’m a New Testament believer. Jesus came and fulfilled the Old Testament law for me and now I don’t have to.” But, I was left with this vague ambiguity; a question. “What was God saying here? Exactly which commandments am I supposed to be keeping?”

Then, I began to read those verses again. “By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God…”

They key here is not “keeping the commandments.” They key is “when we love God.”

By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments.

When you read this verse with and emphasis on “when we love God” and not on “and keep his commandments” you go a long way to discovering a truth that will change your spiritual life. When you begin to focus on loving God…following His commandments is a natural bi-product of that love.

Think about it.

When you love someone…I mean really love someone, don’t you naturally go out of your way to please that person? When you were first dating your husband, didn’t you wear clothes that you knew he would like? Didn’t you go out of your way to learn things about him and do things that you knew would make him feel special? Weren’t there things that you changed because you knew it would make him happy…and those things weren’t grievous. You did those things, made those changes, because you loved him and you wanted to make him feel special and loved.

What if you treated God the same way? What if you learned what He liked and began changing your life to accommodate Him? What if you fell so in love with God that you just naturally began to follow His commandments? Wouldn’t that be so much easier?

So, how do you “fall in love” with God?

It’s a legitimate question, I think. After all, God can’t “talk” with you. Remember those hours and hours you spent just gazing into your hubby’s eyes (or on the phone) talking about nothing and everything? Well, that just doesn’t happen with God. We cannot, on this side of Heaven, just sit and have a two-way conversation with God.

But, we can pray. We can read the Bible…God’s love letter to us.

Most of us have forgotten all about writing letters. We call; we text message; we email; we IM. But, not so long ago, calling on the phone was cost prohibitive; computers were unheard of. “Back in the old days” people kept in touch via “snail mail.”

Many of our grandparents “fell in love” via letters. A letter can be an intimate revelation of the heart of the person who wrote it.

The Bible is our love letter from God. In it, He pours out His heart and soul. He tells all about his family; all about His chosen people; all about His plans for those people. He tells of His heartache when His people rejected Him. He tells about how He sent His Son to redeem YOU to Him because He loved you so much.

Today, take a moment to sit down and thank God for His love. Take a moment to examine your thoughts about the Bible. Begin thinking of the Bible as a way to get to know God intimately.

Instead of focusing on what you have to do to love God, why not focus on loving God instead? If you fall in love with God, I promise, you will keep the commandments more fully by accident than you were ever able to do on purpose.

(This is a reprint of a post from June 19th.)

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Harvest is in full swing here in North Dakota, and my Dear Husband is down a man, so I’m called to the field.

God Bless You on Your Journey!

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There are levels of transgressions, aren’t there?

Failures come in different ways, different sizes, different levels.

There are little mistakes: spilling a glass of milk at a meal, stepping accidentally on someone’s foot, dropping a plate to shatter on the floor.

There are bigger infractions: habitually yelling at your child, failing to keep your word, the practice of nagging.

Then, there are the overwhelming violations of trust: infidelity, a defiant child, physical or verbal abuse.

When someone offends us, whether a big or small offense, we are commanded to forgive.

Jesus talked of forgiveness often and Paul summed up forgiveness for us in this wonderful passage:

…be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you. Eph 4:32 (KJV)

Forgive has many meanings:

1. to grant pardon for or remission of (an offense, debt, etc.); absolve.
2. to give up all claim on account of; remit (a debt, obligation, etc.).
3. to grant pardon to (a person).
4. to cease to feel resentment against: to forgive one’s enemies.
5. to cancel an indebtedness or liability of: to forgive the interest owed on a loan.

But, how to forgive—on a simple, day-to-day level—is much more difficult, isn’t it?

To forgive others means we give up the right to punish them. We no longer hold the offenses against them.

Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord. Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head. Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good. Rom 12:19-21 (KJV)

The first step to forgiveness is acknowledgment. Forgiveness implies change and you cannot change what you do not acknowledge. If you are the offender, it involves confession and asking forgiveness. If you have been offended, and the other person has asked forgiveness, you need to accept that apology.

It can be difficult to forgive when the guilty party has apologized, but what about when you have been offended and the guilty party has not asked forgiveness?

When that happens, you need to take it to God. The Bible does not differentiate between any of these situations. God didn’t say, “Forgive one another after the offending party has asked your forgiveness” or “Forgive when you feel those mushy forgiveness feelings rise up.” It just says, “Forgive!” It’s a commandment.

And, God doesn’t command something that is not possible, for that would be unjust.

Joyce Meyer is fond of saying, “Sometimes you have to do what’s right, even if it doesn’t feel right.” Forgiving someone can be one of those things that doesn’t feel right, but must be done.

Is there someone that you need to forgive today? Pray and search your heart. You can decide to forgive that person. You can overcome your desire to be right. God is faithful.

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