20 August 2014 “It’s out there, but I am in here...”

Psalm 16:8

I know the Lord is always with me. I will not be shaken, for he is right beside me.


This early morning has greeted us with lightning, thunder, hail, rain, “all the weather,” like my husband put it. It’s exciting for us in Southern California because we never get a show like this, so it’s kinda fun!

But the only reason it’s “fun” is because I’m observing it in my comfy warm bed, with my hot frothy coffee, from the bedroom window. The thunder is so loud and long and the lightning is fierce, but it’s all out there and I am in here.

It totally reminds me of all the scriptures referring to God as being our shield (Psalm 3:3), fortress (Psalm 27:1), and shelter (Psalm 9:9).  There is trouble out there, but I am in here with HIM!

Dear God,
I thank you so much that you are always with me. I will not be shaken, for you are right beside me in the shelter/fortress/shield you have provided for me. Thank you so much this morning for an illustration from nature about the very real and present help that you are. I love you and praise you and pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.

19 August 2014 “Holy Life”

1 John 5:12

Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son does not have life.


Jesus is the Son. Jesus gives life. And Jesus gives Life in SO MANY ways!

Eternal Life. Everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. 
(John 3:16)
Full Life. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life. (John 10:10)
Blessed Life. He will give you everything you need. (Matthew 6:33)
Good Life. The burden I give you is light. (Matthew 11:30)

People who do not have Jesus shouldn’t be shocked when their life is not good, not blessed, not full, and not eternal. People who have Jesus enjoy these things about him every single day.

King David is recorded as being “a man after God’s own heart” in 1 Samuel 13:14 and Acts 13:22. Abraham is the “Father of our Faith” because he believed God, and God decided he would be righteous because of his faith, not his deeds. (Romans 4:16-25) But these guys didn’t have the Son because the Son hadn’t come quite yet. These guys were righteous, meaning God did not ever hold their sins (and there were many sins, oh my gosh, David, what were you thinking???) against them; they were saved by their faith. They were holy by the fact that God sets apart the righteous to be his own special group. But these guys weren’t holy like we can be made holy. Jesus makes us holy. That means Believers can, because of Jesus, live like Jesus now. Right now.

Holiness means living by Jesus’ example, believing what he says, and doing what he does. It means that we can read about him, pray to him, and fill our hearts up with all the wonderful things he’s done for us. Like someone we’re in love with, engaged to, whom we think about all the time, we fill our hearts up with Jesus and he makes us individually holy, incredibly different, and ridiculously special right now.

Look at Paul. He was a sinner too same as Abraham and David. But his life was changed by Jesus. His life looked a bit differently than the Patriarchs because Jesus had come and given us his Holy Spirit. Paul didn’t off a girlfriend’s husband (2 Samuel 11:14-15), lie and say his wife was his sister (Genesis 20:2), or try and make an heir with a concubine (Genesis 16:1-5) - stuff David and Abraham did. Paul healed (Acts 14:9-10), encouraged (Philippians 4:4-9)), and taught (2 Timothy 1:11) people about Jesus. Righteous and saved because of faith, and also holy and different because of Jesus.

Jesus changes everything! Not only is our sin not counted against us for believing in him, but we get to be like him now, right now, and for forever.

Holy Life! The person who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with him. 
(1 Corinthians 6:17)

Dear God,
Thank you not only for a righteous forgiven life but a holy life too. What a great feeling to know that my sins aren’t being held against me and that I can BE like the one who saved me. I’m so glad that belonging to you means that I get all of Jesus right now, and that he gives us the ability and desire to do what pleases you. Thank you for your good plan that is so good for me, refreshing, freeing, and awesome. I love you and praise you and pray in your Son’s name, amen.

18 August 2014 “Still Sound Weird?”

Philippians 1:21

For to me, living means living for Christ, and dying is even better.


It’s passages like this that make Christians sound like crazy people to the set of people in the world who just don’t understand... But we are not crazy, we are not brainwashed, we are not suckers. We simply believe what God says. And the second you die, you go somewhere. There’s no downtime, no nap, no waiting period or ghost phase. You’re living and then all of a sudden without missing a beat you are elsewhere. We only look dead and done on the outside to the people still living. That’s why the idea of dying being better is so weird sounding because to the living, the dead body is totally and completely and absolutely doing nothing and going nowhere. But that doesn’t mean that something isn’t going on. Here, we just don’t see that part.

Yesterday at church we were studying Luke 16 where Jesus actually gives Believers a glimpse into afterlife...
Jesus said, “There was a certain rich man who was splendidly clothed in purple and fine linen and who lived each day in luxury. At his gate lay a poor man named Lazarus who was covered with sores. As Lazarus lay there longing for scraps from the rich man’s table, the dogs would come and lick his open sores.
“Finally, the poor man died and was carried by the angels to be with Abraham. The rich man also died and was buried, and his soul went to the place of the dead. There, in torment, he saw Abraham in the far distance with Lazarus at his side.
“The rich man shouted, ‘Father Abraham, have some pity! Send Lazarus over here to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue. I am in anguish in these flames.’
“But Abraham said to him, ‘Son, remember that during your lifetime you had everything you wanted, and Lazarus had nothing. So now he is here being comforted, and you are in anguish. And besides, there is a great chasm separating us. No one can cross over to you from here, and no one can cross over to us from there.’
“Then the rich man said, ‘Please, Father Abraham, at least send him to my father’s home. For I have five brothers, and I want him to warn them so they don’t end up in this place of torment.’
“But Abraham said, ‘Moses and the prophets have warned them. Your brothers can read what they wrote.’ 
“The rich man replied, ‘No, Father Abraham! But if someone is sent to them from the dead, then they will repent of their sins and turn to God.’
“But Abraham said, ‘If they won’t listen to Moses and the prophets, they won’t be persuaded even if someone rises from the dead.’” (Luke 16:19-31)

I don’t think this is a parable because the Bible always says “And Jesus told them this parable” right before he tells us a parable, and that preamble is absent here. Also, Jesus uses real names in this account: Lazarus and Abraham. His parables never use real names. I think Jesus is telling something that actually happened once. He’s giving us a behind the scenes look - although this is “heaven” before the Resurrection, so it’s probably not like this now. Nevertheless,  we can clearly see that there’s a fluid seamless transition going on upon these deaths. One guy went to eternal punishment and the other to eternal comfort. For that poor sick man, we do indeed see that dying is even better. For that rich selfish man we see that it really does matter how you live because it affects what happens after, and what happens after is forever! 

For to me, living means living for Christ, and dying is even better... Living in such a way so that God doesn’t hold my sins against me (aka: believing in Jesus and pursuing holiness) affects me forever whether it looks like it on the outside of a dead body or not. Still sound weird? Nope.

*Side note: I bet Abraham is the greeter when we get there, and it sounds like he’s a hugger!

Dear God,
Thank you for giving us your Son so that we would know how to live in such a way that leads to more Living. I pray for the people that I know and love that require proof beyond what has already been given because they just don’t want to believe because it would affect what they want to do right now. I pray for their hearts to soften toward you right now even as I am praying for them so they will not realize when it’s too late like the rich man did. I love you and thank you that there really is more to this life, and that it’s better, and it’s not weird to believe that at all! And I pray in your Son’s name. Amen.

4 August 2014 “That’s Who I Really Am”

Ephesians 2:10
For we are God’s masterpiece. He has crated us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.

That’s who I am! I am God’s masterpiece. And a masterpiece is valuable, priceless, and highly desired. Feelings lie, but God’s word is true. The “me” that peeps out with selfishness, greed, laziness, or jealousy isn’t who I really am. To God, I am valuable, priceless, and highly desired. This is who I really am.

Because of Jesus, I can be who I’m really supposed to be. I can do the good things God desires dearly and the world needs greatly.

I love Jesus. I tell him often that I love him. I fill my heart with what I love about him. I let him seep out of my heart. This is how I get to be the “real” me. It’s not by doing the good things I think God wants me to do from my own stock of short lived, limited, and finite will power and self-control. The good things God has planned for me to do get done through Jesus living in me. I fill up my heart with him and HE makes me who I really am and lets me do what I really need to do.

If you knew me in high school, college, 20 years ago, or even just yesterday, I am not that Janys anymore. Who I really am gets more and more noticeable every day as I love, love, love Jesus and fill my heart and mind up with all that I love about him and all that he has done.

Because of Jesus... I am new. I am valuable. I am good. That’s who I really am!

Dear God,
Thank you for making me totally new and different and like your Son. Thank you that I can look at my frustrations and outbursts and know that’s not who I really am. And thank you for the power and ability (Philippians 2:13) to be who I really am simply by loving Jesus and letting him seep out of my heart. What an easy burden, delightful task, and freeing practice. I love you and thank you and pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.

12 August 2014 “But in the meantime...”

Psalm 30:5

Weeping may last through the night,
but joy comes with the morning.


These are some sad times we’re living in. There are images on the internet right now of Christians being persecuted, tortured, and murdered in real time. A truly brilliant and funny man ended his own life yesterday. And today, my nephew starts college away from home, the end of an era and beginning of a new one for our family. I have butterflies in my stomach for my fellow brothers and sisters in Christ, a total stranger’s family and their loss, and for a 19 year old man of God who is only about 8 years old in my head. Wow.

Pray. Just pray.

Are any of you suffering hardships? You should pray. Are any of you happy? You should sing praises. Are any of you sick? You should call for the elders of the church to come and pray over you, anointing you with oil in the name of the Lord.  Such a prayer offered in faith will heal the sick, and the Lord will make you well. And if you have committed any sins, you will be forgiven.
(James 5:13-15)

Anyone feel helpless about persecuted Believers? Pray. Anyone feel deep sympathy for a family rocked by suicide? Pray. Anyone’s baby leaving the nest today? Pray. James’ words are so compelling... Are you suffering hardships? Pray. Are you happy? Pray. Are you sick? Pray. And his advice serves ALL of us well today.

My country is disappointing me; why aren’t we protecting those Christians better? I’m gonna pray about that. I know people profoundly affected by a suicide, and this recent one stirs all that up again. Pray. Our family is changing, the children are becoming grown, mine are next, there’s anxiety tied up in that. Pray, pray, pray.

Prayer is not a helpless, worthless, idle activity. James goes on to say, “The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results.” (James 5:16) Prayer is actually the most important thing I can do if I want to help any of these people so heavy on my heart today.

I believe with all my heart that the weeping is temporary, and it will be overwhelmed with the joy that is to follow for those who love and trust God.

For our present troubles are small and won’t last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever!  So we don’t look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever. 
(2 Corinthians 4:17-18)

But in the meantime...pray. Prayer is a purposeful, meaningful, invisible practice that produces wonderful results because God said that it will. And that’s good enough for me.

Dear God,
Thank you that you have given me an action to take when I feel helpless. I pray for the Christians being pursued right now by ISIS. Please protect them, comfort them, help them be brave, provide for them, hide them, feed them, rescue them, and give them peace and encouragement that only you can bring. I pray for Robin Williams’ family today. 25 years old is too young for a daughter to be without a daddy. They will be so puzzled and feel so guilty over his departure. Help this be an opportunity for them all to turn to you for comfort and real Life. Be with our friends whose lives have been impacted by suicide as it is different from all other deaths, so hard to grasp and get over. Fill those cracks in our hearts as we still grieve over the senseless loss that is stirred up once again by the high profile suicide from yesterday. And be with Karen and Jerry today as they send Reed off to APU. Give him a great experience, keep him safe and healthy, and give him lots of godly friends. Lord, I thank you so much that coming to you helps my heart. I don’t know how, but it just does. And I am so thankful for this purposeful, meaningful, invisible practice that I can participate in that is beneficial to me and to the ones for whom I pray. And I pray in your Son’s name. Amen.

8 August 2014 “Just One Trait”

Psalm 149:4

For the Lord delights in his people; he crowns the humble with victory.

The Lord delights in his people...I like knowing that God delights in me. There are no prerequisites or stipulations for it either. He likes everything about me physically, emotionally, and spiritually right now. The way I look, my personality, the way I am right now. As is. He likes it! He doesn’t want me to change my figure or work on my hang ups first before he’ll delight in me either. It’s right now, present tense...He delights in his children! It’s a good feeling. Real confidence has been born from learning that I’m fine as is. The world’s got it wrong when it attempts to make me feel like I need to change something about my body or my personality, for God delights in me right now, as is, simply because I am his daughter.

I know a lot of people who opt out on life because they don’t live like God delights in them. They stay home from reunions and parties because their bodies, incomes, or something else changed. But God’s Word doesn’t say he quits delighting in us when our circumstances change, so our confidence can remain secure as well. I am free to live life  and attend events as is, just like I am being delighted in because I am!

He crowns the humble...So my physical, emotional, and spiritual nature is fine with God, but what he likes to see the most from me is humility. It is because humility makes me physically, emotionally, and spiritually just like Jesus. There’s no other trait we share with him that makes us exactly like him except for humility. We love and are kind but, unfortunately, have the ability to distort love and kindness, have patience be only voluntary, and self-control an afterthought. C.S. Lewis says that humility isn’t thinking less of yourself, but thinking of yourself less. When I think of myself less often, I am being humble. Simple. When I put other’s needs above my own, I am being like Jesus who does that 24/7.

Philippians 2:3-5
Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves. Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too. You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had.

Humility makes everything about me physically, emotionally, and spiritually just like Jesus and I bet that delights God’s heart EVEN MORE!

Dear God,
It delights my heart to know that I delight your heart. It also makes me feel good to know that I can share in all who Jesus is with just one trait. Help me to be humble today as it it will affect everything else about me and please you. I love you, I love pleasing you, and I love knowing that I am loved just the way I am. Thank you for the confidence and joy your delight brings to my heart. I praise you for who you are and what you’re like, and I pray in your Son’s name, amen.

6 August 2014 “Beneficial to Society”

Psalm 119:160

The very essence of your words is truth; all your just regulations will stand forever.


In our modern society, truth is arbitrary and subjective it seems. The whole “if it feels good, then do it” mentality is not based on even a consensus. “As long as it isn’t hurting anyone...” Who’s to say? But we see the aftermath everyday, or crime rates, divorce rates, self medications rates, etc, wouldn’t ever rise if everyone were so happy doing what seems good to them.

So humans do require (and would greatly benefit from) REAL truth and knowing real right from real wrong. This whole “it can’t be wrong if it isn’t hurting anyone else” idea is NOT working out so well.

Gladly, God doesn’t leave us to our own devices. In fact, Galatians 5:23 says there is no law against  God’s truth. Living life as he prescribes really and truly isn’t hurting anyone else. Can you just imagine what life would be like if everyone “loved their neighbor as much as they love themselves (Mark 12:31)?” We’d see crime rates drop and disappear!

But people don’t like being told what to do, and they have been deceived into thinking that God’s just bossing us around. Yet, whether they acknowledge it or not, they are being told what to do - just not by God but by the Enemy.

The simple fact is this: Everything, every thought, every idea, every action is the result of a spiritual decision because our lives are spiritual whether we think so or not. For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places. (Ephesians 6:12)

So why not follow real truth given by God? Why let evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world dictate our actions and words? There’s only the two choices, and only one of them is truly beneficial to society.

Dear God,
Thank you for real truth. Truth, right, and wrong are not subject to a vote or to public opinion. You have already determined it all! I pray that our country would once again embrace your just regulations even if it’s only for a little while. It’s such a freeing and enjoyable way to live! I pray for those who have tricked themselves into thinking they’re free when actually their decisions are being prompted by the Enemy. Help me not to fall into that trap, but to trust your Word always and live by real truth. I love you and praise you for your Good Word. And I pray in Jesus’ name, amen.