​9 August 2021
The Waiting Room
Psalm 27:14
Wait patiently for the Lord.
    Be brave and courageous.
    Yes, wait patiently for the Lord.

Yesterday at church, we were talking about waiting on the Lord. This verse from Psalm 27 gives some neglected insight to what waiting actually looks like. Waiting involves courage.

Thankfully God gives courage (see 2Timothy 1:7). But why does waiting require it?

When we are not making things happen, things don’t happen. The unknown makes us worry. Fear creeps in when we don’t know what’s going to happen next, so people often make protective decisions. The problem is, most of our self-preserving mechanisms have undesired consequences. It takes bravery to step into the unknown, the uncomfortable and unplanned. 

But God sees everything. Nothing to him is unknown. When I remind myself I’m the toddler in the child/Father relationship we have, it helps with my perspective. He sees what I won’t. He knows what I don’t. He does what I can’t. So if I live in a season of waiting on HIM to act, then that’s exactly what I should do.

Dear God,
I am sure you prefer me to have all my decisions, actions and conversations include the power of your Holy Spirit whom you generously give to all who believe in your Son. Help me to resist the trap of branching out on my own, doing what seems fine with me, without waiting on your leading, door opening and will. Help me remember today that you see everything, and I can confidently wait on you. I love you and that you for courage and comfort, and I pray in Jesus’ name, amen.

​5 August 2021
Really Super Stubborn Faith
Revelation 16:9
Everyone was burned by this blast of heat, and they cursed the name of God, who had control over all these plagues. They did not repent of their sins and turn to God and give him glory.

No one finds a study in End Times a delightful way to start the day, but it certainly is interesting. Revelation 16 describes the 7 judgments to come & number 4 caught my attention today...

Then the fourth angel poured out his bowl on the sun, causing it to scorch everyone with its fire. Everyone was burned by this blast of heat, and they cursed the name of God, who had control over all these plagues. They did not repent of their sins and turn to God and give him glory.  (Revelation 16:8-9)

These people obviously still have time to repent because it clearly states still they did not repent or turn to God at all. This typically astonishes Believers similar to the history of Pharaoh still not letting the Israelites go after plague after plague. The reason is simple. The ungodly practice ungodliness. Training oneself in wickedness is a religious practice.

I am just as stubborn about my faith. No bad news, bad luck, bad circumstances or actual acts of Satan will ever talk me out of trusting and believing in the One, True, Living, Almighty God. So the reverse must also be true. The ungodly are just as stubborn about who they worship as I am. Not even horrible sores, blood water, or deadly scorching heat will change their minds. 

And when the going will get really hard for me, my plan is to still be stubbornly faithful to the One I follow – and that’s the plan of the wicked too – faithfully follow the one they’ve always endorsed and worshiped to the very end.

Dear God,
You are great and greatly to be praised. Help me make a practice of trusting in you and obeying you and being brave so I will never be swayed. Give me beautiful, rigorous, stubborn faith. You are good in all your ways; may I never forget. I love you and thank you and pray in Jesus’ name, amen.

​4 August 2021
I am not Stuck!
Galatians 5:16
So I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won’t be doing what your sinful nature craves.

We do what we know, y’know? My doctor’s dad is a retired doctor. My friend’s son took over his the family business. My parents were both teachers and so are 2 out of their 3 kids. My husband is a pastor and so was his dad. His dad was a business major in college and so was his daughter. Do you see where I’m going with this? We are either drawn to the same things through DNA or we simply just do what we know. It’s great. The downside is that we can also, intentionally or unintentionally, pick up familiar ungodly habits.

On Sunday, Rob was reminding us from Hebrews 11 how Abraham & Isaac both tell their wives at some point to tell people they’re siblings which had horrible repercussions for the unsuspecting potentially dangerous strangers. Isaac & Jacob both resorted to extreme favoritism among their children and it brought horrible consequences. We’ll never know how God would have executed HIS plans because of the human interference by these fathers and sons. Perhaps these parents focused too much on what THEY did over how God graciously bailed them out.

A parent who accidentally or purposefully doesn’t paint God with grace and mercy won’t parent with any either. And even though no one pays for someone else’s sin (see Ezekiel 18), clearly we do naturally follow our examples.

Thankfully, no one is STUCK! No one has to live what has been passed on to them (anger, adultery, impatience, manipulation, etc). No one. God has graciously given everyone who believes in his Son his Holy Spirit who will absolutely intervene with all our choices and conversations just like God would’ve done for Abraham, Isaac & Jacob had they LET him.

Galatians 5:16
So I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won’t be doing what your sinful nature craves.

Dear God,
Please interfere in my plans today. Please help me accurately portray you to my family so they aren’t tricked into assigning broken human attributes to you. You are great and amazing and full of grace and mercy and do not treat us harshly or punish as we deserve. (Psalm 103) Help me be like you and pass that on. I love you and pray in Jesus’ name, amen.

​2 August 2021
Flawed and Faithful
Hebrews 11:8-9
It was by faith that Abraham obeyed when God called him to leave home and go to another land that God would give him as his inheritance. He went without knowing where he was going. And even when he reached the land God promised him, he lived there by faith—for he was like a foreigner, living in tents. And so did Isaac and Jacob, who inherited the same promise.

By faith... In God’s economy, those who live by believing him are remembered for their faith and not for their mistakes. The reason is simple: Everyone makes mistakes, sins, and is horribly flawed, BUT NOT EVERYONE IS FAITHFUL. 

Rob used a great illustration in his message yesterday about this. He pointed out that we have been married for thirty years. And in those years we have exhibited mistakes, sins & flaws. But we are still married, and we never stopped pursuing marriage the whole time. We are flawed and faithful.

The Heroes of Faith mentioned in Hebrews 11 are sinners just like me. The pursuit of believing and trusting God at the same time puts all Believers in a separate category than the group of people who only have their human nature going for them. Living by faith means that God knows what we meant to do or wish we’d done even though we didn’t do it. 

Think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth. For you died to this life, and your real life is hidden with Christ in God.  (Colossians 3:2-3)

I’m not always a good wife, but I sure meant to be, and we are still married.
I don’t often react to situations and people like Jesus, but I want to and I mean to, and Jesus still lets me follow him.

I’d rather be flawed with faith than just plain flawed.

Hebrews 11 goes on to explain people like Abraham, But they were looking for a better place, a heavenly homeland. That is why God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them. (v.16)

The people flawed with faith look forward to living with God forever and live there how we always meant to live!

Dear God,
Thank you for knowing who I am and who I mean to be today even though we both know I am still full of my human nature. Thank you for helping me, giving me the option to follow you, and preparing a heavenly home for me to be with your Son, Jesus, for forever, in whose name I pray, amen.

​29 July 2021
Make it Known
Psalm 30:4-5
Sing to the Lord, all you godly ones!
    Praise his holy name.
For his anger lasts only a moment,
    but his favor lasts a lifetime!

My husband has been teaching through the Book of Revelation on Wednesday nights, and going through chapter 15 last night, he reminded us that right before the bowls of wrath are poured out we have this great reminder of God’s character as sung by the “victorious” Believers...
Great and marvelous are your works, O Lord God, the Almighty. Just and true are your ways, O King of the nations. Who will not fear you, Lord, and glorify your name? For you alone are holy. All nations will come and worship before you, for your righteous deeds have been revealed. (Revelation 15:3-4)

People with a view of an angry God are mistaken. His wrath is certain but also measured, short, and once. However, his mercy and love have been going on for thousands of years. Let’s wrap our brains around that! We don’t need to explain God’s coming wrath for him, like it’s a flaw in his character. Rather, we should be making his merciful character known to everyone in the meantime. 

Psalm 103:8-11
The Lord is compassionate and merciful,
    slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love.
He will not constantly accuse us,
    nor remain angry forever.
He does not punish us for all our sins;
    he does not deal harshly with us, as we deserve.
For his unfailing love toward those who fear him
    is as great as the height of the heavens above the earth.

Dear God,
Thank you for your kindness and mercy that has drawn me to you. Thank you for making it available to everyone right now. I pray for my unbelieving friends and family who seem indifferent or mistaken about your character at this time. May their hearts be tugging at them right now even as I pray for them. I am so grateful for your character; help me make it known in Jesus name, amen.

28 July 2021
Only Jesus all the Time
Genesis 8:1
But God remembered Noah and all the wild animals and livestock with him in the boat. He sent a wind to blow across the earth, and the floodwaters began to recede. 

The only ones who survived the Flood are the ones who wholly trusted God & added nothing else to their obedience. Everyone in the world with an alternate opinion perished in the Flood.

In no way does it mean Noah and his family were sinless. They’re human like everyone else. And God addresses the state of all human hearts 20 verses later.  I will never again curse the ground because of the human race, even though everything they think or imagine is bent toward evil from childhood. I will never again destroy all living things. (Genesis 8:21) 

But they also have free will like everyone else. And using our free will to trust in God and obey him gives all of us, with a heart bent toward evil from childhood, options.

Everyone with an alternate opinion perished in the flood. Similarly, going along to get a long is serving world group-thought that is only bent towards evil. Only Jesus gives us options. Even those saved by believing in him (see Romans 3:22) continue to have options. We can confidently NOT do what everyone else is doing just because there’s so many people doing it. His ways prevent our destruction – not just eternally but right now in my parenting, my marriage, all my relationships, my job, my finances & everything.

The only way to be delivered by only evil all the time is only looking to Jesus every day all the time.

Hebrews 12:1-2
Let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith.

Dear God,
It is easier and easier to see these days what only evil all the time will look like. Thank you for preserving, protecting, teaching & equipping the ones who trust in your Son, in whose name I pray, amen.

​27 July 2021
30 Years and Counting...
Hebrews 11:7
It was by faith that Noah built a large boat to save his family from the flood. He obeyed God, who warned him about things that had never happened before. By his faith Noah condemned the rest of the world, and he received the righteousness that comes by faith.

It wasn’t Noah’s idea to build a boat; it was God’s. Noah simply believed and obeyed. The fact that God allowed the ark to be built over a very long period of time is proof that Noah was not the only man on earth God was seeking out. There were plenty of witnesses, plenty of time & plenty of room on the ark for more than just Noah and his family. But Noah is the only person out of all mankind to listen & obey.

What is even more interesting to me is Noah’s sons. Did they too obey God, or were they obeying their dad? Either way they were rescued and saved from destruction by obeying their parents just as God’s Word prescribes. 

Genesis 7:5-7
So Noah did everything as the Lord commanded him. Noah was 600 years old when the flood covered the earth. He went on board the boat to escape the flood—he and his wife and his sons and their wives.

Children are a blessing from the Lord (see Psalm 127), AND children can receive blessing from the Lord (see Ephesians 6) . Obeying our parents (the ones in authority over us) is how we learn to obey the One with ALL authority. It turned out well for Noah’s kids.

Ephesians 6 has instructions for children in the home (6:1) and grown children (6:2) and the promise that follows (6:3). Children, obey your parents because you belong to the Lord, for this is the right thing to do.  “Honor your father and mother.” This is the first commandment with a promise:  If you honor your father and mother, “things will go well for you, and you will have a long life on the earth.” Ephesians 6:1-3

I’d like to mention specifically today, July 27, 2021 – our 30th wedding anniversary, that I have never regretted my husband’s leadership in our marriage requiring that we honor our parents, and it began even before our wedding day. My dad asked Rob to make sure I finished my degree, and my amazing husband worked his butt of in several jobs over the first two year of our marriage till I completed my bachelor's & teaching credential program. I’m thinking there were much better ways we could have used that time, energy and money in those early days, but my husband simply did what my dad asked him to do even though it was hard. Really hard. It was the product of a lifetime of practice obeying his own dad that lead him to honor mine. And there is only one outcome: God has richly blessed our marriage for 30 years. We have a beautiful family & home, jobs that pay the bills, health, ministry, cars that work, and dinner together every night. And those student loans literally were miraculously paid off with tv game show money. That just doesn’t happen. But GOD made sure it happened because he takes care of those he loves, those who trust him, those who obey him, those who don’t do what everyone else in the world is doing, those who know God’s Word and apply it to their lives. 

I’m very thankful to my beautiful husband and our loving and gracious Heavenly Father for proving that his way is the best way.

Dear God,
I just can’t thank you enough for your blessings in our life together. Even the hard times have turned into blessings because we keep our eyes on Jesus who started this and keeps making it good until it is perfect. Thank you that your system is right and may our own children and their families and their family’s families honor you and follow you all the days of their lives. AMEN.

​26 July 2021
Faith is Evidence
Hebrews 11:1
Faith shows the reality of what we hope for; it is the evidence of things we cannot see.

The one major knock on Christianity over the centuries is that what we believe can’t be proven. But faith is evidence according to scripture AND everywhere else in life!

Physics, Thermodynamics, and Natural Order are so reliable and structured that scientists put the words “Laws of” in front of each of them. But the ones who labeled them did not create them, so who did? It takes a lot of faith to believe there is no one responsible for the intricate structure and order in the universe.

Faith involves hope & is used as evidence. Godless people don’t consider faith in God as evidence for his existence because HE is not what they hope for.

The godless hope God doesn’t exist, so their faith they use as evidence for what they believe is based on their hopes & how they want things to be. Ironically, their “facts” about how the world began can be dismantled simply by the idea of God’s existence. God’s existence can’t be dismantled by their evidence at all. Isn’t that interesting?

Hebrews 11:3
By faith we understand that the entire universe was formed at God’s command, that what we now see did not come from anything that can be seen.

We know how the world began because faith is evidence. And even the ungodly have to admit that because they use their faith as evidence it all the time.

Dear God,
Thank you for plaining telling us in your Word how the world began. Thank you that it is simple to understand and trustworthy & provides confident hope for me to trust in you in all things. I love you and pray in your Son’s name, according to your good will. Amen.

3 May 2021 The ME in the Equation
Galatians 2:20-21NLT
My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not treat the grace of God as meaningless... 

My expectations need to go. I can’t let my heart rely on my health or my bank account or my relationships or the country going back to “normal” in order to have joy, contentment and fulfillment. I will only find those things by living life by trusting in God. I can prepare all I want, but I actually treat the grace of God as meaningless when I become a control freak over others or obsess about what I can’t control. 

Why would He ever say Give all your cares to me because I care about you OR Come to me with your burdens and I’ll exchange it for rest if simultaneously I’m supposed to hold on to my cares and burdens? (See 1 Peter 5:7 & Matthew 11:28-30.)

Yesterday at church, Rob said, “ Joy is related to us dropping our baggage and checklists and expectations and receiving God’s grace.”

God will give me what I need, and he will help me endure, he will fill my heart, he will provide for me. Not ME and God. Just God. The reason many Believers don’t know this truth is because they still have the ME in the equation. 

Dear God,
Help me have only YOU in all of my equations today. You are my constant and reliable, unfailing factor, and I appreciate you so much. Thank you for helping me be content and not undone by people, money, health, or circumstances. Help me live my life today by trusting in the One who loves me and gave HIS LIFE for ME! And I pray in his name according to your good will, amen.

​28 April 2021
1 Peter 5:14-17 Voluntary Hall Monitors
If you are insulted because you bear the name of Christ, you will be blessed, for the glorious Spirit of God rests upon you. 15 If you suffer, however, it must not be for murder, stealing, making trouble, or prying into other people’s affairs. 16 But it is no shame to suffer for being a Christian. Praise God for the privilege of being called by his name!

Rob was teaching from this passage on Sunday, and the last item on the list in verse 15 really caught my attention. “Prying into other people’s affairs” ranks with murder & stealing for things NOT to do. Interesting.

Perhaps that’s why our nation is so divided right now. Half the people want to be left alone and the other half wants to pry into our affairs. It really is a nuisance. 

The Word of God never changes with the times & one of the best verses for daily living is and always will be from 1 Thessalonians 4...
Make it your goal to live a quiet life, minding your own business and working with your hands, just as we instructed you before. Then people who are not believers will respect the way you live, and you will not need to depend on others. (v.11-12)

Imagine a society where we mind our own business. It’s a dying concept, especially with social media, which I am using right now to post this. (smiley face) But truly, as a Believer, I would like to allow others to be instructed by the Holy Spirit without butting in. It’s scary, especially when people I love, or people I see underthinking a situation, are not doing something how I would do it. But I don’t want to be like half the nation that meddles. Like Rob said on Sunday, “being a voluntary Hall Monitor is exhausting.”

And it’s exhausting because God gives no one the strength for that job because that job is already filled by the Holy Spirit. 

So I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won’t be doing what your sinful nature craves. (Galatians 5:16) And apparently, our sinful nature is dying to tell others what to do and “pry into their affairs.”

Dear God,
Thank you for your Holy Spirit helping me to lead a quiet life and mind my own business. I pray that you will protect me and my family from meddlers and help me not to fall into the trap of being one. Thank you for your instruction and your grace to all who love and trust you. Amen.