Category: Uncategorized

The Road to the Power of God

Posted on by Dorci

Therefore, in order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”  (2 Corinthians 12:7b-10) ~Paul the apostle  

There are days, weeks, lifetimes that I feel overwhelmed by my weaknesses. My sins. Regrets.

And I think how in the world could I ever expect God to use someone like me?  

I have nothing. I am wholly inadequate. I live with daily constraints of fatigue and pain. I am constantly thinking and saying and doing things I don’t want to. Things that are contrary to the nature of a loving and forgiving and gracious God.  I look at who I am and I’m disappointed.  How could God not be?

If I were Him I’d run in the other direction in search of someone better.

But here’s the thing: I’m not God – praise the Lord.

And here’s the other thing – I may be inadequate, I may be sinful, but I love my Jesus.

It’s those very weaknesses that had me running to Him in the first place, and keep me running back because I know how much I need Him.

Spending time with my gracious Lord brings into focus even more how great He is and it is humbling. I compare myself to Him and I see how short I come up in the godliness department. My weaknesses and sins are more evident when I’m in His presence.

And I see again just how very much I need my Father.

When I need Him I call on Him to do in and through me what I never could. I leave room for Him to do the miraculous, because I need a miracle, every single day.  

There are those who would have Christians believe God doesn’t want any of His children to be sick. I would refer them to Paul. And there are those who believe their sickness must mean they are being punished by God. I would again refer them to Paul, and Job, and the many others who found themselves weak in some way, yet we clearly see God’s hand was on them.

Yes, God heals. Yes, God still does miracles. When it suits His purposes.  

But don’t limit God.  God uses all kinds of people in all kinds of circumstances for all kinds of things.

Our weaknesses, whatever they may be, don’t disqualify us from being used by God. In fact they can be the road leading right to it. 

We are all weak in some way, most of us in many ways. 

The world tells us Be strong!  Be powerful.  In doing that we refuse the power of God in our lives, and we remain in our weakness.

But acknowledging our weaknesses, taking them to the throne room of God and putting our life in His hands out of sheer desperation, knowing we have nothing good in and of ourselves, is the very thing that will make us useful.  He’s then able to fill us with His strength and do great things through us, not because of who we are, but in spite of it.

And all the glory is His.

The prayers prayed out of desperation tend to be stripped of all pretense.  The mask comes off, the formality is laid aside, and we get real with God. That kind of realness leads to an authentic, personal relationship with our Heavenly Father.  Our Abba.  And that unleashes His power in us.  

It’s not the strength of our bodies, or the intelligence of our minds, or the skill of our hands.  

It’s the willingness of our hearts. 

For the eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to Him. 2 Chronicles 16:9

Be Strong and Courageous, Part 3

Posted on by Dorci

Therefore we do not lose heart.  Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.
2 Corinthians 4:16

You might have read about the trial I plunged into 13 years ago. I’ve written about it many times, as it’s given me plenty to write about. In case you haven’t, or you’ve forgotten, I’ll give you a little recap.

I sat in church one Sunday all those Sundays ago, and heard the words straight out of the book of Joshua, “Be strong and courageous.”  Those are the words God gave Joshua as he was about to take over Moses’s job leading the Israelites through the desert and into the Promised Land.

Now, I don’t know if you’ve had the experience of hearing or reading certain words in the Bible, and you were sure they had leapt off the page, stared you straight in the face daring you to adopt them as your own.  

If you’ve known Christ for very long, you probably have.  If you’re relatively new to following Him, I’m telling you right now, the day will come when that will happen. Don’t second guess it. The Holy Spirit, our Counselor in Chief, is speaking to you.

I knew He was speaking to me the first time.  But apparently once wasn’t enough.  Either I was slow or the journey would be long and rough. Both, it turns out. I don’t remember the exact situation each time, but over the course of the next month I heard those words three more times, and each subsequent time they came at me faster and louder.

A friend was there every time, too, and we talked about the fact that it was odd that those words kept coming up. The fourth time I heard them, my friend, who was sitting a few rows in front of me, turned and looked into my eyes. She confirmed it wasn’t just my imagination.  She knew something was up, too.

Of course neither of us had any idea what it meant.  But I was soon to find out. Sort of.

I had been having some bad headaches, and an even more difficult time sleeping. One Sunday, about a month after my four personal exhortations, I just so happened to be at another church our church had planted, and I just so happened to run into a friend of mine in the bathroom, and she just so happened to ask how I was doing, and I told her.  She told me I should have my blood pressure checked.

My blood pressure had never been anything over a perfectly respectable normal, even prior to surgery, and I didn’t have any of the usual risk factors, so I knew it wasn’t high, but just to cross that off my list, I put my arm in one of those blood pressure cuffs while I was at the store shopping after church, and pushed the button.

I looked at the reading, and stared at it for a minute.  Surely it couldn’t be that high. 

Maybe it was just high because I was trying to corral my son as I sat there while that cuff tightened around my arm like the grim reaper was trying to pull me away.  So I took a couple of deep breaths, tried to calm down, and pushed the button again.  This time it was even higher. Before I knew it I found myself in a fire station where they could take it and tell me that the machine just wasn’t working and my blood pressure was just fine.

Only it wasn’t.  Suddenly they were asking me if I could see, was my vision blurry, how did I feel…  I felt fine, except that now tears were rolling down my face. Something was terribly, drastically wrong. They wanted to call an ambulance, but my husband promised to take me directly to the emergency room.

And that started my journey through my own dry, confusing, anxiety-filled desert. My journey into learning to believe God even when things seemed out of control. Even when it seemed like He wasn’t listening to my cries for healing, or even for a diagnosis for that sky-high blood pressure and the many health issues that would follow.

I wanted my old life back so bad.  I wanted to serve and do and be and go…

But God refused to let me go back to Egypt. He had better things for me. Not things you can see, mind you. While I had prayed many times for deliverance from this surely evil thing that had taken ahold of my body, God was delivering me from other things far more important.

The third time God spoke these words to Joshua, He finished His admonition with this: “Be strong and courageous.  Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go.”  Joshua 1:9

And whether I could see Him or feel Him, my God has been with me, too, delivering me from those dark places of unbelief, from lack of discipline, from self-centeredness, from a shallow, self-reliant, self-righteous, works-based “faith.”  He’s been delivering me from myself.

In the heat of the desert He is infusing my heart with His, my character and mind, soul and spirit, with His.

My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one— I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. John 17:20-23

One day when I stand before Jesus, I’ll see all He’s done for me, the godly character He worked into me that I never could have learned with a healthy body.

He may choose to deliver you a different way.  He knows what each of us needs. He is as much a personal God as He is loving and forgiving and compassionate.

If you’re in a desert now, be strong and courageous.  He’s with you.  And He will deliver you safely, whole and completed, to the Promised Land.

The 7-Year Itch

Posted on by Dorci

“The kingdom of Heaven is like a certain king who made a marriage for his son.”
Matthew 22:2

“Let us be glad and rejoice and we will give glory to Him. For the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has prepared herself.”
Rev 19:7

“And I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of Heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her Husband.”
Rev 21:2

God gave marriage as a model of our relationship with Christ, and countless comparisons can be made.

One of those comparisons is the 7-Year itch.  Or 4-Year, or 10-Year, or 20-Year. 

The 7-Year Itch is a term coined to describe one or both spouses’ decline in love for the other after 7 years, or any period of time in marriage. Otherwise known by the phrase “familiarity breeds contempt.”  

The husband or wife begins to tire of the relationship, believing that fireworks should spark every day for the rest of their lives, and if they don’t something must be drastically wrong. Kindnesses are left behind, thoughtlessness ensues, forgiveness seems hard to come by, and resentment settles in.

Sometimes, though, it’s not that drastic.  Sometimes things are just…blah.

Sometimes there’s just indifference.  Life seems mundane. Passion has waned.

Suddenly the grass seems to look a whole lot greener anywhere else. Eyes begin to look outward into the world for something else. And there is always something, or someone, more than willing to be the object of our affection.

Not only does that happen at an alarming rate in earthly marriages, it happens within the Bride of Christ.

I had been searching for something, for God in some way, since I was very young. As a kid I looked everywhere from philosophical books to church to the quiet dignity and wisdom of a shaolin monk on the television show Kung Fu. My life had been painful and I desperately looked for answers, for wisdom, for love in some form.

So at the age of 26 when I walked into a building on a Sunday morning with a gathering of Christ-believing people, where the presence of the Holy Spirit had gathered with them, I felt His love and grace and mercy wash over me, and I knew I had found the One I had looked for all my life. I found the Answer, the Wisdom, the Love, and so much more.

I was dead and now I was alive!

I was filled with an excitement and a passion I could barely contain. That first week I found a Christian bookstore and ran right out to buy myself a Bible and a cross necklace. I was at church whenever the doors were open, soaking up His Word, watching, listening, learning, serving.  The honeymoon lasted for years.

Then slowly but surely, the reality of life, of relationships, even within the church, began to slap me in the face and wake me from my dream. Even in Christ, life wasn’t perfect. In fact it got very hard.  Confusing.  Unsettling. Discouraging.  

The reality settled in that even in the church people were still, well, people. Even in Christ sickness can take hold. Prayers can go unanswered. I thought I had left the pain behind in the world, but it was obvious I hadn’t. Not that I thought everything was going to be perfect, but my expectations were dashed. Fourteen years into my faith I became disillusioned. And I felt alone. 

The way it had been was the way I thought it would always be. Serve God, be good, and everything would be fine. Fireworks.

But God was not healing me, relationships were broken, and I felt as unwanted and rejected as I had in the world.

I prayed and I prayed hard. Where was Jesus? Who was He? Did He still love me? After years of thinking I knew Him, I suddenly wondered if I did.

“Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your first love. Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the first works…”  Rev 2:4-5a

It didn’t happen overnight. It never does. It happens slowly, methodically. I never walked completely away, but I felt unloved so I let other things come and steal away my attention.  

The world does that effortlessly now. We give it away in smartphones and endless social media and television and video games and news and current events and we fill our lives with noise, noise, noise….

Within it all, we cannot hear the still, small voice of the Lord. And when communication breaks down, the relationship with Him, just like it would with our spouse, suffers.

The love I had at first – the excitement and passion – had waned.  I had let other things come in and crowd out the voice of my Jesus, the One who had loved me so much He died for me, called me, and changed me. The One who had come after me, plucked me out of the world and made me new.

It wasn’t that I didn’t want a relationship with Him.  I still loved Him.  I just got distracted. 

But Jesus tells us it doesn’t happen to us. We leave our first love. We walk away. We make choices, day by day, choices that are not just between good and bad, but choices that either take us closer to Christ or further away, and suddenly we look back and what once was, just isn’t.

They say the opposite of love isn’t hate, it’s indifference. It’s that middle of the road…blah.

We may think that’s not all that bad, but in Revelation Jesus gave this warning to His church, “I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot.  I could wish you were cold or hot.  So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth.”  Rev. 3:15-16

An on-fire faith is best, and even a cold heart is preferable to lukewarm because we would recognize it and know we needed to turn back to the Lord.

But a lukewarm faith deceives us into thinking we’re okay.

It’s so-so, yeah. *Yawn* My faith doesn’t really inspire me to do anything, but it’s there, right? 

But that indifference lets in the world. It lets in sin, other beliefs, other avenues of decision-making, and lots of self. Self-works, self-righteousness, self, self, self.  

A lukewarm faith hurts our relationship with God, that affects the relationships with our brothers and sisters in Christ, and then we begin to lose the witness we might have had to the people God has given us.

The good news is at any moment we can repent – change our minds – and do the things we did at first.  We can leave behind the things of the world, turn down the noise, re-establish communication with the Lord, receive His grace and mercy, (maybe run out and buy a Bible and a cross necklace) and love Him with the passion and excitement and fervor we once had.

I’ve taken steps toward that and eliminated a lot of the incoming noise of the world, and it’s made a huge difference in my ability to hear the Lord speaking to my heart.  

He wants to speak to all of us who are called by His name, and He has much to say. More than ever, we need to hear His voice for wisdom and discernment. We need His passion, and the world needs His love.

I am now almost 28 years into my journey with Christ. I’ve learned that God doesn’t answer every prayer, and He has good reason. He is pruning, disciplining, growing, and preparing the Bride for her Husband.  

I’ve learned I was never was alone; He was always with me and always will be. I’ve learned that if we let Him, He can use those crises of faith periods to cause us to dig deeper into His Word, into prayer, and bring us out the other side with a deeper, more substantial faith and closer relationship than ever before.

 

Heavenly Father, we want to be close to you, closer than ever before. Please take away our desire for those things that would come between us, things that would lead us away from you. Please give us hearts that are passionate for you, for our faith, for our desire to serve you, and make us useful to you. Thank you for what you’re going to do in our hearts and lives. In the mighty name of Jesus we pray, amen.

 

 

 

Victory

Posted on by Dorci

“When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.”

‘Where, O death, is your victory?
Where, O death, is your sting?’

The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.  But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.”
1 Corinthians 15:54-58

The apostle Paul wrote these passionate words in a letter to a church he founded in Corinth, Greece.  I can imagine the pleading of his heart as he wrote to encourage them to not be lured back into the materialistic and immoral world that churned around them.

He reminded them, and us, that this life is not all there is.  There is a resurrection, Christ being the first, and because of Him, we will follow.

We no longer belong to this world, and our victory is not here.  Our victory has already been won through Christ – the gift of our immortal souls and our resurrection to the next life with Jesus Christ, our Great Reward.

There is no shortage of attention-grabbers whether it’s social media, or the news, or just the busyness of our own lives.  They can suck us in, altering our perspectives from spiritual matters to earthly ones, and rob us of doing the work for which we’ve now been called.

Not much has changed in the 2000 years since Paul wrote to our brothers and sisters in Christ.

All of us who have put our faith in Christ know how difficult it can be to keep our hearts and minds focused on the Lord, especially when the world revels in sin all around us.

After all, sin looks fun, and we can feel like we’re missing out on something.  Well, we are, but nothing good.  We miss out on the consequences of those sins; we miss out on feeding our flesh but not our spirits; we miss out on a life of fruitlessness.  We miss out on leaving our faith behind.

But Paul reminds us there is so much more given to us in its place.

We have a real Christ-given hope that when our bodies die, our immortal souls will live on for eternity in the joy and peace of the presence of God.

While, tragically, those who lived for the temporary thrills of this short life will abandon all joy and peace when their mortal bodies die, and their souls will be given over to judgment and eternal death.

While we who have put our faith in Christ may have to give up a few things here, we already have the ultimate victory through the Lord Jesus Christ.

So, what do we do?  We get back to work.  We let go of the distractions of this world and stand firm in the faith, being about our Father’s business and fulfilling the calling given to each of us just as our brothers and sisters in Corinth did almost 2000 years ago.

“Let nothing move you.”

Nothing.  Don’t look to the left or to the right at what others are doing.  Don’t worry what others may say about your faith in God.  Don’t worry about what can be done to you, even if it means your earthly life, because we already have the victory.

Look to Christ and “give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord.”

The text in the Greek puts it like this: “always abounding in the work of the Lord.”  

Abounding is the Greek word perisseuō which means “to superabound, be in excess, be superfluous; to excel, abundance, be the better, enough and to spare, exceed, excel, increase, be left, redound, remain (over and above).”

If there’s anything we should strive to do with excellence, it’s our work in the Lord.

He’s not only given us life, but He’s give us an abundant afterlife.  He sees our labor in His name, and He will reward us with eternal treasures worth far more than the trinkets of this life.

 

Heavenly Father, please help us keep our minds focused on you and not get sidetracked by the world or even by fear. Help us serve you with all our hearts, with the excellence that you deserve, that through our lives the world may see your love and grace and you may be glorified in the salvation of many. Thank you for the victory you’ve given us by clothing us with immortality and preparing a home for us in heaven with you. We praise your glorious Name, Jesus, and pray it all in your Name, amen.

Cast It All!

Posted on by Dorci

Why is it so hard for some of us to go to God when we’re hurting?

I know for me at least, when I’m feeling down or anxious I naturally want to retreat from everyone and everything.  I don’t want to have to put on happy face and pretend everything’s okay.  I want to find my corner of the world and hide, and that can mean from God, too.

But instead God says to be “…casting all your care upon Him for He cares for you.”  1 Peter 5:7

The word “casting” is the same word that’s used in Luke 19:35 when the disciples cast or threw their garments onto the colt that Jesus would ride into Jerusalem.

We are to take our garments of anxiety and worry and grief and discouragement – all that we care about, big or small – and lay them upon our Savior.

Why?

Why can’t I huddle in my dank little corner of the world until I feel like coming out again?

Because Jesus tells us in Mark 4:18-19 that if we hold onto the cares of this world, we will be consumed with them instead, and the Word will be choked out and rendered unfruitful in our lives.

So I have to decide to walk in the Spirit, doing what is supernatural instead of what is natural, come out of the darkness and into God’s light, giving Him those things and people and circumstances that I care so much about knowing and trusting that He cares for me.

I hope you know that He cares for you, too.  Everything that concerns you, concerns Him.  Nothing is too big or too small or too old or too anything.

And the thing with God is, we don’t have to put on a happy face.  He knows our heart’s pain anyway, and He hates hypocrisy.  We can be real with Him.  He wants us to be real with Him. We can trust Him with our deepest desires and emotions and conflicts.  And then, in place of our garments of anxiety, He’ll give us a garment of praise. 

 

Where can I go from your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence?
If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
if I settle on the far side of the sea,
 even there your hand will guide me,
your right hand will hold me fast.
If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me
and the light become night around me,”
even the darkness will not be dark to you;
the night will shine like the day,
for darkness is as light to you.
Psalm 139:7-12

More Rope!

Posted on by Dorci

“Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord, the Lord Himself, is the Rock eternal.”
Isaiah 26:4 NIV

Every time I’m sure I’m at the end of my rope, God gives me more.

And I rediscover all over again that He’s the keeper of the rope.  He’s the giver of the rope. He’s the maker of the rope.

He is the rope.

He is my hope, my peace, my breath, my life.

He never lets me fall.

Oh, I’ve come close.  You know that scene in the first Mission Impossible where Tom Cruise hangs from a cable and absolutely cannot touch the floor or his cover will be blown, but his partner gets spooked and lets him go?  And suddenly Cruise is free-falling, his partner stopping him only at the last second.

via GIPHY

That’s me.  Only I’m the one who gets spooked, lets go and careens toward the bottom.  But with God there is no bottom.  Not really.  There’s always more rope, and what I thought was the bottom, wasn’t.

And however close I come to it, God is always there to break my fall.  At least He is as long as He’s the one at the end of the rope I’m holding.  As long as He’s the one I’m ultimately trusting.

Are you trusting God today?

If not, He’s only a prayer away.  Tell Him you’re putting your trust in Him.  And if you struggle with trusting Him, tell Him that, too. He already knows, and He loves you.  Open a line of communication with Him right now.  And grab the rope.

The Calling of the Nobodys

Posted on by Dorci

“The Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord, and for seven years He gave them into the hands of the Midianites.  Midian so impoverished the Israelites that they cried out to the Lord for help.

The angel of the Lord came and sat down under the oak in Ophrah that belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, where his son Gideon was threshing wheat in a winepress to keep it from the Midianites. When the angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon, he said, “The Lord is with you, mighty warrior.” Judges 6:1,6

Mighty Warrior.

If that were the name of a superhero in an epic comic book story brought to life on the big screen you’d expect he’d be a 6 foot 6, muscle-bound behemoth of a man who shook the earth when he walked.  He’d carry himself with confidence, a stern face and eyes set while everyone was sure to stay out of his way.

But this was Gideon.

winepress
Ancient winepress discovered in Israel

When Gideon heard someone say mighty warrior he may very well have flinched and looked around to see who the person was talking to as he hid from the Midianites in a winepress threshing wheat.

But the Lord was speaking to Gideon, calling him to deliver the Israelites from the hand of the Midianites.

But Gideon didn’t jump up from the winepress, grab a sword, don his armor and shout “Yes, this is my chance!  I am ready!”

Instead he questioned, “But, Lord, how can I save Israel?  My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family.” Judges 6:15

Gideon was a young man who came from a small, poor, weakened, and seemingly insignificant family.  He was a nobody. At least that’s how he saw it.

gold nugget 2Nugget: Gideon’s clan – the Abiezrites – together with five other clans all form the tribe of Manasseh.  And Manasseh, together with the tribe of Ephraim form the tribe of Joseph, one of the twelve tribes of Israel.  The tribe of Manasseh descends from Manasseh who was one of the sons of Joseph, the boy who was sold into slavery by his brothers (to guess who?  The Midianites), and through the continual hand of God, rose to eventually become 2nd in command over Egypt, exceeded only by Pharaoh himself.

Do you know that God loves to call the insignificant, the weak, the poor, the underdog, the nobody, fill that person with His Spirit, and lead him or her to do great and mighty things?

Gideon might have seen himself as young, weak and ill-equipped, but God saw him differently.  God saw him not just as he was, but as He would make him to be – a mighty warrior.  

And just as God had a great plan for his ancestor Joseph even while he sat in a pit, served Pharaoh’s official, and languished in prison, He had a great plan for Gideon and all the people of Israel.

Throughout the process of overcoming the Midianites, Gideon is unsure and shaky in his next steps, and continually asks God for signs that He is with him, and God continually reassures Gideon that He is.

As the plan begins to succeed, Gideon begins to fulfill the name given to him by the angel of the Lord.  He transforms from the young man hiding in the winepress, full of questions and requests for fleeces, into a mighty warrior who is confident in God’s presence, provision, and desire to do a mighty work through him.

Gideon chose to believe in and obey God, and God gave victory to the Israelites through Gideon and his whittled-down army of 300 men to 135,000 Midianite and neighboring peoples, 120,000 of whom were killed.

Gideon’s confidence and boldness had grown, and he himself killed two kings of Midian, while the men of Ephraim killed two leaders of the Midianites, one of them, ironically, at a winepress.

 

I can relate to Gideon.  Can you?

When God told me twelve years ago to be strong and courageous just before my own battle began with my health, I felt anything but strong and courageous.  At the time I tried to understand it as best I could. But just like Gideon, I’ve grown in my understanding of God along the way.  I know God sees us not only as we are, but as He is making us to be. God was calling me to be something He was going to fulfill in the journey.  I have been becoming strong and courageous in Him, for He is with me wherever I go.

What does God call you?  What has He called you to do?  Do you feel too weak and insignificant?  Like a nobody?  Well, you’re in good company. David was only a boy; Jonah was filled with fear; Joseph was thrown into a pit; and Mary was just a simple, unassuming young girl who would give birth to the Savior of the world.

In a world where everyone wants to be famous, “…the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him” (2 Chron. 16:9) regardless of our fame, standing, finances, intelligence, or anything else the world says is important.  

God loves to do His work through a humble spirit, the ones in whom the world takes no notice. They have no agenda, and know they have nothing sufficient in themselves.  They must rely wholly on God – where true and lasting success always lies, and He always gets the glory.

No matter what you’re going through, God sees you through the eyes of His Risen Son.  He may very well be using that struggle in your life to prepare you for something great. Whatever He’s doing, He knows the plans He has for you, and what He is making you to be.

In Him we already have the victory.
Signature

How to Find the Abundant Path

Posted on by Dorci

Here we are, standing at the beginning of a new year with countless paths before us, each with their own forks leading into valleys, mountaintops, hushed wooded groves, deep waters, blue skies.  Some would lead us closer to God, some further away. So how do we know which ones to take?  Which paths are the Lord’s, and how do we follow Him on His paths of abundance?

There is a way which seems right to a man, but the end of it is the way of death. Proverbs 14:12

There is a way which seems right…..

Too many times we make decisions based on what seems right, on what we feel at the time.  What we feel one day we may not the next, and making a decision based on our ever-changing feelings – or as the world might say, following your heart – can be disastrous, and lead us down a path full of snares.

So.  If we can’t make a decision properly based on what seems right to us, how do we know what really is right?

The word abundance in Psalm 65:11 is the Hebrew word deshen which means “the fat; figuratively abundance; specifically the fatty ashes of sacrifice.”

Genesis 4:4 talks about Abel’s offering to the Lord.  “And Abel also brought an offering—fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. The Lord looked with favor on Abel and his offering..”  Abel didn’t keep the first or the best for himself, giving the Lord his scrawny leftovers.  He brought the best of the best to give as a sacrifice to the Lord, and the Lord accepted it and the proof of His acceptance were the ashes.  The sacrifice was acceptable and good in the sight of  God.  It was a bountiful, generous, overflowing, richly abundant banquet between the Lord and Abel.

Fast forward a few thousand years to the hill of Calvary.  There is a cross, and on it the lamb of God.  God’s very best given as an acceptable sacrifice for our sins.

This Offering was an abundant, sufficient, once-for-all Sacrifice for our sins.

Only this Sacrifice was raised again on the third day and now lives to make intercession for us to the Father.  From Him all blessings, wisdom and direction to the very fullness of our sanctification lies with Christ.

Oh my dear friends, the abundant path is Christ Himself.

As you walk through the year, keep your eyes focused on Him.  Remember, this life is not about things, it’s not about climbing an imaginary success ladder, it’s about an ongoing, intimate relationship with our Abba Father.  He created us for fellowship with Him. Talk to Him and practice listening to His voice. And as you move through this life and aren’t sure which path to take, remember that He will never tell you to do anything contrary to His Word.  He IS the Word.

As you go, you’ll need to hold onto a few things.

Faith in God.

Not faith in circumstances, not faith in people, but keep your faith where it belongs: on the God who loves you, who hears your prayers, and is in the process of answering them according to His will  and His timing.  Never, ever give up.

Trust in God.

Trust is faith in action.  It’s where the rubber meets the road.  When God tells you to go there, or do that, will you trust Him enough to be obedient, even when it’s hard or even seems impossible?

Hope in God.

Hope will sustain you when nothing makes sense. Without it our souls wilt, we give up and we either make decisions in the flesh and move in the  wrong direction or we’ll stop moving altogether.  None of those will have a good outcome.  But hope will keep us encouraged, patient and joyful.

Love, for God and His people.

“If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.”  1 Cor. 13:1-3

“The end of all things is near. Therefore be alert and of sober mind so that you may pray. Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.” 1 Peter 4:7-8

We have such a short time here on this earth.  If all we do is wrapped up in the holy love of the Lord, we will leave a legacy that reaches further than we can imagine, and we’ll lay up treasures in heaven that no one can fathom.

And what is true love?

“Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends.”  1 Cor. 13:4-8a

That is the abundant life.

In His good grace,

To Us a Child is Born

Posted on by Dorci

The Fiercest Battle

Posted on by Dorci

Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to turn
“‘a man against his father,
a daughter against her mother,
a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law—
a man’s enemies will be the members of his own household.

Matthew 10:34-36

Whoa.  That is some pretty inflammatory language Jesus is using here.  Did not come to bring peace?  A sword?  Enemies?

What on earth could Jesus be talking about?

First, we need to understand who He’s talking to.  Jesus is giving instruction to the twelve disciples as He sends them out, specifically to the Jews, as His witnesses to heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those with skin diseases and drive out demons.

But before they head out, they need to understand His message, and what they’ll be up against.  Many, even the disciples, were under the impression that when the Messiah came He would set up His kingdom on earth and reign over all, bringing peace, ending famine and wars.

But Jesus makes it clear that is not His mission.  Not yet, anyway.

As they went, they were to proclaim this message:  the kingdom of heaven is near.  The Messiah has come.

And He came to be the fulfillment of the law.

The law showed us we were sinners, and sin requires a payment of death.  Jesus came to die in our place to pay for our sins.  He came to make truth known, even as He Himself is truth.  But not everyone wants to hear that they’re a sinner. And of those who know they’re a sinner, not everyone wants to be saved from it.

Jesus references the words of the prophet Micah in Micah 7:6.  Micah lamented about the terrible times in which he lived when sin was rampant, and there were few who held onto faith and righteousness.  And many of those who did found that their sons or daughters or other family members fell into the other camp—the one that reveled in immorality–and that caused strife, to say the least.

Centuries later, the disciples would find that, again, there would be relatively few who would choose faith and righteousness, even among the ancient sons and daughters of God.  Few who would choose to align themselves with the truth—Jesus Christ.  The disciples themselves would be among the few who stood in a world full of people who would rather deny the Christ and live in their own sinfulness.  Even then the disciples were unaware that there was one among them, a friend, a fellow servant, who would choose sin over Christ.

And now, centuries later, the story is the same.  Sin is rampant and there are few in this world who acknowledge their sin and put their faith in Christ.  And even among those who call themselves Christians, there are fewer still who are willing to submit their whole lives to Him, leave the world behind, take up their crosses daily and live upright lives before their God.

And for those who do, for those who know that truth triumphs over sin and evil and destruction and death, for those who desire to live in that truth, we will, sooner or later, be called on to make a choice.

Someone we love, a close friend, a fellow servant, someone in our own family, someone who doesn’t adhere to the truth, will want to sin and drag us along with them.  They won’t understand why we won’t do this or allow that.  And a son will be against his father, a daughter against her mother, a fellow servant against another.

And a battle will ensue.  This is the metaphoric sword Jesus speaks of.

The battle could get bloody.  Sharp words may well be thrown our way. Wounds will be inflicted.  Relationships could die. We could feel as though our heart is being ripped clean out of our chest.  And all the while we’ll need to keep loving them and praying for them.

The inner struggle will be to not to let our flesh take over, to not retaliate with harsh words of our own, but to keep praying, remembering we don’t battle against flesh and blood but against an enemy we cannot see.

Prayer is the real battleground, and whether or not we choose to remain in prayer is where the battle will be won or lost.

Through it all we might have an inkling of the pain Christ suffered on the cross.

Are we willing to risk it all for Him?  Is His cause our cause?

It’s at this moment when the foundation of our faith will be revealed.  Is it sure?  Do we stand on the Rock which does not move, is not shaken and does not compromise? Is our love for Him real?

Or will we falter?  Will we choose sin over truth?  Now is the time to choose, not when we’re in the heat of battle and the enemy is coming at us full force.  Put on the spiritual armor and don’t take it off.

Satan comes to kill, steal and destroy.  He will get at us any way he can, even through family members.  Especially through family members.  He will come and whisper “It’s just a little sin.  Just a little compromise won’t hurt.  And you love them, right? You don’t want them angry with you.”

If we listen and give in, before we know it we’re far from God, and so is the one we love.

Stand strong.

Love them enough not to compromise.  This is not a battle for mere ground or castles or other earthly kingdoms.  This is a battle for hearts and eternities.

And love Christ more.  He saved us and He wants to save the other person in our lives whose ways are at odds with His, whose heart is far from Him and whose eternity will be a bitter one unless they have a lighthouse to show them the way.

Better than keeping a false, temporary peace, be a light shining the truth of God, so they can find their way to Him and experience real, lasting, eternal peace.

One day you may see a glimmer of hope. You’re gaining ground.  Hearts are softening. Christ is winning.

“Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.”  Galatians 6:9