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Don’t be Fooled by False Evidence

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And he identified it and said, “It is my son’s robe. A fierce animal has devoured him. Joseph is without doubt torn to pieces.” Genesis 37:33

On March 7, 2020, my husband and I boarded a plane for an island in the Caribbean to celebrate our 25th anniversary. Some dear friends joined us for their 30th, and we enjoyed a fantastic week together sharing in the wonder of God’s goodness. We returned on March 14th to a world turning upside down in fear of Covid-19.

International travel restrictions compelled me to stay home in self quarantine for 14 days. By the second day, I began to feel ill. Although I had no cough or fever, a dizzy head and aching body unsettled me. A nagging fear began to whisper that I had picked up the deadly virus and was putting my family at risk.

After 12 days with no change, I called my doctor. He confirmed my suspicion that I likely didn’t have Covid-19 but had picked up some other virus which should soon work itself out.

The achy, viral feeling eventually ended, but I didn’t return to feeling normal. Dizziness continued to plague me in waves, along with a strange, floaty feeling in my arms and legs. A new fear slowly emerged from my history, “Your thyroid has stopped functioning properly again, and you’ve come out of remission.”

A few years ago, I was diagnosed with Graves Disease. An overactive thyroid caused my systems to operate in overdrive and was particularly threatening to my heart. Medication and a radical diet change brought me into remission, allowing me to avoid the looming options of surgery or radiation. Praise Jesus, He healed me! I have been medication free for well over a year.

Until the voice began to whisper that what God had done had been undone.

As the symptoms continued, I became more and more convinced that was the problem, and I called my doctor to get a new prescription to carry me through the next few months of pandemic lockdown. He refused to give me the medication without checking my blood, so I made the journey to a lab. Two days later, I received the call that my thyroid was operating in normal levels, and he would not give me the medication.

Why do I share this with you? Because our enemy is a deceiver who manipulates our hearts and minds through fear.

He works to separate us from what God has spoken, and he even fabricates evidence to substantiate his lies. He is the ruler of the kingdom of the air, playing at our hearts with suggestion. And over those weeks while fear oppressed this nation with increasing power, I allowed the enemy to convince me that a lie was true. Had it not been for a conscientious doctor, I would’ve created a greater problem by taking unnecessary medication.

Beloved, our enemy fabricates evidence to convince us to agree with him instead of God. He uses fear to persuade us that the worst is true.

Our opening Scripture offers a perfect illustration of his tactics. Jealous over their father’s affections, Jacob’s sons had sold their brother into slavery. To cover it up, they took Joseph’s robe—a gift from Jacob—and coated it in animal blood. When they presented the bloody robe to their father, they didn’t utter a word. They simply presented the evidence.

The deceiver then led Jacob to a false conclusion. “A fierce animal has devoured him. Joseph is without doubt torn to pieces.”

Jacob was certain of the conclusion he’d come to. Without doubt. Unfortunately, he was convinced of a lie. Joseph was alive and well, repositioned by God to Egypt where He would use him to save and bless a nation.

Our logical conclusions often lead us away from truth. I wonder, dear one. How often does the enemy author your conclusions, convincing you that his lies are true?

Another lie crippled a nation and kept Israel from entering God’s promises. When Moses sent spies to check out the promised land and bring back a report, they returned with evidence proving the land was bountiful, just as God had said. They also brought back a lie based in fear.

And there we saw the Nephilim (the sons of Anak, who come from the Nephilim), and we seemed to ourselves like grasshoppers, and so we seemed to them. Numbers 13:33

The spies saw the evidence presented to them—giants possessing the land God promised them—and came to the conclusion that those giants saw them as insignificant insects. But who told them that the inhabitants of Canaan thought of them as grasshoppers? Where did that perception come from?

Decades later, when Joshua would finally lead Israel into that very land, God exposed the truth. Joshua’s spies found refuge from Rahab. I’ll let her tell you why she helped them.

“I know that the Lord has given you the land, and that the fear of you has fallen upon us, and that all the inhabitants of the land melt away before you. 10 For we have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea before you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to the two kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan, to Sihon and Og, whom you devoted to destruction. 11 And as soon as we heard it, our hearts melted, and there was no spirit left in any man because of you, for the Lord your God, he is God in the heavens above and on the earth beneath. Joshua 2:9-11

While fear had told Moses’s spies that the people of the land saw them as grasshoppers, reality was quite different. Their hearts were melting in fear of the God of Israel, and they were convinced of their own destruction. They were still convinced of it, 40 years later.

If only Israel had entered the land at God’s command to claim their victory! Instead, they partnered with the lies of the enemy—rejecting both God and His promises—and lived out the rest of their lives in the scarcity of the wilderness.

Wilderness beliefs can’t enter God’s promises.

Oh, dear one. Let’s stop letting the enemy convince us his lies are true. Let’s stop settling for the devil’s wilderness when God offers a land flowing with abundance.

We need to know the Truth to recognize the enemy’s lies. His name is Jesus.

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” John 14:6

Invite Jesus to show you the way into Truth that leads to life. He won’t disappoint you. He can’t.

His perfect love will cast out fear and lead you to the Father’s abundance.

 

 

Waiting on Dueling Angels

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But for you, O Lord, do I wait; it is you, O Lord my God, who will answer. Psalm 38:15 ESV

God answers prayer. I love the certainty of that promise.

But our opening scripture also reveals another truth: We often have to wait for that answer.

The waiting frustrates most of us. In this world of instant gratification, often God’s movement seems a bit slow. But what if it isn’t God that’s keeping you from your answer?

Today we will glimpse two prayers from a gatekeeper, a man whose prayers released God’s deliverance on this earth. You’ve probably heard of him. His name is Daniel.

Our friend Daniel is most famous for having survived a den of lions, but that’s not what we’ll be talking about today. Today we’ll see how he served the people of God as a watchman, discerning God’s Word and releasing His will through prayer.

In the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, perceived in the books the number of years that, according to the word of the Lord to Jeremiah the prophet, must pass before the end of the desolations of Jerusalem, namely, seventy years. Daniel 9:2

Daniel lived in Babylon, the result of Israel being carried off into captivity because sin had removed God’s covering of protection. Jeremiah had warned them in advance of their exile, declaring they would serve the king of Babylon for 70 years.

Daniel realized those 70 years were coming to a close and it was time for God to deliver His people once more. So, he put on his party hat and waited to see God move.

Well, not exactly. He did precisely what Elijah did last week when God had revealed His will. He prayed.

Then I turned my face to the Lord God, seeking him by prayer and pleas for mercy … I prayed to the Lord my God… Daniel 9:3-4

Interesting consistency, don’t you think? God declares His will, and a human vessel comes into agreement with Him through prayer to see that what God said would happen actually does.

Are you beginning to understand the vital importance of prayer, dear one? You and I won’t see God manifest His power without it.

Daniel understood that and dropped to his knees. I love what scripture reveals about his answer.

While I was speaking and praying, confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my plea before the Lord my God for the holy hill of my God, while I was speaking in prayer, the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the first, came to me in swift flight at the time of the evening sacrifice. Daniel 9:20-21

Can you even imagine it? Daniel hadn’t even finished praying, and an angel showed up mid-sentence to give him God’s answer.

I bet you’re wishing you were on Gabriel’s “to do” list today.

Look at what Gabriel tells him.

At the beginning of your pleas for mercy a word went out, and I have come to tell it to you, for you are greatly loved. Daniel 9:23

The NIV puts it this way. As soon as you began to pray, a word went out, which I have come to tell you.

God released His answer the moment Daniel started asking.

Here’s what you need to know, dear one. Every time you utter a prayer with a heart that seeks God’s will, He moves. Something happens in the heavenly realms whether you see it at that moment or not.

This particular time, when Daniel prayed, God blessed him with an immediate answer. But let’s see what happens a few years later when Daniel approaches God the same way.

In Daniel 10, under the reign of a new king, Daniel received a vision from God and began to seek Him in prayer and fasting for understanding of it. We’re told he fasted, prayed and didn’t bathe for three straight weeks before a visitor arrived with a word from God.

“Do not be afraid, Daniel. Since the first day that you set your mind to gain understanding and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come in response to them. Daniel 10:12

Once again, we see God confirming that He heard and answered Daniel’s prayer on the first day he started asking. But let’s see what else the visitor tells him.

But the prince of the Persian kingdom resisted me twenty-one days. Then Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, because I was detained there with the king of Persia. Now I have come to explain to you what will happen to your people in the future, for the vision concerns a time yet to come.” Daniel 10:13-14

What in the world? God dispatched a messenger immediately to deliver His answer, but the prince of the Persian kingdom detained him for three straight weeks until the archangel Michael came to help him so he could slip away.

Listen, dear one. You and I have no idea what’s happening even now in the heavenly realms. Satan’s forces work hard to hinder God’s movement on earth at every turn. What we just read describes angels and demons battling in the unseen.

God sent His answer, but evil forces sought to hinder it from getting through to the earth. Why? Because presently the earth is Satan’s realm, and the enemy comes against God’s own “in great wrath, because he knows that his time is short!” (Revelation 12:12)

But here’s our amazing promise!

You are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. 1 John 4:4

God’s will always trumps the enemy’s efforts, as long as there is a human vessel willing to bend the knee and align himself with God to see it accomplished on earth.

Daniel prayed for 3 straight weeks. The angel met resistance for precisely 21 days. Daniels’s persistence in prayer bound the work of the enemy and loosed God’s will so it could become realized in his life.

Does that sound familiar, dear one? Jesus taught that the gates of hell cannot prevail against a praying church.

“I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” Matthew 16:19

Perhaps we should pray like we believe Him.

Enter His Gates with Thanksgiving

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Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise! Give thanks to him; bless his name! Psalm 100:4 ESV

A smile lurks at the corners of my eyes when I ponder our opening scripture.

As a child I memorized Psalm 100 in song, an upbeat chorus proclaiming the truths of the verses and then breaking into a refrain. “Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, thank you, Jesus…Praise God… Thank you, Jesus…”

I still can’t read the words without inserting them into the tune. I guess there’s something to be said about the power of a melody. After almost 40 years, I can still remember the whole Psalm.

I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you. Psalm 119:11

Granted, Psalm 100 only has five verses. But when I learned them, I was only six.

Still, just knowing the words won’t do anything for me if I don’t understand them and live by them. So what does Psalm 100 really teach us?

Let’s take a few moments to read it together, pondering its truths. After all, it bears the subtitle A Psalm for Giving Thanks and tomorrow is Thanksgiving. It may help us shift our gratitude in the right direction.

Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth! Serve the Lord with gladness!

Come into his presence with singing! Know that the Lord, he is God!

It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.

Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise!

Give thanks to him; bless his name! For the Lord is good;

his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations.

Oh, how I love the Word of God! My soul yearns for truth and my heart swells when I hear it. Celebrate with me a few of the truths listed here.

  • We can know without doubt that the Lord is God
  • He made us, and we are His… we belong to Him
  • He is good… we needn’t fear or mistrust His intentions for us
  • His steadfast love endures… forever
  • He is faithful… not just to some, but to all generations

Those are some things worth praising! But now I want to settle in on the truth revealed in verse 4.

  • We enter His gates with thanksgiving, and His courts with praise.

Listen carefully, dear one. You and I need the presence of the Living God. More than anything else we want in life, we want God’s presence—whether we realize it yet or not.

My soul longs, yes, faints for the courts of the Lord; my heart and flesh sing for joy to the living God. Psalm 84:2

Beloved, the blessings of God flow through the presence of God. And here’s what Psalm 100:4 proclaims: We enter the presence of God with thanksgiving and praise.

Don’t miss this, dear one. A heart of gratitude and praise toward God ushers us through His gates and into His presence.

Ingratitude, on the other hand, separates us from Him.

You may be thinking, I don’t have much to be thankful for. Perhaps your circumstances seem pretty hopeless and all your hardened heart will allow you to see right now is your lack.

What if choosing gratitude anyway could draw you into His presence and become the catalyst to change your circumstances? What if praising God for the truths we discovered today in Psalm 100 and asking Him to empower you to believe them could even alter your day?

Consider Paul’s command about prayer from Philippians 4:6.

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.

Did you notice that every request we take to God in prayer must be made with thanksgiving? Perhaps it’s because thanksgiving ushers us through His gates and into His courts. But look at the promise given when we approach God that way.

And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:7

Peace is what you really seek, dear one. A heart at rest. Thanksgiving sets you on that path.

May this Thanksgiving be more than a holiday. May you pass through the gate and encounter the presence of God.

An Invitation to Pray

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In her deep anguish Hannah prayed to the Lord, weeping bitterly . . . and the Lord remembered her. 1 Samuel 1:10, 19

It’s 6:30am on Wednesday morning. Blog day.

I should have something ready to post, but I don’t. I started writing a teaching for you last week—a message on friendship with Jesus—but I never finished it. The hours I set aside to complete it were interrupted by a phone call. Instead, I spent my afternoon with a friend in the Emergency Room.

Perhaps you’ll get to read it next Wednesday.

To be honest with you, I could have finished it up last night, but that would have meant missing my son’s soccer game. And I didn’t want to miss it. Sometimes moms just need to be moms first, especially on the hard days.

You see, people I love are hurting. I’m not talking about my immediate family. I mean my church family. Dear friends of mine are struggling with some hard things. Big things. Things that desperately need God’s touch—like finances, rebellious sons, and cancer.

It’s hard watching people you love struggle. At times the feeling of helplessness seems overwhelming—and that’s just what the enemy wants us to feel. But then I’m reminded that in Christ we are never helpless. We have a powerful gift at our disposal, one that we often take for granted . . . or use as a last resort.

We have prayer.

I believe God wants to teach us a few things about prayer. I mean, if we’re going to be honest, it doesn’t really make sense to us. How can speaking a few words really do anything?

But you and I were created in the image of a God who speaks things into being. He says it, and it’s so. So it only makes sense, really, that what we speak would also be powerful.

Beloved, our prayers release what God has willed in the heavenly realms to be poured out on the topsoil of this earth. In His desire for relationship, He ordained that His people would partner with Him to see His Kingdom come where we live.

I don’t know about you, but it wearies me that it often looks like the enemy is winning. I’m tired of it. I believe the promise of 1 John 4:4,

You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.

I think it’s time we showed Him we agree.

So I’m doing something a little different today. I’d like to invite you to pray with me. Would you set aside some time for intercession, dear one? Would you offer yourself to Jesus today as a vessel for glory?

He only needs a few minutes of your time and a yielded heart. You don’t need to worry about what to say. You just need to submit yourself to His authority and invite Him to lead. Allow His Spirit to fill your thoughts with His desires for prayer, and then give voice to them.

Amazing things happen when God Himself becomes the source of our prayers.

This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him. 1 John 5:14-15

We may just start moving mountains in the name of Jesus.

A Divine Appointment

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“ . . . no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him.”                         1 Corinthians 2:9 ESV

“I opened this door.”

God whispered the words into my heart one morning in the parking lot of the YMCA. And I have to be honest with you. It wasn’t what I wanted to hear. I had other plans.

I had purchased my ticket to the Beth Moore Conference months before, and I couldn’t wait to attend. My heart longed for some rest and refreshment, and it had been years since I had been to one. Determined not to miss another, I had marked my calendar as unavailable and prepared to take some me time.

So when God brought several invitations to speak on the Saturday of that conference, I wasn’t exactly thrilled about it. Something told me He was trying to get my attention.

One particular event kept occupying my thoughts, and that day in the parking lot, I opened my heart to ask His direction. “What do you have for me, Lord? What is it you want me to do?”

“I opened this door.”

It figured. I had committed myself to walking through any door that God opens, so I immediately knew what that meant. I wouldn’t be going to see Beth Moore.

Really, Lord? I took a moment to voice my frustration. “But I just wanted to get filled up.”

His response was immediate. “I will fill you up.”

Have you ever been there? Have you ever set your heart on a particular path and then realized God was leading you in different direction?

That day I stood at a crossroads.

I knew what I wanted. In my mind, it seemed the best possible scenario, and I wanted to hold it tightly with both hands. Giving it up felt like a sacrifice.

But I also know that Jesus calls us with two, simple words. “Follow Me.” And behind those words, He offers a promise.

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” Jeremiah 29:11

At every crossroads along our journey, you and I must decide if we believe Him.

My logic wanted to argue against His leadership. After all, didn’t I need someone to pour into me sometimes instead of always being the one who pours out?

But Jesus had promised, “I will fill you up.”

I decided not to argue further. I’ve trusted Him often enough to know that obedience is always best.

I surrendered my heart to obey Him, and He softened the blow with an idea. I could attend the conference as planned on Friday and then drive to a hotel in Chambersburg so I’d be there for the event on Saturday.

I felt a hint of excitement. Apparently God would allow me to do both.

The weekend arrived for Living Proof Live with Beth Moore. A few of us attended the You Lead Conference beforehand and were finished up by lunchtime. Having cancelled our original hotel room in Hershey, we had lots of time to kill before heading to the Giant Center for worship. A friend who was staying at the Hershey Lodge generously offered us one of her rooms to rest before the event.

We had just parked the car and unloaded some things to take into the hotel for the afternoon. Walking the few short steps to the door near our rooms, we noticed a minivan pull up in front of it. A moment later the door slid open, and out stepped Beth Moore.

IMG_1491It took a moment for my brain to register that it was really her. She stepped toward me, taking my hand in greeting. An overwhelming sense of divine providence washed over me, filling me with emotion. God had orchestrated this appointment.

I struggled to find words at first, caught off guard by this outpouring of God’s favor. But then, as Beth graciously leaned in and listened, I found myself able to share my heart.

I told her that I’m a Bible teacher, and that ten years before, my sister-in-law had invited me for a “sisters” weekend to one of her conferences in DC. I hadn’t heard of her at the time and wasn’t sure what to expect, but when I saw her passionate love for Jesus and witnessed her devotion to His Word, it validated what I had been feeling in my own heart. That weekend released something in me, and not long afterward, I opened my home to lead my very first Bible study. That event marked the start of my journey toward ministry.

I can’t tell you what a precious moment that was to me. I never imagined I’d be able to voice my gratitude in person over the IMG_1487impact she’d had on my life.

But God wasn’t done. While we were speaking, my assistant approached carrying two copies of my Bible study. I handed them to Beth, and she gladly took them, sharing that she had self-published her first book just as I had.

Everything faded as I took in that profound moment… Beth Moore held my Bible study in her hands.

My cup overflowed.

Here’s why I share this, dear one. Had I insisted on my own plan instead of obeying God, I never would have been there. We had reserved a room at another hotel. My stubbornness would have cost me that divine appointment.

God wasn’t taking anything from me by sending me to speak that Saturday. He had a blessing He wanted to give. One that would prosper me, that fit perfectly into His plan to offer me hope and pour into my future.

Will you trust Jesus to write your story, beloved? His plans are far greater than you can imagine.

Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

Ephesians 3:20-21

 

A Mother’s Struggle to Trust

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Not again.

Clutching my Bible and prayer journal, I retreated to my favorite chair, eager to spend some time with the Lord. Well, that’s what I told myself anyway. I really just wanted to feel better.

Here I am, Lord. I scratched the words on the page, searching for where to begin. Worship filtered through my headphones, the uplifting beat of the melody marking a stark contrast to my mood. My mind tuned to the lyrics, “All we need is You.”

Instantly, conviction pierced my heart with the unsettling knowledge that I didn’t agree—at least not that day. That day I needed more than Jesus. I needed Him to fix things.

Guilt compelled me to confess. I’m sorry, Lord. I want you to be enough, but this is too much . . .

A jagged scar from an old wound had just been torn open. The familiar longing for acceptance tugged at my heart, crying out for satisfaction. Rejection had found me again. But this time, it had come for my son.

That changes things. I can handle the battle when I’m at the heart of it. I’ve learned to trust God’s plans for me even when I can’t make sense of them. He’s proven Himself faithful over and over again.

But this felt altogether different. This wasn’t about me. This time my child’s heart had been shattered, and I desperately wanted to fix it. I can’t be expected to idly watch one of my precious ones suffer.

My heart rebelled at the injustice of it. Anger mingled with the pain, begging retaliation. This wasn’t fair. He deserved better.

God should do something.

Soon His gentle Spirit stirred within my heart, lifting the veil so I could see. Realization dawned, penetrating my grief with this undeniable truth: God knew. He understood rejection. He understood the pain of seeing His Son cast aside—of wanting the world to recognize His great value, yet seeing it deny Him.

“He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him.” John 1:11, ESV

In that moment, I knew His suffering. I felt His pain. How the Father must have wept when they rejected Jesus. How He still must weep as we repeatedly devalue His only begotten Son . . . the Son He loves . . . the Son He gave.

Hope flickered through my sorrow, God’s own understanding of my feelings encouraging me to press in close. I asked Him to speak to me, to help me trust Him with my own son’s fragile heart. I needed Him to help me believe what I knew His Word declared: that His plans for him are far greater than my own.

True to who He is, God answered. Once again, His Spirit stirred, reminding me of truth. God never allows suffering for its own sake. Suffering, according to Scripture, marks the path to glory.

“But rejoice inasmuch as you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed.” 1 Peter 4:13, NIV

Then I knew. God had glory to reveal in my son’s life.

This pain would pass, and God would somehow bring good through it. It wasn’t what I would choose for him, but the God who created Him and wrote his story knew what I couldn’t. For whatever reason, my son needed to walk through this. His despair would not be in vain. Through it God would reveal Himself.

I sat in the stillness, pen in hand, and listened, inviting the God who speaks to do so again. Soon His quiet whisper stirred within me, and I found my hand moving once more across the page.

He is mine, beloved, just as you are mine. I AM greater than his pain . . . than your pain. You will soon see.

A promise.

Tears fell in response, my heart hopeful. God always keeps His Word.

I thought of Abraham and how he must have felt as he placed his son, Isaac, upon that altar. I imagine he did it with trembling hands and a breaking heart. But place him there, he did. And Isaac received the blessing that came through his father’s promise.

God had spoken blessings over my son as well, and I had a choice to make. I could retreat into my anger and justify my sorrow. Or, I could trust God to keep His Word in my son’s life. I could fight to change things and try to manipulate his circumstances so I’d like the look of them better, or I could choose to believe the God who speaks and entrust my son to Him with open hands.

I decided I wouldn’t withhold him from the God who loves him even more than I do . . . and then it came. I experienced Jesus’ promise from John 14:27,

 “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you.” ESV

The wonder of it always astounds me. I can’t explain the how of it. I simply revel in the miracle of it. But when I run toward Jesus in my confusion instead of from Him—and I listen—I find peace.

It happens the moment I resolve in my heart to believe.

Carry Your Cross

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Then he said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.” Luke 9:23

I’m guessing that’s not one of your favorite scriptures.

I get it. Your flesh cries out in rebellion against such commands. Deny myself? We spend our lives trying to indulge the desires of our “selves.”  That goes against everything in our nature. And carrying a cross doesn’t sound very fun. No one likes a burden. So those first two make the last one seem pretty unpalatable.

Why would I want to follow Jesus if to do so I have to deny myself and carry a cross?

Why, indeed? I’d like to suggest something that perhaps you haven’t considered. What if the fact that we find those commands so unappealing confirms how very important they are to overcoming the enemy and experiencing abundant life?

Here’s the truth of the matter: The enemy of our souls likes keeping us under his thumb. He’s been governing our sin nature since man’s fall at the beginning of time, and he’s not keen on giving up control. He enjoys the chaos and destruction he generates in our lives as he bends our wills to bring about death, all the while convincing us we’re free and making our own choices.

Maybe you didn’t realize that. Yes, dear one. If you don’t choose to submit your will to God, you’re already submitting it to the prince of this world, the ruler of the kingdom of the air (Ephesians 2:2).

Your will is not your own. You only think it is.

In 2 Timothy 2, Paul challenges believers to call on the Lord out of a pure heart. He says this about opponents of truth in verses 25-26,

Opponents must be gently instructed, in the hope that God will grant them repentance leading them to a knowledge of the truth, and that they will come to their senses and escape from the trap of the devil, who has taken them captive to do his will.

You see, beloved, your sin nature rebels so strongly against self-denial, because the enemy of your soul doesn’t want to lose his grip. He’s convinced you to believe that you’re free to do as you please. Meanwhile, he quietly pulls the strings. The “I” that you think is making your decisions actually has a master.

 “As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. “ Romans 7:17

Precious one, allowing sin to continue to govern your “I” eventually brings about death.

For when we were in the realm of the flesh, the sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in us, so that we bore fruit for death. Romans 7:5

Because sin governs them, following our own passions and desires will always hurt us eventually. So can you understand, beloved, why the first step in following Jesus to new life must involve denying what your “self” insists you need?

When Jesus asks you to deny yourself, He isn’t trying to take away your right to choose. He wants to restore it to you! He simply wants to set your “I” free from the destructive rule of sin. Then the person He created you to be—your personality, your deep passions and sense of purpose—the real, unfettered you can emerge to step into abundant life. And your soul can soar with the joy that comes with it.

“So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.” John 8:36

Not so bad, right?

But what about taking up that cross? We know what it meant for Jesus. Death.

Beloved, the only death coming to you through the cross belongs to the sin that binds you. Remember, even for Jesus, the cross became the means to resurrection life. It offers the same promise for you.

That cross represents God’s beautiful will for your life. Yes, Jesus carried an actual cross up a hill to Golgotha, bearing its shame and shedding His blood so that you and I could be free. He lived out God’s will for Him so that we could live redeemed. Now that cross remains a symbol of what God wants to see lived out in each of our lives. “ . . . not my will, but yours be done” (Luke 22:42).

But we forget what else that cross represents. What became available to us through that cross?

Love … forgiveness… the Holy Spirit… mercy… grace … freedom… sonship… power

Beloved, when Jesus asks you to take up your cross, He invites you to take up all that comes with it. He wants you to take up God’s will for your life, just like He did. He asks you to believe that He intends to prosper you and not harm you, that He means to offer you hope and a beautiful future (Jeremiah 29:11).

He also welcomes you to take up everything He poured out for you through His cross to empower you to step into the abundant life He’s planned for you.

The question is: will you believe? If so, there’s one thing left to do.

Follow.

Trading God’s Presence for His Promise

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Sometimes life just gets hard. Especially when we find ourselves in the desert.

Hungry. Thirsty. Dying inside. Definitely tired.

You know what I mean. Have you ever set out toward a blessing, believing God for one of His promises, but it seemed to take forever to get there?

And the longer it takes the more doubt sets in. Weariness saps your strength. And when you and I get weary, we get desperate. We’d do anything for a quick fix, an easy way out.

What would you be willing to sacrifice to leave the desert?

Imagine that Jesus were to approach you today and offer to carry you off to heaven to bask in all its blessings  . . .

  • Eternal life without sin
  • Perfect healing and an end to sickness
  • No more sadness, sorrow or tears
  • Mansions and streets of gold
  • Surpassing love and unending joy
  • Transcending peace

But there’s a catch: He wouldn’t go with you. Would you accept it? If you could leave the pain and struggles of this life today, exchanging it for the glories of heaven, but you’d have to go without Jesus, would you go? Would the blessings be enough for you without Jesus to share it with?

I caution you not to answer too hastily. What we know to be the “right” answer doesn’t always mesh with the truth of what lies within our hearts. I know this from experience. When we invite Jesus in on the conversation, we may be surprised at what we discover about ourselves. I was.

Your honest answer to that question will reveal a lot about your heart. Do you seek Jesus, or do you just want the benefit of His promises?

God gave the Israelites a similar offer in Exodus 33. He had miraculously delivered them from their Egyptian captivity and led them to Mt. Sinai. Then while Moses met with God on the mountain, they thanked Him by building and worshiping a golden calf.

God’s response to them may surprise you.

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Leave this place, you and the people you brought up out of Egypt, and go up to the land I promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, saying, ‘I will give it to your descendants.’  I will send an angel before you and drive out the Canaanites, Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites.  Go up to the land flowing with milk and honey. But I will not go with you, because you are a stiff-necked people and I might destroy you on the way.” Exodus 33:1-3

Can you imagine? Israel had not been faithful to Him, but God always remains faithful to His word.  And He had made a promise to Abraham that He intended to keep. God would indeed bring the people into the land He promised them, and He wouldn’t send them alone. He would send an angel before them to clear the land of the enemies living on it. They could just walk right in.

God offered Israel an easy path to quick prosperity in the land of milk and honey, as well as a gift of divine power to claim it. It would end their desert hunger and thirst. It almost sounds too good to be true.

It might be. There’s a catch. God Himself wouldn’t be going.

Perhaps that doesn’t seem like a big deal to you. I mean, that’s what we’re after, isn’t it? We want to experience God’s blessings and promises. I wonder how many of us would jump at that opportunity today.

Let’s see how Israel responded.

 When the people heard these distressing words, they began to mourn and no one put on any ornaments.  . . . Then Moses said to him, “If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here. How will anyone know that you are pleased with me and with your people unless you go with us? What else will distinguish me and your people from all the other people on the face of the earth?” Exodus 33:4, 15-16

Dear one, any blessing we might receive from God isn’t worth anything without God Himself. Israel understood that, even with their constant rebellion and habitual lack of faith. God Himself is the reward. They wouldn’t take another step without Him.

What are you really after, dear one? Is Jesus merely the means to an end, or is He the end you’ll pursue by whatever means?

What would you be willing to do, beloved, to truly know God’s presence? Would you trade the easy path in order to know His sufficiency? Would you go to battle to experience the working of His strength? Would you forfeit a miracle and experience loss to truly know His comfort? Is His presence worth whatever encountering it may cost?

Perhaps it’s time to start believing Psalm 84:10,

Better is one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere.

Jesus is everything, dear one. He wants to be everything to you.

Rest for the Weary

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I have nothing to offer you today. Seriously.

I sat at my computer several times over the last few days praying for divine inspiration to share with you. What do they need, Lord? What do you want to speak through me?

Several times I felt I had a direction, and my fingers began to move across the keyboard. They stopped moving after about the second paragraph. Going nowhere.

I have to admit it’s been frustrating. And I’m not used to it. I prefer when God weaves a message together nice and early in advance of my deadlines. Not so this week. Like I said, frustrating.

I have a feeling He’s trying to teach me something. After all, Jesus has been speaking one word into my life for several weeks now.

Rest.

I don’t believe He’s telling me I need to take a vacation, although Scripture clearly points to the need for Sabbath rest. I’m talking about resting in Him.

I think it’s one of those things we talk about but usually don’t know how to do. I’ll admit, it’s my nature to struggle with this one.

But God promises in Isaiah 46:4,

“I have made you and I will carry you; I will sustain you and I will rescue you.”

Yet very often we fall short of experiencing that promise. Instead, we find ourselves striving so hard we’re exhausted. And frustrated.

Like when I tried to will a blog into existence. Or should I say, when I tried to get God to give it to me in my timing instead of His.

I’ve discovered that when I try to force my will on God, I always end up weary.

God wants to carry us, dear one, but sometimes we’re so busy trying to make things happen that we don’t allow Him room to move. Our self-sufficiency blocks the flow of His power.

You and I need to learn to rest in Jesus.

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” Matthew 11:28

Jesus always keeps His promises, beloved. He kept this one to me today.

You see, I’ve also discovered firsthand that He sends us what we need if we will open our hearts to receive it. And He’s always right on time, even if it is Tuesday evening and later than I would like. So when my girlfriend called late this afternoon to share something with me, I didn’t tell her I couldn’t talk because I had to write my blog. Instead, I listened. And we talked. And then we prayed.

And prayer has a way of releasing things.

Phone in hand, I moved to my knees on my living room floor and for a few moments stopped thinking about my own frustration. I let the Lord lead us in prayer for a dear sister and friend who is struggling under the weight of oppression. We wept together in intercession for several people God placed on our hearts to lift before the throne. Precious minutes turned to half an hour.

And Christ met us there. I can say that with certainty because He promises He will.

“For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.” Matthew 18:20

As we finished our time together, my friend prayed for me on the phone, asking the Father to provide what I needed. And God spoke. Just write from where you are.

So I started typing without a direction in mind, without a Scripture to anchor the teaching. I have nothing to offer you today. I just trusted He’d take me somewhere. Apparently, He did, because I seem to still be typing.

Come to think of it, isn’t that what faith is supposed to look like? At least, that’s how it began when God first called Abraham.

The Lord had said to Abram, “Leave your country, your people and your father’s household and go to the land I will show you.” Genesis 12:1

God asked Abraham to leave behind everything he knew and follow Him to a land he’d never seen. He had nothing but a promise to hold onto, “I will show you.”

Faith looks pretty similar in the New Testament as well.  Jesus didn’t tell the disciples where they were going in advance. He simply said, “Follow me.”

Dear one, faith isn’t about working hard, or having the answers up front before we trust God. It’s about drawing near to Jesus and trusting Him to lead you into the unknown, beyond the boundaries of what you have planned.

That’s a pretty scary place for most of us. But it doesn’t have to be. In fact, it shouldn’t be. Because the Lord who promised to lead and carry you means to “prosper you and not to harm you” (Jeremiah 29:11). He intends to lead you into a beautiful future.

It’s only scary if you don’t believe.

Unlikely Cherished Things

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Confession time again.

Have you ever held onto a promise of God—watching, waiting, wrestling with the time it has taken to fulfill it—and wondered if perhaps you had been wrong to believe it? You reason that God might fulfill this promise for someone else, but what if He’s decided not to do it for you? What if this isn’t part of your blessing?

A part of my heart has been broken for a very long time. Nothing particularly traumatic or extraordinary happened to me to break it. Years ago, I simply made some destructive choices in search of acceptance. Choices that the world offers as commonplace and right, but that God warns will leave their mark. They did.

I had no idea the extent of the damage. Like most of us do, I looked at my life and the progress I’d made with the Lord and thought I was okay.

But God is too good to allow us to settle for okay. After all, His Son was beaten, bled, and hung on a cross to heal what sin’s damage left broken. To restore us. To make us whole.

Still, as much as God has transformed me and poured His grace into my life, in this area, I have not been whole.

And I’ve struggled with God over it.

I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve cried out to Him in prayer, surrendering this one thing and asking for healing. Yet I remain stuck.

While Living Water flows and empowers so many areas of my life, something has blocked its movement here. This place remains a dry desert.

This week, I revisited Numbers 13. I stood in the desert with Moses and witnessed God sending men from each tribe to explore the land He’d promised to Israel. After forty days, the men returned and reported what they had found.

“We went into the land to which you sent us, and it does flow with milk and honey! Here is its fruit.” Numbers 13:27

They found the land exactly as God had promised. They even tasted the fruit available to them there.

“But the people who live there are powerful, and the cities are fortified and very large.” Numbers 13:28

So they determined not to even try to claim the land God had promised them.

Listen, dear one. Twelve men entered the land God clearly said He was giving them as an inheritance (verse 1). They all witnessed the same things. They all saw that the land was good, and they all saw the fortified cities and fighting men.

Two of those men focused on the promises of God and received them into their lives. The other ten focused on the obstacles keeping them from attaining it. Those ten, as well as the rest of the Israelites who believed them, never left the desert. That’s where they died.

It struck me that I have had a similar experience to those Israelites. I have witnessed God’s awesome power to deliver and have left the captivity of much of my sin. Now I stand in the desert looking at the promise of wholeness God has placed before me, that He has promised to give me through His Word. I have even tasted the fruit of it as God has graciously allowed breakthrough moments that have shown me what’s possible in Him.

But those moments always fade, and the obstacles loom large once again. Still, I remain in the desert.

I can’t help but ask the question. Why?

I’m not particularly fond of the answer He gave me.

You see, just like those Israelites, I have kept myself in the desert. Part of me clung to its familiarity, even while I cried out to God to deliver me from it.

Somehow along the way, this very part of myself that I hated and cried out to God to restore became a cherished thing. I wanted God to miraculously heal it, but at the same time, I’m recognizing that I didn’t really want to give it up. It defined me. It was familiar. I actually feared the void it might leave if I let go of it. So I didn’t. I asked God to take it, but I wasn’t willing to hand it to Him. I said I was, but I’ve discovered that my heart didn’t agree.

And that was the problem, dear one. Because God will only take what we freely offer Him.

Yesterday, my Scripture reading took me to Mount Moriah. I wept with Abraham as he placed his cherished thing, his beloved son Isaac, on the altar of sacrifice. He didn’t allow the obstacles ahead of him—death itself—to keep him from believing God’s promise to bless him through Isaac. Hebrews 11:19 reveals that he reasoned God could raise him from the dead.

So Abraham placed his son on the altar, fully believing in the goodness of his faithful God. Expecting a miracle, he chose not to withhold his cherished thing.

And God provided a ram in place of Abraham’s offering. God didn’t take, dear one. He gave. And He multiplied Abraham’s offering. Instead of only the one cherished son, Abraham would have “descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore (Genesis 22:17).”

Look at God’s response to His faithful servant.

“I swear by myself, declares the Lord, that because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, I will surely bless you . . .” Genesis 22:16-17

What are you withholding from God, dear one, that blocks the flow of His blessing into your life? As I discovered, sometimes the things we’re holding onto aren’t even good things. They’re destructive things. Things we’ve convinced ourselves we need, when actually they are the very things that rob us of the blessing we desire through them.

God doesn’t empty, beloved. He fills. He swears on His own name that He will do it.

“I swear by myself, declares the Lord, that because you have done this and have not withheld ____________________________ I will surely bless you . . .” Genesis 22:16-17

Will you believe Him?