What is your relationship?

This started off as one thing, but funny how that works. 

I was sitting thinking of today. So a little back story, today in the Christian Church commemorates the receiving of the Holy Spriti by the Apostles. Today, if the celebration of Pentecost. 

Originally, we were going to talk about language because the people heard Peter talking to them in their own language. People were from all over and heard the message being delivered in their native tongue. But what did this mean? We've talked previously about God knowing you enough to meet you where you are. To speak to you in a way in which he knows he will get and keep your attention. He does this because he is in relationship with us. 

The Apostles were able to receive the Holy Spirit because of their relationship with Jesus. He promised that he would send to them a guide. He knew he could no longer walk the Earth but he didn't want to leave them in uncertainty. Let's face it, they were getting ready to embark on a life changing experience. Not only for themselves but for everyone connected to them and everyone connected to those who connected and so forth and so on. What would they have to draw strength from when things got rough? What would they have to guide them in times of uncertainty? That would be the Spirit. That would be their relationship. 

My prayer for you today is that I hope you find your Jesus. He's not lost, just waiting for you to get back in relationship with him.

Attention to detail

God always knows how to get our attention. The general consensus is that he shows up in the still moments. You know those - the ones where you're quiet enough to actually hear what he has to say. But there are those of us where quiet is an anomalie. So what happens then? 

God knows how to get pur attention. I was listening to music one day and I came across the song Grace by Taurean Wells and Rascal Flats. Now these are artists that I listen to separately so I am familiar with their individual work. Who knew in that moment that God was trying to get my attention?

There is a line in the chorus that says: "I didn't know I could be free until Grace found me." The song instantly became apart of my morning worship medley.

I believe in that moment and every time since that what God wanted to remind me of is his love for me...for us. He wanted me to to know that the minute I chose him for myself we were in relationship. He was reminding me that he has a relationship with me that shoukd be the foundation of all relationships. How he treats me is how I should see myself. I am his child. He is my father. He is proud of me even in my mess. He brags on me. He protects and provides for me. He chastises me when I need it. You see he does that for all of us who are in relationship with him. He provides us with his Grace and it is in his Grace that we are made free.

My prayer for you today is that you always see yourself how he sees you. You are awesome. You are amazing. Even in your mess, you are loved. He loves everything about you. He loves who you are and he just wants to have a relationship with you. 

Who are you searching for validation from?

One of my favorite people in the Bible is King David. I've me tioned him before in other posts, but this one is a bit different.

When Samuel went to Jessie's house to anoint a new king after Saul had lost favor with God, Jessie, paraded his other sons in front of Samuel, but did not consider that David would be the next king. Samuel had to ask Jessie if he had another son. Jessie nonchalantly mentions David, who at the time was tending sheep. We know how the rest of the story goes David does eventually become King after some soul searching and some time with the Lord. 

As of late I've started to wonder how did David feel about not being on Jessie's radar. How did David feel knowing his father did not believe he could be King? Was it something that David did? Was it something that Jessie didn't see or was it that of David became King, Jessie would lose the one person whose job it was to tend the sheep? 

I think we get a taste of what David could have been feeling/thinking by his relationship with Saul. Saul was abusive. Yet, David continued to do everything he could to earn his favor and respect. I think we get a taste of how David felt in his relationship with Jonathan. They were closer than brothers. I even believe that we see how he felt in his interactions with the women in his life. In all of these relationships, David was looking/searching for a place to be himself authenticly. David was looking for a place where he was just David - Not King, not Shephard, not military leader etc... He was looking for his place, and unfortunately, try to find it in the wrong people in the wrong places. 

How many of us like David are searching for a place to not only be us, but are looking for a place where we can be validated? Validated not only for what we do, but for who we are. How many of us wrap who we are in what we do? How many of us fall apart when what we do becomes the thing that we are no longer known for? What do we do? 

My challenge to you today is to do like David did. He leaned into his relationship with God. We get some of the most profound and some of the most honest/transparent Psalms from his time trying to find a place to belong. Now I don't expect Psalms to come from you, but I expect that you use his love for you to help you find where you belong. I expect that you use his love for you to fill in your missing pieces so that you don't go looking for belonging from folks who only want you to be who they want you to be.

I pray that the Almighty Father meets you where you need him. I pray the Almighty Father helps you in finding and embracing yourself enough to where you don't go searching for validation in the wrong places. Amen

Are you keeping an open mind?

I recently went on retreat with a bunch of teenage girls. If you've ever been around teenagers they are an interesting group. Not quite adults but not quite children. They are trying to figure out their place in life but still holding onto things that they have been taught. They are not ready to let go of what they know yet they are ready to get out into the world. They want to go explore but they don't want to let go of that safety net. Teenagers are an interesting bunch to spend extended time with... While the retreat itself was an experience, it was the events leading up to the trip that stick out the most. 

Leading up to the trip, the girls kept asking questions. What did the place look like? What will we be doing? How long will it take to get there? The adults answered as well as they could to the best of their ability. We collectively looked things up because I had never been and didn't know what to tell them, but still couldn't find much about where we were going. In the midst of all of this, God drops on my spirit the story of Nicodemus. I racked my brain trying to figure out why that particular story but could not receive a revelation. The revelation came one day while walking around the camp ground. 

Nicodemus went to see Jesus to talk with him. He did it at night when it was quiet. He did it at night when Jesus was away from the crowds. He went to talk to Jesus while no one else was around. It was just him and Jesus. Nicodemus, who had been studying the word since he was a boy, could not grasp certain concepts that Jesus was saying. Even though he could not grasp the concept he kept asking questions. He tried to gain understanding. He appeared willing to let go of what he had been taught all of his religious life and embrace Jesus for who he is.

What sticks out the most about this conversation is that Jesus says to him "If I have told you of things that happen right here on the earth and yet none of you believes Me, how can you believe  if I tell you of heavenly things?" Jesus and his Disciples were walking around preaching. They were performing miracles, yet people still did not believe - they did not want to believe. 

The reason this sticks out to me is it makes me wonder how many of us have gotten so caught up in our own understanding of things that we fail to see things for what they really are or what they could be. How many of us have been so caught up in how things are that we do not leave room for God to expose us to that which is actual truth. How many of us have seen God move yet still want to stay stuck in our indoctrination - in the way things have always been. 

What I took from the retreat as it correlates to the story of Nicodemus is that we must take the time to get Jesus in the quiet, away from the crowds and have a conversation with him. We must also be open to what God has put right in front of our faces. We can not say that we are followers of God and stay so stuck in tradition and our own thoughts that we do not see what he is doing right in front of us. We cannot be like Nicodemus and the people of Jesus' time, who saw miracles performed, who heard Jesus and the Disciples talk about Heaven and everlasting life yet, because Jesus and his disciples did not fit their expectations, they refused to receive the revelation. How can we expect God to meet us where we need to be met if we keep ourselves firmly routed in how we were taught to read and interpret scripture. By correlation, how can we expect to reach others if we only look at things through the prism that is our own belief system?

My prayer for you is let God come into your life in such a way that he washed you clean. Let God come into your life in such a way that he stirps you of all indoctrination and leaves you only with him. I pray that you make time for quite places and midnight conversations with God. Lastly, I pray that you have an encounter with God that there is no way that you would be able to deny that it is Him.

After the Storm

Times have not been the brightest lately. Things have been a bit dark. The world around us has been in a dark place. Some places are still experiencing their storm. Some places are still waiting for the sun to come out. There are people still waiting for things to get better. There are people waiting for their personal life to get better. There are people waiting for their finances to get better. Heck, there are people waiting for their governments to get better. Myself is included in this group. 

In times of trouble, I think of rainy days. Rainy days remind me that as the sky darkens and the sunlight hides behind the clouds, it is only temporary. The sun only hides for so long before it comes back out. Even rainy nights give way to sunny days. It is these days where God shows us that there are going to be moments in life where the darkness comes out of nowhere - one moment it is sunny and in the blink of an eye it will be dark and stormy. He shows us that these days are needed because it is in these moments that we cannot see. Because we cannot see, we no longer rely on ourselves but on Him. It is during rainy days that we slow down a bit. We learn to trust because we cannot see. We learn to trust him. It is during rainy days that he can get our attention the most. 

He doesn't want us to stop moving forward during the storm. He doesn't use rainy days to cripple us, but instead to remind us that we are his. He also uses rainy days to clear our perspective on things. When it's always sunny, you never take the time to stop and reflect on things. Human nature is that when things are good, we maintain the status quo. However, human nature, when it storms, is reflection, It is introspection. I wonder what has God been trying to get us to see that he had to bring us some rainy days? 

My prayer for you is to use the rainy days to take the time to see where in your life you have just been maintaining the status quo. I know for me I am realizing that I had stopped dreaming. I stopped looking outside the box. I even created a smaller one than the one that was there originally. God reminded me who I am and why I am. He also reminded me that no one can do what I do. This is not to be conceited, but more so that I have a specific purpose, a job to do that is my mission from him. 

My prayer for you is to use rainy days to find out what areas God is trying to get your attention. There is a reason for the shake-up in your life. What it is? That is a conversation between you and Him. 

Lastly, my prayer for you is to remember that when things get the darkest there will always be light around the corner.

Don't give up hope and don't stop moving forward.

God's timing

I was reminded of something this morning. God's timing is perfect in everything. When he puts things in motion nothing can stop it not even us. We may try to speed up the process because we don't understand the order of events, but whenever we rush things, whenever we try to do things our way or out of order, things go awry. 

Have you ever noticed that when God's hands aren't on something it is the hardest thing to get done? You drag your feet. You can't get to it. No, I'm not talking about the everyday stuff, I mean the things that are supposed to be these life changing, life altering things. Nothing works right. We end up placing time and emotion into things that are not for us.

We have to learn to trust in God's timing. There are things he may be saying we are not ready for. He could be telling us no because if he gave us what we were asking for we would destroy not only it but ourselves as well.  He also might be saying no because he has something better for us. He could also be saying yes, but.... The yes but is the story of King David, of Moses, of us. He tells each of us Yes, but.... 

My challenge to you today is to remember that To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven (Ecclesiastes 3:1.)

My prayer for you today is: May the Lord bless you and keep you. May he always talk to you and keep you on track. May you always trust in his timing. May you have the strength to not move without confirmation from God that this is a Yes, because you are ready. - Amen.

Encouragement

Life as we know it has changed dramatically. Normal will never be normal again. How do you not feel like you're drowning? How do you not feel overwhelmed with everything that is going on? How do you not feel like screaming? 

I think of the events leading up to the crucifixion. It makes me chuckle a bit because you know Jesus had to be looking at the crowd like "You praise me now, but you will crucify me soon." He couldn't voice these thoughts out loud. He was the one who had to be strong through everything and continue to carry on. He was expected to make sure that the mission was accomplished regardless of how he might have felt.

 I think we get the clearest picture of what he was feeling in the Garden. This is where the burden has gotten so heavy that he finally breaks down and admits to what is going on and asks God for strength to keep moving. He asks for help with his burden. He finally is in a position to let his guard down and vent his frustrations without worry about who would/could understand. He was finally able to admit that he couldn't handle it any longer and that he needed help.

With the world the way it is today, I think this is our breaking point. This is the moment where we have to ask for strength. We have kept going for so long, to make sure that the mission gets carried out that we have been afraid to break. We have been afraid to take a moment and get ourselves together. We have spent so much time walking around as broken people not asking for help.

Sometimes it takes the world being turned on its head for us to start putting the pieces together. Actually, that's what it takes. It takes a complete shakeup of the status quo for us to even reevaluate who we are, what we've become, and if we are moving in the right direction. Do you think that if their world had been turned on its head, the Disciples wouldn't have continued in their way of thinking, that they wouldn't have gone through a rebirth?

My prayer for you comes out of Isaiah 41. I pray that in times of topsy turvy, in times of chaos, when the world and yourself has gotten weary, that you are reminded the Lord never gets weary. I pray that you find strength in God. I pray that you surrender your burdens and let him carry them for you cause we cannot do this alone. We will ultimately fail, but when we trust in the Lord.... He will renew us and mount us on wings like Eagles. Let him be who and what we need always... And I pray that when things seem the darkest we remeber that rebirth and renewal are on their way. AMEN.