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.

Timing

I used to think that a year was a long time.  I mean when you have only been on the earth for 9 years, your sense of time is arbitrary. I was thinking of a comment one of the little ones made and I realized that to them there's all the time in the world to get things done and accomplished. 

It's as we get older that we start to panic about getting things accomplished in a certain amount of time. It's when we become "adults" that now there are certain milestones that we feel have to be accomplished by a certain age. People spend so much time rushing to get things accomplished that they forget there are things that aren't in their control. They forget that God ultimately has the final say in when we do things. We forget that there is a season for everything. 

Ecclesiastes 3:1 says "To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven". The chapter goes on to talk about all the things we go through in life. It let's us know that everything happens is in his timing. We just have to trust and have faith even more so when we don't understand everything that is going on around us.

My challenge to you is that when you find yourself getting caught up in the why that you pray. You ask God to remind you that while you may not know why things are happening they are happening in his timing.

Regrouping after the battle

It's been a rough few days. A really rough few days. I have had my faith tested and tried. I have had my spirit shaken to its core and decided to just keep going.

While this is the right thing to do conventionally, it really wasn't the right thing to do. I say this because when things happen we need time to lick our wounds. We need time to stop and assess the situation. We need time to build back up our defenses to prepare us for the next battle.

The amazing thing about this is that it is not only a principle to adopt in times of trouble, but it is also for times of joy. If we don't take the time to stop and revel in our joy, we don't have anything to pull from when times get hard. Battles are not only fought in bad times but in good times also.

My challenge to you is to pay attention to when you need to take time off. I understand that in the everyday grind that is life we may feel as if we can't take time off for reflection, but this is where we pray. We pray to the Father for guidance. We pray to the Father to help us find a way to regroup after the battle.

My prayer for you today and every day is

"Dear Lord, in the midst of it all you give us battles, trials. Sometimes to remind us of who you are, other times to remind us of who we are in you. After each battle, please help to make time. Time to regroup; time to reassess and time to celebrate. Help us to see in our lives where we don't enough of either and meet us accordingly. Amen".

Sufficient for Today

I prayed today. I prayed that the Lord grant me the energy sufficient enough for today. This is something that I've been wrestling with for weeks now and even he hasn't let me let it go. We run through life. Some of us literally run. I don't know about you but for me it's gotten to a point where if I am not running I don't know what to do with myself. We rush to get out the door; We rush to get to the door.. lol... It's just a consistent, constant, stream of moving. Funny thing is, we push ourselves until we can't go anymore. I've done it. I've pushed so hard that I got sick and had to sit down for a bit.

Thinking back over my life though, I've only ever been forced to sit down when the Lord has something he's prepping me for where I will need not only the energy I have but the energy that has been stored up in my down time. But only he knew that I'd be praying for and trusting in him to give me the energy I need to get everything thing done.... I.e. Energy enough for the day.

My challenge to you is that when you feel like you can't go on much longer that you stop and pray. Pray for those around you that everyone is fulfilling their God given assignment for the day and pray that God is giving them(and you) enough energy for the day.