Embracing

Embracing

“–verb (used with object)
1.to take or clasp in the arms; press to the bosom; hug.
2.to take or receive gladly or eagerly; accept willingly: to embrace an idea.
3.to avail oneself of: to embrace an opportunity.
4.to adopt (a profession, a religion, etc.): to embrace Buddhism.
5.to take in with the eye or the mind.
6.to encircle; surround; enclose.
7.to include or contain: An encyclopedia embraces a great number of subjects.
(online dictionary 4.19.2010).

Embracing (verb) the will of God (object). Embracing (verb) God (object).

Embracing God.

It does happen. There is a moment that can be experienced. The moment of transformation when the spirit, mind, emotion, heart, will is transformed into God’s Spirit, Mind, Emotion, Heart, and Will.

Two weeks ago this transformational moment occurred. I can remember it vividly or at least I can remember the moment when my will was set in one direction and then the moment when my will changed and embraced God’s will. How do I know this happened? - Because I was struggling, fussing, tossing and turning, and in flux. Not all at once, in fact, I was putting one foot in front of the other, taking steps to (continue) to bloom where I was planted, and experiencing moments of contentment where the Lord had placed me. But from time to time lapses of discontent would enter in, betraying my contentment.

Prayer would come. I would continue to ask the Lord for direction, for change, for it to look like this or look like that – and end with “I am willing Lord for whatever it is You have God…just let me know it’s You. I don’t want to go where You aren’t taking me; I don’t want to stay where You are keeping me. Thank You Lord.”

After living in my current location for approximately 6 years, my prayer was one more time, “I have open hands Lord, my heart is open, if this is where You want me to be, then I receive You here.” And then … peace (Psalm 46:4). And amazement. As if the whirlpool had ceased and the water was calm. Transformation happened (Romans 12:2).

So, is the will of God that I continue to live at my current location? Is this transformation about a location, a gifting, or a particular ministry? Well, it may be. However, this transformation is more about embracing what the Lord is doing in and through me and what He wants to do in and through me. Embracing the reality that God’s ways aren’t mine, and that my life is not mine, and my preferences aren’t the Preferred Option.

"Do Not Worry About Tomorrow"

Food for Life:
"But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own"(Matthew 6:33.34)

Have you ever read Scripture, heard a sermon or teaching, or been part of a conversation and thought, "that doesn't apply to me" or just a feeling or sense that you couldn't relate to what you were reading or hearing? I have (too). Usually I think this or have a sense of it because I haven't (yet) experienced what is being illustrated.

And yet - there isn't ANYTHING in Scripture that is not applicable for me and life on earth. Sooner or later, what I read, applies to me - whether I 'see it' or not. It either relates to me directly or indirectly.

Early this morning before rising, as I was thinking and meditating, I had moments of anxiety and worry. I was thinking about what I will do when I'm no longer able to work - and thus, have no income. Not being someone who has established retirement accounts and other advisable acts for an older age, this has crossed my mind from time to time.

As I read the Word, Matthew 6:33, 34 was highlighted! You see, I have not yet experienced not having food, clothing, or shelter - but it is possible that someday I might! However, this Word says that I need not worry about it, because as a child of God, God will take care of my needs. AS I SEEK FIRST God, God's righteousness/His Kingdom - this is where my security lies - in Christ.

Saints, even if we have jobs, retirement accounts, and investments - it is possible to loose those things...But God - as we continue to seek God first, and be about the 'business' of God - God will take care of us. In fact, when we are working, saving, and investing, it still is God who takes care of us, if through those activities. It can be easy to forget that it is God who sustains us when we have our health, strength, and youth - but when this isn't the case...what then?

"Do not put your security and trust in anything you can loose"....this is the reality of Matthew 6:33, 34...this is reality of life for you and for me. Today.

"Lord I pray for my loved ones and those I don't know today who are experiencing worry because they have lost their jobs, they have health challenges, they have lost their homes. I ask that Your Holy Spirit would usher in a sense of Your Presence that would fill them with peace in the middle of the storm. God that You would help each one of us to focus on You and Your ways - seeing You as the One who sustains and gives us our daily bread. Thank You Lord!"

Wisdom is Proved Right by Her Actions

Matthew 11:19
"...Wisdom is proved right by her actions."

This hit me this morning as I spent some time with the Lord in the Word. Who doesn't want to be wise? What is wisdom? (http://www.pbministries.org/books/pink/Miscellaneous/fear_of_the_lord.htm) ; Proverbs 1:7, "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom" (Proverbs 9:10, Jo:28:28, Psalm 111:10 states similarly). Revering, fearing, recognizing the Majesty, Splendor, Power, Might - the All-ness of God - that is only the BEGINNING of wisdom!

Rightly applying knowledge and understanding from God's point of view, in everyday life, is wisdom. And then the Scripture, Jesus Himself stated, that the proof of wisdom is revealed in actions...what is the result of my action today? Will it prove (today or in the day's to come) to be wise - or foolish? Will my actions prove to be self-centered or Christ-centered? Will my actions prove to be worthy of eternity or will they be burned up in the last days?

Will you join me in asking these questions of ourselves today? Ask God. He will be please to show us. Do you need wisdom today? YES, I do! James says that if we ask God for wisdom...God will give it to us generously and without reproach (w/o blaming, shaming, or calling into question) (James 1:5).

"Lord thank You that You are the One who holds all wisdom. Thank You, All-Wise One, that You not only are All-Wise but that You will give wisdom to me, to us when we ask! James tell us our approach in asking is key, we must ask You and not doubt that You are able and will give us Wisdom! We believe Lord, help our unbelief!"

2 Corinthians 5 (Assurance of the Resurrection)
"He made Him who knew no sin to become sin for us so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him" (vs.21).

In reading one of my daily devotionals, I was reminded of the above verse. And then, this whole chapter...how fitting as we have just celebrated Holy Week...ending with Resurrection (Easter) Sunday! I love how God fits things together - how He rivets our (my) attention to what He wants us to hear, receive, and walk in ('we walk by faith and not by sight' is also contained in this chapter portion of Scripture).

In order for you and I to be clothed with righteousness, to be clothed with Jesus, thus everything Christ is and represents, Jesus had to take on that in which we were clothed....unrighteousness - sin. Deitrich Bonfoeffer said it this way, "When God's Son took on flesh, He truly and bodily took on, out of pure grace, our being, our nature, ourselves. This was the eternal counsel of the triune God. Now we are in Him. Where He is, we are too, in the incarnation, on the Cross, and in His resurrection. We belong to Him because we are in Him. That is why the Scriptures call us the Body of Christ" (p. 116, "All I Need", MM Suggs).

How could you and I grasp this reality, except that we accept to 'walk by faith and not by sight'? I pray today, for you and I, that we walk by faith (in the Living Christ) and not by sight. Walking by faith in what is set before us this day - in our homes, in our schools, in our workplaces, in our relationships, in the projects, and endeavors of this day. We not only have been given new (Christ's disposition) but the mind of Christ filled with all wisdom, understanding, and knowledge for today!

Hallelujah, what a Savior!

"It Is Finished...He Is Risen...He Is Risen Indeed!"

Dear Brothers and Sisters,
Below is a devotion that is powerful, describing the events that are the most important and life changing of all of human history - past, present, and future! And they are the events that we remember and celebrate this week...Holy Week and what we call Easter. Blessings of Love to you and yours,
Robin

"He is Risen
April 22 – April 24
“That I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and may share in His sufferings, becoming like Him in His death.” -Apostle Paul
His story…
THE Passion. “And being in an agony He prayed more earnestly.” (Luke 22:44 ESV) The Garden. A place where Jesus had come many times before to pray. But this time was different. This time He was in an agony. What’s interesting is that this is the only time this phrase is used in all of scripture. It was not just agony. It was an agony. A battle… a fight… a struggle in deep anguish. “Abba, Father, all things are possible for you. Remove this cup from me…” Lying on His face, prostrate before His Father. Crying out in such deep distress that the capillaries under his skin burst and “His sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground.” (vs. 44). Typically this kind of agony can cause brain damage, or even death. But Jesus lived on… to die…
THE Punishment. “But He was wounded for our transgressions; He was crushed for our iniquities.” (Isaiah 53:5 ESV) Being hung on a cross to die was common in those days. But this was different. Before the actual crucifixion, Jesus was brutally beaten. Burly Roman soldiers used their clenched fists and pounded His face over and over again “we esteemed Him stricken” (vs. 4). Handfuls of His beard were yanked out. Onlookers walked up to him, cleared their throats, and spit in His face. A crown of thorns was placed on His head, and then driven deep into His skull with wooden reeds “He was afflicted” (vs. 7). Stripped naked, He was scourged with a cat of nine tails — so named because there were nine strands, and on the end of those nine strands were pieces of metal or bone, designed to dig into the skin and rip it open. Normally a man was whipped with 39 lashes. 39 lashes with 9 strands. Do the math. When they were done Jesus’ lacerated flesh hung from His body in long strips, exposing muscle, sinew and even bone — “with His stripes we are healed” (vs. 5) After all of that, He was then made to carry His own cross “Surely He has born our griefs and carried our sorrows” (vs. 4). Nailed to the cross, the One who knew no sin, became sin for us “and the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all” (vs. 6).
THE Proclamation. Hours of wretched suffering. One last time Jesus pushed up against the nail in His feet to take the pressure off of His diaphragm so He could take His final breath. Burning lungs filled with air, and then from a parched throat, through swollen, broken bleeding lips, the very Son of God cried out, “It — Is — Finished!” Every Jew within earshot knew those words. They were the words the high priest used every year to proclaim that their sins had once again been atoned for, by the sacrificing of a spotless, unblemished lamb. But this was different. The Lamb of God — the perfect Passover Lamb — who came to take away the sin of the world, (John 1:29) was proclaiming for all to hear, that once and for all, the final sacrifice had been made. “He entered once for all into the holy places, not by the means of the blood of goats and calves, but by the means of His own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption.” (Hebrews 9:12 ESV) Then He bowed His head, and gave up His spirit…
THE Promise. A few days before, Jesus had told His disciples that He was about to die. Sensing the fear and anxiety that they were experiencing, He gave them this promise, “I will come again, and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.” (John 14:3 NASV) A dead god could never keep that promise. Surely He couldn’t mean that He would actually die. But then, albeit from distant hiding places, they watched Him do just that — die. Now what? Hopes, dreams and promises dashed upon the stone placed and sealed at the entrance of His borrowed tomb. Hear these words. In them you will find the hope of His promise — “Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James… came to the tomb… and looking up, they saw that the stone had been rolled away… they saw a young man sitting at the right, wearing a white robe; and they were amazed. And he said to them, ‘Do not be amazed; you are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who has been crucified. He has risen; He is not here!!‘” (Mark 16:1-6 NASV) Up from the grave He arose… with a mighty triumph o’er His foes! We do not believe in a God who was once alive and now He is dead. We follow after a God who once was dead and now He is alive. Life is no longer a hopeless end… it is an endless hope.
The death, burial and resurrection of Christ were a moment in time – no, it was THE moment in time — that changed the course of humanity. A perfect offering presented. That which had been spoken of by the prophets in Scripture, fulfilled. God’s gift of love, freely given to all who will receive.
In the great “Resurrection Chapter”, Paul presents the gospel — “…Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that He was buried, that He was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures… and if Christ has not been raised, your faith is in vain…” (1 Corinthians 15 ESV). These words are not a defense of the resurrection. They are in effect a declaration of the most important words in Christianity… He is risen! Words that turned the world around.
Our response? He is risen indeed! Our opportunity? To “know Him… and the power of His resurrection…” (Philippians 3:10 ESV)
Happy Easter!" (AACC.net devotional)

Faith In...Who?

"Jesus did many other miraculous signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not recorded in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in His Name....Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see" (John 20:30,31; Hebrews 11:1).

Many people talk about having faith today. "Just have faith, keep up the faith..." But the real issue is, as you know, is, "Faith in what....really, faith in Whom?" We don't start with faith. Faith begins with the Object of the faith; in the person of the faith that one holds.

The above Scripture defines well the meaning of Christian Faith. Faith in Whom? Faith in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. When Jesus walked the earth, He did many miracles - more than those contained in the pages of Scripture. Why? So that those who witnessed the miracles, the disciples, would believe, so that they would have believe in Jesus as He walked among them and more importantly, they would have faith in Christ when He left them - physically!

That is where we are today. Faith means being sure of what we hope for (where is your hope?). And faith means being certain of what we do not see (if you can see physically see it, it doesn't require faith).

As we celebrate Jesus in the Holy Week...I pray that the "eyes of your (and my) heart would be enlightened - that our eyes of faith would increase, that we would know the hope to which Christ has called us, that hope which has in store a glorious inheritance in the saints, and that we would know His incomparably great power for us who believe" (Ephesians 1:18,19).

Lord we believe, help our unbelief.

With Our Whole Heart

Psalm 139; Psalm 19:12

"The sin that we cover, He will uncover — the sin that we uncover, He will cover. Surrender your whole heart to Him. Without a doubt, it will turn your life around."

The quote above struck me this morning. Particularly because of recent events in the life of our local church body - we have been rocked by sin uncovered...but now covered by the Lord - we are in a process which I believe is part of God bringing revival to His Church and thus extending the Kingdom of God in the community. That is how God works. He brings about repentance and life to His people (we all need to repent as part of our daily walk). And then those who are not yet part of God's Kingdom, see how God's people respond to the grace and mercy of the Lord toward themselves - us, God's people!

With this, yesterday, last night and this morning, the Lord has had me focused on 'the heart - relationship with Him', our hearts, my heart. What does it mean to "love God with all of our (my) heart..."? My WHOLE heart? The more my whole heart is toward, with God, the more fulness of walking in the Holy Spirit I will experience and the less giving in to temptation - going my own way - will materialize.

Let's face it. If there was any way I could walk in the Lord on my own - without my entire heart/being in relationship with God - then Jesus died for nothing. I wouldn't need Jesus if I could do it on my own. Neither would you. We can't. We need Jesus and He needs our whole heart and we need to give Him our whole heart. By God's grace, through the Holy Spirit, because of Jesus death, burial and resurrection - we can give Him our whole heart.


Our Whole Heart

“What a man [a woman] is before God, that he [she] is and nothing more.” -St. Francis of Assisi
Delilah said to him, “How can you say you ‘I love you’ when your heart is not with me?… So Sampson told her all that was in his heart… when Delilah saw that he had told her all that was in his heart, she sent and called the lord of the Philistines… and called for a man and had him shave off the seven locks of his hair… she said, “The Philistines are upon you, Sampson!” And he awoke from his sleep and said, “I will go out as at other times and shake myself free.” But he did not know that the LORD had abandoned him. (Judges 16)
Sampson. Powerful and strong. It is interesting that his strength was not really in his hair. His strength was in his heart. He was a Nazirite. The Hebrew word nazir means consecrated or separated. And it was by choice. His mother Manoah had dedicated him to this Nazirite vow before his birth. However, Hebrew law required that when he was old enough to understand, he recommit his life… permanently… to this vow. His heart belonged solely to his God. Until he gave it up to Delilah.
In a similar story, Amaziah served as king in Jerusalem. 2 Chronicles 25:2 records this indictment, “And he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, but not with a perfect heart.” Again, the original Hebrew language gives incredible insight into this verse. The word perfect (shalem), denotes complete… full… finished. Most of Amaziah’s heart was God’s. But he had saved out a little portion for himself. In the end, he was defeated and captured by Joash.
Could it be that many of the struggles in our Christian walk can be traced back to the same issue that Sampson and Amaziah had? A heart that is not “perfect” toward God. Those tiny areas that we hang onto for ourselves. The hidden parts. It has been said, “You’re only as sick as your secrets”. Perhaps that is why the Psalmist David pleaded “Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: and see if there be any wicked way in me.” Psalm 139:23-24 (KJV) Again in Psalm 19:12 “… cleanse thou me from secret faults.” (KJV)
The “grace” piece in all of this, is that God will do just that. He will show you the fragment of your heart that is not His. His Light will shine in the dark places of your heart to reveal the “secret place”. The sin that we cover, He will uncover — the sin that we uncover, He will cover. Surrender your whole heart to Him. Without a doubt, it will turn your life around. (Our Whole Heart is from aacc.net ).