THBBloomBlogForgetMeNots

A week ago I went to a pot luck of a dear friend whose family was getting ready to move. They host this pot luck every Sunday and this particular Sunday was the last one at their current home. As I’ve mentioned before, I like to have things in order. I really don’t know how else to explain it, but I have always felt this internal pressure to have things “perfect.” I guess in a way it makes me feel as if I have everything “together” which of course is actually impossible, but I guess I like to pretend. When my husband and I have ever hosted anything at our home I definitely want to make sure everything is “together.” I’ve loved when people have come over and commented on how beautiful our home is, etc. This particular get-together that my husband and I went to, however, had a completely different feel to it. Because this family was moving they had boxes everywhere. Things were half packed; things were undone. Let me tell you what, that pot luck was one of the most soul refreshing get-togethers I think I have ever been to and it wasn’t because we knew everyone there and had great conversation, because actually we only knew the owners. Everyone there could have cared less about what this family’s home situation was like. They weren’t looking at the half packed boxes, they were just enjoying the fellowship and enjoying one another. The hosts of the pot luck were not looking at the half packed boxes either and wondering/worrying what their guests thought. Instead they were loving on their guests—real, authentic life was being lived out in front of my eyes, and it was just so beautiful.

My husband and I are actually in the process of packing up our house and moving as well, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen my house in such disarray. I currently have dirty dishes in the sink, wet dust rags on the floor, and cabinets opened and half empty. I’m overdo on laundry, and boxes are stacked everywhere to the point where you can barely move through our living room at all. And there’s just a lot more packing to do. I’m typically of the mentality that when you start something you finish it in that sitting, and, well, that’s just impossible in this scenario. It’s truly been a challenge for me; I’ve felt so anxious.

The whole process of moving into this new house is just a list of one grace after another as the Lord has orchestrated the entire thing. It has been such a gift to us! The Lord opened my eyes to my anxiety and just how ungrateful that was in the midst of everything that was occurring for our family. I was confessing and praying about how I just don’t want to care about the half-filled boxes in my house, and I read from the In the Garden study 1 John 2:15-17: “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and the pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.” The Lord revealed to me how I was yearning after the desires of my flesh in wanting to be perfect and “have it all together” by stressing over my dirty house instead of fixing my eyes on the One who was giving my family a gift and reason to have those half-filled boxes all over the place.

I started to think through those verses a little bit more and was just seeing the comparisons that were being made—God or the world, we can’t have both. I thought again about the pot luck I had gone to a week ago and could see how in a way that was an analogy for God or the world. I felt so much more refreshed and uplifted when I left a place that was full of grace and just filled with love despite the half-filled boxes than when I left my own home with a constant to-do list flying in my mind about all I need to get done to keep it all somewhat together. Do I want to look to God and fix my gaze on Him or do I want to look to the world (the desire of my flesh) that says that my house always needs to be in order?

Today I heard a sermon on the transfiguration from Mark 9. The pastor went into intense detail on the very tiny glimpse of glory that Peter, James, and John were able to experience on the mountain with Jesus prior to Him going to the cross. The pastor explained the context of what had just taken place prior to the transfiguration—Jesus had explained that He would suffer on the cross and after three days rise again. Peter did not want to hear this from Jesus. It says in Mark 8:32 that Peter rebuked Him because Peter didn’t want to think about the powerful Messiah that he had heard about for so long having to die. But Jesus goes on to tell Peter that his mind was set on the things of man, not of God and then goes further to explain that if anyone would come after Him they must deny themselves, take up their cross, and follow Him. Jesus says in Mark 8:36, “For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul?” While the transfiguration was unbelievable for the three disciples that were able to witness it, Jesus then still had to go to the cross. The pastor said, “This story doesn’t end in glory, it ends in humility.” Jesus was preparing the disciples for the cross and pointing to the cross because it was the cross and what Jesus was going to do there that was going to allow them to bask in the glory that they were just able to experience. It is because Jesus went to the cross and took our sins that we are going to one day be able to experience the true glory of God. The pastor went on to explain that yes, we absolutely get tastes of glory here on this earth, but right now it’s not promised. We’re actually promised a cross. We are called to pick up our crosses. The pastor asked the question, “Do you really believe that there is stored up glory for you in heaven that is coming?” He pointed out how Paul believed this. Paul says in Romans 8:18, “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.”

I started to think about that tiny analogy of half-filled boxes in my house—the world or God? Because Jesus died for me, I have been given the grace to fix my eyes on Him and not this world. I have been given the living hope, the hope of glory, and when I look to that instead of my half-filled boxes and messy house, for example, it’s so much more refreshing. This world and my half-filled boxes are passing away, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.

Planted for His Glory

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Merriam Webster’s dictionary defines a campaign as:

1. a connected series of military operations forming a distinct phase of a war
2. a connected series of operations designed to bring about a particular result

This is a campaign year. As a country, we are besieged by campaign activity as we move closer to electing a new president.

But, as Laurie reminded us last week during Bible Study, there is another campaign going on – one that never ends. The devil has put together a campaign against me — a well-planned, well-organized “operation” with the goal of detouring – no, ruining – my walk with the Lord.

I had never thought of the enemy planning against me in this way. It is disturbing to think that in the spiritual realm, there is a very real being that plots against me. Although the enemy is not omniscient, he knows my weaknesses and has a specific strategy to exploit them. He knows I try to rely on my own strength when I feel challenged. He knows I fall into a downward spiral of anxiety and depression when I feel overwhelmed or discouraged. He knows how I battle fear. He knows we are all still in this world, a broken, dark, and evil world, and that our flesh identifies with the world. He knows all of this, and he schemes against us all.

BUT GOD…

But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God… (Eph. 2:4-8).

Praise God for His mercy and grace, for pursuing me, for redeeming me, for having a plan for my life!

So, how do we resist the lies of Satan’s campaign to detour us? I am praying for the boldness to launch a campaign myself – for the Lord. I read 1 Chronicles 16:8-24 in my homework for In the Garden this morning, and I was convicted by these verses:

Oh give thanks to the Lord; call upon his name; make known his deeds among the peoples! (1 Chron. 16:8)

…tell of his wondrous works! (1 Chron. 16:9)

Seek the Lord and his strength; seek his presence continually! (1 Chron. 16:11)

Remember the wondrous works that he has done… (1 Chron. 16:12)

Remember his covenant forever… (1 Chron. 16:15)

Tell of his salvation from day to day. Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous works among all the peoples! (1 Chron. 16:23-24)

I was struck by all of these actions! May they comprise my campaign:

~ give thanks for my countless blessings

~ make known what the Lord has done for me

~ tell others about Jesus

~ seek God daily in His Word

~ remember God’s goodness and steadfast love

~ declare His glory!

It is indeed an important year for our country, and two very serious campaigns are underway for our votes. Let us remember there is another type of campaign that is being waged against us personally, where the stakes are eternal. Let us launch a counter-campaign, a campaign for eternity, where we declare the glory of God.

Growing in Grace

THBBloomBlogForgetMeNots

To be completely honest, this blog post is really hard to write, mainly because I feel that I keep saying the same things over and over again. I was about to write about how through the In the Garden study so far I have been so convicted about my love for this world, my love for the creation instead of the creator, but then I stopped and thought I may seem like a broken record.

Just the other day I was confessing to the Lord during my quiet time that I value my schedule and to-do list over Him, that I spend more time planning in my head how I’m going to get everything crossed off my list for the day than I think about His Word or how I can bring Him glory. What makes me sad as I write this is that I know I’ve confessed that same thing to the Lord before and I know I’ve even confessed it through this blog before. I really don’t want to be all talk and no action. I want to live what I say I believe.

Feeling like a broken record to the Lord is something that I battle a lot. I feel like I confess the same things over and over again, but true repentance doesn’t take place and then I get frustrated, and then (and I know you’ve heard this from me before) the focus is on me. I fear that the Lord just has to be getting annoyed with me and that was the same fear I was having about presenting yet another post about how the same sins keep appearing in my life.

As I sit here and write, I believe I see how I still question God’s love for me, or maybe just don’t completely understand how it’s possible. Do you ever question if God loves you?

Throughout this week of doing In the Garden there are certain parts of Scripture that the Lord keeps bringing to mind: “to live is Christ” (Phil. 1:21); “I have been crucified with Christ” (Gal. 2:20); “…count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ” (Phil. 3:8). There’s a key theme in these snippets of Scripture—Christ. I wonder a lot why the Lord doesn’t just take all of our sinful actions away immediately when He opens our eyes and gives us faith. Why do we still have to deal with our flesh here on earth? Wouldn’t it make it easier to show people Jesus by being completely changed all at once? It’s because this life is not about me being perfect and overcoming all my sin—it’s about the fact that Christ has already overcome it! It’s not about me, it’s all about Jesus and His love for me that was perfectly shown on the cross.

So maybe I am a broken record. Maybe you feel like you are sometimes too. Maybe you question if God could still love you sometimes. I’m asking God for grace to stop looking at my sin and to start looking to my Savior, for help to cling to His cross, not just in my quiet time or when I’m writing blogs, but throughout my entire day—and not for my glory, but for His alone.

Let’s all ask for grace to say with Paul in Philippians 3:12-14, “Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”

Planted for His Glory