Archive | June, 2015

The Promise of God . . . is to be God

25 Jun

This past National Day of Prayer I was blessed with the opportunity to worship with a group of believers in Carson City, Michigan. The message was followed by local pastors and representatives from various church bodies leading those present to lift up the community, those who protect and serve, and our nation as a whole. It was beautiful to watch the Body come together with one voice to offer praises and petitions before the Throne.

The message focused primarily on the promise of God to be exactly who He says He will be and the assurance, the complete joy we have, when we rest in Him being Him. Clicking on the heading “National Day of Prayer” will let you listen to the thoughts I shared that evening. I’ve included the Scripture highlighted because that’s where the power is and a written summary of the final moments of the message right beneath the audio link.

⇓To listen to the message click the heading below⇓

National Day of Prayer Message

I pray that the promise of God to be God will encourage your heart today.

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‘Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.’  Jeremiah 33:3

As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it. Isaiah 55:10-11

Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so. Acts 17:11

6 So Hathak went out to Mordecai in the open square of the city in front of the king’s gate. 7 Mordecai told him everything that had happened to him, including the exact amount of money Haman had promised to pay into the royal treasury for the destruction of the Jews. 8 He also gave him a copy of the text of the edict for their annihilation, which had been published in Susa, to show to Esther and explain it to her, and he told him to instruct her to go into the king’s presence to beg for mercy and plead with him for her people. 9 Hathak went back and reported to Esther what Mordecai had said. 10 Then she instructed him to say to Mordecai, 11 “All the king’s officials and the people of the royal provinces know that for any man or woman who approaches the king in the inner court without being summoned the king has but one law: that they be put to death unless the king extends the gold scepter to them and spares their lives. But thirty days have passed since I was called to go to the king.” 12 When Esther’s words were reported to Mordecai, 13 he sent back this answer: “Do not think that because you are in the king’s house you alone of all the Jews will escape. 14 For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father’s family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this?” 15 Then Esther sent this reply to Mordecai: 16 “Go, gather together all the Jews who are in Susa, and fast for me. Do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my attendants will fast as you do. When this is done, I will go to the king, even though it is against the law. And if I perish, I perish.” Esther 4:6-16

Yet give attention to your servant’s prayer and his plea for mercy, Lord my God. Hear the cry and the prayer that your servant is praying in your presence this day. 1 Kings 8:28

But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. 1 Peter 2:9

God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.  2 Corinthians 5:21

Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. Hebrews 4:16

Do not think that because you are in the king’s house you alone of all the Jews will escape. FOR IF YOU REMAIN SILENT at this time relief, and deliverance will arise from another place, but you and your father’s family will perish.  Esther 4:14

Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God.”  Mark 10:27

Ah, Sovereign Lord, you have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and outstretched arm. Nothing is too hard for you.   Jeremiah 32:17

Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete. John 16:24

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. Romans 8:28

Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. James 1:17

From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. Acts 17:26

For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. Ephesians 2:10

The promise of prayer is . . . that God will be God.

And Friends make no mistake that God being God is . . .

  • Always more than we can imagine.
  • God being God is always more than we have the unction to comprehend.
  • God being God – is always More than . . . and you can fill in the blank.

God will do and be more than we can think or imagine because that’s WHO GOD is – He is the God of More –He does more because He is more.

  • He is the More who hovered over the waters when the land and the sea were commanded to appear
  • He is the More who called out the stars one by one
  • He is the More who parted the Red Sea and held the water at bay to the left and to the right
  • He is the More who led them to the Promised Land
  • He is the More who took on Flesh to walk among us
  • He is the More who became sin on the Cross
  • He is the More who defeated death and arose from the Tomb
  • And He is the More who leans from heaven to hear your every prayer

When we rejoice in our homes and our praises reach His ears . . .

17 “The Lord your God is in your midst, A victorious warrior. He will exult over you with joy, He will be quiet YOU in His love, He will rejoice over you with shouts of joy. Zephaniah 3:17

  •  Shouts of joy! The God of More will not be silenced where you are concerned!

When we struggle against the prowling lion who seeks to devour our communities the Voice of Victory speaks and the Lion of Judah roars through our hearts declaring that we are more than a conquerors!

31 What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? Romans 8:31

  •  Our Jesus cannot be defeated! The God of More will not surrender!

And when we weep, rather for our nation, our neighbor, or ourselves we know that our Advocate sits on High and the One who has called us His own, Job assures us . . . weeps with us.

19 Even now my witness is in heaven; my advocate is on high. 20 My intercessor is my friend as my eyes pour out tears to God; 21 on behalf of a man he pleads with God as one pleads for a friend. Job 16:19-21

The Spirit Himself will plead our case. The God of More will hear the 1 Kings 8:28 cry of His servant in His presence!

And His heart will be moved . . . to be God.

So for our nation tonight we summon the courage to accept that we have come to our royal position for such a time as this . . .

  • We exercise our privilege and enter the Throne Room,
  • We carry out our purpose, Asking and Receiving
  • And We rejoice in the promise of complete joy

Not in the promise of the yes, not the promise of doing it our way, but the Promise of God to always be who He says He is . . The God of More.

The God of More

 Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.  Ephesians 3:20-21

Many thanks to BibleGateway for making Scripture so accessible!

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The Evermore of Glory . . . the Nevermore of Tears

16 Jun

Life is such a funny thing. Periods of great joy and deep grief run parallel with one another. Elation and loss side-by-side, each one demanding your full attention – neither receiving it because you find yourself incapable of fully committing to the experience of either. Instead, you find yourself vacillating between the two. Moments of great happiness followed by times of overwhelming melancholy . . . and the life events that lead us there are as different as the feelings themselves.

I have Sisters walking through such grief as they come to terms with doing a portion of this temporal life without their Mommas. . . without their children . . .they simultaneously ache with the reality of their daily absence and rejoice that the ones they loved so well are now free of pain and worry, standing hand-in-hand with Jesus. They delight that their faith has become sight but the apartness of it all is so heavy sometimes. So they find themselves living in a place of both joy and emptiness, hearts etched by separation and spirits anticipating sweet reunions . . .knowing the reality of the Apostle Paul’s statement that we do not grieve as those who have no hope.

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I have Sweet Friends in soul combat as their “adult-children” begin navigating life on this decaying planet in a new way. They beam with pride at the accomplishments of their babies as their high school days are left behind and they pray with ferocity for their futures. They put together picture boards in commemoration of milestones and try to imagine the new images that will be part of their children’s monumental moments in the days to come. They are standing between the mountain-top of triumph and the fresh climb into the unknown that looms just ahead for their young people. Young people who head toward new destinations on their life journeys and take with them very real and very large chunks of their Momma’s hearts. Hearts that at once celebrate what lies ahead and remember the sweetness of what is behind. Hearts that hear the Voice of Love whisper . . . “train a child up” . . . and cling to it with everything they are.

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God opened my eyes to this strange linking of emotional arms this morning as I set about the business of continuing to sort and pack away my daughter’s things. I pack a little and I cry a little. I do heavy sighs as if my heart can’t get enough air as I look from thing to thing and the memories flood through my mind and onto my cheeks. The wedding is over. The new life in a new state has begun for her. My emotions flow back and forth between great happiness over her new experiences and powerful waves of what I can only describe as heart blues.

And I’m sure she is encountering some version of that same ebb and flow as she makes her new home. Unpacking boxes that speak to the security of a time now passed and choosing new things to create a sense of belonging in this place of fresh beginning. New wife, new life . . . joy and anticipation colliding head on with a peculiar mixture of mourning and melancholy.

No matter where you are reading from, you have a similar experience. A time when it seemed that your heart argued with itself about what you should be feeling. A dear friend reminded me years ago when my Sweet Girl left for college on the opposite end of the country and I walked through the same dichotomy of emotions that we were never meant to experience painful separation from one another. Might that be why it is so difficult to nail down the way we feel about being apart?

I confess that this upheaval in my emotions, while unpleasant at times, has served a beautiful purpose. It has opened my eyes and allowed me a glimpse of the eternity I will spend in Glory. It has made me marvel at what Jesus was willing to endure when He experienced the ultimate separation on the Cross so we could spend eternity in glorious togetherness.

There will be no farewells in heaven. Glory wasn’t designed for clashing emotions. Loss will have no place in eternity and its fraternal twin loneliness will never draw a breath.   Mourning and melancholy simply won’t be part of the equation. Sadness and sorrow will never make their way past the Gate called Beautiful.

The ransomed of God will delight in the absence of mixed emotion and savor the full presence of one another . . .not a tear will be shed and everlasting joy will crown the head of the redeemed. Gladness and joy will overtake us and sorrow and sighing—the kind we do when we feel like our hearts can’t get enough air—they will flee away.

Beloved, that’s our reality – our certain outcome – because He is our reality and He will not change His mind concerning us. We won’t be visited by loss and the pain of grief will not find a home. There will be no more life transitions or waiting for blessed reunions. No more intermingling of elation and melancholy. Never again will we utter the goodbye. Sweet Sister, if you find yourself with a fractured spirit—part of you celebrating while the other part grieves—you take heart Precious Believer . . .our complete joy is guaranteed and the Nevermore of separation will be ours when our feet are firmly planted in the Evermore of Glory.

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