I'll Pray for You!

Lately, I have been thinking about how often we throw this phrase around but rarely make good on our commitment.

Does that happen to anyone else out there?  I think sometimes there really is good intention and legitimate forgetfulness, but I hate to think of all the times we have missed opportunities to make a difference.

I have tried to change this habit in my life.  I heard someone say once that we should just stop what we are doing right then and there and pray for the person asking!

As I have adopted this act of selflessness and love, I have been rewarded so unexpectedly.  From tears of joy or sorrow to smiles and hugs of relief, I have watched the sincere words sent to heaven's ears melt the hardest hearts of stone and bring peace to the most confused souls.  What an easy way to give love and hope.

I know there are nay-sayers out there who don't even think prayer is anything more than a wish lost in the wind...and for those precious people, my heart breaks. 

Blessedly, I know better!  I KNOW beyond any shadow of doubt that God is real and He hears every word I speak and even every thought I think!

I remember awaking early one morning, around 5 A.M. and sensing this urgent burden to pray.  For three hours I would lie in the bed, praying anything and everything I could think of to pray.  At 8 A.M., when alas I had to get up and get myself ready for the day, I continued to carry the burden to intercede.

I did not know for whom or what I was calling on heaven to intervene.  I hadn't the slightest idea of what was so heavy that it needed attention!

My sons began to rise and roam, and two of the young ladies living with us at the time were likewise getting ready for their day.  One would be taking the other to the airport to catch a flight.  They asked if two of my boys could ride along, and having no reason to hesitate to allow them time with their "big sisters," I, of course, agreed.

The oldest son remained at home with me, but within a half hour, I received the call no parent ever wants.  There had been an accident.

I was told everyone was fine, but left immediately to go see for myself.  My husband met me along the way, and Garrison and I jumped in the van with him.  

As we pull up to the scene of the accident, we have to slow down to a stop on the side of the interstate.  I  look over to the ramp, my eyes searching for signs of my "babies," and I see the side of the little sedan stuck on the front of a semi truck.  The truck had pushed the small car  up the ramp!


As plain as day, I heard these words, "This is what you were praying about."


I am overjoyed to report that NOT ONE of my loved ones was hurt in any way, other than shaken up, and neither was the truck driver.


How might that morning have gone down differently if I had been too sleepy or too busy to pray?  Only God knows for sure, but I know the lesson I learned that day!


Friends...God sees and knows everything, and He yearns for us to believe that!

Psalm 139

For the choir director: A psalm of David.

¹ O Lord, you have examined my heart
    and know everything about me.
² You know when I sit down or stand up.
    You know my thoughts even when I’m far away.
³ You see me when I travel
    and when I rest at home.
    You know everything I do.
⁴ You know what I am going to say
    even before I say it, Lord.
⁵ You go before me and follow me.
    You place your hand of blessing on my head.
⁶ Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
    too great for me to understand!

⁷ I can never escape from your Spirit!
    I can never get away from your presence!
⁸ If I go up to heaven, you are there;
    if I go down to the grave,^[a] you are there.
⁹ If I ride the wings of the morning,
    if I dwell by the farthest oceans,
¹⁰ even there your hand will guide me,
    and your strength will support me.
¹¹ I could ask the darkness to hide me
    and the light around me to become night—
¹²     but even in darkness I cannot hide from you.
To you the night shines as bright as day.
    Darkness and light are the same to you.

¹³ You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body
    and knit me together in my mother’s womb.
¹⁴ Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex!
    Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it.
¹⁵ You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion,
    as I was woven together in the dark of the womb.
¹⁶ You saw me before I was born.
    Every day of my life was recorded in your book.
Every moment was laid out
    before a single day had passed.

¹⁷ How precious are your thoughts about me,^[b] O God.
    They cannot be numbered!
¹⁸ I can’t even count them;
    they outnumber the grains of sand!
And when I wake up,
    you are still with me!

¹⁹ O God, if only you would destroy the wicked!
    Get out of my life, you murderers!
²⁰ They blaspheme you;
    your enemies misuse your name.
²¹ O Lord, shouldn’t I hate those who hate you?
    Shouldn’t I despise those who oppose you?
²² Yes, I hate them with total hatred,
    for your enemies are my enemies.

²³ Search me, O God, and know my heart;
    test me and know my anxious thoughts.
²⁴ Point out anything in me that offends you,
    and lead me along the path of everlasting life.

  

Tired of Hypocrisy? Then Stop It!

The definition of hypocrisy is a pretense of having virtuous character, moral or religious beliefs or principles, etc., that one does not really possess.

I have heard this term thrown around since I was a young girl.  I have heard it spewed out venomously toward others in judgment.

I have never liked it.  

I have never liked the way it sounds coming out of someone,nor the way it made the other person look or respond.  

I certainly didn't like the way it made my mother hurt when it was speared at her, just because she was trying to do what she thought best.  

I have never had someone launch that particular word at me yet, but I have definitely gotten the same message...the attitude...the spirit...

the judgment.  That's really what it is.  It is someone's perception of another.

I have seen a lot of these judgments slashing lately, especially through Facebook.  I have watched it happen over all kinds of issues, not just religious belief.  

Some examples:  how someone parents, how someone spends their money, what music someone listens to, how and when someone writes on their blog, what type of schooling someone does with their children, what someone eats, how someone cuts their hair, what kind of car someone drives, how big of a house someone lives in, what kind of mission work someone does, which school someone goes to, which country someone chooses to visit, how many children someone has...

I wish that was the exhausted list, but sadly I could go on.  Do you see what I see?

Judgment...everywhere...about anything and everything!

It sickens me to see it in other people, but the main thing I want to keep before me is that it sickens me to see it IN ME!

One of my daily prayers has become, "Lord help me to see each person with your eyes today.  Help my first thoughts to be of true love and nothing judgmental.  I can't do it in my own power!"  


And there is the key.


We are ALL human.  NOT ONE of us is perfect.  NOT ONE of us is exempt from judgmental thoughts in our minds.  No matter what religious theology we choose, no matter our background, our color, our upbringing, WE ALL FALL SHORT!

Those who dare call themselves Christian seem to get watched the most.  I think this is because we are willing to stand up and say, "This is the standard by which I choose to try to live."  Those who don't affiliate with certain groups get the freedom of a little more leeway in how they get to behave toward others.  We don't know exactly what standards they are trying to live by and therefore we can't point the finger as easily when we think they may have screwed up! We are left wondering what they think about what they said or did, but we can readily see if it doesn't meet the standard WE choose to live by. 


Personally, I have the best intentions most days to not pass judgment on others.  I constantly try to remind myself that most of us are doing the best we know how!  Yet, I still find myself having those thoughts, and when I am really not diligent about my thought-life, I find myself saying something I shouldn't say about someone else!!!

UGH!  I HATE WHEN I THINK AWFUL THINGS ABOUT OTHERS, AND I REALLY HATE WHEN I LET THAT POISON OOZE OUT!  I MEAN, I DON'T WAKE UP IN THE MORNING AND MAKE PLANS TO HURT OTHER PEOPLE!  DO YOU?  DO YOU REALLY THINK EVERYONE ELSE DOES???


Problem is, these things can't be taken back.  Once they are out there, that's it.  Most of the time, I really believe people are only reacting out of insecurities, fears, or hurtful experiences of their own past.  I don't believe they are setting out to maliciously hurt others any more than I am.  BUT, the fact remains that it happens, doesn't it?  And sometimes WE are the guilty party!


What a difference it would make if we would all remember that WE ALL DO IT AT SOME POINT!  


I can't fathom calling someone a hypocrite, for I can't imagine I will ever attain a place in this human life where I won't be one in some way or another!  Do I want to be?  NO!  Do I try not to be?  YES!  But do I fail?  YOU BETCHA!


So, this is just a challenge to all the "humans" out there, despite your specifics of religion, race, culture, etc... try to daily lay down your judgments of other people and focus on yourself because truth is:  YOU CANNOT CALL OR SEE SOMEONE ELSE JUDGMENTAL WITHOUT PASSING A JUDGMENT OF YOUR OWN!


Sobering isn't it?  We ALL have work to do, don't we?  


For me, I know it is ONLY my understanding of the Word of God and my intimate relationship with Jesus that keeps me trying to walk in love.  I know who I am and how I am without HIM.  I have tried it both ways, and I am disgusting without the conviction of the wisdom of God!

I didn't need a Savior because I was terrific!  I needed one because I was a mess...in my thoughts, my attitudes, my actions, everything!


And sometimes...somedays, guess what?  I'm still a mess.  Accepting Him, believing in His atonement on my behalf, didn't make me less human; it just gave me a fighting chance to start over in grace every day.

I ache for those who call themselves "Christians" who aren't able to boast in their weaknesses...for those who still try to look like they have it all together.  They have sent a confusing picture to the world of what Christ came to do.  He didn't come and lay down His life to make any of us look like something perfect or even great! 

He did what He did to set us free from having to look like anything!  He did what He did to glorify the Father of all...so that every person would be drawn to a Father who loves so much that He didn't even withhold His very Son!!!  He did what He did so that we didn't have to look like Him, but so we could be like Him...the picture of love despite what is said and done to us.


I sure don't have this down.  But I sure do rest in the freedom of not having to!  I wish we could all let each other rest in that.


As my friend Becky posted today, "Lord help us ALL!"

Who am I to question God?

I recently started reading the Bible chronologically. I have tried this or other reading plans in the past and have done pretty well for a few months, once I even made it ten months but then tapered off, so pray for me that I stick to it this time. In my reading I just finished the book of Job. This book has been a source of struggle for me, not just this time, but every time I have read it. I have always struggled with this story. I have often asked why is this book even in the Bible? What am I supposed to get out of it?

This time, while reading, I kept going back over certain passages to make sure that I had not missed anything. I began getting frustrated again. Finally, I asked God to show me something, anything that I could take from my readings. Yes, it took me four days of reading before I finally went to the source but at least I did.

God then opened my eyes to a fact that I had missed before. There were actually four friends who spoke to Job. I had never really thought about it, never really paid attention because in the last part of the book it says “So Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite did what the LORD told them; and the LORD accepted Job’s prayer.” (Job 42:9) I felt God speak to me “What about Elihu?” And I remembered Elihu was the one who called himself young and who waited until all the others had spoken before he said anything. I had never really considered the fact that God brought correction to the other three friends and to Job but not to Elihu. I had never even really considered the fact that Elihu wasn't one of the "three" friends. I really felt God wanted me to learn something from what Elihu had said.

I then went back and looked at the account of Elihu and one thing really stood out to me, Job 32: 2-3 “Then the wrath of Elihu, the son of Barachel the Buzite, of the family of Ram, was aroused against Job; his wrath was aroused because he justified himself rather than God. Also against his three friends his wrath was aroused, because they had found no answer, and yet had condemned Job.” I began to realize that in everything leading up to this point Job had continued to talk about how righteous he had been and that he had not deserved any of the things that had happened to him. He never cursed God or said anything bad about God but he continued to ask what he had done to cause this. His other three friends were just as bad because they each inferred that Job should take a better look at himself because he obviously had to have done something to make God strike him down like this. They condemned but offered no solution. Elihu also continued to stress that fact that God did all these mighty things and who was Job to try to convince God of his righteousness. And when God did finally speak He also asked Job who was he to question God.

This realization has continued to confirm in my heart “who” I am in Christ. It has strengthened my belief in God’s control over everything. It has made me ask “Who am I to question God and His authority?” If you pay close attention to the beginning of Job, God did not put any of those things on Job. He did “allow” things to happen and that can be the topic of another discussion, but He did not do it.

The Bible says that God is “not wanting anyone to perish” 2 Peter 3:9. Death is not His will; it is not His perfect plan. When God created man and put him in the Garden of Eden He told him that he could eat of any tree except the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil that included the Tree of Life. God did, however; give man free will and he chose to eat the one that lead to death. Just think if man had chosen the other.

What I am trying to say is that God is not up in heaven with a lightning bolt waiting for me to step out of line so He can zap me. His will is that I do not perish but come to repentance. It is also His will that I have life and life more abundantly. He wants to do for me exceedingly and abundantly above all that I could even ask or desire. As I stated earlier He has also given me, and all other people free will. He has given us the ability to choose who we will serve and even if I make the right choice there are others out there that will not.

Was it God’s will that my brother in law shoot and kill a man then shoot my sister and leave her paralyzed from the waist down? Was it God’s will that a man drink and drive and kill multiple people in a car accident? Is it God’s will that countless unborn babies die daily from abortion? People make choices that affect us all. Who am I to question God and His plan? Who am I to try to blame God for what man has done?

All I can do is trust God that what He has promised will be fulfilled, either here in this life or in the next. All I can do is believe that He loved me so much that even while I was still a sinner He sent his son to die for me. All I can do is have faith that no matter what happens to me in this sin filled world that He has overcome the world! (See John 16:33) That in my weakness His strength is made perfect. That His grace is sufficient! (2 Corinthians 12:9)