Tag: God

spend this year with Jesus

[cross-posted to www.stepforwardtoday.com]

This is not the typical goal-setting, list-making, organizing-your-life type of stuff that you normally read at the beginning of a new year. Whether you’re at the top of the mountain anticipating all that 2019 has waiting for you, or you’re trying to lift your hands in worship from the trenches of brokenness, the key to this next year – and really, the rest of your life – is to take it step-by-step, second-by-second, with God…not just “God with us at Christmas,” but every day. This year: Prioritize deepening your spiritual life.

Walk with God Every Day
“I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” (John 15:5 NIV)

  • What are your first thoughts when you wake up? Are you dashing out of bed into the day without any minutes to spare? Even if you can’t set your alarm earlier, make it a habit to tune your thoughts toward God. Thank Him for this new day and ask Him to walk with you through it. If you have concerns, doubts, fears, tell Him. If this is new for you, stick a reminder on your bathroom mirror or other go-to spot to help you recognize God first in your day.
  • As you go through the rest of your day, can you see Jesus with you? Sitting in the chair next to you? How about the passenger seat of your car? In your meeting at work? Working out with you? What would you say to Him? What is He saying to you? God is with us 24/7, but since we can’t visually see Him, use your imagination to picture Him next to you.
  • What time of day is best to call on Jesus? Every second! He’s walking with you and He wants to hear from you. Any moment is a good one to call on Him, talk to Him, thank Him, and bring your needs before Him. He is “a friend who sticks closer than a brother” (Prov. 18:24).

Make Your Decisions with God
“The Lord will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame.” (Isaiah 58:11)

  • No decision is too big or too small for God. If you’re making a decision about anything at all, ask God for His wisdom and guidance…and then be prepared for His answer. He will direct you and inspire you – but you must also be open to His plans and be willing to change yours accordingly.

Practice Being in His Presence
“And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.” (1 John 4:16)

  • To love God and follow Him is to know Him and make time for Him. In addition to walking through the day with Him and consulting Him, the best way to deepen your relationship is to spend time with Him. The silence can be uncomfortable, but simply resting in His Presence is powerful. Maybe you would enjoy sitting in a comfortable spot or going for a walk. There’s no right or wrong way to spend your quiet time with Him…and if you find yourself nodding off, don’t feel guilty; discipline takes practice.

Embrace the Power of His Holy Spirit
“But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.” (John 14:26)

  • As you’re walking with God daily, consulting Him, getting to know Him through His Word and spending time with Him, rely on the power of His Holy Spirit. It’s His strength that will get you through difficult situations and allow you to take the risks He wants you to take to accomplish His plans and explore the gifts and talents He’s given you.

If you want 2019 to be different, if you want to take charge of your life, if you want to see real change, spend this year with Jesus. If you have questions or need help deepening your spiritual life, reach out. I’m not an expert, but I’m here to walk with you!

Pursuing God with You!

a tapestry of hope

September 9, 2018 was the day individual accounts of broken stories of restoration multiplied exponentially through the body of Christ and became 1,000+ touchpoints of conversation as Heartland opened its first-ever creative arts exhibition, “Broken Pieces.”

Displayed on panels and tables throughout the lobby, more than 30 works were presented in poetic form, captured on film, pieced together with ceramic tiles, intricately woven with yarn, brushed on with acrylic paints and oils, sculpted, collaged, and drawn with pencil.

Theme aside, these somewhat fragmented displays of artistic works taking up space where comfy couches were normally located could have been placed anywhere except for one defining feature: the exhibit cards. Suddenly, simple white cards bearing the typical piece description became a megaphone for the healing work of Jesus. With one glance, personal trials, struggles with mental illness, eating disorders, anxiety, depression, homelessness, hopelessness, and death multiplied out from darkness to light as every individual’s internal monologue touched 1,000+ lives every time someone read an exhibit card.

2 Corinthians 4:6 says, “For God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ.”

God took a simple display of themed creative work and turned it into a tapestry of restoration and hope. Like a stained-glass window, all the panels and tables of artistic broken stories were held together with the love, healing and grace of Jesus.

The Enemy wants us to keep our broken stories, deep hurts, and struggles to ourselves so that we remain isolated, but through the Power of God’s Holy Spirit and the saving work of Jesus on the Cross, there is no limit to what He can accomplish in us and our relationships with others when we make ourselves vulnerable, authentic, and transparent.

1 Corinthians 12:24-26 says, “…But God has put the body together, giving greater honor to the parts that lacked it, so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.”

The Broken Pieces exhibit is just one more example of the transformational work God can do in our lives when we allow our stories to be used by Him.

Have you experienced Christ’s love and healing in your own broken story? Are you still trying to make sense of everything that’s happened in your life, or are you losing hope? If any of these ring true, please reach out!

unpack your bags

[cross-posted to www.stepforwardtoday.com]

As part of my fun and curious quest to read the Bible chronologically, I recently read through the book of Leviticus. Quite honestly, I slogged through the book of Leviticus. The entire book is about all of the rules, sacrifices and procedures required to be clean before God — or make atonement for sin — and it completely sets the stage for the time when God would send Jesus to be the ultimate sacrifice for all sins, putting an end to the Levitical system.

I’m a very visual person, so as I was reading, all of these unwanted pictures about what was happening were running through my mind. I couldn’t imagine what it would be like to be the priest, and I thought about how fearful and dejected the people must have been: “Is this animal an acceptable sacrifice for my sin? Did I follow the right number of days or the right type of sacrifice to be purified?” Can you imagine the burden of living like that every single day?

Many times I asked myself, “Why am I reading this book?” because I was pretty certain God would be cool with me just skipping it. “God, I know you had a plan here, but really? Like this is what you came up with?” However, I knew if I kept reading, there was going to be some little gem in there that God was going to speak to me through. By the time I got to chapter 26, I was beginning to doubt that this gem existed in Leviticus, but then, there it was in verses 12 and 13:

“I will walk among you and be your God, and you will be my people. I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt so that you would no longer be slaves to the Egyptians; I broke the bars of your yoke and enabled you to walk with heads held high.”

What a great illustration of what God is doing in our lives TODAY. Maybe your response looks like mine: “Yes God! YOU walk with me daily. Through the power of Your Holy Spirit and by the grace and mercy shown me through Jesus Christ, I am no longer a slave to sin or any part of my past. Because YOU have broken the chains of my bondage, I am new…transformed before You.”

I encourage you to be fully free in Jesus Christ. And if you have a personal relationship with Christ but you’re hanging onto some stuff, I encourage you to take the baggage of your past hurts, disappointments, stress, lack of confidence, negative feelings, and root causes of your addictions and hand it all over to God. You can stand tall with your head held high (Lev. 26:13), knowing “there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death” (Romans 8:1-2).

Let me know how I can help you on your journey of being continually transformed. We’re in this together!

unraveling = freedom

[cross-posted to www.stepforwardtoday.com]

The song starts, “You unravel me with a melody…”

While singing those words during worship last month, the word “unraveled” stuck with me. Various images came to my mind like when a hanging thread gets pulled and an entire seam comes apart, or when soft threads start to separate and create a hole in a favorite sweater. But we sang, “YOU unravel me” — YOU, God, unravel me. My trusty Google search produced this definition:

Isn’t that interesting? Let’s look at the first part of the definition: “undo” or “untangle.” The idea of unraveling is much more acceptable when we’re talking about fabric. We, as people, usually try to appear “put together” – not “undone” or coming apart in any form. But something beautiful happens in the purposeful unraveling of ourselves: like threads separating, unraveling creates space.

Loosening up the threads of our lives like our tightly wound personas, our impossibly busy schedules, our death grip on the things and people that are important to us, and our sin entanglements provides space for us to breathe…reflect…become free…and trust in God and experience Him more fully.

The second part of the definition reads “investigate, solve, explain, unscramble.” The action of unraveling ourselves and walking more purposefully with God draws us closer to Him. As we dive in deeper, He draws us closer and we achieve a greater understanding of His mystery, love, power and holiness.

So, how do we become unraveled? What does that look like? Here are a few ideas to get started:

  • Examine your schedule. Is every activity necessary? Why? What can you delete?
  • Examine your lifestyle. What is important to you? Who are you trying to impress? Why?
  • Examine your secrets. Are you willing to give them up? God already knows about the hidden sin areas of your life and loves you outrageously. Talk to God and reach out to a pastor for help.
  • What other areas can you look at?

Unraveling = freedom. Like threads separating, we too can create space in our lives to more fully experience God and share the outrageous love of Jesus with everyone around us.

Unravel with me!

it’s a good friday

It’s 12:44 as I begin to write this post. Approximately 44 minutes ago, some 2,000+ years ago, Jesus declared, “It is finished,” or “Father, into Your hands I commit my spirit” depending on which Disciple’s account you read.

The earth shook, the curtain in the Temple was torn in two and darkness filled the sky. At that point, nobody knew the glorious news that would come on the 3rd day when Jesus rose from the dead to appear first to Mary Magdalene.

As I look outside, the sun is shining and I, along with many of you, are preparing for the Easter Sunday celebration…shopping, cooking, cleaning, etc.

How Good it was to stop for a few minutes to read through Matthew 27:33-61 and just…well, think about it.

This day has become known as Good Friday, marked by the horrific act of one man beaten, tortured, insulted, stripped of any humanity, and nailed to a cross to die.

Now, just stop and think about that for a second. Maybe you’ve never seen this acted out in a play or in a movie. Maybe you’ve read the words a bunch of times but they never jumped off the page. Maybe this seems like a fantastic story but it never seemed real. After all, we live in an era where crime, bullying and violence are part of everyday life – just pick up the paper, read the Internet news or watch TV. In many ways, we’ve become desensitized to it until it reaches us personally, and so it becomes easy to sort of gloss over Jesus’ suffering on the cross. We can just look the other direction and not pay any attention to it.

Maybe you’re not sure this Jesus person was even real…

I want you to take a moment to think of an adult male figure in your life who cares about you and is known as a “good person” – someone who would “give a stranger the shirt off his back” (you’ve heard this phrase before).

Now, picture that person being arrested for his good works (doesn’t that sound crazy already?) and then being beaten, stripped of clothing, tortured and whipped to bleeding, denied any first aid or intervention, and then insulted and made fun of on top if it all while your family, friends and neighbors, even the whole city stands by and does nothing. (I wonder if Action News would be there to cover it? Would anyone riot in the streets or protest while holding signs?)

Next, picture that person being sentenced to die on a cross and being forced to carry the cross, on foot, a great distance – weakened, bruised, bloody, and barely able to stand. Every time he stumbles or falls, he’s beaten again.

Then, when the person arrives at the crucifixion spot, he is laid down on the cross while his hands and feet are nailed to it. Can you hear each scream with each spike being driven into his hands and feet. I don’t know about you, but accidentally banging something or spraining something is pain enough let alone the idea of having my hands and feet nailed to a block of wood.

Finally, the cross is lifted high, sunk into the ground, and this person hangs in the hot sun, slowly suffocating as his lungs collapse, until his lungs collapse.

It’s outrageous, isn’t it? Horrific? Ludicrous? We can come up with 100 more adjectives but aside from anything it was or was like, is the fact that it happened. And it happened for you and for me.

2,000+ years ago today Jesus suffered beating, torture and mockery, and died on the cross for my sin and your sin…for the sins that happened before today, the ones we’ll commit today, and the sin that will happen tomorrow. All sin.

He was, and is, our Savior.

Why? Because God loves us more than we can understand in human terms. The infinite and unconditional love God has for us caused Him to send His one and only son Jesus Christ to Earth in human form. Nothing that happened in the story of Jesus was a surprise to God. It was planned before the foundation of the Earth. And God did it all to make a way for us to be reconciled to Him. We can never be good enough on our own. We can never overcome our sins on our own. By believing in Jesus as our Savior we have the opportunity to receive God’s mercy and grace…salvation…eternal life with our Father and Creator, God. (John 3:16)

If you have never recognized Jesus as your Savior, today is a good day to make that decision and it’s as simple as A-B-C. Wherever you are, find a quiet spot. Maybe you’re not used to praying or talking to God. It’s okay. In your own words, simply…

A- Admit that you’re a sinner and you can’t do it on your own (e.g., “God I’m a sinner” or “God, I’ve really screwed up” etc.)

B-Believe that Jesus is your Savior (e.g. “I believe that Jesus died on the cross for me” or “I believe Jesus is real” etc.)

C- Commit your life (e.g. “Please come into my heart and show me how to live for you God” or “Please show me how to live your way God” or “I dedicate my life to you” etc.)

If you just prayed, congratulations and welcome to the family of God! Your name is now written in the book of life and all of Heaven is rejoicing! Tell your pastor, tell a close friend, and get into a Bible believing church that will help you grow in your faith.

Today is, in fact, a very Good Friday. And how glorious Easter Sunday will be when we can celebrate that Jesus is Alive! I pray that He is alive in your heart as well. Please share this post with a friend.

God is faithful

[cross-posted to www.stepforwardtoday.com]

I was just looking out onto the autumn landscape, savoring a moment of calm and that “settled” feeling that only comes from knowing that God has had his hand on my life from the very beginning. Through every twisting, turning, joyous or horrific moment, He has never left me even before I had a relationship with Him!

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a
future.” (Jeremiah 29:11)

Be encouraged today that whatever road you’re on, whatever circumstance you’re facing, whatever life stage you’re in, God is still with you and He still has a plan for you.

“…He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 1:6)