Sitting with the Father

I love to imagine I’m sitting on my Father’s lap when I pray. His arms are wrapped around me, and I can hear his heart beat. I’m safe in His arms. I love it when He talks with me. His voice rumbles in His chest and reverberates in me. He always knows how to calm my heart and ease my mind. He washes me in His peace. He loves to tell me who I am and more about who He is.

 

I want you to rest in my love and breath deep. Come away with me. Let’s spend time together. I want to clean your heart and restore dreams that have been taken or suppressed.

I have work for you to do but it’s not about that. Keep your focus on me not on what you do for me. You don’t need to worry about how it will happen for I will bring it forth in my time. I cause all things to happen in their time (Isa 60:22).

Draw near to me for I have already drawn near to you (Jer 29:10-11, Ac 17: 26-27). You are my precious and beloved daughter who is much loved by her King and Daddy. You have purpose and worth that is far beyond your imagination and understanding.

I’ve given you authority and power to use, not just to hold. I’ve given you words to speak, not just to think (Isa 59:21). I will back up my words with my power.

I am the one who brings joy to your heart. I’ve named you after a quality in myself (My phone name is Joy- Isa 62:2). You have unlimited access to my joy. I want you to be confident in pulling joy from heaven to earth anytime. Joy soothes a disquieted soul. It ceases complaints. It strengthens and brings light.

I am unrestrained and have made you to be the same. Sadness need not hold you. Unrest need not follow you. Fear need not restrain you. My joy, my peace, my love conquer all. Learn to rest in this and you will be dangerous to the enemy.

Above all, you are my daughter. I have great love for you. This love flows through you and  will change the world. My love restores what is broken. It brings peace to your soul and life to your bones. There is such an intensity in my love that it burns all impurities away. I am jealous for you, all of you. I just want to be with you. I love you so dearly.

The Mind of Christ

Have you ever read something in the Bible and wondered if anyone else has discovered what you just read? These last few days I’ve been reading 1 Corinthians 2 and am continually blown away. Paul talks about how he came to the Corinthians not with big, powerful sermons but “in demonstrations of the Spirit and of power, that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God” (2:4-5). People didn’t understand this, which is why they crucified Jesus. Then get this. “’What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him’- These things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God.” Did you catch that? God reveals to us, through the Holy Spirit, the things that were hidden. We can know the things which God prepared for those who love Him.

Before Jesus came, we were not able to understand or know what God has prepared for those who love Him. The Holy Spirit was not freely given to all men. After Jesus went back into heaven, God sent the Holy Spirit to be with us forever (Jn 14:16, Ac 1-2). One of the Holy Spirit’s names is Helper (Jn 14:26). He teaches us how to be more like Jesus and shows us things previously hidden. “We have the mind of Christ” (1 Cor 2:16). We can know things God has prepared for us. By having a relationship, by spending time with God, talking with Him, we get to know His heart and He gets to know ours. Have you ever thought about that? God wants to know us.

I was at a prayer training and we were talking about identity and worth. Did you know there is a throne in heaven with your name on it? There is a seat at the wedding banquet of the Lamb with your name on it. If you aren’t sitting there, no one is. It is your place and if you aren’t there, we all miss out. There is a uniqueness to the way God created you and if you aren’t there, we all miss out. God created the Church to be a body, and if a toe or arm is missing, we all miss out. You have a place. You are needed. God created you with purpose and He loves you. We can ask Him what our purpose is. We can ask for wisdom and revelation. We have the mind of Christ. We have the Holy Spirit who reveals God’s plan and heart to us. All we have to do is ask.

Dare to ask God what His heart is for you. He is a good and loving Father who loves to spend time with His children.

Magi and the Christmas Star

History has a way of making me stand in awe of God’s sovereignty. Have you ever wondered who the Magi were and why they looked to the stars for the Messiah? A few years ago I explored this question and thought I would share a little of it with you. It was hard to condense down into an acceptable blog length so this is a little scattered and random.

Who were the Magi?

There are many theories surrounding the magi mentioned in Matthew two. For the sake of brevity, I believe the Magi were Zoroastrian.

The Persian Zoroastrian priests and the Median magi served together under the Achaemenian Persian rulers. Eventually the two priesthoods were combined for political reasons and the magi of the Medes became the priests of the Persian Zoroastrian religion. Eventually, under Nebuchadnezzar, the magi were associated with the Babylonian astrologers (known to the Greeks as Chaldeans).

Why were the Magi seeking a Messiah in Israel?

Zoroastrians already believed in a coming kingdom and Saviour. However, how did they come to look for a Messiah in Israel?

Nebuchadnezzar brought the different wise men and astrologers of his conquered kingdom to Babylon. By doing so, he created an environment where the different religions and beliefs could interact. Under Nebuchadnezzar, Daniel rose to prominence among the magi and astrologers. Because of this, Daniel had the opportunity to teach the Zoroastrian magi about the prophecies concerning the coming Messiah, someone they were also waiting for. It was a common belief a sign would accompany the birth of a great ruler. Under the influence of the Babylonian astrologers some of the Zoroastrian magi turned their eyes to the night sky to search for a sign of the coming Savior.

While we may never know with certainty who the magi of the Christmas story actually were, these men looked to the skies for the sign of the coming Saviour. As David said, “The heavens declare the glory of God... Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge” (Ps 19:1). While I am not advocating astrology, the magi looked to the heavens for directions to their Saviour and followed the star to a little town of Bethlehem. God used their field of study to lead them to Himself.

God is not governed by societal convention. His Son was born among the animals instead of among kings. He brought shepherds, the outcasts of society, in from the fields to spread the news to the people of Bethlehem. He used a captive of Israel to lead the astrologers and to teach them about the Messiah. Nearly seven hundred years later, these intellectual elite from another religion brought the news of the Messiah’s birth to the political ruler and religious rulers of Israel.

God’s hand is all over history. That is why I find it so fun to study.

Hold onto the Promises

This past year was full of learning how to trust God while pushing through hard circumstances. I need to worship God and hold onto the promises He’s given me. He tells me who He is. He tells me who I am. I do not need to focus all my thoughts on my failures or my circumstances but need to lift up my eyes to the one who shelters me, provides for me and encourages me. “Submit yourselves, therefore, to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you” (Jas 4:7, emphasis mine). My job is to submit myself to God. By doing so, I automatically resist the devil and he has to flee. “In returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and in trust shall be your strength...” (Isa 30:15). Right now, I am not to fight but to rest. (Have to admit, resting is really challenging) I am to focus my eyes on God, to be still and to remember who He is (Ps 46:10). Resting in God’s presence is more powerful than we know.

I was in a funk a few weeks ago and was talking with a friend about it. My friend commented that sometimes we just need to have an experience that allows our head knowledge to become heart knowledge. We need to experience the Bible and know it is true. The next morning I was listening to the radio and one phrase kept jumping out at me. “Hold onto the promises. Hold onto the promises.” I have no idea what the rest of the song was saying because I could not get past those four words. I pulled out the different promises God gave me. Soon I found myself praising God for His faithfulness and goodness. I was not focusing on my circumstances or emotions but on who God is. My circumstances did not change, but it is a lot easier to have joy when I focus on the One who gives joy.

Before this year, I never knew you could have a promise from God. I didn’t even know how to go about getting one. Then someone told me to ask God. What a brilliant idea. Ask God. It didn’t seem like it should work. It didn’t seem like God would want to give me a promise, let alone have a conversation with me about one.

Then my heart started to change. I looked back at the verses that always stood out to me, and one day I took hold of them for myself. I started to believe God is who He says He is. The more I surrendered to God, the more I learned from Him. I began to learn God’s voice. I began to recognize that when words jump off the page at me and grab my heart God is speaking with me. When I need encouragement, He wants to be that for me. When I need financial provision, He wants to be that for me. When I need to know I am beautiful or have worth, He wants to tell me and show me I do (Isa 62:1-6). I believe God gives us a need or a challenge so that He can be the answer to that problem. He gives us different desires so He can be the one to fulfill them.

So, does this mean I did not have promises before? No. If anything, I always had them. I just wasn’t looking for them. I wasn’t ready to take hold of them yet. I couldn’t handle it yet, despite my belief that I could handle them. However, I would have seen the promises of God as something I wasn’t living up to. I would have to earn them and be good enough for them. I was not willing to receive them and frankly did not want anything from Him. I did not trust Him as I thought I did.

God has given us many promises. His Word is full of them. There are promises about who God is and promises about who we are, about our past, present and future. I have promises about all of these. I even have promises about my name. Many of them are in Isaiah. I have no idea what it will look like for the promises to be fulfilled but it is fun talking with God about them. As we talk about them, he prepares me for receiving the promises. If I think I understand one of them, He shows me a deeper meaning and I am in awe of God all over again. He grows me in maturity and in faith and trust. I am learning to trust God, to believe He is who He says He is. If I am not grounded in who God says He is, I cannot fully help others be so. If I do not know who God says I am, I cannot fully help others find who God says they are.

This past week we talked about Scripture at my discipleship group. One of the leaders said (paraphrased), “The Bible is full of treasures just waiting for us to find them. It isn’t that they are hidden from us but hidden for us. They are for us to seek out. It is like a treasure hunt.” There is joy in finding treasure. If you are willing to seek it out, you will find it (Mat 7:7).

What are the promises God’s given you? He’ll highlight them for you when you read them. They’ll jump off the page and grab your heart. The words of a song will stick with you for weeks, but in a different way than when you merely have a song stuck in your head. The words of a friend will resonate deeply with your heart. God speaks in so many ways. His words bring peace and joy and encouragement.

Dare to ask God for a promise to hold onto. Let the treasure hunt begin.

God will Provide for you Financially

George Mueller was a director of an orphanage in England in the 1800’s. He never solicited monies or donations. He relied solely on prayer so that only God could be credited with providing for their needs. One day, there was nothing for breakfast, but Mueller had everyone sit down as they normally would. They prayed, thanking God for breakfast. When they finished praying there was a knock at the door. The baker had brought over enough bread for everyone, free of charge. A little while later there was another knock. The milkman’s cart had broke down in front of the orphanage, and he asked if they wanted the milk since he could not deliver it. This is just one of the hundreds of stories Mueller got to be a part of because he dared to trust God to provide.

This year I came face-to-face with the question are you willing to let God provide for you? This required me to humble myself and admit I needed help. It caused me to really look at my beliefs. Do I actually trust God enough to provide for me? This was really hard for me to come to grips with. At first my pride would not allow me to trust God or even accept anything from Him. But He was not content to leave me in that state. He wanted to show me more, to take me on an adventure. He started softening my heart through prayer and time in His Word. He began breaking down the misbelief that He would only provide when it came to ministry but not for everyday life. He showed Himself faithful on so many occasions.

Trust that He is faithful

This was hard. I did not have much of a base to go off of so we had to start small. I wasn’t ready for the deep end of the pool yet. At first I was trusting God to provide where I was short. Soon I had to trust Him to provide because I had very little. He will start small and ease you into trusting Him. He wants to gain our trust and not force trust on us.

One day, I got an update from a missionary couple in Italy. They were getting married in a few months and were asking for additional financial support. Among the different requests, they were asking for $150 for a wedding dress. At the time, I did not have money to give them but really wanted to help. I asked God for the $150 so I could give it to them. The next day I got an email from school that they were returning $150 because they overcharged me. It was like God was saving that money so I could bless my friends. How cool is that!

God then had me trust Him for something bigger, a job and financial provision until I got one. A year ago I graduated from college. I spent eight months looking for a job before God provided a full-time position. It was a long eight months. In all honesty, I only had enough saved to allow me to stay here for about three and a half months. God provided for the rest of the months. It was crazy. I felt like the widow in 2 Kings 4:1-7 or in 1 Kings 17 (minus the widow and child aspect). I should only have been here for a few months but God kept providing for me. He allowed me to stay here until He gave me a full-time job.

This summer, the end of the month was coming to a close and I only had $30 in my bank account. Rent was due in a week and a half and I had no idea how I was going to pay it. There was absolutely nothing I could do but pray. I did not want to ask for help. Part of me did not want to ask for help because of pride, but a larger portion of my heart wanted to see God be a Provider. Throughout Scripture, we see God as a Provider. He provided a lamb in the place of Isaac in Genesis 22. He gave Elijah bread in the desert (1 Ki 17:1-6). He provided food for Elijah and a widow and her son during famine (1 Ki 17). Jesus fed 5,000 people (Mk 6). I wanted a story like that. I wanted to see God provide for me. It was the coolest thing. That week I got several checks in the mail. I had exactly enough to pay my rent. This was not a onetime occurrence either. I got to see God do this on several occasions.

I heard a quote that we should be leaning so far into God that if He is not there we would fall on our face. I want to be so dependent on Him that if He is not there, I will fall on my face. I am definitely at the shallow end of trusting God. I’m only ankle deep. But God is taking me deeper. He wants me to be swimming but we have to work our way up to that. One day I’ll be at that point but it is a hard thing to pray for. I like my comfort. A little too much sometimes. I know God is going to keep stretching me and asking me to trust Him for things beyond my comfort level. However, He is faithful. He will provide. If He gives a promise, He will not back out of it but will fulfill it (Isa 54:10, 1 Sa 15:29).

Dare to ask God to provide for you, and trust that He is faithful. He wants to show you more of Himself and take you on an adventure. It will stretch you and grow you but it is worth it.