Do the Next Thing

John 19:27 Then saith he to the disciple, Behold thy mother! And from that hour that disciple took her unto his own home.

I don’t know about you, but I’ve said a billion times (indulge my exaggeration) ‘I don’t know what to do!’ We are commanded to “look to Jesus” on the cross in order to know how to handle our time of suffering and hardship (Hebrews 12:2). A lesson we can learn from Christ on the cross is this: make practical preparations, in the midst of your sorrow.

When we face overwhelming grief, unrelenting discouragement, or pounding pain, it is often hard to know what to do. We tend to want to roll up in a ball and hope that the storm will pass or that some easy solution will present itself.

However, the right response, even in times of great suffering, is to make practical preparations in the midst of your sorrow. You must still get out of bed, or go to work, or do the laundry, or pay the bills, or play with the children, or write up your will — no matter how low you may feel, ignoring your responsibilities will not help any problem go away.

Here was Jesus, in the darkest moment of human history, bearing the brunt of man’s and God’s wrath. No one has ever been in as low a state as Jesus was at this time. And, yet, he is making simple, mundane preparations for after his death. He is making sure that his mother will be cared for.

Elizabeth Elliot calls this fundamental need to face reality the “do the next thing” principle. When you don’t know what to do next, she says, do the next thing. This is excellent and practical advice: Do it immediately, do it with prayer.

Jesus is coming back, this is a fact. Meanwhile, we are to be helpful every day, even the worst of days and in times of great trial.  Don’t know what to do? The Bible tells us. Paul gave us the specifics in 1 Thessalonians 5:

And we urge you, brothers,
·         warn those who are idle,
·         encourage the timid,
·         help the weak,
·         be patient with everyone.
·         Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong,
·         but always try to be kind to each other and to everyone else.
·         Be joyful always;
·         pray continually;
·         give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.
·         Do not put out the Spirit's fire;
·         do not treat prophecies with contempt.
·         Test everything.
·         Hold on to the good.
·         Avoid every kind of evil…

If you don’t know WHAT to do, this should keep you occupied!  We must walk through the times of trouble in faith, continue to take care of life's practical needs AND be helpful to those around us. Do the next thing. Do it immediately, do it with prayer

God, You are the one at work in us. By Your Spirit , through Your Word, I ask that You will speak to me clearly now. What specific things do You want to do through me to be helpful today? Lead me. Guide me. I trust You do it through me. Amen.

Separation Time in the Desert

Jonah 2:3-4 (NKJV) For You cast me into the deep, into the heart of the seas, and the floods surrounded me...Then I said, ‘I have been cast out of Your sight; Yet I will look again toward Your holy temple.’

I’ve been reading a study on how God has chosen to use ‘separation’ in the lives of many people He calls into service.

Before Moses was called to lead the people of Israel of bondage he spent 40 years herding sheep and goats in the desert and they weren’t even his own animals. God used that time to prepare Moses and free him from his ‘self’ and worldly mentalities. Only then was Moses ready to take the stand for God’s chosen people and speak for the Lord to Pharaoh. Then it was back to the desert for another 40 years Moses went; this time leading a bunch of ungrateful complainers needing the same lessons on trusting and following God alone.

Look at all the times David spent alone in the wilderness; first, as the entrusted sheepherder in his family; then later as he ran from a jealous, mentally unbalanced Saul. Later still, he had to run and hide from his own son. And this was the man God called, “A man after my own heart.” Each time David was separated from his home, family, position and followers, God used the hardships to bring David to a place of better serving Him and emptying him of ‘self.’

The reference scripture today is from Jonah. You can believe Jonah felt a huge separation time in the belly of the whale. He was separated from God by his disobedience, separated from people and even the light of day as he pondered his fate and bad attitudes and decisions in the complete darkness and unpleasant digestive process inside the whale.

Separation from all that is familiar; family, hearth, and friends is difficult at best; most of the time it is pure hell on earth. The worse separation of all is from God. You just don’t get any more alone than that. Many years ago in what I call ‘another lifetime’ I went through such a time of separation. In what seemed like one fatal swoop of fate, I lost my home, my job, my dream, and worse of all, my sons. My sons did not die or anything, they went to live with their dad and ‘other mother’ because I had lost my job and home. But to a mother’s heart, the pain was devastating. I had everything I thought I wanted and dreamed of one day and then the next, it was gone. All of it was gone! I had my own personal Moses/David/Jonah experience. That’s what it took for me to lay down my agenda, my way, my will and totally surrender my life to God Almighty. I remember so vividly; the pain, the fear, and desperation of total defeat and surrender. I even remember the actual words, “God, I have screwed up my life as much as I possibly can. Take it, it’s Yours.”

Not the usually wordy, poetic stuff you hear from me, granted, but it could not have been more sincere and genuine. That evening, I asked God to take control, have His way with me and my life. I did not have the strength physically, emotionally, mentally and most especially spiritually, to make another decision without Him, lift my hands in effort to make anything happen or even to reason out a logical thought. Nope, wasn’t gonna happen! For the first time I KNEW what the scripture meant when it said I can do nothing on my own.

In my tiny room I could smell all the sheep of 40 years of herding, feel the chill of the caves carved in the hillside, trembled in fear of my enemies approaching and ‘see’ the darkness I had brought on myself. It was then, in that moment I realized God had taken away everything that was important to me, everything that took my time and efforts, and everything I had been placing above Him in my life. He took it all so He would have my undivided attention for the first time in my miserable little life. My classroom and sentence was desert time. It wasn’t long before I was praising Him for the very same sentence! My life profoundly changed as I was being transformed into someone willing and able to serve Him.

From the study I am reading come these final words: As we see with Jonah, the Lord can use solitude to transform disobedience into obedience. God doesn’t override our free will, but He goes all out to help us exercise it in the right direction. When our will is dead set against what He wills and wants for us, He can put us in a position where we finally decide to surrender and submit to Him.

Spiritual Health

What’s your spiritual temperature these days? Unless you are really good at lying to yourself, you can gauge fairly accurately. Suppose you run into a friend at the grocery store. You say, hello, ask about the family, tell them how busy you’ve been and walk away feeling like you’ve had a pretty decent encounter.

Now imagine instead of asking about the family, you asked how they were doing spiritually. Granted, some people may tell you in no uncertain terms that it is none of your blankity-blank business but my guess is that most would look at you as if you’ve lost your mind. I’ve actually asked this of people before, so I am sharing how it was received, this isn’t just my opinion. If it were, I would tell you.

The ‘blankity-blank’ people have already told you how they are spiritually with their response. That would be your clue to add them to your prayer list.

Those in shock by your question would fall into a few different categories. Some would offer up religious platitudes and speak Christian-eze to you. Those people always make me wonder. In some cases they just do not know how to respond so they fall back on the familiar religious responses.

It is important to note that asking how someone is doing spiritually is not the same as asking for their laundry list of woes and troubles. Granted, that's what many will give you. It is asking instead about their relationship with the Lord. Do they feel close and able to cry out to Him or do they feel disconnected at the moment. Some people pull away from the Lord when they are struggling, their spiritual temperature would be a cool 98.0......Sometimes I feel I can reach out and touch Him, other times I know I am withdrawing when I feel alone and hurting.

The majority, most especially the Christians, will tell you they are good and leaning on the Lord in all things. Some people are touched that you would even think to ask and, after the surprise wears off, they may share that they are struggling and ask you to pray for them. The ones that really know and trust you will not be hesitant to ask for help. They will share their burdens if they know they can trust you. Again, this is not asking for their worldly troubles. It is the relationship connection we are speaking of here.

It is very difficult to be transparent with people, even other Christians, about where we are spiritually. I know this to be fact because God gave me the task of being transparent in my writing of this blog. He showed me I am to use the lessons He teaches me through this medium. I have to say, it is a struggle to lay bare my weaknesses, failures and blunders before your eyes on a regular basis. I would be doing us both a disservice if I appeared to have it all together spiritually speaking. I would not be the woman of integrity I aspire to be and my testimony would be worthless.

I have a dear friend that once told me he preferred a devotional that just told him something he could take with him and didn’t make him think. Wow! Needless to say, he doesn’t get my devotionals! God makes me think all the time and I am to share with you. So I am asking you, as someone that genuinely cares, how are you doing spiritually today? Something to ponder.

The Whole Truth and Nothing but the Truth

1 John 2:1-6 My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world. Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. He who says, “I know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him. He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked.

“Ask me no questions and I’ll tell you no lies.” Quote from Oliver Goldsmith (1728-1774), an Anglo-Irish writer, poet, playwright and physician.

Sadly, the quote rings loudly of the mentality and ethics held by far too many. Lies and deception are so commonplace we are stunned when we hear and recognize the truth. I do not need to list the reasons people justify lying…we all know them and have at one time or another used all them ourselves. Before we were walking with Jesus Christ, we were numbered among the liars and deceivers. Since choosing to follow Christ…sadly, we are numbered among the liars and deceivers. We just think we have better motives now for the half-truths, omissions, and assumptions we allow people to believe, right? Wrong!

My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world.

There ya go…the rationalization some Christians use to let themselves off the hook for their sins. “But”, you might say. “it is scripture!” Of course it is…and Jesus will stand as our advocate for us when our shortcomings slap us in the head. But read on… Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. He who says, “I know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. This may sting, Friends, but in case you missed it, He who says, “I know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.

Harsh? Perhaps…but why is it we would want use Jesus as our ‘life preserver’ per se, if we really KNOW Him? I can’t imagine that Jesus would want His Bride to be known for being deceptive and sinning while waving the ‘Jesus flag’, can you?

But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him. That’s where we should be… in Him…not using Him as our scapegoat as in the days before He died on the cross for us.

He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked. Jesus didn’t deceive or lie or lead people down the merry path of sin and destruction as He paraded through waving His own ‘Son of God’ flag. He IS truth! He IS love! He IS mercy! He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked.

“Ask me no questions and I’ll tell you no lies.” has NO place in the life of a person who abides in Christ. This hits me hard because I'm guilty of that. Quoting myself, "My private life is just that...private." I do not believe we need spill our guts to everyone we know but there is a fine line between maintaining my need for 'privacy' and allowing people to believe that which is not true. Sadly, some people ask questions out of curiosity more than concern and are lying to themselves when they pass it off as such. Holy moly! Fine line, indeed!!

Take My Yoke Upon You

Matthew 11:28-30 "Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you, and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart; and you shall find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy, and My load is light."

In my reading today I found what I believe is an awesome explanation of the scripture above. If you’ve ever tried to move a large, heavy piece of furniture by yourself, you know what a heavy burden is. If you’ve tried to move that same piece with someone that is walking faster than you can manage, especially going up or down stairs, you know what an unequal yoke feels like in an earthly sense. But when you are in step with one another, each bearing the load together, the burden is easier to bear. Read below what Neil Anderson wrote on our spiritual yoke. I love it the word picture it paints!

Matthew 11:28-30 contains a beautiful description of the purpose and pace of the Spirit-filled walk. Jesus invites you to a restful walk in tandem with Him, just as two oxen walk together under the same yoke. "How can a yoke be restful?" you ask. Because Jesus' yoke is an easy yoke. As the lead ox, Jesus walks at a steady pace. If you pace yourself with Him, your burden will be easy. But if you take a passive approach to the relationship, you'll be painfully dragged along in the yoke because Jesus keeps walking. Or if you try to race ahead or turn off in another direction, the yoke will chafe your neck and your life will be uncomfortable. The key to a restful yoke-relationship with Jesus is to learn from Him and open yourself to His gentleness and humility.

The picture of walking in the Spirit in tandem with Jesus also helps us understand our service to God. How much will you get done without Jesus pulling on His side of the yoke? Nothing. And how much will be accomplished without you on your side? Nothing. A yoke can only work if both are pulling together.

Paul said, "I planted, Apollos watered, but God was causing the growth" (1 Corinthians 3:6). You and I have the privilege to plant and water, but if God isn't in it, nothing will grow. However, if we don't plant and water, nothing will grow. God has chosen to work through the church, in partnership with you, to do His work in the world today. He's the lead ox. Let's learn from Him.

Dear Jesus, I want You to be my yoke-mate today. Keep me from going ahead or lagging behind. I want to walk step-by-step with You.