Freedom to Grow Where We are Planted

MATT. 30 Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to-day is, and to-morrow is cast into the oven, shall He not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?

PS 8 I trust in the mercy of God forever and ever--

The greatest freedom I have known in my life came from complete surrender to Jesus. Freedom and surrender are not often thought of as compatible states but when it comes to a surrendered life to Christ, freedom is the end result.

Looking back at my life, I count four significant life altering moments in time where I was overcome with a sense of freedom. By far, the most satisfying and nurturing was the moment I surrendered to Jesus. I was freed of burdens I didn’t even know I was carrying around. I was freed from condemnation that had been a life-long companion. I was freed from thinking I had to keep the weight of the world on my shoulders. I was freed from my personal sin. I was truly alive for the first time. I believe that is, in part, where the ‘born again’ comes from. When we come alive in Christ, we are alive in its deepest and fullest meaning for the first time. Babes in His arms.

This short paragraph below by HENRY D. THOREAU is a beautiful piece of prose that means a lot to me. Although it does not say so, I see the flower as a child of God, standing in the sunlight, looking only to the Creator, neither borrowing worry nor fear.

I saw a delicate flower had grown up two feet high, between the horses' path and the wheel-track. An inch more to the right or left had sealed its fate, or an inch higher; and yet it lived to flourish as much as if it had a thousand acres of untrodden space around it, and never knew the danger it incurred. It did not borrow trouble, nor invite an evil fate by apprehending it..

When we surrender, we are given that same freedom from concerns coming at us from the right or the left. We can stand our ground with our roots planted deeply in the Lord and simply do what He gives us to do.

The Hurt and The Healer

The Lord uses all sorts of ways and means to minister to us. Worship through music has long been used to praise and honor Him. As I write this I have background music of many birds greeting the new day and it’s beautiful. In my spiritual eye I see angels and man alike singing praise to God on High and I am moved to tears. Music can uplift, encourage and serve as the healing balm of Gilead to wounded hearts and souls.

A new song by the Christian group, MercyMe, ministers to me in such a way. Today I am sharing the lyric of the song. It is a love song to Jesus. (I’ve edited out the repeated verses.) My prayer is that you find comfort in it, too.

THE HURT AND THE HEALER by MercyMe
Why?
The question that is never far away
The healing doesn’t come from the explained
Jesus please don’t let this go in vain
You’re all I have
All that remains

So here I am
What’s left of me
Where glory meets my suffering

I’m alive
Even though a part of me has died
You take my heart and breathe it back to life
I’ve fallen into Your arms open wide
When the hurt and the healer collide

Breathe
Sometimes I feel it’s all that I can do
Pain so deep that I can hardly move
Just keep my eyes completely fixed on You
Lord take hold and pull me through

It’s the moment when humanity
Is overcome by majesty
When grace is ushered in for good
And all the scars are understood
When mercy takes its rightful place
And all these questions fade away
When out of the weakness we must bow
And hear You say “It’s over now”

Jesus come and break my fear
Awake my heart and take my tears
Find Your glory even here
When the hurt and the healer collide
When the hurt and the healer collide

Fresh Word of Restoration

There are times in our lives when people or situations ‘pop up’ seemingly out of nowhere that bring a fresh insight or word of encouragement just when we need them. These are ‘divine appointments’ I believe God brings to us. He gave me a fresh insight through the words of another Christian blogger and His holy word this morning. I relished it over and over. I had to read it several times to make sure I was getting what I thought I was getting from it. It was so simple, so pure and so…GOD…that I thought surely I was reading more into it than was actually there. I was wrong. In its simplicity, the complexity of pain, angst and ugliness of human sin melted away. I was set free from a lifetime of feeling inadequate and ‘not as good as’ because of sins done against me.

We are unable to purify ourselves from the stain of our sin; and only He can heal us of the shame of sins against us. There are the words that moved me so this morning. Only He can heal us of the shame of sins against us. Intellectually, I may have known that but this morning it penetrated deep within my spirit and touched the wounded soul within. I wore a robe of shame most of my life. My first awareness of this rag was as a child in elementary school when my brother and I were the only kids from a divorced family at our new school in small town Texas. We were different and we knew it. It felt ugly and shameful. I was eight years old when I first believed I wasn’t as good as the other kids because of it.

Sin is a give and take ordeal. We do it; it is often done to us. Even if it wasn’t your “fault”, the sins done to you can leave you under a heavy weight of shame and filth. It is no easier to bear as an adult than a little girl, the rag grows heavier. You wish you could wash yourself both from the outside and from the inside… but you can’t. You’re not able to. God Almighty, however, can. He is able to purify us, both from the sins we have committed and from the shame and pain left by sins that have been committed against us.

Jude 24-25 To him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy—to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen.

God is all-powerful. We might try to describe that with all sorts of theologically sounding words or with earthly analogies, but the fact is this: He is able to do far above and beyond anything that we can imagine or think—He joyfully presents us blameless before Himself because of who He has made us to be in Christ. I had full understanding, trust and belief that He has cleansed me from MY sin and I knew He used me for His purposes in spite of myself; that is even part of my testimony when ministering. I completely believed He used the ugliness of my life to help me witness to others and was grateful for it. Knowing He used it for His glory, turning the evil for good made it all worthwhile in my mind. ‘He is able to purify us…from the shame and pain left by sins that have been committed against us’ was my gift and lesson this morning.

Never think you have such knowledge of the Word of God that you can’t learn something new, fresh and timely. It truly is too incredible to fully understand. What can we do but kneel with our hearts and hands raised toward heaven in worship and thanks?

Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, today, I thank You for the amazing grace You have poured out on me. Thank You for cleansing me of my sin. Thank You for healing me from the sins committed against me. You and You alone are worthy of glory, majesty, authority, and worship. I give that to You now. Amen.

Take Another Look

Matt 25:35-36 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.

We’ve all heard and read this scripture. At first read, it seems to be talking about addressing the physical needs of people. Reading it today, I saw an expanded version of it. I do not believe in adding to or taking away from the Word of God, yet this morning it read a little differently. Jesus spoke in parables, using verbiage common to those in the day and time. Maybe, what I saw was God expanding my understanding beyond the obvious. Bear with me as I share what was revealed to me.

For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat – For I was hungry for something real and relevant to nurture my soul and You gave me the Word of God to feed me truth and salvation.

I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink – For I was thirsty from living in the barren desert of this worldly life and You gave me the overflowing cup of Living Waters to satisfy my thirst and I will never thirst again.

I was a stranger and you invited me in – For I was a stranger, alone and lonely, as I walked through my life and You invited me and made me the adopted child of the Living God.

I needed clothes and you clothed me – I needed clothes that were not the filthy rags of sin I had worn so long and You washed me white as snow and clothed me in a robe of Your righteousness.

I was sick and you looked after me – I was sick and defeated by the evils of this world, man’s striving for power, position and possessions and You looked after me and my eternal soul with Your mercy, grace and love.

I was in prison and you came to visit me.  – I was imprisoned by sin, depravations and strongholds holding my mind and spirit captive and You came to visit me to set me free from the law, my sin and condemnation.

Jesus was talking in these scriptures. Everywhere we look there are people in need physically and spiritually. Jesus cares about the person as a whole. Their spiritual needs take care of them for eternity; physical needs, while important, are temporary. If we are to strive to be more Christ-like, we, too, need to care about both and seek to help where and how we can. There is no greater love or help than sharing the gospel and love story of Jesus Christ with those in need.

Matt 25:40 The King will reply, `I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'

John 13:34-35 A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.

Him Who Strengthens Me

Philippians 4:11-13 Not that I speak from want; for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am. I know how to get along with humble means, and I also know how to live in prosperity; in any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both having abundance and suffering need. I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.

In times of spiritual need, God is faithful to remind us of that which we need to hear when we need to hear it. Over this past weekend, God provided me with three different sources of comfort and confirmation on the passages above. I knew then this would be the scripture for the posting today, if only to share the blessings I received from Him. Let’s break down the separate verses:

Vs 11. Not that I speak from want, Paul's joy was not because he was short of money and their contribution had taken care of his needs, although this was apparently the case because he was in prison in Rome, but because of the flourishing of their thoughtfulness toward him. In other words, his joy is not selfish, but derives solely from his thoughts of them and the “proof” of their godly care for him. For I have learned to be content in whatever state I am, Paul is saying that he had learned by the teaching of the Holy Spirit and by divine providence to be content in whatever state he found himself. Autarkes, the Greek word for “content,” appears only here in the New Testament. The word literally means “sufficient for one's self, strong enough to need no aid or support.” Paul did not claim his self-sufficiency originated with himself, or that it had anything to do with his own wisdom or power. He was independent of circumstances, thus self-sufficient, because of his trust in and dependence on the Lord. It is important to note he said he, “I have learned to be content” because none of us are born with that ability. From the moment a baby is born, that is obvious. We are born crying for what we want when we want it. No one has to teach us about ‘instant gratification’; it is ‘…learning to be content in whatever state’ we must learn.

Vs 12. I know how to get along with humble means, In the Hebrew-Greek Bible from which I took passage, get along with humble means is defined in this scripture as ‘in the passive, to be abased, brought low.’ The Greek word for ‘abased’ means ‘to make low, to reduce to meaner (leaner) circumstances.’ The apostle had learned to accept his abased circumstances in a gracious, uncomplaining spirit (II Corinthians 4:8; 6:9,10). How often can we say we are accepting of our times of being abased and doing without in a gracious, uncomplaining spirit? Unless we are taught by the Holt Spirit, as was Paul, we default to grumbling and whining more often than not. And I also know how to live in prosperity. Paul, as a faithful Christian, did not let poverty degrade him nor prosperity exalt him. We, too, need to know our value as a person in Christ is not dependent on what we have or lack. We are not ‘less than’ just because we have less than the next guy. When God looks at us, He does not line us up as priorities based on our financial status. It is sad that some organizations, churches or people give special consideration to those with more bucks in hopes of gaining from them, but this is not a godly mentality, this is the human flesh thinking we are to avoid.  ..in any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both having abundance and suffering need. Whether full or hungry, prosperous or poor, Paul had learned to conduct himself as a trusting, loving disciple of the Lord. Remember Paul back when he was called Saul and persecuting Christians? In the transformation from Christian killer to the apostle now writing as he sat in chains in prison, we can see change possible only when the love of Christ and ministering teachings from the Holy Spirit are manifested. He was a willing and eager student who became a great teacher for the cause of spreading the gospel.

Vs 13. I can do all things through Him who strengthens me. Boy, if I had a dollar for every time I’ve prayed this scripture! It is a statement of faith in Christ that says in all the circumstances of life Paul was convinced that he could bear fruit to the glory of God through the strength the Lord gave him. I count on Christ to strengthen me and I pray my actions and behavior bear fruit of the glory of God. I fall short of that mark and my ‘fruit’ gets squeezed sometimes but He helps me up when I fall, brushes me off and forgives me. What a sweet and precious experience!