What are we made of?

 

We talk about resilience a lot these days…especially when we take our eyes off of ourselves and look at the lives around us. I know I have talked of resilience before but as I live life, it becomes more than a cool topic for a TED talk or lecture…it becomes painfully obvious what resilience is really about. It is about compressive stress. One definition reads: “the capability of a strained body to recover its size and shape after deformation caused especially by compressive stress.” The ability to recover has to do with the property of the material that enables something to resume its original shape or position after the compression, the stress. It made me think of two aspects…

What are we made of?

Do we really want to go back to our original position after a stress that is so compressive it causes deformity?

I can’t help but to think of Jesus…no matter what your view of religion or spirituality--Jesus, His death and resurrection literally shine new light on the concept of resilience.
He was stripped, mocked, spit on, struck on the head over and over, a crown of thorns forced onto His head…He was stricken, pierced and crushed for our iniquities. His body took on a deformed state as it bore physical and spiritual anguish and suffering…the man Jesus became unidentifiable because of the torn flesh, the oppression, the judgement and the affliction of man…as death consumed Him, He bowed His head and gave up His spirit!

What happens then is miraculous as Jesus is raised again…He descends and raises and then ascends in glory, to Glory! He sits at the right hand of Glory Himself! Kind of makes you think of resilience. What was He made of and what position did He resume after such compression and crushing stress? How did He resurrect from deformity?
One thing…He was all man and all God. Reminds me of the importance of abiding in Him as He abides in us. The importance of Holy Spirit alive in us. He gave up His spirit and in exchange His resurrected and ascension was in and with Glory!

What are we made of? Have we exchanged our spirit for His? Have we allowed alignment of our mind, will, and emotions to Holy Spirit within us…is that what we are made of? His spirit and the fruit of His spirit? Love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control… Do we really want to go back to our original shape, our original position? When I think on this question, I say NO!

When we look at Jesus, He went from a position of brokenness to glory. He was literally transformed. The scripture talks of glory to glory, mountain top to valleys to new heights. His life, His death, His resurrection has changed my perception of resiliency. When compressive stress deforms me, I never want to return to my prior state or position…I desire to move forward with a more refined body, heart, and mind. I desire to mature in my responses to others, in my emotions. I do not want to be one that in my immaturity compresses people and then leaves their deformed bodies, souls, and crushed spirits for God to redeem. I desire to be a vessel that comes alongside deformity in Love, in His spirit and leave room for His glory and redemption.

Let’s ask ourselves again…what are we made of? Then ask, what do we need to exchange to bring glory to compression, to bring redemption to deformity? We say beauty for ashes, but are we creating more beauty or more ashes with our lives? Are we bringing deformity or the fruit of His spirit?

 

…to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of His splendor.

                                                                              Isaiah 61:3

Captivated!

Who has captivated you?

Ian and I were reading a book this past month by Francis Chan and he challenged us with a few intimate questions..."What makes Jesus so compelling, beautiful? What characteristics are you drawn to? What actions did He perform that grab your attention?"
I immediately had Ian stop reading and repeat the questions to me as I journaled them..."What makes Jesus so compelling, beautiful?" My heart leaped...suddenly I was captivated all over again thinking about the intimacy of Jesus, His life, His death and His love for us. His love for all of us.

Upon our return to our home in Africa, there has been a rhythm of family devotions together...we feel it is important to practice what we preach so we sit together, worship, open the Bible to scripture and discover Abba, Jesus through the Word as Holy Spirit guides and speaks. We have started to visit our neighbors, sit with them, speak their language, listen to them as we enjoy their presence, meet practical needs, we pray for some as we walk down the paths all while listening for our Father's voice. We keep it simple as we feel Jesus asks us to. It is really what life should always look like. It can be a vulnerable life as you sit with those you barely know, wrestling with a new language and enter in...it can bring rejection, manipulation, pain. But it can also bring joy beyond our grasp!

We enjoy reading (hence why Francis Chan triggered my thoughts), enjoy others thoughts on scripture and revelation they receive from the Lord. There are some that make a living off of sharing their encounters, their ideas, their ongoing stories of God in their lives or their ongoing battle against religion. Some how for us here on earth, His word, the Word is never enough for us so there are times we lean into these writers, pastors, religious/spiritual experts. We cannot explain it all...the flood, the death, the loss, the great exchange, the glory, the love, the magnitude of who He is...so we look to others to explain it for us, to be His voice. Do not get me wrong, we are called to fellowship, to learn and submit at times to one another, to be vessels God uses, to co-labor not be co-dependent on one another. However, when we begin to rely on others for our faith at the cost of truth, sooner or later it draws us away from our one true Love. All the ideas, opinions and the men themselves captivate us...doubt creeps in, then rebellion and then one day you find yourself on a platform above your fellow believers and your non-believing neighbors instead of at the feet of Jesus, in His presence, listening...

Thankfully, in the past few days I have been convicted as I see the enormity of the distractions around us all, sometimes my own voice is the distraction.

Today as a family we read and discussed Luke 10:38-42, a passage I have read many times but today Holy Spirit guided me to a different posture and I found myself captivated in a fullness that I have missed...at the feet of Jesus.

"As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet listening to what he said. But Martha was distracted by all the preparation that had to be made. She came to him and asked, "Lord, don't you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!" "Martha, Martha," the Lord answered, "you are worried and upset about many things, but few things are needed-or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her."
It will not be taken away from me, from you...His presence, His voice. Both will remain as we choose to sit at His feet, to listen and to choose not to be caught up in our agenda, man's agenda, and the noise of this world. He is enough, the Word is enough. God has plans, but He is also sovereign. And in that sovereignty, we have choice. And in those choices, He has promises we can choose to lean into. He never commanded Mary to sit and listen...she was captivated, she chose. There is such a freedom beyond comprehension when you recognize the difference.

As you read this please accept my apologies for the times my voice has been a distraction or my actions have not aligned with His promises. My hope, my prayer is that we will be a people that not only sits at the feet of Jesus and listens to His voice but that we will live that out with each other. That our voices do not need to be the loudest but our actions, our love because of His love should be the loudest. That our homes will be open for those to enter, those that are broken, those that have a voice needing to be heard...that we will choose to sit at their feet and listen, be present in their brokenness without solutions or quick words, that we will not be a distraction. That we will then choose to sit beside them as Jesus is invited into the conversation and we will sit at His feet together...be captivated by His presence, His love and the intimacy that comes with that choice.

I want to invite you into my home, my life. To be present and to listen as I ask again...

Who has captivated you?

 

 

 

The Light of His Face...

"It was not by their sword that they won the land, nor did their arm bring them victory; it was your right hand, your arm, and the light of your face, for you loved them."

Psalm 44:3...This is the verse Holy Spirit brought to my attention a couple months ago. I love my country and my heart breaks for my country, for the world. I love the men and women that have fought and even died for my freedoms so I can share my thoughts in writing. This verse continues to bring me assurance during such a difficult time in America.

Hearing of so much hate, so many accusations, so many power trips, so many ego trips...a battle for a "kingship" to repair and restore a "kingdom" that has been broken, breached. A kingdom that in reality has been broken since the great deception in the Garden of Eden. Then there are the destructive talks of big armies, big money, big promises and big promotions. Faith leaders fueled the discussions and sometimes the destruction. Relationships continue to be strained, broken. The un-friending on social media continues. The mom with the homosexual son continues to be afraid for his life, his future. The single, pregnant mom that makes just enough to send her first child to daycare so she can work for minimum wage still makes an appointment for an abortion. The homeless, mentally ill veteran is still sleeping in the back alley in Downtown Phoenix. The orphan still aches to know his father. Radical groups continue to destroy life every moment as we mount up to make America great again.

It is painful, it is dark...

We as a family gathered this Sunday morning to praise, worship and reflect. What a life we have...the good and the bad...we are thankful! Then Ian had us ask this question.

Father God, what would you like to share with us, the church, today?

Just before he asked the question, Holy Spirit brought me to Psalm 44:3 again. I wrote it in my journal as I figured He must have more to reveal...and like a faithful Father knowing the heart of his daughter, He began to reveal as I invited Him to speak.

He immediately gave me a picture...a purple heart.

My initial thought was, why not red? But I quickly pressed in to the more He had. He said..."He is King, invitations into His Kingdom will abound this year." I turned a page back from Psalm 44 and read Psalm 43:3 as a reminder of how a king reigns. "Send me your light and your faithful care, let them lead me; let them bring me to your holy mountain, to the place where you dwell."

While sharing with my family, as I spoke the word purple heart...the revelation came to me in such fullness. Purple Heart...which is awarded for "being wounded or killed in any action against an enemy of the United States or as a result of an act of any such enemy or opposing armed forces".

He is our Hero, our Advocate...Jesus sent by the Father, His Father. Sent to war here on earth and in the heavens on our behalf, for His victory, for our victory! He suffered, was wounded, was killed and was resurrected to conquer the enemy and all opposing forces. Not just for America, but for the world. For God so loved the world...

It will not be by our swords that we will retake "our" land, it will not be by our own strength that we will have victory. But it will be by His right hand, His strength, and THE LIGHT OF HIS FACE, FOR HE LOVES US!

The victory is His and will always be His...will we choose to step into that truth, that reality? Will we dwell in and choose to share the light that is within us or will we allow the voice and power of men to keep others in the dark? Will we stop at nothing less than what He paid for? What did He pay for?

Did He pay for safe borders? Clean water? Land ownership? Gun rights? Civil rights? Air conditioned mansions? Freedom of speech?

NO...He paid for YOU! Your life, your heart, your future. The only rights He promises is the rights we have as sons and daughters in His Kingdom.

So I would challenge you to ask...Father God, what would you like to share with us, the church, today? Let the light of His face shine on you, in you, out of you...for He loves you, He loves us.

For God so loved the world...