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Day Thirty-Nine, Under-The-Influence

Posted in Under-the-Influence, Devo Shorts 2011, tagged , , , , , on May 1, 2012| Leave a Comment »

Day Thirty-Nine

 

So You Think God’s Unfair?

Our Right – Not Our Obligation

 

“But to as many as did receive and welcome Him, He gave the authority (power, privilege, right) to become the children of God…” Amp Jn 1:12

 

 

                Yesterday as I listened to a young woman call in to the radio Bible answer show, To Every Man an Answer, on CSN (Christian Satellite Network 91.1) I was gripped by her tenaciousness, but I anguished at her dispair.  You see – she was asking how God could create a man who He knew would never receive Him, and then judge him eternally for not receiving Him.  Her feeling was – God was being unfair. 

          I wanted to be able to chime into this conversation!!! – Would you rather God made you a robot? If there is to be no possibility of people going to hell – there would have to be no possibility for people to disobey: God would have had to create robots with no soul, no emotion, no will of their own, and thus no choice.  He would have had to program us, with no other option than to do what He desires (which would be to follow Him).  Once you give someone the capacity to choose – you must allow for them to choose differently than you would desire.  For that reason, a consequence must be attached to that choice. But it  was never God’s desire for people to go to hell – that’s why He sent His Son – to preclude that very thing!!!

          But you see – in this woman’s eyes God is unfair.  She wants people to be able to choose their own way, and go to heaven.  She is asking for something out of the realm of possibility.  Let me give you a small example: denture cream. 

Yes, it is odd metaphor but it works.  People who have false teeth have trouble keeping them in place on their gums because they don’t adhere to their gums.  They are of a different material (plastic) than the tissue structure of gums.  So the false teeth are easily pulled away from the gums when people bite into something they need to chew.  Ultimately, the denture cream forms a medium to hold (to adhere to the gums) because it is like gluey rubber.  Now people can choose to use denture cream or not.  But there are consequences to not using it:  ugly drooping dentures, slippage, abrasions, wearing down of the gum structure – these are just a few of the consequences of choosing not to use it. Yet people have the choice, and we all know they do exercise that choice.

          In a very small way – we can think of Jesus Christ like denture cream.  As we receive Him as Lord, He holds us to Him and even within Him (we are the dentures here J).  We live in Him and have our being in Him.  Thus, He is a bridge between us and our restored contact with the Father – Almighty God (the gums J).  It is Christ Who actually holds us in relationship with the Father.  In Christ, we are now safe in our ability to approach the Father, to again be in relationship with Him – through our attachment in Christ.  In Christ – we remain stable and fixed, we are held in place by Christ.

But in true reality in Christ, you and I are being constantly changed, transformed, from glory to glory.  You see – we are constantly becoming more and more Christ-like: each at our own pace, we have more and more of His life in us.  In the strength of becoming more and more like Him, the power of cohesion expands – the more we become like Him, the more our attachment to Him grows and becomes stronger.

Yet – for us to have Jesus Christ holding us, saving us, and restoring us – we must first choose Him.  As many of us who receive and welcome Him, He gives the authority (the power, privilege, and right) to become the children of God.  But if we choose Him not – we can neither fault the Lord for us not choosing Him, nor can we fault Him for giving us the choice in the first place.  It simply cannot work that way.

Hearing the castigation of this young woman caller against the Lord, the parable of the nobleman and the minas rises to mind.  It is found in Luke 19:12-26.  A nobleman goes into a distant country to obtain for himself a kingdom.  He gives ten of his own servants, ten minas to buy and sell with while he was away.  The citizens there detested him however, and said they did not want him to be ruler over them.

When he returns – He calls these same servants together to see how the buying and selling has gone.  After the first two display their profits, the third servant can only give back what was first given to him.  He says to the nobleman: “Lord, here is your mina, which I have laid up in a handkerchief.  For I was [constantly] afraid of you, because you are a stern (hard, severe) man; you pick up what you did not lay down, and you reap what you did not sow.”

This third servant did not know the nobleman. He did not recognize this nobleman’s authority to either pick up or reap.  He did not acknowledge all that he had (the mina, the opportunities to serve, even his very life) were originally given by the nobleman.  He just knew he was afraid of him –but also found fault with his methods.  Sadly, this servant is judged as wicked – with the nobleman concluding, “I tell you that to everyone who gets and has will more be given, but from the man who does not get and does not have, even what he has will be taken away.”

“Getting” in this parable is like receiving Jesus Christ.  It is like choosing Him – like choosing to use denture cream.  If you choose Him, you will get more of Him (more understanding and more likeness of Him as you obey Him).  But if you don’t choose Him, even all that you have (your very freedom to choose) will eventually be taken away as you descend into hell.  Like dentures sans denture cream — you will be loosed, eternally slip, droop, chafe, and be eroded and fall into eternal damnation.  It will be then that you see your error, but you will still only rail against God and call Him unfair – even though all your opportunities to know Him were equal to everyone else’s (each got one mina – the same amount). 

A comic example may be welcome here — even as it clarifies this serious issue.  An elementary school classmate of mine once shared a funny story about her mum.  She recalled that her mum once laughed so hard on a roller coaster – that her dentures fell out.  They were irretrievable broken by the fall.  In my quirky processing – I see that even in enjoying life I need to be anchored in Christ!  My classmate’s mum needed denture cream to stay secure – as do we all.  There’s no exception to that.  We need the attachment of Christ.  He has provided it – how can we find any fault with that?

Be-loved, if you receive Christ as Lord, it is your right to be held securely.  But you are under no obligation to have Him, or that right.  Yet — it remains before you — to choose.  Choose right.  Choose Christ.  Choose life.

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Day Thirty-Eight, Under-the-Influence

Posted in Under-the-Influence, Devo Shorts 2011, tagged , , , , , , , on March 31, 2012| Leave a Comment »

Day Thirty-Eight

 

Force of Power:

The Drawing Power of Faith

 

“[Urged on] by faith the people crossed the Red Sea as [though] on dry land, but when the Egyptians tried to do the same thing they were swallowed up [by the sea].”  Heb 11:29 Amp

 

 

          There is no ability to counterfeit true faith.  The substance of true faith has no counterpart in this or any other realm — so the enemy cannot whip up his own dastardly corrupted counterfeit version.  It simply cannot come into being.  That is why the Egyptians were swallowed up by the Red Sea.  They lacked true faith – because faith arises from a belief that God is, and that He is the rewarder of those who earnestly and diligently seek Him.  True faith in God would have taken the Egyptians across the Red Sea on dry ground – just like the Hebrews coming out of captivity – except that they didn’t have it.  That’s because true faith always draws us to God, draws us to seek, draws us to follow, draws us to know, draws us to receive.  Faith – as an incredible force of God — draws us!  So when the Egyptians tried to do what the Hebrews did in crossing over – they died.  In a very elementary sense, having no faith is like being dead.

          In Matthew 22:32, Jesus identifies God the Father as the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. He says He is “… not the God of the dead but of the living!” In Luke, two angels asked of the women looking for Jesus at His tomb, “Why do you look for the living among [those who are] dead?” (Lk 24:5)  The angels tell the women that Jesus is not there – He has risen!

          From 1Corinthians Chapter 13 we see that three things will remain – faith, hope, and love: the greatest of these being love.  These are substances that come from Jesus, and are components of His Kingdom.  They fill us, they anchor us, and they change us.  They make it possible for us to move from glory to glory as we seek the Lord through His word.  They are a force of God’s Kingdom and they cannot be destroyed.  They are potent with life and the power of God.

          In the days ahead, and even now – there will be shakings.  In the beginning when God began establishing His Presence with the Hebrews His voice shook the earth at Mount Sinai.  The people cried out in terror.  But there is a promise that in the days ahead He will once again not only shake the earth, but the heavens as well!  Hebrews 12:27 explains that this future shaking will be the removal and transformation of all that can be shaken.  That is so the things that cannot be shaken will remain.  Only three things cannot be shaken as they are in and of Christ.  Those three things are faith, hope, and love.

          This season is the time to reflect where and what you stand upon.  If you are not standing on the Rock (Christ) – if you do not know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, you stand on shifting sand.  This is not a good place to be when the shaking starts.  But more than just because you will be secure in Him, I recommend you come to know Jesus now.  He is worth every thought you can direct towards Him.  His is your Creator, Lord, and King. Beyond any future security – don’t waste another moment not knowing Him.  No one is more worth it than He. 

         

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Day Thirty-Seven, Under-the-Influence

Posted in Under-the-Influence, Devo Shorts 2011, tagged , , , , , , , on March 16, 2012| 2 Comments »

Day Thirty-Seven

 

First Threads of Rebellion-

The Pain of Cain

 

“If you do well, will you not be accepted?  And if you do not do well, sin crouches at your door; its desire is for you, but you must master it.”  Gen 4:7 Amp

 

 

          This story is rich with application for much that we see in the world today – especially as it relates to confusion over why certain people feel so rejected by God, even when they seem to have a heart that desires His acceptance.   So we look for a moment at Cain.

          The first thing you must see is the choice Cain makes for his livelihood:  he is a tiller of the ground.  However, just over in Genesis 3:17 we see that the ground is under a curse because of Adam and Eve’s sin.  Now, they shall eat in sorrow and toil of the fruits of it – all the days of their life.  It is one thing to have to eat of it, it is another altogether to bring this as an offering to God.  Yet this is exactly what Cain does.  He brings fruit from ground that is cursed – expecting that it will be received.  Cain brings produce that is a product of ground that is cursed because of his dad and mom’s rebellion – and brings it expecting God to be pleased with it. 

Another point is, as part of the product of having eaten from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil – man now knows how to distinguish between good and evil – between blessing and calamity.  So Cain knows this as well.  He knows what is good and what is evil.  He also knows God’s prescriptives for offerings.

          God had already demonstrated for Adam and Eve the kind of sacrifice that is acceptable and pleasing to Him. God Himself had made the first kill to shed blood to cover them from their nakedness.  God Himself made — for both Adam and Eve — long tunics of animal skins to clothe them.  This was also well known to Cain.  Thus, animal sacrifice for covering and atonement had been inaugurated to cover man’s bad choices (even freedom to choose badly) – even his choice to choose evil and calamity.  This too would have been known to Cain.

          Yet, Cain brings an offering of cursed ground and is angry and indignant, sad, and even depressed when his offering is rejected by God.  That is when God speaks words of eternal wisdom which also apply to circumstances even today!  His says:  “If you do well [Cain], will you not be accepted?”  Translation:  “Cain – if you follow what I have shown you is My way and My will – it will please Me and it will be accepted.  Is that not enough?”

          God continues: “But if you do not do well [choose My way and will] sin crouches at your door; it’s desire is for you, but you must master it.”  Translation:  “Not choosing My way, Cain – is you giving into your way — which is not only rebellion, just like your mom and dad did, but it is a poorer choice.  It cost greatly – but you still have the same choice.  Sin is now waiting for you, hungry to consume you – My desire is that you master it Cain – not that it master you.  Whatever you surrender to, will rule over you.”

          Now what I want you to see and interject in this same scenario, is a young couple, believers – living together but not married, yet expecting the Lord can bless them.  They believe they love the Lord with all their hearts, yet their love is not framed in obedience.  Thus, they become perplexed and saddened when the Lord does not bless their lives, or recognizes their prayers.  They become dejected in spirit.  Yet like Cain – they approach God according to their own ways, ignoring God’s commands.

          Think now of the young man who has grown up, knowing and following the Lord, who becomes confused concerning his sexual orientation.  Deceived, he pursues that life-style only to become isolated and bankrupt in his relationship with the Lord.  Thinking he has been made this way, but deceived, he finds himself rejected by God.  Failing to understand how he got there, he too is angry, sad, and depressed.  This young man felt he loved the Lord genuinely and even served him, but he also did not frame his love in obedience to God.        

          To all of these – God says:  “If you do well, will you not be accepted?”  There is a way by which we come to God – it is according to His word.  There is also a way by which He has said He recognizes our love – it is by our obedience.  John 14:21 says, “The person who has my commands and keeps them is the one who [really] loves Me….”

          Perhaps Cain said in his heart (or even these others), “That’s just too rigid, too impossible, too narrow to expect someone to live that way.”  And yet, it is the rigid bridge that can support our weight and bring us safely across a great chasm, would we reject it as rigid as well?

          The key to removing such heart-break and disappointment in each of these cases is to actually see how intransigence and rebellion will never get us the acceptance and approval from God that we desire.  The very thing that we hold onto so adamantly – is the very thing blocking us from His acceptance.  It is our way, our rights, our will which we cling to so steadfastly.  We think we should die if we cast these aside – but truly we will die if we retain them.  It is our submission and obedience to Him which will bring us His approval; it is the true knowledge of Him which ushers in eternal life.

          There is indeed an elimination that is necessary! The solution, however, is not to eliminate our brother, like Cain did.  Nor is it to eliminate God – as so many unfortunately do when they feel like they are unaccepted on their own terms.  The solution is to eliminate the very thing which makes us unacceptable!  “If you do well, will you not be accepted?”  If you come on My terms, according to My way – will you not be accepted?  Indeed you will – and it is the will within us which needs to engage.  It is the will which needs to say, “I will obey.” It is there we will find the acceptance of God which we all need.

 

Be-loved, follow His way.    

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Day Thirty-Six, Under-the-Influence

Posted in Under-the-Influence, Devo Shorts 2011, tagged , , , , , , , on March 14, 2012| Leave a Comment »

Day Thirty-Six

 

 To Gaze upon the Vision

 

“Where there is no vision [no redemptive revelation of God], the people perish;…”

Prov 29:18 Amp

 

 

 

          How can I share with you the power that is exerted by the Lord, His Word, and His vision on my life?  How can I convey the quotient of the spiritual vigor that resides within me for His purposes?  How can I explain the reasoning behind (when no reasoning is involved) in the sense that I know I am His and He is mine?  Yet – to this I am called, to try and share.

          When you drive in traffic and something on the side catches your eye – you look, for some — gawk, and if you are not careful – you will begin to drift in that direction.  We are unconsciously moved toward that which we gaze at.  The same is true in our spiritual life.  If we gaze upon the heart of Jesus Christ through His word – we are transformed from glory to glory – and this is from the Lord, who is the Spirit. (2Cor 3:18) In essence, we become what we behold.  The more we gaze at Him, the closer He draws us, the more like Him we become. 

Remember the account of the fiery serpents in Numbers 21? The Israelites had begun to speak against God and Moses because of the difficulty of their way.  The Lord sent fiery serpents among the people.  Some people were bitten.  Some died.  As the people repented for their rebellion, the Lord had Moses craft a serpent out of bronze to be raised up on a poll.  As the Israelites gazed upon that bronze serpent steadily, with attentiveness and expectancy – they were healed.

This trial of the serpents is about more than just receiving healing.  It is about the power of what we look at steadily, with expectancy – what we gaze upon that can not only hold our gaze, but also holds our heart.  Other than the Lord, there is not one thing I trust as able to be gazed upon with duration – that does not ultimately corrupt us.  Not money, not position, not power, not beauty, no thing. 

The redemptive vision of the Lord is perfect – as He is perfect.  It is our spiritual fuel cell, our compass, our finder, our internal navigator that spurs us on to gaze, to search, to pursue, to hunger for the Lord.  It is the Lord’s blessing in us, stoked as a fire, tended by the Holy Spirit that draws us to look, listen, learn, love – to behold that vision and to be led by it, and to be changed by it, from glory to glory which is from the Lord Who is the Spirit.

Be loved – be drawn to gaze upon the redemptive vision of Christ, without which we perish.

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Day Thirty-Five, Under-The-Influence

Posted in Under-the-Influence, Devo Shorts 2011, tagged , , , , on February 27, 2012| Leave a Comment »

 

Day Thirty-Five

 

Before He will “Dwell” With Us-

The Agreement

 

“What agreement [can there be between] a temple of God and idols?…”

2Cor 6:16

 

                Both the Old Testament (Lev 26) and the New Testament (2Cor 6) form Scriptural bookends which speak of the Lord desiring to dwell in and with us and among us.  In both locations things are detailed that must be done before God’s “dwelling” can happen.  There are changes required in us!  Whether under the law (as in the Leviticus account) or under grace (as in 2Corinthians) – there are vital things that must change in you and I.  In both of these places (again even though one is under the law and the other grace), the requirement for us can be summed up as “agreement.”  It is our continuous movement into greater and deeper agreement with God which brings us into the reality of becoming the temple of God.

          The agreement required from the Old Testament Leviticus Chapter 26 was – agreement with God’s posture on the statutes and commandments.  If the Hebrews would agree to walk in obedience to them, they would gain the rain in due season, full seasonal times, peace in the land, and overwhelming victory over the enemy. They would also gain God’s dwelling – but the best that could be had was His dwelling among them externally.

          The agreement required for the New Testament (in 2nd Corinthians) was agreement internally (within our very souls) with the grace of God and to not receive it in vain.  We were to receive His grace – His Life (to wit His merciful kindness and influence on our souls – keeping and strengthening them), which is essentially agreeing with and becoming one with His soul (His will, intellect, and emotions) about things. 

          Both of these instances require change within us.  But while the Old Testament promised His dwelling among the Hebrews as a result of external obedience, the New Testament promises His dwelling among us as a result of our internal obedience.  Now the obedience required is an alignment with Him from our outlook and ways of perceiving, and our heart to His outlook, His perception, His heart –because of His life now abiding within us and affecting this change.  Certainly the requirement for change is more stringent in the Corinthian’s passage, but the provision for that change is more than extraordinarily equipped to make it possible!  Jesus Christ’s own nature has come to reside within us as we have received Him as Lord!

           With both passages promising God’s dwelling among us why even annotate the difference?  Because between the two there has occurred a major shift!  In the Old Testament – everything was external – and so was the temple location external.  Now, because of the Cross of Christ, we are empowered to have God’s dwelling within us individually – the temple of God within us!  His code which was once external to us is now written on our hearts and we can become one with it (obeying it) as never before.  His dwelling is now within us – as Emmanuel – “God with us.” Hallelujah!

                    The dwelling of God is with His people.  But His dwelling is not apprehended without cost.  Yes – the cost of His life in us, and His redemption, and the Cross – these were paid in full by the Lord Jesus Christ.  But there is a cost for you and me to receive it.  We have to give up something – to be able change.  Even the Hebrews had to give up their way – for the Lord’s way.  They had to agree to follow His code of living. 

Today –what we give up in retrospect seems hardly worth recounting.  We give up our broken lives for His whole life.  We give up pain and wounding for His wholeness.  We give up disease and infirmity for His healing.  We give up small dreams – for the enormity of His dreams and His provision to bring them into being. We give up our meagerness for His abundance.  We give up the sin of our old-man, for the grace of God to move in, to renovate and to secure His dwelling within us.  We give up isolation, loneliness, and insecurity for inclusion, fellowship, and love! We give up a life of uncertain struggle – for a life of certain peace

Indeed – what agreement can there be between a temple of God and idols?  None!  As light and darkness are different — these have nothing in common – but now the uncommon, the out-raying radiance, the sole expression of the glory of God,  the perfect imprint and very image of God – the One Who upholds and maintains, and guides and propels the very universe  — has sought us and abides within us as light eternal, and in the splendor of His light and the beauty of His presence we can only rejoice!

Be-inhabited, be-loved!  

 

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Day Thirty-Four, Under-The-Influence

Posted in Under-the-Influence, Devo Shorts 2011, tagged , , , , , , , , on February 11, 2012| Leave a Comment »

Day Thirty-Four

 

God’s Perfect Cloud-Drive

 

“… and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places…”

Eph 1:19-20

 

         

          I am toying with new technology that is stretching me.  My recent acquisition of a Blackberry Playbook (32GB) has me now learning about cloud storage, cloud readers, cloud security etc.  However what is most fascinating is how the Lord provokes a realization within me … He has the very first and best Cloud-Drive!

          Think of this – in Exodus when Moses was called to build the Tabernacle, he was allowed to see the heavenly tabernacle (the pattern), and instructed to build it all according to the pattern which he saw.  What Moses constructed here on earth was simply a type and shadow of that heavenly reality.  The heavenly tabernacle was the real model. (Heb 8:5) 

          So now let us begin to consider our natural cloud-drives as simply prototypes or copies of the heavenly one.  Here are some things to think about.  We place our files, songs, pictures, etc. in our natural cloud-drive for ease of access, protection, and so our devices aren’t clogged with the clutter.  Our valuables have become our media that we want with us everywhere.  But where are we storing our true treasures?  Matthew 6-19-20 warns us against storing our treasure here on earth where it is vulnerable to destructive forces.  We are told instead to store treasures in heaven “where neither moth nor rust nor worm consume and destroy, and where thieves do not break through and steal.”

          We may think of our media “stuff” as treasure, but what about our very lives?  Where have we made provision for those to be secured?  We jokingly agree “you can’t take it with you!”  But have you made a choice about your destination? Failing to choose is in fact a choice.

          In Luke 23:46 we hear the God of the universe make an astounding statement.  God the Son (Who knows everything, has all wisdom and all power) says: “Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit!”  He placed His eternal spirit into the Father’s hands – into eternal security and eternal communion back again with the Father!  This is the resident location of God the Father’s cloud-drive (if I can speak so colloquially.)  It is in the Father’s hands.  Everything committed into them becomes His – and remains safe.

          May I suggest you take a look at His long-term storage plans?  You won’t find a better deal, a more secure location, or more space – this side of heaven.  The Father’s Cloud-Drive – you’ll have access to everything!

          Be blessed!  Be-loved –eternally in His presence.

           

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Day Thirty-Three, Under-the-Influence

Posted in Under-the-Influence, Devo Shorts 2011, tagged , , , , , on January 24, 2012| Leave a Comment »

Day Thirty-Three

 

But Then Face to Face…

 

“For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face.  Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.”  ESV 1Cor 13:12

 

            Every time we are blessed with a revelation from the Lord, perfection has come to us.  Yes there is a day when we will be before total Perfection forever, and while that day is perhaps not today – Perfection does draw near us even now to dispel darkness, to remove the haze of obscurity, and to usher in crystal clarity into our hearts.  It is important to see how we are fully known – in His eyes.

            I had such a moment a few days ago – where the Lord brought understanding within the context of something that I have been teaching on Sunday Nights.  In this group I have been teaching from Watchmen Nee’s, Spiritual Authority.  Without any fanfare the Lord suddenly juxtaposed all that I have been learning about spiritual authority – in particular rebellion – and placed it directly beside the time in my life when He was consolidating an experience that would bring me to Him in crisis.

            It all has to do with me (not) – and my best thinking.  Let me tell you in advance, our best thinking is one of the very things the Lord would have us continually surrender as we surrender our faculties and members to Him as a living sacrifice.  While my perception of this crisis previously did not lack understanding – it did however lack the fullness of insight that He wanted in my own heart.

            So – here’s what happened.  Back in February 1991 I was called to active duty from a reserve status to support Operation Desert Storm.  I was an intelligence officer in the United States Air Force – a Captain to be exact.  I was being sent to a unit I knew very well (at Langley AFB, VA) as it had been my very first active duty assignment, plus I had continued to serve there as both a reservist (after leaving active duty) and also as a civilian Government Service (GS) employee.

            My husband (who was active duty) had been deployed early in Operation Desert Shield (Aug 1990) to the United Arab Emirates.  We had two small children at that time and I had been dividing my time between caring for them, maintaining our household, augmenting force assets at Hill AFB, UT, and running a spouse support group for AF member spouses of those who had deployed. 

            It seemed an amazing intersection of God’s timing and provision (although I was unaware of that and Him at the time).  I was already trained as a Counselor, was the wife of a Commander of a large maintenance squadron (over a thousand people), and had access to unclassified information, people, and other resources to be of help to approximately 350 squadron wives whose husbands had deployed.  We commenced the support group as of 12Sep1990 – just one week after our troops had left.  We met weekly and our meetings coincided with several crucial campaign events.  As part of the overall support I also worked with other base assets and non-deployed squadron personnel to provide support.  We had a team of thirty wives who would monthly call ten other wives for a morale check.  The squadron executive officer would also send out a bi-monthly email of things going on with the service members overseas.

            You must understand this was in the 1990’s — when deployments were more rare than regular (as compared to the last ten years) – so these efforts were all unprecedented support for a deployment. We were one of three units to have the Air Staff interview us afterwards to see all that had been done.  I was awarded the highest volunteer award the base had as a result of this effort (the Angel Award).

  Meanwhile, for me and my family a great change ensued the day I got the call that I was being deployed.  Everything was about to change – but that was not as crucial as the fact that I had just spent the previous six months providing incredible levels of support to 350 spouses of every unimaginable nature.  The result was – I was totally depleted.  Used up.  I had nothing.  I had expended all this effort in my flesh.  I did not (technically) know the Lord at this time, although I would have told you I was a believer.  If I was saved it was by the skin of my teeth like the thief on the cross.

I am deployed on verbal orders.  It could be for up to a year.  All I know is that I am going to Langley, but on the way I will be dropping my children off at my mother’s home to be looked after.  They will be eight hours away from me.  I close up our home, my mom flies out to us to help us make the drive from Utah to Pennsylvania across a wintry interstate system in February 1991.  While we are making the trip an interesting thing occurs that shapes all future decisions.  A cease-fire is called.  Before I even make it to my mom’s house – the conflict is in a draw-down mode.

Cell phones were not common at this time either – so I wait to call my contacts until I get to my mom’s home to verify if I should still report.  Since there is no order other than the one calling me to active duty I am told to report, although I am told that it will be for a period probably shorter than a month –most likely just a couple of weeks.

The day I leave Pennsylvania to drive to Virginia is icy and snowing.  But it is not nearly as cold and barren as the state of my heart as I drive away from my children.  They haven’t seen their dad since August.  Now their mom is leaving as well.  They are 3 and 21 months old – too little to understand much.

I arrive at Langley AFB late in the evening, check into my room and prepare for active duty the next day.  As I report I am in for a surprise – although truly I shouldn’t have been.  Remember forces being called to active duty in this magnitude haven’t happened for a long time.  Desert Storm was a very large-scale call up.  Because it was unusual — bases hadn’t modified their reporting system to provide for one-day in-processing.  Also, my assignment was to work in a sensitive environment which required Top Secret clearances to be in place.  That also takes time.  The result was, for the roughly two-weeks that I could estimate I would be on active duty before the deactivation order would come down, I was going to be in-processing.  Right!  I would be going through in-processing like a normal asset coming to Langley.  That means: social actions; drug/alcohol/abuse training; driver’s safety, etc.  For all this upheaval with my family, dislocation, emotional trauma – there would be nothing to show.  I would just get in-processed in time to be out-processed.

I thus made a command decision – and a wrong one.  I chose to do limited in-processing.  On my own, without anyone else’s approval – I chose to do the minimum – only what was absolutely necessary.  I signed in for pay, for emergency data, got clearances issued and went to work.  I knew this unit extremely well.  That fact plus my state of mind justified my thinking to myself.  I assured myself it would be a travesty to not have something to show for all the upheaval.  I likened it to requiring a congressional investigation for misuse of funds.  It didn’t matter that this decision was truly not mine to make.  Somewhere – my thinking stopped tracking with reality.  I was full of pride over what I had just walked through and what I had gutted out.  I was primed for a major fall.

When we walk in massive pride – we can’t always tell how we are being received.  But I know I immediately rubbed a young first lieutenant in the wrong way.  She was coordinating reservists coming onto active duty.  It is quite possible that she was performing duties based on ground-work I had laid as a civilian in that same office some four years before.  I don’t know what I looked like then on the character spectrum, but I am pretty sure my tail feathers were raised high and flashing as I paraded around the squadron getting updates on how everything was, bragging on my husband the Colonel.  Whatever it was, something in me ignited a ferocious dislike in her!

This formed the crucible for the first breaking of me and my pride that the Lord had in store.  Because I refused to in-process correctly, when the time came to out-process – it was a nightmare to say the least.  Armed with information that my husband was due home in two weeks and was diverting from traveling with his unit to meet me in Pennsylvania – I was determined to make that happen no matter what.  I am sure I was all hair, teeth, and nails as I scraped and scrapped my way off active duty.  As a result of my actions, an investigation ensued which I had to reply to.  It was a humbling, and difficult time. Out of it the Lord spoke His first words to me that I could hear:  “You can do nothing without me.”

In the following months – I was brought to even greater humility and repentance, but more importantly – a lasting relationship with the Lord.  As I came before Him, He virtually dispelled all charges against me which would have cashiered me out of the reserves.  Even more astounding – He got me promoted to Major.  He is an Awesome God!

The capstone on this – some twenty years later is this:  my failure was based on operating in my own best natural thinking which led to my total disobedience towards authority.  In my natural self, it seemed horrid to have nothing to show for all of the upheaval in my family.  What I didn’t understand was that the Lord wasn’t interested in my production efforts – I was His production effort!  He established this crisis (the intersection of my depletion and work in the flesh, great pride and inflexibility, and Him, His authority and His example of complete and perfect obedience).  Though the in-processing requirements were entirely inefficient – they were not wrong.  I had no basis to violate them.  What was being shaken in me (although I initially would have called it the breaking of pride) was confidence in my independence and thinking removed from God.  What I understand now more fully is that he was setting up things then that would take 20 years plus to come to full understanding.  In the moment that He made the juxtaposition of that old event with the new understanding – I was meeting Him — again.  Twenty years ago – I knew in part.  But now, because I know Him in His authority and in His obedience – I see Him face to face – to His glory!  Who would believe He would patiently invest and wait for a full-yield understanding that took twenty years?  He is indeed our long-suffering Lord and King!  To Him be the glory and praise!

Be-loved! Be obedient!

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Day Thirty-Two, Under-the-Influence

Posted in Under-the-Influence, Devo Shorts 2011, tagged , , , , , on December 27, 2011| Leave a Comment »

Day Thirty-Two

 

Losing it — for His Sake

 

“For whoever would preserve his life and save it will lose and destroy it, but whoever loses His life for My sake, he will preserve and save it [from the penalty of eternal death].”  Ampl Lk 9:24

 

 

          Let’s face it – as a culture we are gripped with preservation.  We expend vast quantities of time and dollars to find the product that will preserve our youth!  Whether through vitamins, skin care products, or exercising we fight to hold aging at bay.  We want to go faster, higher, more completely than ever before –personally, professionally, and certainly in a spiritual sense.  But the Lord of the universe puts a different face on things.  He tells us to “lose it – for His sake”.  Not lose it as in have a melt down.  His losing is foreign, unnatural to us.  He turns our understanding upside-down.  Losing it – what does it really mean?

          Think of the Cross of Christ – what function did it perform?  Simply – it was the agent of suffering, of physical breaking, and of death in Jesus’ life.  It was, from the Roman’s perception, a torture instrument but also a platform from which to control the masses through fear. 

          On the Cross, Christ lost His life – when He surrendered it – or gave it up.  He didn’t die from the effects of the Cross.  It would have required more time for Him to expire through its impact.  He literally gave up His life before the Cross took His life.  But profoundly, He gave up His life based on the plans and dictates of the Father.  It was the Father’s will that He should go to the Cross and suffer as He did.  It was the Father’s will to bruise Him and chastise Him for our sins. Thus, Jesus was perfectly fulfilling the Father’s will in His death – even as He had in His life.

          In the same way Jesus had “The Cross” – you and me – as members of His Body – we have a cross also.  While our crosses are not constructed of wood, they are however “constructed.”  They are designed to facilitate our deaths.  Not our physical death.  They are situations where choices arise.  At the moment they arise, I can either walk out my preferences (just as Jesus could have refused the Cross), or I can do what is the Father’s will.  To do His will however, I must deny myself, disown myself, forget, lose sight of myself and my own interests, refuse and give up myself.  It is in the choice of walking out the Father’s will in daily situations that we actually find our cross.  It is when I choose to travel the course which calls me to cleave steadfastly to Jesus, to conform wholly to His example in living and if need be dying also – that I experience my cross.  This is where I feel the cost – of dying to self.

          There are moorings, little anchors deep within us, where our soul attaches to our physical body.  Where the will of the soul engages the body, or conversely where the body and its appetites dictate (if allowed) to the soul.  It is here though – at their juncture, that the Lord desires the work of His cross to penetrate.  Where the Word of God (which is alive and full of power) is sent as a two-edged sword to pierce and penetrate to the dividing line of the soul and the spirit, and even of the joints and marrow [the deepest parts of our nature].  It thus exposes and sifts and analyses and judges the very thoughts and purposes of our hearts (Ampl. Heb 4:12). 

Where the Word of God touches us in this way, we are quite literally “undone.” We are freed from ourselves – from being enslaved to our will, or appetites, or desires, or motives – in short, from our old nature.  In the deepest place of our being – we are freed to be conformed to Christ.  Before – we could only be ourselves.  Now we can be truly His.

In this place – of “losing it for His sake”, we may not look very attractive.  Initially, we may even put up a fight until we realize the hand that we are so violently trying to throw off – is the Master’s hand.  But if we are ever to be truly His – in the deepest sense, we must daily embrace the cross that is ours.  We must lose our lives for His sake, then He will preserve it and save it – for then it will be fully hidden in Him!

Be-loved, be-freed, be HIS!

         

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Day Thirty-One, Under-the-Influence

Posted in Under-the-Influence, Devo Shorts 2011, tagged , , , , , , , on December 19, 2011| Leave a Comment »

Day Thirty-One

 

The Image That We Bear

 

“And just as we have borne the image [of man] of dust, so shall we and so let us also bear the image [of the Man] of heaven.”  Amplified 1Cor 15:49

 

          There is a game that I once played — a pseudo-intellectual social game, where you compare yourself to one of the four earthly elements: fire, water, wind, or earth.  You describe yourself by saying… “if I were one the elements I would be…” and you give the reasons why you are more “like” that element than another.  It’s a way of presenting yourself by a comparison – with some insight – but less threatening than doing it directly.  But in a very real sense – you testify to the elemental image that you bear resemblance to.

          Let’s take that notion a step further.  In Luke 20:24 Jesus is speaking to the chief priests and scribes who are once again seeking a way to trip Him up so they can arrest Him.  They flatter Him, “we know You speak and teach what is right, and You show no partiality to anyone…” (Lk 20:21).  Then they ask Him a question: “Is it lawful for us to give tribute to Caesar or not?” (vs. 22)  Jesus defuses their attempt to entrap Him with directness:  “Show me a denarius (a coin)! Whose image and inscription does it have?”  When the crowd answers, “Caesar’s” – then Jesus instructs them to render under Caesar what is his, and to God what is God’s.  If we only assign this passage an understanding of coinage – we have lost its greater import!

          You and I bear an image – of whose we are.  According to 1Cor 15:45-50, we first bore the image of the first Adam – who was earthly minded and made of dust.  But our destiny and calling is to bear the image of the last Adam (Christ) – Who is a spiritual life, Who is heavenly minded and “of” heaven.

          You cannot separate here the image that is born from the quality of the mindedness.  If we are have an earthly minded focus – the image we bear is the first man Adam’s.  If we possess a heavenly-minded focus – we bear the image of the last Adam, Christ.  The image is directly tied to the mind-set.  One follows the other without deviation.

          Now if we assume we bear the image of Christ – but our mindset remains earthly – we MUST ASSUME WE ARE WRONG about Who’s we truly are.  Caesar’s coinage never bore another image – but his!  The MINDET WE HAVE WILL REVEAL THE IMAGE OF WHO’S WE ARE:  either the first Adam’s or the last Adam’s.

          The truth is:  we all have assuredly borne the image of Adam.  We have all had a true natural birth.  We have a real physical body of flesh.  Now we must begin to bear the image of the Man of heaven – the last Adam – if we are His by a second birth!  So examine your mindset.  Is it always preoccupied with earthly things:  your life, what you will eat and wear and earn and do here today?  Or has Christ been allowed to give you His mindset which is occupied with the things that occupy Christ?  As we are told in Colossians, we set our minds and keep them set on what is above (the higher things), not on the things that are on the earth.  We are to aim and seek the eternal treasures which are above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God (Col 3:1-2).

          Let us each now bear the image of Christ – His ownership of us!  Let Christ become to you the Life-giving Spirit that He is – restoring the dead to life.  Allow His life bring a new image to bear in you – that we all will reflect His glory, and His ownership of us – to the world who knows Him not!

          Bear His image – for His glory!  Be-loved!

         

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Day Thirty, Under-the-Influence

Posted in Under-the-Influence, Devo Shorts 2011, tagged , , on December 16, 2011| Leave a Comment »

Day Thirty

 

Are We a Schizophrenic Church?

 

“… Prepare in the wilderness the way of the Lord [clear away the obstacles]; make straight and smooth in the desert a highway for our God!  Every valley shall be lifted up and filled up, and every mountain and hill shall be made low; and the crooked and uneven shall be made straight and level, and the rough places a plain.  And the glory (majesty and splendor) of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together; for the mouth of the Lord has spoken it.”  (Amplified Is 40:3-5)

 

            It should provoke many saints to read a portrayal of the church as schizophrenic.  We should not be so!  Just as James describes a mouth from which comes blessing and cursing – it should not be so!  But as you look at the definition of schizophrenic with me – I pray you will recognize that label’s merit, though my purpose is not to label – but to shed light on our state in such a way that we may recognize our need for help in the Lord.

            Dictionary.com provides two renderings for schizophrenia:  (1) a severe mental disorder characterized by some, but not necessarily all of the following features:  emotional blunting, intellectual deterioration, social isolation, disorganized speech and behavior, delusions, and hallucinations.  (2) a state characterized by the coexistence of contradictory or incompatible elements.

            While I think the first rendering applies in part (in part because I would in no way call the Lord – Who is the head of the church “mental”), however a case could be made concerning the Body for it certainly displays various degrees of these characteristics.  Though this is a big problem – it is not the focus here.

            Instead, I would have you consider the churches’ schizophrenia as being related to this:  the word of the Scripture above (Is 40:3-5) was first heralded by Isaiah, and then again by John the Baptist; but it was accomplished and fully fulfilled by the Lord Jesus Christ during His lifetime on earth.  It is finished!  What is finished you ask?  Specific to this passage: the work required to lift up every valley and fill it, to make every mountain low, to make every crooked straight and level, and every rough place plain!

            Think again about the second definition of schizophrenia: a state characterized by the coexistence of contradictory or incompatible elements.  Through Jesus’ work here on the earth, every valley (every personal lack) that would preclude us from being able to receive all His grace, gifts, and provisions – whether of spirit/soul/or body has now been lifted up and filled.  Every mountain – (every aspect of ourselves) that is captive to pride or strongholds of thinking that would keep us from seeing the truth of our condition and need for Jesus has been brought low.  Now – in the place where there was a desert there is now a highway for our God.  Where my capacity to travel in His steps was previously impaired by lack, deception, or lies, now there is a straight way, cleared of obstacles.  I can now follow Christ Jesus – because He has made a way for me to do so.  That is the truth of where we are today.  But that is not our practice!  We do not see this truth in operation in the body of Christ today – in His church.

            At this point a VERY LARGE “WHY?” IS REQUIRED!  The short answer would be – we have a disconnect.  We (the Body of Christ) are living in a state internally, where things are trying to coexist that should not.  For example, faith is one of the three substances of the Kingdom of God that remain and cannot be shaken.  It is also the mechanism through which we inherit the word and the promises of God.  But what we often witness in the state of the Body (the Church) is lack, doubt, fear, faithlessness, etc. so that possession of the promises has not been possible.  Our enemy (Satan) is in overdrive using his minions to compromise our hunger for the word, our reliance on its truth, and dependence on God.  So we don’t know the things that make for victory.  We perish for lack of knowledge.  We operate as if we are still in the world, are no better off than the world, and our lives degrade and become examples of what appears to be in conflict with truth.  In other words, it appears that either God has lied, or He has not the power to perform what His word and promises say.  Yet saints, this is not so!  He has not lied, nor does He lack any power to perform His word!  We are to blame here – not God!

            The Body of Christ is locked in a schizophrenic state and knows it not.  It is locked in a state where it gives ground to the coexistence of contradictory or incompatible elements.  These incompatible elements are flesh vs. faith; man’s reasoning vs. being led by the Spirit; natural life vs. spiritual life.  Like the picture of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream (in Dan 2) the feet were made of both clay and iron.  However, these substances cannot mix.  They cannot adhere together for they are not of one substance.  Molecularly – they will not stick together.

            As one body (in Christ) we must be of a substance that can adhere to Him.  There is only one nature that is Christ-like.  That nature is His nature – which He has given to us as part of the redemptive promise.  It was given so we would not live by our old nature.  But we would instead live and move and have our being in Him.  The schizophrenia of the church exists because we have not let go of and died to that old nature in preference and trust in Him.  It is not enough for just a small portion or percentage of the Body of Christ to live according to the Spirit.  It is for all of us to do so – otherwise you exclude yourself from having an inheritance in Him (Rom 8:9).

            This season, saints, look at yourself in the light of God’s word.  Allow the light of the Holy Spirit to examine you.  All that we need for victory has all ready been given.  Are you walking in it?  If not – ask Him why not?  Wait on His answer.  But do not have doubt, or fear, or wavering concerning His ability!  Not one word of His will fall to the ground – it is already settled in heaven.  This season – get a-hold of the word, and let it get a-hold of you in ways it has never before done.  When the word dwells in us richly – then we can abide in Him (in a unified state with Him) – we can then hang tough — losing the schizophrenic in favor of the authentic — Christ! 

Christmas Blessings to all – be-loved!

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