Tough Love

Loving others through anger is undoubtedly one of the hardest things to do. Be it a spouse or a mate, a close family member, a best friend, a not so best friend, a pastor, a co-worker or even an authority figure in our life, as followers of Christ, we are called to love at ALL times. We know what that kind of ‘love’ is. It’s the love of Christ Jesus.  Agape love.  The unconditional, all giving, no questions asked kind of love.  C.S. Lewis described agape love as “a selfless love, a love that was passionately committed to the well-being of the others.”

“Passionately committed to the well-being of others.” In the midst of red-hot anger that is a big pill to swallow!  It’s the last thing we think about to be sure.

The other night at two different times I received a call from different friends who shared some things that truly got my blood boiling.  Lately I’ve been receiving from the Lord about “not following your emotions but let your emotions follow God” (Ps?)- that I had to take a step back from my anger of hearing these bad things, count to 10 and calm down before I said anything I shouldn’t have or did anything that would make the situation worse for my friends.

So this morning I was up early seeking God on these situations and as simply profound as it always seems to be, “Jesus is the way” kept being whispered in my thoughts over and over. Zechariah 8:17 was the first word of the morning God lead me to:

 “Let none of you think evil in your heart against your neighbor;
   And do not love a false oath.
   For all these are things that I hate,’
   Says the LORD.”

Along with:

You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. ’This is the first commandment. And the second, like it, is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” Mark 12:30-31

We know exactly what these verses are telling us however to actually ‘do’ them, at least the second one is a lot harder than we realize when our inner mercury level is about to pop.  In Ephesians and Psalms it says to ‘be angry but do not sin.” And we know that to not sin, we need to prepare our hearts. In preparing our hearts to not sin in the anger that is trying to consume us, we need to know who Jesus is but also to have faith in who He is. He is the way, the truth and the life (John 14:6).

 John 10 talks about Jesus being the True Shepherd. Jesus tells us that He is “the door of the sheep.”  We are His sheep and it’s THROUGH Him (the door) that we are able to love others in the thick of our anger. We cannot do it in our strength. That was the truth that I needed to remind me how to love others though my anger.  In turn I was able to forgive in my heart and then take the action that was needed which is to pray and trust the Lord in it. Our hearts can be prepared for this kind of situations that will always come up in our lives, derives from Micah 6:8 “He has shown you, O man, what is good; And what does the LORD require of you- But to do justly, to love mercy, And to walk humbly with your God?”  

Walk humbly with God, do justly, love mercy and do what is required….love. Even when it’s tough.

Hope does Call

Interestingly enough my blog is called “Hope Calls” yet I can’t remember if I’ve even blogged about ‘hope’.  And what is hope exactly? “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”(Heb 11:1). Hope is having faith and faith is having hope. As faith is not a feeling- neither is hope. It is a choice. It is believing in the promises of Christ Jesus.

The past few days my heart has been very heavy hearted for many people. I have been praying consistently for them. And it’s one of those things that you seem to be pressing in yet only hearing more negative things and hurts that just seem to flow faster than a raging river. It can be almost suffocating in the heart sometimes. Sharing a little with a friend, it made me realize that it was affecting my own hope let alone those who are hurting so deeply and their hopes.

There are many scriptures on hope in the bible. The psalms are filled with cries, prayers and songs for God’s hope. Really, both the Old and New Testament are filled with hope.  But for a moment, I want to touch on “hurting hopes”. Several people that I know are going through some pretty tough trials and sometimes those trials are filled with so much hurt that no matter which way you turn there doesn’t seem to be any hope. None.  And we all need hope. If just a crumb.

A verse that is highlighted, circled and marked in my bibe is “Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoices; My flesh also will rest in hope.” (Ps 16:9). I’ve always read this verse as “my flesh (my heart) rests in hope. That always brought me some comfort. It’s our hearts that keeps us going both in the flesh and in the spirit. Our hearts are home for many things. Be it words, memories, actions etc. Our hearts are the well spring of life (Prov 4).  I view our hearts as the home of our emotions and our emotions need something to hang on to and that something- is hope. But even in that our hope needs an identity. The Apostle Paul opened a letter to Timothy writing that “our Savior and Lord Jesus Christ, (is) our hope.” (1Tim1:1).  Selah.

Christ Jesus is our hope. And hope does not let us down. Romans 5:5 says “Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.” If we are told that hope does not disappoint and we know Who our hope is, then we need not get so burdened down that we leave the presence of the Lords peace. Another Selah moment.

We’re commanded to carry each other burdens “Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ” (Gal 6:2), but I don’t believe we are to carry them to where we are starting to “get down” ourselves and loose our own hope. Especially in Him. We need to be very careful and we need to make absolutely sure we are leaning on the Lord even more so in these times.

We pray and hope in the Lord for those we are lifting up as well as ourselves and we do it continually. “But I will hope continually, And will praise You yet more and more.”(Ps 71:14)

 Jesus is our hope. And Jesus is calling us.

Pruned Hearts

Sometimes it takes me a while to process things.  Our Monday night bible study was one of those nights where the Lord showed up in the quietest of ways. With that being said, I continued processing what was shared into the next day asking Him to show me more and the Lord being who He is…showed that which you just never see coming. Ouch.

Deuteronomy 28 talks to us about blessings and cursings based on obedience and disobedience to the Lord for our lives. It tells us how God gives us the pros and cons as it were, of both. Obedience obviously reaps good things and disobedience not so good things. You get the point.

         That led me to a verse one of the girls shared in John 15:4 “Abide (live) in Me and I in you.” In this particular verse I thought of the blessing and cursing.  And about obeying Christ Jesus and the fruit which grows or doesn’t grow in those choices that we make.  In fact it led me to read John 15:2 “Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit”.  The Lord (what I like to call) is “holy highlighting” this verse for me but also a particular word in this verse. Prunes.

Pruning is getting rid of that which is bad so good can grow. In this though, the Lord was telling me that He is pruning my, our, hearts. We have ‘bad’ in our hearts i.e. thoughts, attitudes, even the words we speak begin in our hearts (Luke 6:45). God wants to ‘cut’ that away so good can grow. Yet only good can grow because we abide IN Christ. Because we obey Him. And the good is the blessing part of this. Pruning starts and finishes with obedience.

Many times we have prayed from Psalm 19:4 “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O’ Lord, my strength and my Redeemer” but sometimes we are not fully aware or we just easily forget of how closely our heart is looked at by God. It’s the heart he judges of us. It always starts and finishes in our hearts as far as the Lord is concerned and Jesus truly is our perfect example.  So it makes sense that it’s our hearts He is pruning.

I read this statement from my friend Julia and it struck me at again how important the direction we have our hearts go in to be pruned which ultimately leads to a blessing or not.  “Living life with a negative attitude takes away from the things you should appreciate and are blessed with....you lose time that could be directed on the blessings in front of you.”

King Jesus, with a dose of humility and a big pinch of obedience, Your pruning is welcome and our hearts receive the greatest blessing of all...to know You more.

Things That Go Crash In the Night

So it's coming up on year since I've blogged last.  Just recently a couple of peeps have asked me if I'm going to start blogging again? I guess I'm not real sure why I even stopped but if this what the Lord wants, then I'm on board.

 Well allot has happened in the past year. On January 2nd of this year my 2yr old son and I were in a car accident. Everyone is fine praise God! A high school kid ran a stop-sign and hit my side of the car- we spun and landed on the guide wire on a dark county road on the way home from church that Sunday night. Needless to say I do believe that it WAS Divine and it set allot in motion for many things that have come on my plate this year.  I won't go into all of it but to touch on the main reality of .... we ALL need Christ Jesus.

After the accident and my son and I were in my friends car watching my car be towed away (it was totaled) and my hero of a husband was taking care in talking to the police etc, I asked my friend Gloria who was with me to go and get the young man so I could talk to him. (Bless his heart he was so very apologetic from the moment he hit me). I remember asking him if he was okay and his friends. all fine he said. I remember asking him if he knew Jesus Christ. He said yes, he does. He also shared with me that just seconds before he rolled through the stop-sign and as his friends were talking--he was thinking to himeself that he needs to "get his act together." His life is going no where right now and that he needs to get right with God.  I told him I agree with him and this was God's mercy on his life to get his attention. I remember seeing the 'lost' look in his eyes that night.

I've thought of this boy several times this year and wondered how he is doing. I've thought of contacting him to see what's going on but God told me not to. I sit back now and think of him, of the accident, of those who came and helped. And then I think of Jesus and how He knew we needed help. We all have that 'lost' look in our eyes. He knew that we need Him. He wants us 'right' with the Father- so He did what He had to do to get our attention. (to me that is a forever 'selah' moment).

The Lord gave me a verse as I share this story this morning:
"But as it is written: “ Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, Nor have entered into the heart of man The things which God has prepared for those who love Him.”" 1 Co 2:9

as the Lord did what He had to do for this young man back in January- Christ did what He had to do for His lost creation. And it's up to us to respond to Him (just like the boy) and know that He HAS a plan for our lives that "no eye has seen or ear heard for those that love Him".

Humility is Key

With my friend Amanda's permission, I am posting what was shared at church last night that God gave her. It brought conversation for many of us that really didn't seem to have an end in itself. There is much to share on this, but for now I will let these notes speak for itself as you read it with the Holy Spirit's leading. 

To Be Spiritually Teachable

*References in NKJV

 unless otherwise noted*

PRAISE GOD!
Psalm 71:8 Let my mouth be filled with Your praise and with Your glory all the
day.

The purpose of any of this: RELATIONSHIP WITH THE FATHER.First & foremost be
humble in spirit; Christ-like. Hunger & thirst & be filled!

Matt. 11:29-30 “Take My yolk upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and
lowly in heart; and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and
My burden is light.”

John 13:5 After that (Passover feast & before Judas betrayed him) He poured
water into a basin & began to wash the disciples’ feet, and to wipe them with
the towel with which He was girded.

Phil. 2:8 And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became
obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.

James 4:10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.

1 Peter 5:6-7 Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He
may exalt you in due time, casting all your cares upon Him for He cares for you.

Proverbs 15:33 The fear of the Lord is the instruction of wisdom, and before
honor is humility.

A humble heart yields:
-rest for our souls
-an easy burden
-obedience
-uplift
-exaltation
-honor

The Lord rewards us at every turn when we seek Him earnestly.
We are better prepared to respond lovingly to any trial, test or hardship (LIFE)
when we are first humbled in the presence of the Lord. (Matt. 5:6)

Choose to Bless

I’ve been really challenged this week.  Found out that someone shared some information with another about something they didn’t know, and in turn, it caused hurt in them as well as anger in me.  It made my blood just boil! I was SO mad at the hurt is caused my friend who heard this and at the miss-information it was told in.  I remember my hands were shaking and I had to count to 30 and calm down I was so angry.  Also, it caused all these thoughts about this person who did this, that I know were not of God to form in my head which was making its way to my heart - I wanted those thoughts to stop before they were to make a home in my heart.

I was able to share this with a trusted friend who helped calm me and encouraged me to seek Jesus as I knew I was supposed to.  The Lord led me to Matt 5:43-45 ““You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.” 

Pretty heavy scripture - but a command none the less. The Spirit was really tugging at my heart in regards to blessing this person who (whether they know or not) hurt other’s in what they said when they shouldn’t have. The Spirit was reminding ME of how many times I have prayed to love, forgive and bless others yet, in the thick of the emotion, I cursed and didn’t bless. Ouch!! Think about it, how many times when in the thick of a quarrel, whether it be with your mate, a sibling, friend, co-worker did we choose to bless right away or… run with our emotions and feed our anger?? Let’s be honest about it.

I found myself on my knee’s asking for forgiveness of the hardness that was trying to take root in my heart and asking for a new heart for this person. I was then able to bless them out loud with my mouth and it’s finding a home in my heart.  I’m challenging myself to cultivate that kind of a more immediate response to bless instead of curse at the height of the moment, in the thick of the emotion, so that Christ will shine first. It won’t happen overnight obviously but with Gods grace and with much practice, practice and more practice. 

 All things are possible through Christ Jesus (Mk 10:27)....right?!

Teacher Grace

Remembering from the last blog I wrote that this was going to be a two part share, I wanted to go back and recap a little. I had written how “the big toe helps us to keep our balance, so we don’t fall flat on our face”.  Let’s focus on that word “help” for now.  In thinking on the word help I was led to Titus 2:11-13 “For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ,”.

In this passage the word grace caught my eye and also the word teaching.  It states that the grace of God teaches us. It also tells us that His grace teaches us how we should live and that it IS attainable because of His grace.  That was pretty profound for me when I saw it that way. I don’t know about you but the thought came to me, that in our times of help, be it one of those life things that come out of know where or a sin of some kind or anything that you might think of, when we are in need of help that is when grace (help) comes in.  Because grace (help) gives us what we don’t deserve sometimes.  Also, if we let it, it’s teaching us the lessons in how to live before God and with God.  He truly is our only audience. Grace (help) is giving us another chance by means of teaching us a lesson, if we are teachable.

Grace was given to us through Jesus “grace and truth came through Jesus Christ” John 1:17.  Jesus is not only our grace giver but many things in-fact.  One thing He is that we know well, is our Teacher.  The gift of grace He gives us should teach us that when we are in need of help, it’s His grace that will pull us through and hopefully, lesson learned.