Subtle Warfare

He replied again, “I have zealously served the Lord God Almighty. But the people of Israel have broken their covenant with you, torn down your altars, and killed every one of your prophets. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me, too.” 1 Kings 19:14 (NLT)

Elijah had just performed an awesome miracle for God. The kind that should reinforce who God is and that he is definitely in charge. After he did, he began to hear the whispers. You know what I mean. The voices that tell you things about yourself and about God that are not true.

Even though they are not true. They are real and after hearing them for a while, the best of us believe them.

The voices that remind you of your past failures and insist that you have not grown past them. The talking about how you are not good enough to _____________________ (fill in the blank.) Each of our whispers are different.

For some, it’s about a past mistake. For others it’s about our physical appearance or our personality. The whispers can talk about our intelligence, our emotions, and our inabilities. These voices get particularly persistent as we grow deeper in our relationship with God.

I know this from experience. We’ve been doing a 40-day fast and the whispers have been non-stop. Relentless is the word that comes to mind. The thing that really distresses me is that normally, I can differentiate between God’s voice and the other guy. This time, it was very subtle and I struggled.

Elijah did too. He was a mighty God warrior and he began to believe what he was hearing. He was convinced that he was the only person left who followed God.

What should we do when the attack is real and the thoughts are negative? Go straight to the source of truth. God. Open your Bible and read. Read the promises. Write them down. Carry them with you all day long. When you hear the voices, repeat them out loud; over and over again. It is only by hearing the truth in our souls can we walk through this victoriously.

Elijah told God what he believed and God told him the truth. He said “Elijah, there are 7,000 others who have been faithful.” God will tell you the truth too. And when you hear it, believe it. Lean in to the One who loves you. He will never leave you or forsake you. That’s a promise!

God Only Knows

For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16 (NLT)

There is a song by King and Country called God Only Knows. The words are

God only knows what you've been through
God only knows what they say about you
God only knows how it's killing you
But there's a kind of love that God only knows

These words keep going round and round in my head. God only knows…..

Lately, I’ve been talking to some folks about hurts they’ve had in their past. Seems like everyone has some - some hurts are way more painful than others but we all seem to carry some pain. I am always saddened by how much we as a human race hurt each other.

God only knows….

And the other thing only God knows is the sadness and pain that comes from loving the human race. The kind of love he offered in Jesus was a love that God only knows. The kind of sacrifice for our well-being was of a caliber that only God would know.

God only knows…..

Another thing God knows is you. He knows you so completely and intimately. He knows that you are worth every bit of it. You were worth every step toward the cross and every moment on it. You were worth it all. That is the kind of love that God only knows.

Plans As Different As You Are

For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Jeremiah 29:11 (ESV)

We were sitting around in a circle sharing stories. This is a group that gets together every other week to talk about our journeys with God; sharing and encouraging each other. As each person took a turn to share their story, one woman shared an amazing answer to prayer. She had been struggling with a situation for a while and God finally answered. He finally showed up in a very powerful way.

I was really happy for her. She is my friend. But, there was a part of me that wondered why not me? Now, believe me, I know this is completely selfish. And I know that this is not an appropriate thought to have when your friend was blessed by an answer to prayer. I know I should stay quiet about the fact that I thought this....but, I think more of us think this kind of thing than we’d like to admit. So, shaking my head, I am admitting it.

That night as I laid in bed, I talked to God about it. First, I asked him to forgive me for thinking so selfishly but then I honestly asked him “Why? Why has it taken so long for you to answer my prayers?” Then, I felt inspired to tell him what prayers I would have him answer if I could choose anything at all. And to my surprise, as I lay there and thought about it, I didn’t ask for the things I thought I would. The things I had been focusing on that I thought I wanted answers to, those were not top of my list. I was whining about him not answering this one prayer but when asked to prioritize, that did not fall in the top five.

I went to sleep.

The next day as I talked some more with God about all this, I remembered. I remembered some amazing answered prayers that I’ve had in my recent past. There was an answer to prayer for a reconciliation that I was praying about for 15 years. There was the prayer that asked God to send someone so I could share Jesus. There was the reunion with my biological brothers. There are so many more and each one has been amazing. 

Then I remembered what God says in his Word. “For I know the plans I have for you.....” Your plans are not everyone else’s plans and their plans are not for you. My plans for you are uniquely individual and the answers to prayer are the same.

All I could do was bow my head and rejoice in a God who loves me so individually and in a way that is uniquely me. He knew what my heart wanted even when I didn’t.

Deep Down Heart-Work

Create in me a clean heart, O God,
    and renew a right spirit within me.
Cast me not away from your presence,
    and take not your Holy Spirit from me. Psalm 51:10-11 (ESV)

I’m not sure how to describe what I am going to talk about today. But the scenario goes something like this.

At the end of the day or sometimes early the next morning as I’m praying, I talk to God about the day (or the day before) thanking him for the things in it. Sometimes during this prayer, God brings to mind something I said or did. And sometimes that makes me sad. It makes me sad because I did not glorify his name during those moments.

You see, I have a Peter personality. Things come out of my mouth that I may have said differently if I thought about it for half-a-second. Some days, I just note that I should have said that differently. But there are days when my heart is sad because my words revealed things deep down that I don’t always see. Maybe not to everyone else but God always understands. And, because he loves me, we talk about it.

It is in those days that I drop to my knees and let Jesus hone in on the root of the actions. During those times, I ask him to change the deep down things that want to put me first and not him. I tell him I’m sorry and I want it to be about him and not me. I ask him to create in me a clean heart and I pray that he will fill me with his Spirit.

David understood this. When he was confronted with his sin around Bathsheba, his heart broke. Instead of defending his decisions, he went to God and poured out his heart. I may be a Peter sometimes in my actions, but I want to be more like David in my heart. It’s in those surrendering moments that we will be changed.

True Rest

Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Matthew 11:28 (MSG)

When I was little, we would go spend the night at my Nana’s house. As she tucked me in, she would stroke my hair and sing me this song.

Here comes the sandman stepping so lightly,
Stealing along on the tips of his toes,
He sprinkles the sand with his own little hands,
In the eyes of the sleeping children,
Go to sleep my baby close your sleepy eyes,
The lady moon is watching from out the darkened skies,
The little stars are peeping to see if you are sleeping,
So go to sleep my baby go to sleep goodnight.

I remember her singing this to me and I remember being asleep before she finished the last line.

When Jesus invites us to come to him to get rest, he isn’t talking about stroking our hair and singing songs in our ears so we can go to sleep.

He’s talking about the rest that rejuvenates you; he is talking about the rest that sustains you. It gives you courage. Jesus’ rest inspires you and motivates you to keep moving. It gives you hope.

So, come to him. Look at him and learn to rest. Rest in the desires he places in your heart.

Family Focused

God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure. Ephesians 1:5 (NLT)

I am adopted. I was adopted very early on in my life and I’ve known about it since I was young enough to understand. Recently, I’ve found out more about my birth father and more siblings have been added into my family! I went from having 9 to having about 20 (maybe a little more.)

This whole experience made me think about Jesus and his lineage. It was super messy. In Matthew 1 there are some questionable characters mentioned. Maybe this is an example of why the Bible says he experienced the same things we do.

It also says we were adopted us into his family. God did this - before we even knew what was going on and it gave him great pleasure.

Jesus knew this because when he was asked, “Who is my mother? Who are my brothers?” Then he pointed to his disciples and said, “Look, these are my mother and brothers. Anyone who does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother!” (Matthew 12:48-50)

Imagine that! How many brothers and sisters and mothers and fathers do we have now? TONS! And think about all the potential family members you have. Anyone who could choose Jesus as their Savior is a potential family member.

Maybe today, we should treat everyone with the love Jesus showed us when he adopted us. Maybe, we should look around and see all the family members we have and lean in and embrace each other. Jesus did. So should we.

When I Am Afraid....

David, the anointed one of God, was suddenly thrust into a life of chaos. He went from

living in the royal residence to living in caves
being served dinner on silver platters to hunting and scrounging for his food
being the favored one of Israel to being hunted
feeling safe and secure to never being able to relax

All because of Saul’s jealousy.

During these times, David wrote some amazing praises to God. Here are some of the words.

O Lord, I have come to you for protection;
    don’t let me be disgraced.
    Save me, for you do what is right.
2 Turn your ear to listen to me;
    rescue me quickly.
Be my rock of protection,
    a fortress where I will be safe.
3 You are my rock and my fortress.
    For the honor of your name, lead me out of this danger.
14 But I am trusting you, O Lord,
    saying, “You are my God!”
15 My future is in your hands.
    Rescue me from those who hunt me down relentlessly.
16 Let your favor shine on your servant.
    In your unfailing love, rescue me. Psalm 31:1-3, 14-16 (ESV)

1 I will praise the Lord at all times.
    I will constantly speak his praises.
2 I will boast only in the Lord;
    let all who are helpless take heart.
3 Come, let us tell of the Lord’s greatness;
    let us exalt his name together.
4 I prayed to the Lord, and he answered me.
    He freed me from all my fears.
5 Those who look to him for help will be radiant with joy;
    no shadow of shame will darken their faces.
6 In my desperation I prayed, and the Lord listened;
    he saved me from all my troubles.
7 For the angel of the Lord is a guard;
    he surrounds and defends all who fear him.
8 Taste and see that the Lord is good.
    Oh, the joys of those who take refuge in him! Psalm 34:1-8 (ESV)

3 But when I am afraid,
    I will put my trust in you.
4 I praise God for what he has promised.
    I trust in God, so why should I be afraid?
    What can mere mortals do to me? Psalm 56:3-4 (ESV)

When things are upside down, turned inside out, look to your fortress. Look to Jesus. He promises never to leave you or forsake you. Trust him. He loves you..

Changing The Inside

If only you would prepare your heart and lift up your hands to him in prayer! Job 11:13 (NLT)

My church is doing a 40-day fast. For various reasons, I am not fasting from food but am doing a soul fast. A soul fast is where you fast from something else that you do on a regular basis, something that would be a sacrifice. I decided to fast from TV. There are a couple of things I noticed.

First, the goal of a fast is to get closer to God. It’s not about having the will power to give up something. I have to admit, at first it was harder than I thought. I didn’t realize how much watching TV was my comfort zone. When things were a little stressful, I turned on the TV. When I was tired, I turned on the TV. In the beginning, when I was tempted, I would pray. That’s a good start right?

As time went on, I wasn’t tempted in the same way but I noticed something. I was filling up the time that I would normally watch TV with other things….not praying things. Wait! Isn’t this supposed to be about seeking God? How easy it is for us to get into the routine of doing something (or not doing something) and forget the reason we were doing it in the first place.

I think the true discipline of fasting is not about not doing what I was doing but about reminding myself to seek God. If we make the fast the focus or we fill that time with other activities rather than God, our fasting is useless. God spoke to the Israelites about this in Isaiah. They were so busy fasting outwardly, they were completely missing the impact inwardly.

I don’t have this all figured out yet. Maybe, that is why we fast. Because we don’t have it figured out. Only God does. And in spending more time with him, praying and offering my heart, he can change what I care about.