A Minute In It - Living Love

A minute in God’s Word will change your life. Take a moment to read the text below and then ponder the questions at the bottom of the post.

13 If I could speak all the languages of earth and of angels, but didn’t love others, I would only be a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I had the gift of prophecy, and if I understood all of God’s secret plans and possessed all knowledge, and if I had such faith that I could move mountains, but didn’t love others, I would be nothing. 3 If I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I could boast about it; but if I didn’t love others, I would have gained nothing.

4 Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud 5 or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. 6 It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. 7 Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.

8 Prophecy and speaking in unknown languages and special knowledge will become useless. But love will last forever! 9 Now our knowledge is partial and incomplete, and even the gift of prophecy reveals only part of the whole picture! 10 But when the time of perfection comes, these partial things will become useless.

11 When I was a child, I spoke and thought and reasoned as a child. But when I grew up, I put away childish things. 12 Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely.

13 Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love.
1 Corinthians

Sometimes it is a good reminder to see what God says love should look like. As you read through the passage, ask yourself, do I love this way? Sometimes we are tempted to read this and judge others love toward us but the real test is if we are offering this to others.

Jesus loved like this.

Making Room

Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you your heart’s desires. Psalm 37:4 (NLT)

What are the desires of your heart? Take a moment to think about it. Maybe write it down….

God knows what they are and he also knows what they should be for you to be really happy. If you examine your heart, you might unpack it and find these things in there.

A spouse or a mate
A happy family or marriage
Great job
New house
Health
For this problem or that problem to go away

Down at the very bottom is a tiny flame that is your desire for God. The Bible tells us that the Holy Spirit gives this to us. In the beginning, that flame is super small. To grow it, you have to focus on it just like you would a mate or job to make them what you want them to be. You have to fan the flame.

How do you fan this flame? Spend time praying. Not your cursory prayer to check the box but a conversation. That’s what prayer is after all. Listen a bit and wait for that “Ah God!” moment. That’s God impressing something on your heart.

Spend time reading the Bible. It doesn’t matter if you read one verse or 10 chapters. Read and think about what you’ve read. Often here you will have another “Ah God!” moment. This can also happen with devotionals or other spiritual books.

Finally, help someone. Love on someone. God will often put these people in your path. If he does, follow his lead and your flame will shoot into the air.

Pretty soon, as you fan your flame, it grows bigger and bigger. Eventually, some of the stuff you had packed in your heart falls away. When God is at the center of your life, it changes what you care about. The other things? Well, they get even better because you get better at loving, prioritizing and sharing.

God knew all along what would really make us happy. We just get confused sometimes about what that is. Luckily, there is always the chance to rearrange and uncover that little flame that we sometimes have tucked into a back corner.

One more thing, as you are unpacking and repacking, you get to go on these great God adventures! He knows that we love excitement and he’s ready!

Good Morning Church!

All the believers devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, and to fellowship, and to sharing in meals (including the Lord’s Supper), and to prayer. A deep sense of awe came over them all, and the apostles performed many miraculous signs and wonders. And all the believers met together in one place and shared everything they had. Acts 2:42-44 (NLT)

Good Morning Church! You know, I’ve sat in churches for years and heard those words spoken from the front. I never really stopped to think about it but lately, I’ve been thinking about this more.

When someone says “Look, a church”, we think about a building. We turn our gaze expecting to see brick and mortar of some sort. But when God talked about a church, he talked about people. All different, each one bringing different things to the table to share, each one knowing God in his own way and growing the Kingdom according to what God has given him.

How would our world change if when we heard “Look, a church” we looked for people. What would it be like if we understood the church to be us. We spend so much money and time building buildings to honor God, what would happen if we spent time building each other up instead? Would God be glorified and honored more if we treated each other as sacredly as we treated our buildings?

When I sit in church and someone from the front says “Good Morning, Church!”, I want to jump up and down and say “That’s us! That’s me! We are the church! I am the church! I want in my core to remember that it is God’s people who will make a difference for his Kingdom, not the lifeless building on the corner. What about you? Are you willing to be the church?

Written Just For You

For the word of God is alive and powerful. Hebrews 4:12 (NLT)

A few years back we went through a very difficult time. It was a time of life falling apart. Nothing was sure except that I was unsure. I was unsure about everything. In a blink of an eye we could lose it all. During this time, I felt God tell me to wait on him and trust that he was going to provide.

Man, is that hard. Each day I would wake up totally insecure feeling that the bottom was going to fall out. I was so overwhelmed that I would get up and go talk to God and look for what he had to say…mostly because I didn’t know what else to do. It was what made me feel better. During those times, God would speak. Each day in my worship I would read my Bible, read devotionals or other books and each day there was a Word from the Lord.

Some days it was in the form of encouragement. Some days it was about my relationship with Jesus. Some days it told me to trust and hold steady. The messages were always there and they always calmed my soul.

I started pondering the powerful Word of God. It was so alive and on point. And personal. That’s when I realized I had had a bias about reading my Bible. When I was growing up, I always heard "You should read your Bible.” I felt I had to do it to check the box. Of course, my thoughts were wrong.

After this experience with the Word, I realized that God uses the Bible to speak to us. It is a personal conversation with each of us individually every single time we open it up. That specific phase in my life is over but I still turn toward my Bible every day to hear what God is trying to tell me. I want to know him more and hear how he loves me. I want to hear what he wants.

Friend, if you see the Bible as part of a Christian checklist or if you are sure it will be boring and offer nothing, I encourage you to pick it up. Pick it up with the idea that you are going to find God in it. Pick it up so you can be part of a love story that jumps off the pages into your life and heart.

I promise you, there is power and healing in those Words.

What Happened To The Giants?

So be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid and do not panic before them. For the Lord your God will personally go ahead of you. He will neither fail you nor abandon you.” Deuteronomy 31:6 (NLT)

I am in a season right now where I am privileged to spend some extra time with my oldest grandson. The conversations we are having are amazing. They make me think about God a lot. The other day, we had this one.

Him: Yiayia, there are giants in my bedroom.
Me: There are? Where did they come from?
Him: Come see, Yiayia.
As we approached his room he turns to me and says “Hold me.” So I picked him up as we walked into the room.
Me: Where are they? He scoots down and stands in front of me.
Him: There are no giants in my bedroom. Let’s go play.

Made me think about our giants. We think we see them. We are sure they are there and sometimes they really are. Just like the Israelites when they ventured into the land of Canaan. They really did see giants. Unfortunately, that is all they saw. They didn’t see God standing there with them. They didn’t see the power and the strength that is so readily available to God’s children.

All we have to do is ask God to “Hold us” and he will walk with us. We never venture into the land of giants without him. As a matter of fact, we never venture anywhere without him.

Next time you are sure you see giants, grab hold of God and keep walking. He’s right there holding and fighting for you. Our God is bigger than any Giant.

A Minute In It - Using What You’ve Got

A minute in God’s Word will change your life. Take a moment to read the text below and then ponder the questions at the bottom of the post.

““It’s also like a man going off on an extended trip. He called his servants together and delegated responsibilities. To one he gave five thousand dollars, to another two thousand, to a third one thousand, depending on their abilities. Then he left. Right off, the first servant went to work and doubled his master’s investment. The second did the same. But the man with the single thousand dug a hole and carefully buried his master’s money.

“After a long absence, the master of those three servants came back and settled up with them. The one given five thousand dollars showed him how he had doubled his investment. His master commended him: ‘Good work! You did your job well. From now on be my partner.’

“The servant with the two thousand showed how he also had doubled his master’s investment. His master commended him: ‘Good work! You did your job well. From now on be my partner.’

“The servant given one thousand said, ‘Master, I know you have high standards and hate careless ways, that you demand the best and make no allowances for error. I was afraid I might disappoint you, so I found a good hiding place and secured your money. Here it is, safe and sound down to the last cent.’

“The master was furious. ‘That’s a terrible way to live! It’s criminal to live cautiously like that! If you knew I was after the best, why did you do less than the least? The least you could have done would have been to invest the sum with the bankers, where at least I would have gotten a little interest.

“‘Take the thousand and give it to the one who risked the most. And get rid of this “play-it-safe” who won’t go out on a limb. Throw him out into utter darkness.’” ‭‭Matthew‬ ‭25:14-30‬ ‭(MSG)‬

The Bible says that God gives us all gifts and talents to use. What are yours?
What things are you good at that come naturally to you?
How do you use those talents?
How do you use them for God? Remember, using them for God is not the same as using them for yourself.
If you are not using them ‬for God, why not?
What is preventing you?
If you were face to face with Jesus and you were talking about this story, what would he ask you about it?

Afraid But OK!

When Simon Peter realized what had happened, he fell to his knees before Jesus and said, “Oh, Lord, please leave me—I’m such a sinful man.” For he was awestruck by the number of fish they had caught, as were the others with him.  His partners, James and John, the sons of Zebedee, were also amazed. Jesus replied to Simon, “Don’t be afraid! From now on you’ll be fishing for people!” And as soon as they landed, they left everything and followed Jesus. Luke 5:8-11 (NLT)

Jesus had just performed a huge miracle. Peter and his crew had been fishing all night and caught nothing. Exhausted and wanting to go home, Jesus says “Let’s fish some more.” Peter reluctantly agrees and the haul of fish was more than he could imagine.

Peter realizes the magnitude of what had just happened. He understood the man he was standing in front of was no ordinary man and he understood the ramifications of this realization. The Bible says he was awestruck or “overwhelmed by awe” in the ESV version.

As that awe began to sink in and overtake his ability to comprehend, he drops to his knees and says “I am not worthy to experience this. Please leave.”

Don’t we do that? When we encounter Jesus and the magnitude of that experience hits our souls, we want to hide. We understand we are not worthy. We understand there is no way we can grasp this and we understand that this, this Jesus, is way bigger than we can handle.

As we are dropping to our knees in worship we are also saying with our words and deeds, I am afraid of this. It doesn’t fit in what I understand. Maybe I’m not your girl (guy.)

But Jesus says “Yes. You are. Don’t be afraid. Come with me on this adventure and I will show you things you are not going to believe. Stick with me and you will be fine.”

That’s what the disciples did. They dropped what they were doing and followed him.

How about you? The Bible is clear that we all have a call on our lives. What is keeping you from following yours? Are you afraid? It’s OK. That might be why the Bible says “Don’t be afraid.” so many times!

Can I Do Both? Puuuulllleeeeessseee?

I have loved you with an everlasting love—
        out of faithfulness I have drawn you close. Jeremiah 31:3 (VOICE)

I was scheduled to go out of town to a training conference for my church. The conference had been scheduled for a year and I was so excited to be able to attend. Something else had been scheduled for a long time, the birth of my second grandson! My daughter was due 2 1/2 weeks after my conference.

In the months leading up to the conference I was praying. A lot. I was praying the baby wouldn’t come early and that I could do both the conference and be there for the birth (I was there for my first grandson’s birth.) At one point during my prayers I felt convicted that I was not doing to be there. I felt convicted that the baby was going to be born while I was away. Honestly, I started crying. This is not what my heart wanted. After some more time in prayer though, I submitted and told God that I knew he knew best and I would follow his lead.

The day I was to leave for the conference came. My daughter started having contractions. And I thought “Well, it’s early and the last delivery was quick so maybe I can be there and get on the plane this evening.” I packed my bag and waited. And prayed.

The day continued with the contractions getting closer and closer together. At about 3 (my plane was leaving at 5:45), I texted my daughter that I was going to stay and take a flight out in the morning. She called me and said “Mom, right after you sent me that text all my contractions stopped. I think you are supposed to go.”

Oh my. Now, my heart was truly torn. As I prayed about it some more (lots of praying this day), I felt very convicted that God had told me his plan before and nothing I did was going to change that. I felt that I needed to obey what I heard and go to the conference and leave it in his hands. So, I said to God that I was going to leave but that if her water broke before I got on the plane, I would like to stay and fly out in the morning. I texted my daughter and told her I was going to go.

We got to the airport in the middle of a snow storm. Our plane was delayed 45 minutes so we decided to get dinner. As I sat there, my heart heavy but at peace, I started to enjoy the idea of being able to go to the conference and accept where I was. We decided to head to the gate because the boarding process had started. We were about to leave the restaurant and my phone rang. My husband said “Her water broke.” I looked at my Pastor (and traveling companion) and she said “Go!” I walked her to the gate and they said “Get on the plane! We are getting ready to leave.”

On the way to catch a cab to the hospital, I changed my flight to the next day. In the cab I cried again, thanking God that I could both be there for the birth of my grandson and serve him by also going to the conference.

In the big scheme of what is happening in our world and in people’s lives, this event is inconsequential. But, it was not inconsequential to me. In this moment God showed up in my life by allowing me to have the desires of my heart - both to serve him and be there for my family.

God doesn’t reach us through someone else’s encounters. Sure, we may be amazed at what God does in someone else’s life but he really shows us who he is and how much he loves us is in ours. Look for him in your life. He is alive and well and talking to you through your circumstances, your friends and through his Word. He loves you.