Tag Archives: Faith

Living His Truth: Persecuted (the promise of God)

We will be hated.

We will be insulted.

People will lie about us.

We will be driven out of places.

We will suffer for Jesus.

Welcome to the gritty side of the gospel. The side we don’t talk about much.

You will be hated by everyone because of Me, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved. – Matthew 10:22

Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted while evil people and impostors will go on from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.- 2 Timothy 3:12–13

If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated Me first. – John 15:18

There’s more, but I think those will suffice for this point to be made:

Persecution is a promise from God.

That promise is full of unspoken truths, and one of those is that we do not have the right to NOT be persecuted. Our country’s Constitution makes every attempt to ensure that we have the freedom to practice our faith openly and without fear. But the Constitution is not a God-breathed document. Only scripture can claim His breath, and scripture makes us a promise that we will suffer persecution on various levels.

The culture likes to tell us that faith is a private choice, to be kept between us and our God, and we shouldn’t push our beliefs on anyone. At the same time, culture also wants total affirmation and agreement of their life choices, complete with parades and twisty pronouns.

Truth: While our faith is based on an individual relationship with God, it was never intended to be private.

Private faith has no reason to be persecuted, nor any need to stand firm. A light hidden poses no threat to darkness.

Those who boldly preach the Word of God, even the gritty parts, who refuse to condone or comfort sin, especially among believers, and who will not go along to get along. All who proclaim that Jesus Christ is the one and only way to the forgiveness of our sins and the inheritance of eternal life in heaven. Any who will boldly speak the truth when they’ve been told to stay quiet, who will worship God with their whole lives no matter who is watching.

These are the ones who will inherit this promise of God.

Lord, make us ready. By the power of Your Spirit give us boldness to live our faith out loud, to live Your truth and no other, to speak truth no matter the cost. To rejoice at being found worthy of suffering for the Name of Jesus.

“They called the apostles in and had them flogged. Then they ordered them not to speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go.

The apostles left the Sanhedrin, rejoicing because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name.” – Acts 5:40-41 

And if we know our bible history at all, we know this: persecution builds the Church. Keeps us from stagnating. Forces us to make a decision instead of riding an imaginary fence. Scatters us, and the gospel we carry within us, into the harvest fields.

We all want the promises of God when the promises of God feel good to us. Let’s not run from the promise that is good for us.

Selah.

Living His Truth: Unoffended

Skandalizō is the Greek word for offend, and it has a number of meanings.

  • to entice to sin (Matthew 5:29; 1Corinthians 8:13)
  • to cause a person to begin to distrust and desert one whom he ought to trust and obey; to cause to fall away; to stumble (John 6:61; Matthew 26:33)
  • to be offended in one, i.e. to see in another what I disapprove of and what hinders me from acknowledging his authority (Matthew 11:6; Mark 6:3)
  • to cause one to judge unfavorably or unjustly of another (Matthew 17:27)
  • to cause one displeasure at a thing (Matthew 15:12)

I think it’s safe to say that the opportunities for us to become offended at others or at God are many. I can count, using both hands at least, the people I have known throughout my walk with Jesus who have become offended, using most if not all of the definitions above.

Watching people stumble, enter a life of sin, or walk away altogether, is hard, especially since it is avoidable. Our offenses spring from our flesh and we have been given the Holy Spirit, who does not get offended.

Offended is our choice, not something that happens to us, or something we do that we just couldn’t help.

Mary and Martha could have chosen to be offended when Jesus did not come to heal Lazarus. They may have been hurt, but they did not become offended. (John 11)

In Matthew 11, John the Baptist is in prison, and asks what is now a very well known question:

“Are You the One who is to come, or should we expect someone else?”

The same man who said “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.” (John 1:29) is now saying “are You the one?” Jesus’ answer seems puzzling.

 “Jesus replied, “Go back and report to John what you hear and see: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is proclaimed to the poor. Blessed is anyone who does not stumble on account of me.”

I believe John the Baptist knew who Jesus was, but doubts crept in when Jesus didn’t do what John thought He would do. Like many others, perhaps he thought Jesus was there to start a revolution and overthrow Rome. Instead, He was going to “the least of these”.

It seems to me that Jesus’ pronouncement of blessing on anyone who doesn’t stumble because of Him, was also a warning to John. It’s Me, John. I am still the One. Don’t get offended because I am not doing what you expected of Me.

I think we need to hear the same warning because so many of us are waiting for Jesus to “restore to us the kingdom” by overthrowing a government and leading a great political revolution. Or perhaps we’re waiting for Him to give us what we want. To make our lives comfortable, fulfill our dreams, and help us succeed in all of our plans.

Instead, Jesus is still going to the least of us. Healing, bringing us back to life, and telling us the good news that we can be saved from our wretchedness. He is sanctifying us, often by fire, to rid us of our impurities, our selfishness, and our idolatry. Turning our ways into His way. And sometimes, as in the case of Mary and Martha, it can look like He’s not doing anything at all, when in fact He is about to show us the glory of God!

It’s Me, Church. I am still the One. Don’t get offended because I am not doing what you expected of Me.

We may get our feelings hurt. We might get angry at God and for sure one another. But when we choose to be offended we have chosen something far more serious, and dangerous, which is why I think Satan’s goal isn’t hurt feelings in the people of God. It is to encourage us to be offended. And the deeper the offense, the better.

The truth is, Jesus is still the One, His Word is still true, and His ways are still higher than our ways. He is still the head, and we are the body.

We cannot be offended at the body, without being offended at the head. I’ve known people who have said “I love Jesus, I just can’t stand Christians.” Or, “I love Jesus, but I don’t want anything to do with the Church.” The truth is, Jesus will never separate Himself from His Church. We do that, and it is always based on an offense.

We are His Church and the command still stands to walk in love toward one another, to forgive one another, and to consider others above ourselves. To pray together, walk together, serve together, and worship God together.

Bottom line: The whole world is offended these days, and the enticement to join them in it is strong. But we are not the world, we are the Church.

We can choose to live unoffended.

Living His Truth: Undistracted

I’ve done all the tests and connected a lot of dots. On the Myers-Briggs I’m an INFJ. My enneagram number is a 7. Or maybe a 3. Tests clearly indicate that I am a high introvert, and I’m either sanguine or phlegmatic, depending on the day. I’m a middle child so there’s that whole ball of wax. I’m definitely not a type A so I fall somewhere on the alphabet chain under the infamous A’s. And yes, I’m fully aware that the color yellow makes me look washed out.

My conclusion, finally, after all these years is that the tests have done one thing really well. They’ve kept me very focused on me.

What’s a good way to keep God’s people from going after God? Get them to go after themselves. Keep them looking for their true selves or the source of their broken or the reason they are the way they are. Convince them that if they can know themselves better they can be better or at least be ok.

Our enemy is not stupid and perhaps we are quite predictable. But there is a way out of this house of mirrors.

Thus says the Lord: “Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the Lord…” – Jeremiah 9:23-24

And this is eternal life, that they know You the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent. – John 17:3

But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. … – 2 Peter 3:18 (all emphasis mine)

We are distracted from our pursuit of knowing God by the pursuit of knowing ourselves and we are not better for it. Look around. For all of the testing and self-acceptance, self-care, and self-love being thrown around, we still feel like we are falling short of something; some invisible standard that has been set, a bar we can’t quite reach. We are still straining for something that makes us feel ok with who we are. Still feeling left out and left wanting.

The endless pursuit of self feels like the promise of a secret code that will unlock our happiness and let us breathe a sigh of relief at last. It’s a lie. We are not our best pursuit.

Jesus is our sigh of relief and the only reason we are ok at all.

Oh, that we might be a people wholly uninterested in ourselves, with our attention riveted on God. But in order to be that, we will first need to tell ourselves to get out of the way and quit blocking our view of Him.

#liveundistracted

Living His Truth: Crucified

When a woman sat in front of me last year wrestling with her life, she said that someone kept telling her that she needed to live her own truth. Man, that just got my hackles up and they still haven’t gone down. Angry, is what it made me, because that “live your own truth” thing is a lie from hell sent to mess God’s people UP. So I’m going to address it the only way I know. A screen and my keyboard and the Word of God opened up in front of me. This series will be called Living His Truth.

And He said to all, “If anyone would come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow Me. – Luke 9:23

And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. – Galatians 5:24

I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. – Galatians 2:20

In all honesty, if I live my truth, I’m going to avoid any hint of denying myself or being crucified. My truth tells me to avoid pain, to avoid discomfort, to avoid not getting my own way. My truth is to live in whatever way feels good to me, whatever agrees with my flesh, my feelings, my emotions, my whatever. Because the heart wants what it wants. The problem is that our hearts are wicked and deceitful above all things. (Jeremiah 17:9)

Living my own truth is why I needed to be saved.

Let’s visit the garden, just for a moment.

“You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. {Genesis 3:4-6}

See what he did there? He convinced her that God’s truth wasn’t her truth. And he’s still doing it today because why fix what works?

I don’t get to live however I want to live, if I call Jesus Lord. Following Christ means I follow Him to the cross and I crucify whatever my own will calls truth, and I choose to live according to His truth.

Let’s recap.

My truth will lead me to live my way, not His. Therefore, I can conclude that my truth is not actually true, because if I am walking in the truth, I will walk in the ways of God, who is Truth.

If my truth is not actually true, then I do not have my own truth, I have my own lie.

Moral of the story? If someone is telling you to live your own truth, they are telling you to live a lie. Don’t do that. Deny “your own truth”, pick up your cross every day, and follow Jesus.

We are His people and part of that privilege is that we choose to be crucified with Him so that we no longer live, but He lives in us.

And Jesus will never live our truth.

Our Tree of Life: Suffering and Redemption

It was late. I needed to sleep but couldn’t get my brain to agree with my body. It’s become that thing that I do. Go to bed and not sleep. Lately, my brain’s aversion to sleep has been leading me to the secret place and middle of the night sessions with the Holy Spirit. This night was that kind of night.

Suddenly, a picture showed up in my mind. A tree. Large, lush, very green, and full of fruit. It was the tree of Life in the Garden of Eden.

And then I saw the cross and Jesus hanging on it. And suddenly, scriptures came across the screen of my mind.

“Jesus said to them, “Very truly I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.” – John 6:53

“Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, because it is written: Everyone who is hung on a tree is cursed.” – Galatians 3:13

Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” – John 14:6

 “…that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and may share His sufferings, becoming like Him in His death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.” – Philippians 3:10-11

“I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” – Galatians 2:20

And these thoughts pole vaulted into my brain –

The cross is now our tree of life, and Jesus is the fruit of that tree.

We no longer have access to that original tree of life. The one that came without suffering. The one that required no death.

Ours is a different tree.

We must be reminded of this tree and what it means, beyond “Jesus died for my sins”. We must take of the fruit of this tree in order to know life. We must partake of what Jesus suffered so that we too can obtain His resurrection.

For most of us, our suffering looks different than His. None of the people in my immediate circle, or in any of the circles near me, are being killed for the gospel. But there is certainly that suffering taking place in other parts of the world, and for those ones I pray Godspeed and mercy.

But here, in my world, there are other sufferings, as the death to our flesh is called for on a daily basis. A laying down of our own will in order to fulfill the will of the Father. A death to dreams and wants and our 5-year plan for our lives. The tearing down of idols that seems unending as the light continues to expose what has been hidden in us. A giving of ourselves when we would rather keep, remaining when we would rather leave, being emptied of our own selves so that we can be continually filled with Spirit of God.

Letting mercy triumph over judgment in our own hearts toward those around us. Giving grace that hasn’t been earned. Showing compassion, not just for the least of these, but for those who are against us. Speaking mercy instead of condemnation. Dropping stones that feel like justice in our hands.

Please tell me you’re getting this, because I can go on all day.

The cross is not just the place Jesus died a long, long time ago. It is where we die every single day. It is our tree of life.

And I have said all of that, to say this:

Oh, what a God! He looked through time and knew that we would go astray. Knew we would leave Him and claim our lives as our own. So He made a way before we even knew we needed one.

When He set flaming swords in front of the tree of life in the Garden of Eden, He knew there would be another tree, in the fullness of time, and it would bring eternal life to all who would partake of its fruit.

To taste the suffering of the cross is to taste the redemption of the tree of life.

I find it all a little mind-blowing.

You Are Not Just One of Many

Jesus departed with His disciples to the sea, and a large crowd followed from Galilee, and a large crowd followed from Judea, Jerusalem, Idumea, beyond the Jordan, and around Tyre and Sidon. The large crowd came to Him because they heard about everything He was doing. Then He told His disciples to have a small boat ready for Him, so that the crowd wouldn’t crush Him. Since He had healed many, all who had diseases were pressing toward Him to touch Him. Whenever the unclean spirits saw Him, they fell down before Him and cried out, “You are the Son of God!” And He would strongly warn them not to make Him known.

Mark 3:7-12

Imagine this scene with me. Imagine you are just a person in the crowd, a person who needs a touch from Jesus. You heard He had gone down by the lake, so you head that way – you and everyone else. You’re just one in thousands coming for Him, trying to get to Him. Pushing, shoving, reaching for Him. You’d count yourself lucky to even get close.

Can you hear the sounds? People yelling, trying to get His attention. Begging, perhaps, so desperate for their healing. And in the midst of the crying, the yelling for His attention, is the sound of those with demons crying out in loud voices “You are the Son of God”. 

And there you are. One of many. Can’t quite get to Him. Unable to get your voice to rise above the noise of all the others who have come for Him. Unseen by Him. Unheard by Him. Just someone lost in the crowd of many someones.

Ever have those moments? Do you still feel like that sometimes? Just one in a crowd of many. Unheard. Unseen. Can I tell you something?

The truth?

If you have submitted your life to the Lordship of Jesus, then you have been crucified with Christ and you no longer live, but Christ lives in you. (Galatians 2:20)

No crowds. You don’t have to shout above the noise to be heard by Him. He hears every whisper, every thought, every unspoken desire of your heart. He’s here, right here. You don’t have to try to push your way past someone else to get to Him. Because He came for you. His death was Him coming for you because that’s the only thing that would rescue you from eternal darkness and give you eternal life with Him. 

He wants to be with you, so He came for you.

The crowd is gone and there you are, standing in front of Him. Just you and Him. What will you do? What will you say? Maybe nothing.

Maybe just let your heart feel the moment of being alone with Him. Let it be thankful that He came for you because He wants to be with you, and now you and your heart are alone with Jesus. He sees you. He hears you. He’s not going anywhere. So maybe today your heart can just rest from striving to get to Him.

Today, let yourself live in the truth instead of the lie. He is with you and in you and for you. You are not just one of many, you are who He left heaven for, who He died to rescue.

You are His.

Grounding the Planes

Been having trouble sleeping lately. It’s like, the minute I lay down, my mind turns into O’Hare Airport, with thoughts landing and taking off in every direction. At first, it was occasional, but lately, it’s just become my thing. And I don’t want it to be my thing. I also don’t want to take sleep aids, because I can develop an addiction to just about anything and I’ve had my fill of craving things that aren’t good for me.

But, I stumbled across something the other day, and now it’s underlined and had a highlighter taken to it.

Be at rest once more, O my soul, for the Lord has been good to you. (Psalm 116:7)

I want to learn to let this one thought interrupt every other thought. I want to learn to settle my soul with it. To teach my mind to lean into the truth of it.

I don’t think David was telling his soul to rest because once upon a time God had been good to him. I think what David knew was this…

God has been good, and He is being good, and He will always be good to me.

It is what I have most in common with David. The always present, never-ending goodness of God. I’ve also had abuse. Sickness. Grief. Pain. Depression. All the things a fallen world offers us.

So the question becomes, for me, which is greater? What will bring rest for my oft times frantic soul? Will the fear and anticipation of more of what hurts bring peace to the war in my mind? Or will it be the truth that no matter what happens, no matter what comes next, God will be good, because God has always been good to me?

For You, Lord, rescued me from death,
my eyes from tears,
my feet from stumbling.
I will walk before the Lord
in the land of the living. (Psalm 116:8-9)

He has done all of that and more. He entered the darkness of my life with the brilliance of His light and changed my course, forever. He cleansed me with His blood, forgave every single sin, removed my hard heart and gave me a soft one. He showed me what true love looks like, what mercy and compassion can do, and He continually reminds me that I have a home and this earth is not it.

So I’m working on grounding the planes in my mind with these truths. Remembering His goodness. Reminding my soul that He is with me in all things and He will always do what is good and what is right and I have nothing to fear. Calling my soul to remember what it believes about God rather than what it can imagine about what might happen.

I want to encourage you to do that too. Even if your mind isn’t an airport at night, we are all prone to fearful anticipations, to what ifs and what abouts. To wondering if we’ll make it through the worst case scenario presenting itself in our life. But we can do battle against all that and we can have victory in that battle. We can call our souls to rest once more.

We can remember God’s goodness to us at every turn. We can declare to our souls that He has been good, is being good in this very hour, and will be good forevermore. To us. To you. To me.

Are you with me?