What the World Needs Now...

So...I've been reading and meditating and listening and learning...

I used to think it was naive of me to believe that love- true love- could fix any problem and heal all wounds. I've learned, however, that this is not a naive idea at all. It is truth. Let me interject with this thought: God, in His Word, repeatedly urges us to love ourselves and to love our neighbors. He says it all the time. He even emphasized this command when He said, "Look...forget all the other laws...its all summed up in loving your neighbor like you love yourself." (Galatians 5:14). Why is it such a big deal that we love each other? Honestly....? Its because in loving other people we are clearing an opening for the Holy Spirit to move upon the heart of man. A lot of times its hard for people to accept and receive God's love, not because they're wicked. Not because they have hard hearts. Its actually because they don't know what love is. They've never been touched by its warmth. So when God comes to move on their hearts, His Spirit doesn't find that little piece of Himself that someone should have left behind. He doesn't find that little piece of Himself to mix with and bring people to trust Him and come to repentance...

Too often we sow hurt and fear, and God has to clean up the messes we've made. But when we sow love, the person we've sown into has a small idea of what love is. When God comes to take their heart and establish a relationship, that person's heart says, "I've felt something like this before...this just may be real..."

Now, back to the idea of love fixing any problem. Is it sexual sin? Or gossip? Or anything that doesn't match up with God's Word? The thing is that the desires to do these things are there because we need something...some kind of unconditional acceptance....some kind of affirmation. Being man, who's heart is desperately wicked, our very nature longs to find fulfillment in the things that are of the flesh. But those things can't fulfill us. Only God can. God is love. Only love can...

Let's love ourselves...I mean really and truly...and let's love one another...it isn't always easy to do either but lets do it...let's fight our flesh and go against the nature of our humanity...let's love and love and love....

...

You are so amazing

Your love makes my heart sing

With You I find true liberty

There's rest beneath Your wings

I'll say yes today and forever

To Your wishes and Your plans

Because I know within my heart

That my days are in Your hands

"I Am Willing," He Said...

Let me start by saying that if I were Jesus, I wouldn't have given me a second thought. I say this to express that I haven't the slightest idea why Jesus loves me. I don't know why He went so far to prove to me that He loves me. I don't know why He calls me His own and gives me a hope and a future. But that's my Jesus; He's just that kinda God.

I think that so many people are caught up in the perception that Jesus only came to judge and to condemn. I can understand why the enemy of our souls would fight so hard to keep this impression in people's minds. The truth is that knowledge of how much God loves us gives us such a boundless amount of power over the wiles of our adversary. It's the knowledge of God's love that causes people to be filled with Him, and thus having an immeasurable amount of confidence and power. It says so in Ephesians 3:19 (NIV):

And to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God

To know a love that surpasses knowledge. It goes beyond our limited mental faculties. But it is ours for the taking, nonetheless. And when we know this love in the depth of our hearts, we are filled with the fullness of God, because God is Love. They are one and the same.

But I digress...

The purpose of this post is to speak to someone who is wondering whether or not Jesus wants to deliver them, or use them, or make them whole. These words stand as a testament to a kind and compassionate God who desperately loves a flawed people.

In Mark 1, there is a certain leper who saw Jesus in Galilee. The bible records their meeting in verses 40-42:

40. A man with leprosy came to him and begged him on his knees, "If you are willing, you can make me clean."
41. Filled with compassion, Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. "I am willing," he said. "Be clean!"
42. Immediately the leprosy left him and he was cured.

This man had lived the life of a leper. Ostracized. Scorned. Rejected. But he heard that there was a Man in town who drove out demons and healed the sick. I'm sure he struggled with whether or not to go to Jesus. Would He send him away? Would He reject him like all of the others? But in the end, the man went to Jesus, still skeptical. "I know You can do it if You can bear the stench of my disease," he said, " I know that You can help me if You are willing to bother with my filth." And Jesus in all of His kindness and compassion, reached out to touch a man who had not felt the touch or connection of another human being in such a long time. Jesus touched this man and said, "I am willing."

This moves me to tears. Because I know that my sinful nature is like leprosy to Jesus. But He saw me in my sin, and He washed me in His blood, and then He went the extra mile to call me "friend." People, Jesus is willing to love you. Jesus is willing to wash you. Jesus is willing to take you just as you are. You don't have to be perfect for Him. You don't have to be "good." You don't have to be clean. Jesus will reach out to you from where He is. He will touch you and His touch will make you whole.


Come Just As You Are...

The Sound of Silence...

Lately, I've witnessed too many cases of injustice and no one seems to be speaking up for what's right. This angers and frustrates me. I pray that change comes soon...

When a person is gossiped about without the right to speak for themselves, can't we say something to defend this right? When a friend is doing something unGodly, isn't it our right to speak the truth in love, even if that truth hurts? When a man is begging on the streets of a big city and on-lookers are walking by with judgement in their eyes, isn't it the right of a Christian to give him food? When a prominent minister of the gospel (in any capacity) has sinned or fallen, isn't it his right to receive support and prayer -not prating- from the body of Christ?

It breaks my heart to see injustice in any measure. In 1963, Martin Luther King, Jr. wrote a letter from a jail cell in Birmingham, AL and said this:

"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. "

These words ring true today, just like they did during the Civil Rights movement. They ring true for every form of injustice that is seen in our daily walks with God. Let's dig deep inside to find enough passion and compassion to do something when injustice rears its ugly head.

Matthew 7:12 says in NIV:

So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.

It's that simple. Silence in the face of injustice speaks so loudly. Let's be more active in fighting injustice...even in the smallest of things.

And yes, good people. This is, indeed, a challenge.

Ephesians 4:15, Deuteronomy 15:11, Proverbs 11:12-13

Then She Came and Worshiped Him, Saying, "Lord Help Me."

In times of plenty, its very easy to worship God. Its as if there is a tangible reason to exalt Him when you have your health, wealth and good fortune.


But this is the thing: character is seen in how we respond to God when it seems like everything is going haywire and God seems far far away. There is a woman in the bible that I admire a lot. She's only spoken of in seven verses. She's unnamed. Not much is known about her. But we do know one thing: She had a great faith.

In Matthew 15, the Bible speaks of a woman from Canaan who saw Jesus on the road and cried out to Him for help. In the NKJV, verses 22-25 say:

22And behold, a woman of Canaan came out of the same region and cried unto Him, saying, "Have mercy on me, O Lord, Thou Son of David! My daughter is grievously vexed with a devil."
23But He answered her not a word. And His disciples came and besought Him, saying, "Send her away, for she crieth after us."
24But He answered and said, "I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel."
25Then she came and worshiped Him, saying, "Lord help me."

I think that these verses are so powerful! This woman cried out in a time of agony and heard nothing from Jesus. She cried out so persistently that the people around Jesus -His disciples- asked that He send her away. She was so alone in that moment. It seemed like compassion was so far off. When Jesus said that she was outside of His jurisdiction, the woman still pressed on. She went to Jesus and worshiped Him still. This is such a beautiful thing. When her circumstances and the people around her urged her to give up and go away, she only sought Jesus more. She worshiped Him.

I learned so much from this woman in only seven verses, people. The next three verses read like this:

26But He answered and said, "It is not meet to take children's bread and cast it to dogs."
27And she said, "Truth, Lord; yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters' table."
28Then Jesus answered and said unto her, "O woman, great is thy faith. Be it unto thee even as thou wilt." And her daughter was made whole from that very hour.

After the woman worshiped Jesus, she still didn't get the answer that soothed her aching soul. You see, this woman was from Canaan, and the Canaanites were a people that worshipped false gods and didn't adhere to the ways the Israelites. Because of this, the Israelites were warned on many occasions not to follow the ways of the Canaanites; not to marry them or to worship their gods. So, when this woman from Canaan asked Jesus for a miracle, He told her that it just wouldn't be right for Him to give to her the same things He gave to the children of promise. The woman pressed on still, telling Him that she didn't care. She would take the leftovers. She would take the crumbs.

That is amazing...

After being pushed away many times, this woman knew that in Jesus, she found her only hope. She refused to give up. She pressed on until Jesus looked at her with a new respect; a respect for the magnitude of her faith. And after pressing on in worship and in intense pleading, her miracle was granted. Her daughter was healed.

Let's think back to the last time we worshiped Jesus even when it seemed like our worlds were ending. Let's remember the last time we were persuaded to the point of no return. We are no longer on the outside of the Promise. Through Jesus' blood we are taken into a beautiful and gracious covenant. We are God's children. We get the bread from the table, not the crumbs. Let's not settle for less. Let's worship and praise and pray and serve until we are given our rightful seat and our rightful portion.

I learned a lot from this nameless and faceless Canaanite woman. Perseverance built on persuasion. Worship in the face of turmoil. Faith in the face of adversity and rejection. Character.

Musings...

Amazing Love

Removed the Mask

And I Looked into Your Eyes

Help from Above

For Such a Task

Lord, Use Me to Change Lives

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"Which way to turn?" I ask myself

And then I look to You

You use Your Light to guide my path

You always see me through

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So glad You use the foolish things

And I know that I am one

In the midst of all my limits

Lord, let Your will be done

When all creation fades away

And this feeble world is no more

Let it be said that I trusted You

Let my heart be found in Yours

So, The Funniest Thing Happened...

I was on the DC metro yesterday...just making my merry way home from another work day. My iPhone was playing songs from Hillsong's latest CD and I was contemplating life...

Then a very VERY square man takes a seat next to me. When I say square, I mean SQUARE. Very straight-laced. The man is holding what looks like a portfolio that houses what looks like a short paper that an undergrad student would turn in for an English 101 assignment. Now, I will make this disclaimer: I'm not (that) nosy. I like to mind my own business, but for some reason my eye happened to read a few lines of this manuscript of sorts that my fellow commuter was holding. The first thing that jumped out to me was a passage from the book of Matthew. I was so excited! I thought to myself, "Yay!! He's a Christian! He's my brother!!! I'm so happy! We're gonna be friends and then we're going to encourage each other in the Word and blah blah blah..," silently rambling to myself about friendship with a person that most likely wants nothing to do with me! lol! I could not muster the strength to wipe the grin off of my face. Then I began to strategize...how can I introduce myself so that this beautiful friendship could commence? I decided to just go for it...

"Hi, I'm a Christian!" I said, with the biggest, cheesiest, corniest grin on my face. My heart was racing. I couldn't wait to hear his excited response!

The man turned to look at me and said, deadpan, "Oh...really?" and then turned back around to face the front of the train.

He most likely thinks that I'm THE creepiest person he's ever met. lol! The scenario did NOT go down like I was hoping it would! I was still smiling, though, because I was still excited about the fact that he'd be in heaven, but I made sure to keep that thought to myself before I scared him enough to make him bop me on the head with same portfolio that had gotten me into the mess.

The next stop was mine, so I had to leave my new bff without a proper introduction. But that's okay...we have all of eternity to make that happen...:)