Where Has All The Love Gone

I opened for my lover, but my lover had left; he was gone. My heart sank at his departure. I looked for him but did not find him. I called him but he did not answer. Song of Songs 5:6 

Why did the Lover leave? The Beloved was sleeping and was too lazy to get up at the knock of her Lover. All the Beloved did was to think about herself. She didn't want to put her robe back on again and she didn't want to soil her washed feet. 

The Beloved Church is asleep as her Lover Jesus knocks at the door of her heart. The Church is too comfortable to get up and move towards Jesus' call. She doesn't want to rise up from her soporific state. The Church refuses to put on the robe of righteousness, yet proudly wraps herself in self-righteousness. Feeling clean, she doesn't want to mix with the "unclean" and walk a path that may get her feet dirty. However, the path Jesus walked was lined with sinners who needed his healing touch. The Church too is called to walk the path of her Lover. 

Any disciple who follows Jesus will get dirty feet. But, being in Jesus means the disciple is clean, no matter what mess those feet trod through. 

It is time for the Church to stop worrying about dirty feet as she arises from her lethargy. She must open the door to her first Love without hesitating or else it may be too late. It is time for the Beloved to love as the Lover and forget about herself to seek the lost and hurting. 

Unfortunately, when people look at the Church they are asking, "Where has all the love gone?" 

The time has come for the Church to wake up, get up and open up the door for her Lover. She has locked out not only the Lover, but also those who need to be loved. 

“Wake up, O sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you." Ephesians 5:14

Pure Joy

"Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does." James 1:2-7

This is pretty tough.  Having joy when facing difficult situations can be quite challenging.  However, the passage never said these circumstances make us happy. Being happy and having "pure joy" are two different things.

Joy does not come from external happenings, whether good or bad, but comes from the Lord no matter what is taking place.

Do not grieve, for the joy of the Lord is your strength. Nehemiah 8:10

We know that when we face these trials we are getting stronger and stronger in the Lord and that in itself should give us "pure joy".

Lately, I have been trying to encourage myself, just like David. But, it hasn't been working.  I feel more like the Israelites in the desert who were going no where fast because they were murmuring and complaining.  Life may not be getting better. Problems seem to be heating up and going forward may not seem to be the best prospect. We see that this promised land of milk and honey is occupied by some fierce looking giants who make us fearful.

We run to man to try and figure out the giant problem, but man has no answers, no matter how astute he is.  His wisdom cannot match that of God's, yet we keep going back to him and keep hitting into that brick wall.  God knows how to break down that wall, but it just doesn't make sense to us.  We want to get through the wall, however God defies human wisdom and tells us to walk around it and then make a shout.  How odd? Surely, those watching us will think we are fools.  Instead, we return to man for a better answer and needless to say the wall stays up and seems to get thicker and higher.

We cannot believe God.  His wisdom makes no sense.  We forget that His ways are not our ways, resulting in us wavering and doubting.  We want to enter the promised land, but we listen to man rather than God.  

The Lord knows about the giants.  He also knows that He is going to use those giants to build our faith, but we need to persevere.  We can't give up. Our ideas to get out of our mess don't always work and some are just temporary fixes.  The giants are there to build us, not kills us.  God is our refuge and our fortress. When we rest in His shadow, He guards us from the heat of the problem.  No doubt, the problem is still there, but with God for us, who or what can be against us?  

The problem is not the problem itself, but how we react to the problem.  Do we believe man or God? And do we have "pure joy" in spite of it all?

Back Off!!!

I really want to be control and so it scares me to just back off to let God and let God.  However, I know this would be my best stance. For so long I have lived on my might and my power, even though I know it is wrong.

So he said to me, "This is the word of the LORD to Zerubbabel: 'Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,' says the LORD Almighty. Zechariah 4:6 (NIV)

Easier said than done?  Maybe not.  Moving in the Spirit of God is supposed to be easy and simple, if we recognize that God's grace is enough.

But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. Corinthians 12:9 (NIV)

We have to stop feeling that we have to do things our way and in our strength, but instead we should let God take over.  It can be quite difficult backing off of situations that we want to get worked out quickly.  Yet, our quick fixes and trying to work things out in our own strength usually leaves us in a quagmire.  If only we would rest in the LORD and wait patiently for Him. Psalm 37:7 (NASB)

Where does our hope come from?  If it comes from anything or anyone besides God, then we will always be in a quandary.

Find rest, O my soul, in God alone; my hope comes from Him. Psalms 62:5 (NIV)

Our hope should be in God.  We should find rest in Him, as we let go of all we have - everything of our own making.  God wants to build us up in Him, but first we have to break away from all we have built without Him. We must give up everything.

In the same way, any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple. Luke 14:33 (NIV)

We like to think of this verse as referring more to material possessions, but it is so much more than that.  It is our pride, our self-pity, even our desires. Yes, I know - Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart. Psalm 37:4 (NIV) But if we examine this verse closely, we will discover that the word "delight" means "pliable".  We can only be pliable in God's hands if we rest in Him.  If we don't rest, we will break and then we cannot be molded by Him into an image which will reflect His heart and His desires.  

So, it is time to trust God by placing ourselves in His hands and hoping in Him alone. And, when we do this and back off from our own strength and plans, then we will recognize His grace is more than enough.

But

GET REAL!!!

Too many of us hide behind facades that feigns fantasy. We pretend perfection with pretentious yet precarious lies, making us feel important wanting to be impervious. Creating an illusion, we live illusive lives with delusive expectations. It's just all a deception. Through it all the deceiver becomes the deceived, losing self in machinations. 

We lie and do not live by the truth. 1 John 1:6

All these years, I have been living a lie one way or the other.  I lost my identity in college doing what other people thought I should do and then on becoming a Christian, I started saying the things people wanted me to say – the “good” Christian things. But, God can’t work with that. That is the devil’s territory – lies.  God is Truth and until I start living in Truth, I can’t walk the Way or in the Light.

"God can give me as many children as He wants?"

"Oh it doesn't matter when I get married.  Whenever God wants, even if it is 80?"

"I will marry whoever God wants me to marry?"

Seriously, this is dangerous ground - a minefield of lies ready to explode.  However, righteous these may sound, these are not what God wants to hear unless it comes from a truthful heart. Frankly, these have been misguided statements coming from a need of acceptance.

What I need though is to get real. I don't want a lot of children, right now I am not ready for any children.  As, for getting married at 80....helloooo....how is sex at 80? Yes, Christian girls do think about sex. Well at least I do, no lie.  If I do get married I would rather to get married at an age where I can enjoy being intimate with my husband. Probably, I need to check with an 80 year old to see how the sensual senses are at that age before I come to a verdict.

Okay, marrying anyone who God wants me to marry....all I can think of is Hosea. Don't get me wrong, I really want to be in God's will, but I am hoping His will doesn't include a man who will cheat on me or disrespect me. I would go for sense of humor, good looking, has a good job, nice physique and a man who is real and knows who he is in Christ. Yes, I mix shallow with sainthood and I know, I know I need to go find my own identity in Christ.  That's why right now I am not ready for a husband.  I need to get real first.

Getting into a relationship would be a disaster waiting to happen if I don't find out who I truly am. I need to be me, who I was made to be.  First things, first - tell the truth.

"I don't want a husband and children!"

There I said it. Now that's off my chest, let me quickly follow up with this.  Before I became a Christian, I did not like children. I felt they were put on earth to upset me. Mothers would give me their children forcing them into my arms ignoring my resistance, to show me how cute their child is. Inevitably the child would puke, pee or poop while in my arms. The baby would know to wait until firmly placed in my arms to be "free". However, still with a dislike for children, God put me in a position where I was asked to work with children at a summer camp. My class was "Kids gone wild," yet it was my experience with these "energetic" children that made me start loving children.  Now, I relish the thought of working with kids...you see, they are real, no pretense about them.  I like that!!!

This is why I know I should come to God like little children - in truth. That's what He work's with.  Not my "good" Christian girl act. The fact is I am selfish.  I like my space, doing things in my time and having my things. And for all those who think how awful I am, get real!  I know you prefer my lies and would rather ignore the fact they are lies - because that makes you more comfortable. Sorry, I can't go there anymore.  If you are in dis-ease because of what I say and who I really am, I hope you get better. But, I know that God can finally work with me and bring me to the place where He wants me to be, because I am now telling Him the truth, no matter how disturbing it may sound. I have been in darkness for too long, time to walk in the Light.

If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth.  1 John 1:6 

Isn't that the truth? Simply, it's time to get real and start living in Truth.
 

God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth. John 4:24

I Am Not What I Am

But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them—yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me. 1 Corinthians 15:10

Have you ever felt that you just keep on doing and doing yet not accomplishing anything, or going and going, but reaching nowhere?  I know, I have felt like this and it brings an overwhelming despair.  However, I have figured out that when I am overcome by despair, I am doing and going in my own strength.  And, through it all, I have lost the very essence of who I am.

Paul could say with confidence that by the grace of God "I am who I am." I, on the other hand, frequently ask, "Who am I?"  Suffering from a lost identity, I fall into a crisis. I don't rest in God's grace, but rather work to fulfill the law.  I like the law, because then I can have something to conform to. I want to look like everyone and be like everyone.  Leaving me behind, I embrace what others think I should be.  

Consequently, I don't know me.  I talk like someone I don't know.  Looking in the mirror, I don't see me.  I am someone else.  Who?  I don't really know. The person I see, I don't like.  How could this person be me? I am not what I am. 

But, who am I? That question still lingers. I no longer can be who they want me to be. I can't follow their rules and live by their laws.  

Grace has been waiting for me to be her friend, yet, somehow I have felt uncomfortable around her. She is amazing, she wants to walk with me and show me a whole new world, but I resist her as she is not a conformist and she doesn't look like everyone else. I don't need that rejection from hanging with her. But, I know...I know if I go with Grace, she will show me who I am.  She will show me the real me and reveal my heart.  Then, I can say "I am what I am."

I'll Do it My Way

For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the LORD. Isaiah 55:8

I have been taking more time to just sit with God to know Him more and understand His heart. This has sometimes been a painful process as I have come to realize that my thoughts are definitely not His thoughts and His ways are that of grace, while mine are bent towards the law.  

I have tried so hard to be a good Christian, and that's where I went wrong. I did my best to follow the rules, some weren't even from God, but these man-made doctrines did sound "godly". So, in order to please man by looking "godly"  I submitted to laws that God didn't even intend. Paul understood that the law didn't make us righteous, but rather it made us sin conscious.

Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin. Romans 3:20

This is no different than when we try so hard to be safe that we imprison ourselves. I think of so many people who die in fires in Jamaica because the firemen can't get them out of a burning build as there is much difficulty and loss of precious time breaking through the burglar bars. The very thing that was to keep them safe caused their death.

The laws that I have tried to follow have entrapped me and I have lost the freedom which being in Christ offers me.  It seems the more I try not to sin, I commit several more. It is unending torture.  

These days, I have been yearning to spend more time with Christ and the more I spend time with Him, the more I comprehend my insanity.  I have been trying to accomplish the impossible by attempting to be good through the law. In so doing, I have not flowed in God's grace by accepting His love.  My faith was diminishing rather than growing, since I persisted in doing things in my own strength. hence, making God small in my own eyes.

Detachment from who I really was in Christ became inevitable. Lost and living in a reality based on a legal system not of God, my identity was easily stolen.  It was almost as if I gave it away.

But, now I am getting my identity in Christ back. This person who I am becoming though, may not be to the liking of the religious majority, as I look less and less at the law as a mirror to dress myself.  I no longer put on my spiritual clothing.  

I delight greatly in the LORD; my soul rejoices in my God. For he has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of righteousness. Isaiah 61:10

Worn and weary I have tried to please the masses, but now I find rest in God and this is where my hope comes from.

Find rest, O my soul, in God alone; my hope comes from him.  Psalm 62:5

Furthermore, when we reach this place of rest we get to inherit the "Promised Land" that God wants to give us.  

You are not to do as we do here today, everyone as he sees fit, since you have not yet reached the resting place and the inheritance the LORD your God is giving you. But you will cross the Jordan and settle in the land the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance, and he will give you rest from all your enemies around you so that you will live in safety.  Deuteronomy 12:9-10

We all want to sing "I'll do it my way,"  doing what we think we should do. Nevertheless, we must move beyond our thoughts and come to a point were we do not rely on our understanding, but instead look to God for His heart on the matter.  

Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight. Proverbs 3:4-6

One Way Jesus

Live The Word

Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go. Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful. Joshua 1:7-8

After being in the desert for 40 years, God knew that His chosen people would be tested by the devil as they contested for their Promised Land. He also knew that the best way to combat the attack of this foe was for them to know the Word and live the Word.

While in the desert for 40 days and being tested by the devil with Scriptures, Jesus passed the test as He knew His purpose, He knew the Word and He lived the Word. Moreover, He is the Word.

When I think of the deviling approaching Jesus in the desert, I recognize how frightening it is that the Word can be twisted to the advantage of those who give the Word. The devil did the same thing in the garden of Eden with Eve, but Jesus had the Word in His heart in the desert.

I desire to do your will, my God; your law is within my heart. Psalm 40:8

David wrote these words and Jesus lived by them. We must always have the Word in our hearts, asking God for His Spirit to give us deeper insight so that we can discern the heart behind the words that come from the Word. Motives aren't always right. We can use Bible verse to underpin just about any of our opinions. For this reason we must be careful where our opinions come from and make sure our heart is pleasing to God.

Jesus knew loving His Father, meant obeying His Word and hence fulfilling His purpose. Because of the disobedience in the garden, there had to be obedience in the wilderness. He was preordained to be tested in the wilderness from the beginning. Both He and God knew He would pass the test – He had to for our sake.

We too will have our own wilderness experience. That too was preordained. We will be tested over and over again, and we must pass the test for our sake and for the souls of others. God has set us apart to do His work, but in order to understand His plan for our lives we must do as Jesus did.

At daybreak, Jesus went out to a solitary place. The people were looking for him and when they came to where he was, they tried to keep him from leaving them. But he said, “I must proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns also, because that is why I was sent.” Luke 4:42-43

Like Jesus, we must get alone with God and block out all distractions to who why and where God is sending us. Even those who love us will try to stop us because they care so much and want us to be with them. But, they must let us go to walk into our destiny to "proclaim the good news" in the manner God has designed specifically for us. But in order to be bold enough to walk away to "proclaim the good news", we must know the Word and live the Word. 

God has prepared us to possess His promises, prophecies and plans, but we have to be strong and courageous by obeying Him as we live the Word.