Easy Days

Today is one of those beautiful, joyful days.  Sometimes it seems as if the days slog by, or that they fly by (when you need more hours in the day).  But, today is not one of those days.  This day is a wedding day, in my family.  My niece is marrying the nephew of one of my dearest childhood friends.  This family that has always seemed like "family" now truly will be, in the most legal sense of the word, family.  Hallelujah!

The mother of the bride, my sister, the mother of the groom, and I have been running around this morning, attending to last-minute details.  There are always some last-minute "water into wine" miracles needed!  Here and there, between blogging, I've gotten to be that bringer of miracles ... while holding joyful tears at bay.  So, my blog formatting looks crazy, because I am cray-cray today. That.Is.All.

The text that Ann Voskamp is featuring today, in my ongoing tracking here in the blog with her Advent series, is Habakkuk 3:17-19.

When the fig tree does not bud,

and there are no grapes on the vines;

when the olive trees do not produce,

and the fields yield no crops;

when the sheep disappear from the pen,

and there are no cattle in the stalls,

18 

I will rejoice because of the Lord;

I will be happy because of the God who delivers me!

19 

The sovereign Lord is my source of strength.

He gives me the agility of a deer.

This text speaks of rejoicing always, even under the direst of life's circumstances, letting the Holy Spirit fill you up to praise Him, no matter what.  Its parallel in the New Testament is 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18.

Always rejoice, constantly pray, in everything give thanks.  For this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.

Today, it's an easy task.  Praise the Lord, for He is GOOD!

Below is a wedding blessing, written by my friend, Susan Browning Schultz.  I thank her for the permission to use it to bless my niece and her soon-to-be husband today.

Seven Helpings of Marriage Wisdom

1.God always encourages us to be the person you would like to be married to. If you need more understanding; give more love and understanding to your spouse. “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interest of others.” Philippians 2:3-4

2.Nobody is perfect. Don’t let the world find out about your spouse’s imperfections via you. “The heart of her husband trusts in her.” Proverbs 31:11

3.Make it a point to give your spouse the best of you: the best of your touch, the best of your good attitude, the best laughter, and the best words. Don’t always bring them what’s left over after the world has drained you. “ . . . But set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity.” 1 Timothy 4:12

4.Be intentional. Each day look for ways to bless your spouse. “Outdo one another in showing honor.” Romans 12:10

5.Believe the best about your spouse, even when they don’t communicate well and don’t keep a record of all of their mistakes. “Love always protects, always trusts, and always perseveres.” 1 Corinthians 13

6.Greet your spouse with a kiss. Positive touch releases endorphins so you associate your spouse with pleasant feelings. “Kiss me and kiss me again.” Song of Songs 1:2

7.This one is for later: Life affects us all. No one remains the same. We change physically; act less romantic, and so forth. Take time to find the two people who fell in love and reconnect. “Rejoice in the wife of your youth.” Proverbs 5:18

I hope each of you can praise today...no matter what.

Dear God, thank you for those halcyon days when it is so very easy to praise You!  We need them, Lord, to carry us through the rough days, when praising You is a more costly act of worship.  Thank you for the joy that a wedding brings, that you have given my niece a godly man to be her husband.  I pray your richest blessings on them and on the generations following.  (Deuteronomy 5:10).  In Jesus' name, amen.

Source:

Voskamp, Ann. The Greatest Gift: Unwrapping the Full Love Story of Christmas. 

Mylanta Darlings

Good morning,

So here we are at 1 Corinthians 13, what the apostle Paul called at the end of chapter 12 "a more excellent way".  He urges us in verses 1-3 to give love the preeminence.

If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I surrender my body [a]to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing.

In other words, instead of fixating on this spiritual gift or that one, focus on love. After all, Jesus said, "by this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another" (John 13:35).

Whole books have been written about this one chapter of the Bible!  There is so much wisdom here. This chapter is ultra-important because "love" is often misunderstood and the term so frequently misapplied.  Fortunately, if you wonder "Is this love?", you can measure it by the standard in 1 Cor. 13.

This past week a group from my church was involved in sharing love with a young person, although she did not recognize it as such.  There are times when love does not seem .... well, "loving".  Love does not rejoice in sin or unrighteousness (vs. 6).  Instead, love seeks the truth, promotes the truth, speaks the truth.  Sometimes, that is not well-received.  There are times when, "love must be tough".  Dr. James Dobson, founder of Focus on the Family, wrote a landmark book with this very title.

Tough love is not legalism or self-righteous condemnation of another.  Rather, it is knowing the right way and urging, exhorting others to walk in it.   One of the reasons this is so unpopular today is that truth and love are inexorably linked!  One cannot exist without the other. Yet, in our American culture, it is deemed impolite to take a stand for truth.  "How dare you tell me how to live my life?!" is the mantra of modern American culture.

In response to this, we who know the Truth, we the Light-Bearers, we the Salt of the Earth frequently cower and shrink and back-pedal our testimony.  That is not love, Friends.  That is spiritual cowardice.

Of course, we must be sensitive to the Spirit in how we communicate Jesus Christ's exclusive message of love and truth.  We must not run rough-shod over people and piously proclaim, "Well, you certainly needed to hear THAT!"  No, that is not the Christian way either.

4 Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant,5 does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, 6 does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; 7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

8 Love never fails;

Nothing challenges our belief in love more keenly than our closest personal relationships - - - our family.  Nothing has tested my understanding of love as much as being a mother of two rowdy, headstrong boys.  My husband is easy to love; he is a dream!  That is because he is one of the most unselfish, loving people I have ever known.  My teenage boys, on the other hand ... "Oh Mylanta!", as the saying goes!  Pass the antacid!

We all, at some time, have a Mylanta Darlin' in our lives.

Bears all things,

Believes all things,

Hopes all things,

Endures all things,

Love never fails.

Isn't that how God deals with us, His children?  Oh, the beauty of His perfect love, His agape love!  I figure I'm His "Mylanta Darlin'" each and every day.  Still, at the moment the foundations of the world were laid, He made the decision to pour Himself out for me, broken and spilled out, dead, buried and resurrected, and now reigning with the Father....all for me.  He calls me to pour myself out for others in that same way.

"By THIS all men will know"....

Loving Heavenly Father, you KNOW that I have not mastered this.  Please forgive me for how often I fall short, especially in the area of "believing all things" that are true, in holding fast to Your faithful promises.  Give me that perfect love, that love that never fails, so that "all men will know".  In Jesus' name, amen.

And More Weapons . . .

Good Morning!

This morning, we continue to look at the remaining weapons that the apostle Paul lists in this passage (Ephesians 6:12-20), weapons which are essential for enabling us to bring honor to God as we live out our Christian faith.

Helmet of Salvation
One of Satan's biggest lies is to cause us to doubt that we really belong to Jesus Christ.  Another "biggie" is to cause us to believe that there is little we can do to further God's Kingdom.  This is why it is imperative for us to remember two truths:
1.  Once we have embraced Jesus as our Savior, we are His, forever and ever.  Regardless of our emotional state at the moment, we are His.  Regardless of how we wander, we are His.  Regardless of the mistakes we make, He is waiting for us to turn back to Him in confession and deep repentance.  He is waiting with open arms.
2.  Every Christian is crucial to God's plan to bring Him glory.  There is no such thing as an insignificant Christian.  In fact, if Satan is slamming you up against a wall, very likely God wants to use you in a powerful way, and this is why Satan is opposing you so greatly.  Never believe that you are insignificant.  Some of you reading this may have physical limitations and believe that, because of that, you are finished, done, washed up.  Well, my dear, that is a lie.  As long as you can think, you can pray.  We'll talk more about that later in this post.  Get to praying, as often as you can.  Satan hates that.

So, don't let Satan "get inside your head" about this and discourage you!  Put on that helmet of salvation every day.  You are a child of the King, a resplendent daughter (or son)!  Get out there and GLEAM!

Sword of the Spirit - God's Word
Psalm 119:89-120
I was just reading this passage and I encourage you to go read it also.  The Psalmist is painting a beautiful picture of how much God's written Word means to him.  (Of course, at that time, the only written word he had was the Old Testament law, which is why he constantly refers to "your law".)
In Hebrews 4:12, the writer (whom many believe to be Paul, others Luke or James...it's disputed who the author was) tells us straight up how powerful God's written Word is:
"For the word of God is living and effective and sharper than any double-edged sword, penetrating as far as the separation of soul and spirit, joints and marrow. It is able to judge the ideas and thoughts of the heart."  (Holman Christian Standard Bible)
The Bible is alive.  How is that possible?  What the writer is saying here is that the Bible can cause cataclysmic change in people's lives when they read it, just as if it were a living person.
In the Ephesians passage, Paul says that the Bible is the sword of the Holy Spirit.
So, the living Holy Spirit, the 3rd Person of the Holy Trinity, uses this mighty sword to change lives. How amazing!
Christian, do not neglect the daily reading of this Book.  Read it prayerfully and reverently and allow the Holy Spirit to change your life through the reading.  The Bible is God's personal, special message to us, His Children.  Don't underutilize this powerful weapon!

Prayer
How do you view prayer?  In a previous post, I went into great detail about this topic and I won't rehash it here.  But, please remember that prayer is one of your most powerful weapons, Christian! Paul began this dissertation of spiritual weapons with Truth and ended it with Prayer.  Bookend and bookend.
One thing I want you to notice here is that Paul, as a minister of the gospel, asks the Ephesians to pray for him, specifically that he would be given the necessary boldness to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ as he should. This is what every godly minister of the gospel hopes that his congregants will pray for him.  Do you pray for your godly pastor?  Please do!  It matters.  Boldly proclaiming the truth of the Word of God is a fearsome responsibility.  Our godly men in the pulpit need all the prayer and support they can get.  It always touches my heart when our pastor prays right before his sermon and asks the Holy Spirit to guide his words and not to let him stand in the way of what the Holy Spirit wants to say through him.  I appreciate my pastor and hope that you appreciate yours too.  If you don't, pray harder for him and about what you can do to support him.  He is God's man for your church at this time and needs your prayers.

Love
Well, love is not mentioned in this passage, but I mention it here because love is the super-weapon.  In another letter of Paul's (to the Corinthians - - 1Cor. 13) he devotes a whole chapter to the pre-eminence of love.  Jesus called love "the greatest commandment" in Matthew 22:36-40.  See John 13:34-35.
Read these passages and reflect on how love should be in everything we do. No matter what spiritual weapon we wield, we should cover it in love.  Just as faith without works is dead (James 2:14), wielding these weapons of spiritual warfare is useless, without love.

We'll talk more about love in a later post.

So, there you have them.  "Put them on" every day so that you can walk in spiritual victory!
"But, thank God!  He gives us the victory over sin and death, through our Lord Jesus Christ!" (1 Corinthians 15:57)

Oh Father God, thank you for the precious instruction You give us in Your holy Word.  Thank you for telling us how to please, honor, glorify, magnify You.  Thank you for these weapons, with which we can claim victory over the Evil One, our Adversary.  Thank you that "we can do all things through Christ our Savior, who gives us strength."  Help us to be dedicated to use these weapons daily and throughout the day.  Help us to remember to love You, and to love our neighbors as much as we love ourselves.  We love You, Lord!  In Jesus' name, amen.