Indivisible…? With liberty and justice for all…?

Even as a teen, it troubled me to see that our nation was becoming a republic that no longer wanted to be “under God.” We tried to distance ourselves from these two words (and the God they represent), which were etched into our identity as a nation.

The recent events splashed into media are just a snapshot of an attitude spreading across this country, which I believe is another important casualty to our identity as a nation: We are now looking at our brothers as “us” and “them”.

Growing up as a child in the United States, you no doubt recited the Pledge of Allegiance before even learning what those words meant. In light of all that is going on across our country, one word has been absolutely haunting me: INDIVISIBLE. Undividable. Inseparable. United.

As the Bible says in Mark 3:25, “If a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand.” (New International Version). Abraham Lincoln referred to this idea as well, when he said, “A house divided against itself cannot stand. I believe this government cannot endure, permanently, half slave and half free. I do not expect the Union to be dissolved — I do not expect the house to fall — but I do expect it will cease to be divided. It will become all one thing or all the other.” Lincoln, and countless others, lived and died with the mission of closing every divide that would keep us from unity.

In my humble opinion, it will not take a World War, ISIS or any other terrorist attack to bring down our great nation. It is an inside job. As we pull threads from the fabric of our identity, the tapestry of our flag and all it stands for is slowly coming unraveled. But that doesn’t seem to be enough…even as this post is read, flags are being stomped on. By Americans. We are the wrecking crew storming unity with sledgehammers…therefore, we have become our own worst enemy.

So, what is the remedy? Is there any hope of restoring the values that once were, before there is no longer any freedom or justice to be found?

I believe the remedy stems back to the first in a series of pivotal dismissals our country has made: Being “One nation under God”. For those that do not have a relationship with God, I want to share one small truth with huge implications: We are ALL selfish, broken sinners in need of Jesus. No race, education level, religion, job, status or criminal record makes someone more or less valuable than another. The labels that we stick on others and ourselves don’t change the fact that we are all at fault. We all do things that hurt others and warrant the need for forgiveness. But to hide our own sins, we try to redirect the spotlight to someone else’s side of the problem.

One thing I know about God is that he loves ALL people. He created us in his image and wants relationship with us. Even after all the messed up ways our country has gotten to where it is today, the common ground of our depravity and the freedom that has been given to each of us should unite us.

Our very flag stands for freedom. An idea that is beautifully defended by the lyric, “If tomorrow all the thing were gone, I’d worked for all my life…and I had to start again, which just my family by my side; I’d thank my lucky stars to be living here today. Cause the flag still stands for freedom, and they can’t take that away” (God Bless the USA).

The song is right. “They” can’t take that away from us. However, we can choose to continue to live in slavery. Slavery is much deeper than one nation controlling another, or one man controlling another. We may have gained “independence”, but we can continue to be slaves to our own fear, unforgiveness, division, addictions, selfishness, pride, sin…the list goes on.

The bible says in Galatians 5:1, “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery” (NIV). Christ has bought us out of slavery. He has sacrificed himself for our freedom. And I am proud to say I am a recipient of that grace. I am a beneficiary of that freedom. And YOU are a beneficiary of that freedom.

Countless men and women have sacrificed for our freedom as a country. Not only do we have our independence as a nation, but we have personal freedoms granted to us that others in the world only dream about. And I am proud to say I am a recipient of that grace. I am a beneficiary of that freedom. And YOU are a beneficiary of that freedom.

So, I ask you: What are you doing with that freedom? How are you using your freedom of speech? How are you using your right to bear arms? How are you using your right to assemble?

“You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love. For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ If you bite and devour each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other” (Galatians 5:13-15, NIV).

I want to end with one simple thought and challenge:

God, the God our nation was once founded on, is pro-you. He is pro-me. He is pro-black, and he is pro-police…because he is pro-PEOPLE.  What if we as a nation put down the sledgehammers? What if we stopped bulldozing the values we were found upon? What if we stopped devouring and destroying one another?

My remedy: Want justice, but administer that justice in love. In light of your freedom, extend grace. In a world of hate, be pro-people.

The 220 Prayer Life

If any of you are like me, our prayer life can start out of the best intentions, but quickly become selfish. We pray for what WE want, when WE feel like it…and because WE have a need. Sometimes without even realizing, we have a one-sided view of prayer…seeing it only as a defense against the troubles of this world, and forgetting that prayer is also a weapon that God has given us to ADVANCE his kingdom. When we forget this, we get discouraged because we don’t feel like our prayers are making a difference.

 Many of you could probably recite the Lord’s prayer (”Our father, who art in heaven…”) frontwards and backwards. But I want to focus on the way Jesus STARTS this prayer, because if you look closely, you will see a trend starting to form in the prayer life of Jesus. When teaching the people how to pray, Jesus began with “Hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” This is how Jesus taught the disciples and the people how to pray: In the light of God’s matchless name, the basis of prayer is God’s glory, and God’s will. And Jesus is the shiz when it comes to practicing what he preached. He didn’t tell his followers to pray God’s will, and then go off and pray for his own will or his own glory. “Your kingdom come, Your will be done” was the basis of his prayer life.

 In John 12, Jesus prays, “Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? But for this purpose I have come to this hour. Father, glorify your name.” Jesus can empathize with us. His soul was troubled. But his trust in the Father allowed him to say, “Glorify your name.” Faith is trusting in God’s character enough to say, “Not thy will, but yours be done.” because you believe that God is true when he says that his plans are for good.

 Matthew, Mark and Luke all document Jesus the night he was betrayed praying in the garden. And each of those gospels describe the prayer the same way: “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.” Jesus knew what it was going to take. Jesus knew what needed to happen. Take a second to think about that: Jesus knew that this “cup” would not pass unless he drank of it. So why did he pray that before saying “Thy will be done”? I honestly believe God can use this to show us that even when life has us in a vice, and the easiest thing would be to ask for a way out, we can TRUST God enough to say “Not my will but yours be done.” The easiest way is not always the best way. Jesus could’ve stopped there, and prayed simply for the cup to pass from him. End of story. No forgiveness of our sins. That would’ve been easiest. But the easiest prayer is not always the best prayer.

The verse our ministry represents is about being crucified with Christ and dying to ourselves. The 220 life is about choosing the same cup Jesus chose: death to ourselves. Living that life is going to take some radical prayers. And for each of us, when seeing the cup and counting the cost, it takes trusting God enough to say “Not my will, but yours be done”. Do you trust God’s will enough to pray for it instead of what you will? Even with the knowledge that God’s will is for us to be crucified with Christ? That takes faith.

This is the difference between getting by in our prayer life and our prayers making a difference in this world. Jesus made an important choice in his life, which framed the way he prayed: Save me from my troubles, or save the world from theirs. That’s the life we are called to. And that’s the PRAYER life we are called to. Prayer is powerful and can change the world around us. Do you want to make prayer a part of your life, but don’t know where to start? Start where Jesus did: “Father, your name is matchless. Let YOUR kingdom come and reign here. Even though my soul is troubled, I pray not for my own will, but that you let YOUR will be done.”

The Lord Sees You

“And when they heard that the Lord was concerned about them and had seen their misery, they bowed down and worshiped.” – Exodus 4:31 I was reading in Exodus last night, and it talked about Moses and Aaron going to the Israelites in Egypt and sharing with them God’s message of deliverance. When they found out that God cared about them, and hadn’t forgotten about them, they bowed down and worshiped. They hadn’t been delivered at this point…they were just praising God, because he called someone to let them know that he still loved them. Because they no longer doubted His love, they were able to trust Him to bring the freedom he promised. I often get caught up in my worries and problems. I have trouble being thankful, because I feel like I am alone in my struggles. When I read this verse last night, it really struck a chord with me. The fact that an almighty God, who oversees the entire universe, is concerned with what is going on in MY little life, is incredible. The fact that He looks down at my situation, cares about me, and has a plan for my life---that is more than enough reason to bow down and worship him. Even in the midst of my pain. Are you caught in the middle of a struggle, and feeling like God has forgotten you? Just remember, the Lord is concerned about you and has seen your misery. He has a plan of redemption, and healing comes through praise. Amen!

Faith and Fear

Wow. God is so good. I need to keep it brief this morning, but I have been battling a great deal of fear and anxiety lately and I wanted to share what God is doing in the midst of it. After struggling through years of sickness and depression, my deepest fear is going back to that place. There have been events in my life that have been catalysts for either plunging me into fear or building my faith. I have some big things ahead that are going to try to test that faith, and I have been afraid.

I woke up even this morning, feeling the fear and worry that my sinful heart is prone to. Yet God continues to encourage my heart. Check it---

I woke up to a song on the radio, and the station then flipped to an interview with a musician that quoted 2 Timothy 1:7 “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, love and a sound-mind.”

I turned on my light, hit snooze, and began thinking about that verse…when the alarm went off again, it was towards the end of a new song saying “Tell me when I’m gonna live again/Tell me when this fear will end.” My thoughts toward God exactly. I saw fear and sickness cripple me from living life once. So I prayed that God would give me encouragement. That He would speak to me. Give me something to hold on to.
I continued to let the music play in the background, as the first few notes began to play of a song that I recognize. The lyrics begin, “You know my anxious heart/You know what I am feeling/And when I fall apart/You are there to hold me”. As it got to the chorus, “Hanging on to every word you speak/Cause it’s all that I need” I decided to turn off the radio and read my bible. I read through the first chapter of 2 Timothy, wanting that verse about fear to be fresh in my mind before I moved on to my devotional.

I took my devotional book and flipped to February 24th. The topic today was “Keep Strokin’!”. While I don’t have time to recount the whole thing, let me give you a couple quotes from it, that will sum up the main idea:

-If you are really serious about getting to the other side – you’ve got to take what is in front of you and keep pushing it behind you. In other words, keep strokin’. You might be crying while you’re swimming, but keep stroking.
-Your faith has got to rise up and fight your fear.

While all of these may sound circumstantial to you, or just by chance, I am believing that God heard my prayer and is giving me something to hold on to today. I pray that He will continue to speak to my heart, and the heart of others that are in need of hearing His voice. Stay open and attentive to hearing what He has to say, for you might walk away more encouraged than you even imagined.

Throwing Out the Score Card

“WINNING” vs. “EPIC FAIL.” These phrases have become a bit of a mantra in my generation. Starting out as silly quotes, they have turned into common-place slogans for announcing our own victory. These are expressions of the shift that has taken place from doing our best to keeping score at everything we do.

I have always been an all-or-nothing person…If I can’t be the best, then I don’t want to try. I want to have the best grades. I want everyone I work for to think they hit the jackpot of employees. I want to be the best friend a person could have. I want to be the best daughter ever. The list goes on and on. But even while striving for what seem like worthy goals, I use God’s call to holiness to rationalize my own idea that there is no space between winning and being an utter failure.

I realized something recently: this attitude has seeped into my spiritual life. It hit me hard after I recently fell down and returned to an old sin. Even in the process of conviction and asking for forgiveness, one of my first thoughts was “There goes my record”. And this is where the ugliness of my own heart came out: was I repenting and seeking forgiveness to restore right-standing in my relationship with God, or because I wanted a clean slate on my report card so it wouldn’t reflect the F? Do I even truly love God, or am I just trying to get spiritual straight A’s? This is a question I will be mulling over for some time, because the honest answer will reveal the difference between being covered by his blood and taking his grace for granted.

My prayer is that I would be able to throw out the spiritual score card and serve God with the same passion that I had when I was most in love with Him. What about you?

Making HIStory

God is SO GOOD. It hit me tonight as I drove home from youth...what an HONOR it is that God would chose ME. And not only for salvation. He actually chose to USE me to bring Himself glory.

He reserved a role for ME in the history that he is writing.

As I thanked God for this story being all about Him, I began to cry. People have lives that are so messed up. So much crap. So much junk. And you know how God shows His love to them? US. Me. Wow. When the reality hit that God could choose anyone, but chooses to use ME, I was amazed. I am so blessed! I get to be a part of what God is doing. I get to be a tool in transforming lives. What an honor! Thank you Jesus for this blessing! What a joy it is! Amen! Praise Him!

Water Into Wine

I read the first chapter this morning of a book by Gary Moon called “Falling for God: Saying Yes to His Extravagent Proposal.” The Author pointed out the story of Jesus’ first miracle. At the wedding banquet, he requested earthen vessels, and miraculously changed the contents inside from water to wine. After thousands of years with God, and thirty years here on earth, why did he chose this as his first miracle? To be honest, I never asked this question or even entertained the thought. Until this morning.

“Transformation. Jesus’ first miracle foreshadows all that will follow. It’s about radical changes to the contents of earthen vessels. Water to wine. Saul to Paul. You to Jesus.” Christ chose to show the power he has to transform one thing into something extraordinary. And he continues to show that power today. Amen.