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August 30th, 2016

8/30/2016

I love digging into a good mystery, trying to put the clues together and seeing if I can figure out who the villain is before he is revealed in the end. I think I got my love of a good whodunit from two places. First, my dad was an LAPD homicide detective. I loved that he was out going after the bad guys and bringing justice for the victims. Second, Scooby Doo, Where Are You? began airing in 1969 when I was 7. I loved watching their crazy antics, trying to solve 'supernatural' mysteries. Zombies, ghosts and monsters that really ended up being some dumb schmuck trying to pull the wool over their eyes. From Mr. Wickles to Captain Cutler to Stuart Wetherby I enjoyed each and every one. So began my love of a good mystery.
Traditionally a mystery is something that is hidden, with the motive being to keep knowledge from being gained. Sherlock Holmes was a great one to sniff out deceit and no matter how deep the deception, no matter how convoluted the clues he always got his man.
But there is another mystery that does not require a super sleuth to solve. This mystery, as the Vine's Expository Dictionary states is not that which "In the ordinary sense is a 'mystery' which implies knowledge withheld; it's scriptural significance is truth revealed". This mystery is ours as Christians for the taking. It is ours to know if we but ask. As it says in Matthew 7:7, "Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you".
This is a mystery that is just waiting to be revealed. This mystery is about an Omnipotent God, a loving Son and the ever-present Spirit. It is about a Father who asked His Son to make the ultimate sacrifice, to lay down His life for our sins, and to make the way for the Spirit to come reside in us and lead us and comfort us until the day we enter into heaven.
There is a time and place appointed for that mystery of salvation to be revealed to us. God is sovereign and His timing is not our timing. His ways are not our ways. I know I pray for people and then wonder why answers don't come to pass right then. I pray for the salvation of loved ones and then question why it hasn't happened yet. But then I have to go back to that mystery of God; as Vine's states about that mystery, "it denotes, not the mysterious (as with the English word), but that which, being outside the range of unassisted natural apprehension, can be made known only by Divine revelation, and is made known in a manner and at a time appointed by God, dto those only who are illumined by His Spirit." His ways, His timing.
I cannot explain why it took until I was in my twenties to come to that knowledge of Jesus and His sacrifice. I cannot even tell you what specifically it was that led me to finally say yes to that gentle nudging of the Holy Spirit, but I do know that His word says all things work together for my good. That no matter what I went through before salvation, God can and will use it. And He has. He has used those life experiences to allow me to empathize with others. I understand the child of an alcoholic. I can relate to someone who has gone through an abortion. I can fully comprehend what it feels like to have no love for oneself, to give yourself away in the hopes that you will feel even a little bit loved. I can sympathize with someone who never felt good enough, but I can also tell you what it feels like to finally know the love of the Father. To be able to bask in the revelation that I am loved, not because of who I am or what I have done, but because of Whose I am.
One of the attributes of a good mystery is to see all the clues, but to still question, have I put it all together? That is the amazing thing about God, we will never know every answer. And that in itself will keep us seeking after Him. I still am astonished by His love for me. How can this Divine Creator adore me? But His word says that He does. How can He care what happens to me day to day? How can He forgive me for all my sins, once and for all? How can He love me enough to give me gifts and talents that He wants me to use to bless others? How can His Spirit lead and guide and teach me? All these questions and more.
The thing about solving a mystery is that you have to dig for the clues. God and His ways are no different. He wants us to, as I stated in Matthew 7:7 above to ask and seek and knock. That implies a continual action. By the day, the hour, the minute. We are to keep searching for clues. Where, you might ask? In His word. Read about who He is. Read about what He has done. Read about His promises concerning us. Pray and ask Him for answers. Go outside and see His glorious creation and get another glimpse of who He is. As it says in Romans 1:20, "For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities--his eternal power and divine nature--have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse." (NIV)
Many of the mysteries of God can be known. But that knowledge does not always come easily. It takes a detective to find the clues and put them together. A good detective has many skills; being methodical, patient, organized and logical. Persistence even when lacking understanding. Being curious and asking questions. Learning to embrace routine. Cultivating informants and sources of information. We can become spiritual detectives. Spiritual sleuths. We need to first and foremost know that our primary resource is the Word, the bible. We must become methodical and organized in reading His word and searching out the clues as to who He is. We need to have persistence when we do not understand what we are reading. A good dictionary, the Strong's concordance, more than one version of the bible. Learn to embrace routine and make it a habit to read the Word and study it. More than anything though, a detective loves the chase. He loves the hunt for clues, he lives for the apprehension of the facts and above all being able to ferret out the truth.
Here is some of what I have learned in seeking the truth as to the mystery of God...
God is love
God is merciful
God is faithful
God is powerful
God is glorious
God is boundless
God is holy
God is generous
God is trustworthy
God is.
Now it's your turn to be a detective. It's your turn to find the facts, to search out the clues and solve that mystery. Case closed.

All scripture King James Version unless otherwise noted

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Truth Be Told

8/23/2016

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"You shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free"; I have heard that verse quoted too many times to count, by both Christians and those who are not. Sounds simple; know the truth, be free. Well, it is simple, but not easy. If you read that verse in context Jesus is speaking to those Jews who have decided to follow after Him. What He says begins in John 8:31-32 and reads like this, "So He said to the Jews who had believed Him, if ye continue in my word, then ye are my disciples. Then ye shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free."
These days truth is very subjective and relative to what someone's personal preference, feelings or opinions are. When Jesus was talking He was talking about the Truth. There was no quabbling about what He meant. He was speaking about the Truth as set forth in the Bible and according to God's will. He was speaking about an eternal Truth that no man's opinion or theory could discount.
Jesus was speaking to those who had decided to lay all aside and to follow Him. He said that they would be His disciples if they continued in His word. That word 'disciples' in the Greek means one who is a learner or pupil. Or one who wants to learn, increase their knowledge, be informed and learn by use and practice. So to be a disciple would be a lifelong aspiration. It was not just going through the preschool of Christianity and discipleship; it was entering into a lifelong journey of matriculation in the school of seeking God with your whole heart.
Jesus told them that they would be His disciples if they continue in His word...that word was 'logos' and in the Strong's concordance it gives a special meaning to that word used in John. It didn't just mean the sayings of God or His moral precepts. Here is the definition that they give..."In John, denotes the essential Word of God - Jesus Christ, the personal wisdom and power in union with God, his minister in creation and government of the universe, the cause of all the world's life both physical and ethical, which for the procurement of man's salvation put on human nature in the person of Jesus the Messiah, the second person in the Godhead, and shone forth conspicuously from His words and deeds." So what Jesus was saying was to continue in His word, not just spoken words, but living words, Jesus the living word. These are not just words to be read and forgotten, but these words are that spoke all creation into existence. These are not just words spoken quickly, without weight or merit. These words are alive and living. He is the Word. We are to continue in Him. It is so easy these days with all that is going on, the busyness of life, all the things that distract us to lay Jesus aside. We don't do it intentionally, but it happens nonetheless. He is saying here that we have to continue to seek Him, daily, hourly, by the minute. That is a sign of being His disciple. He says if we do that, if we continue in Him, we are then His disciples and then we will know the truth.
That 'truth' in the Greek is not just the truth as taught in Christianity to do with God and the completion of His purposes through Christ and respecting our duties as His followers, it also has to do with a love for that truth. We can speak the truth and not love it. We can speak it out of duty, we can speak it by rote memorization, we can speak it because we think it is what should be said, but if we have no love of it, it does not truly become alive in us. His truth is not some sterile thing. It is vibrant and vigorous. Dynamically at work in us. It changes us from the inside out. If we seek the truth and love it, if we become steeped in it, it does the incomprehensible in us...it makes us more like Him. It softens the rough edges, it brings wisdom. It brings about a metamorphosis that is impossible to fabricate on our own. We begin to know the truth about who He is and about who we are in Him. We come to not just recognize the truth, but to know it. We experience it. We live it. And by knowing that truth, by continuing in His word we become true disciples, not just fair weather friends of the Saviour.
...And the truth will set us free. What a beautiful concept. The thing is, it is not just a concept, or abstract idea. It is real and alive and available to us. As we come to know the truth, about Him and about all He did for us, provide for us, we get freedom. Today we think of freedom mostly as an idea of being able to do what we want when we want it. That is not what Jesus is talking about here. He is talking about being truly free, or as it says in the Greek, to set at liberty from the dominion of sin. And He knows about that. He voluntarily gave His life on the cross so that sin would no longer have power over us. Again, we get the concept, but to many of us it is still an abstract thing. No, in the Bible it says that when He died He went into hell and took the keys of death and hell (Rev. 1:18). He suffered all that was set before us so that we would never have to. He did all that so that we could receive salvation when we accept Him as our Lord and Saviour. We not only don't have to worry about going to hell, we don't have to worry about sin having any power over us at all. As we know that truth, the truth that we are children of God, the truth that we have the Holy Spirit to lead us and guide us, the truth that as it says in Luke 10:19, "Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you.",' as we know that truth we begin to walk in victory. We begin to live a triumphant life, overcoming all that is thrown at us, by the power of the Word that lives in us. Remember it is not us, it is the Word in us. The next verse in Luke, verse 20 says, "Nevertheless, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven". We rejoice because the Truth lives in us, we rejoice because one day we will see Him face to face. We rejoice because we are truly free.
So, instead of living defeated lives, instead of being beaten up by circumstances, instead of falling prey to every temptation that comes against us or being overcome by every trial that comes our way we are to be victorious through Him. We ARE victorious, triumphant, blessed, favored, joyful, thriving overcomers!
Now that's the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.

All Greek definitions come from Strong's concordance, all scripture is King James.

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Vision Check

8/16/2016

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They say that writers write for themselves; what they know, what they have experienced. I believe that is true. This today is very true for me and is something I still struggle with every day. Do I know and trust God? Yes. Do I believe as I have stated on this blog before that His plans for me are good? Yes. Do I still have growing to do and maturing that needs to take place? Yes and yes.
I have wrestled with self-esteem issues since I was a child. I have often worried that I am not good enough. I haven't dealt with body image to the point of being dysmorphic which is an obsession with the body and it's flaws, but I do feel that every flaw that I perceive is much worse than it really is. Whether that is my weight which I have struggled with my whole life, or getting older and more wrinkles showing up, to just feeling like I don't measure up. Measure up to whose standards? Well, therein lies the problem. My false expectations are too high for me to ever live up to.
With apologies to my husband, I know I have hurt his feelings more times than I can count. He is always loving and saying how nice I look. And more than once I have literally rolled my eyes and told him he needs to get his eyes tested. And lately as I have been on the mat with weight gain again, it has gotten worse. I hear old voices in my head. One from my early childhood, where ironically I was skinny as a stick, "Gail the whale who lives in a pail". That is what I hear in my head as I look in the mirror. I hear the girls in the junior high and high school gym as they laughed at me and pointed fingers. I feel that pain again and forget who I am in the Lord.
Because I am literally putting myself on the world's scales and of course I fall short in the balance. I need to get my vision checked. I need to remember that no matter what the issue, God sees my differently. Whether it is my weight, He sees me as fearfully and wonderfully made. He fashioned me, He formed me. He knew that I would have these issues and loves me no matter how I see myself. If it is the talents that He has given me, He gave those gifts. He placed in me the wonder of reading and the need for knowledge and learning. He set in me the ability to write even when I doubt it and even when "I am only writing on the internet".
I too often look at myself through coke-bottle glasses and magnify every blemish, every weakness and failing. Rather than seeing that maybe God has a vision for me, in the midst of all of this. Maybe my issues with weight are so that I can understand other women who deal with this also. Maybe my doubt about my gifts and talents are so that I can encourage others to look for what God has placed in them and to nurture those abilities. Maybe the shame and reproach I have that I felt is so that I can help others who deal with that also.
It may be a cliche but it is true...every thing we go through can either be a stepping stone or a gravestone. We can either walk through this life and learn from the pain and hurt and the trials or we can take it lying down and be buried by it all.
Maybe that is what it means by 'working out your salvation with fear and trembling' as it says in Phillipians 2:12. If you read the verse before, it says every tongue shall confess that Jesus is Lord. I have done that, but I still wrestle with things daily. I have to constantly remind myself who I am in Him and what He has placed me here on this earth for. That is a full time job! But if I keep reading into verse 13 it says, For it is God who works in you to will and to act on behalf of His good pleasure.…'
He has not only saved me, but continues to work in me to desire and accomplish His plan for me. He has given me the Holy Spirit to teach me, to guide me, to comfort me. He has promised to never leave me to my own resources again. I become more than me. Believe me, I know who I was before. I know who 'just Gail' is. I was a woman raised by alcoholics, who was molested, who was and often is overweight. Who used too many drugs, drank too much, gave herself away to too many men looking for love. Until she met the One who could love her completely. The One who would open His arms wide and accept her for who she was, but love her enough to not leave her in that place. The One who would take what had been harmed, and broken and thrown away and turn it into something beautiful. I write this with tears in my eyes and gratitude in my heart.
I remember as a young teen growing up in Lake Havasu, walking from my house to the lake picking up aluminum cans. Looking for the smashed and tossed away cans of what used to be a refreshing beverage, all used up and thrown away. Finding those cans in the weeds, now mere rubbish and waste. Putting them in a bag and taking them to the redemption center where that trash was turned into cash. Junk and refuse into treasure.
That is what God did for me. I was living a life on the garbage heap. Used up, thrown away, looked over and forgotten. But in His love for me, in His vision for my life He picked me up and redeemed me. Through the precious blood of His Son, Jesus.
On the days that I forget who I am, the days that my vision is clouded and needs to be checked, I have to remember 'whose' I am. That His vision is clear not only as to who He made me to be, and also in what He made to be, what He made me to accomplish in the life. That I am not 'just Gail', but Gail 2.0. I am still who I was, but so much more. I am not only what I see, but what He sees. I am just me, redeemed.

If you want to read a wonderful book of fiction, that tells the truth of our journey in life from pain and hurt to healing and redemption, pick up "The Long Journey to Jake Palmer" by James L. Rubart. You won't be able to put it down!

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Oh, Happy Day!

8/9/2016

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You know, some days I am just not happy. Some days I am downright miserable. Sad, blue, glum, forlorn. All of those things, but certainly not happy. And because I have a melancholy personality and am highly introspective those days can seem completely dismal.
But...oh how I love that but. But my joy is not dictated by my 'happiness'.
I think as people we have mistaken the Declaration of Independence's statement of 'life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness' for gospel. We seem to think that we have the right to everything that will make us happy and satisfied. Sorry to burst your giddy little bubble, but nowhere in the bible does it say that.
I looked up the word happy in the Hebrew and in the Greek, it appears about 25 times and that word happy has to do with our relationship to Jesus and our obedience to Him. A few examples; Psalm 144:15b, "yea, happy is that people, whose God is the Lord", Proverbs 3:13, "Happy is the man that findeth wisdom, and the man that getteth understanding", and 1 Peter 3:14, "But and if ye suffer for righteousness' sake, happy are ye: and be not afraid of their terror, neither be troubled". I found no scriptures that said happy is the man who has steak every night for dinner. Or happy is she who has 20 pairs of Christian Louboutin shoes. Or happy are they who vacation three weeks every year. We mistake temporary enjoyment for biblical blessedness. There is nothing wrong with any of those things, but when those are a requirement for our living contented lives then there may be an issue. Our contentment should come from the Lord. Our joy should be predicted by our relationship with Him.
Joy is totally different than happiness. Happiness is fleeting. Just ask any child who gets that wished for gift on Christmas that breaks before the New Year. Many verses in the bible talk about everlasting joy. Everlasting, sounds just like what it is, without end. And other verses speak of our joy being full. Not half a cup of joy, not a tad below 3/4's, but full! Sounds to me pretty definitive. No wiggle room on that one. Totally full and always everlasting. I will take that over momentary pleasure any day.
But how do we learn to walk in that joy? Especially on those days where there is struggle, pain and grief? First of all I think it comes in trusting the Lord and knowing that bad times happen, but they also pass. It comes in knowing that the Lord loves us and His plans are for our good. And it comes in the depth of intimacy of our relationship with Jesus. The closer we are to Him, the greater joy we have. I just love that hymn, Turn your eyes upon Jesus.
O soul, are you weary and troubled?
No light in the darkness you see?
There’s light for a look at the Savior,
And life more abundant and free!
Turn your eyes upon Jesus,
Look full in His wonderful face,
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim,
In the light of His glory and grace.
Well over 150 times the word joy appears in scripture. 1 Peter 1:8, "yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory". Psalm 30:5b, "Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning". And a great promise to us as His children is that His Spirit dwells in us and the fruit of that Spirit includes joy.
We so often associate being happy with receiving something. Getting a gift, earning a raise, spending time with loved ones. All wonderful things, but often that feeling passes. The event passes and then so does the feeling. But joy is ineffable, indescribable. It surpasses what we can often express with our limited vocabulary. How do you describe that moment when a child is born? What words can be used adequately to tell of a storm blowing through and then the sun shining through the clouds? What phrase can speak of the love you have for your spouse? And how can you possibly sum up the gratitude you have for the love of a Saviour who brought you from death into glorious life, from darkness into radiant light? Even writing this, my words fail to express what is in my heart for Him. What bliss, what rapture, what joy. Nothing and no one can take that away from me.
Next time you are having a day where happiness seems outside of your grasp, remember that happiness in not what gets you through the day. And I speak to myself here...we all struggle. But if I keep in mind that joy is the thing that keeps me going, that "the joy of the Lord is my strength" then I can not only get through the day, I can be victorious over those feelings. I can triumph over despair, over grief, over anger and frustration, through Him. He is my joy. He is my peace. He is my everything.
I loved the Sister Act movies. And especially the singing in them. My favorite was the song Oh Happy Day. What a reminder of what should make us truly happy...the fact that Jesus washed away our sins...that is cause for rejoicing. That alone is enough to give me joy.

Here is a link to that clip from Sister Act. https://youtu.be/6zT8AyfsFmA
As I just listened to it, it's funny, the singer is doubtful and apprehensive about singing it. But as he sings, and hears what he is singing he gains assurance. That is how we are...think on that happy day and be assured that joy is yours!

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Pablum, Placebos and Platitudes

8/2/2016

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Being a Christian is not always easy. I remember the first impression I had after giving my life to the Lord was that everything was going to be a breeze now. Hearing sermons on the great life we have in Jesus, and yes we do. But we still go through pain and hardship, grief and betrayal. Feeling that if I had a rough day I had better repent because I sure couldn't be trusting in Jesus. Making a mistake and making sure on Sunday I ran down to the alter to bewail my sins and show penitence and 'give my heart' to the Lord, again.
So, what in the world is that title about anyway? Well, pablum is another name for a mushy cereal for babies, bland and easy to go down. How often are we fed pablum as a Christian? Taught the basics but never taught the deep things of God. We are taught to just trust Jesus. But why? Well, because the bible says He is faithful, that He is true, that He is not a man that He should lie. We are so often given scraps and then wonder why we are not growing in the faith. Even Paul berated the followers in Corinth, saying in 1 Corinthians 3:2, "I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for solid food. In fact, you are still not ready." Just as physically we grow and mature, we are to do the same in our Christian lives. We couldn't function as adults if we still crawled on the ground, played with toy cars or colored all day and threw tantrums if we couldn't have mac and cheese for every meal...although that might not be so bad once in awhile! No, we are to grow in the truth, we are to study to show ourselves approved and we are to then share that fabulous mystery of God with others. We need to quit settling for the instant oatmeal of faith and dig into the filet mignon. Taste for yourself and see that the Lord is good!
Placebo, we know what that is, right? Usually a sugar pill given in place of a real medication. Often used in medical trials, to see if the authentic drug really works. I was amazed when I went to dictionary.com and looked up the origin of that word. It comes from a Latin phrase used in the Vulgate, a fourth century translation of the bible. The phrase is "placebo Domino in regione vivorum", "I will please the Lord in the land of the living", or meaning I shall please. In the case of medicine it was often a remedy used to please the patient, not always to benefit them.
How often do we use a placebo instead of the real thing? How often, instead of getting into the bible to seek out the hard truths of the Lord do we read a Christian bestseller? How often instead of spending quiet time praising and worshipping the Lord do we turn on the radio and just hum along? How often instead of taking time to fellowship with other believers do we turn on the tv and watch someone else do it? Now there is nothing wrong with any of those things, but they all have their place. Take a look at that word placebo again, it means I shall please. Are we pleasing ourselves with our minimal effort and modicum of work or are we doing the sometimes hard thing and truly seeking to please the Lord. Really digging into a relationship with Jesus. I am sometimes guilty of this myself. I get tired, I get busy, I get bored. But, just like that little sugar pill, those things won't complete a good work in me. They won't bring me the true healing that I need. They may give me good information, make me feel good for a time, but an intimate relationship with Jesus gives me that and so much more.
And that brings us to platitudes. Platitudes are trite remarks spoken as if they were deeply profound and full of meaning. And the Christian community has them in spades. "Let go and let God". "Everything happens for a reason". Or the worst one ever, when someone dies, usually a child, "Well heaven just needed another angel". Easy answers for difficult situations. You know something, nowhere in the bible does it say that we have to have all the answers. Nowhere does it say we should have a pat answer ready for every occasion. Often the best remedy is to just be quiet. To pray and ask the Lord what would really minister to that person. To just be a friend. Often the greatest healing comes in the silence. To let that person know that someone else cares, that you can be a sounding board, or just to give a hug. See that is the hard part. Not a quick easy answer, but to be available. To take that time to be a true friend. That is not easy. We are busy. We have lives to live, things to do and people to see. But wait, aren't others supposed to see Jesus in us? Aren't others supposed to feel His love through us? We are His ministers here on earth. We are His servants. We are His ambassadors. We have His Spirit alive in us, let's live as if that were really true.
I am so tired of pablum, placebos and platitudes. I want the real and the authentic. I don't want the easy or the mediocre. I don't want to just rest on my laurels per se and ease through this life, just floating along. I want to be that shining light on a hill. I want the meat of this thing we call the Christian life. I want to please my Lord and Saviour. I want to speak His truths to others and to be the bearer of His light and life. And with effort on my part and the promise that the Lord is always with me, always helping me I can.

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August 30th, 2016

Truth Be Told

Vision Check

Oh, Happy Day!

Pablum, Placebos and Platitudes

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