Misplaced Compassion

    

      “Misplaced compassion,” the Lord answered me recently. 

   “Hmmm?” I said. 

   “You asked me how so many loving, compassionate people with good hearts could get things so wrong. That’s the answer.” 

   “Would you explain more, Lord? I’m still confused.”

   Here is a summary of His response, as best I can express it. Humanistic compassion that originates with man, rather than with the Lord—-His heart, His guidance, His direction, His perspective, His wisdom—-leads people off into deception. It can seem so right yet be so wrong. There is also pride in this compassion which is tied only to human understanding and logic.

   He brought to mind an example:  a person can be horrified at the mistreatment of one of His creatures (as He is), yet support the torturous death of His children in their mothers’ wombs. Or they are righteously indignant about the treatment of someone who has committed a crime, yet remain less concerned about the criminal’s past or future victims.

   This is ‘human’ compassion without reference to His wisdom and will. In this way, we have put ourselves on His Throne, seeing ourselves as righteous residents there. We judge others who believe differently and even judge those whom He has sent to help us, without knowing the truth about them.

  Yet our hearts are responding to the situations and feelings of others, as does God’s own heart. How, then, can it lead to so much anger and virulent, vitriolic rage against others? So much deception, so many wrong attitudes, thoughts, words and actions. So much hatred, wicked speech, and even demonic doctrines.?

   Human logic (which I have heard expressed) says, for example, “This baby growing in her mother’s womb may have a very hard life or may cause the mother hardship, so let’s encourage her to kill her baby before she is born. This will protect this child (whom God created)  and her mother (whom God also loves) from a potentially difficult future.*

   Compassion, twisted. 

   It also negates any faith in the Lord to redeem and restore, to make ‘beauty from ashes, give the oil of joy for mourning, or the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness.’* No looking to Him for His plans, His will, His destiny for both mother and child. No ‘graves into gardens,’ no ‘bones into armies,’ no death into resurrection. No provision where there seems none, no hope to replace despair, no mercy from those around them responding to His call. 

   “My mercy doesn’t always look like man’s,” He said. “My mercy is bigger and wider and higher than man’s mite or understanding of it.”

   “The mercy of My children who are daily connected to Me, however…….those who are studying My word, spending time with Me and humbly listening to my Holy Spirit, never assuming they are always right, will more often truly reflect My heart and truth. None on earth will see things perfectly. Yet they are more likely to avoid twisted compassion. Those who say they believe in Me, yet remain disconnected from My church, My Word, and My Holy Spirit, are easy prey for the Liar who “prowls about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.”** As I have said before,*** Satan is a liar and the father of lies. He hasn’t changed his spots. He loves to “masquerade as an angel of light”****. Hence, what seems right and beautiful can actually be grotesquely ugly and lead to death.”

   If we find ourselves hating, judging, speaking fouly, and refusing to interact with others who believe differently than we about circumstances in the world today, it’s time to examine ourselves and ask the Lord, according to Psalm 139, “Search me, O God….and see if there be any wicked way in me…”  He may even show us that we need to step down from our thrones of self-righteousness.

   Let’s be continually praying for freedom from deception for all of God’s people, as well as the whole world, including ourselves. One Scripture I like to pray daily is from John 17: 17: “Your Word is Truth. Make [us] holy by Your Truth.” Lord, fill us with Your compassion, Your mercy, and Your Truth. Grant us discernment and spiritual eyes to expose twisted truths, in ourselves and in the culture around us. So be it.

++++++++++++++++

*Read Jonathan Swift’s A Modest Proposal, in which human-based compassion and logic lead to a horrific but right-sounding solution.

** 1 Peter 5:8

*** John 8:44

**** 2 Corinthians 7:14

Are you wearing your combat boots?

    

   One day when I was “putting on the whole armor of God” (as instructed in Ephesians 6:10-18), God stopped me at my 👞 shoes. (“your feet shod with the gospel of peace”). “You know, He said, “these aren’t lightweight footgear for the world’s idea of peace. This is not ‘Tiny Tim dancing through the tulips.’ [You have to be old enough to get this reference] These are combat boots you put on to fight for others to receive My Shalom.. I responded as I often do:  Huh?

   He proceeded to further confuse me: “You are a minister of reconciliation.” Wait, combat boots and reconciliation? Oh, is that like warring for peace? Hmmm. 

   2 Corinthians 5:18* declares that we as believers are ministers of reconciliation.. What does that mean? I know that Jesus was and is the Great Reconciler, reuniting us with Yahweh through His sacrificial death in our place. Holy Spirit is continually drawing all of Creation back to the Father. Separation from the Holy One Who made us brings eternal death…All life is in God. Without Him we are but dust. Yeshua laid Himself down as a Bridge across the gap so we could return to The Great and Holy I Am, of which He Himself is a part, (‘begotten not created’). I get that, but I still needed help with our role…..with the combat boots we are supposed to put on. Thankfully, He is always patient to explain:

   When we put our whole trust in the grace and love of our Lord and Savior, the Father seeds and anoints us to become more and more like Himself. Like the Holy Trinity, we are Reconcilers. We are assigned this occupation for the rest of our lives. We become more like Him, ministers of reconciliation.

   “What does this really mean?” I asked Him. “And why, again, is it that I am donning much too big combat boots instead of loafers or ballet slippers?”  

   Here’s the gist of what He expressed to me:  Encouraging, fostering, and nurturing reconciliation between humans and, more importantly, between people and Himself, is not an easy assignment. It is not for the faint of heart, so to speak. It requires courage and tough warfare in the spirit realm, as well as in the natural. Fear of man will try to outweigh our desire to fulfill our calling. For someone to experience God’s full Shalom of body, soul, and spirit, a battle usually must take place. It isn’t all sweetness and light, an absence of conflict, or “let’s all agree to make up and play fair.”

   Unforgiveness, deep-seated resentments, bitterness, trauma, abuse or neglect as children, the lies of the enemy, our own sins and selfishness, a sense of unworthiness, and all sorts of injustice, real or perceived, including anger at God Himself, can serve to block true reconciliation between people and between ourselves and our Heavenly Father. 

   We are also prone to try to take God’s place on the throne and judge others as deserving or undeserving of forgiveness. Mature Christians know this is totally irrelevant to the forgiveness to which God both calls and commands us. Are we worthy of God’s forgiveness? Yet we still find ourselves hopping up onto His cosmic judgment seat.

   “Be reconciled to one another.” Ok, we get it. We can visualize our roles as both forgivers and mediators for others. But what about serving as ministers of reconciliation between someone and God? Jesus already accomplished it, right? He suffered so much physically that he was unrecognizable as a man.****. Not to mention spiritually bearing the sins of every single human being past, present, and future on His own shoulders, in order to reconcile us to Yahweh and grant us His true Shalom of body, soul and spirit.

   The problem is: 

1) Many people have never even heard the the gospel, the Good News of His Shalom

2) Many people don’t believe it when they do..

3) Many people believed it at one point in their lives and then began believing lies.

4) Many people believe Jesus suffered and died for them to live in Heaven one day, but they are angry at God because of circumstances on earth they think He didn’t care enough to prevent. (If they were to really think this through and weren’t being deceived by the enemy of their souls, they would realize how ridiculous and illogical this is. So God would suffer excruciatingly in body and soul, take the weight of the world on His own shoulders out of His unfathomable love for us, but He can’t be bothered to help us out here on earth? Or He will help our neighbor but we’re chopped liver? Hmmmm.)

   Some people even believe God gave them an illness so He could make a good out of it. (See my post linked below, “Everything…) Because God makes good out of evil doesn’t mean He creates evil situations. He is absolutely and totally Good. There is no mixture of good and evil in Him, as some religions and philosophies teach. No ying yang  balancing to = good. (See my post on “Avoiding Modern Idolatry” linked below.)

   If we are going to fight for reconciliation, we must be prepared to do battle in the spiritual realm (through  praying, listening to Holy Spirit, decreeing, praising, etc., especially with other believers. We must be prepared to face rejection and ridicule and persecution. Not every minister of reconciliation will be received with joy and gladness***. Despite our best intentions, we may find ourselves the brunt of anger, judgment, criticism, and other forms of rejection. However, God calls all believers to this ministry, not just pastors, apostles, prophets, and teachers. 

   I am one of those ‘avoid conflict whenever possible’ people. I hate confrontation. I would rather be comfortable in my own little world. However, watching someone else drown because I don’t feel like swimming is not an acceptable excuse for a bond servant of the High. King. Part of my donning of combat boots 🥾 is simply to get myself to move and obey in response to His direction. To listen and be willing to be deployed to battle. To enter the huddle (see previous post) and be ready to follow the Coach’s brilliant Plan. He wants none lost, none alone, none unhealed, none unloved, none deceived, none wandering off in left field….none unreconciled to others and, most of all, none separated from Him.

   Colossians 1:27 declares we are “carriers of the King of Glory.” Let’s don those combat boots and get about His business, work the Plan, love the unloveable, draw people back together and back to Him.

++++++++

17 Therefore, if anyone is united with the Messiah, he is a new creation — the old has passed; look, what has come is fresh and new! 18 And it is all from God, who through the Messiah has reconciled us to himself and has given us the work of that reconciliation, 19 which is that God in the Messiah was reconciling mankind to himself, not counting their sins against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation —2:Corinthians 5:17-19

*** Caveat: If we don’t follow the leading of the Holy Spirit, this may be our own error rather than our being persecuted for righteousness sake.

**** Just as there were many who were appalled at him his appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any human being  and his form marred beyond human likeness—Isaiah 52:14 

I have an unction from the Holy one, and I know all things, — 1 John 2:20. 

I have the mind of Christ, —1 Corinthians 2:16,

I am anointed by God, —1 John 2:27, 

I was created by Him for good works, —Ephesians 2:10 

• Everything happens for a reason, but not always a good one” December 7, 2024:  https://tennyandi.blogspot.com/2025/07/the-huddle.html 
• The Huddle, July 7, 2025 https://tennyandi.blogspot.com/2025/07/the-huddle.html
• “Avoiding Modern Idolatry, January 8, 2025: https://tennyandi.blogspot.com/2025/01/avoiding-idolatry-in-current-times.html

The Huddle

   

   In the last decade, I have been reading, studying, and listening to teachings about the Lord’s desire to partner with His people to see His plans manifested on the earth. Recently, He gave me an image of a football huddle. His arms were intertwined with the shoulders of His team. Heads were lowered and ears attuned to the Coach. The players were envisioning the play as He spoke. 

   We often think of God as the One Who answers our prayers and ourselves as relatively passive petitioners who then wait for His answer. He is indeed the Source of all power, knowledge, wisdom, efficacy, and fruitfulness. However, He did not create us to be passive servants, but rather born-again, informed, active, and authoritative co-workers and friends. Jesus said, “I do not call you servants any longer, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you [My] friends, because I have revealed to you everything that I have heard from My Father. [John 15:15] 

   When we put our whole trust in His grace and love, turning our lives over to Him, Holy Spirit ‘seeds’ us, endowing us with His very own spiritual DNA. We join His team to help see “His will done on earth as it is in Heaven.” 

   “For you have been born again [that is, reborn from above—spiritually transformed, renewed, and set apart for His purpose] not of seed which is perishable but [from that which is] imperishable and immortal, that is, through the living and everlasting word of God” [1 Peter 1:23 AMP]

   “So,” He says in the huddle, “here’s the Plan…. John, you will sprint down field, while Larry fakes a pass but then runs down center field, instead of passing the football 🏈. Mary, you will….” Sometimes the Coach’s plays don’t make sense to His players. They don’t understand how His plans will work. If they trust the Coach and follow His directions, however, they will eventually see surprising touchdowns. Success is not accomplished by the quarterback or any star player, but by the whole team’s [Ekklesia’s] movements, orchestrated by the Coach.

   God has given us authority* to change things on the earth and in the heavens under His direction. To speak life into death-bound situations, hope where there is despair, light where there is darkness, turn-arounds to wrong directions, transformation of lives, freedom from deception, truth to those steeped in lies, and all-around failure to the plans of our opponent, the enemy of our souls. Scripture says* angels hearken to the Word of God and work to help see it manifested on the earth. They, too, are part of the team. Yes, our actions, under the Coach’s direction, absolutely have power to effect change, but so do our words in accordance with His Word. Just as He created the cosmos with His Words, so we who contain His seeded DNA can bring life in place of death, when we agree with and say what He says. We declare and decree His Plan. “Yes, Coach, so be it! We’re with You. We trust You! We’re listening! We’re on it! 

   So be it.

*******

“For who has known the mind and purposes of the Lord, so as to instruct Him? But we have the mind of Christ [to be guided by His thoughts and purposes].” 1Cor 2:16 AMP

“Bless the LORD, ye his angels, that excel in strength, that do his commandments, hearkening unto the voice of his word”. —Psalm 103:20

“Nothing activates the Kingdom of God and the angel armies like the Word of God. Holy Spirit hovers until He hears the Word of God. God’s Word activates His power and Kingdom resources.”

Psalms 103:20 says that angels hearken to the voice of God’s Word. The entire universe is made to respond to the voice of God’s Word. The heavens and the earth are made to respond to the powerful voice of His Word. Amazingly, human beings made in His image and in His likeness are carriers of that Word when they are activated at the new birth. They are “lifed” by it when they are born again

—Tim Sheets, Planting the Heavens

“Jesus said, “I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven” (Matt. 16:19 NKJV). Using the original Greek word meanings, it says this, “Whatever you at any time encounter of hell’s council or authority that I am determined My church will prevail against, you will then face the decision whether you will or will not bind it. What transpires is conditional to your response. If you do purposely and consciously involve yourself in binding the issue on earth, you will find at that future moment when you do that it has been yes’d in Heaven.” If we say yes, it’s been yes’d in Heaven, and if we say no, it’s been no’d in Heaven. In other words, the authority He has delegated to us is backed up in Heaven. —Tim Sheets, Planting the Heavens

“We do not create from nothing like God did, but we take what God has done and steward it in such a way that we can decree a creative force into the heavens and the earth. —ibid

“If we are going to plant the heavens and lay God’s Word into our culture’s foundations, we must learn, practice, and activate authority language. The King’s seed that is sown into us, the King’s DNA that has been transmitted into our spirit at the new birth, needs to manifest inside of us. We need to become who and what we really are. We are under the Lordship of King Jesus, forgiven, re-imaged, and born again into His family. We truly are in the King’s lineage. We are heirs of God and we are joint heirs with Christ. We are a part of the Kingdom of Almighty God and are expected to reign with Him right now.” Ibid

You were born anew of incorruptible seed through the Word of God. The Greek word for “seed” is spora, and it’s filled with new identity, new purpose, and new destiny (Strong, G4701). It also reveals the love of God for a son or a daughter, and it explains His combined affection and care for His new “born-gain” ones. It’s a love that is real, pure, and constant. A love that caused the apostle John to exclaim in First John 3:1 (MSG), Tim Sheets, Planting the Heavens

“Never speak negative words or unbelief. They are contrary to the seed of God that is in you.” —Tim Sheets

“The Power of life and death is in the tongue.” —

Death and life are in the power of the tongue, And those who love it will eat its fruit. —Proverbs 18:21

“God’s Words are life to those who find them, and health to all their flesh.” —Proverbs 4:22

Keep Swimming

   

   Remember Dorie from “Finding Nemo”? Such a loveable fish. The older I get, the more I am identifying with her short term memory issues. God brought her to mind this morning as He spoke to me about being free from anxiety in my daily life. 

   My sisters and I are sometimes attacked by what psychologists call “free-floating anxiety.” We all know the definition of anxiety in general, but with this type, there is no reason to be anxious, no circumstance in particular causing concern. There is just this sense that there is something wrong, that we are not doing all we should be doing, that we aren’t keeping up with needs or necessities somewhere, somehow. It’s almost as if we are reaching out and searching for what we should be concerned about.

   This, of course, is the exact opposite of how our Father wants us to live. He knows us inside out…our struggles, our vulnerabilities, our hearts’ desires. He longs for us to live in the Shalom of the abundant life He suffered and died for us to have. Anxiety, worry, and fretfulness are not part of His plan for us.

   Lately, in my retired state, I have become aware of my underlying concern that I am spending my life the way He wants me to. Am I wasting the gift of time He has given me? Am I fulfilling the destiny and meeting the divine appointments He has planned for me? Am I leaving untapped some of the. gifts He placed in me before I was born?  Are there people whose lives He wants me to touch that I am too lazy or too uncomfortable to pursue? Will He speak over me when I come Home to Him, “Well done, good and faithful servant”? Sometimes I feel like Dorie that I need to “just keep swimming,” but maybe even harder.

   He knows my heart and those of all His children. He is merciful and forgiving and full of lovingkindness. This I know. That is the very reason I want to please Him by the way I live my life. This morning, because He always reads my heart, He told me (as best I can record: “I love you. Don’t fret. I will show you (and remind you ha ha^) what to do. Flow in the river of My grace. You don’t need to do laps. Settle into My grace and float on your back. I will keep you buoyant. Your head will not go under water. It is panic and anxiety that can lead to drowning.”

   Have you ever felt that you were “not enough”? Are you, too, sometimes attacked by “free-floating” anxiety or awash in the sense that you aren’t doing enough, that you must keep swimming harder to please others…or, more, importantly, your Heavenly Father? 

   Turn over on your back and float in His grace. Keep your ear attuned to Him. He won’t allow your head to go under water. You will find the true Shalom of His abundant life. There, floating peacefully on your back, look up.

*********

• Here is one of my drawings for God from my journal from 2020. No fair making fun of my ‘art.’  

• For out of His fullness [the superabundance of His grace and truth] we have all received grace upon grace [spiritual blessing upon spiritual blessing, favor upon favor, and gift heaped upon gift].  —John 1:16 AMP
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• Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb —Revelation 22:1

• Ezekiel 47 also describes the river flowing from under the throne of God

• “To “drink deeply” of the Spirit is the same as receiving his power and gifts until rivers of living water flow from the inside of us. See John 3:34; 7:37.” —Brian Simmons, TPT note from 1. Corinthians p-12-13
• 
  
• ^I have difficulty, sometimes, recording the chuckle or outright laughter I hear from Him. He is also a great punster. (To remind ‘Dorie’ is worth a guffaw.)
  

Overboard: Is it fear or wisdom?

   

  A friend recently shared her dream with me. (I am deliberately keeping any identities vague.) She and a loved one were on a cruise, but the ship was traveling not in a warm climate but in a colder one, with waves fomenting around them. Somehow (as one can in dreams) they were high on the ship above these waters, almost as if in a crow’s nest of a sailing ship.  Her loved one was wearing a backpack 🎒 chocked full, which she suddenly removed from her shoulders and hurled into the churning sea. In the dream, my friend was at first totally aghast, because the backpack’s contents had included a large number of provisions. However, she then began to wonder….

   As soon as she described the dream, I knew the hurling of the backpack was a good thing, despite the provisions it carried. I knew that backpacks often represent burdens weighing us down. But provisions? How do they fit in the picture?

   Obvious candidates for burdens include: unforgiveness, hurts, offenses, financial worries, concerns about our families, health issues, anxieties about the future, unshakable guilt, old mistakes and outright sins. We could all generate a list of more backpack items which need to be thrown overboard to free us from their weight. We know the Lord does not want us carrying these things wherever we go, especially since He suffered so to deliver us from them. 

   But back to my question: why “provisions”? Aren’t they good? Doesn’t God promise to provide for us? Doesn’t He declare Himself our Yahweh Yireh?* Yes, indeed! However, suddenly it hit me that we don’t carry His provision around on our backs. He is our ongoing  Provider. Are the provisions we’re lugging around on our own shoulders jammed in there out of fear that He won’t provide? Is the rock of anxiety in our packs, for example, our reason for trying to supply our own protection from loss? Ouch, Lord. Do we ‘hedge our bets’ just in case You don’t come through? Like Sarah+, do we try with our own human solutions to make Your Word come to pass? Help You along a bit since things might not take place as You said? 

  I know He wants us to be good stewards of what He has given us++, to ‘be wise as serpents and innocent as doves’, to plan ahead and not to be spendthrifts, to refrain from wasting what He is providing for us. He wants us to work hard ‘as unto Him’ in our jobs. Yet we are to do these things not out of fear but out of heeding His Scriptural truth for us, out of our thankfulness and duty to be responsible in using His gifts. 

   When we truly examine our hearts, what motivates us to carry around our own provision on our backs, whether comprised of our own solutions, our own ‘bootstraps,’ our own righteousness, our own wealth, the filling of our own barns+++? 

   Is it fear that God will disappoint us, that His Word (Logos or Rhema) is not reliable, that it might indeed ‘come back void,’? That He may love others that way but us, not so much? Do we in our heart of hearts trust more in the non-Biblical adage that ‘God helps those who help themselves’ than we do in Jesus’ promises regarding the lilies and the sparrows or the loaves and fishes? Yes, we offer our little fishes and some paltry loaves of bread, and He does not sneer at them.. He’s delighted with our offering. But we both know it is He that feeds us, body and soul.

   Let’s ask Him to show us if we have in our packs things of which we may be unaware, things which need to be not just tossed but hurled overboard. These may even be  as subtle as our backup provisions, cleverly disguised as proverbial wisdom. 

   Go ahead and hurl that thing, Feel the lightness on your shoulders and the wind in your hair!

******************

+Genesis 16

++Matthew 25

+++Luke 12

++++Matthew 6

*Genesis 22:4 And Abraham called the name of the place, The-Lord-Will-Provide; as it is said to this day, “In the Mount of the Lord it shall be provided.”

*Colossians 3: 23-24Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.

Rendered

 

   Recently, in response to one of my prayers, the Lord said the following: “I will continue to prompt you, never fear. I will also transmit, transport, and render. Tenderly render.

   “What do you mean?” I asked Him. (Not an infrequent question on my part). He responded by telling me to look it up. (LOL God never stops being a parent.) I knew the words render and rendering as related to making a model or depiction of a design, as well aa its meaning of ‘giving to.’ (“Render to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s”+). Beyond that, i had no idea how many other meanings there were for the word. Here is what I found for render (verb):

• To make; to cause to be or become
• To do, perform
• To furnish, provide……afford, contribute, supply, give
• To exhibit or show….including obedience, attention
• To present for consideration, approval, payment, action
• To return, to make a payment, as by a tenant to a superior
• To pay as due (tax, tribute)
• To deliver formally or officially; to hand down
• To translate into another language
• To represent, to depict, as in a painting

   Immediately, the thought occurred to me: “Lord, if You are ‘tenderly rendering’ so much to and for me (and to all those who put their trust in You), what am I tenderly rendering back to You?” Am I ‘showing obedience and attention’? Am I ‘representing’ You well?

   “Explain more about what You meant by tenderly rendering me and then how I can better render what will make. you happy in return? I look at the dictionary list and  realize the distinction between formally giving you Your ‘just due,’ out of obligation, versus tenderly desiring to respond in love to what You are creating out of my life. 

   I see Your Artist’s hands at work, molding the lumpy, awkward parts of my personality, my actions, my disappointments, and my failures. Massaging them in with the happier more joyful, fruit-bearing parts.. Tenderly sculpting, scraping off bits here and there which need to be removed, smoothing out the rough places. Lovingly turning my aging struggles and my lifetime of experiences into someone who can tenderly partner with You according to Your plans in rendering others. Others who will render unto You the love and fruitfulness You deserve and who desire to see more of Your form and beauty manifested in their lives. Are there relationships for me to form, mentoring to humbly provide, mothering to do, targeted, surgical prayers to offer, unconditional love and encouragement to lavish?

  I looked again at the definitions:

Meaning 1: “To make, to cause to be or become.” 

Meaning 2: “To do, to perform.” 

Meaning 3: To supply, furnish, provide.”

   You, Lord, are the Renderer. You do the work. You provide and cause and perform. Our part is to be willing, to be surrendered. All the while You continue the sometimes painful process in us, the beauty of others is being enhanced. If we’re operating in the fruit and gifts of Your Holy Spirit, no one else knows but You. Despite how we may  sometimes feel about our lack of usefulness (including some of us in our senior years), You are never at a loss. You say, “I can work with this!” You don’t set us aside, broken. Even when we make mistakes, are too lazy to obey You, or temporarily grieve You, Your creative juices still flowto create ‘beauty from ashes.’+ You rub Your hands together with glee and declare, “My child, there is so much more to come! Give yourself to me every day for continual rendering, that I may sculpt and paint your life, as more and more of Who I Am is manifested through you: My light, My Shalom, My creativity, My joy, My forgiveness,, My Agape love.. Until one day I take My  unique rendering of you Home with Me, where your fuller, more beautiful life will truly begin. And while you’re at it, let your continually rendered self encourage as many others as possible along the way, that they will one day rejoice with you There.

**********

For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. — Ephesians 2:10

+Matthew 22:21

+Isaiah 61:3

If you missed my two “No Greater” posts, you might want to go back and read those: February 14 (No greater love…) and February 19 (No greater creativity…”.)

 *To find earlier posts: If you’re on a phone, click ‘see Web version’ at the bottom of the post, or open my blog on a computer or tablet. All posts since 2015 are listed on the right at Tennyandi.blogspot.com)

An ‘oldie but a goodie’ from the very early days of contemporary worship:

https://youtu.be/MneanjtBRns?si=DlrrKrtKQXd2Ev1U

 

When it’s never TMI

  

       I am continuing to slowly work my way through “The Names of God” book* by Ann Spangler. I arrived today at Philos, “Friend” or “Relative.” It never fails to astound me that Yeshua calls those who believe, obey, and trust in Him, friends. He is after all Creator and King of the Cosmos. I know He loves us deeply, but friends? This condescension+ is almost too great for me to grasp, yet I rejoice in it. 

   This morning I began a list of what a relationship with a close friend is like. (Jesus is not just an ‘acquaintance’.) As I did, I compared each aspect to my current interactions with Him. Yes, He is my trusted Savior and Lord, but in what ways, if any, is He truly my closest friend? Here is what I came up with so far as characteristic of a close friendship:

• I share my foibles
• I share funny stories, mostly at my own expense
• I share my deepest hopes and fears (the kind I wouldn’t tell others)
• I share my disappointments, without explaining that I know I shouldn’t feel the way I do
• I don’t keep things back from sheer embarrassment or TMI
• I share my true self without fear of judgment, criticism or rejection
• I ask for prayer, for guidance, for discernment 
• I ask my friend about what she is going through and how I can pray for her. I listen to her hopes, fears, and funny stories. I reciprocate all of the above.
• It is not a one-sided relationship, with her doing all the listening, all the caring, all the carrying of my burdens.
• I want to know what is on her heart, not just have her listen to mine. (I have experienced ‘friendships’ like the latter.)

   As I ran the lyrics to the hymn, What a Friend We Have in Jesus through my mind, I began to ponder if the song accurately described a close friendship. Are there aspects missing in this wonderful hymn?

1. 
   
2. What a friend we have in Jesus,
   All our sins and griefs to bear!
   What a privilege to carry
   Everything to God in prayer!
   Oh, what peace we often forfeit,
   Oh, what needless pain we bear,
   All because we do not carry
   Everything to God in prayer!
3. Have we trials and temptations?
   Is there trouble anywhere?
   We should never be discouraged—
   Take it to the Lord in prayer.
   Can we find a friend so faithful,
   Who will all our sorrows share?
   Jesus knows our every weakness;
   Take it to the Lord in prayer.
4. Are we weak and heavy-laden,
   Cumbered with a load of care?
   Precious Savior, still our refuge—
   Take it to the Lord in prayer.
   Do thy friends despise, forsake thee?
   Take it to the Lord in prayer!
   In His arms He’ll take and shield thee,
   Thou wilt find a solace there.
5. Blessed Savior, Thou hast promised
   Thou wilt all our burdens bear;
   May we ever, Lord, be bringing
   All to Thee in earnest prayer.
   Soon in glory bright, unclouded,
   There will be no need for prayer—
   Rapture, praise, and endless worship
   Will be our sweet portion there.
6. —lyrics, Joseph Scriven; tune: Charles Converse
7.   Beautiful, right? True, right? But Is our friendship with Yeshua (in fact, with the whole of the Trinity) reciprocal? Do we ask Him what is on His heart, what He wants us to pray for, declare, and decree? Are we truly partnering with Him for His will to be done? Do we pray for those He loves, listening for His prompts? (Obeying His prompts even when we don’t want to) Do we do so in the same way in which we pray for those on the hearts of our close human friends? Do our hearts hurt and celebrate when His does? Do we mourn when He mourns and rejoice when He rejoices?** Reach out to help someone for whom He is concerned? Or is our ‘friendship’ with Him more one-sided? Do we share our needs, give him our burdens, and then turn and walk on with our own lives and agendas, checking back in from time to see if our prayers have been properly addressed?
8.    I know I am guilty of this sometimes. But I don’t want to be that kind of ‘friend’. I want to be a close friend ‘who sticks closer than a brother.’ One who is willing to lay down her life for her Friend. One who is as concerned for what is on His heart as for what is on hers. Maybe more.
9.    I love sharing all the funny things with Yeshua, as well as the heart-wrenching ones…and the ones that would be TMI for anyone else. He knows it all anyway, but we laugh and cry together about them. I know He holds my tears in a bottle***,  as well as giving me the kind of belly laughs that ‘do good like medicine.’ I want it all with Him. I want Him to say when I see Him in person, “Truly, you have been My close friend. Welcome Home and know Me even better.”
10. **************
11. *See post “When it’s ok to be gluttonous” from April 15, 2025
12. + condescension’s original meaning: to “voluntarily waive ceremony or dignity proper to one's superior position or rank and willingly assume equality with inferiors”….”make gracious allowance for human frailty”
13. ** “Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. —Romans 12:15
14. 
    8 ***”You number my wanderings;
    Put my tears into Your bottle;
    Are they not in Your book?”  —Psalm 56:8
15. “Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command. 15 I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.” —John 15:13-15
16. “One who has unreliable friends soon comes to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.” —Proverbs 18:24
17. “Perfume and incense make the heart glad, but the sweetness of a friend is a fragrant forest.” —Proverbs 27:9
18. “Oh, for the days when I was in my prime, when God’s intimate friendship blessed my house.” —Job 29:4
    “Whoever would foster love covers over an offense, but whoever repeats the matter separates close friends.” —Proverbs 17:9
    
    22 “ A happy heart is good medicine,
        but low spirits sap one’s strength —Proverbs 17:22
    From Ann Spangler, author of The Names of God : “Confess any complacency toward those who are lost. Ask Jesus to assign your heart with His purposes.”
19. Related words: to Philos: Phileo: “to love”; Philema: “to kiss” 
20. Jadon Lavik singing What a Friend We Have in Jesus:
21. https://youtu.be/5XsXYTWVdGE?si=x4EQsRTTIy0h3p_6
22. 
    
23. 
    

When it’s good to be the thief

  

    I know we have moved past Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Easter and are now heading for the celebration of Jesus’s ascension. Alleluia! However, this morning I was reading in Deuteronomy 25 about the punishment of flogging and its maximum of 40 strikes (later limited to 39 in practice because it could cause a person’s death). A sentence was to follow a just decision regarding a person's innocence or guilt, as well as the extent of his wickedness. We believers know that Jesus was entirely innocent yet received OUR maximum sentence out of His incomprehensibly great love for us, ‘while we were yet sinners.”*

   What struck me this morning, however, (no pun intended) as I was visualizing all aspects of the horror Jesus endured for me, beginning even before his maximum flogging with metal attached to cords, was what was said to him by one of the two thieves hung next to him. I’ve known this dialogue since I was a young child and through the years have focused on Jesus’ words, “Today” you shall be with me in paradise.”** This morning, however, flashing before me were the words, “Remember me when you come into your kingdom,” I suddenly wondered, “How did the thief know Jesus was King of a kingdom not of this world?” NO one else truly seemed to. Even Peter, who had declared Him the Messiah, didn’t really get it. The disciples were hiding in grief and fear, not expecting Him to appear to them at any moment. Mary of Magdala and the other women were focused on caring for His precious body, which they assumed was still in the tomb or somewhere nearby. Who but the man known only as the thief truly believed Jesus would arise after His death as King over the Cosmos? Seeing Jesus in anguish and torment just as he was, this man still believed Yeshua was Lord of heaven and earth. Even if he perhaps did not grasp the full implication of that truth, he knew Jesus had the power, despite how things appeared, to save him after his body succumbed to death (something for which I’m sure he, in his own agony, then longed). 

   Everyone else at the scene (or hiding from it) seemed without hope, all their expectations dashed, with only images of a slow, agonizing death still before their eyes. Many who had waved palm branches before Him as Messiah, now thought, “I guess he wasn’t the one after all.” They were not visualizing a victorious kingdom much greater than any earthly one. They were seeing^ suffering, loss, disappointment, dejection, and devastating sorrow. Or in the case of those who wanted Jesus dead, a sense of satisfaction and success in the deed finally being accomplished. 

   Accomplished it was, but not as they thought. It was the King’s Gambit***, with ADONAI declaring to them (and, more importantly, to Satan):   “Checkmate, you lose!!”

  Maybe I am just very slow on the uptake, but I found the sudden realization astounding that only the thief appeared to truly get this. Ahhh….ADONAI, when You say that we become New Creations when we put our whole trust in Your grace and love, it is not just a metaphor of hope. It is a manifested reality for those who believe that You are the one and only Savior God of forgiveness and second chances. You Are the Resurrection and the Life for those of us who grasp our total dependence on Your Goodness and Mercy. When we repent and trust in You, we are no longer stuck in Groundhog Days of repeated sin and consequent sentences of flogging and Second Death. Nor are we sentenced to misery in this life. We are freed to live the abundant shalom-filled life You desire for us. We are no longer named The Thief. We have a new appellation, “Beloved,” as well as one uniquely given to us by The Father.****

   Although we have the advantage of hindsight, unlike the man who called out to Yeshua that day in faith, we believe though we haven’t seen Him, and we are blessed.*****

   We are The Thief. He has caught the hand we reached out to Him, drawn us into His outstretched arms, and declared, “Welcome Home, Beloved!” 

*******************

* But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.— Romans 5:8 

**Jesus answered him, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.”—-Luke 23:43

*** In effect a bold, long range trap which causes one’s opponent to have confidence he is winning, only to suddenly discover he has lost

**** “Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who is victorious, I will give some of the hidden manna. I will also give that person a white stone with a new name written on it, known only to the one who receives it.” Revelation 2:17

***** “Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”  —John 20:29

^”He will not judge by what his eyes see or decide by what his ears hear.” —Isaiah 11: 3