Affectionate Reverence

   "Affectionate reverence." That is how the Amplified Bible translates 'the fear of the Lord'. Ever since I read that years ago, I've been struck by the truth of it. This morning the Lord reminded me that one without the other is insufficient. Reverence without love reduces us to simple fear. Affection without reverence makes us presumptive and cavalier in His presence. Only in combination do deep reverence and whole-hearted affection bring us into the right kind of relationship with Him who loves us tenderly yet causes us to fall at His feet in awe, wonder and utter humility.

   Let’s not forget that, in the image of the book of Esther, the Father chooses to ‘extend His scepter to us’ in the grace we received through His Son. It is not a deserved right, but a privilege. One in which He also delights, but something not to be received without full appreciation of what it took for that ‘acceptance in the beloved’ to be extended to us.
   As we progress through this Advent season of preparation, may we simultaneously fall on our faces and hug the stuffin's out of Him.

Enough

   Doctors told my mother before I was born I was a threat to her health. Thankfully, she trusted God to see her through.
   However, if one presidential candidate had her way, I would have suffered excruciating pain in a slow death in my mother's womb, either being burned to death or by being torn limb from limb.  If I had been a puppy or a kitten, the animal rights activists would have screamed bloody murder, and rightfully so, for so it would have been...and so it is now,
   How is it that we believe all sorts of scientific facts without question but stop our ears and blindfold our eyes to the clearly proven fact that unborn children are just that....children. They have heartbeats and brains and nervous systems. They receive nourishment, move, kick, respond to the voices of their parents, and turn away from medical instruments inserted to destroy them. There is no lack of evidence, including videos, that even a toddler could perceive as truth.
   There would have been no Julie on earth, and, in turn, no Joshua, no Danielle, no Peter. God saved My husband through his premature birth at only two pounds in 1947.  If he had been still inside his mother's womb in this decade, they could have legally murdered him instead of putting him in an incubator and trying to keep him alive.
   Why have so many Americans and others around the world agreed either overtly or complicitly in recent decades  to what was previously considered a horrific form of homicide?  Because it's convenient for us to do so. And if we took off our blindfolds and removed our earplugs, we'd have to face the truth of what we've allowed to happen. We haven't screamed 'bloody murder' because it would require personal sacrifice to do so. I know I, personally, have not done anywhere enough to stop this barbaric practice.
   I could never look my Heavenly Father in the eye again if I were to vote for this woman, not by any means for this reason alone, but this reason itself is absolutely and most certainly enough.

Shaken

   Someone mentioned on Facebook that she thought the hurricane was God's wrath being poured out. But Jesus is our Mediator (our One and Only), who saves us from the punishment we deserve. We are in a New Covenant, for which I am and will be eternally grateful.  What I do believe, however, is that God loves us so much, He will allow whatever it takes to get our attention so we take necessary action. not just storing survival supplies, but taking a look at our spiritual survival. This call is especially for those who don't even know He exists or know they have need of Him, but it applies to all of us who claim to trust in Him but who have slipped back into lukewarm, half-hearted devotion, with one foot following the world's values and dictates and the other trying to still touch heaven by tiptoe.
   Early on in the storm news, before I even knew how severe the prediction would become, He told me that there would be a great shaking.  People would wake up to the danger.  But the real danger, they would come to realize, wouldn't be the hurricane. It would be rejecting and cutting themselves off from their Savior...the One and Only Lover of their souls who gave everything so that they could be rescued from the hands of the evil one and live with Him forever...now in this life and in the next.
For those of us who have already made that commitment to Him, how much of our actual walk with Him is pretense?  What do we truly believe in our heart of hearts. How much of what we have been given do we really entrust to Him? How much of our lives do we spend seeking His will and His heart?
   The true danger is one that can't be seen on a TV meteorological report or in the economic news or in an approaching storm cloud.  It is in turning from the hand of God being extended to us, from the acknowledgement of our own sin and helplessness to save ourselves and, instead, making ourself our own god.   Every other religion of the world, from the formal major religions to new age philosophies and popular cults of the moment, demands that you raise yourself up to that god's height to attain what is promised, to avoid the wrath of its god, or to attain that status for yourself. Only in pure, unadulterated Christianity does God reach down to rescue, demanding nothing but
acknowledgement of His Kingship and grateful receipt of His Gift, His Sacrifice of Love. This is the One I've come to know. The One Who even now rescues us from The Eternal Danger, as well as caring for and protecting us in the temporal.  I'm grateful for both, but I know which is crucial.
   Yeshua said that His desire was and is that no one be lost. I believe this includes those who have treated their declaration of trust as more of an insurance policy than a vital and active daily relationship.  It's time to have a 'come to Jesus meeting'....literally.
   If  we must endure the shaking, let us be confident in knowing it comes from a heart of Love, not one of Vengeance. After the shaking, one thing remains....

" 'Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken nor my covenant of peace be removed,' says the Lord, who has compassion on you."
-- Isaiah 54:10

"Those who trust in the Lord are like Mount Zion, which cannot be shaken but endures forever."
--Psalm 125:1

"I keep my eyes always on the Lord. With Him at my right hand, I will not be shaken."
--Psalm 16:8

"Cast your cares on the Lord and He will sustain you; He will never let the righteous be shaken
--Psalm 55:22

"Truly He is my rock and my salvation; He is my fortress, I will never be shaken."
--Psalm 62:6

Before the Storm

   As I gratefully reside at my daughter and son-in-law's home outside of the path of the hurricane, I am once again reminded of the transitory nature of the things of earth. One of the most difficult aspects of letting go for me involves those irreplaceable things tied to memories..tied to love.  Photo albums, old videotapes of the kids, treasured birthday and Mother's Day cards which I meant to grab when I hurriedly evacuated  yesterday after work, trying to beat the highway evacuation parking lot. I think of those items left behind, along with my prayer journals containing God's specific messages to me.
   Yes, it's also difficult to deal with the thought that everything, including the house itself, could soon lie ruined.  But what my mind goes to first are the 'old treasures,' not the large screen TV, antiques, or even the car just finally paid for. When you are forced to evacuate, you quickly realize where your treasure lies:  in the hearts of your family and friends and, more importantly,  in the hands of your loving Heavenly Father from Whom all gifts come, including the gift of those you treasure.
   I am rebuking and cursing this storm in His Name, because He's given those who believe and trust  in Him the authority to do so.  He is the calmer of every kind of storm, including those taking place in our minds and hearts and bodies. I know He can stop this storm,  and if we better understood the authority designated to us by Him, we could calm the storm in His Name. I also; like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego; declare that even if it doesn't stop, still I will trust in Him. Everything I have comes from Him, and nothing can remove or diminish His love and care for me. I may not understand the whys and wherefores, but I know I am His, and I know Whom I have believed...and that He is able to guard what in His sight are my greatest treasures on earth and in Heaven....

2 Timothy 1:12

Dancing with Yeshua

   I have danced in my mind with Yeshua on many occasions, but somehow this morning was different.  We were 'ballroom' dancing in classic style with Him holding my left hand in His. But instead of my right hand settling on His shoulder, He took it and bent it inward, entwined with His, so that my head rested just over His heart. He then rested the side of His face on my hair.  I then saw that I was wearing a wedding dress. I felt unworthy to wear this dress of purity of body and heart, yet He seemed to have no such qualms. He had provided the dress, after all. It was nothing I had purchased.
   I tried to describe to Him in my journal just how it felt to dance with Him in this way. I stopped midsentence, because no adequate word came to mind.  Dancing with Him was simply 'divine' ? [I could hear His chuckle.].  I told Him I was so happy He was willing to dance with me.  Very clearly He told me He wasn't just willing, but wanting, to dance with me...with each of us. Intimacy with Him isn't just His blessing us, but also our blessing Him.
   I know many have shared with me how they dance with Jesus.  If it's been awhile since you've put on your dancing shoes, step out onto the ballroom floor. He's waiting there for you....and He bought you a dress just for the occasion.

Hitting a Nerve

   Are you old enough to remember the game Operation?  You tried to remove a body part without setting off the buzzer. If you made a mistake, it was as if you had hit a nerve during surgery. I experienced something similar this morning listening to Lysa Terkeurst and James Robinson share their experiences of rejection. James describes repeatedly wanting so much to play in a game of sports but never being chosen and walking home crying while the others played. Lysa relates her story of feeling rejected by her father when he deserted their family.
   Whether it was periods of being overweight, gangly, uncoordinated, socially inept, or having unloveable personalities...or circumstances of poverty, broken relationships, and struggle in our families...there are probably few who of us who haven't endured such pain. As may be so with many of you, I have experienced both sides of this coin:  periods of my life when I was rejected and lonely...and periods when I found myself suddenly  'popular'.  This popularity was related to circumstances over which I had no control, and I was acutely aware of the fickleness of human acceptance.  I might have basked in it for awhile, but I knew its nature.  It also made me sensitive to the hearts of those either left on the fringe or outright discarded.
    There is no rejection with our Heavenly Father. He doesn't reject, He accepts.  He not only accepts, He  chooses you. He singles you out and says "I pick you!"  I planned you before you were born and I am delighted with you. You are My Chosen One. I want you. I have great plans for you. Plans and purposes aside, I just plain enjoy you. I think you're wonderful.
     Take a gander at Lysa's new bok Uninvited...or listen to what she has to say on Life Today (www.lifetoday.org). And while you're at it, give a cup of water to those who aren't worried about acceptance or rejection. They just want their precious children to survive another day.

Hearing God's Voice

Yesterday:
"Sometimes My 'Voice' is not in words you can take down in dictation. Sometimes My Voice is a Message, one which you receive into your soul through your spirit from My Spirit. It's like an infusion via IV, instead of you eating and digesting discrete foods. When you chew food, not all of it is actually digested and its nutrients absorbed. Some parts pass through whole. With an infusion, the nutrients or pharmakeia*  pass into and through you in their entirety.  Receive the infusion I wish to give you and be transfused with My Peace, My Wisdom, My Joy, that your spiritual marrow may be built up, enriched, and fortified."
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"Satisfy us in the morning with Your unfailing love, that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days."  --Psalm 90:14
"I Am the Vine; you are the branches..if you remain in Me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from Me you can do nothing..."
--John 15:5
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*pharmakeia: Greek for administering medicine.  Also has secondary occult meaning, which I know was not what was meant here. However, if one were to seek that dangerous and deceptive path, infusion would also be involved, to the total detriment of one's soul and spirit. The evil one always makes available an alluring imitation.
**panpharmecon:  "Cure for everything."  That's Yeshua

God Stoops Down

Psalm 18 says that the Creator of the Universe 'stooped down to make us great' (perhaps better translated as 'significant'). As he bends His knee to look us lovingly in the eye on this speck of a perfectly planned planet, let us also kneel down...and then be raised up to throw our arms around His neck in grateful abandon to His very personal love.  Squeeze the stuffin's out of Him and see His slow and tender smile in return. Go ahead, make His day.

Hot Coals Instead of Flames

I loved two analogies and one other quote from David Benham (Benham brothers) today on Life Today (www.lifetoday.org*).
>Boldness without brokenness makes a bully.
>We are to be like chocolate chips in cookies.  Chocolate chips, you say?  Watch it and find out.
>We are to be like hot coals adjacent to one another, rather than single flames.  When the wind blows, we are not snuffed out but, instead, ignited.

Funny guys...
Their new book is "Living Among Lions," available for a donation towards a water well.
*Scroll down to see "This Week on Life Today"....Thursday's broadcast

Are you a Mentsh?

Are you a mentsh? My Complete Jewish Bible (David Stern) defines a mentsh as " a good, reliable person; a real human being, energetic, moral, and compassionate."
1 Corinthians 15:13:  "Stay alert, stand firm in the faith, behave like a mentsh, grow strong. Let everything you do be done in love."
I like this.

Communing with God

   I was reading this morning in Exodus 33, once again, about the Tent of Meeting which Moses set up outside the camp. "Everyone who wanted to consult with the Lord would go there" (v. 7). However, it was then Moses and Joshua who would actually enter the tent and experience God's manifest Presence. "Inside the Tent of Meeting, the Lord would speak to Moses...as a man speaks to his friend" (v. 11). What I never noticed was that after Moses left the tent, Joshua remained behind. In fact, I had never thought about Joshua even being there with Moses. This struck me because I wondered what it must have been like for Joshua to be present in the midst of God's glory and to experience the interchange between YHWH and Moses.  Who wouldn't want to remain behind in that place?  Why was he allowed to, I wonder?  What did he experience when he did? So many questions to ask people in Heaven when we get there.
   We now sometimes take for granted that we have access to God's ear and loving Presence every single moment of our lives, if we enter through our faith in the sacrificial gift of His Son (begotten from His love).  The Tent of Meeting is our body, our spirit within us able to commune with Him whenever we turn our face to His. He is willing to speak to us all as a friend, not just to the few chosen ones.
   People sometimes ask me 'where I go' when I close my eyes in worship. They can tell I'm someplace else at times. When I pray for people now, in my more 'advanced' years, I tend not to say very much anymore. I don't start speaking a prayer aloud right away. Sometimes they wonder if I'm stuck for what to say.  But that isn't it.  Well, in a way, it is, because I've found through the years it's better if I wait to 'connect' with God first and just let His Spirit wash over the person for whom I'm praying.  Then, if He gives me something to pray aloud, I do.  Many times, I pray only 'in the Spirit' and my words in English, if any, are few. As we invite His Presence, His Canopy covers us and we are awash in His love.  Who wouldn't want to linger there?

Hurtful Memories Buried Alive?

   After I sent the last post winging its way into cyberspace, I stood on our deck basking in soft sunlight with a gentle breeze swirling around me and heard God's whisper:  "Let the memories you've now given to me lie down in peace.  Feel My Shalom in your heart concerning them. No longer will they be buried alive, attempting to resurrect themselves.  I will carry them off with Me, where I know how to receive them. There is nothing I can't use for good, nothing out of which I cannot make something beautiful, not the least of which are compassion and mercy toward others."
________________

"What is God asking of us? Unabashed, unhindered, completely abandoned repentance. No faking. No hedging. No blaming. No excuses. Just, 'Have mercy on me, a sinner...' "*  
 --Beth Moore, When Godly People Do Ungodly Things

*Luke 18: 9-17

Acts of Selfishness Which Haunt Us

   When I was young, shoe stores were staffed with employees who knew a great deal about feet. They would measure your foot in a metal device for length, width and shape and then search knowledgeably for shoes that fit you correctly.  Both the shoe store staff and my doctor told my parents that I should wear 'corrective' shoes.  Now these were not only extremely expensive for that time, but they were also ugly to my young eyes (probably to anyone's eyes). My parents sacrificed from their meager income to purchase these for me, but I refused to wear them. They languished in my closet until I outgrew them.
   Years later, when I was in fifth grade, I saw a beautiful, again very expensive, dress in a department store. My parents had to be very frugal about clothing purchases, so we normally shopped once a year, before the new school year started, and bought very practical clothes (darker colors which wouldn't get dirty easily and which would be interchangeable with other items). For my birthday, they surprised me with the much too expensive dress and gave it to me early so I could wear it to a school concert in which I was singing a solo and playing a viola piece. They were so excited to give me this gift.  I decided not to wear it to the concert.  True.
   These acts of selfishness on my part have haunted me through the decades.  I know there were countless more, but these are the two that stand out like 8 x 10 photographs in living color in my mind. Why, I asked myself recently, compared to all the 'big sins' I've committed and asked and received forgiveness for in my life, has Satan so successfully tormented me with these? I've been able to receive forgiveness for, and let go of, so many grievous thoughts and actions, yet not these.
   I realized this morning that one reason is because they hurt people I loved so very dearly.  Like the time I didn't take enough action when my child was being bullied at school, these sins, 'done and left undone' were to the detriment of people for whom I would give my life. But if Yeshua's agony and death to cover my sins is enough...and His redemptive power is as great as I truly believe it is, why am I letting the Accuser torment me....so that I periodically relive these events as if they were
yesterday?
   In my June 14 post, I quoted Beth Moore's book, When Godly People Do Ungodly Things, in which she stated that we often serve as assistant Prosecutor for our own case, rather than for our Defense Attorney, Yeshua.  He's also the One Who went to prison for us and took our death sentence. He doesn't want us to live in torment over our past*. However, there may be other reasons why you and I are unable to let go of some sin in our past. We might never have treated it as such. Some actions or attitudes appear so small in our eyes that we have never confessed them as sin. Yet they still loom large in our memory. Take time to stop and confess these to the Lord.  He already knows about them, but we need to overtly ask His forgiveness for them and hear Him say, "You are forgiven, Child."  Only then can we refute the Accuser with confidence and be set free from the recurring burning of hurtful memories. Whether we were the sinner or the recipient of such sin, we can be set free:  one by asking for forgiveness and the other by offering it to others.
   Either way, when the tape begins to play once again, we can stop, rewind, and record over the
memory...seeing God's hand and perspective over the event, affirming who we now are, Who He is, What He has done, and what He is doing even now to redeem, restore, and renew.

_______________________
*"Satan hates to hear our testimonies of God's redemption so much that if you will keep reframing it with God's truth every time the devil accuses you, he will stop. Oh beloved, let's cease cooperating with the enemy and start cooperating with our faithful God. He hates to se us in torment. How needless is an agonizing conscience when we've turned from sin.  Too often we refuse to believe the cross is strong enough to cleanse our consciences."  --Beth Moore

Dark Moments

  It's always interesting how God will lead you by threads to unexpected treasures. Upon my return to the cabin in Vernonia, I found Elizabeth Goudge's Pilgrim's Inn, which I had begun last year and never finished.  A friend took the time and money to find this book and order it for me on Amazon Marketplace, after I had expressed a love for some of  Elizabeth Goudge's books. I am enjoying it immensely. On vacation, one has the leisure to savor a well-written book containing deep insight and not be in a rush to get to the next action in the plot.
   As it is with dear family and friends and books, one wants to share, rather than hoard the treasure, so I went seeking available Goudge titles, from both the library and Amazon, and discovered biography of Elizabeth on Kindle at a minuscule price (a guilt-free purchase!). Opening it to the first page, I found another treasure in God's thread of gifts:  a poem by Anne Lewin from her book of poems and prayers entitled Watching for the Kingfisher. I now share it with you, my faithful Morniing Manna friends. You can store it up for such a time as it is needed in your life. I pray this isn't that time, but I know they come for all of us.

DARK MOMENTS

'All shall be well'....
She must have said that
Sometimes through gritted teeth.
Surely she knew the moments
When fear gnaws at trust,
The future loses shape,
Gethsemane?

The courage that says
'All shall be well'
Doesn't mean feeling no fear,
But facing it, trusting God won't let go.

'All shall be well'
Doesn't deny present experience,
But roots it deep
In the faithfulness of God,
Whose will and gift is life.

Unable to Forgive Yourself?

   In the final chapters of my current Beth Moore book, I had to chuckle at her analogy about our own unforgiveness toward ourselves, even after we've repented and asked forgiveness of God (Who is always faithful to forgive when we ask*).  We still keep rehearsing the sin in our minds, the 'tape' playing on a loop. [Ok, if you're too young to get the tape thing, think of a YouTube movie on an endless loop.] "Some of us are still harboring such old guilt, it's an eight-track, for crying out loud" [Beth].  Jesus is our Defense Attorney, she says, but sometimes we voluntarily serve as a witness for the Prosecution.
   I don't like to admit to this myself, but truly, it's a sign of unbelief.  Do we sincerely believe that Yeshua's sacrifice was enough, that what He endured for us was sufficient? Or do we believe we need to continue to flog ourselves to complete His work?  Should we be handing the Enemy of our souls the darts, so he can take careful aim at our most vulnerable and sensitive spots?
   Ok, so we're past that type of unbelief. We get that we're truly forgiven, but do we still carry unbelief in our hearts regarding God's Power, Wisdom, and Faithfulness to use even the consequences of our sins and mistakes for good?
   If we hurt our children in the past, for example, through our own action or inaction, and we've seen the impact in their lives, do we truly believe that God can not only bring inner healing, but that He can redeem and transform the consequences into something wonderful?  Do we believe that He can even wipe away memories if He deems that best?  Do we believe that He can be with them in a past time and bring them solace to their hearts, since He is truly God of, and outside of, time?  Do we sincerely believe that nothing is impossible with Him?
   If so, then why are we complicit with the Evil One, allowing ourselves to continually relive the pain?  Why do we believe the Enemy more than we believe the Creator and Lover of our souls? With all He's done and continues to do for us, why do we not trust Him to do what He says He will do if
we entrust ourselves and those we love to Him? Do you and I really believe it? Then tell Him so and He will make it so.

*1 John 1:9

Conversations With God, Part II

As promised in my last post (June 7) : 'the sandwich filling'.

   When I looked back in my journal, I saw, for many days, pages of black or blue writing and then just a few lines of red.  How disproportionate, I thought. It should be the other way around. I felt as if I had been going on and on, and He might have been waiting for me to stop babbling so He could share something with me. As humans, we are often just waiting for someone to finally finish talking so we can say something back. Here is His reply (with my usual disclaimer regarding the word for word accuracy of my note-taking):
 
   "Starting with listening....a great thing.  You know, however,  that I always want to hear your heart expressed 'out loud.' Don't think you talk too much. Remember how your children used to babble excitedly to you, anxious to share? How did you receive their efforts at communication? Would you have ever wanted them to stop 'bothering you' because you had 'more important in the' things to do? Perhaps there were occasions when much was on your mind. But I have no such limitations. I am even more delighted by your overtures than you were when your little ones came to you (and as you are now when they share with you as adults). There is never a time when I am too busy or when I wish you'd stop 'going on and on.' Your communications are precious to Me...every one.
  Multi-layered sandwiches, yes.... But it's ok to have thick fillings [between My spoken bread]."

Today: "It's also a delight when you come to Me and say nothing at all. Just come to Me and dwell, abide, revel in My love for you. No words necessary.... My place of rest is healing for your soul. Your spirit bears witness.  My Goodness and Mercy chase after you; turn and receive them with open arms. Let yourself be joyfully enfolded in My very Nature. Take My hand and run with Me in the still places."

Two-Communication with God

   In my morning prayer time, I usually write out my prayers in a journal to the Lord. I speak, and then I listen and try to record, as best I can, what I hear Him saying.  I know I don't always get it exactly right, but I hope I am at least getting the gist of it.  I write my prayers in blue or black, His in red.  That way I can always easily go back and reread just His words to me. Sometimes I see only black for a day or even days and realize these have been one-sided conversations.
   Recently, however, I realized that even when I'm taking time to be still and listen, I might have the wrong order.  I should be listening first.  But wait, I also want to record His response to my prayers.  Ah...a prayer sandwich is what I should have! He speaks and I listen. I speak and He listens. Then it's His turn again.  As usual, He has an even better idea.
   "Multi-layered sandwiches are best...more like a real conversation. It's ok to have thick fillings, however.*  My bread [His spoken word to us] is nourishing and vital to your health. Keep your filling [our heart spoken to Him] encased in it. Otherwise, your filling will drip out onto the table and make a mess....a mess in your mind...a mess of your emotions. You will not find true peace there or full meaning or hope or joy or restoration or renewal.  It will all run amuck. Keep your filling tucked between my [slices of] bread to find fullness of hope and complete Rest in Me."

*More from Him on 'the filling' in the next post. 😊
[If you don't want to rely on happening to notice a post on Facebook or Google+, you can put your email in the widget box in the upper right to receive Morning Manna posts.  Julie]

A New Take on the Song "Dance Cinderella"

"Come, 'dance Cinderella' with Me.  When the clock strikes midnight, you'll be gone..........with Me."

Unusual Embroidered Masterpieces

    A family very dear to me recently received a sort of 'catch 22' medical diagnosis (darned if you do, darned if you don't) that brought me to tears. I was praying...struggling...praying..struggling, when God shared this with me:
   "Yes, I hear you, Child. I know your heart on this...what you desire for them (and desire not to happen for them)...how you trust Me but are wondering if different prayers would be better, would better yield My Will being accomplished. It's not that you don't trust Me; you don't trust yourself...that you've done all you can do, prayed all you can, prayed in the right way, prayed as many times as you should. Your thoughts and heart strings are tangled like the tapestry threads you described in your prayers this morning.
   Allow Me to carefully and gently untangle them for you. My 'world,' My 'reality,' is multidimensional in ways your mind cannot conceive or process. Layers and layers of thread sit on top of one another from your visual vantagepoint, appearing tangled, mangled, chaotically arranged.  From My perspective, they are ordered and wisely and creatively woven in, around, and through one another to design pattern and meaning and wholeness from all angles. Each thread was not initiated by Me, nor was it necessarily what I desired; yet I am the Restorer, the Redeemer, the Master Maker, and even the Inventive Recycler.
   You say, as in the old, oft-spoken analogy, that I make masterpieces appear on the top side of the fabric, and you are correct in that. However, what that imagery doesn't communicate is that I see multiple masterpieces on the underside...underneath, where I tenderly weave many lives I love together.  The old analogy has but one dimension of beauty--on the top side which you frame and hang for others to see. But I am creating, recreating, reworking, weaving and displaying simultaneously-layered works of art of just the threads on the underside, which may never appear to the rest of the world as frameable art. Not everyone will look back and say, "Yes, now I see what God was doing all along. I see the masterpiece!"


   Ask Me for eyes to better see what I see.  Trust Me in the deepest places of your soul that I carry even your mistakes and your inadequacies....your misunderstandings and your weaknesses....your misguided advice and enthusiasm, in the palm of My hand. I close my fist and press it over My heart, knowing yours. I read it continually and know when it feels like it's helplessly breaking for another. But I am not helpless, and I am not impotent. And I am not dependent on  proper expression to hear your heart's cry.
   Trust Me, despite what you see on the topside or the bottom.
   Trust Me. I not only open the eyes of the blind, unstop the ears of the deaf, and make the crippled walk, but I make beauty from ashes, joy from mourning, grace from trial, contentment from
suffering, unusual victories from defeat.  Only I can, and only I can see multiple masterpieces in seemingly tangled thread.

The Other Side of Hearing-Impairment

     Thomas Edison, I have learned, was hearing-impaired--left partially deaf from inflammation of his mastoid bone as a child.  However, he actually embraced the relative silence and used it to help him focus in the invention process.  Recently, I've had fluid trapped in my Eustachian tube, pressing on the ear drum of my right ear.  I've scrupulously followed all the doctor's directions and also had several people gifted in healing pray for me...all to no avail, as far as the current manifestation is concerned.  I will be flying to Oregon soon and was worried about its effect on my ears. Could it actually cause damage?  Tubes would cost over $700, I've discovered.
   Yesterday at church I was asking God why I couldn't seem to receive the healing I know He's already sent and Accomplished for me. There's still so much about healing on this earth that I don't understand. But I know this: I trust Him and know He wants the best for me. The problem is not at His end. However, I also know He uses everything for good when offered up to Him. Yesterday and again this morning He brought Edison to mind.  The lack of hearing, the sense of hearing as if one is under water, causes the world to fade away a bit....and I am drawn into listening inside, instead. It is not invention on which I am focused but rather on hearing His voice.
   This morning He said (as best I can interpret):  "Let the ear remind you to always be in touch with Me, always listening to My voice inside you. The noise outside and even in your own mind can make it difficult for you to listen carefully to Me. Like Thomas Edison, may you be inspired by comparative silence...but may it be inspiration which leads not to invention but to My heart. May the world around you dim and recede as you connect and commune with Me. Stop being anxious about your ear. I will take care of it for you one way or another. I cover both your ears with My hands and look into your eyes. May you be focused on Mine and receive the greater healing of Communion with Me."
   May it be so for all of us...
Ephesians 3:16-18

Tuning in to God's Frequency

   Last week I was listening to Robert Morris on Life Today. He has a new book entitled Frequency, which I haven't yet read but made a donation to their Water Well ministry to receive. (Life Outreach International (www.lifetoday.org) is a ministry I highly recommend, by the way.)
   When I first heard the title, which is about listening to and hearing God's voice, I was thinking of frequency as referring to the amount of time we spend with Him.  However, it actually refers to 'tuning in' to God. As I was pondering that concept, God spoke something to me.  Here it is, as best I know, considering my Tuner sometimes goes in and out in the middle of a conversation.
   "Satan likes to keep his [station] number very close to Mine, right nearby so that a slight turn of the knob tunes his in, instead.  If you're tuned into condemnation, discouragement, guilt, or shame, your station has slipped into his. You can be sure it's not My Frequency. When I convict you, it will be in love. you will experience tenderness and compassion, even if it's a wake-up jolt or even a 'two-by-four. ' You will experience My Humor as I cause you to see the truth of your situation. When I expose you to yourself, you will still be covered by My Hand. I expose the truth to make you whole, not to embarrass or condemn or shame you. A Good Father would never do such a thing. He convicts and teaches to encourage change and right action. He respects, dignifies, treasures, and holds out Hope. Retune your station if you feel hopeless and condemned. You will always find My Station clear and strong, if you listen carefully for it."

Healing Was Not Just in His Job Description

   I'm currently searching the Scriptures for every recorded question Yeshua asked.  (More on that in a future post). In Matthew 20:30-34, two men who were blind called out to Him to have pity on them.  "He asked, 'What do you want me to do for you?' They said, 'Open our eyes!' Filled with tenderness, Yeshua touched their eyes, and instantly they received their sight and followed Him." You know the story well. What caught my attention this time around was the phrase 'filled with tenderness.'
   Yeshua didn't just heal people because that was what ADONAI sent Him to do....because it was His assignment, so to speak. He didn't heal person after person on the road to His death because it was in His job description from Isaiah. He was (and is) filled with compassion for us.  Even the 'young ruler' who couldn't handle giving up his riches, was looked upon by Him with tender love (Mark 10:21). That part of the Scripture is often overlooked in teachings focusing on our own unwillingness to let go of those things which hold us back...or on our own attempts to make ourselves righteous. Even when Yeshua is saddened by our choices, His compassion and agape love for us emanate unfailingly.
   Sometimes we feel discouraged at our repeated failings, despite our determination to 'get it right' this time...to refrain from gossip or criticism or judgment of others, for example. We don't even want to come before our Father in prayer and listen to what He has to say to us because we fear He's disappointed in is...or maybe even disgusted with our repeated unsuccessful attempts at doing what He calls us to...our continually having to confess and repent over the same sin.
   Always remember that ADONAI is filled with tenderness for us, as a Father for His children. He is for us. He is cheering us on. He reaches down to help us to our feet to try again. He dusts us off, taps us on our bottom (even our 62-year-old bottom) and sends us on our way into our day with His blessing....offering us His grace to do what we cannot do alone...His steadying hand, His loving warning before something untoward comes out of our mouths, or our thoughts start wandering into critical places.  He holds up the chalkboard eraser (whiteboard?) and says, "Let's not go there....let's refresh your mind to focus on whatever is true and lovely and noble and admirable...and while you're at it, whatever is merciful and compassionate. Choose mercy. I do."

Are You Standing by With a Water Hose?

   Having just returned last evening from a Spirit-filled weekend I am unable to fully describe to You, I am once again in complete awe of our God. Why, I ask myself, should I be so astounded at what He can do...what He does do, in the lives of people who hunger after Him?  He has shown Himself faithful, shown Himself powerful, shown Himself tender-hearted and compassionate, time and time again. Why is it that I stand amazed, when He is doing the very thing He desires to do:  utterly transform lives in the lava flow of His sacrificial love? Yet my mouth hangs open, my sight transfixed, my mind boggled, as I gaze up at Him in awe and thankfulness at Who He is and how much He desires to pour out upon us.
   What keeps us from experiencing this tender mercy, indescribable peace, full-out belly laughter, and profound joy more often?  As Beth Moore says, both as individuals and as churches, we are too often waiting by the sidelines with a water hose, waiting to put out the Spirit's fire, should He get 'out of control.'  Ahhhh....what we are missing standing in the smoking embers.....

[1 Thessalonians 5:19]

Rubber Flesh

   I'm currently reading Beth Moore's book, When Godly People Do Ungodly Things.  In her usual insightful way, she's encouraging us to prepare for the current (and increasingly intense) season of 'methodeia' from the Enemy of our souls, so that we won't find ourselves surprised or deceived by the level of attack with which he assaults us. Beth explains the difference between 'normal' temptations and trials and the type of all-encompassing oppression that knocks the wind right out of us and catches us up in a whirlwind of seduction we never thought possible after decades of walking with the Lord.
   In the context of this discussion, she shared an expression I've never heard before:  'rubber flesh.'   Those of us very familiar with God's Word are most subject to it.  We tend to skim over passages of Scripture we know like the back of our hand, the words bouncing off our minds like rubber, without allowing God to stop us in our tracks with fresh revelation. That's one of the reasons I periodically choose a different translation like the Complete Jewish Bible or the Amplified version, or a modern paraphrase like The Message...to allow God to jolt me awake to something I hadn't seen before or hadn't thought about in the context of the current circumstances (both my personal ones and those of the world around me).
   Beth encourages us to arm ourselves to a higher degree than we have done before. If Job had known the larger battle in which he was engaged, she says, it might have strengthened him to hold fast and stand in the whirlwind of onslaught without feeling so abandoned by God, despite the unimaginable amount of loss he experienced.
   Let's not live 'asleep in the light' as Keith Green once penned. Soak up The Word of God as never before, asking Him for fresh insight and the protection of the armor He holds out to us. We would never want our children to walk unprotected into battle, especially an unseen one. Neither does He.
 

Hearing Your Voice In a Choir of Praise

   I love to listen to the birds in our old neighborhood of expansive trees and thickets. Yesterday morning I could hear just one outside my window where I have my prayer time each morning.  His song was melodic and lovely (some not so much), calling out a declaration.... I could hear the Lord say to me,"Hear the lone bird? Soon he'll be joined by the others, singing in increasing crescendo, but I'll always hear his voice alone, calling out his individual song. In a choir of praise I enjoy the distinct voice of each one, as well as the blended chorus."   We are always 'one' to Him, even as we are part of The Bride, His Church...those of us who truly love Him with all we have within us. Let Him hear your voice in the morning, singing a song of affectionate praise, whether high or husky. He appreciates both your lone voice and the Chorus of thankfulness and worship arising from the earth. And don't forget to listen for the angels joining our song.

Crafting the Tiniest Details of Our Lives

   Last fall, during Advent, I 'happened' to begin reading Beth Moore's book, Jesus, the One and Only, as part of my time with the Lord in the morning.  As it 'happened,' the beginning of the book coincided perfectly with the timing of Advent (before Jesus's birth).  It was 'spot on' for the Scriptures we were reading in church.  Now that we are in a Lenten season, with Holy Week approaching...The Passover, the New Covenant, all that comes before our Lord's great sacrifice for us, it 'happens' that Beth's teaching is perfectly coinciding once again.  I love the way the Lord crafts the tiniest details of our circumstances to assure us that His attention and care are even at the level of counting the number of hairs on our heads. [All I know is the grey ones are falling out faster!]

   I want to encourage you to purchase this title right at this very moment (only$4.99 on Kindle) and jump into the Upper Room and dusty streets of Jerusalem with her. Her insights are fresh and new to me, despite decades of reading, listening, and learning about this pivotal, cataclysmic time in the history of our world.   Don't start at the beginning, though. Start now with Part 9. (The Lamb of God) on page 266.  You can go back to the beginning later.  Trust me, it will be well worth the journey.

[Jesus, the One and Only
Beth Moore]

Julie

Always Seeking Deeper

   Awhile ago, at our CEC women's retreat, I shared about Drawing Near to the Tender Heart and Hand of God.  This blog entry is especially for the women who shared a cabin porch with me at those times, but also for those men and women who, like them, are seeking a continually deeper relationship with Adonai (Abba, Yeshua, and Ruach Hakodesh).
 
More Scriptures on which to meditate:
   Isaiah 26:9   "Cause my soul to yearn for you in the night and to long for you in the morning."
   Isaiah 45:3. "I will give you treasures hoarded in the dark, secret riches hidden away, so that you will know that I, ADONAI, calling you by your name, am the God of Israel."
   John 17:3. "And eternal life is this:  to know You, the one true God, and him, whom You sent, Yeshua the Messiah."
   Colossians 3:1-2: "So if you were raised along with the Messiah, then seek the things above,
where the Messiah is sitting at the right hand of God. Focus your minds on the things above, not on things here on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with the Messiah in God." {Ask Him to show you pictures of all the ways you are hidden in Him, including in the light of His being}
   Colossians 3:10. "...[because you have] put on the new self, which is continually being renewed in fuller and fuller knowledge, closer and closer to the image of its Creator."
 
We can gain both wisdom and purity, practical sense and innocence (Matthew 10), daily direction and long-term vision, just by spending time with Him.  We don't dwell in an ethereal realm, but in an earthly one, where our jobs, relationships, and survival depend on wise, 'practical' actions. However, when we connect with our wise Father, spending significant chunks of time with Him each day in the realm of His Kingdom, we absorb His Personality, including His wise and discerning nature, as well
as His compassionate heart.  We become not naive, but innocent; not cynical but discerning.  We
walk in His Kingdom while we're walking on the earth, taking steps that bear fruit in people's earthly lives as well as their eternal ones.
*********************
The Hebrew word Shama means "listening with undivided attention."  Do it. 😊
See if He sends you on a 'word' treasure hunt through His Love Letters, after You lose Yourself in Him for awhile.

Some were asking for more worship songs....Here are a few that foster sweet intimacy and draw you up to Heaven. Please add your favorites in the Comments section at the end of this blog entry, and remember to 'sing Him a new song' of your own.

• Roy Fields:   Less of Me, Fill This Place, Majesty, In the Presence  of Angels
• Fernando Ortega:  Come Down, O Love Divine;  Give Me Jesus.....any of his
• ***Julie True:   Let My Life Be Worship, Father's Heart; Angels, We Invite You; Healing in Your Presence; and any others
• Michael W. Smith:  Take Me Over, Deep in Love With You, Son of God, Agnus Dei...
• Kari Jobe: Beloved, Beautiful; The More I Seek You; Here.....more, more, more
• Kirk Dearman: All Creation Worships You...
• Chris Rice   Untitled Hymn (Come to Jesus)...
• Selah:  Depth of Mercy; Draw Me, Lord; ....

Revealing the Father

   We all know well Yeshua's call: "Come to Me, all you who are struggling and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, because I am gentle and humble of heart, and you will find rest for your souls"  (Matthew 11:28-29). We may forget it from time to time, but we know it by heart.  What I have never really noticed before, is that this promise follows immediately after an integral statement about our Heavenly Father: "Indeed, no one fully knows the Son except the Father, and no one fully knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son wishes to reveal Him." (Verse 27)
  Yeshua always leads us to ADONAI, to our Abba. He embodies the Father to us and is the Bridge of open access to His heart. He carries us and lays us upon His chest. As Yeshua reveals His Father to us, we are immersed in a Love so great, so indescribable, that all the cares and struggles and concerns of our lives pale, recede, diminish, disappear in His Shalom that surpasses every bit of intellectual understanding we possess.  He is so much greater, so much bigger, so much more powerful than our problems. We are the 'apple of His eye.' What can the world truly do to us that matters more?

Known

   Recently I was reading in Thessalonians and came to Jesus' return 'in a fiery flame' with His angels....when we who are still on the earth and who believe and trust in Him will be there. I pictured myself in the grateful audience. Yet He turned to look at me tenderly. He knew me. He looked at each one of us personally, one by one, knowing and recognizing each individual who loved and trusted in Him.  We weren't a giant mass of humanity to Him but rather a huge group of beloved ones. It was as if a movie camera zoomed in, focusing on each detail....each wrinkled line on a face, each gleam in an eye, each quirky smile, each look of love.  We were Known. He had come for us....come to take us Home, where we belonged.  He was untouchable in His glory but reachable in the domain of His heart. "That's my Bridegroom!" we each shouted with proud and grateful abandon. "The One who loves me! Who's come to rescue me and take me home!" Home to be His bride, His friend, His confidant, His beneficiary, His sister, His brother, the Love of His life!"  On earth we were not ashamed to declare our love for Him. Now He was proudly claiming us for His own before all the world and His angels and before the very eyes of the Evil One, who was helpless to stop Him. Nothing and no one could separate us from Him or from the love of our Father found in and through Him. How lovely that we don't have to wait until His second coming to experience that love...nor to declare ours for Him.
(Romans 8: 31-38)

"Rejoice, rejoice believers and let your lights appear!
The evening is advancing and darker night is near.
The Bridegroom is arising and soon He will draw nigh.
Up, watch in expectation! At midnight comes the cry.

See that your lamps are burning; replenish them with oil
Look now for your salvation, the end of sin and toil
The watchers on the mountain proclaim the Bridegroom near;
Go meet him as he cometh with alleluias clear.

O wise and holy virgins, now raise your voices higher,
Until in songs of triumph ye meet the angel choir.
The marriage feast is waiting, the gates wide open stand;
Rise up, ye heirs of glory! The Bridegroom is at hand.

Our hope and expectation, O Jesus now appear;
Arise, thou Sun so longed for, O'er this benighted sphere!
With hearts and hands uplifted, we plead, O Lord, to see
The day of earth's redemption, and ever be with Thee!

-- Laurentius Laurentius, 1700; music (Greenland) by Joseph Haydn written for later translation in 1819

Yeshua and Pooh

   Did you ever play Pooh Sticks?  (If not, see "Pooh Invents a New Game and Eeyore Joins In" from The House at Pooh Corner. Only adults can fully appreciate the dry humor of these stories, by the way.) Recently I asked the Lord if He was a Pooh fan, if there would be a Hundred Acre Wood in Heaven, and, if so, could we walk together in it.  I sometimes see myself as either Pooh or Piglet with Him...or sometimes as Christopher Robin....sometimes as just myself....He and I walking hand in hand through the forest of large trees, the sun dappling the leaves as the branches wave gently to and fro, the breeze whispering in the deep quiet of His very personal and tender love.
   What surprised me was realizing how much He, also, enjoys such times....He remarked that He isn't simply fulfilling my request because I enjoy and find peace in these ramblings with Him. They are a delight to Him, as well.  His time is not limited, nor His space, as mine is.  He can enjoy this one-on-one, unhurried, stroll with me....and with you...as if we were the only one in the world.  Ask Him...reach out your hand to His extended one and experience the peace you find just being near Him in the pregnant silence.  No speaking required.  Just enjoy the pure pleasure of His company.
   Oh...and stop and play a game of Pooh Sticks while you're at it. He loves to watch, together, the river slipping slowly away beneath the bridge.

Dropping the Right Kind of Weight

     Have you resolved to lose weight this year...to get in shape...exercise more, as I have? This morning God reminded me that an even more important goal would be to seek to drop the weight of the world from my shoulders...to lose the fat of vapid and vacuous entertainment..or that which even burns violent and immoral images in my brain....To, instead, spend more time exercising my spirit and strengthening my soul by speaking forth the truth of His Word....To do a cleanse of my spiritual liver, which has gradually accumulated the toxins of anger, resentment, bitterness, discouragement, and deception which each year holds....To rediscover both His sense of humor and His joy, despite the circumstances around me....To meditate on and come to truly know Who He Is, drawing as close to His tender heart as possible, where His Shalom* of body, soul, and spirit lie.
    Yes, Lord, our bodies are the temples of Your Holy Spirit, and we should respect them and treat them well, in order 'to run the race to which You've called us.' But how we respect and treat the Time You've given us is even more important to our well-being and the fruitfulness of our numbered days on this earth. May we delight and please You by the way we unwrap each one of them, allowing You to pen future, meaningful chapters of our story.

*Shalom: "peace, tranquility, safety, well-being, health, contentment, success, comfort, wholeness, and integrity"

"Saw You Never in the Twilight"...an Advent Hymn

A little-known but beautiful hymn for Epiphany (today, January 6)   [tune in video below]

"Saw you never in the twilight, when the sun had left the skies
Up in heaven, the clear stars shining through the gloom like silver eyes?
So of old the wise men, watching, saw a little stranger star
And they knew the King was given, and they followed it from far.

Heard you never of the story how they crossed the desert wild
Journeyed on by plain and mountain, til they found the Holy Child?
How they opened all their treasure, kneeling to that infant King;
Gave the gold and fragrant incense, gave the myrrh in offering?

Know ye not that lowly baby was the bright and Morning Star?
He who came to light the Gentiles and the darkened isles afar?
And we, too, may seek His cradle; there our hearts' best treasures bring;
Love and faith and true devotion for our Savior, God and King."

--Cecil France's Alexander, 1853
5th Century French Melody