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"