Faith is a Gift that takes Practice

A wise person once said to me, "There is no stagnant place in your relationship with Christ - either you are growing toward Him, or you are growing away from Him.  I have found that statement to be true and instructive.  

It is a joy to receive the aspects of this relationship where God is pouring out His grace upon me.  I receive that willingly and eagerly... but there in lies the difficulty... as I am receiving it, He asks me to grow in my ability to demonstrate the same, through my own life, towards others.  

Tension... Choices!!! 

I'm continually learning how to live in, and live out, this faith relationship.  

Here are a couple of nuggets to ponder:

The writer of Hebrews describes faith in this way:
Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen; it gives us assurance about things we cannot see.  HEBREWS 11:1

The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines faith in this way:
  1) allegiance to a duty or person
  2) fidelity to one's promises, sincerity of intentions

Faith requires trusting someone or trusting in something.  

It begs the question - is the object of our faith trustworthy?  This is truly the underlying question when it comes to matters of faith.  Throughout the New Testament it is evident that as people came to know who Jesus was, they put their faith in HIM.  Following Jesus' first miracle, this was the response of the disciples:

This, the first of his miraculous signs, Jesus performed at Cana in Galilee. He thus revealed his glory, and his disciples put their faith in him. JOHN 2:11

At another point, Jesus says to his disciples:  

I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.  JOHN 14:12

Believing that Jesus can do these things is one element of my faith, but believing that He will do these things through me is a whole other issue.  Faith invites me to go beyond believing in Jesus, that He is who he claims to be and believing in the things that He has done... TO believing Him when he says that I will be doing the things that He has been doing.  

For this... my faith requires practice!

Mission, Jesus style is a daily response to His invitation, as He asks those who believe to step out in faith.  Small steps are one matter, bigger steps take more trust and more courage, and each step provides the space for our faith in him grows as we reveal Him to others. 

Lord, may my heart be willing to take the

steps of faith that you have set before me today!

"As."  That two-letter word caught my curiosity today.  Check back later this week!

Preparing an Unlikely Missionary

I was in my late twenties when I sensed a calling from God to serve him in a more intentional way.  I can't explain it logically, I just knew that His Spirit was calling me in that direction.  As I took those first steps in timid obedience, I could have never dreamed what would unfold in the years to come.  The Lord was beginning to shape me into a missionary.

Missionary: a person undertaking a mission, especially a religious one.

My first mission field was a Sunday school class of 4 and 5 year old children.  The Lord knew that since I didn't yet know the stories that children learn from the Bible, that this would be a good way for me to learn them.  As I taught alongside an incredible mentor, I learned the stories of Noah, Abraham, Moses, David, Jesus and Paul as we prepared lessons for children.  

At the same time I was teaching aerobic classes, which I was to discover as my second mission field.  I genuinely loved these women.  We were together three mornings a week and journeyed together for about 18 years!  I was learning the ways of the Lord and sharing my journey. Friends share their joys and woes and sorrows, so I had many opportunities to extend loving care in these years. Without realizing it then, I was encouraging others in their faith.

All the while, I'm praying for the Lord to open a door to work in the church!

About 10 years into this journey, a training opportunity opens up!  I timidly inquire and enroll, only to find myself as the only woman studying with a group of men.  It's one of the few times in my life that I wanted to turn and run, but my instructors and the men were gracious and provided lots of encouragement. My missionary calling was becoming more clear.  


This led to a Master program in Christian Outreach at Concordia University in St. Paul Minnesota.  At this point I began to realize that maybe I had found my calling!  Three years of study and a Capstone Project the size of a PhD thesis were like summer camp.  I loved every minute of it!!!

The Lord was preparing a missionary

It was during this course of study that the concept of God's mission was introduced to me for the first time.  The Missio Dei - the mission of God.  I had not heard that before.  It would forever change my perspective on life!

Missio Dei: the mission of God.

The mission of God, Missio Dei, is evident from the creation of the world throughout eternity.  I understand the Missio Dei as God’s desire and action to have a close and personal relationship with His human creatures for all eternity.  As humans, we are challenged because the relationship intended at creation was broken.  From that point forward, God has been acting throughout history to bring His human creatures back into relationship with Him.  He is still acting for humankind, through those who know Him, to accomplish that mission today. 

I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone-- for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness.  This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all men--the testimony given in its proper time. 1 THESSALONIANS  2:1-6

Mission, Jesus style calls all people who know the Lord to
serve as missionaries within their network of relationships
so that all people would come to know him.    

I could have never imagined that one day I would be serving as a missionary in urban Baltimore, and helping to prepare others who will serve as missionaries in the places where they live, work and play.  It's not complicated...  What's necessary?

Love God - - Spend time in His Word - - Serve Others - - Help them do the same

In what ways are you being prepared to serve as a missionary
in your network of relationships?

Wildfire Season

The news of recent days has contained reports about massive fires burning in the West. Each year during wildfire season I think about what I would take with me if I ever had to suddenly evacuate my home because of pending disaster.  The short list is:

• People
• Pets
• Laptop
• Bible
• Pictures

Images like this burning house are a reminder of how suddenly life can change and how fragile the "stuff" we accumulate in our life can be.  Fire is all consuming!

I have spent the last couple of years helping my aging mother downsize.  It was a humbling experience as my brother and I worked to gracefully dispose of her treasured possessions.  

The Lord urges us to view life from an eternal perspective.  

Our time in this life is temporary.  The stuff we accumulate in this life can be lost in a moment.  The Lord calls us to be mindful and focused on those things that endure.  His Word tells us that created things can be shaken and removed, but the things of His Kingdom remain.  The way of the Kingdom is love.

We love because God first loved us.  1 JOHN 4:19

Mission, Jesus style calls us to sincere love from the heart 

Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for your brothers, love one another deeply, from the heart.  For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God.  For,

  "All men are like grass,

    and all their glory is like the flowers of the field;

  the grass withers and the flowers fall,

    but the word of the Lord stands forever."  1 Peter 1:22-25

Paul's great chapter on love, 1 Corinthians 13, is often read during marriage ceremonies.  It tells us that "love never fails."  It calls our attention to the eternal, enduring matters of life and instructs us that we can do all kinds of good things, but when they are not done with sincere love from the heart, they do not endure. 

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.  If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.  If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing. 1 CORINTHIANS 13:1-3

As the people of God spread HIS enduring love and grace to others around them, there is the potential for the Word of the Lord to spread rapidly.  

Let there be an outpouring of love today...

Love each one that God puts in front of you!

Farm Fences and Corn Rows

I live in the rural suburbs.  The remaining farms have soy beans, corn fields and pastures framed in fences.  We've had a steady amount of rain this summer, so the colors have remained exquisitely green!

As I was driving along a fence-lined field the other day, I was struck how it provided a visual reminder of the life of a disciple!

Eugene Peterson described discipleship as "a long obedience in the same direction." 

The rolling fence line that seemed to go on for miles has become a visual reminder of my walk with Christ.

The fence - a life, segmented by blocks of time, extending for years...

The rows of corn - planted as kernels of dried seed, that grow into tall stalks, which usually produce only one ear of corn...

one life to be lived...

I began to wonder...How am I spending these segments of time?  The following day I spent time with some friends.  We talked about life and ministry and making a difference. If we don't live intentionally, it's hard to think that in one or two generations, just 50 years, only our family will remember our name.  But...a life lived to intentionally make a difference for the generations to come will leave a legacy.  

It made me think about something Jesus said: 
" I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds."  JOHN 12:24 

Paul said it this way:
" If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves." PHILIPPIANS 2:1-3 

Mission, Jesus style calls for perseverance... a long obedience in the same direction.  Like a fence, we're called to be consistent, even though there will be ups and downs.  

We're called to spend our days for the good of another.  When we invest in other people's lives for eternal purposes, our lives have impact that lasts beyond our lifespan.

Like a broken section of fence, our lives can have periods of inconsistency or brokenness, but that doesn't impact the entire fence line.  The next section can be solid.  

Broken sections can be mended and there can be a long span of living on purpose after the repair work is done.  

Imagine your life like the stalk of corn.  

One stalk...one life.  

Each one does not stand alone, but alongside many others.  As the stalk grows and matures, it produces an ear of corn with many kernels.  As the ear matures, each of those kernels has the potential to produce another stalk and ear of corn.  




Imagine that each of the kernels are the lives of people with whom you come into contact during your lifetime. You have the opportunity to share God's love so they can know the Lord and help each one grow and mature.  When that person grows in the way of the Lord, they have been planted as a new stalk.  That kernel then has the potential to produce another "ear-full" of people who know the Lord.

Mission, Jesus style calls us to live for the eternal well-being of others,,, to live our lifespan on purpose... to grow and mature in the ways of the Lord... to help others know the Lord... and to journey next to each other as we mature together.

...living a long obedience in the same direction!

Rescue & Recovery

I was watching something yesterday evening that used the illustration of the catastrophe and chaos following a 7.5 magnitude earthquake, comparing it to the cultural earthquake that has happened in the western world. 

The question posed was...

If there was complete devastation and you were part of the rescue and recovery team, what would you do?

I imagine we would move into action! A team would form and each person would do their part.  Each one would be focused on the task at hand, doing what they could to help others:

• removing debris 
• giving aid to the injured 
• encouraging those who are stuck
• using all the available resources
• praying for a good outcome

A disaster calls for full engagement!

The whole community moves into action, doing whatever they can to help.  Special resources, like search and rescue dogs, are mobilized.  Attention is focused, the workers are doing their part and the onlookers are praying.



Working in the city, I see all kinds of devastation.  Some is obvious like homelessness, poverty, disease and crime.  However, the observable is only a manifestation of the desperation that lives in the human heart.  Every person I've met, regardless of their circumstances, has hopes and dreams.  Some have been realized and some have been shattered.  Some people are resilient, but some lose hope and move to despair.
  

The Lord is on a rescue mission, restoring hope!  

And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.  ROMANS 5:6-8

Mission, Jesus style calls those who know Him to be part of the search and rescue team - - called into action, helping all people to know the love that the Father has for them.

The Lord spoke these words to Paul:

I will rescue you from your own people and from the Gentiles. I am sending you to them to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.'  ACTS 26:17

The Lord speaks these words to every believer:

Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it. 1 CORINTHIANS 12:27

From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.  EPHESIANS 4:16

The members of the Lord's rescue team speak these words back to Him:

To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood, and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father--to him be glory and power for ever and ever! Amen.  REVELATION 1:5-6

Each day, I'm learning to be a better
member of the Lord's rescue team.  

Will you join me?

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Reflections

Reflections...

...beautiful images come to my mind!

Some are clear...

Some are distorted...

In most cases, you can gain a sense of
the original image in the reflection.

When it comes to living as a redeemed child of God, it's the same in many ways, there are times we reflect Him more accurately than others.
Humans were made in the image of God, made to reflect Him to each other.  

And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.  2 CORINTHIANS 3:18

As I interact with people, how well am I reflecting the Lord to them?

Today, when we do good things, most people don't recognize that as a reflection of God in us, they see us as being a "good person."  Several years ago I began to wonder how to communicate in such a way that others would know that it is my relationship with the Lord that makes the difference.

...are we being merely "good" people,
or letting others know we are "God's People" ?

Mission, Jesus style calls us to always give credit to the Lord.  When I take the credit for God's work in me, I'm not reflecting Him accurately.  It makes me think of a conversation between Phillip and Jesus, when Philip said, "Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us."

Jesus answered: "Don't you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, `Show us the Father'?  Don't you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you are not just my own. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work.  JOHN 14:9-10

Jesus always pointed people to the work of the Father.  Although He was God, Jesus continually provided examples of how to give glory to the Father, to help people know of His goodness and the love he pours out for His creation.  

The writer of Hebrews tells us:
The Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. HEBREWS 1:3 

Jesus prayer is that those who know Him will reflect the Father,
just like He has

"My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. JOHN 17:20-23


As a redeemed child of God, I am part of the Body of Christ, the church, whose purpose is to reflect Him well and make Him known.  Paul writes:

Although I am less than the least of all God's people, this grace was given me: to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to make plain to everyone the administration of this mystery, which for ages past was kept hidden in God, who created all things. His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms, according to his eternal purpose which he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord. EPHESIANS 3:8-11 

Lord, I pray that I will reflect upon you well today 

and give credit of Your glory, where credit is due.

Limit Your Intake of Processed Food

One of the best parts of summer where I live is the access to fresh farm produce. There are farm stands on many of the country roads and in the city neighborhoods.  Corn, melons, zucchini, tomatoes, peaches, peppers...straight from the field and a source of great nutrition.  Nutrition experts all agree that processed food does not carry the same nutritional punch as farm fresh produce.  

We live in a time where nutrition is frequently in the media. Supporting local sustainable farming is a popular topic.  In one article it was said:

"Purchasing local food makes you feel all warm and fuzzy inside."

The Word of God is like that too!  It's best and most beneficial when it's picked straight off the vine, just like produce.  

Jesus says "I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.  I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.   JOHN 15:1-5

The Word of God is like fresh produce for the soul.  I'm thankful if you are reading this blog and post and I pray it encourages you, but in a way it's like processed food, and we miss out on some of the nutritional value that God has especially for each one individually. 

There is no better teacher than the Lord himself!  He knows you individually and personally, so as you digest the Word for yourself, he'll provide insights that are just for you.  



All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.  2 Timothy 3:16-17

For your heavenly GPS (that I wrote about yesterday) to work at optimum capacity, it needs to be directly connected to the power supply.  There are great resources available to help you, like a 365 Day Reading Plan.  There are a couple of different plans to choose from.  Just sign up and you'll receive an email each day with the verses for that day.  

Make sure you eat fresh fruit and vegetables every day!

Feed on the Word, direct from the source, every day!