"They celebrate your abundant goodness and joyfully sing of your righteousness." Psalm 145:7 (NIV)
Today I wanted to take a few minutes to do just what Psalms 145 says, celebrate your abundant goodness.
Over this past year, I have been so ridiculously blessed.
It all started with the opportunity to go to New Zealand. Strategically, God used the people around me to help me get there. He sent me the Frasiers to help me fall in love with the beauty of the country to get me to even consider studying abroad. He sent me Shelby, one of the best friends anyone could ever ask for, as a travel companion and new bosom friend.
Even the act of taking me away from Fort Collins was a blessing. It gave me an easy way out of an unhealthy relationship and a horrible living environment in which I wouldn't have had the courage to leave on my own. God is so faithful and knows what he's doing even when I don't.
And when the time came, He safely carried us around to the other side of the world where God took me out of my element and really helped me discover who I was meant to be.
While in New Zealand, He shock the ground beneath me, literally. Although it was on my bucketlist to experience natural disasters, I was not prepared for this foundation that I considered to be stable, to shift and move beneath my feet, topple buildings, bring down walls and end the lives of almost two hundred people. Looking back now though, it was a step along my journey.
What I am most thankful for however, is how God worked on my heart. Being so far away from home, I couldn't turn to a lot of my normal crutches when I was hurting so I ended up working through a lot of really tough stuff that I had been covering up with friends, food and fake happiness. Throughout this journey, I learned the most important thing, GOD LOVES ME! All my life I believed that God loved everyone (Hitler, Murderers, people who hurt me, etc.), but I never truly believed that I was Worthy of His love. In fact, I know I still don't deserve His love, BUT He pours it over me, drowning my doubts because I am His child. He created me, adopted me and washed away every sin that separated us with the blood of His innocent son because He loved/loves/will love me forever. Even when I ran from Him feverishly, threw my hurt and hatred in His face and tried to pretend like He didn't exist, He was loving me more than I can ever imagine.
I also learned how to value my family. For years I had been dishonoring my parents, judging my sisters, and taking them all for granted. Talking to Drew Butcher and his family helped me realize how hurtful this was. When you judge, you can't love. When you push people away, they can't get close. I learned about my families love languages and how they had loved me without me even knowing it because their love languages were different than mine. I am so thankful that I've begun to realize the value of my family before it's too late. I love them dearly.
Upon returning home, I have continued to see God's hand of blessing work in my life. I got to spend almost all summer at home with my parents, mending brokenness and creating relationships that I wouldn't trade for all the world's riches now. I was also blessed to be able to take the summer off from working and spend time with my little sister and Daddy God. This time was so great and really helped renew my spirit and prepare me for going back to school. AND MY LITTLE SISTER GAVE HER LIFE TO CHRIST!!!!!!! Yeah, God is Good, all the time!
When it came time to go back to school, my parents were able to bring me up to Ft. Collins where they helped me move in to a new apartment with two amazing roommates. Living in this cozy little home, has been yet another blessing in my life. My roommates are amazing.
The first day I moved in, one of my roommate's dad passed away, beating cancer by starving it of earthly life. As hard as it was on her, I know that is was a blessing that he was able to stop suffering and go be with God. This was also an opportunity for me to use my life's experiences. Having dealt with the loss of loved ones, I really felt like God was using me and showing me how he had prepared me for his tasks. When she needed to talk, He gave me the patients to listen with a closed mouth. When she needed to be angry, He gave me calmness and understanding to allow her to blow up without feeling hurt. When she needed to have time to herself, He gave me comfort knowing that she would be okay.
My other roommate, has also been a huge blessing. Our late night talks have given me a glimpse into her beautiful heart that yearns to heal others with her career. Although her quest to be a foreign doctor is not the same as mine, it's been amazing to learn how she thinks and how much her faith has played a part in her life. I have also loved being able to watch her and her boyfriend as they model a Christian relationship. It has been so encouraging to see how putting Christ in the center has helped their relationship flourish.
Although it has been hard to be around couples during this season of singleness, learning how to be content with being myself without someone else, it has been good for me. And I know someday, God will bless me with the relationship He has given me the yearning for, in His own, perfect, timing.
Time and time again this year, God has shown me how waiting on Him and His plans works out a thousand times better than trying to do things on my own. So until next time, I will be waiting on Him <3
In Christ’s Love,
Liza –a daughter of the King <3
Saturday, December 17, 2011
Friday, December 16, 2011
Chisel Me....
There are few videos that have influenced me as much as this one. At least once every couple weeks, I watch this video. It is full of so much goodness, so much God-ness.
I am not junk. God made me a masterpiece. Eph. 4:10
I have baggage that God can take away, but I have to LET GO of the controls.
There's no better time to change than right now.....in this moment, in this situation.
I want people to see God and His glory when they look at how He uses my life.
No pain I can go through would ever compare to the pain that God has experienced.
My thoughts are not God's thoughts.
God has made me good.
No matter what, God does understand.
I can't let down God because I never carried Him. He carries me.
God is a name above all names.
GOD LOVES ME TOO MUCH TO LEAVE ME WHERE I'M AT <3
I am not junk. God made me a masterpiece. Eph. 4:10
I have baggage that God can take away, but I have to LET GO of the controls.
There's no better time to change than right now.....in this moment, in this situation.
I want people to see God and His glory when they look at how He uses my life.
No pain I can go through would ever compare to the pain that God has experienced.
My thoughts are not God's thoughts.
God has made me good.
No matter what, God does understand.
I can't let down God because I never carried Him. He carries me.
God is a name above all names.
GOD LOVES ME TOO MUCH TO LEAVE ME WHERE I'M AT <3
Thursday, July 7, 2011
Feasting on the Fast
So today’s task for the Boundless Summer Challenge was to listen to an online message about fasting and then fast….
Unfortunately for me, I didn’t check the message until after lunch. Immediately, I was a little disappointed. As some of you may know, I am already fasting sugar/sweets, breads and pastas. I am doing this fast because I know that these are the things that I turn to and indulge in instead of turning to God. After reading the message, my first instinct was “well… I better go eat some food before I stop eating,” and I know this is the wrong way of thinking about fasting because I have fasted before. Admittedly, I did snack this afternoon as a “build up” for fasting but more because I was bored than because I was hungry. When I got home though, I decided that I would continue my fast through tomorrow because I had cheated God and myself out of spending time together, without food covering up issues that needed to be brought to the surface.
After making this decision, I figured I should listen to the message about fasting. Although I doubted that I would hear anything I hadn’t already heard, I thought it would be important to be faithful to the commitment to complete this challenge without cheating. Oh God, you are so good! Thank you for providing such a wonderful message.
Today’s message was a sermon by John Piper titled “Man Shall Not Live on Bread Alone”…. And I needed to hear it!
Matthew 3:16 through 4:4
Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.”
Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”
When looking at this passage, John Piper (J.P.) started off with the point that physically painful situations (like extended fasting) are not punishments from God because he is displeased with us. We know this because a voice from heaven came down to Jesus and said “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased,” and then the Spirit lead him into the wilderness to be tested. God was not mad at Jesus. He is also calling me to fast because he delights in me and wants to grow closer with me, not because he is mad at me. This is important for me to remember because I yearn to approach fasting with a joyful heart.
Next, J.P. talked about the how important it is to fast because fasting teaches us what controls us. In my own life, I have used food to cover up a multitude of internal problems. I have turned to food for comfort when I’m hurting, to reward/motivate myself, to relive my favorite memories, to rebel, and just as today, when I’m bored as a time filler. Fasting however brings up the question “what do I do with my dissatisfaction when I don’t have supper to look forward to?” At times when we are fasting, we become angry but not because the hunger is truly unbearable. No, we become angry because there is a angry spirit within us that without food, is revealed. I have seen this in my own life as I was fasting in New Zealand. It was super powerful!
Throughout the bible, fasting can be seen as a very powerful experience. In Psalm 35 David tells us that he humbled himself with fasting, showing yet another benefit of this “ancient practice”. After Saul of Tarsus, a murderer of Christians, was confronted by God on the way to Damascus, he did not eat or drink anything for 3 days, fasting, as He tried to understand what had happened, searching to understand God. P.s. This guy became Paul, one of the 12. Another example of fasting in the bible is Ester as she prepared to speak to save the lives of her people. On the other hand, Jesus defended the disciples, saying they didn’t need to fast while the bride groom (Jesus) was with them, but after Jesus left, they fasted.
Turning back to Matthew 4 however, there is a lot to learn in just these few verses. When Jesus is tested by the devil and he temps his to simply turn the rock into bread, Jesus quotes Deuteronomy 8. Now, J.P brings up that there may be a very specific reason for quoting from Deuteronomy, because of the similarities between the situation as the people in Deuteronomy wandering around in the dessert as they wait to enter the promise land and Jesus’ situation as he is tested by the devil .
Here are just a few of them:
- Both led into the wilderness by the Spirit
-Forty years in the wilderness – Forty days fasting in the wilderness
-Testing in Deuteronomy 8 = same Greek word as tempting in Matthew 4
-Both caused hunger
- Joshua led out of promise land= Jesus is the same Greek word as Joshua and both are leading to a promised land…. Jesus’ promise land is just forever.
(If you want to see these comparisons better, look at the notes or listen to the sermon here….. he does a much better job at explaining this than I have tonight)
J.P. Makes three other really important points that really stick out to me.
1. Fasting can be used to prepare for tests but fasting in itself is also a test. When we succeed, it makes Satan mad; when we fail, God still loves us.
2. The Devil tries to use a twisted view of God against us. When the devil temps Jesus, he suggests that Jesus just turn the stone into bread. This may be an example of the Devil playing on how God satisfied the hunger of his people wandering in the dessert with manna so it’s “okay” for Jesus to do this and not be cheating. Jesus knows the reality of it all however and refuses to turn to anything but the Lord. Our thinking should not be “I’ll turn to manna instead of bread.” It should be “I turn to God, instead of Manna, instead of Bread. (This brings up another issue of substituting one addiction for another…. )
3. God fed the hunger of his people with manna they did not know. Often we doubt what God can do because we limit him with the things we think could fix the problem. God has this “super power” however to satisfy our utmost being with things that we don’t know of or understand. He is not limited by what we have in this world, our tools, our technologies, or our faith. Also, Jesus said that that man does not live by bread alone but by everything that comes out of his mouth. What comes out of God’s mouth? Everything that is of God.
So tomorrow, I will be feasting on the fast with the Father…. With a joyful heart <3
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
Confession and Forgiveness
For today’s task, we were challenged to look at God’s Holiness with this as our guiding verse…..
Isaiah 6:1-5
Isaiah’s Commission
1 In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a throne; and the train of his robe filled the temple. 2 Above him were seraphim, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. 3 And they were calling to one another:
“Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty;
the whole earth is full of his glory.”
the whole earth is full of his glory.”
4 At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke.
5 “Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty.”
Now if you’re like me, these words crushed me. If someone like Isaiah felt unclean before God, how could I ever measure up to anything with my layers and layers of sins from the last 20 years? The point of this task however, was not to condemn the sinner’s spirit as “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23).
Instead, today provided me a chance to look at my life, recognize my sinfulness and confess these sins to Him. Since being in New Zealand this last semester, I have worked to etch the words of Psalm 139:23-24 on my heart and make that my cry to the Lord.
“Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting”
As I prayed this throughout the day, my faithful Father did just that; He searched my heart and revealed what seemed to be pages and pages of offensive ways in me. As this task suggested, I wrote down these instances and feelings that I needed forgiveness for and one by one, I prayed through the short list.
The coolest part of this task however, was after confessing the sins on these pieces of paper, and asking for forgiveness, I could throw them away. Poof! They are gone. God forgave me and I could feel the weight being lifted off my heart. I no longer have to carry these sins around with me, weighing me down and dragging me through the dirt that makes me feel worthless and filthy.
Confession and forgiveness are necessary for my faith walk because without them, I feel so distant from God; I feel like Isaiah. I am unworthy and He is Holy. His Holiness has set Him apart from me but His grace has bridged the gap so I can be with Him. In order to grow closer with God and have the deep, all-consuming relationship that I yearn to have, I have to see myself the way God sees me, not as the filth that I feel like when I fail to do what He wants me to do for my life.
On that note, I think it is important to hear the wonderful news from verses 6-8
6 Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. 7 With it he touched my mouth and said, “See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.” 8 Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?”
And I said, “Here am I. Send me!”
See!!!! So exciting! He forgives! And now I want to be sent out for Him. <3
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
Character of God
So..... I recently stated The Boundless Summer Challenge. Each day, they post a task that will challenge the participants to dig deeper and grow, with a focus this summer on relationships.
Today's task: Looking at the character of God
Isaiah 40:25 says.... “To whom will you compare me? Or who is my equal?” says the Holy One.
Now, instinctively when I close my eyes and think of God, I see my Daddy as:
§ pure/unselfish love
§ strengh = massive arms, broad sholders, thick fingers, and massive feet in sandals popping out from under a blinding white robe
§ forgiveness - truly forgiving and FORGETING as my bloody hands are washed white and clean
§ singing over me with a voice more beautiful than Josh Groban, Charlotte Church, or Hayley Westenra
§ hugging me and lifting me up in his arms effortlessly, holding me close so I can feel his heart beating and his chest raising and falling as he breathes in and out, comforting me
§ cradling me in his wings and feeling completely safe as I sit in the shadow of his wings
§ speaking softly, whispering that he loves me
§ shouting loudly that he loves me!
§ carrying me as I weep from pain
§ a jealous God who wants to be with me every second
§ unselfishness to the utmost degree (sending his son)
§ counting the number of hairs on my head
§ his hands crafting my body together like a potter working with clay and then smiling with delight at the finished product
§ holding back and throwing off the world when it gets to be too much............... like in this video!!! So Good!!!! ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U_M33GcJAmU )
But God is so much more than that! Even after reading Isaiah 40:25, I can see how I envision God with all these humanly characteristics, putting in a box and placing limits on a limitless, boxless God! I mean in reality, God in all his Glory can't be contained in the universe that I can't fathom, let alone a gigantic box.
Although I don't fully (or even partially) understand all the characteristics of my amazing Father, today's task challenged me to look through Isaiah 40 for the characteristics of God that I've been missing/forgetting.
After several read-throughs, this is the list I got:
§ Comforter to all (v.1)
§ a tender voice (v.2)
§ gracious and giving (v.2)
§ forgiving (v.2)
§ one to be glorified by all things, including the land (v.5)
§ ultimate control (breath of God) (v.7)
§ Never ending wisdom (v.8)
§ Sovereign (v.10)
§ powerful, mighty arms (v. 10)
§ Sheppard to his flock (v.11)
§ carries in his arms, close to his heart (v.11)
§ gentle leader (v.11)
§ creator and controller of everything in the world (v.12)
§ unfathomable (v.13)
§ unteachable (v. 14)
§ untaught, unenlightened genious beyond comparison (v. 14)
§ does not need us (v. 15-17)
§ incomparable (v. 18-20)
§ enthroned above the circle of earth (v. 22)
§ builder of the heavens (v.22)
§ the sower and the reaper (v. 24)
§ unforgetful, mighty and powerful (v. 26)
§ everlasting, creator of the ends of the earth (v.28)
§ one that does not grow weary or tired EVER (v. 28)
§ understanding beyond what we can fathom (v. 28)
§ giver of strength and power (v. 29)
§ renewer of strength (v. 31)
It's crazy how many times I have read this chapter and never noticed some of these characteristics. Of the ones I listed, I think I often over look the bolded bullet points and as part of today’s task, I wanted to look at why.
First, God is in ultimate control. Sometimes I try to take this control myself only to fall on my face and be picked back up in His loving arms and realize that He was in complete control the whole time. Even when I made my list of how I saw God, I left out that He is, always has been and always will be in control, clearly showing how I often leave out this vital characteristic in my mind.
Next, verses 14-17 really just spoke to me about how truly all knowing God is. There is nothing I can teach Him. He simply IS the all-knowing teacher. This is another point I forgot because I have been stubborn. At times , I have convinced myself that God messed up and I need to teach Him how to do His job, or how life should really be going. I have dishonored Him and judged His actions as wrong when I know nothing in comparison to Him. I have believed that the “world revolves around me” when in reality, I am not even a “drop in the bucket” (BUT I am a loved not-even-a-drop-in-the-bucket!) God does not NEED me, but he chose me anyways and He delights in me.
My Daddy is also incomparable. Verses 18 through 20 clearly state that nothing can be compared to Him. Idols, no matter their material or craftsmanship are nothing compared to God. I often find myself forgetting this though. No, I do not have a Baal statue in my house, but I have had idols. I have “worshiped” the sound of my own voice when I should have been listening to God. I have “worshiped” food, gorging myself with crap that will not fill me. I have turned to people and activities instead of God because I somehow thought that my problems were too big (or too small) for Him in essence making these things the rulers of my life instead of God. This is something I am not proud of and I suspect that is why I initially left this characteristic out of my list.
Isaiah 40 also talks about how God is the sower and the reaper. While I often think of God as the creator, I tend to forget that He has control of every stage of this earth. This goes back to the first point I talked about and how I try don’t always see God as having ultimate control. ( As this seems to be a reoccurring theme, I really need to work on this!)
In verse 26, it talks about how God calls out the stars in the sky, remembering them all. That is because God is not forgetful. I often find myself thinking that God must have somehow forgotten about me because I hurt but really, it is me that forgets. How often have I received bad news and only after exhausting all the other options, finally turn to God in prayer when I should have turned to Him first? Too many times to count. I have forgotten His promises, I have forgotten my identity in Christ, I have forgotten to turn to Him, but my Daddy has never forgotten me.
Last of all, the bottom 4 verses truly reveal a part of God that I have overlooked. In verse 28 it says He does not grow weary or tired. In my mind however, I always picture God as a man, a person that needs a break, needs sleep, and a time to renew His strength, BUT HE DOESN’T! He doesn’t miss anything. Good, Bad, Ugly, Beautiful…. He sees it all. His understanding is beyond what we can fathom and because of that, I think we often fall back to these human views of God because we lack this understanding. We can’t see His plan. Last of all, verses 29-31 talk about how God is a GIVER of strength and power. After finally starting to understand how perfect and never-ending His strength is, THIS IS JUST AMAZING! In order to give something, you must have it, so that means He’s giving His strength and His power. AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Thank you God for your strength “to soar on wings like eagles” even when I epically fail to remember where my strength comes from <3 I love the pieces of you that I have begun to understand and I pray Lord that you would show me more of who you are so that I can be more like you in my relationships here on earth and grow in my relationship with you.
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Prodigal Son---> Good Good Daddy and Orphan Mentality Children
The Parable of the Prodigal Son
Luke 15:11-32 (READ HERE)
After going to the Saturday night service at Resurrection Fellowship, one of my adopted mom's, Karla P., sent me a message suggesting that I listen to the message she had heard at church. Seeing as how deeply respect Karla's spiritual guidance and I was planning on having a half day (aka an all morning date with God), I thought it sounded great!
When I got online and started listening, the message really hit home; Pastor Mike Olson was talking about the orphan mentality. Now I know I must have heard sermons on this passage in the past or read it at some point in time because I could tell you exactly how it went. A father had two sons. The younger son got tired of living in his father's house and took his inheritance money and wasted it. When he ran out of money, he hired himself out to work feeding pigs while still starving himself. After a while, he remembered that his dad treated his slaves better and returned home to beg his father to let him be a slave. Once he returned however, his father took him back as his son and threw a big party for the younger son. This made the older brother mad because he had worked for his father all his life. When he confronted his father about why he was throwing a party for the son who had wasted his inheritance while never even giving him a goat, the father replied that everything he had already belonged to his son.
THE DADDY
Ahhh!!!! Just thinking about this story makes my heart happy because I can look at it and see the father as THE FATHER, my unconditionally loving daddy that delights in me. Before learning about the father heart of God, I somehow missed the point that the father = God. Instead, I thought of it as perfect example of what a parent should be and I compared the adults in my life to him. This sermon really highlighted one of the issues that I have been working on lately; I've expected perfection from my parents when I already have a perfect Father, but just like I've done in the past with this passage, I sometimes miss seeing Him in the story of life. For I know the verse "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23) but my head still judges and expects perfection from myself and the people around me.... but God and I are working on that :0)
ORPHAN #1
Now the next character that Pastor Mike talked about was the younger son. After taking his inheritance, he ran from his father's house where he went wild and crazy until he was left with nothing. Then, when he was starving, he remembered his father and tried to think up ways to work his way back into his father's house. Ding, Ding, Ding!!!! Does this sound like anyone you know? I know this sounds like me during periods of my life. I've run from God and used what He's blessed me with only to be left feeling hungry and starving for something more but not feeling like I deserve it so I feel like I need to "work" my way back to God. This is what you would call the orphan mentality. When the younger son goes to his father, he is planning on saying "I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired servants" (Luke 15:19).
When the father saw his son, he ran to him with compassion and hugged and kissed him. When the son gave his rehearsed speech about becoming a slave for his father, the father let him speak but the words fell from his ears and he didn't give the idea of his SON being a servant even one thought. Instead, he sent for the best robe to cover up his beloved son. The father placed his ring on his son's finger and shoes upon his feet. After his son had been clothed, the father ordered that the fattened calf be killed so they could celebrate the return of his lost son.
To me this just speaks volumes about the Father's heart. His first priority was to cover up stink and the filth of his child but not because he was embarrassed by it; the father was covering up his son so the son would not be embarrassed by it. The robe is like grace, completely covering the sin and filth that the devil uses to create this orphan mentality that we are not worthy of his love, but God steps in and gives us the best robe, aka Jesus, and says I love you. Then the father puts his ring on the son's hand. This is to show the son that he is family not an orphan, a treasured possession that he wants to lavish over and bless. The father continues to cloth his son by putting sandals on his son's feet. This is important because slaves did not wear shoes, yet again affirming that this was his son not a slave. Then, to top it all off, he has the very best animal slaughtered and prepared to feed the starving son and celebrate his return because the father is so ridiculously happy that his son has returned. This just goes to show no matter what we do, the Lord LOVES when we return back to Him. He loves us so much that He will provide for our needs and bless us with His best.
ORPHAN #2
After the party gets started, the older brother came in from working in the fields and asks what's going on. When he finds out that his brother has returned, instead of being ecstatic like his father, the son is angry and refuses to go in to talk to his father, so the father comes out to talk with the older son. In Luke 15:29-30 the older son says "Look! All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!"
Now I don't know about you, but I can relate to this orphan spirit, too. Sometimes I look around and I feel cheated. I see people who can pick up a musical instrument and effortlessly make beautiful music and think "Why didn't you give me that gift Lord?" as I struggle to play chop sticks on the piano. Or I look at the people who have been blessed with money, waste it and then receive a windfall inheritance while many of my Christian friends struggle to keep more than a few cents in their bank accounts at the end of the month, but they faithfully give from what they have. Whether it is money or gifts, I often find myself looking at what others have and how they have used what they have been giving and get jealous. Just like the son in this story, I can be the stubborn one who refuses to go into the tent to talk to the father about it. Thank you Jesus for being willing to come to me!!!
The orphan mentality really gets in the way of this second son though. He tells his father that he was worked hard and didn't even get a goat to share with his friends. In his mind, his obedience and works have made him WAY more worthy of a feast that his younger brother who ran away and wasted his inheritance on earthly pleasures only to come crawling back. This is part of the orphan mentality because the son believes that he has to be obedient to receive blessings from the father. Obedience however does NOT equal a relationship! The father doesn't get mad at his son though, because he loves his oldest son just as much as he loves his younger son. After the father lets the son vent his anger and jealousy, he tells his son in Luke 15: 31 "...you are always with me, and everything I have is yours." The eldest son had never realized that everything his father had was his because his orphan mentality hadn't allowed him to and had made him believer that he had to work every day so that one day he would be worthy of his inheritance.
The JOY!
In the last verse of this passage, the father says to the older son "But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found." (Luke 15: 32) Now there are two major points I found when I was looking at this verse that I'd never noticed. First, the father said "this brother of yours" while back in verse 30 the son refers to his brother as "this son of yours". While the brother was trying to distance himself from his brother, the father wanted his eldest son to remember that this was his brother and he should be joyful that he had returned. Growing up with three sisters, I admit that I have not always been happy for them when I should have been. I have let my jealousy get in the way of loving them like Jesus would have but God understands my faults, makes them known to me so I can work with Him to correct them and then he forgives me; Thank you Jesus!
The other part that really stood out to me from this verse was how much the father just wanted to celebrate with everyone that his son had returned. He didn't go out to the older son and say "You know Jo Bob did this and this and this and I'm really disappointed in him but I'm his father so I have to love him anyways". Nope! God didn't do that. He didn't bring up the son's sins because they were forgiven. He simply cried out for his children to unite and celebrate together that one of them had turned back to him. God is so good, and He has every right to judge and cut down his children for their disobedience, but he just wants to love on them when they turn back to him. The Lord wants us to rejoice when people turn to him and become alive just like he does.
To sum it all up:
1. God is a perfect daddy
2. Even when we run away, God calls us back to be his children, not orphans
3. Obedience doesn't equal a relationship
4. We can't earn our given inheritance (heaven)
5. Rejoice and Unite when people turn to God because that's what He's doing
6. God is Fan-tab-u-lously Amazingly Awesome.... just throwing that one out there :0)
"Victory comes from you, O Lord. May you bless your people." - Psalm 3:8 Blessings <+3
Luke 15:11-32 (READ HERE)
After going to the Saturday night service at Resurrection Fellowship, one of my adopted mom's, Karla P., sent me a message suggesting that I listen to the message she had heard at church. Seeing as how deeply respect Karla's spiritual guidance and I was planning on having a half day (aka an all morning date with God), I thought it sounded great!
When I got online and started listening, the message really hit home; Pastor Mike Olson was talking about the orphan mentality. Now I know I must have heard sermons on this passage in the past or read it at some point in time because I could tell you exactly how it went. A father had two sons. The younger son got tired of living in his father's house and took his inheritance money and wasted it. When he ran out of money, he hired himself out to work feeding pigs while still starving himself. After a while, he remembered that his dad treated his slaves better and returned home to beg his father to let him be a slave. Once he returned however, his father took him back as his son and threw a big party for the younger son. This made the older brother mad because he had worked for his father all his life. When he confronted his father about why he was throwing a party for the son who had wasted his inheritance while never even giving him a goat, the father replied that everything he had already belonged to his son.
THE DADDY
Ahhh!!!! Just thinking about this story makes my heart happy because I can look at it and see the father as THE FATHER, my unconditionally loving daddy that delights in me. Before learning about the father heart of God, I somehow missed the point that the father = God. Instead, I thought of it as perfect example of what a parent should be and I compared the adults in my life to him. This sermon really highlighted one of the issues that I have been working on lately; I've expected perfection from my parents when I already have a perfect Father, but just like I've done in the past with this passage, I sometimes miss seeing Him in the story of life. For I know the verse "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23) but my head still judges and expects perfection from myself and the people around me.... but God and I are working on that :0)
ORPHAN #1
Now the next character that Pastor Mike talked about was the younger son. After taking his inheritance, he ran from his father's house where he went wild and crazy until he was left with nothing. Then, when he was starving, he remembered his father and tried to think up ways to work his way back into his father's house. Ding, Ding, Ding!!!! Does this sound like anyone you know? I know this sounds like me during periods of my life. I've run from God and used what He's blessed me with only to be left feeling hungry and starving for something more but not feeling like I deserve it so I feel like I need to "work" my way back to God. This is what you would call the orphan mentality. When the younger son goes to his father, he is planning on saying "I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired servants" (Luke 15:19).
When the father saw his son, he ran to him with compassion and hugged and kissed him. When the son gave his rehearsed speech about becoming a slave for his father, the father let him speak but the words fell from his ears and he didn't give the idea of his SON being a servant even one thought. Instead, he sent for the best robe to cover up his beloved son. The father placed his ring on his son's finger and shoes upon his feet. After his son had been clothed, the father ordered that the fattened calf be killed so they could celebrate the return of his lost son.
To me this just speaks volumes about the Father's heart. His first priority was to cover up stink and the filth of his child but not because he was embarrassed by it; the father was covering up his son so the son would not be embarrassed by it. The robe is like grace, completely covering the sin and filth that the devil uses to create this orphan mentality that we are not worthy of his love, but God steps in and gives us the best robe, aka Jesus, and says I love you. Then the father puts his ring on the son's hand. This is to show the son that he is family not an orphan, a treasured possession that he wants to lavish over and bless. The father continues to cloth his son by putting sandals on his son's feet. This is important because slaves did not wear shoes, yet again affirming that this was his son not a slave. Then, to top it all off, he has the very best animal slaughtered and prepared to feed the starving son and celebrate his return because the father is so ridiculously happy that his son has returned. This just goes to show no matter what we do, the Lord LOVES when we return back to Him. He loves us so much that He will provide for our needs and bless us with His best.
ORPHAN #2
After the party gets started, the older brother came in from working in the fields and asks what's going on. When he finds out that his brother has returned, instead of being ecstatic like his father, the son is angry and refuses to go in to talk to his father, so the father comes out to talk with the older son. In Luke 15:29-30 the older son says "Look! All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!"
Now I don't know about you, but I can relate to this orphan spirit, too. Sometimes I look around and I feel cheated. I see people who can pick up a musical instrument and effortlessly make beautiful music and think "Why didn't you give me that gift Lord?" as I struggle to play chop sticks on the piano. Or I look at the people who have been blessed with money, waste it and then receive a windfall inheritance while many of my Christian friends struggle to keep more than a few cents in their bank accounts at the end of the month, but they faithfully give from what they have. Whether it is money or gifts, I often find myself looking at what others have and how they have used what they have been giving and get jealous. Just like the son in this story, I can be the stubborn one who refuses to go into the tent to talk to the father about it. Thank you Jesus for being willing to come to me!!!
The orphan mentality really gets in the way of this second son though. He tells his father that he was worked hard and didn't even get a goat to share with his friends. In his mind, his obedience and works have made him WAY more worthy of a feast that his younger brother who ran away and wasted his inheritance on earthly pleasures only to come crawling back. This is part of the orphan mentality because the son believes that he has to be obedient to receive blessings from the father. Obedience however does NOT equal a relationship! The father doesn't get mad at his son though, because he loves his oldest son just as much as he loves his younger son. After the father lets the son vent his anger and jealousy, he tells his son in Luke 15: 31 "...you are always with me, and everything I have is yours." The eldest son had never realized that everything his father had was his because his orphan mentality hadn't allowed him to and had made him believer that he had to work every day so that one day he would be worthy of his inheritance.
The JOY!
In the last verse of this passage, the father says to the older son "But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found." (Luke 15: 32) Now there are two major points I found when I was looking at this verse that I'd never noticed. First, the father said "this brother of yours" while back in verse 30 the son refers to his brother as "this son of yours". While the brother was trying to distance himself from his brother, the father wanted his eldest son to remember that this was his brother and he should be joyful that he had returned. Growing up with three sisters, I admit that I have not always been happy for them when I should have been. I have let my jealousy get in the way of loving them like Jesus would have but God understands my faults, makes them known to me so I can work with Him to correct them and then he forgives me; Thank you Jesus!
The other part that really stood out to me from this verse was how much the father just wanted to celebrate with everyone that his son had returned. He didn't go out to the older son and say "You know Jo Bob did this and this and this and I'm really disappointed in him but I'm his father so I have to love him anyways". Nope! God didn't do that. He didn't bring up the son's sins because they were forgiven. He simply cried out for his children to unite and celebrate together that one of them had turned back to him. God is so good, and He has every right to judge and cut down his children for their disobedience, but he just wants to love on them when they turn back to him. The Lord wants us to rejoice when people turn to him and become alive just like he does.
To sum it all up:
1. God is a perfect daddy
2. Even when we run away, God calls us back to be his children, not orphans
3. Obedience doesn't equal a relationship
4. We can't earn our given inheritance (heaven)
5. Rejoice and Unite when people turn to God because that's what He's doing
6. God is Fan-tab-u-lously Amazingly Awesome.... just throwing that one out there :0)
"Victory comes from you, O Lord. May you bless your people." - Psalm 3:8 Blessings <+3
New Beginning
Zephaniah 3:17
The LORD your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing.”
The LORD your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing.”
After spending nearly five months in New Zealand, I can now say that I have a heart that is actively searching after God.....
and it's FAN-TAB-U-LOUS! With the help of some amazing people from Northcity Church in Christchurch, my faith, my heart and my love for God and those around me has grown exponentially. My hope is through this blog I will be able to share what He's doing and revealing in my life to help and encourage others.
One of the major changes in my life during the last few months was that I discovered that God REALLY loves me! In fact, He delights in me, and not just sometimes! Ephesians 1:4-6 says He chose me before the foundation of the world, that I should be holy and without blame before Him in love, because he predestined me to be adopted as his daughter by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made me accepted in the Beloved. Then in Psalm 16:3 it says I am an excellent one from which God gets all His delight.... not just some of it, ALL of it.
Billy Humphrey's podcast "The Father Delights in You" really made this idea of being truly loved sink in all the way through the layers of my hardened heart. If you have 42 minutes of free time sometime during the rest of your life, (sooner is better than later,) you should listen to it. Trust me; it is worth the time. ( Check it out HERE ) It has totally changed that way that I look at God, my family and myself.
As God courted me gently and tenderly through the quakes and the shakes on the Canterbury plains, He showed me a lot of places in my life I need to work on. While at first it seemed overwhelming as the list grew and grew, I can now look at the list (as it continues to grow) and be excited! Often people get comfortable with their way of life. They can't see anything wrong with what they've been doing so they do the same thing over and over again. The problem with this is if you don't change, you can't move forward. By being aware of what I need to change, God is creating me into His masterpiece, His princess and His treasure.... and I am super pumped about it! The more I learn about my Daddy, the more Christ-like I want to become. I can only do this by getting rid of those things that are not of Him, these things that He has been revealing to me through His word and His followers that I need to get right in my life. My hope is through this blog I will be able to share what He's doing and revealing in my life to help and encourage others.
So I submit my life to God and this journey. For He tells us....
28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30)
Lord God, I trade this yoke I've been carrying for yours, for you know the plans you have for me, plans to prosper me and not to harm me, plans to give me hope and a future. (Jeremiah 29:11) <3
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)