Telling God No?

It sounds like a bodacious thing to do, standing before the Almighty and telling Him what you're not going to do. Maybe your "no" feels more like an impersonal text, less defiant, but a "no" all the same, right?

I understand.

Just recently, I was presented with an opportunity, and I skipped praying about it, pole-vaulted over even considering anything but what I wanted, and landed squarely on "No way!" (and with great feeling at that!) A wise person in my life approached me with three words that pierced right to the heart of where I was:

 "You're just scared."

I was stunned, but I realized they were right. Oftentimes when we say "no"to God, it's because we're scared that what He is telling us to do will cost something we don't want to give up. We fear that letting go of what we have or hope to have means we will get shorted somehow. That's a trust issue, My Friend. It may not be that we doubt God's goodness; maybe we are afraid of how long it will take before we receive what He has promised. We are tempted to settle for a substitute to curb the discomfort of waiting. Problem is, the substitute always overstays its welcome, and it grows roots that make its removal painful and nearly impossible. Please don't go there.

Saying "no"to God is saying "yes" to less than His best., My Friend. There is no sting like the one that comes when you see what you've missed out on because you were impatient or fearful or defiant. Haven't you had enough of that? Nobody ever said, "I sure am glad I said no to God, I'm so much better off since I did!"

It may not be easy, but it's always simple. Change your "no" to what it must be. Not maybe, not wait, not once I  _______. It begins in the heart and the rest follows. What is your answer to Him today?

How to Come to the Place of Surrender

"He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all--how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?" Romans 8:33

Tears were streaming down my cheeks before I even realized I was crying. I had the briefest moment alone, and my heart showed what I was trying to deny I was feeling. I couldn't let anyone see my tears, so I had to have an express therapy session with the Father--only He could dry me up in the short moments I had before I had to show my face.

So I got honest with Him real quick: "Oh Father, I want this so very much, but I am afraid it might not happen...but...but...if it's not what you want me to have...I...I trust you!" Then He gave my heart strength to stop crying. I'm not sure how well I dried my eyes, but they didn't get blood-red like they tend to do, and I looked straight ahead just  in case.

A prayer of surrender can feel like a wrestling match between yourself and what's best, but it's the best fight if You let God win. Our wills cannot be trusted because sometimes they are selfish without our realizing. Sometimes they have been pasteurized enough by the Spirit, but we can't tell if it's us or Him. That's when it's time to pray. Ask God to sift out what's not right and in that moment, give you the good sense to let Him have His way.

What do you need to surrender, My Friend? A dream? A man you know is not God's best? A secret that may kill you if you keep it to yourself? Your reputation? A habit? Something else? Whatever it is, God can do more with it than you ever could. Sometimes He sends it to the dung heap where it belongs; other times He gives it back to you and is delighted that you love Him more than IT. If you give Him time, He will always fill the void with what is best.

Think about it: Surrender is rarely about the thing we are giving up. It's about what we think they offer us--love, security, status, belonging, pleasure, and so on. Are you settling for the cheap knock-off of what Christ offers you in Designer original? He owns the patent on all of those desires, My Friend. Be convinced He loves you enough to lavish them on you when the time is right if He hasn't already.

How do you come to the place of surrender? I hope you get there without as many drag marks and hard knocks as I have. I find that tearing our sin-lensed eyes away from our idols and taking a full frontal look at the heart of God has a softening effect on strong wills and hard heads. If He, out of the kind intention of His will, gave us the best He had when He gave us Jesus, why would we hold so desperately to anything He calls us to surrender to Him?

I know it's not easy, but neither is it impossible, and it certainly is worth it. Once we do the deed, we must continue the gaze or we'll return to Egypt and add a layer of callouses that make it easier to stay there and the needed surgery more extensive. It's so not worth it, My Friend.

My prayer for you is that the Father's request will sound more like an invitation to a divine dance than a dreaded death-march. God rejoices over you with singing (Zephaniah 3:17) so why not dance with Him in surrender?

You Have Worth Because He is Worthy

"and in Him you have been made complete, and He is the head over all rule and authority." Colossians 2:10

One of the enemy's favorite spots for punching is that soft place where you question your value. He likes to put on his spiked brass knuckles and continually pummel you with thoughts like, "You are not good enough, and you never will be," or "However bad anyone else is, you're worse." Maybe you've heard, "If anybody knew the real you, they'd reject you."

He throws your past in your face to darken your present and to blind you to any hope for your future.

To make it worse, you and I respond by covering up and pretending to be someone else. That's not the right way to fight, My Friend, because you are agreeing with those lies. No, you must dig out this poisonous core or your spirit will remain sick and weak and hinder you from flying. Yes, I said flying. What better way to combat a fist than to fly above it?

How do you dig out the core? With a sword--the sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God! How does this work? All three of those lies I mentioned can be knocked out by today's verse. People often quote the first part but miss the second. You are complete in Christ, yes, but it's because of Who He is: the head over all rule and authority. His most powerful position makes whatever He says the final word on your worth, My Friend. You don't have to makeshift your worth through your bank account, your bra size, your zip code, career, comparison, or credentials. If Christ says you have value, you can't add anything else to that to make it more true. Know this! Believe this!

When the enemy corners you with those self-defeating thoughts, fight like a girl--a girl who knows who she is because her Daddy told her. This means that, um, you gotta know what your Daddy told you. You won't know if Facebook gets more of your time than His book. Am I right? Invest the time each day getting in His Word because it informs you of your worth, and because of Who He is. He. Is. Worthy!!

Are You Afraid of Failure?

"So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand." Isaiah 41:10

Are you afraid of failure? Do you find yourself hedging on stepping out because you think you might fall?

There is an element of risk in every venture, but may I suggest that fear of failure needs to be defanged so you can move forward? See, when you know Someone Who will love you even if you fail, you can have courage to try in spite of your fear. Relax, My Friend, His opinion of you is not riding on whether you get this next  thing "right"or not. 

Maybe how God will view you is not why you fear failure. Maybe it's that you have so much to lose if you fail. Your finances, your health, the faith others have invested in you may be what's at stake. I understand. You want to do the right thing, and you have every good intention, but still, what if you slip? How do you fail-proof your life? Can you?

 I think your focus has to change. 

See, in the life of faith, failure is measured differently than in the world. Failure with God is measured in how we respond to Him in our hearts. Failure to God looks like disobedience or unbelief. Failure to the world is about performance and how close to perfection you can get. Have you noticed that if and when you reach that standard, they erect a new one that's even higher? How exhausting! 

God offers a better way, My Friend. If you are in Christ, perfection was already achieved for you. Now you get to aim for something far better: holiness. You're not even doing it by yourself, you have a Guide Who lives in you, speaks to you, loves you, and grows you. He is called the Holy Spirit and holiness is what He does with your cooperation. 

Now, back to our original question: Are you afraid of failure? Have you caught on that it's possible to not get it right, but still succeed where it counts?  Is it clicking that failure has to be more intentional when God's Spirit lives in you to keep you from falling? I am not suggesting you can reach perfection this side of Heaven. I am suggesting the Spirit can make your life fertile because failures become opportunities to learn more of Jesus. They are not permanent marks that flog your spirit and brand ugly names on your identity. Failure is a pencil mark that can be erased by the grace of God and the residue is recycled as learning and progress. That even feels good to think about, doesn't it? 

Breathe it in. It's the fragrance of the abundant life and it relaxes all those tense and harsh "should's", turning them into, sweet "by the power of Christ, I can's."

Fear of failure? No need. Freedom to try? Yes! If you fall down while trying, His grace will pick you up and strengthen you for the next try. Smile, Daughter of God. You are His Girl, and your Daddy is inviting you to step out and try new things for His glory! Now go slay it and tell me about it so we can victory dance together! 

When You're Facing A New Normal

Psalm 139:7-12

We all have an idea of what life should be like. Sometimes reality agrees with that idea, sometimes not. Most of us know better than to expect everything to go our way. We are not in control. We get that. Along the way, God allows the bitterness of the bad times to heighten the sweetness of the good ones.

Then, there are the times when life plows into your blind spot with such an impact that it twists your normal into a shape that can never be undone. At first, there is the cocoon of shock God gives to allow time to accept what's happened. Next may be a period of denial. Then the feeling starts to return and the newness is more than you think you can bear. You try any number of coping mechanisms, and you try to avoid the ones that will only create more problems. At some point, you run out of alternatives and realize that what is is what will always be. The circumstance is never going to change so either you have to change or lose your mind.

 How do you live in your new normal? Is it even possible, you wonder? Does it feel  like emotionally you're permanently going to have to do those horrible pull-ups you did in elementary school? You know, the ones where your tooth-pick arms lift your entire body weight over and over again?

There is hope for you, My Friend.

This normal may be new to you, but it's never new to God. Today's passage is a reminder He is everywhere; this includes where you are now. He's been ready for this day long before it's shadow came across your calendar. He's the Timeless One, remember? Allow Him to be what only He can be in a situation like yours. This is too much for you to handle by yourself; besides, you want to do more than survive this. Am I right? Your God, our God wants to forge a new you to match this new normal. It's called Transformation, and God specializes in it.

You don't have to have all the answers about why this happened or how you're going to make it. All you need to know is that He knows and that through Him, you'll get through this.  He Who began a good work in you will be faithful to complete it if you don't call it off. It's a daily trusting even when you struggle to trust that trusting will work. Ask Him to help your unbelief.

Times like these are what faith in God is for. Go against your human reasoning and come close to Him. Yes, you may even be mad at Him for letting this happen; you can come to His throne mad. He can take it. Whatever you do, don't shut down.

This new normal may not have been where you intended to be, but you can make a home there as long as Jesus is with you-and He is! May the Lord strengthen you in this season of change as you settle in with Him Whose love for you never does.

The Blessing of Easter

Thanks be to God who gives us the victory by our Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Corinthians 15:57

Resurrection. At first glance, it seems the stuff of fantasies and fairytales. It's one of the tenets of the faith that makes unbelievers chide us as fools.

Resurrection. If it's true, then it changes e. ver. y. thing! If resurrection can happen, it opens the door to all kinds of other mind-blowing possibilities. It means the Author of resurrection has more power than we can stretch our brains to imagine. Why, it--it means everything else He says is true too! For some, this is scary because that kind of power means they are powerless against it. For us who believe, it's not a cause to close the heart for fear of losing control. No, it's cause to gape the heart and invite Him to invade every crevice of fear, to ride on every wave of praise, and to stretch our faith till it fits  the fullness of all He reveals of Himself.

Resurrection blows a hole in hopelessness and rebuilds God-sized dreams in its place. It blueprints and lays a foundation on top of ground the devil once resided as a squatter.

Because Jesus got up from that grave, any heartache we have is only temporary. Bless His Name!

What's more, resurrection, THE Resurrection, not only guarantees Heaven for us who trust  in Him in a forever way, it also vouches for the promise of that-more-abundant-life that works in us to will and to do, and that makes our joy full in the here and now.

No other faith offers this!

No other name packs that kind of power!

No other grave was ever borrowed and then returned.

Hallelujah, what a Savior!

Happy Easter, My Friends!

Let's Reflect on Easter Together

Just like at Christmas, we can be so busy celebrating the Easter season that we neglect reflecting on it. At least I fall into this category sometimes. So, how about we reflect together?

I came across 1 John 2:2 which says, "He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world."

Atoning sacrifice? What does it mean? To atone is to satisfy an offense. For example if you got a speeding ticket, you offended, if you will, the law to drive only up to a certain speed. The price of the ticket satisfies the offense; atoning for what you did wrong. Make sense?

So, atonement is huge for you and me and every body else, because we have majorly offended a flawless God Who demands flawlessness. We had no perfection in inventory, not even a little bit. We needed a perfect sacrifice to cover all of that sin and offense.

Enter Jesus Christ.

Can you see Him? Full of grace and truth and not a lick of offense in Him! God robed in human skin so it can be punctured and practically ripped off Him for our sake.  Doesn't it make you want to fall at those nail-pierced feet and kiss them in worship? How can there not be tears of gratitude for what He has done? Doesn't your heart make your lips say, "Thank You, Jesus," before your brain even has time to catch up? What a glorious, generous, loving, and holy Savior He is! What can He ask of us that is too much to give after such a sacrifice? What sin can we cherish more than we cherish Him after what He has done?

 The cross was never meant to be something we can get over. Easter, like the Lord's Supper, was meant to be a reminder of what's been given and of what we ought to be willing to give in return. Let's purpose never to forget Gethsemane nor be cavalier about Calvary.