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Life-Changing Love

 

Some teachings change our lives. At a small Tuesday morning women’s group in 1978, the leader taught on the “three revelations:”  the Lordship of Jesus, the love of the Father, and the power of the Holy Spirit.

Lordship, love, and power. If we are believers, then the lordship of Jesus has been revealed to us and we’ve accepted his authority. But we can be believers all our lives without the other two.

Beautiful Living Room! Pictures, Images and Photos A young mother then, I’d walked with the Lord Jesus several years, but guilt and shame fed my restless heart.  Though I had experienced some of the power of the Spirit and in my head, I knew the Father loved me, in my heart, I wandered in and out of the rooms of the Father’s house. I wanted to settle in but I couldn’t relax.

As the leader talked that day, I grasped that a revelation of his “love that would not let me go” would allow me to move in. I longed to lie on the couch, to enjoy the light of his face.

She suggested praying for revelation, so I prayed. I’ve written several pages in my memoir about this process, ending with a particular experience:  …”a warmth I’d never felt before began at the top of my head and flowed through every inch of my body. In one swoop through my being, God’s love filled my heart. He was smiling at me. His arms were open as I walked into his embrace. It was the revelation of the Father’s love I’d been asking for.” pg. 153, Trading Fathers (Winepress, 2009)

If you question his love for you, won’t you ask for a revelation this year? Every day:  ”Father, reveal your love to me, please.”

Let me know what happens.

Father, more love, more power, under your lordship in Jesus. For your glory and our joy, Amen.

 

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Relationship or Contract

“What does all this mean? Even though the Gentiles were not trying to follow God’s standards, they were made right with God. And it was by faith that this took place.  But the people of Israel, who tried so hard to get right with God by keeping the law, never succeeded. Why not? Because they were trying to get right with God by keeping the law instead of by trusting in him.” Romans 9:30-32

Reading these words Tuesday, I was struck, once again, that God wants a personal relationship. Many of us, even after we believe Jesus is Messiah, still try to be accepted by him through doing right, thinking right, and feeling right. Yes, singing songs, listening to a sermon, meditating on scripture, and exercising courage in spite of fear are all good. But God accepts us into his family because we trust him, not because we do it all right.

Seeking acceptance by performance is a business contract. If we operate as if the foundation of our relationship  is contractual, we’ve missed God’s best. A contract lays out the goals and duties of the parties to the agreement. Love isn’t essential to a contract. Respect is not crucial. Obedience is all that matters and disobedience, not meeting the contract terms, will terminate the agreement.

mom & her family Pictures, Images and PhotosGod is after more than that. He wants a family. He wants obedience, yes. But he wants obedience not because he’ll disown us if we disobey, but because obedience is what we’re made for. We’re made to be part of Papa-God’s family. That’s where life is. There’s no hope, no future, and no forgiveness outside the family of God. Inside the family, faith, hope, and love reign and life extends forever.

Good families don’t disown disobedient children. Boundaries may be set, fellowship may be broken, but a light burns in the front window for us.

Are you trusting Jesus’ love sacrifice? Or are you attempting to do everything right?

Father, strengthen our trust.

 

 

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You Just Have to Believe

 

The “work” God requires is to believe in Jesus.  John 6:28-29. Sounds easy, doesn’t it? Just believe. And yet, belief requires a deep attitude change.

kels sitting on chair Pictures, Images and Photos

Unlike being ”good.” In many ways, we can be good, as some are saying now, without belief in the father of Jesus. Often, we can choose kindness and consideration. We can choose to do what’s good for us and for others, at least as far as our own insight and self-control takes us.

Belief, however, requires something much more penetrating. To believe is to put our weight down, as on a chair, expecting to be held. To trust.

 

Reminds me of a poem:

 

Oh, My

 

Being good—that’s not so hard.

 

I can tell the truth, mostly,

and stay out of other people’s beds

and even forgive my father.

 

But belief.  Oh my.

 

I am made a little lower than the angels?

I am accepted in the beloved?

I am the joy set before you?

 

Oh, my goodness.

 

 

©2011 Karen Rabbitt

All Rights Reserved

 

Father, give us grace today to believe in the one you have sent.

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Yes!

“On the other hand, all the images and thoughts we’ve been given are positive.” It was last Tuesday morning. Jerry and I were out for a drive in the country before his noon oncology appointment. It’s been six months since treatment for his “moderately aggressive” prostate cancer ended. The prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test results we’d hear would define our future.

I’d been fearful that morning, my characterological anxiety leading to primitive emotions. “I know it’s not true, intellectually, but if God doesn’t heal, it feels like it means he doesn’t love me.” “If this is spiritual warfare and God ‘loses,’ what does that mean?”

In one sense, I was okay with whatever happened. I’ve been through so much, I know God can carry me through anything. Even if God ‘lost’ this battle, he’s already won the war. Jesus’ sacrifice defines God’s love, not whether Jerry lives or dies.

It helped my struggle, that morning, to remind myself of Jerry’s image during recent prayer at the International Healing Rooms in Spokane: “I saw God strangling the cancer cells.” I remembered the sentence, during worship, a few months ago: “He has twenty-five more years.”

But it was a challenge, that morning. Some mornings are irremediably challenging. We’re anxious, scared, full of fearful images. I’d have loved it if I could have just leaned my head on Jesus’ chest, resting. I couldn’t. His perfect love has not yet cast out all my fear. (1 John 4:18)

Celebrate Life! Pictures, Images and Photos

And yet, God had hold of me. He’s committed to each one of us who walk with him. Our sinful anxieties do not change his commitment to us. Glory to God.

And, glory to God, PSA is undetectable. No cancer cells left. Yes.

Father, we are grateful. And beyond this particular grace, we are grateful for your unchanging, eternal commitment. Thank you.

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“Why can’t God just make my life better? Right now.”  In twenty years of hearing clients talk about their difficult lives, I’ve heard many variations on that sentence.

In the middle of a divorce, a man wonders why God didn’t save his marriage. He’d prayed for five years for his wife to fall in love with him again.  A woman remembers the time an older cousin, at a family reunion at a lake pavilion, took her behind a shrub and took advantage of her four-year-old innocence. As she feels that betrayal, she says, “Why can’t God just take this pain away?” Walking out of the cancer clinic, a patient wonders, “Why doesn’t God just stop these runaway cells?”

Are you there today? Are you wondering why God doesn’t just make it all better?

If that’s the pain you feel today, I’m sad with you. I can’t imagine your doubt, anger, fear, sadness. I know what that desire for God to make it all better was like for me, but I don’t know what it is like for you.

Often, Jesus does not meet our expectations. We want immediate results. Especially where emotional healing is concerned, he works with us over time, in a process. We want a certain kind of resolution, in a certain way, at a particular time. How hard it is to submit to the processes that he has designed for our healing.

Affection Pictures, Images and PhotosOur limited perspective means we need input from others.  Our aloneness means we need an arm around our shoulders. Our weakness means we need God’s strength, endurance, and encouragement, (Romans 15:5) just at the time when we doubt his desire to give them.

Father, you know our hearts and you know our needs. You have made healing a process. Help us submit to that process. In the name and for the glory of Jesus, Amen.

 

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Through Danger and Toil

The day has come. Today is the last day of Jerry’s work with the city. For almost thirty years, as both an electrician and a parking meter technician, he has faithfully toiled to serve the people of Urbana.

Normal Street Backyard Pictures, Images and PhotosA Valentine’s day, 1990, ice storm injured his back, but it was the accident on July 7, 1992 that nearly electrocuted him.

It was a dangerous job, electrician. That day, he cut into a series streetlight wire that had been switched off. But, disrupted by lightening, the circuit was still carrying 6.6 amps. Five milliamps is enough to kill.

God, though, carried him through. After six months of recovery, he went back, soon shifting to working with non-lethal parking meters.

We’ve imagined this day. We’ve prepared for this day. We’ve hoped for today. We were not entirely sure it would ever come. Cancer might have ruptured our hope. Another accident could have stymied our dreams.

What are you waiting for? What day are you dreaming of? Like us, what you are waiting for may or may not arrive.

Unlike that great transition day of entering Jesus’ presence. If we are believers, that day is on its way. We can imagine that day. We can hope for that day. And, though we may endure much more danger and toil, that hope is sure.

Jesus, we thank you for hope.

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Holy Spirit Flavors

Rice and beans? Meat and potatoes? Cheese, bread, and fruit? These are three among many cuisines. Which are you drawn to? Based on your upbringing or your sense of adventure, you probably prefer one diet over the other. All provide the needed protein. Each group comes in manifold types and combinations. Flavors range from mild to strong.

Does the Holy Spirit, like world cuisines, come in different flavors? That was my thought in worship recently, as I sensed the presence of God through his Spirit in a charismatic gathering. In an atmosphere of lively music, many people raised their hands, and a few danced. My tears flowed as I sensed Jesus’ kindness.

But for many, charismatic worship feels out of control, too emotional. They prefer the majesty of an Episcopal or Catholic service. The design of the structure for worship conveys the presence of the Holy Spirit as much as the music or the words of songs. An ideal setting for them would be Washington, D. C.’s National Cathedral.

Others prefer the simplicity of a non-instrumental Church of Christ. A few years ago, at a writing conference, we sang worship songs accompanied by a piano. I sat with a new acquaintance who was used to singing a capella. “I’m distracted by the instruments,” she said. I’m guessing she didn’t sense the presence of the Holy Spirit that day. The flavor impeded her experience of God.

Jesus in the flesh gave people the experience they needed–sometimes strong, sometimes majestic, sometimes sweet. Humble, flexible, and responsive, His Spirit also provides strengthening protein in flavors we respond to.

Father, Son, Spirit: Thank you for your infinite variety. Feed us today, and this year so we may continue to grow up into you.

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Methaphor, All

Is every bit of the creation meant to be a metaphor for spiritual realities?

At sunrise this morning, the clouds glowed, prettier than the sun alone brightening the horizon. God shows his glory as he lights up the clouds in our lives. When I describe the deep darkness out of which God has delivered me, his glory shines.

God’s flowers speak to me, in so many ways. Jerry and I were hiking in a state park a few years ago when I bent down to a tiny blue and purple flower. “If God takes such trouble to design this quarter-inch flower so carefully, won’t he also take great care with the details of our lives?”

“What a good little sermon.” He took my hand as we continued to the waterfall at the end of the canyon.

Water gushing over a cliff is also a metaphor. John 7:38 says, “Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.” Believers walk around spilling out grace, often without realizing that reality.

You can make your own list of all the ways you’ve understood God better because of his creation. God says his unseen qualities  “—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made…” Romans 1:20.

And so, we “fix our eyes” on the eternal unseen. But we can see it more clearly because of what’s temporarily visible.  2 Corinthians 4:18.

Holy Spirit, open our eyes today to the “eternal unseen.”

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What’s to Fear?

“When I die, Karen gets my amount of Social Security.” My husband was talking to some co-workers recently as he returned some keys he’d been using for parking meter collection.

One of them frowned. “Oh, don’t talk like that.”

“Why not? It’s gonna happen.” Jerry laughed on his way out the door.

He recounted the conversation to me as we walked to work the next day. “I think she thought I was being morbid.”

I smiled at him and squeezed his hand. “It’s just realistic. So many people are ‘subject to slavery all their lives’ (Heb 2:15) because of their fear of death.”

beautiful door Pictures, Images and PhotosThe anticipation of walking with Jesus through death’s door gives us such freedom. We need not fear if we’ve done enough. I just read a religious woman’s obituary. It was said of her that “all assignments were completed without fail.”

No one completes all life’s assignments without fail, but Jesus did. And he lets us stand in his perfection. Clothed in his clean robes, we get a pass. Glory. What’s to fear?

“For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. He died for us so that, whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with him.” 1 Thessalonians 5:9-10

Jesus, thanks never seems like enough for the glorious future you have planned.

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I Am Convinced

“For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8:38,39.

angel Pictures, Images and PhotosNeither the death of a spouse, nor the life of an abuser, neither an angel sent from God nor a demon sent from Lucifer, neither the dollars I’ve invested with little return nor the possibility of speaking to thousands, neither flying at 38,000 feet or diving to the ocean depths, nor any other aspect of life on earth–neither disappointments nor joys–will be able to separate me from the love of Papa-God expressed in Jesus, the God-Man, who is Lord of all.

Fill in your own blanks. On the awful side–chronic illness, death of a child, sexual abuse, etc. On the wonderful side–a new marriage, a healthy child, a cure for your cancer…

Nothing can separate us. Nothing. Not one thing that we endure or rejoice in can separate us from God’s love.

Father, we want a fresh awareness of your deep commitment to us. Beyond all our disappointments and joys, we want to rest in you. Amen. Glory. Hallelujah.

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Promise-Keeping

“I have some questions about publishing. I’ll call you.” Last spring, I was chatting at a meeting with an old acquaintance. The phone hasn’t rung.

Telephone Pictures, Images and Photos“Let’s do lunch. I’ll email you.” Have you heard that one lately?

“I’ll let you know soon.” How soon is soon?

Caught in a communication snafu lately? How do we decide when to clarify, when to let go, when to be irritated?

Communication styles differ by culture as well as personality. Some folks are less direct, others more so. Some are passive, some active. Some wouldn’t think of mouthing a commitment without follow-through. Others speak of a future interaction intending to convey “I like you,” not “Let’s actually do lunch.”

We also differ in our skill. We may not realize until later what someone meant. Or we wish we’d thought at the time to ask for more clarity.

Life, of course, interrupts. We understand when commitments derail because the washer leaks, the road floods, and the children start vomiting.

Barring those delays, though, learning each others’ promise-making style is a key to good relationships. After nearly forty years with Jerry, I’ve learned he sometimes makes promises he’d like to keep but feels too tired for when the time comes.

In the last few years, he’s learned to clarify that he’d like, for example, to go to music at Hessel Park on Sunday night, if he has the energy. That clarification reminds me to be flexible. He’s learned I take him at his word, so he’s gotten more careful.

After nearly forty years with Jesus, I’ve learned he’s careful with his words, too. And he’s never too tired to follow through.

But a lot of his promises are confusing, aren’t they? “You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.” (John 14:14) Haven’t we wondered about that one? And yet, like I trust Jerry’s character, I trust Jesus’ character. Even if he can’t always follow through, I’ve learned to trust Jerry’s tenderhearted faithfulness. He gets it from Jesus.

Jesus, thank you that we can take you at your word. When we are confused by your words, help us trust your character.

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Always Emmanuel

“Do this in remembrance of me,” Jesus said as he broke the bread and poured the wine at the last passover with his disciples before his crucifixion. Some churches remember him in communion every Sunday, some less often, but regularly. Some of us do communion ourselves, spouse with spouse. Others believe the elements must be consecrated by church authorities. Some believe the bread and the wine are the literal body and blood. Others understand it to be symbolic.

However we understand communion, Christians are all called to do it to help our memories. We serve a forgettable God. A God whose reality can slide out of the front of our minds. Odd, isn’t it, that our creator can be forgotten?

Those of us who believe Jesus is who he said he was don’t easily forget his actual existence. But what about some of the key details? In the midst of some minor stresses this week, I forgot what I so easily tell others:  “God is right there with you, suffering alongside of you.” That detail–I’m not alone in my distress–rushed back into my memory like the first daffodil of spring. With his company, I can endure.

What are you enduring these days? Hot days, unemployment, boredom, fussy children, cancer, death of a spouse, or a few minor inconveniences you feel guilty for stressing out about? In all the ways we endure in this fallen world, he has promised he will never leave or forsake us. Let’s help each other remember:  he is here, with us. Emmanuel is not just a Christmas song. He is always Emmanuel, God with us.

Jesus, thank you for your presence, remembered or unremembered.

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The Disputable God

Why is it that everything God does can be disputed? I just read the Pentecost account where the people came running to see what had happened because they heard the “mighty rushing wind.” At least fifteen different people groups were represented in those who heard the 120 disciples speaking in unlearned languages. Each of them heard their own language. And yet, some said, “They’re drunk.”(Acts 2)

Even after the resurrection of Jesus, when he’d been with his followers for forty days, eating with them, teaching them, letting himself be touched–some doubted. (Matt.28:17)

And when my sciatic nerve pain was healed through prayer with the laying on of hands, was that God? It hasn’t come back in many years. Feels like God to me. And yet, others would say it was coincidence or I did something else that caused the pain to resolve.

Don’t you have a dozen places in your journey where you’re sure you’ve been touched by the God who is there and active, that others would question?

Believing these are God touches is about faith, of course, but why is faith important? The phrase came to me: “He wants to be wanted.” When I searched for that phrase, I learned that A.W. Tozer already said it. God wants to be wanted. He wants to be desired. He wants our genuine, heartfelt love.

Just like us. We want to be wanted. Seems to be one of the ways in which we are made in his image.

Jesus, we want to want you today. We want to want you as you deserve to be wanted. With whole hearts and active minds and hot pursuit.

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