Going on Holiday

I'M SO EXCITED!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am writing now, because I'm going to my cousin's house for the weekend, and probably won't have time to write while I'm gone.

But that's okay, because this is what I wanted to say.

I have these lovely cousins, see, and I love them so hard.

A long time ago, I was feeling overwhelmed by life, and then I got an invitation to go to their house for a week. I realized when I went that I needed that so much! 

Their house is in the states, so it's far enough away that I really felt like I was getting away from everything that was bothering me, and I felt so restful the whole time I was gone, I just knew God had provided that escape for me.

A while later, the same situation happened! This has actually happened enough times that whenever I feel like I might be getting near the end of my rope, I'm like, "Well, I'll probably get to go to the Russells' when I get there!"

So recently I've been struggling, and it's hard to say exactly how I feel. I don't know if I would describe it as "the end of my rope," because though I feel very much overwhelmed, I do not feel overburdened.

Anyway, they invited me to come for the weekend, and I most gratefully accepted the invitation. I love that God has consistently prepared this home for me as a resting place when I need it. It's just really comforting.

So friends, if this isn't particularly encouraging to you because you have NOT had a resting place, but would wish that you had, take heart.

Know that the same God I serve is the one you serve, and just as He knows what is best for me, He knows what's best for you.

Even better than that, He will never forsake me, and He will NEVER forsake YOU.

For Your Name's Sake

I didn't have a new epiphany this week, but I did remember an old one!

Truth: God is holy, and cannot tolerate sin.

Truth: "All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God."

Truth: God loves His children and dwells with them.

How can those three things be reconciled?

Christ COMPLETELY paid for our sins when He died. There is nothing we can do that will overcome what He did, He said it's finished. Paid in FULL.

Sometimes though, we think that we can somehow go too far. That at a certain point, God's patience and mercy MUST run out.

At least I do.

I tend to think that every time I sin, I must first ask for forgiveness and THEN Christ's sacrifice will have paid for it, but at a certain point, He must want to stop extending the sacrifice out.

Of course we must ask for forgiveness, but if you were to get struck by lightning a moment after you sinned, and didn't have time to confess, what then? Is Christ's sacrifice not great enough to overcome that?

Of course it is. We're back to the simple gospel, it is not about what you do, it's about what He has done.

Sorry, rabbit trailing a bit here.

Anyway, basically, if this is true, that when you sin you are guilty until He forgives you again, (which according to my logic, He may or may not do) then one of the above Truths must be false.

If sin stays on us (if we are guilty) until God forgives it, then either He can tolerate sin, and is not truly holy, (Truth 1 is a lie) we haven't actually sinned, (Truth 2 is a lie) or He cannot dwell with us. (Truth 3 is a lie.)

But those three statements are all true, and we know that the reason they are true is because of Christ's sacrifice, which again, paid for our sin in full. 

So this idea that we are still sinful after we have believed in Him and His sacrifice for us is wrong.

This is the verse which made this come alive again in my mind yesterday:

Help us, O God of our salvation, For the glory of Your name; And deliver us, and provide atonement for our sins, For Your name’s sake! (Psalms 79:9)

I'll add some emphasis so you can sort of see what I was thinking as I read this.

Help us, O God of our salvation, (Why?) For the glory of Your name; And deliver us, and provide atonement for our sins, (Why?) For Your name’s sake! (Psalms 79:9)

We think that God couldn't possibly forgive us any more, because we have really pushed our limits.

But it really isn't all about us. He forgives us because He loves us, so in that sense it is, but why does He love us?

Because of who we are, or because of who He is?

For God to love us beyond all reason says more about Him than it does us, it shows how loving He is, it shows who He is. 

He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. (I John 4:8)

God says throughout the scriptures that He wants to be known, and in showing us love, He is showing us and those around us who He is.

No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.” (Jeremiah 31:34)

Psalm 79:9 says that to help us, deliver us, and provide atonement for our sins, it will actually glorify His name! It will show everyone how great He is, that He would love that far.

I wrote in my notebook about this,

"To say that He can't love us because of something we did is to make ourselves stronger than God. It is partially for His sake that we should ask for deliverance, because if we love Him, we should desire His good reputation."

It is not that God needs us, or that somehow we can make or break His reputation, but when we allow Him to shower us with grace and forgiveness, we are not only accepting blessing, but allowing others through us to see the majesty of our Lord, which is also helping Him accomplish His greater purpose, because He wants to be known by men.

We Call Out to Dry Bones, "Come Alive!"

I don't usually write til Saturday, (or sometimes Sunday or Monday) but occasionally I have something that doesn't want to wait a whole week.

If you have read my blog much, you probably know that I have done pro-life activism before, and if you know me much at all, you probably know that that is something I am fairly passionate about.

Last night at a bible study, this verse really struck me.

“If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person? Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.” (1 John‬ ‭3:17-18‬)

It seemed to me to speak so strongly about abortion. If anyone has the physical ability to help the children that they see are in need, but they do not, how can the love of God be in them?

(Now as a disclaimer, I do not mean to say that every person must devote their lives to fighting abortion. There are more problems in the world than that, and no one can do everything. Some people are not called to fight those problems at all, but some other form of ministry. However, the church as a whole is not doing NEARLY enough to fight this problem. I think we must examine our motives. Are you not doing anything to help these children because you feel called to something else, or are you not doing anything because you feel uncomfortable?)

Anyway, this morning in church, we sang a song that I have sung before, loved before, but never saw it the way I did today. The song is called Come Alive by Lauren Daigle, and it speaks of revival.
Through the eyes of men it seems there's so much we have lost, as we look down the road where all the prodigals have walked.

For the first time, this verse brought to mind a very different image than usual. It reminded me of a friend of mine who once found out that a stranger was scheduled to have an abortion, and watched as she walked away. Before chasing after her, she said it was like watching a child literally being walked to their death.

One by one, the enemy has whispered lies, and led them off as slaves.

My heart just started to break.

But we know that You are God, Yours is the victory.
We know that there is more to come that we may not yet see.
So with the faith You've given us, we'll step into the valley unafraid.

Tomorrow I'll be on the front lines of this valley, at a high school talking to students about abortion.

We call out to dry bones come alive, come alive.

This was actually one of the most powerful parts of this song, because the idea is that "dry bones," are dry because they have sat. They've been dead for a while. Sometimes pre-born children don't even have bones, but God showed me how dry bones can mean those children.

We are not reviving them from death, we're saving them from it. They are dry because their death is planned before it happens. To the people involved in the killing, they are already as if they've been dead for a while.

We call out so that dry bones will never be dry bones, we call out "Come alive."

We call out to dead hearts come alive, come alive.

Up out of the ashes, let us see an army rise! We call out to dry bones, come alive.

God, let us save enough children for an army! And let them be Your army.

God of endless mercy, God of unrelenting love, 
rescue every daughter, bring us back the wayward sons.

Often, when we discuss about abortion, we refer to the pre-born child as a girl. In order to keep establishing humanity, we use words like "she" and "her," instead of "it." The daughter in this verse represents every endangered child. The wayward sons are this culture, which would be so wicked as to destroy its own offspring.

And by Your Spirit breathe upon them, show the world that You alone can save.

Breath is life. Breathe upon them, give them life.

I know this isn't a happy or encouraging post, but the Lord showed this to me in the song, and I wanted to share what He showed me.

As I mentioned earlier, I will be on the front lines tomorrow. Please pray for me and my team. Every Monday we're doing this, so if you would, commit to pray for us, lives are depending on our effectiveness.

Flesh and Blood

“For both He who sanctifies and those who are being sanctified are all of one, for which reason He is not ashamed to call them brethren, saying: “I will declare Your name to My brethren; In the midst of the assembly I will sing praise to You.” And again: “I will put My trust in Him.” And again: “Here am I and the children whom God has given Me.” Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.” (Hebrews‬ ‭2:11-15)

Oftentimes my thoughts are very scattered, so please forgive me if I don't make sense. If nothing from this point on makes sense, at least you will have read some scripture, which is always worth something.

I read Hebrews 2 today, and thought of this.

God is ultimately in charge. If you want to think about it visually like a ladder, God is at the top. He created man, who is flesh and blood, so they are one step down. Because of God they have flesh and blood, just the simple fact that they have flesh and blood shows that they were created of God.

They have children, who are a step down on the ladder from them. The children also have flesh and blood because of their parents, the simple fact that they have flesh and blood shows that they were born of their parents.

For God to put on flesh and blood is an act of amazing humility in itself, because in doing so, He is putting himself on the ladder under His own creation.

Not only this, but think about death.

God is not afraid of death, and death cannot harm Him. There's literally nothing it can do to Him, He would never have a REASON to fear death.

But His children became slaves to the fear of it. His creation was terrified of it.

Not only did He humble himself to the level of a child of His creation, but He allowed Himself to be conquered by the thing that never would have touched Him because He is more powerful than it.

He allowed what His children feared so much to overpower Him, so that it would never have to overpower them.

Obviously, even as a child of flesh and blood, and a victim of death, He still claimed the victory, and still plundered the defeated enemy for his spoils.

Satan's spoils. God's captive children, which He raised up from the ashes of their destroyed kingdom and set on thrones as His heirs.