Whispers of Truth

Distractions. What are yours? Does work get under your skin? Do financial worries bother you? Relationships? Do the daily little problems of life irritate you and distract you from following hard after God? These flaming darts and arrows seem rather painful, but if you are wearing the right protection, a little dart of fire (or even an arrow) is nothing--they bounce right off of us. The truth is, if we put on the armor God provides, the things that give us grief--the little day-in, day-out problems and distractions that we encounter in this life--probably wouldn't grow into giants that plague us.  Ephesians 6:10-18 gives us the low-down on the armor of God: 10  Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11  Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. 12  For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the ...

I often find that when I am afraid, I tend to wrestle with the world more than I wrestle with God. Think about that for a minute, and you might find yourself in the same predicament. It's rather frustrating because I know the truth about God, and I know God, and I pray for strength, but I still sometimes let fear push me in the wrong directions. The strange thing about this thought is that it came to me as a result of taking pictures at an in-school match for our wrestling team in December. Honestly, watching wrestling makes me terribly uncomfortable on so many levels, but since I am responsible for the yearbook, I felt the need to go support my colleagues who coach, my students who wrestle, and my yearbook staff who will need to create pages for this sport soon.   Maybe you are unfamiliar with wrestling and wonder what could make anyone uncomfortable. If so, the following picture is for you--maybe it will help you understand. I chose this particular picture becaus...

Weeks like the one that just passed do little to advance for the kingdom of Christ. I have read so many posts supporting and rejecting allowing Syrian refugees into our country for safe haven. I have seen the bickering on Facebook by Christians on both sides of the argument. Some of what I've read shows the love of Christ and a recognition of where we would be without his love, but others fall short of expressing an understanding of what it means to be in Christ. Safety should not be our utmost concern, yet fear of what might happen seems to be the prevailing factor in many of the posts I've seen. Proverbs 29:25 expresses this wisdom: "The fear of man lays a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord is safe." Regardless of what happens to me in this life, God is in ultimately in control. The apostle Paul speaks to this in II Corinthians 5:1-8: “For we know that if our earthly house, this tent, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, et...

When God whispers something to the heart that’s difficult to hear, what is a Christian to do? Life doesn't always present us with simple, clear cut decisions, and often,  making decisions that honor God means going against the tide of the world. How do we even begin to explain the mysterious workings of the Spirit in us to those who cannot begin to comprehend when we struggle to understand ourselves?  I think of Jonah, who struggled greatly with what God asked him to do. He didn't like the task God set for him, so he tried to run from it, which of course wasn't terribly successful. Sometimes, I don't know if I am hearing God clearly, and I've often wondered what it must have been like to know that God was speaking directly to someone. Really, though, doesn't He speak to us  through His spirit who lives in us if we belong to Him?  Jonah heard directly and still questioned God’s judgment in sending him. That really didn't change the end result—it just wrapped ...

Have you ever read (or watched) a frustrating story where the main character won’t accept the love or grace offered to them? If you’re like me, you groan, talk to the character, and question his or her sanity. We all know that happiness, when in our grasp, should be grappled close to us and held really tightly, right? Or maybe some of us just wish that the chance would come our way.   Well . . . how is God’s grace and His desire to extend it to all of us any different? Here we are with the chance for ultimate joy and satisfaction (everlasting, mind you), yet we repeatedly turn away. It goes back to our motivation, I suppose. We humans tend to want what we cannot have and disdain what we can. When God’s grace through Jesus Christ is offered freely to us (who aren’t worthy, by the way), we tend to believe it is too cheap to accept. Like the character in the story who just cannot be happy because he or she keeps making poor choices, we, too, keep on in our ow...

This morning I woke up with the refrain of a contemporary Christian song running through my mind. The song is by Kristian Stanfill and is called “Even So, Come.” The part that I kept hearing over and over in my mind was this: “ Like a bride waiting for her groom / We'll be a Church ready for You / Every heart longing for our King / We sing / Even so come / Lord Jesus, come.”   As I was getting ready for school today, I started humming this song and thinking about it intently. How much like a bride are we as the Church? Are we really intent on looking for Christ to come? Are we really longing for our King—or do we even recognize Him as being King? Are we playing the game of church, or do we really want Him to be the center of everything we do in this life? I’ve thought a lot this summer about the idea of being a bride because that is the simile the Bible presents to us over and over again. As we wait for the return of Jesus Christ for his Church—His bride—we are to be in a stat...

Sometimes I think I am just rather dense--it takes a while for the known to penetrate my heart through the work of the Spirit. How many times have you read (like I have) Ephesians 6:10-17?  10  Finally,  be strong in the Lord and in  the strength of His might.   11  Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the  schemes of the devil.   12  For our  struggle is not against  [ a ] flesh and blood, but  against the rulers, against the powers, against the  world forces of this  darkness, against the  spiritual  forces  of wickedness in  the heavenly  places .   13  Therefore, take up  the full armor of God, so that you will be able to  resist in  the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm.   14  Stand firm therefore,  having girded your loins with truth , and  having   put on the breastplate of righ...

Today, Pastor Derek preached from Luke 7 and spoke about Jesus' interaction with the sinful woman at the home of Simon the Pharisee. Although the story is one I've read many times, today, the thought that kept visiting me was the idea that forgiveness leaves behind a pleasing aroma. Sin is ugly and smelly, but when Jesus washed away the sins of this woman, she was so filled with gratitude that she came and washed Jesus' dirty feet with her tears, dried them with her hair, rained kisses upon them, and anointed His now-clean feet with an expensive and fragrant oil from her alabaster jar. Jesus no longer saw her sin, but her faith, and he told her to go in peace with the pleasing aroma hanging in the air like a punctuation mark demonstrating just how much she had been forgiven and just how thankful she was for that forgiveness. From that point on, God no longer saw (or smelled) this woman's sin, but rather the righteousness imparted to her through the blood of Christ. In...

In Galatians, Paul speaks hard truths to the Church, and in verse sixteen of chapter four, he says this: "Have I therefore become your enemy by telling you the truth?" (NASB). Speaking truth to those who should be able to recognize it when they hear it is hard enough, as evidenced by Galatians and other books Paul wrote to churches he helped to establish during his missionary journeys; however, speaking truth to those who don't have spiritual ears to hear without them getting upset is impossible. They have no "ken" to borrow an old Scots word. The ability to perceive God's truth is just not there! Yet we act as if we expect them to understand. It is insanity! As Christians in today's culture, we can sometimes feel we are walking a tightrope if we try to balance truth with not offending. Don't get me wrong, giving offense is not the goal, but pleasing God is, and sometimes that means letting go of the attempt to balance something that is unbalancea...

Yesterday after church, I noticed a sweet family all decked out in their red, white, and blue. I had forgotten that it was Flag Day, but they obviously had not. It made me stop and think about my status as a citizen. Don't get me wrong, I am patriotic and loyal to my country, but standing next to them, I certainly didn't look like I was! The Bible tells me I am an alien and stranger here--just sojourning for a while until I get to my forever home. I think it is awesome that my friends chose to display their patriotism, but it made me wonder if I am wearing my devotion to God in a visible way. Do people see my actions, hear my words, and think, there goes a believer? Or do I fly so low under the radar that no one would ever know I follow Jesus' teachings? Do people see a show or my love for Jesus? I want my faith to be visible, not for people to see me and give me kudos, but because I want them to know the power of a living God at work in my life. I want my devotion to Him...

Galatians is very thought-provoking, especially in light of its look at legalism. I struggle less now than I used to, but being legalistic has always been way too easy for me. Ephesians chapter two also tells us that we are saved by grace through faith, and that faith was even a gift to us, yet the struggle to want to add to that is very real with many. Paul spoke of this struggle in Galatians as he battled the infiltration of Judaizers, who were leading those in the church astray by telling them they needed to add to the grace they had been given. If or when we try to add anything to grace, we are essentially rejecting it and reverting to legalism, and that's a bad deal! This is revealed by Paul, who says in Galatians 4:9: "But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how is it that you turn back again to the weak and worthless elemental things, to which you desire to be enslaved all over again?" (NASB). Yesterday, our pastor's sermon from ...

Many of us probably know the verse in Philippians that reads " Be anxious for nothing , but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God" (4:6, NASB). We know it's hard not to worry, and we often fail miserably at not doing so! We also know Jesus tells us in Luke not to worry about our lives and what we wear or eat because "life is more than food, and the body more than clothes" (Ch. 12, NIV). So is it ever ok to worry? I came across a verse again today that made me think about this.  Jude offers many warnings about false prophets and apostates in his short letter, and then he begins encouraging his readers on what they should do while they are awaiting his glorious return. One of those encouragements is to "keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting anxiously  [emphasis mine] for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to eternal life" (v. 21, NASB). OK.  Finally something I can be anxious about witho...

I wish I had stopped to take a picture, but I was driving and hesitated to stop. If I had known my thoughts then, I would have made the time. Now, words will just have to do. Yesterday, while on the way to work I was struck by the beauty of the dark orange sun rising over the small town of Tallassee in the distance. As I live on the western side of town on a small ridge, the time change has made my drive the last few mornings rather beatific. To get to Tallassee from my house, one must go through a small valley between the ridge on which I live and the elevation of the town. The sun sat nestled between thin clouds above the little valley that in comparison seemed smothered by darkness. The radiance of the sun in all its glory juxtaposed against the dark heaviness of the morning clouds below made me think of the spiritual aspects of this life we lead. This short glimpse of beauty I tried to plant firmly in my mind, knowing that very soon the press of another day and all its demands woul...

Yesterday, I was writing about the irony of God's judgment on the angels who rebelled against Him, but I wanted to share one other passage from Rev. 21:23-27 that I find relevant and super encouraging:         And the city has no need of the sun or of the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God has illumined it, and its lamp  is  the Lamb.  The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it.  In the daytime (for there will be no night there) its gates will never be closed;  and they will bring the glory and the honor of the nations into it; and  nothing unclean, and no one who practices abomination and lying, shall ever come into it, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life. (NASB) I don't know about you, but I can't wait! There is nothing we need apart from Him. 😄

Our Tuesday night ladies' Bible study group has been studying about false prophets in 2 Peter and now in Jude. In doing so, we have read of the judgment to come for those who choose rebellion and apostasy.  One of the things I have noticed is the appropriately ironic judgment of the fallen angels. Peter writes that God "committed them to pits of darkness reserved for judgment" (2 Peter 2:4); likewise, Jude wrote that the "angels who did not keep their own domain, but abandoned their proper abode, He has kept in eternal bonds under darkness for the judgment of the great day" (1:6).  The irony lies that in trying to take God's throne, these stars of the heavens cast down after their rebellion are locked under darkness in pits void of light. Can you imagine their livid despair? They were created to shine brightly and bring God glory, yet they chose to seek their own glory, and in doing so cast away their ability to reflect God's glory at all--much less t...

I am finding life to be rather difficult . . . but I am also finding it difficult to articulate what I have even been struggling with, but I learned this week that much of my struggle is a lack of focus--I am not spending enough time in dedicated, intentional prayer. Maybe you've been there--snippets here, a short prayer there, until really you are reading, studying, and it is absolutely uninhabited by the power of the Spirit living inside you because you've quit communicating. I was very intentional last week with my prayer life, and I found (no big surprise) that God is still there. The realization that the communication wasn't two-way was humbling, as it always is when I realize I am at an impasse. I keep thinking that I will quit having the same problem over and over again, but alas, the flesh I am in keeps struggling against the Spirit within me.  So . . . life is sometimes frustrating, debilitating, full of sorrow, tiring, disappointing, anxiety-laden, full of unex...

Peter, after talking about hoping for that which we do not see and doing so with perseverance, changes gears somewhat in Romans 8:26. He speaks about not knowing how to pray:          In the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for  we do not know how to pray as we             should, but  the Spirit Himself intercedes for  us  with groanings too deep for words;   and  He              who searches the hearts knows what  the mind of the Spirit is, because He  intercedes for the            saints according to  the will of  God (NASB).  I've found myself in this place often--unsure of what to pray, even how to pray, and aware of my struggles with the flesh--not just staying focused, but also battling my own desires that fight against the work of the Spirit. I want to be faithful and fail, yet God IS fai...

Is your faith naked? While it might sound like a good thing--faith alone--in this context, it is really not. I came across the phrase "a naked faith" today in John Calvin's commentary on 2 Peter 1:5-7, and it really made me think about the passage from another angle. The idea is that it is difficult to put off the lusts of the flesh, especially when faith is new; however, faith that simply divests itself of lust and earthly longings without putting on moral excellence, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly kindness, and love in in increasing measures is "naked" or bare. Peter urges diligence in growing in knowledge and being fruitful and useful in sharing it. A naked Christian in this context is either a baby like Hebrews 5:12 speaks of: " For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you have need again for someone to teach you the elementary principles of the oracles of God, and you have come to need milk and not solid food"...