Rejoice

1 Chronicles 16:10:  Glory in his holy name; let the hearts of those who seek the LORD rejoice!


This verse is from the song of praise written by David on the occasion of bringing the Ark of the Covenant "home".  King David appointed priests to play the instruments and lead the Israelites in worship and song as they processed into the city.  Everything was handled with reverence and according to the law of Moses.  David, himself, was dressed in fine linen and priestly garments as befitted this holy occasion.  But this reverent event wasn't a somber, dry occasion.  On the contrary, you might remember the story of David's wife witnessing the scene from her window and being embarrassed by her husband's dancing in the streets.  The verse in 1 Chronicles says "she despised him in her heart."  It wasn't as if David was the only one celebrating in this manner.  The Bible says "all Israel brought up the ark of the covenant of the LORD with shouting, to the sound of the horn, trumpets, and cymbals, and made loud music on harps and lyres." (1 Chron. 15:28)


The psalm David wrote also contains this verse: "Sing to the LORD, all the earth!  Tell of his salvation from day to day." (1 Chron. 16:23)  David and his people had much to celebrate: they had been victorious in battle, David was the Israelites' much-loved new king after Saul's death, and, at long last, the ark was coming home where it belonged among God's chosen people.  It was important to remember and re-tell the many ways God had been faithful to his people - to recount his works of salvation.  


Paul writes, in Romans 1:16, "I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes".  Paul suffered so much on behalf of the gospel he so boldly proclaimed and yet he never stopped preaching and spreading the Good News.  His life was truly a life of hardship and yet he wrote verses like these:

• I am overflowing with joy (2 Corinthians 7:4)
• for all the joy that we feel for your sake before our God, (1 Thessalonians 3:9)
• making my prayer with joy (Philippians 1:4)

We have the same opportunity to recount the ways God has been faithful, to tell of his provision, comfort, peace - his salvation.  We, too, should be dancing in the streets!   When we gather as a faith community to worship God, to remember and recount his faithfulness, what do we see on each other's faces?  Is it a somber, dry occasion or do we see faces reflecting joy and thanksgiving?  When we sing our hymns and songs of praise, what is showing on our faces:  boredom?  complacency? distractedness?  Or do we take the time to reflect on the words we're hearing and singing and respond in praise and thanksgiving?  Tomorrow morning, many of us will be gathering in our churches for our time of worship.  Just as King David prepared himself dressing in fine linen and priestly garments - putting on his "garments of praise" - let's prepare ourselves to approach our gathering time with hearts filled with joy and thanksgiving, ready to "enter his courts with praise".  

"Sing to the LORD, all the earth!  

Tell of his salvation from day to day  

Declare his glory among the nations, 

his marvelous works among all the peoples!  

For great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised, 

and he is to be held in awe above all gods.  

For all the gods of the peoples are idols, 

but the LORD made the heavens.  

Splendor and majesty are before him, 

strength and joy are in his place.  

Ascribe to the LORD, O clans of the peoples, 

ascribe to the LORD glory and strength!  

Ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name; 

bring an offering and come before him!  

Worship the LORD in the splendor of holiness . . . . "  (1 Chron. 16:23-29)

Pray that we can know in our hearts the truth of Paul's words  "For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation" and know in our spirits the joy of the Lord.

Love

Psalm 5:12 in the New Living Translation:  "For you bless the godly, O LORD; you surround them with your shield of love."  What a beautiful image that is - to be surrounded by a shield of God's love!  The Scriptures tell us his banner over us is love; he fills us with his love; we abide in his love; we are empowered in love to share love with others.  There is no part of our being that isn't covered and touched by the love of God.  And, since God IS love, that simply means there is no part of our being that isn't covered and touched by God himself.  


Psalm 139 has this beautiful verse and image:  "Where shall I go from your Spirit?  Or where shall I flee from your presence?" (verse 7)  No matter how it seems to us, how far we may feel from God, we are never out of his presence and his love.  It seems to me that this is the message the world needs to hear and know.  And experience!  We can tell someone over and over that God loves them and while that is true, how much more meaningful it is for them to have an experience of God's love for them - an up-close, in your face encounter with the love of God.  


As a prayer minister, I witness people experiencing that love in powerful and profound ways through the Lord's ministry to them as he heals their deepest wounds, fears, or doubts.  Sometimes, for the very first time, they realize that Jesus is showing up in a very real way to heal a broken heart or a wounded spirit; they're surprised by his tenderness, his compassion, his presence right there - just for them!  Other times, God's love is shared through a kindness, a touch or hug; perhaps a person who feels invisible because of homelessness, disease, etc., is acknowledged, loved, cared for and affirmed as a child of God regardless of life's hardships.  


We as Christians, walk through this life with the light of Christ shining through us; with the power to share that love and minister to people in ways our human eyes may never see or understand.  Pray for those divine appointments then watch for them to come along.  That is a prayer I can assure you the Lord will be quick and pleased to answer!  If the person you encounter is challenging your own capacity to love, then pray for the Lord to give you a little piece of his heart for this child of His and watch what happens.  Again, another prayer he'll love to answer!  You'll be surprised at what you feel for this person - a compassion, understanding and tenderness unlike anything you may have expected.  


Take a chance.  Be bold.  You are wearing God's love - inside and out.  Walking out the Christian life as a disciple is never dull.  If you're bored and you're a Christian, may I suggest that you ask the Lord to use you in new and unexpected ways?  Then enjoy the ride!

Discipleship

I spoke with a delightful young man yesterday - one who loves Jesus with all his heart and lives his life as a true disciple.  What a blessing and what a witness!  The love of Jesus is like a magnet; the light that shines through the believer draws people in.  That's what I saw in this young man. I knew before I spoke to him that he lived a life completely sold out to Jesus.  I could see it in his face when he worshiped.  That's what true discipleship looks like:  an inner light that shines out like a beacon.  In Matthew, Jesus says:  "In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven."


Christian discipleship is more than showing up at church on Sundays, praying, singing, enjoying the fellowship of the other members of your church.  It means sacrifice:  sacrifice of time, resources, energy, your plans.  It means that your life will get interrupted, your idea of how your future will unfold will probably be completely different from the reality of Jesus' plans.  The much-quoted verse, "Well done, good and faithful servant", is found in the parable of the talents and the servants' industriousness and faithfulness in using the resources they were given to bring a greater return to their master.  My Bible notes explain that the amount of the talents given to the servants would equate to billions of dollars in our currency.  Imagine receiving that huge sum of money.  Would we be inclined to run through it, spending it on vacations, fun, maybe paying off debts?  Or would we save it for our future?  How many would use it to bring joy to the one who had gifted us?  


God has "blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places" (Eph. 1:3).  EVERY spiritual blessing!  How are we responding to that incredible gift?  How are we living our lives out of that blessing?  I so want to hear my Lord say, "Well done, good and faithful servant".  But the way I serve Jesus has to come from my grateful heart, from the love of Jesus overflowing to the people he sends my way; not from a "what's in it for me?" mentality.  That's what I saw in that young man yesterday - a heart sold out to Jesus, a life lived for his Lord, and a passion to share his love of Jesus with a lost soul who didn't yet know that love.  


And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself?  (Luke 9:23-26)


"If any of you wants to serve me, then follow me. Then you'll be where I am, ready to serve at a moment's notice. The Father will honor and reward anyone who serves me."  (John 12:26 The Message)

Answered Prayer

I spent some time this morning reading some old journal entries.  This was triggered by a gentle reminder on Sunday night of how much God has done in me over the years - gently healing, leading me, and showing me who I am as a beloved daughter of the King!  A prayer I've prayed through so many times (and am looking at more in-depth with the new Bible study) is from Ephesians 1:  ". . .that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe. . . ."  What an incredible prayer and what an incredible blessing to look at how the Lord has answered (and still answers) that prayer for me.  


If we spend time with these words, reflecting on their meaning and letting the truth of them sink deep in our hearts, Paul's prayer becomes our prayer; and I know that this is a prayer that God never seems to finish answering - it just goes on and on.  What a difference we, as the church, can make in this world if we take these words to heart and make them our prayer.  God calls us for his good purposes - to share his love, to be light in a dark world, to testify to the hope we have.  We're all called and chosen - sent out - and it can be as simple as reaching out to one person with love and compassion.  We don't have to think we're meant to do grand and glorious things on a global scale - although some might.  Our calling is as a follower of Christ - however he chooses to use us and wherever he chooses to send us (even in our own neighborhoods).


We can pray a prayer as simple as, "Here I am, Lord.  Send me."  The rest is up to God.  It's his business and job to figure out the rest and get us ready to do what he sends us to do.  That's the glory of walking with Jesus.  "Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the Lord of hosts" (Zechariah 4:6)  The Lord sees us as we're created to be and will so gently and lovingly mold us into the beautiful creation he sees.  My gentle reminder of God's transforming love happened on Sunday night singing an old song and then hearing it sung again, so beautifully, by our worship leader as he blessed us with the gift of just listening as if God were singing the words to us:



I will change, will change your name
I will change, will change your name


I will change your name
You shall no longer be called
Wounded, outcast, lonely or afraid


I will change your name
Your new name shall be
Confidence, joyfulness, overcoming one
Faithfulness, friend of God
One who seeks My face

A New Adventure

After a crazy, busy start to my summer, I'm finally getting ready to start a new project.  I've cleaned off my desk, rearranged books and made room for new 'stuff' to clutter up my area.  I'm feeling some uncertainty at the same time that I feel direction.  What kind of sense does that make?!  So, I'm stepping out in faith and beginning to study Ephesians and prepare the study to share with my Bible study sisters.  I do know that this won't be the same approach as the John study but it feels like, as we ended our groups in May with the words "Follow me", that Ephesians is the next step.  


How do we live out our faith in a real, authentic, discipled lifestyle surrounded by the very real "idols" of our culture tugging at our time, our interest, our allegiance and our "obedience"?  There have been so many times when I have felt so out of touch with the Lord and yet, he's never out of touch with me.  In fact, he still allows me to be, as St. Teresa of Avila prayed, his hands and feet in this world.  After reading in the news lately of so much tragedy - fatal car accidents, murders, natural disasters, etc. - I know this world needs to know and see the love of Jesus. The apostle Paul exhorts us to walk out our faith as children of the light, to walk in love and in a manner worthy of our calling - to make a difference.  How do we live a life that attracts non-believers to the Jesus we love and serve? It's so exciting to be able to participate in someone's first-time encounter with the living Jesus as they experience his love, his healing, his forgiveness, his power to transform.  That's what we offer to the hurting people we meet.  The Lord can minister to others through us (in spite of us if need be), if we're willing to serve, willing to let the Lord use our time and talents, willing to go where he sends us.  


I love the book of Ephesians - its prayers, its message.  Paul's prayers in that book speak to me so powerfully!  I'm stepping carefully into this new project.  I can't attempt anything except to join with my friends and try to hear what the Lord is speaking through Paul's words to us as we make our way through this study together.  I'm so blessed and privileged to know women - young and not-so-young - who are passionate about their journey with Jesus; they're serious about answering the Lord's call to take up our cross and follow him.  What an incredible blessing that is!!  


So, here goes!!  And, in the words I pray so often from 1 Samuel:  Speak Lord, your servant is listening.  

The Word

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.  (John 1:14)


What an astounding, mind-boggling statement!  


The WORD:  "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God.  All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.  In him was life, and the life was the light of men."  (John 1:1-4)  THIS Word - God incarnate, God with us, the Alpha and Omega, the Prince of Peace, this One before whom every knee will bow and every tongue confess his Lordship over all - THIS Word became flesh and came to live among his very creation.


"and we have seen his glory":  the glory that was seen as a devouring fire on the top of the mountain in the sight of the people of Israel" (Ex. 24:17); the glory that could not be seen by Moses unless he was shielded by the hand of God, hidden in the cleft of a rock and then, only after God's glory had passed by; the glory that left Isaiah completely undone and overcome with his own sinfulness and unworthiness (Is. 6:1-7); the glory that man could not see and live (Ex. 33:20).  THAT glory - came to earth, dwelt among men, was seen by those he dwelt among.  


This Jesus, the Word of God, full of grace and truth, became flesh, came to earth and lived among us, allowing us to see his glory and live - live as sons and daughters of the King.  And even beyond all that, so that we may make take his love to the world, he gives us his glory.  "The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one.  I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you have loved me." (John 17:22-23)


What an astounding, mind-boggling statement!

Struggling

Then he said, “Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with men, and have prevailed.”  (Genesis 32:28 ESV)


Jacob's continual struggles with people in his life led him, ultimately, to a long, drawn out struggle with God.  He strives/wrestles all night long, even being bold enough to say he won't let go until God blesses him.  God didn't strike Jacob dead, or turn his back and walk away from this man who would "dare" to struggle against God; instead, not only did he bless this man but changed his name, reflecting the transformation of Jacob's character.  Jacob is left awed, changed to his very core - a better man for having engaged in the struggle.  Jacob came to know his God in a way he may never have without this "face to face" encounter.  He was mightily blessed.  He was never the same again.


To be sure, God is, indeed, all powerful and could have blown Jacob off the face of the earth for his audacity - but he didn't.  Why, then, when we're loaded with questions and frustrations at the way things are going in life, can we not take it to God and struggle through it with him?  We grumble about God and his apparent way of "handling" situations but seldom go to him.  I'm pretty sure we can be confident in the fact that God can handle whatever we bring to him.  The real question is whether or not we trust him to still love us - to bless us - rather than turning his back on us.  Do we trust his Fatherly heart towards us?  Do we REALLY believe he cares enough to see all that "stuff" we're carrying around?  


There's a beautiful prayer in the Book of Common Prayer that in the Anglican tradition is prayed every Sunday morning:  "Almighty God, to you all hearts are open, all desires known, and from you no secrets are hid: Cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration of your Holy Spirit, that we may perfectly love you, and worthily magnify your holy Name; through Christ our Lord. Amen."  How silly to think we're hiding our anger or disappointment from God; that he doesn't already know those things we think are kept hidden.  


I love that we have Jacob's story to see how he hung on in his struggles demanding a blessing from God.  God didn't turn away.  He saw straight into the heart of this man, loved him, blessed him, called out from within him the man he was created to be:  Israel.  


Jesus did the same thing with Peter.  Remember, after Peter's denial, how Jesus restored him by the Sea of Galilee.  The first hint Peter probably had that the resurrected Jesus was up to something was when he came on shore from his fishing boat and saw a charcoal fire burning --- a charcoal fire just like the one that was burning on the night he denied his Lord those three times.  

• "Now the servants and officers had made a charcoal fire, because it was cold, and they were standing and warming themselves. Peter also was with them, standing and warming himself."  (John 18:18 ESV)  
• "When they got out on land, they saw a charcoal fire in place, with fish laid out on it, and bread.  (John 21:9 ESV)

Then Jesus asks Simon (using Peter's "old" name/character) three times about his love for his Lord and then charges him to feed his (Jesus') sheep.  Jesus sees in this bumbling, sinful, foot-in-mouth man, a shepherd - one who will also lay down his life for the sheep Jesus is leaving in his care.  What a transformation and what a blessing Peter received.  Peter, also, survived his struggles with God, walked away a new man - a transformed, blessed, and re-named man.  Like Jacob, he came to know God in a way he may never have without this "face to face" encounter.  He, too, was mightily blessed and was never the same again.


We can trust our Father to handle our struggles, our deepest secret thoughts and fears; and we can come away from our "encounter" having seen our God in a way we may have never expected or known before.  We will be blessed, transformed, and perhaps "re-named".