Through the Fire

“For you, O God, tested us; you refined us like silver. You brought us into prison and laid burdens on our backs. You let men ride over our heads; we went through fire and water, but you brought us to a place of abundance.”
Psalm 66:10-12

Fires can be extremely dangerous and destructive. Fires can also be of great benefit to the land. Fire; if it is hot enough can turn rock into iron. Fire can make gold and silver pure. The “fires” that sometimes burn through our lives can be beneficial too. 

According to Cal Fire wild fires are beneficial in a number of ways. A wild fire cleans the forest floor, allowing for a healthier, stronger forest. A wild fire improves animal habitat with better quality food and more water. Wild fires kill diseases and insects that hurt the forest and finally some plants actually need the high temperature of a fire to release seeds so they can regenerate. 

The refining process is not unlike a wild fire. Yes, the refiner’s fire is contained and controlled, but it still changes things, it still makes some things better. A piece of rock containing iron ore isn’t worth much in its raw form, you could use the rock for a door stop or a paper weight perhaps. But put it in the fire and impurities are removed, elements that aren’t useful are removed and sometimes other element are added. The result is iron and steel that can be used build all sorts of things. It becomes strong, useful and valuable. The same goes for precious metals - gold and silver become better through the refining process.

Sometimes we face fires in this life of our own making, but God can use those. Sometimes, God sends the fire like the one the Psalmist sings about in this week’s passage. Just like a wild fire can actually purify and strengthen a forest, the fires of this life can and will be used by God to purify and strengthen us. 

No matter what you are facing - health fires, relationship fires, employment fires, financial fires, the fires of loss or any of the many fires we face on this planet - the refining power of that fire will make you purer, stronger, more valuable and more useful. God has an incredible plan full of purpose for you. The heat from the fire is not comfortable, but let it burn and then watch what God will do with you. 

A Prayer
Father - we are taught from a young age not to play with fire and that it a good thing to learn because it is dangerous if we don’t know what we are doing and are not aware of all the fuel that is around us. Thank you, that you know exactly how to handle fire. Thank you that in your hands fire purifies us - makes us stronger and prepares us for the work you have for us. In the name Jesus, who knows what the refining fire feels like, we pray - Amen.

Stop Searching

“Hear, O LORD, and answer me, for I am poor and needy. Guard my life, for I am devoted to you. You are my God; save your servant who trusts in you. Have mercy on me, O Lord, for I call to you all day long. Bring joy to your servant, for to you, O Lord, I lift up my soul.”
Psalm 86:1-4

One of my favorite Christian groups is Love & The Outcome, their song “King of My Heart” had been rolling around in my head for a few days and as I sat to write this week’s words of encouragement it was still there. The song is about the truth that life on this planet can be a battle, one that on our own we have little chance of winning. The chorus is an honest acknowledgement of who God is in our lives “You are bigger than any battle I’m facing. You are better than anything I’ve been chasing. Savior and royalty, the only hope in me, Jesus, You are the King of my heart.” It is the phrase “You are better than anything I’ve been chasing” that really stuck in my heart.

When life is beating us up we somehow manage to misplace the joy that the Lord has given us. Our first instinct as humans is to back track and start searching for it, doing and saying all the things we think will bring it back to us. In those times - stop searching. In this week’s passage King David was struggling spiritually and in his prayer he asked the Lord to bring him joy. David doesn’t ask God to show him where to find the joy he’s lost - he asked for a fresh supply. 

This is a recurring idea in David’s psalms. After acknowledging his sin David again asks “Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant in me a willing spirit, to sustain me” (Psalm 52:12). During the dedication of the temple David sings praise for the storms he had faced and says “You turned my wailing into dancing; you removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy…” (Psalm 30:11). Well, I think you get the idea. Joy - real joy is a gift that we are given by a loving, grace filled and merciful God. 

Have you lost your joy? Are you struggling to find it? Stop searching. Jesus is standing nearby - ask him for a fresh supply of what Peter calls “an inexpressible and glorious joy: (1 Peter 1:8), He has an abundant supply and takes great joy in giving it to us.

A Prayer
Father - thank you for Your inexpressible and glorious joy. Forgive for the times when we lose it and go searching for it instead of asking you for more. As we enter this week’s fray, send your spirit to fill us with joy. In the name Jesus, we pray - Amen.

What Will You Do For HIM?

“While Jesus was in Bethany in the home of a man known as Simon the Leper, a woman came to him with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume, which she poured on his head as he was reclining at the table.”
Matthew 26:6-7

I had heard this week’s passage on our local Christian radio station so I went home to read it for myself. As I read it, two things came to mind. The first thing was a 1988 movie called “The Seventh Sign” - in the closing scenes of the film the character Abby in a series of flashbacks to the time of Jesus’ death is asked more than once “will you die for him?” She ends up surrendering her life so that her newly born son will live and the world won’t end. This got me thinking about the concept of sacrifice. The second thing that came to mind was the attitude of the woman who poured out this expensive perfume on Jesus.

She took a lot of guff from the others reclined at table that day - what a waste they said, it could have been sold and the money given to the poor. We have no way of knowing how she had acquired this perfume - had she scrimped and saved to buy it, had it been a gift or perhaps handed down to her? Whatever the case, it was obviously a precious possession and the most precious gift she could give. 

When we think of making a sacrifice we tend to see it as a painful experience. Jesus’ sacrifice surely was painful so of course pain can come with sacrifice. In this woman’s case it really seems more an act of worship, one that was bringing her joy rather than pain. Abraham was asked to sacrifice his promised son and he acted in obedience without hesitating, was his heart breaking - no doubt, but he trusted God and passed the test. Did the widow who placed two copper coins in the offering second guess her sacrifice or did her faith make it a true act of worship?

Those of us living in the Western world are not likely to be asked bluntly and with a real threat looming “Will you die for Him?” But there are people in other parts of the world who are. What will we do for Him that may feel like a sacrifice but is really an act of faith, obedience and worship and ends with joy rather than pain? What precious possession would we be willing to give away? Will we choose to love someone we can’t stand to be around the same way Jesus loves us? Will we be generous with our time and get to know someone who is different from us? What will be our expensive perfume or copper coins? 

This week I want to challenge you to think about what it means to make a sacrifice is it only about pain or can it and should it be about faith, worship and joy. Then think about what you will do for Him.

A Prayer
Father - forgive us for the times when we hold on to the stuff and people in our lives so tightly that we miss the opportunities to live out our faith in you, to worship you with our whole lives and live in the joy that comes with that. Help us Lord to look at sacrifice differently and show us what we can do when we are willing to surrender to your call. In the name Jesus, we pray - Amen.

Accentuate the Positive

“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. What then shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? 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 8:28 & 31-32

Lots of ideas were swirling about in my head along the lines of how God can use the bad to do good - beauty from ashes and all that. So I was scribbling some possible titles when the phrase “Accentuate the positive” flowed out of the pen. I thought there might be a song with that phrase in so I turned to my husband (the human jukebox) and asked him. He said yes, hummed a bit and then broke out in song - a quick google confirmed it was the title of 1940s song by Johnny Mercer. The song is essentially saying that in the midst of trouble when things seem dark we should “accentuate the positive and eliminate the negative.”

What does that look like in a practical sense? A number of years ago I was severely wounded by the church was attending and serving - the pain was excruciating - the kind that might make a person turn their back on Jesus and become mired in bitterness. For me though, it turned out to be a blessing in disguise. If that painful event hadn’t happened - you wouldn’t be reading this, there wouldn’t be a blog or books either. If that event hadn’t happened I wouldn’t have made friends all over the world. If that event hadn’t happened I would not have gone to seminary and I would have limited what God could do in my life. If that event hadn’t happened my faith may have grown stale, instead it was made strong and the call to ministry securely fastened to my very soul. I’m not going to say that everything is great - because it’s not there are still struggles and plenty of them. That comes from living in a fallen world, surrounded by fallen people and choosing to follow a dangerous God. But it is so worth it - it will be especially worth it in the end. 

So what are you facing today? What are you questioning God about? What are possibly blaming God for? We are promised in God’s Word that He will work for our good in all things and that with Him on our side no one can permanently be against us unless we allow ourselves to embrace the negative instead of accentuating the positive. 

This week keep your heart open for the good that He is doing and let the positives overrule the negatives in this crazy thing we call life on planet earth.

A Prayer
Father - thank you for your promises. Promises for good to overrule bad. Promises we can stand solidly one in the midst of life’s hurricanes. Help this week to accentuate the positives. To see the good you have done, are doing and will always do for us as long as we keep our hearts fixed on You. In the name Jesus, we pray - Amen

Simply Irresistible

“Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul. Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.”
1 Peter 2:11-12

It had been one of those kinds of weeks. That kink in my neck was still there, I had gotten one of those “thanks, but no thanks” emails from a church I had sent my resume to and inspiration seemed at an all time low. Then it happened, as I stood at the kitchen sink, washing dishes - inspiration at last! The old Robert Palmer tune “Simply Irresistible” popped into my head - followed by this week’s passage.

I googled the lyrics wondering if there was anything of spiritual value in them. There was perhaps a bit of truth there, not the biblical kind truth that can set you free or give you joy unspeakable. But perhaps we could say it is an example of how the things of the world, with its temporary pleasures can be irresistible. The kinds of things that the book of Proverbs warns against, the kinds of things Peter warns against in this week’s passage. 

We are supposed to be living our lives in such a way that our life styles are not only recognizably different, but so they are also irresistible to those around us. When we do live that way - reflecting Jesus everywhere we go and in everything we do, people are drawn to the difference and when they find out why - come to find Jesus irresistible too. So how do we do this? How do we live lives that draw people irresistibly to Jesus? Jesus tells his disciples “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another” (John 13:35). So first we of all those of us who call ourselves by the name of Christ - need to get along, no more than get along we need to love one another. That means no more denominational one-upmanship. No more in fighting. 

Then once we are getting along with our brothers and sisters our everyday in the world life needs to look and feel different. Our live need to display the interconnected character traits of the fruit of the spirit, you know: “love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control” (Galatians 5:22). 

When we behave in keeping with who we are and what we have been called to do in Christ our lives should irresistibly draw people to Him. 

This week I challenge you to be simply irresistible.

A Prayer
Father - thank you for drawing us irresistibly to You. Help us to live in such a way - loving one another and displaying the fruit of Your Spirit - so that others will be irresistibly drawn to you as well. In the name Jesus, we pray - Amen.