Week 33 Joy
Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior. The Sovereign Lord is my strength; he makes my feet like the feet of a deer, he enables me to tread on the heights.   Habakkuk 3:17-19 NIV

My best friend is living some people’s nightmare right now. Rising flood waters destroyed the entire town of Denham Springs this week. Their homes, cars, and possessions disappeared in just a few tense hours. Her own family and pets barely escaped the swirling waters safely. It will take months to years to recover from the destruction, BUT she has not lost her joy. In the midst of the storm, literally, she has rested in God Who gave her perspective. Her joy is not in comfort, but in knowing Him. 

I think the measure of a person’s relationship with God is in these moments, when there are ‘no grapes on the vine. When pressed, joy overflows anyway. 
May the Lord heal and provide for the residents of Louisiana. May peace, love, hope and joy overflow from God’s people in greater measure than the waters that rose last week.

I chose a tip-in to show the joy of the LORD can cover the pain of destruction in their neighborhoods.
I ask that you would find some way to help residents in LA. If you want to help my friend here is a link to a funding site. Thank you for helping those in need and spreading the Love and Joy of the Lord. 
https://www.gofundme.com/2jsf6m4

Week 32 Nehemiah 8

v. 10   … The joy of the Lord is your strength…

The whole 8th chapter of Nehemiah is important to read in context. Here’s some background to the story: Israel had been taken into captivity for 70 years and finally allowed back to Jerusalem to rebuild the city and Temple of YHWH.  Unfortunately, after 90 more years, they still left the town defenseless until Nehemiah leads them in rebuilding the city walls.  
Chapter 8 tells the story of the congregation waiting at the Water Gate for the reading of the Book of the Law that God gave to Israel. 
For the first time, this generation of Israel was hearing the Words of God.  Such power and conviction came upon them that they laid prostrate before the Lord, weeping in grief. I can imagine the shame they felt when they realized they had been living so short of the standards God set up for them.  Imagine the thousands of adult men and women weeping as one.  Apparently it was loud enough to prompt Ezra and Nehemiah to address it. (Warning, history rabbit trail to follow…)
Let’s go forward in time over 2000 years, 1727 A.D. to a place called Herrnhut, Germany.  A small community of Protestants was living on the estate of Count von Zinzendorf, a man after Jesus’ heart.  He desired to see the unity Jesus spoke of manifest and allowed persecuted protestant Christians to live on his land and worship as they wished.  But, although they loved Jesus, they had fallen short of the unity the Count had hoped for. Infighting amongst the different believers over nonessential beliefs became rampant. 
Zinzendorf met with individuals house to house and opened the Scriptures as to the need for unity in the essentials of Christianity.  One night during a gathering he began to confess his own sins to them, suddenly the believers began to weep, repent to God and each other. This weeping lasted long into the evening as the power of the Holy Spirit fell upon them with a release of great joy. They shared a meal together thus starting the very first Love Feast meal that many Christians know today. 
From that point they lived in such a way that they gave their lives freely 24/7 prayer (this lasted 100 years!) and to the mission field long before William Carey, the father of missions, began sending out missionaries. This small group of believers, later known as the Moravians,changed the face of Christianity in the 1700s, influencing leaders like John Wesley, George Whitefield and William Carey. 
(…Okay, rabbit trail over now.)

Meanwhile, back in 444 B.C…How would we address Israel’s hysterics today?  Probably like this, “Yeah you should be weeping, we neglected the law for 160 years and we deserve what we got.”  But no, Nehemiah and Ezra tell the congregation to stop weeping, and rejoice.  Eat drink and be merry as they say.
Why? Because the Word of the Lord brings life not death, and they were to live fully alive now that they knew the truth which set them free. So, at the water gate they were washed with the water of the living Word.  Now they were clean. 
And then Nehemiah said something profound, “the joy of the Lord is your strength.”  Now how many of us know that verse? We say it over and over, not knowing the context that it was given in. And I always thought the joy of the Lord would make me strong.  You know, strong enough to whoop the enemy, strong enough to stand under pressure, big muscles strong.
As usual, I decided to study the original language and was surprised to find that the Hebrew word does not mean strength. It is the Hebrew word ‘maowz’, which means place of safety, refuge and protection, a fortress or stronghold. The word ‘strength’ is a place not an attribute. Oh my.
Thinking back on the rest of the story, it seemed odd when the next day the people heard about feast of Tabernacles and decided to build booths for themselves before hearing the Word for the next seven days.  I don’t usually make camping out my go-to expression of joy or strength.  But they understood what ‘maowz’ meant and found a tangible way to express it. 
The joy of the Lord became their covering and protection. It wasn’t their own strength at all, it wasn’t their beautiful houses, their cattle or their bank accounts. The joy they were now feeling would be their very protection.Sometimes I struggle with walking in joy.  But if I focus on the Living Word His joy will come, and that joy will be my hiding place when I am weak.  I can eat, drink, be merry, and, yes, even laugh at the enemy when I am sitting in my safe place. So I choose to rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say rejoice.  

Week 31 Joy

“Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus” (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18, NIV).

There are a lot of things I can aspire to do as a Christian, but I guess I never really noticed that Gods will for me is to be joyful. I knew He wills or desires for me to pray and give thanks. But when I ask myself, “What is God’s will for my life?” I can now unashamedly say He wants me to be joyful.

He wants me to Always be joyful.

So this month I am on a quest for joy. I’m digging into the Word, asking Holy Spirit and practicing walking in the Joy of the Lord. I’ll share more in upcoming days.

In the meantime, have a joyfully creative weekend remember this:

God wants you to ALWAYS be JOYFUL.

August Theme 2016

As this has been an intense year, I am in need of refresher course in “The Joy of the Lord.”

Please join me in this study and share your scriptures, revelations and practical applications of the Joy that comes from and in the Lord.

Week 30
Read 1 Corinthians 12 -13

This month I have studied about the greater works that Jesus said we would do after He returned to the Father. I read stories of the works of Jesus, looked at my position in Him through faith and allowed the Holy Spirit to show me the needs of this generation. And just as this month ends, He leads me to the greatest work… The greatest of these is Love.

If I aspire to display Jesus to a searching world, I may be able to raised the dead, heal the sick, comfort the mourning and share the Gospel… but the end result is to share His Love. None of these works have eternal effect if they are not out of the Father’s Love for individuals. Not my glory, His.

So I studied 1 Corinthians 12 & 13. If I’m to continue on this journey of power (and who can deny the world needs to see the real power of a Living God) I have to get hold of the real love of God. I know He loves me, but do I understand, really get it, how much He loves those groping about in the darkness. I confess, I don’t love the way He does. My motive for these works may not be pure. But I will seek after that kind of Love so that ‘the works’ will be born out of it, leading the recipients out of darkness into His wonderful light. 
This does not negate the need to open the door for the tangible power of God to show up through a believer’s life, but the key is Love.1 Corinthians 13:1-3, 8, 13 NIV

If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing…

Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away…

And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

Week 29Matthew 11:2-6 NIV 

When John, who was in prison, heard about the deeds of the Messiah, he sent his disciples to ask him, “Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?” Jesus replied, “Go back and report to John what you hear and see: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is proclaimed to the poor. Blessed is anyone who does not stumble on account of me.”

When John the Baptist hears about the deeds of Christ, it prompts him to ask if that ‘anointed one’ happens to be Jesus, his very own cousin. Funny how John didn’t even understand his own words and trust his own senses when a few years prior: “John protested strenuously, having in mind to prevent Jesus, saying, It is I who have need to be baptized by You, and do You come to me? And when Jesus was baptized, He went up at once out of the water; and behold, the heavens were opened, and he [John] saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on Him.” (Matthew 3:14, 16 AMP)

John needed proof and Jesus lists off His works as evidence. Evidence that He was indeed the Anointed, the Messiah. Once before, John had heard and seen. I wish it weren’t so easy to forget…

Anyways, I digress… All that Good News on display, that’s what Jesus said we could DO (not reminisce about, wish for or debate.) He said we could have that anointing through Him by the power of Holy Spirit so that Father can be glorified. It’s proof the Father still loves the world.

What if, in this crazy time of social, political and human upheaval, what if the greater works also involve loving without regard to our own needs, serving people we don’t agree with, standing with the currently oppressed, loving our enemies. 

How is this broken world going to be healed? By sitting in front of the TV debating whether all lives matter? Despising the candidates and cursing them in the darkness? Yelling across picket lines? Smugly declaring that the world deserves judgment? I’m pretty sure only God gets to decide that. The whole earth is in violent upheaval because it’s been waiting, waiting, waiting for God’s children to realize who they are and DO what we have been anointed to do. 

We’ve been given authority and anointing. Let’s spread some Good News, what do you say?

Week 28 Greater Works

Lk 4:16-21

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he hath anointed me
to preach the gospel to the poor;
he hath sent me
to heal the brokenhearted,
to preach deliverance to the prisoners,
and recovering of sight to the blind,
to set the oppressed free,
To proclaim preach the year of the Lord’s favor.

As Jesus read this verse from Isaiah in the synagogue, he stopped short at the proclamation of the Lord’s favor. He then went on to perform these miracles throughout His ministry on earth. 

But in the Isaiah passage, the anointing offers more than Jesus declared to the people that day. The Holy Spirit offers a crown of beauty for ashes, comfort to the mourning, a garment of praise for a heavy spirit. Those gifts were to come after His death. And they came through the coming of Holy Spirit, who is still now upon us in order to continue the fulfillment of the Isaiah scripture. As each person is delivered and believes, he/she becomes a tree of righteousness so that God can be glorified as the nations are healed. These greater works are not so that I can get glory, but for God’s sake alone. He deserves ALL the glory and honor forever and ever, amen.

IS 61:1-3
The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me; because the Lord hath anointed me
to preach good tidings unto the meek;
he hath sent me
to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim liberty to the captives,
and the opening of the prison to the bound (which also means blind);
To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord…
…that they might be called TREES OF RIGHTEOUSNESS, the planting of the Lord, that HE MIGHT BE GLORIFIED. 

EZ 47:5-7, 12
Afterward he measured a thousand; and it was a river that I could not pass over: for the waters were risen, waters to swim in, a river that could not be passed over.
And he said unto me, Son of man, hast thou seen this? Then he brought me, and caused me to return to the brink of the river.
Now when I had returned, behold, at the bank of the river were very many trees on the one side and on the other…
…And by the river upon the bank thereof, on this side and on that side, shall grow all trees for meat, whose leaf shall not fade, neither shall the fruit thereof be consumed: it shall bring forth new fruit according to his months, because their waters they issued out of the sanctuary: and the fruit thereof shall be for meat, and the leaf thereof for medicine.

REV 22:2
In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, [was there] the tree of life, which bare twelve [manner of] fruits, [and] yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree [were] for the healing of the nations.

Theme for July:
Greater Works than I Do

In a nutshell, I believe the Gospel of John is about two things: who Jesus really is and who we can be in Him. This month I want to explore the ‘greater things’ that I should be able to do when I am in Him.

Week 27 Verse John 14:11-14 NIV
Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the works themselves. Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.

Week 27                 John 14:11-14 NIV 

Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the works themselves. Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.

I think it is interesting that Jesus tells the disciple to believe that he is in the Father and the Father is in Him. Such a matter-of-fact statement, as if it was that easy to accept. The God of the universe lives inside their friend AND he lives inside God. That concept just isn’t part of the human experience. 

So, just in case he had a hard time swallowing that fact, Jesus explains that the good works He’s been doing all over town are the Instagram stories that prove His claim. You can’t argue with the visual evidence.

What the disciples do know is that Jesus is about to go away, so they are probably a little anxious and confused. What were these last few years about if He’s just going to bail on them? How do you abide with an absent companion? How can they do greater works without Him?

So Jesus comforts them with the knowledge that if he sticks around a better companion won’t be able to come. They need that Friend, Holy Spirit, to help them abide.
Only in the abiding can we leave the brush strokes of the Father on this world.