You Matter....

Today was "Sanctity of Life Sunday".... it rolls around once a year as a reminder that we need to hold the life that God gives us sacred. We were reminded of all the verses in the Bible that tell us that life begins before birth and were reminded how we rejoice at the news of the Haitians pulled out of the rubble, still alive after all this time because it is inherent in our nature to value life. It is only our society that teaches us to devalue life. I sat in my chair listening to my pastor speak and he read the usual verses, that I have heard time and time again.

I am going to digress here just a bit and tell a story about my sons Becher and Drew. When I was pregnant with Drew, Becher was just three years old and he used to ask me all the time when the baby was going to come live with us. He would come up and rub my big pregnant tummy and say, "I miss the baby.... when is the baby going to come?" Shortly after Drew was born, I attended a "Sanctity of Life Sunday" just like today and Becher heard mention of the word "abortion" in the service. He asked me after church what it was and I told him that some people don't want to have a baby and when the baby is still in their tummy, they kill it and have it taken out. He was astounded and asked how and why that could happen. I explained to him that it is because those people don't truly believe that it is a baby.... that they are confused and that they believe that it is just "tissue". Well, "tissue" in our house had a whole different meaning than how I used it that day and Becher replied, "oh mommy, when Drew was in your tummy, I missed the baby, I NEVER thought he was toilet paper." Even at his young age he knew the value of a life.

It's a story that makes me smile so, I wanted to share even though it is only by a large stretch that it connects to the rest of what I have to say. Now back to my original thought!

My pastor today read Jeremiah 1:5 "Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you; Before you were born I sanctified you; I ordained you a prophet to the nations." Now, we know that God was speaking to Jeremiah in this verse however, we also know that according to Acts 10:34 that God is no respecter of persons. This means that Jeremiah is no different from us.... God knew us before we were born and even before our conception.

I have read this verse dozens of times over my life and although it is a good verse, it never really stood out to me until today. Today I heard the verse and God spoke very clearly to me, "I have known your beginning to your end, I formed you, I planned you.... there is nothing you can do to disappoint me." Wow, that is so far removed from the way I was taught as a child and even into adulthood.

Think about how Satan uses our guilt to keep us from growing in the things of God. If he can make us feel unworthy then we may not even try to press in, to learn, to grow. We live hanging onto the hem of our salvation instead of living in the fullness of God.

I am in no way saying that this gives us free license to misbehave. What this knowledge does is invites us to be closer to God, to truly realize what He thinks of us and how much He loves us.

I want everyone who reads this to think a new thought.... every mistake....every sin....He knew. Grasp hold of that. Every one...He knew it not only before you did it but, before He even formed you! Yet, He made you anyway, He wanted you for Himself anyway, He longs for fellowship with you anyway and He died for you anyway. It wasn't some nebulous sin that He died for on the cross.... He died for yours knowing exactly what those sins would be. Despite your errs, you are His chosen one and you matter... more than anything.

I hope you know how much your are loved.

Never Full

I want to paint a picture in your mind.... picture a pitcher and there is water being poured into the pitcher from up above. Throughout the pitcher, there are small round holes and the water is running out as it is poured in. The pitcher is crying out, "I'm made for water, fill me" and yet, it can never be full.

This mental image is a picture of some Christians. They desperately want more, they believe, they know that we were made for fellowship with God and yet, they are never full. Some are believing for the promises of God... promises of peace, provision, health, etc. and yet, they never receive. In Christian circles for many years there were those who mistakenly judged those who did not receive what they were praying/believing for thinking that they must have a secret/hidden sin blocking their reception of the promise. Shame on anyone who judges another. God judges us by our heart condition. One man CAN NOT judge another man's heart condition from his outward state.

So what is it that causes us to not be filled, to lose the Word we so desperately try and fill ourselves with? I believe these holes are portals into our life where we have unknowingly given Satan access and authority in our lives. Those times when we unknowingly let Satan in caused the holes and leaking of the vessel.

Let me give you some basic examples; reading your horoscope may seem innocent enough, after all, you don't really believe that stuff. Bottom line is that reading your horoscope is dabbling in Satan's lair and allowing him a portal into your spiritual being. Some other things that may have given Satan access; a spirit of rejection, soul ties, dabbling in the occult, allowing sacrilegious items in your home, etc.

We head the biblical warning to, "be on guard" but we are looking on the outside when it is quite possible the problem comes from within. We mistakenly think that once we have given our lives to God that we are protected from spirits but if we have given spirits free access.... they have no intention of leaving until we recognize them and call them out!

The Bible says that the kingdom of God is within you (Luke 17:21) and says that the kingdom of heaven suffers violence and the violent take it by force (Matthew 11:12). We have to take it back from Satan and his minions. Ephesians 6:12 says, "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 spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms." These are not some nebulous external forces and we need to learn how to fight this war. War is won on the offense, not on the defense. We need to identify our enemy and take back what is rightfully ours. Trust in the healing and restoration of God to seal off those portals!

Remember the parable of the sower who sows the Word? He sowed some on the path and the birds came and ate the seed. These are hard hearts that are not ready to hear and receive the word. Then he sowed on shallow ground and the seed immediately took root but withered and died because it had no root. Then he sowed on ground consumed with thorns and the thorns choked the seed. Then he sowed on fertile ground and the seed grew and bare fruit.

This parable never made any sense to me. If the Bible says that the Word is alive and powerful and does not return void.... why didn't the seed take root? The Bible says in Matthew 13:20 "The one who received the seed that fell on rocky places is the man who hears the word and at once receives it with joy." He wanted the Word, he joyously received the Word and the Word doesn't return void! Like the pitcher, he joyously received the Word yet it was his internal condition that prevented the Word from taking root.

You can have victory, you can seal up these unseen portals that have been bleeding you dry and sucking your faith away from you. Acts 5:16 says that everyone brought to Jesus was healed and delivered. John 14:12 says, "I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father." You have the authority but as Hosea 4:6 says, "You are destroyed for a lack of knowledge." It's time to expose these devils for what they are and drive them out once and for all!

Selective Salt

Have you ever gone to the grocery and purchased salt and then brought it home and some days it was salty and on other days you could shake and shake the container and it just didn't have any flavor? Of course not.... what a silly question!!
Jesus says that we are the "salt of the world" (Matthew 5:13) yet we tend to want to be selectively salty. Flavoring our conversation with the good news of the gospel only when it is convenient and comfortable. Far be it from me to judge your Christian walk but, I would like to challenge you to really look at your life.... if you are being selectively salty, I dare say that perhaps you are not salt at all.
James 3:11 & 12 say, "Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring? My brothers, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water." In the old testament we read in 2 Chronicles, Leviticus and Numbers about a "covenant of salt". Just as salt is a preservative, this covenant of salt refers to perpetuity. Salt is constant, salt is perpetual, salt preserves or it is not salt at all.
I have come to the realization that it is not enough to be a good example. It is not enough to be kind and loving to those around me. If there is one person whose life I have been a part of who is not given the opportunity to accept Jesus as his/her Savior... I have failed. I must be the salt that God says I am every day, in every moment to all people. Luke 14:35 tells us that if salt loses it's saltiness it is worthless and not even fit for the manure pile.
I am all the more convinced of this truth as I look back on my life and recognize the depravity that I have been saved from. The Word tells us in Luke 12:48 that to whom much is given, much is expected. We seem to read these words and focus on either great talent or material possessions. To the outside world, it would appear that I have not been given much but, I know what God saved me from. I know the extent of the grace and mercy that have been shown to me and I know that I owe God more than most. I am choosing from this day on to no longer be selectively salty.