A Season of Gracious Giving

As a conservative I do not feel warmth towards the term entitlement.  Feeling like you deserve certain privileges,  often with out doing anything to earn them.  I'm a hard working Mid-Westerner who will just do it myself, by golly!  I don't need someone giving me anything, I'll work hard and earn my own reward.  In fact, I'll just reward myself when I'm done!  

But does this attitude inhibit my ability to receive good gifts from God and others?  If it isn't okay to receive a gift without earning it then how will I ever receive salvation from Jesus?  There will NEVER be anything I can do that will earn that one.  

Ephesians 2:8-9

⁸ For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— ⁹ not by works, so that no one can boast.

The fact is, God wants to lavish great gifts on us and rewards us.  He wants us to ask. 

 Christmas is coming soon.  Our kids are excitedly making lists full of gifts.  As a parent, its hard to decide what to get them when they have so many dreams and desires.  I would LOVE to bless them with every one of them.  I can tell you, my kids don't really deserve it.  Sure, they are great kids, but boy do they argue with each other.  But there is nothing they could do to get me to not buy them Christmas presents.  

But what if they didn't write anything on that list?  How would I know what to get them?  It wouldn't be any fun for me to shop, and there would be very little anticipation for them or me.  No dreams and nothing to look forward to on either end.  Half the fun for me is anticipating the look on their face when they open their presents.

Matthew 7:11

¹¹ If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!

If I can give good gifts to my kids without making them earn it, can I do that for others too?  God doesn't love me because I earn it, He doesn't give only when I deserve it.  Then neither should I.  I shouldn't make others earn my love, or my gift.  

This is a little painful to me as I watch our country spin without a foreseeable parachute.  There are so many out there that don't seem to deserve my help.  But   God did not make me judge.  He has called us to be gracious givers.  Givers with unmerited favor, marked by kindness.  Think of it also when someone wants to bless you.  You don't have to earn it, deserve it, or even like it.  Just take it, because its a blessing to the giver as well as the receiver   

Authority not Arrogance

Once upon a time I did a study about overcoming addictions.  I used to fill my feelings with food.  The thing that I had a hard time with was going before Jesus and crying about my sins.  To be moved with sadness because of the sadness I cause Jesus by my sins.  Its almost like they wanted you to remind yourself how horrible you were just so you would cling to Jesus.

The worst thing my kids can do is after a discussion on a mistake is to say "I am so stupid, I'm so bad, I'm a horrible person."  So why would God want to hear us lament over how horrible we are?  Do I go before God in prayer with a feeble heart?  With a false humility, "uh, Jesus?  If you see me, my sinful heart and all that I am not, would you maybe like to take care of this problem I have?  But, I mean, only if you think I deserve it."  Why would Jesus come to bring us a new Royal Heritage for us to stay tied to our old sinful one?

I believe the condition of our heart in our prayers weighs heavy on the influence of our prayers.  It is our right to go before God.  We are already seated with Him, Jesus has already brought us into righteousness, we do not need to sneak into the thrown room, we are to LIVE in the thrown room.  We have every right to be there with Him, to expect Him to answer.  He wants us to call life to the lifeless and light to the darkness.  It is not arrogance it is authority.

A New Class

In "high society", they hold heritage very close, legacy is a big part of who they are, and who their future families will be. They look to their past in order to know their future.  Their lives are already laid out for them before they are born, they are looked as "black sheep" if they turn from their family road map and go their own way.  (I know how this works, I watch the Gilmore Girls)  

I don't really relate to that, I grew up like most of America, Middle Class.  We value heritage, but very few of know anything that happened to our family a few generations back, especially what happened before the boat crossed the big ocean.  Most of us middle classers value our current families, and the future of it higher than what our ancestors might think of or current trajectory.  We don't really care what they would have thought, of course we are respectful and honor them, but we look ahead more than back.  -Maybe its just me then.

 But.....as soon as salvation became ours, we began living out of a different heritage, not high class, not middle class, or even lower class.  -A lot of churches think we should be poor to be holy.-  We began to live under the Legacy of Christ.  He, and all of His ministry, are now our heritage.  We are now wealthy, high class, and we should look back on that to see where our future is.  Jesus was sent to give us that road map, so we could duplicate His ministry, His power, His presence to the Earth.  It no longer matters what earthly family you come out of, because at that moment you said 'yes' to Jesus, He began writing a new identity and destiny into you.  A destiny full of authority and a future full of adventure!  Guaranteed.

We are now a new class, we are free from the chains of expectation, generation, and no longer locked into the hierarchy of the worlds order.  I guess its the original "New World Order."  

Fence or Freedom?

I often get very tired when I'm reading.  I think its genetic, when my mother sits, she falls asleep.  Usually this is a pain in the butt, but yesterday it had meaning.  I sat to read "Culture of Honor", a really great book by Danny Silk.  (I love all that comes out of Bethel church in Redding.  They got it together. )  So, I started reading a chapter that was talking about the 4 keys to unlock the New Freedom mindset of God.  He was explaining that Abram had to leave his family, and God promised He would bless all families from his own. 

And that's when I fell asleep.  But, I still knew what was happening.  I saw myself behind bars, not jail.  Its was more like a really big wrought iron fence with no way out.  Its grey and dingy here.  I asked God what this was, He said it was where I was.  Safe, protected, not in danger, but not taking any risk.  See, in my life, I am safe, I am comfortable, there is little need to take risk.  In fact, I really hate risk, just ask my husband.  I'm a play it safe kind of gal. 

Then in an instant I was Laura Ingalls running through the tall prairie grasses. *sigh, love the prarie*  This is the place of danger and also excitment.  I am open to all things to come at me, yet I am so free, its like I'm called to be here.  I can breath, I can be who God created me to be, its beautiful, bright, full of yellow and wheat colors and full of expectation.  I woke up, and I knew God was talking to me.  Then life happened and I didn't get to finish reading.

This morning I began reading again, I stayed awake this time.  Mr. Silk continued, (paraphrased) "God wants us to leave our identity placed on us by our family, He wants us to go beyond what they expect from us, He wants us to throw off our social-class world view and to begin seeing the way He sees, to begin living the way He lives." 

We need to find a way out, and walk beyond of the fenced in yard.  Sure the yard is everything you've ever known, its safe, its what you know, its predictable.  But like all those pioneers, they took courage and went beyond what was expected of them, they took up the challenge to blaze a new trail.  Its wasn't particularly safe, there was risk, but they rarely traveled alone.  We will not travel alone either.  The wide open spaces are waiting, and God is calling us to new things, bigger things, the truer things. 

I will no longer associate myself with the worlds identity of me. (I know this is a process) I'm not just Sarah, oldest daughter, type A, stay at home mom, borderline crunchy granola mom.  I am SARAH, princess to the King, hands and feet of the Creator, pioneer of the Spirit, worker unto the Lord....and so are you!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&v=nFbMvFdRDvg&NR=1

Shimmer and Glow

This is mica.  A rock.  A plain old rock.  It peels away in layers, each layer is paper thin and slightly iridescent.  Its really quite beautiful.  But if you take those simple layers and add a little pressure, you make something that every woman covets.  Sparkle!  This simple rock changes into glittery beauty. 

The Lord began speaking to me about "shiny" yesterday.  He sometimes shows me who He sees as "shiny", I get the privilege of telling these wonderful people.  I adore telling people how God sees them, pouring identity and destiny into lives.  We are like these rocks.  Plain, layered, and once we let God get a hold of us, He turns it into this beautiful glimmer that will catch the eye of the searching, the hurting, the world. 

They may not even be looking for anything, but when you see something shining so bright, you look.  We need to be able to see ourselves as God does.  We each have a specific identity, uses, gifts; its our responsibility to allow God to change those characteristics from layered rock into shiny glimmer for all the world to see our God. 

Are you afraid of being so attractive?  Joshua 2:24 They said to Joshua, “Surely the Lord has given all the land into our hands; moreover, all the inhabitants of the land have melted away before us.”  Some rocks change into glitter, others melt away and flow like magma.  Its really God's job to transform the rocks, but we must be willing and obedient to shine.  I really don't want to just melt away. 

Do not be ashamed of what God made you to be.  Shine!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LNcjzOmCWi0

Homesick

Have you ever been homesick for a place that no longer exists?  I often feel so hurt for those who loose their homes to natural disasters.  They return home, to find nothing left.  Nothing is the way it was before.  I'm sure they are homesick for that past, but its just not there. 

Sometimes I feel so heart sick for the past, for my old "homes."  There are always spaces in time that you will hold dear to your heart.  It almost makes you homesick to think back on them, wishing you could get that little piece back; but it no longer exists.  That space is gone.  God has moved you on to a new "home." 

Lot's wife was obviously homesick as her husband dragged her from their destroyed city.  She couldn't help but look back.  She didn't fare well.  Like her, I'm so tempted to look back and try to stay in the past, but I'm afraid I won't fare well. 

The Lord has so much for me in my new place if I am willing to stop looking back, and begin letting go of what is comfortable, let go of what I've always known.  I can, after all, trust Him.  God doesn't force us out.  He is so patient with us. God doesn't always move us into a larger home.  Sometimes He asks us to downsize.  There is no extra room for all the things we have accumulated over our lives.  You know how it is, have a few kids, or "projects", and you can have quite a haul.  This requires a little more work, its harder to move on if we have to let go of so much.  But we can not hold on to everything, we have to purge our garbage to have God's treasures. He allows us the time we need to pack and sort and throw out  our stuff.  But all the time He is helping and waiting, He is also so busy creating us an even more beautiful space then the one He has moved us from. 

Moving is hard work, back-breaking work.  Packing, hauling, unpacking, but God is the ultimate moving crew.  He is helping us relocate.  And usually by the time you are done packing all our clutter, when we are done looking back, He already has the dinner table set, and the pictures on the wall.  Awesome, now lets sit and feast with HIM!

Home

Six months ago I was lead away from a place of comfort and family.  I was being drawn away from everything I've ever known to be.  A place where I was fed, a place where I had grown, a place where I thought I belonged.  It was easy place, a place where I had been stitched in and was not easily removed. 

If you ever find yourself in an easy place, just wait a few minutes and God will probably be asking you to move from there.  Easy doesn't make you grow, its comfortable, and requires little faith.  Its a great place for a little break, but vacation never lasts forever.  Well, its not supposed to. 

In January we were pulled from our home church.  People would ask why we left, and while we had a few reasons, we really didn't want to be quitters.  We are NOT quitters, but we felt like it was time to move.  So it was hard to give an answer when we ourselves didn't really understand.  I just kept telling them we had to. 

It was not a move of comfort, but obedience.  The threads that held us there had to be removed, it hurt, a lot.  I longed for the days of comfort and predictability, the relationships that wouldn't come as easy anymore. 

Since then we have been making a new home, but it was not easy.  I still desired the past, and like Lot's wife, I looked back -thankfully, I'm not a block of salt.  But I knew that what I once knew, wasn't there.  That space in time was gone, and it would not come back.  I had to trust that God would stitch me into a new place, a new family and that He had a plan and a place for us in this new season. 

Lewis and I both received assignments, we knew the work to be done.  I couldn't help it though, I still missed that past.  Even so, I did the job God called me to do.  I was sent to pray over my new home.  I began walking out my assignment, and any others that come my way.

The other day I was praying over the women of my Church, and I began to see faces pop up.  Some of the names I knew, others I did not.  As they faces came up, they were stitched to the other one previous, a specific placing for each woman.  This happened over and over until there was a beautiful crazy quilt of comfort, and warmth.  A safe place of family. 

Today at church, I was home.  I can say this is the first time I've felt that this is my home.  I have been stitched into my new family and I thank God that He didn't just leave me comfortable, but He saw that I could handle this.  He has shown me how much I am capable of, I have been able to step out in a new way, and I'm overwhelmed by the love of my Lord, and again "Home."