Tuesday, September 03, 2013

Russian Cat Herder

First, it is imperative that you read this blog entry before you read mine. 

I received this from the perspective of the second eldest of five children. My older sister is the self-proclaimed black sheep of the family, so obviously, that unanimously appoints me to eldest in the responsibility rankings. I helped raise three much younger siblings. 

To this day, I continue to be the controlling force behind every family decision. What Christmas tree to pick out. Where to eat dinner. What is on the menu for Thanksgiving. What we should get so-and-so for their birthday. Where we stay and what attractions we visit on vacation. I am the unofficial fearless leader of seven (eight counting my husband) human beings when it comes to matters of the family. I guess you could say that is fitting, seeing as I am quite the control freak. I have that bossy-knack. I have the take charge personality. 

This comes with a burden - a pandora's box of mistakes, misgivings, and overall tiresomeness. It is easy to just try to force everyone else to fit what I want..seeing as that is how it will end up anyway right? wrong. As my family grows, and each member matures, I am being - okay, I'll just say it - forced to recognize that each person is their own person..and that this whole time I was being tricked into thinking they were all mine. 

It isn't about the fact that I will always be the one they look at when deciding where to eat after church. But this is more about where they are in their walk with the Lord, where they go to college, who they want to be when they get older, etc... They are the Lord's. 

He has this agenda and plan that makes my own agendas resemble planaria. But alas, He is worthy to be trusted. He is sovereign. Someone once told me that I have to turn my family over to the Lord. But even still, they aren't mine to turn over. I just need to take a deep breath of faith and live in His grace. That feels much better anyway.


Friday, August 09, 2013

truth

Deception. It is the enemy's plan. Sometime's if we are not so deep in the Word we can be deceived and not even know that we are following lies.
Sometimes we might even be claiming something in Jesus' name over our life and it is strait from the enemy's mouth. Whoa. Hold the phone.

This is where I'm at. I have been struggling with the topic of deception. I don't like being lied to. I don't like being a sheeple. I don't like just absorbing what someone tells me and letting it be truth. Even if it feels so right. I don't even like hearing from myself and accepting it as truth. I don't like, and I don't recommend naming and claiming what I want and what {I think or demand that} the Lord has in store for me. I don't like assuming prosperity. I don't want to just seek my personal gain or success.
I want to seek His glory. This is not in my nature, though. This is not what our flesh adheres to. This is not what our heart seeks. Our heart is deceptive. It is the most deceptive.

Jeremiah 17:9 (HCSB) - The heart is more deceitful than anything else..who can understand it?

Scripture tells us to only follow the guidance of the Lord. God the Father, Jesus His Son, His Spirit alive in us, His Word, the proof in our testimony.

He is weaving the truth of His word into our lives..every time that we open it. Every time we seek His presence (and His presence alone).


But why.

Why would He send so much power to us if there wasn't something very disturbing lurking around the corner to devour our very heart?

I venture to say, the enemy is NOT as concerned with the lost souls that wander this earth. To him, they belong to him. To him, they are not a threat. (off topic: little does he know that it is often when moral and spiritual depravity is on the incline that the Gospel works so ravenously and efficiently, so, um, get ready for that).. The enemy is concerned with those that proclaim the name of Jesus. The one's who wear His name as a banner across their heart. Those are the one's he is constantly chasing. Those are the one's he is constantly accusing. Those are the one's he is actively lying to.

I challenge myself (and all of us Followers of The One True King) to actively flee the enemy.
I challenge us to actively denounce his accusations and live in transparent and authentic obedience of the changed life Christ has called us to.
I challenge us to actively seek out which "truths" we accept could actually be the enemy's lies.

Yes, it is happening. Scripture being distorted. That is one scary thought. Now, we are likely to automatically think, "well, how am I to know what is truth and what is deception?"
I challenge us to seek His Word. Seek His Spirit. Wake up each morning asking to see His face. Asking to see His glory. ONLY.

Let us take of our sandals, for when we do this, we are standing on Holy Ground. 
He is faithful. He is true. 

When we cast away ourselves... When we deny ourselves... When we renounce the comfort of deception and all that it entails, He will come in and shed light on the things we must rid our hearts of.

He seeks truth to be alive in us. Jesus prayed over His own disciples and all of His believers in
John 17. In verse 17, it's such an amazingly chilling fact to read His prayer over us. That we would be "sanctified by The Father's Truth.." Jesus did not leave it at that. No, The Spotless Lamb who faced persecution and temptation, yet remained sinless, knows that many things will come to us as "truth" when in reality it is false teachings. He made sure to clarify, "Your word is truth"..Amen. His Holy Word is where we find truth.

As I am personally struggling with a certain area of deception among friends and family members (and quite frankly, the rest of population), I am trying to break the chains of the lies that have been spewed at me.

But I can't. 

I can't break the bondage of this deception.

Blessedly, He can. His Word can.

Let us boldly approach the Throne and make our hearts worries and cares known to Him. He cares for us. He doesn't just want to hear our woes. He doesn't just want to sit with us while we whine. He wants to CHANGE us. He wants us to be transformed. He wants us to live in the Spirit of Truth.

"Pay attention to Me, My people,
and listen to Me, My nation;
for instruction will come from Me,
and My justice for a light to the nations.
I will bring it about quickly. 
My righteousness is near,
My salvation appears, 
and My arms will bring about justice
to the nations.
The coastlands will put their hope in Me, 
and they will look to My strength.
Look up to the heavens, 
and look at the earth beneath;
for the heavens will vanish like smoke, 
the earth with wear out like a garment, 
and it's inhabitants will die like gnats.

But My salvation will last forever,
and My righteousness will never be shattered."

Isaiah 51:4-6