TODAY IS INDEPENDENCE DAY, THE DAY WE AMERICANS CELEBRATE OUR FREEDOM FROM TYRANNY.
When brave Americans fought to secure our right to govern ourselves!
This beautiful right gives us the freedom to go to church or not go to church. It gives us the freedom to vote or not vote. It gives us the freedom to celebrate holidays or not celebrate holidays. All in all it gives us the freedom to think and act independently and make our own choices.
This is a wonderful privilege. We are blessed to be Americans and have these freedoms!
The problem is sometimes we take these freedoms for granted. Jesus reminds us that with FREEDOM comes responsibility!
In the book of John, Jesus is questioned by his very own people regarding His identity. He clearly tells them that He and the Father are One, and His Father sent Him and they act as One.
Then He makes a very important statement that sets the standard to live in FREEDOM and make good choices with that FREEDOM!
Just because we have the freedom to make a choice, doesn’t mean that every choice we make is right!
The only way to make a right choice in each moment of our lives is to know Jesus and His word and follow it!
THIS IS THE WAY TO TRUE FREEDOM!
“If you abide in my Word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set FREE.” John 8:31-32
Jesus Himself is The Truth and if we believe in Him and follow His Words we will make the choices that truly set us free!
“So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.” John 8:36
TRUTH BOMB
TRUE FREEDOM IS IN JESUS CHRIST ALONE!
So as we watch the fireworks light up our night skies and thank God it is not the “rockets red glare,” or “ the bombs busting in air,” we are watching, let’s rejoice in our country’s freedom but remember our true freedom is in Christ!
It is officially SUMMER, and I have chosen to be LAZY.
The proof of that is I posted my blog on Wednesday instead of Tuesday! Never fear, I still have a ‘Truth Bomb,’ but it will be a ‘Wednesday Truth Bomb’ this week!
The key to my “laziness“, is that I have chosen it! It is not random or due to some “funk“ that I am in, quite the contrary! It is coming from a place of decision and conviction.
At the beginning of June I committed to read through the book of Psalms through the summer! I had shared previously that it is a book that I am so familiar with, yet I never want to take for granted. There is so much rich Truth and vulnerability in it!
I believe, at least at this point in my spiritual journey, that I have come to love David most of all for his vulnerability! He sins and he confesses it. He has a bad day and he moans and groans about it. He has a victory and he celebrates it like no one ever has! And he sees God in and out and through all of his life circumstances and continuously gives him all the glory!
As I was reading through Psalm 73, the very last verse jumped out at me and spoke volumes of truth into my soul.
“But as for me, it is good to be near God. I have made the Sovereign Lord my refuge; I will tell of all your deeds.”
Psalm 73:28
My summer, mapped out on a calendar, appears to be anything but LAZY!
I am working, serving, tutoring, making trips back and forth here and there etc., etc., etc.!
You may look at my summer calendar and think I am crazy to say that I am intentionally taking anything in a lazy manner. But I am!
The definition of Lazy that I am anchoring my Lazy Days of Summer on is…
“Slow moving or sluggish,” as in a slow moving or ‘Lazy Stream’.
The stream has not stopped moving nor has it gotten off of its path, it has simply SLOWED DOWN!
In order for me to be affective, productive, and stay sane throughout my busy summer season, I must embrace and plan for “Lazy Slow Downs!” I am not stopping, I am choosing to be lazy and slow down.
Yesterday I was with my grandkids! I chose to be “lazy“ and slow down and spend the day with them and write my Blog today. It proved wonderful in calming my anxiety of trying to squeeze everything into one day! Instead, I slow down, enjoyed the opportunity in front of me, and moved at a slower pace and wrote my Blog today.
In getting back to the Truth I have Psalm 73 I felt God speaking into my soul; is the rock solid fact that never changes whether I am going full speed ahead or choosing to be “lazy“ and slow down…
“But as for me…”
This first phrase is a self resolve! David chooses to resolve himself to the fact that follows…
“…it is good to be near God!“
TRUTH BOMB
STAY NEAR TO GOD AND HE STAYS NEAR TO YOU WEATHER YOU ARE MOVING FULL STEAM AHEAD OR SLOWING DOWN!
God is not concerned with our “busy schedules!“ He does not love us because of all we do and accomplish. God is with us in the busy and the doing but He is also right there with us and near to us as we slow down and enjoy the best of life‘s moments!
I am going to continue to purposefully enjoy the LAZY DAYS OF SUMMER!
It will not be easy for this purpose driven, high energy child of God. But I hope you will join me through these next couple of months of summer and share in my discipline!
Where I am from in southern California, “JUNE GLOOM,” is a common and well understood phrase. Just as you get used to it being summer and expect those warm sunny days, “JUNE GLOOM,” sets in! Instead of waking up to sunshine streaming through your windows in the morning, there is nothing but a thick, gray haze. The cloud cover has rolled in over the ocean and fills the sky with a gray haze that covers everything. It typically lasts until about 10am in the morning, but there are times it can last throughout the entire day.
Have you ever felt that gloom in your soul? Oh you know, that feeling that you just wake up with and it seems to cover all of the regular sunshine from streaming in. It feels gray and blue and creates a fog like feeling in your heart and head. You got out of bed expecting a day filled with sunshine but instead it feels more like drizzle…not a downpour, just gloom.
The words to define gloom are:
Dim, Dark, Somber and Partial.
I love that one definition, ‘partial.’
It implies that it is not full, it is not complete, it has not yet taken over.
Therein lies our hope my friend!
None of us choose to wake up gloomy, it just seems to happen as unexpectedly as “June Gloom” on a warm June day.
However, it doesn’t half to stop us. It doesn’t have to paralyze us and consume us! It does not have to turn from partial darkness to complete darkness. Not when we have the LIGHT!
JESUS IS THE LIGHT!
“JESUS SAID TO THE POPLE, ‘I AM THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD. IF YOU FOLLOW ME YOU WON’T BE STUMBLING THROUGH THE DARKNESS, BECAUSE YOU WILL HAVE THE LIGHT THAT LEADS TO LIFE.’”
John 8:12
Our hope is the Truth of what Jesus himself spoke. When we have Jesus in us who is the light of the world, then we do not have to stumble through the darkness and gloom that comes. The gloom may come, but it will always be partial and can be overcome with the Light of Jesus Christ in us!
I was reminded of this truth recently as I woke up on a gloomy Southern California “June Gloom” day! I had made plans with my grandkids to go to the beach. Do you think we woke up on that gloomy day and let the gloom consume us? Of course not! We packed our beach bags, put on our bathing suits and grabbed our sunblock!
That’s right, you read it correctly…
We grabbed our sunblock! Why would we slather ourselves in sunblock when there was not one ray of sun peeking through? Because even though the gloom had set in temporarily and partially, the sun was still there! We even had a few patches of red that were missed with the sunblock, to prove that the rays of the sun still come through the gloom!
In the same way, when the Son of God is in us, His Light shines through any amount of Gloom that comes into our lives!
TRUTH BOMB
WHEN THE GREY DIMNESS OF GLOOM CREEPS IN, TURN ON THE LIGHT OF JESUS INSIDE YOU!
Jesus is truly The Light of the world!
When you follow Him, you will not stumble through the dark. He will shine through any gloom in your life!
Does it matter that people know your name? Does it matter that they pronounce your name correctly? Does it matter that they spell your name accurately? It absolutely does!
Names matter! Don’t believe me, just ask a couple awaiting the birth of their child. It does not matter if it is their first, second or sixth child, the name is important!
It is talked about, discussed repetitively, deliberated on for days or months even and after all that, the way it is spelled is still up for debate!
So what’s in a name anyway?
It is personal, it holds our identity within its letters. You may have been in a class or a group with more than one person that has the same name as you, yet still your name was yours and yours alone! It may have had a number after it, one, two or three…Or it may have had your last name initial after it, but there was no confusing it, your name is your name alone!
One of an infants’ first milestones is recognizing their own name when it is spoken. Their head will turn and they will look in the direction of their spoken name. From that point on it has become their identity, it is who they are.
God knows how important our name is to us. That is why He knows our name. One of the most popular stories in the Bible is about Moses. Most people when they hear the name Moses, they immediately picture the Red Sea being parted. I mean, after all, it is a miracle and deserves full recognition! But I believe it is no small thing that God speaks to Moses and calls him by name.
“God called to him out of the bush, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.”
Exodus 3:4
God spoke Moses’ name so that there was absolutely no confusion about who God was talking to. Moses knew his name and knew that God knew his name!
God called Moses by name and Moses knew it was God. God was calling Moses to trust Him and be willing to be used by Him! Moses was fearful like we often are. However, because of the intimate, personal relationship that God and Moses had, Moses knew he could trust in his God!
God knows your name too. He will never mispronounce your name or misspell your name! He will never confuse your name with someone else who has your name!
Do you remember when you were in grade school and you used to make pinky promises? You know those ones where you locked pinkies with one hand and prayed the other person didn’t have their fingers crossed behind their back with the other one?
Then you promise to be their best friend forever! How long did that last? Probably not even through the end of the school year.
Truth is, no matter how hard we try, no matter how sincere our intention is, and no matter how much we love the other person and intend to do right by them, we are human and we just fail.
It’s part of our fallen human nature.
Praise God we have a God who never breaks his promises!
God not only speaks His promises He gives us a permanent reminder that He keeps His promises!
“I have sat my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the promise between me and the earth.“ Genesis 9:13
God created the rainbow with all of its brilliant colors and placed it in the sky to remind us that He keeps his promises!
“Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will remember my promise between me and you and all living creatures of every kind!” Genesis 9:14-15
Our God makes a promise and never crosses His fingers behind His back!
“Whenever The rainbow appears in the clouds, I will remember my promise to you!” Genesis 9:16
TRUTH BOMB
A RAINBOW IS A SIGN TO ALL THAT GOD WILL KEEP HIS PROMISES!
So every time you look up into the sky and see the rainbow God placed there we are reminded of His promises!
Actually, no matter where we see a rainbow, in the sky, on a shirt, on a flag, or anywhere else, we are reminded that God created the rainbow in brilliant color, to remind us that HE ALONE IS GOD AND HE KEEPS HIS PROMISES!
Have you ever experienced that feeling where the ground under your feet seems to sway back and forth and you have absolutely no control over it?
I’m talking about the ground its self, the foundation you have placed your feet on begins to shake and tremble!
If you have lived in California all of your life like I have then you know exactly what I’m talking about.
California is known for having earthquakes! Some of them are small and some of them are quite enormous. But regardless of the size there is an unexplainable feeling that takes over when you realize that the very thing you are standing on and have put complete confidence in to hold you up, begins to quiver and become unsteady! Your initial response is to go to your knees, or get as close to the ground as possible and hold onto something sturdy.
Spiritually speaking, this is also the perfect practice when you begin to waver in your faith!
Oh, we’ve all been there. We stand on the firm foundation of Jesus Christ our Savior and Lord! He is unshakable, He is perfect, He is all powerful, and yet there are moments when we can begin to sway and flutter, and quiver, and become unsteady!
It can happen as quickly as a physical earthquake. A sort of, “earthquake of the soul!” One minute we are full of the joy of the Lord! Our confidence in Jesus has never been stronger! Our feet are firmly planted and we are serving with all our might! Then something happens and we are shaken to our core. A decision is made and we disagree with it. A word is spoken and it stings worse than a physical slap. Someone fails to do what they promised, and suddenly we begin to feel ourselves fail and give way.
What do we do? How do we stand firm? How do we keep on keeping on when we feel doubtful, discouraged, even trembling and shaking?
We follow the example of Jesus!
“No unbelief made Him waver…But He grew strong in His Faith as He gave glory to God.” Romans 4:19-22
Jesus did not waver because He “Gave Glory To God!”
In all things, in all situations and at all times, Jesus Gave Glory to God and this kept Him from wavering!
Jesus experienced the same frustrations, hurts and pains that we experience. Yet He endured to the very end. He did not get shaken, tremble, quiver, give way or fail. Instead “He grew strong” as He stood steady and gave the Glory to God!
We can too! When we feel the “spiritual earthquake’s” hit and cause us to shake, tremble and sway, GIVE GOD THE GLORY for all He has done for you, and you will feel the ground become steady under your feet!
TRUTH BOMB
GIVE GLORY TO GOD AND FEEL THE SPIRITUAL EARTHQUAKES STILL BENEATH YOUR FEET!
“For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” Hebrews 12:2
As a famous quote says, yesterday is gone; tomorrow has not come; all we have is today.
What are your eyes focused on?
Have you ever watched a duck swimming across a pond? You can sit on the cool green grass and watch for hours as he seems to float effortlessly across the water. It is almost relaxing as it leaves you with a sense of calm and peace. But if you were to take an underwater camera and focus it on what is going on underneath the water, you would see a fury and a frenzy of paddling, pushing, and motion to keep his body afloat and moving forward. The duck is obviously putting forth a great deal of effort to move forward. But the key is his eyes. Where are his eyes focused? They are focused on his destination. While effort is needed to achieve his goal, he maintains steadfastness in his moving forward as he fixes his eyes on his destination.
We too face hard work and effort in our quest to move forward! But our goal must also be to fix our eyes on where we are headed. Jesus knew this and practiced it faithfully. “Jesus kept his focus on the joy that lay before him.” Instead of looking back at what had been done to him, or become preoccupied with what was being done to him in the moment, He fixed his eyes, His focus, on the joy that lay before Him. That is how He endured the hideous death on the cross. He stayed focused, He kept his eyes on the ultimate joy of saving mankind from eternal death. He did not stop working, “moving underneath the surface,” to accomplish what He needed to, but while He worked intensely, He kept His calm and peace by having His eyes focused forward on the joy that lay before Him!
No matter how intense your “paddling” beneath the surface gets, stay calm by focusing on Jesus!
TRUTH BOMB
No matter how intense our paddling, we stay calm when we focus on Jesus!
This has become the mantra around my house! As we clean out, closet after closet and drawer after drawer and room after room and the garage…Enough said, the encouragement I continue to receive is, PURGE PURGE PURGE!
The encouragement is coming from my very own family members. Those that know me best and love me most! They understand that to get rid of unnecessary items, to clear them out and free myself from them is actually healthy!
However, during the process, it feels anything but healthy. Some of it, sure I am ready to be done with it, throw it away, add it to the trash pile, I can’t remember why I kept it anyway. But for the majority of it, there were reasons I held onto it. The memories are still there and they surface with every item that I pick up and hold! Then comes the excruciating decision, get rid of it or hold onto it.
I am not making light of this process in any way shape or form! It is truly one of the most difficult things I have had to do. But if something has sat stored in a box for six years or more, chances are I don’t need it and it has only been collecting dust.
The process of purging can actually be a very healthy thing to do! I have actually had a third garage that has been nothing but a storage unit. I have lived in a house too big for me, and my spare rooms and closets have become store houses for my extra stuff.
It was time to downsize and with the downsizing it was time to PURGE!
PURGE is defined as: “To rid(AKA get rid of), whatever is undesirable, or impure.”
It is also classified as “clearing, freeing, wiping out, removing, emptying, evacuating, and clearing away!”
Every single one of these verbs have been a part of my life this past month!
To quote my daughter, “PURGE PURGE PURGE MOM! I know it’s hard to say goodbye to some things, but no one can take away the memories you have from them. You will feel incredible freedom if you just PURGE PURGE PURGE!”
Oh my brilliant girl is so right! There are still some sad lingering memories of things from the past. My back and arms are definitely feeling the fatigue from the physical exercise of purging! But my heart and my mind and my spirit are beginning to feel cleansed and purified! FREEDOM IS COMING!
As I have sat in many a dusty pile these past few weeks, God has brought the truth of purity to my heart and mind.
He has gently reminded me, as only He can do, that the beautiful memories that I hold are gifts from him and they are as true and real today as they were the day they occurred! Holding onto those precious memories and giving God the glory for each and every one of them truly is the gift! Letting go of space I do not use and items that sit and collect dust are not the gift themselves. The gift that God so graciously and lavishly gifts to each and every one of us is in the relationships they represent! There is a beautiful freedom and purity that comes from realizing what needs to take my complete attention and time are the people, the individuals that bring me and share those memories with me!
This process of purging my physical things, has caused me to look inward and ask God what spiritual things do I need to purge as well. What is it that’s collecting dust or taking up space in my spiritual life that I need to get rid of?
What is it that is impure or undesirable in my life that I need to cleanse and get rid of? Is there something I need to completely wipe out so that the Spirit of God has complete access to truly make me pure and free? Those are the hard questions that I need to ask myself.
As I accomplish this physical purging, I am asking God to help me with a complete spiritual purging! It will not be easy, it’s hard to say goodbye to things we’ve held onto so strongly and so dearly. But in order for my heart, my mind, and my spirit to be completely free to receive all of God’s gifts I must spiritually PURGE PURGE PURGE!
What is it that you need to purge?
Is God asking you to get rid of anything that is impure or undesirable in your life?
There is no one but you that can answer that question! But take it from me God will be right there with you to take you through the process and to cleanse you and purify you and set you free!
“The fear of The Lord is pure, enduring forever. The decrees of The Lord are firm, and all of them are righteous. They are more precious than gold, than much pure gold.” Psalm 19:9-10a
TRUTH BOMB
THE FEAR OF THE LORD PRODUCES PURITY AND FREEDOM THAT IS FAR MORE PRECIOUS THAN GOLD!
After writing last weeks blog on “Stuck in the Middle,” and the reminder to look up to Jesus because He is the only one who can get us unstuck, I was blessed beyond measure by a new book title from one of my favorite authors, preachers, and prophetic exclaimers!
Christine Caine has written a new book titled, ‘Don’t Look Back.’ I couldn’t wait to order it! Problem was it hadn’t been released yet! I was still so desperately, “in the middle,” that I couldn’t wait to get my hands on it and read what I knew would be incredible encouragement to keep moving forward! I mean the subtitle could not have been more perfect, ‘Getting Unstuck and Moving Forward With Passion and Purpose!’
WOW, did she write it just for me?
I needed it and I needed it now! But it would not be released for another week!
I was actually bummed and a little bit sad, I truly felt like God had something for me between the pages of this book, and I couldn’t get my hands on it.
I tried to put it out of my mind as I looked forward to going to our annual leaders conference with my husband!
We love going to THRIVE LEADERSHIP CONFERENCE each year and standing side-by-side fellow servants of the Faith who can encourage and build us up and even give us a laugh or two!
Each year I look forward to the uplifting worship as we sing out loud with all of our hearts, the rich breakouts where we learn from fellow servants how to be better at what we are called to do, and from the speakers who light up the stage each night with the message God has given them to bring to us all!
This year I was as excited as ever to attend and receive all that God had for me. But I was also more physically exhausted and fatigued than I can remember ever being. Because, I am still, “in the middle of it!”
But boy, did God have a surprise for me! No, they were passing out the latest copies of Christine Caine‘s new book, but better, far better than that, she was the main speaker on this stage! There she was, standing only a few feet in front of me bringing the Truth from the Word of God that I so desperately craved to hear!
“REMEMBER LOT’S WIFE!”
What’s that you say? Lisa, you seriously got inspired by the words:
“REMEMBER LOT’S WIFE!”
Yes, you heard me right, and I heard Christine Caine right. The POWER comes through who is speaking these words!
Spoiler Alert; It’s not Christine Caine, IT’S JESUS!
“Remember Lot’s Wife.” Luke 17:12
The second shortest verse in the Bible holds some of the greatest power!
I know it was the POWER I was longing for!
Jesus tells us to remember Lot’s wife because she looked BACK!
We don’t even know her name, but we know that in the middle of God saving her, she got “STUCK” in her past and she looked back!
No matter what we are going through, no matter how long we have been going through it, Jesus wants us to “REMEMBER LOT’S WIFE” and stop looking back!
Last week I said the only way to stay unstuck is to look up to Jesus!
This week I’m going to quote Christine Caine:
TRUTH BOMB
“STOP LOOKING BACK AND START LOOKING TO JESUS.”
Christine’s book released this week! I know it is a read none of us will want to miss. It’s not as good as in person, but I trust The Holy Spirit will move powerfully through it!
Let’s commit to staying unstuck, moving forward, looking to Jesus and not looking back!
Have you ever boarded an airplane and looked down the isle with nervous anticipation? You grit your teeth as you look to the left and quickly scan every row for a window or aisle seat. You see no empty aisle seat or window seat to the left and you jerk your head with record speed to the right! A drop of sweat forms on your forehead as you frantically search each row for any available window or aisle seat. All you need is one! PLEASE GOD, you’ll even take the window or isle seat in the emergency row where you have to endure listening to the flight attendants speech about how you must perform the proper safety measures for everyone around you, in case of an emergency, before you put your own mask on!
But alas, the sweat dries on your forehead and you finally breathe out that sigh of resignation you’ve been holding in, as you realize you are going to end up in that dreaded MIDDLE SEAT?
You know, where you sit with your arms crossed on your lap as to not bump the person on your left or the person on your right. You dare not reach under your seat to grab gum out of your purse or backpack, even though you know your ears are going to fill up and not pop because of it! You don’t bend down and grab your healthy snack of almonds you diligently packed just for this occasion. No, you resign yourself to the fact that in the middle seat you will eat their stale pretzels instead!
Finally, you pretend you are amused by their in-flight magazine that you’ve seen over and over again the last several years. Do they ever update this thing? Because the novel you are dying to finish reading and are sitting on pins and needles to discover the outcome of is residing in that bag stored safely under your seat. You are unable to reach it from your middle seat with your politely crossed arms.
You truly are STUCK IN THE MIDDLE!
What do you find yourself in the middle of? Are you STUCK in it?
Is it overwhelming you, discouraging you, holding you down, holding you back, defeating you, or even stopping you from moving forward?
LOOK UP!
WHEN YOU ARE STUCK IN THE MIDDLE YOU NEED TO LOOK UP!
“But you, Lord, are a shield around me,
My glory, The One who lifts my head high.
I call out to the Lord, and He answers me from His holy mountain.
I lie down and sleep; I wake again, because the Lord sustains me.”
Psalm3:3-5
TRUTH BOMB
EVEN WHEN YOU ARE IN THE MIDDLE, WITH JESUS YOU ARE NEVER STUCK!
I am in the middle of something right now my friends! Each and every day I keep plugging away at it working harder and harder than the day before. No matter how hard I work or how much effort I put in, it feels like I’m still in the middle of it!
Sure, I know I’ve made progress, but it feels like a drop in the bucket compared to what still needs to be done.
The key to my situation and yours is to LOOK UP! To know that the only way to be in the middle and not get STUCK IS TO LIFT OUR EYES TO OUR LORD, OUR SHIELD, OUR GLORY AND THE ONLY ONE WHO CAN LIFT OUR HEADS AND KEEP US UNSTUCK UNTIL WE EMERGE FROM THE MIDDLE!
AND WITH HIS HELP, WE WILL!
We may be in the middle of it, but with Jesus we don’t have to be stuck there!
speaktruthlove 