Falling Through the Cracks of Our Flesh

I once heard a man say that "salvation without faith is like a nuclear explosion without a fallout." I've thought about that alot lately. What a profound statement. As christians we are a new creation, but yet we seem to live in these stale bodies that know nothing more than sin. We have this false idealism that as soon as we receive Christ that somehow our whole world will change. There will be no more worry, no more stress, no more anger, no more bitterness......but we forget that we ARE mearly flesh!

We've been called to a new life in Christ and our goal as a Christ follower is to be more like him every day. But holding ourselves up to Christ and comparing life notes create's a false feeling of failure within us. Philippians 2 talks about imitating Christ's humility....not being Christ...but imitating him. Philippians 2:6 says "who being in very nature of God did NOT consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant."

Even Christ knew that he couldn't live up to his father, he didn't even try...he simply laid down his life as he wanted to live it and took on a life that he knew would honor his father, taking on the life of a servant. Our flesh fails us so often, we want to make a huge God fit into our small little world where we think our problems are just to big for him. We believe in the miracles of the bible but yet we believe them for then...not for now. Why do we believe God could be God then and that he can't handle the problems that burden us today. Last I checked..I didn't lead a ton of people out to the promised land and land myself face to face with the red sea!! And we all know how that turned out. I'm sure Moses had some doubts at that moment, just as we do today.

It's time as Christ followers that we quit trying to be Jesus of our lives and let him do his job...in and through our lives. God healed the cracks left in Christ's flesh from a death he didn't deserve....lets believe he can heal our cracks as well.

Held in the Hands of Grace....

I am reminded today of God's glorious Grace as I watch the news and wonder why God puts up with such a state of discord. How much longer will He watch as we self-destruct as a nation and as a people. What would our futures look like without God's grace the freely given, unmerited love and favor of God upon his people. It often strikes me how good God can be when we so do not deserve this favor.

Isn't it funny how Paul writes the book of Philippians with the words "Grace and Peace to you from God our Father." What's funny about this is that Paul was writing from prison, chained and bound....most likely sitting in human excrement, assuredly already having sustained much torture in his preaching and teaching, hungry, thirsty and tired. But yet Paul makes note to impart Grace and Peace from God on those reading his letter. Paul goes on to say that we all share in God's grace with him. Most of us don't think about the chains that bind us on a daily level....but be sure that at some point in your life you've had the chains bound to your wrists bearing you down. What carried you through those moments? Who carried you through those moments?

I am a very visual person....describe something to me and I already have this picture in my mind. I can see Paul sitting on that prison floor as he penned the letter, my mind wanders as I can't help but think...how could Paul not have gotten distracted by his circumstances? We get distracted by our circumstances every day and we aren't sitting on a cold damp prison floor. But Paul had an upward focus...he didn't even see his circumstances. He saw beyond them, he saw the opportunity in them, he saw advancement of the kingdom through his circumstances.

I want to not see my circumstances.....I want to look beyond them and see what God can accomplish in and through my circumstances. I want to hang onto the fact that God's grace is sufficient and I so don't deserve it but yet he gives it so freely and though many times I find it hard to except a gift that I don't deserve...I humbly bow at his feet, cup my hands and accept the gift that is freely given to a sinner such as me.

What To Do Now?

This began as just one of my journal entries. I have been journaling since I first became pregnant with our daughter Morgan. It began as a journal to my unborn child, then over the years I began to journal prayers, thoughts, feelings, things that God was showing me and then Bill and I spent a year journaling to one another. So today as God was showing me things I got my journal out and began this journal entry thinking that it would be for my eyes only but as I was writing I felt as though God was telling me that someone else needs this at this point in their life as well. So here is my entry for today.

Time sure flies by and its been awhile since I've journaled my thoughts and feelings. Alot has happened besides the fact that we are getting older day by day. The world is changing as we know it, I see more and more evidence of Christ's return for the final battle. I often wonder....am I ready? Am I really ready? Am I doing everything the Lord is calling me to do~sadly the answer today would be~NO. I feel as though this illness has placed a yoke around my neck~my heart desires to serve but the body is weak. I know that by stepping out in faith that God would provide the strength that I need~what am I afraid of? Am I afraid that He will ask me to do something outside of my strength and my abilities....of course....isn't that what we're all afraid of?

Even as I write God reminds me of his promise in Isaiah 40:29 "He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak even youth grow tired and weary and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength, they will soar on wings like eagles, they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint." Then I see him tell me in Isaiah 41:10 "I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand." I then wonder how to get to that place where God wants me and then I hear Isaiah 45 "I will go before you and will level the mountains, I will break down gates of bronze and cut through bars of iron. I will give you the treasures of darkness, riches stored in secret places so that you may know that I AM THE LORD the God of Israel who summons you by name." Who summons (calls) me by name...God says "don't worry about how your going to get there-just trust me that I am going before you to prepare the way." So for now I wait-not really knowing what to do...but trusting that God knows and when he is ready he will reveal his plan to me.

Are You Living in Fear?

I don't find it ironic that "Fear" is mentioned 365 times in scripture. I believe that God knew that it would be in our very nature to "fear" so he re-iterated time and time again "to not be afraid-to not fear." So much of our life are new experiences from day to day. It's easy to look ahead and have fear over the unknown. But I find that through scripture I can find peace in whatever this world is throwing at me. Peace in place of fear! I remember at the beginning of my illness I lived with a great deal of fear....fear of not knowing whether all that I was losing would ever come back but as time has drawn on and I've battled this obstacle in life I have learned that this too will pass and though the days may have setbacks or bad days that there is always hope in tomorrow.

On another note I have been wandering alot lately about those that are unsaved and have no faith or no beliefs. I wander if "fear" is what keeps them from surrendering to God's calling and laying down their "fear" of losing control over their life and letting God be in control for awhile. I guess I hadn't thought of this before....but none of us want our lives to be out of our control but yet as a Christ-follower we honestly are not the ones in control of our lives. We have surrendered that to God, we've trusted that He knows better than I what is good for my life and He will allow some hard days and some hard years so that I don't forget that he is the one in control and I.....well I'm supposed to just sit back and listen to his guidance and be obedient to what He is asking me to do. Fear sometimes obscures our vision, it obscures our total reliance on God not on our own mortal selves. So I am going to focus this next year on not living in fear of what God is allowing or doing in my life and learn to embrace it for what it is.

Having Faith is Stepping Aside and Seeing God!

We've all done it, your in a store with your eyes fixed upon the item that you are contemplating buying when all of a sudden it dawns on you to look up. As you look up waiting patiently behind you is someone that is trying to get past the point where you have suddenly stopped. I think many times our christian walk is very similar to the circumstances in the store. We as Christians walk along until our eyes become fixated on something and taken off the one who knows our every circumstance and the very outcome of those circumstances and instead of us stepping aside we in our flesh want to step up to the plate and make the change in our own strength and with our own power. Yes...when Jesus left this earth He told the disciples "you will do even greater things than I" but Jesus also said that he didn't do anything that his Father hadn't told him to do.

Having faith is being able to see your circumstances but yet knowing that, that circumstance wasn't placed in your path for you to fix...it was placed there so that by your faith God could show how awesome He is when we allow him to take the wheel. So many times in scripture strong men of faith stood up and said this is what is going to happen. Did they know for a fact that it would indeed happen as they said, NO, they knew that by their faith God would show up in a miraculous way and provide at just the right time for just the right circumstance. God isn't afraid to step back and let us take our attempts at the wheel....but he says, if you'll let me....the steering will be much easier. Its time for those of us that are Christ-followers to step aside and by faith let God move in the way he has been waiting for.

Faith, Hope, and Love: a life application devotional by Kay Cameron from I Corinthians 13:12-13

We are never sure about why things happen to us. But we can be sure of this, people are watching how we react to our circumstances. While we are Christ-followers, we are also human. So, when we fall down, we have to get back up again and keep on going. This is what Jesus did as He carried His cross to Calvary. And then someone helped Him to carry it. That is what friends and church family do: they see you in a difficult-to-deal-with situation, and they not only encourage you, sometimes they help you carry your burdens. God sends those people into our lives for a purpose.

When we look in a mirror, we see our own reflections. When people look at us, they need to see Christ reflected. If someone sees me handling a problem in a way that glorifies God, and that person gets saved, then the problem in my life was actually not a problem at all--it was a way to show Jesus to someone without opening my mouth. And if someone is seen helping me carry the problem, then the world will see love in action, won't it?

Faith to persevere, hope that there are better things ahead, and love to carry us through. That's what life with Christ is all about.

from 1 Corinthians 13 (Life Application Study Bible)

12"For now we see things imperfectly as in a poor mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God knows me now. 13 There are three things that will endure--faith, hope, and love---and the greatest of these is love.

What do you see when you see me.....blogpost by Tammy Konneker

What do you see when you see me? Few of us go through life wondering how we are perceived by those around us. I've thought alot about that lately, as my pastor reminds me that people see how we handle adversity in our lives....people are watching those of us that call ourselves Christ followers. What will we do when our world is turned upside down by circumstances that are beyond our control? What do we become when we are hurt or insulted by someone around us? What does our day to day life say of our love and devotion to a God that sent his son to take away my sin and your sin. I choose joy! I choose to praise God in the good and in the bad. Job said in Job 6:10 "then I would still have this consolation-my joy in unrelenting pain-that I had not denied the words of the Holy One."

I want to show in and through my life that no matter what this world throws at me that I never gave up on the promises God has given me. Promises of life.....everlasting life. Promises of prosperity....oh, not in what the world sees as prosperity....but that my life was prosperous, that the way I lived my life made positive and impactful changes in those around me. That just as Solomon had asked God for wisdom in 1 Kings 3:9.....not for wealth, nor for revenge upon his enemies but for wisdom to do the right things and make wise decisions...God granted Solomon with his request. I don't need wealth....I need wisdom. I don't need health.....I need strength to persevere under poor health. I don't need recognized.....I need to know that God is recognized through me.

When I look in that mirror....I see what most people see. I see my past mistakes, I see my past pain, I see someone broken but rebuilt by the grace of God. I see someone that has totally surrendered to God and said "your will be done in my life" and I live day to day knowing that his will is the only thing I need to prevail in this life until I join him in eternal life. For what we see in our reflection is far from what God see's in our reflection. He see's the potential that he's given to us, he see's the love that we so often fail to show, he see's goodness and grace. Perhaps its time we start to see ourselves as God see's us....perfect and pleasing in His eye.

Fire Insurance--a life application devotional by Kay Cameron from John 10:4

There are some people I know who would tell you that they accepted Jesus as their Savior simply out of fear, the fear of hell and what it would be like. To them, Jesus was their "fire insurance". Once they had that insurance, they felt spiritually secure. Many dutifully sit in church on Sunday and try to do what is right in God's sight. They think that by following His laws and going to church on Sunday they are fulfilling their part of the salvation covenant with God.

Yes, God wants you to follow His path. Yes, God wants you to fellowship with other believers. But more than that, He wants a daily relationship with you. He wants you to talk to Him, and He wants to talk to you. He wants to spend time with you, and you want to spend time with Him. This relationship will change you daily. You will become a pruned vine, bearing much fruit. You will be like refined gold. You will be molded by the Potter into a vessel for His purposes.

It's not just about the fire insurance. It's about relationship, getting to know the nature of God. We may never know Him as well as He knows us, but we have a wonderful chance to experience life with Him at our sides. What a ride!
God and man converse continuously throughout the Bible. And God still talks to us today. Listen!

John 10:4
And when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him: for they know his voice.

KJV

God Exceedingly Expects Us to want more from him! blogpost by Tammy Konneker

It's so hard for me to wrap my hands around the fact that while Jesus was here he told us in John 14: 12 "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." WOW, how could we frail humans, flawed by sin, marred by worldly scars do GREATER things than Jesus.....the perfect lamb of God. I think we fail to see our own potential, the potential that all of us have been given to change lives of those around us.

For the past few years I've felt really pressed to lean more into the book of Acts. Luke had written his second book of the bible....as one of the twelve chosen to set off a movement of the Holy Spirit...in Acts Luke sets out to teach what the church should look like, act like and be like. In the first chapter he briefly describes the time that Jesus spent with them after his resurrection. Luke opens with the fact that Jesus came back to them and spent the next forty days speaking to them about the kingdom. Jesus first instruction to them was to WAIT....he was testing their obedience and patience. Jesus tells them that soon he would be gone but the Holy Spirit would come to replace him....and this Holy Spirit would guide us...if we listened and expected to hear.

I have to laugh as I read Acts 1:9-11 "After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight. They were looking INTENTLY up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. 'Men of Galilee,' they said, 'why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven." Now......I'm sorry....but wouldn't most of us be freaked out, first by just seeing Jesus ascend into heaven and then as your just standing there in shock, two dudes dressed in white suddenly are standing on either side of you saying.....WHATCHA LOOKIN AT? Luke didn't go any further into detail of their reaction but I can only imagine their dumbfounded look.....and suddenly being speechless as to what had just happened.

After this they began the process of building the church.....Luke says the first thing they did was joined in constant prayer. Most people think that prayer should be a time of just sitting down and praying. I find that when I just sit down and try to pray.....I'm usually at a loss for words. A relationship with Christ is like a good marriage, you spend all day talking and interacting with one another.....I know my husband......I know my Lord. My line of communication is ongoing, there is never a time that I feel that I can't call upon his comfort and know that its there. God has called us to far more than what we are currently giving him. He called us to be more than he was......and so much of the world has crept into our lives that we have forgotten that we were called for Exceedingly more than this.

Snapshot of Your Life--a life application devotional by Kay Cameron from Zech 13:9

When we choose to follow the Jesus Way, we realize that God pervades our life every moment. Everything that happens in our lives has a purpose, a lesson to be learned, an application to our spiritual life.

Think about a snapshot of something that happened to you today. Write it down in a few short sentences. Then think about its application to your spiritual growth. Your inspiration can come from anything: driving to work, using your cell phone, blowing bubbles with your children, dancing, a magazine article, a load of laundry, cleaning the refrigerator, a migraine headache, a disease.....good or bad......what does God want you to learn from these situations that will help you to grow spiritually? How is He refining you today?

Zech 13:9

9 And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried: they shall call on my name, and I will hear them: I will say, It is my people: and they shall say, The LORD is my God.

KJV

Going through fire takes the impurities out of us, and makes us more like Jesus. Count it gain if, in your joys or in your sufferings, you learn to walk closer to Him.

Press In and Press On.....blogpost by Tammy Konneker

It so hard to stay focused in a world today that is so filled with distractions. It becomes harder and harder for a Christ follower to keep focused let alone someone that has not yet come to know the Lord to find strength in a world that seems to have turned upside down. Being a Christ-follower does not make you exempt from struggles....on the contrary it makes you even more susceptible to them as Satan wars once again for your very soul. "In this world, YOU WILL have trouble but have hope for I have overcome the world." I can't imagine Jesus' time here on earth, I can't imagine his days of seemingly defeat...how he would go off from the crowds to pray. The one thing Jesus knew was to Press On he had to Press In.

I wish I could explain why the woman dying of cancer herself would walk out into her living room to find her 28 year old son dead in the recliner. I wish I could tell you why a mother loses a beloved child way too soon. I wish I could tell you why our life of health can be turned upside down by one illness. I don't understand, but I'm not made to understand. I'm created to lean in, to listen close and to pay attention to what God is teaching through these moments. Whether it be compassion, passion, endurance or perseverance.....God has a plan through it all. Our job is to not define God but allow God to define us through our struggles. In the end...my desire is if for people to not remember what took my life but what defined my life. I want to know that by my perseverance that God somehow received glory through my struggles.

My thoughts are of Joseph and how he was appointed by God to be a king yet found himself stripped of his garments and thrown into a well by his brothers to be left for dead. I stand there in the bottom of that well with Joseph and I wander where his thoughts were at that time. I'm sure he was in fact questioning the king part. Wouldn't you? But yet God had already said it would be so, so who was Joseph to question God's ways....by the way God had a plan even at the bottom of Joseph's well. Along came some men and his brothers panicked and decided to sell him to them....not knowing that they were sealing his fate to become king. Joseph turned a very wrong situation into something good. He served as if he was serving the Lord and in his faithfulness God fulfilled his prophecy of Joseph.....but it wasn't until Joseph pressed in to God that the glory of God was revealed to him. Joseph's story and our story all can have similar endings.....the choice is ours....will we press in....or will we surrender our God given position because of seemingly bad circumstances? (read the story for yourself starting in Genesis 37 and I could give you so many more similar stories throughout the bible and throughout the lives of people I have known in my life that rose above their circumstances)

Jeremiah 29:11-14 This well known scripture is quoted over and over again but many times the most important part is left off when its quoted. vs 13 "you will seek me and find me WHEN you seek me with all of your heart. I will be found by you 'declares the Lord and will bring you back from captivity'

Jeremiah 29:11-14 "For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord. Plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all of your heart. I will be found by you declares the Lord and will bring you back from captivity.

Though this struggle may seem long...and though we may not understand how this could possibly be a part of God's plan. We must remember that his plans are for good and his will is to prosper us. Press in and Press on.....

"Grandma's Newspaper Articles", a life application devotional by Kay Cameron from Eph. 2:10 and Hab 3: 2

My mother-in-law had to go into a nursing home, and we had to box up the things in the house. In the process of clearing out her home, we found a box full of old newspaper articles. She had cut out every article about her family that had appeared in the newspaper for the last 50 years! There were articles that mentioned her parents, siblings, and children. And of course, she cut out the entire article that accompanied any picture of her grandchildren.

While it has been really interesting reading through the articles, the thing that struck me most was how much she loved her family. She concentrated on her family her whole life, and the articles are testament to how much she cared about us all.

Every once in a while an article comes over the Internet that stays in my memory. One such article talked about how much God loves us, and how, if He had a refrigerator, our pictures would be on it. You know, I'll bet He even keeps a box of articles about our accomplishments somewhre in His storage closet. I can see the headlines now: Local Church Finishes VBS with a Carnival, Local Girl Goes on Mission to Bulgaria, Cell Groups Meeting in Local Homes, Church Ladies Present Quilts to Graduating Seniors, Youth Group Prayerwalks Town, and on and on, and on. I know He loves us enough to keep all those "articles". We want to please our Father, and He is pleased by our actions that glorify Him.

Yet we also need to remember the deeds that God does. He has saved my loved ones, He is always faithful, He protects and provides for us, He holds us close in bad times, and carries us in hard times. He is always there. His deeds are marvelous. Do we keep any "articles" about what He has done for us in our "box of memories"? I urge you to begin prayer journaling, if you haven't already, and write down how and when God does things for you. Mine might have titles like God Saves Young Girl, God Makes a Way--I''m Going to College!, God Saves My Mom, Brother Returns to Jesus, God Handles My Finances, God Provides Church Family, God Performs Miracle Healing....well, you get the picture!

In Jeremiah, God tells us that He knows the plans He has for us. I'd like to think of my "boxes" as being full of stories about God working in and through us, because in the end, my purpose will have been to fulfill all the things God had planned for my life.

"10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them." Eph 2:10 KJV

"2 O LORD, I have heard thy speech, and was afraid: O LORD, revive thy work in the midst of the years, in the midst of the years make known; in wrath remember mercy." Hab 3: 2