Addicted to doing

So I have been struggling writing this one for some time now...

I was convicted (not condemned, you need to know the difference and that is a whole other blog, but ask if you want to know) of being addicted to doing.

What is addicted to doing?
Addiction is defined as:  The condition of being habitually or compulsively occupied with or involved in something.
Doing is defined as:  The performance of an act.- www.thefreedictionary.com
So, addicted to doing involves being habitually or compulsively occupied with or involved in performing an act; specific to Christianity, performing "good" and "righteous" acts that actually interfere with your ability to RELATE to Christ and the Father.  Moreover,  you will find that when you are addicted to doing, you will forsake time with Him so that you can accomplish more (even if it is accomplishing more "for the kingdom").

Why is it important that we understand this concept and renounce it?
Let me explain this with a parable. 
Luke 10_38-42  Martha and Mary

38 Now as they went on their way, Jesus entered a village. And a woman named Martha welcomed him into her house. 39 And she had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet and listened to his teaching. 40 But Martha was distracted with much serving. And she went up to him and said, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me.” 41 But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, 42 but one thing is necessary.  Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.”

Even Martha was corrected for having the drive to do things (which were good and necessary) at a time when Jesus wanted to RELATE.  We need to know the difference between "faith without works is dead" and not giving Jesus room to have a proper grace-filed relationship with us.

How do we renounce and repent of this addiction?
Well, we do this by doing the same as we do when we are convicted of any other sin.  God simply asks us to turn. This is the way we accept His gift. When we do, certain outcomes are promised. If we don't, or we "turn back", alternate outcomes are promised.- Acts 17:11 Bible Studies
Another part of disowning this addiction is to replace the addicted behavior with a God-given counter behavior.  The more I learn about it, the more I am convinced that the counter to "doing" is "being".  More practically, acknowledging the Sabbath. 
Sabbath rest is something you can not get by sleeping eight hours every night.  It is not playing video games or checking your brain out to a good book.  To learn more about what it is, I will have to write another blog!  Part of it is squashing the pride in you that says you can do more than what your physical imitations should allow.  It is simply taking a 24 hour period once a week to rest, acknowledge His lordship in your life, and refresh for the coming week ahead.
So, with that said, I am going to go have a mini-Sabbath rest!   I hope you all take the time to honor God in that way as well!

Food Matters

Ugh.......

I have been really really struggling with a concept for a while and I need to get it out.

Growing up and especially in my early adult years, I heard from people and doctors,  " wow, you are so skinny!  You need to gain some weight."  Among other issues, one of this things that did for me was cause me to try and gain weight.  I ate and ate whatever, whenever I wanted.  A bowl of Lucky Charms before bed, Oreos for breakfast, cake for lunch.....you get my drift.  All this time, I never gained weight but I felt horrible!  Looking back now, I laugh thinking if people really knew what I ate, they would cringe.... :-)

So fast forward to today....I have semi-horrible eating habits still which have only been improved because I don't want to be a bad example to my kids and my hubby doesn't like to have all that junk in the house because he gains weight easily.  I have still been feeling like I am not operating at my best though.  I started taking a multi-vitamin regularly but it only helped a little.  Then I started learning about food.  No, I mean real food, not the stuff you see in the middle of the store but the stuff we are made to survive on.  I have been watching a couple of documentaries on it, reading material I have found, and praying a lot about it.  Now, I am convinced to change my eating habits.  I am doing this by starting to eat clean.  But I am not happy about it yet....just another lesson in doing something you're asked to do and knowing that you are not controlled by your emotions, right?

So why?  Just to feel better?  NO!  Did you know that vitamins can heal disease?  Enough vitamin C cures cancer!  High doses of vitamin B6 (niacin) blows clinical depression away!  So, why don't we know about it?  We can if we look.  America just doesn't practice these cures for disease.  I want a quality life while I am here so I can be effective for the Kingdom and I am now convinced that starts with food!  Food matters!

So, I have some things I am hoping to see change.  I will keep you updated as to whether or not they do and maybe you will be inspired too!

Chicken Soup for the Spirit

"Oh satisfy us early with your mercy, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days!"  Psalms 90:14

When I was a kid, my family liked the Chicken Soup for the Soul books.  I remember, even as a grade-schooler, sitting on the couch for an hour or more, reading story after story in those books and I didn't even enjoy reading!  I think I read them because something in me yearned for the hope that they gave.  I wanted to believe that in life, with all its twists, turns, and bumpy roads, there was something glimmering in the distance that provided me with a reason to go on and think that things would ultimately be okay.  But enough was never enough.  I was left wanting something more.

Then, I became a follower of Christ.  I believed in The Hope of salvation.  I knew that whatever happened in this life, there was something to look forward to: eternity with my Daddy.  I would picture the party that was going on up in heaven (some people dream about the streets paved with gold, some love to think on the questions they will get to ask the saints that have gone before and some are comforted by seeing their loved-ones)!  I imagined a party where Jesus was doing the "Carlton" and Peter was walking so boldly up to the Father and giving him a high five (fist pumps weren't cool back then).

However, I still tried to cling to any hope on earth I could find.  Don't get me wrong, I know the Bible is filled with hope for eternity and a future.  In fact, it kind of drives me nuts when someone has a bad day and the verse about Him giving us a hope and a future gets used so flippantly because it goes so much deeper than that (but that is another story).  I would even tell people that we have a hope in Jesus that he never leaves us nor forsakes us, but it is really the true test to see how we live.

I am not sure when it happened, but at some point in my adult life, I decided that I didn't want to live my life, getting beat up and plundered during the week only to come crawling through the doors of Church on Sunday morning begging for a morsel of "food" from Him.  But I was left with a variety of questions...how do you not be that way?  what acts as food in your spiritual life?  Can you combat the attacks successfully? And if so, how?

Fast forward some years in my life and I am now a church planter, senior pastor, mom who is trying to teach my children, and general mentor to a few people.  I was sitting in Starbucks with a re-kindled relationship God blessed me with.  We were talking about preaching.  God had asked her to share something that went against the status quo for Sundays.  I encouraged her to do it because it sounded like the Lord to me.  It was simple.  It was filled with truth.  It was the story of mercy.  And, it went with my motto:  it is always simple but it isn't always easy!

Then we spoke a few days later and something came out of my mouth that was totally the Holy Spirit.  The Holy Spirit said to us, "You need to go and tell them what I have said because my people are hungry and this might be the only "food" they get all week."  Wow!  Even Peter in Acts preached the same thing over and over.  What was it?  The mercy message of the gospel.  Could that be the food people are looking for?  Could that one message alone be what satisfies my Spirit over and over again?

That single message is food for our Spirit.  It says that there is a God, who is real.  He has the power to speak things into existence.  He also has the power to annihilate you with a word but He chose not to.  He is your Daddy who, when humankind screwed everything up and made it impossible to be with Him, went to great lengths to get you back!  He is the one who is the definition of what I sought for so long: He has the power (and the right) to punish you and still he chooses to give you grace and forgiveness.  Hallelujah!  He is the happy ending to your story!  He is the Hope to your life!  And He is the food for your Spirit....

On Parenting....

For all intensive purposes I have operated as a single parent over the last (almost) two weeks.  The kids have seen their father for maybe a total of one hour over the week days while they were awake.  He has a new job and although he won't be working this much all the time, he certainly has the last two work-weeks. 

 My kids have missed their daddy and even more-so, their daddy has missed them.  They get to see him maybe one hour during the week and then a few hours on the weekend.  The best time he has with them is when he gets home at night and goes in to give them love while they are unconscious.  I like to watch as he gently tucks them back in their covers, caressing their hair and telling them that he loves them even though, they don't respond.  He kisses their cheeks, and the most interaction he gets from them at that time is a sleepy smile and possibly open eyes rolling around in their tiny heads.

At times, he and I have talked about how he can't wait to "spend some time with my kids" as he would say.  He gets to see them now, but it is not the same as when they are awake.  They interact; playing and talking back.  He still gives the same love to them regardless of if he sees them during waking or sleeping hours but the joy he gets out of it (and the love and joy they get) is greatly increased when they know he is there and he sees their excitement for him.

As we were driving home last night, knowing we would not see the kids awake for another evening, the Lord spoke to my heart.  "that is how I feel.:"  He wants to spend time with us!  And even when we are "unconscious" to him, he still gives us love!  He caresses our hair and kisses us on the cheek.  He tells us he loves us and can't wait to see us, but sometimes, we are "asleep" in the spiritual realm and thus, can not comprehend what he is saying.  Something in us knows he is there, but we might not remember.  My encouragement comes for you and me to "wake up".  He can't wait to spend some time with his kids.  He wants to give you love (and is) but he gets so much more joy (and so do you) when you are "awake" to it!  Let's make sure we are spending some awake time with our Daddy today!  He wants to play, roll around, and love on us!
Jerimiah 33:3- Call to me and I will answer you and show you great and mighty things you do not know.

But Now!

I feel like I have been living in Isaiah 42 lately. Have you ever had the Lord keep directing you back to a specific passage for what seems like an eternity? Well, I have been there. A little background to Isaiah 42 along with the surrounding chapters is that it is a series of chapters speaking to the promise of the Lord's help along with reminders on how much Israel (us) need Him. I get excited when reading Isaiah 42 because I see Jesus pictured so clearly on setting captives free, bringing sight to the blind and hearing to the deaf but this particular chapter ends with a sort of despair. I noticed something today that brought great joy and celebration to my heart.

Isaiah 42 ends with these words..

"But this is a people robbed and plundered; all of them
are snared and in holes, and they are hidden in prison houses; they are for prey
and no one delivers; for plunder, and no one says, 'Restore!'
Who among you will give ear to this: Who will
listen and hear for the time to come? Who gave Jacob for plunder, and
Israel to the robbers? Was it not the Lord, He against whom we have
sinned? For they would not walk in His ways, nor were they obedient to His
law.
Therefore, He has poured on him the fury of His anger
and the strength of battle; it has set him on fire all around, yet he did not
know; and it burned him, yet he did not take it to heart."

If we stop reading at the end of this chapter, we are left in despair. Wow, we really deserve what we are getting and is there anyone to help?
Chapter 43:

"BUT NOW, thus says the Lord, who created you, O Jacob,
and he who formed you, O Israel:
'FEAR NOT, FOR I HAVE REDEEMED YOU; I have called you
by your name; YOU ARE MINE."

AMEN! What an awesome promise from our Father! He has indeed redeemed us and we are his! You see, we can sometimes get consumed with life and the events surrounding it and stop at the seemingly end of a chapter in our life. We end with despair and questioning. This is not God's design though. BUT NOW He says! Remember to keep reading in your book of life because when there is despair, it is surely followed by his BUT NOW promise for you which is Jesus Christ redeeming you! Wahoo! Let's celebrate that our life in no aspect ends with despair because of Jesus Christ who redeems us!

He hears

I was pondering something that I had a revelation about a while back and since I was thinking how much it has come up again, I thought I would share it with whomever feels inclined to read below:

I was standing in my kitchen doing dinner prep when my daughter, who was running into the kitchen, called my name and asked me a question. She obviously didn't like that I was multi-tasking so she continued to be very persistent in getting my complete and undivided attention. After an eternity of her pushing me to do what she thought would mean I paid attention and listened to her, I got upset with her and said, "Moriah, just because mommy is not looking directly at you and doing nothing else does not mean in any way that I don't hear what you say. I have a way to hear you even when you speak in a crowded room very quietly."
It hit me then. How often do we approach the Lord and ask for something. We don't get the response we wanted and so we ask again and again louder and louder (which shows persistence and can be good on some occassions depending on our response) and then go away mad, hurt and/or degected because we perceive that to be Him not payig attention to us? He is our Father (Abba=daddy) and as such, has a special knack for hearing us even when we are here on this crowded earth with so many people speaking. You don't have to yell, you don't have to ask more than once. Just as His sheep know His name, so He knows the voice of His sheep.
Be encouraged today that if you speak, even the faintest peep in the middle of your night, He hears you. He is a great daddy and he is a great multi-tasker.

Getting Ready

"make ready your hearts, make ready your home, make ready the people of God."

I woke up this morning early and actually started my day with the Word! I usually am not coherent enough to do this and so my Bible reading falls later in the day. Quickly after that, I got ready and started the final preparations for the company we have moving in today. Yes, I must admit, I am TOTALLY open to anyone dropping in at any time however, with that said, I also like to have my house in a certain condition when I know company is coming (especially staying and seeing 100% of the house). I did things like dust the computer desk, clean out the laundry room, and clean under the couch....I sat back and LOVED how it looked.
Then it hit me. Those are things that aren't on my everyday list. Those things were done because I know someone will be here (besides me) that will notice. I am not saying they would care one way or the other, but this wasn't about them. It was a reaction I had to their coming. I thought, "isn't this silly.....they probably don't dust that often either, but I want them to see the best." Now, there are some things that aren't done or will need to be done while they are here and I know they will help me do the work but it got me thinking........
How am I reacting in my other home (the heart)? We know Jesus is coming again. We sing about it, we proclaim it and we certainly hope in it as that will be a grand day of glory! What are we doing now though? Jesus is already living in our hearts. What condition is he seeing? Are we waiting to "clean out" the places that we don't touch that often because we think we still have time? Why do we "clean out" our lives in the first place? Is it because we know He will come and we don't want Him to see our dust? While, we shouldn't "do" anything because we feel like we have to to earn any kind of approval from our Father or His Son, there should also be a natural cleansing reaction that comes when we feel His love and know He is coming. The greatest part about this whole thing is that He even does the cleaning! Wow! What company to have!
Just like I cleaned places to give my company the best situation I could, so we will be cleansed to give Jesus the best place he can have.