society of religious freedom

i was reading max lucado's out live your life this morning. i am already in chapter 8 and it talks about persecution. this paragraph catched my attention because i can so relate to it. i am living in a society of religious freedom where there are really no actual i-will-physically-harm-you threat for christian believers like myself but plenty of temptations and pressure to let go of my values and convictions.

max lucado said:

"or perhaps you indwell a society of religious freedom but a community of spiritual oppression. you may not face blades and terrorists but critics and accusers. family members mock your beliefs. university (or high school friends and teachers) professors belittle your convictions. classmates snicker at your choices. colleagues pressure you to compromise your integrity. coworkers make it their mission to snag you in a weak moment. knife to your neck? NO. but pressure to abandon your convictions?

his "solution" to this is very simple and  a no-brainer.

"so how can we prepare ourselves? simple. imitate the disciples. linger long and often in the presence of Christ. meditate on his grace. ponder his love. memorize his words. gaze into his face. talk to him. courage comes as we live with Jesus."

oh, God please give me the strength and the grace to fight the lulling breezy winds of little compromises to my faith. the pull and pressure to succumb into the popular ideas and the "new normal" of this generation i live in which does nothing for my own desire to please you and to bring glory to your name. may you always be upper most in my heart and mind.

*special shout out to my best friend of 17 years. we've been friends that long mame =). i pray for all of God's favor and blessing for you always. 

worth the wait

at its best our age is an age of searchers and discoverers, and at its worst, an age that has domesticated despair and learned to live with it happily.

-          Flannery O’connor

worth the wait

waiting. filling time while we wait for the phone to ring and deliver the good news or get the bad news over with. standing in line. preparing for an event. or simply waiting “until things get better.”

but what if the good news we wait for never comes? what if things just don’t get better/ what if the waiting is meaningless? too many people abandon hope, abandon trust, and decide, despite the contradiction, to live happily with their despair.

our Lord has something far better in mind. in him we find meaning in the waiting. While we watch our hopes fade, he is turning our eyes toward a truer hope. while he makes us wait, we learn to trust our future dreams to him. waiting is hard, but waiting on God means the wait will be worth it.

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.

Jeremiah 29:11

day 17 of take my heart oh God

my GOD - GOD of all comfort

Among all the names that reveal God, this, the “God of all comfort,” seems to me one of the loveliest and the most absolutely comforting. The words all comfort admit of no limitations and no deductions.

Hannah Whitall Smith

God of all Comfort

We love seeing the word ALL if it points to something favourable for us. We love when  ALL of the shoes at our favourite store are on sale, or  ALL  of the candies in the bowl are dark chocolate, or  ALL  of the bills are paid in full. However, when  ALL  aspects of life seem to crash down around us, that’s a different matter. We find ourselves in desperate need of the “God of all comfort”.

Consider the ramifications of that name. No problem or heartache is outside of God’s range of comfort. He has unlimited resources –a vast wellspring – at his disposal. When we’re hurting, truly the loveliest name of all describes God bringing us not some comfort, not comfort for some things, but ALL the comfort we need.

The GOD of ALL comfort waits today to comfort you. No laminations. No deductions.

³ Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, ⁴ who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. ⁵ For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ. 

                                                                                       2 Corinthians 1:3-5


day 1 of take my heart oh God

declining knowledge

As wonderful as life is in so many respects, many of us look at our world today and wonder how we are ever going to get out of the messes that still seem to afflict us so sorely. Many people appear stuck in fairly unremarkable relationships at home or at work. Our political process seems broken by a fundamental incapacity to see our common interests or devise ways of pursuing them together. We become obsessed with our differences and fearful of others and absorbed with our entertainments to an extent that we seem unable to seriously contemplate how we might reach out to one another instead of building higher walls. It is for all of these reasons that the most urgent need today is for human beings to regain or discover a clear vision of God.

Observing this gathering calamity decades ago, A. W. Tozer wrote:

The decline of the knowledge of [God] has brought on our troubles …. It is impossible to keep our moral practices sound and our inward attitudes right while our idea of God is erroneous or inadequate. If we would bring back spiritual power to our lives, we must begin to think of God more nearly as he is …. A rediscovery of the majesty of God will go a long way toward curing [what most ails us at the present time].

Only a fresh vision of God will reorient us on the inside in the manner needed to begin to truly reorient our world on the outside.

*excerpt from Dan Meyer's sermon* 

smile the size of the cantaloupe slice

God is working in you to help you want to do and be able to do what pleases him. Phil. 2:13

Tucked away in the cedar chest of my memory is the image of a robust ad rather rotund children’s Bible class teacher in a small West Texas church. She wore black eyeglasses that peaked on the corners like a masquerade church. She smelled like my mom’s makeup and smiled like a kid on a Christmas when she saw us coming to her class. Low-heeled shoes contained her thick ankles, but nothing contained her great passion. Hugs as we entered and hugs as we left. She knew all six of us by name and made class so fun we’d rather miss the ice-cream truck than Sunday school.

Here is why I tell you about her. She enjoyed giving us each a can of crayons and sketch of Jesus torn from a coloring book. We each had our own can, mind you, reassigned from cupboard duty to classroom. What had held peaches or spinach now held a dozen Crayolas. “Take the crayons I gave you,” she would instruct, “and color Jesus.” And so we would.

We didn’t illustrate pictures of ourselves; we colored the Son of God. We didn’t pirate crayons from other cans; we used what she gave us. This was the fun of it. “Do the best you can with the can you get.” No blues for the sky? Make t purple. If Jesus’s hair is blond instead of brown, the teacher won’t mind.

She taught us to paint Jesus with our own colors.

God made you to do likewise. He loaded your can. He made you unique. But knowing what he gave you is not enough. You need to understand why he gave it: so you could illustrate Christ. Make a big deal of him. Beautify his face; adorn his image….. color Christ with the crayons God gave you.

Don’t waste years embellishing your own image. No disrespect, but who needs to see you face? Who doesn’t need to see God’s?

Besides, God promises no applause for self-promoters. But great reward awaits God-promoters: “Good work! You did your job well” (Matt. 25:23) My teacher gave us something similar. Judging by her praise for our sketches, you’d think Rembrandt and van Gogh attended her class. One by one she waved the just-colored Christs in the air. “Wonderful work, Max. Just wonderful!”

I smiled the size of a cantaloupe slice. You will too.

(Max Lucado's -- It's not About Me)

Make a big deal out of God in your life.

… in everything that you do

… in everything that you are.

He deserves nothing less.