Another Idol

I think we would all agree that church is a good thing. Doing life with a body of believers is a blessing, indeed. At the church’s core….Christ-followers can find comradery, encouragement, resources, prayer warriors, teachings, insights, counsel, service, and love. Coming together with other Christians to worship and learn and grow and do – is a beautiful, God-designed thing.

But can church…yes even church…become an idol?

Absolutely. I’m guilty of it myself. It’s easy to do, really. When a church has an excellent praise and worship band – it’s tempting to start idolizing the talents rather than the Talent-Giver. The same can be true for anointed and effective preachers, teachers, and leaders. Even large, fancy, well-built church buildings become the object of our admiration over the One that made it all possible in the first place.

It’s so like Satan to distract and consume and enamor ….even with good, God-given gifts. That’s trickery at it’s best.  And we shouldn’t fall for it.

To illustrate – take a look at Revelation.

(Ch.1 v.16) In his (Jesus’) right hand he held seven stars, from his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword, and his face was like the sun shining in full strength.

(v.20) As for the mystery of the seven stars that you saw in my right hand, and the seven golden lampstands, the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.

I once read a commentary* that pointed out something so interesting about these passages…

If you were seeing this vision as John did – you would see Jesus holding seven stars in His hand. The stars represent the angels of the churches. His face would be shining as bright as the sun. And He would be standing amongst the lampstands. The lampstands represent the churches themselves. If you were seeing this - yes…the seven lampstands would be bright. The seven stars would be even brighter. But compared to the face of Jesus….shining like the sun….the lampstands and stars pale in comparison. The churches and the angels are beautiful…but compared to our Savior shining like the sun…they are but a mere nightlight.

 While the brightness that the church gives off illuminates the darkness around it….Let’s not get so impressed with the church that we ignore Jesus.

It’s not about us – it’s all about Him. Let’s make sure our worship sees it as so.

*Guzik, David. "Study Guide for Revelation 1." Enduring Word. Blue Letter Bible. 7 Jul 2006. 2011. 16 Jun 2011.

Devo

I wrote a devotional for my church's devo booklet this week. I thought I'd post it here as well. Enjoy - and have a lovely week :)

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We’re all susceptible to it. We all have a tendency to drift toward the temporary, man-made, and carnal. It might look different for you than it does for me. Yours might take a different form than mine does – but it all has the same effect. It all leaves you lacking and yearning for more.

It’s idol worship. And it’s serious. Not because I say so – but because God does. Take a look:

Do not turn to idols or make for yourselves any gods of cast metal:
I am the LORD your God.
Leviticus 19:4

"Therefore say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord GOD:
Repent and turn away from your idols and turn away your faces from all your abominations.
Ezekiel 14:6

In addition, Ezekiel 14:5 mentions that Israel was “estranged” from the Lord because of its idol worship. And we are no different. We might not worship golden calves or kneel at worthless shrines…but we have the same issue. We worship and idolize sports, people, talents, celebrities, technology, relationships, time, food, addictions, and so on.

No matter what kind of temporary satisfaction and security we receive from those things....what God boasts is better.  Always. When we surrender…when we hand over the defiled items we are idolizing…what He offers us in return is soul-satisfying goodness. Every time.

Anything we are holding onto…will simply leave us hanging.

But when we worship the only One worthy of worship – we are made whole. We find healing and love and contentment and joy. The Lord doesn’t shun idol worship because He is a rule-keeping, worship-hoard. He shuns idol worship because it leaves us darkened, unfulfilled, and distracted from a real relationship with Him. And nothing can match that. Absolutely nothing.

Father, forgive us for anything we are holding onto that keeps us from You. Encourage us to put away those things that we have put on Your throne instead of You. Because You are enough! Strengthen us – let us turn towards you – and let it be so much more satisfying than anything else. We praise You. In Jesus, Amen.

Countenance

Do you know what the word 'countenance' means? Yeah. I didn't either up until a few weeks ago. Now that I know though....I'm completely blown away. You will be, too.

It all started with a Jesus Culture song. Many of my revelations do for some reason. They are such a sound, Spirit-filled band. Their song, Light of Your Face, starts out like this:

Oh Lord bless me

And keep me

And cause Your face to shine on me

Lord be gracious

With the light of Your countenance

Give me peace.

Countenance. When I first heard them sing it - I was intrigued. But the party really got started when shortly after I noticed it in the song...I ran across the same word in Scripture. I took that as my cue to delve deeper.

Upon looking up every occurrence of the word 'countenance' in the NKJV Bible - I ran across a few treasures. Take a look at Numbers 6:24-26 with me:

The Lord bless you and keep you;

The Lord make His face shine upon you,

And be gracious to you;

The Lord lift up His countenance upon you,

And give you peace.

Sounds familiar. I love it when bands get their lyrics straight from Scripture. There's something powerful that happens when we use The Word in worship. Anyhow, back to 'countenance'. When I looked it up in the Hebrew lexicon, I discovered that the Hebrew word for 'countenance' is paniym. It means 'face'. And the root word is panah. It means 'to turn'. So the word 'countenance' in this verse literally means 'to turn His face towards you.' This gets me excited. Like super excited. If you don't know why....read this. Even if you do know why...fancy me and refresh your memory anyway. I just read it again my own self! The Lord's face has been a huge theme for me this year. It's changed my life, really.

That's what's so cool about all this. The Lord has 'turned His face towards me' so many times over the past few months. He pursued me and my doubt-filled heart - turning my puny, almost non-existent faith into a raging fire of faith and freedom. And just when my light needs a little rekindling....He does it again.

Great is His faithfulness.

What a beautiful picture all of this paints. For a Father to look upon...gaze upon...watch and turn His attention to.... His children - is just sweet. To have the attention of Abba - the ultimate Daddy - just makes me feel so pursued and sought after. What's more...His face turning upon us doesn't only mean that He has shifted His eyes towards us....it also means that His light is shining in our direction. We know from John's vision in Revelation 1:16 that...

...His countenance was like the sun shining in it's strength.

When we look for Him, yearn for Him, long for Him - He turns towards you. His eyes and His face cast a light on you - causing you to never ever be the same. Ever.

Oh friends - may we have a hunger and a thirst that fails to be satisfied by anything or anyone but Him. Can I shoot straight with ya for a sec? Ladies - the gaze of a man pales sadly in comparison to the gaze of your Lord. Remember that. His gaze is always good. Let's long for the pure and holy eyes of The King - instead of the earthly, often times lustful eyes of man. And men - while your Savior graciously turns His gaze upon you...what will He find your gaze upon? Let it not be on a computer screen, or a magazine, or a pin-up or on the figure of a woman who isn't wearing your ring. Let's conduct ourselves like we know Him. (Sorry for the random tangent - it just fit.)

May we see Him facing us in all His glory. May we feel His light shining on us in all His warmth and realness. And may the realization that we were indeed created by a Creator who pursues - set us ablaze for His Kingdom cause and purpose.

Take it away Jesus Culture, take it away:





My Man on Reconciliation

I'd like to introduce you to the love of my life. My husband! I'm wild for him.

Goodness - the Lord has done a mighty work in this man over the last 12 months or so. I've had a front row seat to it all. And it's been unreal. Remarkable, really. The Spirit has stirred him up and it has spilled out on everyone in our household. It's amazing what can happen when a man (or woman!) allows the Spirit to infiltrate their everything. I'm a life (and wife!) that has been changed because of it. Here is a devotional my husband wrote for our church this week. Our pastor is doing a series on reconciliation. We pray this devotional encourages you and blesses you and inspires you in all the right ways and places :) Enjoy!

Reconciliation is a Process

Reconciliation is a process that brings about peace or renewal in a relationship. I like things to be simple, so I came up with a list of what the process of reconciliation consists of:

1. A positive relationship exists

2. A negative or hurtful act is committed by one or both parties

3. One or both parties humble themselves to admit wrongdoing and asks for forgiveness

4. Forgiveness is willfully granted

5. Renewed or reconciled relationship exists

The Word of God gives us many examples of this process of reconciliation. One of my favorite parables follows this process from beginning to end.

Take a look at Luke 15:11-32, you will find the story of the prodigal son. Read through this passage to see how it aligns with the process described above.

1. Luke 15:11, 12 – A father and son relationship exists.

2. Luke 15:13,14 – The son negatively impacts his father by taking his inheritance (a large portion of his father’s wealth/retirement) and wasting it on wild living

3. Luke 15:18, 19 – The son humbles himself and is going to request his father’s forgiveness and the opportunity to become one of his father’s hired servants

4. Luke 15:22 – The father willfully accepts and forgives his son and welcomes him back into the family.

5. Luke 15:24 – The Father and son have a renewed relationship.

This simple story gives us a great example of the process of reconciliation. It includes three aspects that are always involved with reconciliation: humbleness, love, and forgiveness. God desires to have a reconciled relationship with each one of us. In fact, the purpose of Jesus becoming a man and his death and resurrection was so that He could reconcile man’s relationship with God. This is the ultimate reconciliation:

1. God had an intimate relationship with man - Genesis 2:7-25

2. Sin entered the world through disobedience - Genesis 3:11-13, Romans 3:23

3. We must humbly confess our sin and ask for forgiveness – Psalms 51:1-2, Hosea 5:15

4. Jesus is willing to forgive the sins of all those who put their faith in Him – Isaiah 43:25

5. We then enter into a relationship with God which will last for eternity – John 10:27-29

God loves us so much that He put this beautiful process together so that we can have an intimate and fulfilling relationship with Him. He also desires for us to have fulfilling relationships with our family and friends. Jesus consistently preached that we are to forgive not only our friends, but our enemies (Matthew 18:21-22). He has given us the process, now we have to put it in action!

Ask yourself these tough questions:

Who do I need to forgive today? How can I show them love?

Is there a relationship in my life that God is calling me to reconcile?

He's a gem, isn't he? I'm gonna go kiss him on the face right now. Blessings and love to you all!

My Price - Paid

As I consider Jesus this week - who He was, who He still is, His character, His love, His teachings, His deity - I sense myself covering my eyes, shielding my heart, and forgetting what He actually did for me - and for each soul festering on this planet.

I love the easy:
I love to think about Him as Royal....at Christmas for instance. A little baby - born as King. (Luke 1 and 2, etc )

I love to think about Him as Defender ... rebuking the disciples trying to keep the children away - pulling the babes into his lap to bless them. (Mark 10:13-16)

I love to think about Him as Healer - traveling around touching the pain-stricken. Touching them. Does that strike you in your core? It should. His holy hands touched the defiled. The sore-covered. The bleeding..... The dead. We are wise to get the enormity of that. (Matthew 15:29-31, Mark 7:31-37, etc)

I love to think about Him as Deliverer - freeing people of demonic oppression - rebuking and casting out unclean spirits - thwarting their destruction of human hearts with just a word. (Mark 1:32-34, Luke 4:31-37, etc)

I love to think about Him as Teacher - sitting with the multitudes, having compassion on their souls, opening up their lives to the Divine. (Luke 8:4-15, etc)

I love to think about Him as Revealer - answering the door to anyone wholeheartedly knocking down doors to find Him. (Jeremiah 29:13, Luke 11:9)

But Jesus as Sacrifice? -  As tortured, stricken, beaten, crucified? I neglect it - out of ease and ignorance and haughtiness. All too often I look at the cross - I wear it around my neck and I point people to it and write about it....but I never stop to consider the reality of that tree - stained with innocent blood all for the cause of saving my soul. (John 18 and 19, etc)

 Jesus as Payment? As Stand-In? There's no words for that - and yet I still have very few thoughts towards it.

This may be why:
I fail to recognize the enormity and filthiness and number of my sin. I fail to recognize my absolute need for Him in this way. Sure - I can recognize Him as my King, my Protector, my Mender, my Reliever, my Instructor, my Affirmer - but oh, my Atonement? He is that, too. He is that, mostly.

His whole reason for moving among us? Me and you.

What's so incredible about this...audacious even....is that He knew it would be this way. (Isaiah 53) He knew that the one's He came to rescue would spit in His face. He knew that we would fail to grasp the gift He bestowed on us when He died in our place. He knew we would forget, refuse, and shun Him. And He did it anyway.

I've been praying a daring prayer- that He would show me my need for Him - particularly my need for One who is my Sacrifice and Savior. May it be so - for all of us....that we would get a glimpse of our own sins-pardoned. And that we would see Him, truly.

At Easter and always.

Lord, let us see You and know You for who You are, really. Let us be aware of our need for You. Lead us into truth and belief and understanding. We praise You for the price You paid for us all. Shed light on us, Lord.  In Jesus, Amen.

Funky Mama

Let's lighten it up a bit.

I'm digging this dude. His raps are like sermons, y'all. Fo' real.

Would you believe that this stay-at-home-mama did a little hip-hop dancing in college? Believe it, sista. The key word here however is did. Not does. I'm not so funky anymore, friends. But that doesn't mean I don't get crazy to a sweet rhyme every now and then. The only difference is that these days I listen to righteous raps - not the raunchy ones. Praise Him for it.

Preach it, Lecrea.

Shopping for Socks

Will the real Jesus please stand up?

As you well know, He's been revealing Himself to me lately. The real Jesus, that is. Not the one that I made up in my head. Not the one that I had preconceived notions about. Not the one that is vengeful or hate-filled or down right crazy. Not the one that's made it into books and movies where they twist his story. Not the one that isn't divine. The real One.

And it's knocking my socks off.

A few days ago - my doorbell rang. As I peered through the peep hole I saw what I expected to see - a middle-aged woman, wearing a long dark dress, holding a Bible and a leaflet. I could have chosen to leave her there. But with my children yelling, "WHO IS IT!?!" from the inside of our door - I had to open it. I kind of wanted to, anyway. Since I've been doing a little research on our door to door friends...I thought I might need some armor before I answered her call. So I beckoned for some..."Father, let the Spirit be present and speak through me. Please be here."....and then I unlocked the door. And I was able to do so with more faith and courage than ever before.

She began her spiel, sweetly. As I listened...my heart sank. She was talking about Jesus.  And as she presented her gospel - the one that had been presented to her by a governing body of sorts...not Jesus Himself...I was struck with how crafty the enemy can be. As her words lofted through the too-cold-for-spring air and landed on my eardrums - I felt a surge of defensiveness welling up in every fiber of my being. Her words were littered with just enough truth to make the twisted ones seem safe. The Enemy of our souls is famous for that. He takes truth...God's Word even...and turns the dial on it just enough to create a twisted gospel. (Genesis 3:1-5, Matthew 4:1-11) Since it's mixed and masked with very true messages - the very un-true messages are more easily welcomed and received.

It's trickery. It breaks my heart and makes me nauseated. Please know though... the shattered heart and queasy stomach don't come from a combative, "I'm right, your wrong", overly conservative, closed-minded place in me. They come from a place of compassion...a place that has known the confusion and seen the Truth. People are being led astray. Not only by my door-step lady-friend and her beliefs - but by health and wealth preachers, false teachers, and false doctrines. I know because I've been deceived by it my own self. While Jesus has certainly revealed Himself to me....you must know that I am fully aware of my blatant ignorance on this topic...still. I have A LOT to learn when it comes to Jesus...the Bible...history...life. But there are some things that I'm absolutely convinced of: Jesus is real. The Bible is true. And Jesus Himself will show you that.

After listening to this precious woman for a moment, I stopped her. And I said....

"Who do YOU say that Jesus is?"

I really discovered who Jesus was when I opened my Bible (and my heart) myself and asked God to reveal Himself to me there. When I decided to learn about Jesus  - instead of simply being told who He was by elders or authors or governing bodies or whoever.....that's when I found Him. And that's what I told her.

(Please note though, I consider it very important to seek biblical truth, advice, council, and accountability from mentors, pastors, teachers, and the like. But we are blessed with the privilege of having the opportunity to know Him personally. One on One. Creator with the created. And that's a beautiful thing that you don't want to miss out on.)

If you ask the real Jesus to please stand up...The real Jesus will rise up above the rest - and as He emerges right before your eyes - you'll be changed forever. Open your Bible. Open your heart. Open up your mind. Ask the Lord to show you Himself. And then go buy some more socks....He will be blowing yours off in no time.

"The Bible invites us into life with God, but it does not try to force us into it. It leaves enough space that we can pass by this life if we desire to do so. The living Christ will not overpower us, but he does make himself available to those who want to find him. One of the primary ways he does this is through the Bible." from Life With God by Richard J. Foster