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“The eternal God is your refuge, And underneath are the everlasting arms.”  Deuteronomy 33:27

Many times those who are most right are accused of being, or doing wrong; worse still are cases where individuals, deeply established in truth, are diminished or presumed unstable . . . in other words, out of their mind. 

Time is an instrument of exposure and though it’s been said that time is not on our side, it actually is. To say resolve will break before there’s time enough for truth to be uncovered underestimates God’s power at work on the side of those who favor His righteous cause.

Believers with strength of resolve (as well as good people, who though they have not met the Lord, stand for righteousness, like King Cyrus the pagan king of ancient Persia) stand the test of time and emerge vindicated. False accusations and threatening cannot hold up forever.

You or someone you care about may have been considered down. But in fact, the Lord is underneath, lifting you and them up. In the end, you will emerge free, stable, standing upright, and in your right mind. The Lord’s love and majestic power is lifting you – up and out!

The Spirit of God is a revealer.

Amen.

Recently our daughter and son-in-law left their 7 month old son Ezekiel with my husband and I to babysit while they went out of town for a few days. Of course I could include many pictures but I’ll spare you with the crazy grandparent behavior.

An interesting thing happened. When Ezekiel’s parents excitedly returned home to see him I was holding him as they stood just inside our front door. Our daughter said, “Hi Ezekiel” before she took him in her arms and then her eyes filled with tears. She said, “Oh mom! He doesn’t know who I am!” It was true that the baby presented her with a blank stare. But no more had those words come out of her mouth than a huge smile broke out on his face as she reached for him and cuddled him next to her as close as she could.  I couldn’t help but notice that his daddy’s eyes were moist as well as he looked on and enfolded his wife and son in his arms. It was one of those beautiful moments in life that take your breath for a moment and make your eyes a bit moist as well.

After the fairly new parents were out the door a thought came quickly to my mind. I wondered how often my Father God has the same reaction as my daughter had? How often do I see Him and what He is doing but not recognize Him? How often does He stand by me with disappointment and say, “Oh, she doesn’t know me!”

I had to stop and think that there are probably countless times when He is doing something in my life and He stands right next to me and I don’t recognize Him. I think of the times I have seen Him at work in the lives of my family or friends or in my ministry and I wonder where He is…when all along He is right there. I just don’t know who He is. How painful to the heart of God this must be!

And yet…there are the times when there is that spark of recognition in my soul and a huge inner smile breaks out in me and I can joyfully say, “Oh, It’s Him! It’s my Father! It is the One my lonely heart has been longing for!”

The truth is, unlike my daughter and son-in-law, the Lord never leaves. It is us who forget who He is and what His tender voice sounds like. We forget He is standing there waiting to take us up in strong arms and bring us back home.

There is a great difference between successfulness and fruitfulness. Success comes from strength, control and respectability. A successful person has the energy to create something to keep control over its development, and to make it available in large quantities. Success brings many rewards and often fame.

Fruits however, come from weakness and vulnerability. And fruits are unique. A child is the fruit conceived in vulnerability, community is the fruit born through brokenness, and intimacy is the fruit that grows through touching one another’s wounds. Let’s remind one another that what brings true and healing joy is not successfulness but fruitfulness.

In biblical Israel there were different kinds of offerings. Besides five main offerings – burnt, grain, fellowship, sin, and guilt – Israel was to give specific offerings, including the trespass, peace, fellowship, freewill, wave, heave, thank, consecration, dedication and memorial offerings as well as offerings for the poor.  Similarly, we bring different offerings to the Lord and each kind of offering is significant to our worship and response to Him.

Our desire to give to the Lord is not religious duty. It originates instead in the heart, in response to His love. Giving expresses honor for Him in a specific way, not legalistically or religiously, but a genuine spiritual expression of what we believe about how the Lord first gives to us because He loves us, and our giving to Him in response. And with the same measure of heart that we communicate with Him through our giving, the Lord directs men and circumstances favorably on our behalf. The circle of God’s love is a circle of giving.

Make a decisive heart commitment, starting now and going forward, concerning your money and all you plan to do with it, to ask God and listen to what He tells you. Your giving is between you and your Lord, a higher spiritual expression than mere record keeping or for the impression given. The privilege of giving is God’s idea — holy and special and completely beyond anything we could imagine.

Give and it shall be given to you.

Amen.

A dear friend told me a beautiful story that perfectly illustrates a truth I would like to tell you. Here is the truth, and then I will give you the story.

TRUTH: Your value is in your position not your performance.

Story: When my friend was a little girl, the church she attended was very strict. There were many rules to keep about keeping the rules. If a person was a “member” of the church you had to be an especially good rule keeper. Sometimes if an adult member broke a rule, they had to sit outside on a wooden bench while they waited for the non-rule breaking members to decide on a punishment for them that matched the rule they broke.  It was a physical and emotional  place of exile.

My friend remembers watching these poor “rule breakers” sit and wait until they were called into the congregation. She remembers the fear on their faces or the tears of shame that fell from their eyes. She remembers feeling that they must wait on the “outside” while they and their “bad” rule-breaking behaviors were discussed “inside” the church..  She believed that a rule-breaker was not only separated from the good members but from God Himself.  Her thoughts formed around that memory and told her a lie. The lie was that if she failed….anywhere at any time…she was benched.  Exiled from the Lord’s love. Repeatedly that belief would drag her emotionally to the wooden bench to sit alone in fear and shame just like the people she had witnessed.  Secluded and waiting for God to pass His critical eye over her until He voted her back inside His love.

Let me ask you a question. Are you benched? Have your thoughts been telling you that you cannot get off the exiled bench and play or enjoy the freedom of ministry because you have been a rule-breaker?  Have you been believing what others make you feel?

We all need a powerful catalyst to move us from our respective and unique places of the bench . How do we stand up and come back to the place of dignity that Jesus gives us?

• Ask the Lord to help you lose your “adult –self consciousness’.” This does not mean that we stop being wise or act childishly, but to restore our original joy-like freedom. Have you ever noticed how “self-conscience” we become when someone has made us feel benched?  We must switch our focus to the voice of Jesus at work within us. He sits next to us and gently whispers that His emphasis has a lot more with being than doing.
• Ask the Lord to help you re-gain the courage to be yourself When we greet the Lord at physical death, I don’t believe He will ask us, “Why weren’t you Billy Graham”…( or you fill in the blank) Instead He may ask us, “Why weren’t you…..well, YOU? The authentic disciple of Jesus is not a cookie cutter person. Ask God for the courage to be your own memorable and distinct character for the kingdom.
• Get off the bench. Jesus comes to us and tells us to “go…” He is looking into your eyes and telling you the this truth. He is the One who gives you your identity. Sometimes our lives feel like messy and long departures from where those who make the rules say we should be. If you might be caught up in the authority of credentials, of human valuation, or bondage of “the way we have always done it,” please get up. The very action of standing to your feet emotionally will defuse those who want to bench you. Then you will remember, “Ah yes…my value is in my position, not my performance.