Do you Trust Him?

My 8-year-old son, Casey, is a special needs child. His cognitive development has been challenged, and he does not seem to process information normally. When he gets frustrated with things not going his way, he becomes very aggressive. One minute he will be hugging and kissing everyone in sight (strangers included), and just minutes later he might be totally irate and bite you because he can’t have or do something. He also responds unpredictably to discipline. As patient as I try to be, dealing with this behavior is absolutely one of the most challenging things I have ever encountered. My arms regularly sport bite marks.

Recently, my covenant friend was playing with Casey and he bit her because she wouldn’t let him take her shirt off. After things finally calmed down, she came over to me smiling that she was “anointed” with her first bite mark. She was literally proud of it! Why?

Instantly I knew. You see, I know that God has a plan for Casey that is for His Glory. I know that He has heard the thousands of prayers that hundreds of prayer warriors have prayed for Casey. I know that He has heard my prayers and is in the process of a grand plan for him. My friend knows this too, and her reaction to receiving a bite reminded me of this. Her behavior demonstrated the patience and peace of mind to be calm during the storm. She and I recognize that bites and other events are battles, not wars. Her joy stemmed from having endured a battle, knowing the outcome. The war is already won!

What is the hardest thing in the world for you? What are you doing about it? Have you suffered battle wounds that have left you scarred? Do know that God is aware of all your challenges and has everything under control? Do you know that the outcome is already known to Him and that He wants the best for you? Can you trust that His way is best for you even if it’s not exactly what you have in mind? Do you trust Him?

1 Chronicles 5:20
And they were helped against them, and the Hagrites were delivered into their hand, and all who were with them, for they cried out to God in the battle. He heeded their prayer, because they put their trust in Him.

Proverbs 3:5-6
Trust in the Lord with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding;
In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths.

Jeremiah 17:7-8
“Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, And whose hope is the Lord.
For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters, Which spreads out its roots by the river,
And will not fear when heat comes, But its leaf will be green,
And will not be anxious in the year of drought, Nor will cease from yielding fruit.

Galatians 6:17b (The Message)
I bear in my body scars from my service to Jesus.

Precious Lord, help us to hold You in the highest level of trust. I pray that we will lay down our needs and wants and allow Your perfect will to be done, with full confidence that it is best for us. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

Barb

Obstacles

While walking through an airport, I noticed a large wall advertisement. It was a picture of Tiger Woods driving a golf ball right in front of a huge (maybe 2 ½ feet across) tree. The caption read, “You have to see past your obstacles to reach your goal.”

Those words permeated my thoughts as I considered my 8-year-old son (Casey) who has been challenged with increasingly severe seizures since age 3. Among other impacts, the seizures have significantly delayed his development. Traditional medicine has not offered a solution, and we are actively pursuing non-traditional options. Through all this, I can tell you that my spirit KNOWS that there is Healing for Casey. I have peace in that. But the healing has not yet manifested, so I press on. I look past my obstacles to my goal. As I maneuver the various obstacles in my way, I do not allow them to interfere with my sightline. I do not allow my view of the goal to be obscured. I refuse to lose motivation or belief that it is attainable.

How can we keep our eyes on the prize, no matter what obstacles come our way? The answer to this question seemed too simple to me. It seemed almost unbelievable that it would work, but it does. Keep our focus on Jesus. Do not focus on anything else, for there are sure to be obstacles that pressure us to take our eyes off Him.

I take Casey to the Healing Rooms at my church every Saturday. I request altar prayer for him every week. My covenant friend and I war for his healing daily. In these prayer encounters on Casey’s behalf, many times I find that it is I who am ministered to, as those standing with me confirm my faith and faithfulness. They help me keep my eye on Jesus, not on the seizures or even on Casey. This focus on Jesus helps us bypass obstacles. And as we continue to press on, we will ultimately reach our goal and lay hold of the prize.

Jeremiah 39:18
For I will surely deliver you, and you shall not fall by the sword; but your life shall be as a prize to you, because you have put your trust in Me,” says the Lord.’”

Philippians 3:12
Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

Hebrews 12:2 (The Message)
Keep your eyes on Jesus, who both began and finished this race we're in. Study how he did it. Because he never lost sight of where he was headed--that exhilarating finish in and with God--he could put up with anything along the way: cross, shame, whatever. And now he's there, in the place of honor, right alongside God.

Blessed Lord, may we ever focus on You and victoriously bypass the obstacles in our lives. “The things of earth become strangely dim in the light of your Glory and Grace.” In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

Barb

Shamu: Created for Awe

On a recent visit to Sea World, I had the opportunity to see the newest Shamu performance called “Believe.” The show begins with a screen displaying the following: “There comes a time in everyone’s life when they have to make a decision whether or not they are going to believe.” It goes on to talk about a young boy’s dream that the mysterious, awesome and beautiful Orca (a killer whale) and man could unite. This boy believes in his dream and…the awesome display of the Shamu show unfolds.

I was deeply moved by the show. I pondered the life of Shamu and his buddies before their Sea World stardom, before they (or their predecessors) were plucked out of a familiar oceanic environment and transplanted into this new, uncharted territory. I am quite certain that they weren’t thinking about how cool it would be to jump out of the water on command when they were entered into this program. I bet if they could answer, they’d say that they just wanted to swim freely in the deep, dark, cool ocean, hunt food, and procreate. Chances are, they weren’t much interested in giving people rides and splashing audiences with their tails. They weren’t thinking of the “more” they could do. But there they were that day, doing all the things they hadn’t previously considered doing; and if you asked anyone in the audience, they’d say doing them effortlessly and joyously.

The trainers will tell you that we (humans) generally underestimate what animals are capable of. But the heart that believes knows differently. The heart that believes knows the Orca was created for awe. The heart that believes is able to awaken unknown abilities hidden deep within. And with every encounter, the trainers whet the appetite of the Orcas for the “something more” until the Orcas find themselves craving to release the awe. The deep of the believing heart calls to the deep of the wooed heart, and what results is amazingly glorious.

Like Shamu and his buddies, you and I have been transplanted into a new environment (a new Kingdom); and we have a Trainer who knows what we are capable of. We may underestimate what we ourselves are capable of, and each other; but God never does. He knows that He created us for awe. He knows the hidden potential within us, for everything He is, is in us – His nature, His essence, His power. We are created in His image – to do the impossible. And with every encounter, He calls forth this potential, that we may be spectacles of His wonder.

Once upon a time, a little boy named Jesus had a dream that one day the mysterious, awesome and beautiful Human (a lost soul) and God could unite. Each of us is now faced with the decision whether or not we are going to believe. Will you believe for the “something more?” Will you be part of the awesome display of Christ’s dream?

Genesis 1:27
So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.

Isaiah 43:10
“You are My witnesses,” says the Lord, “And My servant whom I have chosen, That you may know and believe Me, And understand that I am He. Before Me there was no God formed, Nor shall there be after Me.

Mark 9:23
Jesus said to him, “If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.”

Romans 8:11 (NLT)
The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you. And just as he raised Christ from the dead, he will give life to your mortal body by this same Spirit living within you.

Colossians 1:13 (NASB)
For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son.

Blessed Father, We know there come many times in each of our lives when we have to decide whether or not we are going to believe in the love of Jesus Christ. I pray that we all believe, time and time again. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

Barb

Shamu: A Labor of Love

In the book, "Whale Done," by Ken Blanchard, the author talks about the power of positive relationships. As an apt example of the subject matter, he describes how the Sea World trainers used positive reinforcement to train Shamu to jump out of the water. Shamu is, after all, a killer whale. Did you think they were going to use negative reinforcement? I have always really enjoyed this example, but it all came together for me recently when we visited Sea World and I had the opportunity to see the newest Shamu performance called "Believe." What they make abundantly clear throughout the show is that the method of training is positive reinforcement--otherwise known as love. There is no need to guess how close the whales are with their trainers. A sense of love permeated the atmosphere. The affection that their trainers show for the obedience of these whales brings one to tears; it is astonishingly sincere. At every possible opportunity, the trainers were hugging and kissing these killer whales. And if a whale can smile, I assure you they were.

So I thought about what this interplay between the trainers and the whales could reveal about our relationship with God. We know that God is love and that everything He does is motivated by love. So what if He, like the trainers, uses positive reinforcement with us? The way that might work is, when we do what is desired by God, even a little bit, we get positive reinforcement. If we keep trying the things we want to do, hoping that God will reward us, He won't; He's looking for something different.

Interestingly, Blanchard writes that when the wales do the "wrong" thing, the trainers do not punish them; instead they redirect the whales' focus in order to catch them doing the right thing so they can reward them. They long to set them up for rewards, and in doing so, they gain more of the whales' trust. Have you ever considered that God wants to catch us doing the right thing so He can reward us? He longs to reward us. That's simply who He is--a rewarder. And He aches to secure our trust. The next time you are tempted to feel "upset" at God because you haven't received something you've prayed for, consider that He may be waiting to reward you for different behavior; or perhaps He simply has something far better in mind.

Jeremiah 31:16
Thus says the Lord: "Refrain your voice from weeping, And your eyes from tears; For your work shall be rewarded," says the Lord, "And they shall come back from the land of the enemy."

Hebrews 11:6
But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.

Revelation 22:12-13
"And behold I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to give to everyone according to his work. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last."

Psalm 63:3 (NLT)
Your unfailing love is better to me than life itself; how I praise you!

Abba Father, we know that You are good and that Your thoughts toward us are good and not evil. Help us to embrace Your way as we diligently seek You, trusting that Your love and Your rewards are better than life. In Jesus' name, Amen.

Barb

Pitchers and People

poured into, to pour out

In my kitchen, I have this certain cabinet in which I keep my pitchers. I recognized recently that whenever I go in there looking for a pitcher, I invariably choose the same one. I pondered why that is. The one I choose is clear with a lid and is securely assembled. It serves my needs exactly as I desire each time I use it. The one I constantly bypass is blue with an uneven surface texture and the handle is broken off. Obviously the one without a handle will not serve my purposes very well. And yet, although this pitcher has probably been “unsuitable” for five years, I have not thrown it away. I keep thinking that one day I will superglue the handle back on and use it again.

In His faithful manner, the Holy Spirit began to reveal to me similarities between pitchers and people. Like pitchers, God wants to fill His people up and pour Himself out of us. He wants us to be vessels of His very Essence, to pour out His compassion and love upon others. Oh how I constantly desire His filling and long and pray for His presence in me. I wonder, though, if I long nearly as much for the opportunity to pour out what He has poured into me. Do I sometimes struggle with or even resist pouring out? Is my handle firmly affixed, or am I just sitting on the shelf hoarding what’s in me and incapable of, or think I’m not prepared for, pouring? I wonder how often my handle is detached and God must choose a different vessel – one that is prepared and ready to pour, one that has consistently met His needs, time after time.

The good news struck me with my own behavior and attitude towards that broken blue pitcher – God hasn’t thrown us out either. And He knows that our broken handles are fixable with His Superglue. He knows that we are capable of pouring out for Him; after all, that’s what He designed us for. He made us well suitable for His purposes and longs to restore us to wholeness if we let Him. His question for us is, “Are you ready?”

Isaiah 58:10 (Amplified) And if you pour out that with which you sustain your own life for the hungry and satisfy the need of the afflicted, then shall your light rise in darkness, and your obscurity and gloom become like the noonday.

Romans 5:5 (Amplified) …for God's love has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit Who has been given to us.

Ephesians 4:2 (The Message) And mark that you do this with humility and discipline--not in fits and starts, but steadily, pouring yourselves out for each other in acts of love.

2 Timothy 2:21 (NKJV) Therefore if anyone cleanses himself from the latter, he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified and useful for the Master, prepared for every good work.

Dear Father, Help us to remember that we are poured into in order that we may pour out upon the lives of each other. We declare that we are ready to fulfill Your purposes in us. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

Barb