John 15:16

It's very early in the morning, I don't usually rise this early.  Do you ever have those mornings where you just know that God wants you to be up before the sun?  Most times when I am awakened at an unwelcome hour its when God really wants to speak to my heart about something.  The house is quiet, my husband has gone to work, the kids are sleeping soundly as well as my houseguests.  My devotional (Experiencing God) this morning reminded me once again of the battle that we are in and it also reminded me of who our enemy is.  Satan, the one who came to steal, kill and destroy.  I am reminded of how subtle he is and how slick his plan is.  What I'm bothered by this morning is how quickly I give myself over.  You see, I have company this week.  My Mom and my nephew are visiting.  I love having company, it's fun.  We do lots of fun stuff, go out to eat, shop, talk and hang out.  I get busy and forget what I'm supposed to be doing though.  I'm not talking about the dishes and the laundry and all that, that stuff can wait when I have company.  My relationship with Jesus can't.  That's what he wanted to remind me of at this horrible hour.  It's like he was gently stirring me so I'd get up and spend some time with him before the day's action begins.  So let's get at it.

I chose you!  I appointed you to go and produce lovely fruit.  John 15:16

This passage in John are Jesus' actual words.  This is where He calls us friends, where He tells us He loves us as God loves Him.  In my version (I'm an NLT girl these days) the passage from verse 9 through 17 the word LOVE is used 9 times.  So that's what I'm going with here, the emphasis on love.  We could talk about being chosen and how awesome it is but clearly that isn't the main message of this section of scripture.  Yes we are chosen and that is amazing, that He would pick me, want me to be His friend with all my faults and shortcomings is truly humbling.  But....what about LOVE?  I wonder can we produce "LOVEly" fruit without LOVE?  Galatians 5:22-23  But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!  Take note girls which fruit comes first, LOVE.  I wonder can we have joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control without LOVE?  I'm willing to take a stab in the dark here and say no.  

I think what Jesus is trying to tell us here is to go and tell people about Him.   Share the good news, win souls and all that jazz.  I had to ask myself while looking over this verse this week, can I really do that without growing the fruit of the Spirit in my own life?  How can I share the LOVE of the Lord with people that make me nuts?  We get so caught up in LOVE as a feeling that we forget that it's a choice.  It's more than a warm fuzzy emotion it's more than butterflies, puppies, rainbows and unicorns.  I'm starting to gross myself out.  I've been thinking a lot lately about the choices I make in regards to my walk with the Lord and my interactions with His people.  Mostly the choices I make in my attitude.  If I'm going to produce lovely fruit like Jesus tells me to I'm going to have to choose to have an attitude of LOVE even if I don't feel like it.  Even when it's hard or when I'm tired or when I've allowed my schedule to get overextended.  I have to choose to extend grace in situations where people don't deserve it.  That's why it's grace.  If I choose to give people a break it makes it easier to LOVE them.  When it's easier to LOVE them my fruit grows a little bit more.

I've used the fruit of the Spirit with my children on many occasions.  I've asked them to recite the fruit listed in the verse and asked them if they are growing that kind of fruit.  I've used them as examples for Sunday school lessons and Awana lessons.  But what I haven't done is taken those simple lessons and applied them to my own life.  What kind of fruit am I growing?  Is my tree barren?  Is it just starting to produce fruit?  Is any of the fruit ripe and ready for harvest?  I don't know.  I think it's time to check out my tree.  What kind of fruit are you growing?  

There's another part of this verse that's not listed on our scripture card.  It gives us a glimpse at why Jesus tells us to go and produce lovely fruit.  So that the Father will give you whatever you ask for, using my name.  When we aren't focused on LOVE and producing fruit (sharing the good news) our prayers are hindered.  I notice a big difference in my prayer life when it's focused on others needs rather than my own needs.  When I have an attitude of LOVE and am making an effort to reach out to others who need LOVE I find myself praying a lot more.  I like praying more.  When prayer becomes a habit you have a close connection to Jesus.  I don't know about you but I LOVE feeling like he's right next to me all day.  

Romans 12:9

Ok, I won't lie to you.  I have been looking over this scripture for an entire week and I've been dragging my feet in writing this.  I wasn't quite sure why I was avoiding it but I was nonetheless.  It dawned on me tonight though at Awana drop off.  I was visiting with my dear friend Helen.  She's always full of wisdom and one of the people I turn to when I'm just not quite sure how to handle what's going on in my life.  She asked how I was.  She has a way of asking that question that makes you know that she's not just looking for the quick answer, the trite response.....fine, good, ok, run me over with a bus.  You get the idea.  It took me a minute to respond.  After a pause I said "I'm growing in Jesus this week Helen."   She laughed.  I laughed.  It's true, I was having a week full of growth opportunities.  Or when it comes to my kids I like to call them "teachable moments".   So let's get on with it and talk about this memory verse.

Love from the center of who you are; don’t fake it. Run for dear life from evil; hold on for dear life to good. 

This is a translation from The Message.  I'm not usually a fan of this particular translation.  I don't have a good reason why, it's my own personal issue.  If you are willing to continue on this journey with me, you'll find out I have a lot of those.  So when I compared this verse to my translation and a few others (because honestly this one is just a bit too touchy feely for me) I found some interesting differences.  My New Living says "Don't just pretend to love others".  NIV says "Love must be sincere".  A few other translations say to let your love be genuine and without hypocrisy.  Well that's easy right?  

I'll give you the honest, sincere answer to that.  No it isn't.  It's hard.  Really hard, probably the hardest thing I've ever had to do.  It's easy for me to love people who are easy to love.  It's easy for me to love people who I know would do for me what I would do for them.  It's easy for me to love people who are living in a way that I find worthy of my love.  What keeps me from loving from the center of who I am?  Why do I struggle to love in a sincere, genuine way, without hypocrisy?  The honest answer is because I am selfish.  Sometimes I'm even self righteous.  

A couple of opportunities came up to love people this week that I was not super excited about.  These growth opportunities were going to cost me.  The were going to cost me time, money, comfort, and some of the luxuries that I have come to look forward to at the end of the day.  We'll call them television and knitting.  Anyway, the cost isn't what concerned me so much.  If I am completely transparent here, what really bothered me, is that there was very little chance that I was going to see any payback or fruit from loving in these situations.  These were the kind of opportunities where you just know that you are scattering seeds across hard soil and the birds are lining up on the power lines to eat them up.  But this verse doesn't tell us to love so we can see the fruit does it?

Run for dear life from evil, hold for dear life to good.  Another thing I struggle with.  I am pretty sure I'm not the only one here.  Our hearts are desperately wicked.  We are bent towards the ugly stuff this world has to offer.  I'm thankful that I can spend time in God's word daily and that it helps to remind me of what I should be chasing after.  Loving  sacrificially is a good thing.  It is worthy of striving for and worth doing when we don't feel like it.  I don't always run from evil, I usually like to roll around in it a little first.  Not a lot, just enough to get a little stinky.  And I'm sure that is what reflected in my attitude this week.  I'm a slow learner.  

I would encourage you all to read this entire chapter in the book of Romans, whichever translation you prefer is just fine.  Touchy feely or not.  This chapter is about us being living sacrifices to God.    Verse 10 in the message says Be good friends who love deeply; practice playing second fiddle.  I want to be that kind of friend, even to people who don't deserve it and won't be that kind of friend to me.  I want love to be my default.  When I was complaining to a friend about these teachable moments I asked her if I would ever get to a point where my automatic response would come from a place of "yes" and a place of the love of Jesus.  Where I wouldn't grumble and complain or kick and scream about doing something that was going to cost me.  If love were our natural response God wouldn't have to spend so much time telling us how important it is.  It's a choice.  I'm convinced it's some kind of spiritual discipline.  I want to love sacrificially without complaining.  Lord, please continue to grow me in this area no matter how painful it is.

We're all in this together girls!

Philippians 1:6

The week following the retreat I was on a spiritual high.  I was really excited to get started with the memory verses and my quiet time was intense.  Towards the end of the week however it started to slide a little.  As the daily responsibilities started to creep in and the commitments of the weekend were approaching I could feel myself gaining momentum as I descended from the mountain top.  The pressures of life and the BUSY-ness I was feeling was taking me to a place I didn't like.  The things that were coming out of my mouth were not as kind as I would like, I had let some words fly that I shouldn't have, I wasn't getting enough sleep, my heart was overflowing ugliness.  So, imagine my surprise when I flipped up the next card and saw this weeks memory verse.

Being confident of this, that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.  Phil 1:6

So in order for me to get the full gist of what this verse was saying I had to look at the backstory first.  Paul wrote this letter to the Philippians from prison after receiving a gift from them.  The first few verses of the chapter overflow with his joy and thankfulness for this church.   The verses following our memory verse talk about how special this church is to Paul and how much he loves them and wants them to continue to grow in love and understanding.  He's urging them to continue to grow so that they will be able to fix their eyes on what really matters, what's really important. 

How often do we get ourselves stuck somewhere because it's just too hard to climb back up that mountain?  The church at Philippi was experiencing persecution.  Most likely this was making it difficult to live out their faith. Paul starts out this letter with words of encouragement.  When's the last time you felt discouraged because you felt like you were either unwilling or unable to live out your faith?  I think sometimes it just happens, a situation comes and goes and afterwards we are often left wondering, what just happened?  Why did I let the opportunity to share Jesus pass me by?  Am I afraid?  Am I unwilling?  Am I embarrassed because the things I've just said or done are a poor testimony?  For the record that last one would be me.  

So when I read this memory verse I was encouraged.  I think mostly because I needed to be reminded that I'm not the one who started the work in me, therefore I do not need to be the one to finish it.  I was also encouraged that the work won't be finished until the moment I leave this earth.  After things got a little sideways this past weekend I needed to be reminded that I AM NOT A LOST CAUSE!  That Jesus will continue to work in me helping me to live a pure and blameless life until the day of Christ's return or until he calls me home.  

So whatever is holding you back, whatever has you discouraged, whatever is putting you in that cell of shame, whatever mistakes you have made, take it to the throne.  We can be confident that He who started this work in us will finish it.  But there are things we let get in the way and make the process harder, longer and more painful than it needs to be. Take whatever those things are to Jesus, repent and ask for forgiveness so He can get back to work.  I'll be taking my sassy mouth, my ugly attitude towards people and my poor time management to Him.  I'm confident He can help me.
  

DON'T BUY THE LIE LADIES!

Psalm 34:8

It’s early Tuesday morning and I’m challenged.  After the weekend retreat I got sick.  Like can’t get out of the recliner sick.  Am I surprised?  Not really.  Is it an enemy attack?  I’m not sure.  Is it the consequences of burning the candle at both ends?  Bingo.  We all received these scripture cards this weekend and were encouraged to memorize a verse each week for the next year.  Yesterday I took the first card out of the beautiful mug that we were also given.  The verse reads...

TASTE AND SEE THAT THE LORD IS GOOD;  BLESSED IN THE MAN WHO TAKES REFUGE IN HIM.

PSALM 34:8

It’s one thing to memorize a verse, it’s quite another to jump into it with both feet and really take to heart what it means.  It starts out with TASTE AND SEE, this is clearly an invitation.  It makes me think of when I try to get my kids to try a new food.  There is always a hesitation, doubt if you will, that what I am offering them may just end their little lives.  When I offer up the new treat it is usually met with groans of disgust if it’s green or twinkling eyes if it has chocolate in it.  Of course they would prefer anything sweet and fattening to something green and healthy.  Are both good?  Yes both are good one would reason.  Everything in moderation (when it comes to the sweet treat) and you can’t get enough veggies (when it comes to the brussels sprouts).  Both are good, but we don’t always see them as good.

The next part of the verse says.....THAT THE LORD IS GOOD;  Over the weekend, a sweet sister in Christ talked to me about having trouble believing that God is good.  The things that had happened in her life and the things that were currently happening had her in a place where she couldn’t see His goodness.  Her tears clung to me and her question keep echoing in my heart.  God, are you good?  What does that mean?  What does it mean that God is good?  As grown ups, especially women, we tend to way over think things.  So this morning over breakfast I asked the kids.  God is good, I said, what does that mean?  I was met with blank stares over their dinosaur egg oatmeal.  My oldest, who is usually quite full of information looked at me for a moment and then replied....it means He’s perfect and He doesn’t make any mistakes.  Out of the mouths of babes.  I looked over my coffee cup at him trying not to cough on the sandwiches I was preparing for their lunch because school spaghetti is apparently disgusting.  Ok I said, if God is perfect and He doesn’t make any mistakes, why does Grandpa have cancer?  There was a long pause and I hoped beyond hope that I had taught him the right thing and that he wasn’t standing there questioning God.  He responded with....because there’s sin in the world Mom.  The tone implied that I was asking a dumb question.  I was relieved.  I gave him a hug and a kiss on the forehead and sent him to school with the reassurance that he had answered my question correctly.   God is perfect, He makes no mistakes.  I looked up the word Good in my Webster’s 1828 dictionary, the definition goes on and on and on.  At first I was discouraged by this.  All I wanted was a simple definition.  But, when I look over these pages (yes pages) and apply all the bullet point in this definition to God, I am in awe.  Valid, sound, not weak, complete, conformable to the moral law, proper, honorable, fair, unblemished, benevolent, to

supply deficiency, I could go on and on.   So I google (don’t judge me I know you do it too) good by definition comes up as of high quality, of favorable character, suitable, fit, agreeable, and pleasant.  We want good to mean what we see good as.  In other words, I can see God is good as long as He doesn’t let anything I see as bad happen to me.  I’m guilty of this.  When things come along that I don’t see as good I shake my fist at God and say....Why does my father-in-law have cancer?  Why would you let my husband lose his job?  Why does my friend have to have all these things happen to her family?  Why does another friend have to live with the scars that her messed up family left on her?  I thought you were good God?!?!?!?!  If you are good, why? WHY?  It’s not fair.  IT HURTS!  My heart is broken.  The simple words of a 10 year old resound.....because there is sin in the world Mom.

Blessed in the man who takes refuge in Him.  When I think of the word refuge I think run and hide.  Things are hard, life is ugly, these circumstances stink but I can run hard and fast and hide in Christ.  My strength, my peace, my worth, my hope and my rest can only come from one place, CHRIST.  When I can’t see beyond the circumstances I can trust  that what is happening is for MY good.  For my growth.  His word tells us when we are overwhelmed with life, we can take refuge in the one true God and we will be blessed.  Try to step away from the American view of “blessed” here for a second.  Are we not blessed when He holds us in His arms and whispers in our ears that He loves us and that we are valuable to Him?  Are we not blessed because he sees each tear that falls?  Are we not blessed because he knows every hair on our heads?  This is true blessing, to be known and loved by God.  His eye is on the sparrow, are you not much more valuable than a sparrow?  God, I AM, the God of Heaven’s Armies, sees you and knows your pain and your circumstances.  Even though it doesn’t feel good and we don't like it,

we can trust that it is for our good, for our training in righteousness, and for His glory.  God is good all the time, all the time God is good.  

Don’t buy the lie ladies.  

Unshakeable Faith: 8 Traits for Rock-Solid Living

Women’s Bible Study ~ Wednesday Nights

Start date: October 8th - End date: December 10th

Time: 6:15 - 7:40 pm

(at Monroe Bible Church ~ follows the Awana schedule)

Women are usually prepared for everything from patching scraped knees to managing a huge work load to whipping up dinner at a moment’s notice. We keep ourselves and our families together and running smoothly. But is our faith prepared to withstand difficult circumstances and trials?

Unshakeable Faith, an 8-week Bible study for women, explores the life of Peter to help you build a rock-solid faith that is strong enough to weather the harshest storms of life. Here are a few highlights:

• Each week focuses on one “faith trait” found in Peter’s life and writings.

• Each week includes purposeful life examination and application.

• Each week includes a “Faith Shaker,” that introduces a real woman and her story of trial and faith.