Joy and Strength (Christian life and music)

God’s overarching purpose for each of His children is that we know Him. And what a relief this is! Yes, we have “assignments” and jobs, etc. But they are not our utmost purpose. This truth should set you free. No more wondering, worrying, or confusion. As a born again child of the Most High God, your purpose is to get to know Him more deeply each day. You could be “successful” in worldly pursuits, even in ministry. But if in the process you are not knowing God better, then what’s it all for? Remember what Jesus told His disciples when they were so excited that the spirits were subject to them? He set them straight right quick! Jesus told them to instead rejoice that their names were written in heaven. In other words, don’t rejoice in your good works, even though done in God’s power. Rejoice that you are rightly related to God! Knowing God. Living with Him now and then forevermore in heaven. Our joy is to be found in Him because that’s where it is! He is joy! “Joy is the serious busines...

God ordains good for us even in the midst of great suffering. When Jesus hung on the cross , it seemed like it was over.  His apostles were bewildered and discouraged.  They may have felt that all was lost. However, God ordained Jesus' sacrifice since before all time.  God knew how it was going to go down in the Garden with Adam and Eve .  But He is always working out, ordaining, good plans for us, for the world. I have been in a very difficult situation, some would say near impossible, for around 11 years now.  If I believed everything I read about leaving "toxic" relationships, I would have disobeyed God and taken matters into my own hands with a seeming "fix." Our culture has become so self-obsessed that enduring even the least bit of suffering, even for Christians, is to be banned, to be unacceptable.  We've bought the bill of goods that this life is to be about nothing more than our pleasure and comfort. But when God allows all kinds of suffering in...

Thankfully, churches are still plentiful.  If the Lord is drawing you to get to know Him, He will lead you to the best church community for you. Now maybe you think that you already "check that box," and you attend church faithfully.  And that is a good thing, depending on where you worship. Though churches are plentiful, the sad truth is that many have gone astray in their teaching and preaching.  You may find watered down messages, those that aim at making you feel good about yourself (an epidemic these days!).  It's not that God wants you to feel bad about yourself, that's not what I'm saying. It's that God's message to us is about Him, knowing Him, worshiping Him, because that's what actually transforms us.  We forget about ourselves, take our eyes off self, and focus on Him, His grace, His many attributes, His divinity. Even much of the music you may hear at any given church service is more about you than Him.  How can this be, you may wonder. Thi...

I was wondering the other day…When the disciples learned that Jesus was going to be unjustly crucified, did they pray against it?  Did the disciples pray that Jesus would not be crucified?  Did they think that it could not possibly be the will of God because in their limited thinking, all they saw was that they were losing their Rabbi, their Master, their Friend - the Messiah. Why would God want their Messiah to be crucified?  That didn't make sense.  Even though Jesus told them over and over about His mission, His purpose - that He was to be sacrificed for the sins of the world, that He would die but be raised up again in three days - they still didn’t seem to fully accept or understand it. The disciples were privy to these glorious truths, told to them directly by Jesus Himself. Nonetheless, when Jesus actually fulfilled the Scriptures’ prophecy by His death, the disciples were heartbroken.  They were confused.  Perhaps they thought in terms of "good" and...

I have learned over these many years how our Heavenly Father sometimes treats His children.  It may surprise you. Our Heavenly Father is the only perfect Father there is. He knows each of us more intimately than any earthly parent ever could.  He is equal parts mercy and discipline, and both are done in the purest love imaginable.   Everything He does, He does in love. Everything. Now that we have established that, let's talk! I recently looked back at some of my blog entries and I noticed a pattern.  I write a lot about suffering.  Lots of referrals to Job.  Lots of lessons being learned, spiritual growth, and such.   But lately, I've started to wonder if all  of my life is supposed to tip heavier on the suffering side of the scale.  And if there is no seeming let-up, what’s a girl to do? We’ve heard all of the grape analogies. The crushing, the pruning, the tilling, the waiting for ripening, etc., etc. But when you are the grape (...

I know this sounds nuts.  How can suffering bring us joy?  I mean, we suffer when we suffer, right? Not as Christians. God even redeems our suffering, so great is His reach. The Bible tells us over and over, in various Scriptures, to rejoice in our suffering and trials.  Why?  Because it brings about character and hope in us, lasting spiritual fruit and maturity. And character and hope bring us the good stuff - the joy that does not disappoint. Some of the most precious times I have felt the Lord's Presence the most were in times of suffering.  Remember, He is near to the brokenhearted, to bind up their wounds. He is near to us in our weaknesses. He comforts us in our sorrows. It's not like we need to seek out pain and suffering!  The Lord knows the perfect dosage of suffering to mete out to each of us to bring us into His joy more deeply, awareness of His Presence, so that we grow into His likeness.  Too little, and we get "flabby" and lazy in our gro...

Suffering. That is the number one thing that makes me feel closest to Christ. Surprised?   We feel close to someone when we feel we can relate to him or her.  We understand someone better when we have experienced even a little of what he or she is going through.  We empathize with them. Jesus was a man of sorrows.  He was despised and rejected.  He came as the Savior to His chosen people, the Jews, but they rejected Him.  That hurts.  Deeply.  He was a threat to the political "powers" of His day.  He was wrongly accused of evil doing by the Pharisees and eventually was crucified because the people could not bear His goodness, power, and truth.  They preferred darkness over light. So when I have received but a taste of that same sort of rejection, I get a feel for what Jesus must have felt.  It's certainly no fun.  But it is precisely during those times that I feel a kinship with Him.  It is during those moments when H...

Poor Job.  That is typically the first thought we have when we think of Old Testament Job. Even those most ignorant of the Bible have most likely heard of Job somewhere along the way.  They say things like, "She has the patience of Job." When we say patience, we think that we are waiting a long time for something. Patience actually means long-suffering.  And Job, above all, is the poster child for suffering. But if you know the whole story, you know that patience and suffering are not Job's entire story. And neither is suffering the whole picture for you, for me. No matter what we have been through or are going through, suffering does not have the final word.   Like Job, God can restore anything and anyone to us at His command.  God can change our story for the better.  How?  Because He is God. There was nothing Job could do to stop the calamities and tragedies that came upon him. He was helpless in that regard. Yet he continued to praise God....

My faith isn't perfect.  The perfectionist in me hates that.  After all, I have already been through so many trials, tests, and tribulations - all either caused or allowed by my Lord - that I was hoping my faith would be perfected by now.  To never doubt.  To never waver. But I'm just not there yet.  I feel like I was  there before.  Before the hits just kept on coming, with no end in sight. See, I thought I would be in a season of plenty by now. Now don't get me wrong.  I want for nothing, really.  I am very grateful for all the Lord has given me. By season of plenty, I mean more a season of fruition .  Where the heck is all the fruit from all of the former seasons of "threshing," "raking," "plowing" - you get the gardening metaphors already?   I don't see the fruit with my eyes yet.  And I don't always sense the spiritual fruit in myself, either.  Especially when I doubt. What's a girl to do? Is it possible to regre...

"When life gives you lemons, make lemonade." "Zip-a-dee-doo-dah, zip-a-dee-ay,  My, oh, my, what a wonderful day, Plenty of sunshine headin' my way." If you've lived any length of time, you have figured out by now that all the aphorisms in the world are powerless to really help or change you from the inside out.  It's like putting on a brand new outfit.  It may make you "feel" better for a while because you look better on the outside.  But on the inside, you're still you.   Perhaps past hurts still haunt you.  Perhaps you are addicted to worrying.  Perhaps you've read all the "self-help" books and still, you come up empty. Why can't we just muster ourselves into a better self?  Because that is not how any of us are designed. We are designed for a personal, intimate relationship with our Creator.  And, alleluia, this is possible through Jesus Christ.  We can now come close to God because of Jesus' sacrifice on the cross...

"Jesus has a great plan for your life!" How many of you have heard this statement before?  I believe it is a uniquely American perspective.  However, I do not believe that it is God's perspective. Am I saying that God has a miserable plan for your life?  No. I am saying that following Jesus is hard.  His "great plans," if we are truly willing to obey Him fully, include our pruning, refining, the wilderness (at times), and many more trials and tribulations than we bargained for. I have experienced that the "great life" is more an inner job than outer blessings.  The life of Christ, via His Holy Spirit, comes to live inside our hearts when we receive Christ as our personal Savior.  Now, if we pay attention to Him, our interests have changed.   The accomplishments of this world don't matter as much to us, and if they still do, the Lord has ways of changing the course of our lives so that we are not anywhere near accomplishing what the world deems as ...

We like comfort.  No one likes to hurt, be in pain.  We want to avoid it at all costs.  Yet as Christians, we are called to suffer as Christ did.  What does this mean in day to day life?  It's not like we're looking to get hurt - that would be masochism.  No.  But we are on a different path from the world, to say the least.  Our tastes have been transformed, if we have progressed with Jesus to any extent. What the world finds fulfilling, we do not.  We are no longer attracted to sin.  We have renounced our pride, even though it may still rear its ugly head now and then. We have renounced "making our own way."  We follow Christ, His way. How is this diametrically opposed to the unbeliever's lot in life?  Simple.  Christ calls the shots.  We follow and obey. This is not giving up our adulthood, our responsibilities, and following without our faculties.  No.  It is a decision we make.  We choose to trust C...