Toxic

Toxic


Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Matthew 11:28


One Summer when I was in high school, we went to South Padre Island with my aunt and uncle. We stayed in their condo, ate fantastic fresh seafood and got horrible sunburns. At night we teamed up and played Trivial Pursuit. We waded in the shallow water and looked for seashells, but what I liked most was body surfing. We would wade out and wait for a wave to come in. Just before it got to us we would jump and the wave would catch us and carry us in to shore. Over and over we waded out and floated in. One time when we were wading out, I saw what looked like a clear plastic bag with threads. I asked mother what it was and she said she didn't know. I asked her if she thought it would be OK to throw it out farther so no one got tangled up in it. She said that should be fine and I reached out to grab it. I was in for a big surprise because it got me first. It was not a plastic bag, but a Man of War jellyfish! What I thought were threads were venom filled tentacles. It stung me across the forearm and my third and fourth fingers. I tried to wash it off with the salt water but that did no good. You know how hard it is to run in the water? I did a really good job of it, with mother right behind me. We found the lifeguard and he examined the sting. Then much to the surprise of "us city slickers", he put meat tenderizer on it. He explained that it neutralizes the poison and lets the body carry it away. Over the next couple of hours, biology class became more real to me. I had read about lymph glands and how they store and eliminate toxins. Within about thirty minutes or so, the glands under my left arm and in my neck were swollen and sore. I have never forgotten where they are or what they do.


 There are toxic things in life just as there are in the ocean and the pain from them is just as real.  I could be that we have been "stung" by someone whether it was intentional or not. (In fact as I have been writing this today I am working on forgiving someone who criticized someone in my family.)
It may be that we have gotten tangled up in something that looked innocent and harmless but has hidden dangers. Whatever the source of the poison to our spirit, the result is the same. Ignoring the pain or trying to wash it away by ourselves is useless. Just like I had to go to the lifeguard for help, we have to carry our pain to God. He can take it away, not with meat tenderizer, but by the blood of Jesus.


There are many places in the Bible that urge us to let God take away our pain and other things that poison our spirits. 1 Peter 5:7 says, Cast all your cares on Him for He cares for you. In Matthew 28 we read this.


“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.   For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”


Many other verses echo this idea. Unfortunately we have an enemy who is all too eager to bring things back to our remembrance even after we have given them to God. God's solution to that is found in Ephesians 6.




  Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power.

  Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes.                                                

   For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.                   
   Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.                            
    Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place,                           
    and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace                                 In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.                 
    Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God (Ephesian 6:11-19)
This week let's take time to be grateful for the gift of God that lets us cast our cares on him. Cast away and stand up to the schemes of the enemy who wants to give them back to us.

Shut That Door!

Shut That Door!


How many times did your parents say that to you? Now TV has the answer for us. Magic Mesh will keep out the bugs, let the sun in and let children and pets come in and out on their own. (Now, for a limited time, they will double your offer at no extra charge.) I admit that if I had a yard I would have one for my dog who is very insistent when he wants to go out, no matter what the time. Here's the thing, though. Doors can be good. They can keep out unwanted pests and unwanted people. They can keep things safe that are important to us. They can keep cold or heat out.
A bigger problem is that sometimes we have Magic Mesh in our minds and our spirits. Things from our past can come bursting through. The two things that I have the most trouble with are resentments and regrets. Even if it is something that I have forgiven someone for, the emotions have not gone. If I am not careful when something reminds me of an instance and the feelings flare up, I can start to rehearse the situation and the resentment comes crashing through my Magic Mesh. Regrets  and guilt are common "mesh crashers".  Whether I am reminded of things that I messed up on by a song, a picture or somebody on Facebook who did it right, it is an opportunity for the enemy, the accuser of the brethren, to come in and remind of things that I did wrong. It might not be a sin. It might be a time that I messed up on a job or made third alternate on a team or disappointed my dad, my husband our my children. If I don't shut the door, he will replay the incident in vivid color. In many cases I can hear the whole lecture that I got. Even as I write this I can hear pieces or reprimands and have to resist getting sucked in.


Fortunately, God knows our hearts. Psalm 103: 14 tells us "For he knows our frame; he remembers that we are dust." He has a solution. Better than that, He is the solution. Here is a beautiful verse.  "I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions, for my own sake, and remembers your sins no more(Isaiah 43:25)


 I had not noticed before that it says he does this for  His own sake. I have often felt like I had to beg God for forgiveness or make deals or promises. Not true.
That takes care of sins. When it comes to regrets, this is what he has to say.
Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new creation. (2 Corinthians 5:17)  We also read in Isaiah 43:18-19 "Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.

Will you join me this week in trying to shut the doors in our minds? Magic Mesh is good for sliding doors, patios and trailers, but not for our minds and hearts.

We're Surrounded!

                                                        We're Surrounded!

As the mountains surround Jerusalem so the Lord surrounds his people both now and forevermore. Psalms 125:3

My family and I are all science nerds. We have discussions about surface area and the possibility of alternate universes around the dinner table or in the car. Once we had been to Amarillo for a funeral and the kids had really been troopers. As a way to break the tone of sadness and as a reward for them we stopped at a place called the Discovery Center in Amarillo. It is an interactive science museum for kids  (and their parents) There were so many fun things to look at and try. There was a car with square wheels that rolled.. I still can't figure that one out. There were experiments with magnets and a planetarium. As we walked into one room we saw a larger than life sized head of Archimedes with its eyes closed. As we walked past it triggered a motion sensor. The eyes popped open and it said, rather loudly, "Hello! My name is Archimedes." Once my heart started beating again we listened to him describe the way he discovered water displacement as a way to determine the weight of things. The next room was my favorite. It was all about bubbles. There was a straight bar in a shallow dish of bubble solution attached to a rope and pulley. When we pulled on the rope a sheet of bubbles came up. Another exhibit had huge bubble wands in wading pools. My favorite was a tire cut in half and filled with bubble solution. a hula-hoop was attached to a rope and pulley.  Standing inside the tire, you could pull on the rope and a column of bubbles came up around you. It was  a fantastic sensation, with the lights shimmering through the huge bubble all around you, almost like standing inside of a rainbow.

So many times in our lives we feel like there are too many things for us to deal with. We are in a battle for our souls and the souls of those we love and it is a tough battle. Some times we feel like the enemies and battles are too much for us. When we feel this way we need to understand that this is only part of the story. In 2 Kings 6 there is a story that I discovered. Elisha's enemies are looking for him and when they find him they surround his camp. His servant looks out and says what we would probably say. "Oh, no. What are we going to do. Elisha does no panic.He says "Those that are for us are more than those that are against us. Then he simply prays that God would open the servant's eyes. When He does the servant sees the reality. All around them are horses and chariots of fire. At Elisha's request God strikes the army with blindness. Then Elisha performs the first Jedi mind trick. He tells the blinded army. "This is not the road and this is not the town. Follow me and I will take you there. He leads them into the city and God opens their eyes. They are given food and water and sent back home. The raids on Israel stopped.

 The Lord has promised to surround us and protect us. We read this in Psalms 5:12 "Surely, Lord, you bless the righteous; you surround them with your favor as with a shield." One of my favorite parts of the blessings in Deuteronomy 26 is the part where it says "the enemy will come at you from one direction and flee in seven. Besides the presence of God and his power, we have believers past and present cheering us on. This is what we read in Hebrews. 

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. (Hebrews 12:1)

We have nothing to be afraid of. We are surrounded by God's goodness and power as surely as my family and I were surrounded by that column of bubbles. As the Lord instructed Joshua in Joshua Chapter 1 Be strong and courageous. Do not tremble or be dismayed. For the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.

Picture your favorite story place. Maybe it was tucked in under soft blankets with your mom sitting beside you or curled up in your Grandpa's lap in a rocking chair. Let the magic of the words "Once upon a time" drift over you. All right, boys and girls: today's story is The Three Little Pigs. Once upon a time there were three little pigs who had to go find their way in the world. The first little pig built a house made of straw, the second of sticks and the third out of bricks. Then along came the Big Bad Wolf. He went to the first pig and said, "Little pig, Little pig, let me in!"  to which the pig responded "Not by the hair of my chinny chin chin!" The wolf then informs the pig that he will "huff and puff and blow your house down."  The little pig escapes from the blown down house and runs full tilt boogie to the second pig's house. The wolf is angry at losing his dinner and quickly goes to the second pig's house. The two pigs also refuse to let the wolf in even by the hair on their chinny chin chins. He huffs and puffs and blows the second house down. The two pigs run to their brother's house. He lets them in and they apologize for teasing him about working too hard. The wolf comes along soon and tries to blow the house down, but  no amount of huffing and puffing will topple it. At this point, depending on the version you read, he either goes away to eat fried chicken or climbs the roof and slides down the chimney Where he is boiled in the pot over the roaring fire he did not notice.


So aside from the obvious lessons of don't tease your brother and look before you slide down a chimney, what can we learn from this story? Actually quite a bit. What was better about the third brothers house? It was stronger and had a stronger foundation. The first two pigs houses went up quickly, which they thought was great. Unfortunately, they also came down quickly. There are many things in our lives that are that way. The first thing that comes to mind is marriage. It breaks my heart when I see marriages crumbling that I thought were sure things. Psalms 127:1-2 says this "Unless the LORD builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. Unless the LORD watches over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain. A Song of Ascents, of Solomon. Unless the LORD builds the house, They labor in vain who build it; Unless the LORD guards the city, The watchman keeps awake in vain." If God and his will are not centered in a family it is a losing battle.  Watch the news for a few minutes to see the battle the family is engaged in.


More basic than this is the foundations of our faith. Jesus told the parable of the wise and foolish builders. We all know the song but read the story.


 As for everyone who comes to me and hears my words and puts them into practice, I will show you what they are like. ⁴⁸ They are like a man building a house, who dug down deep and laid the foundation on rock. When a flood came, the torrent struck that house but could not shake it, because it was well built. ⁴⁹ But the one who hears my words and does not put them into practice is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. The moment the torrent struck that house, it collapsed and its destruction was complete.” 


 If you have walked with God for any length of time you have had an experience that shook your faith down to its bare bones. If not you will. It may be a loss or a disappointment or an illness. If your foundation is strong, your faith will come out stronger for the test. all through the Bible and in our own lives we have examples of this.


The writer of Hebrews cautions us to build on that foundation in Hebrews 6:1."Therefore let us move beyond the elementary teachings about Christ and be taken forward to maturity, not laying again the foundation of repentance from acts that lead to death, and of faith in God,"


What can we do to strengthen our foundations? It may be different for different people. Maybe it would be to talk to people who are farther along in their faith walk. It might be to look back over your life and see what God has brought you through. You might try reading scriptures that you haven't read for a while, like the Gospels. Challenge yourself to read familiar scriptures, like the Lord's prayer or the twenty-third Psalm, with fresh eyes.  Whatever it takes for you,  find a way to shore up your foundation. There is an enemy much more dangerous than the Big Bad Wolf who would love to huff and puff and blow our spiritual house down.

In Quietness and Trust

Trust in the Lord with all of your  heart and lean not on your own understanding.
Proverbs 3:5

 One of the men I work with has advancing Alzheimer's disease. Within certain parameters he does pretty well. On of the hardest times of the day for him is bedtime. He gets back to the bedroom pretty well, although sometimes it feels like a marathon race. It takes a lot of coaching to get him sitting on the bed. It seems to make sense to me but when I think about it is actually a complicated process. Then comes the most difficult part of the process. Laying down. Even with the head of the bed raised as far as it will go, it is a terrifying process to let go and trust that the bed is going to be there. One night I was encouraging him to lean over and lay down, but he wasn't having any of it. He had a death grip on his walker with one hand and the mattress with the other. I reached for the walker to put it away and he grabbed it back. I told him he needed to let me put the walker up since he was through with it for the day. His reply - "Oh, I don't think so!" Amid hollering and cussing, but stopping short of weeping and gnashing of teeth, he got laid down.

It is a frightening prospect to trust. Jesus asks us to let go and rest in Him and we tend to say, "Oh I don't think so. We have a death grip on our own security devices. There are as many security devices as there are people, because the enemy will tailor our temptations to our personalities and weaknesses. One of these is relying on our self and our own wisdom and good works.  This can take different forms, including having a religious spirit and becoming  workaholics. It looks like a good idea because then we have control over our salvation. (Or not!) The consequences of   this choice is that we become fearful and  anxious, never sure if we are good enough and never knowing if we are prepared for what is ahead.

There is a beautiful story in  The Hiding Place, the book by Corrie Ten Boom with John and Elizabeth Sherrill. As a young girl Corrie came face to face with death and became very fearful. When her father came home she clung to him and begged him not to die because she needed him. He gently asked her "When we take the train to Amsterdam, when do I give you your ticket?" "Just before we board", she answers. He explains that if he gave it to her too early she wouldn't need it yet and might lose it. He tells her that God often gives us the strength we need to face a situation just in time, but not before we need it.

The children of Israel were relying on their own strength and understanding. It was not going well.In Isaiah 30:15, god tells them
            For thus the Lord GOD, the Holy One of Israel, has said,
            “In repentance and rest you will be saved,
            In quietness and trust is your strength.”
            But you were not willing,
In verse 18 he shows them what waits for them if they will trust him.
            Therefore the LORD longs to be gracious to you,
            And therefore He waits on high to have compassion on you.
            For the LORD is a God of justice;
            How blessed are all those who long for Him.

In Proverbs, he tells us this.
Trust in the Lord with all of your  heart and lean not on your own understanding. Acknowledge him in all your ways and He will make your path straight.
Proverbs 3:5-6

We often quote Psalms 46:10, which is a good verse, but today I want us to look at the whole psalm.
It gives us an even better picture of what God can do for us when we trust.

1God is our refuge and strength,

an ever-present help in trouble.

2Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way

and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,

3though its waters roar and foam

and the mountains quake with their surging.^c

4There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,

the holy place where the Most High dwells.

5God is within her, she will not fall;

God will help her at break of day.

6Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall;

he lifts his voice, the earth melts.

7The Lord Almighty is with us;

the God of Jacob is our fortress.

8Come and see what the Lord has done,

the desolations he has brought on the earth.

9He makes wars cease

to the ends of the earth.

He breaks the bow and shatters the spear;

he burns the shields^d with fire.

10He says, “Be still, and know that I am God;

I will be exalted among the nations,

I will be exalted in the earth.”

11The Lord Almighty is with us;

the God of Jacob is our fortress

Day by day this week, let's try to live in quietness and trust. Your salvation and your security depends on God and not on you.

Power Failure

If you are living Unseen, you may have felt powerless and ineffective. If you have, read onto see what God showed me.

Power Failure

Proclaim the power of God, whose majesty is over Israel,whose power is in the heavens.
You, God, are awesome in your sanctuary; the God of Israel gives power and strength to his people Psalms 68:34-35


Hurricanes. Floods. Earthquakes. Volcanos. Besides the fact that they are all natural disasters and that we have seen them all in the last few weeks, hat do they have in common? They all cause power failures. Power failures make everything much worse. There are the obvious problems, such as no power to prepare or store food or to get relief from the heat. There is the problem of not being able to work and the problem of not being able to communicate.  No jumping on facebook to reassure family and friends or using your cell phone to console a hurting friend. There are also difficulties that I had not considered. For example, I learned that without power there is no way to pump water for drinking. Transportation systems rely on electricity and are in chaos. People are having to use physical labor to do work that they could do easily with power tools.These things are all bearable for a while, but then people start to get irritable and resentful, than anxious and depressed and finally despair can set in if the problems are not dealt with.



The disasters have taken over the news, but there is an unreported problem that is just as serious. This is the problems Christians face when they try to live without the power God has made available. We can do the work he asks us to on our own power but it is much more difficult. Have you tried to love your spouse, your toddler, your teenager or your aging parent on love that you produce yourself? It works for a while but quickly leads to exhaustion and resentment. How about communication with God and our faith family? Are you feeling disconnected?

What are the power tools we have at outr disposal?
These are the ones that come to mind.



Miracles
Miracles are God's way of showing us both his power and his nature. Not done just to "show off", they are either done to show dominion over a false God (such as the gods of the Egyptian in Exodus) , to show power over a need such as the feeding of the 5000 (Matthew 14) or over nature, such as walking on the water (Matthew 14) or raising the dead (Mark 5:22)  They were not an end in themselves, but called people to God.

Salvation
Sin separated us from God and we were hopeless. We could not reconcile to him, but He sacrificed Jesus and paid the price for our sins. Every other religion leaves the burden on the believer, but God came "demonstrated His own love for us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for the ungodly. (Romans 5:8) This is so amazing that it leaves us in awe, saying as Paul did, "I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ for it is the power of God  for salvation, to the Jew first and also to the Gentile." (Romans 1:16)

Holy Spirit


Many believers have not been taught about the Holy Spirit. We are not able to use the many things he offers us because we don't know that they are available.  This includes sealing us at our baptism (Ephesians 4:30), comforting us (Romans 15:13) teaching us (Luke 12:12), interceding for us (or being our go-between with God), gifting us ( 1 Corinthians 12)  and many more. Take time to learn more about this third member of the Godhead and the power he provides.




Scripture
 We are told in Hebrews 4:12. that "the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two edged sword and able to separate bone and marrow and soul and spirit." Never underestimate the power we have in the "Sword of the Spirit which is the word of God." (Ephesians 6)


Prayer
We are told to pray without ceasing(Romans 1:10), "to come boldly before the throne of God" (Hebrews 4:16), and that the effective fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much (James 5:12)




God is willing to give you his power. Are you willing to receive it and use it?

Can't we all just get along?

When we live unseen, we need other people. We can't make it on our own, but it is hard to reach out and hard to trust people who reach out to us. Read on to see how God showed me a great example of friendship.

You would not expect them to be friends. They look very different. One has long brown hair, chocolate brown eyes and resembles a movie star. The other has short salt and pepper hair and piercing green eyes. They have an age difference, a cultural difference and a language difference. They are not even the same species. One is my 9 year old terrier mix, Benji, who looks like  the dog in the seventies movies by Joe Camp. The other is his new cat friend, Shadow. He is a half grown gray tabby named because of his coloring and because he follows the dog around like a little gray shadow. They have had to work out some issues. The dog would try to sniff the cat like he would another dog and the cat did not appreciate it. He would respond with a swat to the dog's nose. They have made their peace, though. Any time of the day or night, Benji and I leave the house for a walk. We never get far before Shadow is either running after us or yowling. He rubs up against Benji, walks under him and switches his tail. Then he follows us on our walk. If he falls behind, Benji stops and waits for him. When we get back to the house, they sit on the patio side by side. At first Shadow didn't want me to pet him or hold him, but once he got a taste of it he decided that as long as he and Benji are friends, I can be his person.


The past few weeks have shown us at our worst and at our best. We have seen rioting over confederate statues and terrorist acts, and we have also seen people helping each other through the hurricanes and flooding. Many of the pictures show people of different races, different ages and probably different religions working side by side. It has been very encouraging to see. We have a lot of room for improvement, but every step is progress.
Unfortunately we often have the same issues in the church as in the world. These issues are not new, either. We see them raise their heads early in Genesis with Cain and Abel and the tower of Babel, and continue all the way through the Bible. In Acts  Peter balks when the spirit tells him to preach to the Gentiles and is instructed to call nothing unclean that God has made clean. In Colossians 3:11, Paul addresses the issue this way.
Here there is no Gentile or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all.
Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.                                                                                                                                                                        Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.
1 Corinthians 13, the love chapter, is read at weddings, and rightly so since the kind of love described there is essential for marriage. However, it is just as important for living in peace with our brothers. Look at in this light.

13 If I speak in the tongues^[of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. ² If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. ³ If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast,^[b] but do not have love, I gain nothing.

⁴ Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. ⁵ It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. ⁶ Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. ⁷ It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
⁸ Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. ⁹ For we know in part and we prophesy in part, ¹⁰ but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. ¹¹ When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. ¹² For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
¹³ And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.


The people I find it hard to get along with you might find easy, and vice versa. We need to rely on the love that comes from God to do so, not the flimsy love that we can work up on our own.