Invincible

During a weekend retreat recently, I asked some teens to rewrite ‘Victorious Christian Living’ in their own words. They chose two phrases: ‘Truthful living’ and ‘staying closer to God.’

 I quoted this verse: “His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness” (2 Peter 1:3 NIV).

Next I asked them to rephrase ‘Divine Power,’ and they came up with ‘a strength that is unexplainable.’

Look at these words that they identified as keeping them from such ‘Devine Power:’ loneliness, discouragement, worry, anger, worthlessness, unforgiveness, procrastination, doubt, fear, guilt, temptation, resentment, failure, jealousy, lack of confession, and lack of prayer. Which of these words are keeping you from truthful living and receiving God’s ‘strength that is unexplainable?’ One of the teens shared a personal struggle with unforgiveness in a relationship. When she decided to forgive, she said “I realized that this is a key to life and when I realized how important it is to forgive, I felt invincible.” Another girl admitted to a lack of confession and prayer. I had a simple outline for the weekend, but it became evident that God was filling in the lesson with more detail from our discussions. One more verse was added to the lesson “Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up” (James 4:10 NIV). We agreed that going to the cross with a humble heart brought an incredible promise from God that “He will lift you up.” We recounted the story of Jonah and the fish. We found that Jonah’s word was “fear” and because he had fear, he did not experience “Victorious Christian Living.” When Jonah was in the belly of the fish, he finally humbled himself, acknowledged God’s divine power, confessed and prayed. Once God instructed the fish to vomit Jonah onto land, he felt “invincible” enough to do what God had asked Him to do in the first place. Our final conclusion was that if you choose to humble yourself, pray for divine power and live out the three key spiritual disciplines (forgiveness, confession, prayer), you can be “invincible.”

My prayer is that you choose the word or words that are keeping you from being invincible with God. Remember that becoming unconquerable is not an overnight task. It requires time and effort.

PRAYER: The pressure in life sometimes is too much. At times I want to run, like Jonah. Help me to remember the past and how You have rescued me. Thank You for the promise to never leave me. “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (ROMANS 8:38-39).

Showdown

Do you remember ever watching an old western movie when the showdown was about to occur between the good guy and the bad guy? Usually before the showdown, they agree on where and when they would meet. They then get their guns ready and put them in their holsters. I woke up one morning, picturing my family and me getting ready for a showdown with the enemy (Satan). We were to meet in front of the sheriff’s office, in an old western town just like in the movies. As we walked out of our house and headed down the street, I spoke out: “This is our ammunition we are bringing with us.” “Because of the LORD’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness” (Lamentations 3:22-23 NIV). Moving forward, my next words were “the grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of the Lord stands forever” (1Peter 1:24b-25 NIV). Yet more steps led to “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed” (1Peter 2:24 NIV). I walked a few more steps, saying “Seek first the kingdom and His righteousness and then all things will be given to you as well” (Matthew 6:33). I continued with “I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater than these, because I am going to the Father” (John 14:12 NIV). One last shout out “Repent, then and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord” (Acts 3:19 NIV). We were all armed and ready. We won the battle. We were free from worry, anxiety, fears and negative or critical thinking. We will continue to claim the victory because of Jesus. Be prepared to face the enemy, by arming and protecting yourself with the power and love of Jesus. PRAYER: Father in heaven, thank You for showing me that we are in a battle but Jesus always wins! “Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom” (2 Corinthians 3:17 NIV). Pin It

Even Toed Ungulate Mammal

While my family and I drove an hour from our house to a popular farm, we made a pact to purchase fresh cider, donuts and produce, and then leave. Our motto is “Get in, get out.” We got out of there so fast we still had sugar on our faces from the donuts!

The next day my daughter approached me with the question “How do you hide an even-toed ungulate mammal, more commonly known as a giraffe?”

I looked puzzled at my daughter, who has a lifelong dream of one day being able to pet a giraffe, and I asked “What?”

She burst into tears and stated “The farm we went to had giraffes back in the field that the public could go and pet!”

I was speechless, yet mustered up the courage to declare, “There is no way we missed that.”
She rebutted quickly, “Ya way, we did!”

That night in bed I pondered “how did we miss out on the chance of seeing those giraffes?” They weren’t hiding, but we were not looking. We had missed the signs that the giraffes were there. I failed to mention that right as we were checking out, there was a section in the gift shop dedicated to all sorts of merchandise with giraffes on it. We bought a sweatshirt. Did one of us slow down and question why were they selling giraffe merchandise?

Jesus is just like those giraffes. He is out in the open and available for us all. Do you slow down and see Him? Do you look at the signs?

“When Jesus saw His ministry drawing huge crowds, He climbed a hillside. Those who were apprenticed to Him, the committed, climbed with Him. Arriving at a quiet place, He sat down and taught His climbing companions.” Matthew 5:1-2 (MSG) Jesus often directed the people to sit down in a quiet place. Do you sit down in a quiet place to learn? If not, this is a New Year, make it a priority.

Just as the even-toed ungulate mammal is believed to be spotted easily, so is our Lord Jesus Christ. Both, when spotted, are a blessing!

PRAYER: Jesus, help me to see You. Forgive me for I am having trouble sitting down and being quiet.

BIBLE VERSE: “And He directed the people to sit down on the grass.” (Matthew 14:19a NIV) Pin It Pin It

Epic

“The last Harry Potter movie was epic,” my 16-year-old daughter blurted out. Almost daily I hear someone saying the word “epic.” I have noticed young people like using the word “epic” quite often. Daily we have stuff to deal with and sometimes we may even say our moments are bigger than big, so we refer to it as “epic.”

Elijah had an epic encounter with the Lord. He followed God’s very detailed orders to deal with Ahab and his false prophets and it was successful. The result was that Ahab’s wife Jezebel did not like what Elijah did so her anger rose up with vengeance. It scared Elijah, so he ran for his life, saying “”I have had enough, LORD, take my life; I am no better than my ancestors.”

Isn’t this exactly what is going on today in our world? Things seem hopeless. The mind tricks people in to believing things are so bad that they want to die. Suicide rates with our teens are rising in great numbers. Why? Because the lie going through their mind is “There’s no way to resolve this.”

In an “epic” moment, we need an “epic” hero. Elijah’s all knowing hero, God, rescues him in a gentle, loving way. God starts by letting Elijah rest and fills him with food. Quickly, Elijah gains tremendous strength and is able to do something not many of us could do. He travels by foot 40 days and 40 nights. Wow!

Are you amazed at what God can do for you? We can be empty, out of strength and filled with worry yet God steps in and creates an “epic” ending to a situation. Our “epic” hero.

Get up and eat! I can give you strength! –GOD

QUOTE: Anxiety does not empty tomorrow of its sorrows, but only empties today of its strength.” – Charles Spurgeon (Maybe when I am lacking strength, it’s because I am not lacking worries.)

BIBLE VERSE: “The angel of the LORD came back a second time and touched him and said, “Get up and eat, for the journey is too much for you.” So he got up and ate and drank. Strengthened by that food, he traveled forty days and forty nights until he reached Horeb, the mountain of God. There he went into a cave and spent the night” (1 Kings 19:7-9 NIV).