My Goodness

I am not infatuated with the past. I'm not eager to learn about the failures of our society.  World news doesn't hold my interest.  Much like my youngest daughter's indifference to time,  my attitude towards politics and government is laissez faire.  However, if I am, as CNN host, Anderson Cooper, proclaims, "Keeping *ME* honest, " I find myself more and more concerned with the future of our world and how TODAY impacts it.

Last evening, we watched the "X-Men: Days of the Future Past" and the 80s classic, "Fatal Attraction." The themes of these movies seemed to resonate with this idea I've been having that we as a society have a God complex.  We want to be all knowing,  all powerful and all helpful to the ills of humanity.  We want an utopian world amidst poverty, racial and religious tensions, pandemic sickness and so on. We want to fix things and people and places. We want a guarantee on life, that outside of God's grace is promised to no one. We at times imagine ourselves as kinder, gentler, more merciful and loving than God. Certainly, more wise and capable than He, at solving the complex matters of our own hearts and minds. But, in reality, all we want is control.

The X-Men film forecast this idea of exceptional people being categorized as a threat because they could not be controlled.  And so, humans without the exceptional behavior or difference feared what they could not control. Fatal Attraction, a cult classic,  drew men and women into the bedroom with Dan (Micheal Douglas) and Alex (Glenn Close). Admist the passion of their adultery, pot flinging and rising steam, there was a theme that the director consistently marked out for us that screamed, "Pay Attention! You can't take fire into your bosom and not get burned.  Respect the fire because you can't control it."

This idea that we can control anything is a fable.  Preparedness doesn't keep disaster away. Education doesn't prevent cancer. Knowledge doesn't control evil. You cannot legislate morality. So what do we do? How do we change our behavior? How do we change the course of our society's inevitable doom?

There's a saying, "Confidence is silent. Insecurities are loud." For much of our society, our fears are like ornaments. We wear them with such pride. We adorn ourselves with fears we've adopted from our forefathers and ancestors. We parade them as marks of success, calling them high standards, preparedness and writs of passage.  I studied here.  I made my mark there. I prepared myself.  I can thus control yours and my own destinies. But the fear, is I am not prepared. I do not know anything.  I have no future. I will die and know nothing of all I accomplished in this place. I will leave this earth and nothing I have done in the here and now will have mattered. The fear of death and its irrevocable nothingness. That's the fear that must be addressed because without it we continue to mask away the truth. Death is inevitable. We are young and then we are old. Our attempts at prolonging life; or at least the appearance of prolonged life is evidenced in the increasingly successful cosmetic and pharmaceutical markets. Botox anyone? Viagra sir? Ah, the ever illusive fountain of youth.

Are we more kind than God? "Yes, He may want to destroy us all but we want to live," is how must people imagine Him. Truth is, we are not more kind than He. He cannot be outdone.  His mercies are NEW every morning,  while we hold on to past ( and imagined) offenses for years! We cannot help anyone without the help of Him. We cannot do greater deeds than He has done for us. We cannot see if He does not give us sight beyond where we are. Godly preparedness,  doesn't prepare for disaster. It readies itself for victory.  It sees the storm coming and sees it's end. It is unafraid.  It is  as Isaiah 30:15 declares, "In repentance and rest is your salvation, and in quietness and trust is your strength."

My goodness pales, like white doggie poo, in comparison to God's goodness.  He doesn't seek to control me, though He could. But He gives me the freedom and the liberty to walk on my own, to feel,  taste, touch and smell the world around me; and His only requirement is that I allow Him to be God to me. If I don't it doesn't change His God status or nature, He is still God. But if I accept, it changes my everything. My whole world becomes an endless chain of events that leads to eternal life. Wow.  Big wow!

I am fearless about my future not because I'm blind to it, on the contrary I see through it. This morning as I prayed, I was able to reflect on where I had been.  How deep my sorrow was and how great a divide my past is from my present.  I praised God for His mercy, Unfailing Love and grace towards me. And I thanked Him for my future. By God's grace, I am not bound by fear. I see beyond. My concern lies with those who are so full of fears that they cannot see past today. Worry grabs hold of them in the night, strangling them until the sun rises again. My commitment to God today, is to tell you how deeply loved you are. It doesnt matter what you did or who you are. You are loved with a perfect and unconditional love. You can live an abundantly full life that last eternally through the person of Jesus Christ. your relationship with the living God isn't about Him controlling you but you having control over YOU. We project so much of our desire to control on external matters but rarely have control over our own internal workings.  Few of us, have mastered control of our thoughts, actions and speech. As the Apostle Paul would agree, What we will to do we do not do; and what we will not to do, is what we do with regularity. It is God's desire to empower us by His grace to do those things that we desire to do that please Him, not because it will make Him love us more but because OUR lives will be all the better for it. I believe God wants us to have a little heaven on earth and to share that piece (and peace) of heaven that we enjoy everywhere that we go. My goodness isn't to point people to me. That's control.  My goodness is to point people to heaven. That's liberty! I pray your strength and divine healing.  Be at peace, knowing that God is good.  And He is a faithful rewarder of ALL who put their trust in Him. Amen. Fearless Nation!  Let's go!

Finish Well

It took me all day to write this. Though it was on my mind and in my heart, to spend some time alone with the Lord and to write, I found it hard to do. Considering the multiplied concerns that I face, the subject matter, of writing, though dear to my heart, seemed a back burner priority. Nevertheless, I found myself thinking about a conversation I had recently. I was in tears and I said, “God loves them, but doesn’t he love me too?” And my ever faithful husband said, “I know sweetheart, but Jesus could have said the same thing. He could have said, ‘God you love them, but what about me? I’m on this cross but what about me?’” He concluded with, “I just want you to finish well.” The day before, he had encouraged me to love and pray for people that I felt I had done a good service to. And his words to me, greatly grieved me. “Give more?” I thought, “I have nothing left to give.”

Oh, how dreadful those words sound to me now, “What about me?” Here “she” goes again, on her self-pity parade, singing that same old song, “Poor little me, just trying to do what’s right and everything in this terrible world is against me.” I was dreadfully afraid of being condemned in this prison of fear and failure once again. Had I done what I was supposed to? And if not, how much longer must I suffer? How much farther into this dark tunnel must I go? After all, I had been fool enough to say, “Lord, not my will but your will be done. Show me your glory. Reveal yourself through me. Lord, if I lose everything for your namesake and end up living in a car with my husband and my babies then it will be worth it just to know that I have done what you asked.” I had been that fool. And that wrapped up in God’s presence to believe that I really could just lie down and die to my own desires and personal ambitions… just to be that much closer to the love of my eternal soul, Jesus.

Oh, how soothing the promise is in my ears that God’s grace is sufficient. How beautiful the reminder that no matter how pitiful my faith that God remains faithful. I heard, a renowned evangelist, Joseph Prince, say this week, that “God is not anxious” about anything. He’s patient. He’ll take his time. He’ll wait for it, the it in you that he knows is there. Romans 5:5 says, “And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.” His great desire for us is that we would overflow with love. That even in our hardships, we would be so convinced of God’s love, that nothing could defer it. That we would be partakers of the hope that makes us so fearlessly flawless in matters of love. It is this love that never fails to believe.

I was expecting a major breakthrough, a tangible change to occur in my immediate future that has taken longer than expected. I staked my peace on this milestone. And once again, the Lord reminded me that my faith is in Him, not in the resulting occurrences because of my relationship to him. I want to encourage myself and you with these words. There is nothing that you and I are experiencing, no battle we are in that has never been fought before. There is no fear that cannot be overcome by faith. There is no door that God has opened that anyone can shut. You and I were made for this victory. The unfailing love of God resides in us. Don’t pout. Stop crying. Quit complaining. Just finish well. Fearless Nation, Let’s Go!

Fearless Nation

Fearless people cannot die, even in the grave their spirit lives… I feel a tremendous burden to share with you something that the Lord spoke to my spirit yesterday.

He said, “Child of God I want you to be fearless.” I want you to be unafraid and full of faith. Do not fear anything. He reminded me of the Valley of the Dry bones in the book of Ezekiel. In the text, he asked the prophet, “Can these bones live?” Ezekiel answered, “Only you know Lord.” Then the Lord caused breath to enter into them and flesh formed on the once dry bones. And they stood up a great army. The Lord said to my spirit, “I have an army of people, lying down dead.” He said, “See now, I breathe fresh life into them. Will they stand up and live?” I said to the Lord, “Only if they are fearless.” The bible says that faith must be living. Our faith must be alive… Our faith is made alive through belief in Christ. Our belief is made alive through corresponding action. To stand on the word of God, to believe the word of God and to boldly confess it without fear. It is our fear that causes us to disobey the Lord. Too many what ifs? And how can this be? Enter into our thought processes and we weaken ourselves by our own fear. We seek to self preserve and we end up losing more of the life giving spirit of Christ. We crucify him, the Christ, by denying his resurrection power, again and again through our disbelief and fear. Child of God, I am convinced of something very powerful concerning you. The Lord lives. And he has entrusted to you, the mysteries of the cross. He is manifesting Himself through you in this very hour. We have asked him, Lord, show yourself powerful. Reveal yourself to me. And the Lord’s reply is this, “I have shown myself powerful. I have revealed myself, but you did not expect that I would reveal myself THROUGH you. You have been looking for houses, and cars and money and things to dictate to you my pleasure with you; but these are easy things to do. See how I have clothed the fields? See how the sky is adorned? These all speak of my wonder. They display my beauty and my majesty. How much more, my sons and daughters should show my glory and goodness? But fear, has clouded your perception. You have not fully understood what has been given to you in Christ. You have not engaged your faith.” You say, “I believe you Lord.” But when I ask you to do something you disobey. When you do obey you complain. You complain because you fear that my word is not true. Oh how I have longed to see you beautifully adorned, glistening and white without blemish and without scar. But you forbade me, with dark fear, the terrors in your soul. The mountains you fought to climb when I said to you, “speak to the mountain and it will be moved.’ You did not always listen to me, but I have not forgotten my promise. I will not turn away from you, as you did me. My love is unfailing and I will see you yet alive and full of faith. You are mine and I am yours. I restore to you this day, the love you once had for me, at the beginning. And you will surely stand up a great army. Yes, my people will stand and not perish. They will live and have dominion in the earth. They will manifest my goodness in the earth and showcase my glory for they will be fearless.