Touch, Taste and See: A God Who Wants us to Experience Him

          As I was reading in Acts chapter 1 this morning and a line jumped out at me.

"After his suffering, he presented himself to them and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive.  He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the Kingdom of God."

Acts 1:3

           Did you catch that?  He, Jesus, presented himself to his disciples AND gave them many convincing proofs that He was indeed ALIVE.  He was God, The Almighty so He really didn't have to do that.  He could have just sent a prophet, like He had done before.  He could have just sent an angel.  But, no, this time, He Himself came to convince them of His life and power.

           This touched my heart.  He knew the weakness of man.  He knew and understood our struggle to believe in the supernatural.  He didn't rebuke them in disgust for their lack of faith.  Okay so I too remember a few "Oh ye of little faith!" statements from the Gospels.  But I think those statements came with compassion.  He knew the propensity for human flesh to doubt. Especially in the face of grief and pain.  Remember they had just lost their best friend at the Cross. Their world had collapsed.  They were mourning, disoriented and confused.  And so, for His grieving friends, He came.  For. 40. Days.

        In His mercy, He went to his friend Thomas and what did He say?

      Even though the doors were locked (I love that line), Jesus came and stood among them and said, 

      "Peace be with you!" Then He said to Thomas, "Put your finger here; see my hands.  Reach out your hand and put it into my side.  Stop doubting and believe."  John 20:26-27

            And He is merciful to meet us.  And yet He is wanting us to STOP DOUBTING and  believe.   Locked doors won't stop Him.  Death won't hold him back.   He will keep coming.

I have heard unbelief is a sin . . . but that's the good part.  We can say "oops sorry God." OR "Help me overcome my unbelief." And He does.  He did it for Thomas and He will do it for us as well.

           He wants us to experience Him! He wants to be with us!  Psalm 34:8 says,

                                     
                "Taste and see that the Lord is good."

       

           He wanted it for his disciples, and He wants the same thing for us today.

     
                                  "Taste and see"

He isn't afraid for us to experience and encounter Him.  He isn't holding back.   He is drawing near through Christ.

Prayer for today:

        Lord, help me in my unbelief.  Help me to believe.  Lord let me experience you.  Let me encounter you and know you want to be near.

 On a Practical Level:

       Write down any answers you receive to this prayer this week.  Record them and treasure them.  Whether simple, like a scripture verse jumping out at you as read the Word or a dream.  Or whether its a vision or an orchestrated circumstance or even more profound,  they are now part of your testimony, your history in God.

"The Healer" 20'x36" oil on canvas, "Taste, Touch and See"

Multiply My Fish and Loaves!

                   "Multiply my fish and loaves!"

                   This has been the cry of my heart since I found out God does this multiplication stuff; not just with food but in many areas of my life.  This has been the cry of my heart since I entered motherhood.  With every person added to our family there seems to be less and less of me.   And maybe you have offered up a similar cry perhaps as a college student or a business executive, teacher or church leader?  Or maybe a stretching season or a stretching relationship causes you to feel like you are just not enough.  Here's the Good News . . . you aren't.  And the good news is you never were.

                    In those seasons, we feel so stretched beyond what we can possibly do well.
It seems our best effort isn't good enough, and we literally feel like we may snap in two unless He comes to our aid.

                    And I have to wonder, was this a set up? A way for the Divine to display His distance??  No, I think its supposed to be a way for the Divine to display His deliverance.

                    And He might just use us to do it; to be the ones who toss our tiny efforts up to the Father and say "Multiply this!", even from our position of apparent weakness.  The temptation is to drop the ball and run and hide.  We may feel inadequate.  We want to assign the job to someone else.

                     "This has got to be someone else's job!"  And sometimes, on a rare occasion we are right.  But many times we are wrong.  God is looking right into our eyes, pointing straight at us.

                    Remember, the disciples tried to send the crowd elsewhere?  I will admit, on a bad day, I have had this thought a few times with my kids.  But what does Jesus say to his disciples . . . "You give them something to eat."

Mark6:30-44 says:
                35 By this time it was late in the day, so his disciples came to him. “This is a remote place,” they said, “and it’s already very late. 36 Send the people away so that they can go to the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat.”

37 But he answered, “You give them something to eat.”

They said to him, “That would take more than half a year’s wages[a]! Are we to go and spend that much on bread and give it to them to eat?”

38 “How many loaves do you have?” he asked. “Go and see.”

When they found out, they said, “Five—and two fish.”

39 Then Jesus directed them to have all the people sit down in groups on the green grass.40 So they sat down in groups of hundreds and fifties. 41 Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then he gave them to his disciples to distribute to the people. He also divided the two fish among them all. 42 They all ate and were satisfied, 43 and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces of bread and fish. 44 The number of the men who had eaten was five thousand.

             

               A Prayer for Today:  Lord, be strong in our very apparent weakness.  Multiply our weak efforts.  Do the impossible through us.  Help us not to gaze too long on our inadequacies.  Do for those around us what we can't do in and of ourselves. Amen.

                   
                   

Calm Waters

"Calm Waters" oil on canvas 24"x24"

        Do we really think of ourselves as sheep; weak, needing help to get to the next destination, in need of a Shepherd?  When we consider our weakness in the face of Our Leader's great strength our heart comes to a rest under His perfect leadership. 

       A good shepherd doesn't just go passive when one in his flock wanders off.  He is attentive.  He goes after that one sheep.  When a few in the flock begin to go down a different route the good shepherd hems them in, gathers them together.  He constantly is watchful for vicious wolves that try to come in from behind.  The sheep know and trust the Shepherd's tender voice.  They (are ever learning) to follow Him.

        He is my Shepherd.  He is trustworthy.   Even in my weakness.   He isn't holding my dumbest choices against me.  He even still seeks to find me, to refresh me and to restore me.  I can't go too far from His leadership.

        He knows where the refreshing waters are.  He knows when to tell my heart to rest.  He knows the path that's before me.  My heart is learning to trust in Him rather than my own devices.  When I do, even in the midst of hardship, He finds a way to refresh me.  He is responsible for refreshing me.  He is responsible for leading me.  He leads me to the calm waters in the midst of turbulent times.  He restores my soul.

Psalm 23 says:  

1 

The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.
2     He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters,
3     he refreshes my soul.
He guides me along the right paths
    for his name’s sake.
4 Even though I walk
    through the darkest valley,[a]
I will fear no evil,
    for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
    they comfort me.

5 You prepare a table before me
    in the presence of my enemies.
You anoint my head with oil;
    my cup overflows.
6 Surely your goodness and love will follow me
    all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the Lord
    forever.

       Prayer for today:
     Father, help me know you today as a Shepherd; as the perfect leader.  Even when I fail, you still hem me in, draw me close.  You know where are the refreshing places are in the midst of tough terrain of life.  Help me to trust in your perfect leadership today.  Help me to believe you are attentive to my needs.  Even in life's valleys, you are there, still faithfully leading me.  Amen.

The Veil Torn: A New Way Opened to Us

              As we recently celebrated Jesus' life and resurrection, I thought it would be appropriate to remind my kids of the story.  As you might recall, when Jesus breathed His last on the cross, that heavy, enormous, dense curtain keeping us out of the Holy of Holies in the Temple was split in two, torn right up the middle.  Simultaneously, the earth shook, signifying that man was more than just a lunatic, criminal or a wood worker.  

  "Whoah! Really?"  My kids responded when I explained what happened.  Earthquakes and things tearing on their own! Cool!

              For us, as Christians, this is everything.  We get in for free.  Before this, only a certain high priest entered after all the prescribed sacrifices and rituals were complete, filled with a holy fear.  But now, Christ became that high priest and AT THE SAME TIME became the final sacrifice for sin.  We get in because of His wounds.  We get in because of His love.  We get in because of His sacrifice.  

              But what does it all mean?  It means we see again.   In the place we were kept in the dark about God's presence and personality, we can know Him.  Where we were shut out, unsure, fearful, now we can see.  And we can continually see.  We can continually know Him.  It's not just a one time deal.  It's a daily relationship; second to second, minute to minute ongoing dialogue with the Almighty.  And there is a good reason for this.  It's what He wanted.  He initiated it.  He longs to draw us close.  He made us for this reason; to have relationship with Him.  And in that relationship we are continually transformed.  What we behold, we become.  

           "And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit." 2 Corinthians 3:18

"The Veil Torn", 3'x5' oil on canvas

A Prayer for today:              
           Lord, thank you for tearing the veil so we can know you again in a daily relationship.  Open my spiritual eyes again today so that I may know you by your Spirit.  Show me who you are afresh and anew.  Erase any lies I have believed about you.  Let me be changed as I behold you.

The Secrets of Creation Revealed: Our Identity as Children of God

Romans 8: 19-22 says:

   For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God.

We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.

The longings of creation

   Do you know who you are?  There is something often times hidden from us in this life that the enemy doesn't want us to know.  Yet, even creation knows who we are.  It is literally, "waiting with an outstretched neck", longing for the glory hidden in us to be revealed.  If you are in Christ (have said "yes" to Him), you get His seal of approval, the Holy Spirit in you.  You have become His child, His heir or heiress forever!  

When you really get a hold of this truth, not just in head, but in heart, changes begin to occur.  You start to act according to your new identity.  

Possibly we have received or thought of ourselves in many other ways, some of them not so great.  Maybe we have seen ourselves as "failure", "black sheep", "misfit", "lacking", "depressed", "anxious" and so on.  But, none of these have anything to do with how God sees us.  If we get a hold of what creation already knows, that we are always and forever a new creation in Christ, forgiven by the Father and held in His loving grip, nothing can stop us.

"Show us who we are, Lord."

A prayer for today:

Abba, Father, show me who I am again today, deep in my inner heart. Show me what your creation already knows.  Show me how I am seated in high places with you.  Show me how you see me again.

The Overcoming Power of Rejoicing in All Things

                  Confession:  For several years, I had been in a cycle of anxiety regarding an ongoing health issue with someone very dear to me.  I didn't really realize it because as I would pray eventually the wave of anxiety would pass.  But what I didn't recognize is that it just got shoved to the back burner and I was merely just distracting myself with the many other issues I face daily.  Its easy to distract yourself in this life.


                  But as the years have gone on, while I have been trying to trust God, the situation hasn't really changed to the degree that I have hoped.  With as much boldness I could muster, mixed with some anxiety and frustration, I began REALLY  talking to God about it. 

                  WHAT is going on?  WHY haven't we seen the shift in this area I had hoped for?

I sensed the most unexpected response from the Lord, in the midst of schooling someone (wink) about Philippians 4:4-8. 
   We have all read this passage.  I have gone over it many times myself in the past, especially when those overpowering waves of anxiety have tried to pull me under their relentless current.



4 Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. 5 Let your reasonableness[d] be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; 6 do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.


          Oh I was on a roll, breaking this passage down into 4 easy steps for my friend to digest:

   "First, you REJOICE, whatever the situation is.  Then, you pray or talk to God honestly about it.  Tell him exactly what you need or want.  Finally, you thank him, for who He is, what He will do.  And then you leave it with Him and wait, as you trust Him.  His peace guards your heart and mind."

         As I was explaining this, I felt that all familiar nudge.  It hit me.

   "You have never done this with your own situation."  

  I thought back for a moment, my mind racing through all the years of prayer over this issue.  I had listened to God. I had pleaded in the night.  I had fervently prayed.  And yet it was true.  At the onset of this injury, I had not done what I was explaining to someone else they needed to do.

      So I did it.  I simply agreed with God.  

      "I rejoice in this situation."    

I may have entered into this longer, I can't remember.  But something happened.  A shift occurred inside.

When we rejoice over a seemingly impossible situation, we are declaring something BIG.

We are saying, "We are no longer UNDER the unbearable weight of this moment, but in Christ, we are OVER it."  

     We are agreeing that whatever we are facing, even though it could crush us in our own strength, is nothing compared to God's incredible power.  We also aren't resisting the situation, but rather surrendering to God in it.  We place Him in our hearts where He already resides in Heaven:  On the throne.

     I realized there was something God was after in me.  He loves all the prayer, and how we reach for Him in a tough time.  That's great.  But he was also wanting a response of trust, faith from my heart of hearts.  

   "Daddy, you got this.  I trust you.  I rejoice."

"The Pillar of Cloud"
Moses leading the
Israelites

      It was the same response He was after from the Israelites when they came upon the Red Sea.  And its the same response He is after in you and me.

     A shift was made, a table was turned that day.  Clarity of God's purposes began to arise. Anxiety was extinguished as I was able to settle safely again into the Almighty.

      

Pushing Back the Clouds of Offense

         

           As I stood in worship, mumbling words I could hardly get off my lips, it dawned on me.  This. was. not. fun.  Something wasn't right.  Usually worship was a place where I found safety and peace.  I could just absorb the love of God and enjoy His presence.  I could usually just rest in the little haven God created as I focused on Him.

           But this morning was different.  Anger was clinching its claws into my skin.  My throat was tight and my shoulders filled with tension.  I couldn't get comfortable.  I wanted to run.

       There was a situation that had surfaced that brought hurt and pain into my path.

         However, I had been in relationship with God long enough to know that running wasn't going to fix anything.  The absence of His felt presence was an indication that something was off . . . IN ME.  What was it?  I was MAD.  And I was telling God how I felt.  And I was RIGHT.  I knew it and God knew it (hear any tones of self-righteousness in there?).  And really, looking at the situation with natural eyes, anyone would agree me.  No doubt, hands down,  I was right.

       But if I was right (which I was, by the way), then where did God go?  What exactly was the problem?

     After asking Him what I needed to change (which asking the question in and of itself was like swallowing a fist full of thumb tacks), I knew deep down what I needed to do to displace the offense in my spirit.  I wanted God more than to be right.  I wanted God's peace more than I wanted my offense.  And in reality, I NEEDED God more than I needed to be right.  I had lived too many years in depression and isolation, without His Presence, to go back in that direction again.

          I knew what I had to do.
     
         "Bless and do not curse."  I Peter 3:9

        I had to serve the very same ones I was offended with.

       

                And the arguments began raging again . . .

             

       But I had been there before so I knew what would immediately still the voices.  I knew what would displace this cloud of offense.  I knew what would silence the accuser of the Brethren.

           "Bless and do not curse.  Forgive, the way you have been forgiven."

           So, I did it.  Against my feelings, against my anger, I chose.


         As I chose, and took action something amazing happened.  The wind and waves hushed.  The clouds stopped their swirling and voices stopped their whispering.  Peace rushed over my wearied, winded soul.  And clarity followed.  God's merciful heart for those who hurt me was revealed.  I was able to worship.  All was well again.

"Pushing Back the Darkness", 18"x20"

   
_____________________________________________________________________

Fast forward, 2 days later . . .

    My kids and I were driving through town when we saw the funniest sight.  At first it was funny.  But then we realized how very pitiful the situation was.

         One car was pulling into a parking lot while another was facing it, trying to drive out.  Neither would move for the other.

        Josiah looked at me and said, "Mom, her face was MAD. She had a really mean face."  He was speaking of the view he had of one of the drivers.

     Sometimes I think this is how the church looks to the world.  We are often caught up in the most trivial issues and offended with small things.  They seem SO important to us in the moment too.  Yes, there are some things we NEED to stand for and NOT back down.  But too often, we are fooled into standing for OUR stance or our position that we ARE NOT standing FOR our brother.  So there we stand.  And all the while the Holy Spirit is sneaking His way out the back door, because we no longer represent HIM well to the world.  And who is HE?  He is  . . . . .

    patient and kind.  He does not envy or boast.  He is not proud or rude. He is not easily provoked . . . just for starters.  (I Corinthians 13:1)
         

    And I am not speaking as one who doesn't battle this spirit of offense from time to time.  I am right there with you in the ring with my gloves on.

    My encouragement to you, as a brother or sister in the Lord, is to not take the gloves off.  Stay in the ring.  No matter how tired you are, don't give up.   And don't get fooled into fighting the wrong enemy, like I almost did.

    When we DO what the Word says, clarity comes.  Love is ushered in again.  We see clearly God's heart for a brother or sister again.

     For it says, "We battle not against flesh and blood but against powers, forces and principalities."
   (Ephesians 6:12)

Truly, love covers a multitude of sins.