“The church is who we are, not where we go.”

Have you ever heard someone tell you, “Just lay it at the feet of Jesus”? I have and I want to scream, “How?!”

Clichés are nice sayings, but living in a broken world as broken people trying to grow in our love for and obedience to Jesus is not, I repeat, is not easy or in any way a cliché experience.

Walking against the flow of our past inputs (Galatians 5:17) is a difficult process. This is why the Spirit put us into the church – a group of people walking toward Jesus together – the moment we became children of God.

Yet, we struggle to let fellow brothers and sisters into this struggle. We either fear being judge, tossed aside or worse thinking that we are the only ones struggling with loving Jesus the way we struggle.

Lie. Lie. Lie. The Spirit tells us that we all struggle with something (1 Cor. 10:13) as we are all broken people being made whole (i.e. saved).

We are the church so be the church. So, who shares this walk with you in a non-cliché, honest and transparent way? This is the process to be made whole (James 5:16).

Stop the clichés – Christian or otherwise. Only truth worked out with other believers does. Lay it at the feet of Jesus means to let others know about your struggle so they can pray for and carry it with you.

Lessen your load. Let others into the real struggle so you can experience being set free, the changed life, Jesus promised to give you when you became God’s child.

“On Christ the solid rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand.” Hymn

Did you practice the thankfulness exercise last week? I did…partially. I started out strong and it worked. I felt peaceful. My nervous foot stopped bouncing. My stress levels went down. 

And guess what happened when I wasn’t being watchful for those peace robbing situations (see June 1st entry)? I forgot to be thankful, which brought back the bouncing foot and the rising stress levels.

The truths God gives us in His Word are the metaphor Jesus used when He said if we build our life on the rock, we can weather any storm. If we build our life on the sand, however, life can wash us away. 

When we say Jesus is our rock, this is not just a saying or a mere word. The rock must be put into your daily life through implementing His truths into your life. Merely saying the word or a verse is sand. Practicing the truth the Spirit gives you is the rock. 

I had a little of both last week.

Thankfulness helps us to see who is there.

Paul writes to the Colossians that they should be devoted to prayer, be watchful and thankful. And to the Thessalonians he says to rejoice always, pray continually and to give thanks in all circumstances.

Why did God have Paul repeat himself? Life is not easy, but focusing on what we don’t have or where we currently are only makes it tougher. When we create an attitude of gratitude, though, we will experience huge benefits that will help us through those tough times.

Research studies show that those who cultivate an attitude of gratitude have been “consistently linked to higher levels of happiness and life satisfaction.” They also tend to “have more positive and supportive relationships, cope with stress and adversity more effectively and have less anxiety that promotes a more peaceful and restful sleep,” which allows both the body and the brain to recuperate and heal.

Think God knows what He is talking about? He tells us to be watchful for peace robbers by staying in constant contact with the peace bringer; and then, to fight back through being thankful for what we do have and rejoicing over who we are in Christ to keep moving forward despite our present challenges.

Here’s an exercise. When you go to bed tonight, tell God three things for which you are thankful. Then throughout the day, especially when life gets rough, repeat them to Him and see what He does in and through you.

I’m going to practice this truth and report back next Wednesday. Hopefully you will as well.

The next step may be unknown but the way isn’t.

Where’s the plane???

I was out walking when I heard a plane’s engines roar directly above my head. Yet, it was gone when I looked up to see it or so I thought. It was there alright. I could ‘see’ it with my ears, not my eyes, as the clouds were in the way.

This is faith. We can’t always ‘see’ the next step the Spirit is asking us to take. The Father is simply asking us to trust Him that keeping in step with the Spirit is the best way possible even though we can’t see the results at the moment.

The Spirit is truth and will never mislead you. Jesus is truth and will never leave you. And the Father is truth and will present you before His glorious presence faultless and with great joy.

Your Father is asking you to walk by faith through love. What step is He asking you to take? Ask the Spirit to increase your love for the Father, which should give you the impetus to take that step of faith knowing you’ll only get closer to the One you love.

The beauty of life is seen in the dying.

The writer of Colossians tells his readers they have died and their life is now hidden with Christ. And, when Jesus, who is their life, is revealed, they will also be revealed with Him.

What an interesting truth: We are living dead people!

Dead people can’t think. They are dead. Dead people can’t make decisions. They are dead. Dead people can’t choose as they are dead. Only in the movies do dead people do such things.

Yet, we don’t live in the movies. We “live” in the real world where to those in Christ, death means dying to our way of thinking, to our way of choosing and to our way of “living” because we are dead!

Furthermore, life to a dead person doesn’t make sense because a dead person can’t make sense of anything! They are dead. Jesus believers get all twisted up inside because they are dead people trying to make sense of a broken and dying world that is ever sliding away from the Father.

Therefore, “life” will only make sense as we see life through Jesus’ eyes. This is the essence of the Jesus believer’s hope. Our sin, no matter how small or how big, caused our death. Choosing His death to cover our death is the only way to true living today and for eternity.

Let Jesus bring life into the dead areas of your existence in order to experience true living, His. Let Him choose your path, and then give you the faith and the strength to get and stay on it. Life is to be lived, not merely talked about.

We should be extremely grateful for this hope He provided for us. There is a dead world just dying to see His life in you!