I was sitting in yet another meeting with the auditors and we began discussing WIP.  WIP, otherwise known as work-in-process, is partially finished goods/parts that are no longer considered raw-materials, but are not yet considered to be finished goods.  When the auditors view WIP, they see it at a lower value than finished goods.  But when the General Manager of the company sees it, he sees what he has created and even though it is not quite perfected, he knows the value that it will soon bring.

That got me thinking that I am a work-in-process.  When people see me, they see semi-finished goods, that aren’t of much value.  But when God sees me, He sees me as what He has planned me to be and what He knows I will become.  God sees me as His child.

Galatians 4:7 says “So you are no longer a slave, but a son; and since you are a son, God has made you also an heir.”

So God sees me as His child.  That is an exciting thought!  But I have to admit…I struggle to see myself as anything more that very, very raw material.  Although I know that I am a work-in-process, I truly don’t see much progress within the process.

Romans 8:12-17 says “Therefore, brothers, we have an obligation—but it is not to the sinful nature, to live according to it. For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live, because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.”

As children of God, we are not to be slaves to sin or to fear.  Yet I struggle daily not to be a slave to both!  And I seem to daily lose the battle.  I despise my sin nature and hate my fleshly qualities, yet I repeatedly let them get the best of me.  Just as Paul said in Romans 8:

“I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.” (v15)

“I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing.” (v18-19)

“When I want to do good, evil is right there with me.” (v21)  (You have heard of Murphy’s Law?  I call this Paul’s Law.)

“What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?” (v24)

Oh, Paul!  How I feel your pain!

Words have crept into my vocabulary that I would rather not be there.  Lousy attitudes appear at the most inopportune times.  Anger seems to well up inside of me until I can barely contain myself…and sometimes I chose to not even bother trying to contain myself.  Oh Wretched Woman that I am!!!

Indeed, I am a work-in-process.  2 Corinthians 5:17 says “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new!”

As I said in my very first post, becoming new is a process…a continuous thing…a journey.  Oftentimes it is a walk comprised of a few steps forward followed by a few steps backward.  Occasionally it is a walk comprised of valley dwelling and mountain climbing.  But always is it a journey worthy of completion!

According to The American Standard Dictionary, PR or Public Relations is: “The art or science of establishing and promoting a favorable relationship with the public”

Wikipedia says that Public Relations is “the practice of managing the flow of information between an organization and its publics.”

Many of today’s “Relevant” churches believe that it is up to them to be God’s PR representative.  In fact, church marketing is a booming business.  There are businesses devoted solely to creating websites for churches, blogs dedicated to telling about the best church marketing techniques, and even marketing consultants whose purpose is creating influence for the local church.

There are state-of-the-art mega churches that have the latest technology reaching out to the masses, yet 60% or more of their attendees do not believe that Jesus is the only way to Heaven.

According to www.cia.gov, 78.5% of Americans consider themselves to be “Christian”, yet according to a Pew poll, 70% of Americans believe that there are many ways to get to Heaven.

Obviously this “church marketing” phenomenon is not succeeding in bringing people to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.

By the world’s standards, these relevant churches are doing everything right.  They are leveraging current technology and culture.  They go out of their way to be “seeker sensitive”.  They make sure that they avoid controversial topics like politics, marriage and sin.  Numerically, the churches that use the previous techniques are succeeding.  Spiritually, they are failing appallingly.  Why would that be?

Perhaps it is because Christianity is not a product, it is a lifestyle.  Evangelism is not marketing, it is the natural expression of the joy of our salvation.  And Jesus is not a brand, He is our Redeemer.

Jesus was the only PR Rep that God ever will need and the Bible is God’s press release.

Mark 5:25-34 “And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years. She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse. When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, because she thought, “If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed.” Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering.

At once Jesus realized that power had gone out from him. He turned around in the crowd and asked, “Who touched my clothes?”

“You see the people crowding against you,” his disciples answered, “and yet you can ask, ‘Who touched me?’ “

But Jesus kept looking around to see who had done it. Then the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell at his feet and, trembling with fear, told him the whole truth. He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.”

I think that maybe this woman, like me, had PCOS.  I have read this passage of scripture over and over, praying that God would heal me just as he healed her.  Those weeks (and months) when I think that the bleeding is never going to stop, I cry out to him and wonder why He allows me to have this awful problem the prevent me from having a baby when all that I have ever wanted was to be a mommy.

James 5:13-16 says “Is any one of you in trouble? He should pray. Is anyone happy? Let him sing songs of praise. Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven. Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.”

I have prayed for healing.  I have been prayed over for healing.  I have been healed from other things…including a shattered wrist and hand that doctors said would require me to wear a brace for the rest of my life because it would never heal properly.  But God has not healed me of PCOS and has not allowed me to have a baby.

I have tried bargaining with God.  “Um God…if I promise to  _________ (fill in the blank), would you heal me?” And then “OK God, you don’t have to heal me, just let me have a baby.”  Sure I know that you can’t barter with God, but sometimes I can’t help but think if I prayed harder, more often, louder, or less selfishly perhaps I would get my heart’s cry.

Psalm 10:17 says “You hear, O LORD, the desire of the afflicted; you encourage them, and you listen to their cry.”

I John 5:14 “This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.”

According to HIS will!  As my heart becomes more like His heart, I will know His will and pray accordingly.  Right now, all that I know is that I want to be healed.  I want to have a baby.  I will be honest and say that I don’t know why it wouldn’t be in God’s will for me to be healed and have a baby.  And I will be painfully honest and admit that I know that I do NOT know God’s will for my life.  And not only do I not know it, I don’t understand the things that He is currently doing!

Psalm 37:3-4 says “Trust in the LORD and do good; dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture. Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart.”

So here is what I know.  I know that God CAN heal.  I know that God’s WILL will be done.  I know that God desires my heart to be focused on HIM.

No Other, by David Ruis

…

In My Arms, by Plumb, is a lullaby written to her child.  In it she sings of her desire to protect her child from the storms of life and how she will always love her child, no matter what.

It says:
Clouds will rage in
Storms will race in
But you will be safe in my arms
Rains will pour down
Waves will crash all around
But you will be safe in my arms

Castles they might crumble
Dreams may not come true
Cause you are never all alone
Cause I will always
Always love you

From the first time I heard this song, I loved it!  There was something so soothing, so reassuring about it.  But at the same time, it made me sad.  It was only recently that I have been able to figure out why.

I never had that kind of protection when I was growing up.  I was never defended or sheltered from life’s storms.

My young eyes saw far more than they ever should have.  They saw violent fighting between the two people who should have been sheltering me.  They saw clothes hanging in my mother’s closet shredded by the knife of one of her spurned lovers.  They saw the shattered remains of our family photos that were destroyed during a particularly bad fight.

My ears heard my mother’s threats to leave my father.  They heard aggressive accusations. They heard my father’s threats of suicide.

My hands were the hands that stopped my father from killing himself time and time again.  My hands were the hands that comforted those who were supposed to comfort me.

It was my words that attempted to distill the bullies that threatened me both at home and at school when my parents told me to “turn the other cheek”.  It was my words that would cry out asking my parents to defend me against the hurtful words that were said about me and the hurtful acts that were done against me.

My world was filled with violators.  And I longed to be defended.  I longed to be protected.  But I never was.

That little girl grew up to believe that it was her duty to “take” whatever was “given” to her.  So she accepted the bullies (both young and old, verbal and physical).  She listened to the lies.  She believed the lies.  She never defended herself because she just wasn’t worthy.  When she was tossed aside by family, friends, and lovers, she sat on the door stoops of their hearts and begged for their scraps until they would allow her back in for more abuse.  She continued to be devoted to the very ones who treated her as trash.

She longed for someone to come to her defense.  She still longs for someone to protect her from the wrongs of the past.  She has spent her adult life looking for her defender, her protector.

But there is no earthly man or woman who can protect her from the ghosts of the past.  There is no one who can defend her from the phantoms that are now only in her vivid memories and dreams.

But there is One who longs to take that girl into His arms and hold her and protector and love on her and defend her and NEVER EVER EVER LET HER GO!  And He will fight for her when no one else does.

Psalm 35:22-24 (NIV) “O LORD, you have seen this; be not silent.  Do not be far from me, O Lord.  Awake, and rise to my defense! Contend for me, my God and Lord.”

Psalm 68:4-6 (NIV)  “Sing to God, sing praise to His name, extol Him who rides on the clouds —His name is the LORD — and rejoice before Him.  A Father to the fatherless, a Defender of widows, is God in His holy dwelling.  God sets the lonely in families; He leads forth the prisoners with singing”

Psalm 10:17-18 (NIV) “You hear, O LORD, the desire of the afflicted; You encourage them, and You listen to their cry, defending the fatherless and the oppressed, in order that man, who is of the earth, may terrify no more.”

Psalm 28:6-7 (NIV) “Praise be to the LORD, for He has heard my cry for mercy.  The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in Him, and I am helped.  My heart leaps for joy and I will give thanks to Him in song”

The Thirst of the Empty Soul

Those who do not believe in God, still find themselves thirsting for something to fulfill them spiritually.  But because they are looking in the wrong directions, they continually find themselves empty.  When soul thirst goes unquenched day after day, year after year, the thirst becomes unrecognizable for what it is.  It becomes a need for something…anything…to take away the painful desire for something more.  The empty soul seeks desperately to be satisfied.  It seeks fulfillment through relationships, work, sex, money, entertainment, drugs, and even religion.  But it fails to actually seek God.

Romans 3:10-11 As it is written: “There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God.

We all know of the “bad” people who have empty souls.  The drug-users, the murders, the cheaters.  The people who seek fulfillment in ways that are very contrary to the ways of God.

But there are also many “good” people who have empty souls.  These people are looking for fulfillment, but they are not looking for truth.  They are philanthropists, often putting many Christians to shame as they go about doing good works to save starving children, dying trees, and endangered animals.  They are the ritualistic religious who see to fulfill the emptiness by following the rules of a religion, but failing to seek the true relational God.  They are the people who are hoping that their best will be enough to get them an “in” with God.  They are also the hardest to reach for Christ.

It is easy to convince the “bad” people that they need God.  But it is much harder to show the philanthropist, the ritualistic religious and the generally “good” people to see their need.  They no longer know that they are thirsting.  They no longer see the thirst for what it is.  They are too busy trying to be “good enough”, but knowing deep down that their “good enough” never is.

People suffering from a rare disease called Adipsia never know that they are thirsty even in the presence of body water depletion or salt excess.  Adipsia leads to considerable difficulty in the management of water balance.  The only treatment option for Adipsia is behavioral therapy to teach people to remember to drink.  Basically they must be taught to know when their body is thirsty.

People who are unable to see their spiritual thirst are very much like this.  They never know that they are thirsty even in the presence of intense spiritual depletion.  This “Spiritual Adipsia”, if you will, leads them to the inability to have any spiritual balance or satisfaction in their lives.  They must be taught to know that their soul is thirsty.  They must be shown what it takes to fill their empty souls.

Romans 10:14-15 says “How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!’”

Matthew 28:19-20 “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

Thirst is the craving for fluids.  Thirst tells us that we need to drink something.  If we did not thirst, many if not all of us would forget to drink.  If we don’t ingest enough fluids, our bodies suffer and we will die.

Thirst is a good thing.  It signals to us that we are lacking something that we need.  God gave our bodies the ability to thirst so that we could stay alive.

If we do not drink when we are thirsty, we will suffer from dehydration.  Dehydration leads to headaches, tiredness, irritability, dizziness, fainting, muscle cramps, and decreased blood pressure.  Prolonged dehydration will always lead to death.

Dehydration symptoms become noticeable after only 2% of the body’s normal water volume has been lost.  Just 2%!!!

Our souls should thirst, as well.  Soul thirst tells us that we need something bigger than ourselves.  If we did not thirst, we would forget our need for God. If we do not ingest enough of God, our spirit suffers and we will not find abundant, eternal life.

Spiritual thirst is a good thing.  It signals to us that we are lacking something that we need.  God gave our souls the ability to thirst for Him so that we could live life the way that God intended it to be.

A healthy soul understands that it is thirsting for more of God.  An unhealthy soul cannot understand what it is thirsting for and will look for fulfillment in the wrong areas, desperately trying to fulfill the desire that they can’t understand.  When that thirst goes unfulfilled, the soul suffers from a spiritual type of dehydration.

Spiritual Dehydration symptoms also quickly become noticeable.  If we do not quench our thirst daily for God, we also suffer from headaches (i.e. frustration), spiritual tiredness, and irritability (that darned conscience of ours can make us so moody!).  Prolonged spiritual dehydration is something to be avoided at all costs!

What are you doing to quench your soul thirst?

Matthew 5: 6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.

Visitation vs Habitation – Making God comfortable

II Kings 4:8-17 tells about Elisha and how he would frequently visit the town of Shunem.  Each time that he would be in town, a local woman would have him come for dinner.  She requested her husband to make a room for Elisha saying “I know that this man who often comes our way is a holy man of God. Let’s make a small room on the roof and put in it a bed and a table, a chair and a lamp for him. Then he can stay there whenever he comes to us.” (v9-10)

This woman made Elisha comfortable enough for more than just a visit, but to live with her family.  Elisha was grateful and asked her if he could do anything for her.  She politely declined, so Elisha asked his servant.  His servant told him “she has no son and her husband is old” (v14)

Elisha went to her and said, “About this time next year, you will hold a son in your arms.”

Last week, while we were on vacation, Hubby and I stayed at three different people’s houses.  The first house was no really a comfortable place for us at all.  There weren’t enough chairs for everyone.  We weren’t offered a drink unless the hosts got thirsty and didn’t feel comfortable asking for one.  We needed to ask permission to use the bathroom.  It was a place that was okay for a short visit, perhaps a few hours, but that was it.

The second place was a bit better.  We had a place to comfortably relax while chatting with our host.  We were offered drinks, but didn’t feel comfortable getting our own.  We asked permission to use the bathroom the first time and were told “you don’t have to ask”.  It was a place that was okay for a little longer visit,perhaps a weekend, but not much longer.

The third place was Hubby’s best friend’s house.  We were welcomed with open arms by Hubby’s best friend and wife.  We were told to make ourselves comfortable.  We had no hesitations about helping ourselves to food and beverages.    We talked.  We laughed.  We hated leaving.  We probably could have stayed forever.

I think that all Christians are one of those places for God.  Maybe we are the place where He can visit for a bit, perhaps when we are worshipping at church, but He cannot comfortably abide in our homes because His spirit is too grieved by our attitudes and actions.  Or maybe we make our hearts and homes a bit more comfortable for Him by having personal devotions for a few minutes each day before spending the rest of the day on our selfish pursuits.  But hopefully we have the heart and home where He can come and not just be temporarily comfortable, but instead be blessed and glorified.  Hopefully, we provide God a place where He feels like family and not just a temporary guest

In John 14:23, Jesus said If anyone loves Me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him.”

OK.  Let’s be honest.  The economy is in bad shape and we don’t know when it will recover.  Predictions can be made, but the truth is that only God knows the future and God will do what God wants to do. (Isaiah 46:9-10)

Hubby lost his job this week.  Laid off and given no hope or promise of return.  That was certainly not my plan.  But because I believe that God has a plan for my life and for Hubby’s life, I know that somehow this works into God’s plan for our lives.

I would be lying if I said that Hubby’s unemployment excited me.  To be completely honest, I don’t like it one bit.  But that isn’t because I am scared of the future.  I’m not scared because I know that God is in control.  The reason I don’t like what is happening is because I have come to enjoy our standard of living.  I have come to enjoy the fact that if we want to go out to eat, we can.  If we want to go away for the weekend, we can.  We have never been rich by anyone’s definition; however when Hubby graduated two years ago, things became much easier.  (I guess that is what happens when you have two incomes and no kids.)

Now things will be strained and we will have to make what money we have stretch farther.  No more weekend trips.  No more “Honey, I don’t want to cook tonight. Let’s go out.”  No more “just because” gifts.  I liked our standard of living.  Probably too much.  While I have never been materialistic, I have grown comfortable with the material things that this world offers.

I John 2:15-17 says “Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For everything in the world—the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does—comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever.”

I don’t want to be so comfortable here that I stop yearning for the treasure of Heaven.

Phil 3:13a-14 “But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus”

Hubby’s lay-off is the past.  God has a new present and a new future for us.  But regardless of what He brings us or allows us to go through, our hope must fully rest in God.  And our treasure must always be in Heaven.

I have trust issues.  I know that my husband loves me, but I don’t trust that he will always love me.  I know that my friends like me, but I don’t believe that they will like me if I trust them with who I really am.  I know that God is God, but it is easier to do things myself than to rest in His arms and let Him doing things His way.

Those first two trust issues are self-confidence issues.  The last issue, well, it is a self-ISH issue.  I know God is God and I know that I am supposed to trust Him, but do you know why I don’t want to trust Him to do things His way?  Because I usually don’t like His way.  His way tends to be the more painful and difficult way.  And that really truly annoys me!

God could make everything easy (and let’s be honest here…I like things to be easy), but He doesn’t.  I want the “quick fix” and God won’t give it to me.  Oh, of course I know why.  I know that it is because “the testing of your faith develops perseverance” (James 1:3) and “In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed” (I Peter 1:6-7)

And I continually remind myself that I need to let God be God, simply because He is God  And since He is God, then He can do no wrong…everything He does is just and right…even if it annoys me!

Job 8:13-15 says “Such is the destiny of all who forget God; so perishes the hope of the godless. What he trusts in is fragile ; what he relies on is a spider’s web.  He leans on his web, but it gives way; he clings to it, but it does not hold.”

Psalm 22:4-5 says “In you our fathers put their trust; they trusted and you delivered them. They cried to you and were saved; in you they trusted and were not disappointed.”

Psalm 32:10 says “Many are the woes of the wicked, but the LORD’s unfailing love surrounds the man who trusts in him.”

We are told again and again that those who trust in God will not be disappointed and that His love will cover us.  Some people want to foolishly assume that means that our lives will always be peachy and perfect, but the truth is that there are some times in our lives when we have to say as Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego did in Daniel 3, “God is able to save me, but even if He doesn’t, I will still serve Him!”

Because it all comes down to the fact that if God is God, then we must give Him our trust and have faith that someday, in some way HIS good will come to pass in our lives.

Psalm 31:14 “But I trust in you, O LORD; I say, “You are my God.”

The greatest act of love  that humanity has ever seen.