God Rested?

We know that God created the world in six days and then RESTED on the seventh day. I have always wondered, though, WHY DID GOD REST? WHAT DID HE DO WHEN HE WAS RESTING? Well, I think I may have found a clue...in Proverbs 8.
Jesus IS wisdom, and in Proverbs 8 He speaks in the first person. It's amazing! He describes having been with the Father before Creation. Then He describes what it was like creating the earth with His Father. In verses 30-31 He says, "Then I was the craftsman at his side. I was filled with delight day after day, rejoicing always in his presence, rejoicing in his whole world..." But the CLUE is in the rest of verse 31: "...AND DELIGHTING IN MANKIND." So, my thoughts are just that after creating everything man needed in order to live on this earth, God's work ended with the crescendo of creating man. Then, He spent the next day DELIGHTING in man! I suspect He just wanted to spend some quality time with Adam and Eve! This was a very special time in history and eternity! He took time to delight in it.
We, too, are called to times of rest. We are called BY God to times of rest, and we are also called TO God in times of rest. Do we take this rest we so deeply need? He intended times of rest and enjoyment. Let's consider Isaiah 28:10-12. "For it is: Do and do, do and do, rule on rule, rule on rule; a little here, a little there...This is the resting place, let the weary rest...this is the place of repose, but they would not listen." God was speaking and reaching out to His weary people who were refusing to stop and rest! Verse 13 completes the picture, because it gives us a very clear understanding of what danger we face if we do not rest. So much is at stake!

"So then, the word of the Lord to them will become:

Do and do, do and do, rule on rule, rule on rule; a little here, a little there -

so that they will go and fall backward, be injured and snared and captured."

Oh, Lord, please don't let YOU or YOUR WORD ever become "just another thing on my to do list." I don't want this kind of captivity!

God's word should not be a burden to us, but a source of peace and satisfaction.

Our time in the Word should never by a DUTY but a time of enjoying God!

We need to delight in Him - delight in His Presence! He delights in intimate fellowship with us! If we are not delighting in Him, we need more than ever to take time for resting in His Presence...too much is at stake.

Soaring, Running, and Walking: Isaiah 40:29-31

"The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth.

He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom.

He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak.

Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall;

but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength.

They will soar on wings like ealges;

they will run and not grow weary,

they will walk and not be faint."

Isaiah 40:28b-31

This is such a familiar passage of Scripture to many of us, and there are so many wonderful treasures contained within it! When I read it again last week, though, the Holy Spirit opened my eyes to see something I'd never noticed before.

The day before I read this, a friend mentioned to me that she'd been exercising regularly. And while she was pleased with the results, she was beginning to see a need to buy some smaller clothes. That's what God used to give me a new understanding of Isaiah 40! He's helping me understand that times of WAITING are exercise for the soul, just like working out is exercise for the body.

Doesn't it seem strange that exercise makes you SO tired? It takes so much energy...and leaves you exhausted when you're really pushing yourself. And YET it is actually strengthening you!? The same is true of the spiritual exercise of WAITING on the Lord. When we have to wait for the Lord, it can be excruciating! Those are the times we are so tempted to give up, because that's when we grow weary.

Isaiah 40:31 gives us two keys to persevering in times of waiting. First, we must HOPE IN THE LORD! This HOPE is one of God's provisions for seeing us through these times of waiting. But guess what, there's another provision In these tired, weary times God "renews" our strength! I was surprised to find out what kind of word picture this paints when seen from the original Hebrew connotations. The word "renew" is literally translated as "exchange" in the sense of changing clothes. As is often found in Scriputre, these clothes can symbolize strength and beauty. This means that waiting is an exercise that strengthens us if we put and keep our hope in God. It's one way He changes us to be stronger and more beautiful!

In our work out sessions with God-the ultimate Personal Trainer, there will be times of soaring, times of running, and times of walking.

•Eagles can soar simply because of how God designed them and their environment. It's really a matter of position for them, no work is involved. Similarly, we can rest in the fact that if we are His (a position we did not attain by any work of our own), then He has perfectly designed us and our circumstances for His glory and our good.

•There are also times of running as we wait. This is the kind of exercise that involves working as hard as you can with every single muscle in your body. We can do nothing apart from Him (John 15), so if we are to endure times of waiting that are this intense, we must draw our strength from our everlasting God!

•The other kind of exercise involved in waiting is walking. This is an activity that usually involves less intensity, but it's a long-term commitment. It means lasting through a long distance...because you are going somewhere! Walking is something we usually do with a particular purpose in mind! God has a purpose for His Kingdom and His child in times of waiting. Even when it looks like nothing is happening, God is working. He is always at work!

So, in times of waiting on the Lord, we can have HOPE because of

God's design as we soar

God's strength as we run, and

God's purpose as we walk with Him.

One day we will arrive before Him, dressed in garments fit for a king...strong and beautiful! And THAT will be worth the wait. HE is worth the wait, because HE IS WORTHY!

Fall: Harvest Time

I've already written so much about why fall time means so much to me. But I'm just now getting to my favorite part! If you read my post about being a scarecrow, you may remember around the feet of my life-sized scarecrow are pumpkins and leaves. Specifically, there are six pumpkins - one for each member of our family. Let me share with you what God was teaching me the year I bought those pumpkins.
It was my first 'fall' as a mother of four. I was definitely still adjusting. There were days I really wondered if we were going to make it! I stayed so busy taking care of my children, that there was very little - if any - time for anything else. I never thought showers could become a matter of prayer and fasting! Seriously, I felt like I was drowning. I was working as hard as I could to stay afloat - hoping my children were not sinking right along with me. And every day seemed to be a repeat of the day before....for months at a time! So often I wondered if we were even getting anywhere! It truly felt like I was just spinning my wheels - squealin' those babies!!! - but not budging a fraction of an inch! I felt like it was all in vain, and that's a dangerous feeling for me.
In the midst of this, God reminded me of Galatians 6:9:

"Let us not become wary in doing good,

for at the proper time we will reap a harvest

if we do not give up."

Oh! There's a harvest!? Oh, how I'd lost sight of that fact! I had completely forgotten WHY I was doing WHAT I was doing! I was doing this to serve my God Who'd not given up on me. And He was now giving me an opportunity to plant seeds in the lives of four precious little people! God knew I was weary - He acknowledged that it wasn't easy. But He encouraged me with the reminder of how important my job really was! It most certainly was NOT in vain! A harvest was at stake! I went back to read more of Galatians 6 - and I was so thrilled to find the Harvest Principle (or the Law of the Harvest)! I bet you're familiar with it already, but here's how I understand it:

You reap WHAT you sow.

You reap WHERE you sow.

You reap MORE THAN you sow.

You reap in a DIFFERENT SEASON.

We all readily see how this is true with physical seeds sown into the ground. If we sow a pumpkin seed, we will reap a pumpkin plant...right where we planted the seed. But the ONE pumpkin plant that results from the ONE seed will produce MANY pumpkins, each containing a multitude of seeds! We need only wait for the right season. I have often heard this passage used to remind us to be careful what kind of seeds we sow...and rightfully so. But I RARELY hear it used to encourage those who are diligently sowing seeds of truth! God encouraged me that day, that:

If I sow seeds in my children's lives, it's in their lives that I can expect a harvest.

If I sow seeds of righteousness in them, it's a harvest of righteousness I can expect.

If I sow as many seeds as I can, He'll divinely multiply my efforts!

If I sow the seeds NOW, a harvest will come....later...in a different season.

As encouraging as that was, I knew there was much hard work yet to be done. I knew I couldn't give up - the harvest had not yet come. That's where the scarecrow and the pumpkins on my hearth enter the picture. God showed me that if I wanted to see that harvest in my children's lives, I MUST LIVE A CRUCIFIED LIFE!!!! He reminded me of Jesus' words in John 12:24-25:

"...unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies,

it remains only a single seed.

But if it dies, it produces many seeds."

I still get weary sometimes. It's still not easy - but God has changed the way I see my job as a mother. It's so eternal. It's so full of purpose. Okay, I'm crying now - so I'll conclude with one of my favorite verses:

"Those who sow in tears will reap with songs of joy.

He who goes out weeping, carrying seed to sow,

will return with songs of joy,

carrying sheaves with him."

Psalm 126:5-6

I believe this Truth. I cling to this Truth with all of my heart. And these truths are what I'm reminded of every year when I pull out my fall decorations. You know, fall is just about over here in Alabama. But it just doesn't seem right to put my decorations back in the box yet - because for me, this season is not over yet. There's a harvest coming...

I am a scarecrow!

Every fall...well, every year, WEEKS before fall is even a thought in most people's minds...I pull out all of my many fall decorations and just GO CRAZY decorating my home! I have colorful leaves, pumpkins, scarecrows, candles, you name it! Last year I bought a scarecrow that is almost as big as I am! I love it! My favorite thing to do with this life-sized scarecrow is to place him in the middle of our hearth and place pumpkins and leaves all around his feet. He's the focal point of that part of the house! You might wonder why that means so much to me. Scarecrows never really carried any significant meaning for me until I began associating them with this verse:

"I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live,

but the life I live in the body I live by faith in the Son of God

Who loved me and gave Himself for me."

Galatians 2:20

Now, when I look at my scarecrow - whose arms happen to outstretched - I remember my Savior and that He loved me enough to die for me. Then I picture myself crucified. Do I love HIM enough to be crucified? It brings Romans 6:2-7 to mind. It says that in Christ we have "died to sin," that we may live a new kind of life. My old self is "crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with..." That is TRUE living!

The Beauty of Fall: Leaves

Fall time will soon be over, and I'm just now finding the opportunity to finish writing about what God has taught me through my favorite season of the year! Isaiah 6:3 reminds us that the whole earth is full of God's glory. Well, leaves are no exception.
A couple of years ago, I was studying plants with the kids during homeschooling. At the time, we were specifically studying leaves. I learned something that has forever changed the way I experience fall time. I simply learned why leaves change colors. It turns out, all of those beautiful, vibrant colors were present within the leaves all along! They just couldn't be seen. During the fall months, the leaves begin to die-to starve to death, really. The leaf is emptied of its chlorophyll, causing the green coloring to fade. As this happens, the other colors that were previously hidden, are now brilliantly revealed.
What God showed me that day was the secret to true beauty: death to self. Only when I die to self can the beauty of Jesus Christ be brilliantly revealed in me. Colossians 3:3 says, "For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God." The beauty of the leaf is found in the process of dying, the end result of which is falling to the foot of the tree. This is a picture of the crucified living God has called me to, and it will require me to daily starve my flesh. Oh, what a high calling - to fall at His feet and truly abide at the foot of the cross. I'm to be hidden in Him, but His Presence within me was never meant to be hidden.
I pray that whether or not I'm ever beautiful by the standards of this world or in the eyes of any man on the face of this earth, that I will be beautiful to my Bridegroom Who died for me. It is also the desire of my heart, that when others look at my life, they would be able to catch at least a glimpse of His radiant, breath-taking beauty.
God uses the fall season to speak to me about crucified living. The truth is, however, we need not wait for a certain season or time of year to humble ourselves. Any time we spend at the foot of the cross is a beautiful season.
"He has made everything beautiful in its time" (Ecclesiates 3:11). It's time to be beautiful!

More Than Conquerors

I just have to share something with you about Romans 8:37. It says, "No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us." I mentioned this verse in my post about the pumpkin devotion.
For so many years, I really didn't understand what this verse was really supposed to mean. I could relate to being a conqueror - but I always wondered what God meant by being MORE THAN A CONQUEROR. I think I've finally started to get the picture. It started about three years ago when Chris and I got to go Israel for the first time. Our tour guide is Rimon - and he has so much biblical and historical knowledge that we could hardly keep up with him much of the time. Some time after the trip, I came across Romans 8:37 again, and God helped me recall some of Rimon's words.
In biblical times there were so many different kings and kingdoms - some large kingdoms, but also many city-states. If a king wanted to grow his kingdom, he might decide to attack a city-state, destroy it, and either kill or mutilate its king. If he could do this, you might say he had "conquered" that kingdom. What more could he do to be MORE than a conqueror then? Well, once all the city was captured and the king and all his people were dead or taken captive - the king would keep all the spoils of the war! He received wealth and riches and spoils from the conquered city. Then the new king would take over this new territory and use it for the purposes of his own kingdom. That's a picture of us!
See, until Christ - the King of Kings - came and rescued us, we were in a besieged city! We were captive and condemned to death. Anyone who is in Christ, though, is now free. We are conquerors. We have freedom from the penalty of our sin, and we also have freedom from he power of sin! We have victory over sin! But even THAT is not the end of the story for us! God gives us opportunities to see Him take possession of our past and transform it into riches for His Kingdom by using it to accomplish His kingdom purposes! Only a holy, soveriegn God can accomlish the miracle of making us more than conquerors! Taking over enemy territory...for God's Kingdom...What a mighty God we serve!
Need some practical pictures of people who are more than conquerors? Imagine somebody who once stuggled with anger. Now they're set free from anger: conqueror. Then God uses them to help others overcome their anger: more than a conqueror.
Imagine a young woman with a strong will and rebellious spirit. Later, in Christ, she is so fully submitted to God that she surrenders to her calling of poverty on the mission field: conqueror. God uses her surrendered sense of determination, perseverence, and long-suffering to change the face of international missions: more than a conqueror. (Lottie Moon...)
Imagine somebody who once struggled with alcohol. God strengthens them and they are no longer ruled by this thirst: conqueror. Then God makes them a policeman with a passion for pulling over drunk drivers...so he can help save their lives from destruction: more than a conqueror.
Imagine somebody who struggled with impure thoughts. They rely on God to maintain a consistently pure thought life: conqueror. They later help others by passing on their testimony of God's purifying work in their own lives...perhaps their own children...:more than a conqueror.
If you find yourself having to walk on what was once enemy territory in your life, and you choose to glorify God and assist others traveling through that same territory, you are more than a conqueror, too. Please leave a comment - share how God has made you more than a conqueror. Who knows what kind of spoils it might leave at the feet of your King.

Loving Fall Time: Pumpkin Devotion

It's fall time! It's my favorite season of the year. So, I will post some reasons why fall is so special to me over the next couple of days.
Fall has always been special to me for simple reasons like watching the leaves turn colors and feeling the air turn cooler. My Dad used to make homemade apple cider, and that was always so tasty! But as an adult, there have been some other reasons God has given me to cherish fall time.
Perhaps some of you grew up with the tradition of the Pumpkin Devotion. I'd never heard of it until about eight years ago! For anyone who hasn't ever heard about it, this is just wonderful! I do this with my kids each year now as an alternative to Halloween.
The pumpkin symbolizes the human heart. The kids and I cut it open together and make a big deal about just how yucky (big vocab, I know!) the inside of the pumpkin really is! Then we experience how very difficult it is to clean out all the GOO (yes, more big vocab). We stop and discuss how the human heart is full of sin (Jeremiah 17:9, Matt. 15:18-20). But Jesus loved us so much - even before we knew Him - that He was willing to die so that we could have that terrible sin removed from our hearts (Romans 5:8, John 3:16). But praise God! He did not leave us empty! Oh, no - You know, we would never clean out a pumpkin and leave it that way! We continue the work of carving a face on it and putting a candle or light inside of it. God's work in our lives doesn't stop with forgiveness either! See, forgiveness is the work of of the Son of God FOR us. But once we become His child...His little "punkin'" - He fills us with His Holy Spirit! That's the work of the Spirit of God IN us! So, at this this point, the kids and I carve a cross or happy face in the pumpkin (I prefer a cross, personally) and place a candle inside of it. The picture this creates for us is that the lost world is dark, and if we are filled with the Light of Jesus Christ, we will be a picture of the cross to them.
The completed pumkin symbolizes to me the new creation I am in Christ (2 Cor. 5:17). This year as I cleaned out the pumpkin, I was faced with the decision of what to do with the seeds and yucky goo (you've learned my big vocab, now, haven't you!). I really just wanted to throw it away and be done with it. That stuff's really gross! But the kids love to toast the seeds and eat them. Well, this really struck me, when I considered what God does with my yucky goo - all the sin of my past and all the seeds of the flesh I have sown. He cleans all of that out of my heart and forgives me - but He then turns it into something useful and even beautiful! Think about verses like Ecclesiastes 3:11 (He has made everything beautiful in its time.), Romans 8:28 and 8:37 (...in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to His purpose; ...No, in all these things we are more than conquerors...), and Psalms 130:7-8 (...and with him is full redemption. He Himself will redeem Israel from alltheir sins.). God doesn't just throw away the seeds and yucky stuff! He redeems that, too! He's redeemed everything about me! That means it now belongs to Him, and He can do with it as He pleases. He uses it for good. He can use me inspite of all I've done. He allows me to pass on the things He's taught me from my mistakes and sins. He's given me an opportunity to be a picture of His cross, a vessel of His light, and more than a conqueror! I'm His lil' punkin.