November 17

“If you serve the Lord out of duty or habit, but not out of joy and gratitude, you will feel like a martyr.  You will envy those who are experiencing joy in the Lord while you feel weighed down by the work you are doing.  This is not the abundant life your Father has planned for you.”  H. Blackaby, Experiencing God Day-by-Day, 10/27

Anytime we hear ourselves whisper inside our heads “What about me?” the martyr alarm should go off!  For me, what happens instead is that after posing that question I make myself miserable trying to answer it.  The answer never makes me feel better.  When I get to the point of deciding it’s no fun being a martyr, rather than find the right solution, I fool around with blaming others for forcing me into martyrdom!  This is NOT the abundant life our Father planned for us!  So, what is the right solution?  Of course, it would be best if we never played the martyr role, but if we find ourselves there what should we do?  There is only one answer, but it may take several steps to get there depending on our particular circumstances.  We may need to pray, to give thanks, to praise, to confess, but all these things merely lead to the real solution—the one-answer-fits-all solution--and that is to humble ourselves before God so we can walk in His grace.  Often time it is the one who seemingly is obedient that needs to hear this message--like the prodigal son’s brother.  Because he had served his father out of duty and not joy he fell into the trap of pride.  This is not the abundant life our Father has planned for us.

“And [the father] said to [the brother], ‘Son you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours’.”  Luke 15:31

October 3

“Notice the expressions ‘I will give you rest’ and ‘ye shall find rest’ in Matthew 11:28-29.  This rest cannot be earned, bought, or attained.  It is simply given by God and found by us.”  Hannah Whitall Smith, God is Enough, 9/22

Is there anything we work for in God’s economy? The more I understand God’s grace the more I realize how much I work for everything I have. Is it that I like work so much or is it the sense of control that I like?  What I’m seeing is I’ve been like the person who has spent the day picking beans in the field only to come home to a bushel basket full on her front porch.  And how often have I tired myself out trying to earn this rest Jesus has said He’s already given me.  It’s there waiting for me to just find it.  I’m getting a picture of life as an adventure rather than a journey.  When I go on a trip there’s lots of work involved before I leave.  Even the trip itself can be work if we have a time schedule to meet.  Once we’re at our destination we may have to work our way through crowds. Work, work, work!  On the other hand, to me an adventure means I head out the door with no reservations--no time table to meet.  It’s having knowledge of where I want to go and what there is to do once I get there, but being open to how and when I get there.  Life does require some planning, of course.  But if we see life as an adventure, that planning won’t be work.  It will be preparation.  Perhaps that’s the work that God does expect--preparing ourselves to receive all that He has to give us by keeping our eyes on and our hearts open to Him.

“Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”  Matthew 11:28

June 7

“When the apostle Paul encouraged the believers in Corinth to help the Christians in Jerusalem, he promised them that if they would sow generously, they would reap a generous return from God.  The truth holds life-changing potential for us.  If we invest everything we have in our relationship with God, we will experience the full dimensions of being children of God.”  H. Blackaby, Experiencing God Day-by-Day, 6/7

This “investment” is what the exchanged life is all about. When you go to a foreign country you exchange your country’s currency for their currency.  When we enter the Kingdom of God through Jesus Christ we must exchange our earthly currency for heavenly currency; otherwise, we’ll live an impoverished life in our new home.  I didn’t do this.  Instead, as I’ve traveled through the Kingdom of God since my salvation I’ve used my earthly currency--my self-sufficiency--to sustain my life.  It’s always cost me more, though, because of the different valuation.  And I depleted my purse quickly.  I had to work extra hard to replenish my currency--but since I couldn’t earn heavenly currency I just ended up with more earthly currency.   Occasionally I’d find a “bank” and exchanged my earthly currency for heavenly currency because I’d seen something that I could only get with heavenly currency.  It was always worth the effort, but these “banks” were few and far between.  I finally came to realize that in order for us to travel freely through the Kingdom of God we really must exchange all our old currency for the new currency as soon as we arrive.  It’s only then that we will experience the full dimension of being a citizen of God’s Kingdom.

“And Jesus said to his disciples, ‘Truly, I say to you, it will be hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven.’” Matthew 19:23

April 24

“Jesus said if we believe in Him, we will never be spiritually hungry....We say, ‘Yes, but I remember a time when I was spiritually hungry.’....Could it be that we relied so heavily upon friends and the experiences of others that we have never learned how to go to Christ for our own spiritual food?”  H. Blackaby, Experiencing God Day-by-Day, 4/24

Yes.  I would suspect that this is the first reason we feel spiritually malnourished.  We are too busy looking at our neighbors instead of helping them.  We scrutinize them, compare ourselves, or in some way try to emulate them.  We’re supposed to be looking at Jesus so that we will know that we are living the life of Christ in us.  Why is this so hard for us?   I believe it’s because we see ourselves as flesh first and then spirits.  If we were to realize that we are spirits in earth suits we just might see everything differently.  First, we’d not see death as the end of ourselves but instead a change of venue.  Then we’d value relationships much more than creature comforts because our spirits don’t need any of the comforts that our bodies crave.  I would even suspect that we’d view pain differently as well.  When we confuse our bodies with our spirits--as though they were one entity--we are tempted to take pain personally in a way that not only hurts physically but emotionally.  Jesus is the Bread of Life.  Let us feast on Him instead!

“How lovely is thy dwelling place, O LORD of hosts!  My soul longs, yea, faints for the courts of the LORD; my heart and flesh sing for joy to the living God.”  Psalm 84:1, 2

February 2

“The ‘nevertheless I live’ rings glad bells in your heart, however, if you have begun to experience His life within you.  You know now that He did come to bring abundant life, not to squelch you.  As you watch Him untangle you and those around you, you know this in a way I could never express.”  Eugenia Price, S.P.S., 2/2

By the time I read this quote this morning I was ready to receive it.  I’d started the morning by reading some verses on suffering.  I wrote about how I was suffering because of slipping back into feeling sorry for myself and how I desired to draw upon God.  It became abundantly clear that my wants pale in comparison to what God wants to give me.  The way God showed me this was not with my own situation but with another’s.  This person I thought of was basing their whole happiness on another’s ability to give them what they wanted.  I then realized that even if that other person was able to fulfill my friend’s love needs, my friend would still end up bereft if that other person were to die.  I then could see my own situation in that light and realized I did not desire that for myself at all, yet this is what I was mourning.  Instead, I shall mourn for this person and their misplaced wants--reminding myself only Christ can fulfill my true need. I am feeling a little more untangled!  This is, indeed, the abundant life.

“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?  Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?......No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.”  Romans 8:35,37