What's this "idol" thing??

One of my frequent areas of study when I come to the Word is the area of idols and idolatry. There is so much to be said on this subject that I think I could fill a year’s worth of blogs! I think one reason God continually brings me back to it is that (1) it is an area where I need constant reminders and refreshing and (2) it is a common area of struggle for modern day Believers. You see, so many of us think idolatry is a thing of the past, or only in Eastern religions. But, an “idol” is anything we give our hearts to in worship. According to one reference source, an idol “is an object of adoration- somebody (that is interesting!) or something greatly admired or loved, often to excess.” The “often to excess” part is what gets us into trouble!!! We begin to seek after these “things” of the world- work, career, shopping, relationships, food, alcohol, activities, exercise- to satisfy the longings of our heart. We seek gratification in these areas, or go to them when we experience the loneliness of our hearts…. We are deceived into thinking that we will be satisfied by seeking after these pursuits.

Anyway, I have studied this topic because for so much of my life, I sought after idols to fulfill me. For a long time, I used food to comfort me. When I felt overwhelmed by my circumstances, I would turn to food. When I felt lonely, I would turn to food. When I felt upset, I would turn to food. I would “reward” myself with food. I ate in secret. Whew- Proverbs 9:17-18, “Folly cries to us, ‘Stolen water is sweet; food eaten in secret is delicious!’ But little do they know that the dead are there, that her guests are in the depths of the grave.” Wow! Food “called my name.” I felt out of control with my eating. On the one hand, hating how I looked from overeating, but continuing to turn to food for escape. Uhhh!!!! But, praise God, there is FREEDOM in Jesus Christ! Praise God that He set me free from this area of bondage. I first needed to be honest with myself about turning to something other than God, the Creator of the Universe, my Redeemer, my Savior, my Rock, the Lover of my soul for satisfaction. I continue to press on in this area because I see so many of us as Christians struggling with bondage and bowing down to idols. There is SOOOOOOOO much in the Word about this area.

Of course, the Old Testament is full of passages on idolatry because the Israelites would continually go back to their idols over and over again. God would punish them, bringing them into captivity until they repented, crying out for Him. Then, they would go back to their idols, despite God’s warnings. He loves us so much and wants so much more for us than to follow after false gods- things that will always suck the life FROM us, instead of giving life to us. Think about it. When food was my idol, my health was compromised. I hated how I looked. I felt embarrassed. My clothes didn’t fit. It stole my time- I would continue to go back to the pantry all day long looking for food. (Like it was going to magically appear since the last time I looked??????) And, I would find myself getting behind on household chores because I was spending time on eating or thinking about eating!

But, idolatry is found in the New Testament, also! Jesus talks about idolatry. It is in Paul’s letters and John’s. But, Praise God, we have HOPE and freedom in the New Testament! Because of Jesus, we have freedom from the bondage of idols. We are more than conquerors! We are empowered to be free from idols because we have the Most High God living inside of us! Hallelujah!!!!!

Spiritual “Giant”???!!!!

In the past week, two people have commented on my “spirituality.” One friend said that people at my church look to me as a spiritual leader. Another friend, after reading my recent blog about having a really hard day, said, “I was so glad to see you have days like that, too!” I was pondering these comments this morning during my prayer time, a little surprised by them. I certainly don’t feel like a “giant!” And, I daily have to fight off temptations and wrong thinking. I don’t want people to think that it “easy” for me, that it doesn’t take “on purpose” kind of living. And, I don’t believe we (anyone) can just start to “skate” through our daily faith walk. It takes daily time with the Refresher, time in His Word, time in prayer. It takes a daily emptying of ME, and filling up on Him. And, there are struggles! My flesh will fight me! The enemy will tempt me! I will fail, but praise God, that He who began a good work in me will bring it to completion! Thank God that His mercies are new each morning and He forgives me!


A couple of thoughts….

I thought about the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus said “Blessed is the poor in Spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven.” Hallelujah! You see, in my brokenness, I come to Jesus, surrendering to Him, and I receive the Kingdom of Heaven! When I am weary, He gives me Rest. When I don’t know where to turn, He is the Light.

He says, “Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth." Other words for “meek” are humble, submissive, gentle. When I empty myself of pride, come before Him in humility, He stores up an inheritance for me. I want to submit myself to Him. I want to surrender all that I am, every area of my life to Him. I want to be gentle in spirit.

And, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.” When we hunger after Him, hungering for a greater intimacy, a deeper relationship, WE WILL BE FILLED!

Dear ones, if you only could see how far I’ve “come”- the depth from which He has saved me! I am no “spiritual giant”- only a woman so grateful for His love and forgiveness that I want more and more and more and more and more of Him! What you see is me clinging on to Him for dear life! If I let go, I don’t know where I would be or WHO I would be! All I know is that I want LESS of me and more of Him!

Another thought….

I was thinking how the Israelites had to get daily manna in the desert. They couldn’t store up and use manna later. They had to gather it for THAT day only. I was thinking about that in relation to my prayer time and reading the Word. I need to fill up on God each day! Every day I need to get a fresh supply. Each day, God has something new to teach me. I need refreshment for THIS day. That is how I grow closer to Him. That is how I grow spiritually. That is how I grow in maturity. It is how I develop weapons to fight against the enemy’s attacks.

Paul said in Philippians 3:12-14, “Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect (mature), but I press on to take hold of that which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself et to taken hold of it. 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.”

Father, we praise your Holy Name! Thank you Lord that you bring each and every one of us on a journey, and that you have a plan for us. Lord, I pray encouragement over these dear ones. Let them fix their eyes on Jesus, the author and perfector of their faith, following the path you have marked out for us. Let us not grow weary, but fight the good fight of faith, never comparing ourselves to anyone else. Father, give us manna today. Fill us with you. In Jesus’ Name we pray. Amen.

Help!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh, my! It was one of THOSE days! Let’s see, where do I begin?!

Fell asleep during my quiet time (must have been too quiet!). That, of course, sets me behind- so instead of a 5 AM start, it was a 7 AM start.

Forgot Ashley had girls’ chorus. So, she missed that today! (Needed to be there at 7:50- like that was going to happen!!!!)

Aaron and Aly fighting! Aaron scratched and hit her, “on accident!” (Boy, the lessons there! How many times, God, when you “catch” me, do I claim- it was just an accident!)

The dog got into the garbage and made a HUGE mess all over the kitchen floor! And, because our garbage disposal is broken, there is gross food everywhere! (Thank You, Holy Spirit for helping me have a calm, gentle spirit and not yelling!)

Forgot that I washed Abigail’s car seat cover. When we were rushing out the door, realized that I needed to put it all back together again.

When I got to Preschool, there was a “friendly” reminder that I paid the wrong amount in tuition. Please pay the remainder ASAP.

Oh, after the errands, I have a “to do” list a mile long……..

Oh, how I laugh at you, Satan! Nice try, but it is going to take a lot more than that to shake me!

“If God be for me, than who dare be against me? No weapon formed against me shall prosper! He that is in me is greater than he that is in the world! I can laugh at the days to come! And, this is the day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it!”

Thank You, Lord that You are my God in good times and bad! I will choose to praise You!!!! I will choose to laugh! I will choose to not take myself too seriously! And, I will give thanks that my hope is in You! I love You, Jesus!

Praises!

Greetings, all!

Where do I begin???? God is so good! The women's retreat was AWESOME! God was HUGE!!!!!!

He answered so many prayers! We prayed that God would be big, that His Spirit would blow through like a mighty wind! And, He did! Women's lives were changed! Praying over prayer cards, a woman came to Christ that weekend (hallelujah!), women were set free from bondage, hearts were healed. God's fingerprints were all over the place! He was working in the big things and the little things.

I was so overwhelmed by many things. All the women there had her own "story." What came to mind is that these were just "regular" women- women who are our friends, coworkers, neighbors, moms of friends, women sitting next to us at church. But, we don't know what is going on with women. As women, we put on a "happy face" and just do life. As women opened up, they told about broken childhoods, broken marriages, areas of bondage, disease. They honestly shared about their struggles and pain. They came and allowed God to heal them. God met each woman where she was, binding up her wounds. God loved on each woman there and brought victory! Praise God! He came to set the captives free!

The first message God laid on my heart to speak was on His love. That was Sat. morning. The Spirit filled my mouth with such beautiful words of love for the women and the importance of having an authentic, living, breathing relationship with each one. Listen to how precious God is. The director of women's ministry, Debbie, opened the conference and told a beautiful story using Psalm 139. God had given me a part of my talk on Psalm 139, and then one of the breakout leaders had Psalm 139 as the basis for her message! Did God work that out or what?????

Then, (this is so cool!) I had planned on doing the next talk Sat. evening on the theme verse, Romans 12:2, "Do not conform any longer to the patterns of the world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind." The last part of my message for Sunday morning was supposed to be on forgiveness (God's forgiveness for us and letting go of our shame). God spoke to my heart Sat. afternoon and told me someone needed to hear that Sat. night. So, I flip-flopped my message and spoke on forgiveness Sat. night. We finished by walking to the cross- bringing to it whatever God laid on their hearts. It was powerful! Women were weeping as God released them! It was such an honor to be a part of it and to witness God's Spirit working so powerfully- and humbling!

I know God was working in the "little" things as well. Sat. night we were having some "technical difficulties." There was no sound for my PowerPoint. We couldn't get the projector to start. I could've gotten frustrated and flustered, but instead rested in God (thank You, God! this, too, was only by the power of your Spirit!), knowing He had all things under control. Of course, prayed over the computers, mics, etc. But, there was something more going on. (spiritual warfare, too- Satan was trying to get me nervous!) But, the tech. man from the hotel, Lawrence, was in trying to fix it. And, Lawrence was under heavy stress. He was sweating (it was 90 degrees, 2 weddings outside on the golf course- everything was going wrong!) and complaining. "I am running around. I haven't had a break since last Sat. and won't until Thursday...." Well two things- first what the enemy means for evil, God can turn for good. Satan meant to squash what was happening in that room full of women, but God turned it for good. And, second- God can work ALL THINGS together for good. I began praying fervently for Lawrence. I don't know where Lawrence is or isn't in faith. I don't know if he is saved. I don't know if anyone ever prayed for Lawrence. But, I did that night! Even back in my room, I prayed fervently! God says He is looking for someone to stand in the gap, and I stood in the gap for Lawrence. God then placed on my heart to write a thank you to Lawrence and inside I told him that God loves him. Don't know what Lawrence thought about all of this, but I am believing God is calling Lawrence to Him. Praise God!

Anyway, thank you, thank you for all of your prayers! Here's a funny: driving there, praying, I asked, "How did I get myself into this??!!!! I will never speak again!!!!! I can't believe I am doing this!" But, by the end of the first talk Sat. morning, I was soaring with God, thanking Him and praising Him for this privilege and honor to His mouthpiece and to minister to women. And, I was praying for more opportunities! Praise Him!

I love you all!
May the God of all comfort and joy give you eternal encouragement and hope! May He bless you abundantly and fill you will all peace and joy!

Grace and peace to you all!

Praise You, God! You were so AWESOME, POWERFUL, AND BIG at the Ladies' Retreat where I spoke over the weekend. Praise You! God confirmed time and again how He wants to set us free! He does not want to see His dearly Beloved children in bondage, living under the yoke of Satan's deception! Hallelujah! This morning, one example stands out in my mind. A dear woman shared with me what she is going through at home- a terrible situation. Her husband is in bondage to a terrible sin. We prayed together, and I especially prayed that she would feel God's loving arms around her. I prayed that He would comfort her, pour out His wisdom on her, and shower His love upon her.

The next morning she shared with me how powerfully God had spoken to her through His Word.God led her to Isaiah where it talked about how He was going to come in to crush bondage and pride and that He is a source of strength. This passage spoke to her personally. It touched her exactly the way she needed. God had put His arms around her through His Word. God's Word is alive and active and personally speaks to each one of us! Praise God!

I was thinking how often we can sometimes "roll over and play dead." We start believing that THIS is all there is, or this is just how it is. We forget to fight- to stand firm and put on His armor. We forget to be strong in the Lord and His mighty power and to take our stand against the enemy's evil schemes. We just accept our circumstances as "the way things are." (Did you ever see the movie, Babe, about a pig who refused to accept that things were just the way things are?) We just sigh, and say, "This must be God's Will, His plan." (And sometimes it is! There are times that He is refining us or our circumstances are a result of sin or our choices- but that is a whole other blog!!!)

God reminded me of an example of this that happened not too long ago. I was NOT feeling well- I had a "bug" of some kind. But, I had so much to do. While I was praying with my mentor and prayer partner, I had a "woe is me" attitude and just kind of giving up. I am sick today, I won't be able to do all things I need to do. Oh well. I even said, "God must be slowing down." (And He, does do that, too- but that, too, is a whole other blog!!!!!) She began to pray for healing. We began to take our authority in who we are in Jesus and what He has already done for us. I of course, didn't want to hear these things! I wanted to her to feel sorry for me- I was sick! I wanted to "wallow!" But, as we prayed, my faith began to rise. I knew it was God's will for me to get up and accomplish the things He had called me to do that day. We talked about the time when Jesus healed Peter's mother from a fever and she got up to serve them. Immediately after we prayed I felt better. I still had my cold, but my attitude had completely changed. I had energy to get up and do the things I needed to do. Once I finished, I felt God say, "Rest now." I felt so much better!!!! I rested without worries of my tasks. I was so thankful and praised Him over and over!

This morning, as I pondered all of this, I opened my Bible. The Spirit led me to the story of the woman being healed in Mark 5:21-34. The crowds were huge. The Bible says, "A large crowd followed and pressed around Him." Have you been somewhere where the crowd was huge and people bump into you and you bump into them? Somewhere where you have to hold hands with the people you are with for fear of being separated? I picture the crowd like that around Jesus. The people are crowding Him, trying to get near Him.

The Bible says, "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 spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse." Whew! There is so much just in that short passage! In Bible times blood issues were taken seriously. If this woman had a blood disease, she would have been considered "unclean." People probably avoided touching her or getting too near her- for twelve YEARS. Can you imagine? The pain, the lonliness of this suffering for so long? In fact, Scripture says she had "suffered a great deal." Can you relate? Have you suffered a great deal? She spent all she had. She spent everything she had to get well. She sought out many doctors. She was using everything available. Yet, she was not healed. In fact, the Bible says "she grew worse." Have your circumstances ever grown worse, even when you have given everything you have to change them?

But, she knew where to go! She knows that Jesus can heal her. She thinks, "If I just touch His clothes, I will be healed." She knows the power of the her Savior. She knows it just takes a touch of his cloak. She doesn't even need to touch Him, just His clothes. So, she comes up behind Him, without saying a word, reaches out, and touches His cloak."IMMEDIATELY her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering." God wants to free us from our suffering!

Notice a few things. She goes to Jesus. She has great faith- she knows she just needs a touch from Jesus. She reaches out and touches Him. "At once Jesus realizes that power had gone out from Him." Wow! She reaches out, touches Him in her need, and power goes out from Him to heal her. Now, Jesus knows who touched Him. He is God. He is all knowing. All through the New Testament Jesus knew the thoughts of those around Him. So, He knows already knows who touched Him, but He asks, "Who touched my clothes?" Now the disciples are surprised by this question. EVERYONE was touching Him! A better question might have been who is NOT touching me???? They say, "You see the people crowding against You, and yet You ask, 'Who touched me?' " Jesus looks for her in the crowd. She knows she's "caught." She falls at His feet, trembling with fear and tells Him the whole truth.

Jesus calls her "Daughter." He says, "Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering." Hallalujah! Jesus FREES us! He frees us from our suffering! Jesus came to "set the captives free." She has been healed already, now He wants to free her and bring restoration! In front of the whole crowd, all the people she was trying to avoid, Jesus restores her and validates her. He calls her daughter!

One other HUGE point- there were LOTS of people touching Jesus, many of which probably needed healing. Why didn't Jesus' power go out from Him when they touched Him? She believed! Jesus said "her faith healed her." So many of us may touch Jesus, but do we believe? Do we have faith in Who is and What He can do?

Thank You, God that You bring healing and freedom! Thank You for Your restoration!