God's Glory

Professing to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man...who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. Rom. 1:22,23,25.

This scripture verse came to mind as I've been pondering the Glory of God.  The Glory of God has always been so ethereal and untouchable or unknowable in the past, but I believe He is letting me see glimpses of it. Here is what He is showing me.

God has given everything it's own glory. Mankind, animals, plants, even rocks have their own kind of glory.  Since I've always been a lover of beauty, I have appreciated nature's beauty.  Sam and I even have a bowl of found objects, all kinds of rocks, shells, sea glass, wood and what ever else we find beautiful on our adventures. Many people have asked why we have rocks in a bowl, not understanding what we see in them, but we love them for their innate charm. Am I seeing people the same way? Can I see me the same way I see rocks and sticks?  The answer until now has been "no".  I've always thought that everyone needed to conform to what I see as "beauty" or "glory".  That girl's tattooed arm; pink hair; piercings; different taste in home decor (formerly read as bad taste). You name it, I thought the person should change their hair, home, clothes, etc., to come up to the highest beauty they could have. Which of course, I could help them with since I have the knowledge of "true" beauty.  Ha! What I have been trying (and many times succeeding at) is to change the "truth or Glory of God", which in this instance is the person's innate beauty, for a lie, or for the glory of man.  What God has made them to be I wanted to change for what I thought they should be.

What about myself?  What am I doing to me? Am I trying to make myself into something or someone that conforms to what man's glory is instead of being thankful and appreciative of who He, the Almighty Creator of the Universe, made me to be?  Who knows best? Ummmm....God maybe?

I try to make myself more disciplined, thinner, younger, diligent, you name it.  I am not embracing the glory that God gave me.  I know that many people will not understand or agree with me.  Those who are of a disciplined personality, who have that as their innate glory, will say "you should strive to be more disciplined" and quote a scripture that backs up their opinion. We all do it.

My "glory", if you will, is that I am a person who enjoys "more". I mean, I enjoy more food, more rocks, more jewelry, more gadgets, more art, just more. Therefore, I have "more" body, more clutter than I think (and many others think) I should have. Then there is my sister-in-law, her "glory" is enjoying what she can have "less" of,  or "simplicity". Less food, less clothes, less clutter, etc. I have always appreciated her order, but thought she needed to want "more"!  Why? I thought her God given glory should be the same as mine. But she doesn't enjoy "more", she finds her joy in simplicity or "less"!  I am tired of thinking I know what others (and myself) should be like, and not taking into account what the creative God has made them (and me) to be!  I've wanted to trade the glory that God has given them for my own glory that God has revealed to and through me!  

Sam and I were sitting on the beach enjoying the waves and people.  A young girl with unnaturally purple-red hair ran by. Sam asked me if I liked the color of her hair, and I, the all-knowing sage of what things should be like, said " I like the color, but not for hair".  Why? It was a beautiful color! Can't I just appreciate things and people as they are without trying to change them?  Sigh...I'm working on it!

The point of this whole thing is: God has given everything and everyone their own glory. I want to see and appreciate it, to find joy in it.  Only then can I truly see the Glory of God, since He is to be found in everything He has created.  He leaves a bit of Himself in all creation and says "it is good".

Genesis 1:31 - Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good.

Grace, I'll Take it!!

The Grace of God.  What do I believe about the Grace of God? I believe it is all I need, that it draws me into Jesus, the one who paid a high price for this grace.  Will I treat it cheaply by trying to earn it? By thinking that I can add something by my actions?  That is what I always did (hopefully in the past), believing that Christ required some response other than acceptance of His gift with thanksgiving.
The Gospel (Good News) of Christ is simple: Believe in the one whom was sent from God (Christ Jesus), and love.  That's it.  Christ has done EVERYTHING else.  No need to strive to become holy, righteous, forgiven, etc.  All of that was accomplished on the cross, His death did what we could and can never do, which is become righteous.  Only IN Christ are we righteous. Do you realize that when the Father looks at us He sees Christ? We are hidden in Christ -

Col. 3:3 - For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.

He doesn't see any of what we see, He sees Christ...think about that.

Psalm 103:12 - As far as the east is from the west, [So] far has He removed our transgressions from us. 

Hebrews 10:17 - ... Their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more. 

If we are honest with ourselves, we must admit that no amount of trying has changed our behavior, at least not for long.  What if God truly meant what He said through Paul:

Romans 8:2 - For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. 

I am FREE from sin through Christ!!! Hallelujah!  

What is "sin"?  The Greek word for sin is hamartia, of which one of the meanings is "to be without a share in".  So because of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross, I have gone from "being without a share in God" to
becoming the "righteousness of God" - 

2 Corinthians 5:21 - For He made Him who knew no sin [to be] sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

WOW!!!  I'll take it!  Will you?

Right? Or Listening!

All my life I have striven to do and to be right. To have the right doctrine, right attitude, right view on everything. It got so bad that I forgot what's important. That the number one thing in life is relationship. First to God then through Him to others. That realisation led me to jettison my law-based religion for a love-based relationship. It's been a wonderful, but painful journey.

The problem is I have lately realized that even my seeking for a different kind of relationship with God was rooted in striving to be more "right" (read: righteous or self-righteous) than before.

So, I'm now beginning to ask myself, "Am I listening to the Holy Spirit or am I listening to myself and my obsession with "rightness"?" Since God graciously has revealed so many things to me, I thought I should take those God given ideas and revelations and made them my measuring stick. The truth is, I shouldn't have a measuring stick of any kind! That very idea is what led to our downfall in the garden (original sin). Adam and Eve were insistent on knowing good and evil instead of relying on God to direct them. So, because of their fall, we are constantly asking "Is this right or wrong? Good or Evil? " Going back to relying on God's voice, listening to what the Holy Spirit says in this moment, should be my goal. Not sticking to some idea or revelation He had given to me or others previously. I've been making my revelations into a brass serpent* (see scripture below). Taking what God had previously given for healing and blessing then making it something to be worshipped as "the revelation from God". The very same thing I've been nattering about, which is using the Bible in place of listening to God's voice, is exactly what I've been doing. I've used what He's revealed to me previously to make decisions on present situations. The Lord wants me to listen at all times, to "inquire of the Lord" in all situations. Sometimes, often actually, He will lead me to the Bible, or to a previous word or revelation, but first, first I need to ask Him!

I Cor. 4:20 - For the kingdom of God is not in word but in power.

The kingdom of God is found, not in my, or anyone's, ideas or revelations . The kingdom of God, the place where you will find the King, will be found only in the words or actions given present life and power by His Holy Spirit. I don't want to be one who says a plethora of wise and spiritual sounding words, but no power or life coming from those words. Even if those very words once had power, they probably don't now. The definition of the word "Vanity"** comes to mind, something that seems to be important but is full of nothing.

I don't want the Lord to say "do this, or go here, or say that" and I say " but God, you told me something different before, which is it?" God is saying "I exist and speak in the now. My words are fresh and alive, full of power and might. Yesterday's words and revelation belong to yesterday."

Dear Lord help me to say "yes and amen" to anything you ask. To listen in the moment, and flow with You.

Listen to a great song by Matt Redman - Yes and Amen ( on youtube)

Hear Your people saying yes,
Hear Your people saying yes to You.
Yes to anything you ask,
Yes to anything we´re called to do.

Hear your people say amen,
Hear Your people say amen to You.
Let Your kingdom come on earth,
Let it be just like we prayed to You.

Yes and amen to everything that´s in Your heart,
Yes and amen to everything that You have planned.
We live to see Your will be done,
And see Your perfect kingdom come on earth, on the earth.

Yes and amen, we´re taking up our cross for You,
Give us the strength to take these dreams and follow through.
We live to see Your will be done,
And see Your perfect kingdom come on earth, on the earth.

All the promises are yes,
All the promises are yes in You.
Every good and perfect gift,
Every blessing that we have was You.

*Numbers 21:8&9 - Then the LORD said to Moses, "Make a fiery serpent, and set it on a pole; and it shall be that everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it, shall live." So Moses made a bronze serpent, and put it on a pole; and so it was, if a serpent had bitten anyone, when he looked at the bronze serpent, he lived.

2 Kings 18:1,4 - Now it came to pass...Ahaz, king of Judah, began to reign.

He removed the high places and broke the sacred pillars, cut down the wooden image and broke in pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had made; for until those days the children of Israel burned incense to it, and called it Nehushtan.

**Vanity (noun) - the quality of being worthless or futile

Being Verses Doing

And be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith; - Philippians 3:9

What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? Certainly not! Rm 6:15

How do we know if our righteousness is by faith or, our own, from the law?

I think it comes down to being instead of doing.

To trip and fall and injure ourselves so that we must grovel and lie in the dirt until a good samaritan shows mercy and helps us up, is much different than to throw oneself down in the dirt, pretending to be in the same state as the former, trying to evoke pity from the good samaritan. One is being while the other is doing. They both look the same, but come from a totally different paradigm. One is accepting the mercy of another in our circumstances, the other is manipulating another to pity for our own purposes. One is spirit, one is flesh.

Conversely abiding in Christ, shown by what we do and are naturally, verses doing "acts of righteousness" as proof we are righteous. For example, a car engine that passes the emissions test because the owner (Christ) keeps it in tune by regular maintenance, verses putting a filter on the tailpipe to filter out the poisons that are there because of a faulty engine. The emissions test results may be the same, but in reality, the engines are totally different. Being and doing. The first car is clean and therefore runs clean and any tune-up that is needed will be done by the owner (Christ). The second is not clean running and manipulates the emissions test by putting a filter on the exhaust so as to pass the test, thinking passing the test by any means (acts of righteousness) is proof of a good, clean running engine (true righteousness). Not realizing that it is the owner's (Christ) job to keep the car running in tip-top shape, not the car itself!

I believe that God does not want us to "act righteously" to be a good example, any more than He wants us to sin to show others how gracious He is. All He wants is for us to be found in Him. Exactly who we are, nothing more, nothing less.

He wants to be our righteousness and show us His mercy and grace. Not for us to be manipulators. Just be yourself.

But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.

And since we have been made right in God's sight by the blood of Christ, he will certainly save us from God's judgment. For since we were restored to friendship with God by the death of his Son while we were still his enemies, we will certainly be delivered from eternal punishment by his life. So now we can rejoice in our wonderful new relationship with God--all because of what our Lord Jesus Christ has done for us in making us friends of God. - Rom. 5:8-11

Looking Back to look ahead

I would like to start the new year out, not by looking ahead, but looking behind. I want to remember some of the times when the Lord heard my cries, and answered. I want to muse about the goodness shown, not about my yet, unfulfilled promises.

I first think about the little girl who asked God for money for camp and He supplied. Not a big deal, but it set the foundation for my belief that God does hear and answer prayer. I think about the time God rescued me from being raped or worse when I was 15 in Salem, OR.; The many times I didn't even have enough sense to know what kind of danger I was in, but He rescued me anyway (I know my parents were praying, thanks Mom and Dad); About the strength He has given me over the many years of my first marriage, to carry on in spite of a broken heart and deep loneliness. How He was my resting place and gave me hope and life in spite of it all; How God rescued my son, many more times than I know, from death and destruction. He has had His hand on Ty for all his life. First rescuing Tyler from drugs, than cancer. In their place, giving him a wonderful wife and an adorable daughter; How God had protected my daughter Katy, like He did me, from dangerous situations where she should have had harm come to her, but didn't. How the Lord rescued her from an emotionally abusive first marriage, giving her back her hopeful spirit. Not letting it be crushed beyond repair. Bringing her beauty for ashes in the form of a loving husband and beautiful son; How my Lord has brought me a love that I prayed for, not knowing what form it would take, but knowing how faithful God is, He answered my cries. God gave me a wonderful loving husband who adores me, and whom I adore. I now rise in joy and lie down in peace. God is good!

All this to say, you can only access the many blessings God has in store for you, by remembering, acknowledging and thanking Him for what He has already done.

I thought about the former days, the years of long ago;...I will remember the deeds of the Lord; yes, I will remember your miracles of long ago.I will meditate on all your works and consider all your mighty deeds.

Ps. 77:5;11,12.

Praise you Lord God Almighty for your many gifts, especially for your son Jesus!

Happy and Blessed New Year to you all!

Miscellaneous ramblings from my harried brain -

I think I need to stop using the word "worship" when I really mean "adore". You can worship God without adoring Him, but you can't adore without worship. To worship something or someone is only an acknowledgement of their superiority or authority by bowing down. It doesn't say anything about the heart or attitude. Ah, but to adore...one dictionary says "To regard (To hold in esteem or respect) with deep, often rapturous love." Now that's what I want to do when I worship the Lord.

Sometimes I judge someone or something and give myself a pass by calling it "my opinion". The word "judge" means: To form an opinion or evaluation. And one who judges: One who makes estimates as to worth, quality, or fitness.

Opinion means: A judgment or estimation of the merit of a person or thing.

Hmmm...sounds pretty much the same doesn't it? I can like or not like something or someone, but I shouldn't pass judgement on it's or their worthiness or righteousness. Here's an example: "I don't like her hairstyle" verses "That hairstyle makes her look awful." Or how about and example with a person "I don't think what she is doing is pleasing to the Lord." verses "She is an adulterer and needs to repent." (Ok, the last one is a little close to home! ;))

I, too often, judge or give my "opinion". Here is a list of usuals:

That hairstyle makes her nose look so big!

She is ruining her children's life!

He needs to lose weight.

She should get a facelift.

That perfume she is wearing is awful.

His glasses don't flatter him at all!

She shouldn't wear sleeveless with her arms!

He doesn't deserve respect after what he's done!

She can't expect a relationship with me after her awful behavior!

That outfit is hideous!!

Well, I could go on and on. But, thankfully I won't.

I am so thankful and grateful that it is God's judgement that will prevail and not mine (or even yours). Because He judges with righteous judgement, which means through the blood of Christ!

2 Cor. 9:12 - Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift! (His grace!!)

Overwhelmed by His Mercy

Today I am overwhelmed by the knowledge of the goodness of God. The fact that He cares about me and my burdens, that when I cried to Him, He answered me. God is merciful, abounding in Love and Grace. He has shown his mighty power and Love to me, one who doesn't deserve anything, yet He, God, has shown Himself gracious. I also know that God is no respecter of people, that what He has done for me, He will do for you. That He longs to show himself strong in your weakness. He loves you and me more than either of us can imagine. Let Him love you and be merciful to you. Let go.

Matt. 9:13 - But go and learn what this means: 'I desire mercy, not sacrifice.' For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners."