Pray for Raleigh

Church -

Please be in prayer for our city. The news is reporting that police were involved in a shooting in SE Raleigh this afternoon. Crowds of protestors are beginning to gather. Please pray for God’s protection and covering over the entire situation and for everyone involved.

Below is a prayer from our Prayer Book for God’s help in the midst of conflict. It may be helpful to guide our prayers for our city during this time.

Prayer In Times of Conflict

O God, you have bound us together in a common life. Help us, in the midst of our struggles for justice and truth, to confront one another without hatred or bitterness, and to work together with mutual forbearance and respect; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Live Like You Believe

It is beyond bizarre that I am writing about the prophets. They have always seemed too- heavy-to-grasp. It has been easier to pull out the power verses from these chapters than actually pay attention to what they are saying. But God. He is a real funny One. So, here I am writing about those radical, strange-to-their-culture, weeping-for-their-lost-peeps men and women with awe and reverence. I do not claim to understand any more than a smidgeon of what these visionaries teach, but I will say without hesitation that I believe their words are deeply important for us to hear as women in 2016.

As a backdrop, after God had faithfully delivered His beloved people out of captivity and established them as a nation and after He had shown up in miraculous ways revealing His power, provision, mercy and grace, His people were pretty much ignoring Him. It was not that they did not believe He existed. They simply did not pay any attention to the words of God. So, God sent the prophets to urge His people to turn back to Him, to obey His word. Essentially, God sent the prophets to tell His people to live lives that look like you believe. And the message is the same for us. If we believe in God, our lives should look like we believe. Do they?

I have heard so much of God’s instruction for my life. I have heard His stories, and I know His promises. I can say confidently that I believe in God; but I confess that the actions of my life often look like I do not believe. I have heard the message of ‘love your neighbor as yourself’, but I dismiss the unpopular and drive past the poor. I know the command of having no other gods before Me, but the idols of our culture are so entrenched in my daily rhythms that am often unaware of what I worship. The shape of our bodies, healthy eating, social media, looking the part, acting the part, raising impressive kids, doing church well– all these things greedily vie for our attention. Within seconds of closing my Bible, my God slips to the background my eyes hone in on the worries of the world.

The Israelites were condemned for not keeping the Lord’s commands and offering sacrifices for show. Their behavior was compared to infidelity, prostitution. Are we that different? If you could print out a transcript of your thoughts or if you had a tracker for your footsteps, what would those reveal about who and what you worship? By the things I think about, by where I spend my money, my time, my energy, what does this say about who or what is my god? I sit with God in the morning and then I dance to the beat of the world all day long. The words of the prophets ring so true they make me shudder.

These prophets were wildly unpopular, because their message, if looked at squarely, stings. Like my mom used to say, “The alcohol stings when it hits the hurt because there is an infection that must be cleansed.” So, I have sat with the words of these prophets and asked God to speak their cleansing truth deeply into my wayward heart. This idea of where we have relegated God is deeply important if we want to lives as women of faith. He is not to be King of a closed Bible, King of Sunday church, He is to be King over all our lives. King in our parenting, King of our marriage, King of our friendships, King of our calendars, King of our bank accounts. King of our words. Even King of our thoughts. And if He is King over all that we say and do, our lives will look radically different. We will live lives that look like we believe in a God who is Good. The glorious promise on the flip side of the prophets’ solemn cries was this: there is a wonderful Counselor, an everlasting Father, a Prince of Peace, a Comforter, a Healer, a lover of our souls waiting with arms outstretched to receive us, when we turn to Him and live like we believe. I think it’s worth a shot.

Eugene Peterson:

“These sixteen writing prophets provide the help we so badly need if we are to stay alert and knowledgeable regarding the conditions in which we cultivate faithful and obedient lives before God. For the ways of the world – its assumptions, its values, its methods of going about its work are never on the side of God. Never. One of the bad habits that we pick up early in our lives is separating things into secular and sacred. We assume that the secular is what we are in charge of: our jobs, our time, our entertainment, our government, our social relations. The sacred is what God is in charge of: the bible, worship, heaven and hell, church and prayers. We then contrive to set aside a sacred place for God, designed, we say, to honor God but really intended to keep God in his place, leaving us free to have the final say about everything else that goes on. Prophets will have none of this. They contend that everything takes place on sacred ground. God has something to say about every aspect of our lives.”

Sitting with Jesus - Prayer for the 2nd week of Epiphany

Almighty God, whose Son our Savior Jesus Christ is the light of the world: Grant that your people, illumined by your Word and Sacraments, may shine with the radiance of Christ’s glory, that he may be known, worshiped, and obeyed to the ends of the earth; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

A Posture of Listening

There is a story in I Samuel, chapter 3 about a boy hearing the voice of God for the first time. The boy’s name is Samuel. Samuel would go on to become a prophet for all of Israel, and God would speak mighty truths through him. However, before that, Samuel had to learn to hear God’s voice.

This story is encouraging to me in so many ways. First, the fact that the God - who knows me, made me, loves me, sees me, has a purpose for me, and is - at present - preparing a place for me to spend forever and ever – that God is not too busy to talk to me. Enormously exciting. The second reason this gets me all fired up is that if He is speaking to me personally, then this faith/church/religion stuff gets very real. No longer the black and white mandate of got to/should do/need to, the God at the center of my faith is now only a conversation away. Faith starts to feel less like duty and more like a road trip with a wise and loving bestie. And thirdly, when Someone wants to spend a lifetime traveling with you, talking with you, listening to your heart’s groanings that you can’t even articulate – well - to me, that sounds like the intimacy I always wanted but never knew I was missing.

So, how do I hear this voice? Interesting how it worked for Samuel. He was asleep on the floor beside the arc of the Lord. His mentor, Eli, was sleeping in the room just adjacent. The Lord calls to Samuel three times, “Samuel!” Every time Samuel wakes up and runs to Eli saying, “Here I am.” And each time, Eli essentially says, I didn’t call you. Go back to bed. After the third time, Eli realizes that this may be the Lord speaking to Samuel, “So Eli told Samuel, “Go and lie down, and if he calls you, say, ‘Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.” And that is what Samuel did. The Lord called on him again, and Samuel responded just as Eli had said. “Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.” And the Lord spoke, and Samuel listened, a pattern that would continue for the rest of Samuel’s life.

So, what was the difference between the times Samuel didn’t recognize God’s voice and the time that he did? What I see in this passage is that Samuel got into a posture of listening, and in doing so, he went from simply hearing to truly listening.

He was quiet and still. No matter how hard we try, it is very hard to truly listen when the world around us is loud and busy. We may hear things, but that doesn’t mean we are always listening. He was expectant. He went from not even considering that God would speak to him to becoming expectant of hearing God’s voice. He was open. Maybe it was because he was a boy without the encumbrances of a great political, social or personal agenda, but Samuel seemed so open to hear anything. I confess that I listen out primarily for things I want to hear - like that I am “right” in pretty much all circumstances. The reality is that sometimes when we listen only for certain things we miss the message all together. He was believing. Samuel was able to listen, because he believed God would speak to a little fella like him.

Ladies, this is immensely important, this listening business. In verse 7 of this chapter it says, “Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord” before he listened to God’s voice. Samuel grew up in the temple, a student of the great prophet Eli, he slept on the floor beside the arc of the Lord which was considered the very presence of God. Still, with all that ‘church’ all around him, he did not know the Lord until he listened to His voice.

So, here is our MANNA: God is speaking to you now. He is a God who calls out to the people He loves. And, this I know for sure. He loves you. He wants to ‘tell you great and unsearchable things that you do not know’. Will you listen? What if you gave Him 3 minutes of your day today in a quiet, open, expectant and believing posture? What if you said, “Speak, Lord, for I am listening”? What if …

Sitting with Jesus - Prayer for the 2nd week of Christmas

‘And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. ‘ – Philippians 1:6

Attached is the picture that I referenced yesterday. I wanted to send it as a reminder to us all that we are works in progress. Give yourself (and others) grace in this life as God works on us to form us into the image of Christ. He is coming back, and on that day we will all be complete!

Below is a prayer for the 2nd week of Christmas. Allow it to draw you into a time of Sitting with Jesus.

Prayer for the 2nd Sunday after Christmas Day

O God, who wonderfully created, and yet more wonderfully restored, the dignity of human nature: Grant that we may share the divine life of him who humbled himself to share our humanity, your Son Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Merry Christmas,

Ford

Sitting with Jesus - Prayer for the 1st Week of Christmas

Church –

Below is a prayer for the 1st week of Christmas. As you Sit with Jesus this week, I pray that it will help to remind you of the impact that Jesus, the incarnate Word, can make in our lives.

Prayer for the 1st Sunday after Christmas Day

Almighty God, you have poured upon us the new light of your incarnate Word: Grant that this light, enkindled in our hearts, may shine forth in our lives; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

Mary: Casting Call

In all of the Christmas pageants of my youth, I never got to play the part of Mary. It was a significant disappointment, and it has taken me years to accept this oversight. So, you will join in my rejoicing as I share with you the good news of my recent nod from the Director. It seems there is still a chance for us all.

Luke 1 tells of the angel Gabriel approaching Mary with news of her being chosen to give birth to the Son of God. “The angel went to her and said, ‘Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you… Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus.”

When Mary was cast in this role it had something to do with her favor with God. I wonder what that means… favor. Throughout the Old Testament, men and women found favor with God as they listened to Him, trusted Him, obeyed Him and walked with Him. He was in their thoughts, their plans, their hearts. He was ahead of them, behind them, with them. He was I AM to them. For me in 2015, that sounds like belief in its deepest and yet simplest form. Belief that He is all I need. Belief that He is so big, so close, so good, so deliberate in His every awareness of my life that He becomes an extension of me, as I become an extension of Him. Inseparable. Entwined.

John 15:7 “If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask … and it shall be done for you.”

I have thought about Mary and this abiding and this favor a lot this Christmas, because I want all of it. But how? I don’t really know for sure, but I think it has to do with planting His words into my soul’s depths with the belief they will grow and become something bigger than me. Just as we believe a seed properly planted will become something else, His words inside of me - Him in me - will yield something new. Him in me changes me, grows me, stretches me, refines me from the inside out. And something else happens along the way. It’s as if I am being prepared for a place I long for but have never seen.

Here we sit at Christmas. And I hear an offering for each of us to play a most sacred role in THE story of our time… You see, I think He is asking all of us to be Mary. It may sounds something like this:

Daughter, will you take My word, My Self into your heart and become pregnant with all the potential of a new life? I am asking only that you abide in me, as My word abides in you. Like a pregnant woman watches new life grow inside of her – something she can only partially see and feel but not fully understand - will you allow Me to grow inside of you? By saying yes, you will begin to see the splendor of Eternity dripping into your everyday life. I ask only that you love this new Life with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. The life inside of you is called Jesus. He is love itself, and He is your Emmanuel. Follow Him wherever He goes. He will comfort you, heal you, bring you peace and joy as you have never known. Trust Him, because He is good. He will show you the way to Me. And with Me, you will understand; for it is with Me that you have always belonged. I have given all that I loved most to give you this opportunity, this gift. I desire you to say yes, because I love you so. This is My Hand reaching down to you. Will you receive this new Life you were born to love?

And just like that, this story is our story. The part is ours for the taking. So, what if we played the part of Mary this Christmas by saying, “Let it be”?

Ruth: Stepping Stones into the Heart of God

The story of Ruth’s journey from pagan Moab to godly Bethlehem and the life that unfolds for her there paints a picture of what following God looks like. It is very easy to treat God like an invisible, unmoving thing that must be visited and honored with bedtime prayers and weekly church services. What Ruth shows us is that living a life of faith requires physical steps TOWARDS God. And before we all panic and say “What steps? Where are the markers? How do I get to Him?” Know that the way is actually quite clear. The steps to God are simply our doing what HE says, again and again.

In my mind, Moab represents the places in my life where I try to have it both ways. It’s where I want to live a life of faith, but I don’t really want to do what the Bible says. Moab is the place where I want to follow Christ, AND ignore my sisters who are struggling because of the color of their skin. It is the place where I want to feel good about doing my quiet time AND omit the part about living in relationship with people whose bank accounts are not like mine. Moab is the place where we say, Yes, I believe in God, but there is a to-do list or an image-to-maintain that just must be addressed right now; so I simply cannot walk toward Jesus today. And I wonder why my faith life feels stagnant.

Ladies, never has Ruth hit me so hard. I used to focus on the love story part and how she ‘happened’ into the field of the wealthy and godly Boaz. I would daydream about the good life Ruth and Boaz had together as leaders in that town. I would get so excited thinking about how that’s what Jesus wants for me. It is all good stuff; and it is truth on which it is absolutely worth dwelling. But we must look at what got her there.

When Ruth asks Boaz how he has come to notice her and give her this favor, he says this: “All that YOU HAVE DONE for your mother-in-law after the death of your husband has been fully reported to me, and how YOU LEFT your father and mother and the land of your people, and CAME to a people that you did not already know.” Ruth 2:11. This affects you and me, because Boaz is a pre-cursor to Christ. In many ways, this story of how Boaz cares for, provides for and redeems Ruth gives us an understanding of the kind of redemption Christ is offering you and me. So, when Boaz is saying that he notices: 1) what she DID for her mother-in-law; 2) how she left her people; 3) how she came to a new land; I cannot help but think these are the things that Jesus desires of me. These are my stepping stones into the heart of God.

Let me be crystal clear: we cannot have a relationship with Jesus strictly by serving His people. We must spend time with Him in His word, listening to His voice, praying and worshiping Him. To be sure, Ruth learned many a lesson from Naomi as they tended house back in Moab about who God was and what His commands were. She had spent time learning about God; but in this story we see her physically moving TOWARDS God. There comes a time for all of us to move, to take steps away from Moab and towards our Redeemer. He awaits us in foreign fields and amongst people we have not always known but who are to be OUR people.

Before leaving Moab, Ruth profoundly vowed that Naomi’s God would be her God, and His people would be her people. I have read that verse so many times, but I never saw how I have not DONE this verse. I can see clearly how I have accepted God to be my God but fallen gravely short of seeing His people as my people. Sisters, there is a time for movement towards Him in our hearts, but there is also a time for moving closer to Him with our lives and often that requires a displacement from what feels normal, comfortable, and safe.

Displacement is scary. Leaving what you know and venturing to a neighborhood, a person, a daily routine totally different from your own - it feels weird. But it will be worth it. Boaz was waiting in Ruth’s field of displacement. Jesus is waiting in yours, with arms outstretched. Your love story… waiting to unfold.

Remembering Led Joshua to Faith and Obedience. God gave him Victory.

Four centuries of Egyptian bondage, followed by forty years of wilderness wandering, then the Glory days. God spoke, Joshua listened, and the Glory Days began. The Jordan River opened up. The Jericho walls fell down. The sun stood still. Evil was booted. Homeless wanderers became hope-filled homesteaders. The Lord gave the land. The Lord gave rest.

How could this movement from Egypt to the Promised Land apply to us?

Egypt: Hebrews enslaved to Pharoah. Represents our days before salvation, enslaved to sin.

Wilderness: The defeated Christian life. Characterized by grumbling, anxiety and desire to be slaves again. Didn’t believe the Lord could give them what He promised. Out of Egypt (slavery), but Egypt wasn’t out of them.

Promised Land: The victorious Christian life. By Jesus’ grace and power, we were freed from our old life. “We are more than conquerors.” Romans 8:37. Canaan is a life defined by grace, refined by challenge, and aligned with a heavenly call. We serve out of our giftedness and delight in the Lord.

There were 2 key characteristics that allowed Joshua to lead God's people into the Promised Land.

1. REMEMBERING led Joshua to faith and obedience

• From the first mention of Joshua in the Bible, it was very important to God that Joshua REMEMBERED. Joshua was the lead soldier in the wilderness battle with the Amalekites. When Moses' hands were raised they were winning, but when they dropped the Amalekites would be winning. After the victory, the Lord asked Moses to write the story on the scroll as something to be remembered and make sure Joshua hears it.
• When God called Joshua to lead His people into the Promised Land (Joshua 1), Joshua could have responded with “I can’t”. Moses was dead, 2 million people inexperienced in battle, and the Canaanites eat people like them for breakfast. But, Joshua Remembered that God could do the miraculous. He trusted God's Word, and believed that God had already blessed them and chose to live into that blessing.
• Joshua had faith because God declared He was giving them the land, not might give, you must conquer, must prove yourself worthy, must earn or purchase! Transaction had already happened. When we give our life to Christ, He “has blessed (us) with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ.” (Eph. 1:3) Not will bless, might bless, or someday could possibly bless. 2 Cor 5:17, God will “equip you with all you need for doing his will” (Heb 13:21), “God has given us everything we need for living a godly life” (2 Peter 1:3). These Promises are for us!
• God offered the inheritance to the people of Moses’ day, but they didn’t take it. They chose the wilderness- self-preservation and grumbling. We don’t want to make the same mistake. Joshua took God at his word and set about the task.
•  What are our Jerichos that keep us from Promised Land living? Does a stronghold (a false premise that denies God’s promise) have a strong hold on you? Ask God to reveal it.
  • I could never forgive that person (stronghold of resentment)

  • I could never recover or change (stronghold of defeat)

  • Bad things always happen to me (stronghold of self-pity)

  • I have to be in charge for things to go right (stronghold of pride)

  • I don’t deserve to be love (stronghold of rejection)

  • I must be good or God will reject me (stronghold of performance)

  • I’m only as good as I look (stronghold of appearance)

  • My value is based on my possessions (stronghold of materialism)

•  “The enemy does not have to kill you to destroy your witness… all he has to do is disorient, distract, disengage, distance you, disable you, deactivate you…. From your calling." Gary Barkalow, It’s Your Call: What Are You Doing Here?

2. STEEPED IN GOD’S WORD

• God was equipping Joshua for the mission of a lifetime. Command given? Read the Word of God. (Joshua 1:8) He gives us the same word. Open our Bibles, most important tool for spiritual growth.
• Desire to leave the wilderness for the Promised Land? Trust in God, engage the Bible, meditate on it day and night, think and rethink about it, let it be your guide and go-to book for questions, the ultimate authority in your life. “You shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free” John 8:32. Truth saves us from guilt, fear, anger, and reconfigures our heart.
• Do we have Scripture on the walls of our heart? On the walls of our home? By our kitchen sink?

Like a mom sending her child off to school, bending down low, looking them in the eye, “Remember what God has done. Remember who you are. Remember whose you are.”

Content from Max Lucado’s book, “Glory Days: Living Your Promised Land Life Now.”

The GOOD Life

Joseph is one of my favorite Bible characters. In a life that included a fair amount of darkness, Joseph stands in the end a man who loved his people well. Despite tough circumstances, I see a man who trusted God enough to get out of bed each day believing there was good in it simply because his GOOD God was present. Joseph seemed to live very much in the presence of a very real God. I would love to live my life like Joseph lived his.

In this part of the story, Joseph is 17. He is Jacob’s favorite son. This family is wealthy, prominent and well-known in Canaan. So, I am going to jump into this little moment in history and say that if I had been Joseph at 17, I would have been pretty pleased with myself and my circumstances. I mean, who wouldn’t be? Known by the village, part of God’s First Family, handsome, rich, all set up to live a GOOD life. I would certainly have had a bounce in my step. And I would have wanted everything to stay just like that. GOOD.

An interesting thing happens in this story. It turns out that Joseph, the handsome, favorite son with big dreams, is despised by his brothers. (I am guessing envy was at the root.) One day Jacob sends Joseph out to check on his brothers in the fields. They see him coming and decide that they have had enough of “that dreamer” and throw him in an empty well until traders come along and they sell their brother into slavery. And just like that, the GOOD life was no more. Wealthy, prominent, adored Joseph becomes a slave – unknown, alone, powerless. No family, no money, nothing.

This is where each one of us is able to step into this story. Not because we are literal slaves, but life happens to all of us. Fancy wedding days can end in divorce. Fawned over children can lose their way. Wealth can be lost. Families betray. Friends move on. Sickness comes. Life happens and it can feel like a dark, lonely pit. And even if we are not currently experiencing this kind of suffering, chances are (and I can speak for myself here) I am working pretty darn hard to prevent it. In fact, I can work so hard to keep the GOOD life GOOD - or at least so that it looks GOOD to you - that it can feel like dark, lonely pit of its own. So, you see, on either side of this GOOD life, we can be captives.

BACK TO OUR STORY, role model Joseph is a now slave in the house of Potipher, the chief bodyguard. Having made this giant freefall from the GOOD life, Genesis 39 says, “And the Lord was with Joseph so that he prospered… the Lord was with him … the Lord gave him success in everything he did... the Lord blessed ... The blessing of the Lord was on everything…"

In Joseph’s life pits, do you know what I see? I see the Lord. My favorite character is now totally upstaged by God. The LORD is so present in those dark pit places. I know that God is everywhere all the time. But this is what I wonder: maybe Joseph saw Him more clearly, felt Him more fully when all the fluff of the GOOD life was temporarily moved aside. Even though God was always with Joseph, I wonder if Joseph was with the Lord in a totally new and radical way.

So, here is our MANNA. It is so easy to get enamored with the GOOD life. We can work for it, strive for it, suffer for it, pray for it, decorate it; we can love it so much that we even grieve the loss of it, or become a vigilante trying to save it. Be careful. This quest for the GOOD life can blind you to the God who is GOOD. My friend Joseph (I call him that even though we have not formally met, though I do so look forward to coffee with him in Heaven) ends his days as Prime Minister of Egypt. He is the ultimate success story. Because he woke up each day – both in the pit and in the palace – and chose to draw closer to the God who was GOOD, his life was filled with the blessing of a GOOD God’s presence. Oh, if that could be said of us!