Hello, dear readers! Have I been remiss in my blogging? You bet I have. But I guess it’s good news—it means that I’ve been busy. In fact, there is a whole mountain of stuff that God’s been doing over the last couple of weeks. I will give you a couple of highlights here and then share what God has put on my heart to write about. (There are going to be a couple of things here that are conspicuously absent from the list. For those of you in the know, well… then you know that God is really good. For the rest of you, all shall be revealed in due time.)
OK. Highlight reel go!
-I’ve been leading worship all over the place. I finally got to go to the rehab center last Friday night. It was so good. I hadn’t realize how much I was missing prison ministry, so it meant a lot to me to be back leading worship for a “rough” crowd.
-This Saturday, I’ll be going to the worship practice at my church for the first time!
-I am being discipled by a truly amazing woman of God named Refugio. I’m not sure if I’ve mentioned her before, but basically she’s the kind of person I look at and say, “God, make me like her when I grow up!” She operates on a Spiritual level that is so amazing to see. What I love about Refugio is that she continually makes herself available for God to work. Whatever, whenever, however—Refugio is tuned into the Spirit.
-The English class that I’m helping with is going rather swimmingly, I must say. It’s fun getting to know the woman who is teaching the class a little better every time. I’ve adopted her and her husband as my aunt and uncle, by the way.
That’s all I can really conjure up right now for highlights. You know my e-mail address if you have any further questions?
So, here’s what God has put on my heart to write about today…
My daily reading the a while ago was from First Kings, and what really caught my attention was verse Chapter 19, verse 4. Talking about Elijah during what we commonly know as his “failure,” when he fled after receiving Jezebel’s evil letter, the verse says, “…while he himself went a day’s journey into the desert. He came to a broom tree, sat down under it and prayed that he might die. ‘I have had enough, Lord,’ he said. ‘Take my life; I am no better than my ancestors’” (NIV). What surprised me in this passage is how hard Elijah is on himself. If you read on a bit farther, you’ll see God give him some basic commands, reveal Himself, and send Elijah on to find Elisha. But never once does God send down the kind of tongue-lashing Elijah gives himself here. There is one phrase, in particular, that has stuck with me. It is the moment where Elijah says, “I am…”
Did you catch it? He essentially told God, “Listen, I know that you think certain things about me. But let me tell you, God. You’re quite mistaken. I’m a nobody. I’m no better than my parents. You might as well let me die now because I’ll never be of any use.”
Be careful what you attach to the phrase “I am.” Not only is it one of the names of Almighty God, but it is also a dangerous, creative, powerful phrase in the mouth of someone made in the image of God. Whenever God chooses to wield those words in the Bible, usually two things happen: first, men fall on their faces in His presence and second, God declares the absolute truth about His character. When Moses asked God to reveal His glory, God began by saying “I AM.” When Roman guards came to arrest Jesus, they fell on their faces in sheer terror at the utterance of those words.
What do you do with those words?
If you’re anything like Elijah, (and James 5:17 assures us that he “was a man just like us,”) you probably fall into the category of incorrectly using them. God has been revealing things to me about myself in the last couple of weeks, so let me be the first to raise my hand and declare myself guilty. You see, we have no idea the kind of power God has given us here on earth. We have no idea what kind of spiritual authority God has placed inside of each one of us. Your mouth is a powerful—yes, powerful!—weapon. With it you have authority from God to cast out demons, to speak healing into broken lives, to declare the Good News to the lost, to comfort the lonely, to pray for nations, to declare the goodness of God’s works—the list goes on and on! And yet, what do we most often find ourselves doing with our mouths? Whining, complaining, or declaring false statements about ourselves and our lives, and most tragically, our God.
Words carry such weight, such extraordinary potential, that honestly to use them to demean and declare falsehoods goes against their very purpose. Do you remember how the universe came into being? God spoke. God declared life, He declared that all of the different nuts and bolts of the solar system would be—and they were! Then, God declared that they were good. Can you imagine if God had acted the way we do? Let me paint the scene here…
Before you is light, joy, palpable love. You are enveloped in the eternal glory of God. There is a silence that comes upon you as you sense the Trinity about to act. The Word of God stands up—Creation is about to begin!—but then there is a long pause. “Well… uh… I’ve never done this sort of thing before. I’m just not sure if I’m up to the task. Spirit, why don’t you go ahead and take this one…ok? I’m no good for this kind of thing.” What?! Would that not look completely and utterly ridiculous to you? How on earth could Almighty God, the Glory from before time, say such things about Himself? Would you not be frustrated with Him?
Now, what do you think He feels when you, the apple of His eye, whom He loved from before the dawn of time, whom He choose as his Bride before he set the foundations of the earth, in whom dwells Eternal Power, in whom dwells His entire being, whom he created in His own image, declare yourself to be unfit for service? Is that not an act of rebellion against the heart of God? Or to put it another way… if God says you are His chosen servant and that He has amazing plans over your life (see Jeremiah 29:11 if you doubt me), what are you saying, exactly, when you take the phrase “I am,” and end it with “…unworthy”? To put it bluntly, you are refusing God and thwarting His plans for your life. You are putting up your hands and saying, “uh… sorry God, but no,” to His love-purpose for your life.
Ouch. Now, I need to interject here that this does not mean we all wander through the streets saying, “I’m a pretty princess! I own a sports car! I have three ponies! I am rich beyond your wildest imagination!” I shouldn’t have to say that, but I want to make it clear that the only statements you should attach to “I am” are absolute truths. You do not have to say, “I am completely perfect and a wonderful person.” Honestly, if you’re the kind of person who would say it then it’s probably not true. But what you can say is “Christ in me is utter perfection and He has declared His love over me for all time, and He is transforming me more and more to fit His image”. Try that one on for size.
I challenge you to look through the scripture and take hold of a few of these “truths.” Can you imagine what the church would unlock if we took God at His word more often? If, when faced with a great trial, the first thing out of our mouths was, “God Almighty in the finality of his person dwells within me and He will, undoubtedly, work this together for my good.” How does that compare to our usual, “Good grief that sucks! Why me?” Or how about this: you find yourself in some great need, some kind of emotional problem. Try this one: “God within me is eternal _______ (peace, patience, love, whatever you need!) and I can do all things through Him who gives me strength.”
Stop using God’s name to declare lies about yourself! I’m not kidding here. Pretty soon, you will convince yourself that it’s the truth. I’ll be that there are certain things about yourself that up until now you have thought were just certain facets of “your personality.” Have you ever stopped to examine them and wonder where those things got in? Have you ever questioned whether or not the way in which you act in a room full of people is your “personality” or a fulfillment of all the little prophecies you’ve spoken over yourself over the course of your life? Let me tell you, when we look at God, there are certain things that become rampantly apparent: God is expressive, God is dynamic, God is vivacious, God is amazing at conversing with people, God is irresistible, God laughs, God is creative, God is compassionate, and believe me, there are many more aspects we could go into. How many of those adjectives do you speak over yourself? Let me guess: not many. Well… if you are a Christian… Doesn’t God live within you?
Do you see where I’m going with this? Never, ever allow yourself to put a label on you that does not conform to eternal truth. It will so infiltrate your system that before you know it, those seeds of self-doubt and lies will grow like weeds, their spindly vines stretching across the very fibers of your soul. And they will choke out the life that God has for you. You will always settle for second best if you have decided to call yourself “Not Good Enough.” You will always be the wallflower at social events if you think your name is “Can’t Talk to People.” Throw that stuff out the window. Start today.
God wants to remind you that He’s alive. God wants you to know that the same power that conquered the grave is available to you on a moment-by-moment basis. Don’t keep making Elijah’s mistake by declaring limits over yourself. You are different than your parents. You are worth the effort. God does have an amazing plan over your life. But until you will declare it with your mouth and act as if what you have declared is final, absolute truth, you will never get beyond those invisible limits you put up. God is so much more than you could ever imagine. Take Him at His word and let Him prove it to you.
After all, what have you got to lose?
"another fine bit of writing brought to you by yours truly"
