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I’ve been thinking so much on The Word of God, maybe because I just came off a two week 30,000 foot flyover of Psalm 119 that has reinvigorated, revived and given me a renewed appetite for more of it. I mean who wouldn’t want to learn more about the road to happiness, blessedness, joy? So, I’ve been taking a really deep dive into it and I’m trying to dissect and absorb it. You know, go from 30,000 feet to 2 feet. I’ve been trying to meditate (and memorize) on it day and night (yep, that’s where it came from). The meditating is going well, the memorizing…

So, in my thoughts about absorbing and taking in The Word, I was reminded of my sweet Shenandoah, my Worst/Best (may she rest in peace) and the time she ate my Bible. Although frustrating at the time, I have recalled this event often. She unintentionally taught me one of my big life lessons. We are to absorb The Word of God. Take it in and digest it. God’s Word is true and wonderful, powerful and active, life-guiding, life-changing, comforting and healing.

Taste and see that the LORD is good. Oh, the joys of those who take refuge in him!

Psalm 34:38

Literally. 

I’d left a Bible sitting on the couch and came home to this.  You’d think the Worst/Best at 10 years old would be over eating the stuff she shouldn’t.  For years you could leave things laying around, except for socks, and tea towels, and tissues, and gloves, and food, and vacuum cleaner parts, and she wouldn’t mess with them.  Now, all of the sudden, she’s decided to eat it if it’s laying there.  The other thing the Worst/Best has taken to chewing on is an old magazine we roll up to encourage her not to jump through the window when a car goes by with a whack on the bottom (don’t go all PETA on me a whack with a magazine doesn’t hurt a 90 pound, fully unglued, dog).  It just seems a little ironic to me that the two things meant for good in life (hers and ours) don’t really work unless applied.   We all need a whack (figuratively) and The Word (literally).

When I saw this chewed on Bible, so many thoughts came to my mind – I’m sure they did to yours as well. Initially I was annoyed, but then I thought she did something I (we) should all be doing.  But the one thought that gave me pause was that I want to be that hungry for the Word of God.  So hungry that I want to completely devour like Jeremiah.

When I discovered your words, I devoured them. They are my joy and my heart’s delight, for I bear your name, O LORD God of Heaven’s Armies.

Jeremiah 15:16

What food for thought.  I won’t belabor the many metaphors and puns that immediately come to my mind about this incident. I’m sure your wheels are turning too.  But, it does remind that the Word of the Lord is to be consumed, not by dog, but by man.  In fact, many versions call it feasting — feast on the Word of the Lord.  If we are followers of Christ, why would we not want to take it in?  It is our provision, our sustenance, our life.  It is meant to be read, absorbed and applied to our lives. We cannot know Christ, follow more nearly, love Him more dearly, know who He is, if we do not read The Word of God.

We can come up with all kinds of reasons excuses (maybe even idols) for not feasting on the Word of the Lord, but James laid it out too perfectly for us, didn’t he – to know what we’re supposed to do and not do it is a big problem.  That problem is sin. He tells us to seek Him, continually, with our whole heart (yep, Psalm 119). To know what we’re supposed to do and not do it is a big problem.

Here’s the thing, the Word can change our lives but not if we don’t read it.  The Word is filled with such love, hope, encouragement, promise, comfort, healing, peace, mercy and grace.  Don’t we all need just a little bit of that in our lives?  The Word is also filled with protection, instruction, teaching, wisdom, boundaries, and guidance.  Don’t we all need just a little bit of that in our lives as well?

Yes, he humbled you by letting you go hungry and then feeding you with manna, a food previously unknown to you and your ancestors. He did it to teach you that people do not live by bread alone; rather, we live by every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD. Deuteronomy 8:3

I am a mountain person.  Sure, the beach is beautiful, the ebb and flow of the tide can be mesmerizing, but if I had my druthers, I would look to the mountains.  There’s just something about the tall reaches and peaks that reminds me of the magnificence and power of God.  It’s almost as if the mountains are stretching on tippy-toe to meet the Kingdom of Heaven.

I am privileged to live at the foot of this mountain .  North Mountain.  Specifically, just to the south of Boyd’s Gap and  just to the north of Roundtop.  Both ridges are decent sizes for this area, about 1,480 and 1,673 feet, respectively, give or take. That’s a lot of reaching Heavenward.  We’re situated half way in the middle of two peaks of North Mountain, which is part of the Appalachian Mountains.

O beautiful for spacious skies
For amber waves of grain
For purple mountain majesties
Above the fruited plain!

Oops, where was I?  I get positively gooey when I look at my mountain.  For sure it isn’t the biggest mountain in the US, Mt. McKinley, Mt. Rainier, the Rockies, White Mountains, and the Great Smokies are all much, much larger than North Mountain, but the Appalachian Mountain Range is the oldest  mountain range in this Country.  For real, check it out.

I look up to the mountains—

does my help come from there?

My help comes from the LORD,

who made heaven and earth!

Psalm 121:1-2

I often recite this Psalm as I walk Haddy Girl in the mornings.  It brings me such peace.  But, as we walked one day last week (between rains and before the oppressive heat), I noticed something new about my Beautiful Mountain, it had a utility path on which a power line traveled.  Of course, it was not new, and of course, I had seen it before, but for some reason this particular day it really stood out to me.  And I thought to myself, although it does interrupt the beautiful flow of the mountain, it really was quite a wonderful path.

It made me ask – What path am I on?  We’re all journeying through life, we’re all following some kind of path. We’re all following someone or something?  What path are you on?  I pondered that for a bit.

My second thought was the Sound of Music.  Climb Every Mountain, Search High and Low.  Just looking up at that path makes us feel the burn, doesn’t it?  As we follow our life path it can sometimes feel like this steep rocky path.

But the thing that jumped out to me most, and I realize it’s a little hard to see (if you’re on your cell blow it up), between the cell towers on either side of the path, at the very top is a powerline.  Let’s think about that for a minute.  A powerline.  What is powering my path as I’m climbing every mountain, searching high and low?  And although I know it’s a little difficult to see, note that the power line is not just at the top of the mountain.  The powerline comes up from the bottom of the mountain, right where our journey starts.

Note how tidy this path seems to be.  In order to make way for the utility line, vegetation had to be cleaned up.  Much brush and overgrowth had to be eliminated to set the powerlines.  But some good vegetation also had to be removed.  We know in our lives brush definitely has to go in order to make way for the powerlines, but sometimes even good things, or things that are not necessarily bad, need to go in order to make way for the powerlines.

And as I looked at the top, it dawned on me, the powerlines don’t stop at the top, there would be no purpose in that.  The powerlines lead over the mountain into the valley.  The peaceful valley.

Like cattle going down to the valley, the Spirit of the LORD gave them rest. You led Your people this way to make for Yourself a glorious name. Isaiah 63:14

Just as the cattle no doubt felt the burn on their mountain path up and over, they descend to the valley floor and receive rest from the Spirit.  Isaiah tells us the Spirit of the Lord will do the same for us.  He will power His people on the path up and over the mountain. 

O Zion, messenger of good news,

shout from the mountaintops!

Shout it louder, O Jerusalem.

Shout, and do not be afraid.

Tell the towns of Judah,

“Your God is coming!”

Yes, the Sovereign LORD is coming in power.

He will rule with a powerful arm.

See, he brings his reward with him as he comes.

He will feed his flock like a shepherd.

He will carry the lambs in his arms,

holding them close to his heart.

He will gently lead the mother sheep with their young.

Isaiah 40:9-11

What a beautiful picture of rest after the climb.  With trembling, burning legs we walk the mountain path of life.  On the way we must get rid of all things in life that encroach on the path of our powerline, good and bad, that pull us from the power source that takes us safely over the mountain and to the restful valley.

He makes me lie down in green meadows;

He leads me beside peaceful streams.

He renews my strength.

He guides me along right paths,

Bringing honor to his name.

Psalm 23

What a beautiful portrait of the God of the Mountain, our powerline, from where our help comes from!

Have you ever noticed a years old road?  Dirt, gravel, asphalt, or as my Grandfather always said macadam.  The other day as Haddy and I were taking our morning walk on a years old road, I was reminded.  The road to and from our house is a years old road.  The road we walk on, drive on, ride on.  I suddenly noticed something about this road I’ve been traveling on for over a decade.  Something that I would not necessarily notice if I were driving or riding on the road.  Something I would only notice if I was walking…it’s not flat.  Now I don’t mean that it has hills or movement with the terrain, the road itself is not flush with the ground.

Because of years of weighty traffic – cars, trucks and tractors, the road has gotten compacted where the wheels roll making this ever so slight ridge in the middle of the road.  It’s not as noticeable to the seeing eye as it is to the walking feet.  It’s not a king of the mountain size ridge, just a modest rise.  It’s just enough to notice the path on either side is lower.

If you are not on one side or the other of this hump in the middle of the road it can mean disaster – a stumped toe, a twisted ankle, an all out fall, especially if you’re walking in the dark. 

As I’m walking along, I notice that I have been trying to walk the rise, the middle of the road, and it made me feel completely off balance.  I realized that I couldn’t safely walk on the middle of the road.  I could not straddle the lanes.  Straddling on the ridge was dangerous, it could cause missteps and could land me on the wrong side of the road.

If we intentionally choose our path, which side of the road we’re going to walk on, we are less likely to find ourselves drifting to the middle and losing our balance.  But, that also requires us to pick what side of the road we will travel on.  Another thing I noticed is that the middle of the road is wider than the grooves the tires cut.  The groove on the right or the left is narrower than the middle.

As I was walking it occurred to me that I could either stumble down the middle of the road in the dark, which will eventually result in jury, or I could walk on the right side.  There is no middle ground with Jesus.  It’s a red letter thing.

“Anyone who isn’t with me opposes me, and anyone who isn’t working with me is actually working against me.  So I tell you, every sin and blasphemy can be forgiven—except blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, which will never be forgiven. Matthew 12:30-31

There is no middle ground with Jesus.  For or against, it’s just that simple, in fact it is exceedingly clear.  Walking the middle of the road, one toe in-one toe out of the world is super dangerous terrain.

I will lead blind Israel down a new path, guiding them along an unfamiliar way. I will brighten the darkness before them and smooth out the road ahead of them. Yes, I will indeed do these things; I will not forsake them.  Isaiah 42:16-18

We’re not so different than “blind Israel” sometimes. I think of that lonesome valley that Jesus traveled.  Even though He knew the events about to unfold before Him, events predicted long ago, Jesus chose the road to the cross for me, for you.  He chose the cross so that I didn’t have to walk an unbalanced, unstable, uneven road. He chose the cross so that I didn’t have to trip along in the darkness.  He chose the cross for my salvation, how could I not chose Him?

He chose the cross so we could chose life.  There’s just no middle ground here…We must chose today whom we will serve. 

My current employer is completely fascinated by the Good News Guys. Two Christian fathers who are passionate about teaching the Bible to children. They teach counting, letters, singing, nature, etc., all solely through the use of the Bible. In their teaching of David and Goliath they sing a song written by Arthur Arnott in 1931 called Only A Boy Named David. It’s a catchy tune with words that stick. Especially the chorus:

And one little stone went in the sling,
and the sling went round and round.
And one little stone went in the sling,
and the sling went round and round,
and round and round and round and round,
and round and round and round.
And one little stone went up in the air,
and the giant came tumbling down.

I’m sure you can imagine round and round and round and round and round and round and round…playing over and over and over and over and over in your head all day long. You can also probably visualize the motions of the slingshot going round and round and round and round and round and round and round.

We all know the story of David and Goliath. David a boy of 16-19 years old, hit a nine feet tall bully with a stone and dropped him.  In a nutshell, that’s how the story goes, right?

Then Goliath, a Philistine champion from Gath, came out of the Philistine ranks to face the forces of Israel.  He was a giant of a man, measuring over nine feet tall!  He wore a bronze helmet and a coat of mail that weighed 125 pounds.  He also wore bronze leggings, and he slung a bronze javelin over his back.  The shaft of his spear was as heavy and thick as a weaver’s bean, tipped with an iron spearhead that weighed fifteen pounds.  An armor bearer walked ahead of him carrying a huge shield.  1 Samuel 17:4-7

Goliath was one huge dude.  It’s hard to even imagine what he looked like.  He was intimidating, confident, full of himself.  Twice a day for 40 days (sounds like the wilderness again, doesn’t it?) Goliath would come out and taunt the Israelites.  They were scared to death.   But it took something very small in the hands of someone very faithful to remedy the situation.  One stone.  Not a rock, or a boulder, but a small stone.

The Lord involves ordinary people when he does extraordinary things.  David, powered by God felled Goliath with just one stone.  The stone, without the power of God would never have sufficed.  You see, it wasn’t the stone.  It was the power of God through David.  Just like when Moses led the people to the sea, it wasn’t the staff that parted the waters.  It was the power of God through Moses.  Over and over in the scriptures the Lord gives us examples of His mighty power at work through us.  He worked through David.  He worked through Moses.

…Lydia from Thyatira, a merchant of expensive purple cloth.  She was a worshiper of God.  As she listened to us, the Lord opened her heart and she accepted what Paul was saying.  Acts 16:14

He worked through Paul.  Paul was the messenger, but the Lord did the work.

“When I was with you before, I told you that everything written about me by Moses and the prophets and in the Psalms must all come true.”  Then he opened their minds to understand these many Scriptures.  “Yes, it was written long ago that the Messiah must suffer and die and rise again for the dead on the third day.  With my authority, take this message of repentance to all the nations, beginning in Jerusalem.  There is forgiveness of sins for all who turn to me.” Luke 24:44-45

It happened again.  The scriptures of old gave the message, but Jesus did the work.  He opened the minds of the disciples to understand the scriptures.  Had he not done so, the scriptures would have just been words on a scroll, nice stories, history.  The scriptures held the message, but Jesus did the work.

How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news of peace and salvation, the news that the God of Israel reigns!  Isaiah 52:7

It happened again.  The feet on the mountain brought the news,  but Jesus did the work.  Isaiah foretold of the deliverance to come.  He became sin who was sinless in our place so that we may be saved.  Hallelujah!  That’s good news those feet were taking everywhere.  The prophets were the messengers, Jesus did the work.

The smallest tract may be the stone in David’s sling.

In the hands of Christ, it may bring down a giant soul.

Robert Murray McCheyne

That’s how it will work with us as well.  Round and round and round and round and round and round and round… One small stone, the smallest word, the smallest gift, the smallest gesture, the smallest smile, the smallest act… and the giant may come tumbling down. The smallest can bring down the a giant soul when powered by the Lord.  Not a comparable sized giant, not an expert sling shot operator, but a faithful message-carrier and Jesus will do the work.  Not because of what we do, but because of who He is.  We are to be the tellers of the peace, salvation and deliverance that has come to the giants. We are the messengers, but God does the work. We speak only to the ear but God speaks to the heart.

Everyone, then, who professes to be a Christian should ask himself, “Is there evidence of practical holiness in my life?  Do I desire and strive after holiness?  Do I grieve over my lack of it and earnestly seek the help of God to be holy?”

Yikes! Talk about a little self-examination. . . As I read those questions, one after another, in Jerry Bridges’, The Pursuit of Holiness, all I could think about was that clown bag when we were kids.  You know what I’m talking about?  Remember, those plastic punching bags that were about three feet tall, filled with air, sand in the bottom.  As you punched (this is probably not allowed today – too violent) the clown face (or another character) the thing fell over and because of the weight in the bottom and the air in the top, it popped back up.  Sometimes quickly, sometimes slowly, all depending on the amount of air and the power the punch packed.

Is there evidence of practical holiness in my life?  Ugh!  Down I go.  Up I come.

Do I desire and strive after holiness?  Ugh!  Down I go.  Up I come.

Do I grieve over my lack of it and earnestly seek the help of God to be holy? Down again.  Up again.

See what I mean?  Whack.  Whack.  Whack.   First of all, I don’t even know if I completely understand what holiness is.  Do you?   It’s kind of like I think I know what it is, but I’m not sure I can explain what it is.  Well, let’s pray God’s wisdom and dig in.  Since the Lord said be holy as He is holy, it’s kind of important. 

Holy is  translated from the Greek word hágios which means different, unlike, special, distinguished, distinct.  Holy for a follower of Christ means in the likeness with our Lord, different from the world, set apart by or for God, dedicated or devoted to the service of God.  So far so good.

For I, the LORD, am the one who brought you up from the land of Egypt, that I might be your God. Therefore, you must be holy because I am holy.

Leviticus 11:45

God told the Israelites, they must be holy because He is holy.  We are to be like Him.  He called them out of Egypt to be a holy nation, to be unique, set apart.  (Sound familiar?) They were headed to Canaan, a pagan and worldly nation.  He told them, you can either conform to the world, or conform to Me.  Be like Me or be like the world.  You are either obedient to the world, or obedient to Me.  You must throw away your idols and worship only Me.  You must turn from sin.  You must be holy. (Sound familiar?)  The message to the Israelites has been the same message down through time, hasn’t it?

So, if holy means we’re to be different, distinct and dedicated to God, what does that look like in my everyday life?  First, just like the Israelites, in order to be holy, we must be spiritually different.  That spiritual difference should bleed into every aspect of our life, it should be who we are, not just a part of who we are.  Our holiness should be evident in our decisions, our actions, our speech, and our thoughts.  But, we can’t be holy on our own. Christ’s death and resurrection make our holiness possible, nothing else. 

But now, by means of the physical death of his Son, God has made you his friends, in order to bring you, holy, pure, and faultless, into his presence.

Colossians 1:22

Friends stay close together.  Being holy is not simply about separating ourselves from this world we live in.  It is about staying close to God.  We cannot be holy as He is holy if we are not close enough to Him to know what holy is, what it looks like.  It’s not only about separating ourselves from something but separating ourselves to something, to someone, to Him.  Not from but to.  If we spend all our time and energy on the from, we won’t have time and energy for the to.

But whenever someone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. For the Lord is the Spirit, and wherever the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. So all of us who have had that veil removed can see and reflect the glory of the Lord. And the Lord—who is the Spirit—makes us more and more like him as we are changed into his glorious image.

2 Corinthians 3:16-18

The veil represents the spiritual blindness and hardness of a heart that prevents us from seeing the truth, the Good News.  In days gone by, brides wore a veil on their wedding day with a blusher.  The blusher was a piece of the veil made of thin netting that covered the bride’s face.  When the two were pronounced one, the blusher was pulled back, that part of the veil was taken away, removed, and the bride and groom could freely see each other.   

Before we knew the Lord, the veil separated us from Him.  It covered our minds and our understanding of Him.  Now that our hearts have been unveiled we are no longer separated from seeing and experiencing His holiness and His glory.  The veil is stripped away.  The barrier gone.  Now that we see Him clearly, we can clearly reflect His holiness.   Now that our minds have been unveiled we are to be like Him.

So, let’s look at those questions again:

Is there evidence in my life that I am daily more like Christ and less like the world?

Do I want to be more like Christ and what am I doing to become more like Christ?

Does it bother me when I’m not wholly devoted to God and do I ask Him to help me be different?

I said, Plant the good seeds of righteousness, and you will harvest a crop of my love. Plow up the hard ground of your hearts, for now is the time to seek the Lord, that he may come and shower righteousness upon you. Hosea 10:12

Plowing, tilling, sowing, tending, waiting. 

The first step in gardening is always plowing, tilling, breaking up the hard soil in order to make it ready to receive. Breaking up the hard ground, the fallow ground is to remove obstacles and prepare for new growth, to prepare for fruit.

We don’t like to think of our hearts as stony and hard, but they are. It is our nature. No excuse. Sure, sometimes our hearts are harder than others, sometimes they are hard longer than other times, sometimes they are always hard, filled with bitterness, anger, hatred, fear, and are never able to receive the new growth. That’s really quite sad.

We may know those garden hearts, one’s so broken, so bitter, so stubborn, so self-righteous. Some, even ours, so full of clumps of dirt that a planted seed could not penetrate to even take root. Some, even ours, so full of rocks, hurled by us and hurled at us that the planted seed falls on and then is washed away. Some, even ours, so full of worldly weeds, sin, idols, again, those we have planted or those that have crept over the fence.

Reaping is usually the fun part. It’s the purpose of the garden, to watch the fruit form, pluck it from the vine and take it in to be blessed by it. But, before we can reap, we must sow and before we sow the soil must be prepared to accept the plant.  There’s really no way around it, there are no shortcuts, if you want a fruitful garden.

There are a couple of ways to prepare the soil. We can get a shovel, a pick, a hoe, slap on a pair of garden gloves, and go at it. Bit-by-bit, row-by-row. A long laborious task, complete manual labor with much sweat and many blisters, that would leave me with a garden only 1″x 1″ because the labor would be too much and I would be all tired out too soon, and give up because I don’t have the woman-power to finish. There would not be much reaping of fruit from that plot.

Another way to prepare is to use a rototiller. A high-powered piece of equipment. A machine that breaks up the clumps. It digs down deep and turns the earth to finally reveal a rich beautiful soil. Plantable soil. Soil ready to receive. Soil without hard clumps. Soil where the weeds have been destroyed. Soil where the rocks have come to the top and can be remove. This method of plowing is still exhausting, and we may still get a few blisters, but the rototiller is doing the most difficult task of preparing the soil. The spinning blades loosen the soil, turn under the grass and weeds, and make it so the rocks can be tossed, to expose the beautiful, rich, healthy soil that is now ready to receive life.  The gardener is the one who prepares the garden to receive life.

Loosening the soil, turning under the grass, and picking out the rocks in our hearts is laborious and oft times painful as well.  Exposing the rich soils of our hearts in order to receive Life can feel like that rototiller.  Ripping, tearing and exposing our hurts, pain, our idols and sinful actions attitudes, tongues and actions – all those things that would choke out the Life planted.  The tiller through our hearts can be long-suffering and exhausting.  But, the Gardner knows what He is doing.  Cleaning out our garden hearts is simply opening them, and making more space to receive more of Him,  making room for Him to sow rows of seeds that produce the fruits of the Spirit. The Gardner is the one who prepares the garden to receive life.

Just like the two kinds of garden preparation, manual labor that quickly gives out, or an all-powerful solution that works to reveal plantable soil, we have two options to break up the hard ground of our hearts. We can get our pics and shovels out, we can try to hoe those rows by doing better, thinking more positively, going to church more, throwing more money in the plate, or we can do His way, the all-powerful way – for now is the time to seek the Lord that he may come and shower righteousness upon you. God says hey, seek me and I will come. I am the All-Powerful One. Let me help you get rid of that hard, rocky heart you have. 

Let me plant within you eternal Life.  Be wary of weeds and lack of Living Water that will take all sustenance and dry out your heart and make it hard.  He offers a fence around the garden of our souls to keep out those things that would snatch us up by the roots and eat us right down to the ground –it is His Word.  The Sower has sown Life into our hearts.  It is our responsibility, along with His help, to tend that Life.

All of this leads me to the question for myself and maybe you too, am I cultivating a life that is open and receptive to divine instruction and blessing. Not am I a good person, a nice person, an upright citizen, but am I cultivating a life that the Lord can shower with righteousness? Am I plowing up the hard ground of my heart? Am I using manual, powerless labor, or am I seeking Him and relying on Him to break up the fallow ground of my heart and making it ready for Him? Am I praying “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right Spirit in me?”

One more thing I love about the garden that I didn’t even notice until I looked at the snapshot — The footprints of the Gardener.

Lord, I present to you ________, as she/he is poor and needy, but You, Lord, are thinking about _______ right now.  You are _______’s helper and ________’s savior.  Do not delay, O my God.  Hallelujah!

Do you know a name you could plug into those blanks?  Of course you do.  Do you know anyone spiritually or physically poor and needy?  Of course you do.  Do you know anyone that needs thought of by the Lord right now?  Of course you do.  Do you know anyone who needs help, who needs saved, right now?  Of course you do.

This was my prayer the other morning for every person on my “Love List.”  That’s what I call my prayer list.  I’ve come to love every single person I’ve been praying for.  To be honest, I didn’t love every single one when they made the list.  In fact, quite vehemently the exact opposite in some cases.   But through daily prayer I’ve come to love each one, even my enemies, those who (I consider) are wicked (which we all have been at one point), those who have left shrapnel in my life, those who have broken relationships, those who have deep hurt and those who have deeply hurt, those who are crushed and poor in spirit, those who are needy who need saved from something or someone, those who need Jesus and His salvation.  One of the most important things about prayer is that it not only makes a difference in the pray-ee’s life, but it will also always make a difference in the pray-er’s life. 

Now I’m not smart enough to come up with such a prayer that speaks directly to every human being in the world’s situation like this one does.  This prayer is actually a scripture from Psalm 40:17:

As for me, I am poor and needy, but the Lord is thinking about me right now.  You are my helper and my savior.  Do not delay, O my God. 

I found this verse so profound.  Of course, when I first read it, I thought Lord, you got my number today. I plugged my own name in the blanks and I found so much peace in Him thinking about me at that (this) very moment.  I sat with this verse for a very long time.  I read it, re-read it, prayed the Holy Spirit would teach me about it, and illumine me with what it meant and with what I was supposed to do with it.  After a bit, the Spirit made it very clear that I was to use that verse to pray for each of my Love List-ers that day.  It was just amazing, I wrote this prayer out for every single person on my list, pages and pages.  Not only did I bathe each of my folks in prayer, by repeatedly writing it, I memorized the scripture.  This process, this prayer was another life event for me.

So often we struggle with prayer.  I’ve never quite figured out why that is though.  I know it is the way we communicate with God and He with us; speaking to Him, one-on-one.  Remember Psalm 27:8?

My heart has heard you say:  “Come and talk with me; and my heart responds:  “Lord, I am coming.”

One of the very many verses in the Bible where God invites us to come and talk with Him.  It’s not a suggestion, or an if you have time, it is a command.  And it sounds so simple – come over here and talk to me, stop what you’re doing a sec and let’s talk, hey come over here loved one. Simple request. But, I can tell you that Satan’s angels immediately crowd in on me when I say Lord, I’m coming.  Why is that?  Because prayer is vital to a relationship with God.  It is the vertical beam of the cross.  God’s Word is the horizontal beam of the cross.  Satan must do anything he can to interrupt those communications, and keep those beams from intersecting.  The Bible calls us to devote ourselves to prayer, to be persistent in our prayers.  And what I heard on Grace for Purpose Prayers just fit right in:

My friend, we are called to pray persistently because you cannot be a true believer, you cannot be a Bible believer Christian, and neglect prayer.  If Jesus Christ, the Son of God, if he prayed consistently and frequently, how can you and I say we follow him but chose not to follow his actions?  We need to pray.  We need to fight to pray.

Yikes!  Saying that out loud (or listening to it as I did) sounded so harsh.  But it is true.  Truth sounds harsh because we’re not used to hearing  it.  Truth is actually the lovingest (is that a word?) thing we can do.  We cannot have a relationship with someone we do not talk to.  Simple as that.  And relationship is God’s deepest desire for us as His children. Come…Come…Come…

My prayer life over the last couple of years has changed dramatically.  I’ve been asking the Lord to change my life, make me into the person He wants me to be.  Move me from self-righteous to righteous.  Move me from sinner to saint.  Move me from prideful to humble.  Move me from me to Him.  Move me, Lord…and He has…through prayer and The Word.

Three specific ways in which He has worked in my life include a prayer group, writing my prayers, and praying the scriptures.  I may have spoken with you about all of them before, but the change in my heart and mind, and hopefully, my outward spirit, has been so significant to me that I’ll risk repeating.  I cannot overemphasize what prayer can do in each of our lives.  Each week after prayer group, I’m not the same person I was the week before.  Each morning after I write my prayers out (because I am so easily distracted, when I write my prayers to the Lord, the distractions vanish), I’m not the same person I was before I started writing.  And when I pray (write them) the scriptures back to Him, I’m not the same person I was.  Again, He changes the pray-er as much, or maybe even more, then pray-ee. If you want change in you life, pray.

Praying the scriptures ensures that our prayers are grounded in the truth and in the guidance and will of God. It is simply turning the scripture in prayer back to God.  Praying to Him what He wrote.  There’s no formula, no method.  You simply meditate (roll it around in your brain and let it speak to your heart) on the scripture until you have something to say to God about what you have read in His Word.  Some days it comes quickly, other days He may call us to meditate longer.

But, it’s not about length, eloquent words, technique, checkmarks, or accomplishments.  It’s about relationship.  The long and short of it is that we cannot expect to have relationship with God, to be changed by God, to be filled by God if we are not communicating with God.  Being a Christian has certain responsibilities.  Just like in any love relationship, it takes two people to commit to the relationship, at least two to build the relationship and two to grow the relationship. How’s it going?

Prayer and praise are the oars by which a man may row his boat into the deep waters of the knowledge of Christ.  C.H. Spurgeon

The peonies are popping and boy are they gorgeous this year! Those big, snowball looking blooms, ranging in color from white to dark pink or a mix of both, are for some reason super beautiful this Spring. There are tons of them in town and they are in full bloom on every block. Ours out here at the foot of the mountain are just beginning to open up. The ants move slower out here, I guess.

I love these flowers, they remind me of my Grandma. She used to call them pinies. We have a row of pinies between our house and the barn that were planted by another Grandma many, many years ago. I pass by these peonies often and their sweet smell hits you before you even get close to them. Oh my goodness, the smell of a good peony is intoxicating. It does something to my brain that makes me want to eat it up – I don’t, of course.

If you take your nose on a smell tour of my row of pinies, you will notice though that they all smell different. Some smell wonderful, some smell yucky and some have no smell at all. Have you noticed that too? Every peony is gorgeous to look at, but they don’t all have the same smell. When I would walk in town, I couldn’t resist the urge to stick my nose in a piney bloom hanging over a fence and it’s a little disappointing when it has no smell. It’s even more disappointing when it has a yucky smell. Those gorgeous big blooms are a little deceptive, aren’t they? They look like they’d smell delicious, not all do. It’s deceptive. You can’t tell the smell until you stick your nose into it.

Then the LORD said to Moses, “Gather fragrant spices—resin droplets, mollusk shell, and galbanum—and mix these fragrant spices with pure frankincense, weighed out in equal amounts. Using the usual techniques of the incense maker, blend the spices together and sprinkle them with salt to produce a pure and holy incense. Grind some of the mixture into a very fine powder and put it in front of the Ark of the Covenant, where I will meet with you in the Tabernacle. You must treat this incense as most holy. Never use this formula to make this incense for yourselves. It is reserved for the LORD, and you must treat it as holy. Anyone who makes incense like this for personal use will be cut off from the community.” Exodus 30:34-38

Ahhh, the sweet perfume of holiness. An aroma so sweet placed in front of the meeting place with God. Think about that. A pure and holy scent. An incense so full of holiness that we can never make it for ourselves. A fragrant formula reserved only for the Lord. A fragrance never to be duplicated, or brought to human level lest it smell sour or have no fragrance at all. What does holiness smell like? A fragrant peony, perhaps?

I, the Lord, am the one who brought you up from the land of Egypt to be your God. You must therefore be holy because I am holy. 1 Peter 1:16

Ahhh, the sweet perfume of holiness – not a suggestion, not a request, but a command. An aroma so sweet presented at the altar of our Lord. An aroma that says we are set apart, no longer influenced by sin. A fragrance produced by total devotion to God to be used for His special purposes. A pungence so strong that you can’t tell where it is coming from – you can smell it without visualizing the source. We are to exude holiness. It’s not a suggestion or a request, but a command. Do we smell different? Do we stink from sin? Are we smell-less because of complacency, are we too comfortable? Do we smell as if we are set apart or do we smell like everyone else? God is close enough to tell. How do we smell? Like a fragrant peony, I pray.

That’s what I’ve been thinking about. Do We Dwell? Do I Dwell? Do I stop, take a breath? Do I think in the moment, or am I constantly thinking in the next moment (more likely)? What to do next, or what to do after? What to say next, or what to say after? Would it be so bad to just stop, in each minute of each day, and think only about what I’m doing at the moment, what I’m hearing at the moment, who I’m talking to in the moment, what I’m praying in the moment, what I’m reading in the moment? Do I Dwell?

No, I usually don’t, and maybe I’m not alone. I’m a next-thing person. I don’t often sit in the moment because my mind has moved moments beyond as each moment goes by. But, that’s all wrong. That’s not how we were wired to be. You see we’re (I am) all products of our environments. That’s right. We were all born in the environment of sin, no getting around it. And for me, flitting around either in my mind or physically, like a bird in a glass house, is sin. The Lord and I are working on this…

Our very best example of dwelling is Jesus. When I think of Jesus, His ministry, His actions, His Words, I don’t ever get the sense that He was hurried, rushed, frantic, a flitter-abouter. Not once do I get the sense from His character, His nature, His Words, even what I imagine His physical walk on this earth from place to place, that He’s not in the moment. And just think about the impact He had on people.

Of course, He knew what His mission was, to prepare, restore, and redeem, in amazing and unspeakable ways, and I’m sure those things, those responsibilities weighed on His mind heavily, remember, the blood-sweat? But, not ever do I think that as he was giving sight to the blind, that He was, in that moment, thinking about making the lame walk, or expelling demons, or feeding the hungry, or any of the miraculous, amazing, people-connecting things He did while He walked this earth. When he was giving sight to the blind, He was giving sight to the blind.

We’re often told to live for the moment and I believe Jesus did. For each person, for each conversation, for each situation, for each need, for each touch, for each healing, for each encounter, for each opportunity, for each redemption, He was fully present in each moment. I want to be like Jesus.

Well, you say, that’s not possible, He was Jesus, He was perfect. And, of course, you’re right, He is Jesus and He is perfect, but aren’t we to be like Him? We’re made in His image and the Word says we are continually being made Holy as He is Holy. But the main reason Jesus was able to live in the moment (in my very humble opinion), is because of His focus. He clearly had a million things on His mind, He knew what was going to happen, He had a ton of work to do in just 3 short years, quite literally, the weight of the world.

Jesus was able to live in the moment because of His focus on His Father. He was able to zero in on every person, every situation, every conversation, every need, every touch, every redemption, because He knew that all He did was Kingdom building. Each step, each person, each Word, each action came from the Father.

Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.  John 15:4-5

Abide, to be, to live, remain, dwell, stay, remain, wait, to tarry as a guest, to lodge. Jesus dwelt with His Father. And no one will argue that Jesus bore much fruit. The only way to bear fruit is to live for the moment.

Now, I’m sure you’re going how do I do that (me too), I work, I have kids, I have responsibilities, I, I, I, I, I…Jesus did too. Ministry wasn’t his side gig, it was His gig. It was His life, not a side-hustle, and that’s how we treat our relationship with Him sometimes. Something on the side.

Jesus was able to go about His work, attend family functions, visit friends, go to parties, weddings and the like, and still live for every moment as if each moment mattered, because it did, because it mattered to His Father.

His focus was on His Father and His everyday life revolved around that. Unfortunately, we sometimes get it backwards and try to fit Jesus into our life instead of allowing Him to dwell in our lives. You see, if our focus is on our Father, the franticness, the frenetic pace, the moment-hopping will diminish significantly because He will be producing fruit in our lives by refocusing our minds on what’s most important – each moment.

And the joy we share as we tarry there, none other will ever know.

Undoubtedly!!!! But the “news” recently reminded me of a statement I saw a while back. One that still haunts me:

“Jesus was not perfect.”

Check your pulse, cause that’s what I saw. Is that true? Would someone say that if it wasn’t? I don’t know. Who would say such a thing? Hogwash. Jesus was perfect, Jesus is still perfect, and Jesus always will be perfect. But, that statement, when I think about it today, still makes me cringe. There are those who believe that. We know better.

I try to stay out of the news frenzy and stick to my farm frenzy, there’s enough dirt flying here to keep me busy, but sometimes you just gotta say something, right? One cannot be a Christian without believing that Jesus Christ was perfect, sinless, a spotless lamb. Non-believers need to know one can’t be a believer without believing? Believing that Jesus Christ died as a substitute for your sins, for my sins, is imperative to the faith. And since God is perfect, He cannot tolerate sin. So if God sent His Dear Son to atone for our sins, His Son had to be sinless. It’s really as simple as that. But don’t take my word for it, get out your Bible and see for yourself, as a Believer that’s our responsibility – to know what we believe. Not just to know what we believe, but to act on our belief, to live our belief.

Whatever is good and perfect is a gift coming down to us from God our Father, who created all the lights in the heavens. He never changes or casts a shifting shadow. He chose to give birth to us by giving us his true word. And we, out of all creation, became his prized possession. James 1:17-18

Just in case you were wondering, God is not only good, but anything from God is perfect, including His Son. The Bible says so.

For you know that God paid a ransom to save you from the empty life you inherited from your ancestors. And it was not paid with mere gold or silver, which lose their value. 19It was the precious blood of Christ, the sinless, spotless Lamb of God. 20God chose him as your ransom long before the world began, but now in these last days he has been revealed for your sake.

1 Peter 1:18-20

Back to why we need to stand – statements like Jesus was not perfect, assaults on our beliefs without provocation and frankly without accurate information, are dangerous for Christians. At first I was like, wow, really, journalism gone amuck, and I moved to the next article. As I thought about that statement – Jesus was not perfect – I started to get angry. When you spread lies about my Lord like that, them’s fightin’ words. I have to keep reminding myself that those who speak such words were too created by God and potentially Children of the Perfect God. But the possible consequences of such a statement for the Believer and the nonbeliever alike, is a clear and present danger.

You see, in this world today there’s a lot of disinformation and we really have to figure out what is true and what is false. It’s quite a chore, isn’t it, deciphering? It’s just plain exhausting. Does anyone else out there get downright tired of it and turnoff and tune out, or am I alone? Should we just let the world say what it wants to say and frankly make excuses for them? No, with unapologetic grace, we take a stand. So, you’re probably saying yea, yea, yea, get to the point, Beth! Here goes…

My biggest fear with statements like that is that we won’t be appalled, that we won’t be offended, that statements like that won’t make us flinch, that they won’t make us grieve for ignorance, that they won’t cut us to the quick, that we simply ignore them and move on to the next great drama of the world or that we curl into the fetal position clutching our Bibles to our bellies, either way accepting what is said and having no response. The danger in that is that eventually we won’t care what’s said about our God. We become desensitized to the world. Desensitizing is acceptance. We may say we disagree with the world, but we will come to accept the world’s positions on our beliefs. If you think that is not true, simply look around you – look at our families, look at our towns, look at our workplaces, look on our streets, look at our governments. Believing that the world cannot erode our beliefs is super naïve and downright deadly.

Of course, as Believers we know the battles belong to the Lord, but we also have to know that those battles are fought through us, in His Son’s name, with His power. To be honest, I struggle with how to address those comments that offend me lest I be offensive. Or is that an excuse on my part, and I’m content being inert? I seem to have no trouble knowing how to address other things in my life, you know – work situations, family situations, friend situations. I even recently wrote a reporter (twice) and told them their facts were wrong in an article about West Virginia. Since I live here, I feel somewhat of an authority on the State. But, it occurred to me that when I heard the statement that Jesus was not sinless, I didn’t write that reporter and offer a correction. Hmmm.

Here’s my other problem with statements like that – people believe them! If there are those out there who claim to be Christians believe that Jesus was not perfect, how much more will people who don’t claim to be Christians believe that Jesus was not perfect. Scores. Just ask them.

You don’t have to believe what I believe (but I wish you would), but don’t state my beliefs incorrectly, don’t get my beliefs wrong. As Christians do we know what we believe? Do we believe the Bible, the inerrant Word of God? Do we believe parts of the Bible, you know, only the stuff that makes us feel good? We cannot pick and choose. It’s an all or none thing. God is an all or none God. We cannot serve two masters. We cannot serve God and ourselves.

Frankly, I’m not exactly sure how to stand against such fallacy. More likely I do and I’m just afraid to – if I’m honest, that’s really more like it. I do know I cannot speak against such lies if I do not know the truth myself – that’s my responsibility, no one elses – not my husband’s, my parents’, my friends’, my family’s, my churches’. I must not rely on anyone else for information about my beliefs. That’s on me. And, I do know that I must stand on the truth and speak the truth. But, the most important thing I know is that where I stand, I do not stand alone – where I go, I do not go alone – the Perfect One who was beaten, whipped, abused, crucified and hung on the Cross for my sins goes before me. What wonderous Love is this, oh my soul.

Finally, build up your strength in union with the Lord and by means of his mighty power. Put on all the armor that God gives you, so that you will be able to stand up against the Devil’s evil tricks. For we are not fighting against human beings but against the wicked spiritual forces in the heavenly world, the rulers, authorities, and cosmic powers of this dark age. So put on God’s armor now! Then when the evil day comes, you will be able to resist the enemy’s attacks; and after fighting to the end, you will still hold your ground.

So stand ready, with truth as a belt tight around your waist, with righteousness as your breastplate, and as your shoes the readiness to announce the Good News of peace. At all times carry faith as a shield; for with it you will be able to put out all the burning arrows shot by the Evil One. And accept salvation as a helmet, and the word of God as the sword which the Spirit gives you. Do all this in prayer, asking for God’s help. Pray on every occasion, as the Spirit leads. For this reason keep alert and never give up; pray always for all God’s people. And pray also for me, that God will give me a message when I am ready to speak, so that I may speak boldly and make known the gospel’s secret. For the sake of this gospel I am an ambassador, though now I am in prison. Pray that I may be bold in speaking about the gospel as I should. Ephesians 6:10-20

Just for the record, the statement is patently false, a lie — Jesus was perfect, a Spotless Lamb to be exact. Don’t ever forget that! Don’t ever let anyone say different about your Savior, your Lord, without correcting them. It could be a matter of eternity for them.

Perfect Lord, we pray for boldness and courage. Teach us your Word. Empower us to speak Your Word.