LET IT RAIN!

When I went to bed last night, my heart was heavy with the devastation of the fires in Colorado. This morning I was dreaming I wrote and performed a song entitled “Let It Rain”. One of the kitties woke me up but it was still with me. Since my voice is far from what it used to be, I will write it out instead.

Let it rain God’s Truth, His revelation and His steadfast love.

Let it rain…

…on depression and defeat.

…on fear and loneliness.

…on emptiness and uncertainty.

…on rejection and hurtful words.

…on hatred and unforgiveness.

…on hopelessness and failing faith.

…on loss and despair.

Let it rain…

…washing body, soul and spirit with Your love.

…uniting our spirits with You, Lord.

…imparting Your inner peace.

…blanketing hearts with Your rest.

…refreshing senses with Your joy.

…enlightening souls with Your Truth.

…instilling the hope that is only found in You.

LET IT RAIN, LORD, LET IT RAIN.

Honor Your Father & Mother

The first commandment is to honor your father and mother. It came with a promise. Honor your father and your mother, as the LORD your God commanded you, that your days may be long, and that it may go well with you in the land that the LORD your God is giving you. Deuteronomy 5:16 ESV  

This can be a nearly insurmountable commandment for those who have endured abuse and unspeakable horror at the hands of their parents. And yet, God commands it.

Recently, a speaker shared her struggle with this commandment. Her mother had abused her terribly. As a teenager, she put her mother out of her life. In midlife, God asked her to forgive her mother and honor her. It was a struggle but she was obedient. Their reunion was sweet and their relationship is excellent now. She stepped out in faith and God took it the rest of the way. He honored her obedience.

I’ve also known many women who were sexually abused by a family member or someone they trusted. The enemy - in his craving to lie, steal and destroy - uses those experiences to bring deep, deep wounding. Only God, in His love, grace, mercy and gentleness can bring healing and close those doors that allow the enemy legal right and access to torment and oppress.

I can't speak to the outcome you may experience. I do know that God can prepare hearts. My husband and I prayed for months before a conversation we had with my parents about issues from my past. It was amazing what God did! His timing is perfect. Seek Him before, during and after any attempt to resolve issues or reconcile. Pray! Pray! Pray!
 

(If anyone in the Greater Cleveland area wants to know about Freedom Weekends, let me know. Larry and I just attended one and all I can say is WOW! I experienced freedom from heavy oppression as well as physical healing – Hallelujah! “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to His purpose.” Romans 8:28)

 

We also need to honor our Father God. The words of Paul in his letter to the church in Ephesus describe what God has done for us so well. “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before Him. In love He predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of His will, to the praise of His glorious grace, with which He has blessed us in the Beloved. In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace, which He lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of His will, according to His purpose, which He set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in Him, things in heaven and things on earth. In Him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will, so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of His glory. In Him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in Him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of His glory.” Ephesians 1:3-14 ESV He is worthy of our honor and praise!

I encourage you to honor your father and mother. If there are unresolved issues – even if one or both of your parents are no longer living - take them to God. He will direct your steps and provide all you need along the way. Allow Him to work through you. He can complete a work that will bring you freedom and wholeness that can only be found in and through Him.

Honor: Our Words

Words can bless and they can curse. Do we fully understand the power of our words? Do we think before we speak? Do we take every thought captive to obey Christ?  (2 Corinthians 10:5)

I was not taught the power of words until recent years. Oh how I wish I had known from childhood. Perhaps I wouldn’t have cursed people with my words. Perhaps I wouldn’t have been in agreement with the enemy of my soul on many, many things just by speaking it out. I am humbled by the grace of God’s forgiveness for such disobedience. 

If you have accepted Jesus Christ as the Lord and Savior of your life, the Holy Spirit resides within you. You have been given the gift of a counselor, guide and comforter. Hallelujah! If you are yielded to the Spirit, you will know when you thoughts do not honor God. You will know when your words do not honor the person you are directing them to. However, just because we know doesn’t mean we are obedient. God is dishonored by our disobedience.  That may seem harsh but it is truth, God’s truth as spelled out in His Word. 

The wounding of angry words can go very, very deep. Words can be soul crushing; a physical blow may not have the depth of impact of words. Words spoken over us as children and as adults can become ingrained. We begin to believe them, to make them part of our identity. In doing so, we are agreeing with the enemy whose greatest desire is to lie, steal and destroy.  He thrives on destroying us, on crushing us, on making us believe we are less than who God says we are. 

My greatest desire in working with women is to bring them to a place of seeing themselves as God sees them, of recognizing who has given them their identity. To bring them to a place of reaching for, holding and then fulfilling the purposes God has for them. 

This very thing has been a huge struggle for me. I believed the words of my childhood, from my parents, from teachers, from people of authority in my life. They became a part of me. In my adulthood, I searched desperately to be loved unconditionally because of those words. The enemy had convinced me I was unlovable. I made poor choices that had a ripple effect all around me. I left broken people in my wake. 

It wasn’t until I fully surrendered to God that he brought the person I had longed for into my life. A man who loves me like I never dreamed possible. Through deliverance, I have been set free from the words that defined me. I now recognize I have the power and authority in Jesus Christ to cast down curses and words that are hurtful. And through the eyes of my loving husband, I am better able to see what God sees. I couldn’t be more thankful.

Honor God with your thoughts and words today. Honor the people around you by speaking blessing into their lives. In that, God will be honored as well.

Honor: Loving People

I’ve been camped out on the word “honor” for some time now. This is the first of several posts I’ll be making on honor.

Honor. It is a word you don’t hear much anymore in this country. We’ve lost it through the generations. And a tremendous loss it is…systemic in my opinion.

The root of honor is love, God’s love. There are several definitions of honor in the Hebrew and Greek. The word I am referring to means to prize, to revere, to value, to esteem. We are commanded to love one another and honor one another. Does that mean everyone? Yes, everyone! Those people who have wounded you, spat nasty words in your face, and totally dishonored you. What?! I know! 

When the Holy Spirit began imploring me to love people who set my teeth on edge and rubbed me the wrong way in a big way, I was like a five-year-old defiantly standing with my hands on my hips, “You want me to WHAT?” He kept insisting and, since I desired to honor God, I allowed Him to love those people through me. He did it! It has been remarkable how He has changed my heart and opened my eyes. Trust me, there is still plenty of work for Him to do but I now have a willing heart - most of the time anyway. 

We honor God by honoring other people. This Baby Boomer was brought up to honor authority but God expects us to honor everyone: the service person who is more interested in chatting with their coworker than waiting on you, the neighbor who gossips about you, the people who snub you, ridicule you and mock you. In other words, to be a reflection of Jesus.

I was reminded recently of the process used in refining gold. The gold is heated to a high temperature and the impurities are continually skimmed off the top. The refining process is complete when the refiner can see his/her reflection in the gold. It is my desire to continue to allow God to refine me until He sees the reflection of His Son in me. 

So if you hear “ouch”, “that’s hot”, or “does it have to hurt this much?” coming from my direction, it’s just the refining process. It is a good thing. =)

God's Purposes

One of the things I love about God’s Word is the continued revelation it provides. Each time I read a passage, it is with fresh eyes. Personally, I ask the Lord for His revelation. I don’t want to miss anything. 

This morning I read the story of Noah and the flood yet again. I was struck by God’s mourning of the evils of man. I was also struck by how He valued His creation. After all, when He completed each day of creation He said, “It is good”. He desired to preserve what He had created. He valued the scorpion and snake, the sand piper and sparrow, the moose and the mouse. And a righteous man and his family.

Everything He created has purpose. Granted when a large black, bold jumping spider (that’s its actual name!) was walking across our kitchen table last week, I wasn’t thinking about its purpose on this earth. It did not survive. But as I was picking red raspberries yesterday, I noticed a striking garden spider among the briers. I did not disturb it. I actually marveled at its beauty and for anyone who knows me, that’s amazing! Spiders and I…well, I had a few too many unpleasant experiences growing up on the farm! However, God is allowing me to see them differently, to appreciate His purpose in creating them. 

When I sit in my prayer closet and listen to the song birds in the trees surrounding our home, I marvel at the perfect chords and melodies. To me, they provide the most beautiful music in the world. By contrast, I don’t welcome the messy, raucous starling that returns to nest every spring. I don’t appreciate their throaty scolding as I pick berries and pull weeds near their nests. But God has purpose in them as well. 

Some would see God’s creation as cruel. When I witnessed a red tailed hawk capture a rabbit in our yard and then proceed to eat it, I was repulsed. It was too raw, too real. Perhaps I prefer out of sight, out of mind in some cases. The hawk needs to eat. It needs to feed its family. God has purpose in it. 

A couple of years ago, I noticed an injured Canada goose in the field south of our house. I assumed it had flown on with its flock but a day later several vultures converged at the very spot I had last seen the goose. Let’s face it, vultures are ugly and several of them in one place is a whole lot of ugly! But, if you consider God’s purpose in creating them, their appearances make perfect sense. Why have a beautifully feathered head when they are purposed to eat carrion? 

Our four feline companions come to mind: beautiful, loving, independent, inquisitive and oh so funny. We are entertained by their antics, their voices, the blur as they race around the house. I rejoice when they catch a mouse - and Larry disposes of it! They are self-cleaning and who doesn’t like self-cleaning? They provide snuggles, rubs and purrs. These last few days, they have been engrossed by a chipmunk in the flowerbed below our large living room window. (I didn’t know chipmunks ate lily blooms until yesterday…grrrr!) All four cats were in the window looking for their tormenter bright and early this morning which of course brought a chuckle. So much purpose in these four-legged hairballs...ahem, I mean, regal beings. =^..^= 

I encourage you, as you go about your day, to consider God’s purpose in His creation. I know it has changed my perspective. I serve an awesome God!