Sacred Mundane: The Blog

{Reminded of this. Grateful to see how continually setting our minds on praying for others FREES us from the burden of often taking offense. Hurt feelings don’t happen as often when our attention’s fixed on praying for others. I hope this can encourage you today…}

I played her hurtful, stinging words again and again in my mind. Like a child touching a wound over and over again. And every time I touched it, it hurt worse.

My mind began to spiral down, a tailspin of self-pity. Why? Why did I deserve to be treated like this?  Slowly I slid, I could think of little offenses, of slights, of insults … sliding, sliding, sliding …

Wait! This is not where I want to go! God is so gracious, His word is clear:

Take every thought captive and make it obedient to Christ (1 Cor 10:5).

I start talking to myself instead of listening to myself: Thoughts, I command you to obey Christ!  Love keeps no record of wrongs, it does not envy or boast, it is not arrogant  and does not demand its own way, it believes the best, always hopes, always endures.

And it never fails. 

He brings the Word to mind, cleanses out the filth.

And He gives me a little perspective of what persecution really is. 

Pastor Chandler in South Asia, opposed from every direction, even denied a place to live so he and his family slept in the church. Or Nihal Gohain who was dragged out of his shop and beaten severely, because he was a Christian. Or Bandhu Pillai and his family who were cut off from all family when they received Christ and even not allowed to use the village well, forcing the family to walk to another village to get water.Or Pastor Bashuda who was attacked on his bike and literally beaten unconscious and left for dead. Three months later he is still suffering excruciating pain in his head and is asking for prayer.

Oh Jesus, we desperately need your perspective. 

Beautifully, the answer to all of this–whether real persecution of the kind that’s in our heads–is the same:

Prayer.

Jesus’ words are clear and I read them this morning:

“I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven …” Matthew 5:45

Whether we’ve endured a blow to the head or to the heart, whether our body is injured or only our ego, whether bullets are flying at us or merely mud, the answer is still prayer. Pray for those who persecute you (or who just rub you the wrong way).

And pray for those who are truly suffering for Christ.

Remember those in prison as if you were their fellow prisoners, and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering. Hebrews 13:3

How? A few ways: (A fabulous and extensive list here.)

1. Pray for clear, bold, fearless declaration of the gospel. 

“Pray also for me, that whenever I open my mouth, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should.” Ephesians 6:19-20

“Devote yourselves to prayer… praying at the same time for us as well, that God may open up to us a door for the word, so that we may speak forth the mystery of Christ, for which I have also been imprisoned; in order that I may make it clear in the way I ought to speak.” Colossians 4:2-4

2. That they will have genuine joy sharing in the sufferings of Christ.

“…accepted joyfully the seizure of your property, knowing that you have for yourselves a better possession and an abiding one.” Hebrews 10:34

“Rejoice, and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.” Matthew 5:12

“but to the degree that you share the sufferings of Christ, keep on rejoicing; so that also at the revelation of His glory, you may rejoice with exultation.” I Peter 4:13

3. That their suffering would make them trust God more than every before.

“For we do not want you to be unaware, brethren, of our affliction which came to us in Asia, that we were burdened excessively, beyond our strength, so that we despaired even of life; indeed, we had the sentence of death within ourselves in order that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead.”  2 Corinthians 1:8-9

4. For their physical protection and deliverance.

 ”So Peter was kept in the prison, but prayer for him was being made fervently by the church to God.” Acts 12:5

“For I know that this shall turn out for my deliverance (from jail) through your prayers.” Philippians 1:19

“I hope that through your prayers I shall be given to you (from jail).” Philemon 22

“Now I urge you, brethren… to strive together with me in your prayers to God for me, that I may be delivered from those who are disobedient in Judea.” Romans 15:30-31

Praying for the persecuted provides us the perspective we so desperately need. 

{Will you join me today, and take 5 minutes and turn our eyes off ourselves and devote those minutes to praying for the persecuted church in our world? If you have time, check out stories at gfa.org or Voice of the Martyrs. Just for some precious perspective to help us pray? Thanks so much for reading … and praying.}

Remembering this today…

There seems to be one thing (and pretty much only one thing) that all of us women agree upon: Female relationships are tricky.

So I opened to Genesis 30 this morning, and it appears envy, jealousy and competition are alive and well in the hearts of women.  The story of Rachel and Leah, both Jacob’s wives, is to me one of the saddest in all of scripture, because it reveals so much about the brokenness and woundedness in women’s hearts.  It reveals that since the first demonic whisper in the garden of Eden, we women have struggled with the lie, “You are unloved and unlovely.”  Forever we have been trying to earn and win the love of others by what we do.  I do it. I’m guessing you’ve done it.  It breaks my  heart.  We all just so long to be loved and accepted.

So the first thing we learn from Rachel and Leah is that we have a raw, gnawing desire to gain the love and approval of others. And, all too often we see each other as a threat, so we compete with each other in subtle (and not so subtle) ways.  In different cultures and at different times this approval and value is found in different ways so the competition will look different.  Rachel and Leah were in a race to bear children because that was what earned them status and value and (they thought) the favor of their husband.

The bottom line was that they each wanted to be the beloved. In our culture, obviously it’s different. I can honestly say I’ve never been tempted to try to bear more children than someone else.  And thankfully, I never have to worry about my husband loving his other wife more.

But I may compete for approval. For status. For the regard or praise of others.

And the desire is still the same. When I do that, I’m operating under the exact same assumptions that Rachel and Leah did–it looks different, but the motive is the same: If I can outdo those around me, somehow, then I will be the beloved.

What also strikes me about this story, ladies, is that our self-worth is very much tied up in our children.  We may not compete with how many we can have. But what about how we birth them, or how we feed them, or what parenting philosophy we espouse, or how well-behaved they are, or someday I’m sure it’ll be how good they are at sports or how well they do at school. I’m sure there’s no end to the ways that we tie up our worth in our kids.  Few things make us proud or shamed more than the performance and ability of our children.

We have to be on guard, girls. The enemy does not want us to love each other.  Nothing makes Satan more pleased than when we view each other as opponents rather than sisters.  The  moment we begin wanting to bring someone else down a notch is the moment we know we’ve been sucked into the demonic game of competition.  He can even use the silliest of topics (epidurals, homeschooling or breastfeeding for crying out loud!) to make us turn on one another.  And you know what that reveals?

We just so desperately want to be the beloved. We want, somehow, to shine. I know I do. I long so much to do something right.  And our motives are mixed. We long for love and favor (good), but it’s as if we think there is a limited amount in the world so we must steal it from others in order for us to be full.

There is no limited amount.

God has plenty of love and favor for us all. See, the problem for Rachel and Leah was that there was limited favor. They had one husband for two women, which is not God’s design.  They, in many ways, were doomed from the start.  But we have no such disadvantage. God’s love for us is boundless and there is plenty of His affection and favor for us all.  There is room for all  of us in this world. You can flourish, I can flourish.

We don’t have to compete for God’s love.

I think as long as we walk this fallen earth we will likely be tempted with this. But girls, we cannot give in. We cannot let others’ successes threaten us. We  wish someone’s kids would misbehave just because it make us feel better.  We cannot wish for someone’s misfortune just so that our pathetic egos can get a boost.  I so wish we did not struggle with this, but we do.

But it has to stop.

My prayer for us is that we, as women, would experience the love of God in such a full and overflowing manner, that there is room in our hearts to wholeheartedly cheer for others. To wish for their best. To be 100% freed from envy and jealousy. To rejoice when others are preferred above us or when others succeed where we struggle.

We have to.

The story of Rachel and Leah is a tragic one. I’m sure their household was miserable.  It reeked of envy and jealousy, it teemed with distrust and dishonesty.  There was no love.  For two women who were probably wonderful friends at one time, the poison of competition likely destroyed whatever love they had shared.

Thank goodness we don’t all share a husband, amen? And the Heavenly Husband that we do share has plenty of love for us all.

Will you cheer me on? I will cheer you on.  I’ll even try to love you if your kids are perfect, though it will be a stretch.

–

In what way have you caught yourself competing with another woman?  What does it reveal about your need to feel love and approval? What steps can you take to STOP and choose to love instead? Thanks for reading.

Yesterday Dutch was frustrated. I had told him there would be no snacks since he didn’t eat his lunch, so about 3pm he’s in hunger-induced agony (not really) and asking if I will puh-lease give him a snack. When I said no I heard him sit on the stairs, sniffing his tears and lamenting,

“It’s so hard for me to not get what I want.”

Tell me about it.

It reminded me of this, from a few years ago:

In Genesis 17, I love Abraham’s words in verse 18.  The context is that he and Sarah have schemed together, of course, and used Hagar to produce the child Ishmael. Of course this was not the child of promise, it was the child of the flesh, born of their manipulative schemes and not the fulfillment of God’s promise.

But he is here. Ishmael is here and he’s now grown into a young man, and God is again telling Abraham that they shall bear a child–he and Sarah shall bear a child–in their old age.  Abraham’s response?  “Oh that Ishmael might live before you!”

Now, this isn’t a plea for Ishmael’s life. Ishmael wasn’t going to die or anything, it’s just that Ishmael was not God’s plan.  But Abraham, in his humanness that I can’t help but love and identify with, pleads (my translation)–“Oh that You might do it my way! Oh that You could just adjust your plans, God, and just go along with what we’ve already set up. Can you please just bless what we’ve already done? Why do you have to go on and scrap it all and start over? I mean can’t you just use what we’ve done??”

God’s answer?

NO.

No, He will not just go along with what you’ve already done by the work of your flesh. No, he will not just go ahead and “bless” what you’ve done in your own strength because you did not trust God enough to wait on Him.

Pure and simple. No.

Oooooh, sisters and brothers! Oooh, how often have we prayed that exact same prayer in our own words?  How often have I prayed, “Can you please just bless what I have done?  Nevermind if it was according to Your will or not? Can you just bless it, puh-leeease? Just this once and you just please do what I want and put Your power behind it?”

In other words, “Can’t you just do what I want?!”

Oh that makes my heart sink.  I know I have done this so many times. Not wicked things. Good things.  Even ministry things.  ”God here is my thing, can you please just bless it?”

Now, to be fair–of course when we plan something and we seek God as best as we know how and as best as we know it is of Him, of course we can confidently and wholeheartedly ask Him to bless it.

But I’ve caught myself as I’m praying, and I notice that often this creeps into my prayers: Just asking to have God’s power behind whatever it is I want.  It’s subtle, but it makes me God, right? And the minute I start going there I’m in big trouble.

God will never bless the works of our flesh.

He will redeem them, yes.  He will use them for good, yes. But He will never say yes to our prayer, “Oh that I might have my way! Can you please just drop Your plans and do it my way instead?”   Or, He might say yes, but that would be a scary thing indeed.  Sound discouraging?

There’s more to the story.

There’s no period after the “no”.  God says, “no” comma. God says “No, but Sarah your wife shall bear a son and you shall call his name Isaac.”

No, because My plan is so much better.

No, because it would be cruel of Me to give in to your way.  Because My way is infinitely better than your way.  No, because I have things in store for you that are greater than you can ever imagine.

God says, “Trust me on this one. No is exactly what you want to hear.”

A good reminder for me today. You too?

Thanks for reading.

Noah was quite the guy.  Every time I read through Genesis 6-9 I’m amazed at his obedience and encouraged by the favor that he found in the eyes of the Lord. This time through I was reminded of this little tidbit, encouraging any of us who happen to be waiting (are any of us not waiting?):

57 days of waiting.

After all that crazy rain for 40 days and 40 nights, it still took a long time for the water to subside–150 days according to chapter 7 verse 24. We know that Noah sent out the raven to see if land was dry, and eventually the raven flew away and Noah knew the waters had subsided.  But then, on the first day of the first month of the year, Noah removed the cover of the ark and saw that the face of the ground was dry.  DRY.  Can you imagine how crazy stinkin’ excited he must have been after being in that horrid smelly boat, seasick and rocking up and down on the swells of water? He had been in that thing for months with all those animals and I can only imagine that the sight of DRY land must have been about the most exciting in the world.  I would have been going crazy with excitement!

So after all that waiting, after sending out the raven and having it find dry land, after all those “signs” that things were ready, Noah opens the ark and sees that the face of the earth is finally DRY and so he…. jumps for joy and throws open the door and runs out to the dry land. Right? Nope!  He doesn’t. He doesn’t do that at all.  Chapter 8 verse 14 tells us that in the second month, on the 27th day of the month, God said to Noah, “Go out from the ark…”

For 57 days he waited in that ark–on bone dry land.

Now, I can see how it would have been hard waiting for the waters to subside, but it certainly would not have been tempting to jump out of the boat. When the ark rested on Mount Ararat (8:4), that would have been a bit more tempting. When they saw the tops of the mountains (8:5), that would have been a little more tempting, when the raven flew away, that would have been really tempting.  But when Noah could look straight outside and see that the earth was DRY. Not that’s when I would have made a run for it. Get me out of here!

But he waited for God’s voice.

For 57 days.

For 57 days he waited inside that ark–sitting on dry land–to hear God’s voice telling him to go.

How could Noah do that? How could he have the discipline and resolve to wait?

He had learned not to trust his own eyes.

He had learned that his own perspective would not allow him to follow God’s voice. When God told him to build an ark, it sounded crazy. Everyone thought it was crazy. A flood?! It had never even rained!

But Noah looked with eyes of faith and listened to God’s voice.

So now he was simply doing what he’d already practiced for hundreds of years before (he was 601-years-old at this time!).

Perhaps if I had 600 years to practice I’d be a little better at waiting.  With just 30 years of practice I’m not very good. So often, SO often, when God leads me to do something, I just jump jump jump and am ready to get going.  I don’t understand when he makes me wait. Just even today I was saying to Jeff, “Why hasn’t anyone bought our house?! I thought God told us to sell it! I don’t understand!”  Well, perhaps I’m supposed to sit in the ark, for 57 days, on dry land, with a bunch of stinky animals, and wait for God’s voice.

Noah did it.  We can do it.

I pray that I, that we, learn to wait on God’s voice. It may LOOK like everything is ready. It may SEEM like the timing is perfect. The earth may look bone dry, but only God’s voice can tell us when the time is right.

We must wait on His voice.  I pray for the grace to do that, today.

Thanks for reading.