Tips for Getting Spiritually Healthy

Confession time. I am overweight. I have diabetes and high blood pressure. It’s the bad health trifecta of the south. I gotta deal with this because I want to be here for Joy for the long haul. Recently, my health insurance offered a monitoring and support system for diabetics, and I signed up for it. They sent me a free glucose monitor, blood pressure monitor, and snazzy scale that automatically uploads the results to my cyber-file. They also offer consultants to help and encourage me. All this is great and I intend to utilize it. But they also want me to tell them what I’m eating. Um, that seems a little intrusive. I don’t want to have to admit to some of the stuff I consume. And I sure don’t want to give up my favorite snacks and treats. Sigh.
One of the most direct and practical books of the Bible is James. James (Jesus’ half-brother) was a no-nonsense kind of fellow. He did not believe His brother’s claims until His resurrection, and then he became the leader of the church in Jerusalem. His letter is filled with straightforward truth. He spoke of sin, bringing it right back to our own evil desires. He said, “Get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent . . .” (1:21); “Do not merely listen to the word and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. (1:22); “Keep yourself from being polluted by the world” (1:27). Over and over James got to the point of relationships, judgment and love, faith and deeds, taming the tongue, wisdom, submission, humility, arrogance, grumbling (ouch), perseverance, and being trustworthy. He also talked a lot about suffering for the cause of Christ – which he understood well as persecution against Christians started there with the mother church.
And then he said, “confess your sins to each other and pray for each other . . .” (5:16). Here’s the honest truth – there are things about me I don’t want you to know. Not salacious things, but human things – sinner-saved-by-grace things. But you probably deal with them too. And what if we did humbly confess our sins to one another? What if you and a brother or sister committed to prayer over a mutual struggle? James said, “The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.”
Beloved, I need you and you need me. We need to hold one another accountable and we need to hold each other up. Find someone you can trust to love you through the hard stuff. And love them back.

True Light

There is a car I meet every morning on my way to work. It is an old police car that the driver probably bought at an auction. The insignia, lights, and siren are gone, but the front push bar is still there. Every time I see him my heart jumps a little and my foot lifts off the accelerator out of instinct. As soon as I realize it is him, I breathe a sigh of relief and motor on. He’s not trying to pretend to be a police officer, but he sure gives the initial impression of one.
Paul warned the Christians in Corinth about false prophets and teachers. He was concerned that they were listening to those who were preaching “a Jesus other than the Jesus we preached to you: (2 Cor 11:4). They were being fooled and falling away from Christ. He said these teachers were “false apostles, deceitful workmen, masquerading as apostle of Christ” (v. 13). And behind it all was the devil himself: “satan, [who] masquerades as an angel of light” (v. 14).
What is satan’s M.O.? He knows that most people will turn away from total darkness, but they are also afraid to live in the bright, holy light of God. But they will happily live in the “almost” light – as long as they can see what they want to see. The almost light fools people into believing that since they are not in darkness they are good enough. They don’t steal, they don’t kill, they don’t tell big, whopping lies, they don’t (openly) hate their neighbor. They pay their taxes, feed their kids, drive (close to) the speed limit, and let the dog inside when it’s raining. They might even go to church on Easter and Mother’s Day. They are good people. The almost light is good enough.
But the Bible says that being good isn’t good enough. John said “God is light; in Him there is no darkness at all” (1 Jn1:5). Not even a trace. He is pure light. Holy light. The kind of light that hurts your eye if you’re used to the almost light. In fact, Paul said “[God] lives in unapproachable light” (1 Tim 6:16). Unless you are in Christ. Because Christ makes us holy. Christ makes us “sons [and daughters] of the light” (1 Thess 5:5).
Beloved, if you are a believer, if Jesus has brought you out of darkness then you are a child of the true and holy Light. Don’t listen to the fakes and don’t settle for anything less.

Jesus Cares About All of You

Several years ago I came home from work to discover that someone had broken into our apartment. What they took was of little value but the one thing they stole that really mattered was my peace of mind. The next day I told a coworker about our ordeal. He said, “Be grateful no one can steal your salvation.” Honestly, I was annoyed that he dismissed my feelings so flippantly – and so “spiritually.” Of course I was grateful that my salvation was eternally secure, but was my relationship with Jesus only good for the next life? What about the days when my heart is hurting, when my body aches, when my nerves are frazzled, and my load is heavy? Do I face those days and seasons on my own?
Let’s ask the widow of Nain whose only son had died. Jesus encountered his funeral procession and his broken-hearted mother. Luke said, “When the Lord saw her, His heart went out to her and He said, “Don’t cry.” He was moved deeply by this mother’s pain and He touched her heart before He touched the son’s coffin and raised him from the dead (see Luke 7:11-17).
When a great crowd of people stayed and listened to Him teach for several days, He was concerned for them. He told His disciples, “I have compassion for these people; they have already been with me three days and have nothing to eat. I do not want to send them away hungry, or they may collapse on the way.” He miraculously stretched a few loaves and fishes to feed more than four thousand people. He cared about their souls, and their empty bellies (see Matthew 15:29-39).
What would the leper say whom Jesus not only healed, but touched with His own holy hand (Matt 8:1-4). Or the centurion who came to Jesus to beg for healing for his servant? The man was made well by Jesus’ spoken word (Matt 8:5-13). How about Peter’s mother-in-law and a house full of sick and demon-possessed people who received healing? Ask the sick little girl and the sick old woman – Jesus ministered to both of them (Mark 5:21-43). All through the Gospels, He healed the physically blind, sick, and lame, comforted the hurting and marginalized, and ministered to the spiritually unwell.
Beloved, Jesus cares about you – all of you – body, soul, and spirit. He came to redeem and restore and He came to heal and comfort. Trust me when I say you can trust Him with your life – now and forever.

Mountains and Valleys

A verse in Deuteronomy struck me yesterday. It is tucked in the commands Moses gave the Israelites just before they finally entered the Promised Land. He was telling them how good the land was, “a land flowing with milk and honey” (Deut 11:9). Verse 11 provided a powerful visual for me: “The land you are crossing the Jordan to take possession of is a land of mountains and valleys that drinks rain from heaven.” I realized that mountains and valleys almost always develop together.
Mountains are glorious – tall, majestic peaks that seem to reach up to the heavens. They take our breath away with their beauty and grandeur. Men climb mountains and gaze in wonder at the world below them. Mountains inspire words of prose and songs of awe. My family visited North Carolina several years ago and when we hit the Smokey Mountains I was stunned by their beauty. I’ve seen part of the Rocky Mountains and they are beyond words.
I am sure you get where I’m going. Life is full of both mountains and valleys. And rain. We all want the mountain top experience, but nobody wants to go down into the valley. We want to scale the heights with the Lord. We want to gaze in awe and wonder from that high place. But the valley is where the rain soaks in and nurtures the ground so that there is growth and fruitfulness. Some of the most stunning flowers grow in the shade of the valley.
I have been through many valleys. The truth is, I am in one right now. But if my experience has taught me anything it is that the green pastures and the quiet waters are down in the valley (Psalm 23:1-2). The valley is where we learn to walk with God and trust Him day-by-day. It is where we can most clearly see God’s goodness and mercy (Psalm 23:6).
Here is something else that spoke to my heart. Moses said, “It [the Promised Land] is a land the Lord your God cares for; the eyes of the Lord your God are continually on it . . .” (Deut 11:12). David said, “Even though I walk through the valley . . . You are with me” (Psalm 23:4). God watches over His children in the valley – He walks with us and comforts us.
Yes, the valleys are hard, but that is where we grow closer to God. When you and I are in the valley, Beloved, let’s plant some seeds of faith and hope and watch them bloom.

Identity

“Who am I?” “What is my identity?” Identity is the big push in our culture. But that’s nothing new. In the sixties wives and mothers were walking away from their families to “discover myself.” As psychology took a firm grip in the seventies, “knowing ourselves” became the cultural cry. I’m not sure we ever discovered anything worthwhile, we just turned all of our attention inward and brooded.
But identity is not entirely a bad thing. I believe it is important to understand who we are. Identity that recognizes one’s gifts and talents can encourage a lifelong goal. I was advised years ago by a wise friend to consider myself a writer and it spurred me to take writing seriously. We encourage Joy to think of herself as a dancer, a worship leader, or a preacher as she shows interest in all of those things. Yesterday she was a circus performer doing tricks on her trapeze. She is at that fun stage of self-discovery.
But identity has also become sorely twisted by the world as many allow sexuality or fantasy to shape who they are. Men choose to identify as women and women choose to identify as men – or as neither. High school students are identifying as animals. “This is who I am! You must accept me and accommodate me in my identity!” Worst of all, laws are being enacted demanding that the rest of us go along with their delusions.
The church is no exception. “Who I am in Christ” is a major theme in religious circles. It permeates popular Christian music and studies. It is big business for producers of kitschy Christian wall art, coffee cups, and t-shirts. Mind you, it’s not a bad thing for us to recognize that we are loved, saved, redeemed, chosen, blood-bought children of God. It really does give us Joy and hope and peace. As long as we remember why we are who we are.
I am loved because “God is love” (1 Jn 4:16). I am saved because the name of Jesus has power to save (Acts 4:12). I am redeemed because God is merciful (Rom 9:16). I am chosen because the Lord is gracious (Eph 1:11). I am a child of God because He claimed me as His own (1 Jn 3:1). I know who I am in Christ because my identity is Him. Don’t look within to find your identity. Look to the One who claimed you and saved you and made you His own. That, Beloved, is who you are.

Dire Straits (no, not the rock band)

So it seems we are not done with 2 Corinthians 4:8-9. The Spirit “pressed” me to dig even deeper and He revealed some things to share with you. As I researched these verses one definition kept popping up: straits. Paul’s original audience would have caught it immediately.
We think of “straits” as extreme difficulty or hardship – as in “dire straits.” It is a very unpleasant place, a painful place, a hard place. I’ve been there and I suspect you have too. Sometimes it comes from someone else’s actions that crash into your life. Sometimes – at least for me – it often has my own fingerprints all over it. But it is often the consequences of living in this broken world.
Paul used the word when he said he was “hard-pressed (v. 8).” He was describing a “narrow, constricted place of great pressure.” You may recall from Geography that straits are those places between two land masses through which a channel of water runs – like the Strait of Gibraltar. It is a narrow strip that connects the Atlantic Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea and separates Europe from Africa by 7 nautical miles of ocean at the Strait’s narrowest point. It is an important shipping passage from one body of water to another. But it is difficult to navigate and easy to get into trouble.
Sounds like life, doesn’t it? Paul also used this word in Romans 5 when He said “We rejoice in our sufferings because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character hope” (v. 3-4). The straits are places of suffering. But they are also places of growth. Joy sometimes has “growing pains” because her muscles and ligaments are stretching and her bones are lengthening and it hurts. But she would remain in a little body forever without them.
Paul said that there is a purpose for the straits. They produce perseverance, character, and hope. How? Because God shows us His great faithfulness in the straits. He carries us through those narrow, hard-pressed places. Hear this this good promise: “Hope does not disappoint us because God has poured out his love into our hearts . . .” (v. 5). The progression from pain to hope is a sign of spiritual growth. It’s what the straits are all about. If you’re being pressed today, Beloved, trust God to bring perseverance, character, and hope from it. Then sail on in the big sea of His love.

Doctrines of the Faith: The Spirit in You

As we continue to look at Church Doctrine and consider the Third member of the Trinity, we find this gem from Paul: “The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God…no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God…we have received the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand…” (1 Cor 2:10, 11, 12). Put simply, because the Holy Spirit is God, He knows how God thinks. He “hears” God’s thoughts. Because the Holy Spirit indwells believers, He reveals those thoughts to us – Jesus said “He speaks what He hears” (see John 16:13-14). And when He speaks to our spirits we are convicted, commanded, comforted, challenged, encouraged, directed, and inspired. (Which, by the way, is how Peter explained the transmission of the Scriptures: “Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet’s own interpretation. For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but man spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit” (2 Pet 1:20-21).)
What are we to do with the Spirit’s messages? Obey. Paul called it being “controlled by the Spirit,” “living according to the Spirit,” and being “led by the Spirit.” How does work? We “set [our] minds on what the Spirit desires.” We “set our minds on things above, not on earthly things (Col 3:2). When the Spirit says one thing and the world says another, we choose to meditate on and obey what the Spirit has said. The world tells us that God has no authority over us. Paul said that we are “obligated” to submit to God’s Word and His Spirit. And if we don’t? Paul said we are not God’s children. God’s children are Spirit-fed, Spirit-led, Spirit-filled people. (See Romans 8:1-17)
There is another aspect of the Holy Spirit in us that I want you to grasp. Paul said in this same passage that “the Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children” (v. 16). Why is that important? Because the enemy and the world will try to tell you the opposite. Satan will hound you that God has rejected you because of your sin, that He could never love you. The Spirit says you are God’s child and God loves His children.
Give heed to the Spirit; believe and obey Him, Beloved. He is the very Life of God in you.

My Father God

When I pray, whether written or spoken, I use my favorite name for God: “Holy Father” (John 17:11). It comes from Jesus’ prayer just before his arrest. I love that name because it expresses the two most important aspects of who God is. Taken separately, each word speaks volumes.
“Holy” describes the highest moral quality, something or Someone set apart and sacred. I think of the Most Holy place in the Tabernacle where God dwelled among His people. It was a sacred space and entry by man was forbidden – except once a year and then only by the high priest who came to make sacrifices for the sins of the nation. A holy thing would never be used for common purposes by common people. The angels in Isaiah’s vision of God’s throne room constantly called out to one another, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty” (Is 6:3). Not just holy, but thrice holy.
“Father” is, of course, a male parent or significant leader to a family, a nation, or an individual. It is a title of honor and reverence. It is also a title of endearment – at least for some. My Dad and I didn’t have the best relationship when I was growing up and we were estranged for much of my adult life. (We did reconcile a few years before his death.) “Father” was not a warm fuzzy thought for me. But coming from the lips of Jesus, the affection was deep and sincere. Most Jews would not dare refer to God in such familiar ways. Remember He is holy – set apart from common, sinful people. But after His resurrection, Jesus told the disciples, “I am returning to my Father and your Father . . . (John 20:17). And He is our Father.
But together “Holy Father” serves as bookends with all the wonder and awe and majesty of God in between. And together they are the complete picture of this God who is both holy and dear, who both demands perfection and makes us perfect through the blood of His own Son. The words speak to my heart of a Father who will never wrong me, never leave me, never hurt me or shame me but will always love me with the holiest of love. With perfect love (1 John 4:18). Because He is a perfect Father (Matt 5:48).
Yes, “Holy Father” says it all.

Wait for the Whole Story

By now you know that my favorite way to study the Bible is passage-by-passage, verse-by-verse, and even word-by-word. There is so much wealth in every word of Scripture. But I also want to consider the greater context so I pull back from the close-up of one word and see the bigger picture of the verse and then the passage. Pull back a little more and I can see how the passage fits into the theme of the section and even the entire book I’m studying. If I take this macro-vision even further I can see the bigger-bigger picture of the Old or New Testament and finally the whole Bible.
That’s also how you and I need to look at our lives. Right now, you may be dealing with something very difficult and all your attention is centered on this one thing in your life. It’s all you can see. You are hyper-focused on this single issue, person, or struggle. May I encourage you to pull back just a little and look for the bigger picture? This issue, person, or need is one word in one sentence of one paragraph on one page of your entire life story. But it isn’t your whole story. God has a much bigger picture in mind. The Bible tells stories of people who had a challenge—infertility, oppression, imprisonment, slavery, rejection, even lack of basic life necessities—and God moved in such a way that the resolution to their challenge became a much larger and more God-glorifying part of their story.
In my present season, I am resting my heart in Jesus’ words in the upper room: “You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand” (John 13:7). When I want to say, “God I don’t get this; I can’t figure out why You allowed this to happen,” I hear Him say, “You can’t grasp it now child, but you will understand when you see the bigger picture.” Because there is a bigger picture. There is a higher purpose. I’m leaning on that with all my heart today.
Let’s give God our troubles, our struggles, our difficulties, and disappointments and watch Him unfold something we never imagined (check out Ephesians 3:20). Beloved, your life is so much more than this one moment. Trust the Author of your story, He has a beautiful ending in store for you.

Marvelous God

“The LORD has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes” (Psalm 118:23).
When I am in a low season in my spirit God comes to me and lifts me up. He knows what I’ve been through the past year and He cares about the hurt and anxiety it has caused. He also knows that the cure for depression is not chocolate (believe me I’ve had plenty) or pasting a smile over my face. The answer to my weary heart is Him. It is turning my thoughts from myself and turning them to the Lord and how wonderful He is.
I look out my window this morning and see the sun brushing the sky with shades of pink and purple and I see the silhouette of the trees and hear the birds fill the air with praise and think, “LORD, You have done this, and it is marvelous in my eyes!” I look forward to picking up my granddaughter today to spend the week with us and I remember that a year ago I didn’t have any contact with her for several months and I think, “LORD, You have done this, and it is marvelous in my eyes!” I look at this pile of seminary books around me and ponder the opportunity to study and learn about His Word (for free!) and I think, “LORD, You have done this, and it is marvelous in my eyes!” I look at this sweet ministry of writing and teaching and remember when I had a breakdown and thought God could never again use this shattered woman and I think, “LORD, You have done this and it is marvelous in my eyes!” I look at my life, once lost in the pit of sin and the misery of my own foolish mistakes, now redeemed and full of hope and a future and eternal security, and I think, “LORD, You have done this and it is marvelous in my eyes!” And I look at the uncertainty of the future and think, “LORD, You will handle this and it will be marvelous!”
The Scriptures are replete with reminders to consider all that the Lord has done. It is the best way I know to recenter and refocus my mind and heart when life has delivered a hard blow. Beloved, what marvelous thing has God done in your life? Praise Him for it then trust Him to do it again.