Gravity Thinking…

I just had the most hilarious conversation with my mom.  We were talking this morning about gravity thinking that seems to be so rampant in the Church today.  We want to take up wings of faith and fly and soar with the Lord, but we either have gravity thinking or superman thinking, both of which prevent us from actually taking off the ground.  My 80 year old mom said, “Yes, how many little kids have hit the ground thinking they were superman?”  We laughed so hard she almost knocked over her cereal bowl.

This week I turned in my resignation at the radio station (I’m still on the air for Intercessions).  Why?  Because God is calling me to encourage sold-out devotion to Him and spark prayer among believers in frontier and rural communities (or any open door).  I don’t exactly know when, where, or how, but He’ll show me.

For the past six months He’s been preparing me for this leap.  He told me to JUMP on August 31…the date of my last paycheck from the station.  All week long I was struggling with gravity thinking: what if…  And because of the overwhelming sound of the LORD’S voice, evidenced by repeated confirmations that even an atheist couldn’t have missed, I picked up my faith wings and jumped off the cliff.

The joy and confidence of the LORD is incredible!  I have no idea how things are going to turn out, but I refuse to borrow tomorrow’s challenges today.  My today includes the minute I’m standing in right now!  Trust GOD!

And one more thing before I exit my writing screen, God has been revealing the idols in my life.  Like the idols of needing people’s approval, comfort and financial security, worry and anxiety.  This is how idols manifest in our lives: when we worry, we dedicate our thinking to worrying and we become consumed with the thing we are worrying about and our focus and attention is about the worry and our life.  Are we able to focus on God during those sinful episodes?  Not.  Can we fully worship God when we are wrapped up in our worrying?  Not.  What’s an idol?  Anything we are dedicated to at the expense of being fully dedicated to God.  And all the idols in our lives keep our faith grounded and keep us from trusting in God.  Gravity thinking.

O Lord, clear our temple of idols and vain imaginations that keep us from a full devotion to You.  Bring them to mind so we can confess, repent and move on to Your purposes, for Your glory.  In the Name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.  Amen.

More on Prayer…

Prayer is not a devotion to discipline, as some are leading Christians toward today.   We devote ourselves to prayer because we are devoted first and foremost to God.  We pray because we can’t live without vital communion and interaction with our Father in heaven.  We pray because we love Him!  The question is, “Are we devoted to God?”

If we are cold and nominal in our devotion to God then pursuing spiritual disciplines/formation will amount to form without substance.  It is a work of the flesh without the Spirit.  Notice that spiritual formation is centered on what we do in prayer, what we do in fasting, what we do in meditation….  Where’s the focus?

Imagine if you will meeting with a dear friend and during that meeting you were focused on how well you were interacting with that person.  You brought interactive tools and provided methods and gizmos for how you were going to talk with them.  You set the timer for 15 minutes.  You became preoccupied with the tools and gizmos and how well you were using those things…  Imagine the look on your dear friend’s face.  What would you be conveying to them?  How would they feel?  Is God without feelings?  Does He not see our self-driven spiritual disciplines and long for communion with us that birthed out of our love for Him?

My question again is, are you devoted to God?  Do you love Him more than life itself?  Have you abandoned all to Him?  Do you love God with all your heart, body and soul?  If you do, there will be an unquenchable yearning in your heart to pray without ceasing. Do you thirst for God?

“As the deer pants for the water, my soul pants for You” Psalm 42:1

Prayer

What would happen if prayer was restored in our churches and homes and yes, even workplaces?  What would happen if we gave time and attention to God in prayer, just to sit at His feet?  What if we lingered in prayer with a new prayer on our lips: “What do you want, Lord?” Would God not answer?  Do we expect Him to answer?  What’s on God’s heart?  What grieves Him?  What gives Him joy?

In the early morning hours on Monday, the Lord woke me up with, “Daughter, you’ve been waiting on Me for direction.  You’ve been waiting on Me for open doors.  You’ve been waiting on Me for My provision.  Will you now just wait on Me because you love Me?”  I said “Yes”.

The conviction grows…

Strap it on!

After praying, via conference call, with my brother and step brother this morning, my brother Garry said, “Before we hang up we always say, “Strap it on!”  And Fred said, “The ARMOR of GOD!”  Don’t forget, we are in a battle and it’s just beginning to heat up.  Strap it on every new day!

Lip Service to Waiting

I truly believe in Christendom today that we don’t really believe God will come through with HIS design, His desire and His means.  We give lip service to waiting, but when push comes to shove, we abandon our watchtower.  We are so used to sourcing everything ourselves that we find it inconceivable that God would actually be so practical as to lead us through an open door and then provide EXACTLY what we need to depend upon Him to get His work done in His way.  That’s the difference between the First Century Church and postmodern Christianity.

When God says wait, He really means wait.  I’m a slow learner, but I think I’m finally beginning to see why it’s so incredibly important to be in a position where waiting is required……….if for no other reason that we come to realize Who He is in contrast to who we are: Creator God…creature.  There’s a very big difference between the two.

Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait…………..on GOD.