Control or Freedom--What Will It Be? (#fmfparty)

It's been a long time since I've done a Five Minute Friday, but when I saw today's word, I couldn't let another week pass without blogging! It’s great to be back and writing again!! :)

"...The person who lives in right relationship with God does it by embracing what God arranges for him. Doing things for God is the opposite of entering into what God does for you. Habakkuk had it right: "The person who believes God, is set right by God--and that's the real life." Rule-keeping does not naturally evolve into living by faith, but only perpetuates itself in more and more rule-keeping, a fact observed in Scripture: "The one who does these things [rule-keeping] continues to live by them." Christ redeemed us from that self-defeating, cursed life by absorbing it completely into himself." Galatians 3:12-13

When something controls us, we are its slave, never its master. We listen to its dictates and demands. We compromise minor beliefs, time constraints, or relationships here and there until we lose ourselves in what we are doing not realizing just how much we've shut out the world around us. The larger picture of life is lost in keeping up with the demands of today.

A gradual shift begins to happen as we notice that it matters more how the outside looks to everyone else than what's going on in the inside for a polished image is better than a broken heart; a fake smile is better than a seeking faith; and a problem-less life is better than a messy life that's in the midst of fresh spiritual awakening and healing. And at that point, control and the facade of religion has us in its grip!

But what happens when we get to a point in our lives where we can't keep up the facade of religion, of doing the good church-girl thing? What happens when something inside of us breaks as we realize that we are allowing a good and godly system with good and godly people control us, not God, because we've gotten to a point in our lives where we can't keep our mess contained in a nice, neat box and all the Christian band-aids aren’t working? What happens when we hear God calling us out of a godly system back into a relationship with Him and Him alone? And then as we start to follow His call and sample true freedom, we find ourselves trapped by all these good things that no longer help us on the journey that He's called us on and we are not sure what to do about that??

Sometimes we are too scared to let these good and godly things go because it's all we've ever known. Or, we've invested too much of ourselves, time, and energy that we can't let go. Or, we've rationalized gut feelings about situations for so long that it's easier to keep ignoring those feelings than rock the boat.

Whatever the reason, control will always keep us in a box. Control will always require us to follow more rules. Control will always make us do and perform. BUT, when we are beginning to wisen up, the truth in Galatians 3:12-13 smacks us in the face: "Christ redeemed us from that self-defeating, cursed life by absorbing it completely into himself."

No! We do not have to stay in rule-keeping systems and/or religions. We do not have to stay in a box. We do not have to be controlled by anyone or anything but God Himself! God has redeemed us from the tight clutches of control! His ways are the ONLY ways to true, peace-filling, life-giving freedom! God's freedom is not found in control, not found in a religion, and not found in a church building or Christian institution, but it's found solely in Him and in following Him above all else!! (I wish it wouldn't take learning it the hard way to understand this concept!!)

[time! Yay--it feels good to be writing again!!]

* Five Minute Friday (#FMFparty) gives writers a word prompt. We are encouraged to write whatever comes to mind about that word in just five minutes.  No editing, no perfection, only writing from the heart.  To find out more, visit http://katemotaung.com/five-minute-friday/.  This week's word is "CONTROL".

Psalms -- Cries from the Heart

For one of my classes this semester, we summarized 10 different Psalms. Wanted to share it as a way to encourage you to see how the Psalms work together to instruct and encourage our hearts no matter what we face in life. 

PSALMS REVIEW

Psalms is a book of heartfelt cries, honest prayers, and beautiful praises. It’s a book that teaches us how to fall before God in the good times and the bad times, how to praise God on the mountain tops and praise Him in the depths of the lowest pit, and how to recognize His goodness when we are overwhelmed with all that life throws at us.  

Psalm 91 is a chapter of comfort and promise as it reminds us where to run and hide when life is uncertain. Psalm 91:1 reminds us that dwelling in the secret place of the Most High is essential to knowing God. Dwelling means taking up residence, not passing through. Abiding in Christ and exploring His promises of safety (vs. 4-10), refuge (vs. 4, 9), protection (vs. 7, 10-13), deliverance (vs. 14-15), and satisfaction (vs. 16) require that we slow down long enough to savor the quietness and comfort of being sheltered and loved by Someone higher, more sovereign, and more powerful than we could ever imagine. Psalm 91:14b in The Message says, “I’ll give you the best care if you’ll only get to know and trust Me.” What all do we miss in our relationship with God when we rush in and out of His presence with our busy lives instead of curl up and savor that mental image of hiding in His Secret Place while being covered by God’s feathers and securely tucked under His wings (vs. 1, 4)?

In Psalm 18, David glorifies and vividly describes the power and deliverance of God as God led him to victory against his enemies. This victory was accomplished through God’s power (vs. 7-15) and through God-given tools and strength (vs. 32-50). But in order for David to tap into God’s power and help, he first chose to call upon the Lord (vs. 1, 3, 6) and he trusted in God to fight these battles for him (vs. 6, 21, 30). We don’t have to run in fear when Satan attacks us or when we experience conflict “For You have armed me with strength for the battle” (vs. 39a).

As I confront my past and desire healing, my top questions are: When my abilities, talents, performance, and all the strivings to prove my worth are stripped away, who am I? Do I even matter if I can’t contribute, strive, or prove? God, where were You? Did You see me? And Psalm 139 gently answers my questions by showing me how carefully God designed me. Yes, I am one person out of millions, but I am one God personally and gently knit and held together. And if He was covering me in my mother’s womb (vs. 13) when I was still an unformed substance (vs. 16), then He was holding me in the bad times (vs. 8) as much as He is still holding me today (vs. 10, 18).

Psalm 19 highlights the beauty and treasure we have in God’s words. God speaks to us in various ways (vs. 1-6) and His words are perfect, sure, right, pure, clean, and true (vs. 7-19). Desiring and keeping His Word bring us rewards (vs. 11), cleansing (vs. 12), and protection (vs. 13).

Psalm 32 encompasses the basics we need for the Christian life—confession (vs. 3-5), salvation and forgiveness (vs. 1-2, 5), Divine direction combined with trust (vs. 8-10), and praise (vs. 11). God fulfilled His promises to me in Psalm 32:8 numerous times and it goes hand-in-hand with Psalm 91:1 because direction always comes when we take time to dwell.

Dwelling highlights truth, promise, and praise over feelings, emotions, and circumstances. Dwelling enables us to read the Psalms from a different frame of mind allowing us to see God, not just another passage. Psalm 16 is like that. When we dwell, we realize that everything comes from God (16:1-4) and what He gives is good (vs. 5-6). We have hope and a steadiness of heart (vs. 7-10) because we realize our joy is dependent upon experiencing His presence (vs. 11). So then, why we are quick to lose focus and stray from under God’s wings when everything that can satisfy our hearts is found as we dwell in His presence?

Psalm 23 reiterates the goodness of the Lord as He fulfills our longings (vs. 1), gives us rest and restoration (vs. 2-3), personally leads us and comforts us (vs. 4-5), and overflows us with goodness and mercy (vs 5-6). And once again, this causes us to want to dwell with God and to dwell with Him forever (vs. 6).

Psalm 34 seems to issue a dare as David dares us to “taste and see that the Lord is good.” When we take David up on that dare, we discover that God hears us and delivers us from our fears and troubles (vs. 4, 15, 17, 19). He protects us (vs. 6, 20-21), fills us (vs. 8-10), stays with us (vs. 18), and He redeems us (vs. 22). The last verse in Psalm 34 in The Message translation responds to the dare with “…no one who runs to Him loses out.” (vs. 22b). A month ago, I was driving down the highway and pouring out all my ugly to God. I fiercely yelled at Him and begged Him to show me that He is good like He does for everyone else. I don’t want to read or hear that He is good, I want to know that He is good. Three weeks later, God’s goodness appeared left and right and in unmistakable, odd, and awesome ways that each whispered, “I am good. You can trust Me with your healing.”

Psalm 96 and Psalm 100 are pure praise chapters. These chapters command us to praise God (96:4, 100:4), to thank Him (100:4), and to bring Him the glory due to His name (96:4-13). I’d like to think that as a result of dwelling (Ps. 91:1), we begin developing a new language of praise as we see and experience who God is–good, everlasting, truth, creator, salvation, majestic, beautiful, strong, judge, sovereign. This language of praise was never meant to be kept to ourselves—we are to spread this praise to all generations and to all the earth.

May I discipline myself to slow down, rest, curl up, and dwell in the presence of God so that I may know Him and continually “taste and see that He is good” as I experience the same deliverance, restoration, joy, and praise that David wrote about in these ten Psalms!

A Messy Pizza & the Cross

Last week, God used a homemade stuffed crust pizza to illustrate my life versus His life. This followed recent conversations in which more than one friend pointed out blind spots of my "perfectionistic tendencies" that were spilling over into relationships and even into church life.

As I was looking at the pizza that I pulled out of the oven, I was struck with how much my focus has shifted away from where it used to be (God). This semester, I've spent more time trying to make my life look like the middle of the pizza...you know, the nice, neat, smooth, evenly cut slices--the kind that just look perfect all the way around! But the truth is, my life is more like the entire right edge of that pizza.

When I made the pizza, I carefully wrapped the string cheese in the crust. It looked semi-professional and promising! Yet ten minutes later, it looked anything but professional. It looked messy as the cheese kept oozing out of the crust.

Oh, how I have felt like that string cheese for the past six weeks because life has taken many unexpected twists and turns and disappointment and discouragement want to be my constant companions. I've tried so hard to stay within this nice, neat little crust of life, but yet I'm just oozing out everywhere! As the cheese oozes further and further, there is no way to control it. It has a life of its own as it slowly covers up all that looks good.

As I compared the contrasting middle slices to the end slices, God reminded me that even though the mess looks messy, it is still full of goodness. The edges may unravel, our cheesy mess may ooze out and cover that which we perfectly crafted, but it doesn't alter the fact that it’s still a pizza and it's still good. The not-so-stuffed crust gives the pizza character, questions, and a story. It's a picture of reality when we try so hard to cover the mess yet it all spills out anyway.

That night, I purposefully didn't eat the edge pieces because I was so desperately craving order and control in my life. I didn't want the mess regardless of how wonderful it would’ve tasted (as if I thought not eating the edge was a way of telling God what I really thought—oh, the totally immature and embarrassing games we play with God).

Since that night, the pizza image kept coming to mind as I've felt stuck in the same place I always get stuck at in life. It’s the same story, different year, different season...surely, there has got to be a different way!

Yet, the way to overcome is one that means looking straight at Christ like never before. It means overcoming all the hang-ups I have about "religion" and seeing that the cross isn't a religion, it's a way of life. It’s turning a lifetime of knowing about God into truly knowing Him. It's taking the things I learned during my first semester at Seminary and running it through the underlying question of every class and every chapel: "How does the gospel inform [fill in the blank with your current situation]?".

That question is a question I've been so afraid of answering and have been trying to run from because the answers scare me. They require letting go of every thought, every action, and every belief that runs contrary to God. It means living into a new identity (rather than continuing to study what our true identity is but failing to claim it). It means letting go of thoughts that keep me stuck in a rut. It means seeing the decision to believe in black and white. Because when anything is held up next to the cross, we see how futile it is. We see where God wants to break in with His love. We see where the power of God that raised Christ from the dead is our power to cling to and to use so we are never alone. We see a love that encompasses every petty thing that is said or done to us so that words no longer matter and our response is to simply love back.

I finally decided to do something about it because warring against God is wasting time, squandering Kingdom opportunities, and keeping me stuck in this same place. It's declaring that I still desire myself over God and if that's the case, it's time to make some decisions to step away from certain ministry roles for it only leaves a path of confusion and disappointment for me and others.  

When I sat down with a new three-subject notebook, God wasted no time in filling up the first page! Last semester, a professor suggested highlighting all the places in the Bible that say something about who God is. So, the first subject area in this notebook is a "God is ______" section where I write down everything that is revealed about God in whatever passage I read that day. It just so happened that it was Romans 8 ... one page later and I wasn't even done writing out who God is from the chapter. Halfway through the list, I'm like, "God, why do I so easily forget who You are? Why do I run away so much when You offer everything I could ever need and want?"

The second subject area is "Lies vs. Truth" -- one column is for the lies I believed today about God, myself, and/or others. The other column is to write out God's truth. It’s to a point where I need to stop dancing around the lies and justifying them and see them for what they are…I just didn’t expect to see the complete pettiness and downright falseness that I entertain in my mind compared to the wholeness of the truth. And it left me crying out to God, "Why do I wallow in lies when it's so obvious they are lies? Why do I remain blind when You’ve given us truth to speak into every situation?”

The last subject area is two parts--"The Gospel & Gratitude". It's where I take situations and/or people and hold them up to the cross and ask, "God, how does the gospel inform this situation? Or, how does the gospel inform the way I am to respond to this person?" And when doing that, it has a way of highlighting hope and purpose. It reminds me of my value and new identity—the overcoming, persevering, victorious one. It reminds me how powerful the cross is and that we are never alone in these situations.

Life can come at us from all different angles, but the reality is that we are secure in the cross and everything we need to face life is found in God. That produces a spirit of thankfulness and positivity that isn't there when we focus on all that is wrong and how much something hurts. There is always goodness to be found!  It's kind of like that pizza--the mess may look messy, but the taste is undeniable goodness!

Leave it to God to use a pizza to illustrate His point!

“You have your heads in your Bibles constantly because you think you’ll find eternal life there. But you miss the forest for the trees. These Scriptures are all about Me! And here I am, standing right before you, and you aren’t willing to receive from Me the life you say you want.”  John 5:39-40 (Message)

“There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.” Romans 8:1-2

“But if the Spirt of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.” Romans 8:11

“For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.” The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.” Romans 8:15-17  

Go read Romans 8 – it is filled with answers to “God is…” and truths to defeat every lie we tend to believe!