advocate

Real Peace

/ Ragamuffingospelfan / 2 Comments

Tonight at Kairos, I was reminded of the true nature of peace.

Peace is not the absence of war or conflict.

Peace is not the absence of storms and ever-sunny skies with nary a cloud in sight.

Peace is not contented cows chewing cud in a field of grass.

Peace is not a trouble-free life with no worries and nothing heavy weighing on your mind.

Peace is standing firm with the ultimate confidence that God is on your side.

Peace is knowing that there is a battle, but this battle is already won, and Jesus is the Victor.

Peace is  the assurance that nothing can separate you from the love of God, that Jesus has already overcome anything you will ever face in this life.

Peace is believing that even when the storms come– and they will– that even the winds and waves are stilled at the voice of Jesus, because they recognize the voice of their Creator.

Peace is what guards your heart and mind every night as you sleep because your God neither slumbers nor sleeps, but keeps watch over you at all times, singing His own songs over you.

Peace is what you put on your feet that will enable you to hold your ground in the face of whatever the enemy throws at you, because your enemy is a defeated foe and your God has already won.

May this peace be yours always as you know more and more of the Prince of Peace and His love for you. May this peace rule your hearts and minds now and forever.

 

Owning Who You Are in Christ

/ Ragamuffingospelfan / 2 Comments

I like what Woody Allen said in his movie Annie Hall. He said, “I would never want to belong to a club that would have someone like me for a member.” Ever felt that way?

I know you’ve heard about people looking for the perfect church and how if you ever find it, don’t go there, because it won’t be perfect anymore. I can relate to that.

One of Satan’s main job descriptions is accusing believers day and night before God. Some of what he says may be true; a lot of what he says it not.

It doesn’t matter. What the devil says about me is not who I am. What people I work with say about me is not who I am. Not even what my friends and family say about me is who I am.

I am solely and completely who God says I am in Christ. I am holy, righteous, perfect, lacking nothing, and having everything I need. I am, because God says I am.

If you believed what God says about you– really, really believed it deep down– you would live differently. So would I. We wouldn’t be captive to the opinions of others. We wouldn’t live and die by the praise and criticism of others.

Only God really and truly knows me. He knows the secrets I keep, the fears I never tell any one, the shameful thoughts I have, and the doubts I carry. He knows it all and yet He’s the one who says good things about me.

He sees Jesus in me and what Jesus is doing in me. He sees the finished product as well as the work-in-progress.

If anyone had the right to condemn me or write me off, it’s Jesus. Yet He’s the one who intercedes for me and fights for me. He’s your Advocate, too.

Read Ephesians 1:1-15 and notice all that God says about you. Write those things down and meditate on them. Let those things become how you see yourself, because that’s the way God sees you.

If you haven’t already seen it, I recommend Annie Hall as a good movie to watch. It’s a classic.

It’s Wednesday

/ Ragamuffingospelfan / 2 Comments

It’s Wednesday at 9:48 pm and I can’t think of a blessed thing to blog about. The more I rack my brains together, the less I get. It’s sorta like that feeling I used to get when I sat down to begin writing a term paper or essay. The page stayed blank no matter how hard I stared at it.

I could continue with last night’s thoughts about how knowing who you are in Christ will defend you against the schemes and tactics of the devil. His name means slanderer. He is also known as the accuser. But he has no power over you in you’re standing firm and trusting in the promises and the power of the Christ who defeated him long ago at Calvary.

The truth is that it’s easy to forget these things even after only one day. It’s easy to sink back into old thought defeatist thought patterns and negative name-calling. That’s why the Holy Spirit’s job is to remind us of all Jesus taught us. We’re so very forgetful.

The name I picked out for myself to remind me of who I am was FAVORED. I have been the recipient of God’s unending favor and blessing. When it becomes all too easy to focus on all that I lack and still don’t have yet, I call to mind that I am the Lord’s favored one.

If you pick just one name and hang on to that to remind yourself of who you are when times get tough and God seems distant, you will remember that He may feel far off but He is never more than one cry for help away.

By the way, Wednesday means hump day. We’re over the hump week-wise and it’s all downhill from here. Only Thursday and Friday left to go.

Also a good reminder.

Kairos Rehashed: The Truth of Who You are in Christ

/ Ragamuffingospelfan / 1 Comment

In Kairos, Aaron Bryant preached on the armor of God from Ephesians 6, primarily the Belt of Truth.

Sometimes, it feels like so many people try to tell us who we are.

Failure. No Good. Inadequate. Wannabe.

The list goes on and on. Sometimes, it’s our boss. Sometimes, its a family member, or even a parent. Sometimes, it’s a spouse.

We carry these names around with us like baggage and over time begin to believe these names define us and tell us who we are.

But the Voice of Truth tells us a different story.

For those who are in Christ who have placed faith in Him, God has given us a new set of names and told us finally and forever who we really are.

Chosen. Adopted. Blessed. Beloved. Filled with Hope. Redeemed. An Inheritance. Sealed. Favored.

For as many names there are that weigh us down, God gives us more names that free us and make us come alive.

Everything God said about Jesus in the Bible is true for us in Christ.

You are not the sum of your past mistakes. You are not the bad choices that haunt you or the failures that hound you.

Who you are is not what your teacher or parent told you in anger. Who you are is not what your boss told you when he let you go.

Who you are is what God in Christ has said you are.

Put on the truth of that every morning. Let those names God has given you become part of you until you live each of them out.

The good news is that it’s never too late to say YES to Jesus at any time and start finding out these names for yourself.

The good news is also that it’s never  too late to stop believing the lies and start living in the truth of what God says about you.

That’s my prayer for each of you tonight.

Ansel Adams and Mixed-Up Values

/ Ragamuffingospelfan / 1 Comment

I went to an estate sale today, which would make the second estate sale I’ve been to in my life. I got some really good deals, one on an Ansel Adams coffee-table book.

A guy there told me the story about a lady who knew Ansel Adams personally and had several of his original prints. She had a yard sale one time and sold several of them for practically nothing. She basically gave them away.

It would be easy to look down on someone who does something like that. But if I’m honest, I do that everyday. I treasure those things that won’t last and I treat as worthless those things that are priceless.

Culture does the same. We are told to spend our lives pursuing things. We are told our happiness depends on more stuff, on things like titles after your name and having your name on the right list. After all, haven’t you heard the refrain “He who dies with the most toys wins”?

At the same time, we see the sacred profaned and the priceless treated as worthless. Young girls are told their bodies are meant for sex and if they really love someone, they won’t deny him. Young boys are told that sex is an act, nothing more, with no consequences.

We are selling our God-given birthrights for cheap. We sacrifice our integrity, our beliefs, and our convictions for a promotion or a better job, for a relationship, for a bigger house or better car. This society doesn’t put much value in a human soul.

God says that you are priceless. As one of my favorite illustrations goes, if the God who made you could pick you up and turn you upside down to show you where He signed you, then you would know your true worth.

You are worth more than a career. Or a relationship. Or a house. Or a car. You are infinitely valuable because God made you with His own hands and then redeemed you with His own blood. He thought you were worth dying for. Literally.

Sometimes, I honestly have a hard time believing I have value or meaning. The voices in the dark whisper to me that the world would be better off without me and that no one needs or wants me.

But if I listen, the Voice of Truth tells me a different story. It says that God knows my name and loves me and has plans for me beyond my wildest imaginations or dreams.

I hope you will listen to that same Voice that says good things about you and calls you Beloved. The One who says you were worth every bit of shame and pain and scars and blood spent for you on the Cross.

Who Looks Out for You? For Whitney: Part II

/ Ragamuffingospelfan / 1 Comment

I got to thinking more about what Kevin Costner said at Whitney Houston’s funeral. Something else he said resonated with me on more than one level.

He spoke of how he decided to cast her in the leading female role of The Bodyguard. He not only chose her, but he fought for her when the bigwig studio execs wanted another actress with more experience than Whitney (and who was white, although they never explicitly said so).

Kevin was even willing to wait a year until she finished her concert tour. He believed in her for the role to the point that he made her believe in it for herself. The result is history– a mega-blockbuster movie and a soundtrack that sold a gazillion copies.

Do you have someone that fights for you like that? Do you have someone in your corner willing to speak on your behalf with that kind of tenacity? One that won’t quit even when you have?

When the Bible calls Jesus your advocate who goes before the Father on your behalf, that’s exactly what it means. He fights for you– not against God– but as God in human skin.

When the devil claims you because of your past, Jesus points to the cross and says, “That’s taken care of. This one belongs to me now and you have no more claim over my child than you did over Me at the cross or the grave.”

When the world says you’re beyond saving, Jesus says, “I have called you by name and redeemed you. You are never beyond My reach and never, ever gone for Me to be able to save. It’s never too late for Me to step in and transform you into My image.”

When the voices in your head say that you’ll never amount to anything and that you are a waste of space and effort, Jesus says, “I know what plans I have for you and I won’t ever stop until I’ve finished what I started in you.”

When your failures and mistakes tell you it’s hopeless and you are nothing more than all your worst sins, Jesus says, “You are not what those other people says you are. You are not the names you call yourself in your darkest moments. You are who I say you are, and that is Beloved Redeemed Beautiful Transformed Child of the King of Kings.”

I wish someone could have spoken up for Whitney in the last days of her life. When all she was hearing was how the drugs would finally kill her and she was hopelessly spiralling out of control, I wish someone could have told her, “I believe in you. I believe you can beat this. I believe that God in you is stronger than anything you’re facing right now and I will stand by you, no matter what.”

Maybe you can speak for someone right now. Maybe you can be the voice for those who have no voice and take a stand for those the world has forgotten or discarded. Maybe you can believe good things for someome when they can’t believe for themselves.

Remember above all that Jesus speaks for you always. His love trumps your greatest fears and failures. He has already defeated anything you have or will ever face in your life.

That’s Who looks out for you.

 

A Prayer for My Friends Tonight

/ Ragamuffingospelfan / Leave a comment

God, I bring my friends before you tonight. I know that You know what they need better than I do and even better than they do.

God, they are burdened and heavy-laden with work and with school, with spouses and with romantic relationships, with family and friends.

Grant them Your perfect peace tonight and enfold them in Your arms so that they can feel You near to know that You are just as near when they can’t feel You.

Grant them the joy than transcends circumstances and events, good or bad. Joy that can only come from You and that other people can only attribute to You.

Give them wisdom in their friendships. Bring people into their lives who will draw out the God-colors in them and inspire them to hunger and thirst after righteousness and to above all yearn for Jesus more than life itself.

Remove the people who hinder them being who You called them to be. Lord, even me, if I am a hindrance to Your work in their lives. Give them the grace to let the people go who You take out of their existance.

Above all, give them a single passion and vision: to follow hard after You, regardless of what it costs or what anyone else around them thinks. May they see only You and love only You. May their love for others be Your love flowing through them.

Lord, cause Your face to shine on them and be gracious to them. Take them to the lowliest people and let them be Your hands and feet to those who will never be able to repay what You do to them through my friends.

I pray for success and prosperity and good fortune for my friends. More than that, I pray intimacy and a deeper, wilder love for You, even if it comes at the expense of success and prosperity and good fortune.

Thank You for my friends. May they know how grateful I am. Much more than that, may they know each and every day and all through the night how You love them and how fond You are of them and how You call them beloved and how You are their Abba Father. May they each hear the sweet sound of You singing with joy over them in the deep waches of the night.

That’s my prayer for them tonight. Amen.

Taken, Blessed, Broken, Given

/ Ragamuffingospelfan / Leave a comment

lifeofthebeloved

“During the meal, Jesus took and blessed the bread, broke it, and gave it to his disciples: Take, eat. This is my body” (Matthew 26:26).

I’m in the middle of another Henri Nouwen book and I am loving it. He more than any other writer (except for maybe Brennan Manning) always seems to speak to where I am right here and now.

He says, “To identify the movements of the Spirit in our lives, I have found it helpful to use four words: ‘taken,’ ‘blessed,’ broken,’ and ‘given.'”

I had never thought about it that way before. I never looked at Jesus breaking the bread at Passover and made an analogy to my own life.

We are taken (or chosen) by God who loved us from the start. We are blessed by Him with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms. We are broken by our own sin and the broken and marred world we live in with so much poverty, injustice, and inhumanity. We are given to be God’s hands and feet to bring healing and justice and compassion into the world.

I read somewhere that my life is loaves and fishes. Remember the ones that Jesus used to feed the 5,000? In and of myself, I can’t do much. But if I am blessed and broken and poured out, God can bless so many more through me.

News flash: God takes and uses broken lives, scarred hearts, screwed-up pasts, and promises left unfulfilled. He can use anybody. In fact, He more often than not prefers the outcasts and nobodies and failures to be the ones to turn the world upside down (see the 12 disciples for examples).

Lord, may I be taken by You, Who chose me before I was born and gave me the name Beloved, and blessed with as much of You as I can stand. Break my heart for the things that break Yours and then give me out to those in need.

PS The book I’m reading is Life of the Beloved. Expect more blogs to come out of this. I’m not even halfway through. And, to throw in yet another shameless plug, go buy or download or pilfer or ingest this book as soon as humanly possible. It’s that good.

What God Says

/ Ragamuffingospelfan / Leave a comment

You don’t ever have to be ashamed of who I made you to be. You don’t have to apologize for being you.

You are special. I created you exactly the way I wanted you to be and when you were hopelessly lost in sin and misery I redeemed you for My own.

You have a purpose, a reason, something that makes you come alive. Even if no one else thinks you matter, I DO!

Believe that I love you, not because I have to, but because I choose to.

Hear the sound of my Voice singing over you tonight and know how deep that My love for you goes.

I will never change and My love for you will never change, so you can rest in it.

I will not leave you as you are, but will through trial and tribulations make you who you were always meant to be– My perfect image-bearer.