Reality According to Who? 8-29-11

He taught with real authority—

quite unlike their teachers of religious law. Matt. 7:29

When our reality doesn’t line up with actual reality (reality according to Father God) deception is a soul gripping slippery slide.

It can come in loads of different forms/natures:

·       An athletic sport endeavor where the sport becomes the thing to be worshiped and God, our puppet for success.
·       A business venture where the venture becomes our god, and God is blamed when the venture veers south.
·       A relationship where it seems, “I’m just helping him/her”, but in reality, are enabling poor behavior and playing “Jesus Christ Jr.”.
·       An attraction to someone other than our spouse. One that we convince ourselves is a “healthy relationship”, yet in reality, is anything but.
·       A legalistic mindset on a neutral biblical tenet, causing one to errantly deduce, “if it is right for me, it therefore MUST be right for you.”
·       Etc. etc

God’s Word is love and God’s Word is power. ~~When it is spoken over our lives and we choose to ingest it into our inmost parts (not merely 1-2 inches), then choose to be trained by it, …His LOVE and POWER go to work in us, transforming us from glory to glory until the day when we are with Him, reigning alongside Him in heaven forever! AMEN!

The Power of Truth:

·       “For the word of God is alive and powerful. It is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword, cutting between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow. It exposes our innermost thoughts and desires.” Heb. 4:12

·       “To Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us.” Eph. 3:20

·       “the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come.” Eph. 1:17-20

Ingesting and Training in the Power of Truth:

·       “For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe. But solid food is for those who are mature, who through training have the skill to recognize the difference between right and wrong.” Heb. 5:13-14

·       “…Exercise yourself toward godliness.” 1Tim. 4:7

·       “Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.” 1 Cor. 9:25-27

Oh Lord, please touch us afresh this week. Where we are in error, correct our thinking, cause us to want to repent and follow Your lead. Amen.  

Much love, Shaun and Betsy

Hiding in Life 8-22-11

“Where are you?” Gen. 3:9

The first recorded question from God to man asks man is, “Where are you hiding?” And ever since the Fall, man’s tendency (each one of us) is to conceal ourselves.

We hide behind bad things like the misuse of drugs & alcohol, or an abusive upbringing. We hide behind neutral things like power, reputation and titles. And we even hide behind good things like our personalities (I’m just shy), our good family name, and even Scripture itself.

As believers:

• ·             A mom can hide behind her kids, her husband, or a myriad of “to-dos”…never truly learning what it means to rely on the Lord in her daily living.
• ·            A dad can hide behind wifely (and child-ly) submit, respect and honor verses, never truly learning what it means to submit himself to the Spirit and lead his family moment by moment in the Spirit’s power.
• ·          An employee can hide behind busyness and deadlines and never really learn what it means to rely on the Spirit in the workplace.
• ·          An athlete can hide behind his/her workouts and competitions; an artist behind his/her craft; and a musician behind his/her music (and miss worshiping and serving the King altogether with his/her talent).
• ·          Leaders can hide behind titles (VP, CEO, CFO, etc.) ~~(Church leadership can hide behind titles too: pastor, elder, deacon, etc.)
• ·          Bible lovers can hide behind pet scripture verses choosing not to rely on the living Spirit to reveal Truth. (Jn.1:1 speaks to the Word as much more than merely written Scripture. “In the beginning the Word already existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was God.”)

If we truly desire ALL that God has for us, then we must stand in the LIGHT of His love and judgment, transparently honest and naked before Him.

“Lord, please show me the depravity of myself. Show me where I am hiding from You, regardless of how righteous it may appear. Cause me to want to become nakedly transparent before You. Please rewire my brain according to Your truths and not my perceptions of Your truths. Help these areas of hiding to become utterly distasteful to me. Amen.”

Let’s remember, the Redemption Story is all about God’s pursuit of man, not man’s pursuit of God. 

Question this week:

 

 Where in our life is God asking, " Your name , where are you hiding?"

We’re in this together!

Much love, ~Shaun and Betsy

Purposed Steps 8-15-11

“I run with a purpose in every step. I am not just shadowboxing.” 

1Cor. 9:26

As we distinguish then embrace our unique call we’ll find that we’re not as apt to rush into the plethora of opportunities that are not part of God’s individual assignment for us, no matter how righteous or urgent they appear. ~The “need” isn’t necessarily the “call”, as the saying goes.

“We are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” Eph. 2:10

Personal example this week:

1) Yesterday morning, our eldest called from afar asking for help. He told us that his car had developed a major fluid leak, he’d just lost his power steering, the temperature outside was near 100 and climbing, and that he was going to start walking to the hospital for his first day on the job (~10 blocks away dressed in a suit)… And would figure out what to do as the day unfolded.

2) Minutes later we got another call that we were needed at an urgent prayer meeting….the caller was intent not to take “no” for an answer.

3) At the same time, the pot boiled over on the stove and the UPS guy rang the doorbell with a delivery.

What to do?

·      Choose to attend to all in an attempt to please all?

·      Choose to attend to one/some based on the perceived need/urgency factor?

·      Choose to attend to none and allow the other involved parties to “deal”?

·      …Etc., etc.

Well, because we’ve learned to discern and embrace our call in this season of life, the choice was relatively easy. ~As we prayed words from this simple prayer, “Show me the right path, O Lord; point out the road for me to follow. Lead me by Your truth and teach me for You are the God who saves me. All day long I put my hope in You.” Ps. 25: 4-5, God clearly directed our steps.  

Yes, we disappointed at least one person, but we’re confident that we put a smile on God’s face as we walked in His directed path. “Obedience is better than sacrifice.” 1 Sam. 15:22. ~~For even though it may have made us feel better to have surrendered our time and resources to meet all of the needs at hand, the Lord impressed upon our hearts that obedience is what He pleases Him, and we had choices to make.

Oh, may we walk in a manner that pleases Him!

God bless you! ~Shaun and Betsy

Confronting Our Inner Jerk 8-8-11

    “Be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger” Jms. 1:19

We don’t know how you are doing in this arena, but as we Clearys learn to daily navigate life’s circumstances and relationships in the Spirit vs. our flesh, we have been amazed at how depraved we are at our core. (“I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature.” Rom.7: 18)

Sure, if we set the bar low and compare ourselves to the obnoxious person we just witnessed at the gas station, we can fool ourselves into thinking that we are doing ok. But in reality, we are simply too chicken or too prideful to confront our “inner jerk”.

God doesn’t grade on a curve.

So, even though we may “feel” like telling the person who just _____ed us, “You sick moron, what kind of slimy fissure did you just emerge from?” … DON’T.

Jesus sets the standard, and the standard is HIGH…perfection in fact. That’s why He gives us His Spirit within us to help transform us from the inside out.

But He also gave us free will. And in the heat of the moment, it’s our choice whether we heed His voice or our emotion.

Challenge: This week when someone frustrates the heck out of us, how will we respond? ~According to the His Spirit or according to our flesh? It’s our choice.

“His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and goodness. Through these He has given us His very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.” 2 Pet. 1:3-4

God bless us as we struggle together arm in arm! ~Shaun and Betsy

Faithfulness and Rewards 8-1-11

“His master replied, 'Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master's happiness.’”

Matt. 25:23

Remember the parable about the talents in Matt. 25:14-28? God gives His different servants different numbers of talents, expects them to invest the talents wisely, and later, upon His return, rewards them accordingly. As we’ve pondered this parable, we sense that what is acknowledged and rewarded in heaven may be quite different than our perceptions of what we think God will acknowledge and reward.  ~~For example, most of us regretfully esteem certain believers higher than other believers based on our personal perceptions of their “ministries” (inside and outside the church proper).

Think on this equation a minute:

·       Person A grew up in an amazing believing family, lived a fruitful life honoring God, was given 50 talents, but only used 32 of the talents God entrusted to him.

·       Person B grew up in a hellhole, was abused and unloved, yet found Jesus, was given only 5 talents, and used 4 of them very effectively.

·       Who do you think gets larger eternal acknowledgement and reward?

We speculate that it may go down something like this at the judgment seat:

·       “Esteemed Person A” did much with what he was given (but missed a lot too) and is rewarded accordingly.

·       “Unesteemed Person B”, despite all odds

o   found Jesus,

o   overcame his past

o   did what he was created for with what he was given…

o   his faithfulness is noted and his eternal reward is abundant…(perhaps more abundant than “Esteemed Person A”! ~Matt. 25:23)

As we Clearys seek to understand God’s heart better, we find that we are falling in love with the difficult people in our lives more and more, and we are not as quick to judge. (~~Perhaps this difficult person is an “Unesteemed Person B” and that we are evaluating them on an “Esteemed Person A” scale!)

~~God trusts us with His divine wisdom to the degree that we know His heart. The key is to draw near to Him so that we understand His heart more and more. Deception happens when we don’t seek to understand the true heart of God, but choose instead to embrace our ideas about the heart of God and our own feelings.

It’s not easy, but it’s so worth it. Will you join us in the challenge this week?

Much love,

Shaun and Betsy