We Cleary’s want to wish you a very MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!

We Cleary’s want to wish you a very MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!

Jesus is the glorious reason for this amazing season.
May you sense His presence today, as we celebrate His birth!

Love, kisses and BIG hugs to you.
Shaun, Betsy, Kels, Conner, and Shannon

"I LOVE YOU!" 12-20-10

“’My son’, the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours.’” Lk. 15:31

Jesus, in Luke 15, tells three different stories of “lost things”: a sheep, a coin, and a son. When we hear this text, our minds generally focus on the “sin” aspect of the stories, specifically, the “naughtiness” of each. But what Jesus seems to be illustrating in these stories, is not so much the “naughtiness” aspect of sin, but the “separateness” aspect of sin. ~The sheep, the coin and the son were all “away” (or “separate”) from those who cherished them most.  The sheep were separated from the shepherd, the coin was separated from its owner, and the son was separated from his home and father.

In each of these stories, something very valuable was lost, a grand search took place, and great rejoicing took place when ‘the lost’ was found.

As with our Lord, each one of us is immeasurably precious to Heavenly Daddy....and when we stray from Him, He calls out a divine search party to bring us home to Himself. ~~And when we do come home, He and His angels totally rock-out in celestial celebration!

Are you feeling alone? Perhaps could it be that you have been “going it alone”, living life to the best of your own ability? Or perhaps you are doing very well personally, but someone you love is ‘major league struggling’ right now? ~~Jesus is beckoning each one of us to Himself. 
Remember the saying, we may be the only Bible some people will ever read. Folks will know the kind of Father we have when they see the love His kids live; the love of our Lord God in action.

So what do you say, for those of us who are currently living a life of joy and delight in Jesus, let’s “put on some divine skin” and touch someone else who’s hurting. We Cleary’s have had the best time this past week helping out the ‘hurting’ of our town by helping to provide for some basic needs both at our home and at local establishments in out community. Things like packaging hundreds of frozen chickens and stocking shelves, delivering items, wrapping gifts, loving on and praying with local families and individuals at our local Unity Shoppe and church.

~ And maybe, just maybe, through all of our ‘love in action’ (yours and ours), Jesus will be revealed in a way that causes another soul to come home! And for those ‘hurting’ who know Him personally, our love in action just may lift their spirit, give them hope, and meet a very real need. (After all isn’t this what we all desire?!)

We pray you have a treasured Christmas!                                                       
Much love,
Shaun and Betsy

Wired with Desire 12-13-10

“All my longings lie open before You, O Lord, my sighing is not hidden from you.” Ps. 39:9

God hard wired each of us with desires. Some of our desires are realized in this lifetime, but most are not.  And it is at this time of year especially, many of us find ourselves struggling with unfulfilled longings. 

• The loss of a job leaving minimal income for the bare necessities, much less Christmas gifts
• Loneliness and feelings of worthlessness (the “everyone has someone to love them but me” sentiment)
• Estranged relationships
• Physical and emotional suffering

What do we do with the unrealized desires within us? Here are a few suggestions: 

• realize that we are not alone...the whole of creation has been groaning since Genesis 3.  (Now, that’s A LOT of frustration and unfulfilled longing!)
• cling to the hope of Christ’s promises to us and His imminent return for us. (Rom. 8:18-32)
• discipline our minds to “take captive every thought and make it obedient to Christ” and put on our “spiritual armor” (2 Cor.10:5; Eph.6:13-18)
• take our thoughts off ourselves, get out and start serving others (Mk. 12:31; 1Pet. 4:10)
• talk with a friend
• PRAY

God promises us that His eyes are on the righteous, His ears are attentive to their cry (as soon as He hears, He answers) and His angel encamps around those who fear Him to deliver them! (Ps. 34:7,15; Is. 30:19)

~We will always have unfulfilled yearning this side of eternal paradise. Think about it, if all of our deepest desires were attainable here and now, “this” would be heaven, ~~~and wouldn’t that be depressing!

We love you. Jesus IS the reason for this season!                                     
Shaun and Betsy  

Cultivating Love 12-6-10

“Live a life filled with love for others, following the example of Christ, who loved you and gave himself as a sacrifice to take away your sins.” Eph. 5:2

Christmas time...what a wonderful, blessed, cherished time of year...that is if we slow down enough to realize what this season is truly all about.

It’s a fact, “EVERYBODY WANTS TO LOVE...EVERYBODY WANTS TO BE LOVED”, and it’s also a fact that loving the way Jesus calls us to love is only possible by loving Him with all our heart, soul, mind and strength. Mk. 12:30-31 (When we do this, He empowers us to love others and His love flows through us to others...otherwise, we are merely loving by our limited human strength and understanding.)
When we feel loved by another, it’s because that someone is generally giving us:

• their time and attention
• their appreciation and listening ear
• their honor and trust
• They show us that they value us and are thankful for us.
• They genuinely care about the things that concern us.
• They discern our “love language” (physical touch, words of praise and affirmation, acts of service, gifts, etc.), and trying to love us according to it (as opposed to loving us according to their own “love language”).

2 Cor. 13:5 tells us to examine and test ourselves. So, with this partial list, let’s examine and test ourselves in the area of loving others.

Picture someone in your mind right now. ~Got that person envisioned?

Question: Is my life right now characterized by love for him/her (following Christ’s sacrificial example) OR is my life right now characterized by my scurrying around trying to make things “perfect” by Christmas, and in the process, neglecting those I love most?

Check out this short song by Ingrid Michaelson: “Everybody”... It’ll make make you smile!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O6Zb4_Xc9io&feature=email

Let’s simplify our lives a bit and re-discover the true meaning of love this season, then ask ourselves, “Where can I ‘step up the love’ a bit?”

God bless you!
Shaun and Betsy

My Security Blanket 11-29-10

"You are a pleasure-crazy kingdom (society), living at ease and feeling secure, bragging as if you were the greatest in the world! You say, `I'm self-sufficient and not accountable to anyone!”         Is. 47:8

Right now, in what or in whom are we placing our security? Our money, our stature, our power, our spouse, our name, our title, our talents, our looks, our routine, our stuff?

What does God have to say about what or whom we entrust our security to?

• Hab. 2:9   “You believe your wealth will buy security, putting your families beyond the reach of danger.”
• Job 8:15    “They cling to their home for security, but it won't last. They try to hold it fast, but it will not endure.”
• Ps. 69:22    “Let the bountiful table set before them become a snare, and let their security become a trap.”
• Is. 47:8  "You are a pleasure-crazy kingdom (society), living at ease and feeling secure, bragging as if you were the greatest in the world! You say, `I'm self-sufficient and not accountable to anyone!’” 

From God’s perspective, what’s the true security solution?

• Prv. 3:26    “...the LORD is your security. He will keep your foot from being caught in a trap.”
• Prv. 19:23    “Fear of the LORD gives life, security, and protection from harm.” 

~Now, we cognitively know this to be true, but have any of us ever secretly whispered to ourselves, “I’ve tried trusting God with ______, but in doing so, it seems more and more and more ‘bad things’ keep happening. And now I am beginning to question everything about God. Honestly? I actually am beginning to believe that God’s actually ‘not all that in control’ and not all that interested in me. Life’s more about who gets lucky.”

If any of us are entertaining these kinds of thoughts, nothing could be further from the truth, and we’re wise to both recognize our vulnerability and then seek wise counsel and prayer.

The devil wins when he can get us discouraged to the point of despondency. 
Jn. 10:10 “The thief's purpose is to steal and kill and destroy.” 
But God’s purpose is very different: “My purpose is to give life in all its fullness. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.”             Jn. 10:11

  “I love the LORD because He hears and answers my prayers.
Because He bends down and listens, I will pray as long as I have breath!
...I saw only trouble and sorrow.
Then I called on the name of the LORD: "Please, LORD, save me!"
How kind the LORD is! How good He is!
So merciful, this God of ours! The LORD protects those of childlike faith.”  
Ps. 116:1-6

May God bless us in the challenges we face this week!        
Shaun and Betsy    

I'm the Boss of Me 11-22-10

“Jesus Christ...the blessed and only Ruler, the King of kings and Lord of lords.” 1 Tim. 6:15

We all know that Jesus is the Ruler of life. But here’s a question: is Jesus the Ruler of our personal life? Really? ~Every single area of our lives, big and small?
Or are we more like the depiction in Is. 29:13, “These people come near to Me with their mouth and honor Me with their lips, but their hearts are far from Me. Their worship of Me is made up only of rules taught by men.”?
Question: In the pockets of my life, is the Lord:

• Ruler over my home, ...but not ‘the office’?
• Ruler over the office in general, ...but not my lucrative transactions?
• Ruler over my finances, ...but not my relationships?
• Ruler over my relationship with my spouse (ohhh, except for the bedroom, ohh, and that other ‘little area’)?
• Ruler over my kids, ...but not my worries about them?
• Ruler over my calendar, ...(Really? What does my calendar actually reveal about my priorities?)
• Ruler over most of my actions, ...but definitely not Ruler of my thoughts or Ruler of my heart?

OUCH!

Next question: If I’m the ruler of my own life (or parts of it), how am I doing? ...Really, how am I doing in my self-appointed ‘ruler role’?

Some of us are tired. We are flat tired. The reality is, we are flat tired of trying to be ‘god’ of our lives! In Matt. 11:28 Jesus beckons us:  “Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” The word “come” is an imperative, meaning “come here, come now!”

If we do, we will realize some great promises: 

• "This is what the Lord says, He who made the earth, the Lord who formed it and established it--the Lord is his name: 'Call to Me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.” (Jer. 33:2-3)
• “Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in him.”(Jer. 17:7)
• “For I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. You will seek Me and find Me when you seek Me with all your heart. I will be found by you,’ declares the Lord, ‘and will bring you back from captivity.” (Jer. 29:11-14)

Ever heard, “I’ve tried religion and it doesn’t work”? Actually, this is true, religion doesn’t work. ~But He does. And He WORKS when a soul chooses to release control in all areas of life and embrace Him wholeheartedly. (All areas, big and small)

Have a wonderful and blessed Thanksgiving! “Let us come before Him with thanksgiving and extol Him with music and song.” Ps. 95:2 “Come and see what God has done, how awesome His works in man’s behalf!” Ps. 66:5 
Much love,
Shaun and Betsy                                                              

Safe House vs. Liberty House 11-15-10

“God is my strong fortress; He has made my way safe.” 2 Sam. 22:33

Are we feeling “safe” in Gods arms? If the answer is yes, praise God…but let’s dig deeper: Are we feeling “safe” because we’re fearfully hiding behind impenetrable walls of our ‘safe houses’ or are we feeling “safe” because we’re living in freedom behind liberty walls of understanding (understanding of ourselves and the world that surrounds us and choosing to walk in the Spirit vs. hiding behind rules that work for us)?

Let’s flesh this out a little: The Lord does not give us an endless list of rules. He makes His standard very clear, and if our relationship to Him is one of wholehearted love, we will do what He says, regardless of our feelings at the moment. If we hesitate, perhaps it’s because we either love someone/thing else in competition with Him, we are fearful, &/or we are self-righteous, and are refusing to live in the Spirit?

As we mature in Christ, we learn what it means to “walk in the Spirit” and we become attune to the Spirit’s promptings in every circumstance/relationship we encounter. And when the Spirit ‘checks our behavior’, we promptly obey. ~~But, heads up: We are wise to understand that unless God clearly defines “this spiritual check” as a “NO” in Scripture, “this check” does NOT necessarily apply to all believers.  In other words, in ‘matters of grey’, it is inaccurate to deduce, “If God wants this for me, He must therefore desire this for all believers.” No, this kind of deduction would be choosing to live in fear, judgment and legalism, rather than walking in the Spirit’s wisdom, knowledge, love and understanding.  (e.g.: use 1Cor. 6:12 and 1Cor. 10:23-24 as our guide in even in the bedroom!)

Let’s illustrate with an innocuous example: 

• Say woman #1 births her child at home with a mid-wife in a few hours, with no drugs, virtually no pain and consequently believes that “this is the way birthing is.” 
• Enter woman #2: In the hospital, she births for 36 hours in extreme pain, uses pain suppressant drugs, and ends up having a C-section anyway. 
• Woman #1 now forms judgment and believes that woman #2 had a difficult birth because she didn’t have a close  enough relationship with God, her husband, &/or the doctor, and therefore, she “tightened up” ~~and the subsequent birthing experience was the sad result. (From her limited vantage point, woman #1 deduces that if woman #2 had had a close relationship with God, her husband and the doctor, and had used no drugs, she would have experienced an easy birth likened to her own.)

~~Some people’s ‘safe houses’ are small; they’re sturdy and impenetrable, and reality is: This ‘safe house’ is good for them and glorious to them! (And we who live in more freedom should not try to poke at their walls.) ~~Where it gets tricky, especially in leadership, is when the person who resides in the ‘safe house’ 1) demands that others build the same kind of house for themselves, and 2) deduces that those that don’t build and live in ‘this kind of safe house’ are therefore a) ungodly &/or spiritually immature, and b) should be dealt with accordingly. 

Love’s great foe is pride and fear.
Love’s great friend is humility and understanding.

So why do so many believers design “safe houses” for themselves from which some choose to judge the world and other believers? Many factors…a person’s history, current modeling, etc., but ultimately, we believe it’s because the person who’s making harsh judgments is actually living in pride and fear instead of humility and understanding. We believe God desires all of His kids to live in a “liberty house” full of freedom, guided by His love and holiness! And as we mature in Him, He allows us to experience more and more of this kind of liberty, but He understands that some of us are just not ready for such a house (perhaps until heaven)…and that  ‘safe houses’ are good and glorious.

Much love this week,      
Shaun and Betsy