Building Friendship or Tearing it Down 7-31-12

“And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.” Eph. 4:30

Consider our personal relationship with God amidst the backdrop of sin in this life, and let’s honestly ask ourselves this question:  To which do I gravitate most consistently, breaking fellowship with Him or building friendship with Him?

Grieving is involved in both conditions, the question is:

Am I grieving God because of sin or am I grieving with God over sin?

Check out these situations and observe the difference:

1. The LORD was grieved that he had made man on the earth, and His heart was filled with pain. (Gen. 6:6) // They rebelled and grieved His Holy Spirit. (Is. 63:10)

~God grieves, man cares not for the condition of God’s heart, chooses to embrace sin, which results in broken fellowship and consequences. ... And God is then blamed.

2. Until the day Samuel died, Samuel mourned for Saul. And the LORD was grieved that He had made Saul king over Israel. (1Sam 15:35) // Let there be tears for what you have done. Let there be sorrow and deep grief…Humble yourselves before the Lord, and He will lift you up. (Jms. 4:9-10)

~God and believer grieve together over sin 
(personal sin or someone else’s) and 

together they foster a deeper friendship, followed by blessing, peace and joy.

Oh how God loves us.

   Do you think Scripture says without reason that the Spirit He caused to live in us envies intensely? (Jms. 4:5)

“You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion, as I was woven together in the dark of the womb. You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in Your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed. How precious are your thoughts about me, O God. They cannot be numbered! I can’t even count them; they outnumber the grains of sand!” Ps. 139:13-18 

Choosing to live for Him this week,

Shaun and Betsy

Languages of Love 7-17-12

“Love one another.”

 Jn. 13:24; 15:12; Rom. 13:8; Th. 4:9; 1Pet. 1:22; 1Jn. 3:11&23, 4:7,11&12; 2 Jn. 1:5

Next to the first commandment to love our Lord with all of our being, Jesus tells us to love our neighbor as ourselves. Mk. 12:30-31

Who is our neighbor? According to Christ, our neighbor is any other human with whom we live or whom we chance to meet.

What does it mean to love another as oneself?  Love another according to the other’s “language” … as I desire to be loved according to my “language”.

Let’s use a ‘husband and wife’ example:

Imagine that Jane and John have just had an argument. Later, after having spent time with God and collecting their thoughts, J&J come together to seek forgiveness and reconciliation.

Things are still fragile between them so Jane buys John a gift of cologne as a sign of her love.

John receives the gift as a kind gesture, but thinks to himself, “I wish she knew that ‘gifts’ just don’t do it for me. If Jane ‘studied me’, like she did when we were dating, she would know that my love language is physical touch followed by words of affirmation.

…Me, I do ‘study’ Jane, and Jane’s ‘language of love’ is receiving gifts, followed by quality time. I want to love my wife in her language of love, so I buy her perfume and take her to coffee. In doing so, I love my wife according to her love language, loving her as I want to be loved.”

Do you see the difference? We can genuinely believe we are loving another as we desire to be loved, but be missing the love boat altogether!

…We can speak beautiful and loving English to our smiling neighbor, thinking that we are truly communing, and not realize that our neighbor only understands Spanish.

Help us Jesus! Help us to see the people around us through Your eyes and then love them accordingly. Amen.

In His unfathomable love,

Shaun and Betsy

Blessings are Ours 7-10-12

“Lay up treasure for yourself as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that you may take hold of the life that is truly life.” 1 Tim. 6:19

Numerous “near death” experiences describe fascinating accounts of heaven. One matching vision is particularly intriguing: In heaven there is an area with “warehouse after warehouse containing unclaimed blessings”.

If these heavenly “warehouse accounts” are true, what is their meaning?

We know from Eph. 1:3, Heb. 11:6 & Rom. 10:12 that the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, HAS blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ, He rewards those who earnestly seek Him, and richly blesses all who call on Him.

Question: If God has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in Christ, then WHY are there unclaimed blessings, personal blessings uniquely purposed for each one of His kids?

1)    Lack of faith: I don’t fully believe and appropriate His promises to me because I don’t want to make the mental, emotional, spiritual and physical investment to truly get to know Him, choosing instead to believe the Accuser of my soul.

2)    Lack of obedience: At the end of the day, I think and do what I feel & sense is best.

3)    Refusal to “fight the good fight”: When the rubber of faith meets the road of this dark world, I am simply too worn-out to continually swim upstream. It’s much easier to go with the flow under a religious guise of “peace and love” than to allow God to manifest Himself in my mind, heart, words and actions moment to moment.

God tells us that He blesses those who take refuge in Him and fear Him, who make Him his trust, who have regard for the weak, whose strength is in the Lord, who have learned to acclaim God, in whose spirit is no deceit, who listen to Him and then walk in the light of His presence, who maintain justice and are generous, who take great delight in His commands and keep His statutes, who watch and wait daily at His doorway, who hunger and thirst for righteousness, who do NOT walk in the way of sinners or mockers or look to the proud, who love others as themselves, who persevere amidst life’s bumps, and who are merciful, who understand personal depravity and need for utter dependence upon God’s forgiveness, grace and mercy, who love God with all their mental, emotional, spiritual and physical being and wholeheartedly seek Him.

Wouldn’t it be tragic one day to find miraculous and amazing blessings that God uniquely designed specifically for us … that we simply chose not to take? We don’t have to.

As we bring all that we are to all that His is, we receive all that we need from all that He has.

May the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth, bless us. Ps. 115:15

Much love,

Shaun and Betsy

The Delusion, Keep Watch 6-26-12

“God sends a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie.”

2 Thess. 2:11

The Spirit clearly says that in later times, some will abandon the faith and follow seducing spirits. They will not put up with sound doctrine, but will gather around them a great number of “teachers” to say what their itching ears want to hear…teachings generated through hypocritical liars whose consciences have been seared.

People will refuse to love the Truth and so be saved. Tragically, it is for this reason that God will allow a powerful delusion, so that they will believe the lie. ~Aren’t we seeing this kind of “buy-in” today?

Jesus Himself warns His kids that many will come, claiming to be “Savior” and will deceive many.

He warns us that we will hear of wars and threats of wars, but not to panic, for these things must take place, but the end won’t follow immediately. Nation will go to war against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in many parts of the world. But all these only the first of the birth pains, with more to come (increasing in frequency and intensity).

Jesus tells us that when He returns, it will be like it was in Noah’s day when people were enjoying banquets, parties and weddings right up to the time Noah entered his boat. Then holy guacamole...SURPRISE!...the flood came and swept them all away. ~This is the way it will be when Jesus returns.

Currently, we are seeing these kinds of events, subtle and not so subtle, from increasing natural catastrophes to mind-boggling technological advances, designed to whittle away at our psyche until one day, the something like Rev. 14:9 will seem quite logical and reasonable to folks. ~ For we know that the increase of deception always brings with it the increase of personal strongholds. And as these strongholds tighten their grip on individual lives, fellowship with the Spirit is strangled and wickedness is loosed.

So keep watch! For we don’t know what day our Lord is coming. We must be ready all the time and when we see all these things, we can know His return is very near, right at the door.

Let’s be ready.

In His unfailing love,

Shaun and Betsy

References: 1Tim.4:1; 2Tim. 4:3; 2Thes. 2:10-11; Matt. 24

"Over Here" Encounter 6-19-12

“Because we belong to the day,

we must live decent lives for all to see.” Rom. 13:3

Living for our Lord in a world that embraces the contrary is tough.

Sometimes God needs to take us “over here” to learn more of Him, conform and transform us before He takes us back “over there” to prevail in a situation or restore a relationship.

Personal question: 

If I am currently experiencing an “over here” encounter, 
am I whole-heartedly allowing God to change, prepare, and equip me 

with “over there” understanding in order to bring about 
triumph and restoration for His glory?

In this thing together,

Shaun and Betsy

In Paul's Good Company 6-12-12

“I want to do what is good, but I don't. 
I don't want to do what is wrong, but I do it anyway.” 
Rom. 7:19

When feeling defeated in our own internal struggles we should take comfort knowing that we are in good company. “Constant battle” caused even Apostle Paul’s stamina and internal resolve to grow weary at times.

Let’s look at what Paul has to say in his own words:

“I don’t really understand myself, for I want to do what is right, but I don’t do it. Instead, I do what I hate…. And I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. I want to do what is right, but I can’t. I want to do what is good, but I don’t. I don’t want to do what is wrong, but I do it anyway.

 …I have discovered this principle of life—that when I want to do what is right, I inevitably do what is wrong. I love God’s law with all my heart. But there is another power within me that is at war with my mind. This power makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me.

Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death? Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord.

Now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus. And because you belong to Him, the power of the life-giving Spirit has freed you from the power of sin that leads to death…. 

Those who are dominated by the sinful nature think about sinful things, but those who are controlled by the Holy Spirit think about things that please the Spirit. So letting your sinful nature control your mind leads to death. But letting the Spirit control your mind leads to life and peace.” Rom. 7:14-8:6

Paul’s take home advice for us? No matter what:

• Stay intimate with Jesus (saturate our minds: pray, worship, & fall in love with His Word)
• Obey His promptings (with accountability) 
• Allow the Spirit to toil within (vs. personal determination)

Time is short.

"Behold, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to everyone according to what he has done.” Rev. 22:12

In His love and strength,

Shaun and Betsy

Fully Known, Wholly Loved 6-5-12

“Love each other. Just as I have loved you,

you should love each other.” Jn. 13:34

Simply said, in our humanness, we’re ugly to the core. And learning how to truly love another ugly human being in our own self-sufficiency is nearly impossible.

Yet, as we learn to admit our own personal inadequacy and fully lean on the infinite resources of God Himself, He transforms us from within and teaches us how to love as He loves.

In intimate relationship,

1. To be loved yet not known is typically superficial lust that will not endure.
2. To be known yet not loved is one of our greatest fears, so we hide.
3. To be known fully and loved wholly is divine love our hearts yearn for.

What kind of love do you fancy? We Cleary’s desire #3!

The question is then, are we willing to give Him full control of the reigns on our life and our relationships?