Archive for the ‘Christian Living’ Category

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Pointless Coveting

Friday, November 8th, 2013

pointless-coveting

Ten years ago, my mother asked me to look through a department store catalog to see if I wanted anything. She was trying to figure out what to get me for Christmas. I told my mother that I didn’t need anything. As I turned the pages, there was really nothing I wanted. But then I saw a beautiful red and gold duvet with throw pillows, and it looked gorgeous. I looked at the price. It was nearly $200. I laughed at how ridiculous the price was, as if anyone in their right mind would pay that much for a decoration for a bed.

Fast-forward 10 years. I was wandering around at a yard sale with my mom. I found the exact duvet I had wanted for 10 years. It was $10. I looked up to God and thanked Him for giving me what I had wanted for so long. God indeed knows the desires of our hearts and remembers everything. I had actually forgotten about the duvet.

I went home and put the duvet on our bed, and it looked just as lovely as my dreams. I smiled.

When my husband came home from work, he wanted to lie down on the bed, but it was covered with a fluffy duvet and five throw pillows. He wondered how to undo it so he could just collapse. I helped him to know where to put the pillows.

After a couple of days, I realized that the gorgeous, fancy duvet was highly impractical. It took up way too much space when I took it off the bed. I nearly crashed over some glass candle holders to get it off the floor so we wouldn’t trip on it to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night. There was nowhere to put it.

And every time I wanted to lie down, there was now an impediment in the way.

I realized that what I had wanted for 10 years, I didn’t actually want.

I wonder how many things we covet in life that aren’t actually good for us. That when God gives them to us, we don’t even want them any more.

Or worse, we plunge our families into suffocating debt because of our covetousness. And then we pay the penalty for years because of endless fees on credit cards.

Years ago I asked God to change my heart to give me desires that would bring Him glory and that would actually matter for eternity. When you ask God to change your heart, He does. My greatest desire right now is for women to grow in their walk with God, especially in the area of prayer. When God fulfills the desire that He plants in your heart, you feel incredible joy and you’re never disappointed.

“Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart.” Psalm 37:4 (ESV)

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Posted in Christian Living, Creative Finances | 14 Comments »

Giant Redwoods

Thursday, September 5th, 2013

giant-redwoodsIf you’ve never seen the giant redwoods of northern California, you are missing out on the largest trees in the world. The redwood giants rise majestically out of the ground, reaching upward into infinity. Some of the trunks are so large that our entire family holding hands couldn’t reach around them. Some of these trees are 2,000 years old, having been alive when our Savior walked the earth.

The bright sun shines down in dappled rays through the branches of the redwood trees, illuminating the soft texture of the corrugated red trunks. Some of the largest ones have toppled over under their own weight; I can imagine one slamming to the ground, shaking the earth with its crash. You can see the root system underneath the fallen trees, the huge network of roots reaching out in all directions.

Scripture refers to the righteous as “trees planted by streams of water; whose leaf does not wither.” (Psalm 1) If I am a tree, I am a redwood. Inside the trunk is a fire-resistant chemical that enables the redwoods to withstand forest fires. Extremes of temperature and storms actually make the redwood stronger. If you plant a redwood in a calm location, it will die. In many ways, our lives are strengthened spiritually as we go through trials and cling more closely to Christ. Further trials in life then cause us not to be shaken because of the solid firmness of our faith. When you see God work in incredible ways through difficulties, you no longer dread what the future may bring, knowing that God is with you.

May we be called “oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of His splendor.” (Isaiah 61:3) Yes, may I become like the redwood giants, bringing a deep sense of strength to those around me.

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Posted in Christian Living, Travel | 3 Comments »

Abiding in the Vine

Thursday, August 22nd, 2013

abiding-in-the-vine“I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.”  John 15:5 NASB

I am a branch connected to Christ, and the Holy Spirit flows through me like sap, energizing me to produce fruit. As a branch, I am not the root; I am completely dependent upon Christ to draw strength. All water and nutrients come through the roots, so if I do not allow the Holy Spirit to control me and pump me with fresh nutrients each day from His Word, I will shrivel up and die. Jesus says, “If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire and they are burned.” (John 15:6) What I’m doing with my life is worthless if I am not connected to the Vine.

The only reason I am allowed to share in the life of the Vine is to produce fruit.

Bearing fruit (glorifying God in our actions, being sanctified, and becoming more like Christ) is what we’re saved for. Jesus says: “My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples.” If we are true disciples we will bear fruit. (James 2:17)

You bear fruit not for yourself, but for your owner. The Father owns the vine and prunes the branches to produce more fruit. Anything that is not needful for fruit-bearing must be lopped off. Better fruit results when the vine is tended to by the owner. The branch is more beautiful, fruitful, and healthy.

“If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.” (John 15:7) We have incredible power for answered prayer if our will is yielded to God, because He grants us the desires of our hearts. “Delight yourself in the LORD; And He will give you the desires of your heart.” (Psalm 37:4) That’s because your will and God’s will are the same. It’s aligning your heart to God’s heart. And then you are one. This is why your prayers are answered. God changes your desire and then grants you that desire because you yielded.

“The vine provides the sap, the life, and the strength. The branch waits, rests, receives, and bears the fruit.” -Andrew Murray in The True Vine: Meditations

“Abiding fully means praying much,” says Andrew Murray. We will care about the souls of others and be given up to the work of God when we are abiding. As a result, we will be people of prayer.

Andrew Murray goes on to say: “The branch is not only one with the vine, but with all its other branches.”  The sap running through the vine is the love of God. When you are connected, you will abide in that love. People that do not love do not know God. God is love. The biggest difference in the life of a believer after salvation is the ability to love. Do not hate your brother.

“These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full.” (John 15:11) Andrew Murray says: “As long as our joy is not full, it is a sign that we do not yet know our heavenly vine correctly.”

Abiding in the Vine will give you power in prayer as well as incredible joy, and you will bear fruit that is pleasing to the Father.

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Posted in Prayer | 12 Comments »

The Gift of Evangelism

Sunday, August 18th, 2013

gift-of-evangelism

All believers are commanded to evangelize, or to lead other people to Christ, but there are some people with the gift of evangelism who seem to win souls wherever they are. They have a deep burden to fulfill the great commission to “make disciples.” Billy Graham, Chinese Brother Yun, Corrie Ten Boom, my own father, and a man from my church who recently went to be with the Lord are a few examples that come to mind.

My dad worked for Billy Graham before he became a missionary in Guatemala. Imagine the joy of easily leading people to Christ when they had already been convicted of their sin by Billy Graham. Droves of people would come down the aisle, ready to be saved, and my dad was one of the workers who prayed one-on-one with those people. He felt so much joy that he wanted to continue to do that for the rest of his life, he told me.

I recently read the sequel to The Hiding Place, by Corrie Ten Boom, a survivor of the holocaust. God would call her to different cities where she didn’t even know a single person. She would walk out of the airport and look around, asking God who she was supposed to talk to. She ended up doing speaking engagements all over the world, leading people to Christ in the process. She confessed that it was wearisome to live life out of a suitcase, but she was scared of living outside the will of God because she needed to be connected to the Spirit of Christ. Being effective and useful for God’s kingdom gives so much joy that once you have experienced it, you never want to live without it.

Chinese Brother Yun (The Heavenly Man) was the same way. He was led all over China, spreading the gospel to anyone who would hear. He suffered great persecution as part of the underground church, and he was thrown into prison and beaten multiple times. But he had this huge desire to share the gospel with the lost, and he was a powerful modern-day evangelist. God has worked miracles around him, like setting him free from prison, blocking the guards from seeing him walk straight out of the prison. There is documentation to show that this happened. God is extraordinarily good to those who are wholeheartedly His.

Danny Acosta was a member of my church who recently went to be with the Lord. He was abruptly given three days to live. But he led ten prisoners to Christ during his life, as well as many other people. There is one woman from the street in particular that God has given me a deep love for, who was led to Christ by this man. She describes how he would boldly greet a hardened gang member as he walked down the street. She laughed at how much courage he had, because normal people thought his boldness was crazy. But the Spirit of the Lord rested upon this man, and the gang member awkwardly said thank you to this man’s greeting! My jaw dropped the first time I heard this man pray. He claimed promises from Scripture as he prayed, and his strong faith was not misplaced. Even though I never really knew him, I grieved when he passed away.

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Posted in Church | 4 Comments »

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