Not Alone

Joshua 1:9 (NIV84)  

Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.”

Good morning Zebras,

I’m sorry I haven’t written, but God had me focused on three events here in my local area and preparing for them was all-consuming.  The last one was Sunday and although I sailed through Monday just fine, Tuesday found me down in the dumps and discouraged.

Finally, when I couldn’t take anymore I fled to my room to spend some alone time with God.  As I was lying upon my bed doing my best Elijah impersonation God showed me how silly I was being.    

“I think you are being a bit dramatic.  Nobody is trying to kill you.  You sound like Elijah sitting there wishing you could die because you have had enough.  Do you want me to pick someone else for this job?”

“Well…no.” 

 “Then get up!”

So I did. I “got up” and opened my Bible.    

Later when I went downstairs and turned on the computer I found a message from a fellow Zebra sister requesting prayer because she was battling a case of sadness too. And God told me it was time for me to get back to work encouraging His women.

So this morning I did a little research on discouraged. 

One of the definitions of discouraged is “to feel alone.”  And isn’t that so true. Even if there are people around us when we are discouraged we still feel all alone.  We think no one really understands what we are going through and even though they love us they can’t really do anything to help.

But that’s not true. They can pray for us, point us towards God, and remind us that we are not really alone.  And sometimes that is all we need.

I love you little Zebras and I hope you will join me in praying that we all may know the hope to which we have been called, the richness of God’s grace, and the incomparably great power that lives in all of us who believe.

Love,

Jill

Expectations

James 1:2

Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trails of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance.  And perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

Good morning Zebras,

Sorry I haven’t written. I ended up in the hospital last Thursday for emergency surgery and although I was discharged on Friday and I am doing well, writing e-mails under the influence of Vicodin is a very foolish thing.

But last night Laura posted this quote on her Facebook page and I knew it was God using her to prompt me to get back to writing, because “expectations” is what He had been talking to me about.

“Expectation is the root of all heartache”--William Shakespeare.

And I agree, worldly expectations are the gateway to disappointment. Nothing and no one is this world will live up to our expectations. Everything and everyone in some way will let us down.   And our expectations of God can also be the “root of all heartache” if our expectations of God are not in line with Scripture. God did not promise that everything would “go our way” He promised that He would always go with us, and those are two VERY different promises.

One is what we want, one is what is true.

Last Wednesday night I was reading James 4:13-16, about boasting about tomorrow and praying for the retreat I was supposed to facilitate the next day, when I was struck by verse that says: “Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow.” 

It was one of those moments when I knew God was showing me something I do without really even thinking about it.  I count on things going as planned, instead of counting on God and being open to change.

The next day I ended up in the hospital.

One of my constant prayers is that God will direct my path, and although this was not the path I had planned, God gave me an overwhelming sense of His presence and the assurance that is was the path He had planned, which might sound weird, but it allowed me to relax and “count it all joy” because God had reassured me He was in control.

We should not expect everything in our life to go smoothly or expect that each day will go as we had planned.  Nor should we expect to get everything our hearts desire or that people will behave the way we want them to.  What we should expect is that in this world we will have “trouble” and we will “face trials of many kinds”, but no matter what happens we should also that God is always with us and He has everything under control.

 And I find those expectations incredibly encouraging.

Love,

Jill

Invisible

Hebrews 11:27 (NIV)

By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the king’s anger; he persevered because he saw Him who is invisible.

Good morning Zebras,

One of my favorite parts of the herd meeting is the sharing.  I love hearing what God has taught each woman about the attribute we’ve been studying.  Out of the variety of verses given it is so interesting to see how God speaks differently to each woman about the same attitude.

For example, this month my herd was pondering on the invisibility of God.  These are a few of the insights shared at our meeting.

In Deuteronomy 4:15, the Israelites were encouraged to watch themselves very carefully because God is invisible.  Since God cannot be seen you never know when He is around, so you should always be on your best behavior.  Of course, since God is omnipresent He is always around we just tend to forget. But we should remember-and behave.

God may be invisible but His presence can be seen in nature.  Romans 1:20 states “that since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities-his eternal power and divine nature-have been clearly seen.”  And the Psalmist writes “creation declares the majesty of God.”  We may not be able to see Him, but we sure can see what He has created.

And God’s presence can also be seen in others.  1 John 4:12 states: “No one has ever seen God, but if we love one another, God lives in us.”  God may be invisible but we can make Him visible to others as we love one another.  You may be the only Jesus people see.

For me the best verse was the only one I shared today.  Moses left Egypt because he saw Him who was invisible.  It’s our ability to “see” God that allows us to do the impossible.  The more real God is to you, the greater the power you have to live your life the way God desires.

Oswald Chambers wrote: “Moses endured not because of his principles of what was right or because of duty to God, but because he had a vision of God.  A person who has the vision of God is not devoted to a cause or to any particular issue-he is devoted to Christ Himself.”

But the “icing on the cake” was when one of the ladies shared that she is currently studying both Revelation and Daniel and she noticed, because we were focused on the invisible nature of God that although there is plenty of description about the throne of God and of the people and creatures around the throne there is not one single description of God. 

And then I got excited.

God showed me a couple of years ago me that in our attempt to depict God we have made Him much smaller than He is.  Ever since Michelangelo drew God as an old man with a grey beard, we’ve all got it stuck in our heads that’s what God looks like.  But it isn’t.  God is indescribable and beyond our comprehension.  He is far greater than we can ever imagine. And if Daniel and John didn’t feel prompted to describe Him, maybe we shouldn’t either.

Love,

Jill

Power Inside

2 Timothy 1:7 (ESV)

for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.

Good morning Zebras,

In preparation for the “Walking in the Spirit” retreat in September, today’s verse is always in the back of my mind since it’s the key verse for the event.

This weekend a woman shared with me that she too has been prompted to ponder on this particular verse.  She shared how God has been showing her that she too has a spirit of fear in certain areas, and then she shared her insights into the importance of the position of the words within the verse.  And a light bulb came on in my head.

The first thing we have to get rid of, (to walk in the spirit,) is fear because fear is the opposite of faith.  If you have faith in Christ and believe on His promises then you should not have fear.  God has promised never to leave us nor forsake us and that alone should make us brave people.

But to get rid of the fear we need to focus on Christ and on what He has done and on the power of God that lives inside of us.  Why should we fear anything in this world when we know that Jesus Christ conquered death on the cross?  Jesus warned us we would have trouble in this world but then He said: “take heart I have overcome the world.”  Instead of fearing the world, we should fear God.

This weekend the woman who ran the retreat really did not like people to be late to session.  I watched women run down the halls rather than be late and displease her.  Wouldn’t it be great if we did that for the Lord?  If we had just enough fear of the Lord that we were prompted to run rather than displease Him.

Of course we know God has grace and mercy, but as Paul says in Romans we do not want to sin just so God’s grace and mercy increases. We need to remember what it cost God to forgive us and try a little harder.  All of us who have accepted Christ have been given everything we need to live a godly life which is the power that comes from God.

So that is Step Two.  No longer do we have a spirit of fear, now we have a spirit of power.  And what are we to do with that power?  Love others and control ourselves.  That is the exact opposite of what I normally do, which is love myself and cut myself a ton of slack and try to control others.

I am indwelt with the Holy Spirit; you are indwelt with the Holy Spirit.  Every believer is indwelt with the Holy Spirit.  Can you imagine what we could do for the Lord if we all lived like we believed it?

Love,

Jill

Just For Fun

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vFTOZ5ssoyw

Too many Biblical references to mention.  Starting with "Satan prowls around like a roaring lion" and ending with "Greater is He who is in us than he who is in the world.

Enjoy!