Toothless Monster

2 Timothy 1:7a (ESV)

“for God gave us a spirit not of fear”

Good morning Zebras,

What are you afraid of? 

It’s a good question and one that deserved to be looked into because what you’re afraid of affects your actions.

If you are afraid of being broke you will work for money to the exclusion of other things, if you are afraid of being alone you will settle for unhealthy relationships and if you are afraid of being fat you will be consumed with trying to control your food intake.  But if you are afraid of God you will work to please Him.

The Bible says the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom, but it also says, perfect love drives out fear.  How can it be both?

Easy, when you finally get to the point that you really fear God, you realize you have nothing to fear at all, for as the Bible says, “What can man do to me if God is on my side?”

Nothing really, because the things the world can do only last for a moment.

Recently God has been challenging me to face my fears.  To look at the worst case scenarios and think what would happen if…What would happen if the thing I feared most happened?  Would God quit being God?  Would He leave me all alone to struggle through on my own?  Would God set me aside in complete disgust because I was such a disappointment to Him?  No.

That’s when I realized how effectively Satan uses fear to control God’s people.

Everyone one of us is probably afraid of something, but God wants to set us free from our fears.  He does not want us fearing the things of this world, He wants us to fear Him and walk in faith because faith in God cancels out fear of the world.

Love,
Jill

Happy Thanksgiving

2 Peter 1:3 (NIV84)

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.

Good morning Zebras,

I woke up this morning thinking about how I would explain Thanksgiving to someone from another country.  From my public school education I remember it to be a holiday started when the Pilgrims and Native Americans got together to share a meal and give thanks to God for the bountiful harvest He had provided.

I assume they were thankful because the harvest was going to enable them to survive the winter.

Then I started thinking if Thanksgiving were invented today it would be more likely we’d celebrate it in the spring.  After we had survived the winter, we would all get together and give thanks that we had made it through.  A sort of  “Yeah God, You came through again!” party.

But which is a more Biblical approach?

I think it is the first.  We should, in faith, give thanks to God for what He has already done knowing that what He has done has changed the future.

So have a wonderful Thanksgiving little Zebras, giving thanks to God for sending His Son which gave us eternal life and the ability, through the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit, to overcome anything that comes our way.

Love,

Jill

Correction

Romans 6:11–12 (NIV84)

In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires.

1 Peter 2:24 (NIV84)

He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed.

Good morning Zebras,

Sometimes I think God has me write these things more for me than for any one else and the one about staying on leash was the perfect example-because I was wrong. 

After writing about Abigail running off leash after a dog, I took the moodles for a walk. Instead of there being one dog to tempt her to run away there were many. And even though she was on leash, she barked and barked and barked.  And I realized I don’t want her to just quit chasing dogs I want her to “want to quit chasing dogs.”

And I realized that is where I had made my mistake.

God’s Spirit does not want to keep me on leash constantly restraining me from doing what I want to do.  God’s Spirit is bigger than that.  He wants to indwell me and change me from the inside so that I no longer desire to run off leash.

People have told me God only has us work on one sin at a time, and up until now I would have agreed, but lately I am starting to wonder if that approach is Biblical.  If I work on one sin at a time and conquer it, who gets the glory?  I do.  I am so proud of myself for having overcome my…insert name of sin…that I can’t wait to tell people.

But if through faith in Christ I put to death my sinful nature, no longer letting old passions and desires rule my life then the glory would go to God.  For only God can truly change a person from the inside out.

I read a book once on the holiness of God that said to conquer to sin we needed to have the right attitude about sin.  We needed to realize that all sin is conquered by Jesus’ death and resurrection.  We conquer nothing; we simply walk out what He has already done. The battle is over and we need to live like victors.

Flip Wilson used to jokingly say “The Devil made me do it,” which was really an excuse to sin.   I think Christians should be living so empowered by the Holy Spirit that our explanation for super naturally loving others and dying to the desires of the flesh is: “The Holy Spirit made me do it.”  For after all “greater is He who lives in you, than He who lives in the world.

Love,

Jill

Happy As a Clam

Hebrews 6:15 (NIV84)

And so after waiting patiently, Abraham received what was promised.

Good morning Zebras,

I really like the internet, you can find anything.  For example have you ever wondered where the expression, “Happy as a clam,” comes from?  I have and now I know, or at least I think I do.

According to The Phrase Finder, it’s from the northeastern part of the US and its earliest recorded use is 1833. Some people say the phrase comes from the fact clams appear to be smiling when they are open, but Phrase Finder believes it is actually part of a larger saying, “happy as a clam at high water,” which makes a little more sense because at high water clams are protected from the animals who like to eat them, thus they are happy. But either way, it’s a saying that has made its way into the American language and we know it means to be content.

God has me in a weird position where I know that all I’m supposed to do is wait upon Him.  Since waiting doesn’t come naturally to me, it’s driving me a little crazy. Yesterday as I was thinking about it I realized I needed the “patience of a saint.”  And a light bulb went off.  I have always thought having the “patience of a saint” meant being able to put up with an annoying person or situation without blowing up. But yesterday I realized it might come from God and have something to do with the way He trains His people.

Or, like the clam. was it just a cute little phrase that had nothing to do with the Bible at all?

So this morning I did a topical search in the Bible on patience and I can say without a doubt that having the patience of a saint is definitely a Biblical thought.  It appears to be a trait that all of God’s mighty men and women needed to have. 

It often takes less faith to plunge headfirst into a situation and try to fix it ourselves than it does to wait.  Plunging is what we like to do, we are people of action.  But that’s what Saul did that cost him the kingdom. And waiting is what David did.  David waited years to get the kingdom and God rewarded his faith.

When you think about it, it takes a lot of faith to sit around and wait on God trusting He is going to come through even though it appears nothing is happening.  Especially if you think you can do something to hurry things along.  But running ahead of God is the recipe for disaster; just ask anyone who has done it.

But then I dug a little further, only to be reminded that patience is a Fruit of the Spirit and an attribute of God.  Duh.  God has patience and He gives us patience. I think He expects us to use it.

So, here’s my lesson from yesterday...to be happy as a clam at high water, safe and protected from my enemies, I need to have the patience of a saint and wait upon God.

Love,

Jill