Witnesses for God

Isaiah 43:12c

“You are my witnesses,” declares the Lord, “that I am God.”

Good morning Zebras,

In the evening when I walk in the park I often see the same man with his Queensland Heeler.  This dog is incredibly well trained and the man loves to show him off.  He puts the dog on a park bench and tells him to stay and then he walks away.  He doesn’t just walk a few feet either, he walks a long ways away, and that dog stays on the bench and he doesn’t jump down until his owner gives the signal.  But when that signal comes the dog flies across the park to be at his master’s side. 

The first few times I saw him I was impressed with the dog, but the other night my attention switched over to the owner.  You can tell just by the way he walks that he is proud of his dog. His dog is not like the other dogs in the park.  It is different, it stands out, it doesn’t get distracted by other dogs or people.  It is obvious who its master is.  And that makes the man happy.

And I thought “I hope God feels that way about me. I hope I make God happy. I hope my actions let everyone know it is God and God alone that I am following.”

And I’m guessing you feel that way too.

I love you little Zebras, let us live today in a way that is honoring to God, in a way that declares to everyone who is watching that the Lord is our God and we do exactly what He tells us to do, even if it is just sitting on a bench.  

Love,

Jill

Stand Firm

1 Peter 5:8–9  

Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.

Good morning Zebras,

Today’s verse is one I use all the time when explaining the vision of Zebras.  Our enemy is prowling around looking for someone to devour and just like the lone zebra it is the lone Christian who is easy prey.  Today, however, I looked the verse up in the Bible to read it in context and found the next verse works as well.

1 Peter 5:9 Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings.

Knowing there are other zebras out there standing firm for our faith encourages me every day to do the same.  Hopefully it encourages you as well.  You are not alone, even if you feel like it.  As God told Elijah there are thousands out there who have not bent their knee to Baal.

Paul told us in Ephesians to “be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.”   Every time I see zebra stripes I do just that and I know many other zebras do as well.  So be encouraged today little zebra, knowing that people you don’t even know are praying you will remain strong and resist the devil.

Love,

Jill

Waitimg

Acts 16:28b

Don’t harm yourself!  We are all here!

Good morning Zebras!

Recently I’ve been contacted by a few zebras inquiring about my well-being.  So I wanted to let you know I’m doing well, I have almost completely recovered from hip surgery and I am just waiting on God to show me what’s next.

A few weeks ago I asked God if staying silent and remaining inactive was what He really wants me to do, it just flies in the face of our busy American culture.  But He reassured me that waiting is more honoring to Him by reminding me of Paul’s experience in prison as recorded in Acts 16:16-37

As you may recall Paul and Silas were thrown in prison for removing an evil spirit from a slave girl.  As they sat in prison singing songs of praise to God there was an earthquake and the prison doors flew open and their chains were loosened.  When the jailer awoke he drew his sword to kill himself because he thought the prisoners had all escaped.  He stopped when Paul shouted, “Don’t harm yourself!  We are all here!”

Paul’s choice to stay in prison, even when he had the chance to go free, brought honor to God and resulted in the jailer and his family accepting Christ.

Now obviously I’m not in prison, I have the freedom to go and do whatever I decide to do and there’s nothing physically stopping me from writing z-mails every day.  But I feel God is telling me to stay silent and wait because it is the waiting that honors Him the most.

I know I am not the only one out there who is waiting on God, I know many of you are going through the same struggles that I am.  So here is my encouragement, if you feel like you are in a prison of God’s making, and you are tempted to wiggle your way out of it, wait with joy because miraculous prison breaks are possible and He has a purpose for the trial.

I love you little zebras.  Thank you for the prayers.

Love,

Jill

Lamps

Matthew 5:14a (NIV84) 
“You are the light of the world.”

Good morning Zebras,

I love when God gives me a tiny glimpse of how large His is. How He has looked down through time and connected people in ways that they do not even realize. One of those moments recently happened at my house.

God has given me the joy of hosting a group of women in my house on Monday nights to discuss Him. A few weeks ago one of the women tried to turn on a lamp in my living room. The lamp is broken so I told her “It just looks like a lamp, it doesn’t really work.” By the next morning I was in tears over that lamp. Not because I care whether or not the lamp works but because of what the lamp represents. 

For me the lamp represents God’s people. Many of His people are getting tired and burned out. They want to be the lights of the world but they are weary. They need someone to come alongside them to encourage them and remind them of the God they serve. I believe that’s the purpose of Zebras. 

This Monday God confirmed it through another woman in the same group. I shared my story about the lamp and she felt prompted by God to share the following poem she had written when she was twelve. We both knew she was talking about Zebras. God had given her a vision for this ministry before He gave it to me.

Candle Light 

A Christian is very bright 
Just like a candle light 
A candle Glows just like a Christian shows 
Other people about Jesus Christ 

When the candle is blown out 
Or the Christian starts pouting about 
It takes a helping hand 
To help the Christian glow again

I don’t know what kind of lamp you are right now, maybe you are shining so brightly that you hurt people's eyes, but if you are broken or wounded here is the encouraging end to the story. Two days after I grieved over my broken lamp God brought someone along who fixed it. And I felt Him say “I can fix My broken lamps if they will just give Me the chance.”

I love you little Zebras, but our God loves you even more.
Jill

Ready for Battle

Good reminder in the Bible Commentary this morning.

Romans 8:31 If God is for us, who can be against us?

Obviously, Satan and his demonic hosts are against believers, but they cannot ultimately prevail and triumph over believers. God is the self-existent One and the sovereign Creator and, since He is for believers, no one can oppose believers successfully.

That wasn’t what I expected them to say.  We get lulled into thinking that if we are for God no one can come against us.  But the truth is if we stand for God we stand against Satan.  Believers should not expect following hard after Christ to be easy.  The more we follow after Christ and the more we encourage others to do the same the more we attract attention from the enemy.  A solider sitting in a foxhole is no danger to the other side, but a solider armed with the Word of God and the Love of Christ dedicated to doing whatever His commanding officer asks of him…that’s another story.

Therefore put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes and remember no one serving as a soldier gets involved in civilian affairs—he wants to please his commanding officer.  (Eph 6:11, 2 Tim 2:4)

Have a great day little Zebras, armed and ready for battle.

Love,

Jill

Correction

James 3:1 (ESV)  

Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness.

Good morning Zebras,

This morning in a series of events too long to go into God showed me that I have been wrong about the order of publications of Francis Chan’s books.  Crazy Love was first, then Forgotten God and finally Erasing Hell.  Not that it really matters, but I had been told Forgotten God came first and because I never checked to see if it was true I passed along incorrect information to countless people.

Obviously it does not matter in what order Chan wrote his books but I can’t help but think what if that had been a truth of God.  What if I had inadvertently passed along incorrect information about our holy, perfect, good, loving, sovereign, righteous God because I didn’t bother to verify the truth for myself? 

Zebras I love you please, for my sake as well as you own, learn God’s word for yourself and not rely on the information disseminated to you by others, even if they are Godly people who love the Lord, because sometimes they are just repeating what they heard.

Love,

Jill

Burning Brightly

Good morning Zebras,

Tuesday at Bible study God gave me the perfect picture for what I believe is the purpose of this ministry. Coals burn brightest when they are in the presence of other coals. If you take them out and lay them to the side away from the heat they begin to grow cold. Christians too need one another to burn bright. Not so they can stay together in a heap and do nothing, but so that they can come together be re-energized by the fire of the Holy Spirit and get back out there doing what God has called them to do with a renewed power and passion. 
I love you little Zebras, more than you know and WAY out of proportion to what is normal.  
It must be from God. 
Jill