Good morning Zebras,

Another story that’s better understood when read in conjunction with the preceding verses.

I’m sure it is a story you are familiar with.  Ananias, together with his wife, Sapphira, sold a piece of property. With his wife’s full knowledge, he kept back part of the money for himself, but brought the rest and put it at the apostles’ feet.  When asked by Peter if this was all the money he hadn’t gotten from the field Ananias lied and said “Yes.”

This is Peter’s reply:

Acts 5:4–5: “Didn’t it belong to you before it was sold? And after it was sold, wasn’t the money at your disposal? What made you think of doing such a thing? You have not lied to men but to God.” When Ananias heard this, he fell down and died. And great fear seized all who heard what had happened.

I never really understood why Ananias did this, it seemed rather random, sell a field and then lie to God about it, but the answer is in the preceding verse.

Acts 4:36–37: …Barnabas sold a field he owned and brought the money and put it at the apostles’ feet.

Ananias sold the field because other men, like Barnabas, were selling their fields and giving the money to the “church” and he didn’t want to be left out.  He wanted the glory the other guys got but he didn’t really want to give God all the money, so he lied.  He was by definition a hypocrite: a charlatan, fraud or phony, one who puts on a mask and feigns himself to be what he is not; a person who conceals facts, intentions, or feelings.

Years ago, in Bible study we found this passage:

Deuteronomy 21:18–21:  If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son who does not obey his father and mother and will not listen to them when they discipline him, his father and mother shall take hold of him and bring him to the elders at the gate of his town. They shall say to the elders, “This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious. He will not obey us. He is a profligate and a drunkard.” Then all the men of his town shall stone him to death. You must purge the evil from among you. All Israel will hear of it and be afraid.

Laughingly we said that would solve the rebellious youth problems, stone one problematic youth to death and the rest would sit up and take notice.  Of course, that was Old Testament times and fortunately those laws don’t apply to us.

But Ananias is from the New Testament, from the early church years and he wasn’t killed by men, he was struck dead by God.  In an age where we don’t even practice church discipline can you imagine what would happen if God struck down even one hypocrite?

I’m guessing, just like the example of the problematic youth, there would be a lot less hypocrites in church.

Don’t get me wrong, I am grateful God doesn’t strike us dead for our foolishness.  It just seems dangerous that we seem to have forgotten He can.

Psalm 111:10 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; all those who practice it have a good understanding. His praise endures forever!

Love,

Jill

Good morning Zebras,

Two more puzzle analogies.

When I opened this new puzzle, I prayed that there wouldn’t be any missing pieces.  I don’t know if they come with missing pieces or if I lose them myself but I’ve had a few odd puzzle experiences, the oddest one being that one puzzle had duplicate pieces.  Two of one piece and one piece missing.  But the company was great and they sent me a new puzzle of my choosing for FREE, which is the puzzle I am currently working on. 

As I work it is impossible to think about missing pieces without thinking of verses like these:

Matthew 18:12: “What do you think?  If a man has a hundred sheep, and one of them has gone astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountains and go in search of the one that went astray?”

John 10:28–29: “I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.”

God doesn’t lose “puzzle pieces” and no one can take us out of the Father’s Hand.  But I do wonder sometimes if we can “jump out” and wander away.  Otherwise why would verses like this exist?

James 5:19–20: “My brothers, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone brings him back, let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.”

And it is equally difficult not to think of these verses when I am looking high and low for a specific piece. 

Isaiah 55:6: “Seek the Lord while he may be found; call upon him while he is near…”

Matthew 13:44–46: “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up.  Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. ‘Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it.’”

If God’s people would only look for Him with as much passion as they look for their lost phone, and realize the kingdom of heaven is worth selling everything for, things would change.

Love,

Jill

Good morning Zebras,

I hope you had a wonderful God-filled day yesterday.

Last year God gave me a new way to spend my some of my free time, jigsaw puzzles.

I’ve never been a “puzzler,” to be honest I don’t think I had the patience for it.  But it is a great way to let your mind wander and pray.  The first thing you do, if you are doing a large puzzle, is sort the pieces by color.  At first it is difficult to distinguish which piece goes where but the more you handle them and study the box lid, the more you can see where they go.

Two God analogies: First, the more you handle the Word of God, the better you will 

understand it.  At first it may look confusing and overwhelming but keep at it, pray as you read and obey what you learn, and the day will come when you will realize passages you never understood before make sense. 

But obedience is key.  One of my life changing epiphanies from My Utmost For His Highest:

“The golden rule to follow to obtain spiritual understanding is not one of intellectual pursuit, but one of obedience. If a person wants scientific knowledge, then intellectual curiosity must be his guide. But if he desires knowledge and insight into the teachings of Jesus Christ, he can only obtain it through obedience. If spiritual things seem dark and hidden to me, then I can be sure that there is a point of disobedience somewhere in my life. Intellectual darkness is the result of ignorance, but spiritual darkness is the result of something that I do not intend to obey.”

And two: Just like I sit and sort puzzle pieces, someday God will be sorting us.

Matthew 25:32–34: “Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left. Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world,’”

But unlike me, who separates puzzle pieces based on their color and appearance, God is going to separate us based upon our faith in Jesus Christ.  And I can’t help thinking we are going to be surprised at the outcome.

Love,

Jill

Good morning Zebras,

Happy Valentine’s Day.

The other day it was sunny and as I headed out of the house I felt a prompting to go get my hat-but it’s winter for heaven sakes!  So, I ignored the little voice’s prompting and went out bareheaded. 

What I had forgotten is the anti-wrinkle cream I’ve been using makes my skin more sensitive to the sun.  Plus, I had forgotten to put on my face cream, which has a SPF of 15.  The result: my extra sensitive, unprotected face got burned.

Today is the day to get gifts from people who love you.  Praying you spend some time today with God, the person who loves you most, and you listen with a sensitive spirit to what He has to say.  Only He really knows what you need to hear today.  

1 Samuel 3:10 The Lord came and stood there, calling as at the other times, “Samuel! Samuel!” Then Samuel said, “Speak, for your servant is listening.”

Psalm 23:2–3 He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.

Hebrews 12:5–6: “My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you, because the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son.”

Revelation 3:19–20: “Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest, and repent. Here I am!  I stand at the door and knock.  If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.”

Oswald has been wonderful the last few days on the importance of listening to God.  Starting on February 12^th with “Are You Listening to God?” and ending today with “The Discipline of Hearing”

There is nothing I can add to what God has already had him say. 

Love,

Jill

Are You Listening to God?

Good morning Zebras,

A few random thoughts:

Be careful about bragging, humility is huge with God. 

Luke 14:8–9: “When someone invites you to a wedding feast, do not take the place of honor, for a person more distinguished than you may have been invited. If so, the host who invited both of you will come and say to you, ‘Give this man your seat.’  Then, humiliated, you will have to take the least important place.”

No one really thinks they are lukewarm because we compare themselves to other  Christians. But the standard isn’t “others” it is Jesus Christ.

John 14:30–31: “I will not speak with you much longer, for the prince of this world is coming. He has no hold on me, but the world must learn that I love the Father and that I do exactly what my Father has commanded me.”

Philippians 2:8:  “And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death— even death on a cross!”

“Obedience unto death” that’s the standard.

We waste a lot of time focused on other people’s sins.

Matthew 7:3–5: “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?  You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.”

And if the world isn’t interested in our God, maybe it’s because we are bad advertisements. Originally written to the Jews but it could just as easily apply to us: Do those of us who brag on the love and grace of God, dishonor His name by refusing to pass it on?

Romans 2:23–24:  “You who brag about the law, do you dishonor God by breaking the law?  As it is written: “God’s name is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.”

Love,

Jill

Good morning Zebras,

I am loving going back to old z-mails and rereading them. This one is from October 2013

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. 

All of that is still true but to be honest it has been much harder than I thought it would be. I think that is because I missed an important aspect of the coal analogy. Fire. Each coal has fire and when they gather together they encourage the fire in one another to burn brighter.  What I hadn’t counted on was our basic lack of fire. 

Some days it feels like we have completely forgotten Pentecost.

Acts 2:1–4 When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.

Getting together and chatting about ourselves, our jobs, our kids, our church or the sad state of the country does not ignite the Fire of the Spirit.  Nor does a rational discussion on the importance of following God. Following God is a lot of things but I don’t think rational is one of them.

Four times in three Gospels Jesus says something like this:

Mark 8:33–38 But when Jesus turned and looked at his disciples, he rebuked Peter. “Get behind me, Satan!” he said. “You do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men.” Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.

Nor is the Fire ignited when we talk about the “good works” we are doing for Jesus or the way we need to “act” if our motivation is not our passionate love for God. Three times in three Gospels Jesus said this: ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’

You don’t need any one else to help you “burn for Jesus.” Lose your life, carry your cross, quit thinking about yourself, learn to love the Lord with your whole heart, and pray and work until you understand the Holy Spirit and you will find that God will start a fire in you.  A fire that hopefully will inspire others to do the same.  Maybe that is the real purpose of Zebras. 

Love,

Jill

Good morning Zebras,

The second story is found in Acts 18.  I have often quoted Acts 19 where Paul asked the people of Ephesus what baptism they had received and when they replied “John’s baptism.”  He proceeded to lay hands on them and baptize them with the Holy Spirit.  But I never connected it to the preceding passage until Wednesday.

Acts 18:24–25  Meanwhile a Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria, came to Ephesus. He was a learned man, with a thorough knowledge of the Scriptures.  He had been instructed in the way of the Lord, and he spoke with great fervor and taught about Jesus accurately, though he knew only the baptism of John.

The reason the people in Ephesus only knew about the baptism of John is because that’s all they were taught!  That explains so much.

If all you do is listen to people preach, all you are going to know about the truth of God is what they tell you and I can say without a shadow of doubt-there is so much more to learn!! 

Which God will happily teach you if you open the Word and make the time to listen.

We place a huge emphasis on the love and grace of God but what changed my faith was the day He told me He was holy.  Jesus died on the cross because He loved us but also because the holiness of God required someone to pay the price for sin.  It should have been us, but it wasn’t, it was Jesus.

Make no mistake God loves you, but He is also holy and righteous and should be respected and feared.  And obeyed!

Luke 12:4–5   “I tell you, my friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that can do no more. But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear him who, after the killing of the body, has power to throw you into hell.  Yes, I tell you, fear him.

The Jewish people did not need to be taught to fear God, their ancestors had lapped the desert forty years until everyone who refused to believe God died and He sent their entire nation into captivity for their disobedience and worship of false idols.    

Teaching Jesus died only because He loved us is teaching half the Gospel and it is as dangerous as teaching the Baptism of Repentance without the Baptism of the Spirit.  Which we also do, but that’s a topic for another day.

Love,

Jill