Friendship
Friendship
This last week, I had the most awesome privilege of being reminded of how important and beautiful friendship can be. Friendship has a vast frame work of potential in our lives. For me personally, I have some old friends (not the age mind you – well… that too… totally kidding) but in the extent of time knowing them. I recently met with my dearest friend Deanna from high school over lunch. I told her, ‘you know you are getting old when you can honestly say, you have known someone for over 30 years’ (yikes!) She and I met when we were 12. We have experienced so much over the years, we were cheerleaders together, (that was a real hoot), we found the Lord at the same age, were in each others weddings, and of course at the hospital when our children were born. She and her husband are the God parents to David and I’s sons.
Now at the age of…. um…. 40 something, we sat at the table and just laughed! Talked for 3 hours. She taught me how to ‘text message’… I am quite sure it was very amusing to see two semi-middle aged women hovering over their cell phones with glee. Yes … friendship.
God has also placed in my life another small group of gals, that are just pure joy to be around, they make me laugh, and stretch me to ‘relax’, put the books down and ‘chill out’. I NEED that, I NEED them.
Then I have friends whom I would call ‘covenant’ friends. Those who ‘know’ me and would love me beyond any disappointments, and take concern to the level of action, AND allow me the opportunity to grow in Jesus. We have laughed together and cried together. These are the women that can look me in the eye and see pain, joy, conviction, even anointing.
Recently in one of our bible studies, (by Beth Moore) we looked at the relationships Jesus had, and how we too can pattern ourselves after Him. He had the multitude, the 72, the 12, and then the ‘3’. Then ultimately just He and His Father. All these categories are very important to us. It struck a cord with me, when she explained the ‘3’. Jesus had Peter, James and John. They got to experience so much more of Christ, because He allowed it. But the most interesting factor to me, in their relationship was in the Garden of Gethsemane. They went just so far with Jesus. He asked them to ‘stay here, and pray’ and the word says, ‘while He went on further still’. Oh the ‘further still’ of God… been there? Want that? Jesus went into a very intense time with the Father, His heart was in anguish, He in a sense wrestled with what was in His immediate future, just He and God, in the ‘further still’ moment. But He left those, the closest to Him just beyond Him, to pray, (we won’t discuss that they fell asleep) but Jesus left them with a purpose and a mission.
Friendship is a gift that is given by God and accepted by us. Think on that. God gives, but we have to accept. Peter in all his honesty and ‘out there’ mentality, eventually was used greatly. He was offered something special from Jesus, Himself. John and James too went on to great things in God. I believe much of this is contributed to those intimate times they had with the Lord.
This week I experienced two things, and I believe has a lesson here for us:
1st ~ Friendships help mold us, challenge us to be more than we are, encourage us to reach for our dreams, bring a light moment when darkness may be waving at us and stand ready to hold us and pray.
2nd ~ There are those moments that no one can go with us, we have to go ‘further still’ into God’s presence, where just us and God have some business to take care of.
In this, it is comforting to know, that there are those praying, and waiting just beyond, and their love and commitment goes with out saying.
Friendship.
May we be a friend – experience a friend… allow it.
Blessings,
In Him, DeDe (Ps. 92:4 You thrill me, LORD!)
How Do You Bow?
How do you Bow?
The routine of life. Long hours, phone calls, work, house duties, children, relationships – on and on it goes. In our routine that we define as normal, is God first on the priority list, or is He left for the end of the day, or what little portion we can squeak out between laundry, car pooling, and the ever – ongoing battle of time management. The Lord sees our heart and our desire to meet with Him on a daily basis, He is waiting patiently for us to find (no … take) that moment we circle just for Him. When we do this, it shows to Him (and ourselves) that He is important enough to lay all aside and present ourselves to Him.
The other night on the way to church, Joshua my 13 year old, was wearing his (oh.. so favorite ‘Oregon Ducks’ cap), I asked him to please take it off, before we walk into church, and explained to him it showed reverence to the Lord…. he, not understanding that word completely, said “reverence?” with a weird smirk… I tried to share with him in terms he could understand, “you know how special your hat is… when you take it off for the Lord, you are telling him in your heart that He is TOTALLY COOL, and you are bowing to Him“… his response was “oh… I get it …”.
We all have our own way of showing reverence to the Lord. Those who know me best know I HAD to go look it up in the Hebrew and Greek… when applied to the Lord it means literally ‘to give self wholly, in respect and awe’ and ‘with downcast eyes’ not in shame, or guilt but in the appreciation that you are so small in comparison to Him. A bowing of heart.
How do you bow… do you start your day with a “Good Morning, Lord” or “Good Lord, it’s morning”, and hope for the best. Bowing in body or heart takes humiliation and an understanding of just how great God is. A moment of bowing of heart can be as simple as “I Love You Lord”… “You are Awesome Lord”. Let it be heart felt and genuine. And may require you to take something off, possibly pride, unthankful ness, and unforgiveness. If you need help in this area, ask Jesus, “how is my bowing” He knows what He wants, listen… (food for thought)
Oh, that we would be “bowing” lovers of God. Myself included, for me it has been that I turn off the worship music at times, and listen to Him…. in that moment my response has been ….”worship”.
Have a great God loving, bowing week….
In Him, DeDe
Ps. 92:4 You thrill me LORD! (and so I will bow)
How Far Will You Go?
How Far Will You Go?
Recently I read a short article in a popular Christian magazine on the woman who had the issue of bleeding, from Mark chapter 5. Knowing this just isn’t an easy read, a topic we tend to quickly skim over, due to the … um… content. But, I saw something in it, that challenged me. I went to the chapter and began wading through.
Let’s put this story in context. Jesus has just returned from a demonic moment (casting out the legion and blessing the pigs with them). Now back over on this side of the lake, He again is confronted with another crowd of folks. As Jesus moves through the men, women and children…
NOW – enters our woman (may I say desperate woman.) Verse 25 begins to describe this gal as one who had been afflicted for a very long time. She has sought help elsewhere, and it clearly states that instead of improving, her condition even worsens. I love verse 27, ‘when she heard about Jesus, she came…’. One resource claims that she may have traveled some 30 miles to get there. WOW…. That’s desperate! The story proceeds with, ‘she came up behind Jesus and touched His cloak’. This alone is a great step of faith… but it says she came to Him ‘in the crowd.’ Let’s think about this. She is, as culture and tradition states, ceremonially ‘unclean’, and should NOT be touching anyone, for they too would be unclean. BUT…. out of desperation….‘if I just touch His clothes… I will be healed’. (said with exasperation) verse 28.
I want to pause here… let’s go back….(before she left) back to her home… let’s assume it is 30 miles away. I enjoy trying to see as those saw who encountered and experienced Jesus. What was she thinking, what was she feeling? I want us to place ourselves in her place. Oh we may not have an issue of bleeding (physically) but we may have an issue of hurting, pain, or just plain ‘issues’. Issues that we too have sought help elsewhere, and just like her, see no improvement and we are only getting worse.
What do we do now? We’ve heard about Jesus, all His is, all He does. Do we stay? Do we leave our familiar surroundings and venture out. No matter what the distance was, I am confident that as this gal was on the road, placing one foot in front of the other, she ‘knew’ deep down Jesus was her only hope. And to allow this hope to bring her healing, she HAD to go to Him.
Back to Mark, verse 29… ‘immediately her bleeding stopped… and she was freed from her suffering’, (would you love to have some ‘immediately… you are freed?) This only came as she took a risk, reached out – and touched. Can you imagine! I know for me, my first thought would be, ‘geez, why didn’t I do this ages ago’ (just kidding). As the Lord turns and begins a dialog with her, He calls her…. ‘Daughter’. That alone would send me over the edge. In her affliction she may have been known as an outcast, one who didn’t join in, wanted to, but this affliction caused her to hold back, knowing she would not be accepted. ‘Daughter’ … THAT is acceptance.
As I read through this, I felt the Lord say, that we too are like this woman at times… (and I am quite sure often in our life time). We too have issues that cause us to ‘hold back’ and not join in… missing out on a lot. We are lost in our affliction, but once we come to the realization that He alone can and will help us…. we then get up and go to Him.
Where are you? And how far will you go? Are you still at home… mustering the courage to pack your bags and head out for Jesus? Or are you on the road, finding that the blisters on your feet are causing you doubts of ‘is this worth it?’ Oh it is soooo worth it! Maybe you are on the outskirts of the crowd… feeling really insecure… not wanting to enter. Or, are you standing there, so near… oh so near…. hesitating to reach out. Take the risk! Reach out… be healed.
The word that is used for her touch… is ‘haptomai’. She didn’t just reach out and flick her hand across the hem of His garment. She grabbed it! The Complete Word Study Dictionary, words it this way…. ‘haptomai refers to such handling of an object as to exert a modifying influence upon or upon oneself.’ She grabbed that garment so tight, that she may have left an imprint of her hand on it.
Please notice, that as the woman touched Jesus, He felt the power go out of Him. He asked ‘who touched Me?’ Now try to find the one touching in a large crowd, seems very insignificant. Ever come out of a concert or conference and people everywhere, you are bumping, tapping and running into many. Jesus did not let the issue drop. I honestly believe He knew. He knew who touched Him. But He wanted her to know. Yes, she was healed, but there was more… He wanted a face to face encounter. In this face to face encounter, she falls at His feet.
What a beautiful picture this is, that Jesus sought her out. He goes to whatever extent it will take to make sure ‘we know’.
This week, may we come to a place that enough is enough, in whatever afflicts us. We get up and go to Him. He is never too busy with the crowd to seek us out in our seeking Him out. Be healed, fall at His feet, and allow Him too… to call you ‘daughter’ – ‘son’.
In Him, DeDe (Ps. 92:4 You thrill me, LORD!)
The Lifting of the Hand
The Lifting of the Hand
The human hand, a very detailed and intricate part of the body. Consisting of 27 bones, and 14 movable joints. Known to be one of the most used parts of the antinomy, well… except for some of us, that would be the …tongue, I have been told I have the ‘Holy anointed gift of gab’, I just add ‘study‘ to it, to give it teeth!
Within the hand lies a unique mark that positively identifies each individual, the fingerprint. Every person is born with their own ‘calling card’ if you will, no two prints are alike.
The gentle brush against the cheek of an infant while sleeping, is in the hand. Strength, when toiling the soil, is found in the hand and it is in the grip, that ‘welcome’ is expressed. But the lifting of the hand, is at times where the heart connects in worship to God. Many of you may be getting a little hesitant here, by that statement. Lifting the hands in worship is not reserved just for those sitting in the ‘Pentecostal’ pews. Moses and David lifted their hands to God. One of my all time favorite heroes of the bible, Abraham too lifted his hand…. Gen. 14:22 Abraham said to the King of Sodom, ‘I have lift up mine hand unto the LORD, the Most High God, the possessor of heaven and earth.’ This is one of the most solid statements Abraham had declared, as he sat across in conversation with this king, he was saying he had predetermined a value, a standard by which he was going to conduct his life and that of his family. It was a clear statement of relationship… declaring he had already done business with the Lord, with a raised hand, a commitment was made.
‘I have set the LORD continually before me,
because He is at my right hand, I will not
be shaken.’ (Ps. 16:8 )
One of the Hebrew words used for hand is ‘yad’ the open hand, the ‘palm’ – indicating power, direction, but it means more…. it denotes our desire to fill or have them filled. And God wants to fill those hands with Himself! We find Him ‘filling’ in Ex. 40:34 ‘then the cloud covered the tent of the congregation and the glory filled the Tabernacle’. The verb used, is to fill to overflowing…. not just filling up to the limits of something, but filling so as to go beyond it’s limits. ( Vine’s Heb./Grk Dictionary). It reminds me of Michelangelo’s famous painting found on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, The Creation of Man , he portrays God’s arm stretched out and man’s hand raised up to make that connection.
At the same time it is yielding as in consecration, the lifting of the hands as mentioned in Ps. 28:2 by David, ‘Hear my cry for mercy as I lift my hands toward Your Most Holy place.’ denotes to hand oneself over . Haven’t we all at certain times in our lives, thrown our hands in the air, as in surrender, ‘I give up, I can’t do this anymore’. So it is in our worship, we lift our hands to acknowledge we no longer want the direction we are going, we yield to the Most High God, fill us with Your presence, YOU are full of POWER, MIGHT and MAJESTY! With the opening of the hand, the palm, we symbolize we release us, and in turn receive Him.
There are many postures of worship – standing, kneeling, a slight bow of the head, the lifting of the hands, I have even found myself prostrate on the floor face down. All are unique in our response to Him.
Do we need to recommit, surrender – declare as Abraham did, ‘I set You as my standard to conduct my life, do business with God?’ Or is there a cry in our hearts…. I need YOU, and YOU alone! So we feel silly getting fanatical in our worship …. I believe if David had been brought on the scene of the N.T. (particularly the book of Acts) he too, would have been as Pentecostal as they come, a tongue speaking, hand raising, dancing before the Lord – man after God’s own heart – guy.
Let’s Pray….
Father it is in humility that we bow our heads, and raise our hands to You, we position ourselves to declare YOU are awesome! We desire to receive from You. Our bodies were created by You and for You. As the fingerprints on our hands are unique, may our worship of You be the same.
Have a God-loving, fanatical hand raising week.
In Him, DeDe
Ps. 92:4 You thrill me Lord!
Resources: Strong’s Concordance, Vines Heb./Grk. Dictionary, Theological Wordbook of the O.T. , Complete Word Study Dictionary of the O.T. Websites: Yahoo Educational Encyclopedia, www.justfingerprints.com , Translations Referenced: KJV, NIV, NASB, NLT.
The Name of Jesus
The Name of Jesus
* Key Verse: Therefore God exalted Him to the highest place
and gave Him the name that is above every name,
that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ
is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
(Philippians 2:9-11)
In today’s culture, the name Jesus, for the majority, flippantly flies off our tongues, without a second thought. For some, they use it in vain, for others, used habitually only in routine, ‘in Jesus name, Amen’. I have known a few, who see Jesus and the use of His name as a ‘I want it, to get it, use it’ mentality, like a magic wand waved over their desires. Yet, there are those, to them the name is precious, intimate and spoken with respect. Here is where we too, stand today. All the names studied to this point have described God, Who and what He does, I would propose they all culminate into one name…. Jesus Christ.
Go Ahead … Bother the Teacher!
Go Ahead… Bother the Teacher!
Those of you with children can relate with me I am sure, when they really want something they may tend to hover, follow you around, looking for just the right opportunity to ask, so the answer is what they want. There is wisdom in this, I call it ‘timing and tongue’, finding just the right moment and wording. We as adults are the same, we want something – we pursue after it, when that want is a need, we really pursue after it.
I was reading the other morning in Mark chapter 5:35-43, where Jesus is in a crowd (to put this in context) He had just healed the woman with the issue of bleeding, remember her? She wanted… NEEDED to touch Jesus. She got in as close as she could, reached out and touched His clothing. The result? He healed her.
Now, He is still speaking to the moment when some men near Him were talking. We pick up in verse 35 ‘… some men came from the house of Jairus, the synagogue ruler.’ They said to Jairus ‘Your daughter is dead, why bother the teacher any more.’ It says Jesus ignored what they said, and addressed the synagogue ruler, ‘Don’t be afraid, just believe’.
Get Out of that Boat!
Have you ever been walking through a store and think you heard someone call out to you. Or sitting in church and what the pastor is saying seems directed right at … you. He is so right on, you begin to shift in your seat. Also, there are those times, when reading the bible and a verse or two will literally fly off the page, with neon lighting and begin to flash at you. (if it doesn’t – you need the new neon red Get in Your Face Version – just kidding!)
Recently I began a new study in preparation for my time with the ladies in the fall. I am looking at the account of the calling of the first disciples by Jesus in the Synoptic Gospels (Matthew 4:18-22, Mark 1:14-20, and Luke 5:1-11). I read the account as I have in the past, but something stood out to me this time. Besides Matthew and Mark’s accounts are almost identical, Luke in his usual detailed way, gives much more explanation. There is the boat.
Smoke Free Integrity ~ Devotional
Smoke Free Integrity
There are a two study groups of gals and myself who are currently going through the book of Daniel, and I have to say I am pleasantly surprised, amazed even. I have read and skimmed over this book maybe a couple of times, but with the content of the last few chapters being of prophecy and eschatology (end times) to be honest I really didn’t have much of a desire to camp out in the book of Daniel.
Ah, but now, it is different…. what I am learning has caused me to sit and think, ponder and ‘squirm’ a bit. Don’t get me wrong, there are ‘good’ times to squirm. Holy Spirit moments when He puts His finger on an area, draws our attention (we finally get it) to where we need to surrender and change.
But God!
But God !
Exercise programs, promises, lists of goals, new years
resolutions! For the last few years, I have tried to
think of a word, or phrase that I feel the Lord is
emphasizing on my life for the year. Last year it was
‘regardless’. This year it is ‘…but God’.
Believe it or not, ‘…but God’ (or ‘…but the Lord’) is
mentioned 326 times in the New International Version.
Recently I went to my office (Starbucks) and sat myself
down with headset on, ipod set for slow worship, while I
sipped my grande peppermint hot chocolate and for the
next 2 hours I looked up every one of those 326 verses,
highlighting ‘but God’ in each verse. KNOWING somehow,
I too would be prone to experience all 326 opportunities for
God to come declare, reveal, and rebuke in my life, (these, I’m
sure will happen at times all in one day – just kidding). Ever
have a day like that. God is so thick and all over you, there is
nothing ‘but God’.
(more…)
Pleasing to the Lord
Pleasing to the Lord ~ Devotional Study
What pleases God? Ever think about that in depth? I have. And found that the list is vast, never ending because the Lord is gracious, His love is never ending. If we have positioned ourselves to live and love righteously, He then takes great delight in the who, the where, the why and all the how’s of our lives. He is pleased in our doing and our not doing. But most of all it is our ‘being’ in Him, that sets His face to shine on us.
A few weeks ago, the Lord put His finger on an area, that clearly describes one aspect that truly pleases Him. I was researching for a class I am teaching on in-depth study methods and came across this verse, that so intrigued me, I sat on it for a very long time. ‘we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way…’ (Col. 1:10) The verse goes on to say ‘bearing fruit and growing in the knowledge of God’… this pleases Him. Then Paul proceeds with verse 11, ‘being strengthened with all power according to His glorious might.’ Power and might for what? ‘So that you may have great endurance and patience…’ Hm… endurance and patience pleases the Lord. This is where I camped out for about 3 weeks. Endurance and patience, who could use more of that? My hand is raised, yet after this study I willingly raise both hands with great desperation.
Inspired Fountain 
