Tall Tales or Beethoven

Hearing about tall tales in literature and reading them are totally different things.  Watching the Disney cartoons are just great, reading them, not as much greatness.  I love literature, I want Berry to love it too, but this assignment of reading about exaggerated details of real people , not so much our cup of tea.

I think we would both prefer to read the real history and yet I know that I have to teach the literary devices that are included in this unit.  Thankfully it is a very short unit and we will be finished with it before Christmas break, never to revisit it again.

The part of today’s lesson that brought tears to my eyes and great memories of hymns from the past, listening to Beethoven‘s 9th Symphony, and reading the words from the hymn written to accompany it.  Beethoven finished this symphony in 1824 and eighty-three years later, Henry Van Dyke wrote the hymn that I grew up singing.  Traditionally sung around Christmas it is definitely a year round anthem of praise to our Creator.  Van Dyke was encouraging Christians to not lose faith.  Science was questioning creation and many were falling under the spell.  Beethoven wrote this symphony after losing his hearing completely and it is one of his most accomplished works.  Science would indeed declare that this was a near impossibility and yet…

Joyful, joyful, we adore Thee, God of glory, Lord of love;
Hearts unfold like flowers before Thee, opening to the sun above.
Melt the clouds of sin and sadness; drive the dark of doubt away;
Giver of immortal gladness, fill us with the light of day!

All Thy works with joy surround Thee, earth and heaven reflect Thy rays,
Stars and angels sing around Thee, center of unbroken praise.
Field and forest, vale and mountain, flowery meadow, flashing sea,
Singing bird and flowing fountain call us to rejoice in Thee.

Thou art giving and forgiving, ever blessing, ever blessed,
Wellspring of the joy of living, ocean depth of happy rest!
Thou our Father, Christ our brother, all who live in love are Thine;
Teach us how to love each other, lift us to the joy divine.

Mortals, join the happy chorus, which the morning stars began;
Father love is reigning o’er us, brother love binds man to man.
Ever singing, march we onward, victors in the midst of strife,
Joyful music leads us sunward in the triumph song of life.

 

Entering Battle

If Adam and Eve had ruled the earth like God commissioned them to, we would be living a different life now.  Can you imagine if the serpent came to them and they stepped on his head and told him to stop talking and commanded him to leave?!  They had the power to do that and yet they were deceived…We are being deceived today and we have to stop and truly realize that God gave us power through Jesus to live powerfully in His Spirit!  We have to stop being afraid of what Satan can do and live the life that God says we can live!  It’s all about who you are going to believe, God or the greatest liar?

In the book I am reading he made mention of the armor that God gives us not including anything for our backs.  God didn’t design us for retreat!!  That shouldn’t frighten us.  So I looked up the suit of armor that God equips us with.

Ephesians 6:10-18 (AMP)

In conclusion, be strong in the Lord [be empowered through your union with Him]; draw your strength from Him [that strength which His boundless might provides]. Put on God’s whole armor [the armor of a heavy-armed soldier which God supplies], that you may be able successfully to stand up against [all] the strategies and the deceits of the devil.  For we are not wrestling with flesh and blood [contending only with physical opponents], but against the despotisms, against the powers, against [the master spirits who are] the world rulers of this present darkness, against the spirit forces of wickedness in the heavenly (supernatural) sphere.  Therefore put on God’s complete armor, that you may be able to resist and stand your ground on the evil day [of danger], and, having done all [the crisis demands], to stand [firmly in your place].  Stand therefore [hold your ground], having tightened the belt of truth around your loins and having put on the breastplate of integrity and of moral rectitude and right standing with God,  And having shod your feet in preparation [to face the enemy with the firm-footed stability, the promptness, and the readiness produced by the good news] of the Gospel of peace.  Lift up over all the [covering] shield of saving faith, upon which you can quench all the flaming missiles of the wicked [one].  And take the helmet of salvation and the sword that the Spirit wields, which is the Word of God.  Pray at all times (on every occasion, in every season) in the Spirit, with all [manner of] prayer and entreaty. To that end keep alert and watch with strong purpose and perseverance, interceding in behalf of all the saints (God’s consecrated people).

After reviewing these verses I came to the same conclusion, we are not called to flee from our enemy, we are given all the things necessary to face him head on, with power, and with victory.  Unfortunately, there are still some churches who choose not to teach what this really means.  Instead they are teaching Christians to judge the actions and outward appearance of those around them and therefor they are teaching to battle in the flesh.  I can’t imagine any of the churches I grew up in welcoming a witch into their service and praying for that person to have deliverance from the control of the evil one.  I can’t imagine most of the churches that I have attended as an adult doing that either.  The reason?  Because we as a body don’t realize that we have the power to do something for the people who have been deceived by Satan.  Until recently, I would never have believed that we have that power either, but I have heard many testimonies of it being done, of Christians caught up in a battle of unseen worlds that lay hidden to the natural eye.  I for one am seeking a greater, closer, relationship with Christ so that I too may be ready to enter that battle.  I’m by no means ready now, but I am preparing, getting closer to my Abba Father and I am getting ready for whatever He has prepared for me in my present future!!

Mission Time

My oldest is leaving tomorrow for Washington State.  She will be gone for a week and serving a community in the suburbs of Seattle.  She has planned for this since the team went last time and she is very ready to go.  The team going is small, the potential for growth, enormous!

There is so much opportunity for our kids now that wasn’t available to me when I was in my teens.  I don’t remember any of our local churches doing mission work with their youth groups.  It was more about going to camp.  While camp gives great opportunity for mountain-top experience, I think this being the hands and feet of Christ gives more opportunity for real growth.  It’s not all fun and kumbaya.  It’s not getting daily showers, working with people who most work to avoid, giving love and care to children who don’t get enough, sharing Christ’s love with those who are suspicious of God.  These young people will have to remember each moment to cling to God and allow His power to flow through them.

I am expectantly waiting to hear of the great things that will happen on this trip.  I can’t wait to hear how God shows up and shows off!

1 Timothy 4:12 (AMP)

Let no one despise or think less of you because of your youth, but be an example (pattern) for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, and in purity.

 

 

Can You Hear Him?

The saddest thing I could have imagined to come along in this period of growth for our family happened last night.  To have my daughter exposed to the teaching that God’s nature has some how changed and that He doesn’t speak to people anymore, well, it broke my heart.  It not only broke my heart for her to hear it and have such a conflict in her soul, but it broke my heart for the man/men who believe that is true.  It broke my heart to have my girl scoffed at when she bore witness to what is happening in my life, what has happened in hers.

This morning I received a verse that I believe was sent from God to reassure me.

Hebrews 4:12 (AMP)

For the Word that God speaks is alive and full of power [making it active, operative, energizing, and effective]; it is sharper than any two-edged sword, penetrating to the dividing line of the breath of life (soul) and [the immortal] spirit, and of joints and marrow [of the deepest parts of our nature], exposing and sifting and analyzing and judging the very thoughts and purposes of the heart.

Oh what a powerful reminder that God is indeed alive and active and He speaks.

To say that He doesn’t move that way anymore, says that His nature is not the same, that He has somehow changed.  Isn’t that exactly what the enemy of God would want us to believe?  It would be easy to kill, destroy, distract, maim, and completely keep us from our glory by making us believe that God is not the same.  To believe this is just like Adam and Eve in the garden.

Genesis 3:1-5 (AMP)

Now the serpent was more subtle and crafty than any living creature of the field which the Lord God had made. And he [Satan] said to the woman, Can it really be that God has said, You shall not eat from every tree of the garden?And the woman said to the serpent, We may eat the fruit from the trees of the gardenExcept the fruit from the tree which is in the middle of the garden. God has said, You shall not eat of it, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.But the serpent said to the woman, You shall not surely die,For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing the difference between good and evil and blessing and calamity.

If we ascribe to things that our culture, denomination, school, peers, and sometimes even family, say about God, we could be buying into a lie of Satan that is meant to destroy our relationship with God.

Not all of us hear God in the same way, but if we are listening we can hear Him.  We have to be aligned with Him and desiring to hear His voice, even if that means that we have to change.  If we aren’t in this relationship with God to change, what are we there for?  If we are in it for some sort of benefit or because we think that God is a fairy or genie, we are in it for the wrong reasons.

Read about the lives of the disciples after Christ ascended, they weren’t rich in wealth.  They left their homes, families, and friends.  They embarked upon a mission to tell the world about Jesus.  They were stoned, beheaded, hung on crosses, imprisoned, beaten, spit upon, feared, reviled, and in so doing they were blessed with hearing from God, being led by His Spirit, and coming to know their Savior more intimately because they were experiencing His walk.  They delivered people from demons, healed the sick, spoke in tongues, and moved by the Spirit’s prompting.  They didn’t become perfect, but they definitely heard from God.

I have a small group of friends who have prophetic dreams and they are prayer warriors. they are aligned and waiting to hear the voice of God.  I have one who is an interpreter of the things that are happening in others lives, she is a prayer intercessory, deliverer, and all around brilliant star in God’s arsenal against the enemy.  She has interceded on my behalf and spoken words over me that could only be given to her by God.  My favorite line, that she delivers often to this little flock of sheep is, “Ask Him”.  That’s all we have to do, just ask, and then open our minds and hearts to hear Him speak.  It’s not hard, it’s not magic, I can’t explain it, but it happens.

For some it’s an image and then we have to dig into His word, that is alive and active, to see what that image is leading us to.  Sometimes it’s an image, a word, and an audible sound in our being, that points us in the direction we should go.  It only happens to those who are willing to believe that God is big enough, that God doesn’t fit into our image, He doesn’t conform to what our finite minds can understand.  In fact, for a long time I bought into that lie that God doesn’t operate like the bible tells us He does.  Then when it happened to me, I thought I was crazy, and then I found out that I was being called out of craziness and into a part of life that is fuller, brighter, and way more cool than putting God in a cracker box.

He is beyond comprehension and if He wants to show up in wings or give us the wings of eagles and the feet of mountain goats, guess what, HE CAN!  I don’t want you to think I am taking that too far or lightly, by any means,  like I said before, He is not a fairy or a genie.  I want you to know that God is able to do more than we can imagine, more than we can comprehend, but we have to be willing to allow our minds to go there, to be free from the distractions of our enemy, we have to be willing to allow God to be God and to learn what I believe He has empowered each of us to grasp, command, and be.

Not all believers are wired to hear Him the same way, but we are all wired to hear Him.  We have His Spirit dwelling within us.  We have His Son’s precious blood covering us.  We just have to stop restricting Him from being who He is.  Jesus is a gentleman.

Revelation 3:20(AMP)

Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears and listens to and heeds My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will eat with him, and he [will eat] with Me.

He knocks, and waits patiently for us to answer.  He’s knocking, He is calling, He wants to communicate with you.  Can you hear Him?

Embracing the Glory

I had a post.  It was all written.  However, when I went to publish it, it disappeared.  All day yesterday it was impossible to post it and then today it disappears, it disappeared under the guidance of my finger hitting ctrl/A and the delete keys.  I am thinking that it is gone and that I was led to drop it because I wasn’t’ suppose to post it.  Maybe my view-point was all screwed up, I really don’t know why, not completely but I am choosing to believe it was because God had something better waiting for me today.

Today, I had a lot of time to read a book that has floated back and forth from the front to the back burner.  I sat in a waiting room, reading and bawling.  I looked ridiculous.  I didn’t care.  My heart was breaking into a thousand pieces and I just didn’t care.  The book?  Waking the Dead: The Glory of a Heart Fully Alive by John Eldredge. (this is not an invite for criticism on John, love him or hate him, believe him or curse him, it doesn’t matter a whit to me)

Here is the quote I want to talk about.  Nelson Mandela said: (this quote was wrongly attributed in the book, the quote was actually from Marianne Williamson)

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.  Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.  It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us.  We ask ourselves, “Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and fabulous?”  Actually, who are you not to be?  You are a child of God.  Your playing small doesn’t serve the world.  There’s nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you.  We were born to manifest the glory of God that is within us…And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.  As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”

Is that what we are doing?  Is that what I am doing, hiding my glory, hiding from what God made me to be?  Do you want to live small, shrinking away from everything that God has made for you and has given you to live in?  I don’t, I can’t live like that anymore.  I look around and see a world drowning in depression, cluttered lives, busyness.  I see myself living life unsatisfied.

Yesterday, Bean and I were talking about this, that she looks around her classrooms, girls in dance teams, the people around her; hiding their intelligence, hiding their talent, hiding their enthusiasm, hiding from what they are because someone might laugh at them, call them names, give them a hard time.  So they walk around in shells of themselves unable to live their lives the way they want to live.  Ashamed.

Isn’t that the like the Devil to make us ashamed of who God created us to be?  Isn’t that the way to keep us from being part of God’s plan.  We have to embrace the truth that God has made our hearts new.  Something that John says, is that we have been lied to.  We are told that even after accepting Christ, our hearts are still filled with bad.  IT’S A LIE! Our hearts are made new, they are good, they have been ransomed by Christ and they are good. We no longer have to live in condemnation, shame, guilt, or with any of their friends.  We are new, our hearts are new and all we have to do is seek after God, learn His voice, and live better lives reflecting His glory.  The way most of us are living now is like a dog chasing his stumpy tail, never able to catch it, but wanting it so badly that we are willing to chase it and make ourselves dizzy.

We crave better, we can have better, we deserve better.  …the Lord is with you while you are with Him. If you seek Him [inquiring for and of Him, craving Him as your soul’s first necessity], He will be found by you; but if you [become indifferent and] forsake Him, He will forsake you.
2 Chronicles 15:1-3   Don’t be forsaken, seek Him, cling to Him, live!