A Kingdom That Cannot Be Shaken

No matter where we stand in the spectrum of opinions and theories about the present crisis, no matter how strong our faith, we must agree on one thing: a shaking is occurring. Much is being shaken - the economy, the government, the healthcare system, and yes, even the church - at least in how it functions and gathers. Hopes and plans are rattled. Things we depended on for comfort are distant. Support systems are teetering. Yes, much is being shaken, but the Bible assures us that some things cannot be shaken.

The writer of Hebrews talks about God shaking the earth. "And His voice shook the earth then, but now He has promised, saying, 'Yet once more I will shake the earth, but also heaven. This expression, 'yet once more', denotes the removing of those things which can be shaken, as of created things, so that those things which cannot be shaken will remain." (Heb. 12:26-28) He is referring back to Mt. Sinai when the earth shook, but, then, by quoting Haggai 2, pointing to a future time when "I will again shake the earth."

Jesus speaks to his disciples of wars, famines and earthquakes, but when they asked him about the signs of his coming and the end of the age, he tells them in Mt. 24:8 "But all these things are merely the beginning of birth pangs." We know that, once begun, birth pangs intensify until they accomplish their purpose. Surely, we can all agree that the birth pangs are growing stronger and coming more frequently.

Shaking is a process God uses. Shaking removes what is temporary and leaves that which is permanent. Shaking is uncomfortable but is a process we can learn to appreciate. Let's allow this interlude, this "interruption" of our lives, to teach us to value the lessons shaking brings.

When God does the shaking, it accomplishes these five things:

·        It wakes you

Sometimes we have to shake our children a bit to rouse them from a deep sleep. It's not the most pleasant manner to wake up, but sometimes God needs to wake us up to get our full attention.

·        It harvests what is ripe

Think of how citrus fruits are harvested by shaking the tree. The ripe fruit falls to the ground. God's shaking harvests what is ripe in the life of a believer, both good and bad. We see the product of seeds previously planted. It reveals what has borne fruit in our lives and what has not. We have an opportunity to prepare for the next harvest.

·        It removes what is dead

When wind blows hard enough, it shakes dead leaves from the trees and sometimes dead limbs and branches. God shakes us to remove our dead works and lifeless ways.

·        It establishes closer to the foundation.

What remains is closer to the foundation. All that we labor for that is not supported by Him will be lost. We now have the opportunity to build on the proper support structure.

·        It unifies

Relationships that are knit together in Him are strengthened. Those that are not waver or fail. We realize what is important and who is important.

On what foundation is God establishing us? 1 Peter 2:5 tells us "You also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ." 

About we who are citizens of the kingdom of heaven,  Paul says in Eph. 2:18-22 "having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the chief cornerstone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit." We ourselves are building blocks of the dwelling place of God!

God's construction site has not been shut down in this crisis. I suspect His work is accelerating. He is preparing the church for His return, mortaring us together by His Spirt in unity.

As for me, after the shaking, when the stones stop tumbling and I sit in the midst of the rubble, seeing how the dust has settled, I ask myself….

If God woke me up, will I lull myself back to sleep with the cares and busyness of the world or will I keep myself awake, watching and alert in prayer? Am I roused with compassion for those who are sick, dying, lonely, lost?

Is the fruit harvested juicy and sweet, or do I need to reevaluate the seeds I've sown? Have I sown love, understanding, compassion, peace? Have I sown my time and money?

As dried-up, dead works are blown away, will my habits and ways go back to what they were or will I choose only those things God directs? Will I consider each activity with wisdom like the Proverbs 31 woman who "considered a field" before she bought it?

Have the structures I've depended on proven flimsy and unstable? How does God want to restructure the strewn-about pieces of my life and heart? Will I let Him do the rebuilding?

Has my living stone rolled far from the foundation, alone and separated, or is it adhered and mortared tightly to Jesus and to the adjoining stones? Do I need to move it back into unity? Will I allow myself to be chiseled and rebuilt as a living stone, a living, functioning member of the body of Christ?  Even when the chiseling hurts? Even when it is costly?

Will I remember Him? When the voices of distraction shout out and demand to be heard, will I remember how sweet His presence is in this time?  Will I plan my days to abide in this presence at all costs?

What an opportunity the shaking has given! It is a preview of what will be shaken and what will stand! It reminds me of the wisdom that resides in the house of mourning in the book of Ecclesiastes, “for the mind of the wise is in the house of mourning, but the mind of fools is in the house of pleasure." In America, we have often dwelt in the house of pleasure. We are blessed. We must pray that, as we mourn, more will see Jesus and seek His kingdom, the one that cannot be shaken.

"Therefore, since we receive a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us show gratitude, by which we may offer to God an acceptable service with reverence and awe." Heb. 12:28 As we see more clearly all that can be shaken, let us offer to Him our gratitude and praise for a kingdom that cannot be shaken.

"Facetime"

I was thinking of the extroverts posting on Facebook how they need people! Just can't stand it! Introverts are saying the quarantine is great for them- alone time. The body of Christ is saying we need to gather, and we are all gathering in new ways.

I’m the picture of an introvert and am enjoying being able to study, pray and make a legacy scrapbook for my offspring. I need people too  - but what I need from people is not just surface interactions - NOT just being in a crowd, but face-to-face, substantial, deep, meaningful conversation. The kind where you are heard, understood. I suspect extroverts feel this need too.

It’s great to connect via social media. So many are posting meaningful and encouraging  things! It’s not the same. Empathy and understanding don’t really transmit. I want FACE-TO-FACE!  But not just face-to-face physically but heart-to-heart also!

The Lord reminded me of the prophecy given at our church on 2/2/20.

At the time it was given, the song "Behold Jehovah, seated on the throne was playing".

"The Lord would say

If you Dare.

Let me put my hands directly on your face.

As I cup my hands before you, place your faith and your face in my hands.

Now, look! into my eyes.

Look deep into my eyes.

What do you see?

Love

Power

Concern

Let me take my thumbs and wipe away your tears.

Let me show you what I have protected you from thus far.

Let me embrace you.

Look into my eyes.

As you see ME, SO

 I will put in you my power through my Holy Spirit who will dwell within your hearts.

My healing, my healing hands which touch your face

You shall take that and touch the sick and they shall recover

Holiness will increase

You will go forth as a mighty army, not for your own sake but for My sake.

But if you dare,

Let your face rest in my hands.

Don't pull back from me.

But look continually into my eyes

See what I have for you.

See what I have for you

HE IS OUR FACE-TO-FACE - our "Facetime"  IF WE DARE!

Cleanse Your Hearts

James 4:8 says “draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, (sound familiar?) you sinners; purify your hearts, you double-minded. “ James was writing to believers! 

Passover is being mentioned now in some prophetic words given from various places and through various people that worst of this Covid19 plague will be over by Passover - April  9. If so, that will be a miracle and we welcome it!

Before the first Passover in Ex 12 God told the people to remove the leaven out of their homes. In Mt 16:6 Jesus explained that the leaven symbolizes sin.

For the last three days since I read this, I’ve been inviting the Lord to bring to mind “leaven” in me. He is bringing things to mind for repentance. I am examining my heart in this quiet time - the time when God has given us space. I am writing each one down.

Then God said in verse 13 “the blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you live and when I see the blood, I will pass over you and no plague will befall you.” 

We use the term "blood of Jesus" a lot, but many don't understand the phrase. They don't know the Old Testament - the place where God reveals just who He is.  The phrase has been repeated so much that it loses its power. This gives weight and understanding of the power we have received and are still receiving in Christ.

Yes, we’ve been washed in his blood, but we are still to examine our hearts. 

We are to cleanse our own hands and heart and repent for ourselves and for this nation.  Since I read this, I’ve been inviting the Lord to bring to mind “leaven” in me. He is bringing things to mind for repentance. I am examining my heart at this quiet time.  I am writing each conviction down.

Thoughts on Motherhood

I saw an old friend this week. Often its funerals that bring us together these days. At first, she didn’t recognize me - hesitating, she said, “oh, you’re Jennifer’s mom!”

You see, that’s how I made my friends —back in the day. My besties were those who first knew me as “Jennifer’s mom”, “Darren’s mom”, “Joel’s mom.” My kiddos were my conversation starters, my security blankets, my pride and joy, my purpose —they defined me. People knew me mostly by the kind of mom I was. Blessed times!

Gradually, though sometimes suddenly, we must face the world as just ourselves again—just Linda. Jobs. Kids grow up. Move away. Good things mostly, though some parents must grieve the loss of a precious child.

Most don’t think to ask, “are you anyone’s mother?” I understand my single friends a tiny bit more.

So it’s sweet to hear someone say again, “oh, you’re Jennifer’s mom!” Even better when I get to meet Madelyn’s friends at Starbucks, Cade’s friend hugs me and calls me “MawMaw” and Rylan’s friend comes to the door and asks, “are you Rylan’s grandma?”
#stillblessed
#sograteful

Journaling

I wonder what will happen to all the journals I've kept?  I began in the late 70s.  Who would want them? Do I want anyone to read them? Should I destroy them now? Furthermore, is the need to write it all down crazy? Should I give up the habit?

Journals are like first drafts. A writer starts with a blank page and  just puts it all out there, knowing that later it will be refined and edited over and over until the point is clear and the story finished. First drafts are messy. They are meant to be marked up in red, rearranged, struck out and sometimes wadded up for a new start. First drafts, and the subsequent ones, can be discouraging. If you expect to get it all "right" the first try, you will probably give up.

My journal is the first draft of the story of my life, and often even the first draft of a day, a year, a decision, a story.  I want it to be neat and tidy. Organized. Logical. No mark-outs. Beautiful penmanship. I want it to be the finished product. I want it to provide quick answers to off of life's problems and questions.

First drafts of life raise more questions than provide answers. If I "have the mind of Christ" as the Bible says I do, it must be extracted, mined for, developed, listened for, asked for. Even realizing that I want and need the "mind of Christ" is a process.

Like the first draft of a story, writing out problems gets messy - and not just the penmanship. When I share honest feelings, there they are in ink on paper. Sometimes that process is lengthy, spanning years and filling blank books, but rarely am I not rewarded with clarity, resolution, insight, even wisdom from God. Some are profound and others so ordinary that I could mistake them for my own thoughts. When I pick up journal and pen, when I see a blank page, I FEEL the anticipation that God will meet me there. He will speak to me.

It seems I can't really think - process - without writing. Life has to travel from my scattered brain through my fingertips onto to pen and ink to be understood, reasoned, remembered. I don't know what I think until I write it. Thoughts bounce around in my head, giving a feeling of confusion, unrest. Since I learned to guard every word in childhood, journaling offers freedom! I can allow honest words and feelings to flow.

Keeping a journal means sanity for me. It's cheaper than a shrink! What a comfort journaling has been to me, especially when I had no friends or family to share my thoughts with. Even now, having the best of friends, I see that no one can really understand another person's heart - except for the Lord. No one listens like He does. I think of how much I love each of my children. It seems I should be able to get inside of each one's mind and heart - to truly know everything about each one. Surely, I should be the one person who truly understands them because they grew inside my body and because they are part of my heart.  I yearn for that intimacy, but I only get glimpses. Seeing how alone each person really is, I am desperate to truly know and be known by Him. Beginning in Genesis, God made it clear that He desires intimacy with His people. It's all about relationship.

My journal is a way of remembering the Lord and all He has done and is doing in my life. Re-reading always gives me perspective. That perspective often comes even in the embarrassment of how I saw things at the time it was written. The perspective sometimes shows progress. When it doesn't, I ask myself and the Lord, "Why?"  Many times, I see that I never even took the first step of obedience God had shown me! Ouch!  I see how much time has been wasted - yes, even years! Other times, I see that my flesh is still my flesh-just like the Bible said it would be!  I see pettiness. I see how a judged a person. Many times, I've since had a glimpse into what God is doing in that person's life. Many times, my opinion is changed so much that I want to "white-out" all that I wrote before. Even so, I see that God isn't as disheartened by failure or the time I consider wasted as I am. After all, most of my wisdom came though the struggles, mistakes and failures!  As long as I continue walking with Him, I can be assured that He's still working on me.

1 Corinthians 10:5 tells us to "take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ." Jounaling helps me gather up all the loose ends of my thoughts and life and develop skill in listening to the Lord. The wild and loose thoughts that must be taken captive, must first be recognized. What better way to see them clearly is to see them in black and white! Embarassing, yes, but also beneficial. The enemy's ploys are exposed. I now know where to do battle.

If the almighty God actually speaks to us, the least we can do is take every means to remember and to learn from what He says. There may be a better way than journaling, but I haven't found it.
The problem is the "messy mixture": the wheat and tares; the silver and the dross; His ideas and mine.  They must all be sifted through the whole of a life, through many edits and versions.

But, what about all the "extras" in each journal? Lists, resolutions, rants, ideas, good intentions, venting and embarrassing revelations of the state of my own heart? God knows it all anyway.  But have I gained anything from to-do's and goals I rarely accomplish?  Noble ideas and desires that I never succeed in living out?  How could one week's journal entries reflect the majesty and glory of God, yet the pettiness of my flesh and the ordinariness of routine and day-to-day living? That is a mystery perhaps similar to "the outer man is decaying but the inner man is being renewed day by day." (2 Cor.4:16)

So, yes, I am a journaler! Not sure if I can change that. Not sure if I want to. The only question is, what to do with all these journals? Re-reading makes me want to tear out pages, but even seeing the uselessness of some struggles teaches me. I don't want to lose one gem of truth. Even as I read about an issue I wrote about 20 years ago, I may not agree with the conclusion I reached then, but the seeing the process is valuable. It still teaches. Each entry and lesson echoes into my present. What a joy when I can say, "that doesn't apply to me any more." "That has been resolved in my life." What a humbling lesson when I see that something I long ago declared "fixed" has cropped back up, not fixed at all. The best is when when a new insight or application of God's Word appears and changes everything suddenly! I've seen it happen!

I wish I had written more of the sweet things. Simple and complex ones. Quiet peaceful days with my children. Phone conversations and dinners together taken for granted. Details. Cute things the kids said. Laughs shared. I wish I had recorded all the prayer prayed and thanks given. If only, I could have captured all the life lived. I seemed to focus on the problems, not the joys. I think I thought the joys went without saying - that I would always remember them. I regret that. It makes the journals unbalanced. They don't show the whole picture.

"We have this treasure in earthen vessels." (2 Cor. 4:7) The journals are an incomplete and disjointed   rough first draft of snippets of the the story of my life. If I were writing a blog post, they would be wadded up and tossed as the finished product was posted.  I heard somewhere that "God makes your mess your message." I hope that's true!  One day, He will write "The End" to my story. He will throw away all the rough drafts. Somehow, because it's His work and He has done the editing, He will declare it  to be good.

But, what to do with all of these "workbooks"of my life? I haven't figured that one out yet.

Whatsoever Things

I've decided that the world is a serious place. There's a lot of negativity. I've always been a serious person and tended to dwell on the negative, but lately, I've noticed that, at almost 70 and with my friends facing the more serious issues of aging, my negativity doesn't stand out quite so much! In light of the condition of our world and culture, I don't even stand out among younger people.

Hope is waning, but as for me, now many times do I have to be reminded?
Think on these things -- the "whatsoever things"! 

"Whatsoever things are true,

whatsoever things are just,

whatsoever things are honest,

whatsoever things are pure,

whatsoever things are lovely,

whatsoever things are of good repute;

if there be any virtue, if there be any praise,

think on these things."

Philippians 4:8

Because Paul tells us to "think on these things, " we know that we CAN do so. We have the ability,  It's a choice. We have control over the thoughts we allow our minds to dwell upon.

I've been reading Charles Stanley's devotionals for years and years. He has a way of moving scripture from the page to the heart and from the heat to the place where I live every day.

This week, in "Three Ways to Think Right" Dr. Stanley gave three ways we can govern our thoughts.

1. Screen them.

We can check each thought by asking the following questions:

• What's the source?
• Where will it lead me?
• Is this scripturally sound?
• Is this going to build me up or tear me down?
• Can I share this with someone else?
• Does it make me feel guilty?
• Does it fit who I am as a follower of Jesus Christ

2. Select them.

God has given us the right to decide whether or not we will accept a thought.

3. Cultivate them.

Accepting godly thoughts (and rejecting evil ones) is not enough. You need to dwell on the ideas that align with God's Word and then start practicing them.

I expect this verse to pop up on my blog many times in the future as I walk the remainder of my journey.  It has certainly appeared in my journals over and over. Lately, I rarely hear a radio program or sermon that's not on Phil. 4:6-8!  (a topic for another blog: I do appreciate the Lord preparing me for the Thanksgiving holiday with so many reminders about being thankful. I even taught Ladies Bible Study two weeks ago on praying prayers of thanksgiving!)

So, let me memorize, meditate on, rehearse, recount and obey these words. After all, Whatsoever Things is the title of my blog!

Wisdom in the House of Mourning

"It is better to go to a house of mourning

Than to go to a house of feasting,

Because that is the end of every man,

And the living takes it to heart.

Sorrow is better than laughter, 

For when a face is sad a heart may be happy.

The mind of fools is in the house of pleasure."

Ecclesiastes 7:3-4

A strange scripture? It never seemed strange to me. I have experienced it! When I was 18, my mother's father died. She adored him, but their relationship had become strained. She had separated herself from her parents and the aunts and uncles she grew up around, thinking they would judge her for her life choices. She believed she had let them down.

At the funeral home, I saw my mother glowing, receiving love from all those people. In her deep grief, she was comforted. She was happy. She was loved. Accepted. She was home. In that house of mourning, wisdom was there. She saw love and forgiveness. She saw God in a way she had not seen Him before. This wisdom and joy had been missing from all the parties she loved. This was real.  I didn't know about Ecclesiastes 7 then, but I knew my mother saw things in the right way in her place of mourning.

I saw wisdom again when my dad's mother died suddenly. He saw the reality that any of us could die today, and it frightened him. He saw the end of every man, and vowed to meet with the pastor and change his life. He was wiser in the funeral home than in the bar room. 

Last week I again saw wisdom in the house of mourning. You see, a house of mourning doesn't have to be a funeral home. It can be in our private prayer time. At our church altar. In any place and situation where we see His greatness and our weakness.

Our church gathered at the home of a young couple to pray. The husband had been diagnosed just days before with an inoperable brain tumor and given only a few months to live. What a blow to this family and to us who love them! But what wisdom was present there! In a room filled with over a hundred people, a hush fell as Clay shared about all God was showing Him in his own "house of mourning." He said he wanted only for God to be glorified through this, whatever the outcome. He said "I get it!" and everyone knew he was seeing something we don't see.

We, who were blessed to hear wisdom speak, hung on every word. Lord, let us take it to heart! Sorrow can be better than laughter if it brings us closer to God. 

I am grateful that we have a God who is the Healer, one who has given us more time to hear the wisdom Clay and Kristy are pouring out to us - really that He is pouring out to us through them. In our house of "mourning" let us take it to heart! Let us see You!