The Freedom We Will Never Lose

Today is July 4^th, a day when we in America celebrate our hard-fought independence, giving us freedoms we otherwise would not have known. 

Our country was founded on great and godly principals by men who dared to fight for them.  Over two hundred years later, we still have a lot to celebrate.  We have (and sometimes take for granted) freedoms that other countries can only dream about. 

I still look on our soldiers and all they've accomplished with deep gratitude. I am still filled with pride when I stand and listen to the inspired lyrics of The Star-Spangled Banner. I am proud that we are a people still free to use our voices to speak out against injustice.

And I am still proud and overjoyed when I see immigrants who've worked hard to have the privilege to stand in ceremony and receive their citizenship.

I am still blessed beyond words to live in a country where I have the freedom to speak, walk, build, grow, do and be just about whatever I wish.  It’s not a perfect country, but the land we walk on is unique in its vision, birth and development.  And I believe it’s been blessed by God. 

But the full scope of our Founding Fathers’ vision is eroding.  As the government seeks to rule over our country more and more, facing the loss of certain freedoms can get downright depressing. 

The first amendment to the Constitution guarantees us, among other freedoms, the free exercise of religion.  And yet people are spending time in jail for hosting Bible studies in their home.  Kids are told they aren’t allowed to wear “religious” t-shirts or pray within the walls of schools.

And that’s just the beginning. 

That’s minor compared to the persecution Christians face in other countries. But the reality is we don’t know to what extent we will yet see persecution in this country.  We’ve strayed a long way since The Bill of Rights gave us those freedoms. 

But there is one joy we can be sure of.

No one can ever take the freedom we have in Jesus.  We may someday go to jail for speaking about it. For carrying a Bible. For gathering in His Name.  But our freedom will forever be imprinted on our hearts.

Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.

2 Corinthians 3:17

Those freedoms were hard-fought for, too.  They cost us nothing, but Jesus paid with His life in pain and suffering. 

No matter what happens to our Constitutional rights, in Christ we will forever be free.

Free from sin. Free from spiritual poverty. Free from condemnation. Free from eternal judgment.

Free to know God. Free to be loved and to love. Free to walk in the Spirit. Free to serve the Lord.

Free to live with Him forever. 

Faith in Action:

While you're out there celebrating at the grill with steaks and burgers and cake decorated to look like the American flag, let's celebrate by using our freedom and tell somebody about Jesus! Let's do it for believers in China and Laos and Iran and other countries where people are not free to openly talk about God.  Where men and women are imprisoned right now simply for speaking the gospel.  (You can read more about the persecuted church at Voice of the Martyrs.) 

And then tell me how it went!

And let’s pray for our country.  It is up to us, the Church, the body of Christ, to lift up our nation before the Lord.  We need His grace and His wisdom.  We need Him to open the spiritual eyes of every leader in this country. 

We need a revival. 

We need to seek our first love—Jesus Christ—in our own hearts first.  Then we need to take the joy of our salvation and fill our nation, one heart at a time, with the love of Christ.

God bless and Happy 4th of July!

Dorci

 

Lessons Learned ~ An Open Letter to My Dad

Dear Dad,

When I saw you last, you laid in a comfortable room all your own in a beautiful home. The first time I walked through it I knew Jesus had hand-picked that home and that room just for you. 

Dad, you would have loved it.  Your room kept watch over a gorgeous collection of plants and flowers in the big backyard. Oh, how I wanted to be able to walk through the gardens with you, enjoying the sunshine and the beauty of every rose and daisy. 

No doubt our conversation would have meandered with the gardens.  We’d eventually ponder much weightier issues like the world’s problems and how to solve them.  We always had the answers, didn’t we? 

And our conversation would have invariably settled on the mysteries of the universe, and of God.  This conversation would have gone very differently than all the others, though.

For thirteen years I prayed for you.

And when we were finally able to enjoy those weekly gabfests on the phone I did my best to steer as many conversations as possible toward the Lord.  I tried to explain to you historically, intellectually, logically and emotionally why Jesus is the only way to salvation, the only way to heaven.  And you’d always say you were trying. 

The end of every conversation would come, and I’d let my words offering you Christ hang in the air as a gift, desperately hoping you’d take them, but you never did.  I always hung up thinking if only I’d said it differently... 

If I could have I would have forced them on you as a parent forces a child to eat his broccoli and drink his milk. 

Soon after you had gone, I realized the mistake I’d made all those years.  And all I wanted to do was grasp one day to do it over. If I could I would have done it all over.  I’d trade in some of those conversations, some of those awkward attempts at apologetics, and take a meal to you. 

I’d take a jar full of jelly beans to your apartment and set it on the table next to your chair. While I was there I would have cleaned your apartment and done some laundry, if you’d let me.  I’d frame some pictures of your grandsons and hang them on the wall. 

I’d buy you a proper journal so you didn’t have to write your soulful words on the scraps of paper and backs of old envelopes we found scattered around your apartment.  I’d have you over for dinner more often so Eric and Sean could get to know you better.  We still grin and tell each other your favorite joke: So a horse walks into a bar and the bartender says, “Why the long face?” I can still hear that high-pitched almost giggle you reserved for jokes you thought were especially hilarious.

I would have shown you the love of Jesus I tried so desperately to tell you about.  I thought I’d have enough time, but I didn’t. 

Time is always short.

You might not have let me do those things, but I wish I had tried.  I wish I had used the short time we had together to show you how much I loved you and how much I appreciated you.  I would have shown you that you were worth loving and you were worth dying for.

I loved our conversations, but I wish I had used the time putting feet to my words, enriching both our lives even more.  And maybe, just maybe it wouldn’t have taken until just five days before you went to be with Jesus to give Him your heart.  Maybe those acts of love would have opened your eyes to the truth sooner.  But they were opened, and I am so grateful.

You taught me that lesson, Dad.  I don’t always remember it, but you taught me that life is short, and sometimes it’s over much sooner than we ever thought it would be.  And sometimes our words are just words until we bring them to life. 

 

I can picture you now, tending the garden of your dreams and having long conversations with everyone who stops by to smell the roses. I'll be there soon, and when I am, I’m coming to your house, Dad, the one prepared just for you.  I’ll clean it, top to bottom.  I'll set a crystal vase overflowing with fresh flowers on your table.  I’ll bring you some jelly beans and we’ll talk. 

Your loving daughter,      @

Dorci                               ~\~

Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.

1 John 3:18

Forgiveness is the Key

The room is dark and every surface hard.  A cold chill blows in from the tiny, barred window.  It’s dank, and there’s a constant dripping from the ceiling that echoes through the room as it falls against the unforgiving ground.  It relentlessly interrupts the peace of the one who shares the room.

Drip…..drip…..drip. 

Someone’s in prison because you put them there. We all put someone in prison when we choose not to forgive. 

In Matthew 18, Jesus tells the parable of a man who owed his master ten thousand talents.  He was not able to pay so he begged for mercy.  The master had compassion and forgave a debt he could never repay.

That same servant then went and confronted a fellow servant who owed him a few hundred denarii.  The second servant also begged for mercy but the first servant refused, and had him thrown into prison until he could pay the debt.

In Greek mathematics, ten thousand was the highest possible number.  A talent was worth approximately six thousand denarii, and one denarii was the amount of a day’s wage.  Ten thousand talents would be equal to sixty-million day’s wages, or about 164,384 years.  In other words, it is an impossible debt to repay.

Our debt as sinners to God is impossible to repay.  Not only could we never know the amount to be repaid, but even if that amount could be counted, we would never have the proper currency.  The only payment is death.  So God sent Jesus—the sinless Son of God—to pay our debt in full.  And when we accepted that payment, we were set free. 

And then someone sins against us.  The pain is significant but the debt is nowhere near what we were forgiven for—every sin we will ever commit.  Still, sometimes we stubbornly refuse to forgive.

Jesus finishes the parable by saying,

“Then the master called the servant in. ‘You wicked servant,’ he said, ‘I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?’ In anger his master handed him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed.” This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother or sister from your heart.’” Matthew 18:32-35 NIV

You walk up to the darkened room and stand at the barred door. 

Drip…..drip…..drip.

You see the shadow of the person inside. Only your forgiveness can unlock the door. 

You choose to forgive. 

The lock snaps free and the door swings open with a creak.  You strain to see who’s inside.  The one you've set free walks forward to greet the light and breathe in the fresh air.  You recognize the face only there's a new joy dancing in the person's eyes and a new love in the heart.







It’s you. 

Our God's Alive!

"I am the Living One; I was dead, and now look, I am alive for ever and ever!"

Rev. 1:18

~Jesus the Christ

Happy Resurrection Day!
Dorci

Arise, shine; for your light has come! Isaiah 60:1

Suffering with Purpose

Dear friends, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that has come on you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice inasmuch as you participate in the sufferings of Christ,

so that you may be overjoyed when His glory is revealed. 

1 Peter 4:12-13

I’ve been reading a devotional called The Gospel According to Job by Mike Mason.  I may have mentioned it once or twice.  It follows the story of Job and his sufferings and compares them to Christ and the lessons we learn in the Gospels. 

Job suffered in every way imaginable way including having to put up with the insufferable and ignorant advice given by his so-called friends.  They accused him over and over.  But because we were given a peek into the conversation between God and satan that led to Job’s sufferings, we already know that God considers Job a righteous man. 

But Job is caught in the middle between God and the men who came to impart their religiosity.  And in the end, God instructed the men to offer their sacrifices to Job, saying that Job would pray for them and He would hear his prayer and forgive their sins. 

Job is given the position of being a type of messiah, a foreshadowing of the mediator between God and man, Jesus Christ.

At the end of the story, we know what happened to Job.  God blessed him more than at the beginning, much like Christ received back His throne and rightful place at the right hand of the Father in heaven, along with all the souls that were saved, once His work here was done.

But I wonder what happened to the three men when all was said and done.  Once God told them they had sinned, once they offered their sacrifices and were forgiven through Job’s righteous prayer, I wonder what happened to them when they went back home. 

Were their hearts changed?  Did their encounter with the Living God, and with a true man of faith, dispel the incorrect beliefs they had previously held about God?  Did they change from men of religion to men of faith?  Personally, I don’t see how they couldn’t. 

And if their hearts were changed, if they believed, did they go back to where they lived and tell their family and friends?  Did they go back and preach faith rather than religion?  And did word of a just but merciful and loving God spread throughout the land? 

Could it be that along with millions of people throughout the centuries who have been comforted by identifying with Job and his intense suffering, those fiery trials were meant for his present time as well?  Could God have used a righteous man’s faith and steadfastness during suffering to change the very hearts of those around him (including his wife’s)? 

Just as Jesus Christ, an innocent man, suffered for the purpose of salvation of all people both then and now, could the mystery of Job’s seemingly unwarranted suffering be made clear in a similar purpose: to spread the good news that in faith in God alone there is righteousness?

If so, can we see that purpose in our own suffering, that as we walk through it in faith we are a light to those around us, believers and unbelievers alike?  I think so.  No matter how little we may understand about all the reasons we’re going through whatever we’re going through, we can always rest assured that it is for the purpose of glorifying the Lord.    

Job had no idea of the impact his trials and tribulations--and his faith in God--would have on the world.  And we also have no idea how God wants to turn the world around us upside-down for Him as we walk through our own shadows with faith. 

Fight the Good Fight, Keep the Faith

I watched The Book of Eli again.   And again, it’s left me with a feeling of determination, of gravity, of sober-mindedness about my faith in God and my desire to serve Him well to the end.

Just to let you know, this will contain major spoilers. So if you’ve never watched it, watch it first, if you like, then come back.  I’ll wait.

But a warning: it is rated R, and in the case of this movie, that could stand for raw and rough, but also for revelation.  There are several instances of very strong language and many scenes of disturbing violence.  Normally I wouldn’t recommend a movie with that level of crudeness, but the context in which it’s used in this movie is not gratuitous but conforms to the grave time and situations within the story.  If you’d still rather not watch it, read on anyway.  I’ve included enough of the story that you won’t miss out on the message. 

So why would I watch a movie with such violence and vulgarity?  Because it is an excellent allegory of our lives--as messy and ugly and painful as they can be—as we walk with the Lord. 

*       *       *

“You show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts." 2 Corinthians 3:3

A man named Eli wanders through a barren land some thirty-one years after an apocolyptic destruction of the earth and most of its inhabitants.  He carries only a backpack and a few weapons which he skillfully uses against the violence he finds at nearly every turn in this lawless land.

 

Eli guards with his life the contents in his backpack: a book.  But not just any book.  It is the only copy of the Bible left on earth.  He’s been traveling with it since the destruction and his job is to take it west.  Why?  Because a Voice told him to.

 

The Voice leads him through peril after peril.

 

Eli comes to a futuristic old west town of lawless men, run by one deranged man whose goal is to find a Bible.  He knows there is power in the Bible and he wants power. He’s managed to enslave a group of people, including a blind woman and her daughter.

The man discovers the contents of Eli’s pack.  Eli takes off in a hail of bullets, leaving several bodies in his wake.  Eli is unharmed.

 

Eli is back on the road, dutifully headed west, when he discovers the teenage daughter of the blind woman has followed him.  They find shelter for the night where he removes his most guarded possession from its cocoon and begins reading.  The illiterate girl asks him to read to her and he begins to recite scripture from memory.

She asks him if he reads it every day.  He responds, “Without fail.” 

As they continue on in their journey west, the deranged man and his band of not-so-merry men have found Eli and the girl. After a gunfight, Eli finds himself standing in the middle of the men while the ringleader has a tight hold on the girl and a gun pointed at Eli.  Eli has hidden the Book, and the man wants it.  Eli stands in total confidence that the protection he’s known for thirty-one years will continue.

 

And then, Eli is shot.  He stumbles and his face twists with confusion.

   

The man snarls at Eli, “Where’s your protection now?”  And we wonder the same thing.  Why would God allow him to be hurt?  And even more, why would God allow him to be placed in a position where he feels he has to give up the Bible to this abusive, power-hungry man?

Eli gives up the Book’s hiding place, it is taken and the men are gone with the girl.  Eli gets back on the road and continues his journey west, led by the Voice, as if nothing has happened.  The girl musters some courage of her own, and finds her way back to Eli.

They reach the ocean where they cross by boat to a sanctuary.  The guard asks him why he’s there.  He says he has a copy of the King James Bible.  The girl looks at him quizzically, and so do we.

 

They enter the sanctuary where they meet with the proprietor who is in the process of collecting a library of books which have become precious in this post-war era.  He’s never seen a Bible.  He, the girl and Eli sit down.  Eli asks for some paper.

 

Meanwhile, the man is back in the old west with his stolen Book of Power.  The Book is opened and we see the pages but there are no words, only raised dots.  The blind woman stands in front of it, having no clue as to the treasure that lay right in front of her.  He screams at her to read it.  She throws her hands down in anger, and she feels the dots.  Time stands still for her as she realizes this is a Bible, a Bible she can read. 

Back at the sanctuary, Eli begins to recite the Bible, from memory, word by word, verse by verse:

Gen 1:1  In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.

Gen 1:2  And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the
                 deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.

Gen 1:3  And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.

We are taken up close and we see Eli’s eyes, and suddenly realize that he is blind.  And yet, he sees more than anyone because the truth of God is written on his heart.  It is the light from the sun and the voice of God that led him, gave him discernment, and filled him with wisdom to walk across the country for thirty-one years, facing death at every turn, fulfilling his mission. And so it is with us.

My friends, our life in Christ is a journey, and we’ll most surely encounter struggles, pain and evil along the way.  And God will use those times of trial in ways we may not ever know until we stand with Jesus in heaven.  Because Eli was shot and the girl’s life was at stake, he had to release the Bible. No doubt the Voice told him to, a Voice with which he had become very well acquainted.  And in doing so, the Word of God that gives freedom to the humble was taken back to a lawless town and the truth was spoken.  Ironically, the man who wanted to use it for his own gain lost the very power he coveted. 

And because Eli persisted in doing God’s will, the Bible was produced again en masse, and its message filled a lost and dying world.  Eli sums up his belief about the Bible’s message by saying it’s about doing more for others than for yourself.  And so it is. Rather than saving Himself, Jesus Christ died for us so that we can be saved and live with God forever.  And this is the message we carry in our hearts. 

Whatever comes along on your long and winding road--the good, the bad and the ugly--our ultimate purpose is to carry the Lord, and with Him, the inspired Word of God, in our hearts. We are the living letter of God given for our own lost and dying world.  Keep focused, keep true and finish well.

 

“I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.”

2 Timothy 4:7-8 kjv

A Call to Anguish

I hope this stirs your heart as much as it did mine. 

He is Risen!

Sunrise over Resurrection Bay, Seward, Alaska

"I am the Resurrection and the Life!

He who believes in Me, though he die, yet he shall live."

John 11:25

The Road To Victory Is Paved With Crosses

He had anticipated this day all His life. He had prepared His followers the best He could. He suffered alone in the garden, sweating drops of blood, until His will was submitted to His Father. He was ready.

It was morning and He hadn’t slept in over 24 hours. A friend betrayed His loyalties with a kiss. Religious leaders sought to kill Him. False witnesses spoke out against Him. His death was demanded by an angry crowd. He was flogged beyond recognition. A crown of thorns pierced his head. He was ridiculed and spat upon. On His bloodied back He carried a wooden cross.

His friends denied Him.

Large, thick nails bored into His hands and feet. He was lifted up as an instrument of mockery.

Because of sin, yours and mine, the Son of God was found guilty. Christ Jesus gave Himself as the sacrifice and payment for our sins.

And on the third day He rose victorious.

At Easter we gather together to remember what Christ did for us on the cross and to celebrate His resurrection. But more than just recognizing His atonement for our sins on one day a year, we now have the high calling of honoring His sacrifice with our lives. We have the opportunity every day to follow the example the Lord gave us on Golgotha and as we do, we also will rise to spiritual victory and life.

The day we put our faith in Jesus Christ and in His work for our salvation, our old nature was put to death and we were risen to a new, spiritual life. But our bodies are not yet glorified; we are still bound within them and with them a pull to the old life.

Jesus said, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow Me.” (Luke 9:23)

Just as His cross led to victory, our road to spiritual victory is paved with our crosses-the daily putting to death of sin and our own fleshly desires.

"Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses,

let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles.

And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us,

fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith.

For the joy set before Him He endured the cross, scorning its shame,

and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God." (Hebrews 12:1-2)

My dear friends, the day of the Lord’s return draws nearer every day and there is work to be done in and for the kingdom. The lost need to hear the gospel, churches need planting, souls need prayer, people need loving and we need to grow up in Him.

What is keeping you from being usable in His hands, from being the most effective salt and the brightest light you can be? What is keeping you from walking the road to spiritual victory? The way is the cross, yes, but we never carry it alone, and with it the joy of the Lord is set before us!

Instead of denying Him with a life of compromise, let us courageously follow hard after Him, taking up our cross and nailing to it our sins, both the acts done outwardly and those that live in our minds. As we do, we will glorify and honor our Savior and His sacrifice.  His life will be lived through us and we will become a fragrant offering to our risen King.

Happy Easter!
Dorci

God of the Mountains

I was watching The Waltons a while back (yes, with John Boy, Mary Ellen and the rest), and in this episode John Boy was all grown up and going to college. The clothes he wore, the car he drove and his slight southern mountain twang always threatened to give him away as a country bumpkin in a sea of rich, college boys.

The annual horse race that was held on Walton’s Mountain was coming up, and since John Boy’s family was too poor to afford a horse, John Boy decided to enter with his faithful, hard-working mule, Blue. One of John Boy’s rich, college buddies--who was forever playfully rubbing his wealth in John Boy’s nose--caught wind of this contest and decided to compete with his prize-winning race horse.

John Boy seemed fairly confident at first, but as the weeks went by and the contest neared, his friend’s boasting began getting into his head and the thought of racing against a purebred stallion had him a little worried.

The day of the big race came and people from all corners of Walton’s Mountain came to cheer on their favorites. John Boy sat on ol’ Blue, and the rich, college buddy strutted up to the starting area with his beautiful, quick, pedigreed horse, clearly standing a number of hands taller than Blue.

The rules were given to the riders. They were to ride to a certain spot, round a marked tree, and head back. How the riders and their mounts got there and back was up to them.

The race was on. College Boy and his thoroughbred were off, racing straight for the turnaround tree along with most of the other riders and their horses. John Boy and Blue knew the shortcuts. They veered off the main route, making up for Blue’s lack of speed with John Boy’s wisdom of knowing the terrain like his own bedroom, and Blue’s strength and sure-footedness that comes from being bred a mule.

They climbed up and down the steepest slopes, ran through creeks that might spook any other horse, climbed up out of the forested mountainside and onto to the homestretch path just ahead of all the other riders, including College Boy, and won the race.

Just as John Boy and ol’ Blue had a wisdom and strength that College Boy and his fast horse knew nothing about, so God’s children have been granted a godly wisdom and strength that is far richer than anything found on any college campus or in a bank account that is bulging at the seams.

Now, in case you think I’m saying that an education is unimportant or even wrong, I’m not. An education is great when you can get it, but its wisdom will never replace the wisdom of God. It is not a degree that grants us entrance into the kingdom of heaven, gives us eternal wisdom, never-ending strength or a peace that surpasses all understanding as we face our own uphill battles. It is only as we rely on the Lord that He will fill us with power, strength and peace to victoriously endure those mountainous terrains of suffering.

It is God, the Creator of the Universe, Who is able to sustain us and mature us in Christ, not just in spite of our suffering but because of it. It is the obstacles that are placed in our lives, coupled with the leading of the Holy Spirit that brings us a spiritual maturity that the world will never know. Unlike the world’s, His wisdom and resources are infinite and so is His love toward us.

So fall on the Almighty God, El Shaddai, which, ironically, is also translated as “God of the mountains.” He will more than take care of us and we, in turn, are blessed to have our lives used to glorify the Eternal God.

“Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles;

they will run and not grow weary,

they will walk and not be faint.” (Isaiah 40:30-32)

"Therefore, as it is written: 'Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.'"  (1 Cor. 1:31)

Just Give Me Jesus!

We interrupt your regularly scheduled weekend for this important announcement:  Jesus loves you!

I was talking to some friends about how noisy the world is and how sometimes I am overwhelmed with all the do's and don'ts, the criticism and rejection.  Sin abounds in the world and temptation is ever lurking.  Life is hard and painful and exhausting....and sometimes, I just want to shut all that out and say, JUST GIVE ME JESUS!

My dear sister in the Lord, Anne Graham Lotz, evangelist Billy Graham's daughter, wrote a book and recorded a DVD set of teachings called Just Give Me Jesus.  Every now and then, when life just gets to be too much, I think of her teachings and say, "Just give me Jesus!" 

Oh, how I hope this gives you a measure of comfort in your life right now in those hard-to-reach corners of your heart that have become weary...those places you try to ignore and hope they'll go away on their own..those places you've tried filling up with anything other than Jesus Himself. 

He is waiting to fill them up, to fill you up, with His love and His good and faithful character. He is complete and He is all you need. I pray that after listening to the precious words of Anne Graham Lotz you will be inspired to draw closer and dive deeper into the God Who created you for a purpose and loves you over and above anything you could ever imagine.

Just let the world go, let Him have your cares, close your eyes and let Him love you. 

An Extravagant Love

There is one love that surpasses them all, the love story of all love stories. A love that overshadows all other loves, one that has been since before time and always will be, and that is God’s love for you and me.

God is the genesis of all love. His love is pure, it is perfect, it is constant. It is unconditional and selfless. All He has done and ever will do stems from His unwavering love for us. He has poured out His love on us so lavishly that sometimes we hardly notice it.  Nevertheless, He’s been wooing his Bride since the beginning of time.

He gave the sun to warm us, the stars to shine and lead our way. He gave us galaxies to discover, mountains to climb, caves to explore. He gave the oceans’ waves to ride and summer's smell of fresh-cut grass. He paints a new masterpiece to wake us and another to send us to bed. He gave us cool breezes rustling through leaves.

He gave us one another as spouses, as parents and children, and as friends. He gave us language that we might speak and pen our love for one another. He even gave us fragrant roses, diamond mines and cocoa beans.

He called one man to be the father of His people that He might show His amazing love to and through them. And He never left them. He led them through the desert to the Promised Land, provided all their needs and came to their rescue time and time again.

Then He gave another Man to show His love to all the world; He gave His only Son over to death to purchase our souls from hell.  He then raised Him from the dead, showing us His power over death and gave us hope.

And though it could never contain Him, His Holy Spirit dwells within our hearts, even the very darkest, most broken recesses. He leads us and ministers to us, counsels us and comforts us. And He rescues us time and time again.

He is our Knight in shining armor, sparing nothing to go after us, revealing Himself to us over and over until we let Him in and His love is ours and ours is His. He has given all the universe, and imprinted the farthest reaches with His everlasting love.

This is a picture taken by the Hubble telescope of the center of the Whirpool Galaxy, which is located approximately 31 million light-years from our Milky Way Galaxy.  The radius of the Whirpool Galaxy is approximately 38,000

light-years. This center, thought to be a black hole, stands perpendicular to the spiral nebula. 

The LORD appeared to us in the past, saying: “I have loved you with an everlasting

love; I have drawn you with unfailing kindness.

Jeremiah 31:3

The Secret World of Snowflakes and You

In the last week or two here in the U.S., people have shoveled, scraped and trudged their way through one of the biggest snow storms we (and when I say “we,” I mean “they,” since I’m from Arizona) have seen in quite a while. My guess is most of those people have seen enough snow to last them until December.

But as we take a magnifying glass and look at a single snowflake, we'll see that they really are fascinating little miracles. Just like precious pearls begin as something ordinary--a grain of sand, snowflakes also begin as something just as unpretentious--a dust particle, a piece of volcanic ash or sea salt.

As it falls through the atmosphere, each particle forms into a clear ice crystal, its individual shape and size determined by the various conditions, such as the altitude, temperature and humidity, that each particle encounters as it falls to the ground. The one thing that all snowflakes have in common is that they each have six sides or branches.

All of us are also born with an ingrained imperfection, that is, our sin nature. As we grow, the conditions we encounter, such as the family we grow up in, the experiences we have in life and even our own personalities determine the one-of-a-kind of person we become. But our sin nature continues to act as an irritant, wreaking havoc in our souls.

“’Come now, and let us reason together,’ Says the LORD,

‘Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow;

though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool.”

Isaiah 1:18

Interestingly, crimson is deep, red color named after maggot-like insects called Kermes that produce the scarlet color. It’s a type of plant parasite that feeds on the leaves of evergreen oak trees. (Here’s another snowflake factoid to blow your mind: though snowflakes come in many different shapes, the snowflakes with branches like the ones in the picture are called Stellar Dendrite snowflakes. Dentritic means “tree-like.”) Our sin acts like those parasitic creatures, eating away at our joy, our lives and our souls.

The Lord tells us that though we have been stained with the blemish of sin, He will make them white as snow. But we are all individual clear ice crystals, if you will. What makes snow, and us, white?

As snowflakes fall to the ground and begin to gather together, the light shining into the snow gets scattered around inside and is reflected around all those unique six-sided snow prisms and the light that comes back out appears white. And the imperfections are no longer seen.

The Bible refers to the number six as the number of mankind, of incompleteness. Just as the one commonality among snowflakes is that they have six sides, we all have in common our imperfect humanity. Without Christ, we are incomplete and impure. But as we receive Jesus Christ by faith and become part of God’s family, His light shines into us and is filtered back out through the prism of our character, purifying our hearts and making us white as snow.

It’s amazing to me that God made snowflakes as a microscopic allegory showing us our need for Him. It’s as if He calls to us in the whisper of a tiny, almost secret world and says, “I know all about your weaknesses, your frailties, your sins, but the power of my love can overcome all that!” You have come through different backgrounds, different circumstances, different sufferings and different joys than anyone else. And the shape that your heart and mind have become through your own uniquely-designed life allows Christ to shine through you in the extraordinary ways He’s chosen just for you and the lives around you.

Praise the Lord!

How's Your Love Quotient?

I saw an interview with Aron Ralston, the mountain climber who, in 2003, went for a day hike and instead spent 5 ½ days trapped by a very large boulder that had dislodged, falling onto his right forearm and pinning him to the side of a canyon. He was in a very remote area, leaving him alone with only his camcorder, his hiking gear, and his thoughts.

He attempted to free himself first by trying to push the boulder off his arm, then by using a knife to try chipping away at the boulder. Neither worked. He sipped on the little bit of water he had and when that ran out, he hydrated himself by drinking his own urine.

When the days slipped by and he lost hope of being freed, he carved his name, date of birth and the date he believed he would die in the canyon wall next to him. He videotaped what would be his last will and testament and last goodbyes to his parents in hopes that someone would eventually find his body and return the message to his family.

And then, the last night he spent in the canyon, he had a vision. The vision was a scene of himself, sitting on a living room floor, playing with a little blonde-haired boy. Though he wasn’t married and had no children, he somehow knew that little boy was his own son. And the immense love he instantly felt for his son gave him the courage to begin to free himself by cutting off his own arm.

Through intense pain, he cut through the skin and nerves and muscle all the way to the bone but then realized the knife was too dull to cut the bone. He would have to break his arm. And so, using some of the hiking gear, and the boulder as leverage, he broke the bones in his forearm, cut off the rest of the arm, and freed himself. As he walked the several miles back to his vehicle, he crossed paths with a couple who called authorities and he was rescued by helicopter.

During the interview, Aron spoke about the vision he had of the boy he knew was his son, and the fact that it was the deep love he felt for this child that gave him the courage to do what had to be done throughout his staggeringly painful ordeal. He said that there was nothing like the love between a parent and child. He knew he had to survive for his son.

As I listened to Aron, I couldn’t help but think of Christ and the fact that what kept Him held in the arms of His captors, what kept Him standing before Pilate, being sentenced by a mob to a cruel death even though He was innocent of any wrongdoing, and what kept Him held to the cross despite unbearable pain, was His love for us.

His love for every one of us and His overwhelming desire to purchase our freedom from the penalty of our sins far outweighed the love He had for Himself.

His love for us knew no bounds even when that love kept Him bound.

So, why do we, as children of God, do what we do? Why do we get up every day and serve others? What motivates us to turn away from all the world’s attitudes of selfishness and greed? Why do we go against common sense and love our enemies? What keeps us going through trials without sinning either in deed or attitude?

If we forget that it’s all about our love for the Lord and glorifying Him, we will lose sight of why we’re going through it and that will cause us to forget how to get through it. As our focus on the Lord gets smaller, our trials will seem overwhelming in our eyes. We will forget to entrust our lives to the loving Lord who died for us. We will get so focused on the trial itself and on ourselves that we will forget that God is working all things together for our good.

We may not always know the exact reasons why we go through very difficult and painful adversities, but God, Who loves us more than we can imagine, does. If Jesus would put Himself on a cross for the reason of purchasing the freedom of the ones He loves, why would He not have eternally praiseworthy reasons for allowing us to go through our momentary afflictions?

Have courage, my dear friends, we are loved by the King!

“let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”

Hebrews 12:1b-2

Oh, and by the way, Aron married Jessica Trusty in August of 2009, and they had a beautiful baby boy in February of last year. His wife has blonde hair.

 
Blessings,

Let God Be Magnified

This is not the post I was going to write for today.  But I'm too angry to write that one.  I'm too upset and saddened by news I just got about someone in my extended family.  I won't say what it is, but suffice it to say satan is having a heyday right now. 

I hate the enemy. 

With a passion I hate him.  He takes anything that God wants to give us for our good and enjoyment and pleasure and he twists it and makes it ugly and painful.  He takes rainbows--given to us by God as a sign of hope and His enduring, holy love--and distorts it into something that is used to symbolize an unholy, irreverent sexual act. 

he takes marriage--ordained by God as a union between one man and one woman--and deteriorates it into meaning little else than hooking up for a while and then leaving when it gets boring. 

he takes relationship that God has given to each of us through His Son, Jesus Christ, and turns it into nothing more than a religion of self-pride.  And then he takes those religions down deeper, darker avenues of God-distorting, Christ-lowering, self-elevating, heart-crushing, lying, mindless, evil organizations. 

And people swallow the lies hook, line and sinker. 

And the aftermath is never-ending.  The pain goes on, the disappointment continues, and true love goes unfulfilled.  And it's not just the story of my loved one I'm talking about.  I keep hearing about others who are faced with their own enemy-warping joy-stealing stories.  And all in the week of Christmas.  What a coincidence.  Not. 

This is Christmas week and I will lift my God high.  I will magnify the Name of Jesus above all names.  I will ascribe to Him the glory and honor that is due His Name and more, if there ever could be more. 

He is my Abba, my Father, my Counselor, my Comforter, my Truth.  He is my Hope, my Future, my Love, my Teacher, my All in All. 

He is the blessed King of kings, Lord of lords and God of gods.  He is Elohim, Jehovah-Jireh and Jehovah-Rophe.  He is Jehovah-Nissi and Jehovah-Shalom.  He is the great Shepherd, the eternal Judge and He will have the last word. 

He is El Shaddai. 

He is the Alpha and the Omega and His Word will stand forever.  He is the Rock of solid ground. 

He is beautiful and His love is perfection.  He does no wrong and tells no lies.  He keeps every promise.  Every soul who asks He will receive.

His Name is Emmanual--God with us.  He stepped down from His high and lofty throne where He was worshipped and controlled the universe to show us just how much He loves us. 

I think no one has said it better than S. M. Lockridge.  I hope you join me in worshipping the one and only true God as you listen to Pastor Lockridge extol the great and mighty Name of our God.






You can read the Names of God here. 


With all love and sincerety and hope for all God's blessings,
Dorci

You Are The One

"When Jesus had said this, He was troubled in spirit, and testified and said, 'Truly, truly, I say to you that one of you shall betray Me.' Then the disciples looked upon one another, wondering of whom He spoke. But there was one of His disciples leaning upon Jesus' bosom, the one whom Jesus loved."  (John 13:21-23)

"Then she ran and came to Simon Peter, and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved, and said to them, They have taken away the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid Him."  (John 20:2)

"Then Peter, turning around, saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following (the one who also leaned on His breast at supper, and said, 'Lord, who is he who betrays You?'  Seeing him, Peter said to Jesus, 'Lord, and what of this one?'" (John 21:20-21)

I love that the apostle John refers to himself over and over in his account of Christ as "the one whom Jesus loved."  Not that Jesus loved any of the other apostles less, but John saw himself first and foremost as one who was loved greatly by his Lord.  It would seem there was never a doubt in his mind of Jesus' love for him.

John was confident of Jesus' love at the last Passover meal when Jesus announced that one of them would betray Him.

He was confident of His love in the dark hours of confusion that followed Jesus' crucifixion and death.

He was confident of the love that Christ had for him even when a brother tried to point a critical finger at him. 

In all circumstances he knew he was loved by the only One Who really mattered.

I hope you know, too, that you are the one whom Jesus loves.  No matter what hardship you face now or in the future, no matter what you've tackled in the past, you are loved by the Lord.  There is no one He loves more than you.  If you had been the only inhabitant of earth, He would have come and died for your sins just the same. 

If you are a disciple of Christ, I hope you'll walk in faith and pure confidence at all times that you are the one whom Jesus loves. 

Friday Funnies {Friend Request}

Is your face in His book?

Operation Christmas Child

Can you believe it's November already?  Before you know it'll be Thanksgiving and then Christmas is right around the corner.  Maybe you're thinking about how you can help others who are far less fortunate than we are during this season of giving. 

Samaritan's Purse is a 40-plus year old, non-denominational Christian, philanthropical organization whose President and CEO is Franklin Graham, the son of Billy and Ruth Bell Graham.  Samaritan's Purse works tirelessly throughout the year to bring aid to the poor, sick and suffering around the world. 

At Christmastime every year, Samaritan's Purse launches Operation Christmas Child, an outreach where they take in shoe boxes filled with gifts and send them to children in need all over the world. This is where you come in.  It's simple: 

1. Pack a Shoe Box

Just grab a shoe box or a small plastic container, fill it with simple toys, school supplies, hygiene items, certain types of candy and even a personal note, if you wish.  Include a check for $7 to cover the cost of shipping.  Or use the EZGIVE option below. 

2. Download a Label

Download a label that shows whether your box is for a boy or a girl and the age range the gifts are appropriate for. 

3. Drop It Off

Enter your zip code on the website and it'll show you your nearest drop-off location. 

4. Follow Your Box

If you pay for shipping online using EZGIVE, you can follow your box online. 

And that's it!  Last year Operation Christmas Child fulfilled Christmas dreams for 8 million underprivileged children. I don't know of a more worthy organization and better way to bless others as we celebrate the birth of our Lord and all the ways He's blessed us.

Collection week for the shoe boxes is coming up quickly, November 15-22.

Take a look at just how easy it is:

It's Personal

This life is hard, but I probably don’t have to tell you that. There is a lot of good to be found in it, but it is also demanding, exhausting, painful, stressful and nerve-wracking. That is why we need a personal God.

But somehow, instead of entering into a one-on-one, intimate relationship with God through Jesus Christ, many people, even Christians, seem to find it easier to follow some one-size-fits-all legalistic formula of religious living. And what was meant to be a personal and loving relationship with God through His Son has been reduced to no more than following a set of rules.  We were meant for so much more than that!

Maybe we don’t understand how extremely personal our God is and wants to be in our lives. Maybe we think He sees us all as cookie-cutter human beings, all expected to be and do and act the same, as long as we’re following the Ten Commandments. But that is not our God. Our God is a relational God.

God has called us for the purpose of relationship with Him. “God, who has called you into fellowship with his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, is faithful.” (1 Corinthians 1:9)

Our personal God gives us the confidence to be able to say, “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb.” (Psalm 139:13)

God is so personal that He sees when even two people have come together in the name of Christ and tells us “For where two or three are come together in my name, there am I among them. (Matthew 18:20)

God is so personal that He hand picks each gift for every believer. “Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good.” (1 Corinthians 12:7)

And when we face trials, God is not off on some ethereal golf course. He tells us that, “The LORD is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.” (Psalm 34:18)

Our God says that He will personally see us through this life. “He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 1:6)

Our God craves to show His love to His children so much that He says to us, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” (Matthew 11:28)

He is so personal that He sent His only Son to come and walk among us, talk to us, heal us and die for us.

He is so personal that we cannot accept Christ on behalf of someone else and no one else can accept Him for us. Jesus says, “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.” (Revelation 3:20) We must each make the decision for ourselves to believe in Jesus Christ and allow Him into our lives.

And He is so personal that the moment that someone repents of their sins and believes on the Lord Jesus Christ, He knows it and immediately the Holy Spirit comes, not just to be with us or upon us, but to live within us! Isn’t that amazing? He lives within the very heart of our being, knowing us like no other person ever can, knowing us better than we even know ourselves. He even goes so far as to promise that He will never leave us.

Each of us has our own unique situations and personal trials, and I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to just muddle through them. I want God to use them in my life to grow me up in Christ Jesus. I want to live victoriously in Christ no matter the circumstances. I want to include Him in every situation that comes along. I want to hear His voice leading me and encouraging me and I want to be able to take every concern to Him. I want to worship Him in spirit and in truth. I want the strength and wisdom and joy of having a personal, intimate, loving relationship with the Lord as we journey through this crazy life together.