Month June 2019

Alignment

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Garage doorPriscilla Shirer told the story of how she was trying to leave for an appointment one day and her garage door wouldn’t open. They punched every button, tried everything they could think of, but could not get the door open. Eventually, they discovered that one of the lasers had been bumped out of alignment so that it was not connecting properly. Once the laser was bumped back into place, the garage door opened. Do you ever find yourself stuck in the garage trying to get the door open?

I often have dreams where I am trying to get somewhere, but things and people keep Dreamgetting in my way, and I just can’t seem to get where I want to go. I wake up frustrated and irritable. It is often a representation of my real life. I feel stuck in the garage. The door just refuses to open. Maybe it is a case of needing realignment.

GrapesIn John 15:4 says, “4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.” To be properly aligned, we must abide in Christ. To abide in Christ is to be obedient to His Word, which means we have to take time to read and meditate on the scriptures and then apply them to our lives. In the process, God prunes away whatever keeps us from producing fruit, allowing us to grow spiritually.

If we want the door to open, we need to align ourselves with God’s Word, and then He will open the door to the path He has planned for us. The answer is simple, but it isn’t always easy.  The alignment process may only take a small bump in the right direction, or it may mean a complete overhaul.  However, the process is worth it because it brings you to where you were meant to be. No matter where you are on the spectrum, I think the words of an old hymn sum it up beautifully:

 

Trust and Obey

 

Making Waves

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Waves

Have you ever been reading something and realized you had no idea what you had just read? Or have you left church on a Sunday morning and could not recall what the topic of the pastor’s sermon was? Words have a lot of power, power to hurt or to heal, power to freeze or to motivate, but they only have power when they penetrate our spirit. It is only when God’s Word moves within us and begins to make waves that it can make an impact on the world around us.

I was recently reading an article on sound waves and the concepts of reflection, absorption, and transmission. It struck me that those 3 concepts could be applied to how we, as believers, react to the Word of God.

 

Reflection is when sound waves hit a hard object and bounces back, causing echoes. Echo or ReflectionSometimes the Word of God cannot penetrate our spirit because we have become hardened by unconfessed sin in our lives. Psalm 66:18 says, “If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me.” Sin becomes a barrier that blocks communication with God. It is times like these when we often feel our prayer are bouncing back to us unheard. The barrier works both ways, blocking our prayers as well as our ability to hear God in the way that we should. We have to be open to the Word in order for it to work in our lives.

Sound AbsorptionAbsorption is when something like a wall absorbs the sound waves. The waves go in but not all the way. Sometimes we put up walls because we are not willing to hear the words God has for us. We hear Him speaking, but we don’t want to listen. James 1:22 says “But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.” If we absorb the word, but do nothing with it, then it becomes useless.

Sound TransmissionTransmission is when sound waves penetrate through. This is when we hear what God has to say to us. When the Word penetrates our spirit and we take in the Word, it can make a difference in our lives. As in the parable of the seeds, our spirits can be the good ground where the seed takes root and produces fruit (Luke 8:1-15). We become conduits for God’s Word, living it out in our daily lives and transmitting it out into the world.

Once it goes out into the world, our part is done. It is up to God and the individuals we encounter whether the Word is reflected, absorbed, or transmitted. Our job is to keep the lines of communication open by praying and confessing our sins to God, listening to His Word through Bible study, and being obedient to what we hear. As God stirs our hearts, He make waves that spill out of our hearts and into the world around us. So, if you want to make a difference in the world, go to the source and let him start a ripple in your heart that will reverberate across the world.

The Unknown

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Unknown

I am a planner. I like to plan out things for maximum efficiency. For instance, if I know I have several errands to take care of, I will plan out what order of attack will be the most efficient based on the locations of errands in relation to home, each other, and traffic patterns (such as left-turn signals or busy roadways). I also take into consideration if I need to go to one place first, such as the bank. Then I implement my attack. I get great satisfaction in ticking off my list as I go. It makes me feel productive. What I don’t like is going into the unknown, whether it is a new grocery store or a new career. I want to know the plan and the best way to get there; however, God often has other ideas.

When I was called to serve as a short-term missionary to Seoul, South Korea, I was excited and a little nervous. There were all kinds of plans to be made, such as what to do with my car while I was gone or what to pack to take with me. I thought I had everything under control; however, there was a hiccup in the transportation plans. I wrote to the mission about my arrival, but I never received a response. I had a plane ticket and my passport, but I had no idea what would happen once I arrived at the airport, such as who, if anyone, was picking me up. The last and main leg of the journey was a 15-hour non-stop flight, and I spent 90% of that flight trying not to worry about what would happen when I got there. When I stepped through the doors of customs into the waiting area, I searched the crowd, my heart racing. At first, I only saw a mass of strangers rushing to greet other passengers, but then I spotted a group of people holding a welcome sign with my name on it and felt a wave of relief wash over me. God had provided a way even though I did not know of the plans He was making in my behalf.

When Abraham left his country in Genesis 12, he had no idea where he was going. He went by faith. When God told Noah to build a boat when it hadn’t even rained, it took faith. When the Israelites left Egypt and walked into the desert, they didn’t know where they were going either. I did not know what would happen when I got to the airport, but God did. The reason God leads us into the unknown is to build our faith and force us to trust in who He is instead of in ourselves.

We want to know the plan, but God just wants us to know Him. The goal of this life is a relationship with God, to know Him better, to trust Him. The only way to do that is to step out in faith from the known path into the unknown, to cast out into the deep away from the seeming safety of the shore, knowing that whatever He has planned for us is better than anything we can dream up.

While planning has its place, we also need to be open to following God into the unknown believing in faith that He knows what lies ahead and will be with us all the way. If we follow His lead, we will never go astray. Psalm 46:10 says “Be still, and know that I am God.” The phrase “be still” can be translated “cease striving” or “release your hold” or “relax.” God is in the driver’s seat, and He knows more than any GPS about what lies ahead, so relax and enjoy the journey. God’s got this!

The Center

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I was recently reading an explanation of the solar system and how the sun, due to its greater mass, draws the planets with its greater gravitational pull. Because of this pull, the other planets line up in orbit instead of spinning off across space. Each planet has its own orbit and has smaller objects orbiting around it, such as the moon around the Earth. Therefore, the sun holds everything together because of its power to draw all things to it.

Solar SystemThe solar system is a good metaphor for our lives. We sometimes forget that we are not the center of the universe as early scientists once believed that everything revolved around the Earth. The sun, or for the purpose of this metaphor, the Son is the center of the universe.

 

 

“He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together”

(Colossians 1:17, NAS)

The “He” in this verse is Christ. When He is in the center, everything falls into place and follows the path that was laid out for it. If we think of people as solar systems and Christ as the sun, as long as He is in the center and has the greatest pull, then all the planets or aspects of our lives, line up in orbit in their proper places. If the pull of one of the planets is greater than the sun, then everything is thrown off balance and chaos can result.

It is easy for us to be distracted by different things in the course of our lives. When people first fall in love, they sometimes forget there is anyone else in the universe. When couples have children, they often say that their child is the center of their world. While this sounds loving and romantic, the truth of the matter is that only Christ has the right to be the center of the universe, the center of our lives. If we let anything or anyone else be the central focus, then we cause an imbalance in our world and things will spin out of control.

No human being is capable of holding all things together because we are human, but Christ is God. He was here from the beginning and participated in creation. Only He is capable of holding all things together, so he is the rightful center of the universe. When we put our focus on Him, then all the other things will fall into place. Only He has the power necessary to maintain the balance.

Matthew 6:33 says, “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” When we focus on God, then all the other things in life will fall into place according to His Will, like the planets falling into orbit around the sun. We just need to take a moment and recalibrate our position in relation to the Son, and then everything else will eventually follow suit.