Inspirations from the Funny Farm

Isaiah 26:3 You will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast, because they trust in you.

John 16:33  “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

Isaiah 54:10 Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken nor my covenant of peace be removed,” says the LORD, who has compassion on you.

Have you ever watched the movie, “The Perfect Storm?” When I watched it the first time, I didn’t know that it was based on a true story, nor did I know that the fishing vessel, Andrea Gail, was going to be lost along with all of the people on the boat. I was sitting on the edge of my seat waiting for the rescue because, well, we all know after the perfect storm, there has to be a perfect rescue. It didn’t happen. I really thought that the movie was spectacular, but I hated the ending. Of course, it was based on real life so they couldn’t save the crew in the end. It left me aching for their rescue that never came.

I look around at 2020. Oh, I’ve read the jokes and the memes online. People are getting ready to start using the term “2020” as a curse word. It’s been a rough year. If we compared it to years in the past, I bet we could almost say that this year has been the “perfect storm year”. I bet someone is going to make a movie about 2020. It’ll look like fictional movie, but those of us that are walking through 2020 know that this year ain’t no joke! It feels like someone has brought a fiction book to life, and the characters (you and I) are continuing to muddle through as we await our rescue. I have great news for you, Peeps! There is a rescuer coming. I don’t know when or where or how long He is going to tarry, but He said He would come back and He has never broken a promise so we can take that to the bank.

In the midst of all of the trials that we have endured in 2020 and the greater trials that appear to be coming our way, we don’t have to merely live in the storm in a sea of fear, doubt, and worry. That is the enemy talking, and he is out to steal our joy. Isaiah 26:3 is a wonderful promise that was given to Israel during the darkest period in history, and it is a promise that we need to cling to today. How do we obtain perfect peace? We must keep our minds steadfast and trust in God. That sounds easy enough, huh?

What is perfect peace? It is a condition of the heart in which we experience freedom from disturbance of the soul. We have perfect harmony within our beings. We all crave it, but how do we reach a state of perfect peace within? First, we need Jesus Christ. He is the channel through whom God’s peace flows into our souls. Only Christians possess this type of peace. Jesus shed His blood on the cross to make peace for us. (Colossians 1:20). But wait—there’s more! When Jesus ascended to heaven to prepare our permanent home, He didn’t leave us all alone and take our peace away. He left the Holy Spirit, our Comforter, who floods our souls and fills our inner being filling our minds and hearts with peace. We also can find peace in the Word. I can’t count the times in life that I have felt distraught, worn down, and had no idea which way to turn, and the Holy Spirit nudged me to turn to the pages of God’s word and peace was found again and again.

Oh friends, we can find the perfect peace we are yearning for. God will keep us in perfect peace if our minds are steadfast and we trust in Him. Steadfast is a head word. We have to remain firmly rooted in God, immovable, and not subject to change our minds. Trust is a heart word. It denotes confidence, faith, and belief in God and His promises. We have to remain steadfast and stubborn in our faith and not be moved, and we must trust fully with our hearts knowing with confidence that God is in control. God will give us that perfect peace which we long for if we remain in Him. Don’t let 2020 shake you up. Don’t let the enemy fill you with doubt and fear. “Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken nor my covenant of peace be removed,” says the LORD, who has compassion on you.” God was prepared for 2020 before this year even began, and we’ve already been rescued. The crazy tragedies and chaos of 2020 didn’t shake Him up. God knew what was going to happen even before those things came to fruition, and He already knows how things will end up. We needn’t worry about the ending. The victory has already been won! His love is unfailing, and He will not remove his covenant of peace for those who love Him. May your day be filled with the perfect peace of our Lord and Savior today!

Psalm 139:14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.

John 1:12 Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—

Who am I? Why am I here? Those questions have been asked by the masses for years. I am not who the world says I am. I am who GOD says I am, and the answers to the questions are found right there in black and white (and sometimes red) in the instruction manual for life: The Holy Bible. You are not the color of your skin. You are not the product of a broken home. You are not the ugliest one or the prettiest one in the room. You are not the expensive clothes nor the rags that you may be wearing. You are oh so much more. Get your Bibles ready, Peeps. We are fixing to go for a ride through the manual!

First and foremost, I am a child of God. John 1:12 confirms this. All who received Him and believed in His name have the right to become children of God. I am God’s kid! He’s my heavenly Daddy! I have an absolutely awesome earthly daddy, and I wouldn’t trade him for anything, but isn’t it grand to know that we are God’s kids. The Creator of the universe, God Almighty, Maker of the heavens and the earth, is my Daddy! If that doesn’t get you excited, you better check your pulse!

Turn to Romans 8:17. This one will blow you away. Because I am God’s kid, I am a fellow heir with Christ! Say what? Yep. It’s right there in Romans 8:17. “Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.” I’m a co-heir with Christ for the entire kingdom of God. So it doesn’t really matter that I don’t have the nicest house or car or clothes or whatever, I’m an heir to the kingdom of God! This place is only my temporary home. Jesus is preparing my heavenly digs right now. It’s pretty cool being the kid of God, huh?

Now, flip over to John 15:15. Jesus tells us here that we are His friends. Peeps, I have some pretty terrific friends, some longer than others and truer than others, but all in all, I have some great friends in my corner. I have friends that I can talk to when I’m up, when I’m down, and anytime in between, and I’m so grateful for the people God has placed in my life. But y’all, we have an even better friend than our bestest friend! We have a friend in Jesus. He is the truest friend we will ever know. He died for us. He suffered for us. He rose again for us. You are never alone in this lonely world, my friend, because there is one friend who never leaves, and He is available 24/7. He is my Friend.

I know that I’m skipping around the manual a bit, but bear with me. There’s so much good stuff in the Book, I’m trying to share a bit of it this morning. Next, I want you to read Ephesians 2:10. This scripture assures us that God doesn’t make junk. We are God’s handiwork. He created us to do good works, and in fact he predestined us to do so. God created me to do what He wants me to do, and therefore, He equipped me with the ability to carry out those tasks. If I follow His lead, I can accomplish anything! Psalm 139:14 reminds us that we are fearfully and wonderfully made. How awesome is it that the Creator of the universe thought enough about me to knit me together in my mother’s womb to be the person that He wanted me to be. He designed me specifically for His good works, and though I feel flawed in numerous ways, I know that I’m not junk! I’m God’s handiwork!

I don’t have to walk through this crazy life under my own power. Nope! I have direct access to my heavenly Daddy, and I can go to Him with boldness and confidence. “In him and through faith in him we may approach God with freedom and confidence.” Ephesians 3:12 Think about that for a moment, and I bet you will be in awe. There are a lot of powerful people in this world, and we know who they are, but we don’t really have access to them. There are presidents and governors, prime ministers, and kings throughout the world. We know their power and authority, but we don’t know them. How great is it that we know the Creator of the universe, and we have a direct all access line to Him 24 hours a day 7 days a week? This is reaffirmed in Hebrews 4:16. We can confidently approach the throne of God everyday, all day long.

Finally, I know that I am not condemned by God. Oh, yes, man may condemn us. We may suffer long and hard as we walk through this temporary land, but I have a hope and a future with Christ in my permanent dwelling place. I have been set free from the law of sin and death. I have been promised eternal life. Romans 8:1-2 shares this truth. “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death.” This life we are walking through now can be aggravating and stressful to say the least, but it is not the end of the story. We may feel beaten at the end of each day, but don’t forget that our victory has already been won. We have an eternal home waiting for us with our heavenly Daddy!

I’m going to close now, although I found hundreds more scripture that tell me who I am in Christ. If you aren’t sure of your identity, I challenge you to read the instruction manual. I bet you will find out who you really are. I know for sure that I am a child of God, and I pray that if you don’t know Him, you go and meet Him today!

I John 5:14-15 This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him.

John 15:7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.

I Thessalonians 5:16-18 Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

Hebrews 4:16 Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.

Let us pray! We’ve all heard that expression many times in our lives. It’s time to eat. Let us pray. It’s time to begin church service. Let us pray. It’s time to end church service. Let us pray. I’m going through a rough patch. Let us pray. A massive hurricane just made landfall, the economy is struggling, the presidential race is crazier than a rat race, people are rioting, people are sick and dying, people have been in accidents….let us pray.

We say the words, but do we follow through? Are we approaching the throne of God’s grace confidently knowing that He will hear our prayers? Do we really go to Him in prayer, or are we just saying the words “let us pray?” I don’t know about you, but I know for me personally God’s ears probably have blisters on them from all the pulling on His ears that I do, and I still feel that I am not praying enough. There is so much power in prayer.

Think about the power of a prayer. When we go to God in prayer, petitioning Him for His help, whatever we ask will be done if it is within the will of God. We merely need to have faith and confidence in Almighty God to accomplish what we know He can. One thing that we can rest assured in is the fact that God hears our prayers. He hears us when we speak. We see miracles that can only be attributed to answered prayers. We have seen cancers cured, accident victims healed, marriages strengthened, and the list goes on and on. But sometimes, our prayers don’t seem to get answered, and we struggle with this. We wonder if some prayers are better than others. Are some people better at praying? Do some people have a better connection with the Creator? Why isn’t God listening to me?

God hears our prayers…all of our prayers, and He answers them. The answers, however, are not always apparent. Sometimes, He answers our prayers in increments, bit by bit. He may resolve an issue gradually. Sometimes, He grants a miraculous healing, opens a door of opportunity, or the one I like best, gives us a sense of complete peace that truly transcends all understanding. Other times, He may not give the answer we are desiring because the desires of our heart are not the desires of His heart. Did you ever think about that? John 15:7 reminds us of this, “If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.” We have to make sure that our request is within the will of God and that we are remaining in Him. And then there are the times that He doesn’t answer our requests the way we want Him to answer because He is using the situation to grow us or grow others in a relationship with Him. The situation we are enduring may be what we need to endure in order for us to learn to lean on Christ and recognize his sovereignty and power. Only God truly knows.

One thing that I do know for sure, however, is that there is POWER in prayer, and we have direct access to that mighty power! Isn’t that the best news you’ve heard all day. If we have accepted Christ as our Lord and Savior, we have the Holy Spirit within us. We have the power of the living God within us guiding and directing our paths. Jesus died for our sins and was resurrected so that we may be made right before God, and He is the intercessor for us. We have a direct line to the Almighty! Therefore, if we go to our Father with pure hearts and ask that His will be done in any and every situation, I can guarantee that His will will be done. His will, not mine.

When you wake up in the middle of the night with someone on your mind, even if it’s someone you really don’t like, take them to the feet of Jesus. Pray for that person. It’s very likely that the Holy Spirit woke you up at just that time to intercede for that person in prayer. If someone asks you to pray for them, pray. Pray right then and there. Don’t say you are going to pray for them, and then don’t do it. Pray. I heard on the radio yesterday that because of the pandemic, possibly 20% of the churches in this country will close. 20%! Pray for our churches, our pastors, our church leaders and workers. They’ve never been through a pandemic before. They need our prayers. We want the rioting and violence to stop. Pray. We want the government to be lead by leaders who will heed to the will of God. Pray for our country, our government leaders, and the upcoming election. We want the lost to be saved. By all means, pray for the lost too. We need to be praying now more than ever.

Prayer isn’t just for meal time, bedtime, and church time. We are to rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. Pray continually. That’s what the Word of God says. We are to pray continually. If we join together and pray fervently and earnestly and continually, we could move mountains. We could see changes that we didn’t dream were possible. We only need to seek God’s will and pray. Let us pray! Will you pray with me today?

Romans 10:14 How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?

Matthew 28:19-20 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.

Matthew 5:13-15 “You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot. “You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house.

Are you a secret service Christian? I’m not talking about a missionary who is living and working in a country were Christians are persecuted for sharing the word of God and have to share the gospel cautiously. I’m talking about how we serve the Lord right here at home. I was listening to a sermon on my drive home last night, and the preacher used the phrase “secret service Christian,” and it got me to thinking. When I was young in my walk with Christ, I wasn’t nearly as vocal about my faith as I am now. I could give you a list of numerous reasons, or rather excuses, why I didn’t share my faith. I was very shy. I was afraid of controversy. I was secure in knowing where my final destination would be, and I thought that was enough. I had accepted Christ as my Savior, and I didn’t need to share Him. As I grew in my faith, I realized that was not enough. I was being extremely selfish. I had the knowledge of the BEST news in the world, and I was keeping it all to myself. I was being a secret service Christian. I was serving God in a very secret way. I was so secretive, I was keeping things just between Him and I. Boy oh boy, I was really missing out on the big picture. I really wasn’t serving anyone but myself.

God didn’t design us to merely come to Christ. He designed us to glorify Him. He wants a relationship with us and with others. He desires for us to share the gospel with the world. Paul reminds us of this In Romans 10:14. How can one believe if they have never heard, and how will they hear if no one shares the Word? We are commanded to go and make disciples of all nations. We are charged with the duty of sharing Christ with others. We can’t keep Him all to ourselves.

Jesus says that we are the salt and the light. In Biblical times, salt was used as a preservative. They didn’t have refrigerators or freezers. Salt was applied to foods to preserve the foods for future use. Jesus tells that we are to be the salt, but if the salt loses it saltiness, it is no longer good. That sounds strange to us because salt is salt. It doesn’t lose its saltiness. What did Jesus mean that salt could lose its saltiness? Salt wasn’t exactly the same compound that it is now. It wasn’t pure sodium chloride. It was a weakened form. If a rain poured over the salt, it diluted the crystals, and then the salt literally was no longer salty. It was of no use. It lost its preservative value and also its flavor. Salt that doesn’t preserve and is tasteless is of no use. If we’ve lost our saltiness, we are of no use to Christ. Can we say ouch? If we aren’t actively working to preserve others by sharing the gospel and bring in the flavor of Christ to our conversations, we are not being the people that Christ called us to be. We serve Christ by being salty. Are you a salty, showing others how to preserve everlasting life and adding flavor to the lives of those you come in contact with, or have you lost your saltiness?

Jesus also calls us the light of the world. We know that Jesus is the true light, but as Christians and followers of Christ, we are to reflect Christ. Just as the moon reflects the sun, we are to reflect the Son. We should be reflecting Christ in the way that we are living, speaking, and loving on the world around us. Many people will never step a foot into a church building. Many will not openly ask you to tell them about Christ, but we should be reflecting Christ so brightly that everyone can see Him in us. The Holy Spirit resides within each and every Christian. The light within us should be shining so vibrantly that we couldn’t put it out if we wanted to. When we realize that the light of Jesus within us is the only Jesus some people will ever see, we should glow brighter than ever. We serve Christ by being a reflection of Him. Do others see Christ in you? Are you reflecting the Son, or are you getting burned by the sin that surrounds us?

I know it’s hard to share your faith. It’s scary, but Peeps, we need to share our faith like lives depend on it, because quite frankly, they do! We can’t be happy being secret service Christians. We must be full service Christians. Be the salt and the light. Share the Good News. Don’t be selfish and keep Jesus all to yourself. Everybody needs to know Him!

Psalm 139: 23-24 Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.

Proverbs 16:18 Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall.

Colossians 4:2-6 Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful. And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains. Pray that I may proclaim it clearly, as I should. Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.

I have written about the importance of prayer several times, and here I sit this morning with coffee in hand and the computer screen in front of me and prayer is the word that comes to mind again today. Our pastor preached out of Colossians 4 yesterday, and we were reminded once again of the importance of fervent prayer. We have to start fervently prayer for this country of ours, or I fear that we are going to fall.

We’ve all heard that history repeats itself, and I’ve often found that to be true. However, if we learn from our past mistakes and glean truth from those mistakes, we can perhaps keep from doing the same wrong things over and over. The Bible presents us with many valuable lessons of past mistakes made by humans in history. Oh, if only we could learn from others. David was a remarkable man. He wasn’t perfect. He made his share of mistakes. We are often reminded of that incident with Bathsheba. No, he wasn’t perfect, but he loved the Lord with great passion, and he served him well. Yet, while he was king of Israel, he found himself in the middle of a very bad situation. His kingdom was in an uproar. It was a true mess. The slaves hated their masters, and the masters hated their slaves. Everyone was blaming the government for all of the problems and unrest, and in turn, the government was blaming the people. Every man thought that he individually was perfect. There was sinful pride at every corner. His country was in a terrible state. (Hmmm…that sounds vaguely familiar.)

King David recognized that his country was on a slippery slope, and that if this sinful pride continued to increase, the great nation of Israel was going to collapse spiritually. He recognized how terrible things had become, and he did the only thing that he could do. He turned to God. He fell to his knees and brought his concerns to the Almighty. He came before the Father in humility, and said, “Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.” He knew that God knew his heart, and he humbly opened his heart completely to God. He asked God to search his heart and see if there was anything offensive in him. He gave God complete authority over his heart, his whole heart. he knew that he had to be right before God as he went into the prayer war room.

Look around, Peeps. History is repeating itself. We don’t have slaves anymore, thank goodness, but boy oh boy do we have people hating people. Evil is now considered good, and good is evil. If someone has skin that is a different color than our own, we should hate them according to society. I don’t support the Black Lives Matter movement because I don’t support violence. Violence results in more violence, and problems can not be solved with violence. I support that black lives matter, and I believe they matter just as much as white lives matter. I also believe that police officer lives matter. For you see, God created the white man, the black man, the red man, and the yellow man. He also put the desire in the heart of our men and women in blue to protect and serve. God doesn’t love one color or one heart more than any other, and the scripture tells us that we are to “love our neighbor as ourselves.” In fact, Jesus said that this is the second greatest commandment. As a country, we are failing miserably at following this one.

We’ve accepted killing of unborn babies all the way up to the time of delivery as okay. We’ve accepted same sex marriages, and now we are being told that pedophilia is an acceptable way of life. If the media feeds us some racially biased news feed, we don’t even ask for the facts. We merely “get mad and get even.” We don’t look for peaceful solutions. Oh, protests may begin peacefully, but more often than not, they turn violent. And it seems that as a country, we think that if things don’t go the way that we want them too, then we have the right to be violent, burn other people’s businesses down, beat people in the streets, scream profanities, and roar as loud as we can roar.

What happened to “One Nation Under God?” What happened to this country that was found on the principle of freedom of religion. What happened to us? We could spend an eternity answering those questions, but the number one answer has to be “we turned our backs on God.” We have taken God out of our schools. We have removed God out of our government. We have blocked God out of our minds. We closed the door and threw away the key. How do we win our country back? How do we turn away from all of this evil? The only answer I can come up with is fervent prayer.

We must ask God to search our hearts, and ask that he remove any unclean thing that is keeping us from a relationship with him. Then, we must unite together in fervent, earnest prayer and ask our heavenly Father to forgive our nation and plead with Him to turn us away from this evil and turn our hearts back to Him. We must be united…united in Christ. United we stand, but divided we fall. We are a divided nation. There is no doubt about it. There is so much civil unrest that we are likely headed into another civil war. Divided we will fall. We are falling so fast, but we haven’t hit the ground yet. We must unite together in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. We need hit the ground on our knees and cry out for help. Let’s start praying and never stop. Prayer is the greatest weapon we have right now, and it’s time to pull out the big guns! Let’s pray fervently and earnestly and without ceasing!

Ecclesiates 5:1-2 Guard your steps when you go to the house of God. Go near to listen rather than to offer the sacrifice of fools, who do not know that they do wrong. Do not be quick with your mouth,  do not be hasty in your heart to utter anything before God. God is in heaven and you are on earth, so let your words be few.

Psalm 100:4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name.

Last week, my husband and I had a conversation with a few friends about how worship services have changed. Since the COVID pandemic, everything has changed. We have had to have on-line worship at home, and then we moved to drive-in worship in the church parking lot tuning to a radio station, and finally, back into the building. Services are still limited, and caution is being taken, but things are still quite different. Some haven’t been able to return yet due to being high risk or having family members with health concerns. Others haven’t returned yet due to other reasons. Some have returned, and are content to just be in the house of the Lord. But some have excitedly returned ready for their journey to meet the Lord in His church.

Getting ready for worship can be compared to getting ready for a journey. When we are preparing for a trip, we pack our bags, we set our destination, and we begin the journey. Some of the travelers with you are giggly and happy, some are looking out the window bored to death, one or two may be looking at their phones, and many are looking at their watches and asking “are we there yet?” I thought about all of the things I’ve seen while traveling whether it be a plane trip with a group of strangers or a long road trip with my beloved family, and I can tell you, I’ve witnessed all of the above. Sadly, I can say that I’ve seen the same things during our worship services as well.

Don’t get me wrong, Peeps. I’m talking to myself too. I’m definitely not perfect, and I’ve been guilty of all of the things I listed above while attending worship. The reason I’m sharing this today is because I want to make sure that while I’m on my journey, I’m a little bit better prepared for the destination. For you see, when we attend worship, our destination is to meet God. We should be journeying to meet our Almighty Father, and not simply enduring the worship service.

Sunday mornings are tough. I wrote a chapter called “Sunday mornings ain’t easy round here” for my last book. Trust me, I know. There is so much to do before leaving the house on Sunday mornings from cooking to cleaning to getting children dressed, finding lost shoes, battling the evil forces that are trying to keep up home, and so much more. Sometimes just arriving in the parking lot feels like we’ve accomplished what we have set out to do. But that is not it, Peeps. We can’t just keep arriving, sitting through the worship service, and then leaving unchanged. We go to church to worship our Lord and Savior and spend a little blessed time with Him in His presence with other believers and even some non-believers.

We go to church to worship. How do we get our minds and hearts ready when we already have so much other stuff on our minds taking our focus away from true worship? We have to prepare for the journey. We first have to get ready to meet God. Solomon tells us in Ecclesiastes to guard our steps when we go into the house of the Lord. When we enter the physical building or even the spiritual presence of our Lord, we must be reverent and respectful. Remember Moses and the burning bush? He took his sandals off because he was standing on holy ground. He had complete respect and reverence of that place because he was in the presence of God. We also have to pray. We must pray for God to open our hearts to receive His word, and then the important part, we have to really listen to hear what He is telling us. We must humble ourselves before God, and recognize his sovereignty. We need to remember what He did on the cross for each of us. We must remember the great love that our Lord has for us. Next, is the fun part. We get to get our praise on! I love singing praise songs, hearing praise songs, and enjoying praise and worship time with our church family. I can’t be still. I move a bit here and there wiggling with the music. I get so excited singing praises to our Savior. When the praise songs end, true worship should begin. As the pastor leads in scripture reading and preaches the word, our hearts should be fully prepared to receive the message. Our journey is really beginning now. We journey through the word of God. We fill our spiritual bellies. We get fed in the Spirit, and oh how we hunger for the food of the Spirit. Finally, we leave that place or worship, refreshed, renewed, and ready to share what we’ve learned with others.

Worship service can either be a boring trip to church and home, or it can be a marvelous journey. We can muddle through, or we can marvel at the wonders as we travel on our great journey to our destination to have an up close and personal meeting with Christ. So what do you say, Peeps? Are you going on a mundane journey of same old same, or are you preparing for awesomeness this morning? I’m not planning to just have a nice trip. I’m getting ready for an AWESOME ride! Happy Sunday!

Isaiah 14:27 For the Lord Almighty has purposed, and who can thwart him? His hand is stretched out, and who can turn it back?

Romans 8:38-39 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

John 10:28 I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand.

This week has been a doozy. Wait a minute…let me re-phrase that…this YEAR has been a doozy. Here in deep south, we were presented with the threat of not one, but TWO hurricanes coming ashore in the same week. The news teams were stating the possibility of the two storms joining forces and becoming a super hurricane. Fortunately, that did not happen. The first storm, Marco, lost force prior to coming ashore, and he ended up being mostly a rain event. Praise God! Laura didn’t play nice, however. She came ashore just south of Lake Charles, LA as the strongest hurricane in history to hit Louisiana with wind speeds of 150 mph. She wreaked major damage, and continued with hurricane speed winds all the way into Arkansas. I don’t think I’ve ever heard of this happening in my lifetime. My heart is aching for the people of western Louisiana and eastern Texas. Fourteen lives were lost, buildings were destroyed, and they are reporting that electricity may not be restored for 2 months. Yep, that old girl did not play nice at all. My heart is anguished for those that were affected by this terrible storm, and I have been praying earnestly for them.

Whenever a hurricane makes landfall, we all have flashbacks of storms that we have been through in our lives. Our parents vividly remember Camille, and they learned the importance of preparing for a hurricane because Camille did a real number on the Mississippi. I was almost three when she arrived, so my memories of Camille are derived from stories I’ve been told and photos that I’ve seen. I don’t really remember the actual storm. But a mean old nasty girl named Katrina showed up 15 years ago, and she taught this generation how to prepare for a hurricane. She was a category 5 in the Gulf, but reduced her wind speeds to a category 3 before making landfall. There was total devastation. 1, 833 lives were lost to that storm, and she caused an estimated 125 billion dollars in damage. We were without electricity for 3 weeks. The destruction was massive. I had never seen anything like it. After that horrendous storm, we don’t play anymore. If the meteorologist says there is a storm in the Gulf, we get busy preparing and praying.

How does one prepare for the storms in life? I can tell you that for a hurricane, we make sure that anything that can be blown away is picked up and put away, bottled water is purchased, canned goods and bread are stocked up, and propane tanks are filled. But does this really offer us the protection we are longing for? No, this is just us trying to keep the clean up manageable and making sure that we can eat after it is all said and done. The best protection from the storm is making sure that we are in a safe place. In 2012, Isaac passed through. He was mostly a rain event, and thankfully didn’t cause much trouble, but my 13 year old son slept on the couch that night rather than upstairs. I awoke the next morning to see his “hurricane preparedness kit” on the coffee table next to him. It was a hymnal, a Bible, a flashlight, and an air soft pistol. I’m not sure how the air soft pistol played a role in his plans, but I think he had the right idea for the rest of his kit. The safest place to be is in the arms of Christ!

The only way that we can prepare, endure and recover from the storms in life is having a relationship with the One that saves us. If we are saved through faith in Christ Jesus, we can endure any storm or challenge that we are facing. We can know and trust that “neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord,” and nothing can snatch us out of His hands. We are safe in the hands of Christ. Oh, I’m not saying that the storms will not come. They will come, but together we can face those storms safely in the arms of Christ. Psalm 91:1-2 reminds us “Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.”

Christs is our refuge and our fortress. No matter how big your mountain looks today, just remember that our Savior is bigger. No matter how tough the problem seems, remember that our God is the toughest. There is no mountain too high, no ocean too deep, and no problem too big for our God. We can only feel truly safe and secure in the presence of the Almighty. Whatever challenge or storm you are facing today, put on the full armor of God. Pray. Stay in His Word. Talk to Him. Trust Him. You are safe in the arms of Christ!

Please remember our friends in Louisiana and Texas who are just beginning to pick up the pieces after this devastating storm. Pray for God’s strength and mercy and grace. Pray for the families who lost loved ones, the line men trying to restore power, and all of those affected in any way by Laura. They need our help and our prayers right now! Keep praying!

2 Corinthians 6:16 What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: “I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people.”

I Corinthians 3:16 Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in your midst?

Romans 12:1-2 Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

I was looking at some old memories and came across a video of my daughter singing, “Sanctuary”. It is one of the most precious videos that I have of her. I won’t share it here because she would probably not like that, but I think it’s awesome. She was only nine years old and had just finished taking a bath in our big old jacuzzi tub. I was going about my normal busyness of preparing to close the chapter on another day when I heard this sweet little melodious song coming from my bathroom. My daughter has a beautiful singing voice that is a gift she received from God, and not from me. I tend to make a happy racket rather than a joyful noise, but that doesn’t stop me from making noise! However, the reason she doesn’t like this particular video is because she had found her “princess voice” at that time. As a mom, I didn’t care if she couldn’t care a tune in a bucket, if she sang like a princess, or had the most beautiful voice ever heard, I thought her singing was fantastic! It wasn’t how she was singing, but rather what she was singing that made me so happy. (Side note: she grew into that princess voice, and now she sings like an angel.)

The words to the song “Sanctuary” remind us of who we are to be as Christians. “Lord, prepare me to be a sanctuary, pure and holy, tried and true. With thanksgiving, I’ll be a living
sanctuary for You. It is you, Lord who came to save the heart and soul of every man. It is you Lord who knows my weakness, who gives me strength, with thine own hand. Lead me on Lord from temptation, purify me from within. Fill my heart with You Holy Spirit. Take away all my sin. Lord prepare me to be a sanctuary, pure and holy, tried and true. With thanksgiving I’ll be a living sanctuary for you.”

What does it mean to be a living sanctuary for God? On Sunday mornings, we get all gussied up and go to church to sing songs of praise, and we worship our heavenly Father. I get excited about going to church, and I hope that you do too. I love the praise and worship music. I can’t help but wiggle around a bit while singing. Praising God excites me. I may sit on the back pew at church, but I am not one of the “frozen chosen”. The praise and worship music gets us geared up for the Word of God, and helps us to prepare our hearts and our minds to receive the Word. I listen intently while the pastor preaches, and I take notes in my Bible and on the bulletin. Sunday morning service is a great time for refueling the heart of a Christian as we prepare to take on another week, but that’s not it. That’s not being a living sanctuary. That’s part of it, but that’s not the whole enchilada.

Paul tells us in Ephesians 5:19-20 to “be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.” When he gave us these words, he didn’t say for us to sing hymns and songs only on Sunday mornings. He didn’t say make music in your heart only when you gather together in the church building. He didn’t say give thanks to God the Father only while you are dressed up pretty and attending church services. Notice the last part of his statement: “always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.” ALWAYS!

Paul said we are supposed to do these things always! Some of us can’t even seem to get excited for Sunday morning worship so how in the world can you get excited always? Well, Peeps, that’s where the living sanctuary comes in. We can’t just live in Christ in the sanctuary of our church buildings. For goodness sake, we all know that God is all knowing, everywhere, and all powerful. Why in the world would we think that we are to only worship Him while we are in a building sanctuary? He didn’t create us to praise Him once or twice or maybe even three times a week on a good week. He created us to glorify Him, and in order to do so, we have to actively be a living sanctuary for Him. We can’t just keep talking the talk. We can’t just show up for appearances, We can’t be the “frozen chosen”.

We become disgruntled and disheartened with the state of affairs of our country, but we need not wallow in the muck and mire of it. If we want things to change, we must first change ourselves. We must first truly become living sanctuaries for God, and begin living for Him, not ourselves. We can’t just keep showing up. We must started showing out, and by this I mean showing outwardly who resides within us: Christ! We must start worshiping and praising on a whole new level. Sunday worship is awesome, and I’m so grateful that I live in a free country which allows corporate worship. Corporate worship is a wonderful part of who we are as Christians. Hebrews 10:24-25 reminds us of what we need to do. “And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.” Don’t give up on meeting together, but we must encourage one another. Today, I am encouraging you to be a living sanctuary for Christ. Your body is the temple where the Holy Spirit of Christ resides. YOU are carrying Him around with you all day long. Are you having “church” all day, always, or are you just another pretty temple? Be a living sanctuary for God!

Ephesians 3:16-19 I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

Proverbs 23:26 My son, give me your heart and let your eyes delight in my ways.

Philippians 4:7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

As a family nurse practitioner, I listen to a lot of hearts every day in the clinic. It doesn’t matter to me if the person is there with a complaint of a sprained finger or a simple case of sniffles, I am going to put a stethoscope to the chest. I’ve caught some abnormal rhythms in the past and diagnosed new murmurs. The heart has always fascinated me. Early on in my career, it was my favorite organ to study. I loved teaching the pathophysiology of the heart and teaching others to read EKGs and cardiac rhythm strips. I love the design: electrical impulses and muscular contraction working together to produce a regular rhythm and peak cardiac output. God really put a lot of thought into that design.

About 10 years ago, a little four year old boy was sitting on my exam table. He looked a little frightened, but he soon made my heart so very happy. I placed my stethoscope on his chest, and I listened as I have done thousands of times before, but this time was different. When I removed my stethoscope, he looked at me with those big brown eyes and asked, “Do you hear Jesus in there?” Y’all, he stopped me in my tracks. No one had ever asked me that before in all my years of practice, but I knew the answer to his question was a definite yes. I said, “Well yes, as a matter of fact, I do.” He began grinning from ear to ear, and I couldn’t help but smile the rest of the day as well. So today, I ask you my friends, is Jesus in your heart?

There are many days in this crazy, chaotic life that we feel overwhelmed and tired at the end of the day. We may even feel alone, and sometimes we wonder if Jesus is there. As a Christian and child of God, we have asked Jesus into our hearts to be the ruler and king of our hearts, but sometimes we feel empty, and we have to ask, “Jesus are you still there?” I’ve heard the answer loud and clear oh so many times. Jesus never leaves us, but sometimes we keep him out. Jesus wants to be the Lord of our hearts…our whole hearts, not just little rooms that we decide to let Him in, However, we tend to close the doors on the places that we don’t won’t Jesus to see. We put “Do Not Enter” signs on certain rooms that we think we can handle ourselves. Oh, you know those rooms: rooms of hurt, sorrow, confusion, anger, bitterness, or betrayal, or perhaps it’s that one little bitty sin problem that we just can’t let go of. We tend to close those doors up, but in reality those things are separating us from a relationship with Jesus. Keeping those doors closed keeps Jesus at a distance. It is not He that is distanced from us. We are the ones who are locking the doors and keeping Him out.

Jesus wants to be the Lord of our whole heart, not just the parts that we want to let Him control. Jesus wants to go into those rooms of hurt and sorrow and fill them with His love and comfort. He wants to go into that ugly room of past transgressions, and forgive our sins and wipe the slate clean. He wants to take away the hurt, the bitterness, and the anger. He wants to help us overcome that little bitty sin problem and the great big ones too. He truly wants to be the Lord of our whole being. Why do we keep closing and locking those doors?

The Holy Spirit of Jesus can and will dwell in your hearts if you will only allow Him to reside there. Then you will be rooted and established in love and have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness. Even a four year old knows that Jesus needs to fill our hearts!

2 Corinthians 5:1 For we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.

Philippians 3:20 But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.

John 18:36 Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from the world.”

James 2:5 Listen, my beloved brothers, has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which he has promised to those who love him?

My heart has been heavy for the last couple of weeks with concern about a precious lady’s health. She has been my patient for more than twenty years, but she is much more than just a patient. I consider her to be family. I’ve held her hand as she cried through many of life’s struggles. She has lost a husband, children, and multiple siblings. They have all passed away before her. She is up in age now, her health has been deteriorating for the last few years, but last week her health took a turn for the worse. She visited the ER for one problem, but while there it was revealed that she had a much bigger problem. Metastatic cancer was found on a CT scan. This diagnosis, of course, was very unexpected. When I received the call from the ER doctor, my heart began to ache. I telephoned her and asked her to come to the clinic to see me the following day so that we could put a plan of action into place.

When she arrived, I prayed again. I had already been praying for her and asking God to give me the words to say as I explained this turn of events. I brought her into the clinic by wheelchair. She has already lost so much weight. I think I could have picked her up and carried her into the building. She doesn’t weigh much more than a child now, and she is so tiny, frail and weak. She was in terrible pain, but still managed to give me her sweet smile. We talked. I gently broke the news that the tests at the hospital showed what appeared to be metastatic cancer. We talked about doing further testing to get a clear diagnosis, and then we discussed possible treatment regimens down the road. She listened intently never shedding a tear or raising her voice in anger. She didn’t show any signs of fear. I was afraid that she didn’t understand the severity of the problem, but I was wrong. She grasped the information fully. When I finished explaining everything, she looked at me and said, “I’m an 80 year old lady. I’ve lived my life here. I probably won’t do any kind of treatment. I’m ready to go to my heavenly home. I’m ready.”

This sweet frail little lady reminded me of something I knew all too well. This old body that we are living in right now is just a tent. Our bodies are frail. We are subject to injury, disease, and death. We are going to know pain while we pass through this temporary land, but praise God, this world is not our home. We are just temporary citizens here. Although the devastating news that I was sharing overwhelmed me with grief for her, she took it in stride. For you see, her eyes are already focused on her permanent dwelling place.

One of the biggest problems in this world is that we place too much focus on our temporary home, Peeps! We want the nicest home, the fastest car, the prettiest face, the fanciest clothes, or whatever the latest trend of the week is. We focus on looking good on the outside so that the world notices us and pays attention. We spend small fortunes on keeping up appearances, but none of that really matters at all. When it is all said and done, and Jesus calls us home, NONE of that stuff will matter! What really matters is how we look on the inside before our Lord and Savior. The only thing that really matters is where we will be spending eternity. Are you going to spend eternity in the smoking section or non-smoking? Do you know for sure without a shadow of a doubt that you will be spending eternity in heaven if you lost your life today? Or will your final destiny be hell?

Life truly is but a vapor. These old bodies we are living in will fall apart. They’ll turn on us. Our hair will turn gray and fall out. Our joints will begin to swell and ache. We will develop diseases that we must try to treat. Yes, these temporary bodies will let us down sooner or later. Now, that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t take care of our bodies. I’m a nurse practitioner so I have to throw that in. Our bodies are temples in which the Holy Spirit resides. We need to keep the home of the Holy Spirit in the best shape that we possibly can, but still we can rest assured knowing that when these old bodies wear out and give out on us, the best is yet to come. If we are in Christ, the best really is yet to come: eternity in glory!

As I thought all of this through, all the sadness I have felt over the past few days regarding this very likely terminal diagnosis that will be given to this sweet lady, my tears have turned from sadness to joy. I know that when she leaves this temporary home, she will never suffer again. She will feel the arms of our Savior wrapped tightly around her welcoming her home…to her forever home. I’m so thankful that I have a reservation in heaven. I can hardly wait!