Month: February 2020

“For whatever is hidden is meant to be disclosed, and whatever is concealed is meant to be brought out into the open.” Mark 4:22 NIV

Even when you try to hide something, it always gets exposed.  Typically, the exposure comes in a way you never would have thought.  When I was a flight attendant, I found a man’s wallet in the seat when I was cleaning the cabin after landing.  I turned it into customer service, who called his home number to alert him his wallet had been found. Long story short, during the process of returning his wallet to him, he was exposed as having an affair.   He was traveling with a woman, not his wife. Customer service called his wife from the address in the wallet. When his wife found out about the wallet and his travel companion from customer service, she discovered the affair.  Secrets gets exposed in due time.

Exposure seems like the worst thing in the world, but exposure can be healthy.  My freshman year of college, I learned about bulimia; self-induced vomiting to lose weight.  I started doing this in secret. I can still feel the heaviness that secret was to carry around with me.  But I did, for over a year, until one night, I couldn’t keep it any longer. I had transferred schools and was now attending the same school as my cousin, Patrick.  I still remember the night he came over to my apartment and I confessed what I had been doing. That was the turning point for me. I got counseling that helped me deal with my issues.  I stopped throwing up, I dealt with issues from the loss of my father, and I healed. Exposure leads to healing.

Exposure leads to healing.

John tells us the truth about light and darkness: “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it” (John 1:5 NIV).  Nothing stays hidden in the dark.  The man’s affair on the airplane was revealed.  My bulimia was revealed. “Whatever is hidden is meant to be disclosed…whatever concealed…brought into the open” (Mark 4:22 NIV).  They will be revealed in God’s time, not our time.  For whatever reason, it was God’s timing for the man to be exposed to his wife.  The night I told my secret was God’s timing, not mine. God knows all of our secrets, there is nothing hidden from Him.  When the time is right, He’ll shed His light on the darkness.

Question of the Day:

What secret has God exposed in your life?

Further Reading: Leviticus 7:28-9:6 NIV, Mark 3:31-4:25 NIV, Psalm 37:12-29 NIV, Proverbs 10:5 NIV

“Lazy hands make for poverty, but diligent hands bring wealth” Proverbs 10:4 NIV

If you want to avoid poverty, you have to work.  I listened to an interview of Sam Elliott recently. He is one of my favorite actors, well known for his mustache and deep voice.  He talked about how his career started. He moved to L.A. and took any job he could get in the movie industry.  He found a low level job. He got a contract as a bit actor, doing whatever the studio wanted. Eventually his career took off.  What he emphasized was the hard work that goes into being an actor. People don’t realize how hard they work because all they see is the finished product.  Too often we idolize people, not realizing all they went through to get what they have. Everyone has to work, if they don’t, they’ll find themselves in poverty.  Poverty is more than just money.

Poverty is more than just money.

Poverty can be relational. Relationships take work; they take intentionality.  My husband and I have a great marriage. We work on our relationship everyday. On our honeymoon, we listened to a Biblically based series on marriage.  On the drive home from that week, we made our first financial budget for the month. We do daily devotionals together that help us talk about difficult subjects.  And when needed, we seek counseling to help us work through the tough stuff. We have a great marriage because we work hard at it. But if we didn’t work at it, we would be in poverty.

Relational poverty is worse than monetary poverty.  Skin Hunger is the term used for people starving for physical touch.  Some people never get hugged, they suffer from Skin Hunger.  Studies have shown, small babies that aren’t held when born are affected at a molecular level.  We need relationships in our lives. We are designed to have relationships and live in community.  And we have to work at them if we want them to be good.

We have good relationships when we prioritize them in our lives.  My relationship priorities: God, husband, family, friends. I want to be respected most by those who know me best.  Therefore, I need to be intentional in those relationships. I have to prioritize my time so I have time to invest in those relationships.  I try to love all people God places in my path, but I know I can’t be everything to everybody. That is God’s job, not mine. However, I can try to be a good wife to my husband, a good family member to my family, a good friend to my friends. When we work on our relationships, we’ll find more wealth than we ever imagined.

Question of the Day:

What relationship do you need to work on today?

Further Reading:  Leviticus 6:1-7:27 NIV, Mark 3:7-30 NIV, Psalm 37:1-11 NIV, Proverbs 10:3-4 NIV

“On hearing this, Jesus said to them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” Mark 2:17 NIV

The best doctor for you is Jesus. We all need Him as our first and foremost doctor.  I took a friend to the doctor the other day. I sat and waited for her in the car while she went in for a routine shot.  I realized, as I watched people go in and out of the hospital’s doors, how grateful I was I didn’t have to walk through them.  Good health is a blessing from above we take for granted. But even in good health, we still need Jesus. Some sins are visible on the outside, but most can’t be seen with the naked eye.  We are all sinners. We all need Jesus to heal us from our sins. Jesus is the only doctor that can heal us from what we can’t see.

What is in our heart does affect our physical health.  If we’re stressed or anxious about a situation, our body will communicate it.  We may have an upset stomach or a headache because of our worry. Often stress affects our sleep, stealing it from us, a thief in the night.  If we’re angry at someone, our bodies reveal it in the tension of its muscles. When we’re sad and grieving, our bodies are sluggish, no desire to move.  For all of these things, Jesus has an answer. His yoke is easy, His burden light.

His yoke is easy, His burden light.

Jesus has a simple answer for all our struggles: “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  For my yoke is easy and my burden is light”  (Matthew 11:28-30 NIV).  If we’re struggling with sin, take it to Jesus.  If we’re struggling with heartache, take it to Jesus.  Whatever is keeping us from enjoying life, and enjoying it to the fullest, take it to Jesus.

God sees the heart.  He already knows the help we need to heal our brokenness.  He’s just waiting for us to come to Him so He can give us rest.

Question of the Day:

What do you need God to heal you from today?

Further Reading: Leviticus 4:1-5:19 NIV, Mark 2:13-3:6 NIV, Psalm 36:1-12 NIV, Proverbs 10:1-2 NIV

“My tongue will proclaim your righteousness, your praises all day long.” Psalm 35:28 NIV

If you want to control the weather in your life, develop a lifestyle of praise.  I was listening to a conversation between Will Arnett and Dax Shepard on the Armchair Expert.  Will made a comment about being happy.  He said he’s happy because he makes his own weather.  In other words, it’s up to you how happy you are in life.  For him, he’s found happiness by focusing on the “low-hanging fruit,” as he calls it.  He’s appreciative of his kids, his wife, their good health. He’s grateful for what he has, which creates his own weather of happiness.  We can do the same thing. We create a forecast of joy by living a life of praise.

We create a forecast of joy by living a life of praise.

We can praise God for the same “low hanging” fruit that Will does.  Our families and friends, our jobs, our health are all “low hanging” fruit.  Living in America, we have access to one of the greatest health care systems in the world.  If our health suffers, we have the best help in the world at our fingertips. Some of the fruit that is higher to pick but just as valuable: the air we breathe, the food we eat, the clothes we wear.  Even higher still, God’s intricate presence in our lives, His perfect timing that intervenes at the precise moment, His desire to create us from the love He has for us, all things worthy of His praise.  

On the other hand, we can create a hurricane in our lives by trying to control it ourselves.  When we take matters in our own hands, not waiting on God, we create storms. When we strike back at someone who has harmed us, we create a storm.  When we gossip instead of praise, we start a tornado. When we lie, steal or cheat, we’re creating havoc in our lives that can erupt into a storm at any moment.   

The type of weather in your life is determined by you.  In order to have joy in our heart, we must have praise on our lips.  Paul, in his letter to the Corinthians instructed us to give thanks in all situations (1 Thess. 5:18 NIV).  He’s not saying to be thankful for bad situations.  He’s instructing us to find something within the situation to be thankful for today.  If you look hard enough, you can always find something to praise God for, even in the darkest of situations.

Corrie Ten Boom, in a concentration camp in Nazi Germany, thanked God for the fleas.  The fleas kept the guards away so the prisoners could study their Bible.  In the darkest of situations, find a flea to praise God for within it. Create your own weather today.

Question of the Day

What kind of weather do you want to create for yourself?

Further Reading:  Leviticus 1:1-3:17 NIV, Mark 1:29-2:12 NIV, Psalm 35:17-28 NIV, Proverbs 9:13-18 NIV

“ At once the Spirit sent him out into the wilderness,  and he was in the wilderness forty days, being tempted by Satan. He was with the wild animals, and angels attended him.” Mark 1:12-13 NIV

In order to overcome temptation, we must learn to live in its tension.  We must first accept temptation is a part of life in Christ. Today’s verses occur right after Jesus starts His ministry on earth.  The first thing He endures is 40 days of tempting by Satan. When we choose to follow Christ it guarantees a life of temptation. But take heart, Jesus faced every temptation we will ever face and overcame it.  Jesus knew how to live in the tension of temptation.  

Jesus knew how to live in the tension of temptation.

Two things are essential for living in the tension of temptation.  First, you have to accept that you will be tempted. Not only will you be tempted, but they will be temptations specific to you.  I’m tempted by sweets, my husband could care less. He’s tempted by tortilla chips, I am not. We all have different temptations which we are susceptible to in life.  When we accept that as fact, we begin to live in the tension of temptation. Just as an alcoholic can’t get help until he recognizes he needs help, we can’t overcome temptation until we accept we have temptations to overcome.

Second, prepare in advance your response to temptation.  Jesus knew temptation was a part of life, He was prepared for it in advance.  For every temptation Satan places before Jesus, He already has an answer. All three of the temptations, food, wealth and power, Jesus responded with scripture that was readily on His tongue (Matthew 4:1-11 NIV). We can do the same thing.  Once we accept temptation as part of life, know the ways we are tempted, we can respond like Jesus.

Paul gave wise advice about temptation.  He wrote to the Corinthians that were dealing with all kinds of temptation these encouraging words: “No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.” (1 Corinthians 10:13 NIV).  God always provides a way out of our temptations if we keep our eyes focused on Him.  That’s what Jesus did, He kept His eyes focused on His Father, who gave Him a way out.  

Accept temptation is a part of life.  Prepare in advance for whatever it is.  Keep your eyes on Jesus, you’ll be able to overcome anything.

Question of the Day:

What temptation tension are you living in today?

Further Reading: Exodus 39:1-40:38 NIV, Mark 1:1-28 NIV, Psalm 35:1-16 NIV, Proverbs 9:11-12 NIV

“Turn from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it.” Psalm 34:14 NIV

In order to seek peace, you have to pass peace on to others. Passing the peace is something that has been done in churches for centuries.  Typically, it’s a time during the service, before the sermon, when congregants greet each other. The words originally exchanged, “Peace be with you,” as people shake hands.  This is a physical way of passing the peace from one person to the next. It’s been years since I’ve attended a service where they actually “pass the peace.” Typically these days it’s not done at all, or if it is, it’s a “high five” rather than a handshake.  But passing the peace isn’t something that can only be done in church. Passing the peace is something you can do in all aspects of life. 

My husband and I pass the peace in our marriage.  We pass the peace when we put the other person ahead of our needs.  When my husband is dishing up dinner plates, he always gives me more than himself.  He’s passing peace. When I do the laundry and put away his clothes, I’m passing the peace with him.  We pass the peace by respecting each other. We pass the peace when we’re willing to agree to disagree on a subject.  Every month when we strive together to come in on budget, we are passing the peace. We are seeking peace by passing it.  Seek peace by passing peace.

Seek peace by passing peace.

Jesus sought peace everywhere He went.  Jesus sought peace when he fed the 5,000, healed the sick, loved the unlovable.  Everywhere Jesus went, he sought peace. One of my favorite passages is found in John 8:1-11 NIV.  A woman caught in adultery is brought to Jesus at the Temple where He is teaching.  They expect Him to stone her because that is the penalty for the crime. Instead Jesus sought peace.  Without saying a word, he knelt and wrote something in the sand. What He wrote no one knows for sure.  What we do know is that one by one her accusers left. Jesus quiets the crowd without saying a word. He was the Master of seeking peace.

We can live our lives like Jesus.  We can seek peace wherever we go. Jesus was the Master of Peace because He sought the Father first (Mark 1:35 NIV).  When we seek God first, we’ll become masters of peace as well.  We’ll put others needs ahead of ours. We’ll forgive our offenses and pray for our enemies.  We’ll love our neighbors as ourselves. When we do those things, passing the peace becomes a lifestyle.  Everywhere we go, like Jesus, we’ll seek peace. When we seek peace, we’ll pass peace to those around us.

Question of the Day:

How can you pass the peace today?

Further Reading: Exodus 37:1-38:31 NIV, Matthew 28:1-20 NIV, Psalm 34:11-22 NIV, Proverbs 9:9-10 NIV

“Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in him.” Psalm 34:8 NIV

The good life is found in God. You can never know if something is good or not unless you taste it.  Something may look good, but when you actually taste it, not so much. When I was in elementary school I was playing at a friend’s house.  She gave me a piece of apple pie that looked delicious, but she had added salt to it as a prank. The pie looked good, but when I bit into it unpleasantness filled my mouth.  What looked good tasted awful. In order to taste it, I had to try it. If we’re going to know how good life with God is, we have to try. We have to take a taste and see that He is good.

How do we taste the Lord?  We put His word into practice.  Opening the Bible to read it can seem like a daunting task.  Understanding what it says can seem impossible. But it’s not.  My favorite book to read is Proverbs. The practical tips for life are easy to understand and apply to life.  Others recommend the book of John as a good starting place to read. Youversion is a free Bible app that has Bible reading plans you can apply to any area of your life.  Enlist a friend to read with you. Find a way to take a taste, God will do the rest.

Find a way to take a taste, God will do the rest.

Google searches are a great way to get a specific taste of God’s word quickly.  For instance, I just googled, “scripture on forgiveness.” Immediately this appeared on my screen: “Colossians 3:13 – Bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. Matthew 6:12 – From the Lord’s Prayer – “And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.”  From these scriptures there is an immediate next step we can take to taste the good life.  We are to forgive like the Lord forgave us. How did God forgive us? Completely and unconditionally.  How are we to forgive others? Completely and unconditionally. A quick Google search gives us a next step, a way to taste the Lord.  When we taste of His goodness, we find the good life.

Whatever you’re dealing with, God has an answer.  He wants you to taste and see He is good. He wants you to have a good life in Him (John 10:10). Start small, just take a nibble, before long you’ll find yourself feasting on His goodness.  When you take a taste of God, you’ll find His peace, His provision, His presence in your life. When you have those, you truly have found a taste of the good life.

Question of the Day:

What’s one way you can take a taste of God today?

Reading: Exodus 35:10-36:38 NIV, Matthew 27:32-66 NIV, Psalm 34:1-10 NIV, Proverbs 9:7-8 NIV

 “All the people answered, “His blood is on us and on our children!” (Matthew 27:25 NIV).

If you want to know the truth, give it time. This pivotal verse describes our human state of brokenness, the reason we need Jesus.  The people were answering Pilate, who had just released a murderer instead of Jesus. He wanted to know what Jesus’ crime was. Their response, “His blood is on us and our children!” (Matt. 27:25 NIV).  The crowd put Him on the cross, an innocent man who had done nothing wrong.  We do the same thing, We condemn the innocent when we don’t know all of the facts. But in time, the truth will be revealed.

When I first moved to Virginia in the early 90’s, I was a waitress.  I had moved here to finish college. I tend to keep to myself in new circumstances until I feel comfortable.  As a result, I’m quiet and reserved, not offering any more information than necessary. I didn’t realize I was being crucified.  Months later I found out that everyone thought I had moved to Virginia because I was pregnant. Nothing could have been further from the truth, yet I had been convicted and condemned of this crime.  As time passed, the truth was revealed. The same thing happened with Jesus. As time passed, three days, the truth of His purpose was revealed to the crowd. Time can’t be stopped, truth will always be revealed.

Time can’t be stopped, truth will always be revealed.

Tell Me Who I Am is a movie currently streaming on Netflix.  The documentary covers the lives of twin brothers.  Andrew lost his memory in a motorcycle accident at the age of 18.   After being in a coma for 3 months, he awoke. The only person he felt connected to was his twin brother, Marcus.  He remembered no one else. Marcus decided to create a happier past for Andrew than what had actually happened in their lives.  As a result, Andrew never fully recovered; he always felt like there was more. And there was more, that was revealed years later.  They had been the victims of sexual abuse by their mother. Over time, the truth came out in its entirety, but it took years. When it did, true healing began for the twins. 

When the people learned the truth about Jesus, healing began.  When we learn the truth about Jesus, what He did for us, our healing begins.  As we accept His truth into our lives, then begin to apply it to them, we start to experience healing.  Time will always reveal the truth, we can’t judge until we know all of the facts. If we do, we’ll condemn the innocent.  Instead, give it time for truth to be revealed.

Question of the Day:

What truth are you waiting on time to reveal?

Further Reading: Exodus 34:1-35:9 NIV, Matthew 27:15-31 NIV, Psalm 33:12-22 NIV, Proverbs 9:1-6 NIV

“When the people saw that Moses was so long in coming down from the mountain,  they gathered around Aaron and said, “Come, make us gods who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who brought us up out of Egypt, we don’t know what has happened to him.” (Exodus 32:1 NIV).

One thing we have in common with the Israelites, we all follow other gods. Especially when we don’t feel like God is doing anything for us.  The Israelites were waiting at the bottom of the mountain where Moses was talking to God. He was gone for 40 days. Just over a month, the Israelites were giving up on God.  They’d watched Him free them from slavery, part the Red Sea and drop manna from heaven, yet they turned their backs on Him. We turn just as easily from God, probably in less time.  One recent study of 800 million people found that New Year’s Resolutions will be abandoned by Jan. 19th.  Only 19 days and people give up on their newfound ways. Staying the course means accepting the mundane. 

Staying the Course means accepting the mundane.

Following God in our daily lives is mundane.  Each morning I get up, read my Bible, and tackle my work load for the day.  Within that, I get dressed, I eat meals, I do chores. Most of the things I do in a day, I don’t remember.  They are the same things, day in and day out. There are some mornings when I read my Bible nothing jumps out at me.  There are other days when the words I find within its pages are speaking right to my heart. But each day, I do it again.  Same routine, same actions. We live in the mundane, our day-to-day lives. God teaches us in the silence of the mundane.

At this point in my life, I don’t doubt God’s presence during times of silence like I have in the past.  God is often silent in our lives as we walk through our struggles. I’ve listened to stories of people who have prayed for years, are still praying for something, and God is silent.  One of the wisest men I know summed it up well when talking about God’s silence:

“The only thing I can conclude from God’s silence, is that this is something He wants me to work through.”  Mike Cooke   

I believe He is right.  When God is silent, He wants us to work through our circumstances.  He wants us to learn to forgive as we work through the process of forgiveness.  He wants us to learn to trust in Him as we apply His principles to our life. He wants our faith to grow as we take the next step, with Him.  Even when God is silent, He is still with us. He has promised to never forsake us (Hebrews 13:5 NIV). In the mundane, God does His greatest work in us.

Question of the Day:

How has God’s silence impacted your faith?

Further Reading: Exodus 32:1-33:23 NIV, Matthew 26:69-27:14 NIV, Psalm 33:1-11 NIV, Proverbs 8:33-36

“Now then, my children, listen to me; blessed are those who keep my ways.” Proverbs 8:32 NIV

God’s ways are not our ways, His thoughts not our thoughts (Isaiah 55:8-9 NIV).  How are we to keep His ways if they are different from ours?  By doing what Jesus commanded us to do: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself,’  There is no commandment greater than these.”  (Mark 12:30-31 NIV).   God’s way is love.  If we want to keep His ways, we need to love in all circumstances.  If we love Him first, He’ll give us the love we need for others. When we are loving others, we are keeping His ways.  We will be blessed.

What does it mean to love?  Paul tells us in his letter to the Corinthians: “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.  Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.  It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres” (1 Corinthians 13:4-7 NIV).  God’s ways are not our ways, none of the things love requires comes easily to our humanness.  But with God, we can do anything.

But with God we can do anything.

When we partner with God, we can wait patiently.  We can be kind to people that are difficult to be kind too.  God will teach us how to be humble and honor others. He will help us put others first, not easily angered, keeping no record of wrongs.  God will show us the truth. His love protects us, can be trusted, is full of hope and unconditional. Because God loves us that way, when we receive His love, we can do the same for others.  We can love others because God first loved us. He went first. He sent Jesus to show us how to love (John 3:16 NIV).  Jesus is the one who gave us the greatest commandment.  Through Him we learn to love God and love others. As a result, we are blessed.

Question of the Day:

Which do you need to work on today, loving God or loving people?

Further Reading:  Exodus 30:11-31:18 NIV, Matthew 26:47-68 NIV, Psalm 32:1-11 NIV, Proverbs 8:27-32 NIV