A new focus

Have you noticed how at an especial sports event or a performance everyone is focused only on the main court, the field or the stage, no one pays attention to what is going on around them.  Many times we do the same thing in our life, we concentrate on the big things, the main events and somehow we disregard the daily “little” things in life. The same way we may be focusing on something we have been praying for and we keep thinking that our prayers will be answered in a certain way when God does something completely unexpected and indescribably better.  We are looking one way and God is moving in the opposite direction.  We need a new way of seeing things!

“I am at war with the obvious” I love this statement made by William Eggleston, an American photographer.  The www.freedictionary.com describes obvious as easily perceived or understood, and that is what we are getting used to, things that we can comprehend quickly because there seems to be no time to ponder, contemplate or even think.  Are we too distracted, too busy, too entangled in our lives or just too lazy to go deeper?   

Eggleston believed that “by looking patiently at what others ignore or look away from, interesting things can be seen.”* I believe the key word here is patiently! 

We keep wanting to see something that we can understand.  We ask God to give us a sign, even if it is just a small one, but sometimes we get nothing, like when Elijah was praying for rain. “Elijah climbed to the top of Mount Carmel and fell to the ground and prayed.  Then he said to his servant, ‘go and look out toward the sea.’ The servant went and looked, but he returned to Elijah and said, ‘I didn’t see anything.’ Seven times Elijah told him to go and look, and seven times he went.” (1 Kings 18:42-43)  He kept praying and believing even when there was nothing to show that his prayers were being answered.  He could have doubted, but he didn’t have to see with his eyes what he knew God could do.  Even before he started praying he declared that God was going to send rain.  “Elijah said to Ahab,’ go and enjoy a good meal! For I hear a mighty rainstorm coming!” (1 Kings 18:41)

That is how God operates; He doesn’t work in the obvious, in the expected or in the easy.  He is God; He does big things and works in the impossible, the improbable and the amazing!   

For our journey of faith we need a new mindset, we need to let go our old views based only on logic. We need to be prepared to see further than we are used to and to go deeper than we think possible.  Remember when Jesus was walking and a multitude of people were around him and a woman who had been sick for twelve years “came up behind him through the crowd and touched the fringe of his robe… immediately the bleeding stopped, and she could feel that she had been healed.” (Mark 5:27-29) When Jesus realized what had happened, He asked who had touched his clothes, but the disciples couldn’t understand Him… everyone was touching his clothes!  God’s power can be seen, of course, but more than that it is felt.

“For we are not fighting against people made of flesh and blood, but against the evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against those mighty powers of darkness who rule this world, and against wicked spirits in the heavenly realms.” (Ephesians 6:12)

If we only focus on what we can see and understand then we will not be prepared for the battle and for the blessings, because there is so much more than we can see.  “We live by believing and not by seeing.” (2 Corinthians 5:7)

We can’t let our sight determine the extent of God’s reach, and the greatness of His plans for us. Why do we trust our eyes more than we trust Him? When will we realize that we can’t guess God, we can’t see everything He is doing, but we can hold on to Him and let Him guide us. “Your word is a lamp for my feet and a light for my path.”  (Psalm 119:105)

*http://www.egglestontrust.com/df_afterword.html

God heals

In the world we often see awful things happening sometimes in faraway places to people we don’t know and other times to friends and family close by.  It is difficult to understand why bad things happen and we may feel helpless as we witness things that we wish we could ignore and pretend they are not real.  

When we feel crushed with the pain around us we need to remember how Jesus prepared us ahead of time by saying “I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows.  But take heart, because I have overcome the world.”  (John 16:33) Our peace is in Him, we can’t allow anything to take that peace away from us.

So what to do when bad things happen to people around us?  After we claim the peace that God has given us we need to remember that we are never bystanders; God has given us the power to act in every situation.  To those involved, He gives different responsibilities, all equally important because He wants us to put love into action.  “We know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.” (Romans 8:28)  We have to hold on tight to God’s promises, especially when everything looks the complete opposite; we need to say them out loud and be a witness.  Our attitude and our actions speak louder than our words, especially during difficult situations.

People who are suffering are looking for support, kindness and understanding.  They are looking for the healing and peace that only Jesus can give them. But so many times we offer long sermons and judgmental advice like Job’s friends, which made him feel even worst “Do you think your words are convincing when you disregard my cry of desperation?” (Job 6:26) or we are quick to offer solutions when maybe what they are looking for is someone that would listen to them.  

When others are hurting we need to reach out the way Jesus did, where they are, attending their immediate needs.  Love doesn’t have to be complicated; it can be a hospital visit, a homemade meal, a phone call, a ride to an appointment or an offer to buy groceries.  There are so many ways to bless people who are in emotional or physical pain, and we may think our actions are small and almost insignificant when compared to the huge problems they may be facing, but when we freely give, God multiplies our offering. He steps in and does His thing which can turn the smallest action into a life changing event.   

God’s plan for all of us is so much more wonderful than we could ever imagine that we can’t let sadness distract us from it, yes, pain and suffering are real, but so is the power of God over them. “Yet what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory he will give us later.”  (Romans 8:18)  When people around us feel there is no hope, we need to remind them that there is and the best way is to show them. God has already healed us; Jesus “was wounded and crushed for our sins.  He was beaten that we might have peace.  He was whipped, and we were healed!” (Isaiah 53:5)

I pray for God to give us the wisdom, strength and courage to be light where there is darkness and joy where there is sorrow so everyone will see that He is powerful and many will receive hope, healing and restoration. ”The Lord is close to the brokenhearted; he rescues those who are crushed in spirit.” (Psalm 34:18)

How stubborn can we be?

Have you ever done something that you knew was not good for you, but did it anyway?

I did something like this just yesterday.  My daughter and I make delicious brownies, but we try not to make them too often because when we do we want to eat them all at once.  We made brownies this week and yesterday I was alone at home, I looked at them and decided to eat all that was left.  I knew I was going to be sick later, and I was, but for some odd reason I did it anyway.  I mean… how stubborn can we be?

So, eating too many brownies once in a while may not be a big deal, but it is a good example of how we make decisions based on what we want in the now, and how easily we give in to our flesh. 

Louis Gigglio once said that we are always two seconds away from making disastrous decisions, and that may sound very negative, but it is true!

In Jeremiah 44:4 God says    “Again and again I sent my servants, the prophets, to plead with them, don’t do these horrible things that I hate so much.  But my people would not listen or turn back from their wicked ways.”  God suffers when we turn away from Him, why?  Because He loves us! Just like when someone we love so much is doing something that in the long run is going to hurt them, we plead with them because we don’t want anything bad to happen.  “The Lord God Almighty, the God of Israel, asks you: Why are you destroying yourselves? (Jeremiah 44:7)

“Then all the women present and all the men who knew that their wives had burned incense to idols…answered Jeremiah, we will not listen to your messages from the Lord! We will do whatever we want.” (Jeremiah 44:15-17)  If we are really honest, doesn’t that sound like something our actions sometimes say to God? In big or small things in our daily life, many times we choose to go against what God has taught us.  Yes, we can come up with many excuses, such as… “It was too hard, I didn’t realized it, everyone else was doing it”… at the end there is only one real reason … we wanted to do it.

We are very stubborn; it would be so simple if we could accept that we are not able to run our lives on our own.  We are surrounded by too many distractions that look too good and satisfy the now, but what about the later?  Our feelings are like a roller coaster, we can’t depend on them and we base our actions on what we want.  We really need God! We need His instruction and guidance every single second of our lives.  The only way to fully live is according to God’s will, and sooner than later we will realize that His will is the best thing for us.  Only God can fulfill us, renew us and give us true happiness. 

I like the way Louis Gigglio finished his teaching; he said that since we are always so close to making a wrong decision, relying on our power to say no is not enough; instead we need to concentrate on the power of God to guide us and to help us make the right decision. 

When we have a relationship with God, when we talk and listen to Him daily our lives change from the inside out, there is more of Him and less of us and our stubbornness little by little becomes joyful obedience.

“Oh, the joys of those who do not follow the advice of the wicked, or stand around with sinners, or join in with scoffers.  But they delight in doing everything the Lord wants; day and night they think about his law. They are like trees planted along the riverbank, bearing fruit each season without fail.  Their leaves never wither, and in all they do, they prosper.”  (Psalm 1:1-3) 

Love waits

My niece bought a cute ring with the words: “Love waits”; when I first saw it, immediately I thought about one kind of waiting, the physical one, but talking to Shelly, my special friend, I realized that love waits in more ways… actually in all ways!  No wonder God reminds us so many times in the Bible that “Love is patient and kind… love does not demand its own way.” (1 Corinthians 13:4; 5) This journey is all about the waiting, the suddenly we love so much and the waiting again for the next suddenly.  

Waiting is hard, we want things in our own timing and that is usually “right now!” but what if we spin around the negative view we have of waiting and see it as an expression of love?

Have you ever stopped to think how long God waits for us?  He doesn’t say …”well, I give two years and if you don’t get it, that’s too bad.”  “The Lord still waits for you to come to him so he can show you his love and compassion.  For the Lord is a faithful God.  Blessed are those who wait for him to help them.”  (Isaiah 30:18) This is a beautiful portrayal of waiting; God waits for us to come to Him and then He blesses us as we wait for Him to fix our mess. It may take some time, but we are being blessed while we wait.   The waiting is the growing period, the opportunity to really get to know God and to allow Him to strengthen our faith.  I guess we could say waiting is a gift, one that we come to appreciate later on, when we have matured a little more.

Do you remember the father in the prodigal son story? Do you remember what he did when he saw his son coming back? “While he was still a long distance away, his father saw him coming.  Filled with love and compassion, he ran to his son, embraced him, and kissed him.”  (Luke 15:20) His father never lost hope to see his son again.  He waited for him and his joy was overwhelming once he finally saw him.  We can’t even imagine the joy in heaven when a child returns to God.   

I heard Beth Moore say that if God has not taken you from the place you are in, even if you have repeatedly asked Him, maybe there is something to treasure where you are.  Look at the place you are in now… is God asking you to wait?  Look at the people around you… Is He giving you the opportunity to love them while you wait? Are you being a witness to them?

“Be glad for all God is planning for you.  Be patient in trouble, and always be prayerful.” (Romans 12:12)

 God sees us; He knows what we are feeling and understands our frustration and hopelessness.  Keep asking Him to give you the joy you need to wait according to His will and to strengthen your faith so you can see what is not in front of you… yet.

Last week we celebrated our daughter’s fifteenth birthday with a surprise party.  She thought we were not going to do anything for her birthday and she saw no preparations being done, no shopping, no planning, no nothing, until the day came and it was surprise after wonderful surprise.  She then wrote in her Facebook wall “so today was just the BEST day ever. I'm so happy to have such amazing people in my life!! And the surprise was TOTALLY worth the wait :)”  The same way in God’s perfect time we will have our suddenly and we will be able to witness to all our friends how faithful our God is and with a big smile we will say … the wait was TOTALLY worth it!.

“Those who wait on the Lord will find new strength.  They will fly high on wings like eagles.  They will run and not grow weary.  They will walk and not faint.” (Isaiah 40:31)

Loving whose way?

“I did it my way” is a song that could easily describe the way sometimes we love others.  We seem to forget to look at people’s needs or the phase they are in on their journey and focus instead on what we consider the “right” way to love.  Loving our way is easy, wouldn’t you agree? Loving people that are easy to love is a delight, the challenge comes when God places in our path people that are really tough to love, and to top it off He asks us to love them His way.

Have you ever had “those” people in your life?  You know, the ones that defy us and push our patience to what we think is the limit. The people that keep us on our knees because we know without God we would say things that we would regret.  “Those” people are placed strategically by God to help us grow and to glorify Him.  

I imagine it like this… we have this huge window in front of us, but we are willing to open just a tiny part of it because that is how we do things and that is what we feel comfortable doing, we receive some light and fresh air, but if we would be willing to open the whole window and rely completely on God’s grace to love His way, then His light would overwhelm us and it would shine brightly in our lives. We would never go back to just that tiny opening.  This reminds me of the title of a book by Joy Dawson “Forever Ruined for the Ordinary” How else can you describe it?  Once we love the way God asks us to love there is no going back to what we knew.  

Jesus loved in unusual ways, in ways no one had seen before.  He was not afraid to go against the norm set by society or to challenge common sense.

“You have heard that the Law of Moses says, ‘love your neighbor’ and hate your enemy.  But I say, love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you!  In that way you will be acting as true children of your Father in heaven.”  (Matthew 5:43-45)

And we read in Matthew 5:39-40 “If you are slapped on the right cheek, turn the other, too.  If you are ordered to court and your shirt is taken from you, give your coat too.”  In the Bible we can find a lot of wonderful inspiration to love in unconventional ways, the way God loves us.   

 “God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power.  Then Jesus went around doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the Devil, for God was with him.” (Acts 10:38)

How many people is God strategically placing in our path? Are we willing to go to our “market place” and live the Word? God has anointed us with the Holy Spirit and He is with us, so we can also go around doing good.

Through the eyes of love

Wouldn’t it be nice if we could see people the way God sees them? We know we should love those around us as much as we love ourselves, we know we need to love everyone the same… but let’s be honest, sometimes it is not as easy as it sounds.

We ask God to give us His eyes, like in the song by Brandon Heath but when He does, we usually reply “really? I can’t love like that, it is too hard!” 

God always sees us with loving eyes. Let’s think of an occasion in which we really messed things up; I can assure you God was still smiling at us saying “I love you so much!”, and we may have argued with Him and said… “But God, look at what I did!”  But His love would not change because it is not based on what we have done, what we are doing or what we will do. Still He will say: “My child, I love you so much!”   

We know we have received this undeserving love, and still it is hard to go out to the world and love the same way.   

God sees things so differently from us “My thoughts are completely different from yours’, says the Lord.  ‘And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine.  For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.” (Isaiah 55:8-9)   God likes to surprise us with love that goes beyond understanding or logic; He likes to work in the most unexpected ways.

For example in the book of Joshua we read how God uses Rahab, a prostitute, to save two spies Joshua had sent out to Jericho to scout the land, not only did she protect them and helped them escape, but she also teaches us a great lesson on faith.  “Before the spies went to sleep that night, Rahab went up on the roof to talk with them. ‘I know the Lord has given you this land, ‘She told them…No wonder our hearts have melted in fear! No one has the courage to fight after hearing such things.  For the Lord your God is the supreme God of the heavens above and the earth below.” (Joshua 2:8-9;11)  She knew how powerful God was, and was certain that He would help the Israelites take over, and she also knew God could help her “Now swear to me by the Lord that you will be kind to me and my family since I have helped you.” (Joshua 2:12)   

In Judges 6 we read how the Lord sends Gideon to rescue Israel from the Midianites.  But Gideon doesn’t feel is the right person for the job “But Lord, Gideon replied, ‘how can I rescue Israel? My clan is the weakest in the whole tribe of Manasseh, and I am the least in my entire family!’ The Lord said to him, ‘I will be with you.  And you will destroy the Midianites as if you were fighting against one man.” (Judges 6:15-16) God sees beyond our failures, our mistakes and our weaknesses.  He knows what He can do; He just needs us to believe in Him and let Him do it.

“Nothing can ever separate us from his love.  Death can’t, and life can’t.  The angels can’t, and the demons can’t.  Our fears of today, our worries about tomorrow, and even the powers of hell can’t keep God’s love away.”  (Romans 8:38) God loves us and we are called to love like Him.

Let’s ask God to inundate us with His love so it will overflow.  Let’s ask Him to allow us to see people the way He sees them, beyond the superficial things that distract us from the heart, let’s thank God each day for the way He loves us.  We don’t deserve it, we don’t earn it and yet we receive it each day.  And next time God asks you to love in a way you think is impossible… tell Him... “I know I can’t love like that, but you can!”

  

Live in the now

Sometimes we may complain that our children are connected to their electronic devices all the time putting us to the side and living in their own world.  I understand things change, each generation has differences which should be understood and young people want their space, but that doesn’t mean that they need to be completely disconnected from their family or their present.  

It may seem that teens are sometimes detached from their now trying to keep up with a virtual world that doesn’t slow down, but as parents we can help our children learn to enjoy all the benefits technology brings without sacrificing the simple joy of living in the present. 

As parents we have an immense influence over our children, one that begins the moment they are conceived, so how we use that head start is crucial.  

We need to teach our children to enjoy the moment they are in, to help them see that they don’t always have to be “busy” and to be careful not to allow distractions steal from each memory, but how do we do that?  Actions speak louder than words and as parents we are being watched constantly; our children are learning from what they see us doing.   Do we half way listen to them as we scroll checking the latest e-mail or tweet? Do we leave them hanging on a sentence to answer a phone call?  “Do for others what you would like them to do for you.”  (Matthew 7:12)  If you want your children to pay attention to you, then pay attention to them.

If we look at Jesus’s life, we can see wonderful examples of living in the now.   Jesus knew how to live in the moment.  We all know He had a full agenda and was always doing something or traveling somewhere, but He was never too distracted to appreciate or too busy to help, to listen, to heal… to make a difference in people’s lives.  He expects us to do the same “The truth is, anyone who believes in me will do the same works I have done, and even greater works, because I am going to be with the Father.”  (John 14:12)   

So Jesus didn’t have Facebook or Twitter not even a phone!  Yet he had plenty of friends and followers that could have kept Him busy all day, but He had His priorities straight; He knew His relationship with God came before anything else; He knew that if He didn’t spend that time with His Father each morning, He would not be ready for the day.  “Jesus awoke long before daybreak and went out alone into the wilderness to pray.”  (Mark 1:35) His inner peace gave Him the ability to live each day to the fullest, taking advantage of every situation to love.  Jesus didn’t worry about the future either “So don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries.  Today’s trouble is enough for today.”  (Matthew 6:34) When we are too concerned about what will come we are too busy and too stressed to let God’s love flow.

My favorite example of Jesus living the  moment is in Mark 14:26 “Then they sang a hymn and went out to the Mount of Olives.”  It touches me in a way I can’t explain.  Jesus knew He was about to suffer and die as a sacrifice, but He was not thinking about that,  at that instant He was singing and praising God ... that is living in the moment! And that is how I want to live, I want my life to be a song of praise to God as I keep my eyes fixed on Him, because if I am focused on Him and I do what He tells me, He will take care of the rest, and I will have peace to enjoy the now He has given me.   

Let’s make each instant count, let’s really enjoy our life, let’s not wait for “good” times to be happy or for ”special” dates to celebrate. Let’s live life to the fullest right now so the people around us can see the joy of living in the present.