There's an App for That

We are a family of IPhones, computers, electronics. We all have IPhones, we all have computers. My husband is savvy in every area that requires these uses. My sons are bringing up the rear in savvy know-how! My two younger children know more about my IPhone than I do, and they love to play on it. My husbands IPhone is full of apps, something for everything.  And, one of the sayings in our household is "there's an app for that!" The lightbulb needs changing, and the response is "there's an app for that"  Ha!
I can watch the FoodNetwork, or HGTV on my phone, because, "there's an app for that" I have FB, my Bible, a dictionary, games, and basically everything I need to get by on a daily basis.
So, is there an app for the Holy Spirit?  What about holy living? Or, how to be patient when my son locks his little sister in the bedroom? What about sanctification? Truth? And, hearing God's will?
I guess I could say that my app for all of that would be the Bible app, but if I don't utilize it or integrate the word from this app, my life won't change.
App is short for application, which means "the act of putting to a special use or purpose".  Or, "the act of requesting".
In my daily life, my app for God is prayer. When I pray, I am utilizing His Spirit in me and I am requesting the power of His Spirit to be evident in my life.  Through Him and His Spirit, I will learn to live a holy, sanctified life that mimics truth.  I will learn to discern His will for my life.  I will learn to be dependant on Him and my faith will increase.  I will be abiding in Him and be fruitful for Him. 
Prayer is a powerful app it's communication with my God, and it gives me all I need to function in daily life. He has promised to hear me, use me, speak to me, and listen. 
Say That Again, Father. I need all your apps for daily living and holiness in You.

Kept

The license plate on my car says "Kept". It's because I like words, and I especially like this one.  Jesus is the keeper of my soul, He has kept me in His loving care, forever! I am a kept person, dearly loved and cherished by Him.  He is my keeper! So, since I develop a relationship with my car, what better way to display my favorite word? My car, actually an suv, still does not have any working doors, except the drivers door. And, the windshield wipers are not properly doing their job, which becomes a problem when large amounts of slush are thrown onto my windshield.  My car is also full of kid stuff, all over the floor I find dolls, paper, sticks, rocks, etc....I clean it all out, vacuum, and then the next day it's back!  My kids live in my car and fully enjoy it.  It's a good car, even with it's quirks, which gives me an extra fondness for it.
I read in Jude this morning, on the Message side, my special word!  "called and kept safe by Jesus Christ. Relax, everythings going to be all right, rest, everythings coming together, open your hearts, love is on the way!" And then further down it says "...fight with everything you have in you for this faith entrusted to us as a gift to guard and cherish..."
So, He keeps me.  He treasures me.  He's given me a faith that I am suppose to keep, guard, and cherish.  A beautiful gift!  Everything within me fights for this gift, His gift to me.  I defend it, I live it, I seek it, I share it! It becomes what I represent, because it is Him.  Even on my messy days, He is there, seeking relationship with me, loving me, guiding me.
He also has given me His Body of people to keep me, and to love me.  I too must return the action to them. My keepers, which are my family and friends, look at my heart and they love me.  They keep me standing in truth, keep my accountable, keep loving me all the time, keep showing up in my life...reflecting His way of keeping.
I am praising Him today for His love and His gifts.  I need them desperately.  I need to know that I am loved and accepted and kept.  I need consistancy and unconditional love. I need family and friends that keep His Image in their hearts and extend it to me.  I need to be sustained and strengthened so I can do the same in return.
Where are you in the keeping process?  Who do you keep, and how do you do that? Are you seeing how Jesus has kept you over the years, and is keeping you now?  I am asking so all of us will build ourselves up in the holy faith by praying in His Spirit, and stay right in the center of God's love. I will keep my arms open and outstretched ready for the mercy of Jesus.  This is real life, for eternity IN Him.
Keep me on my feet, Savior.  Keep me tall in your bright presence, celebrating You all the time.  Say That Again, all the time, and continue to keep me daily.

Pleased to Be

 In my reading this morning I was directed to Galatians 2. The part that really stood out for me was where he says he quit being a "law-man" so that he could be God's man. Christ enabled him to do this, showed him how.  Paul made his identity, Christ Jesus and crucified self! Christ lived in him and he lived by faith, not flesh. He knew that his salvation was not based on his performance, but on his faith in Jesus.  Because of his faith in Jesus he was free and he desired to live a righteous life in truth, and serve others.
What is a righteous life anyway?  If I am living a righteous life I will display  an upright, virtuous, and moral way of living.  And, I will display that behind closed doors when no one is watching.  I will live a morrally right life in Jesus. I will be pleased to be Who I Am IN Him. And, I will know Him.
For some reason this takes me to this last Friday when I announced to my daughter that it was time to clean her room. Her room gets very messy.  She doesn't close the drawers on her dresser and clothes are hanging out all the time. She sees no reason to put her toys back in the drawers, or pick up all the miscellaneous stuff strewn about.  It becomes a difficult process to walk through her room.  My husband says her room is like a mini thrift store that got way too many donations!  So, Ruby and I attacked her room with dilegence on Friday.  We sorted toys, she played with long lost items that had been stashed under the bed and in the depths of her closet.  We went through her clothes.  We swept up the dust bunnies. We had a good time, but I realized that she is just pleased to be in a mess! She likes it that way, and if I didn't intervene, she would live in her messy room with all the dust bunnies until something motivates her to change.
Back to Christ living in me, He is my motivater.  He drives my life, takes action in areas that need cleaning.  He sees that there are places that I am a little too pleased to be, and He shines truth on those areas.  He seeks relationship with me, so that I will be pleased to be only IN Him. When the dust bunnies start to settle in my life, and I begin to stash away treasures that are not of Him, He moves towards me and speaks to me.  And, I am so blessed to have Him.  Truth and righteousness, as a leader for Jesus in this world, I need to be identified by these two things.  My commitment to truth, a righteous life, and a servants heart, are heavenly goals, which can only be accomplished through my Savior.
Today, I am pleased to be IN Him. I am willing to let His Light shine through me and in me.  I want Him to show me my messy rooms and clean them out.  I want my life to be a continual renewal, restoration, and revival for Him. 
Say That Again to me Jesus.  Restoration, Renewal, Revival, and Righteousness--your truths in my life enabling me to have a heart like you. 

Father Abraham

"Father Abraham had many sons, many sons had Father Abraham, I am one of them and so are you, so lets just praise the Lord!" I use to sing this song back in the day with my friends. It's a good song. What is it all about though?
I journeyed to Romans 4 this morning, and it's all about trusting and believing God, just like Abraham did. God told Abraham, when he was an old man, that his old wife Sara would have the long awaited son! He told Abraham that he would be the Father of Nations.  Abraham basically said "ok, God, sounds good to me!"  And, he believed!
Abraham knew that God kept His promises and that He would give him a son.  Even though his circumstances could have easily convinced him otherwise.  But, he chose to believe and trust God even when things weren't looking so good.  He chose to step out in faith and allow God to work in his life.
Am I living the same way? How much belief in God do I really have?  God has already told me Who I am and what I can accomplish through Him, am I stepping out in faith and allowing Him to fulfill His word in me?
Well, let me think. God has said to me that His love is unconditional and mine should be too.  He has promised me every (not just a couple) spiritual blessings under the heavenly realm!  He has justified me, forgiven me, counted me as righteous before Him.  He has wrapped me in His splendor, made me an eternal being IN Him, called me to fulfill a purpose. He has considered me His daughter, His ambassador, and given me spiritual authority just like the authority of Jesus!  He has gifted me with His Spirit, and made it clear to me that the power of the Spirit is mine to utilize, all the time.
But, sometimes those pesky circumstances in my life get in the way of how I live. I forget, or I doubt the promise that is mine.  I loose momentum, and get off track. I start to think that I have to do something to get my life back in order---but the truth is, I just need to believe and trust.  God is leading through every circumstance and His will for me is perfect. 
What if I don't believe?  Can I pray for God to give me that too? This is often my prayer, unbelief comes naturally for me, along with skeptism and doubt.  So, my daily prayer is that God will turn all that around for me and bless me with belief, faith, hope.  It actually works! He will do this, because this is His will for me, and for all His children.
So, like Abraham, I will journey with God today. His promise to Abraham included me, and I am going to take what is mine! I will choose today to form my life around all that God says He can do, not on all that I see I can't do!
Say That Again, Lord Jesus, and use me to further your kingdom!

Focus!

My daughter, Ruby, is full of passion.  She has a quick temper and a busy mouth. Life is either all good or all bad, and she displays it fully.  She is rarely without a smile, unless of course she's screaming her disapproval. She is loud almost all the time, like I said, passionate! She has a new word for herself, "focus", when she's working on a project or doing just about anything, she tells herself to focus.  It's a repeat word for her, "focus, focus, focus..."
This morning in my prayers, God used the same word!  "Focus on Christ Jesus, Bethany, and everything else will come into place.  Focus!"   I need to hear this, because I can get easily distracted with other things.  With people, with pain, with direction, with questions.
He pointed me to John 3, and the chapter is about focusing on the truth and God's beloved Son! It's about living in light, not darkness.  Shining for Him. The chapter makes it clear that those who do not focus on the Son, live in darkness.  Those who run from His light, experience darkness in their life.  Those who make a practice of doing evil, addictied to denial and illusion, hate God's light and won't come near it! God's light is exposure, and that is uncomfortable, it's downright painful!
If I choose to work in His light and live truthful reality, God's light will shine on me and through me. If I am open to His will, and diligently seek Him, I will be used by Him. I will reflect His attitudes, His will, His love, His work! I won't run, or keep secrets, or hide.  I will stand in His light and be exposed!
Focus, Bethany, on Who Jesus is! Then I will know exactly Who I am all the time. I will not fall, but will live the saintly life according to His will and His glory. Focus on Him!
So, today, I choose to continue to move ahead in Him and run towards His light.  I choose to obey Him, and run towards the calling He has for me.  I choose to speak His truth in love, and love others. I choose to Focus on Jesus, even in the trials, the pain, the feelings of betrayal or saddness.  Focus, focus, focus.
My God gave me the gift of Jesus, and the gift of forgiveness at His Cross.  Why would I choose anything different?
Say That Again, dear Lord! Continue to keep my vision clear with Your Light!

Mom, You have a Wrinkle!

My nine year old son, Eli, informed me yesterday that I have a new wrinkle! "Right there, on your face, by your eye." He said. It brought so much laughter to me, that he continued to inform me that when I laugh like that, there's even more wrinkles! What's a woman to do? A new wrinkle on my face, just what I need to hear, I thought I looked so young :-)
Then, of course, I started to think about wrinkles.  I even woke up in the night and found that the word wrinkle was on my mind.  Where in my life do I have wrinkles? Are they only on my face, or are they in the way that I live?  Hmmm,  this is a great discussion to have with God. 
Wrinkles in my life, I began to ask myself what that might look like, and do I even care?  Are wrinkles there to challenge me to grow, or are they something for me to overcome and release?  Do I have the power to remove them, or do they just get deeper and more visible?
And then I began to think about the wrinkles in the lives of others, is it my job to point those out? Or, do I just love them and speak truth around the wrinkles?  Do I give them a solution, or pretend the wrinkle doesn't exist and move away so I don't have to see their wrinkles? Can I pray my wrinkles and theirs away?
The questions hung in the air for me, and I drifted back to sleep. This morning when I went downstairs to read my Bible and pray, wrinkles came back!
I opened a devotional that I read often and it talked about how discipleship cannot be done without counseling. They go hand in hand, together.  Discipleship, my commission from God, is all about pointing out the truth to someone's life. Showing them, Jesus, living in such a way in front of them, that they want what I have.  It's about relationship and love, the kind of love Jesus shows.  In your face love, unconditional love, deeply rooted love in Jesus, visible love. It is fearless! Dicipleship is pointing someone to their glorious future in Christ, and helping them understand Who they are IN Him! 
So, what about the counseling part? Can I counsel a friend? Counseling looks at the past to address problems and weaknesses.  It opens painful doors, sometimes.  Counseling allows someone to be real on an intimate level, and still be accepted and loved. It challenges me to see inside another persons life and not judge them. It provokes me to remember that we are not our past mistakes, but are Children of God.
Every person has wrinkles in the past, and wrinkles in the present.  I know that sometimes I try to avoid them, but by doing that they just get deeper and more visible.  Jesus, sees all my wrinkles, and He guides me to look at them, and then trust Him with each one.  He sometimes sends people into my life to point out the wrinkles, and He sends friends to uplift me while I'm dealing with them. He has the ability to iron them out, and be truth to me.  He challenges me to be real and transparent about every wrinkle, and grow from them. He stays with me through every wrinkle, and encourages me to share the effect they have on my life, not hiding them in shame, but admitting they are there.
Say That Again, dear Jesus.  Use me to walk with others through their wrinkles and strengthen me to be real about mine! Say That Again to me all day long!

The Pot

Cooking is not at the top of my list of favorite things to do, but I would like it to be.  I would love to be a great cook, and make great dinners every night for my family.  It's just not happening.  Yesterday was a big day for me, because I actually made beef stew, and it was good. Since, I grew up a vegetarian, I consider it a major accomplishment to cook chunks of beef and have it turn out. I chopped potatoes, celery, onion and garlic.  Threw in some carrots, and wa-la, stew! Oh, I added salt, pepper, and some vegetable broth too. Now, it's sitting in it's big pan, in the refrigerator, waiting to be consumed.
This morning as I prayed, God led me to Acts 12, and also to Colossians 2. I was praying for His guidance on ministry, church, stepping out. I was asking for His fullness to be within me today and for His Spirit to be bold and powerful within me as I move in His will and seek His kingdom.
In Colossians, the chapter tells me to focus on Christ. It tells me that I am deeply rooted in Him and I need to live Him. God is wisdom.  And, it tells me to love without restraint, to make my life a tapestry of love through Him. To get up and move according to His will, for He is the source of life.
In Acts, it's all about Peter's escape from jail, the angel of God came and released him from the iron chains and literally led him out of the jail, onto the street.  It was so amazing to Peter, he thought he was dreaming. But, after the angel left him alone in the street, Peter realized that it was not a dream, he was really free.  He went to a house where Christians were gathered and they were praying; they couldn't believe it either.  In fact, Rhoda the  girl that answered the door, was pushed aside and told she was crazy.  The Christians inside the house, did not believe her when she said that Peter was at the door!
Peter was certainly focused on Christ and the mission that he had been called to IN Christ.  He lived love and freedom through Christ, and he preached Christ. He did not live in fear, for he knew that Jesus was his Lord and Saviour, and whatever happened was God's will, because he lived Jesus! He was part of His Body, full and complete, allowing himself to be led.
I too am full and complete IN Jesus! I'm part of the Body, working to speak into the lives of others.  I'm living in the " pot of stew" with other Christians,  mixed together, flavored with love, peace, joy, His fruit of the Spirit.  I need all the ingredients in my life to move ahead and do His will.  I need to submit to His will, and allow Him to lead me wherever that path goes." Focus on Christ" not on the jail or the trial. He is leading me to new territory, expanding my faith in Him, mixing me up with other Christians that are willing to take the leap. He is stirring the pot!
So, I will obey and continue to hear His calling.  I will run towards Him, and keep my focus on all that He is, and the work He so faithfully does. I will not be detered by discouragement, or judgement, or loss. I will choose to stay with those that need love, and keep my word to others.  I will follow Him, even at the cost of loosing what I hold dear. I will live in the freedom He has so generously given me and hear His words, not lies. Who is coming along? Who is willing to get in the pot and be stirred? Step out, be led, speak truth, and be faithful.  Wanna come?
Say That Again, Father God, set my path before me, shine Your light and keep talking!