Survey says.....

Remember the game show, Family Feud?  They would survey people to get the most common answers to questions and then the contestants would try to guess the answers before their opponent did.  Aren't you glad life is not lived by popular opinion?  Or is it?

"John came fasting and they called him crazy.  I came feasting and they called me a lush, a friend of riff-raff.  Opinion polls don't count for much, do they?  The proof of the pudding is in the eating."  Matt 11:18-19  (MSG)...or "wisdom is shown to be right by its results" (NLT). 

Live today not by popular opinion, but by what God has called you to do. 

John didn't understand why Jesus and His disciples weren't functioning in the same manner as themselves, and Jesus was so great - He acknowledged the difference and significance of John's ministry. 

In our pursuit of God and Mission for Him, let's remember to celebrate and honor those around us who are also fulfilling their God-given callings.

What has God called you to?  Do it with all your might!

How do we let the anger go?

Have you ever been angry?  Who hasn't!  But how about the anger that just can't seem to let go, anger that simmers and bubbles beneath the surface until it finds a vent to explode out of?  You know what I'm talking about.  It's the anger that demands an answer.  We want to understand, to figure out why it happened, how it can be fixed, and how to prevent it from happening again.  We find ourselves rehearsing it, searching for different outcomes, perhaps falling into the trap of laying blame.  It's a vicious, violent cycle that robs us of our peace and hurts others (often unsuspecting people who are in the wrong place at the wrong time as our anger comes shooting out). 

I've come to a personal conclusion that I have no answer to anger.  I can't figure it out, understand it or fix it in any meaningful way which results in the anger disappearing.  When anger is in my hands, it just burns a hole in me and I suffer.  But there is way out of the anger trap if you'll read on.

I had the opportunity to minister to a much-loved one recently, minstering from my own struggles with anger, and this is what I've learned and what I shared with her.

Quit trying to make sense of it.  You have to let it go.  (I can hear the cries of despair now, "I've done that, I've tried to let it go and it keeps coming back!").  The only sure-fired way I've found is this:

Repent.

It's not enough to forgive the one who hurt you, but we need to repent of holding onto our anger, turn the whole mess into God's hands and decide it is now His to deal with.  Ask Him to take the anger, and pray for the one who hurt you (notice I said pray FOR them, not ABOUT them - that's called "letting go"). 

Matthew 5:22 (amp) says that "everyone who continues to be angry with his brother or harbors malice (enmity of heart) against him shall be liable and unable to escape the punishment imposed by the court..."

Anger happens, but continuing in it is what gets us into trouble, and in the end, WE are the ones who pay the price for being angry.  Did you get that?  Not the one who did us wrong, but we ourselves are liable!  I don't know about you, but that is not the way I want to live.

Paul reminds us that the grace we walk in is no excuse for holding onto our anger:

Romans 6:1  "Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?  Certainly not!"

Let's not take grace beyond it's borders and continue to be angry. 

Choose repentance, and ask God to take the anger.  You'll be amazed not only at how He does this, but often you'll see a beautiful response from the one who hurt you.  Best of all?  The peace that comes when the burdens comes off your soul.

Oh, yeah, my friend?  She went from turmoil to peace after we prayed. 
Are you ready?

Great blog to follow!

Hey all, be sure to check out http://www.jillsweetman.com/ , Jill speaks from the heart and life experience about being a mom, wife, woman, christian...it's a great blog to add to your reading list!

Jesus Didn't Come to Fix the Church

I want to start with a thank you to all those who read my blog off my Facebook page.  I appreciate all the comments you leave me there - thank you!  :)

Matthew 9 -

Jesus has just healed a man and forgiven his sins when He encounters Matthew, a tax collector, and calls him to discipleship.  The discipleship lesson begins with sitting down and rubbing elbows with what the Amplified Bible calls the "especially wicked sinnners...the preeminently sinful".  These guys have been pegged by society and religon as most offensive, yet here is Jesus and his newby disciple eating with them.  Why?

"Those who are strong and well (healthy) have no need of a physician, but those who are weak and sick.  Go and learn what this means:  I desire mercy [that is, readiness to help those in trouble] and not sacrifice and sacrificial victims.  For I came not to call and invite [to repentance] the righteous (those who are upright and in right standing with God), but sinners (the erring ones and all those not free from sin)."

Jesus was on a mission to save sinners from sin: to save you, me, your neighbor, and all those who acts you cannot abide.  And He was willing to associate with them, to eat with them, to be in their world (not of it) in order to accomplish His mission.  This was highly offensive to some, but Jesus was clear, "I didn't come to call the righteous".  He wasn't interested in "fixing the righteous" - they were righteous already!  He was doggedly determined to get to those who were lost.

There are two kinds of righteous people:  a) those who are righeous by the righteousness of Christ, having received and taken on His righteousness as a free gift of God's grace, and b) those who are righteous because they do the right thing.  Righteousness can be achieved both ways, but the "b" camp has a tough row to hoe as they say - Paul makes it clear in Galatians that if you are going to be righteous by your right actions, then you'd better be right ALL the time because one unrighteous act disqualifies you, nullifying your righteousness.  Ummm, I choose "a".  Nevertheless, if you can pull it off, you are righteous.  And Jesus is happy about us being righteous.  So His attention focuses on those who aren't righteous and how He can bring them into relationship with the Father (Mission).

Now we have to ask ourselves:  Where is our focus?  On "fixing the righteous", or on "reaching the unrighteous"? 

Calling the righteous to repentance falls under the catetory of "biting and devouring each other" (Gal. 5:15), and judging and condemning each other (Matthew 7).  It brings destruction to the "fellowship" (Gal. 5:15) and the lost are ignored. 

But saved and called out ones, if we are living on Mission, our challenge is to not get caught up in the wrong focus.  Let's focus our gaze to see and reach those who need Christ.  The righteous are righteous already (or are trying to be). 

Let's see the lost, the broken, the hurt and the dying
Let's love them, have compassion on them
Let's be merciful to those lost in sin
Let's bring Jesus to their table/home/office/

Let's begin choosing to live on Mission

I am challenged as I know you are, and as I pray for me, I'll pray for you - on Mission together,
Michelle


Question:  I wonder if Mathew's "first love" that he would be called upon to remember was that of sitting with and reaching sinners - that as Jesus reached him, he would reach others?

What is Shiny and Salty and Yummo? (Hint: You are!)

We all have a favorite salty snack food - that go-to fave when the hunger strikes.  What do you crave?

I was praying for the Church this morning a recurring thought for this year - that we would be a shining, light-filled city set on a hill for all to see and be drawn to out of the darkness.  That we would be salty and flavorful and winsome, desirous and beneficial to our city.  And in my reading today I came upon this Bible verse:

"I will rejoice in You and be in high spirits; I will sing praise to Your name, O Most High!"  Psalm 9:2

Yes!  What a fabulous, and fun way, to be a witness to San Diego - by being a people with rejoicing faith.  We CHOOSE the attitude we will walk in today.  Let's choose rejoicing.  Let's purpose to lift our spirits up - let's "get high" in our spirit!  That means we are going to have faith, we are going to trust Him, because as it says in verse 9:

"The Lord also will be a refuge and a high tower for the oppressed, a refuge and a stronghold in times of trouble (high cost, destitution and desperation)".

No matter what we are facing today, God is stronger!  He is a safe place for us to reside in, to rejoice in.  Let's get in there with God, rejoice IN Him, and be a shiny, salty, crave-alicious Church in San Diego.

Yummo!

How Do We Accomplish Mission?

We learn from the Mission Master.

Jesus, (who was conceived, lived, died and rose on mission to save His people from their sins), He is the Mission Master.  As He lived out Mission in everyday life, He shared these words with us:

"For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give His life as a ransom for many."  Mark 10:45

The success of Mission hinged upon this strategy:  giving for and serving others.  He paid a personal price for the sake of others, to the point of death.  What price am I willing to pay?

I envision a church, a people, who live on Mission in such a way.  A people who lift up and launch people upward and onward in God, not seeking to Lord over them, not seeking to be "in charge", but instead coming under people and serving them as they journey into relationship with Christ.

In order for this to happen, we have to get real.  Is there a price we aren't willing to pay?  Is our comfort, time, money or resources something we aren't willing to part with?  If so, a change of mindset is necessary.  Disciples not only believe in sowing and reaping, they practice it.  Followers will only follow until the price is too high, but disciples don't waver.  Disciples know that sowing comfort, time, money and resources into the Kingdom of God, into His Mission to save His people, will always reap a good reward.  Sowing and reaping is not just a nice principle, it is Kingdom truth.

Accomplishing Mission gets personal.  It costs us personally.  We can no longer be satisfied with sitting in our church seats, content that the "professionals" are taking care of business.  We must reject self-seeking motivations of giving or serving in order to prop up our own sense of value, identity, or position.   Instead, as disciples of Christ, are we willing to empty ourselves, to sow from our personal lives?  For the benefit of others.

What greater cause is there but to see the greatest mandate on earth be accomplished?  What is greater than meeting the deepest desire of our Father's heart - that His people be saved?  Nothing I know of.

It is time to SEE our City, to see the people again.
On Mission with Jesus.

Test run #2

What atmosphere am I living in?

Am I creating an atmosphere that I want to live in?  We can take ownership of the atmosphere by determining what attitude, actions and words that we are going to allow to flow from our lives.  I determine, choose, create the atmosphere.  And if you think about it, the atmosphere you live in is one that you invite other people into.  Is it winsome, attractive, God-breathed?

Matthew 7 gets into the nitty gritty of atmosphere building by looking at how we relate to other people.  The Amplified Bible starts out asking if we are living a life that judges, condemns or criticizes.  I was at a conference recently and the main speaker shared about being invited to speak in different places where in the back room the conversations were critical of other ministries.  He chose not to be associated with that atmosphere and no longer ministers there.    It wasn't an atmosphere he desires to live or minister in - it is not who he is.  We are called to edification, and it is too easy to be "righteously judging" (usually in our own minds) when really it is simply being critical and condemning.  What I sow, I am going to reap.  It's a challenge for all of us, but let's keep working and growing in creating life-giving surroundings, even when the gate is narrow (contracted by pressure).

The text continues by warning of false prophets, wolves in sheeps clothing.  Perhaps these are ones who are going around doing the judging, condemning and criticizing?  They'll be known by their fruit.  Is the fruit seen in our lives good/worthy of admiration?  That captures my attention - are my words worthy of admiration?  Is my attitude?  Are my words?  How about my facial expression?  (That last one was for my husband - the poor recipient of my most challenging facial expressions - love ya babe!).  I don't know about you, but I don't want to be a "false" anything!  I want what flows out of my life to be good and worthy in every way.  We can no longer accept less in our lives.  Challenge yourself!  Don't allow anything less than "good and worthy" things penetrate your heart, spirit, life.  Live your best life now!

The scary ending of the chapter leaves us repenting - that we can put on a facade of Christianity, but if the fruit of our life doesn't match up with what Jesus is teaching, we are deceived in thinking He'll even know our name.  Time to get real.  Time to let the Word scour our hearts clean.  Time to invite the Holy Spirit to touch on the areas that need renovation.  

But hear the good news - are you ready? - when we build on the Rock, on the foundation of Christ, we'll stand through the tough times.  You''ll make it.  I'll make it.  God is unshakable.  It is a continual journey for me to let go of my pride, my insecurities, my selfishness and build on Him, but it's a journey that never takes me back.  It always launches me forward into Him!

Let's be atmosphere changers, atmosphere creators by letting God's life breathe through us.  You in?

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