As The Spirit Moves

Driving down the road recently, the bits of snow started to swirl in the wind and blow across the road. The swirling was mesmerizing and almost looked like white cap waves on a lake.

I was reminded that often people say we can't "see" God. I'm sure many have even used a wind analogy to try and explain it. We can't see the wind either, but we can feel it and we know it is there.

However, on that particular day, the thought crossed my mind that we don't often see (or appreciate the full force of) wind, and dare I say, the spirit of God ..... until it moves. Something gets picked up in the flow of the wind: leaves, rain, snow and then, then we see what only moments ago we may not have even felt.

Then there are the days we may not be sure that God is in the background or even paying attention to what is happening in our little busy, sometimes overwhelming world. But then....you get a call, email or text from a friend just when you need one, something just happens to fall into place, or we receive an answer to a prayer that wasn't even put into thoughts or words yet. Something moved and then we get a glimpse and are reminded (if we choose to be) that we do not have to do this busy, sometimes overwhelming world by ourselves.

The wind can be very gentle or have great power.  If you lean back on a really windy day, the wind can feel like it is holding you up or pushing you back or reminding us it's time to go in the house (or in the basement!).

The spirit of God can be gentle or have great power. If you lean into it on a really cruddy day when feelings overwhelm and darkness feels like it is creeping in, it is possible to be held up and reminded (again) that we don't have to do life on our own. Sometimes it will be from someone that gets blown across your path at just the right time.

So, how do we better tune in to get more of that spirit moving? The best ways I've found is to actually allow quiet times frequently during the week. Time without TV, radio or computer. Reading the Bible and/or a good devotional book can help. Write in a journal. Pray. Praise music. A conversation with a friend. Making sure we take time to listen when someone needs to talk....because sometimes that is us getting to assist on a spirit moving for someone else.

If we truly look with our eyes and heart fully open knowing that sometimes it will NOT look like what we think it should look like, we will see. The wind...and the spirit moving.

1 Corinthians 2:9 (NIV)
However, as it is written:
“What no eye has seen,
what no ear has heard,
and what no human mind has conceived”
the things God has prepared for those who love him—

Galatians 5:22 (NLT) But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, and self-control. 

No Strings, No Chains

Imagine with me if you will. We board a spaceship. We blast into outer space. We are given the opportunity to view Earth from a distance. All of it. Not just our little corner. All. of. it. One of the things I think I would be MOST amazed by is that Earth is just there. Hanging in the darkness. Suspended. No strings.

Thanks to the internet and satellites, we no longer need to question whether the Earth is flat or alone in the universe. We don't even need to wait to be able to afford to enter space on our own!

Just Google "earth images" and peruse for a few moments. Amazing. No visible means of support. Just there. Perfectly suspended. Rotating in just the right position between light and darkness. No strings.

We can argue HOW it got there. We can argue WHY it's there. We can argue about lots of things. Sometimes the more we know the more we question. Questioning is not a bad thing. It's how we learn.

While I was busy being amazed by the no strings thought for Earth, my thoughts turned to how some people may view Christians as being controlled by seeing God almost as a puppeteer. Pulling our strings that are ultimately connected to a God they may or may not believe in. I'm guessing that if this is how God is envisioned, it is not totally surprising that interest stops there. 

I think I would even go a step further though. Beyond strings. I would go as far as saying that before becoming a Christian (a true Christian NOT just tangled up in religion, but finding a relationship with Jesus) that it was worse than being connected by strings. I was bound. In chains. Chains of self doubt, self pity, guilt, shame, fear, etc. etc. Chains that served no purpose other than being heavy and keeping me from getting where I needed to get in truth. In faith. I was so busy focusing on the chains and on myself that I didn't look for a key or even see if there was something to do to become unbound.

I was busy focusing on my little corner of me. I didn't look at the big picture or look at it from a different perspective.

The day that I said YES to Jesus is the day I said NO to chains. I was free. I am free. Sometimes those chains still try to show up. As thoughts that try to move my focus back to me. Now though I have keys. Faith. Prayer. Fellow believers. The Bible.

There is life beyond our little corner of the world. There is life beyond chains.

Dear Father in Heaven,
May we never lose our amazement of our world just because it can be more explained through pictures and information overload. Help us to keep our vision expanded beyond us and the chains that we may feel bound by. Help us to watch for others that are bound in their own chains. Help us to not be afraid to share how we have been set free. Help us to share that it really is just as easy as acknowledging our dependence on you and not ourselves. Thank you for providing the keys to loosen our chains and set us free. Thank you for the gift of the Bible so we can continue to receive the gifts it contains.
Amen

If you've found your way here, read this far and have questions about receiving Jesus as your personal Savior, this is a good place to start:  Need Him

Psalm 107:13-15 (NIV)
Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble,
and he saved them from their distress.
He brought them out of darkness, the utter darkness,
and broke away their chains.
Let them give thanks to the Lord for his unfailing love
and his wonderful deeds for mankind,

Isaiah 52:1-3 (NIV)
Awake, awake, Zion,
clothe yourself with strength!
Put on your garments of splendor,
Jerusalem, the holy city.
The uncircumcised and defiled
will not enter you again.
Shake off your dust;
rise up, sit enthroned, Jerusalem.
Free yourself from the chains on your neck,
Daughter Zion, now a captive. 

For this is what the Lord says
“You were sold for nothing,
and without money you will be redeemed.”


Isaiah 61:1-3 (NIV)
The Year of the Lord’s Favor
 The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me,
because the Lord has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim freedom for the captives
and release from darkness for the prisoners,
2 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor
and the day of vengeance of our God,
to comfort all who mourn,
3 and provide for those who grieve in Zion—
to bestow on them a crown of beauty
instead of ashes,
the oil of joy
instead of mourning,
and a garment of praise
instead of a spirit of despair.
They will be called oaks of righteousness,
a planting of the Lord
for the display of his splendor.

Galatians 5:1 (NIV)
Freedom in Christ
It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.

YOU are a gift. Share It!

This week, I was reminded of gifts. Spiritual and otherwise. The gift of friendship. The gift of just being there and being able to know that others were sharing the stress and pain of life even if they were not physically present with me. A gift of knowing that when I was feeling battle worn that there people standing in the gap with me....for me, praying when I did not feel the strength to even issue an amen.

Often, we think of gifts as being physical. We think of gifts as something that have to be purchased. Something that we give a person to open. Maybe we used fancy, expensive wrapping paper....or in my case when in a pinch....comics have done the job. :)

There can be times in life when we don't feel gifted or even beneficial to the universe. It is at those precise moments though that God works His best.

I was also blessed this week to attend a healing room. We often think of physical issues that need healing. We often neglect or fail to take the time to recognize the full value of mental and emotional healing as well. Many times healing takes just that....time. We want an instant fix. Sometimes it is instant. Sometimes healing takes a bit longer or looks different than we expect.

In this moment though, I want to acknowledge the fact that we have each been given gifts that are unique to us. Gifts that we need to acknowledge to be able to help others and often though helping others, we are blessed as well.

1 Corinthians 12 7:11 (NIV) Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. 8 To one there is given through the Spirit a message of wisdom, to another a message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, 9 to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, 10 to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues,  and to still another the interpretation of tongues.11 All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he distributes them to each one, just as he determines.

1 Corinthians 12:25-26 (MSG) The way God designed our bodies is a model for understanding our lives together as a church: every part dependent on every other part, the parts we mention and the parts we don’t, the parts we see and the parts we don’t. If one part hurts, every other part is involved in the hurt, and in the healing. If one part flourishes, every other part enters into the exuberance.

Galatians 5:22 (NIV) But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance (patience), kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.

That Bites!

I have to admit I do not understand the fascination with vampires in Twilight or similar stories. I suppose when I was younger it was Dracula and bats, but still.....the whole romance thing with a vampire and living forever? I hate needles, I don't think pointy teeth would be any better. Living in the world we're in now? No thanks.

If you hang around little children for any length of time more than likely you will experience their frustration when they bite another child, him/herself or you! Take a toy they want? Chomp. Not paying attention to them? Chomp. These are not usually little love bites either. They leave marks!


I started to wonder though. How do kids learn to bite when they are frustrated? It's not like it is a modeled behavior. I highly doubt (in most households!) that the child has seen mom and dad biting each other when they get frustrated. They might have seen another child bite someone and saw the reaction it received. Behaviors that receive attention get repeated....often!

As loving parents and kid caregivers, we start teaching children that it is inappropriate to bite when frustrated. We help them learn to recognize that feeling and handle it in a better way that does not hurt them or anyone else. As adults, we don't walk around biting each other so we obviously learned somewhere along the way other ways to handle frustrations.

One way adults usually handle frustration is to use words. Sometimes this is probably not much better than biting. Words can hurt without leaving marks. Unfortunately? Once it is out of your mouth? You can't take it back. You can't make the other person forget what was said, how it was said OR keep them from replaying that over and over in their head. Even as adults, we need a reminder that we need to handle our frustrations appropriately.

Galatians 5:14-15 (NIV) For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” If you bite and devour each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.