Sunday, May 27, 2018

Pause



Friday 5 minute incomplete thoughts

I wrote on Friday, and then I paused. I wrote something different on Saturday. Again, the Spirit said “wait”. Again I paused. Then I said, I am late. I have to write something. And the question came, “Who is telling you that?”

How often do I submit to the demands and expectations of others and even myself? The Psalms say many times, Selah, which means pause, and think on that. How long is a pause? As long as it takes to realize who and where you are and where and who God is. The presence of God goes with us, but how often do we not recognize or reveal Him to anyone else? The pause makes all the difference in what is poured out.

Dorothy always was home. She just had to pause and think on that.

Friday, May 18, 2018

Secret Revealed



A mystery is what I think of when I hear the word secret. Often spoken in whispers, something hidden away, not to be shared with any until a particular time, such as a surprise party.

Can you keep a secret? It is not the easiest thing to do, especially if it is one that will bless someone. God has secrets. He calls some of them mysteries. Off the top of my thinking for this five minutes I know of two. The mystery of godliness (1Tim 3:16) and the mystery of iniquity (2 Tues 2:7), polar opposite for sure. Does He want us to know and tell of them? Well, He does, but often He unfolds each of them slowly and deliberately, revealing just a bit at a time. Why? Because We can’t handle the whole thing at once. Our minds cannot contain the truth about either, iniquity or godliness.

I wonder though, is He just as excited to tell as we are wanting to know? I wonder also, if iniquity and godliness go hand in hand. I don't think I can know the full extent of godliness until I realize the depth of iniquity. That is why it is a slow process. That is why His grace is abundant and overflowing. That is why His mercy and patience ate much more than ours. That is why He doesn't ever, ever give up on us. He has a secret. He wants us to know it. It is the best secret that just never is fully known. Keep asking, keep looking, keep listening, And then pass on what you hear, and create that longing in someone else.

Friday, May 11, 2018

Heaven Came Down


Polka-dot third (not always in symmetry, often random)


How wonderful that I should be included in God's circle! The sun came through the window just before twilight. It wasn't its normal color. It was soft, it was bright, but not glaring, it was rich and smooth. I went outside to see what was happening. Was there a storm brewing? The clouds were not dark and ominous. Some where white, while others, grey, but not sullen. The air around me was pinkish, purple, yellow, stirred together, not pureed. I very light mist of rain, floated silently. It felt surreal. I felt I was being immersed into the sunset.

God wants to include us in His creation, for it is all His creation. He brought the sunset down for me to bask in for a few moments. I felt loved and hugged. God sent Jesus down to us to show us the Father. We didn't have to go up to find Him. There is no merit earned, no steps to climb, no fortress to build to get to heaven. It is just asking Jesus to include us in His plan and to include Him in our hearts and lives. We make It so hard and He makes it so easy.

Standing in His sunset, immersed in His glory.

Saturday, May 5, 2018

Adapt or transform

More polka dot thoughts for fiveminutefriday.com
The word is adapt.
Late for I had a hard time with this one. And I may go against the grain here, but I seem to do that a lot.

Adapt –“ to conform oneself to new or different conditions” – a definition I pulled from rhymezone.com.  How much should I adapt to as a Christian? Two days of lethargy and sadness was enough. I prayed all day through it. I was quiet about its source, (yes, I knew) and I finally said “no”. It swept away with no apparent reason and that hints to me I conformed to a lie and acted upon it and my emotions took it for a ride. It is sometimes easy to adapt to a situation, to go along to get along, but is that what Christ instructs us to do? Adapt and conform? I see differently in Romans 12:2. “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect”.

So, I guess the big question (for me) is, “How do I know the difference”? And that is the world. What about other Christians? I need to compare scripture to scripture, not experience to experience or emotion to emotion. We are saved by regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, not by deeds Titus 3:5. We are told to lay aside the old self and put on the new self. This doesn't sound like conforming to a person or a situation. This to me sounds like making a choice to recognize where I am operating. If I am living in a renewed mind, the will of God will prove itself to me. That is transformation. It is my choice to live there or not.

It is never a matter of adapting to someone's side. It is a matter of taking a position based on the truth we know. It is never opinion Jesus is after. It is His purpose to show us the Father. This he told Philip in John 14:8,9. “…If you have seen me, you have seen the Father…” The way I see this is that if you want people to see Jesus in you, then keep putting on your new renewed self and not just adapt to those around you. You may not be popular, you may be misunderstood, but the will of God will prove itself in your life.

This is the place I see hope, in my redemption, not in my circumstances. It is a continual process, but if it is never applied, then I will never grow. I will always remain in the same never-ending cycle. We are fine-tuned by Christ within His body, but we are not a herd nor are we clones. We are uniquely designed for His purpose and we must individually seek that through a relationship with Him.