Mel's Journey

I realized in my various posts on here that I have neglected the most important thing: The gospel.

The gospel is the good news of Christ, who He is, and what He did for us.

Romans 3:23 says “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God”.

As humans, we all have sinned. We are separated from God because of our sin. He is holy and righteous and those who are unrighteous (all of us) cannot enter His presence. We are all under His wrath because while He loves us, He is a just God.

But, God loved us so much that He didn’t want to leave us that way, without a hope. Jesus chose to come to earth in human form and be slain as the ultimate sacrifice for our sins.

Romans 5:8-11 “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement”.

Furthermore, God tells us that:

“If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation” Romans 10:9-10.

Ultimately, we must believe in Jesus Christ and His death, burial, and resurrection.

If you have questions about the gospel, pick up a Bible and start reading. The gospel of John is a great place to start. Also, seek out a local Bible believing Christian church so that you can grow in knowledge of the gospel and God and who He is.

I heard an interesting podcast the other week. I’ll be honest since I was thinking on this topic for so long before writing I forgot which podcast it was that said it. But essentially the focus of the message was that when we repent and ask God to forgive us for something but then hold onto that sin and can’t “forgive ourselves” for it then we are saying that Christ’s sacrifice on the cross wasn’t enough.

The Bible says that Jesus:

“is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world” 1 John 2:2.

Micah 7:19 says:

“He will turn again, He will have compassion on us; He will subdue our iniquities; and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea”.

When we confess our sins to Christ and repent, the Bible says our sins are cast to the depths of the sea. We don’t even know the full depth of the sea. According to NOAA the deepest part of the ocean [that we’ve been able to measure] is approximately 36,200 feet deep. Approximately because it’s so deep that we can’t actually get to it to get a measurement. So when God says that He casts your sins into the “depths of the sea” it means that they are basically forgotten. He no longer holds those sins against you. Christ’s blood has already covered them and He has already received the punishment for those sins.

If we hold onto our sins and refuse to move past them; when we insist that we must constantly punish ourselves in some misguided attempt to “make them up” we are saying that Christ’s sacrifice wasn’t enough. This was such a pointed thing for me to here. I sometimes struggle when I look back at certain points in my life and think ‘why did I let myself get into those things’ but I have repented, I have confessed those sins  to Christ and they have been covered by His blood. He took on my shame, pain, and punishment on the cross and because of that I can declare that I have been redeemed!

Patience…it’s one of those things that I am constantly reminded is missing in my life. According to Galatians 5:22 patience (or long-suffering in the KJV) is one of the fruits of the Spirit. Frequently in the Bible you see people wating on the Lord and we are given the encouragement in Psams 46:10 to

“Be still and know that I am God”.

And in Psalm 27:14

“Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and He shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the Lord”.

In my head I know all of these things but whenever something comes along that involves waiting my heart forgets… For instance I ordered a new planner online and I am counting down the days literally til it comes even though I know it won’t even ship for another two days. While waiting for a planner isn’t exactly a major issue in life, it still reveals the state and focus of my heart. I’m also waiting for some pretty big news in my life and find myself checking my email every five minutes to see if the message I”m waiting for has come. I know that God says to trust in Him and wait on Him but it’s so hard to live this out.

I’ve also come to realize that when you pray for a virtue to be more apparent in your life, then God will provide you the opprotunity to exercise it. Just like with the body, a muscle needs to be used in order to grow in strength. I started praying for more patience a little over a month ago and God has certainly been giving me the opprotunity to learn it. I’m not sure exactly how well I”m doing at learning this lesson but I do trust that as I pray and wait God will give me the strength.

Growing up in the church one of the things that was talked about frequently was the ACTS model of prayer. I don’t know who came up with it but in case you are not familiar it stands for Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, and Supplication.

Confession and Supplication were always pretty self-explanatory but I always found myself saying adoration…thankgiving… what’s the difference?

One of the things that I have felt God has really revealed to me so far in this year of renewal is the difference in those words and the different places they have in our lives.

Thanksgiving: Giving thanks for specific things that the Lord has done.

“Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ” Ephesians 5:20

“What shall I render unto the Lord [for] all his benefits toward me?” Psalms 116:12

“By Him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name” Hebrews 13:15

Adoration: Thanking and worshipping God for who He is; for all that He is and not the things He has done for you.

“O give thanks unto the Lord, for He is good; for his mercy endureth forever” Psalm 107:1

“I will praise the Lord according to His righteousness; and will sing praise to the name of the Lord most high” Psalm 7:17

As above the Bible clearly provides instructions that we are to both worship God for who He is as well as for what He has done. I can’t explain why this is something that I always struggled with but I can say that when life is hard or not going your way it can be hard to find things to be thankful for (although there always are things), we can still glory in the greatness and majesty of our God.

When we are struggling, when we can’t see the light through the shadow He is still: sovereign, holy, righteous, good, merciful, loving, great, and worthy of all of our praise.

I had a whole blog post written and actually scheduled for today. I wrote it, scheduled it, and went to bed. Throughout the afternoon and when I woke up, however I felt God leading me to take it down and that it was not something I needed to post publicly. In fact, it related to something that God has very much been convicting me of lately.

What was this mysterious post about? You might be wondering. It was a rant directed towards some of the Hollywood elite. I have a bad habit of ranting or venting. I never really considered it complaining (I’m not entirely sure why) but I didn’t. Recently I’ve been gaining a new understanding that those rants and vents most of the time are not glorifying to God. In fact, in many cases they are very sinful displaying anger, frustration, un-gratefulness, and sometimes end up in full on gossip or talking badly about others.

The Bible is filled with lots of encouragement and warnings concerning the use of our words.

“Let no corrupt communication proceed from your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers”. Ephesians 5:4

Paul writes that we have to be careful of the things we say and that our words should be used to edify and uplift others. When I am venting to another person, am I uplifting them? In reality I am using actually dragging them down to the frustrated level that I am on. James actually takes it to a greater level of warning. He actually spends almost an entire chapter in his short writing discussing the power and danger in the tongue. Here is just a portion of it:

“Behold, we put bits in the horses’ mouths, that they may obey us; and we turn about their whole body. Behold also the ships, which though they be great, and are driven of fierce winds, yet are they turned with a small helm, whithersoever the governor listentheth. Even so the tongue is a little member, and boasteth great things. Behold, how great a matter a little fire kindleth! And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that is defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature, and it is set on fire of hell”. James 3:3-6

At the end of the day our tongues can get us into a lot of trouble. We can  easily hurt someone’s feelings (especially when they overhear us venting our frustrations about them), we can stir up another person’s emotions and cause them to sin, and also cause us to wallow in our anger and frustration rather than taking the matter to God.

Like I mentioned in the opening of this post the temptation to rant or vent is something that I struggle with daily. It is also something that I am continually praying for God’s guidance and that I would have open ears and a willingness to be obedient when the Spirit is calling me out and telling me that I am crossing the line in the use of my tongue.

While these scriptures all focus on speaking, I believe that one of the problems of our generation is that we don’t realize that these same verses (I believe anyway) apply to what we write on our blogs, our various social media accounts, and our texting. These warnings hold strong in that same arena and can cause many snares to our hearts and pull us away from the place in which God wants us to be.

A quote from around the internet that I try to remember is:

“Have you prayed about it as much as you’ve talked about it” Source Unknown

This is such a short and witty way of thinking about it. If I have a problem or a frustration my first stop thought should always be to take it to God. If I am going to discuss whatever the problem or frustration is, it should be in the pursuit of advice from Godly council or in the case of a medical problem, medical advice from the proper places. But even when I am going to pursue council on a topic I still need to spend time praying about it as well as reading relevant passages of scripture and conditioning my mind to God’s way of solving that problem.

Let us all be mindful in the words we speak (and the words we type) that we are using them to point people towards Christ rather than discouraging them and causing them to dwell on the negatives.

 

I began working my way through Havilah Cunnington’s Leap Into Love: Living Present to My Purpose on the Planet in mid January. This book has a small reading and “soul-searching” that you do once a day for 20 days. When I purchased the book I believed it was about recognizing who we are as God’s children (from a Biblical perspective) and then discovering God’s purpose for our lives. However, that tunred out not to be the premise of the book.

Overall the book focuses on examining your life and uses scripture as example stories where people’s situations and environments led them to act or acquire certain characteristics. Rather than looking at our lives from a Biblical perspective it seemed more like looking at ourselves and then finding where in the Bible that idea or understanding seems to fit.

She also pulls most of her quotes from the Message version. While, I know many Christians use and love the Message version, I am not one of them. I feel like it is used too often without conveying that it is a paraphrase and not a translation so those who may be newer to the faith will not know that a specific person’s understanding of scripture is woven in to that version.

All this to say while I did not enjoy the book, Cunnington does make some good points and reminds us frequently that we cannot operate our lives as Christians unless we are walking in the power of the Spirit and spending time in God’s presence. She also emphasizes the importance of obeying when the Spirit calls you to a specific task or job in the church.

 

This is a really difficult post for me to write. In fact, I may not ever post it (if you are reading this obviously I did). But I recently read Pulling Back the Shades: Erotica, Intimacy, and the Longings of a Woman’s Heart by Dannah Gresh and Dr. Juli Slattery and found it extremely helpful in some habits with which I really struggle.

The reason this is such as difficult post for me is that, it is in many ways a confessional one. I have really struggled with erotica and where that leads. Reading erotica was something that I did not agree with and I believed it was not appropriate for a Christian until I got to college… Once there I allowed my friends to convince me that there was nothing wrong with it and it was just a way to learn about and express your sexuality. However, this is very much one of those areas that I knew the Holy Spirit was screaming stop but I ignored Him.

I ran across this book by Gresh and Slattery a few years ago but I really wasn’t ready to confront this sin in my life. In this season of renewal, God has been making very clear to me the areas in my life in which I am not walking in obedience to Him. So when I randomly ran across this book the other week I realized that it was a book I really needed to read.

A central focus of the book is that Christian women struggle with sexual sins but there has been a taboo in our culture to admit this fact. Because of this taboo, a lot of time no help or support is given to women who admit that they are struggling with these types of sins. Our culture today is one that says your sexuality is your own and nothing should stop or hinder it in anyway and if it does then it’s wrong. Culture also says that you need to express and engage in sexual practices in order to know if you are compatible with someone or know what you will enjoy.

Gresh and Slattery both discuss (throughout the book they make it clear which one of their opinions is being expressed) that these teachings of culture stand in direct opposition of scripture. Ultimately, to overcome the ideas that culture is pushing on us and our own longings and desires, we must be standing firmly upon the truth of God’s word and relying on the strength of His Spirit. Quite frankly, we cannot do it alone.

Ultimately, I found this book to be very helpful in walking through this journey of repentance and examining reading erotica in light of scripture. I found this book helpful and highly recommend it. I would suggest that this book is more of an introduction to several concepts surrounding women and their sexuality in a Biblical perspective. It is only 168 pages and combining the thoughts of two authors so it can’t cover ever topic and caveat that might come up. Not to mention that it is written to Christian women in general and not to a specific segment within that group. I have definitely added another one of Dr. Slattery’s books, Sex and the Single Girl: Authentic Intimacy, to my growing list of “be on the lookout for good deals on” books.

There have been a few moments where I have decided to try to deal with my struggles on my own and every single time I have failed… When it comes to sin and our struggles we cannot do it on our own. Paul writes:

“For the good that I would I do not; but the evil which I would not, that I do. Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me”

Romans 7:19-20

But then in 1 Corinthians Paul explains that in this there is yet hope:

“There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that we may be able to bear it”

1 Corinthians 10:13 KJV

I have found in the last few weeks that the more I seek Christ’s presence and spend time in prayer and meditating on the scripture the less the drives and desires hit me. And in those moments when they do I make an effort to pray, read the scriptures, practice my current memory verse, or turn on a podcast or music that glorifies God. In turning to Him in my moment of weakness He gives me strength.

“And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee; for my strength is made perfect in weakness” 2 Corinthians 12:9a

(2 Corinthians 12:9a)

This morning was one of those mornings… you know those mornings that start out rough and as you start the day it just seems to be getting worse. I woke up feeling tired and with joint pain (I have chronic lyme and I out over did it the last two weekends). I then made the mistake of checking my work email and had to see the reactions to enforcing a recently discovered law. Being a people-pleaser doesn’t work well with working in Human Resources. On those days I have to stop and really remind myself of one very important fact:

My Joy is in the LORD!

My immediate response when I wake up feeling bad or get an email with someone expressing disapproval of something or find out that the dealership I bought my car from didn’t process the paperwork correctly a year ago and now I have to deal with the DMV (that was Sunday’s discovery) is frustration, anger, annoyance, and the tendency to think well today is going to stink. As if that one bad or not so great thing means that nothing good can happen and I might as well stay in bed.

In those moments I found I needed to remind myself of two things:

1.) If my joy is truly rooted in the Lord then my whole day is never ruined by the actions or thoughts of one person, event, or mishap. I can have His joy in the midst of challenge, hardship, and even grief. Despite the change in my circumstances, He has not changed just because my circumstances have. I always want to sing the song from kid’s church “the joy of the Lord is my strength”.

“Then he said unto them, Go your way, eat the fat, and drink the sweet, and send portions unto them for whom nothing is prepared: for this day is holy unto our Lord: neither be ye sorry; for the joy of the Lord is your strength”.

Nehemiah 8:10 KJV

“These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full”.

John 15:11 KJV

2.) I can go to him and cast all my anxieties and care on him. He is my strength and redeemer. He does care for me and will take care of me at all times. This means that when I am frustrated or worried about the thoughts of others my response needs to be to run to Him first and foremost. (Of course that is not usually the case- I am personally a big venter and I want to run and tell the first person I can find about how frustrated I am). He can calm my racing heart and remind me that others not being happy with me is not life or death. It also means that He can help me make it through the day no matter my pain or failing energy.

“Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you”.

1 Peter 5:7 KJV

“The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusted in him, and I am helped: therefore my heart greatly rejoiceth; and with my song will I praise him”.

Psalm 28:7 KJV

No matter how I am feeling or the actions of the others, I will not allow them to steal my joy. My joy is not based on my circumstances or surroundings but on Christ, His blood, His love, and His righteousness. You can find a great Mandisa song on this topic here.

So what do you do? How do you stop dwelling on the bad and think on the good? Here’s what I do?
1.) Think of someone who you know suffering or struggling and reach out to them with an encouraging thought or message. Also, pray for them.

2.) Pray for God to help you through what you are going through. If you are angry at someone or frustrated with someone pray for them. Its amazing how much God can change your heart towards someone when you are praying good things for someone you are angry or not happy with at that moment.

3.) Rejoice and make a list of 5-10 things you are grateful for (or keep going with as much as you can). There is always something that God has blessed us with over which we can rejoice. If nothing else, we can rejoice and be grateful for His blood that He shed for us.

4.) Listen to worship music (one that is not focusing on you bu on the glory and majesty of God or listen to a sermon or podcast that is God-centered.

So in other words, when you are struggling and having a hard time holding onto your joy turn it around and focus on those around you or the greatness of God. Sitting and ruminating on your struggles and hardships tends to lead us down a path of throwing a pity party or being bitter/ angry all day. But focusing on God and others allows us to “redeem” the day so to speak and allow Him to move and work in our life. No day is destined to be totally bad or terrible.

“This is the day which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it”.

Psalm 118:24 KJV

I have always loved reading the book of Psalms in the Bible. It is such a source of encouragement as well as words of prayer, petition, and thanksgiving pouring out. Psalms can also help us understand and grapple with our own emotions in relation to God. I would like to share one of my favorite Psalms: Psalm 27.

These first 3 verses focus on the power of God and how we, who are in Him, can rest secure in the knowledge that if He is for us, then no one can stand against us:

“The LORD is my light and my salvation: whom shall I fear? the LORD is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid.

When the wicked, even mine enemies and my foes, came upon me to eat up my flesh, they stumbled and fell.

Though an host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear: though war should rise against me, in this will I be confident”.

Verse 4 emphasizes our focus on worshiping and reflecting on the LORD.

“One thing have I desired of the LORD, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the LORD, and to enquire in his temple.

In 5-6 we see David yet again stating in confidence that God will protect him and further declaring his intention to praise and worshipping the LORD.

“For in the time of trouble He shall hide me in His Pavillion: in the secret of His tabernacle shall He hide me; He shall set me up upon a rock.

And now shall mine head be lifted up above mine enemies round about me; therefore will I offer in His tabernacle sacrifices of joy; I will sing yea, I will sing praises unto the LORD”.

In 7-9 we see a petition to the LORD and a declaration of prayer. We also see the proclamation of Salvation being through the LORD in the Old Testament.

“Hear, O LORD, when I cry with my voice: have mercy also upon me, and answer me.

When thou saidst Seek ye my face, my heart said unto thee, Thy face, LORD, will I seek.

Hide not thy face far from me; put not thy servant away in anger: thou hast been my help; leave me not, neither forsake me, O God of my salvation”.

Verse 10 is a powerful declaration of God’s great love for us. This verse also has particular meaning to me because of a conversation I had with an elderly man in Nicaragua a few years ago. He and I were talking about his life and upbringing. He was an orphan at a very young age and lived alone on the streets for most of his childhood, teenage years, and young adult years. But, his life changed drastically when God got involved. We then stopped speaking as the service began. Afterwards, he sought me out to bring my attention to this verse. He said this was a key verse in him accepting God and seeking out salvation.

“When my father and my mother forsake me, then the LORD will take me up”.

11-12  are David again making pleas and petitions to God.

“Teach me thy way, O LORD, and lead me in a plain path, because of mine enemies.

Deliver me not over unto the will of mine enemies: for false witnesses are risen up against me, and such as breathe out cruelty”.

Finally, we get to the final 2 verses which focus on the strength of the LORD and Him as the source our strength and courage.

“I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living.

Wait on the LORD; be of good courage, and He shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD”.

I recently finished reading Life Quest: Braving Adulthood with Biblical Passion by Cary Schmidt. Truthfully, I wish I had this book right after I graduated high school or college. While it is still very applicable to my life right now I wish I had read it sooner. This book is a great encouragement to pursue adult responsibilities and to truly grow up both into general maturity and spiritual maturity. This book is filled with so many tidbits of helpful advice grounded in scripture that my copy is literally covered in highlights.

Cary divides the book into three sections. The first is “What’s Holding Us Back? Root Causes of Refusing to Grow Up”. In this section Schmidt details what the current culture is teaching teens and young adults regarding continuing to live their lives as if they are teens and avoiding responsibility as long as they can. He claims “that society no longer provides young people with the moral backbone and the financial wherewithal to take their rightful places in the adult world” (7). Throughout the first section he details why this way of living is a bad idea and in opposition to a Biblical worldview.

Section two is “What’s Waiting for You? The rewards of Embracing Adulthood”. Schmidt uses this section as a time to dig into the rewards of living life as a mature adult especially as a mature Christian. I really appreciate that during these set of chapters, while focusing on the rewards, Schmidt is careful to not paint a rose-colored view. He is clear that while there are rewards of living this way that we will face challenges. In fact he says “As you move forward with God, you can expect the same types of experiences-moments of truth when you are called to faith in action moments when you are required to the right thing even though it’s painful and uncertain” (98).

The final section is entitled “Getting from Here to There: Three Godly Passions of Succesful Adulthood”. This section emphasizes that the key to being able to get to the place that Schmidt has been talking about during the book is all about relationship to God. Spending time seeking and growing in intimacy with Him is the key to being able to have Biblical passion for God and to live a fulfilling and satisfying adult life. In fact all the chapters in this section center on personal intimacy with God and embracing God’s perfect will in our lives.

Overall if you are a young adult (or have a young adult in your life) I highly recommend this book. It is jam-packed with scripture and truly a reminder that as Christians we find our satisfaction and rest in God and not in the pleasures of the World. It is not about how succesful we are in our jobs or at school but instead it is about finding our fulfilment in living out the will of God for our lives and looking to Him as our source of joy and life.