Hey, Sweet Things!
I’m writing this post to you on Saturday night from the seat of a gigantic United Airlines plane on my connect flight from DC back to Houston. The Living Proof Live team and I had the tremendous privilege of serving in Providence, Rhode Island and God worked in such a distinct way that I will remember it for many years. I hope forever. God is doing something different this year at LPL. I don’t quite know how to define it but I have been flat-on-my-face grateful that He is not only still in it but stirring the pot. Not one of us on the team wants to be there a moment longer than Jesus is. We don’t even want Him to make an obligatory “appearance” because He loves us and feels sorry for us after we’ve scheduled all of this. We want the event to be proactively Jesus for His own sake and for His own glory and because it is a delight to Him and because He looks forward to it. Nothing less than that and, if it’s not that, we want Him to move us each elsewhere.
It’s so strange. We began this year looking back to the previous 15 but, by our 3rd event, it was like we all fixed our faces forward as if nothing in the world mattered but what was in front of us. No “yesterday’s plan.” No “yesterday’s work.” This is today. Something is up. Something new to us. There is something liberating and also a little frightening about just saying to Him, “Do what You want, God. Anything You want. We’re in it with You or we’re not in it at all. All bets are off.” Anyway, I’m not sure why I went off on all of that. God just really has my eyebrows high on my forehead right now wondering what He’s doing.
I have a group of about 30 of you Siestas fresh on my mind because we met up quickly after the event for our group picture. These were your northeastern sisters and the cutest things you can imagine. Well, just like all of you are. All ages and types, with this one glorious bond: the lively love of Jesus Christ. I am so crazy about you guys. I cannot fathom the grace of God to have stirred up a community of encouragement in Christ where relationships really do seem to have some substance to them. It’s an anomaly that still isn’t wasted on me.
You have marked my journey of faith. You’ve encouraged me and made me want to keep running my race energetically and earnestly. You’ve helped me get back up even at times when you didn’t know I was down. You have been a harbor of joy, peace, and laughter in an online Christian world that can be astonishingly fractured. You are a corner of courageous gentleness in a culture that has lost its manners.
And, good grief, you guys have impacted my Scripture memory life so dramatically that I hardly have words. After every Living Proof Live when we meet up for our (clandestine) Siesta picture, I always ask, “Will I be seeing any of you in January at our SSMT celebration?” Invariably there are those who answer with infectious enthusiasm, “YES!” It makes me so happy. The previous celebrations have been like a family reunion on steroids. I hope so much you’re staying up with your Scripture memory, saving your money, and planning to head to Houston that weekend. We aren’t really a beautiful city but we’re a happy one and a hospitable one, I believe I can confidently say. And we can offer you Tex Mex at virtually every four way stop. I mean, what more could you want, people?
The verse I’ve chosen this time around is one God seemed to lift from the page of my early morning Scripture reading last Monday. I continued to say it and pray it throughout the week and referenced it several times this weekend in Providence. It’s easy to memorize and it puts a concept in a nutshell that is as vital as breath to us in this believing life we’re living. Here it is:
Beth, Houston. For the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power. 1 Corinthians 4:20 NIV
God is using it to remind me that this thing isn’t about incessant chatter and nonstop Twitter noise and learning to speak fluent Christianese. It’s not tantamount to Bible banter and doctrinal debates and holy hair-splitting. It’s not about getting together at church and threatening week after week to live changed lives and think renewed thoughts. It’s not about getting all lathered up and sweaty-headed at events over theories of effective, influential, and abundant lives. This Christ thing to which we’ve been called is about actually doing it and through an unction not remotely our own.
When the Holy Spirit comes, He comes with power.
Where the Holy Spirit goes, He goes with power.
Whom the Holy Spirit infiltrates, He infuses with power.
Our lives were meant to be powerful. Less talk. More demonstration. Through things like a love that we know good and well is utterly beyond us and a faith that emerges in tact from a minefield soaked in blood and strewn with flesh. We were meant to be able to do what we can’t, like who we don’t, bless who we’d curse. We were promised strength in weakness and extravagant grace in our deprivation.
We were meant to wonder what has derailed or gone awry when a season of our lives persists in powerlessness for weeks on end. We were promised more than this. We’re not meant to write our own personalized chapters in a revised standard version of The Emperor’s New Clothes so the world could have a harder laugh at us. We who have placed our trust in Christ Jesus, the living, breathing-on-us Son of God, have been clothed with power from on high. (Luke 24:49) And it’s supposed to show.
Every limb of our lives where we welcome the Holy Spirit can be infused with strength not of this world and, yes, even in continued weakness or infirmity, should that be the case of our present calling. The coexistence of the two is the mystery of it. We’re not superwomen. We’re a long shot from perfect. But we were meant to be vividly powerful through the One who saved us and made Himself at home in us. Let’s not forget that today. Let’s not be satisfied just to talk about it. Let’s not just clap and cheer during that part of a service when a pastor or teacher tells us we’re called more than conquerors. The New Testament is not the theory of Christianity.
You may feel powerless right now, Sister, but, if you are in Christ, make no mistake: you are not. Get some backbone back in your prayer life if your spiritual spine has deteriorated. With reverence for His holiness and with the boldness He said we could bring to the Throne of Grace, read to God from His Word where He promised His people victory as they looked to Him alone…
…and where He promised to clothe us in power
…and where He said He’d make Himself conspicuous through our spiritual gifts and through supernatural works in His Name.
If you don’t know where those places are, go hunt them down. (But you could start in Romans 8, Luke 24, Acts 1, Acts 2, 1 Corinthians 12 and Hebrews 4.)
Tell Him you’re going to ask for it and ask for it and ask for it in His great Name and for His glory until He gives it to you and frees you from whatever this present powerlessness is. And then DO IT. Ask and ask and ask and tell Him you will do whatever it takes to cooperate and mean it! Throw your hands out to receive. And, then, when He gives it – and He will – don’t take credit for it. Appreciate it. Thank Him and thank Him for it. Know that it’s grace. Use it audaciously to bring Him attention.
Sister, you cannot fulfill your foreordained purpose without power. Go back after it but, whatever you do, don’t try to get it without Jesus coming with it. Power for power’s sake will blow you up. God-given unction isn’t meant to just come and go with periodic personal revival. We were meant to live powerful lives. Let’s get to them. If you’ve got an area of carnality that is quenching it, I promise you it’s not worth it. Believe me, I’ve been there. Repent, turn from it and get on with it. You’ve got a calling. And it takes divine power.
You mean so much to me. Hold tight to Jesus.
Tags: Scripture Memory 2013
Hope from San Antonio, Texas
Psalm 146:17 NIV
The Lord is righteous in all His ways and loving toward all He has made.
Hope from San Antonio, Texas
Psalm 146:19
He fulfills the desires of those who fear Him;
He hears their cry and saves them.
Jen, Katy, TX
For the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power. 1 Corinthians 4:20 NIV
Miriam from Granby, CT
James 1:2 (ESV)
Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds
Janet from Huffman, Texas
Psalm 28:7(ESV)
7 The Lord is my strength and my shield;
in him my heart trusts, and I am helped;
my heart exults,
and with my song I give thanks to him.
Lori
Bangor, Maine
Let the name of God be praised forever and ever, for wisdom and power belong to Him.
Daniel 2:20 (NET)
Jeannine Hale
Eagan, MN
And then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another. Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. But he who endures to the end shall be saved.
Matthew 24:10-13 (NKJV)
Brenda, Houston,TX
Bless the Lord, oh my Lord, O my soul; And all that is within me, bless His holy name!
Psalm 103:1 (NKJV)
Joy in Bethlehem, GA
Joshua 1:9 NIV
Have I not commanded you. Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified. Do not be discouraged for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.
Stacey, Tomball, Psalm 103:19 NIV
The Lord has established his throne in heaven and his kingdom rules over all.
Stephanie
Hamburg, Ar
Luke 19:10 ESV
For the son of man came to seek and to save the lost.
Stephanie
Hamburg, Ar
Romans 3:23 ESV
For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
Apart from me, you can do nothing
John 15:5, NLT
My God will supply every need of yours according to His riches in glory in
Christ Jesus.
Phil 4:19, NLT
Lise, Cumming, GA
I lift up my eyes to the hills, where does my help come from?
My help comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven & earth.
Psalm 121:1-2
(Got it from a devotional, not sure which version)
Worcester, England, UK
Colossians 1:27 NIV
[27] To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.
Debbie in Jacksonville, FL
Let the words of my mouth and the mediations of my heart be acceptable in thy sight O Lord, my strength and my redeemer. Psalm 19:14 KJV
krystal ward
teague, tx
“but just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: be holy, because I am holy.”
1 peter 1:15-16 NIV
Lisa, Charleston, WV
It does not rejoice about injustice, but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. I Corinthians 13:6 (NLT)
Emily, Charleston, WV
When I am afraid,I put my trust in you. In God, whose word I praise,in God I trust; I will not be afraid. What can mortal man do to me? Psalm 56:3-4 (NIV)
Karen, Nampa, ID ” In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.” Hebrews 5: 12-14 NIV
“ow beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news. Who proclaim peace, who brings good tidings, who proclaims salvation, who says to Zion, “Your God reigns!”
Isaiah 52:7 NIV
Tonya
Searcy, AR
So the Israelites moved at the Lord’s command and they camped at His command.
Num 9:18a
NCV
Janet from Huffman, Texas
Genesis 32:26 (NCV)
26 Then he said to Jacob, “Let me go. The sun is coming up.”
But Jacob said, “I will let you go if you will bless me.” 32:26
Sharon in Florien, LA: Guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my savior, and my hope is in you all day long. Psalm 25:5 (NIV)
Lori S from College Station, TX (Elgin)
Psalm 20:7 (NIV)
“Some trust in chariots and some in horses,
But we trust in the name of the LORD our God.”
Jen B., Gaithersburg, MD
“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God.” Ephesians 2:8 NIV
Sarah Sykes, Arkadelphia, AR
Psalms 84:4 (ESV)
Blessed are those who dwell in your house, ever singing your praise! selah
Ellen
TN
And having made peace through the blood
of His cross, by Him to reconcile all things
unto Himself;
by Him, I say, whether they be things of the
earth, or things in heaven. Col. 1:20. KJV
Julene, Cowiche, WA
For the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk, but of power. 1 Corinthians 4:20
Jamieb
Corbin, Ky
James 1:4 ESV
And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.
Lindsay from Tampa:
when worries threaten to overwhelm me, your soothing touch makes me happy.
Psalm 97:19
Scarlett Flynn
Round Rock, TX
For the LORD is righteous, he loves justice; the upright will see his face. (Psalm 11:7, NIV)
Lauren, San Marcos, Tx. “Let love and faithfulness never leave you; bind them around yor neck, write them on the tablet of your heart. Then you will win favor and a good name in the sight of God and man. Trust in The Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight.” Prov. 3:3-6 NIV
Mandeville, LA
Romans 8:28
And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them. (NLT)
Becky from Highland Village, Tx
He will protect his faithful ones, but the wicked will disappear in the darkness. No one will succeed on strength alone. 1 Samuel 2:9 NLV
Tricia
Conroe, TX
“God, make a fresh start in me, shape a Genesis week from the chaos of my life.”
Psalm 51:11, The Message
Monica Pribe, Blacklick OH ” Humble yourselves, therefore under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on Him, because he cares for you.” 1 Peter 5:6-7 ESV
Tanya, Whitewater, KS
“Love never fails [never fades out or becomes obsolete or comes to an end]. As for prophecy (the gift of interpreting the divine will and purpose), it will be fulfilled and pass away; as for tongues, they will be destroyed and cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away [it will lose its value and be superseded by truth].”
1 Corinthians 13:8, Amplified
Albuquerque, NM
Isaiah 40:31
“But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faith”. KJV
Megan JOY – Calgary, Alberta Canada – The LORD your God is with you, He is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing. -Zephaniah 3:17 (NIV)
I know this is the second time I’m doing this verse but I simply did not spend time committed to memorizing it. Please pray I will this time!
Love y’all!!!
NKJV Romans 1:16 “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek”.
Matia, Fort Worth
“Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.” Romans 8:26 ESV
Joni, Port Neches. “And the scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,” and he was called God’s friend.” James 2:23, NIV84
Mandy
Waco, TX
For, Whoever would love life and see good days must keep his tongue from evil and his lips from deceitful speech. He must turn from evil and do good; he must seek peace and pursue it.
1 Peter 3:10-11 (NIV)
Mary
Woodway, Texas
“For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.”
Matthew 11:30 (NLT)
Ashley, Kingwood
“My blessing is on those people who trust in me, who put their confidence in me.”
Jeremiah 17:7 NET
Tara from Bolingbrook,IL
I treasure your word in my heart, so that I may not sin against you.
Psalm 119:11, NRSV
Hannah from Bolingbrook,IL
You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.
Jeremiah 29:13, ESV
Cathy, Jackman, ME NLT
1 Tim 1:5 “The purpose of my instruction is that all believers would be filled with love that comes from a pure heart, a clear conscience and a genuine faith.”
Kim, Littlestown PA. “And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:19 (NKJ)