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
Janice in Abbeville, Al
“Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you.”
James 4:8a (NKJV)
Carolyn, St. Catharines, ON
Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart. Psalm 37:4 (ESV)
Katy
Mount Juliet, TN
“Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, when it is in your power to act.”
-Proverbs 3:27
Debbie – Prattville, AL
O Israel, put your hope in the Lord – now and always.
Psalm 131:3
NLT
Becca, St. Paul, MN, Jeremiah 32:27 NLT:
“I am the LORD, the God of all the peoples of the world. Is anything too hard for me?
Kris – Westbrook, Maine
Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor. If either of them falls down, one can help the other up. But pity anyone who falls and has no one to help them up. Ecclesiastes 4:9-10 NIV
Melissa from Goshen, KY…
But honor the Messiah as Lord in your hearts. Always be ready to give a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you.
1 Peter 3:15 (HCSB)
Michele Powell Nampa, ID
Psalm 73:26 (NIV)
My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.
Beth,Troy
“Be careful how you think; your life is shaped by your thoughts.”
Proverbs 4:23(GNT)
Cynthia, Virginia
15 He is the image of the invisible God,
the firstborn over all creation.
16 For everything was created by Him,
in heaven and on earth,
the visible and the invisible,
whether thrones or dominions
or rulers or authorities—
all things have been created through Him and for Him.
17 He is before all things,
and by Him all things hold together.
Col 1:15-17
Pamela, New Bern NC
for this God is our God: He will be our guide for ever and ever even unto death.
PS. 48:14 ASV
Rhonda – Houston
Fear not, for I am with you; I will bring your offspring from the east,and from the west I will gather you. I will say to the north, Give up, and to the south, Do not withhold; bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the end of the earth, everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made.” Isaiah 43:5-7 ESV
Julie Hodges San Angelo TX
So the word of the Lord continued to increase and prevail mightily.
Acts 19:20
James 1:5 NIV
If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him.
Suzy Myers
Bay Springs, MS
“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)
Melissa, San Antonio, TX
For there is one body and one Spirit, just as you have been called to one glorious hope for the future. Eph 4:4 (NLT)
Glenna, Cumberland house, Saskatchewan, Canada
My health may fail, and my spirit may grow weak, but God remains the strength of my heart; he is mine forever. (Psalms 73:26 NLT)
Around July 1st my hometown was evacuated due to flood warnings. It was crazy and chaotic. Long story short, we did not flood but in the midst of everything I didn’t pick a verse until later and just forgot to post it. So here is my verse for July 1st
Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you your heart’s desires. (Psalms 37:4 NLT)
Brenda, Byhalia, MS 2 Corinthians 12:9 Amplified
But He said to me, My grace (My favor and loving-kindness and mercy) is enough for you [sufficient against any danger and enables you to bear the trouble manfully]; for My strength and power are made perfect (fulfilled and completed) and [a]show themselves most effective in [your] weakness. Therefore, I will all the more gladly glory in my weaknesses and infirmities, that the strength and power of Christ (the Messiah) may rest (yes, may [b]pitch a tent over and dwell) upon me!
Shelli, Karalee, Katelyn; Royse City, TX: Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.
Lisa Curtis
Jackson, MO
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. 1 Peter 1:3 NIV
Laura,Houston: Isaiah 29:19a (ESV)
“The meek shall obtain fresh joy in the LORD.”
Melissa
Grand Junctuon, CO
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Matthew 11:28-30 NIV
Melanie Miller, Nampa, Idaho
Psalm 25:13 NLT
They will live in prosperity, and their children will inherit the Promised Land.
Debra, San Antonio, TX.
The fruit of that righteousness will be peace; its effect will be quietness and confidence forever.
Isaiah 32:17 NIV
Melissa from Ft. Worth, TX-“I glorified You on the earth, having accomplished the work which You have given Me to do.” John 17:4 (NASB)
Nancy
Barboursville, WV
“All these blessings will come on you and accompany you if you obey the Lord your God”
Deuteronomy 28:2 NIV
Yanna, Bryan, Texas ” I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well.” Psalm 139:14 ESV
Rebecca, Chattanooga, TN
He who sits in the heavens laughs; the Lord holds them in derision. Then he will speak to them in his wrath, and terrify them in his fury, saying, “As for me, I have set my King on Zion, my holy hill.”
Psalm 2:4-6 ESV
Melissa, LaGrange, GA (NASB)Isaiah 54:17
“No weapon that is formed against you will prosper; And every tongue that accuses you in judgment you will condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, And their vindication is from Me,” declares the Lord.
Jane Mattox from Lubbock, Texas: “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” Jeremiah 29:11 NIV
in Arizona – Isaiah 46:9, 10
Remember the former things of old, for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is noon like Me, declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things that are not yet done, saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will do all My pleasure.’
jc, Frisco, Tx
7/1/13
Judges 6:23 (NCV)
“But the LORD said to Gideon, “Calm down. Don’t be afraid! You will not die!”
7/15/13
2 Thessalonians 1: 3-4 (NCV)
3: We must always thank God for you, brothers and sisters. This is only right, because your faith is growing more & more, and the love that every one of you had for each other is increasing.
Susan,Fairhope,Al- Continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to His good purpose. Philippians 2:12b-13 (NIV)
Jennifer Kirkes, Denham Springs, LA
“Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.” Hebrews 10:23, NASB
Beth, Story City,IA
“even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.”
Ephesians 2:5-6, NKJ
jc, Frisco, Tx
7/1/13
Judges 6:23 (NCV)
“But the LORD said to Gideon, “Calm down. Don’t be afraid! You will not die!”
7/15/13
2 Thessalonians 1: 3 (NCV)
3: We must always thank God for you, brothers and sisters. This is only right, because your faith is growing more & more, and the love that every one of you had for each other is increasing.
Luann, Grand Junction CO
John 15:12-13 (New International Version)
12 My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. 13 Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.
Connie Windham
Trout, LA
1 Corinthians 4:20 NASB
For the kingdom of God does not consist in words but in power.
Gena Gilbert, Rowlett, Texas
“So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.” Corinthians 10:31 NIV
Beth, thanks so much for posting this verse and sharing with us! I needed the reminder!
Susan, Atlanta, GA
For the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power.
I Corinthians 4:20 NIV
Cindy, Fort Worth, TX
Psalm 62:8
Trust in, lean on, rely on, and have confidence in Him at all times, you people; pour out your hearts before Him. God is a refuge for us (a fortress and a high tower). Amplified Bible
Jill, Searcy AR
“Put on the full armor of God, so that you may be able to take a stand against the devil’s schemes.”
Ephesians 6:11 NIV
Susan, Greensburg, Indiana:
He has shown you, O man, what is good; And what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God. Micah 6:8 NKJV
Angie
Albertville, AL
No longer do I call you slaves, for the slave does not know what his master is doing: but I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you. John 15:15 NASB
Ally, Searcy AR
“Put on the full armor of God, so that you may be able to take a stand against the devil’s schemes.”
Ephesians 6:11 NIV
Julie/Deer Park/Commit to the Lord whatever you do and your plans will succeed. Proverbs 16:3 NIV
Ephesians 6:11 NKJ
Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
Psalms 63:5NIV
My soul will be satisfied as with the richest foods; with singing lips my mouth will praise you.
Kylie, Wichita, KS
Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you. James 1:21 NIV