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
Wanda
North Canton, Ohio
Be merciful to those who doubt; snatch others from the fire and save them; to others show mercy mixed with fear – hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh.
Jude 22-23 NIV
Robbie
Michigan
Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and of my portion forever.
Psalms 73:25,26 ESV
I love it, Beth!
Patty B, Marysville, OH. For the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power. 1 Corinthians 4:20 NIV
Monica – Cheyenne, WY.
God’s voice thunders in marvelous ways; he does great things beyond our understanding.
Job 37:5 NIV
Vicki, Surprise AZ
The grass withers and the flowers fall,
Vicki, from Grapevine
I repeat, be strong and brave! Don’t be afraid and don’t panic, for I, the LORD your God, am with you in all you do. ~ Joshua 1:9 NET
oops, let me try again!
Vicki, Surprise AZ
“The grass withers and the flowers fall,
but the word of our God endures forever.”
Isaiah 40:8 NIV
Rene’, Cape Girardeau, MO When I said, “My foot is slipping, your lovek, O Lord, supported me. When anxiety was great within me, your consolation brought joy to my soul. Psalm 94:18-19 NIV
Phyllis Amarillo, TX
You are my hiding place; you will protect me from trouble and surround me with songs of deliverance.
Psalm 32:7 NIV
Lamentations 3:22-24 (ESV)
The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases. His mercies never come to an end. They are new every morning. Great is Your faithfulness. “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in Him.”
Hammond, LA
For the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power.
1 Corinthians 4:20 NIV
Gina, Bolivar, MO
“But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.”
Isaiah 40:31 (NIV)
DeeDee in Tallahassee, FL – The angel of God said to him, “Take the meat and the unleavened bread, place them on this rock, and pour out the broth.” And Gideon did so. – Judges 6:20 (NIV)
Laura, Southaven, MS
For all the promises of God find their Yes in him. That is why it is through him that we utter our Amen to God for his glory. 2 Corinthians 1:20 ESV
Jennifer
Lexington, Kentucky
Proverbs 31:23 (CEV)
“Her husband is a well-known and respected leader in the city.”
Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each morning. Lamentations 3:23, NLT
Amy, Snellville GA “being strengthened with all power according to His glorious might so that you may have great enduance and patience” Colossians 1:11 (NIV) Working on the whole section.
Diana from Broken Arrow, OK 2 Thessalonians 1:11-12 NLT “So we keep on praying for you, asking our God to enable you to live a life worthy of his call. May he give you the power to accomplish all the good things your faith prompts you to do. Then the name of our Lord Jesus will be honored because of the way you live, and you will be honored along with him. This is all made possible because of the grace of our God and Lord, Jesus Christ.”
Lisa W, Houston TX
Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. Matthew 7:7, NIV
Anita, Lawrenceville. The Lord is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth. Psalm 145:18 ESV
Michelle Baylerian, Waukesha, WI
But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ,
Phil 3:20 NIV
Kim Rushville, OH
For the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power. 1 Corinthians 4:20 NIV
(being fully persuaded that God has power to do what He has promised Rom 4:21)
Kim, Hickory NC
Psalm 34:19 NIV
A righteous man may have many troubles BUT THE LORD delivers him from them all.
Kim
Warrensburg, MO
James 2:25-26 (NLT)
25 Rahab the prostitute is another example. She was shown to be right with God by her actions when she hid those messengers and sent them safely away by a different road. 26 Just as the body is dead without breath,so also faith is dead without good works.
Deneen-Pittsburgh,PA
“He is my rock and my salvation,
My stronghold;I shall not be shaken.”
Psalm 62:6 NASB
1 Kings 8:23
“…O Lord, God of Israel, there is no God like you in all of heaven and earth. You kee your promises and show your unfailing love to all who obey you and are eager to do your will.” NIV
Hannah from Mt. Holly, NC
“I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you spiritual wisdom and revelation in your growing knowledge of him…” (Ephesians 1:17 NET)
Stacy Carmel, IN. Through Him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge His name. Hebrews 13:15 ESV
Deanne, Laguna Hills, CA
“But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have told you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.”
John 14:26-27 NIV
Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. (Hebrews 4:16 ESV)
All of us, like sheep, have strayed away. We have left God’s paths to follow our own. Yet the Lord laid on Him the sins of us all. Isaiah 53:6 (NLT)
Stacey, Houston,TX
Love the LORD your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the LORD is your life. Deuteronomy 30:20 NIV
LisaT from Boonsboro, Mr
James 1:12 NIV
Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love Him.
Melissa, Katy, Texas, Phillipians 1:9 MSG
So this is my prayer: that your love will fourish and that you will not only love much but well.
Joy – Georgetown, TX – Isaiah 41:13 “For I am the Lord, your God, who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, do not fear; I will help you.” NIV
Find rest, O my soul, in God alone;
my hope comes from him.
Psalm 62:5 NIV
Woodstock, Ga.
For the kingdom of God is not just fancy talk; but it is living by God’s power.
1Corinthians 4:20(NLT)
Brandy, San Angelo, TX
I know the Lord is always with me. I will not be shaken, for he is right beside me ~ Psalm 16:8, NLT
Sara, Sioux City,
I hate them with perfect hatred; I count them my enemies.
Psalm 139:22 NKJV
Jennifer, Cullman, AL
The Lord your God is with you, he is mighty to save, he will take great delight in you, he will rejoice over you with singing. Zephaniah 3:17 NIV
Susan,Bradenton,FL
For the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power.
1 Cor.4:20 NIV
Cara, Highlands Ranch, She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse. Mark 5:26, NIV
Connie from Carterville, IL
“Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man against whom the Lord counts no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit.”
Psalm 32:1-2 ESV
Kathleen
Bernardsville, NJ
Isaiah 26:3 KJV
“thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee; because he trusteth in thee.”
Ps 40:6 Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but my ears you have pierced. NIV84
Bonnie B, Florence, Colorado
“Who, then is the man that fears the LORD?
He will instruct him in the way chosen for him.”
Psalm 25:12 NIV
Camp Onnie…AweKnee this week plus VBS 🙂 grin!!!
Patrice, Elm Grove, WI
Be of one mind, live in peace. And the God of love and peace will be with you.
2 Corinthians 13:11 NIV
Susan- Berryville, VA
looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, (Titus 2:13 NKJV)
Sarah Miller, New Palestine, IN
Let them give thanks to the Lord for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for mankind. (Psalm 107:21 NIV)
Dana, Clarksville
Psalm 138:3 NLT
“As soon as I pray, you answer me; you encourage me by giving me strength.”