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
Laura, Katy, TX. I am The Lord, the God of all mankind. Is anything too hard for me?
Jeremiah 32:27
Laura in Carlsbad, CA
” How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, ” How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news! ” Romans 10:14-15 NIV
He restores my soul;
He guides me in paths of righteousness
For His name’s sake.
Psalm 23:1 NASB
Laura Beth, Jackson
Psalm 73: 25-26m NLT
“Whom have I in heaven but you? I desire you more than anything on earth. My health may fail, and my spirit may grow weak, but God remains the strength of my heart; he is mine forever.”
For by Him, all things were created, both in the Heavens and on Earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities – all things have been created through Him and for Him. He is before all things and in Him all things hold together.
Colossians 1:16-17. NIV
Susan Dixson, Charlotte NC
Proverbs 4:23
Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life. NIV
2Corinthians 9:8 NIV
And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all you need, you will abound in every good work.
“Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.” Isaiah 43: 18-19 (NIV)
Pam,Campbellsburg In.
Praise the Lord! Sing to the Lord a new song And His promise in the assembly of saints… Psalm 149;1
NSFL NKJV
Kristin – Jacksonville, AL
And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. (Philippians 2:8 ESV)
Janet from Pearland
James 1:22 NIV 84
Do not merely listen to the word and so deceive yourselves, do what it says.
Kayla Siler
Edmond, OK
Every wise woman builds her house, but a foolish one tears it down with her own hands. Proverbs 14:1 (HCSB)
“Ask me and I will tell you remarkable secrets you do not know about things to come.” – Jeremiah 33:3 NLT
Leigh Ann
Gallatin, TN
“For whosoever shall call upon the name of The Lord shall be saved. ”
Romans 10:13 KJV
Lillian, Vermilion, OH
“People with good sense retrain their anger,
they earn esteem by overlooking wrongs.” Proverbs 19:11(NLT)
Gail Tyler,TX
I will lift up my eyes to the hills-From whence comes my help? My help comes from the Lord, Who made heaven and earth.
Psalm 121:1 NKJV
Becky, The Woodlands, TX For the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power. 1 Corinthians 4:20 (NIV)
Talia, Cincinnati Ohio
That is why I take pleasure in my weaknesses and in the insults, hardships, persecutions, and troubles that I suffer for Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong. 2 Corinthians 12:10 (NLT)
Fairview, TN
You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Matthew 5:14 ESV
Michelle from Norman, OK “The prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise them up. If they have sinned, they will be forgiven”. James 5: 15 NIV
Luke 6:45 (NLT)
A good person produces good things from the treasury of a good heart, and an evil person produces evil things from the treasury of an evil heart. What you say flows from what is in your hear.
Janet, Port Orange (James 1:19) Be quick to listen and slow to anger, (NIV)
Jess R from Katy, Tx is running a few days late!For the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power. 1 Corinthians 4:20 NIV (a good verse for introverts 🙂
The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.
John 10:10 NIV
Becky Jo
Chesterfield, MI
Be patient, therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient about it, until it receives the early and the late rains. You also, be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand.
James 5:7-8 ESV
Heather W, Nederland, TX
Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. (Ephesians 4:2 NIV)
Rey from Charlotte, NC
2 Peter 1:5-8
For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. (NIV)
Amanda, White Hall, AR
In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father. (Matthew 5:16 NLT)
Wanda
Osborn, Missouri
Nehemiah 8:10b (NASB)
Do not be grieved, for the joy of the
LORD is your strength.
Angie, Aberdeen, SD: Proverbs 21: 23 Whoever guards his mouth and tongue keeps his soul from trouble.
Menomonee Falls, WI
And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Phil 4:7 (NIV)
Joyce Grimes
Pace, FL
“Guard, through the Holy Spirit who lives in us, that good thing entrusted to you.”
2 Timothy 1:14
Joyce Grimes
Pace, FL
“Guard, through the Holy Spirit who lives in us, that good thing entrusted to you.”
2 Timothy 1:14 HCSB
Charlene, Waterloo, ON
But you shall receive power (ability, efficiency, and might) when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be My witnesses in Jerusalem and all Judea and Samaria and to the ends (the very bounds) of the earth.
Acts 1:8, Amplified
Sandy from Long Beach, CA.
I have chosen the way of faithfulness;
I have set my heart on your laws.
Psalm 119:30 NIV
Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgement. Hebrews 9:27 NIV
Patsi from Porter
Psalm 91:1-2 He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High Shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress; My God, in Him I will trust.”
I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, and in His Word I put my hope. Ps. 130:5, NIV
“Return to your fortress you prisoners of hope; even now I announce that I will restore twice as much to you.”
Zechariah 9:12 niv
Ange n Keke, Idaho- Ex 15:2 The Lord is my strength and my song.
Carolyn, St. Peters, MO
Rescue me from my enemies, oh Lord, for I hide myself in You. Psalm 143:9 NIV84
Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.
1 Thessalonians 5:18
Sharon from Van,TX
The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and His ears are attentive to their cry.
Psalm 34:15 NIV
Pam; Spring, TX
For the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power. 1 Corinthians 4:20 NIV
“being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus” Phillipians 1:6
NIV
The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous man runs into it and is safe. (Proverbs 18:10 ESV)
Melissa
Waco, TX
“You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven. (Matthew 5:14-16 ESV)
Caroline
Waco, TX
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9 ESV)
Jenna
Waco, TX
For the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power. 1 Corinthians 4:20 NIV
Angie W., Federal Way, WA
“Today, recognize and keep in mind that the Lord is God in heaven above and on earth below; there is no other. Keep His statutes and commands, which I am giving you today, so that you and your children after you may prosper and so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you for all time.”. Deut. 4:39-40 HCSB