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
Sarah, Montrose, CO:
One gives freely, yet grows all the richer; another withholds what he should give, and only suffers want. Whoever brings blessing will be enriched, and one who waters will himself be watered.
Proverbs 11:24-25 (ESV)
Katie Euken
Muscatine, IA
“And those who know your name put their trust in you, for you, O LORD, have not forsaken those who seek you. Psalm 9:10 ESV
Karen, Hartselle, AL
Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God.
Psalms 20:7 (NIV)
Adrienne
Jasper, TN
Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone.
Rom 12:17 NIV
Leah Cullen – Ramona, CA
You are My witnesses, says the Lord, and My servant whom I have chosen, that you may know Me, believe Me and remain steadfast to Me, and understand that I am He. Before Me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me.
Isaiah 43:10 (AMP)
Judy- Maple Valley WA.
Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work in us.
Ephesians 3:20 NIV
Debbie from Holbrook, NY
Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; his love endures forever.
2 Chron. 16:34 (NIV)
oops, that should be 1 Chronicles 😉
7/15 I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, and in His word I do hope. Psalm 130:5 NKJV
Ellen, Albuquerque. Be glad, people of Zion, rejoice in the Lord your God, for he has given you the autumn rains because he is faithful. He sends you abundant showers, both autumn and spring rains, as before. Joel 2:23 (NIV)
Terry
Washington,IL
For the Kingdom of God is not just a lot of talk; it is living by God’s power.
1 Corinthians 4:20 NLT
The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul. The statutes of the law are trustworthy, making wise the simple. Psalm 19:7 NIV
Beverly Pearland, TX
2 Timothy 2:13 NIV
If we are faithless, He will remain faithful, for He cannot disown Himself.
Sarah, Colorado Springs, CO
2 Timothy 2:1
“So you, my son, be strong (strengthened inwardly)in the grace (spiritual blessing) that is (to be found only) in Christ Jesus.”
2 Timothy 2:1 (AMP)
Shannon, Buda TX,
For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him;
Psalm 103:11 NIV
Matt 6:34Do not worry about tomorrow; tomorrow will take care of itself. Sufficient for a day is its own evil.
“I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go;I will counsel you with my loving eye on you.”
Psalm 32:8 | NIV
Jonda, Shakopee, MN
For the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power.
1 Corinthians 4:20 NIV
Alyssa Mochen
Rio Rancho, MM
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.
1 John 1:9 NIV
Tori, Moore OK- 1 Cor. 4:20 NIV “For the Kingdom of God is not a matterof talk but of power.”
WOW, I needed this one Beth!
Melissa, Greensburg, KY – “The LORD nullifies the counsel of the nations; He frustrates the plans of the peoples.” – Psalm 33:10, NAS
Jeanette- Fair Oaks Ranch, TX
Ephesians 3:19 and to know this love that surpasses knowledge- that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. NIV
Joyce Davidson, Big River, Saskatchewan, Canada
“The LORD confides in those who fear him; he makes his covenant known to them.”
Psalm 25:14 NIV 84
Dawn, Dubuque, IA
Ephesians 2:8 “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.”
Jer. 32:27
” I am The Lord, the God of all the people’s of the world. Is anything to difficult for me?”
Cindy, Uvalde, TX
For the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power.
I Corinthians 4:20 NIV
Berni, Albuquerque
“For the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power.” 1 Corinthians 4:20 NIV
Lisa Friedrichs, Frisco Tx – Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life. (Psalms 139:24 NLT)
Jennifer, North Charleston, SC:
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God.
2 Cor. 1:3-4, NIV
Connor, Spicewood, TX
2 Corinthians 12:9-10 NIV 84
But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, my power is made perfect in weakness. Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”
Melissa, Boston
“For the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power.”
I Corinthians 4:20 (NIV)
Phil. 4:13
“And this same God who takes care of me will supply all your needs from His glorious riches which have been given to us in Christ Jesus”.
Frances, Orange, TX
Come near to God and he will come near to you.
James 4:8a NIV
Karen from Indianapolis
Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. Galatians 5:25 NIV
Sandy from Cedar Rapids,Iowa
Psalm 121:5-8(HCSB)
The LORD protects you;
The LORD is a shelter right by your side.
The sun will not strike you by day,or the moon by night.
The LORD will protect you from all harm; He will protect your life.
The LORD will protect your coming and going both now and forever.
Kathleen, Georgetown, TX
Mathew 7:7-8 NIV 84
“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.
Joanne Hill, Orange, TX
Come near to God and he will come near to you.
James 4:8a NIV
Beth, Wynnewood, OK
Those who look to him are radiant; their faces are never covered with shame. Psalm 34:5 NIV
Wow, wow, wow. This blog was the first thing my eyes saw this morn and just what I needed. For a while I forgot it was Beth and it sounded like Jesus speaking straight and sharp to my heart. I was in Greensboro, NC during the recent event when Beth spoke on secrets. And my life was changed for the better. Even on the drive to Greensboro the Lord began to stir a different calling up in me. He spoke powerfully to me during the event. I was delivered from a bonding secret and I did not even know I was in bondage! But almost as soon as I got home the enemy attacked and we have been in battle mode every since. We lost our home to foreclose suddenly, we thought we were in negotiations with our bank. We have a special needs child who is precious to our family but also difficult at times. The enemy attacks thru Matthew often! But everything the enemy has thrown at us God is turning around and using for good in our life. We have experienced God in a way I pray I never forget. Siting our crisis our oldest child, Grant, was clearly and powerfully calledII to ministry. But I have felt stuck, in a lull, afraid to make the next move, frankly a little battle weary. And oddly discontent… Like I am waiting for something. I read recently that when God is getting ready to lay a fresh mantle of annointing on you He sometimes has to dismantle the former things that made up your calling. I feel like I am being dismantled! Reading the Word has been my life line. Not reading to get the question answered but reading to push back the enemy by the Power of the Living Word! Thank you for the reminder that I have the Power of the Living God at work in me!
Sandra, Swainsboro, GA
For the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of
power. 1 Corinthians 4:20 NIV
Elizabeth Meagher Mechanicsville, VA
“He will cover you with His feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge; His faithfulness will be your shield and rampart.”
Psalm 91:4, NIV
1 Thess 5:19, NIV
Do not quench the Spirit
Frances, Orange, TX
Come near to God and he will come near to you.
James 4:8a NIV
Amy, Buda, TX
“For the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power.”
1 Corinthians 4:20 NIV
For HIS invisible attributes, namely, HIS eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. Romans 1:20 ESV
Suzann Benson
Kingwood WV
April Lopez, bonneylake, wa
The Lord will fight for you, and you shall hold your peace and remain at rest. Exodus 14:14 amp
Emmilianna Ferreria, Bonneylake, wa
Be joyful because you have hope. Be patient when trouble comes. Pray at all times. Romans 12:12 icb
Deanna, Frisco
Psalm 34:5 (NIV)
Those who look to him are radiant;
their faces are never covered with shame.
Lisa, West Des Moines, IA “Fix your thoughts on what is true and honorable and right. Think about things that are pure and lovely and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.” Philippians 4:8 (NLT)
Romans 10:8-9 But what does it say? “The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart,” that is, the word of faith we are proclaiming: That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
1 John 5:4 NASB
“For whatever is born of God overcomes the world, and this is the victory that has overcome the world – our faith.”
Rachel, Mt. Carmel, PA
Colossians 3:12, NIV – “Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience.”