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
Peggy, Queen Creek, “Watch over your heart with all diligence, for from it flow the springs of life.” Prov. 4:23 NASB
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.
Lamentations 3:22-23 NIV
Lisa M, Davidsville, PA
You crown the year with your good blessings,
and you leave abundance in your wake.
Psalm 65:11 NET
And through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.
Colossians 1:20 NIV
Christy, Jonesboro, AR
Hebrews 10:39 NIV-But we do not belong to those who shrink back and are destroyed, but to those who have faith and are saved.
Julie. Hanford, ca. Since he did not spare even his own son but gave him up for all of us, wont he also give us everything else? Romans 8:32 NLT
For the Kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of POWER. ~ I Cor. 4:20 NIV
Martha, Georgetown, TX NLT Matthew 5:4 “God blesses those who mourn, for they will be comforted.”
Kem, Memphis
For the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but power.
1 Corinthians 4:20 (NIV)
2 Corinthians 3:17
New King James Version (NKJV)
17 Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.
“For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come.” NIV
Karlys, La Place, LA
The Lord by wisdom founded the earth;
by understanding he established the heavens;
by His knowledge the deeps broke open,
and the clouds drop down the dew.
Proverbs 3: 19 + 20 ESV
Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is-his good, pleasing, and perfect will. Romans 12:2 NIV
Diera – Austin, TX
“Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.”
Psalm 27:14 NIV
Shelly, Portland, OR
“My prayer for you is that you will overflow more and more with love for others.”
Philippians 1:9 (TLB)
“For the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power.” 1 Corinthians 4:20 NIV
Kelly P., Concord, NC
For the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power. 1 Corinthians 4:20 NIV
Tami
Columbus, Ohio
Sheryl Bkake, Niles, MI- Psalms 62:8 (NIV)
“Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your hearts to him, for God is our refuge.”
Christina
Tyler, TX
Proverbs 4:23 Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it. (NIV)
Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.” James 5:16 NIV
Jeanette Dahm, Tualatin, OR
I have brought you glory on earth by completing the work you gave me to do.
John 17:4
Anna McCollister
New Palestine, IN
Psalm 147:3 ESV
“He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.”
Cindy, Beaumont TX: 1 The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork. 2 Day to day pours out speech, and night to night reveals knowledge. Psalm 19:1-2 ESV
Carla, LaFayette, Al.
Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Deuteronomy 31:6 NIV
Wendy, Fort Walton Beach, FL
Psalm 16:8 NLT
I know the Lord is always with me. I will not be shaken, for He is right beside me.
Keri Lee Robbins in Las Vegas, NV
Where do wars and fights come from among you? Do they not come from your desires for pleasure that war in your members? 2 You lust and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and war. Yet you do not have because you do not ask. 3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures. 4 Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. 5 Or do you think that the Scripture says in vain, “The Spirit who dwells in us yearns jealously”?
6 But He gives more grace. Therefore He says:
“God resists the proud,
But gives grace to the humble.”
James 4:1-6 NKJV
Sherie
The Woodlands, TX
For the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power. 1Corinthians 4:20 NIV
DLynn; Argyle, TX
Ephesians 4:15
Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ.
Alexis, Salem OR
“He forgives all my sins and heals all my diseases. ”
Psalm 103:3 NLT
Bambi-Houston
I admit how broken I am in body and spirit, but God is my strength, and He will be mine forever.
Psalm 73:26 The Voice
Jo, Columbia, Missouri: Philippians 3:13b-14 But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. Philippians 3:13b-14 NIV
Stefanie, Moses Lake, WA
1 Corinthians 4:20 ESV
For the kingdom of God does not consist in talk but in power.
Sharon, Mineola, Texas
“Make me walk along your path of your commands,
for that is where my happiness is found.”
Psalm 119:35, NLT
Cherise, WY: ” Now there is great gain in godliness with contentment, for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world. But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content.” I Timothy 6: 6-8 ESV
Jeanine, Toronto, Canada
“But He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for 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.”
2 Corinthians 12:9 NIV
Carolyn from Ringgold, GA
Psalm 48:14 NLT
For this is what GOD is like
He Is Our God Forever and EVER!!
and He will be our Guide until we die!
Linda, Johnstown, Pa.
I Corinthians 6:19-20a (NIV)
Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price.
Sharon Allen, Redmond, WA
I have been crucified with Christ, it is longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loves me and gave Himself for me. I do not set aside the grace of God; for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain.
Galatians 2:20-21 ESV
Emily S.~ Weatherford, TX~ “When she speaks, her words are wise, and she gives instructions with kindness.”~NLT
Psalm 19:13 (NKJV)
Keep back Your servant also from presumptuous sins;
Let them not have dominion over me.
Then I shall be blameless,
And I shall be innocent of great transgression.
Paulette P. Mays
Elmer, La
Michelle from NOrman, OK “Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth” Philippians 2:9-10 NIV
Leah, KCMO
Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.
Ephesians 3:20-21 NIV
Molly, Gainesville, GA
“We proclaim Him, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone perfect in Christ. To this end I labor, struggling with all His energy, which so powerfully works in me.”
Colossians 1:28-29 NIV
Kimberly, Fresno, CA
“For the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power.”
1 Corinthians 4:20 NIV
He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created.
James 1:18 NIV
Stephanie, Irvine, CA
“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.” (Galatians 5:22-23, NIV)
But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” 2 Cor 12:9a ESV
Shelley, from Bolivar, MO.
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ…” Ephesians 1:3 NKJV
Kay, Sierra Vista, AZ
Colossians 3:1-2, NIV
Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.
Amy; Milton, WA
“This is the day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it.”
Ps. 118:24, ESV