Here Comes The Bride...

It is June and the wedding month is drawing to a close. I have really enjoyed seeing all of the wedding pictures on Facebook, especially of young men and woman that I have taught in the past! The happiness that I see on their faces is contagious...seriously, I can't look at them without smiling myself!
                            
All of the bridal and wedding pictures make me think of the Church as well. Scripture calls the Church the Bride of Christ. When I think about this, I wonder how He feels about the way we are preparing ourselves for the sweet day when the bride has made herself ready and it is time for the marriage of the Lamb.

As I look at the pictures of the beautiful brides having their hair and make-up done and as they slip into the beautiful gowns, I wonder if our sweet Lamb of God sees beauty in our preparation.Sometimes I wonder if instead of a smile, we bring Him sorrow.

So I have been praying and thinking about what I can do to bring beauty to the Church as we prepare for our Lord. And my mind keeps coming back to all of the scripture that says the desire of the Lord is that the Church is unified.

                                      

Sometimes as I look around, I don't feel like we are very unified. One of the main reasons God wants us unified is that through our unification the world can see Him and how much He loves them. 

That is not how the world sees us right now.

So in my ramblings of confusions and confessions, I have come up with a list that I am going to use for myself. A list of things to think about and do with the intent of working towards making myself a more unified part of the body of Christ.

Social Media: I love Facebook! I love the pictures, the ideas, the people I am able to stay in contact with...I just love it! But I also see danger prowling around. So I have made some guidelines for myself when using social media

•  I will not begin or participate in any type of religious debate, no matter how right I think I am. No argument is ever won on Facebook. All we do when we argue religion on Facebook or Twitter or whatever is feed into discord. If there is an issue that needs to be confronted, I will follow the Biblical model for going to my brother or sister (Matt. 5:23-24, 18:15-17). And I will always keep in mind Mark 9:38-41.
• I will not post anything political. I have candidates that I support and issues I feel passionately about, but again, nothing is ever won by arguing on social media. If I believe strongly in a candidate or issue, I will support them with my time and/or money where it is most likely I will make a difference. If I have a friend and we enjoy political debating, I will invite them over for dinner!
• I will never...never purposefully say anything derogatory about any other person, group of people, nation, etc. 

Let me explain just a little bit of why I believe this is such an important step to take. When I have been in situations where I am blessed to be able to evangelize, at times I have been asked the question of which Bible is correct. Being thrown off  by this question at first, I figured out that the confusion was with Christians on Facebook arguing over "hot topics." The assumption was that since Christians could not agree on Biblical issues, they must have different Bibles. 

Though we will always have issues we disagree over we need to be mindful that sometimes people read our posts and they don't know all of the religious jargon we have made up and our conflicting opinions can certainly give the appearance of disunity. 

                             

My Mouth: Boy howdy does this get me into trouble!! For some reason it tends to follow me everywhere! :)

• When I speak of other Christian denominations, I will not speak negatively. So much is revealed in scripture that we clearly agree on and that unites us, why should I dwell on the differences of opinion we have for all of the other stuff! I have been reading a book called "The Imitation of Christ" and there is a quote in there that I love.... "What good is much discussion of involved and obscure matters when our ignorance of them will not be held against us on Judgment Day?"  
• Sometimes there are time when we must deal with teachings that are against scripture. Those can't be ignored. I will deal with it using the Biblical model and go to the leadership in that denomination or local church. What I won't do is complain about it to others when I have not done what I am called to do by going to their leadership.
• Instead of my mouth being known for what I am against, I want it to be used to tell people what I am for! I should evangelize more than I argue or disagree. Unfortunately, right now, I am not able to say I do that.
• If I won't back my mouth up with my resources (time and/or money) I will keep it shut.

                                      

Involvement: The Body of Christ, the Bride of Christ, needs each of us in order to function in the way we were intended. 

• I will pick a local church and get involved...and stay involved! Unless the Lord calls me somewhere else, they are stuck with me! :)
• Realize that the local church where I meet is not about a certain pastor or worship leader...it is about being a part of the body of Christ. Pastors and worship leaders, though great, may come and go, our dedication is to the body of Christ.
• Building my local church up will be my calling, not bringing it down. Most complaints I will keep to myself and pray for God to give me a spirit of contentedness. If there are complaints that need to be expressed I will follow the Biblical model for bringing that before the correct person and I will also proceed with a heart of love, not a heart that just wants to be heard or be right.

                               

Heart: God has a heart for the lost... the Church has a heart for the lost...therefore I must have a heart for the lost.

• Remember that my battle is not against flesh and blood, but it is against the rulers and principalities of this dark age (Eph 6:12). 
• I have found that the Lord softens my heart for the lost when I spend time reading His Word. That is also where He fills me up so that He can use me to pour into others!
• True love only comes through the Father, because He is love. It is easy to confuse other emotions and feelings I have with love, but it only comes from being one with God. When I am not sure if I have a loving heart I just compare it to the Biblical definition of Love...is it patient, kind, humble, etc. ? (1 Corinthians 13:4-7)

       

There is a final thing that I try to keep in mind...most people don't really care about my opinion, and most of the time they shouldn't! Kinda a weird statement to have on my opinion blog isn't it??!! Ha!!

But seriously, my opinion is not worth very much. I'm not really going to make a difference to most people just by sharing it. So what I try to do is take the things that I do feel are important and put my resources into them.

Paul says in 1 Corinthians 9:19-23, "Though I am free and belong to no one, I have made myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible. To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law. To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s law), so as to win those not having the law. To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some. I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings."

My goal here on earth is not to win political arguments and governments, these will all pass and fade. I need to focus on the eternal as opposed to the temporal, the works prepared for me as opposed to the works I create. 

Kinda like what we talked about before, as opposed to feeding into brokenness and disagreement by just spouting out words, I will try to take my time, my resources, and my money and put them into the things that matter. I want to be a Kingdom builder, not just a Kingdom announcer!

At the end of the day, I have a deep desire to be a part of bringing the body before Christ and presenting it as a beautiful, unified bride. One that has waited with anticipation for the day when we are presented in full splendor to the one we adore. One that He will look upon and say "well done my good and faithful servant!" (Matt 25:21)

                              

I know that the Lord wants His church unified and I know that I want to please Him...I want that with every fiber of my being. I truly believe that if we all join together, even just taking little steps, we can follow the heart of our Lord and draw all tribes, tongues, and nations to Him!

"He who testifies to these things says, "Yes, I am coming soon." Amen. Come, Lord Jesus" (Rev 22:20)

Oh yes!!  Come Lord Jesus and find your Bride beautifully waiting for You!!

Crossing the Red Sea

I was baptized this past Sunday at my church.  I had been baptized before, but after studying it a bit more in-depth I learned so much that I did not know that I decided to do it again.

This might sound a little strange to some of you and I understand!  Though I really believe that my original baptism was done in complete obedience for the external reasons the Bible mentions, I wanted to have the experience again with the knowledge of the internal reasons God calls us to the water.

After several days trying to come up with the words to express what an incredible experience it was, the Lord and I wrote a poem about it!!

My Holy Father, I heard Your voice,

You were calling to me, giving me a choice.

I accepted Your call with the faith of a child.

You grabbed a hold, but my spirit was wild.

Over years You taught me when I took time to hear,

I head Your direction, which way I should steer.

But as the years wore on, a flame lit in my soul.

A flame that led me to realize that You can make me whole.

My brain knew the steps that You wanted me to take,

But my wild spirit teetered, threatening to break.

Then You fanned the flame that You planted in my heart,

And it began to burn for You and for Your Word to impart.

You entered my thoughts at a more frequent pace.

Instead of just drinking I began to taste.

To learn who You are, and not just Your name,

To live life for You, not just play the game.

I know that You have been here all along,

But there's a difference between just listening and singing the song.

Now I look to the time where we sit down together

And You tell me stories that speak to forever.

Time I can just listen and learn about You,

How Your voice sounds, Your movements, responses, what You do.

And the more I get to know You, the more I want to know.

You are so faithful to reveal and willing to show.

I heard You call me to that precious water once more,

But I hesitated because I've been there before.

But as we met together you helped me to see,

That you were calling me back for You and for me.

"The external symbol to show people your choice,

Is also something more personal" said my Father's voice.

So, though I was nervous, I went to obey

Because in His presence I wanted to stay.

Sunday morning we met as we sang about grace,

As I met Him I had tears covering my face.

Never have I been so anxious to go

And get in the water, it was moving too slow!

When finally my turn came and I stepped in the trough

I stopped trying to wipe all of the tears off.

Though the hands that lowered me had human appear,

It was my sweet Lord that pulled me up from there.

And as I crossed the Red Sea dry as a bone,

My Jesus was waiting to welcome me home.

Dry as I entered, now coming up wet,

I opened my soul and the Father I met.

Something supernatural happened as I was buried alive.

In an instant there, a part of me died.

But as I broke the water's surface and I came through

There was a resurrection of life and all things were made new.

Now that flame is consuming my heart and my soul,

And though I died in the water, I came up whole.

God is GOOD!!!

I Despised The Church

I despised the church.

I'm not sure if it was leftover hurts from when I was a teenager, or confusion over the purpose of the church.  It doesn't really matter because I did everything I could to stay out of it. Throughout college I don't really think I attended even one service on my own accord. I loved the Lord, or I felt what I thought was love, but I did not love his bride, the church.

Then I met this handsome guy. Oh the things we do for handsome guys when we are in college!

Church was important to him...very important.  So I went.  And I only went because of him. 

For years into our marriage I continued to fight the idea of church.  I would go, but it was always with my heels dug firmly in the ground.  When we had children I knew that it was important for them to have a foundation in the Word and I knew church would play an important role in that so we continued to go, but I still was not all that pleased about it.

You see, I thought that the church was there to take care of the believers.  So I felt like churches let me down.  I was hurt and angry and very judgmental of the church. 

But then as the years went on the Lord started to teach me about the church and what it was and what it was called to do.  I learned that the church is made up of people, imperfect, sinful people.  Because of this the church will never be able to fill the needs and hurts that I was looking for it to fill, but God could. So I started to allow Him access to areas of my life that I had duct-taped over just to hold it together.

                                                        

The next thing the Lord taught me was that the church was there for more than just to take care of the believers.  The church is there to glorify Him! And when the church does this in unity, it is the most powerful tool we have to spread the love of Jesus and His Word with the world.

John 17: 22-23
"I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one- I in them and you in me-so that they may be brought to complete unity.  Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me."

And in the book of Isaiah we learn that "If you do away with the yoke of oppression, with the pointing finger and the malicious talk, and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness and your night will become like the noonday." 58:9b-10

God showed me that you can't truly have a heart for the lost unless you have a heart for His church! Church is more than just a place to learn a few things or get meals while you are sick.  Church is a weapon and a tool!

I am learning every day more and more about the purpose of the church and God's calling on our lives as believers. But I can tell you that my thoughts about the church have changed.  Sometimes it is easy to feel judged and to then become judgmental ourselves about things that are not of Kingdom importance. Sometimes it is easier to just stay home as opposed to getting everyone out the door to attend a church function.  

Hear me clearly..."Our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms."  Ephesians 6:12

Your battle is not against the lady that you don't like sitting two pews in front of you.  It's not against the teacher that you disagree with. And it is not against the pastor that you find nap worthy.  No, it's against the enemy and he wants nothing more than to destroy the bride of Christ, Jesus' church.

See this for what it is, a battle.  If we will unite in Christ and in His love the world will know who has sent us! If we put away our pointing fingers and malicious talk and instead throw ourselves into serving the poor and the oppressed, our light will make the night become like noon!

The Lord loves His Church...and we need to decide, do we want to be a part of building it up or tearing it down?