HIATUS

This is that last post until spring....April.
Feel free to chat here if you'd like.  I'll check once in a while to see if you have left any comments.
I love you all so much.
Lisa

PURIFY LONGING EXPECTATION

How about this freezing weather?  Where in the world did the global warming go?  I heard tell from the same folks who promote global warming that we are now entering into the ice age that will remedy the vast ice melt that we have experienced in global warming!!! Don’t get me started! It is an amusement, though.  We can have confidence in the Creator of this planet that HE will sustain it for us. I will do my small part but let the Master 

Designer do the maintenance. Wow, side bar!

Do you ever have a longing to go south at this time of the year?  Since the “ice age” began last month, my thoughts go to a place where it is warm with sunshine.  It is a place where I would love to be outdoors much of the time.  I go into hibernation mode about now, something that is not good AT ALL for a woman my age. It takes an act of self discipline to even run errands, no less get to the gym and go for a walk!  I know, for you on this blog that are half my age, you are probably thinking I’m a wimp…could be!

This morning as I was meditating on the second part of 1 John 3:2, I have developed a new longing for my perfection to come as a believer. In love, God gives me a chance to anticipate His appearing. He motivates and excites me about His appearing.  He says in 1 John 3:2 that, as God’s child I don’t know exactly what I’m in for, “But we do know that we will be like him, for we shall see him as he really is.”   Pastor Mike gave three batches of scripture to fill in some of the gaps.

In Philippians 3:20, 21 we are encouraged about our physical change: “But our citizenship is in heaven.  And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.” Whew! A glorious body…I don’t have a good picture in my mind of what it will be like, because it is probably ill-perceived, but I know my glorious body won’t get sick, ache or run down!  So, I’m shouting Hallelujah!

1 Corinthians 15:50,51  tells that my changed self will be raised imperishable, incorruptible, immortal! That is certainly something to which I look forward!

Psalm 17:15 was picturesque to me. “And I---in righteousness I will see your face; when I awake, I will be satisfied with seeing your likeness.” The wording almost makes me think that David’s pondering bred awe and longing. Awaking from the sleep of death, he would IN RIGHTEOUSNESS, see Christ’s likeness….without a sin nature, IN RIGHTEOUSNESS, sinless like Jesus! I am nearly breathless with that.  Oh, how I long to be sinless, righteous like Jesus!  And I won’t want another thing but to see Him.

Now the very cool realization here comes in verse 3. “And all who have this eager expectation will keep themselves pure, just as he is pure.” This longing and expectation of Jesus’ appearing and my subsequent change into His likeness is what purifies me, just as He is pure. This is the answer to the question of, “How do I live till then in my fallible, corroding, sinful body?” “Where is the victory today?” “I cannot do this righteous living thing!” The answer to all of this is to have the eager expectation of His appearing at the forefront of the mind.

 

The forefront of the mind is a battleground for sure.  The thought life is where the flesh succumbs to temptation giving birth to sin.  Watch what the mind’s focus on the appearing does for the walk of the believer. Titus 2:11- 13 “For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men.  It teaches us to say, “No,” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope---the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ.” (bold italics mine.)  That longing permits me to say, along with Paul, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day---and not only to me but also to all who have long for his appearing.” 2Timothy 4:7-8 (bold italics mine). I can have confidence that my pursuit will be rewarded because of the purifying longing for His appearing.  It will have kept me busy to fight a good fight and win a good race and keep the faith.

I looked at the practicality of day to day focusing that is taught in Colossians 3:1-4.  Setting my mind and heart on things above with Christ and God in heaven, keeps truth of who and what I am in Christ at the forefront of my mind’s eye. Then, “when Christ, who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.” Verse 4.  The verses that come after this are the imperatives of the life lived for the Lord.  However, they cannot be accomplished without the mind being fixed on God, Christ, heaven and His glorious appearing! That is what is going to purify my walk!  The conscious fixing of our minds on those things make possible the walk in life in the imperatives.

 

My business is to focus on the loving relationship the Father desires with me. Relationship. Loving Him back. I’ll walk and talk with Him, longing for the day I’ll see His glorious face, feel His loving hands cup my face, and hear Him say, “I love you. You’re home. Welcome to glory.”

Come quickly, Lord Jesus!

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LAVISH LOVE

1John 3:1-3

My heart and spirit where on such a spiritual sprint on Sunday during the sermon, I almost had to get up and sprint around the back of the church!  Of course, being me, instead of that open display, which may very well have gotten me escorted out of the building and my husband kicked out of church leadership, I just sat and wept tears of gratitude realizing the provision of God’s lavish love.

1 John 3:1 describes how God gave His love….in my bible version, NIV, he LAVISHED His love on us. When I think of lavish, I think of the flowers I saw all over the island of Kauai. I remember the view from the deck of my brother’s ranch house in the Colorado Rockies.  I remember seeing one of my babies on an ultrasound just two days after I found out I was pregnant with their heart just ticking away! Love lavished on me to even have senses to appreciate all this!

God has provided for my salvation from time immemorial.  One of the ministries of the Savior is outlined in Isaiah 61:1-3.

¹ The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, 
   because the LORD has anointed me 
   to proclaim good news to the poor. 
He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, 
   to proclaim freedom for the captives 
   and release from darkness for the prisoners,^[a] 
2 to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor 
   and the day of vengeance of our God, 
to comfort all who mourn, 
 ³ and provide for those who grieve in Zion— 
to bestow on them a crown of beauty 
   instead of ashes, 
the oil of joy 
   instead of mourning, 
and a garment of praise 
   instead of a spirit of despair.

Christ was sent, in the past tense, for the ministry of binding up the brokenhearted…from the Sovereign Lord, the Father.  In Beth Moore’s bible study, Breaking Free, she taught that the Hebrew word for “sent” meant to “be shot forth”.  In Psalm 127:3-4, God calls sons, arrows in the hands of a warrior.  John 3:16,17 “For God so loved the world that he sent (shot forth) His only Son (that arrow), that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. For God didn’t send (shoot forth) His Son (arrow) into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him.” (Parentheticals are mine.) I need to quote to you what and how Beth illustrated this unfathomable love and ministry of the Savior to us:

“John 3:17 tells us God gave His Son for the salvation of the people by sending Him into the world. You see, God only had one arrow in His quiver.  The most perfect arrow ever to exist. This arrow was a masterpiece, priceless to Him.  Cherished far above all the hosts of heaven.  Nothing could compare.  His only heritage.  His only Son.  But as God looked on a lost world--desperate, needy, and in the clutches of the enemy-- His heart was overwhelmed.  Though we sinned miserable against Him, few sought 

Him. God could not love us less.

“Love reached sacrificially into the quiver and pulled out the solitary arrow.  The quiver would now be empty, His cherished arrow in the hands of hateful men.  Yes, God so loved the world, but God also loved His only begotten Son with inexpressible, divine affection.  The divine dilemma: two loves. And one would demand the sacrifice of the other.  Only one weapon could defeat the enemy of the world- God’s arrow.  He positioned the weapon, pulled back the bow, steadied His grip, aimed straight for the heart. “And she brought forth her first born son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger.  Luke 2:7.”

By that lavish love, God calls me His child!  He made provisions for me!  Sacrificial provision for my salvation, adoption, and inheritance as one of His children!  I’m doing a dance!

Be back tomorrow exploring how God’s love affects my future. Then in one last post I hope to talk about connecting God’s love to my present.

But here’s a question: Ever had the lavish love of the Lord bind up your broken heart? Has He ever revealed Himself such that your heart couldn’t resist His lavish love and you just had to relinquish the open wound in your heart for healing? If you are comfortable, share, would you?  It would be a great encouragement to all of us.