Get Over It

Seriously...I don't understand why Christians get their panties in a twist when the world hates on them.  I have a news flash for all my fellow Jesus-lovers out there.  HE TOLD US IT WOULD HAPPEN. 

He told us Here: "And you will be hated by all for My name's sake.  But he who endures to the end will be saved." Matt 10:22

And Here:  "If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you.  If you were of the world, the world would love its own.  Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you ouut of the world, therefore, the world hates you." John 15:18

Yeah.  He gave us fair warning that the world wouldn't like us.  We were prepared for it.  It shouldn't surprise us, and we shouldn't take such offense when it happens.  It's basically a promise.  If we love Jesus, the world will hate us.  And why does the world hate us?  Because the world belongs to our enemy, Satan.  He is called "ruler of this world" in John 12:31, and "prince of the power of the air" in Ephesians 2:2.  And in 2 Corinthians 4:3-4, Paul writes, "But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, whose minds the god of this age (meaning Satan) has blinded, who do not believe, les the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them."

So...the world belongs to the devil, and we belong to Christ.  Just as Satan hates Jesus, so the world hates us.

What I REALLY don't understand why Christians feel the need to hate on the world in retaliation.  This is something that has never made sense to me.  The world will always behave as the world.  They have no Light.  They don't have the Truth in them.  They don't have the Love of God in them.  The Bible tells us that because the world did not honor Him, "Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves." Romans 1:24.

When the world falls into abortion, homosexuality, fornication, and all sorts of sins, WHY OH WHY OH WHY do we yell and scream and get angry?  Why do we judge?  Why do we hate?

No, SERIOUSLY!

THEY DON'T KNOW ANY BETTER!!!  And hating them and hating on them doesn't do a lick to change the circumstances.  In fact, it has the polar opposite effect.  It usually makes them close ranks and lambast us for being over-pious, and holier-than-thou, which, I'm sorry folks, is ALMOST ALWAYS TRUE.  I'm sorry if I'm stepping on toes or offending people right now, but this is that bald truth of the matter.

We are too busy being offended and offending in return, and that we can't see we're doing more harm than good.  I'm not saying we should tolerate these things in our own homes or our own lives.  If a TV show has a gay couple on it and that offends you, don't write in a twelve-page letter to the TV station lambasting them for forcing a gay couple down your throat.  It will only accomplish two things: 1) convince them that all Christians are closed-minded and judgmental.  2) Hinder the executives from experiencing the Love of Jesus.  Just change the channel or turn the TV off completely.  The last thing we need to do is HELP our enemy by attacking him in the same way he attacks us.

How do you defeat darkness? With Light.  How do you defeat lies?  With Truth.  How do you defeat hate?  With love.  How do you defeat Satan?  With Jesus.

So...get over it.  Get over the offenses.  Get over the hatred.  Get over the insults and slander.  They'll never stop coming so long as the Lord tarries His return.  Instead of getting angry and being hateful, try this instead:

"Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse...Repay no one evil for evil.  Have regard for all good things in teh sight of all men...Beloved do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath, for it is written, 'Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,' says the Lord.  Therefore 'If your enemy hungers, feed him; If he thirsts, give him a drink; For in so doing you will heap coals of fire on his head.' Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good." Romans 12:14,17,19-21

Don't Rib Me

So...for the past three and a half weeks or so, I have been battling one of the bugs that went around here in East Texas.  Everyone seemed to have it, and most of us thought it was sinuses because the weather in late Feb and early March was so insane.  Freezing for three days, then the next day it would be 65 degrees.  Then it would freeze again, and then it would be nice again...and so on and so forth until we all, (or at least I) figured that our bodies were all out of whack because of the crazy weather.  Anyway, this junk was going around around, and mine conveniently settled into my lungs. 

Yes...I was really excited about that.  I was excited that because of the coughing, I wasn't able to lead worship at church.  I was excited about doubling over and coughing so hard I gagged.  I was excited about having to sleep on my back instead of my stomach so i wouldn't suffocate from all the congestion.  (BTW...this entire paragraph is sarcasm.)

I don't like medicine.  I don't go to doctors.  I am one of those strange people who completely trust Jesus for my health and healing.  I figure, He promised it to me, and if His promises are "yes and amen" (2 Cor 1:20), and if God cannot lie (Numbers 23:19), then who am I to say otherwise?  So, I bore the coughing fits, sucked on hundreds of cough drops (which do very little for congested lungs by the way), and just trusted that when He was ready to heal me, He'd heal me.  I will admit that I did take Tylenol Sinus when I went to sleep, just so I could sleep.  But during the day, I didn't take anything. 

People kept telling me, "Kasidee, you should go to the doctor."  "That sounds like it could turn into bronchitis."  "You should take something for that." But I would just shrug and say, "I don't go to doctors" or "Jesus is my Healer."  I know everyone thought I was crazy.  Especially when I actually coughed so hard last week that I pulled a rib out of place.  (Yeah...apparently you can do that.  And trust me, it doesn't feel good.)  I don't blame them for thinking I was nuts.  I don't blame them for counselling me to go to the doctor.  The majority of people would have gone down to their personal physician, gotten a z-pack or something, and taken some sort of pharmaceuticals to dry up the phlegm and "fix" the problem.  But I'm not the majority of people.  The entire time I was going through this thing, I knew it was a test.  A test to see if I was serious about trusting Him for my healing.  A test I was determined to pass.

Last Sunday at church I was prayed over, to ask the Lord to heal the cough and the rib.  The Spirit moved; I could feel it, though the healing didn't manifest immediately.  The congestion was gone by Tuesday.  The rib still hurts, but it's much better than it was, and I believe and trust that when this cough I have completely goes away and my body has a chance to rest, the rib will heal naturally.

I know this belief and this standpoint isn't for everyone.  And I don't look down on anyone who gets medical care.  I've told people honestly that if I sliced open my arm or leg, I'd go get it sewn up.  Or if I broke a bone, I'd go have it set.  But my personal convictions won't let me go much farther than that.  I am compelled to trust in Jesus completely because He has proven so many times that He is trustworthy.  And my faith in Him cannot be conditional, because His love toward me is unconditional.  If my faith is conditional, it isn't really faith.  It isn't faith if I say, "I trusted you come into my heart and save me, but I don't trust you to heal me."  At least, it isn't faith to me...because by saying that I feel like I'd be saying, "I know You say You can heal me but I don't believe You." And that would be the same as calling God a liar.

Isaiah 58:6-7 talks about the fast God has chosen for us: to loose the bonds of wickedness and set people free, to feed the hungry and care for the poor, to clothe the naked.  Verses 8-9 are the promises we have from Him if we do verses 6-7.  And Isaiah 58:8-9 says this: "Then your light shall break forth like the morning, your healing shall spring forth speedily, and your righteousness shall go before you; the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard.  Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer; you shall cry, and He sill say, 'Here I am.'"

That's a promise I believe in because I've lived it.  So what if my rib's a little out of whack right now?  Maybe that's the thorn in my flesh, and Jesus is telling me that His grace is sufficient (2 Cor 12:7-10).  Whether my rib is ever completely healed or hurts until the day I go to be with the Father, it is of little consequence.  Because this is what I believe, and this is where I stand. 

"As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord" Josh 24:15

"Some trust in chariots, and some in horses; but we will remember the name of the Lord our God.  They have bowed down and fallen; but we have risen and stand upright." Psalm 20:7

Don't Be A Hater...Be a Pray-er

And They'll Know We Are Christians
Public Domain
arranged by Jars of Clay

We are one in the Spirit, we are one in the Lord
We are one in the Spirit, we are one in the Lord
And we pray that our unity will one day be restored
And they'll know we are Christians by our love, by our love
Yeah they'll know we are Christians by our love

We will work with each other, we will work side by side
We will work with each other, we will work side by side
And we'll guard each man's dignity and save each man's pride
And they'll know we are Christians by our love, by our love
Yeah they'll know we are Christians by our love

Here's a video of the song on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/embed/qrOywJnLj7Y

I woke up this morning with that song in my head, and I've been thinking about it all day.  If you read this blog consistently, you know that probably my biggest pet peeve about the church universal is division, and how all of it is man-made.  I am frustrated that the Enemy has broken down the unity of the body of Christ by insinuating rules and requirements for salvation that are not true.  I am frustrated how we as a Christian community have laid down dormantly and accepted these lies as truth.  I am frustrated that so many have been deceived, and that those who aren't haven't done anything profitable to undeceive others. 

And by profitable, I don't mean beat each other over the head with the Bible and throw scripture at offenders like rocks at skunks.  But I mean, we haven't sat down in love and talked about the things that divide us.  We haven't earnestly come together as a body and prayed that we would all be in unity with the Father.  Because the bottom line is that we can try to be in unity with each other, but if we aren't in Unity with God, all of our efforts would be in vain.  We are fallible, sinful creatures.  Our pride and our flesh lead us astray.  Our perceived intellect skews Truth.  But God is infallible and sinless.  His humility (how else could Jesus do what He did?) and his Spirit guide us rightly.  His wisdom professes Truth in its purest form.

I don't get bothered or offended by the unchurched or unsaved doing the horrible, wretched things they do.  I don't get offended by the world hating Christianity, or claiming we are narrowminded.  We were told those things were going to happen.  The world will act like the world.  So let it, and pray for them to come to know Jesus.  What truly bothers me is that the Church as a whole doesn't act like the Church.  It acts like the world, and talks like the Church when it's personally beneficial or convenient...or when it wants to impress someone.  And then there are the select few who claim to be the Church and use the Word as a battering ram, hatefully damning others who have differing points of view (especially the lost, who don't know any better). 

That' when my spirit gets all up-in-arms, when the Church lets rhetoric and opinion interfere with salvation and fellowship.  Because, more than anything, Jesus wants us to be unified.  He told us in Matthew 12:25 that "every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and every city or house divided against itself will not stand."  And he prayed in John 17:21 "that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in me, and I in You; that they may also be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me."

So this line from the song, "we pray that our unity will one day be restored" is really hitting home with me today.  Because if we are in unity, we are in unity with the Father, and the Father is Love.  And if we're in unity with Love, we will walk, talk, act as Love would, not as man.  And when that happens...well, the kingdom of darkness has better watch out.

Don't hate.  Pray.

Choosing to See - and Having The Father's Heart

Yesterday I finished reading a book called Choosing to See written by Mary Beth Chapman about living through the tragic loss of their 5-year-old adopted daugher, Maria, who was killed when she ran in front of her brother's truck as he was pulling in the driveway.  I remember when I first read about what happened in 2008, how my spirit groaned for them, only knowing about the family because of Mary Beth's husband, Steven Curtis Chapman is a well-known Christian recording artist.  I remember stopping the moment I heard about it and praying for them fervently, that God would touch them and give them joy even in the midst of all the sorrow I knew they had to be feeling.  And even now, as I read the book, I can't imagine the pain and sorrow and grief they all went through, even though my heart ached fresh in each new chapter.  There were something like 40 chapters in the book, and I probably cried through at least fifteen of them, so profound was the deep love they have for each other, and the searing loss they experienced, and the daily struggle to overcome the sorrow.

Most of the book is about children, and more specifically the Chapman Family's heart for rescuing orphans.  And, that is the part of the book that impacted me the most.  As I sat in my living room Saturday morning before work, reading those chapters, it was like our Father broke off a piece of his heart and thrust it into my chest, and I was overwhelmed by this deep, deep love for the orphaned.  I mean, I was completely destroyed by it...by how vastly and immediately my heart broke for the orphaned children in the world.

As a Christian, I have always known, logically, that I was supposed to care for the alien, the fatherless, adn the widow.  I give monthly to WorldVision, to support a child in Sri Lanka so he can get medical care and go to school, and I send a few cards to him every year without doing much else.  Sort of as a detached do-gooder mentality.  I knew I was able to afford to do it, and I knew when I was at that particular concert and they passed around the little information packets with the pictures of these little kiddos, the Lord impressed upon my heart to do it.  But beyond wanting to support this kid financially because I felt the Lord calling me to, I really didn't invest a whole lot into it.

My friend, Davy, works for a ministry that's primary focus is to sustain and support orphanages all over the world.  She has had a heart for orphans for years, and is currently in Africa doing these good works.  I always understood the passion of that call, because I'm just as passionate about what God has called me to, but now I share that same heart.  I understand the inability to ignore it, the inability to stand by and be silent, the inability to be inactive.  I don't know what that will look like for me.  I don't know if that means the Lord wants me to travel the globe and do work at orphanages.  I don't know if that means I'll just be a bigger financial supporter of Orphan aid in the future.  I don't know if that means that I'll eventually adopt, and give a loving home to children who have never had one.

What I do know is that my Father has cracked open a dry, hard place in my heart and flooded it with love and compassion for the unfortunate, and the fatherless.  And because of that I feel like I have a greater understanding of the way He loves us.  Because, you see, we are all orphans (in the spiritual sense), seeking a home, desiring love, looking for a father to protect and provide for us.  And He sees us all as His children, and He longs to bring us into His family, to LAVISH his love on us, to protect and provide for us, to give us a future and a hope.  He aches to call us His and to give us good things.

And now, I read these verses with better understanding, and a heart that cries out to accomplish, to help, to love and support.

"Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world." James 1:27

"For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality nor takes a bribe.  He administers justice for the fatherless and the widow, and loves the stranger, giving him food and clothing.  Therefore love the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt." Deuteronomy 10:17-19

 "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, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and wthout blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise and glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved." Ephesians 1:3-6

If the Father has put the same piece of his heart in you, here are a couple of ministries you can look to partner with.

Here's a link to the Chapman's Foundation for Orphan adoption and aid: http://www.showhope.org/
Here's a link to my friend, Davy's organization.  http://www.orphanreliefandrescue.org/

Take Off the Label

Labels are good…usually.  They’re good when you’re in the cupboard looking for a can of Ranch Style Beans.  They’re good when you’re in a the attic looking for a box of Christmas lights.  They’re good when you’re in the store and you’re trying to figure out how much that box of laundry detergent costs.  They’re good when you’re mailing out thousands of event flyers and you don’t want to break your hand writing all the addresses on your own.

In life, also, we are given labels.  In school, you’re a jock or a stoner or a band nerd.  You’re a rebel or a goody-two-shoe.  You’re defined by your likes and dislikes, by your tendencies, by your preferences.

I live in the East Texas.  Where I come from, you define yourself by a few labels:

1)      Do you cheer for the Longhorns or the Aggies on the Friday after Thanksgiving?

2)      Do you like the Cowboys or the Texans?

3)      Do you go to the Methodist, Baptist, Assemblies of God, or Church of Christ on Sunday?

Whatever your answer is to those three questions pretty much labels you for the rest of your life.  Everything else is pretty much unimportant.

If I had answered those three questions as a teenager, I would have said: “Aggies, Cowboys, and Baptist.” 

In just about every situation labels are a good thing.  But there are a few situations where labels are bad.  And the WORST place for a label is in the Christian community. 

Why do we define our beliefs or our salvation, by the type of church we attend?  This is a pet peeve of mine, because these labels lead to self-aggrandizement, to exclusivity, to judgmental attitudes and legalism, to false piousness, and worst of all, to what I label as Pharisee-ism.  We identify ourselves by what parking lot our car is in on Sunday mornings.  We wear the doctrine of our church like Hester’s scarlet letter, and we wear it proudly, unless we want to go had a good time, and drink a few beers on Saturday night – in which case, we carefully fold it and hide it in our sock drawers like a dirty magazine.  We fight and argue over inconsequential differences in doctrine…that have NOTHING to do with LOVE and SALVATION.  And those arguments create yawning crevasses in the bedrock of our relationships with fellow Christians and also nonbelievers.

My big pet peeve, my big issue is that we harness ourselves to our denomination.  We define our Christianity by the church we attend regularly – the one whose membership role contains our name.  When we are asked, “what is your religion?” why do we feel the need to immediately answer, “Baptist” or “Methodist” or “Pentacostal”?  And why do we use our personal convictions and the bylaws of our denomination to tear each other down?  Why does “Church A” tell “Church B” that they aren’t going to heaven because they don’t speak in tongues?  Why does “Church B” tell “Church C” that they aren’t going to heaven because they don’t go to “Church B”?  Why does “Church C” tell “Church A” that they aren’t going to heaven because they let their women wear pants?  It’s all SO stupid to me.  What do pants, church buildings, or gifts of the spirit have to do with our salvation?  I'll tell you: ABSOLUTELY NOTHING!  And to say that it does is not only ludicrous, it's a LIE.

If you were to ask me the three questions listed above today, my answer would be: “Aggies, Cowboys, and It doesn’t matter.”  Fundamentally, I haven’t changed that much.  I don’t attend a Baptist church anymore, but that doesn’t affect my salvation…and it doesn’t affect my relationship with Jesus.  When it comes to the body of Christ, to the Church as a whole, to our walk with Jesus, WHO CARES what parking lot your car is in on Sunday morning?  It doesn’t matter as long as that church preaches Christ crucified and resurrected.  It doesn’t matter if you’re Baptist, Methodist, Church of Christ, Non-denominational, Assemblies of God, etc.  As long as you believe in Jesus as the Son of God and have accepted Him as Savior, that should be good enough for anyone who is saved.

Labels are normally a good thing, but in this case, they are very bad.  Paul addressed this when he said, “For when one said, ‘I am of Paul,’ and another, ‘I am of Apollos,’ are you not carnal?  Who, then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers through whom you believed, as the Lord gave to each one?” (1 Cor 3:4-5).  Whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas, or the world or life or death, or things present or things to come –all are yours.  And you are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s.”  (1 Cor 3:22-23)

And Jesus himself said this: “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent.” John 6:29

Any requirement more than that for Salvation is judgmental and narrow.  Anyone who says salvation depends on dress or church attendance or good deeds or the manifestation of tongues, is directly contradicting Jesus.  And anyone who spreads division within the body of Christ, within the church, by saying their label is the only true label and all other labels are erroneous is not only contradicting Jesus, but also doing the one thing he prayed against in the garden when he said, “that they all may be ONE, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they may also be ONE in us, that the world may believe that You sent Me.” John 17:21

So…take off the label and simply BE HIS.