Falling Off the Grace Wagon

All that passing laws against sin did was produce more lawbreakers. But sin didn't, and doesn't, have a chance in competition with the aggressive forgiveness we call grace. When it's sin versus grace, grace wins hands down. All sin can do is threaten us with death, and that's the end of it. Grace, because God is putting everything together again through the Messiah, invites us into life—a life that goes on and on and on, world without end.

Romans 5:20 (MSG)

You often hear of people with vices "falling off the wagon" meaning they return back to their vice (such as alcohol) after giving it up for a time. So does "falling off the grace wagon" even make sense?  I mean, grace is certainly not a vice.  Follow me here and let's see if we can make a case for this.  

There have been times in my life that I have given up on the grace of God.  That sounds harsh for someone who loves the Lord and in all honesty, it is harsh.  It's plain ridiculous too. When I say I "gave up" what I mean is, I simply gave it no thought.  I took it for granted.  I acted as though it didn't even exist.  I called Him a liar by acting and talking as though I had no hope.  I would rant and rave, cry and question, worry and give up.  I would wallow in the thoughts of past sins that I had already repented for.  I would assume that He couldn't use me in a mighty way...because of my past.  Pile current sins on top of that and you can imagine what a mess I have been.

I love what Romans 5:20 in The Message says about the "aggressive forgiveness we call grace".  Sin crouches at our door, ready to pounce on us.  It calls to us.  Seduces us from behind a shroud of temporary gratification.  Faithlessness is certainly sin too.  Hopelessness is sin.  A lack of trust in the Lord...is sin.  Those sins come in more like a tsunami.  Overwhelming us.  Sweeping us out to sea.  Drowning us in a wave polluted with hurtful debris.  Isolating us from our source of life.  In both cases, those sins (vices) are all aggressive in seeking us out as their prey/victims.  Yet Romans 5:20 is telling us that God's grace is even more aggressive.  It wins out every time.  It goes beyond the farthest reaching points of our sin.  Sin offers us death.  Grace offers us life through the Blood of Jesus Christ.

This is certainly not a grace that should be taken lightly.  No, taking it for granted is spitting in the face of Jesus.  How precious is the grace that was made possible through the Blood of Jesus.  Kay Arthur, in one of her teachings in the Anointed, Transformed and Redeemed bible study, talks about how grace is previous.  Before the days of the Earth.  Before you and me, God determined that He would send His only Son as the blood sacrifice for my sins.  For your sins.  For our children's sins when they are 10...17...34...even 80.  Yes, before the days of the Earth, He was already showing incredible grace by preparing a way for us to be reconciled with Him.  He knew Adam and Eve would fall to sin.  He knew I would become rebellious, foul-mouthed, cold-hearted, angry, a gossiper, addicted to prescription drugs and alcohol and lustful.  Nothing I did, nothing you've done, surprised him.  He was ready and waiting for us.  He had already started extending grace to us before we ever breathed our first breath.

Grace is not something you can cover in a blog.  It's so deep...so wide.  I dare not attempt to try and say all that is in my heart towards God's grace.  Our pastor has been teaching on grace and it has been wonderful for me.  We can never fool ourselves into thinking that we have a complete grasp on something as large as God's grace.  Hearing the messages and reading more about it in the Word has heightened my awareness of it.  I'm just so thankful that 11 years ago, I came face-to-face with His grace as He reached down and took my hand, pulling me from the pit I had been living in.  I'm thankful that today, He takes my hand over and over again and pulls me out of the tsunamis of life.  Yes, I have fallen off the grace wagon.  I have taken back up my love of His grace.  I live in it.  I walk in it.  I breathe it.  I enjoy it.  Tell me, have you fallen off the grace wagon or are you still holding out for "something better"? 



He Spoke And Then He Moved

I'm an Amplified Bible kind of girl.  So much so that my life group will not allow me to read our study scriptures out loud for time purposes.  They always say, "Will someone, besides Shannon, read Psalm 37..."  I personally feel they are missing out on the depth of each scripture by reading their "cliff note" versions, but I suppose they have a point about the whole time issue.

Yesterday I was sitting in the "pick up" line at my sons school.  I'm one of those that gets there about 30 - 45 minutes early so that I'm one of the first ones in line.  This gives me time to read, balance my checkbook, knit a blanket, etc.  I've been in a bit of a twirling storm the past few weeks.  The enemy has thrown so many "below the waist" punches at me.  You know what I'm talking about, those low, "I know he did not just go there" punches.  This, of course, all started after I taught on The Heart of a Warrior.  He is certainly angry about the Word that went forth and the lives that were changed from it.  We know that the Word will do what it sets out to do.  So he lost there and thought he would direct his attack to me.  I've been battling.  A lot of days I win.  Some times I get knocked down but praise the Lord for the His strength that enables me to get back up.

I was able to pick up my son from school because I am recovering from a medical procedure that is part of his latest "attempt" on my life.  I was feeling a little weak and knew that I needed some Word for encouragement and strength.  After all, I'm getting ready to deliver the warrior teaching to our youth group next week.  I certainly don't expect him to go down without a fight.  So I opened my bible to Psalm 37.  The words became like a cool drink of water to me.  They were soothing to my soul.

3 Trust (lean on, rely on, and be confident) in the Lord and do good; so shall you dwell in the land and feed surely on His faithfulness, and truly you shall be fed.

4 Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He will give you the desires and secret petitions of your heart.

5 Commit your way to the Lord [roll and repose each care of your load on Him]; trust (lean on, rely on, and be confident) also in Him and He will bring it to pass.

6 And He will make your uprightness and right standing with God go forth as the light, and your justice and right as [the shining sun of] the noonday.

7 Be still and rest in the Lord; wait for Him and patiently lean yourself upon Him; fret not yourself because of him who prospers in his way, because of the man who brings wicked devices to pass.

I was so drawn to these verses.  The Lord began to speak to me so deeply.  I loved, loved, loved the part in verse 3 that says, "and feed surely on His faithfulness".  That very moment I imagined myself feasting at the table of the Lord and getting so full.  You know what I'm talking about.  It's like sitting down at Grandma's Sunday lunch table.  You get so full you have to unbutton your pants...but you hate to stop eating because it's so good and you won't get to eat that way again for another week or so.  I love how His table never runs out.  I can just stay right there and rest in Him and continue to feast.  There's always a place for me at His table.  The sweet aroma of His goodness continues to draw me there.  Yesterday, in that car line...He drew me in with the sweetness of His love and promises.

He continued to speak to me about rolling my cares/load over on Him.  That was huge for me considering the challenges I have faced and continue to eyeball.  At one point He said, "Just lean on me honey."  The word trust continued to jump off the page at me.  As I type this, it is ministering to me.  He just wants us to trust Him.  Why do we keep forgetting or refusing to do that.  He is utterly trustworthy.  Why in the world would I doubt Him?  Why do you doubt Him?  As we wait on Him patiently.  He will certainly move on our behalf.  He will move heaven and earth on our behalf.  Verse 4 reassures us that we can be delighted in Him because He knows our secret petitions and the desires of our hearts.  Even those things we've not uttered to anyone...not even our momma.  He knows them.  When we wait on Him, delight ourselves in Him, put our trust in Him, and commit ourselves to Him...we find that our desires line up with His and He begins to meet those desires...one by one. 

He was speaking to me greatly yesterday through these passages.  He was speaking encouragement for what had already happened and strength/delight in what was about to happen.  He spoke to me...and then He moved.  Within hours of Him speaking through these verses, He began opening doors to the desires of my heart (one of those great big desires that you're not sure will ever really happen).  It just came out of the blue.  It's a bit overwhelming.  Unexpected.  It is something we must approach with faith and wisdom....and absolute humility.  But I know that I can lean on Him, trust Him to work it all out because my Daddy took the time to speak to me before He moved.  Just another testament to His faithfulness. 

Hey Daddy, Watch This!

I know a lot of really cool people.  Honestly, I think I have some of the greatest people to walk the earth entrenched in my life.  These people come in all shapes, sizes, ages, personalities and backgrounds.  I feel very 1-dimensional when I'm with them.  I'm really not, but surely some of you know what it's like to have at least one person in your life that is just so well-rounded that you take a look in the mirror and say, "Self...you're boring."  Or maybe not.  Maybe I'm the only one out here talking to myself in the mirror.

I know God has brought every single person to me for a very specific purpose.  Every one of them has true value to add to my life.  There are no accidents when you live in Christ.  Every little intricate detail of your life is planned out before the days of the Earth.  I love that about Him. 

There is one person in particular that has been standing out to me lately.  Great things come in small packages, right ladies? :)  Well, the Lord has brought me a very beautiful and very unique gift in a very small package.  She is wonderful.  She is sweet.  She is beautiful.  She is wise WAY beyond her years.  She is full of Christ.  She is a servant.  She walks in boldness and humility.  She is well-spoken.  She is well-educated.  She loves me and that makes me smile.  The moment I met her, she nestled her way into my heart.  She has brought me much joy.  We have had great talks that have enlightened me.  She smiles at me and hugs me a lot.  You get the picture...

Well my memory verse for the next two weeks is 1 Peter 3:12 (amp) "The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, and His ears are attentive to their prayers.  But the face of the Lord is against those who practice evil."  This verse came alive to me today because the Lord corresponded it with an encouraging word He had me deliver to this sweet friend of mine over the weekend.  He used the love I have for her to minister to me about how much He loves me...how He is saying the same to me.  He loves me us so much that He constantly watches us.  He looks for us when we wake up in the morning.  His gaze follows us all day.  It's not just any gaze.  It's that deep, loving gaze that is protective like a lion and as loving as a lamb.  The depth of His gaze is far too deep for us to ever understand.  It is hot with passion.  It is a jealous stare that says, "Go ahead Satan...make my day.  Touch her and I'll crush you again."

Remember when you were a kid and you wanted so much for your Daddy to pay attention to you.  "Hey Dad, watch this!"  Then you do some "amazing" trick. :)  As children we long for our parents to watch us and listen to us every moment of the day.  I have a son that would love nothing more than to have my full attention 24/7.  As an earthly parent, that can be exhausting and totally impossible.  But it's not a problem for our Heavenly Father.  He constantly watches us and "His ears are attentive to our prayers."  He listens to every word.  He doesn't miss anything.  He listens when I praise Him.  He pays attention when I attempt to blame Him.  He intently tunes in to my requests.  I'm convinced He laughs at my jokes when no one else does.  He loves it when I quote His Word back to Him.  He is moved when I weep at His feet. 

I picture this precious friend of mine, as she lives her life pure and holy before the Lord...I see her twirling around, arms reached out towards Heaven, with a beautiful smile on her face and a sweet giggle in her voice saying, "Hey Daddy, watch this!"  He's watching her.  He's been watching her.  He's so pleased with her.  She is His delight.  I know He is absolutely in love with her.  I know this because He had me tell her.  Then His gentle yet firm voice says to me, "And I love you too..."  Those words fill me with great joy and overwhelming strength.  As long as my Daddy is watching me and listening to me...all things are possible.

Learning What it REALLY Means to be a Warrior

The enemy HATES when we take a stand against him.  He can't stand to see us cut the heads off of our Goliaths.  When we do he quickly rallies his troops and sends out another attack.  Sometimes that attack is harder than the previous.  If we aren't grounded on the foundation of Jesus Christ we will crumble under the attack.  We must have the Word in us so we can understand who we are in Christ and who He is as our All-Sufficient, Sovereign Father.  We have to know that we can lean on Him and that He is so faithful to us.  We have to be deeply rooted in Him so that when the wind and heat from storms and trials come, we will survive.  Just as David spent time in the pasture tending the sheep and allowing God to instill those deep, intimate things in him...we must do the same.  If we don't we will quickly succumb to fear, doubt and the temptation to quit. 

We may get the wind knocked out of us at first.  (That first blow can come as a major surprise and can often catch us off-guard.  That's just part of being human.) But we can't stay down very long.  We have to fight the paralysis of fear.  It certainly is a choice we have to make.  We have to decide, "this day I stand up and fight" or "I think I'll lay here another day".  Oh the temptation to just lay there.  I mean, what could it hurt, right!?  Just one more day.  Maybe if I go back to sleep tomorrow it will all have been a dream.  We won't get stronger just laying there.  Often times we won't immediately know what the fight is going to look like.  We won't know how long or how hard we're going to have to fight.  What we do know is that this fight we are in has already been won.  Ultimately we win.  Until that day of redemption, we can certainly win the fights on this side of Heaven by relying on our Father.  By fighting with the power and authority that has been given to us.  It is senseless to ignore the amazing tools, resources and weapons provided to us by God.  Many of us sit on the battlefield with our armor and weapons laying on the ground beside us instead of putting them on and using them.  The powerful name of Jesus alone is greater than any nuclear bomb man could ever make.  We must not waste them.

This fight will be a testimony to those that are watching us fight.  And trust me, they are watching!  People always look for the greatest warriors on the battlefield.  Anyone can give up and this world is looking for that rare gem of a person that chooses to fight...and fight right.  There is too much at stake.  Too many eternal lives will be lost if we don't walk out our battles in power, authority, obedience and humility.  Our lives aren't really about us.  The sooner we realize this, the sooner we will all become real warriors.


So today I make a choice to fight.  It is time to get back on my feet.  I have a testimony to build and the Glory of God will be all over it!

The Everyday Life of a Warrior

                                                     

Yesterday's Heart to Heart ladies breakfast was amazing.  The Lord truly blessed us with His presences and He certainly did not let us down in ministering to all of us about the Goliaths in our lives.  It was so good to see the auditorium completely full of women that were hungry for the Lord.  I believe we all left there filled up with Him and ready to fight the good fight!

Now that I am no longer focused on the "Heart of a Warrior" message, I will have a little extra time to begin reading other books.  Our church is reading "You Were Born for This" and my friends started Beth Moore's 90 Day Journey of Faith with Paul.  There was no way I was going to sit back and watch them grow in leaps and bounds without me! So I have to say a thousand "thank yous" to Amanda for blessing me with that awesome book.

 I can't think of two greater books to begin reading after studying the heart of a warrior.  The title alone of "You Were Born for This" screams warrior and Paul was certainly one of the greatest New Testament warriors to walk the face of the earth...next to our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. :) I know that reading these books are going to help equipment me to walk out the everyday life of a warrior.  As I opened the pages of Paul (Which is one of the most gorgeous books I have seen in a long time.  There's just something about reading a "beautiful book" that helps add to the overall content.), I find myself challenged to consider the traditions that I follow within my walk with Christ.  I am embarassed to say that until this morning it had been a really long time, if ever, that I have stopped and thought about the depth and importance of the traditions that the Lord calls us to observe as Christians.  To think that as I take the Lord's Supper I am carrying on a tradition established by the Lord Jesus Christ himself.  And for thousands of years other Christians have done the same.  As elementary as it my seem to you, it was an "ah-ha" moment for me.  I walked away from this morning's quiet time with a deeper appreciation and awareness of the traditions that are sacred to those that follow Christ.

I also began reading "You Were Born for This" and was immediately challenged.  I'm a person that underlines things in the books that I'm reading and I found myself underlining several statements that Bruce Wilkinson makes on the first few pages of text.  The very first thing I underlined was on page 7 - "He never asks you or me to serve Him in a way that doesn't fit us personally and perfectly."  For me, this related back to the message yesterday that David could not wear Saul's armor, neither can we wear someone else's anointing or armor.  The Lord is a God of such intricate detail.  Everything He gives us and asks us to do is tailor-made just for us.  And that my friend gives us grounds to whole-heartedly trust Him in everything that He does and asks us to do.  It make that "Warriors Walk in Obedience" a lot easier to fulfill.  By the time I made it to page 8, I discovered that I had to redefine what I consider to be miraculous.  I often think of healing the blind as a miracle.  I've not really seen me being at the right place, at the right time to bless someone as a miracle.  I do it, I just never labeled it as such.  I had just always labeled it as "being used by God to meet the needs of someone".  As I continued to read and underline I ran across the statement on page 10 that totally connected this to the heart of a warrior. 

"You'll discover that what God chooses depend on for these divine encounters is simply a willing servant."  That was the very first characteristic of a warrior's heart that we saw in David yesterday.  He was a willing, humble servant and because of those characteristics God used him in one divine encounter after another.  One of those being his divine encounter with a 9-foot-tall giant that found himself face down in the dirt.  Things didn't end well for him and the Children of Israel were delivered from a tormenting enemy that seemed too big to conquer.  I just get so excited thinking about how this is all working out for the women of Family Church.  God's plan is amazingly intricate.  He weaves our lives together so beautifully.  He delivered us a powerful word yesterday on being a warrior and now He's given us a book that's going to help us walk out that calling.

The cry of this warrior is "God, please send me to do Your work by Your power today!"

      

On The Battlefield Of Life

Almost every day is a fight for something on this battlefield called life. Some days we get by without too many struggles. Those days are like cool drinks of water on a hot, balmy day. We try to enjoy them when they come along. What a blessing to sail through a day and be able to tuck ourselves into bed that night with a smile, sigh of contentment and a “thank you Father”. However, sometimes we mindlessly go through them without stopping to “smell the roses”. How selfish of us to carelessly take little to no notice of those easier days. What a blessing from the Father when the pavement seems to rise up to meet our feet. When we hit every green light. When we catch a mint-condition pair of designer shoes on the 75% off clearance rack. (Taking into consideration that we really need them and have the extra money to purchase them.) When our kids come home with 100% on their spelling test and no homework for that night. When our toddler finally decides it’s time to start using the potty. When the checkout line at Wal-Mart is short. When we receive a check in the mail because we overpaid a bill or when we find a considerable mistake in your checkbook that turns out to be in our favor. When our husband calls us just to say “I love you”. When the phone doesn’t ring off the hook and our email inbox isn’t filled to the brim with messages. When our sister-prickle seems to have left her quills at home that day. When that quick and easy recipe you got off of the Internet turns out to be a hit with your family. When you can remember your memory verse from last week and your quiet time with the Lord was amazing. When the barista at our favorite coffee shop makes our drink with absolute perfection. When it’s cold and rainy after work and you have a full tank of gas in your car that allows you to drive home without stopping at the gas station. Here’s the best one…you were able to fix your hair without any fuss and it looks great! Oh, and those designer shoes you bought on clearance go beautifully with the outfit you’re wearing that day.


Some of those are rather shallow things but my point is that we miss those neat, little things that help make our day less of a battle. I’ve found many of those things to be blessings in my life and I try really hard to take notice of them when they happen. It is so important for us to enjoy and draw from those breaks in the battle. The battles we face on a daily basis can sometimes be daunting. The battlefield is an ugly place. When I think of a battlefield the mental image I get is not one of joy or pleasure. To me, it’s a dirty place. It’s grimy. It stinks. It’s a place where you’re surrounded by death and/or injury. It’s a place of weariness. It can often times be a place of confusion and overwhelming attacks from the enemy. Sometimes it’s a place of utter defeat.

James 1 talks about “count it all joy…the trying of your faith will bring you patience, endurance and strength”. Thanks James, that’s exactly what this girl wanted to hear. Count it all joy? Really? When you look at the gut-wrenching, dirty, strength-zapping battles we often face, “joy” isn’t the first thing that pops into my mind. It’s more like “Ugh”. Many times I have found myself in a place of defeat…far, far from that place where I can count it all joy. There have been days where you could have found me in the fetal position under my desk at work. Maybe I wasn’t exactly salt and light in the Wal-Mart checkout line. Maybe I missed a chance to help my fellow soldier because I was too wrapped up in my own fight. Worse yet, at times I just gave up right there in the middle of the battle. I just sat right down and waved my little white flag and let the enemy run smack over me. After all, I didn’t go looking for a fight, the battle came and found me. It wasn’t fair. How/why did it happen? (Talk about being a whiney baby…no wonder I lost so many battles!) Folks, I missed the opportunity to “count it all joy” far too many times. It was hard for me to see that the trials I was tackling were actually strengthening me. The enemy was able to way-lay me because I went into the battle unprepared.

This battlefield of life is no place to be if we’re weary, empty, unprepared and naked. Our enemy roams around like a lion, ready to devour us. He fights dirty. He hits us in our weak spots. He uses the ones we love in his battle against us. He loves using the element of surprise. He uses guerrilla warfare. There is no place in your life he won’t attempt to attack. There’s no sacred time either…he loves attacking at the most inappropriate times. His goal is not to strengthen our patience and endurance. His goal is to kill us. We help him in meeting his goal when we attempt to go up against him unprepared.

A warrior is always prepared. They train daily. They are always on the lookout for the enemy. They know how to respond at a moment’s notice. They get up every morning and put on their battle gear. They fill themselves up on life-giving food. We tell our kids that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. We convince them that going about their day on an empty stomach makes them weak and ineffective. What makes us think that same principle isn’t true for our spirits? Being a warrior is not just a physical attribute. It is a mindset. It takes a huge heart. It takes endurance, power and determination. It takes knowing who you are in Christ so that you can stare the enemy in the eyes and say to him, “This day I will fight!”