What is your response to the Light?

John 3:21

But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God.” NIV

Have you ever been in a dark room and had someone turn a light on quickly? My response is usually to yell to turn the light off!

Jesus did just that! Jesus came into a dark world and turned on the Light! John 3 tells us that the determining factor in our relationship with God is our response to the Light.

I could not get away from this verse this morning, it really spoke to me that my response to the Light needs to be an ongoing deliberate activity of choosing to come to the light with my life. The word in the Greek here ‘poieo’ means to abide, to produce, to exercise. It gives me the idea that there is something I have to do on a daily basis.

When I heard the words ‘to exercise’ I thought of my personal response to exercise. I have often said, “I wish exercise was like one particular sin, if I just thought about it I had done it!”.  I can think about exercise a lot!

I realize that if I am going to live by the light I need to actively do it if I am going to reap the full benefit of living in a relationship with God. Too often it is easy to justify the ‘hidden’ in darkness things in our lives. We can either get bound up with pride or in justifying why we have the darkness in our life. Either way it is not the way people in a relationship with God are called to live.

I need to chose each day to bring my darkness into the Light of God and His word, so that it may be seen plainly before God (and man) what my life is about. Will it be hard? Absolutely! But I hope I won’t scream too loudly as God turns on the Light in every room of my heart and life!

Where is the ‘on’ switch?

Forgiveness and Justice

“If I forgive someone for the wrong they have done, does it release them from all the consequences?” I was asked after speaking on Forgiveness on a recent Communion Sunday in our Church.

I realized that when you speak about our necessity to repent of any bitterness and hardness in our hearts and to release forgiveness to a person who offends or hurts us, it brings up many questions. Do I have to be reconciled with them only to have them hurt me again? What about what they did to me? Will there not be any consequences to them? Do they get away free?

If there was ever anyone who could have harbored unforgiveness to the people who had wronged him it was Joseph. He had been betrayed by those closest to him, his family, to the point where they had sent him off to be a slave and wrote him off for dead. (By the way, it is the people who are closest to you that will hurt you the most, because they have a deeper place in your heart)

But years later, when from the position of blessing God had given him, he had provided for them, they came to him in fear leveraging the dying words of their Dad to secure their safety. Which reveals that as kind as Joseph had been, they still lived with the guilt of what they had done and been robbed of peace and security.  (Genesis 50)  It is interesting that when Joseph was faced with what every offended person wishes would happen to those who have wronged them, what his response is. I have played out scenarios’ where those who have deeply hurt me would come to me in pure repentance and I would be in a place where they needed what I was or had and I could make their lives miserable by my response. God sets Joseph up to have the perfect revenge; he could have sentenced all of them to slavery at the very moment or exacted any punishment on them he wanted. God put him in a place of such power he could have had complete revenge and justice on his enemies! Few of us, if any will have that perfect of an opportunity to see what our response would be! Joseph’s was an interesting response and showed that a great work had been done in his heart by God.

He wept!

He didn’t gloat, he didn’t rejoice, he didn’t say “I told you so”. He wept! This shows that he had allowed God to do in his heart exactly what Christ is asking us to let Him do in our heart.

Mark 11:25-26

“And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him, that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses.  26 But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father in heaven forgive your trespasses.”* NKJV

Matt 6:14-15

“For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.  15 But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. NKJV

Matt 18:35

“So My heavenly Father also will do to you if each of you, from his heart, does not forgive his brother his trespasses.”* NKJV

He is asking us to allow Him to change our hearts to have a heart of forgiveness and leave the reconciliation (Joseph did not go after his brothers to be reconciled, he let God work that into their hearts) and the consequences to God.

We have a God of justice who knows how to work in the hearts of each one of us to bring us to repentance. It is not our job! We have enough work just dealing with our own heart before God. You can see that Joseph had learned to see that God can and will redeem everything if we let Him and not harbor bitterness in our hearts for those who have offended us. (Hebrews 12:15)

Joseph had grown to know God through his trials and offense in complete trust. He was sure that he served both a God of mercy and justice. Otherwise he could not have had the response he did and then comfort them with the reality of what they did and what God was able to do with it in his own life and the lives of others.

Gen 50:20-21

You intended to harm me, but God intended it all for good. He brought me to this position so I could save the lives of many people. NLT

Who knows in what ways God will use our hurts and offenses to the comfort and even the  salvation of many lives if we will forgive our offenders from our heart.

I am asking God to help me trust Him in the same way and to help me forgive those who have hurt me, then leave the consequences and the reconciliation to Him. That is what God does best isn’t it? Reconciling us to Himself and others.

Proclaiming The Year of Living Righteously

But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. Matthew 6:33-34

All around us every day are opportunities to walk away from the blessing of God. Yet as we start this new year of 2010 (which I can hardly believe that it is 2010 even as I write it) I wanted to challenge us to proclaim in our hearts that this will be the year of living righteously. Not that you haven’t been before but to make a fresh commitment to ask God by His grace to help you to walk with a renewed commitment to integrity and obedience to His word.

It is amazing to me how many times in a day we can be tempted to take steps that we think will lead to our gain but are not the way of the Lord. Temptation to live selfishly and not selflessly, to respond in pride and not humility, to take matters into our own hands to get what we want when it might not be God’s desire for us to have it, the overwhelming temptation to get involved in gossip or slander when we know those conversations are not pleasing to God.  To allow our eyes and hearts to get captivated by things that distract and destroy.

Even this morning when I was tempted to sleep in and miss an opportunity to meet with God and just rush into a busy day, I felt the prompting of the Lord telling me ‘you will miss a nugget of gold I want to give you today’.  And I would have! This is the nugget I would have missed…

Proverbs 19:1

Better is the poor who walks in his integrity

Than one who is perverse in his lips, and is a fool.

So today Lord I am asking you to work once again integrity into my heart and to keep my lips from perversity.

That means that I will keep myself from speaking that which is distorted

or twisted to satisfy my own needs and chose to speak righteously and

with integrity. Those become fighting words when it comes to the battle of the flesh versus the Spirit, but our resolve needs to be ‘I will chose righteousness’.

We need to understand that we will be tested and tempted to walk in ways that are less then righteous every moment of every day but we can hold fast to our resolve.

Job 2:3

3 Then the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered My servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, one who fears God and shuns evil? And still he holds fast to his integrity, although you incited Me against him, to destroy him without cause.” NKJV

Even when Satan tried to tempt Job into distrusting God and taking matters into His own hands, he held fast to His integrity. Job knew that the ultimate blessing no matter what it looked like at the moment, no matter how God forsaken he looked, was living in a way that was pleasing to God.

This is not an easy resolve to make. Last year we have a wonderful speaker, Cher, come to speak at a ladies ministry night and she spoke of her own commitment to living righteously and I got calls for days afterwards from ladies telling me how truly difficult this essential choice is. Thank God we are not left alone in this, but that we can ask God to help us. We have the power of the Holy Spirit who will guide us into ways of righteousness if we ask Him.

Psalms 25:4-5

4 Show me Your ways, O Lord;

Teach me Your paths.

5 Lead me in Your truth and teach me,

For You are the God of my salvation;

On You I wait all the day. NKJV

It is God’s heart to teach us how to walk in integrity with Him, the Holy Spirit’s job is to lead us and to give us counsel. So let’s renew our hearts as we begin this New Year and this Decade to live in such a way that is pleasing to God and to enjoy the fruit that comes from this very difficult, yet rewarding choice.

Proverbs 20:7

The righteous man walks in his integrity;

His children are blessed after him.

Matthew 16:26-27

For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?

True Rest and Relaxation

Matthew 11:28-12:1

Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.  29 Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle, and you will find rest for your souls.  30 For my yoke fits perfectly and the burden I give you is light.”  NLT

Vacation? What Vacation? Usually when the summer hits we find ourselves thinking about time off, however, for some in this economy, vacation is a thing of the past. Time off gets lost in the midst of bills, extra jobs, hours at work, or in the fear that if you took time off your job it might not be there when you get back. Often though the things we think will give us rest and relaxation causes us more frustration and ends up draining us.

Have you ever known anyone coming back from an expensive vacation that is more exhausted than when they left? Or they then proceed to tell you about all the problems on the trip? Or worse they had a huge blow up with their family? Mostly it is because they took ‘themselves’ with them on the trip!

Jesus tells that true rest doesn’t come from vacations in any form, true rest comes from Him, carrying His yoke. I love this scripture in the Amplified Version…

Matt 11:28-30 Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy-laden and overburdened, and I will cause you to rest. [I will ease and relieve and refresh your souls.] 29 Take My yoke upon you and learn of Me, for I am gentle (meek) and humble (lowly) in heart, and you will find rest (relief and ease and refreshment and recreation and blessed quiet) for your souls. [Jer 6:16.]30 For My yoke is wholesome (useful, good–not harsh, hard, sharp, or pressing, but comfortable, gracious, and pleasant), and My burden is light and easy to be borne. AMP

Doesn’t verse 29 sound like the perfect vacation? You will find rest, relief and ease and refreshment and recreation and blessed quiet for your souls. That is the most fantastic getaway ad ever!

How do we get this? Not by packing a bag, driving or flying or sailing or swimming anywhere? Right where you are, right now you can choose to take His yoke upon you.

Well what does that mean? A yoke was used to link two things together, mostly with animals so that they would stay together and be more productive but doubling their strength.  Jesus is making this invitation to us …”join Me and attach yourself to Me”.  However, most of us find ourselves attached to so much other stuff that ends up mentally and physically draining us. Television, cell phones, computers, Twitter, Facebook, emails, the News, work …this list goes on and on. All things that can end up exhausting us and causing us to stay away from the true source of our rest and peace.

One of the greatest things our Pastor has asked us to do this year was to take ‘media fasts’, I can’t tell you the peace I have found during the times I chose  to fast in this manner. Try it – it is initially one of the hardest, yet most peaceful things to do, but the rewards far outweigh the sacrifice.

So let me encourage you, whether or not vacation plans are part of your summer, be ‘yoked’ to Jesus every day and enjoy  true rest, peace and relaxation where ever you are!

Let’s respond to Jesus’ vacations plan…

Mark 6:31b, …”Come with Me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.”  NIV

The Heart of a Child

This is a picture of Wendy before she came to live with Paul and Carina

Wendy and her new dolls

Wendy is a little girl who is one of the Orphans in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea where Paul and Carina are serving as missionaries with the Living Light Foursquare Church. She caught their heart when they first saw her with her broken leg sitting at the Church on a bench with no food and shreds of clothing on. Her mother died in December and Wendy was left with little to nothing to eat and to wander crying looking for food…she is four.

Paul and Carina agreed to take her in to live with them until the Orphanage is built at the Church. She is now attending the school where my grandson attends and is eating regularly and sleeping in a bed for the first time. Carina tells of  the adjustments for Wendy on her blog at www.missionarymommy.wordpress.com

We sent a box with shoes for this little one and two dolls that we had found, one of them was a cuddly baby doll. What delight to get to see her (via the webcam) open the box with the shoes and the doll, she was delighted and danced around as she quickly tried on what could have been her first pair of brand new shoes! But the thing that struck me the most was the sense of contentment on her face as she held those baby dolls, as the heart of a little mama came out in a little girl without a mother.  God placed that heart in her and gave her  His heart for all little ones like her. A heart to draw us close to Himself and to hold us near … a heart of love and compassion. I am grateful for the heart of my heavenly Father who wants to draw me close and love me. I am grateful to get to see it manifested in one of His little ones.

Thank you Lord for little glimpses like this of who You are!

Luke 18:16-17 Then Jesus called for the children and said to the disciples, “Let the children come to me. Don’t stop them! For the Kingdom of God belongs to such as these.  I assure you, anyone who doesn’t have their kind of faith will never get into the Kingdom of God.” NLT

One-bel/ Same Heart

Carina said that to me the other morning when I was up interceding for her and a four year old orphan that God had put into her life. She was praying about the same thing as she was going to bed in Papua New Guinea and found my internet on as I was composing an email to her with the scriptures I had found. So we were able to ‘chat’ online for a few precious moments. We found out that both of us were holding a cup of PNG tea in our hands – hers to get her ready for bed in PNG and mine to wake up in the early morning in Southern California. She explained to me that one-bel meant that we had the same heart. I was honored!

I assured her that she could go to bed in peace knowing that I would continue to pray throughout the day and take the next shift in prayer. We comforted each other with the things that God was speaking to us regarding the situation and I was so grateful just to be able to share this burden with her. Then I realized that this was God’s heart! We not only had one heart as we prayed for a lost little orphan that Carina was trying to reach out to, but that we had ‘one heart’ with God as He had put the concern of this little one onto our hearts.

It is God’s heart that we are ‘one bel’ with Him so that we can truly get a grasp of His great love for all of creation. This one little four year old Orphan who had two women across the globe interceding at the same moment for her , was hugely significant in God’s eyes! She didn’t realize how lost and in danger she was, but God did and that was important to Him. So important that He had me wake up in the middle of the night to pray for her and to ‘join’ Carina in prayer in PNG.

I wonder who He had up in the middle of the night praying for me, who did He burden to intercede for me when I was lost in the dark and in danger? Only heaven will reveal who those dear saints are that I owe a life-time of being rescued from destruction to. For now I am eternally grateful for them and thank God they had ‘same bel’ with God’s heart where I was concerned.

If we are called into a relationship with a wonderful God who has this much concern for one little starving orphan in Papua New Guinea, it should make us realize that He is concerned for all of His children no matter if we are lost in the US, Canada or Africa…He is genuinely concerned for all of us. We just need to hear His heart and allow our heart to be one with His. Same-bel

Jesus called a little child to stand among His disciples and said…

Matt 18:10 “See that you do not look down on one of these little ones . For I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father in heaven.” NIV

Matt 18:12-14 “What do you think? If a man owns a hundred sheep, and one of them wanders away, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go to look for the one that wandered off? 13 And if he finds it, I tell you the truth, he is happier about that one sheep than about the ninety-nine that did not wander off. 14 In the same way your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should be lost”. NIV

We are in our matching 'meri' blouses

Back to Basics Boot Camp ’09

Last year while I was ministering at a Women’s event in Canada, I was overwhelmed with the hunger of people for an encounter with God. In a day and age of uncertainty and during this time when the god of money is tumbling down, we sense a deep desparation for the living God.

I had spent the year in prayer regarding the direction of Elevated to Excellence and was convinced that I wouldn’t move forward until I was sure that I had heard from God. After that night as I prayed about the events of the evening, I finally had my answer…taking women back to the basics of what has been made available  in Christ!

In dark times and times of uncertainity it is easy for us to lose hope, direction and assurance of who we are in Christ and the authority and power available to us. That is what I felt we needed to focus on during this time…that we are not an accident, but divinely placed into the situations and lives around us that we can bring glory to God in many unique ways.

We have been given authority and power, so that we don’t have to simply exist but we can know the joy of moving in the gifts of the Spirit and the excitement of living each day in the knowledge that we can be used of the Lord to impact lives for eternity.

Ladies – I want to invite you to join us for our first Boot Camp of the season in Vancouver, BC, March 27th and 28th at Northside Church in Coquiltam. It will be a impacting weekend, with ministry for women of all ages from 9 to 90.

We look forward to seeing you soon at one of our Conferences as we discover how we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us!

Amazing Story of Lost and Found

Ever lost your Bible?  Not just any Bible, but that childhood Bible that you’ve marked up, memorized and have special memories of?

Before leaving for the jungles of Papua New Guinea, Foursquare Missionary Carina Greer, a wife and mother of 2 young children, lost such a Bible.

A crate of Gospel materials from Foursquare Missions Press recently made the long journey to PNG.  Upon arrival, the Greers, and local leaders, eagerly unpacked the boxes.  Even the wood from the crate was put to good use.  Leaders rejoiced over all the resources that would bless students, pastors and children.

Among the hundreds of used doctrinal books and Bibles, Carina would find a wonderful surprise.

“I opened the cover thinking, This can’t be! And, sure enough, my mother’s handwriting was inside…I’ve had this Bible since I was 5.”

Carina went on to share an insight we can all be reminded of:

“When it hit me that this was my Bible, I couldn’t stop laughing.  I kept thinking, Small world, big God.  The Bible is now safely with its original owner (me) and I keep it as a reminder that I could go to the ends of the world and God’s Word will always stay with me.”

They ship thousands of used Bibles and books, donated from generous people, all around the globe.  They constantly pray that the Lord will get each Bible and book into the right hands.  Even if it is the hands of the original owner!

 

 

 

 

Fires and the Stock Market

Today the Stock Market hit an all time low; we found out that more stores will be closing which means more people being laid off, which will mean more and more difficulties in our nation. Just after a weekend where the fires in our area destroyed so many homes and forced so many out of their homes for a very stress filled weekend.

I thought that now more than ever the scriptures really become life giving…scriptures like…

 John 14:27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid. NIV

Philippians 4:7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. NIV

The peace that comes from the world comes and goes like waves depending on what we have or what we are getting…stuff that can be taken very quickly. If our peace comes from that we will always be on a roller coaster of emotions tossed back and forth and up and down waiting for the next thing to give us peace but the peace of God transcends all of that. I love the word transcends, it means

1.       To pass beyond the limits of

2.       To be greater than, as in intensity or power; surpass

3.       To exist above and independent of

So the peace of God passes all of our understanding, is greater than we can understand in intensity and power and is exists above our understanding. This powerful peace is able to stand guard over our hearts during times just like this; in fact these are the kind of times this peace truly shines. When we cannot understand how this could be happening, what we can do and how we will survive…the peace of God is available. This peace covers us, fills us and surrounds us and it is in that peace that God is able to comfort our hearts and give us grace and wisdom for the moment.

Without the peace of God we are overwhelmed because our bodies don’t handle this kind of stress well, they aren’t made for the stress the world gives they were made to be so close to God that we would always live in His peace.

So I pray that no matter what your crash is or what fire is near you that you will know the true peace of God and receive His transcending grace and wisdom. In this hour we are desperate for it!

Precious in the Sight of the Lord…

Last night October 29th, at 11:50 p.m. Thurston Thompson beloved husband of our own dearly loved Earma Thompson went home to be with His Savior. He moved from the victories he had known on this earth to the ultimate victory of hearing Jesus say ‘well done’.

Last year Thurston was diagnosed with Cancer and I always said that ‘ he had a praying wife and a miraculous God – anything can happen!’ and it did! He was given a wonderful year with his family to celebrate his 50th Wedding Anniversary in style and to be surrounded with his family and friends who loved him so much.

Thurston was a man who never complained, (I never heard a word of complaint from his mouth) and who always found something to laugh about – I loved that. His fun response whenever you said ‘it is good to see you’ was ‘it is good to be seen!’ let you know that in his presence there was always something to smile about.

We will dearly miss this wonderful man of God. Who not only knew how to release his wife to ministry, but was her biggest fan! He was her cheering section.

On a purely selfish side …..I will miss his amazing BBQ’d ribs. But we will look even more forward to the Marriage Supper of the Lamb now!

Thank you God for the gift of Thurston to all of us and mostly to the kingdom of God…his unselfish willingness to will be a support to his wife and the ministry of E2E will be long remembered and appreciated.

God you truly know how to give good gifts to your children!

You can send condolences to Earma through our website at info@elevatedtoexcellence.org and we will get them to her.

We will also post memorial times as soon as we have them.

Grateful for the gifts God has given,

Christina