#354  The Power to Love When We Cannot  Romans 5:5

There are people in my life that I find difficult to love.  It is easier to be irritated by them than to love them.  At such times I am haunted by the clarity of 1 Corinthians 13.  “Love is patient….not easily provoked.”  (verse 4, 5)

There are needs of some people that I am guided to respond to and I hold back, possessive of my time and energy, wanting to have more time to study the Word or catch up on cleaning the house.  At such times I am haunted by another verse in 1 Corinthians 13:  “love is…kind,…it does not seek its own…endures all things.”  (verse 4, 5)

I was very moved by the experience of Corrie Ten Boom.  A German Guard who was responsible for so much of her sister’s suffering in the concentration camp had become a Christian, had grappled with his brutality in the past and asked forgiveness of God.  He approached Corrie Ten Boom and asked for forgiveness.  But she felt bitterness in her heart. 

It was when she claimed Romans 5:5, that the love of God was shed abroad in her heart through the Holy spirit, when she claimed the love of God and the love of Christ to love this man through her that she was able to express true forgiveness.

 So I have been claiming Romans 5:5.  Not just for the power to forgive, but for the power to love.

“…we can be full of joy here and now even in our trials and troubles.  Taken in the right spirit these very things will give us patient endurance; this in turn will develop a mature character, and a character of this sort produces a steady hope, a hope that will ever disappoint us.  Already we have some experience of the love of God flooding through our hearts by the Holy Spirit given to us.  And we can see that it was while we were powerless to help ourselves that Christ died for sinful men.”  Romans 5:3-7 Phillips

The Father and the Son loved me, at such great cost, when I was powerless to help myself.

The Father and the Son so loved our whole human family.  John 3:16

 Dear LORD, empower me to Love this person through Your love and through the Love of Jesus. 

I picture the lengths and breadths of that love as I picture Jesus on cross.  I picture the compassion of that love as I see him heal and preach, being present with people in their need.  I picture the honesty and accountability of that love as he spoke hard truths to the religious leaders.  He longed for each person’s highest good and blessing and he was willing to be part of that blessing at whatever the cost.

How powerful is this love that is poured out in our hearts through the Holy spirit, this love that loved us when we are powerless to help ourselves, this love that loves for the pure delight of blessing. 

This love that is poured out in our hearts through the Holy spirit creates the willingness to be honest and forthright, creates the willingness to be present with people in their need, and creates the willingness to be part of the highest good and blessing at whatever the cost, all for the pure joy of blessing others.

 “I pray that out of the glorious richness of his resources he will enable you to know the strength of the Spirit’s inner reinforcement—that Christ may actually live in your hearts by our faith…

…so that having your roots deep and your foundations strong in love, you may become mighty to grasp the idea, as it is grasped by all saints, of the breadth and length, the height and depth—yes, to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God.

Now to Him, who, in the exercise of His power that is at work within us, is able to do infinitely beyond all our highest prayers or thoughts—to Him be the glory in the Church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, world without end!  Amen.”  Ephesians 3:17-21  Phillips/Weymouth

#355  The Power to Love When We Cannot  Romans 5:5  Part 2

When we pray for the power of the Holy spirit to love others with the love of God and Christ through us He creates the space to see the person we struggle to love in a new way.

When we read Romans 5:3-7 we see the power of this love that is poured out in our hearts through the Holy spirit, this love that loved us when we are powerless to help ourselves, this love that loves for the pure delight of blessing.

We picture the lengths and breadths of that love as we picture Jesus on cross.  We see the compassion of that love as we see him heal and preach, being present with people in their need.  We see the honesty and accountability of that love as he spoke hard truths to the religious leaders.  He longed for each person’s highest good and blessing and he was willing to be part of that blessing at whatever the cost.

This love that is poured out in our hearts through the Holy spirit creates the willingness to be honest and speak even hard truth in love, creates the willingness to be present with people in their need, and creates the willingness to be part of their highest good and blessing at whatever the cost, all for the pure joy of blessing others.

“For the love of Christ controls us…”

We are willing to let the love of Christ live and love through us.  We grow to see that person through the eternal eyes, the far reaching perspective of God and Christ.

“having concluded this, that one died for all, then were all dead…” [in need of deliverance] NASB/KJV

We grow to see the preciousness of their life to Jesus, the one who died for them and for each of us as part of the family of Adam.

“So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view…” NIV

We grow to see their struggles in the context of their strengths and in the context of the wounded heart that needs to be healed.

We are willing to let go of old habitual thought that dwells on past irritations and pain.

“Therefore if anyone is in Christ he is a new creation:  the old has gone, the new has come.”

We grow to experience a new way of being, HIS way of being: the pure joy of giving and loving that Jesus experienced when he preached and healed.

2 Corinthians 5:16-17

#353  Overcoming Illusion Psalm 36:9

I see a threatening circumstance and I jump to a conclusion out of fear.  I hear something someone said that someone said and I make a judgment.  The issue at hand seems so unpredictable, it seems impossible to deal with.  Beware of optical illusions in life!

It is easy to “see” something in life, and to be absolutely sure of what we are seeing, and yet not see accurately.

And so the importance of letting the Holy spirit guide us into each next step of truth we need to see.  John 16:12-15

The challenge to see accurately:

By arranging a series of patterns, images, and colors strategically, or playing with the way an object is lit, the brain can be tricked into seeing something that isn’t there. How you perceive proportion can also be altered depending on the known objects that are nearby. It’s not magic — it’s an optical illusion.

There’s also the Ebbinghaus illusion, or Titchener circles, which messes with how we judge the size an object.

It’s all relative. When two circles that are exactly the same size are put next to each other, but one circle is surrounded by larger circles and the other one by smaller ones, the circle surrounded by the larger spots tends to seem smaller than its counterpart.   Michelle Castillo

Contrast Effects:  The unsettling effect seen in this image (called a Hermann Grid) is one of many optical illusions that take advantage of the way our visual system processes contrast information. The important lesson to take away from this exercise is the following: What you see is not what you get. In other words, the “image” of the world received by light receptors in your eye is not exactly the same as the “image” that reaches your brain.  Professor William Warren

Our adversary knows how to over-stimulate with color, or create a context like the above picture that causes some type of distortion, for example causing something to look bigger or smaller than it really is.  John 8:44; 2 Corinthians 11:14  We can base our judgments and beliefs on the appearance instead of looking beyond to the truth.

We may have the belief that there are not enough resources to finish the work God has begun in us.  Luke 14:27; 28-30

That is illusion!

For this reason I also suffer these things, but I am not ashamed; for I know whom I have believed and I am convinced that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him until that day…”   2 Timothy 1:12

We may have the belief that there are too many obstacles and too strong an opposing ‘army’ to be victorious.  Luke 14:31-33  That is illusion!  “If God is for us, who can be against us  He who did not grudge his own Son but gave him up for us all—can we not trust such a God to give us, with him, everything else that we can need?”  Romans 8:31 Phillips

O LORD, we need Your eyes and Your wisdom to be able to truly see.

“For with Thee is the fountain of life; in Thy light we see light.”  Psalm 36:9

Teach us to see beyond distortion, exaggeration and misperception to see the truth of Who You are in our daily lives (Ephesians 3:16-21) and the truth of the blessing You stand for on behalf all our human family.  Romans 8:19-21

Teach us to walk by trust and reliance on Your Truth, and not by appearance:

Teach us to walk by faith and not by sight.

#352  The Blessing of Overwhelm  2 Kings 19:20

Ever feel bombarded by experiences?

I was feeling overwhelmed by a number of experiences, one on top of another.  On Saturday I was emotionally exhausted, with no motivation.  I prayed and took some naps.  And then as I began to study for our Sunday Bible Study, my Loving Heavenly Father brought 2 Kings 19 to my attention, yet another time.

Rabshakeh, an officer and messenger of King Sennacherib, King of Assyria cried with a loud voice in Judean so that the Israeli watchers on the wall would hear and understand.  His words were meant to undermine the courage of the people.  He made some counterfeit promises:

Do not listen to Hezekiah, for thus says the king do Assyria, “Make your peace with me and come out to me, and eat each of his vine and each of his fig tree and drink each of the waters of his own cistern, until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards, a land of olive trees and honey, that you may live and not die.”  But do not listen to Hezekiah, when he misleads you, saying, “The LORD will deliver us.” 2 Kings 18:26-35

A second strong message was sent to Hezekiah by Rabshakeh through messengers by their hateful words and by letter.  2 Kings 19:9-13

Because of the strength of overwhelming threats Hezekiah spread the matter before the Lord.

“Then Hezekiah took the letter from the hand of the messengers and read it, and he went up to the house of the LORD and spread it out before the LORD.”  2 Kings 19:14

With every disillusionment and challenge the intention of our Loving Father is that we would take it to Him, in all its specifics, in prayer.

“Trust in Him at all times, O people; pour out your heart before Him; God is a refuge for us.”  Psalm 62:8

Because the threats drove Hezekiah to prayer, the Mighty One of Israel answered him.

“Because you have prayed to Me about Sennacherib, King of Assyria, I have heard you.”  2 Kings 19:20

Overwhelming circumstance is meant to drive us to Him, the Source of Overwhelming Blessing.

What blessing overwhelming circumstance holds when we let it drive us to the Source of Overwhelming Blessing.

We are ready to receive when we truly ask, convinced that the Overwhelming power of God is greater than the overwhelming threat of any circumstance. Romans 8:31-39!

#351  Jesus is the Door  John 10:9

I was afraid to “open the door,” afraid to enter an unpredictable experience.

But Jesus is the door!

“I am the door; if anyone enters through me, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.”  John 10:9

He is our access to Life.

“Since then it is by faith that we are justified, let us grasp the fact that we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.  Through him we have confidently entered into this new relationship of grace, and here we take our stand, in happy certainty of the glorious things he has for us in the future.”  Romans 5:1-2, also 3-11  Phillips

One type of a sheep fold is here described:

Jesus said that He is the “door of the sheep”. What did He mean? Well, a sheepfold during Jesus’ time had no door which could be opened and closed. The door of the sheepfold was just an opening. In this kind of sheepfold, after the sheep had entered it, the shepherd would sleep at the entrance. The shepherd became, effectively, the “door” of the sheepfold.

He is our access to protection, to rest, to nurturing experience.

Every experience goes through Jesus first, before it reaches us.

As I dreaded some disciplinary discussions with two employees I reminded myself, “Jesus is the door.”

I experienced a conflict that challenged my peace and I reminded myself, “Jesus is the door.”

There was an unexpected “disappointment” and I reminded myself, “Jesus is the door.”

We are afraid to “open the door,” afraid to enter an unpredictable experience.

But Jesus is the door.

And he is predictably trustworthy.

There is no fear in encountering Jesus, for his love is proven, and his intentions beyond question.

“I came that they might have life, and might have it abundantly.”  John 10:11

#350  In Perfect Faithfulness   Isaiah 25.1

It is a beautiful spring day out today, the sun is shining and there is blue sky and a few clouds.  I was admiring the new green buds on our lilac bushes in our yard this morning, and I thought about how God has embedded HOPE in the seasons.

Our God is a God of HOPE!

After every winter, there is spring.

Life breaks through every winter!  This is true in our experiences individually.

It is also true for the whole human family.

“The creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to decay into the freedom of the glory of the children of God.”  Romans 8:21

“O LORD, you are my God; I will exalt you and praise your name, for in perfect faithfulness you have done marvelous things, things planned long ago.”  Isaiah 25:1

Isaiah 25:2-5 describes the power of God and Christ that will triumph of over every nation beginning with the deliverance of Israel and their acceptance of Messiah.

“Therefore a strong people will glorify Thee; Cities of ruthless nations will revere Thee.”

Then Isaiah describes the blessing of the Kingdom on earth for Israel and all the nations.  Isaiah 25:6-9

From long ago He planned this joyous outcome to result from the darkest night of sin and death.

Life breaks through every Winter!  And Light breaks through every Night!

Regardless of the obstacle or the ‘ruthless city’ in your life,  His Providence is at work. In perfect faithfulness He is overruling our present experience to produce marvelous results.

What is happening now in the process of our refining, and the final result of ultimate blessing is the result of great Divine foresight, “things planned long ago.”

The imperfect circumstance is overruled and shaped in perfect faithfulness.

#349  The Space to Choose  James 1:19

“Between stimulus and response there is a space… in that space is our power to choose our response. In our response, lies our growth and our freedom.” -Viktor Frankl, Auschwitz Survivor

I prayed about what to fill this space with, especially in our family company business meetings when I so often react and it seems like there is no space between the stimulus and the response.

The LORD answered me with James 1:19:  “…let everyone be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger.”  Quick to hear.  We need to LISTEN in this space.  And other words the LORD led me to:  curiosity and validation.  It is much easier to LISTEN if we are curious to understand what is being said, or curious to consider the valid points in this view or idea that I tend to react to.  Validation or rephrasing the person’s view is also a way to give the person we are speaking with the sense that we are LISTENING.  This also slows down the decision making process.  I can choose to go avoid snap judgments and immediate emotional reactions.  By the spirit of power, love and a sound mind.  (2 Timothy 1:7) I can choose to exercise deliberate reasoning in Christ.

“He who is slow to anger has great understanding, but he who is quick-tempered exalts folly.  A tranquil heart is life to the body, but passion is rottenness to the bones.” Proverbs 14:29, 30

Slow to anger:  this is the space between the stimulus and the response.  To make sound decisions we must fill this space with the mind of God and Christ.  Quick reactions are responses without exercising deliberate choice;  they are a form of ‘sloppy choice.’  These rash responses tend to lack good sense and have destructive outcomes.  A tranquil heart and mind that can listen to the Voice of God is beneficial, but unbridled emotion leads to decay (Strong’s #7538) of our strength.

“A hot tempered man stirs up strife, but the slow to anger pacifies contention.”

Fill the space with the mind of God and Christ, and there is possibility of resolution of conflict.  Proverbs 15:18

“He who is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and he who rules his spirit, than he who captures a city.” Proverbs 16:32

It is a form of discipline when we master the power of choice in the space between the stimulus and the response.  This is the mighty work of the Holy spirit, the sign of a true spiritual triumph.  We conquer our own shortsighted emotions in the power of Christ.

“He who restrains his words has knowledge, and he who has a cool (#7119) spirit is a man of understanding.”  Proverbs 17:27

Part of mastering this space between stimulus and response is mastering the art of restraint in our words, using ‘spiritual duct tape!’   (Strong’s #7119:  to chill, cool; fig quiet)  When we restrain our words it gives us time to “chill out,” time to think and create the possibility of understanding.

“The plans of the diligent lead surely to advantage, but everyone who is hasty comes surely to poverty.”  Proverbs 21:5

#348  Discipline, Not Condemnation  Hebrews 12:6

In this process of dealing with intense emotional reaction, I received a strong reminder from the LORD:

There is no condemnation.  Romans 8:1  There is discipline.  Hebrews 12:6

There is no reason for living in a state of guilt.

There is every reason for living in the state of Grace in order to be trained.

Hebrews 12:5  When we take the discipline too lightly (perhaps by minimizing the situation) and we don’t get the lesson.

When we take the discipline too seriously (perhaps by over-analyzing) and we can become immobilized by guilt.

We need to pray for the balance, realizing our accountability and realizing His compassion.

Discipline from the Father is a sign of His love, and a sign of our sonship.  Hebrews 12:6-7

His discipline is for eternal good, driven by eternal wisdom.  Hebrews 12:9-10

We need to remember that the first phases of discipline are challenging.  It is normal to be challenged and grieved at first.  Give God time to work.  “…it afterwards yields to those who have passed through its training the peace of a righteous life.”  Hebrews 12:11 Weymouth

“Therefore, strengthen the hands that are weak and the knees that are feeble.”

Strengthen #461 (Vines:  to set upright; a word used of setting up a building, and restoring ruins Acts 15:16) the hands that hang down (#3935 Vines:  to relax, loosen, hang down in weakness)

Revitalize our weak spiritual hands/actions by lifting them up and using them according to the leading of the Father.

Feeble knees:  Vines:  to weaken, enfeeble; in the passive voice, to be enfeebled, as by a paralytic stroke

We need to guard against the weakness that may come from “a spiritual stroke.”

We are called to revitalize the weakness in our knees, our going forward in life in the direction guided by our Loving Heavenly Father.  We are called to overcome immobilization through use.  Lift up those feeble knees; set them upright.  Don’t just sit there, Stand up and walk in the strength and direction of the Father!

“And make straight paths for your feet, so that the limb which is lame may not be put out of joint, but rather be healed.”  Hebrews 12:13

Make #4160 implies action:  to make or to do.

Straight:  3717:  perpendicularly erect, (fig. honest) or horizontally level or direct.

We all have a lameness of character to deal with.  Take action to make our walk upright and honest.  What is best to choose?  What is best to avoid?  Take action to make our walk level and direct, aware of choices that would exasperate the whatever the character lameness we deal with. 

There is no condemnation.  There is discipline.

“As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us.

Just as a father has compassion on his children, so the LORD has compassion on those who fear Him…”  Psalm 103:12-13

#347  The Voice of our Risen Lord  John 20.16

Stooping, she looked yet again into the tomb. Now she was startled by the appearance of figures sitting there within, even where the body of Jesus had lain. “Why are you crying?” they ask, to which Mary pours out her grief. Her words reveal the state of her mind, and lack of comprehension. “They have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have laid Him…”

Then she heard that voice…the same question echoed, this time from the lips of a stranger standing there behind her. “Why are you crying? Who are you seeking?” It has to be one of the most poignant moments in sacred history.

She turns to see, her first thought that this may be the keeper of the garden. He may have the answer to her distress. Was it you? Did you move the body? Tell me where, that I might bear it away. She was standing, looking at, but not recognizing, the answer to all her fears and all her grief. It required one familiar sound for the scales to fall from her eyes. The sound of her name, spoken in the way that only her Lord used. “Mary!”   (John 20:11-16)

Let us think too of the holy emotion of that Master, Who knows all that is in the heart in that moment of great closeness, in which He awaits recognition.  Donald Holliday

He is so close to us in our experience, but we do not see him.

At times we weep, and our senses say that we cannot find him, and he still “awaits recognition.”

 If we do not listen for his voice in the midst of our emotion we will not hear or recognize him. 

If we do not ask in the moment of grief and confusion we will not hear his answer. 

As part of his flock, we know his voice.  John 10:4; Song of Songs 2:8

“I was asleep, but my heart was awake.

A voice!  My beloved was knocking;

‘Open to me, my sister, my darling, my dove, my perfect one!

For my head is drenched with dew,

My locks with the damp of the night.’  Song of Songs 5:2-3

O teach us to know your voice, the voice of our Risen Lord!

O teach us to respond quickly, empowered to do whatever you bid, in the power of your resurrection power.

As a Gardner, as one who comes in the midst of shattered dreams and raw emotion, or in whatever form he may come to us—in untoward experience and in the greatest of joys, may we recognize him, hear his voice and respond.  For he stands for us as our Risen Lord—our Savior, High Priest and King, with all power in heaven and in earth.

#347  The Voice of our Risen Lord  John 20:16

Stooping, she looked yet again into the tomb. Now she was startled by the appearance of figures sitting there within, even where the body of Jesus had lain. “Why are you crying?” they ask, to which Mary pours out her grief. Her words reveal the state of her mind, and lack of comprehension. “They have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have laid Him…”

Then she heard that voice…the same question echoed, this time from the lips of a stranger standing there behind her. “Why are you crying? Who are you seeking?” It has to be one of the most poignant moments in sacred history.

She turns to see, her first thought that this may be the keeper of the garden. He may have the answer to her distress. Was it you? Did you move the body? Tell me where, that I might bear it away. She was standing, looking at, but not recognizing, the answer to all her fears and all her grief. It required one familiar sound for the scales to fall from her eyes. The sound of her name, spoken in the way that only her Lord used. “Mary!”   (John 20:11-16)

Let us think too of the holy emotion of that Master, Who knows all that is in the heart in that moment of great closeness, in which He awaits recognition.  Donald Holliday

He is so close to us in our experience, but we do not see him.

At times we weep, and our senses say that we cannot find him, and he still “awaits recognition.”;

 If we do not listen for his voice in the midst of our emotion we will not hear or recognize him. 

If we do not ask in the moment of grief and confusion we will not hear his answer. 

As part of his flock, we know his voice.  John 10:4; Song of Songs 2:8

“I was asleep, but my heart was awake.

A voice!  My beloved was knocking;

‘Open to me, my sister, my darling, my dove, my perfect one!

For my head is drenched with dew,

My locks with the damp of the night.’  Song of Songs 5:2-3

O teach us to know your voice, the voice of our Risen Lord!  O teach us to respond quickly, empowered to do whatever you bid, in the power of your resurrection power.

As a Gardner, as one who comes in the midst of shattered dreams and raw emotion, or in whatever form he may come to us—in untoward experience and in the greatest of joys, may we recognize him, hear his voice and respond.  For he stands for us as our Risen Lord—our Savior, High Priest and King, with all power in heaven and in earth.