Hope. A poem by Dee Hartmann

No storm or darkness looming, will shift my eyes from thee, you know the road I'm walking, for you walked Gethsemane. 

Whether Joy or sorrow, I never will forget, you wait for me with open heart, on the hills of olivet.

My hope is in the light of you, that shines beyond the clouds, To be with you forever, among the heavenly crowds. 

Yet while I wait to see your face, shining brightly as the sun, I'll tell of your great glory, and the gift of your precious son.

Earth's pain and sorrows will melt away, no longer to remain. I will be with you sweet LORD, as we laugh, dance and praise your name!

Tight Grip

Do you have a sound mind? Are your emotions rooted in God's Word? Do you take your emotions and thoughts captive unto Christ or do you let them push you around? Dr Phil has a saying, "Do you have uncontrollable impulses or do you have impulses that are uncontrolled?" There are many conditions such as traumatic brain injury, intellectual disabilities, tourette's syndrome, cerebral palsy... That cause uncontrollable impulses. Yet, this world is full of people that do not have to struggle with those physical or mental problems and they walk around all day with impulses that are not being controlled. By the lack of peace that we see in this world it's evident that most people are just out there everyday re-acting from pure emotions and not keeping themselves in check. 

Let me give you a few examples. There's the impulse not controlled of fearing to move forward. The fear will then trigger more impulses not controlled such as,  making excuses, isolating, arguing with others, or developing control issues... 

Another impulse not controlled is to retreat. That will trigger a domino effect of other uncontrolled impulses such as depression, isolation, panicked behavior, acting like a wounded cat or self pity... 

The third uncontrolled impulse is to freeze. That will give birth to uncontrolled impulses like not doing anything to help yourself but usually putting it all on another person. They will cry, scream, throw fits because they don't want to do anything to help themselves. All they want to do is get someone to come and enable them. 

I know I'm throwing around the phrase "impulses not controlled"  a lot. But if you go all the way back to the beginning you will see that when a situation happens we have an initial choice. The choice is whether we will react with impulses uncontrolled and display the behaviors of an angry, frightened, needy person or control those initial impulses and be a person who sets a healthy trajectory elevating themselves to the light rather than the darkness. 

When we live with bad choices it's inevitable that we will live a life with more problems. And those deep internal problems always manifest themselves outward as well. Some of the outward impulses that are not controlled are negative facial gestures, gossip, slander, verbal manipulations and abuse, a hysterical need for control, outbursts of anger, physical ebullition where your blood boils with fury and you become an offensive blowhart, flatulating out noxious, angry, hurtful words. Pretty much a person that no one wants to be around. 

Or, we can take a deep breath, go sit with the Lord and read his Word as we talk to him and journal what he says back. By doing that we can have a sound mind from which to begin developing a plan or strategy of how we want to deal with the situation in a healthy and mature way. 

My emotions controlled my life for many years and most of my regrets in life are from impulses that I did not control. God wants to help us change but he needs something from us first. He needs us to muster up a little bit of courage to stand up and tell him that we WANT to change. He needs us to show him that we want to let go of our old behaviors that hurt not only other people but us as well. I started by praying fervently that he would begin to make me want to change. I showed him that I was serious by spending my mornings with him, reading my Bible and doing devotionals. I began journaling and as he spoke to me through the word of God and through his Spirit I feverishly noted everything that he told me and my thoughts about it. When he saw that I was serious he immediately began to meet me where I was at and started helping me grow. Once I made that commitment and started spending time with him I can think of no other place that I want to be. He has turned my sickness into health and my depression into Joy and Hope! 

Philippians 1:6, 

Being confident of this very thing, that he who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Jesus Christ:

Philippians 4:13, 

 I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

I don't know if someone reading this thinks that they are too far gone for God's love but that is a lie from the enemy and you need to call it out as that! You are loved unconditionally and he wants to lift us up out of our mess and clean us up. It doesn't make him love us anymore after we're cleaned up just as it doesn't make him love us any less when we're messed up. When you can come to the knowledge of how much he truly loves you, your whole life will change. So, grip tightly with determination to the promises of God. Show him you're serious. He honors a persistent and fervent desire and prayer for his will.

The Ball in the Bowl

During my devotional time with the Lord this morning I told God that if I could have one prayer it would be that every heart would be softened, every eye opened and every ear loosed. That every soul would be able to experience the love of God. That deep intimate love, where we are able to sit with him so comfortably. Then, a vision entered my mind. It was a simple vision of a bowl with a marble in it. It reminded me of those little handheld games that we would get at the five and dime when we were little. You would try to tip the game to get these little balls to go into indentations. No matter how hard you tried to hold it still the little balls would just keep rolling around. It was the same in my vision with the ball in the bowl. The marble never got any rest, it never achieved anything, it had no purpose and it was just driven by the slightest movement. That's how most people live their lives. The bowl is like their everyday life and whatever comes along is where they roll and what they react to.

Like the child's game I mentioned above, accomplishing tasks throughout the day would be like trying to get the little ball into the indentation so that there was some feeling of accomplishment. There's more to life than flailing around though. Being so busy, doing so much, but never feeling deep fulfillment. I just made a lot of very big changes in my life recently. During this vision it became very clear to me that the only reason these changes happened is because I asked the Lord to be my strength and my guide (every day). If we ask God to lift us up out of the bowl of our emotions and natural desires, we can see them from a higher perspective. We will see how much more he wants us to have. His desire is to incorporate joy and purpose into our existence. He wants us to truly and deeply understand that he is working ALL things out and we can rest knowing that.

Slow down a little bit and ask God to show you how much he loves you. Spend time with him by reading your Bible and sitting with him and talking to him. You'll begin to see him as your daddy and not someone that you have to be afraid to approach. He created us to have a relationship with us. He is a relational God. That is shown by the fact that he is a triune God. Father, Son and Holy Spirit. He wants to spend time with us. He wants a deep and intimate relationship with us. His son Jesus died to make us clean before him so that we can come boldly before the throne of God and sit with him and talk about anything. Begin to see yourself as his beloved. He loved you so much that he sent his only son, Jesus, to die on the cross as he carried the sins of all mankind upon himself. That is a love that we should all want to know. 

1 John 3:1-2, See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God.

Matthew 6:33, Seek ye first the kingdom of God and all these things will be added unto you.

Isaiah 43:1, I have called you by name, you are mine.

Hebrews 4:16, Let us therefore come boldly before the throne of grace, that we may find Mercy and Grace in times of need.

The other day I was thinking about this handful of people in my life that no matter what I've ever said or done they have remained true and loyal friends. That is a rare and precious gift. That is our God.

Apprenticeship

Micah 6:8, "There are three things that the Lord requires of you, to act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God." 

This is a very simple yet complex scripture. It can go deep into many scenarios. The Lord put these verses in my mind this morning right when I woke up. So, as I'm writing I'm asking him to give me the grace to write what he wants to say through me today.

Justice is standing for the truth. Although, it seems to be commonplace in the world today to not love truth. I like to watch crime dramas on TV. One of the most shocking things that I see consistently is how easy it is for people to lie. It seems to be an inherently natural thing to do. Humans don't even have to give it any thought or try to think something up. It just rolls off their tongue  As if the sin is in line ahead of the truth with no remorse present.

Lying is an Injustice. If you're seeking Justice then you are seeking truth. Truth sets us free even if we are paying a price for an injustice. There will always be consequences to wrong behavior but we can have freedom in our mind and spirit if we repent of the wrong and ask God to change those things in us. Justice is to seek truth through honesty and then apply a fair consequence. Asking for God's wisdom, like it says in James 1:5, and applying it is what God is talking about in Micah 6:8. He doesn't want us to be tempted by bribes, mistruths, our own feelings or any prejudices. He wants us to seek his wisdom, with a heart of Mercy and to act justly.

His second command is to love mercy. In the world today there are many people that have the definitions of justice and mercy confused. I won't go into that though. However, biblically, God's mercy and grace are upon us right now. His command to do unto others as you would have them do unto you, The Golden Rule in Matthew 7:12, and Luke 6:31, is really the heart of Mercy. God did not give us what we deserve and he expects us to show that same Mercy to others. That doesn't mean that there isn't accountability regarding refractions. Aside from being a judge on a bench we are called to act justly by seeking truth and to love Mercy. That means whether the other person repents or not we extend Mercy from OUR judgment. It doesn't mean that God doesn't have a consequence, it just means that it's not our job to decide what the consequence will be. We can draw boundaries and set limits regarding interactions but loving Mercy means whether they deserve it or not we release them from OUR judgment. Judge not lest you be judged yourself. Matthew 7:1. Also, in Matthew 5:7 Jesus says, "Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown Mercy." 

The final command is to walk humbly with your God. That means to acknowledge that he knows what is best. To surrender to his wisdom and heart. When he says to forgive someone, then, we humbly forgive that person. When he says to stop ruminating and to seek counsel, we humbly obey. When he says to be silent when we really want to give our opinion, we choose silence. If he asks us to be kind to someone who is not being kind to us, we show kindness anyway. All of this is learned by reading our Bibles, praying and spending time allowing God to speak to us through fellowship, scripture and the Holy Spirit. That's where we learn humility.

We all have areas where we don't want to release control. But by choosing to keep our control we lose many good things, such as, inner peace, special relationships, the love received from reconciliation, the joy of being right with God.. 

When the Lord says that he requires of us to act justly, love Mercy and to walk humbly with him, he's asking us to reflect him. When we are covered in "self" we cannot reflect his character. He's asking us to remove our desires off of the throne of our heart and to place him there. To choose his will, his heart, over ours. Start praying today for God to build these character traits of his inside of you. Changes don't always come on a flower cart but sometimes and usually, we have to get to the flower cart over a rough road. Don't be afraid of those roads because he goes with you. At first I hated traveling those roads! And over the years I have come to have peace regarding any lessons he wants to teach me because I know he's with me and he'll never leave me. I couldn't trust him though, until I fully realized how much he loved me. I am so glad that he took me on all of those Rocky roads so I could see his love firsthand.

So when we think of Justice regarding ourselves, be honest and reveal the truth. Then, repent with a contrite heart and pivot from those old ways. We should always be grateful and thankful that God's judgment, here on Earth, is filtered through Mercy. If we walk humbly with God, knowing the lessons from our accountability, we can shine his light into the lives of everyone we encounter. We become joyfully useful as opposed to angry and unavailable. We emit kindness rather than harsh judgment. What God requires of us makes us a safe place. How many times have you needed a safe place to unload or to cry? A place where you could rant and  still get a hug at the end of it. A place where you wanted to give God your anger and he said, "I'll sit here with you until you want to hand it over to me." Somewhere where you can go after you've acted like a fool and you know that he'll help you change as he also forgives you. God wants us to be there for people so they feel that same safety. Our job is to put people in the presence of our God. He wants us to show them that we found a safe place where there is fairness and forgiveness. 

Be to others what Christ is for you. Then, through your testimony and the safety of your mercy they will sit with you and get acquainted with our beautiful God. Encourage them as they grow to begin doing that on their own. Which will lead them to be there for someone else and so on and so on...

So when God asks you to lower your defenses, soften your heart, act justly, love mercy and to humble yourself before him..., he's asking you to be a disciple of his. When he asks you to love an enemy, it's about a much bigger picture. It's about God being glorified. Yes, he teaches us, heals us and matures us through the whole process but the whole story is about God being glorified. We are his hands that serve, we are the ones who speak with our mouths for him, we are the ones who show love, concern and kindness through our eyes for him. Through our surrendering to Christ's commands we become examples of who and what he is. And although we fail at times, those are the windows where his character shines through. That's where he shows other people through our lives that perfection is not what he is after. All he wants is a willing and obedient heart for him to work through. That's how he's glorified and that's how we are used by him. 

Justice

Hebrews 12:2 , "Fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sitting down at the right hand of the throne of God." 

This was the scripture in my morning devotional today. The Holy Spirit took it apart and showed me how powerful each word and each sentence was. I want to share that insight.

God's word tells us to fix our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith. Who better to follow than the pioneer who paved the way. We tend to follow paths that are already there for us. Imagine that there is no path to follow and it's all up to you to figure out how to get out of the thick of it. When you think of it that way it makes you very grateful to the Lord for going before us and preparing that way. The one who's perfect faith are the footsteps that we can step into to follow him through anything.

Jesus's eyes were upon us because we were "the joy that was before him"  when he hung on that cross. While his eyes were upon us, our sin was upon him! Read that again. His own Father had to look away. And then it says, "scorning it's shame"  regarding death, which basically means he gave it a SmackDown? Death had no more power over us. Christ suffered, died and rose again doing for us what we couldn't do for ourselves. 

Then it ends with, " he then sat down at the right hand of God." That's the final blow to the enemy. Christ won and Satan is under his feet. There's victory that can never be taken away! In Christ we can be saved and death can hold no more fear over us. That's the powerful, awesome and amazing God that we belong to. 

There are times in our lives when life seems so unfair. It feels like justice doesn't exist and that is a very terrible feeling. However, in this scripture God's Justice and fairness is like a banner that we can wave 24/7 letting the enemy know that our battle has been won through Christ Jesus. Letting the enemy know that he's a loser. I don't know about you but that makes me feel really good. And whatever situation I'm in, I know that that same Justice is going to prevail because I am a daughter of the king. Brothers and sisters in Christ, raise your banner and live a life of victory not victimhood. 

Amos 5:24 reads, "I want Justice, I want oceans of it. I want fairness, I want rivers of it. That's all I want." 

Cement God's word in your hearts.

The Bigger Picture

I finished a large abstract painting the other day. I painted hints of a buffalo and then put shading around the vague image. When we hung it up my husband saw the buffalo in the shading around the image but didn't see the impression of the Buffalo. Once I pointed out where the buffalo was he then could no longer see it in the big image and could only see what I pointed out. My point to this analogy is that what we focus on is what we see. The Lord often teaches me lessons through situations like this.

There's something going on in my life right now that is very very difficult and God opened my eyes to see the bigger picture. I give him glory for being so kind to me to reveal truth to me when I was drowning in my emotions.

When we go through times of trial that stir up our emotions we tend to focus on the Storm. God however wants us to focus on him. He gave me revelations in scriptures that changed my focus. He reminded me that the struggles we go through are not battles between flesh and blood but with powers and principalities in the spirit realm. In Ephesians 6:12, it says, "for we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world,  against spiritual wickedness in the dark places." He also reminded me that I am called to be still and that he goes before me to fight my battles. Exodus 14:14. It also says in 1st Peter 4:12, that I am not to be surprised by these fiery trials. I placed my emotions and my pain before the Lord because he is my strength and my shield. Psalm 28:7. He has plans to prosper me and not to harm me, plans to give me hope and a future. Jeremiah 29:11.

I want to encourage anyone who is going through a hard time to saturate yourself with the word of God. There is a much bigger picture being painted by a loving God that has everything under control. We need to take our emotions to him and leave them there as many times as it takes and replace them with scripture. The battle is his and all he asks of us is to humble ourselves, repent of our own sins and to pray for our enemies. Ask him to show you the bigger picture. Remember that the Battle is never between us and them but between each person and God. He sees your pain, he knows your heart and he will always be faithful to deliver you.

Jack in the Box

"Don't be surprised by these fiery trials you are going through, as if something strange were happening to you." 1 Peter 4:12. Just like a Jack in The box when we were little, we knew what to expect. We knew that while we were going along our merry way and bobbing our head to the music that that scary little joker was going to jump out at some time. It's the same with life. We're going along and up pops Satan. We never know when but we have to learn to expect it. And we have to become people who act according to God's word and his love and not people who react to surprises that pop up. It's no surprise that we are going to share in the sufferings of Christ, 1 Peter 4:13, Romans 8:17, Philippians 3:10. Satan is going to pop up and if he can't get us one way he'll come with another strategy to attempt to take us down. We have to be a people that expect that and are ready for it. In Genesis it says, "What Satan intends for evil God will work out for good."  That is our confidence! That is the rock on which we stand. Though I tremble upon the rock the rock never trembles under me. Be ready, watchful, alert knowing that our enemy is seeking daily to destroy, divide and devour 1 Peter 5:8. If we are not grounded in God's word and have a closeness and intimate relationship with our God we will be taken down by those tactics and evil intentions. 

We are not little vulnerable sheep out here alone trying to survive. We belong to the shepherd and he watches over his flock day and night. He fights off the attacks of the bears and the lions that try to hurt his flock. We have to ingrain a mindset into our brain that though we feel alone sometimes we are never alone. His presence and his power, his might and his love are not only surrounding us but indwelling in us. The same Spirit that Rose Christ from the dead dwells in us. Romans 8:11. I know it sounds trite but when these trials and storms come we must keep our eyes on the Lord and his promises. The minute we take our eyes off of him we are swept over by the winds and the waves. Only he can command the storms to be calm. However, he will allow storms because that's what grows us. He knows that when we grow in him we will not be victims in this life but victors in him. 1st Thessalonians 5:17 says to pray without ceasing. That means to be constantly, moment by moment plugged into God. Being thoughtful, prayerful, mindful... Rejoicing and praising him in the confidence of knowing that he is in control. 

Do not be surprised, be ready.

Colossians 3:15

"Let the Peace of Christ rule in your hearts... " Colossians 3:15 

The key word here is " let". In my daily devotional today it said, "The command is to “let the peace of Christ rule.” Another way to say that is to surrender, yield to the direction of the peace of Christ. So much of our anxiety is because we are grasping for control rather than learning to surrender." Isn't it amazing how one little word can create a paradigm shift so profound that your viewpoint on a subject goes from impotent to potent! 

"Let", infers that the peace is already there in Christ. It's just making that decision to stop, relax our shoulders, unclench our teeth, breathe and accept the gift of peace that is readily available for us. So many of us think that peace is like a carrot dangling from a stick and if we're good enough we will get some. That's not God's character at all. I believe that every gift from God can be received with Grace if we were to deal with our preconceived distorted images of him first. Then, the walls come down and we, like children, grasp at what we already know he wants us to have. We have so many walls built up because we don't believe that he could love us as much as he does. That's why he calls us to be innocent like little children. (Matthew 18:3).

Today, let's keep prayers poised and ready to offer up to him repeatedly. Lord God, let your peace flow into me right now. Lord God, let your wisdom flood my mind right now. Lord God, let your unconditional love replace my shame and guilt. Lord God, let your faith and joy overcome my feelings of doubt or depression. Lord God, let your hope reign in my mind and heart as it suffocates any discouragement. Lord God, Let.....

Our God doesn't just ask us to bow our heads in prayer but he also asks us to reach our hands out and up like little children. It's okay to reach up and ask him to pick you up and hold you for a bit. It's okay to open up your hands to him and tell him that you need wisdom for a decision. It's okay to humbly and innocently with palms up ask him to let his peace flow into your troubling circumstances. His heart longs for us to want to be with him and receive his gifts. So let him.

James1:5 "who gives freely to all without finding fault"