How Heavy are YOUR Burdens?

I've been thinking a lot about burden bearing these days

since I have several major burdens I'm trying to juggle.

It's like hauling around overpacked luggage

that will burst at the seams if joustled one more time.

If you have a bad job,

you can quit.

If you make a meal that's disgusting,

you can throw it away.

If you don't like your living room,

you can paint it or rearrange it.

There are many circumstances in your life you can change.

There are many circumstances you can't change,

you have to hunker down and ride out the storm.

I thought I knew what this verse meant.

Matthew 11:30

For my yoke is easy,

and my burden is light.

But, knowing a verse, isn't living it.

There has been times of spiritual calm and acceptance through our various trials.

We have been upheld by many Christians through their words and prayers.

Life has gone on as normally as possible.

But, I still feel the burden.

Another suffering sister shared Psalm 55 with me ~

and another burden verse was added to my meditations.

Cast your burden on the Lord,

And He shall sustain you;

He shall never permit the righteous to be moved.

Cast literally means to hurl.

You take the burden and chuck it on the Lord.

My problem?

I keep taking it back.

 I bend beneath the weight of it and just pray about it.

I often give things to the Lord in prayer,

but take them back in worry.

The yoke is to enable me to carry the burden.

I am yoked to Christ.

He will help carry the burden.

I can't fight against the yoke.

Being yoked with Christ is more than just being saved.

Being yoked together is willingly following the path He has allowed,

following  the lead ox without rebellion.

We can watch animals and make wisely discern the benefits of a yoke.

An unbroken horse is beautiful, but useless.

An unbroken ox is huge and strong, but useless.

Their power and their usability is only beneficial

when they're broken.

when they surrender,

stop flinching,

stop wincing,

stop turning away,

stop tyring to go their own way,
when their master's way

is their way.

Now, put yourself in that mind picture as the unbroken ox.

OK, you wanna be a beautiful horse,

be a horse.

Picture the yoke

and

put it on.

You're yoked with Jesus following His planned path.

Now, label your burdens.

Would you label it with a trial?

A physical condition?

A relationship?

Financial hardship?

Loneliness?

The death of a loved one?

Don't struggle against the yoke,

it's the only way to carry the burdens.

My goal is to truly understand Matthew 11:30.

I want to be able to sing with joy,

Burdens are Lifted at Calvary

Days are filled with sorrow and care,

Hearts are lonely and drear;
Burdens are lifted at Calvary,
Jesus is very near.

Refrain:
Burdens are lifted at Calvary,
Calvary, Calvary;
Burdens are lifted at Calvary,
Jesus is very near.

Cast your care on Jesus today,
Leave your worry and fear;
Burdens are lifted at Calvary,
Jesus is very near.

Troubled soul, the Saviour can see
Ev'ry heartache and tear;
Burdens are lifted at Calvary,
Jesus is very near.

***

What are the burdens you are carrying?
 
Are you struggling against the yoke?

Lord, Give Me Patience, NOW!

We think of patience as not getting frustrated when our toast lands jelly side down,

even it was the last piece of bread in the bag.

We think of patience as answering kindly to a toddler who has yelled

NO!

NO!

NO!

for the entire morning.

We might really think we're patient if we can wash the same bedsheets day after day,

and not fuss at that little one who's trying hard to stay dry all night.

We think we've really arrived if we bit our tongue instead of fussing  at the squirmly little one

who spilled their milk

for the billionth time……

Those reactions are good,

and bring the Lord glory,

but only scratches the surface of

BIBLICAL PATIENCE.

The Lord's definition of patience is different than the world's.

It goes deeper - into heart and soul.

It stays longer - into eternity.

It isn't just a character trait that is added,

it's an inward transformation that results in

Jesus shining forth.

It's not merely a smile and a gentle word during a minor skirmish.

It's the ability to BE Jesus and SHOW Jesus and BELIEVE Jesus

during the most excruciating moments of your life.

Those moments when the pain is so deep you can't verbalize prayer,

just sobs and moans and His Precious Name pour forth.

So how does the Lord define patience?

In  the original Greek text this word is hupomone.

You don't know Greek?

Be patient.

This is good.

This is really, really good.

We gain  deeper understanding when we know
other words the same Greek word was translated into.

Do the words
 enduring

patient continuance

patient waiting

paint a clearer picture for you?

But, when I discovered hupomone was a compound word,

I almost wept when I saw the word picture it created in my mind.

hupo ~ "under"

meno ~ "abide"

Picture yourself

abiding under

the shelter of the Lord

during the trials that tear your heart.

James 1:2-4

My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials,

 knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience.

 But let patience have its perfect work,

that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.

Patience takes time
because it's doing a job.
It's making us perfect.

Hey, who doesn't wanna' be perfect?

Hebrews 12:1

Since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses,

let us lay aside every weight,

and the sin which so easily ensnares us,

and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,

 

Can you hold on, dear saints, steadfast in your trials and tribulations?

Can you run the course that is before you with patience?
The course was set,
it didn't happen on accident.

An old song by Wendy and Mary talks about
demanding immediate patience from the Lord.


We need to patiently wait for patience,
because patience is worth patiently waiting for.

What Does God Do With Our Prayers?

(beginning originally written August 17, 2012)

I've been saved since 1982.

I have been praying daily since then.

I have experienced miracle after miracle,

I have felt His presence in such a way that I have no doubt

He is the LORD.

 

But, I am weak.

I am frail.

I am human.

 

This past year has been one of the hardest of my life.

It's made cancer look like a picnic.

At times I have surpassed my threshold of tolerance,

grace, and the ability to walk in firm faith.

 

When I cannot see results, my heart begins to wonder

if the Lord is answering my prayers.

I know academically the answer.

When I think of an Innocent Man possibly spending the rest of his life

 in jail for a crime he did not commit, my heart is so weak.

I had to renew my heart and mind in Christ Jesus,

and read HIS words to comfort my heart.

I had to walk in faith again,

or I cannot walk the rest of this journey giving Him glory.

So what does God do with our prayers?

 

Jeremiah 33:3

‘Call to Me,

and I will

answer."

He answers them.

******************

Now, 6 months later,

grappling with a guilty verdict,

I still know

God

answers

prayer.

We know,

we don't always believe.

Even worse,

we stop praying.

The Lord sets the standard pretty high

when He encourages us to

pray without ceasing in I Thessalonians 5:17.

When we look at this as an obligation,

it becomes a burden.

We drudge through our prayer lists

like we were punching in a timeclock.

There.

Done.

Ya' happy, Lord?

He's not happy ifwe look at this verse as a demand on our time,

instead of what it truly is,

a welcome into the presence of the Lord.

We can boldly approach the Lord

without ritual or ceremony

if we've trusted Christ.

The Cross bridged that gap

between sinful man

and a Holy God.

God isn't demanding a standard we can never attain.

He's telling us

He is willing to listen,

He is available,

He wants to hear about everything,

and

He

will

answer.

So, He encourages us to pray without ceasing,

because He never ceases to answer our prayers.

If your answers aren't what you expected from the Lord,

don't give up.

Don't quit praying.

Don't lose heart.

He says YES.

He says NO.

He says WAIT.

He says I HAVE SOMETHING BETTER.

Because that's what God does with our prayers.

He

answers

them.

Turning LIES to TRUTH

We know they're lies the minute the nasty words tickle our ear drums.

We also know they're lies the minute they fall from our tongue,

like lukewarm coffee spewed out in uselessness.

Yet, we still listen.

We still repeat.

We don't rebuke,

but believe those lies.

Satan tells us lies about ourselves.

Satan tells us lies about other believers.

He's the accuser of the brethren.

He's doing his job, because he's the

liar

deceiver

evil one

enemy

evil one

ruler of this world.

We need to do our job,

as children of the Light.

We must use the Word of God,

our sword,

to ward off the lies of the lying liar.

Believe the Truth of the Lovely One who is Truth.

John 1:17

"...grace and truth came by Jesus Christ."

John 14:6

Jesus said to him,

“I am the way, the truth, and the life."

John 17:17

"Sanctify them by Your truth.

Your word is truth."

You can't be free from the lies,

until you know the Truth.

 

The lie I was spewing fell off my unthankful lips

into the ears of my husband.

"My life is so hard! 

Why can't any good things ever happen to me?"

I knew this was a lie,

but I was pitching a spiritual fit.

Like Peter, I took my eyes off the Lord

and was sinking beneath the surging waves.

When I repented, I decided to replace the lie with a truth.

I clicked open my Online Bible and typed in the words

"good things."

Do ya' think ya' already know what the Lord told me?

Matthew 7:11

"If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children,

how much more will your Father who is in heaven give

good things

to those who ask Him!"

Luke 1:53

"He has filled the hungry with

good things"

Hebrews 9:11

^" But Christ came as High Priest of the

good things

to come"

Proverbs 28:10  

"...but the upright shall have

good things

in possession."

I have

good things

and that's the

truth

I'm going to believe.

Love on Every Page

Everything you need to know is in the Bible.

Everything you need to hear is in the Bible.

Everything you need to believe is in the Bible.

It was written before you were born,

so just at the right time,

just when you need it most,

it was already written down.

An older Christian man who has greatly impacted our family calls the Bible

God's Love Letter to Us.

He is so right.

God writes His love for us on every page.

The first mention in the Scriptures is always important.

Genesis 22:2

Then He said, “Take now your son, your only son Isaac,

whom you love,

and go to the land of Moriah,

and offer him there as a burnt offering."

A beloved son, who acted in loving obedience to his father.
From the beginning, love was proven with sacrifice,

and this sacrificial love foreshadowed the death of our dear Savior.

In the end of the Bible,

the last mention of love,

speaks of love for the Savior that is so great,

lives were lost for Him.

Revelation 12:11

And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb

 and by the word of their testimony,

and they did not love their lives to the death.

We haven't been called to physically die for the Lord,

but we can be

living martyrs.

His sacrificial love can strengthen  our hearts so greatly

 we can endure suffering  for Him.

Can you love Him

in all things,

through all things,

for all things,

and because of all things?

Because, remember, He loves you deeply.

It would be enough that the Lord loved us.

It would be enough that the Lord died for us.

But to know the Lord died for us

because He loved us

is almost inconceivable.

Then, when our heart squeaks out any returning love for Him,

and we can only love because He first loved us,

He rewards our miserly love towards Him.

James 1:12

Blessed is the man that endures temptation:

for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life,

which the Lord hath promised to them that love him.

Notice that loving Him is linked with enduring temptation?

Does that tell you what we need to be focusing on

during times that try men's souls?

We should be reveling in His great love for us

and loving Him in return.

He showed sacrificial love in dying for us.

We can show sacrificial love in living for Him,

especially during our trials.

At the end, when we receive that crown,

we will have something to cast at His Holy Feet

in praise and adoration,

for upholding us through our trials.

When life is hard,
 keep reading your Bible.

 His Love for you is written on every page.

What To Do With a Broken Heart...

I've previously blogged about broken hearts.

Sadly, it's been a re-occuring theme in my life.

I blogged about hearts broken by the sin of others.

I blogged about God using broken hearts.

It's amazing how the same verse

has ministered to me in so many different situations.

Because now my heart is broken by

actions that are out of my control.

Psalm 34:18

  "The Lord is near to those who have a broken heart,
And saves such as have a contrite spirit."



Online Bible's definition of broken is
"to be broken, be maimed, be crippled, be wrecked, be crushed."

Does that define your heart?
Are the circumstances of your life making you feel
useless?
unfixable?

Are you feeling like roadkill on life's highway?

Did you know that great pain is
evidence
of the Lord's nearness?

In the Old Testament,  broken things

were not accepted by the Lord in sacrifice.
He could only accept perfection.

 

  

Leviticus 22:21-22

 "...it must be perfect to be accepted; there shall be no defect in it.
Those that are blind or broken or maimed,

or have an ulcer or eczema or scabs,

you shall not offer to the Lord,

nor make an offering by fire of them on the altar to the Lord."

There are some broken things the Lord will accept in sacrifice.

Psalm 51:17

The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit,

A broken and a contrite heart—

These, O God, You will not despise.

Not only does the Lord accept your broken heart in a sacrifice,

He has plans for that heart.

Psalm 147:3

 He heals the brokenhearted

And binds up their wounds.

Take those broken pieces of your heart,
and sacrifice them on the altar of your life to the LORD.
He will alter your life to perfection.

Why Do We Suffer?

(This was originally written November 11, 2011)

A friend was telling me about her life in a

matter-of-fact way, knowing I would pray.

Suffering from a very bad back, she was standing the whole time we talked,

while I slouched in a chair, scootching my feet under me to get really comfie.

She has three friends going through cancer.

One was at the end of her life, dying a slow painful death.

"Why?" she asked. 

She wasn't doubting the Lord, she wasn't angry,

she was just wondering if I knew any more about the mysteries of suffering.

After all, I have been through a little in my life.

I told her we weren't going through anything the Lord hadn't already gone through,

He has walked before us. 

 He prepared the path.

I told her Isaiah 55 says his ways and thoughts are higher than our thoughts
 and we don't see His big picture,
the hundreds of souls He is speaking through the suffering of one of His beloved children.

I told her that if His life was one of suffering, why shouldn't ours be?

I told her the world was Satan's domain, and we were subject to his sufferings

as the Lord allowed, but the evil one was literally trying to make life on earth Hell,

like his habitat-to-be.

I even told her that Christians get the American dream mixed up with the truth of the Christian life.

We expect to grow up, get married, have kids and live happily ever after.

We don't ever plan suffering.

Instead, we're surprised when it becomes a part of our adult lives,
insteading of expecting it because the Bible speaks of suffering.

I gave her all the ammo I had.
It was good ammo.  It was truthful ammo. It was encouraging ammo.

 But, still I wept.
I know the answers, but I also have to daily live them.
Suffering may be a necessary part of Christianity,

but it is still so hard.

Even the next morning I wept as I thought about the reality of our faith.

I have to be OK with the fact that my God and Father took a friend home,
after years of suffering cancer,
leaving behind two beautiful little girls
who won't have very many memories of their mommy.

Actually, I have to be more than just OK.

I have to praise, worship, adore and believe suffering is right,  because He is right.

I have to believe suffering is perfect, because His ways are perfect.

I have to believe suffering is the truth, because He is the Truth.

I have to believe, or it won't be well with my soul.

Life is hard.

Suffering is so hard.

As I thought more about this, I realized how unprepared we believers are for suffering.

It's like we put our fingers in our ears when we read all those verses about suffering.
All the help and understanding we need is in His Word.

Why do we suffer?

Suffering proves Jesus is the only way.

People of other faiths don't sing hymns while dying on a burning stake.

They don't die forgiving and loving their persecutors.

They don't lose their bodies to the ravages of cancer,

 knowing they're leaving behind small children and beloved spouses,
 and die praising God.

Only Christians can do this.

When Christians are pressed, pulled, beset from all sides and the aroma of Jesus Christ is spread abroad to the nations in a way followers of false gods can never imagine, dream or experience.

Suffering is an important aspect of the Christian life,

because it is the greatest thing our Savior did for us.

He suffered for our sins.

 He suffered rejection.

He suffered loss of earthly gain.

He was rejected by his family, the government, and the religion of His Father.

Suffering is our way to proclaim that Jesus is real.

He is alive.

He is the Savior.

We suffer for Him,
because He suffered for us.