A Rich Life

I finally finished reading the bible and started it again the next day. For the longest time I had so much trouble getting into the word. The names, places, tribes, and even stories were hard to relate too. But, something happened over the last year. God started speaking to me through the scriptures. Ian has talked about this a lot, how the spirit speaks to those who seek God, but I had never experienced this before. Now all I want to do is read my bible...I yearn for this closeness with my creator, NOTHING is more fulfilling.

When I finished the bible this last time I had this feeling that I had been asking the wrong questions. One in particular was: Why does God let bad things happen? Really, we should be asking: Why does God still let GOOD things happen? Why does he still allow the gift of birth, love, friendship, kindness, sunny days, rainbows, music, laughter, etc?

I am not claiming to be a biblical scholar (I will have to have Ian proof read this before I publish it) but I really felt like I was being led to look into this.

The bible is such a beautiful love story. The sheer fact that in all our sin Christ still chooses to love us is so overwhelming. His goodness is indescribable. I wrote about this in our other blog after a powerful experience in the Bethel airport. If you haven't read this, I would recommend doing so (read: Who Says Airports Are No Fun?).

I became aware of a vulnerable side of Christ. Because he loves us so much, we in a way make him vulnerable. Satan has played on this for ages....What better way than to hurt the all powerful than to attack his "weakness"', us.  Because sin came into the earth, Satan was able to play upon the vulnerability of God. The bible tells countless stories of the sins that existed and the death that it brought both physically and spiritually.  Satan/sin damaged the creation. He took it from perfection and hardened it into deception. We were deceived that we could exist in harmony without God. This must hurt God so much to see how far sin has taken us away from his original truth.

The only way that bad things can exist is because of sin. In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. No where was I able to find that in the beginning God created sin. He didn't, he is perfect, righteous, and holy. Sin came into the picture after Satan introduced the option and we chose it. Because of our decision along came killing, disease, sickness, and ultimate separation. You see, sin created the portal for it to enter into our lives. God is not responsible for this, he is trying to clean it up!

Unfortunately, the portal door continues to remain open with our current lifestyles. Bare with me when I say this, but I believe that all sickness is NOT from God, or all sickness/disease/infirmity is rooted in sin. How could God create this? He couldn't, he is the bridegroom, the lover of our souls.  


So, the question of why God lets bad things happen becomes obsolete. Bad things exist because of sin. Period. The real question is why he continues to allow us to have good in this life. Why he can continue to love, to bless us, to give us life? He is just so amazing, perfectly amazing!

Now, some may ask why he doesn't intervene to stop the bad if he loves us so much. Can you really say that? Can you say in your life that you have lived without sin, that you have prayed endlessly, that you have proclaimed his greatness to everyone all the time, that there is really any goodness in us at all?  

This may be a little harsh, but in my own life, I know that I am not worthy of ANYTHING! There is still this little thing called "will"...only 4 letters but huge in meaning. We have free will to serve who we want. Everyday that we wake up we have a choice to whom or what we will serve. We have free will to be liberated from sin or held bondage to it. 

The problem is that we often neglect to see with spiritual eyes. We miss how many blessing are actually being showered upon us in the midst of tragedy. How God continues to use the sin (sickness, disease, even death) to bring him glory. Even in the midst of darkness how he can still bring light.

I know that times can be extremely tough and that blaming God is very easy, I have been there myself.  But I am now certain that he never left those situations...and, since he was there the entire time, he made it better than it could have been. He was there battling for me.

Feel with your heart this next part: feel he wrath that God has against sin, the jealousy he feels for your heart, his yearning for your praise, the deep love that he has for you. Realize that he can also hate, yearn, cry, and be vulnerable...But, the beauty of this is that he does this all perfectly in complete righteousness! Think about it, he can perfectly hate, perfectly judge, and perfectly condemn!

He isn't a means only to receive forgiveness, mercy, and grace from, he is a BRIDGE to LIFE.  A life free from sin and destruction. Understanding the spiritual beauty of all this is life changing. God is not a means to an end, he is the paradise, he is the end! Heaven is not going to be any kind of paradise without him...Heaven will be hell if he is missing!

This concept is so empowering! We could all live a richer life, no matter what has happened or could happen. If you have accepted Christ into your heart and have a personal relationship with him you have the most powerful, perfect, loving force LIVING inside of you...You have the best, strongest and fiercest warrior in your life. Sin will come...do not be mistaken, Satan is using this to attack God. But, we can be prepared....live the richer life. Live for Jesus, choose him, choose life. Be the warrior that grows stronger everyday because of him, keep your eyes focused on the things above, let him refine you that you may see the things unseen....Look for the blessing and continue to praise in the midst of adversity, he is worth it! Seek to learn the secrets of his heart and live the richer life. How awesome to serve a lord that is a SAVIOR in every sense.

And above all, communion with and love him! I know some believe that our prayers are the only thing keeping our soverign God from destroying sin (and the sinners) once and for all. In a way our prayers are the restrainer that are buying us more time. If you have been given time today, live it to the fullest through Jesus!

Isaiah 33

The idea for this 2nd blog came while I was sitting on my couch, in my polka-dot PJs reading my bible. It may be that I am the only one who will read this, but I thought having an online diary per se would be very convenient. And, if I could offer some thoughts to others while doing so, and if they could offer some back, great! I am a little nervous about publically posting my thoughts, there is always the concern that I may have gotten it completely wrong. So, I am going to pray that the spirit leads my every word.

Iasiah 33:3-6

O Lord, be gracious to us; we wait for you. Be our arm every morning, our salvation in the time of trouble.....The Lord is exalted, for he dwells on high; he will fill Zion with justice and righteousness, and he will be the stability of your times, abundance of salvation, wisdom, and knowledge: the fear of the Lord is Zions treasure.

This verse really blessed me this morning. I had this great visual of Christ's arm as my giant oak tree swinging about like a giant branch ready to battle any storm life would bring.  It made me think of his grace and the power of the cross.  Grace like rain that cleanses and nourishes my body and his blood that feeds and sustains my heart. We are so LOVED that he is willing to take our dirty, messed up soil and WANT to give us his seed to grow. And that is beauty of his glory, he can take something so flawed and produce in it something so perfect.  Like the children's book, The Giving Tree...His "Oak" is so magestic and powerful that as it grows it will be a continual souce of food, shelter, and warmth to those who need it. So, how then can I grow such a tree?

Well, it begins in the soil (our heart). So I began the examination of my soil.  What made up my soil? What condition is it in? Would Jesus even be able to grow there? And, if he did, would it bring him joy to be there or would it be a constant struggle? Am I polluting him with worldly waste? Am I adding to his kingdom or draing it dry?

This thought then grew from the soil to the condition of my roots as well. I may have received his seed, but how deep did I let the roots grow?  You see, the roots must be able to penetrate all the layers of the ground (all the layers of our heart) to even sustain a giant oak  Sometimes as new roots take over, other roots will be disrupted (other lives who have not come to the saving knowledge of Christ or other sins that we have allowed to take hold in our lives)...However, as we feed off of Jesus: his love, grace, mercy, and power, he will penetrate into our every being and nourish our roots. The old roots (self) will be die and be washed away! I don't know about you, but I don't want any ferns taking my nutrients, I am growing a tree!

As time passes the little spouts give life to a stronger tree and over time, fruit. You cannot jump from seed to fruit, that takes time, commitment, prayer and continual keeping (you have to change your sinful ways to grow). Sometimes sin will come and try to steal the fruit or shake the tree so that the fruit will fall. However,  if you are firmly rooted in him, this will only cause your roots to go deeper and your fruit to have more value.

Sometimes you may even want to be shaken so that you can grow your roots deeper. I know that I want to become more holy and fruit filled every day. I want to wash away more of my sinful self with each rain, storm, and temptation.

So I asked myself this morning, what does my fruit look like, has it fallen off and died? Has it been picked and eaten to nourish someone else? Or, maybe it did fall off when it was mature and now it is a new seed planted somewhere else?

I thought hard about what kind of roots I am allowing to grow in my friendships and marriage. The verse goes on to say that the Lord will fill Zion (Israel, or the grafted in like us) with justice and righteousness, and he will be the stability (the root, tree, vine) of your times, abundance of salvation, wisdom, and knowledge: the fear of the Lord is Zions treasure. Wow!

Verses 14-16 then asks:

Who among us can dwell with the consuming fire? Whom among us can dwell with everlasting burnings?

Or, what tree can withstand his presence?

He who walks righteously and speaks uprightly, who despises the gain of oppressions, who shakes his hands, lest they hold a bribe, who stops his ears from hearing of bloodshed and shuts his eyes from looking on evil, he will dwell on the heights; his place of defense will be the fortresses of rocks; his bread will be given him; his water will be sure. Your eyes will behold the king in his beauty.

This very principle began taking hold of my life. God was growing his roots and changing my tree! Like most people, I sometimes like to watch TV. The history channel, TLC, discovery, the occasional reality show, etc. However,  I noticed that in doing so I was NOT stopping my ears from hearing the bloodshed, and I was not shutting my eyes from evil. I began to look at my everyday activities and realized that I was allowing weeds to grow up all around me unaware! It is so important to NOT allow this to happen, we must continue the spiritual fight! One of my favorite sayings is "I am going for the victory because I want the blessing!" I am going to fight the battles and when I am victorious in the name of Jesus, (because we know Christ WILL win) I will receive His blessing - dwelling among his consuming fire and beholding all his beauty!

Sarah