Above all else

  It's that time of year again.  A time to intentionally stop, take a moment and give credit where credit is due.  To acknowledge that without a benevolent God in heaven seeing, knowing, intervening, holding the universe in His hand, we simply would not be.  The giving of Thanks, a verbal confession of our dependence, a recognition that who we are, what we have is all a gift. and the Maker of all the ends of the earth, the Lord of hosts, is the great Giver. 
   In a world where complaining is first nature, and often what we see and proclaim is our lack - internal and external.  Many of us are quick to see our faults, where we don't measure up to our own standards or someone else's.  We're quick to see what we need or want and the measure of that always seems greater than what we already have, more pressing, clouding all that is with what we want it to be.  It leaves a restlessness in the soul, unsettledness that leads to anxiety.  Everything does not seem all right in our world when our eyes are set on what is not rather than what is.  So, what's the solution?  Certainly, we all have room for personal growth and the refrigerator and pantry never seem to stay full by themselves, and Newton's law of degeneration is always at work.  We do have real needs and good dreams and desires.  Are we stuck?  Never arriving at a place of peace and settledness?  It seems to always  come back to vision, perspective - a continuous refocus on the Giver of all good things who knows that we need all these things and has promised to finish His beautiful work in us cause He doesn't start something and not finish it! 
   I was listening to a sermon yesterday and these three words have held my attention, given me cause to ponder deeply - "above ALL ELSE".  If there's something more important than anything else I can do, that is the business I should be about, but what is so singularly important?  Guarding the heart.  Not being overrun by our feelings or easily influenced by the things surrounding.  Why guard it?  Without intention, without constant vigilance, we could easily live out of our feelings and have our feelings influenced by every passing wind or word.  And everything we do - every word, every decision flows from this one thing.  What does it mean to guard the heart?  To not let every little external thing make waves, to dwell on, ruminate and continually revisit our lack, brokenness, or displeasure.  To guard the heart means to be intentional with every little thing that comes in our out and to continually refocus it on what is true, lovely, of good report  - to set our heart in an attitude of giving thanks for then out of us will flow joy, gratitude, and peace.  Guarding what comes in and goes out that life might be the outflow, the gift that you give to those around you. 

1. Now thank we all our God, with heart and hands and voices,
   Who wondrous things has done, in Whom this world rejoices;
   Who from our mothers’ arms has blessed us on our way
   With countless gifts of love, and still is ours today.
2. Oh, may this bounteous God through all our life be near us,
   With ever joyful hearts and blessed peace to cheer us;
   And keep us in His grace, and guide us when perplexed;
   And guard us through all ills in this world, till the next!
3. All praise and thanks to God the Father now be given,
   The Son, and Him Who reigns with Them in highest Heaven—
   The one eternal God, Whom earth and Heav’n adore;
   For thus it was, is now, and shall be evermore

Great story behind this classic Thanksgiving hymn

Song

Worship - waging war for peace

What do you think about when you hear the word "peace"?  Do you think of sitting by a beautiful mountain stream?  Taking a walk and reveling in the beauty and wonder of creation?  A bubble bath after a long day? What about a quietness of soul in the midst of pain, chaos or catastrophe?  Isn't that when we need it most?  Don't get me wrong, there is something very therapeutic - healing and centering about stepping away from the chaos of life and soaking in the beauty, setting our focus on something bigger, outside of ourselves, and I strongly recommend being regularly purposeful in this.  However, there's also a way to experience peace right in the midst of all the swirling, busy and painful life experiences.  How do we break through what's right in front of us, pulling in a hundred different directions at once, walk in peace when we feel alone, life hasn't gone as we anticipated and it's left us with a deep ache we can't run away from?
  Think of David - Samuel came to town to anoint the next king and called David's family together to discover which one was IT, but his family didn't even consider him as a necessary part of the family.  However, when he did get anointed king and was filled with the Holy Spirit to destroy Goliath, he was very quickly not just rejected by his family but rejected by King Saul and hunted down.  In his jealousy and fury, Saul soon had all of Israel, the Israel that David was anointed king of, chasing after him to destroy him.  Sometime later, having stayed with the Philistines with the 400 low-life ruffians that had banded together with David, he was headed to battle with the Philistines against his own people, but then was rejected by them and told to leave.  Even his enemy didn't want him and when he returned to his village to find it burned down and all the women and children taken, the only people he had left - his 400 men- were ready to stone him.  So, having received a glorious promise from GOD and subsequently having one person or group of people after another reject and seek to destroy him, right in the midst of the worst of the worst, what did David do?  I Sam 30:6 - he strengthened himself in the Lord his God.  He worshiped.  After that?  God gave him victory after victory and gave him back all that had been taken from him.  All the captives plus extra plunder were recovered.  Saul and his sons died in battle and David began the process of becoming King of Israel and subsequently became one of the most famous kings of all time and one of the most recognized Bible heroes.  But did it always look rosy?  Did he every have doubts?  Feel squeezed, worn out, alone and broken - yes, right before the breakthrough was the worst!  And Scripture is filled with examples of a person being brought to the end of themselves - and what they chose in that moment was critical.  Over and over, those who chose to worship in that moment, not declaring what was- as far as circumstances right in front of them- but declaring what they could not see - who God is and what He has done and can do.  And time and again this choice to set eyes on Him was the pivot point that brought them into breakthrough.
   Worship- our glorious warfare against the onslaught of fear, pain, chaos, uncertainty and all that life has to throw at us.  In those times that seem to most call us to action, to do something, fix something, our tendency is to ponder, think, worry.  We "fall into a trap of thinking we can find a solution by looking at a problem from every angle and letting it consume our world. But what happens is that the affections of the heart get drawn away from the Lord, to the point that we care more about the problem than about giving Him what He deserves.  We let other voices speak louder than His, and that is always irresponsible! I am responsible to Him first..." Bill Johnson  "Most of us are about 15 minutes away from discouragement if we make a series of wrong decisions.  Our goal must be to remain fundamentally connected in our hearts to God's affections and His nature.  Worship, then, is the family business. This does not mean that we ignore problems, but that we operate from the conviction that as we stay faithful to adore Christ Jesus in the midst of our trials, He promises to bring solutions that we could not derive within ourselves." David Bradshaw 
  It is not in our brilliance of thought, purposeful composure and strength of mind that we arrive at peace, unshakable peace - it is only by setting our eyes on Him and declaring who He is and what He has done that we can walk unmoved, unfrazzled, hopeful and glorious in joy no matter what life throws at us.

Peace, Wonderful Peace
Far away in the depths of my spirit tonight
Rolls a melody sweeter than psalm;
In celestial-like strains it unceasingly falls
O’er my soul like an infinite calm.

Refrain:
Peace, peace, wonderful peace,
Coming down from the Father above!
Sweep over my spirit forever, I pray
In fathomless billows of love!

What a treasure I have in this wonderful peace,
Buried deep in the heart of my soul,
So secure that no power can mine it away,
While the years of eternity roll!

I am resting tonight in this wonderful peace,
Resting sweetly in Jesus’ control;
For I’m kept from all danger by night and by day,
And His glory is flooding my soul!

And I think when I rise to that city of peace,
Where the Author of peace I shall see,
That one strain of the song which the ransomed will sing
In that heavenly kingdom will be:

Ah soul, are you here without comfort and rest,
Marching down the rough pathway of time?
Make Jesus your friend ere the shadows grow dark;
Oh, accept this sweet peace so sublime!

Song
Story behind the hymn

Peace and Fear

    I think much of my disturbance in peace revolves around fear - fear of what's left undone, fear of what balls I'm dropping, fear of being too busy or of not giving enough to children/family, work, church, GOD, the list goes on.  It's so easy to let fear of one thing or another grip our lives and rob our peace.  Therefore, my study has led me to search out all the verses related to not fearing and then the fear of the Lord.  I got out my large concordance and opened it to fear.  What should I find there but 3 pages - every line filled in my own handwriting with verses on "not fear" and then "fear of the Lord."  I guess I've looked down this road before.  Time to bring it home, search it out deeper.
  I started writing down everything these verses said - why we don't fear, what it looks like to fear the Lord - making notes by each verse.  The last few days, verses in Deuteronomy about the fear of the Lord have included a secondary phrase: "hold fast to Him" not "be held by Him," rest in His arms, but "hold fast to Him" in the mix of other commands: Deut. 13:4 "You shall walk after the Lord your God and fear Him and keep His commandments and obey His voice, and you shall serve Him and hold fast to Him."  There are six parts to this verse: 1. Walk after or follow after the Lord.  This means I have to see Him, know where He's going/leading, and He is not one who hides His intentions, though sometimes He is very hard to see, and we feel desperate to take the next step which has yet to be revealed.  In these times, desperate to know, to move forward but not knowing which direction forward is, we can be gripped with fear, lose sight of faith.  My dear friend and my own soul, He hasn't changed.  He will still be faithful.  Rest, wait as long as it takes in this place, for He will surely direct your steps.
    2. Fear Him.  You have read and seen what He does, what He can do.  Nothing is impossible for Him.  It is He who goes before us and fights for us to accomplish all of His purposes in and through us and NOTHING can stand in His way.  So in awe, tremble before the High and the Holy and worship in that place.  Let your faith be built here.
   3. Keep His commandments.  His Word is truth and obeying His commands as outlined in Scripture leads to life and joy and peace.  These commands are given because GOD who created us knows best what is optimal for LIFE; so, rather than leave us guessing about how to live life optimally and fulfilled, He wrote it down that we might know and obey - for OUR GOOD.
  4. Obey His voice.  This means, of course that we're expected to hear it.  We need revelation, prophecy, encounters in quiet places with the MOST HIGH that we might hear His voice and like Jesus, do what the Father says.  We need to hear that voice saying: "This is the way, walk in it." And the more we listen and step out in faith with every little Word He gives: "Don't do that/say that." Or a sudden remembrance of something you were supposed to do (Do it right away!!), or the name of a person on your heart - pray for them, give them a call.  Let them know that Jesus was thinking of them and put them on your heart.  Obeying every little prompting will help you grow in hearing His voice and that voice will get easier and easier to hear and the obedience will get easier despite the noise or your to do list be cause you've developed a habit of it and reaped it's reward!
  5. Serve Him.  I really think this ties so closely to obeying His voice.  Following every prompting of the Spirit is certainly serving Him.  Many times I think we can burn ourselves out serving - our families, our community, our friends, our church doing a million good things but missing the One thing.  Our serving then becomes overwhelming, burdensome and rather than being joyfully fulfilled and renewed in it, we burn out or become on edge and stressed out.  My friends, my soul, this is not what serving the Lord looks like.  This is not going from strength to strength and glory to glory.  So, start with hearing His voice and obeying that one step at a time.  Serving will flow naturally and His joy will be your strength.

   6. Finally, hold fast to Him: the phrase that caught my attention.  I don't know about you, but this tells me that it's going to be a wild ride.  There will be times that it's hard, my grip will loosen, and I'll need to tighten it.  It tells me that there will be forces trying to pull me away and distract me from the ONE THING.  It tells me I'm gonna need both hands clinging, so everything I do better be by His voice and command.  It tells me I'll need to concentrate, and that I'll need a lot of love and faith in His goodness, truth and worth: that the worth of Jesus will consume me and drive me on.  There will be times when the way is dark and difficult and He seems far away.  Then, we need to hold fast. There will be times your fingers are tired and faith is thin.  Then, we need to hold fast. There will be times we don't understand what He is doing. Then, we need to hold fast, and He'll hold fast to us.


I'll Keep Holding On To Jesus
I'll keep holding on to Jesus,
I'll keep holding on to Jesus
I'll keep holding to those precious
nail scarred hands.

Though I cannot see way clearly,
And my step become so weary
I'll keep holding to those precious
nail scarred hands.

As I walk the road of life toward Heaven,
Hills and valleys seem so hard to climb.
And if victory is a little slow in coming.
Remember the hands that held the nails
are still the same.

So I'll keep holding on to Jesus,
I'll keep holding on to Jesus
I'll keep holding to those precious
nail scarred hands.

Though I cannot see way clearly,
And my step become so weary
I'll keep holding to those precious
nail scarred hands.

Though sometimes the pathway seems so narrow,
Fear and doubt tend to crowd my mind.
But then I feel the gentle touch of Jesus.
He says: "Child, just keep holding to my hand."

So I'll keep holding on to Jesus,
I'll keep holding on to Jesus
I'll keep holding to those precious
nail scarred hands.

Though I cannot see way clearly,
And my step become so weary
I'll keep holding to those precious
nail scarred hands.

I'll keep holding
(x5)
to those precious
nail scarred hands.
Holding on to Jesus

Peace and trust

  Yesterday I got some news about an ongoing, very frustrating situation.  It was supposed to be resolved. We were finally reaching the end of a year-long "battle" that had intensified over the past 3 months.  With the extra money, time and multiple phone calls poured into this, the long awaited paperwork signaling resolution had arrived.   I opened it up. It was only half there.  They hadn't processed it all properly.  It's a weekend, no one to call and rant over the phone about the many in-competencies of the department, demanding immediate resolution.  Others expressing frustration toward this ongoing delayed process, and I'm stuck in the middle.  Helpless.  Beyond frustrated, and I cry out to God.  Why??  What is going on here?  In what way are you going to receive glory, fight for me, make "all things turn out for the good of those who love You"? I don't see it, and I'm so very tired of trying to explain and diffuse others' frustrations when I've reached the end of my patience as well.  What is this supposed to be teaching us, and can I please learn the lesson so that this never ending merry-go-round can stop!
   It's probably no mistake that my study on peace, which has led me to study the verses on the fear of the Lord and the words "do not fear", brought me to 2 Chronicles 20.  Jehoshaphat was king in Israel.  He had rid the land of idols and worked hard to turn Israel back to the Lord and establish righteous government that judged the people rightly, fearing the Lord.  Just after he had well-established this, he got rewarded.  News came that the people of Moab, Ammon plus others - a great multitude- was coming up in battle against him.  What?!  Is this how You reward those who seek You? This most certainly made him afraid, and so he did the one thing that he had been prepared to do.  He sought the Lord and proclaimed a fast throughout the land.  All of Judah followed in his example and came together to seek the Lord.  Jehoshaphat, with total honesty before the Lord did 7 things: 1. He began by declaring who God is.  He affirmed the personal nature of God - "Lord God of our fathers" and the authority of God - "are you not God in heaven ruling over all the kingdoms and nations?"  And he affirmed His attributes.  2. Then, he reminded God (and more so himself) of all that God had done in power and might to save before.   3. He reconfirmed his commitment to seek God. 4. He laid out the problem before God.  5. He acknowledged His wisdom and ability above his own and asked for Divine intervention.
 
   Following this prayer, the Spirit of God spoke through a prophet "Don't be afraid, God's got this." Or something very much like that.  6. Jehoshaphat believed in God's Word and entered into the battle with worship.  7.  He saw God fight for him and completely vanquish the enemy.  In fact, the report is that when they began to sing and praise, "the Lord set ambushes against the people...who had come up against Judah, and they were defeated...they helped destroy one another...No one had escaped."  So that when Judah came up to a place overlooking the valley, all they saw were dead bodies and they went and plundered the whole army By the way, who wears precious jewelry into battle?  Are you really going to get dressed up in fancy jewelry to fight a war?  This shows the extent of God's humor and the way. He goes above and beyond His people's prayers and needs and abundantly blesses those who choose to seek Him in the midst of their fears and radically trust His word - letting praise precede the victory. 

Trust and Obey

1. When we walk with the Lord in the light of His Word,
   What a glory He sheds on our way!
   While we do His good will, He abides with us still,
   And with all who will trust and obey.
   • Refrain:
     Trust and obey, for there’s no other way
     To be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.
2. Not a shadow can rise, not a cloud in the skies, 
   But His smile quickly drives it away;    ( now this line always bothered me.  It's not always
   Not a doubt or a fear, not a sigh or a tear,          quick.  Sometimes we have to walk out
   Can abide while we trust and obey.                 long steps of faith to see His salvation)
3. Not a burden we bear, not a sorrow we share,
   But our toil He doth richly repay;
   Not a grief or a loss, not a frown or a cross,
   But is blessed if we trust and obey.
4. But we never can prove the delights of His love
   Until all on the altar we lay;
   For the favor He shows, for the joy He bestows,
   Are for them who will trust and obey.
5. Then in fellowship sweet we will sit at His feet,
   Or we’ll walk by His side in the way;
   What He says we will do, where He sends we will go;
   Never fear, only trust and obey.

Song

Story behind the song

Strive for full restoration and the 5 common topics

  You may have noticed that it's been nearly a month since my last post.  School's back in session here in the Russell household, and we're learning how to order our days to get it all in!  In the process, we've been having morning Bible studies focusing one one character quality a week, finding a Bible verse about that and studying it together using the 5 common topics - I'll show you what I mean.  It's been a great exercise for me to really understand what a verse or passage is saying, and one verse that we studied keeps stirring in my heart and mind, calling me deeper still: 2 Corinthians 13:11  "Finally, brothers and sisters, Rejoice!  Strive for full restoration, encourage one another, be of one mind, live in peace and the God of love and peace will be with you."
   You've probably heard it said as well as I that the last, the final words, of a person are usually the most poignant - the point they most want you to grab hold of.  And so, here it is: Rejoice - live in joy, choose joy which generally falls into a choice of gratitude (tying into our verse about doing everything without complaining and arguing).  Then, we pulled apart "strive for full restoration."  The first of the 5 common topics is Definition, so we defined strive as: work hard at, fight for it, give yourself fully to; full restoration as complete, no hidden areas of brokenness or discord.
     The next topic is Comparison: what is this the same as: everything is resolved and there is peace and love restored to a relationship with no anger or awkwardness, no thinking badly of the other person or holding anything against them. It is seeing how you offended or hurt someone, being broken and repentant about your role in it and physically and verbally forsaking that wrong and doing whatever it takes to demonstrate that you're sorry and repentant of your wrong.  What is this different from?  This is different from mumbling or even yelling angrily (so that mom knows we're "making it right" and doesn't need to intervene or discipline - lol) "I'm sorry."  It's different from sorry plus a lot of excuses why the action was done.  It's different from "sorry" and there's still anger, hurt feelings and resentment.
     Circumstance: under what condition is this needed?  What led up to the decisions?  We need full restoration both when we have offended/wronged someone as well as when we have been wronged or have angst in our relationship with someone else.  Having a good understanding of what brought us to this place of broken relationship, owning our part in that and confessing it, goes a long ways in helping restore relationship.   This topic also looks at what else might be going on around our outside of the direct situation: what's going on in the other person's life?  What's going on in my life that might be contributing to greater discord, irritability or an offensive nature?
   Relationship:  How is this affecting my relationship with this person?  With other persons?  With the body of Christ?  How is my reaction and involvement in this representing the name of Christ? In what ways might this reveal how I'm treating others maybe unconsciously or on a regular basis? Have I done everything in my power to fully restore this relationship?
   Testimony: Who is the leading authority on this?  Christ, when He made restitution for our sin and died for us, didn't leave some of our sin, maintain some anger and frustration with our brokenness or depravity. He gave all of Himself, emptied Himself that we might be so fully restored to God that not only were we made right with Him, we have become His sons and daughters - bestowed with the same authority, inheritance and affection of the SON.  WHAT??!?  Did you really get that?  Do I believe that deep down and live under the glory of that truth?  He not only fully restored the relationship that, like Adam and Eve, we might walk and talk with Him, He made us heirs, the bride of Christ - He went above and beyond all that was necessary to bring full restoration.  In a word: REDEMPTION.  But even that word that I love isn't enough to capture the fullness of abundant restoration plus, plus.  I'm not sure language can capture the extent of what He did in and for us through the cross.
   It would seem that breaking down just these four little words: "strive for full restoration" is enough for today, and so we went through each phrase like this, talking about what it means to encourage one another, be of one mind - one over-arching goal/vision which by it's very nature produces a life of peace and when all of that happens the nature and evidence of Almighty God and His great love and peace overflow in our home.  Lord, do it.  Let it be with us, that we might be ones who live out Your Word.
  I Will Sing of My Redeemer
I will sing of my Redeemer,
  And His wondrous love to me;
On the cruel cross He suffered,
  From the curse to set me free.


  Sing, oh, sing of my Redeemer,
  With His blood He purchased me,
On the cross He sealed my pardon,
    Paid the debt, and made me free.
2
I will tell the wondrous story,
  How my lost estate to save,
In His boundless love and mercy,
  He the ransom freely gave.
3
I will praise my dear Redeemer,
  His triumphant pow’r I’ll tell,
How the victory He giveth
  Over sin, and death, and hell.
4
I will sing of my Redeemer,
  And His heav’nly love to me;
He from death to life hath brought me,
  Son of God with Him to be.

Song - modern version
Song - Fernando Ortega
Story behind the hymn