Who I Want to Be

I’m getting my life ready for the new year. I want to make some personality improvements so I took a personality test on the internet. I don't know how accurate it was because there seems to be a human element for which the test didn't allow. I had a hard time answering the questions honestly. I seem to want to answer how I want to be instead of who I really am. This frustrates My Friend Pam to no end. I’m sure she remembers one specific beach trip that we took personality tests together. She kept saying, “No, no, that is not how you are.” My answer was, “Why can't it be? It’s what I want to be.”

Well, I’m sure I did the same thing on this test this time too. It turned out that I’m either ENFJ or ESFJ. I took it twice and changed some answers. Whatever these initials stood for that’s what I either thought I was or wanted to be; until I read the description of these personalities. Then I went back and changed some more answers. In the end I don’t really know what my personality is but I do know what I want it to be.

I want to have the perfect personality. I want to be: loving, optimistic, easy going, patient, kind-hearted, virtuous, loyal, gentle, and self-disciplined. I fear I’m not there yet. I think the initials for that personality is SC (Spirit-controlled.)

Galatians 5:22-25 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control; against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.

I don’t want to be E, N, F, S, J, I, P, or T, or any other initials. I just want to be SC.

The only real evaluator of this test is the Holy Spirit Himself. And He’s a tough grader and very honest about what I am at any given moment of the day. While it may be impossible to have the perfect personality this side of heaven, at least I have a Teacher that doesn't give up on me. The Holy Spirit convicts in a gentle way (and sometimes in a not so gentle way when I'm being really obnoxious.) But the Holy Spirit always convicts and leads lovingly.

I know who I want to be this New Year.

I know who I need to depend on.

I know I’m going to need some help getting to the place in my personality I want to be.

With God’s forgiveness, grace, and mercy I’ll get a little closer to my personality goal.

I may even get to change some of the personality test answers legitimately.

My Friend Pam will be so delighted.

Oh Come, Let Us Adore Him

I'm reading a book now…It seems I have started other blogs this way. The book is about how to worship God. Every Christian author, it seems to me, has the key to meaningful worship. And their key is different from every other Christian author’s key. I guess it’s a way to sell their book but it also shows that we are confused about how we are to worship God. What happened to the good old days when our “greats” and “grands” didn't think twice about how to worship? They didn't read books. They didn't attend worship conferences. They just worshiped. They didn't question it. They just worshiped.

The author of the book I'm reading disclosed the fact that by his calculations 8 out of 10 believers do not feel that they have had a time of worshiping in the presence of God on a weekly basis. That means definitely not on a daily basis either. I don't know if these stats are legitimate or not but it shows that we modern Christians have a problem with meeting with God in a meaningful way.He says the obstacles we face in our century are hindering us from encountering God. It’s true we have more stress at the workplace, and technology has cluttered all of the spare time our “greats” and “grands” had. We have too much required of us and too much to do and not enough day to do it in. The author spends over 200 pages teaching how to worship. And he can be hired to teach conferences also if further instruction is needed.

In my introspective moments away from this book I've wondered just how people knew how to worship before all of this instruction was presented by our current Christian authors?

David the shepherd and king of Old Testament fame was a self-taught worshiper. He said in Psalm 95:6-7 "Oh come, let us worship and bow down;let us kneel before the LORD, our Maker! For he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand."

And he wasn't the only shepherd that figured it out on his own. Luke 2:15-20  states,"When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, 'Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.' And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in a manger. And when they saw it, they made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child... And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them."

The shepherds, not considered learned theologians of their day,  knew instinctively how to worship after they encountered Christ just once.

We, who have the opportunity of a daily encounter with the living God, say we don't feel like we have done any worshiping.

So let’s take a moment now.

Let’s worship right now.

Let’s stop while we are reading this and sing this in our hearts:

O come, all ye faithful, joyful and triumphant. O come ye, O come ye to Bethlehem.

Come and behold Him born the King of Angels.

O come, let us adore Him.

O come, let us adore Him.

O come, let us adore Him, 

Christ the Lord!

I had a little worship moment. Did you?

Have a wonderful time of Christmas worship with your family and friends.

No Ordinary King

He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.” Luke 1:32-33

Kings, dictators, presidents, emperors, czars, pharaohs: these are just a few of the names we have given the rulers of our world. There seems to always be a pecking order. And there seems to always be someone in charge that requires our submission. We have always had to yield to a person of superior force and to the will of his or her authority.

The problems come when we disagree with the decisions of our authority. They may have had the best or worst of motives but all of the leaders past and present have led from a human flawed perspective. Even those that historians call the best of the world’s leaders have made mistakes. Some of them have had consequences that changed the course of history. Those that have been called the worst of the world’s leaders have devastated populations and economies. The good news is these leaders were short lived when compared to all of history’s timeline. Their kingdom came to an end. Some were handed down for several generations but even they came to an end.

But when an angel appeared to a young woman he told her some very exciting news about a world leader. He would be called the Son of the Most High and He is still called this today and will continue to be called this. He will continue the reign of the house of King David and the house of Jacob. He will continue to fulfill all of the promises God gave to these men in His eternal kingdom. His kingdom will never end.

Now this could be a bad thing for us if this eternal king was human. There would be mistakes here and there. There would be things that we may not want to submit too. There would be bad decisions that would carry consequences for eternity.

But this king is no ordinary king.

This King is Jesus.

This King will always make decisions for His people that will be for their eternal best.

This King will protect His people against any catastrophe.

This King will keep His promises.

This King will keep peace forever.

This King will uphold justice and righteousness always.

This King will reign wisely and lovingly and do what is just and right in all the land.

This King will be highly exalted by God.

This is no ordinary king.

This is my King.

This King is Jesus!

What Would You Do?

I’m a very curious person. I'll bet I drove my parents crazy with all the questions I asked. I want to know the what’s, why’s, how’s, and when’s. I want details not just bottom lines. Sometimes the scriptures lead me to questions for which God doesn't give answers. And I even want to know why He doesn't give all the answers.

One of the questions I have involves the Christmas story in Luke chapter two. I really get into the account of Mary and Joseph’s arrival in Bethlehem. The birth of the baby I’m sure was like what women go through today but without drugs, doctors, hospitals, or sanitization. And I really don't want those details. I like the account of the angels appearing to the shepherds. That seems to be very thorough. And then the visit of the shepherds to the new baby is described. Then the story kind of ends abruptly.

Verses 17-20

And when they saw it, they made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child.  And all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them.  But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart.  And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.

Who did they tell? What did the people that heard wonder about? The Greek words are “akousantes ethaumasan” (don’t even try to pronounce this) which means they comprehended and understood the ramifications of what the shepherds said and it amazed, astonished, and caused them to speculate about this birth. Did they believe the shepherds? Did anyone else go to the stable to see this miracle? Did these shepherds ever follow up on the life of Christ?  The story was stopped too soon. My questions are not ever answered. Why did God stop the story here?

It has made me and my overactive imagination take over. Did the wife of one shepherd say, “You left the sheep? That’s our only income. You would jeopardize our future on a baby?” Did the children of one shepherd say, “Daddy, take me. Take me to see this baby. And tell us the story again!” Did one shepherd tell his family that they were going to follow this little baby because one day He would proclaim that He was the Messiah? Were any of those shepherds or their witnesses in Jerusalem at the time of Christ's crucifixion and did they remember the "Bethlehem story"?

And then I began to wonder what I would do if I were living at that time and a shepherd told me this fantastical tail. Would I believe and want to go worship? Or who would I tell if I was one of the few people in the entire world that experienced this angelic event? Would I tell my family, my friends, even complete strangers?

Maybe that’s what God in His wisdom not to resolve the story wants us to do. Maybe He wants us to make the faith decision to believe or not to believe that this historical occurrence is true. Maybe He wants us to glorify, praise and tell others of the reality of Christ that we have experienced in our lives with the enthusiasm of the shepherds.

What am I going to do with this story?

What would you do?

Focus, Focus

We took my nine year old great niece out for a day of shopping. We and she had a specific list of must buys. Of course, with a child shopping during the Christmas season things fell apart very quickly. Our must buy list turned into, “Ooooo, can I have this? I want this. I really need this. Please, get this for me.” The lights and glitzy displays didn’t help because stores want to compel us to buy. Everything is meant to distract from the real shopping list to the spur of the moment purchases and over spending.

The adults kept telling my little niece, “No, you don't need this. This is not the reason we are here. Focus, focus.” That is, until we got distracted.  It was quite humorous when she began to tell us to focus.

It’s easy to lose our focus during the holiday season. We get distracted with all the Christmas hype and turn our attention away from the reason we Christians emphasize this time of year. Isn't the first part of the word “Christmas” Christ? Sometimes we forget that.

In all of the extra bling we have added and are exposed to at this time of year, let’s spend a little time in focused thankfulness and worship.

Hebrews 12:2

Looking away from everything else, focus on Jesus,

the one who initiated and perfected our faith.

He focused on the future joy and blessing while He endured a death on the cross not giving a thought to the shame of the moment.

Now He is seated in a place of honor at the right hand of the throne of God.

I know we have to do a lot of things at Christmas but having to do a lot of things shouldn't consume us. We have to decorate our houses. We have to buy the gifts. We have to bake the goodies. We have to learn the music for the Christmas cantatas. We have to make the costumes for our children’s nativity programs.  We have to visit the relatives. And all this is added to our already busy daily schedules.

But for a moment, let’s look away from all of this and look to Jesus. He is the “reason for the season” (I wasn't going to fall into the overused phrase trap but there it is. I did.) He is the originator, and founder of our very faith. He continues to make us into His completed and acceptable and perfected ones.

We can take our flawed messed up selves and stand before God unflawed and faultless because of Christ. Now that makes me want to say, “Merry Christmas to all!”

I'll be telling myself the very thing I told my little niece this Christmas time.

No, I don't need this. I need Christ.

This is not the reason I am here. He is the reason I'm here.

Focus.

 Focus.

Sprinkled Wherever You Go

I just made my eight hour car trip over the river and through the woods to my family Thanksgiving gathering. And wouldn't you know it, the weather was not cooperative. Oh, it never really rained but it never really sunned (Is this a word?) either. You would think that traversing four states would bring some weather change. But, no.  It spat, sputtered, and drizzled the whole way.

In reading 1 Peter 1:1-2, I realize that being sprinkled on wherever I go is not a bad thing. And I'm not talking weather here.

The Christians in 1 Peter were being forced to move all over the place. But God didn’t leave them to wander off alone.

Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ,

To those who are elect exiles of the dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, according to the foreknowledge of God the Father,

in the sanctification of the Spirit,

for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood:

May grace and peace be multiplied to you.

He had sprinkled them with His blood wherever they happened to land in their exile. Now this may sound kind of gruesome but not to their understanding of what this sprinkling meant. They had been used to the whole sacrificial offering sprinkling of blood thing initiated in Old Testament as the covenant promise from God. They had been told about the new covenant. Christ was the last and final all-encompassing sacrifice for their sin. The new covenant meant that they were sprinkled with Christ’s blood (not literally) once to atone for their sin that before had to be repeated over and over again with an animal sacrifice. No matter where circumstances took them they were covered by Christ’s love, grace, peace, and forgiveness.

I thought about this being sprinkled. The windshield wipers were on, off, slow, fast, or however the weather dictated. But there were always the sprinkles of rain wherever I went. I just imagined that this is what my covering for sin from Christ might look like. Always forgiven. Always covered. No matter where I am, always Christ is with me. Given grace and given peace wherever God leads me in this world.

And this sprinkling of grace and peace is multiplied on us. This word multiplied in Greek means maximum capacity. While I’m glad I only got drizzles while I drove, I’m equally glad that I had maximum capacity of grace and peace as I drove. And I have this increase of grace and peace all the time. Good to know and good to live in.

Sprinkled wherever I go

Sprinkled wherever you go

With a maximum capacity of grace and peace

Wherever we go

I think I'll look at sprinkles of rain differently in the future.

Potato Salad Alert

My family celebrated Thanksgiving a little differently. We had ham (not turkey,) Sweet potato pie (not pumpkin,) and potato salad (not mashed potatoes and gravy.) It was in reminiscing about our quirkiness that I remembered that my sweet mom always made three kind of potato salad to appease everyone: with pickles and onions, with pickles no onions, with onions no pickle. Woe to the meal that only had one potato salad option.

It was in this recollection that I realized that I have more expectations of food at the table than people at the table. And if that isn't bad enough in itself I do not even consider who is not at the table.

Those who give to the poor will lack nothing, but those who close their eyes to them receive many curses. Proverbs 28:27

I sit at the Thanksgiving table with food all around me looking for my expected food choice and forget really that I have been blessed with FOOD (expected or not, Mom’s recipe or not, what I requested or not.) God has blessed me with food, water, family, and shelter; the fundamental needs for survival.

And across the ocean in the country of the Philippines there are people right now without food, water, family, or shelter. That is only one example of the needs all around me. And I just close my eyes and pretend I don't even know this. I shut out those screams of people struggling to survive the day and complain if the food doesn't meet my dietary anticipations. How petty. How cruel. How unchristian. How have I let myself get to this point?

God doesn't give me a, “Sorry, my bad,” way out on this oversight. He puts me in the line to receive curses. What? Really? So I looked up the Hebrew word we translate as curses.  Do you know what this word really means?  Yep, it literally stands for “curses” And what does that mean?

Curse - a solemn utterance intended to invoke a supernatural power to inflict harm or punishment on someone or something.

Wow, I think God is serious about this. If I have been given the blessings by God, He wants me to share these blessings with those who need. No hoarding. No grumbling about what I didn't get. But concerned about what I can give.  So this Thanksgiving I'm going to keep my eyes, heart, and hands open.

 I’m going to look for ways to give love to my family, help for the helpless, and hope for the hopeless.

It’s going to cost me money, time, and expectations.

I'm not even going to be alarmed about what kind of potato salad is on the table.

A Psalm for Shouting Thanks

Psalm 100

Make a joyful noise unto the Lord all the earth! Serve the Lord with gladness!  Come into His presence with singing! Know that the Lord, He is God! It is He who made us, and we are His. We are His people, and the sheep of His pasture. Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with Praise! Give thanks to Him; bless His name! For the Lord is good, His steadfast love endures forever, and His faithfulness to all generations.

I don't know where the exclamation marks came from. They are in this Psalm in my Bible .It is my understanding that the Hebrew language didn’t use punctuation. But since the Hebrew words say to shout the joyful noise I guess the exclamation marks make sense in this song of praise.

We need to be vocal about our thankfulness. We need to joyfully shout it. Thanksgiving is not isolated to the historical time of year in this country. Our thanksgiving is to be shouted over all the earth. I don’t thinks it is to be relegated to a Thursday in November. It is meant to be a heart response all of the time.

My mother had this philosophy down pat. She had osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, and was in constant pain. But when anyone looked at her deformed hands and feet and asked with sympathy, “How are you doing?” She would smile and say, “I’m thankful.” Some days were harder than others but that did not stop that precious little stooped shouldered lady. She was thankful. She was thankful all the time.

We use this Psalm a lot in churches during the Thanksgiving season. We think over the past year and how God has been faithful with His blessings to us.  Wouldn't it shock all of us if someone stood up while we were saying this Psalm and said, “Excuse me, aren't we supposed to be shouting this?”

 No, no, don’t worry. I don’t have plans to do this. 

But I’ll be thinking of it.

Psalm 100

A Psalm for Shouting Thanks!

Forgiveness, A Hard Pill To Swallow

I thought I was a pretty forgiving person. I mean, I taught first grade at a Christian school and forgiving was the mantra I taught, and taught, and taught. I know what it means and I know how to do it. I know Bible verses to pull out at a moment’s notice to reinforce this character quality:

And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive them,
so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins ... Mark 11:25

For if you forgive other people when they sin against you,
your heavenly Father will also forgive you. ... Matthew 6:14

But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins. ... Matthew 6:15

Forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who sins against us. ... Luke 11:4

But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father who is in heaven forgive you ... Mark 11:26

Jesus said, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are
doing."  ... Luke 23:434

Oh yeah, I can deliver the forgiveness speech. And I know that a teacher is accountable to lead by life not just by instruction.

I found out, though, that I'm not as forgiving as I thought I was. I found out that when my expectations of promises given fail I tend to be pretty unforgiving, especially if it was promised to me.

Some of the promises given to the American public by our president in regard to our health insurance have failed utterly. I’m not president bashing because he went on national TV and apologized for the parts of the promise he couldn't deliver. And, of course, it was the parts of the plan that detrimentally affected me and my future health care.

 My first thought was, “Oh yeah, you can apologize all you want too but it doesn't fix my problem.” And then the Holy Spirit’s conviction bashed me. What makes this man asking forgiveness any different than any other person asking me to forgive them? Nothing. Just because it is done through the air waves and directed to the general population doesn't mean I should treat his apology differently. It doesn't matter his motives or agenda or genuineness, he apologized and now God is looking at my response.

Through gritted teeth I muttered, “OK, I forgive him.” But the Holy Spirit bashed me again. I reviewed the above verses in my mind and realized that muttering through gritted teeth is not the way I want God to forgive me.

I’m eating a lot of American apple humble pie right now.

And all of this health care reform has become a great spiritual lesson for me.

Hey, that is a beneficial by-product I hadn't counted on.

Forgiveness is a hard pill to swallow but it is fully covered by my heavenly insurance.

Just Do It, You Win

I hate to exercise. There, I admit it. My name is Jan and I am anti-exercise addicted. But my doctor encourages me to do it anyway. So I do, maybe, sometimes.

I was very surprised to see that a company that encourages exercise uses a Greek word as its logo. And the word is “nike.” I found this word in 1 John 5:4

For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith.

The word for victory here is “nike.” A form of this word is used in 1 Corinthians 15:57.

But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

This victory is over the Christian’s adversary. Our enemy is inherited because we follow by faith the One that Satan, sin, and the world opposes. We follow Jesus Christ. And in our following we are challenged by Satan and his influence over our world. It shouldn't surprise us that the Christian walk is not always easy. It is not always popular. It is not always “going with the flow.”

But we have overcome. We have not just been assured of victory by our God. We have been given victory even before the battle. I like the odds of being on the winning side.

My Pastor Wade is taking us through Revelation. And this not a direct quote (I can’t write as fast as he talks) but he said something like this last Sunday. “Satan can only impose delay tactics when it comes to our victory… God is in charge of all events in heaven and earth… The power of evil and sin is not and never will be equal with the power of God… We are supposed to be so immersed in our worship of Christ that when we are in an obvious spiritual battle we completely trust Christ and His ultimate victory.”

I wanted to stand up and cheer. I wanted to shout, “We won! We won! We have victory over battles we haven’t even fought yet! Isn’t this great? We are the champions!” I didn't do this, however, because I think someone would have gently escorted me out of the building. But I did want too.

Our faith is challenged but we have defeated the challenger. Our love for God is confronted by those who love the world but we have overcome. Our joy is temporarily muted but we have the ultimate joy in our victory through Christ.  We live in victory.

When it comes to the Christian life we “just do it.”

 And we just win.

We don’t have to fight for victory, we fight from victory.

Thank you, Nike, for your reminder. You make me want to exercise. 

Helping Me Up, Helping you up

A few years ago, a first grader and I fell down a step on a field trip. I was holding his hand and we were going down together. Well he hopped right up and I stayed down. I'll never forget what he said, “Let me help you up. That must have hurt you more because you had farther to fall.”

While I was studying the final words of Ephesians, I was reminded of this helping hand.

May God's grace be eternally upon all who love our Lord Jesus Christ. Ephesians 6:24

That word for grace is so very meaningful and carries more significance in Greek than we give it credit for in English.

 The Greek word for grace here is “charis.”  Charis in its expanded meaning is; 

1. A gift or blessing brought to man by Jesus Christ
2. His favor as He leans toward us to help us in our earthly situations 
3. Christ freely extending His help and love toward those whom He favors 
4. Christ giving himself away and reaching for us

As I incorporated this meaning for the word grace, I began to really realize the reach of Jesus’ love to me. And it’s a long way down to reach me because usually I fall farther into sin than I want too. And I imagine Jesus reaching down with love to help me up and out of the mess I create and saying, “Let me help you up. You must be hurting because you fell so far.”

And as the end of the verse infers, this is the reason I can't help but give Jesus my love in return. As He leans toward me I want to lean toward Him. As He reaches down to help me up I want to confidently place myself in His forgiveness. The farther I fall, the farther His grace reaches.

I pray this Ephesians prayer for myself:

My Gracious God, reach down and help me up.

Bring Your blessings down as You lean toward me with aid in all my situations.

Let me not forget Your favor.

Thank you for Your precious gift of forgiveness.

I love You.

And this is my prayer for you:

May God’s grace eternally reach down and help you up.

May His blessings be brought to you as

He leans toward you with aid for all of earth’s situations.

May you realize His favor toward you.

May you accept His precious gift of forgiveness.

May you always love our Savior, the one who helps you up.

Complete Collection

I have a love/hate relationship with collections. On one hand, I love to collect different things. In high school and college I collected elephants (no relationship to a college.) I had stuffed animal elephants, a blown glass elephant from Disney World, a mirrored elephant from India, an olive wood elephant from Israel, a coal elephant from West Virginia, elephant jewelry, elephant Christmas tree ornaments, and many, many various sizes of all types of elephants. And I “loved” finding all the elephant options. The problem was the collection was never complete and never ending. The “hate” came in displaying, transporting, and storing the collection. I got bored and frustrated with the elephant overload. I finally sold all of them at a yard sale. Then before I knew it I was collecting something else. I always end up giving up and getting rid of the collection when it gets too much.

In Ephesians chapter 6 I ran across a collection and it is attainable and absolutely complete. It is the collection of armor for the Christian.

13 Take up the whole, full, and complete armor of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. 14 Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, 15 and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. 16 In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one;  17 and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

 This Greek word for complete is “panoplia”. And it means; panoply – a complete and impressive collection, a complete set of defensive and offensive armor and weaponry, and everything the believer needs to successfully wage spiritual warfare.

It’s all there. We have access to all the resources God provides His children to live a victorious life. Take it up and you are completely shielded and completely ready to stand and fight the good fight of faith. The armor of God is easy to collect and easy to complete.

 I have a love/love relationship with this collection. I love the Lord who equipped me to be able to live a life of victory against sin and evil. And I love being able to be fully equipped needing nothing else to win in the battle of life.

This is the collection I won't give up and I won’t get rid of.

Belt of truth

Breastplate of righteousness

Shoes of the foundation the Gospel

Shield of faith

Helmet of salvation

Sword of the Word of God

The collection is complete.

Put It Away

My family calls my sister “the memory keeper.” If we have something we don't know what to do with and don't want to throw away but don’t want to store we give it to her. I know it’s unfair but we do it anyway. Now this puts her in a very awkward position. What is she supposed to do with these pieces of sentimentality? She usually just stashes it somewhere in her house (she has a large house.) Now all this stashing for so many years is getting a bit overwhelming to her. I mean, you can only stash for so long.  She has come to the place of getting rid of the things we now can let go of. This means a lot of calling around to the family to see if the object is meaningful enough that we want it back. Most of the time, it’s not. Now this is unfair too because she has kept for years the thing we really could do without. It’s the saving of the unnecessary.

Paul helps the Ephesians clear out the clutter in chapter 4 verses 21-32 and Chapter 5:1-2. God says, “Don't save the unnecessary. Put it out and away from yourself. This is not what a Christ follower should be holding onto.  Put away for good your old unsaved self. That’s a memory you don’t need to keep. Put away the lies you've been telling yourself and others. Get rid of the anger you have been harboring. Throw away dishonesty. Put away the ugly things you used to say in your everyday conversations with others. Put away bitterness, anger, clamor, and slander. Get rid of all of it. Put it all away from you for good. ”

Like my sister, when we get rid of the unnecessary we are left with some blessed space. God gives us something to put in this sacred empty place. In these same verses He says, “Replace this junk with: truth speaking, peacemaking, honest dealings, pure talking, and Holy Spirit cheering. Be sweet, pacifying, calming, and complimentary. Build others up and give grace to everyone that you're around.

As my sister is experiencing, this de-junking requires some work. Thankfully when de-junking our lives we have help. We have the help of God Himself. He indicates through the Holy Spirit’s conviction what is unnecessary in our lives. He seals us in Christ our victorious Savior so that we can accomplish this putting off and putting on.

   

I must admit that I catch myself hanging on to the old paraphernalia of a life without Christ sometimes. The junk starts accumulating. It’s just the saving of the unnecessary. I have even found junk in my life I've saved for years. I don't need to be “the memory keeper” of my former old unsaved self. It’s not fair to Christ who died to rid me of that old life. It is an insult to the Holy Spirit and grieves Him. It is an abuse of the love the Father God has for me. When I look at it this way I see just how awful hanging on to my old self is.

Father, Help me put away the old indications of my former life without You.

Renew in me a right way of thinking and living.

Help me to always be ready to put on Your likeness and imitate You.

Help me put away the junk.

Put off your old self which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness. Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another. Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and give no opportunity to the devil.  Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need.  Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.  And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.  Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice.  Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you. Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children.  And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

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Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think. Ephesians 3:20

I like to brainstorm. I can come up with lots of ideas. I’m not always great with follow through but I can think of lots of options. Ephesians 3:20 caught my attention because it’s a brainstorming innovating verse.

I've never really thought of God in these terms. My fault. But our Heavenly Father is an Idea and Follow Through God. While I can come up with ideas He is infinitely more imaginative. While I might lack in follow through He is able to work it and accomplish it. While I might be reluctant to ask Him for something He will do more than I can ask or even think to ask.

When was the last time I prayed this? “Thank You Father for thinking of and doing that in my life. I didn't even know I needed it.” Most of the time I thank Him for answers to prayers I have initiated. Now I’m reminded to thank Him for answers to prayers I didn't pray because they were beyond what I could think I needed.

I like how this old preacher said we should read these verses in Ephesians:

That He would grant you according to the riches of His glory to be strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner man —

To accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think.

That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith —

To accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think.

Being rooted and grounded in love —

To accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think.

Able to comprehend the breadth and length and depth and height, and to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge —

To accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think.

That ye might be filled with all the fullness of God —

To accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think.

More than I can ask for. (And I can ask for a lot.)

More than I can think of. (And I can think of a lot.)

What I didn't ask for.

And what I didn't think of.

He will accomplish this in me and through me.

Now all glory to God who is able to do more.