Spiritual Growth
Stephen: The Forgiving Saint
Then he fell on his knees and cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them!.” Having said this, he fell asleep. – Acts 7:60, NASB
Stephen was an enthusiastic preacher, sharing the Word of God with others boldly. Others tried to trip him up but he was able to refute dissension and false truths because God gave him amazing wisdom (Acts 6:10).
But he had angered some of the religious leaders of the day. So they captured him and put him on trial, making up lies and false witnesses against him. When Stephen began to refute their words, he was dragged outside and brutally killed. As Stephen was being pelted with large stones, he began praying for those who were harming him.
We find it difficult to forgive someone for a crossed word or a negative performance review. Stephen could have been angry. He could have lashed out. He could have called down God to deliver him.
But he didn’t…he leaned into God’s will. What if you interceded for those who wronged you? The driver who cut you off in traffic, the spouse that doesn’t support your dream, or the cop who wrote you a ticket you didn’t deserve?
God, I don’t like what (name) has done to me. In the flesh, I’m tempted to lash out. I want to call down vengeance and take up a righteous cause. But by the power of Your Spirit, I choose forgiveness. I lay down my life just as Stephen did. Please forgive (name) for hurting me. Show them great mercy and kindness. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Whew… Morning Meditations 💖
2 Corinthians 5:10 NASBS
[10] For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.
2 Corinthians 5:17-19 NASBS
[17] Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. [18] Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, [19] namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation.
This is beautiful… for us (Believers) the self strength we’ve lived in and sin we’ve done and trespass we’ve committed in this life aren’t counted against us. Christ reconciled that. (You can read the whole chapter)
We will “recompense”… this word means to obtain or receive. We will be obtained and receive accordingly from our deeds at the time of judgment. Judgments can be ruled for or against you. In our case… for us.
The knee jerk reaction is to “work” for a greater reward so that we receive greater. But you can’t work for anything IN Him in self will, selfish motive, etc. You can’t strive for heavenly reward. Because in those things you did not work in obedience to Him, but to yourself and what you thought fulfillment looked like. That is still a work of the flesh.
Hebrews 4:9-13 NASBS
[9] So there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God. [10] For the one who has entered His rest has himself also rested from his works, as God did from His. [11] Therefore let us be diligent to enter that rest, so that no one will fall, through following the same example of disobedience. [12] For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. [13] And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do.
Verse 10 is FIRE!
🔥 For the one who has entered His rest has himself also rested from his works, as God did from His.
Rest from YOUR works.
He calls us to abide in His rest. Resting is an act of faith. We must trust. Not work ourselves… striving for reward or finances etc… Find the flow of God and go about our deeds in life in the flow of the spirit. We’re wired in the flesh for “doing”. But if we abide in the spirit with Him… we rest and move with Him. So that which you do is still in His rest.
I could say so much more on this, but I’ll rest in this revelation for today.
But move in Him, build, create, reconcile others to Him… Wherever He leads… you’ll find rest and you’ll receive a great reward. Because your motive is to please Him (without faith/ trust, this is impossible to do), walk in obedience to Him and move as He says… saying yes to Him.
Living your yes to Him.
The Blessing of Supportive Friends
“As long as Moses held up his hands, the Israelites were winning, but whenever he lowered his hands, the Amalekites were winning.” – Exodus 17:11, NIV
When Luke’s wife left him for another man, he was devasted. He had two little girls to raise and he felt unprepared for the task. He didn’t know what to do so he reached out to a well-known men’s leader in his community.
The men’s leader connected Luke to a weekly men’s meeting. The men prayed for each other every week, often sharing concerns about their work, their families, and their spiritual lives.
Luke’s wife eventually came back to him, asking for a chance to repair their marriage. Although Luke wasn’t sure if the relationship could be saved, he was willing to try for the sake of his daughters.
He shared the situation with his men’s group and everyone prayed over him. The next two years were some of the most intense of Luke’s life but with God’s help, he rebuilt his marriage. He credits God and the faithful men in his prayer group as being the reason his family is still together.
The Israelites were in the middle of a fierce battle. Every time Moses held up his hands, they prevailed. But if Moses lowered his arms—even for a moment—they began to lose ground. Eventually, Moses became exhausted. That’s when Aaron and Hur stepped in. Sensing Moses’ need, they sat by him and held up his arms so the battle could be won.
Walking through a crisis or trial on our own can be wearying. We all need Aarons who can grieve and weep with us, who know how to intercede and pour grace over our aching hearts.
God, please send me an Aaron. I feel alone in this battle and I’m a mile past exhaustion. Show me kindness by sending friends who can help me bear these burdens. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Prayer is Powerful
So Peter was kept in prison, but the church was earnestly praying to God for him.” – Acts 12:5, NIV
Peter was imprisoned by King Herod. The evil king had already killed James and now he planned to execute Peter. But while the king was plotting, the followers of Jesus were praying.
The night before Peter was to go to trial, an angel appeared in the cell with him. Peter followed the angel out, supposing that this was a vision or dream. But what happened was real. Peter must have laughed as he hurried down the dark streets, looking for his friend’s house.
When he arrived, he told the servant that he was Peter. The servant reported this to those in the house and they laughed at her. But she was insistent and eventually others went to investigate and found Peter waiting on the porch.
Sometimes, we feel powerless to help hurting friends or family members. We think we can’t do anything but that’s not true. We can pray for our loved ones that God would intervene in their situations.
As you wait for God’s answers, continue to seek Him and strive to honor Him with your choices. The Christians in Peter’s story continued to meet together and pray, despite how grim the circumstances must have looked.
God, when I’m tempted to focus on how powerless I feel, remind me again that prayer is powerful. Help me to stand strong in moments of temptation and continue to worship You no matter what’s going on around me. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
HELP IS ON THE WAY
Then he said to me, Do not be afraid, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart on understanding this and on humbling yourself before God, your words were heard, and I have come in response to your words. Daniel 10:12 NASB.
Daniel was a prayer warrior. He prayed daily, seeking God constantly. That fact alone is remarkable. But when you consider the time he lived in, it’s downright amazing. He was a captive from Israel who had been taken to Babylon.
He was known to the king, who seeing Daniel’s wisdom, promoted the young man. As a result, Daniel developed powerful enemies who tried to destroy him.
Once after Daniel had been praying over a coming war, an angel appeared. The angel told Daniel that from the first moment of prayer, God had heard his requests. These prayers were immediately answered.
But Daniel did not see those answers for many days. Then one day, an angel arrives to explain that he had been traveling to give a reply from the Lord but was unable to come due to events happening in the spiritual realm.
Daniel’s story illustrates that we may not always see immediate answers to our prayers. But that doesn’t mean that God’s not listening. Not only does God hear your prayers, He will also be faithful to answer them!
God, when I’m praying for others and I get discouraged, help me to remember the story of Daniel. I want to stand strong in my faith, even when it feels like nothing’s happening. In Jesus name. Amen
Powerful and Merciful is our God
Then the fire of the Lord fell and burned up the sacrifice, the wood, the stones and the soil, and also licked up the water in the trench. When all the people saw this, they fell prostrate and cried, “The Lord—he is God! The Lord—he is God!” – 1 Kings 18:38-39, NIV
The nation of Israel was at a crossroads. Some of the people worshipped Baal and other false gods. But a few like Elijah still followed the Lord’s commands.
Elijah knew it was time for the people to choose who they would serve. So he called the king and all of the prophets of Baal together. He proposed a plan: the wicked prophets would build an altar and offer a sacrifice, calling out for their god to send down fire.
They did this early in the morning and they continued all day without results. That’s when Elijah built an altar and doused everything in water. Then he called out and fire fell from Heaven, proving that the Lord is God.
Sometimes the people around us need to see God’s hand moving and know that He’s real and He intervenes in real life situations. When you come across these people, remember Elijah and pray that God would send them a sign.
God, thank You for being the God who listens! I pray for (name) who needs a reminder of Your Presence and Majesty. Send them a sign that they would understand how powerful and merciful You are! In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Stuck Marriages
There comes a time in some marriages where the couple gets stuck. Honestly I can say after being married 9 years and walking with people in marriage for years… you aren’t stuck when one just REFUSES to take action. I lovingly say… that’s rebellion.
I’m not talking to those who have been working hard, keeping their face before God and working through personal growth areas. Although this may help you toward the end. Or the ones in extreme conditions like abuse. Depending on the situation, there are different things to consider in those cases. But for most other marriages I want you to understand that most marriages fail because ONE or BOTH persons refuse to get up and get real help. Where they open up and tell the whole story of their side and not only their spouse. Where they are willing to get healing from painful areas going all the way back to before they may have met their spouse.
It is typically out of lack of trust, denial, or fear of some kind. The flip side is… if you really knew the effects 10, 20 or more years down the road of how an irresponsible divorce would effect those sweet faces you raised and nurtured or the spouse you walked with. All of the excuses, the blame, responsibility shifting, and lack of obtaining help becomes completely foolish in the end. When either of you refuse to allow help from a person or a resource… all of your excuses will seem trivial in the wake of a destroyed marriage. Stop playing Russian Roulette with yourself, your spouse, and your children when you refuse help. Know that the way you process through your marriage does hold weight in GLORY. And it affects your life and the life of your children. You’re accountable for what happens with your family. DO WHATEVER IT TAKES. YOUR COVENANT, Your CHILDREN, your LEGACY are that important. How you process your marriage is how your kids learn of marriage. Go to wise counsel. Not just a buddy. Sincerely ask God to send someone, He is faithful and will show you who to turn to. And it doesn’t work when you constantly make excuses saying that there is no one, especially if you’ve not given God the opportunity to show up for you. Ask Him…
You CANNOT live according to the flesh and your own desires and feelings and expect GLORIOUS results. Sorry… our carnal nature doesn’t yield that kind of fruit.
HOWEVER if you’ve been acting responsibly about your issues, or you’re in serious danger, or you sought help, worked through your own issues, AND you allowed God to guide you through your decisions…. AND it STILL doesn’t work… you’ve acted wisely. You minimized much more than you can tangibly grasp even in the first few years after a divorce. But that doesn’t have to be the end.
In beautiful contrast, I’ve seen horrible marriages become beautiful ones. Some of which pleasantly surprised me. BUT it’s because they PUT IN THE WORK. They fought for their lives! First on their OWN issues (believe me it’s NOT just your spouse) and then toward their marriage. Choose BRAVELY and choose WISELY with your life. Like my husband, Morris Moore always says, “Each person in a marriage is respnsible for the damage in some way even if it’s perceived to only be 10%. Find out from God what your responsibility is and work on it.”
If you’ve reached the end of this and your thoughts keep racing… saying… but THEY.. my spouse won’t do anything about it. Then you’ve missed the whole point. Read again. It starts with you, your relationship with God, bravely admitting and processing YOUR stuff. You make the first move and pray for them to follow. But don’t focus on your spouse… focus on closely walking with the Father. That will take all of your energy. Let God take care of your spouse. Turn your thoughts of blame and hurt to God. This is to bless and not hurt you. It’s a post of love and fire to see your family succeed. It’s only impossible if you say it is.
Some resources that may help are the following books:
Click on the Title for the book link
Sacred Marriage by Gary Thomas
Boundaries by Henry Cloud and John Townsend
Love and Respect by Emerson Eggerichs
Intimacy: The Great Disconnect
One is sitting in the cafeteria amongst friends and strangers. They are having such a wonderful time and talking about all types of subjects. In between the conversations, thoughts pop up and then dissipate randomly. Am I missing something? Another person is at work and very committed to his or her assignment. Striving to be the best at what they are doing. They have excellent communication with their colleagues. As they attack a project together, in between the dialogue, thoughts pop up and dissipate randomly. Are we missing something? Another is at home with family and friends, having a cookout. At the far table, another is playing charades and it has gotten good! It has become intense. Good, fun, and friendly times. In between the laughter, thoughts pop up and then dissipate randomly. Are we missing something? Another is sitting in a court room going before a judge who will determine the rest of his life. He is listening to the testimonies being presented for and against him. In between each witness, thoughts pop up and then dissipate randomly. Am I missing something?
As you can see, there are many different situations throughout life, throughout the world at the same time, affecting everyone. What do many of these situations have in common even though they are totally different? Can you find the common thread? Some may say the thread is a thought or a drifting away into clouds of thoughts. I wish it were that simple. But it isn’t that deep either. Do you see the disconnect?
Before I go any further, let me share a short but powerful scripture with you.
John 15:4 Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.
You ask yourself, what are these thoughts that keep popping up? They are words coming from the Father through the Holy Spirit. The Father is asking where am I in everything. If you are like me, Morris Moore, you have these questions popping up in the back of your mind and you ignore them without realizing it. I go to church, I read my bible, I pray each day. So why would the Father ask such a question? I am doing the best that I know how and living the way I was taught to serve Him.
So, I go back to the scripture and ask if I am really abiding in Him. How can I immerse myself in this scripture and within Him? The concept and word that describes what needs to happen is “Intimacy”.
Intimacy is defined as:
A
close, familiar, and usually affectionate or loving personal relationship with
another person or group.
A close association with or detailed knowledge of or deep understanding of a
place, subject, period of history, etc
I would like to say that I include God in everything I do, but I don’t. I do
not intentionally leave Him out. The thought came to me one day that I was
leaving Him at the altar, at the church. When I get to church, I am so fired up
or when I am in my prayer room. But am I the same when I am anywhere else? I am
not saying you should be crying out to Him every second, what I am saying is
that we must involve Him in every second of what we do. What prompted this way
of thinking in me was the idea that I separate my professional career from my
spiritual walk. I do pray to Him while at work, but that is usually when things
don’t go the way I would like for them to go. We don’t bring Him into the
equation until He is needed to fix something in our life. According to the
scripture, He wants you to abide in Him and for Him to abide in you. That means
we are intertwined in everything including, work, family, fun times,
conversations, sad times, challenging times, graduations, …. Etc. But how?!?!
We must become intimate with Him in everything. Get to know Him in everything, not just through prayer and reading the Word. Do not misunderstand me and think we should not do those vital things also, but do not limit Him. Do not exclude Him from the rest of your life. Ask yourself if you have left Him out of any area of your life and be honest with yourself and Him. Truth be told, there are so many areas that do not have God’s involvement. It is said that the first step to solving a problem is to acknowledge that you have one. We all have one, but the good news is that we know the solution. The Holy Spirit will lead us into this intimacy. The Holy Spirit is always with us; therefore, we can allow Him to guide us into that place of intimacy with the Father in all things.
Let’s think about how we share everything with our best friend or close family member. You know that person will be beside you no matter what. He or she will share the good moments and the difficult ones with you. Now transpose that way of think into the relationship you have with the Father in every area of your life; even the area that you keep from everyone else including the closets ones to you. Believe it or not, if we can get to that point with God, we would have a better understanding of what the Father would want us to do. He abides in us, remember? He will lead and guide us through our thoughts. In order for us to emulate Jesus in John 14: 7-11, we have to be intimate with the Father.
John 14:7-11 “If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; and from now on you know Him and have seen Him.” 8 Philip said to Him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is sufficient for us.” 9 Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? 10 Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on My own authority; but the Father who dwells in Me does the works. 11 Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me, or else believe Me for the sake of the works themselves.
No, we are not Jesus Christ but we are supposed to emulate Him. Jesus was intimate with His father. We must be intimate with our Father. As I grow, I will make this one of my primary focuses going forward. I will incorporate
Isaiah 26:3 in my daily life which says “You will keep him in perfect peace, Whose mind is stayed on You, Because he trusts in You.
Now that you’ve read this blog:
What are areas of your life where you feel that you don’t bring God into?
Are there relationships where you can incorporate God more?
What random thoughts pop up in social settings where you feel the Holy Spirit is trying to get your attention?
Intimacy: Forming and Defining Relationships
You meet.
You can’t have a relationship without meeting them in some way. You can’t decide to have a relationship without knowing they exist. You have to have some sort of defining and noticeable encounter that makes you want to know them and not stop knowing them!
My prayer for you: May you have and continue to have an encounter with God!
You Decide.
You decide what you want to be to that person and they decide what they want to be to you. God wants to be everything to you. Do you want the same?
Casual
This mutual decision is sometimes unspoken. It just happens. But the more important the relationship, the more definition it needs. There are people you see occasionally. You laugh, catch up and there is no desire for continued conversation until you run into each other again or have a need to talk to them. There’s no obligation to call or text. But if you do it’s great. You can go days or years and it’s ok. But with God… is that where you are or what you have with Him?
Close Friends
You know that you are close because typically you share more of yourself, experiences and you’re more open with this person. More people know that you’re friends. It’s not natural to hide a close friend unless your profession or life is very public and you need to keep things more private. Close friends can range in intensity and boundaries are determined by personality and where you both are in life. It’s natural to have a close friend and life causes your closeness to be and change. Sometimes temporarily and sometimes permanently. But while you’re close, you’re close. You may be so close that you help them sometimes financially, with emotional crisis. They may feel like family and you watch each other’s kids. I have a friend and neighbor who is also on the board of our Nonprofit. She gets “offended” when I call her my BFF or best friend. She says… “we are sister”. I’ve accepted that view and love her dearly. Yeah… she’s going to tear up when she reads this!
Close friends can vary in levels of friendship. I’ve had a dear friend who has become like a daughter to me… because the word mentee is just too impersonal. I want to take her everywhere and help her however I can as though she were my own daughter. We grew to that place over the years.
What is my point and how does that relate to God? Have you or do you desire a relationship with Him where He’s not just provider… or the One who come to when you need things? Is He more of a friend that’s like… family? Your best friend or also a Brother to you, or a Father. He can be all of that.
Groom
This is the part that makes some people either happy or very uncomfortable. Sometimes even men have a hard time grasping the parallels around the Bible verses that talk about Christ being the bridegroom and others that say we are the bride or like a bride. They are not written to strip anyone of their masculinity or to confuse your relationship with Christ. On the contrary, it is to define the love, responsibility and commitment that God has to us. This responsibility is called a covenant. Meaning He intends this to be “for life” with you. For the sake of simplicity, we can say that.
My Testimony with Him
I had a night… long after my salvation where I felt that I wrestled with God and myself. Where I was up all night weeping… just searching out where I was. Confessing that I didn’t like things about myself and how HARD I’ve tried to change or to do better. But I couldn’t. And I realized… I was trying to fix myself, but I’m not the Creator. I needed the One who Created me, who KNOWS me and KNEW me when I had no clue who God even was. I needed Him to fix me. And so, He put me on a journey and showed me. And guess what… I often STILL ask Him to do that just to maintain… me. So that I don’t get tempted to be my own mechanic. After all, we didn’t write the manual to “us”.
He’s that stock person behind the scenes placing everything carefully so you can obtain it, making sure what you need is in order and within reach. The one we care not to meet. He’s like the cashier person that we do see, but when we get what we need we quickly forget all they’ve done and their name as we walk away. Sometimes we will forget the Names of God and all that He is to us.
He’s so in love with you and desires to be closer to you. He doesn’t want you to run from Him. Christ died so you would run TO Him.
Have you encountered God? What are some noteworthy encounters with God? If you have trouble identifying an encounter where you feel that you met Him or He revealed Himself to you in some way, do you desire an encounter?
Part 2 of 2 – Lost in the “How” of Pursuing and Craving Intimacy with God
We’re All Connected in the Kingdom
God’s treasure and His heart is in people. We should settle our hearts and have peace among others. If you experience adversity with others, know that their daggers mean nothing in the presence of God. He fights for you. But living without peace can stop the flow of God through us to others. Lack of peace can also effect our relationship with God.
Defining
Your Relationship With God
God are we friends? Casual, close, BFFs?
Do I see You as Provider, Father, My First Love, My Everything?
What part of me have I not… or stopped giving to You?
Do I truly treasure You above all things?
There are many other questions you could ask… but I want to tell you one thing
I KNOW He may ask us all.
He may ask you… “Have YOU committed to Me fully? Have you committed to the
things I’ve been leading you to do?
Revelation 3:15-16 says 15 “I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot. 16 So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth.
Sounds cold? Well let me ask. If YOU were in love with someone, and they went back and forth with you and never established where they stood with you. What would you say? Wouldn’t you want to know what you were dealing with? If they said they loved you and pledged their life to you, wouldn’t you want a real relationship with them… knowing where they stand? God feels no different.
Read Rev 3:14-21 and you’ll see better what I mean.
The Whole Point of Fasting, Prayer and Bible Reading/Study
Once we seek out answers to these types of questions, we may go to the Word of God to get more insight. We may sense that we have a lot of distractions and we have trouble really hearing from Him, so we may go on a fast. We may want to feel closer to Him or just empty out or hearts, or ask Him to protect and bless someone we know or care about… so we begin to pray. These things are an extension of your heart disposition. So periodically break open your heart and explore where you are with God.
After you’ve done a bit of self discovery this week, next we will pick up Part 3 that explains:
Types of Relationships and more…