He is the God of Rescue

Zech 8:6-7, 9:9-12, 16-17 NLT

“This is what the Lord  of Heaven’s Armies says: All this may seem impossible to you now, a small remnant of God’s people. But is it impossible for me? says the Lord  of Heaven’s Armies. “This is what the Lord  of Heaven’s Armies says: You can be sure that I will rescue my people from the east and from the west."

Rejoice, O people of Zion! Shout in triumph, O people of Jerusalem! Look, your king is coming to you. He is righteous and victorious, yet he is humble, riding on a donkey— riding on a donkey’s colt. I will remove the battle chariots from Israel and the warhorses from Jerusalem. I will destroy all the weapons used in battle, and your king will bring peace to the nations. His realm will stretch from sea to sea and from the Euphrates River  to the ends of the earth. Because of the covenant I made with you, sealed with blood, I will free your prisoners from death in a waterless dungeon. Come back to the place of safety, all you prisoners who still have hope! I promise this very day that I will repay two blessings for each of your troubles. On that day the Lord  their God will rescue his people, just as a shepherd rescues his sheep. They will sparkle in his land like jewels in a crown. How wonderful and beautiful they will be! The young men will thrive on abundant grain, and the young women will flourish on new wine. 

God is big. Mightier than our wildest imaginations. More lavishly tender and generous-hearted than anyone we've ever known. Can heal and make new, loving, gentle creatures out of the most battle-scarred and broken.  He loves us. And He wants to fight our battles for us . . . he wants us to put away our weapons, and trust in Him for our peace and safety.

God wants me to trust Him. To turn myself, my life, my plans, my dreams, my everything over to Him, so He can take what I have, what I am, and turn it into something so breathtaking and achingly beautiful we might not recognize ourselves if we were standing in someone else's shoes. That's what it means, to Him, to rescue me.

Lord of Heaven and Earth, King of Kings, I will be Yours. I will offer up the weapons I hoarded for my own defense--whatever form they may have taken--to You. I wish no longer to wield them, with my mortal inaccuracy and corruptible arm of flesh. Continually make in me a new creature. I offer you my heart as a throne. Please make it a suitable habitation for Your glory, as You see fit to do.  And make for Yourself a river, flowing from that throne, to quench the thirst and heal the hearts that come within reach. Please, God. Make me Yours . . . and bless my brothers and sisters, Your beloveds. Let me love them like You do, and show me how to do for them as You would do in my place.  In Jesus' name, so be it, and amen.

Love and Comfort and Provision

“Dear friends, don’t be afraid of those who want to kill your body; they cannot do any more to you after that. “What is the price of five sparrows—two copper coins ? Yet God does not forget a single one of them. And the very hairs on your head are all numbered. So don’t be afraid; you are more valuable to God than a whole flock of sparrows. (Luke 12:4, 6, 7 NLT)

He loves us. Oh, how He loves us!!! 

And He WILL care for us, providing all we need. Walk in His ways--believe Him, believe what He has said He would do for you. 

Lord, I pray You would pour Your comfort over those who need You. Protect and soothe, shield and nurture. Show me Your will, and I will go and be. And the glory be Thine forever! Amen. 

I Desire The Lord

Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and he will give you everything you need. “So don’t be afraid, little flock. For it gives your Father great happiness to give you the Kingdom. “Sell your possessions and give to those in need. This will store up treasure for you in heaven! And the purses of heaven never get old or develop holes. Your treasure will be safe; no thief can steal it and no moth can destroy it. Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be. (Luke 12:31-34 NLT)

Him whom we serve will become the deserving object of our love, the focus of our thoughts. 

I've seen so many different ways to live--so many different focal points, and what harvests they yield. I'm so grateful that I've learned which one brings the filling of emptiness, the healing of wounds, an overflowing of love and joy and peace and life. 

God, You are so faithful. I can utterly trust You with everything I am. Your love is vast and powerful, yet so gentle. As long and reaching as the east is from the west, and yet will fit in my mortal heart. High and holy--and yet as familiar as children sharing a sink to brush their teeth, or doing the evening dishes with my family, elbow-deep in suds. I trust You. I declare Your Name to all who will listen, and rejoice in knowing Your goodness and the astonishing grace you hold out to each of us. You clothe us in Your righteousness, protecting and honoring us, and I willlove You  always for it.  :-)

Faith: Heady Stuff

And the seeds that fell on the good soil represent honest, good-hearted people who hear God’s word, cling to it, and patiently produce a huge harvest.

For Jesus had already commanded the evil spirit to come out of him. This spirit had often taken control of the man. Even when he was placed under guard and put in chains and shackles, he simply broke them and rushed out into the wilderness, completely under the demon’s power.

When the woman realized that she could not stay hidden, she began to tremble and fell to her knees in front of him. The whole crowd heard her explain why she had touched him and that she had been immediately healed. “Daughter,” he said to her, “your faith has made you well. Go in peace.”

But when Jesus heard what had happened, he said to Jairus, “Don’t be afraid. Just have faith, and she will be healed.”

Anyone who believes in me may come and drink! For the Scriptures declare, ‘Rivers of living water will flow from his heart.’” (Luke 8:15, 29, 47, 48, 50, John 7:38 NLT)

What is it about faith, about believing something, that makes the irrational reasonable? The power of belief our spiritual nature wields is formidable, indeed. The evil spirit drove the man to break shackles and chains; a feat most of us would shudder to contemplate. Jesus raised the dead--something believed to be wholly impossible--and told his disciples do to greater things than He had done.

And yet, this faith, this belief, is so freely available.  We come to Jesus, continually drink our fill of the Living Water, and can be changed forever, led as quickly as we'll walk back to the place where we can be with Him forever.

Father, remind me. Show me. Keep me and bless me with more of this faith--the richest of all spiritual gifts. In Jesus' holy name, Amen.

This Mormon Girl.

I've just finished Joanna Brook's The Book of Mormon Girl.

Saying anything more than that seems to cheapen, somehow, the beauty in her story; the way it resonates in my soul. But Joanna's story has opened my own heart to tell more of my own. To open to view further the insular community I claim, in its beauty and strangeness, and yet its simple familiarity, too.

I also grew up watching Man's Search for Happiness on white cinder block walls with my few Primary classmates, my nursing fathers and nursing mothers weaning me on the unorthodox stories that are the very weave of the fabric of my faith. My ancestors crossed the plains, knew Joseph Smith, and several lines settled and thrived in northern Utah. The similarities in our Mormon heritage even extend to both of us descending from grandmothers whose mothers died in their infancy, and then appeared to them as angels when our grandmothers approached the later years of their childhoods.

I remember so clearly the isolation of simple means and outside-of-the-city stomping grounds, the treasures of knowledge books held, and their influence in my life.  Her southern California home sat against orange groves; mine in northern California between the verges of alfalfa and corn and highway 160's winding levee, where Mormons were even thinner on the ground. I felt, keenly, the isolation and separation from my peers that inner difference of Mormonism made, and reading of her arrival at BYU, her rejoicing in finally being one of many, brought back to life my own arrival four years after hers, right down to her dorm room in Helaman Halls, English classes in the basement of the JKHB, and the sweet gentleness of a favorite English professor's love of learning and of his God.

My adult life has taken a different tack than Joanna's: I married in the temple, and my husband and I have continued attending church without fail. But under the hood, where hearts beat and dreams spin, there are threads that run the same.  "As I wrote," Joanna said in her book, "agnostic Catholics, reform Jews, gay Christian girls, even stone-cold atheists, gave me a hard look, then nodded, and said: 'Yes, I recognize something familiar in the story you are telling.'"

And so did this Mormon girl.

Something beautiful. Something kind. Something gentle and true and delicate; and yet impossible to destroy.  Even pancaked between concrete and cinder block, her story beats quietly, with the power of a still, small voice.

Heiress of The King

For a day in Your courts is better than a thousand. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God Than dwell in the tents of wickedness. For the Lord God is a sun and shield; The Lord will give grace and glory; No good thing will He withhold From those who walk uprightly. O Lord of hosts, Blessed is the man who trusts in You! (Psalms 84:10-12 NKJV)

I will hear what God the Lord will speak, For He will speak peace To His people and to His saints; But let them not turn back to folly. Surely His salvation is near to those who fear Him, That glory may dwell in our land. Mercy and truth have met together; Righteousness and peace have kissed. Truth shall spring out of the earth, And righteousness shall look down from heaven. Yes, the Lord will give what is good; And our land will yield its increase. Righteousness will go before Him, And shall make His footsteps our pathway. (Psalms 85:8-13 NKJV)

When the men had come to Him, they said, “John the Baptist has sent us to You, saying, ‘Are You the Coming One, or do we look for another?’ ” Jesus answered and said to them, “Go and tell John the things you have seen and heard: that the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, the poor have the gospel preached to them. And blessed is he who is not offended because of Me.” (Luke 7:20, 22, 23 NKJV)

Therefore I say to you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much. But to whom little is forgiven, the same loves little.” Then He said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.” Then He said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you. Go in peace.” (Luke 7:47, 48, 50 NKJV)

God is good. He is not anything else--cannot be anything else--nor can He be the source of anything not-good. He loves completely and generously, and is so eager to forgive. 

I truly would choose one incredibly love-wrapped day as a lowly servant in the House of God than a thousand years of being without Him. I feel so eager to continually lay things down so I make room in my life for the awesomeness that comes from Him. When I make space for Jesus, He always comes into my life and overflows the spaces I've cleared, simultaneously filling them and washing them clean. And as I told a good friend Sunday evening who cautioned me to be careful what I ask for: "I have a Good God. I'm not afraid of Him."

God, You ARE good! There isn't anything good that doesn't add to Your glory, drawing Your children toward You. I praise You for Your kindness, for the absolute trust I can place in You, and the knowledge that I truly need never fear. The battle IS WON. I am more than a conqueror in Christ--I am His daughter, purchased and saved by His blood, and heir with Him to the throne*. How can I not rejoice and praise and live in wonder all my days? I love You, my God. Always!

*Rev 3:20-21

"Chosen" gives no guarantee against falling from grace.

Then he said to the multitudes that came out to be baptized by him, “Brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance, and do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones. And even now the ax is laid to the root of the trees. Therefore every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.” So the people asked him, saying, “What shall we do then?” He answered and said to them, “He who has two tunics, let him give to him who has none; and he who has food, let him do likewise.” (Luke 3:7-11 NKJV)

John is speaking against systemic pride, against the habitual citation of blessings & promises over actual righteousness. The Jews were absolutely certain they were the best, the favored, the chosen ones. And they were--right up until they chose evil over good. 

I never want to fall into that all-too-alluring trap, to ease into the seductive trance of "all is well" and "we are the chosen" that lulls the conscience to sleep. 

Father in Heaven, keep my eyes ever bright before Thee, so I might see myself as You see me, both the reality of my flaws & sins, and the covering of grace that makes me whole in Your sight. Let me walk in repentance straight for you, not turning away or tacking to and for, double-minded and miserable. I love you so, and I long for Your presence. In Jesus' glorified name, Amen. 

Tangling with semantics.

A blogger I respect, who has done a lot to bring my family closer to Christ, has been excommunicated from the LDS church.

That, in itself, doesn't bother me much. The church is made of men, and men make mistakes. All the time. The thing that I'll admit bugs me is that they're using the wrong word to describe his excommunicable actions. They call it "apostasy", when what they cite in his letter is heresy.

From the letter:

"The council's conclusion was that several of the claims that you make in Passing the Heavenly Gift constitute clear, open, and deliberate public opposition to the Church and its leaders. Consequently, the council determined that you should be excommunicated from the Church for apostasy."

That makes about as much sense, semantically, as saying that a man was convicted of arson for building a campfire, and teaching others to do so.

To help elucidate, I offer some definitions:

Wikipedia:

Apostasy (/əˈpɒstəsi/; Greek: ἀποστασία (apostasia), 'a defection or revolt') is the formaldisaffiliation from or abandonment or renunciation of a religion by a person. One who commits apostasy (or who apostatises) is known as an apostate.

Merriam-Webster:

1. renunciation of a religious faith

Wikipedia has an page on Apostasy in Christianity, which is even more specific:

Apostasy in Christianity refers to the rejection of Christianity by someone who formerly was a Christian. The term apostasy comes from the Greek word apostasia ("ἀποστασία") meaning defection, departure, revolt or rebellion. It has been described as "a willful falling away from, or rebellion against, Christianity. Apostasy is the rejection of Christ by one who has been a Christian...."[2] "Apostasy is a theological category describing those who have voluntarily and consciously abandoned their faith in the God of the covenant, who manifests himself most completely in Jesus Christ."[3]"Apostasy is the antonym of conversion; it is deconversion."[1]

I could go on . . . there are hundreds of sources for the definition of apostasy available.  I will share one more, though, that makes this all more difficult. The church itself defines apostasy in this same way: 

"When individuals or groups of people turn away from the principles of the gospel, they are in a state of apostasy."

What the letter describes might generally be called a case of heresy:

Heresy is any belief or theory that is strongly at variance with established beliefs or customs.[1] Heresy is distinct from both apostasy, which is the explicit renunciation of one's religion, principles or cause,[2] and blasphemy, which is irreverence toward religion.[3]

Heresy is usually used to discuss violations of religious or traditional laws or legal codes, although it is used by some political extremists to refer to their opponents. It carries the connotation of behaviors or beliefs likely to undermine accepted morality and cause tangible evils, damnation, or other punishment.

But even then, it's kind of a loose fit.  The main points of contention, to my understanding, are that Passing the Heavenly Gift does not match the simplified history that the church has published, and includes inconvenient details such as mistakes and sins of past leaders.  But outside of that, this man loves the restored gospel, and hasn't ever abandoned anything, or stood in opposition to any doctrines or renounced the restoration.  Much to the contrary.

The disconnect astounds me.

His Victory Covers All Sin

The priest will take blood from this sin offering and put it on the doorposts of the Temple, the four corners of the upper ledge of the altar, and the gateposts at the entrance to the inner courtyard. Do this also on the seventh day of the new year for anyone who has sinned through error or ignorance. In this way, you will purify the Temple. (Ezekiel 45:19, 20 NLT)

One annual sacrifice covers blunders and mistakes.

In the same way, the great and last sacrifice of the Lamb covers it all. Up until earlier this year, I had labored under a misconception that every sin and mistake had to be repented of individually. It was a belief I was never taught specifically, but was implied in the way repentance & Christ's sacrifice were taught. It was a guilt-ridden way to live, let me tell you. It is so good to simply walk in Christ . . . to continually live in an attitude of returning to the high place, of coming unto the Father.

Lord, I thank You for this incredible gift of freedom....of the blessing to walk in love and light, and no longer under condemnation. (Rom 6:18) It is so good!!!

Come, and find Him!

The Spirit and the bride say, “Come.” Let anyone who hears this say, “Come.” Let anyone who is thirsty come. Let anyone who desires drink freely from the water of life. (Revelation 22:17 NLT)

God is so generous, lavish in His welcome and enduring love to all who turn to Him. 

I'm so, so glad I've finally learned how my Lord and Savior, and The Father, really see me. How they long for my company, and I don't have to try to earn (or qualify for!) their love or acceptance. It is there . . . always has been. I just needed to learn how to open my heart to accept it. Because until I did, I cut myself off from the Tree of Life. 

Father, thank You. Thank You! You know the depths of my heart, and what this all means to me, and mine. And I revel in Your love, Your acceptance. And I will praise You forever, and the Lamb who loves me in the same way, too. In His blameless name, amen!!!  :-)