Short & Sweet: Water-Walker

Peter asked Jesus to help him do the impossible.

Now in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went to them, walking on the sea. 26 And when the disciples saw Him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, “It is a ghost!” And they cried out for fear.

27 But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, “Be of good cheer! It is I; do not be afraid.”

28 And Peter answered Him and said, “Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water.”

29 So He said, “Come.” And when Peter had come down out of the boat, he walked on the water to go to Jesus. 30 But when he saw that the wind was boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink he cried out, saying, “Lord, save me!”

31 And immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and caught him, and said to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?” 32 And when they got into the boat, the wind ceased.

33 Then those who were in the boat came and worshiped Him, saying, “Truly You are the Son of God.”

Matthew 14: 25-33

Peter had every reason to stay in the boat.

Any sane person would advise him to stay put. It didn’t make sense to get out of the boat.

It was night time.

He was tired.

He had already worked a full day.

Plus it was windy and wavy. Peter was a boat-rider and a fisherman not a water-walker. Water-walking was simply not his gifting—he didn’t have the skill set or the experience to be a water-walker. No one in his family was a water-walker for good reason, it was impossible. As a matter of fact, Peter didn’t know a single water-walker or anyone who had even attempted this before.

Peter, had every reason to stay in the boat accept one-Jesus called him out.

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I get Peter.

When I was about 7 or 8, my mother decided it was time for me to learn to swim. Encased in a bright pink hair-ripping rubber bathing cap (thing of the past, thankfully) and one-piece swimsuit, I entered the guppy class at the local YMCA. Floating is easy the instructor assured me. (Note: due to my Irish heritage [the Hunger Years] I only weighed about 30 lbs wet with a pocket full of quarters. I had not a single fat cell on my entire body). This girl did not float. She sank. Always. Straight to the bottom. I NEVER passed the guppy class. For me, water-walking was impossible. I couldn’t even swim. I needed to stay in the boat.

I’ve prayed like Peter.

Longingly and sincerely, I have asked, “Lord, use me greatly,” only to thrash and flail when He called me out of my boat. Walking turns to treading turns to sinking as I get my eyes off Jesus and onto the waves of opposition. Water-walking requires a greater level of faith than simple earth-walking. Walking by faith not by sight takes on a whole new meaning when on wavy water.

But God tells us all things are possible through Christ Jesus.

Even water-walking. What happened when Peter begins to sink? Jesus is right there with him reaching, lifting and saving. He will do the same for you.

Read the verses again. Did you notice when the wind quit? The Bible makes a point to tell us the wind ceased after Peter and Jesus got in the boat. Meditate on that for a moment.

Peter the water-walker went on to be Peter the church- builder.

And Jesus is calling you. Come, walk by faith. Water-walker. Bridge-builder. Giant-slayer. Business-starter. Church-planter. Bible-teacher. Website-blogger. College-enroller. He’s calling you. You have every reason to stay in the boat. People will tell you no one has done this before. It’s too risky, too late, too expensive, or too illogical. It’s outside of your gifting.

Cover it in prayer and fasting. And if Jesus is calling, get out of the boat. Walk by faith water-walker.

Action Points:

Pray like Peter. Faith stretching water-walking prayers. Ask God to give you His dream for your life.
Act like Peter. Get out of the boat. Take a step of faith—even if you sink. He’ll catch you. What do you need to do today to start walking out your faith and calling?
Cry like Peter. If you begin to drown in fear, call out to Jesus with all your heart. He is with you. He’ll help you and strengthen you.

Life is Sweet! Walk on water.

Short & Sweet: How do You Identify?

He created them male and female, and blessed them and called them Mankind in the day they were created.

Genesis 5:2

“How do you identify?” is the hot question of the day.

Everyone is talking about it. It’s trending everywhere. Our nation is embroiled in an identity crisis. Never has identity been more controversial than in the 21st century. Ironically, the question is as old as dirt.

And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground.

God formed man from dirt and breathed life into him. He created them male and female. Men and women. Not men or women. Created things have no choice as to what they were created to be. The sun is not the moon, oranges aren’t apples, lions are not elephants. Men are not women. Straight up. To the point. No choice. Men and women were created. Not self-made, not man-made, but God-made. And Satan twisted God’s plan.

He attacked Eve’s identity.

“For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” Genesis 3:5

Satan cast doubt on the goodness of man’s identity. He tempted Eve to believe God held out on her and made her less then she could be. B-list creation.

Eve fell for it—and we’ve been falling for it ever since.

Sin entered the world and everything was skewed, even identity; we are left wondering whose we are and who we are. Not knowing our true identity, we won’t become what we were created to be, or fulfill our calling in Christ. We will only accomplish all that God has planned for us when we are what He created us to be.

Satan also attacked Jesus’ identity.

Read his words:

3 Now when the tempter came to Him, he said, “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.”

4 But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’?”

5 Then the devil took Him up into the holy city, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, 6 and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down. For it is written: ‘He shall give His angels charge over you,’ …

8 Again, the devil took Him up on an exceedingly high mountain, … 9 And he said to Him, “All these things I will give You if You will fall down and worship me.”

10 Then Jesus said to him, “Away with you, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the LORD your God, and Him only you shall serve.’?”

Satan thought he could cause Jesus to act apart from the will of God by casting doubt on Jesus’ identity. Instead of acting on Satan’s temptation to prove who He was, Jesus stood firm in His identity. He didn’t need to prove or defend Himself. He knew who He was.

Where can we learn the truth about our identity?

The world cannot be trusted. Friends often lead us astray. Our heart is deceitful above all things. Our identity is found only in Christ. He is the way, the truth and the life.

In Christ we are:

Children of God. John 1:12
Accepted in Christ. Romans 15:7
The image of God. Genesis 1:27
Known by God. Jeremiah 1:5
Chosen by God. 1 Peter 2:9
One in Christ. Galatians 3:28
A temple of the Holy Spirit. 1 Corinthians 6:19
Seated at the right hand of God and our life is hidden in Christ. Colossians 3:1-3
Redeemed from our sins. Ephesians 1:7
Restored, strengthened and established. 1 Peter 5:10

He created them male and female, and blessed them and called them Mankind in the day they were created. Genesis 5:2

There is blessing in being who God created us to be. Through Him we learn the truth about our identity so we may walk, live, look, and act like Jesus.

Final Thoughts:

We do not create our identity but discover it. Pray and read God’s word. Take special note of any references to who we are in Christ.
The more we learn about God, the more we learn about who we were created to be. Since we are created in the image of God, we are to be like Him. we can learn more about God by attending a Bible-based church, by doing Bible studies, and by listening to sound Bible-based podcasts.
A picture is worth a thousand words. To see a diagram on how our identity in Christ is formed, click on this link: Identity In Christ

Resources:

If you are struggling with gender identification, there is help and hope! Please click on the link below for information.

Focus on the Family: Transgenderism Series

For further Bible study information, please click on any of the following links:

To Do-ers List: Study

To Do-ers List: Word in Me

Walking With God

Life is sweet!

Short & Sweet: Prayer Giver

“I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men;” 1 Timothy 2:1

Nora is my text friend.

You probably have a text friend. Text friends (a.k.a. virtual friends) are people with whom we share our lives, but due to conditions and circumstances we rarely see. When Nora and I lived in the same city, we were facefriends. Heart to heart friends. Lunches, Bible studies, prayers, conferences, family dinners, heartaches, victories—we shared a lot of life. Eventually, God called Nora and her family to Florida, Indiana and finally Texas. Thank goodness for technology!

I was catching up with Nora the other day. My dear friend asked about my family so I filled her in on the latest with my twenty-something sons and the status of my mother.

“My mom is quite ill,” I texted “Now, I have the privilege of being one of her primary prayer givers.”

Primary prayer giver.

I meant to text primary caregiver, but out came primary prayergiver.

God had my attention.

My mind began processing this new phrase I had inadvertently coined, primary prayergiver, and I drew meaning from original phrase. What do primary caregivers do? According to Wikipedia, “A primary caregiver is the person who takes primary responsibility for someone who cannot care fully for themselves. It may be a family member, a trained professional or another individual.”

What do primary prayergivers do?

A primary prayergiver is a person who stands in the gap and takes primary responsibility to pray for someone who cannot fully pray for themselves. Primary prayergivers don’t pray exclusively for the sick and elderly. They pray for anyone who cannot pray for themselves such as:

the lost
the unborn
little ones
those who have fallen away

Who is a primary prayergiver?

If you pray and you are a true Christ-follower, you are a primary prayergiver in at least three different spheres of influence:

Your family: the people who live under your roof
Your work/ministry: the people you serve and work with each day
Your world: the people you meet and see each day, people you pass on the street, people in your town, state and nation and elected officials

Prayer deeply affects the daily lives, health and destiny of individual people, families and nations. If we don’t pray for our families, our coworkers our nation, our world, who will? Prayer can be the difference between success and failure, strength and weakness, victory and defeat, and life and death. God has given us the responsibility, privilege and blessing of being primary prayergivers. We must pray continuously for those under our care.

Action Points:

Get a time: Consistent prayer usually won’t happen unless we plan for it. I like to pray while I’m driving and in the evening for 10-15 minutes.
Get a list: I used to keep prayer requests on little pieces of paper, which scattered across my vanity confetti! STRESS. Then I discovered Prayer Notebook, an inexpensive prayer app, which changed my life. You’ll love it too! You can download it at the link below.
Get praying: When someone has hurt you, be a prayergiver. When someone is hurting, be a prayer giver. When it seems there is no hope, and everything is lost, be a prayergiver. When someone is sick, lost their job or lost their child, be a prayergiver.

Prayer Notebook

Life is sweet. Be a prayergiver!

Short & Sweet: Trust and Relax

For this reason I also suffer these things, but I am not ashamed; for I know whom I have believed and I am convinced that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him until that day.

2 Timothy 1:12

“Just relax through the pain.”

“Relax through the pain?” I thought to myself, “what an oxymoron. Who can relax through pain?”

I was suffering from something called a frozen shoulder. It happened one day when I was at recess with my students. Why I thought I had to do a cartwheel at the young age of 50 was beyond me. But I did it, and I stuck the landing.

However, I paid the price.

Now I could barely put my arm behind my back, or lift it above a 30-degree angle. I had been to the doctor several times, but I was making very little progress.

During the course of this inconvenient injury, I was attending a conference at a posh hotel in South Carolina. That’s when I met Michael—an angel who disguises himself as a massage therapist. I scheduled a massage.

Michael greeted me for my appointment and as protocol dictates, asked me the usual pre-massage questions. I saw a spark of interest ignite in his eyes when I told him I was there not to relax, but to seek healing for my injured arm. This was not just a typical bored pampered housewife appointment—I needed real help.

There is no progress without pain.

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As he began to go deep into the injured arm, Michael said, “Just relax through the pain.” I turned over this comment over in my mind. Relax through the pain. How do these concepts mesh? Is it possible to hurt yet rest? How does a person relax in pain? Michael worked as I breathed in and out.

Mind wandering. Muscles releasing. Stress draining.

Suddenly, I realized to my astonishment, I was relaxing through the pain. Why? How? One word—trust. I trusted Michael. He knew when to stop. He knew how to probe the injury to a depth that brought healing not harm. I did not have to protect myself because he was protecting me. But he didn’t protect me out of my healing. I could relax and let him work because I trusted him.

Same thing with God.

He asks us to trust him through the pain; to give our wounds into His healing hands and let Him go deep. He knows when to stop, and when we’ve had enough. Left on our own, we would protect ourselves right out of our healing. But God knows how to heal, not harm. We can relax and let Him work because He is trustworthy. Healing wrapped in pain. A salve of wholeness and hurt. Buried pain exposed, cut away and removed.

Pain then healing. Hurt then wholeness.

We can relax through the pain of life because we are safe in His hands.

Trust in Him.

Action Points:

What are you holding back? Is there a painful situation you need to turn over to God? Take a step of trust and tell Him as best as you know how at this moment, you are giving this hurt to Him to heal.
Envision yourself completely healed. What would be different? What would you finally dare to do because you are completely healed?
Take the first step. What is your first step? A move? A career change? The end of a relationship? Letting go of decades old guilt or shame? The first step can be scary but also very freeing and empowering!
Seek the help you need. Counselor, pastor, doctor, mentor— whatever it takes, do it!
Cover everything in prayer. Ask God to give you His best and open wide your arms to receive it.

Life is sweet! Trust and relax.

Short & Sweet: Measure Up

7 Remember those who rule over you, who have spoken the word of God to you, whose faith follow, considering the outcome of their conduct. 8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. 9 Do not be carried about with various and strange doctrines. For it is good that the heart be established by grace, not with foods which have not profited those who have been occupied with them.

Hebrews 13:7-10

“I’ll have your order up in a moment, Ma’am,”

the hostess said as I waited at the counter of one of my favorite restaurants. I was looking forward to my lunch. I brought a salad to school and I ordered a pint of my favorite aged-balsamic salad dressing. Tangy, sweet and savory all stirred up into one delicious hot mess. I know—I need therapy.

As the hostess approached the counter, I eyed the small container in her hand. Too small. I readied myself for battle. I had been through this before.

“That will be $7.95 for your pint of dressing.”

I said, with utmost gentleness, “Miss, that isn’t a pint. It’s only a cup.”

“Oh no, Ma’am,” she said firmly, “it’s a pint. The cooks measured it in the kitchen.”

“They may have measured it, but I assure you, it is not a pint—it is a cup,” I stated decisively.

“Ma’am, we looked it up on Google (the ultimate authority). It is a pint.”

“I am a teacher. We cover measurements and conversions at school. Plus, I have been cooking for 35 years, I know a cup when I see it. I’d like the rest of my dressing, please.” I was calm despite the twitch in my jaw muscle.

The conflicted clerk then said, “Ma’am, we measure our pints differently than anyone else. This is how we measure our pint.”

#imustbedreaming

I didn’t think I’d live to see the day … pink is the new black. Wrong is right. Up is down. A cup is the new pint. Can we count on anything, anymore?

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

The word same in the verse above is derived from the Greek word autos and it simply means himself. No kidding. Jesus is simply, magnificently Himself. Not new and improved. Not updated or upgraded. Jesus. Go back up to the verse and replace the same with himself and read the verse out loud. Hallelujah! We can count on Jesus. He will always be himself (I on the other hand have been several different versions of myself and God is still working on me). He is our rock our strong tower and His word will outlive skinny jeans and boots, your latest tat, selfie sticks and designer cupcakes.

With Christ I don’t need to remake myself every day because He is making me over into the image of Christ. Because Jesus never changes, I know who I am, I know whose I am, I know how to act and I know how to live.

Right is still right, wrong is still wrong. God is on his throne and HE NEVER CHANGES!

Just in case you are wondering, I left the restaurant with a pint of balsamic dressing … old school style.

Life is Sweet!

Short & Sweet: 4 Steps to a More Peaceful Life

“Sold to Mrs. Kane for $150 dollars.”

It was Work Day at our school, a tradition in which the seniors raise money for their class trip by auctioning themselves off to the highest bidder. For one day the seniors become workers, at the beckon call of their bosses. In this case, I purchased my own son. For one day, he was mine. No arguing. No haggling. My word was LAW.

He was my captive.

3 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. 4 For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, 5 casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.
2 Corinthians 10: 3-5

The original Greek word used for captive in 2 Corinthians is aichmal?tiz?. It means “to lead away captive, to capture ones mind, to captivate.” To captivate—interesting.

If something is captivating it draws, it attracts, it appears to offer something desirable to the one who is captive-ated. As stated in the definition, it captures the mind. Once the mind is ensnared, the heart and body soon follow. The perfect trap.

Captivity causes great stress.

Especially when a Christian is held captive by sin. I know. I have been there. My heart knew the truth, but I allowed my flesh to rule my soul.

The price of living in rebellion is the absence of peace. Flesh fights the Spirit. Lies clash with Truth. Man contends with God. And the mind is a battle zone. Stress, anxiety and angst set up shop and begin their dirty work. Like a puppet on a string, our thoughts call the shots and we obey.

How can we regain our freedom and peace?

Know the truth—Jesus. He is the way, the truth and the life. We must bury truth in our heart so we are able to recognize a lie the moment it tries to ensnare us. Once we have the truth in our heart, we use it to tear down the lies of the Enemy. We do this by taking every thought captive to Christ.

How does this process work?

I run every thought that comes into my head through the filter of God’s word by asking one question, “Does this thought comply with the truth of Scripture?” If the answer is no, then I cast it away and replace the lie with truth. I do not allow my mind to be captivated by lies or sinful thoughts. I take every thought captive to the truth of Christ.

By the power of the Holy Spirit, we can control our thoughts—we choose what we think about. The Spirit enables us to tear down opinions and arguments and replace the lies with truth. We are no longer enslaved by our thoughts. Reduce your stress by thinking right thoughts. Right thoughts lead to right actions. And right actions lead to peace. Peace with God, peace with others, and peace with yourself.

It matters what you hear.
It matters what you watch.
It matters what you read.
It matters what you think.
What you allow in your mind goes heart deep.

Today, seek to tear down the lies and take every thought captive to Christ. Stop entertaining fabrications of the world, the enemy and your mind. Your destiny hangs in the balance. Tear down lies with Truth. Walk with Truth and you will live in peace.

Action Points:

Take a quick inventory of your troublesome thoughts.
Memorize scriptures that deal with your trouble areas (If you often complain, memorize scriptures about thankfulness.)
Replace wrong thoughts. Turn your memorized scriptures into prayers. Example: “Lord, Your word says I should do everything without complaining. Thank you I have a washer to do all this laundry.”
Repeat as often as needed!

Life is sweet! Think truth and live in peace.