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Hello from Sabbatical! God gave me a verse and some thoughts this morning that I just couldn’t keep to myself.

Yesterday, my church held a women’s retreat. The topic was lament—how do we bring our grief and pain to God? It was a great day, and I won’t go into all the details, but one thought that I took away from the day is that God is a safe space to bring all of our grief and our sorrows and our pain and our hurts.

One example the speaker used yesterday was a trash can. So often, we stuff all of our feelings down like trash in a trash can, shoving in more and more and compacting it down so we can put the lid back on it again. What we don’t realize is that over time, that trash that we keep pushing down starts to stink.

The same is true of our feelings of grief and sadness and pain. If we keep stuffing them down, eventually the “smell” starts to become evident in our lives—we keep it all together until we just can’t anymore, and we blow up at the smallest irritant. We start to become unhappy people living unhappy lives, and those around us can see it.

But what if we practice lament? What if we allow ourselves to, instead of packing all those feelings into the deep spaces of our heart and locking them away, bring those hurts to God? He is a safe space that brings light and life into our hearts.

After hearing those words yesterday, this morning I pulled a verse from my Transforming Verse of the Day jar:

1 Samuel 2:6: “The Lord brings death and makes alive;
he brings down to the grave and raises up.”

As I read this verse, the thought struck me, why is death listed first before being alive? Isn’t that backwards? We always think of life, then death. Life, then death. That’s the order.

But what if, in God’s kingdom, death has to come before life? Romans 6:11 says:

In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.

In order to be alive in Christ, we have to be dead to sin. The death has to come first.

What naturally comes with the experience of death?

Grief.

When we put to death sin in our life, it’s OK to grieve. That sin gave you something that you wanted, and now, in order to follow Christ, you are putting that to death and losing whatever that benefit was. Yes, that benefit is often not a healthy benefit, but it’s a benefit nonetheless.

What can we do with that grief that we feel? Bring it to God in lament. Hold space for your feelings. Say out loud what you are grieving over. Maybe write it down.

Here are some ideas of things we may need to grieve:

• A sin that we want to confess and repent of in order to walk with Christ.

• A bad habit that we want to replace with a good habit.

• A false belief that we want to replace with the truth.

• A personal trauma that we want to let go of and embrace forgiveness.

• A burden or stress or worry or fear that we want to give to God.

• A story of someone else’s trauma that we have offered to help them carry.

• The chaos and discord that we see in society today.

I’ll give you a personal example. I’m currently going through a program to help me deal with my binge eating (if anyone is dealing with this, I’d love to share the name of the program if you ask). One practice we’ve talked about in our group sessions is the idea of holding space for our feelings. We often binge eat to comfort ourselves, to cover up our feelings or to help us through something painful.

The thought that I had this morning, in light of lament and putting old habits to death that are not serving me anymore, is: What do I need to put to death in order to heal my relationship with food and binge eating? What do I need to put to death to truly be able to feel alive and joyful and connected when I think about food?

For some people who struggle with food, it might be putting to death diet or food rules. Maybe it requires putting to death an old belief that was drilled into you as a child. For others, it might require letting go of society’s image of the perfect body. For me, I need to let go of fear that I will never be able to trust myself around food.

As we let go of those things, as we put them to death in our minds, it’s OK to grieve. We can bring those feelings of grief and loss to God. To move into a place where you can heal and be more alive, you have to leave behind habits and beliefs that no longer serve you. You have to leave behind hurts and regrets. In order to do that fully, you have to give yourself the space to grieve, because you are losing a part of yourself that you’ve clung to for so long.

What do you have in your life today that you need to grieve? What lament do you need to bring to God? What do you need to put to death so that you can live fully Alive in Christ? I encourage you to carve out some time in your schedule this week to properly grieve so that you can move forward in the light and life that you find in Christ.

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Have you ever thought about how amazing it is that God designed our bodies to be able to heal themselves?

This thought came to mind as I was writing God is Light, Part 10. When God shines his light on us, we are healed.

Isaiah 30:26: The moon will shine like the sun, and the sunlight will be seven times brighter, like the light of seven full days, when the Lord binds up the bruises of his people and heals the wounds he inflicted.

Think about every injury you’ve ever had—from the smallest paper cut to broken bones and head injuries. Now think about every illness you’ve ever had—from the common cold or flu to pneumonia and more. Think about the medical procedures you’ve had, from stitches to surgery to chemotherapy.

Now imagine that your body accumulated each one of those injuries and illnesses without healing. What would the state of your body be today? How would you feel? How would you function?

Not well. Not well at all.

But God designed our bodies to heal. And when the healing is beyond what the body can do by itself, God gave us natural and modern medicine to help us along the healing process. And occasionally, he reaches his hand down with miraculous healing.

Now think about your emotional state rather than your physical body. If God designed our bodies to heal, don’t you think he designed our emotions to heal too? The Bible tells us that our emotions can be healed. We can be restored after our heart has been broken or we have fallen into the depths.

Psalm 147:3: He heals the brokenhearted
and binds up their wounds.

Psalm 103:2-5: ² Praise the Lord, my soul,
and forget not all his benefits—
³ who forgives all your sins
and heals all your diseases,
⁴ who redeems your life from the pit
and crowns you with love and compassion,
⁵ who satisfies your desires with good things
so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.

Matthew 11:28-30: ²⁸ “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. ²⁹ Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. ³⁰ For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

Even with these promises, so many of us carry around hurts and failures and shame like we don’t have the ability to heal from them.

Hear this: God is in the business of healing. He can heal your broken heart. He can heal the deep hurt from your childhood. He can restore you from your deepest shame. You just have to let him.

But guess what. This means you might need to take out those hurts and failures and examine them. You’ll have to deal with them. You might have to feel the hurt all over again. But it’s through this pain that God can restore and heal.

If you keep everything buried inside, never being willing to deal with it, it will keep affecting your mindset and your actions. It will keep hurting you, over and over again, in ways that you might not even recognize.

There’s no shame in needing emotional healing, just like there’s no shame in needing physical healing. And just like God can heal your emotional state, he also provided us with tools and resources if that healing is too big for us to conquer on our own. He gave us counselors and therapists and friends who can talk us through the pain. More importantly, he gave us his Word that is filled with encouragement. Don’t be afraid to use these tools along with conversations with God.

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If God can provide physical and emotional healing, how much more can he provide spiritual healing! We are all broken by sin. We all start out living in darkness. But he sent a light—Jesus—to bring us out of that darkness.

John 12:46: I [Jesus] have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness.

Jesus paid the penalty for our sins. He bore the full weight of the consequences of sin for the whole world. Through his sacrifice, we can be healed spiritually.

1 Peter 2:24: “He himself bore our sins” in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; “by his wounds you have been healed.”

By trading our sins for his righteousness, Jesus restored our relationship with God. Just like our bodies can be restored through physical healing and our minds can be restored through emotional healing, our souls can be restored through spiritual healing.

What does it take to be healed spiritually?

Romans 10:9-10: ⁹ If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. ¹⁰ For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.

Every single one of us needs spiritual healing. We need to be saved by believing in Jesus. This is one type of healing we can’t do on our own. We must seek God. We must believe in his Son. Thankfully, God has given us his Word as well as Christian leaders and friends who can help us on this journey.

What healing do you need today? Do you need physical healing? Emotional healing? Spiritual healing? Don’t be afraid to reach out for help.

If you would like prayer for healing, feel free to drop me a note. I would be honored to pray for you. Healing doesn’t always come as quickly as we would like, but it does come in God’s timing, and I’d love to be a part of your healing journey.

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Spontaneous Ponderings Index

I’ve been intrigued by the connection between God’s glory and light. Then earlier this week, I read Isaiah 6:1-3 as my transforming verse of the day, and I recorded my reflections on these verses in this note:

In particular, the phrase “the whole earth is full of his glory” struck me. If his glory is visible as light, I was trying to think of sources of light on earth that would reflect his glory: the sun, moon, and stars; fire, candles, and electricity; fireflies and other luminescent creatures.

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Then the next day, I picked this verse from my transforming verse of the day jar (I’m guessing it wasn’t a coincidence…):

Isaiah 45:18: For this is what the Lord says—
he who created the heavens,
he is God;
he who fashioned and made the earth,
he founded it;
he did not create it to be empty,
but formed it to be inhabited—
he says:
“I am the Lord,
and there is no other.”

God didn’t create the earth to be empty. He formed it to be inhabited. Who inhabits the earth? Yes, plants and animals live on this earth. But the main inhabitants of this earth are humans. You and me.

You know what the Bible says about God’s creation of us? He didn’t create us in the same way he created the plants and animals and the rest of nature. He formed us to be in his image:

Genesis 1:27: So God created mankind in his own image,
in the image of God he created them;
male and female he created them.

If we are created in God’s image, and God is light, then we are little light bearers. If light is the manifestation of God’s glory, then we are little images of God’s glory. WE are God’s glory on earth.

Matthew 5 bears this out. Jesus said:

Matthew 5:14-16: ¹⁴ “You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. ¹⁵ Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. ¹⁶ In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.”

What are you doing with your light? What are you doing with God’s glory that has been placed inside you? Are you shining that light in a way that helps others glorify God? We’ve been given a huge responsibility. We are God’s messengers on earth. It’s time to take that responsibility seriously and live in a way that reflects God’s glory.

Spontaneous Ponderings Index

A few days ago, my transforming verse of the day was 1 Corinthians 2:11-12. The first part of verse 11 goes like this:

1 Corinthians 2:11a: For who knows a person’s thoughts except their own spirit within them?

No one knows my thoughts except for me, and no one knows your thoughts except for you. God is the same way. No one knows God’s thoughts except for God.

1 Corinthians 2:11b: In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.

In fact, the Bible tells us that God’s thoughts are so much higher than our thoughts.

Isaiah 55:8-9: ⁸ “For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,”
declares the Lord.
⁹ “As the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.”

But then I read the rest of the verse for the day.

1 Corinthians 2:12: What we have received is not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may understand what God has freely given us.

Wait a minute. What’s that? We have been given God’s Spirit—the one who knows the thoughts of God—specifically so that we can understand God’s gift to us.

At that point in my reading, I thought maybe it would be a good idea to read the whole passage in context.

1 Corinthians 2:6-16: ⁶ We do, however, speak a message of wisdom among the mature, but not the wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. ⁷ No, we declare God’s wisdom, a mystery that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began. ⁸ None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. ⁹ However, as it is written:

“What no eye has seen,
what no ear has heard,
and what no human mind has conceived”—
the things God has prepared for those who love him—

¹⁰ these are the things God has revealed to us by his Spirit.

The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. ¹¹ For who knows a person’s thoughts except their own spirit within them? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. ¹² What we have received is not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may understand what God has freely given us. ¹³ This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual realities with Spirit-taught words. ¹⁴ The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit. ¹⁵ The person with the Spirit makes judgments about all things, but such a person is not subject to merely human judgments, ¹⁶ for,

“Who has known the mind of the Lord
so as to instruct him?”

But we have the mind of Christ.

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Look at verse 7. God’s wisdom is a mystery that has been hidden. Verse 9 says that no human mind has conceived the things God has prepared for those who love him. But when we receive the Spirit of God, we can understand the things of God and teach those things to other people (verse 13). In fact, God has specifically destined to reveal these hidden mysteries to his people (verse 7).

Without God’s Spirit, anything that comes from God seems like foolishness (verse 14). But when we have the Spirit, we have the mind of Christ (verse 16). All those things that were mysteries before, those things that were hidden in God’s thoughts, can now be revealed to us and understood by us through God’s Spirit.

Do you know how amazing it is that God gave us a gift that would allow us to understand his thoughts? We have the Bible, but without the Spirit, God’s words and thoughts in the Bible seem like foolishness. The Spirit allows us to understand God’s thoughts as revealed to us in the Bible. The Spirit allows us to hear directly from God when we remain in him. We can know and understand God deeply because we have the gift of the Spirit.

I don’t know about you, but I’m blown away. Just the idea that we can see into the mind of God is crazy. But this passage spells it out clearly. God’s thoughts that are so much higher than ours can now be revealed to us through his Spirit. What an amazing gift.

Dwell on this thought today. What does it mean to you that you have the mind of Christ? What does it mean to you that you have the Spirit of God that allows you to know and understand God’s hidden mysteries? It changes my whole perspective on knowing God.

Spontaneous Ponderings Index

I came across this Note recently on Substack:

This description of freedom sent my mind whirring. These are the two verses that immediately came to mind:

John 8:31-32: ³¹ To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. ³² Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

Matthew 16:24: ²⁴ Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.”

Shortly after, these verses followed:

1 Corinthians 10:23 (CSB): ²³ “Everything is permissible,” but not everything is beneficial. “Everything is permissible,” but not everything builds up.

John 8:34: ³⁴ Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin.”

How can we be both free and be called to deny ourselves? That doesn’t sound like freedom as defined by this world. But God doesn’t work the way we do. If you put all these verses together, you find the true recipe for freedom:

1. Put up boundaries to follow. How do you set those boundaries?

• What is beneficial?

• What is true?

• What is pleasing to Christ?

2. If anything is outside those boundaries, then the most freeing thing you can do is to deny yourself.

• If it is permissible but not beneficial or constructive, then deny yourself.

• If it is a lie you are telling yourself, then deny yourself.

• If it is pleasing to self but not pleasing to Christ, then deny yourself.

3. It is within these boundaries that we find true freedom.

Can you do things outside of these boundaries? Yes, certainly. All things are permissible. But if they are not beneficial or constructive, if they are just feeding the lies that you tell yourself, then you are more a slave to those things than really truly free.

You will find more freedom (and health and joy) if you deny yourself and don’t do those things outside the boundaries you’ve set.

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Here’s a practical example from my own life. I’ve mentioned before that I’ve been struggling with my relationship with food. Here’s how I see this playing out in how I deal with food.

I’ve heard that true freedom with food is to be able to eat whatever you want, whenever you want, and however much you want. But it is exactly this attitude about food that gets so many of us into trouble with our weight and health, including me.

Yes, I have permission to eat anything I want. Food in itself is neutral, no matter what that food is. Eating only “good” or “healthy” foods and denying myself “bad” or “unhealthy” foods doesn’t increase my morality, just like eating a piece of cake doesn’t make me a “bad” person. In fact, Jesus declared all foods clean:

Mark 7:18-19: ¹⁸ “Are you so dull?” he asked. “Don’t you see that nothing that enters a person from the outside can defile them? ¹⁹ For it doesn’t go into their heart but into their stomach, and then out of the body.” (In saying this, Jesus declared all foods clean.)

But is everything beneficial for me to eat? No. And honestly, there are times when I feel like I give so much power to food that I am truly a slave to it. I’m not free at all when I decide to eat whatever I want on a whim. Is this response to food pleasing to God? No. The sin, then, is not in what I eat but in the power I give food over me. No one or no thing should have that place of power in my life other than Jesus.

So what does true freedom with food look like?

True freedom looks like setting boundaries and sticking to them. What foods are actually beneficial to my life and my health? We know all the nutrition information, but what actually makes my body feel good?

For me, a focus on proteins, fruit, and vegetables makes me feel good. It takes away my cravings to snack, and I feel more motivated.

If I eat too much sugar, my motivation tanks. I’m grumpy and lethargic and just don’t want to do anything.

Knowing those things about myself helps me set boundaries for what is beneficial and how I can serve God by what I put in my body.

1 Corinthians 6:19-20: ¹⁹ Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; ²⁰ you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.

Does that mean I can’t ever eat outside those boundaries? No. But when I do, it needs to be a calculated, rational choice, not a craving or whim that I can’t control.

Maybe you struggle with something other than food. Maybe you struggle with selfishness or gossip or greed. Maybe you struggle with fear and anxiety. Maybe you struggle with alcohol or drugs or pornography. Maybe you struggle with apathy and laziness. We all have something we feel like we are a slave to in our lives. How can this view of freedom change how you approach that thing? What boundaries do you need to put up so that you can truly start living in freedom?

Jesus gave us this promise:

John 8:36: So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.

Let’s start living with the freedom we have in Christ.

Back to Spontaneous Ponderings Index

Spontaneous Ponderings posts are short reflections on random Bible-related thoughts I’ve had or things that God is teaching me. These posts are not as developed as a full Bible study, but they give you some insight into what God is doing in my personal life.

A Scientist’s View on Genesis 1

Cycles of Life - A Reflection on Psalm 1

Death Before Life

Enduring Amidst Temptation

Finding Real Freedom

God as a Refuge

God’s Glory on Earth

Healing

I Choose…

Is Baptism Required for Salvation?

Jesus as Priest and King

Marathon vs. Triathlon

Martyrdom

Mind of the Spirit

Peter’s Restoration

Saturday in the Tomb

The Work of the Holy Spirit in a Christian’s Life

Thinking about the Kingdom of the Unexpected

Using Small Steps to Form a Habit

Vision of the Pigs

Weeding Your Spiritual Life

Worthy or Worthless?

Writing Bible Studies with AI

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I’ve been reading through Jeremiah, and in light of the LGBTQ course I’m creating, Jeremiah 15:19 really jumped out at me:

Jeremiah 15:19:  Therefore this is what the Lord says:

“If you repent, I will restore you
    that you may serve me;
if you utter worthy, not worthless, words,
    you will be my spokesman.
Let this people turn to you,
    but you must not turn to them.”

Here are my thoughts on each line of the verse.

“If you repent, I will restore you that you may serve me.”

God wants us to repent of our sins. If we do, he will forgive and restore us. I think back to the way that I repented of my lesbian relationship, walking away from that so that I could follow Christ better. When I repented, I was immediately restored to a closer relationship with God, and he has continued to restore and heal me over time.

Why does God want us to repent? Why does he restore us? So that we can serve him. We can serve him not only by serving in our church or by telling others about Christ in general but also by telling others our story and how he redeemed and restored us from the mess we’d made of our lives due to sin. God has used me in different ways at different times. I’ve served in various churches that I’ve been attending, but recently my greatest service has been writing Bible studies and courses for Grounded in the Bible. In particular, I’ve followed in obedience to him as I’ve been creating the LGBTQ course, even though it’s not something I would have chosen to do on my own.

“If you utter worthy, not worthless, words, you will be my spokesman.”

God will give us a message, but we have to be willing to speak his words, not ours. If we speak his words, he will use us powerfully.

Isaiah 55:10-11: ¹⁰ As the rain and the snow
    come down from heaven,
and do not return to it
    without watering the earth
and making it bud and flourish,
    so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater,
¹¹ so is my word that goes out from my mouth:
    It will not return to me empty,
but will accomplish what I desire
    and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.

God promises that if we speak his words, they will not return empty but will accomplish his purposes. As I write the lessons for the LGBTQ course as well as the weekly Bible studies, I’m trying to stay faithful to God’s words and send out his message, not my own. In that way, I can help God accomplish whatever purpose he has for my life and for this world.

“Let this people turn to you, but you must not turn to them.”

It’s easy to allow the ways of the world to get you off track. This verse warns against that. In order to be a faithful spokesman for God, we need to be careful not to fall into temptation to become like the world. We need to stand strong on what God’s word says so that people will be drawn in by his truth. If we get sucked into temptation, then we lose our credibility and our influence for God’s kingdom.

Lord, I pray that through everything I write for Grounded in the Bible and in my daily life that I would be faithful to your words and your truth and your purposes. I pray that I would be obedient in such a way that my words and my life are worthy, not worthless, so that you can use them to accomplish your purposes. Amen.

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This article was inspired by My Reasons to Believe.

The Bible talks about the Christian life as a race. Here are some example verses:

2 Timothy 4:7: I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.

Hebrews 12:1: Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.

1 Corinthians 9:24-27: ²⁴ Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. ²⁵ Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. ²⁶ Therefore I do not run like someone running aimlessly; I do not fight like a boxer beating the air. ²⁷ No, I strike a blow to my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.

Isaiah 40:31: but those who hope in the Lord
    will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
    they will run and not grow weary,
    they will walk and not be faint.

When I read these verses, I always picture a marathon. But what if life is more like a triathlon? In a marathon, it’s the same thing mile after mile. You need one skill—running. But with a triathlon, you need different skills at different times—swimming, biking, and running. People often prefer one over the others, or they are strong in one and weaker in the others. For me, running is my comfort zone, and I struggle more with swimming and biking. But hidden behind all those skills is the need for strength training, which helps and supports all the other skills.

Life is like a triathlon—it constantly changes, and you have to adapt, using the right skill at the right time. In our faith, we also need different “skills.” Some days we need patience. Some days we need self-control. Some days, we are stretched to the limit to be kind to those around us. Galatians 5:22-23 lists some of these skills:

Galatians 5:22-23: ²² But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³ gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.

Through the Holy Spirit, we are training and improving in each of these skills as we go throughout life. We might be stronger in some skills than others, or better at some skills on some days than others, and we have those that we continually struggle with.

But behind all of these skills are the hidden skills—the disciplines that help and support all of them. Things like Bible reading, prayer, fasting, meditation, fellowship, service. Just like casual runners and other athletes sometimes forget about strength training, it’s easy to forget about these foundational practices that support the Christian faith.

But you know who doesn’t forget about strength training? The professional runners and athletes. Those who want to excel in their sport. If you want to excel in your faith, to truly live a life that is pleasing to God, then you can’t forget about the hidden but foundational practices that keep you connected to God. We might go through phases where we focus on one over the others, or we might practice one more than the others, but all are needed.

Which of the hidden practices of faith are your comfort zone? What stretches you? Where do you need to improve? What hidden practice might you not be paying attention to that would help you for the whole race of life? Maybe you need to start a daily Bible reading habit. Maybe you need to improve your prayer life. Maybe you want to try something new, like fasting or meditation. Maybe you need to get re-connected to a church family. Whatever it is, try practicing it today. Start thinking of ways to incorporate that into your life each day. Your faith and your life will be stronger if you do.

Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about the Holy Spirit and his role in my life as a Christian.

Who is the Holy Spirit?

The Trinity is God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. They are in perfect unity, making them one. That means that the Holy Spirit is the spirit of God Himself. He has the same power and the same characteristics.

If I am a Christian, if I believe in Jesus and have repented of my sins, I have been promised that I have the Spirit of God living in me.

Acts 2:38: Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”

If I have the Holy Spirit living in me, I have access to the same characteristics and same power as God through the work of the Holy Spirit. The more I seek God and let him rule in my life, the more these characteristics and his power will be evident in my life. Galatians 5 gives just a short list of these characteristics I should see in my life as a result of the Spirit.

Galatians 5:22-23: ²² But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³ gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.

The Bible talks about the Holy Spirit in the context of fire. On the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit came down on the disciples and appeared like tongues of fire.

Acts 2:1-4: 2 When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. ² Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. ³ They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. ⁴ All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.

This comparison of the Holy Spirit to fire continues throughout the New Testament.

2 Timothy 1:6-7: ⁶ For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands. ⁷ For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline. 

1 Thessalonians 5:19: Do not quench the Spirit.

The Holy Spirit is like a fire, but we control how brightly that fire burns in us.

We can quench the Spirit, like throwing water on a fire, by our apathy and sin.

OR

We can fan the Holy Spirit into flame, like adding oxygen to a fire, by obedience, prayer, steadfastness, and reading the Bible.

According to 2 Timothy 1:6-7, if we quench the Spirit, we will be timid in our faith. However, if we fan the Holy Spirit into flame, we will have power and love and self-discipline. Romans also promises that the Holy Spirit gives us hope, joy, and peace:

Romans 15:13: May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Honestly, I don’t think Christians put enough emphasis on the Holy Spirit and his work in our lives. For example, why do I not take advantage of the Holy Spirit’s power when I struggle with temptation and sin? The Bible promises that if we walk by the Spirit, we will want to resist temptation.

Galatians 5:16: So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.

The more we fan the Spirit into flame, the more we walk by the Spirit, the easier it will be for us to fight temptation. God has promised that we will not be tempted above what we can bear:

1 Corinthians 10:13: No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.

How does he know that we will be able to stand against temptation and sin? He has given us the Holy Spirit as part of the armor of God:

Ephesians 6:10-18: ¹⁰ Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. ¹¹ Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. ¹² For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. ¹³ Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. ¹⁴ Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, ¹⁵ and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. ¹⁶ In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. ¹⁷ Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. ¹⁸ And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.

God’s Spirit lives in me. If I truly believe this, I don’t have to depend on my own power and mindset to overcome sin. I only have to have faith in his power and holiness. I have to remain in him, fanning into flame the Holy Spirit in my life. Then he will do the work, through the Spirit, to transform my mind, to help me stand firm in my faith and resist the devil.

Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about the idea of God as a refuge. I know at some point I will write more in depth about this when I do the Characteristics of God study, but I wanted to get my thoughts down on paper now. (Credits to Coffee with Jesus and My Reasons to Believe for leading me to a lot of these verses and thoughts.)

The picture I have always gotten when I think about God as a refuge is me in a tower of refuge (think a turret in an old city wall), sitting on the hard-packed dirt floor with my knees drawn up and arms around them, cowering in fear, hoping that the enemy doesn’t find me but fearing that he will. Lately, I’ve come to realize that this is Satan’s lie. He wants us to stay in that state of fear or anxiety.

The more I’ve been reading and thinking about God as a refuge, I’ve realized that the real picture of God as a refuge is that as soon as we walk into his refuge, we find an open space where we can be free of fear and anxiety.

Here are some verses that I’ve found that support this conclusion.

Psalm 18:2, 19:

² The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer;
    my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge,
    my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.

¹⁹ He brought me out into a spacious place;
    he rescued me because he delighted in me.

Psalm 18 was written by David when God delivered him from the hands of his enemies, in particular, Saul. When God rescued David, David felt like God brought him into a spacious place. Being David, that reminded me of Psalm 23:1-4:

¹ The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.
²     He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters,
³     he refreshes my soul.
He guides me along the right paths
    for his name’s sake.
⁴ Even though I walk
    through the darkest valley,
I will fear no evil,
    for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
    they comfort me.

Psalm 23 gives this picture of peace, even in the darkest valley. There’s no fear here. That’s what God as a refuge is like. This safe pasture or open spaces idea is seen again in Psalm 37:3:

³ Trust in the Lord and do good;
    dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture.

And in Psalm 118:5-8:

⁵ When hard pressed, I cried to the Lord;
    he brought me into a spacious place.
⁶ The Lord is with me; I will not be afraid.
    What can mere mortals do to me?
⁷ The Lord is with me; he is my helper.
    I look in triumph on my enemies.

⁸ It is better to take refuge in the Lord
    than to trust in humans.

When we are in God’s refuge, we find safety and peace, not fear.

This led me to thoughts about peace. When we need refuge, we are often being attacked. We are afraid for our lives in some way. In the midst of this chaos, in the midst of war, we can find peace in God’s refuge.

Philippians 4:6-7 says:

⁶ Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. ⁷ And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

When we are in the midst of life, when we feel fear and anxiety taking over, we can go to God in prayer and he will be our refuge. He will fill us with peace. How does he do this? Through the power of the Holy Spirit.

Romans 15:13: ¹³ May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

As we trust in Christ, as we come into his refuge, we know that we can have peace because he has already conquered the enemy.

John 16:33: ³³ “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

In times of trial, God is our refuge. When we find refuge in him, he brings us into open spaces where we can find PEACE. There’s no fear or anxiety in those open spaces. Just freedom to enjoy life in Christ.

This past Sunday, our pastor brought up the passage in John 21 where Jesus restores Peter after Peter denied Jesus three times on the day Jesus was on trial to be crucified.

John 21:15-17:

¹⁵ When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?”

“Yes, Lord,” he said, “you know that I love you.”

Jesus said, “Feed my lambs.”

¹⁶ Again Jesus said, “Simon son of John, do you love me?”

He answered, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.”

Jesus said, “Take care of my sheep.”

¹⁷ The third time he said to him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?”

Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, “Do you love me?” He said, “Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you.”

Jesus said, “Feed my sheep.”

I’ve always been fond of this story. When I was little, during lambing season, my dad would take turns going out every couple hours overnight to check if any lambs had been born. As you can imagine, this gets exhausting after a while (especially in January when it is cold and snowy!). So sometimes, Dad would come in and say, “Karen, do you love me?” And I’d say, “Yes!” And he’s say, very tiredly, “Check my sheep.” We’d always have a good giggle over that. So when I read this story in John 21, I always think of my dad.

The other thing that comes to mind when I read this story is the use of the word “love.” In English, we don’t really see the importance of the word “love” used throughout. However, Peter seems to be hurt the third time Jesus asks if Peter loves him, so it makes us investigate a bit further. For those of you who don’t know, there are four Greek words for love:

• Phileo – love between close friends

• Eros – love found in romantic relationships

• Storge – love between family members

• Agape – unconditional, sacrificial love

*For a more in-depth look at these words, see this article from Centered on Christ.

When I’ve heard sermons or lessons on this passage, I always hear the teacher discuss the word for love that Jesus uses. The first two times, Jesus uses the word “agape.” But the third time, Jesus uses the word “phileo.” That’s why Peter was hurt the third time Jesus asked him “Do you love me?” Jesus downgraded his word for love. But you know what I’ve never heard? The word for love that Peter uses.

Recently, I decided to start learning Greek. So I’m a little more aware of Greek words and their meanings these days. I’ve taken to using the Blue Letter Bible app to read the English Bible and the Greek Bible side-by-side. So I went to investigate. What word for love does Peter use?

What I found surprised me – and was very convicting. Here’s how the conversation goes:

First question:

Jesus: “Simon son of John, do you love (agape) me more than these?”

Peter: “Yes, Lord, you know that I love (phileo) you.”

Jesus: “Feed my lambs.”

Second question:

Jesus: “Simon son of John, do you love (agape) me?”

Peter: “Yes, Lord, you know that I love (phileo) you.”

Jesus: “Take care of my sheep.”

Third question:

Jesus: “Simon son of John, do you love (phileo) me?”

Peter (hurt): “Lord, you know all things; you know that I love (phileo) you.”

Jesus: “Feed my sheep.”

Interesting, right? Peter uses the word “phileo” all three times. Yet somehow he’s still hurt when Jesus begins to echo Peter’s use of the word love. It’s as if Jesus is saying, “Is that all? You only love me like a friend? You don’t have that same unconditional, sacrificial love that I have for you?” You can almost feel Jesus’ disappointment or sadness. Yet despite Peter’s lack of conviction in this story, we know that Peter goes on to become one of the greatest apostles.

I don’t know about you, but this story becomes a little more real when I have a deeper understanding of the Greek words used. It makes me consider: How do I love Jesus? Do I love him with everything I am, ready to do whatever it takes to follow him? Or do I just see him as a friend that can be tossed aside if we start to have differences? I pray that God will help me love him and love others with God’s love, agape love.

What about you? How do YOU love Jesus?

Lately I’ve been thinking about pigs. Let me tell you why.

On November 16, 2023, I had a vision. It lasted all of about 2 seconds. Usually when I think of the Lord speaking to me, I assume it will be words. This time, he gave me a picture.

Two pigs, wrestling in the mud.

That’s it. That’s all I got. What in the world does that mean? In the Bible, whenever God gives a vision or dream, he also gives an interpretation. Just look at the stories of Joseph or Daniel. So I went to the Bible for some clues.

But before I get into that, let’s back up a bit, and I’ll give you some backstory on why this vision was important in my life.

My Struggles

The last few years, I’ve been trying to improve in two main areas: food habits and my marriage. When it comes to food, I have been slowly gaining weight. Most of the time I’m still in the “normal” BMI range, but I’ve crept up higher, even spending a few weeks in the low end of the “overweight” BMI category. It’s gotten harder and harder to NOT be obsessed with food. My brain frequently tells me that I need to be eating, even if I’m not hungry at all. I’ve been through several diet options, anti-diet programs, and other things that have helped me develop some good habits and mindsets, but I couldn’t seem to get over that obsession with food. The more I tried, the worse it seemed to get. I still craved all the junk food. Whenever I had a whim to eat something, I would. And any weight that I lost would come back, sometimes even more than what I lost. I didn’t know how to change this thought pattern that kept me stuck. I tried to give it over to God, but the next time I had a whim to eat something, I would. Nothing seemed to work.

The other thing I’ve been working on is my marriage. I love my husband. We have a great relationship. We like spending time together. We are on the same page in a lot of areas that other couples struggle with. But like every other couple, we have issues that seem to repeatedly come up. The one I’ve been struggling with the most is more of a mental issue on my end, but I know that it affects my actions and responses in a way that causes hurt. I don’t want to respond or act in the way that I do, but it’s often an instinct or natural response. It’s like Paul wrote in Romans 7:15: “I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.” And also like Paul, I know that this is due to my sinful nature. It’s something I’m trying to overcome, but it’s been a work in progress and I’m still not where I want to be.

My New Practice

Over the last few weeks, I’ve started a new practice of “Coffee with Jesus.” Of course, I’m not a coffee drinker (or tea drinker), so I’ve substituted water (my drink of choice – my husband says I have to be careful that Jesus doesn’t turn my water into wine! 😊). Each morning, I get some water for me and some water for Jesus, and I invite him to spend some time with me over Bible reading, prayer, and journaling. This has been a very meaningful practice, and there are days when I can physically feel him in the room with me. One morning, I even imagined him sitting there waiting for me, excited like a kid on Christmas morning to spend time with me.

Psalm 63

Then a couple weeks ago, during our youth group worship night, one of the leaders had us choose a psalm between Psalm 62-65 and write one truth about God that we found in that psalm. I chose Psalm 63. A few phrases from this psalm really jumped out at me:

¹ You, God, are my God,
    earnestly I seek you;
I thirst for you,
    my whole being longs for you,
in a dry and parched land
    where there is no water.

² I have seen you in the sanctuary
    and beheld your power and your glory.
³ Because your love is better than life,
    my lips will glorify you.
⁴ I will praise you as long as I live,
    and in your name I will lift up my hands.
⁵ I will be fully satisfied as with the richest of foods;
    with singing lips my mouth will praise you.

⁶ On my bed I remember you;
    I think of you through the watches of the night.
⁷ Because you are my help,
    I sing in the shadow of your wings.
⁸ I cling to you;
    your right hand upholds me.

Look at the words that David uses in this psalm. He seeks God. He thirsts for God and clings to him. He thinks about him all the time. And I asked myself, does that describe me and my relationship with God? Most of the time, the answer is no. I’ve gotten significantly better over the last few years while writing Grounded in the Bible, but I’m still not at that level where I long to spend time with him all the time.

Then a couple other words jumped out at me. First, earnestly in verse 1. For these two areas that I’ve struggled in – food and marriage – have I truly, earnestly sought God to help me in those areas? Yes, I’ve prayed. I’ve given it some face time before God. But have I earnestly sought his help? The answer was no.

And have I truly allowed God to fully satisfy me (verse 5)? Or am I looking for other things to satisfy me, like food? Again, I had to admit that I wasn’t giving God the place he deserved in my life or in my relationship with my husband.

My Vision

The next morning after reading Psalm 63, I continued to dwell on these verses and earnestly sought God during my morning “Coffee with Jesus” time. I poured out my heart to him, asking him to take over and help me in these areas of my life. I didn’t hold anything back. And, although it seemed surprising at the time, I guess maybe I shouldn’t be surprised. God gave me a vision of two pigs, wrestling in the mud. It was just a brief picture in my mind, but it was so out of the blue that it could only be from God.

Vision Interpretation: Food

OK, so I had this vision. What did it mean? As I sat and pondered what those two pigs in the mud could mean, I started thinking about Bible stories about pigs. The first one that came to mind was the prodigal son who ran away from home, squandered all his money, and ended up tending pigs (Luke 15:11-32). He was so hungry that he wanted to eat the slop that the pigs were eating. Eventually, he remembered his life at home and realized that even his father’s servants had more to eat than they needed. He humbly went home, hoping that he could get a job as a servant in his father’s house. And what happened? His father welcomed him home and threw a party for him with the choicest of food.

My brain immediately connected this to my issues with food. I realized that by constantly choosing to eat too much, by constantly choosing to snack and eat out, by constantly choosing unhealthy food over healthy food, I was choosing pig slop just like the prodigal son, when I had a whole feast of choice foods as an option. God has provided me with plenty of food to eat, and plenty of food choices. He has blessed us in that way. I know not everyone can say that. And yet even with that blessing and provision, I kept choosing the slop. It was a totally new way of thinking about food for me. My food choices since then haven’t been perfect, but I’ve noticed in small ways that my mindset about food is just different. I can more easily forego snacks or dessert. I can more easily wait to eat until my next meal. I don’t know where this will take me, especially since we are headed into the holidays. I don’t expect that I will eat perfectly from now to the rest of my life, but I do know that I don’t want to go back to craving the slop.

Vision Interpretation: Marriage

That’s about where my thoughts on pigs ended during my prayer time, but then I went running. And that pig vision stayed with me. I kept pondering it in my mind. When God gave me the vision, I was praying about both food issues and my relationship with my husband. So I wondered if the vision could have a second meaning that applied to my marriage. Again, I went back to the Bible. What else does the Bible say about pigs? Then God brought the passage to mind about tossing your pearls to swine:

Matthew 7:6: “Do not give dogs what is sacred; do not throw your pearls to pigs. If you do, they may trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces.”

God has made marriage to be a sacred covenant between a man and a woman. It is something precious that he has given us. He led me to a wonderful Christian man who has so many good qualities. And by letting my internal struggles dictate my actions and responses in a negative way, I was throwing that precious gift to the pigs.

What should I be doing instead? This led me to another passage:

Matthew 13:45-46: ⁴⁵ “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. ⁴⁶ When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it.”

I should be valuing this relationship so much that I’m willing to do whatever it takes to invest in it. I should think of my husband as a pearl of great price—something precious that God has given to me as a gift. I need to care for that pearl and make sure that it is safe and treasured.

Now, I can’t say that I’ve done everything perfectly in these two areas since having this vision. But it has given me a lot to think about, and I can see a way forward for improvement in both areas, with God by my side.

Wider Application

Then I got to thinking about the wider application of this vision. When it comes to life, we usually improve or grow by stopping something we shouldn’t be doing (i.e., stopping a bad habit) or by starting something we should be doing (i.e., starting a good habit). This vision, and the two associated parables, address both of these.

If you want to improve or grow by stopping a bad habit, think about the bad habit as pig slop and the better alternative as God’s great feast. Why would you choose the pig slop over the great feast that God has prepared for you?

If you want to improve or grow by starting a good habit, think about the good habit as a pearl of great price. Why would you throw that precious pearl to the pigs? Wouldn’t it be better to do everything you can to get that pearl and treasure it?

That’s where my thoughts have been for the last several days. And that’s my challenge to you. What are you treasuring that you shouldn’t? What are you not treasuring that you should? Either way, the vision of the pigs can help you turn that part of your life around, just as I’m hoping it will do for me. And as a Christian, hope isn’t just a wish. It is an eager expectation that God will do as he has promised. We can depend on him to fulfill that promise because he is faithful.

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I’ve been reading through the Psalms recently in my personal daily Bible reading. I’ve also been working on a new logo and a new Bible reading course (more to come on that soon!). Through all of these things, I keep coming back to Psalm 1:1-3:

¹ Blessed is the one
    who does not walk in step with the wicked
or stand in the way that sinners take
    or sit in the company of mockers,
² but whose delight is in the law of the Lord,
    and who meditates on his law day and night.
³ That person is like a tree planted by streams of water,
    which yields its fruit in season
and whose leaf does not wither—
    whatever they do prospers.

Recently, the phrase “in season” in verse 3 really jumped out at me. Sometimes, we go through life and we get really frustrated that it seems like we are not making progress in areas of life where we are trying really hard. Maybe you are trying to teach your kids to be kind to each other. Maybe you are trying to build relationships at work. Maybe you are venturing out into a new business. Maybe you are trying to lose weight or start an exercise routine. And it just seems like you are stuck. You aren’t making any progress. We can get so discouraged in those times.

But Psalm 1 reminds us that similar to a tree, we all have seasons of life. Maybe you just aren’t in a season right now where you are seeing the fruits of your efforts. But that doesn’t mean you are failing or that you should quit trying. A tree has to go through all the stages of life (see life cycle image). And there’s one stage that isn’t even in this life cycle—the stage of fall where the tree loses its leaves. Then in the spring, the cycle starts all over again.

Did you notice that the time the fruit is on the tree is only one small part of the life cycle? And the time that the fruit can actually be harvested is an even smaller portion of that.

If you aren’t seeing the fruit in your life, maybe you’re just in a different season. Maybe you are in the growing phase, or maybe you have just leaves, or flowers, or unripe fruit. You might even be in a stage where it feels like you are losing all of your leaves. That doesn’t mean you are doing something wrong or that you are dying. It’s just a stage of life. And just like the tree needs all seasons and all stages to be healthy and grow, so do humans. No matter our circumstances, we can find something of value in all stages of life. The important thing is that no matter what season or stage you are in, that you stay planted by that stream, soaking up God’s word each day. When it’s your season, God will produce a harvest of fruit in your life.

Galatians 6:9: Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.

There is a flip side to this too. Reading further in Psalm 1:4-6:

⁴ Not so the wicked!
    They are like chaff
    that the wind blows away.
⁵ Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment,
    nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.

⁶ For the Lord watches over the way of the righteous,
    but the way of the wicked leads to destruction.

Just like a tree starts to wither and die when it is infected with a disease or it is being strangled by a sucker plant, our spiritual lives die when we let sin creep in and take over our lives. When we become aware of sin in our lives, we need to work on getting rid of that sin, that infection. Maybe we need to cut some things out of our lives that lead us into sin. Maybe we need a new mindset. More than anything, we need to spend more time in God’s word to help fight that infection of sin.

Which side do you want to be on? Do you want to be rooted by the stream of life, God’s word, that keeps you growing and healthy, bearing fruit in the right season? Or do you want to wither and dry up, away from God’s word?

I want to be healthy and strong, rooted in God’s word.

And that leads me to share a sneak peak of my new logo, just for my paid subscribers! I hope you love it as much as I do! (I’ll share the story about the logo when I officially launch my new course.)

One more thought on trees and fruit. Although there are some parts of life that are seasonal, and you may see fruit only occasionally or in different seasons, there are parts of the Christian’s spiritual life that should bear fruit at all times. We call these the fruit of the Spirit:

Galations 5:22-23: ²² But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³ gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. 

But even the most dedicated Christian doesn’t do all of these perfectly all the time. Just as with everything else, though, if we stay planted in God’s word—if we are “Grounded in the Bible,” so to speak—we will find that we bear fruit in these areas more often than not.

Approximately 14 years ago, I was going through a rough time in my life. During that time, I wrote this list of 15 characteristics that I wanted to choose in my life. Looking back, I’m not sure I’ve attained all of these, but hopefully I’m further along the road than I was then. I know I’ve healed a lot and grown significantly in my faith since then. I hope you enjoy some thoughts from a much younger me, and hopefully they’ll inspire you to make some new choices as well.

I choose LOVE…

I choose to accept God’s love for me that was ultimately shown through Christ’s death on the cross.  I choose to return that love with all my mind, spirit, soul, and strength.  I choose to extend that same unconditional love to those around me.  I choose to love regardless of what others have done right or what they have done wrong.  I choose to accept others as they are - for who they are right now and not who they might be someday or who they were in the past.  I choose to always want what is best for others, regardless of whether or not they deserve it.  I choose to be willing to sacrifice my own needs and desires in order to allow others to have what they desire.  I choose to love others with God’s love, free from any restrictions.

I choose HUMILITY…

I choose to humble myself to be a servant as Christ did instead of insisting on being served.  I choose not to think of myself as better than others.  I choose to remember that we are all imperfect creatures that need God’s love and forgiveness.  I choose to see others through God’s eyes and allow His love to flow through me for them instead of thinking that they are not worthy of my time or attention. 

I choose FORGIVENESS…

I choose accept God’s forgiveness for all the sins I have committed.  I choose to believe that Christ has paid for those sins through His death and resurrection and therefore God has chosen to forget those sins and only see me as covered by the blood of Christ.  I choose to not allow Satan to keep reminding me of those sins and to make me feel guilty for them all over again.  I choose to ask for forgiveness from those whom I have wronged, and to be grateful for their forgiveness when it is extended to me.  I choose to extend that same forgiveness to those who have wronged me.  I choose to not keep track of their faults and hold those things against them but to forgive those sins and forget them as God has done for me. 

I choose MERCY…

I choose to accept God’s gift of mercy.  I choose to remember that because of His perfection, He has the power to punish my sins, yet He chooses mercy instead.  I choose to realize that instead of this punishment that I deserve, Christ chose to take the punishment upon Himself on my behalf.  I choose to keep His act of mercy in my mind as I see imperfection in others and remember that His mercy is for everyone.  I choose to show that mercy to others when they have done wrong.

I choose GRACE…

I choose to accept God’s grace.  I choose to recognize that God has given me so many more blessings than I ever deserved, including His forgiveness and love.  I choose to realize that if God has extended His grace to me with all of my faults, then in His love I must extend that grace to others.  I choose to allow God’s grace to flow through me so that others will see Him through my life. 

I choose THANKFULNESS…

I choose to be thankful for each day that God has given me to enjoy His love and His world.  I choose to be thankful for every circumstance God has placed in my life, whether it seems good or bad, because I know God has my best interests at heart.  I choose to be thankful for each person that God has put me in contact with because each one touches my life in a different way.  I choose to be thankful for the job he has placed me in regardless of how much I enjoy the work, because I know that there are many who would love to have a job to go to each day to help pay the bills.

I choose KINDNESS…

I choose to be kind to others because that is how I would like to be treated.  I choose to show kindness to those who serve me, including waiters/waitresses, cashiers, custodians, and others who we often take for granted.  I choose to be kind to those who are not always kind to me.  I choose to be kind to the “least of these,” because that was Christ’s mission. 

I choose PATIENCE…

I choose to accept God’s patience with me when I mess up, because He understands that I am still a work in progress.  I choose to be patient with myself, because I understand that I am still a work in progress. I choose to be patient with others because I understand that they are also a work in progress.  I choose to not get upset when I am expected to wait for others because I know there are times when others also have to wait for me.  I choose to not get frustrated when others don’t understand what I’m teaching them, because I remember times when I also did not understand. 

I choose JOY…

I choose to accept the joy that God desires for each of us.  I choose to understand that even when I don’t feel happy, I can still feel joy because I know that I am a beloved child of God.  I choose to see the value in the little things that make life worth living.  I choose to find joy in the hard times because I know God is using that to mold me into the person He wants me to be.  I choose to find joy in the good times because I recognize that God has given me that time to bask in his blessings. 

I choose INTEGRITY…

I choose to live my life with integrity so that others can see Christ in me.  I choose to be honest with everyone I come in contact with, even in the little things.  I choose to be reliable so that others can count on me when I have committed to doing something for or with them.  I choose to be sincere in my concern for others without allowing the information they have shared with me to become gossip.  I choose to honor others as God’s workmanship and in so doing remember that they are worthy of my best effort. 

I choose CONTENTMENT…

I choose to allow God to provide me the strength to live life in moderation.  I choose to recognize that I do not need the biggest and best of everything but can be content with what I have.  I choose to realize that I have been blessed with so much and that there are those who would feel fortunate to be able to afford even a fraction of what I can.  I choose to share what I have with others without holding back the best for myself.  I choose to remember that I would have nothing without God’s blessings on my life and that he has entrusted those blessings to me so that I in turn can be a blessing to others. 

I choose SELF-CONTROL…

I choose to control my desires to keep them in line with what God commands.  I choose to not allow anger and frustration to cause me to lose my temper.  I choose to control what and how much I eat because I know that my body is God’s temple and unhealthy eating is an abuse of that temple.  I choose to keep my body in shape as an additional way to take care of the body God has entrusted to me.  I choose to control what I look at, read, and watch because I know what goes into my mind influences who I am as a person.

I choose PRAYER…

I choose to be in constant communication with God.  I choose to remember that even though God knows my thoughts, he wants me to consciously share those thoughts with him.  I choose to praise him for who he is.  I choose to confess my sins to him and ask for his forgiveness.  I choose to thank him for the blessings he has placed in my life.  I choose to ask him for the desires of my heart, knowing that he will grant them according to his will.  I choose to allow him to show me the aspects of my life that he is working on and to be open to improvement in all areas of my life.  I choose to not only talk to God, but to listen to anything he may want to share with me. 

I choose PASSION…

I choose to live my life with passion and to give my all in every situation.  I choose to realize that without God’s passion in my life, I am just going through the motions of living.  I choose to be passionate about my relationship with Christ and to share that passion with others.  I choose to acknowledge that in order to fulfill God’s will for my life, I have to be willing to do my best in whatever circumstance he has put me in, regardless of whether it is something that I want to be doing.  I choose to both work hard and play hard because it is in the balance of work and play that we find the most enjoyment in life.

I choose REST…

And at the end of my day, when I have done my best to please him by choosing love, humility, forgiveness, mercy, grace, thankfulness, kindness, patience, joy, integrity, contentment, self-control, prayer, and passion, I choose to rest my soul in God’s promises.  I choose to lay my burdens at His feet because His yoke is easy and His burden is light. I choose to rest in God’s goodness and grace.  I choose to find refreshment in reading God’s word and spending time in communication with Him.  I choose to remember that he works all things together for my good because I have chosen to live my life for him.  And in this promise, I can truly find rest.

Which one of those spoke to you today? I’d love to hear from you by email or in the comments. For me, it was thankfulness. I guess I still need to keep working on that one!

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It seems like AI and ChatGPT are all the rage right now, with AI being used for everything from writing poems to creating curriculum to developing videos and scripts. I even read a paper recently about university students in a musical composition class using AI to come up with lyrics for new musicals for stage production.

I think AI can eventually be a useful tool, but using AI to write a Bible study seems to take away that personal touch. For me, the research and work involved in writing the study is where I find the most value. So I doubt I’ll be using AI to write Grounded in the Bible anytime soon. In spite of that, I wanted to just play around with ChatGPT to see what it would come up with if I asked it to write a Bible study. These were the prompts I used:

• Write a Bible study on John 3:16 in the style of Billy Graham

• Write a Bible study on John 3:16 in the style of Dr. Seuss

Here’s what ChatGPT came up with:

Billy Graham:

Title: The Unfathomable Love: A Bible Study on John 3:16

Introduction: Welcome to our Bible study on one of the most well-known and cherished verses in Scripture—John 3:16. In this study, we will delve into the depth of God's love, as revealed through this powerful verse. Just as Billy Graham passionately proclaimed the Gospel, let us embark on a journey to understand the profound truths contained in this verse.

1. Setting the Context: John 3:16 is situated within a conversation between Jesus and Nicodemus. Nicodemus, a Pharisee and member of the Jewish ruling council, sought Jesus at night to understand His teachings. Jesus responded with profound insights about being born again and the Kingdom of God. It is within this dialogue that we find John 3:16.

2. "For God So Loved the World": The verse begins with the declaration, "For God so loved the world." These words encapsulate the essence of the Gospel message—God's profound, immeasurable love for all people. Billy Graham often emphasized the all-encompassing nature of God's love, reaching far beyond social, cultural, or religious boundaries.

Discussion:

• Reflect on the magnitude of God's love for the world. What does it mean for you personally that God's love extends to all people, regardless of their background or past?

3. "That He Gave His Only Son": The verse continues, "that he gave his only Son." This phrase highlights the sacrificial nature of God's love. God, in His infinite love, sent His Son Jesus to the world as the ultimate expression of His compassion and redemption. Billy Graham eloquently preached about the significance of Jesus' sacrifice on the cross, demonstrating God's love in its purest form.

Discussion:

• How does recognizing Jesus as God's only Son impact your understanding of God's love for humanity? In what ways does Jesus' sacrifice on the cross demonstrate the depth of God's love?

4. "That Whoever Believes in Him": The verse further states, "that whoever believes in him." Here lies the invitation for each individual to respond to God's love and receive the gift of salvation through faith in Jesus Christ. Billy Graham ardently proclaimed the necessity of personal faith in Jesus Christ as the means to experience God's love and receive eternal life.

Discussion:

• What does it mean to "believe" in Jesus? How does personal faith in Christ transform our relationship with God and others? Share personal experiences or insights related to this.

5. "Should Not Perish, but Have Eternal Life": The verse concludes with the promise, "should not perish, but have eternal life." God's ultimate desire is for humanity to be saved from the consequences of sin and to enjoy everlasting life with Him. Billy Graham passionately emphasized the hope and assurance found in this promise, emphasizing the eternal significance of choosing to follow Christ.

Discussion:

• Reflect on the concept of eternal life. How does this promise impact your perspective on earthly life? How does the assurance of eternal life through faith in Jesus Christ bring hope and comfort in the face of life's challenges?

Conclusion: John 3:16 encapsulates the heart of the Gospel—God's unfathomable love, the sacrificial gift of His Son, the invitation for all to believe, and the promise of eternal life. Like Billy Graham, let us embrace and share the profound truth of this verse, allowing it to transform our lives and draw others closer to the boundless love of God.

Dr. Seuss:

Well, let's dive into the Bible, my friend,
And John 3:16, a message we'll send.
But in the style of Dr. Seuss, we'll explore,
A whimsical journey, so let's begin, galore!

"For God so loved the world," it begins,
With a love that transcends, through thick and through thins.
He sent His only Son, not to judge or condemn,
But to save all believers, and welcome them in.

"Not perish, but have eternal life," it does say,
A promise of hope that won't fade away.
For those who believe in this precious gift,
Shall have life everlasting, a spiritual lift.

Now, let's break it down, line by line,
With rhymes and rhythms, oh so fine.
God's love is boundless, like the ocean so deep,
A love that's unending, even when we sleep.

He loved the world, yes, every single one,
From the rising of the moon to the setting of the sun.
His love knows no boundaries, it knows no bounds,
And in His love, true happiness is found.

His Son, Jesus Christ, He did send,
To guide us, redeem us, and to be our friend.
He came not to judge or cast us aside,
But to save and embrace us, with arms open wide.

Eternal life, a wondrous treasure,
A gift from above, beyond all measure.
Through faith in Jesus, we're given new birth,
And the promise of heaven, a place of great worth.

So, dear friend, let's hold onto this verse,
In our hearts, let its meaning immerse.
For God's love is for all, and it's never too late,
To accept His Son, and embrace our fate.

In the style of Dr. Seuss, we've explored,
John 3:16, a message adored.
May its truth resonate, in our hearts so true,
And guide us in all that we say and we do.

What did you think? Did you find anything that seemed “off” theologically? Or did it seem pretty on point? Which version did you like better? I’d love to hear from you!

I’ve been thinking about our pastor’s sermon last week on Revelation 5 (probably a few weeks ago by the time this is published). He made the point that the imagery for Jesus is a bit of a contrast here. First, They call him the Lion of Judah:

Revelation 5:5: Then one of the elders said to me, “Do not weep! See, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has triumphed. He is able to open the scroll and its seven seals.”

But when Jesus actually appears, he is seen as a lamb who has been slain:

Revelation 5:6-7: ⁶ Then I saw a Lamb, looking as if it had been slain, standing at the center of the throne, encircled by the four living creatures and the elders. The Lamb had seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth. ⁷ He went and took the scroll from the right hand of him who sat on the throne.

How can the same person be both a lion and a lamb? Aren’t those the opposite? One is strong and mighty, a great predator. The other is small and weak, the easiest of prey. Yet Jesus is both. And it got me thinking—Isn’t that just like Jesus? When he was on earth, he was always doing the unexpected. He taught people how to think about life and the kingdom of God in a different way. Here are a few examples:

• The people of Israel expected a King to be their Messiah, but instead they got a baby who grew up to be a teacher who eventually was crucified.

Matthew 2:2: [The Magi] asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.”

Acts 1:6: Then they gathered around him and asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?”

• Jesus taught that the first shall be last and the last shall be first.

Matthew 20:16: “So the last will be first, and the first will be last.”

• Jesus taught that to be great in the kingdom of heaven, you have to be a servant.

Matthew 20:26-28: ²⁶ “Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, ²⁷ and whoever wants to be first must be your slave— ²⁸ just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

• Jesus showed love to sinners and tax collectors and the sick (the outcasts of the day), but he berated the religious leaders (the respected group).

Luke 5:30-31: ³⁰ But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law who belonged to their sect complained to his disciples, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?” ³¹ Jesus answered them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. ³² I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”

Matthew 23:13: “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the door of the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to.”

• Jesus taught his followers that the heart of the law is more important than the letter of the law.

Matthew 5:21-22: “You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘You shall not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.’ ²² But I tell you that anyone who is angry with a brother or sister will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to a brother or sister, ‘Raca,’ is answerable to the court. And anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of hell.”

• Jesus humbled himself to descend to earth and die on a cross, yet in the end, he will be exalted.

Philippians 2:5-11: ⁵ In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:

⁶ Who, being in very nature God,
    did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;
⁷ rather, he made himself nothing
    by taking the very nature of a servant,
    being made in human likeness.
⁸ And being found in appearance as a man,
    he humbled himself
    by becoming obedient to death—
        even death on a cross!

⁹ Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
    and gave him the name that is above every name,
¹⁰ that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
    in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
¹¹ and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord,
    to the glory of God the Father.

• Jesus taught that possessions mean nothing, and obedience is everything.

Matthew 19:21: ²¹ Jesus answered, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” ²² When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth.

These are just a few examples of how Jesus did the unexpected. What other examples can you think of? I’d love to hear your thoughts!

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It’s that time of year when the gardener in me comes out. My husband and I work to prepare the soil, then I plant the seeds and water them. And inevitably, the weeds start to grow. Weeding is definitely not one of my favorite gardening tasks, but it is a necessary one. So over the past couple weeks, I set myself the task of weeding the garden and putting down some weed barrier.

Coincidentally (or not), I’m also working through a decluttering challenge at the same time, and I got to thinking about how weeding a garden is similar to decluttering. I’ve learned that decluttering can be not only about physical space but also about mental space, emotional baggage, and full schedules. So weeding a garden parallels decluttering in several ways:

1. It allows you to clear out the things that don’t matter (weeds / stuff) so you can see the things you enjoy and want to focus on (veggie plants / favorite possessions, relationships). If you have so much stuff everywhere, you can’t even see the things that really hold the most meaning for you.

2. It allows you to focus your energy on the things that matter rather than the things that don’t, similar to how I can now easily water just the plants I want to grow rather than the entire garden. This saves me time and water resources.

3. It gives you easy access to the things that nurture you, just like plants have easier access to nutrition and resources because they aren’t fighting with the weeds for those resources. This gives you time to focus on the things that give you joy and contentment and meaning in life.

4. Removing the weeds allows me to lay down a weed barrier so that I don’t have to keep weeding over and over again. This helps my plants be more healthy and saves me time and physical pain. This is similar to how decluttering allows me to have a new mindset about how I see my possessions and what I allow to take up precious space in my home.

I’m sure I could draw other parallels, but those are the ones that jump out to me.

Then I got to thinking…how is weeding a garden similar to weeding out my spiritual life? Jesus tells a parable in Matthew 13 about a man who went to plant seeds, and the seeds fell on various types of soil. This is what it says about the seeds that fell among the thorns (or weeds), and Jesus’s interpretation of that.

Matthew 13:7: Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants.

Matthew 13:22: The seed falling among the thorns refers to someone who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, making it unfruitful.

These verses show us that we can have weeds in our spiritual lives just like weeds can grow in the garden. And those weeds in our spiritual life will make us unfruitful, which is the last thing you want if you are planting a garden! So what are some weeds that could be “decluttered” in your spiritual life?

1. Lies about yourself and who God is

2. A cultural focus on money and success

3. Worries about things like finances, health, jobs, etc.

4. A schedule that is so busy that you can’t take time for God

5. Prioritizing temporary things above eternal things

You may have other weeds that you can think of that divert your attention away from God. So how can we use the concepts of weeding or decluttering to allow us to prioritize the things in our life that really matter, including spending time deepening our relationship with God?

1. It allows me to weed out the lies I’ve believed and focus on the truth of God’s word.

2. It allows me to focus my energy on things that matter for eternity rather than things that are temporary.

3. It allows me to have the space to lay down a barrier of protection in my mind and heart so that spiritual weeds don’t grow back.

4. It allows me to place my trust in God’s provision rather than having to do it all on my own.

5. It allows me to rest in the peace of Christ rather than worrying about the things of this world.

6. It allows me to free up some time to spend with God rather than on busyness.

I’m sure there’s many more, but I’ll leave some room for you to think about this for yourself. What are the weeds in your spiritual life that you need to declutter? How will this change your life for the better?

For me, one of the greatest benefits of clearing the weeds out of my spiritual life is that it allows me to focus on growing my relationship with Christ a little more every day, as Peter writes about in 2 Peter:

2 Peter 3:18: But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever! Amen.

I’ll be praying that you will be able to identify the weeds in your life that need to be uprooted so you can grow deeper roots in the true source of life: Jesus.

Since the beginning of the year, I’ve been trying to make a few positive changes in my life. I’ve been working on decluttering my house, and I’ve been trying to change my mindset related to nutrition and eating. As I’ve listened to experts on both of these topics, I’ve been struck by one common theme: you can’t change everything all at once. The only way to make sustainable progress is through baby steps.

Take decluttering, for instance. I had a goal to declutter my kitchen. If I thought that I needed to find a time to declutter the entire kitchen at once, I would currently have 0% of my kitchen decluttered. But, by finding 10 minutes here and 10 minutes there, and by focusing on one shelf or drawer or cupboard at a time, I decluttered 100% of my kitchen in about a month.

Same goes for nutrition and eating. If you need to lose 25 or 50 or 100 pounds, you aren’t going to be able to do that all at once. The weight will only come off a pound or two at a time. And to make this change sustainable, you can’t go on a drastic diet. You have to make small changes to your mindset and your habits, picking up progressively better habits as time goes on. You have to make one improved choice at a time.

So why am I sharing this with you? It dawned on me today (I’m writing this on 4/5) that we can apply this same process to our spiritual growth.

When we think about needing to fit devotions or prayer time into our lives, often it seems overwhelming. We’re just too busy, and we don’t have time. That’s because we make the goal too big. We think to make it really meaningful, we have to devote an hour to concentrated Bible study every day, or we have to pray for every single person we know. Sometimes even 10 minutes seems like too much! And so we don’t even try. We quit before we start.

But what if we apply that baby step mentality to our spiritual growth? Maybe you can’t find an hour, or even 10 minutes at a time. But could you find time to open your Bible (or your Bible app) and read one verse? Or two? Look at those spaces in your life where you are just waiting for something. Here are some waiting times that might be common in your life:

• Waiting for a child before/during/after school or extracurricular activities

• Sitting in the waiting room at the doctor’s office

• Waiting for a child or spouse to be ready to leave for an event

• Waiting for your food to be ready in the oven or microwave

• Waiting for your TV show or sports game to start

• Sitting on the toilet (just being real here…)

What are some waiting times that you can identify in your life? Drop a comment below to help others think of available times in their lives!

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I don’t know about you, but when I’m waiting for something or someone, my default is to get on my phone and scroll through social media or play a game. What if, before I open one of those apps, I open my Bible app instead and read a verse or two or more? Or instead of listening to music or a podcast while I exercise (or drive if you have a long commute), I listen to my audio Bible instead? I did this one year, and I listened through the entire Bible in 9 months while running. It was a really unique experience, and I hope to do it again someday.

By finding these pockets of time to prioritize Bible reading or prayer rather than mindless scrolling, you might be surprised how much time you can uncover to spend in God’s word. And as you build this habit, maybe it grows from reading one verse a day to reading a chapter a day to finding a total of an hour a day to read and study your Bible and pray throughout the day. Or maybe you take that time to start memorizing Scripture. This hidden time could be the most valuable time you can use to invest in your spiritual growth.

I encourage you to start by choosing one time per day while you are waiting for something or someone to decide to read your Bible or pray while you wait instead of doing something else. Whether that’s 2 minutes or 2 hours, or whether you have time to read 1 verse or 1 chapter or more, being conscious of these opportunities to connect with God during your busy day will keep your mind focused on him. And that will lead to growth.

If you decide to do this, I’d love to hear from you! Drop a comment on this post, or reply to the email if you are a subscriber. We can encourage each other as we grow in Christ together.

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If you need suggestions on where to start, here are some ideas.

• The Scripture that your pastor is using for his current sermon series

• The Scripture you are studying in your small group or Bible study

• Your favorite book of the Bible

• Start reading through the Bible from front to back

• Start reading through the Bible chronologically

• Read through Psalms or Proverbs

• Read through the New Testament or the four gospels

• Read through the Bible Bingo passages from our Characteristics of God study

Grounded in the Bible

Characteristics of God

Premium resources are bonus materials that go along with Grounded in the Bible’s Bible studies. These bonus materials enhance the Bible study it accompanies. The Characteristics of God study has six overview lessons plus a growing library of lessons on each individual resource. The six overview studies are accompanied by a Bible bingo card to help you l…

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5 years ago · Karen Hoffman

Morning Session

The theme of the day was Watered or Withering. God is the master gardener, and our lives are the garden he is tending. Do we have streams of living water in us, waters that come through the Holy Spirit and water our souls so that we can bear fruit? Or are we like a parched and dry land that is barren? One of her main Scripture verses was from Jeremiah 17:5-8, which paints a picture of this contrast:

⁵ This is what the Lord says:

“Cursed is the one who trusts in man,
    who draws strength from mere flesh
    and whose heart turns away from the Lord.
⁶ That person will be like a bush in the wastelands;
    they will not see prosperity when it comes.
They will dwell in the parched places of the desert,
    in a salt land where no one lives.

⁷ “But blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord,
    whose confidence is in him.
⁸ They will be like a tree planted by the water
    that sends out its roots by the stream.
It does not fear when heat comes;
    its leaves are always green.
It has no worries in a year of drought
    and never fails to bear fruit.”

This passage tells us that the source of our trust makes a huge difference. Do we trust in humans? Or do we trust in God? If we trust in human strength, either our own or someone else’s, we will be parched and dry. But if we trust in God, we will be strong and bear fruit.

One question Christi asked during our morning quiet time was:

One of the verses she had us look at was John 15:4-5, where it talks about Jesus being the vine, God being the gardener, and us being the branches. In order to bear fruit, we must remain in the vine. But in light of the question she asked, the verse that struck me even more was John 15:2:

He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.

With that verse in mind, I changed the question to be:

In the past, I’ve always thought of this as events and activities. What are the things on my task list that I need to get rid of or say “no” to so that I can focus more on the things God wants me to do? What can I do to not be so busy that I don’t have time for my relationship with Christ? But as I read through Christi’s guided quiet time, my heart gave me a different angle. It’s not about events and activities. It’s about attitudes and thoughts. What are the things in my life that keep me feeling withered rather than watered? Here’s a partial list of what I came up with:

• Unconfessed sin

• Old lies (untruths about who I am as a person)

• Self-hate

• Worry/anxiety

• Stress

• Self-induced perfectionism or pressure (expectations of myself that are too high)

• Grudges

• Pleasing others instead of God

I’m sure you have more that you could add to the list for yourself. When I focus on these things, I’m focusing on myself or on others around me rather than on God. I’m overestimating my own ability to deal with whatever those things are in my life that cause stress and worry and burden, and I’m underestimating my need for God. But if we focus on Christ as our sole source of salvation and abundant life, then we allow him to prune these things that keep us withered so that we can grow in him to bear fruit. As we trust in God rather than the outcomes of our lives, we will start to live in perfect peace.

One way that we can identify the areas of our lives that might need to be pruned is to be in the Word. We looked at Psalm 1, especially verses 1-3:

¹ Blessed is the one
    who does not walk in step with the wicked
or stand in the way that sinners take
    or sit in the company of mockers,
² but whose delight is in the law of the Lord,
    and who meditates on his law day and night.
³ That person is like a tree planted by streams of water,
    which yields its fruit in season
and whose leaf does not wither—
    whatever they do prospers.

We need reflection in the Word to see the truth about what is inside our hearts. If we spend time meditating on God’s Word day and night—if God’s Word becomes such a part of us that it is continually in our thoughts—then we will be like a tree planted by streams of water that continues to grow strong and healthy to produce fruit.

We often feel like we don’t have the time or desire to meditate on God’s Word faithfully and consistently. But our relationship with God is like any other relationship—it needs time and space. We need to spend time with God, and we need to make space in our lives to build that relationship. This is essential for a flourishing relationship. Maybe you even need to schedule an “appointment” every day to spend time with God. Block off time for just you and him to be together. This focused time with God will change everything.

Our morning session had so many good nuggets of truth, but the overarching theme was that true refreshment is only found in Jesus Christ. He must be our source of strength and truth, and we can find refreshment by spending time in his Word and being filled with the Holy Spirit.

Afternoon Session

In the afternoon session, we switched to a second truth: True refreshment is found in love, believer to believer. As believers, we can be a source of refreshment to other believers, and in turn, we can look to other believers to find refreshment when we feel like we are withering.

As believers, we are called to encourage each other and bear each other’s burdens. Here are just a couple example Scriptures we looked at:

Hebrews 10:24-25: ²⁴ And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, ²⁵ not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

Galatians 6:2: Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.

Often, when we are withering, our first instinct is to withdraw. We don’t want to share our struggles with others, and God feels far away, so it’s easy to stay home from church or not reach out to other believers for encouragement.

Part of God’s design is that when we are feeling withered, we have other Christians there to encourage us and help water us back to health.

During this part of the session, we talked a lot about trust. In order for us to feel like we can talk to other believers to share our struggles and hurts, there must be a foundation of trust between us. We often feel a barrier because we don’t want to be vulnerable or rejected. We might feel shame or guilt or embarrassment, and we don’t want to open ourselves up to judgment from others. But if we have a foundation of trust, we can share those struggles with other believers and receive love and grace, just as we would receive from Christ himself. And ironically, the more we share our deepest hurts with others, the less power that pain has over us. As we heal, we may even be able to share those hurts and struggles with others who are going through those same struggles, allowing God to use our past to then be an encouragement to others.

One of the last topics we discussed was service. Again, we turned to John 15, where it tells us that in order to bear fruit, we must remain in the vine (Jesus). As we remain in him, our soul becomes watered with the living water he provides. That flourishing spirit then overflows into service for other believers. Christi compared this to Jacob working for Rachel in Genesis 29:20:  

So Jacob served seven years to get Rachel, but they seemed like only a few days to him because of his love for her.

When we participate in service to other believers out of a love for Christ, that service seems light. It isn’t a burden. This is something I’ve really struggled with over the past couple years, so this idea hit me pretty hard. The question Christi asked was:

We are missing that love for Christ, and that might be a reflection that we are not remaining in him like we should. In order to be watered again, we need to go back to the source of life and continue to be filled with the Holy Spirit.

John 7:37-39: ³⁷ On the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. ³⁸ Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.” ³⁹ By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.

Conclusion

So the question remains: Are you watered? Are you remaining in Jesus and relying on the power of the Holy Spirit to renew your heart? Or are you withering? Are you feeling cut off from the living water that Jesus provides?

If you are feeling watered, how can you use that to encourage other believers? If you are feeling withered, what Christian friends can you go to for encouragement? And whether you are watered or withering, continue to remain in God’s word and be connected to the vine of Christ.

Today is called Holy Saturday—the day after Jesus was crucified on the cross, and the day before he rose from the dead. What is your understanding of what Jesus did that day? I haven’t really thought about it much until I came across this graphic on Facebook:

This made me ponder: What did Jesus do on the Saturday in the tomb? Here are three options:

1. He descended into hell.

We frequently quote the Apostles’ Creed during church:

I believe in God the Father, Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth,
And in Jesus Christ, his only begotten Son, our Lord,
Who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary,
Suffered under Pontius Pilate; was crucified, dead and buried.
He descended into hell.
The third day he rose again from the dead.
He ascended into heaven, and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty,
From thence he shall come to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit,
The holy catholic church,
The communion of saints,
The forgiveness of sins,
The resurrection of the body,
And the life everlasting. Amen.

In the Apostles’ Creed, after it talks about Jesus’ crucifixion, death, and burial and before it talks about him rising from the dead, it has this line: “He descended into hell.” Because of this, I always thought that Jesus literally paid the punishment for our sins by spending the time between his death and his resurrection in hell. One Catholic site (the Apostles’ Creed originated in the Catholic church) that I looked at said this is based on 1 Peter 3:19-20 (I’ll include 18 for completeness):

For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive in the Spirit.  After being made alive, he went and made proclamation to the imprisoned spirits—to those who were disobedient long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built. In it only a few people, eight in all, were saved through water.

That doesn’t seem to make a clear statement about Jesus descending into hell. Then I read an article on Got Questions. It attempted to debunk the line in the Apostles’ Creed that Jesus descended into hell, stating it as an incorrect translation of the word sheol or hades. It’s an interesting article if you want to read it (click the blue link).

So basically, at the end of this, I’m conflicted about whether I believe Jesus actually descended into hell during his time in the grave. So what are other options?

2. He was in heaven.

When Jesus was on the cross, he spoke these famous words to one of the criminals he was crucified with: “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise” (Luke 23:43). This gives the indication that Jesus and the criminal would be in heaven that day. If that’s the case, then it seems like immediately after he died, Jesus was in heaven. Many people base their belief that Christians are transported immediately to heaven after they die on this verse.

3. He rested.

The one option that I never thought about until I saw that graphic on Facebook was that during his Saturday in the tomb, Jesus rested. I kind of like the mental image of this. During the week of creation, after God had finished all his work, the Bible tells us in Genesis 2:2-3 that God rested:

By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.

The week before his death, Jesus did a lot of work. He entered Jerusalem triumphantly on Palm Sunday (Matthew 21:1-11), he cleared the temple (Matthew 21:12-17), he taught in the temple (Matthew 21:23-27 and more), he had the Last Supper with his disciples (Matthew 26:17-30), he was betrayed and abandoned (Matthew 26:47-56), he was on trial and beaten (Matthew 26:57-27:31), and he was crucified (Matthew 27:32-56). That seems like almost as much work as creation, and much more painful! And it was very significant work, because these actions of Jesus paid the penalty for sin once for the whole world (Hebrews 9:24-28).

On the cross, one of the phrases Jesus uttered was, “It is finished” (John 19:30). The work of paying the penalty for sins was done. It seems reasonable that after that, Jesus would rest on the Sabbath, just as God had done on the seventh day of creation.

But this begs the question: Where did he rest? Was it similar to being in a coma, with no awareness of anything? Was he in heaven? It doesn’t seem logical that hell would be restful, so if he was resting, he probably wasn’t in hell. I don’t know the answer to this. But it was an intriguing question to ponder anyway.

What do you think? Which option have you always believed? Do you think about it differently now? I’d be interested to hear your thoughts on this.

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