Friday Faithfuls Two: Ephesians

 Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

Our little flying skim through the books of the Bible looking for a verse that particularly resonates each week has brought us to Ephesians.

I may well have studied Ephesians more than any other book, lol.  I teach a class at church on beginning Bible study skills and over the course of that 10 week class we go through Ephesians three times.

So I wondered which verse would stand out to me as I read through it this week, and the one that tripped the wire was this one:

And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation.  Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit. -- Eph. 1:13, NIV 84.

"You also were included"...that is balm to my soul right now.  Doesn't matter what happens on any earthly situation...I am included.

And so are you.  All it takes is real belief....the kind that gets deep inside and becomes foundational.  The rock upon which the house is built. When that happens, we are sealed in him.  

In.Clu.Ded.

Friday Faithfuls 2 - Galatians

 Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

If anyone ever needed any proof that Paul could get salty...all they need to do is read Galatians.  Arguing against requiring non-Jewish believers to follow the law of Moses, Paul gets quite...emphatic...in his language.

But the verse that caught my attention today was 2:20 (NIV 84) - 

I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.  The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

Y'all.  Just take a selah and ponder that verse for a moment or two.

What RIGHTS do I have, as a believer, if I am crucified in Christ?  If Jesus is living through me?  If everything I do originates in faith in him?

Not from a legalistic standpoint...that's the very thing Paul argues against in the entire letter...but from a standpoint of love and gratefulness for what he has done?

How could I possibly look at the one who loved me and gave himself for me and say, 'I just want to do (fill in the blank) because it will make me happy.'

And, you know, the (fill in the blank) could be anything from, say, reading a bunch of salacious tales on Reddit compilations to  carrying a grudge against someone who caused emotional pain to jumping into an illicit relationship.  Doesn't matter.  If it's not in obedience to him,  how can that action be reconciled with being crucified with Christ?

Definitely worth a selah.

Dem Bones....

 Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

Today we sang Elevation Church's song Rattle!  in worship.  It stirred up all kinds of things in me.

See...there's a lot going on IN me right now. I'm in a changing season, and, like any season of change, my footing feels uncertain, my direction is not clear, and I'm looking at old dreams thinking their time has passed...which makes me grieve a bit.  I was so looking forward to seeing those dreams happen.  But...if they are, they are not going to look anything like I thought.

So we are singing about dry bones coming back to life.  To be honest, I struggled.  I just wasn't feeling it.  So I had a little conversation with Holy Spirit about what was going on.  

While I'm singing, you understand.  Does that happen to anyone else?

What I heard was ...the song is about dry bones.  To quote Ezekiel, very dry bones.  And what the Spirit told me was...your bones still have meat on them.  Old, decaying, smelly meat.  You gotta let it die and fall off.  The bones have to be dry.

That's not to say there's anything bad about what was there.  Or what it accomplished.  Or negating the focus and training that working toward the dream accomplished in its time.  But...the old and the past-its-prime has got to drop away to clear the way for the new and the strong and the vibrant.  The bones get bleached out.  Dry isn't just dry...it's also clean.  Rotting meat attracts flies and repels people;  dry bones do not.

I have been thinking a lot about John the Baptist lately; probably a bit because season 3 of The Chosen is about to start up and, according to the chronology in the synoptic gospels, we are going to lose John the Baptizer in this season. I did a little character study of John back in the Desert series;  my thinking has been along those lines, but especially thinking about those guys who were disciples of John....how they had to make the transition from the ministry of John to the ministry of Jesus, who seemed to come along and push aside their rabbi.   I'm sure it was more than a little tempting to resent Jesus and his disciples for supplanting the ministry of John. Everybody is going over to that guy you baptized, they told him.

John's ministry was good, necessary, and part of the prophesied coming of the Messiah. He was in the progression of ministry of national prophets that had gone back centuries.  But it was done.

This is the sound of dry bones rattling...

Not done.  Transforming.  Into following the one that John and all the prophets before him proclaimed.  Into the thing it was intended to be all along.

But the old has to dry up.

SO I began to sing the song as a declaration that when all the old stuff had fallen off and the dreams were truly down to dry bones...the resurrection will come.  In some way, it will come.

Just ask the stone that was rolled at the tomb of the garden what happens when God says to move...

I'm not there yet.  But I can believe it's coming.

Friday Faithfuls Two: 2 Corinthians

 Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

Second Corinthians...Paul's second letter to the church in Corinth, which had some issues.  He wrote them a pretty strong letter earlier...rebuke, instruction on discipline...and in this letter he kinda sorta says, 'Sorry, not sorry'...because he was sorry to have caused them grief, but was rejoicing at the repentance that grief brought about.

Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death.  -- 2 Cor 7:10

I wonder if, in our reluctance to offend/ hurt people, we forget that godly sorrow is a good thing.  How can one be brought to repentance without godly sorrow...the recognition that one has done things that need repenting?

If there is no repentance, there is no forgiveness.  Repentance is KEY.    There's a big difference between 'I truly regret that I ever did XYZ; I recognize that it was wrong and I renounce that behavior and will walk away from the lifestyle that produces such things' and 'I'm sorry you caught me/ called me out for XYZ; I'll be more careful in the future,'...which implies that repeat behavior is likely, for whatever reason.

If we confess a thing as sin, and repent...he is faithful and will forgive.  However many times it takes.  But if we just confess it as a 'problem' or a 'habit' or even 'that's just how I am'...there's no repentance.  Somehow our little pet failings don't seem to be sinful.  They don't hurt anyone.  It doesn't even affect anyone else.   But if GOD says it's sin....then, my friend, we must own our sin. Agree with him.  Then we can be forgiven.

And it is quite a sorrowful battle to come to the place to admit that... whatever...is sin.  The thing that separates me from God and his blessing.  Sin cannot come into God's presence.  And, while we might believe we can drop the sin at the last minute, the plain truth is that sin has hooks.  Only repentance and forgiveness can remove those hooks. Ultimately, we don't hold sin...sin holds us. If sin is not forgiven and washed away, the hooks will pull the individual to the place where sin will ultimately end up...outside of God's presence.  The wages of sin is death.  Because sin cannot come into the presence of God any more than darkness can come into a place that's filled with light.

So...how can we, as believers carrying his truth, inspire godly sorrow...and not just plain ol' offense?  What needs to change in me?  In the way I interact with those around me? 

Friday Faithfuls Two: 1 Corinthians

 Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

At various times in my life, when I questioned whether or not I am a profitable servant of the Most High, a Bible verse has landed in my life from one source or another that spoke right to my insecurity.  On more than one occasion, it was a particular verse from 1 Corinthians.  A verse that, to be honest, I forgot was from 1 Corinthians until I hit it when skimming through.

And once again, I find myself in a need of a little encouragement.

So I got it.

Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you.  Always give yourself fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.  -- 1 Cor. 15:58

Even if you don't see the fruit, even if it seems to be done in a corner, even if it gets wearying, know that your work done in Him is  Not. In. Vain.  

If no one else notices, your work is not in vain.

If nobody appreciates it, your work is not in vain.

If it seems to go nowhere, your work is not in vain.

If it's done out of love and obedience to HIM...HE sees.  So stand firm and don't give up.  It's worth doing.  For Him.