Today, I feel more protective of you than ever.
I know that I’m going to be letting you go soon, out into the world, with no dare to complete each day.
No song,
no advice.
I want so badly for you to just walk with the Lord and BLOOM!
And I know that’s what He wants too.
Due to this whole fear thing, I have literally been falling asleep lately hugging my open Bible.
I have truly never found such light and comfort in God’s word as I have lately.
Things like fear can absolutely cripple us if we don’t know who we belong to.
Some of my deepest questions to God lately have been things like:
*"God, am I yours?”
*"Will you really protect me?”
*"Am I really saved?”
No matter how much we grow and mature in our faith there are sometimes basic issues and needs in our hearts that we come back to.
We have such a deep need as women to be loved, protected and taken care of and I don’t think that ever really goes away.
But the sad truth is that a lot of women just stop going to God to have those questions answered and those needs met.
Jesus gives a parable in the book of Mark about a scattered seed that represents God’s word.
He says that for some, that seed will take root and produce a harvest. Hallelujah.
But for others, it will be quickly snatched up by the birds; and still for others, it will begin to grow, but soon be choked out by the things of this world.
Girls, take heart.
This is Jesus talking. About us!
He is saying that, for whatever reason, not very many people really stick it out with Him.
“But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.”- Matthew 7:14 NIV
I think that there is an innate impulse in people to cry out for God when they are in trouble or hurting.
I’m willing to bet that even many people who’ve claimed to not believe in God have found themselves praying to Him in a time of frantic trouble.
I think that our souls just know that He’s real, as much as our intellect might deny Him.
But I also think that many of us have a tendency to just use Him.
To cry out to Him when we are broken, but to not truly fall in love with, and have a heart after Him.
Do you see what I’m saying?
I thank God that I’m not one of those who got snatched up or choked out. I could have so easily been.
But God has stuck it out with me, and I’m so grateful for that.
My life would be such a confusing mess had He not.
But I also would be lying if I said that it’s been easy to be a Jesus-loving woman in this world and in this time.
Swimming against the tide is never easy-
especially when you are trying to hash out “truth” in a society that doesn’t even think that such a thing exists.
Ravi Zacharius wrote these words in his 1999 book, “Jesus, among other Gods.”
“We are living in a time when sensitivities are at the surface, often vented with cutting words. Philosophically, you can believe anything, so long as you do not claim it to be true. Morally, you can practice anything, so long as you do not claim it as a “better” way. Religiously, you can hold to anything, so long as you do not bring Jesus Christ into it. If a spiritual idea is eastern, it is granted critical immunity; if western, it is thoroughly criticized. Thus, a journalist can walk into a church and mock it’s carryings on, but he or she dare not do the same if the ceremony is from the eastern fold. Such is the mood at the end of the twentieth century.
A mood can be a dangerous state of mind, because it can crush reason under the weight of feeling. But that is precisely what I believe postmodernism best represents- a mood….
My earnest prayer is that… you will make your judgment of the Christian message based on truth, not the mood of our times. Mood changes. Truth does not.”
Oh, that is my prayer too.
Because here we are all of these years later, and what Ravi wrote back in 1999 somehow seems truer now than it even was then.
The shear power and intensity of the “mood” that has swept over our culture is staggering.
Figuratively speaking, the lights have been dimmed, the music is working it’s magic, and most of us have been lulled into the cloudiness of a mood.
The Bible tells us that the deception of the enemy in the end times will be strong, and it sure is.
Not that everyone is just sitting around in a daze.
Some people are outraged at a lot of what seems to be taking place. Others ignore it for the sake of having a sense of peace and normalcy.
Or like most, we are cautiously skeptical.
But the hard reality is that in our humanness we are incapable of seeing all of the dimensions to what is going on.
Only Christ knows it all.
We want to know it all.
Some people might even think they do know it all.
But the fact of the matter is that we are human and we will always come up short.
Where we don’t fall short in knowledge, we fall short in discernment.
We tend to hop on whatever band-wagon seems to have the most evidence, or suites our personal taste.
What a dangerous thing.
Loads of people on a bandwagon that maybe has some of it’s facts right, but is pointing the finger of blame in the complete wrong direction.
Deception.
God help us.
Remember back on Day 23 when we talked about how the enemy tries to get us to think that our battles are in the physical realm?
But God’s word tells us that our real battles lie in the spirit realm?
Without Christ, and without that acknowledgement of the spirit realm, it does not matter how accurate the facts are; lies will always make their way in amongst that truth, and we will never get it right!
Jesus, snap us out of it!
Snap us out of this mood that has overtaken us and help us to see the ways in which the enemy is keeping us tied up in the physical realm.
While all the while you are over here saying: “Let me get you right in the realm that matters- then maybe you could actually do something in this earthly realm that really matters.”
Girls, one way or another, we are getting closer and closer to the second coming of Christ, and the events that the Bible describes in the end times.
Read your bibles! Study them! Everything is lining up.
Don’t be content living under deception just because it’s easy!
“The end of all things is near. Therefore be alert and of sober mind so that you may pray.” -1 Peter 4:7
Know truth. Don’t go on the mood.
The mood is deceptive. God’s word is true.
I don’t know about you but I don’t want to be one of those seeds that starts off growing, but gets choked out by the concerns of this world.
Caught right back up into the things that I think will gain me popularity, success, or whatever carrot the enemy has me chasing; rather than staying focused on what is real and true and eternal.
Because the hard truth is that there are many times that Christ does not seem to be the more appealing option.
(Remember, long term/short term)
But if you stick it out with Christ, regardless of what things look like, regardless of the mood, you will come out on the other end, be it here or in eternity, having gained a million times more than you lost.
But the world is not going to get you living for eternity. It’s just not.
So are you concerned with truth, or are you concerned with what is going to make you better and more successful in this world?
Girlfriend, I am asking myself the same question.
Some things, at times just seem too good to resist!
Let’s name some of them.
Some things, at times just seem too good to resist!
Let’s name some of them.
What are those things that we girls chase here on this earth that keep us distant from Jesus? The things that we sell out for:
Beauty
Success
Popularity (fame is the extreme)
Confidence
Money
Love
Safety
These things just so easily sweep us away, because of the mood.
We see celebrities strutting their stuff, taking these things to the extreme and we desire to be the same way.
Oh girls, be careful! Nothing good comes from chasing these things, besides maybe a little shallow recognition.
Oh girls, be careful! Nothing good comes from chasing these things, besides maybe a little shallow recognition.
But certainly not the good stuff. The lasting stuff.
And girls, such a big part of our human responsibility is that we don’t just allow ourselves to be swept away by the tide of this world, but seek truth, rather than the mood that surrounds us.
Those seeking truth, not moods, are the seeds that will stick.
The ones who are willing to do what is right and true even when the whole atmosphere is pointing in the other direction.
The ones who are willing to do what is right and true even when the whole atmosphere is pointing in the other direction.
Do you get that???
We need to be the kinds of daughters who will stand strong and not buckle to the world, but rather buckle to the only one who can save us from it.
We need to be the kinds of daughters who will stand strong and not buckle to the world, but rather buckle to the only one who can save us from it.
There is this scene in Narnia II- Prince Caspian that I absolutely love.
The children and the kingdom of Narnia are in a battle and it begins to appear to them that there is no way that they are going to win it.
They are outnumbered 100 to 1, and they have nowhere near the weaponry their opponents’ have.
They are outnumbered 100 to 1, and they have nowhere near the weaponry their opponents’ have.
Suddenly it shows them just standing there with their weapons, watching all that’s going on around them.
The battle seems as good as lost.
The battle seems as good as lost.
But as they stand there watching, you can see a sort of mutual thought overtake them. Something to the effect of,
“We need to do this still. Not because we will win, but simply because it’s the right thing to do.”
They all take a deep breath and with reckless abandonment charge in to join a battle that they will surley loose.
“We need to do this still. Not because we will win, but simply because it’s the right thing to do.”
They all take a deep breath and with reckless abandonment charge in to join a battle that they will surley loose.
“For Narniaaaaa!”
They run, weapons raised, screaming, with everything they have.
They will lose their lives for this.
They run, weapons raised, screaming, with everything they have.
They will lose their lives for this.
Because what could possibly be more important?
And it is only then (when they run into that battle, swinging, shooting, stabbing, ready to die at any moment, but going out defending what is right), that Aslan turns everything upside-down.
Before the children know it they begin to see the trees, and the very ground they are standing on fighting on their behalf.
Everything starts to fight in their favor, and they end up winning the battle.
Everything starts to fight in their favor, and they end up winning the battle.
It is a powerful and awesome scene, and I can’t help but compare it to our life on this earth, as believers.
Fighting for what is right and true, despite how grim the outcome looks.
Fighting for what is right and true, despite how grim the outcome looks.
And that we ultimately will be, despite what the betting odds are, on the side of the winning cause.
The Bible itself is also sprinkled with these kinds of radical, against-the-odds examples of faith:
*Young David
*Daniel
*Meshak, Shaterak, and Abendigo
All men that took their faith and obedience to God to the point of facing physical death, and all of whom God miraculously spared despite the impossible odds.
Girls I truly believe that this is the kind of courage that God is calling our generation to.
I realize that these examples are hard to relate to, but the old testament has a way of showing us a very physical manifestation of the spiritual battles that we will come up against as modern Christians.
So while we may not be called to physically go down swinging, we do need to put it all on the line,
and be willing to go out for what is right, and good and true, even if it appears to the world to be a losing cause.
and be willing to go out for what is right, and good and true, even if it appears to the world to be a losing cause.
This is faith at it’s truest. The kind that can only come from pressing into our savior.
Not that everything will be hard for us here on this earth, we serve a very merciful God.
We just need to be strong and prepared as to not get caught up in the mood of this world, and when it’s time to fight a battle, be willing to fight a battle!
Stay strong, dear sister.
Don’t let the world suck you into it’s mood.
It’s false.
Keep close to Jesus, read His word, know truth, and be victorious!
Be a seed that sticks in the ground and blooms with beauty and resilience!
Because as soon as our 5 mins on this Earth is up, Christ will take His rightful place, and us with Him.
And once we get to be in that glory, with Him, the lowly things of this world that we thought were so wonderful will not even be an afterthought!
Oh, I cannot wait!!
“For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”- 2 Cor 4:17-18
Today’s Dare: Today, I dare you to go on a search for BRAVERY!
Real men and women, or maybe even children who are actually living this life for Jesus.
What kind of radical-for-God things are going on in your area, your neighborhood, your country!?
Seek out some people who you can keep up with, or maybe even become affiliated with by donating or volunteering.
Really spend some time comparing the things that these people are doing and are caught up in, verses what people who are tangled in the mood of our culture are caught up in.
(And if you can get your hands on the movie Narnia II- Prince Caspian, watch that scene!)
