Truth in Love

My heart is completely broken at the state of things in the US right now.  With the latests tragedy of the terror attack on Orlando my mind has been reeling!  I want desperately to understand what people are going through in their lives so I can walk with them through their struggles, and the pain of a loss like Orlando is not something I can even comprehend.  When a monster walks into a building and heartlessly kills so many people its hard to know what to say.  I did notice something even more troubling come out of this terror attack.  Inspite of the fact the act was committed by an Islamic terrorist, people were still blaming Christians.  That floored me!  The Bible teaches to love, not to kill.  So how do they arrive at blaming Christians for this....

I was fasting this week when it happened and I cried out to God in frustration to reveal things to me, to help me understand and to help me reach the broken.  God answered in a way that I did not expect...

I understand that the gay community has in many ways been rejected by Christians.  Many of these Christians (myself included) are well meaning, but have failed this community in our communication with them.  While we try to live out our faith, sometimes we don't express what we believe in a constructive manner, especially when we feel that our values are being threatened.  We must learn to balance our fears of our faith being compromised while still living in love.  I'm not saying that we let our faith become compromised, but I am saying that we need to live in faith and love not fear.  The world is not going to agree with us on many things, but that doesn't mean that we run around screaming at the world and pointing our finger.  We need to always be asking ourselves "what would Jesus do?"

Jesus was uncompromising, He never sinned and He did not condone sin.  That being said, sinners flocked to Him.  They weren't scared of Him, they didnt feel judged by Him!  Jesus draws us in, in a way that no one else does.  When we get face to face with Him we start to understand that we can't even come close to understanding the depths of His love for us and that love provides for us in ways nothing else can!

If I had the privilege to talk with someone in the LGBT community in light of this tragedy and they asked me "do you judge us?"  My answer would be no and this is why...

I believe you, like most of us, are standing before a well and you are thirsty.  What you may not realize about that well is that it offers a drink that cannot satisfy.  You can keep dipping into it but it will run dry and you will still be thirsty.   We all try to drink from this well at some point in our lives, it has many names, but the result is always the same, it cant satisfy our thirst.  There is one well that I would like to tell you about.  This well has only one purpose, to fill us completely and satisfy our thirst completely.  We can drink deep of it, there is enough for all of us and it will never run dry!

If you go to this well you will meet someone that loves you more than anyone else can.  If you are willing to sit with Him He will tell you everything about yourself, even your secrets and hidden fears, doubts and pains.  You will discover something as He reveals you to yourself, He isn't judging you!  He is showing you these things because He wants you to be free.  He wants you to experience love and fulfillment in ways you never imagined.  He wants to deliver you from all of your struggles and shames.  If you listen to Him a little bit longer after He reveals these things to you, He will then tell you who you really are and how deeply He loves you.  He loves you so much in fact that He died for you and broke the bonds of sin that separate us from God.  The choice is yours, the cup is waiting...

When you leave the well, if you accept His cup He will begin to transform you.  He will change you in ways you never imagined.  He begins to break down walls and open doors.  It doesn't matter what struggle or sin you came to Him facing, He will walk with you through the journey of change.  Jesus meets us right where we are, and the beautiful thing about it is when we meet Him face to face its impossible to stay the same!  All of us need to become the people we were created to be and that means all of us have to be willing to let God work on our hearts and our minds.  I don't judge you anymore than I judge any person because sin is sin and none of us are without sin.  We are all in a fallen state and we all need Jesus!  When Jesus gets ahold of us, and He is given reign over our hearts He will change us and we will never look back!

The well is not some fictitious place, one woman had this exact encounter and it changed her forever. John 4:4-30 tells us this powerful story.  This woman, a samaritan, would have been considered an unbeliever by Jewish standards as the samaritan faith was a combination of law and ritual from the Law of Moses, and various superstitions.  This woman was at the well at noontime which was very unusual and some commentators believe that she didn't come when the other women came because her lifestyle may have made her an outcast. Jesus connected with this woman, who most Jews would have not even spoken to, by telling her all about the rugged path her lifestyle choices were taking her on.  He didn't yell at her and call her a sinner, He simply told her what she already knew in her heart to be true, that her path was not the right way.  Jesus directs her from her sinful life to true worship.  Jesus did not ignore her sin because her sin needed to be confronted, but He approached her with love and that love won out!  She chose Him!

See when Jesus offers us His cup, the living water, and we choose to take it we can't stay where we are.  Taking His cup means leaving all other wells behind and trusting in Him alone.  You can't drink from His well and be satisfied if you are still filling up on water that makes you thirst.  Jesus gives us an all of nothing choice, we can either drink from His cup and let Him fill our every need or we can continue to draw from the well of the flesh.  Some of us struggle with greed, with hate, with envy, with our sexuality, with lust, with fear, and none of these struggles are too big for God to change in us.  Jesus holds the answer and it is for every last one of us.  When Jesus truly gets ahold of you it becomes impossible to stay the same, He changes us all.  That means that you are no longer defined by your desires, what you do, who you love or what others think of you.  You are who God says you are, a child of God!  It is important to remember that just because we choose to follow God doesn't mean that all of our flesh struggles disappear.  We now have God to help us choose to walk away from those things, but we still must choose and sometimes that is terribly hard.

Galatians 5:17
The sinful nature wants to do evil, which is just the opposite of what the Spirit wants.  And the Spirit gives us desires that are the opposite of that the sinful nature desires.  These two forces are constantly fighting each other, so you are not free to carry out your good intentions.

God will never ask you to change something in your life without being there to help you make the change.  This is not reserved for some Christians.  All Christians need to let their lives be transformed, we are all imperfect and we all need Gods mercy and grace to get us where we need to be in this life so we can serve out our purpose.  We all have our own brand of sin and I do not judge others for their struggle, I have my own struggle to face!

My prayer for those who are standing at the well willing to face Jesus and let Him minister to your heart is this...

(Ephesians 3:14-21)
I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will empower you with inner strength through his Spirit.  Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him.  Your roots will grow down into God's love and keep you strong.  And may you have the power to understand, as all God's people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is.  May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully.  Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think.  Glory to him in the church and in Christ Jesus through all generations forever and ever!  Amen

So do I hate the LGBT community, absolutely not!  I love them as much as I love everyone else.  Love is a commandment, Jesus calls me to love.  I am sorry that I may not always be good at showing love to everyone, but as I draw nearer to God He is teaching me what it is to love out of the overflow!  I want to take a journey to the well with people who don't know Jesus and I want them to meet my savior who took me right where I was, drowning in my own sin, and set me on dry ground.  The world knows what we believe as Christians, we believe that the Bible is the living Word of God, unchanging and completely true.  I don't need to keep reminding you about areas of life we may disagree in because that wont get any of us anywhere.  What I do want to do is show you that I love you and that you matter to me, your life matters to me, your heart matters to me.  I would love to know more about you and your journey, and maybe just maybe we can travel to that well together....

Finish Strong - A Journey of Faith

2 Timothy 4:7

I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.

I had the privilege and honor of being invited to speak at The Raising Sisters Conference in Fiji this weekend.  Raising Sisters has a powerful vision for the women of the South Pacific and the entire conference was a true blessing! My precious Pastors wife, Bui, asked me nearly a year ago if I would speak on abortion during the conference and as much as public speaking terrifies me I knew that I had to say yes.  Last week I began fasting and praying and seeking guidance.  I prepared my speech and printed it out and practiced it.  I was ready for all intensive purposes, but I had NO IDEA what God had planned, He was probably laughing at me as I practiced that well scripted speech……

I’m actually an introverted person.  I get overwhelmed by large groups and although I like to talk, I struggle with engaging so many people at social events like a women's conference.  That first night a beautiful woman of God got up and spoke a powerful message that really touched me at the core.  It was beautiful, it was powerful, and I was inspired.  As I drove home for the night I couldn't hold back the tears as the enemy began his brutal attack.  “who do you think you are, why would these women even listen to you?  You aren’t a pastor, you aren’t an expert, you are nobody!”  By the time I got home I was shattered.  Who was I to think I could stand up and talk to these women about abortion!  Who qualified me?  

Ryan, who is my rock and spiritual warrior sat up with me as I poured my fears out to him, he listened and encouraged me and as we spoke God answered.  “Who are you? You are the daughter of the most High God.  I rescued you from your broken mess of a life for this purpose!  Who qualified you?  I DID!  This is who you were born to be!”

I finally fell to sleep recognizing that the enemy had tried to break me down but God had great purpose for this weekend, and He had a plan for me!

The next day the spiritual feeding continued through these amazing speakers and I felt my faith growing and growing.  The more our precious speakers spoke the more I couldn't help but smile as I realized that God was knitting together all of our speaking points.  None of us knew each other, none of us had any idea what the others were going to speak about and yet all of it was flowing together!  God is so amazing! By the end of the second day I was floating on Gods presence.  The messages I had received were clear.  Take it to the next level, get out of my comfort zone and leap into faith.  NO LIMITS!  I prayed as I drove home, “alright God, I will not use my speech, I will go up there empty so you can speak and pour out of me into these women.”

The morning of my day to speak arrived and I went for a run to spend time preparing my heart for what was coming.  As I ran my eyes were being pulled to the clouds.  There was something about them and I couldn't look away.  As I watched the cloud transformed into the dark face of the devil.  I silently asked God why He was showing me the enemy and almost right them the cloud shifted and an enormous eagle appeared.  Its wings were stretched wide, its tail fanned out over the earth, its head cocked to one side scanning the land below.  I stopped right there and dropped to a knee on the side of the road thanking God for His presence.  I prayed for a few moments and then felt released to continue my run.  As I ran I realized that sometimes we live thinking that the enemy rules over our lives from above, but HE DOESN’T!  He has no authority over us!  He scrambles around causing chaos in the earth but he does not see all and he does not know all.  God is like the eagle, he owns the sky, he can see everything from a greater perspective.  He guards over us from above and he knows every move the cunning enemy makes.  God is able to swoop in and destroy the devil at the perfect time. 

As I arrived to the conference my heart was overwhelmed, I was terrified.  I was getting ready to speak to 200 women about a very sensitive topic, abortion, and I had decided to not use my notes.  I continued to pray that as I trusted God He would fill me with His words.  I folded into His presence as I listened to the speakers who were before me and then it was my time.  I can tell you this much.  GOD DELIVERED!  I have never spoken out of the overflow of the Spirit before, but I did in that hour.  The Holy Spirit took over and I mean completely took over.  The words flowed smoothly and with powerful purpose.  I have no idea what I said, but I could feel the passion pouring out of me! God spoke to those beautiful women, He reached their broken places, He delivered some of them from their secret shames and He broke down bondage!  God knew what they needed and He filled them, igniting passion for their daughters and sisters, giving them courage and boldness for their women and the precious unborn.  God lit a fire that will not soon be extinguished.  After I prayed over women who were being delivered from their past abortions, repeat miscarriages, and attempted abortions I had no energy left but to sit in my chair and cry.  My heart wept in thankfulness and other emotions that I haven’t really experienced.  I’ve asked God to keep breaking my heart for what breaks His and He has been doing that.  The leadership team then prayed a powerful prayer of blessing over Ryan and myself and the LIFE Runners ministry.

While there was prayer going on inside the conference Ryan, Ella Mae and I took a little walk.  I just felt like I needed to just get outside for a minute.  I felt bad for being outside, but I just felt like I needed to stay outside for another minute.  Right then we noticed a little girl in the pool.  She seemed to be swimming but something just didn't feel right.  I asked her “are you swimming” and she didn't answer, and I noticed that she was starting to go under.  It took my brain a minute to realize what was happening, but she had fallen in and was drowning.  I jumped in and pulled her out just as she went under.  She was breathing and had taken on some water in her lungs but was coughing it up.  If we hadn't been there she would have drown, there were no other adults anywhere near at that moment, only other children.  My heart is still so very overwhelmed by that fact.  Inside the Holy Spirit was moving mightily and the enemy was outside trying to harm a child, but God knew it and sent my family to be in the right place at the right time.  I stood there soaked and the reality sunk in as the mother took her child to the doctor to be sure she was ok.  I crumpled into a pile of tears.  I was so thankful for God using me again, for putting me and Ryan right where we needed to be to protect this life.

In church this morning I was quietly waiting on the Lord and He spoke to me that now I needed to understand that my call was one concerning life and death.  In the same way that I needed to be where God put me at the moment the young child was drowning, God would be putting my family in the path of people who needed Him right at that moment.  Our obedience to respond and go without question was now a life and death matter, be it physical for a baby on its way to being aborted or spiritual for someone walking a dark and broken path.  I had prayed for the next level and I know that I will be ready for it because God equips us and provides for our needs, but until that moment I had never considered the gravity of my obedience/disobedience.  With tears flowing down my face I committed to go when called and to not hesitate no matter how scary.

The conference finished out strong and Ryan and I received another powerful prayer of spiritual gifts and prophetic promises over the ministry and our family.  I have never felt more depleted and more full!  God is so good!  Mighty doors have been opened, and the enemy wont be able to shut them!  How many lives will be saved as women join united for LIFE, I may never know, but I know that I asked God to take me to the next level and He is and I am ready!  It’s time to stop sitting back and making plans, it’s time to just step up and do it!  There is no turning back now, LIFE Runners in Fiji will be unstoppable because God has a plan and we will go wherever He calls!