Who Am I Offending

We as Christians need to be more concerned about how the things we say and do affect our relationship with the Holy Spirit than how they affect other people.  The Holy Spirit is easily grieved and yet we treat Him with so much disrespect and disloyalty at times that its hard to imagine why He continues to stick with us!  It’s easy to forget that the Holy Spirit is an invited friend, not a third wheel!

We are teaching our daughter that when she invites friends over for play dates that she needs to let them decide what they want to play.  They are the guests and that is a courtesy we expect her to extend.  I may be teaching my 7 year old this etiquette but I forget all to easily to extend this same courtesy to the Holy Spirit.  One of the things God gave us was free will, that means the Holy Spirit will only ever be an invited guest while we walk this earth.  He will never force Himself upon us but He does want to be in our lives and even when we grieve Him He doesn’t go far away, but He does “lift” His anointing from us and waits for us to return to Him.  My heart hurts to think how often I drive Him away with a harsh tone to my daughter, or a grumbling spirit with my husband, not to mention any other behaviors that make me unapproachable by Him.  The Holy Spirit is, after all, God and therefore cannot engage or be near sin.  Once we have received the Holy Spirit He doesn’t leave us, but we lose out on intimate fellowship when we push Him away with the things we say and do.

We need to get serious right now, as Christians saved by grace we receive the Holy Spirit to help us and guide us. Although we may be sealed with the Holy Spirit for the day of redemption, that does not mean we get to live how we want.  If you are engaged in lifestyle sin; sexual immorality (premarital sex, homosexual sex, pornography, adultery, etc), stealing, lying, swearing, drunkenness, drugs, idolatry, etc. then the anointing of the Holy Spirit will lift from you and you will not continue to hear Him clearly or to grow in the ways you otherwise would.  You cannot have an active, growing relationship with God while living in sin, the sin will drive a wedge between you and God.  Its kind of like your favorite radio station, as you get further and further out of range you will lose reception and won’t hear the music clearly, but as you draw closer to the source the songs become clear!  The clarity of our interactions with the Holy Spirit is affected by how near or far to Him we are walking.  Just like your radio station, even if you can’t hear it, it is still there, it didn’t disappear, its just out of range! Want to hear clearly, get as close as you can to the source! Choosing to live for Christ means to die to the sins that try to captivate us, you can’t have it both ways.  I love how my pastor put it Sunday when he was giving a message on fellowship with the Holy Spirit, “If we want to fellowship with the Holy Spirit we need to do the things that He likes to do, much like Esther, who to catch the eye of the King adorned herself in things that he liked.”  The Holy Spirit is an invited guest so don’t make Him feel like an outsider in your life!  

A study I am doing “Holy Fire” discusses the description of the Holy Spirit as a dove as a meaningful illustration.  Doves are easily startled and will not stay where they do not feel safe.  The Bible warns us not to grieve the Holy Spirit, the word grieve doesn’t just speak of mourning a loss but can also mean to hurt ones feelings. Another great piece of advice “Find out what grieves the Holy Spirit and don’t do that.” ~R.T. Kendall

Ephesians 4:30

And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.

The Holy Spirit was given to us, when Jesus returned to Heaven, to help us and guide us.  The Holy Spirit is God and often we don’t give the Holy Spirit the reverence He is due.  What kind of movies and TV shows are you watching? I hear so many Christians say they watch Game of Thrones and I am floored by this, the pornographic sex scenes alone should be enough to convict. Yes, I admit I started this series until I was convicted, as with most TV series that I haven’t made it through.  The truth is that there are very few acceptable shows and movies left for Christians to watch and yet many continue watching them and then wonder why their spiritual life is not prospering!  The Holy Spirit cannot stay close when we are doing things that are contrary to the morality of our faith!  Just the other day my heart was heavily convicted about a show we were watching.  It really didn’t seem too bad, but the swearing increased with each episode.  I became more and more uneasy with the show and then Ryan and I got into a little bit of an argument over something and I swore at him!  I don’t swear, I gave up swearing along with other very un-Christ like behaviors when I returned to the Lord, so for me to swear at him in a small argument broke my heart to the core.  I realized that exposing myself to this language had allowed it to begin to absorb.  We have not watched the show since, and I am committed to continuous interaction with the Holy Spirit, which means that I can’t be doing or around things that He isn’t willing to do or be around.

We need to ask ourselves how He would feel about ALL of our behaviors!  The Holy Spirit is not a tag along!  He wants to link arms with us and walk side by side with us, but we need to be sure we are headed where He is willing to go!  If I were to rightly picture the Holy Spirit as a physical person by my side for even just one full day I have a feeling my day might look different.  If that person could also read my thoughts and I was fully exposed to that person in every way I would most certainly be on my best behavior.  The song you are singing along with right now, would you sing it to your child? Better yet would you want your child singing it, in church?  No? Then turn it off! We can’t party at the bar on a Saturday night and hope to somehow be changed Sunday morning in church, I know, I tried that for almost a decade! We have to choose to change, to set ourselves apart from the ways of the world to be usable and sensitive to the things God has for us. We have forgotten that to be a Christian is to live as Christ, and I don’t know about everyone else, but I have a long way to go!  I need to structure my day around the things God would want me to be doing and not so much about what Karen wants.

I love that my pastor spoke about this, about the relationship with the Holy Spirit.  I tell you what, if you are not attending a truth speaking, Bible preaching, spiritual housekeeping, growing, worshiping church you are robbing yourself!  Church shouldn’t be a place we go to for a pat on the back and a nice cheery message!  It should be a place we go to grow, a place where we are available to learn, to be corrected, to desire change, and to be pushed forward to serve.  I am thankful that I have a Pastor who is more concerned with grieving the Holy Spirit and less concerned with being popular!  He is leading his flock well.  Many pastors today are sadly leading their flock astray with feel good messages and not speaking the truth in these socially changing times.  Sin is still sin even if everyone else says it is OK.  Morality is not based on popular opinion or changing times, but on the very word of God, the foundation of truth laid out from the very beginning.  The Bible is the unchanging word of God and it is relevant today as it was 2000 years ago.

Galatians 5:24

Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.

I have chosen to follow Jesus, which means my desires need to be laid at the cross.  Its a choice to choose the desires of God over my personal desires.  This life, the life of a Christian is no longer mine, it is surrendered to God.  I choose to live by the Spirit, which means that I need to walk by the Spirit.  That means I make a conscious effort to include the Holy Spirit in my whole day, and let Him lead me.  I commit to being more concerned with honoring the Holy Spirit then worrying about hurting my neighbors feelings, when truth needs to be spoken.  I have invited the Holy Spirit into my life which means He is a valued guest and I will honor His presence so that He will choose to continue to walk with me!  Christianity isn’t just church on Sunday, it is a lifestyle, it is the way you conduct yourself when others aren’t looking as well as in public.  It is a genuine choice to follow Jesus and forsake all else.  We don’t see that much anymore, I know that I fall short daily! People want the assurance of salvation but they don’t want to do the dying.  They want Christ to take their sins, but they want to keep their lifestyles.  We can’t have it both ways.  We must choose to love God more than our lives!

Luke 10:27

And he answered, “You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.”

When we love someone with all of our heart we do everything we can not to hurt them.  When we love someone with all of our soul it means that we love them truly and deeply, not just on the surface, but literally live for them.  When we love someone with all of our strength it means that all of our effort goes into loving them, nothing is spared for self.  When we love someone with all of our mind it means that our thoughts, and the pattern of how we think is directed towards them.  WOW, I know I don’t love God as I am commanded to, I think of myself way too much to live up to this.  The Holy Spirit helps us draw nearer to this level of love, but we can only continue on this journey if we become like minded with the Spirit.  How many of us hunger for growth that just doesn’t seem to come, or breakthrough that seems just beyond reach.  I wonder if we truly give the Holy Spirit His rightful place of worship and relationship in our lives if we won’t see the very walls of Jericho fall before us!  God wants to do big things in our lives, He is simply waiting on us, and I am ready to try to be more available and conscience of the desires of the Holy Spirit!  I want to see mountains move!

LIFE Runners Mission Trip to Vanuatu

1 Peter 1:3

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.

All things are possible with God, there is nothing beyond our reach.  When God calls, we just need to show up with a willing and ready heart.  When we truly understand that God is our source in this life and that He is faithful to keep His promises to us, then we can take big leaps of faith knowing He will be with us through it all.

Last year I had the opportunity to speak at the Raising Sisters Conference in Vanuatu, and that trip opened my eyes to the desperate need for the LIFE Runners ministry in the far reached places of the world.  Sometimes as an American it is easy for me to forget that there is a world out there not like my own.  There are places in the world where people don’t know the truth about abortion and there are few who are even talking about it.  Not because they don’t care but because they don’t know how to defend life, or even have full understanding of abortion.  God clearly revealed this need to me when I spoke in Vanuatu and so we began making preparation to return for deeper study and direction soon after my return to Fiji.  Ultrasound may be common place in America but it is not readily available to pregnant women in many parts of the world.  They do not readily see the humanity of the unborn, and with Planned Parenthood already at work in every one of these nations they have the advantage to teach what they like.  We must not let them be the only voice concerning pregnancy and the humanity of the unborn or we will not be able to protect these children or their mothers from the destruction of abortion.

There is a common misconception that if abortion is illegal it means there are lower rates of abortion but my time spent in the South Pacific Islands and documented global studies done on abortion illegal countries tell another tale.  There is actually a higher rate of abortions in 3rd world and developing countries then there is in first world countries like America.  The impact only seems bigger in America because the population is far larger than these island nations. Planned Parenthood and abortion supporters use this higher instance of abortion to push their agenda for legalized abortion but I believe the higher rate of abortion happens not out of a bigger need or desire to end the life of the unborn, but because in these abortion illegal countries abortion has become taboo and no one is talking about it. These studies meant to push governments to legalize abortion don’t prove a need for legal abortion, instead they prove a deep need for compassionate help and education!  We need more LIFE Runners on the ground and in the communities reaching out to women in unplanned pregnancy, we need to be the crisis pregnancy centers and sidewalk advocates in our daily lives so that no woman is left pregnant and alone!  There are no abortion clinics to stand in front of, there is not specific place to find women who are abortion vulnerable, so we must pray for God to bring them to us and we wear our bold blue “REMEMBER the Unborn, Jer 1:5’ to be a lighthouse in the darkness these mothers are facing.  We need more churches to join in standing for life and to see that they need to embrace women in unplanned pregnancy not reject them.  The unborn baby, regardless of how it was conceived, is not sin and is precious to God.  The crisis is rarely the pregnancy and more often the circumstances.  Being willing to take time to help the mother find solutions to her crisis, a place to live, a job, or just someone to support her emotionally, is more often then not all these mothers need.

When I was called to speak during our six day mission trip it was an opportunity to remind our brothers and sisters in Christ that we need to be careful that we are not causing women to abort by shaming them in the church or rejecting them.  We need to be the hands and feet of Jesus and Jesus would not reject these women, He would embrace them and restore them back into the body of Christ through repentance and forgiveness. We also need to remember that unbelievers don’t live by our moral standard and you don’t win them over to Christ by pointing a finger of judgment at them, you win them over by helping them through and loving them. Let the Holy Spirit do the convicting as you speak truth into their lives.

Abortion will not be ended by making it illegal, we see that every day here in Fiji and the South Pacific in these abortion illegal countries.  We have to go further, we must make abortion unthinkable!  We end abortion by changing the heart of man.  We do that with compassionate outreach and awareness.  We do that by teaching those who do not have the knowledge, by empowering them with truth.  The mission teams’ time in Vanuatu gave us the opportunity to do just that.  It was a time of training and education. Not only was I able to speak at two churches and give them guidance on how to defend life through the Sidewalk Advocacy for Life training, but we were also able to bring them brochures on child development and sexual purity and fetal models that they can show to women who are considering abortion and questioning the humanity of their unborn.

To change the world we have to be willing to go where we are called and my family has been called to the mission field of the South Pacific where so many women are being wounded by abortion and so many unborn lives ended. God wants to protect these beautiful people from the devastation that abortion brings to their shores and I will go where I am called to do my part to teach and encourage. God has blessed us with an amazing family of believers in Fiji who have a heart for missions and have committed to bring this message to the Island nations of the South Pacific and beyond.  This ministry would not be possible with out every last one of them, as well as the faithful 5,000 plus LIFE Runners all over the world doing their part in their mission fields!

Our team all walk faithfully with the Lord and the Holy Spirit delivered.  God used every single one of us to bring something significant to the mission field through the power of the Holy Spirit.  Pst Conan and Bui gave beautiful testimony of LIFE Runners and how it has blessed our church and the people in Fiji.  This couple has been the biggest voice for LIFE Runners in Fiji and beyond, their commitment to this ministry has been unwavering and I am blessed to be a part of their church. Pst Conan was even invited to give the message on Sunday at the Ekoftau Church, which is led by the most amazing couple Pst Fong and his beautiful wife Radini Wati.  Pst Fong and his wife have lovingly embraced us and welcomed this ministry. Pst Rozina, who came as a LIFE Runner and representing Raising Sisters Conference, started us off on Wednesday night with a beautiful message of faith and taking hold of Gods promises. Raising Sisters is a powerful ministry of empowering the women of the South Pacific and I am deeply blessed by how they have taken hold of the LIFE Runners ministry. To spend time with Pst Rozina is to be in the presence of someone who loves God with all of her heart, she is a blessing.  Ryan, whose faithful heart to obedience to God has made our  call to mission possible.  He was so helpful and encouraging and he usually chooses to stay working in the background but he was called to give LIFE Runners testimony at church on Sunday.  Ella Mae brought candy and treats to every service and played with the children.  She is such a shining light in our lives and God is working in big ways through her!  Thursday Pst Allen and his wife Karen opened their church (Apostolic Church) to us and I was able to speak to a group of men and women about LIFE Runners and how it serves the community with awareness. I was able to explain how this is an important calling of the Christian church.  We are so thankful to them for making this time together possible.  Friday night I spoke at Pst Fongs church and brought tools for them to utilize with the brochures, Sidewalk Advocates For Life training, and the fetal models.  Saturday morning the Vanuatu LIFE Runners took their first prayer walk and it was awesome!  These women were excited and they showed up ready to be the light to their people.  They have the hearts to serve and I am thankful for every last one of them.  Each has a role to play in Gods plan for LIFE Runners in Vanuatu. 

A few people stopped us to ask questions about who we were and what we are doing.  This message has never been spoken so boldly in their nation and I believe beyond a shadow of a doubt that it will save many lives.  I am so thankful for all who labored to bring this mission week together.  Merilyn, Hannah, Harriet, Karen, Pst Fong and Radini Wati, and Pst Allen, all played a huge role in making sure that things came together upon our arrival. Honestly I cant thank these amazing people enough, they went above and beyond!  They organized, they hosted, they fed us, and they supported and encouraged us. I am sure there are others that deserve mention, so please forgive me if I left you out.

There was a point where things seemed that they were falling apart before we left Fiji and it is only by the hand of God and His faithful obedient children that it all fell perfectly into place.  I am in awe, when I said yes to God concerning this trip back in November I gave it all back to Him and told Him that He would have to bring it all together and He exceeded my wildest dreams! The enemy did not want us there, but God is faithful and the leadership in the churches in Vanuatu pulled together and made these meetings a priority over other scheduled events.  I will never forget all that they did to make this week possible and I pray God blesses them and their ministries abundantly. It was powerful to see Gods hand at work as He knocked down the enemy!  This mission trip was so exhausting in a great way, we prayed together, we cried together, we laughed together and we served together.  The team and those in Vanuatu were handpicked by God without a doubt for this very purpose!  We were truly touched by the power of God as He delivered above and beyond during this trip. 

We walked away from this mission trip with a deeper understanding of what it will take to serve these Island nations and we also know that it will require follow up care and encouragement.  I hope to return to Vanuatu with a smaller team before the year ends, but will trust in the Lord.  With our eyes set on Jesus we will go when and where we are called!

I received a beautiful testimony from one of our Vanuatu LIFE Runners;

“In the past I used to feel angry when I heard stories of mothers dumping their babies or killing newborns or having abortions.  I did not understand the whole thing until I heard you (Karen) speak through this LIFE Runners program and what you do.  It was a new knowledge for me and I know God planned for us in Vanuatu to know His truth, to understand that He loves and cares for these women and their babies.  He wants to set them free.  So God wants to use us to reach out to these women that the world has rejected to show Jesus’ love to them. Praise God now I can see like Jesus sees. To God be the glory!”

This mission trip of 6 people for the week cost just over $4000 usd when all was said and done (including travel, hotel, food, transport, and gifts for the churches.) Incredibly, between a generous donation from LIFE Runners, thank you Mom and Dad for sowing into this ministry, and our amazing church in Fiji, Living Way Church, we received over $3000 usd in donations!  The people of Fiji are generous and faithful to give but there are financial limitations here that require us to seek continued support from our American brothers and sisters in Christ.  We have trusted the Lord from the get go and never let lack of money stand in the way when answering the call, but prayerfully I feel that it is time to invite others in to help us reach further into the world.  It is the desire of the Fiji LIFE Runners to take up this call to the mission field and reach out to the neighboring Island nations who would otherwise be overlooked.  We must defend the women who are being coerced and forced to abort in these countries where no one is standing to protect them, where the topic of abortion is taboo and silence has always been the answer.  It is time to bring back hope and offer help!  Please consider making a donation to LIFE Runners in support of the continued outreach of the South Pacific missions.  LIFE Runners is making an impact all over the world and it depends on donations from faithful partners.  If you desire to donate specifically to this outreach just earmark the donation (South Pacific Ministry).  LIFE Runners has many different outreach programs that need financial and prayer support and you can read about them at liferunners.org. Not everyone is called to leave their home and to go into the world, some of us serve in the mission field of our home town or our office or school.  We all are called to serve in our own way.  Some of us are called to come along and join in prayer and in finances to help further the mission.  Praise God for the body of Christ!

TO GOD BE ALL THE GLORY, HONOR AND PRAISE! None of this would have been possible without God every single step of the way!

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