The Lie

"I can't go to church.  I do too many things wrong."  "I will be judged there."  "I don't have my life together yet."

Friends, I hear these statements more and more often as a reason why people are not interested in going to church or having a relationship with God.  These are beliefs that I once held myself.  I used to think that I had to have my entire life in order before I could go to God.  I used to think that if I went to church I would be judged for my wrongdoing.  I used to feel that church was a place for members only and I did not feel like a member.  I saw church people as squeaky clean and faultless and if I wanted to join them I would have to do the same.  

This is a lie!  

Please don't believe the lie.  It is planted in your heart and your mind to deter you from entering in to all that God has for you.  And everything he has for you is good because he is good.  

You do not have to be perfect to have a relationship with God!  There are several reasons why you should believe my claim.

#1- God sent his son to die for you before you were even born!  He loved you before you even had an opportunity to choose to love him back.

#2- When Jesus was alive he spent all of his time with those that needed him most.  If you read through the new testament you will realize that he avoided the religious leaders and the most religious people because they were often the ones that demanded rule following and yet were corrupt.  They were lacking the most important thing, the thing that makes up who God is-- Love and Grace.  So if Jesus wanted to spend his fleeting time with the outcasts of society in his day, then why do you think you have to wait to be "good enough?"

#3- If you could be good enough to warrant God then there is no need for Jesus' sacrifice.  If you could be perfect all the time, if it were even possible, then seriously, why did Jesus die?  It was pointless!  He suffered a horrendous death for crimes he was not guilty of for something that you could attain yourself?  No, I don't think so. 

#4- This is the best one.  God says come as you are.  Those things that are holding you captive will let go of you as you draw close to Him.  The first step is to draw close to God.  He will do the rest.  As you grow in your relationship with God you will find yourself less and less interested in the things that you once thought you could never give up.  It is by Christ's power that you are able to do these things.  Honestly, you can never give them all up on your own.  And you will NEVER BE PERFECT!  See #3.

Ok, so to sum it up very simply for you....

If you are waiting to come to God, don't!  The time is now.  He wants you and loves you just the way you are.  As you draw close to God he will draw close to you and change you slowly.  Check out churches in your area.  If they do not accept you into their congregation as you are, then don't go back. Find a place that will show you the love of God, one that includes grace.

If you are a religious person already, remember from whence you came!  You, me, no one is above another.  We are ALL sinners.  We all still struggle with weaknesses.  Accept your fellow human being into your church and into your life.  Love them as Christ commands.  We are all in this together.

Let me leave you with some words from Paul to the people of Galatia (remember Paul was named Saul and actually persecuted and killed those that followed the teachings of Jesus.  He had a conversion experience on the road while traveling.  He was blinded by a bright light and heard Jesus voice.  He was blinded for three days and then miraculously healed and became an adamant follower of Jesus.  He suffered brutal physical pain, prison, and persecution.  He eventually died a martyr.)  

Galatians 2:19-21 (Message version)

What actually took place is this:  I tried keeping rules and working my head off to please God and it didn't work.  So I quit being a "law man" so that I could be God's man.  Christ's life showed me how, and enabled me to do it.  I identified myself completely with him.  Indeed, I have been crucified with Christ.  My ego is no longer central.  It is no longer important that I appear righteous before you or have your good opinion, and I am no longer driven to impress God.  Christ lives in me.  The life you see me living is not "mine," but it is lived by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.  I am not going to go back on that.  Is it not clear to you that go back to that old rule-keeping, peer-pleasing religion would be an abandonment of everything personal and free in my relationship with God?  I refuse to do that, to repudiate God's grace.  If a living relationship with God could come by rule-keeping, then Christ died unnecessarily.  

I think that is beautiful.  Paul knew that there was nothing he could do to earn rightness with God.  He was changed by being in Christ's presence and he let Christ lead him and direct his life.  It was that simple.  No rule keeping.  Grace.  And if Paul could kill Christians and then be one of the lead authors of the New Testament then of course God can use you too.  Its never too late!!

No Power in Hell, No Scheme of Man...

"There is no power in hell nor any scheme of man..."
These words to a popular hymn kept playing in my head this morning as the church sang "The great I am."  The lines from that song say, "There is no power in hell, nor any who can stand before the power and the presence of the great I am."  It was bothering me that my brain kept wanting to say the scheme of man line.  It bothered me so much that I had to immediately write a note about it to look it up later.  If any of you were sitting next to me in church you might have noticed me frantically reaching for my phone and asking Erik for a pen while Pastor Terry was talking about communion.  I couldn't help it.  That strong urge I had to write was in me again.  I haven't had that urge since the first and last post I made on this blog.  At the time, I had every intention of writing on this blog often but I never felt the Holy Spirit push me to write since.  Until this morning...
I came to church today weighed down by everything that has happened in my family since last June.  Its been a difficult year.  I have to admit that with each struggle I've fallen farther and farther from God's side.  In the past, it has always been easiest for me to have a close relationship with God in the hard times.  But this time was different.  This time my struggles did not stem from my own bad choices, they were out of my control and it seemed like they were completely undeserving.  "Why God?" I would ask myself.  "What did I do to deserve this?"  I never felt angry with God but I did start to lose faith in people and in good in general.  Thus, my absence from this blog.
Today during worship, I was feeling very anxious.  My stomach was in knots, my throat felt tight, I did not feel like singing.  During one song I finally decided to ask God for his peace and immediately the anxiety left.  I felt his presence again.  It had been so long!  And that is when that line kept repeating in my head, the wrong lyric to the song.  I went home and googled it.  It turns out its not a line from the bible but it is a line in the hymn, "In Christ Alone."  Its one of my all time favorites!
The interesting thing is what I felt the Holy Spirit saying to me during worship was exactly what Pastor Terry said in his message a few moments later.  I felt that it was important enough to share with everyone on this blog.

This is what God wanted me to hear in the song this morning, "There is no power in hell, nor any scheme of man that could take you from the power and the presence of the great I am!"  As everyone else was signing the real words, this is what God was having me sing even as his peace was flowing through my body.  And this is truth for you too!  Romans 8:38 and 39 says, "For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord."

The truth is that circumstances in this life are going to get us down.  I originally thought that being a good Christian meant you had it all together all the time.  I imagined that if someone wronged a true follower of God that person would be able to just smile and pray for their persecutor.  Maybe some people can, but for most of us its a struggle to stay quiet when wronged.  God wanted me to know today that being angry isn't the problem.  Jesus was angry in the temple when he went there and overturned tables and basically threw a fit.  Jesus was angry that the people there were profiting from forgiveness of sins. So being angry at injustice, at unrighteousness, is not wrong.  My error in thinking came when I began my retreat from God in the process of being angry. God says that nothing can separate us from the love of God.  So why did I feel like I had strayed so far???  The answer is simple.  Only I have the power to draw in or away from God's presence.  He wanted me to repeat the words this morning to remind me that no matter the scheme that someone might have for me and my family, they can not take my peace!  They can not rob me from being in the presence of God.  I can get angry.  I can be unhappy with what they did, but I will not allow it to take my joy or my peace.
How can we, that go through turmoil in life, attain that position of peace and joy?  Ask for it!  As soon as I asked God for his peace this morning he gave it to me.  And as soon as he gave it to me he gave me the words to sing and put the scripture on my heart.  And then Pastor Terry's sermon was all about staying in the Holy Spirit and repeating hymns and songs of praise.  Wow!  Talk about getting hit over the head with a brick!  Yes I hear you God!  And yes I'm writing it down just like you told me to.
I only hope that someone reads this and was touched as I was.  I know life can be difficult.  Chances are you, reader, are going through even more difficult things than I am.  Perhaps they aren't even your fault.  Perhaps you have done everything the way God would have wanted you to.  Get angry, its ok.  But in your anger, do not sin.  No one can take you from God's peace and joy but you and you alone.  Kind of feels good, doesn't it?  Knowing that the choice is ours.  I choose God.  I may have my bad days or bad years, but I will not be moved.
Stay strong friend.

Clocks and clock makers

Have you ever wondered how a clock works?  

I have.  

I've stared at an analog clock many times, mostly when I was a child and I was supposed to be napping.  My mother had a very old fashioned wind-up alarm clock.  I remember taking naps on her bed and staring at it.  It would tick so loudly and I would wonder what made it tick.  How did the hands go around?  Why and how was I able to move the hands just by turning the little knobs on the back?  A clockmaker would know.  But not me.  So I resigned myself to being content with listening to the tick, using it to tell time, and lull me to sleep.

When I was at the woman's retreat this weekend I was so incredibly moved by what I saw on Saturday night.  And when the service was over, everything inside of me wanted to record every moment of what I saw on paper.  This is the result of that night and the reason I bring up that clock.  

Something truly amazing happened on Saturday.  I watched as people slowly, cautiously, made their way down to the floor after service ended.  They were called to step out and receive prayer if they felt they needed it.  About 5 or 6 made the first, timid step out of their seats and then a few others followed.  The rest of us did what usually happens in church at this time, we sang.  We sang choruses about Jesus being the center, about chains being broken, etc.  But then something truly astounding began to happen.  I saw a person in front of me leave their seat to cross the room and pray for another person.  The person they were praying for broke down in tears.  Then the prayer ended.  The person dried their eyes and turned and prayed for another person near them.  It was like a stream or a waterfall trickling through.  On and on it went, from one person to the next.   And on and on.  Its not like it went in order.  There was no "turn and pray for your neighbor" order to it.  Its just when one person was done being prayed for they were at peace and ready to cross the room and pray for someone else.  I had heard many times 2Corinthians 1:4 which says that 'who comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God.'  But this was the first time in my life I truly saw it in action.  To me it all goes back to the clock.  I know I receive comfort and peace from God and that it sometimes comes from others but I don't know how it all works.  I figured that it was just a mystery of God, the clockmaker.  Surely he is the only one that understands the mystery of his love.  But on Saturday I got to see the inner workings of the clock.  I got to see the gears turning to make other gears turn, all the pieces working together to make the rhythmic tick that brings peace and comfort and rest.  There was not one woman untouched in that room.  Even the people that usually only pray for others were being prayed for.  Everyone just seemed so REAL in that room.  There was no mask, no masquerade.  The truth that night was that we are all hurting in some way and we all need God!  And all of us received him in abundance.  The secret was we let the Holy Spirit use us!  Each person that received prayer turned and prayed for another.  No one told them to do that!  That was God!  That was the clockmaker using the pieces to make it all work.  To bring peace and comfort.  To bring healing.  As things died down I was so ready to write and then sleep.  The peace I felt made me sleep like a rock! 

On Sunday we sang, "There's an army rising up! There's an army rising up!  We are that army rising up!  To break every chain, to break every chain, to break every chain!"  How true is that ladies?!?  We are rising up.  We are making the decision to be obedient to God.  Its not enough to always be the one to pray for others or to be the one to always get prayed for.  We have to do our job inside that clock.  We have to turn and let the healing flow from us to the next person.  And on and on.  And as we do this, we are breaking chains.  The chains of unforgiveness, of bitterness, of iniquities that have been holding us down.  God truly does use us and work through us.  Each one of us is important and each of us struggles with the same things.  I want to thank all of you who were there that night.  Thank you for being so transparent.  Thank you for your struggles and your strength.  I know its strength from God himself.  I saw it.  It was beautiful.  He is beautiful.  And you, my Grace friends are beautiful.  Lets keep this clock going ladies.  Don't let your gears stop moving.  Lets keep ticking!  

Your sister in Christ,

Keri Reynolds