Free Lunch

today at City Gate Lancaster, we give out a free lunch to over 200 people. these are the hungry, the hurting and the hopeless. not all are homeless, most just hurting and hungry. looking for a friend, relationship, somewhere to be accepted.
Isn't that what we all want?
it makes me think of how hungry am I ?

am I really hungry for the presence of God? do I 'eat' his word like I am commanded to ?
I think sometimes, we as believers come across arrogant, like we have it all together, and 'they' don't. so we need to save and fix 'them".
when really, even on a good day, I am just as hungry as they are
I am just as needy and hurting as they are.
we just act like we aren't, or we don't realize the amount of time we spend outside of God's presence.
we have become to good at, and use to living in a man made environment, where we do many things to make us feel good, and think that is his presence.
I am so hungry for a true manifestation of His glory and His presence as never before.
I am one of the hungry

pains and stings

there are so many times in our lives when a word wrongly spoken stings. even after apologizes have been offered or people have moved on. the sting remains. or the pain. pains and stings. it is hard to not let them take over or control us.
it tells us in proverbs that a scoundrel's lips are like scorching fire. maybe that is why the pain of words sting.
it's funny that way.
it really doesn't matter the amount of time you have given, the amount of life you have shared, or what the friendship or relationship was like prior. it not just stings.
the lesson in this is to watch what you say. we want our words to 'rightly spoken so they are like apples of gold'. full of the love and compassion even in the midst of the pain.
proverbs is a challenge for all of us and I am sure we can see ourselves on both side of the sting or the stinger.
my heart is that we would begin to take the word and apply it to our hearts, to our wounds and to our mouths.
what would it be like if we only used the word of God to speak?
what would it be like if we chose to bless instead of curse?
would the stinging and the zinging stop?
maybe

Messenger

Messenger.

its the challenge word for today's five minute Friday writing

my thoughts run like crazy thinking of who is the messenger?

what is the message?.

what is the message that I would fight for?

the message that I will lay my life for?

we all carry a message.

we don't even have to speak it.

we live it.

as I have been reading the psalms daily, in a summer of psalms challenge, I am realizing that much of our message has been so self centered.

self controlling.

self soothing.

and it isn't helping us at all.

it seems the message that God is speaking, and has been speaking from the ancient days is

wait.

that's it.

that's the message.

wait.

all the way through the psalms: truly my soul waits for God

my haven I wait for you

my hope comes from God

the righteous wait on You

Oh my strength I wait for You

wait.

so that's it

the message

we are all is such a hurry to deliver our own messages, and our own thoughts

is it possible that I don't have hope because I am not waiting

waiting on God for the message?

am I lacking strength because I am not waiting and striving to do it all, be all and give all

without waiting on God?

its kind of a hard message since we really do not want to wait.

we barely can walk away from facebook for a minute from the computer til we check on our phones

no waiting

fast food isn't fast enough

waiting in line or traffic is a HUGE sin

maybe if we waited more, we would hear more and see more

so for me

the message today is

wait.

 

 

 



summer of psalms

as I and a group from Facebook are journeying through the book of psalms for the month of June, I am really being burned, stretched, challenged, wrecked, lifted, humbled...the list could go on and on.

I am finding the most of our Christian life has been spent in a program driven mentality. Churches offer so many programs that take up so much time, that instead of pushing the word or presence of God, we now know how to manage sin, addiction, divorce, children or work through program driven supplements.

But I am finding and seeking the presence driven. When was the last time we went to a program or event and just waited for the presence of the Lord? No songs with lights. No worked out skit. No topic driven speech. Just waiting.
Would we even know what it felt like?
Do we honestly think that the little goose bumps are his presence? I think they could be a small tiny taste, but it appears that his presence changes you. It changes your prospective, your appearance, your thoughts, your compassion -
His presence caused the atmosphere to change, causing the people to go lower, and lower still..

He is the high and lofty one whose name is Holy. He is high. He is lofty. I am not.

In the program age, we try to bring the Holy and lofty one into the muck and mire with us, while all this time He as been trying to lift us up from the pit, from the miry clay. Yet we are clinging to the slimy mud telling the Lofty One, we have a program to finish.

We need a revival of the heart. A revival of our spirit.