Are we called to be “Actors”?

“Therefore BE IMITATORS of GOD, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave  Himself up for us, a FRAGRANT offering and sacrifice to God.” (Eph.5:1-2)

What is an imitator?

Webster’s Dictionary defines it this way: “to follow as a pattern, model, or example; to be or appear like: resemble; to copy exactly: MIMIC”

Hmmm….

Matthew Henry commentary states: “Pious persons should imitate the God they worship, as far as He has revealed Himself as imitable by them. They must conform themselves to His example, and have His image renewed upon them. This puts a great honor upon practical religion, that is the imitating of God. We must be holy as God is holy, merciful as He is merciful, perfect as He is perfect. But there is no one attribute of God more recommended to our imitation than that of His goodness. Be you imitators of God, or resemble Him, in every grace, and especially in His love, and in His pardoning goodness. God is love…..”

Imitators of God….WHAT a calling THAT is…..it is a calling for all of us!

To mimic to the world WHO God IS…..

Why do you suppose there are so many confused “religious” people? Confused unbelievers? What “movie” are they watching through our lives?

Jesus Himself said: “YOU are the LIGHT OF THE WORLD. A city on a hill CANNOT be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the SAME WAY, let YOUR light shine before others, SO THAT they may SEE your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.” (Matt. 5:14-16)

How could you even be a light if your life was not an imitator of God?

Listen to this: “…GOD IS LIGHT, and in Him is NO darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with Him WHILE we walk in darkness, WE LIE and do NOT PRACTISE THE TRUTH. But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin….” (1John 1:5-7)

How does that old saying go? “Imitation is the highest form of praise”?

 Our bodies are to be LIVING sacrifices, holy and acceptable to God,  the Word says that THIS is our “spiritual worship” (see Rom. 12:1) In other words, perhaps, by our imitation of God, of His love and of His light, His holiness, we are living lives of praise to Him.

When is the last time you watched a great movie comprised of one or more actors that made the story soooo believable you were left breathless by the last scene? Every part of you alive because you were so engaged, so immersed into the life of the actor that you actually felt like you had just lived through their life?

That is effect and affect a great movie has on my life (that is why I have to be so careful what I watch!). So if a movie of actors can have that impact on my life as a result of my watching them, what kind of impact would and could my life have if I was living a life of ”FULL OUT” imitation of God?

What kind of impact would your life have?

“Therefore, BE imitators OF GOD….”

 

 

a nasty dream..

I awoke this day to a schedule that carried two commitments; both commitments resulted in cancellation. So here I sit at my computer having submitted an empty day back into the hands of the Lord with a request of Him to know how to govern my free time with wisdom.

What comes to mind as I sit here staring at my computer screen is the nasty dream I had three nights ago; a vivid one of the enemy gaining entrance into our home. I stood there beside the open staircase watching him; his  massive, distorted head made its way up the first flight of stairs…..I tried to call out the name of Jesus, but something was restricting my voice from being heard. In my dream I tried and tried to shout out Jesus’ name, but like tangled seaweed, my vocal chords had no movement…..until finally I managed a hoarse whisper, ”JESUS CHRIST”!  Immedietly the beast was gone from our home.

What strange reflection my heart carried the next morning as I sat down with my morning coffee…

How strange a dream.

Just plain wierd.

But it haunted me a little.

Why?

The last few days I have been experiencing a crazy battle of condemnation; so persistent and silent these accusers have come against my mouth and its words that I have been tempted  to take vows of silence to eliminate all possibility that I could be guilty of  any words spoken that could hurt or words spoken and a life judged.

I have been studying the book of Romans;  today I read Romans 8, verse one says that ”There is therefore now NO CONDEMNATION for those who are in Christ Jesus.”

Corrie Ten Boom in her book “Tramp For The Lord”, spoke of the “Ding-Dong Principle”, I quote from page 179 of her book:

“In Holland we have many churches with belfries. The bells in the steeples are rung by hand, with a rope that is pulled from the vestibule of the church……(she was explaning this to a young Flemish girl), “Up in the church tower, ” (Ten Boom spoke) is a bell rung by pulling on a rope. But you know what? After the sexton lets go of the rope, the bell keeps swinging. First DING then DONG. Slower and slower until there’s a final DONG and it stops”……(Ten Boom goes on) …”I believe the same thing is true…of when sin is confessed and renounced,..Satan’s hand is removed from the rope. But if we worry about our past bondage, Satan will use this opportunity to keep the echoes ringing in our minds…you should not worry about the DINGS and the DONGS, they are nothing but echoes….Demons seldom leave without leaving behind their vibrations–DINGS and DONGS. It is as though they give the clapper one big swing on the way out, scaring us into thinking they are still there. They know that, even though they have to flee at the Name of Jesus, if we grow fearful over the remaining echoes, other demons can come and take their place.”

I am not writing  about demon-theology today, but I am writing about the very real battle that we fight on a daily basis… “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual FORCES OF EVIL in the heavenly places.” (Eph. 6:12)

For me, the voice of condemnation are the DINGS and DONGS that ring in my head. This is the voice of the enemy to shut me up and keep me from speaking of the One my soul loves.

The dream most likely reflected a literal playout of what I have already been fighting against.

It also speaks to the fear of man’s opinion as well, of which I thought I was free from…apparently I am listening to the bell ringer and not to the voice of Jesus!

“For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were STILL TRYING to please man, I would NOT be a SERVANT OF CHRIST!” (Gal. 1:10)

“The fear of man LAYS A SNARE, but whoever trusts in THE LORD is SAFE!” (Prov. 29:25) 

What DING and DONG is distracting you from truth today? Where did you open the door to the prince of darkness? Follow the trail backward and identify the root of thought that began the noise in your heart and mind.

We must be “on our guard” CONSTANTLY! Read 1Peter 5:8

I believe every one of us have a weakness to a particular “lie” that comes up against our mind. A lie that if left unchecked and unrepented of will open the door wide to the dominion of darkness, hurling us to the ground in an eventual battle of emotion.

I believe that TRUTH MUST ALWAYS be the engine of our thought train.

For what it’s worth today, do a security check of the alarm system of your heart and mind; ask the Holy Spirit to illumine any shadows lurking and deal with them immedietly in Jesus great Name.

This battle has already BEEN WON for us!!

What great news again today, and a reminder to remain ever vigilant in this on-going epic battle we are a part of.

If only I could literally SEE  it…….

The broken record

I can’t stop writing or musing about the Word of God! Absolutely everything I do, say, think, and encounter comes back to it’s simple but profound truth. It literally saturates my life like a wet blanket clinging to dry flesh.

Freedom to live with joy and peace emerges like smoke from under a closed door, permeating my living space of every moment, kissing me with crazy desire to know and understand the Word more fully, to connect the dots of God’s truth, so that I may KNOW Him who offers me this free gift of life and transforming love.

The Word holds power to transform EVERY life in EVERY way!

As part of my daily study I read through the Psalms. I am currently studying my way through Psalm 119.

From Psalm 119:

“If Your law had not been MY DELIGHT, I would have perished in my affliction.” (vs. 92)

“Oh how I love Your law! It is my MEDITATION ALL the day.” (vs. 97)

“I have understanding more than all my teachers, for Your testimonies ARE my MEDITATION.” (vs. 99)

“How SWEET are YOUR WORDS to my taste, SWEETER than honey to my mouth!” (VS, 103)

“YOUR WORD is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.” (vs. 104)

“Your testimonies ARE MY HERITAGE FOREVER; for they are the JOY OF MY HEART.” (vs.111)

Over and over through this entire Psalm the Word is lifted up as the source of life in every way. It leads me to the New Testament:  

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the WORD WAS GOD. He was in the beginning with God.” (Jn. 1:1-2)

So let me ask you, when we speak of the Word of God, WHO are we speaking of? We are not speaking of words per say, we are speaking of SOMEONE. THIS is why the Word of God holds POWER to change a life.

Listen to this:

“The Word BECAME FLESH and made His dwelling AMONG US. We have seen His glory, the glory of the One and Only, who CAME FROM THE FATHER, full of grace and truth.” (John 1:14)

And WHO is this? Why Jesus Christ of course.

How else could the Word of God be decribed as “living”?

“For the word of God IS LIVING and ACTIVE, sharper than ANY two-edged sword, PIERCING to the division of soul and spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.” (Heb.4:12)

The Holy Trinity speaks of three persons represented by One. Jesus Christ is God’s speaking voice TO US. We hold all those words in our hands every day and yet we refuse to embrace them as “Jesus”.

Just why is this?

I have a very keen sense in my spirit that time is running out for all of us; I have a sense of urgency for the Bride of Christ (the church) to become ALIVE in the incarnate life of Christ through what we hold in our hands (the Word of God) and through the power of the resurrected life of Jesus Christ who LIVES IN us. A sense of urgency to stop farting (sorry if that word offends you, but it means “full of stinking hot air”) around with minds that refuse to embrace truth for what IT IS…..”LIVING AND ACTIVE”….

How much more time will pass while we trudge through life like modern day zombies? Really, seriously…..think about this…

My heart throbs over this, and yet I am only one.

Read dear ones read, read, read the Word of God! Read with expectation to know and understand these LIFE GIVING “words” from the Father’s heart, and learn to fully TRUST Him with your life; learn more and more and more of WHO GOD IS, and WHO HE IS NOT. Hear the voice of the Lord, can you not hear His heart of love for you, calling you through every page? He is the sweetest wine, the purest water.

The word itself says of itself that it is “sweeter than honey to (our) mouths.”

When is the last time you ate and drank from this banquet table?

A broken record plays at this table; over and over and over and over again its repetitive voice calls out….”COME”….

MY heart…arrogant?

As I sat on my back porch this beautiful morning, drinking that wonderful first cup of coffee, I read Proverbs chapter 16.

Verse five says: ” EVERYONE WHO is arrogant IN HEART is a stuck up pig….oops…nope, that’s not what it said…..start over; ” EVERYONE who is arrogant IN HEART is an abomination to the Lord; be assured he will not go unpunished.”

 I read the entire Proverb. but verse five ran through my heart like a sword.

Arrogance… Webster’s dictionary defines it this way: “A sense of one’s own importance that shows itself in a proud and insulting way.”

Hmmm…wow I thought, that is sooo NOT me! What  a horrible heart to have, no wonder the Lord is seriously displeased, how can His glory be seen from a heart consumed with arrogance?

My morning continued which included a trip to the gym for my pilates class.

Dang! A substitute teacher! O well, “maybe she’s good”,  I thought.

Dang again! She stopped the class every 3-5 minutes to PAINSTAKINGLY EXPLAIN EVERYTHING!! Arghhhh!! It was mental anguish for me!  I found myself tapping my foot, looking at the clock, and choosing to NOT follow her directions! I was getting more and more frustrated by the minute!  “I” had driven 15 minutes to attend a class to exercise my body not my ears!!  AND to top it all off it was stuff “I” already knew!!  I wanted to leave!! A young woman beside me looked at me and smiled, I rolled my eyes with indication that “I” was NOT pleased with the class.

OOPS….

UMMM…

The Holy Spirit reminded me of what I had read this morning:  enter CONVICTION….okay, so, either I choose repentance, because MY heart was clearly FULL of arrogance AND feeling justified about it, or I continue to foster this growing seed of sin.

So there at the back of the fitness room, standing there in the dark, I repented. Good thing too, cause that dear old instructor came around and literally touched my body to re-align me because I was NOT performing the exercise correctly.  HA! So much for knowing everything.

So my point today?

“Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall.” (I Cor. 10:12)

O how I welcome the piercing work of the Holy Spirit on a second by second basis! He reveals my need and desperation for Jesus always! I am TOAST without His beautiful, proding revelations of the deepest and dirtiest closets in my soul, of which I am discovering  have the finest layer of dust. Dust missed until it is revealed in my actions. OUCH…!

O “Wretched (woman) that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? THANKS be to God THROUGH Jesus Christ our Lord!” (Rom. 7:24)

HALLELUJAH! I am free, forgiven, and saved through Jesus Christ who gave His life for me; I can in these very ugly moments of my life  walk away immediately forgiven, with  a heart set FREE from arrogance!

What about your life today? What dust is the Holy Spirit unsettling in your dark corner?

As I sat and read the Word this morning God began His work of pressing in and revealing the seed of arrogance, already giving truth to me about the condition of my heart; I ran right on  by  because as of yet it had not had expression  through my life;  BUT GOD  BEING GOD was fully aware it was there!!  He was warning me, drawing attention to it SO THAT I would deal with it BEFORE I left the house, but instead I chose to read,  and tuck it away instead of read and meditate. I continued into my day. The result? A trained professional received haughty eyes and an obvious ‘tude as a result……I wonder if I could have completed the exercises wearing “the cone of shame”?

 God is so good! Always ahead of us, always at work within us. I am in awe and humbled afresh today!!

YAY!

Slumbering soul prayers…

There is great mystery surrounding the wakeful soul in the middle of the night.

Toss and turn…

Turning and tossing…

Wait! What is that I hear?

A sound? No…

O but I do hear something…

Is my name Horton?

A very small whisper…

What did you say?

Did someone say something?

Toss and turn…

Turning and tossing….

Knock, knock, knock.

O for Pete’s sake! I WANT TO SLEEEEP!!!

A name, a face, a soul comes waltzing through my mind.

Over and over,

and over.

Now I’m awake; the whisper has a finger.

Poke, poke, poke.

Ouch! My heart! It feels so heavy with this visual person trodding around in my head!

Oh! Okay, I get it….PRAY!!!!

 

“I remember your name in the night, O Lord..” (Psalm 119:55)

“By day the Lord commands His steadfast love, and at night His song is with me, a prayer to the God of my life” (Psalm 42:8)

Often the written words above could describe the middle of the night for me.

I am a slow learner.

I believe and have had confirmation of such, that the names and faces that are so prevelant in these wee hours of darkness are beloved souls for whom I am being asked to pray for. Often they are warfare prayers. Prayers of “fighting” with spiritual weapons in the deep on behalf of another.

It seems quite odd when you stop to think about it.

The Creator of the universe is waking His beloved ones up all over the world in order to pray for one another.

Are we listening? Or do we toss and turn trying desperately to shut down so we can get back to our business of sleep?

Have you been visited by the Night-time Caller? Are you obeying the voice of the Lord?

In Psalm 139 David writes; “If I say, “surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light about me be night,” even the darkness is not dark to You; for  the night is AS BRIGHT AS THE DAY, for darkness IS AS LIGHT with You.” (verses 11-12).

Perhaps this is about being “still”…still enough to hear the whispers of God.

How are you doing with that?

And what about the daytime? Do you walk about your day with an ever attentive mind and soul; at any time God could ask of you to pray for someone?

That crushing but gentle angst of soul that beckons; beckons that voice be given in request for another.

Are you listening?

What kind of victories would be unleashed in our brothers and sisters lives if we LIVED this way?

May this be a day of reckoning of soul, of cleaning the soul house, of de-cluttering our minds of anxieties, worries, stress, and lists. A day of simplifying; SO THAT we can be on about God’s work FOR EACH OTHER!

1 Thess. 5:17; “PRAY WITHOUT CEASING.”

Hmmm…maybe next time He awakens me I will respond with haste comprised of stillness instead of tossing and turning with frustration.

Slumbering soul prayers I believe, are birthed from the deep of simplicity….our eyes have been shut, and our minds have been turned off for the night. 

Enter, the God of the universe with an assignment of the night, what else can you do, but pray?

This work of God is a deep mystery, for ONLY HE knows the why behind the nudge to pray. HE ALONE  sees it ALL. The entire spirit realm.

“For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of EVIL IN THE HEAVENLY PLACES.” (Eph. 6:12).

At those times we receive a specific invitation to join Him in the battle.

All of these words leave me speechless, for the obvious AGAIN, is that ONLY a God of LOVE could execute such an operation on our behalf in the dead of a human night. He is OUR God and He fights FOR US NOT AGAINST US!!

Think about THAT today!

 

shadows of death

Jesus said in Matthew chapter 10 verses 38-39 that “whoever does NOT take  his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, whoever loses his life for my sake WILL FIND IT.”

King David wrote in Psalm 23: ” Even though I WALK THROUGH the valley of the SHADOW of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.” (vs 4)

Do you think that perhaps David had a for-knowledge of Jesus’ words?

“Shadow of death…” or “the valley of deep darkness”….these are strong descriptive words of a journey of suffering to some degree.

Jesus paid a price for our sin with his life. I doubt that this side of eternity we are even capable of fully understanding what that was like FOR HIM.

We read in the word that He went through soul agony, even to asking if the cup of suffering could be removed from His life. (read Matthew 26: 36-40).

What if Jesus whimped out on us all? What if He concluded that He could take no more of the earthly sorrow? What then?

We are a culture of whimps.

And whiners.

Walkers of tails between our legs.

The first sign of trouble or heartache or sorrow or nasty unexplainable circumstances and we want to RUN.

Hmmm…”EVEN THOUGH I walk THROUGH the VALLEY of the shadow of death….”

What shadow has come to you?

Could the shadows be our greatest friends?

If Jesus told us to “TAKE UP” our cross and “FOLLOW” then why to we think that our lives should be free of pain? Of shadows?

Could the shadows of death be the hovering realities of the choices we have made that have led us away from the cross of Christ? Could it be an allagorical image to speak of a death that NEEDS to happen so that we COULD follow Jesus? SO THAT we would KNOW Him? Love HIm?

What if we willingly gave the Spirit of God permission to “sift us like wheat?” What then? Could you handle it?

I am discovering in a small way an understanding that the cost OF the call to follow Jesus represents a valley of shadows of many deaths.

How could Jesus possibly live within if I am so full of myself? Does it not make sense then that Karolyn must die in order to truely live?

“I (Karolyn) have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, WHO LOVED ME and gave Himself for me.” (Gal. 2:20)

So a walk THROUGH a valley means that there is another side….and we will get there, it is the valley that leads to life. (read all of Psalm 23).

I think that most do not discover the LIFE GIVING POWER of the cross because WE WILL NOT DIE to ourselves…fear grips the heart of too many and so that level of committment is not considered for more than a moment.

No wonder the Bride of Christ is dying a slow death.

I am only one, but I am one who can testify that in embracing the shadows of death I have discovered LIFE…..I am discovering what John 10:10 describes as “life abundant”.

I willingly lay this life of mine down; I willingly and whole-heartedly take up my cross to follow and live for Jesus BECAUSE OF the “more” of Him that I am tasting of deep, deep within my soul…

I am DESPERATE for Jesus…the wonderful Savior who gave His very life SO THAT I could LIVE!!

“For God SO LOVED the WORLD that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in HIm should not perish (no permanent death folks!) but HAVE ETERNAL LIFE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” (jOHN 3:16)

What is keeping you from following Jesus today? Perhaps it needs to die?

The wind in the cottonwoods…

I am just sitting here in my backyard.

It is a small backyard…

Simple-like…

Before me is a half wall of large rocks, bordered with newly planted flowering plants (at least I hope they flower…).

The sounds I hear are the beckoning call of a chickadee, a sparrow and the wind playing in the Cottonwood trees on the hill before me.

How enchanting!

How absolutely marvelous!

This natural beauty to behold and listen to.

My head, heart and soul feel carried along and spoken to in some strange sort of way.

I need this right now…desperately.

I welcome and delight in the trail of reflection upon scripture in these settings.

King David wrote in Psalm 19:

“The heavens DECLARE the GLORY of God, and the sky above PROCLAIMS HIS handiwork.

Day to day POURS OUT SPEECH, and night to night REVEALS knowledge.

THERE IS NO SPEECH, NOR ARE THERE WORDS, whose voice is not heard. Their voice goes out through ALL THE EARTH, and their works to THE END OF THE WORLD.

In them He has set a tent for the sun, which comes out like a bridegroom leaving his chamber, and like a strong man, runs its course with joy.

Its rising is from the end of the heavens, and its circuit to the end of them, and there is nothing hidden from its heat.” (verses 1-6)

NO SPEECH or voice that cannot hear and understand this language of the natural.

Paul writes in Romans regarding the lack of excuses that man has about living ungodly and unrighteous lives BECAUSE OF CREATION.

Listen to this:

“For the wrath of God is REVEALED FROM HEAVEN against ALL ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness SUPRESS THE TRUTH. For what CAN BE KNOWN about God is PLAIN to them, because God HAS SHOWN  it to them. For His INVISIBLE attributes, NAMELY, His eternal POWER and DIVINE NATURE, have been CLEARLY  perceived, EVER SINCE THE CREATION OF THE WORLD, in the THINGS THAT HAVE BEEN MADE.So they are WITHOUT EXCUSE. For although they knew God, they did not HONOR Him AS GOD or GIVE THANKS to Him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish HEARTS WERE DARKEND. CLAIMING TO BE WISE, they became FOOLS, and EXCHANGED the GLORY of the IMMORTAL GOD for images RESEMBLING MORTAL man and birds and animals and creeping things.” (verses 18-23)

As I sit here surrounded by the natural and consider the truth of God’s word I understand that creation was given to us to speak the language of God…it is a speech that is “plain”, easily understood in EVERY language. NO ONE can say the classic sentence, “But I didn’t understand”, or “how can I know God?” Do you realize what an idiot you are for saying that? You basically are telling the world that you walk right by creation and miss its speaking voice; God’s “invisible attributes”, “namely, His eternal power and divine nature.”

From creation I can understand and know this of God? YUUUUP!

Is it as Paul suggests, that our own ungodliness and unrighteousness “suppress the truth”?

Creation speaks truth.

For today, the sound of a feathered friend singing, the sound of the wind in the Cottonwoods, the sight of the newly released green foliage bending with the breath of heaven, the sight of deep blue heavens with Winnie the Pooh clouds moving  beneath them, the sight of my bible OPEN right here beside me, the precious Word of God, what language is this before me? And what voice do I hear?

The language of my God who does not ever change, whose power is seen in how the trees bend with air I cannot see, who created a little creature to sing the most beautiful song not taught or learned….His INVISIBLE attributes….He moves through PERFECT sync….amazing….

All this movement and sound working together in perfect harmony to speak of ONE, not an image, but of a Creator, a living God who created me and gave this landscape of splendor to me and for me to ENJOY, to watch and to listen SO THAT I would KNOW Him…

And to think, all I had to do was sit down….