we are not enemies - a call to love

My faith may be different than yours. But we have something in common that runs thicker than what we may believe. We both have blood running through our veins. We both have a heart that pumps that blood to nourish the rest of the body. Our spirits are like that. The heart is in need of something to believe in so it nourishes our soul. I'm not telling you what to believe - I'm merely saying go after something beyond human means. Faith is the thing that keeps the spirit pumping blood to our spiritual hearts when life just isn't turning out the way we'd expect it. Faith actually creates substance in our lives. We're not enemies because we believe differently. Is it not Love that binds our wounds, heals the broken-hearted and sets us free from life's burdens? It is also LOVE that binds us together as the human race. YOU ARE NOT MY ENEMY. We need to stop fighting because we believe differently than one another. Whether you believe God is real or not, does not excuse our behavior or animosity we have shown to one another. It's time to change the filter on which we view our neighbor. It's time to change how we respond to someone who thinks differently than me. It's time to wash each other's feet and leave behind all we find offensive. It's time to put on love. Because above every purpose, above every calling, is the call to love. Can we all agree on this? It's doesn't matter if you're christian, jewish, agnostic, atheist, muslim, taoist, buddish, hinduist, a naturalist, or a tree hugger! We have more in common as human beings than we don't. We all crave love. We all crave acceptance. We all crave purpose. We don't have to agree to live the same way to love one another. We are not birds who only flock together with those who look and act like us. We are not compromising who we are by loving each other. We are not even compromising who we are to be friends with someone who thinks different than me. Because when you live in the truth that you are FIRST called to love - you are set free from all other obligations. Love doesn't mean you have to compromise who you are to be a good friend. While in fact, it is the opposite. Love allows us to accept one another, and serve each other's heart, despite our differences.

The media is calling this year's election "the year of the angry voter". Is that how we want to be viewed? I find our intolerance towards each other's faiths, has now become intolerance toward one another completely. We are intolerant of those who think differently than us. And its happening on all sides. I'm not saying you shouldn't stand up for what you believe in . But if what you believe in becomes more important than seeing the person in front of you feel loved, we have a bigger problem than political, dogmatic, moral, or religious differences. We have lost sight of all that brings about joy in this life - all that heals and all that mends us together as men and women on this beautiful earth. "A house divided against itself can not stand" - both in the book of Mark, and quoted on different occasions by Abraham Lincoln, shows us of the end if we can not learn the art of love. We are not designed for division. The heart of the human race depends on love. If we can't learn it, we will continue to dig a endless pit of animosity. We must view each other through this lens, and in return we can learn how to truly appreciate our commonalities as well as those treasures in our differences. Love forgives. Love is sincere. Love is not conditioned on how you live or act. Love is enduring and patient. Love waits for the best. Love responds gently. Love sets dreams in motion and puts others to flight. Love is unfailing in every way, every situation, every circumstance. Love is the most difficult thing you may choose to do with your life - but its the way, the truth, and the life. Love brings us out of darkness into the light.

If we know love, we know God because God is love. God is not justice, though He will fight for you. God is not morality, although He will teach you how to live. God is not a politician, although He will lead you. There are many things we may do in the name of God, but loving should be the first. Any other mission then comes under love and doesn't get tainted by human effort. So essence, love calls us out from our humanity and into our divinity. You are called. You are chosen. You are made alive to love. Now lets go out and live in it.

happy are the helpless

I recently have been reading the Sermon on the Mount, over and over and over and over again. And then when I think I’m moving on, I read it again. The truth is, there is so much in the Sermon on the Mount that I’m becoming overwhelmed by revelation and wrecked by its empowering Truth! I’m convinced it is one of the greatest messages preached in all of history, probably because Jesus was the one giving it! Everyone who knows me well knows one of our greatest passions is to see believers walk into their identity. Want victory? Identity. Want freedom? Identity. Want truth? Identity. Want more to know your purpose? Identity.  This is why I want to share some of the things that have rocked me and  ruined me forever. I found the teachings of Jesus to be the stake  I personally needed, entering into the reality of who I am called to be. I believe the Beatitudes are the KEY for a believer’s walk to move from “striving” to “thriving” in their identity in Jesus Christ.

I want to start by quoting Heidi Baker, a full-time missionary to Mozambique, in her book Compelled by Love, “Believe it or not, our lives are much easier than yours. You see, where I live they are sick and hurting; and so they come and give their lives to Jesus by the hundreds every week around the country. But in your nation, your poor do not know they are poor, and your sick do not really know they are sick unless they are dying of a disease and no one can help them. They look confident, and they appear as if they are altogether. But maybe they are not. So your job is a lot harder than ours.”

Since America was young we were taught to be independent and self-sufficient. For a large portion of us that grew up middle-class, we learned from our youth that America is about equality, fairness and declaring and living out our rights as human beings. We were taught well how to be worth something in society by educating ourselves, pursuing a good standing career, and keeping things sustainable so we can build the dream of the big house, the happy family, the toys to keep life fun and looking good. I recently came to a wall in my own ideologies of what I believed “happiness” looked like. You see, unless I become “poor in spirit” nothing this world has will ever satisfy me. In fact, many of these things fight for my heart. Why is it hard for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of Heaven?

"Blessed are the poor in Spirit for theirs in the Kingdom of Heaven...." Matthew 5:3

“Why does the Kingdom break forth in such power among the poor here in Mozambique? It’s because the poor rely on each other. They need each other. They live in a community of interdependence. They have to share with each other just to survive. Those who have much are often quick to accumulate and slow to give away. They often give without remembering; they receive without forgetting. The poor are truly rich for the simplicity of their devotion.” (Heidi Baker’s Compelled by Love)

Does selling everything and living simple make you poor in Spirit?  No, but there is certainly something to be applied here. It is the condition of the heart, but we must become like those who are physically poor in the same manner in our hearts.

The Greek word for “poor” is ‘Ptochos‘,  and it literally means” having nothing, reduced to begging, like a beggar, totally broke”.  Just as the poor understand they cannot survive without the one who will give to them, so we must come to the understanding in our hearts that Jesus is the Giver of true life.  Because the word "poor" is a term that is not physically poor, but is to be poor in spirit, likewise it is not saying we need to beg God, but to become "like a beggar. Being poor in spirit means we are desperate for God, recognizing our complete need for Jesus. We don’t live in the “whatever”. We live in the constant devotion and pursuit of all that He is. We are hungry for it and nothing will stop us from this obsession.  This is BIG! Think about it! Jesus is saying if He becomes our EVERYTHING, He will give us EVERYTHING! The Kingdom of Heaven is freely given to those who will freely receive. If we do not recognize are need, we do not receive.

This is the heartbeat of what makes God tick.  They are attributes that Holy Spirit is drawn to.  God has a lot of workers but he has few lovers.  Being poor in Spirit would be hearing God and obeying. When a poor person asks you for something they ask humbly and they are not afraid to ask because they will die without it. My heart must say, “Lord, I will die without knowing you, seeing you, touching you! I am so hungry for you! I am in need of your love, your life and your constant supernatural presence!” I believe what it means to be poor in spirit is complete dependence on Him alone. It certainly goes against the grain of what we were taught and what our nature is, but I am convinced it is the ONLY way to live.

 I leave you with the words of Mother Theresa,

“Hungry for love,  He looks at you.
Thirsty for kindness, He begs from you.
Naked for loyalty, He hopes in you.
Sick and imprisoned for friendship, He wants from you.
Will you be that one to Him?”

What are your thoughts? What do you think it means to be poor in spirit?

Some more verses for thought:

"The LORD is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit."— Psalm 34:18

"The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise."— Psalm 51:17

"For this is what the high and lofty One says—he who lives forever, whose name is holy: 'I live in a high and holy place, but also with him who is contrite and lowly in spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite."— Isaiah 57:15

This is the one I esteem: he who is humble and contrite in spirit, and trembles at my word.— Isaiah 66:2

Also He spoke this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others: Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, "God, I thank You that I am not like other men—extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I possess." And the tax collector, standing afar off, would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, "God, be merciful to me a sinner!" I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.— Luke 18:9-14

incredibly blessed

So not long after I wrote my last blog, did I come into a very difficult week. It was like the Word was given so that it could be tested and approved in my own life.

But you know what I found out this week? I am incredibly blessed! And I had no idea! Really. I knew I was blessed, but I did not know I was incredibly blessed, supernaturally blessed, divinely blessed. Meaning, God had so wanted to bless my socks off that He sovereignly orchestrated this week so that i would know without a doubt that I am highly favored!

So here's a brief synopsis of what my week entailed. I recently came home from celebrating our anniversary from Colorado at about 2 am on Friday morning. i came home to a very messy house...and with the amount of luggage we had, I didn't even know where to begin. And because I have two children who are 2 and under, the early birds were up around 6:30 am. Later that evening Brandon and I were facilitating 24 Hour prayer and Worship, which means I usually pull an all-nighter with the children sleeping in the prayer room with us. Though Brandon and I were able to arrange split night shifts, I still was a little overwhelmed with the fact I didn't know how I was going to contend with the rest of my week on that amount of sleep (especially since I've been extra tired with the pregnancy). Sunday we had small group out in Lima, while Monday I host and lead a small women's group at our place. Wednesday was going to be a long day at the salon and I would have to arrange to leave early because we are having our first core-team meeting with the leadership of Rochester Burn. And Friday Bound4LIFE has a dinner banquet to attend that Rescue Rochester puts on every year, in which we had already covered the expense for our whole team to go. Not to mention I had no one yet to watch the girls. I was burnt and I didn't know what to do about it. So I did something I NEVER do.

I asked for help.

It was quite humbling to say the least. That super woman needed help. I mean I have a reputation to uphold. I can do it all. Just God and me, right?

Nope. It wasn't God and me this time. God was saying its time you learn to ask for help and see people want to give to you if you let them. (It tears me up just writing it.)

So I sent out an email to the group of girls I meet with on Monday nights. All of them are wives, mothers and are very busy. Even as I was sending out the email my thoughts were, "well I'll be obedient and ask, but I doubt anyone will have the time." I left it very open ended for any of them to help in anyway. You know what happened after that? I got help alright. I got WAY more than that.

Two women came over my home while I was at 24 hour and cleaned and organized the downstairs of my home. I came home to a beautiful spotless house! Another women took charge and said not to worry about Monday and they would facilitate it. Another woman offered to care for the children while we go to the Friday dinner. It was quite shocking how much everyone was willing to do. And to even a greater surprise I receive this amazing gift on Monday night - a huge wicker basket full of all my favorite teas, two enormous chocolate bars, a jumbo pack of hot chocolate and a whopping $75 gift certificate to Wegmans! i seriously had a melt down by how incredibly blessed I was.

And I just want to say THANK YOU! Thank you girls for taking time out of your busy lives and showing me how much I am loved. Grace came in my week through your act of kindness. It was truly a benchmark for me to see how much God loves me.....and for this, I am eternally grateful.

Post dedicated to: Amanda R., Angelica A., Cassie C., Erin B., Kathy B. & Lara C.

sometimes you just have to

be thankful!

Today on the way home from small group the Lord reminded me of a story. It was a story of when I was thankful for very little. I was in college, a small Bible school, and because we had several internationals who came to this school there many times that those students had no where to go during holiday breaks. So the school always tried real hard to make things a little easier for them by finding a family for them to stay with or doing something on campus during the school break. Well, it just so happened to be near Thanksgiving break and the cafeteria decided to do a Thanksgiving dinner right before everyone went off. Honestly, I think about the meal now...and its nothing I would have cooked. It was cut turkey and/or beef (which wasn't organic), mashed potatoes that could have very well came from a box or were at least bought pre-made, and some cooked cut carrots...you know the ones...the ones with the ridges already perfectly cut into them. Yeah, certainly nothing fresh. But as I sat with my plate in front of me, starring at the abundance of food I had been given to eat, my heart grew glad. It was so glad that I began to cry. Yes, right there. And as my friends who were sitting with me wondered what was wrong, it dawned on me that I had everything in the world I needed. I was so thankful! And as God began to over-flow my heart with this gratitude, I couldn't contain it. I looked at everyone with tears in my eyes and started to express how thankful I was for this meal. I mean, some thought I was nuts, while others caught the same spirit. Yeah, man....we are rich, aren't we?

I think about the meal now and I'm like, wow...what was I thinking? But that just shows you I needed to be reminded of this story. We complain about so much and so often that sometimes its hard to even recognize we're doing it. But sometimes you just have to purpose yourself to be thankful. I think we sometimes want to see the abundance and blessing come first, and then we're thankful. But I think we're thankful first, and then we recognize the abundance. Just like Jesus when He thanked God for the fish and bread before feeding the thousands.

i can't embed this video but its only 2 and 1/2 minutes. You should watch it. It challenged me because I needed reminding of what I've been given: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uH_eqDwTDRY

Or look at this one man who is changing the face of what it means to be thankful!

A little reminder to us all....that we have everything we need!

please stop saying that!

Do you ever feel like when people say God will never give you more than you can handle, it's really based on the conditions that Jesus can handle anything? I mean if that were that case, then he probably does give us more than we can handle just so we can trust them. None-the-less, it drives me crazy when you're sharing with someone what you're going through and their response is, "well...uh-um....God will not give you more than you can handle...." It's like every one's way of sugar-coating the fact that sometimes we live in impossible situations and it really is beyond ourselves. In fact, the word of God never even says that God will not give us more than we can handle.

Let's just take a quick look:
"No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it." (1 Corinthians 10:13)

What is the verse really talking about? - well, temptation. So maybe it's not that God won't give us more than we handle, its that he won't allow us to be tempted beyond what we can bear. he'll always provide a way out. So in a impossible situation, the temptation may be to stop trusting God and to go psycho on myself. The promise is not in the situation itself, its in the response of our heart. So stop saying God will not give you more than you can handle! - Because He will!

Why?

Cause its all about trust. if He didn't give us more than we can handle than there would be no need of dependency. There would be no need for a Savior. Yeah, we like to think we can be our own hero in our story....but its just not the case. This life has some dirty messes and many of them require supernatural cleaning.

We'd like to fix things our self, take the credit and get the title, but the more and more I recognize my need for Jesus, the less and less i can take the credit. Truth is, Jesus is ALWAYS giving me more than I can handle, but I'm not fighting those things the same way I use to. I'm leaning less on myself and trusting more in Him.

religion stinks

You know, there's this one word out in the church and out in the world, but depending on what stream you're a part of, has different meanings. Good or bad, we hear the word and all pre-conceived notions or past experiences come flooding into our mind like a tsunami. Doesn't matter what its true definition is, or what it even means to the individual you're talking to, whatever definition you've given it in your mind....it's probably there to stay without much hope of changing. Why? Have you figured out what I'm even talking about?

Religion. Yeah, that's what I'm talking about. And truth is, the world and the church equally hate religion with a passion.

Ever had someone call you religious? I cringed inside one day as my boss asked me, "Crystal, you're a religious person. You should meet so and so, cause they're religious too. I bet you'd have alot to talk about." Oh great. You know what I'm thinking? Yippee, now I get to talk to someone who is as opinionated as I am! For some reason the rest of the world sees religious folk as a people group more than a person who lives out their values. It's less about living out what you preach, and more about always having the right answers, usually involving some sort of condescending way of talking to "non-religious" folk.

And there's the Church. I don't think I've ever heard anyone in the church call themselves religious. It's kind of interesting that, though the rest of the world would call us religious, we would never call ourselves that. because, we too, have a stigma with religion. Was it not the Pharisees, the religious folk, that we're rebuked by Jesus because of there religious vows and lack of love? Well, who wants to be that? Not I. I'm not religious. In fact, some of us we're hurt by religion. Know any Christian out there that refuses to even go to church because of one incident that happened that turned them off? or maybe someone said something offensive? or maybe they felt judged.....either way, why go to church with a bunch of religious folk when I ain't? Right?

Not quite. You see, both are wrong.

If the definition of religion is a "noun", meaning "organized religious belief" than shouldn't we correctly put religion back in its place? Should the believer, not only live out what they say, but also move in a spirit of love so that our relationship with Jesus (which is a verb, not a noun) not be seen as good or bad religion? I know it is inevitable that some will always see you as religious, no matter what you do. But should we not be Jesus here on earth today? You know that song, "give me that old time religion....give me that old time religion...." Is that what we really want as the church? Truth is, though some of us would not like to call ourselves religious....some of us ARE....and we're stuck. We're stuck in the old. We're stuck in a box. And though we'd never tell anyone we really fear man more than God, we adapt to how things worked in the past, using the same ways of worship, same ways of reaching people, same ways of praying, same ways of doing ministry. but I know some are dying inside. There's a BIG "IF" in their mind, wondering if there really is more to God than what they're experiencing.

So why do we like to institutionalize God? - Both the unchurched and the churched. Because we can then remain comfortable. For the unchurched, they can do what they want with no consequences. If I put God in a religious box than I can sub-compartmentalize Him. If He is not real in my head than He's not real at all. Thats why preaching religion to someone, who couldn't care less about it, just won't work. It means absolutely nothing to them. On the other hand, being in the church, we probably know how to institutionalize God better than anyone. Isn't this why most of our American churches have become so ingrown? It's about me, me, ME! What

can I get from church? But Jesus said come with your gift so that you can give give give. So, if we don't get what we want on Sunday morning, we stop going. Who wants to be a part of a fellowship that doesn't meet my needs? because isn't THAT what God is suppose to do?.....meet all my needs? Yep, we're a bunch a chicks sitting there pecking at the leaders, saying "feed me, feed me, FEED ME!"

You know what religion does to us all? Makes us stagnant babies in spirit, unwilling, and too stubborn to change our hearts about anything. You may think I'm just venting, and maybe I am. But with "increased understanding comes increased sorrow; the more knowledge, the more grief" (Eccl 1:18) and I'm fed-up, just like Jesus when He over-turned the temple tables in His sorrow. Religion does nothing for no one.

......But Jesus, who IS love, does everything for everyone.