What is it that we want from our lives? What is an abundant life? I suspect that for many of us here, we are not striving for the typical money, success, and power cliches for our lives. Many of us just want to live a life of purpose, to love our families and friends, and to be intentional with our time and in our relationships. For those of us who follow Jesus, we want to please him and do what it is that he wants us to do!

But in the midst of all of the options out there it is easy to get distracted. What does my abundant life look like? What does God want me to do as I'm going about my day? Am I on the right path? Am I fulfilling my calling? What is my calling? What if I don't like my calling?

Why do I feel like I'm striving? Why am I so tired? Why aren't things working out as well as I want them to?

I find it helpful to start at the beginning...

When God created the heavens and the earth, He created a garden called Eden. Bear with me if you know this story.

When we consider our desire for an abundant life, at the core, we are actually wanting to go back to the very beginning. Eden is our heart's desire. It is what we were created for! The garden of Eden was beautiful and perfect.

Adam and Eve had a perfect, loving relationship with each other and a perfect relationship with God. Adam and Eve were responsible for tending the garden (no weeds!) and taking care of the other creatures that God had made. They had work to do- but their work was fulfilling and there was a perfect balance of work and rest. God would walk through the garden in the cool of the evening and Adam and Eve would walk with him. God loved Adam and Eve perfectly.

There was no shame, no envy, no striving, no sin. At its very core, that is what we want, isn't it?

Well, as you may already know, this perfect state didn't last long and eventually Adam and Eve decided that they would be better off doing things their own way instead of God's way. They made a choice against perfection in the hopes of basically being their own god. This is called sin. In choosing themselves over God, Adam and Eve severed their relationship with Him and were kicked out of their abundant life. They exchanged eternal perfection for struggle and, eventually, death because the just penalty for sin is death and it must be paid.

The Bible talks about the fact that we can grieve God. Can you imagine His sorrow?

We inherited this sin problem from the very first man and woman that God made. Since then, we are born to want to be our own god. How many times do I find myself wanting to run my own life, for myself, by myself, my way! I know what is best for me, what needs to be done, and how to do it. If everyone would just listen to me and my opinions, we would all be just fine! But we cannot live a life of purpose this way.

When we try to do this, we are like Adam and Eve, rejecting the abundant life of Eden. What we really need is to drop our insistence on being our own god. What we really need is to turn back to God, release control, and accept His forgiveness. Thankfully, God knew that we would turn away, and he planned a rescue. Listen to Romans 5:6-10:

6 For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.

7 For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die—8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

9 Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God.

10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.

God came to earth as a human, as Jesus. He lived a perfect life, died to pay for all of our sins, and defeated death by rising from the dead. He paid for not only Adam and Eve's sins, but for our sins too, so that we don't have to. Our souls have the potential to live eternally with God. And God did this while we were still weak, while we were still sinning, out of His perfect love, not because we earned it.

When we surrender our will to the will of God, when we recognize that we cannot do it without Him, when we step off the throne of our lives and give it to Jesus instead, He forgives us! It is as simple as that. All of our sins, past, present, and future are paid for by the sacrifice that God made. He took care of it from start to finish because He loves us! And then, we are no longer His enemies. He calls us His friends.

So, forgiveness is a game changer. Most importantly, it repairs our relationship with the One who created us. And if you have any doubts as to who it is that we have turned to, make no mistake, you want to be with Him! God is present everywhere at all times. He is all knowing, all-powerful, and perfectly loving. He is the only one who not only knows us perfectly but also has the power and the desire to return us to our Eden.

He offers us our abundant life, but we have to choose to come back. We have to admit that we need Him.

So, what does this look like for me today? Sure, I'd love to live in Eden. But I actually live here right now, and gardening is a hobby, not my job. And I have kids and a husband who are not perfect....and I am not perfect!

Let me share with you a picture from an old friend of mine who was an anointed teacher. It has stuck with me for years.

Imagine with me one of my not-so-Edenlike days.

So, it turns out that I am not what you would call a morning person. Just give me a MINUTE! A cup of coffee and a little silence please! Maybe I wake up annoyed that I am up, in the dark, but my husband is still blissfully sleeping

(He has flexible hours and morning sleep is his favorite). Well, some of us have responsibilities! A little bit of ENVY attaches itself to me like an iron shackle- click! It starts to weigh me down.

I walk into the kitchen and notice a mess, left over from last night. In my mind I blame everyone else and start to notice all of the problems with our house...the renovations that have still not been completed, and a little bit of UNGRATEFULNESS adds its shackle to my wrist.

The day progresses like this: a little LIE (click!), an ANGRY WORD (click!), PRIDEFUL THOUGHTS, GREED, (click! click!).

And eventually I am so weighed down by my own sin that when someone has the audacity to wrong me- a disrespectful word from one of my students or a miscommunication with a friend, it is wrath that comes out, not kindness.

Can you relate? But we do not have to live under the shackles of even our own sin.

Paul says in Hebrews 12:

1 let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us,2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith.

For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

We do not have to walk in sin. Even though we do sin, we have been forgiven. Let's walk in that. When I wake up in the morning, and that envious thought enters my mind (because it will!) I can immediately ask the Lord to forgive me.

That shackle immediately falls to the ground. When I am ungrateful, I ask for forgiveness and God replaces it with gratitude. And the power of forgiveness extends to our relationships with others as well. When I catch myself speaking out in impatience, I can immediately ask my students to forgive me and in that moment of vulnerability, our relationship is not only restored, but it is improved.

Now I am not easily provoked. I can live in forgiveness for others because I have already been forgiven many times myself that very day. My pride melts away when I realize how much forgiveness I actually need myself.

We (are free to) love because (God) first loved us (1 John 4:19).

And now, we are forgiven, and we are FREE! This flow of forgiveness, receiving it from God and from others, and giving it away, back and forth is FREEDOM.

Now, we are untangled, and no longer snared. Now we have overcome pride and walk in humility. God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble. (James 4:6) Now God can really use us!

Jesus teaches us how in Matthew 11:

28 Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.

30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

28 Come to me, all who labor

We labor when we strive to accomplish things that we have put on ourselves, the things we expect of ourselves that God never asked us to do. We labor when we strive to have someone else's life that is not the one God made us for.

We labor when we strive for perfection in our own strength, when we tell God, "I know what to do Lord, I've got this. I know what will make me happy. I'll let you know when I need you."

28 Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden

We are heavy laden when we take on burdens that others have put on us, real or imagined. This is not the abundant life that God has planned for us.

29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.

A life yoked to Jesus gives our spirit rest. A "yoke" is a wooden crosspiece that connects two oxen to share a load together. Jesus, the all-powerful, all-knowing, future-seer, life-giver, perfect-lover-of-your-soul wants to share the load!

And guess what? It's not your load that you are carrying. It's His. And his yoke is easy. His burden is light. He is inviting you into a working relationship with Him, to do His work!

(By the way, this word "yoke" has another meaning. I learned recently that in ancient times, a rabbi's set of rules or way of life that his disciples had to follow were called his "yoke". Jesus says that his rules of life, his "yoke" is easy and light.)

And God has a yoke of life that He has made specifically for you. Ephesians 2:10 says:

10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

When we step into the yoke of Jesus, we are in step with Him. It is how He leads us and where He teaches us. We aren't sitting around doing nothing, we are working. But the burden is light because we are being led by the God of the universe. Our spirit is at peace. We are filled with joy. We are not comparing ourselves to anyone else because no one has been given the work that God prepared specifically for us, for me, to do.

You may be thinking, "Well that sounds great, but what if I think that I am hearing Him and walking in step with Him but I'm actually wrong? What if I'm not really hearing Him?" Or, "I don't hear anything...what should I do?"

First of all, don't panic! God wants to live in communication with us. He would not have died for us and then set you up to fail.

Without a doubt we will mess up when we are trying to live this abundant life with Jesus. Relationships take time and intention. There is joy and beauty in getting to know someone. There is delight in learning new things about them all the time. God desires a real love relationship with us and part of that is learning how to trust Him and being open to His correction.

God often speaks to me in pictures- visual representations of concepts. They are not scripture, so they are not perfect. But God knows how to get His point across to me in a way that works perfectly for me.

When I have worried that I am not doing what I think He wants me to do very well, or questioned if I'm going in the right direction, there are a few different pictures that He has given me. I will share a couple with you in case you can relate.

You may notice that they do not specifically tell me what to do next, or if I am on the right track. God is more interested in how I am relating to Him.

In the first picture, Jesus and I are making cookies together. I am an enthusiastic toddler, and He is my loving parent.

I thought it was funny after I wrote this, I saw that Ash had posted a video of her and Foxi making cookies. It's just like that! Have you ever tried to make cookies with a toddler?

So, I am the toddler and Jesus is the parent. I am so happy, grabbing the ingredients as He hands them to me gently. As I grab, I spill a little flour over here, some sugar over there. Maybe some sugar even ends up in my mouth.

I grab the egg from Him because I just know I can crack it myself. As I demolish the first egg, He grabs another, and this time guides my hands gently to successfully crack the egg and deliver it shell-free into the bowl. He reads the recipe because I wouldn't know what to do with all of that information...I'm a toddler! I work confidently and full of joy because "LOOK! We are making COOKIES!"

I trust Him completely. I am having the time of my life. He is teaching me as we go. Gently guiding, and even rebuking sometimes so that next time, He can teach me even more. But nothing in a toddler's life feels like work, it is all play.

And in the end, we have succeeded in making cookies. Yes, there are ingredients on the floor. Yes, we might have a big mess to clean up. Yes, I might have even toppled off the cooking stool and skinned my knee. But there was never a thought in my mind that we wouldn't end up with the cookies that Jesus had planned.

In the second picture, instead of a yoke, Jesus and I are in a dance. I love to dance, and Jesus knows this! I grew up in a Hispanic culture and in my mind, Jesus and I are dancing the salsa. I don't actually know if this is the salsa, but just go with it! Jesus is leading and I am following. We both hear the music!

I move to the music and step without thinking much because I am loving the dance. The dance wouldn't work if I waited for him to tell me where to move each foot. I can sense what He wants me to do because we have danced so many times before that the smallest movement in Him directs me. His lifted arm gives me the space to spin. If I lose my balance a bit, he brings me in close. This is joy. I am working, but this is pure joy. My body is moving but my spirit is at rest.

In both of these pictures, God is showing me how to trust Him. He assures me that even when I mess up, He is guiding me to bring about the result (or cookies, or the dance) that He had already planned from the beginning. He can do it without me, but He chooses to include me, mistakes and all. And He will redirect me when I go the wrong way.

The point is that I am sticking close to Him as I go. I am not letting go. I am focused on Him, not myself.

And what would happen if I tried to dance someone else's dance? Salsa goes deep into my soul! Hip hop would be ridiculous for me. You should see me try it! It's not my dance.

So, this is how we live the abundant life. This is how we return to Eden. As we walk in forgiveness, we are walking with Jesus. We gain nothing less than a life of freedom, of rest, and joy. We stick close to Him and He will guide us.

Have the courage to just try. Take a deep breath and just live. God's Holy Spirit will dwell in us and give us love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, faith, self-control, and goodness. What other kind of Eden is there?

I will close with a scripture that I hope will encourage you.

Psalm 16:8-11 says this:

“I keep the Lord always before me; with him at my right hand, I shall never be shaken.

Therefore my heart is glad, my soul rejoices; my body also dwells secure,

For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol, nor let your devout one see the pit.

You will show me the path to life, abounding joy in your presence, the delights at your right hand forever.”

Amen! Let's pray.

by Susan Siragusa

siragusa.susan+godshots@gmail.com

Today I'd like to talk a little bit about loneliness and the love of God. Loneliness is a topic that has earned a lot of press lately and is currently considered a major health crisis in the United States. But even if you dismiss this as a non-issue for yourself, I urge you to keep listening because although you may not feel lonely right now, I suspect that you know someone who is!

Loneliness can take many different forms. Some of the more obvious causes of loneliness can be the loss of a loved one, or the yearning for a spouse or a friend. God has a particularly tender heart for widows and orphans- people who are at a high risk for extreme loneliness.

Psalm 68:5 calls God "the Father of the fatherless and protector of widows."

But we can be lonely for other reasons too. Sometimes we can be surrounded by people and still feel lonely. Maybe you've moved to a new place and haven't met anyone you really click with yet, or maybe your loneliness comes from circumstances that you are in, like having a new baby and you feel stuck and isolated, or you can feel lonely from something happening in your mind like anxiety or depression, or maybe you’ve experienced loneliness because you are in a situation that you feel no one else can understand or relate to.

When I was in my late teens I began to suffer from migraine headaches. At first, I would get a headache, and it might last an hour or two. They were bad, but manageable.

Through the years, however, my migraines got so bad that I could not function when I had one. Eventually, it got to the point that I would be in unbearable pain for three full days at a time, and it was happening several times a month.

We tried everything! Neurology appointments, MRIs, special diets, so many different medications, experimental procedures, strict eating and living schedules.

Everyone had their own solution, but nothing seemed to work, and I was so desperate. As soon as I felt a migraine coming on, I had to drop everything and rush home to hopefully make it in time to my bed or to the couch to wait it out.

My husband would try to help- He'd take the kids away so that I could be in silence, put water or food by my bedside, bring me ice, hot pads, pain meds, even take me to the emergency room where they would put an IV in and try drug after drug to no avail.

Each time that I had a migraine, I was sure that there was no way I could do it again. I would not survive for three whole days. But I did know that I could survive the next minute. So, I would bear the pain for one minute and move on to the next minute, one minute at a time, until finally, mercifully, the three days would be up (BTW, that's 4320 minutes!).

Then, it would slowly get a little better and a little better until finally I would emerge from the darkness and get back to living. But I was exhausted.

As much as I appreciated the people who were around me, loving me, and trying to help me, this was an incredibly lonely time in my life. All the last-minute cancellations and times I missed out on with my kids made me feel useless. And I lived in constant fear of the next attack.

No one could come into my head with me and share my pain. No one could really understand how difficult it was. No one could help! No one could make it all end. No one, that is, except Jesus.

I often wondered if Jonah felt a little bit like I did when he was swallowed by the big fish.

If you don't know the story, Jonah was an Old Testament prophet who lived around 750 BC during the height of the Assyrian Empire. The Assyrians were a violent and cruel people, and God asked Jonah to warn the Assyrians in Nineveh to change their ways. Jonah hated the Assyrians and, therefore, instead of obeying God, he decided to get on a ship and escape his calling.

But God had other plans and eventually Jonah was thrown overboard at his own request, swallowed by a big fish, and vomited back onto land three days later. (It's always best to do what God says!) But can you put yourself in Jonah's place? For real? I know it happened so long ago, but Jonah was just a regular person, like you and me!

Just try- you're thrown overboard during a storm in the Mediterranean Sea and then swallowed by a fish, big enough to do it without tearing you to pieces. Complete darkness. Complete desperation. Who can even come close to understanding his situation? I guess that at least he had a "why". He knew why he was in that darkness. I didn't.

He had hunger and impending death. I had unbearable pain and an unquenched desire for death-anything to make it stop! Jonah felt betrayed by the Lord because the Lord was going to save Jonah's enemies.

I felt betrayed by the Lord because I knew that He could heal me, but He had chosen not to. Why would He allow this in my life?

I imagine that Jonah felt like I did.... abandoned by God!

King David also had moments when he felt abandoned by God. He writes in Psalm 22.

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning?

2 O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer, and by night, but I find no rest.

You might recognize these words as coming from the mouth of someone else. None of us could come close to understanding the loneliness of the Son of God, who had been a member of the Holy Trinity for eternity. He was in a perfect love relationship with the Father and the Holy Spirit and out of pure love for us, He became our sin and in a moment that I don't fully understand, Jesus quoted David's Psalm saying, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" God had to turn His face away from Jesus. And Jesus felt forsaken.

Have you ever experienced this kind of loneliness? Are you experiencing it now? I am here to tell you that no matter how lonely your situation feels, for those who have stopped trying to be their own God, for those who have surrendered their lives to Him, God can and does enter into the loneliness with you. He willingly steps into the darkness and He is actually there whether you feel Him or not!

Psalm 139:1-12 (ESV):

1 O Lord, you have searched me and known me!

2 You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar.

3 You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways.

4 Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O Lord, you know it altogether.

5 You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me.

6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high; I cannot attain it.

7 Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence?

8 If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there!

9 If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,

10 even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me.

11 If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light about me be night,”

12 even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is bright as the day, for darkness is as light with you.

13 For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother's womb.

14 I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well.

15 My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth.

16 Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.

17 How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them!

18 If I would count them, they are more than the sand. I awake, and I am still with you.

God knitted you together. He knows you better than you know yourself. And look at how personal our God is! David is not praising a far-off God. God shares His thoughts with us!

Listen to verse 17 again, "How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them!" David knew the thoughts of God.

In my impossible moments of darkness, I finally realized that God had not abandoned me or Jonah, or David, and He has not abandoned you. When we accept Jesus as Lord of our lives, He is there with us.

Ephesians 2:20 says, "I 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.

Jesus has been there with you from the very beginning. He was there in my darkness, and He is there in yours. He knows exactly how you feel, and He feels it with you. He knows by His own experience every bit of our pain. He even knows the feeling of being forsaken and abandoned!

And so, just like Jonah, who cried out to the Lord in his anguish, those horrible moments of darkness were also the moments that I felt closest to Jesus. There were no distractions. I was desperately focused on Him. His love was intense! In the book of Ephesians, Paul describes the love of Christ that is available to those who he says, "partake of the promise of Christ".

Paul said in Ephesians 3:14-19,

"I bow my knees before the Father, 15 from whom every family[c] in heaven and on earth is named, 16 that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, 19 and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

The comfort I had in knowing that He suffered with me was a love that I can't explain. I don't know why it took 20 years of suffering for Him to heal me. I don't know why some of you are suffering either. When I was finally healed, though, I came to realize that my new fear was that I would never be that close to Him again. We can miss Him so often when things are going well, but in these kinds of life situations, if we look to Him, our focus on Him is at its peak.

We have nowhere else to go! The answer to our loneliness is Jesus...from start to finish. He has the power to fill our emptiness to overflowing.

But God blesses us with an abundance. He did not create us to be alone here on earth; He created us for community. When God breathed life into Adam, He was not finished until He created Eve. God said, "It is not good for man to be alone!" And whether or not He blesses us with a spouse, we are created to live in community with the Body of Christ.

We are to serve, encourage, and support each other. So, what do we do when we are lonely? After we have reached out to God and are strengthening our communion with Him, how can we get other people to see us? In my suffering, my focus was on how I could get others to understand my misery. I didn't feel like I could connect with others unless they understood my pain.

But we actually have to turn our thinking around. God made us to love Him and to love others. We do not need to be preoccupied with whether or not others are loving or understanding us. As hard as that is to hear, we must go to the Word for what is true. The beginning of John, chapter 15 describes a beautiful picture of how we can dwell in Christ and how he dwells in us. He says that this relationship with Him will fill us with joy.

Then in verse 12 He says, "This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you."

The result of being filled with the love of Christ is that we love others. As we take the focus off of ourselves and onto Jesus, our next focus is on serving others. And as we love and serve others, without the need for others to fill our loneliness or understand our pain (because God is the only one who can), He blesses us with new relationships.

As we walk in our calling and purpose in the Body of Christ, we become members of an organism that is larger than ourselves.

1 Corinthians 12:24-27 says, "But God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another.

If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together.

Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it."

And, please listen! As members of the Body of Christ, we are also called to connect with others who might be lonely.

Maybe you aren't in a season of loneliness right now, but pray that God would open your eyes to the people around you. He can help you see others more clearly.... people who could use some love.

As I have been praying this recently, God has shown me several people who could use some company, including a neighbor who I didn't even know had recently become a widow. How easy it is for me to just walk right by her, and how easy it is for me to stop and really see her, just to chat for a little while!

I have one more picture to give you before we finish that I hope will be helpful.

One day, during my days of darkness, I was at church, worshipping God, and I was crying because I was feeling so lonely. I felt like Jesus was so far away.

And then I had this sense that Jesus was there. In my mind I felt Him walking down the middle aisle of the church towards the front. I was so grateful that I sensed His presence, and it was so comforting for me to remember that He really was there. I expected Him to keep walking forward. But suddenly, when He got to my row, I saw in my mind that He turned and started to walk down the aisle towards me.

When He got to me, He turned and faced me. I couldn't see His face, but I could feel His loving presence staring right in front of me. And then, He stepped into me! I felt so loved, and so understood, and so seen!

I felt like God was reminding me, and now He is reminding you, that whether or not we feel Him, He is there. He promises to be with us, and we can trust Him to be faithful.

If you are lonely, reach out to Jesus! He is already there, and He has been there all the time. You are not alone.

You are understood. He knows exactly how you feel. Take all of that love and then take the courageous step of participating in the Body of Christ. You are not meant to be alone!

by Susan Siragusa

siragusa.susan+godshots@gmail.com

Today I thought we'd dive into the topic of marriage! It's a huge topic but it's always good to just chip away at some of the common obstacles or ways of thinking that might be making our lives less abundant, less joyful.

Now, please don't stop listening if you are not married. Even though we'll be discussing how to live out a joy-filled marriage, God's truths apply generally, even when we talk about them in a specific context!

These same principles apply to living a joy-filled life whether or not you are currently married. Whenever you hear the word 'husband', just insert Jesus!

Because, ultimately, God set up marriage to be a picture of how Jesus loves the Body of Christ.

He is our perfect husband, and we are His bride. And if you are not married, but want to be, remember that God sees you. He knows the desires of your heart. Remember these truths as you search for the one that God has in store for you.

When we are looking for the truth about what anything looks like, the first place we should always look is in the Word of God. It's so easy for us to look around at the world for what marriage should be.

Our incredible brains are created to constantly be learning, and we tend to soak in whatever it is that we spend most of our attention on.

So, before I got married, I was sure that the man of my dreams would be absolutely infatuated with me.

The movies I watched guaranteed a guy who had nothing else going on in his life except figuring out ways to declare his love. Most likely he would propose at an airport gate at the last minute while I was on my way to marry some rich business executive who would be totally wrong for me.

By the way, I would be looking amazing without trying too hard. Not dressed up, but not in my pjs, stylish casual is what I'd call it. Just enough makeup to enhance but look like I was wearing no makeup at all. And my hair would be soft and flowing like in a shampoo commercial....

My guy was going to be tall, dark, and handsome. He would look like a prince, but still have a bit of a wild side. He would have a British accent and dance the salsa with me. He would be very smart, and funny, and respected by all. Needless to say, I had a list!!

At the time, I forgot to think about whether or not I actually wanted him to love Jesus. Was that important? The movies never addressed that!

Well, thankfully God knows what we actually want and what we actually need more than we know ourselves.

Eventually, God did find me the man of my dreams.... Except that he ended up being light and handsome, his attempt at a British accent is...endearing, and he loves Jesus more than he loves me, which is actually what I want! God knew who would complement me perfectly, even though neither of us is perfect.

We have been together for 26 years now and we are still learning how to live a life together that pleases God. But the more that we surrender ourselves to God's ways, the more joy-filled our marriage has become. I wouldn't have it any other way.

I don't know what your situation is, or what season your marriage is in, whether you are struggling or soaring right now. But God does, and God cares!

What does God say about marriage? Are we convinced that God has a plan for us that He designed from the very beginning? Do we trust Him enough to follow what the Word says about who we should love, and how we should love? Do we agree with Him on what constitutes sexual sin and true commitment? Do we agree that there is an order to our family structure and that God ordained the truths about marriage for our joy and blessing, not to hold us back or keep us in bondage? Let's remind ourselves of what the Word of God says. Don't forget that Jesus, the One who created us, the lover of our souls, is the Way, the Truth, and the (Joy-filled) Life. Let's see what He wants for us!

Let's begin as we often do, at the beginning! Here is the true account of the first marriage that God created, a story that may be familiar to many of you.

Genesis 2 7 then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature. (skipping forward)

18 Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for[e] him.”

19 Now out of the ground the Lord God had formed[f] every beast of the field and every bird of the heavens and brought them to the man to see what he would call them. And whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name.

20 The man gave names to all livestock and to the birds of the heavens and to every beast of the field. But for Adam[g] there was not found a helper fit for him.

21 So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh.

22 And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made[h] into a woman and brought her to the man.

23 Then the man said, “This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.”[i]

24 Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.

25 And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.

What a beautiful picture this is, of God breathing a soul into Adam, using His own breath to give him life and sustain him. Then God has Adam pay attention to every other living thing that He had made, naming them, and showing him that none were sufficient to be his mate.

The only sufficient, comparable helper for Adam would come directly out of him, of the same "stuff". Eve was created perfectly by God to be one with Adam, and yet separate too. The Word proclaims that the man is to hold fast to his wife and become one with her.

We see here from the beginning that we are created to work in unity with our husbands. When we are married, we have been spiritually and physically united with another human being. This includes sexual union, and living with a common goal or purpose, but the idea of "one" is so much more!

Jesus often spoke of the oneness He has with the Father and with us. You may remember this beautiful prayer that Jesus prayed for those who would believe in Him.

I'll jump right in the middle of it. This is John 17 beginning in verse 22. He's talking about us.

22The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, 23 I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me.

Jesus is talking about the Body of Christ, about believers, which the Bible refers to as His bride, becoming one with each other and then with Him (the Bridegroom) and the Father. When we talk about our marriage with our husband, it doesn't change our oneness with God.

'As believers, we are one with God first, and then we are also one with each other. Notice that the oneness is the evidence of God's love in the relationship. It is God who forges that bond and makes us one. Marriage is meant to be a picture of our oneness with Christ, and the oneness of the Trinity. I don't understand this completely but whatever we think we know about this concept of oneness, it is more.

So, when I look at God's design for my marriage, it makes sense to me to look to the Trinity and the oneness of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. What does that unity look like? What does that love look like?

Well, for one thing, there is equality in substance, but they are also distinct. Jesus tells his disciples in John 14 that "whoever has seen me has seen the Father".

Jesus is completely God. The Holy Spirit is completely God. We can pray, worship, and praise the Father, the Son, or the Holy Spirit and it is the same. They are the same God. And yet, each part of the Trinity is distinct and complementary to the whole.

Jesus the Son is the part of the Trinity who came to earth as a man and gave His life for us. He is also the One who will come back to conquer the earth in the second coming. The Holy Spirit is the part of the Trinity that lives inside of us when we believe and who communicates with our spirit. God the Father is the part of the Trinity who sits on His throne in heaven. They all love and glorify each other.

Eve was made of the same substance as Adam. We have equality in substance with our husbands, but we were purposely made to be complementary to them. We have literal parts that they don't have. We were created from man, but man cannot be born without woman. We as women were made out of man, but we were also made in the image of God. We are united with our husbands, but we are our own person, with our own relationship with God.

We have our own giftings, callings, and purpose. We are equal in value but distinct from our husbands, united by God, but also accountable for our own decisions. Jesus died for us individually and He loves us each perfectly.

We are equally valuable to Him.

God created marriage in a way that allows us to be better together, than separate. God looked at Adam and said, "It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him." (Gen 2:18)

So how can knowing this help us have a joy-filled marriage? Well, for one, we can stop trying to take the place that God intended for the other "part". God the Father did not die for our sins, Jesus the Son did.

The Holy Spirit could not come live inside of us until after Jesus ascended into heaven. Notice that we were created to help our husbands, not compete with them. Does our left hand compete with the right? It doesn't make sense to compete with our other part, but we do it all the time.

Does anyone ever feel like they treat their husbands with something more like "sibling rivalry" than treating them as a part of ourselves? Well, if he gets to have a day off, then I should too! Why do the kids like him more than they like me right now? Why do I have to get up to breast feed the new baby and he gets to sleep? (By the way, that is because I am the one with the breasts!) Does anyone ever feel jealous of their husband's success?

I've even been annoyed that it takes my husband a lot less time to get strong and fit than it does me.

But the truth is, that we are meant to complement each other, not compete with each other. My husband's success is actually my success. If he spends extra time working on his business while I make dinner, I receive the benefit of his financial success. If it is easier for him to get in shape, then I get to benefit from having a hot husband. If we have a season where the kids have more fun with him than with me, then my kids are blessed to enjoy a life-giving relationship with their dad.

And let's not get caught up in the exact roles we should be playing. There are general truths to learn, but that is a side issue. In the Bible, Jesus was constantly breaking stereotypes. He talked to women freely, even prostitutes, when the rest of the men in his culture did not. He accepted and praised Mary's worship when she let her hair down in public.

Luke 8 tells us that Jesus' very ministry was financed by women. Then there is the famous Proverbs 31 woman who is honored both in the home and in business. The key here is not the exact role that we play, but that we are working with our husbands, not against them. How can I support what my other half is doing? When I understand that he is a part of me, then supporting him is no different than supporting myself.

And let's also not forget that our end goal in this life was never meant to be that we would lift up and glorify ourselves.

Together with our husbands, we are on this earth to serve and glorify God! He is our ultimate goal and satisfaction.

We find the most joy with our husbands when we work together to glorify God, because that is what we were created for. By the way, if you are not married, you still have this same goal. Your husband Jesus calls you to work together with the Body of Christ and with Him to serve and bring glory to the Father.

So, I think that the idea of being parts of a whole tends to not be that hard for most women to swallow. We love a good partnership! Equal partners, working together to get stuff done! But there is another aspect to our relationship with our husbands that took me awhile to understand and adopt.

It's also something that, when I finally let go and did it God's way, has brought me so much joy and so much freedom. This is the idea of order.

There is an order to marriage that the Word states clearly. 1 Corinthians 11:3 says, "But I want you to understand that the head of every man is Christ, the head of a wife is her husband, and the head of Christ is God." I have to be honest, this used to make me cringe.

Why would God automatically put my husband in charge? Just because he is a man? Do I even get to apply for the job?

One night, probably over 15 years ago, I was listening to a women's study in my bed at night. My husband and I had recently decided that we really needed to make a decision about Christ. We were both saved, but we were living our lives with God on the side.

In His grace, God had sparked a desire in both of us to either go hot or cold. In the book of Revelations, chapter 3, God says that He prefers us to be hot or cold, to make a bold decision for Him or not at all.

Those who are lukewarm, He will just spit out! So, as I was trying to learn everything I could about how Jesus wanted me to live my life, I was listening to a study in bed at night (on a cassette on my Walkman!) and the woman was talking about how God had chosen the man to be the spiritual leader in the home.

Now, this was brand new to me. I grew up in a Hispanic culture in which the women in my family tended to be the ones who took care of all of the spiritual things. It was always the mom, or the grandma who was doing the praying, trying to keep everyone on track going to church.

In our home at the time, I followed this too, and I was the one praying at dinner, reading the Bible to my girls and annoying everyone by making us get up on Sundays to go to church.

We thought this was the way it was supposed to be. But when I heard the woman on the cassette say that the man was the spiritual leader (she was referring to 1 Corinthians), I was amazed. I immediately woke my husband up (because how can sleep be more important than my words?) and said, "Guess what the Bible says. The man is supposed to be the spiritual leader in the home! And, she said that the only way that this works is if the woman is willing to step back so that her husband can step up!"

I think all he said was, "oh, really?" and then went back to sleep, but something inside me changed.

I realized that I had been taking on a role that wasn't meant to be mine. It felt like such a chore to be the one that made sure my family was following the Lord. Well, the next morning at breakfast I decided to start stepping back.

So, when everyone had filled their plates, I just sat there in silence when they looked at me to pray! I just bowed my head and waited. And Eric must have been listening the night before because he took over, just like that.

Now, the rest of it didn't come so easily. Stepping back is not that hard when we're talking about praying at breakfast.

The hard part came when Eric and I disagreed on something else. The Bible doesn't just talk about letting our husbands lead our home spiritually, but 1 Corinthians 11:3 along with other verses, say that the husband is the head over his wife and family.

Letting Eric lead our home meant that the final decisions rested on him. That is hard! But why does someone have to be in charge? Can't we just both make the decisions together?

I like to think about it like this. When my kids were finally old enough to be left at home by themselves, we would always designate who was in charge.

Sometimes it was my girls with their cousins or with friends, and just before we left, we would call out one of the names and say, "Naomi, you're in charge!" Often, we just chose the oldest kid, but sometimes we'd mix it up. Why did we do this?

Because now everyone would know who would make the final decisions, and everyone would know who would be held accountable if we found everything in chaos when we got back. We didn't choose Naomi to be in charge because we loved her more or because she was more valuable. We did it to keep the peace.

Putting someone in charge brings peace because it allows for an end to the debate. I was worried that if I let Eric be in charge, I would lose my voice. But let's not forget that Eric is not free to do whatever he wants. He was and is accountable to God. While my husband is my head, Christ is his head!

It's a tremendous amount of responsibility for a husband to be accountable to God for his family. So, I haven't lost my voice. Eric wants my opinion, and he asks for it. Even when he doesn't ask for my opinion, I give it, ideally with love, patience, and respect.

We discuss things openly and sometimes heatedly, especially when it has to do with our kids or how we will spend our time or money.

But we have a common goal. Don't forget, we are one! Eric's final decision affects him as much as it affects me and eventually, I learned that if we can't come to an agreement, I can take up my case to the One who is above both of us. When I feel like my husband has made the wrong decision, I can pray for God to change his heart.

And I can also have the humility to ask God to change mine.

When we submit ourselves to the order that God has ordained for our families, we are not losing ourselves. We are following the example of Christ. In the Trinity, Jesus is equal to God, yet He chose to submit to the Father out of love for Him and for us.

Listen to what Jesus tells his disciples in John, chapter 10, verse 17:

17For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again.

18No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. this charge I have received from my Father.

We have free will to make the choice to submit to God's plan for marriage. No one forces us to do it, but we do it willingly because we are in a love relationship with the Holy Trinity, with God and with our husbands. We have been brought into oneness with God and we have been brought into a oneness with our husbands.

And there is another blessing here. When we practice submitting ourselves to our husbands, we are practicing a way of life that pleases God. It becomes a built-in part of our life that extends into the way we treat others.

In Philippians, chapter 2, Paul says this to the church:

1So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, 2complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind.

3Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.

4Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.

5Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.

8And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

9Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, 10so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Jesus was God, yet He chose to submit to the Father and make Himself a servant and a man. The result of the choice that Jesus made to submit himself is that he was exalted. God's ways are not our ways! When we live from a place of humility and service, when we are obedient to God, we are actually elevated to a higher place.

This is true for anyone, not just wives. Jesus spoke about this reversal often. One example is in Matthew 23, verse 12:

"Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted."

Honestly, the result in my life of stepping back to allow my husband to be the head of our family has been such a relief! It took us some time to find our flow, but I realized that I don't actually want to fight to be in charge all the time.

I feel so loved by the Lord and so taken care of by both God and my husband. Living God's way has allowed us to merge into a relationship where my husband actively seeks to make decisions for our mutual benefit, and sometimes so that I benefit more than he does. Talk about joy-filled!

I want you to know that it takes time, patience, and the grace of God for both a husband and a wife to live this way, especially if, like me, it is not the way you were brought up. It is definitely not like the world's wisdom. For this to work, both husband and wife have to be on board. So, what can we do if we step back but our husband won't step up?

Well, if he's a believer you could do what I did and just show him what the Bible says. Maybe he just doesn't know what God has said! But most importantly, we can pray. You are within God's will to pray for godly order in your marriage. Then be patient and don't stand in the way.

And if you are already married and your husband is not a believer, 1 Peter 3:3 says that we can still be subject to our husbands, so that even if some do not obey the word, they may be won without a word by the conduct of their wives. Blow your husband away with your love and kindness.

Respect his decisions and pray for him. You never know how God may be working on his heart too!

I want to pause here to make it clear that if your husband asks you to sin or if he is abusive or dangerous to you, you are never required to participate in sin or to stay in an abusive situation. Your ultimate covering is God.

So, if you need help, please talk to a fellow believer, a pastor or leader in your church that you can trust to help you stay safe and protected.

OK, two more quick points about our unity with our husbands and God's divine order and we are done, on our way to a more joy-filled marriage!

First, I'd like to point out who is missing in our discussion of unity. As much as we adore our children and are responsible for their well-being, our children are not supposed to be unified with us as husband and wife.

We are not called to be one with our kids. We are called to become one with our husbands and then train up our kids in the way they should go. We are to love them and prepare them to be unified with someone else!

Eric and I are recent empty nesters. When my girls left to go to college, there was an ending to the way our lives used to be. It was bitter-sweet. But when they left, a part of me did not leave with them.

Because we never put them in a place that they were never meant to be, we are still whole even though they are out of the house.

And my oldest is about to get married herself! I'm leaving this weekend to meet up with both of them in CA to go shopping for wedding dresses. What a pleasure it is to see my Naomi entering in her own oneness with the person that God has given her.

So, the order has to be: God, then our husbands, then our kids.

Our kids will see the way we live and be prepared to have joy-filled marriages too!

And finally, a little story that I hope might help you like it did me.

Before I understood how God was unified with Eric and I in our marriage, I kind of felt like God was separate from my relationship with my husband. And even though I loved God, I didn't even realize that I had switched the importance of God and Eric in my life. This is humbling to admit, but my husband had become an idol in my life and I didn't even know it. For some people their idols can be their kids, their jobs, or someone else they love, like their best girlfriend. So insert your current idol here!

One night, I was in that space between sleep and awake, and I had a vision that Eric was going to be killed in a car accident the next day. I brushed the thought away, but it came right back, over and over again, so strong that I was sure it was true. I pleaded with God in my dreams that it was just my imagination, that God would protect Eric, but each time, the accident would happen, and Eric would be killed.

I cried out to God and told Him that I couldn't live without Eric- that if God took Eric from me, I would also die. Then God showed me an altar and I knew that He was reminding me of Abraham and Isaac. If you don't know the story, God tested Abraham's faith by asking him to sacrifice his son, Isaac, to him on an altar. God was asking me to sacrifice my husband to Him. It was so real to me, and it was truly the hardest thing I have ever done because I didn't know what would actually happen. Finally, with real tears and shaking breath, I told God that I was submitted to His plan for my life, even if Eric wasn't going to be a part of it. I mentally put Eric up on the altar and released him to God. Immediately, I felt the peace of God and saw the ram that God had provided in place of Abraham's son. God was not going to take Eric, just like He didn't take Isaac, but I had to be willing to let him go. Poor Eric was not very excited when I told him all about it the next morning.

But honestly, not only do I need to put God above Eric in my life, Eric needs to love God more than he loves me. He needs to live to please God first, not me. And when my husband lives with those priorities, I can trust his decisions, because I trust God!

Truly, it is God that is taking care of me through my husband, and God knows exactly what I want and what I need.

So how do we live out a joy-filled marriage? The same way that we live a joy-filled life!

We do things God's way. We trust Him with our choices and let Him work in our lives. We live in the courage it takes to do things that often aren't glorified in the world around us. We love the people around us, especially our husbands, with the beautiful, sacrificial love that Jesus showed us. It really is the most exciting way to live.

by Susan Siragusa

siragusa.susan+godshots@gmail.com

Today I thought it would be fun to shift our perspective from the seen, to the unseen. I'm going to start this morning with a Bible story that you may be familiar with from 2 Kings 6.

This event took place about 150 years after the reign of King David. Elisha was one of the prophets sent by God in about 800 BC to help warn Israel against idolatry. When this story begins, Elisha is in trouble with the king of Aram. Aram was at war with Israel. But every time that the king of Aram would set up camp to attack the Israelites, Elisha would prophetically discern where they were and warn the king of Israel.

After accusing his own officers of being spies for Israel, the king of Aram learns that it is Elisha the prophet who is able to hear everything he is planning, even from the privacy of his own bedroom! The king orders his men to capture Elisha and he sends a strong force with horses and chariots to surround the city by night. Listen to what happens next.

5 When the servant of the man of God [Elisha's servant] got up and went out early the next morning, an army with horses and chariots had surrounded the city. “Oh no, my lord! What shall we do?” the servant asked.

16 “Don’t be afraid,” the prophet [Elisha] answered. “Those who are with us are more than those who are with them.”

17 And Elisha prayed, “Open his eyes, Lord, so that he may see.” Then the Lord opened the servant’s eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha. [These were the armies of God!]

18 As the enemy came down toward him, Elisha prayed to the Lord, “Strike this army with blindness.” So he struck them with blindness, as Elisha had asked.

19 Elisha told them, “This is not the road and this is not the city. Follow me, and I will lead you to the man you are looking for.” And he led them to Samaria. [the kingdom of Israel]

20 After they entered the city, Elisha said, “Lord, open the eyes of these men so they can see.” Then the Lord opened their eyes and they looked, and there they were, inside Samaria.

21 When the king of Israel saw them, he asked Elisha, “Shall I kill them, my father? Shall I kill them?”

22 “Do not kill them,” he answered. “Would you kill those you have captured with your own sword or bow? Set food and water before them so that they may eat and drink and then go back to their master.”

23 So he prepared a great feast for them, and after they had finished eating and drinking, he sent them away, and they returned to their master.

So the bands from Aram stopped raiding Israel’s territory.

Isn't it so great how calm Elisha was? To many of us, just like to Elisha's servant, this situation would have seemed impossible. But Elisha was operating in the reality of what was unseen. He knew that his human perspective only showed him a small part of what was really going on. God's perspective was bigger!

Another interesting view into the unseen world has to do with angelic beings. In the book of Daniel, Daniel had been in prayer and mourning for three weeks over a vision concerning the exiles returning to Jerusalem. At the end of the three weeks, Daniel gets a direct message from an angel. He describes the scene like this in Daniel, chapter 10:

5 I lifted up my eyes and looked, and behold, a man clothed in linen, with a belt of fine gold from Uphaz around his waist.

6 His body was like beryl, his face like the appearance of lightning, his eyes like flaming torches, his arms and legs like the gleam of burnished bronze, and the sound of his words like the sound of a multitude.

7 And I, Daniel, alone saw the vision, for the men who were with me did not see the vision, but a great trembling fell upon them, and they fled to hide themselves.

8 So I was left alone and saw this great vision, and no strength was left in me. My radiant appearance was fearfully changed,[b] and I retained no strength.

9 Then I heard the sound of his words, and as I heard the sound of his words, I fell on my face in deep sleep with my face to the ground.

10 And behold, a hand touched me and set me trembling on my hands and knees.

11 And he said to me, “O Daniel, man greatly loved, understand the words that I speak to you, and stand upright, for now I have been sent to you.” And when he had spoken this word to me, I stood up trembling.

12 Then he said to me, “Fear not, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart to understand and humbled yourself before your God, your words have been heard, and I have come because of your words.

13 The prince of the kingdom of Persia [a demon in charge of Persia] withstood me twenty-one days, but Michael, one of the chief princes [an angel of God], came to help me, for I was left there with the kings of Persia, 14 and came to make you understand what is to happen to your people in the latter days. For the vision is for days yet to come.”

The angel continues to speak with Daniel and encourage him before he returns to go fight with the demons of Persia.

Here again, we see that there is so much going on that Daniel did not see! As soon as Daniel started praying, God

dispatched an angel to answer his prayer. The angels were fighting literal spiritual battles in physical places. That blows my mind. When we speak about our prayers or spiritual warfare, do we understand the reality of what we are saying? Daniel's prayer caused God to dispatch an angel. I am convicted when I consider how flippantly I pray sometimes!

There are other stories like these, but I think we get the point. What we cannot see is more complete and more real than the things that we do see.

And of course, the most important One that we can't see is God Himself. Let’s continue with a little mental exercise.

Try to picture in your mind the concept, “God”. Who is He? Where does He live? What is He like? What can He do?

How does He feel about your kids, your enemies, your friends, your to do list? How does He feel about you?

Continue with your own questions. Don’t be afraid to wonder about the difficult things. God can handle it! Push yourself to wonder and define your perception of God. I’ll give you another minute.

Now, as you keep that view in mind consider this. God... is... BIGGER! God... is...MORE! We can't even define Him as loving because He DEFINES love. If God does it, it is loving. He is TRUTH. If God says it, it is true. He is omnipotent (all-powerful), omniscient (all-knowing), and omnipresent (everywhere all at once)!

No matter who acknowledges Him or accepts Him or agrees with Him, God is as real as it gets! He is high and lifted up. And God is glorified whether or not we or anyone else admits it!

And God decided to make the invisible visible when He came down to earth as the Son, Jesus. Colossians 1:15-17 reminds us about Jesus:

He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or rulers or authorities [these are ranks of angels]- all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. The invisible God wants us to know Him. He wants us to understand that this world is not all there is.

In Psalm 19, we are told that creation is a good place to look if we want to know God because creation itself declares His glory.

1The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above[a] proclaims his handiwork.

2 Day to day pours out speech, and night to night reveals knowledge.

3 There is no speech, nor are there words, whose voice is not heard.

4 Their voice[b] goes out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In them he has set a tent for the sun, 5 which comes out like a bridegroom leaving his chamber, and, like a strong man, runs its course with joy.

6 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.

This is so beautiful! But even though creation declares the glory of God, it is not God. He is so much more than His creation. But the Bible uses what we can see, to give us an approximation of God's glory. God's glory is actually something that we cannot see, let alone accurately imagine.

And the most amazing thing is, that this God who is so high and lifted up still chooses us to be the object of His affection.

David expresses our awe in Psalm 8:

3When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, 4 what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him?

5 Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings[b] and crowned him with glory and honor.

6 You have given him dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under his feet, 7 all sheep and oxen, and also the beasts of the field, 8 the birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea, whatever passes along the paths of the seas.

1 Corinthians 13:12 reminds us that so much of what we rely on will pass away. Beginning in verse 8 it says:

8 Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away.

11 When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways.

12 For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known!

Why have I taken so much time to shift our perspective? What benefit is there in focusing on the world that we cannot see? Well, for one thing, even though the world that we can't see is more real and more complete than the world we can see, how often does the visible world determine what I do, or say, or how I feel?

Sometimes we see what goes on in the world and it just doesn’t make sense. Sometimes we suffer for our own good, but sometimes the suffering is innocent and so very cruel. With everything we think we know, we cannot fathom why God would allow such things to happen. I do not pretend to know or understand some of the suffering that some of you have been through. Sometimes I do know, and I am helpless to change it. But we are not allknowing.

We are not omniscient. We have no context for what is really happening in this world, in the spiritual world, or in the context of eternity. Only God knows. Only God knows everything. Only God sees everything.

If we believe the truth, that He is good and loving, then we have to trust Him even when we can’t see the good or the love. I am not saying that we should not pray for deliverance from cruel or evil things. God is never cruel or evil. He does not delight in suffering, but He sometimes allows it and we don’t always understand why. And know that he suffers with us. Jesus shows us this kind of compassion when He said:

Luke 13:34

34 O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!

He saw the suffering that sin had brought upon Jerusalem, to everyone, not just the ones who rejected Him. There is a relationship between sin, free will, and God’s perfect love and compassion that I trust completely, but do not understand.

When I wrestle with these things I think about the book of Job, and if you’re like me, we don’t understand why God would allow what He did! If you’ve never read it, God allows great suffering in Job’s life. Satan asked for permission to prove that Job was only righteous because he was greatly blessed. He does this by bringing much sorrow and suffering into Job’s life.

His kids are killed, he suffers physically, his friends all accuse him of secret sin, telling Job that he put this upon himself somehow. He lost everything....and God allowed it. But Job never rejected God. And in the end, when Job confronted God to ask Him why, God did not defend Himself. He simply changed Job’s perspective from the seen to the unseen. God presents His omniscience to Job. Here are a few of those verses:

Job 38:1-7

English Standard Version

The Lord Answers Job [when he asks why]

38 Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind and said:

2 “Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge?

3 Dress for action[a] like a man; I will question you, and you make it known to me.

4 “Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding.

5 Who determined its measurements—surely you know! Or who stretched the line upon it?

6 On what were its bases sunk, or who laid its cornerstone, 7 when the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy?

And this goes on for two whole chapters. God is changing Job’s perspective. Then...

Job 40:1-5

English Standard Version

40 And the Lord said to Job:

2 “Shall a faultfinder contend with the Almighty? He who argues with God, let him answer it.”

3 Then Job answered the Lord and said:

4 “Behold, I am of small account; what shall I answer you? I lay my hand on my mouth.

5 I have spoken once, and I will not answer; twice, but I will proceed no further.”

It’s OK to wrestle with God. It’s OK to ask Him why. Sometimes, God reveals His plans to us! Job is still considered righteous even though he asked questions. God wants an authentic, honest relationship with us. But at the end of the day, if we don’t know why, we have to fall back on the absolute truth of God’s omniscience.

He knows better. He knows all. He is absolutely, perfectly, good. God sees the unseen!

God chooses to love us, rescue us, and redeem us. We can trust Him to guide us, teach us, and protect us for eternity. We can follow Him without looking back and love Him knowing that He is the only one who can ever truly love us because He really, truly knows us.

So where does our anxiety come from? Our hopelessness? What are we counting on when we make judgments or decisions that do not line up with the Word of God? What and who are we actually living for?

Listen to this quote from C.S. Lewis in his letter entitled, "The Weight of Glory"

"Indeed, if we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased."

Lewis is saying that in living our lives according to what we can see, instead of the truth of what we can't see, we live our lives half-heartedly. We have incredible, infinite joy offered to us when we live under the certainty that our time on this earth is short, and that our actions here on earth correspond to actions and rewards in heaven.

We live satisfied with the results of our temporal efforts, when God is calling us to an eternal perspective. The problem, Lewis says, is that we don't fully understand what we are giving up when we choose to chase after the things of this world.

Crowns in heaven can seem to us like soccer trophies. Why is that such a big deal?

Do you know that as believers, we are on our way to glory? Don't get me wrong, God will not give His glory to any other. We are not and will never be God. But even though we can't see it, we are being glorified. Listen to 2

Corinthians 3:18:

And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.

As believers, the Holy Spirit lives in us and through us. One of His many promises is that He will conform us more and more to the image of God. Even though we cannot see it, we are being restored to our former glory, the glory that we lost in the Garden of Eden.

In 2 Corinthians 4, Paul is reminding the people of Corinth that even though they are being persecuted for their faith, they should not lose heart because this world is so much more than what they see.

Even their persecution is being used by God to restore them.

Verses 16-18 say:

Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.

We have a hope of glory that has already begun in us. The key is in our perspective. These verses shift our gaze from what is seen to what is unseen. But what do we mean exactly by the term, "glory"?

The Oxford Dictionary gives two definitions for glory:

1- high renown or honor won by notable achievements.

2- magnificence or great beauty.

Well, it's easy for me to understand that God is glorious, even when we can't see Him. He is of high renown and honor won by notable achievements. He is magnificent and beautiful. God is the King of glory!

His glory is bigger and more than I could ever imagine. This is so important for me to know. It is the context by which I must live.

As we said before, God is BIGGER. He is MORE beautiful, more WISE, more INTELLIGENT, more POWERFUL. Nothing and no one else come close.

But what is our glory like? What is this reward that God insists is a motivation for the way we live? If I am living for my own glory, then I have missed the point. What is my greatest desire when it comes to the end of my life?

When I reach the end of my life, what do I want to be true?

Matthew 25:23 says it best. When I finally see God in heaven the words I want to hear are, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’

I also want God to know me. The worst would be the words of Matthew 7:23 "And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’"

The reward of glory, this high renown or honor won by notable achievements", is a glory given to us because we have pleased the One we love most. It is the Lord working through us, and we cannot boast, but we can stand before God in His image, covered by the blood of Jesus, and God will be pleased!

This is our reward and our motivation. To live in the perspective of the unseen so that we will please God. If we live for anything else, then Lewis is right. We ARE too easily pleased. In the end to know God, to be known by Him, and to please Him in the way we live our lives is our eternal joy.

And, by the way, the second definition of glory is "magnificence or great beauty". Daniel 12 describes what will be true of those who awake to everlasting life. He says in verse 3:

And those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the sky above; and those who turn many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever.

The Bible uses images in nature to describe our glorified selves too! As the image-bearers of a beautiful God, He has made us beautiful!

I'd like to finish by reading directly out of the "Weight of Glory", by C.S. Lewis. Just sit back and listen:

"It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible [lowercase] gods and goddesses, to remember that the dullest and most uninteresting person you can talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship, or else a horror and a corruption such as you now meet, if at all, only in a nightmare. All day long we are, in some degree, helping each other to one or other of these destinations.

It is in the light of these overwhelming possibilities, it is with the awe and the circumspection proper to them, that we should conduct all our dealings with one another, all friendships, all loves, all play, all politics. There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilizations—these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit—immortal horrors or everlasting splendors. This does not mean that we are to be perpetually solemn. We must play.

But our merriment must be of that kind (and it is, in fact, the merriest kind) which exists between people who have, from the outset, taken each other seriously—no flippancy, no superiority, no presumption. And our charity must be a real and costly love, with deep feeling for the sins in spite of which we love the sinner—no mere tolerance, or indulgence which parodies love as flippancy parodies merriment.

Next to the Blessed Sacrament itself, your neighbor is the holiest object presented to your senses. If he is your Christian neighbor, he is holy in almost the same way, for in him also Christ—the glorifier and the glorified, Glory Himself, is truly hidden."

Lewis, C. S.. Weight of Glory (Collected Letters of C.S. Lewis) (pp. 45-46). HarperCollins. Kindle Edition.

Living our lives according to the unseen allows us to live in the most accurate version of reality. It gives us the most accurate perception of who God is, who we are, and who the people around us really are. As we go about our days, let's not forget to take into account what we see and what we don't see!

by Susan Siragusa

siragusa.susan+godshots@gmail.com

Today we are going to just touch on another giant topic! Let's talk about friendship. I don't have the knowledge or the time to say everything the Bible has to say about friendship.

But here are a few things.

We are made to have solid friendships. Listen to these verses from the book of Ecclesiastes:

Two people are better off than one, for they can help each other succeed. If one person falls, the other can reach out and help. But someone who falls alone is in real trouble. Likewise, two people lying close together can keep each other warm. But how can one be warm alone? A person standing alone can be attacked and defeated, but two can stand back-to-back and conquer. Three are even better, for a triple-braided cord is not easily broken. (Ecclesiastes 4:9-12)

We know that friends are important and fun and supportive, encouraging, and helpful. But friends can also bring drama, jealously, competition, temptation, and strife into our lives. So, what are the qualities of a good friend? What kind of friend do I want to be and what do I look for in others? Well, don't worry... I googled the words, "What makes a good friend?" and Google's AI instantly gave me this response:

"A good friend is someone who makes you feel good about yourself and who you are, and who you can be yourself around. They can make you feel happy and loved, and there is usually little to no drama in the relationship.

Some common traits that make a good friend include trustworthiness, honesty, loyalty, they are a good listener (which is defined as listening to you and making you feel good when you're together), they are empathetic, kind (which includes not judging you or putting you down, not hurting your feelings, and respecting your differences). Friends according to Google are also willing to apologize when they're wrong."

I am aware that Google's AI is experimental and even controversial to some, but doesn't this response hit our culture's values pretty squarely on the head? Some of it I agree with and some sounds pretty good! But do you hear the truth-twisting here? The friend described here is someone who's purpose is to make me feel good. They can't judge and they have to respect my differences and my way of life, regardless of the choices I am making. I suppose if we think about it, some of us do just want to be around people who make us feel good about ourselves.

"Let's just keep things fun and easy! We can hang out and have a good time together, and we'll just move on when we don't make each other feel good anymore. I don't need any kind of drama in my life!"

But how deep can that kind of friendship go? Where is the real love? Where is the sacrifice and willingness to be honest to the point of temporarily hurting a friend's feelings for a more important goal?

One of the deepest friendships in the Bible, apart from the from the friendships that Jesus had with his disciples, was the friendship between David, a shepherd-turned-king, and Jonathan, the crown prince of Israel.

This unlikely friendship began while David was still a teenager and Jonathan was not much older. David had just finished courageously killing the giant Philistine named Goliath because Goliath had been mocking the armies of Israel, defying the armies of the living God.

David was so offended for God's sake that He jumped in headfirst- young, inexperienced, without armor, and with only a sling and some smooth stones to defeat God's enemy.

When King Saul found out what had happened, he called for David to find out who this incredible kid was.

Jonathan, the son of the king, and the one in line to the throne, had apparently also been aware of everything that had taken place. Listen to what happened in 1 Samuel, chapter 18, beginning with verse 1:

As soon as he (David) had finished speaking to Saul, the soul of Jonathan was knit to the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul. And Saul took him (David) that day and would not let him return to his father's house. Then Jonathan made a covenant with David, because he loved him as his own soul. And Jonathan stripped himself of the robe that was on him and gave it to David, and his armor, and even his sword and his bow and his belt.

And David went out and was successful wherever Saul sent him, so that Saul set him over the men of war. And this was good in the sight of all the people and also in the sight of Saul's servants. (1 Samuel 18:1-5)

This, my friends, was love at first sight! And before you ask, no, this was not a homosexual relationship. This was a God-ordained friendship! God knit the souls of David and Jonathan together. This is so interesting to me! What does it mean that God would choose to knit two souls together in friendship? Is this something that He does all the time? Has He done this to me? I have so many questions.

As I dive into this discovery with the Lord, I want you to know that am still digging. I don't have this concept of soul- tying totally clear in my head. But regardless, to know that God solidified a relationship in this way shows me that there is something to learn here. David and Jonathan are an amazing example for us of what a godly friendship can look like.

They were to remain friends against all odds, until death, and beyond. This was a friendship based on deep, soul-joined love. It was a friendship that was chosen and sanctified by God. What does a friendship ordained by God look like?

The first thing that I notice about the friendship between David and Jonathan, is that there was not a hint of competition or jealousy. Jonathan was not held back by David's lack of wealth or social status or age. And David was not intimidated by Jonathan's status either.

Jonathan was royalty- the very top-level social status in Israel, son of the king! David, on the other hand, was not only the son of a shepherd, but the youngest of many sons. Socially, he was the poorest and the lowest! But Jonathan was attracted to David's passion for the Lord. What a beautiful thing!

And David's passion for the Lord was evident enough for Jonathan to give over nothing less than the throne of Israel!

God had ordained that David would be king even though Jonathan was next in line for the throne. But this act by Jonathan tells me so much about his character. A selfless act like this is evidence of the Holy Spirit working in Jonathan's life. There was no jealousy here, no competition. Jonathan was close enough to God to be confident in God's plans- confident enough to love others at his own expense.

Have you ever struggled with jealousy or competition in your friendships? What is the root of this kind of sin? There are two things that immediately come to mind. First of all, jealousy is the sin of covetousness. Covetousness is an ungodly desire for something that someone else has. There are godly desires, which are more like good influences.

I see that my friend has a close relationship with God or her husband or that she is kind to others or that she is a good steward of her body or her finances, and I want those good things too. I love to watch my friend Ash reach her goals. It's so fun! and she encourages me to reach mine. The godly desire would be that I am then motivated to improve my own situation.

It is an encouragement, and a spurring on to good works! It's part of what Hebrews talks about in Chapter 10 verse 24 and 25:

24 And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, 25 not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.

That is not ungodly jealousy. It's a good thing! But, if I am looking at my friend and constantly comparing her situation to mine, and instead of being motivated to be better, it causes anger or resentment or ungratefulness in me, this is the sin of covetousness or envy. I want what she has instead of finding joy in what God has given me and hopefully joy in the fact that someone I love is being blessed! I can even be angry or resentful towards God becauseI might feel that He has withheld something from me.

Most of us will feel like this at some point in our relationships. We may not want to admit it to anyone or even to ourselves, but choosing not to acknowledge sinful thoughts of any kind can lead to a hard heart. When we ignore sin, even fleeting thoughts, those things can harden in us, and we can resist the sanctification of the Holy Spirit working in us to make us better.

So, what do we do if we notice this sin in creeping in? In 2 Corinthians, chapter 10, Paul reminds us that we have the power to "take every thought captive to obey Christ".

If I find myself feeling jealous or resentful, even a fleeting thought, I can immediately take that thought captive and ask the Holy Spirit to change my heart. "Lord, forgive me for these thoughts. Turn my ungodly covetousness into gratefulness for what I have, for what you have given me, and for the way that you gently lead me to be better. Give me a heart of encouragement and joy towards my friend for her success or giftings. Show me how to love and support her well with these things that you have given her."

And because I am praying the will of God with a humble and honest heart, I can be certain that He will change me. Do this the second that you notice that ugly thing inside of you....every single time! The Holy Spirit changes us through this sanctification. It becomes easier and easier. This is true for any recurring sin in our lives. As we name and present our sin to the Lord over and over, our hearts are changed. And eventually, that particular sin invades less and less. Then, we can live in freedom from it!

Another thing that comes to mind when I consider jealousy or competition in friendships, is this false idea that we are entitled to all of the things that our friends have. But that is not true! Sometimes we might try to comfort ourselves by listing out all of our giftings and blessings and holding them up for comparison.

And while it's good to be grateful, this kind of comparison is not biblical. God never promised to give us equal measures of giftings or blessings. In fact, the Bible assures us that we will not be gifted in the same way or to the same extent as others.

Romans 12:3-6 says this:

3 For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.

4 For as in one body we have many members,[e] and the members do not all have the same function, 5 so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.

6 Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them

We, like Jonathan, can be so confident in our relationship with God, that we are then free to encourage and lift up others in their callings, as God fulfills His purpose in ours. God has given you and me a purpose here on earth, with giftings attached. And the purpose of our gifts is to glorify Him!

It is not actually about me. Our blessings and joys are so much fun, but they are all "extra". If I am focused on what others have, feeling like I deserve more, I have forgotten why I'm here.

Peter fell into this kind of thinking when Jesus decided to tell him what kind of death he was to die.

Listen to what happened. It is from John 21. Beginning with verse 18, Jesus tells Peter,

18 Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were young, you used to dress yourself and walk wherever you wanted, but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will dress you and carry you where you do not want to go.”

19 (This he said to show by what kind of death he was to glorify God.) And after saying this he said to him, “Follow me.”

So, Jesus was saying, "Get ready Peter. Here is your fate! It's the way that you are going to glorify Me." But it doesn't sound so fun, right? According to history, Peter ended up being captured and martyred in Rome; legend says that he was crucified upside down because he refused to die in the same way that Jesus did.

As Peter processed his fate, he took his eyes off of his purpose in glorifying God and saw his friend John walking behind them. Starting in verse 20:

20 Peter turned and saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following them, ....

21 When Peter saw him, he said to Jesus,

“Lord, what about this man?” 22 Jesus said to him, “If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you? You follow me!”

Jesus doesn't explain himself to Peter. Peter had been chosen as a vessel for one purpose and John had been chosen as a vessel for another. It's tempting to try to find comfort while I'm in a state of jealousy by reminding myself of all of the blessings that God has given me too. It might make me grateful for awhile, but the real answer to the sin of covetousness is the fact that I'm not owed any of these things! I am a born-again child of the living God! I belong to Him. And He can do whatever He wants with me. Romans 9: verses 20-21 remind us:

20 But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, “Why have you made me like this?”

21 Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use?

I know I have spent a long time on this area of jealousy and competition. But it is because I have seen this be such a barrier to loving friendships, especially in women. So, we know how to deal with it in our friendships.

As with all sin, it begins in the heart, is captured in the mind, brought out into the light in humility before the Lord, and He who has the power to eradicate our sin and sanctify us into holiness, is faithful to change us.

The second trait that I noticed in David and Jonathan's friendship was that of loyalty. Loyalty incudes things like not gossiping, not telling secrets, and standing up for your friends, but biblical loyalty is more than that!

David and Jonathan's friendship began in covenant. A covenant in the Bible speaks of a lifelong commitment before God. I understand the covenant of marriage, but a covenant of friendship can seem over the top, don't you think? Don't friends come and go? We all have had a consistent turn-over of friendships, haven't we?

Well, I'd like to make a distinction here. I am sure that both David and Jonathan had many friends in their lives. There were, no doubt, many other people in their individual lives that they were close to, and other people that they loved. In fact, let's not forget what Jesus said to the Pharisee in Matthew 22, that the second greatest commandment is that we would love our neighbor as ourselves.

We are called to love the people around us. I love a lot of people! I love to use my giftings to help and serve others around me. I have fun talking to others, hanging out with the people around me, encouraging people, learning from others, praying for them and with them, and having a good time!

In some sense everyone around us can be and should be our friends. And the people around us sometimes come and go and that is OK!

But the relationship between David and Jonathan was different. Sometimes God creates friendships that are intended to last. They are there to teach us, to sharpen us, and to encourage us for the long-term. Sticking with an imperfect person, as we all are, takes love and growth and patience and grace, on both ends. It is good for us to practice these things. But the primary purpose for anything in our lives is always to fulfill God's purpose and to bring Him glory.

So, if we are going to be loyal in the long-term, it's important to look at the fruit of our relationships. Do they glorify God? The Bible warns us against being unequally yoked with unbelievers or to be friends with the world.

Proverbs 13:20 reminds us that "Whoever walks with the wise becomes wise, but the companion of fools will suffer harm."

Since our primary loyalty is to God, we must reserve our loyalty for those who are also endeavoring to follow God. Notice that the loyalty that David and Jonathan had for each other was a direct result of their loyalty to God.

God knit David and Jonathan's souls together specifically to bring about His purpose, to bear God's good fruit. The friendship between David and Jonathan helped to pave the way for David to be king, just as God had planned. And Jonathan's primary role in David's life was in support of God's call. Listen to what happened when Saul was pursuing David to kill him.

This begins in 1 Samuel 23, verse 15:

15 David saw that Saul had come out to seek his life. David was in the wilderness of Ziph at Horesh.

16 And Jonathan, Saul's son, rose and went to David at Horesh, and strengthened his hand in God.

17 And he said to him, "Do not fear, for the hand of Saul my father shall not find you. You shall be king over Israel, and I shall be next to you. Saul my father also knows this."

18 And the two of them made a covenant before the LORD. David remained at Horesh, and Jonathan went home.

Jonathan went to David, reminded David of his calling, pointed him to the Lord, and then renewed his covenant of friendship with him. What a comfort this must have been to David! How often do we need to be reminded to look up at the Lord when we are in difficult times? I want to be the kind of covenant friend that is loyal enough to be willing to jump into my friend's trial with them and point them to Jesus. Then, I want to assure them that I will be at their side too!

There is one more point I'd like to make about loyalty to our friends. The order of our loyalty is important. We are loyal to God first. Which means that we are following God's interests in all loyalties. And we are to be loyal to our spouses second. We talked last time about the unity that happens when we are united with our husbands through marriage. In God's eyes we are one and no friend, not even a soul-united friend should come between us and our husbands. That is not consistent with bearing good fruit!

So, I have been blessed by God with a few of these covenant-kind of friendships in my life. I know they are Godordained because the fruit of these friendships glorifies God. Even through trials and what some might call drama, God has knitted our hearts together so that we can support each other in our callings. And a couple of these friendships have had the chance to stand the test of time.

Just a couple of days ago I had one of these friends call me even though we had not talked in a while. We have been covenant friends for over 10 years. I have gone through some difficult times with this friend in years past, but we have come out of these times so much stronger.

She supported me when I was going to move away from California because she knew that the Lord was calling me to Florida. And a couple of days ago she called me because she remembered that I was going to be teaching here today. She is consistently supportive of my calling and quick to point out when I am wavering. And she even loves the fact that God has given me new covenant friendships in Florida. She prayed for me to find them. She sees God's hand in them, the fruit of those friendships for His glory, and there is no jealousy. She is not perfect, and I give her grace and she gives me grace. This is such a treasure!

But maybe like me, you struggle with this desire to be a selfless, loyal, and available covenant-kind-of-friend on the one hand, and a finite human being with maybe a husband, and a family and a job on the other.

We have a limited amount of time and energy. How can we possibly be a friend to everyone? I'd like to end our time by looking at how Jesus navigated through the friend relationships in His life while He was here on earth.

When Jesus took the form of a man, He willingly took on the limitations of His human body and of time. He needed to eat, sleep, and rest. So, in that sense, He was like us. How did Jesus do it? Jesus was, of course, never jealous or competitive, and He was perfectly loyal, always pointing His friends to the Father. And once Jesus has a friend, He will never let go!

First of all, Jesus prioritized His time with the Father. Luke 5:16 says that Jesus would often withdraw to deserted places to pray. We can't love others well if we are not connected to and filled by the Holy Spirit. The gifts of God's Spirit give us the qualities that we need to be good friends: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, faith, self-control, goodness.

Second, Jesus loved all of the people He interacted with perfectly. He didn't see others in His life as a nuisance. They were divine interventions...opportunities to comfort, heal, instruct, and bring people to salvation. Jesus had fun with his friends! They attended weddings and feasted together at eat other's houses. I am assuming there was even some music and dancing involved:)

Third, Jesus set time aside to focus on small groups and individuals. Sometimes, even though Jesus had many followers, He would take the twelve apostles aside to teach them or explain something extra to them. These were the same twelve that He had His last supper with.

And then there were the three, Peter, James, and John, that Jesus was with during His transfiguration on the mountain, and that He asked to pray with Him before His death. He chose the same twelve and the same three over and over. Does Jesus have "besties"? I don't think so, but He had reasons for who He chose to be with and when. Jesus loved and still loves every person perfectly. He died for all of us. But sometimes, while He was on earth, He chose to limit His time to the twelve or to the three.

And, by the way, when Jesus ascended into heaven, He assured His followers that it was better that He go away so that the Holy Spirit could come and dwell in all believers. The Holy Spirit does not have the temporal limitations that Jesus voluntarily had on earth. Unlike us, He can now be individually with every believer at all times.

Fourth, Jesus was perfectly honest. He loved people by encouraging them but also by rebuking them. He loved people enough to let them know when they were in sin, and He did it with patience, grace, and hope.

If we are loving our friends from a place of humility and loyalty, it's going to come out when we might have to bring up something that we see in their lives that is steering them away from the Lord. And that is completely in line with our motivation for a covenant kind of friendship. If our friendship is motivated by a desire to encourage our friend in their calling, then anything that leads them astray from that calling would be something we'd want to bring to their attention.

And then, we have to be open and willing to listen to our friend when they do the same thing for us. I want the people I trust in my life to tell me the truth! If they aren't willing to tell me the truth when it's a rebuke, then I won't believe them when they are telling me that I am doing something well. Honesty guards against flattery and the good stuff becomes so much more encouraging this way. Proverbs 28:23 says, "Whoever rebukes a man will afterward find more favor than he who flatters with his tongue."

And finally, Jesus was willing to sacrifice Himself for us. Jesus says in John 15:13, "Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends." Most of us will not be called to sacrifice our lives in death for our friends. But are we willing to sacrifice our time? our comfort? our money? I'm sure you can think other ways that you sacrifice your lives for friends. And godly sacrifice is not the same thing as trying to earn a friendship through works or allowing ourselves to be taken advantage of against our own will. Regarding Jesus's life sacrifice, He says in John 10:18:

No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father. We sacrifice for others because God, our Father, has called us to be living sacrifices for his glory.

So we willingly sacrifice out of love for the Father, serving others to please him!

So, to be a good friend I must first spend time with God often. I need to take my thoughts captive when I start to compare, compete or feel jealous. I am to be kind and loving to all of those around me, spreading the love and light of Jesus wherever I go. But it is OK and even wise for me to keep special covenant friendships with just the few that God has united to my soul. This allows me to be the kind of friend that has the time and energy to be loyal, and available. It also keeps the greatest influences in my life pointing me towards Jesus and not towards sin.

And because covenant friendships are born from our desire to see our friends glorify God, they can withstand the sometimes difficult and honest conversations. And finally, I can live a life of sacrifice because of what God has done for me. It takes a lot of faith to enter into this kind of friendship with others.

We want to protect ourselves. We don't want to be hurt or taken advantage of. But let's live a life that is courageously selfless and loving, one that trusts God enough to do things His way. Deep friendships bring blessings and joy. Let's be open to the friendships that God ordains in our lives and enjoy the fruit of what they bring!

by Susan Siragusa

siragusa.susan+godshots@gmail.com

Here we are again after a couple of months off. I hope you all had a nice summer. So, you know that one of the reasons that I love teaching God Shots is that I am free to teach on whatever it is that God is teaching me at the time!

And before we ended a couple of months ago, God was piquing my interest on the subject of prayer. I realized that even though I am a pray-er, I have never really done a deep dive into the subject on my own, and I was excited to learn all about it. Well, two months later after many, many hours of reading and studying about prayer, here I am, and there is too much! So instead of teaching you "all about prayer" I am going to start with what I would call "a brief introduction into some aspects of prayer".

What a wonderful, beautiful thing it is that our God allows, encourages, and even commands us to come to Him in prayer. James 5:13-16 says:

Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise. Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.

Then he gives us a "helpful" example....v.17-18:

Elijah was as human as we are, and yet when he prayed earnestly that no rain would fall, none fell for three and a half years! Then, when he prayed again, the sky sent down rain and the earth began to yield its crops. (Jaw drop!)

So we see that prayer is available for us to talk to God when we are suffering, to praise God when we are cheerful, to ask for help when we are sick, to ask for forgiveness when we have sinned, and to move mountains through faith! At its very essence we could say that prayer is simply intentional communication between the Creator and his creation and be done with it! It's the way that we build our relationship with God.

But, as we explore a few of the many intricacies of prayer, and when I read about or hear about powerful prayers in the Word of God, I think that you will agree with me, that there is always room to grow in this area!

How can I focus my attention better on the One who is my One and Only? How can I get to know Him better? How can I make sure that my eyes stay fixed on Him, my ears stay listening to Him, and that I am truly communicating with the only One who can actually make a difference? with the only One whose opinion really matters? with the only One who knows and controls the beginning through the end?

And then there is the matter of faith. How can I pray prayers that are so saturated in faith that they move mountains or as we heard with Elijah, prayers that control the weather? I am astounded at how often I neglect this privilege of prayer because I am too tired, or too busy, or too forgetful.

Paul reminds us in Ephesians 6:18, to Pray at all times in the Spirit with every prayer and request, and stay alert in this with all perseverance and intercession for all the saints.

But sometimes I am more like the disciples of Jesus, who when asked to stay up with him to pray before he was led away to be crucified, they fell asleep!

In Matthew 26, Jesus rebukes them: "Couldn't you watch with me even one hour? Keep watch and pray, so that you will not give in to temptation. For the spirit is willing, but the body is weak!"

Maybe, like me, this rebuke resonates all too well. But, although Jesus rebukes, he doesn't condemn. As usual, Jesus is patient, and when he comes back to find the disciples sleeping instead of praying for the second time, he doesn't wake them again. He goes back and prays again by himself. And Jesus is still praying.

In fact, Jesus continues to intercede for us in heaven. Hebrews 7:24 reminds us that Jesus "lives forever to intercede with God on our behalf"

In this brief introduction to prayer, let's look at some of the characteristics of powerful prayer that are recorded for us in the Bible. And let's remember that prayer is a vehicle for authentic communication with God. It's not a writing assignment or a work to check off your list. But we shouldn't be hesitant to learn how to pray better. In the Bible, Jesus himself gives us a pattern of prayer.

When the disciples ask Jesus to teach them how to pray in Matthew 6, beginning in verse 9, he says, "Pray like this....". Then Jesus gives them the pattern of The Lord's Prayer, which many of us have memorized since we were little. So there does seem to be a right and a wrong way to pray.

And even though authentic, daily, moment-by-moment, free communication with God is good and necessary, if we are to pray prayers of power that please God and that He uses to heal and to forgive and to change hearts and affect nations, it is imperative as with all things that we do it His way. And you will not be surprised to hear that with God, it is not a matter of words, but it's a matter of the heart.

So today, even though the topics on prayer are endless, we will be focusing on these common characteristics of powerful prayer in the Bible. I'll give them to you in advance. 1) Powerful prayer is intentional. 2) Powerful prayer is honest. 3) Powerful prayer is full of faith.

What does it mean to pray with intention? When we are intentional about something, there is a sense of preparation and focus with what we are doing. Daniel, the prophet, is a good example of a man of God who prayed with intention. During the Babylonian exile, when God gave king Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon victory over Judah, Daniel was one of the captives taken. His entire adult life was spent in a place where the enemy was ruthless in brainwashing and assimilating the captives into a pagan way of life. But despite his surroundings and his circumstances,

Daniel 6:10 tells us that he had a habit of prayer. In this specific situation, Daniel was about to be thrown into a lion's den as a result of a recent law that was signed against anyone who prayed to anyone except the king. The Bible says:

But when Daniel learned that the law had been signed, he went home and knelt down as usual in his upstairs room, with its windows open toward Jerusalem. He prayed three times a day, just as he had always done, giving thanks to his God.

Notice that when the difficult times came, Daniel prayed "as usual". He had developed a habit of praying alone with the Father, in a certain place, at certain times of the day, facing a certain direction.

So, when difficult trials came, he didn't have to even think about doing something different. He was already in the habit of meeting God. It wasn't the place, or the number or times, or the way he was facing that gave power to Daniel's prayers. It was his intentional heart behind these things.

Jesus himself had a habit of going alone somewhere to pray. His places of choice seemed to involve mountains or the wilderness. Here are some verses for you:

Mark 6:46- And after he had taken leave of them, he went up on the mountain to pray.

Luke 6:12- In these days he went out to the mountain to pray, and all night he continued in prayer to God.

Matthew 14:23- And after he had dismissed the crowds, he went up on the mountain by himself to pray.

When evening came, he was there alone.

And Jesus taught his disciples in Matthew 6:6:

When you pray, go away by yourself, shut the door behind you, and pray to your Father in private.

These verses do not mean that we should not pray with others. I could give you many biblical examples of the benefits of group prayer. But they do emphasize the importance of taking time to be with the Father alone, intentionally, and without distraction.

There have been seasons in my life when taking intentional time to be alone with God has seemed nearly impossible.

Seasons with new babies, early rising family members, and busy seasons of work when it has been all I could do to keep awake the second I stopped moving. These times all had the potential to cause my prayer life to wither, and I'm sorry to say that it often did. And although God has grace for all of our seasons, whenever I have found myself consistently unable to find a time and a place to pray, it has been good for me to take a step back and take inventory of my life.

We belong to a good God. He wants to spend time with us, and He knows all that we need to do. If you are having trouble being intentional in prayer, ask God to help you prioritize your minutes, or how to be creative with your moments of quiet. The truth is that we cannot grow in our relationship with God without spending time with him.

And we cannot work well or care for our families well if our spirits are not connected to him. Psalm 42 was written by David when he was in exile, most likely running from either King Saul or his own son, Absolom. But in the midst of his discouragement, he says in verse 8:

But each day the LORD pours his unfailing love upon me, and through each night I sing his songs, praying to God who gives me life.

David recognized the necessity of consistent prayer, especially in difficult seasons. He knew that it was prayer that connected him to the One who gave him life.

So, prayer is powerful when it is intentional. It is also powerful when it is honest. Honesty in prayer covers a multitude of subtopics, but I'll just bring up two of them. First, and most obvious, is the fact that God knows us better than we know ourselves. Listen to Psalm 139: 1-4,

O LORD, you have examined my heart and know everything about me. You know when I sit down or stand up. You know my thoughts even when I'm far away. You see me when I travel and when I rest at home. You know everything I do. You know what I am going to say even before I say it, LORD.

If we are going to build an authentic relationship with God, we need to be willing to take our walls down and be humble and honest before Him.

How many times am I praying for forgiveness while simultaneously defending my case? How about praying for one pious result, when I am secretly yearning for another? "Lord, bless my enemies!", but what I really want is for him to annihilate them! Maybe some of this comes from being raised to please all figures of authority. But God doesn't want to hear our "prideful, perfectly-thought-out, nicely worded, unselfish, perfectly loving" prayers if they are not authentic! Part of the beauty of prayer is that it allows us to admit the truth to someone who already knows it.

If we are talking about sin, we are praying to the One who can root it out for us, and who has already died to get rid of it! If we are talking about dreams, goals, or desires, God already knows what they are.

Honesty places us in a position of absolute vulnerability before the Father. He is God and we are not.

When we are honest with God, we allow Him to hold up a mirror to our hearts. It is only then that all things can be brought out to the light and dealt with.

Second, honesty in prayer is also about being precise about who we are praying to. Thinking good thoughts for someone is not the same thing as praying to God. It's a lie. We are praying to a PERSON.

And this person is not someone that we can make up. He is a separate being who thinks on His own. This might seem obvious to you, but I have recently become aware that we who say we are praying, even among those who might call themselves Christians, are not always praying to the same God! When we pray, we need to be praying precisely to the God of the Bible.

And we need to know that He will act according to His nature. Hebrews 13:8 reminds us that God is the same yesterday, today, and forever. We are not to be attracted by strange, new ideas.

I was recently asked by someone I love how I can say that God only saves the people who trust in Jesus. I told her that I am not the one who says that. God says that in His word! Then she said that she knows God too, and that God is good so He must save everyone no matter what they believe. This person I love prays to God regularly. But what God is she praying to?

If we are not honest about the person we are directing our prayers to, we have no foundation for knowing both what is expected of us and what we can expect from Him. The Word of God reminds us of the truth about what God's promises actually are. We can't make up what we want to be true. And the Word helps us to know God's will. This is essential for praying prayers that have any effect.

In John 15:7-8 Jesus, who is the Word of God, tells His disciples,

"If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples."

When the Word of God lives in us and we pray for God to keep it, it is in His very nature to grant that request. The one true God of the Bible is perfectly faithful, perfectly loving, and perfectly good. He is the only one we can truly count on and the only one who can truly help us when we pray.

Finally, I would like to touch on praying prayers with faith. Powerful prayers are prayers steeped in faith! This is the one I know I need the most help with. I started this little talk with James 5. Remember what it said about faith?...

...and the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick....

In Mark, chapter 11, verse 22, Jesus said to the disciples,

"Have faith in God. I tell you the truth, you can say to this mountain, 'May you be lifted up and thrown into the sea,' and it will happen. But you must really believe it will happen and have no doubt in your heart. I tell you, you can pray for anything, and if you believe that you've received it, it will be yours."

James 1:6-8 is also helpful. It reminds us that our faith must be directed to God, but ONLY to God and in nothing else.

But when you ask him, be sure that your faith is in God alone. Do not waver, for a person with divided loyalty is as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is blown and tossed by the wind. Such people should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. Their loyalty is divided between God and the world, and they are unstable in everything they do.

So, let's not get caught into the trap of believing in others, or in ourselves. We are to believe only in God.

So, I don't want to discourage anyone today, but ughhh! I have to be honest. I know enough to believe in God above all else, but I have not been throwing around any mountains lately!

Some might say that it's figurative- our mountains are any big obstacles that are overcome by prayer. And while I believe that is true, I also believe that Jesus meant specifically what He said. He was constantly astounded by the lack of faith that He witnessed around Him. So, what are we to do? How can we pray powerful prayers of faith if we feel so lacking?

Well, I think the first thing we get to admit is that there is no good thing that is naturally in us, faith included. Along with any other good trait that we desire in our life, it all comes directly and completely by God thought the Holy Spirit. Faith is a fruit of the Spirit and thankfully, by God's grace, if we belong to God by accepting His Son, we have this same Holy Spirit living inside of us.

If we want more faith, all we have to do, is ASK! Hebrews 12 reminds us in verse 2 that Jesus is:

"the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God."

What a relief! Jesus is our faith, beginning to end. He is the one who puts it in us, perfects it in us, and is powerfully seated at the right hand of the throne of God to protect it in us. As we keep our eyes fixed on who God is and what He has done, we cannot help but see the proof of His love, goodness, compassion, justice, and power. Instead of striving for faith, we are to keep our eyes fixed on a God who reminds us that He is willing and able to do what we ask, when we ask in a way that is honest and consistent with His character. We have the Word of God with His many promises to remind us of what He can do and what He has done. Let's keep focused on that!

When we focus on God, we can pray mighty prayers of faith because we realize that the results depend on God, not on us.

I'd like to end with a note on the idea of legalism. Legalism is when we allow even a good thing to become a labor of works intended to help us earn God's favor. The problem with doing something to earn God's favor is that this very notion skips the point of the Gospel completely. Colossians 2:22-23 reminds us that legalistic rules are: mere human teachings about things that deteriorate as we use them.

The(se) rules may seem wise because they require strong devotion, pious self-denial, and severe bodily discipline. But they provide no help in conquering a person's evil desires.

We don't pray to follow the rules or even to become better people, or to force God to do something for us. Although prayer will help us make better decisions and can actually be used by God to bring about healing or blessing, ultimately, we pray because we desire a relationship with God. The Good News is that Jesus is the one who has provided us with loving access to the Father by dying on the cross so that we could be proclaimed righteous.

When we go through our good spiritual disciplines like prayer with the intention of earning God's favor, the fruit of that becomes pride. We somehow believe that we have earned his love. And in many cases, legalism results in a smug comparison with what the people around us are doing or not doing. But as children of God, we already have his affection. He already loves us perfectly and there is nothing we can do to change that.

Here's an illustration that might help. Ever since I can remember, my husband and I have met each other on the couch at the end of the day to connect with each other. Sometimes it has involved wine and cheese, or more recently it has involved my husband's latest mocktail health tonic concoction!

But it always involves conversation. We meet together at the end of the day to talk and laugh and work through problems or share ideas. It's a time that I look forward to so much. Neither of us sat down one day and demanded to have an end-of-the day couch meeting every evening.

If I have to miss it for some reason, or if my husband does, we are disappointed, not angry. And since he's been working from home, we have naturally added a morning-coffee-couch date as well. It's a time to connect before the day begins...to align ourselves with each other so that we can live our days in harmony with each other.

Our prayer time with the Lord should look more like that. When we realize that prayer is a privilege that we have to connect with the Lover of Our Soul, and when we approach it with intentionality, and humble honesty, allowing our faith to build as we fix our eyes on Him, our prayer time becomes something we want to do, not a work to check off our list or to earn favor with Him.

So, if you are already spending quality time with the Lord on a regular basis, keep going! Protect that time as if your life depended on it, because it does! And if you've allowed the rest of your life to get in the way of your prayer time, I hope this encourages you to start praying or to bring it back into your life.

The Lord loves you and He can't wait for the next time you meet! By the way, for the readers out there, apart from the Bible, there are two other books that I thought might be good to mention to those of you who enjoy reading and studying about these things, specifically on the subject of prayer.

One is by Anne Graham Lotz. It's called The Daniel Prayer: Prayer that Moves Heaven and Changes Nations. It is a deep dive into the prayer life of the prophet Daniel. It's interesting, encouraging, convicting and meaty and you can even get a workbook that helps you really dissect different scriptures about prayer.

The other book is a collection of letters by C.S. Lewis called, How to Pray: Reflections and Essays. This one is more like following Lewis' train of thought as he kind of "wonders" about prayer. Sometimes, he gives answers and sometimes he doesn't, but I enjoy his unique perspective, and he challenges and encourages us to be honest and vulnerable in our relationship with God through prayer.

by Susan Siragusa

siragusa.susan+godshots@gmail.com

C.S. Lewis' novel, The Last Battle, is an allegory of the Christian life here on earth and of the kind of life that awaits us after we die. At the end of the story, the characters find themselves in a place of perfect peace and beauty governed by Aslan, the good Lion who represents Jesus Christ.

As the characters travel further and further into this world, the bigger and more beautiful it gets! Their goal is to follow Aslan, to live with Him in peace forever and ever. He gives them worlds within worlds. My favorite part is a beautiful scene of the characters running, tremendously fast, without any effort at all towards the next discovery, only to find something beyond that is even bigger and even more beautiful than they could imagine.

In the story, the lion who represents Jesus invites them to come continuously "further up and further in, further up and further in"! It's bigger on the inside!

Thankfully, we will never come to a place where we have seen all there is to see, or have known all there is to know, or have done all there is to do in our walk with God! Jesus invites us to push continually, further up and further in!

We don't have to wait until we get to heaven to live the kind of life that is so full of faith that we can joyfully run forward, discovering worlds within worlds. Our first God Shot focused on living the abundant life, and today I'd like to expand that idea by focusing on the topic of faith.

What is faith and how does it allow us to live a life that is full of adventure, never short on discovery, and most importantly a life that is continually glorifying and pleasing to God?

Let's start with a definition: What exactly do we mean when we use the word "faith"? I looked it up in the Easton's Bible Dictionary and here are some notes:

Faith is in general the persuasion of the mind that a certain statement is true. Its primary idea is trust. Knowledge is an essential element in all faith.... yet, the two are distinguished in this respect, that faith includes in it assent, which is an act of the will...(Easton's Bible Dictionary)

So faith is a willful decision that we make to trust something or someone that we believe to be true. It's based on both our knowledge of the thing, and in our decision to believe it. But our faith has substance; it is not wishful thinking.

As Christians our faith in God is based on our knowledge of who God is and what He has done.

How do we know who He is and what He has done? Romans 10:17 reminds us, faith comes from hearing, and hearing from the Word of Christ John 1:1 reminds us that

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

We know God through His Word, by reading the Bible. As we read, we come to know His attributes- that He is good, and just, and loving, and all-powerful, all-knowing, in control of everything, and that His perspective is so much bigger than ours. As we walk with Him, we also know Him by our testimony, what He has done in our lives and also in the lives of the people around us.

As God reveals Himself to us, we gain knowledge about Him, and then we decide to trust Him based on what we know about Him. This is faith!

Those of us who are believers in Christ began our Christian lives with what is called a saving faith. This is the faith that God Himself gives us which allows us to trust in the Gospel message.

It allows us to accept the truth that we are born sinful, that we cannot in our own strength earn favor with God through our works, and that our only hope is in God to save us.

Our saving faith allows us to know and believe that Jesus earned our favor with God by living a perfect life in our place and then by covering our sins with His blood, instead of ours. He paid for our sins and then conquered death by rising again so that we could also be dead to our sins and rise again in a position of righteousness before God. Our saving faith is a gift that is given to us by God. It is the first and most essential component of walking in faith because it connects us to God as a member of His family, of His body.

Then we become co-workers in His plans here on earth. We have learned before that our saving faith allows us to hear God clearly because His Holy Spirit dwells within us. It allows us to understand Scripture, and to gain discernment and wisdom that are established as He transforms us into the image of Christ.

For many of us here, we do have this saving faith. We do please God with our lives because of His grace and His goodness, and He does fulfill His plans through us. But could we go "further up and further in"? Could we hear God more clearly, risk a little more, see more of the miraculous, experience His love and power more and more? The answer is always, yes!

It doesn't matter how much we've seen or experienced or learned or done, there is always more where God is concerned! And I'm not talking about an unhealthy search for the next big experience. So often God is working in the little things, in the quiet things, in our day to day, normal kind of things- in our conversations with others, in the way we serve the people around us. What I am talking about here is not related to the size of the experience.

Elisabeth Elliot, a missionary to Ecuador in the 1950s reminded us that God is in it all. She said, "If you believe in a God who controls the big things, you have to believe in a God who controls the little things. It is we, of course, to whom things look 'little' or 'big'."

To God all things are small and to God all things are big. And faith trusts that even if our part looks small, God is the artist of a much bigger tapestry. But God does not have us here on earth to sit back and watch Him work. He is urging us to jump in.

In Ephesians 5:16-17 Paul says:

Make the most of every opportunity in these evil days. Don't act thoughtlessly but understand what the Lord wants you to do.

God is working now, and He wants us to work alongside Him. He wants us to make the most of every opportunity.

And working alongside God requires at least a few big steps of faith. First of all, we have to trust that God will speak to us in a way that we can understand what He wants us to do. Second, we have to trust God enough to surrender our will to His, and third, we have to trust God enough that we have the courage to act.

So how can I be sure about what the Lord wants me to do? Our most reliable way of hearing from the Lord is through

His Word. Micah 6:8 says this:

He has shown you, O mortal, what is good.

And what does the LORD require of you?

To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.

We can start there and do those things for a lifetime! And how often are you reading your Bible and you find a verse or a story that fits your situation perfectly? Psalm 119:105 is familiar to many people. It says,

Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.

God is faithful to speak to us through His Word!

But God can also speak to us in our mind. This can feel intimidating for some people. Please hear me. I am not saying that God speaks audibly to everyone in their minds. God speaks in many ways and one of His ways is not better or more full of faith than the other.

But for those who are curious or have experienced God in their minds this way, I would like to show that it is biblical for us to hear Him in our minds.

So, how do I know that I am hearing God clearly when He seems to be asking me to step out in faith? How do I know when my thoughts are His thoughts?

Even though the Bible says that I have the mind of Christ (1 Corinthians 2:16), I know that my flesh is still active in me. I have been born again, and I am a new creation, but my transformation is still in process. I still have things like pride and selfishness that seep their ways into my thinking. And my own sin and selfishness can cause me to think incorrectly about things sometimes. Not only that, we are all also participants in a spiritual battle against real forces of darkness that want to distract us from living lives of faith with God.

Revelation 12 tells us that Satan and his fallen angels are in the world with the intention to actively deceive us. So how do we know

which thoughts and directions are from God?

Romans 12:2 reminds us:

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

Paul is telling the Romans and us that we are to test our thoughts so that we can discern the will of God. So, what are these tests? Let's use what we know about the character of God to help us.

Numbers 23:19 record the words of the prophet Balaam. He says:

God is not man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should change his mind. Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it?

Our God is perfectly consistent! He doesn't lie or change His mind. If our thoughts contradict scripture, even a little bit, they are not God's thoughts. If our thoughts are inconsistent with God's character, they are not from Him. He would never lead us into sin. And if our thoughts diminish or change the truth of the Gospel, they are not God's thoughts. Otherwise, we can learn to trust God's voice inside of us.

Listen to Hebrews 8:10-12-

10 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my laws into their minds, and write them on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

11 And they shall not teach, each one his neighbor and each one his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest.

12 For I will be merciful toward their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more.”

The days that verse 8 is talking about are the days after Jesus. Before Jesus came, the people lived under the Old Covenant of the Law. They knew what the law was, because God had them write it down on tablets and scrolls and they read it out loud, but they could not follow it. The purpose of the law just served to show the people that they were sinful and that they needed a Savior. Then God did what he said he was going to do. God sent Jesus to pay for our sins and wrote His law onto our hearts.

Now the Holy Spirit resides in us, helping us to know right from wrong, and allowing us to please God through faith and through having a relationship with Him. We do not do this perfectly, but we are not left alone to figure it out. This is where faith bridges the gap. We decide to trust God because we know who He is.

And He is capable and willing to communicate with us, whether it is in His written Word or in our minds.

Jesus says in John 10:27-28-

My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.

Jesus assures us that we can hear Him because we can trust that it is His will to communicate with us. He says that because we belong to Him, we can listen and follow.

But do you ever have times when you just feel stuck? Dry seasons where you don't feel like God is speaking? Or maybe you're having trouble hearing? Or maybe you're feeling like you're not seeing God at work in your life? I definitely go through times like these! And although there can be many reasons for this, we might consider the following.

Listen to this quote from A.W. Tozer. He said,

"The reason why many are still troubled, still seeking, still making little forward progress is because they haven't yet come to the end of themselves. We're still trying to give orders and interfering with God's work within us."

Sometimes our lack of faith or trust in God's direction can actually be an unwillingness to surrender. Surrender and faith go hand in hand. If we are unwilling to surrender our will to what God is asking us to do, then are we really trusting Him? Surrendering to God's will and His ways shows that we trust that His plan is better than ours. It acknowledges that his perspective involves a much bigger view. When Jesus died on the cross, his disciples were confused. They thought that God's plan had failed. Even Satan believed that Jesus had been defeated. But God's plan was bigger, and Jesus knew that. He went to the cross willingly in the ultimate act of surrender.

There is a difference between trusting God and assuming that God is going to act the way that I think He will. Assuming that I know what God is going to do puts the faith on my own understanding and my own will instead of His. God's decision to heal people in the Bible illustrates this principle well. Over and over in the New Testament we see that Jesus was motivated to heal people based on their faith. When the woman who had been bleeding for twelve years touched the hem of Jesus' robe, she believed that He could heal her. And Jesus did.

He says in Luke 8:48:

"Daughter, be of good cheer, your faith has made you well. Go in peace"

In that same story, the synagogue leader named Jairus asks God to come heal his daughter. When Jairus hears that his daughter died before Jesus got to her, Jesus tells him in verse 50:

Do not be afraid; only believe, and she will be made well.

Jesus keeps His promise to the leader and makes her well. Jesus was motivated by the faith of the woman and the faith of the synagogue leader to bring life and healing. Healing is consistent with God's character. He is the Great Healer. He is all-powerful. We can be 100% sure that God has the ability to heal when we ask Him to. And it pleases God when we have that kind of faith. But faith and surrender are connected. Our faith has to allow for God's will over our own or we aren't really trusting Him. Our faith motivates God, but it doesn't control Him.

When Jesus' friend Lazarus was dying, his sisters Mary and Martha sent for Jesus to come and heal him. We see in John, chapter 11 that Jesus chose to wait until Lazarus died before he went to them. Mary and Martha were devastated at the loss of their brother, but we can see that their faith was not shaken. In verses 21 and 22, Martha says:

Lord, if only you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that God will give you whatever you ask.

Martha had faith that Jesus could heal Lazarus, but she recognized that she did not know exactly what He was going to do. She was sad, but even then, she trusted God enough to surrender to His will. Jesus had a plan that was bigger than healing. Everyone was confused when Jesus asked the people to roll aside the gravestone because Lazarus had been dead for four days.

They were amazed when Jesus proceeded to call Lazarus out of the grave. And when the people saw Lazarus brought back to life, verse 45 says that:

Many of the people who were with Mary believed in Jesus when they saw this happen.

God's plan showed His power. It brought glory to God, and it brought many to believe in Jesus. God's ways are better than our ways! He knows so much better than we do. His perspective is so much bigger. When we have biblical faith, we know that God is capable and we ask God honestly for what we desire, but we are also willing to surrender to His will because we trust Him more than we trust in our own wishes or understanding.

Jesus did not want to suffer on the cross. He prayed to God the Father three times that God would save us in another way. In Matthew 26:39 Jesus prays, O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.

Jesus is our perfect example of surrender mixed with faith. He trusted His Father completely, His faith was perfect, and yet, when He asked the Father to take away His suffering, God chose to do a better thing.

God chose to allow the suffering so that a much bigger purpose would be fulfilled.

Surrendering to God's will with things like healing feels big. But our surrender to God can show up in smaller ways too. Sometimes, God asks us to do things that are really hard, or uncomfortable, or downright embarrassing. We might be reasonably sure that we know what God wants us to do, but it's easy to talk ourselves out of obeying Him if we do not trust Him enough to surrender!

Let me give you an example. Many years ago, I was going to a conference to hear a popular Christian speaker in Los Angeles. This guy was popular enough to have filled up Staples Center which is a huge venue in LA for different concerts and sporting events.

Well, the night before the event, I woke up in the middle of the night feeling extremely ill. It was as if I had had a sudden allergic reaction to something. My throat was itchy, my head was completely stuffed up, and my face had become extremely swollen. One of my eyes had swelled up so much that it was completely shut. It was so strange and for some reason I decided to take a picture of myself partly because I looked so funny, and partly as documentation for what I was sure would be a visit to the doctor the next morning.

Well, to my surprise I woke up the next morning perfectly healthy. All of my symptoms were gone! Well, imagine my confusion the following day when the speaker started to talk about some allergy that his son had been struggling with for years.

The speaker put a picture of his son up on the screen and his son's face looked exactly like mine had looked like the night before, right down to the same eye being swollen shut. At this point I knew that something was going on. It was just too much of a coincidence! Immediately, I began to pray to ask God what He wanted me to do. I began to pray silently for the speaker and his son, prayers of healing and comfort for his family.

But the more I prayed, the more I sensed that God was asking me to do more. I began to argue with Him in my mind. "Lord, what else could I possibly do here! I am one of thousands of people at this conference and I don't know anyone except the friends I came with."

As I continued praying, I felt a strong conviction that God wanted me to personally pray over this speaker. It made no sense to me since there was no way that I could even find the man, let alone talk to him. But as I left the venue, I noticed that some of the speaker's books was for sale and to my utter dismay I looked across the building and saw that people were standing in a long line for an opportunity to get the speaker to sign them. I argued with God in my mind once more, insisted that I didn't have to talk to the man to pray for him and walked out of the building.

I have no problem praying for people, but I was being prideful. I was too concerned about what this guy or his crew would think of me. I didn't want them to think I was a crazy fan who claimed to have a word from God. I wasn't a crazy fan, but I actually did believe that I had a word from God! That's when I felt God's conviction so strongly that I had to obey.

It was time to surrender my will to His, no matter the consequences. It was time to trust God. I turned around to go back into the building and was stopped by the guard at the door. He told me that once we left, we were not allowed back in. Excellent, I thought! At least I tried! But I felt the Lord push. So, I told the guard that I was pretty sure that God wanted me to go back in to pray for the speaker. Miraculously, the guard opened the side door and let me back in!

I went to the book table, bought a book I didn't even want and waited in the long line for at least an hour. As I was waiting in line, I remembered the picture of my face that I had taken and pulled it up on my phone. When it was my turn for the book signing, I showed the speaker the picture of my face from the night before.

He looked at it and actually became startled at how ugly it was! Then I told him that I believed that God wanted me to pray against his son's sickness and over his whole family. I watched myself lift my arms over the speaker and his bodyguard moved in my direction. The speaker held his hand out to stop the guard and I proceeded to sing a prayer over him! I did not plan on doing that! When it was over, I put my arms down and walked away. All the speaker said was, "Don't you want me to sign your book?" I quickly handed him my book and then took off!

Sometimes obeying God can be uncomfortable!! You may be wondering if the healing song worked. I am still wondering myself! Did I really hear God? Was I just making things up? I don't think so. What about the swollen face? What about the guard who let me back in? Why was I able to sing a healing song that I didn't even know?

The truth is that I will probably never know for sure what the result was for the speaker. But the result for me was amazing. I can trust that God is good and that He uses situations like these to help my faith grow. God is sovereign, so I believe that He led me into a situation that I didn't understand, and He gave me the grace to follow Him. He gave me the opportunity to surrender my will to His. This act of faith was not based on wishful thinking or a sudden whim.

It was based on its consistency with God's character and from what He has taught me about Himself in His Word. It is good to pray over people. It is biblical to not be ashamed by the things of God. I was not sinning when I acted in the way I believed that God was leading me. Through this experience, God taught me how to hear Him better and how to obey.

It was the beginning of a pattern in my life. Now I trust God more. When I think that I recognize God's voice in scripture or in my mind, after testing it against His Word I (usually) obey.

I am never acting with 100% certainty that it is God who is speaking. But I trust God to communicate with me and I have faith that He is bigger than my mistakes. If the thoughts that come into my mind are consistent with the Word of God I can follow them, knowing that obeying His Word pleases Him. And sometimes He does let me see the fruit. Then I am sure it was Him and my faith grows.

I get better and better at recognizing His voice. And as I share these things with others and they share their testimonies with me, our faith grows even more. I would love to hear some of yours. Sometimes the directions are small..."Go offer to hold that baby." "Invite that woman to lunch." And sometimes the directions are a little bigger, in which God asks me to serve way beyond my natural skill set, or to do things I've never done before, or go places I've never gone.

It's a way of answering His call to go further up and further in. The beautiful testimonies that He has allowed me to be part of are the result of the faith that He has given. In them, I have seen God work and He has been glorified!

And finally, walking in faith involves a lot of courage! As we learn to hear God's voice and surrender to His will, we trust that He will give us the courage to live this kind of life. Sometimes, we will get it wrong! We must be willing to look foolish. Sometimes we will fail. But as we press into going further and further into a life led by God, we can trust that He will be faithful.

Thankfully, for most of us, looking foolish will be as bad as it can get. But for others, living a courageous life of faith can have serious and even life-threatening consequences. But we don't know what our future is going to look like. We can't take our freedom for granted. Let's practice being courageous now. Let's practice hearing God's voice and obeying Him now. Let's make sure that we know who God is and what His character is so that we will not be deceived. Let us live with a kingdom perspective, trusting that God is in control, that He knows what is best, and that we can trust Him when we don't understand or when we can't see the bigger picture.

I have one more story for you. This one comes from the Bible, 2 Kings, chapter 6. I have shared this with you before, but I want to remind us of its picture of faith. Elisha was a great prophet of God in ancient Israel. The Kingdom of Aram and the Kingdom of Israel were at war, and God had given Elisha the ability to know when and where Aram was going to attack. So, every time that the king of Aram would plan an attack, Elisha would warn the Israelite army to stay clear of that area. The king of Aram became angry and demanded to know where the leak was.

His men told him that Elisha, the prophet, could hear even the words that he said in the privacy of his bedroom. In his anger, the king of Aram and his army set out to surround the city where Elisha and his servant were staying in order to kill him. When Elisha and his servant woke up in the morning, they say that they were surrounded by enemy troops, horses, and chariots everywhere! Elisha's servant was terrified, but Elisha was courageous!

Remember what Elisha says beginning in verse 16?

16 “Don’t be afraid!” Elisha told him. “For there are more on our side than on theirs!” 17 Then Elisha prayed, “O Lord, open his eyes and let him see!” The Lord opened the young man’s eyes, and when he looked up, he saw that the hillside around Elisha was filled with horses and chariots of fire.

I love that story! God's army was surrounding the enemy. Elisha had the faith to see that God was in control. He was not afraid because He knew God. We have to realize that we do not see the whole picture. God is in control, and He is all-powerful. His attributes should give us the courage we need to walk in faith beside Him.

There are so many more on His side than theirs! St. Augustine of Hippo, a theologian and philosopher from the 4th century said:

"To fall in love with God is the greatest romance, to seek him the greatest adventure, to find him, the greatest human achievement."

Faith is knowing who God is and making the decision to trust Him. Let's pray out of Psalm 143:8-11

Psalm 143:8-11

Let me hear of your unfailing love each morning, for I am trusting you. Show me where to walk, for I give myself to you.

9 Rescue me from my enemies, Lord; I run to you to hide me.

10 Teach me to do your will, for you are my God. May your gracious Spirit lead me forward on a firm footing.

11 For the glory of your name, O Lord, preserve my life.

Amen!

by Susan Siragusa

siragusa.susan+godshots@gmail.com

Guess what? Christmas is coming! I'm sure you're aware. Even though it wasn't my plan to focus our devotion today on Christmas, I realized that I could not keep away. I wanted to talk about the "onmi" attributes of God, but everywhere I look I see Christmas! Then, I realized that Christmas is the perfect anchor point to talk about the omnis of God. What do I mean by the "omnis?" We've discussed these words before. They are attributes of God which each begin with the prefix "omni" which means "all". God is "omnipresent"- which means that he is present everywhere at all times. He is "omniscient", which means all-knowing (See the beginning of the word "science" in there?), and he is "omnipotent", which means all-powerful (Think of the word "potency"). It's the "omnis" that show us how very different we are from God: how God-like he is and how god-like we are not. If all we knew about God were the "omnis", we would be left with a great big, distant God who we could not relate to. But our God is not elusive.

And that is where Christmas comes in!

Let's start today by using our imaginations! Sometimes we stay down close to the earth when we talk about God. But today we're going to start in the clouds. It's when we open our minds to the unseen realities of God that we can better understand the reality of Christmas. Hold onto your seats to ground yourself. Now, look up to the roof or the umbrella, or even the sky above you and imagine that it is gone. There is no roof here; there are no walls. There is no sky or ground. Only God the Father, Jesus the Son, and the Holy Spirit exist here. Three parts, united, existing in perfect oneness with each other, existing in limitless eternity. There is perfect love here. In fact, God defines love.

There is perfect peace. Then imagine a beautiful, red, velvet ribbon in my hand. It is a very long ribbon. In fact, this ribbon extends out to eternity in each direction. Our ribbon represents time. And God, from His infinite perspective sees all of it at once. And the middle part of the ribbon that I am holding represents Christmas! Now, if you are at all math-inclined, you are already about to correct me. Eternal things don't have a middle! And if we were talking about anything else, you'd be correct. But we are talking about God's creation here, and He did, in fact, create time with a middle! And the middle of time is the life of Jesus Christ on the earth. Everything that happened before the birth of Jesus pointed forward to His coming and everything that happened after his death and resurrection points back to what He has done. We'll come back to the ribbon, but first, let's take a look at the first of our "omnis".

Listen to Psalm 139:7-10:

7 Where shall I go from your Spirit?

Or where shall I flee from your presence?

8 If I ascend to heaven, you are there!

If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there!

9 If I take the wings of the morning

and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,

10 even there your hand shall lead me,

and your right hand shall hold me.

God is omnipresent, which means that he is everywhere all at once- his glory is in heaven, his power is on earth, even his justice is in hell. When I think about infinite space, I sometimes limit myself to the things I can see or the space that I can imagine. But infinity goes other places as well. Have you considered the infinite space within? God inhabits not only the outer universe and beyond, but he also inhabits our cells, our atoms, our quarks and electrons.

We are constantly discovering more about both what is beyond us and more about what is within us. God is present in all of it. He is everywhere, but distinct from Creation. He is also everywhere in the spiritual world, in heaven and the spiritual world on earth. There’s no hiding from God. He is everywhere we are including in our thoughts. To some, the omnipresence of God is a comfort and to others, it’s the opposite! For many of us, it’s both, depending on the moment. In terms of our sin, we might not like an omnipresent God. There is no leaving God at church on Sundays and then living any way we want to live. There is no secret sin that we can hide from God. He knows our thoughts and actions better than we do! This can be distressing but it can also be so comforting! Have you ever tried to hide your sin? It is exhausting! Keeping up lies or hiding things we've done can eat away at us. But when we realize that keeping things from God is impossible, we are actually set free! It can be such a blessing to know that God already knows. He was there! Bringing sin out into the light allows us to deal with it. Since God already knows about it anyway, we can admit our sin, heal, and move on! And we can do this knowing that we are trusting our hearts to our Creator, the lover of our souls, our perfect Father.

Or, has anyone ever been in a place in your mind that no one else could go - in severe depression, anxiety, or pain?

It can feel so lonely. No matter how much others want to help, they can't experience these things with you. If you've been there, you may also know that during those horrible minutes of darkness, you can often feel God’s presence more deeply than ever. God is in the fire with us, even when no one else can come in!

But we don't need extreme circumstances to know that God is near. We can feel that kind of connection with Him every day of our lives because the truth is that He is that close to us all the time. Sometimes we talk about the Holy Spirit leaving a place or the fact that we don’t feel the Spirit somewhere or we’re wondering where He went. But don't forget that God is omnipresent. God is there whether we feel him or not. It’s really the connection that we’re not feeling. We're the ones who get distracted and then we feel like God has left us. But it just takes a moment of attention, of our desire to reconnect with Him, and we can feel His presence again because he's been there the whole time.

I found this quote in a book by A.W. Tozer called, The Attributes of God. It's so beautiful:

“God is above all things, beneath all things, outside of all things, and inside of all things. God is above, but He’s not pushed up. He’s beneath, but He’s not pressed down. He’s outside, but He’s not excluded. He’s inside, but He’s not confined. God is above all things presiding, beneath all things sustaining, outside of all things embracing, and inside of all things filling. That is the immanence of God.”

Looking back at our red, velvet ribbon of time, it's a little easier to imagine how God could be everywhere all at once.

He is infinitely above it, below it, within it, and through it.

So, God is not only everywhere at once (omnipresent), but he is also all-knowing, omniscient. He has limitless knowledge of all things because He is the source of all things. He knows His Creation!

Colossians 1:16-17 says:

16 For by[a] him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him.

17 And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.

In the beginning of Creation on our ribbon of time, God did something incredible, something beautiful and miraculous!

God separated light from darkness. He created the stars and the planets, a great clock to mark the days and seasons and years. On our planet he moved the waters aside to reveal land. He created plants and trees, grass and flowers, fish in the sea, and birds in the air. Then He created us- you and me. But He created us different than the rest of His creation. God created us in His image. We are also made of three parts, like Him, three parts united. We are body, soul, and spirit. While everything else on the earth is confined to the ribbon of time, our souls and our spirits are unlike anything else He has created. These exist outside of time. They exist out here, beyond the ribbon.

They exist for eternity. Our souls are our identity, and our spirits are the parts of us that long to connect with our eternal God. God knows his creation. And he knows you and me intimately.

Psalm 139: 13-18 reminds us about that. It says:

You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body

and knit me together in my mother’s womb.

14 Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex!

Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it.

15 You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion, as I was woven together in the dark of the womb.

16 You saw me before I was born.

Every day of my life was recorded in your book.

Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed.

17 How precious are your thoughts about me,[b] O God.

They cannot be numbered!

18 I can’t even count them; they outnumber the grains of sand!

It seems logical that our Creator would be all-knowing, especially about His creation. He is everywhere all at once, and he sees our ribbon of time from one end of eternity to the other. And yet, so often, we doubt him. Why is it that we sometimes think we know better than God? Why do we ever feel like he owes us an explanation?

For those of us who struggle with asking God, “Why?!” all the time, I’ll try to give us some perspective with a story.

Last year, I was teaching my students at my house, and we decided it would be fun for them to bring their little 2-year old sister to school for a couple of hours. She was so cute, with her little backpack and her lunch that she ate as soon as she got there. While we were reading a story out loud, I looked over just in time to see her notice the red GFCI circuit reset button on the outlet in the kitchen and stretch out her little finger to push it (who can resist a red button?). I didn't have time to get to her to stop her, so immediately, I had to put on my serious face and say, “Do NOT touch that! It’s SO dangerous!” And her sweet little eyes looked at me so hurt, big and wet, the tears starting and then the little whine before the cry...but I held the serious face even though I was dying inside. Her siblings wanted to rush to comfort her, but I made them stop for 15 seconds, an eternity! She HAD to feel the feelings, the gravity of the situation was important if she was going to remember not to put her finger in an electrical socket from now on. She could not fathom why I would be so mean, but there was no way that I could explain electricity to her.

She had no context for it. She just had to trust me even though I seemed mean and unreasonable. I didn’t allow her siblings to save her right away. I was looking out for her now and in the future and suffering was part of it. And, because I knew all of these things, I chose to hurt her feelings and allow all of us to suffer. And we suffered as much or even more than she did!

Sometimes we see what goes on in the world and it just doesn’t make sense to us. Sometimes we suffer for our own good, but sometimes the suffering is innocent and so very cruel. With everything we think we know, we cannot fathom why God would allow such things to happen. I am not at all trying to minimize the suffering that many of us have gone through. But the truth is that we are not all-knowing. We are not omniscient. We have no context for what is happening in this world, in the spiritual world, or in the context of eternity. Only God knows. Only God knows everything. If we believe that He is good and loving, then we have to trust Him even when we can’t see the good or the love. God defines these things.

In the book of Job, we don’t understand why God would allow what he did! If you’ve never read it, God allows great suffering in Job’s life. Satan asked for permission to prove that Job was only righteous because he was greatly blessed. And God allowed Job to be tested. Satan did this by bringing much sorrow and suffering into Job’s life. His kids were killed, he suffered physically, his friends all accused him of secret sin, telling Job that he put this upon himself somehow. He lost everything. And in the end, when Job confronts God to ask Him why, God does not defend Himself. He simply changes Job’s perspective. God presents His omniscience to Job. Here are a few of those verses:

Job 38:1-7

38 Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind and said:

2 “Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge?

3 Dress for action[a] like a man; I will question you, and you make it known to me.

4 “Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?

Tell me, if you have understanding.

5 Who determined its measurements—surely you know! Or who stretched the line upon it?

6 On what were its bases sunk, or who laid its cornerstone,

7 when the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy?

This questioning by God goes on for two whole chapters. Then God gives Job a chance to answer back.

Job 40:1-5

40 And the Lord said to Job:

2 “Shall a faultfinder contend with the Almighty? He who argues with God, let him answer it.”

3 Then Job answered the Lord and said:

4 “Behold, I am of small account; what shall I answer you? I lay my hand on my mouth. 5 I have spoken once, and I will not answer; twice, but I will proceed no further.”

When confronted with God's omniscience, Job realized that he had no right to complain. It’s OK to wrestle with God. It’s OK to ask Him why. Job was still considered righteous even though he asked questions. God wants an authentic, honest relationship with us. But at the end of the day, if we don’t know why, we have to fall back on the absolute truth of God’s omniscience. He knows better. He knows everything.

When Jesus was here on the earth, a great crowd came to him with swords and clubs. The chief priests and elders had come to capture Him. Then Peter, who was not omniscient, thought he was helping by lashing out at the enemy with his sword. Jesus rebuked him by saying,

“Put your sword back into its place. For all who take the sword will perish by the sword. 53 Do you think that I cannot appeal to my Father, and he will at once send me more than twelve legions of angels? 54 But how then should the Scriptures be fulfilled, that it must be so?” (Matthew 26:51-54)

Jesus was basically saying, “Peter, you weren’t there when I created the world. You have no context for what is going on here. I have the power to stop this, but I am choosing not to because I see all, and I know all. I am saving the world! I am conquering sin. I am loving the world!”

Now we have a little more perspective than Peter did in the garden with the sword. You and I understand some of what was going on with the death of Jesus. We know a little bit about what He was doing and that He was going to conquer death and that we would all be lost without it. But the disciples didn’t. Jesus told them but they didn’t understand.

All along our red ribbon of time, we as a people have struggled to trust in God's omniscience. Adam and Eve wondered why God would keep them from eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The Israelites wondered why God would require them to follow a law they could not keep. They wondered why God would take so long to send his promised Messiah. The disciples wondered why God would allow Jesus to suffer and die before he had overthrown the Roman government. Then, when Jesus defeated death, they wondered why he would ascend into heaven without them. What do we not understand today? Why does a good God allow bad things to happen?

Why is there sickness? Why is there death? Why can't I have all of the things that I want? Why does he wait so long to come again?

When we focus on the reality of eternity, those things that we cannot see, we can gain a different perspective. God, existing eternally outside of time and space has seen the entire ribbon, all at once. He planned our body's temporal existence from the beginning to the end. He planned for our eternal souls to exist with Him, for our spirits to connect with Him forever. He knows the whole story...all the parts.

But we did not trust him. We, the tiny specks on the ribbon tried to be our own God because we did not know better.

We tried to follow God's law on our own, but we failed because we can't do it without him. And so God, infinite and powerful, perfectly loving and wonderful, stepped down from His eternal sphere onto the ribbon of time to save us.

Our perfect Creator put limits on the limitless. He willingly put limits on himself.

Philippians 2:6-7 tells us that:

Though he was God,[a] he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to.

7 Instead, he gave up his divine privileges[b]; he took the humble position of a slave[c] and was born as a human being.

John 1:14 tells us that God, "became human and made his home among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness."

This is Christmas! This is God the Son, Jesus Christ, the center of our ribbon. Christmas reminds us that God stepped into time. He was still fully God, but He was also fully man. He loved us and taught us. He walked with us face-to-face. And then again, because we so often forget that God is omniscient, just like we did in the Garden at the beginning, we rejected God. You and I may have not been physically there, but our sin was there. While we were still sinners, we wanted to glorify ourselves. Our sin tried to destroy Jesus by denying His deity. Our sin tried to kill Him by putting His flesh to death on the cross. Our sin tried to kill God by separating the eternal Father from His Son, Jesus. But God rescued us from ourselves. Philippians 2 continues in verse 8. It says that, When he appeared in human form,[d] 8 he (Jesus) humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross.

The world thought that they had gotten rid of Him, that sin had won, but God is omniscient. He had planned eternity with us from the very beginning. He took all of our rebellion, our rejection of Him, our pride and our sin, and He put it to death with His body on the cross. And then, he defeated death by rising from the dead. So, these earthly bodies will die on the ribbon of time. But our souls will live with Him out here, in beauty and perfection, without boundaries.

And God will give us new, eternal bodies that won't fade or get old or wither away.

The third “omni” is omnipotent. It means that God is all-powerful. So, He is everywhere, sees everything and knows everything. Wouldn’t it be ridiculous if God could be everywhere and see everything, but He couldn’t do anything about it? We know that God is sovereign. He can defeat anything with a thought or a word because He is the one who sustains everything. Everything exists because of Him. God is infinitely more powerful than anyone or anything.

No one can trick Him, outsmart Him, or get away with anything. God always wins, and He already has!

Have you seen God's power at work on our ribbon of time? I am sure you have! You should share your testimonies with each other and with me! It builds faith. I have a fun example to share.

Several years ago, a young woman asked if I would be willing to meet regularly with her so that we could pray together and encourage each other. And each time, before we would meet, I would ask the Lord to bring something encouraging to mind to share with her, usually a verse or something that he had taught me during the week. This time as I prayed during worship at our church, my new friend happened to be up on the stage playing the flute. As I prayed, I suddenly saw in my mind's eye the entire sanctuary fill up with giant, beautiful angels. They were all singing, making an incredible sound, and I saw all of their beautiful music fly through the air and go into my friend's flute as she played. The music went in through her flute and out into the congregation. And I knew that the music was filled with God's power. Well, it turned out that my friend was about to leave on a missions trip to India to play the flute with a well-known worship group that was going to play a concert for the people. I assumed that I had seen the vision to encourage my friend for her trip. I told her what I had seen and needless to say, she was encouraged.

She told me that as she was growing up, she and her dad would play worship together. He would play the guitar, and she would play the flute, just the two of them. And she got very used to improvising in worship because of her dad. I assumed that this was the end of the story, and we prayed and thanked God for the vision. A couple of weeks later, my friend returned from her missions trip and immediately sent me a text. All it said was, "Susan, your vision was TRUE!" I had no idea what she meant but I met with her right away and then she explained. She said that when they got to the venue, a giant group of people had gathered. Thousands of people, families of all ages, most of them Hindu, had traveled from the nearby city to attend the free concert.

Towards the end of the concert, my friend was surprised to see the worship leader motioning for her to come forward with her flute. Up to this point she had only been playing in the background. The worship leader sat down on a stool with his guitar and asked if she could improvise with him while the rest of the team went out among the people. So my friend, feeling quite comfortable because of playing with her dad, started playing along while the rest of the team went out to witness and pray among the people.

As soon as she started playing, she remembered the vision that I had told her about. Immediately she remembered the angels and the power that God had sent through the music. That night hundreds of people came to know Jesus. There were many healings as well! What a remarkable experience! When she came back to tell me about it, you can only imagine how much our faith was built. God had let us experience his power!

Hebrews 1:3 says this about Jesus:

3 He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power.

God is all-powerful and by the way, He is also LOVE. This is why He has the power and we do not. We want power because we think we know what needs to be done, because we forget that we are not omniscient. But without God’s direction, we would not know what to do with it! Thank you, Lord, that we do not always get what we want. Thank you, Lord, that you are all-powerful and we are not. Thank you, Lord, that we are not omnipotent!

As we look back at our ribbon of time, we might wonder. Why did He do this? Why did God create the ribbon, and the stars and the planets and our earth, and why did He create us? God lacks nothing. God has existed in full, complete love and perfection for eternity even before we came along.

Our God is not elusive. Our God wanted to bring us into relationship with him, and above all, God created us for His glory. He created us to bear witness to who He is, to demonstrate His great love. He created us so that we could testify to His beauty and goodness, to His power, and to His faithfulness. And John 1:14 tells us that "we have seen his glory, the glory of the Father’s one and only Son."

So, as we take time this Christmas to celebrate God's great rescue of us, remember what is unseen. That is what is actually real. Remember that our time on the ribbon will come to an end. Remember that God planned for our eternal souls to exist with Him and for our spirits to connect forever with Him. Remember that we, as the objects of His great love, have a purpose, which is to show how good He is. We are the evidence of his omnipresence, of his omniscience, and of his omnipotence. God's love bursts forth from the center of this red ribbon.

Your unfailing love, O LORD, is as vast as the heavens; your faithfulness reaches beyond the clouds. Your righteousness is like the mighty mountains, your justice like the ocean depths. You care for people and animals alike, O LORD. How precious is your unfailing love, O God! All humanity finds shelter in the shadow of your wings. You feed them from the abundance of your own house, letting them drink from your river of delights. For you are the fountain of life, the light by which we see. Psalm 36.5-9

by Susan Siragusa

siragusa.susan+godshots@gmail.com