I am really excited about Christmas this year. Yes, I know we have two other holidays to go through before Christmas but...
"Claus and the King" is going to be produced at the West T. Hill Theatre here in Danville. My daughter Beth works for the theatre and will be directing it. She's directed many plays there so why am I so excited?
One night many years ago when I was the "Story Lady" for Danville community functions, I prayed, "Lord, please give me a new story for Christmas." Within an hour "Claus and the King" was written. I read it for the city recreation events, I read it for schools, I read it for churches, I read it for Senior Citizens. It was my husband's favorite of anything I ever wrote.
Then in 2007 I decided to turn the story into a play- a musical to house the songs that kept springing up into my mind that went along with the story. Songs like "I'm Off To Be A Magician" and "Christmas is Love". I wrote eight others in the process of writing the script.
And now it will be produced and I'm thrilled. There were very few adults who auditioned so we went with an all youth cast, except for the Grandmother who is telling the story.
There were children who opted not to audition for other plays because they wanted so much to be in one that celebrates Jesus. I believe the Lord brought together the cast and the crew. "Claus and the King" will only have a 5 performance run: Dec. 9-13 but I believe it will be an instrument for the Lord to work through and touch lives, not just those involved in the performances but the audiences as well.
It's funny about something like this. You (I) feel a certain amount of 'ownership' and yet you know you couldn't have done it on your own. "Claus and the King", in my opinion, is another parable told by the One who is "the same yesterday, today, and forever." And I am honored to be one part of His Body He tells it through.
For by Him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities or powers: all things were created by Him and for Him. (Col. 1:16)
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Anger Resolution
At church, Sunday before last, I boiled down a 6 hour workshop on Anger Resolution to 30 minutes of sermon. I got more comments on that message than any previous ones in the 11 years I’ve been there. And it occurred to me that if I have a topic that Christians respond to so well, then perhaps I could/should put it on my blog. So we’re going to do something a little different for the next several weeks. I’m going to start off with things I have experienced or learned about anger and then I’d like to get your questions or experiences and we’ll go from there.
Anger is a powerful emotion. And it can have powerful expressions in and through your mind and body.
The first time I was aware of anger was when I was five years old. My best friend was Lucy Schultzman who lived about three houses away from mine and I loved to go to her house to play.
Her older sister had a doll with brown hair that I loved and wanted as my own. She ,the doll, not the sister J, was a little shabby but I loved her.
That Christmas I received a brand new blonde bride doll. It was a Toni doll and you could give her home permanents. I felt empowered. I marched down to Lucy’s house and presented her sister with the trade offer which she immediately agreed to. When I showed my parents my wonderful new doll, I was told I was “stupid and ungrateful” and that I had been taken advantage of. They sent me back to the Schultzman’s to re-trade.
I recall walking slowly down the street and feeling such fury at my parents that it scared me. I knew that if I let the anger out, they would both drop dead on the spot. So I stuffed it down somewhere inside. I later learned that is a typical instance of childhood magical thinking that believes the world revolves around oneself.
I traded back the doll and then came home and wrote my mother a letter. I wanted to tell her that I didn’t want her to die but at age five sometimes spelling can be a little wobbley. What I presented to my mother was a note that said “I hope you do not did.” She read it and laughed. The fury that I had stuffed down earlier threatened to resurface and finish the job. But I stuffed it deeper this time.
It would be over 40 years before I felt anger again. I honestly thought I never had anger at anyone – I felt sadness and emotional pain but never anger.
Then I discovered that anger is a part of our makeup as humans made in the image of God. In Ephesians 4:26 we are told to “be angry and sin not.” I found that anger turned inward manifests as depression. Hmmm. No wonder I spent a lot of years depressed. I found out that sometimes it’s very good to be angry. But always our anger should be resolved. In the next few weeks we’ll look at different ways to resolve anger. I hope you’ll share your stories about anger and how you resolved it…or request prayer and insight to be able to do so.
I hope you’ll tell your friends to join us in this adventure of Anger Resolution. I hope that you will pray for lives to be changed through this journey.
Anger is a powerful emotion. And it can have powerful expressions in and through your mind and body.
The first time I was aware of anger was when I was five years old. My best friend was Lucy Schultzman who lived about three houses away from mine and I loved to go to her house to play.
Her older sister had a doll with brown hair that I loved and wanted as my own. She ,the doll, not the sister J, was a little shabby but I loved her.
That Christmas I received a brand new blonde bride doll. It was a Toni doll and you could give her home permanents. I felt empowered. I marched down to Lucy’s house and presented her sister with the trade offer which she immediately agreed to. When I showed my parents my wonderful new doll, I was told I was “stupid and ungrateful” and that I had been taken advantage of. They sent me back to the Schultzman’s to re-trade.
I recall walking slowly down the street and feeling such fury at my parents that it scared me. I knew that if I let the anger out, they would both drop dead on the spot. So I stuffed it down somewhere inside. I later learned that is a typical instance of childhood magical thinking that believes the world revolves around oneself.
I traded back the doll and then came home and wrote my mother a letter. I wanted to tell her that I didn’t want her to die but at age five sometimes spelling can be a little wobbley. What I presented to my mother was a note that said “I hope you do not did.” She read it and laughed. The fury that I had stuffed down earlier threatened to resurface and finish the job. But I stuffed it deeper this time.
It would be over 40 years before I felt anger again. I honestly thought I never had anger at anyone – I felt sadness and emotional pain but never anger.
Then I discovered that anger is a part of our makeup as humans made in the image of God. In Ephesians 4:26 we are told to “be angry and sin not.” I found that anger turned inward manifests as depression. Hmmm. No wonder I spent a lot of years depressed. I found out that sometimes it’s very good to be angry. But always our anger should be resolved. In the next few weeks we’ll look at different ways to resolve anger. I hope you’ll share your stories about anger and how you resolved it…or request prayer and insight to be able to do so.
I hope you’ll tell your friends to join us in this adventure of Anger Resolution. I hope that you will pray for lives to be changed through this journey.
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Rise up, Body of Christ!
I know a man who had a brain stem stroke. His cognitive mind was not damaged at all. His intelligence remains intact but he can’t make any of his limbs or his mouth or his bodily functions do what he wants them to do. It’s very difficult to understand what he is trying to communicate and most people can’t. My heart aches for him.
The Body of Christ in the earth today is like that quadriplegic man. We have the perfect mind of Christ but we are more often than not disconnected, seeing only our own selfish desires, hanging on to our own opinions and doctrines, frustrating His communication and his will coming to pass in the earth.
Sometimes when I’ve been through a lot of pain, both physical and/or emotional, I just want to leave this earth. Then the Lord reminds me what I’ve often told others - that when any one of us die, there will be that much less a container for Him in the earth.
Christians are the physical vehicle of Jesus Christ in the world today. He told his first twelve disciples on the night before He died that the bread He broke represented His Body broken for them – and us. They didn’t understand that til later. And I’m not sure that the majority of the Body of Christ today still understands.
That perfect body Jesus had as He walked the earth was broken, killed, dead, so that His spirit could come and live through many members of a Body so large and diverse that we cannot begin to understand in our imaginations.
In October, 2001, shortly after the attacks on the Pentagon and World Trade Center, my prayer partner and I were praying for this nation and she had a vision. She saw the Bride of Christ lying across the continental United States and she began saying “Rise up, rise up!” She described what she saw and I immediately felt a huge sorrow as He showed me that His Bride, His Body in the earth, was not held down by forces from the outside but was weakened and powerless because of things within: strife and criticisms between doctrinal thinkers and denominations, selfish pursuits of individuals and groups, apathy, and ignorance about who and what the New Creation truly is, and ignorance about our mission in the earth. It reminded me of something the Lord spoke to me back in 1984. “People are building their own kingdoms in My Name.”
For over seven years since that vision, every night my prayer partner and I have prayed for the Body of Christ, that we will rise up and recognize who we are and become completely submitted to the Head so He can work through us to bring “His Kingdom come, His will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”
Recently I went through some very painful health issues and truly wished I could just go on to heaven. But the Lord reminded me “There are two of us in here. I need this part of my Body to work through.” So I threw off the selfishness and self pity and began fighting against the devil’s will for me, the one who comes to kill, steal and destroy, and made a choice to fight against him in cooperation with the one who comes that I may have life and have it in abundance. (John 10:10)
I believe that we are in the last times and that God has a huge work for His Body to do before He totally gives up on the world as it is. That same friend of mine had a vision a few years ago that still brings her to tears when she tells of it. The Christians were all together and she saw a streak off to her left. Then she realized that it was people going to hell, and they were going so fast and there were so many of them that it was just a blur.
We who are inhabited by the Spirit of the Lord are called to proclaim the good news that there is a living God who cares deeply about each person, who took their deserved punishments into His own Body through Jesus, the Savior, and was resurrected to live forever through those who die to self and receive His new life. I know very few people who take that calling seriously. I myself fail miserably in the area of evangelism. Forgive me, Lord.
Lord, forgive us for playing church instead of becoming the warriors You called us to be. Forgive us for disconnecting from you with our selfish desires and stubborn belief systems. Lord, make us one in Love and purpose so that we can rise up and BE Your Body in the earth to the glory of God and the furtherance of the Kingdom. In Jesus Name, Amen.
The Body of Christ in the earth today is like that quadriplegic man. We have the perfect mind of Christ but we are more often than not disconnected, seeing only our own selfish desires, hanging on to our own opinions and doctrines, frustrating His communication and his will coming to pass in the earth.
Sometimes when I’ve been through a lot of pain, both physical and/or emotional, I just want to leave this earth. Then the Lord reminds me what I’ve often told others - that when any one of us die, there will be that much less a container for Him in the earth.
Christians are the physical vehicle of Jesus Christ in the world today. He told his first twelve disciples on the night before He died that the bread He broke represented His Body broken for them – and us. They didn’t understand that til later. And I’m not sure that the majority of the Body of Christ today still understands.
That perfect body Jesus had as He walked the earth was broken, killed, dead, so that His spirit could come and live through many members of a Body so large and diverse that we cannot begin to understand in our imaginations.
In October, 2001, shortly after the attacks on the Pentagon and World Trade Center, my prayer partner and I were praying for this nation and she had a vision. She saw the Bride of Christ lying across the continental United States and she began saying “Rise up, rise up!” She described what she saw and I immediately felt a huge sorrow as He showed me that His Bride, His Body in the earth, was not held down by forces from the outside but was weakened and powerless because of things within: strife and criticisms between doctrinal thinkers and denominations, selfish pursuits of individuals and groups, apathy, and ignorance about who and what the New Creation truly is, and ignorance about our mission in the earth. It reminded me of something the Lord spoke to me back in 1984. “People are building their own kingdoms in My Name.”
For over seven years since that vision, every night my prayer partner and I have prayed for the Body of Christ, that we will rise up and recognize who we are and become completely submitted to the Head so He can work through us to bring “His Kingdom come, His will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”
Recently I went through some very painful health issues and truly wished I could just go on to heaven. But the Lord reminded me “There are two of us in here. I need this part of my Body to work through.” So I threw off the selfishness and self pity and began fighting against the devil’s will for me, the one who comes to kill, steal and destroy, and made a choice to fight against him in cooperation with the one who comes that I may have life and have it in abundance. (John 10:10)
I believe that we are in the last times and that God has a huge work for His Body to do before He totally gives up on the world as it is. That same friend of mine had a vision a few years ago that still brings her to tears when she tells of it. The Christians were all together and she saw a streak off to her left. Then she realized that it was people going to hell, and they were going so fast and there were so many of them that it was just a blur.
We who are inhabited by the Spirit of the Lord are called to proclaim the good news that there is a living God who cares deeply about each person, who took their deserved punishments into His own Body through Jesus, the Savior, and was resurrected to live forever through those who die to self and receive His new life. I know very few people who take that calling seriously. I myself fail miserably in the area of evangelism. Forgive me, Lord.
Lord, forgive us for playing church instead of becoming the warriors You called us to be. Forgive us for disconnecting from you with our selfish desires and stubborn belief systems. Lord, make us one in Love and purpose so that we can rise up and BE Your Body in the earth to the glory of God and the furtherance of the Kingdom. In Jesus Name, Amen.
Saturday, May 2, 2009
Helping God?
I had a shock a few months ago. There was no one to blame but myself: I told the Lord I wanted nothing to stand between Him and me; I asked Him to purge me of anything in me that was displeasing to Him. I asked Him to search my heart and show me any sin I needed to confess and receive forgiveness for.
And He did.
I went off to the cottage at Aldersgate Camp in March and while it was a needed and fruitful visit, it was not my most favorite time alone with Him. He began to show me how I had committed the same sin over and over most of my life and never even saw it as sin.
Have you ever heard the saying “God helps those who help themselves?” That “scripture” is found in First Delusions 1:19. It actually came from Benjamin Franklin, not from God at all.
What I saw when God exposed my heart to me was that not only had I helped myself most of my life, I also had attempted to help God. Now that doesn’t sound so bad until you put it up against true wisdom like “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding”(Prov. 3:5) or “I will say of the Lord: He is my refuge and my fortress, my God; in Him will I trust.” (Psalm 91:2) And especially “Humble yourself in the sight of the Lord, casting all your care on Him for He cares for you.” (I Peter 5:6)
Not only did the Lord show me how much I’d tried to help Him in the past during that week in the cottage, He has very faithfully shown me daily ever since then how much I’m still trying to help Him. It’s embarrassing.
You may try to help Him too.
If you are misunderstood and talked about, you may not wait for Him to clear up the situation but defend yourself to everyone around you instead of following Jesus “who when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed himself to him that judges righteously.” (I Peter 2:23)
When you have to speak to an audience or explain a situation, you may make notes and practice in front of a mirror instead of taking “no thought how or what thing you shall answer, or what you shall say: for the Holy Ghost shall teach you in the same hour what you ought to say.” (Luke 12:11,12)
You may fret and stew over your financial situation instead of following Jesus’ admonition to “seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” (Matt. 6:33)
When someone takes something that belongs to you, whether it’s a possession, a role in an organization, your reputation, or credit for something you did, you may believe it is the right thing to do to straighten out the situation instead of believing Jesus when He said “I say to you that you resist not evil, but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also.” And you may not believe what Paul wrote when He quoted God “Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath; for it is written ‘Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.” (Romans 12:19)
Ouch! Are there any among us who have never taken things into our own hands? Any of us who trust the Lord perfectly with the things that are dearest to us?
I go back to Aldersgate shortly to spend time alone with the Lord again. I hope He doesn’t have to show me that I’ve continued to do these things in the past two months. But in case I have, I am so pleased that my favorite scripture is true, “If you confess your sins, He is faithful and just to forgive your sin and cleanse you of all unrighteousness.” (I John 1:9)
Want to pray with me?
Father, I come to you in Jesus Name, part of His Body in the earth. Thank you that you are purging us from all that is unpleasant to you, changing us from glory to glory by your Holy Spirit, as we look to Jesus. This day Lord, we choose to quit helping You with our lives, but instead we choose to make Jesus Lord over every detail of our lives. Help us to humble ourselves under your mighty hand so that you can exalt us in due time. Help us to look only to you as our Provider, Defender, Shepherd, Comforter, and Healer. So be it.
And He did.
I went off to the cottage at Aldersgate Camp in March and while it was a needed and fruitful visit, it was not my most favorite time alone with Him. He began to show me how I had committed the same sin over and over most of my life and never even saw it as sin.
Have you ever heard the saying “God helps those who help themselves?” That “scripture” is found in First Delusions 1:19. It actually came from Benjamin Franklin, not from God at all.
What I saw when God exposed my heart to me was that not only had I helped myself most of my life, I also had attempted to help God. Now that doesn’t sound so bad until you put it up against true wisdom like “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding”(Prov. 3:5) or “I will say of the Lord: He is my refuge and my fortress, my God; in Him will I trust.” (Psalm 91:2) And especially “Humble yourself in the sight of the Lord, casting all your care on Him for He cares for you.” (I Peter 5:6)
Not only did the Lord show me how much I’d tried to help Him in the past during that week in the cottage, He has very faithfully shown me daily ever since then how much I’m still trying to help Him. It’s embarrassing.
You may try to help Him too.
If you are misunderstood and talked about, you may not wait for Him to clear up the situation but defend yourself to everyone around you instead of following Jesus “who when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed himself to him that judges righteously.” (I Peter 2:23)
When you have to speak to an audience or explain a situation, you may make notes and practice in front of a mirror instead of taking “no thought how or what thing you shall answer, or what you shall say: for the Holy Ghost shall teach you in the same hour what you ought to say.” (Luke 12:11,12)
You may fret and stew over your financial situation instead of following Jesus’ admonition to “seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” (Matt. 6:33)
When someone takes something that belongs to you, whether it’s a possession, a role in an organization, your reputation, or credit for something you did, you may believe it is the right thing to do to straighten out the situation instead of believing Jesus when He said “I say to you that you resist not evil, but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also.” And you may not believe what Paul wrote when He quoted God “Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath; for it is written ‘Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.” (Romans 12:19)
Ouch! Are there any among us who have never taken things into our own hands? Any of us who trust the Lord perfectly with the things that are dearest to us?
I go back to Aldersgate shortly to spend time alone with the Lord again. I hope He doesn’t have to show me that I’ve continued to do these things in the past two months. But in case I have, I am so pleased that my favorite scripture is true, “If you confess your sins, He is faithful and just to forgive your sin and cleanse you of all unrighteousness.” (I John 1:9)
Want to pray with me?
Father, I come to you in Jesus Name, part of His Body in the earth. Thank you that you are purging us from all that is unpleasant to you, changing us from glory to glory by your Holy Spirit, as we look to Jesus. This day Lord, we choose to quit helping You with our lives, but instead we choose to make Jesus Lord over every detail of our lives. Help us to humble ourselves under your mighty hand so that you can exalt us in due time. Help us to look only to you as our Provider, Defender, Shepherd, Comforter, and Healer. So be it.
Thursday, April 9, 2009
HAPPY RESURRECTION LIFE
Jesus’ last prayer before He went out to His Passion was for all who would believe on Him down through the ages. It was a prayer for you and me.
He prayed, “that they all may be one; as thou Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us; that the world may believe that thou has sent me. And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one: I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou has loved me.”
(John 17:20-23)
When you recognize that prayer in light of “I am the vine, ye are the branches” (John 15:5) and “By this shall all know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another” you begin to get a glimpse of your main purpose in life.
That purpose, your purpose here and now, is to live the Resurrection Life.
Your purpose is to show the love of God to a world that doesn’t know that He exists or that He loves each human being. But you can’t do that alone. It takes all the new creation beings, all who are born again, working together to perfectly reflect the awesome Love of the Creator Redeemer.
Paul’s two prayers for the Body of Christ recorded in Ephesians One and Three are keys to what we need to understand about our calling and purpose.
In Ephesians 1: 16-23, Paul asks the Father that YOU would receive the revelation of the resurrection power and how it works in you and all who believe, that you would understand that you now are part of His Body in the earth, forgiven, empowered, and given authority under Him over all things.
In Ephesians 3:14-19 Paul prays that we receive a revelation of the love of God so that we can be filled with the fullness of God. But he says we can only do that ‘with all saints’. In other words, it takes all of the Body of Christ to perfectly contain and pour forth His Love. Think of that! The fullness of God. Paul states that truth again in his letter to the Colossians “For in Him (Jesus) dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. And ye are complete in Him, which is the head of all principality and power.” (Col. 2:9 and 10)
My prayer for all of us who are one in Him is that we learn to love purely and wholly, that we reflect Him to all around us, that we understand His authority and let Him exercise it through us.
Go with Him to the Garden and say “Not my will but Thine be done.” Go with Him to the cross and say “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.” And “Into Thy hands I commit my spirit.” Then come forth from the empty tomb with Him and say
He is risen.
He is risen indeed!
He is risen.
He is risen in me!
He prayed, “that they all may be one; as thou Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us; that the world may believe that thou has sent me. And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one: I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou has loved me.”
(John 17:20-23)
When you recognize that prayer in light of “I am the vine, ye are the branches” (John 15:5) and “By this shall all know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another” you begin to get a glimpse of your main purpose in life.
That purpose, your purpose here and now, is to live the Resurrection Life.
Your purpose is to show the love of God to a world that doesn’t know that He exists or that He loves each human being. But you can’t do that alone. It takes all the new creation beings, all who are born again, working together to perfectly reflect the awesome Love of the Creator Redeemer.
Paul’s two prayers for the Body of Christ recorded in Ephesians One and Three are keys to what we need to understand about our calling and purpose.
In Ephesians 1: 16-23, Paul asks the Father that YOU would receive the revelation of the resurrection power and how it works in you and all who believe, that you would understand that you now are part of His Body in the earth, forgiven, empowered, and given authority under Him over all things.
In Ephesians 3:14-19 Paul prays that we receive a revelation of the love of God so that we can be filled with the fullness of God. But he says we can only do that ‘with all saints’. In other words, it takes all of the Body of Christ to perfectly contain and pour forth His Love. Think of that! The fullness of God. Paul states that truth again in his letter to the Colossians “For in Him (Jesus) dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. And ye are complete in Him, which is the head of all principality and power.” (Col. 2:9 and 10)
My prayer for all of us who are one in Him is that we learn to love purely and wholly, that we reflect Him to all around us, that we understand His authority and let Him exercise it through us.
Go with Him to the Garden and say “Not my will but Thine be done.” Go with Him to the cross and say “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.” And “Into Thy hands I commit my spirit.” Then come forth from the empty tomb with Him and say
He is risen.
He is risen indeed!
He is risen.
He is risen in me!
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