Author Archives: hisdesertrose

Apr2

Open My Eyes

Posted on April 2, 2015 by hisdesertrose

Driving to Dallas — yes, there WERE ten of us (two people were avoiding the camera…).

After only two weeks back at college following Christmas break, I and nine others (the faithful few!) set out from North Dakota for Dallas, Texas, to spend a week working with Urban Plunge, doing ministry in the inner city area. Eight girls, two guys, four days in an 11-passenger van, and four days of dawn-to-dusk ministry – you’d better believe it was interesting!

What did my team and I actually do while we were there? Honestly, we did mostly “behind-the-scenes” service, those unpleasant and typically tedious aspects of ministry that aren’t often lauded. We cleaned a shower house and an apartment. We sorted and organized clothes. I dressed the mannequins at a charity store. We sorted and organized clothes. We served at a soup kitchen for the homeless, tutored kids at an afterschool program, and played Bingo with the residents at an assisted living center. And did I mention we sorted and organized clothes?! (That was kind of a theme for us; at one location, our team of ten spent four hours in a 6-by-20-foot space doing that very thing – and we did get on each other’s nerves a bit that afternoon!)

At this point, you are either thinking, “Wow! A mission trip – how exciting!” or “So when exactly did you do ministry?” That’s how most people view missions: either it is something exciting and enviable, or you wonder when the real ministry starts. What is “missions,” then, and what is ministry? What do those frequently-used “Christian-ese” words even mean? What makes those things, those activities, authentic and impactful? What is the standard we must meet in order for them to be “worth it”? Do you need to travel far and preach the gospel message to people whose skin is a different shade than yours or whose language and culture are different? Or do you need to sell everything you own and go cuddle orphans in Africa? Perhaps – but perhaps not.

I really want to break down these questions here and share some thoughts. Missions and ministry and kids – those are my passions (aside from writing, of course!), and I can say with full confidence that I got to experience them all during my week in Dallas. But wait, we really only did the “dirty work” for ministries. That’s not real ministry – right? Not so. You see, ministry, very simply, boils down to this:

ministry = seeing needs and meeting them

That’s it – that’s all. It is no more complex than that. Missions and ministry have at their core the meeting of needs. And missions particularly seeks to meet those needs with the powerful, life-altering message of Jesus Christ, our Redeemer. Doing missions and doing ministry don’t mean you need to go far from home. If God asks you to give up everything and move to a country in Africa, that’s awesome! But you know what else is awesome? God asking you to meet needs (do ministry!) right where you already are. No matter where God takes you in your life or in this world, you are always called and always able, through God’s mighty strength, to do ministry and live missionally in the place where you are.

I’ve already been a foreign missionary for four years of my life, and I’ve been a PK (pastor’s kid!) for all my life. Basically, I’ve been there, done that. I’ve done more and experienced more than many people get a chance to in an entire lifetime. Right now I’m going to a small (but amazing!) Bible college in North Dakota; I haven’t been in Africa for a year and a half. I love Africa, and I want to move back someday with my own family. But even though I have left Africa for now, I’m still on the mission field – I’m still a missionary. I am a full-time student, but I am also in full-time ministry. How? Because I see needs and meet them wherever I am, and I take all the simple, everyday opportunities to live missionally by sharing God’s truth and grace – praying with people, letting people cry while I hold them in my arms, baking cookies for someone, offering encouragement and a listening ear, or giving out much-needed smiles. Ministry and missions are real and oftentimes raw — they are life.

Ministry and missions are simple – but they are not easy. They are beautiful, but you have to first let our Heavenly Father open your eyes to the needs around you before you can begin to meet them.

So after the work was done, we decided to live it up in the big city — group date to Krispy Kreme!

When I let five-year-old Marguerite “do” my hair at the afterschool program then cuddled her on my lap, that was ministry. Her finger-combing was tear-jerking for me, but she was so delighted. My whole trip was worth it for that moment.

When I chatted with a mentally handicapped man during Bingo, that was ministry. I don’t think people usually talk with him much, but he was obviously longing for some conversation and companionship. My whole trip was worth it for that moment.

When my team spent over twenty-some hours throughout the week “debriefing,” talking about our experiences, praying for each other, and sharing what God was doing in us, that was ministry. It was amazing not only for my team but also our facilitator, Andrā, who was totally blessed by our passion for the Lord and our commitment to serve selflessly. The whole trip was worth it for that.

The whole trip was worth it for the people we got to meet and pray with; it was worth it for the ministries we blessed with our labor; and it was worth it for the God-orchestrated fellowship that my team had as we served side by side (very literally in most cases!). It was worth it for the things God did in us and through us on the trip. But let me tell you why it was worth it. It wasn’t actually “worth it” because of what happened – that was all always in God’s hands. It was worth it because we stepped out in obedience to the voice of our Father and let Him open our eyes to see the needs around us.

After we returned to North Dakota and I was enjoying the manifold comforts of a warm shower and a bed (and probably experiencing withdrawal after spending so many hours in extremely close proximity to my nine team members), I was praying for the people we’d met on the trip and thanking God for all that He had done in us and through us. I prayed (and this is word-for-word from my journal), “that lives would be changed because of our service on the trip.” And immediately I flinched. My motives were right, but my methods were all wrong. God began to speak to me in that moment. My service change lives? Hello! Is my name Jesus Christ? Did I live a sinless life, die out of love for the sin of broken humanity, and rise again in victory over sin? No. So why pray that my service changes lives?! I should be praying that, through my obedient actions, I was (and will continue to be) a carrier of God’s presence and a facilitator of His Holy Spirit, who is already at work in the hearts of people.

Let me share one wonderful thing that God keeps showing me:

The beautiful thing about ministry and missions is that we are only responsible to be obedient to God and meet the needs before us; the outcomes are His responsibility.

We may have experienced some culture shock. (Don’t be deceived by the grain elevator posing as a tall-ish building on the Ellendale skyline!)

Transforming lives is His job, not ours. I don’t know about you, but that makes my heart feel light and free. I can do full-time ministry and live missionally every day of my life and leave the impact in His capable hands. I love what Paul says regarding the spread of the Gospel message:

“I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase. So then neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but it is God who gives the increase….Let a man so consider us, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. Moreover it is required in stewards that one be found faithful.” (1 Cor. 3:6-7; 4:1-2)

My dear friends, let us be faithful caretakers of the priceless Gift we have been given, Jesus Christ, and live outrageously obedient to Him who first loved us and draws us near through His kindness. May we learn to live missionally and do ministry by simply meeting the needs around us.

Father, open our eyes to see the needs; open our eyes to see as You see. We give you all the glory and all the responsibility for outcomes; we will be faithful in obedience and extravagant in love. We can do no less. Amen.

Here is a brief glimpse of my team’s ministry in Dallas:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=12yvFLturZA&feature=youtu.be

Dec24

Timeless Trust

Posted on December 24, 2014 by hisdesertrose

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A very wonderful and wise lady at my church said that we wouldn’t have to say, “I trust you” if there were no question of the path. Isn’t that so true? “I trust you” isn’t something we randomly say to start a conversation like a “Hey, how are you doing?” sort of greeting; it is something deep and personal that we say when we don’t know what the outcome is going to be. Real trust is always revealed in the face of uncertain circumstances.

Yet trust is a tricky thing because it makes us vulnerable. Trust is about relying on someone or something other than yourself to come through for you, and that can feel scary – dangerous, even. And that is where we run into trouble trusting God. Oh, we know we are supposed to trust Him, knowing that His plans are best and that He is good. So, like good Christians, we place our “trust” in God – but just in case He doesn’t come through on His promises, we devise a back-up plan, a Plan B to implement when Plan A just isn’t working out.

In The Princess Bride, Westley told Buttercup that he would always come for her because that is what true love does – it keeps promises and always prevails. Always, Westley said. Now, long story short: Westley left, Buttercup ended up engaged to the horrid Prince Humperdinck, Westley came back only to be parted from Buttercup again. Then the prince was going to force Buttercup to marry him. At the wedding ceremony, Buttercup waited in all the defiance of her certainty that Westley was coming. She goaded the prince, gloating that Westley was coming to rescue her.

And then the hasty ceremony was over, and her words broke something deep inside me: “He didn’t come.” He didn’t come. How often do we say that about God? We find ourselves in situations, waiting expectantly for certain, even promised outcomes, and then we hit the point where our situation becomes so hopeless, so unalterable, that we give up on trusting Him.

“He didn’t come” — Do you sometimes feel like that?

The problem is that we put limits on our trust – particularly time limits. When things don’t happen and promises aren’t fulfilled according to our concept of a “timely manner,” our trust falters. After the marriage ceremony, Buttercup’s trust in Westley failed. She had gone past the point of no return, and so she jumped, in a matter of minutes, to her back-up plan. As she prepared for suicide (a dramatic but not entirely uncommon back-up plan), Westley revealed his presence. Of course, she is delighted to see him but is also grieved at her recent marriage to the prince. Yet Westley announces that it wasn’t what it seemed – she isn’t really married to that cad and is free to leave with Westley instead. You see, Westley and Buttercup had different perspectives. Buttercup was so caught up in her disappointment that things weren’t “working out” that she failed to see circumstances as they really were.

I find that this is a very honest depiction of our relationship with God: time-bound trust, unmet expectations, uncertain outcomes – and a back-up plan to “save” us from disappointment and make us feel secure. My dear friends, we have to give up our back-up-plan way of life. What does that mean? It means that you give yourself fully to what God is doing in you and through you. It means that you don’t plot out what you will do if (insert promise here) doesn’t come to pass (even though God said it would). It also means – and this is very important – that you don’t plan how you will be “happy” if God doesn’t come through for you.

Now, don’t get indignant about that statement; let me explain. I don’t mean that we shouldn’t be content with life or that we shouldn’t find joy in simply being in relationship with our King. After all, that is more than enough because He is more than enough. But we cannot spend our time planning on how we will be good, happy Christians if God’s promises fail because that is the same as renouncing our trust in Him; if we are thinking this way, we are basically affirming that He isn’t “coming for us.” I have done this many times – even recently (as in yesterday): sitting and thinking about how I will decide to be “content” even if my God-dreams never become reality. Warning bells should have been going off in my head long ago – or perhaps they were and I was too busy being a “happy Christian” to hear them. There is a MAJOR problem here: this kind of thinking is reliant on lies about God’s goodness and faithfulness (or lack thereof).

I never considered it bad to have a back-up plan, and I never considered it incongruous to have a back-up plan even as I claim to trust God completely. In fact, I never even realized that I had back-up plans for my life until I realized that none of them would work out. Sometimes God has to take all other options away for us to realize that our trust needs to be in Him alone. I’m not even out of college, and I had back-up plans for my back-up plans for the rest of my life. I sensed the Lord smiling knowingly as He asked me this last week, “And how is that working out for you?” as I stood amidst my crumbling, last-resort plans. Obviously it wasn’t working out so well.

Now, take note that nothing happened to break God’s promises in my life; the only thing that had a break-down was my plans for “just in case” God’s promises don’t come through. This brings up an interesting point: not only can we follow our own plans for our lives, we can also (and perhaps more dangerously) be following God’s plan for our life in our own strength. That is why we desperately need to listen to the heart of Proverbs 3:5-6:

The path is straight and sure, but that doesn’t mean you can see its end.

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will direct [make smooth, make straight] your paths.”

The truth is that, in order to “trust in the Lord with all your heart,” you actually can’t lean on your own knowledge, your own strength, your own back-up plans. Relying on your own strength will make your path confusing and fraught with worry, and when you are trusting in your own strength – even while following God’s plans – you will never be able to see the fullness of His blessing and faithfulness in your life. According to these verses, all we are required to do is trust Him; we don’t have to strain or struggle to discern the route or try to “figure things out.” And notice that the promise that God will direct you, making your path smooth and straight, doesn’t mean that you get to see your path beginning to end. God calls us to take part in His adventure, and He guarantees His goodness toward us.

It is hard to give up your back-up plan when your every fear rises up to scream that you need to protect yourself and that God’s promises cannot be trusted. But we can refute and lay aside these fears with strength and victory, by the power of the Holy Spirit and God’s grace. Know all His promises are “yes and amen” (2 Cor. 1:20) and that He is always faithful even when we are faithless because He cannot deny His nature (2 Tim. 2:13).

And so I will leave you with the words of the Lord from Isaiah 55:10-11. May these beautiful words of life stir up a fresh hope within you as you wait for the sure promises of our Lord, who always comes for you; and may He expand your trust beyond the boundaries of time into the limitlessness of eternity:

“For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven, and do not return there, but water the earth, and make it bring forth and bud, that it may bring seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall My word be that goes forth from my mouth; it shall not return to Me void, but it shall accomplish what I please, and shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.”

Nov23

Love Covering

Posted on November 23, 2014 by hisdesertrose

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While reading through Proverbs again I was particularly struck by this verse: “Hatred stirs up strife, but love covers all sins” (10:12 NKJV). A companion verse is 1 Peter 4:8, where Peter was quoting the original: ‘And above all things have fervent love for one another, for “love will cover a multitude of sins”’ (emphasis mine).

But what does it mean for love to “cover” sins?

Junk under a rug is still just junk.

I think this is an issue we as the Church and as individuals often face. Sin is, well, SIN – are we supposed to casually ignore it because we are being “loving”? Not at all. True love, as we find in 1 Corinthians 13, is always truthful (v. 6) – and oftentimes the truth is painful to both the giver and the receiver. God certainly doesn’t just say, “Oh, no big deal. Everyone sins sometimes. Let’s just forget about that, shall we?” No – our sin, our disobedience, brings Him great pain, and ultimately it will cause us and others to suffer as well.

The real problem is that our concept of what it means to “cover” is misinformed. Love does not hide sin, sweeping it under the rug of ignorance; love always brings light, and with light comes life.

And then I had a beautiful God-thought: love covering. That is what love does – it provides a covering. Not to hide the ugliness of sin but to purify and redeem what it touches. Like the garments God provided for Adam and Eve after they realized their nakedness (Genesis 3:21), our love covering strips away shame and offers wholeness. Likewise, when the prodigal son returned to his father’s house, the father brought out the best robe and clothed his wayward child (Luke 15:22). This is what our Heavenly Father does for us. The love covering He provides is not something that hides sin, but rather it removes filth and shame and guilt, covering the nakedness of sin with the pure warmth of grace.

Now, of course, what Adam and Eve and the prodigal son received were but a shadow of what we now have; our ultimate Love Covering came through Christ: “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16, emphasis mine). It is the power of the cross through the resurrection that allows us to lay our ashes at the feet of Jesus and exchange them for a holy garment of purity and fellowship with God. In that moment, we are accepting His love as the covering that alone makes us whole. It is exquisite.

This is easy. Loving is difficult.

But that is not the full extent of the love covering. God convicted me of this recently. Only Jesus can provides the atonement for sin and thus the final Love Covering, but we as His Church are called to extend His love covering not only to other believers but to a world that doesn’t know what true love looks like. Love is wonderful when it is aimed at us, but we often shy away when the time comes to direct it toward others. I know I do, at least. After all, it is so much easier to show where someone has gone wrong than offer a solution.

It is so much easier to walk past when you should reach out. It is so much easier to focus on self than it is to focus on other. Loving hurts, and that is why we avoid offering a love covering to others, that extension of God’s grace that brings life.

“Love does no wrong to a neighbor, therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.” – Romans 10:13 ESV

We are very good at pointing out faults – sometimes we act as though it were our job and not the Holy Spirit’s to convict others of sin – but we don’t often offer a love covering. People need to see the love of God demonstrated through our actions and words. Sometimes providing a love covering means that you step in to fill the gap where you know another is weak. True love offers strength and hope; instead of just pointing out the “gap,” love stretches to cover and fill it. True love builds up and does not tear down. It gives when it does not receive and endures when all else crumbles. And this love, this glorious covering, needs to be extended just as much to unbelievers as to believers, for it is the proof of His Love living in us:

‘“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”’ – John 13:34-35

Unfortunately, we are quick to rescind this love covering when others make mistakes. We draw back and begin to cling to hatred, allowing its little roots to settle in our hearts and minds. Hatred, though, is a two-way poison. I am sure we can all agree that hating is an ugly thing. No one thinks well of hateful people. But did you ever stop to think about the hated person? The truth is that, just as hating never made anyone better, so being hated never made anyone better.

Your Savior loved you before you were lovable (Romans 5:8), and His love is what makes you loving, lovable, and lovely. Jesus Christ already died for every sin – past, present, and future – and it is not your job to decide who should receive the covering of His love. He gives freely and without measure to all, for His Love has already covered every sin. Hatred is a bitter cup to bear, whether you are giving or receiving, but God’s love is the wellspring that never runs dry.

Will you choose with me today, this very moment, to set aside hatred and extend His love covering? Only the covering of His gracious love denies the authority of evil and breaks the bonds of sin. Only True Love redeems, and only True Love never fails.

May we give as we have been given and cover as we have been covered, for His love heals, blesses, and restores that which has been cast aside as broken, cursed, and bruised. May the Lord expand in you and through you His glorious Love Covering as He teaches you how to love as He loves.

Are there any areas of your life where you need to receive God’s Love Covering? Are there any people who you specifically need to extend a love covering to?

Nov17

Unveiled

Posted on November 17, 2014 by hisdesertrose

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Have you ever wondered what God’s will is? I know, I know – it’s a rhetorical question. All of us who are following Jesus have wondered that at some point. Of course, if you ask such a question, you might get the “preacher answer”: it is God’s will that you be sanctified (1 Thessalonians 4:3). Because THAT really helps. Very practical, right? What does it even mean? You really just wanted to know what to do. And so with a sigh you return to the frustrating task of determining the deep and mystical will of God for your life. Or perhaps you just give up.

The first – and perhaps only – real problem is that we see the will of God as “mystical.” We even say “the will of God” in reverent tones as if it is some hallowed, unknowable truth we must somehow ascend to or that we’ll only understand after we die and “go to be with Jesus.”

That’s just nonsense.

Don’t make “confirmation” your fail-safe.

We so often want Him to tell us what we should do – what is the right thing, the right choice. It is important and good to pray, staying in continual contact with God, but it is also very important to recognize our own motives in asking for “confirmation.” Let’s be honest: we often ask for “confirmation” not because we truly want to know what is right but because we are afraid. We are so afraid of failing that we want security so that, if anything goes wrong along the way, we can blame God.

This safety-net mindset, however, denies the guiding presence of His Holy Spirit in your life, and it also embraces a view of God that is contrary to His nature. God isn’t going to trick you, and He isn’t going to let you choose something not good without warning. You, of course, are free to choose, but you will know if what you are doing is wrong because He is living and active within your spirit! It is not as though we will get to the end of life and stand before Jesus only to have Him say, “Oh, you know thirty years ago when you got that offer to take the job in Phoenix and you decided not to take it? Well, I really wanted you to take that job, and I just wanted to let you know that you have been outside My will since then” or “Wow, your life really could have been better if you had three kids instead of two; you were in my will but you really didn’t experience My best for you, sorry.” It sounds laughable to say it like that, but that is how we treat God’s will most times, so let’s just clarify some things here.

For starters, we should understand what we are talking about when we say “the will of God.” What exactly does that phrase mean? God’s will is, quite simply, all His thoughts and desires and plans for His creation, of which you are an integral part. Never deny your special place in His will!

This is not the fullness of your hope in life!

And secondly, God’s will is not some fine line that we follow from point A to point B. We are not trains on the railroad tracks of His will that, if ever we should deviate, we suddenly find ourselves derailed and unable to recover. Life is an adventure, every day of which has been written in God’s book before the foundations of the earth were laid (Psalm 139:16) that we may walk in all the good things He has prepared for us (Ephesians 2:10). It is a skillfully-wrought story with a plotline that twists and turns, has its joys and its sorrows, but always remains in the control of God, the great Author and Finisher (Hebrews 12:2), who works all things together for the good of His people (Romans 8:28).

Does that sound too simple? Good. Because it is precisely that simple. It breaks my heart when I see people desperately trying to discern God’s will. God doesn’t want you to be confused, and He isn’t asking you to determine what His will is. He sent Jesus in order to reconcile all things unto Himself, drawing earth and heaven, sin-bound time and glorious eternity, into beautiful collision, just as He always intended it to be (Ephesians 1:10; Colossians 1:20). In doing this, He “made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself” (Ephesians 1:9). Do you understand what that is saying? It is saying that it is His pleasure to let you know what He desires; and not only is it His pleasure to do so, He has already done so! Then, to go beyond even that, when we choose to allow the Holy Spirit to renew our minds, we are transformed and made able to “prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God” (Romans 12:2)!

Many hundreds of years before Jesus came to redeem us, David had the right idea:

“The secret of the Lord is with those who fear Him, and He will show them His covenant” – Psalm 25:14

In the same Psalm, David speaks repeatedly of how the Lord corrects us and teaches us His ways. We are not left to wander aimlessly, nor are we in danger of “falling off the track” when we are seeking to please Him. Our Lord is mighty enough to correct you, and, as our Heavenly Father, He is also loving enough to guide you rightly. He has unveiled within you all the mysteries of His will and taken authority over any darkness and confusion that held you back from knowing it. Declare your trust in His goodness toward you today!

Are you ready to unveil the adventure?

Nov1

Flow

Posted on November 1, 2014 by hisdesertrose

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Poppy, camera pouncer – only a few weeks old. It was love at first sight.

On Monday I lost my sweet lovie from South Africa; my mom had to have Poppy put down. I will never cuddle her again, my quirky yet faithful companion for the five most difficult years of my life. My heart hurts, but this post isn’t really about my dog’s death. More than any other death I have encountered, losing Poppy has laid me bare.

There inside my dream
I heard the river roar;
I stumbled through the darkened mist,
But I couldn’t find the shore.

Now this might seem silly to you. After all, it’s way more tragic when people die because people have souls and are more important – right? But let me tell you something. Creation didn’t choose sin; people did. Poppy’s death has left my heart in anguish, but not merely for the reasons you might think. I miss her because I am human and I loved her – love her still; but that is not what truly hurts most. You see, the consequence of sin is brokenness, and creation is powerless to stop that which people chose. Though we deserve the death brought by sin, creation does not; it is subject to the consequences of our guilt. Creation cannot choose something better. Poppy could not have chosen to make her life better by thinking better thoughts or doing better things. Her little body, like all of creation, fell prey to the brokenness of sin.

Sin always manifests itself in brokenness – this is the curse of sin that creation has been forced to bear. Romans 8:20-22 tells us, “For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope; because the creation itself will also be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now.” What is this “hope” for which creation was subjected to brokenness? The hope is the revelation of the sons of God through Jesus Christ, which brings with it reconciliation and restoration – the redemption of all created things (Romans 8:19-25).

I could have asked, “Why? Why my Poppy? Why is there so much pain?”

Happy memories of life around the world with my Poppy.

But asking “why?” can become a dangerous addiction when the answer is very simple: brokenness. So I am choosing let Him flood my being with His peace. Peace doesn’t take away the hurting. Instead it allows me to recognize that suffering is part of life in a broken world and, in doing so, exchange my ashes for beauty at the feet of Jesus. He is revealing new depths of His gracious love in the midst of the brokenness of creation.

A voice within the mist
Said, “Tell me what do you seek?”
I said, “I have a mighty thirst
But I feel so tired and weak.”
He said, “I am the river –
Full of power and truth.
You’ve been looking outside yourself
When it’s there inside of you.”

Those verses I quoted from Romans 8 are followed by a well-known, oft-quoted verse: “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God…” (v. 28). I claim that promise. As tears run down my face, I can without hesitation proclaim my unwavering trust in God’s working all things together for my good. Not to say that all things are good in themselves or that pain is not valid, but to recognize that I am free to rest in the surety of His goodness. I don’t live a glass-half-empty life, but I don’t live a glass-half-full life either; I live a life that is always full to overflowing, everyday living all-out, a testament of the fullness of His gracious love.

My mom pointed me to Ezekiel 47:1-12. This passage never fails to move me deeply. I encourage you to read it devotionally when you have an opportunity to do so, because there is so much more than just what I am going to draw out here. Ezekiel is seeing a vision of the new Temple and the New Jerusalem that God is preparing for His people, which, as Jesus-followers, we understand to extend far beyond mere physical fulfillment to spiritual reconciliation with the Father and His purpose for His creation.

Bursting with vivid imagery of the restoration of creation, these verses in chapter 47 describe the river of water flowing from the altar in the Temple. As Ezekiel is led forth, the river becomes broader and deeper until it is utterly uncrossable. ‘“Son of man, have you seen this?”’ asks the man leading Ezekiel (v. 6). Oh, can you hear what that question means? Have you seen, have you comprehended what the Lord is doing? The river flows down to the sea, and by its waters the sea is healed. Where the river goes, its water brings life and healing: “everything will live wherever the river goes” (v. 9). And the life of the river brings abundance. The sweet waters of the river tenderly restore everything receptive to its touch; healing flows as part of the life it gives.

And the river will flow,
The river will flow.
Through all of the times of your life
The river will flow.
And the river is love;
The river is peace.
And the river will flow through the hearts
Of those who believe.

Revelation 22:1-5 echoes, almost word-for word, the vision of Ezekiel – except that Revelation has an expanded vantage point because the Messiah, Jesus, has already lived, died, and rose again. In the previous chapter John writes of the beauty of the New Jerusalem with a view expanded with the knowledge of Christ our Messiah; here, we need no temple, for “the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple” (Rev. 21:22). John speaks of seeing a “pure river of water of life,” flowing from the very “throne of God and the Lamb” to bring abundant life (Rev. 22:1-2). Then comes the awe as the manifestation of full redemption is revealed in verse 3: “And there shall be no more curse…” The flow of the River wipes away the curse of brokenness that comes through sin. All who thirst, all who desire, may come and take freely of the water of life (Rev. 22:17). So I ask: are you thirsty and dry today?

So put your hands in mine.
Oh, put your hands in mine,
And let us all go down
And kneel by the river’s side.

We’ll cry our tears of joy,
Cry our tears of pain.
We’ll let them fall down from our eyes
To be washed in the sacred stream,
Even the secret tears
Buried in our memories;
Let them all be swept away to the depths of the endless sea.

The lyrics of this Whiteheart song beautifully capture the heart of the River passages of Ezekiel and Revelation. When the song says that the river “will flow through all the times of your life,” it is explaining a special verb form that doesn’t translate into English very well. What the song and the verses are saying is that there is already a release of the River, and the River is flowing continuously. And what is this healing River of life? It is Jesus Christ, the Living Water who causes His Life to bubble up within us as an eternal spring that never runs dry but flows abundantly through our hearts and lives (John 4:10, 14). There is pain, there is joy, and there are secret tears – all are swept up in the River and cleansed that we might receive restoration. Pain should never define us; instead we should allow it to refine us to a place of deeper strength and greater longing for the fullest outpouring of God’s redemption and restoration of creation.

Let the River flow. Come, Lord Jesus, come. Amen.

And the river will flow;
The river will flow.
Through all of the times of your life,
The river will flow.
And the river is love;
The river is peace.
And the river will flow through the hearts
Of those who believe.

Take a few minutes to listen to the full Whiteheart song here:

“The River Will Flow” — Whiteheart

Oct22

Called By Name

Posted on October 22, 2014 by hisdesertrose

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The concept of a name is so important. Your name is your title; it is your label. A name expresses who you are and who you will become. (Or at least, it should. I admit to having a pet peeve about parents who grace their child with the first “nice name” that occurs to them without paying attention to its meaning – but I’ll try to stay on track.) Names can build you up – or they can tear you down. They can declare and defend destiny, or they can reduce you to nothing more than a human parasite, existing only to take and offer nothing in return. (Did I mention I also have a major issue with “name-calling”?)

Nobody likes a parasite.

I recently watched a video series about personal identity in Christ. The pastor was talking about how, when we are made new in Christ, we get a “new name” that trumps every “old name” – every bad thing that was ever spoken to us or over us – and reveals who God created us to be. In part, I think this pastor was right – we are certainly made new in Christ, and our true identity is revealed only in Him.

But we are not given new names. Rather, we are given our old names – our first names, the names that only our Heavenly Father knows because they were forged in the depths of His heart and woven into the epic tale of His creation since before time began. That is our true identity. God does not give us each a “new” identity when we turn to Him in the sense that it did not exist before. Instead He calls each one of us by the name that only He knows, that sweet outpouring of His love and life into us.

Sometimes our identities, our true names, become shrouded in the mire of false labels. But God makes no mistakes; He gives no bad names and no wrong names. Before each one of us was born, our identities were in place, and they do not change. When God calls you by name, He calls you by the name that He has given you, by who He has already created you to be.

When I think of God calling His children by name, I think of Gideon, whom most of us think of as a mighty man who rescued Israel from its enemies and ruled over the nation as judge. However, that is the later part of his story; Judges 6 reveals a beginning very different from what we might expect of such a bold warrior. Gideon, a young Israelite, is hiding in a winepress to thresh his grain because he is so terrified of having what little he has stolen by the enemies who have overrun his nation. We get this brief glimpse of Gideon, and then the Angel of the Lord comes. ‘“The Lord is with you, mighty man of valor!”’ says the Angel to Gideon (v. 12). Wait, what? I had to read that again. Mighty man of valor? Gideon is hiding! I think I would have said something more like, “What are you doing, letting these enemies oppress you and your people?! Don’t you know that you are my chosen people and that I am mighty on your behalf? Quit being a coward and go make a difference!” But when God looked at Gideon, He didn’t see a coward; He saw the man He created Gideon to be – a mighty man of valor – and called him by that name. Does it strike you as interesting that Gideon ended up becoming a mighty man of valor? I am awed by it every time I read it. When God speaks your name, declaring and defending your destiny in Him, you grow into the person He has created you to be. It may not be an easy way to go, but God longs for all of His children to live up to the names He has given them. And remember, God looks at the inward things, not at outward appearances (1 Samuel 16:7). He is your Father; don’t think He doesn’t know your true name.

It’s sad but true that people can really be like this…

The thing about having this God-given name is that it means we are known and loved. When I was small I had a friend named Zach. One day I was at a pool, swimming with some older girls who weren’t very nice to me. While we were there, these girls began oohing and aahing over some cute boy who had come to the pool. This cute boy was my friend Zach, and when he spotted me, he ran to me, arms open wide, calling my name. He picked me up and spun me around. Those mean girls were angry and jealous, but it didn’t matter because I was safe in the arms of someone who knew and loved me. They couldn’t hurt me or bother me anymore. Just like the mean girls at the pool were angry at my knowing and being known by Zach, our enemy, Satan, is angry when God calls us by name. He is angry because he is terrified of what will happen when we embrace our true identity and walk out the destiny that has been declared over our lives by God, the King of kings.

Other names try to impose themselves upon our identities, snaring us in a trap of deceit. Some of these names might be “guilty” or “worthless,” “weak” or “impulsive.” Maybe you have been called by names based on your appearance: “fat,” “skinny,” “too short,” “too tall” – I have never heard anyone call anyone else “just right.” Maybe “angry” or “bitter” are names you have been known by, or perhaps “immature” or “unloved.” All these names speak of your faults and failures, the things that are “wrong” with you. None of them are your true identity, and you are not required to embrace a single one of them.

The beautiful thing is that God calls you, “Mine.” Because you are His and He knows and loves you, you can ask Him to tell you who He sees you as. We are each created unique, and He has a name that He is whispering over you that is unique. As a child of God you have the authority to declare and defend destiny in your own life and the lives of others by speaking truth over identity.

May18

Practice the Presence

Posted on May 18, 2014 by hisdesertrose

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I was laughing in church this morning as the service closed – I kept it to myself since the reason behind it was completely irrelevant to the sermon (which was awesome, in case anyone wondered). So often we talk about God’s presence – being in the presence of the Lord, feeling His presence – in everyday life. At least, the “spiritual” people do. The rest of us are left to wonder what the “presence of the Lord” is and why we aren’t experiencing what other people seem to be experiencing.

Let’s be real: what does “being in God’s presence” mean? What even is God’s presence? Here’s the problem: when we talk about God’s “presence,” we think of something intangible and transcendent, like the Force – something that can’t be seen or touched – you either have it or you don’t. But that is not at all what God’s presence is. It is so, so much simpler than that.

Imagine that you are alone in a room, back to the door, working on something. Eventually you sense that someone is behind you. There was not a sound, but you can sense that someone else is present. That is, very simply, what presence is: the sense that someone or something is present and near.

Imagine with me again. When you turn around, you see that the person behind you is an acquaintance. You sensed that someone was there, but you didn’t necessarily know who it was. That is how it is with God sometimes – we sense something, something wonderful and comforting and powerful and full of peace, but we don’t always recognize it as His presence.

Let’s take this a different direction. Instead of an acquaintance, you turn around to find your best friend. You knew it was your best friend before a word was uttered, before you turned, because you have spent so much time with your friend that you just knew. You knew, very distinctly, that it was your best friend and no other behind you. There was no question in your mind. This is how it is when we build a personal relationship with God. We recognize His presence immediately. The most wonderful part about it, though, is that He is always present, which means that we can always enjoy His presence.

I grew up sensing God’s presence, but it isn’t because I am super spiritual or because my family is just so “in” with God that we have something special. Sensing the Lord’s presence is something that I had to learn. I may have learned it at a young age, but I had to learn it nonetheless. We have to practice the presence of God, or we will never get better at sensing it. We are all created in God’s image, so we all have a longing for His presence, but we will never sense His presence if we don’t practice it. A true understanding of presence is built on the foundation of relationship. Just as you knew it was your friend behind you and not another and just as you sensed but did not recognize the presence of your acquaintance, so it is with God. If we do not truly know who He is, we will always be uncertain as to whether we are experiencing His presence, and we will always uncertain of whether He is really here.

We can’t be attuned to the presence of someone we don’t know. To build our sensitivity to God’s presence we must get to know Him – digging into His Word and spending time in conversation with Him (i.e. prayer). Relationship doesn’t just happen; it has to grow over time and with diligent effort. If you want to get to know someone, you have to spend time with that person. It is the same in our relationship with God. As our relationship with Him deepens, we will become increasingly sensitive to His continual presence in our lives.

Apr26

Desert Days

Posted on April 26, 2014 by hisdesertrose

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Very few people really love to be in the desert – after all, it’s hot, dry, and exhausting. But did you ever consider that the desert is necessary?

Scripture is full of stories of people who went – or were sent – into the desert. The desert was either the making or the breaking of God’s people. Let’s look at some of the people who thrived from their desert experiences.

Old Testament prophet Elijah, after single-handedly defeating four hundred fifty prophets of Baal, ran a full day’s journey into the desert wilderness to escape the wicked queen Jezebel of Israel. This mighty prophet was ready to give up and “prayed that he might die” (1 Kings 19:4). Elijah’s “desert” was not merely physical – it was a symbol of his deep spiritual weariness: ‘“It is enough! Now take my life, Lord”’ (1 Kings 19:4). But the Lord strengthened him with food, and by the Lord’s sustaining power Elijah journeyed forty more days into the wilderness to Mount Horeb, where he heard the still, small voice of the Lord.

John the Baptist spent most of his life in the desert: “So the child grew and became strong in spirit, and was in the deserts till the day of his manifestation to Israel” (Luke 1:80). It was in the desert – the wilderness – that the word of the Lord came to John. This was given John could go forth into Israel to call for a baptism of repentance in preparation for the soon-coming Messiah, fulfilling the prophecy of Isaiah about John’s life and destiny (Luke 3:2-6).

Another major figure who spent time in the desert was Jesus. He was led by the Holy Spirit into the wilderness to be tested for forty days. Three times Satan came to tempt Jesus to sin, and all three times Jesus rebuked him with Scripture. When Jesus’ time in the desert was complete, “Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee, and news of him went through all the surrounding region” (Luke 4:14).

When we usually relate deserts to weariness, but the desert can become a place of strength. Either your desert will refine you, or it will define you. For Jesus and John, the desert was a place of refinement. (That is, after all, what heat does when properly applied!) Elijah nearly let his desert define him; his weariness was so great that he longed for death. God, however, had other plans for his faithful prophet and renewed his strength, giving him a message of hope for the remnant who had remained true to the Lord. When Elijah chose to walk in God’s strength, he allowed his desert to refine him.

Scripture also gives us a sobering example of a people who let their desert define them: the Israelites. They refused to see the good in anything that God was doing; they felt the heat and saw themselves as deceived victims. After all, God had promised them abundance and blessing, a land flowing with milk and honey, so why should they waste time in the desert? However, the fact that they fell so quickly into complaining, self-pity, and faithlessness displayed that they weren’t ready for the good things God had prepared for them. That was why they were in the desert: they simply weren’t ready, so God sent them into the desert to prepare them. Unfortunately, because of their hardness of heart and unwillingness to let God refine them, the old generation had to perish in the desert and a new generation raised up to inherit all God’s promises. The problem with the old generation of Israelites was that they forgot that the desert is never the destination.

Here are a few key points we can learn from the desert days of God’s people. God never leaves His people in the desert places, but sometimes He places us there – or we place ourselves there by our choices – so that He can refine us. Notice with the examples of Elijah, John, and Jesus that each one came away from his desert experience. The desert was only for a season.

They also each received words from the Lord and empowerment from the Holy Spirit. John’s ministry was born out of his time in the desert. Jesus’ ministry also came after His forty days of testing in the desert. When you are in a desert, there is only emptiness, so you are much more able to hear the Lord’s still, small voice. Listening is a skill that usually must be learned in the desert, and listening is necessary for relationship. We often surround ourselves with so many other things and so many other voices that we don’t take the time to listen for the one Voice that really matters. If you let your desert days refine you instead of letting them define you, you will walk away with a deeper connection to the working of the Holy Spirit and the ability to carry the silence of the desert so that you are always listening to the God-whispers.

It is so easy to let your desert define you. As humans, we have emotions that are not always within our control. Sometimes our emotions make us apathetic to what God wants to do in us. We don’t feel God’s love, and we don’t feel like we are in love with Him. We faithfully continue our journeys, and we don’t feel His presence, His closeness. We don’t feel happy – and shouldn’t we feel happy? Isn’t that what God wants for us – to be happy all the time? The truth is that God gives us a joy rooted in Him that can never be shaken if we choose to accept it, but we aren’t always going to feel those nice things. We won’t always have warm, fuzzy feelings that make our life a bed of roses with a side of peaches and cream. And that’s perfectly fine. But the truth is that God is always with us, always speaking, and always good, so we should be always seeking to draw closer to Him, no matter what our feelings are telling us. We don’t like the desert places, but recognizing that we go through them is a major step toward allowing God to refine us in those times.

His desert rose

In the desert you can flourish like a desert rose. Or you can live like a tumbleweed, dead and dry as you roll heedlessly over the hot sand, being shifted by every scorching wind. What will your desert days do for you?

Apr10

Culture Shock — Six Months After

Posted on April 10, 2014 by hisdesertrose

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You’d think that after more than six months I would be readjusted to American life. You’d think that now that I am partway through my second semester of college I would be settling easily into new routines. However, if you thought either of those things, you’d be wrong. Four years in Africa conditioned me to a completely different lifestyle.

When it begins to rain I experience a panic-induced surge of adrenaline as my brain tells me that I need to get the laundry off the line.

I mindlessly grope for light switches outside rooms, forgetting that in America we sensibly place light switches in the rooms where the lights are.

The internet connection — ranging between sketchy and nonexistent – helps me to feel right at home here at college. (It’s good to have at least one familiar thing, right?)

When I go to the grocery store and find something I was looking for, I have to remind myself that I don’t need to buy every box of it, that it will be there next week. After four years of living with constant (and well-founded) low-level paranoia that I will never see something again, I am working hard to break the habit.

What is this chilly foreign substance? Snow, you say?

This is not the equator – it isn’t 70 degrees each day — surprise, surprise. I am not quite certain how I feel about it. (Ask me in four months.)

I stifle a gasp each time someone asks for a napkin at the table and try to refrain from asking for a “serviette” lest I confuse people. And I try to stay on-track when people talk about chips — they are not talking about french fries!

After years of constant fresh air, as the windows never closed all the way even if we wanted them to and there was no such thing as central heat or air, I find that my body greatly dislikes the “fake air” I am forced to breathe in the synthetic indoor environments of the cold North.

Not a monkey.

When I see critters out of the corner of my eye, my first thought is “Monkey!” However, there are never monkeys when I look – only squirrels or cats.

I get confused by the whole who-bags-the-groceries thing at the checkout. I stood waiting for someone to hand me my groceries the other day until I realized that I was supposed to put them in bags as the cashier scanned them. And someday, when I actually have my own car, I am also going to have to pump my own gasoline – what a novel idea!

Not geckos.

When I see something small and dull-colored skittering across the sidewalk, my first thought is “Gecko!” However, apparently leaves are pretty much the only things that “skitter” across the sidewalks of North Dakota.

I find myself reverently rescuing perfectly good Ziploc baggies from the trashcan and judiciously saving those “barely used” ones before recalling that this is America and nobody thinks anything of throwing away those small plastic treasures.

The horror!

It feels strange to not feel conspicuous. I grew so accustomed to being the only white girl that I now feel oddly like “part of the crowd.” I sometimes still think I stick out then realize that I don’t.

I have never been a tea enthusiast, but it still feels odd to go places and not be offered tea.

I wear pants, but in my heart I wish I could wear dresses or skirts all the time. Whenever I go to church wearing pants I feel as though I am committing some sort of sacrilege!

But what is culture shock really? It is, essentially, the collision of conflicting ways of life and understanding. For me, both worlds are a reality, and sometimes I don’t quite fit into either of them. Both experiences are valid, so how do I connect the two? My life at times seems an incongruous story — this lifetime and that lifetime — yet it is only the beginning. Every good story takes all the bits and pieces, tying them together in a beautiful whole in the end. Such is life — a story already written by the masterful Author but seen only in part. How could I not desire to have a role in such a grand adventure?

Apr4

God Is Not Your Fairy Godmother — Part 3

Posted on April 4, 2014 by hisdesertrose

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Our inheritance as sons of obedience is the good things God already has planned for us.

“Oh how great is Your goodness, which You have laid up for those who fear You, which you have prepared for those who trust You in the presence of the sons of men! You shall hide them in the secret place of Your presence…secretly in a pavilion…” (Ps. 31:19-20)

Ephesians 2:10 tells us that “we are [God’s] workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them” (emphasis mine). Keep in mind that this verse comes right after the verses talking about our old status as children of wrath and our having been saved by the gift of God’s grace. God can easily promise the good “future and the hope” in Jeremiah 29:11 because He already has good things planned for each person He has made (i.e. everybody).

It is not as though we obey and then God says, “Oh! Wonderful! Now let me think of something good I can do for those who obeyed!” God is not our fairy godmother; He does not have to think up blessings for us because His plans for our best were set in place before the beginning of time. God has already done good things for us and asks only that we obey Him in order to walk in those abundant blessings. When we obey God we are walking in our destinies, but when we disobey we are outside His will for our lives and in our rebellion refuse His goodness.

Painting of fairy godmother by Eliza Furmansky

We have beautiful verses like Jeremiah 29:11 and Romans 8:28 – another popular but commonly misapplied verse – because God is good and He loves us. We do NOT have them because we can blithely disobey and then expect everything to “all work out in the end.” Romans 8:28 tells us that God works all things together for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose.

What do you do if you love Him? “If you love Me, you will keep My commands” (John 14:15). Obedience, then, is tied very closely to love.

What is His purpose for you? His will is that you be sanctified (1 Thess. 4:3), that is, be made holy and pure, which you do by walking in obedience.

Purity, holiness, fear of God, righteousness, obedience to God – these concepts are intimately linked with God’s love, God’s kindness, and His goodness. It is, in fact, “the goodness of God that leads [us] to repentance” (Rom. 2:4). Furthermore, by not recognizing this aspect of God’s work in our lives we literally “despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering” (Rom. 2:4). The overwhelming love of God should spark in us a desire to obey Him simply because He is good.

Artist’s rendering of what Eden might have looked like

People only disobey God because they think that they can find something or achieve something better than that which He offers. This is a lack of faith (unbelief) in God’s goodness, His sovereignty and wrath, and His ability and desire to provide abundantly for His children. Think of the Garden of Eden for a moment. God lavished Adam with abundant blessings (Gen. 2:8-15), and all Adam had to do was walk in obedience, caring for what he had been given. Adam and Eve, however, thought that God was holding out on them, that there was something better than the perfection of God’s creation and relationship with Him, and so they chose the sin of disobedience (Gen. 3:1-6). In truth, all sin is just a form of disobedience.

Disobedience to God = Unbelief

However, to obey God is to walk in faith, trusting in His matchless goodness and total power to provide. This is why we read in Hebrews that “although the works were finished from the foundation of the world” (4:3), only those who walk in faithful obedience enter God’s rest; the unbelieving (the sons of disobedience!) do not.

Obedience to God = Faith

There is one vital concept that we must grasp in regard to obedience: obeying God is always for our benefit in the long term; it is never about God’s benefit. I know that is a bold statement, but Jesus says in Luke 19:40 that even if we were to be silent, the rocks would cry out, and according to Psalm 19:1 the heavens themselves declare God’s glory. In light of that, do you think the God who created all things out of nothing – the God who is omniscient, omnipotent, and omnipresent – really needs you to obey in order to accomplish His purposes? (Think back to my story about running into the road: whom did my obedience benefit?) Obedience is always ultimately to our benefit because God has our highest and best interests always on His heart. His best plan for our lives is that we obey Him because “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning” (James 1:17). Proverbs 10:22 tells us that “The blessing of the Lord makes one rich, and He adds no sorrow with it.” Walking in God’s blessing requires nothing more and nothing less than obedience to Him.

We must each choose to live no longer as disobedient sons, as though we are still slaves to the wrath our old natures stood to inherit. Rather we must choose to live as sons of obedience, children of God who inherit every good thing our heavenly Father predestined us for.

“Let us therefore be diligent to enter [God’s] rest, lest anyone fall according to the [Israelites’] example of disobedience.” (Heb. 4:11)

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