At church this morning in the middle of our prayer time I was thinking about the lesson I learned two weeks ago about "who is my neighbor." It occurred to me that it is such a challenge to continually see the world through the eyes of God. As I reflected on this I was lead to write this down:
"Once there was a girl who had cataracts. It came on slowly as this kind of thing does. Her vision became cloudier and cloudier. It happened so slowly it was almost imperceptible until one day she realized she could no longer see. She felt like she was in a heavy fog. She had to keep looking down at her feet in order to see where she was walking. She isolated herself by the mere fact that she had to focus solely on herself and where she was going. So, she never saw the people (the needs) that crossed her path."
So, the service went on and Pastor Mark finally stood to present the morning message. Luke 7:36-50 was the text. This is the story about the prostitute who came to the Pharisee's house and washed Jesus' feet with her tears.
Pastor Mark talked about how the Pharisee didn't see the prostitute the way Jesus saw her. Jesus asked the Pharisee, "Do you see this woman?"
Whew. I stared down at my notebook where I had written the little story about the girl with the cataracts about 30-minutes earlier.
Perhaps the great Physician is asking for each one of us to come to Him for an eye examine. Do you see the world around you through the Savior's eyes? Or have you allowed your spiritual eyes to develop the film of selfishness, self-centeredness and distraction. Do you have spiritual cataracts?
Sunday, January 27, 2008
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
Rumblings in my Spirit by Jamee Smith-Shroyer
I have had rumblings in my spirit of late. That usually means that God is speaking to me. And it takes a while, sometimes, for me to tune in to what He’s showing me. Sort of like trying to get a clear signal on a radio. You move the dial around long enough and you hit it on the mark.
Here’s my story: I watched Oprah several months ago when she featured an author who had written a book “Eat, Pray, Love.” It was a New York Time’s best seller; her name was Elizabeth something; and she was quite sincere and engaging. The audience asked her lots of questions and I found her answers intriguing. God-centered….sort of.
So I bought the book for a stocking stuffer for myself and was so sure that I would want to pass it on to someone else, I bought two copies. During the Christmas holiday I read it. In fact, couldn’t put it down. In the first section, “Eat,” the author, as part of a magazine writing assignment, eats her way across Italy and sort of finds herself. In the second section, “Pray,” still on the writing assignment, she goes to India and hooks up with a recommended guru. Participates in lots of yoga and has experiences that involve light, etc. The third section, “Love,” still the same assignment, she travels to Indonesia and, well, the rest is history.
In discussing the book with my hubby, I was waxing eloquent about what I had read and I said to him, “she doesn’t talk about Jesus, but God is at the top of the triangle. She refers to God a lot, in fact.” Jim did not answer me.
Well, the book sat on the end table in our living room for weeks. I thought, “Gee, you have two copies. Send one to someone.” But with each passing day, I became more and more convicted about that book and my attraction to it. I’m NOT sending it to anyone else. Both books are going to be thrown away.
While all of this is rumbling, I suddenly became convicted about magazines that I get. Now I’m not talking Playboy here. I’m talking house magazines, health magazines. I get lots of magazines. And catalogues. I get tons of catalogues and I pour over them, looking and longing. Something gnawed in my spirit and said, “It all takes time and attention away from Jesus.”
Good grief! I thought what are you turning into??? Convicted about Country Home magazine. Get a life! Please don’t misunderstand me….this is MY story. In and of themselves, there is nothing wrong with any of this. But somehow, it’s tied back to that book that I am now throwing away. Still not sure I can make sense of it.
Then I ran across this in the supplement to the book by Sylvia Gunter that we used at the retreat about spiritual warfare. It’s titled “Clean Hands, Pure Heart Inventory.” I know this is already a long letter, but bear with me:
“Jesus told His disciples, ‘The prince of this world is coming and he has nothing in Me.’ (Jn 14:30) To get on victory ground to pray for your family, take some time to prayerfully ask, ‘Father, in Jesus name, show me areas where I need to take back ground that I have conceded to Satan (and Jamee thought, ‘that book.’) Identify for me my key issues. I submit to You, resist the devil, and he must flee. By Your Spirit, I covenant to keep a clean slate with You every day.”
“Make a list of the following:
Involvement in the occult, cults and false religions.
Lies you have believed (fear of failure, rejection, punishment, etc.), defense mechanisms (denial withdrawal, blame, shame, etc.); fears, painful memories or emotions that won’t go away.
Unforgiveness that has festered around areas of woundedness (abandonment, rejection, shame, fear of failure, punishment.)
List people who have wronged or hurt you. (These prompters insure your honesty: ‘I resent…’ ‘I need to forgive…)
Evidences of rebellion (Remember that rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft) – people/institutions you have been rebellious toward, incidences or patterns of personal willfulness.
Evidences of areas of pride in your life. Arrogance or stubbornness is as idolatry (I Sam 15:23.)
Ties that bind…list everybody with whom you have been sexually involved; list friends that have strongly influenced you unrighteously and specify how; list a way of life you are tied to (people-pleasing, location, social set, occupational environment, etc.); list additions, vows, inner vows, (‘I will never….’)
These compete with allegiance with God only.
Generational bondages – list major unrighteous character traits of close relatives (living and dead); curses operative in your family line, secret organizations to which you or your relatives have sworn an oath.
Pray this way:
Father, I renounce these strongholds of the enemy. I plead the blood of Jesus over each of these. I renounce my sin, resist the enemy and submit to You to be filled with your righteousness in these areas.”
This is vital to your victory in Jesus and your position of intercession for your family.”
So…I’m waiting to see what He shows me that is competing for the devotion, attention and WORSHIP that is rightfully His. Remember…this is MY story. You must walk according to what He says to you.
Love you all
Jamee
Here’s my story: I watched Oprah several months ago when she featured an author who had written a book “Eat, Pray, Love.” It was a New York Time’s best seller; her name was Elizabeth something; and she was quite sincere and engaging. The audience asked her lots of questions and I found her answers intriguing. God-centered….sort of.
So I bought the book for a stocking stuffer for myself and was so sure that I would want to pass it on to someone else, I bought two copies. During the Christmas holiday I read it. In fact, couldn’t put it down. In the first section, “Eat,” the author, as part of a magazine writing assignment, eats her way across Italy and sort of finds herself. In the second section, “Pray,” still on the writing assignment, she goes to India and hooks up with a recommended guru. Participates in lots of yoga and has experiences that involve light, etc. The third section, “Love,” still the same assignment, she travels to Indonesia and, well, the rest is history.
In discussing the book with my hubby, I was waxing eloquent about what I had read and I said to him, “she doesn’t talk about Jesus, but God is at the top of the triangle. She refers to God a lot, in fact.” Jim did not answer me.
Well, the book sat on the end table in our living room for weeks. I thought, “Gee, you have two copies. Send one to someone.” But with each passing day, I became more and more convicted about that book and my attraction to it. I’m NOT sending it to anyone else. Both books are going to be thrown away.
While all of this is rumbling, I suddenly became convicted about magazines that I get. Now I’m not talking Playboy here. I’m talking house magazines, health magazines. I get lots of magazines. And catalogues. I get tons of catalogues and I pour over them, looking and longing. Something gnawed in my spirit and said, “It all takes time and attention away from Jesus.”
Good grief! I thought what are you turning into??? Convicted about Country Home magazine. Get a life! Please don’t misunderstand me….this is MY story. In and of themselves, there is nothing wrong with any of this. But somehow, it’s tied back to that book that I am now throwing away. Still not sure I can make sense of it.
Then I ran across this in the supplement to the book by Sylvia Gunter that we used at the retreat about spiritual warfare. It’s titled “Clean Hands, Pure Heart Inventory.” I know this is already a long letter, but bear with me:
“Jesus told His disciples, ‘The prince of this world is coming and he has nothing in Me.’ (Jn 14:30) To get on victory ground to pray for your family, take some time to prayerfully ask, ‘Father, in Jesus name, show me areas where I need to take back ground that I have conceded to Satan (and Jamee thought, ‘that book.’) Identify for me my key issues. I submit to You, resist the devil, and he must flee. By Your Spirit, I covenant to keep a clean slate with You every day.”
“Make a list of the following:
Involvement in the occult, cults and false religions.
Lies you have believed (fear of failure, rejection, punishment, etc.), defense mechanisms (denial withdrawal, blame, shame, etc.); fears, painful memories or emotions that won’t go away.
Unforgiveness that has festered around areas of woundedness (abandonment, rejection, shame, fear of failure, punishment.)
List people who have wronged or hurt you. (These prompters insure your honesty: ‘I resent…’ ‘I need to forgive…)
Evidences of rebellion (Remember that rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft) – people/institutions you have been rebellious toward, incidences or patterns of personal willfulness.
Evidences of areas of pride in your life. Arrogance or stubbornness is as idolatry (I Sam 15:23.)
Ties that bind…list everybody with whom you have been sexually involved; list friends that have strongly influenced you unrighteously and specify how; list a way of life you are tied to (people-pleasing, location, social set, occupational environment, etc.); list additions, vows, inner vows, (‘I will never….’)
These compete with allegiance with God only.
Generational bondages – list major unrighteous character traits of close relatives (living and dead); curses operative in your family line, secret organizations to which you or your relatives have sworn an oath.
Pray this way:
Father, I renounce these strongholds of the enemy. I plead the blood of Jesus over each of these. I renounce my sin, resist the enemy and submit to You to be filled with your righteousness in these areas.”
This is vital to your victory in Jesus and your position of intercession for your family.”
So…I’m waiting to see what He shows me that is competing for the devotion, attention and WORSHIP that is rightfully His. Remember…this is MY story. You must walk according to what He says to you.
Love you all
Jamee
Friday, January 18, 2008
There Once was a Gal...
Once there was a gal who was friends with God. She had been friends with God since she was a little girl, but in the last few years she had a spiritual rebirth or kick-in-the-butt that really motivated her to know more about her friend, God. So, she joined a new church and started attending a small group bible study on Thursday nights.
This one particular week her little group was studying James 2. It’s all about loving your neighbor as yourself. Having been friends with God for so long, this gal kind of figured she knew what “loving one’s neighbor” was all about. But, during the course of the evening she realized there was a lot more to it than how she was living her life.
So, she was greatly convicted and pondered about “who” her neighbor was as she got into her car to go home. As she drove down the block and turned left onto Abrams, she remembered that a great passion of hers that entered her mind every now and again was the thought that people she came across during the course of a day, perhaps even for just a moment, may not have anyone in their entire world who was praying for them…who was bringing them before the throng of Grace.
As she drove down Abrams it began to dawn on her that this conviction or passion that entered her brain/soul every now and again should be right there, at the forefront of her consciousness, every moment….that she should be anticipating who God would bring her way every day who needed His touch, His ears, His voice. As she sat at the red light on the corner of Abrams and Walnut Hill…in the left lane…considering this new revelation…she glanced in her rear view mirror and saw headlights barreling down the center lane. Her mind was slow to react as she changed the focus of her gaze to the car parked at the red light next to her in the center lane.
The crash was monumental and propelled the parked car 40 feet into the intersection. Calmly and almost without thought, she reached for her phone and dialed 911. “There’s been a major accident on the corner of Walnut Hill and Abrams…send an ambulance.” She got out of her car as those that caused the accident stumbled out of their car and made their way to the curb (airbags saved them). She ran to the car that was projected almost completely through the intersection and found….well…and found what she came to realize later were her “neighbors” – Billy and Shawn: two African American men, in their late 30s, unable to move and speechless with shock and pain (no airbags, no seatbelts).
For the next hour, she held their hands, called their sister and brother, and when these grown men began to cry…she spoke softly with gentle reassurances and encouragements and prayed silently for their health and healing. This all the while feeling like she was having an out-of-body experience watching another being inside of her calmly saying and doing just the right things at the right moments.
Backboards and neck collars where used, talk of broken bones, concussions and back injuries were heard as fire fighters un-pried jammed doors to pull the men out.
When the last police officer and accident investigator gave her the clearance to leave, she stood there for a moment in the middle of the intersection surveying the scene and wondered what these men would remember the next morning, and what their memory of her would be.
She felt with humble confidence that they would feel that God had touched them and comforted them as they lay trapped in their mangled car.
And, when the last ambulance drove away this humble friend of God looked back down Abrams towards the home of her small group and in awe and thanksgiving realized she had just experienced a real life example of WHO her neighbor really was.
This is a true story.
This one particular week her little group was studying James 2. It’s all about loving your neighbor as yourself. Having been friends with God for so long, this gal kind of figured she knew what “loving one’s neighbor” was all about. But, during the course of the evening she realized there was a lot more to it than how she was living her life.
So, she was greatly convicted and pondered about “who” her neighbor was as she got into her car to go home. As she drove down the block and turned left onto Abrams, she remembered that a great passion of hers that entered her mind every now and again was the thought that people she came across during the course of a day, perhaps even for just a moment, may not have anyone in their entire world who was praying for them…who was bringing them before the throng of Grace.
As she drove down Abrams it began to dawn on her that this conviction or passion that entered her brain/soul every now and again should be right there, at the forefront of her consciousness, every moment….that she should be anticipating who God would bring her way every day who needed His touch, His ears, His voice. As she sat at the red light on the corner of Abrams and Walnut Hill…in the left lane…considering this new revelation…she glanced in her rear view mirror and saw headlights barreling down the center lane. Her mind was slow to react as she changed the focus of her gaze to the car parked at the red light next to her in the center lane.
The crash was monumental and propelled the parked car 40 feet into the intersection. Calmly and almost without thought, she reached for her phone and dialed 911. “There’s been a major accident on the corner of Walnut Hill and Abrams…send an ambulance.” She got out of her car as those that caused the accident stumbled out of their car and made their way to the curb (airbags saved them). She ran to the car that was projected almost completely through the intersection and found….well…and found what she came to realize later were her “neighbors” – Billy and Shawn: two African American men, in their late 30s, unable to move and speechless with shock and pain (no airbags, no seatbelts).
For the next hour, she held their hands, called their sister and brother, and when these grown men began to cry…she spoke softly with gentle reassurances and encouragements and prayed silently for their health and healing. This all the while feeling like she was having an out-of-body experience watching another being inside of her calmly saying and doing just the right things at the right moments.
Backboards and neck collars where used, talk of broken bones, concussions and back injuries were heard as fire fighters un-pried jammed doors to pull the men out.
When the last police officer and accident investigator gave her the clearance to leave, she stood there for a moment in the middle of the intersection surveying the scene and wondered what these men would remember the next morning, and what their memory of her would be.
She felt with humble confidence that they would feel that God had touched them and comforted them as they lay trapped in their mangled car.
And, when the last ambulance drove away this humble friend of God looked back down Abrams towards the home of her small group and in awe and thanksgiving realized she had just experienced a real life example of WHO her neighbor really was.
This is a true story.
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