HIS HOLINESS

Today we're meditating on Psalm 99.

It is not eloquent but written by one who recognized the sovereignty of God and HIS holiness.

Vs. 3, HE is holy.

Vs. 5, HE is holy.

Vs. 9, the LORD our GOD is holy.

Briefly and succinctly, the psalmist points to GOD's presence with HIS people no matter what. They did not go  undisciplined for their foolishness and blatant sinfulness. But HE is GOD-WHO-FORGIVES.

My notes are always related to my own life because I can't speak for anyone else. You will apply GOD's word to your life as HE speaks to you. Please bear with me as I share my heart in order that GOD be glorified by my testimony.

I was unholy. Raised in a very dysfunctional family ruled by an abusive tyrannical father, without any sort of religion. After my parents divorce, I did pretty much as I pleased because my mother worked full-time and I was a "latch-key kid" coming home to an empty house. I left home at the age of fifteen and traveled. In my early adult life and into my thirties, I used to think how lucky I was that I hadn't died. I was raped twice, beaten near death by a drug-addict boyfriend, hitch-hiked across country, and generally lived compulsively and dangerously.

But along that path of utter and literal ungodliness, I encountered Jesus a few times.

At age six while my parents were going through an ugly divorce when I stayed with my paternal grandmother for a time, Jesus touched me through a stained glass window at her Baptist church; children working string and gravel art; the song "Jesus Loves Me." I longed for HIS love and security though I did not understand.

At age seven an elderly lady down the street invited my sister and I to go to the Methodist church with her.

At age ten I often attended church with my best friend's family and ultimately was baptized in the Episcopalian church (without any understanding of what it meant - I just wanted what her family had.)

Many times in my youth while watching movies about priests, nuns, and monks I was desperate for the kind of peace and holiness the characters portrayed.

At age nineteen I became engaged to and married a Catholic boy and was baptized and confirmed Roman Catholic. In ten years of attending the Catholic Church, I did not have a relationship with Jesus but desperately wanted to.

After my divorce and having been ex-communicated, I wandered without faith and filled with bitterness and pride. In my mid thirties, a coworker witnessed the gospel to me and I shrugged it off, "that's fine for you but not for me."

At age thirty-nine I encountered Jesus in a very real way in my soul. I had finally let down my guard and heard HIS call. In November of 1994 I heeded that call and committed my life to follow HIM during worship in a Baptist church.

Today I know, luck had nothing to do with me surviving so many near-death encounters. GOD's purposes for my life, from the moment I was born, gave me the resilience to survive and thrive.

What I desired with all my heart for all those years was HIS holiness because HIS hand was upon me. I want to be like HIM because I was created by HIM, for HIM, in HIM for HIS purposes.

But I am not like HIM. I am a sinner, struggling to stay afloat in this world of terrorists, religious indifference, apathy, perversion and hopelessness. How often do I ask the LORD, how long? Why? What's the point? HE even suffers my questions. I imagine HIM at the right of GOD the FATHER smiling at my weakness, saying, "you will know. Be patient. Just obey; go."

I now worship in an Evangelical Presbyterian church. Just for the record, I hate the word denomination. It implies division, exactly what the enemy wants for GOD's people. Nor do I agree with any of them fully. GOD's word admonishes us to have fellowship with one another, not force our theories and interpretations on one another. I stand on the WORD of GOD alone. I will say to you it does not matter where or how you worship GOD. What matters is that you have a relationship with our LORD and SAVIOR JESUS, and that you follow HIM according to HIS word. My faith is in JESUS, not a church. I merely fellowship with a body of believers who are all sinners just like you and me.

HE is holy. HE is holy. The LORD our GOD is holy.

And HE is GOD-WHO-FORGIVES.

Each day, in my study of HIS word, in my meditation, in my prayers, I draw closer. HIS holy blood cloaks my sin. HIS holiness envelopes my soul and heals my wounds. HIS holiness gives me the strength to carry on one more day. HIS holiness gives me the kind and nurturing words to say to my hurting foster children who so desperately need HIS love. HIS holiness binds my husband and me and seals our marriage with promise. HIS holiness inspires me to give HIS love to mankind. HIS holiness guarantees my entrance to HIS kingdom for all eternity. HE is our holiness.

Let's praise GOD together, for HE is holy.

Holy, Holy, Holy GOD,
All creation bows before YOU.
We worship YOU, we adore YOU.
Holy are YOU GOD.
There is none like YOU.
YOU alone are worthy of all praise, honor and glory.
Holy are YOUR names.
By YOUR love, by YOUR blood, by YOUR holy promise,
We are YOURS.
Blessed is HE who comes in the name of the LORD;
Hosanna in the highest.

FOR THE GLORY OF GOD

So many Biblical phrases come to mind when I think about who we are in Christ and what our mission is on earth.

"Here am I Lord, send me." Isaiah 6:8

"It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me." Galatians 2:20

"We are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared for us in advance that we should walk in them." Ephesians 2:10

Can you wrap your mind around this? We were created by God, for the purpose of doing good works, by the power of our Lord and Savior Jesus. We are not our own. We have no dominion over our mind or body. Resistance, as the Star Trek Borg are so fond of saying, is futile.


We say to ourselves, "But I don't resist! I want to do the will of God! I want to serve Him with my whole heart, mind, soul and body."

But do we? Paul succinctly reminds us, I do not do what I ought, and I do what I know I should not.

One day as I was heading into a grocery store in a rush I noticed a man at one entrance sitting on the ground. He wore dirty clothes, his face was covered by a scraggly beard, and his hair was long and disheveled. I immediately judged him. "filthy beggar," I thought to myself, "he's probably a drug addict waiting for his dealer to deliver drugs." Inside me, I heard a distinctly familiar voice saying, "who are you to judge?"

Ignoring the voice of the Spirit, I turned away from the nearest entrance where the man was and entered on the other side of the building. I'd forgotten all about him by the time I finished my shopping and exited through the doors where my "beggar" was still posted. As soon as I realized my error, I pushed my cart quickly out into the dark rainy night without giving him so much as a glance. I filled my trunk with lots of food and treats and whatever else I wasted my money on (feeling just a wee bit guilty but surely justified - after all, I was a firm believer in the quote, "give a man a fish and he will eat for a day, teach a man to fish and he will never go hungry.")

As I got in behind the wheel and started to insert my key in the ignition, that voice whispered softly to me again. "Whatsoever you do to the least of my brothers, that you do unto Me."

The guilt now felt more like sadness.

I inserted the key. "Whatsoever you do unto the least of my brothers, that you do unto Me."

I turned over the ignition. "Anne, whatsoever you do to the least of my brothers, that you do unto Me."

Shutting the car off, I reached for my wallet replying (rather annoyed,) "I get it, I get it." I took all the cash I had from my wallet and walked nervously back to the scruffy little man still believing he was waiting for a drug dealer. As I approached him, he looked up at me with beautiful clear blue eyes that sparkled in the refraction of light from inside the store window. His smile was broad and filled with joy.

"Are you waiting for someone?" I asked rather stiffly.

"Yes!" he exclaimed turning his body toward me and presenting a bucket I hadn't earlier noticed. "I'm waiting for Him!" he said joyfully. On the bucket was a picture of Jesus. Underneath was written, "Feed the Hungry."

I put all my money in the slot in the top of his bucket and said quietly and utterly ashamed, "God bless you."

In my reading of 2Corinthians 4 this morning, I was reminded, I am not my own. My life is meant to be a sacrifice for the salvation of others as Jesus gave His life for me. Though the struggles and pains of human shell seem difficult, even unbearable at times, our time here is fleeting in God's perspective, no more than pinpricks in the fabric of eternity.

What troubles you today? Can you stand with Jesus and say, yes Lord, You bore my sins now I welcome my own cross for Your sake?

Father in heaven, how we long to be there with You, home at last. But today Lord, we say yes to whatever you have in store, be it joy or sorrow. We count it a privilege to suffer for the sake of the gospel to glorify Your Name. Thank You Jesus for choosing me. In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, amen.

AT A LOSS

I was certain 2011 was going to be a wonderful year - it had to be, 2010 was so very difficult.

"I took my love and I took it down, I climbed a mountain and I turned around,
And I saw my reflection in the snow-covered hills, but a landslide brought me down."
Stevie Nicks, Landslide

I began my year devouring God's Word daily, gorging myself and never wanting to stop. I was gluttonous, didn't want to break the reverie of worshiping God to deal with life's mundane interruptions and inconveniences.

I have an avatar I often use because it demonstrates my heart, how my stormy soul clings to the cross that bore my sins. Looking at the picture I suddenly see what's really happening in my spirit. It's not my Lord I cling to but the past he took from me bearing my sins in His act of final sacrifice. God forgive me!

I took His love, and I took it down. I climbed the mountain alone and saw I'd left Him behind so I turned around. I could see my reflection in the snow covered hills, like the purity of my Savior whom I so longed to emulate. And the landslide of my own deficiency brought me down, safely into His arms.

My sister died and I didn't have answers. Now my brother has been diagnosed with an incurable (but not untreatable) disease that he's not having treated, and my other sister is mentally deranged and physically failing. I'm so confused and angry.

I suppose it's not really God I'm angry at but life itself. What's the point? I keep asking. If all we do is arrive on earth to spend 50 or 100 years struggling and suffering, with a few brief interludes of joy, just what is the point?

As all these things were happening and I was overwhelmed with grief and apathy, I turned away from the Word when I should have been running it to it every day. I have been adrift for some time now.

My dear friends around the globe, may I say to you it doesn't matter what your circumstances are in your little corner of this planet. If you have nothing more than daily rice to eat and are blessed to sleep under a thatched roof, then praise the Lord and stand on His Word. If you toil in the fields and are beaten by merciless masters, praise God and stand on His Word. If you live in a mansion with many servants but feel utterly unfulfilled, praise with the Holy Spirit and stand on His Word. For by His Word we are nourished in the Spirit, by His Word we are protected, by His word we are promised a place in His glorious Kingdom and a share of His inheritance, a place where material things will have no value and Love for God is our sole desire. And we shall walk forever with Jesus.

Today, I obeyed the call of Jesus to return to my Bible and nibble quietly, savoring every little morsel of His Word. I read Mark 11:1-11 and then just sat there with nothing. Speak to me God! I need to hear You! What does this mean for me?

Jesus' followers heard and obeyed. They brought the colt, dressed it with their own clothes, laid a "carpet" before Him and honored Him as a new King. Jesus is telling me, "don't ask, just obey."

Today, I choose to walk with Jesus by the power of the Holy Spirit.

With all my love,
anne