LIFE With God Devotional

God can never be a definition.
He is more than even the entirety of the dictionary.
~Scarlett Bene

Who is God?

I’ll give you a clue - if you can concisely define him - then I can assure you, your concept of God is way too small. The more you get to know Him, the more you realize how little our humanness can really grasp the wonder of all He is.

In the Old Testament of the Bible, every time God revealed a portion of His essence to his chosen people, Israel, He showed an aspect of His character. Israel would then know Him by a new name, a new understanding of Him. Take a look at some of the names of God, taken directly from the original Hebrew of the Old Testament…

• El Roi - The God who sees
• El Shaddai - The All-Sufficient One
• Jehovah-jireh - The Lord will provide
• Jehovah-salom - The Lord is Peace
• El Elyon - God Most High
• Jehovah-rapha - The Lord who heals

These are just a few of His names as talked about in Scripture. (There are many books out there that go in depth about the names of God by the way)

Has God revealed these and other dimensions of His character to you?

I’m not talking about whether or not you’ve been taught these things about God, or whether or not you’ve “caught” these concepts from somewhere, but rather, has God PERSONALLY revealed Himself to you?

Do you know that He wants to? He WANTS you to know and EXPERIENCE him in these ways and more!

Before we can get to that level with Him though we need to come face to face with our own misconceptions that tend to block us from receiving that kind of relationship with Him.

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Why does life have to be so frigging hard?

Have you noticed that? Whether it’s relationships, making money, growing as a person, parenting, launching a new business, trying to break free from a rut in life, establishing an exercise routine, trying to keep the house clean, get to work on time, move ahead financially, etc.

I confess - I am writing at a moment when I’m fed up and absolutely discouraged in every area of my life. I’ve been trying SO very hard and have been on my face before God for months and months seeking direction and walking as best I can in how and where I’m understanding His leading. So WHY? WHY? WHY am I not seeing fruit? And WHY when I get a glimmer of hope in an area does it feel like some cosmic force simply laughed and said, “PSYCH! Just kidding!”?

Is it a test? Is it an attack? Is it an exercise? Perhaps it’s all of the above!

Look again at one of the verses from Part 1:

Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. James 1:2-4 (NIV)

It’s good to know at least that it’s not just random, meaningless pain-in-the-buttedness that we’re walking through! We are being tested and what’s being tested is our FAITH. Another way of looking at this… my level of BELIEF and TRUST is being exposed - so that I can truly develop the character of Christ.

If I know I’m following God to the best of my ability then I’m going to get opportunities to exercise (as in, real life blood, sweat and tears practice) the character and spiritual principles God is building into me. We must exercise it in order to grow in it.

God orchestrates opportunities for us to stretch and grow via practice of new life skills, relational skills, and character traits.

In the process we’ll have moments (or even seasons) of testing where we’ll be presented with situations in which to choose our response. In the past we’ve usually responded in a particular way which may or may not be so swell in God’s perspective and so we’re given the opportunity to deal with a person or situation according to what we’ve learned and how God has been leading us to grow. If we pass (meaning - handle it rightly) - then Yea! We move on to the next lesson. If we blow it we get to practice some more and wait until the next test.

In the process Satan loves to jump in the game stirring up people against you, creating problems for you in one form or another and even whispering doubts into the back of your awareness. “Who do you think you are? You can’t do this. People are going to find out you don’t have what it takes. You’re not fooling anybody. You’ve always been this way and you’ll never change. There’s no hope here so why don’t you give up. Nobody really cares anyway.” He’ll jump in with accusations against God’s heart and intentions for you. “If God really cared about you He wouldn’t put you through this. You know what? - You can’t really hear God right anyway. Yeah, maybe he’ll look out for other people like that, but look around - you’re on your own baby. God’s forgotten you. Your hopes and dreams don’t really matter. You’re never going to have anything the way you want it and God’s just going to keep the hits coming.”

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“The measure of a man’s real character
is what he would do if he knew
he would never be found out”

Thomas B. Macaulay

“People grow through experience
if they meet life honestly and courageously.
This is how character is built.”

Eleanor Roosevelt

Ever have days when you feel like you’ve had MORE THAN ENOUGH “character building” experiences for now, thank you very much!

Yeah, I’m with you there! Ironically though, our willingness to persevere through adversity - to keep on, keeping on - is the very thing that builds our character and is in itself a character trait.

Chew on this for a minute from the NIV translation of the Bible…

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          God has x-ray vision.  No really - He does!  He can see right through to our heart much better than we can.  He sees past our behaviors (no matter how righteous they appear) and goes straight to the innermost parts of our soul that we hide away from even ourselves.

          God’s about the only one we can’t fool with what looks good or sounds good or smells good and He WILL call us on the truth about ourselves.  I need someone who cares about me enough to tell me the truth (sans the baseball bat) when I’m blind to it, or in denial about it, or choosing to ignore it.  Come on admit it - you have your moments of blindness and foolishness too. 

          And then there’s the times when the truth about my heart is easy to spot - for everyone except me.  Have you ever had a friend tell you about some quirk you have or how you always react to something and the best you can come up with is a defensive “Nuh, uh - I do not!” To which your beloved friend just smirks and says, “Yeah, whatever”.  Of course we feel compelled to deflect and justify ourselves with the snappy comeback of, “Oh yeah?  Well, you want to know what you do?…” 

          Sadly, our reality is often less than benign banter between friends.  Past hurts and current fears color our perspective and rule our choices.  As a result, we act in self-protective and hurtful ways toward others.   Sometimes we’re oblivious to our insensitivity.  Other times we feel self-justified in being controlling, biting someone’s head off, acting in passive-aggressive ways or being just plain mean - and it’s all speaking volumes about the condition of our heart and our character.

            If we’ve chosen to follow God then we can be sure He will deal with us about this stuff. 

There has never been the slightest doubt in my mind that the God who started this great work in you would keep at it and bring it to a flourishing finish on the very day Christ Jesus appears.    Philippians 1:6 (MSG)

          God will have His way with us, because He loves us and can’t bear us to be less than who He made us to be.  Why?  Because we were made in His image and we were meant to reflect His glory! 

          Knowing this, we can either cooperate with His process of housecleaning and personal growth customized  just for us….. or fight against Him.  (Ahh, guess what your chance of success will be fighting against the God who spoke the universe into existence?)

          Here’s what it looks like when we fight against Him and make it hard on ourselves… Continue Reading »

          In case you haven’t noticed - we’re not in Kansas anymore Toto!

          The Garden of Eden is long gone, and there’s something deep inside us that really resents that.

          All of us, without fail, have experienced the pain of failure, rejection, abandonment, and betrayal.  We’ve been “missed”, unappreciated, misjudged, and abused in one form or another.  Our hearts have been stomped on in countless creative ways, and if we let it, those wounds can and WILL color our perspective and absolutely BLOCK US from becoming the person we were meant to be, living the life we were meant to live, fulfilling our dreams, and walking out our full potential.   And something in us at a subconscious level is really ticked off about that because that’s NOT the way life was supposed to be!  We were made for a life of eternity in the Garden.

           The REALITY we have to accept right now is that hurts and struggles are a normal part of life on this earth.  AND as if that isn’t bad enough, the Villain of our story (Satan) smells human brokenness like a shark smells blood in the water and goes after it!  He is pure wickedness, incapable of mercy, and targets additional attacks right in the wounded, broken, bleeding portions of our heart.

          Right now you’re thinking - “Gee thanks Annette for that really peachy news.  I feel so much better!”, but don’t shoot the messenger just yet.  At least if we can diagnose what’s going on we can do something about it, right?

          Listen to the words of Jesus as He gives us the bottom line on the good news and the bad news…

I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me.  Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows.  But take heart, because I have overcome the world.       John 16:33 (NLT)

 The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy.  My purpose is to give life in all its fullness.        John 10:10 (NLT)

          So, this means we’re not crazy to feel like everything is against us sometimes (it is!), but it’s possible to overcome it and walk out an incredible life.  On top of that, we’re able to find peace in the MIDST of the crud of life, peace no matter what circumstances we’re facing right now!  Trust me, I’m not just blowing smoke about this.  I’ve had plenty of exposure to the ”bad news” portion, and am now standing in the “good news” zone, even though many of my current circumstances have NOT yet changed to what I’d like them to be!  

         So, how do we start overcoming the world and the evil one and start living the life of fullness and abundance we were meant to have?  Oh, if only the answer were simple enough to say in one paragraph.  Actually, I’d much prefer to have some magic foo-foo dust to sprinkle over me and you and we’d be all better instantly!  But, since we’re here in the real world, the very best I can give you for the moment is this:

• Decide now that you will NEVER AGAIN SETTLE FOR LESS THAN GOD’s BEST for you and you will do WHATEVER IT TAKES to get there!

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 Here’s a test to see whether or not you need a cup of coffee before reading any further… 

          Have you ever stopped to notice – when you want what you want are you getting what you REALLY want or just pacifying the want of the moment with a false want that seems like the real want and distracts you enough so that you never really realize the real want driving the moments want and so the deep want winds up going unfulfilled and driving you to continue chasing the surface want?   

         That’s what I thought.  Go ahead and get that coffee now and then we’ll talk some more.  

          We all have wants and needs, agreed?  Of course we do.  If you think you don’t, then you’re going to need more help than just this devotional    It’s not unusual for our decisions in everything from what car we drive, to how we dress, who we choose to date or engage in relationship with, or how we spend our money, to be driven by unconscious desires and needs.  

The purposes of a man’s heart are deep waters, but a man of understanding draws them out.  Proverbs 20:5  (NIV) 

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Above all else, guard your heart,
for it is the wellspring of life.
Proverbs 4:23  NIV 

          What is the “heart” of a person?  And don’t give me some wise crack about a four chambered muscle that pumps blood.  “I love you with all my heart.”  “I am heartbroken about that.”  What are we really referring to?  Our emotions?  Our thoughts?

           I used to think of my mind as the seat of logic and reason and my heart as the seat of emotion.  I prided myself on how “practical” and level-headed I was.  It was a strength of mine, or so I thought, as a woman working in a man’s world (vocational ministry).  I got annoyed with those people who came across as all emotional and all over the place.   Hopeless romantics with their heads in the clouds writing music and poetry and living off Ramen noodles because they couldn’t afford anything else.  Yeah, that’s nice – go ahead and be all romantic while the rest of us work our butts off to get things DONE.  Not that I ever voiced that mind you, but I thought it.  Yes, a bit harsh I know.   Somewhat revealing about where MY heart was at the time, eh?

              I look back in embarrassment and sadness about how much LIVING I missed out on while I was oh so serious, busy, organized, efficient and hitting my goals.  I was living from a shut-down, deadened heart.  Actually, it wasn’t completely dead – just squelched.  The needs and desires of my heart didn’t go away.  I just tried real hard to repress them because I felt it was a sign of weakness and immaturity.  At least that’s what I told myself whenever the voice of my heart tried to rise up (in the form of ache and longing) to tell me something important was missing.

            Early on in life I learned an important (albeit, twisted) lesson…or should I say, LIE:    Opening yourself up to love, romance, and passion either relationally or in the context of life as a whole was nothing more than an empty fairytale and existed only in  movies (yeah, like that could happen in REAL life) or in childhood fantasy.   If you dare to want it or hope for it you’re just going to be brutally disappointed. 

            Can you relate?  I’ve got news for you…    

            A life WITHOUT authentic love, romance, and passion – in all its forms, in the appropriate context – isn’t a life worth living.  It’s nothing more than empty duty, a day in-day-out drudgery.  And that’s NOT the kind of life God intended you to have.       

          You KNOW this!  Your heart KNOWS this!  It’s just that we’re so afraid of opening ourselves up to wanting the fullness of life because we’ve already been so hurt and disappointed by the lack of it and the absolute screwed-upness of what masquerades as life, love, passion, and romance in our culture.     

           So that brings us back to our original question – What is the “heart” of a person?      

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“The Glory of God is Man Fully Alive”

Saint Irenaeus

Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life.

Proverbs 4:23 NIV

I used to read that verse to mean… put up protective walls around your heart and stand your guard because people and life will bombard you with messages intended to make you think less of yourself and tear you down if you let it. So stay alert and on guard, like a hockey goalie, ready to deflect any negative garbage that tries to get in.

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