Disrupted Fear

Mark Driscoll wrote in his new book, Spirit-Filled Jesus, “God keeps talking about our fears because we keep forgetting to live by faith in His kingdom.” True?

 

Oh, so true! Much we encounter in this world has the capacity to drive fear deep into our hearts, which is probably one reason there’s been a rise of people who struggle with panic attacks. Just to make a list of our sources of fear can stir up anxiety.

 

Yet, I think if we get down to the bare bones of our anxiety that it’s all about misplaced fear. That’s because, the truth is, we choose our fear source. And the source of our fear makes all the difference. When we make the decision to fear God, our fear turns to faith.

 

In Spirit-Filled Jesus, to be released on October 16, Pastor Driscoll offers a simple solution checklist of what we can implement when our fear begins to rise. One of these, well, more than just one, are particularly helpful, I think, because of the way our whole person—body, soul, and mind—is engaged and the Who we are engaged with.

 

Under Mark’s category of soul, he gives these self-check questions:

·    “How can you disrupt your fears by journaling, praying, reading, worshiping, or listening?”

·    “How can small daily practices keep you from building up a large deficit in your relationship with the Lord?”

 

Additionally—and really something key in our current busy American culture, under the category of life, Mark suggests we ask ourselves, “In the midst of your demanding schedule, how can you create recovery breaks?” Now question essentially draws attention to the fact that we need rest. But, as a woman in our church Bible study group pointed out, we just don’t seem to know how to rest.

 

Mark counters with “The bigger key to energy management and energy replenishment is to break free from fear-based living to live in faith-based living.” One connection to this statement and rest is that our busyness is often linked to our fear of missing out, of not “keeping up with the Jones’,” of being unsuccessful, and even the fear of saying no—we often see prestige in being overinvolved, our name here and there.

 

In keeping with that, I found this statement by Mark very poignant, “Exhaustion hits every believer, even the godliest and most gifted.” We mustn’t think we are immune and don’t need rest. Even Jesus took time out.

 

Wrong-sourced fear drives us away from faith and into all kinds of exhausting, detrimental behaviors and emotions. But faith enables rest and renewal, especially when we use Mark’s suggested daily practices, ones that slow us down and strengthen us—those practices are proactive and keep the fears of this world from ruling us. Instead, they move us into a deeper relationship with the One who casts out fear as His Presence invades our life through His Spirit. Mark wrote, “Faith in God’s loving Presence is the answer to our languishing fear.” That really sums it up.  Significant, too, is his description of the Presence of God in our life, the Holy Spirit, being “like the hand of God the Father reaching down to walk each of His sons and daughters lovingly and safely home to the Kingdom of God.”

 

In this light, those daily practices, i.e. journaling, praying, reading God’s Word, listening to God, all become precious practices that will take you from fear to faith, and, as the Apostle Paul wrote, from faith to faith and from glory to glory enabled by and through the power of the Holy Spirit. (Romans 1:17, 2 Corinthians 3:18) That’s because it will keep you focused on your real home, Zion, which will keep you going “from strength to strength [increasing in victorious power]” until you appear before your God. (Psalm 84:7 AMP)

Build up your faith—disrupt your fear!

And to help you do that, pick up a copy of Mark Driscoll’s new book.

http://spiritfilledjesus.com/

 

 

The Police

The police came to church this Sunday—not to worship, but on an official call. We’ve had paramedics more than once, but I don’t remember ever seeing two policemen calmly walk down the aisle during the sermon to the front of the church.

The reason was that, early in the service, a homeless young man meandered down the rows of pews to the very first pew of the middle section. He was obviously dirty, and he was noticeably smelly, even from where we were seated near the back. Throughout the service, he moved around on that pew, occasionally standing or changing to the second pew. At one point, during the sermon, he even approached the chancel table in front of the pulpit—he laid a piece of paper there. It was obvious that he has “issues.” During this time, a member intercepted and redirected him more than once with only short-term results. It only made him agitated and, I was told later, belligerent.

 

As I watched this young man’s behavior, I prayed that the Lord would direct an angel to sit with him, arm around his shoulders, to help him settle down. I prayed the Holy Spirit would free him from the troubling spirit and power of the enemy. I prayed and wondered who else was praying.

 

Our church’s second service is broadcast on a local radio station, so the listeners would not have known what was happening. Our pastor kept speaking on Acts 1:7-8 out of which he had pulled two main themes from Jesus’ words that point to God’s sovereign will and love: God’s timing and God’s mission.

 

Time, both the quantity and quality, are fixed by the Lord and are under His plan and strategy. He owns both the process of time and the actual events of time. In fact, both belong to Him.

 

This truth is to give us confidence and spur us to be about our business which is His mission—the mission to do what we’ve been appointed to do through the power that comes from the Holy Spirit’s presence in us which is to take the same love and grace we’ve received and extend it to others.

 

So, I was saddened when the two policemen appeared to escort the young man out of the building and off the premises—I saw him later hanging out on the lawn of a nearby office complex. If our God is sovereign over time—both the when and the what happens, then this young man’s presence in church today was not a surprise to the Lord. Perhaps, even, one could say, we were set up.

 

With the sermon complete, the radio broadcast ended, and with the young man out of the building but not out of our minds, the worship director prayed for him. After prayer, many of us were wiping away tears. I pray it was the Lord’s Spirit at work awakening us. Today is the day to be grace extenders, to be about His mission.

 

We need your grace, Lord. And we need to desperately extend your grace.

 

You, therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.

2 Timothy 2:1 (CSB)

A Wasted Life

It was a fad a while back—WWJD, What Would Jesus Do? It was on t-shirts, on bracelets, etc. It’s a phrase that does call attention to a question, but there’s a bigger question that should be in our minds, one more encompassing than the situational WWJD. The bigger question is— “If Jesus were living my life, what would He be doing and how would He be doing it?” That’s a question posed by Mark Driscoll in his new book, Spirit-Filled Jesus.

 

It’s a question that asks not just “what” but “how.” And it’s a bigger question in that it steps out of one or two or three situations, or more, into your whole time of life-breathing on this planet.

 

That’s what is “eternal life”—the gift we are given when we place our faith in Christ Jesus. Mark Driscoll wrote that it’s “a quality of life that starts at the moment of your salvation, infects and effects all of your life, and culminates at your death. … Christianity is about living a new life from the moment you meet Jesus and receive His Spirit that continues forever and ever. If eternal life is the Spirit-filled life of Jesus empowering your entire life, then any day lived any other way is a wasted life.”

Mark didn’t put an exclamation mark at the end of that last sentence, but that’s a very impactful statement. Who wants “a wasted life”? Especially when you consider what Mark wrote later at the end of Chapter 1 of his book— “the Spirit-filled life with Jesus is so wonderful that even one day of it makes life worth living.” That’s what I want, don’t you?

A life worth living is a life that has value beyond its time spent in this land of the living. A life worth living has influence and leaves a legacy behind that is unlike the normal breath of air—here and gone. Instead it leaves a lingering aroma, just like today when I walked down a hallway and knew immediately another person had been there before me—their “fragrance” remained behind them.


I am enjoying reading an Advance Reader Copy of Mark Driscoll’s new book, Spirit-Filled Jesus, in which Mark shares insights from Luke that will help us live life in the here and now empowered by the Holy Spirit just as Luke repeatedly writes of in his Gospel.

The book releases October 2, 2018, but you can place a preorder now. Please go to the book’s website to find out more information: http://spiritfilledjesus.com/.

[Just a note: I updated my blog title just to reflect more accurately why I blog, and it just so happens that the name “Deborah” has a great meaning in Hebrew. I grew up thinking it meant “bee.” Well, I learned that’s not really the case. It does come from the same root word. But for the ancient prophetess Deborah, it was a perfect name (I’m not a prophetess, just carry her name). The root word in Hebrew is a word that means to speak or pronounce—make sounds, like a bee does. But added onto the name is the “ah,” which is a reference to Jehovah. So, isn’t it cool that the prophetess’ name, Deborah, meant “one who speaks for God” or “God Speaks”? (Jack Cairns, Hebraic Roots)]

 

 

 

The Rescue Book

I was given the privilege of being on the launch team of “The Rescue,” written by Jim Cymbala with Ann Spangler. The book is a compilation of the firsthand amazing stories of seven people who have experienced what happens when a man or a woman responds to the love of Christ Jesus. He literally transforms lives that others would have said were beyond hope. And, not only that, He has taken their lives into a “more than” into His kingdom’s purposes. Their remarkable stories reveal the power of the One to whom all power AND mercy belongs.

One sentence that stood out to me was voiced by Toni, hers is the last story in the book. She said, “Fear always comes from somewhere.” One source of her fear was the broken, chaotic home, that wasn’t really “home” but a place of neglect and abuse. Fears in her life are understandable, quite obvious.

But what about us? What about those of us who came from homes that were safe, that were loving? Where does our fear come from?

The truth is, fear is a part of everyone’s life. We’re born with it. It is fear that is given to us by the Lord as a protective device. It’s meant to draw us to Him, to fear Him above all else so that we can have courageous faith in this troubled world. And so that we learn from Him what life and love are meant to be.

However, because we live in a fallen world, held in the grip of an evil prince, our fears usually feed his lies and his hold over our lives. He grows our fears to keep us seeking control and management over our circumstances. Hebrews 2:15 reminds us that his kind of fear keeps us in slavery.

The good news is, as Toni wrote of her mom, Jesus has the power to give you “backbone.” That’s what Psalm 27:1 (JUB) says:

The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?

The LORD is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?

 

Your life may not be chaotic. You may not have the experience of abuse, alcohol or drugs in your life. But one thing you can surely admit to is that fear is a word you know by experience. I pray you will take your fears and lay them at the feet of the only One worthy to fear. And that is the One whose love pulls you out of fear into a transformed life. May you choose Him to be your Strength of Life, your Forza di Vita.

I thoroughly recommend “The Rescue.” These stories are truths that will encourage you to know that in every circumstance of life, there is hope. We may live in a world ruled by an evil prince, but we live in a universe ruled by The King to whom power and mercy belong. He is faithful and trustworthy.

Find more information here at “The Rescue Book”— https://info.zondervan.com/home/teams/nonfiction/the-rescue-book/

“Did God Actually Say…?”

My friend, Lee Nienhuis, sent me this note with the advanced copy I received of her book, “Brave Moms, Brave Kids.”

Are you a mom who believes God? Are you a mom that believes He is still working?

 

That’s a decision we must lean into moment by moment in this troubled world. That’s because as moms, we are the “gone befores” our kids are learning from. Lee wrote, “You and I must call out the bold Christ followers within our children and help them face the unknown future with divine confidence.” But as Lee points out, that bold confident trust begins with us moms: “Brave kids need brave moms.”

 

So, when you rise up in the morning, you must repeat that decision. Voice it to the Lord, “I choose to believe You are alive and working. You are the Way, the Truth, and the Life. Give me courageous faith today to walk it out.” That means, no matter what the world says, i.e. “Did God actually say…?”, you choose to believe God. That means, you choose to believe His standards are good and not to be redefined. That means, as Lee wrote, “God says if we give Him our choices and trust Him, we will find freedom.” And that applies to every “Did God actually say…?” the world throws at you. If you stand firm, brave mom, your children have you to emulate to become brave kids who will stand firm.

 

Lee Nienhuis is one brave mom raising brave kids. As I read her book, she shared story after story from her life, each revealing she is a mom who truly believes and lives what she wrote. She believes that her identity is in Christ and she rests in that unshakable identity. That’s what makes her able to stand firm in this questioning world.

 

That, my friends, is what will make you and me and our children also be unshakable in this world which is increasing the pressure on those who believe “God did actually say…”  That’s what will keep us seeking to please Him above all. The world’s increasing pressures come at us everywhere we turn. They are invading our schools, our workplaces, our clubs, our social media, and even our own homes and churches. They are so deceptive, as they are meant to be, that they can easily cause us or our children to question “Did God actually say…?” And that questioning will feed into the enemy’s strategy, which is, as Lee puts it, “weak moms growing weak kids.”

 

But, we can fight back. We can become “powerhouses.” We and our kids can choose to believe God. Lee writes:

 

Belief finds its footing when we choose to act on what we believe is true. …The terrific news is that God has a strategy as well and it is infinitely more powerful: free moms raising free kids. This is tied up in our knowing the truth, however. “You will know the truth, and the truth will set your free” (John 8:32).

 

To be a powerhouse for the Kingdom takes knowing, believing, and acting on the Truth. That’s my desire for my children as well as for myself in this shaking world. I echo Lee’s prayer—that Christ would be made much of as we choose to take this brave journey together.

 

Moms, “Brave Moms, Brave Kids” is indeed a battle plan for raising heroes, and it’s so needed for such a time as this! I recommend that you get your copy of “Brave Moms, Brave Kids” on order as soon as possible so you don’t have to wait for a back order. This equipping tool will help you get your brave on! And if you’re a grandmom, gift a copy to your daughter or daughter-in-law. No need to wait for Mother’s Day. Moms need to strong and brave now!

 

Lee is a passionate Bible teacher, a popular conference speaker, and a Moms in Prayer area coordinator. I love her sense of humor that comes from her life experiences and how her love for the Lord keeps her in His living Word. Lee and her farmer-husband, Mike, live on four acres of grass in Michigan where they are raising four brave kids. Click here to read more about Lee Nienhuis.

 

Click here for a link to Lee Nienhuis’ website to purchase her book.

 

 

Grit

Grit. I think this word is rarely used today; that is, unless it’s in reference to a certain movie. My generation would immediately think of John Wayne’s “True Grit” in which several characters display courage and resolve.

 

Some of the other synonyms for grit include bravery, pluck, mettle, backbone, spirit, strength of character, strength of will, moral fiber, steel, nerve, fortitude, toughness, hardness, resolution, determination, tenacity, perseverance, and endurance. What a list! But, you could just say that grit is having keep-on-going guts and spunk. Hmm, it also fits the Jewish word, chutzpah.

 

Angela Duckworth defines grit with the words “passion and perseverance.” She said that grit is “living life like it’s a marathon, not a sprint.” And—this is important—grit has a “growth mindset,” which means that “failure is not a permanent condition” but an opportunity to learn and move forward. Aren’t you glad to know that?

 

David Jeremiah said grit is endurance and being a “faithful fanatic.” It seems that’s just another way to say persevering passion.

 

A person who has grit fits the definition, too, of one who has courageous faith. This is a person who is an overcomer. No obstacle is a stop sign. The Lord Jesus affirms having this type of grit. We read in chapters 2 and 3 of Revelation of the gifts He promises for those who overcome. In Revelation 2:10 (AMP), He says, “Because you have kept the word of My endurance [My command to persevere], I will keep you [safe] from the hour of trial, that hour which is to come on the whole [inhabited] world, to those who live on the earth.”

 

So, knowing what grit is and its value, how, where do we get it?

 

One thing is for sure, one must have gumption first. That’s the getting up part of the “go” of grit. Gumption gets you off your comfortable seat and grit moves you forward. You could say that gumption is the belief battery that makes you obedient which in turn, like the Energizer Bunny, gives you the grit to keep on going.

 

So, to get grit, you rise up in obedience to the Lord your God. And since true grit comes from the strength we get from a heart that trusts God, here’s a great verse we can pray for ourselves, Colossians 1:11 (TLB)—

 

Lord, help me to be filled with Your mighty, glorious strength so that I can keep going (persevering) no matter what happens—always full of the (passionate) joy of the Lord.

 

This is exactly what my friend, Lee Nienhuis, writes of in “Brave Moms, Brave Kids.” I’m honored to have been reading an advance copy of her book and to be a part of her book’s launch team. I definitely wish I’d had her book in my hands when my children were little ones, but I’m glad I have it now as a resource.

 

Lee is a brave mom who knows her Jesus! She wrote: “A hero [one with grit in my words] is a faith-filled child of God who so believes in the goodness, worthiness, and faithfulness of God that she is obedient to His call on her life in public and private. Heroes…stand when their knees shake. …Heroes finish the race.” Lee, a Moms in Prayer area coordinator and a Precepts Bible study leader, added that heroes “know it will be messy, bloody, and hard, but they refuse to give up on their God just because the journey is difficult.” Lee wrote her book, “Brave Moms, Brave Kids,” to help us moms realize that the first hero must be, you guessed it, us! That is, after Jesus, of course. We must be the brave ones first. She is right on. We must display the gumption and guts for them to emulate. It’s our job, our ministry, as their parent.

 

If you want to learn more about being a brave mom, Lee Nienhuis’ book, “Brave Moms, Brave Kids,” is available now for preorder. Here is a link to her website where you can learn about my friend, Lee. And click here for a link to preorder “Brave Moms, Brave Kids.”

 

Therefore, since we do hold and engage in this ministry by the mercy of God [granting us favor, benefits, opportunities, and especially salvation], we do not get discouraged (spiritless and despondent with fear) or become faint with weariness and exhaustion.

2 Corinthians 4:1 AMPC

Heart Chamber Echoes

I am reading an advance copy of "Brave Moms, Brave Kids" by my friend, Lee Nienhuis, who is also a Moms in Prayer mom and Precepts leader, and something she quoted by commentator Joseph A Siess on Daniel 1 spoke to my mom-heart. I hope it will speak to yours, too. He wrote that the first thing Babylon did was to change the names of those they were indoctrinating, but it was "too late with these youths. Their names were changed, but their principles did not yield to the enchantment. Early instructions are not so easily obliterated. The impressions of childhoods are always the most lasting. They engrave themselves upon the formation of the man; they constitute the mould [mold--I think he was British] of one's being. They may be weakened and overlaid, but not extinguished. They are like words spoken in a whispering gallery, which may not be heard near where they are uttered, but are produced in far-distant years and go echoing along the remotest paths of life."

I wanted to remember the words, so I decided to write them out on a sticker and pop them in my daily planner, and really it was without much thought other than for the color of the sticker I chose. However, as I was writing the words on the sticker, I realized I’d chosen one that was a cross-section of a tree showing layers and layers of rings beginning with the core that all were laid down upon. In essence, that’s what Joseph Siess was saying. That core, those teachings of childhood, are still there beneath the surface layers. Lee wrote this, which I pray be true, “May our teachings echo down their heart chambers decades from now, reminding them of the truths we sow into them today” and, I’ll add for us moms of adult children, the truths which were sown in them from their childhood.

 

We moms who have trained up our children in the Lord and prayed fervently over them, and continue to do so, can trust the Lord with them. For those with children who professed belief as youngsters yet are not now walking with their Savior, cling to the truth that our God still sees those children through all those passionate mom-prayers that are before His Throne. Don't give up. Keep praying. Keep teaching, and be sure to model from your own life, as Lee wrote, "the love and fascination for God we wish to see in our children."

 

Lee Nienhuis’ book, “Brave Moms, Brave Kids,” is available now for preorder at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Christian Book, and Target. Or you can go to her website, http://leenienhuis.com/, and easily preorder your copy there.

 

Here's a photo of me with mine.