Prepare Your Heart

"And Joshua said unto the people, 'Sanctify yourselves: for tomorrow the LORD will do wonders among you." Joshua 3:5

This week I've been thinking about preparations. When my daughters were young, December was a month of preparation. First there were the usual activities of cleaning and decorating the house, choosing and wrapping presents and ordering the main course for Christmas dinner. These tasks were sandwiched in between church services, children's plays, and parties for adults and youngsters, as well. Every Sunday the sermon focused on another aspect of "The Christmas Story," and heightened our anticipation of celebrating the Christ Child's birth.

Once Christmas was past, a new set of activities set in. You see, my eldest daughter was born on New Year's Eve. Every year I considered her birthday wishes early in the month--as in, what will we give her for Christmas and what will we save for her birthday--but preparation kicked into high gear on December twenty-sixth.

I needed to know what would please her. Who did she want to invite to her party? What theme did she want that year? We would make time together to visit the bakery to order her cake, then visit Target or the craft store to pick out plates and party favors. All of our preparations were meant to show her she was greatly loved. I made time to please her.

What response was I looking for in the heart of my daughter? Of course, it was an "attitude of gratitude." As she matured, I hoped she would see my love for her motivated the effort made to put on the best party ever. 

In Joshua 3:5 the nation Israel was instructed to sanctify themselves. God was about to do something wonderful for them, something they couldn't imagine. It was important for them to prepare themselves.

The Hebrew word used for sanctify is qadash. It also means to consecrate, purify, set apart and dedicate.

"Then the LORD told Moses, 'Go down and prepare the people for my arrival. Consecrate them today and tomorrow, and have them wash their clothing." Exodus 19:10

Washing away the dirt was always a part of making themselves presentable to the LORD. They were to rid themselves of the effect of the world. We know that God looks on the heart, so what are we to do?

"Study this Book of Instruction continually. Meditate on it day and night so you will be sure to obey everything written in it. Only then will you prosper and succeed in all you do." Joshua 1:8

"And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all He has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice--the kind He will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship Him. Don't copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God's will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect." Romans 12:1-2

Joshua led the nation in consecrating (cleansing) themselves before the LORD. It was an act of faith based on God's Word. It prepared them for the victories that were soon to follow. For three days, while they cleansed themselves--spiritually and physically--they could see the raging current of the Jordan River at flood stage. They were not camped at a place where it would be easy to ford--cross over--the river. It would take faith to be obedient--and to wait and see how God would provide.

Where are you on your journey? Are you caught up in all the things that have to be done--work and school schedules--others' expectations of you or your own expectations for yourself? Have you slipped into a mindset that leaves God on the back burner? Are you ill? Heartbroken? Suffering in pain? Discouraged? Despairing of ever feeling good or happy again?

The worst time in my life EVER could be attributed to my being so caught up in the things of the world that I failed to prepare my heart to do good. It took me spending much time in God's Word--crying out for Him to search my heart (Psalm 139:23) and cleanse me--before our fellowship could be restored.

God wants to do wonders in your (and my) life. Are you ready?

"Purify me from my sins, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.  O give me back my joy again; You have broken me--now let me rejoice. Don't keep looking at my sins. Remove the stain of my guilt. .Create in me a clean heart, O God. Renew a loyal spirit within me. Do not banish me from Your presence and don't take Your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and make me willing to obey You."  Psalm 51:7-11

by Marilyn Allison

 

Bring Your Mess

"Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest." Matthew 11:28

Got the keys? 
Check.

Diaper bag?
Check.

Wispy blonde hair, weighed down by clumpy mascara?
Wait...what?

I pivoted on my heel and peeked into the bathroom again. Big brown eyes scanned my face, looking for a smile. My daughter's sneaky two-year-old fingers had found mascara and adventurously brushed it through her hair.

“Brushie my hair, Momma!’

Wow. Wrong brush, baby.

I knelt down and scooped up my beauty queen.

Then, my son's voice cast itself sheepishly on my back, “Uh oh”.

I slowly turned to look. 

Oh, Eli…not the house plants.

Dirt. Every. Where. 

I surveyed the damage, my skunk-striped cutie balanced on my hip.

I quickly realized it wasn’t just my 3-year-old son caked in soil.

I yanked back my cry. 

There was Micah, my youngest, shoveling fistfuls of earth into his mouth. His one-year-old jaw labored up and down--like a cow chewing its cud. 

At least it’s organic. 

*****

Aaron was out of town on a business trip.  It had been months since I’d  gone to Bible study. And to be fair, I had a diaper bag full of excuses. But THIS was the day I felt a strong tug in my heart:
I needed to be surrounded by other women. 

But, I couldn’t go now. I couldn’t walk through those heavy church doors and let others see me as the mom who let her two-year-old dye her hair black. Or, the mom who clearly fed her boys dirt for dinner and didn't make them bathe. 

No, thank you. Not today.

My shoulders drooped. I would stay home and miss fellowship…again. I ran my hand under the bath water, it grew warm--like the tears collecting on my cheeks.

As I lined up the troops for clean up, a worship song came rushing into my heart. 

The chorus rang, “Come, just as you are…”

Whoever wrote that, hasn’t had a day in the life of the Masters family, I thought.

But, it kept looping, like a broken record in my head, “Come, just as you are...”

The spirit was calling me to fellowship, telling me it was OK to come, ‘as is’. If anyone could understand the mishaps of motherhood…it was other women!

I felt a surge of energy and shamelessness pour over me.

I quickly turned off the bath water and announced to my three ragamuffins, ‘Momma’s decided we’re gonna take this mess with us!!”

Yes. We would take our mess with us. 

Isn’t that what true fellowship is all about?

We don’t need to have-it-all-together-- to be together.

by Jenna Marie Masters

Look What God Can Do

"I will send my terror ahead of you and create panic among all the people whose lands you invade. I will make all your enemies turn and run." Exodus 23:27

The title of the current women's study in the Old Testament Book of Joshua is "Living Fearlessly in the Land of Promise." The lessons gleaned from Joshua are so rich. In Chapter two we have Rahab's declaration to the spies...

"I know the LORD has given you this land,' she told them. 'We are all afraid of you. Everyone in the land is living in terror." Joshua 2:9

Indeed, this is the reassuring report the spies gave to Joshua--"...for all the people in the land are terrified of us."

Approximately forty years earlier Moses sent in spies and what was their report?

"We can't go up against them! They are stronger than we are!...The land we traveled through and explored will devour anyone who goes to live there. All the people we saw were huge." Numbers 13:31-32

What a difference four decades made. Those with the slave mentality learned in Egypt said, "we can't." The surviving generation now said, "We can."

Why? The answer is simple. God. His powerful intervention on behalf of His chosen people had a devastating effect on the inhabitants currently living in the land of promise. Their hearts melted at the rumored approach of the ones whose God is the LORD.

The people who "couldn't" followed a God who "could."

It makes me consider my own walk. I ask myself, "Is there a promise of God that I have difficulty believing--acting upon? If so, what is hindering me? Unbelief...
     because I can't see change?
     because I don't like the change I see?
     because I feel unworthy?

The power of a covenant is in the One making it, not in the one receiving it. It has never been about us. Our ability. Our worthiness. It is always about Him, His Holiness, His power, His Grace and the mercy of His Perfect Sacrifice, Jesus Christ.

HE parted the Red Sea. HE provided manna in the wilderness. HE kept their clothes and shoes from wearing out. HE created the land He promised. HE put terror in the hearts of those standing in the path of His deliverance.

Many times God has chosen to shroud His power to intervene until faith was evidenced by obedience.
     The Red Sea did not part until Moses stretched forth his staff.
     The waters of the Jordan were not held back until the priests' feet entered the water.
     Naaman was not healed of leprosy until he obeyed Elisha's command to bathe in the Jordan.
     God delivered Jehoshaphat and the people when they didn't fear and stood still.
     A blind man followed Jesus' leading out of the town and received healing of his sight.

What do we need? What promise are we waiting on? What keeps us from receiving? Do we doubt His power? 

"Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh; is there any thing too hard for me?" Jeremiah 32:27

Or, do we doubt His power and promises are for us?

"And it is impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who wants to come to Him must believe that God exists and that He rewards those who sincerely seek Him." Hebrews 11:6

May we sincerely seek Him and believe that He has put His fear in the hearts of those who oppose His work in and through us. He keeps His word.

by Marilyn Allison

 

 

Fool's Language

"A fool does not delight in understanding , but only in revealing his own mind." Proverbs 18:2

I have often done this--doing things without thinking. Only after I fail do I understand that I didn't add God into my plans. In His love and grace, He shows me the correct way. It is then I see my motive was to look wise to others. 

The biblical definition of folly is "to hold love and pursuit of truth in contempt by choosing to make our own path."

"But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong."  1 Corinthians 1:27

God knows mankind. He created us. Our pride is fed by the world. We puff ourselves up with knowledge of things that have no substance, no true value nor are eternal. In other words--folly! The world chooses beauty and wealth over humility and inner beauty but beauty will fade and we cannot take our wealth with us.

"That no man should boast before the Lord."   1 Corinthians 1:29

Only a fool would do that. How can I stand and boast before the Lord?

God chooses what the world discards. The weak, the foolish, the unappealing, the poor and, of course, the sinners. None of these can boast in themselves. But once we belong to God, we become examples of his transformation power in us.

"That, just as it is written, 'Let him who boasts, boast in the Lord."  1 Corinthians 1:31

Now that's something to boast about!

by Eve Montano

Identity

"Then Joshua secretly sent out two spies from the Israelite camp at Acacia Grove. He instructed them, 'Scout out the land on the other side of the Jordan River, especially around Jericho.' So the two men set out and came to the house of a prostitute named Rahab and stayed there that night." Joshua 2:1

With one exception, every time Rahab is mentioned in the Bible she is identified as “Rahab the harlot or prostitute.” Old Testament and New, her profession is clearly linked to her.

The Bible links others to their profession as well. For instance, Simon the tanner, Matthew the Publican, and Caiaphas the High Priest. 

Some were known for their politics, like Simon the Zealot, while others were noted by a physical ailment or characteristic. Simon the Leper was identified by a defiling, incurable disease, while James the Less earned his name either by being very small or very young.

How about you? Is there an identity link--a name--you are trying to live down…or live up to? Has the world pigeonholed you in a place or reputation you don’t want?

Rahab’s way of life was not honorable. Her neighbors were accustomed to strangers coming and going at odd hours. Her house was the one place in the city where the spies had a hope of lodging without calling attention to themselves.

But God had other plans. Someone spotted them and alerted the king who sent a message demanding their surrender. When questioned about the spies, Rahab responded with a half-truth and sent the king's soldiers on a wild goose chase.

Hmmm. She’s a prostitute and a liar. We don’t know if a code of ethics existed in her culture. However, she wasn't Jewish and she wasn't under the Law. Yet something in her was seeking salvation.

The people of Jericho were frightened of the Jews because of what God had done for them. They knew He had delivered His chosen people from Egypt by parting the Red Sea approximately forty years earlier. They had heard of Israel’s subsequent victories as they wandered in the wilderness.

“For the LORD your God is the supreme God of the heavens above and the earth below. Now swear to me by the LORD that you will be kind to me and my family since I have helped you. Give me some guarantee that when Jericho is conquered, you will let me live, along with my father and mother, my brothers and sisters, and all their families.” Joshua 2:11-13

She asked for salvation based on her faith that God is the supreme God and He had given the Israelites the land.  God gave her what she asked for…and so much more.

God healed Simon the Leper and Jesus became a guest in his home. Jesus called Matthew the Publican (aka 'hated tax collector') to be one of his twelve disciples and he wrote the first New Testament Gospel.

In the book of Matthew, we learn there were three women mentioned in the lineage of Jesus. The first was Tamar, who played a prostitute in order to have her father-in-law, Judah, obey a commandment of the LORD. The second is this Rahab, who married Salmon and gave birth to Boaz. The third is Ruth, a Moabite—a people forbidden to be admitted to the assembly of the LORD. Ruth married Boaz and gave birth to Obed, the grandfather of King David. Three women marked by sin, yet God sees them worthy to be in the human lineage of his Son, Jesus Christ. Oh, and please note—Matthew is the only one who states simply, “Rahab”, as her name.

The mercy of God looks at us and sees us through the gracious sacrifice of Jesus—totally righteous. No matter our earthly name or reputation, He has a new name in mind for each one of us.

I’ve pondered what I’d like my earthly identity to be…humble…righteous…wise…generous…victorious, certainly not doubter…discouraged…self-focused or failure. Left to my own choosing, I think I would choose “Marilyn the forgiven.” I’ll know for sure when I get to heaven.

“Anyone with ears to hear must listen to the Spirit and understand what he is saying to the churches. To everyone who is victorious I will give some of the manna that has been hidden away in heaven. And I will give to each one a white stone, and on the stone will be engraved a new name that no one understands except the one who receives it.”  Revelation 2:17

by Marilyn Allison