Getting Ready for the Retreat

RETREAT IS NEXT WEEKEND. I am trying to get everything ready. I turned in a room list to the hotel 2 weeks ago, but I will have to send another one in on Monday with revisions (nothing unusual there).  We have women working on some fun games for late Friday night, other women working on snacks. I have not put in an order for our lunch yet. Still a lot of things to do.

I am spending every minute that I have studying for my part of the speaking, and I am really getting stirred up! Paul spoke some great words in Philippians 3:13-14  “Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”

14 Paul uses terms that were commonly used referring to athletes running a race. Just listen to the terms he uses.

“Forgetting those things which are behind and straining forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal” straining forward is used for a runner who is stretching, reaching, straining running hard to win a race. Press toward the goal means to purse to drive, to persecute.

Imagine a runner, an athlete who competes. When he runs, he only runs. He is not thinking about a lot of other things. He tries to keep from being distracted. He looks forward, straight ahead. A runner does not turn around and look behind him in the middle of a race. He doesn’t look to see what other people are doing. That will only slow him down. He is focused on the finish line.

Paul was running a race to know Christ and to become more and more like Christ in every way. He did not just pick one way to follow Christ. He experienced Christ in deep ways; through deep personal times of prayer; in new revelations; in great visions; in suffering persecution, in doing mighty works, in spreading the news of the Kingdom, in close personal relationships with other believers.

Let’s run the race together. Let’s encourage one another to run the race. I have seen

Smiling is Really Good for Your Health

I am a big advocate of smiling. I smile a lot. Even when I am at home alone, I smile a lot. I like to smile at strangers in stores and I try to smile every time I greet my husband. Even if I am not feeling especially happy, I purposely smile because I have found that when I make myself smile, I begin to feel more “smiley”.

Now, I have scientific proof that smiling is really good for you. I have lifted some information from the website of Dr. Caroline Leaf:

Did you know that the mere act of smiling could stop a negative toxic mindset? In fact, research shows that smiling a lot helps towards rewiring the circuit in the brain that helps you keep a positive attitude to life! This means God has designed us in such a way that when we smile with our eyes and mouth…a real deep meaningful smile (called the Duchenne smile), the part of your brain involved in decision-making, intellectual pursuit, shifting between thoughts, and thinking things through rationally becomes stronger and more effective. Simply put, smiling makes you happier and more intelligent!

Some researchers have even shown that a smile lowers stress and blood pressure and stimulates the immune system. In fact our brain pays attention to cues from the rest of our body to determine our moods and emotions (Okun et al, Damasio, Stibich, Jorgenson, Duchenne). So smiling increases our health as well!

And just watch the effect on those around you because smiling, like attitude, is contagious. In fact it’s almost impossible not to respond to a real smile: the mirror neurons God has so graciously wired into our brains are designed to respond with a burst of feel good chemicals being released lifting our spirits and intellect.

If smiling has such a profound affect on the kinds of experiences we have with other people and how they treat us, why don’t you stop a moment and practice a smile? Maybe it will take 7 attempts or more to create that real smile that involves all the muscles…but watch how you feel and watch the response of those around you as you go through the day smiling at everyone.

This is true to the proverbs: “ A merry heart doeth good like medicine” 15:13

Yawning is Good for You !

I just read this from the blog of Dr. Caroline Leaf, a neuroscientist who has great credentials and knows what she is talking about, so I thought it was worth passing on.

Can you believe that yawning is great for your brain…and you thought it was bad manners to yawn in public!

In fact, neuroscientists are telling us that yawning has 12 neurological benefits the sum of which increase our intellectual functioning as well as decreasing toxicity in our minds (pubmed.gov). It basically activates an area in the brain called the precuneus, which is involved in consciousness, self-reflection and memory. Yawning also helps regulate the temperature and metabolism of your brain.

Yes we do yawn when we are tired or bored or when we are exposed to light, but neuroscience shows that yawning actually has a type of reboot function, which helps to increase our alertness making us more cognitively aware. It sort of wipes out the tiredness and refocuses us.

Yawning activates an amazing pathway in the brain dealing with empathy and the result is an increase in the quantity and quality of loving empathy and an increase in conscious self-reflection.

Yawning, as I am sure you are aware, is neurologically contagious: when you see someone yawn, you yawn too.

I find it absolutely fascinating that God has designed every part of us to work towards manifesting the qualities of Jesus…we are truly wired for love.

Some of the other benefits of yawning include increasing memory, improved introspection, improves your sense of timing, enhances pleasure and lowers stress.

So stop what you are doing and yawn 7 times…your eyes may water, but it’s worth it!

The Power of a Negative Influence

 

Galatians 2:11-13 But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. 12 For before certain men came from James, he was eating with the Gentiles; but when they came he drew back and separated himself, fearing the circumcision party. 13 And the rest of the Jews acted hypocritically along with him, so that even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy.

This passage was part of a lesson that I taught for Sunday School last week. As I studied, I kept thinking about the fact that Paul called Peter a hypocrite. The APOSTLE PAUL called the APOSTEL PETER a hypocrite. Wow.

Most of us would rather be called just about anything else but a hypocrite. I sometimes hear that word applied too broadly. When someone falls, that does not make her a hypocrite. A hypocrite is an actor. Peter acted one way with one group, another way with another group. When he was with the gentile believers, he acted accepting. When the brothers from Jerusalem came, he totally changed his behavior.

Here was Peter, who came to visit the Christians in Antioch, Gentiles who had become believers in Jesus. Peter had been the first Apostle to share the wonderful news of salvation through faith in Jesus with Gentiles when God sent him to the home of the Roman Centurian Cornelius. He stood up to the other leaders in Jerusalem and defended the right of the Gentiles to be Christians without first being Jews. Now, he is visiting with Gentile brothers in Antioch, eating with them, fellowshipping with them, accepting them; until men from Jerusalem come, when he drew back from them.

Peter led others astray with him. Even Barnabas was involved. Barnabas had been one of the spiritual leaders of the church in Antioch (Acts 11:19-26), so his disobedience would have a tremendous influence on the others in the fellowship. He had actually been with Paul, preaching the gospel of faith to the gentiles, establishing the churches. This shows the great force of bad examples, especially the examples of great men and good men.

I imagined these scene at Cottonwood. Say a man came to visit with us, someone who was recognized as a leader among Christians, someone like Billy Graham.  He comes and visits, we all are eating together, having a great time. Then, some men from the Southern Baptist Convention come and suddenly Billy Graham gets his plate and leaves us and goes to eat with them because we do not adhere to the convention standards and he questions if we are truly Christians. We would be very hurt and confused. That is the kind of situation that Paul saw. Then, even Barnabas followed Peter. Barnabas was one of their own. it would be as if our Pastor got his plate and joined the crowd with Billy Graham. We would be crushed. We would wonder what was wrong with us, if we truly were followers. Probably, some would be angry and leave, some would fall away.

I guess we often think of the power or peer pressure when dealing with “moral” issues, but this story shows the power of peers in a new light. The APOSTLE PETER, brave, bold, strong Peter, and BARNABAS, who was with Paul when he preached the gospel to the Gentile people and established churches among them were subject to it. These two men were lead astray by what other people thought. A whole new level of power of peers.

What About Her?

John 21:18-23

18 Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were young, you used to dress yourself and walk wherever you wanted, but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will dress you and carry you where you do not want to go." 19 (This he said to show by what kind of death he was to glorify God.) And after saying this he said to him, "Follow me." 20 Peter turned and saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following them, the one who had been reclining at table close to him and had said, "Lord, who is it that is going to betray you?" 21 When Peter saw him, he said to Jesus, "Lord, what about this man?" 22 Jesus said to him, "If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you? You follow me!" 23 So the saying spread abroad among the brothers that this disciple was not to die; yet Jesus did not say to him that he was not to die, but, "If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you?"

Jesus and Peter had a moment together. This is after Jesus died and rose again. After Peter denied Jesus and was received and restored by Jesus. Jesus gives Peter a glimpse of what his life was going to be like, that he would die as a martyr. Jesus immediately wants to know, what about John? That is our nature. If God speaks to me that I should sell my house and give the money away, I want to know if he is going to tell some other people to do that too. We want it to be the same for everyone. And, if God does not do the same thing, we want to have a reason why.

God has His plan for us; He also has plans for our Christian friends and associates. How He works in their lives is His business. Our business is to just follow Him as He leads us.

Jerehiah 29:11 For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for wholeness and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.

I have to learn to be content with the plans that God has for ME, and not be concerned about the plans that he has for YOU. That is both in a negative sense as well as a positive sense. We have to learn to just trust that God’s plans are good, His ways are good, and that we don’t always understand.

We want a formula. We want to know that if we do this, God will do that. We would like to think that we have some guarantees with God. Of course, we have some, but not all that we want. We can know for sure that when we believe in Jesus, allow him to be our savior and our Lord, our sins are forgiven and we are saved from their penalty. We also know that Jesus is living in us, he is working in us, and someday we will live in heaven with him. That is certain for every one of us.

Those are the things that we can be sure of, that we know are certain. But, there are many other things that we would like to know. We would like to think that if we pray for one person and they are healed, that it would work like that every time. When we hear a testimony about God’s work in someone’s life, I want it to be that God would do the same thing in my life in the same situation.

Christians want a formula that we can follow. For example, we want to know how to pray for healing. We may go through several steps:

I pray, God heals.

If that doesn’t work, we want a solution, so we try different things.

I pray with faith, God heals.

I pray with enough faith, God heals.

I pray with enough faith and deal with any sin in my life, God heals.

I pray with enough faith and deal with any sin in my life and get other Christians to pray, God heals.

I pray with enough faith and deal with any sin in my life and get other Christians who also have enough faith to pray, God heals.

It is so hard for us to not always look for these solutions.

“Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor? Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?" Rom 11:33-35

For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. Isa 55:8-9

If we pray for healing, and God does not heal, I believe that it is right to go to God and ask if there is a reason. That is not wrong, but we have to learn that ultimately, God is God and we cannot understand everything He does. Whether we pray for healing, for financial needs, for friendships, to have a husband, for a new job, whatever the need is, we have to have peace to know that God is still God. He is in control. We don’t make God do anything. There are no formulas in place to make God act in a certain way. What one person does is not the formula for everyone else. If I sit in a certain chair every day and pray, and God gives me what I was asking for, that does not mean that you need to find a similar chair to sit in every day and pray. Whatever formula that you think worked, is not the answer at all. God loves us, each one of us individually. He deals with us individually, in the way that He knows is best for us.

Join us-Cottonwood Ladies Retreat

Generational Strongholds

I was introduced to the idea of generational iniquity recently at a Kairos event at Gateway Church. I spent some times studying that idea last week while I was snowed in. I found it very interesting, and thought I would share what I found.

Sometimes, you may have dealt with a sin or stronghold in your life, confessed, repented, made the choice to turn away from it, been a part of a group for accountability, taken every step to be free, but still struggle. When that is the case, it is possible that there may be a generational stronghold on your family.

Ex 34:6-7 The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, "The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, 7 keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children's children, to the third and the fourth generation."

Generational strongholds come from actions that perpetuated in a family in a number of generations.  Generational curses do not impose eternal judgment.  They bring judgment or bondage during an individual's life, reducing the quality of life, until that individual addresses the sin issues that put the curses into place.

Moses addressed this issue when the Israelites were preparing to enter the promised land.  He told the new generation that was preparing to enter in that they would not enter unless the dealt with their own personal sins and also the sins of their fathers. The account can be found in

Leviticus 26:39-42 "Those of you who are left will waste away in the lands of their enemies because of their sins; also because of their fathers' sin they will waste away.  But if they will confess their sins and the sins of their fathers - their treachery against me and their hostility toward me, which made me hostile toward them so that I sent them into the land of their enemies - then when their uncircumcised hearts are humbled and they pay for their sin, I will remember my covenant with Jacob and my covenant with Isaac and my covenant with Abraham, and I will remember the land

God is not punishing you for the sins of your parents or grandparents. There is a principle of reaping what is sown. This is a law of nature designed by God. But, because of the sin of man, the same law has a negative influence. You see this in your life. When you eat healthy foods, you feel healthier. When you eat cake for breakfast, French fries for lunch, and pie for supper, you feel sick, and if you do that for long, you will really be unhealthy. God does not punish you for eating poorly, it is just the natural consequences. If your mother fed you junk food all the time when you were a child, you have the natural consequences of that.

The choices that your parents made do have a huge impact on you. We see this in scripture.

David, the great king of Israel who wrote most of the Psalms, who loved God and had a very special purpose from God, had a problem with lust; he had several wives and many mistresses, even took his friends wife and had his friend killed to cover up. David’s sons had the problem, but even bigger. His son Solomon actually had 300 wives and 700 mistresses.

Another example is Abraham, father of the Jewish nation, chosen and called by God, faithful and obedient to God. But, when he was in a tight situation, he lied. His son Isaac had the same problem. He lied when he needed to. Isaac’s son Jacob did not just lie when he was in a fix, he was a liar. He lied and cheated as a way of life.

We are all impacted by the propensities of our parents.

Sometimes our parents or grandparents opened a door to a sin that became a stronghold, a sin that the family falls into easily. Once the door was opened, it may have opened wider and wider by generations.  Of course, every person has the opportunity to make their own choice. It may be that when you were born,  a door was already open. You did not have to allow the evil in. You had a choice, but it was a harder choice.

I can see all around me families that deal with the same root sin for generations. I don’t know all the theology concerning this topic, but I feel like it is an area that we certainly need to seriously question.

SNOW DAY

I woke up this morning to a snow covered yard and street. I was surprised and excited. Not that I didn’t know it was coming. The weather people have been telling us about it for days. Yesterday, my friends and I discussed weather we would have Bible Study at church today because of it. Yes, I knew it was coming.

But, snow is always surprising and exciting! I have been out of school a LONG time. Heck, my youngest child has been out of school a long time (7 years?). I have a job I love, which does not involve reporting

to an office everyday or anything like that. I really did want to have Bible Study this morning. So, I have no reason to be excited about a snow day, but I am.

I think that Snow Day means take a break, stay in the house. If you go outside, it should only be to play. Bundle up the children and take pictures. Do things you enjoy. That is why God made snow days. Am I right?

I spent the day in the chair with my lap top in my lap. I had a catch up study day. I do that for fun, really I do. I read and studied most of the day. I am sure this is too much information, but it was 3:00 when I showered and brushed my teeth. It was that kind of day!