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PINIMAGEHappy Tuesday, Friends. A while ago, while going through pastoral training with my husband, Mark, in our first years of church planting, we attended a prayer retreat. The retreat frankly came at a “bad time for me.” I had kids going in every direction and a long to-do list I would have to put on pause. It’s funny, when life gets busy we can look at God’s appointments for us as interruptions. But I learned in those brief days that God was trying to reach me and He kept getting a busy signal.
The whole retreat was structured to require each individual to get alone with God and spend A LOT of time in quiet with no distractions. I found rather quickly that it was no easy task to quiet my heart and mind before the Lord and just sit. We were given exercises to do like going out for a walk in the forest that surrounded the retreat center. We were told not to ask from God but to allow Him to speak to us.
At the end of the retreat we were to journal our experience and I sat down to write. I felt a clear message that weekend. Be Still and Know. I had heard that verse countless times over the years. I “believed” it. But rarely practiced it.
As I wrote in my journal, I said, I need to begin with… (intending to finish the sentence with being quiet before the Lord.). But I noticed I spelled begin wrong. I wrote being.
Notice they are all the same letters, just in different order. I stopped. Thought for a minute. And then I wrote, Begin with Being. That was it right there! That was His message to me!
The whole weekend God was trying to show me that I had been doing and doing but hadn’t been just being who I was in Him.
I took time to reflect on what trusting in the finished work of Jesus for my sins and salvation from God granted me.
I actually blogged about this experience days after I returned from the retreat and shared what God did in my heart. But I want to take it a step further.
I have found that when I reflect ongoing on what it means to be redeemed by the blood of Jesus, I realize that it is, IN NO WAY, because of my righteousness or “goodness”. I didn’t catch God’s eye with my good works.
No, the Bible says I was like a sheep that had gone astray. I had turned to my own way. But God sent Jesus and required His life to pay my sin debt so that I could be reconciled to Him.
HE wanted me back.
HE lovingly pursued me.
I had only to return to Him and receive all that He imparts to those who call upon Him and believe on His Son.
He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Romans 8:32
I found the following resource very helpful in taking time to reflect on who we are BECAUSE OF Jesus!
PINIMAGENotice that ALL of this was done FOR us. FOR YOU! Not because of you or anything you have done. You can say, “I believe what He’s done for me! I believe I am free. I am forgiven! I am adopted into His family!
I. Believe. This. …
…In my head.
But do I live in that belief!?
BEING. Am I focused on BEING?
Every day, I am to…
Just. Be.
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PINIMAGEEver think about the fact all the world’s religions require that we meet some standard before we are accepted by their deity? Or before we reach some superior level of spirituality? We are to WORK toward perfection or worthiness.
That’s not Jesus. Romans 5:8 reminds us, God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
When I forget that all of this was done for me.
When I forget to stop “being still before the Lord.”
When I forget that each day “begins with being.
I doubt my wholeness in Christ.
I doubt my acceptance because of what Jesus did was enough. I feel the need to perform to earn God’s favor. I feel the need to strive. I doubt that what Christ did was enough for me. I doubt that God’s promises included my name. I feel the weight of my sin and flesh. I compare. I grow critical of myself and others. I even serve the Lord in effort to impress Him or negotiate for His goodness to be dispensed.
I forget to BE.
So when I doubt, I do.
I’m gonna give you a minute to think about what I just said.
When I doubt, I do.
PINIMAGEI get busy doing the things of God and forget Him in the process. I lose the joy of my salvation. I strive in order to earn His favor…to prove my worthiness even though He promised I am saved because of Christ.
I lose perspective.
Not long ago I met a beautiful, successful, woman at a school function. We ended up talking much longer than we anticipated and then followed up with coffee a few days later. I found that she, like all of us, had heavy burdens she was carrying. Although life looked GREAT on the outside, she shed her own personal tears, faced her own personal struggles, and desired peace in her own heart. She longed for answers.
I shared Jesus with her. And she, with a ready heart, surrendered her life to Him! I can’t tell you the joy I had for her to experience, like I have, the peace and joy of knowing a God who has done it all for us!
Here’s the thing.
If you were to encounter someone who through brief conversation you realized didn’t know Jesus but wanted to know more. What would you be inviting them to? Does your life shout LOOK AT WHAT GOD HAS DONE? Or, does it say, “You can sign up to be reasonably fulfilled?
Isn’t much of the reason we don’t share Jesus because He just hasn’t been that special in our hearts and lives.
BUT FRIEND! THAT’S THE GOOD NEWS! HE IS JUST THAT SPECIAL!!!
I heard a quote long ago, “If Satan can’t steal your soul, he will steal your joy.”
How do we daily live out the joy of our salvation. (Psalm 51:12)
It begins with BEING.
Maybe you needed this reminder today. Maybe you need to take time to reflect on Who God is and what He has promised to those who would believe. It’s frankly too good to be true! But it IS true.
And maybe the first person you need to share it with is yourself!
Don’t spent your life doubting and just “doing what it takes.”
Be still and know that HE is God. Begin each day with Being.
