Regarding Both Sides...

So many times, I have been asked by others (usually pastors) what my talents and gifts are.  Now, I hope you know the truth about answering such a question too quickly with a pastor or church leader.  I have learned through the years that one of the greatest talents in a good leader is the ability to delegate certain tasks to another to help free his hands!  Lol!  So I try to be very cautious when answering...  I also find it humorous that they would even ask such a thing because it seems like a set up for someone to brag on their self.  Imagine the conversation of “I am so wonderful at this and I can do this and this and this and ……." - yuk!   My answer has always been the same:  My greatest talent or skill has been the ability to get on my face before God.

Not impressed with such an answer?  I don’t believe some of them were neither!  Most people aren’t impressed with other people’s desire to be closed in with God on a regular basis.  I have also noticed that it seems to make people nervous as if a woman was being lofty or even mystical about doing such an endeavor.  Another thing too, is there seems to be a lack of regard for the other side no matter which side you are on.  The busy bees certainly do not admire the 'closed in", "reading the Bible all day long" types………. and the "closed in with God" certainly don’t admire the busy bee type. Yet the Lord found it fitting and useful to call both!

If we compare what we are doing with what others are doing then we might not think what we are doing is fitting at all.  I am convinced that God knows exactly what fits you for this season in your life.  If you are wearing the busy bee jacket…..Get 'er done!  If you have on a priestly robe….get on your face!  I've learned that spending time in both places cultivates a high regard for both sides.

Loving U Like a Sister,

Regina

Ownership OR Stewardship?

Good afternoon to those of the faith and to those of whom we remain hopeful. We are always reminded of those who never lost hope in us. I have often told the story (usually at revivals) of how my sister spent the night pounding the floor with her fist, praying for God to save me.  That was over fifteen years ago and, of course, He not only answered her but He did exceedingly above all that she could have asked or even hoped for.   She saw me as a sinner:  a sinner in need of an outstretched hand to save me because I was just about to go under, if you know what I mean.  Back then, she had never even imagined that God had a call on my life.  She just wanted me to be rescued and spared, but God had a bigger plan in mind.  He was working out a plan of chosen and set apart for the building of His Kingdom.

How many times have we looked at someone on the outside of the kingdom hopeful that they would just be spared?  We pray for God to save them.  We want them to be brought into the Kingdom and placed under the safety of "our great ministry" that God has entrusted us with (Lol) and then sure enough, it happens!  We are very proud that God has used US to help save one that was perishing.  We love the feeling of being needed and helping the weak.  They look up to us and we are elated!  Yes, we are their teacher and their leader...  I mean, their dependency on our ministry makes us feel like we are SOMEBODY!  What would they do without us or where would they go without our leadership?  Besides, they wouldn’t even be saved if it wasn’t for our intercession for them.  Hmmm...

The question for today is: “why did God save them”?  Every one of us was saved on purpose for a purpose.  In the ministry we should want people to become disciples and to move ahead into their call.  Why would we want people to remain ignorant or dependent on us?  Why would any leader want someone to remain in the state of just RESCUED and SPARED instead of CHOSEN and SET APART?  We have to be mindful of the fact that God's Kingdom is so much bigger than our specific area we're currenlty working in right now.  Do you know what I mean?  His kingdom is certainly bigger than the local church. 

I have learned that it is a great honor for God to allow US to disciple or even safeguard His anointed for a season.  It is a privilege for HIM to allow us to cover His chosen vessels for a set time.  We can contrast our ministry with that of Pharaoh’s daughter… She was chosen to find and raise Moses, ensuring him a good foundation, but at some point she had to let him go, because after all the BABY didn’t belong to her. He belonged to God.  We must let God be the owner of all that belongs to Him and we be found faithful in the stewardship of it.

Loving U Like a Sister,

Regina

Beyond Mere Existence!

Somehow this morning, I have this image in my mind of someone wasting their time trying to feed a dead horse instead of moving out to feed all the starving ponies.  Human nature is amazing to me. We all have that part of us that hates to break a familiar routine!  I mean, what is it about us that we hate to leave the familiar even when it is sooooo lifeless and doesn’t fulfill any part of our being?  Clinging to something that doesn’t offer a sense of fulfillment or satisfaction can lead us to a place of comforting our existence instead of living a life of accomplishment.  Anyone who has ever studied Psychology knows that stress is considered to be the spice of life.  We need a little bit of pressure to help us feel ALIVE!

Feeding a dead horse doesn’t take much effort at all.  Just show up!  Put down new hay and just pretend you don’t see that the other from yesterday is still there.  Press it down so there’s room to pile on more.   Now walk away and feel like you have done something profitable.  You will not even have to shovel away any OUTPUT (lol!), dead horses don’t produce any.  No fuss and no mess.  Easy as pie!  You didn’t even have to break a sweat.  What a life!  You’ve got it made.  But wait...  What about your feeling of accomplishment?  Where is that zeal you used to have?  Where is that feeling of knowing you really made a difference?

Now, on the other hand, getting outside that fence could be quite unsettling.  Oh the faith that it’s going to take to conquer the land of the “unknown”.  Wow!!  You’ll have to believe God for something you cannot see.  You will have to trust God more than ever before.  You will have to take God literally at HIS word.  What a thought!  What an idea!  I mean, letting yourself be put into a place of total dependency on God...  Why that’s like ……..that’s like ….living a life like people in the Bible!  Why that’s absurd isn’t it?  No, it isn't absurd at all...  It’s called living for God instead of existing for God.    Living for God will always lead us into situations that place new demands on our faith.  Existing for God rations the faith obtained long ago from past experiences hoping to have enough to get by.

Loving U Like a Sister,
 
Regina

A Matter of the Heart...

One of my favorite things to do is sit and talk with elderly people.  I find their detailed accounts of past experiences captivating!  A few years back, I sat and listened to a man in his ninety’s tell me all about the life that he had lived.  He told me of his long career working for Pepsi and how he had spent many of his days traveling different roads to different towns.  He had me convinced that his memories of yesterday were vivid and accurate.  Wow! The changes that he had seen throughout his life time... Imagine in ninety plus years, the development we call progress that had taken place.  His contrast of the past and present didn’t seem to have any bias nor did I detect any negativity or bitterness about the changes he’d witnessed.  He just recollected what and how it used to be but he never disputed that the present was any worse or better than the past.


I am not saying that he didn’t miss the “good old Days".  I am saying though, that it seemed to me that he was clever enough to be able to adjust himself to his environment for the sake of survival.  I got the impression that he wasn’t the kind of man who would just lie down and die because life refused to stand still to please his sentiment.  Through the years he moved with the movement.  When things became modern, he bought modern.  Do you know what I mean?  He bought a modern car and put in a phone.  He bought a television and many modern appliances for his wife.  He took advantage of what was made convenient and kept living his life for God.   He understood that his devotion to serve God was a matter of the heart and not a matter of what was available.

Through the years sin took advantage over the phone, the television, and even cars (gossip, sexual immorality, drunk driving, etc.).  It doesn’t seem like the enemy has left anything out or alone.  Yet in all these things, the old man had prevailed against the enemy in his walk with God.  How?  HE UNDERSTOOD THAT HIS DEVOTION TO SERVE GOD WAS A MATTER OF THE HEART AND NOT A MATTER OF WHAT WAS AVAILABLE!  Our choice to follow Jesus will always be based on our desire for Him more than a desire for what the world offers.  There will always be enticement and there will always be avenues to sin.  The fact remains: we are still drawn away more by what’s in our heart than by what’s in our face!

Loving U Like a Sister,

Regina

Are You Sure You Know What You're Doing??

Have you ever tried to explain a personal revelation from God to someone else?  Unfortunately, I have tried many times.  I have learned that there is power in revelation but only to the one God intended on directing!  I remember years ago when the Holy Spirit directed me to home school my kids and I tried to help our family and friends understand what I was doing.  I gave reason after reason as I was trying to convince them that I was doing the right thing.  The problem was I wasn’t sure why God had led me to home school but I was sure that HE had.  Now all of these several years later I understand perfectly! God gave back so much during that time with my kids that had been lost in previous years of sin.


Being led by God is very difficult to explain to another.  We have all probably heard the phrases a time or two:  "I felt led" or, "I just don’t feel led!"  How many times have we heard it abused or misused by someone not wanting to accept responsibility for peculiar behavior or lack of desire? Yet the fact remains that HE does still lead His people in and out of places and positions.  He lays things on our hearts and draws us in ways that can cause us to feel foolish when we explain them to others.  He moves and deals with us.  He burdens and, at times, consumes us.  All this is better than those seasons where we kind of think He might be ignoring us!

Are you in a season of being led but finding it hard to explain?  Trying to explain the leading of the Holy Spirit in your life to other people is wearisome, to say the least!  Being led by God is stepping out in faith not sight. How can we make someone see what we don't see clearly yet ourselves?   Even the things God allows you to see wouldn’t make sense to other people.  So what’s the solution?  Be led by God and learn to give an account only to those of whom it is required.  We all have people in our lives that are over us in some way or another.  I call them Kings but don’t go around kinging everybody!  lol!!  When you have really searched out the will of God with fasting and prayer, He will come through. 

What has God led you to do?  Do you feel moved?  Has God put something on your heart?  Has He compelled you in any way?  If you are waiting for everyone to understand it before you move then be prepared for misery!  Doubt brings along frustration but peace always hangs out with faith.  I would rather be at peace with God than have the approval of a bunch of people who cannot direct their own life, much less mine!

Loving U Like a Sister,
 
Regina

Where are the Titus 2 Women?

We (my family and I) attended an awesome 2000-seated church on Sunday.  The service was contemporary, of course, strategically structured and precise.  I was extremely impressed with the speaker. He was solid!  I did notice a very similar situation in this contemporary church that I see in the traditional assembly though. When they gave out the announcements there was an event for women’s ministry coming up and they apologized that there had not been anything for women in a long time.  I thought how sad it is for the church when women’s teaching is so few and far between. 

Paul plainly stated in Titus 2 that the older women needed to be involved in teaching women in specific areas of their life.  If you look at the magazine racks in the checkout area of stores you would easily see what women need to be taught and where their interests are.  You would see that Paul knew that women were needed to help teach on women’s issues such as their relationship with their husband and children, discretion, chastity and so forth.  Women struggle in very intimate areas of their personal life and need the help that only another woman can offer.

I have seen pastors (men) try to teach in these areas.  I guess for a lack of female teachers they try and do what they can but it is so distasteful to say the least!  We need some women in the church to be more concerned with women’s ministry.  I am not talking about crafts and the keeping of the cleaning schedule.  I am talking about Titus 2 women who understand that women need to be encouraged and admonished in the things that really pertain to women.  God is not concerned with whether a woman can make a quilt but He is concerned about the feminine role in general.  I can tell you:  we think that women understand their identity better than they used to, but they don't - they actually understand it less!   The younger generation of women are more confused than they have ever been.  The older women in the church have so much more to offer than what they are giving.

It is in the local assembly that women's lives will be changed.  Don't rely on a one time event to take the place of training that comes from consistency and the daily routine.  We raise our children, relying on consistency to shape and build who they will become.  We wouldn't expect one youth event to take the place of daily parenting.  We expect special events to enhance what we have taught.  That's what I am saying about women's ministry in the local church.  It is needed regularly.  Put a high value on the women in your church.  Get involved with helping them.  Teach and please make it accessible (remember the need for childcare and flexible schedules).  Women are worth the investment!!

Loving U Like a Sister,
 
Regina

It Rains Here Because He Reigns Here!

Often in church I hear people say, “Well, it rains on the just and the unjust”.  I understand their use of this scripture as they are trying to help someone who is facing trials and they want them to see that we are none exempt from bad days or "rainy days".   Really though, when God allowed it to rain on His people it was a good thing.  Rain was needed for the growth and harvest of what was being produced. Without rain everything would dry up.  It wasn’t that God was being evil, allowing the bad into the just people’s lives, it was that God was being merciful allowing GOOD into the unjust people’s lives.


Do you know that those of us who belong to God have the potential to rain onto other people? We have the Holy Spirit living in us!  His Words are waters of life!  Don’t you love to be around people that are full of God’s Spirit?   Don’t you hate to be around dry people who offer nothing to your spirit but dust?  How much more important is it though to become a source of life than to always be searching for others to provide it?  Do you know what I mean?  Too many times, we go out searching for a place where the water is really on the move instead of determining to BE a place where the water is really on the move!

Today if you are complaining about things drying up in your area make sure that you are still a good source.  If the Holy Spirit still has reign in your house then you can be sure that there’s rain there!  I have learned whether or not it’s raining at church or at another’s house is not as important as whether it’s raining at mine. As long as I have THE source of the waters of life with me I can bring the showers wherever I go! We do indeed need the rain but instead of complaining about where it cannot be found let’s do our best to carry it to the dry, dead ground...

Loving U Like a Sister,
 
Regina