Try this out and See!

Every now and then, the Lord lodges something in my gut for me to ponder.  Last week I was reading my Bible and came across this passage:  “he [Abraham] grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God” (Romans 4:20).  Something about that scripture just really spoke to me.  Probably because there are many days that my faith seems weak.  So I felt compelled to really dig into the meaning of this scripture.  I got out all my translations, pulled out a concordance and dictionary, and I went to work.  This is what I discovered:  Abraham’s faith was empowered by God as Abraham praised and worshiped God.  What this tells me is that God does for me that thing that I cannot do for myself, when I SEEK HIS FACE.  Wow.  And it isn’t even about getting all anal about being religious.  That place of praise and worship that God is speaking about is a place where we let the cares of the world (the cares of our hearts) go, and simply come into His presence, focusing on Him.  It is truly a place of resting IN HIM. 

 

I love it:  In letting go we are lifted up.  So many times I hear, “Let go and let God.”  I don’t know about you, but that is probably one of the most difficult things for me to get my mind around.  I want to know practically speaking what that means.  I am such a crazy perfectionist by nature that it is virtually impossible for me to let go of anything.  But to take a moment and focus my mind on God’s presence (“Hey God, You said You would be here, so here I am looking for You!), to say to those other pressing concerns “Not now” (like saying to a child, friend, etc. “not now, I’m on the phone,” or whatever you would fill that blank with), and to simply begin to praise God (“Oh Lord, You are beautiful to me”) and worship Him (“I bow my heart before you,” or even get on my knees in the floor as if I’m kneeling before an actual throne).  These things I can do.

 

And doing them, getting into that head space, then that heart space, does something in me.  Rather, it opens a portal where God can do something in me.  The things I keep trying to do to myself (i.e. make myself less worried or anxious, more organized, more prioritized, more whatever) He does for me.  He is able (allowed) to do whatever in me that is needed for that particular moment.  And most of the time I am no judge of what that is.  I even come to Him with my agenda of what I think He needs to do for me, and He looks at it and then does what is really needed instead.  I always glad God’s Spirit gives me what I need instead of what I am specifically asking for.  Now don’t get me wrong.  I’m still asking, because sometimes I am right on target with what I need.  But God is so much bigger and better than me.  And when we fall and worship Him, He is able to reach our deepest need, filling it to overflowing.

 

My prayer for each of you today is that you would find that place of blind faith where you trust that the presence of the Lord is really there, and you fall and worship Him, and then you receive from Him the life-giving love He has died to give to you.  It’s personal, it’s specific, and like a good back scratch-er, it reaches all those places you miss.

 

Blessings my friends,

 

Sami

 

 

Holy Distraction

There is so much going on at a college campus.  It can sometimes get kind of crazy.  As I talk with friends, students as well as those who work on campus, I become more and more aware of how crowded life can become.  My own life sometimes seems scheduled to the max.  But in the last few weeks the Lord has been challenging me with the following scripture:

 

Now as they went on their way, he entered a certain village, where a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home.  She had a sister named Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to what he was saying.  But Martha was distracted by her many tasks; so she came to him and asked, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself?  Tell her then to help me.”  But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things; there is need of only one thing.  Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her.”  Luke 10:38-42

 

The question that I find myself pondering is: “What is the one needful thing?”   When I am connected to the Lord, that most important thing becomes so clear, and I am able to clearly see what is of real value in my life, and what is clutter.  I hate that much of the time I spend my energy on the clutter and then have only leftovers to give to God.  The sucky thing is that a lot of the clutter in my life could actually be classified under “good stuff.”  But given enough time it proves to usually be busy work.  Jesus understood this so well about human nature, that we like to expend a lot of energy proving ourselves and expecting others to do the same. 

 

Here is the good news:  Jesus doesn’t expect us to prove anything to Him.  He just wants us to BE with Him.  He wants us to give Him space to speak; to make room in our lives where we can LISTEN.  The novel thing about listening is we have to be quiet enough to hear.  This is really good news for me.  Sometimes I confuse the Lord’s voice with my own internal Martha one, and I think it is Jesus who wants me to do all this stuff for Him, even though it is making me miserable (and everyone else). 

 

The times when I really listened for His voice, He set the direction for my day, and often my life, in a way that cut through the clutter and helped me understand what was really important.  And even better, He gave me the power to complete those Most Important things, so I wasn’t trying to muster energy I didn’t have.  He is so sweet that way.

 

My prayer is that you discover His sweet voice for your own life.  Know that you are loved.

 

Blessings,

 

Sami

 

The Deepest Need

Now for Sami’s Ramblings About Jesus:

 

What is the biggest need in your life?  Have you ever spent some time thinking about the answer to that question?  I’m not talking about the most pressing issue or urgent demand of the moment.  All of us can so easily be swamped by the clutter of busyness.  I’m talking about that deepest need, the hunger that motivates all our busyness, the heart cry and heart ache that persists within us even when outward circumstances change.  Can you put your finger on that for a moment?

 

For me it has always been a longing for someone to recognize and affirm the person I really am.  To not feel the obligation to offer an apology for not being someone or something else, but to truly sense a deep, abiding appreciation for the stuff that is me.  There have been moments in my life when I have truly experienced this from another human being.  Even to remember those times, the feeling of being truly accepted and loved, delighted in, situates me in a sacred heart space I rarely get to.  It was as if for those few moments of my life the heavens opened up and Heaven flooded my soul.  I was a different kind of person.

 

The Lord has been teaching me that this is His true intention for us, for it is truly how He sees each one of us.  He is teaching me to look beyond the human vessels to the Divine Love that filled each one.  And I can truly say, though the people and situations were different, the quality to Love I experienced was the same. 

 

It is the same for you too.  It doesn’t matter who you are, where you’ve been, what you look like, what kind of grades you are likely to make, you are truly loved, delighted in.  Jesus recognizes you, affirms the person you really are.  He is not waiting for you to mess up so He can show His disapproval of you.  He is actually waiting for an opportunity to really reveal His UNCONDITIONAL love to you.  And if you will let Him, this could be that opportunity now.  Jesus wants you to know:  He deeply appreciates you with an abiding quality that is eternal; He is not going to complain about your quirks and mannerisms; He knit them into you in the first place;  He created you, and it is His love that will fulfill the person in you that you are longing to be.

 

In this stage of my journey, I am learning to come to the Lord to soak up and soak in the Love I need.  And I am becoming a different kind of person as I do.  Take a chance and join me.  You will be transformed too.

 

Blessings,

 

Sami

 

 

Real Hope

Now for Sami’s Ramblings about Jesus: 

 

I know that life can sometimes get crazy.  Just when you think things are getting normal, something else pops up that upsets your equilibrium.  Maybe it was an unexpected assignment, an unexpected personality clash, an unexpected relationship, an unexpected parking ticket (or towing expense).  Maybe it wasn’t even a bad unexpected thing—it was just something you hadn’t planned on.  And now everything is up in the air and you are scrambling to find a sense of calm again.

 

Well, here’s the good news:  God expects the unexpected!

 

There is nothing you will encounter this year that will find God unprepared to deal with it.  As the famous Veggie-Tales song goes:  “God is bigger than the Boogie Man.”

 

Let me be honest.  This faith I have is hard to explain in light of the tragedy unfolding before us during the past week and a half.  Yet even in the midst of natural and human destruction there are powerful signs of hope.  If God can move the hearts of people to open their homes to strangers for undetermined amounts of time, then God can move mightily on your behalf too.  If God can move the heart of Castro to offer aid to his most hated enemy for decades, God can move mightily on your behalf too.  If God can give people who have lost everything reasons to hope again, then God can move mightily on your behalf too.

 

This is the good news for you today, whoever you are, wherever you are:  The moment we invite Jesus and His Holy Spirit into the heart of our experiences, He begins to make a difference. 

 

IF YOU ARE LOOKING FOR HOPE, COME AND JOIN US, OR SHOW US HOW TO JOIN YOU.  WE KNOW THE SOURCE OF HOPE, AND WE WANT TO SHARE HIM WITH YOU.

 

You are so precious to God.  Thank you for sharing this journey.

 

Blessings,

 

Sami

 

To Pray For Real

In his book ­The Meaning of Prayer Harry Emerson Fosdick has this to say about the “hindrances and difficulties” of prayer: “It does cost to win a life that really can pray.” The truth of this really hits me as I sit here writing to you about Jesus. I guess for me, prayer is the place and time where Jesus takes His place in my life. It is that moment of meeting where the Lord becomes Lord of me. Sometimes I bring desires to prayer that are actually good, but cannot be accomplished because something stands in the way. Usually for me it is because I am trying to jump ahead of the Lord and pray for things that He isn’t ready to give (primarily because I am not ready to receive). To pray further into His will for my life, I have to go further into His will. Usually I will come to Him with my agenda on the prayer list. And He will quietly listen, letting me sit with it. I will leave feeling nothing has been accomplished. And then He will come and visit with me and share what is on His heart: I pray for measurable things; He invites me to know the measure of His love. I pray for immediate results; He invites me to immediately rest in His provision, trusting Him for the rest. I pray to go places and do things; He simply says, “being with Me is the most important place and listening to My voice is the most important thing.”

Not long ago I began chewing on a piece of scripture that caught my attention: Be still and know that I am God (Psalm ). As I dug into the meaning of this scripture, I discovered that stillness is more that not moving. To be still is to “slacken.” Some of the words used to capture the essence of its meaning include: abate, cease, fail, (be) faint, be (wax) feeble, forsake, idle, leave, let alone (let go, let down), be slothful, (be) weak. (See Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance, entry 7503 for raphah, in the Hebrew Dictionary). This word “still” is derived from a Hebrew word that means “to mend (by stitching), … to cure” (Strong’s, entry 7495 for rapha, in the Hebrew Dictionary). What a powerful message! As we come to God’s presence in prayer, our best praying happens only when we relinquish our control, surrendering to God fully. In that we find the very thing we are trying to manufacture by our own efforts: healing, mending, well-being, a cure for what’s wrong. The big question is: Am I letting go of every conception I have of what is supposed to happen when I come to prayer and simply letting Jesus be who God sent Him to be, my Savior? Is the reason I am not seeing any fruit from my prayers, because I am fighting against Him instead of flowing with Him?

Over the last few weeks my experience of prayer has deepened. And an amazing thing has happened. As I have surrendered to that place of being held in the Lord’s hands, His power has become manifest in my life in ways I could not imagine. I am seeing Him show up in my daily life, leading my day, directing my plans, and even giving me unexpected Divine appointments that accomplish far more than I ever could on my own. It is truly awesome to see what happens when we create space in our lives for the Lord to work. He still isn’t doing things the way I would have Him, but His way is way more satisfying and is accomplishing much more. I guess it is always about trust more than it is about doing.

Hope you are able in this time of “Fall Break” to truly take a break and be still before the Lord. Give Jesus an opportunity to speak to your heart; listen for a change. You will be so glad you did.

Blessings,

Sami

Now for Sami’s Ramblings about Jesus: The part of the e-letter where I share what’s on my heart from the Lord



I know that life can sometimes get crazy. Just when you think things are getting normal, something else pops up that upsets your equilibrium. Maybe it was an unexpected assignment, an unexpected personality clash, an unexpected relationship, an unexpected parking ticket (or towing expense). Maybe it wasn’t even a bad unexpected thing—it was just something you hadn’t planned on. And now everything is up in the air and you are scrambling to find a sense of calm again.



Well, here’s the good news: God expects the unexpected!



There is nothing you will encounter this year that will find God unprepared to deal with it. As the famous Veggie-Tales song goes: “God is bigger than the Boogie Man.”



Let me be honest. This faith I have is hard to explain in light of the tragedy unfolding before us during the past week and a half. Yet even in the midst of natural and human destruction there are powerful signs of hope. If God can move the hearts of people to open their homes to strangers for undetermined amounts of time, then God can move mightily on your behalf too. If God can move the heart of Castro to offer aid to his most hated enemy for decades, God can move mightily on your behalf too. If God can give people who have lost everything reasons to hope again, then God can move mightily on your behalf too.



This is the good news for you today, whoever you are, wherever you are: The moment we invite Jesus and His Holy Spirit into the heart of our experiences, He begins to make a difference.



IF YOU ARE LOOKING FOR HOPE, COME AND JOIN US, OR SHOW US HOW TO JOIN YOU. WE KNOW THE SOURCE OF HOPE, AND WE WANT TO SHARE HIM WITH YOU.



You are so precious to God. Thank you for sharing this journey.



Blessings,



Sami