NO Expiration Date

She sent the post to me a while ago, my sweet, sweet sis-in-law, Jamie. She sent it to me because she thought it would encourage me.

That's who she is...she encourages.

It was one of those posts by one of those Proverbs 31 ladies. I don't remember which one. You know, the wonderful women of God we almost forget are real. They're just SO godly.

She wrote about how she felt a calling from God, a calling SO MUCH like the one I had. Uncanny.

However, she continued to say that after that calling, God sent her people...people who asked her to write and speak. People who confirmed God's calling.

What my sweet sis-in-law sent me for encouragement, Satan used to taunt me.

"YOU had a calling? Are you sure? God's not using you. No one is listening to you. No one wants to hear what you have to say. NO ONE. You were wrong. There was NO calling."

I cried and cried and cried...out to my God.

I wrestled with it. I gave it to God. I asked Him for help. He comforted me for the moment...a bigger comfort was coming.

God sent us the marriage ministry at our church. We felt led to start it, we prayed about it, we started out strong...then everyone stopped coming.

Satan used it to taunt me.

"Now LOOK. You aren't even good enough to keep people who like you in a room. No one wants to hear what you have to say. NO ONE. You were wrong. There was NO calling."

I cried and cried and cried...out to my God.

I wrestled with it, and he led us to some wonderful people who have given us new direction for the ministry and helped us to allow God to breathe renewed life into the ministry. God comforted me, but there was more comfort coming.

A few weeks ago we watched a simulcast at a women's event at our church (the same one from this post). In it, Christine Caine preached a message that has changed...is changing...my life.

God's promises have no expiration dates.



Did you hear that?!

NONE.

She reminded us of the story of Sarah in the Bible. God sent angels to tell her she would have a baby, and she laughed. She laughed at God's promise.

She allowed herself to hope and believe, but then it didn't happen! Why didn't it happen?! Maybe the angels were wrong? Maybe they misinterpreted? Maybe it was up to her to shift and maneuver and manipulate to make the promises of God come to pass?

But no...she just needed to wait. God made a promise, and God keeps his promises, and they have no expiration dates.

Proverbs 31 lady's promises have nothing to do with mine. God called me.  He'll use me in whatever way glorifies Him most, and praise HIM, that promise has no expiration date.

God gave Josiah and I Compass Marriage Ministry. We are seeking to glorify Him, and praise HIM, that promise has no expiration date.

The other day, God solidified this for me through His word:

So the Lord must wait for you to come to him
so he can show you his love and compassion.
For the Lord is a faithful God.
Blessed are those who wait for his help.
Isaiah 30:18 (emphasis added)

I wait quietly before God,
for my victory comes from him.
He alone is my rock and my salvation,
my fortress where I will never be shaken.
Psalms 62:1-2

There are two very important lessons here:

First, God's promises do not expire. They will not die. He is faithful.

Second, anything God gives you - encouragement from a friend, a promise, a talent - Satan will try to use to destroy you. And anything Satan tried to use to destroy you, God can turn around and use to bring Himself more glory IF YOU GIVE IT TO HIM. That last part is very important.

You must give your heart to God...each day. You must pour your joy and your sorrow upon Him.

Seek his will in all you do,
and he will show you which path to take.

Proverbs 3:6

What promises has God given you that you've given up on? What promises have you pushed away because it just hurt too much to hope anymore?

Let your hope and joy be renewed! Our God's promises do not expire!

Bad Posture

How's your posture?

Mine is pretty terrible. My kids are constantly reminding me to sit up straight, so it's definitely something I'm trying to work on.

However, until recently, I never gave a thought to my spiritual posture, and as it turns out, that could use some help, too. 

My daughter, Destiny, and I went to a Women's Tea at our church, and they played an older, recorded simulcast Women of Faith's Unwrap the Bible. Lisa Harper was the second speaker, and she talked about the healing of the woman in Luke 13 who was bent over double.

Lisa said we, too, are often bent over double. Jesus has already healed us, but we continue to stay bent over, listening to the lies of the enemy...stuck...defeated.

The entire time she spoke my heart was filled with an urge to share this message with a friend of mine, a sweet friend who struggles to accept God's love and grace in her life...who struggles to stand up straight and open her arms to Jesus.

When I got home, I HAD to send her the message. I felt the Holy Spirit's hand pushing me, so much so that I felt like I couldn't even eat lunch until I sent her the message.

It said this:

I have a word to you from God. We had a women's tea today at church today and they played videos by Lisa Harper and Christine Caine. God spoke to me and told me to pass it to you.... 

Like the woman in Luke 13:10, you are still bent. You are saved, but sometimes you are still bent and doubled over in a posture that can only see the floor. You are focusing on your wickedness (aka foolishness) and thinking maybe you're destined to stay there, but this is false humility and it's a lie - you are concentrating on your badness instead of God's great goodness. 

None of us is worthy. Not one...by ourselves. The ONLY thing that makes us worthy is our GOD and the sacrifice HE made in sending His son to save us. That means you are MIGHTY worthy because we serve a MIGHTY God.  

He formed you in your mother's womb and He knew every day of your life before you were born. He KNEW you would have problems as a teen and doubt your own value and try to find it everywhere that was wrong. He knew you would find HIM, and He KNEW you would struggle with ever feeling like He could love you, much less like you. 

But I'm here to tell you HE LOVES YOU and has loved you from the beginning of time itself. So now it's time to take the REAL posture of a child of God, which is not bent over looking at your feet, but is STRONG and STEADY and STANDING WITH THE ARMOR OF GOD COVERING YOU LIKE THE SOLDIER YOU ARE. 

The enemy has been defeated already my friend...it's time to claim the victory you already have and stop giving credence to the lies of the one who wants nothing more than to devour your joy in Christ Jesus. 

I'm writing this for you instead of calling you because I want you to read it over and over and over until you FEEL it deep within and you open your arms wide open to the sky and say: PRAISE GOD!! I AM CLEAN! I AM HEALED! I AM WORTHY BECAUSE I AM YOURS. 

I love you sooooooo much!!

I sent her the message, and felt SO blessed to have been used by the Holy Spirit! However, when that wore off, I realized my sweet friend wasn't the only one bent...SO AM I!

As a divorced and remarried woman who, with my husband, has recently started a marriage ministry, I often feel the ache of an unhealthy spiritual posture. Searing pain sears my consciousness as the enemy tosses the names of my past at me:

Failure

Stupid

Adulteress

Dirty

Fool 

I take the blows, and instead of taking up my armor, I crouch and crumble, bent double under the weight of my past.

But that's not how our God works. He is full of GRACE and LOVE, and the only time he wants us bent is in reverence to HIM.

Then, He wants us to look up, embrace Him, and accept the beautiful, amazing grace His son's sacrifice gave us.

So today, I'm working on standing up straight...and so should you. Take up your armor.

Put on your helmet of salvation, and make sure it covers your ears nice and tight so you can't hear the lies of the Deceiver.

Walk bravely out into this wide-world with feet shod with the peace of Jesus Christ, which surpasses ALL understanding (Philippians 4:6-7).

Take up your sword of Truth, which is God's word, and accept that now there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:1).

Warriors who have donned their armor cannot stoop. They stand straight..ready to do battle, ready to take orders from their leader.

So today, let's take up that armor; put it on; stand up straight and say: 

PRAISE GOD!! I AM CLEAN! I AM HEALED! I AM WORTHY BECAUSE I AM YOURS.