Your role

Hurry we are going to be late!!! We were frantically hurrying to the movies so that we wouldn't miss the much anticipated movie on the big screen.

Oh man can you smell it? The smell of fresh popped popcorn, drizzled with hot butter. 

We are a little late missing half of the movie trailers that always come before the movie but just in time to sneak through dropping pieces of yummy popcorn, saying "excuse me, excuse me..." Shuffling over people to get to my seat. Finally ready to sit and enjoy the next two hours. I was hoping to be engaged, challenged and at the edge of my seat. 

As I thought about the movie and the process of making it. I thought about when I look at my friends or people I respect and admire. I often want to be right where they are without putting in the work that put them were they are in their lives. I see their relationship with the Lord or how God is using them. 

The thing is... a movie just doesn't pop on the big screen. The movie that took me no time to plan to attend, took the makers years to make. It takes on average three months of twelve hour, seven days a week taping. Take after take picking out the very best one that will make the actual movie. 

But what about the work that went into the conception, writing, ect... ect... ect.. of that movie? It just doesn't happen quickly. Often times it is a painful process of letdowns and setbacks.

The same with us. When we look at others and wonder if God will ever use us in "big" ways or if God has a "plan" for us. Remember that the person you are looking at has probably gone through years of refining and trial to have the story and abilities that they do have. They have put in the time. They have been willing to scrub the toilets and do the "grunt" work so that God can refine and shape each person the way He would want them.

The best part is that God is not done with you or those you look up to.

A movie shows perfection of take after take and is able to hide the flaws and mess ups along the way. You have to be willing to do "take after take" to develop into that person God is calling you to be.  

Don't be afraid to put in the work.

Don't be afraid to dream so that the conception of your dreams can one day be written for God to be glorified.

Don't grow weary watching others, grow aware of the role you must play. Don't sell yourself short of the power of who you were created to be. 

Each of us has a unique role to play. A role that no other can play. You must be patient, seeking after the Lord and waiting patiently. As you seek the face of God he will reveal to you more than you thought possible. You will begin to see who HE uniquely made you to be.

As the filming in your life takes place and you work at "getting it right" remember that it will not be a complete picture until we stand face to face with our maker. 

Ecclesiastes 3:11 (New Living Translation)

 Yet God has made everything beautiful for its own time. He has planted eternity in the human heart, but even so, people cannot see the whole scope of God’s work from beginning to end.

Lord we give you our today, tomorrow and forever. We give you our desires and our fears. Lord thank you for writing purpose on our lives. Thank you for knowing us deeply and loving us anyway. You are a God that we can trust, you are a God that is in love with his children. Thank you for expecting greatness from us and patiently teaching us how to be who you have created us to be. --Amen

Today look for the little opportunities to redo or at least learn from  the parts in your life that are helping to shape you and because you have a big role to play

--Nicole Howes

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Come down from that tree

How do we respond when the busyness of life crashes together with a divine encounter that the Lord has orchestrated?

In Luke 19 1-10 A story of inconvenience, curiosity and forgiveness plays out that should cause us to stop, look around and want more inconvenient opportunities.

As Jesus was passing through Jericho a little man named Zacchaeus was curious, interested in this one who the crowds were flocking too. He was not a man of good character, he was wealthy, not just a tax collector but the chief tax collector (the big cheese). He was considered unclean because he touched money. 

 Zacchaeus climbed a tree to catch a glimpse of Jesus as he passed by.

What made Zacchaeus so curious? Why did this "little" man take the time to climb a tree? What was he hoping for?

I think he was just a little curious if there was possibly more to this Jesus than what he had heard from others. 

I think he was hoping for an actual encounter with him. 

As Zacchaeus sat perched in the tree Jesus came by. When Jesus reached the spot he looked up and said, "Zacchaeus, come down immediately..." vs. 5.  Jesus stopped not because he had to and certainly not because it would make him look cool. He stopped because he loved Zacchaeus and was willing to meet him where he was at that moment. Jesus went one step further and told him, "I must stay at your house today."

I wonder when Zacchaeus climbed that tree if he was at a place in his life that he needed to encounter Jesus? If Jesus just passed by because he was "to busy" or worried that he might be frowned upon for talking to him, Zacchaeus could have been lost for eternity. Zacchaeus not only from that moment on believed in God but his entire household was saved. 

"For the son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost." vs. 10

How many times have we just passed by? 

Who in your life is like Zacchaeus perched watching you, waiting for you to stop and share your life with him/her?

Are you willing to go one step further and not only talk to that person but sit down, break bread, enter their house? 

God sometimes asks us to rub elbows with the "unclean," frowned upon people in society. 

You may even think you have nothing to offer... after all that was Jesus that approached Zacchaeus, right?

Wrong. 

If you have received forgiveness, you are a new creation.  

"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation, the old has gone, the new has come!" 2 Corinthians 5:17. 

Someone should be shouting amen right now!!! 

You have the authority and the right to stop and be available. Be ready to respond to what or who God is placing right in front of you. 

The times I have grown the most in my life are the times that I have seen God move in others lives. 

I want a Zacchaeus encounter. 

Are we so scheduled, busy, getting life done that we are missing these little moments to impact someone else's life?

Sometimes we are required to give when it hurts (we may not be able to purchase that amazing gift we wanted for Christmas), because God is asking you to spend it on the single mom who is quietly waiting for Jesus to pass by.

You may have to be ten minutes late for a play date because on your drive to the park you notice a women crying on the bench by the road. 

Is she waiting for Jesus to pass by?

Your grocery budget might be a little stretched this month because for the next month you are going to commit to having dinner with the married couple that wants to throw in the towel because it is just starting to be to much. 

Are they waiting for Jesus to intervene?

Your jacket is sure warm right now... imagine all of those sleeping in tents. They will most likely never contribute to your church in a financial way, but God would have you stop and take a moment to care.

Who is the Zacchaeus in your life? 

Call someone down from the tree and do what Jesus did for Zacchaeus. 

You are not Jesus but you were made in His image. 

You will not have all of the answers but that is not what anyone is looking for. 

They are looking for someone, not just anyone but the ones that call themselves Christians. The ones who know where to find hope. 
They are waiting for you to notice, for you to respond. 

Lord, thank you for modeling the ministry of interruption. Thank you for showing us that even you, Jesus Christ has time for us. Lord help me look for Zacchaeus moments in my life. Lord give me wisdom as I try to balance being available with being busy.  Help me not judge rich or poor but to seize every opportunity to show your love to someone today. --Amen

--Nicole Howes

Share with me a Zacchaeus moment you have experienced. Perhaps you were Zacchaeus and someone didn't pass you by. I would love to hear your story. 

Be a duck

Do you ever have those days where you feel like an evil spirit has taken over your body? 

Everything makes you upset? 

You're sensitive and everything everyone says must be a personal attack? 

What about when someones words hurt OR someone you care about, being totally unwilling to communicate and today it just eats away at you? 

 I do!!!

I am not proud of those days but they come. I wake up ready for the day and say to myself, "Today I will be like a duck and let everything slide right off my back. Nothing will stick to me today." 

By mid day it seems as if that little duck inside of me is all of a sudden swimming in the gulf of Mexico covered in oil. Everything is sticking to me. Every look, every word conveys a negative vibe that just never sits well with me. 

There isn't enough time, enough energy or enough emotional resources to handle the constant crude you are swimming in. 

By the end of the day you are covered in oil and unable to fly out of the mess.  

Your wings are unable to work and you feel stuck. 

Nobody understands! Nobody can help! If you were able to just hide for a few hours you might emerge clean and ready to fly again.

When we feel "possessed" and are unlike ourselves- How can we sit up and start flying again?

 In Mark 1:21-28, a "possessed" man comes to where Jesus is speaking. He yelled to Jesus, Vs. 24, "What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are-the Holy One of God!" 

Jesus replied, Vs. 25, "Be quiet!" "Come out of him!" 

Somedays even with every good intention we are just overtaken and we need to ask God for help. We need to recognize what is oozing from us and ask God to clean us up before we can proceed any further. 

People were amazed when they saw Jesus talk with so much authority and demanded that someone "BE QUIET." 

We need to take authority over our attitude and actions and make them line up with who we are as children of God. 

People talked in amazement after Jesus yelled saying, Vs. 27, "What is this? A new teaching - and with authority! He even gives orders to evil spirits and they obey him." 

We need to take these attitudes to God and take captive every thought. It is possible to fly out and begin to let the oil start running off.

Say to God, "Lord, help me be quiet! Help this icky yuck that I am allowing to stick to me fall off. In Jesus name!"    

Do it with authority!!! 

The longer we continue in our funk the greater the likelihood of death. Not a physical death but a death of relationship and peace with all those we encounter. 

I want to be like a duck! I want to swim to the bottom of the river, get dirty, and come up shaking it off. I want things to slide off my back. I want to offer grace and forgiveness in all situations. 

I don't want to hide from people, instead I want to love them in a healthy, Godly way. 

I want the ick of life to slide off. 

On those days when it begins to stick, take authority over it and keep swimming. 

When you are at the point when even your eyes are covered in oil, you may need to call in backup. The ducks in the oil spill even became refugees. They needed others to save their lives. It required others running in, helping to bathe them and picking each piece of oil out of the fine underneath feathers. 

We need people who are willing to tell us when we are behaving badly. 

Call in backup. Call someone and say I need help!! 

When you call in backup, make sure it is someone who won't tell you what you want to hear. Make sure it is someone who wants to see you healthy and cleaned up. 

Ask a friend to pray for you. Text them... "I am in a funk and can't seem to get out. Would you pray for me?" 

With another person you are more likely to succeed.

Allow the authority of God to break the funk you are possessed with!!! 

Allowing someone else's junk and unhealthy behavior to ooze all over you and gunk up your day is not how God wants you to live. 

Lastly, when the oil is washed away and you can recognize your bad behavior... Say "I'm sorry." Saying sorry doesn't mean you are 100% at fault, but it does mean you are willing to recognize your part in the oil spill.  

Tomorrow as you start your day, picture a duck... Whether your duck is a beautiful brown, brilliant white or a mix of both... When the ick of the day starts to hide the beauty and everything seems to stick, get away use the authority you have as a child of God and if you need to...call in backup. 

If it is an unresolved issue with someone - Don't let it go on and on and on.... There are so many scriptures that speak to not allowing issues to go on. Resolve conflict and don't let Satan have a foot hole in your relationships. He will use your oil soaked feathers to breed bitterness, resentment and make a little oil spill into a death sentence for your relationships. 

Lord thank you for the beautiful picture of a duck. Thank you for showing us how we allow things to stick, bogging us down. God we ask that you help us to recognize right away when we no longer are all shiny. Help us to call for help. Give us the strength to ask for help. Help us to run to you and not be paralyzed when we are weak. Thank you for loving us so much and providing a way out. Thank you for good friends!! Thank you for giving us back up! 

--Amen 

When Complacency Replaces Our Desperation...

"As Pharaoh approached, the Israelites looked up, and there were the Egyptians marching after them. They were terrified and cried out to the Lord.." Exodus 14:10

Do you ever feel desperate?   The word desperate is defined, 1) Having an urgent need, desire ect., 2) Leaving little or no hope. 

When we have come to the end of ourselves and realize we have nothing else to give or offer then we can look to God as our source. Living life in a way that allows little desperation is probably best described as being complacent. 

What is complacent?

Pleased, especially with oneself or one's merits, advantages, situation, etc., often without awareness of some potential danger or defect; self-satisfied.

As Christians we are either desperate or complacent. God has allowed us to make choices, follow a path that is "best" for ourselves. When we are desperate our thinking begins to shift. We begin to realize that what is "best" for us sometimes just keeps us complacent.

The Israelites could have stayed in Egypt because they worked, they were fed, they learned how to not rock the boat and just survive. When Pharaoh let them go, God didn't lead them on the shorter path through the Philistine country he instead lead them the longer route, by the desert road toward the Red Sea. "The Israelites went up out of Egypt armed for battle." Exodus 13:18

God had taken the Israelites to a place that they no longer could be complacent but instead desperate. 

When the Israelites looked up and saw Pharaoh they were terrified!! They said to Moses, "Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you brought us to the desert to die? What have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt? Didn't we say to you in Egypt, 'Leave us alone; let us serve the Egyptians? It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the desert!" Vs. 11-12

They were slaves of Pharaohs! They were treated terribly! But they still thought it would've been better to stay. Why? Because they were complacent and knew things would be "okay" as long as they just did as they were told. 

Moses replied, "Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you today..." Vs 13

Again I ask, are you desperate or are you complacent? Are you so desperate for the Lord as Moses and the Israelites were that they could only look to God for help.

The Red Sea on one side, Pharaoh and his army on the other.

They were desperate!!

The Lord told Moses to raise his staff and stretch out his hand over the sea to divide the water so that the Israelites could go through the sea on dry ground. Pharaoh didn't give up when he saw this miracle take place instead he pressed in, pursued the desperate Israelites. In their desperation they were obedient walking through an ocean parted for them. I think that Pharaoh was also desperate. So desperate that he ignored the miracle in front of him and pursued to the death of all of his army and himself. The water swallowed all of the Egyptians alive and the Israelites walked all the way across on dry land. 

In our desperate moments we are able to look to God as our ONLY source. When we are complacent we still believe that the waters will stay parted even if we take our eyes off of Him. Relaxing, soaking in what we have accomplished and how far we have made it on our own. 

When you are not desperate for God you are close to being complacent. Close to thinking you can make it with just a little Bible reading here, a little prayer there. 

But when you refuse to live in the land of complacency you can be desperate realizing that God has it all under control. You will be desperate for more of His word, more time in prayer with him. You will long to see the hand of God move.

Being desperate does not mean your life sucks... Just the opposite! Being desperate means you know God has more for your marriage, more for your family, more for your relationship with Him.

Complacency keeps your feet planted in cement, whereas desperation begs you to step into the unknown and trust God when it terrifies you. 

When we are desperate we trade in our rags for fine garments that will one day be worn in eternity. 

Lord even in times of great blessing, experiencing the fullness of your love help me not grow complacent. Keep my heart desperate for you! Help me to see you in the little things. Remind me how desperate you are for all of me and may my heart and life be a reflection of your goodness. Remind me Lord that you part the waters for your children and bring them to safety. Lord when we are looking and only seeing the big army we are facing help us to be desperate and rely on you to carry us to safety!!!    

I love being your child! ~Amen

Nicole Howes