The Purge

“And I said to her, ‘You must dwell as mine for many days. You shall not play the whore, or belong to another man; so will I also be to you.’ For the children of Israel shall dwell many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or pillar, without ephod or household gods. Afterward the children of Israel shall return and seek the Lord their God, and David their king, and they shall come in fear to the Lord and to His goodness in the latter days.”

(Hosea 3:3-5)

As the month of July is underway, many people are reflecting on the first 6 months of the year, and if they are wise, will strategize how to make the remaining 6 months even more fruitful. If you’re anything like me, there are habits that I picked up in January-June that will be detrimental to the success of my year if I allow them to continue. Even now, I am sure you can picture some aspect of your life that you know is not conducive to a healthy personal, physical, financial, or spiritual life. In the book of Hosea, the prophet Hosea (go figure) details how his marriage to Gomer is an illustration for the state of Israel’s relationship with God. Gomer’s repeated acts of adultery are not only unacceptable in her marriage, but ought to bring us as readers to repentance as we examine our own hearts, and the ways we are unfaithful to the Almighty.

In this particular passage of Hosea, we catch a glimpse of God’s character, which is always the goal when reading scripture. God is a redeemer. In verses 1-2, we see how God instructs Hosea to continue loving his wife, even in light of her blatant acts of adultery. Now he doesn’t love her with the romantic Hollywood version of love, but with the agape love that God shows us—Hosea redeems Gomer from slavery! If we read this through carnal eyes, we’re thinking “could not be me! I wish my husband/wife would cheat on me!” But this highlights the great mystery of the love of God and how we are incapable of replicating such a love without the power of Holy Spirit within us.

After Hosea redeems his wife, he gives her an instruction that mirrors God’s command to the children of Israel. Both Gomer and the children of Israel are instructed to purge the very behaviors that got them bound to begin with. For Gomer, that was her unfaithfulness and probably her tendency to be in places she shouldn’t; with people she shouldn’t. For the Israelites, they had to go without idol worship, the leadership that led them away from God, the tools used to dabble in witchcraft…all of it. Here we learn an important lesson for deliverance: God is faithful to redeem us and deliver us from the snares of sin cycles. In fact, He did the hard part by sending Christ to die a death that would permanently make sin powerless over us! However, there is one step that lies in our control: the purge.

God has done his part to deliver us but we keep dabbling in the areas that keep us bound! What would you give up if you knew it would lead to your full restoration? Would you change what you listened to and watched? Would you humble yourself and find an accountability partner? Would you move jobs or cities if it meant you could truly force a system reset? In this season I believe God wants to revive his relationship with his people. He wants to be close to us in a way that we have drifted away from, or have never experienced. He wants to redeem and restore us completely so we are free to worship and serve Him with our whole hearts. However, we limit what God can do in our lives when we refuse to be all-in. Revival is near; a revival of repentance and returning hearts. This repentance must be more than “sorry” but a full reset. And I am going through it right with you.

Reflect:

-What are you choosing over God?

-In what ways have you been unfaithful to God like Gomer was unfaithful to Hosea?

-What is getting in the way of your full devotion?

Ask God to reveal what you should unplug from in order to reset your heart; and how you can replace those spaces with more of Him.

Praying with and for you,

Mik

My defender!!

“12 Jesus entered the temple courts and drove out all who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves. 13 “It is written,” he said to them, “‘My house will be called a house of prayer,’[a] but you are making it ‘a den of robbers.’[b]”14 The blind and the lame came to him at the temple, and he healed them.”(Matthew 21:12-14)

In this passage of Matthew’s gospel, we find Jesus as he has just entered Jerusalem. The crowd has given him quite the welcome, laying out palm branches and clothing on the streets, shouting “Hosanna!”. It is interesting, then, that Jesus’ first stop is not a celebratory feast in his honor, nor is it a nap after the journey. His first stop is the temple. Know this: God’s house is a priority to Jesus. As I was reading, it seemed out of character for Jesus to really turn up like this. Flipping tables and yelling at people sounds a little extreme, right? Not when it comes to the things of God. Upon further reading, I learned that the temple was designed with an outer court, known as the Court of the Gentiles. This was the place where foreigners and non-Jewish people could have a place to still worship and honor Yahweh (1Kings 8:41-43). God is so kind! Even those who weren’t really a part of His chosen people had a place with him. The problem was there were merchants in this Court selling animals for the foreigners to use as sacrifices and offering to exchange their foreign currency. It sounds like a charitable thing to do, so why was Jesus so upset??

Some sources say that these money-changers and merchants over-charged foreigners for these services and, in conducting this business in the temple, it was obviously a distraction from the purpose of a temple: worship. It’s so interesting how something can be technically good, but when done with the wrong motive or in the wrong place, can get your tables flipped. When we really think about it, before Jesus’ death, we were foreigners. If you were not born of Jewish heritage, you would have been right there in that outer court! But Jesus, our defender, made it his mission to disrupt the very thing in the way of our access to the Father. Because of Jesus’ death, we no longer have to be separated as Gentiles and as women, from the most intimate space with God. Instead, when we pray in the name of Jesus, we are granted this most precious access to the Father. Y’all, that is HUGE.

Notice that when Jesus cleared the temple, people immediately came to him and were healed…inside the temple. The blind and the broken, or in other words, the unsaved and the hurting. The Church was intended to be a place of healing. When the church is instead a place of unchecked motives and darkened heart postures, God is not pleased.

Prayer:

Thank you, Jesus, for being my defender. Thank you for being angry about injustice, specifically spiritual injustice. Help me to prioritize the sanctity of God’s house. Refine my heart and the heart of Your church. Thank you for removing the veil that once separated me from you! Convict me when I try to build new ones. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Slow down Martha

“‘Martha, Martha,’ the Lord answered, ‘you are worried and upset about many things, but few things are needed—or indeed only one.[a] Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.’” (Luke 10: 41-42)

I love serving at my church. I love meeting new people and ensuring that they have an environment to experience God. I genuinely enjoy coming early and working behind the scenes, letting God use my gifts for His glory. Sometimes, though, I am so busy doing FOR God that I forget how much He wants me to be WITH Him. One Sunday, due to an overwhelming need for rest, I stayed home from church. To my surprise, the worship filling my living room while I had breakfast moved me to tears. As I sang to Jesus, I could feel the intimacy as if he was sitting in front of me like in today’s passage. 

Mary probably had things she could have been doing that day. She may have even had “good” things on her list: helping others, serving the local ministry, etc. However, she recognized that the most important thing she could do in that moment was to kneel at Jesus’ feet while he was present. I’m sure the house chores would be waiting after he left. 

Have you been like Mary or Martha this week? Have you been running around busily, being productive but not so present in your time with the Lord? I know I have. And Martha is not a villain in this story. After all, she is the one who opened her home to Jesus! We know she loved him, she just suffered from misplaced priorities. Jesus invites us to realize that at the end of the day, “few things are needed” as much as quality time with God. 

Slow down, Martha. You will be able to pour out from your overflow when you have first been filled up in the presence of the Lord. The chores, the service, the busyness can wait. 

Prayer:

Lord, today I choose to sit at your feet. I know I have other things to do, but they can wait. Help me to value time with you more than anything I can do for you. To worship You I live…

God blocked it!

“6 And they went through the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia. 7 And when they had come up to Mysia, they attempted to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them. 8 So, passing by Mysia, they went down to Troas. 9 And a vision appeared to Paul in the night: a man of Macedonia was standing there, urging him and saying, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” 10 And when Paul[a] had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go on into Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.” (Acts 16: 6-10)

I am not much of a sports person but I do find sincere amusement when any sport has a good defense. I especially enjoy a good game of basketball, namely when one player is so close to scoring only to have the ball knocked away by the other team. The original player was so sure success was imminent, only to be detoured. Depending on who you’re rooting for, a good defensive play will either incite frustration or excitement. In this passage, we witness the defensive side of God. Paul and Timothy were a mentor-mentee pair, journeying together to spread the Gospel to all nations. They had a plan in mind of which region they would travel to next. Sometimes, though, despite our best intentions, God steps in to remind us that His plans are sovereign. One beautiful aspect of our walk with God is his desire to lead and guide every aspect of our lives. “Having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia” (vs. 6) suggests that God was in direct communication with the men as they traveled. This is important because we can fall into the trap of wanting God to direct at the beginning and then leave us in control of the rest. On the contrary, God wants to be at the beginning, in the middle, and see us through to the end. Again, as they tried to go into Bithynia, the Holy Spirit blocked that “shot” as well! It can be so frustrating when we have plans that make sense, are profitable, and even involve God but they still don’t seem to work out. These men were not on a self-gratifying mission, they were not sinning or going against God…and yet, He still blocked them.

It can be easy to think that a “no” from God is a sign that He is angry with you or is punishing you for some grave sin. However, God’s “no” is simply his direction. Looking back over my life, I can name at least 5 instances in the last 2 years alone where I was so sure I was on the right path. Everything made sense to me, and I was disappointed when the door closed in my face. Job opportunities, relationships, and friendships were blocked by the best defensive player ever. It was not until later that I could use hindsight to see that God was only using his perfect perspective to guide me away from what was ultimately less than his best for me. Paul and Timothy displayed a level of submission and maturity that we should all aspire to: they did not ask questions or argue, but instead, they followed directions and focused on their effectiveness in the next place they were led to.

What about you? When God redirects your plan, either because of blatant error or because He sees what we don’t, you can trust that His thoughts are higher than yours. You can trust that if you don’t get the job, He has somewhere else He wants you. If the relationship passes you by, trust that God is big enough to carry your heart and theirs. You see, when you’re in Christ you have the invaluable benefit of knowing that ALL things work together for your good. I know it’s easier said than done, but all we have to do is position ourselves to hear direction and be obedient. How can you thank God for blocking in your life?

Prayer:

Father, thank You for being my shepherd. You see what I can’t see and I trust you even when I don’t understand. I humble myself and know that you know better than I do. Please give me a heart of obedience and sharpen my ear to hear your direction in the middle. I invite you into my process. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Do you want to be made well?

“When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he already had been in that condition a long time, He said to him, ‘Do you want to be made well?’” (John 5:6)

Would you believe me if I told you that I was enjoying a delicious sundae from Baskin Robins when this entry came to me? I had just finished complaining to my friend about my long-time struggle with my skin and here I was indulging in the very habit that agitated my skin. In my mind I heard “do you want to be well?”. In today’s passage, we learn about an un-named man with an un-named sickness that had confined him to this community of other sick individuals for thirty-eight years! As Jesus is traveling to Jerusalem, he notices this man and asks him such an intentional question. He does not ask what his issue is (he already knows what we struggle with), nor did he ask what he had already tried on his own (God doesn’t need a recount of every failed attempt in the past). Instead, the only question that matters when Jesus steps into our situation is “do you want to be well”.

The man, like many of us, initially responds with excuses and rationale for why healing had been out of reach for so long. Jesus ignores all of this and commands him to do the very thing that would be impossible without the miraculous healing that only God can do. He says “Rise, take up your bed and walk” in the face of almost 4 decades of infirmity. He is saying the same to you today. You may have been in your situation for months, years, or even decades! You may have watched your parents, cousins, and grandparents struggle with the same “sickness”. I don’t know if your sickness is toxic relationships, poverty, purity, addictive behaviors, hopelessness, depression…but He knows. And he is big enough to usher you into healing with a word from his mouth. Do you want to be made well?

Now, I would be doing you a disservice if I did not tell you that you have a responsibility in this miracle. Later when Jesus saw this man again he gave him an instruction: sin no more, lest a worse thing come upon you (vs. 15). This is a crucial factor in deliverance and healing. Jesus can absolutely heal and he absolutely sets free, but our ability to remain free depends on our resolve to sin no more. Not perfection, but a decision to live life differently. I can desire clear skin and put it on every vision board for the rest of my life, but if I continue to eat dairy, sugar, and greasy foods, I can be mad at only myself for my skin’s condition.

Today’s heart work: What is your “infirmity”? What control do you have over becoming well? Can you look for a therapist, delete phone numbers, get plugged into a community? Today, we pray that Jesus would meet you where you are and that you would be able to say “YES!” when he asks if you really want to be made well.

Prayer:

Lord, I want to be made well! I want to be changed from what has been allowed to be normal in my life. There are so many excuses I could give for why I keep repeating cycles, but today I take responsibility for what I can do and I invite you to help me with the rest. Holy Spirit, I invite you into this process. Please help me remove myself from the environments and people around me that keep me bound to my past. I declare that I will be well! In Jesus’ name, amen.