Priorites

Every Tuesday morning I meet with my church ladies and we pray for our church, our community and each other. I am so blessed to have time with them every week where we can join our faith in agreement and see God do something amazing!

As I was having some personal time during this prayer session I really felt the Lord reminding me how important and essential my relationship is with Him. It's essential for my life, for my purpose and for all those around me because I can do ALL things through Him, as He strengthens me. But apart from Him I can do nothing, John 15:5. Nothing, you ask? Surely you can do something apart from Jesus. Yes, technically I can cook, clean and do laundry apart from Him, but those things are temporal and very short lived because there will be more mundane laundry and dishes and meals needing preparation tomorrow.

What I can't do apart from Him is bear any lasting fruit. There is an eternal quality with Jesus. Apart from Him I don't have that quality. I don't have the lasting effects of my efforts if He is not involved. Unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain that build it, Psalm 127:1.

The focus of our Christianity has got to be on our one on one time with Jesus, our prayer and study of the Word. We will not grow into a deeper relationship without it. I don't want to be stuck in the same place for the rest of my life. I don't want to be satisfied with where I am in my relationship with God in a way that doesn't propel me forward to experience more. Complacency is an enemy of relationship. Complacency says it's good enough, no need for more. If we want to be complacent let's do it with chocolate cake, not Jesus! There is so much to experience about God that there never needs to be an attitude of "good enough".

It's like marriage. Why make it to "good enough"? How many people never get past that and then wonder what they missed out on with someone else? They don't take the time to give of themselves and experience the "more" that can be. Giving ourselves to God is about more than words; it's about making our quiet time and study time a priority because as we draw near to Him, He draws near to us. We take one step but in reality it's two steps because He moves toward us. Every one step we take is doubled! God is in the business of blessing. :) And that's a whole other topic for later!

Be blessed and get into the Word and prayer!

Meditate on Life today

As I sit here in my kitchen drinking my happy juice, (a.k.a. coffee), pondering the new days many events and meetings, I am desperately trying to just be still and hear God's voice. The hard part for me is being still. I've been in a lifestyle where I'm constantly "doing". Doing what, you ask? Anything and everything!

In the grand scheme, or the giant map of time, the only important thing that will remain is the relationships I've developed and put effort into. Next week no one is going to remember the  meeting about this or that, or even know how much time I've put into those meetings and upcoming events. That doesn't mean I can put little effort into my projects. My husband always says integrity is doing the right thing when no one is looking. I can put the effort into them, but not the stress! The anxiety and worry has to be left out, according to Philippians 4, thanksgiving and prayer put in its place, and the peace of God will guard my heart from being overwhelmed and discouraged.

I know I've shared this scripture before, but all scripture is relevant to us everyday of our lives. We must live by it, consume it, because scripture is the Bread of Life. Do we not live "life" everyday? So it makes sense to have the Life that causes us to be able to live, right? If there is life to be read, meditated and followed you would think everyone would be on board. The Bible is looked at today as a religious relic and not the instruction book to the greatest life a person could ever have on this earth, not to mention the actual words of the Creator, Himself. Genesis says the Word is God. So many people have no idea that they're living death and destruction, the very opposite of the life Jesus came to give us.

If we don't have the Word in us we are not living! Meditate on Life today; read your Bible!

Sometimes we need a little encouragement...

My mother-in-law called me a few days back and wanted to share with me some things she believes the Holy Spirit was speaking to her about. I was busy making lunches and going through my daily routine that I normally don't like to be interrupted, but I put my things down and gave her my attention because she's a special person in my life and she deserves that much. Plus who doesn't want to hear what God is saying?? I know God speaks to her and it's not a hokie thing. She spends much time in the Bible and has a prayer life that would put us all to shame, so when she says to me, "Alysa, the Lord showed me something", you give your attention.

She began talking about encouragement and how just encouraging someone, even if you can find 100 things wrong with them and only one thing right, encourage that one thing! That's how He draws us closer to Him, and that's exactly how we can draw others in the same way. I started to meditate, or think, about what she was saying and I could remember so many times that I was getting down on myself about not teaching a subject as well as I could have, or praying in the middle of the day instead of the morning. And as sure as I would be thinking some stupid thought about how I wasn't doing well enough someone would encourage me in that very thing, whether it was in person, a text or a phone call, sometimes we even get notes in the mail from members that just want to say thank you. I am beginning to see that God is wanting to encourage me to keep going, and not grow weary in my well doing. It made me extremely happy to know that the Creator of all we know and see cares enough about me to see that I'm encouraged in my works for Him!

So then I always think about how we are made in His image and follow His example, so I started to think about the people in my life that could use a bit of encouragement in their ministry or just their daily walk with Jesus and sent them some encouraging words. The response was more than expected and I knew He was using me to do the very thing I had realized He wants to do for me, to keep discouragement away and stop the seeds being planted that Satan means to disrupt my life and ministry. You see if we are confident in Him and ourselves to be able to do what He asks then the devil has no foothold. If we're always down on ourselves then he will have a place to bring doubt and stop the good works we are doing. But God is never down on us so who are we to be down on us?? Are we better than Him? NO! Do we knowmore about ourselves than He does? NO! He knows more about us than we know about us, and He says He has a plan to prosper us and keep us safe and give us a future and a  hope. (Jer. 29:11)

Let's do that!! Otherwise the devil's plan is destruction. Don't let him steal from you and lie to you!

Colombia Mission 2013!

We just returned from a wonderful time in Colombia, putting on a Ladies conference for a church we are in relationship with there. This was a trip of many first's for me! This was the first time I had ever done a trip where I was the sole leader and all responsibility rested on me. In addition to that, this was also the first conference I have attempted outside my own church, let alone outside my country!! I was highly anxious for a few weeks ahead of our departure date, but, as He always does, God took the reigns of what was His anyway and it all turned out just as He wanted it - freeing! Freeing for everyone from the ministers to the translators to the people in the audience and the altars. I am so excited to have been a part of His plan for the women of Colombia!

We raised money to bring all the ladies free t-shirts with our
conference logo on them. They were so excited the wore
them to every meeting!

My team! I couldn't have asked for a better group of ladies!
Each one of them with a submissive and compassionate
heart and a desire to see people touched by God.

My sweet Sarah.

Some of the conference ladies standing in front of our logo.
Colombians like to take lots of pictures!

I had the privilege of introducing my great
friend and sister in Christ, Lori. We don't
usually get to go on trips together because we
are both so involved in the church, but my husband
relented this time and it was a great experience! She
one of my greatest supporters!

We love to pray for others!

Getting ready for a fun day!

Lots of hugs from this sweet girl! 

We each wrote down what offenses we were
holding on to and threw them into the fire.
Kind of like burning bras for women's liberation,
only with a much longer lasting freedom!

My amazing Carolina! I love this chica and I'm
hoping she will come visit me soon.

Amazing mountain views!

We visited a small orphanage while we were there.
The children were lively and loving! We got to
share with them about Jesus being their Superhero
and gave them all capes to decorate and wear!

The Peace that passes all understanding....

I was asked about a month ago to be part of a devotional project for a ministry we are heavily involved with that builds schools and homes for orphans in the 10/40 window and trains the local people how to minister and make a change in their surrounding areas. Well, really they do so much I can't even begin to tell it all. You can look them up at www.powersplanet.org to check it out. They are amazing people with an awesome vision to reach countries like Pakistan and Burma for Jesus!

So I said yes and was told I would receive my topic soon. My interest was peaked because I wondered what topic I would receive and how God was going to use it to teach me and reach others. (He works that way!!) I had been planning to study up on peace for my upcoming ladies meeting and wouldn't you know it, a few days later I received my topic - Peace. It made me very excited because it just confirmed what God was wanting me to know and teach others. When you get confirmation for things you become confident in Him, knowing that He's using you and you are hearing! There are so many christians that constantly doubt if they hear from God.

*Tip - If you are one of those, just know that God never goes against His word. If you see it in there then go ahead and do it. You can never be too obedient and He will never fault you for trying! I would rather mess up trying to hear Him than hear and ignore Him.

Anyway, today I want to share about His peace. Philippians refers to as the "...peace that surpasses all understanding". What we need to understand about God is that He is unlike any other being ever created, ever lived, ever breathed, EVER. There is no one like Him, and so there is no peace like His peace, no love like His Love, no joy like His Joy and hope like His Hope! This scripture clearly shows us that it exists and how to get it!

As a wife, a mom, a pastor and just an overall human being, it seems that there can never be enough peace in my life! I'm talking about just a break from the everyday chaos we seem to keep around us. Is anyone with me? You know what I'm talking about?? Peace is something people in our generation seem to be seeking out, but God's Peace is the calm INSIDE the storm, where as our peace needs to get through the storm with our lives and then avoid any other storms as long as we can! The scripture says His Peace passes all human understanding. Have you ever felt strangely calm in the middle of some huge problem, and everyone else around you is scrambling around screaming "What are we going to do?!", with their hands on their forehead and eyes wide open, pushing back their hair until they're pulling it out of their heads? It's chaotic, but the calm INSIDE the storm is God's peace. That was the exact picture in Mark chapter 4 when Jesus and the disciples were in the boat and the storm came. Jesus was asleep because He was at complete Peace with God's will and purpose for His life and no matter what storm comes to stop Him, God will take care of it! But Jesus rebuked the storm Himself, so how did God take care of it? Well, who is Jesus? He is God.

In verse 39 it says He rebuked the sea, the wind ceased and there was an immediate calm. The amplified version says there was a "perfect peacefulness". Jesus had to be at Peace first before His situation could be at Peace. Peace doesn't begin on the outside, it begins on the inside. How on earth do you get that Peace? If we go back to Philippians 4:6, in the very beginning it says to "be anxious for nothing". How many of us can say we are anxious for nothing? Probably we can say we're anxious for everything except the kitchen sink! Anxiety and worry are the main thieves of Peace. The only reason we worry is because we can't fix the problem, so if we can't fix it then instead of focusing our energy on worrying, "in every circumstance, by prayer and petition, and with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God,". Now this is a big part of Peace so pay attention! In EVERY situation we have to pray! Praying just means talking to God. Talk to God in your circumstance. Not about your circumstance, IN your circumstance!

Petition Him. Huh? Think about it this way; when you have a petitioner knock on your door and ask you to sign your name and commit to something it's usually because that petitioner wants something to change! And he needs support to get it done. God is your support to bring change to your circumstance! Petition His goodness and grace! Petition His love! You want Him to sign His name to your need and commit to changing it, and He will! It may not be the change we were thinking of, but He always knows best.

Give thanks! How many of you have kids that come to you and ask you for new toys or books, or electronics (for you people with teenagers) without giving any appreciation for what's already been given to them? No one wants to talk to an ungrateful person and that includes God! I find sometimes that being thankful reminds me I don't really need anything anyway. Its kind of that epiphany where you think "I just answered my own question".

Let your requests be made know to God AFTER you have acknowledged him by speaking to Him, petitioned Him for change, (which by the way could have to do with you), and thanked Him for what He's done for you already! THEN He says the Peace that passes all understanding (you can't possibly know how you are so calm in that awful storm!), will guard your heart and mind. It sounds to me like His Peace is the answer to your prayer. It doesn't say after we pray, petition and give thanks that He will answer the prayer. It says His Peace will come upon us and guard (safely protect) our hearts and minds. Peace is the answer! In His Peace, the kind that no human can understand, we safely trust God to do what He needs to do and we rest there! In His perfect Peace we don't care about OUR answer. Now He always answers our selfless prayers, but the point I'm trying to make here is that when we enter into His Peaee, we won't care. We will be happy knowing that it's in His hands and He protect our heart and mind. How does He do that? If you have kids you may not realize this but you protect their hearts and minds by keeping your word and laughing with them when they laugh, or telling them that their hideous art project is going to be on display in the Louvre one day. They are confident in your love for them because you protect them from disappointment. Not disappointment of the world, but disappointment from you, being there for them when you say you will. God is that way with us. He is always there for us!

There is so much more I feel I could add to this, but it's pretty long already. Please leave comments or ask questions! They are an extension of this post and can bring other posts to life! Of course, the word does that all by itself. :)

I will add this one last thing - we cannot expect the blessing of Peace on our lives if we don't follow the preceding instructions. While praying, petitioning and giving thanks is not the "purchase price" for blessing, we can't ignore our part and expect our lives to change. That would be like spiritual shoplifting; getting something for nothing. I'm not discounting grace, but at some point my daughter can't expect to eat dessert every night without having dinner first. That's the rule in our house and the first few times she didn't eat it all there was grace, but when she began to take advantage of that grace, saying things like "I'm full" after 3 bites or "I don't like this, what's for dessert?", the parent recognizes and the blessing is not available until the original instruction is followed. She's had the taste of the dessert through grace, but if she wants the whole gallon of ice cream she's going to have to eat all her dinner.

To sum it all up, (this is where toes get stepped on) if we DO NOT want God's Peace in our lives, then we can continue worrying, having a prayerless life and an unthankful heart and we will succeed. Food for thought!

Welcome to the TEAM!

We recently enjoyed a friendly, albeit competitive, game of softball on a Sunday morning after worship and a quick message from our pastor. It was a fun time, I got some sun on my arms and filled my belly with a hot dog loaded with mustard and my favorite chips, salt and vinegar kettle chips. I didn't play this year, but as I was sitting in the stands with some friends I noticed how the teams worked very well together, encouraging each other and all the players looked to their coaches for instruction, and when that instruction was given, it was followed without question! I think of so many times that John and I (my husband and pastor of our church) have "coached" sound instruction to our people and sometimes it's treated as though the difference between the right and the wrong needs to be weighed out and maybe our advice is too hard or just not worth the effort. I saw absolutely no one on the softball field that day that questioned their "coach" about going ahead to second base or where to throw the ball to get somebody out. And these coaches are just acquaintances, possibly friends, to them, yet they did what was asked with barely a stutter step. I wonder what would happen in our lives if we all became that way with God and the people he has placed in leadership of our lives?

Now before I go on I want to stress that before you decide to submit to a godly authority, you better pray and hear from God that it's the right person! And when He tells you who that is, then submit whole-heartedly and listen to SOUND advice that is backed by scripture! The pastoral role is not a controlling, contriving position, but the position of a shepherd, leading, guiding, protecting and correcting. Pastor's are men, and therefore not perfect, so don't expect them to be. Support them, honor them and serve them to fulfill the vision! And most of all, give them grace, as they do to you when you come in their office month after month with the same problems, or multiplied problems, and they give you counsel session after counsel session, all the time working with you in patience and love trying their best to get you through your situation! Why does the body not think of acting like that when their leader's falter? Instead we point fingers, lay blame, snicker, backbite, gossip, slander and then on top of that leave the church for another imperfect pastor that will suffer the same fate later on. It really is a vicious cycle. Do you not think that your pastor goes home and struggles with fears of failure and possibly depression? Is he not human, or even allowed to be human? Does anyone think that they need to be shown the same love they expect them to show everyone else? Do we really think that if the pastor's home were built out of glass that we wouldn't see the kids fighting or screaming they want something, or mom getting frustrated with a never-ending messy home and a huge to-do list that 10 people in the church are counting on so the laundry and home-cooked meal will have to wait, or dad (the pastor) feeling overwhelmed with a church of 200 people with no outlet other than his wife and all that stress stays in one place, the house, because there is no one to talk to and the huge weight of expectations from those very 200 people is crushing their family?? That is the reality of most pastors, and I believe they're not looking for "special" treatment, just "treatment", in the same manner you want to be treated, treat others! My prayer at this very moment is that God would give church congregations eyes to see those things. Everyone in the body needs to be encouraged and given some grace! Including it's leaders! I believe if we did that the Body of Christ would be so strong the devil would not be able to penetrate it! Instead he tried to use the body against itself and works from the inside to bring his destruction. I'm going to post an article I wrote a while back about that very subject.

Okay, so that was a free paragraph about how to treat your pastor! Now on to my main point about the body of Christ.... here's the referral passage: I Corinthians 12 -

¹² For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ. ¹³ For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free—and have all been made to drink into^[c] one Spirit. ¹⁴ For in fact the body is not one member but many.

¹⁵ If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I am not of the body,” is it therefore not of the body? ¹⁶ And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I am not of the body,” is it therefore not of the body? ¹⁷ If the whole body were an eye, where would be the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where would be the smelling? ¹⁸ But now God has set the members, each one of them, in the body just as He pleased. ¹⁹ And if they were all one member, where would the body be?

²⁰ But now indeed there are many members, yet one body. ²¹ And the eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you”; nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.”²² No, much rather, those members of the body which seem to be weaker are necessary.

We are all a part of it and we need to work together as a TEAM to accomplish His goals and win His game! I thought of it like this....have you see those commercials where, at first glance, there seems to be a map of, let's say the United States. And the states look to be separated by colors, but as you get closer you recognize little people all organized by color standing in the shapes of the states, and that's your map... a bunch of people, because people make up the United States of America. Okay, so now envision Jesus, standing in front of you with His arms low and out to the sides, in a welcoming pose, (like we pretty much envision Him anyway). It's like the map - from far away you see Him as a body, but as you get closer you see His body is made up of millions of people, everyone having a different face, purpose and personality, and all these people must work in unison to accomplish His vision. 


Now let's take our own bodies for a minute and look at something - If I'm hungry my brain sends a signal to my belly which rumbles. Then I consciously send a brain signal to my legs and feet to walk to the kitchen, then to my arm and hand telling it to pick up a banana to feed my hungry belly. My belly cannot feed itself. It HAS TO HAVE THE ARM to get some nourishment. So let's say I've got a rogue arm and it doesn't want the belly to eat the banana so it just doesn't pick it up. We call that paralyzation. If my arm refuses to do it's job to nourish the entire body then what will happen? That body will starve and eventually die. You can tell that is what's happening to the American body of Christ in this day. We are refusing to do our job because we don't like that job, or we're too busy doing our own self-fulfilling job so our body isn't being nourished with the love and encouragement it needs. 


Now let's look back to the picture we have in our minds of Jesus from a few paragraphs up. If He stands with His arms low and out and He wants to lift His right hand in the air, then the ENTIRE right arm must move up. The WHOLE arm must move to get that hand in the air! No one can be in disagreement about it! Even if we don't know what the hand's job is going to be when it gets into the air. But we do know that the hands of Jesus heal the sick, right? That's a great outcome! Philippians 4:8 says we need to meditate on things that are noble, holy, pure, just, of good report, etc..., so when we are asked to do a job for the Body let's meditate on the good report to come as a result of our submission and obedience instead of how it affects us at that moment. We need to get a visual of what it looks like for the body of Christ to work together so we can do just that!

Struggles - we all have 'em!

What comes to mind when you hear the word “struggle”? For me, and maybe most people, it’s not positive. Struggling conjures up images of two people in a great battle and the one struggling is the one about to concede victory. I think of Roman or Greek warriors, helmets shining in the sun, sweat dripping from their brows, sword against shield, battling each other with all their might to be the one that comes out on top! The truth is, they are both struggling. Struggling means that you are fighting against something. I would rather not struggle because, in my mind, struggling means that I will be having a hard time, and who wants to have a hard time? Not me.

I’ve never even thought of this until one morning when I was reading I Timothy and the word “struggle” popped off the page at me because of the context it was in. Paul was speaking to Timothy in 1:18 about all the prayers coming together for him to do well and be fearless in his struggle. Then verse 19 says “after all, this is a fight we’re in.” And it dawned on me that if I’m not struggling, then I’m not fighting.

The great thing about the struggle of the overcomer is that He has already overcome for us! Here is what the dictionary defines a struggle as:

1 .   an energetic attempt to achieve something; battle, attempt, effort, endeavor.

2 .   An open clas between two opposing groups or individuals; conflict, combat, feud, war, warfare, revolt, uprising

3 .   Strenuous effort; exertion, sweat, travail, wrestle, to contend

After defining that word I can see that I want my whole life to be a struggle FOR the Kindgdom, AGAINST its foe, Satan! I want to CONTEND for my King, to COMBAT the assailant at every turn, to RISE UP against an army meant to bring down everything my General gave His life for, knowing that the weapons of my WARFARE are mighty through Him for the pulling down of the enemy’s strongholds!

We need to be sure in our struggles that we have picked the right thing to struggle FOR and AGAINST. We need to assess our struggles and see what they are aimed at and if the outcome is even going to be beneficial for us or building God’s kingdom. There are many things out there that are not worth struggling for! One of the “things” that comes to mind is how much we fight for what WE want. Don’t fight for yourself! Jesus fights for you! (2 Chron. 20:15) Trust me, you would rather have Him fight for you anyway! When our focus is Him, His focus is us! If you only take one thing away from this article, let it be that if you aren’t struggling, the you’re not fighting, and if you are struggling then be of good cheer!