you can do what He’s calling you to: a kindling post

Posted on by November 12, 2024
you can do what He's calling you to: a kindling post

The Lord knows your breakthrough is taking a long time. He is waiting, too.

He knows the enemy has tried to wheedle his way in and get you on the merry-go-round of doubt:

Is it because I still haven’t learned my lesson? Is it punishment? Is it because I don’t deserve what I’ve been hoping for? Is it because someone else needs the answer more than I do? Is it because I’m too stupid to figure out the answers?

The Lord knows the lies and accusations you’ve been wrestling with. Here’s some truth to hang onto:

He is giving you the wisdom you need as you abide.

He doesn’t love anyone else more than He loves you. He’s not playing favorites.

His provision has no limits. He doesn’t have to choose between needs to fill.

His timing is protecting you from things you don’t know about, and preparing you for more than you imagine.

If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.

— James 1:5-8

You don’t have to know what you’re doing when the Lord tells you to do it.

You don’t have to wait until you have it all figured out. In fact, a lot of people do it that way but it’s just disobedience pretending to be responsible.

Yes, do some research. Figure out your first step. But if He tells you Go, then do it asap. Your joy is at stake.

Show Him you can be trusted with the little things so He knows you are ready to steward the bigger things you’re asking for, too.

You can do the thing He’s calling you to today. The big, brave thing, and the small, annoying thing. The new unfamiliar thing. The strong, steady, obedient thing.

He’s holding favor for you as you trust Him. He moves mightily on your behalf and loves your heart that pursues Him and chooses His ways over your own preferences. He is taking that surrender and molding your desires so they align with His, making it easier and easier to hear Him and know the way to go.

My soul makes its boast in the Lord; let the humble hear and be glad.

Oh, fear the Lord, you his saints, for those who fear him have no lack!

The young lions suffer want and hunger; but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing.

Come, O children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the Lord.

What man is there who desires life and loves many days, that he may see good?

Keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking deceit.

Turn away from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it.

— Psalm 34:2, 9-15

There will be people out there who misunderstand you maliciously and religiously.

So caught up in their own misinterpretation, refusing to see other perspectives, eager to judge and be offended, they will miss the forest for the trees just as they have missed the point that could have broadened their own understanding.

Sometimes they cloak their condemnation with misapplied scripture to keep themselves on a high horse of self righteousness while criticizing those they know nothing about and quenching the Spirit they don’t understand.

But you will know them by their fruit, Jesus said.

So abide. Keep abiding. Keep doing what the Lord has called you to do. It is the only way we bear fruit, and our growth is helped by a good application of manure every once in a while. 😏😎

Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit.

— Matthew 7:15-17

Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.

— John 15:4-5

The Lord is not waiting for your perfection or performance to deliver you. He did not bring breakthrough or deliverance or answers to people in the Bible because they checked off all the boxes. He doesn’t deliver because we are perfect, but because He is.

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answering the call: the surrender that creates champions

Posted on by October 4, 2023

It was Monday morning and we were trucking right along with school: A kid doing math on the computer, a kid practicing his handwriting at the counter, a kid writing in her journal at the table, a toddler examining his new big-boy belt, and a teen waiting while I checked his language arts assignment.

answering the call: the surrender that creates champions

And then my phone buzzed and bedlam erupted: Before I finished hitting the green button to answer the call, three kids were thrusting their assignments in my face and the toddler swung his belt dangerously near a window. So this is what it sounded like:

buzzTHWACKbuzzMOMHEYMOMbuzzHELPMOMCANYOUbuzzHELPME

and then I held the phone to my ear and said, “Hello? – Shh, I’m on the phone, hold on – Yes, this is Shannon – (Whisper yelling) PUT THE BELT DOWN! – Yes – Shh, all of you go away for a minute – Yep, okay – SHHH – yeah, Wednesday is great.”

Click, and a deep breath, like I’d just run forty meters uphill in three seconds.

But isn’t that a picture of life right now? Even if you’re not homeschooling half a dozen kids, our attention is all over the place and the demands on it are exhausting. So many things need or want our attention and we’re not really sure what they’re asking. We can’t hear some clearly over the noise of others, and we’re not totally sure what should be answered first or what we should do about it, anyway, and it seems like, vaguely, some of it should probably just be ignored but there’s so much clamor it’s hard to sort it out.

We are just trying to deal with normal life, for crying out loud. We don’t need to add any apocalyptic disasters to our milieu to round things out a little, thankyouverymuch.

We don’t really have a lot of say in the events that are happening, though. We can pray, of course, but the real challenge I’ve noticed in my life (and what I’m hearing from so many others) is trying to figure out how to best respond and prepare for all the unknowns ahead.

It’s like we know there’s a test coming soon but we’re not really sure what it’s going to be about. We have no idea what to focus our limited study time on so we can give the correct answers.

My friend and I were talking about this and she said,“Sometimes I wonder what would happen if Noah tried to live as he always had, sometimes working on the ark ‘just in case’ the flood was coming, but he would only put his back into it when he felt the first drops of rain. I’m beginning to wonder if the reason I have fear and confusion is due to this conflict of what I see and what I know in my spirit to be true.”

Huh. It kinda blew my mind. What am I working on, but not really taking seriously enough? What should I be doing now so I’m not scrambling when the rain starts falling?

To be fair to ourselves, though, Noah was given clear instructions: Build an ark, because there will be a flood.

We have not been given clear instructions like that. It’s more like, Hey, you might have a flood but it might also be an earthquake, or maybe a cluster of tornadoes, or possibly a locust invasion and a drought, but also don’t forget about these hurricanes in the forecast…and by the way, have you checked on this active, smoking volcano lately?

Any combination of them might go off, but you prepare differently for each one and you don’t know if you should be building an ark or a bunker or if you should just get out of Dodge entirely.

(I happened to come across a hilarious illustration of this, here. You’re welcome.)

There is a huge divide between what we see and what we sense is coming, and living in that tension produces confusion and half measures. We face unknown realities: If life is like this, we’ll do A, but if it heads south we’ll do B and probably C, and those options are often mutually exclusive. How can we possibly know the right answer?

Obviously the Lord knows how we struggle in the tension of that. He knows we can’t do everything, or understand everything, or predict everything, or prepare for everything. So why put us through it? Why not make it clear?

Maybe the lack of clarity is there to keep us close to Him. The ones who see and abide closely are the ones He entrusts with more. So in that sense, I wonder if living in the tension is not just preparation for us, but also a test to see who passes and advances.

Your words were found, and I ate them,
and your words became to me a joy
and the delight of my heart,
for I am called by your name,
O Lord, God of hosts.
I did not sit in the company of revelers,
nor did I rejoice;
I sat alone, because your hand was upon me,
for you had filled me with indignation.

– Jeremiah 15:16-17

He is watching to see who is watching. He wants to know who will take the time to examine and seek Him, to do the work to keep the plumb line true, to repent and make corrections when necessary. He’s looking for those who will listen for the call and answer it.

For who among them has stood in the council of the Lord to see and to hear his word, or who has paid attention to his word and listened?

– Jeremiah 23:18

If He is drawing all men to Himself, our very longing and questioning and unknowing leads us to understanding our need for Him.

We lean in hard and obey in the day and the moment He gives us. It’s a humbling business; He knows we don’t know what we’re doing. It’s a process of learning and growing and trying and trying again, and you could call it refinement, but when it’s partnered with surrender to the Lord in all of our unknowing, you can also call it sanctification. Because the people who are willing to do it are the people He’s setting apart.

Why is my pain unceasing, my wound incurable, refusing to be healed?
Will you be to me like a deceitful brook, like waters that fail?
Therefore thus says the Lord:
“If you return, I will restore you, and you shall stand before me.
If you utter what is precious, and not what is worthless, you shall be as my mouth.
They shall turn to you, but you shall not turn to them.
And I will make you to this people a fortified wall of bronze;
they will fight against you, but they shall not prevail over you,
for I am with you to save you and deliver you, declares the Lord.
I will deliver you out of the hand of the wicked,
and redeem you from the grasp of the ruthless.

– Jeremiah 15:18-21

If you feel different, it’s because you are.

If you have more questions than answers, you might have figured out the key to the test without realizing it.

Maybe the questions are the answer.

Maybe we have lived too long demanding to understand before we walk forward in the things God tells us. Maybe we’ve rushed too quickly to say the things that seemed to make sense but hesitated to share truths He spoke to us because we didn’t have all the answers…and we like to know all the answers.

I did not send the prophets, yet they ran;
I did not speak to them, yet they prophesied.
But if they had stood in my council,
then they would have proclaimed my words to my people,
and they would have turned them from their evil way,
and from the evil of their deeds.

– Jeremiah 23:21-22

So here we are, choosing to be vigilant in this tension because He has called us to wholeness. We know we don’t have the answers, but it turns out, our willingness to live with so many questions is a big part of the answer we’re looking for.

The other night we drove home in the thickest fog I have ever seen. We could not see to the end of our headlights; we could only see five to ten feet in front of our headlights. Even on the highway we drove slow, watching closely, wary of what we couldn’t see.

In some ways the fog is a gift – it makes us aware of our weakness instead of allowing us to plow forward too fast with a false sense of security. We are perplexed, but not driven to despair, because we are taking the time to abide and move strategically. We don’t need to move fast, we need to move wisely. Because we’re not the only ones who can’t see; there are large wild creatures out there that could dart onto the road any minute, and we all need time to avoid colliding with each other.

We need Kingdom solutions for these days, but Kingdom solutions only come with Kingdom humility. So if you feel like you’re winging it, flying by the seat of your pants in daily obedience while not knowing for sure where it all leads, you’re in good company. This is the sweet spot of surrendered abiding, and it’s where His champions are trained.

Maybe we’ve been trying to see too far ahead. The next step He is calling us to today is not going to look the same for all of us.

But on the other hand it will, because it will look like abiding and obedience.

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how we keep the house

Posted on by September 26, 2022

A dream woke me up at 5 am.

I had fallen asleep praying for a loved one who seems to be drifting in the last few years, and the next thing I knew, my heart was loud while the room was dark and quiet, and the Lord was telling me, Remember, and share this.

how we keep the house: a dream and a warning for the Church

So here goes.

I dreamt of a being in a house I’ve never been to. Most of the kids were with me and there were hills around; my husband and other men were outside, scouting and guarding the area.

We knew we were about to be attacked, that enemies were attempting to invade us. My job was to go along the inside of the house and lock all the doors and windows.

A young man was with me, like my son but not my son. But in my dream I knew he was my right hand man, the one I was relying on the most, as though the men had assigned him to stay with me and the kids for protection and help.

I went down the long, skinny hallway, shutting windows and locking doors until I got to a door that was stuck and wouldn’t latch. I called the young man over to help me and he shut it, and then he went down the hall ahead of me to take care of the rest. But as I followed him with one of my little boys, I noticed the next window was left partly open, and one of the doors wasn’t closed all the way. The young man was increasingly unreliable as he went down the hall toward the end of the house.

The hallway ended with two glass doors that made up the wall of that side of the house. The doors were supposed to meet in the middle and latch, but the glass was cracked and had been cheaply fixed with clear packing tape.

And the doors were still open. The young man was standing in the doorway with my seven-year-old son, and I could see the horde of raiders with weapons coming, running through the woods right toward us.

They had flanked, and were going to attack the back of the house first.

A small shelf of handmade weapons was nearby. Some were worthless cardboard, like children’s toys, but others were knives and hatchets, and I grabbed one of those. But the doors were still open, and my seven year old was standing with the young man, watching them come. They weren’t shutting the doors; they were transfixed on watching the coming onslaught. I kept telling them “Shut the doors! Shut the doors!” and they just stood there.

I grabbed my son and threw him behind me, but the young man was larger than me and in the way; I could not close the doors without him moving.

The first raider reached us with the others right behind him, and he stretched his arm up through the doorway, getting ready to climb in.

And I woke up, but my thoughts finished the dream for me: I knew I would have to kill the invader as he tried coming into the house.

Yeah. Wow, I know, that’s not the normal stuff I share here. As I laid there trying to figure it out, the Lord reminded me that I fell asleep praying for that loved one who has been turning lukewarm, losing vision, tired of the fight. And then I had this dream about the young man, meant to be relied upon to stand and fight and defend. And at first he was reliable, but the further he went into the mission, the less effective he became until he was basically deadened and stupefied, putting the rest of us in danger.

And this is a picture of some in the Church right now who have called themselves Christians for decades.

In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, this word came from the Lord: “Thus says the Lord: Stand in the court of the Lord‘s house, and speak to all the cities of Judah that come to worship in the house of the Lord all the words that I command you to speak to them; do not hold back a word. It may be they will listen, and every one turn from his evil way, that I may relent of the disaster that I intend to do to them because of their evil deeds. You shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord: If you will not listen to me, to walk in my law that I have set before you, and to listen to the words of my servants the prophets whom I send to you urgently, though you have not listened, then I will make this house like Shiloh, and I will make this city a curse for all the nations of the earth.’”

– Jeremiah 26:1-6

It’s easy to write this off as a passage for non-believers, but it’s not. It’s for those who went to the court of the Lord’s house, to all the cities that come to worship in the house of the Lord. It’s for us, the Church.

We have neglected to keep the house, and we need to repent and restore it.

At every pivotal moment in history there have been those who stood by, not wanting to take a stand as evil overtook the institutions and culture of the land. Their discernment and action were dulled and useless because they chose comfort over obedience. They feared man more than they feared God. They worshipped themselves instead of the Creator.

Christians, friends, Church: We have been living in one of those pivotal moments for years now, and the boat needs to rock.

Too many are placidly standing my, flirting with popularity, worshiping ease, drifting lazy fingers in the current as it carries us toward destruction. If you are not speaking out, standing up, learning about what is going on, interceding for those on the front lines of this, and taking action when the Lord calls you to, you are not rocking the boat – you are sinking the ship.

The windows and doors have not just been left open; many in the house have groveled and bootlicked their way to being complete sycophants of the enemy.

Many pastors want a seat at the table Jesus would be flipping over.

– Joe Oltmann

We are meant to guard and defend, but it’s easy to fall into sleepwalking through our days, mesmerized by the enemy and doing nothing to prevent His attacks.

So how do we protect our flank?

Are we praying? Are we armed? Are we alert to what’s going on, and preventing the enemy’s access to our family? Or are we just too tired, too numb, too overwhelmed, too careless of those around us?

Because it’s not just about us. There are kids in the house, watching us, learning how to respond to the world out there. Our apathy puts them in danger.

It is exhausting. We are tired. Life is full and frenzied right now, and you’re right, we can’t possibly do everything or be everywhere at once. But this is not the time to make excuses and get sloppy, to move our eyes from what the Lord is calling us to see.

Even though the wise virgins were also weary, they made it an absolute priority to store up oil. Because a lamp without oil burns out quickly.

– Craig Cooney, The Blueprint

I confess I have not prayed as fervently as I should be doing. So I’ve been coming back to the Lord at new times, with new requests, letting Him interrupt me again and in new ways. I do not want to become less effective the farther I go in my journey, or to endanger those I love and am commissioned to protect. I want to be more dangerous to the enemy, and more partnered with the Lord in what He is doing.

I want to better steward the days and assignments He gives us. That requires being aware of what is going on around me, and being willing to do uncomfortable things when He calls me to.

And He calls us to many things: To intercede. To serve. To act. To be alert, because the enemy is like a prowling lion.

If we are actively persisting in the Lord’s presence, He will help us notice what we need to. But if our eyes are elsewhere, we’ll be blindsided and stupefied, a liability to those we love around us.

In the dream, the enemy found the side that had been infiltrated by a sleeping guard, and that’s the side it attacked.

We need to be awake and watchful. Praying and discerning. Standing and defending. Speaking and resisting. Equipped and equipping. Learning and teaching. Repenting and restoring.

Many Christians are vying for a seat at the table Jesus would be flipping over.

We surrender only to the Lord, and we will not step aside for the enemy. This is the ground we’ve been given to protect and defend, and we plan to keep it.