Humpty Dumpty

Are you tired, yet? This is what comes to mind when I think about how good I've gotten at "holding it all together." Even though I have plenty of sources of support and guidance in my life, I still have somehow come to feel that keeping it together in times of trial and struggle is the best feasible option.Maybe you all have this tendency as well. You grin and smile even though you feel like screaming and crying. You act tough and invincible even though your heart is as soft as jello. You never say no. You take on too much. You go to bed late just to get up early. You eat only if you remember that you haven't yet. You try desperately to make everything be okay when, in all honesty, its not. "Not Okay" in the sense that things are falling apart at the seams and everyday is compounding another Murphy's Law occurrence on top of the hardship that already happened yesterday.

But in the midst of my scramble to hold myself together, lately I have seen how problematic this can be spiritually. Tired all the time. Entirely too pensive causing the mind to always race. Trying to figure out the next 5 steps to take. You could almost say that I don't trust God to be God with how much I try to control the universe! I am realizing now that all while I have been striving to not get bent out of shape, maybe this is precisely what God wanted all along.

In reading Jeremiah 18, the verses 3-4 says:

 So I went down to the potter’s house, and I saw him working at the wheel. But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands; so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him.

I think we all have to come to a place of peace with being marred, bent out of shape, and, frankly, a bit jacked up. Because if God is our potter, can He not shape us again as it seems best to Him?

What situations in your life are seemingly out of wack and uncontrollable, complicated and full of stress? Where have you been trying to hold it all together when you feel like falling apart? Will you stop trying to drive the car straight and just let it all fall apart today? Because, even though all the king's horses and all the king's men couldn't put Humpty Dumpty back together again, we serve the King who makes us new. Makes us over again. Makes us whole. And makes things alright.

Got Blood?

Sometimes I wonder if God looks at us and calls us 'pale-faced'? In various places in the Scripture, lukewarm, undedicated, and hypocritical believers are referred to as scoffers, whitewashed, and/or unstable as the sea. But upon observing the life and times of today's Christian, the word pale-faced comes to mind.

Pale. Lacking color or complexion.  Yes, that is what pale means physically. But spiritually, being pale is different. While you may attribute being 'pale-faced' with vampire folklore, I would rather not mix mythology with biblical principles (lol, eventhough I do enjoy the Twilight Saga). What I will say, though, is that being pale-faced spiritually is a bit like the condition we know as Anemia.

Anemia, simply put, is a lack of blood or decrease in the number of red blood cells within the blood. As a result, a symptom of anemia is pale skin. Now, let's take this natural understanding of Anemia and apply it to our spiritual understanding. We know that Jesus' blood was shed for the remission of our sins; and, upon our acceptance of Him as our Savior, we are then adopted as sons and daughters into the family of Christ. When we come to admit, believe, and confess Jesus as Lord in our lives, we can think of this as a sort of Blood transfusion. It is His Blood that saved us, cleans us, and makes us whole.

Why, then, do we have so many people of the faith walking around looking so Blood-less? In Hebrews 9:14 (KJV), God affirms "How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God." When you are anemic physically, you have a lack of energy and life. When you are anemic spiritually, the same thing is true. And, if you lack life - this means your supply of the Blood of Christ has been hindered, inhibited, and/or cut-off temporarily. Clearly, this must be remedied by replenishing your Blood levels.

I am not telling you to go out and become a vampire like Edward Cullen on Twilight! But we must be intent on seeking the cross of Christ when we begin to feel ourselves being fatigued, lethargic, and lackluster spiritually. Where else will you receive power from the Blood but the place where His very Blood was shed? This means you will have to re-evaluate what things in your life are causing you to lose touch with God, re-affirm your commitment to God by finding ways to get active in the Kingdom, and re-fuel yourself consistently with the Word of God so that you can become Occupied with Christ. Let us all work diligently together to stay in the vein of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

The Real OC

Occupations. Doctor. Lawyer. Teacher. Engineer. Artist. Designer. Stylist. Caterer. Entrepreneur. This is what the world sees as occupations. And, perhaps, it makes sense to call a job an occupation in the sense that you spend a majority of your time at your respective place of business. But what if an occupation was more than just a title or set of duties associated with a career? What if an occupation was a mindset and a lifestyle as commanded by God?

To occupy literally means to fill up, take space, or reside in a place. What's interesting about our worldly occupations is that they tend not only to occupy our time but also pre-occupy our minds with the busyness of life. And lots of times, within this shuffle between what we do and who we are, we lose site of who we are supposed to be. We get caught up in trivial matters. Do things we shouldn't do. Say things we shouldn't say. And we forget that we are put on earth, not to serve purposes of our own - but to serve a Holy God. We become our occupations instead of letting our occupation be that of becoming consumed with Christ.

If an occupation was a mindset and a lifestyle as commanded and directed by God, we would in turn allow God to occupy us, fill us up, take space in us, and reside in us. And what happens when an object becomes filled with a certain substance? Like a cup filled to the brim, we would begin pouring out upon the area around us. In Luke 19:13, Jesus gives a simple yet profound directive as He provides the parable of the 10 minas. "Occupy till I come." As we wait for the return of Christ, we should all be following this command to "Occupy." Occupy here essentially means using our gifts, energies, and time to add unto the kingdom of God. Yet, how can you occupy when you are not first occupied with the God?

This is the directive for SheRocks (Shekinah Rocks Ministries) this year - helping others to be occupied by God so that we can all "Occupy till [Christ] come[s]." As we prepare for this new thrust, called Occupy(Me), in which more details will be provided in days to come, won't you ask yourself a few questions:

     -1.) Is the majority of my time spent doing or thinking about things of God?
     -2.)  If what was inside of me spilled out onto others, would it be pleasing to God?
     -3.)  Do I know how to make more room for God in my daily life?

If the answer to any of these questions was "No" we are praying that you will consider joining with us in this Occupy(Me) initiative. Please stay plugged in with us and tuned in so that you can be apart of this move of God. After all, He wants you to experience the Real OCcupy.