Encouragement

Trust Him Now

/ SaxophoneWife / 3 Comments

Suffering serves a purpose. It is not for us to predict or understand that purpose in the midst of our pain, but to learn to trust, hold fast, and keep our faith in the One who is walking with us.

Yes, that’s right. You are not alone! The Lord is with you, and one day you will be on the mountain top and have the perspective you need to understand why He allowed you to walk through this dark valley. He has a purpose. He is not toying with us. We are not His lab rats. Just trust Him. Trust Him now.

  • Trust Him now, when you don’t understand the how and the why.
  • Trust Him now, when it hurts to face the new day.
  • Trust Him now, when you cannot see the light at the end of the tunnel.
  • Trust Him now, when some mock you for still believing.
  • Trust Him now, when you Doubt tempts you to question His love.
  • Trust Him now, when there is no one reaching out to help.
  • Trust Him now, when the loneliness feel unbearable.
  • Trust Him now, when anxiety threatens at every turn.
  • Trust Him now, when you feel ready to give up.
  • Trust Him now, when Fear is flooding your faith.
  • Trust Him now, when no one understands your pain.
  • Trust Him now, when you feel helpless to fight.
  • Trust Him now, when you can still have a a testimony of faithfulness.

Trust Him now.

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding”
Proverbs 3:5 (NKJV)
“Whenever I am afraid, I will trust in You.”
Psalm 56:3 (NKJV)
“But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.” Hebrews 11:6 (NKJV)
❤

Fit For A King

/ SaxophoneWife / 3 Comments

“Maybe, he’ll play his saxophone for the Lord one day,”  she suggested.

I scoffed. Wasn’t it enough to just believe this atheist man could get saved? Couldn’t he just be a Christian who was also a jazz musician? Did I have to believe God for two impossible things?

Oh, she called it, though. She had the vision, and the faith to back it up. He didn’t exactly lose his love of jazz, or the jazz influence in his playing, but a jazz career became an empty pursuit for him—one day at a time, as he began pursuing a life with Christ.

It reminds me of a line from a song Doug has sung countless times as a worship leader:

And the things of earth will grow strangely dim
In the light of His glory and grace.*

When we love Jesus, things should start looking different. We should be seeing differently. As what we have loved starts to change places in our heart with Whom we now love, a lot should change. Doug did still “love” jazz, but he stopped pursuing it; he stopped giving jazz his money and his time, because he began to invest himself in his new Love. He poured himself into the pursuit of Christ.

So, at the very first church he attended, after the first or second service he attended, he found his heart longing to play his saxophone for Jesus. He didn’t know how he would be received, if they would welcome this newcomer, but he was compelled by love. Like the proverbial drummer boy, he had nothing to give that was fit for a King, so he played his best for Him.

You may look at yourself and say you, too, have nothing fit to offer a King. Or, perhaps, you have heard Doug play and think, “Well, he has a lot of talent. I’m not very good at anything.” Doug didn’t see himself that way. Remember, he was aspiring to be like the greatest saxophonists in jazz history. He knew he didn’t measure up to even his own standards. He just saw what was in his hands, the one thing he could do, and offered it to the Lord with all his heart.

So, what’s in your hands? 

*”Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus” by David Hamilton and Helen Hewarth Lemmel

Is Selfish Sam Sadistic?

/ SaxophoneWife / 1 Comment

In a post from 2016, What An Apology Isn’t, I wrote about Selfish Sam.

Recently, reports of Selfish Sam have reached my ears, again. It is news of behavior that can honestly be described as not only selfish, but actually sadistic. I thought it was appropriate to share this post, again.

CLICK HERE

Go Ahead and Ask

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I just want to encourage you to do one thing today: ask God.

Ask Him for anything and everything. Ask Him for whatever it is you desire or need. Ask Him for the thing you would never admit to wanting, but long for desperately in your heart. Just ask Him. Go ahead!

Honestly, I feel really strongly about this. I really believe we ask too little of God, and try too hard to make things happen for ourselves. I’m not opposed to us trying to make things happen for ourselves, and sometimes that’s the way to do it, even as we pray for the Lord’s help in our doing.

However, too often we just don’t think God cares about our problems. We don’t think we deserve His help. We think, “Well, I got myself into this mess, so I have to get myself out.” Or, we think we can only ask for “holy” things. We think all kinds of messed up things, and it’s robbing us of so much joy, peace and relationship.

You see, for me, that’s what it all boils down to: my relationship with God. When I share my need with Him, I am letting Him into my life in a very intimate way. Instead of Him being God in Heaven, far away, a mystical figure with a booming voice, He becomes the ultimate father, my heavenly Father, who sits with His arm around my shoulder, letting me pour my heart out as He forgives, restores, and answers.

Often, people will say, “Well, but what if it isn’t God’s will?” Well, then He won’t give it to you! But, don’t be afraid to ask Him, because you aren’t sure. He isn’t going to judge you for not knowing if it’s His will; your asking is actually a step towards knowing definitively if it is His will, or not!

And, remember: He is A GOOD FATHER! He’s gives us good things, just because HE IS GOOD, and loves to give to His children. He also delights in our faith, and responds generously—we can trust Him!

We are deep in the Christmas season, and it’s a time when the Body of Christ celebrates together the gift of God’s Son, and the salvation Christ won on the cross for us. It is the greatest gift anyone has ever, and could ever, give. It’s impossible to really grasp the magnitude of it, you know? It’s like trying to grasp the size of the ocean or space. It’s a love too vast to understand with our little, human brains!

Yet, that is the gift God gave us all. Think about that. He gives it even without us asking. He offers it to us just as we are, messy and sinful and failed. The greatest gift of all, to miserable wretches! If God loves you so much that He would give you salvation, how can you even doubt He loves you enough to give you His will? To meet your needs? To provide out of His abundance? We don’t deserve Christ, and we sure don’t deserve new shoes, but we get to ask Him for both. Salvation is a guaranteed “Yes,” new shoes, well, they might be just one ask away, but you won’t know, if you don’t ask.

So, go ahead. Ask!

  1. When we ask God for anything, we are affirming our relationship with Him as a good, kind, and loving Father.  Matthew 7:11

  2. When we ask God to meet our needs, we are acknowledging Him as our Provider. Philippians 4:19

  3. When we ask God to heal our bodies, we are demonstrating our faith in the work of Christ on the cross, and the power of His shed blood. Isaiah 53:5

  4. When we ask God for the things we don’t think we deserve, we are declaring God’s unconditional love for us. Ephesians 3:20

  5. When we ask God to save us, we are confessing that we cannot save ourselves, and accepting the greatest gift ever given: God’s one and only Son, Jesus Christ. Romans 4:3-5

What Else Matters, Really?

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This song just started playing, and it hit me deep in my spirit. Does that ever happen to you? Music is so visceral, but some music is anointed. I believe this is one of the latter, because I hardly know this song, yet as it began to play I had to stop my work to listen. I didn’t even know the whole lyric, but somehow I knew this was the song of my Autumn of 2016. I searched online for the lyrics, but I didn’t really need to read them. I know the Holy Spirit was telling me, “This was you.”  Last November, I wrote briefly about what I was going through (LINK ), and my Aunt Barbara left me a very faith-filled comment that I could hardly receive at the time. The Holy Spirit brought her words back to me, as I was listening to this song.

“Sounds like God is preparing you for the next level of intimacy with Him. Hang in there and keep your heart on Him. What else matters really? You know, ‘Seek first….'”

A breakthrough did come—a milestone, as the song says—and I shared about that, too (LINK).   Now, today, the Lord has used this song to show me His hand, how He has been working right along, even in my unfaithfulness and unbelief.  I can look back at that spiritual chaos, because it is really in my past. Praise be to God.

So, I share this song with you today, for all of my Brothers and Sisters in the fight. Hold fast to Him. Everything may seem totally awful right now, but if you will just surrender and let God have His way, He will bring you through! Take Aunt Barbara’s words for yourself. Hang in there, keep your heart on Him, and seek first the Kingdom of God. What else matters, really?

“WHATEVER YOU’RE DOING (SOMETHING HEAVENLY)” by SANCTUS REAL

It’s time for healing, time to move on
It’s time to fix what’s been broken too long
Time to make right what has been wrong
It’s time to find my way to where I belong
There’s a wave that’s crashing over me
And all I can do is surrender

Whatever You’re doing inside of me
It feels like chaos but somehow there’s peace
It’s hard to surrender to what I can’t see
But I’m giving in to something Heavenly

Time for a milestone, time to begin again
Re-evaluate who I really am
Am I doing everything to follow Your will
Or just climbing aimlessly over these hills?
So show me what it is You want from me
I give everything, I surrender

To whatever You’re doing inside of me
It feels like chaos but somehow there’s peace
And though it’s hard to surrender to what I can’t see
I’m giving in to something Heavenly, something Heavenly

Time to face up, clean this old house
Time to breathe in and let everything out
That I wanted to say for so many years
Time to release all my held back tears

Whatever You’re doing inside of me
It feels like chaos but I believe
You’re up to something bigger than me
Larger than life, something Heavenly

Whatever You’re doing inside of me
It feels like chaos but now I can see
This is something bigger than me
Larger than life, something Heavenly, something Heavenly
It’s time to face up, clean this old house
Time to breathe in and let everything out

Read more at http://www.songlyrics.com/sanctus-real/whatever-you-re-doing-something-heavenly-lyrics/#XQGojuXrHM67tQ2e.99

Bring It On, New Year!

/ SaxophoneWife / 2 Comments

As I think about the New Year, I just cannot resist the temptation to look back at 2016. I don’t want to speak ill of the dead, but this past year was not my favorite. I’ve been looking forward to a new calendar!

However, I have no reason to think 2017 won’t be full of the very same challenges that kicked my tookus in 2016. Let’s be honest: our problems don’t belong to the calendar. They belong to us. And, they go with us wherever we go—new address, new relationship, new year.

There is a way to overcome our problems, though. That doesn’t mean our problems will go away, but it does mean we can overcome them. That distinction matters.

STEP ONE
If we can be honest with ourselves, the first step to overcoming our problems is taking a long, hard look in the mirror. It might not be pretty—in fact, it might be downright horrifying—but if we cannot see ourselves rightly, we’ll never make it through Step Two.

STEP TWO
For the person who believes in God, Step Two is prayer. Now, I’m not talking about prayers that sound more like begging, demanding, or bargaining. I mean prayers of repentance. Prayers that acknowledge God is The Answer: our Hope and our Help. If we’ve been trying to solve our problems ourselves, it’s time we remember that our lives are supposed to be in His hands. That is not a mystical or romantic notion. It’s surrender, and surrender is obedience.

THAT’S KINDA IT
Two simple steps. Repeat as needed. I know that may seem ridiculous, but I know it works.

There are many ways God has taught this simple method to me, but I will use one particular problem that dominated a good part of last year. It started out rather small, but it just began to escalate. There came a point when it had brought so much strife into my marriage that I really thought it might be the thing we couldn’t survive. I know you might be tempted to imagine what the problem was, but I can guarantee you won’t guess. It was something so mundane, but the Enemy caught me off-guard and found a way to use it against me, my husband, our marriage, our family, and the ministry. I would be ashamed to admit I allowed anything to do that, but Christ took my shame when I finally repented.

Repentance finally came when I “accidentally” caught a glimpse of my Self in the mirror. I had been praying about this problem, and showing me the truth about myself was God’s merciful answer.  Oy! It was bad. The image I saw in the mirror was an ugly beast of selfishness and pride. That’s not me, I said to God. “Yes, it is,” He replied.

Well, it wasn’t exactly that moment I repented. I’m a stubborn fool, and it took a few more days of me hearing the most awful things coming out of my mouth. I think the Saxophone Player must have thought I’d lost my mind. I was so convinced, though, that The Problem was the problem. But, then it happened. I was standing in our bedroom, and I finally had to admit The Problem wasn’t the problem. What am I doing?  I was the real problem. My sinful attitude. My arrogance. My disobedience. The thing I’d allowed Satan to use? Eh. It didn’t go away. It will be with us in 2017. Maybe, forever, but my sinful response and willingness to yield myself to the spirit of pride was the problem that was keeping God’s grace from abounding in the midst of The Problem.

You see, that’s what God’s about, my dear friends. His Holy Spirit abides with us, and is our ever-present help in trouble not to remove all the troubles of life, but to help us walk through them. God is not looking for us to live the perfect life one imagines their photogenic Facebook friends are living. He calls us to be perfect as He was perfect, which means we face trouble and sin not.

We serve a good and loving Father, generously giving without measure. However, He is a Father. That means He is willing to allow us to throw our tantrums and stumble as we learn to walk, because He knows it’s working something in us. He is just asking that we trust Him to know best. If The Problem remains, will we curse Him and blame Him and stop obeying? Or, will we continue to yield ourselves to the Holy Spirit, allowing Him to do what He pleases, allowing whatever trouble or suffering He believes will best work His perfection in us? That is the kind of trust He longs for us to have in Him, and His commitment to us is to keep bringing us to those places where every weakness, every bit of doubt and unbelief, is challenged and worked out of us through repentance, surrender, and obedience.

And asking that the way you live will always please the Lord and honor him, so that you will always be doing good, kind things for others, while all the time you are learning to know God better and better. We are praying, too, that you will be filled with his mighty, glorious strength so that you can keep going no matter what happens—always full of the joy of the Lord, and always thankful to the Father who has made us fit to share all the wonderful things that belong to those who live in the Kingdom of light. (Colossians 1:11-12, TLB)

Happy New Year, my friends! I hope you and yours welcomed 2017 in health and safety, and I pray this new year brings you ever closer to the One who loves us enough to stick by our side—even through the temper tantrums of life. ❤

Colossians11.1

Do You Feel Like A Deflated Balloon??

/ SaxophoneWife / 2 Comments

ONCE UPON A TIME, you had a marvelous encounter with God. You felt His love all around you. You knew you were loved, and you only had eyes for Jesus. He was the only One for you. Everything in your life felt right, it felt good. No mountain seemed too high, because you were floating on a heavenly cloud of His grace and love.

But, something happened. Something changed. God didn’t change. His love for you sure didn’t change. Yet, instead of feeling lighter than air, you began to feel like a deflated balloon: abandoned, powerless, and pointless.

I WAS WITH DOUG ONCE, as he counseled a man who had been struggling with sin. His old man kept showing up, leading him back into the life Christ had saved him from years earlier. He became so frustrated and upset as he talked about how hard it had become to live righteously, that he finally burst out and said, “I need to get that feeling back. I don’t have that feeling anymore.”

In essence, he was saying he wanted to go back to the Damascus Road, back to that time and place where he first met Jesus, where he first felt His love, and where he first knew Christ as Savior.  He thought he could finally be obedient, again, if he could just have that old feeling, again, too.

He was looking for a Jesus fix, and that’s as wrong as it sounds.

OUR RELATIONSHIP WITH CHRIST is experiential, but while our initial experience with Jesus is something we should always remember and share,  we should be having new experiences with Him every day! 

In Revelation 2, the Lord speaks to the church of Ephesus about their Damascus Road experience. He is telling them: Remember when? 

 “Yet there is one thing wrong; you don’t love me as at first! 5 Think about those times of your first love (how different now!) and turn back to me again and work as you did before; or else I will come and remove your candlestick from its place among the churches.” (Revelation 2:4-6, TLB)

It reminded me of what this Brother had been talking about to Doug.  However, notice the Lord’s instruction. He doesn’t say, “Go back to the Damascus Road! Let’s start this relationship over.” No, His exhortation to Ephesus is, “Repent. Or, else.” They have lost that lovin’ feelin’, because  they have forsaken their relationship with Him, choosing self and sin over service and Him.

But, there is still time! There is still time to repent and turn back. The ball is in their court.

THE BALL IS IN OUR COURT, TOO. If we’ve lost that lovin’ feelin’, it’s not Christ’s fault. He hasn’t lifted His love from us. He hasn’t stopped interceding for us before the Father, or showering us with His mercy and grace. He hasn’t forgotten us, or cast us aside. He has remained faithful. It is we who stop short and turn away, falling back into our old life.  It is we who stop loving Him, not the other way around.

I know. I read that and think the same thing you may be thinking: “No! I love God with all my heart.”

Yet, when I have found myself in that place, feeling spiritually deflated, powerless, and pointless, I ask the Holy Spirit to truly examine my heart, to see if there is any wicked way in me (Psalm 139:23-24), and I always find that there is a lot more compromise than I could see on my own. Self and sin are so blinding, so deceitful. It is why we often stay in those places of compromise so long, because we trust too much on our own judgment, instead of remembering that only He can judge our heart.  We cannot trust our feelings, or our judgment. We need the Holy Spirit to open our eyes.

Then, when we have allowed the Spirit of God to search us and the Word of God to test us, we know how to repent. As we humble ourselves before the Lord once again, prostrating ourselves at His feet in repentance and surrender, we will find that feeling we were missing. Our hearts will once again be full of love for our King. And, we will find ourselves walking in the ways of righteousness with a greater strength, purpose, and lightness!

THERE IS HOPE, MY FRIENDS. So much hope! Turn away from the compromise, the sin, and the selfish lifestyle. Turn away from satisfying your flesh, and be restored to the One who loves you best, the One whom your soul longs for!

God bless you, dear ones. Jesus loves you, right where you, but He longs for you to walk in true freedom, power, and victory. I long for that for you, too!

2016-08-29-13-56-03
P.S. Psalm 130 is just such a perfect passage to encourage our hearts, when we are sin-sick and hurting.

PSALM 130:1-6 (TLB)
From the depths of despair, O Lord,
    I call for your help.
2 Hear my cry, O Lord.
    Pay attention to my prayer.

3 Lord, if you kept a record of our sins,
    who, O Lord, could ever survive?
4 But you offer forgiveness,
    that we might learn to fear you.

5 I am counting on the Lord;
    yes, I am counting on him.
    I have put my hope in his word.
6 I long for the Lord
    more than sentries long for the dawn,
    yes, more than sentries long for the dawn.

A Recorded Miracle

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Have to share this!

It isn’t common to get to see a miracle—much less hear one. However,  a real miracle took place in a Sunday school class in Texas. The class was being recorded, so the moments before, during, and after were captured on tape.

Please, take five minutes to watch. this video I know you will be blessed.

The information in this post was gleaned from this article:“It’s a Miracle! God Heals This Pastor as He Preaches on Healing.” I encourage you to click on the link and read more about Pastor Duane Miller.

Be encouraged, friends. God is still a miracle-working God!

Guest Post from TSP: “The Question of Authority”

/ SaxophoneWife / 2 Comments
A guest post from The Saxophone Player. Feel free to comment, or leave questions. He will be glad to respond.

THE QUESTION OF AUTHORITY
by Doug Gregan

The most astounding thing about the subject of Christians drinking alcohol is the narrow focus that both sides of the discussion tend to stay on.
The spiritual root of drinking is one of authority, and friendship with the world; neither of which do I ever hear discussed. The very nature of an intimate relationship with God is one of increased presence, resulting in increased holiness. This question of whether or not a Christian should drink, or if drinking is sin, is shallow and weak. The real question should be:
“Why aren’t Christians more Christ-like?”
We are called out from among them, to be separate. Friendship with the world is enmity with God, and brings us under the authority of the world and its spirit. The spirit that drives alcohol is undeniably of the world, and under the authority of Satan. There is no man or woman alive who can tell me of a time when drinking brought them into a greater intimacy with Christ, drove them to love God more, or brought them into greater holiness and sanctification.
Does not the scripture tell us from beginning to the end that He is calling us out and unto Himself? Consider Romans  6:18-22:
“You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness. I put this in human terms because you are weak in your natural selves.
“Just as you used to offer the parts of your body in slavery to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness, so now offer them in slavery to righteousness leading to holiness.
“When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness. What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death!
“But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life.” (Romans 6:18-22, NIV)
This is the key to the whole issue, whether it be drinking, watching anything that exalts the flesh, gluttonous eating, dressing like the world, or engaging in any behavior that opens the door for the flesh to be strengthened.
“What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death!” (Romans 6:21, NIV)
And, it does result in death.
Complacency, laziness, a lack of sensitivity to the Holy Spirit, a lack of compassion towards those who don’t, can’t, or won’t “handle” the same things you can—it is all death. It produces a self-righteous, self-centered attitude evidenced by the countless defensive comments that come up in these type of discussions.
Then, there is the subtle, but incredible importance of spiritual authority mentioned in verse 16:
“Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you obey, whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness?” (Romans 6:16, NIV)
Those who drink are yielding a measure of their spiritual authority to the flesh and to the Devil. Alcohol, by it’s very nature, deadens sensitivity to Holy Spirit and weakens our ability to control the flesh as we should.
The angry man is more susceptible to anger.
The lustful man is more vulnerable to lust.
The proud man is prone towards pride.
The depressed man more inclined toto be depressed.
The jealous man more easily made  jealous.
And, on it goes….
This all takes place when one “walks in his freedom to drink.”
I’ve served in prison ministry for fourteen years and cannot begin to tell of the devastation and carnage left in the wake of alcohol. This includes Christians, men and women becoming casual with drinking, declaring their freedom to do so. I have yet to have a drug addict tell me that their addiction was not preceded by alcohol use.
Yet, we proudly demand and defend our right to drink. It is sad and shameful. The Devil mocks and laughs at the impotence of the Church to touch our generation with Christ-like love, life, and POWER. We would do well to heed the call of James 4. After exposing the Lord’s attitude towards worldliness, James says in 4:7-10:
“Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and He will lift you up.” (James 4:7-10, NIV)
I understand fully the emptiness of imposing restrictions and not trusting in the transforming work of the Spirit to bring about abundant life, balance, and control. The emphasis of my sharing is on the yoking of ourselves to spiritual forces and influences we have no business being in agreement with. Light has no agreement wih darkness. Consider 1 Corinthians 6:12:
“All things are lawful unto me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any.” (1 Corinthians 6:12, KJV)
We interact with this verse only on the level of the substance or behavior in question, but it transcends that. It speaks to every spiritual dynamic that is associated with those elements.
Where are those who are broken, weeping between the porch and altar, for the souls of those bound and enslaved? One can defend the biblical right to eat and drink. I get that. But, who can show me a man who is ministering in power and authority, yet allows himself to be brought under the authority of the spiritual forces connected to these worldly elements? They are not profitable. We will never step into the realm of darkness, addiction, and brokenness with any authority to bring genuine deliverance, if we are yoked to these things.
Should this be the shining prize I declare to the addicted and their broken family? “One day, you’ll be able to drink in freedom, like I do.”
I am deeply concerned by the absence of genuine discipleship that prepares God’s people to be ambassadors of reconciliation, walking in the power of God to bring the lost, broken, and hurting into freedom. Please, take a few minutes to read Ephesians 4:11-27, and prayerfully consider the life you are living today.
I welcome your comments and questions.