paravanes:meditations

  (c) Deborah Evans Nehemiah 8:10: "Do not grieve...the joy of the Lord is your strength." What does this mean? Read the book of Nehemiah, not a long book, if you want to understand the historical context of this statement. What can it mean for us in 2023? We were created for joy and happiness. The joy and happiness experienced in our creation was based on our close, uninterrupted connection to God. We cut that connection in the early days of humanity (see Genesis, the book of beginnings) and God restored to us the option of that connection through Jesus Christ.  As Christ followers, we can now honestly say "the joy of the Lord is my strength." What does this joy look like in our life experiences? We have the security of knowing in this life we walk a road prepared for us and will have a safe, final arrival in God's kingdom in a place made specifically for us. See John 14:2. We have the certainty of knowing we don't exist through a random process of chance, ...

Any meaningful conversation we have with God about our life's direction and purpose is based on the truth of: 1. God knowing more than we know and 2. God loving us more than we love ourselves. Begin with these thoughts in mind. This is the God you are opening your heart, mind, and soul to. Amen.

Note: this is an encore of a post from 2012. Based on Psalm 23, the main idea of the post is to explain why faith often waits, listens, and is demonstrated by patience and by asking "what's next?" or "where do I go from here?"  It is often arrogance or presumption that leads us to believe faith means we say what we want and then we get what we said. Remember: Jesus Christ is the Great Shepherd of the Sheep. Sheep don't declare or decree.  Sheep are not self-directed and are lost without a shepherd. Sheep follow because they are happy to have a shepherd who knows more than they know and who is also good to them and always leading them to what is best. The sheep of the Great Shepherd are protected, fed, loved, and treasured. Not a bad way to live, is it? ****************************** Psalm 23 (King James Version*) 1 The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. 2 He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters. 3 ...

**This is the text from a sermon I preached yesterday (October 27, 2019) at Fort Street Presbyterian Church in Detroit, Michigan. The text includes the prayers at the beginning and end of the sermon and a few of my personal notes to enhance the delivery of the sermon. ( Sharing this sermon ("The Heart and Soul of the Gospel") in part or as a full document is permitted. Attribution (credit to the author) will be appreciated. -Deborah) Thank you Lord for calling us into your kingdom, into your power, and into relationship and connection with you. Show us how to live the purposes for which we were created. Show us how to live as authentic witnesses to the truth of your word. Amen. Passage from Colossians 1:9-14 (NIV) 9  For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives, [ a ...

The powerful prayer of faith is based on the strong, persistent belief that God is lovingly all-powerful, is interested in the well being of all people, is holy, and knows more than we know. What are some words spoken in the powerful prayer of faith?  "God, change my thinking to line up with your thinking."  " God, I think (fill in the blank) is a good idea, but if you don't think the same, please don't let (fill in the blank) happen. "  "God, I believe the Holy Bible (all of it) is your word and your unique communication to humanity. Because I believe this, I commit to reading through the entire Bible in the next twelve months."  "God, as much as I seek to claim every promise in your word (the Bible), I equally seek to obey every command in your word." " God, I seek to love you more than anyone or anything. This is the highest goal of my life because I know I can trust you more than anyone or anything. " What word...

On the eve of celebrating Pentecost, I am reminded to always pray with Pentecostal power. I do not need to jump, cry, scream, or run. I do not need to insistently pray for one thing over and over. Asking once is enough. Then, I hand it over to God. If he believes my request is good, he will grant it. If he believes my request is not good, then I will agree with God and not insist on getting my way over His way. I do not need to PUSH (Pray Until Something Happens). Push people, reality, and the universe around? I'm not equipped for that. If I prayed, something DID happen. I don't need all of the details. What happens after I pray is not dependent upon me. What happens is dependent upon God's judgment and will, which are always right. I relax. I breathe. I smile. God is my father. He handles the tough stuff. Now, I'm off to have a great day! Thank you, Papa God.

Would you rather listen to the devotional "Seeing the Power of God: An Invitation to Goodness"? Listen to me read this devotional, or download/share, from The Internet Archive :

We can see and experience the power of God. What does the power look like? Where does it appear? How can we know it? The power of God is expressed in us when we invite God into the spaces of our regular, daily lives. This means we recognize a gap between what we---in our natural power---can do and what needs to happen for the sake of the good, the right, and for the sake of peace and wellness and progress. When we invite God into the "gap spaces" of our lives, we are asking for guidance, insight, discipline, discernment, and courage. This invitation also means we accept our limitations of understanding and knowledge. This invitation means we are willing to follow a path we may not have originally expected to follow. If we are "spiritual people", this means we don't limit our decision making process or preferences to our natural understanding of ourselves or our environment. We ask God to empower us to move beyond our natural understanding. We acce...

Yes, your prayers are always answered. How can you be certain of this? You can be certain because God invites us to pray and God never invites us into a meaningless, useless experience. Not only does God invite us to pray, but during his time here, Jesus gave direct, easy to understand instructions to his disciples who wanted to know how to pray. Jesus begins his instructions by saying "Pray like this..." Note that he doesn't tell the disciples to say the exact words he spoke. He tells the disciples to "pray like this..." Jesus then speaks the prayer known as The Lord's Prayer . Usually, when we wonder if prayers are answered, we want to know if we will receive the thing we request. Only God knows if you will receive the thing you request. Be cautious of those who tell you you're entitled to whatever you ask of God. If you are a true servant of God, you understand servants don't make demands. Servants make requests and are grateful for the...

Let's take a final look at the question asked last month. Is it true that a Christian, a true Christ follower, is "once saved, always saved?" The answer is yes. If you have not read the previous posts on this topic, please read them: ICYMI: Here is the original question . ICYMI: Here is part one of the answer . ICYMI: Here is part two of the answer . Why is there some much confusion over this question? There lives within the organized church structure a problem which has existed since the early days of the church: the false confessor, or the person who claims to be saved but is not. This is not new. Read this passage from the single-chapter Book of Jude (written, according to scholars, at or before the end of the first century, AD or CE). : "These people are grumblers and faultfinders; they follow their own evil desires; they boast about themselves and flatter others for their own advantage." (verse 16) Read this passage from the seventh cha...

Once saved, always saved? Yes. Why? As referenced in the first part of the article, Christian salvation is a work of God. Salvation is an act of God: for God's glory. In the epistle written by Jude, the author describes (in verse one of the book) the saved ones as those who are "kept for Jesus Christ." As the all powerful creator of everything, nothing and no one who is kept for Jesus Christ will ever be lost or removed from his keeping. Even physical death, which is how we leave this world, cannot destroy our spirits (our true selves) or remove those true selves from the keeping and protection and fellowship of Jesus Christ. Salvation is defined as a status, not a set of behaviors. Throughout the New Testament, believers are described as those who are adopted into God's family  and those who have been transferred into the kingdom of light and transferred out of the kingdom of darkness. In each case, it is God, through Jesus Christ, who initiates these ac...

Does the "once saved, always saved" teaching reflect faith trust or prideful arrogance? This was the Final July Challenge question. The answer will be given in three parts. Here is part one. Scripture teaches as much about Christian salvation as we are capable of understanding. Some of these teachings are: 1. Salvation is completely of (through, by, and for the glory of) God. Salvation is based upon grace, and demonstrated through the atoning death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus Christ, the God-Man who demonstrated God's love and purpose in the earth. 2. No human person can justly or accurately judge another person's salvation. No human person is qualified. 3.  Christ followers are directed in the teaching of the apostle Paul to "examine themselves" to see if they are in (walking in and living by) "the faith." 4. Salvation is not defined in Scripture as a set of behaviors. Salvation is defined as adoption  (a change in family...

Option B is the correct answer. Why? Imagine this: an all-powerful being takes you back into time and outlines all of the reasons why someone did what they did. Then, the being explains who helped them, what motivated and made all of the connections that led the parties to act. Then, the being explains to you all of the illness, dysfunction, and pain that motivated someone to harm you. You now have all of this information. What will you do with this information? You have two options: you can pursue revenge or you can move forward. If you pursue revenge, all of the energy of your life will be directed to responding to the illness, dysfunction, and pain created by someone else. Whatever path you were on (a path to happiness, wholeness, pursuing a goal or a dream) will be permanently altered. You will not be  in control of your life's direction. You will have given that control away to the person who harmed you. In fact, you will now be taken down the same road they were trave...

When I encounter an unexpected situation, do I pursue Option A or Option B? Option A:  Why did this happen to me? Option B: How do I move forward? Hint: Past events cannot be altered.

Many of us know people who, meaning well, and trying to explain so much of the confusion they experience, often say "the devil is busy." Maybe you are one of the people who say "the devil is busy>" While this statement is factually correct, it is not the truth for those who are saved, who live in the kingdom of God, who have been redeemed from death, who live looking forward to spending time and eternity with God. So, even though on some level the statement "the devil is busy" is a fact, saying this often (or at all) when encountering something that's painful, confusing, or fear-making is a very bad idea. Why is it a bad idea? Because energy follows focus. From Ephesians, Chapter 1, verses 3 through 10: 3 " Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.  4 For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless i...