sin – KARLA LEES

the magnetic pull of focus

February 3, 2016 Karla Lees

One day spent in Your house, this beautiful place of worship, beats thousands spent on Greek island beaches. I’d rather scrub floors in the house of my God than be honored as a guest in the palace of sin. Psalm 84:10 MSG

I love to worship. It is the one thing I like best after spending time in His Presence, and diving into the Word.

When I get really busy, I tend to rush through my day beginning with a quick devotional instead an unrushed time at His feet, focusing solely on Him.

This quick fix mentality opens me up to selfishness, hurry, and distraction. Spend too long with that crew, and the enemy begins to make his play.

When sin comes knocking, sometimes what looks good in the moment can appear better than what we know to be true. For the enemy was an angel of light, and very beautiful in the eye of the beholder. (2 Corinthians 11:12-15)

However, beauty is only skin deep, and the truth about all things will be revealed the more time we invest in it. A handsome man or gorgeous woman isn’t always so lovely once you get to know them when their personality becomes revealed.

Sin is the same.

Just because it looks good, doesn’t mean it is good.

If it sounds too good to be true, it may just be a lie.

Only God IS good, and so are His ways.

Nothing can ever beats being His, and being with Him.

●How we live magnifies our priorities.

●What we love reveals the desires of our hearts.

●What we focus on attracts more of the same….

If we zoom in on our lack or selfish desires, our mood will become increasingly dissatisfied and depressed. If we seek Him first and His Kingdom, its standards will be reflected within us.

What most appeals to His Beloved should be the things which most appeal to Him: community, truth, holiness, being with the one you love.

Lord, may we choose to regularly worship You, and keep our gaze focused on what is good, true, wholesome and pure. (Philippians 4:8) Be the fixed point of our devotion, and ever clarify our focus so we can see you better. Let Your character magnify our vision, and replicate itself within us.

May the gift of Presence be the one we unwrap the most, and may our heart align up with Your passions the more we spend time with You, and focus on what will last a lifetime instead of a fleeting moment.

Paid in Full

October 27, 2015October 27, 2015 Karla Lees

I’ve wiped the slate of all your wrongdoings. There’s nothing left of your sins.Come back to Me, come back. I’ve redeemed you. Isaiah 44:22 MSG

You know that list you have been keeping in secret? That running tab of all the wrongs you have done? All the things you failed at, failed to do or failed to stop yourself from doing?

It’s time to let Him wipe your tab clean.

Whereas we may keep a running total, God doesn’t work that way.

When Jesus went to the cross, ALL your sin was wiped out in the avalanche of loving grace and holy blood that was shed for our wrongdoings. All of them. Ever.

We can allow that list we are keeping—which has already been marked fully paid—to hold us back from drawing close to Him.

God reminds us in this verse that He wants nothing to keep us from Him. So much so, He cleared the way home for our return.

Run home, friend.

Allow your Father to fully embrace you and clothe you in the pure garments He has waiting for you when you trade in your list for His loving grace.

#ReturnHomeProdigals

This devotion first appeared at: Remade Community.

5 things about falling stars

August 14, 2015August 14, 2015 Karla Lees

It is hard to go for long without hearing about another star or icon coming crashing down from the heights they had been raised to.

Whether a failed marriage or a more secret sin, millions of people find delight in discussing the fall of the stars.

While God’s heart breaks over the same situation.

I am gonna take a leap here and share a few things I have learned about God, and how He feels about the falling stars.

1. God doesn’t take delight over our falls.

Nope. I don’t think He liked having to kick satan, one of His creation after all, and his followers out of Heaven, coz the God I know doesn’t delight over our consequences for our bad choices. He delights when we draw close to Him & choose His way.

God’s heart breaks over each woman battered, each person with a broken heart, each man fired unjustly, every person left homeless, each outcast.

Which leads me to point #2.

2. God never stops loving us, despite all we have done.

Because He so loves whom He created.

He has never stops reminding us so since Adam & Eve.

His love does not mean He agrees with our behavior, it means He loves us despite all we are capable of doing.

3. God never stops offering those who fall a nail scarred hand up.

Never.

His grace is available for all, regardless of what they have done.

Coz He wouldn’t be all encompassing love if He left one of us out.

His love isn’t conditional upon our behaviour, His backing us is.

When we choose His ways, He blesses us.

When we don’t choose His ways, He continues to offer a hand & shine His light on the right path, but waits for us to admit our wrong & take hold of His hand.

4. There is nothing that has been done God cannot forgive.

Nothing.

And we are capable of some nastiness underneath our outer shells, aren’t we?

Because many of us have become great actors to cover up the ugliness lurking below the surface.

5. There is hope right to the end.

I firmly believe God never stops offering His love to us. I believe in that split second before the end, God may make one last attempt to offer us His hand of love.

Because I believe His love is that amazing, that loving.

Because He never stops loving us, ever.

Everything those of us who fall publically, like the Bill Cosbys and those who take our secrets to the grave.

Today, there are four things He is putting on my heart for us to do:

1. Ask Him to help you see those in public office, sports or the arts for who they really are, people just like you & I who happen to have high profile jobs.

2. Pray for those you read about in the news who have fallen, that they would see the Light who is reaching out to them.

3. Pour out your sin, worries & heart before Him. Let Him wash you clean, and rekindle His love in your heart.

4. Go out & shine that Love wherever you go, for each person you encounter needs Him whether they know Him yet or not.

broken to life

April 11, 2015 Karla Lees

He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. 1 Peter 2:24 ESV

Jesus died for the broken.

Those who were broken in ways beyond just what can seen:

broken in spirit
broken-hearted
broken in the mind,
broken in body.

But also for those who are:

broken because of their sin.

I find the weight of my own sin can sometimes break me in ways i never expected.

Selfishness can lead to isolation and loneliness, and down the path to choosing more things which keep that spiral of me swirling down and out of control.

And i need to be reminded: Jesus came for the broken.

There is one more type of broken that Jesus covered with His brokenness:

those who need taming

The strong willed ones (like moi) who need to be broken in order to submit.

We all are broken, or need to be broken depending on the circumstances.

I tend to find other people’s sins towards me break me
I need to be broken based on my own sins & bad choices

That is why Jesus died so painfully on the cross.

He chose to be broken so He can bring hope to the broken, no matter what has broken us.

He chose to rise again to show He can bring life to the dead, the places within us we think are beyond hope, beyond healing.

He chose to die so we could live.

Because it is He who brings us back to life.

Our part?

To come with our brokenness and sin, and ask for His help.

His part?

The part He loves?

To answer our cry.
To touch us with His hands.
To infuse us with his love.
To rebirth life into our dry bones.
To make us new in ways we could not imagine on the other side of our brokenness.
To give wings to our hope.

Ready for new life?

It doesn’t matter if or how you are broken, the Master Carpenter is more than able to take our broken pieces and make us anew!

The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit. Psalm 34:18

time after time

November 5, 2014November 5, 2014 Karla Lees

Today, I am both humbled and grateful to have been invited to guest blog for Remade Ministries. Beth Kinder and I met on Twitter this fall, both passionate about God & seeing women be set free into the fullness He has for them.

Guest blogging for the first time was a wee bit nerve wracking, but a great experience for me to press in to God for the message He wanted me to share.

As a result, please click the link below to visit the lovely Remade Ministries website to read today’s blog post about mistakes, and His grace:

Time After Time- Guest Blog

I hope to have Beth guest blog here one day soon, for I am sure you will love her as I do! You can start to follow her on Twitter at:
@remademnistries and/or sign up on her website for encouraging emails, bible study and to follow her blog.

It never ceases to amaze me how God can take what we have to offer, and do so much more with it when we follow His prompting!