Tag: world

love matters

Karla Lees

Over the past several weeks, there have been world shaking events such as Nepal’s earthquakes.

In North America, we have been recently hearing news about Josh Duggar & Caitlyn Jenner.

They all have one thing in common… they all matter to God.

All His kids matter to Him.

The ones who know Him.
The ones who wander far.
The ones who come running.
The ones who don’t know Him.

Our part?
Not to judge, but to love.

Huh? you might be asking yourself.  What do I mean by that?

Only God can see the heart.
Only He was meant to judge.

We are to love ALL we encounter, whether live or via the media.

Because each person who has ever been, is and is yet to be born matters to Him.

Do I agree with everything I hear or see going on in the world around me? Absolutely not.

Yet God’s standards are to be my filter for how I respond, not my feelings.

I choose to pray, and speak love.

I pray for the Duggars. Its hard to have your sins made so public, and to have people’s judgment in response be so obvious.

I pray for the Jenners. Its hard to see a loved one privately struggle to decide who they are, and have the world decide they need to tell you how they feel about it.

I pray for Nepal. Its hard to lose your people to sudden tragedy, and be so dependent upon the rest of the world for its help to recover.

All of what matters to humanity matters to God, because we matter to Him.

His great love for us had Him pour out His all to show the world that love.

We need to be His hand & feet, spreading His Words & heart to the hurting, broken, confused we encounter each day.

Through thick & thin, we need to be the living reminder that Love wins.

Everyone deeply matters to God.

Our differences matter in how they keep us from Him & one another. 

May we be so found in His embrace that His love will become evident wherever we go.

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when words fail

Karla Lees

Hearing about how Christians are being persecuted, tortured & killed for their faith hurts.

For we are one body, one bride, one church in Jesus.

And when one part of the body hurts, the whole body feels the pain. Sure, those closest to that part may feel it more intensely, but when the part is removed, the whole body has to readjust and learn to compensate.

God calls us to life down here on earth, in the midst battle over the ground the enemy is trying to conquer as his….each of us.

You see, the enemy doesn’t really want land mass, he wants to rule the masses.

He is jealous for God’s kingdom, and will not stop trying to destroy it until Jesus comes and puts an end to him once and for all.

The enemy knows this, which is why he tries so hard to discourage, stir up dissent, distract & decoy us from Kingdom living.

He thought that if this slaughter of His lambs were made public, he could turn the flock away from the Lamb.

He was wrong.

God’s people begin to pray all the more and share Jesus all the louder when we hear & see His people being taken out.

For where the enemy leaves wounds, God brings healing.

Where hearts are broken, God binds up & makes anew.

Where anguish is the cry, God brings His peace.

These are not just platitudes, but hard earned truths I have experienced in my life.

You see, a few years ago now, my lovely sister in law decided she couldn’t take the burdens she carried any longer, and listened to the enemy’s lie that she was better off dead.

She succeeded.

And almost destroyed her husband, rocked our world & stirred up the mental strongholds the enemy has over a few of the family.

If it hadn’t been for God, there would be no family left. Honestly.

God showed up so powerfully at her funeral, and the gospel was fully shared for all to hear…for she was a believer.  I know, because i witnessed her genuine acceptance of Jesus as she poured out her need for him.

Had I not been there, I couldn’t have reassured her husband and mine that she was in God’s hands.
Not the enemy’s greedy clutches. as he had hoped.

God honors our heart’s cry for Him, even if we wander lost for a season or two in the desert.

The peace that God brought into this situation was beyond capture-able in words. 

He revealed His love and grace, mercy and calm beyond words.

We hardly had words to speak in our grief, but He knew.

So my prayer for all of us in the body who are dealing with traumatic loss, heart break, illness, family chaos, debt?

May you press into His Presence with everything you’ve got.
He will be there when you seek Him.
He will hold you together when you begin to fall apart.
He will never leave your side through the lows.
He will rejoice with you in the highs.
He will lavishly love you every step of the way for the rest of your life.

When words fail, the Word steps in and intercedes.

Because what breaks our hearts matters to Him.
When His children hurt, He hurts. When His children die, He cries for our loss as He gathers them Home.

Our words may fail us in the storms that come, but our Word never will. Ever.

If your heart is heavy, draw near to Him and ask Him to lighten your load.  If your soul is parched, ask Him to quench it with life & hope again. If you hunger for more, He will meet your need.

And if you find yourself facing your ISIS one day, He will more than equip you to stand your ground, and lead you into heaven at His side.

And what about the enemy? He knows his days are numbered, and he knows who will win.

He knows it isn’t him.

One God rules, forever and ever!

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when God arrives in your brokeness

Karla Lees

Tonight, we remember Jesus born of Mary, bundled to keep warm, resting after His big arrival in an animal’s feeding trough.

Not quite the King sized bed you and I expected for the most important king in history.
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God knew one thing that would make all the difference with the arrival of Jesus.

We need a King who isn’t afraid to get into the muck, mess, squalor of daily life.

When humanity couldn’t take another day without Him, Jesus arrived to shout to the world:

God sees us.
God cares for us deeply.
God came to be with us in our pain, hurt, loneliness, brokenness.

Because our wounds matter to Him.

Because there was no other way for the full plan God had underway to offer all people the love & hope they have, we have, all been longing for.

The baby came to lead us back to love.

Babies were designed to be created out of love, and Jesus was no different in that respect.

Born out of both God’s overwhelming love & Mary’s womb, He emerged into the weary world:

Of invaded countries pleading for freedom.
Of awkward family situations.
Of day in, day out drudgery.
Of trying to make ends meet.
Of crying overwhelmed with grief.
Of feeling invisible.
Of desperately seeking why we matter.

When Jesus arrived, it was for all people to come and find Him, not just the wise men who had by now seen the star and felt the draw of the one true King.

But wise men too have unspoken needs, just like we all do.

There is no situation that Jesus didn’t come to change for the better.

Because the change Jesus brings starts from within.

New life.

Just as He arrived that night, we can be reborn into His family, and find the love we have longed from our first cry.

Drop by again later, as this three part day unfolds…

#AdventuresinAdvent
#JesusisBorn
#LoveCameDown
#TheStoryContinues

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when even the hostel is full

Karla Lees

…because there was no room in the hostel.

Luke 2:7 MSG

Not only was there no room at the hotels or inns in Bethlehem, but the B&Bs & hostels were also all full.

It appears that the Carpenters (coz doesn’t that seem like a good fit for Joseph & Mary’s last name?!) arrived in town later than all the other travelers who also had to show up for the census role call.

With an about to give birth wife in tow, I am sure Joseph was inwardly wishing for swifter mail or reservation service!

How disheartening to arrive, and keep knocking on doors looking for a place to lay their heads, after several weeks of travel.

When even the hostels don’t want you, it can seem the world is hostile.

Yet God made a way.

That final knock, a likely very humbled Joseph asked again, and was informed there was room in the stable for them that night.

With an about to give birth wife in tow, those begging cannot be too choosy, especially if the night was growing cold and dark.

And the baby announced He was on His way.

I am sure the stable was the only place left to choose from, because no man in his right mind would encourage his wife to deliver in a barn.   But somehow, this too was part of God’s design.

The King of All was about to be born, and only one person made room for Him, and that was only in their stable.

How much space are you making for Him this year?

Do you only invite God into your stable, where the muck and things that need to be tamed live? Where you rule?

Or do you open wide your heart, mind, soul & spirit and say Yes, God- abide in me. Every nook & cranny, leave no dark spot unturned- so His dwelling place can become worthy of the King living there?

I believe the owner of the stable was somehow blessed through offering its use to the Carpenters.
It is very likely they would have met the baby after He was born, maybe even helped arrange for a midwife to assist Mary, as out of towners wouldn’t always know where to turn in an emergency.

I wonder what animals were in the stable that night.  I wonder if somehow they instinctively knew their King was being born, and were still out of respect.

I do know that the world still gives Jesus a hard time about His preferred living accommodations, within His children.

May He restore our wonder, that God loved us so much, His very son was born in a stable, and wrapped to lie in a manger.

The life that had come to give us new life first laid His head in the unlikeliest of beds.

May our hearts not be as hard at the wood of the manger, but instead invite Him in.

The greatest gift of all resided in heaven before being packaged in His humble beginnings here on earth.

Make room this Christmas for Jesus. 

#AdventuresinAdvent are drawing closer to their climax!  Immanuel is coming!

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signs

Karla Lees

There will always be signs telling you the way in which to go or how things are.

This way, that way, even signs leading to harm, or death.

There are signs the earth leaves behind as it groans for relief from the stress we placed upon it:
natural disasters & their aftermath
habitat changes
animal extinction
environmental shifts in weather & seasons

The signs that humanity is not satisfied with what it has, and wants more:
wars
slavery
debt
markets crashes
pillaging
theft
rape
slaughter
exodus to a new land

Signs closer to home, reminding us of the chaos outside, and sometimes inside our homes, communities, cities:

Sale signs
Traffic signs
Construction signs
Street signs
Voting signs
Signs of broken homes
Looking for work signs
Signs looking for help
Ads for the newest flavored need to own

Just because we see the signs doesn’t mean we are to follow them.

We may be like sheep, but we have a shepherd who is leading us on a straight and narrow path with confidence and purpose.

The signs there is a hurting world out there needing a loving hand to bind its hurt, and a living Savior to heal its brokenness, is part of our mandate.

Helping the orphans, feeding the poor, praying for the sick, clothing the naked, sheltering the homeless, loving the lonely. (Matthew 25:31-46)

This is the sign that Jesus is in us, in our midst:
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Our appearance will never shine anywhere near the voltage of Jesus shining through our actions.

The signs we are to look for?

Not the ones the world is shouting out to our ears & eyes, but the still small voice we need to press close to hear, who will prompt us to see the signs He wants us to minister to, as His hands and feet.

So if like me, you are in voting season, looking for work or hiring staff, remember to look for these signs in your candidates/potential workers/bosses:
1. who they are listening to
2. how they speak about others
3. what they stand for

If the answers to these questions reveal selfish, power hungry or disrespectful signs, they are not a person you should be signing over the position to or working under.

Signs to look for:
servanthood
long term commitment
integrity
teachable
humility
investment in the team & community

These are the signs of the Kingdom, whether people know the King over them or not.

These are the signs Jesus wants us to look for, to coax out from within one another, to shine with as He did while He was here in earth.

There will always be chaos, disaster cries, hurting hearts, and loud voices clamoring for attention.

The sign we are His?

Showing His glory through His handiwork to those who don’t yet know Him, but long for His touch inside.

And your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, “This is the way, walk in it,” when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left.

Isaiah 30:21

I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.

John 16:33

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.

John 14:27