holy spirit – Page 6

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Faithfulness in Action

June 9, 2023June 5, 2023 krisshetter

When you look up the top qualities essential in any lasting relationship, you’ll find the essence of pistis. That’s the Greek word found in the list of the fruit of the spirit passage in Galatians 5:22 concerning faithfulness. Three definitions of pistis include our relationship to God, our attitude about trusting God and Christ and lastly, having a moral conviction or assurance. When it comes to our relationship with others this last definition of pistis reveals itself in these ways according to an article in Psychology Today:

I am trustworthy.
I am honest with others.
I am generally very dependable.
I am loyal to the people I care about.
I am easily able to trust others.

My question today is: when you look at this list can you confidently say “yes that’s me” to all of them? If so, you are the living proof of the fruit of faithfulness.

All the fruits listed by the apostle Paul can be viewed in these ways: God’s relationship with us, our inner relationship with Him, and the manifestation of that relationship to the world. Too often we forgo that last part. We say we know the love of God and love God but is the proof seen by how we love others? When James tells us, “Faith by itself if not accompanied by action, is dead” (Ja 2:17) it should cause us to step back and do a self-analysis of our works in the name of Christ.

The age-old discussion about faith and works so often looks at one or the other. While yes, we are saved by faith alone, the proof of that faith is our works in His name. Some might ask, why do I need to prove my faith to anyone? While it is dangerous to think we need to prove something to the world we must have a heart change when we are re-born in faith. That heart seeks to prove to God how much we love, trust and place all our life in His hands. We do His will each and every day. And His will, as written over and over in the Bible is to be honest, trustworthy, dependable, loving, caring, good stewards of our treasure and blessings, all while seeking to help others.

"Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share." 1 Timothy 6:18

I am thankful to say I believe the people around me can say that I have always been a loyal, trustworthy and dependable friend. What I can’t say is that I have always been this way in the Lord’s name. Before giving my life over to Christ my motivations were based on not wanting others to think badly of me and I held my convictions up in pridefulness. And now? I can say I apply these traits in ways I would never had in the past. When God asks me to be dependable to someone I’d rather just not have in my life I tell Him: “yes, if it is your will.” If He asks me to make a hard choice, one that will display my trustworthiness, I say, “yes.”

That’s the difference between acting as a person of the world and a daughter of Christ. He’s going to ask you to be faithful to Him and do things in faithfulness for others that our flesh screams against. That, my friend is real pistis.

I have a dear friend who has been asked by God to befriend someone who is difficult to love. It’s not a relative or a longtime acquaintance. It’s a fairly new person in her life. I watch and listen as she lives in obedience and faithfulness to God in this situation. The dependableness she shows this other person is the proof of her faithfulness, not just to God but to the world around her. There is no grumbling, gossip, or “donkeyness” (you know, being dragged to do good). She does it out of love for her Father who loves her deeply.

Friends, some of you regularly back out of commitments, we tell little lies to cover up our transgressions, we drop our friends at the first sign of conflict. Before God can trust us in the work He wants us to do for the kingdom let’s start with the small stuff in our own lives. Not because we have to but because we are faithful to a God who is faithful to us. It might just shock a few people into wondering about this change in you. And when asked we can say, “God is doing a good work in me.”

Our Faithfulness to the Father

June 7, 2023June 7, 2023 krisshetter

I met Jill* when I volunteered to be part of a new discipleship program at my church. I was to guide her through a program which helps newer or younger believers understand their faith in God and Jesus. At our first meeting she described her life situation as fairly dire. After becoming pregnant as a teenager much of her family disowned her. If not for her godparents she would have found herself destitute. Fortunately, she and her mother eventually came to a place in their relationship where she and her son could temporarily live in her mother’s house.

As I listened, I discovered a few things. First, her professed Christian grandfather had a lot to learn about love. At every turn he made her and her son feel outside the love of God because of her sin. Second, I realized, having asked her what she believed, her faith was based on what others believed. She could not answer what she honestly believed. And lastly, I witnessed how easily it is for us to focus on the terrible things in our life and push God to the outskirts.

^“If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind."  James 1:5-6

I’ve referenced the book of James before because it is a no nonsense look at life’s reality – we will experience trials and temptations. We shouldn’t be surprised by this statement. Sure, we are maybe stunned by what the trial is or the level of its awfulness. But we live in a broken world full of sin and sinful people. The key to all of this is first seeking God’s wisdom in a trial. Turning to Him before all else. And secondly, to have faith without doubting that He will find a way. That path He works you through might have a few more bumps and bruises in store but with our eyes fixed firmly on Him we will also see the blessings before us. And when we feel we can’t or don’t know what to pray? We ask the Holy Spirit for help. “Help me stay faithful, help me to know what to pray!”

So why did I bring up Jill? Over the next few months, I tried encouraging her to ask God in prayer for direction, both about a job and her housing. I pointed out the blessings in the midst of her trial. I urged her to see the work God was doing in her life. What I got back from her was the opposite. I’m sure we have all been in relationships like this (or maybe we’ve been the one like this). At each turn a blessing she received was still not good enough. There was always something else wrong. She told me she was getting nothing from God. And yet she had a place to live, food to eat, a school for her son, a church that was helping her, and someone to talk to – me.

How many of us when we are in the inevitable troughs of life, troughs that feel lacking in joy and love, create an equally deep trough of faith? If asked that question just a couple years ago I would have raised my hand in agreement. God’s not there. God’s not listening. God doesn’t care about me. God doesn’t see me. And sometimes leading to my cry, “I don’t believe in you anymore!”

Friend, God never, ever leaves. He never stops listening and responding. He never stops loving. But we do. And it’s time to start a new practice. I used to tell the girls I coached in softball, “If you keep practicing something the wrong way you will get very good at doing it…the wrong way.” So, yes, it’s time to look in the mirror and tell yourself a new approach is needed. A new way of practicing our faith. The second life takes a twist we must drop to our knees in faith. We become people with buckets overflowing with faithfulness rather than fruitlessness. Because let’s be honest, the old way really wasn’t working that great in the first place, right?

"When Jesus heard this, he marveled and said to those who followed him, 'Truly, I tell you, with no one in Israel have I found such faith.'" Matthew 8:10

Do you want to be recognized by Jesus like the Roman centurion who pled with Jesus to heal his servant? He told Jesus he had faith that Jesus didn’t even need to come to his house in order to perform the miracle. He told Jesus – “just say it and it will be done.” Whew! That’s some amazing faith for a man who shouldn’t have had anything to do with this Jew.

I love this quote by Charles Spurgeon about our relationship with the Almighty during difficult times:

When you go through a trial, the sovereignty of God is the pillow upon which you lay your head.
Charles Spurgeon

When it comes right down to it you have to ask yourself, “Do I trust God? Do I have real faith that He is faithful?” Not just in the good but in the bad. When you are facing homelessness, financial ruin, the death of a loved one, sickness, pain, betrayal, and more – are you finally ready to say to Him, “You give every good and beautiful thing. And I know you will work this out for my good.”?

It’s time for a perspective shift in our faith lives. Seek the blessings. Search them out more earnestly than we do trying to find the worst in any situation. You’ll find it’s not that difficult after a while. That’s the fruit of faithfulness. That’s loving a God who loves you deeply.

I have read mystery and detective books my whole life, starting with Nancy Drew. Recently I decided to use any free time to read various theological books. I’m currently in the midst of the Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis. For those not in the know about this book, it’s letters from a “head” demon advising a lower demon on how to best ensure his assigned “patient” goes to hell. I was writing this post on faithfulness and came across this passage:

“In a week or two you will be making him doubt whether or not the first days of his Christianity were not, perhaps, a little excessive. Talk to him about ‘moderation in all things’. If you can once get him to the point of thinking that ‘religion is all very well up to a point’, you can feel quite happy about his soul. A moderated religion is as good for us as no religion at all – and more amusing. Your affectionate uncle, Screwtape.
On the troughs of faith, The Screwtape Letters, C.S. Lewis

Think on that spiritual battle in your next trough. Will you allow it to pull you further down? Or will you fight back in faithfulness?

Coming up: Faithfulness in action

*Jill is not her real name

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Fruit of the Spirit: Faithfulness

June 5, 2023June 5, 2023 krisshetter

A few years ago, one of my daughters was going through some really tough stuff. If you are a mother, you know how much it hurts to watch your child go through trials. On top of her situation, I was struggling with my own demons, you might say. I found myself standing in my bedroom crying. Feeling so much hopelessness and despair. And betrayal. Not by any earthly being, but betrayal by God. I looked up through my tears and yelled out, “That’s it. I’m not going to believe in you anymore. I’m done.”

And then I laughed. Yes, I laughed. Because God turned right around and said to me, “If you don’t believe in me then why are you talking to me?” It’s impossible to feel betrayed by something you don’t believe exists! He made it clear to me He wasn’t going anywhere. I then needed to decide if I was going to stay as faithful to Him as He has always promised to be to me.

For great is his love toward us, and the faithfulness of the Lord endures forever. Praise the Lord. Psalm 117:2

God’s faithfulness to us lowly humans has never really been in question. It started in Genesis 1 when He created the heavens and the earth and then mankind. He made it clear that this beautiful, bountiful place we call home was designed for us. To sustain us and to bring us joy. And although scientists have yet to confidently determine the age of this planet, we can at least say it’s been here longer than we have. He carefully prepared the table for us and continues to have it serve His beloved people.

“Sometimes His work goes on quickly, and sometimes it goes on slowly. Man is frequently impatient and thinks that nothing is being done. But humanity’s time is not God’s time. A thousand years in His sight are but as a single day. The great Builder makes no mistakes. He knows what He is doing. He sees the end from the beginning.
J.C. Ryle

This week as we look at the fruit of the spirit: faithfulness, I will venture into three areas. First, today, the faithfulness of God to us. Then the opposite path –our faithfulness to Him. And last, how our fruit of faithfulness sees its work in the world.

I think it’s almost a given now that in each era theologians, pastors, Christians, and even non-believers determine “this is it.” The world is coming to an end. Some have found “proof” that the goings on of man are evidence that we are in the end times found in Revelations. But it’s the view of the “end” taken so often that is fascinating. The idea that God is now so done with us that He is going to rain down fire and smote the wicked has reared up throughout the ages.

To be sure, God keeps His promises. He has since the first covenant with man. And this version of the world, as we know it will one day end. Many would view that as a scary and unloving idea. That is, if we didn’t see God as loving and ever-faithful.

If you wish to know God, you must know His Word. If you wish to perceive His power, you must see how He works by His Word. If you wish to know His purpose before it comes to pass, you can only discover it by His Word.
Charles Spurgeon

When my Bible Study Girls decided to delve into the book of Revelations many of us did so with trepidation. We were told by pastors and others how difficult and, at times, worrisome, the book can be. In the end, what we learned was God is a faithful and merciful God. He is working right now to create a New Eden. One that sees no pain or suffering. One where love reigns supreme. Evil exists no more. A place where the complete fulfillment of His covenant with man is revealed. The only thing we have to do is be faithful in return.

My friends, God has never left us. He’s not planning to, ever. He has shown up in your life every, single day. Yes, even when it felt too hard. Has He solved all your problems? No. Has He provided a path toward all your problems being solved one day? Yes. He has never stopped loving you or me.

Of all the fruits of the spirit, it is faithfulness that can teach us so much about God and how to blossom in the other fruit. Faithfulness is not just about knowing God. As James 2:19 says, “You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that – and shudder.” No, faithfulness is about stick-to-it-ness because you love and respect something so much.

I will sing of the Lord’s great love forever;
    with my mouth I will make your faithfulness known
    through all generations.
I will declare that your love stands firm forever,
    that you have established your faithfulness in heaven itself. Psalm 89:1-2

God has never disappeared. Even during the most horrific events in time. Even during the worst of situations now. When you seek Him, you will definitely see Him. And He will say, “Keep talking to me. I’m not going anywhere.”

Coming up: Our Faithfulness to the Father

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The Result of Goodness

June 2, 2023June 2, 2023 krisshetter

A few years ago, tragedy struck popular Christian singer Toby Mac’s life. When his 21 year old son died of a drug overdose he found himself in deep despair. And wouldn’t we all? The next few songs he wrote reflected that state of incredible sadness. One day, he asked God if this was where he would sit the remainder of his life. God, in his infinite goodness, began a new work in the singer. Through the Holy Spirit, the beauty and glory of God were revealed to him in what Mr. Mac calls, “glimpses.”

I wrote on a napkin one day, ‘you’re still the goodness in my life,’ and I started to believe that, and to see how God is good to me. That’s when I wrote “The Goodness,” and it felt like a celebration, because I began to think about how gracious God is, and how He gives us little glimpses of His goodness, even in the valley.
Toby Mac, on You’re the Goodness in My Life

The result of understanding and experiencing God’s goodness was an action by the singer. An act I would call of kindness. He wrote the world a song to help so many others see those glimpses during their difficult trials.

Too often we take the gifts of God and create a narrow narrative on what they should look like. Hospitality “should” be a beautiful home, sumptuous meal and perfectly made up host. Joy means always being “happy.” Love means not only accepting everyone’s choices but willingly going along with them. You see what I mean? We all know, in our hearts and minds those are false narratives. And yet we still succumb to them. Kindness falls into the same trap.

When the Holy Spirit does his work in us He does it in concert with our gifts and talents, I believe. For Toby Mac, an accomplished musician, that meant creating something beautiful musically for all the world to enjoy. He didn’t have to write that song and record it. He could’ve kept it to himself. But I’m sure the Holy Spirit whispered to him, “This is what I want you to do.”

While I have written before the importance of prayer when it comes to so many decisions in our life, when we seek to merge our life to reflect God, we will know what kindness done with our talents can look like on a daily basis. We don’t have to ask, we will know. We may need that whisper or nudge but if I were sitting having lunch with you right now and asked how you could be kind to your neighbors you would have a few ideas that would differ from mine. And all of them God would say, “It is good.”

The Lord appeared to us in the past, saying: “I have loved you with an everlasting love;
    I have drawn you with unfailing kindness. Jeremiah 31:3

Our daily walk in soaking in God’s unfailing goodness and the Holy Spirit’s transforming power of helping us shine that goodness will lead us to the fruit of kindness. Fruit that is so juicy and good. We won’t feel as though we “have to” help that neighbor or stranger. We will feel impelled to. Just like God doesn’t feel He has to be nice to us – He loves us so much it’s just His essence!

Kindness to me may look like asking my neighbors to overwhelm our new neighbor with a newborn with boxes of diapers. To you, it might be a hot lasagna tray or trimming their bushes. Kindness to a homeless person can be just a moment of talking to them or an invite for a meal or shower.

I once called the police to come and check on a homeless person laying across the sidewalk and onto the street. I feared the was dead. Many, many people had walked and driven by the man. When the police came, they took him (alive) to a shelter. Yes, that was kindness too. Not leaving someone in a distressed or dangerous state. Isn’t that the type of kindness God does for us most often? At least that’s what the Holy Spirit did for Toby Mac. Through His love, goodness and kindness He lifted him out of despair and put him back on his fruit-filled journey.

Friend, if you aren’t sure or feel uncomfortable about selfless acts of kindness look to our Father. He doesn’t hesitate with us. He gives generously and freely. And if we want to be imitators of “good,” bountiful fruit bearers, He shows us the way each and every day in our own lives.

You may find it almost impossible to keep your minds always tending upwards, but at any rate, while you are here, “look up” with eyes uplifted to the hills where comes your help. Happy will it be for you, if by the good Spirit of God you can but get the eye so fixed upon the goodness of God now, that you shall become so fascinated, that your attention cannot be taken off that glorious object; it will be a blessing to you, a great blessing which will bear you through all your trials, and make you suck honey from the rock, and oil out of the flinty rock.
Charles Spurgeon

Next week: Faithfulness

Selfishness vs Selflessness

May 31, 2023May 31, 2023 krisshetter

I recently heard a riff off of Martin Luther’s theology of baptism: “I was drowned in the water of baptism but that sucker can float.” Picture your selfish flesh coming up like a zombie out of the water each morning. The battle of being fully sinful and fully cleansed commences. A battle that will not be won until the day Jesus returns and raises us from the dead. Sounds a bit disheartening doesn’t it?

Each day we face the prospect of allowing the world to take control of our thoughts and actions. Our desire to be vengeful, a worry-wort, greedy, immoral, and selfish sits at the end of the bed beckoning us like a zombie siren song.

For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Ephesians 6:12

When I was a child, our cartoons frequently portrayed this great battle. The everyday man, when faced with even everyday choices found a little devil and little angel sitting upon his shoulder. So often the devil would seemingly win. Why? Because he brings the shiny things. The opportunities for immediate gratification, fame and glory. What the cartoons also portrayed is the angel’s way always wins in the end. The gratification of self always led to some sort of personal destruction.

For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice. James 3:16

The problem with the cartoons was it showed “obeying” the angel as less fun and satisfying. Isn’t that what so many of us really think when we talk about obeying God? Removing the fun out of life. Becoming monk-like in our ways. James describes disorder, lack of peace, lack of love. Those don’t actually sound like fun while the opposite does. So I harken back to the previous post’s question, “Who do you love and admire?”

When we honestly answer that question we can then get to the root of our desires. As a professing Christian our desire for “the good life” should come from a desire to selflessly love and worship God, not ourselves.

How great is your (God) goodness that you would choose us, and predestinate us to be conformed into the image of your Son, that he might be the first-born among many brethren, and we the happy brethren who should be transformed into his likeness!
Charles Spurgeon

We are God’s chosen. He brings you out of the water cleansed every morning, ready to put on your full armor of God (Eph 6). Ready to please and love God, not the water zombie at the foot of the bed. We stay close to Him by soaking ourselves in His Word. Watering our roots deeply so our branches grow strong. We talk to Him throughout the day in prayer so the Holy Spirit can guide us in our fruit production. We thank Him at every possible turn so our good fruit can bless others.

We humans know, it’s implanted in our hearts and souls, that our selfish ways are destructive. But the pull is so great. It can only be counteracted by turning our face toward our Creator. Relying on Him as the broken, sinful people we know we are. To become selfless we need to be less of ourselves and instead more as people yearning to grab ahold of God’s saving mercy and grace pulling us up from the waters into His arms.

Coming up: The result of goodness

Fruit of the Spirit: Goodness & Kindness

May 29, 2023May 31, 2023 krisshetter

When my eldest daughter was little, she loved and admired her grandfather greatly. She loved him to such an extent that if she were caught doing something she shouldn’t, he could just look at her and she’d cry. She wanted so much to please him that she would do anything to be in his good graces. My question for you is, who do you love and admire so much that you would do just about anything in order to please them? You take their advice. You model your behavior and even thoughts after them. You may not even realize you have a relationship like this with someone but you probably do.

The danger is that, as infallible humans, we will invariably get something wrong. It’s how our idols fall into disfavor. Relationships get fractured when the one we’ve placed on the pedestal fails us. There has only been one person that walked this planet who truly deserves that level of devotion – Jesus. So, my other question is, have you placed God at the top of the list of ones you most love and desire to reflect?

Dear friend, do not imitate what is evil but what is good. Anyone who does what is good is from God. Anyone who does what is evil has not seen God. 3 John 11

What exactly is this “good” that is a reflection or imitation of God? The word “good” is written 725 times in our Bible. From Genesis 1:4 all the way to 3 John we read of good and goodness. I’ll take a leap here and say that of all the fruits of the spirit, love, peace and goodness may be the most misunderstood by Christians and especially non-Christians.

When we say something is “good” its use can be as widespread as “loving” something thing. “I love good sourdough bread” is not the same as “loving our neighbors reflects the goodness of God.” The first is a fleshly desire of something made well. The second describes a self-less act imitating the character of God.

God is not merely good, but goodness; goodness is not merely divine, but God.
C.S. Lewis

Each one of the fruit of the spirit listed by Paul in Galatians deals with either the state of our soul and/or an action thereof. All of the fruit are a result of the Holy Spirit’s work in us in creating us more like Jesus. Therefore, the “goodness” in this list requires us first to investigate what is the goodness of God?

Oh, how abundant is your goodness,
    which you have stored up for those who fear you
and worked for those who take refuge in you,
    in the sight of the children of mankind! Psalm 31:19

When you look up the word “goodness” in Strong’s Concordance it has you refer to the index. In the index it equates what goodness refers to in various parts of scripture. All the references are attached to God’s character:

Abundant (Exodus 34:6)
Great (Psalm 31:19)
Enduring (Psalm 52:1)
Satisfying (Psalm 65:4)

I would add to this list that God’s loving character also brings these other good things to our world: light, faithfulness, joy, mercy, and grace. The words “it was good” are used over and over coming from God’s mouth to describe His glorious creation — His great love in action.

When I said that the word “goodness” or “good” is listed among some of the most misunderstood I meant this – that apart from God no one’s soul imitates this goodness. Yes, even that person that seems really, really good.

If you ask a Humanist or atheist to define their morals or values, they’ll probably list things that actually are God-given commands. The difference is, commands such as “do not steal” become wishy washy depending upon the non-believer’s circumstances. You see, we ALL choose someone or something to imitate and hold up as the pinnacle of moral authority. But non-Christians (and unfortunately some Christians) hold up humans as that authority. And we are and do what we love, made worse when it is ourself.

Goodness is virtue and holiness in action. It results in a life characterized by deeds motivated by righteousness and a desire to be a blessing. It’s a moral characteristic of a Spirit-filled person. The Greek word translated “goodness,” agathosune, is defined as “uprightness of heart and life.”
Got Questions, A Christian Podcast

Righteousness, “uprightness,” can only come from one source: the sacrifice of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. He not only cleansed us of the guilt and sin we carry but made it so we can be called to goodness. To reflect the goodness of God.

God wants to be united with us in full. He loves us, brings us joy and peace. He’s asking us to be so in love with Him, so admiring of Him that we too want to fill our souls and the world with light, abundance, mercy and grace. To set aside all other idols and place Him front and center. For when we do, our goodness will naturally lead us to action. Those actions are called love, patience and kindness.

Coming up: Selfishness or Selflessness

Endurance Brings Hope

May 26, 2023May 22, 2023 krisshetter

Quite possibly the greatest lesson in the Bible about patience and endurance (both makrothymia) or lack thereof, is the one of Abraham and Sarah. The Lord comes to Abraham and promises that he will be the father of literally millions (Gen 15:5) and yet for years and years Abraham remained childless. He began to doubt God’s faithfulness in His promises. So, he and Sarah decided impatiently to take matters into their own hands and create a child of Abraham through a slave girl. That child, Ishmael, became the thorn in the Israelites’ side until this very day. And even though they tried to circumvent God, God still came through on His promise with the birth of their own son even after Sarah was determined to be post-child birthing age.

They had hoped. They had endured. Until they didn’t. Abraham and Sarah created their own timeline based on their inaccurate belief in the limited power of God.

When was the last time you said, “It’s too late. It’ll never happen.”? Although what you have prayed for might not come to fruition as you have asked, God is still working with you in the situation. Sometimes it seems you’ve been listening and waiting patiently yet at every turn you feel thwarted, abused, attacked, broken. It’s time like these that our faith is tested. You are not alone. Each one of the apostles, men who had spent hours, days, years in the very presence of God would have to then learn to keep trusting, keep enduring.

He is lining up your circumstances in a way that is better than you could ever imagine. When you wait for the Lord, you should look forward to what He will do with joyful expectation and confident hope, because He is providing the very best for you.”
Charles Stanley, 30 Life Principles

He wants the very best fruit to come out of you. Not just a red apple, but the juiciest red apple you’ve ever tasted. He wants trees rooted deeply in Him, watered richly by Him and grown in His beautiful light. It means in those times of trials, long suffering (also makrothymia) we don’t let go. We don’t try and go it alone.

I waited patiently for the Lord;
    he turned to me and heard my cry.
He lifted me out of the slimy pit,
    out of the mud and mire;
he set my feet on a rock
    and gave me a firm place to stand. Psalm 40:1-2

Our hope can endure because we know He is a God who gives generously (James 1:5). He will provide in our darkest times; we need only look for Him in the circumstance. We patiently wait for our hope to bloom into something bigger and more beautiful which may be when we finally are home in heaven.

Notice that we take action while waiting? Patiently is an adverb. It describes an activity. While we endure through our trial we pray, we seek His love, we experience His joy and peace. We watch for ways He is using us to help others.

The key to patience is faith in the all-embracing, all-guiding, all-wise, all-gracious providence of God to transform all the interruptions of his children into rewards. Can we not, then, write in big letters, as a heading over our lives and over every frustration, “Satan, you meant that for evil; God meant it for good” (Gen 5:2)?
John Piper

Friends, we are all waiting. Waiting for small things and very large things. We are waiting for the disappearance of pain and the appearance of our hopes come alive. At times, we say we wait to feel complete or more alive. And God is saying be patiently waiting, watching, learning, trusting. He is doing great things in you.

Brothers and sisters, as an example of patience in the face of suffering, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. As you know, we count as blessed those who have persevered. You have heard of Job’s perseverance and have seen what the Lord finally brought about. The Lord is full of compassion and mercy. James 5:10-11

Amen

Impatiently Waiting

May 24, 2023April 28, 2023 krisshetter

There must not be many other words in human language that can evoke as much negative response as the word “wait.” For what? How long? Why? No one likes to wait it seems. We don’t want to wait in line, wait for the doctor, wait for the test results, wait for the phone call and so much more. We’ve created online shopping so we don’t have to wait to go searching around town for what we need. We have fast food so we don’t have to wait to cook a homemade meal. And although modern conveniences can help us to accomplish other, more important tasks, there are plenty of things worth waiting for. The birth of child, a harvest, the right spouse, freshly baked bread are but a few!

There are, however, clear times that, if we want to blossom as Christians, we need to not only wait but wait patiently, not allowing our fleshly desires to supersede God’s omniscience. To marry or not, to have children, take that job, move to another home, how to deal with difficult people or situations, medical decisions – all these potentially life-altering choices should be sought patiently in wisdom with the Lord. I have heard from too many Christians about failed marriages because they were too impatient to wait for the right person.

“Do not run ahead of God! The delays may be very challenging for you, but they are growing your faith in Him. Look to Him, strengthen yourself in His Word and love, remain confident that He is working on your behalf.”
Charles Stanley, 30 Life Principles

So ok, we get it. We need to wait on God’s wisdom. But the waiting isn’t the fruit. The waiting is the fertilizer, the opportunity for the fruit, which is patience in that waiting.

My friends and family know I have not typically been a patient person. I’m a doer. I make decisions and get things done. I hate waiting around for other people. Until one day it hit me. What does my impatientness (another word I made up) look like to the world? If I were to ask you the characteristics of an impatient person, you’d probably say someone who looks angry, frustrated, annoyed, maybe even beligerent. To the world it looks like someone lacking in the other fruits — love, joy and peace.

My getting frustrated in waiting was fruit killing. The killer spray I was using on my fruit was my pride. I knew better how to make things happen faster, more efficient, more productive. I knew better than almost anyone I encountered, especially God. And the world says, “Why should I be a Christian if I still look like that?”

They claim to know God, but by their actions they deny him. They are detestable, disobedient and unfit for doing anything good.  Titus 1:16

Yikes! Talk about a conviction. True patience isn’t really just a lack of doing something. It’s also about what’s going on inside our hearts and heads. Are we thinking loving, joyful thoughts during a “waiting” moment? Do we have peace from God knowing He has a plan for us in this time? Because I’ll tell you my friend, if we stand in line tapping our foot and being annoyed we might just miss the opportunity to help an elderly person who is struggling with her groceries.

The line, the wait, is just as long for Christians and non-Christians. Are we to be the same in how we deal with it? Or are we to remember “the eye of life’s tornados is the calm hope of our final destination” as Christian author Dane Ortlund observes? At all times.

These short term opportunities for patiently waiting help build up our long-term waiting muscles. When the pregnancy hasn’t happened, yet. When the right job hasn’t come along, yet. When the pain hasn’t gone away, yet. When our sons and daughters haven’t accepted the Lord, yet. These aren’t times to get impatient. They are times to show the world what we believe is true.

Each of those “yets” is a hope we place in God’s faithful, loving hands. He’s asking us to trust Him, just like He asked Abraham, the Israelites, and the apostles. He’s saying, “Wait.” More importantly He’s saying, “Wait patiently without fretting, without worry, without fear. Trust me.”

Is there something you are hoping for today? Ask Him in prayer. Then wait patiently. It may not be answered today or tomorrow or even in 10 years. But during that time of patience He will do great things in and through you.

Coming up: From Endurance to Hope

The State of Peacefulness

May 17, 2023May 17, 2023 krisshetter

Throughout the last three years with my Bible study girls (BSGs) I noticed what we all struggle with the most — control. Or on the flipside, lack of trust. The results of that need to control typically lead to lack of peace. We humans like to manage situations and people without first consulting the “man upstairs.” The inevitable results create frustration, hurt feelings, anger and more.

Instead, we turn to the desires of the flesh listed just above the fruits of the Spirit in Galatians 5: sexual immorality, impurity, debauchery, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions, and envy.

We must picture hell as a state where everyone is perpetually concerned about his own dignity and advancement, where everyone has a grievance, and where everyone lives with the deadly serious passions of envy, self-importance, and resentment.
C.S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters

You may look around your own Bible study groups, church friends or even just the “good” people you know and think, “Nah, we never do any of that horrible stuff!” You might recall, however, at the beginning of this study on love that Jesus considers gossiping or defaming someone “murder.” Yikes!

We take our newly signed peace treaty with God and consider it a license to do what our flesh desires. Maybe thinking He won’t notice. We turn from the peace table, walk out the door and get angry at the first person who doesn’t do what we think they should. We fantasize of a spouse who would love us so much better, we drink away our anxieties, hold onto our bank accounts for fear of the poorhouse, speak of “Karma” when hurt by others, become jealous of our non-Christian neighbors with the fancy new car, or just turn away from others who need a bit of kindness.

Friend, God has implanted in each and every one of us the knowledge of His existence. Somehow, we all know what His desires are for our behavior, for our hearts.

"Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you." James 1:21

We know, through the Holy Spirit what is right and wrong in God’s view. When we actively or even passively work against this you know what the inevitable result is? Lack of peacefulness. That niggling in your heart and mind is God’s way of reminding you of the path toward peace. And yet we so often ignore it. We’ve been rejecting the Prince of Peace and His path since He walked on this Earth.

“On the next Sabbath almost the whole city gathered to hear the word of the Lord. When the Jews saw the crowds, they (the Pharisees) were filled with jealousy. They began to contradict what Paul was saying and heaped abuse on him. Then Paul and Barnabas answered them boldly: “We had to speak the word of God to you first. Since you reject it and do not consider yourselves worthy of eternal life, we now turn to the Gentiles.” Luke 13: 44-46

How incredibly sad is this point in scripture? The Pharisees and Sadducees were spoon-fed by Jesus, Himself, the truth. The glory of the heavens was opened to them. The bountiful, beautiful life was placed on a platter before them and they rejected it out of jealousy. Out of fleshly desires. Do we want to be listed among them? I pray your answer is no.

I heard a podcast recently by John Ortberg on taking a hold of the beautiful life God wants for us. He spoke of not just cutting out actions and thoughts from our lives but more importantly replacing them with a positive action and thought. The Bible speaks of cleaning house but not leaving it empty for the thief to come and take up residence. Therefore, if we want not just the glorious peace with God but God’s gift of peacefulness, we need to replace our desires of the flesh with His goodness. With the blossoms of love and joy. With trust that our God does in fact know what He is doing. He is greater than us in every aspect and will provide.

Through prayer, obedience and knowledge of His Word we can, with the Holy Spirit’s guidance, rest in His peace. Ask Him today to shine a light on the areas that are creating deadly weeds in our hearts. The Great Gardner will create a beautiful peacefulness in you that you never could’ve imagined!

Coming Up: Resting In Peace

Joy In Our Obedience

May 10, 2023May 10, 2023 krisshetter

I told a friend recently that maybe I should apologize to the world for the COVID pandemic. You see I had for years been praying to God for patience and joy to be cornerstones of my life. I thought if I just tried really hard at not doing certain behaviors I would succeed at this task. While I had found some success in listening to God and obeying when He asked me to take certain actions, I bucked and kicked at fully surrendering myself to Him. And then the pandemic came upon us.

As most of us experienced, our lives were thrown into chaos. Some people almost completely shut down. Loved ones lost not only their jobs and communion with family and friends, but their very lives themselves. We were placed in a state of intense fear and uncertainty. Where I live the government restrictions became egregious, almost to the state of Marshall Law. People were afraid to leave their homes. In some areas you could be fined over $1,000 just for sitting in your parked car on the street next to the beach. In another, the city “outlawed” people from driving up to senior care facilities and waving at them from their windows. Despair, anger, fear, was thick in the air whenever you made the allowed trip to the grocery store. And boy was I angry.

I became angry with the media for putting out confusing messages. At government officials who chastised us for wearing masks then not wearing masks. At neighbors who jumped to the other side of the street as though we each were walking around with deadly leprosy. I despaired over my church closing indefinitely and not seeming to care of the state of their members. I wanted to rage on social media, to my friends and my husband. Discord, not joy, was my refuge. While each day I spent hours doing my various Bible studies no less! I told my Bible study ladies, “I’m a great Christian when I’m at my house, until I walk out the front door.”

Then one day my husband, the chief operations person for a group of Alzheimer’s care facilities, came home looking completely undone. The exhaustion on his face confirmed his first words to me, “That’s it. I can’t do this anymore.” The long days and nights keeping his residents and staff safe while managing the ever-changing governmental rules had taken its toll. I realized he needed joy not discord from me. He didn’t need to hear me complaining at dinner about the latest news announcement. He didn’t need to feel my anger over something that happened at the grocery store. No, he needed me to be a mirror of the Holy Spirit.

“Likewise, the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole body, sets the whole course of one’s life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.”   James 3:5-6

So, my true journey of seeking joy began thanks to the pandemic. It was a test for many of us Christians. I knew my past failures meant a new approach was needed. One that was Holy Spirit directed. We can no better wish for, pressure ourselves, think into action, joy than a tree can try really hard to make cherries. But what does a cherry tree do in order to create that beautiful fruit? It allows its very essence, it’s holy purpose to do its work inside the roots, trunk, branches, leaves and blossoms. Effortlessly in full submission to its Creator.

“A Christian new birth brings a change made in the views of his mind and relish of the heart so that the regenerate person seeks his interest and happiness in God.”
Jonathan Edwards, Religious Affections

You see, when we seek real change from the ugliness this world grows in us it means we seek to become who God intended us to be. People close to Him, loving Him and being immensely loved by Him. It’s no wonder “love” is listed first as a fruit of the Spirit. Without it, the rest would be impossible. In researching Christian joy, I discovered these three characteristics of a joy-filled life in full bloom.

1. Submission: “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. John 15:5

This submission is not slave to master as some non-Christians like to portray. No, it’s a loving mentor, teacher, parent who sincerely knows and wants the best for us. But unlike those relationships we never grow out of needing the Lord to guide us. He just guides us through more difficult and more beautiful experiences. His loving omniscience is where we must put our trust.

2. Seek to Glorify God’s Will: “Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.” Romans 12:1-2

With each word we speak, each action we take, even every thought it should be with turning ourselves over to God in worship. When we wake in the morning, prayer sets us on the right path in seeking ways to glorify Him to our family, friends, co-workers and strangers. In other words, the old saying, “What would Jesus do?” should be on our minds in conversations with the Spirit throughout our day.

3. Seek God’s Glorious Beauty: “Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise—the fruit of lips that openly profess his name.” Hebrews 13:15.

Jonathan Edwards’ theological focus through the entirety of his life was God is the foundation of beauty. Nature doesn’t exist for itself but for the glorification of God. I took up a challenge to think on God every 30 minutes earlier this year. Whether in my car, cooking dinner, shopping, I stop for a minute, look around and thank God for the amazing creation around me. The beautiful sky or quenching rain. The child’s laughter nearby or even the opportunity to sit in traffic so I could listen to the rest of a podcast. He is all around us in full color and glory, especially during our trials. Praise Him!

Friend, our joy comes from the love God has shown us with the work His son has already done for us. It comes from the work the Holy Spirit is doing in us. The blossom? The fruit? That’s the work He is doing through us for all the world to see.