Blog Series, Coming Your Way in November!

The last few years I've joined with many in cyberspace and blogged daily in October or November.*  The first year, 2010, I simply wrote about something on my mind or what we did that day. In 2011 and 2012 I got more serious and picked a topic and worked my way through it, forcing you inviting you to join with me.  Getting fancy around here, isn't it?!

For 2013 I've got an idea brewing that I wanted to get started today, October 1, but wisdom's telling me to hold off till November.  You've surely read about our move and my husband's new job.  Well, he's busy with his first semester teaching, which means I'm far more busy at home than I usual.  I won't have time to devote to developing the topic as I go this month, but if I spend this month reading and preparing, it will be much more manageable to invite you along for the ride in November.


Here's what's cookin'.

Presently, I'm working my way through 1 & 2 Timothy using a Kay Arthur study.  Her studies are inductive and thorough.  A couple of weeks ago I found myself hanging out around these verses:

[God] has saved us and called us to a holy life - not because of anything we have done but because of his own grace.  This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time, but it has now been revealed through the appearing of our Savior, Christ Jesus, who has destroyed death and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.

2 Timothy 1:9-10

I run in circles that (I believe) rightly spend a lot of time focusing on the grace of God in saving us.  As these verses say, God saves us not because of what we've done, but because of His own grace.  Amen to that!  However, that's not the only thing that Paul says to Timothy.  He adds that God saved us and called us to a holy life.

I want to know what that means!  What does that look like day-to-day?  How do we lean wholly on Jesus' name and pursue this calling to a holy life?

I have so many questions, and I want to search out some answers!  That is what November will be all about at Life in the Valley.  I've been mind-mapping, coming up with questions, and reading an old book, by a fellow named William Law, called A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life.  I'm also thinking about how the holy life relates to and/or is defined by the two greatest commandments, Micah 6:8, and the fruit of the Spirit.  I wonder, is the holy life something we do or something that is wrought in us?  Or both?!  Is there a difference between holiness and righteousness?  How can we keep from relying on works-righteousness but also not feel like Christ set us free to do what ever we want?

I believe the Scriptures have answers to these questions.

I hope we find ourselves surprised by some of them!

Please join me in November for this exploration and invite your friends.  I'm fairly certain we'll just scratch the surface, but I pray it will cause us to grow up together into the Head, who is Christ.  Also, if you have read any good books or can think of any verses/passages that relate to this topic, I'll take any and all suggestions.

With affection,
Heather


*I got the first image from http://www.theroadtorollergirl.com/tag/nablopomo/.  The link feature isn't working at the moment.

News! (And a Giveaway, for Moms!!)

Today I have some fun news to share!  I have been invited to join an amazing group of women as a contributor on Sally Clarkson's blog, Itakejoy.com.  Writing alongside the likes of blogging superstars like Ann Voskamp and Sarah Mae is humbling and intimidating; I feel completely out of my league.  But I'm also thrilled by the opportunity, because I know the Good Lord started opening up doors years ago to lead up to this.  My first article will post on November 12.  Yay!  If you're not familiar with Sally or the MomHeart ministry and are looking for encouragement and wisdom as a mother, please make your way to MomHeart.org and Itakejoy.com soon!!

In connection to this news, I'd like to share with you that MomHeart.org is merging with Sally's blog, to free Sally to do more book writing, without leaving too much dead time at Itakejoy.com.  To celebrate the 6th anniversary of her blog and the blog merger, Sally is hosting a giveaway of three gift sets, which include two of her foundational books on motherhood and a sweet mom heart necklace.  God used reading those books to change me and our family in dramatic ways, for the good.  So, I encourage you to pop on over to Itakejoy.com and get your name in to win!  If I win, perhaps I'll turn around and host a giveaway myself, since I already have them.  Oooh, yeah, that would be fun!

And finally, in totally unrelated news, (but giving me a reason to add a picture to this post), the Pittsburgh Pirates are in a play-off game tomorrow for the first time since 1992.  Let's go Bucs!

Three Effects of Hanging Out Close to the Cross

Last time I wrote, I promised you I'd be back to share a little about the difference it makes in our life when we hang out close to the cross.  Sorry to have taken so long to return!  I wish I could say it was because I was doing extensive study and editing to make this post just right.  But honestly, it's because I have not figured out where writing is going to fit into life at the moment.  With the move I've been thinking about priorities, how I use my time, etc.  Also, my husband has been very occupied with his new job.  It's a season, and I'm okay with the busyness of it.  But I also hope that I can make myself take the time to be more intentional about writing and sharing with you all what God's putting on my heart.  I've been working on being more disciplined and focused.  Does anyone else feel like they "fight the lazy" all day, like me?

Well, that was all to fill you in a little on why it's so quiet around here.  Now it's time to get back on topic:

What difference does it make in our lives when we hang out close to the cross?

  

I'll be there are lots of answers to this question.  I'd love to hear each of you respond, because I know I won't exhaust the topic!  I think my short answer would be that hanging out at the foot off the cross keeps me balanced, not thinking so highly of myself and thinking rightly highly of God and others.  That thought will give form to today's blost.*

Hanging out close to the cross makes a difference to how we think about and interact with

God - Remembering, as we do regularly with the sacrament of communion, for example, that the Lord's body was broken and His blood shed for our sin and the sin of the world, transforms the way we interact with God.  We did not participate in the creation of this plan to redeem sinners.  That was all of grace.  God the Father desired that we be able to have relation ship with Him and he went to the necessary extreme to make it possible.  Jesus, in love and obedience to the Father, went through with the plan.

Hanging out close to the cross reminds us how gracious and loving our God is.  Starting there calms our fears.  The cup of wrath has been drunk by Jesus our Lord.  There is no condemnation for those who are clothed in His righteousness.  We can run into the Father's presence and confess our day-to-day sins, rejoice in His goodness, ask for His help, and enjoy His company.  The cross opened the door for a life-giving relationship with our Creator.  Praise God for the cross!

Others - At the foot of the cross, we are all equals.  Gazing at the cross and remembering that Jesus had to die for each and every one of us gives our pride a nice one-two punch.  We are not in competition with our brothers and sisters, we are all desperate for what is offered through Jesus.  The cross reminds me that I am what I am only because of grace.  It's all a gift.  The same goes for others.  So for those who know Christ, we want to encourage them to drink deeply of the hope and life found in Him; and for those who do not yet know Him, we want to share the Good News and invite them to sit at the foot of the cross with us and be transformed.

Hanging out close to the cross reminds us of our testimony and our calling, keeping history and future in perspective, reminding us of what is of first importance in this life.  Petty issues fall into their rightful places at the back of the line, allowing loving God and loving our neighbor move up to the front.  The cross makes a huge difference in how you and I think about and interact with one another.

Our Self - Finally, hanging out at the cross changes how we interact with and think about ourselves.  No longer are we measured by what we do or accomplish, or do not do or do not accomplish.  We find a new identity at the food of the cross.  When we believe in Jesus, we become God's children, members of a new family where faith and repentance are the bedrock and clinging to Christ is the only criteria for acceptance.  Two things happen, then.  One, we think less highly of ourselves because, as I pointed out in the previous post, we are made increasingly aware of how wretched we are.  (Seriously, the longer you walk with God the more He shows you how much you need His forgiveness in Christ.  Rather than feeling more and more great about yourself, you feel daily more thankful that His love and forgiveness are so great!)  The second thing that happens at the cross, related to the first, is that we are set free.  No longer is our worth tied to our self, what we do, say, and produce.  Rather, our worth comes from the bleeding, dying one who gives life through His death.  We can accept our failings, confess our sins, and find forgiveness and hope, for the Lord is in the transformation business.  And it begins at the foot of the cross.

Hanging out close to the cross puts us in our place and sets us free.  Those two seem like they'd be mutually exclusive when I think about them.  But they're not because of the blood of Jesus that was shed on that very cross.  We're reminded, You're a lot worse off than you think you are AND this is the very place to find the remedy and be set free from yourself.

So my encouragement to you today?  Think about and/or read the Easter story and how it relates to you right now.  Sometimes it can feel like this historical event that has little bearing on the crazy things happening around me right now.  But I believe that Scripture tells us it has EVERYTHING to do with the crazy things happening around us right now.

I wish I had the time to include verse references for many of the things I've said in here, but my time is up.  Children are stirring and I'm ready for my second cup of coffee.  I'm not even going to edit (gasp!) so apologies for typos.  Have a lovely day, friends.  May the Lord bless and keep you.

*BLOST is my shortened version of the words blog post, for those who are new here.  :)

Three Reasons You and I Need to Hang Out Close to the Cross

As we've returned to routines over the last few weeks, daily Bible story reading has found its place again in our rhythm.  We picked up where we left off in Catherine Vos' The Child's Story Bible, finding ourselves in the Holy Week narrative of Jesus' life.  In the midst of the story of Jesus hanging on the cross, Vos makes these statements:

It is very painful to you and me to see our beloved Lord hanging there on the cross, with His blood dripping down.  But even though it is painful, we need to look, for He hangs there because of what we have done.  His blood is being shed to pay for our sins.  He loved us so much that He chose to die in our place. (p.323-324)

It is painful to enter into how the Lord suffered on the cross.  I don't know about you, but I closed my eyes and covered my ears for most of the Passion of the Christ.  It's gruesome and terrifying.  But I love how Vos' sentiments reminded me of the beauty and importance of hanging out close to the cross.

So, without further ado and thanks to Ms. Vos, I present for your reading pleasure:

3 Reasons You and I Need to Hang Out Close to the Cross

1. We're more wretched than we want to believe.  Standing at the foot of the cross and gazing (so to speak) at our suffering Lord reminds us that desperate times call for desperate measures.  Our situation without God's intervention was without remedy.  The condition of sin in which we find ourselves separated from God required blood being shed for the relationship to be made whole.
2. God's love is more vast than we can fathom.  Our situation without God's intervention was without remedy.  But God intervened!  He started with the sacrificial system He gave to His people under Moses, promising later to send a Messiah to be the slain lamb to save the world.  God's love is so deep He would send His own Son and for a time completely turn His back on Him to save us, the wretched ones.  And Christ, the second person of the God-head, obediently and lovingly followed God the Father's plan, not calling down legions of angels to rescue Him from His unjust sentence, but hanging there and dying, taking the curse that was ours.  "What wondrous love is this, O my soul!", indeed!
3. Forgiveness in Christ is more complete than we can imagine.  Do you remember what Christ said on the cross before He breathed his last?  "It is finished."  It.  Is.  Finished.  No more regular sacrifices, because the Lamb was slain.  No more Holy of holies, because the curtain was torn in two.  No more measuring up through the law, because Christ died to set us free.  If you are in Christ (having believed in your heart and confessed with your lips) you ARE a new creation.  Period.  You are forgiven.  The gavel has come down and your chains have been loosed and you are set free!

Yeah, But What Difference Does It Make?

Great question!  We'll get into that in my next post, because the kids are done with their Saturday morning shows.  :)  See you then!

On Prayer (Part III)

You are about to read Part III of a three-part series about prayer.  If you need to catch up or want to review click here for Part I and click here for Part II.

Backing Up a Few Steps to Clarify Something

I wrote something last week that I want to clarify before moving on with today's final thoughts on prayer.  As I reread the previous post, I noticed that I said, Jesus didn't give specifics about physical posture or exact wordings.  Either no one read this, everyone understood what I meant in the context, or you nice readers don't want to challenge me in the comments, because I read it and thought, but He did give us the Lord's prayer, which sure seems like exact wording, doesn't it?  What I mean by saying Jesus didn't give us exact wordings is this, though the Lord did instruct us how to pray by the Lord's prayer, there was no "magic" in it, so to speak.  Jesus did not instruct us to repeat specific prayers in particular ways to get God to do things our way or somehow earn His favor.  Jesus instructed us to pray to relate to our Father who is in heaven, rightly, sincerely, submissively, and trustingly.  Perhaps my clarification was unnecessary, but I wanted to get that out there before moving on to some concluding thoughts on prayer.  Here we go, then!

Hope and Encouragement for our Prayer Lives

As I thought about prayer for this seminar, I realized that what I want is for prayer to be formulaic.  Like getting paid for hours put in at work or getting candy for the coins I put into a vending machine, I want to know how long to pray and what words to say to get the desire result.  I want to be able to box it up real nice like.  But we all know prayer is not like that.

Prayer is dynamic because it's communication within a familial relationship, a familial relationship with the God of the universe.  As such, prayer is a means of spiritual transformation, not a business transaction.

Do you want it to be formulaic like me?  It seems  like it would be so much easier, doesn't it.  But then it would be just as moving and life-changing as punching a time clock at work or paying for my goods at Target.  In prayer, we submit to a loving Father, not to a tyrant demanding that we pray certain ways to earn his favor or to a stranger to whom we're stating our prayers in exchange for specific results.  We're talking with Our Father, in heaven who is holy and set apart from us, but who also calls us into relationship with him through His Son who (as we've seen in Scripture) showed us what a praying life looks like and instructed us how to pray.

3 P's for the Road

To some degree, we've only scratched the surface of what we can glean from Scripture about prayer.  This series is not exhaustive, but I do pray it has been an encouragement.  To help you have some mental hooks to hang on to when you think about prayer in the coming weeks, I want to leave you with three P-words:

• PERSON - When you pray, you're talking with a person, God.  That's awesome, in the truest sense of the word.
• POSTURE - There are many ways you can physically arrange yourself to pray, but when I say posture I'm thinking about heart-posture.  Let that posture be one of trust in the God to whom the prayer is addressed, believing He hears and anticipating how relating to Him will transform your life, others' lives, and the world in which we live.
• PRAY! - To borrow from Nike: Just Do It!  We all have room for growth in our prayer lives, but no matter how awkward, hard-hearted, or inexperienced we feel, we need to pray.  God does the work, we show up.  It's not like going to class, it's a relationship!

Resources to Spur You On

What would a seminar be without some suggested resources?

• The Bible - Nothing is better fodder for prayer than getting to know the Word of God!  The more we read, the more accurate picture we get of the real God, chasing away fantasies we have about what He might be like or lies the evil one would have us believe about Him.  We also find examples of prayers in the Psalms and instruction in passages we looked at through this series.
• A Prayer Partner - Accountability to pray and knowing someone is praying with and for you is so uplifting.  My friend, Carol, who lives in a different state suggested we do this a couple years back, and it's been such a blessing to exchange prayer emails and mourn and rejoice together, though apart.  You could also find a local friend and meet regularly to pray together.

Some other books & a pamphlet:

• A Praying Life: Connecting with God in a Distracting World  by Paul Miller
• Too Busy Not to Pray  by Bill Hybles
• Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire: What happens when God's Spirit Invades the Hearts of His People  by Jim Cymbala
• Think of Our Lord Speaking to You  by Good News Publishing  (special thanks to my friend Lydia for directing me to this)

If you have other great resources that have aided your prayer life, don't hesitate to leave a comment for me and fellow readers.  Thanks for joining in on this mini-series!

On Prayer (Part II)

Last Sunday I shared part one of a seminar on prayer that I facilitated in the spring.  I began the series with some thoughts about what prayer is and when we should pray by looking at Jesus and verses that tell us about His prayer life, coming to the conclusion that Jesus prayed about pretty much everything all the time because He was in a dependent relationship with God the Father, just like us.

Moving on from there, we can ask this question:  what does looking at Jesus prayer life mean for us?

In short, we should pray!

To which your response might be, Great, thanks, Heather.  I already knew that!

We know we should pray.  Yet we often find ourselves thinking, it sure it helpful to have some instruction, because I think I'm pretty bad at this prayer thing.  Thankfully, Jesus also thought His people needed some direction in this arena; He knows what we need!  So today we're going to take a quick peek (meaning I will not exhaust the topic, but give you some food for thought) at what Jesus taught about prayer.

There are two big passages that come to mind when I think of Jesus' teaching about prayer:  Matthew 6:5-15 and Luke 18:1-17.  The Matthew passage is part of the Sermon on the Mount and includes what is commonly called The Lord's Prayer.  The Luke passage consists of two parables, one about a persistent widow, the other about a Pharisee and a tax collector.  I imagine these are familiar words for many of you.  If you want to refresh your memory, click on the references above to read the passages.  All I will do here is offer short observations and brief summaries of what I think the main point of each passage or story is.

Let's begin with Matthew 6:5-15.

• Prayer is neither about impressing people nor about the content and delivery of the prayer. (v. 5-8)
• Prayer submits to God's Fatherhood, holiness, and rule. (v. 9-10)
• Prayer trusts in God's provision, forgiveness, and protection. (v. 11-15)

Summary Thought:  "Good prayer" submits and trusts.

Now, how about Luke 18:1-17.

• Keep praying, Jesus says, because God actually cares about you! (v. 1-8)
• The posture of prayer is humility, because the prayer recognizes their dependency on God's mercy. (v. 9-17)

Summary thought: "Good prayer" is ceaseless and submissive.

What I'm trying to draw out from the Word are overarching principles to guide us when we come to God in prayer.  What is it that we are supposed to do?  Jesus didn't give specifics about physical posture or exact wordings.  These teachings, instead, guide us to look to God, to consider Him, to surrender to Him, and to talk with Him.  Prayer is part of a relationship where God is the compassionate and trustworthy parent and we are His children.  We are not to concern ourselves with what others might think of our prayer or even what God might think of our prayer and how it's delivered.  We also are not to concern ourselves with how everything will work out or try to appeal to our own goodness to get God to listen.  To become a "good pray-er" we simply need to submit, to trust, and to keep on praying, yep, even those faltering, confused, I-don't-have-the-words kinds of prayers.

The bedrock for this faith is found in the story God is unfolding in human history.  We read our Bibles which recount His consistent and reliable fulfillment of promises from leading Israel into the promised land, to the death and resurrection of Jesus, the one who teaches us to pray by the words He spoke and the life He lived.  We can trust God because He is faithful.

Breathe the Gospel in deep, friends, for it testifies to God's faithfulness, to God's mercy, to God's love for His people.  Remembering that God so loved the world that He sent His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life, encourages us to "bend the knee" of our hearts and open our lips to talk with our God.  If God went that far to rescue you, will He not hear your prayers when you talk with Him today?

*     *     *

There's some food for thought for this week; tune back in next Sunday for the final installment of "On Prayer"!

On Prayer (Part I)

A while back, I mentioned on Facebook that I would share the content from a breakout session about prayer that I facilitated in April.  Since things are a bit crazy around here these days, as we pack up to move in a few weeks, I though maybe now would be a good time to type up something already mostly prepared.  I don't want you thinking I've given up on this blog thing!  This week, in fact, I thought about buying myself this:

I miss hanging out here in my corner of the internet!

But aaaanyway, back to today's topic: Prayer

As I thought about the session one morning (in the shower, of course!) I thought, What would I want to tell these ladies about prayer if, for some odd reason, I was limited to sharing only one thing?  Almost immediately my mind replied, JESUS PRAYED!

We must remember that the Son of God prayed during His earthly mission.  In the midst of all of the miracles and teaching, Jesus set aside time to pray.  If Jesus needed to pray, how much more certainly do we need to pray?!  Now please, when you read the previous sentence, don't feel guilty.  No, I ask that question that we might take comfort, rather than be burdened.  Our Lord, who kinda had something going for Him given that He was the God-man, still needed to communicate regularly with His heavenly Father as He ministered.  Prayer, then, must be something far different than a crutch for the weak or simply wishful thinking.  It's good for Christians to consider this and learn - especially by looking at and listening to Jesus - how to pray.

The format of my time with the ladies of Fox Chapel Presbyterian Church fell into three parts:

• The Ins & Outs of Jesus' Prayer Life
• Implications for Our Prayer Lives (and what Jesus taught about prayer)
• Hope & Encouragement in Summary

This evening, we'll begin with the first bullet-point: The Ins & Outs of Jesus' Prayer Life.  We'll get as far as seems reasonable for a single blost,* and pick up where we left of in the next one!

To observe Jesus praying, it is helpful to read stories about times he prayed.  There are many.  In fact, the ladies and I looked up several passages that mention Jesus praying.  I will list them below, if you'd like to read them all.**  Here is a terse summary: over meals, before miracles, early in the morning, alone, with others, in times of great distress, at important events in His life, for Himself, for others, and even for us.  Then, outside the gospels, in Hebrews 5:7 the Bible says, During the days of Jesus’ life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with fervent cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission.

After considering the passages and creating a nice list to complete the sentence, Jesus prayed _____, we moved on to thinking about these questions:

• To Whom did Jesus pray?
• What did He pray for?
• When did He pray?
• Where did He pray?

You can probably pull some answers from my quick list above, but this exercise was really fun for seeing the variety of things for which Jesus prayed and also the range of times and places He did so.  We're always addressing God in prayer, but we can talk with Him about so many things from wherever we are at whatever time of day or night!  What a comfort to consider Jesus example.

But one question remains.  WHY?  Why did Jesus pray?

The most concise answer is this: Jesus was dependent on the Father.  As Hebrews said, He was heard for his reverent submission.  Jesus knew His place and thrived there because He submitted Himself to the Father.

We are no less dependent.

So, what does this mean for our prayer lives?  Well, you'll have to chew on today's post for a little and stay tuned for On Prayer (Part II), where we'll dig into what Jesus taught about prayer!

*Blost is my personal abbreviation for blog post.  So much more efficient!  :)

**Mathew 14:19, 26:36; Mark 1:35, 14:32; Luke 3:21-22, 9:18 & 28-29, 11:1, 22:19; John 17:1ff