Bare Feet

I stroll the yard – bare feet squishing in soft, soggy soil. Examining more varieties of mushrooms than I ever knew existed as I examine, with God, the complexities of my day. This homestead consecrated long ago, set apart as a dwelling for His Name, His instruction. This ground dedicated in heart and mind as His. Holy ground.

Our sanctuary in the middle of modern suburbia yet in my heart far removed from the world’s mad din. When I return home I remove those world-worn shoes – covered with the dirt of where I’ve been. I leave them at the door for this is where my feet become naked before my God. Resting. Exposed. Pure. On holy ground.

Feet bare, nothing to come between me and the Rock Upon Which I Stand. Foot to ground, face to Face. Holy ground.

Here I can bare my ugly feet with Him. I can give Him all I have in this place, in my life, outside these boundaries. Unload the junk I’ve collected along the path of my day. My place of repose in the bounty of His grace. I tilt my face up toward the sky and see an endless scroll of gifts unfurl that deserve thanksgiving.

One of them: living in the extremities with God. These bitter-sweet days of faith. I wouldn’t have it any other way. Hard? Yes! But it gives me more of Him. It requires total dependence. Would I really have it any other way? Would I trade it? For what? To live in this world is to have adversity. Another’s thorn seems a greater burden than I could ever bear.

We all need Him. Desperately! Life makes sure of it! I’ve told God more than once that I would much rather have this over a life of ease and comfort at the risk of less of Him. Oh sure, there are weary days when I feel weak and exhausted and long for simple. (Usually a sign of recent bouts of self-striving.) Those are the days to pray for greater patience. To wait. Rest. Believe. To kneel on holy ground.

Truly, I would rather be chained to difficulty than risk wandering from my God in a faulty sense of “freedom.” Far better to wrestle in this world -- with the things of this world -- than become bosom-buddies with it. We labor now, in the Lord’s unfailing strength, in this imperfect, exacerbating world, to take our leisure at the fulfillment of His promises another day. For now, I give Him praise and rejoice in His victories. And I especially give thanks -- even amid a field of mushrooms -- on holy ground.

Here I lean -- on my Lord -- on holy ground. Praising God and giving thanks. Bare feet and all.

'Til Zion I trod, Lord, may I stand faithfully in Your presence.

Praise~Bites

The LORD lives!

Praise be to my Rock!
Exalted be God,

the Rock, my Savior!

[2Sm 22:47]

Series of Praise from Scripture

Promises of God

God has not promised skies always blue,
Flower-strewn pathways all our life through;
God has not promised sun without rain,
Joy without sorrow, peace without pain.

But God has promised strength for the day,
Rest for the labor, light for the way;
Grace for the trials, help from above,
Unfailing sympathy, undying love.

~Author Unknown

Encouragement from the Psalms

He is my loving God
and my fortress,
my stronghold and my deliverer,
my shield, in whom I take refuge,
who subdues peoples under me.
[Ps 144:2]

A Mighty Fortress is our God, shelter from harm. Soul-Guard, He keeps us until That Day.

Enter our High Tower - far above the noise, temptations, and trials. Rise above your earthly burdens - out of the muck and mire. Let our Deliverer lift you up into His presence, away from assault, to speak peace to your soul.

Faint of heart? Seek a Fortress, the Rock of Our Salvation. Exalt Him and be lifted up into that Divine High Tower. See the rising of the Son and the promise of a Better Day.



"Who is this King of Glory?" "Let me hide myself in Thee." Shielded when I am weak; a place of rest when I am weary; a High Tower when I am down. I lift praise upon praise to "my God, who will meet all my needs in Christ Jesus." Amen.

Heavenly Rain

Rain down Your Glory...

Saturate souls with a divine soaking,
Spiritual rain to whet every need.

Send gospel rain to dry, remote fields,
Words of Life from the Word Made Flesh.

Raindrops of promises for hopeless hearts,

Pour down justice for the persecuted and oppressed,

Cleansing rain for darkened souls,

Merciful rain for the battered and weary.

Rains of faith,
That You are all the Umbrella we need.

He will be like rain falling on a mown field,
like showers watering the earth.
[Ps 72:6]

A String of Hosannas

Praise the name of the LORD,
for his name alone is exalted;
his splendor is above
the earth and the heavens.
[Ps 148:13 adapted]

Your word, O LORD, is eternal;
it stands firm in the heavens.

Your word is a lamp to my feet
and a light for my path.
[Ps 119:89, 105]

Yes, LORD, walking in the way of your laws,
we wait for you;
your name and renown
are the desire of our hearts.
[Is 26:8]

Praise be to you, O LORD,
from everlasting to everlasting.

Yours, O LORD, is the greatness and the power
and the glory and the majesty and the splendor,
for everything in heaven and earth is yours.
Yours, O LORD, is the kingdom;
you are exalted as head over all.

We give you thanks,
and praise your glorious name.
[1 Chron 29:10-11, 13 adapted]

A Series of Praise from Scripture

Rejoice with Trembling

Worship the LORD with reverence
And rejoice with trembling.
[Ps 2:11 NASB]

Worship. . . .

Worship His majesty.
Worship His greatness.
Worship His perfection.

Rejoice. . . .

Rejoice in His mercy.
Rejoice in His salvation.
Rejoice in His kingdom.

Rejoice with trembling. . . .

Trembling in fear of YHWH.
Trembling in worship of the Holy One.
Trembling in sorrow.
Trembling with great joy and delight.

Freakish, madness, or Holy Spirit?

Experiencing You has this abnormal effect.

This emotional sensation causes my mind to imagine the reality that my Lord endured the cross for the joy set before Him (Heb 12:2).

My lament in worship stirs the pool of deep emotion. I shudder at the thought of You:

He who forms the mountains,
creates the wind,
and reveals his thoughts to man,
he who turns dawn to darkness,
and treads the high places of the earth—
the LORD God Almighty is his name.
[Amos4:13]

Rejoice with trembling at the thought!

Rejoice with trembling at the very mention of Your Holy Name.

A Name to be
~feared
~awed
~respected
~worshipped

Creator of the cosmos, mortal man; mentioned in the same sentence. To even be considered by such a God is mind-boggling! And You don't just care for man, but You reveal Your thoughts to man?! Your awesome thoughts!

The King who established and built an empire tends to the lowly peasant! A rebellious, sin-filled, shameful lot. Why not tend to moon and stars - without a will to rebel and mock? Why not a more reliable, faithful, loyal species? But no! You created and chose a brooding bunch. Discontent, ungrateful, selfish bunch.

Wild!

You make the mountains quake and the skies rumble, the trees to shake and this heart to tremble --

Tremble with rejoicing.

I rejoice in

~Your goodness
~Your loving-kindness
~Your patience
~Your saving grace

And tremble at the thought of a life without them.

"All praises be to the King of Kings

and the Lord our God,

He is wonderful."

continue to work out your salvation
with fear and trembling,
[Php 2:12b]

Pitter~ Patter

Pitter-Patter of the rain

Days of incessant showers

Eroding soil

Annoying soul

Pitter
...........The phone rings with family news
Pitter
...........The house needs repair
Pitter
...........The test results are questionable
Pitter
...........The insurance denies coverage
Pitter
...........Your dental work is over your annual max
Pitter
...........Bills surpass available funds
Pitter
...........Notice of increased property tax
Pitter
...........The car requires attention

Pitter
..........Pitter
....................Pitter

Patter
...........A Father’s love for His child rains down
Patter
...........Time waiting before Him calms
Patter
...........Goodness remembered
Patter
...........Faithful provision is sufficient for today
Patter
...........Awash in Peace of the Prince
Patter
...........Trust in the Sovereign's Plan
Patter
...........Promises cleanse the mind
Patter
...........The Word from the Eternal Word flows down
Patter
...........Gentle grace blows to strengthen

Patter
..........Patter
....................Patter

For every pitter, a patter

Til the patters outnumber and overflow

Grace upon Grace ~

The bow in the rain,

The lush green of the garden,

The storm calmed by the Son ~

My Shelter from the insistent pitter

Soothing the pitter with an answering patter

Creating a rhythmic faith-dance from life’s rain

Copyright Debbra Stephens
Use by permission only

Negative Transference

Ok, I've found an example of negative transference. I didn't even know such a thing existed! The thought stumbled across my brain as I read a particular verse in Galatians last night. It just flipped some wild thought-switch. So I did what I usually do when that happens, I reached for pen and paper and started scratching it out.

You may be thinking; "There she goes making stuff up again." But see if this fits into my line of reasoning and feel free to comment below.

In this series I've been looking at trading the ways of our nature, our flesh, and the influence of the world for those things we are to put-on in Christ. A shift ~ or exchange ~ in thought and behavior. The goal of this focus is that Jesus might increase in me, and I decrease, (inspired by the verse of John 3:30). I've coined the term transference for this; so couldn't the reversal of this be negative transference?

Look at Galations 4:9 with me:

But now that you know God—or rather are known by God—how is it that you are turning back to those weak and miserable principles? Do you wish to be enslaved by them all over again?

By the divine revelation of God we have received several warnings in the Epistles against back-sliding. Once we come to faith and are in Christ there is a very real danger to fall away or revert back to our old ways.

John preached of the antichrist.
Paul preached of false teachers.
Peter preached of persecution.
James preached of a dead faith.

Many influences in the world would strip us of our Christ-clothing ~ robbing us of the transferences we've made by His sanctifying work in discipleship of our Lord and Savior.

"Listen! A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants, so that they did not bear grain. Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up, grew and produced a crop, multiplying thirty, sixty, or even a hundred times."

[Mk 4:3-8]

Turning back to old ways and beliefs would cause a decrease in Him and an increase of me. It would cancel out any gain ~ defeating the purpose of that which I aspire.

Yes, we must continue to grow and mature in our faith. We must also guard against lost or stolen seed in the soil.

My eyes have been opened to see that not only must a transference take place but one must also guard against negative transference.

You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.

[Eph 4:22-24]

Since we live by the Spirit, O Lord, let us keep in step with the Spirit and guard the deeply planted seed of Christ that He may grow bountifully in me. Amen.



2009 Continuing Series ~ Transference
Based on John 3:30: "Jesus must increase, I must decrease"

What One Carries

Cast your cares on the LORD
and he will sustain you;
he will never let the righteous fall.
[Ps 55:22]

How often have your kids pawned their load off on you to carry for them? A family vacation to Disney World comes readily to mind, along with the distinct feeling of being a pack-mule. The kids were much younger then and they tired easily. It was difficult for them to carry their loads for very long. I didn't expect them to ~ I knew their limitations full well.

As a child of God, is it your practice to give your burdens to your Heavenly Father for Him to carry?

There are times I expect my kids to carry their own stuff ~ the necessary essentials to get them through their day. As a disciple of Jesus Christ, there are some things we are meant to carry. But we also have a tendency to pile on things we shouldn't. I want to learn the practice of what I'm going to call burden transfer. The act of transferring the unnecessary burdens I tend to carry in error in exchange for the cross I am commanded to carry.

Unloading the extraneous creates space for Jesus to spread out - increase - so that His strength is predominate.

The loads we are to cast off are those that are spiritually unhealthy. Burdens of:

Unforgiveness

Doubt of our own forgiveness

What If's

If Only's

What Might Be

What Could Have Been

Fear of the Unknown {gulp}

The Uncontrollable, Out-Of-My-Hands Things

And anyone who does not carry his cross

and follow me

cannot be my disciple.
[Lk 14:27]

We all have a cross to carry, but our Lord will provide the strength to bear up under it. Carrying the cross in the attitude of Christ is not easy but it is not to be compared with the burdens of our own choosing. They have a tendency to crush and restrict the Spirit within us. I am fond of what Thomas a' Kempis once said in this regard; "Carry the cross patiently and with perfect submission and in the end it shall carry you."

My Wonderful Savior; Grant me discernment to know what burdens I am to release, exchanging them for the ones you call me to carry. Amen.


2009 Continuing Series ~ Transference
Based on John 3:30: "Jesus must increase, I must decrease"

A String of Hosannas

For you, O LORD, are the Most High over all the earth;
you are exalted far above all gods.

Rejoice in the LORD, you who are righteous,
and praise his holy name. [Ps 97:9, 12]

I will lift up the cup of salvation
and call on the name of the LORD.

I will sacrifice a thank offering to you
and call on the name of the LORD. [Ps 116:13, 17]

I will declare that your love stands firm forever,
that you established your faithfulness in heaven itself.

O LORD God Almighty, who is like you?
You are mighty, O LORD, and your faithfulness surrounds you.

Your arm is endued with power;
your hand is strong, your right hand exalted.

Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne;
love and faithfulness go before you. [Ps 89: 2, 8, 13-14]

I will extol the LORD at all times;
his praise will always be on my lips. [Ps 34:1]

Series of Praise from Scripture

Prayers of the Saints

Take, Thou, the full possession of my heart.

Raise there Thy throne,

and command there as Thou dost in heaven.

Being created by Thee, let me live to Thee.

Being created for Thee, let me ever act for Thy glory.

Being redeemed by Thee, let me render unto Thee what is Thine,

and let my spirit ever cleave to Thee alone.

~ John Wesley