Barnabas: Son of Encouragement

Posted on May 8, 2012 by LauraMac

“…Barnabas (which means Son of Encouragement),
sold a field he owned and brought the money and put it at the apostles’ feet.”
Acts 4:36a-37

Barnabas is one of what I like to call “B” characters in the Bible.  (His name even begins with B!) You rarely see him in the limelight, but the few occurrences display a life of great character, commitment to Christ, and selflessness.  His name even means encouragement – so appropriate, as his life certainly encourages and challenges us.

In this passage, we note that Barnabas was an encouragement to the body of believers by sacrificially giving something of value to bless others.  Acts 4:32 introduces a discussion of unity:  “All the believers were one in heart and mind.” The beliefs that we hold in our hearts and minds should work their way out into actions and attitudes that change our behavior and affect our relationships.  Clearly, that was the case with Barnabas.  He not only embraced a sense of unity with the body of Christ in his heart and mind, but he allowed those beliefs to influence his behavior.

It is one thing for us to say we love others and quite another to live that love out loud.  Perhaps the biggest take away for us from this passage is that encouraging others requires an element of sacrifice.

God what do you want me to sacrifice today – time, treasure, talent?  Enable me, O God, to see that I am a steward, not an owner, of my bank account, my calendar, and the spiritual gifts You have provided.  Who do you want me to bless today with these gifts?  Encourage me, as I am blessed to encourage others.

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Acts 4:29 – Praying for Boldness, not Protection

Posted on April 27, 2012 by LauraMac

Peter and John were hauled before the powerful Sanhedrin religious authority.  They were threatened and then commanded to stop speaking of Jesus before being released.  The power wielded by this religious body would lead many of us to pray for protection if we were in the shoes of Peter and John.  Let’s look at what they prayed instead:

“Now, Lord, consider their threats
and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness.”
Acts 4:29

Boldness, not protection was their request.  As we consider living lives of purpose – carrying the message of Jesus Christ to our world–we often pray for protection for ourselves or for others who go out.  A prayer of protection is a prayer that focuses on ourselves, a desire to serve God only as long as it’s safe to do so.  A prayer of boldness comes from a heart that is set firmly on God, a heart that is less concerned with my safety or my reputation and more concerned with making Him known. 

A pray for boldness is a risky prayer.  I’m ready to set aside a life of playing it safe.  I want to be bold.  In my 21st century-western world culture, it may not be my life that is at risk, but my reputation.  Am I willing to be labeled a “Jesus freak,” as I trade in protection for boldness in my desire to live for Him? 

Here’s the thing about prayer:  God always answers.  It didn’t take long for Peter and John to see their prayer answered:

“After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken.
And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit
and spoke the word of God boldly.” 
Acts 4:31 (emphasis added)

Are you ready to pray for boldness?

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Acts 4: If You’ve Been with Jesus, It Shows!

Posted on April 20, 2012 by LauraMac

Our Heart Life Ministry will be going back to Alaska this summer to serve on our second mission trip.  I’ve asked my fellow team members to be reading through the book of Acts to prepare our hearts for this trip.  Camping out in Acts has my heart stirred with anticipation for our trip, but also with gratefulness for the early believers and amazement at what happens when the Holy Spirit leads and we follow.  I’ll be making several posts in the days and weeks to come, sharing the nuggets I’m digging up as I camp out in Acts.  Come look at what God has left here for us!

“When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus.”  Acts 4:13

Is it evident to others that I have been with Jesus?  Do people look on and say, “She’s just an ordinary, unschooled girl,” so from where does her courage and conviction come? Perhaps the more ordinary and the more unschooled we are, the greater the glory that goes to Jesus when He uses us to do extraordinary and courageous acts for Him and through Him.  What could be more extraordinary and courageous than sharing the gospel?

Moses’ face was radiant when He had been with God –so much so that he had to wear a veil! (Exodus 34:29-35)  Is my heart and face radiant with the joy of Jesus?  Is it evident to others that I have spent time with Him today?  Have I been I the Word today?  Am I leaning onto God as my source of strength –asking Him for a courageous assignment for today?

Lord, bring someone into my path today that needs to hear the gospel.  Use this ordinary girl to speak with truth and boldness and in the power of the Holy Spirit.

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Set Your Heart, Set Your Mind

Posted on March 21, 2012 by LauraMac

Since, then, you have been raised with Christ,
set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.
Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.

Colossians 3:1-2

Do you know the biggest difference between a thermostat and a thermometer?
A thermostat has the power to change its surroundings.  A thermometer is impotent.  It only reflects the temperature, but can do nothing to change it.

As a woman who desperately wants to live for the Lord in all things, it is vital that I set my heart and set my mind on things above – not on earthly things.  We have to get vertical.  We must ask God to give us His perspective on the people, events, and circumstances that claim our time, deplete our resources, and challenge our attitudes.

Our hearts and minds tell much about us.  That which holds our love and consumes our thought life is what sits on the throne of our life.  Is my heart and mind set on Jesus?

We even use phrases like “she has her heart set on it” or “he has his mind set on it” to communicate resolve, determination, and commitment.  It suggests that the thought will be followed by an action.  The setting of the heart and mind is not passive.

Our feet may be on earth, but our hearts and minds must be set on heaven. Where is God calling you and me to set our hearts and minds on Him?  Have I lapsed into a horizontal look at the people and events in my life?  Would you join with me in asking God to allow you to look at others through His eyes, to give you His love for people in your sphere of influence– to consume your thought life and your heart life today?

Are you ready to be a thermostat?

Photo attributions:
http://www.care2.com/greenliving/10-thermostat-tips-save-money.html
http://w.sublimation.com/basic-outdoor-thermometers

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On the Field Plays off the Field: The Play of the Week

Posted on February 5, 2012 by LauraMac

They go from strength to strength,
 till each appears before God in Zion.
Psalm 84:7

If you’re a football fan, you know the thrill and excitement of the “big play” – the one that makes the “Play of the Week” on the evening news, the snapshot that is plastered across the sports page on Sunday, and fuels conversation around the coffee pot on Monday morning.

In life we sometimes are blessed to score a “big play” in our Christian walk.  Those mountain top experiences are exhilarating.  God reveals a great truth, we obey His direction, and experience the thrill of being used in the life of another human being.  Surely, sharing the gospel and then praying with someone to receive Christ is the “winning touchdown play” in the Super Bowl of life.  Maybe your big play is seeing a relationship restored because you followed God (and swallowed your pride) by picking up the phone.  Or you’ve seen your marriage turned around because you obeyed God and decided to “go first” with saying what needed to be said.

Every day does not come with touchdown moments.  And, if they did, they would cease to be special or remarkable.  Big plays are labeled big because they are also rare.  Day to day life is more of a ground game.  One play at a time, moving the ball forward – gaining ground, losing ground – but determined to forge ahead.  When we are faithful to do our job one day (or one play) at a time, we are ready for the big play that often comes when we least expect it.  Victory comes from being faithful in lots and lots of small plays and sometimes one big play. We move forward from “strength to strength,” as the Psalmist wisely said.

Perhaps we need to start viewing the day to day – strength to strength – as the real success stories.  When we lean into His strength and obediently follow where He leads, that is real victory.  Rather than waiting for the “big play” or the “big day,” we can experience victory every day, as we trust Him—one strength, one day, one play at a time.

(Photo Attribution: December 3, 2010 – Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images North America)

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Back to Bethel

Posted on January 23, 2012 by LauraMac

There he built an altar, and he called the place El Bethel, because it was there that God revealed himself to him when he was fleeing from his brother.  Genesis 35:7

Bethel was a significant place for Jacob. Up until that first encounter, God had been the God of his grandfather and his father, but perhaps not Jacob’s God.  Bethel would always be the place where Jacob received his own personal revelation.

Fast forward a couple of wives, a quiver full of kids, and a whole bunch of livestock later:  Bethel seems a long time ago.  There is no indication that Jacob made a deliberate decision to leave God behind.  He just got busy with life.  Sound familiar?

Like Jacob, we can look back over our shoulder and remember significant places, times, or events where we, too, had an encounter with God.  Just remembering that mountain-top experience may stir up a longing for a new revelation or a new word from God.  Like Jacob, rather than pushing forward to a new place, what we really might need to do is go back.  “When stuck, go in reverse” may have spiritual, as well as physical application to life.   Where do you and I need to go back?  What truth or revelation is already hidden in our hearts and minds that simply needs re-examined and a fresh re-commitment?

Have you forgotten to pray?  Is the Bible growing dusty?  Have you found sleeping in trumps fellowship with others on Sunday mornings?  Have you forgotten the blessing of really loving others sacrificially?

Are you stuck somewhere you really don’t want to be?  Try going in reverse.  Go back to Bethel.

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One Goal for 2012

Posted on January 5, 2012 by LauraMac

“So we make it our goal to please him…”  II Corinthians 5:9

Google the word “goal” and you will be rewarded with 144,000,000 hits.  Amazon yields 41,071 options when “goal” is typed into the search box (at the time of this writing, that is).  Entire seminars, workshops, and classes have been devoted to teaching us how to set and attain goals.  We categorize them (physical, financial, personal, mental, academic, vocational) and we schedule them (daily, weekly, monthly, yearly).  We wear ourselves out trying to keep them.

What if we could set all this planning, categorizing, and scheduling aside and sum it all up in just one goal — one goal that captures every category.  One goal that ensures victory on every list and for every day.  It is possible.  The answer, like that for every question life asks is found in the Bible:  “…we make it our goal to please him…”

God is not just the God of Sunday morning and Wednesday night Bible study.  He is not only the God of the crisis.  He is also the God of day to day life – paying the bills, disciplining the children, honoring my husband, maintaining healthy relationships, and even cleaning out the closet!  Every answer we need is addressed either specifically or in principle in the Word of God.  I’m convinced of it. As we ask Him:

  • Should I buy this?
  • Should I eat this?
  • Should I watch this?

I’m convinced that His Holy Spirit gives us the answer we need.  That answer, when obeyed, will not only honor Him, but bless us abundantly.  Why not join me in making just one goal for 2012?

Lord, I want to make it my chief goal –and indeed my only goal – to please you.  Show me TODAY what will please you—what decision, action, or attitude will bring you glory.  Who do you want me to bless, what do you want to me to give away, how should I spend my waking hours of this day?  Bless me, O God, and make me a blessing to others –all with the chief goal of pleasing you.

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Giving Thanks

Posted on November 24, 2011 by LauraMac

“We prevent God from giving us the great spiritual gifts He has in store for us, because we do not give thanks for daily gifts…Only he who gives thanks for little things receives the big things.”                                                                                 Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Life Together

Lord, I am grateful for many daily things –

  • A husband who takes my hand and prays with me and for me before he leaves each day.
  • The daily learning of new things (or re-learning of things long forgotten) with my children.
  • Laughter – the sharp wit of my husband and children and the delight of making them laugh, too.
  • Children that are growing in You – becoming more of who they are and who you created them to be.
  • Tremendous friends – to care for and be cared by.  To serve with, cry with, and pray with.
  • A home – where I can plant, arrange, rest, read, and open the door in welcome.
  • Extended family – who know me best and love me still.
  • Siloam Springs – the buckle on the Bible belt, where the heaviest traffic time is Sunday morning.
  • My Bible.
  • My coffee pot.
  • Facebook – especially now that adult children travel far and wide.

All these daily “small” things are actually big things.  Perhaps it is the thinking and writing them down and praying through them –like dusting a little vase on the shelf that is always there, but so familiar it is overlooked – that lets me remember and renew my gratefulness.  The small things are the big things!

Thank you, God, for this good life – a life of love and learning, a life that I pray is not squandered but daily devoted to bringing more glory to You.

“…Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.”  Ephesians 5:19b-20

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Got Wisdom?

Posted on October 14, 2011 by LauraMac

If any of you lacks wisdom,

he should ask God,

who gives generously to all

without finding fault,

and it will be given to him.

James 1:5

Four great things about asking God for wisdom:

1.  He gives generously.

I love those “ly” words!  Adverbs are powerful communicators.  Our great God doesn’t just give—He gives generously.  He is not stingy.  He does not hoard.  He never runs out.

2.  He gives to all.

As a mom of four kids, it’s difficult to simultaneously meet everyone’s needs.  When they were growing up, we instituted “Kid of the Week” in an attempt to give everyone an opportunity to have special privileges like sitting up front and going out to breakfast with Daddy.  In God’s Kingdom, we are all the “Kid of the Week” every day.
3.  He doesn’t find fault.

No condemnation! All those things we promised we would never say to our kids, but have already said maybe a zillion times,

“How many times do we have to go over this?”

“Why did you wait until the last minute to tell me about your science project?”

Yep.  That’s probably condemnation.  None of that from God.

4.  He delivers.

We ask.  He answers.  Then comes the hard part:  doing what He says!

In what decision, relationship, or challenge do you and I need to ask God for wisdom today…and then follow through with the advice He provides?

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Mentoring Webinar

Posted on September 26, 2011 by LauraMac

My first webinar was on the topic of Mentoring:

HeartLife 3D:  Women Mentoring Women

My thanks again to Sandra Hardage, My Journey of Faith, for both the invitation and also for facilitating the seminar.

If you missed it, you can watch it here:

http://connectpro19068335.adobeconnect.com/p4k5vgl8o9v/?launcher=false&fcsContent=true&pbMode=normal

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