Tag Archives: Spirit-led

Surprise! – Medical update

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Surprise! That’s what my brother and sister yelled out from behind the curtain when I came through my hospital room door last Saturday. It wasn’t a complete surprise; I knew they were coming to visit me in the hospital (more below on that), but they arrived before I could return from one of my multiple trips to X-Ray/Radiology. Still, it was fun to celebrate with a cheer of “Surprise.”

 

Do you like surprises? Only if they bring good news, right? Surprise! You’re getting a raise. Surprise! The medical tests came out great! Surprise! Your child called just to tell you he loves you. We all like those kind of surprises!

 

During my transplant consultation in Iowa City last Friday, the doctor looked at my lab results and decided  (surprise) I needed to have emergency inpatient admission THAT very day for a day or more. We hadn’t come prepared to be admitted and besides, we thought it more reasonable to be treated closer to home if really needed. Surprise! Because of the complexity of my issues, the hospital in Des Moines wouldn’t admit me. Then further tests resulted in (surprise!) my stay will be 5-6 days … Or more.

 

Now, a Spirit-led response would have been to to take a calming breath and ask for God’s leading. It might have been like a novel I read years ago, where a faithful couple were in their humble home and heard a knock on the door. The wife answered the door and called nonchantly to her Spirit-filled husband saying, “Henry, the Angel of the Lord is here to see you.” No fear or sudden shock. They both lived expecting the Lord to show up in some way every day, so when he showed up visibly on their doorstep, it was no surprise. “Hi Lord, have a seat. Would you like something to drink or maybe some fresh cookies?”

 

That’s what a Spirit-led response might have looked like.. Or it might have been a picture of you excitedly receiving a surprise visit from a good friend and warmly ushering them into your home, eager to hear what they had to say.

 

Have you ever considered how history would have been forever changed if Adam and Eve, when confronted by the deceiving serpent, would have simply said, “Wait. Let me check with my Heavenly Father about that?!” WE have that same choice when unpleasant situations surprise us.

 

Had I made that choice, I would have ushered in peace, joy, and assurance. But instead of choosing to be led by God’s Spirit, I let myself be led by how I felt. I was tired from the long day and worn down by the inability of multiple specialists to diagnose and treat my painful ailment. In the sudden change in plans, I chose to invite a frustrated response to the situation. I allowed irrational “logic” and feelings to jade my perception of the situation. I didn’t consider maybe THIS is the place God would answer my prayers.  Instead, I allowed this frustration and sense of prideful, “I know what’s best” to rise up inside me. Oh, it wasn’t a knock down drag out drama. But in choosing to go my way I allowed an hour of peace escape my reality, until I opened my eyes to God’s perspective.

 

Don’t we often find that dilemma when life throws an unpleasant surprise party for us? There’s a simple  (but not easy) process to help handle these. It takes repeated discipline to stop, pray and listen to God’s quiet voice, and respond quickly to his way. Part of that discipline is training ourselves to hear God’s voice in quiet times. Now, I’m not going to beat myself up over this situation and neither should you if you find yourself insisting on your way instead of God’s way. Instead, let’s repent and make a renewed commitment to stop, pray, listen, and respond. That’s a path to finding God’s best in any situation.

 

Be blessed!  By the way… do you know someone who could use a little daily encouragement facing life’s battles? Click “forward” below and share the joy and hope Jesus offers for honest, victorious living!

 

Doubt and fear in the presence of faith

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Do you sometimes struggle with fear and doubt? Even when you hold on to your faith, do you find questions keep rising to confront you?  John Stumbo shares some insights into the aspect of doubt in the presence of faith as he reflects on the story in John 20 when Jesus appears to Thomas:

 

“I’m intrigued by this because of what I find just eight days later. John 20, verse 26. “Eight days later his disciples were in the house again. Thomas was with them.” And you know the story. Thomas hadn’t been with them the first time and had doubted the whole story. “Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, ‘Peace be with you.’”

 

Here is my simple point. Why if they had understood that the Spirit who had raised Christ from the dead was now, had now been given to them, why were they still huddling behind locked doors? I don’t think they yet had fully understood what Christ was doing and bringing to them. If they understood the presence and power of the Spirit, the breath of God that had been breathed upon them, they would have not still been huddling in fear.

 

Maybe you will disagree with my understanding of this historical account, or maybe you think I am being too hard on the early apostles. Let’s leave them for a moment, and let me ask us: are we still huddling in some locked place of fear, not fully understanding or experiencing that which the Spirit of God wants to grant to us and do in us?

 

You have not been given a spirit of timidity or fear, my son, Timothy. You have been given a spirit of power to do that which you would otherwise not be able to do, a spirit of love to care about other people, to care about people you would not otherwise care about, the spirit of self-discipline to say no to things that would otherwise control you.”

 

I’m aware that I have led too much of my life in those locked, seemingly safe kind of places with the disciples, but increasingly in my life, I’m desiring to be open to all that the Spirit has for me—to send me where He would send me, to do in me what He wants to do in me, to reveal Christ through me in an increasing measure.” (Stumbo)

 

As you reflect on John’s words, ask the Spirit of God to reveal to you areas of your life that have been hidden behind locked doors and surrounded by fear and doubt. Read Acts 1:8 and ask God to open those doors and to be empowered by His Spirit and commissioned to His purpose in reaching and encouraging others in His name.

 

Life purpose

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I’ve always thought that kids ask some of the best life questions: Where did I come from? Why am I here? Where am I going? What is the purpose of life? You probably asked these questions too. Unfortunately, important questions tend to get buried in the process of going to school, getting a job, getting married, buying a house and car, having children, pursuing hobbies. We lose sight of the great questions in pursuit of other lesser things.

 

If you paid big bucks for a life coach to tell you how to live well, they would undoubtedly ask you about your life purpose. And they would counsel you to begin each morning with a reaffirmation of that purpose and the intentional pursuit of goals to achieve it. They would say to not waste the most precious resource you have, your life. Christian Missionary and Alliance president John Stumbo puts it this way:   “Together we have one chance at this thing called making use of our life to serve the Lord who called us . . . this has given me a sense, a greater sense of purpose, of destiny, of urgency. Not in a panicky, fearful, dread kind of way. No, no, no. But with this sense of calling that the God who spoke that mountain into the universe and can speak my life into heaven’s gates at any moment has left me here and left you here for this moment in human history for us to live out this call of God upon our lives, and to do so not empowered by our own strength but to be a people who are dependent upon the Spirit.   We don’t want to go through life making our own decisions, following our own whims, slaves to our old nature, throwing religious masks of pseudo-holiness over lustful, greedy, impatient hearts. No. We don’t want to just play church or be religious; we want to be Spirit-led, Spirit-filled, Spirit-directed people.”   The bible says we will spend a short time in this life – maybe 70, 80, 90 years – and then an everlasting eternity somewhere else, based on how we responded to the invitation of Jesus here and now. Doesn’t it make sense to ‘wake up’ to this reality every day and live intentionally toward that goal instead of wasting away our life? What will matter most – on earth and for eternity – when your life is at its end? Spend some time to think about your life purpose and what in your life you want to change to reflect this. If you have a relationship with the Holy Spirit, ask him to guide you.