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Then should not this woman, a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has kept bound for eighteen long years, be set free on the Sabbath day from what bound her? Luke 13:16

I encourage you to read verses 10-17.  It was the sabbath (Saturday, as celebrating resurrection had not begun,) and Jesus was teaching in the synagogue.  A crippled woman came to Him and He immediately healed her.  The synagogue pharisee was enraged!  Why? Because someone sick was made well? Because Satan’s grasp was broken? Because a great victory had been won? No! Because He felt robbed of his authority. It seems miracles were only allowed on his schedule and by his power!  Pretty sad. 

Jesus’ response calls attention to two things.  First, the work of the Kingdom is not work but joyful, loving service. It’s a matter of heart, not sweat.  Second, people matter a lot! If you take better care of your oxen than you do your neighbor, well……………   OH! And don’t forget the flip side, God doesn’t like it when you’re neglected or abused either, so rest easy, He is loving you big!

Jesus came to set His children free from whatever ills bind them. It is not His labor, inconvenience or disgust. It is His loving choice and even more important than making stars explode gazillions of light years away, just so we have something new to wonder about every once in a while. You are very loved, so be sure to pass it around.

Love,

Gretchen

What we have received is not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may understand what God has freely given us. I Corinthians 2:12

Corinth was not far from Athens, the center of Greek philosophy. There was an atmosphere of philosophic hierarchy parading about and it infiltrated the early church.  Paul, a scholar himself, was not impressed with man’s opinions or theologies. Truth and wisdom is from God alone, the author of all that is. 

God took dust and made man, but until He breathed His breath into him, man did not live. God put a piece of Himself, His life and spirit into each one of us. The world lays claim to all that we are, instinct, environment, evolution, but we are made in the image of our loving Creator. The things that define us most deeply, our character and sou,l are His. Satan cannot claim what God has done.

Sin marred man’s image and Satan would have us bound by shame all of our lives, but as Paul teaches a church overwhelmed by everyone’s personalities and strong dynamics, it is God’s Spirit alone that is truth, love, grace, mercy and victory. Dwell in His Spirit, it is peace.

Love,

Gretchen

If we are faithless, He remains faithful, for He cannot disown Himself. 2 Timothy 2:13

These words are lyrics from a hymn Paul quoted, in his letter, written while he was in Rome, under arrest awaiting martyrdom. The monster Nero burned Rome so he could build a bigger better city to his glory.  The populous suspected him, so to divert suspicious, he blamed the Christians. These new believers were mostly poor or slaves, lacking in influence and prestige. They were a perfect, marginalized people, for the scapegoat of a wicked authority.  Paul was their leader. Kill him, stop the movement. Thus, Paul writes his beloved friend, pleading with him to remain faithful no matter the circumstance and reminds Timothy that he is at peace and God is faithful.

Imagine Paul sitting alone, damp, hungry, sore from beating, knowing death is near, singing a song that is stuck in his head…….I am faithless, but God is faithful. He will not let me go.

Our worries, struggles, and state of mind do not define who God is or what He can do. Release your perspective, your shame, your grasp on the small things you comprehend.  Allow God to fill you with peace that passes understanding  because you are His and He will not fail you.

Have a Lovely Midweek,

Gretchen

Six of the towns you give to the Levites will be cities of refuge, to which a person who has killed someone may flee.  In addition, give them forty-two other towns.” Numbers 35:6

Taking 3,000,000 people out of slavery in Egypt, across the Sinai Peninsula and to the edge of the Promised Land took many, many miracles and obedience to God’s sovereign authority. By miracle and God’s leading, Moses organized the Hebrew children into twelve tribes.  Each clan would receive a portion of land to settle, but the tribe of Levi was charged with leading worship, caring for the Ark of the Covenant and maintaining the tabernacle. They would not be settlers but priests caring for the spiritual health of the new nation.

The Levites would needed a place to live, so Moses instructed the other eleven tribes to set aside cities with land plots to herd and farm.  Six of these cites were to be havens of refuge, a place for those who have made egregious mistakes to go and live in peace, away from the danger and retribution of the offended. In these cities, only God’s judgment mattered.

If you read the entire passage of Numbers chapter 35, you see that God makes a complete separation between malicious murder and a careless act that leads to the accidental death of another. God knows the heart of man. He does not tolerate selfish disregard for human life or hatred, but gives help to those in life’s most horrendous messes.

This wonderful all knowing God has a plan for your chaos.  He sent His only Son to be our city of refuge.  In this we find perfect knowledge and assessment of complete and unbiased truth. Give your broken heart and out of control life to Him.  He has a place for you and it is good.

Love,

Gretchen

Don’t Grow it Young

My childhood was lived in a much simpler time.  The world was smaller and people depended on certain societal standards to support them throughout the seasons of their life.  For instance, my siblings and I were often left in the car while our parents took care of business. This is unheard of today, but we were not the only children in vehicles at Piggly Wiggly. 

There was strict ‘stay in the car’ protocol, and every child knew it.  First, never, ever get out of the car! Second, if you break rule number one, someone had better be blue or bleeding! Third, be nice! Fourth, never, ever get out of the car!

Occasionally mom took us with her, but my brother and I thought it was great fun to put the brussels sprouts back when mom turned to reach for the carrots.  We were also prone to bicker and beg in her presence, but when we were alone in the car we knew we had to amuse ourselves constructively. We had crayons and coloring books, we played I-spy, found pirates in the clouds and challenged each other to greater cleverness with jokes and riddles.  Life was mostly good……….

One sunny day mom and dad had business to attend to in a bigger city further from home. They went into the store, taking my two younger sisters with them and leaving my older brother and I to wait in the car.  We were probably eight and nine years old.  Several parking spaces over was a pickup truck with a couple of adolescent boys also awaiting their adult’s return.  To entertain themselves, they took a shotgun from the gun rack in the back window and aimed it a my brother and me.  We began crying, the boys laughed and continued their pretend target practice.  Greg and I got down in the floorboard of the car, crawled to the opposite side, cracked open the door, climbed out and were sitting on the pavement terrified when mom and dad returned.  Dad left for a moment while mom calmed us down.  I believe those young men learned that pretending to shoot defenseless people was never an acceptable game to play. Dad was a giant of a man that day.

Several years later I was again sitting in the car when mom returned with her purchases. At the same time, a woman exited the store with a dirty, ill clothed toddler on her hip and gripping another small child by the hand. She held a cigarette in the corner of her mouth, keeping a stream of rough language spewing while jerking the children angrily. It made me sick and I said to mom, “I never want to grow up and be like that.” Mom quickly replied, “Then don’t grow it young.” In other words, you will be tomorrow, what you chose to be today.

Folly is bound up in the heart of a child, but the rod of discipline will drive it far away. Proverbs 22:15. 

(Note: A rod is not a device of punishment, but rather, the tool of a shepherd to guide and direct.)

Children become what they are allow to be. Today matters a lot, because something is taking root.  Love them enough to change them for the better.

With Deepest Love,

Gretchen

Jesus said to His disciples: “Things that cause people to stumble are bound to come, But woe to anyone through whom they come. Luke 17:1

The Bible, God’s Word, is very clear: If you believe Jesus is the resurrected Son of the One True God, know God is loving and Holy, and your sins are forgiven, then your behavior must show it.  Actions are the evidence of one’s true heart and a strong influence on those seeking answers, or struggling with temptation. The believer is called to be a light of hope guiding others through the storms of pain and sorrow and down the straight and narrow road of righteousness.

In this same passage of scripture Jesus commands that we forgive others, over and over and over. If we are to be Christ’s witness, then our testimony begins with forgiveness. The first step in a sinner’s new birth is forgiveness.  This abstract, illogical act is in complete and total contrast to this world and its agenda.  God is the source of justice and condemnation, but He is doing everything possible to bring about forgiveness and reconciliation, so this must start with His Body, the church and its people. Be forgiving, extend grace, strengthen and guide one another so that all may know the Love of Christ.

Love,

Gretchen

By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible. Hebrews 11:3

There was nothing, and then there was something.

This is the beginning of the universe and linear time. Creation occurred at the Word of a God that always was and always will be. Was it a big bang that is still expanding, or just a beautiful wonder placed immediately by God’s hand? It doesn’t matter because, He alone is the maker of all things. There is beauty, order and wonder amid logic contrasted against the unexplainable, all wrapped up in the place we call home. Do not be threatened by one thing that is definable and another that is not. God did it, and that is enough. It’s not a weakness of intellect, but a strength of character to be certain that God can and did.

Hebrews twelve reads like a roll call for Faith’s Hall of Fame. While we struggle with the daily things that challenge our spiritual resolves, this epistle writer has given us the testimony and evidence of the reward awaiting the faithful, who know beyond doubt that God did do all things and still can and will.

Happy Friday,

Gretchen

“For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil. When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. Genesis 3:5-6

This is the fall of man, our eternal doom. Satan does not take “No,” for an answer. This serpent boldly approached Eve with an invitation that was turned down. Eve repeated God’s command. Satan responded by questioning a given fact and manipulating semantics and theology, then he went for man’s simplest needs and pleasure.  The fruit was pretty, tasteful and nourishing for both mind and body.  He made sin look like man’s best hope!  He threw our Loving Creator into the role of liar and selfish dictator and introduced a craving to be God’s equal. This was not truth it was death……………….for you and for me.

Thankfully this story is not the end of man’s history.  Satan hates God and as God’s crowing creation, he hates us by association. Did you hear me? Satan hates you! He leaves those he attacks, naked and afraid.  God clothes and comforts.

Temptation is very personal. Universally we all fall short of God’s glory but God sent His Son to die for the sins of the world. Within this there is a very intimate love extending to you personally.

Satan’s small victory is not the end of your story. The ultimate mission of evil is to illuminate the option of love. That will never happen because the very definition of God is Love.  Love wins the day…….everyday!

Fly the W!

Gretchen 

What is mankind that you are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them? You have made them a little lower than the angels and crowned them with glory and honor. You made them rulers over the works of your hands; you put everything under their feet:Psalm 8:4-6

This is a familiar and beautiful Psalm written by David as he ponders the wonders of the universe and feels small beneath the heavens. He is in awe and praises God because He placed His own glory on man when He created Him in His own image.

As small as we are in the whole order of an infinite space and time, God loved us and put all His creation under our feet.  We have authority, better defined as responsibility to stewardship and love.  Yes, we have rights, but are the many things we can do, correct and productive to God’s plan for us and our fellow man?

Man’s authority, given by God, was meant to be our greatest strength, a power to overcome and defeat our foe, Satan. We are God’s crowning creation, His breath, His love.  Be strong and courageous, your Father has you covered!

Feelin’ Sassy,

Gretchen

I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you. However, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in Heaven. Luke 10:19-20 

Jesus sent out seventy-two disciples to go before Him and minister in every town He was about to visit.  They had directions for success and rejection, social behavior and financial maintenance.  They returned to Jesus, amazed at the power they were able to employ.

In creation, God gave man authority or dominion over every living thing. Stewardship is another translation meaning responsibility for something that does not belong to you. In this, God gave Adam power over Satan. The serpent challenged God’s authority and Adam caved at an astronomical cost. 

Adam’s mistake does not mean our failure is inevitable.  We are like Adam because we have a free-will, but we also have the same God-gifted supremacy over Satan’s ploys, no matter how crafty. Use your words! They are your power, and then put your words to action with your hands and feet. 

Our power is in God, not ourselves.  Our victory and the greatest hint of Satan’s eventual and complete and total annihilation is his loss to Heaven’s love and your faith.

Blessings,

Gretchen