Masks

(vs 22) "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; (vs 23) to be made new in the attitude of your minds: (vs 24) and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness." Ephesians 4:22-24 When I think about masks, I immediately think of Halloween. Though I am not promoting it's intended and original reasons for celebration, Halloween is a time of disguise. It is a time when people wear masks or a costume of some sort to pretend to be someone or something else. Masks are usually used to conceal the identity of the wearer. The origin of masks date back to 20,000 BC. They then were brought into the arts and were used to bring about different characters in plays. But still, masks are used to protect the one wearing it. Tonight, I began to think of the "masks" we wear on a daily basis as Christians. Many of us have worn a mask for so long, we sometimes forget we have it on. I am referring to the show that we 'put on' for the world so that the world will not know who we really are or what we are truly dealing with inside. God's word tells us this is wrong. Paul is telling the church of Ephesus that when we begin a relationship with God, it will be through Him that we are able to put off our old self (our mask=our identity) and put on our new self (the identity of Christ=who we are in Him). I believe that we sometimes are under the impression that once we become a Christian, we will no longer have struggles. We tend to think that our circumstances, both past, present, and future, should be immediately different and wonderful. This is not true. Our heart becomes different because the Holy Spirit has been invited in it. We, however, must begin the footwork of beginning a relationship with God in order to do as the verse above suggested: seek a new attitude of our minds. This is what changes our perception of our circumstances. Notice I said "change the perception" of the circumstances; not the circumstances. While God is powerful and can change anything He pleases, I have found that that isn't my concern. He wants me to be content with Him and Him alone...whatever the circumstances. How do we "put off" the mask? We must learn to change the attitude of our mind. This means perception to me. Philippians 2:5 says, "Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus." The problem for me was (and still is) that I didn't know Jesus enough to know what His attitude was like. The solution is the relationship (you knew that was coming!). It's true though. The more we get to know Christ, the more we can take on His identity. This is what we are able to "put on". What about you? Do you wear a mask to hide that you battle a rocky marriage? Does your mask conceal an addiction? Do you pretend that you have a strong spiritual relationship only to feel distant from God? There are numerous masks for all of us. It really doesn't matter. God tells us that we don't have to pretend anymore. But we have to take the mask to Him and lay it down. I hope you will join me and lay down your stronghold or burden. If you don't, remember that you are choosing to continue to wear the mask... Love, Corrie My prayer for today: Lord, thank you so much for your death on the cross. It allows me to put off my mask to hide the imperfections of Corrie and take on your identity. How I wish I had removed it long ago. Thank you for providing me a way to live on this earth with hope and peace. I find it in you...

The Centurion

While Jesus was in Capernaum... (vs 2)"There a centurion's servant, whom his master valued highly, was sick and about to die. (vs 3) The centurion heard of Jesus and sent some elders of the Jews to him, asking him to come and heal his servant... (vs 6) So Jesus went with them. He was not far from the house when the centurion sent friends to say to him: "Lord, don't trouble yourself, for I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. (vs 7) That is why I did not even consider myself worthy to come to you. But say the word and my servant will be healed. (vs 8) For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, 'Go,' and he goes; and to that one, 'Come,' and he comes. I say to my servant, 'Do this,' and he does it." (vs 9) When Jesus heard this, He was amazed at him, and turning to the crowd following Him, He said, "I tell you, I have not found such great faith even in Israel." (vs 10) Then the men who had been sent returned to the house and found the servant well." Luke 7:2-10 This is an incredible story that spoke volumes to me because it discusses a topic that is required by God's children...faith. Luke records many of Jesus' parables and life examples of people who had a lot of, or lack of, faith. This is important to me because I think that for myself, I must learn how to have incredible faith to continue to walk in this world until Jesus returns. I want to have faith that is so strong and unshakable, that it withstands whatever the circumstances are around me. The faith of Abraham that was credited to his righteousness. I felt that by reading about the Centurion, it gives us a good idea of where to begin... After a sermon, Jesus came into Capernaum and was told of a troubled centurion who had a sick slave who was going to die. A centurion was a soldier in Herod Antipas's army who commanded and led over 100 men. Theologians tell us that the centurion was a Gentile but had heard of the healing power of Jesus. Out of respect, the soldier sends Jewish elders on his behalf to relay this message to Jesus. Jesus decides to go and help the centurion's slave and begins to journey toward his house. Luke then tells of the centurion's humility because he tells that he is so very unworthy of Jesus even entering his home. Then, the point of the story unfolds. The centurion recognizes Jesus' authority. He tells Jesus that he to, is a man of authority and when he gives a command to his soldiers, it is done! Wow! And then my favorite part... Jesus was amazed. He was amazed that this guy, this Gentile, who had no obligation to believe in Jesus because of the law, the crowd that was following Him, or anything else, established his faith based on Jesus' authority alone. This centurion knew all about the power of command and he knew that Jesus' authority was all that was needed to produce healing. I feel that this is a concept that we (I) often forget when it comes to strengthening my faith. I believe that we tend to try and 'muster up' faith from other Christians or from certain verses that tell us that everything is going to be 'ok'. While God's word is written to bring us comfort in the midst of our trials, it is also, above all, written to remind us of God's authority over our circumstances. I guess what I am saying is that it is important to not only "read" the scriptures, but to pay attention to our mindset while reading the scriptures. I tend to read them from a very defeated standpoint. I don't know about you but when I think of the power of Christ, I get so excited. I think about His authority over satan. I think about His authority over the wind and the storms. And then, I think about His authority over my sickness, my enemies, and whatever fiery dart is thrown my way! This, my friends, should increase our faith! It is all about His authority. The centurion committed the life of his beloved friend into the hands of Jesus because he understood the simple spoken power Christ had over any obstacle that would present itself. It is my desire to amaze my Lord. I want to have confidence in the God I serve. In this story, the slave was healed. However, we must be willing to be content with the outcome of the One who is in authority. You and I must agree to give Him authority first. How offensive it must be to doubt Jesus' authority over my petty problems in my life when He overcame death. I pray that you will join me in learning from this story. May we, His children, recognize the awesome authority of our Lord and then began to draw our faith... Love, Corrie My prayer for today: Lord, I stand in awe of your word. Thank you for letting me see this story of the centurion and what was missing in my relationship with you. You are my conqueror and my redeemer. Help me never to forget that in my walk with you...

The Land of the Living

"For you, O Lord, have delivered my soul from death, my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling, that I may walk before the Lord in the land of the living." Psalm 116:8-9 This week is bitter sweet for me in regard to memories. On October 16, 2004, God blessed me with the most incredible gift...my son, Canaan. Shane and I had tried for a long time to have a baby. In conversation with God one day, He promised that He would give me a child. But even with that promise, it was a sad time in my life. But before God could give me the child He'd promised me, He had to help me learn to depend on Him and He had to show me that I needed to be delivered in many areas of my life. Why? Because I would need to teach that promised baby how to depend on Him for deliverance as well. What a happy day it was when I heard that baby cry! His name, Canaan, reminds me and all who see him that waiting is an important part of spiritual growth and God's promise. On October 4, 2006, my grandmother died. One week later, I was hospitalized and the doctors of UAB confirmed my diagnosis of Takayasu's Arteritis. I felt as if my life was slipping away that October. My grandmother...how could I go on with out her in my life? My disease... would I even live to see this 'promised child' grow to have children of his own? But soon, God began to reveal Himself to me in a mighty way. I realized something that I'd never realized before. I suddenly knew that this life, this 'land of the living', was only that. There was so much more in HIM! You see, with out a personal relationship with God, you can only exist in the land of the living. But with an intimate daily relationship with Him, you can be delivered! The Psalmist writes that in the verse above. What is the difference between 'just existing' and walking before the Lord (finding out God's will for your life, which is the very best! )? The difference is deliverance. God has ever so sweetly shown me that when I come to Him when I am weary from my sickness or tired from financial strain, He personally delivers me in some way. When I am saddened with grief when I loose those I love, He delivers my eyes from tears. He is the one who keeps my feet from stumbling...even over objects I may never see. What about you? Do you feel like you are only existing? Maybe you need to be delivered from sin through salvation. Maybe you are His child but don't feel a bond with Him like you want to or that your heart aches to have. Good news! He delivers. Deliverance can come in different forms, though. For example, God has left my disease in place for now, but continues to deliver me from fear and sadness that come to my mind. The key is believing that He can deliver. That has made the complete difference in my life. I believe that He will deliver me and however He does it, I must trust that it is the best for my life. Perhaps you find the trial you face to be the same, day after day after day. Perhaps you find it too difficult to "just believe" Him to deliver you. It is my prayer that we focus not on the trial at hand and not on the deliverance itself, but that you and I focus on how to know the ONE who delivers! Soon, we will become so in love with Him that we will be able to find actual joy in the trial (James 1:2). I hope you will run to Him tonight. I hope you and I will 'walk before the Lord' (and not just exist) in the land of the living... Love, Corrie My prayer for today: Father, how happy I am to have you as my God, my deliverer. You have sometimes left trials in place, but delivered my mind and my emotions, bringing me freedom like I've never known! I pray for those who read this. May they truly see you for who you are and believe you to be their deliverer!

Hanging On His Word

"Every day He was teaching at the temple. But the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the leaders among the people were trying to kill Him. (48) Yet they could not find any way to do it, because all the people hung on His words." Luke 19: 47-48 I can picture the verses above in my mind. I can see the see the chief priests dressed in robes of the finest linen. The robes would have been vibrant in color, such as deep blue, violet, and scarlet. In between these colors were woven specks of gold. These colors represented the sanctuary. Upon the chief priests' head were plates of crowns of pure gold with the inscription, "Holy to Yahweh!" The well dressed men were important figures in the crowd... but not that day. The attention was on another man. The man that held their attention; the man who was simply dressed and no doubt looked tired and dusty from travel. This man called Jesus. I can see the crowd pressing into Jesus trying to be as close to him as they could. The men and women and children longed to hear what He was saying. The chief priests and the 'teachers of the law' perhaps stood from afar with their arms crossed and their temples empty. They plotted to kill Him. But as they came close to Jesus, the crowd pushed them away because they wanted to hear every word that Jesus said. Haven't we, as a nation, tried to 'kill' this man called Jesus? Hasn't he been removed from our schools? Hasn't He been excluded Him from many American homes? He has been told that He is not welcome in many marriages. We have even pushed Him away from His own house-the church. Many churches are facing spiritual death because they refuse to believe that His word is real and true. Why have we (as a nation) done this? I believe the answer is that we refuse to 'hang on His word.' We have become a self-help nation. We are running to find the latest self-help book or will tune into the daily talk show to seek advice to find healing for our broken hearts and broken homes. At times, I am guilty of calling a friend before I will tell my Lord that I am sad or anxious. We read a verses like Luke 19:47-48 in the Bible and think how 'hypocritical' it was for the Chief Priests to want to rid the world of Jesus because they simply did not believe He was who He said He was. I cry tonight because it's 2008 and we still are a nation who doesn't fully accept this man for who He is. I can't bear the thought that His very own people, me, doubt Him daily. Perhaps you are having difficulty in your life and your heart is breaking. Perhaps you long for peace, hope, and a promise that in the end, you will be loved. I write this post tonight to let you know that if you begin to believe in the word of God, He will make your burden light. My Bible is so very special to me. I know that what ever happens in my life, God will speak through His word. The question is, "Do I hang on every word?" Hang, used in this sentence, means 'to give complete attention'. How often do I fail to give God and His word my complete attention. Will God's people rise up to give Him our complete attention? Will we be radiant beams of light reflecting who He is to others? I pray we do... Love, Corrie My prayer for today: Lord, I am so sorry that I have taken you for granted. Forgive me for not totally giving you complete control over every area of my life. Help me to look to your holy word and be so captivated by it that I can't begin or end my day without it. Help me to live it out loud...

Prayer Fest--Saragossa Baptist

I would like to thank the ladies of Saragossa Baptist Church for inviting me to participate in the wonderful Prayer Fest this past Saturday! The theme was "The Marriage of the Lamb" which came from Revelation 19:7--"Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory! For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready." The whole day was devoted to celebrating the fact that we are indeed his awaiting bride and we must prepare ourselves. The day was wonderful and the Holy Spirit truly came and filled our hearts. Love, Corrie

Death

"... for death is the destiny of every man; the living should take this to heart." Ecclesiastes 7:2 "He is not here; He has risen, just as He said. Come see the place where He lay." Matthew 28:6 1 Corinthians 16:54-55 "...Death has been swallowed up in victory. (v55) Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?" I would like to thank you for your prayers, cards, calls, and emails. This week has been a trying time for me and my family due to the loss of my grandfather, Guy Williford. As I prayed about what to write for a new post, God began to open my eyes and helped me look at death with a whole new perspective. I couldn't wait to share it with you... I truly believe that there is one thing that we, universally, can relate to and that one thing is death. We have all experienced, or will experience, the loss of someone very dear to our hearts at some time in our life. For me, each time I experience a death of a loved one, I feel as though my heart is breaking into. One reason I believe death to be so painful is that, for our earthly bodies, it is final. 1 Thess. 4:16 tells us that death is for every man and that the living should take it to heart. We should pay attention to that and count our time with our loved ones as valuable. But I think that 'valuable time' is time spent telling them about our Lord and Savior. Caring for their soul is taking it to heart because that is true love...God's love. As I stood beside my grandfather's casket, I found myself wishing for a brief moment that this could all be a mistake. I suppose I had realized the earthly finality of death. But then, my mind began to move to Jesus. I suddenly realized why God chose death for Jesus to overcome! Jesus conquered death! He knew that everyone would experience the sadness of death and He knew the impact of rising again. 1 Corinthians 15:55 makes reference to the 'sting of death' being no more because of the great victory of Christ! Standing there, I began to praise God for allowing His son to die for me and then to raise Him up for me as well. I can't help but wonder if those who were at the cross looked upon the lifeless body of Christ and thought about the finality. But when they went to the tomb and found it empty! How they must have rejoiced when they figured out what had happened! Matt. 28:6 tells that Christ had risen...JUST AS HE SAID! That tells me that God does what He says He will do. If you and I are facing problems in our life and are afraid or concerned about how it will turn out, we can know that God will do what He says He will do! We must read His word to find out what that will be. Why can't we believe that God would surly help us when we are in need when He raised Jesus from the dead? I've got to tell you that none of my problems are bigger than that! I have come to believe that in order to survive in this place called "earth", I must trust God to do what He says He will do. This is faith. The power that Christ had to conquer death is the same power that is given to us when we invite Him into our lives. I must tell you that I seldom walk around with this in mind. How easy it is for me to think that I am defeated by my sickness or defeated by my circumstances. This past week has helped me to better understand the true meaning of James 1:2: "Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance." Through the death of my PaPaw Guy, I have learned that Jesus was victorious over physical death so that I can have victory over spiritual death! By trusting Him as my Lord and Savior, I am dead to sin and have a new life with Him! Do you know that victory? If you are His child, do you know that the power of the Holy Spirit flows within you? For whatever you are facing, I hope you will remember that His power was enough for Him to conquer death, so it will be enough for you and me. Love, Corrie My prayer for today: Lord, I praise your Holy name for being victorious over death! Because of you, I will be with you in eternity. Because of you, I will be reunited with those I love. Help me to remember that your power over death out weighs any obstacle I have before me. I will bring my burdens to you and watch you be victorious over and over again!

Enoch

Genesis 5:23-"And after he became the father of Methuselah, Enoch walked with God 300 years and had other sons and daughters. (24) Enoch walked with God; then he was no more, because God took him away." (NIV) "By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him: for before his translation he had this testimony, that had pleased God." Hebrews 11:5 (KJV) I was reading in my Bible the other day and stumbled across the above scripture in Genesis. I thought the fact that a man actually walked with God was incredible and stayed on my mind. I now know that God allowed this to stay on my mind and peeked my curiosity. I wanted to share with you what God revealed to me about this man; this man, who seems to have so very little recorded about him... a man called Enoch. If you noticed, I used two different translations in the above verses to help explain the content for this post. Enoch was a descendant of Adam and yes, Cain. At first glance, it looks at though very little is said about Enoch. But if you look closely, you find two incredible things about him-1.) He walked with God and 2.) He did not die but was 'raptured up' by God. While escaping death is enough for me to say, "hummmmm", knowing Enoch walked with God prompted me to look deeper as to how he was able to walk with God and was this something I could do? When I think about walking with someone, side by side, I usually have a very good reason for doing so. The reason is usually to engage in a conversation. If I am walking behind someone, their voice is often muffled or distant and I find myself constantly asking them to repeat themselves. If someone is behind me, I find that I have to stop or slow down with my walk to talk to them. This to, interferes with my destination. I thought about the relationship between God and me. I am often running ahead of Him with thoughts or actions that I think He should already be doing! Or, I find myself dragging slowly behind as He calls me to step out on my faith, creating resistance to His plan for me. I have decided the best place to be is walking with Him, side by side. After all, isn't this the best scenario for two people who are communicating or who have a relationship? So, how do we do this? How do we 'walk with God' just as Enoch did? This brings me to the second above scripture, Hebrews 11:5. The King James version refers to Enoch as having this 'testimony' that pleased God. By definition, testimony refers to "an outward sign" or "evidence" of something. I believe Enoch lived out what he believe about the God he served. I believe he was able to do this because of the faith he had in God. The whole chapter of Hebrews 11 is dedicated to the great men and women of faith. Enoch is one of those mentioned. Immediately following the mention of Enoch, the Bible says, "And without faith, it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him" (Hebrews 11:6). I don't believe this was just 'randomly' inserted. I believe God associates the type of faith that is pleasing to him with a man who possessed such faith--Enoch. We cannot get around believing God. We talk about how difficult it is, yet we have no reason to doubt. I have come to a powerful conclusion: I want to live a testimony that is pleasing to God so that I can walk with God. I don't want to try to lead God or drag behind. I want God to want to walk with me because I believe in everything He says He is and is to come. I want to be close to His shoulder if I need to cry and close to His hand in case I stumble... Love, Corrie My prayer for today: Lord, how I fail you with my doubt and lack of faith. I have nothing that tells me you will not be faithful to me, but have your whole word that tells me just how faithful you are. Help me to live an outward testimony to who you are...