Seven Sacrifices to Joy

Coffee Hour @ Chicklit Power...

It’s a great day to seek joy! Grab your coffee and your Strand of Faith and let’s return to the seven sacrifices that add richness of gold to our joy. I’m so glad there’s you to take this journey with me!
Before we move on to the second sacrifice to joy, I just want to share one more thing with you about the sacrifice of praise. Hebrews 13:15 reminds us that a spiritual sacrifice of praise needs to come from the heart and is prompted by the Spirit, which is exactly what happened in my situation with my hubby. And as I think about one of my recent tests in Meekness 101, I have to acknowledge that greater is He that is in me than he who is in the world. It’s His Spirit in me moving me away from me, teaching me to right the wrong, immediately, instead of resorting to old behaviors and being stuck on stupid or bitter!  In other words, we must remember the spiritual part of ourselves in all circumstances!
A sacrifice of praise not only stirs up our joy but increases our joy!
A sacrifice of praise leads us right into the second sacrifice, a sacrifice of righteousness. Psalm 4:5 tells us to "offer the sacrifices of righteousness, and put your trust in the Lord."
Well, that sounds a little holy, huh? For me, those eleven words are shedding some glorious light into a dark situation that He used to help me unlearn and relearn some powerful truths that are shaping me in the area of ministry and especially meekness. But like any huge test, it requires a lot of studying, and more studying and only when it’s applied can it really sink in  it’s a grueling and exhausting process at times. Thinking about it gives me a sort of emotional hang-over. I’ve been known to mutter, “Lord, why do you have to use so many people to teach me all these lessons?”
Have you ever felt like that, a bit beat up and weary by others?  Despite the way that this most recent test ended, there were moments where I felt that this person’s bitterness was like poison, a hot, searing poison that oozed out and threatened to harden my heart a bit instead of melt it and make it right!
Whew, I know, that may be a bit too transparent for you but I’m humbled that despite me, He wants to speak to me so He can speak through me.
We will do some digging into a sacrifice of righteousness, but for now, let me share what it is speaking to my heart: See, when someone wrongs you, how likely are you to offer a sacrifice of righteousness? NOT! Well, trust me; He doesn’t give you a test without giving you all the answers! He’s an incredibly fair Professor/Teacher!
I am currently attending a leadership class (working on my Bachelor’s in Ministry; I’m seriously excited) and I am reading an amazing book called On Being a Servant of God by Warren W. Wiersbe and let me tell you, I have more of his words highlighted than not! There are so many powerfully encouraging truths in this book about ministry, and they are truly speaking to me in this class of Meekness 101, enabling me to offer up a sacrifice of praise. I can honestly see how each of these tests in this class have stretched me just a little more toward righteousness, even when I don’t get such a good grade in the current test!
In his book, Warren reminds us that “ministry takes place when divine resources meet human needs through loving channels.” Everyone can be a minister! He also says, paraphrasing, that people not only have problems, but can be problems and just because we are in ministry doesn’t make us any more deserving of His grace than those causing us problems! In fact, we are to remain loving channels!
He compared those problematic and difficult people to hedgehogs and I couldn’t help but giggle especially when I put a face to the hedgehog! Here’s his analogy about those difficult people, aka, hedgehogs: “the closer you get to them, the more they stick and poke you with their protective quills”! That got me to thinking … uh-oh, we’re on dangerous ground now! Could it be that hedgehogs are His chosen mascot for this school of life?
Here’s a crazy truth that I have experienced to be true and that His Word confirms: Those very people that are poking, sticking us, and hurting us don’t deserve His grace any less than us! If Jesus continues to love the wrong right out of me, how then can I not be motivated by His love to love those hedgehogs?
But here is the other side of that truth: When we get there, He’s not going to talk to us about what they did to hurt us in the way of poking, sticking, etcetera; He’s going to talk with us about our reactions to their actions!
Why? God is as concerned about the lesson as He is about the learner! When someone becomes a hedgehog in our life, what is our first response? Do we try and trap them, conquer them, one-up them, put on our horns and ram them? Or do we maybe manipulate them or retaliate and hurt them back? Do we try and sting them with our words? Do we fight an external fight hoping for an eternal reward?
What if God allowed that hedgehog to saunter right up and into our lives to help us become more righteous by becoming more dependent on Him, less dependent on our own abilities? I guess what I’m trying to say is it’s no coincidence that I’m taking the class I’m taking, reading a book totally un-required to the class but having everything to do with the class and what He’s currently teaching me. This assures me that He will continue to provide you and me with all the answers to any test He’s ever going to give us, no matter what class it is. Oh, that we would remain teachable, hungry to leave our pride outside of each class that we might learn how to offer up a sacrifice of righteousness and earn the prize!
Join me tomorrow for more of this second sacrifice.

Evinda

Seven Sacrifices to Joy

Coffee Hour @ Chicklit Power...

Thanks so very much for joining me for our Coffee Hour and some more tying of knots in our Red Strand of Faith. Grab your SOF (strand of faith) and your coffee and let’s finally get into the first sacrifice of joy, since we have a good grasp on sacrifice.
You know, the deeper I dig into His Word, the more I realize how little I know … but what an adventure it is to be in the school of life and try to apply what we are learning in each and every classroom/lesson He has prepared for us, the answers of which are all in this one incredible Book. His lessons are noteworthy and praiseworthy!
Speaking of praise, let’s get to our first sacrifice to joy: Praise! Let’s go to Hebrews 13:15:  "By Him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to His name." So sacrifice number 1 is praise.
I don’t know about you, but for me, it’s easy to praise Him when things are appearing praiseworthy! When life is good, it’s easy to praise, right?
Why do you suppose that “praise” is a sacrifice then?”
Well, I know when I’m feeling like picking up my broom and flying around the room, and maybe even leaving home with it, to stop and actually praise Him in the heat of the moment brings a hot flash so strong it feels like a current pulling the opposite direction, or like pulling the reigns in on a wild horse that refuses to listen to direction! You know what I’m talking about?  Just the other day, I was getting my vitamins out of the cabinet and tipped over my freshly poured glass of water … all over my cook books, down the cabinet and onto the floor. This was FIRST thing in the morning! Is this going to be how my day goes, I muttered? Instantly I was reminded that this was one of those moments where I could praise or prattle!
But what about the more significant moments in our lives, those really hard lessons where you know that you know that you know that He is relentlessly endeavoring to show you something, give you hints, teach you a new lesson for the current season of your life and/or gift you with a revelation for a relevant situation?
I’m giggling as I write this because the smallest thing, like a spilt glass of water, can send me in a tailspin so far from the current lesson He has prepared for me but the deeper things are easier for me to recognize the lesson He has prepared to teach me. In other words, the deeper I go, the more I grow, but when I come up for air … I can sometimes be found gasping and sputtering for reprieve!
I find myself crying out, why do you gotta go so deep, Lord? (I’m hearing these words and the song “Why you gotta be so cruel” comes to mind! :-) ) Why is it I can’t just share surface stuff, in other words get to learn simple lessons in a simple way?
See, I am currently in the throes of the classroom of Meekness 101, and He is using the most unsuspecting people to teach me what it means to be meek, to have a quiet strength and power that literally renders me in control when others are completely out of control. Oh, you talk about a sacrifice!  What does that look like? Well, have you ever sat and listened to a person, I mean truly listened without interrupting, and not spoken until you have completely understood what they’ve said, even when they’re sitting there spewing out all kinds of negative things about you? I have and because I left my pride in the car, determined to truly listen and keep my mouth shut, I was able to see where the source of anger and pain was coming from and validate this person without agreeing with her!  It really wasn’t about me but her misperceptions were definitely tied to the pain of the past which kept driving her emotional car.
That was probably my first huge test, sort of equivalent to a final, in this class that I feel I passed. And as I look back over the last couple of weeks and all the other tests in Meekness 101 and rewind the painful lessons, I see the glimpses of meekness beginning to shine through the cracks as the sun rises into a new day. So though it’s been painful, it is oh so praiseworthy!
Have you ever learned a lesson wrought with pain that twisted you into change? Were you able to see the value of the lesson shining through into your heart as it changed your life? Were you and are you able to offer up a sacrifice of praise for His relentless love that can’t leave us the way we are but inspires us to become all that we were meant to be?
Join me tomorrow for more on this first sacrifice!
Love and laughter,
Evinda