Walking in the Word with Breast Cancer

37 "Judge not, and you will not be judged; condemn not, and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven; 38 give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you." - Luke 6:37-38 Hopefully, we've started to truly recognized those places in our lives we tend to judge. They're everywhere. Spending a few days meditating on this verse and on judgment has certainly raised my awareness. I'm thinking about it more so I'm noticing it more.  As I'm capturing my thoughts, I'm trying to shift my focus from one of pride (I'm better than them) to one of prayer for them. When we pray for a person, or even a group of people, God does an amazing work in our heart - it's why we are told to pray for our enemies. Your heart is softened toward that person or people, and God reveals to you what you haven't b

37 "Judge not, and you will not be judged; condemn not, and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven; 38 give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you." - Luke 6:37-38 From the very beginning, from the moment sin entered the heart of man, we have been judging. It's the way of the world. We do it almost constantly. I pray spending a week in this verse will raise our awareness of just how much we judge. It is steeped deep into our culture and our mindset ~ we judge the person who cut us off in traffic, who stands in front of us in line, who parents in a restaurant, who fights in public, who voted for the other party, our co-workers, our family members, fellow church members, people on TV, immigrants, ethnic groups, poor people, rich people, LGBTQ...we judge constantly.   We think we're better than other pe

37 "Judge not, and you will not be judged; condemn not, and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven; 38 give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you." - Luke 6:37-38 Judge not, and you will not be judged. I think it's important to recognize that our culture has taken control of the word ‘judge’ and given it a very negative connotation, leading us to believe that all judging is wrong. There are two different ways that the word judging is used in the Bible. Not all judgment is wrong, not all judgment is bad.  The one way it's used in scripture is as discernment - as in 1 Corinthians 5:12-13. In that example, to judge someone is to discern good from evil - we are actually called to do this throughout scripture, specifically within the church. Discerning good from evil is judging, and it is something we ar

So Abraham called the name of that place, "The LORD will provide"; as it is said to this day, "On the mount of the LORD it shall be provided." - Genesis 22:14 I really needed a week in this scripture - one that reminds me daily that the Lord will provide. Life has away of knocking the wind right out of you, of distracting you from His truth...and lately, there have been some difficult days. When it's tough, I'm so thankful He reminds me of His truth every single day.  He will provide. He knows my heart struggles intimately, and while He works on helping me right my perspective and desires, He also assures me He will answer my prayers. He brings me such peace that I don't even need to know how He's going to take care it each situation, I just have the calm assurance that He will, and the anticipation that I get to see Him at work.  God gives us His Word to assure us of His promises, and to remind us daily that we can trust in Him to provi

So Abraham called the name of that place, "The LORD will provide"; as it is said to this day, "On the mount of the LORD it shall be provided." - Genesis 22:14 We are told over and over in scripture not to be anxious, not to fear, and to trust that God will provide our every need. If we are to ever battle the unbelief of anxiety, we need to believe this to our very core. He will provide.  It is the only truth that permeates my fear when I looking at a situation that seems hopeless or impossible, I can lay it down with relief at the feet of our Lord knowing that He has a plan. I can let go of the anxiety that I need to find a way out because I know that He will. There is so much freedom from the bondage of anxiety when I trust that He will provide.  The opposite of this truth leaves the entire burden on me to resolve. I have spent many years working hard to maintain order in my world. Difficult situations in my childhood left me desperate to control my ci

So Abraham called the name of that place, "The LORD will provide"; as it is said to this day, "On the mount of the LORD it shall be provided." - Genesis 22:14 How do we know He will provide? God writes our stories, and He fills them with examples of His faithfulness to provide.  If you haven't been a Christian long enough to have many stories of your own, spend time with other believers and listen to their stories.  Lean in and trust God to provide, keep a journal, and just watch Him fill your life with stories to share.  At first, you notice He provides in small, surprising ways; but eventually, your life will be full of incredible God at work stories. If you have been a Christian for awhile, then you've already seen God provide in unimaginable ways. He has already demonstrated to you over and over that He is faithful to provide.  The problem is that we forget. The enemy whispers in our ear that we're alone and that He will never come throu

So Abraham called the name of that place, "The LORD will provide"; as it is said to this day, "On the mount of the LORD it shall be provided." - Genesis 22:14 Where we look for security will determine our peace. In our heads, we know there is only One place to find security, but we must constantly guard our hearts from searching after it in other places.  Many of us find security in money - if we just had enough to pay our bills and live comfortably, we'd find peace. Or we find it in things - my home brings me a great deal of security. Some look to relationships for security - the love and support of another person is powerful, so many of us strive for stability in those relationships in our lives. When my family is together and everybody is happy, I am at peace. Perhaps we've been successful at something in the past - that's when security gets placed in ourselves or our talents. I can trust myself to take care of it, I'll just do it myself.

So Abraham called the name of that place, "The LORD will provide"; as it is said to this day, "On the mount of the LORD it shall be provided." - Genesis 22:14 Imagine the trust it must have taken for Abraham to follow through with sacrificing Isaac. In the moment, it probably made no sense to him whatsoever - why would God have him sacrifice the fulfillment of His promise?  God promised Abraham a nation from his offspring, yet God wanted him to sacrifice that very promise.  But even though nothing made sense in the moment, Abraham followed God's direction. He believed God's promises to be true so he believed that the Lord would somehow provide a solution. He knew that even though the situation seemed impossible at the time, God would either provide the lamb or God would raise Isaac from the dead - because Abraham knew God promised a nation through Isaac.  Even though Abraham couldn't see a solution at the time, he knew God promised and that

So Abraham called the name of that place, "The LORD will provide"; as it is said to this day, "On the mount of the LORD it shall be provided." - Genesis 22:14 The Lord will provide. This should be our constant meditation - in times of adversity, in times of prosperity - we need to remind ourselves of this truth. He sees, He knows what is best for us, and He will provide it.  My heart was anxious for a few situations that I am praying about for my children when I first sat down in the morning with Him. It's so tempting as a parent to pray for things to work out for your children, for things to go easy for them - and even more tempting to be disappointed when they don't go the way we hoped or prayed.  But He knows what I ultimately want...and that is for Him to bring them to a knowing relationship with Him. He will provide. Whatever it is that needs to happen for my children to know the Lord intimately, I surrender them to Him because I know He wi

So Abraham called the name of that place, "The LORD will provide"; as it is said to this day, "On the mount of the LORD it shall be provided." - Genesis 22:14 The Lord will provide. These are the words my heart needs to hear this week. To be able to surrender that which we hold on to so tightly, we need to completely trust in these words. If we really are going to lay down our children on the altar of God, we need to know in our heart of hearts that He has them. If we are going to surrender control of our difficult marriage, then we need to trust deep within our hearts that He will provide restoration. If we are going to truly let go of the anxiety that wreaks havoc in our minds, then we need to know that He will provide what we need when we get to the moments we fear. If we are going to be able to release our abuser from the box of unforgiveness, we need to trust in His plan to provide us with peace. If we are going to really trust that He will heal in the mos

1 Come, bless the LORD, all you servants of the LORD, who stand by night in the house of the LORD!  2 Lift up your hands to the holy place and bless the LORD!  3 May the LORD bless you from Zion, he who made heaven and earth!  - Psalm 134  When God works in our lives, it should well up such a sense of gratitude, that we can’t help sharing our praise with anyone who will listen. Our praises bless the Lord! Sadly, we often respond like the lepers - so happy to be healed that we skip away in joy, neglecting to acknowledge the very reason we have been restored, or worse - we’re so focused on the negative things in our lives, that we don’t even notice the miracles on our lives.  So how do we stay thankful in a world that steals our joy? We must have eyes to see. In other words, we have to consistently remind ourselves He is at work, and look for evidence of God. The world is distracting, we can turn a blind eye to God’s amazing creation and to His wondrous works, and when we do

1 Come, bless the LORD, all you servants of the LORD, who stand by night in the house of the LORD!  2 Lift up your hands to the holy place and bless the LORD!  3 May the LORD bless you from Zion, he who made heaven and earth!  - Psalm 134  Blessing the Lord means all out living with an attitude of thankfulness in my life. Gratitude expresses my understanding that God is in control of everything and He is working FOR me, despite what I see in front of me. It’s not just an attitude of acceptance for my circumstance, it is taking my heart one step further and delighting in what He is allowing to happen in my life.  2 Great are the works of the LORD, studied by all who delight in them.  3 Full of splendor and majesty is his work, and his righteousness endures forever. 4 He has caused his wondrous works to be remembered; the LORD is gracious and merciful.  - Psalm 111:2-4 He is doing wondrous works, mighty works, great works that I should be delighting in....except it doe

1 Come, bless the LORD, all you servants of the LORD, who stand by night in the house of the LORD!  2 Lift up your hands to the holy place and bless the LORD!  3 May the LORD bless you from Zion, he who made heaven and earth!  - Psalm 134  Blessing the Lord and lifting our hands in praise is honoring God as Creator of this universe and my life. He is the sovereign ruler of all - daily I need to remind myself of this truth, or my sinful heart will try to creep right back on to the throne.  Daily, I try to take control of my life. I kid myself into thinking I have the wisdom, power, and character to bring control into the chaos of my life. I don't. But I have been known to think I do, and then get quite offended when people don't submit to my plan. I will insert myself right into the middle, and make it all about me. My ideas about what is best, my expectations over the circumstances or people in my life all become a priority - then I have the audacity to become offe

1 Come, bless the LORD, all you servants of the LORD, who stand by night in the house of the LORD!  2 Lift up your hands to the holy place and bless the LORD!  3 May the LORD bless you from Zion, he who made heaven and earth!  - Psalm 134  We bless the Lord when we meditate on His Word. If we are to meditate on His Word day and night, we need to be storing it in our heart. I remember when I didn't take this command as seriously as I should have - I didn't work on memorizing scripture on a regular basis. I rationalized that I knew scripture well. There were so many verses in songs that I knew, I was familiar enough with scripture that I knew all the stories and lessons, and I knew many of the big verses (John 3:16, etc), but intentionally memorizing scripture wasn't part of my regular routine with God. I actually thought I didn't really need to do it. I thought it was for other people. I rationalized I was getting into His Word every day, and I already knew some

1 Come, bless the LORD, all you servants of the LORD, who stand by night in the house of the LORD!  2 Lift up your hands to the holy place and bless the LORD!  3 May the LORD bless you from Zion, he who made heaven and earth!  - Psalm 134  Come, bless the Lord. We know that the Lord blesses us with His loving kindness, but what exactly does it mean to bless the Lord? It means to delight in the Lord, to lift up praises for all He has given us, to speak of His goodness and His greatness. But in order to truly delight in Him from deep within our souls, we need to know Him, and that starts with delighting in His Word.  It took a long time for me to understand what delighting in the Lord looked like. First, I had to get into His Word consistently, so I committed to spending some quiet time with Him every single morning, without exception. Initially, it was only 10-15 minutes, but it was consistent. The delighting definitely didn't start then, but I did have a greater sense

1 Come, bless the LORD, all you servants of the LORD, who stand by   night in the house of the LORD!  2 Lift up your hands to the holy place and bless the LORD!  3 May the LORD bless you from Zion, he who made heaven and earth!  - Psalm 134  We’ve finally reached the last psalm in the study of the Psalm of Ascents. I treasure the last psalm sung during the pilgrimage the Israelites took to Jerusalem as it perfectly wraps up the journey.  Blessed means happy. Understanding that truth and knowing how many times God speaks about being blessed in His Word has really changed my perspective on God’s plan for our life. He wants us to be happy - He wants us to experience joy in this life, and He clearly tells us how to be happy in this life.  If we are to be happy, we have to be conscious about what we are doing. God laid out the plan so clearly in scripture for how we are to be happy - yet, so many people are still walking around struggling with despairing or anxious thoughts

Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity!  - Psalm 133:1 Understanding these verses has adjusted the way I relate to people.  He’s using them to make me more gentle in the way I share His truth. If I’m wrong in the way that I’m right, I’m wrong even if I’m right. If sharing His truth with someone damages the relationship, I have failed at the relationship. God calls us to share His truth in love, so every word I speak, every action I take, should demonstrate His love to the people I encounter and work toward peace.  Is it possible to be at peace with everyone in my life?  There are definitely those challenging people or situations that can cause us to make exceptions to the rule. We want to be able to justify why we can’t strive for peace in certain situations, but until we have done everything in our power to make peace, we’re not abiding in His Word. There are many situations where we need to humble ourselves, and own our part of the conflict - that c

Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity!  - Psalm 133:1 If my desire is to grow more Christlike, then my responses have to grow more loving and more peaceful. Where its hardest to love in your life, where it’s hardest to make peace, you're most like our Savior when you choose love as your response.  This verse commands us to strive for peace with everyone, so if I am disrespected by my children, wronged by my family, disregarded by my husband, or deceived by a co-worker, I am commanded here to work for peace. That means my response must show His love. I cannot pay them back with evil despite the fact that my flesh is screaming they deserve it. It doesn't mean I have to just allow or accept the behavior without a response - God doesn't call us to be a doormat, but my response cannot be sinful. I cannot scream in anger, shut them out in hurt, or gossip in revenge. I have to respond in a way that seeks to do good and seeks to make peace in the

Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity!  - Psalm 133:1 While I love the directive of this psalm - it's caution is alarming. Dwell in peace with others because without unity, we forfeit those blessings promised at the end of the psalm. We know from earlier in our study of the Psalms of Ascent, that blessings are where we find our happiness. In other words, happiness is promised to those who dwell in unity. Conflict leaves us unhappy.  I want to represent Him well in this world, so I continually lean in to where He wants me to change. We wrestle and struggle in this broken world because it’s full of sinners who hurt and cause conflict. It’s hard to love difficult people, and it’s hard to love people who live in direct contrast to what we believe is right. There seems to be this constant tension between how God calls us to live and how the world tells us to live. I want my life to be pleasing to God, so my instinct is to stay away from people who do

Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity!  - Psalm 133:1 I love how straightforward the message in this verse - how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity. While the term “brothers” does reference those family members, it is a more general terms in this verse - it means everyone. It is good to live in harmony with the people on our lives. By contrast, it’s not good if we’re living in conflict.  Unfortunately, He doesn’t give us exceptions to the rule  - we don’t get to say, clearly God didn’t mean him, he’s so rude! Or...I have good reason to be in conflict with her - she gossips! Nope. We are to live in harmony with all people in our lives. We don’t get to pick and choose, we don’t get to say we’re going to strive for peace with certain people, and not with others. We don’t get to choose that someone is too difficult or their sin is too great. We are to be in a state of peace with every one. That includes the people who are doing life wi

Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity!  - Psalm 133:1 God is intentional in our lives. His purpose for us is that our lives will glorify Him - through salvation and then through the refinement process of sanctification. Everything He allows into our lives is for that purpose. Trials point us to Him, and so do those challenging people in our lives. Difficult people bubble up to the surface those places in our hearts that still need to be refined.  As a point of clarification, I’m not referring to abusive people, I’m referring to those annoying people in your life that you’d rather not engage. Perhaps it’s a coworker or a boss, a family member or a neighbor - someone you avoid most of the time because they irritate you and you struggle to keep peace with them. Perhaps it’s someone who has gossiped about you, or called you out on a certain behavior or action that you think is unfair. God has a purpose for these people in your life.  The reality is w

Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity!  - Psalm 133:1 We should consistently be striving for peace and unity in our lives. Every interaction we have, every piece of advice we give, every discernment, every decision - the ultimate goal should always, only be for peace. In a world teeming with conflict, we are to be the peacemakers. Our energy and our focus should be on making peace in every area of influence we have. This is what will glorify Him and bring righteousness.  One of the most significant ways that our peace is disrupted is when we experience what we perceive as an injustice. When people hurt us with their words or actions, when they treat us outside of our expectations, when people gossip about us, when people cheat or lie to us, when people make an assumption about our character that is wrong, we want justice served.  God placed a desire for justice in our hearts, so when we face an injustice in our lives, it is tempting to take thing

Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity!  - Psalm 133:1 Dwelling in unity with others can be incredibly challenging, but God reminds us in this psalm that this is what we are to strive for at all times.  We all have those difficult people in our lives - they frustrate and anger us because they have either hurt us or they have hurt someone we love. But here, we are called toward unity with them.  We must learn how to pull back from the emotion of the moment and recognize that God has a plan for these difficult people just as He has a plan for us - and ultimately His plan is that all come to know and glorify Him as Lord. If they are not a child of God, His plan is salvation for that person, and if they are a child of God, His plan is for sanctification.  If we consider ourselves to be children of God, we must be on God's plan. That means our work for the kingdom must be that all people come to know Christ. All people. It isn't our job to

Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity!  - Psalm 133:1 Unity is defined as the state of being one, or oneness of mind. We are reminded in this psalm that God is glorified when we are living in unity - it is good and pleasant when our hearts are at peace within our souls and with other people.  Our God is a God of peace. The whole story of redemption, the death and resurrection of Jesus, is God's plan to bring about peace - between man and his inner self, and between man and man.  As the children of God, we must be peacemakers - we must seek peace within ourselves and with others in everything we do. Seeking peace within ourselves starts with seeking out the places where fear and anxiety live within our hearts. It does not mean we live without trials - peace is not the absence of pain and grief in our lives, it is the absence of fear and turmoil. 6 do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiv