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God is not your Genie!! |
Is God worth it???
Carpet crashes, a first kiss crash and hanging on by a thread of Scripture's promises!! Have you ever thought to yourself, "I know the Bible says, 'no' but I'm not sure I agree?" When we see God as our genie and not as our gift, the gift, then you must realize that the two of you, God and you are going to do battle! Just a hint, but I hope you know that God always wins? Still, we must do battle and lose, many times if necessary, if we are to submit fully and cry, Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord Almighty..He Alone is Worthy to sit on the throne!! So, here is the rest of the story of my first kiss, and my second battle with surrender! My first battle was over having friends, at the end of which I found Jesus to be my friend! Now, the second is over having a boyfriend, or the comfort of romantic fairytale notions of a relationship! I'll never forget watching my mom walk away and looking up into Sasha's eyes and just thinking, "Oh, I hope this lasts!" So, the saga continues...
Sasha let me know that he had to stop first at his house! Well, not only had I not ridden in a boy's car before, but I'd never been over to a boy's house!! Understand please that I praise the Lord that He was alive and well within my heart and that I had always obeyed Him because the lines of communication were open and clear between myself and the Holy Spirit that night! Full of nerves and full of a lot of mixed fairytale fantasies, I climbed into Sasha's car and sped off to his house! Sasha pulled up to a beautiful house, completely void of people, and told me he had to check something in his room! Well, I just stood there in the entry way waiting for him to return from the upstairs! Sasha looked at me on his way up the staircase in disbelief! "Are you kidding me?" Sasha asked. "Why don't you just come upstairs?" he questioned playfully. My heart was in my throat and my stomach just flipped upside down!! Upstairs? Well, against all warnings going off inside, I reluctantly followed him upstairs...! Sasha began to look for something and could not exactly find it, so he sat down for a minute and asked me if I minded not going to play laser tag. What's more, he asked me if I minded just staying at the house and watching a movie in his room! Totally surprised, I said, "Didn't you tell my mom that we were going to play laser tag?" Sasha's eyebrows raised slightly in frustration and slightly in disbelief,and then said, "Well, yes, but I just thought that we might have more fun here alone." Now, my eyebrows were raised! "Well, I'm going to have to call my mom and let her know and see if she feels comfortable with me being alone with you in the house." I declared in matter a fact tone! Sasha was dumb founded!! Wow!! You'd think I told him that I was part fish or something! Not that I have anything against mermaids...I will always love, Ariel!! Therefore, I began to walk down stairs to call my mom, while my stomach did about a zillion flip-flops! Sasha followed me downstairs and said, "here's the phone" while giving me another disapproving glance! Well, I dialed the phone number and when my mom picked up I asked her if I could stay and watch a movie at Sasha's house and she said, "NO"! Love you mom!! To all of the mom's out there that set good standards for their daughters, I just would like to say, "Good Job"! The truth is that far too many mom's would have said, "yes" to please their kid or to show that they trust their kid!! BIG MISTAKE! In fact, had my mom said, "yes", I would have stayed, and let's just say I would not have been safe! Therefore, I hung up the phone and was about to tell Sasha that I could not stay when I saw him reading a note that was left on the counter top! Sasha smiled brightly as he let me know that he had found what he was looking for earlier! The note included money that his dad was to have left him in his room! Suddenly, Sasha said, "Well, since I have money now, let's just go get something to eat and grab a movie." he offered in a very charming way! "After all, you're obviously too scared to stay at my house, right?", he teased! "Clearly!" I retorted , trying not to let on how embarrassed I was to have had to call my mom on my first date!! Off we went to grab something to eat at "Islands", which by the way is a great place to eat!! We talked and talked and talked!! Finally, I asked him if he was a Christian! Sasha, looking proud, said that he was and that almost everyone from his country was Lutheran. Moreover, Sasha reported that he had gone through all the processes of confirmation! Then, he asked me a question too! "Have you ever done Catechism and claimed Jesus Christ as your Savior before the Church?" He asked very directly. Wow! I definitely had been trained in the 16 articles of Faith in the Church of the Nazarene and proclaimed my decision to follow Christ alone at my Baptism so I said, "Yes!! Of course I have!!" Sasha looked pleased and then asked me something else that sent my cheeks into a whole new realm of red that I didn't know they had in them!! "Have you ever been kissed?" Looking just stunned and embarrassed, I said, "Well, um..uh..no! I haven't!" Sasha just loving the obvious advantage he had over me, just smiled and said, well, you know what? You just have to relax!! Seriously! I just wanted to take it back and lie to him, but instead I was sitting there with cheeks flushed with color and completely embarrassed down to my toes!! We left the restaurant, caught a movie, where he grabbed my hand by the way, another first, and then he went to drop me off! As Sasha pulled into the drive way that night, he leaned in, and as my pulse began to sky rocket, he gently placed his hand on the back of my neck and pulled me closer! As I closed my eyes, he kissed me! Whoa! My goodness! "Good night my handsome prince, and sleep well princess"...I left his car and relived that moment all night long! Do you know what?? I was really happy! True to its name, the happenstance of that happy moment was not going to last! Unlike God, who's joy is eternal in each of us, the happiness that is from the temporal world is not stable and completely subject to change...In contrast, God's love is unshakable, and unbeatable, and unchanging and completely subject to no man's judgement, a love that cannot be taken from you, stolen from you and a love that will never disappoint you: His love Saves you!! Praise Him..Praise Him, His love endures forever!! Sadly, I thought I had found a love that would last! Ok, I admit that the feelings I had for Sasha were not love, not God's love at all!! Friends, if it is not God's love, it is not Love....!!! Don't ever be deceived by feelings..they do not last, they fleet!! Inevitably, my sweet, sweet 16 moment was going to crash and burn with yet another test of my affections for the Savior! Sasha called to ask me out again that week and on our second date he asked me to go to the Senior Prom! Wow...oh my heavens...!! Just like in the movies...I was going to go to the Prom??? I said, "yes" of course, and then just basked in the moment, that beautiful moment!! Later, after the date and about a thousand and one day dreams, Sasha called. As we discussed the prom and different ideas about life in general, Sasha brought up levels of intimacy between people in a relationship. To explain, Sasha asked me if I was willing to follow his ideas about that area of our relationship. Surprised and perplexed I asked, "like what specifically?" Sadly, Sasha dropped the other shoe on me abruptly! "Well, such as what time do you want to leave the prom and go to the hotel!!" With one single phrase, the magic carpet lost all control and started to crash..down down down into the reality of one impossible truth: Staying with Sasha would mean going against God's standard..!! No NO NO..not again!! Lord, why is this happening??? I told Sasha that I in no way would be going near a hotel, no not ever!! Even as I declared the right response for a Christian to him, the battle began inside over the result that I knew would follow. Sasha let me know that sleeping with him was not wrong..and if I was not willing to have a relationship like that then we were done!! NOOOO!! I was finally going to have a boyfriend..I was finally not going to be alone...!!! Lord, Why??? Genie..I want you to make this work!! "I cannot make anyone fall in love with anyone else" ( adapted from the Disney movie, Aladdin). Provisos...Noooo!! God's law? No!! Being alone again? No!! God, being like the genie in this one way, will also not make us love anyone, or Him! God loved us first, and will call us first, and will hold out His hand, but He will not force us to follow! When faced with a love as Great as the Love of God, you'd think that we would all go running faster than the wind and harder than the rain and with more energy than lightening, but then again, we would first have to know and understand that His love is Great and that it endures forever! No, God is not our genie at all! He's sooo much more! Tragically, we miss the mark and as a result, we end up disappointed! The devil rejoices when we see God the wrong way and we end up miserable, dying in every way!! No more!! God has to end this lie!!! For God sent His one and only son into the world to save the world from darkness!! God gave His one and only son that we might have life, love and peace!! Hope! Yes, because He lives, because He lives and because He is Love...we have a hope that will never disappoint: the love that is being offered is eternal and true and offered to you!! The truth about God is that He was never meant to give you things, or create for you circumstances that can fade! God lives to love you and offers you a love that can never die!! Let Him Love you today!! Ask Him to teach you more of this radically awesome love that can never fail you; yes, finally I've found it; Love magnificent full and free!! Yes, your king is waiting...!! However, we cannot miss the message of God...He is the Love....He's not trying to offer you love through something else...I am the way, the truth and the life and no one comes to the Father except through me!! Even death cannot separate you from the great and mighty Love of God...!!! Romans 8:35-39 clearly points out the truth,
35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 36 As it is written:
37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,[k] neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
He is the Love, the love that you have been waiting for...He is the gift..His arms are open wide and He made the rhythm to which your heart beats...let it beat for Him...!! Let the romance continue! Happy Valentine's Day...There is a Savior and He has loved you before you were even born!! He lives not to serve us, not to offer us things that fade, not to give us people that cannot save, but to be our righteousness, to be our Salvation and to be the greatest love of all..the answer to our being; we are created to Love Him and to be the praise of His glory!! Oh Hallelujah to the Lamb, the perfect Lamb that gave it all to offer us the chance to have so great a Love!! We no longer have to say, " I hope this lasts..." Friends, His love can never die!
As Sasha let me know that we were done, I was willing to obey the Lord, but not convinced of how the decision would mean that Love could be mine!! In short, I was angry!! "Lord", I cried out! "Lord, show me that you have a plan for me, because I'm just all alone and I don't want to obey you if you are not really going to help me have love!!" I grabbed for my Bible, another close friend of mine!! I opened the pages and the Bible fell open to 1 Thessalonians,
"Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus" ( 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18, NIV).
On that, I cried myself to sleep and knowing God had spoken, I rested! So, the truth is that I did not really understand the truth of that Scripture! All I can say is that I knew that God had a will for me and that He had spoken! Therefore, I decided to keep following Him that night! Still, I did not understand that to rejoice in all circumstances "in" Christ Jesus is to understand that He is enough and all the Love a girl could ever need or want!! Trust! Trust! Trust and Obey, for there is no other way to be happy in Jesus than to trust and Obey...!! Any of you have the Obey part down, while lacking in the trust department?? Lord, I didn't really know who you were did I?? Lord, I didn't really understand that you had bought me at a high price and that I could have just been yours, basked in your light and been held in your loving arms, yes, leaning on your everlasting arms of peace, grace and love!! Friends, we don't have to be alone!! We don't have to wait for love or acceptance; it's yours in Christ Jesus!! Precious Lord, He is Emmanuel and He is with you!! So, we will now return to Jonah, who like Jennifer, had a problem trusting! Jonah, Jonah, Jonah..you'll never find Nineveh until you find that your God is sign enough to say "Yes, Lord to your will and to your way!!"
Question: Have any of you recently wavered in your acceptance of your present trial? If so, remember that God is not your genie, and the results of this life are sooo momentary, while the Love He already secured for you at the cross is available at all times for us to be joyful about, to pray continuously for, and to rest forever in Christ in God's perfect will!!
In the next blog we will visit the sign of Jonah..and the problem of not fully trusting Almighty God!!
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