Marketplace Monastics

You have delivered me from the attacks of the people;
you have made me the head of nations.
People I did not know now serve me, foreigners cower before me;
as soon as they hear of me, they obey me.
They all lose heart;  they come trembling from their strongholds.

Psalm 18:43-45, NIV

Here we are, still praying our way through Psalm 18.

Aren’t you glad?  It means there is so much more to go, so many days ahead of us in which to pray for those we love, to lift to the Throne of Grace those who suffer emotionally, who are bowed down and oppressed, as the Scripture says.

I know some.  Do you?  One is an autistic child who could not change her behavior or the course of her life if it were laid open before her in clearest terms.

Other are bent and broken and know it and have been trying to scrabble to the top for air; still others seem to have no idea the pain they cause themselves and others.

I suspect you could fit an acquaintance or two into each slot, the helpless, the defeated, the clueless.  I rather think I have fit into each pigeon hole at one time or another, myself.

Lord God!  Almighty God!   A New Year stretches before us.  It is neither special in newness to You, for You never leave us or forsake us, nor are You dismissive when we face the turning of each year; You are ever and always the help we need when each new day and new year dawns.

                  Deliver us, Lord God, us, and those for whom we pray from the attacks we face in the year ahead.  More often than not, our own flesh will attack our spirits with lies, lies, lies about what we deserve, what we can and cannot do, how we feel, and the things that matter little, as opposed to the things that matter most.  Help those we love and care about to measure the things that matter most and give to us and to them to face fears and jealousies and haughty inclinations and selfishness and unbelief … for them and for us, let these monsters lose heart and come trembling out of their strongholds, knowing their time has come.

They are brutes we have not known, terrorizing and humiliating us, but now they will serve us; they serve to make us know we are nothing and can do no good thing apart from You.  They advise us that You are our great need, and in You we have purpose, peace, and grace in abundance.  In You we esteem others and rise ourselves to the stature of Christ. They serve us well, those foreigners in our hearts, but the time of their ascendancy has ended, for us and for those they have brutalized.  Remember, O Lord, this one ____________ and that one _____________, those who cannot help themselves, until they can.  We are not leaders of nations, but of the kingdom of our souls, we are, indeed!  In the name of Your Son Jesus, we and our dear and desperate friends are meant to rule our own hearts in truth and grace.  Our tormentors and theirs are supposed to come trembling into the light – thank You that they shall, Father!  Amen.

Crown of St. Wenceslas, replica, by permission, Wikipedia

Oyvind Holmstad

I pursued my enemies and overtook them,
    and did not turn back till they were consumed.
I thrust them through, so that they were not able to rise;
    they fell under my feet.
For you equipped me with strength for the battle;
    you made those who rise against me sink under me.
You made my enemies turn their backs to me
    and those who hated me I destroyed.
They cried for help, but there was none to save;
    they cried to the Lord, but he did not answer them.
I beat them fine as dust before the wind;
    I cast them out like the mire of the streets.

In large part, this is why we are here.  Why you read, why I write, why we take the time, why we care.

There are spiritual enemies to the souls of men, enemies of our souls.  Enemies of the souls and lives of those we love.

I’m letting that sink in.  As much as I know it, as surely as I believe it, this truth is ever sobering to remember and to turn, and face.

At the same time, look at their end.  We do turn, we pursue them, and we overtake them. How?  The answer is in these very psalms and in all the Word of God.  We impale them on the Sword of the Spirit, the Word of God.  Our strength for battle is super-human, more than human and other than human.  Our strength is actual, but not created, for the Lord is our strength.  They rise up against us and His strength, they seek to undo and overwhelm us and those we love, but they must turn their backs, if we will fight.

Why would they?  Why would they rise up against God Almighty?  If they have any will at all, it must be because they always consider our weakness and our fecklessness.  We seem so unable and unwilling … until we are not, in Christ Jesus.

Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.   James 4:7

Even our flesh in its self-serving, darkness swallowing, evil-doing glory cries out to be saved from righteousness … “Leave us alone! We don’t want to stop or change! We do not want to be at all troubled with holiness!” … but our spirits are at enmity with our flesh.  It is too late for them.  We are already submitted to God and to His Word.  We have already put on Christ.

The Lord, as He dwells in us, does not answer them. We do not excuse evil or coddle it at all; we beat them fine as dust, those nasty little haughtinesses and self-pitying lethargies and judgmental attitudes, and the wind blows them away. We have been made new, but with enemies, and we overcome them all in the newness of life in Christ Jesus.  We are free, and we free ourselves from their entwining tentacles, and then we set others free, by our prayers and in the faith for which Jesus will be looking when he returns.  (Luke 18:8)

Above, a picture of a dust storm blanketing a town in Texas.  Imagine if we were to pursue our enemies with strength!  It would look like this in reverse!  As opposed to what our hearts look like, below, with build up!

This(first) image is in the public domain because it contains materials that originally came from the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, taken or made as part of an employee’s official duties.

George Marsh Album

Then, a photo, by permission, Wikipedia, of a dirty laptop heat sink.

As for God, his way is perfect:
    The Lord’s word is flawless; he shields all who take refuge in him.
For who is God besides the Lord?
    And who is the Rock except our God?
 It is God who arms me with strength and keeps my way secure.
He makes my feet like the feet of a deer;
    he causes me to stand on the heights.
 He trains my hands for battle; my arms can bend a bow of bronze.
You make your saving help my shield, and your right hand sustains me;
    your help has made me great.
You provide a broad path for my feet, so that my ankles do not give way.

Psalm 18:30-36, NIV

            “He trains my hands for battle; my arms can bend a bow of bronze …. You provide a broad path for my feet …”

We are stronger as this year closes than we were when it began.  We have given and forgiven, we have worshipped and warred when we might have whined and worried.  Christlikeness is the superlative armor we require and His Word, a two-edged sword.

Our strength is in the Lord, and He is our strength.  We are not those who stand on the beach and flex our muscles.  We aren’t glancing around to see if we are well-admired, but we are looking to see if our enemies are losing ground and releasing their stranglehold on those we love.  No time for preening, but we are ever improving our skills.

The number, the rate, and the ratio of abortions is dropping, by about 20 % between 2011 and 2017*, and some sources say at an even greater rate in the last two years.  We have been warring on behalf of preborn children.

The divorce rate for people under 55 is at a 40-year low. There are a lot of factors that feed into that percentage (WSJ), but we’ll take it!  Believing parents are praying for their grown children, perhaps as never before, where societies and families are perishing for lack of vison from on high.  We pray as we believe, because we believe as we love, having faith in God, and our love is deepening, and our is hope burning bright, just as it should.

A new year is upon us.  There is not one Psalm of the remaining 132 that does not lend itself to prayer and a revitalized strength, for ourselves and for those we love. Enemies are routed, walls and barricades are breached, the oppressed are rescued and set at liberty, all inside the verses of the Songs of David and of Ascents and of the other writers who chronicled their difficulties, their prayers, and the triumphs of the Lord on their behalf. We are riding the crest of those waves, bringing our d.l.f.s, own dear little friends, our desperately languishing friends, and dearly loved families, before the Throne of Grace and Mercy, there to receive the help that is essential for them and for ourselves.

Anonymous, Flexion del brazo, by permission, Wikipedia

Kelly Lynn bicep, petechons, by permission, Wikipedia

*Guttmacher Institute

Now I know you’re kidding …

Give to God … my PEACE?

Oh, yes, my friends.  My dear friends.  I’m pretty sure I heard correctly.  Let me know what you think.  I believe that our God and Father, our Lord Jesus Christ, would be overjoyed to receive from us this Christmas season …

Our PEACE.

This request engendered thought, as you can well imagine, but it did not take long for me to realize that my peace is predicated upon circumstances, sensory perceptions, the approval and the beneficence of others, and sometimes, above all and worse than all … this thing I like to call, undisturbedness!

            That is not an original thought.  I heard a great teaching one time by a man named Doug Lambert who spent some time listing some of the “giants” in the land of post-modern Christian souls.  From a large compilation, he narrowed his finding down to a composite number, but there was this one that he could not quite identify.  He knew it was there, in the hearts and lives of people he knew, even in himself, but what was it?  Did it have a name?

It did, and he called it Giant Undisturbed.  It is that possessor of territory in us that leaves us alone as long as it is left alone, to veg out, to guard down time more jealously than our time with the Lord or with loved ones, to decide IF and WHEN we will get up and get going, especially in places where we would rather not give of ourselves in the first place.

If it raises its slovenly head, it is only to say, “I DESERVE a little peace and quiet!”

Assuredly, it can be a cover up for feelings of inadequacy, but more often it is a little root of bitterness, and it is more stubborn in its refusal to be dislodged than a blackberry vine, and even more thorny. It’s passivity is more dangerous than a bad temper.

Before we all run screaming from the room, for almost all of us have met this shady, unassuming interloper, this is a gift exchange.  We give to God OUR PEACE, our phony, conditioned, manufactured peace, and He gives to us His own.  When you have experienced it you can say in all truth, that is surpasses understanding. It’s just there, when all should be overwhelming, even frightening.  It does not come and go, and it certainly does not have to be buried into an overstuffed chair in order to be peaceful.

The Lord’s peace will mount a garrison against turmoil, fear, jealousy, and even persecution.  His peace doesn’t sink down into a warm corner and defy us to jostle it; the Lord’s peace stands tall and tells intruders to fall back, for He will keep us in perfect peace, for our minds are stayed on Him, trusting Him.  (Isaiah 26:3). His peace provokes trust rather than becoming provoked every time we need to exercise our faith.

His peace has been bequeathed to us, and not as the world gives it.  It is His gift to us, and in it we can discover the full measure of a Merry Christmas, not dependent upon anything more than that a virgin did indeed give birth to a Son, and they called His Name Jesus, and He did as the prophet said, He saved His people from their sins …

Even their false, unstable, synthetic, and selfish peace.

“This dog is comfy” – Austurges, by permission, Wikipedia

Today we dig deep, and we give to God our …

No!  I can’t do it!

I mean, I can’t write it, and I can’t DO IT!

I have too many of my own … here is comes …

         IDIOSYNCRASIES!

Dictionary definition, from the Oxford dictionary:

1. A mode of behavior or way of thought peculiar to an individual

“One of his little idiosyncrasies was always preferring to be in the car first”

Synonyms:  peculiarity, quirk, eccentricity, oddity, foible, whim, whimsy, caprice, vagary, twist, crotchet, mannerism, fad, aberration, irregularity, deviation, perversion, fetish, hang-up, thing, singularity

Okay … may I just say … YIKES!  I’ve had this one in mind since last week, and I keep thinking that your little idiosyncrasies, those of you whom I know, are the things I especially LIKE about you!  Maybe you feel that way about me, but then, what about my crotchets, hang-ups, and foibles?

I almost can’t NOT correct grammatical irregularities.  Sometimes, under my breath, I’m saying, “HE and I!”  (Not “him and me”)  I’m sorry! Forgive me!  My grammar is far from faultless, but it’s this “thing” – see above – and I suppose writers need to have it, they just don’t need to rub noses in it.

I don’t even want to surrender it!  I like that little aberration in me, but God forgive me, nobody wants to be gigged constantly when speaking.

I love great cuisine, I hate bad coffee, and some of you know I would just about move back to Europe for the BREAD!  I’m a bread snob!  Even now, doesn’t it sound like I’m bragging?  It doesn’t feel like that, “it’s just ME!”, but it’s not always gracious or kind.

There, I suppose, is the crux.  Do I have this idiosyncrasy, that at every cross road I look to see what the Lord is doing, and obey that thing?  Do I humble myself at every possible opportunity where I might lift others up? Is that my mannerism?

I know mine, my wayward ones, at least some of them, and you know yours, and some of what we do is who we are, in a good way.  Shall we box up the rest and put them under Jesus’ tree?

You know, the one He hung on for the sake of our souls and the absolution of our sin!  That was His “singularity”!

Merry Christmas … if we’re still speaking !!!!!

Physiognomische Fragmente zur Beförderung der Menschenkenntnis und Menschenliebe (1775-1778) by Johann Kaspar Lavater.  (The Four Temperaments, uploaded by Abenis at  English Wikipedia, public domain)

This is a stick-up! Hand over your all your scoffing and mocking!

It’s supposed to be “stocking stuffers,” not “scoffing and stuck up” at Christmas!

Now if you never, ever do this, you have nothing to give to the Lord this day!  But for the rest of us, those for whom a little cable news or news from home or downhome gossip can trip us up and result in a snide comment or two, let’s wrap all that nastiness in fussy paper, box it up, tie it with a big bow, and HAND IT OVER!

Who would be glad to receive such a thing?  Who else?  None but the Lord, if we deliver our derision into His hands.  Anyone else on the receiving end … not so much!

Some of you/us are so good at the Scoff, the Quirky Little Bit of Mock!  We can be funny, sometimes, and not-so-funny sometimes, too.  Don’t stop, if you are one of those rare ones who can tease and make others feel loved … I actually know ONE PERSON who’s good at that, but it’s not me.

To speak for myself, God showed me one time that when I tease (He actually said, “Kerry, don’t do it … you’re no good at it!”) we are trying to say something to the other person, something we’ve been itching to say, without telling them truthfully and in love.  We are hoping they will get the point, take our drift, and, of course, change to suit us.

So, in order not to get a lump of coal in our stockings, let’s be careful of the derogatory little jabs we take at others.  Almost any one of us would rather be encouraged than mocked.  Even if we have to hear a little gentle truth once in a while, it can be much more a gift than a lump of mockery, black and sooty.

I once had a friend, dear beyond most others, but she was perennially late.  You could count on having to wait twenty minutes or more for her no matter where, no matter what.  We teased her.  We loved her too much to hold her to account.  She laughed off our sweet scoffing, but one day we said together, “We love it when we get to spend time together.  Only when you’re late, we always feel like we could have stayed home a little longer ourselves.  And it’s cold out here!  Still, we’ll take your friendship any way I can get it!”  You know, she never managed “on time,” but she made a valiant change, a big change, and we didn’t feel scummy, and we stopped teasing her endlessly after that.

No wonder we hardly try! It’s not easy!  But our hostile humor makes a terrific gift for God, the FATHER of this family, this Christmas.

He sees us when we’re scoffing, He knows when we’re upset;

He knows if we mean bad or good, so let’s stop before we let … our …

teasing run wild, our scoffing cause pain, our mocking rejoice,

we’re sneering again … in this house our Father sees all!

The Mockery of the Owl by the Other Birds

Jan van Kessel, 17th Century, Wikipedia, public domain

This morning, as I was asking the Lord, “What next? What more?  Tell me another “gift” we can give that will make You smile!”, and while the words were in my mouth, I heard, “How about a bad attitude!”

Well, I don’t think I had one, but I sure know what He meant. Made me smile!

Wouldn’t that be a great gift, though?  What if your family members would give to God every bad attitude and have nothing but sweetness and kindness left over to bring to every gathering at Christmas?  What if everyone came to enjoy and brought a genuine interest in others?  That would be delightful all around!

We know, of course, that we cannot surrender anyone’s bad attitude but our own, but I’ve known people around whom it is really difficult to be grumpy or selfish.  What if we had nothing but sweetness and kindness to contribute to each Christmas festivity?  What if our interest in others far overshadowed our Christmas pride – decor, food, gifts, and effort?  What if we made it difficult for others to be humbugs?

That means no griping about parking, shopping, cleaning, barking dogs, or broken dishes!  No self-referential conversation about dieting, no disparaging even the grumpiness of others!  No relating of woes past, present, or yet to come!

Nobody wants to be around a Christmas Fairy, pretending nothing can, should, or ever will go wrong at Christmas, but when we bring the joy of the coming of Christ into our Christmas Watch, when in our celebration we are glad to be glad and grateful to thankful and tender-hearted toward those who are not, when neither Christmas nor its failure to fulfill can deplete us, we are gifting the God Who gifted us with Himself every day that we live.

Laurel and Hardy

no photographic credits, Wikipedia, public domain, no copyright application

            This is a welcome relief!  After all the yucky presents we have given to God this season – things that He wants so very much – our jealousies, our idolatries, our fears – today we gift Him with our GUILT!

Whew!  That feels better!  This also we must do, along with the surrender of our sin.  When we have repented of a thing, when we no longer answer its call to sin and doubt, we must hand over our latent guilt as well.  In this Kingdom, clean is clean.

Truly God is good to Israel, even to such as are of a clean heart (Psalm 73:1)

And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood …

(Revelation 1:5)

Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you. (Ezekial 36:25)

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9)

And should we stumble, should we sin anew?  See above!

Consider … Merry Christmas! … of what good or benefit is it to our God and Father, or to His Sacrificial Son, that we should harbor our guilt forever, nursing it, extoling it, keeping it near to our breasts? We knowwhat we were. We can call that to mind at any moment. We know what we were and what we did and how we thought and behaved.

But in this Kingdom, clean is clean, and with truth that we gift and glorify our God this Christmas season.

The Yule Goat … ridden by Father Christmas and pranked on neighbors to make sure they did their Christmas preparations properly … like ridding every home of GUILT!

Pileckta, by permission, Wikipedia

Isn’t this great!  Can you remember a more exhilarating Christmas??

Terrific! Wonderful!  And so very PALTRY on our part!

We gift the Lord our God with our fears, our unforgiveness, our idolatries, and He gives us – Christmas! Christmas every day that we live, and forever!

Oh, yes, these are paltry gifts, but not to Him.  These are the “treasures” He has longed to receive.  After all, could we give Him our righteousness, our wisdom, our compassion? We have none, except for what He has placed in our hearts, ours to keep.

But those other items … those things we surrender and slough off, crucify and offer up to Him, those are the presents He has longed to receive.  Bitternesses, unkindness, false-speaking – horrid presents, but He receives them and knows what to do with them.

Today, have you even a single jealousy you might give to Him?  Even a crust? I hope not, but I know my own heart. I can be savoring a jealous moment before even I realize it!  Thankfully, when I do, I can tie it up, sprinkle a little “never more” glitter dust upon it, and send it into His safe keeping.

It really is safe keeping, the place where He puts our jealousies.  He recognizes lack and loss and desire in our hearts, and if we will be faithful in the surrendering, He will be faithful in filling the empty places, and always with good, and if we will recognize and appreciate it, yes, even with Himself.

Today, just now, I pause to consider … Father, am I jealous of anyone, anywhere?  Is there anything You have given to another or done for them that I covet?  Is there anything they have acquired for themselves that makes me envious?  There may be, but there WON’T BE, for I will rejoice in all You are and all You have done for ME!  Forgive my petty jealousies, Father.  I will not harbor them, in Jesus’ name.  Amen.

Furoshiki, Japanese art of gift-wrapping

Katorisi, by permission, Wikipedia

Oh, this is going to be a good Christmas for the Lord our God!

Today, let’s give Him all our IDOLATRIES!

Remember when your first bicycle was under the tree, shiny bright, with a big bow on the handlebars?

This is more, this is better!  Can you identify even one or two things that vie for His attention in your heart?

Remember getting the very doll you always wanted (for my sister it was a Bride Doll, and I remember the look on her face to this day!) … or the BB gun or the PUPPY??

THIS IS SO MUCH MORE!  This is what Jesus “always wanted!”  Can you spot even one thing in your heart that keeps Him from having as much of your devotion and faithfulness as He would desire to have?  For me, I have to guard my heart all the time, and sometimes something slips through!

We could turn away, like the father and mother with empty pockets and purse, and say, “we just can’t do it!”

Or … we could cast off some here, some there, until they are gone and forever.  All the claims upon our hearts that spurn His love and majesty.

Of course, if we don’t think we have any … idolatries … then we won’t get very far and He won’t get to unwrap our unfettered devotion, unless we have already surrendered them all.

Here is a place where we might behave like the parents who throw caution to the wind and take all the cash out of savings and buy the bicycle. That might not be wise parenting, but it is excellence in us.

We are purchasing a field wherein is hidden the pearl of great price, the knowledge and the nearness of God in His kingdom.

Christmas gifts

Kelvin Kay, by permission, Wikipedia