notes from lisa...

I woke up with a nudge from God to forgive. And, the face I saw was Osama bin Laden (and I believe, he represented my need to forgive, and really forget all offenses against me--it took his face to really get my attention and focus). Forgiveness is deep—it goes beyond the simple. It’s not hard to forgive the small things, but there are those things that we struggle to forgive, fully. It seemed strange for a moment—first of all, I thought I’d done that already; but as I think back to the time that they found him, and took his life, I remember how I felt. I understand now, for me to be that comfortable, I hadn’t really forgiven him. I also can't be comfortable when my personal offenders suffer, either. It's tempting, at times, to think, "that's what you get!" but it is wrong. It also proves that forgiveness has not really been extended. Forgiveness is not based on deservedness. Forgiveness is given in spite of the fact that it isn’t deserved; that is th

“Shall I ransom them from the power of Sheol?      Shall I redeem them from Death? O Death, where are your plagues ?      O Sheol, where is your sting ?      Compassion is hidden from my eyes.” [Hosea 13:14, ESV] For many, death is the ultimate fear. In fact, most fears are, at the root all about death. If we fear car accidents, shootings, getting sick, all of these things are because the possibility of death lies within them. If death weren’t a possibility—if we could take that risk out of the picture, we could handle just about anything that came our way, with strength and fortitude. However, in the midst of those trials, lies (always) the possibility that one may not survive. The process of death can be very painful. It can be instantaneous, as in tragedy—be it accidental or intentional; but not being able to see it coming, and having it happen quickly, somehow comforts the survivors. Knowing that our loved one(s) didn’t “suffer long”, seems to make us feel some semb

Generally, when we think of being tolerant, our minds go to those who are not within the Body of Christ--or maybe, to the difficult relationships in our lives, the people who constantly rub us the wrong way, and just get our last nerve. This week however, into our full 2nd week of consecration, our prayer focus (at my church) is personal--to have greater understanding , patience and compassion . I really need this week. While I don't struggle much with understanding, because it is something I constantly ask God for--it is a regular prayer of mine, I do have issues with patience and compassion. I will ask for even more understanding--which (ironically) sometimes leads to my problem of lack of patience. Once you gain an understanding of spiritual things, and God removes the scales from your eyes, its tough to remember what it was like before that understanding came. There are some things that I see in Scripture, rather clearly and plainly, and I expect others to see them with

It's more than you might think. Most of us, think Apostolic means being baptized in Jesus' Name and having a Pentecostal experience of speaking in other tongues. Some of us, quite a few in fact, add to that, clothing rules and regulations. Just about all of us miss the point of what it is to be Apostolic, really . Paul writes to the Hebrews, " Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ , let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God,  Of the doctrine of baptisms, and of laying on of hands, and of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment." [Hebrews 6:1,2]. Clearly, these verses refers back to Old Testament Law and ritual, but they also include the doctrine of  Christ --and we have a tendency to get stuck at the elementary. The initial elements of Apostolicism are for "new creatures", but once we have received the New Birth we must go on unto perfection--ma

"For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ." [St. John 1:17] Almost daily, I see "new" truths revealed in God's Word regarding Grace as opposed to the Mosaic Law. Many, today argue that although we are in the dispensation of grace, we must still adhere to the moral laws and codes that God gave Moses at Mount Sinai. If that be the case and we are still under some points of the Law--with a responsibility to keep them, then how is it possible that Christ died to remove us from the curse of the Law [Galatians 3:13]? Once Grace arrived on the scene, in the Form of the resurrected Savior, the whole Law was abolished, because it is not of faith. The Law had served it's temporary purpose as schoolmaster, from Moses to Jesus Christ, and now the promise given to Abraham some 430 years before the Law, took effect-- in full , by faith. Anything added to grace, makes grace null and void. This is why we cannot add the Mosaic Law, or any l

When Jesus finished praying, it so impressed the disciples that they asked Him, to teach them to pray. They knew prayer worked--and, knew it was powerful because they saw it in action, in His life. I don't know what they were expecting; maybe, like many of us today, they were looking for some kind of magical formula that would give them access to everything they wanted. At this point, not all of them were the spiritual giants they would become. They were still just pretty ordinary men with some issues, doubts and fears. Some wanted prestige and power, some struggled with doubt (more than others), at least one had a violent temper, and another would eventually betray Jesus, and all of them would hide at His most difficult moment. So, I'm not sure what their motives were for wanting to learn how to pray--or, what ours are. I do know our motives (like theirs) for prayer aren't always the purest. Jesus knew that we might not always appropriate prayer correctly, so He gave u

About 18 years ago, I was in a class of Bible students and we were often given challenging questions and assignments, to make us think and to steer us away from the cliche' and pat answers that can be so typical of modern Christians. Often, our responses to things are so automatic that in all reality, they are void of empathy and compassion--and many times, they are void of real scriptural truth, too. We often answer based on what we heard all of our lives such as, "God won't put more on you than you can bear", which isn't exactly what the Scripture says, but we say it so much, it seems right . In fact, it isn't correct. I remember the day in our class when the big question came--I'll never forget it, because for me it was life-changing. It wasn't the content of the question, but the challenge to dig deeper in God's Word for truths that aren't always right on the surface that forever changed me. It was realizing that simply reading words, in