Loving, Being Loved, Worship, & Protecting the Wine {part 3} | Julie Arndt

In part 1 of this series, I shared what God has been showing me about love and how loving is a form of worship. In part 2, I shared some practical life experiences dealing with this subject. The last part of this series is all about protecting the wine.

PROTECTING THE WINE

If our created purpose in life is to love and be loved, doesn’t it make sense that the enemy would do everything he could to disrupt that in our lives? So what are you going to do about it? Some of his tactics are really obvious, but others can be pretty sneaky! Learning to recognize those things that distract you from loving connections is a learning curve, but absolutely worth going after.

There appear to be two kinds of tactics. The first is (believe it or not) the more obvious one, in my opinion. Oh, it can seem sneaky enough at the time, but with some practice, it becomes a lot easier to spot! It starts with offense in the hopes to lead you to bitterness, resentment, distrust, etc. It whispers things in your ear like, “He did that on purpose!” or, “She doesn’t even appreciate how hard I have to work.” or, “They don’t even care.” When you ask the Lord to see that person through His eyes, if what you are hearing is not within their character… Bam! You see the lie right out there in full daylight. You can know, for sure, that it is spiritual opposition trying to walk you in the opposite direction of love. Stand against it. Usually it will go away by simply coming out of agreement with those thoughts and nailing them to the cross where they belong! Oh – and don’t forget to forgive. This is really key to keeping short accounts with others and allowing the conduit of love to remain unobstructed.

The other tactic is not so easy to spot, and this is the one the Lord has really been speaking to me about lately. This tactic can be so subtle, it’s hard to read as a tactic. Usually, it doesn’t even come with “negative” feelings, so it will sometimes sneak into your life without you even realizing it, until you suddenly find yourself in a different place than you wanted to be; the place of complacency. It’s also worth noting, the complacency tactic is often used to try to break down every meaningful relationship you have… spouses, family, friends, churches, and of course, God!

Matt and I recently went to a “Love After Marriage” workshop. During the whole week of being gone, we spent significant time connecting with each other, as well as other Christian couples, encouraging one another to grow in our relationships. We never even turned the TV on in our hotel room. Each night, after the workshop, Matt and I talked and shared, bonding in ways like never before. Every day we could feel ourselves walking closer to love; living a lifestyle of love. The more connected we became, the happier we were. We could sense the “presence” of the other, truly having our spirits unite as one. This continued when we came home… until we turned on the TV. The first night we spent watching TV “together,” we realized something had happened over the course of the evening that made us feel less connected. Now, I’m not going to blame TV for that, but what we realized was that we had so easily slumped back into an old mindset that allowed us to use TV to “clear our minds.” The problem was that there were a lot of good things going around in our heads too! Leaving the “reality” of our life, even for a couple of hours, was enough to diminish our desire to be connected. Somehow, our energy for enjoying each other became redirected to the TV. Intimacy felt less intimate, thus the motivation to be intimate was diminished somewhat.

Thankfully, we had already experienced something greater, so that our spirits recognized the negative shift. (Remember, our spirits crave deep, loving connections.) But I can tell you, had we not been sensitive to that, it would have been very easy to fall back into old habits that did not support our desire for having an intimate connection. After talking through this, we are more intentional to protect our atmosphere from things that walk us in the opposite direction of connected relationships. We didn’t give up TV… we just have to approach it with the right priority and mindset. We need to think about it as a time of sharing the same experience instead of it being a time to sit in a mindless stupor. Even if we watch TV apart from each other, it’s not about what we are doing, but how and why we are doing it.

We have begun to approach all things with this question, “How will this affect my important relationships?” Things that are important are worth protecting. Does it take time? Yep. Is it more work? You bet. Is it worth it? Absolutely!

Matt 9:17 says “Neither do people pour new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the skins will burst; the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved.” Our love is the new wine. We need a wineskin that will hold the new wine. Not everything will need to change. But we need to care for and steward the thing that is most important. Our love is what is most important… it is eternal. (Don’t worry… I know we won’t be married in heaven, but I’m sure we will still LOVE each other!!)

What are the things you allow into your atmosphere that propel you toward love? What are the things that get in your way of connected, meaningful relationships?

Jesus, thank you for loving us first so that we can love!! Holy Spirit, we ask that you give us grace to walk in love. Stir our hearts to do the things that are healthy for our important relationships. And show us those things that try to trap us into offense or lure us into complacency. Teach us how to value and protect the wine! We want to love like You. Not just because it is the right response, but because there is so much joy and satisfaction in living as we were created to live.

Loving, Being Loved, Worship, & Protecting the Wine {part 2} | Julie Arndt

In part 1 I talked about loving, being loved, and how it relates to worship. In this next part I want to give some practical ways these principles have worked out in my life.

LOVING MY HUSBAND

If you read any of my facebook posts, by now you may be gagging at all the “ooey, gooey, lovey, dovey” things Matt and I say about each other. LOL… It’s OK, because it’s not your relationship. BUT, we have been discovering something about love that makes us so completely happy and joy-filled with one another. When we invite Holy Spirit into our most intimate moments and love each other through His eyes, WOWZERS!! We are finally understanding Song of Solomon like never before, even if my neck is not “like the tower of David built with courses of stone.” It has unlocked new places in our hearts that allow us to love deeper and more true. Couple this with a heart of worship, loving God for the gift He has given to us through the other person, and we are not only happy but satisfied in being with the other.

You know how sometimes you learn a spiritual principle that works itself into the natural? In this case, loving from God’s perspective has helped us love each other more intimately. BUT, we are finding the reverse to be true as well! The more we love each other (body, soul, and spirit), the more we are finding ourselves in love with God! Interesting! We are worshiping more and finding our hearts so full of thanksgiving for what God has done… even in the little, everyday sort-of-life things. So marvelous! How did God know that “two becoming one” could have such a direct affect on how we love?! He is so clever!

LOVING OTHERS

It’s kind of funny, but once you turn on love, it’s hard to keep it out of every area of life. I think that is because it is so right and good… so completing as it answers our purpose in life. Once you drink in intimacy, you become a junky for true, pure love. Your heart can’t help it really… this is why you were created; to be an object of His affection and to give back out of the fullness which has been deposited.

LOVING THROUGH GRIEF

Last week was a sad, tough one for our family. We had to say goodbye to one of our beloved pets, Buddy. Buddy actually taught me a lot about perfect, unconditional love. When I looked into Buddy’s adoring eyes, I could see the love of his Creator. Buddy was one of the best dogs I have ever known. He wasn’t clingy, just affectionate. He always had time and energy to love. He really was everyone’s favorite because even if someone didn’t feel like petting him, his love gaze would melt their heart and hook them in. Before they knew it, they were loving on him and all was right with the world. So you can imagine how very difficult a decision it was for us to end Buddy’s pain and suffering. Even in his last moments of life, he gazed at us with loving, trusting eyes and that little grin he would get on his face when he was being loved in return.

As we were giving him back to the ground, even as my heart was so heavy with pain, I could feel God’s love swirling around me. There was such a sense of worship in my heart, which surprised me. And then God spoke to me. He helped me see that when I love like He loves, even to something without a “spirit”, this is an act of worship. Caring for His creation is worship!

Grieving is a part of life on this side of heaven. But as I lean into the memory of love, even though it’s painful, God’s grace is there and it’s beautiful. I could even sense God grieving with me, which makes me love Him that much more! How precious it is to have One who so completely understands us!

Watch for my next post about how we “protect the wine.”

Loving, Being Loved, Worship, & Protecting the Wine {part 1} | Julie Arndt

Have you ever noticed how children who are in the presence of God become loving and affectionate? Our kids were certainly like this. Whenever our family was in a time of intimate worship, our kids would start leaning on us, hugging us, kissing us, squeezing us… it was so wonderful! (What parent doesn’t love that??!!)

Why do you think that happens? I believe it is because Love gives birth to love.

John said it well, we love because He first loved us! (1 John 4:19)

LOVE

When I first began to receive God’s amazing love for me, I became empowered to love Him back. Even more amazingly, this truth had an exponential factor... the more I received, the more I was able to give back. So simple, yet so epic! There are no words to describe that feeling of utter bliss and ecstasy that comes from being so completely loved! It is a foundational truth that must be understood and experienced in order to live in the fullness of grace and peace.

But something really amazing begin to happen to me… the more love I received and gave back to God, the more I realized how much love I had to give to others. And this is really where the rubber meets the road! Because until I realized that God gave me everything I needed to love others, I was not able to live life to its fullest. Getting rid of the fear, “I may give too much love away,” or, “it’s not safe to love from the deepest part of me,” helped me break partnership with and overcome a victim mindset. I am not in danger of living a love-depleted life! I was designed to love! I am no longer crippled from enjoying covenant relationships… AND Jesus has given me back the honor of experiencing sheer joy as I love others just because they are God’s beloved created ones.

WORSHIP

God has really been talking to me about how loving is a form of worship. Of course, most of us would already agree that loving God is a part of worship. But what about how we love each other? What about how we love the things He has created… you know, trees, animals, nature, our bodies, our dreams? I believe we worship God every time we honor and appreciate those things which He has placed here for our pleasure, those things which He loving created for us to enjoy and steward. Agreeing with God’s plans and appreciating His ideas and designs for our lives certainly seems like worship to me.

Some of these things have been a journey for me over a period of time, and some are newer concepts that I am enjoying as I explore the vastness of God’s riches and glory. In my next post I will talk more about some of the beautiful ways these truths are currently being worked out in my life.

Stay tuned for Part 2, which will be posted tomorrow!

Opportunity Knocks | Jen Chaput

"Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men."

-Colossians 3:23

There aren’t many things I genuinely dislike doing. Any number of kitchen-related activities immediately come to mind, but after that the list tapers off pretty quickly. A few Sundays ago I was reminded of some things that used to top my list.

I was teaching Gideon’s Gang and we were talking about Paul’s life as told through some select chapters in Acts. It chronicled his travels and preaching, but what struck me the most was just his journey of life. It reminded me of something God put on my heart so many years ago. He reminded me that Paul’s mindset of ministry was that we are minute-by-missionaries. We shouldn't see our lives broken up into compartmentalized ministry outlets.  Instead, we can see each moment as a stream of events that make way for God's presence in our lives and the lives around us.

Back in the day [because 5 years ago was practically another lifetime], I was at the end of my college career and preparing for a wedding. I had to find some kind of job to fill the time before classes started in the spring and also wanted to boost our income. During my earlier years at Bethel, my sister-in-law Ann had asked me to work for her at a learning center (day care), but I was already employed by the school and frankly, I was uninterested in being with kids. My philosophy about children was pretty simple – they’re great, when they are some else’s. I was too busy focusing my heart on teens because as a youth ministry student, they were who I was called to minister!

Since I only foresaw employment at the learning center as a placeholder until I graduated, I agreed to work with Ann. I’d be lying if I said I immediately flourished in the alien environment. It took a lot of work for me to warm up to my new surroundings. But as I did, God was able to speak to me about my presence there. Sure, I was helping out a sister and aiding teachers as a sub, but I was also in a position of influence over the children in the class. I was a smiling face to a child that had no support at home. I was a pray-er over a child who was out of control. I was an opportunity for God to reach out and love a child that never felt cared for before. When my heart was changed from obligation to opportunity, I was changed. I wasn’t perfect, but I was aware that every time I interacted with a child, I could give away the love Jesus had given me.

I know that sharing Jesus can feel like a chore when you’re burned out, busy, and are ministering out of obedience or obligation. But you have the same opportunity today that I had 5 years ago. You may not feel like where you are in life speaks to your dreams and desires or even God-given talents, but you were made to give Jesus’ love away to all people. And if you’re like me, you have to learn that our kids are people, too! Just smaller.

Over the past few years, I’ve experienced a lot of changes that would not have been as easy had I not allowed God to tell me that I wasn’t just made for what I believe I was “called to.” I was made for living His love and sharing it with everyone I met, no matter what circumstance I was meeting them. If I had ignored God’s heart for being totally enveloped in His love, and open to sharing it the way He saw fit, I probably wouldn’t be part of this church, let alone the Kids Ministry!

Don’t let the goodness of living God’s love in every area of your life, expected or unexpected, pass you by. Now I know that our big and little brothers and sisters in Christ should get the best from us. And you should get the best of what God is offering you through your circumstances.

It is waiting for you.

On Being an Agent of Grace | Matthew Podjan

Hello brothers and sisters.  I want to share something with you something today that is changing my life, in a very good way.  It is changing my thoughts, the way I look at people, the way I treat myself and others and the way I see God and how I view His perception of me. This blissful something is the juicy, life-filled grace of God.  

Yes, grace.  

Before I even took a breath in this life, Jesus died on the cross and rose from the grave, defeating death once and for all, becoming the sin of the world so I would know no sin.  Being born under the curse of the old Adam, I deserved death.  I deserved hell.  For the first 22 years of my life I defied God, made fun of Him and outright blasphemed Him.  I worshipped satan, was wicked and cruel to people and defied every form of authority possible.  I even branded myself an anarchist.  Just take a look at my left shoulder! (For those of you who don't know, there is an anarchy tattoo there.)

But even though I deserved hell, 10 years ago Christ lavished His extravagant love upon me in the form of a vision and gave me a taste of His divine goodness.  I did not deserve this.  But He let me in anyway.  Forever changed by His grace.

Mercy is not getting what we do deserve and grace is getting what we don't deserve.  Read Ephesians 2:1-10.  Quite possibly one of the greatest, most explosively gorgeous chunks of Scripture ever recorded.  It says we never deserved salvation, but He saved us anyway.  Here is where it gets really good...that salvation from God is not from anything we did or could ever do.  He did it all for us.   A free gift.  No strings attached. He died for the whole world.  You, me, Hitler, Bin-Laden, Marilyn Manson, Stalin, Chuck Norris, Bill Johnson, Obama; He died for us all.  All we have to do to receive this glorious graceful salvation is to believe and accept.  How awesome!  How liberating!  It's like running naked down the shore of a beach.  Freedom!!!

He loves us so much that he allowed us to be unified with Him.  Co-crucified, co-resurrected with Him.  New creations! See Romans 6 and 2 Corinthians 5:17.  

I could go on and on about this grace from a theological standpoint, but now I'll share how I've been applying to my life.  It's funny how easily grace will flow out of you if you just let it.  A lot of it has to do with your mindset.  Scripture says freely you have received, freely give.  We must treat people with the loving grace Jesus lavished on us.  It's no secret that the people in our lives, even the ones we live with and love the most, can be difficult, stubborn, mean and rude. But even as Jesus loves us even when we don't deserve it, we must love that same way toward others.  

Myself, I have to really focus on this.  One way to stay in the sauce on this is to know that through Jesus we have grace for grace.  We have our moments.  We can be difficult too.  But we must remember Jesus has taken over our bodies and He lives through us if we let Him.  See Galatians 2:20. It helps if we are always suckling on this message by reading your Bible.  Yes people, reading your Bible!  Drinking up this life message will no doubt leave you oozing it out in everything you do.  Especially read the letters by Paul.  Filled with messages of grace.

So when I am changing smelly diapers, I have grace for my 2 year old son.  He knows not of his stinky poo.  When my 4 year old son draws a mural on his bedroom wall with crayon, I don't beat him or yell.  Of course there are consequences, but no need to bring the wrath.  God's wrath was satisfied on the cross one and for all.  Our lives should reflect that grace. 

When my boss at work is throwing a tantrum, cussing and swearing and throwing things, I pray for him.  Only God knows what is going on underneath the surface.  Often people's life-changing encounter with Jesus will come from an interaction with a loving, joyful, forgiving agent of grace...us!

Living a life of grace eases the tension.  It easier on the body.  When I am focused on Christ and his grace, I am easier to be around.  Jesus is more clearly seen in me.

I will leave you with a quote from Bill Johnson.  He said, "Jesus didn't accomplish everything so we could accomplish nothing."  It would be very easy to kick back, relax and keep His grace all to yourself.  Don't get me wrong, we need to sit back and soak in His goodness often, but we need to get out there in the world and be the agents of grace He has called us to be.  As long as we keep our affections on Jesus, grace is effortless.  

Because Jesus is in us and we are in him, His DNA becomes ours...and there is lots grace in that blood!  It is just who we are.

Love you!