Growing up just slightly to the west of the Bible Belt’s proverbial buckle I entered adulthood with a strong knowledge of the Word of God. That’s the bright side.  The other side of that shiny buckle is that I grew up with a lot of ideas that were touted as “Christian” that were really just cultural.  The culture was so entwined with Christianity that it was very difficult to see them each for what they were.

 One funny example is what were known as “The Blue Laws”.  These laws prohibited certain commercial activities on Sundays.  Car sales are still prohibited!  All of this, thanks to the Puritan heritage that still influences our culture.  Never mind that there is nothing in the New Testament stating that we are bound to the Old Testament laws of the Sabbath or that these laws, when first established in the colony of Connecticut, allowed for the militia to force people to attend church and forbade everything from working to wearing lace.  

As a young adult I moved with my husband to New York City.  I was somewhat amused at the fear exhibited toward Southern Christians.  I knew they had little to be afraid of, but maybe the militia thing was still haunting them.  For the first time in my life I started to see the difference between culture and Christianity.  I happily discovered that I could wear jeans or shorts to church without being looked at like a heathen!  It was not because these people were disrespectful of being in church or because they simply weren’t “raised right”.  It was just a practical matter.  We all walked a long way (by suburban standards) to get to church.  We dressed for the weather and for wherever we were going after church, which was usually Central Park.

I later moved to Ohio and then to North Carolina.  I’ve ben in a lot of different kinds of churches.  I’ve noticed that churches have their cultural expressions as well.  I’ve learned to appreciate the differences.  The different churches addressed in Revelations had different strengths and weaknesses.  Jesus had something to say to each of them on both counts.  I’ve been to churches in several countries other than the United States.  Those experiences are eye opening as well.  

Lately my eyes have been opened further.  There is a purity in our personal relationship with Jesus that comes when we recognize that we really are not of this world or the cultures we live in and neither is Jesus.  The Lord has taken me aside lately and helped me to examine my heart, beliefs, assumptions and mind sets once again.  He wants us to have a Kingdom of God mindset first, rather than an earthly regional or even denominational (i.e. Texan, Baptist, Eastern, Northern, American, Episcopalian, non-denominational etc.) mindset.  We are all shaped by our culture and he placed us where we are and has given us certain experiences to teach us certain things, but ultimately, our identity has to be in Him and as Citizens of His Kingdom, and although it is molded it cannot be grounded in our culture, Christian or otherwise.  When we are not Christ centered, we tend toward pride and egocentrism or on the other end of the spectrum globalism.

So, if you dare, ask the Lord to show you the things that you may have accepted as “The Gospel Truth” that are really only cultural at best and unscriptural at worst.  It’s a needed exercise at some point and it makes us much more usable by God to those of all cultures and nationalities.

^{Luke 17:21}Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.

Several months ago I got an e-mail from someone I didn’t know. I read it and sent it to my friend/PR Rep Robin with a note saying that I was wanted for an interview. Robin called me on the phone a few days later.

“Kelly,” she said in her matter of fact way, “They don’t want to interview you. They want you to host a show!”

“Oh, no. Huh-uh” I stammered.

Robin just laughed at me and said, “I knew you’d say that. You’ll do it.”

Well, Robin was right. Here I am today launching my new show Living The Call. This is part of the call God has given me. Being in the public is not at all my idea of how I would choose to live, but I learned a long time ago that it’s not about me. So I am stepping through the door that God has opened and will do whatever I can to bring stories of God’s faithfulness to many.

Mickey Robinson is my guest today on Living The Call and his story of God’s faithfulness is truly amazing. Mickey died in 1968. You don’t want to miss the rest of this story! Tune in at 1:00 p.m. EST to World Talk Radio. Here is the link:
http://www.modavox.com/worldtalkradio/vshow.aspx?sid=1613

Living the call on our lives is always a challenge but never boring!

Passage John 15:9-11:
9 “I have loved you even as the Father has loved me. Remain in my love. 10 When you obey my commandments, you remain in my love, just as I obey my Father’s commandments and remain in his love. 11 I have told you these things so that you will be filled with my joy. Yes, your joy will overflow!

And there it is! The “secret” to a joyful life is no secret at all. The bottom line with God is always love. Knowing we are loved by God and living in that place of love fills us with life and joy!

We wander around so often wondering why we can’t find joy but Jesus is so plain about it all. He even tells us how to remain in love so that we might remain in joy. It is through obedience.

I think that part rubs us the wrong way. We don’t like to obey. Our flesh is not into humility and submission. We’d rather think that we have more to do with our own joy. We’d like to think that it is our choice and we create it. Those things are only true within our submission to God first.

We sometimes make choices without really consulting the One who knows and loves us best and think we are choosing for our own happiness, but eventually we find that living for our own happiness does not lead to true joy. We humans are curious creatures. We often fight hardest against the things that will bring us what we desire most. Sometimes it is so uncomfortable to abide and obey. It is just counterintuitive that out of obedience true joy springs and overflows.

I know that Jesus has more joy than most. The scripture speaks of Him in the psalms as having more joy than His brothers, yet we know that He experiences sorrow and anger and grief as well. It leads me to believe that joy is not so much an emotion as we often think of it, but rather a state of being and that, that state is maintainable and can remain constant even in the midst of very diverse circumstances and emotions.

Thw Bible says that there are seasons for mourning. September 11 marks the most significant time of national mourning since my birth. It was so sudden and jarring, and for my family, very close to home. There are times, and this was one of them, that comfort cannot be found. There were no words to make us feel better, we simply had to mourn.

We had to feel the shock, and pain and vulnerability. We had to cry. We had to get angry at injustice. We had to hold onto each other and be held by God. I remember that part so well; holding on. In times like those, everything that we know is sort of up in the air, there is nothing we can do and our only recourse is to be. We just have to be in pain and be together and as we cry out to God we find that He is not expecting anything more of us and is perfectly willing to just be with us too.

When we can just be with Him, something changes. The circumstances don’t, but somehow, eventually, the edges are softened, our hearts are calmed and at some point we start to hear that still, small, voice once again and we gain strength for the next moment. Mourning is a slow and tedious process but if we give in to the process, we find that the process works. It is the vehicle we have been given to bring us from shock and despair to celebrating life again.

Today we remember what happened and the people we lost but we are not mourning in the same way. Other times of mourning will come. They always do. In the mean time, we need to enjoy the seasons we are in and always spend time just being with God so that we know instictively where to go when we are blinded by pain.

Psalm 56:8:

8 You keep track of all my sorrows.[a]
You have collected all my tears in your bottle.
You have recorded each one in your book.

The God of all things and all people is not the least bit shocked when we, personally or collectively, experience disturbing times and events. He is still on the throne when our heads are spinning and our hearts are broken. He knows that we are merely flesh even while we are reeling from the circumstances that cause us to recognize that fact ourselves. Jesus was painfully aware of how difficult it is to live as a human and how we would feel when the world around us is behaving like, well, the world. And he told his friends that things would get worse before they got better. Then He told them to keep their chins up.

Luke 21:28 Now when these things begin to occur, look up and lift up your heads, because your redemption (deliverance) is drawing near.

God is not trapped by the time and space we live in. He wants us to know that the things on Earth are only a shadow of things that are real. He knows, and so does the enemy, that if we really grasp that reality we might be shaken but we will never be moved from the place of strength, joy and hope that we have in Christ. An eternal perespective is one of the keys to overcoming especially in the days we are now in.

2 Corinthians 4:18 So we don’t look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever.

This is why we close our eyes during prayer. I always say that I can see better with my eyes closed! So what is it that He wants us to see and fix our gaze on? It is Jesus! He wants us to see Him and his beauty. Whe we see Him, nothing else matters at all!

Acts 7:55
But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed steadily into heaven and saw the glory of God, and he saw Jesus standing in the place of honor at God’s right hand.

That’s what we have to do; stay full of the Holy Spirit and gaze staedily into heaven until we can see clearly. When get a glimpse of the things of heaven we hunger and thirst for God, nothing else is even remotely as important. Our perspective is totally altered by the beauty of His presence.

Psalm 63 1 O God, you are my God;
I earnestly search for you.
My soul thirsts for you;
my whole body longs for you
in this parched and weary land
where there is no water.
2 I have seen you in your sanctuary
and gazed upon your power and glory.
3 Your unfailing love is better than life itself;
how I praise you!
4 I will praise you as long as I live,
lifting up my hands to you in prayer.
5 You satisfy me more than the richest feast.
I will praise you with songs of joy.

6 I lie awake thinking of you,
meditating on you through the night.
7 Because you are my helper,
I sing for joy in the shadow of your wings.
8 I cling to you;
your strong right hand holds me securely.

2 Corinthians 4:8-10 8 We are pressed on every side by troubles, but we are not crushed. We are perplexed, but not driven to despair. 9 We are hunted down, but never abandoned by God. We get knocked down, but we are not destroyed. 10 Through suffering, our bodies continue to share in the death of Jesus so that the life of Jesus may also be seen in our bodies.

The circumstances that we are facing right now that seem to press relentlessly and the stuff from tragedy to annoyance that pushes until we are knocked to our knees are the very things the Lord allows to bring death to our flesh and life to our souls and to souls around us. Sometimes I think God gives us little reprieves, but not for long.

Luke 3:16
John answered them all by saying, I baptize you with water; but He Who is mightier than I is coming, the strap of Whose sandals I am not fit to unfasten. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.

Baptism with fire is a reminder that we have been accepted by God (a very good thing) to be living sacrifices (a not so fun thing) unto Him. When we first realize that the Lord accepts our lives as holy sacrifices it is an overwhelmingly humbling honor. Soon though, our flesh catches on to the whole thing and is crying out for mercy and pleading its case to be allowed to live. We would make all kinds of exceptions and excuses but The Holy Spirit is ruthless when it comes to our flesh and sin. We would try to talk our way out of crucifying the flesh in just about any way we could, but Holy Spirit is, well, holy. And His mercy toward us is so powerful that He won’t have mercy on our sin. He is single minded in His efforts to bring us freedom and present us as a spotless bride to Jesus.

The methods He uses are not always easily understood by our human minds and emotions. The places He allows us to tread and even leads us to are not always what we had in mind when we signed up for a journey to the promised land. In those times it is most important not to become offended at God and angry with His ways. He knows where we are going and what it will take to get there. More importantly, He knows the people we will cross on the way and has directed our path as much for them as for us.

2 Corinthians 4:11-12
11For we which live are always delivered unto death for Jesus’ sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh. 12So then death worketh in us, but life in you (those around us).

This has been a weekend of extremes and opposites. I have gone from the deepest trenches to the highest heights and I am feeling conflicting emotions and thinking conflicting thoughts.

It started on Friday morning with a Skype call from Ukraine. I was able to speak to one of my dear friends for the first time in nine years with the help of another Ukranian friend acting as the interpreter. My friend Natasha said her heart was beating so hard she thought it would come out of her chest! The whole time was just saturated with Holy Spirit. By the time we prayed at the end of the hour, the presence of God was so strong that all I could think about was how awesome it must be in Heaven. I remembered why I never wanted to leave Ukraine.

Friday and Saturday night were spent at a conference. The Lord felt so close and our minds were filled with truth. Somehow, in between all that there was a lot of “stuff” happening. Things to deal with and figure out. Things that were honestly way beyond our ability and human wisdom to tackle.

By Sunday, we were just physically wiped out, emotionally drained and like I said before, a little confused. I decided it was best not to even give my feelings a chance to speak. This morning as we prayed, I had a clearer understanding of what had happened, why we felt the way we did and what God was after in all of this.

When I was a kid, older Christians would describe part of my weekend as “mountain top experience”. Then they would sort of pat us on our heads and tell us that we have to come down. The coming down is always the hard part. The confusion of that whole process was answered by what God revealed to me today. He showed me that although we have to “come down” and live our every day lives, He doesn’t want us to leave everything He imparted to us on the mountain behind.

The words He had me pray today were, “Give us integration of revelation.” When He opens the Heavens and imparts to us things of the Spirit, it is not so we can leave and say. “I met with God. How cool.” He opens the Heavens and gives us revelation so that those things of Heaven change our spiritual DNA and become a part of who we are. As the the nature of God becomes more amore a part of who we are, then His Spirit has more influence in the Earth and on the people with whom we are in contact. Be encouraged to reach for the Heavens but don’t stop there; let God integrate what you find there into who you are and then impart it to others.

2 Corinthians 4:6-7

6For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

7But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.

Yesterday I left to run errands and stopped along the way to enjoy some “me time”.

Just as I was about to take the first sip of my latte, I was approached by a local reporter and his cameraman.  They wanted a few comments about the recent banking news.  I obliged.  Then I called my friend to catch up and just as I was leaving to go do my errand a guy backed into me in the parking lot while I was just sitting there!  Just then the phone rang.  A bit rattled, I skipped that call and called my husband.

Feeling better, I called my friend whose call I had skipped.  It turns out he needed prayer for his wife.  But before we got to pray another call came in.  It was a teenager I know.  She was crying and on her way to the hospital, so I prayed for her.  Then it was back to my other friend to finally pray with him.

My prayers felt more powerful than they have in months!  I couldn’t help but think of how Holy Spirit is more than happy to breathe on us when we step out of ourselves and take part in the lives of others.  Even though unusual things were happening around me, some of them interesting and some upsetting, everything quickly faded when I focused on what God was putting before me.

“Me time” is really important but sometimes, the only way to get filled up and re-charged is to give it all away.
So, if you are like me and can sometimes get into a “funk” make the best of every opportunity to pour yourself and God’s love and power into the lives of others. It’s the best pick- me-up around!

Luke 6:38
Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again.

1 Timothy3 Endure suffering along with me, as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. 4 Soldiers don’t get tied up in the affairs of civilian life, for then they cannot please the officer who enlisted them. 

Just in case your head is so far into the sand that you haven’t come up for air in a while or you have somehow managed to remain in so kind of proverbial bubble, the world has not  been operating in a “business as usual” mode for quite some time.  I don’t write about it often because I hate to point out the obvious and my true desire is to focus people on Jesus.

Today, though, it feels like the obvious is screaming to be noticed amidst the circus of distractions.  Even the worldliest take notice when over a half dozen celebrities die in one week.  Of course we’ve lost count of the men, women, and children who have died in recent wars and new wars seem to threaten daily.  But that’s not all.  There is just a sense of urgency in the Heavens, so to speak.

Many of us have sensed these things coming and know this is just the beginning.  I think that it is time to call the Body of Christ to focus on our purpose in the Earth.  We are not citizens of this Earth.  We are residents of the Kingdom of God and are only here to demonstrate His love and power.  Things are going to get tougher in some ways, but that will only give us greater opportunity to shine the light of Christ.

If we are going to shine His light, however, we must make it a priority to draw close to God, walk in holiness and humility and be single-minded.  We cannot indulge our flesh and walk in the power of God. We are going to need His power in the days ahead both for ourselves and for those around us.  There is no more time to dabble in the things of God.  The time is now to : 

8 Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.
9 Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness.
10 Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.

James 4:8-10:

Hi everyone!  I’ve been away so long that I feel like I need to introduce myself or something!!

There has been so much going on and right in the middle of it my computer went on the blitz!  It was very disturbing.  I am certain that if I had to give up my Mac or my wheelchair, the chair would just have to go.  I called Mac support and we went through this whole thing and the tech guy gave me dreadful news.  He thought it could be water damage.  And that’s not covered!  Was that possible?  Could be, I thought, since I use my laptop as a dinner tray.  I was crushed!  So I made an appointment with the Genius Bar at the Apple store.  Those are the computer geeks for Apple who actually diagnose and fix their computers.

I got out a couple of days later in a torrential downpour from a tropical depression to take Mac in for the appointment.  We got there early only because I had the time wrong.  We finally got called in for our appointment.  The “genius” at the bar was not as stereotypically geeky as I had imagined, but she seemed smart enough nonetheless.  I told her my water fears.  She told me that would cost around $850.00.  I tried not to panic and shot up a quick prayer for Mac.

The “genius” did a quick examination of Mac and after several Hmmmm’s told me that Mac’s symptoms did not match what she typically saw with water damage.  Good news!  She said if I left Mac there, it would take about 12 days to get to him and then they would call me and tell me the diagnoses.  She wanted to know if I could go without a computer that long.  I thought about it.  Twelve days is a long time, but I had to have an operating computer so I turned Mac over to her.

Then I remembered I had my Ipod Touch in my purse!  I asked her if she could set up my e-mail and facebook on the I-Pod so that at least I had that while Mac was away.  She did and I left feeling very connected (finally) and very 21st century.

Then a miracle happened!  Two hours later I got the news that Mac had no water damage and that everything had ben repaired and I could come get him (free of charge!).  So Mac and I are back, working together again.  All is well.  :)