I Lift My Eyes Devotionals

It’s Mother’s Day here in North America! It got me thinking about the wonderful men and women in my life who have been spiritual parents to me over the years in my Christian walk. They were there to nurture, comfort and encourage me to enter into a deeper walk with Christ. They held me accountable yet demonstrated unconditional love. How I value their place in my life!

Growing up in a non-Christian family, I was truly starting out as a babe in Christ at the age of seventeen. Without these spiritual moms and dads in my life I would have been lost! I had no idea how to feed myself, I had no idea how to dive into the Word and receive nourishment there.

My understanding of having a pure heart and clean hands before the Lord was limited. The concept of daily repentance sounded foreign to me. These dear older sisters and brothers in Christ pointed me to the Comforter and my true Shelter and fortress, Jesus Christ. So many times they became the physical representation of Christ’s love, security and acceptance with warm hugs, listening ears and wise counsel.

One dear sweet spiritual mom invited me into her heart as a daughter for a season. I trekked to her modest home at least two or three times a week, not minding the long bus ride. My favourite times were spent in her kitchen, over a cup of tea. When time got away on us, Opal would insist I stay for supper. I enjoyed those meals as I could relate to her family. They weren’t perfect, they were every day folk just like me. She had a backslidden son, a non-believing husband and a daughter whose faith often wavered. To call their tiny house modest was an understatement, yet Opal always made room for me.

Through listening to a very confused teen and asking questions just at the right moment, Opal led me in to deeper walk with Christ. Over the period of several months, I learned more at Opal’s kitchen table than I ever would have by studying Christian books or self-help books. Through infusing the principles of forgiveness, openness, accountability and faith as she shared her life with me, I learned what it meant to be clothed in the garments of praise and righteousness. I learned about prayer and intercession and personal ministry as I was invited to, at first observe, then take part as she ministered to hurting young men and women who attended a weekly interdenominational home fellowship.

Opal was just one of many spiritual moms in my life over the years and I’ve had many spiritual fathers as well. How grateful I am to them! I have been given the awesome privilege as a single woman to act as mentor and spiritual mom to younger Christians over the years and my sincere hope is that I instilled even a measure of the positive influence that my own mentors have had in my life. Perhaps as you read this, a younger person in your church or in your community flashes in your mind. Ask the Lord, is he calling you to mentor this person, nurture their faith and draw them into a deeper intimate walk with our Heavenly Father?

Until next week,

© 2012 Katherine Walden

I have quite a collection of ‘big sticks’ that I have gathered over the years. These destructive weapons are not visible to the natural eye, making them even more dangerous. You won’t come across these weapons in a gun catalogue or in a martial arts studio; they carry a lethal blow if used repeatedly. These weapons cause great harm to a victim’s spirit, soul and body. What is even more heinous, these weapons are used to inflict grievous self-harm. I have witnessed the devastating aftermath caused by these self-inflicted assaults in the lives of my friends and family. I have personally dealt with the aftermath of yielding a ‘big stick’ against myself by retreating into the shadows; hoping no one sees my battle scars.

What is the name of this loathsome weapon?

Self-condemnation.

My definition of self-condemnation is the harsh judgment that we place upon ourselves, blanketing our whole being with lies that we are the ‘worst person on the planet’ that we are so hopelessly flawed and there is absolutely no way that we can possibly find redemption. Condemnation attacks our whole being with broad and vague statements that offers no hope for our miserable condition. We use our sticks of self-condemnation when we fall into repeated sin. When we experience unexpected and unexplained failure and disappointment in our lives, we yield our ‘big stick’ against ourselves. After all, it can’t be God’s fault! This barbaric approach does nothing to bring healing or resolution to our sinful hearts and may result in scars that eventually block our hearts from receiving God’s truth. Self-condemnation is the equivalent of dropping a nuclear bomb on a house when trying get rid of a lone mouse in the attic. Overkill at its worst.

In contrast, God’s weapon for dealing with sin is precise and effective. The sharp arrow of God’s conviction zeroes in on the exact center of a specific infection or fatal disease in our hearts. His conviction is never vague or broad in its scope. Conviction, when left in the hands of our skillful Surgeon, always provides an avenue for healing, restoration and freedom. As we follow the Divine Surgeon’s orders, repenting of the specific sin and determining to make life choices so we will not return to destructive behaviour, we will find true and lasting healing.

Hebrews 4:12 NIV
For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.

Hebrews 4:12 (The Message)
His powerful Word is sharp as a surgeon’s scalpel, cutting through everything, whether doubt or defense, laying us open to listen and obey.

Romans 8:1-5 NIV
Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in sinful man, in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit. Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires.

May I invite you to step away from the ‘big sticks’ of your own life today? Would you walk away from your own judgment seat and submit your heart to the true and merciful Judge, Jesus Christ?
——–

He comes to us in the brokenness of our health, in the shipwreck of our family lives, in the loss of all possible peace of mind, even in the very thick of our sins. He saves us in our disasters, not from them. He emphatically does not promise to meet only the odd winner of the self-improvement lottery: He meets us all in our endless and inescapable losing.

Robert Farrar Capon

Until next week,

© 2012 Katherine Walden

Whatever is only almost true is quite false, and among the most dangerous of errors, because being so near truth, it is the more likely to lead astray.

Henry Ward Beecher

I am a proud Canadian, grateful that the people of Canada are known world-wide for being polite and accepting. It is often said that Canadians are so polite that we will apologize to a table if we happen to bump into it. I have to confess that I once apologized to my own reflection when I accidentally brushed against a mirrored wall. My American friends tease me, boasting that they easily spot a Canadian not only by our ‘eh’ at the end of every sentence but by our need to apologize for everything that goes on around us. It is not our fault, although I apologize for our behaviour! It is bred into us! I vividly remember scraping my knees multiple times as a pre-schooler and my mother’s attempts to distract me from my ‘owie’ by suggesting that I consider the feelings of the poor sidewalk I assaulted. Unless I was truly injured, her little ruse never failed to get me to giggle at the absurdity of such a request, even as I offered a sniffly ‘sorry’ to the concrete. Her ruse worked just as well on her grandchildren!

In today’s world of political correctness, Canadians are beside ourselves as we find ourselves apologizing left right and center, trying to keep up with the latest terminology for a people group or a disadvantaged person. For fear of possibly offending anyone, our national and provincial laws are increasingly restricting our freedom of speech.

While pondering the Canadian condition, I felt the Lord’s gentle conviction that I apologize much too much for his liking. I felt His kind rebuke for the times that I have offered a word of apology to avoid confrontation. I would rather appease a friend and avoid their ire than speak the truth in love and risk a confrontation. Apologizing in such an instance is akin to lying and can be destructive; enabling the other party to maintain the delusion that they are rightfully entitled to their offense.

I am sure you have run across the easily offended in the supermarket, in your workplace, in your church or your home. They feel the world owes them an apology and they have difficulty in discerning what is truly an offense and what is merely an inconvenience. While God calls us to turn the other cheek and to go the extra mile, I believe it is not pleasing to him when we facilitate such behavior by a hasty apology said only with the intent to placate the person in question. We are called to be humble, gentle, patient and above all – loving. However, we are to speak the truth within the confines of that love.

Ephesians 4:1-3; 14-16
Therefore I, a prisoner for serving the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of your calling, for you have been called by God. Always be humble and gentle. Be patient with each other, making allowance for each other’s faults because of your love. Make every effort to keep yourselves united in the Spirit, binding yourselves together with peace. …
…Then we will no longer be immature like children. We won’t be tossed and blown about by every wind of new teaching. We will not be influenced when people try to trick us with lies so clever they sound like the truth. Instead, we will speak the truth in love, growing in every way more and more like Christ, who is the head of his body, the church. He makes the whole body fit together perfectly. As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love.

For further study on the subject of offense, I strongly recommend John Bevere “The Bait of Satan”.

Until Next Week

© 2012 Katherine Walden

A thought passed my mind this week as I read various responses on Facebook to statuses posted by hurting Christians who were facing serious health crises or were dealing with the loss of a loved one. While most responses were sympathetic in nature, some were rather strident in offering the advice to ‘buck up, grab your faith by the bootstraps and move on’. I probably shouldn’t mention the insensitive and rather lazy responses of some who merely clicked the ‘like’ link when a brokenhearted sister shared the grievous news of the sudden and tragic loss of her beloved brother. Wouldn’t a simple ‘sorry for your loss’ be more appropriate? But I digress.

When a person is grieving the loss of a loved one or the sudden loss of their health, that inner hurt is like an open wound. Although they may be quite resilient against careless remarks and slights when all is right in their world, while in that moment of crisis, they wince in pain at even the slightest of careless brushes against that wound.

What was Jesus’ response to those who came to him brokenhearted and in need of healing? Did he lecture them on their lack of faith as a reason why they were not yet healed? Did he give the families of those who he raised from the dead a pep talk on pushing past grief into victory before he raised the dead? No. Jesus rebuked his disciples on more than one occasion on their lack of faith but he always had a word of encouragement for those who came to him for healing. He wept with those who wept. He showed the love of His Father in practical ways to those who were hurting: healing the blind, cleansing the leper, making the lame to walk, forgiving the sins of the sinners and delivering those who were tormented by the evil one. He extended his grace to the weary and brought hope to the hopeless.

Until Next Week,

© 2012 Katherine Walden

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