How To Deepen Your Relationship With Jesus

Invitation To A Journey by Robert Mulholland Jr. – The new book I’ve just opened up and have started reading.  It’s a “Road Map for Spiritual Formation.”  I’m about 40 pages in and if I weren’t a part of a Bible Study, I would have finished it by now. 

This book is all about a spiritual formation as a process, not the instant gratification our culture is used to.  It’s about being formed… not by doing but by being, and it’s all to be formed into the image of Christ for the sake of others.

Well, I read something today and wanted to share with you; it helped me understand the relationship of doing and being.  It’s a passage I’ve struggled with as it seems harsh but my eyes were opened.  I pray this helps you too if this is something that hasn’t “felt” right with your soul.

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At the end of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus deals with the interplay of being and doing in a rather frightening statement.  He says, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 7:21).  He seems to put all the emphasis on doing on the functional dynamics.  But then Jesus continues, “On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and cast out demons in your name, and do mighty works in your name?” (Matthew 7:22). Certainly these are the works of God, are they not, prophesying, casting out demons, doing many mighty works, all in Jesus’ name?

Jesus doesn’t contradict them.  He does not say, “No, you didn’t.” He says, “I never knew you.  Depart from me, you evildoers” (Matthew 7:23). They had the works, the doing, but they didn’t have the relationship with Jesus, the being, as the foundational reality those works would flow out of.  Jesus was pointing to the interrelationship between our doing and our being, but indicating that the order is from being to doing.  The doing is an outflow, the result, of a being that exists in relationship with Jesus as Lord.  So spiritual formation is not something that we do to ourselves or for ourselves, but something we allow God to do in us and for us as we yield ourselves to the work of God’s transforming grace.

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We don’t do things to earn God’s favor.  We already have God’s favor, His grace.  We don’t do things to be with God, He is already here with us, and we just have to open ourselves up to be with Him.   The more I’ve reflected on this, the more I’ve realized this is a struggle.  If I just find the right Bible Study, the right teacher, the right group members to challenge me, I’ll grow closer to God.  But I have it all wrong.  I’ve realized I’m at a point where I need to stop doing and just be.  Don’t even put an ounce of energy in the doing… but put my efforts into just being with God.

And how do I do that… I’m sure hoping the rest of this books helps with that.

Find the book here:

Invitation to a Journey: A Road Map for Spiritual Formation (Transforming Center Set)

Bucket List With Crossroads Church

"Stop dreaming about your Bucket List and start living it."
Annette White

Meet Serina,

Back in the middle of September, Pastor Tim Stanley of Crossroads Church in Hastings, MN contacted us about a really fun opportunity.  They were in the middle of a series called "Bucket List"  They had the congregation fill out cards and write down something they've always wanted to do.  A Bucket List item.  Well, one beautiful young woman wrote, "To model women's clothing for an online boutique.  I've lost over 60lbs and it's my personal goal." 

Enter us!

We have mutual friends so Pastor Stanley contacted us right away to see if we could help and the next Sunday he announced her bucket list item was getting checked off! She was going to be a part of our next photoshoot! I wish I could have seen her face. Mostly because she has the best smile ever!

Well, our latest photoshoot just happened to be this past Monday on a very chilly night. So we grabbed the new cozy Be Still Sweatshirts that will be launched soon, some hot tea, Christmas decor and enjoyed the night. Serina was such a beautiful woman inside and out and we are so lucky to have been asked to help fulfill her dream. And thank you Laura Kleffman Photography for joining us yet again. You captured her beauty and her heart... plus some pretty awesome sweatshirts that will release soon.

And thank you Serina. We hope you enjoyed the experience!

Even if it was a bit chilly.

photo shoot details: Serina helped us work on a lot of Christmas content this last photoshoot! We shot a lot of our accessories for gift ideas. And had fun with a few stocking stuffers. I’m not going to lie… this photoshoot put me into some major Christmas spirit. And if Serina is like me, she may have gone home and asked her husband to put up the Christmas tree… or secretly left out a few of the Christmas props and strategically placed the around the house hoping her husband wouldn’t notice.

Why Jesus Didn't Fast

There are always parts or passages of the bible to me that I never fully grasp.  Like I can’t wrap my head around.  A lot of it has to do with not knowing the cultural context – what life was like at the time of Jesus.  For example, at the end of Luke 5 when he calls upon Levi (later called Matthew) to be His disciple.  I get the call, I get that he is the Great Physician, I get why he sits and dines with sinners, but then he goes into this Bridegroom reference when asked why he doesn’t fast.

They said to him, “John’s disciples often fast and pray, and so do the disciples of the Pharisees, but yours go on eating and drinking.”

Jesus answered, “Can you make the friends of the bridegroom fast while he is with them?

Excuse me, what?

Well, today I read a little more about it from the commentating of David Guzik.

“Jesus answered their question (on fasting) with an allusion to the wedding practices of His day.  A wedding feast was the most vivid picture of joy and happiness in that culture.  During the week long wedding feast it is understood that joy was more important than conformity to religious rituals, if any ceremonial observances would detract from the joy of the wedding feast, it was not required.  Jesus said that his followers should have this kind of happiness.

Basically, they thought Jesus was too happy!

Then he goes to reference a guy named Pate.  Probably some super famous theologian who I have no idea who he is.  But I bet he had a wig…  (or was that just our forefathers?)

According to Pate, there was popular rabbinic text called the Scroll of Fasting and in it was a custom that said that fasting was forbidden on certain specified days devoted to joyous celebration of Israel’s blessing from God.  Jesus appealed to this kind of thinking.

And that my friend is why I read the words of smart people.  So much more light shed now on that verse.  At the time of Jesus, he just wanted to commune, dine, and do life with his people.  Teach and lead.  He didn’t care about fasting. He didn’t care about offering sacrifices. He didn’t care about the to-dos.  He just wanted to be. And he wanted his friends to enjoy him. He was the reasons for the party! And in this case, the dinner party.

But He follows up his statement,

“The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and they will fast in those days.”

But the day will come… we are in those days.  When fasting is appropriate for us.  Our bridegroom was taken away.  But it was at that present time when Jesus was among them, it was not that day.  

Praying this little post helps you understand the word of God just a little bit more.  May we dive in together and get to know the One we worship more and more each day.

Jesus Cleanses The Leper - What We Can Learn

For a few days I studied Luke 5:12-16. It’s the passage where Jesus heals the leper. And when I say a few days, what I usually do is go digging into the commentaries to read their insights. What I love most about this is how they pull specific words out that I may have glanced over as they are familiar stories.

For example, when the man full of leprosy came his words were, “Lord if you will, you can make me clean.” If you will, you can. This man had no previous example of Jesus healing a leper, a hopeless disease, yet he came in great faith while others despised him. He knew Jesus had the ability, but was Jesus willing?

You might ask, why wouldn’t Jesus be willing? In the ancient world, leprosy was a terrible, destructive disease. There were 2 types of leprosy.

• a very bad skin disease

• or the disease where it started as a small spot and then it ate away the flesh until the sufferer was left with a stump. It was literally a living death.

It was just a terrible, awful, contagious disease that debilitated its victims. Society and religious people scorned lepers, thinking this disease was caused by sin and a judgement from God. So they received no pity or mercy. They were left spiritually and emotionally dead. In fact according to Jewish law/customs, a leper had to keep 6 feet away, 150 feet if there was wind. The only thing more defiling was a dead body.

Nevertheless, the leper came.

The leper knew all this, knew his hopelessness, knew how rabbis stayed clear, knew he was an outcast, he knew there was a big ol’ chance he would get turned away. In fact, I read that the healing of the leper was compared to raising the dead! Yet he knew the power of Jesus! So he came. He knew Jesus could heal.

And that he did!

How did he? With a touch. The man most likely hadn’t been touched in years yet Jesus saw the need. He didn’t have to touch him, he could have healed him with just words as he had done so many times before but the touch showed compassion. This man who was thought to be untouchable was now touched by the Messiah himself.

But then Jesus tells the leper to tell no one of his miraculous healing. Why? Basically, to calm the excitement of the crowds. It was not yet his time to reveal who he was. What gets me most though in this whole passage was this - a comment I read - super challenging one:

It’s a strange fact that the one Jesus commanded to tell no one told everyone

and we who are commanded to tell every one often tell no one.

Read that again.

And again.

we who are commanded, often tell no one.

#gutcheck

It’s true isn’t it. It is for me. Yeah, Yeah, I have a blog and clothing line. But that’s in the safety behind the computer screen. The fact is we all fall short of this. Let’s be real…

Then let’s make a change.

Let’s be like the leper and share Jesus. It doesn’t have to be in extreme ways, it fact, 1 John 3:18 tells us to not just love in words and speech but in action and in truth. People will know Jesus not by what we say, it’s through the way we live. Our actions. The words will come. But the action comes first. It did for the leper. He came in a bold act of faith, was healed, and in the act of love and honor for the man who just miraculously healed him, he showed himself before the people. Pretty sure he didn’t even have to say a word to be a witness. Maybe he uttered the word “jesus” when people asked him how. Who knows, the text doesn’t say. But it does say that great crowds gathered to hear and be healed after they saw the man who was now clean and “whole.”

May we be like the leper who came humbly yet with a fierce faith, praying to a God who he knew had the power, to just be willing. Then may we live a life on mission - following the Great Commission - sharing with everyone what he has done for us.

#liveonmission

The Silversmith - Refiner and Purifier

I came across this post on Facebook. I’ve heard a story similar to this and absolutely love the analogy and wanted to share it here with you all.

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There was once a group of women studying the book of Malachi in the Old Testament. As they were studying chapter three, they came across verse three, which says: “He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver.” This verse puzzled the women, and they wondered what this statement meant about the character and nature of God. One of the women offered to find out about the process of refining silver and get back to the group at their next Bible study.

That week this woman called up a silversmith and made an appointment to watch him at work. She didn’t mention anything about the reason for her interest beyond her curiosity about the process of refining silver. As she watched the silversmith, he held a piece of silver over the fire and let it heat up. He explained that in refining silver, one needed to hold the silver in the middle of the fire where the flames were hottest as to burn away all the impurities.

The woman thought about God holding us in such a hot spot – then she thought again about the verse, that he sits as a refiner and purifier of silver. She asked the silversmith if it was true that he had to sit there in front of the fire the whole time the silver was being refined.

The man answered “Yes”, and explained that he not only had to sit there holding the silver, but he had to keep his eyes on the silver the entire time it was in the fire. If the silver was left even a moment too long in the flames, it would be damaged.

The woman was silent for a moment. Then she asked the silversmith, “How do you know when the silver is fully refined?”

He smiled at her and answered, “Oh, that’s easy. When I see my image in it.”

If today you are feeling the heat of this world’s fire, just remember that God the Father and His Son Jesus Christ are refining you. "You are predestined to be conformed to the image of Christ."

- Unknown

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“My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.” - James 1:2-4

We read verses like Malachi or in James to count our trials as all joy but often our hearts and minds go in the complete opposite direction. Sorrow, annoyance, anger. We can’t understand how “sally” over there has every thing we’ve wanted yet does not serve or love like Jesus. Yet we are at church every stinkin’ Sunday and Wednesday serving! Can we not catch a break? Maybe just an extra love of a $5 bill in our pocket for a coffee?

But if we take an honest look at our life, a good hard truth seeking look, we’ll realize the trials and hardships that we have walked, trudged or maybe even crawled through have shaped us into the lovely humans we are. Those trials scrape away all the pride, melt off the selfishness, and shape us into people who want to love like Jesus who serve and desire for others to know the same God we know that transformed our lives.

My trials have been shaming, icky and weary but it’s those hardships that have brought me to where I am today. A woman who knows what Jesus’s saving grace looks like. What “terms” and “words” in the Bible really mean like new creation and redeemed. What it means to lay your burdens at the cross. Our past, our current trials are what connect us with those who do not yet know Jesus. It humbles us to know we are in need of a Savior, a Shepherd to lead the way.

As the article said, if today you are feeling the heat of this world’s fire, just remember that God the Father and His Son Jesus Christ are refining you. "You are predestined to be conformed to the image of Christ." He is bringing you to a place where you are perfect and complete, lacking nothing. He’s melting away this world so you can join Him in the one to come.