Soul Sister Time

Civilization is God’s idea. Cities are vital to God’s plan for the world. Jesus taught us to pray that His Kingdom would come (Matthew 6:10). Why? How does God want us to love cities and His Kingdom as much as He does? God loves, loves, loves Jerusalem! There is no doubt that the place on this earth most sacred to God is Jerusalem. Jerusalem is still the center of the nation of Israel to this day, though it was hundreds of years after the Israelites went into the Promised Land before they captured this city. What was Chris Tomlin thinking about when he wrote these lyrics? You're the God of this City You're the King of these people You're the Lord of this nation You are … For greater things have yet to come And greater things are still to be done in this City Greater thing have yet to come And greater things are still to be done in this City http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d61LamkXfwk&noredirect=1 Was he connecting to the heart of God for the city? Was he g...

            There’s something very important that we need to remember about God, according to the prayer Jesus taught us to pray.   We need to remember where He is—He is in heaven.               When we pray to God our prayers will fare better if we orient ourselves to God’s perspective.   His viewpoint is from heaven.   Ours is limited to earth.   We have gravity, landfills, wars, rape (dare I go on?) to block our view.   He sees all of that and more, but seeing it does not block His view of what is possible.   He is not limited by gravity, landfills, wars, etc.               When we pray to our God Who is in heaven, we are not praying to a god who is detached from earthly limitations.   He is well aware of the painful realities that He never wanted for us.   They break His...

            Sometimes it is hard to become a fan of God’s decisions.   We don’t always understand them, especially when bad things happen.   There are those times when something that you really wanted went to someone else, but the in the end you can see how you are better off without it.   There are a whole lot of situations in life that just don’t make sense, no matter how you look.                   Thomas a Kempis makes it simple for us.   He writes: It is best if we accept God’s decisions without complaint.   Do not ask him to defend his actions, or to explain why one person is favored and another seems slighted.   The answers to those questions go far beyond our comprehension.   This is true, but it’s hard to get to this place.   It is a place of great confidence in God.       ...

     In our efforts to open our hearts, minds and spirits to God in our lives, one of the major obstacles is the image of God we have unknowingly created. Thomas Keating says, The spiritual journey has a great difficulty in getting off to a good start if we are carrying a load of unexamined and unquestioned negative attitudes toward God. [i]      No one is immune. We each create an image of God out of our childish experiences and also through the way we saw our authority figures in our lives. That is not God. That is the God they gave you. Most often the spiritual journey is about breaking away from that God into ever broadening experiences. Jesus taught us to see God just as we see Him. He gives us a great tool and spiritual exercise that will aid us on our spiritual journey of knowing God for who He really is. Matthew 6:6,9 are parts of Jesus’ teaching about prayer , But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your...

            Jesus is our solid rock.   Those words can roll off your tongue, especially if you are familiar with the Hymn— On Christ the Solid Rock I Stand !   It’s quite another reality to let its truth sink into your mind and soul.   Apparently God wanted to me have a rock lesson. When I was 16, I had my first experience of rock climbing and repelling in Wyoming.   I wasn’t crazy about the climbing, but I loved repelling.   After the terrifying moment you leap off the cliff, you find your fears relieved as you lunge into a great adventure.   If you are willing to let go of your fears and trust the ropes to hold you, you can feel the thrill and freedom of defying gravity.    I often refer to this experience in counseling people as I tell them the only way to feel God’s love is make the leap of faith.   In repelling the ropes don’t feel like much assurance when you are standing on the cl...

My friend asked me to listen to some audio teaching about healing. She wanted me to help her evaluate the biblical foundations of what is being taught. It’s always a good idea to have someone else consider the teachings you are receiving, especially if they seem a little on the radical side. The thing about miracles is that Jesus did say that our faith is vital to experiencing them—some of the greatest faith around was from Gentiles who came to Jesus for healing (Canaanite woman in Matthew 15:21-28 and the Roman Centurion in Matthew 8:5-13). There are times when the person being healed is not mentioned to have faith (healing of paralyzed man in Luke 5:17-26), rather the healing results from the faith of the friends. Other times, faith is not attributed to anyone around or even the person being healed (as in the case of the man born blind in John 9 and the man at the pool of Bethesda in John 5:1-15). By the way, how ignorant of God can you be after he healed you from a lifetime dis...

            Isn’t it just like God to show up in the place where you least expect Him?   I did expect to feel a connection to God when I went to preview a movie that will be coming out on October 7 called The Way .   I knew the basic plot of the movie—that it involved a grieving father and the well-known Christian pilgrimage across the country of Spain called The St. James Way (El Camino de Santiago) .   In fact, the pilgrimage has been on my list of dream trips             What I least expected was to be so amazed by the real life faith expressed by the movie’s star Martin Sheen and to be impressed with the family connection and closeness experienced by Martin and his son Emilio Estevez (of Breakfast Club fame) the writer and director who also appears in the movie.    This preview was arranged in Dallas where the Martin Sheen and Emilio Estevez met wit...