Throughout scripture there is a consistent theme of growing in maturity.  The assumption made is that every individual who comes into a relationship with Christ will change.  Transformation is a new creation process that is imparted to every new birth.  This is not an option.  The consequence of friendship with the One and Only God is life changing.  I think anyone who professes Christ would agree with the above statements, yet there often seems to be resistance to change.  If we are growing in understanding it demands change.  To not adjust and change might reflect a lack of desire or a lack of learning.  Or if we are totally honest do we really want to play it safe?  It’s comfortable to be in what is known and seen.  It’s nice to settle into traditions that have been passed down from generations of long ago.  Yet, I wonder in these settled places of foundational bulwarks have we built on understandings of times past that may need some adjustments?  I’m not concluding we throw out the foundations of our faith, but look at them with new eyes, new hearts and new attitudes.  We don’t like asking hard questions, it makes us uncomfortable.  But hard questions must be asked to dig deeper, understand more profoundly and grow.  God is not threatened by such questions; in fact I think there is a delight as we search the infinite expanse of knowledge and wisdom.  So why are we frightened?  Could it be we really don’t want to encounter someone or something that is truly unexplainable?  Could it be that we like our illusions of line drawing in defining our faith and God that somehow make us feel in control?  To follow God is to follow the unexplainable, the indefinable and the unfathomable.  To follow God requires stepping out of comfort zones and safety nets that we have built that truly are not safe.  To follow God means adjusting, shifting, changing and growing.  To follow God does not mean insisting on our own ways but submission to a Spirit that is far above any thought process we possess.   To follow God requires letting go.

This summer Ezer is asking every woman to take time to search God.  This summer we are asking you for the month of June to search the scriptures, pray and fast.  This summer we are asking that you ask God what is God asking of you as an Ezer; and what is God asking of the ministry of Ezer.  Our purpose is to encourage you to grow in maturity and to partner with our brothers in faith.  Our purpose demands obedience not to programs and traditions, but to God alone.  This is outside our comfort zone.  This is outside the familiar.  This is God territory and this is where I as a leader of Ezer want to live.

In addition to your daily meetings with God I want to encourage you to read.  The books suggested might stretch you a bit.  I do not fully agree with everything written in these books.  But if you are faithful to search the scriptures while reading I believe God will speak to you.  I pray God will teach you and I hope we will grow together into maturity.

In Christ alone,

Lori

Suggested readings:

The Ragamuffin Gospel – Brennan Manning

The Christian Atheist – Craig Groeschel

The Blue Parakeet – Scot McKnight

Lost Women of the Bible – Carolyn Custis James

Eve’s Revenge – Lilian Calles Barger

It’s the day after.  I completed my first half marathon yesterday and I can’t stop reflecting on the experience.  It was exhilarating, exhausting and satisfying.  It’s been a goal and there’s something about completing something you’ve always wanted to do that just feels good.  The amount of runners of many ages and levels that were before and after gave the feeling of a great common movement that was positive.  We were all testing our strengths.  We were keeping our individual paces and meeting new friends along the way, but all of us were moving forward in unison.  We were excited and had chosen to be part of something bigger than ourselves, but something that would also make us better.  Each runner was a comrade, a friend, a fellow runner on a journey to the finish.  On the sidelines were people cheering, offering music, encouragement and needed water.  There were places to stop if needed and places to refuel, all strategically placed and all to ensure completion.   Some participants were amazingly fast; others challenged to even participate, but each one chose to be there.  Each one wanted to be there and each one was giving there all!  As one who experienced this vast sea of humanity moving forward; the visual of this experience humbles me. It was so good!

As one who runs another race set before us in Christ; the reality of this earthly running experience strikes me more profoundly. The crown of glory that awaits us and the beauty of the spiritual race is truly amazing.  We have a great cloud of witnesses cheering us on, wanting us to win.  There are rest stops along the way to refuel and refresh, but the goal is set before us.  If you join the race to eternity, you must run!  You must participate!  The witnesses are for those who have completed this race.  We’ve got to run it!  Is it hard?  You bet!  The training, the strain, the pushing oneself beyond what you could possibly think is all part of this race, but your enrollment in the Glory Road is a call to run!   There are no passive onlookers in the race set before us, there are only fellow runners.  My time was not the fastest, but it was my best.  Giving my best is what matters.  In this Nashville race, I did not worry about other’s pace or how they ran but rejoiced that they were.  I kept my pace, I kept my focus, and I kept on going, one foot in front of the other.  I loved that everyone was running; what a picture for the Bride of Christ!  Running in unity, running forward, reaching toward the goal, the high prize, the eternal crown this is the Glory Road Race!

An Ugly Truth

I remember the scene as if it was yesterday; I had been nominated by my peers for prom queen.  I was honestly surprised by such an honor and felt quite humbled.  After votes were cast, a “friend” approached me and boldly claimed, “I didn’t vote for you.”  As my mouth dropped in shock, she continued to say, “I didn’t vote for you, because I didn’t want you to get a big head.” after this she turned and walked away.  Another time, as a young, admittedly very naive manager of a bank, one of my biggest challenges was a woman who continued to be passive aggressive in her responses to my authority.  I finally had to have a meeting, she was a pastor’s wife and I found her actions to not be in line with her profession of faith.  What came out in the discussion was that she had wanted the position and so responded in ways to make the position miserable for me.  This is an ugly truth among women.  Carolyn Custis James compares it to a fighting for the one piece of pie.  Rather than encouraging or building up our sisters, we compete, envy, gossip or derail.  What is this?  I’ve almost completed a book written by Sue Edwards & Kelley Mathews entitled, “Leading Women Who Wound.”  While I don’t agree with the dragon labeling, I do see how women can be our own worst enemies.  We observe this in tribal areas of Africa where the older women, kidnap the young women and mutilate them because it was done to them.  We see how mothers can keep their daughters behind instead of encouraging them to a better life.  What is this?  It’s not love.  What is it in women that rather than applaud, encourage and truly rejoice in another’s good fortune, we resort to such ungodly behavior?  Again, it’s not love.  We don’t like talking about this.  It makes us uncomfortable, uneasy, but every woman can testify to its effects.  Every one of us has participated to some degree.  I am among the guilty.

Galatians 5:25Galatians 5:25
English: American Standard Version (1901) - ASV
25 If we live by the Spirit, by the Spirit let us also walk.  

WP-Bible plugin & 26 reads:  Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.  Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.  1 Corinthians 13:6-81 Corinthians 13:6-8
English: American Standard Version (1901) - ASV
6 rejoiceth not in unrighteousness, but rejoiceth with the truth; ⁷ beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. ⁸ Love never faileth: but whether [there be] prophecies, they shall be done away; whether [there be] tongues, they shall cease; whether [there be] knowledge, it shall be done away.  

WP-Bible pluginb reads:  Love does not delight in evil, but rejoices with the truth.  It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, and always perseveres.  Love never fails.

To walk in the Spirit, calls me to rejoice with my sister.  It demands me to love and not envy.  It requires me to get behind and support God’s gifting instead of working in opposition.  I wonder if part of this ugly truth is due to us not knowing or valuing ourselves. Maybe we aren’t satisfied with our uniqueness or think it is somehow less than another’s.  Regardless, this truly is a disgrace to our call to love. To walk in the Spirit means to not walk in the me.  Too often I think we walk in our own worlds and compare and compete with our sisters.  It’s time to stop.  We’ve got a work to do and each one of us is called to encourage one another to do our own unique work; together.