Invited

“Invited to dance, invited to sing, invited to celebrate...you’re invited to take time to enjoy life.”

Loren Thornburg

There are many invitations this time of the year. To parties, to get togethers with friends and family, and to many different gatherings and functions. There are also other kinds of invitations. Invitations to spend money here, spend time there, to be busy with this or occupied with that. An invitation is a request inviting someone to go somewhere or do something. Sometimes things get neglected with so many other invitations at the forefront. So in the midst of so many other invitations let me invite you to take time. Take time to be thankful, take time to rest, take time to enjoy, take time to take in all that this season of celebrating brings. The more I face hard things in my life the more I see my need to enjoy and celebrate every chance that I get. Don’t miss it...take time...you’re invited.

“… “Who needs a doctor: the healthy of the sick? I’m here inviting outsiders, not insiders--an invitation to a changed life, changed inside and out.””

Luke 5:31-32 MSG

Jesus had an open invitation. He was always inviting people to join Him. In this story in Luke He is surrounded at a dinner party by many that the Pharisees thought unworthy of their time, yet Jesus saw them as first to be invited. This is an invitation to something more than dinner, more than a good time, more than an evening, but to a lifetime of LIFE with Him. It starts with dinner, it starts with an invitation to gather, but the greater invitation that Jesus gives is to a changed life from the inside out. In this time of celebrating He is inviting us to Him. We are invited to join in the celebration of the gift of His birth that doesn’t stop with His birth but only begins there. And you’re invited. We all have places that we feel like the outsider yet Jesus came to invite you. Yes, you’re invited! Come join Him!!

It's a Gift

“Take it for gifted not for granted”

Loren Thornburg

Granted has many uses and meanings. One of those is the common phrase of ‘taking something for granted,’ meaning we fail to appreciate someone or something that is familiar or obvious (Oxford). It’s a common phrase in part because it’s very common that we do that. We miss it, we don’t see the full worth of the good things that are in our lives. We become accustomed to having certain things and begin to feel entitled, forgetting that they are a gift. Your family is a gift, your friends are a gift, your provision is a gift, your life is a gift, today is a gift. So many times we don’t know the full worth of our gifts until they are taken away. Don’t wait for that to happen. See your gifts now, as what they really are, for their full worth, in their full weight. You have been gifted, don’t take it for granted.

“For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God.”

Ephesians 2:8 ESV

THE gift of God. God has given us many gifts, many great gifts, yet salvation is referred to here in Ephesians as the gift of God. Part of what makes a gift truly a gift is that you have been given it without doing something in return. God has given us the ultimate gift in true gift form for it is “not your own doing.” You did nothing to earn it. That’s why it’s called grace. It’s God’s favor by no merit of your own but simply, solely and truly His favor on your life to give you eternal life. At times in our faith we get glimpses of how more than great this gift is, yet so many times we forget. It becomes so familiar, so common, so obvious that it loses it’s weight in our lives. Ask God to remind you of His gift, THE gift of salvation. He did it for you. He gave you THE gift. Let that take your heart to joy and thanksgiving.

Receive Your Calling

“You’ve been called...it’s true

You’ve been called...you can

You’ve been called...grab hold

You’ve been called...so go”

Loren Thornburg

Everyone has a calling. Yes, that means you! We all have different callings. Often we think of callings as our jobs or vocation which is a part of it, but there is more. Calling is more than just what we do, but who we are. You may be called to be a leader but this can be leading a household, leading a group of friends, leading in the workplace, or leading with the job title. Regardless of the job title a leader is called to lead. Now we may be called to a specific vocation like to be doctors and lawyers but even still we are called to be that in different ways because we are each different and unique. There is no set way, no set rules, except that you have to receive it. No one else can fulfill it quite like you have been called to. So you must embrace first that you have been called, that you can because you’ve been called, and go then go with it. You’ve been called...so go.

“Are you called to be a speaker? Then speak as though God himself were speaking through you. Are you called to help others? Do it with all the strength and energy that God supplies through Jesus Christ. All glory and power belong to him forever and ever. Amen.” 1 Peter 4:11 NLT

God is calling you. Even in the midst of not knowing your calling He is calling you. He is calling you to be you in the places He has placed you right now. A new season may be coming but right now He has called you. What is He calling you to in this place? Whatever it is, do it as though He were doing it through you...because He is. Do it as though He is giving you all you need to do it...because He is. Whether He is calling you to step out into something big and scary or calling you to wait and rest, He is calling you to that place and will provide you with all you need, so let Him. Receive your calling as if God Himself were calling you...since He is. Since He is calling you, since He is doing it, since He is giving you all you need then give Him the glory. Give glory where glory belongs. All glory and power belong to Him, the One who is calling you.

Purpose Now

“There is pain now but there is purpose now.”

Loren Thornburg

You have purpose now. Even if you’ve made a huge mistake, even if you find yourself in the middle of divorce, even if you’re in the midst of sadness, even if you don’t have a job, even if you’re single, even if you’re lonely in the absence of people you love, even if your world seems to be falling apart, even if nothing major is going on, even there you have purpose still, even now you have purpose. Pain and purpose can coexist. However, sometimes it seems as if they are oil and vinegar at polar opposites. Pain seems so often to bring confusion and disillusion which are not words often used in a time where we see purpose. Our attention gets focused on the pain, unable to see past it. However, our not seeing purpose does not keep it from us. It’s like walking with your headphones on where all you can hear is your music unable to hear the sounds of your surroundings. It can be so hard to see past the pain to the purpose that is going on deeper beyond the surface. Regardless of the headphones of pain you find yourself in there is still purpose in where you are and where you are going. You still have purpose beyond the pain. You have purpose now.

“So if you are suffering according to God’s will, keep on doing what is right and trust yourself to the God who made you, for he will never fail you.”

1 Peter 3:15 NLT

Peter is writing to encourage the people in their persecution and the pain of the persecution that makes it easy to give up in their faith. Although we may not face the same persecution, the struggle to see past our situation to our God still remains for us today. Thus, we can take the same encouragement that Peter spoke many years ago. Even now God will never fail you. He made you. Who better to trust you with then the One who made you and therefore knows you? He not only knows who you are and what is going on in your life but He knows your heart, your thoughts, your dreams, your desires. He made you on purpose for a purpose even now. You have purpose now. You can trust Him now. He will never fail you, not even now.

Covered isn't Clean

“Don’t just cover it, clean it.”

Loren Thornburg

To drink out of a dirty jar you first must clean it. I wouldn’t just fill the dirty jar with clean water thinking it would cover up the dirtiness. Similarly, to heal a dirty wound you couldn’t just put a bandaid over it. Although that might protect it from additional infection it would only keep the current infectious elements closed up for further infection. Yet we try to do this with our lives. We just put a bandaid over the wound or try to get clean water from a dirty jar. We want to just cover it up rather than deal with the dirt, the wound, and what is causing the infection. Sometimes we even use things that are good to cover it up, but good isn’t best and covered isn’t always clean. This is true of our hearts and minds. Unless we get rid of the hurt and lies you will never be the clean and free as you were intended to be. The problem with only covering is that it doesn’t go away. It comes up and out in different ways and eventually it can grow to something bigger than a bandaid can cover. So deal with it from the inside out.

“What you’re after is truth from the inside out. Enter me, then; conceive a new true life.”

Psalm 51:6 MSG

God is after truth from the inside out. He can see past whatever we try to use to cover things up and He is not impressed nor is He fooled. He not only desires that we proclaim what is true but also that we confess and get rid of that which is not true. It’s good to have that which is true on our lips and in our thoughts, but it is better when those things dwell in our depths as well. The only way to do that is to let Jesus come in, to enter us, and fill us from the inside out. He loves to do this. When we confess the lies and things we are holding onto which are not true He has more room to enter with all His truth and new life. Let His truth reign from the inside out.

Worth the Wait

“Short cuts only cut short the joy of the destination.”

Loren Thornburg

Many times in my impatience of a long line of cars and foreseeing having to wait I take the more appealing shorter line of cars going a different direction, thinking it will be quicker, but very rarely is this the case. Usually in my unwillingness to wait for a moment in that place I end up taking longer to get to my destination. After doing this recently I was reminded that I do the same things in life. My unwillingness to wait and my anxiousness to have things settled take me the long way to the place I want to be. There are many things that we are waiting for...a job, a promotion, a spouse, restoration, healing, resolution, and on and on. It can be so tempting in our frustration with the slowness of the process to find ways to cut it short and take it into our own hands. We take a job that isn’t a good fit, we cheat our way to promotion, we date someone we know isn’t right, we give up on our dreams and relationships. It may work for a while but we have traded in something more for something less because we were not willing to wait. When we are willing to wait we find the fullness of that which we have been waiting for. We find that which is real and good and lasting because we were willing to wait for the real thing. Wait for it...it’s worth the wait.

“Be still and rest in the Lord; wait for Him and patiently lean yourself upon Him; fret not yourself because of Him who prospers in his way, because of the man who brings wicked devices to pass.”

Psalm 37:7 AMP

The Lord is always worth the wait. Yet, in the midst of waiting I can’t say that I always agree with His timing, but what I find later is that He moves at just the right time, in just the right way. Not only will it be worth the wait but He is a God worth waiting on. It just takes much patience. It’s so easy for me to look around and see people who have that which I want. Then I become quick to question God and His timing, wondering why I don’t have that thing that they have that I’ve been wanting and waiting and asking for, looking at all the reasons I deserve and desire that thing. Yet so often what I thought I wanted pales in comparison to what God has for me. As you are waiting for your dreams and desires wait foremost on the Lord. Lean yourself upon Him...He is always worth the wait.

Back to Front

“Sometimes the best way to move forward is to go back...back to the joy of why you first began.”

Loren Thornburg

We get lost. Lost in the work, lost in the motions, lost in the details, so lost that we forget why we even began. It’s that feeling when you enter a room knowing you came for a reason but unsure of why. When that happens to me I have to go back to the room I started in to remember why I went to the other room in the first place. Similarly we have to do that with our lives. We have to go back to where we started to know why we got started. Often our dreams are filled with many steps between starting and living it and it’s easy to get lost in the middle if we are not willing to go back to why we began. We have to bring the joy of that dream to the front of our minds and let that joy push us forward. For when joy is lost so is our strength to continue. Go back and let the joy that started you keep you going.

“The joy of the Lord is our strength”

Nehemiah 8:10

God is constantly calling us back. Back to Him! For He knows that in coming back to Him we will find all that we need. God knows exactly what we need and when we need it. He knows we need the strength that comes in His joy. This strength is not so much our own being strong as it is a place of safety, refuge and protection. It is the joy of the Lord that brings us protection that allows us to be strengthened. This joy is different from just being happy but a deep, sustainable gladness that moves us to rejoicing, not changed by circumstances, but found within regardless of what happens. There are many reasons to be discouraged and dismayed yet only one that can bring us joy in the midst of these and that is the Lord. So it is by our Lord and our joy in Him that we find the place of strength to endure in the midst of hardship. Just as Nehemiah encouraged the people into joy so hear his words encouraging you. There is joy in the Lord and it gives great strength!