Fotbwny's Blog

The definition of “sanctuary” from dictionary.com:
1. a sacred or holy place.
2. Judaism.
a. the Biblical tabernacle or the Temple in Jerusalem.
b. the holy of holies of these places of worship.
3. an especially holy place in a temple or church.
4. the part of a church around the altar; the chancel.
5. a church or other sacred place where fugitives were formerly entitled to immunity from arrest.
6. immunity afforded by refuge in such a place.
7. any place of refuge; asylum.
8. a tract of land where birds and wildlife, esp. those hunted for sport, can breed and take refuge in safety from hunters.

I’ve always thought that a person’s home should be their sanctuary, their safe haven from the craziness of the world. Beginning my maternity leave just before giving birth to my 2nd child 1 month ago, I was really looking forward to staying home each day with my 2 kids; my husband works from home so we see him frequently as well. Maybe it’s because I’m an optimist, but I really thought we’d have a great time & that my son would adjust well to his new sister without *any* problems or controversy. He was doing great accepting everything we told him about what life would be like & was looking forward to having a new sibling. For the most part things have been going well & he is gentle with her & gives her kisses. However, today I thought I was going to lose it.
Every chance he got, my 2 yr old would disobey, waking the baby up twice in the process. I’m sure he was just looking for attention, & yes, he sure got it! He spent quite a lot of time in the corner, unfortunately. Anyhow, today my safe haven, my sanctuary, was anything but. It was more stress & chaos than a tough day at work! Stay-at-home moms definitely work hard! The experience made me realize 2 things.
First, it made me ponder, & know just a little bit better, how God feels when we, His children, disobey His word. I don’t mean ignorance, but blatant disobedience. Have you ever knowingly disobeyed the Lord? Ever felt like you were “standing in the corner” or on a “time-out” for a while in life? God doles out the discipline with more love in His heart & a whole lot less anger (Ps. 86:15) than we earthly parents! But each day as a mom I look at my 2 kids & get to know the parent part of God’s heart that much better. It makes me want to be a better daughter.
Second, & my main point, is that He reminded me that the temple veil was torn when Jesus was obedient & completed His mission on the Cross. The holy of holies, the ultimate place of worship, was opened up to us all. 1 Cor. 6:19 tells us that our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit. Christ is dwelling within our hearts & with us now & always, to the end of this age & for eternity. In the midst of my little home’s stress & chaos, I was reminded that Jesus is with me through it all. He is right there with me in my boat that is being tossed to & fro in the storm & He is calm. When I remember that He is with me, not only can I tell the storm to calm, but like Peter, even I can walk on the water with Him, by His power.
My sanctuary, my safe haven, was within the whole time.

Question: One of these things is not like the others. Can you guess which?
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Answer: The Tooth Fairy! Because it isn’t related to a holiday we celebrate. Or because she’s female & the rest are male. Yeah…so obviously the answer is Jesus because He’s the only in the list who isn’t make-believe. He’s REAL & ALIVE! But at one time in my life I would have answered the Tooth Fairy. When I found out there was not a Santa, my immediate line of thinking was in that order: if Santa is fake then so is the Easter Bunny…& the Tooth Fairy…& Jesus too? I questioned momentarily, but decided He is real because I knew people around the world died for His cause, for the Truth. No one risked their life for Santa, a Bunny, or a Fairy. My sister said she followed a similar line of thinking that brought her to questioning Jesus’ existence. I don’t want that for my kids.

The other day I told my 2 year old that Santa is pretend. I specifically said, “Did you know Santa is pretend? Yes, he’s pretend – he’s just something that we talk about & have fun with at Christmas. He’s pretend. But God – Abba – Jesus is real”. He stared at me blankly. I know he knows the concepts of “pretend” & “real” because he has used the words several times before correctly. However, the next day he was talking about Santa with my parents & was “being good so Santa brings him toys”.

My son didn’t even believe me when I told him the truth – that Santa is fake. Then the thought occurred to me…although part of the issue is the influence of society & consumerism upon kids, & part of it is how we present it initially to a child (like my parents “calling” Santa on the phone to get him to behave – which works), I realized that God designed us to believe – to want to have faith in something, or somethings. We want to believe in the mystic, the mysterious, the supernatural, the other-worldly, the unexplainable. God designed us to question & judge, & sometimes be skeptical, sure. But He also, in His infinite wisdom, designed us to be people who specifically look for, & desire to believe in, things out of the ordinary.

Think about how many movies & tv shows have to do with the supernatural & mysterious. There’s a ton. Most of them have absolutely nothing to do with Christ, unfortunately. Part of our make-up is looking for & looking forward to what we cannot logically explain. Those things that seem to defy the natural.

Can we harness this? Can we focus our curiosity on only the things of God & be sure to stay away from those other distractions & lies of the world? Can we use this innate curiosity most of us seem to have to draw others to Christ?

“”The king said to Daniel, “Surely your God is the God of gods and the Lord of kings and a revealer of mysteries, for you were able to reveal this mystery.”" Daniel 2:47 NIV

Daniel continuously used his spiritual gifts to reveal mysteries to those around him, & proclaim that our God truly is the most-high God, the only One who is all-knowing & the “revealer of mysteries”. However, Daniel was only able to do this through 1) God’s grace of course, & 2) living a lifestyle of prayer & fasting. Daniel remained pure when surrounded in a counter-culture. He stayed true to what he knew the Lord wanted. He lived his life always striving to do the right thing; there was no selfish corruption in him. He prayed without ceasing & fasted daily, encouraging others to do the same. Accordingly, God continually rewarded him by strengthening his spiritual gifts, protecting him in impossible situations, promoting him strategically within the kingdom administration, & further opening his eyes to the spiritual. Daniel never had all the answers, but the eyes of his heart were open to the Spirit’s leading. He spoke with angels & had revelation of the end-times.

Can we, like Daniel, live lives of prayer & fasting in such a way that we draw others to Christ? Can we model & teach our children to seek after the mysteries of God, rather than the frivolities of our culture & world? If “we become what we behold”, perhaps we should be sure our children are beholding what we want them to become…

Dalene

“We love Him because He first loved us” (1 John 4:19). Starting here, and continuing through 2 Cor. 3:18, Acts 17:28 and Col. 3:10; we see that we are not the “instigators” in our relationship with God. In all my fallen humanity, I don’t approach Him because of my own bright idea. It’s always a response to Him drawing me.

Having said that, I’ve found (and am still finding) that the best way to maintain a life of prayer is to fill my mind with truth about how God sees me and feels about me. I need to hear His words. To borrow from Meg’s post, when I consecrate myself to take in His words about how He sees me, I set myself up to encounter Him in the place of prayer.

For me, this all starts in Psalm 45:2…”Grace is poured upon Your lips.” The words that He speaks are dripping with grace, with love, with mercy…they’re words that my soul loves to hear. They don’t condemn me, they lift me up. I don’t know if it’s just me, but I usually prefer to hang out with people who, I’m pretty sure, I like me. And by the same token, if I know someone really doesn’t like me, I’m usually going to do everything in my power to avoid being alone with them. The same is true of my heart before God: if I feel shame or condemnation, or if I believe the lies that I’m not performing up to snuff, I avoid prayer. I don’t want to set my heart before someone (God, no less) if I’m sure they’re disappointed in me. But when my heart is convinced of the truth that He is in love with me, as much now as He has ever been and ever will be, prayer becomes a little more enjoyable. Just a little. So the more my heart hears those words from the One who is drenched with grace, the more I want to stick around in that place with Him (prayer).

So let’s consecrate ourselves unto encounter; let’s commit to getting the Word into our heads and our hearts, especially the passages that reveal His thoughts and feelings about us. Hear words of grace, love and kindness, and let the understanding of His thoughts and feelings about us sink in. Realize that He actually likes us and likes to be around us. That’s where prayer starts to become enjoyable, which is the best way I know to sustain prayer in a busy lifestyle.

This weekend I’ve been reading Acts 8:1-8.

This verse in particular has caught my attention (v1), ” At that time a great persecution arose against the church which was at Jerusalem; and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria,”

I’ve been bombarded with the real temptations to get caught up in the busy life that surrounds me. I work a 9-5 job, Monday to Friday, that I feel God placed me 8 years ago.  I have 4 kids, and my wife.  I have the dirty diaper changes, the breakfast to make when the wife needs to sleep in (b/c our newborn kept her up the night before, and yes, I do make breakfast at other times as well), the homeschooling to help with, the house to clean with the kids, the kids to play with, the car’s oil to change, the computer just crashed so I have to fix it, the wood to stack (we heat our home with wood(, and then there’s the FOTB prayer that we’re involved in.  It certainly takes a measure of discipline to keep my eyes fixed on the simple and steady things that God’s word calls us to walk through.  The temptation to let a busy life sweep me away is something that I face – I know my wife feels the same way.

As I consider the verse above, I can’t imagine having a major hub being displaced in such a dramatic fashion.  I look around the world today, knowing of some major missions centers, but none can compare to the beginnings of something like what was had in Jerusalem. I think of how much calamity must have been taking place around those people who were followers of Christ.  Some were most likely newbies, others may have been followers for some time, and then the others were the apostles.

I think of the real threats that people in that day had to live with.  Here, in my life, I concern myself with things like: knowing Jesus, food, shelter, and health for my wife and kids.  These just don’t seem as imminent a threat as what may have existed in those days of Jerusalem.

I wonder about the fathers and mothers of that day.  There are those parents who took a chance to believe what was spoken of Jesus and now were being persecuted because of their beliefs.  They must have been concerned for the safety of their children.  There must have been some inner questioning of their choice to believe the words of Jesus.  The fathers and mothers had to keep things together enough to move these families out into Judea and Samaria.  I think things like, “Where did they go?  How did they make the choice about where to flee?”

There is truly much to the story that we may not know.  There must be personal stories of great things that God did in their midst during this time.  There must have been families who moved together with other families, and this built a sense of community, fellowship, and accountability.  There certainly was worship and prayer involved.  This is what keeps me encouraged.  God knows us enough to place us within a community of believers who will encourage us towards the best things (Matt 22:37).  In this context we will struggle through the hard and challenging stuff together.  We will have people to pray for us and to pray with us.  At our FOTB prayer times, there are men who are sitting there, elbow-to-elbow, praying together with me because they see that it’s the best thing for them to do for their families and for their life in God.  There are mothers there who have chosen that time as sacred for the purpose of agreeing with God and His Word.  If you have a chance, come pray with us on a Friday night.

On Friday nights, as I sit there with this group, I am constantly reminded by the Holy Spirit of Acts 6:4-5, and the call to that kind of lifestyle of prayer; that kind of intimate friendship with God.  Maybe it’s just me, but it seems like the longer I know Christ, the more I depend on Him.  There’s comfort in knowing that I can continue to trust Him; in knowing that the Father is good (Ps 25:6-11), and He desires for me to know Him.  Lord, awaken our hearts!

Lately I find that if I go through one busy day without getting some input from the Word of God I’m just tossed about by everything that’s going on in my little world. I am coming back to the realization that my spiritual man really does “live by the Word of God”. There is NO substitute for the living truth of the Word of God – whether in written form or the fresh word that He speaks when I quiet myself and tune in to what He is saying to my heart in a particular moment. I believe that setting my heart before Him and His Word is an integral part of my prayer life. If I hear His word, then I am more likely to believe it. Hearing His word over me washes my heart like no other person’s words can and shields it with the faith that comes by hearing as I go through my day. I believe that if I make Him my refuge I will be kept in the day of shaking and uncertainty. I believe He is faithful and for me. Simply believing and walking that belief out in the way I carry my heart in this season is doing the work of the kingdom and changing the atmosphere around me. Nice. I can give myself to that in the midst of the mundane.