Don't Hide It

This morning I went to the Mighty Man's church for some good solid preaching from my favorite pastor. :) I just love hearing that man share God's truth. What a blessing to be in a relationship with a man who has such a fire and passion for proclaiming the power of Jesus Christ. I never, in a million years, would have believed I would be so blessed as to fall for a guy this awesome. :)

haha! Told ya' to get used to the sappy love stuff, didn't I? :)

Today, my mighty man of God gave a great lesson about asking God to search us. Like, reeeeeeally search us. It comes from Psalm 139:23-24 in which David (I think it was David) writes, "Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting."

I don't know about you, but inviting God to see into my heart like that is a little unnerving. There's stuff in my heart that, quite honestly, I don't want God to see. I live with my self every day, and I see the wickedness of my heart. I see the sins I commit. I see the selfish actions and prideful attitude. I know when I turn away from something God asks me to do simply because I don't feel like doing it.

AH! Why on earth would I ask God to search that? I know that He'll find things that are not pleasing to Him?

Based on that very mindset, I learned the art of building walls between myself and God. For most of my life, whenever I would sin against Him, I would shut Him out. Remember that old "Talk to the hand" gesture from the 90s? It was like that. When I'd sin, I would put up a hand in God's face and basically say, "I know what You're going to say. I know I screwed up. Just don't even look. I know I'm at fault, and I don't want to hear it. I'm already ashamed enough without having to be condemned by God, too."

Oh, man. Did I miss it, or what?

When we adopt the habit of hiding our sins from God, we miss the whole point of the cross. We forget that Jesus paid the death penalty for us already and that there is no NO condemnation for those who have received Him. Instead of receiving His forgiveness and mercy and grace in times of sin, we unnecessarily distance ourselves from Him thinking that He will point a finger and reject us. Punish us, even.

But that's not God. God is love! If there's anyone we SHOULD go to in our shortcomings, it is the One who loves us more than any human ever could. His love goes so far beyond human capacity, and it reaches the level of unconditional. I can't honestly say I have that for anyone. My love is human love. Yes, through Christ, I have the ability to love like He does, but I don't always choose to.

When we hide our sins from God, we create distance that shouldn't be there. We destroy the intimacy He desires with us. It's just like a human relationship in that aspect in that, if we want to develop intimacy, we have to reeeeeeeeally communicate and be honest. (Side Note: Mighty Man, thank you for being so respectful in sharing that lesson from our convo today.) Intimacy can't be built on anything fake. It has to be built on what is real. That's why it's so important that we get REAL with God.

Today, I want to encourage you to get honest with Him. Whatever is in your heart; whatever sin you may be hiding out of shame; whatever secrets you want to keep...Bring them to the Lord. He is not a God of condemnation (see Romans 8:1). He is a God of love. Yes, our sins may carry consequences, but if we have received Jesus Christ and placed our faith in Him, we are covered by His blood and forgiven of every sin.

Let Him in. Let Him help. Let Him love. It's the only way to intimacy with Him. And, believe me, it's worth it.

Big hugs, everyone!
-Jill

OH! And P.S. I would LOVE your prayers this week! We're starting media coverage on the book, and I'm doing a few interviews. USA Radio Network on Wednesday morning, a local morning radio program in New York on Thursday, and KCTV5's morning TV show on August 7th. Please pray that God would be glorified and that the message of His love and truth would be clearly communicated! THANKS so much, all! :)

Redemption on the Run

Good lands, it was a tough run this morning! Physically it didn't feel that bad or like I was working that hard, but every time I looked down at my Garmin, I'd see that I was keeping a slower-than-normal pace. Maybe that's why it didn't feel like I was working that hard. haha! Obviously I wasn't! But, honestly, it felt like I was pushing as hard as I normally would on a tempo run. (FYI: Tempo run = run at as fast a pace as you can for a long distance. LOVE 'em.)

Now, I don't know about you, but I often battle this little thing called pride. It's a tiny little emotion/mindset/soul killer that creeps into almost every area of my life and tries to create separation between me and God and me and others. It keeps me focused on my self and on my performance rather than on God and His love. It's a tricky thing, this pride. And, more often than not, I don't even notice its presence until it's already taken root and done some damage.

But let's just talk for a minute about how awesome God is. He's the kind of God who can take even our sinful emotions and redeem them for good. Hallelujah! :) :) And this morning, He did that for me on the last few miles of the run.

Because my pride won't let me be at peace with a final average pace that is above 8:00/mile on a tempo run, I was forced to push myself harder on the last 2 miles than I normally would have. I had to do this in order to drop my average pace below 8 minutes. It was tough! The temperature was in the 80s already (at 6:30ish a.m.), I was facing the wind, and I was going uphill most of the way. But what this did was force me to focus, pray and push. I even got a little help from Mandisa telling me that this was only gonna make me stronger. haha! :) Praise God for iPods!

Wanna hear the awesome result? Yes, the time dropped, but that wasn't the best part. As I pushed myself harder, I began to praise God for the gift of running. As He showed me my physical strength, the run became an act of worship to Him. He had given me the gift to push myself to a certain level, and as I worked my legs to go faster, I accepted His strength and used His gift, and I praised Him the whole way home. It was amazing!

Worship certainly comes in many forms. If we look at Scripture we can see that anything we do can and should bring praise to the Lord. Colossians 3:23 is one of our favorites in FCA. "Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart as working for the Lord, not for men..."

Awesome, huh? Anything and everything we do is designed to be an act of worship--a way to bring glory to the Lord who has gifted us to do whatever it is we're doing. That's one reason sin is detrimental. It takes us outside of our God-given purpose of bringing glory to Him, whereas obeying and worshipping the Lord leads us into our purpose and draws us closer to Him.

This morning, I got to watch as the Lord used what could have been a sinful emotion to lead me into a position of worship. Thank You, Jesus! I'm so crazy excited that He did that and rescued me from falling into the trap of pridefully worshipping the stopwatch and pace. (I've been there before...many times. And it is SO unfulfilling.)

Today, I want to encourage you that even if you are struggling with sinful emotions or pride, submit it to God! Be honest with Him! Don't hide it. Show it to Him and let Him transform it into something beautiful. Let Him redeem your thoughts and lead you into a deeper level of intimacy with Him.

Have a MARVELOUS day, friends! Know that our Lord loves you more than you can possibly know!
-Jill

P.S. Quick book update!! The media requests have begun. Yee haw!!! For those of you in the Kansas City area, tune into KCTV 5 before you go to church on Sunday morning, August 7th at 9:50 a.m. I'm going to be on talking about the release of Sharing the Victory: Being Your Best for God. Thank You, Lord, for the opportunity! Please pray for me to be a vessel of His love and truth! :)