Lisa notes

Just looking on? It’s not enough

By LisaNotes October 8, 2013 Book quotes, Community, Compassion 23 Comments

I was reluctant to read this biography on Dietrich Bonhoeffer because of its size. And its hard truths.

But trust me, it’s worth it. It’s challenging yet inspiring to read how Bonhoeffer struggled through difficult decisions, throwing himself on God’s mercy. My book review is here.

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Excerpt from Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy

Here was the rub: one must be more zealous to please God than to avoid sin.

One must sacrifice oneself utterly to God’s purposes, even to the point of possibly making moral mistakes. One’s obedience to God must be forward-oriented and zealous and free, and to be a mere moralist or pietist would make such a life impossible.

Bonhoeffer said,
“If we want to be Christians, we must have some share in Christ’s large-heartedness by acting with responsibility and in freedom when the hour of danger comes, and by showing a real sympathy that springs not from fear, but from the liberating and redeeming love of Christ for all who suffer.

“Mere waiting and looking on is not Christian behavior.

“The Christian is called to sympathy and action, not in the first place by his own sufferings, but by the sufferings of his brethren, for whose sake Christ suffered.”

– Eric Metaxas

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Looking pain in the eye

By LisaNotes October 7, 2013 My stories, Pain 28 Comments

It was time to confront her.

I suspected it would be one of the hardest–and weirdest–conversations I would ever have.

I was right.

Knocking on the door of pain is hard. I don’t like to. It’s easier to keep eyes closed.

The woman wouldn’t be expecting me. As I stood outside her front door, I was afraid but convicted. There was a question I had to ask. Only she held the answer. To get it, I had to look eye to eye into pain.

She opened the door, surprised. She welcomed me in. We sat in her living room and began to talk.

We dwelled little on the past. What I needed to know was the future: Was she finished inflicting pain or not?

That’s often the most difficult question of pain.
“Okay, you’ve hurt me, you’re still hurting me, but now what?
Are you done or is there more?”

Rarely does pain respond definitively.

She did answer: I’m done.

Could I trust her?

No. But I wanted to. We want pain to tell us, “I’ll let up now; the worst is over.”

That gives us hope.

But can we trust it?

No. We can only trust God, not to end all our pain, but to stick with us in it until it finally is gone.

His presence is our hope.

Not skirting around the pain, pretending it’s not there.
Not trying to alleviate it at all costs, as if it’s our enemy.

Our hope is in knowing he’ll hold our hand as we look pain in the eye to see what it has to say, and trust him to show us where to go from there.

After I left the woman’s house, I sought advice from family and friends. I decided to trust one more time.

But in the end, it still didn’t work out.

However, I have no regrets about the day I sat with pain in her house. It was hard. But it was healing.

Not because of her words. Not because of mine. Not because the pain ended.

But because God proved his presence mattered. He’d motivated me to go, strengthened me to confront, then advised me well on how to deal with the pain.

He gave me hope, and eventually gave me healing.
And that’s always the answer I need.

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What pain are you dealing with today, physical or emotional? How have you been given hope in it?

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When you’re too self-righteous

By LisaNotes October 7, 2013 Book quotes, Compassion 2 Comments

Today’s paragraphs are from a great book on prayer, and include a story about what God may be doing when he doesn’t answer our prayers like we want him to.

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Excerpt from A Praying Life

Sometimes when we say “God is silent,” what’s really going on is that he hasn’t told the story the way we wanted it told.

He will be silent when we want him to fill in the blanks of the story we are creating.

But with his own stories, the ones we live in, he is seldom silent.

Here’s a mini-story that captures what I mean.

While I was speaking at a camp for children with disabilities, one of the volunteer workers felt falsely accused by a parent. After listening to her, I brightened up and told her, “Now you can serve Jesus instead of the parents.”

Having been in similar circumstances, I was genuinely excited for her.

Nothing clears out self-righteousness better than serving someone who is critical of you.

– Paul E. Miller

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Quit going to church

By LisaNotes October 6, 2013 Book quotes, Church 4 Comments

Every day in October I’m sharing an excerpt from one of my favorite books of faith. Today’s words need to be read carefully. My book review here.

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Excerpt from Quit Going to Church

I pray for you to quit going to church . . . and start being the church.

I pray you will quit saying your prayers . . . and make it a habit instead to keep company with God.

I pray you will quit sharing your faith . . . and share your life.

I pray for you to quit tithing and replace the “ten percent way” of the law with the “hundred percent way” of Jesus.

I pray that you will quit volunteering . . . and start exercising your gifts with greater effectiveness and enjoyment in God’s service.

I pray that you will quit being nice . . . and be real instead.

I pray for you to quit fellowshipping and start partying.

I pray that you will give up all attempts to be good and instead focus on one thing—the better thing—of daily dwelling in Jesus’ presence.

I pray that you will quit enjoying worship and inspiring yourself in worship . . . and instead focus your worship on making God happy.

And, finally, I pray that you will quit camping out in the center of God’s will and instead be courageous and full of faith, boldly embracing uncertainty and trusting God for the results.

– Bob Hostetler

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Express delight to complete it

By LisaNotes October 5, 2013 Book quotes, Worship 11 Comments

This book by John Piper has been one of the most influential on my faith. Enjoy this excerpt.

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Excerpt from Desiring God

It is not out of compliment that lovers keep on telling one another how beautiful they are; the delight is incomplete till it is expressed.

There is the solution!

We praise what we enjoy because the delight is incomplete until it is expressed in praise.

If we were not allowed to speak of what we value, and celebrate what we love, and praise what we admire, our joy would not be full.

So if God loves us enough to make our joy full, He must not only give us Himself; He must also win from us the praise of our hearts—not because He needs to shore up some weakness in Himself or compensate for some deficiency, but because He loves us and seeks the fullness of our joy that can be found only in knowing and praising Him, the most magnificent of all Beings.

– John Piper

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This is the work of a Christian

By LisaNotes October 4, 2013 Book quotes, Spiritual disciplines 13 Comments

I know this book is a favorite for many of us, so it had to be included in this #31 Days of Books series!

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Excerpt from The Practice of the Presence of God

Ah! knew we but the want we have of the grace and assistance of God, we would never lose sight of Him, no, not for a moment.

Believe me. Immediately make a holy and firm resolution never more to forget Him. Resolve to spend the rest of your days in His sacred presence, deprived of all consolations for the love of Him if He thinks fit.

Set heartily about this work, and if you do it sincerely, be assured that you will soon find the effects of it.

. . . Do not forget Him but think on Him often. Adore Him continually. Live and die with Him. This is the glorious work of a Christian; in a word, this is our profession. If we do not know it, we must learn it.

. . . Let all our efforts be to know God. The more one knows Him, the greater one desires to know Him.

– Brother Lawrence

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