Above all things...

April 16, 2009

Danielle Joyner Kelley

“For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.” Colossians 1:16-17.

I cite this scripture frequently because it encompasses what we need to remember when we are serving God. There are few words more powerful to me than the line “He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.” Choosing to remember this in every area of my life will be the key to my success as a Christian.

Some of my messages are blunt, and use the word “you” frequently. When I say “you”, I also mean me. I say things in the hopes that it will make you think. The more I grow as a Christian the more gray is removed from my picture, and the more black and white things become.

For so long I ran around telling everyone “I am a Christian.” It was something I said, a badge of honor, and the popular way to be where I live. I had accepted Christ as my Savior and asked Him to live in me and forgive me for my sins. But not until the past few years did I learn the crucial difference between what I like to call “are one vs. being one”.

My goal now is to BE a Christian and not just say that I AM one. When I was baptized other people were baptized with me as well. Our Pastor asked each person if they had accepted Jesus Christ as their Savior. This is self-explanatory. We need to already have accepted Jesus Christ as our Savior before we go out and make a public proclamation (baptism) to everyone else that we have accepted Him. So we ask to be saved before we are baptized.

When each person was asked that question, they would answer “Yes”. When I was asked I said, “Yes, I do.” Later I looked back and asked myself why I said that. Here I am being asked if I “have” accepted Him, and I am using a present and future statement of “I do”.

Then it occurred to me. Yes, I am saved, and I only need to be saved once, but each day I recommit myself to Christ through my relationship with Him, through prayer and service, and that to me means I am not just a Christian, I am being a Christian. That applies to the present and future.

When we get married, we make promises to love each other in the future, good or bad, sickness and in health, richer or poorer. We are making a promise starting with that moment that applies into the future. My promise to God and Christ will be the same. It is an “I do” every day for me. Good or bad, sickness or health, richer or poorer, I promise to love Him, serve Him, honor Him, cherish Him, and praise Him. He is above all things, and that means I cannot make a promise to another human, such as my husband, that I have not made to Him. If I do then it is in vain. I can’t give you something I do not have.

When you proudly tell someone you are a Christian, who are you saying it for? For them or for you? What good does it do you to say that you are one? When you say you are a Christian it needs to not be said for everyone else, but for yourself. So reap the benefits within your declaration.

We are saved through God’s grace, and not by any works we do. We are saved because He loved us enough to send His son to die for our sins. You did nothing to deserve it. But to truly live a Godly life and have peace and happiness here on Earth, you have work to do. If that were not the case then the Bible would have only one verse saying that you are going to Heaven if you accept Christ because you are saved through God’s grace. That is true, but the Bible has a lot more information for you to use to reap the benefits of your commitment to Christ starting right now. “I am still confident of this: I will see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living.” Psalm 27:13-14 . If you want to start “being” a Christian instead of saying you “are” one, then there are a few things you need to understand.

STEP ONE: GIVE YOURSELF AWAY

It is not about you. Short sentence, to the point. Say it out loud. It is NOT about you. It is not your way, it is His way. It is not your will, it is His will. It is not your sacrifice, it is His sacrifice.

KEY: Stay away from the negative: We become so plagued with the negative things of this Earth it is amazing how self-defeating we can be. When I finally learned what it was like “being” a Christian, I was amazed at how bad we really do ourselves in.

So much energy is wasted on things that just do not matter. Jesus knew the struggle we faced then and now. He discussed then the very emotions that drive you crazy now. For example, worry and anxiety take so much away from us mentally and physically every hour of the day. We can become physically ill over it, and mentally exhausted. But there is a difference, as my Pastor says, between being “worried” and being “concerned”. “Concern” is something you can change while “worry” is something you cannot. Why do we spend so much time making ourselves and others miserable worrying about things that we can not change? If you can’t change it then why in the world are you going to drive yourself crazy over it?

"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? "And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” Matthew 6:25-34.

Jesus put it to us exactly how it is. Birds don’t worry or work for much and God takes care of them. Are you not more important to Him than birds? Lilies of the filed grow in beautiful fashion, and they don’t work for it. But God takes care of them. Are you not more important to Him than flowers? But we have to believe. That is why Jesus said, “O you of little faith”. Believe it and know you will be taken care of. He tells us that our heavenly Father knows what we need but you have to “seek first his kingdom and righteousness”. You have to seek God to answer your every need. Do you trust Him to give it to you? Then don’t worry.

Jealousy and envy will also seek to destroy you. They will in turn build you with pride and with judgment, and those will ultimately defeat you. When we are jealous and envious of someone else it is easy to put them down and try to build ourselves up. But we don’t really believe it. We can’t because we are not filled with good emotions but the bad ones of jealousy and envy. If you really believed you were so much better you would have good emotions inside. You don’t really believe you are better than someone when you feel that way, you just expect the rest of us to. So those emotions cause you to lie to yourself, berate others, become prideful in yourself by comparing yourself to someone else, stand in judgment of them even though they are a child of God as well, and lie to others about the way you really feel inside. And you are the only one that will suffer inside. How ironic.

In one of the parables in the Gospels, The Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard, Jesus discusses these feelings.

"For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire men to work in his vineyard. He agreed to pay them a denarius for the day and sent them into his vineyard. "About the third hour he went out and saw others standing in the marketplace doing nothing. He told them, 'You also go and work in my vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.' So they went. "He went out again about the sixth hour and the ninth hour and did the same thing. About the eleventh hour he went out and found still others standing around. He asked them, 'Why have you been standing here all day long doing nothing?' " 'Because no one has hired us,' they answered. "He said to them, 'You also go and work in my vineyard.' "When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, 'Call the workers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last ones hired and going on to the first.' "The workers who were hired about the eleventh hour came and each received a denarius. So when those came who were hired first, they expected to receive more. But each one of them also received a denarius. When they received it, they began to grumble against the landowner. 'These men who were hired last worked only one hour,' they said, 'and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the work and the heat of the day.' "But he answered one of them, 'Friend, I am not being unfair to you. Didn't you agree to work for a denarius? Take your pay and go. I want to give the man who was hired last the same as I gave you. Don't I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?' "So the last will be first, and the first will be last." Matthew 20:1-16.

Remember it isn’t your way, it is His way. Why be jealous of something He does for someone else? He loves you just as much.

KEY: Do not allow yourself to spread the negative. When you are giving yourself up and trusting in God, expect Satan to do everything he can to disrupt that. For example, I was taking my son to school one morning. He is in kindergarten and was going on a field trip that day. He was so excited and we had a wonderful conversation the entire way to school about his trip, God and Jesus, church and all kinds of things. I always park and walk him to his class because he is in Kindergarten and gets lost and scared. That morning we were running late getting everything ready for his trip so I told him I needed to go through the parent drop off and pickup line and have him get out and walk. He was scared but decided to be brave. I stopped in the line at the point where I could see the hallway his class was on. When I did a woman came up to the car and with a horrible look on her face and rolling her eyes started to say something to me. Immediately I said, “I am sorry. Just trying to let him get to his class.” Apparently she was mad that I stopped there instead of further down. She snapped back, “That is the idea” meaning that I should let him out in that line (that is what the line is for) but not at the place where I did.

Anyone who knows me knows I have a quick temper. But I have given that to God and am practicing what I preach. So I stopped and thought, “She does not know me, or that I have a scared kindergartener in my car that has never gotten out and walked to class by himself.” She could not see past herself. And in the same vein, I don’t know her either. How do I know she didn’t just lose a loved one and is facing a lot of bitterness? How do I know her struggles? I don’t. So I let it go and asked God to do something nice for her today to show her His love. The old Danielle would have come home and called ten people to tell them how horrible she was and how I was going to call the school and make her pay for this. The new Danielle knows that I don’t have the right to start anyone else’s day off preaching about how horrible people in the world are and making them feel the negative that Satan throws at us. I will not be a tool for him to use anymore.

And if someone is being negative or unforgiving towards you then they are acting contrary to God’s word, and it is not of God. Tell Satan you won’t be a tool for him to use either. If you know something you are about to do is going to grow bad emotions then don’t do it.

Satan will present you with the negative as soon as you talk to God. Know that. I watch many pastors on television, and ironically each sermon I have watched lately has covered a note I have written in the previous days. So then I praise God for confirming what I said to others. Then I start to worry that people will think that I am copying someone else because that Pastor on television, whom I have not seen before, is saying something I just said. See how that works? Who put that thought into my head at the exact time that I was talking to God? Go away Satan.

And Satan will try to convince you that what he is doing is not the negative. He is a wolf in sheep’s clothing, and will sometimes appear the delectable of the choices. When Satan was temping Jesus, what did he use? Did he use things we think of as evil? He used scripture.

“Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the desert, where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and at the end of them he was hungry. The devil said to him, "If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread." Jesus answered, "It is written: 'Man does not live on bread alone.'" The devil led him up to a high place and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. And he said to him, "I will give you all their authority and splendor, for it has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to. So if you worship me, it will all be yours." Jesus answered, "It is written: 'Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.'" The devil led him to Jerusalem and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. "If you are the Son of God," he said, "throw yourself down from here. For it is written: "'He will command his angels concerning you to guard you carefully; they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.'" Jesus answered, "It says: 'Do not put the Lord your God to the test.'” When the devil had finished all this tempting, he left him until an opportune time.” Luke 4:1-13.

That’s right. Your enemy knows the Bible, which is your battle strategy, as good as or better than you. But thoughts coming from him are still the negative. Don’t let him tempt you to spread negativity to yourself or to others.

Some people react negatively to me even about the devotions I write. They tell others, “What has happened to her? She is a Holy Roller and crazy”. Normally I would get defensive and now I smile. I was already crazy, but now I am crazy with God in my life so I am happier crazy this way, no matter what others think. “What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?” Romans 8:31-35.

The word “persecution” means someone is coming after you. And nothing can separate me from the love of Christ. He loves me no matter what, and no one will make me see differently. And I have confirmation from Him of what I am doing, so why should I answer to anyone here on Earth?

When I act in a Christian manner, and someone else condemns me who has accepted Christ into their heart, I know that the Holy Spirit lives within them. When they see me the Holy Spirit puts a mirror in their face so He can bring about change. And then they have their heart convicted that there is something they are not doing right. But instead of facing it like I had to and struggle to get past it they bash someone else. Key point here: DO NOT let the Holy Spirit tell you that you have something you need to change and instead of acknowledging it and working to grow closer to God, give into gossip, jealously and greed. Why have God bring a fault to our attention and then let Satan work through us with horrible emotions? Why can’t we just give ourselves over to something greater, admit our faults, forgive others, not judge them, and pray that they come to God in full force?

STEP TWO: FOCUS ON THE RELATIONSHIP

In reading the Bible by the time you get to the end of the Old Testament (before Jesus) and are about to cross over into the New Testament (after Jesus came to Earth), you feel God’s irritation with people who have forgotten to have a relationship with Him. “For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and acknowledgment of God rather than burnt offerings.” Hosea 6:6.

Jesus addressed the way people were teaching others about God's law, referring to the Old Testament (before His time). Back then the term "Christian" was not used because Jesus had not died yet. People were Jewish, and some of those would later become the modern day Christians after Jesus died on the cross. Jesus watched people practicing God's law, but not in full. They would give their spices (like we give offerings at church), and Jesus would acknowledge that, and then tell them there was something big they were missing. The Bible tells us that He said to them, “Woe to you Pharisees, because you give God a tenth of your mint, rue and all other kinds of garden herbs, but you neglect justice and the love of God. You should have practiced the latter without leaving the former undone.” Luke 11:42. In essence it would be like us just showing up at church today just to do it and giving money to the church just to do it thinking we look good to God. But He wants more than that. He wants you to have a relationship with Him.

Being a Christian means every day you work on your relationship with God. You keep the conversation going. Yes, you are a sinner, but even if you did something bad the day before or the second before, He still loves you, and wants you to come to Him. It is never too late. Jesus was often criticized for eating with tax collectors and for being kind to all, including prostitutes. His answer? “On hearing this, Jesus said, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. But go and learn what this means: 'I desire mercy, not sacrifice.' For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners." Matthew 9:12-13. It is not your will, it is His will. Don’t ever be afraid to talk to Him because you are ashamed of something. If that thought is in your head tell Satan to go away.

Merely “acting” isn’t going to form a relationship with Him. Think of what Jesus said about showing up and giving offerings but not truly loving God. You can go to church all you want (as those people were and giving offerings) but you have to have a relationship with God. You have to talk to Him.

When you seek God and try to come to Him, don’t expect the places you see as the ones to make you grow as a Christian to be immune from Satan’s schemes. Jealousy exists in churches, in fellowship, and everywhere else. For example, I have said I watch a lot of Pastors. Sometimes when I mention Joel Osteen, who I watch on television occasionally, people react negatively. Other Pastors across this country have done the same. I have heard it said he is more motivational and less scriptural. My reactions to this criticism show the caution we just use in judging others: First of all, many who have told me that don’t even watch him or read his books. Second, people who are focused on the rituals of just going to church and giving offerings but are not looking for God working in their lives make me sad. I know that for me, years and years ago, on one of the lowest nights of my life a Pastor came on television and I cried because I felt as if he was talking to me. He helped guide me back on my path, and Joel Osteen was the one I heard give that message. On a night I did not think I would survive, that is who God used to bring me back. And just the other day a friend of mine, whom I was so concerned about and was so full of anger and told me she was losing her faith called me and asked me if I had ever watched a Pastor named Joel Osteen, and that she was working late and he came on television, and she felt as if he was talking straight to her and bringing her back to God’s word. When things like that happen and people start to love and seek God even more then I will not look at any Pastor’s message and say that God is not working through him. I can’t because I have seen it and hypocrisy is not something I practice. But it broke my heart to hear other churches bashing him.

Why are we as Christians intimidated by anyone who brings other souls to God? He would not be a mega church if people were not coming to God. We go to our Christian leaders for help in coming to God, so why do we put up with people who are supposed to be our Christian role models tearing another man down who has committed his life to God and to bringing others to him? Isn’t the goal that we all have? To save people from hell? The consequences of hell are so grave because it never ever ends, so every soul saved is worth everything.

It does not matter what denomination you are. God tells us no where in the Bible that we have to be Catholic, Baptist, Methodist, Anglican, Lutheran, Episcopal, or any of the rest. He wants you in a church where, as I say “you don’t just show up to go, you show up to grow.” No matter where you are make sure your relationship is being fed. Make sure you are getting the tools you can use to love him and love others. You can go to church in name only and not have a relationship with Him and believe you are behaving as a Christian, but as Joyce Meyer said during her sermon, “I can sit in my garage all day long and it won’t make me a car.”

"Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?" Jesus replied: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments." Matthew 22:36-40.

You start with your love for God. The Ten Commandments are not just a list for you to memorize and be able to recite. When you do something with the goal to recite it out loud to look good for others then your goal was not to follow them but instead to be respected by others. As Jesus said, "I do not accept praise from men, but I know you. I know that you do not have the love of God in your hearts. I have come in my Father's name, and you do not accept me; but if someone else comes in his own name, you will accept him. How can you believe if you accept praise from one another, yet make no effort to obtain the praise that comes from the only God? John 5:41-44.

Those Ten are not a list, they are what they are: Commandments. And the first four apply to your relationship with God. That is where you start. Don’t expect everyone else to pray for you. You pray. Don’t expect everyone else to develop your relationship with God. You start developing that relationship. For example, recently God called me to do something that involves writing about Him (not these devotionals but something else). Each morning I would pray about what to write and He would fill me full of knowledge and insight. One morning everything in the world was coming at me and I knew I still had to write, and I became frustrated because I did not know what to write. I sat there getting more and more anxious, and then said to God, “why are you not telling me what to write?” to which He let my heart know, “you didn’t ask”. And I had not. That one morning everything was so stressful and this was a project He called me to do, and I attempted to work on the project without Him. You need to start talking to Him, praying to Him, thanking Him, praising Him, and loving Him with everything in you. And when you do He will not let you fail. “Cast your cares on the LORD and he will sustain you; he will never let the righteous fall.” Psalm 55:22. Remember if you have not asked Him, then you can’t complain that He did not hear you.

The commandment of not worshipping other gods before Him applies to us right now. When people hear of this they think that it applies only to worshipping statues such as the Golden Calf that Moses had to encounter with those he was leading out of Egypt. But that is not all it applies to. Everything you put before God is something you are admitting you think is more important than Him. That includes people and material things. When you do that you are worshipping something over Him. Give Him everything. He is above all things, before all things, in all things, through all things and everything good comes from Him and in Him all things hold together. Then you will be “being” a Christian and not just saying you “are” one.

When people used to see me out they would say, “There is Danielle she is a lawyer now.” More important to me than anything is someone seeing me out and saying, “There is Danielle. She is living a Christian life.” One of those statements affects my afterlife. One of them has to do with honoring my Creator and the One who came to save me. And that is the relationship I will always put first in my life.

And no, Satan is not happy about it. I was so negative and self-defeating for so long that the more I grow in faith the more vicious he becomes in his attacks. But my Lord opened my eyes through my faith. My faith is now how I see. Satan lost a soul that he could use constantly to spread the negative to others. Don’t let him replace mine with yours.

Start talking to God today, and start the most important conversation of your life, the conversation that can change any and everything, good or bad.