Pegasus in Us

April 13, 2016April 12, 2016 Susan Irene Fox Susan Irene Fox Christianity, fullness of God, Holy Spirit, invitation, Jesus, living water, perspective, salvation, voice

“Eternal life is not a gift from God; eternal life is the gift of God…not power as a gift from the Holy Spirit; the power is the Holy Spirit. Jesus came to give us an endless supply of life ‘that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.’” (Ephesians 3:19) Oswald Chambers (emphasis mine)

Possessing the Holy Spirit inside us is like being a horse at the starting gate of a race. The horse cannot run the race until the gate is opened. Because we believe, we have this amazing power inside us. Yet, many of us think, speak and act just like someone who isn’t blessed with this mysterious gift. We’re a horse who looks like any other horse. How could this be?

Some of us spend our entire lives without ever allowing the Spirit to come alive in us. He lies dormant, abiding uninvited to participate in our family life, business life, social life, financial life, emotional life or our spiritual life.

Ah, but once we open the gate and extend an invitation to the Spirit, we will begin to detect the abundant love, the copious grace and extensive power infusing us. As we allow the Spirit to dissolve the blinders from our eyes and the plugs from our ears, we will see and hear clearly the signs of His voice. We will, day by day, grow in the harmonious cadence of our relationship with the One who created us.

When that occurs, we will desire to do nothing less than let Him have His way with us. We will find strength in the surrender. We will seek Him out in every circumstance. We will comprehend the deep and abiding truth that it takes tremendous courage to love, and we can only do it with the Spirit’s infrastructure and tenderness.

As we imagine ourselves bolstered daily by the Spirit, we are able to awaken every day with a new perspective. Yes, we will walk at first, but think how it will feel as we are then able to skip and run. Furthermore, walking with the Spirit allows us to accomplish so much more than if we walked alone. Because it’s not all about us. Until we embrace the Living Water Spirit and begin to live out our lives on the bedrock of His love, we’re unable to offer that love and compassion to someone else – someone who may well be crying out for the life-affirming hope the salvation of Jesus brings.

When a horse picks up speed, he trots, then canters, then gallops, and in each stride of his gallop, his four-beat gait then allows all four feet to lift from the ground at once. Think then, of walking with the Spirit, our Divine Impulsion, as He helps us lift our feet off the ground.

“I ask him to strengthen you by his Spirit—a glorious inner strength—that Christ will come alive in you as you allow his Spirit to be stirred in you. And I ask him that with both feet planted firmly on love, you’ll be able to take in with all followers of Jesus the extravagant dimensions of Christ’s love. Reach out and experience the breadth! Test its length! Plumb the depths! Rise to the heights! Live full lives, saturated in the fullness of God.” (Ephesians 3:16-19)

The Need for Tuesday Christians

April 1, 2016March 31, 2016 Susan Irene Fox Susan Irene Fox Christianity, Devonte Hart, Easter, faith, grace, Jesus, living water, opportunities, Spirit, Tuesday’s Child

Tuesday’s Child is Full of Grace

“But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malicious behavior, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. Be wise in the way you act toward those who are outside the Christian faith. Make the most of every opportunity. Everything you say should be gracious and kind, (seasoned with salt) so you respond to each person rightly.” (Colossians 3:8, 4:5-6)

Here I am, checking in. How have we fared since Good Friday, since Easter Sunday, only seven and five days passed?

Has our talk of grace waned like the phase of the moon? Have our gracious actions waned as well? Have we gone about our daily business without a thought about why we shared the bread and cup last Friday? Have we passed up opportunities to offer grace to those we live or work with, forgetting the Grace offered us and the reason we celebrated on Sunday?

We walked into church in our Sunday best, smiled at those around us, and nodded at the pastor’s sermon. And some of us didn’t even make it to the parking lot before we got angry at something or someone. Many of us didn’t make it home to our front doors. Some of us didn’t make it through Monday at work.

Like that old nursery rhyme, I’m asking all of us to be Tuesday Christians, full of grace. Let’s try to carry the cross of love and mercy and grace with us throughout our week. Let’s meet folks where they are, just as Jesus did. Instead of thinking and talking and behaving the same old way, let’s allow the Spirit of the Lord to transform us. I mean, if we don’t allow the Spirit to make an impact upon us at Easter, when will we let him in?

So it’s only one week away from Good Friday; only five days away from Easter. Have we entirely forgotten the words Jesus spoke to us? Have we already chosen to turn our backs on him by justifying our own words and behavior?

As I listen to politicians, their mouths spewing words like, “moron,” “imbecile,” “loser,” and phrases like, “I’d love to punch him in the face,” I worry at their popularity among those calling ourselves Christians. Are we really buying the lie that anger will lead us to right thinking? That anger will lead us toward a closer relationship with our God?

As you know, long ago God instructed Moses to tell His people, “Do not murder; those who murder will be judged and punished.” But here is the even harder truth: I tell you, anyone who is angry with his brother will be judged for his anger. Anyone who taunts his friend, speaks contemptuously toward him, or calls him “Loser” or “Fool” or “Idiot,” will have to answer to the high court. (Matthew 5:21-22)

I don’t know about you, but for me, it seems sometimes as though our words and actions have journeyed far from grace. They have traveled far from the Living Water they were meant to be. We cannot extend grace if our hearts and minds are intransigent, if our ideas have become frozen like cement, if our notions of what we are supposed to do have caused us to make them into new laws to follow. We cannot mature in our faith in frozen water, only in Living Water.

“I think far too often, we confuse faith with religion. And faith with theology. And faith with denominations. And faith with doctrine. The moment we are no longer inviting to those who aren’t just like us, we begin to harden. Cement swells or shrinks with the temperature, while water flows into every parched crack of our souls. Maybe cement cannot be moved, but it is water that nourishes us and brings life to us all.” Steve Austin, Wrestling with Messy Grace

Love and Fear

September 25, 2015October 31, 2015 Susan Irene Fox Susan Irene Fox compassion, Fear, generous, God, grace, Holy Spirit, Jesus, living water, Love, mercy, peace, Pope Francis, prayer

Like footprints in sand washed away by an incoming wave, fear, when allowed to be overcome by love, will be washed away completely.

God’s ocean of love, if allowed into the heart, will cleanse us of fear – the fear that cultivates hate, condemnation and division.

I am convinced God’s unfathomable, immeasurable, indiscriminate love and grace frightens some because it is uncontainable. I think the fearful know, once the free gift of unconditional love and grace is accepted, they must give away the overflow. And giving away love and grace and mercy and compassion to those considered sinners by the fearfully righteous is anathema to them.

You see, fear encourages fists. It fosters clenched jaws and closed minds. It sustains status quo. It deprives lungs of the Breath of Life and starves the soul of Living Water. It neglects the heart, letting it choke and wither. It incites a mindset of hostility.

“We must especially guard against simplistic reductionism which sees only good or evil, or, if you will, only the righteous and sinners. The contemporary world, with its open wounds which affect so many of our brothers and sisters, demands that we confront every form of polarization which would divide it into these two camps. We know that in the attempt to be freed of the enemy without, we can be tempted to feed the enemy within.” Pope Francis

We must not be afraid of love. We must not be afraid of grace. We must not be afraid of mercy and compassion. These are ways of being which connect people, which place us in each others’ shoes, which allow us to know one another as individuals instead of groups.

Further, once the decision is made to surrender and accept this miraculous gift, the desire to bless others with the same becomes intrinsic. Hands open, jaws soften, minds become approachable, and the heart blooms. With the help of the Spirit, we see each other through the eyes of Jesus – the eyes of compassion.

Am I in that head- and heart-free space all the time? Heck, no. I’m human. I have days when I shake my head and roll my eyes at other humans who’ve been created by the same generous God who created me.

But getting up every morning and asking the Holy Spirit to arm me with the strength to produce His fruit (Galatians 5:22-23) is the one of the most powerful prayers I can pray. It helps me get out of the way so God can use me for His purposes. It allows me to latch onto the peace He provides, and eagerly pass along His love, grace and mercy from His compassionate heart.

Is Grace Really That Amazing?

September 8, 2015October 31, 2015 Susan Irene Fox Susan Irene Fox Amazing Grace, DNA, God, Jesus Christ, living water, Lord, Love, redemption, surrender

Nearly every Christian I know talks about amazing grace. We discuss it in church. Books have been written about it from Paul Ellis to Max Lucado to Andy Stanley to Lee Strobel to Philip Yancey (just to name a few out of over 100 pages on Amazon.com). Not to mention the number of songs.

It’s interesting to note that in the Gospels, the only grace ever mentioned was about Jesus. Yet the apostle Paul wrote of the gift of grace in nearly every letter.

“We are now saved and set right by His free gift of grace through the redemption available only in Jesus Christ. Roman 3:24

It seems to me, however, many spurn this free gift. Why, then is it talked about it so much? Why do people pretend they value grace when they wear it like a cloak in church on Sunday morning and hang it up when they walk in the door at home Sunday afternoon?

When the gift of grace is put on for show and not welcomed into the mind and heart and soul, it is rejected; it cannot then transform, cannot be understood, cannot be passed along.

Then these very things that have come to me will be poured out as “rivers of living water” all around me (John 7:38). Even love must be transformed by being poured out “to the Lord.” Oswald Chambers

When grace is not allowed to become a part of our DNA, we cannot become the human beings created in God’s image we were meant to be. We must surrender ourselves to a loving God who wants to lift us higher, who wants to show us more than we see right now.

God wants to show us the image of ourselves through His eyes. Our perfect, flawless, beloved selves. And once we can see that – once we grasp the raw amazing beauty of it – we will pour His loving, living water over others so they will see themselves that way, too.

Now that’s amazing grace.