Mexico, again.

You can take the woman out of Mexico, but you can't take Mexico out of the woman!!

I'm back from only five full days in Mexico, but it was five days of serious reflection and consideration. The first day was difficult, and I admit that I felt out of place. The second day went much better and they began to give me more responsibility. By the third day I was having dinner with one of my good friends and her family (cemitas and taquitos), confiding in my roomie and vice versa, learning the ropes, and hearing from God.

As I worked, God also worked something out in me. Through some conversations and a renewed sense of what I truely love, I feel that He showed me the simplicity of the situation. That there was nothing more than a decision to be made, and it's up to me to make it. Whether I stay and work here, or follow my passion and work there, God will bless my work if it's purpose is to glorify Him.

Emily version 1.0 would have thought, "no! it can't possibly be this simple. Why aren't there fireworks, and writings on the wall, and a pillar of smoke to guide me and show me the exact next step toward God's will for my life?" Today's Emily is at peace with her God and with her future. I'm not anxious or worried about what to do, I know what to do. Regrettably, I think I always knew what to do and I've thrown myself into so many other things that I forgot about it. It came to me in the words of a friend in Mexico, words I'd heard before but I didn't know what they meant until recently: "pray it through."

I think there is a huge chasm of difference between "praying about it" and "praying it through." So instead of mentioning it to God here and there in my quiet times, I am going to bug Him about it. I insist that it becomes possible, I insist that little Josh, Asha and Jacob grow up in the Spirit. I insist that Mom can help them without me. I will bug Him about relationships, support and opportunities.

I've been learning what prayer means. D.L. Moody's daughter said it best in the form of a catechism when she was only nine years old. "Prayer is an offering up of our desires unto God for things agreeable to his will, in the name of Christ, with confession of our sins and thankful acknowledgement of his mercies." So from this point on I offer up my (agreeable) desires to Him, I ask in Jesus' name, and keeping my heart transparent and humble before Him, I thank Him for all that He is.

You Fool

1 Corinthians 1:25. That's all I have to say.

Not exactly "all" I have to say. I have questions. Good writers never ask questions, but I want to provoke some thoughts, here. Namely in those who believe that Scripture is God-breathed Truth.

If the foolishness of God is wiser than the wisdom of men, why do we depend so much on our "logic?"

If God delights in glorifying Himself by using the foolish and the lowly, why do we try so friggin hard to be cool and notably above others?

Shouldn't our Goal be Foolishness if that is what God wants to use?

I'm finding myself questioning this idea of "winsomeness" that is many times our goal when we witness. That is not to say that we should instead be irritating or brash, but why is our goal to appeal to the flesh of men, when it is the Spirit of God who appeals to the spirit of men?

I read and re-read Romans 8 and it each time it becomes harder to justify myself when I know that "the carnally [fleshly] minded set their minds on the things of the flesh and the spiritually minded on the things of the Spirit." Try to tell someone about Christ "in the flesh" and there will be failure two-fold. For us because we attempted eternal work in the flesh, and for the hearer because even if they accept our words, they may be accepting them in the flesh, which will prove temporal.

Paul pointed out that the Gospel is foolishness to our flesh. It is not our job to Convince people that He is Truth, because it goes against human logic anyway! It must be our job, then, to obediently share the Truth and trust that the Spirit will work in those who have "ears to hear."

If I try to be winsome for the Gospel, but my mind and heart are rooted in flesh and not in the Spirit, I become an empty vessel pretending to offer Living Water! Stay with me on this... Brothers and sisters, we need to pray this through. Jesus is Living Water! We can't pretend that our words and arguments possess His Spirit. They don't. As a rule, they can't. Paul knew this more than anyone. He did not come "with words of human wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power" (1 Cor 1:17).

We can actually empty the cross of its power by depending on human words!

Why could Peter and John look at a cripple and tell him to get up and walk? Because their words were so convincing that the cripple had a psychosematic episode and suddenly convinced himself that, yes, he could walk? NO! No, no, and no. Peter and John possessed the Spirit of God in such a way that they Knew that if they spoke in the Name of Jesus, that the Spirit would move and heal the man. How did they know the Holy Spirit would do that? Don't we ask Him to heal people all the time and it seems like He's not paying attention? Peter and John lived In The Spirit. They breathed the Spirit of God, they communed with Him daily, hourly!

We think prayer depends on words so we talk more. We talk over God, we drown out the whisper with our shouts of injustice. Where are our minds? Are we thinking of God in terms of our flesh? If we are, it is no wonder we don't know when the Spirit plans to move. It is no wonder we feel like God doesn't work miracles anymore. And we sit around in our Bible studies and convince each other that it's because it was necessary for God to work miracles back then so he could build the foundations of the early church, but they wouldn't have any relevance in our day because -- BULL.

We don't see miracles today because no one wants them. They go against our logic and our reason and therefore make us uncomfortable. Then, in sudden desperation we cry out to God for a miracle and then grow bitter because God doesn't comply.

Flesh. It's our curse.