Tag: Walking in Truth

Wonderful Well Water

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The weather this morning excited me as I strapped on my shoes and hit the pavement. The first cool, crisp morning since Spring.  A little weary of how far I thought I could go today, due to my shins bothering me.  You know, in general, I don’t like pain. I know that’s a news flash but when pain hits, I’m ready to stop. And some pain signals of deeper problems, but this wasn’t that. This was just agitating and trying to get me off course!
I know this sounds goofy, but before setting out, I ask the Lord to direct my steps. To guide me where to run where He has something for me. If nothing stands out or comes to mind I have a “usual” course. Well, today I ran to the point where I planned to turn around, but it didn’t seem time to stop,  so I kept going, and going until finally a telephone pole transformer caught my eye and I decided to turn around there. With that now in focus, I wasn’t paying attention to much else. As I approached, I realized this is where our water companies treatment plant is. My heart leaped and my spirit almost wept.  It was a well! Yes, I knew the water company had this here, but how awesome for today that God would lead me to turn around at a well!
 You see, just before I headed out, I was praying that God would show me how to find His rest IN my circumstances. When life is just hectic and I can’t slow it down anymore how can I find God’s rest? This well reminds me that HE is the well of living water. And He will lead me to it, if I will just listen. Jesus told the woman at the well that if she drank from His water she would never thirst again. “Indeed the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” (John 4:13) Come to the well. Bring your worries, burdens and lay them down here. Then you will find rest. How do you expect to run, Julie, with burdens on your back? Do Olympic runners wear backpacks to the race? No! They run in the least amount of clothes possible. It’s painful to run with shin splints,  yes? Would you let me help you with those? Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest.  Then you can run the race that’s before you. 
Wow, all that from a well treatment plant! God can use ANYTHING!

Tea and Wine

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Steeping my tea this evening in the kitchen, kids quiet in bed and just Adam and I letting our shoulders down after a long day, I smiled at how God can use simple things like tea to teach me. My dear husband and I were discussing how when we pray for something, typically in one way or another God gives it to us. This was in the context of character training. When we pray for Him to show us how to be more ____(fill in the blank) He does! At that moment I was watching the water in my cup go from clear to tea colored, because that’s what I put in it.

Well, imagine for a minute that we are the tea bag and our circumstances/LIFE  are the water, and God’s Word and the Holy Spirit are the air around the cup. God the Father, in His Sovereignty, continually dips us in the water  of life just enough to saturate us, then brings us back up to get some refreshing  air. Then, making sure we don’t get too much air only,  back in we go. Over and over again. And what temperature is the water when you’re making tea? Yes, HOT… boiling! Ever felt HOT circumstances? And what happens to that tea bag as it’s continually immersed over and over again? It bleeds over into the water and flavors  and colors it according to what was in the bag.
 
2 Corinthians 2:14 “But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge  of Him.”
Through those HOT water times of life, God is steeping out His qualities that He put in us, and will use those to encourage, color and strengthen those around us, and in the process be a pleasing aroma to Him! That is what I call hope!
 
On the other hand, have you ever tasted bitter tea? They make it. I guess some people like it. Not wanting to take a simple illustration too far, but if you put a bitter tea bag into water, you get bitter tea! And to that I go to an illustration Jesus used when speaking about fasting. The question was, “How is it that we and the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?” (Mat 9:14) Jesus began to answer about not sewing a patch of new cloth onto an old one, for the new patch will pull away and mess up the whole thing. Then, He says, “Neither do men pour new wine into old wineskins.. If they do, the skins will burst, the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No,  they pour new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved.” (9:17) In other words,  Jesus came to establish a new covenant. The old one is gone and can’t even be mixed with the new one.
 
In the same way, our OLD self must be poured out to allow for the NEW self, created to be like Christ in true righteousness and holiness, to be poured in.  The only problem is, as long as we wear  this skin, that old self likes to feed off the bones we toss it. Before long, it’s nourished and taking form again. Truth is, however, even if it does take form, it’s only a corpse, because for those who are IN Christ, we are a NEW creation! The old has gone, the new has come. And that is something to Praise God for. That He can take even the bitterest and nastiest tasting TEA, and turn it into a TRIUMPH and an aroma that is pleasing. AMEN!!

Scenic Road Not Taken

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Today I took a route I’ve never run before. Unlike the straight way I usually take with its inspiring sunrises over pastures, this road curved back and forth, which made me scoot over for traffic, jump over a tree branch and pray away the ferocious sounding dogs barking at me. It was darker than the other route, for trees canopied over the road on all sides. Add to that a sneeky hill that about killed me on the way out. You can tell I had a great attitude! When I finally came to where my usual road feeds in, I looked to my left and behold, an electrifying sunset met my glance. I just dropped my shoulders and prayed, “Lord, look how beautiful it is over there! Why didn’t I take THAT route today?” To which I felt a gentle whisper say, “My child, you don’t always get to take the scenic route. Through it all, I’m still with you.”
 
How many times have I looked at the life of a friend and thought, “Man, they’ve got it made!” or “I wish I could home school like them.” If, if, if, and what if! Then there’s the why’s. “Why can’t we go that way, Lord? Why does this road have to be so hard and have so much traffic? The path is smoother over there and the sun is shinning.” To which the Lord can respond, “Yes, it is, but that’s not YOUR path. Maybe I have something for you to learn in these potholes, traffic, hills and barking dogs.”
 
Another dark zone for me is  the fear factor. FEAR of the unknown. What happens if….. what about…and don’t forget….My husband spells out fear this way: False Evidence Appearing Real. Ever experience that? My mind can place me in unrealistic situations so fast that I believe I’m there and then I’m afraid. Then I look around to see who noticed me leave reality or ask me what I’m thinking about. But in the face of all that, God tells me and you to “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze…Since you are precious and honored in my sight, and because I love you…” (Isaiah 43:1-3a,4.)
 
Can you believe He loves us THAT much?! He says, “You, (place your name) are MINE!” God, in His love and great mercy will see us through the windy, dark, scary paths of life. In time, if we let Him, His light will burn away our darkness and we will be left with a beautiful intimacy with our Savior that shines brighter than a sunrise over the pastures!


Uphill both ways

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“Back when I was a child we had to walk to school, in the snow, uphill BOTH ways!” Has anyone heard that one? My husband likes to tell a similar story to our kids as a way of saying, “Hey, you’ve got it easy, quit complaining!”

My run this morning had a similar tone to it. As I set out, I heard the voice of my old cross-country coach saying, “Let’s go run some hills today”. Cringing, I remembered how I used to actually enjoy running those hills back then. I’ve never been fast. I would just out last ‘em, and hills were my chance! I remember our district race was the hardest route of the whole year. Hills spotted the entire 2 miles, with the biggest one sitting 100 yards from the finish line. You could hear the crowd ½ a mile away cheering the girls on as they raced up that hill. Many medals were won and lost there.
 
Growing up we lived out at Holly Lake Ranch. A little wooded seclusion amidst exciting timeshare amenities. That’s where I learned hills. Jogging with my granddaddy in those days took us up some giants, so I just thought hills were a normal part of the sport. Fast forward to today, I honestly prefer the level ground of Mineola. You have to search to find some hills here. Well, today, I found them! I took a left where I usually take a right and ran down and down, at least a mile until finally I turned around. I laughed at the situation I was in. To go further on meant up hill, and to turn around meant, UP HILL! So, looks like up hill it is!
 
You see, hills reveal what you’re really made of. This is when it’s time to implement all those coaching lessons you’ve heard. You also realize your gaps – where you still need work.
 
Aren’t there times in life that no matter where you go, it’s uphill both ways? Someone once coined it a “catch 22” or to be explicit, “*@*@ if you do, *@*@ if you don’t”. I guess it’s actually rare to actually please all parties involved, but isn’t that what we try to do? Conflict usually isn’t the goal!
 
Running up that hill, I had my head down and all I focused on was the road in view from the brim of my hat down to my feet. I was thanking God for the up-hills in life, because they breed endurance and endurance breeds character. I desire to be a woman of character. The infamous James 1:2-4 fits beautifully here. “Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish is work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.” Have you ever met a kid who had all the answers but had never run up any hills? The one you tell, “Come talk to me in 10 years!” The testing of our faith (a.k.a HILLS!) develops perseverance (a.k.a MATURITY!) Without it, we’re like a wet noodle handshake.
 

Life is full of up-hill battles. Be encouraged. One step at a time. Do not try to measure how long this hill will last, but instead, continually thank the Lord for His strength, and how He’s overcome many hills before and this one will be no different. Even when it’s up-hill both ways, He will finish what He started. Remember, medals are won and lost on the hills.

To Flee or not to Flee

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Remember the movie “The Runaway Bride”? Julia Roberts played a bride who continually ran away when it came time to say “I do”. Maybe it was a good thing to run from some of those guys, but finally she met someone of worth. But the wedding anxieties were just too much, and she still put on her running shoes and ran.

Jogging down the road this morning, in the early glimmers of light, I thought about the different things in life I want to run away from. The difficulties, drama, confrontation, or even daily questions and chores, “what’s for dinner?”, “did you wash any socks?”, sweep the floor, load the dishwasher,  honestly can drive me to do what Julia Roberts did in that movie, run away! But I’m glad I don’t…

This did bring to mind 2 places in scripture that involve running…or not running. The first one is the second part of James 4:7, “Resist the devil and he will flee from you.” Now, looking at several scriptures, (I Cor 6:18, 10:14, 1 Tim 6:11, 2 Tim 2:22) they tells us plainly TO flee several things: sexual immorality, idolatry, evil desires of youth, the love of money to name a few. So, to summarize, resist the devil and HE will flee; and I am to FLEE from temptation, lest I stare at it too long. Now, my wheels are really churning. What would happen, per-se, if I was to flee from the devil and just “resist” temptation. Would that work? Is that the same thing? What’s the difference?

 I do believe there’s a difference, and here’s why. If we flee from the devil we wind up in a dog fight. Satan is faster and stronger than we are. The faster we run away from him, the faster he pursues us. If we just muster up enough strength to “resist” temptation, we end up staying longer than we ever needed to. It comes down to how dependent are we on the Spirit to decipher between the two. I know I get blowing and going along and solving my issues the best way I know how, until I realize I’m facing the same thing over and over again. I stop and say, “what am I really fighting here? What is the root to why I’m feeling/reacting this way?”

There are times we need to just keep walking, maybe even run (flee temptation) and there are also times to press in. First Corinthians 10:14-15 assures us, “No temptation has seized you except what’s common to man. God is faithful, He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, He will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.” So what’s the way out? For me that’s been sharing aloud with a friend, or spouse, the thoughts that can haunt me. I believe it’s time for Christians to stop playing charades and be AUTHENTIC with each other. This is a two partner dance. Partner #1 has to humble herself to BE authentic, regardless of the potential cost. Partner #2 has to LISTEN to the words spoken and cast NO judgement or CONDEMNATION towards the other person. That particular area may not be your individual struggle, but we all have something! Partner #2 must also commit to keeping that information confidential and never EVER use that information as gossip or fire starter. This would be Partner #1’s worst fear coming true in being authentic!! No temptation has seized you except what’s common to man. None of us are exempt from Satan’s attacks – from difficult marriages, to trouble with kids, to entertainment choices, we are all fallen people and we need one another if we are to walk blameless in this life and not fall into the snares set for us.

“The wicked man flees though no one pursues, but the righteous are as bold as a lion.” (Proverbs 28:1) In the face of Satan, our only resistance is to stand firm.  He wants us to tuck tail and run as fast as we can, scared to death. On the other hand, we can choose to pull out our shield of faith, and allow our “Heavenly Daddy” to handle Him. Otherwise, Satan will chase us around with accusations and condemnations until we crack or give in, because we feel as if we’ve done it anyway!

So the next time life tosses you a reason to run, maybe its time to turn in your running shoes, like Roberts, and commit to fighting the good fight of faith.

Sunrises

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How would you describe the color of the sky during a morning sunrise? Is it boring brown, black, gray or white? No! How about flaming torches of orange, red, yellow, even purple on occasion?

This morning on my jog I saw the most beautiful cloud splashed with a purple not found in a crayon box. I thought it interesting that usually clouds are cotton ball white or stormy gray, but this morning the colors of the dawn reflected on the cloud and not just the sky. When I started out though, before the sun rise, blackness clothed the sky. As I ran, I witnessed the sky go from black, to purple, to shining white and clear. Remind you of anything else? I wish it could have reminded me of a beautiful, fragrant flower, rich in color. But no, it reminded me of a bruise. Bruises usually start out black, then after a few days turn purple, blue, sometimes even green. Then after awhile, they return to normal skin color and the evidence of the mishap is gone. I thought the purple cloud was beautifully breathtaking this morning, and I must say, I’ve never thought that about a bruise.

Have you ever been bruised by God? You may be appalled by the question. Have you ever been bruised because He didn’t answer something you specifically asked for with all the faith in the world? Bruised because He answered differently than you expected or took something/someone away from you? Bruised because what you thought were right choices have left hard consequences? Or bruised because of His silence? I have, with all of the above, and it hurts. I felt His presence with me as I thought about this, and laid out, with tears, again the areas that were still a bit tender. Then I looked back up at that magnificent cloud. It was displaying the Lord’s splendor right in front of me, for what other God could bring up the sun every day in such a fashion? I think in the same way, our “bruises” are opportunities to display the glory of the Lord, if we will surrender to His sunrise schedule. A few minutes later and a different cloud would have been on rotation and been put on display, but God chose THAT cloud for this morning. And by the time my miles had ended, the once “bruised” cloud was a glorious shining white with not a trace left of purple. Now that reminded me how Jesus has purified us whiter than snow and left no trace of our old self.
One of my favorite songs on the radio right now has a line that says “Make me broken so I can be whole”. Sometimes, that’s what God has to do with us. Break us, to then make us whole. How glorious it is that in a painful process we can be shining examples of His glory to others, and maybe even encourage others as they might be picked as that cloud tomorrow.

HEAT

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I was a runner in High School. But that was 1.5 decades ago, 3 births, 36 months of nursing, 15 birthdays, 5,475 days of marriage, countless meals, sleepless nights and lullabies ago, so it doesn’t really matter! About a month ago, the Lord nudged me, challenged me rather, to roll out of bed before the rooster crows and meet Him on the road. Finally, I had ignored Him and slept in long enough, so I set the alarm and committed to obey this voice in my head. Either I was completely crazy and one run would be enough or the Lord really was speaking to me and I would grow in this process. First morning I couldn’t sleep, for thinking of how early that alarm would go off and how terrible I would feel if I didn’t get to sleep! Let’s just say I saw 2 am and the alarm was set for 5:30. That’s not much sleep for this must-have-8-hours-of-sleep connoisseur.

After jogging regularly for a month now, I feel my body getting stronger, but more importantly, my prayer has been for the Lord to train me to be Godly. “Teach me to listen to your voice”, I have prayed. Physical conditioning is important to health and vitality of my days, but spiritual conditioning will endure beyond this earthly body. So, no headphones, no agenda, just me and the birds, listening to my Savior.

At first, just the task of running overwhelmed me. I set my goal and measured my course for 2 miles, but even prayed that if the Lord had a plan for me to go a different route or a different amount of miles I would listen and obey that. Of course my first thought was to the worst – that He’d want me to go 5 miles tomorrow and I just wouldn’t be able to do that. But then, on the other hand maybe He would say 1 mile and I’d have an easy day. It was 2 miles throughout the entire 1st week and that was hard physically for me, especially on 5 hours or less of sleep. I wanted to stop MANY times, but prayed for the Lord to strengthen me, and He kept my feet moving one in front of the other. I was amazed, though at how I was still able to function, even with joy, in my day. He completely multiplied my strength as I obeyed.

The object I noticed first, UNDENIABLY was the sun. It would just be peaking over the horizon line as I crested over the hill and set out with fields stretched out on both sides. Instantly, when that sun breaks through you feel it’s heat. Everything does, nothing is exempt.

I thought about the “heat” I’ve felt in my own life. Pressure and trouble in relationships, decisions, haunting thoughts of “what-ifs”, responsibilities….the list could go on. I felt an impression on my heart that said, “I am the heat you’ve been feeling”. No, God doesn’t BRING us hardship, as in the context of being MEAN. Rather, He ALLOWS them, as fiery furnace for gold or a crucible for silver, to bring out the impurities within, and with the goal of making of making us holy. I should rejoice in that heat, for He is there! My life cannot be hidden from His heat if I am His child! I should be worried if I DIDN’T feel His heat, for those whom the Lord loves, He disciplines!

Thank you Lord for your heat. The pressures in our life that MAKE us turn to you, completely rely on you. Increase our trust in you in these intense heated times of our life, that those impurities may be cleansed away and not hold us back in our walk anymore. I pray for those who are hurting and struggling today, that you would give them joy instead of ashes, a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair and you would make all of us oaks of righteousness, a planting of yours for the display of your splendor! Amen

Jude 24 “To Him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you before His glorious presence without fault and with great joy…”

Thief or Conquorer? Both!

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“Momma, why do people steal?” asks my 8 year old cowgirl.

“Well,” I respond with heaviness in my heart and a prayer of wisdom on my lips, “have you ever wanted something someone else had?”

A resounding “YES!” comes from all 3 kids in the backseat of the van.

“Well then someone who steals chose to simply take what wasn’t theirs instead of working to earn the money to buy what they wanted or the lacked character to ask for it.”

At that moment I realized there’s a little bit of the thief in me. In me resides the inclination to steal, kill and destroy. It’s a force to be reckoned with, not deny. The desire to have something that’s not mine left unchecked by the Spirit could lead to robbery. Paul said it best in Romans 7 (paraphrasing), I don’t do what I want to do and I do the thing I don’t want to do! There’s a battle going on inside my soul everyday! Will I choose to walk in my flesh and gratify my human nature – which FEELS really good and satisfies for the moment, yet leaves me out to dry once the moment’s over? Or will I walk in the Spirit – putting aside my SCREAMING demands and obey the still small voice?

Have you ever had a screaming child in the car? You’re driving home and about 10 minutes away your infant wakes up, STARVING! What can you do besides speed up a few notches and maybe rock the car from side to side? Driving while nursing is definitely NOT recommended! You know the child will survive 10 more minutes, even though he/she does not.

It’s the same way with our walk. My flesh can scream out at me to give in and satisfy my emotion – which is no different than stealing a candy bar from the gas station. That’s why Jesus went to the cross. To embody all the sin of the thief, the murderer, the adulterer, the liar. It all died with Him! Then He walked out of the grave and offers us His hand to join Him. We ‘walk in the Spirit” when we realize the depth of our sinful nature, (our speck) stop pointing out our brothers saying we could never do that, and choose to say “It’s only by YOUR powers Jesus I’m not the thief right now! Lead me, Help me to follow you…because without YOU I am NOTHING!

And it gets better…God says to me His grace is sufficient for me and His power is made perfect in my weakness. He says I am more than a conqueror through Jesus. He says He will lead me in triumphal procession in Christ and spread everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of Him. He says He will keep me in perfect peace when my mind is steadfast on Him. God tells me the moment I look to Him, I am saved. I have the mind of Christ, the spirit of sonship and can call the LORD of all, Daddy. I am His daughter. He says nothing can separate me from His love. Not my fears, not my thoughts, not the fear of my thoughts…nothing….nothing….nothing. I am His and He is mine.

Yes, I am capable of the worst of sins – I could do it all in a heartbeat. I may feel guilty in the morning, but don’t we all? Paul shares a similar story in Romans 7:14-24 and ends with these words, “What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our LORD!

John 15:5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.”

Life Stitches

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Why do I love to sew you ask? Ahhh, let me count the ways… #1 It connects me with my mom and grandmother. #2 Sewing allows me to use my creativity on something other than my kids and husband. #3 It sucks me into a time warp where suddenly I don’t feel hungry, tired or worried about life. All I can think about is the next stitch and how excited I am to see the finished product!! Sewing is not something I take lightly, actually, I don’t take anything lightly, and so sewing obviously is no different! I also race to finish things, so I’m terrible at a seeing fabric draped over the machine waiting patiently for me to have time for it. I just part the waters of life, sit down and SEW. All of that to say it was one of those “sewing weeks” as we call it in my house, and this was one of the last pieces to make. It was a sleep shirt. Simple… Easy… Right? Sort – of. I’d done this pattern before but always messed up on the neckline. I thought I had figured it out and was excited to get to the dreaded part, confident I knew what to do now. This wouldn’t take long! Did I mention it was about 9pm…kids in bed…long day…husband feeling a little lonely due to “sewing week”?? Well, that’s just a minor detail anyway. So here we are…the neck seam and I had it figured out. I pinned. I checked. I double checked. Finally I begin to sew, carefully and slowly because I’m working with a knit fabric and a knit stitch that is almost impossible to rip out if it’s not right. Excitedly I do the final backstitch, cut the strings and examine my work. My heart says, thump, thump, thump… “NOOOOOOO” My idea was not correct, I had stitched the whole thing wrong again! So instead of snuggling next to my husband clothed in a homemade shirt, I, through clenched teeth and watering eyes undid tiny stitches until my eyes couldn’t see anymore and my stomach was in knot. Not the rewarding feeling I was looking for.
 
The next morning I woke up and after breakfast picked up right where I left off. That’s when it hit me…
 
As the “creator” of this sleep shirt, there’s really no mess up, no stitch that I can’t take out. Even if I messed up the whole thing or cut it in two, I could always buy more fabric and do it again, because I have the PATTERN.
 
Then I related it to MY life. There’s no stitch, no marks, no cuts that God can’t fix. He has the pattern. He is my CREATOR, therefore, I cannot mess up His masterpiece. Because actually, in my mess up, He becomes MORE. You see that zig zag stitch there? That’s where I started to veer off the right, chasing after the wind and God had to do some extra stitches there. You see that my right sleeve is a different shade then the left? That’s because I sewed it on backward. God decided to leave it as a reminder that He comes first and when I’m abiding with him, I’m going to look different than those around me. You see that neckline? All the holes because the stitches were taken out so many times it put holes in the fabric? There wasn’t a way to pull out the stitches (things in my life not honoring Him) without pulling out what was around it and leaving a hole. Yes, I’m a mess. But I’m God’s mess, and He’s not finished with me yet!!!


How can you relate that to your life? What stitches have needed to be ripped out? Or maybe left in to remember He is perfect, we are not. I pray you will let God be your Creator. I pray you dance in the freedom of His arms. I feared messing up for so long it stunted by ability to dance with Him. He loves us with an everlasting love. If you are in Christ, He loves you just as you are today. We can embrace that truth and let Him create us as He will. 

Roses, Shakespheare and Names

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“What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet…” questions Juliet to Romeo in Shakespeare’s famous play. Juliet pours out her love in hopes that they can defy the fate their names will inevitably bring. Would a rose smell as sweet if it weren’t called a rose? That may have to be a discussion for a different blogger, but it does pose the question…what power is there in a Name? What about in a Word?

Although Romeo and Juliet only lived on the stages of Shakespeare’s plays, that line came to mind as I read about the power of God’s Name and His Word.

My youngest child, Zach, had a bad dream the other night. When that happens, he doesn’t join his brother on the top bunk or slide in with his sister across the hall. No, without hesitation he sets out on the trek through the living room and past the office, in the dark, to Mom and Dad’s room. There, finally safe, he can squeeze almost invisibly under the covers next to mom and it will be several moments until she realizes his presence and several more before she’s coherent enough to respond in any way! But Mom and Dad’s room holds some kind of power for him. Either bad dreams aren’t possible there or because he’s with us, or, when the bad dreams come, he won’t be scared.

God’s Name holds the same power for us. When life spins us in a bad, real-life dream, do we long to be in the Presence of the Almighty who will either command it to go away or walk with us through the dark, giving us Supernatural armor and might to defend the invading army?

My children have been memorizing the armor of God passage in Ephesians 6 this year. There’s some hidden secrets way back in the book of Exodus 28 that add depth to our breastplate of righteousness. And, yes, it also has to do with names…

Exodus 28:35 begins, “Fashion a breast piece for making decisions – the work of a skilled craftsman.” It goes on in detail of the gold, twisted linen and specific dimensions of this piece. Then, there was to be four rows of precious stones, each “engraved like a seal with the names of one of the 12 tribes.” Attaching to the breast piece by rings and blue cord was the ephod, which also held engraven names. This connected the two pieces so that the breast piece would stay in place and not move around. Here’s the neat part – verse 29 says, “Whenever Aaron enters the Holy Place, he will bear the names of the sons of Israel over his heart.” Since Old Testament times our hearts have needed to be covered. Now, not only do Aaron and the priests have the names of the 12 tribes covering them (a foreshadowing of Jesus Christ’s perfect covering to come) but they also have something holy stuck to them as they make decisions. Those names should spur them to make decisions based on whose they belong to (the Great I AM) and to glorify Him.

Compare this account with Ephesians 6:14 which says, “Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place.” Why is it righteous? Because it has Jesus’ name inscribed on the front and it’s in place! That breast piece enables me to stand before the God of the Universe as blameless! Also, as I make decisions I have the reminder that I carry that name with me and the power it possesses.

The names of those who have trust Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life (Revelation 3:5 & 20:15) One day our name will be called and looked up in that book. At that time, no matter what credibility or disqualifications you feel your earthly name bears, we must be associated with the NAME and the WORD. Will your name be found? Hear Jesus calling you in the words of Revelation 3:20, ” Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.” His words are not a catchy phrase from a famous playwright, they are the WORDS of LIFE.