God wants to heal us from whatever evil has happened in our lives, but we need to give it to Him. We might feel like a caterpillar that is all bound up in a cocoon and can’t move. When we are willing to give everything to the Lord, it is like we open up, shake our wrinkles away as beautiful changes take place, and we can fly freely as that butterfly.

We are loved so much by our Heavenly Father, and He desires to restore us so we don’t have to continue to live in the pain of the past. Then we can come to Him as our true selves and worship Him with hearts set free. I was reading from John 4:23-24 of Jesus’ conversation with the Samaritan woman at the well who had had five husbands and was now living with another man. Jesus’ words, “It’s who you are and the way you live that count before God. Your worship must engage your spirit in the pursuit of truth. That’s the kind of people the Father is out looking for who are simply and honestly themselves before Him in their worship. God is sheer being itself—Spirit. Those who worship Him must do it out of their very being, their spirits their true selves, in adoration.”

We can become the true persons God created us to be as we give everything to the Lord, including our past, and let Him heal us. Then we can be free and worship and love Him from our true selves.

Paul could have started his letter with saying, “You have no idea what I have been through sitting on the floor in this cold prison; and although you sent me Epaphroditus to meet my needs he was sick and I had to care for him. Not only that, but I worry about you that you will be taken in by false teachers, or that the Euodia and Syntyche’s disagreement will affect the rest of the church, etc.” No, Paul is full of encouragement and thankfulness and tells how even his trials are bearing fruit with the imperial guard, etc.

The first thing that spoke to me was in chapter 2 where Paul says, “In humility consider others as more important than yourselves. Everyone should look out not only for his own interest, but also for the interests of others.” Another version says to put yourself aside and not think of your own advantage but “forget yourselves long enough to lend a helping hand.” I thought of someone I had a concern for, and rather than mull over what the person was possibly experiencing, I prayed as Paul said in the 4^th chapter, “Don’t worry about anything but in everything through prayer and petition with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.” So that’s what I stopped to do and what followed was, “The peace of God which surpasses every thought, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.”

We can do that with every concern that arises in our lives each day. Rather than keep focused on the situation, simply pray and give it to the Lord who sees the whole picture!

All of us need to learn better how to detach from clinging to things and wanting more. When we went to Mexico and visited their little makeshift homes, they wanted to always give something to us. It was hard to accept from them as it came from such sacrificial giving. Others who have much often fear losing what they have find it hard to let it go. But the process of detachment for Christians is not to stop loving things and people of this world, but to love them more truly in God.  We let go in order to love more and gain more freedom and joy in the Lord who satisfies our heart’s desires!

It helps if we remember that things in life are only lent to us and we don’t own them. Then as we let them go it is without pain for they never belonged to us in the first place. We will find we experience interior freedom in our hearts as we no longer trust in things or long for them, but trust ourselves into our Father’s care. Some people have great riches but are not possessed by them. Others may have a lot or even a little but long for more and are never satisfied. When we give more of our time and attention to getting more things of the world than giving attention to God, it becomes idolatry.  The writer to the Hebrews said, “Keep your life free from love of money and be content with what you have for He has said, ‘I will never fail you nor forsake you.’”

Our own efforts will never be enough, for the bottom line is that we must trust God and listen to the voice of the Spirit. So many start out well but then slip into trying to do it on their own or take back their will rather than doing God’s will. We need to be attentive to the promptings of the Spirit and respond right away, rather than waiting and deciding if we want to do what He is directing.

Maybe we have a wrong image of the Lord, thinking He is harsh and will hold us back from enjoying life. No, He came to give us fullness of life and joy as we cooperate with His grace. Without Him we can do nothing. (John 15:5) We must let go of self-reliance and grab hold of God-reliance and live in His grace.

What I have pondered lately is that we cannot do any good works for the Lord except if He produces them in us by His Spirit.  But even when we live a life of prayer and show compassion to others, etc., it was all prepared in advance by God. And of course, all the credit and glory then goes to Him, for it all originated with Him and not our own doing. We can plan and act, but all that we do comes from His grace.

I think of Jesus’ brother, James who wrote the book but didn’t believe in Jesus until after the resurrection, when a change took place in his life. He became a believer and the leader of the churches in Jerusalem and delt with areas of misbelief and behavioral problems in the congregations. He frankly tells them in the fourth chapter that they are spoiled children and that their quarreling comes about because they all want their own way. He says, “You’re cheating on God. If all you want is your own way, flirting with the world every chance you get, you end up enemies of God and His way.” He goes on to say what God gives in love is far better than anything else they would find, for God goes against the proud and gives grace to the willing humble.

We may like to think of the church as a place where perfect people come together and there is harmony and peace. But really the church is more like a hospital where sick people come who want their illnesses diagnosed and healed. God uses pastors and leaders to help in that process, and as we are willing and open to humbly confess those areas of our lives, we are on the road to wholeness.

James was used of God to confront those things in the churches that needed attention and call people to maturity. It has been said in church tradition that he was called “Old Camel Knees” as he spent so much time on his knees in prayer. Let that be said of us as well.

I read an article in Just Between Us magazine by Dr. Leslie Umstattd who is a pastor, a wife, and mother of two daughters. She gives some helpful hints to remind us of how we are to view the situation when our children stray. First of all, we are to remember that we are not the Holy Spirit. In other words, the Holy Spirit is the one to convict them, to show them their sin and speak truth to them about their actions, and not us. We are not to hammer away trying to point out their sin, but it is the Holy Spirit’s job. Our natural tendency also is to want to protect them from getting hurt and suffering the consequences. But what if God wants to use that to bring them back to Himself? When our kids were teens, I use to pray, “Whatever it takes for them to know and love you.” Sometimes that will mean watching them suffer presently but looking toward the day when they will come back to Him.

We can’t make our children believe or live a life of obedience to God, for each of them has to make their own choice. But we must remember that God always hears our prayers even when we see no outward evidence of change. He is always listening to us and working in ways we may not know. We are to hang on in faith and trust that He is at work without the outward evidence. God sees our grief and hears the cries of our hearts, and we can give Him our burden. He says in Matt. 11:28, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” He gives us hope and we can lay our burden at His feet and trust Him with our child. Leslie gives comforting words of encouragement given to her, “As long as there is breath, the gospel has space to regenerate and transform the heart.” We must never give up and always pray.