Fashion Faith

Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. - Colossians 3:12

“I am moving and I need to clean out my closet. Would you come over and choose what you'd like to wear? It's all yours.” The answer was an easy yes! Who would say no to free clothes? Only until I actually began “shopping” did I see just how generous my friend's offer really was: beautiful, brand new, brand name threads moved from her hangers to my hands. I was also able to bring couple of single mothers to “shop” from this storehouse of overwhelming generosity! 

We had to accept the invitation, receive the gifts, and actually place the clothes on our shoulders to truly enjoy the extravagance of beauty on our lives. God gives us much greater and more beautiful gifts: compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. Can you imagine if we could choose kindness along with the blue blouse and patience with the red blazer? That is exactly what we are called and commanded to do. We are given the King's Robes of Righteousness to adorn; why instead do we live in rags of grave clothes?

To live in and wear “compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience,” we have to realize that these coveted character coats are already in our possession as extravagant gifts from our King. We have to literally pull them from the closets of our hearts through prayer. We have to place them on our thoughts and behaviors, in thankfulness and joy, from our great Giver of Life.

He gives the gifts I desperately need with only one command to heed: “clothe yourself, child, from My generosity. It's all yours, dearly loved – come in awe and receive." What you wear is what you share; to the glory of the Beautiful King. 

Enjoy Him, Michelle mlpack777@gmail.com

Pride

Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall. Proverbs 16:18

April 14, 1912. Indestructible perfection was their security. Indescribable beauty was their reality. Whether to work or play, all 2228 passengers aboard the R.M.S. Titanic lived in absolute trust of their ship's ferry that day.

With grandeur and grace, she glided the ocean's waves. With only glory to gain and nothing to lose, the call came for perfection to press into more power. Nothing was foreseen to impede. Whatever might come into sight, the ship would simply navigate any obstacles and prevail with greater glory into history. History, as we know today, had a wheelhouse of it's own. Dreams are mapped out; it's the nightmares that surface from the darkest of deep.

It was the unseen that pierced perfection. It was pride that pronounced perish. The iceberg that brushed against the Titanic at 11:40pm on April 14,1912 was simply existing. Man and nature crossed paths as they always have and will. However, on this day, power turned from ally to enemy. By the time they saw the potential disaster, the ship's current speed made it impossible to fully navigate around the problem. “Unsinkable” collided with “unthinkable.” In the silent depths, the presumption of perfection met the reality of a ripped shell. Ripped lives. 

 

After 2 1/2 hours, the Titanic reached its final resting place on the ocean floor. Salvation's lifeboats were launched, but few were saved (710 of the 2228). She was designed to carry 32 lifeboats, but actually carried 20 lifeboats because it was felt that the extra 12 would make the deck too cluttered (on the largest ship on the planet), or in Management's words, “ would detract from the aesthetics.” Of those used, the lifeboats were only ½ filled (reasons ranged from families to fear). Of those boats, only one returned to the floating graveyard to search for survivors. Personnel were never properly trained for an emergency because they never imagined they would encounter one. Perfection precluded preparation. Every moment that death ensued, salvation drifted by only yards away. Though not all, so many more could have been saved. 

Each body that breathes air is a ship that ferries a soul. Disaster of death is certain. Though given first class accommodations in the beautiful image of Elohim, we are not indestructible, we are not perfect, we are not capable of saving ourselves. Yet, we are not without choice. We are offered a seat on the S.S. Grace (Savior's Salvation). Just as some proclaimed from the sinking ship's stern, some may declare today, “that seat of salvation is for someone else, not for me.” In reality, every soul has a seat waiting in salvation. Every person's eternity rest with every person's choice to receive or reject the grace given; having absolutely nothing to do with anyone else. Pride in some may declare that “I am just fine without salvation, disaster will not meet me” or if it does “I'll deal with that when I get there.” Yet, the ultimate reality is that all human attempts will never be enough to save a sinking ship; the only hope is external salvation. The Lifeboat must be accessible and occupied to be any good. 

 

Was pride worth the disaster of hundreds of lives lost? Is it worth the risk of losing your life over aesthetics, philosophy, or pride? Ladies and Gentlemen, this is an actual emergency and your very life is on the line. Your death is in pride. Your life is inside. You decide.

Enjoy Him, Michelle
mlpack777@gmail.com 

Paid

And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory. Ephesians 1:13-14

“Your bonus will be deposited into your account in ten to fourteen days," read the message across my screen. I was so excited! When the day of deposit finally arrived, I could hardly wait to check my account. Simply to behold the transition from a promise on paper to a reality of riches. All I had to do was..wait and receive. The rest moved into place. All without my creation, input or assistance; it just came to be.

I had only goal for this gracious gift: debt elimination. Fully. Finally. Immediately. And so it came to pass that all was paid. Just as expenses had eroded my account that was absent of income; this extraordinary, unearned gift not only destroyed the void, but overflowed in abundance to help others who were in need. Debt destruction is not so that I can spend, it's so I can share.

Grace: Fully receive and faithfully believe. My part is only to see the enormous, expensive debt of my heart, soul, mind, and life. Ask for and receive the deposit of forgiveness. Wait and watch as the debt disappears from my soul's account. Generously give grace from the overflow to those still in deficit of darkness. All for His glory is our freedom, for all who receive. 

Keep the account open to receive the influx of income to cover the daily debt. Keep the heart open to receive the Spirit to release from daily bondage of sin. Receive. Rejoice. Respond.

Enjoy Him, Michelle mlpack777@gmail.com

Glamour, Glory, and Grace

From Zion, perfect in beauty, God shines forth. Psalm 50:2

A visit to the salon is a rare and wonderful treat that I treasure! This night was especially so. I was invited by the owner of a luxurious downtown salon to “stop by sometime.”  I took him up on his offer. It was time.

I went in with the expectation of a simple cut. He arrived with the expectation of pure artistry. As a sculpture looks at stone, he looked at me for a few minutes, then proclaimed, “let's begin.” For the next 90 minutes, he cut, sculpted, and transformed me into a work of beauty as only he could. He asked, “So what are you doing after you leave here?” I said, "Oh, I was planning on enjoying a quiet night at home.” He simply said, "Oh," with slight smile to his voice. As if he knew otherwise.

After it was all over, I opened my eyes. Then dropped my jaw. Stunning. “What do I owe you?” I stammered. “Nothing,” he said. Nothing? I am given this very expensive treatment for nothing in return? “Just tell people about us,” he said. He knew that once I saw myself wrapped up in this gift, hiding at home was not happening. As if Cinderella was transformed by her fairy Godmother, only to return to her locked room to stare at her own beauty all night instead of enjoying her transformation with her prince. Beauty shines forth; but only if we step out to share it.

Such an extraordinary gift of grace I have been given by God. The grace that lavishly flows all over me, constantly, is greater than any outward beauty I can ever know. Jesus gives such perfect and transforming beauty out of the riches of His amazing grace, asking only that I still, soak in, and share. "My grace is a gift, the cost is mine; rejoice in the love. Just tell people about Me."

Enjoy Him, Michelle mlpack777@gmail.com

Gamble

In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace. Ephesians 1:7

Black. I was walking to work when everything around me went absolutely black. No street. No people. No world. All of a sudden, it was as if nothing had ever existed. I stood completely still in the darkness. Somehow I knew, this was not a dream. This was as real as anything I had ever known. Dark beyond night. Cold beyond ice. Still beyond stone. I stood because everything in me obeyed the moment. No question, no thought, no decision. Simply obeyed.

To my right, as if it had been there all the time, was a light shining down on a roulette table. “How did I not see this before?” I thought. Before I could finish the thought I was sitting the chair at the table. Again, as if He had always been there but for some reason I had never noticed, the most loving and beautiful Man stood behind the wheel with a small, round, white stone in His right hand. The stone had markings on the side. I couldn't read the markings, I could hear them. They called to me. In the most intimate and loving voice, they called to the depths of my heart and life. Then He spoke with the same voice of love and intimacy over me.

“This stone is your life, wrapped in your true name. A name of intimacy that you can only know here in these moments.” He paused to let His voice soak into me fully. He spoke again, but this time conviction clearly laced His love. “When your life entered into this world,” He said releasing the stone ball onto the wheel, “you were born, all in, on black. You did not have a choice, or even a consciousness, that you were abiding in an abyss.” There I was. Every thought, every word, every move. My entire life was stacked up in the black. Leaning in on the wheel, I saw that the black was as the deepest, darkest, and most terrifying abyss of alone I had ever known. I was blinded and betrayed.

“All of your life, you believed that this was an existence of chance. Truth is, it's an eternity of choice. A choice to follow My call; to believe Me, to move from black to blood.” I leaned in to see the Red. True enough, it was the deepest, purest ocean of blood I had ever seen. The Blood was there all the time. For decades, I had been deceived that the only reality was what I saw, what I knew, what I reasoned. Deceived that these stories of a Savior where only tales told by an idiot who was after my money and mind. Deceived that there was no true dark and no One Light. Deceived that there was only me.

While the blood pulled me closer in, the chair pulled me further away. Back into the black. Away from the table. Away from the truth. Away from the Love. Away from the...LORD. The dark that enveloped me, strangely, was not the terror that screamed into my newly discovered soul. It was the sight of His Blood, never to cover me. It was the intimacy of His Love, never to captivate me. It was the glory of His face, never to consume me.

All in, from beginning to end. I lost to the highest cost: Blood. Red. Him. Me. Real.

Enjoy Him, Michelle mlpack777@gmail.com

Still

Be still and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations. Psalm 46:10

“Let's stop here for a moment...Oh, Jesus,” my friend Mike prayed as he paused. He pauses often and prays even more. Due to a medical malpractice brain injury over a decade ago, Mike's mobility and cognitive movements cause him stop his steps. Due to an even deeper love and reliance on God, Mike's heart causes him to still in prayer.

Walking with someone who causes me to stop, still, wait, and pray – literally every few steps – is one of the most extraordinary experiences. I am overwhelmed with the presence of the Shepherd; calling me to still and know Him.

To most everyone on the planet, the response is, “Unless you live in a monastery, that's just not realistic. I have places to be, people to see. It's a beautiful dream, but not an everyday reality. ” Demands are as much a part of life as breathing. Even the most anointed accomplishments and relationships are an ever present reality. The call of our Saviour is not to neglect our lives, it is to focus our sights on Him along the way. “Choose the better. Intentionally still your mind to refocus your heart on Me. Look at your moments from My eternal view as you walk with Me, not before Me. When you still, I will reveal.”

Step a little slower. Soak in a little longer. Speak a little louder. Be here with Him. Oh, Jesus...

Enjoy Him, Michelle mlpack777@gmail.com

Fire

Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full grown, gives birth to death. James 1:15

Even from 70 miles per hour on the interstate, the sight was clear. The orange flames danced between the green blades; the white smoke billowed in the breeze. “Did I really see that?” I wondered. I pulled over, parked the car, and ran back to the scene of the crime. As I ran, I watched the cars continuing to rush by. “They have to see what I see; why is no one else stopping?” I stopped to grab a piece of plastic on my way. I certainly wasn't going to put out a fire with my bare hands.

Out of breath and in time, I snuffed out the small ring of fire. Still no one stopped. Or even slowed. I wondered, “What if I had not stopped?” The fire would have spread quickly and eventually out of control. All the while, we watch a firestorm brew. Yet, instead of stopping the blaze, we spread the blame. “Someone (else) should have stopped that fire,” we would mutter in contempt.

A small flame in the grass quickly became a view of anyone's life and soul. All around me are lives burning out of control. I may stop to soothe external disasters, but how often do I throw living water on their eternal flames? How much a more deadly fire rages to consume thousands of lives that I pass by every day? With the eternal vision of the Spirit residing in me, I can see the soul's fire spreading by the second. What if I don't stop and snuff out the enemy's destruction? Will anyone else who passes by this life stop and send a rescue?

The fire will either spread or stop. I pass by this way, by this person, by this life, because I was meant to reveal the One who “seeks and saves that which is lost.” That which is drowning, dying, decaying in darkness. Here I am, water in the smoke filled furnace of eternal combustion. Every life, every second counts. Speak Lord, your people are dying.

If grass consumed by fire is enough to bring pause, how much more is each beloved life worth saving from separation from God? How much more. 

Enjoy Him, Michelle mlpack777@gmail.com

Thinking of you

How precious are Your thoughts to me, O God! How great is the sum of them! If I should count them, they should be more in number than the sand; when I awake, I am still with You. Psalm 139:17-18

“Reach down and hold the sand in your hands, Michelle. He thinks of you, every moment, more than every grain of sand in your hands right now,” my friend exclaimed. “Much, much more.” Suddenly, I was touching His thoughts; holding His heart, hearing His mind. Isaiah 55:8

He is breather of stars, carver of mountains, painter of sunrises. He is Elohim, El Elyon, El Roi. He is King, Father, Husband.  He is not limited. Not in time. Not in thought. Not in heart. He literally sends billions upon billions of “thinking of you” cards in just a moment's time – rushing over me so quietly. Washing in waters living, constantly in all eternity and history, are His thoughts...for me. I cannot fathom, but I can see. His Word as Reality. Each tiny grain, beyond the beach's barriers into the ocean's depths, transformed into an unfathomable number of His thoughts of purity, intimacy, freedom, joy...and so much more. I am not called to count each one. Only Christ's mind can comprehend; He only ask that I soak Him in.

I come overwhelmed in the Presence of His beauty, His power, His grace. I fall humbled to His feet, listening for His heart, searching for His face. All the earth is filled with His glory; all the moments are filled with His love. Commune with the Christ.

Enjoy Him, Michelle mlpack777@gmail.com

Waiting Warrior

The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. 2 Corinthians 10:4-5

Though drenched in Eastern mysticism and ideals, one word conjures up images of good, evil, dark, light, war and peace: Jedi.

I recently viewed the coveted cloak of Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi, the iconic character of wisdom and warrior. Tattered and cheap was his hood. In fact, all Jedi were styled in simplicity, not armor (until only one, Darth Vader, was given armor in addition to his Jedi robes). Why? Costume Designer John Mollo explains (paraphrased), “We wanted the monk’s cloak to portray both meditation and battle; versatile for either at any time.” In fact, for the Jedi, meditation is the means of the battle.

In this philosophy, "The Force” is the object of meditation and power in battle (whether dark or light, evil or good). Though fictional and deceptive, this concept taps into an actual reality and truth of every life: we are all designed to meditate on God and to allow Him to be the driving “force” against our enemy. Our very real, powerful, dark and deceptive enemy. Script after script (Moses, David, Paul, and countless others), pleads with us to live His truth: We are called first to wait, then to war. Wait on Jehovah consistently. War with Jesus constantly. Wait for Him in the meditations of your heart, and He will strike down dark strongholds waging war in your mind. He is…our only hope.

The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still. Exodus 14:14

Enjoy Him, Michelle mlpack777@gmail.com

More than Monet

For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago. Ephesians 2:10

It was my first time in an art museum. I was my first time beholding the canvases and colors that once stood in the studios of art's most astounding.

First was Picasso. Abstract. Lines straight and meanings blurred. It probably made perfect sense to him in his own mind. Yet, his imaginations produced thousands of interpretations over the centuries. What is priceless genius if not practical when I walk away?

My thoughts have been called “abstract” over the years. I reflect His artistry and beauty, far beyond my own surface colorings of daily life. Here is how His design paints me. Yet, I am not made for my own museum of my own mind; I am His display to be applied to lives around me. Even now, in looking to express the thoughts of my mind, my abstract nature emerges. Picasso paints me, personally.

Then a corner is turned, in every way. From abstract to alluring. From questions to quiet. From stuttering to stunning. A Monet. As if I could walk into the painting itself. As if I could literally feel the flowers in my fingers and the breeze on my neck. Pure beauty. Not be interpreted, but to be immersed in. THIS is the life Jesus calls us to live. THIS is the life that draws us to Him. THIS is HIS beauty pouring, calling, inviting: “Walk with Me.”

Paintings are priceless, but paper. How much more is a heart and life that impacts lives day after day?  With both my mind and heart, everyday I aspire to be the masterpiece of HIS art reflected through me. As I draw closer to the Creator's hand ,be drawn in by the beauty of His heart.

Enjoy Him, Michelle mlpack777@gmail.com

Walk in Water

But now, this is what the LORD says— he who created you, Jacob, he who formed you, Israel: “Do not fear, 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. Isaiah 43:1-2

My sister carried my three year old nephew toward the beautiful blue Atlantic Ocean. “NO! I don't want to go!” screamed Mason. “What is his problem?” I asked my sister. “Yesterday, he was tripped and landed face down in the water,” she explained. “So, today he's terrified to get near the ocean. But, he needs to learn that it's safe to return.” After a few seconds, Mason's mom carried him back to the calm of the shore. All the while, Mason watched intently as his father stayed knee deep in the ocean's waves.

About an hour later, Mason quietly walked right up to me at the water's edge. His arms and his eyes were open wide. “Do you want to go?” I asked him. “Yes,” he said. So I picked him up and carried him out to where his dad stood. “Do you want to get in the water, Mason?” I asked him. “Yes,” he said. So I lowered him in the water and raised him up again to his sheer delight! He looked at his dad and said, “Look Daddy, I did it! I did it! I stood up and didn't fall!”

The same day Mason fell in the ocean, my heart fell into despair. A trusted friendship was torn apart. I fell face down into confusion, hurt, and fear. My ocean was called “Trust” and my heart was terrified to return. I knew that I needed to trust again, but not now. Just like Mason, there was a time to wait on the shore. My heart must heal before it can return to feel. Not with time or experience. Waiting on God and waiting with God is the only way for the broken to truly be made whole. Just like Mason, I would not be carried, but would walk alone to face my fear. Step by step, a heart of faith transforms waters  of fear into waves of delight. I would simply come into the arms of one waiting and welcoming; thrilling in the immersion of love, trust, and relationship.

All the while, gazing at my smiling Father saying, “Look Daddy I did it! I stood up and didn't fall!” Adding, “It's only because of You. Waiting patiently for me to return here by Your side. These are YOUR waters of trust, love, intimacy, and joy that wash over my heart. You call to me by my name, reminding me that I am Yours and and I can trust You here. Always. You are my delight, I am with You here, in the desires of my heart. Thank You, Saviour, Redeemer, Father and Love!"

Enjoy Him, Michelle mlpack777@gmail.com

Veil

“Then Jesus cried again with a loud voice and breathed his last. And at that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. The earth shook, and the rocks were split.” Matthew 27:50-51 

 

The thickness of the veil was a handbreadth. It was woven of seventy-two cords, and each cord consisted of twenty-four strands. It was forty cubits (60 feet) long and twenty (30 feet) wide. - Rabban Simon b. Gamaliel

 

At the exact moment that the Passover lamb was slaughtered in the temple, the Passover Lamb was slaughtered on the cross. At the exact moment that the temple veil was torn, heaven’s veil was torn. Jesus became the sin veil that kept me from the Presence of God; He was torn, just as the veil was torn, so that I could know the fullness of God.

 

“But their minds were made dull, for to this day the same veil remains when the old covenant is read. It has not been removed, because only in Christ is it taken away. Even to this day when Moses is read, a veil covers their hearts. But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.” 2 Corinthians 3:14-17

 

Oh how many threads of life weave together to veil my heart. Pride. Idolatry. Doubt. Unbelief. Fear. Finances. Self-dependence. Self-distraction. Knowledge without wisdom. Service without compassion. Time without prayer. Offering God my mind, while veiling my heart. Presenting my problems, while veiling my praise. Only the blood soaked, nail driven, hand of Yeshua could tear away the ancient temple's massive veil. Only His blood soaked, nail scarred hand can tear the veil that eclipses me from His Light.  Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me and lead me in the way everlasting. Psalm 139:23-24

 

“Self is the opaque veil that hides the face of God from us. It can be removed only in a spiritual experience, never by mere instruction....there must be a work of God in destruction before we are free. God must do everything for us. Our part is to yield, trust, confess, forsake, repudiate the self-life, and then reckon it crucified...Let us remember that when we talk of rending the veil, there is nothing pleasant about it. In human experience, that veil is made of living spiritual tissue; to tear it away is to injure us, to hurt us, to make us bleed. There is a moment when [we] die. After that is the resurrection glory and power, and the pain is forgotten for job that the veil is taken away and we have entered in actual spiritual experience the presence of the living God.” - A.W. Tozer

Enjoy Him, Michelle mlpack777@gmail.com