Christian Living – Page 12 – goodchristianfiction

Happy “God Is With Us” Day

Posted on February 16, 2013 by Ramona Levacy Billingslea

Like many of you, my personality is challenged by several contradictory natures. One of them is that I like to write and read a good, clean romance, but when it comes to real life, my practical nature doesn’t allow me to fully enjoy the art and beauty of things “romantic.”

Because of this contradictory nature, I have a hard time fully appreciating Valentine’s Day, which at its best is a celebration of the romantic kind of love that occurs between a man and woman who have committed before God to “become one flesh” in a covenant that lasts a lifetime. Most of the time, I take the cynic’s view of this holiday, meaning I see it more as a creation by the flower and card industry to drum up business after the let-down of the Christmas buying season.

But, romantic love aside, there is a kind of love that supersedes anything we mere humans can achieve on our own, and it is available to any one of us, as long as we are willing to ask for it. I am referring, of course, to the love of God, manifested in the life and sacrifice of Jesus, that is made available to us through grace. Once we accept that love, nothing we can do or say or think can ever truly separate us from the connection to God His love provides.

Paul describes God’s love for us and the kind of love we should work to provide to each other in 1 Corinthians 13. This love is patient, kind, humble, slow to anger, seeks truth, and keeps no record of wrongs. Paul concludes, this love “always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres” (v. 7).

As humans, how can we achieve this kind of love for each other? We can’t. We can only hope to achieve a pale reflection of this kind of love through the power of the Holy Spirit in us. In fact, the more we are truly able to lean on God, the more He will be able to work through us to show this kind of love to others through us, and the more WE will truly feel God’s love in us.

The first Beatitude tells us that those who will have the kingdom of heaven must first be poor in spirit, which most understand to mean we must first feel how truly empty spiritually we are without God in our lives in order to actually let Him in. Once we do, the love that helped Moses lead his people to a promised land, helped David slay a giant, and saw Jesus through a suffering He didn’t deserve but was willing to take on for the sins of everyone else, will be available to we who seek Him.

Paul promised us the lasting power of that love in Romans 8:38-40: “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

So, as you celebrate the romantic love of your life this Valentine’s week, don’t forget about the love that never fades. God is truly the only ONE who knows everything about us–and loves us anyway!

Christian Living, Christianity

The Water That Smooths Our Rough Edges

Posted on February 10, 2013 by Ramona Levacy Billingslea

A waterfall is a beautiful thing to experience, in part because it can appeal to all of your senses. You hear the roar of the water rushing over stones long before you can actually see the falls if you are hiking to one. You smell the clean, crisp scent of water that is always in motion, constantly renewed. You feel the spray of that moving water as you near the falls, the gentle mist like a caress. Finally, you see the water tumbling, foaming, cascading into an otherwise still pool. Depending on the situation and your fortitude, you might even decide to risk a taste of the pool’s “pristine” waters, imagining the clean snow from above you that has melted, cut through mountainside, and tumbled to the falls, its taste still cold to the touch.

It is one of the wonders of nature that stone, such a hard, ungiving surface, can be so easily defeated by the persistence of running water. Even a steady, slow drip can manipulate the hardest granite over time. If you have ever seen the Grand Canyon, which was formed in large part by the rush of water, you can truly appreciate this molding facility of something we humans need a bucket or glass to get a handle on. Have you, after all, tried to hold a handful of water?

Christ told us that in His kingdom, the weak are strong and the least greatest. Water, essential to life, is a wonderful example of this principle. At first glance, it may seem a very weak substance. There’s a reason young children look for puddles to land in, sending sprays all around them and making the puddle disappear. But, when you take water into account in its full force, as in a flood, it can be the most destructive force imaginable. Still further, it only takes a tiny drop at a time to form and cut away entire caves and canyons, given enough time.

It’s appropriate that Christ chose water as His medium for baptism. Not only does water literally wash us clean, we can see in its effects on stone that it also forms us. The forming is not always a violent one. More often than not, it is like the falls, water sweeping over stone through time until the rough edges are smoothed.

For those of us who walk with Christ daily in the baptism in water that continues through the Holy Spirit, we too are smoothed over time of our rough edges. As long as we do our work to allow the Holy Spirit to wash over us through our lives, as the water flows over the stones of a falls, our own rough edges will be hewn to a shiny mutuality that will help us appeal to others concerning the value of a life in Christ. Like a beautiful falls that appeals to all the senses, we can be the peaceful, restorative place for those who have not yet found Him.

The Bible is full of verses that flow like water and smooth away the parts of us that stand in the way of our full relationship with God. Pray to see His word in truth and according to His will, and you will find that your Bible study will reward you in ways you hadn’t even realized. The mist of God’s love is waiting in the pages of His word. Now is as good a time as any to begin your walk with God, to continue it, or to begin again.

I’ll meet you by the water.

Christian Living, Living

Enough Already

Posted on January 27, 2013 by Ramona Levacy Billingslea

How do you define ENOUGH?

As a Christian, we accept that we can never do enough to earn the gift of salvation that is given to us through the grace of Christ. That is why we embrace the concept of grace by understanding that salvation is as simple as asking Christ to be our one-and-only Savior. Nothing we can do will earn our salvation for us, which is why it is so important that Christ has given us the gift of His sacrifice for our salvation.

But, even though nothing we do can save our souls, those who accept Christ as their Savior cannot then do nothing. Instead, we are infused with the Holy Spirit in such a way that we should desire to do good and follow the Word to be as Christ-like as we can be.

Being human in the modern world has its own set of unique challenges. Each of us has a wide variety of roles we play in our day-to-day existence. We are Christians, spouses, parents, children, siblings, employees, friends, neighbors, citizens, volunteers, to name a few. We often have twenty-six hours’ worth of tasks for each twenty-four hour day. And in all of that, we are supposed to exhibit the characteristics of the only One who ever managed to live a human life without a flaw.

So, do we give up on being Christ-like? Of course not! We do best when we lean on the support that Christ gives us to offer the qualities of love and peace and patience that are the hallmark of a Godly life. Only with God in our corner can we even hope to accomplish being Christ-like in this life.

With so many roles to fulfill, so many distractions to tempt us, and so many opportunities to love and help others presented to us in any given day, when do we say enough? For those of us who have type “A,” perfectionist personalities, failing to say enough can lead to trying to do too many things and actually getting none of them right, wearing ourselves out in the process.
God saw a need for enough, proclaiming a day of rest even for Himself. The Sabbath is such a wonderful gift if we truly take advantage of it. A day of rest spent worshipping God and His glory and spending time with people who share your own beliefs and faith can be so rejuvenating. Taking time to worship is like stopping yourself in the middle of a bad moment to take a deep breath. The body and soul re-center and are ready to face the next moment’s or week’s challenges.

For some of us, days are often spent hearing a voice in our head that tells us we are not fulfilling our purpose in this life, that we are not worthy or productive. Learning to discriminate between a twinge of conscience guiding us to better living and our own brains nagging us in such a way to actually distract us from the work of God, we will be ready to define enough in our day-to-day living.

I’m still working on this ability, but I am beginning to understand more and more why God told us to “be still and know.” When my mind is racing with thoughts of tomorrow’s problems along with today’s, I have no room to acknowledge the One who assured me that He had it all under control. Only in moments of silence will I really know that He is God.

And that will be enough.

Christian Living, Christianity

Walk The Line

Posted on January 19, 2013January 19, 2013 by Ramona Levacy Billingslea

The grace of God which comes to us through the love of Christ is so open that we often forget that a Christian life is full of boundaries. Instead of focusing on the discipline of a well-lived life, we want to adopt an attitude of “live and let live.” We want to give grace so much latitude that our actions require little or no reflection. As long as we are happy and no one else is hurt, we convince ourselves, whatever we are doing is OK–as long as we are Christians.

But, we are “dead to the flesh,” as Paul explains it, when we accept a life in Christ. We Christians are also the only Bible many people read, including people who feel they are living a Christian life, even though they do not spend time studying His word, praying, or participating in God-centered time with other believers, all disciplines that help us lead the kind of Spirit-filled life that Paul also emulated.

When we fail to acknowledge the boundaries of a Christian life, we harm not only ourselves, but so much more those who only know Christ through us. When we fail to acknowledge the boundaries of a Christian life, we increase the likelihood that we have created or are creating false idols–made things that mean more to us than God does.

In Isaiah 44, God draws a clear line between Himself and idols made of wood: “No one stops to think,” he says, “no one has the knowledge or understanding to say, ‘Half of it [the figure made of wood and worshipped] I used for fuel; I even baked bread over its coals, I roasted meat and I ate. Shall I make a detestable thing from what is left? Shall I bow down to a block of wood?’ Such a person feeds on ashes; a deluded heart misleads him; he cannot save himself, or say, ‘Is not this thing in my right hand a lie?'” (verses 19-20).

Every moment of every day, we have decisions to make, from how we react to the person cutting us off on the freeway to how we respond to the person begging for money on the sidewalk. Do we turn to things of this world, made things like television shows or comfort foods, to help us cope with the state of being human? Or, do we choose to look toward the One thing that has always been and will always be?

Isaiah has the answer: “This is what the Lord says—Israel’s King and Redeemer, the Lord Almighty: I am the first and I am the last; apart from me there is no God. Who then is like me? Let him proclaim it. Let him declare and lay out before me what has happened since I established my ancient people, and what is yet to come—yes, let them foretell what will come. Do not tremble, do not be afraid. Did I not proclaim this and foretell it long ago? You are my witnesses. Is there any God besides me? No, there is no other Rock; I know not one” (44:6-8).

Boundaries keep us in our known places, but they also keep out that which would destroy in the name of goodness, even when it is not good. Like the serpent in the Garden tempting Eve to taste the forbidden fruit, the evil one is actively pushing against our defense line, trying to break through the boundaries set by God for our protection. Free will necessitates that our boundaries are only as strong as our faith, our worship and our discipline will allow. With God all things are possible.

But there is only one God, only one “Father, Son and Holy Spirit.” As He has been since the beginning, so shall He be. No where does He more forcefully proclaim His uniqueness than in the prophecies of Isaiah. Read them the next time you feel tempted to let someone else’s version of the One and Only rule your thinking. The God of the Hebrews declared Himself to be the only God. He made promises and fulfilled them. He was no block of wood or stone. He will continue for always. He is the only boundary we will ever need.

Christian Living, Christianity

Who Carries Your Burdens?

Posted on January 13, 2013January 13, 2013 by Ramona Levacy Billingslea

I’ll warn you up front that my title is a trick question. The obvious thing for me to write about when it comes to burden carrying is the way Christ will carry our burdens for us, if we’ll just ask Him. So, I’m not going to talk about the obvious. Let’s get real about burdens and how most of us unenlightened creatures cope with the day-to-day ones.

It’s more likely that we go down on our knees and offer up to God the things that knock us off our feet–death, major illness, total disasters–but what do you do with the burdens that you face every day, the burdens that we carry like a backpack every moment, from making sure food is on the table to helping out a neighbor in need?

We’re being honest here, so we have to honestly say what happens with the things we carry. Some of us swallow our burdens, trying to do everything on our list without asking for or even knowing when we actually need help. We fail often, and we subconsciously hate ourselves for failing. But we continue to stuff our backpacks to overflowing with our to-do lists and “shoulds” and guilt burdens.

Or maybe you’re of the variety who likes to share your burdens, not in a healthy, “we’re all in this together” kind of way, but in a defeatist or entitled posture that posits that you are either incapable of managing your own life or else the world at large somehow owes you homage. Your backpack is heavy with the manipulations and self-delusions that enable you to put yourself above others by getting them to do things for you that you really are capable of doing for yourself.

Because you are human and must work at living a life that bears fruit, you are bound to stumble. So, your burdens include all the emotions that go with being human–anger, lust, jealousy, judgment–all roiling around in your backpack like a pot perilously close to boiling over. Whenever your backpack becomes too heavy, if you aren’t doing your Spirit work, you’ll unzip your closure just enough to expel some of those roiling emotions, weighing down the backs of those closest to you with your excess. Or perhaps you’ll just dump it on an unsuspecting stranger.

Christ said that His yoke was light because when you grasp the concept that every morning is new with Him, you throw off the weight of legalism and look straight into your heart. Taking on the burden of the fruit of the Spirit means a lighter backpack. Love, joy, peace, faithfulness–these qualities are much lighter than the pain and crazy that we carry when we don’t let Jesus’ hand hold up our burdens.

So, how do we lighten the loads that we carry? Through prayer. Through knowing what the Bible says. Through observing our daily existence. When we feel the things we carry weighing us down, we have to practice taking them to the One who can truly carry them for us. Only through communication with Christ and His word do we really realize the fruitful existence we can enjoy with fellow believers.

No matter the things you carry, you can lighten the load starting today. Instead of barking at your spouse or kids, pray for patience. And if you must scream, scream at Jesus. He has the broad shoulders to carry your doubt and worry and fear. If you doubt it, read your Psalms for examples of other believers that brought everything to God, and were better for it.

Christian Living, Living

Don’t Let Time Get Away From You

Posted on January 4, 2013January 4, 2013 by Ramona Levacy Billingslea

Have you heard the phrase, “self-fulfilling prophecy?” When I was a child, my dad explained it to me with an example. Once, in junior high school, he was transferring a science project that involved him carrying a liquid-filled jar up a set of stairs. A tiny voice in the back of his mind kept saying, “You’re going to end up spilling this.” Well, sure enough, he wound up tripping on a stair and sending the jar flying.

I’ve always approached the self-fulfilling prophecy from the negative, so to speak, stopping myself from dwelling on bad things that might happen as much as I can to keep from actually subconsciously making those bad things happen. Sheepishly, I admit that I am just now getting around to the empowering idea of thinking about positive things so that I might be able to take advantage of the self-fulfilling prophecy rather than being hurt by it.

I’m not talking about the kind of positive thinking that some people use to try to become rich or be famous. I’m talking about creating self-talk that is in alignment with God’s will for a Christian life. I’m talking about taking advantage of two of the most powerful words on the planet: I AM.

The first powerful use of I AM occurred by the Almighty Himself, when He introduced Himself to Abraham as I AM. In those two words, He declared His omnipotence and purpose. As children of God, we should pay particular attention to our use of these two words ourselves.

For example, if we go around saying to ourselves, “I am tired; I am depressed; I am unhappy with my marriage; I am unworthy,” how can we hope to be anything except exactly what we have declared ourselves to be? When we say something about ourselves enough to ourselves, we really start to believe it. Then, we start to say it to other people. Finally, those people start to believe this about us as well.

On the other hand, what if we started self-talk that is what we hope to be, even if we don’t feel it in the moment? For Christians trying to live the life God intends for us, phrases like: “I am open; I am love; I am kind; I am happy; I am thankful; I am peaceful” make powerful mantras.

Using self-fulfilling prophecy to our advantage also involves really being observant, but not judgmental, of ourselves. I realized this as I thought about my New Year’s resolutions this year. At first, I resolved to tell myself “I am strong,” as often as possible, especially when I was feeling most weak or sad or depressed.

Then, I had a sort of revelation one morning as I was doing my Bible study. On a recent trip, my husband had asked me, “Why do you say OK when I tell you to let me carry something (like the luggage), but then you just keep carrying it yourself?” He’s right. I do do that sort of thing all the time. Why? I think it is because I need to be in control or something. So, do I really need to be telling myself, “I am strong,” when trying to be the strong one all the time keeps me from letting others lift the load every once in a while? No wonder I am always tired!

If I don’t let my husband help with the luggage, can you imagine how I fail to let God help me with the day-to-day challenges I face? When I realized how often I fail to lean on God for the tiny things (He’s too busy for the little stuff, right?), I realized that my mantra for 2013 should be something like, “I am leaning on Jesus,” instead of “I am strong.”

Do you realize how strong I will really be when I master leaning on the One who can handle everything, even the tiny stuff?

So, what’s your self-fulfilling prophecy for 2013? Remember to observe your life, not judge it. Remember to pray about your conclusions. Remember the power of I AM.

Christian Living

If Wishes Were…….Faith

Posted on December 29, 2012 by Ramona Levacy Billingslea

Our Christmas holiday has passed, and this weekend we are all scrambling to come up with the resolutions that will help us begin a New Year early next week. For what has past and for what is yet to come, I am sure there were as many wishes seemingly unfulfilled as there are lights and pretties on this period-decorated Christmas tree.

Are unfulfilled wishes God’s way of saying “no,” a sign that what we wished for wasn’t exactly in line with God’s truth or an indication of our own lack of faith? Surely there are as many answers to that question as there are people asking the question, but let’s address the latter possibility.

I love what we can learn from the people who bless the pages of scripture. Some of them, as Hebrews tells us, are heroes of the faith. Others are obvious villains. All of them, with the exception of Christ, are utterly human.

Peter is one of these oh-so-human heroes. He is chosen to be the cornerstone of Christ’s church, and yet he denies he even knows Christ three times on the night that the Messiah is taken into custody.

One of Peter’s earlier moments of heroism-made-relatable occurs when he reaches out in faith and yet still stumbles. Oh, the lessons we can learn from patterns such as this.

The setting is Matthew 14. Jesus has just fed the five thousand and sent His disciples out on their boat while He stays behind for some quiet time with God. When He is ready to re-join the others, He begins walking on the water.

Of all the disciples, stuck on a boat in the middle of a sea, Peter alone cries out a challenge of faith that he doesn’t even realize he is not yet ready to fulfill. He asks of Jesus, if He be the Christ, then let Peter walk out on the water to join Him. Even though Christ already knows what is going to happen, He tells Peter to come and join Him.

Peter takes a few proving steps, but then the wind picks up and carries away the bit of belief that is keeping him above the waves. He begins to sink and cries out. Jesus IMMEDIATELY reaches out and lifts Peter up, asking His disciple, “Why do you doubt?”

When I read this interlude, a story I’ve read many times before, for yet another time this week, I was struck by two things. One, that even Peter, who had the initial courage to take Christ at His word and risk himself to walk on water based on that belief could not yet sustain his own faith in order to stay above water. Walking by faith obviously takes practice.

The second thing that stands out for me is that Christ IMMEDIATELY reached out to lift Peter up, even as He pointed out to Peter exactly what was causing him to stumble, “Why do you doubt?” Even though I have evidence in my life over and over of situations and difficult times that God has seen me through, why do I still doubt? At the same time, shouldn’t I be able to take even more water-walking steps of faith when I remember that Christ is there to IMMEDIATELY catch me?

I pray that my New Year’s resolutions be prayers based on faith and that they are in line with God’s will. May your resolutions be equally blessed, even water-walking challenges. May 2013 be the year where faith helps us love God first and everyone else with the love we hold for our innermost selves.

Christian Living, Christianity, Faith

Jesus’ Birth

Posted on December 23, 2012December 23, 2012 by Ramona Levacy Billingslea

A birth is always a miracle of love and pain and blood. At least, I have to assume this to be the case having never had children. But, this month we celebrate a birth that was a miracle on more than just the human level. For the real miracle about a virgin giving birth was not so much how a virgin became pregnant and delivered a child, with all the usual love and pain and blood, but that the child thus born of Mary was actually God made flesh.

How can this be? Or, what difference does this make? I believe it is vital to accept Christ’s coexistent humanness and divinity to truly appreciate the magnitude and validity of His sacrifice.

If Christ were not human, how would His death on the cross be a sacrifice that covers the sins of the rest of us? If Christ were not divine, how could He claim the authority of His Heavenly Father?

For the Western mind, which likes to see all things in clear delineations, it can often prove difficult to see things in duality. Yet, cultures from the beginning of time have done just that, seeing no disconnect in a reality where a thing is sometimes or always two things at once.

The meaning of Jesus’ birthday, the birth of God coming to earth, is even more powerful when you realize He came to earth as a man knowing the full extent of what He would suffer and sacrifice as a result.

What a wonderful gift is the love of a God who once became man! If you have not already, this holiday is the best time of any to accept the grace of Christ that saves us all.

Merry Christmas and happy birthday Jesus!

Christian Living, Faith

Perspective Lessons

Posted on December 15, 2012December 15, 2012 by Ramona Levacy Billingslea

If you haven’t had the blessing of reading Philip Yancey’s “Where is God When It Hurts?,” recent events have made it as good a time as any to grasp the opportunity to discover the open, honest and Bible-based insights Yancey offers about the reality of living in a world where evil exists even as it is being watched over by a loving God.

I am a Christian first, but I am also an academic, which has led me to study at least a little bit about a variety of religions. One of the first things you find in such study is that religions share a pretty solid core of similar beliefs. Sometimes, the ways those religions enact or express those core beliefs are so different from what we know, that we are quick to dismiss them as not only “other,” but often as evil.

But when we dismiss, we take the chance of losing out on what another perspective on life can actually teach us. Here’s my case in point.

My very limited understanding of Buddhism is that through spiritual practices, including meditation, the Buddhist is trying to re-connect with Nirvana, which is the state of Supreme Being from which all souls have sprung. Now, because Buddhist practice does not hold Christ as divine, I obviously am not going to be going to a Buddhist temple any time soon. However, there is a lesson about dedication to spiritual practice that I can learn and apply here.

In yoga workshops, when the instructors want to talk about enlightenment and deciding on your soul’s purpose, I have usually quickly dismissed this by knowing that my soul’s purpose has been reached because I have accepted Christ as my Savior. But in coming to this conclusion, I have actually missed part of the point. Even Christians, especially Christians, have a spiritual journey to take that can offer for us an enlightenment of being more and more Christ-like.

I just finished a book by Iyanla Vanzant in which she explains the process this way: Each of us is born with a soul syllabus, a series of assignments throughout our lifetime that is meant to help us learn the lessons we were born to learn. As we learn these lessons, we are drawn even closer to the peace of truly knowing God.

I believe there is a difference between having direct access to God through Christ’s grace, which we all have the opportunity to grasp, and doing the work that helps us to actually know God and become Christ-like. Anyone can strum the strings on a guitar and make a sound, but it takes practice and dedication to make music.

Spiritual practice includes daily prayer, daily Bible study, a spiritual mentor, a church accountability group and the ability to look inside, be still for long enough to hear God, and be willing to see truths about yourself that aren’t always comfortable. It is a life-long matter of becoming that none of us should do alone. It involves more than I can cover in a blog post or than, frankly, I understand at this point in my journey.

The good news is, I am excited about grasping this perspective on the metaphysical. Why did God put me here? For the same reason He put you here–to be as much like Him as we can be. This process involves growth, and growing involves high and low points, pleasure and pain. Mainly, I am glad to be beginning to understand that my soul syllabus is a day-to-day process, the same process that Christians have been following since Peter denied Christ three times and went on to establish His church, the process that all of us are facing again today in light of another unexplainable tragedy at the hands of man.

Begin your process of becoming today, or continue it, as the case may be. Pray not just with words, but with your whole being. Pray so that you know what your body is feeling at the same time that you are crying out to God. Remember, He understands our hearts even if what you are uttering aren’t exactly words.

Be still and know. May the “peace that transcends understanding” be with all of us in the coming days.

Christian Living, Faith, Living

Coming Home

Posted on November 30, 2012 by Ramona Levacy Billingslea

In Will Davis Jr.’s, “Ten Things Jesus Never Said: And Why You Should Stop Believing Them,” Davis explains that it is impossible to disappoint God because He already knows what choices we are going to make in this life. What does not worrying about disappointing God free us to do? It frees us to focus on living in full knowledge of God’s grace and extending that grace to others.

There’s another side to the realization that God already knows everything that will happen in our lives that can really be helpful for those of us who combat anxiety. If God already knows the good and the bad that will happen to us, shouldn’t we also embrace the idea that He has equipped us with the ability to handle whatever challenges we have to face?

God knowing what will happen to us does not negate the free will He has extended to every one of us, our right to choose, or the fact that evil exists in this fallen world. But God does have the power to help us make it through “the valley of the shadow.”

During the holiday season, we concentrate even more than usual on the idea of home. We decorate our houses for the season, travel long distances to be with family, and enjoy evenings cuddled around warm fires as our tree lights blink off and on.

“Home is where the heart is,” we say. If our hearts are God-centered, then we take Him wherever we go. If we accept that His infinite knowledge buffers us against the good and the bad of this life, then we should truly be able to face each day without worry. Like the trusting game, where you stand with your back to someone, cross your arms, and fall, if we take each challenge we face and fall into the waiting arms of God, what a wonderful way to prove not only to ourselves but also to those who don’t know God that He will never disappoint us, nor we Him.