I have a dear friend that I’ve known for more than 30 years. I still remember the very first time I came to her home for dinner. As she welcomed my husband, Ken, and me into their home she said, “If you want to see me – come anytime. If you want to see my house – make an appointment!” We laughed and I loved that immediately the ice was broken and we became fast and now longtime friends.

There’s something about opening your home to others that feels … revealing. In a way, it is! Home is where the “real you” lives. We can let our guard down. There’s something about sharing a meal that opens our hearts a little more to the ones we gather around our table.

Jesus knew this. How often we read of Him going to someone’s home for a meal. One of my favorite times is in Luke 19 when Jesus was walking through Jericho and saw a man. IN A TREE! Zacchaeus had a lot of money. He was also in charge of tax collectors who were not very well-liked… and, he was short! To top it all off, he was curious. So he climbed up a tree to get a bird’s eye view of this Jesus coming through town. Jesus got to the tree, looked up, and called out. “Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today.” (vs 5)

While the people didn’t approve of Jesus going to eat with Zach, and that’s a whole other story for another time; Jesus’ presence, His attention to Zacchaeus, opened his heart to the heart of Jesus. The man confessed to the Lord and offered to make things right with those he had cheated. Luke 19:9 (NIV) tells us, “Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house.”

The table is set. We are invited to come as we are. Sit in the presence of our Lord and Savior. He’s got an incredible meal prepared for us today!

When I was growing up we lived outside of town, in a wooded area, and we loved it when Dad would set up targets in the yard to practice shooting. We mostly practiced with his .22 rifle but every so often he’d get the 12 gauge shotgun out and wow! That one had quite a kick! Dad would stand or kneel behind us, help us lift the rifle and guide our vision thru the sights to focus on the target. It’s harder than you think not to be distracted, or to blink and take your eye off the prize as you squeeze the trigger. There are any number of things that can catch your attention and cause you to miss the mark. I appreciated that time with my Dad. He was teaching us a skill, how to respect the process and we loved that it was something we could do together with our Dad.

I read this passage the other day and for some reason those memories came rushing back to me. Colossians 3:1 -2 (NLT) says, “Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits in the place of honor at God’s right hand. Think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth.” Set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits in the place of honor at God’s right hand. Then the Apostle Paul say…think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth. It’s so easy to get distracted by our daily activities, our nagging worries, our critical situations. But we have been given NEW LIFE in Christ! We are headed to heaven WITH Him in the presence of Almighty God! While it might feel abstract at times – heaven is a true reality!

Set your sights on the realities of heaven. Visualize Christ sitting beside our Father God…and rejoice that some day we’ll get to go there too. Oh what a glorious day that will be…and that’s hitting the target!

Peek-a-boo! I SEE you! Remember playing that game with your little ones? Even when my kiddos were babies they picked up on the fascination of the game. Hiding your eyes behind your hands and asking ‘where ARE you?’ As soon as I would peek out from behind my hands and exclaim that I saw them, their eyes would crinkle. They break into a big grin…and the giggling! That was my favorite part!!

It’s an endearing game we play but too often kids grow into teens who become adults who live their lives feeling very UNseen. Sometimes we might want to exist under the radar…more comfortable just blending into the crowd. But, in the quiet, when our head hits the pillow and we retrace our steps from the day, our interactions with others, there’s a part of us that longs to be seen. To know that someone recognized our contribution to this 24-hour period and appreciates our existence.

A woman in the Bible named Hagar was a servant. She was put in a very difficult scenario by her master and when she found herself pregnant, out in the wilderness with no food, and no means to survive she cried out and the angel of the Lord came to her. He gave her instructions on what to do and how God was going to bless her. Genesis 16: 13 (MSG) says, “Hagar answered God by name, praying to the God who spoke to her, “You’re the God who sees me!Yes! He saw me; and then I saw him!”

I love this story for so many reasons. It doesn’t matter where we came from, what our story is, how well or how little we knew God before today. The good news is…God SEES you. Right where you are and He has a plan for you from this day forward if you’ll open your eyes, and your heart, to see Him.

My husband, Ken, and I learned an important lesson about dealing with conflict. We learned it … the hard way. We were in a musical ministry of young adult twenty-somethings, on a tour bus, with a vigorous travel and performance schedule. We did our best to find space for our personal devotion time as well as group devotions and prayer. Despite our common spiritual ground we all came from different parts of the country, a variety of church denominations and unique family dynamics… and we disagreed from time to time. That’s very normal and a vital skill we must learn as we mature is how to get along!

What we didn’t realize was there was a shift happening within the group as two people began to create dissension among the group. It was subtle at first but within weeks had practically split the group in half. About a month later when we arrived at our home base of operation for a few days off, the disgruntled two had become five. They carried their belongings off the tour bus, said goodbye and told us they weren’t coming back.

Looking back I’d like to believe we could have salvaged that team. There’s nothing more important that loving God and each other. Jesus said ALL the law of the prophets hang on those two directives. Disagreements turn into hurt feelings that turn into bitterness. And bitterness impacts every single thing it touches. We might not see it at first; but, bitterness is insidious.

Hebrews 12:15 (NIV) is very direct. “See to it that no one falls short of the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many.” It’s important to keep short accounts. It’s beneficial to have boundaries but within those boundaries don’t give a foothold to bitterness. That’s a tactic of the enemy to destroy us if we let him. Rather, the Apostle Paul said, focus on grace. The grace of God. It’s a life-giving gift that He gives us and when we give grace we become a little more like Jesus as we do.

There was never a time that God didn’t have a plan. His Holy Word begins with, “In the beginning, God…” The earth and all of us were never an experiment. God began with the end in mind. I love that while He knew WE would be a work in progress all of our lives – He counted us worth it. 

Jesus knew before the foundation of the earth that He would lay down His life for all of mankind. Redemption was in His heart before God’s hands even formed Adam & Eve and before His breath blew life into them. But, Adam & Eve carved a path that we’ve been struggling to get through ever since. Even then, God knew and had already made a way.

God’s whisper of a Savior to come who would redeem the whole world began in the Old Testament. Prophets in those days began to share God’s plan of redemption. His chosen people began to look for the Promised One.  He came exactly as God said He would.

Luke 1:69–70 (NLT) tells us, “He has sent us a mighty Savior from the royal line of His servant David, just as He promised through His holy prophets long ago.”

Father God, thank You for Your amazing story of life and love and redemption and that we get to be part of YOUR story. Thank You that You kept Your promises then…and You keep them still today.

Have you ever stood at the edge of a canyon and hollered? If you listen, you’ll hear the words you hollered echo – bouncing around the vast hollow. It’s your voice that you hear coming back to you and yet it’s not you across the hollow. It’s your likeness but it’s not you.

We are an echo. A reflection. We will either echo God or we will echo the world. Of all God’s creation, the worlds, the stars, the plants and animals, God made US in His image. Genesis 1 gives us a glimpse of His incredible creativity and in verse 26, “Then God said, “Let us make human beings in our image, to be like us.” Of all that He created, none were created to reflect His image – to be an echo of God – except us.

Once sin crept into the Garden and tainted mankind it became a daily decision to echo God or echo the world. Oh, what a beautiful calling God placed in us to bear His image, to be His echo to the world around us. When we speak to our spouse and our children, our co-workers and strangers we meet on the way, even the way that we speak to ourselves is either an echo of God or the tainted world in which we live.

Joshua 24:15 (NLT) is a proclamation worth echoing today…and every day. “Choose this day whom you will serve…. As for me and my family, we will serve the Lord.”

You got this. Follow your dreams. You are loved. Three-word phrases that we’ve heard and, likely, found inspiration and encouragement in when we’ve heard them spoken to us. In Luke 17:32, Jesus cautioned them with these three words, “Remember Lot’s wife!” If you’re not familiar with the story of Lot’s wife in Genesis 19, you would be puzzled by Jesus’ three-word statement. But I think everyone within range of His voice knew exactly who and what He was talking about. After all, these stories have been passed down for generations among the Jewish people.

The story of Sodom and Gomorrah had been passed down from generation to generation. Cities so immoral that God rained down fire from heaven to consume everything and everyone within those vicinities. Everyone except…Lot, his wife and their daughters. Angels physically took them by the hand and led them out of Sodom with stern instructions. ‘Run for your lives…and don’t look back.’ Once they got to the place the angels had agreed they could go, God’s wrath was poured out. Genesis 19:26 tells us, “But Lot’s wife looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.”

The Bible doesn’t tell us why she looked back. Perhaps she was curious? or maybe longed for what had become familiar, like home, to her? We just know that they were given careful instruction on what to do and what NOT to do. And disobedience carries a cost. It was critical enough that Jesus used the warning – remember Lot’s wife – to clarify the importance of His lesson that day. He followed those three words with this: “Whoever tries to keep their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life will preserve it,” Luke 17:33. The Passion Translation says it this way: ‘All who are obsessed with being secure in life will lose it all—including their lives. But those who let go of their lives and surrender them to me will discover true life.’

Real security lies in surrendering our lives to Christ. Following His call…and never looking back!

 Whoever tries to keep their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life will preserve it.”

Many of my dreams are such a crazy, jumbled mess of people, places and things that aren’t even connected. It’s as if my subconscious is trying to file random thoughts I’ve had into Act 1, Scene 1 and I awake trying to get my money back from the ticket I don’t remember buying! Have you had dreams like that? Or maybe you’ve gone somewhere, had a conversation with someone, and you have this thought – “I’ve been in this exact scenario before”. Part of me wonders if I dreamed it before I lived it. Is it possible that God would show us something in a dream before it’s happened? I believe He could and I believe He has.

Acts 2:17 (GW) tells us, ‘In the last days, God says, I will pour my Spirit on everyone. Your sons and daughters will speak what God has revealed. Your young men will see visions. Your old men will dream dreams.’ How amazing to think that God would speak to us, reveal things to us, while we are sleeping! God said He will pour His Spirit on everyone… What do we do with this beautiful gift from God? To speak what He has revealed to us. The King James Bible calls it prophesying. And that’s what it means – to speak what God has revealed.

The next time you find yourself waking up from a dream take a few minutes to write it down. Even if it doesn’t make sense. It’s easy to forget the details if we don’t write it down. When we are faithful in the little, God will begin to give us more.

So often I have thanked God for going with me. I’m so thankful for the presence of God that lives in me. And if you’ve asked Jesus to be your Lord and Savior – His presence lives in you too! That’s so incredible, isn’t it?!! It means everywhere that we go – God goes with us! One morning as I was leaving my house, heading toward the radio station, I said it out loud. “Lord, thank You for going with me today.” As I paused I said, “thank You for LEADING me today!”

That changes EVERYTHING, doesn’t it?!! In Psalm 32:8, the Psalmist David said of God, ‘You said to me, “I will point out the road that you should follow. I will be your teacher and watch over you.”‘ He’s not only our companion; the Lord is our Leader, our Teacher and He is our Protector. Acknowledging that He is my leader reminds me that I am His follower! It helps to keep me from running out ahead of God’s plan for me.

Right now is the perfect time to invite God to lead us today. Lord, keep us from running ahead and spur us on from lagging behind. Thank You for Your presence in and with us today and thank You for leading us.