Leah Rade

Great Women's Bible

Several years ago my husband gave me a gift that ended up meaning more to me and had even more of an impact on me than what either of us expected.  He gave me the NIV Women's Devotional Bible.  Our kids were in elementary school and I was working more than full-time at the Museum of Life and Science; while trying to balance motherhood, serving at my church and being a good wife.  Over 300 devotions in this now classic version met me at my need as a woman. 

This Bible meant so much to me that when the "New" version was introduced, with all new devotions; a friend presented it to me, knowing how much I would love it.  This Bible lives on my night stand and is the Bible I read first-thing in the morning, knowing that each one of over 300 devotions will speak to me at my need as a women.

The devotions are written by noted women of all ages with biographies of each contributor included in the appendix, where you'll also discover a one-year Bible reading plan.

Got a birthday coming?  Christmas will be here before you know it.  Put this Bible on your wish list.  You'll be glad you did.

Grateful For Your Spouse

I read the book of Philippians tonight.  Don't be impressed, as all four chapters took only several minutes to read.  Besides, I read Philippians at least once a month, especially when we haven't seen the sun in days on end.  I especially love how Philippians begins:

Read
Every time you cross my mind, I break out in exclamations of thanks to God. Each exclamation is a trigger to prayer. I find myself praying for you with a glad heart. I am so pleased that you have continued on in this with us, believing and proclaiming God's Message, from the day you heard it right up to the present. There has never been the slightest doubt in my mind that the God who started this great work in you would keep at it and bring it to a flourishing finish on the very day Christ Jesus appears. Philippians 1:3-6 [Message]

Think
On a scale of 1-10, 1 = infrequently / 10 = frequently, how would you rate your prayer life?  How would you rate the amount of time you devote to praying for your spouse?  What would it take to rate your prayer life a 10?

Pray
If you don't have a picture of your spouse where you can see his/her image frequently, place his/her image where you can see it throughout your day.  Every time you see it, pause and thank God for the person he/she is and who He is forming him/her to be.  Remind yourself that God who began a great work in him/her will "keep at it and bring it to a flourishing finish on the very day Christ Jesus appears."

Live
Tell your spouse daily how grateful you are for him/her, then tell your spouse you're praying for him/her daily.  Pray with your spouse and tell God how grateful you are for your spouse during your prayer time together.

I have several photos of Mike placed where I can see him throughout the day and every time I look at him I feel so grateful and thank God for the amazing man and father that Mike is.  You'll be surprised at how excited you'll be when you see your spouse each night after praying for him/her throughout your day.  I'm more excited to see Mike than ever.  After all, we've been praying for each other daily for 20 of the last 26 years.  That's roughly 7300 prayers...times two!  

Invest & Invite

Our evangelism plan at NHC is Invest & Invite.  Who has more influence over your unchurched, unsaved friends and family than you?  And, it's biblical too.

Read
^10-11Later when Jesus was eating supper at Matthew's house with his close followers, a lot of disreputable characters came and joined them. When the Pharisees saw him keeping this kind of company, they had a fit, and lit into Jesus' followers. "What kind of example is this from your Teacher, acting cozy with crooks and riffraff?"

 ^12-13Jesus, overhearing, shot back, "Who needs a doctor: the healthy or the sick? Go figure out what this Scripture means: 'I'm after mercy, not religion.' I'm here to invite outsiders, not coddle insiders."

Matthew 9:10-13 [Message]

Think

Think about how and when you received God's gift of salvation through Christ Jesus.  How does it make you feel to know that Jesus hung out with imperfect people, rather than "religious" folks?  Do you remember how great it felt to be forgiven?  Who was involved in introducing you to Christ?  Was it a friend?  Family member?  Neighbor?  Co-worker?  Teacher? 

Pray

Meditate on your memory of the moment you began your relationship with Christ.  Thank God for those who were instrumental in introducing you to Christ.  Ask God to reveal people in your life whom He wants you to reach out to and invite to church.  You may even need to ask for repentance for becoming an "insider" who expects to be coddled.  Ask Him to burden you for the lost...for the "outsiders."

Live
After God reveals two or three people who need Him, invite them to church.  Or, invite them to your small group.  Easter is April 12th, a perfect inviting time.

He Canceled the ENTIRE List

Many of my weekend and sometimes weekday conversations go something like this, "Leah, if you only knew how bad I've been, you'd see that God can't really forgive me."  Or, "There's just some bad stuff that I know God can't forgive."  Or, "I know He's forgiven me for the first 28 things on my list, but 29 through 41 are really, really bad sins...I just don't know how He can forgive those...if you only knew, you wouldn't like me either."  These conversations are with people who sincerely have asked Jesus to be their Savior.  They are just carrying so much guilt because they haven't forgiven themselves, preventing them from fully receiving God's forgiveness.  I spend a lot of time assuring people of God's forgiveness.

During my quiet time this afternoon, I came across a powerful verse which I share with people who are struggling with guilt.  However, because I was reading, not studying (very different disciplines), the verse jumped off the page at me as if I discovered it for the first time.  I've been meditating on it all day, thanking God for canceling my extensive list...every last number on the list.

He canceled the record of the charges [list] against us and took it away by nailing it to the cross. Colossians 2:14

Begin With The End In Mind

There is a story in the Bible that has impacted my life greatly with regards to letting go of worry, stress and fear.  The story is found in Mark 4:35-40, where after a day of teaching, Jesus, needing some time away from the crowds, gets into a boat with his disciples and tells them, "Let us go over to the other side."  Jesus proceeds to go under the deck to get some rest after a long day.  A storm comes up and the disciples freak out, wake up Jesus and ask him, "Teacher, don't you care if we drown?"  Jesus quiets the storm, then rebukes his disciples, saying, "Why are you so afraid?  Do you still have not faith?" 

Jesus began with the end when he told his disciples they were going to the other side.  Amazingly, they lost site of that stated goal as soon as the waves became choppy.  We're like that too.  We keep our eyes on Jesus...until a life-storm comes up, when He already tells us about the end, about how He's not giving up on us.  One verse that I mediate on during my quiet time is Philippians 1:6 And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns.  The Apostle Paul tells us that God will continue to do a good work in us until He is finished...when Christ returns.  When I begin with the end in mind, I am able to let go of worry, fear and stress and keep my eyes on the goal and promise that God is continuing his work in me until Jesus returns...God is always with me, always working with me, until I am with Jesus.

That day when evening came, he said to his disciples, "Let us go over to the other side." Leaving the crowd behind, they took him along, just as he was, in the boat. There were also other boats with him. A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped. Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, "Teacher, don't you care if we drown?"

He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, "Quiet! Be still!" Then the wind died down and it was completely calm.

He said to his disciples, "Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?"  Mark 4:35-40

 

Sweet Assurance

I'm a huge A. W. Tozer fan.  If you've never read any of his works, I highly recommend any of them.  I'm currently reading The Knowledge of The Holy.  I spend a great deal of time assuring people of their salvation and was struck by this passage and wanted to share:

How unutterably sweet is the knowledge that our Heavenly Father knows us completely.  No talebearer can inform on us; no enemy can make an accusation stick; no forgotten skeleton can come tumbling our of some hidden closet to abash us and expose our past; no unsuspected weakness in our characters can come to light to turn God away from us, since He knew us utterly before we knew Him and called us to Himself in the full knowledge of everything that was against us.

But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:8 [NIV]

Thanksgiving Hymn

My "traditional" side tends to show up during the holidays and today I found myself humming an old traditional Thanksgiving hymn, We Thank We All Our God.  M. Rinkart, 1586-1649.  This hymn has been even more meaningful after learning several years ago that Martin Rinkart wrote the hymn after enduring the horrors of plague and famine during the Thirty Years War and ministered to thousands of sick and dying people, presiding at funerals, including the funeral of his own wife.

May you find joy, comfort and a gratitude through his words:

We thank we all our God
With heart, and hands, and voices,
Who wondrous things hath done,
In whom his world rejoices;
Who, from our mother's arms
Hath blessed us on our way
With countless gifts of love,
And still is ours today.

O may this gracious God
Through all our life be near us,
With ever joyful hearts
And blessed peace to cheer us,
Preserve us in his grace,
And guide us in distress,
And free us from all sin,
Till heaven we possess.

The Mask

No, I’m not referring to the Jim Carrey movie, I'm referring to the “veil” or mask that some Christians eventually put on.  Moses actually was the first to wear the veil.  Exodus 34:34-35 & 2 Cor. 3:13 tell us about how Moses, after spending time with God would appear with a radiant face, but soon would cover his face with a veil as the radiance diminished. But whenever he entered the Lord's presence to speak with him, he removed the veil until he came out. And when he came out and told the Israelites what he had been commanded, they saw that his face was radiant. Then Moses would put the veil back over his face until he went in to speak with the LORD  . . . to keep the Israelites from gazing at it while the radiance was fading away.

 

What causes Christians to put on the “mask”?  Complacency and busyness are typical reasons.  Christians have all experienced that close relationship with Jesus, where our lives reflect this close relationship.  However, when we become complacent or too busy to spend time with Him, the reflection begins to fade.  Just like Moses, we don’t want people to see the fading, so we put on the “mask of righteousness” in order to convince everyone that we’re still close to Jesus.  The real danger of wearing the “mask” is that while we’re busy trying to convince others of our relationship with Jesus, we deceive ourselves.  While we might talk like Christians, we cease growing in our relationship with Christ.  If we neglect our friendship with God by failing to live in His presence, His glory fades out of our lives, forcing us to live by our own power.  Pastor Dave calls this “being on our own” vs. living in the “blessing zone”. 

 

The gravest danger of wearing the “mask” and living “on our own” is that we stop bearing fruit because we have disconnected ourselves from the vine.  Stay joined to me, and I will stay joined to you. Just as a branch cannot produce fruit unless it stays joined to the vine, you cannot produce fruit unless you stay joined to me. John 15:4

 

So, how do we remove the “mask”?  We can begin by examining our hearts and ask ourselves, “Am I displaying an outward righteousness without demonstrating the inward attitude of obedience?  Do my actions demonstrate my understanding of God’s Word? How much time have I spent today in God’s presence?”  Disappointed by your answers?  God isn’t.  When we remove the mask and admit our mistakes to God, He doesn’t condemn us, He restores us.

 

But when a person changes and follows the Lord, that covering is taken away. The Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. Our faces, then, are not covered. We all show the Lord's glory, and we are being changed to be like him. This change in us brings ever greater glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.  2 Cor. 3:16-18

They Know "They"

When I take personality tests, to say that I score high on being an extrovert, is well, an understatement.  I love being around all kinds of unique people.  Therefore, when I’m not at the church or with my family, I’m hanging out with artists over in Carrboro.  As a artist and a people lover, I have served on the Orange County Arts Commission since 2001 and I have treasured every minute of it, as we work to serve extremely talented & unique, Orange County artists. 

Whenever I'm in conversations with new artists at the Carrboro Arts Center, I know the conversation will go something like this, "So, what's your day job?"  I reply, "I'm one of the pastors at a growing, evangelical  Christian church located between Chapel Hill and Hillsborough."  Raised eyebrows always indicate surprise.  Now, here it comes…”You’re allowed to look like that?  Do they know you have a tattoo?”  My translation is: “You look like me, you don’t look like “they”.”  Sadly, unchurched people know “the they”, the religious, rule-enforcing, kingdom monitors, who stand at the doors of our churches, protecting our congregations from people with baggage, brokenness & sin.  I proceed to tell them about New Horizon Church and how they can come just as they are: tattoos, weird looks, piercings, too liberal, too conservative, too many questions, and all…and meet Jesus.

The woman at the well, in John 4, had a clear understanding of “they”, as the other women who came to the well in the morning shunned her.  Because her bad decisions made her less than respectable, she waited until afternoon to visit the well, after the respectable women had gone.  This woman had made many bad choices in her life, 5-times divorced and currently living with another man.  Therefore, when a respected Jewish Rabbi approached her one afternoon, I’m sure she was thinking, “Obviously, he doesn’t know about me or he wouldn’t choose to talk with me.  And, when he finds out about me, I’m sure he’ll give me a lengthy critique on the consequences of my destructive behavior.” Remember, this woman understood that she was less than respectable. After all, this woman did not just make many mistakes, she was dealing with her life lived of mistakes.  

This man was different.  This man was Jesus, and instead of representing “they”, he treated the woman with respect, compassion, kindness and grace, and offered her a way out of her destructive past.  Jesus saw her life as salvageable and redeemable.  Jesus met this woman, who was living the only life she knew how to live and immediately gave her hope of an eternal future.  Jesus offered her “living water”.  Instead of focusing on her mistakes, he focused on her desire for God.  Her past became irrelevant.

When the woman realized that even though Jesus knew everything about her and did not condemn her, she ran through the streets telling everyone she encountered about the man who “knew everything about her”.  This woman, who just minutes before meeting Jesus was ashamed of her past, now had a future and wanted everyone to meet Jesus, who made her future possible.

No messy life is unsalvageable for Jesus.  The world (and many churches) may put the “no hope” label on messy lives…thankfully, Jesus sees us differently, meets us where we are and gives us hope for a future.  You won’t find “they” at New Horizon Church, but you will find Jesus. 

God sent Jesus Christ our Savior to give us his Spirit. Jesus treated us much better than we deserve. He made us acceptable to God and gave us the hope of eternal life. Titus 3:6-7 [CEV]

Kingdom Monitors

It never ceases to amaze me, and in fact, I find very ironic when sinners, who stumble upon God’s unconditional love in the form of grace & forgiveness, then discover acceptance unlike they have ever experienced; stand at the door of the very place where they found grace, and monitor the door to make sure that we’re careful about “who” we let in.  For some reason, unbeknownst to me, some of these formerly lost people, self-appoint themselves as “kingdom monitors”, guarding the kingdom of  God, keeping the sinners out.  Jesus had a name for “kingdom monitors”.  Pharisees!   

When we were unable to help ourselves, at the right time, Christ died for us, although we were living against God.  Romans 5:6 [NCV] 

It is unfortunate when well-meaning Christians confuse grace & acceptance, with condoning and approving of sinful living.  Christians should not condone and approve sinful living...we should redeem it by extending grace...the same grace God showed us.  For some misguided reason we believe we’re responsible for someone else’s spiritual growth, when we’re only responsible for creating a fertile (relevant) environment where sinners meet God.   

Who do you think Paul is, anyway? Or Apollos, for that matter? Servants, both of us—servants who waited on you as you gradually learned to entrust your lives to our mutual Master. We each carried out our servant assignment. I planted the seed, Apollos watered the plants, but God made you grow. It's not the one who plants or the one who waters who is at the center of this process but God, who makes things grow. Planting and watering are menial servant jobs at minimum wages. What makes them worth doing is the God we are serving. You happen to be God's field in which we are working.  1 Corinthians 3:5-9 [MSG]

Then, Christians, we must not forget the power of God’s ongoing grace in our own lives.  It is always God’s Spirit in us and not our own works that leads to life-change...in us, or anyone else.

But because God was so gracious, so very generous, here I am. And I'm not about to let his grace go to waste. Haven't I worked hard trying to do more than any of the others? Even then, my work didn't amount to all that much. It was God giving me the work to do, God giving me the energy to do it. So whether you heard it from me or from those others, it's all the same: We spoke God's truth and you entrusted your lives.  1 Corinthians 15:10-11 [MSG]

Acceptance = grace, which leads to redemption through the power of the Holy Spirit.

Anyone who belongs to Christ is a new person. The past is forgotten, and everything is new.  2 Corinthians 5:17 [CEV]