Annoint my head with oil.

 I have to admit, I always wondered what this part of Psalm 23 meant. I thought “He anoints my head with oil” was figurative language for God keeping the Psalmist healthy. I never knew this parallel.

Anoint my head with oil

“Sheep can get their head caught in briers and die trying to get untangled. There are horrid little flies that like to torment sheep by laying eggs in their nostrils which turn into worms and drive the sheep to beat their head against a rock, sometimes to death. Their ears and eyes are also susceptible to tormenting insects. So the shepherd anoints their whole head with oil. Then there is peace. That oil forms a barrier of protection against the evil that tries to destroy the sheep. Do you have times of mental torment? Do the worrisome thoughts invade your mind over and over? Do you beat your head against a wall trying to stop them? Have you ever asked God to anoint your head with oil? He has an endless supply! His oil protects and makes it possible for you to fix your heart, mind, and eyes on Him today and always! There is peace in the valley! May our good good Father anoint your head with oil today so that your cup overflows with blessings! God is good and He is faithful!!”

The Key to Victory

Philippians 3:13-14

The key to victory in 2021 is Philippians 3:13-14. Paul was using the illustration of a race to describe his life. He was in the home stretch, but he was still running the race; the race wasn’t over. He said, “I have not apprehended it yet.” – NOT YET!

Right behind this conjunction is one of Paul’s secrets to living. THIS ONE THING I DO! It’s the only time this particular phrase is used in the New Testament. Single-minded concentration on the things of God is essential to running the race of Christianity. You cannot be dwelling on other things as an athlete and give your best performance. Therefore, Paul says “this ONE thing I do.”

What is "This One Thing I do"?
"Forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus." That's the key to victory in the Christian life. That's the key to victory for this time, for this day.

What do we need to forget?
Paul had learned that we have to lock the door on yesterday and throw away the key. He discovered that looking back almost always ends up going back. Let me repeat that... Looking back almost always ends up going back. In the Old Testament, we find the wandering Israelites ready to return to their old ways rather than pressing on. In the New Testament Jesus clearly taught us in Luke 9:62 that "no man, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for God's Kingdom."

4 THINGS WE NEED TO FORGET:

1. YESTERDAY'S MISTAKES
In his book "ENCOURAGE ME", Chuck Swindoll wrote a chapter titled, "The Fine Art of Blowing It". It begins like this, "It happens to every one of us. Teachers as well as students, cops as well as criminals. Bosses as well as employees. Parents as well as kids. The diligent as well as the lazy. Not even presidents are immune. Or corporation heads who earn six-figure salaries. The same is true of well-meaning architects and hard-working builders and clear-thinking engineers... not to mention pro ball players, politicians, and preachers. What? Making mistakes, that's what. Doing the wrong thing, usually with the best of motives. And it happens with remarkable regularity.

Everyone messes up. Everyone does stupid things. God says forget it! Leave them behind you. There are 3 things we are to do about yesterday's blunders:

1. Learn from them

2. Determine with God's help you aren't going to make the same mistake again

3. Forget them.

The enemy always wants to remind you and make you feel guilty for past mistakes - but God says: "Forget them. I have"! 

2. YESTERDAY'S HURTS
Life is a battlefield. On any battleground, injuries will occur and soldiers are going to get hurt. Sooner or later, someone is going to

...hurt you
...lie about you
...verbally or physically harm you
...misrepresent you

...chop you up in little pieces (not literally, of course)

...slander you

It's going to happen -- so what do you do?

You have two choices:

1. Allow the resentment and hate to build

2. Forgive and forget

    

You might say, but Lyne - 
... You don't understand

... You don't know how badly I've been hurt

... I was innocent. I didn't do anything wrong, but they hurt me. They lied about me.

... They hurt my feeling and didn't care. They criticized me even though I did nothing wrong.

... They talked about me behind my back.

... They cheated me, they rejected me, they hurt me really bad.

Believe me. God understands. Jesus was innocent, but they beat him, they tortured him, they mocked him, they crucified him. He didn't deserve it, but they did it anyway. On the cross He forgave them. On the cross, He provided salvation even for those who beat him, mocked him and crucified him. In order to press on in the Christian life, we, too, have to lock the door on yesterday's hurts.

3. YESTERDAY'S POSSIBILITIES

How often do we see people unable to operate in today because they are still living a "what if" life of yesterday? They keep talking about "what could have been" --"if I had only..." And very often they blame someone else

...if only my spouse hadn't...

...if only my parents (children) hadn't...

...if only my business partner had...

They even blame God - "if God would have... or if God wouldn't have..."

Build a bridge, and get over it!

We cannot live on yesterday's promises or yesterday's dreams. Too many people are dissatisfied with life because they've had an expectation of something that hasn't worked out. Paul is telling us - forget your past hurts, forget your past mistakes, and forget living with what might have been and finally...

4. YESTERDAY'S SINS

Billy Graham once said that 60% of all the patients in mental hospitals could go home if they would accept the fact that they are not guilty or that they have been forgiven.

So many people are carrying a burden of guilt of:

...A past mistake

...A moral failure

...A painful cut to a friend

...A physical hurt to someone

...A stupid, hateful remake

...A poor decision

...A sin so horrible they believe either God will not forgive them or they will not forgive themselves

***There is no sin, no matter how great or small, once it has been confessed and forgiven, the memory of it should torment us anymore.

See this ... Paul didn't say, "I've forgotten those things which are behind. Paul said, forgetting those things. He had learned the secret. There are some things in our memory that we will never fully forget. We have to keep practicing forgetting...

Guilt can eat us alive. Every time the memory comes back, every time a song or word or a smell or a picture or a person reminds us, we continue to practice forgetting. So how long do we have to practice forgetting?

...until the memory doesn't hurt anymore

...until we allow God to forgive us

...until we allow God to forgive through us

...until the pain is no longer there

...until we can use our past to help us grow in the present

...until we can use our past to help others in the present

God says in Jeremiah 31:34 "I will forgive their iniquity and remember their sin no more."

Psalm 103:12 "I will remove their sin as far as the east is from the west."

1 John 1:9 "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."

It's time to:

    Lock the door on the past!

    Throw away the key!

    Forget where you threw it!

You're Not Home Yet

 An old missionary couple had been working in Africa for years and were returning to New York to retire. They had no pension; their health was broken; they were defeated and discouraged.  They discovered they were booked on the same ship as President Teddy Roosevelt, who was returning from one of his big-game hunting expeditions.

No one paid any attention to them. They watched the fanfare that accompanied the President's entourage, with passengers trying to catch a glimpse of the great man.

As the ship moved across the ocean, the old missionary said to his wife, "Something is wrong.  Why should we have given our lives in faithful service for God in Africa all these many years and have no one care a thing about us? Here this man comes back from a hunting trip and everybody makes much over him, but nobody gives two hoots about us."

"Dear, you shouldn't feel that way", his wife said.  He replied, "I can't help it; it doesn't seem right."

When the ship docked in New York, a band was waiting to greet the President. The mayor and other dignitaries were there. The papers were full of the President's arrival. No one noticed this missionary couple.  That night the man's spirit broke. He said to his wife, "I can't take this; God is not treating us fairly". His wife replied, "Why don't you go in the bedroom and tell that to the Lord?"

A short time later he came out from the bedroom, but now his face was completely different. His wife asked, "Dear, what happened?"

"The Lord settled it with me", he said. "I told Him how bitter I was that the President should receive this tremendous homecoming when no one met us as we returned home. And when I finished, it seemed as though the Lord put His hand on my shoulder and simply said;  "But you're not home yet."
 
"But our citizenship is in heaven." (Philippians 3:20)

Oh to be loved like that!!

Yesterday one of my very sweet friends dropped by my office to visit and came bearing my very favorite brew of coffee! (In case you're ever in Ball Ground, Georgia, you have to stop in and try the Barrell Aged Coffee House coffee! It's amazing!!) But back to what I wanted to share ...

During Ashley's visit, I reported that I had sold "Bertha" (my 2003 Suburban) and purchased "Sassy" (an Acadia Denali). She's "Sassy" because she gets sassy with me when I get too close to the road margins - she beeps at me! Right after I took ownership of her I knew she was going to be "Sassy". She's got all kinds of bells and whistles (most of which I still don't know what they're for), so there's a "ding" here and a "ding ding" there any time I don't do what she thinks I should! Seriously!

But that's not the point of this post. During our conversation yesterday (a colleague joined us in the viewing of Sassy), I noted that I had immediately applied my rear window decal "Proud USAF Mom". Ashley commented something to the effect of "like anyone who knows you would think you're not proud of that guy". I quickly pointed out it had been 54 days since I had hugged his neck. My colleague, Meredith, exclaimed, "Oh my, you actually know how many days it's been?!" "Of course, I said. I have a countdown app on my phone that can tell me to the minute how long it's been." And here's what got me ... Ashley said, "Oh! To be loved like that!"

All afternoon that resounded in my heart - my sweet friends, we ARE loved like that! God knows exactly how long it's been since you hugged HIM in prayer, in song, worship or any other way that you choose to love on Him. It matters to HIM! YOU matter to HIM!

With tears rolling down my face I loved on HIM, my God, my maker, my rescuer, all the way home last night. I just couldn't get over how much He loves us like that!! How long has it been since you thought about how much He loves you like that!?

Think about it.

You're never too old

Seems recently (especially) I have to keep reminding myself that my useful days are really not over - that there's still something in me that may be influential for some poor soul out there. Yes, I've been reminded of Sarah over and over again - too many times for comfort. But then this morning I was reminded of Elizabeth. You remember her - the one Mary went to after the angel told her she would become pregnant with Jesus.

Yes, a sixty-something woman who's expecting a child today (God forbid!) would probably be on the fast track into The Guinness Book of Records, but there is also the reality that people are quick to minimize a woman "of advanced age" and assume that her best, most productive, most impactful years are behind her - that she couldn't possibly birth anything new. Here's the bigger travesty: women buy into those lies and believe them. So let me just jump up on my soapbox, clear my throat and say something really loudly: Elizabeth's life is a beautiful reminder that God continues to do new things in and through us no matter what our age happens to be.

Don't miss this either: the calling on Elizabeth's life (in what we might call her golden years) was no small thing (not that there are any small callings, but Elizabeth's was certainly a visible one). After all, she was going to be the mother of John the Baptist. She was going to be responsible for raising and teaching the forerunner of Jesus Christ.

And then when Mary showed up, Elizabeth confirmed her pregnancy. In fact, she confirmed that Mary was "the mother of my Lord," so Elizabeth was the first human in the New Testament to speak not only of Mary's calling--but Jesus', too!

Elizabeth had an enormous influence on her young cousin and the body of Christ. So when I read Luke 1:45-45 and am reminded of Elizabeth's strong words of encouragement to Mary, I can't help but wonder, What if Elizabeth had decided that her Kingdom usefulness was over? What if she had decided that she was fed up with whatever was going on at the temple, crossed her arms, and said "I'm over it. I'm out of here." What if she had looked at Mary and thought, "Well, I could bless her--but NAH"?

There are countless number of ways we can get burned out and worn down, right? And let me just be clear: if we're really worn down and worn out, then, by all means, we need to rest. We're not doing anybody any favors when we're trying to serve out of a reserve tank that's already empty. (Note to self-quit preaching to me.)

But if, like me, you're convinced yourself you aren't needed anymore, that your best days are behind you, that you're not "relevant" enough, not anointed enough to serve the body of Christ--or, heaven forbid, your family--let me just say this: Stop it. Right now. STOP IT RIGHT NOW. Don't you dare discount your importance, your influence or your calling.

And just to clarify, I am EXTREMELY aware that this kind of doubt can creep up on us at any age. It seems to fire up most often in my life when I'm in the middle of transition--moving from a comfortable place to one that is so not comfortable - like moving from one stage of motherhood to something new. But here's the thing - we have to stay in it. We can't just give up and hang it up because for whatever reason we are fed ALL THE WAY up or just scared to death. We can't forget there is somebody behind us and ahead of us who need us to stay in it.
There are those in your church that need you to stay in it.
There are those in your family who needs you to stay in it.
There are those you work with that need you to stay in it.
So you stay in it, do you hear me? Hey, you, yes you!
YOU. STAY. IN. IT.
You are uniquely built to impact others in ways you cannot even imagine. You are the only "you" there is. No one else on earth has your wisdom (don't make faces at me now), your experiences and your perspective. So when you're tempted to give up, back down or back off ... just remember this: Elizabeth was in her golden years--but she was about to birth a whole new thing! YOU stay IN it!

Thursday thinking...

Life was much, much easier during my carefree, pleasure-seeking heathen days. No, I can't say it was more satisfying ... just easier. This Christian stuff, this committing myself to follow God's path stuff ... well, it's a lot of work. It's a lock 'n load commitment, with a long battle ahead (longer for some than others). Sure, there's the joy of seeing the path to follow and believing in its rightness, as well as knowing (most....much...some of the time) that it's really the only path that makes sense. But it also sets us up to fail, to miss the mark and come up short. It strips away the delusion of our (okay, mine) arrogant self-image and makes it almost impossible to lie to ourselves. I'm stuck with not only being the clay-footed, stiff-necked Christian that I am but of also honestly recognizing that old gal when I look in the mirror. There are days when facing a ton of challenges, belief itself is the biggest challenge. My point is we all struggle to believe and to follow God's way. But failing or falling short, while inevitable, is not all bad. It's a growing process, and God understands our lack of perfection ... He created us after all.

So, celebrate and enjoy the gift that is today!

Quote worth posting and contemplating....

“The shift of putting ourselves on the throne isn't this cosmic, Avengers-style civil war. It's dangerously more subtle. For good Bible-believing, holiness chasing people like us, the temptation isn't to abandon what we believe and turn our backs on God. The temptation is to pursue loving God and looking like Christ in our own strength. The temptation is to do all those right things, for all the wrong reasons. The danger is to love Jesus but somehow, simultaneously, make it all about us. To make holiness look a lot like happiness.”  
― Whitney Capps