To turn the hearts of the fathers
It is he who will go as a forerunner before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers back to the children, and the disobedient to the attitude of the righteous, so as to make ready a people prepared for the Lord. Luke 1:17
One morning toward the end of 2016 as I was keeping my appointment with God, I heard this snatch of a verse: “…to turn the disobedient to the attitude of the righteous.” I looked it up and found it in the book of Luke. It was the angel’s proclamation to Zacharias, John the Baptist’s father, about this yet-to-be conceived child.
I thought about my generation and the swelling tide of disobedience and chaos throughout the earth…particularly in America. I want nothing more than to see an outpouring of hunger and thirst for the things of God and a moving of His Spirit upon every living soul in this generation—including the rebellious.
As I began praying about this, however, I glanced back at the Scripture open upon my lap. In my New American Standard Bible one phrase was capitalized to show it was an Old Testament quote. It read this way:
…TO TURN THE HEARTS OF THE FATHERS BACK TO THE CHILDREN…
I couldn’t tear my eyes away from it. I knew God was showing me something I’d never thought about before. And then it hit me: The hearts of the fathers had drifted away from their children, and it was epidemic in our culture and world—and this turning away—this gross disinterest—was responsible for most of the chaos and upheaval surrounding us.
I thought of my dad and his difficulty with showing affection. I thought of his temper and tendency toward punitive actions and belittling words. And yet despite his massive flaws and mistakes I knew his heart was for me…and knowing that had helped to keep me somewhat steady in life.
Then I thought of my days as a camp counselor. We all knew it: you were either staff-oriented or camper-oriented—you either put the kids first or you prioritized hanging out with or flirting with other counselors.
I also thought about my teaching career. I had observed some who consistently arrived to school as late as possible and left right after the buses. There were those who sat in the lounge “chill-axin’”throughout every break; others stayed glued to their computer most of the day; and toward the end of my career, as smart phones worked their way onto the scene, I knew of teachers who constantly texted back and forth to each other while supervising students.
I thought of ministries and para-ministries, men and women in governmental positions (both elected and appointed), business leaders and executives, even those in volunteer roles—and yes, fathers and mothers. In every one of these cases, I could instinctively recognize those who prioritized “my ministry; my office; my position; my career; my needs; my desires; my gifting; my talent; my abilities; my expertise, my insight” above everything else. These were the ones—the “fathers”—of whom the angel spoke, whether they were male or female; whether they had children of their own or not.
These were the ones whose hearts had turned away from the children. These were the ones who viewed with gross disinterest those entrusted to their stewardship . These were the ones whose hearts were stuck on self.
You see, my dad was extremely dysfunctional and often unkind; but he wasn’t stuck on self. There’s a big difference.
And I then I saw it. Our nation doesn’t so much need a spiritual outpouring on the disobedient; instead, what we desperately need is a move of God on the fathers—on every last one of us called to leadership in any capacity—whether to steward, shepherd, teach, nurture, guide, direct, correct, or oversee anyone else. Without such a move, the full outpouring of the Holy Ghost upon the rebellious, the disobedient, and the unpersuadable will be stifled.
The hearts of those in leadership must be broken and redirected once again to genuine care for those under their oversight.
And as for the rest of us? I sense the same is true for both you and me: Consider your ways toward those entrusted to you—whether they be many or few. Is your heart genuinely toward them—sincerely listening, pondering, and probing the Spirit of God on their behalf—or is there some “stick-age” in your stewardship—gross disinterest—stuck on self?
Don’t feel bad if you discover you’ve been stuck on self; all of us have been to some extent or other. But now it’s time for the One who has stewardship over each one of us to correct, redirect, and transform our focus, unsticking our stick-age, and to bring our hearts into alignment with His heart…turning us back in genuine concern for those He’s entrusted to each one of us…eradicating any remnant of gross indifference from our souls.
And I believe that as those of us in any leadership capacity at all will yield to Him and turn in real compassion toward those He’s given us, then “the disobedient and incredulous and unpersuadable” will turn “to the wisdom of the upright” (see Amplified Classic) and be transformed.
Lord, prepare us to follow You fully—even in this!
Dorothy
Read MoreThe power of a praying grandma
I dedicate the following story to those of you who are laboring in prayer for your children, grandchildren, nieces, nephews, brothers, sisters—anyone and everyone near and dear to you—who seem to be disinterested in the things of God, who might even appear to be growing more and more closed off to the Lord.
My grandma was the only light in the family for years and years and through her untiring witness and prayers, God supernaturally pulled me out of the darkness in which I was drowning, and set me upon the Rock of my salvation. And even though my grandma is no longer here, those prayers she prayed are still before God, still powerful, and still moving on the hearts and minds of her other grandchildren—whether they know it or not—and now this granddaughter is in full agreement with those decades-old prayers.
My grandma was a Southern Baptist dynamo. She was so passionate about her family having a saving relationship with Jesus that the majority of them despised her for it. Sure, they loved her, but they thought she was a religious fanatic, and she made them very uncomfortable. And they let her know it.
Grandma’s three daughters all pulled out of the Oklahoma dust-bowl Depression to put themselves through college. Each one married intellectual men—my mom married an engineer and my two aunts married professors (one of whom was rumored to be a card-carrying member of the Communist party). Grandma’s pleas of “Are you saved?” rubbed every one of them the wrong way, but she didn’t care. As a kid, I was fascinated by the dynamics and secretly admired her refusal to be bullied out of what was widely viewed by the family to be an offensive and ridiculous stance. I loved my grandma and never felt threatened by her faith.
Grandma, I am sure, prayed nearly as much as she preached, and years later, even though the others in my generation of the family seemed to embrace worldviews far different than hers, I was still seeking.
One night, during a particularly stressful Christmas break, I was sitting in a bar getting drunk as quickly as I could. My friends, all dolled up, were on the prowl for good-looking guys, but I wanted nothing of that. You see, my step-grandma (my dad’s step-mom) had just passed away, and days before Christmas I had surgery to remove a large mass from my breast. As a nineteen year old, right before I went into surgery, I was required to sign a paper stating that the doctors could remove the breast if cancer was found. Although I was relieved to learn that the mass was benign, I was not in a good frame of mind.
So there I was, in a bar that served 19 year olds, getting drunk and spiraling down into cynicism and despair. I absent-mindedly watched as the band played song after song and the patrons danced in front of the musicians. When I noticed that the revelers were swaying with their arms lifted up, I heard a voice in my ear, “Lifted hands are a sign of worship.”
I dropped my head and said, “I’m in hell.”
Days later, while alone at my parents’ home, Jesus visited me, and Grandma’s prayers were answered.
Don’t you give up on your loved ones. Prayers over distance and time are powerful tools in the hand of God. You can be sure that He is working behind the scenes on behalf of a loved one—or a nation—if you don’t grow weary and give up. Stick with it. Don’t quit!
Dorothy
Read MoreThe power of hope
…hope does not disappoint… Romans 5:5a
Now faith is the substance of things hoped for… Hebrews 11:1a
A guest speaker recently preached at my church and exhorted us about hope. Hope is second of the 1 Corinthians 13 “fruit” trio—faith, hope, and love (see verse 13); and unfortunately, like the proverbial middle child, hope is often underestimated, under-recognized, and easily brushed aside as less significant. After all, without faith it is impossible to please God; and the greatest of the three is love. Where does that leave hope?
I wish you could have heard the message; it was a life-changing, revolutionary spark which ignited the forgotten kindling of hope in my heart, fueling the dormant furnace within me. Hope. It must be guarded. It must be nurtured. It must be fueled. It must be fed.
The man of God spoke from Hebrews 11, the famous chapter about faith. ”Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. For by it the elders obtained a good testimony” (Hebrews 11:1-2, NKJV; emphasis added). He pointed out that mighty faith in God exists only because hope existed first. If a man has no hope, he will not have faith. Hope must be present first because it gives faith something to give substance to.
When you are under attack, you know to resist the devil (see James 4:7). However, if he can get you to believe that your situation is hopeless by wearing you down (which is his goal), your faith will diminish because it has nothing with which to work. “Faith is the substance…”means that your faith undergirds, supports, and gives substance to something—that for which you hope. But if hope is gone, faith undergirds nothing. If hope is gone, faith supports nothing. If hope is gone, faith gives substance to…nothing.
I don’t know about you, but I was shocked to realize how insidiously the enemy had been chipping away at my hope reservoir, using all kinds of methods and angles in his evil hope-erosion strategy. The man of God posed this question to us: “Do you expect as much as you used to?” Then he bluntly stated, “If we’re honest, we really don’t.”
Do nagging limitations, fears of what others might think, or past disappointments loom larger in your mind than expectations based on the Word of God and the Holy Spirit’s leading? If you find you are managing expectations so as to protect yourself against disappointment, then you are granting “open season” to the enemy of your soul to chip away at your hope without any restriction.
Give yourself permission to hope again. Give yourself permission to pull out those dreams, blow off the dust, and let the Lord reinstate them however He desires. Let that smoldering ember of hope deep down in your belly burst back into flame, warming your heart, enlightening your eyes, and reestablishing your vision.
The man of God described hope this way: it keeps the avenue open for tomorrow to be better. Think about it. Tomorrow can be better! Next week can be sweeter! Next month can be an improvement on this month! Next year? Better than this one! You are the gatekeeper of your hope, not the devil, not your friends, not the people in the pew across the church. And as gatekeeper, you have the authority not to allow them or the world or even your past to steal your hope from you any longer.
If you—like most of us—are facing a delay in the fulfillment of your vision, dreams, or desires, you are the gatekeeper of your hope, nonetheless. You cannot allow delay—however long it may be—to bring disappointment and discouragement into your soul any longer. You’ve got to guard your hope; therefore, choose to view every delay you face as God’s opportunity to work behind the scenes, heaping up blessings to pour out upon you at just the right time.
Always be willing to believe “crazy” things—impossible things that align with the Word of God. Be willing, like Caleb and Joshua of old, to possess the land—whatever that land is for you. Let God lead you—He is the author of your hope (as well as your faith)—and He will awaken the slumbering vision He once implanted within you and will reignite the dreams lying dormant in your heart.
Never surrender to hopelessness. Don’t give it place any longer. But my hope has been deferred and now my heart is sick, you may think. Granted, the Word does say “hope deferred makes the heart sick” (see Proverbs 13:12); but that’s a far cry from saying “stuff deferred” or “situations deferred” make the heart sick! You see, you are the gatekeeper of your hope. You determine whether hope stays or goes; not your circumstances, not your unmanifested dreams—and not the devil!
Because your faith grabs hold of what you’re hoping for, you must guard your hope with vigilant watchfulness. Don’t let anything steal it. Stand your ground and allow your heavenly Father to rekindle hope for your future. Believe again that all the fruitful purposes God has planned for you will come to pass. Believe again that by His grace you will see the manifested blessings of God abound day by day for the rest of your life—starting today.
Let your hope spring forth again!
Dorothy
For I know the plans that I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope. Jeremiah 29:11
Such hope never disappoints or deludes or shames us, for God’s love has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit Who has been given to us. Romans 5:5, Amplified Bible
Read MoreThe power of righteousness
A while back as I was praying, out of the blue a thought invaded my quiet time. This thought—straight from the enemy himself—began to remind me about a recent prolonged attack I’d gone through and all of the time I had wasted while agonizing through it all. Without realizing it, I started stepping right back into oppression as I prayed, “Lord, show me how much of my life I’ve wasted…if I can handle it!” The devil was busy at work, weaving a new web of condemnation, hoping to ensnare me.
Well, I didn’t see it at all until the Lord spoke up in my spirit. He said, “You’re wasting time right now!”
“What?!” I wondered.
“You’re wasting time by focusing on how much time you’ve wasted!”
This jerked my thoughts to a screeching halt and brought me back to reality: I am loved! I am forgiven! I am cleansed! His mercies are new every morning! He isn’t counting that against me!
As I soaked it in, a familiar song floated up from my spirit. I sang, “I worship You, Almighty God. There is none like You. I worship You, oh Prince of Peace—that is what I want to do…”
I knew He was helping me. I kept singing.
“I give You praise, for You are my righteousness…”
And then in a flash, I saw it. All of my concern over my time use, my fruit, my impact, my output, my results—all of it—was allowing the enemy to sneak in to set up shop in my mind all over again. And I realized that every bit of “my, my, my” was simply dust and rubbish in the grand scheme of things. “My, my, my” good stuff was never really mine in the first place (apart from Him I can do nothing); “my, my, my” bad stuff (including wasted time!) was nailed to the cross! What really matters here and now—and on into Eternity—is one simple truth: Jesus is my righteousness. Upon Him alone rests my right-standing with God.
As I meditated on that phrase in the song—“for You are my righteousness”—I sensed again His cleansing, lifting presence surrounding me, soothing me, comforting me, and refilling me with hope and grace and strength.
I knew this truth about righteousness. I had walked in this truth. But I almost allowed the devil to rob me of that truth again despite the fact that I’ve walked with the Lord most of my life. Never—not even if I walk with the Lord for a hundred years of wonderfully fruitful service to God on this earth—will I ever be able to rely on my own righteousness, my own fruitfulness, my own impact, my own output, or my own results. The only truth worthy of reliance is this: Jesus Christ willingly died for me and because of that, I am free to lay aside my own feeble attempts at producing righteousness, fruit, impact, output, and results. I have received—free of charge—His righteousness, and therefore, as I humbly follow Him, I can leave whatever good that may come out of my life—and every bit of wasted time, as well—in His hands.
And that’s an offer I refuse to refuse!
Dorothy
He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that might become the righteousness of God in Him. 2 Corinthians 5:21
The power of joy
One of the most unsung pieces of artillery in the war chest provided to us by God is joy and good humor. In my life, I have experienced the good humor of joy pull me out of quite a few downward spirals. You see, I naturally lean toward the melancholic end of the personality spectrum, and it’s because of those tendencies that I have to constantly remind myself when the going gets tough to stop fretting and put joy into practice. And I’m here to testify as a natural-born brooder and agonizer: I have found purposeful joy to be extremely effective against the schemes of the enemy, and it is one of my best go-to weapons of warfare when it comes to my own moods, feelings, and anxieties. It works—that’s why I use it!
As with every good thing we receive from God, Satan has devised a clever counterfeit for true humor and joy. Although I’m not addressing joy’s counterfeit here, suffice it to say that no one—including the devil—counterfeits worthless items. It is clear that joy and good humor are very valuable when used in the right way.
A much-quoted Scripture declares at the end of Nehemiah 8:10, “The joy of the Lord is your strength.”
How does this joy—and its sidekick, good humor—work to strengthen you? Well, first of all, let me state something upfront. I’m not referring to pretend “smiley-ness” and “praise the Lord-iness” that we can sometimes hide behind to make others think we’ve got it all together. (I’ve been guilty, too.) No; the joy of the Lord which releases the strength of God is confrontational joy and humor—not exercised to impress others—but exerted in confrontation against the enemy—and against your own negativity, pain, or depression.
When you confront the devil with the joy of the Lord, he cannot stand against the strength that God imparts through it. Joy released during times of stress, pain, torment, or any other negative mindset or emotion empowers you to resist the devil, forcing him to flee from you.
However, sometimes an even more formidable foe stands between you and the attainment of God’s promises—you yourself. How can you operate in joy when your mind or emotions scream in agony against the universe—or your neighbor—or your boss—or your body racked with pain? It’s times like these when joy—and more simply, humor—can be among your most valuable assets.
When I catch myself becoming uptight and taking myself too seriously, I’ve learned that the quickest path out the inevitable downward spiral is through exercising the joy of the Lord and good humor. At first I have to force myself to participate in the process, but as I do, true joy eventually takes over and I am strengthened and refreshed. Remember—this is confrontational joy, and the target of this confrontation is you.
I have exercised this purposeful form of joy against my own negativity more times than I can count. Allow me to embarrass myself as I share some examples.
- During times of emotional overload in my twenties, I accidentally discovered that if I forced myself to look in the mirror when I was crying, I would end up laughing—especially if I made faces at myself. As I laughed at myself in the mirror, I got tickled by the absurdity of it all, and stress and pain seemed to fade away. Then my trust in God would return along with real joy. I challenge you to try this technique if you feel yourself sinking into self-pity. It has worked for me.
- Driving home after one of those days as an eighth-grade teacher when no one would listen and the paperwork piled as high as Mount Rushmore, the Spirit of God prompted me to smile. I did so for a second or two and then resumed complaining to Him. No, He urged; keep smiling—all the way home. I felt like an idiot with a big fake grin plastered to my face for the next few minutes. But it wasn’t long until the power of those smile muscles started oozing sunshine down into my whiny soul, and by the time I reached my driveway, I was laughing and rejoicing. Again, I have exercised this technique more than once since then. It’s highly powerful when used against frustration, stress, or an overall negative attitude; I guarantee that if you stick with it, you’ll end up smiling for real.
- At times in bed when pain attacked my body and I couldn’t sleep, I realized that I must have somehow stirred up a hornet’s nest by my life or prayers—the physical symptoms were a clue to me that the enemy was not pleased. And somehow, the image of him irritated by my life in Christ tickled me, so I laughed. And laughed. And laughed. As I laughed big, hearty, belly laughs there in bed, pain-induced anxiety lifted and symptoms subsided. I laughed big laughs one night not too long ago at the pain which was immobilizing one of my hands—and that pain simply drained out and vanished, and I fell asleep, a happy camper with a fully functioning hand.
The joy of the Lord is your strength. As counter-intuitive as it may feel—especially to a melancholic personality-type—confronting yourself with joy and good humor when in the pit of despair, self-pity, or pain is exactly what the Great Physician ordered. And as you allow yourself to participate in purposeful joy, you will find the negativity fade away, and in its place will be the strength which only comes when you exercise the joy of the Lord.
May you be strengthened as you confront negativity with joy!
Dorothy
Read MoreThe power of dry times
Does this sound familiar? You cry out for the grace of God to be able to seek Him, and He gladly endues you with His grace and power. You, in turn, are strengthened and sustained and get much accomplished in life and in prayer.
Then the rest of life happens, distractions or fatigue set in, and you feel like deadweight in regard to anything spiritual. And you think you’ve blown it—how could you have fallen so far?
Have you forgotten how you rose up in spiritual strength to begin with? It was never by your own power, holiness, or deeply spiritual ways. Remember when you cried out to the Lord for help to follow and obey Him? You acknowledged then that your own ability was insufficient. What makes you suppose that you can sustain yourself now?
I propose that our dry times are every bit as powerful as those times we walk in the dynamic of spiritual strength. Here’s why: Our times of spiritual drought bring us to one conclusion—that Jesus is Lord, we are not, and that we desperately need Him no matter how mature or equipped in the things of God we may become.
So when you hit a dry time, rejoice. You have the opportunity once again to acknowledge your humanness and to declare your utter dependence on the living God.
And as you draw near to Him, He will draw near to you as well.
When you experience drought, spend some time rejoicing in the fact that God is God and you aren’t; He is the Source and you never will be. Then any pressure to become a perfect spiritual specimen will roll right off of you as you relax in the blessed truth that you’re not Him—He is! Be comforted in this, and let Him overshadow you again, filling you with the knowledge of His presence and His merciful grace.
Dorothy
Are you so foolish? Although you began with the Spirit, are you now trying to finish by human effort? Galatians 3:3, NET Bible
And He has said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.” Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. 2 Corinthians 12:9, NASB
But we have this treasure in clay jars to show that its extraordinary power comes from God and not from us. 2 Corinthians 4:7, International Standard Version
Read More