LOL: Diakonos Living

 

 

 

Memory/Meditation Verse: Don’t neglect to do what is good and to share, for God is pleased with such sacrifices. ~ Hebrews 13:16 (HCSB)

It's time to close out 2012. It's time to look back and examine what God set my heart my to do - to "Live Out Loud", to examine what I learned and how I have practiced it. It is also the time to open my heart to God's purpose for my 2013. As I do this, seeking my greatest need spiritually and physically, a word jumped out to me during a quiet time: diakono's  (dee AH kah nahs).  It is a Greek word (διάκονος, οῦ, ὁ, ἡ) that frequently refers to a person who attends to others needs.

"The term diakonos, like many biblical words, has both a broad general meaning (servant) and a specific technical meaning (deacon). Most of the instances of diakonos in the New Testament have the broader sense. In other words, they are not referring to the specific office of deacon, but rather to the general role of helping or serving. " ~ Robert H. Thune, Deacons: A Theological Study

 

Diakonos living is to love out loud. To be Jesus to others. It is having the heart to do something radical for God.

 

My heart is not seeking the deacon approach of this word but rather the general role of helping and serving. My heart is seeking less of me and more of Him, more of what I can do for other for Him. To give out loud, to love out loud.

Last year I explored living out loud my faith. In this new year I will explore what it means to Love Out Loud (LOL) my faith, my Jesus.

As I look back on my almost 50 years of life, I often see the selfishness of my living. I yearn to change that. A new desire grows for servant-living. It will start in the home first and foremost,  and then should extend to my church family and to my work family. It should include the community I live in. It will require much of me I am sure but I have a new mission to explore-a mission of servanthood.

2013 word: Diakono's
2013 theme: Loving Out Loud (LOL)
Spiritual Goal: having the heart to do something radical for God
2013 Scripture: Don’t neglect to do what is good and to share, for God is pleased with such sacrifices. ~ Hebrews 13:16 (HCSB)

To live a diakonos life. Giving out loud. Loving out loud. Looking daily to do something radical for Christ. I'm excited about this new charge God has given me. If you are reading these words, I pray this journey will also lead you closer to the Master.

Diakono's living is the call on my life-the action of my living. As I said above, it will start in the home. So this blog will change it's focus. As a mother, my heart aches for our girls to live a life with a heart like ours that yearns for more and more of God. There are so many things that I feel I have failed in as a mother to them, especially spiritually. This nagging feeling has been with me every time I come here to post a blog...the feeling that I should turn these posts into letters for our girls. Reflections from my heart to them about the grace and love of God. Legacy letters. Spiritual nuggets of life lessons learned.

Here's to a happy productive New Year for our Lord in 2013!!

LOL~ Pamela

LOL: Putting on Christmas

Memory/Meditation Verse: Put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no plans to satisfy the fleshly desires. ~ Rom 13:14 (HCSD)

Living Out Loud (LOL) Christmas...putting on Jesus! Literally the most beautiful wardrobe you can wear. But why can it be so hard to put on, to leave on, to lend out?

What did Paul mean when he wrote Rom 13:14? Romans, a long letter written while he was in Corinth to the churches, Paul is laying the boundaries down between the current age and the age to come. The current age representing Christ salvation at work in and through us, the coming age representing the completion of our salvation. That salvation that started in a manger and manifested on a cross.

She will give birth to a son, and you are to name Him Jesus, because He will save His people from their sins.” ~ Matt 1:21 (HCSB)

 



To unwrap this more, look at the verses preceding Rom 13:14...

 

 ¹¹ This is all the more urgent, for you know how late it is; time is running out. Wake up, for our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. ¹² The night is almost gone; the day of salvation will soon be here. So remove your dark deeds like dirty clothes, and put on the shining armor of right living. ¹³ Because we belong to the day, we must live decent lives for all to see. Don’t participate in the darkness of wild parties and drunkenness, or in sexual promiscuity and immoral living, or in quarreling and jealousy.

 

Paul is calling us to step out of spiritual lethargy. Salvation rescues us from the dominion of darkness and the night of sin, and a new realm of light is exposed. We take off the dirty clothes of sinfulness and dress up in Jesus. Walking as He walked. Seeing as He saw. Hearing as He hears. Speaking as He would speak. Living boldly as He lived. We know that putting on Jesus  is a daily act of obedience and submission to mirror Him. 

 

You are the light of the world - like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden. ~Matt 5:14 (NLT)

 

 

I encourage you to examine your heart. Is there any lethargy in your faith? Are you living Jesus out loud? Are there any areas of your life where His presence is hidden? What can you gift to Jesus on this His birthday?

 

 

 

 

As this Christmas season peaks, may we be alive with Jesus-celebrating His salvation, anticipating it's completeness in the age to come. As we enjoy the time with family snuggled around warm fireplaces  or decorated tables...as we appreciate the Christmas lights and special holiday adornments.... and as our taste buds dance and savor the holiday foods, let us keep focus on the reason of this season...

 

 

He meant more for us than to be created from dust to return to dust. We were created to have fellowship with Him...for eternity. Wrap your mind around His love, cherish the gift, be humbled by His sacrifice, and live anticipating His return!

 

Put on CHRISTmas.

 

Put on Jesus.

 

 

Merry Christmas ~ Pamela

LOL: Living Beyond the Manger

Memory/Meditation Verse: "He has made everything beautiful in its time. He also has planted eternity in men’s hearts and minds [a divinely implanted sense of a purpose working through the ages which nothing under the sun but God alone can satisfy]..." Ecclesiastes 3:11a (HCSB)

Living Out Loud is above all things Living Beyond the Manger. As we walk through yet another season of Christmas, should we not be convicted to live beyond the manger? I  know I am.

What is living beyond the manger? It is being moved by the wonder of Christmas and looking beyond the manger to the cross. The wonder of Christmas...prophecies foretelling His arrival come true, the integrity and honor of a young man set to marry his bride who now carries the Son of God, the tough journey of the determined Magi to find their King, the heavenly invasion witness by the shepherds, and the faith and willingness of a young girl who embraced her miraculous assignment that was conceived of the Holy Spirit. It is one of the most adventurous and amazing stories ever told...and lived.

In the wonder of this story though we must look beyond the manger, beyond the birth to the purpose. Everything about Christmas leads to the cross...

Read more “No one has ever gone up into the presence of God except the One who came down from that Presence, the Son of Man. In the same way that Moses lifted the serpent in the desert so people could have something to see and then believe, it is necessary for the Son of Man to be lifted up—and everyone who looks up to him, trusting and expectant, will gain a real life, eternal life.

^16-18 “This is how much God loved the world: He gave his Son, his one and only Son. And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by believing in him, anyone can have a whole and lasting life. God didn’t go to all the trouble of sending his Son merely to point an accusing finger, telling the world how bad it was. He came to help, to put the world right again. Anyone who trusts in him is acquitted; anyone who refuses to trust him has long since been under the death sentence without knowing it. And why? Because of that person’s failure to believe in the one-of-a-kind Son of God when introduced to him.

^19-21 “This is the crisis we’re in: God-light streamed into the world, but men and women everywhere ran for the darkness. They went for the darkness because they were not really interested in pleasing God. Everyone who makes a practice of doing evil, addicted to denial and illusion, hates God-light and won’t come near it, fearing a painful exposure. But anyone working and living in truth and reality welcomes God-light so the work can be seen for the God-work it is.”here: http://www.bradenton.com/2009/11/28/1879429/beyond-the-manger-the-meaning.html#storylink=cpy

 

“No one has ever gone up into the presence of God except the One who came down from that Presence, the Son of Man. In the same way that Moses lifted the serpent in the desert so people could have something to see and then believe, it is necessary for the Son of Man to be lifted up—and everyone who looks up to him, trusting and expectant, will gain a real life, eternal life. This is how much God loved the world: He gave his Son, his one and only Son. And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by believing in him, anyone can have a whole and lasting life. God didn’t go to all the trouble of sending his Son merely to point an accusing finger, telling the world how bad it was. He came to help, to put the world right again. Anyone who trusts in him is acquitted; anyone who refuses to trust him has long since been under the death sentence without knowing it. And why? Because of that person’s failure to believe in the one-of-a-kind Son of God when introduced to him. This is the crisis we’re in: God-light streamed into the world, but men and women everywhere ran for the darkness. They went for the darkness because they were not really interested in pleasing God. Everyone who makes a practice of doing evil, addicted to denial and illusion, hates God-light and won’t come near it, fearing a painful exposure. But anyone working and living in truth and reality welcomes God-light so the work can be seen for the God-work it is.”~ John 3:13-21 (Message)

 

Choosing to live out loud this holiday in the truth and reality of God's light, the gift of His son to a broken and fallen humanity. Living out loud  beyond the God-work of the manger to the God-work of the cross-our gift of eternal salvation. If He loved me enough for that, how can I not love Him back with my life?

I came across a song with the title "Just Beyond the Manger" written by a Joseph Martin. You may have heard it before, I hadn't. The words reflect my heart as I embrace this Christmas season in 2012. YouTube has several versions of the song which you can hear here. I encourage you to pause and soak in the lyrics....

Just Beyond the Manger by Joseph Martin

Just beyond the manger
I hear no lullabies,
I see no golden hay,
I feel no star light

Just beyond the manger
I hear the hammer fall,
I see the rugged cross
I feel the chill of night
Just beyond the manger

Just beyond the manger
I see no swaddling clothes
I hear no angels sing
I feel no candle glow
Just beyond the manger

I see a lonely hill
The Savior crying still
I hear the thunder roll
Just beyond the manger

Forgive us Lord
and grant us eyes to see
In every Christmas, Calvary
Implant it in our hearts
Help us recall
'mid trees of red and gold
On another tree raised long ago
We hung God's brightest star
Just beyond the manger
I hear no lullabies

I hear no lullabies
Just beyond the manger

As you celebrate the 2012 Holiday season, focus on the glory of the Christmas story-the birth of our magnificent Savior then look beyond the manger to the purpose of the birth and the purpose of the cross for you an for me. Then live what your heart experiences out loud as a gift to God.

Since we are receiving a Kingdom that is unshakable, let us be thankful and please God by worshiping him with holy fear and awe.~ Hebrews 12:28

Shalom~Pamela
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LOL: Unwrapping Christmas

Memory/Meditation Verse:  In the beginning the Word already existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was God. He existed in the beginning with God. So the Word became human and made his home among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness. And we have seen his glory, the glory of the Father’s one and only Son. ~ John 1:1-2,14 (NLT)


Living Out Loud (LOL) Christmas...

What does that really mean? When you hear the word Christmas most think of decorating that perfect trees and hanging bright lights on our homes. This is fun but....

There are Black Friday sale's and long lines at the check out counters as we find that great deal or that perfect gift. This is trying yet worth it but....

There will be family gatherings with an abundance of food and warm drinks by a fireplace. All this is good, but...

Many families will follow the tradition of reading the Christmas story from God's Word before exchanging their gifts for each other. This too is good but...

Many people will go above and beyond to help someone else in need by their giving of time or monies. This is great but...

Is it living Christmas or is it living the holiday?

I believe living Christmas Out Loud can be all of these but more importantly it is living out our salvation that came from the baby in the manger. It's unwrapping salvation's story. My Pastor Michael Craft said it so well in his message this weekend...

"Could the word Christmas be a verb...and a mission? God interrupted history and was birthed into the world. He was what everyone needed and what everyone was craving. Jesus wants to Christmas (birth himself) in you and through you and you have the chance to birth Him anywhere and everywhere that you go."

Jesus Christmases in us. Christmas in action. Our salvation in action. Living like God is with us and in us. The gift of God himself coming to earth, the gift of His Holy Spirit left for us when Christ returned to his Father's side.

See, the virgin will become pregnant and give birth to a son, and they will name Him Immanuel, which is translated “God is with us.” ~ Matthew 1:23 (HCSD)

Christmas is living out loud Jesus all year long. Making it our mission. No matter where our life has been, what we have done, how we have lived, we allow God to interrupt our life and to be everything we need and the one thing we crave the most.

I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has given me strength to do his work. He considered me trustworthy and appointed me to serve him, even though I used to blaspheme the name of Christ. In my insolence, I persecuted his people. But God had mercy on me because I did it in ignorance and unbelief. Oh, how generous and gracious our Lord was! He filled me with the faith and love that come from Christ Jesus. This is a trustworthy saying, and everyone should accept it: “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners”—and I am the worst of them all. But God had mercy on me so that Christ Jesus could use me as a prime example of his great patience with even the worst sinners. Then others will realize that they, too, can believe in him and receive eternal life. All honor and glory to God forever and ever! He is the eternal King, the unseen one who never dies; he alone is God. Amen. ~ 1 Timothy 1:12-17 (NLT)

Christmas is seeing the gift of salvation found in the manger lived out on the cross. Christmas is to embrace a love so undeserving to the greatest of sinners-you and I.

Christmas is embracing the love of Jesus and gifting it back to Him by falling in-love with with Him more and more each day.  It is Christmasing Jesus into the lives of other.

 So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you. ~ Romans 12:1-2 (Message)

Beth Moore penned it well when she wrote the poem (Jesus Day By Day, 2008):

He is Jesus.

The One and Only.

Transcendent over all else.

To know Him is to love Him.

To love Him is to long for Him.

To long for him is to finally reach

soul hands into the One true thing

we need never get enough of.

Jesus.

Take all you want.

Take all you need.

Till soul is fed.

And your spirit freed.

Till dust is dust.

And Face you see.

Jesus Christ.

He's all you need.

 
Christmas in action. Christmas as a mission. Unwrapping salvation's story. Embracing God. Jesus Christmases in us.

Not to us, Yahweh, not to us, but to Your name give glory because of Your faithful love, because of Your truth. ~ Psalm 115:1 (HCSB)

Striving to live Jesus Out Loud~Pamela