Archive by Author | Rebekah A

His True Face

“Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and His love is made complete in us.” ~ 1 John 4:11-12

“For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me…..The King will reply, ‘truly I tell you, whatever you did for the least of these you did for me.” ~ Matthew 25:35-36; 40

When we move in love, especially when such a walk is new to us, one question reigns supreme. How do we love a God we cannot see? How do we love a God we have never seen, and will never see until our time on earth is done? Sure, we worship. We praise. Hopefully our hearts and spirits are stirred by such things. But to actively love on a God we can’t see? I mean it isn’t like we can go up to the guy and just give Him a big hug, you know?

But there is an answer. See, even if we have a God we can’t see, we have a person standing in front of us who we can see, and see clearly. Love on them. When we do, God’s love is made complete in us.

Note how this verse doesn’t say ‘made complete in you.‘ No. This act takes two. When we love one another His love is made complete in us. When you love another, your spirit stirs. But His is awoken and made complete in both you and the person you’re loving. And since God Himself is love…well there’s your answer, isn’t it?

How do you love a perfect God you can’t see? By loving the broken one in front of you that you can see. Look closely into their eyes, let yourself see them, really see them. The eyes of Jesus Himself are staring back at you. He is truly residing in the least of these – don’t miss His presence just because it’s cloaked in shabby clothes. Don’t miss His beauty because it’s masked by a not-so-beautiful smell.

The face of Jesus is young. It is old and weathered. It has a gaze of brokenness, bearing years of pain and loneliness and abandonment. It is sometimes hidden behind a mask of hostility because at its core it is a vulnerable face. It is a face that remains hopeful despite all circumstances; or it is a face that reached its breaking point long ago. It’s a face you pass every day without a thought; it’s a face you’ve never seen before.

It’s the face in front of you.

God bless!

~Rebekah A

Singles Awareness Day?

Feb14

I hear this a lot. “Happy Singles Awareness Day!” It’s a cynical badge of honor, the anti-holiday on this seemingly sappy day devoted to lovers and all of the things you can buy them.

But here’s the thing. If you know Jesus, you are not single. I don’t care if you’re married, engaged, figuring things out via OK Cupid, or saving yourself for George Clooney. You’re not single. I’ll even say it again. You, dear married/engaged/dating/saving-yourself reader, are not single. Why? Because we, collectively, we the church, are the Bride of Christ. We have a lover, who is wooing our souls, our hearts, and our spirits every day. And His love is perfect. He knows our desires, our loves, our needs. He knows our wants, and He blesses us abundantly with them. He is ready to spend time with us, laugh with us, cry with us, even joke with us. God is Love, and therefore He is the ultimate Lover. With Him in our lives…..no. You are not single, and your heart is not lonely or closed off. If it is, get on your knees and seek Him out, because something is wrong. No bride should be lonely in the presence of the Groom. If you are, that’s a problem. But there is a solution and it’s an easy one. Just spend time with Him and let Him fill you up. Simple as that (and then you can get back to your regularly scheduled Clooney Quest).

For the Bride, for us blessed enough to know our one true Groom and savior, every day is Valentine’s Day. We can walk through the world, wherever He sends us, and watch Him move and love on people all year long. The love never stops. All we have to do is be open to it.

I ask you all to send some love on your Groom today. Lavish your love on Him, even if it feels silly. He will do all that and more in return. And stand with Him in His quest to love the world, for there are many lonely hearts in the world who don’t have a Groom and don’t have hope. They come in all forms – they are married to someone on earth, they are engaged, they are dating, they are saving themselves for Scarlett Johansson. They are lonely regardless, because they are focusing on the wrong relationship. The only one that counts is already right in front and probably pounding on the door of their hearts.

I ask you all to not get confused with this holiday. Don’t focus on the wrong relationship (no, that doesn’t mean ignore your wife. But don’t ignore Jesus either!) and don’t get cynical over the materialism of the day. (That means YOU, you singles-awareness-day people – don’t you do it!). Focus on the fact that this is a day dedicated to love, and you are a beautiful and radiant lover of Jesus. You are a Bride, and bursting with all the radiance that comes with the big day. Revisit what love is, what it looks like and how it sounds. Then go spread it. See, if you don’t have a spouse/significant other/family of your own, Jesus is probably waiting for you to stop your wallowing and open your eyes to the lonely hearts that you DO have in your life. The ones who need you to show them, even in passing and even if they don’t say so, what love is. And He is waiting for you to join Him and pour it out.

Forget about Singles Awareness Day. In Him, there is no such thing.

God bless!

~Rebekah A

Slow Progress

Nov29

So, the last time I posted, I hadn’t seen Bradley (a homeless man who’s been on my heart all fall) at all. Now I see him almost regularly again – which is amazing and I totally count it as progress – but he’s always asleep. I leave things for him – food, mostly – but I don’t wake him up. I would think that sleep on the streets is tough to come by and I never have the heart to wake him. But at least he’s there. I’m still just trusting God to move in this.

To be honest, the waiting game is a bit frustrating. I was so sure that God wanted me to move on this, and move now. It felt like it was meant to be now. And posting publicly about visions that God had given me, posting what He wanted me to do, and then having no results to show for it…..felt almost like I was letting God down somehow. Like I was hurting His credibility for the masses. I know that that’s not possible really. God is bigger than this. But still, that’s how it feels – like I’m doing something wrong and I don’t know what.

So I’m trying to wait patiently (fairly successfully) and cheerfully (not so successfully), and just trusting God to work and to move. He can and I know it. So I’m trying to just let Him and praying that He gives me grace to wait!

God bless!

~Rebekah A

Just a Good Day

Nov15

Lately, it’s felt like I’ve been constantly fighting against a current that’s stronger than me. I’ve already been in a place of laying down my life for my roommate; now his aide has started going to class so I’m called to shoulder even more. I finally got some work, but just babysitting; this, in and of itself, has been chafing my college-educated, career-minded pride. Since we’re not supposed to have any pride anyway, I’m trying not to let that bother me too much. But the mother I’m sitting for keeps cancelling on me so it’s basically like having no work at all. Even little things, things I’ve done a million times and things that are part of my normal routine, have been extra difficult or tedious. Everything’s inexplicably taken longer than normal and way more unforeseen problems have come up than normal.

I’ve been trying not to get frustrated, but it’s been hard. It’s been hard watching holes appear in my clothes and shoes and still trust God to provide. It’s been hard watching the bills come in, exhausting all of my financial options with no end in sight, and still trust that God is going to come through.

But today God showed me that He’s still got my back. Maybe His timing to ease specific problems in my life hasn’t come to fruition yet, but He showed me He’s still with me. Today everything was easier. My time was multiplied. Daily tasks were even easier than normal. I even went for a run and it was easier than it’s been in about 2 years. Every step of the way today, He was literally showering blessings upon me. Just little things – but they made a huge difference!

It was just refreshing to know that no matter what my circumstances are, He’s still there and still my Provider!

God bless!

~Rebekah A

Moving In The Moment

Nov6

I feel like I’m drifting. I still haven’t seen Bradley. And yes, I’ve looked. And yes, I’ve listened. I hope he’s ok! It is funny to me that as soon as I get some direction on what to do next with this guy, I can’t find him anywhere. But I’ll keep looking. I’m in the city again tonight, at his favorite subway stop. I’ll go in a little early I think, just in CASE he’s sitting down there and I can spend some time with him. Maybe I can even nail him down to a “same time tomorrow?” I wish!

Somehow, though, I don’t think so. I think this will quickly turn into a lesson in seizing every opportunity and loving on people in every moment. I tend to love/speak vaguely the first time, then go back home to process and weigh it with God, and get direction on what to do next. With the homeless population that is so frequently on my heart, that’s not really always an option. I need to get my heart to a place that is seeking God in the moment, or ahead of time really, and pouring out His love in that same moment. God doesn’t need more than one moment to touch a heart, and who knows if I’ll get a chance for two?

I partly walk in this already, at least the seeking Him in advance part, but not enough. I need to trust Him that He is bigger than the moment, bigger than any person in front of me or situation that my mind needs to process later, and big enough to use even the slimmest of chances that come my way. That trust of Him is what will take these mini “missions” trips (into Manhattan. From Queens. I did say mini, did I not? But they are missions nonetheless – not every lost soul is in a third-world country) from a desperate sales pitch to an outpouring of love that is calm and peaceful and straight to the heart of the other person (who will hopefully be Bradley).

I’ve realized that ultimately I’ve had it backwards. I’ve been going into the city and bringing Jesus with me, looking for this man so *I* can do what I should. It should be the other way around. Jesus should be the one bringing me into the city, so I can be a tool as He goes about His business. Your piece of pottery doesn’t bring you along for the ride, does it? You bring it. I shouldn’t be ahead of Him and hoping He catches up in time for these encounters to be effective. I should be following Him there in the first place, to be used however He sees fit.

So I’m trying. I am learning to lean just a little bit deeper and to let Jesus bring me with Him – not the other way around.

God bless!

~Rebekah A

A Vision and a Prayer

Nov2

So, as I have walked through New York City, following a fairly steady route throughout the winter, spring, and summer (between February and August, and less frequently starting in September), there have a few people who have become staple parts to my daily commute. One in particular is a homeless man named Bradley. Sometimes he’s more awake than others, and sometimes his words are more slurred than others, but no matter what kind of day he’s having he is easily one of the most personable people in New York. He might be filthy, but he is always smiling and always cheerful. He talks about his past with fond remembrance rather than bitterness, though he is from another part of the country and it’s been a long time since he’s had contact with any loved ones.

I don’t know exactly what happened in his life and what issues he’s faced that caused his decline from then, when he had a wife and a stepdaughter he still refers to as his princess, until now. We have a game we play, where he gives me a name, I look up its meaning on my phone, and he relates the meaning of the name back to the person they were. I don’t know most of the names he gives me or who these people were in his life, just a few snippets he’s given me.

I do know that the first day I met him I was hoping to pray for him, but before I could even ask he was expounding on how the government was a big conspiracy and how Jesus wasn’t real, His miracles were impossible and the whole Christianity thing was just a made-up story that people get fed today because the governmental powers that be think we’re dumb enough to follow it.

That was the one and only time I’ve seen him agitated. Suffice to say he was not receptive to the idea of prayer. But, That said, he has been heavy on my heart lately. I have been vaguely praying for him as God has led me, and praying into God’s plan for him, but the past few days God has gotten much more specific in how I’m to minister to him. Basically, He told me He wants me to do a bible study with Bradley, and gave me a specific place in the city where he wants this to happen. It’s near where I always see him, and it happens to be on some ground that I claimed for Jesus a few months back (possibly a story for another day, but long story short: God is pretty cool). He also told me in no uncertain terms that Bradley won’t willingly go there with me, and certainly won’t willingly read the bible with me (had God consulted me first, I easily could have told Him this part and spared Him the trouble of sending me the vision, but I digress). That being the case, my next direction was simple: if he won’t come with me, I am to go to him. Sit on the subway floor, by his side. If he won’t do a Bible study with me, I am to read my bible by myself, as I sit next to him. I am to simply talk to him. To seek God for wisdom and discernment on every word that comes out of his mouth. To seek wisdom and discernment over his heart. To let God fill my mouth with the words to minister to those places, and to supply the bible verses as needed. Eventually, there will be more direct bible interaction. God promised this, if I follow His guidance. In short, I am to go low and slow here.

I have never done anything quite like this before. But I’m game if Jesus is. Interestingly, I haven’t actually seen Bradley since this has been revealed to me. Either way, I thank Him for what He’s shown me, and I stand expectant and believing for Him to do a work here. And so today I just ask that you pray into God’s will over this man and my role in his life. That I would hear God clearly throughout and fully lean on Him to guide my steps. That most of all, He would move in this man’s life and do a work in him until he is walking in the fullness of the identity God has for him. Umm…..and also that if I am meant to move on this, I would cross paths with the guy. Or at least be told where he is so I can go find him. The city is huge, and there are lots of places where a homeless man might go when the weather cools – sometimes it would be so nice if directives from on high came with a GPS. Or a major clearing of the NYC smog so I could use the north star like the wise men, but honestly at this point I think dropping a supernatural Bradley-tracking device in my lap is the easier option. Umm…..and since wherever Bradley is, it’s probably somewhere like the subway floor (where I normally see him – he even makes himself comfy and goes shirtless and shoeless down there) or an alley, prayers for my protection would also be appreciated. Though I have to say, there’s nowhere safer than in God’s arms!

I will keep you posted if, after all this subway-sitting and alley searching, I also need prayers to supernaturally boost the strength of my washing machine.

Meanwhile, thank you all very much, and God bless!

~Rebekah A

“This Is Your Worship”

Nov1

“Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.” ~Romans 12:1

This was the daily Bible verse on my phone the other day, just a simple little sentence, and my goodness was I convicted by it. I have written about our bodies being a temple before. I knew all about that, and the righteousness and holiness and standards we are called to uphold. But in spite of all these ‘clues’, I’m not sure I ever thought of my body as a symbol of worship.

I know, I know, I should have made the leap a long time ago. I just never thought of it that way. I worship with my body, I use my body to sing and dance and lift my hands high as I exalt His holy name. But to have my body as a whole be my worship, my true and proper worship….that just takes things to a whole new level.

Our worship is a direct reflection of our beliefs. If we worship passionately (and mean it), we need to have a passionate heart, a heart that passionately believes God is everything He says He is. If our worship is just lukewarm, well, maybe we have our doubts about God right now or maybe we are letting worldly norms get in the way of our worshiping with abandon. Either way, our worship is a reflection of our hearts.

To have our very bodies be that way though, with everything that our bodies do in a day, brings us to such a deeper form of worship. Everything from what we wear, to what we eat, to our appearance, to how we move, to how we talk, becomes a manifestation of our worship. How we care for our bodies, how we treat them both while alone and in the presence of others, the very thoughts we think and the words we say all play a part. Our bodies become, basically, a symbol of what we think the God we serve is worth.

Thinking of it this way, I realize I don’t do nearly enough to care for or present my body in a way that implies worship. Sure I do the basics. But after reading this verse I’m realizing I don’t do nearly enough.

Consider this post a call to join me, to live more intentionally and with fuller awareness of how our bodies do and do not glorify God in any given moment. To draw closer to God and go deeper in the ways that we, quite literally, walk in worship.

God bless!

~Rebekah A

Sowing Your Seeds

Oct23

We as Christians are very often called to put others before ourselves. We are called to consider everyone else as more important than ourselves. And it seems that most of us, if not all of us, are in a constant state of being busy.

We’re even spiritually busy. We pray for this person, we intercede for that person. We stand with God and sow His seeds and pray into His will. And that’s great. But how often do we take time to sit before Him and sow into our own relationship with Him? To let Him pour out His love upon us? To receive it, and then turn around and pour it out onto everyone else?

We need to do this if we are going to come into the fullness of our spiritual identities. Miracles, major miracles, were once considered to be the mere foundation of Christianity. Today there are many who doubt they can even happen, believe they can happen but have never witnessed one themselves.

As a Christian, I think that’s unacceptable. We’re settling for less than what God intended for us. So I ask you today to sit before Him and sow the seeds of your own relationship with Him. He is your Father, your Creator, your Groom. We the Church are His bride and body. It is time to act like it. And it starts today. So let Him plant some new seeds in you. Let Him give you a new song in your heart, and a new strength in your spirit. Stand with Him and let Him pour into you – that you may pour out as He intended.

God bless!

~Rebekah A

Taking a Poll :)

Oct16

I’m reading a book about the Holy Spirit. I like it so far; stay tuned for the review. But obviously, reading about the Holy Spirit has me thinking about the Holy Spirit, and I realized that I’ve heard 2 schools of thought. Chalk it up to all of my bouncing around from church to church (and denomination to denomination). The first is that we don’t get the Holy Spirit inside of us until we become believers. The second is that the Holy Spirit is inside of us from the beginning, and we simply don’t recognize it or listen to it. Both camps take their belief as a given – I mean, it’s one of the very basic things about it.

So I was just wondering what all you readers thought, and now I’m taking a poll. Did the Spirit always exist in us and we just hone our ability to listen to it? Or did we get the Spirit when we became believers? And while I’m at it, I’ll follow it up with another question: How did you come to your belief? Was there a verse you read about it or was it what you were taught?

Curious minds want to know. So either comment here or email me at being.rebekah.a@gmail.com.

God bless!

~Rebekah A

The Fruit Just Happens

Oct11

I have been very disheartened lately by the new TV show Preachers of LA. I haven’t watched it. I probably won’t, so if the previews are misleading and the show is actually a positive thing for Christianity, someone be sure to let me know. I saw a preview, and this was more than enough to keep me away, in which one of them was driving a fancy car and another had a baby out of wedlock. I heard a quote saying “it’s ok to be saved, sanctified, and sexual” (the pastor saying it is a single man). Yikes. Lord have mercy on the Christians of California! I have many atheist/agnostic friends and this show seems like such a misrepresentation of who Christ is and what Christianity means. I keep thinking how difficult it is to witness to my friends, and how this is just reinforcing every negative idea they had about the church. And in their case, salvation is absolutely at stake….this show literally has the power to trade salvation for its own bottom line. Souls for money. Heartbreaking. Humanity has stooped to a new low.

So I have been bummed out about that, and also suffering a major case of writers’ blog, when my hope was officially renewed by this one clip. I was listening to this (Heidi Baker giving a word) today, and it really resonated with me. It doesn’t matter what happens to us and what suffering we go through (in her case, malaria and being shot at – yikes!); there is joy, pure joy, in his presence. Moving in our own strength is exhausting. Moving in Him is beautiful intimacy. Intimacy is the goal. Falling in love with Him all over again, falling deeper and deeper, is the goal. And the fruit just happens. In Him, in His holy and infinite presence, love bears fruit. So today my prayer is simply this: Lord, draw me in.