Loving with a guarded heart!

"There are no shortcuts to authentic friendship. Relationships are messy and unpredictable. We can't fake love just to get someone to come to church. That's manipulation and hypocrisy, and sooner or later it will backfire." Judah smith 

I've been struggling with the reality if this statement, "There are no shortcuts to authentic friendship. Relationships are messy and unpredictable."

The struggle begins when you love people and then get hurt by them. People hide things, they lie to your face, you open up in a time of vulnerably and then they divulge that with malice in there hearts. And there begins the conflict between being open and genuine and guarding your heart. 

My prayer today was quite honestly, "Lord what do I do with this desire to truly love but the reality if being hurt?" And God brought these two verses to my mind. 

1. Living as becomes you] with complete lowliness of mind (humility) and meekness (unselfishness, gentleness, mildness), with patience, bearing with one another and making allowances because you love one another. (Ephesians 4:2 AMP)

2. Behold, I am sending you out like sheep in the midst of wolves; be wary and wise as serpents, and be innocent (harmless, guileless, and without falsity) as doves. [Gen. 3:1.] (Matthew 10:16 AMP)

Why these seemingly two opposite scriptures? 

Ah yes the word "Boundaries" came to mind!!! Boundaries are necessary in order to have healthy loving relationships that don't violate the principles of God! 

My prayer today is: God help me love like you love, always being genuine in all my relationships. That the hurt and betrayals I've experience don't make me callus. God help me to protect my own heart by standing on you word and not allowing others to cross my boundaries.

Make Jesus famous

After posting in Facebook last night I wanted to expand on my thoughts...

Only one time in scripture does Jesus tell anyone to go and tell what he has done (Jesus answered and said to them, “Go and tell John the things which you hear and see: (Matthew 11:4 NKJV) but over and over you see that Jesus told other not to tell anyone what he had done. 

( Matthew 12:16 and Mark 3:12 after healing many people.

Matthew 16:20, Mark 8:30, and Luke 9:21 after Peter’s proclamation that Jesus was the Christ (Messiah)

Mark 7:36 after healing a mute and deaf man.

Mark 9:9 after the transfiguration.

Luke 8:56 after raising a girl from the dead. & more) 

(From The Berean Call)

People made Jesus famous, through the sharing of what he had done, who he was and that drew people to him...

Then His fame went throughout all Syria; and they brought to Him all sick people who were afflicted with various diseases and torments, and those who were demon-possessed, epileptics, and paralytics; and He healed them. (Matthew 4:24 NKJV)

He didn't make himself famous, people did! We have to continue it by doing just that "telling others about his love". 

But more than that, showing them his love. 

We need to tell the world everyday about the crazy love, mercy and grace of God! It's radical but it's what the world needs. We have the remedy so let's share it!!! 

The House Built on a Snakes Den

The House Built on a Snakes Den

"Shortly after buying their dream home, Sessions and his wife discovered it was infested with thousands of garter snakes. Their growing family lived as if in a horror movie for three months. They abandoned the property, but the home briefly went back on the market more than a year later, and they fear it could attract another unsuspecting buyer.

The five-bedroom house is on nearly two pastoral acres in rural Idaho, about 125 miles southwest of Yellowstone National Park. Priced at less than $180,000, it seemed like a steal to the young couple.

But they soon learned they would be sharing the home with reptiles at least two feet long that had crawled into seemingly every crevice. At times, there were so many in the yard that the grass seemed to move.

If he rapped a stick against the roof overhang, he could hear dozens scatter, their scales sliding against the aluminum. Dozens of snakes popped out after he removed panels of siding. When he made his way through the crawl space to investigate further, he found snakes everywhere.

That's when he realized his family probably was living atop a garter snake den where the nonpoisonous reptiles gather in fall and winter." Seattletimes.com

~Just as specific as God was in the Old Testament with the instructions on how to build his temple he was with how the modern, New Covenant church was to be built. Built upon Jesus as the cornerstone, on solid rock with the design of a master builder aka an apostle and the construction crew being prophets, pastors, evangelist and teachers.~

"built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord." (Ephesians 2:20, 21 NIV)

~Just like the house infested with snakes, any church that builds upon anything other than the perfect design of God will eventually fall.~ 

As for everyone who comes to me and hears my words and puts them into practice, I will show you what they are like. They are like a man building a house, who dug down deep and laid the foundation on rock. When a flood came, the torrent struck that house but could not shake it, because it was well built. But the one who hears my words and does not put them into practice is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. The moment the torrent struck that house, it collapsed and its destruction was complete.” (Luke 6:47-49 NIV)

Reflection: 

If you aim to build then build right! Do not take short cuts and follow the blue print! Because if you take a short cut you might just find one day that your house is infested with snakes! 

Hear the voice of The Lord today...

You blind leaders! You strain out a small fly but swallow a camel. You are nothing but snakes and the children of snakes!...

(Matthew 23:24, 33 CEVUK00)

P. Heidi Lugo

Leeches & You!

Seven facts about the behaviors of leeches and how it affects you...

1.Most leech species do not feed on human blood, but instead prey on small invertebrates, which they eat whole. 

2. To feed on their hosts, leeches use their anterior suckers to connect to hosts for feeding, and also release an anesthetic to prevent the hosts from feeling them. 

3. Once attached, leeches use a combination of mucus and suction to stay attached and secrete an anticoagulant enzyme, hirudin, into the hosts' blood streams. 

4. Though certain species of leeches feed on blood, not all species can bite; 90% of them feed solely on decomposing bodies and open wounds of amphibians, reptiles, waterfowl, fish, and mammals (including humans).

5. A leech attaches itself when it bites, and it will stay attached until it becomes full, at which point it falls off to digest. 

6. Due to the hirudin that leeches secrete, bites may bleed more than a normal wound after the leech is removed. The effect of the anticoagulant will wear off several hours after the leech is removed and the wound is cleaned. 

7. The bite of a leech is painless because they inject anesthetic so they go unnoticed when they attach.

Facts found in Wikipedia 

Application...

Beware of the spiritual leeches that surround you! 

1.They attach themselves to the weeker/baby Christians.

2. They are so sneaky that you don't feel when they attach themselves to you.

3. They will poison your spirit!

4. They will prey on any weeknesss to feed there own egos/agendas/deficiencies

5. After they are done with you they'll toss you like yesterday's news and find someone else to prey on. 

6. You will be left wounded and hurt.

The Spirit of God is warning some of you so beware!!! 

A leech has two daughters, and both are named “Give me!”... (Proverbs 30:15 GNTD)

Where is your heart?

       

In the course of time, Absalom provided himself with a chariot and horses and with fifty men to run ahead of him. He would get up early and stand by the side of the road leading to the city gate. Whenever anyone came with a complaint to be placed before the king for a decision, Absalom would call out to him, “What town are you from?” He would answer, “Your servant is from one of the tribes of Israel.” Then Absalom would say to him, “Look, your claims are valid and proper, but there is no representative of the king to hear you.” And Absalom would add, “If only I were appointed judge in the land! Then everyone who has a complaint or case could come to me and I would see that they receive justice.” Also, whenever anyone approached him to bow down before him, Absalom would reach out his hand, take hold of him and kiss him. Absalom behaved in this way toward all the Israelites who came to the king asking for justice, and so he stole the hearts of the people of Israel. 

(2 Samuel 15:1-6 NIV)

I would describe myself as a jealous person. I'm jealous over my family, my husband and my church. But what really drives me is the passion that I have for the vision of the spiritual house that I am in. When ever I've been hired to work at a church I've engulfed myself in the vision if that house and submitted myself to that. I can't remember the vision & mission of every church I've been a part of. 

In his book "God's Armor Bearer" Terry Nance discusses how it is that by dying to himself and his desires and serving his pastor God made all of his dreams come true.

Meditating on this today I was led to the story of Absolom...

As leaders in the church we need to constantly put our motivations, dreams and desires under the submission and authority of our pastors and there vision. Anything other than that causes division.

As the sheep we need to make sure that we hear the voice of "our" pastor & shepherd. Never forgetting that the vision flows from the head, not the arms or legs of the body. See, pastors place others to help lead the flock under one vision. But the moment we start looking at those people as our pastor, we are in danger of being led astray. 

If you are a leader and you aspire to have a greater ministry than what you are currently fulfilling, place it in the hands of The Lord, don't try to build your own kingdom in someone else's! 

And if you are a sheep and the leaders you are confiding in aren't speaking the same vocabulary as the senior pastor of your church, be careful what they may be imparting into your life. They could be planting the seed of division in your heart. 

Point is ... We need to check our hearts today! ❤🙏

What Do Feelings Have To Do With It?

What Do Feelings Have To Do With It?

So this is my first blog and its fitting that I do it about worship.
As a worship pastor I get all types of excuses as to why people aren't going to sing, play or dance on any particular day. Today it was, "oh, I need to leave to get a haircut" lol and "my feet hurt" (that one was new) but most often what I hear is that "I don't feel like it".

The Psalmist David said, "Praise the Lord, my soul;all my inmost being, praise his holy name."
It was a command that he gave to himself.

We live in times where all we hear is, "If it feels right, it has to be right" or "Follow your heart, it'll never steer you wrong". We are so accustomed to allowing ourselves to be led by our emotions that we rob ourselves from blessings that are just beyond our feelings.

The Israelites felt like going to back to Egypt when things got tough in the desert. Yet because they pushed on beyond that they reached the promise land.

So next time you don't feel like worshipping as yourself... what do feelings have to do with you?
Because the answer will always be... Nothing!

Praise because God deserves your praise, because he's been good to you, because he paid the ultimate price for you. Worship God for all he is and what he has done. And none of that has to do with you, it has to do with Him!

heidilugo.com
facebook.com/heidilugoministries
twitter.com/heidijlugo