Monthly Archives: November 2010

Celebrating Redemption

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A beautiful lady at our church just celebrated five years of being drug free. In writing her heart to God, she composed the following, which I want to reprint as a tribute to the great work God is doing in lives around the world:

I’m no longer a recovering addict, I have been set apart
Ever since I asked my Lord and Savior, Jesus, to come into my heart.
No longer do I read the secular self-help books sold in stores across the nation.
I’m no longer a recovering addict, I’m in the process of sanctification!
No longer do I believe the lie, the lie of low self-esteem.
I’m no longer a recovering addict,
for by the blood of my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, I am redeemed!
Christ died for all mankind, no exceptions or exemptions.
By God’s grace,
I’m not here to celebrate recovery,
I’m here to celebrate Redemption!

To GOD be the glory forever!

~Lynn Irby

Note to self: Stop saying “I can’t”

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At some point in my life—not that long ago, I’m afraid—I realized I said these two words a lot.

I can’t memorize like I used to. I can’t keep anything in my head for more than about ten seconds.

I can’t take on one more thing. Really, I would love to, but I just can’t.

I can’t do this by myself, people.

I just can’t break this sin pattern.

At some point—don’t remember what God used to turn on the light—I realized I shouldn’t be saying that.

After all, do I believe the Scripture? And doesn’t the Scripture say, I can do all things through Christ, the one Who strengthens me?

I can fudge around it and say that this Scripture doesn’t really mean that, which I suppose I’ve always done.

But instead, I’d rather think it through.

How about if I remove “I can’t” from my vocabulary and instead choose to say “I don’t want to,” or “God doesn’t want me to” (which might translate to “I shouldn’t”). Or maybe, “I don’t really believe God.” Because really, when you get right down to it, that’s the real story of almost all my “I can’ts.”

Are these words important? You’d better believe it. The words that I choose to use shape my thinking.

I probably still say “I can’t” sometimes without realizing it, because it’s a habit ingrained over many years. But if I do, please correct me. Make me acknowledge “God doesn’t want me to.” Or make me admit “I don’t want to” or “I don’t believe God.” I’d rather deal with the truth.

And maybe I’ll acknowledge that what I’m dealing with is simply a lack of faith. And maybe I’ll say, “In Christ, I can.“

Where does your mind go?

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I was a young mother. She was an older woman. Her question was rhetorical, addressed to the whole group. But maybe you’ve had one of those moments where the question addressed to the whole group zings like an arrow right to your own heart.

Where does your mind go . . . when you let it go?

I knew the answer. At that time in my life, the answer was food. Definitely food. The chocolate chips in the cabinet. A little smackerel of something.

At other times in my life, when I’ve let my mind go, it has gone to anxieties. To the long list of things I probably ought to be doing. Even to places that aren’t quite as acceptable as food or anxieties to talk about in polite company.

While I pondered that question and the answer that I knew, I cringed. I so wanted it to be different. “Oh God! When my mind is free, when it’s not occupied with other things in the business of life, I want my mind to naturally run to You!”

As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God.

My heart and my flesh cry out for the Living God!

When will I come and appear before God?

Oh, my Lord Jesus, You alone are all my righteousness. . . .

Last weekend I had the privilege of returning to our old church in Indiana and seeing that dear lady again. Helen Weirich is now in her eighties.

I had the privilege of giving her a hug and thanking her for speaking the Word like an arrow into my heart, oh so many years ago, of challenging me with a question I’ve never forgotten. A question that caused me to cry out to God and seek a deep changing work of the Spirit.

When your thoughts are free . . . whose slave are they?

I have been made free from sin. Now I am a willing slave of righteousness. Holiness and eternal life are the promised fruit. Amazing truths. Great joy.