The Infusion We Desperately Need

In this Biblical Thinking UPGRADE, Dawn reminds us of the power of the Word of God when it is "infused" into our lives.

I'm a tea-drinker, not a coffee-drinker. I love the smell of coffee, but the taste makes me gag every time. (I don't even like coffee-flavored desserts or ice cream.)

I love hot teas—I get a strange calming satisfaction out of watching tea from a tea bag infuse into hot water. When we place a tea bag in hot water, the water has more energy. The molecules in this steeping process move around faster and this helps start the diffusion of the tea leaves in the tea bag, making a strong brew.

There's another kind of infusion that I'm grateful for, but I don't especially like it. Chemo infusions help me stay alive by killing off rogue cancer cells—cells that might destroy me.

I thought a lot about these two kinds of infusions as I went through the process of CAR T-cell therapy. There were many days of infusions before that process, and more afterward. Besides the physical side effects, the enemy tried to discourage me emotionally.

But during those infusions, I wanted to have powerful "infusions" from the Word of God to help me cope with tough days—infusions I desperately needed.

   Be Blessed by Truth Infusions

I find at least three blessings come from "truth infusions" of scriptures. These blessings are for anyone who turns to the Word of God for help.

1. The Word of God infuses our hearts with truth and gives us life.

In a world of chaos and confusion, God's Word infuses us with truth—not mere head-knowledge, but rather, life-transforming truth. The Word is "God-breathed." Although men of God wrote down the words, the Bible itself claims that the words of scripture are from God (2 Peter 1:21; 1 Corinthians 2:12-13).

The Holy Spirit teaches us the Word to help us and change us.

I've noticed that it's when I am in "hot water"—when I am facing deep trials or frustrating struggles—the infusion process is strong and deep. God knows the brewing process that will create the best infusion of truth into my life.

Isaiah 41:13 reminds us that in our struggles, God will give us chazaq—a "continual infusion of His strength and power." (The word "hold" in this verse is chazaq in Hebrew, and it means to have our strength renewed by the addition of God's strength.)

Oh, how we need God's strengthening, life-giving power!

I've always loved the story of Ezekiel and the "dry bones." Ezekiel said, "This is what the Sovereign LORD says to these bones: I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life" (Ezekiel 37:5). God breathed life—infused life—into God's people in the Old Testament. And He will do that for Christ-followers too.

2. The Word of God exposes our sins and the toxic things we believe.

As I read the Bible during my chemo infusions, or meditated on scriptures I'd memorized, God pointed out some areas where I still struggle trusting God consistently. The scripture confrontations were uncomfortable; but I need healing from sin, not just cancer, so I was grateful.

As we read, study, and memorize scriptures—hide it in our hearts—we learn how to resist sin. God uses the Word to reveal our hidden sins. He turns the light on in the dark corners of our hearts.

The authoritative Word is useful to teach, rebuke, and correct us, and to train us in rightousness. In doing so, the Word of God teaches people how to be rightly related to God.

In a bit of a rabbit trail . . . I read some powerful words written by Bobbie Wolgemuth to Joni Eareckson Tada. Bobbie was the first wife of Robert Wolgemuth (Robert is now married to Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth). Bobbie wrote about the infusion of God through sufferings—words that deeply resonated in my heart.

Bobbie said:

". . . just as chemo medicine is designed to kill the bad cancer cells, so God designs a toxic, painful trial to destroy and starve and kill anything in my soul that is selfish, unholy, or offensive to Him. I willingly surrender to HIS INFUSION (emphasis mine), knowing that He has chosen what will ultimately bring me more abundant life—more abundant life than I can ever imagine.

"So I choose to open my hands and my heart and offer my veins to be infused with His choice of trial so that I might receive His beauty and His perfect health." *

The Word of God exposes our sins to us, but sufferings allowed by our loving Father also can reveal how sinful we are—and both the Word and sufferings from His hand are tools in our becoming more like Christ.

3. The Word of God, used by the Spirit of God, infuses our lives with all we need to serve the Lord.

The Bible has supernatural ability to transform us and make us complete—"thoroughly equipped" to do good works and serve God.

Lord willing, I'll have more years to serve the Lord. I've been a Christian for more than 50 years, but I still need the Word of God to infuse my life and prepare me for daily service to my King.

I've noticed over the years that sometimes my spiritual life feels "dry."

It's during times of spiritual dryness that I most need an infusion of God's Word.

When I am most thirsty for living water, I find that I'm actually longing for Jesus and the empowering of the Holy Spirit in my life. My thirst is often quenched and my heart prepared to worship and serve God when I am infused by the precious truths of scripture about the Trinity and how God works in my life.

Infusions of the Word of God are the infusions we desperately need:

• when life falls apart,
• when challenges get tough,
• when our hearts hurt, and
• when we don't feel close to God.

But we shouldn't only "receive those infusions" in hard times. Daily infusions of the Bible prepare us to surrender to God's will and serve Him with all our hearts—no matter our circumstances.

Have you had an infusion today? Do you need to make an appointment with God in His Word?

Dawn Wilson, founder and President of Heart Choices Today, is a speaker and author, and the creator the blog, Upgrade with Dawn. She is a contracted researcher/reviewer for women's teacher and revivalist, Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth at Revive Our Hearts, and is a regular columnist at Crosswalk.com. She and her husband Bob live in sunny Southern California, and Dawn has traveled with Him in Pacesetter Global Outreach. They have two grown, married sons, three granddaughters and a rascally maltipoo, Roscoe.

Graphic 1 adapted, courtesy of Conger Design at Pixabay.

Graphic 2, courtesy of Klbz at Pixabay.

* Quote by Bobbie Wolgemuth in the interview, "How Much Pain Is Enough?"

Experience the Richness of God's Promises

Shonda Whitworth offers hope to those who have been impacted by incarceration, and in this Spiritual Life UPGRADE, she remind all of us to break into the freedom of God's promises.

"With that one late night call containing tragic news, life as I knew it vanished," Shonda said. "As shock took over my body, a familiar verse popped into mind. 'And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.'

"That wasn’t the verse I would have selected for this heart-crushing news. That Scripture seemed—cliché."

Though I (Dawn) never got a call like Shonda did, I've faced a number of shocks that made me wonder what God was up to. In one case, I found myself clinging to Romans 8:28 too. For me, the key words were "His purpose."

Shonda continues . . .

How could God work something good out of such a horrific situation?

The caller on the other end of the line informed us that one person’s life had been taken and another’s was in serious condition. And my son was one of the two arrested for this unimaginable tragedy.

In my church circles of influence, I heard Romans 8:28 quoted repetitiously when someone faced a difficult trial. Following this example, I even hugged others and quoted this verse in my feeble attempts to comfort them.

Yet, I found no comfort in that moment hearing it in my thoughts. So, I know I would NOT have wanted one of my loving Christian friends to hug me and say, “Hon it will be alright because God works all things together for good for those who love Him.”

In spite of my feelings about that verse at that moment, I shifted into autopilot mode and did what I had practiced for years—wrote out the Scripture and turned it into prayer.

Clinging to the paper, I prayed,

“Lord, if You are Who You say You are, then make this passage real for me and my family and the families who are grieving tonight. Only You can work something good out of this horrific situation.”

My reality merged into a portion of an unimaginable tragedy. At that juncture, I faced a choice—believe God’s Word or reject it.

I chose to believe.

Scripture may seem trite when it is overused or used inappropriately.

The Word of God is never void of His power, but the enemy wants us to think it is.

Looking back, I found two reasons I thought the Scripture was cliché.

1. Familiarity

Overused Scripture may breed familiarity. For those who attend church regularly, certain Scriptures become familiar to us.

Part of our human nature is that when something become generally known, it loses its awe.

No true prophecy comes from human initiative but is inspired by the moving of the Holy Spirit upon those who spoke the message that came from God (2 Peter 1:21, TPT).

Scriptures are literally God’s word to us. We must treat the written word as if the Lord is speaking to us face to face as He did with Moses.

God is holy, and we’re to reverence Him as such and that includes His Word.

2. Used inappropriately

Scriptures may be deemed misused if the person quoting it does not have a testimony to support it.

At the time of my son’s arrest, since no one in my circle of influence had walked through my type of trial, if they had quoted Romans 8:28 to me, I would have dismissed them.

As long as the Lord tarries, we are to comfort one another by sharing our victories of overcoming trials.

First Thessalonians 5:11 says,

Because of this, encourage the hearts of your fellow believers and support one another, just as you have been doing (TPT).

Our lives should demonstrate the power of God.

So, an appropriate way to encourage someone with Scripture is to be open, transparent, and vulnerable with how it worked in our lives—not just merely tossing out Scriptures to sound spiritual. 

Since I choose to grab hold of God’s promise in spite of how it felt cliché, over time God demonstrated His faithfulness to bring about good things out of something tragic.

To summarize a few "good things"—

• My son fully committed his life to Christ and lives uprightly in confinement
• Many of my heart wounds have been healed.
• My husband and I started a nonprofit ministry to support families who face similar trials.

The enemy, who is the father of lies, twists the truth of the Scriptures.

If he can get us to dismiss God’s Word due to familiarity or misuse it by merely tossing it around without demonstrating its power, then we will miss the richness of God’s promises.

What is your approach to the Scriptures? Are you treating it with familiarity? Misusing it without the humble use of testimony as to its power? How can you change your approach?

Shonda Savage Whitworth is the founder and president of Fortress of Hope Ministries, Inc. (https://fortressofhopeministries.com/), offering hope to those whose lives have been impacted by incarceration. Shonda connects with others through her personal experiences and testimony of God’s faithfulness in her life. You can read more stories about Shonda’s unexpected prison family journey on her blog. (https://www.shondasavagewhitworth.com/)

Graphic adapted, courtesy of Delanie at Lightstock.

Use Your 'Sanitizer' Today?

In this Spiritual Life UPGRADE, Dawn Wilson asks us to consider how God "sanitizes" us, and whether we are willing to come to him for that cleansing process.

With the Coronavirus, fear has gripped many hearts. Doctors urge people to wash their hands for at least 20 seconds with soap and water, and when that's not possible, to use hand sanitizer gels.

As I used my hand sanitizer yesterday while out in public, I had this thought:

"Everyone is so concerned about protecting themselves from the virus. Wouldn't it be wonderful if Christians were as concerned about protecting themselves from sin?"

Our heart, the Bible says, is "desperately sick" (Jeremiah 17:9))—desperately wicked and humanly beyond cure. We are all sin-sick from birth and cannot meet His holy, glorious standard (Romans 3:23),

Our heart before God is the issue.

We need to seek and know Him, and follow His plan for transforming our heart—first, in salvation, and second, in sanctification.

1. We Need to Be Cleansed in the Blood of Jesus.

This is all about our salvation and our position in Christ.

Again, no attempts at self-improvement work when it comes to our "sin problem" (Ephesians 2:8-9). It's not by "works of righteousness" (Titus 3:5-7) that we are cleansed in God's sight.

Our cleansing is all about God's mercy and grace!

It is the blood of Jesus that "cleanses us from sin" (1 Peter 1:19). We need to receive what He accomplished for us on the cross.

Old Testament Jewish saints followed God's strict laws for purity and cleansing (Isaiah 1:16), but they needed cleansing that went far beyond keeping the law.

God wanted His people to understand the state of their hearts.

They needed new hearts!

Their inability to keep all the law reminded them to look forward in faith to the coming Messiah. And the Messiah finally came.

Jesus did what no one else could do. He lived righteously, keeping all the law (Hebrews 4:15; 2 Corinthians 5:21)—allowing Him to be our sinless Savior (Romans 8:3-10; 10:3-4). He established a way to be right with God (Hebrews 9:13-14), and our conscience was cleansed so we can "serve the living God."

When God cleanses us in Christ—when we call on Jesus' name for salvation—we are pronounced ceremonially clean (Titus 2:14; 3:5). We are declared righteous in Him (Colossians 2:14; 2 Corinthians 5:21).

That is what happens at our moment of salvation. We are right with God. Our standing before Him is changed forever, because when He looks at us, He sees our Mediator, Jesus (1 Timothy 2:5; Acts 4:12). We have eternal life with God (John 3:16-18).

Our sins are "washed away" (Acts 2:21; 22:16)

Have you ever watched the joy of baptism? The person being baptized smiles and sometimes even jumps with joy in the baptistry! Baptism is a outward picture of what has already happened within us. In God's sight, we are now "whiter than snow" (Isaiah 1:18; Psalm 51:7).

2. We Need to Be Cleansed by the Word and Spirit

This is all about our continuing sanctification, or being made holy like Jesus—conformed (Romans 8:29) to His righteousness. If we say we are alive and abiding in Christ, we should be walking like Him, imitating Him (1 John 2:6; Ephesians 5:1; 2 Corinthians 5:17).

There are different kinds of contagious "viruses" that spread too easily among Christians—sins like greed, gossip, grumbling and a graceless spirit, to name a few!

This should not be.

Until we go to live with the Lord in eternity future—where our righteous Judge has already declared us justified (Romans 8:33)—we will still struggle with temptations and the ugly presence of sin in our lives on earth.

We need to be working out the salvation that God has already worked in, in Christ (Philippians 2:12).

Think about it.

A hand sanitizer does nothing for us when it sits in our glove compartment, pocket or purse. We need to take it up and use it.

We need cleansing DAILY!

We need to wash our hearts every day with the "sanitizing" power of the Word of God—reading it, meditating on it, delighting in it and memorizing it (Psalm 51:10; Psalm 119:9-16).

The Holy Spirit—who moved on men to write God's Word (2 Peter 1:20-21)—will continue to use scripture to clean up and protect our thoughts, attitudes, conversations and behavior (1 Corinthians 2:9-16; John 16:12-13).

As we saturate our lives with God's Word, we begin to have the desire to live out in our lives practically what God has already declared positionally (2 Peter 3:18; 1 John 3:3). We learn to walk in "the light" (1 John 1:7), and the power of Jesus' sacrifice continues to cleanse us. We are increasingly transformed in our thinking and conduct (Romans 12:1-2).

God has provided for daily forgiveness as part of that cleansing (1 John 1:9), and the indwelling Holy Spirit teaches us (John 14:26) how to walk in the Word, will and ways of Father God.

Have you used your spiritual "sanitizer" today? If not, why not?

Dawn Wilson, founder and President of Heart Choices Today, is a speaker and author, and the creator the blog, Upgrade with Dawn. She is a contracted researcher/reviewer for women's teacher and revivalist, Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth, at Revive Our Hearts, a blogger at TrueWoman.com, writes wiki-type posts at  Christianity.com, and is a regular columnist at Crosswalk.com. She and her husband Bob live in sunny Southern California, and Dawn has traveled with him in Pacesetter Global Outreach. They have two grown, married sons, three granddaughters and a rascally maltipoo, Roscoe.

The Security of a Good Father

Debbie W. Wilson teaches women about practical, uplifting faith. In this Relationship with God UPGRADE, Debbie asks us to consider growing a more robust faith by trusting in our Father God.

“I woke up at 4 a.m. questioning a decision I’d made," Debbie says.

I (Dawn) have done that so often, and always wished I had more confident faith concerning my choices!

Debbie continues . . .

I’d told the designer who’d drawn out a closet plan we wanted to work with her. In my sleep I had second thoughts.

“Lord, I’m too tired to figure this out. I don’t know if we made the right decision.” 

With that prayer an Old Testament passage came to mind.

If a young woman makes a vow…and her father hears of the vow or pledge and does not object to it, then all her vows and pledges will stand. But if her father refuses to let her fulfill the vow or pledge on the day he hears of it, then all her vows and pledges will become invalid. …because her father would not let her fulfill them” (Numbers 30:3-5 NLT).

Relief filled me. I didn’t have to figure it out. Like a good father, my Abba would protect me.

“Father, you heard our words. If we jumped too soon, please rescue us. I’m giving this to You.”

I asked the designer to wait while we did more research. She understood. In the end, we chose a different option that saved us money.

Once I let go of bearing the burden of making the perfect decision and trusted my Father to lead me, I enjoyed the adventure.

I know I’m saved “by grace through faith,” but sometimes I forget I’m to live by faith (Romans 1:17). God wants me to include Him in every aspect of life.

Jesus modeled this. He relied completely on His Father (John 14:10). Jesus wants us to walk with Him the same way (John 15:4-5).

Living by faith protects us from regret, pleases God, and satisfies us (Hebrews 11:6; John. 15:11).

Our heavenly Father longs to show up in the mundane tasks of life. When we lean on Him in every area, life becomes an awesome journey.

I find robust faith requires a knowledge of the Word and a sensitivity to the Holy Spirit.

1. The Word

The Bible says our minds are either shaped by the world or transformed by the Word. Without renewing our minds, we can’t recognize our Father's good will for our lives.

• “Don’t become like the people of this world. Instead, change the way you think. Then you will always be able to determine what God really wants—what is good, pleasing, and perfect” (Romans 12:2 GW).

• "Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ” (Romans 10:17 NIV).

2. The Spirit

God sent the Holy Spirit to help us and guide us (John 14:17). 

• “So I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won’t be doing what your sinful nature craves” (Galatians 5:16 NLT).

• "But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control” (Galatians 5:22-23 NLT).

Maybe your earthly father is no longer here or wasn't reliable. If you know Jesus, you have a heavenly Father who loves you deeply and covers your back. 

• “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?” (Matthew 6:25-26 NIV).

What wakes you up in the middle of the night? Are you learning to rest in the security a good father provides?

Debbie W. Wilson helps people live in God’s grace so they can enjoy fruitful and full lives. She is the author of Little Women, Big God and Give Yourself a Break. Her latest book, Little Faith, Big God, is to be released February 2020. She is a life coach and an AWSA (Advanced Writers and Speakers Association) certified speaking and writing coach. Share her journey to refreshing faith at debbieWwilson.com.

Graphic adapted, courtesy of Lorraine Cormier and Pixabay.

Our Stuff vs. God's 'Stuff'

As I entered Pam Farrel's two-day post about downsizing (Part 1; Part 2), I (Dawn) searched my own heart.

"Lord," I said, "Pam wrote, 'You don't own your things; your things own you.' I get that. Does my stuff have me?

"And beyond that, Lord, does YOUR stuff have me?"

It was a strange question that filled my heart that morning, but one I had to answer honestly.

I had already been dealing with the idolatry of things. All the possessions in my home that consumed my time and attention.

The things I bought that were frivilous. Trinkets.

Things that cluttered my home and inhabited my heart.

The truth is, when our lives are cluttered with the things of this world, we may be crowding out the things of God.

So we start weeding out, downsizing, simplifying our homes, our closets, our storage spaces. And that's all good.

It's good to simplify our lives too. It creates freedom. Breathing room.

But I've noticed, when we clear spaces in our homes and heart, something else usually rushes in to fill that space.

I got rid of one "collection" in my home only to replace it with another one. It still wasn't the best use of my financial flow. And soon after I started dealing with my idolatry of food (gluttony), I found another idolatry rushed into the vacuum (pride of self-accomplishment).

The Lord doesn't just want things to be deleted from our lives; He wants to fill our lives with something better.

He wants to fill us with Himself.

I started asking the Lord, "What can I add to my life that will bring you more glory?"

I wanted my "stuff" to be used for God's glory and to bless others as Pam suggested. And I wanted the Lord to fill my home and heart with more of Himself too. I wanted to be a vessel of honor, for His use.

It's not about despising our "stuff"—despising the things of the world. It's about finding our highest delight in the Creator of the world and in His Word, and bearing good fruit for Him (Psalm 1:1-3).

Focusing on God's "stuff" means focusing on the truth of His Word and responding to it in humility, obedience, and God-glorifying service.

That may mean changing our thoughts, especially any lies we believe. We muat be careful how we think, because our lives are shaped by the thoughts of our "heart" (Proverbs 4:23). We must fix our thoughts on those things that will build our lives and glorify the Lord (Philippians 4:8).  We must be renewed in the spirit of our mind (Ephesians 4:23).

But most of all, it's following the replacement principle, the dynamic the Bible describes as "put off... put on."

Without the biblical replacement principle—found in Ephesians 4:22-24 and Philippians 3:12-14; 4:8—we may be simply replacing one bad habit with another bad habit, or one idolatry with another idolatry.

We must put off (get rid of) those things that fill our lives that do not please the Lord. We must confess our sins as the Holy Spirit illuminates our heart reveals them to us (Ephesians 1:15-18; 1 John 1:9). Our sins begin in our hearts and work their way outward, so we need to start with the heart.

It's not enough to recognize the fruit of sin; we need to get to the root and yank it out.

For example, overeating was not my root of sin; the gluttony was a result of idolatry in my heart—seeking satisfaction in food rather than the Lord. THAT was the root.

We are renewed in our spirit (sanctified) when we begin to appropriate and apply the Word (John 17:17) and REPLACE our sinful desires, thoughts and attitudes with biblical desires, thoughts and attitudes (1 Timothy 4:7; Romans 6:11-14, 16-19). We allow the Word to train us!

It's not usually an overnight process, but a transformation that happens over time as we yield to the Spirit of God (James 1:21-25).

In that transformation, we put off (eliminate) some things (our sinful stuff), and put on (embrace) other things (God's holy and honorable "stuff").

For example:

• We put off anger and put on self-control (Proverbs 29:22; Galatians 5:22-23).
• We put off bitterness and put on a tender heart of forgiveness (Hebrews 12:15; Ephesians 4:32).
• We put off boastful pride and put on honor and esteem for others (1 Corinthians 4:7; Philippians 2:3).
• We put off complaining and put on gratefulness (Philippians 2:14-16; Galatians 5:22-23).
• (If you want to study that out, here is a helpful "Put off, Put on" list with scripture links.)

But the point is, once we identify our "stuff," we discover God's "stuff"—His absolute truth about our sin—and we embrace it and do whatever we can to make the truth of His Word an active part of our lives (reading, memorization, responding in obedience, etc.). In other words, we surrender our lives to His control.

So... as I am deleting the frivilous and foolishly time-consuming things in my home that clutter and rob me of freedom or joy, I am also asking the Lord to help me delete the things that do not please Him, and REPLACE them with things that delight His heart.

Is this your desire too? Where will you begin to deal with YOUR "stuff"? Where does seeking God's "stuff" begin?

Dawn Wilson, founder and President of Heart Choices Today, is a speaker and author, and the creator of three blogs: Heart Choices Today, LOL with God (with Pam Farrel), and Upgrade with Dawn. She is a contracted researcher/reviewer for Revive Our Hearts and a writer at Crosswalk.com. She and her husband Bob live in Southern California and have two grown, married sons, three granddaughters and a rascally maltipoo, Roscoe.