Time to Change Clothes

I love clothes. The way they look on the hanger or feel on my skin. The smell of department stores and the beauty of new floor sets that display the latest shipment of dyed fabrics of all shapes and colors waiting for their new owner to take them home and hang them in an already overflowing closet. If there is such as thing as retail therapy, I am a lifelong patient.

I have always defined myself by a certain style--classic beauty with just a splash of Diva to make you take a second look. A statement necklace here; a conversational kerchief there. Just the right pumps to set off the outfit. Classic enough to belong. Diva enough to be seen.

Over the past couple weeks, I've been meditating on Genesis 35 when God commanded Jacob to go to Bethel and build and altar to Him and worship. In this text, the verses that stood out to me the most were 2-4 when Jacob told his household:

"Put away the foreign gods that are among you, purify yourselves, and change your garments. 3 Then let us arise and go up to Bethel; and I will make an altar there to God, who answered me in the day of my distress and has been with me in the way which I have gone.” (Gen. 35:2-4)


God was preparing Jacob for not only a name change, but for a shift in his character to position him to walk into his promise. Jacob had been running most of his life--he ran from his brother Esau after stealing his blessing. He ran from his uncle Laban after taking most of his wealth in livestock. Now, he was running from the Canaanites and Perizzites because his sons had avenged their sister, Dinah killing the men of the city and looting their livestock. It was time for Jacob to stop running and start walking into his destiny.

Many times we want God to change our circumstance or situation, but we are not willing to change so that we can be positioned to receive what God has for us. Jacob could sense that God was about to do something big in his life, and he realized that a change was needed before they could go up to worship. He told his wives and all who were with him to put away their foreign gods, purify themselves and change their clothes. 

Note the order of his instructions. 

The first thing they had to do was put away foreign gods. What gods have we established in our lives that we need to put away? Is it jobs or money? Cars or status? Perhaps it is other people's opinions of us that has replaced the role of God in our lives. Anything that competes for our love and loyalty to God is an idol. Some of us have made comfort and convenience our god; we refuse to let go of our comfort zones to pursue the purpose God has for our lives. Whatever foreign gods we are holding on to, we must put them away from us so that we can embrace the one true God in our lives.

Then Jacob told them to purify themselves. Purification was a ritualistic process used to make one ready for worship. It typically included bathing and abstaining from certain acts or foods for a period of time. What God is looking for in us today is an internal purification; the cleansing of ourselves through prayer and meditation on His word. It may include fasting and abstaining from certain things, but to be sure, God is seeking more than just ritualistic practices. He is looking for sanctification--a setting apart of ourselves from the world in order to make ourselves available for His use. When is the last time we asked God to purify us? To sancitfy us and set us apart for His glory? When was the last time we, like King David in the Psalms 53, asked God to purge us with hyssop and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness? 

What we wear says a lot about us. Clothes identify us with certain professions, such as a police officer or a firefighter. They also speak to our mood, our self image and our personality. We wear darker colors to mask physical imperfections and some of us even use clothes as status symbols. We wear designer labels to project a sense of wealth, or perhaps to hide the lack thereof. Many of us find our identity in our clothes. The fallacy in this mode of thinking is that our clothes simply reveal on the outside the status of inner selves. Clothes cannot create our identity--they only project the identity which we have chosen. 

Just like Jacob's household, we can only change our spiritual garments after we have put away false gods and purified ourselves. This type of clothing change flows from the inside out. We can wear the fanciest of suits, the most expensive designer labels and the newest of style trends, but if we have not put away false gods and purified ourselves, we are just putting on new grave clothes--clothes used to bury the dead. What God wants is for us to take off the garment of heaviness so that He can give us a garment of praise. He wants our sackloth of mourning so that He can give us a tunic of peace. He wants us to cast off the robe of rejection so that He can cloth us in a robe of many colors. God has a wardrobe for our lives, if we would only put away our foreign Gods and purify ourselves for Him. 
His closet beats mine any day! It is because of Him that we are able to be Classic enough to belong. Diva enough to be seen. 

Until the Divas meet again, I pray that you allow God to dress you from His wardrobe today. 


Sincerely,

Pastor J-
The Divine Diva

A Birthing Prayer

I love Hannah. She is perhaps the most underestimated feminine figure in the Old Testament, but her story is powerful. She is the fourth woman in Scripture identified as being barren. Sara, Rebekah and Rachel were all described in Scripture as being barren; however, each of them had a different reaction to their situation. Sara laughed at God when He made her the promise of a son (Gen. 18:10-15). We never know Rebekah's reaction to her barren womb because her husband pleaded for God to give her children (Gen. 25:21). Rachel's response was one of anger towards her husband, Jacob (Gen. 29:31, 30:1). But Hannah's response to her barren state? Prayer. 

1 Samuel opens by telling us about Elkanah, Hannah's husband. He had two wives, Hannah and Peninnah. The Bible sums the situation up in just one sentence, "Peninnah had children, but Hannah had no children." (1 Sam. 1:2) Oh! If it were only that simple.

Children were a blessing to a family; a woman's very worth was tied to her womb. Hannah not only had to live with the fact that she could not have children, she had to share a home with a woman who could! It is one thing to know I can't have something. It's another thing altogether to have someone who does have what I long for so desperately wave it in my face 24/7. The Bible says that Peninnah provoked Hannah. She taunted her and made her life miserable.

Hannah's response to her situation was one that I could say I made more often--she prayed. She did not try to fix the situation on her own. The Bible does not say she tried to get Elkanah to have sex with her more often to increase the chances of her getting pregnant, or that she tried to take revenge on Peninnah, but rather, Scripture says that she went to God about her problem.

She prayed and wept over her situation before the Lord--so much so, until the priest, Eli, thought she was drunk. In verse 14, Eli accuses Hannah of being drunk, an accusation that Hannah denies and shares that it was "out of the abundance of my complaint and grief I have spoken until now.” (vs.17)  Have you ever been so full of grief that you prayed like a drunk woman? Has your heart every been so heavy that your soul would not allow sound to escape from your lips, only groans of agony and utterances of grief? I have been there.  

Hannah promised God that if He would grant her a son, she would give that son back to Him. The key to Hannah's prayer was her partnership with God's purpose and promise to give back to God whatever He gave through her womb. Hannah understood that whatever God blessed her with belonged to Him. Hers was not a selfish prayer for status or position; hers was a prayer of birthing. She asked God to birth something through her that would be used for His glory.

What are we asking God to birth in us today? More importantly WHY are we asking God for it? What are the motives of our hearts?

My husband and I recently began our own company, and one of the first questions we asked ourselves was, "Why do we want to do this?" Was this just to make a lot of money? Was it to have status or position or have others to look at us? If those were our motives, we could never have began this journey. Our goal has always been to glorify God and serve His people. We want to establish an inheritance for our children and to develop a foundation for our families, but at the end of the day, we want to honor Him in all that we do. So our prayer for Dent Enterprises, Inc. was a birthing prayer. We asked God to bring to bear all of the gifts and talents that He deposited deep within us to help us launch a business that would change our communities and impact our city for His Kingdom.

What is your birthing prayer? Is it to start your own business? Publish a book? Get that promotion?

Whatever your request, make sure that your motives are aligned with God's.

Because Hannah prayed, no one could deny her request but God. She did not worry herself with her enemy, Peninnah. She didn't even nag or bother her husband, Elkanah. She prayed. She partnered with God and the purpose He had for her life. And she made God a promise to give whatever He gave to her back to Him.

After Hannah explains herself to the priest, Eli pronounces a blessing over her request and Hannah goes away. The Bible says that her face was no longer sad and she ate. She was able to move forward with her life because she truly gave her concerns over to the Lord. How many times have we put it all on the altar, only to pack it back up and take it with us when we leave? God requires us to give it over to Him and allow Him to work things out His way, in His time.

Hannah found favor in the sight of God. He opens her womb, and by the time we get to the end of the chapter we find her nursing her promise, preparing to return him to the God who gave him to her. In real life, things don't go that quickly. In reality Hannah's promise did not come that quickly.

The Bible says in verses 19-20 that God remembered her and that in the process of time, she conceived and bore a son.  Know that our requests begins a process in heaven, and that it is the process that brings about the promise. We don't know how long it took God for Hannah's prayer to be answered, but we know that God remembered and that there was a process.

Whatever you're facing today, whatever birthing prayer you are praying, know that God remembers you and that in the process of time, He will bring it to pass.

Until the Divas meet again, may your birthing pains be minimal, but know that birth is a process. Go through the process to receive your promise!

Pastor J-
The Divine Diva