My group, facebook church, did an event today where members are posting a testimony, or a God moment, to share with everybody. I posted mine in the group’s discussion board, but thought I would also post it here so my friends that aren’t in this group could read one of my numerous God moment testimonies. Join the group if you like too. all are invited.

Luke 3:5
5 Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be brought low; and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways shall be made smooth;KJV

This scripture inspiried the God moment that I’m going to share. Life is filled with things that seem incomprehendable and crooked, but God makes the crooked way straight. He brings answers to questions that we as humans can’t understand. He brings enlightenment to situations that are dark. I’ve had so many God moments in my life and seem to encounter divine interruption on a daily basis. Sometimes these moments are intensely spiritual and other times these moments just involve a “still, small voice”. On August 24, 2004 my father, Victor Bentley, passed away at 51 years old. This was an experience that I can’t explain. He was a pastor, a man of God, a father, a husband, and a best friend to all who encountered him. Why did he have to be the one to die? His death certificate reduces his life to meningitis and encephalytis. It was as if these two medical terms would forever define him. I strugged during the 3 months prior to his death while he laid in a coma trying to find meaning and understand to the situation. I will admit, I still have yet to find an answer to his passing, but I have found acceptance. One of the many God moments I experienced during this time was on the day of the funeral, August 27, 2004 when I discovered that I was pregnant with my first son, Reese. This would’ve been my fathers first grandchild. At first I thought this was a cruel twist of fate. Although I was happily married and had been for 4 years at this time, it was as if some sadistic diety was playing a game for his amusement. Why at this time of loss would my fathers first grand child make his entrance? Why couldn’t my son have been born early enough to meet my dad? Why couldn’t my dad have lived just 9 months longer? I experienced a God moment in my spirit when I realized and comprehended that life is a big circle. It comes, it goes, and eventually your memory will fade. The Bible says that life is a vapor. I believe that god’s timing is perfect in all things. My son Reese ended up being the balm of healing that my family needed. The joys of pregnancy and child birth wiped the tears of grief. His genius, intellect, curiousity, and hilarious outgoing personality are an exact replica of my fathers. The Lord gives and the Lord takes away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. I’m thankful for the encounter with God that showed me the timing of Reese was not a bad set of cards dealt to us, but the healing we needed.

All Scripture references from THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language © 2002 by Eugene H. Peterson. All rights reserved.
Ps 138:3
3 The moment I called out, you stepped in; you made my life large with strength.
Isa 30:19-20
19 Oh yes, people of Zion, citizens of Jerusalem, your time of tears is over. Cry for help and you’ll find it’s grace and more grace. The moment he hears, he’ll answer.
Dan 10:12
12 “‘Relax, Daniel,’ he continued, ‘don’t be afraid. From the moment you decided to humble yourself to receive understanding, your prayer was heard, and I set out to come to you.
1 Peter 5:13
13 The church in exile here with me — but not for a moment forgotten by God —

We all experience life in small, sequential moments. Although oftentimes too busy to notice, the moments of our lives sneak in, do their work, and creep away leaving us forever changed. The birth of our children, the death of a loved one, the purchase of our first home, our first kiss, young love…..all of these moments and experiences are times that forever etch into our memories. The Encarta World English dictionary defined moment as “a short time: a very short interval of time, a particular instant: a particular instant in time, or present: the present time.”

We can live in past, present, and current moments. Many times the moments pass us by unnoticed, unannounced, and underappreciated. The question for the day is, will you pause to take in a divine moment today? The Bible is full of examples of God working to experience a moment with creation. The marriage of humanity and divinity is not a new phenomenon and neither is it antiquated. From the time God created with His spoken word, He desires to speak creative, life altering transformation into our darkness.

I encourage you to notice the very short intervals of time today where God breathes agape love, acceptance, and direction into your situation. It may be a very short moment where you can glimpse into the supernatural, but you will walk away knowing your day was interrupted by deity.

Matt 4:4 But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. KJV

One day I fully expect to wake up and be a triangular shaped corn tortilla chip. With the amounts of chips and salsa I consume, eventually I may become tomato based. I have no idea where the quote “you are what you eat” originated from, but as true as it is to our physical health, our spiritual health is largely based on what we ingest and have a steady diet of. Just like mass quantities of milkshakes has the potential to turn your thighs to cottage cheese, a mental diet full of negativity, lust, and gossip will turn your spirit to mush.

The scriptures make many references to food in regards to our personal and spiritual lives. This most likely is because food is one of the basic physical things we need to survive. Abraham Maslow came up with a hierarchy of needs that we as human beings must have to survive. Food, water, and shelter are the most basic of necessities and without them we can never hope to “self-actualize”, or achieve ultimate fulfillment. While food is physical, the word of God is spiritual. The Bible says that man cannot live by bread alone. We can have our basic life sustained with bread, but without the word of God, we can’t reach self realization and fulfillment. God needs to speak into our lives on a daily basis. If we go long without food, our attitudes show it. When I’m hungry, my patience is low, I can feel lightheaded, and I’m quick tempered. Spiritually, if I haven’t heard something “proceeding out of the mouth of God” for the day, for my situation, and for my life, the fruits of the spirit will not be manifest. Love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and temperance stand no chance when I’m spiritually and physically deprived.

We are fearfully and wonderfully made human beings. Our physical man does not exist without our spirit man and our spirit man has no place on earth without our physical bodies. They are intertwined in a divine dance that we embark on daily. The spirit and the flesh regularly step on each other’s toes in this dance, and must constantly be drawn back together to follow God’s tempo. The lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life are at war with the fruit of God’s spirit in our lives. We will manifest the thing in our life that we spend the most time on. Is our diet raunchy TV shows, movies, questionable websites and relationships, or do we dine on what is pure, lovely, and of a good report? This does not mean that everything in life has to be intensely and purposefully spiritual, just like in our physical lives we do not have to constantly dine on organic, grainy whole foods to be healthy. This does mean though that a majority of our focus has to be on what we want our ultimate outcome to be. Because I do not wish to weigh 300 plus pounds, I exercise portion control when I’m indulging (well at least I pretend to). On the same token, because I wish to have the fruits of the spirit leading the dance in my life, I will work to balance the secular and the sacred.
1 Cor 3:2-4
2 I gave you milk to drink, not solid food; for you were not yet able to receive it. Indeed, even now you are not yet able, 3 for you are still fleshly. For since there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not fleshly, and are you not walking like mere men?
NASU

Heb 5:12-14
For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you have need again for someone to teach you the elementary principles of the oracles of God, and you have come to need milk and not solid food. 13 For everyone who partakes only of milk is not accustomed to the word of righteousness, for he is an infant. 14 But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil.
NASU

1 Peter 2:1-3

2 Therefore, putting aside all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander, 2 like newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the word, so that by it you may grow in respect to salvation, 3 if you have tasted the kindness of the Lord.
NASU

In our global society, it is possible to meet people who live in one city and yet work in another. Oftentimes these are not people with just your average daily 35 minute commute. It is not uncommon to find someone that lives in New York City and works for a Los Angeles based company. With websites like gotomeeting.com, teleconferencing, face book groups and networking, and video technology, we are not bound by time, space, and location in the way that we were even as recently as the 20th century. This fast paced, frantic society has all but overtaken our American culture. Very few cities seem unfazed by Wi-Fi internet, global networking, and the harsh demands that instant access has put on us.

The ironic thing about the reality of 21st century living is that many people were concerned that the technology explosion would leave us bored, empty, and unemployed. We feared that robots would replace man and that the abundance of free time created by technology would leave us depressed. Sadly, we have found ourselves depressed and empty, but very few of us are bored. Technology hasn’t removed chores off our lists, it is has multiplied them to an exponential degree. Not only do we face all of the other chores shared by the generations of yesteryear, but we are bombarded with texts, emails, website updating, blogging, and social networking responsibilities. It is extremely rare to see a group of people sharing a meal and a coffee where at least 75% of the table isn’t engaged in some form of text messaging, e-mailing, and cell phone use during the meal.

Our social lives have never seen a day of so much opportunity, and yet our souls and friendships are suffering and lonely. The dichotomy of the 21stcentury life is unparalleled. The biggest factor to suffer in our lives is usually our relationship with God. We used to say “just call him up and tell him what you want.” This phrase is foreign in our day. We can’t text message God, IM him, or link up to him on face book. Our 21stcentury inability to communicate has left us empty spiritually. How often do you actually call a friend for a long chat? Our friendships have been reduced to3 line texts and internet commentary.

The bible is filled with examples of believers sitting for a long, refreshing time of prayer and devotion with God. My challenge today is to put away the trappings of 21st century living and actually take time to breathe in the sweet savor of meditation with God. We found the disciple John laying his head on the chest of Jesus. He was in a full embrace. We find that Isaac dwelt by the well of refreshment. We find Adam and Eve taking long walks of devotion and friendship with God. The only true fulfillment and strength comes from old fashioned interaction and dedication to God. Acts 3:19 tells us that our only true times of refreshing come from the presence of the Lord.

The question remains, where do you live? Will you chose to live complacency in the empty frantic lifestyles of the 21st century human, or do you choose to drink from the wells of divine interaction and peace? Take a commute from the responsibilities of life and drive to the “rest wherein the weary shall find rest”.

“WWJD”, otherwise known as What Would Jesus Do, was a hugely popular acronym that swept the world during the 1990’s. Emblazoned on everything from bracelets, t-shirts, purses, and Bible covers to bumper stickers, the craze took off in fad like fashion. All the “cool” Christians owned multiple bracelets and if you didn’t have a bracelet along with some type of fish sticker in public view, you just weren’t being the witness God called you to be. Recently memories of this fad have been creeping up in my mind. While WWJD paraphernalia is still sold, the fiery fad has faded to embers and bright yellow “Livestrong” bracelets are what all the world changers don. With all of the eyes of the world turned to change and all the hearts of the world searching for fulfillment, this is our hour and our time to actually live “WWJD”.

How often did the people that proudly proclaimed these four letters actually act out on the principles and lifestyle of Jesus Christ? Mahatma Ghandi was quoted as saying “I like your Christ; I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.” Upon reading this quote a light went off in my mind. As a lifetime Christian, how many times have I said, “I sure hope people don’t look at me the way they look at them.” These thoughts run through my head when I see the “saved” being arrogant, unfriendly, uncooperative, and judgemental. Are we really modeling our lives after Jesus, or are we satisfied to mold our lives into the cookie cutter dogmas of the religious?

Viewed as a revolutionary in his day, Jesus changed religious culture. When he caught a lady in the middle of the act of adultery, he simply told her to go and sin no more. His outrage and his passion was directed at the religious hypocrites of his day, not to the “sinners”. Jesus was not found on center stage during the political debates of his time. On the contrary, people were upset because they thought he came to overthrow the government. Jesus taught principle and he lived by principles. He led by example. Jesus taught us about morality, kindness, and love. Jesus didn’t allow people to discourage him.

He was only thirty when he reached the final climactic years of his ministry and yet could relate to people from all age groups and socioeconomic diversities. Jesus was driven by love and compassion. He was not driven to judge, categorize, and separate. When Jesus spoke harshly, it was towards the religious leaders. His anger was kindled at judgementalism, greed, and betrayal. Poverty, brokenness, loneliness, and sin drove him to the full depths of his love and empathy.
This is not to take away from the principles of God that we know when the Bible is looked at as a whole. We know that God is jealous and will come back with a vengeance at His second coming. We know that God hates sin. However, Jesus said that only the perfect are allowed to cast the stones. While we are waiting for His triumphant return, let us Christians live as Jesus did. How can we prepare people for the delights of heaven and compel them to pure religion if we choose traditions over Jesus, judgments over joy, and hypocrisy over happiness?

James 1:27 tells us “Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world. (KJV). This verse speaks on several levels to me and is exampled in the life of Christ. We need to take care of the less fortunate. If a man asks for bread, give it to him. If someone needs a coat, take off yours. We need to care emotionally, spiritually, and physically for those that are in need of a father, husband, friend, and mentor. The second thing this scripture means to me is that I am responsible for my own walk with God. This doesn’t take away the role of my pastor and spiritual authorities in my life as outlined in the scriptures, but what it means is that unless I am in a ministerial and mentorship role with someone, it is ultimately peoples own choice and decision to keep themselves “unspotted from the world.” This goes hand in hand with Matthew 7:1, “Judge not, that you be not judged.”

What does it mean to be like Jesus? What would Jesus Do? I encourage everyone to follow the teachings of Christ and study them through the scriptures and daily prayer. While you are doing this, let me provide you with the litmus test that Christ gave us to line up to. Love was the ultimate gauge for Jesus and the sermon he preached to his disciples. Love someone today, tomorrow, and every day. Jesus was the perfect Valentine.

John 13:34-35 (NASU)

34 “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another.
35 ” By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”