Put On Some Clothes!

It has been some time since I sat to write for this blog.  I received a gentle reminder today so I decided to stop procrastinating and just write this post.  The phrase "put on some clothes" has been whirling around in my head for several weeks maybe even a month or two.  It came to me after reading Colossians chapter 3 from the world's greatest book, the Bible. This chapter has rich instruction for every believer who truly wants to live as Christ's disciple in this world.  It describes the character of Christ and each believer as a result of the work of Holy Spirit in a life.  However, many of us don't want to truly admit that the Holy Spirit doesn't do all the work. He works internally but we must do some things externally as well. There are character traits we put off and others we must choose to put on! We will get to more of that in a minute...I have to tell this short story.

So last week I was reminded of my "summer" topic "put on some clothes" when my family and I visited Ocean City, NJ.  It was a beautiful day to go to the beach. It wasn't too hot and there was a cool breeze blowing.  My youngest son loves swimming and water, so I was simply thankful and enjoying every moment.  At least I was until I noticed a woman who frankly needed to put on some clothes! Alright, I am not a "prudish, religious" Christian who believes that women need to have on long skirts and turtlenecks but I am, however, a mother of a sixteen year old son! Seriously. I had to regroup. I was having a conversation with her in my head. You know what I am talking about. When you have a strong inclination to just "tell someone about themselves"! Take a deep breath, Ronda! So instead of approaching the woman to inquire about her lack of discretion (which is really what I wanted to do) I simply embraced the teachable moment and spoke to my son about appropriate beach attire and things that come before our eyes!  I could go so many places but I am going to take the advice of my brother, Apostle Paul and refrain as I know I must walk as a new man (woman) in Christ.  Colossians chapter 3 was exactly what this situation called for in more ways than one!

Intro: All of Colossians chapter 3 is so rich and I will not do it justice in this short blog so please do yourself a favor and go and read it! Ponder it. Let it settle on your heart. Let it take root. Then when life comes at you with its craziness, which it will, go and read it again!

PUT OFF:  I had to take the time that day to put off a few emotions that wanted me to give that lady at the beach a piece of my "righteous" mind.  I had already mentally justified my conversation...I was going to speak the truth and believed that the rest of the beach goers would be cheering me on! However, verse 8 in the Amplified Bible reads "But NOW PUT AWAY and RID YOURSELVES COMPLETELY of all these things: anger, rage, bad feeling toward others, curses, slander and foulmouthed abuse and shameful utterances from your lips".  I can't say for sure that my conversation with that woman would not have violated a few of these things.  I can't even say for sure that my mention of this now is not slander ( I don't know her name, so if it is Lord please forgive me).  I am going somewhere. Can you hear that tinge of justification? If we are honest with ourselves this is what we do, we justify our wrong attitudes, thoughts and words because we believe our judgment of others is correct.  Listen, I am talking about stuff I struggle with and if you really want Holy Spirit to help you change you have to judge yourself. So I am just putting this out there.  We have a choice with each thought, each word and each action...we must choose to put off these things! That's the Bible, folks!

DON'T RUN AROUND NAKED!

PUT ON: Once we make the decision to put away some things, Apostle Paul admonishes us to put on some clothes! Colossians 3:12 in the Amplified Bible reads,

"CLOTHE YOURSELVES therefore as GOD'S OWN CHOSEN ONES (His own hand-picked representatives, who are purified and holy, well-beloved, (BY GOD HIMSELF) BY PUTTING ON BEHAVIOR marked by tenderhearted pity and mercy, KIND FEELING, A LOWLY OPINION OF YOURSELF, gentle ways and PATIENCE which is tireless and long-suffering and has the power to endure WHATEVER COMES WITH GOOD TEMPER."
(my emphasis added FOR ME!)

IT AIN'T OVER

Verse 13, "Be gentle and forbearing with one another and if one has a difference a grievance or complaint against another, readily pardoning each other: even as the Lord has freely forgiven you, so must you also forgive."

That is a lot of clothing! Serious clothing! Can I get an AMEN?!?

I have read this portion of scripture quite a few times this past summer. I can't say that I have always been properly dressed for every occasion, but I can say that I am quick to ask forgiveness and thankful for the longsuffering grace of my loving Father.  Some days I can see myself properly clothed (notice how I am no longer concerned about the beach lady and her attire) and some days I am not.  Now that I know what I know...I am responsible to choose daily...

Holy Spirit gives me a little insight.

"For ( as far as this world is concerned) you have died and your (new, real life) is hidden with Christ in God".  Colossians 3:3 Amplified Bible

SELAH

My life is hid in Christ.  We are putting on the new man which is in Christ Jesus who is in God! Our process continues from glory to glory into the image and likeness of the one who created us. (II Corinthians 3:18 and Colossians 3:10).  I am clothed with a new man that reflects the image of the Christ in me and I choose to yield to Holy Spirit at work internally so that Christ-like character can be seen externally. We all have to choose DAILY what we are going to be dressed in...choose wisely.

DON'T WALK AROUND NAKED! PUT ON SOME CLOTHES...Christ Character Clothing!

© Ronda Wagner and Kelbey Chronicles, 2013-2014. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Ronda Wagner and Kelbey Chronicles with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

Hey... where in the world is Kelbey Chronicles?

Hey there peeps! Some of you may be wondering where in the world is Kelbey Chronicles? I have not fallen off the face of the earth.  I have been living life as it comes.  This blog is about life, laughs, love and the Living Water. Well since my last post I have experienced a little bit of all of that and then some.

LIFE: As a first born, type A personality I have an unruly tendency to want life to be as controlled as possible. The Lord is graciously and patiently teaching me that He is in control and I am not!  So during the month of March I experienced some unexpected life challenges. I had to have outpatient surgery.  For a fitness professional it was not something I looked forward to nor had planned on needing. I came through that well, thank God. There were a few challenges afterward but I refuse to allow myself to become defined by diagnosis or prognosis. Amen. I am well. Healed and Whole: spirit, soul and body.  Also during March I had to attend IEP meetings for some of my children who receive special education services. If you have never had to deal with these meetings, consider yourself blessed!  If you have and come out without wanting to physically injure someone who is part of the child study team, including yourself, you are blessed!  I advocate for my children which sometimes takes school professionals by surprise. Contrary to popular belief, it is not always well received! I really don't know why not!  So the meetings I attend for my children can sometimes go long or require additional meetings simply because I know my children's rights and I don't believe the hype! A little stressful for someone recovering from surgery. LOL.

LAUGHS: Laughs had been a little hard to come by, if I am totally honest and transparent. I was feeling stressed and wondering how was I going to get everything done I needed to do for that month. This blog was not even on the list. However, most of my much needed comic relief I received from a group of ladies that I blog with on a monthly basis.  We are Pro31 Women's Compendium. Pro31  We are four Christian ladies from different backgrounds who love Jesus. God has brought us together. We are different and yet we are the same. It is amazing when I read our blogs.  We receive a topic and we write...we don't discuss. We write and it's posted. Every time there is a thread of God's anointing through every post. Amazing truly. So back to the laughs. Well one of our recent topics, Frazzled, hit home and blessed me so much.  We have a real comedian in our group. She is so appreciated! We all have different perspectives and yet we often have similar revelations. The Lord Our God is One. We each have a gifted way of sharing our hearts that I know not only ministers to each of us but ministers to those who read the blog.  I am thankful to be amongst them. They each encourage my heart and have special places there as well.

LOVE: Love is a topic that is often overused and abused.  I don't want to cheapen it with little cute anecdotes about love because the truth of the matter it is complex.  God is Love. Love is a spirit because God is a Spirit.  Through the difficulties of life we learn the truth about what love is and what  it isn't. We learn what it looks like and what it doesn't. We learn what it says and what it doesn't say.  We learn that we have not loved as we ought and we learn that we can learn to love better. None of this love stuff is easy. I don't care if it's with your spouse, your parents, your siblings, your children or extended family. God has to be the source you go to when you don't know how to figure it out, no matter what relationship.  He is the one who has shed His love abroad in our hearts. See previous post Surrender to Love. So needless to say, I was given ample opportunity during my recovery process and the crazy month of March to learn about surrendering to love. Still surrendering. I will leave it at that.

LIVING WATER: During my time away from posting I had two ministry opportunities where I needed to allow the Living Water to flow.  Daily we are to draw from this spring that never runs dry but when you are given ministry responsibilities that take you somewhat out of your comfort zone you must learn how to draw differently.  In one of the first posts to Kelbey Chronicles, I spoke about how women in biblical times were responsible for drawing water for the family.  I didn't really expound on it much then and I won't now but I will say it is a lesson I am learning. It is interesting how God takes the revelation He gives you and then creates situations in which you must put that word or revelation in action by faith.  It is not enough to just have knowledge of something unless you know its rightful application. Wisdom is the application of knowledge.  Holy Spirit is faithful.  I received Living Water and life sprung forth in ways I did not expect.  Revelation came that I did not expect. New ministry was birthed that I did not expect. In my weakness, He made me strong-in ways I did not expect. My only desire was to be obedient. When we are willing and obedient, we do receive the "good" of the land.

So that is where Kelbey Chronicles has been lately, still here.  I am drawing more deeply from my well for more of the Living Water.  Thankfully, through these past few weeks away I can still testify that El Roi, the God (Living One) who see me is Faithful and is closer than ever.  He is the air I am breathing. So like Hagar (see previous post, Well...See) I am reminded that I am fully known...and seen...even if no one else knows where I am or where I have been.  I am at my well, Beer-lahai-roi, sometimes out of necessity but most often out of pure desire, drinking freely of the Living Water.

© Ronda Wagner and Kelbey Chronicles, 2013-2014. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Ronda Wagner and Kelbey Chronicles with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

A Pregnant Year?

Have you ever heard of such a thing? Probably not unless you are of Jewish descent...I had never heard of a pregnant year until I had lunch with my anointed sister in Lord last week!  I could go through all the bits and pieces of how this phrase met me on last Monday morning but I would rather just cut to the chase. If you have read any of my other posts you are well aware that I  like to study words and Jewish traditions in relation to my faith.  This was the very reason my sister in the Lord shared this diamond of truth with me.  A pregnant year is a Jewish leap year...the Jewish Year 5774 is a leap year! So what exactly does that mean?

Here is a brief YouTube video giving some encouraging insights...then I will share some thoughts...

After only a few days of study of the Jewish leap year, the pregnant year,  I have learned that Adar I (January 31 to March 2 ) is almost finished and Adar II begins on March 3. DISCLAIMER: I am no scholar of Jewish traditions or theology.  I am a believer who enjoys searching out God's truth.  It's just that simple.

Here is what I learned about this season we are in:

It's a time of great joy.  It's a time of completion.  It's a time of prophetic fulfillment. It's a time of glory, more glory!  It's a time of victory despite opposition.

Ezra 6:15,16  reads, "And the house was finished on the third day of the month Adar, which was in the sixth year of the reign of Darius the king.  And the children of Israel, the priests, and the Levites, and the rest of the children of the captivity, kept the dedication of this house of God with joy". (KJV).

The New Living Translation reads, "The Temple was completed on March 12, during the sixth year of King Darius' reign.  The Temple of God was then dedicated with great joy by the people of Israel, the priests,the Levites and the rest of the people who had returned from exile."

The completion of the temple during the time of Ezra, Nehemiah, Zechariah and Haggai was a huge accomplishment of faith.  It was the culmination of the fulfillment of God's Decree from King Cyrus and then King Darius along with the faithful actions of Nehemiah, Ezra and the people.  The prophets Zechariah and Haggai were instrumental in keeping the people of God encouraged throughout the process of rebuilding. (Ezra 6:14).  In biblical numerology, our New Year of 2014 is prophesied to be one of completion and double blessings because 7 means complete and  2 (or double) times 7 is fourteen.  Here we see that the Jewish Leap Year is prophesying and proclaiming the same blessings! PROPHETIC ALIGNMENT.

Adar is the 12th month on the Jewish calendar and it represents completion.  The word Adar  is translated in Hebrew "exceedingly glorious".  According to Jewish tradition, the pregnant year, is a year to expect victory over all forms of opposition! Can you see how the historical events of Nehemiah and the people of God sets the theme for this proclamation of victory? Against impossible odds and opposition the people of God were able to fulfill the decree of God made through King Cyrus and then Darius.  This was after the rebuilding had stopped because of opposition and the king's original decree was found in the king's treasury! (Ezra 6:1-12).  We are in a season to continue to decree the word of the Lord over our lives believing that the King's decree is established.  God's word does not return to him void! It accomplishes what it is sent forth to do! ( Isaiah 55:11,12).  The Word of God, the King's Decree promises to bring us out with joy.

Finally, this season of Adar II includes the festival of Purim which celebrates the God's deliverance of his people from the evil plot of Haman through the faith filled actions of Queen Esther.  Esther 4:13-16 reveals the Queen's response on behalf of her people.  She decides to go before the King knowing her lapse in protocol could cost her her life.  Instead of losing her life, she became the instrument of God's deliverance. As mentioned in the above Youtube video, there is a Hebrew word that is poorly translated in our bibles as feasts and festivals: moedim.  Moedim is translated as appointment.  The feasts of the Lord are appointments God initiated with His people.  God continues to initiate "moedim" with His people.  Esther answered her "moedim".  Adar is a season of appointment, a moedim.  We must be diligent not to miss our appointment with our God!

JOY. COMPLETION. PROPHETIC FULFILLMENT. GLORY. VICTORY= A PREGNANT YEAR!

Maintain your joy, actually stir it up! Nehemiah 8:10, Romans 14:17 KING'S DECREE. Believe that God will complete what He has begun in you! Philippians 1:6 KING'S DECREE. Keep decreeing the Word of Lord expecting victory despite opposition.  II Corinthians 2:14,  I John 5: 4 KING'S DECREE.  Expect the manifestation of God's glory in your life.  II Corinthians 3:18 KING'S DECREE. Don't stop birthing your promise. Spend time with God. Minister to the Lord. Spend time in prayer. Decree and declare God's word. Listen for instructions. Act on what God speaks. Praise and give thanks. Believe. Have faith in God.

P. S. Adar has prophetic significance for Israel today, interestingly, it has been historically significant as well. Many historic events have occurred during this season.  This year 2014 has been prophesied as one of profound prophetic events including signs in the sky. ( Acts 2:18-20, Luke 21:25)  For some profound insight and revelation please see the following link to a blog I read that gave me significant insight into this season.

Mbostroms2's Blog

© Ronda Wagner and Kelbey Chronicles, 2013-2014. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Ronda Wagner and Kelbey Chronicles with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

Surrender to the Flow

It's February! The season of love, right? Everything is turning up red and roses!  Ladies, Go Red! Seriously, though.  I must advocate for us ladies (& gents) getting our heart health checked.  The Go Red Campaign of the American Heart Association has been very instrumental in educating women and those who love them about heart disease and the risks associated with this chronic illness.  Too many times, we as women don't take the necessary time to have our own heart health checked.  Here is a link to get you started:https://www.goredforwomen.org

Heart health isn't just physical though, it's spiritual too!  Recently, I have had too many challenges to my spiritual heart health! The issues of life can sometimes cause our hearts to feel heavy.  Worry, anxiety, and depression have been the main culprits in my own life.  I don't subscribe to victim mentally, but I acknowledge that each of us have our own enemies and those are the ones that attempt to load my heart down with care.  The good news, the best news is that I know the One who says he will take ALL MY CARE (worry, anxiety & depression).  I know the One who says, "be anxious for nothing, but through prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God." (Philippians 4:6). See I know the Burden-Bearer.  His name is Jesus.  He is MY LIVING WATER. He is willing to take my heavy heart and give me a heart that flows with God's love.  I am learning that I have to surrender to the flow of God's love in my heart.

Paul teaches us some important lessons in Romans 5:3-5 (Amplified Bible)

"Moreover (let us also be full of joy now!) let us exult and triumph in our troubles and rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that pressure and affliction and hardship produce patient and unswerving endurance.
And endurance (fortitude) develops maturity of character (approved faith and tried integrity).  And character (of this sort) produces (the habit of) joyful and confident hope of eternal salvation.
Such hope never disappoints or deludes or shames us, for God's love has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has be given to us."

Don't stop reading!  I know, Paul is prescribing some challenging assertions.  Be full of joy now.  Triumph in your trouble. Rejoice in suffering. Pressure, affliction, and hardship=patience, endurance and confident hope.  It sounds crazy, but it's not. It is TRUTH.  The resiliency of the human spirit is undeniable. How much more resilient (actually supernatural) is the reborn spirit that has the flow of God's love rushing through it? God has poured His love in our heart so that we can have confidence that our troubles will not overtake or overwhelm us but will work together for our good and cause us to become mature in our faith.

The Greek word for "poured out" or "shed abroad" is ekchuno (ek-kheh-o).  It means to be poured out, shed forth, to metaphorically to bestow or distribute largely, to gush out, to run greedily out, to shed abroad and spill out! (Strong's Concordance #G1632 MySword for Android App).

The Greek word for "heart" is kardia (looks familiar right). It refers to the human organ of the body but also the center and seat of the spiritual life.  It is the soul or mind as the fountain or seat of thoughts, passions, desires, appetites, affections, purposes and endeavors. It also refers to the will and character. (Strong's Concordance #G2588 MySword for Android App).

So this takes me back to Paul's prescription in Romans.  Life's pressures and hardships affect our heart, both physically and spiritually.  Worry and stress can make us physically and spiritually sick.  The good news, the best news is that the One who formed us gave us the heart and the healing.  The LOVE of GOD is poured out, is largely distributed, is gushing out INTO our heart through the Holy Spirit who is given to us who believe!  When I think about this LOVE, I don't see a trickle, a stream or even a river...I see a  powerful waterfall.  I see myself standing under His Love and it being poured out over me...every inch of me...not missing one part of me.  A few years ago the Holy Spirit gave me this:

Your Love  (April 10, 2009)

Your love is like a waterfall crashing
down upon my soul,
The release of its sweet fragrance
can only make me whole.

Your love is like a waterfall crashing
down upon my soul,
It pounds at the deepest places
filling up all dead spaces.

Your love is like a waterfall crashing
down upon my soul,
Creating in me new places to flow-
all the places, I don't yet know.

In your waterfall, I feel so free.
Only there
do I see
all you have created
me to be.

In your waterfall, I can soar
to places I've not gone before.
Your wings of love to guide-
taking me up so high-
way up there-
I can fly!


Surrender to the Flow! <3

© Ronda Wagner and Kelbey Chronicles  2013-2014. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Ronda Wagner and Kelbey Chronicles with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

Paradox & Life

First things First. Happy New Year! May your new year be one of not only expectation but also  fulfillment. New vision. New purpose. New Focus. Or maybe Renewed vision. Renewed purpose. Renewed Focus. Either way it is all good!

A theme of paradox seems to keep surfacing in my life these days.  Daily events are exposing the contradictions of life that usually remain hidden but will reveal themselves if sought out.  According to dictionary.com a paradox is a "statement or proposition that seems self-contradictory or absurd but in reality expresses possible truth."  There are lessons to be learned from the things in our lives that seem contradictory.

Everyone makes resolutions and usually those resolutions involve changes in habit or behavior.  As a fitness professional I encourage individuals to make small attainable goals in the New Year, behavior modification it's called.  Plenty of people will make resolutions to get more exercise and eat healthier.  Both are very admirable and should definitely be part of a healthy lifestyle.  However, the more I think about it, the more I begin to question this culture of doing that encompasses our lives.  My intention for the New Year is to wait before the Lord, contemplate, sit, rest...honor the Sabbath.  I have been practicing since last year and intend to continue but it is easier said than done.  The wonderful thing about waiting is that nuggets of truth eventually find their way to you.

One day I was reading and I came across a quote by Watchman Nee that talks about the paradox of the Christian life.  The quote supported my theme of waiting on the Lord so I looked up the cite notation to find the source. Nee wrote a book entitled, Sit, Walk, Stand.  It expounds on the book of Ephesians and the revelation of Ephesians 2:5, 6.  Paul exhorts believers:

"Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are save); and hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:" (my emphasis added).

Interesting.  God raised us up and made us sit.  Nee's revelation about this portion of scripture just blows me away.  It is a powerful truth for every believer.  He writes, "Christianity does not begin with walking; it begins with sitting." (Nee, p.2).  This he declares is the secret to the heavenly life.  I must admit sitting is not part of my personality profile. First born, type A. Enough said.  It seems much of our culture is caught up in DOING and not BEING.  I am as guilty as the next person but I don't believe DOING is the life God intended for his children.  It is a difficult assertion to accept.  Paradox.   As a fitness professional I understand that our technological advances have contributed to our transition to a sedentary lifestyle that is the primary cause for the chronic health problems facing our culture.  How does a sports enthusiast and fitness professional embrace waiting, sitting, resting and Sabbath? Paradox. Nee's revelation is helpful.

"This was God's principle from the beginning. In the creation God worked from the first to the sixth day and rested on the seventh.  We may truthfully say that for those first six days he was very busy.  Then, the task he had set himself completed, he ceased to work. The seventh day became the Sabbath of God; it was God's rest.

But what of Adam? Where did he stand in relation to that rest of God? Adam, we are told, was created on the sixth day. Clearly, then, he had no part in those first six days of work, for he came into being only at their end.  God's seventh day was, in fact Adam's first.  Whereas God worked six days and then enjoyed his Sabbath rest, Adam began his life with the Sabbath; for God works before he rests, while man must first enter into God's rest, and then alone can he work." (Nee, p.4)

WOW! Maybe the adjective "helpful" is understating this revelation! Blows the doors open is more like it! Nee presents the case with such simplicity that it is easy to miss the depth of this truth.  Deep calls unto deep.  First things First.

God planned for our first day to be rest, Sabbath.  Our rest can't just be about "doing nothing", it has to become communion and fellowship with God.  Adam originally had unbroken fellowship with God.  Jesus Christ, the Second Adam, redeemed us back into God's Kingdom of light with full salvation.  He gave us the ability to become the sons of God. (John 1:12).  We must accept that Jesus truly paid the price in full.  WE RECEIVE.  While sitting in communion, in heavenly places, we learn how to operate as the sons of God.  Jesus said in Matthew 11: 28-30

"Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden and overburdened, and I will cause you to rest. [I will ease and relieve and refresh your souls.]

Take My yoke upon you and LEARN of ME, for I am gentle (meek) and humble (lowly) in heart, and you will find rest (relief and ease and refreshment and recreation and blessed quiet for your souls. (my emphasis added)

For My yoke is wholesome (useful, good-not harsh, hard, sharp, or pressing, but comfortable, gracious, and pleasant) and My burden is light and easy to be borne." Amplified Bible


That is the standard operating procedure for a son of God.  The Son of God. We sons of God.

The Message translation states it this way, "Learn the unforced rhythms of grace"  and "Keep company with me and you'll learn to live freely and lightly."

SOP for a SON of  GOD.

It's not the doing.  Although the walking is good and running is great (exercise).  Walking without fainting, running without growing weary requires waiting upon the Lord. (Isaiah 40:31).  God made us to "sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus". (Ephesians 2:6). Sit first.

First things First.


Sources:

Nee, Watchman. Sit, Walk, Stand. Fort Washington, PA: Christian Literature Crusade, 1962. Print.

© Ronda Wagner and kelbeychronicles.blogspot.com, 2013-2014. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Ronda Wagner and www.kelbeychronicles.blogspot.com with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.