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Kitty Girl by Linda Lange

I had the most amazing experience with my cat. Well, it wasn't always my cat, we were hers. She adopted us actually. She was a stray cat that found its way to our back porch and for the past 2 years we have been feeding it and giving attention as much as it lets us. She is still very wild and wants nothing to do with humans, but allows Tom and I to touch her from time to time. Recently her world turned upside down.

She had an injury and so we had to take her to the vet. After 2 days of trying to catch her and put her in a cat carrier, we finally got her to the vet. She had to have several stitches and would need to remain in the house until the sutures were removed, not to mention 10 days of antibiotics I had to administer each day. They had warned me that she may not like it, but still has to be given. So I thought this is going to be interesting.

So there she was, cooped up in the house. We first had her in the laundry room and then began letting her out to roam the house. She began calming down because at first she cried and cried. She sounded just like a baby at times, which was unnerving to say the least. But we kept her in the house no matter how much she desired to be outside. She didn't understand that we were doing this for her good!

The Lord used this situation to show me that that is how we are with Him. We kick and scream sometimes wondering what God is doing, when all along He is doing this for our own good!

So then as the days progressed, she became calmer and calmer. It started when Tom laid on the floor and waited for her to come to him. She was hiding under a chair in the living room and in minutes she was rubbing up against him and purring. She came to him.

The Lord used this to show me His unconditional love. He's waiting for us to "receive" His love. Tom loves that cat so much but didn't go after it to try to make it receive his love. He waited patiently and the cat came to him. God showed me that he's also waiting for us. His love is so awesome and so available but he doesn't force it on us. He wants us to come to him and receive it of Him.

As we began showing love and care to it, she began to understand a bit and it as apparant she was even happy. She may not know what is going on, she doens't know why she can't go outside and chase birds, but she does know we love her. She is really responding to that love. She doesn't know that in 2 weeks she'll be going outside again. She just knows we are caring for her in the strange environment and she's finding peace.

The Lord used this to show me that as we "allow" Him to love us, we begin developing more of a trust with Him. So that as our world turns upside down, we don't get all out of sorts, but that we remain constant and at peace because we trust Him. We know that he is keeping us from harm and doing things in our life for good. We can obtain peace in this knowledge. And, we don't know what tomorrow will bring. We don't know that next year we'll be living in another house or working another job. We don't know, but we know God loves us today and preparing the way for the tomorrows. To be content where we are is peace.

Ten days have passed and it was the last day to give her antibiotics, and a few more days until her sutures come out. She doesn't know this though. How can she, she's a cat! But she knows she is safe and warm in this house.

The it happened - she escaped! Somehow the front door was opened a crack and she found her way out. I looked high and low for her, but no where to be found. In this peace remained. As I shared in my last months article, there is a peace that is truly passing all understanding, so even in this I had peace. As much as I love that kittygirl, as much as I know she needs to remain in the house to be safe and protected, she left and I couldn't do anything about it.

The next morning Tom was going to work, and there she was, outside the back door. So he brought in back in. He had to pick her up and bring her in, she didn't run in!

Again, the Lord used this to show me a mystery of His love and protection. That sometimes we also run out from under the shadow of His wings, his love and His protection. Not that he doesn't love us when we do that, but we are no longer able to receive... As with the kitty, I still loved her, but she wasn't allowing me to protect her and keep her and love her. She chose that. We also choose, every day, if we will allow God to love us or not. Protect us or not. When we start doing our own thing and trying to figure things out without God, we are leaving His wings. We are like the prodigal son who left home to find adventure - but came home with his tail between his legs. Realzing what he had was enough. God allows us to set out into some strange journey because He wants us to understand that He is enough! As with the kitty, it's "in her" to be a cat. To run, jump and play. God knows what is "in" us too, and that "stuff" is what causes us to choose right or wrong paths. We need to realize that stuff in us that is not of God has to go otherwise we will never find the peace we so desire.

So for now, the kitty remains under our roof. But one day she'll be let out again to be the kitty she was destined to be. Just as with us. During the time of trials and purging and teaching, it may be hard, but one day you too will be let out to go about doing all that God has called you to do. It may look like that time will never happen, but don't be concerned with that, be more concerned of your daily experiences with Him as your protector, guide, healer and lover of your soul. For today is all we have anyway so make the best of where you are today, right now. "Take NO THOUGHT of tomorrow...."

SINNERS SAVED BY GRACE by Pete Plitt

Somewhere in our collective pasts we heard that we were, "Sinners, saved by Grace." Much of this foundation was laid on verses like, "As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one." [Romans 3:10] Yes, our own righteousness is as filthy rags, but these are qualification statements. In other words, I can't get eternal life with my own righteousness, so I qualify for His. Romans 3:23-26 "For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, TO DECLARE HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; TO DECLARE, I SAY, AT THIS TIME HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus." Once we've received His righteousness, we are not to go on declaring our sinfulness or lack of righteousness. It's not about our righteousness, but about declaring His righteousness in us. Psalms 107:2 says, "Let the redeemed of the LORD say so . . ."

This is more than semantics. If one is a sinner, they usually act like the devil and need to get saved. However, if a believer, we have been made His righteousness and must begin to live and confess it. 2Corinthians 5:21 "For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him." He became our sin so that we could become His righteousness. This being the depth that Love went for us, why would we not declare about ourselves what He has said about us? Stated another way, 1Thessalonians 5:9-10 "For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ, Who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him. He died so that we might live. Since the wages of sin is death [Romans 6:23], when Jesus became our sin, He died our death which satisfied the cost of sin. The results of our becoming His righteousness was obtaining His Life eternal.

Just for clarification, I did not say that we don't have the capacity to make bad choices. We tend to prove our ability or capacity to sin all too often. Thank God He is faithful and just to forgive us when we repent [I John 1:9]. Renewing our minds to our justification is a process. Ephisians 4:24 says it this way, "And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness." The grace that justifies us is not a convenient get out of sin jail free card that allows us to get away with sin. Grace is the empowerment to say "NO!" to sin. Romans 6:14 "For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace." It encompasses the full work of the cross, from the cleansing blood of Christ, to our death of the old man, to the new life or nature through rebirth. It's time to put on the "New Man," that is, to show and tell who we are in Christ.

Look at the power of the blood concerning our position in Christ. Hebrews 9:14 "How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?" His blood not only cleanses the sin, but purges our conscience of the old man, if we will let it. The purging process here is said well in Romans 12:2 where we are not to conform to this world [or the world's way of thinking and speaking], but to be renewed in our minds to what God's Word says about us. Also, II Corinthians 10:5 offers additional instruction to literally cast down the imaginations that are asked from God's thinking, to take captive every false thought to the obedience of Jesus Christ. The provision for walking in holiness having been completed, it now lands squarely on our shoulders to declare our position in Christ - Revelation 1:6 "And hath made us kings and priests unto God."

If we do not distinguish between the sinner in need of salvation and a saint growing in grace, the enemy will avail himself of the opportunity. When we miss the mark, when we sin, the devil will certainly put his arm on our shoulders and say, "Well what do you expect, you're just an old sinner saved by grace." "You tried, but it must just be that old Adam that keeps flaring up." "Don't worry though, some day you'll figure it out." As long as the enemy can keep us looking at out mistakes instead of our status in Christ, we'll have more excuses and justifications of why we can't get past our failings than examples of living as more than a conqueror [Romans 8:37]. That's what the enemy wants - is that where we want to go? Remember, we are to declare His righteousness "at this time," not wait until we feel righteous. Sin does not have dominion over us. When we accepted His substitution in His becoming our sin, in the rebirth we, at that time, became His righteousness.

If we sin, we should say, "God, I'm sorry I fell short of your glory and I thank You for Your cleansing blood that makes me Your Righteousness, empowered by your grace to say NO to the works of darkness." The next time someone says they are a sinner saved by grace, tell them that you used to be a sinner, then you got saved by grace, and now you are the righteousness of God. Besides, if you think about it, being a sinner saved [past tense] by grace is an oxymoron.

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