January 06, 2022

Instead of this year being a CATCH 22, Let God, in Christ, by His Word, catch, capture, and keep you!

January 06, 2022/ Tabitha Deller

Catch 22 — a dilemma or difficult circumstance from which there is no escape because of mutually conflicting or dependent conditions;

a problematic situation for which the only solution is denied by a circumstance inherent in the problem or by a rule;

the circumstance or rule that denies a solution; an illogical, unreasonable, or senseless situation;

a measure or policy whose effect is the opposite of what was intended;

a situation presenting two equally undesirable alternatives;

a hidden difficulty or means of entrapment

Well, we are almost a full week into the new year, and in year’s past, by now, I’ve chosen and shared my “one word for the year” complete with why I chose it and the how I plan on living it.

But this year’s word had been a bugaboo. You could say, it’s been a CATCH 22...

(I’ll interject here, my husband knows me and my love for words well. He knows my word in 2020 was vision, for obvious reasons, so as 2022 has rolled around, he’s been hinting that my word should be “catch,” and while that’s not my word, the whole concept and meaning behind “catch 22” has got me thinking about the significance of choosing a word for the year...)

So even with it being a bugaboo and a bit of a catch 22, with God’s help, I narrowed it down to a few, but in the search, He impressed this upon my heart:

ONLY ONE WORD CAN TRANSFORM YOU.

It’s not a man-made word found in the pages of a dictionary, It’s the very Word of God found in the pages of The Holy Bible — breathed by Him, penned by men — our daily bread given to us by the Bread of Life — sustainable, unchangeable, infallible.

Instead of this year

being a CATCH 22,

Let God, in Christ, by His Word,

catch, capture, and keep you!

July 09, 2021

God's Standard is Set. We Must Never Forget...

July 09, 2021/ Tabitha Deller

God’s standard is set

We must never forget

Our words may fail

His Word will always prevail

I’ve been a little MIA on the blog lately, 3 weeks to be exact, which is the longest breath I’ve taken since I’ve been verbally processing on this platform for nearly a year now. But please don’t mistake my mute for lack of having something to say. Actually, I’ve had far too much to say. I’ve just been processing a little more privately than publicly lately.

Processing all that is going on in the world through the lens of a Biblical worldview, with God’s Word as our standard and His love as our guide, we can never go wrong and never lose our way, because He will never lead us astray.

So, if this world is a little too much for you, too, might I encourage you to pull away. Spend more time reading His Word than you spend reading others’ words. Spend more time measuring your motives to His standard than you do trying to please others, fit in, or not offend.

Honestly, I’m worn out by all the words — especially the vile words being spewed because of the evil being pursued. Did you know the words evil and vile are made up of the same letters, just placed in a different order? And what this spells out to me is that evil is evil no matter how you try to twist or spin it, hide or disguise it.

I’m worn out by the lack of common sense and the disregard for Biblical Truth that’s actually perpetuating the evil (all under the guise of “the right thing” or “the loving thing”). Let me tell you — lying to someone is never right, and it definitely is not loving.

I’m worn out by Christians falling prey to this evil by buying into its lies, all in the name of “love,” when really, loving the world is actually hating God (James 4:4).

June 18, 2021

In the War of Words, It's {Still} Time for a Better Word

June 18, 2021/ Tabitha Deller

I love words, but I am so tired of them. Seriously, the twisting and manipulating, the demeaning and degrading, it all has me completely worn out.

I wrote a blog post last year entitled In the War of Words, It’s Time for a Better Word, and I guess you could consider this post a part 2, because ironically, I have a few more words to say about these wars our words are waging. The emotional ammunition with which we keep firing back keeps us all raging. It’s a vicious cycle. Ya wanna know why?

Because we keep opening our mouths before we open God’s Word, or rather, we may be opening It, but we certainly aren’t doing what It says.

And since this battle we find ourselves in “is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms” (Ephesians 6:12), we must “put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, we may be able to stand our ground, and after we’ve have done everything, to stand.” (Ephesians 6:13)

Why are we fighting with our words when God has called us STAND on His Word and SPEAK His Word? It is the only offensive weapon in our armor. We must wield well the Sword of the Spirit if we are to defeat the enemy, the god of this world, the author of lies, the deceiver of souls by taking down his strongholds, dividing his lies from God’s truth, and setting his captives free to experience true victory in Jesus.

Yes, indeed, the very Word of God is sharper than any double edge sword, and It is the only weapon we need to defeat the enemy. Our words are merely weapons against each other and do nothing to defeat the real enemy.

We must stop using OUR words (our explanations and definitions) because they are skewed ever so slightly to fit into OUR point of view, and they will always fall short of the target of the enemy.

Nuance and semantics allow us to say a whole lot while really saying nothing at all. Because without the power of God behind them, words will always fall short. They will always be misunderstood. They will always be used to confuse. They will always be manipulated to elevate one group/person while putting down the next. It is simply the way of the world, and our words will always go that way apart from God’s Word and His Way.

May 25, 2021

Sometimes People Wear me Out, but All the Time God Fills me Up

May 25, 2021/ Tabitha Deller

Sometimes people wear me out, but all the time God fills me up.

I know that is such a flippant thing to say, snarky in a way, so let me provide some context to help keep the sarcasm at bay.

From what I observe (primarily from online interactions), people might be wearing you out, too, with all their different points of view, and if that’s true, might I encourage you to simply go to the source of all truth.

The Word of God.

It is a well that never runs dry. It alone can satisfy. So, when you’re weary and you’re wondering why, look closely at your supply.

Are you trusting the word of others before going to the Word of the One who is above all others?

Are you allowing people’s opinions and convictions to inform what you do or don’t do, who you follow or listen to, or what you believe about a God you thought you knew?

Hear me out. It is ok to learn from others, in fact, we should be learning and growing in community alongside other believers, but just because someone strongly believes something (doctrinally or otherwise) does not make it true. Only God’s Word can define Truth if you are looking through the lens of a Biblical worldview.

He gave us His Word. He left us His Holy Spirit to help us rightly divide and apply His Word as we live in this world. Others’ words can help or hurt our understanding of His Word. They can support or distort His Word. They can bring clarity or discrepancy to God’s Word, our ultimate authority. But no matter how good or not so good others’ words are, they will always fall short. His Word will never return void.

So, when people wear you out, let God fill you up.

May 03, 2021

Here Am I for the Great I Am: Making Sense of Obedience

May 03, 2021/ Tabitha Deller

Recently, my Monday mornings have been spent pouring over my notes from Sunday sermons. When you are given such rich truths, you want to make sure they take root!

Sunday morning, Pastor Joe opens the Word and brings a word. He then challenges us with that word to obediently live the Word so we can give the Word to a world desperate for a word. We know that the only word that can bring a word worth hearing and heeding is God‘s Word, so we’ll start there again today (and every day), as we learn what it truly means to trust and obey...

Genesis 22. I’m sure you’re familiar with this passage. I thought I was, too, until I found out Isaac was much older than I had imagined him when he made the multiple day journey with his father to Mount Moriah to carry out an act of obedience that would be hard at any age or life stage.

I’ve always thought Isaac was this young boy (likely a toddler), walking alongside his dad, maybe even carried by him at times because of the long trek they had up that mountain. But as Pastor Joe recapped this story as he read and reread details from the text, emphasizing timelines and connecting the series of events with the previous and following chapters, he concluded Isaac was likely 37 years old at the time of this journey.

I know. Shocking, right? For those of you to whom this is new news, I’ll give you a minute. Believe me, I’ve taken quite a few myself yesterday and today, dissecting the text, looking for myself, seeking to truly understand that which I cannot fully comprehend.

And that, dear friend, is what Bible study is all about — reading the Word in a way that It can read us, teach us, and beseech us to live according to It. God’s Word is alive and active. (Hebrews 4:12) It changes us, from the inside out, so It’s not just something we talk about, it’s our deepest desire to live it out.

So, when I recovered from the shock of discovering how old Isaac was at the time of this event, I was able to glean these three lessons about OBEDIENCE…

April 30, 2021

Stay Brave as You Age. Live to Grow. Grow to Live. Stay Young and Hungry as You Grow Older and Wiser.

April 30, 2021/ Tabitha Deller

I just started another round of the Brave Bible Study in my home, and we gathered last night for the first time around my kitchen table to study God’s Word in order to encourage and equip each other to walk out what we talked about.

This group is multigenerational — mothers and daughters, physically and spiritually, and as we gathered last night, I was reminded that no matter how young or old you are...

You will one day be older and wiser, and yet you can still be young and hungry. Honestly, I’m not sure what’s best, but I think it’s probably best to learn from both. Biblically, they both have place and purpose in the family of God, and they both can be powerfully used by God to further His Kingdom.

“Don’t let anyone think less of you because you are young. Be an example to all believers in what you say, in the way you live, in your love, your faith, and your purity.” ~ 1 Timothy‬ ‭4:12‬ ‭NLT‬‬

“Older women likewise are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers or slaves to much wine. They are to teach what is good, and so train the young women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled.” ~ Titus‬ ‭2:3-5‬ ‭ESV‬‬

So learn and grow older and wiser, but keep growing and learning as you stay young and hungry. In other words, grow in maturity, and as you grow more mature, always be open to learning more. Never think you’ve arrived. Always be teachable, because when you are, others are more reachable. It’s quite a beautiful thing.

Embrace the age you are now. Celebrate where you’ve been. Anticipate where you’re headed. It’s a wildly beautiful process. We experience the best of both worlds when we learn to live in the tension of the two (and when we live to learn from the tension of the two). Don’t despise the one you’re not yet and don’t neglect the one you once were.

Step into multigenerational spaces. No matter your age or life stage, always have someone older and wiser pour into you, so you can overflow and pour into someone that’s young and hungry.

Live to grow. Grow to live. It’s the bravest way to give our lives to Him.

April 19, 2021

How Well Do You Dwell?

April 19, 2021/ Tabitha Deller

Just a little Monday morning Sunday sermon recap. Pastor Green was droppin’ some truth bombs yesterday at Saint Paul’s Missionary Baptist Church, and I was picking up what he was putting down. In fact, one of the first things he said stuck with me throughout the sermon, and I knew then, I’d keep sharing God’s Word with you because it’s what we’ve been put on this earth to do.

There’s a line in the new Phil Wickham song, House of the Lord, that reminds us to “not stay quiet” and to “shout out His praise.” When we truly realize the gravity and depth of His great love for us and begin to fathom what that love has done for us, we can’t help but be moved to shout it, to share it, to stand up on it and to speak up for it.

As Pastor put it yesterday in his sermon, “Tell your story. Share the life changing truths of God’s Word and what He has done for you! Y’all tell everything else on social media — what you had for dinner, that you passed your test… If you are a believer in Jesus Christ, and you don’t have a desire to tell that to the world by sharing the Gospel and the power of His Word, you aren’t fulfilling what God has called you to do.”

Can I get an Amen?

We know this world is a dangerous place, and without the hope of Jesus, it’s a deadly place. We are on a mission and have been commissioned by our Maker to be disciple makers, and guess what? When this call on our lives seems daunting and impossible, He is a Waymaker. He will never lead us astray, but we must choose to stay — abide and dwell — consciously, constantly, continuously, and consistently.

He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty. ~ Psalm 91:1

The word dwell in this passage implies an ongoing process. It is a constant state of living, not simply in and out when convenient, but steadfast and consistent because you mean it.

April 12, 2021

Woke vs. Awake: The Gap is Great

April 12, 2021/ Tabitha Deller

The gap between the woke and the awake is getting greater and greater while the cost to stay awake is getting higher and higher. The more aware of the difference between the Word and the world I become, the more evident the distance between those who are woke and those who are awake becomes. The gap is growing greater because the two are going in opposite directions.

Let me take a moment to define the two terms I’m using (as I understand their meaning and as I am using them in this post):

Woke — those who are aware of and actively attentive to important facts and issues (especially issues of racial and social justice). They typically advocate for reconciliation by extra-Biblical and anti-Biblical means using the framework of ideologies such as Critical Theory and Critical Race Theory, and in my opinion, defeat the purpose of reconciliation by further dividing people by intersectionality (or the interconnected nature of social categorizations such as race, class, and gender as they apply to a given individual or group, regarded as creating overlapping and interdependent systems of discrimination or disadvantage).

Two quotes I recently read that sum up wokeness pretty well:

Wokeness is today’s religion. Cancel culture is it’s sacrament. — David Benham

Wokeness is a graceless religion. It never forgives past missteps. Its mission is to kill, steal, and destroy. It wants destruction and not restoration. As you stand for Biblical truth, wokeness will criticize you, demonize you, terrorize you, and someday soon, criminalize you. But love... Love keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not dishonor others. Choose love, not hate. Reject cancel culture. — Brian J. Dixon

And now, my take on being awake…

Awake — those who are aware of the enemy’s deception and use of these worldly ideologies to try to confuse Biblical Truth. Those who hold fast to sound doctrinal theology and see things through the lens of a Biblical Worldview realizing God does not show partiality, nor does He want His people to show partiality. (James 2:1, Acts 10:34-35, Romans 2:11, Galatians 3:28, 1 Timothy 5:21, Proverbs 28:21) Those who are awake, in my opinion, are wide awake and well aware of the deception and want to stand up for the Truth they know is the only way to true reconciliation.

The woke want to right the wrongs of the world by their own means and with their own terms and conditions while the awake know only God can right the wrongs, in fact, He already did, and it has NOTHING to do with us and what we do or don’t do and EVERYTHING to do with Him and what He has already done on our behalf.

April 07, 2021

Our Daily Bread. The Bread of Life.

April 07, 2021/ Tabitha Deller

Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.” John 6:35

These words of Jesus in John 6 establish the sustaining significance of the Word of God in the life of a believer. John affirms the authority of the Word by penning these words in chapter 1, verse 1, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” He continues to emphasize the significance of Jesus' words by saying in verse 14, “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.”

In other words, Jesus is the Word; therefore, when we spend time in the Word, we spend time with Him. When we spend time with Him by spending time in His Word, we are nourished by the bread of life — all powerful, all sufficient, never changing, never deficient.

If I'm honest, I don’t always take time to truly consume His Word. Sometimes, the moment I “put it in my mouth,” I'm spitting it back out on social media, liking it and sharing it more than I'm consuming it and allowing it to nourish me. I've barely "tasted and seen" (Psalm 34:8) before I want to be liked and seen.

He is the bread of life — our DAILY bread. Like the Israelites gathered manna, the miraculous bread of heaven, DAILY, we must gather our portion DAILY. His Word is “alive and active” (Hebrews 4:12), straight from His heart and His life to our hearts and our lives. Just like day old manna was foul and inedible, leftovers will never satisfy like a fresh, new, daily portion.

Spending time in the Word with the Word (Jesus) not only nourishes us, it fills us to overflowing, and can nourish others, too! When we daily open God's Word and let Him pour out a fresh word over us, we are able to receive it for ourselves and release it to others, because it’s a natural (or rather supernatural) byproduct. We not only read to regurgitate, we consume to cultivate.

When we realize the sustaining power of the Word of God by consuming it daily, we want to live it and give it to others every single day, too! And then we get to watch what the power of His Word can truly do!

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