Karen Wingate | Author at Grace on Parade

September 19, 2018 by Karen Wingate Leave a Comment

Time Alone With God: Finding Your Solitary Place

Where do you go to spend time alone with God when you have no place to go?

Recently, my husband and I flew to North Carolina to visit our daughter and her new husband. We spent part of one day on the beach near Surf City, and it was a glorious day. After splashing in the waves and making a video about the new sights I was seeing for our What I Saw Today Facebook group page, I detached myself from the family so I could spend some time alone with God.

It was much needed. The last three months have been tough on several fronts, and I desperately wanted to reconnect with my Abba Father. Being a pastor’s wife, I’m around people a lot. Because I don’t drive, I can’t escape to the serene places I envision as the perfect oases for time alone with God, If I can’t have my pretty, peaceful, perfect place, I tend to not do it at all.

My time at the ocean reinforced my need for time with my God and the importance of finding my solitary place, no matter where it might be.

Time alone with God is a good thing. Jesus did it.

Jesus was intentional in His time spent with His Father.

The Bible says in Matthew 14:13 that Jesus withdrew to a solitary place. He had experienced some tough times too. The crowds were always at his elbow, there were so many needy, hurting people crying out for His attention and compassion, and He bore His own private pain of the execution of his cousin, John the Baptist. The night before the cross, he took Peter, James and John to a quiet spot in the Garden of Gethsemane and then withdrew to be alone with His God.

Jesus did a good thing, the right thing. When life smacks you in the face, the best thing you can do for yourself and those around you is to withdraw. You can go by yourself or take a few good friends.

Lena Hann did this. When diagnosed with incurable pancreatic cancer, Lena withdrew to her daughter’s house for a weekend. Church people were told, “Don’t call. Let me be.” Our small congregation respected that. A week later, Lena rejoined our church community, strong and ready to face the final few weeks of her life.

I don’t have to wait to the end of my life for moments with my Lord. Time alone with God needs to be a rgular practice. Just like Jesus, I need to be intentional. And so do you. If we have no place to go, how do we make it happen?

Where is my solitary place?

Where would I like it to be? A coffee shop. A beautiful place. A Gazebo in the middle of a botanical garden. A park. A comfy couch in an alcove with quiet music and a coffee pot nearby.

But I don’t drive and I live in a small town with a backyard minus a fence to hide my tears and cries to God. What are my options?

Home while my husband is at work
My breezeway
Back yard canopy
The rocking chair in my office
An alcove at our church next door.

What solitary places can you use for your time alone with God. Stop right here and brainstorm a list.

Still stumped? It’s not necessarily about a place but about the time. It isn’t about where you go to but what you get away from. Here are some ways you can create your own solitary place.

Creating your personal space and time

Get rid of the excuses. I used these excuses about places I could use as my solitary place.

Too hot or cold to be outside
Too far to walk to a restaurant
No place to hold my Bible

That’s when I came up with the list of places I COULD go rather than what WOULDN’T work.

Follow Jesus’ example and command. Jesus sought a solitary place, not a beautiful place. I was dismissing options because in my mind, they didn’t create an environment of beauty and peace. Jesus emphasized that whatever we do, we need to be alone so it’s just Him and us. Jesus instructs his disciples to go into an inner room, or closet as the King James says, to pray in secret. That might be the best idea for you! A closet is dark, free of distractions, and too small for even the cat or dog to join you.

Remove distractions. Hide your smart phone so you can’t hear the notification chime. Contrary to all the pictures on Google that show someone with their Bible and a cup of coffee, leave your coffee in the kitchen. It’s one more distraction. Let God know your time with Him is more important than anything.

Communicate your priority. If you work in an office or a home office, treat your time alone with God as an appointment. If you are a parent, tell your kids that you need some moment by yourself. When my girls were in elementary school, I told them, “I will be a better mom if I have a few moments by myself to talk with God and read my Bible. You need to let me do this and not bother me for the next [x numbers of] minutes.”

Make the most of the moment. I’m bad about this. As a pastor, my husband’s schedule and time to arrive home is unpredictable. If I suspect he is coming home soon, I delay getting into a big project or something for which I need alone time. I’ve learned to do it anyway. If I don’t want to be disturbed, I close my office door – that’s Jack’s signal that I am off limits.

Jesus, as the all-knowing Son of God, knew beforehand that 5,000 hungry people would follow him to his retreat with his disciples. He could have easily thought, why bother? I’ll get interrupted anyway. He persisted in taking them to a solitary place, dealt with the interruption, and then finished His time alone with God after he sent the disciples on ahead.

Don’t wait for the perfect time or perfect place for your time alone with God. Make it happen. He’s waiting for you.

Where is your solitary place? Share with us in the comments below.

September 17, 2018 by Karen Wingate Leave a Comment

Galatians Bible Study: Finding Our Freedom In Christ

What is freedom?

I’ve felt a sensation of freedom several times in my life. I remember the day we made the final payment on my husband’s school loans. Another time was writing a check for the last of the medical bills after Jack’s back-to-back surgeries last year. Whew. It felt like someone had lifted a weight off my shoulders. We had discretionary money again. No more fear that we would be turned over to a credit agency and penalized for not paying soon enough. No more reminders in the mailbox that we owed something to somebody. It was a wonderful feeling.

When have you experienced a sense of freedom?

The book of Galatians is often called the charter of Christian liberty.

Read Galatians 1:1-10

Why would Paul connect the Gospel message with the imagery of freedom?

Paul uses some strong language about those who would dare mess with the gospel message. The first thing we need to ask ourselves is: What is the Gospel?

What important components of the Gospel does Paul mention in Galatians 1:3-5?

Over and over, the New Testament writers stop in the middle of their accounts, sermons, and letters to describe the gospel message. I call these verses the Gospel in a nutshell.

“For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.” – Col 1:13,14
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” – John 3:16
“But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe.” – Romans 3:21,22

Those verses are for starters. Check out these other verses:

Titus 3:4-7
John 5:24
1 John 2:2
1 Corinthians 15:3,4
Ephesians 3:12
2 Corinthians 5:21
Romans 5:8

Can you list other “gospel in a nutshell” verses? Share your findings in the comments of this blog post.

Why was Paul so passionate about preserving the integrity of the gospel message?

Paul makes it very clear that we cannot save ourselves. God is such a holy God that even one sin would separate us from His holiness. There is no way possible that we can fulfill the entire law, so why even try to do it on our own? If you base your salvation on obeying one particular law, then you must obey every law, which is impossible for any of us.

Over the centuries, what large groups have tampered with the Gospel message and have added other practices and requirements to membership in God’s Kingdom?

Why would Paul cringe at these attempts?

We can easily point fingers at groups who have added practices, written second volumes to the Bible, and made long lists of rules for membership to their brand of Christianity. Let’s look at ourselves.

How do we fall into the trap of legalism?

It was tough for me to come up with my own list. Completing these sentences helped me discover how I’m trying to win my way into God’s favor.

I would be a better Christian if . . .
Satan likes to accuse me of . . .
The church would burn down if I . . .
God and others would disapprove of me if I stopped . . .
I’m not being a good Christian if I . . .
I should . . . .

How would you complete those sentences? Can you add other sentences that reveal how you are working your way to Heaven?

God still holds us responsible for moral law. The New Testament contains many commands for which God does hold us accountable. But the big difference is that He wants us to obey out of our trust in Him and our love for Him, not out of a feeling of do’s and don’ts.

We engage in many daily activities where there is no right or wrong. God will think no less of me if I wear pants instead of a skirt to church Sunday morning, play SkipBo, drink coffee, or miss attending a social group meeting at church!

As I was preparing this lesson, I went to bed that night, berating myself that I had skipped my morning devotions and prayer time. Some Christian you are, that hideous voice whispered inside my head. Then I thought of my activities over the day: I attended church, took notes on the sermon, got weepy over the Communion meditation, engaged in the Sunday School discussion about Matthew 7, worked on preparations for this Bible study, and attended my husband’s evening Bible study. I had been immersed in the Word of God all day long!

Yes, morning devotions is a good idea and it will help me grow in my walk with Christ. But there is no “Thus saith the Lord” about morning devotions, only biblical examples. God does not keep a tally sheet of how many times we attend church or fail to study the Bible. But His Word is explicit that we do something with what we read and learn. He cares most about our attitude.

Final Thoughts

Why do you think people want to add legalism to our faith in Christ? Why do we still try to please God by what we do?

How is the choice to live by faith a better way to reach God?

How has your relationship with Jesus brought you freedom?

September 13, 2018 by Karen Wingate Leave a Comment

What’s So Wrong With Worry?

Worry can kill you.

Just ask the Israelites of Moses’ day about the high cost of worry.

Remember the Bible story about the twelve spies? I love the children’s song that tells the story.

Twelve men went to spy out Canaan,
(Ten were bad, two were good)
What do you think they saw in Canaan?
(Ten were bad, two were good)
Some saw giants, big and tall!
Some saw grapes in clusters fall,
Some saw God was in it all.
(Ten were bad, two were good).

Moses sent twelve men to explore Canaan, the land God wanted the Israelites to possess. He wanted them to gather information – was the land good or bad? Were the people strong or weak? Were the towns fortified or not? Moses needed information so the Israelites would know how to proceed. (Read the story in Numbers 13,14.)

Instead of treating the trip as a fact-finding mission, the twelve spies allowed their opinions to cloud their reports. Despite Joshua and Caleb’s attempts to the contrary, ten spies used their emotional reactions to sway the rest of the Israelite camp. “We can’t do this thing,” they basically wailed.

The Israelites allowed worry to cloud their judgement and their trust in God. They looked at the obstacle rather than the opportunity. They didn’t believe God really could take care of them.

At the core, worry is disbelief.

The Israelites paid for their worry big time. You think you’re gonna die? God challenged them. You will die. In the desert. Facing no other enemy but yourself. God raised up a new generation of Israelites who did believe that God could do the impossible.

I find this story scary. It’s scary because I’ve been guilty too many times of the very same thing.

Worrying that God won’t take care of me.
Convincing myself that I’m responsible to fix the problem and I’m not strong enough or resourceful enough to do it.
Misdirecting my focus on the problem, not the potential.
Forgetting that God is Lord of the possible and that with Him, nothing is impossible.

Do you do that too?

I don’t want to be that way. I want to be a Joshua instead of a no-name scaredy-cat. I’d rather be the vision-caster who says, “Come on, we can do this thing” instead of shrinking back in fear.

While I was on vacation, my son-in-law took me out on a motorcycle. “Don’t lean into the curve,” Kevin told me. “Keep your body upright.” As the bike ascended a hill, my bottom wanted to slide backwards and I panicked. Had there ever been reports of injuries from someone falling off the back and landing on their tailbone? I surmised that the principle about curves probably applied to inclines too. Finding my center of gravity, I straightened my spine, leaned forward into Kevin, and trusted his ability to keep us safe. I found out later, that was exactly what I needed to do.

Keeping our center of gravity works for everyday life too.

Instead of allowing our problems to push us into panic mode, we need to lean forward, stand firm, and trust the One who is in the driver’s seat.

Bob Russel, retired minister of the Southeast Christian Church in Louisville, Kentucky, says we worry when we allow our priorities to get out of whack. That was true of the ten spies. They failed to keep the main thing the main thing. They forgot about the wonderful things God had done, including the big one of getting them out of Egypt. If God could rescue them from Pharaoh’s hand, conquering Jericho was a walk in the park!

God is an ever-present God.He is already in the future, devising His best plans for our good and His glory. We can trust Him to have all the resources we need and more besides.

What’s the problem with worry?

Bob Russell says worry is,

Futile
Harmful
Contagious
Faithless

For me, it is very tempting right now to worry about the damage Hurricane Florence will do to the Carolina Coastline. My daughter, son-in-law and many friends live in the path of the flooding that will inevitably come. The beach I strolled on during a recent vacation is about to be recarved by a ten-foot storm surge.

There is nothing I can do to stop or alter the course of that hurricane. Yet I know the One who can. I know the One who is able to stop the storm surge from going any further than He wills it to go, and He will be with the people who cry out to Him. He’s promised.

Worry solves nothing. Worry compounds the problem. Trust hands the controls over to the One who has the power to intervene. Trust in God is ultimately far more effective than worry.

Worry compounds the problem. Trust hands the controls to the One with the power to intervene.

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What circumstances tempt you to worry? Step out in faith, do what you can, but leave the rest to God. Watch Him do what you don’t think can be done.

September 11, 2018 by Karen Wingate Leave a Comment

Galatians Bible Study Introduction: Where in the World is Galatia?

Welcome to our Bible study on the book of Galatians.

This week, we’ll look at an introduction to the book: the writer (Paul), his audience (the Galatians), and the issue Paul needed to address in his letter.

It must have been hard for the average Christian Jew to incorporate Christianity into their daily lives. Yes, they’d been waiting millennia for the Messiah. They understood Jesus’ death as the atoning sacrifice for sin and His resurrection that established Him as the divine Son of God. But what next? Does that mean to stop bringing animals to the Temple each year? Could they still celebrate Passover? What about circumcision? Eating pork?

That part of the Christian struggle has not changed in the last 2,000 years. Holding on to rituals as a way to garner my “in” with God, still sneaks into our Christian lingo. Living by faith is nice talk but don’t I have to do something to receive God’s favor?

Let’s put ourselves in the sandals of a Christian Jew.

Think about a time you were resistant to change. Why was it hard? What caused you to finally accept the change?

Paul was the first missionary to the world outside Israel. He used the strategy of talking to Jewish people first in a new city and then broadening out to include Gentiles. At first Jews were interested in what he had to say. Then, as Gentiles embraced the Gospel, the Jews became jealous and abusive.

Read Acts 13:13-14:20. Why do you think the Jews had a hard time accepting the Gentiles as fellow believers and heirs to the kingdom.

Lystra, Iconium, and Pisidian Antioch are all cities in the area known as Galatia, which is part of Asia Minor or modern Turkey. You’ve probably heard of the Gauls – Asia Minor is the area they settled in the third century, B.C. Many Jews who had been displaced when the Assyrians overran Israel also lived in this region.

In his letter to those Christians living in Galatia, Paul contrasts the life lived by the law verses the life lived by faith, and the freedom we find when we live by faith in Christ. It’s easy to read Paul’s letter and wonder why the Jews struggled so much with incorporating the gospel message into daily life.

Why did the Jews try to influence Gentiles to take on Jewish practices?

Do we face the same difficulty?

Does the church of today burden new believers with extra expectations?

Do you ever wonder if you have worked hard enough for Jesus?

I know I have. When I talked to my minister’s wife about becoming a Christian, I told her I wondered if I would work hard enough in the church. It wasn’t until much later that I understood the concept of God’s freeing grace and that working hard in the church didn’t guarantee my salvation one bit.

How have you struggled with the temptation to work your way into God’s favor? What external expectations do you find yourself placing on other Christians?

If you feel your walk with Christ burdened with a list of do’s and don’ts, I hope you’ll join us each week as we study Paul’s letter to the Galatians. Our next lesson will look at Galatians 1:1-10.