Author Archives: Becky Pliego

About Becky Pliego

I am grateful because God, in His grace, called me out of darkness and into his admirable light. When I did not look for Him, He found me. When I was in a pit of sin, He rescued me. I am not walking this road alone, my family is always with me, and we love Him, because He loved us first.

Praying the Psalms -Psalm 20-

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A prayer of intercession.

To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David.

May the Lord answer you in the day of trouble!
May the name of the God of Jacob protect you!
May he send you help from the sanctuary
and give you support from Zion!
May he remember all your offerings
and regard with favor your burnt sacrifices!
Selah

May he grant you your heart’s desire
and fulfill all your plans!
May we shout for joy over your salvation,
and in the name of our God set up our banners!
May the Lord fulfill all your petitions!

Now I know that the Lord saves his anointed;
he will answer him from his holy
heaven
with the saving might of his right
hand.

Some trust in chariots and some in
horses,
but we trust in the name of the Lord
our God.
They collapse and fall,
but we rise and stand upright.

O Lord, save the king! May he answer us when we call.

Father, I come boldly before you in the name of Jesus. It is because of Him and through Him that I can come before you and be assured that you hear the voice of my prayer.

Your steadfast love, O Lord, is forever sure and your mercies new every morning. This morning, therefore,  I come before you to pray for my neighbor. That she might see your steadfast love and mercy anew in her life this day.

Answer to my friend’s prayer.  In the time of trouble she has seek your face and has not hidden from you. Her heart, her thoughts, her fears are before you. Oh Father, hear the voice of her prayer today.

She is troubled, her soul is heavy, she cries herself to sleep, and her troubles surround her day and night. Be her comforter. Be her protection, her support, her strength, her hiding place. Please, O God, answer her prayers according to your good will; she is your daughter, the apple of your eye, your child. Be with her today.

Lord you are full of mercy, and I pray that in your mercy you will remember her, remember all her prayers, her tears, her service to others, her love for your Word. Lord, let her know that you have not forsaken her. That you know the number of the hairs on her head.

Father, my friend has poured her heart before you many times. Her heart’s desires and plans are before you. Show her the way she should go. Bless her steps, and give her wisdom to decide the best in every circumstance. Lord, answer her. Please, Father, grant her the petitions of her heart, help her to wait patiently on you. May she shout for joy over your salvation and your glorious name.  May her rejoice in the God who hears!

Lord, I pray today for my friend. Some trust in so many things that are vain, but we know You. We know who is our only hope. We know that you hear the prayers of your children. We know that you will never leave us or forsake us. We know in whom we have trusted. We trust in You. We trust in your name, Mighty God, Prince of Peace, Strong Tower, Jesus, Wonderful, Counselor.  We trust in every aspect of your name. We trust in You, in all of You, Oh Lord.

Rise my friend from the ground, Father,  help her stand upright. Be her victory. Be her song.

Blessed be your name, O Lord of Hosts.
Blessed be the King of kings who hears the plea of his servants.

Amen

 

The Doctrine of Love: Our Identity as Christians

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©Annie Pliego Photography

 

“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” Jesus

Having a strong, biblical foundation based on solid doctrine is essential in the life of all Christians. It keeps us humble to know, for example,  that we have been saved by God’s grace and that we did not choose Him, but that He chose us. It help us not despair in our daily battle against sin the wonderful doctrine of the Perseverance of the Saints. He will not let us go. He who has called us will never leave us nor forsake us. He who began a good work in us is able to complete it. Our salvation, from A-Z depends only in the work of Christ Jesus, and that is strong, comforting doctrine. The doctrine of the Sovereignty of God is what gives us hope when all seems to be falling apart, when there are many questions and a few answers. That He is ruling this world and that he knows the number of the hairs on my head, makes a whole world of a difference. The way we approach God in prayer, the way we live our lives, the way we respond to sin, the way we deal with the desires of our hearts, all we do depends on the doctrines on which we stand.

There is one doctrine, however, that we sometimes leave on the side. We know it is there and we pretend to know it well until differences arise and conflict comes our way, I am talking about the doctrine of love.

Maybe because it has been abused in so many Christian traditions in which love has been preached without a biblical backbone, with no doctrinal frame, we tend to minimize its importance. We know we must love, but in reality we care more about being zealous for truth than in laying down our lives for others.

We pass by the wounded and do nothing because we are too busy defending our doctrinal righteousness.  Jesus, our model to follow, did both: He touched the unclean,  and sat and ate with the sinners while preaching Truth, while preaching repentance of sins. Paul and Silas helped the sick and the widows while defending Truth.

The first Christians were persecuted for preaching the Truth without compromise, while at the same time they were known by the love amongst themselves. Tertullian (c. A.D. 200) wrote,

“It is mainly the deeds of a love so noble that lead many to put a brand upon us. “See,” they say, “how they love one another,” for they themselves are animated by mutual hatred. “How they are ready even to die for one another!” For they themselves will sooner put to death… . No tragedy causes trouble in our brotherhood, [and] the family possessions, which generally destroy brotherhood among you, create fraternal bonds among us. One in mind and soul, we do not hesitate to share our earthly goods with one another. All things are common among us but our wives. (Apology 39)”

We should pay more attention and study with more zeal the doctrine of love; while praying earnestly that the Lord will lead us into repentance for the many times we have not shown true love for Him (and His Word) because of our lack of love for those around us. Our identity as Christians, the way we should be known even today, must be the way we  deeply love and care for one another. It is not an option; just as it is not an option to believe in the importance of salvation by faith and not by works.

In the past few months I have been digging deep into this, searching the Scriptures and my heart. And it is not easy to find the balance needed to live this out. It is not easy because we love Truth, and because we want to defend it. It is not easy because we know that false teachers do destroy families, and churches, and lead many astray,  and we do not want to compromise the Truth of God, we want to stand firm on the Word of God and reach out to those whom we see in danger. But Jesus (and his disciples) taught us that it is possible to do both. We can love our neighbors and our enemies without compromising the Truth of God. And it is possible to do so, because that is exactly what we have been commanded to do.

My husband and my children are witnesses of the struggle of my heart as I have been learning these lessons, as I seek answers to these questions. I love Jesus and I want to love my neighbors as well as my enemies. I want to be known as a Christian.

If you want to dig deeper into this doctrine I would suggest that you study in depth (get an expository commentary) 1st John, the Sermon of the Mount, and the epistle to the Galatians. Two other books that have helped me to understand all this (and have made me cry more than once) are: Loving the Way Jesus Loves by Ryken, and If You Bite and Devour One Another: Biblical Principles for Handling Conflict by Alexander Strauch.

May God draw us to Him, so that we may be drawn to love those around us.

Still learning,

Becky

What Good is a Story?

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Today I may be found at  Elizabeth’s place, my friend and mentor in so many ways.

ISN’T OUR LIFE LIKE A SERIES of short stories? Many events, many seasons, many characters. Some we love and some we don’t. Some characters remain in our lives forever, and some are gone before we had ever wished them to leave.

We plan our lives just like Barbara Kingsolver, just like our neighbor, our friend; just like those who seek God and those who are always running away from Him. We “put a tidy plan on our calendars,” and without a warning we all are hit by the unexpected. The squares on our wall calendar seem to fall down as pieces from a puzzle and we feel like we don’t know how to live our days anymore. And through it all, and as best we can, we keep trying to read the stories within the story. 

Please, join me as we discuss What Good is a Story? by Barbara Kingsolver at Finding The Motherlode…


Becky

A Lesson on Praying Earnestly and Unexpected Miracles

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If you were my child, by this time you would have heard me saying a million of times how wonderful (and important) it is to read the Bible stories as if you had never read them before. Be expectant, read the drama, pay attention, be engaged with the characters in the narrative. Get excited. Love the story. See Jesus. Things like these I tell my children over and over again.

Today I would like to convince you to do the same. Read in Acts 12 the story of Peter’s imprisonment and how he was rescued by an angel. Read it aloud. Get excited. Be engaged. Read it as if you had never read it before.
The Liberation of St. Peter by Sebastiano Ricci, 1722

Herod is killing Christians and when he sees that the Jews are happy about it, he decides to keep on the persecution, so he arrests Peter. Peter is now asleep in the prison and an angel appears and strikes him on the side. Just imagine that, waking up in a dark, nasty cell surrounded by a bright light and an angel striking you. Not the kind of an angel apparition that many would like to have. That would have been scary. Now add to the fact that the words that the angel speaks are not sweet and soft. The angel woke up Peter telling him, “Get up, quickly.” The chains fell from Peter hands and the next thing he hears is the angel telling him “Dress yourself and put on your sandals.” The angel appeared in a fantastic way, now he surrounds Peter with a bright light, strikes him, breaks his chains and asks him to dress up quickly. Without much thought, they pass by two soldiers and find themselves in the street. Peter in now all by himself, the angel has departed and just then he realizes that this had not been a dream. This is how things work when you are in the business of preaching the gospel. You either get the beatings from men or the striking from angels whom God sends to break chains and open doors.

Now keep on reading and see the wonderful lesson in the story. In one of Peter’s friends’ house many saints had gather together to pray for Peter’s deliverance as soon as they had heard the news of his arrest. These saints prayed earnestly (v.5), and no one would have dared to doubt their faith. The answer to their prayer came when they were praying earnestly -but expecting nothing: the Lord sent his angel and Peter was out in the streets walking towards his friend’s house where they were all gathered. The saints were still praying earnestly. God’s answer to their prayers knocks at the door and they don’t believe the miracle. They even scolded Rhoda, the servant girl who first recognized Peter’s voice -and believed the miracle- with harsh words saying, “You are out of your mind.” Talk about being in the spirit and all of a sudden acting in the flesh? Here you have a good example.  But Rhoda, and I just love that her name is here for us to remember, kept insisting, It is Peter, it is him. He is here! But the men who had been praying earnestly did not believe her. They thought it was easier to have an angel knocking at the door than Peter himself (I guess they had to listen from Peter how angels open doors and strike people, and not necessarily knock at doors).

This story has taught me an enormous lesson:  God hears and answers our earnest prayers, not because of our faith, as if our faith had power in itself to change things, but because He is full of grace. He answers the prayers of his own in spite of our unbelief because He is our Heavenly Father.

We pray not to change God’s will, we pray because we have been commanded by God to pray. The saints in this story prayed earnestly and God’s will happened even though their faith was little. What an encouragement! Let us pray earnestly, without ceasing. Let us get together with our family and with our friends to pray. God will sure hear us, and His will will be done on earth as it is done in Heaven. Our prayers avail much not because of our own merits, but because the God who hears us has mercy on us. He moves us to pray and to pray earnestly. Let us keep praying, friends, soon an expected-unexpected miracle will knock at our door.

“Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

 

Becky

Do You Love Jesus or Your Robust Theology?

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 To think about:

“A disciple is a student of Christ -someone who spends time with the Savior in order to come to know him better and resemble him more closely. As a pastor, I have found that many Christians simply assume that learning more and more about Bible and theology -Reformed theology in particular- is the same thing as growing as a disciple. It isn’t. Robust theology can be a powerful catalyst in this process, but like anything else, we can turn it into an idol. The danger is that, while we may begin with Reformed theology as the framework by which we more coherently understand  and appreciate our faith, over time it can become the substance of our faith. At that point, daily living is more about mastering Reformed doctrine than being mastered by Jesus and his total claim over every area of life.

When does one’s attention to theology become too much? It’s not always easy to say…

But we cross the line when we are more focused on mastering theology than on being mastered by Christ.”

Greg Dutcher, Killing Calvinism: How to Destroy a Perfectly Good Theology From the Inside

It Is Wise to Anticipate Old Age

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100 Days of Books

Today I am humbled and grateful for the opportunity to be sharing over at Desiring Virtue. Please, come and read…

Just as you can’t understand how quickly your little one has passed through the diaper stage, or how fast your son has grown into a young man who now has eyes to see a beautiful lady and buy flowers for her; one day you’ll come to the mirror and find an older woman’s reflection. If you are not ready, you will find yourself asking, “When did this happen?” 

You may keep on reading here.