"Come to the Table" This is an invitation the Lord spoke to me many times over the years. He's saying it again now. He's saying it to you, too.
There is a table in Psalm 23. The table of the Last Supper. The table Jesus invited Himself to in Zaccheus's house.
I have tables in my lighthouse.
I use Heart Doodling with Jesus in my quiet time to reflect on the table God is inviting me to and what is on the table.
I'm inviting you to come to the table as well. Summer of 2024 I will be visiting a table with the Lord each week. You can join us. Sessions are on Zoom, Tuesdays, 10:30 am Alaska time.
"Come to the Table" This is an invitation the Lord spoke to me many times over the years. He's saying it again now. He's saying it to you, too.
There is a table in Psalm 23. The table of the Last Supper. The table Jesus invited Himself to in Zaccheus's house.
I have tables in my lighthouse.
I use Heart Doodling with Jesus in my quiet time to reflect on the table God is inviting me to and what is on the table.
I'm inviting you to come to the table as well. Summer of 2024 I will be visiting a table with the Lord each week. You can join us. Sessions are on Zoom, Tuesdays, 10:30 am Alaska time.
All right. So I want to talk about come to the table. Years ago, the Lord started extending that invitation to me to come to the table. Come to the table, and I've realized there's so many different tables, there's so many different reasons that we come to the table. And we come to the table to eat. We come to the table for important meetings. We come to the table for important meetings, come to the table to negotiate, have discussions, to dream, to plan All these different things. You know there's conference tables and there's dining tables.
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In the scripture, the first table that comes to mind is the Last Supper. Jesus invited, facilitated for his disciples to come to this table with him for the Passover Seder. It was a meal that the Jews celebrated every year as they remembered their deliverance out of Egypt. They had this Passover Seder. It was a meal. They had this Passover Seder. It was a meal they gathered around the table and they had very specific food that they ate to specifically remember what God had done for their people. To focus on. Here's where we were. We were prisoners, we were stuck, we were suffering and then God came and provided a lamb and the blood of that lamb brought us free. The memory of the deliverance of the Israelites from Egypt and pointing forward to Jesus, messiah, savior, and the second coming, and all of these things, and it's very cool. So that's the first table from scripture that comes to mind is when Jesus was at that last. We call it the last supper, but it was a Passover. Seder was his last one before he was crucified. He invited the disciples to the table and he implemented what most Christians today call communion. He took the bread and he broke it and he said take this and eat it. He took the cup and he said drink this, do this and remember me, like you were having this whole fancy Passover dinner, which is fine and fabulous, I think. He said, but also now, when you eat and drink, remember my sacrifice and the new deliverance that I'm providing for you. So that's one table in Scripture. When you invite, like, come to the table, what does he want to do there? What happens when I come to the table and I sit with him at that communion table?
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The second table that comes to mind for me is in Psalm 23. The Lord prepares a table for me in the presence of my enemies. He doesn't make the enemies go away, he doesn't take them all out, but he provides a table for me in the presence of my enemies. There's a table set. What's on that table? What does the Lord have for me to sustain me, to refresh me, to strengthen me and encourage me in the presence of my enemies? What's on that table?
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Another table from scripture is it talks about the wedding feast of the lamb. So that table is in the future, when all the things are done and Jesus finally has his pure and spotless bride, there's going to be a wedding feast. So, imagining with the Lord about what's on that table, what do we need to do to personally be prepared to be on that table? What do we need to do to personally be prepared to be at that table? What do we need to do, as part of the church, as part of his bride, for other parts of the bride to help be ready to be at that table?
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And then one more table that I thought of. I'm sure there are others, but one more table I thought of was Zacchaeus' table, where Jesus invited himself to Zacchaeus' house. And Zacchaeus was a short man and he was not liked because he worked for the Roman government, collecting taxes and he also overcharged and collected more taxes than he was supposed to because that was his salary or his bonuses or however he looked at it. But when Jesus saw him he said I'm going to your house today. And so the conversation around the table was how Zacchaeus' life was changed because Jesus saw him and he saw Jesus' love for him, how he was going to give his money away, he was going to make right all the people that he had taken money from. That conversation of transformation of Jesus saying, yes, I love you just exactly as you are, and the fruit of that being Zacchaeus saying, oh, I don't have to be like this anymore, I don't have to try and manipulate people to feel good about myself, to feel powerful or you know whatever was going on. So, seeing Zacchaeus' table kind of as this table of transformation, we have these conversations about understanding how Jesus sees you and then how does that change your day-to-day choices and what you do? And then I have like personal tables, I guess of this picture of sitting in a garden, like an English garden type thing, but there's a table out there and Jesus and I sit at that table and we have conversations.
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So the Lord told me years ago that I was a lighthouse and I spent a lot of time meditating on what does that mean? And the Lord taught me so many lessons through being a lighthouse and thinking about being a lighthouse and thinking about being a lighthouse. Like lighthouses are built on bedrock. They're on a very solid foundation. They're made for storms. Their light shines in the darkness to give people direction, to give people hope.
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When I would imagine myself as a lighthouse, first I had an image of a lighthouse that was dilapidated and like it needed to be stripped down to the frame and be rebuilt, and I felt like that was me, like there's so much. There's so much to do, lord, and so much to change me into who you actually made me to be. So much old stuff to get rid of and new to put on. Then, as I grew, like I could see a restored lighthouse, but it was dark inside. It was like, okay, I have this light for other people, but it's dark inside.
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More time with the Lord, more growing and healing and receiving his love and what he had to say about me. Eventually there was light in the lighthouse and I have a table by one of the windows where I can sit and study and I can see out over the ocean and that's like my quiet place, I guess. And and then as more healing, more practice, receiving how he sees me, then there was a table downstairs where I could invite people in to be with me and the Lord and build relationship there and mentor and have something to offer, instead of just like I've got God's light and nothing else. That's all I can do is just stand here and shine his light as best I can. So there's two tables in my lighthouse I'm just realizing as I'm sharing. So my idea with the summer of support is that at the beginning of the call I will share about one of these tables, bring some scripture and and give you a setting of like helping you see yourself at this table, then seeing what God wants to say to you and communicate to you as you're at that table.
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I don't know if it's so much anymore. I know growing up, using your imagination was frowned upon in spending time with God. I'm not exactly sure why that was. I think there was just so much fear of being led astray and being misguided and I guess I feel like that fear is still there, maybe not specifically around imagination, but there's this huge fear of being led astray and I agree that we need to be aware, we need to discern, with the Holy Spirit and scripture, that we're being guided along a right path.
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God gave us our imagination. It's okay for us to use it. He didn't give it to us so that we can fight it our entire life. He gave us our imagination for us to use it, and the example that I like to share is he took Abraham outside and he said look at the stars, look at all those. Now imagine. He didn't use the word imagine in any translation that I've seen, but that's what he was telling him was like imagine your descendants. Outnumbering those stars is 65 years old and you still haven't had any kids. Like that takes some imagination. That takes some faith, and really our imagination is part of faith because it's the substance of things hoped for, evidence of things not seen. So God uses our imagination to show us what he wants to do and what is possible. And with our imagination we can see that and be like okay, that's what I'm believing, because God showed it to me. I can see it.
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Imagine yourself at the table in the presence of your enemies. What's on the table? Where are your enemies? What are they doing? What's God putting on the table. You know who are your enemies in this current season and you know when we don't fight against flesh and blood, we fight against spirits and principalities.
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Sometimes it's helpful to identify the people that are being manipulated and used or partnering with those spirits and principalities, and the wisdom that can be gained of getting clarity on. Oh, this is what I'm fighting. I'm fighting the spirit of manipulation and control or of condemnation or whatever it is. Instead of that, I'm fighting this person.
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Then you have entirely different weapons. You have entirely different. You have entirely different weapons. You have entirely different strategy and tactics. If you want to join me for that, I'm charging $27 a month and I'm just going to do it month by month for June, july and August, and then we'll see where it goes from there. It makes a difference for me if I know someone is going to be there, someone's going to expect to see me, and then it also helps to show up and know I can ask questions, that I can have support. I don't need to figure it all out on my own. If that feels like a value to you, if you have more questions about that, please let me know. I'll put a link to sign up and join me for that in the comments, and we'll see you next time.