I stumbled across this today and was encouraged by it. It very much spoke to the place I am at right now.
Psalm34:19
Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the LORD delivers him out of them all.
Sometimes it seems like the Christian life just isn’t worth living. The promised rewards spoken of in the Bible just don’t seem to come fast enough, while the pain of trying to live a Godly life becomes a pain in the neck rather than a blessing. There is no denying that most of us just simply have a different timetable than GOD does, and nothing we say or go through seems to be able to convince Him to get with our program. It can be frustrating and even disheartening when we are going through the toughest times of our lives and GOD just doesn’t seem to be there. There is, of course, a reason why GOD allows us to feel this way.
GOD uses affliction to grow his children. In Romans 5:3-5 the Word tells us to rejoice when we go through our toughest of times because there is a light at the end of the tunnel. Before we get to the light, however, before we emerge out of our affliction into the other side, certain things must take place. Our afflictions should teach us how to persevere or in other words build stamina. It is in this way that we learn to develop that Philippians 4:13 mindset that is convinced that as Christians we can do all things in Christ who gives us strength. From this stamina we begin to build our character in Christ. We learn to quit reacting to our problems with sin, and instead respond to them in prayer and a renewed commitment to live for Christ. Once we reach this point we see the final step, hope. Hope is our light at the end of the tunnel because we know that GOD will deliver us out of all of our afflictions! The key to understanding all of this, though, is to understand that GOD does not do this on our timetable, but on His.
Let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. He who endures to the end will be saved. James 1:4 Matthew 10:22b
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Monday, December 29, 2008
Another Excerpt from "My Utmost for His Highest"
December 29, 2008
Deserter or Disciple?
ODB RADIO: DownloadREAD:
From that time many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more —John 6:66
When God, by His Spirit through His Word, gives you a clear vision of His will, you must "walk in the light" of that vision ( 1 John 1:7 ). Even though your mind and soul may be thrilled by it, if you don’t "walk in the light" of it you will sink to a level of bondage never envisioned by our Lord. Mentally disobeying the "heavenly vision" ( Acts 26:19 ) will make you a slave to ideas and views that are completely foreign to Jesus Christ. Don’t look at someone else and say, "Well, if he can have those views and prosper, why can’t I?" You have to "walk in the light" of the vision that has been given to you. Don’t compare yourself with others or judge them— that is between God and them. When you find that one of your favorite and strongly held views clashes with the "heavenly vision," do not begin to debate it. If you do, a sense of property and personal right will emerge in you— things on which Jesus placed no value. He was against these things as being the root of everything foreign to Himself— ". . . for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses" ( Luke 12:15 ). If we don’t see and understand this, it is because we are ignoring the underlying principles of our Lord’s teaching.
Our tendency is to lie back and bask in the memory of the wonderful experience we had when God revealed His will to us. But if a New Testament standard is revealed to us by the light of God, and we don’t try to measure up, or even feel inclined to do so, then we begin to backslide. It means your conscience does not respond to the truth. You can never be the same after the unveiling of a truth. That moment marks you as one who either continues on with even more devotion as a disciple of Jesus Christ, or as one who turns to go back as a deserter.
How true is what Oswald Chambers is saying here. There are times when God clearly shows us what His Will for us is...and if we don't like what we see, we turn and walk the other way...or we start pulling out our rights...or we compare what we have been given to what others around us have been given, instead of just walking in God's will and trusting Him completely. Anytime our doubts or thoughts of "our rights" find their way inside us, we should be denying those thoughts and holding onto the Truth that is found in Christ Jesus. It's a daily, hourly, minute-by-minute battle. And I still have so much to learn when it comes to this.
Deserter or Disciple?
ODB RADIO: DownloadREAD:
From that time many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more —John 6:66
When God, by His Spirit through His Word, gives you a clear vision of His will, you must "walk in the light" of that vision ( 1 John 1:7 ). Even though your mind and soul may be thrilled by it, if you don’t "walk in the light" of it you will sink to a level of bondage never envisioned by our Lord. Mentally disobeying the "heavenly vision" ( Acts 26:19 ) will make you a slave to ideas and views that are completely foreign to Jesus Christ. Don’t look at someone else and say, "Well, if he can have those views and prosper, why can’t I?" You have to "walk in the light" of the vision that has been given to you. Don’t compare yourself with others or judge them— that is between God and them. When you find that one of your favorite and strongly held views clashes with the "heavenly vision," do not begin to debate it. If you do, a sense of property and personal right will emerge in you— things on which Jesus placed no value. He was against these things as being the root of everything foreign to Himself— ". . . for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses" ( Luke 12:15 ). If we don’t see and understand this, it is because we are ignoring the underlying principles of our Lord’s teaching.
Our tendency is to lie back and bask in the memory of the wonderful experience we had when God revealed His will to us. But if a New Testament standard is revealed to us by the light of God, and we don’t try to measure up, or even feel inclined to do so, then we begin to backslide. It means your conscience does not respond to the truth. You can never be the same after the unveiling of a truth. That moment marks you as one who either continues on with even more devotion as a disciple of Jesus Christ, or as one who turns to go back as a deserter.
How true is what Oswald Chambers is saying here. There are times when God clearly shows us what His Will for us is...and if we don't like what we see, we turn and walk the other way...or we start pulling out our rights...or we compare what we have been given to what others around us have been given, instead of just walking in God's will and trusting Him completely. Anytime our doubts or thoughts of "our rights" find their way inside us, we should be denying those thoughts and holding onto the Truth that is found in Christ Jesus. It's a daily, hourly, minute-by-minute battle. And I still have so much to learn when it comes to this.
Sunday, December 28, 2008
The Fear of Letting Go
Sometimes I'm afraid of letting go. I become frantic, and like someone who is falling off a ledge, I grab onto anything that will keep me from hitting the bottom. Most of us think that hitting the bottom would be the end of us. Probably because in reality, when you're falling off a ledge, and you hit the bottom, that is the end of us. Unless you get lucky.
Maybe The Fear of Letting go isn't really like that though. Maybe it's more like bungee jumping or sky diving, both of which I'm pretty sure I'm too afraid to ever do. Maybe we know that we are going to be okay, that eventually we will land safely on the ground...but we just have trouble letting our feet step off the edge. Because it's safer at the top. But we also wouldn't experience the ride if we stayed at the top. Or the thrill that comes from the act of letting go.
Then again, maybe The Fear of Letting go isn't like that either. Maybe you met someone who caused your world to change completely. They showed you life in a whole new light. And you'll never be the same. But their gone now, you don't know if they're coming back...and you're afraid you'll forget. That you'll forget them, you're afraid that you'll forget what they taught you. You're afraid they won't come back. And instead of never being the same again...you'll go back to being who you always were before you met them. And so you hold on, as tight as you can. Until you can't feel them or hear them. Until you forget to remember.
And that's why I'm afarid to let go.
Maybe The Fear of Letting go isn't really like that though. Maybe it's more like bungee jumping or sky diving, both of which I'm pretty sure I'm too afraid to ever do. Maybe we know that we are going to be okay, that eventually we will land safely on the ground...but we just have trouble letting our feet step off the edge. Because it's safer at the top. But we also wouldn't experience the ride if we stayed at the top. Or the thrill that comes from the act of letting go.
Then again, maybe The Fear of Letting go isn't like that either. Maybe you met someone who caused your world to change completely. They showed you life in a whole new light. And you'll never be the same. But their gone now, you don't know if they're coming back...and you're afraid you'll forget. That you'll forget them, you're afraid that you'll forget what they taught you. You're afraid they won't come back. And instead of never being the same again...you'll go back to being who you always were before you met them. And so you hold on, as tight as you can. Until you can't feel them or hear them. Until you forget to remember.
And that's why I'm afarid to let go.
Saturday, December 27, 2008
An Excerpt from "My Utmost For His Highest"
December 27, 2008
Where the Battle is Won or Lost
’If you will return, O Israel,’ says the Lord . . . —Jeremiah 4:1
Our battles are first won or lost in the secret places of our will in God’s presence, never in full view of the world. The Spirit of God seizes me and I am compelled to get alone with God and fight the battle before Him. Until I do this, I will lose every time. The battle may take one minute or one year, but that will depend on me, not God. However long it takes, I must wrestle with it alone before God, and I must resolve to go through the hell of renunciation or rejection before Him. Nothing has any power over someone who has fought the battle before God and won there.
I should never say, "I will wait until I get into difficult circumstances and then I’ll put God to the test." Trying to do that will not work. I must first get the issue settled between God and myself in the secret places of my soul, where no one else can interfere. Then I can go ahead, knowing with certainty that the battle is won. Lose it there, and calamity, disaster, and defeat before the world are as sure as the laws of God. The reason the battle is lost is that I fight it first in the external world. Get alone with God, do battle before Him, and settle the matter once and for all.
In dealing with other people, our stance should always be to drive them toward making a decision of their will. That is how surrendering to God begins. Not often, but every once in a while, God brings us to a major turning point— a great crossroads in our life. From that point we either go toward a more and more slow, lazy, and useless Christian life, or we become more and more on fire, giving our utmost for His highest— our best for His glory.
I've never really thought about fighting our battles this way before. I mean, what does that even look like? Taking our battles to God and fighting them before him, instead of in the external world. Would life be easier if we did that. Would our victories come faster? Would our faith and trust in God grow if we lived life that way? I don't fully understand what it means to fight our battles first before God, but I assume that means taking everything first to him in prayer and talking things through with Him, instead of looking for answers in the world around us. Just something worth thinking about...
Where the Battle is Won or Lost
’If you will return, O Israel,’ says the Lord . . . —Jeremiah 4:1
Our battles are first won or lost in the secret places of our will in God’s presence, never in full view of the world. The Spirit of God seizes me and I am compelled to get alone with God and fight the battle before Him. Until I do this, I will lose every time. The battle may take one minute or one year, but that will depend on me, not God. However long it takes, I must wrestle with it alone before God, and I must resolve to go through the hell of renunciation or rejection before Him. Nothing has any power over someone who has fought the battle before God and won there.
I should never say, "I will wait until I get into difficult circumstances and then I’ll put God to the test." Trying to do that will not work. I must first get the issue settled between God and myself in the secret places of my soul, where no one else can interfere. Then I can go ahead, knowing with certainty that the battle is won. Lose it there, and calamity, disaster, and defeat before the world are as sure as the laws of God. The reason the battle is lost is that I fight it first in the external world. Get alone with God, do battle before Him, and settle the matter once and for all.
In dealing with other people, our stance should always be to drive them toward making a decision of their will. That is how surrendering to God begins. Not often, but every once in a while, God brings us to a major turning point— a great crossroads in our life. From that point we either go toward a more and more slow, lazy, and useless Christian life, or we become more and more on fire, giving our utmost for His highest— our best for His glory.
I've never really thought about fighting our battles this way before. I mean, what does that even look like? Taking our battles to God and fighting them before him, instead of in the external world. Would life be easier if we did that. Would our victories come faster? Would our faith and trust in God grow if we lived life that way? I don't fully understand what it means to fight our battles first before God, but I assume that means taking everything first to him in prayer and talking things through with Him, instead of looking for answers in the world around us. Just something worth thinking about...
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
I constantly have this intense craving to write…to pour my heart on paper. It’s been a really long time since I’ve felt that way. It feels good to have that urge again. God is doing a great work in me. I have changed over the past year drastically. It’s amazing to see what happens when God takes us in our poor and desperate state and begins to mold and shape us to be a glorious testimony of his love. I have come to know and understand my Lord in a much deeper way this year. It has not been an easy road by any means. It has been one of the hardest but most fruitful years of my life. It’s often in the midst of our struggles and pain that we grow the most. It was around fall this year when God really stripped me naked, figuratively speaking. He took everything around me that I held close, found my worth in, and trusted in and left me with only Him. If I were to capture my year in one word, it would be TRUST. Not in myself or the things I have built…but in God alone. And sometimes we fool ourselves and think, “well look what I have done for myself…look what I have attained. Look how successful I have become. Look at all that I have achieved”. But this year God reminded me that we own nothing. Everything in this world belongs to Him. He can give and take as He pleases. God is Sovereign. He allows us to go through hard times because He loves us. It is not until we have NOTHING that we can truly see God as EVERYTHING. I have begun to see the beauty of living life in God’s will instead of my own. So often we chart the path ahead of us and ask God to bless it. But that’s not how God wants us to live…and true happiness will always be a step away if we live life that way. The abundance of Joy that the Lord speaks of is found when we allow HIM to chart the path ahead of us. When we learn to seek HIM in EVERYTHING…walking one step behind Him at all times. Living life in God’s will doesn’t mean that the path He leads us on will always be easy…it won’t. But it will always be the best possible path for us to take. The Lord loves to bless His children. And He will take us through hardships sometimes…but these are the things in our lives that will shape and mold us into the people He created us to be. And I want to be the woman that God created me to be. The safest place I can be is in His will. All I am, All I have, All to You, Lord.
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