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Tag: Trust (Page 2 of 2)

Reliance.1 Kings 17:2-4

February 18, 2018 /

 And the word of the Lord came to him, saying,  “Go from here and turn eastward and hide yourself by the brook Cherith, which is east of the Jordan [River].  You shall drink from the brook, and I have commanded the ravens to sustain you there [with food].”

“For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,” declares the Lord” –Isaiah 55:8

We see the evidence of this Scripture when God tells Elijah to go and rest by a brook for a while. But wait, in the previous chapter, didn’t Elijah just tell Ahab that God said it wouldn’t rain again for the next few years; until he commanded it to? So how is that brook God is instructing Elijah to drink out of going to keep flowing if there’s no rain?

Has God ever done this to you? Called you to a meanwhile place? A place of complete reliance and trust? I mean above our daily reliance and trust in Him as Creator, provider, and sustainer of us all?

Into something deeper…

Have you experienced a moment of great revelation from God? Been flooded with a sense of divine power and purpose, certain you’re about to have a Mount Sinai moment, only for God to say; Nope. Not yet. First, I need you to go hang out in the wilderness for a bit.

If you’ve been walking with the Lord for any time, you’re probably shaking your head in agreement. Yup, I’ve been there! I’m there now!

And if not, trust me, it’s on the way!

Often, right before the Lord leads us deeper into our calling, revealing more—the next step of His plan and purpose for our lives and ministries—He’ll first test us. Will we follow Him even when where He’s calling seems to be going in the exact opposite direction of what He showed us—told us?

Will we be—will you be, as obedient as Elijah was? “So he went and did in accordance with the word of the Lord; he went and lived by the brook Cherith, which is east of the Jordan.” –verse 5

God did not need Elijah to carry out His divine plan any more than He needed Moses or Abraham, Joshua, or King David. And He doesn’t need you and me either! He chooses us—as He chose them, to partner with Him. To be the hands and feet and hearts and minds and voices He used to carry His message of Love into a lost and dying world—His warnings and corrections too. As Elijah did…

“What is man that You are mindful of him, And the son of man that You visit him? For You have made him a little lower than the angels, And You have crowned him with glory and honor.” –Psalm 8:4-5

Jesus asks us to trust Him in all things—always. Trust is the very life-breath of our faith. Without it, there is no amount of “service” we can offer God that will please Him. “But without faith it is impossible to please Him…” – Hebrews 11:6.

Elijah trusted God. Period. Was he perfect, no, Scripture reveals that Elijah was a bit full of himself, full of fear at moments—and cheeky, like many of us. But He loved the Lord and desired to do His will. And it is this heart—this willingness, that delights God. “For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him…” –2 Chronicles 16:9

If God has called you into a ministry, a season, school, a new job—asked you to leave all that you know and cross the state, country, or the world and follow Him, do it. Just do it. Trust that He loves you with an everlasting love—a love far deeper, wider, stronger than any love you’ve ever known. And, as it was with Elijah, there’s a purpose in this call you too may not yet see. Just trust God and go. Trust too, that He has already made the way for you. He has already provided your daily Bread. Both physical and spiritual. He is with you in this secret place—this stage, season, time of preparation and transformation.

His Word is burning and alive in you—feeding your Spirit man—strengthening you for what is yet to come. “He would feed them also with the finest of the wheat; And with honey out of the rock would I satisfy thee” Psalm 81:16.

 Though you can’t yet see them, know too, that your ravens have been dispatched…
Your needs provided for you. The water is fresh and cool and running freely, the bread and meat is at hand, the grass soft, and the tree strong—offering you both protection, and the shade needed, just for today…

Long before He led Elijah to the brook, God had already set the limits, and made the provision for Elijah’s time in the secret place.

And He has set yours as well…

There was a set time (a season).

There were basic provisions given for that time (bread, meat, and water).

There was divine protection assured (it was a hiding place).

And God was ever present…

Everything that Elijah needed was provided by God that He might be refreshed, built up, strengthened for what lay ahead of him. God was about to show Himself mighty and crush the powers of darkness on Mount Carmel. The Baal’s (idols—false gods), and those who worshiped them, were about to be exposed for the powerless, frauds—the false gods and prophets they were. Elijah needed to be physically, emotionally, and spiritually ready for what would his greatest call in ministry. A spiritual battle unlike any other he had or would face…

He would stand before not only his enemies—these false prophets, but in front of his own people, the Israelites. Those now steeped in idolatry and rebellion who had forgotten the Lord. –1 Kings 18:20-40

With such a mighty work set before him, is it any wonder he needed a time set apart with the Lord? A time to allow God to do the deep work necessary (building Elijah’s trust and reliance in Himself) to prepare him for this pivotal battle? And yet, the very provision God had provided would dry up.

Elijah would be forced to follow God deeper still… (1 Kings 17:7-9).

Perhaps this is where you find yourself? Being called by God to go from one deep place into another? One place of trust and faith to another? Maybe this is the point in the story when you say, “Wait, she’s talking about me!” If so, congratulations! You’re in excellent company. Read the Book of Hebrews, Chapter 11, and check out the long list of all those who have been in your shoes.

Those who God also called and said, “Just trust Me…”

“Residue” 2 Corinthians 12: 7-10

September 3, 2017 /

  “…but He has said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you [My lovingkindness and My mercy are more than enough—always available—regardless of the situation]; for [My] power is being perfected [and is completed and shows itself most effectively] in [your] weakness.” Therefore, I will all the more gladly boast in my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ [may completely enfold me and] may dwell in me.”

I was in that place between waking and still half-asleep—I had a foot in each world. And that’s when God spoke to me about ‘residue. The stuff He’s allowed—to cling to us, to me…

We, those who have accepted Christ as our Savior love Him. And, we believe, by faith, that we have been—are, saved, by His redemptive work done for us all on the Cross. Through the shedding of His Precious Blood He paid our sin debt. And through the power of His Resurrection we, in faith believe, that we’ve been given a new life in Him. A fresh hope—a new beginning…

So why then do so many still feel anything but fresh—new, cleansed? It’s called residue. And If you struggle with it, you’re in good company. The Apostle Paul—the Apostle’s Apostle, the man responsible for writing, scholar’s say, over 2/3’s of the New Testament, felt like he had residue too. Though saved, and on fire for Christ—even though he was spreading the good news of the Gospel, and evangelizing the gentile nations, Paul struggled with what he called a ‘thorn in his flesh’. In fact, on three separate occasions he went to God and prayed that this thing, this thorn—this residue, carried over into his new life in Christ, be removed from him. God’s answer. No—nope, it needs to stay…

But why? Why didn’t God remove this thorn—this thing that Paul saw as a hindrance—this residue left clinging to him from a life spent steeped in the importance of his station, his position as a Pharisee. (Acts 22:20;23:6;26:10-11). Paul had been steeped in pride. Prior to meeting His Lord—before he had tasted the transforming love of God—Paul, it seems, may have had a bit of an ego. Maybe, like so many of us, he suffered from the inability to see himself—his true motives and actions, for what they really were. A pride issue.

Webster’s defines residue as follows: a usually small amount of something that remains after a process has been completed or a thing has been removed; something that remains after a part is taken, separated, or designated or after the completion of a process.

Listen to the conversation, as Paul recounts it, between himself and Jesus concerning his, ‘thorn’… “Because of the surpassing greatness and extraordinary nature of the revelations [which I received from God], for this reason, to keep me from thinking of myself as important, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan, to torment and harass me—to keep me from exalting myself” (2 Corinthians 12: 7)!

So, wait! Is God saying that He is allowing this thorn—this residue, to say with Paul? Yes. Emphatically, yes—and more, for Paul’s own good!

So how do we, as everyday Christians, deal with that? If God allowed Paul to endure his thorn—his past residue, what about us and ours? How do we deal? After all, he was

Or could he? Handle his thorn that is? Paul! Certainly, he could handle—endure, anything that came into—was permitted into his life; anything that was allowed to remain, cling, or live within him! He’s Paul. The champion, the pinnacle of Christendom! The one who has arrived at the destination that we, as striving Christians, stretch to reach—that great place of complete surrender to the call and will of God on our lives. That place of dying to self and living for the glory of Christ alone…

Had he really arrived at complete surrender? Is that even possible while we are living in these suits of fallible—weak flesh? And why did God allow this man who He hand-picked—had literally knocked from a horse to get to, get the attention of, why did he, do I, or you—do all Christians, have to endure our thorns? That stuck-on residue of our repulsive fleshly selves, that thing that both sickens and shames us when it rears its revolting head.  That relentless reminder of our fragility—our shame, our dependence. That thing that just popped up in your head…

The answer to the above question: “Is complete surrender possible?”, is yes, it’s absolutely possible. But only when we humble ourselves before God, fully acknowledging our weaknesses and dependence on Him.

Let’s listen to more of what Paul has to teach us about the possible ‘why’ of our residue—the why of our thorns, those things that are allowed to cling to us: “Concerning this I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might leave me; but He has said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you [My lovingkindness and My mercy are more than enough—always available—regardless of the situation]; for [My] power is being perfected [and is completed and shows itself most effectively] in [your] weakness” (vs’s 8-9).

And there it is…

The answer to our why. The, ‘why do I still?’ ‘How come this hasn’t left me?’ The,’ I’ve prayed and prayed and still—I struggle with: fear, depression, anger, pride, lust…, you fill in the blank, ________.

If we believe that God’s Word—His Word being a part of Himself, is infallible—It cannot lie. And I do, and It can’t because He can’t (Numbers 23:19). Then we are left with the fact that God not only allowed Paul’s thorn to remain—but that in remaining—in being the residue left as God extracted the best from Paul, this thorn—this weakness, this, ‘thing’, whether physical or behavioral, was deliberately left clinging to Paul by an Omniscient God for Paul’s betterment—for his own good! And, more importantly, it speaks to the goodness of God, and the power of His amazing grace and mercy, demonstrated in and through our lives…

Our residue, our thorns, those weaknesses in us, they are the stages on which God’s power and grace are most visibly demonstrated!

Is it possible that thing we see in our lives as a hindrance to our relationship with God is—has been left there intentionally, by God’s divine design, for a season—a period? That our residue serves a greater purpose then we—through our limited scope, with our finite, imperfect, understanding can recognize or understand? Clearly, the answer is yes. It is possible. If God allowed Paul’s thorn, his residue, to cling to him, to bring out the best in Him—God’s perfect plan and purpose for Paul’s life, then perhaps, just perhaps, the same is true for you—for me, for all those struggling with their residue…

But please don’t get it twisted! I’m not advocating, in no way encouraging, that we use our weaknesses— nor allow them to become, a license to sin…

Rather I’m saying that if our purpose as His children, is to bring glory to the Father in all that we do —in all that we are, and it is. Then we, like Paul, must learn, through the power of The Holy Spirit, to count even our residue as a blessing so that Christ may be glorified in and through it. Let’s close our time together today listening to the Apostle Paul explain to us how we too—through the acceptance of our weaknesses—our residue, may draw ever closer to God. May it/they embolden us to cling unremittingly to Him as we learn to trust more deeply, relying fully on His mercy—and His never-ending grace.  “Therefore, I will all the more gladly boast in my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ [may completely enfold me and] may dwell in me. So I am well pleased with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, and with difficulties, for the sake of Christ; for when I am weak [in human strength], then I am strong [truly able, truly powerful, truly drawing from God’s strength]” (vs’s. 9-10).

I urge you today, if you’ve not asked Jesus to come into your life, to be your Lord and Savior, ask Him to come now. What are you waiting for? Today is the acceptable day, now is the acceptable time(Heb. 3:15)! You’ll never have it together enough—if that’s what you’re waiting for, it will never happen! Ask Him now, while it’s still today.

He’s just waiting for you…

“Dependence” Isaiah 41:13

July 2, 2017 /

“For I the Lord your God keep hold of your right hand; [I am the Lord], Who says to you, ‘Do not fear, I will help you.’

In this world, we are usually discouraged from being or becoming dependent on anything or anyone. Dependence on someone is—more often than not, seen as a sign of weakness—of immaturity. Particularly when a person is of sufficient age, in the natural, that being independent should be a thing celebrated and actively pursued. And, while this is true—and necessary in our natural evolution into adulthood and its subsequent responsibilities, there is one area in every believer’s life in which we should never—must never, seek to become independent.

That being , in our relationship with God—and our sole reliance on Him.

There is a well-known Christian song entitled, ” Cornerstone.”  Part of its lyrics are as follows:

When darkness seems to hide His face
I rest on His unchanging grace
In every high and stormy gale
My anchor holds within the veil
My anchor holds within the veil

I rest on His unchanging grace. Said differently, I depend, solely rely on, completely trust in, God.

So, the question then becomes, in a world where dependence is discouraged and individualism touted, “Who do you, can you, depend on?”

Before we go further, before you answer that, please, allow me pause here to urge you: If you do not have a personal relationship with Jesus, please, ask Him into your heart, now, today, without delay, as your Lord and Savior. Pray this simple prayer: Dear Jesus, come into my heart, I surrender it to you. I believe you died for me and resurrected on the third day. Have your way in my life. I choose to depend on you. Romans 10:9-10 says this to us: “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.”

Notice, however, that you must both confess and believe. Lip service will not do! So, If you prayed that prayer for the first time, I now encourage you to ask God to lead you into a solid Christ centered church so that you will learn to grow in Him and His Word, and find your place, your part, His will for your life…

Welcome Home my brother or sister in Christ! I look forward to meeting you in Our Father’ s House!

Now, let’s dig in, shall we?…

A recent quote I read said this: In the world, dependency is seen as immaturity. But in my Kingdom, dependence on Me is a prime measure of maturity.

It is well-known, factually established—that what is said in the Word of God, what we are taught about what is right, and good, and true, what is best for us, is, characteristically, the polar opposite of what we are taught in the world in which we live. For example, God’s Word teaches: We must die to live, forgive everyone—no exceptions, love our enemies, give away that we may receive, be humble so that He may lift us up. I could list many other examples of how living according to God’s Word—His will,  is the exact opposite of the self-sufficient ways in which the world encourages us to live.

And who is this world?

John 2:15-16 explains that:  “Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world.” The world, that is the ways of it, as opposed to God’s ways is, as one Theologian describes it: an evil (rebellious) organized system under Satan, which operates through unbelieving people who are opposed to God.

Now hold up! I can hear the rants and visceral disapproval. The, how-dare-you!

And I understand, I do. I too, at one time, would have ranted right along with you. Probably the loudest! Rebelled against those stinging words with like vehemence. With the same indignant outrage. Why? I was very much a part of, steeped in, the world. In doing life my way. And, if truth be told, there are still remnants of that same thinking and its subsequent actions that still linger with me today, like a foul odor. Those sins I still struggle with daily. This is not about being holier than though. But it is about the strength, the surety to forgive those sins, my sins, your sins,  that lives in the Blood of Jesus Christ alone…

It’s also about the choices we must make. And then live by.

I’m sure you’d agree that we are surrounded by choices. From the moment we open our eyes until the time we close them, we are in choice-making mode. Stating with five more minutes or get up now? What will I eat? What to wear? Which route to take to work? Will I go to work? Time for coffee or maybe it’s tea today? you get the idea…

Choices.

And so, along that line, is our choice to follow—rely, depend on, set our hope on, God. That too, though obviously a far greater and consequential, to say nothing of, eternal choice, is also our’s to make. We are free to, must in fact, say yes to God. To His calling us to Himself. Or, by default, in saying nothing, in continuing on, eyes-closed, things as they are, we are effectively saying—no, nope, not now. I’m good on my own God. Maybe later…

However, unlike the above daily chore list of choices we robotically make, choosing God is, must be, intentional. As it is the only eternally life changing choice we will ever make. Let me explain. John 3:16, often familiar, even, to those who are not yet students of God’s Word tells us: “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life” When we say yes to God’s calling us to Himself we are not only making a right-now choice, we’re not just given a new life here on earth—but, as if that were not enough, we will have, are promised, an eternal home with God in Heaven.

One choice—eternal consequence. And to not choose Christ is your choice. Literally…

As a believer in Christ Jesus we must live our lives in absolute reliance, dependence, on Him. Something that one will never—can never do, without faith in—complete belief in, Him being exactly who He says He is, and that He will do all that He says He will do. Period. That is the basis of our faith. Numbers 23:19 says it like this: “God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?”

If you look at the photo image attached to this post you will notice that the climber is reliant—dependent, literally, on her chosen ropes for safety—for her life. To complete her journey, unencumbered by worry, she cannot waste precious time and valuable energy constantly checking to make certain her rope is secured and her connection to it solid. She must choose,both her equipment and,what she will anchor herself to, wisely. As Christians,

 

our faith and reliance, our dependence, on God must also be like that also.  Notice that she is leaning back confidently, being mindful,surely,of what is around her, but confidently nonetheless—enjoying this adventure she’s on! She knows—is certain, that what she is connected to—dependent on, is solid—fixed, reliable. Therefore, she is confident to climb or to descend without trepidation. If we will trust our very lives to a piece of rope—how much more to God? To Him who is dependable, sure, fixed, unchanging. To the God who calls us to anchor our life to His. To depend solely on Him for safety, guidance, provision, Truth, and life?  Just a this climber has anchored her ropes into rock.

As I said in the beginning, dependence, according to the world, is seen as a sign of weakness. But, as I also said in the beginning, the Bible often teaches us the polar-opposite of what the world teaches…

Listen to yet another example: “That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong” 2 Corinthians 12:10, emphasis my own.

The world will ultimately fail us. Its rope will fray and we will fall—perhaps to our deaths, as many climbers have. Only when we rely—depend, put our life into the All-Powerful Hands of Jesus—can we be assured we will never fall to our deaths.

On that we can depend…

The more mature in the faith we are, the bigger God will be for us. As our vision of God becomes clearer and we understand His enormity, we learn to rest in him. We grow in our ability to depend completely on him and know that with a God as competent as the God we find in the pages of Scripture, the universe in which we find ourselves is truly a safe place for us. The surety of God’s promise is God Himself.

Said Scripturally: “He will not let your foot slip—he who watches over you will not slumber” Psalm 121:3

Depend on The Rock of Ages. Jesus Christ, the Cornerstone. Our only sure foundation…

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