Faith Fulfilled

Sitting here with my cup of coffee with French vanilla creamer enjoying a quiet morning.  My apartment is a mess.  There are boxes everywhere (I'm in the process of moving) and in the midst of it all, He is still speaking. I really love mornings like this- where lots of things are in chaos, but that constant peace in your life is God.  I was reading the story of Jacob this morning and how God gave him a dream.  In the dream, Jacob sees a ladder from earth all the way into the Heavens.  Angels were ascending and descending from the ladder.  At the top of the ladder, there was God who began to speak promises into Jacob's life.  Here's what He told him,

"...I am the Lord God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac: the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed;  And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shall spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south: and in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed.  And behold I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places whither thous goest, and will bring thee again into this land, for I will not leave thee, until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of. "  Genesis 28:13-15

When I read this portion, I was reminded of a couple of things. This promise to Jacob was the same promise that God gave to his grandfather Abraham and his son Isaac.   The promise was not fulfilled in either of their lifetimes and neither would it be in Jacob's, but that didn't stop them from believing God.  God began the work in each of them and they were certain He would finish it.  Now that's faith!  I thought back to how my grandma prayed for my grandpa to be saved for more than 25 years and then she developed Alzheimer's disease.  Although mentally, she was no longer here with us and had to be placed in a home, her precious prayers that she had prayed all those years continued to come before God as a sweet fragrance.  My grandfather, in his late eighties finally surrendered to God and was baptized in Jesus Name. Although my grandmother did not get to see God answer this prayer in her lifetime, she saw it by faith and knew that even if she weren't here to see it, God would still fulfill his promise to her.  She joined the faith ranks with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as well as many others since then. Remember, God cannot lie.  Every promise He has given to you will be answered.  I love it how God told Jacob, "I will not leave thee, until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of" (verse 15).  God was essentially saying that he would always be with the seed of Jacob who is now known as the Jewish nation or Israel. God has never left the Jewish people through everything they have gone through. He is not done with them yet. We see that although not all the promises are yet fulfilled, much of what God told them and their forefathers has already taken place.  The Jewish nation has spread from the north, to the south, to the east, and to the west. Not only that, but all the families of the earth have been blessed not only by all the amazing inventions and people who have come out of the Jewish nation, but also through Jesus Christ who was a Jew and became the Savior of the world. I can't wait until the day when God completes what He started in them and in us a church. He finishes what He started. That's the kind of God that we serve!  He did it for Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, the Jewish nation, and my family. He'll do it for you!

Robbers of Stillness...

 "The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want...He Leads me beside the still waters. " Psalm 23:1-2

There are many times God asks us to be still when He is trying to usher us into a new season of our lives.  Stillness is a time of inner preparation and God-given peace.  Queen Esther, before becoming the Queen of Persia, had to go through 12 months of preparation before she could appear before the king.  During this time, she learned all about the king, mannerisms of palace life, and lastly, how to look beautiful for the king.  It might have seemed like a long year for Esther, but in reality, this was the time for her to sit back and enjoy getting ready for her big moment.  If she had not used this time wisely, she would have found herself unprepared for her moment of destiny which could have ended in disaster. Lack of preparation and stillness on her part could have caused the king to overlook her, marry another, and with that, the Jewish people living in the Persian kingdom would have been annihilated.  Stillness is a time for God to prepare and polish us, a time to listen to that sweet and familiar voice speaking to us and ministering to us on a daily basis. It's a time to minister before Him, taking every part of Him into our spirits.  At times, in this stillness, moments can seem long and mundane in the natural world, but in the spirit, God is preparing us for something new.  We are not accustomed to being still, especially in the busy, fast-paced world in which we live.  We are used to making things happen.  Yet, stillness in God requires us to wait even more than ever as He begins to move mountains on our behalf.  The enemy of our soul does not want us to experience stillness, but wants to fill us with worry, anxiety and desperation.  He doesn't want God's peace to fill our life, but wants to plant confusion in us among many other things.  I have found two things in my own life that can easily rob me of stillness if I'm not careful, but I've also learned how to combat them. They are as follows:

1. Worry/Anxiety
Nothing pleases the enemy more than to plant seeds of worry and anxiety in our minds.  He knows that if he can make us doubt God's provision and God's plans for us, he can trap us within the confines of your own mind.  Thoughts such as Is God really with me?  Am I forgiven?  How am I going to accomplish that on my own?  What if I'm doing the wrong thing? What if this doesn't happen?  What if this really happens?  are just some of the thoughts that try to take us captive. The way to overcome worry and anxiety is found in Philippians 4:6-7:

"Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." 

We see that prayer and thanksgiving are extremely important in destroying seeds of worry and anxiety. I've said it before and I'll say it again. Prayer not only changes things, but it changes us as a person. When we are worried and anxious, we cannot focus on what God is doing in our life, but we end up focusing on what God is not doing in our life. Prayer shifts us back into the right gear. God takes control of our thoughts and destroys the negative seeds that the enemy is trying to plant. He replaces them with seeds of faith.  Also, thanksgiving is key.  We must thank God for what we already have and thank Him for prayers that are not yet answered.  I have found that thanking God in advance for unanswered prayers gives me such a peace that I can't explain.  When I thank God for a job that I don't yet have or a miracle that I can't yet see, I get an overwhelming sense that its done already. I feel like it's already happened.  That's what a spirit of thanksgiving can do!

2.  Distractions
When I visited Italy for the first time, I was warned by many to be cautious of pick-pockets.  I heard that one strategy of these thieves is to create a diversion to distract a tourist so that someone else can come behind them and take their money.  Often times, it is the same for us.  The enemy sends distractions our way so that He can swoop in and rob us of our inner peace. Sometimes we don't even realize it has happened until afterwards.  We are left wondering, How could that happen?  Distractions come in the form of people, problems, and non God-given dreams and ideas.  Often times, we are so desperate to escape the quietness of life, we cling to anything to give us excitement and purpose.  I remember so often clinging to higher education to distract me from having to wait on God.  Now, there's nothing wrong with getting a higher education, but when we use that as source of dependency and to give our lives meaning, it then becomes and idol.  The main way to avoid distractions is to stay focused on God. We do this through prayer and feasting on God's Word. Its His Word that helps us to identify the snares of the enemy. Its the Word that gives us faith to protect us from his fiery darts.

In conclusion, embrace the stillness that God has given you.  It is in the stillness where we are able to see God move on our behalf.  Let go of anxiousness and worry as well as distractions. Let God complete the work that he has started for you. Allow Him to usher you into a new time in your life. 

Walking by Faith

 "We walk by faith, not by sight."  II Corinthians 5:7

I heard a story about a family whose house caught on fire.  The children were all gathered and frantically ushered outside, but the youngest little boy, who was five years old, could not be found.  When the fire broke out, he became scared and hid himself under the bed.  Frozen in fear, he could not reply when his father called for him.  As the house continued to go up in flames and smoke engulfed the place, the father was forced to run outside to avoid smoke inhalation, but he planned on running back in to search for his lost son. All of a sudden, flames and smoke took over the first floor of the house.  There would be no way to run back in. That's when he heard his little boy's cry, "Daddy, mommy!  Are you there! The father caught a glimpse of his little boy frantically trying to climb out of the window on the second floor, but the little boy paused in fear when he realized there was no where for him to go. Smoke surrounded the house so the little boy couldn't see below him. The father yelled for the son and positioned himself in a place where he could catch the boy.  The father yelled, "Son, jump! Daddy will catch you!"  The little boy yelled back, "Daddy, I can't jump! I'm too scared! I can't see you!" The dad called out, "You may not see me, but I see you! Trust me! I will catch you!  Jump!"  With all the faith the little boy could muster up, he jumped, still not being able to see his dad. Seconds later,  his father caught him, just like he said he would, and the little boy's life was saved.  The lesson of the story is, sometimes we cannot see or feel God during certain parts of our walk with Him.  Yet, even though we cannot see him or feel Him, we must trust that he is there, leading and guiding us. We might be a little scared with things that come our way, but our job is to step out by faith knowing that our loving father will catch us.   He won't let us fall.  That's the kind of God that we serve.

“Faith is taking the first step even when you don't see the whole staircase.”  ~Martin Luther King Jr.