Monday, June 25, 2007

His creation

I wanted to share an observation that Sebastian made today in the van on the way home from Target. 'Mom, God's creation is good.' End of observation. How simple. How purely heartfelt it was. I couldn't help but wonder - how long was he thinking about this before he decided to say something?

Our God is a God of abundance. He is a God that goes above and beyond. We see it over and over in scripture. When He makes lunch for thousands of people out of a few loaves and a few fish, He doesn't make just enough. He makes so much that there are baskets left over. And we see the same principle in His creation. How many climates - how many species of birds, fish, dogs, cats, flowers, trees, grass. The variation in topography. The spectrum of color. The number of stars. I believe with all my heart that variety and abundance bring Him joy.

Yes, Buddy, His creation is good. His creation is amazing.

Saturday, June 23, 2007

Wait

I seem to be finding myself right in the middle of another life lesson to be learned. Waiting on God. I used to think this simply meant waiting. You know, letting time pass, being patient, WAITING. Yes, God does have His own sense of timing, and usually we have to wait a lot longer for things than we would like. We have to be diligent to be patient, to stay in the present, to not get ahead of Him, to not try to force things to happen in our own time.

But I'm quickly learning that this idea of waiting is just a fraction of what it really means to wait on Him. Truly waiting on God is not quite so passive as my previous ideas of it would suggest. It's really an action - to wait on Him. It is activating faith, believing He is working, and expecting Him to show up in a big way at any moment. It is faith in full force.

As He has been working me through the true concept of living in faith and by faith (which I've shared with you a little in previous posts), all that He has shown me and taught me, all that His word says, leads me to believe this: The kind of faith it takes to wait, believe, and expect God in my life is exactly the kind of faith that gets Him excited. It pleases Him. It honors and glorifies Him. It is this kind of faith - full of expectation and confidence - that moves Him into action, working in my life on my behalf, working all for good.

There are plenty of scriptures in the Bible that say that doubt cancels out our faith, and leaves us with nothing. One verse in particular comes to mind:
  • Only it must be in faith that he asks with no wavering (no hesitating, no doubting). For the one who wavers (hesitates, doubts) is like the billowing surge out at sea that is blown hither and thither and tossed by the wind. For truly, let not such a person imagine that he will receive anything [he asks for] from the Lord. (James 1:6-7)

In the same manner, the Bible clearly states that faith yields results in our lives:

  • And whatever you ask for in prayer, having faith and [really] believing, you will receive. (Matthew 21:22)

There are many things I have turned over to God to work out for me. Some things, I know are long-term requests, and I must continually believe that He is constantly working in those areas of my life. Other things, maybe I'll see the answers much sooner than I know, or maybe He'll require me to patiently wait. But either way, I will do my best to wait on Him, believing all the while, even when I cannot see, that He is in control, and that He will prove Himself as God again and again. What a weight off my shoulders!

  • Wait and hope for and expect the Lord; be brave and of good courage and let your heart be stout and enduring. Yes, wait for and hope for and expect the Lord. (Psalm 27:14)

Monday, June 11, 2007

Deeper in Faith

Faith is the leaning of your entire human personality on Him in absolute trust and confidence in His power, wisdom, and goodness. (Colossians 1:4)

God continues to challenge me in my faith - how real is my commitment to Him? Do I really mean it when I tell Him I will go where He sends me? I will do what He asks of me? Do I truly believe that He is good, that He knows what is best for me, and that He has the power to provide for me and my family? Do I trust Him? Where is my faith - really?

Here I am at yet another defining moment in my walk with God. I look back now to January to His request for me to give up my scrapbook spending. That was a big step of faith for me then. The Bible says God works in our lives line upon line, precept upon precept. He builds in our lives from smaller to bigger, as we continue to grow and progress. I can see that where I am now. He has placed something so much larger (at least in the natural) than scrapbook spending in front of me. And I must choose. Am I willing to go deeper? To get in over my head? Will I relinquish 'control' and allow Him to work, just sitting back and letting Him be God like only He can?

Human nature is to DO - to take care of things, figure things out, reason and analyze until all the pieces fit. Human nature wants to know how something will work out even before it begins...Human nature likes to be in control.

But God doesn't work that way. Faith requires that we don't have the answers. If we already knew the end, if we could already see the results, we wouldn't need faith. We wouldn't need to trust in God, depend on Him, rely on Him, lean on Him, cling to Him. God has designed this aspect of our relationship with Him to intentionally cause us to CHOOSE (again, seeing His respect for free will) to believe Him. He has also given faith a role of significant importance in our relationship with Him. Hebrews 11:6 tells us that faith is what pleases God and brings us close to Him.
  • But without faith it is impossible to please and be satisfactory to Him. For whoever would come near to God must [necessarily] believe that God exists and that He is the rewarder of those who earnestly and diligently seek Him [out].

So if faith - belief - is what pleases God, then unbelief is displeasing to Him. And I can only do one or the other. Either I believe Him or I don't. There is no in between. My actions either please Him or sadden Him. I want to please Him. So I must choose to believe Him, and align my words, thoughts and actions up with that belief.

Several months ago I mentioned in one of my posts that I could sense that God was wanting to pull me into a deeper relationship with Him. While I could sense it, I didn't fully understand what that would mean. As I've begun to walk it out, I am beginning to see. And here in front of me stands a door of opportunity. If I go through it, I will certainly be in over my head...in so deep I can no longer touch bottom. I will be totally dependent on God. I must decide. I can choose to stay where I am comfortable, or I can choose to step through that door in faith, believing that He will be my life raft in the deep waters.

Just like Hebrews says, those who will come close to God must believe in Him. The real benefits of a relationship with God - the closeness and the friendship and all that comes with it - come only when we are willing to go deeper.

  • ...He said to Simon (Peter), Put out into the deep [water], and lower your nets for a haul. (Luke 5:4)

Tuesday, June 5, 2007

In faith

I started my time with God today praying for my children - their development, their well-being, the direction of their lives. I want to see God's purpose for them be fulfilled in them. As their mother, at the relative beginning of this journey to raise them, shape them, teach them and direct them, I see before me a long path full of unknowns and uncertainties, full of possibilities - both good and bad. And I stand here feeling inadequate. How could I ever protect them from all of the bad choices they could possibly make, from all of the hurtful things people will inevitably say and do? So I lift them up to God, because while I am wholly inadequate, He is not. So I laid it all out before Him and I choose to trust Him and stand on what I know to be true.

I finished my prayer time and opened my Bible. It happened to open to Luke 1, where the story of Zacharias caught my attention. God promised him a son, though he and his wife were older, and his wife, Elizabeth, was barren. Shortly after, their son, John, was born, and was set apart to be a great man of God.
  • Luke 1:37 - For with God nothing is ever impossible and no word from God shall be without power or impossible of fulfillment.

A few verses after that, this same Elizabeth says this about Mary, the mother of Jesus:

  • Blessed (happy, to be envied) is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of the things that were spoken to her from the Lord.

And at this time in my life, at the beginning of a long journey - a journey in which I, in reality, have relatively little control, I need this. This shows me a truth about the character of God - one that I can specifically point to in the scripture and stand on in times of doubt. Whatever God says is possible of fulfillment. His ultimate reward is bestowed upon those who truly believe that what He says is true and that what He says will come to pass. There is nothing but truth and power in His word. But this level of faith is required for what He says to fully come to be in my life. Only with this level of faith am I laying my own methods aside and opening my life up fully for Him to work. If I do this, I am assured that what He has spoken will BE.

  • Hebrews 11:1 - NOW FAITH is the assurance (the confirmation, the title deed) of the things [we] hope for, being the proof of things [we] do not see and the conviction of their reality [faith perceiving as real fact what is not revealed to the senses].

Faith is Assurance, Confirmation. It is my title deed to God's promises. It gives me an ownership of them, just as a title to my van declares that my van belongs to me. It is the certainty that His promises are reality in my life, even though I cannot yet see them. Faith sees the truth before it is revealed to the senses. What do I have without faith? No assurance. No confirmation. No ownership. No certainty. I have nothing. Faith is vital.

In the past 3 years alone, I've seen evidence (revealed to the senses) of the truth of several things I've believed for in faith. Things that God has promised, either through His word or spoken directly to my heart, have come about in my life. I've seen it work. I must trust that it will work again in the lives of my children, and in all other promises that God sends my way.

Sunday, June 3, 2007

Worth it

A simple song sung in church this morning has been ringing in my heart over and over.

'Around every corner, and up every mountain,
I'm not looking for crowns or the water from fountains.
I'm desperately seeking. Frantic believing,
That the site of your face is all that I'm needing.

And I say to You...
It's gonna be worth it.
It's gonna be worth it.
You're gonna be worth it all.'

This rings so true in me. Everything else pales in comparison to those moments when I can just sit in His presence and see Him the way only the Spirit sees Him. Those moments more than remind me that anything and everything I may go through here, all of my struggles, will be so worth it the moment I stand in His presence for the rest of forever.
These are just my thoughts on things related to my daily walk with God. I've always been a journal-keeper, and this is the area that demands most of the space in every journal I've ever kept. This is my passion, and I hope that by sharing my thoughts on the things I'm going through, I might be able to bless you in some way. Enjoy.