Maintaining the Presence of Peace

If you have been following along, you know I have been talking about the last name of Jesus mentioned in Isaiah 9:6, Prince of Peace. Even though we often refer to that scripture at Christmas, I believe it is one that we should look at again and again. We need to be reminded who this One is that we call Lord and Savior.

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While it is true that we always have the Prince of Peace with us, as I explain last week, we don’t always feel His peace. We all to often allow life and all of its difficulties and distractions to take the place of peace in our hearts.

Many of you are probably familiar with the “love bank” idea created by Dr. Willard F. Harley, clinical psychologist and author of a variety of relationship and marriage books, including His Needs, Her Needs. The sum up is that the more we put into someone else’s love bank, the more they will feel loved. When we criticize, demand, or do unkind things we make withdrawals from the their love bank, thus causing damage to the relationship.

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I believe we can use a similar analogy when it comes to peace in our lives. When we read God’s word, pray, have fellowship with others, and abide in Him we add to our “peace bank”. When we neglect those activities, or do things that go against God and His truth, we make withdrawals from the bank. It is easy to suddenly find ourselves lacking funds in our bank account when we have been living life in our own strength and might.

For this final post on the Prince of Peace, I would like to look at some of the tools we can use to ensure our peace banks never run low. I want to look at a few specific ideas. As I said earlier, prayer, God’s word, etc. help us maintain peace, but I want to look at specific thoughts in this regard.

1 - Prayer

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a - Prayers of confession and repentance. There is nothing faster at removing our peace than unconfessed sin. I like the idea of keeping “short accounts”. Did I hurt someone’s feelings at work today? Did I gossip when I was with my lady friends at lunch? Did I speak harshly towards my spouse? We must be ever vigilant to keep our minds and hearts clean before our Prince of Peace.

“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

— 1 John 1:9 (NASB 1995)

b - Prayers of release. As a parent, and grandparent, this is one of the hardest things to do. You might wonder, if I let it go, how is that going to give me peace? Don’t I have to do something about it? Actually, the most important thing we can do is to lay our fears, doubts and desires at the foot of the cross. We need to find our Lord to be the most trustworthy friend we will ever have. Let go of those things that are troubling you and let Him be God.

“Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.”

— Philippians 4:6

2 - Scripture

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a - Using God’s Word for meditation. When we are having difficulty with peace going back to God’s word and mulling it over helps to bring back our connection to the Prince of Peace. I always have a journal and at least a pen when I read passages from the Word. The Holy Spirit is always able to give us new insights, even from passages we have read over and over. I am not afraid to underline and write notes in my Bible either. Being centered on His holy Word will always reconnect us to our wonderful Prince of Peace.

“And I shall lift up my hands to Your commandments, Which I love; And I will meditate on Your statutes.”

— Psalm 119:48 (NASB 1995)

b - Using God’s Word for battle. I have discussed my walkabouts on here before, but as a refresher, a walkabout is when I pace around my house praying out loud for the purpose of spiritual warfare. I do this often when I am praying for my children, grandsons and my spouse, although, many people end up on my walkabout list, because so many are struggling. During these times of intense communication with God, I take the Words He has inspired in the Bible and I pray them back to Him.

“And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.”

— Ephesians 6:17 (NASB 1995)

The Word of God is not passive. According to Hebrews 4:12 it is, “living and active.”

“ For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.”

— Hebrews 4:12 (NASB 1995)

3 - Changing our thought life.

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This might seem obvious, and certainly spending more time in prayer and the Word of God will help. However, I thought it important to give this a little more emphasis since we can change our thoughts by doing other things as well. The mind is not the only part of our bodies affected by a lack of peace. Anxiety, anger, lust, bitterness, and lack of forgiveness can affect our digestive systems, cause aches and pains and can rev up the inflammation triggers all over our bodies. One of the main areas we can control is our thoughts.

a - Scriptures to help our thoughts:

“Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things.”

— Philippians 4:8 (NASB 1995)

“You will keep him in perfect peace,
Whose mind is stayed on You,
Because he trusts in You..”

— Isaiah 26:6 (NKJV)

“The Lord will give strength to His people; The Lord will bless His people with peace.”

— Psalm 29:11 (NASB 1995)

“Those who love Your Law have great peace, And nothing causes them to stumble.”

— Psalm 119:165 (NASB 1995)

“The steadfast of mind You will keep in perfect peace, Because he trusts in You.”

— Isaiah 26:3 (NASB 1995)

“And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.”

— Philippians 4:7 (NASB 1995)

I am particularly fond of this last verse. The word guard in this verse evokes the idea of a battalion of soldiers standing guard over our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. This is what God’s word says about His peace. His peace is beyond our comprehension, meaning we can have it, even when it doesn’t make any sense, and it will be like a company of warriors watching over our hearts and minds.

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c - Other ways to maintain our peace:

There are plenty of secular things people do to give them peace of mind from meditation, and medication, to music, to exercise and getting outside. All of these are good, but don’t forget, as a Christ follower your peace ultimately comes from the Prince of Peace. Nothing else will give you true, deep, lasting peace like Jesus.

I hope you have enjoyed this look at the word peace, and our Prince of Peace, Jesus Christ. Please let me know in the comments how our Prince has given His peace to you.

Mulling it Over - Romans 8:18-25 Part 1: Of Suffering and Longing

Another month has gone by and we have come back around to Mulling Over Romans chapter 8. This chapter is full of information that is pertinent to our walk with Christ and to our future with Him. I know it can be hard to think about the future when our days are so full of the present, but one day we will know fully our inheritance in Christ Jesus. As it is, our lives at this point are merely reflections of Christ, and many of us have dirty mirrors. God is often trying to clean those mirrors with a glorified bottle of Windex and a rough cloth, and that can make us uncomfortable, but remember our goal is to be like Christ, so clean on Father, clean on!

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“18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us.
19 For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God.
20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope
21 that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God.
22 For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now.
23 And not only this, but also we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body.
24 For in hope we have been saved, but hope that is seen is not hope; for who hopes for what he already sees?
25 But if we hope for what we do not see, with perseverance we wait eagerly for it.”

— Romans 8:18-25 (NASB 1995)

This is a longer section so we’ll take it a chunk at a time.

For I consider…

I wanted to take these three words by themselves because they are so important. One of the things I often hear Christians accused of is that they don’t think. They take the scriptures, and the historicity of their belief system on blind faith. While it is true that we are walking by faith, it is also true that we, with the Holy Spirit’s help, are able to think just as intellectually about our faith as someone who has studied for years and has multiple degrees.

Webster’s Online Dictionary defines the word consider in the following ways: to think about carefully; to think of especially with regard to taking some action; to take into account; to regard or treat in an attentive or kindly way; to gaze on steadily or reflectively; to judge or classify; regard; suppose; reflect or deliberate.

When we look at the book of God, the Bible, we need to consider what we are reading. We also need to look at life and consider what it means, and how what we are doing, or going through pertains to our faith, or how our faith pertains to it. We aren’t meant to just bull doze our way through life giving no regard to how our actions or words are affecting the people around us.

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In this particular passage the word consider relates directly to the words that follow.

…that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us.

I have been emphasizing this idea of suffering over the last few months, not because I am trying to be a downer, but because suffering is inevitable. We all, at some point in time, will suffer. We will know illness, loss, grief, sadness, anger, fear and the overwhelming reality of a busy life in a chaotic and fallen world. It is not bad or wrong to consider our suffering.

“12 Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you, which comes upon you for your testing, as though some strange thing were happening to you;
13 but to the degree that you share the sufferings of Christ, keep on rejoicing, so that also at the revelation of His glory you may rejoice with exultation. ”

— I Peter 4:12-13 (NASB 1995)

Paul, however, did not want us to be solely focused on our suffering. In fact, He says that whatever we are currently suffering through is not worthy to be compared with the glory that is going to be revealed to us. Let’s just sit there for a minute.

Think about all the bad stuff you have been through. Some of you have lived through the typical minor inconveniences life offers like, car break downs, the fridge stops working, or the toilet backs up. Others have walked a bumpier path. You have lost a job, a home or been through a divorce. Still others have seen suffering in the form of addictions, jail time, death of a loved one, or a chronic, incurable disease. No matter what the suffering, it is not worthy of being compared to the glory that awaits us! Isn’t that amazing? What hope is ours that the suffering we are going through on this planet will pale in comparison to the joy and glory we will know when we see Jesus face to face.

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For the anxious longing of creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God.

Have you ever thought about the fact that the world: the trees, birds, fish, animals, rocks and so on have longings? Is it possible for creation to be anxious as it waits for the revealing of the sons of God? Stay with me here. I am not talking about something weird or spooky. Let’s back up a minute.

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth (Genesis 1). If God created them, don’t they have His signature on them in a similar way that we have His signature on us. Granted we are human beings and we are made in the image of God, while creation was not, but that does not mean that creation is unable to recognize its creator and recognize the position of humanity as its caretaker.

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There is a reason creation waits eagerly which we see in the next verse.

For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope…

The creation did not want to be cursed. It enjoyed its relation to its Creator and to its caretaker. It rejoiced in the growing and the greening, the fullness and the fellowship. When sin came into the world, God didn’t just send Adam and Eve out of the the beautiful garden of Eden, but the creation changed. It became rife with weeds and thorns. Where once all animals lived in harmony, now certain animals became predators and all others became prey. In addition, creation no longer bore the fruit of the relation between it and its Creator, but was subject to futility, disease, rot and death.

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But God…

In hope…

…that the creation itself will also be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God.

This was God’s hope from the foundation of the world. He knew it all before it began. He knew when He set into motion the creation of a planet and the filling of that sphere of rock and stone with all that is living, and breathing, moving and reaching…He knew that His beautiful creation would suffer and die. So He also created the plan, the One, the Savior, the Son. It was only by this, the gift of pure, unselfish love, that the whole of creation would be able to be set free. But, it will not happen until we are face to face, fully knowing as we have been fully known (1 Corinthians 13:12); when we become His perfect reflection.

Next time we will continue our look at this section of Romans 8 by looking at the Groaning and the Hope.

Have a great weekend!

Wonderful Words of Life: The Perfect Work of Struggle

For the last five months I have been getting mental health counseling from a licensed therapist. After everything I went through in 2021 with my health, and subsequent bouts with Covid, sinus infections and other aches and pains, in addition to past hurts and traumas in our family I felt it was time to start a journey towards better mental health.

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Even though we have made great strides to lessen the stigma surrounding mental health struggles, there are still many people who will not seek help even though their lives could be greatly improved by it. A person does not have to be on the verge of suicide or struggling with addictions, or PTSD to need counseling. In fact, it is better if we seek help before we get to the breaking point, or before we begin seeking other, more self destructive habits to compensate for the pain or numbness we are feeling.

In addition, I believe as Christ followers we are doing a great disservice to our brothers and sisters if we do not recommend licensed therapeutic counsel when so many people in our churches and congregations are struggling with their identity, their marriages, their children, and with the constant input of information that is often not beneficial, but detrimental to their well being.

As a Faith Blogger, I want to give you good, and accurate information and most of what I share with you is Scriptural teaching which I have learned in my years of walking with Christ. I don’t have a psychology degree, nor do I have a certificate in counseling. However, I do have the Holy Spirit, and His guidance in my life as I have maneuvered the bumpy waters of this journey called life.

“27 As for you, the anointing which you received from Him abides in you, and you have no need for anyone to teach you; but as His anointing teaches you about all things, and is true and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you abide in Him.”

— I John 2:27 (NASB 1995)

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We all can have the wisdom of God because as believers in Christ we are directly linked to the triune God head: the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The above verse reminds us that we received an anointing from Him who abides in us. In other words, Jesus anointed us with the Holy Spirit. We see this outpouring of the Holy Spirit in Acts 2. The Holy Spirit is one with the Father and the Son, so they all know and operate in one mind. The Holy Spirit makes plain to us the things of God. Problems arise when I try to take that which is straight forward and simple and make it into a convoluted mess. The above verse reminds us that the Holy Spirit teaches us about all things, and that teaching is true, not a lie.

All of this is a preface to the wonderful words of life found in the book of James.

“2 Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds,
3 because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.
4 Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. ”

— James 1:2-4 (NIV)

You might be wondering how can I think these are wonderful words when it tells us we are going to face trials of many kinds, and that our faith is going to be tested. Let’s take a closer look.

Consider it pure joy…

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What sort of joy is this pure joy? If we look at the definition of pure we see that it means without any other particles or pollutants, as in pure water, or pure white snow. Pure joy is free from that which doesn’t belong such as all the fleshly characteristics that we so often exhibit when going through difficulty.

…whenever you face trials of many kinds…

What in blazes does having this pure joy have to do with facing various trials? How is that even possible? We’ll get to that in a moment.

…because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.

This also seems a bit of a stretch doesn’t it? I mean how do struggles and trials produce perseverance?

Let perseverance finish its work, so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

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It looks as though this scripture is telling us that perseverance works to make us mature and complete to the point that we are not lacking anything.

Let’s back away from these segments and look at this as a whole picture. We, as Christ followers, have learned that we will have trouble in this life. Didn’t Jesus tell this to his disciples?

“These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.””

— John 16:33 (NASB 1995)

Christ knew we would have trouble in this world. He walked as a man for approximately 33 years. He knew what is was to be hungry, thirsty and tired. He knew the frustration of not being understood and of being falsely accused. He was separated from His true family and lived his life here knowing what was to come. He did it for us.

Our ability to have joy when undergoing difficulty is completely dependent on our relationship with Christ. Are we independent, living by our own means and resources, or our we Christ dependent, living and depending on the resources available to us through the King of Kings who has adopted us? We can face any trial or trauma and persevere because He gives us the ability. It is not something we dredge up ourselves; an inner strength of our own making, it is in Him because He is able.

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As we lean back in our Savior’s arms, waiting on Him, seeking Him, praying in Him, abiding in Him, we persevere. As we persevere, we grow and mature. Not only do we mature, but we become complete, not lacking anything. That to me is amazing. It gives me the hope I need when I am faced with insurmountable hardship. Difficulty is part of this life, but it always has a purpose, and that purpose is making us complete.

I am sure some of you are asking the question, Why doesn’t God just by pass the difficulties and make us mature and complete without all the frustration and pain of struggle and heartbreak? He could, couldn’t He? Of course, but easier does not always mean better. God knows what is best, and by faith that is what I believe.

Don’t give up! Life is hard, but in hardship you are becoming exactly what God wants you to be.

A Series of (Un)Fortunate Events - Part 1: A Necessary Departure

In the book series, A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket (real name Daniel Handler) we follow the tale of three orphans whose lives could only be described as a winsomely tragic. I have not read the books, but my grandson has, and the two of us have worked our way through the Netflix series starring Neil Patrick Harris as the persistent bad guy Count Olaf, and Patrick Warburton as the author/narrator, Lemony Snicket.

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From the start the audience is told by the author to “look away” to keep themselves from having to see the tragic misfortunes of the three Baudelaire children who become orphans at the very start of the tale. What follows is misfortune after misfortune. From the reader’s or watcher’s perspective, the difficulties are seat squirming events that rapidly unfold taking the three children from the safety and security of their home and their parents, into the ugly, downtrodden clutches of Count Olaf. Time after time we think things will get better to only end up in a worse place, or more difficult situation.

Our own lives can often seem like a series of unfortunate events. Most of you probably have experienced those times in life when one thing after another goes wrong: the refrigerator dies, the car won’t start, you have a fight with your spouse, the kids get sick and you can’t find that piece of paperwork you needed for an important work meeting. I am not sure why things go this way. Perhaps it is the reality of the fallen world we live in: things break, stop working and get messed up. Relationships are hard. Children require energy and work, and some of us are constantly fighting the battle against clutter.

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Trouble is not anything new. Since the fall of Adam and Eve from God’s grace in the Garden of Eden, trouble has hounded mankind. Jesus gave us a heads up in the New Testament when he stated:

“These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.””

— John 16:33 (NASB - 1995)

When we look at the full chapter of John 16 we see Jesus talking to his disciples about the future, theirs and His. What he tells them is not pleasant. He tells them that they will be outcasts from the Synagogue and that people will want to kill them. He also tells them that He will be leaving. Their hearts are heavy, but He reveals that if He doesn’t leave he cannot send the Helper (Holy Spirit) to them.

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“13 But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come.
14 He will glorify Me, for He will take of Mine and will disclose it to you.
15 All things that the Father has are Mine; therefore I said that He takes of Mine and will disclose it to you.”

— John 16:13-15 (NASB - 1995)

Let’s think on this for a minute. Jesus in His human form was just like us. He was limited by time, space and even gravity. If you are familiar with the New Testament and Jesus’ life you know there were instances where he moved from one place to another mysteriously. He also walked on water, so He obviously still had Godly abilities. However, Jesus could only be in one place at a time.

Now think about how the Holy Spirit works. He is spirit as God is spirit. He has the ability to dwell in me, you and every other believer all at the same time. Since the Spirit brings the likeness of Jesus into our lives we all have Jesus with us all the time. Isn’t that amazing? I don’t know about you, but that makes my unfortunate events seem easier to handle and not so overwhelming.

Let me give you a few important points about the Spirit that I hope will encourage you like it encourages me.

The Holy Spirit is not constrained by time or space.

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God’s Spirit, or the Holy Spirit shows up repetitively in the Old and New Testament.

“Do not cast me away from Your presence And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me.”

— Psalm 51:11 (NASB - 1995)

“But they rebelled And grieved His Holy Spirit; Therefore He turned Himself to become their enemy, He fought against them.”

— Isaiah 63:10 (NASB - 1995)

“Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows: when His mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child by the Holy Spirit.”

— Matthew 1:18 (NASB - 1995)

““As for me, I baptize you with water for repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, and I am not fit to remove His sandals; He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.”

— Matthew 3:11 (NASB - 1995)

“When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb; and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit.”

— Luke 1:41 (NASB - 1995)

We can see that the Holy Spirit was around back in the time of David and Isaiah. He was also present with Mary and Elizabeth during their pregnancies. Time and space do not constrain this being. There are other places in the scriptures where it mentions the Spirit of the Lord. My assumption is this also is a reference to the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit reveals truth to us.

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Jesus not only called Him the Spirit of Truth, but He also said that He would reveal truth to us. I often find when I am going through an unfortunate event, God will bring back to my mind certain scriptures that help me stand firm in the difficulty. Words like:

“He Himself has said, “I will never desert you, nor will I ever forsake you,””

— Hebrews 13:5b (NASB -1995)

“And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose”

— Romans 8:28 (NASB - 1995)

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

— Philippians 4:6-7 (NASB - 1995)

The Holy Spirit will guide us.

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Jesus said, “…He will guide you into all the truth.” I personally feel that this isn’t just about guiding us to which verse to use in a particular situation, but I think it also means the Spirit will guide us in our decisions and direct us as we seek answers to the questions we are asking in our unfortunate events. What I struggle with the most is not whether the Holy Spirit will guide me or not, but when.

Over the last year as I have been maneuvering these health issues I always felt the Spirit there with me, but finding answers to my issues has been illusive. I have to keep putting myself back into God’s hands and wait…wait for healing, wait for wisdom, wait for guidance to a doctor who knows exactly what to do. Waiting is hard, and I don’t foresee waiting ever getting any easier. I have to cling to what Jesus said, that the Spirit will guide me into all the truth.

The Holy Spirit speaks only what the Father and Son desire.

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You will never be mislead by the Holy Spirit. He cannot tell you anything that is contrary to the scriptures because the Scriptures are the written words of God. If you hear a voice telling you to rob a bank, that is not the Holy Spirit. If you think God is telling you to paint your kitchen a certain color, it is probably not the voice of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit busies Himself with the Words and the Works of God. The color of your kitchen is your own free will. God has given us freedom to make choices, even bad ones, but when we walk with the Holy Spirit as our guide and we are in tune with Him we will desire to please God.

The Holy Spirit discloses God’s words to us.

The word disclose as defined by Webster’s online dictionary means to make public or to expose to view. This is quite telling of out the Godhead operates. Many who do not believe say the Bible is unreadable and hard to understand, but they are reading it without the disclosure of the Holy Spirit. When the Holy Spirit takes up residence in our lives, He not only makes us more like Christ, but He gives us the ability to understand the deeper things of God.

Next week we’ll take a look at why how unfortunate events can be turned into fortunate events. Until then have a great weekend.

When Darkness Comes - Part 10: The Beauty of His Piercing

As I bring this series to a close, there is still so much to learn and so much to share, but first and foremost, I want you to remember, when you are walking in darkness God is near. We saw how He hovered over the darkness of the deep at the beginning of creation, and how He is not only within the darkness, but He is in control of it. I want you to remember that whatever comes into your life passes first through the hands of the Almighty, and with that thought the reminder that His is good.

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I have also been sharing with you my own experience of walking in the dark by sharing heart felt words written in my journal. As a believer, writer and person of deep emotion, I have found journalling a great way to work through hard times and even harder feelings. I want you to understand how important it is to acknowledge our feelings and bring them before the Lord. I want you to be able to throw off those false faces we so often wear, so that you can live a life that is as real and raw as possible. Life is hard, but our God is powerful.

In the Old Testament, The book of Exodus gives many details of the Israelite’s captivity by Egypt and the freedom following when God worked through Moses. It also gives many of the laws and ordinances they people of Israel were expected to follow.

““Now these are the ordinances which you are to set before them:

2 “If you buy a Hebrew slave, he shall serve for six years; but on the seventh he shall leave as a free man without a payment to you.
3 If he comes alone, he shall leave alone; if he is the husband of a wife, then his wife shall leave with him.
4 If his master gives him a wife, and she bears him sons or daughters, the wife and her children shall belong to her master, and he shall leave alone.
5 But if the slave plainly says, ‘I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not leave as a free man,’
6 then his master shall bring him to God, then he shall bring him to the door or the doorpost. And his master shall pierce his ear with an awl; and he shall serve him permanently.”

— Exodus 21:1-6 (NASB)

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As you can see from the passage, over the years, if a slave was treated well, he might begin to see his master as part of his family. When the time of his slavery came to an end, he could decide to stay with his master permanently. We might wonder why a slave would do this, but it makes sense. If the slave had come to take a wife and have his own family over the course of his confinement, he would be choosing between his freedom and his family, because the female slave he married, is still the property of the master. Choosing to remain with his master allowed him to stay with his family. When he made this choice, his ear would be pierced with an awl to show that he was permanently bonded to the lord of the house.

I love how the things God ordained and revealed in the Old Testament become analogies for our spiritual walk. The piercing of the ear showed a choice on the part of the slave to be permanently part of the household and family of the lord of the estate. In the same way, when we choose to allow God to pierce our hearts with the truth of His word, we become more invested in the desire, and work of the Master. Suddenly, the things that didn’t seem to make sense, become understandable. The darkness that seemed as though it would swallow us whole, becomes filled with pin pricks of light, creating hope in our weary hearts.

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When I went through that particularly dark time a few months ago, I shared with you the process I went through as I wrestled with my own feelings and God’s truth. I have long struggled with my self-worth and self-image. We live in a world where comparison is the norm and no matter how often people say, “Don’t compare yourself to others,” “Get over yourself,” “You are being selfish if you have those thoughts and feelings,” or “You are unique and beautiful,” the fact is we still compare, feel bad about ourselves, guilty about what we did wrong, or didn’t do right, and all the other messages we hear. Only God can lift us out of the mire we and others have placed us into.

The morning after I had journaled all of those pages, where I ranted, acknowledged, remembered and ruminated, the Lord took His sword and pierced my heart. I woke up that morning, not really feeling victorious, but remembering I was waiting on the Lord in the strength of His might. I knew He would bring me out of that darkness when He was ready. I leaned into what I knew. Yes, I would have loved to have gotten up that morning feeling like a weight was lifted off my shoulders, but I didn’t. In addition to remembering what He had shown me over the last few days about His truth, I chose to focus on Him.

As I was putting on my make up, I decided to listen to a Beth Moore Podcast. The title of the podcast was Measureless Love, Part 1 (April 13, 2020). Why I picked that podcast on that day is a God thing. You see the thing I was struggling with the most was feeling loved. Yes I knew in my head my family loved me. I knew if I ever needed them, I could call on the friends that I have and they would be there for me, but still, the doubt that anyone truly loved me was like a disease in my mind. After all, I was not, nor ever would be, enough.

The fact that Beth Moore’s podcast was on God’s measureless love was no accident. What struck me was the idea, which Beth pointed out, that God is a God of measurements and preciseness. Think about the earth, sun, stars and other heavenly bodies. If our earth was just a smidge closer to the sun it would be too hot to support life. Just a smidge further away and it would be to cold to support life.

Look at these other examples in Scripture, of God’s precise measurements:

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“Then God said to Noah, “The end of humanity has come before Me; for the earth is filled with violence because of people; and behold, I am about to destroy them with the earth. 14 Make for yourself an ark of gopher wood; you shall make the ark with compartments, and [m]cover it inside and out with pitch. 15 This is how you shall make it: the length of the ark shall be three hundred cubits, its width fifty cubits, and its height thirty cubits. 16 You shall make a window for the ark, and finish it to a cubit from the top; and put the door of the ark on the side; you shall make it with lower, second, and third decks. 17 Now behold, I Myself am bringing the flood of water upon the earth, to destroy all flesh in which there is the breath of life, from under heaven; everything that is on the earth shall perish. 18 But I will establish My covenant with you; and you shall enter the ark—you, your sons, your wife, and your sons’ wives with you. 19 And of every living thing of all flesh, you shall bring two of every kind into the ark, to keep them alive with you; they shall be male and female. 20 Of the birds according to their kind, and of the animals according to their kind, of every crawling thing of the ground according to its kind, two of every kind will come to you to keep them alive. 21 As for you, take for yourself some of every food that is edible, and gather it to yourself; and it shall be food for you and them.” 22 So Noah did these things; according to everything that God had commanded him, so he did.”

— Genesis 6:13-22 (NASB)

“10 “Now they shall construct an ark of acacia wood two and a half cubits long, one and a half cubits wide, and one and a half cubits high. ”

— Exodus 25:10 (NASB)

“And you shall make an atoning cover of pure gold, two and a half cubits long and one and a half cubits wide. ”

— Exodus 25:17 (NASB)

“Moreover, you shall make the tabernacle with ten curtains of fine twisted linen and violet, purple, and scarlet material; you shall make them with cherubim, the work of a skilled embroiderer. 2 The length of each curtain shall be twenty-eight cubits, and the width of each curtain four cubits; all the curtains shall have the same measurements. 3 Five curtains shall be joined to one another, and the other five curtains shall be joined to one another. 4 You shall make loops of violet on the edge of the outermost curtain in the first set, and likewise you shall make them on the edge of the curtain that is outermost in the second set. 5 You shall make fifty loops in the one curtain, and you shall make fifty loops on the edge of the curtain that is in the second set; the loops shall be opposite each other. 6 You shall also make fifty clasps of gold, and join the curtains to one another with the clasps so that the tabernacle will be a unit.”

— Exodus 26:1-6 (NASB)

“4 Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?
Tell Me, if you have understanding,
5 Who set its measurements? Since you know.
Or who stretched the measuring line over it?
6 On what were its bases sunk?
Or who laid its cornerstone,”

— Job 38:4-6 (NASB)

I could go on, sharing passage after passage about God’s attention to detail, specifically to that of measurement. From laying the foundations of the earth, to the tabernacle to the temple, God is a God of preciseness…except in the area of His love. When it comes to God’s love, it is measureless.

“My response is to get down on my knees before the Father, this magnificent Father who parcels out all heaven and earth. I ask him to strengthen you by his Spirit—not a brute strength but a glorious inner strength—that Christ will live in you as you open the door and invite him in. And I ask him that with both feet planted firmly on love, you’ll be able to take in with all followers of Jesus the extravagant dimensions of Christ’s love. Reach out and experience the breadth! Test its length! Plumb the depths! Rise to the heights! Live full lives, full in the fullness of God.”

— Ephesians 3:14-19 (The Message)

I typically don’t use too many different translations of the Bible. I prefer the New American Standard or the New International Version, but I wanted to give you a version of this passage that would drive the point home. In my opinion, this is beautifully written. Truly, the dimensions of Christ’s love are extravagant.

“11 For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
So great is His mercy toward those who fear Him.
12 As far as the east is from the west,
So far has He removed our wrongdoings from us.
13 Just as a father has compassion on his children,
So the Lord has compassion on those who fear Him.
14 For He Himself knows our form;
He is mindful that we are nothing but dust.”

— Psalm 103:11-14 (NASB)

When God pierces our hearts, He drives home His truth to the extent that we cannot question its source or its author. God’s love for me is measureless. You know how I know this to the very core of my being? When I was in darkness, questioning the truth of love in my life, again, He took the time to orchestrate my circumstances to remind me, He loves me without measure, again. You see, he has done this for me before; not in the same way, but in a way that meant something to me. This time, it pierced me. When the piercing happens it cannot be undone.

Just like that slave, who chose to have his ear pierced with the awl, as a reminder to himself and everyone he chose to stay with his master, so too God’s piercing in our lives is a reminder, a place we can return to if we ever doubt.

Next week I will wrap this series up with a review. Until then, have a great weekend!

When Darkness Comes - Part 8: When Feelings and Truth Meet

This series is long, but I don’t want to skim these ideas. God and His word are so incredibly complex and beautiful. We do ourselves an injustice when we do not truly understand, and believe, what He is trying to say to us. Remember at the very beginning of this series, I talked about how God created the darkness? Remember how I shared that the darkness was made for our benefit; for rest; for growth? The same is true of the darkness we are walking through. No matter what the darkness is, even those things that the devil meant for our destruction, God can and will use to make us into His perfect and beautiful children. There is one thing we must do…be willing to let Him pierce us. In the same way the nails pierced the gentle hands, and the sword pierced the side of our Messiah, we share in His sufferings when we let God pierce our hearts with His truth. It is by sharing in His sufferings that we receive our greatest comfort.

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“For just as the sufferings of Christ are ours in abundance, so also our comfort is abundant through Christ.”

— 2 Corinthians 1:5 (NASB)

Last week I focused on the need for expressing and acknowledging our emotions during these times of darkness. God is not a weakling. He can handle anything we throw at Him, whether it be sadness, horror, anger, jealously, despair, anxiety and more. It is obvious when reading through the scriptures, ever since our initial creation and subsequent fall to sin, God spoke His truth to the writers in order to bring us comfort, peace, joy, courage and the ability to express our innermost thoughts without fear of retribution.

David and the writers of the Psalms, as well as Job, Jeremiah, Solomon and others filled pages of scripture with emotional musings.

“Why are you in despair, my soul? And why are you restless within me? Wait for God, for I will again praise Him For the help of His presence, my God.”

— Psalm 43:5 (NASB)

“How long am I to feel anxious in my soul, With grief in my heart all the day? How long will my enemy be exalted over me?”

— Psalm 13:2 (NASB)

“I am disgusted with my own life; I will express my complaint freely; I will speak in the bitterness of my soul.”

— Job 10:1 (NASB)

“My sorrow is beyond healing, My heart is faint within me!”

— Jeremiah 8:18 (NASB)

“Why did I ever come out of the womb To look at trouble and sorrow, So that my days have been spent in shame?”

— Jeremiah 20:18 (NASB)

“Do not be eager in your spirit to be angry, For anger resides in the heart of fools.”

— Ecclesiastes 7:9 (NASB)

“Say to those with anxious heart, “Take courage, fear not. Behold, your God will come with vengeance; The retribution of God will come, But He will save you.””

— Isaiah 35:4 (NASB)

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Truth growth in the Christian’s life most often happens when God’s truth meets the raw edges of our intense emotions. When we take His word and apply it to our feelings, and our circumstances His light permeates our darkest dark.

“For the word of God is living and active, and sharper than any two-edged sword, even penetrating as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.”

— Hebrews 4:12 (NASB)

When I am struggling in the dark, I am often unsure, confused and overwhelmed. With God there is no confusion. With His word, His truth, revealed by His Holy Spirit there is only surety and purity. This makes all the difference when we are struggling.

Once again, let me share my own journey. Once I acknowledged my despair and sadness to the Father, He brought me back to two particular scriptures: Psalm 16:11 and Psalm 27:14. For this particular post I will expand only on the second.

“Wait for the Lord;
Be strong and let your heart take courage;
Yes, wait for the Lord.”

— Psalm 27:14 (NASB)

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“Waiting has always been hard. Waiting for the salvation of our loved ones who are not walking with You; waiting for a diagnosis and treatment for our daughter; waiting for the birth of our second grandson...but perhaps I am missing the point. The verse doesn’t emphasize WHAT we are waiting for, but WHO...You!

While we are waiting we are to be doing two things -
1 - Be strong - perhaps this is where I am struggling the most. I have often thought of myself as fairly strong - all the crazy stuff Mark and I have gone through - but perhaps, I am not really very strong.

I obviously get upset and emotional when, if I had been leaning on You, I would have had the strength I needed. I have been guilty of wanting my strength to come from others, but there are other scriptures like Ephesians 6:10.

Before Paul launched into the armor of God He says, ‘Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might.’
It doesn’t say, ‘Be strong in your spouse, be strong in your church, be strong in your own strength - it says be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might.”

— Amy's Journal - 5/24/21

From this point, I looked at a cross reference from Ephesians 6:10 to Ephesians 1:19, but I looked at it within the context of Ephesians 1:18-23. To keep this from getting to long, feel free to click on the link, or grab your Bible and take a look at this passage. It is worth while, to truly understand what that phrase, “…in the strength of His might,” encompasses.

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“The strength of His might was brought about when He raised Jesus from the dead and placed Him on His right hand in the heavenly places, and gave Him (Jesus) power, rule, authority and dominion over all.

SO...when it says I am to be strong in the strength of His might it is telling me I do not have to be strong in my strength or power. NO! I am to be strong in the same might that raised Jesus from the dead; not only from the dead, but to His position over all.

2 - Take Courage - The second thing I am to do is take courage (mental or moral strength to venture, persevere, and withstand danger, fear, or difficulty). When looking up the meaning of this word, it seems that courage, or taking it up refers to a cause. What is the reason I have to be courageous; or from whom do I get my courage. It is from the Lord Jesus Christ.

The end result is that as I am waiting on the Lord, He will be my strength and my courage. I am not alone in this.

Thank you Father, Son and Holy Spirit.”

— Amy's Journal - 5/24/21

When God’s word pierces me it is as though I enter into a layer of God I never understood before. I have read through the Bible multiple times over my life as a believer, but I stand amazed at how His Spirit stabs straight to the heart, changing my perspective and my understanding when I am truly open to His teaching. More often than not, this happens when I am walking in the dark.

Don’t be afraid to wrestle with God. Don’t be afraid to search His word and pray the eyes of your heart will be open. Allow Him to pierce you through to the heart.

Next week we will look at the role of thanksgiving in the dark. Have a great weekend!

When Darkness Comes - Part 7: Revealing our True Hearts

I have been doing a series on the darkness as it pertains to times of struggle in our lives. The last two posts revolved around truth; the truth we know about God and the truth we know about ourselves as seen in the Word of God. We cannot, however, have truth and not acknowledge the feelings and emotions that God created us with. As we saw last time, we often put on False Faces, so that we can cope and pretend the truth has penetrated our hearts, but in reality it hasn’t. I have been sharing my own experience with you, because through my own walk in the dark, I have learned that truth must be wrestled with before it can become a part of our inner being.

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God knows our delicate frame and also knows He gave us a mind that can think, reason and question. However, we must remember our minds were meant to be in communion with Him. The longer we let our minds dwell on what is false, hopeless and destructive, the less we will be able to recognize His truth. When we are walking in the darkness, there is no doubt, the Unseen Enemy will try to manipulate that shadowed path to his advantage. That is precisely why it is so important to stand on the God’s truth, but not just stand, we have to wrestle with it and allow Him to pierce our souls with it.

He has done that with me. Even as I type this, tears come to my eyes, because I realize, as an Almighty being, He owes me nothing. He has no reason to gift me His time or attention. He does so, because He chooses to. The incredible, lavish fact is, He chooses to do this, even when I am at my lowest, ranting about how unfair life is or how hard things are, or questioning impatiently when will this darkness end.

In order to get to this point of allowing God to pierce us, we must acknowledge our feelings, as ugly as they can be. Feelings are often tied to experiences, both good and bad. In my heart I have a room. Inside, there are shelves full of experiences, mostly those with other people. Most of these are bad experiences. When I feel bad, I unlock that room and I go inside, closing the door behind me. It isn’t a comfortable room, filled with fairy lights and comfy, overstuffed furniture. It’s more like an old attic, full of cobwebs, dark corners and lots of junk. I find a place on the hard floor and I start reviewing all that junk…all those times I yelled at my kids; all the angry words between my husband and I; all those feelings of never measuring up…of not being enough…of being invisible.

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Most of us have something like my attic room, where we revisit things that happened or didn’t happen. These are part of emotional make up of who we are and God is patient with us. He allows us those moments, but He doesn’t want us to stay there. Eventually, it would be nice if I could hand that key over to Him and walk away. I haven’t done that yet, but I am getting closer.

I am going to share an except from my journal, when I was revealing my true heart to God. I share these things, not to make you feel sorry for me or to make you think how hard I have had it, but I hope by being vulnerable with you, you will choose to be vulnerable with God.

“I guess what it comes down to, Lord, is I am sad that I am invisible. I know there are lots of people struggling with far worse things than feeling invisible. There are wives whose husbands are unfaithful; there are children whose caretakers are abusive; there are elderly men and women fading like an old photograph with no one to visit or care about their needs, or desires. There are people who have felt the pain of divorce, the death of a child or spouse...and here I am feeling sad...that I feel invisible.

But I would not be a healthy person if I did not acknowledge I am sad, and it hurts. It hurts to be forgotten; to have a face that is unmemorable; to have no voice except one that is deemed naggy, bitchy or emotional. I am only acknowledged when I mess up. I am only texted or called when someone wants something...””

— Amy's journal from 5/23/21

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There are several things I want you to notice. I am acknowledging my feelings. I am unloading. I have remembered God’s truth about Himself and about me, and now I am letting Him know how I feel. My intellect knows what is true…I am not invisible. I have a family who does love me. I have friends…but the acknowledgement of feelings is so important in healing and in allowing God to bring His word into the deep places of our hearts. I go on to make this very point in my journal.

“Lord, I am venting. I know what Your word says. I am not invisible. Your word says You knew me before I was born. You know my thoughts from afar. There is no place I can go to get away from You. I am not invisible to You. (Psalm 139)”

— Amy's journal from 5/23/21

The other thing I want you to notice is that I recognize I am not alone in suffering. There are many who are suffering; many who have it far worse than I do, but that does not diminish my feelings or my need to lay those feelings at His feet. This is a process.

The next step follows: I recognize that some of my struggle is a result of sin, and the work of the Unseen Enemy.

“Lord, I ask Your forgiveness that I struggle with these feelings over and over. I should be mature enough to be so over it, but right now I am not. I am weak.

I ask for Your protection. I know my enemy would like to devour me, my family, but he cannot. Renew my mind, because I cannot. I choose to lean in to You; in to your comfort, mercy and grace; into Your sufferings. I embrace it all and I call on Your name...the name of Jesus, knowing He is the Great Warrior Prince and He will rescue me.”

— Amy's Journal - 5/23/21

Finally, I acknowledge the power and supremacy of the Almighty One.

“Thank you for You hem me in behind and before; that You are my rear guard; that You hold my hand and walk with me through every single valley. You are the Wonderful Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father and Prince of Peace. You alone are the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.”

— Amy's Journal - 5/23/31

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Don’ be afraid to let God peer into the deepest places of your heart. Allowing Him access to those attic rooms will eventually bring about true renewal and cleansing. Wrestle with God’s truth. Tell Him how you really feel as you maneuver the darkness of your path. Let Him pierce you deep and He will bring you to new understanding and heights of His love.

Next time we will look at another piece of this refining process as we continue our journey in the darkness. I hope you are able to join me. Thank you for all your support and I pray God will become more real to you today than He ever has before.

When Darkness Comes - Part 6: Remembering Who We are in the Darkness

Many times when we are walking in the darkness, especially if we are doing it for an extended time, we tend to forget who we are meant to be. We fall back into the pattern of listening to the manipulator’s voice, rather than the Creator’s voice. We focus in on our insecurities, rather than our place on His solid foundation. We begin to obsess over all that is wrong, rather than being thankful for all that is right. I know. I have been there.

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Being a low energy person, it is easy for me to get tired, not just physically, but mentally, emotionally and spiritually. There is a reason, Jesus said to come to Him when we are weary and need rest. He wasn’t just talking about our physical weariness. In fact, I think He was referring more to the weariness we feel when we are walking in the darkness. What did he say in those verses?

“28 “Come to Me, all who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.
29 Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
30 For My yoke is comfortable, and My burden is light.””

— Matthew 11:28-30 (NASB)

I want to come back to these verses when I explore how to survive the darkness, but for today, I want you to notice verse 29. We are to take His yoke on ourselves, but not just that. We are to do it so that we can learn from Jesus. Why? Because He is gentle, humble and in Him we will find rest for our souls. We can see here, it is not just our physical bodies that can find rest in Him, although I believe we can find that as well. In Him we find rest for our souls.

Once again, I want to draw on my own experiences to help you understand how important it is to remember God’s eternal truth when you are going through dark times. If we forget who He says we are, then we open the door for Satan to influence us with his lies and manipulative whisperings. Let’s look at a few of the false faces we wear when we are maneuvering the dark places in life.

False Face - The Mime

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You all know this one. They don’t talk about their struggles. You might even identify with this one. Unfortunately, the Christian church has made the mime one of our most numerous congregants. We don’t talk about it. When life gets tough, we sink down into our character and keep silent. Are you struggling with mental illness? Don’t talk about it. Are you frustrated in your marriage? Don’t talk about it. Are you shell shocked after a great loss? Don’t talk about it. We are too busy, too tired, too wrapped up in our own selves to take the time to listen, even if we wanted you to talk. Then, like the mime, we occasionally act out. We blow up at inappropriate times. We cry for no reason. We are alone in our silent performance as the rest of the world wonders why we are acting so odd.

False Face - The Stoic

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Definition of a stoic:

“a member of a school of philosophy founded by Zeno of Citium about 300 b.c. holding that the wise man should be free from passion, unmoved by joy or grief, and submissive to natural law”

— Webster's Online Dictionary

A person who maneuvers the dark times with this philosophy will often exhibit no emotion at all. Their attitude might resemble that of a rock. While even those who identify with stoicism do have emotions, their desire is to not give in to extravagant or showy emotion, choosing rather, to maintain a steady, even keeled composure.

False Face - The Dancer

Image by Vladimir Yuminov from Pixabay

When difficulty comes, this person will often be flitting from one thing to another, like a bee buzzing from flower to flower. An individual who exhibits this behavior, is often afraid to slow down or sit still, knowing that when they do the full weight of their struggles will overwhelm them. They believe if they keep moving, they will not have to really deal with their pain and eventually it will become less difficult.

False Face - Pollyanna

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If you are not familiar with the term Pollyanna, it is defined as a person that is excessively positive or optimistic. Originally, Pollyanna was a novel written in 1913 by Eleanor H. Porter. It told the story of eleven year old orphan girl Pollyanna Whittier, who is sent to live with her stern, cold, spinster Aunt Polly. Pollyanna maneuvers life playing a game she learned from her father, called the Glad Game. The premise being that there is always something to be glad about, or an opportunity to always see the brighter side of any dark cloud.

While I do believe there is benefit in looking for the good in life and in finding things to be thankful for, it is equally important to not deceive ourselves into believing there is nothing wrong, when in fact we are still truly hurting and struggling.

I am sure if we looked deeper we could find more False Faces that we adopt and use when we are not willing to face the darkness we are going through. However, it is of great importance that we do recognize our struggles and difficulties.

What does God’s Word say about us? Let’s look at another page from my journal.

Image by CharuTyagi from Pixabay

I recognize my standing as a sinner.

“23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,”

— Romans 3:23 (NASB)

I called on Your name and You washed me whiter than snow.

“13 for “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.””

— Romans 10:13 (NASB)

““Come now, and let us debate your case,”
Says the Lord,
“Though your sins are as scarlet,
They shall become as white as snow;
Though they are red like crimson,
They shall be like wool.”

— Isaiah 1:18 (NASB)

I know, according to Your word, my name is written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.

“27 and nothing unclean, and no one who practices abomination and lying, shall ever come into it, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life.”

— Revelation 21:27 (NASB)

I am sealed by His blood.

“30 Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.”

— Ephesians 4:30 (NASB)

“22 who also sealed us and gave us the Spirit in our hearts as a pledge.”

— 2 Corinthians 1:22 (NASB)

I know according to Your word, I am not condemned.

“Therefore there is now no condemnation at all for those who are in Christ Jesus.”

— Romans 8:1 (NASB)

I know when I am weary and burdened, I can come to You and You will give me rest.

“28 “Come to Me, all who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.”

— Matthew 11:28 (NASB)

I know that Your yoke is easy and Your burden light. I can come to You and learn from You because you are gentle and humble.

“29 Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For My yoke is comfortable, and My burden is light.””

— Matthew 11:29-30

I know You are always with me.

“5 No one will be able to oppose you all the days of your life. Just as I have been with Moses, I will be with you; I will not desert you nor abandon you.”

— Joshua 1:5 (NASB)

“5 Make sure that your character is free from the love of money, being content with what you have; for He Himself has said, “I will never desert you, nor will I ever abandon you,””

— Hebrews 13:5 (NASB)

I know You have given me, Your precious and magnificent promises.

“4 Through these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world on account of lust.”

— 2 Peter 1:4 (NASB)

I know that You work all things together for good.

“28 And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.”

— Romans 8:28 (NASB)

I know You love me.

“See how great a love the Father has given us, that we would be called children of God; and in fact we are. For this reason the world does not know us: because it did not know Him.”

— 1 John 3:1 (NASB)

In order for us to be able to walk in the darkness we must remember, not only who God is, but who we are. I hope you will find encouragement in these verses.

Next time I will delve into what our response should be when we are walking in the storms.

Have a good week.

When Darkness Comes - Part 2: The Dark

Last week I started a series on When Darkness Comes. I don’t know that I really need to define what I mean by that, but just in case, I will. When I talk about darkness, I am talking about those times in life when things are very difficult. I am not talking about simple inconveniences, although get enough of them all at once, and I certainly start wondering who is trying to beat me up. What I am referring to when I say darkness are those times when you feel alone, discouraged and overwhelmed. However, it is not just feelings, that make something dark. It is a blend of what is going on in life, either your own or in the lives of those you love, a weight that feels especially burdensome, and how much of it you are carrying alone.

Image by cocoparisienne from Pixabay

“Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘Stretch out your hand toward the sky so that darkness spreads over Egypt—darkness that can be felt.’”

— Exodus 10:21 (NIV)

There are times darkness can be felt. This type of darkness is thick, dank, visceral, like a fog that rolls in over our souls from which we feel we will never be free. Grief is one of these dark times. When my father passed away 15 years ago, I felt as though a fog had rolled into my life and it seemed that it would always be there. Obviously, over time, the fog lifted and the darkness finally pulled away, but it is inevitable that these dark times will come. Let’s take a look at what God’s word says about darkness.

We already know that darkness was at the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth.

“ 1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
2 And the earth was a formless and desolate emptiness, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters.”

— Genesis 1:1 (NASB)

Image by Ronile from Pixabay

I really like how this is phrased in the New American Standard Bible, “…and the earth was a formless and desolate emptiness.” I know when I am going through an especially dark struggle, I feel as though I am like that formless and desolate emptiness. I think many people can relate to this feeling. If we started to look at statistics on how many people are on psych medications, I would say that this feeling of emptiness is becoming more and more prominent.

As we look at darkness there are several things we must understand.

1 - To God Darkness and Light are no Different.

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We looked at this verse last week, but let’s look at it again.

“Even darkness is not dark to You, And the night is as bright as the day. Darkness and light are alike to You.”

— Psalm 139:12 (NASB)

For our limited minds it is hard to think that light and darkness could possibly be the same thing, but to an Almighty Creator, they are. Obviously, God can see just as well in the darkness as He can in the light. The differentiation of light and darkness was for our benefit. Knowing that God doesn’t make this differentiation can help us to understand how we can be walking through darkness or at least things that appear dark to you and I, and still have the solid assurance that God is with us.

Many times when we are encountering difficulty we tend to think God has left us, or at the least, that He is not listening to us. This is where we need to go back to the truth of God’s word. Hasn’t His word told us He is with us, always?

“Be strong and courageous, do not be afraid or in dread of them, for the Lord your God is the One who is going with you. He will not desert you or abandon you.”

— Deuteronomy 31:6 (NASB)

2 - Darkness was for our benefit.

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God knew exactly what His creation would need, from the plants that grew, to the creatures that walked, flew and swam, to the people He made, God knew that darkness would be a time to refresh, rest and relax from the busyness of work. Just like so many things that God made that were good, it is our enemy that has taken them and twisted them for his benefit alone.

“14 Then God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night, and they shall serve as signs and for seasons, and for days and years;
15 and they shall serve as lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth”; and it was so.
16 God made the two great lights, the greater light to govern the day, and the lesser light to govern the night; He made the stars also.
17 God placed them in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth,
18 and to govern the day and the night, and to separate the light from the darkness; and God saw that it was good. 19 And there was evening and there was morning, a fourth day.”

— Genesis 1:14-19 (NASB)

When we look at this passage from Genesis 1, we see that God made the differentiation between day and night, and the lights that were to govern these time frames. There was even a reason given as to why He made the sun, moon, stars and planets; it was so we could use them as signs for days, seasons and years. If you know anything about how the earth is positioned on its axis, how far it is away from the sun and the way it rotates, and revolves around the sun, you understand the complexity of this Creator and that even in the darkness, He provided the light of the moon and stars. This was all done for our good!

3 - Darkness is not bad.

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It is easy to be afraid of the dark. Darkness can be a scary thing, especially if you have watched a creepy movie, or read a horror story. When I was growing up I loved to watch scary movies. I am also a fan of books like Dracula by Bram Stoker, The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux, and Frankenstein by Mary Shelley. However, in this world of incredible evil, spending too much time immersing ourselves in scary things can easily cause us to forget that darkness was created for our good.

Darkness is the absence of light, however, as we saw in the first chapter of Genesis, darkness wasn’t meant to be something evil, oppressive or gloomy. Darkness was created by a loving God who cared for His creation. Next week, we will take a closer look at how our enemy, Satan, turned what was meant for our wellbeing into a tool for our destruction.

I hope you will continue to follow along. If you ever have any questions or concerns about things you see on my blog, feel free to shoot me a message via Facebook, Instagram, or if you are a subscriber, you may email me directly. Thanks for all your support.

His Rock, My Foundation

I get the feeling, the Lord would have me spend a few Wednesdays redirecting us towards Him. Yes, when we are studying His Scriptures we are directed towards Him, but in my experience nothing is quite remembered as well as a song. I grew up in a Bible church. We sang all the old hymns from Great is Thy Faithfulness and Amazing Grace to When Peace Like a River and The Old Rugged Cross. These old hymns became part of my foundation and reinforced everything I was learning in Sunday School, church services, Pioneer Girls and youth group.

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Last week, the Lord brought to my mind, that old hymn, May the Mind of Christ My Savior, as a way to convey truth and encouragement during these difficult days we are walking in. This week, it seems that He has led me to another older hymn and I want to share that with you this week.

During this time it can be especially difficult to have hope. When we look at the long term ramifications of the virus and its ripple effects, things can be pretty daunting. When I went with my daughter to the grocery store today, I think we both felt tired and didn’t really want to put on a mask, but we did. It was weird, awkward and uncomfortable, but we kept them on, even though the majority of employees weren’t wearing them and many customers as well. When I got home I had to drag the groceries onto the back porch, where I then proceeded to spray and wipe down every item with a bleach solution before bringing it in the house. By the time I was done, I was emotionally and physically spent.

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You know, we can all throw our little platitudes out there about how we are strong and we will get through this and so on, but this is real folks. People are dying. People are very, very sick and not a day goes by that I don’t wonder, is someone in my family going to get this; is someone I know and love going to die from this? I don’t know about you, but I am struggling to just do the tasks that need to be done, let alone, start a cleaning project or start prepping my flower beds. I try, but this is hard. I have loved ones and extended family who do not know Jesus and my heart aches for their salvation, so that, not only are they assured of eternity with Him, but of strength to get through hard times like these. Perhaps that is why Jesus brought this song to my mind yesterday.

My Hope is Built on Nothing Less

Lyrics by Edward Mote, Music by William Batchelder Bradbury

My hope is built on nothing less
Than Jesus’ blood and righteousness;
I dare not trust the sweetest frame,
But wholly lean on Jesus’ name. 

Refrain:

On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand;
All other ground is sinking sand,
  All other ground is sinking sand.

2

When darkness veils His lovely face,
I rest on His unchanging grace;
In every high and stormy gale,
My anchor holds within the veil.

Refrain

3

His oath, His covenant, His blood,
Support me in the whelming flood;
When all around my soul gives way,
He then is all my hope and stay.

Refrain

4

When He shall come with trumpet sound,
Oh, may I then in Him be found;
In Him, my righteousness, alone,
Faultless to stand before the throne.

Refrain

I would like to look at each of these verses quickly and really think about what the author of these lyrics was saying.

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Verse 1 - I wonder if the author was struggling with a difficult situation, because he starts this song off with this exclamation, “My hope is build on nothing less than Jesus’ blood and righteousness.” What our world is going through right now is the perfect example that we can put our hope in our money, in our strength, in our loved ones, in our jobs or in our futures, but in a matter of a few weeks, it can all be taken away. Why do we build hope on things that are so easily destroyed? We need to build our hope on the rock that is higher than I. We need to place our hope on Jesus Christ, His birth, life, death on the cross and resurrection from the dead. That is the only foundation that cannot be taken from us.

The author includes in this first verse the idea of trust. Again, what or who are we placing our trust in? Our good health? Gone. Our investments? Shaky. Our relatives and friends? Unavailable. The stark truth of this virus is, if you get it you go into quarantine. If you get worse, you go to the hospital. If you continue to go downhill, you are in ICU. In the end, if you die, the only people with you will be nurses, if even that. Not that they wouldn’t if they could, but we know our health care workers are barely keeping their heads above water when it comes to this disease. The only One we can trust to be there when we die is Jesus.

“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.”

— John 3:16 (NASB)

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Verse 2- There are times in our lives that all seems hopeless. Even we as Christ followers are struggling to have hope during this dark time. It seems that darkness is hiding our Lord’s face and we are wondering where He is. This is why it is so important to know Him. I don’t mean knowing Him as a historical figure who went around saying a few good things. I am talking about really knowing Him, as in having a personal, intimate relationship with Him.

In the original Hebrew language the action of having sex with a person was described as “knowing” or “to know” them. The intimacy of the sexual act is the same intimacy with which we are to know our Savior. If you think that is weird or gross, then you have a little ways to go, to truly understand and put your trust in this one whom we call Lord.

The author of the song, knew during dark times he could “rest on His unchanging grace.” He also knew during the storms of life, and yes there will be plenty of storms, his anchor would hold. You see, God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit do not change. They remain the same from the beginning of our time to the end of it. As we come to know Him more deeply, we realize life on this little jewel is only a piece of a much more amazing life we are meant to live: the life we are meant to live with Him.

“If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also.”

— John 14:3 (NASB)

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Verse 3 - “His oath, His covenant, His blood…” Note, it is not our oath, our covenant nor our blood. The faith that we have is not placed in ourselves, but in Jesus. Sure we can do many things in our own strength and I know there are many people who are getting through this storm maneuvering their own life boat, but it only takes one wave to turn our little boats upside down into shark infested, storm ridden seas. It is this inevitable possibility that makes placing our faith in Him so important.

The author goes on to say, “When all around my soul gives way…” Have you felt that way? Like the very ground underneath your feet is moving and rolling. I have never experienced an earthquake, but I imagine it is an indescribable experience. That is how I would describe my feelings a few years ago, when going through a particularly hard time. Life suddenly looked very different from what I thought it was going to. My being hurt to the very core of my soul, so when the song writer talks about the world around his soul giving way and Jesus being His hope and stay, I get it.

“In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace”

— Ephesians 1:7 (NASB)

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Verse 4 - This culminating verse gives us hope and victory in our Lord Jesus Christ. When that trumpet sounds, if we are found to be in Him, if we have believed in who Jesus said He was and in what He did, then in His righteous we will be able to stand before the throne of God.

With the uncertainty of life ahead, don’t you want to be sure of life in Him?

Here is a great version of the hymn. Enjoy!

Traits of a Godly Person: Faithfulness - God's

This week and next, I want to look at the trait of faithfulness. Galatians 5:22 lists faithfulness as one of the fruits of the Spirit. Let’s take a step back for a minute and think about the two passages we are looking at that list the traits of a Godly person. 2 Peter 1:1-11 and Galatians 5:16-26. When we compare the two we see many similarities, but the 2 Peter passage seems to put the emphasis for obtaining these Godly traits on us.

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“Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge, ”

— 2 Peter 1:5 (NASB)

We are told to apply diligence.

Whereas, Galatians 5 seems to put the emphasis on the work of the Holy Spirit. It is His fruit that is being brought forth in our lives.

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,”

— Galatians 5:22 (NASB)

Seeing these two passages separately we might think they are not both talking about the same concept, that of Godly traits, but I believe these go hand in hand, complimenting and enhancing one another in a dance that only the Holy Spirit can direct.

Since we discussed Faith the last two weeks, it seemed fitting to move on to the trait of faithfulness. The definition of faithful goes something like this according to Webster’s Online Dictionary:

1 - steadfast in affection or allegiance

2 - firm in adherence to promises or in observance of duty

3 - given with strong assurance

4 - true to the facts, to a standard, or to an original

5 - full of faith

This week I want to focus totally on God’s faithfulness to us.

The book of Psalms is probably one of the clearest books in the Bible on God’s faithfulness. The psalmist, who was most often David, understood the difficulties of life. He fought giants, ran from King Saul who was trying to murder him, committed, not only the sin of adultery by being married and laying with Uriah’s wife, but also had Uriah killed. He was on the run, running the kingdom and messing up, yet he repeatedly saw God’s faithfulness to him. That doesn’t mean he got away with his crimes. His sin found him out and the unrest in his kingdom lasted until his death. For more on David read 1 Samuel 8 - 2 Samuel 24, as well as 1 Chronicles 10 - 23.

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Take a look at how the Psalmist describes God’s faithfulness:

“For the word of the Lord is upright, And all His work is done in faithfulness.”

— Psalm 33:4 (NASB)

“Your lovingkindness, O Lord, extends to the heavens, Your faithfulness reaches to the skies.”

— Psalm 36:5 (NASB)

“I will sing of the lovingkindness of the Lord forever; To all generations I will make known Your faithfulness with my mouth.”

— Psalm 89:1 (NASB)

“Before the Lord, for He is coming, For He is coming to judge the earth. He will judge the world in righteousness And the peoples in His faithfulness.”

— Psalm 96:13 (NASB)

“For the Lord is good; His lovingkindness is everlasting And His faithfulness to all generations.”

— Psalm 100:5 (NASB)

In addition to the psalmist, a man called Jeremiah understood what the faithfulness of the Lord was. If you have a few extra minutes today read Lamentations 3. Read all 66 verses. There are four verses that stand out and that you have probably heard before.

“21 This I recall to my mind,
Therefore I have hope.
22 The Lord’s lovingkindnesses indeed never cease,
For His compassions never fail.
23 They are new every morning;
Great is Your faithfulness.
24 “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul,
“Therefore I have hope in Him.””

— Lamentations 3:21-24 (NASB)

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Why is it that both of these writers speak of God’s faithfulness during and after great tragedy or difficulty? I believe, that is when we see God’s faithfulness most clearly. Let’s face it, when life is going well, most of us don’t really think about what is going on behind the scenes. We get food from the grocery store. We go to the doctor if we are sick. We have the Geek Squad to help us with our phones and computers. We don’t really have to think about where the food comes from, or will I be able to get in to the doctor, or even waiting very long to get a problem fixed. We live in a drive up window, instantaneous fix society. When things really go wrong and we have no easy answers, that is the time (hopefully), that we realize how very precious each day is and how faithful God has been to us throughout the years.

I am sure each one of you has a story of God’s faithfulness. I love it when God goes over and above to show me His love in the simplest of things. During an especially difficult time in my life, I was feeling very hopeless. I knew in my mind that God was faithful and that He would work things out, but I felt very alone in my grief. It was spring time and my husband and I decided to take a walk at one of our local parks. In my mind I sent up a prayer to God that went something like this:

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“God, I know that You are faithful. I know that You will work all things together for good, but right now, I need to see You. I need to see something to remind me that You are there and that You are at work.”

I have inherited my mother’s love for birds. I don’t have the time to be a true birder, but I always get excited to hear them in the morning, especially in the spring, as birds that left for winter, return. Shortly after I prayed my desperate prayer, I saw a flash of red on the trail before me. Ohio’s state bird is the cardinal, but this was no cardinal. There perched in a tree right along the trail was a Scarlet Tanager (click on the link to see a picture and read more about this bird). If you know the bird I am talking about it is brilliant red with a striking black wing and tail. These birds like to stay hidden in the foliage of oak trees, but there he was, just waiting for me.

I knew that bird was my answer to prayer. It still makes me tear up, knowing that the Almighty God did that for little old me. That is faithfulness. It shows His steadfast affection for His creation and His allegiance to upholding me through every circumstance.

I know some of you who are reading this are going through terrible stuff. God wants to remind you, He is faithful. Always and forever.

I would love to hear your stories of God’s faithfulness in your life. We are all in this journey together, so please share. You never know how your story might encourage someone else and remind them of God’s great faithfulness.

Next week, we will take a look at what our faithfulness should look like and how we can make this Godly trait a regular part of who we are.

Deep Waters

Summer weather always makes me long for the beach, or at least somewhere near the water. What is it about water that fascinates us so? I know for me, some of it may be the lovely pictures I come across in magazines of quaint sea side cottages decorated with lovely reminders of the vast ocean just outside the door. Water has a therapeutic effect. I love to sit near it, watching the waves rolling in or listening to the rush of foam hitting the shore. 

Photo credit Rebecca Trumbull

Water can also be frightening. It can cause catastrophic flooding and overwhelm the largest ocean going vessels. We all desire safe harbor, but sometimes God has something very different in mind. Once in a while He will cut the lines that tether us to the shore and set us on a sea that would scare the bravest and most seasoned sailor. 

Pixabay

Oswald Chambers states it perfectly:

“If you yourself do not cut the lines that tie you to the dock, God will have to use a storm to sever them and send you out to sea...If you believe in Jesus, you are not to spend all your time in the calm waters, just inside the harbor, full of joy, but always tied to the dock. You have to get out past the harbor and into the great depths of God, and begin to know things for yourself—-begin to have spiritual discernment.””

— My Utmost for His Highest by Oswald Chambers

I love word pictures. This picture struck me right between the eyes. I love being in safe harbor. I love to feel at peace and know that life is running smoothly. I like organization, and like many women, I want to feel like I am in control, at least of some aspect of life. For me that is safe. What isn't safe is not knowing where your kids are at three or four in the morning, having pain or illness that can't be diagnosed, losing your job or getting old. These things are all reminders that we have very little in our control. 

I believe that we can become dependent and even prideful of our place in that peaceful harbor. We become fixated on the ropes that are tethering us to the dock believing that it is the ropes that keep our boat safe and secure. That is when the storms come and sever our ties, ripping the very ropes we took pride in and depended upon, from the dock and setting us adrift on an angry,  sea.

Pixabay

Why would God do that? Why would He take us from that safe place and send us out on a stormy ocean? Doesn't He care about us? Doesn't He know that we are afraid?

Of course He does, but He also knows that you will never grow if you are forever in the safe harbor. He knows every hair on your head, every cell in your body and He knows just exactly what you need. Our journey in this life is about our relationship with Him. It is about letting go of everything we hold dear and clinging to Christ alone. 

I know this is hard. I have experienced the storm and I have felt my strongest ropes (the things I thought were right) torn away from that peaceful dock. I have cowered, terrified, in the bottom of the boat wondering when that monster wave would finally take me under. But always at that darkest and most chaotic moment, I would lift my eyes just a bit over the edge of the boat and I would see Him coming to me on the waves. He would come, climb into my boat and we would ride those stormy seas like a surfer hanging ten! 

Oh yes, my stomach has roiled, just like the sea. My mind has crashed just like those tumultuous waves, but gradually the storm would move away, the waves would soften and the wind would calm. He would take my hand and say,

"Peace, dear lamb. Be still."

He alone can overcome our pride. He alone can ride the storm out with us. He alone can speak peace into our troubled hearts.

Dear ones, don't cling to tightly to those plans you have made, nor those ropes that tether you to the dock. He may be calling you out into deep waters.