Rejoice Always: A Case Study - Part 3

March 17, 2022 by Amy Christensen in Belief, Belief in God's Word, Belief in Jesus, Belief in the Bible, Believe, Bible, Bible study, Bible teaching, Biblical women, Blogging, Blogging on faith, Christ-like, Christian, Christian belief, Christian blog, Christian blogger, Christian faith, Christian faith blog, Christian life, A Case Study in Rejoicing, Women in the Bible, Convinced of Christ, Cry out to Jesus, Difficulty, Disappointment, Faith, Faith Blog, Faith blogger, Faith in God, Faith in Jesus, Faith in the bible, Feel emotions, God loves us, God's faithfulness, God remembers us, God is with us, God is good, God is all present, God is all powerful, God is all knowing, Growing in Our faith, Hope in God, Knowing God, Learning from the Bible, Learning lessons, Looking at scripture, Our hope in christ, Perseverance, Prayer, Reading the Bible, Rejoice, Rejoice always, Scripture, the Christian life, Trust, Trusting God, Hannah, Hannah's prayer

The last few weeks we have been looking at the idea of rejoicing. To rejoice means to remember the good things, or in our walks as Christ believers to remember how God has blessed us and kept us. We have been looking at the life of Hannah in the Old Testament, the mother of Samuel, prophet of God during the reign of King Saul and King David.

The last two lessons we looked at the difficult circumstances, Hannah found herself in. While she was dearly loved by her husband, Elkanah, she was unable to have children, and was severely mocked and ridiculed by Elkanah’s other wife, Penninah. Penninah already gave Elkanah children, but she must have noticed his favor for Hannah, thus her constant torment.

We are given insight into Hannah’s despair and her deep desire to have a child. She can’t eat and weeps and prays before the temple, petitioning God to grant her heart’s desire. The priest, Eli, saw her and thought that she had been drinking, to behave in such a distraught manner. He tells her to stop her drinking and get her act together, but Hannah assures him that she had not been drinking, but was distressed and crying out to God in prayer. Eli responds with compassion telling her to go her way and praying that God would grant her petition.

This is where we pick back up.

“19 Then they arose early in the morning and worshiped before the Lord, and returned again to their house in Ramah. And Elkanah had relations with Hannah his wife, and the Lord remembered her.
20 It came about in due time, after Hannah had conceived, that she gave birth to a son; and she named him Samuel, saying, “Because I have asked him of the Lord.”
21 Then the man Elkanah went up with all his household to offer to the Lord the yearly sacrifice and pay his vow.
22 But Hannah did not go up, for she said to her husband, “I will not go up until the child is weaned; then I will bring him, that he may appear before the Lord and stay there forever.”
23 Elkanah her husband said to her, “Do what seems best to you. Remain until you have weaned him; only may the Lord confirm His word.” So the woman remained and nursed her son until she weaned him.
24 Now when she had weaned him, she took him up with her, with a three-year-old bull and one ephah of flour and a jug of wine, and brought him to the house of the Lord in Shiloh, although the child was young.
25 Then they slaughtered the bull, and brought the boy to Eli.
26 She said, “Oh, my lord! As your soul lives, my lord, I am the woman who stood here beside you, praying to the Lord.
27 For this boy I prayed, and the Lord has given me my petition which I asked of Him.
28 So I have also dedicated him to the Lord; as long as he lives he is dedicated to the Lord.” And he worshiped the Lord there.”

— 1 Samuel 1:19-28 (NASB)

We can learn so much from really scrutinizing this portion of the first chapter of the first book of Samuel. Let’s take a closer look.

The family worshipped together. Verse 19 says they rose early and worshipped before the Lord, before they returned to their home. It is obvious, Elkanah felt being in the house of the Lord was an important part of his life and he saw to it that it was important for his family as well.

Elkanah loved Hannah. We see after they returned to their home in Ramah, Elkanah had relations with Hannah. It doesn’t specify that he had relations with both of his wives, but specifically points out that he had relations with Hannah.

And the Lord remembered her. God does not forget us. He knew us before we were just a tadpole in our mother’s womb. He knows where we are all the time, no matter where we go, or where we might try to hide. (Psalm 139) He also knows the number of the hairs on our heads. (Matthew 10:30) God will not forget us, and He did not forget Hannah.

Hannah had a child and named him Samuel. (Verse 20) The name Samuel means, asked of God. Indeed, Hannah did ask God for a son and what did she promise God in return if he granted her request? The child would be His to serve Him.

Hannah keeps her commitment to God. Verses 21-28 relay how Hannah kept her promise to God. Once she had Samuel weaned she brought him up to the House of the Lord. Can you imagine, letting your child go? The only child you had, your only son? This is mind blowing to me. We all love our children dearly and I am sure, like me, the thought of losing any of your children for any reason is overwhelming. Now try to imagine, giving that child up willingly at a very young age. I am thinking Samuel might have been three, but maybe older or younger, depending on what age they were weaned at. Imagine taking your three year old to a place that was about a day’s journey away and leaving him in the care of some old guy. What is going on?

I have to wonder at this. Did God give Hannah some sort of knowledge that her son would be fine, in fact would be a very important player in the the Kingdom of Israel? I just think that Hannah had complete trust in the God she believed in. A few months ago I talked about this idea of trust in God. You can see that post here. I am sure it is a topic we will visit again, but for now let’s quickly look at how Hannah trusted God.

1 - She went to God with her desire. We don’t see Hannah berating her spouse or fighting back with Penninah. Yes, she is emotional, but she takes her heart’s deepest desire to God. Most of us struggle in our relationships. Many times as Christians we think it is okay to talk about our spouses, or partners with our friends, because we have to talk to someone, right? I think this was especially the case when we were newly married and had no idea what we were doing, but I have noticed over the years the maturing process in Christ has led us all to the same place. We are taking our hurts and deepest desires to God first, or at least we should be. I want to keep trying to be like Hannah, because truly it is the best way. God is way better at solving problems and He is bigger too.

2 - She acknowledged the authority of God. Hannah starts her prayer - “Oh, Lord of hosts…” She knew who God was. She knew what He was capable of. She knew that He was the one with supreme power. Maybe this is where we fall short. We look at Jesus as our friend, our savior, our redeemer, but we forget He is part of the God head that commands the very sun to stay where it is, or the tides to only come so far. He’s tied us to the earth with gravity and formulated the air we breathe using plants and trees. This is the God who is able to do above and beyond all we ask or think (Ephesians 3:20).

3 - She petitioned God. Hannah didn’t demand anything from God. She simply asked. She also asked with great humility. My husband and I have different styles of prayer when it comes to asking God for something. Most often we are both praying for the same thing, but my spouse often does it in a berserker Viking way, “You said this, now why aren’t you doing it? Come on God, do the God thing.” I typically come to God more timidly, asking if He will do this or that. Now, I have matured in my praying as well. Now I understand the usefulness of praying the scriptures and bringing back to God the promises He gave us. I think God can handle our honesty, however we pray, but it all begins with humility.

4 - She chose to give her heart’s desire back to Him. How often do we pray this sort of prayer, “Lord, if you do this, then I will do that”? Typically, this type of praying is frowned upon, but I think that Hannah was not using it as a bargaining tool, to get God to do what she wanted. She was completely sincere. She really meant what she said, and I don’t know about you, but I am not there yet, but I want to be.

Next time we look at Hannah’s song of thanksgiving. I hope you will join me then for another look at this case study on rejoicing.

Rejoice Always: A Case Study - Part 2

March 03, 2022 by Amy Christensen in Being a woman, Being faithful, Being let down, Belief, Belief in God's Word, Belief in Jesus, Belief in the Bible, Believe, Bible, Bible study, Bible teaching, Blogging, Blogging on faith, Christian, Christian belief, Christian blog, Christian blogger, Christian faith, Christian faith blog, Christian life, Cry out to Jesus, Despair, Difficulty, Disappointment, Faith, Faith Blog, Faith blogger, Faith in God, Faith in the bible, Feel emotions, Feeling overwhelmed, Feelings of grief, God's faithfulness, God's word, Growing in Our faith, Hannah's prayer, Hannah, My Hope, Our hope in christ, 1 Samuel 1, Women in the Bible, Biblical women, Learning from the Bible

Last time we started looking at the story of Hannah in the Old Testament book of 1 Samuel. I think it is interesting that Hannah’s story is not only included in the cannon of the Scriptures, but it is a detailed account of the prayers, emotions and actions of this woman. Today we will spend a little more time getting to know Hannah and the struggles she had. You see, it was not just the case that she couldn’t have children, or that her husband’s other wife mocked and ridiculed her, but today we will see that even a man appointed by God misunderstood her.

“12 Now it came about, as she continued praying before the Lord, that Eli was watching her mouth.
13 As for Hannah, she was speaking in her heart, only her lips were moving, but her voice was not heard. So Eli thought she was drunk.
14 Then Eli said to her, “How long will you make yourself drunk? Put away your wine from you.”
15 But Hannah replied, “No, my lord, I am a woman oppressed in spirit; I have drunk neither wine nor strong drink, but I have poured out my soul before the Lord.
16 Do not consider your maidservant as a worthless woman, for I have spoken until now out of my great concern and provocation.”
17 Then Eli answered and said, “Go in peace; and may the God of Israel grant your petition that you have asked of Him.” 18 She said, “Let your maidservant find favor in your sight.” So the woman went her way and ate, and her face was no longer sad.”

— i Samuel 1:12-18 (NASB)

As we know from the previous scriptures, Eli was sitting on a seat next to the doorpost of the temple ( this was not the later temple that was built in Jerusalem, but the Tabernacle which came to rest in Shiloh after the years of wandering in the wilderness). For whatever reason, Eli’s eyes were drawn to Hannah. Perhaps, there were not many other people around, or maybe she was the only woman who was present in a male dominated arena. Whatever, the case, Eli looked at her long enough to see that she was talking to herself, or so it seemed.

I am really not sure, why he jumped to the conclusion that she was drunk. Maybe it was the way she was positioned, the fact that she was weeping or the fact that she was talking without making noise. Maybe he had seen other people behave in this way and learned in most cases they had been sipping a little too much fruit of the vine. Let’s look at what we know by reading the scripture.

Eli was watching her mouth (vs. 12). We can conclude that she was close enough to where he sat that he could actually see her lips moving, and could tell she was not speaking.

Hannah was speaking to God in her heart, but moving her mouth without making noise (vs. 13). Have you ever been in a place like this? This is the sort of place where you are so distraught that you know what your heart wants to say, but you cannot vocalize the words. This a level of deeply felt emotion that not everyone understands. Obviously, Eli didn’t get it, at least at first.

Eli thought she was drunk (vs. 13). Again, I do not know why the priest made this conclusion, but he did.

Eli spoke to her, “How long will you make yourself drunk? Put away your wine from you (vs. 14).” Maybe a priest wasn’t supposed to be a counselor, but as a woman, I feel like it would have been better if he would have walked up to her and said, “Are you alright? What can I help you with?” But it was a different time and a different society. His response was most likely his intention to help her get her act together.

Hannah responded truthfully. “No my lord, I am a woman oppressed in spirit; I have drunk neither wine nor strong drink, but I have poured out my soul before the Lord. Do not consider your maidservant as a worthless woman, for I have spoken until now out of my great concern and provocation.” (vs. 15-16) I love that Hannah was so forthright and honest. She could have been offended by the priest’s accusation. She could have walked away without responding. Not only did she state the facts, but she asked the priest to change is mind about her. As a woman in a male dominated society, I think Hannah was very brave.

Eli believed her and responded kindly. “Go in peace, and may the God of Israel grant your petition that you have asked of Him” (vs. 17). I also love Eli’s response. He wanted her to have peace, and he wanted her to get what she had asked for. To me it shows that Eli was a man of compassion. He listened and he believed her.

Hannah’s response, “Let your maidservant find favor in your sight.” Then she left, ate and was no longer sad. I know for me, being able to share my concerns and burdens is like taking a heavy weight off my back. When I was ill back in the fall doing Instagram posts and Facebook posts actually helped me feel better mentally and emotionally, especially when people were sharing their well wishes and prayers on my behalf. I think Hannah being able to share her burden with the elderly priest made her feel validated and seen.

What can we learn from this particular section of Hannah’s story?

1 - Don’t be afraid to show your emotions. Hannah was in a public place and she wept bitterly. So often we run behind closed doors, too embarrassed to admit we are struggling or having a problem. It is okay to cry at a movie; to rejoice at a game and to get angry at injustice (this one is a little more delicate, because we do need to stay within the parameters of law and order so that innocent people do not get hurt).

2 - Tell the truth. Don’t try to make up excuses for what you are feeling. Be honest about what hurts or makes you afraid.

3 - Keep at it until you feel seen. I found this especially true when I was going through my health crisis. When I just kept getting worse and worse and worse, I kept trying doctors, urgent cares, and er’s until I finally felt like I was being listened to and cared for.

4 - Find a good place to unload. Obviously, we want to make God our first and foremost counselor, but we live in a world filled with stress and chaos. Finding a trustworthy counselor, pastor or friend to help you process difficulties and struggles is a widely accepted necessity. Hannah, went to God first in her prayers, but then when Eli asked, she let him help her carry the burden.

5 - Take time to take care of yourself. After Hannah shared her burden with Eli, she left and ate some food. There is a point in time, where letting the burden rest elsewhere is a good idea. It is also a good idea to do something for yourself. Take a walk, soak in a hot bath, have a healthy meal, read a book or take a nap. Be in tune with your body, so you can take care of it.

Next time we will look at how God answered Hannah’s prayers. Until then, have a great week!

Rejoice Always: It's Imperative - Part 1

January 27, 2022 by Amy Christensen in Belief, Belief in God's Word, Belief in Jesus, Belief in the Bible, Believe, Bible, Bible study, Bible teaching, Blogging, Blogging on faith, Children of God, Christian, Christian belief, Christian blog, Christian blogger, Christian faith, Christian faith blog, Christian life, Commands, Difficulty, Discipline, Divine appointments, Faith Blog, Faith blogger, Faith in God, Faith in Jesus, Faith in the bible, Purpose, Rejoice, Rejoice always, Relationship with God, Renewing our minds, I Thessalonians 5:12-22, Deuteronomy, Deuteronomy 12:5-7, Imperative, Walking in the light, Walking with Christ, Walk in the Spirit, thought patterns, The word of God, Jesus is the way, Knowing God, Know God Better, Learning from the Bible, Learning lessons

Earlier this month I was talking with the Lord about my purpose and what it is that I am supposed to be doing. Like many people it seems that I have always been looking for some elusive meaning in life, but as I Christian I am fully aware my purpose is to glorify God and live a life that is pleasing to Him. True purpose aside, I am still trying to figure out what that looks like for me.

As a young person I knew my purpose was to go to school, try to get good grades and stay out of trouble. When I saw adulthood on the horizon, I tried to figure out what it was that God wanted me to do. I went from Christian Education to being a foreign missionary and finally ended up getting married and having a couple of kids.

Now as I approach my sixties I realize that each day my purpose might be different because over all is this idea of the sovereignty of God. Even if I plan and set about doing what I “think” He is calling me to do, He is the one in control and He has an ultimate goal, that of our salvation, and sanctification, which is basically the working out of our salvation in this life.

Still, I would like this working out to be doing that which best utilizes the talents and abilities He has given me. However, I am still presuming that what that will be is something my human mind can wrap around and that my human hands and feet can actually go and do. God is not confined to my human box. In fact, He is well outside those limiting boundaries.

A few years ago, I had a similar conversation with the Lord and He told me the same thing both times. I have to laugh at the way His voice gently chided me. “Amy, you haven’t started doing what I told you the last time. What were the three things I told you to do?”

“Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, and give thanks in all things.”

While I have tried to do better at giving thanks, I definitely fall short in the rejoicing and praying areas. I decided to start off this year with a study of the word rejoice, as that seemed to be the first thing on the list. Right now I am doing a simple word search through scripture. I am only looking for instances of the word rejoice, not rejoicing, rejoiced or joy. What I have found so far is truly amazing.

I knew, given the context of I Thessalonians 5:16, rejoice is a command. It is snuggled into a paragraph that talks about Christian conduct. Let’s take a look.

“12 But we ask you, brothers and sisters, to recognize those who diligently labor among you and are in leadership over you in the Lord, and give you instruction,
13 and that you regard them very highly in love because of their work. Live in peace with one another.
14 We urge you, brothers and sisters, admonish the unruly, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with everyone.
15 See that no one repays another with evil for evil, but always seek what is good for one another and for all people.
16 Rejoice always,
17 pray without ceasing,
18 in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God for you in Christ Jesus.
19 Do not quench the Spirit,
20 do not utterly reject prophecies,
21 but examine everything; hold firmly to that which is good,
22 abstain from every form of evil.”

— 1 Thessalonians 5:12-22 (NASB)

A command, or imperative is an order, putting it simply, but it is more than that. To be able to command an audience is the ability to hold their attention as well as gain their respect. The word imperative, also gives us the idea of importance. We could say the imperative is imperative! Ha, ha. When we look at these commands in Scripture we are not just looking at the straightforward order to do something, we are also embracing the importance that action has in the lives of the human throng around us.

My study of the word rejoice has led me to a book in the Bible I would have never thought to associate with this idea of rejoicing. Deuteronomy uses the word rejoice, 12 times. That might not seem like a lot, but it is a book that reiterates and goes into specifics regarding the laws Moses received at Mt. Sinai. It also deals in detail with celebrations and feasts days, all of which were planned out for the benefit of the people. Most of these events revolved around what God did for them: bringing them out of Egypt, providing for them in the wilderness and sparing them from destruction when they didn’t follow His commands.

“5 But you shall seek the Lord at the place which the Lord your God will choose from all your tribes, to establish His name there for His dwelling, and you shall come there.
6 You shall bring there your burnt offerings, your sacrifices, your tithes, the contribution of your hand, your vowed offerings, your voluntary offerings, and the firstborn of your herd and of your flock.
7 There you and your households shall eat before the Lord your God, and rejoice in all your undertakings in which the Lord your God has blessed you.”

— Deuteronomy 12:5-7 (NASB)

Rejoicing walked hand in hand with remembering God’s goodness and provision. Webster’s Online dictionary defines rejoice as: to give joy to; to feel joy or great delight. Synonyms include the words, exuberate, glory, exult and triumph. Most of the references in Deuteronomy also include eating and celebrating. It would seem that God’s command to rejoice is a sacrifice on our part where we are giving joy back to God. In turn, we are filled with joy as we remember His goodness toward us.

It is easy to remember bad stuff. We might remember in detail the car accident, the illness, the divorce or the wayward child, but do we remember in detail all the many times God’s goodness and mercy brought us out of the captivity of our choices into the land flowing with milk and honey? This is what it means to rejoice. Just as we are encouraged to let our minds dwell on things that are pure, excellent, lovely, commendable and worth of praise (Philippians 4:8), we are commanded to remember God’s goodness and provision to us.

Since I started doing this word study, I have also been doing some praying out loud as I walk around the house. In my prayers I say, “I will rejoice…” and then I say what I am going to rejoice in. For instance, “I will rejoice when the day is sunny. I will rejoice when the day is cloudy. I will rejoice when I am full of energy. I will rejoice when I feel exhausted. I can rejoice in any and every circumstance because I rejoice in the Lord.”

In one of the studies I did a while back with Beth Moore, she suggested making an altar in our homes. Not an altar to worship a false god, but an altar of remembering all the good things that God has done. I didn’t actually make one, but I do try to bring to mind, and am trying to more regularly, those times that God stepped in. Believe me, there have been many.

Protection on me as a teenage girl.
Protection in college.
Guidance in where to go to school.
Surviving a summer mission trip to Africa where I got malaria.
Complete healing from malaria.
Meeting and later marrying a Christian man.
Staying married all these years. (If you don’t think that is God’s grace, think again. Marriage is hard!)
Two safe baby deliveries.
Homeschooling my girls all the way through high school.
Two beautiful grandsons.

This list cold go on and on and that doesn’t go into all the tiny little details; those special moments when God reached into my life and heart revealing Himself to me personally. When I start dwelling on God’s amazing goodness, I can truly rejoice!

Next week we’ll take a look at a woman who chose to rejoice, even when it was hard. Until then, have a great week.

My Word for 2022: Believe

January 20, 2022 by Amy Christensen in Belief, Belief in God's Word, Belief in Jesus, Belief in the Bible, Believe, Help my unbelief, I believe, Abide in Christ, Abide, Trust, Trusting God, Blogging, Blogging on faith, Bible, Bible study, Bible teaching, Christian, Christian belief, Christian blog, Christian blogger, Christian faith, Christian faith blog, Faith, Faith Blog, Faith blogger, Faith in God, Faith in Jesus, Faith in the bible, God's protection, God's faithfulness, Growing in Our faith, Promised Land, Toby Mac, Andrew Murray

According to Webster’s Online dictionary the word believe means:

- to accept or regard as true

- to accept the truth of what is said by someone

- to have a specified opinion

I have signs all over my house with the word believe written on them. The idea of belief is not new to me. I was raised in a Bible believing church and understood the concept of belief in God at a very young age. Belief is not strange to me, in fact, it is a word that has impacted most of the decisions I have made in my life. My belief, not only in a divine being, but in His perfect plan for our world and my life, has become the foundation from which everything else has been built.

You might be wondering at this point, why I have made it my word for 2022 if I have such a familiarity with it. I chose this word, because I know there is so much more to God and His will for my life I have yet to delve into. There are boundary lines He wants me to cross over, to walk in the promised land, and yet I hesitate. What is it about this wilderness that I so desperately cling to?

The wilderness is familiar. I am comfortable with it, even if it is arid, dry and rather dull. It is a dryness I am not afraid of. Going into the promised land means I need to be willing to confront some giants. I might even need to fight a battle or two. What if I can’t do it? What if I fail? It is scary over there. Yes! It looks amazing; all green, luscious, and ready for the taking, BUT WHAT IF….?

“17 And one person from the crowd answered Him, “Teacher, I brought You my son, because he has a spirit that makes him unable to speak; 18 and whenever it seizes him, it slams him to the ground, and he foams at the mouth and grinds his teeth and becomes stiff. And I told Your disciples so that they would cast it out, but they could not do it.” 19 And He answered them and *said, “O unbelieving generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring him to Me!” 20 And they brought [m]the boy to Him. When he saw Him, the spirit immediately threw him into convulsions, and falling to the ground, he began rolling around and foaming at the mouth. 21 And He asked his father, “How long has this been happening to him?” And he said, “From childhood. 22 It has often thrown him both into the fire and into the water to kill him. But if You can do anything, take pity on us and help us!” 23 But Jesus said to him, “‘If You can?’ All things are possible for the one who believes.” 24 Immediately the boy’s father cried out and said, “I do believe; help my unbelief!” 25 When Jesus saw that a crowd was rapidly gathering, He rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, “You mute and deaf spirit, I command you, come out of him and do not enter him again!” 26 And after crying out and throwing him into terrible convulsions, it came out; and the boy became so much like a corpse that most of them said, “He is dead!” 27 But Jesus took him by the hand and raised him, and he got up. 28 When He came into the house, His disciples began asking Him privately, “Why is it that we could not cast it out?” 29 And He said to them, “This kind cannot come out by anything except prayer.””

— Mark 9:17-29 (NASB)

The boy’s father said, “I do believe; help my unbelief.” All of us who have made a profession of faith can identify with this man’s statement and plea. We do have faith. We do believe, but still we lack, we struggle, we know our belief is not complete. This process of growing in our faith and maturing in our belief is called sanctification. It is a work of Christ and the Holy Spirit in us, but we must accept the teaching with humility without doubting the end result of the Godhead.

How do we get out of this blistering wilderness we are in and cross into the promised land flowing with milk and honey, and what does it have to do with belief? I think the problems comes down to two actions: abide and trust. To keep this post from getting too long, I want to look at these two things just briefly.

Abide

I have talked about this idea of Abiding in Christ on the blog before, or at least referred to it. Andrew Murray’s work, Abide in Christ, goes into specific depth with regards to all of the ways we abide in Him. The original reference is as follows.

“4 Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.

5 “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.”

— John 15:4-5 (NKJV)

Abiding is not a passive action, though it might seem to be. When we abide with our spouse, our children or other significant people in our lives, we are living with them and they are living with us. Living is not a passive thing. I don’t just sit around, waiting for things to get done, or events to take place. I do things. As we abide with Christ we are expected to bear fruit, not just the fruit of sharing our faith with others, but the fruit of His Spirit. See this article at Christianity.com for a more detailed rendering of what Christ meant when He said to abide in him.

Trust

I looked at this word last week, and this is really where our belief must take the next step. In God’s commission to Joshua He told Joshua to enter the promised land (see Joshua 1). He didn’t tell Joshua it was okay to wander around in the wilderness for another 40 years. He expected him to move forward, to take the land and possess it. Joshua was commissioned to act. Joshua did, because he trusted God. Before he took action, God reassured Joshua.

“9 Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous! Do not be terrified nor dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.””

— Joshua 1:9 (NASB)

If we ever want to get out of our wilderness, we need to trust God. We need to believe what He says in His word. We need to trust in the work that Christ did on the cross. We need to trust in the all the many promises we are given, and we need to spend time with Him; living with Him.

For me the word believe is a reminder to abide and to trust in the God I have given my heart to. Now it is time to cross over into the promised land.

What if Life Doesn't Give You Lemons?

January 13, 2022 by Amy Christensen in Belief, Belief in God's Word, Belief in Jesus, Belief in the Bible, Bible, Bible study, Bible teaching, Blogging, Blogging on faith, Christian, Christian belief, Christian blog, Christian blogger, Christian faith, Christian faith blog, Christian life, Confidence in Christ, Difficulty, Disappointment, Doubts, Emotional stress, Faith, Faith Blog, Faith blogger, Faith in God, Faith in Jesus, Faith in the bible, Feeling overwhelmed, fiery arrows, Finding rest, God the Father, God the Holy Spirit, God the Son, God's faithfulness, God's protection, God's word, God's work in my life, Growth in God, Jesus, Jesus is our hope, Jesus is the way, God provides a way, Pain, Practical tips for rest, Reading the Bible, Rest, Rest for your emotions, Rest for your mind, Rest for your spirit, Rest in Christ, Rest in hard times, Scripture, Spiritual protection, Storms of life, Struggling, Studying God's word, Suffering, Suffering with Christ, Surviving difficulties, the Christian life, Trust

You’ve all heard the quote, “When life gives you lemons, make lemonade.” My husband, who is ever the melancholy Dane said, “Well what if you don’t get lemons? What if you get rotten tomatoes? What are you supposed to make with those, rotten tomato juice?” We could go on and on with a list of bad things that we really can’t find a way to turn into something palatable. The whole point of the quote is that when bad things happen, turn them into something usable and good. That’s great when life is dealing you items that you can actually turn into something good or useful, but what about those situations where it seems that there is nothing good that can come out of it?

It is very easy to get focused on the bad. I know. I have to keep reminding myself, that even though my sense of smell is wonky and I can’t taste anything right now, I do have so many other blessings. I have most of my health back after a long illness. I have a beautiful new grandson and still get to enjoy time with my older grandson. I have a home, blankets and a working furnace, which is so wonderful during these cold days and nights. I have been reminded, however, that when we are going through something difficult it is okay to feel bad. My discomfort and pain is just as real as the next person’s, even if it isn’t at the same level.

I want to look at a few steps that I have found help me when life is throwing rotten tomatoes at me rather than lemons. I hope these will be helpful to you as well.

1 - Hide

There are days, weeks and even months where hiding is not a bad idea. Getting away from the constant barrage of negative news, or input is not only important it is essential for good mental health. I know a number of people who have taken breaks from various forms of social media. Some have even pulled away all together, feeling that it was adding to their already anxious and discouraged mindsets. Even God’s word encourages us to occasionally hide.

“Keep me as the apple of the eye; Hide me in the shadow of Your wings”

— Psalm 17:8 (NASB)

“For on the day of trouble He will conceal me in His tabernacle; He will hide me in the secret place of His tent; He will lift me up on a rock.”

— Psalm 27:5 (NASB)

“A prudent person sees evil and hides himself, But the naive proceed, and pay the penalty.”

— Proverbs 22:3 (NASB)

“Come, my people, enter your rooms And close your doors behind you; Hide for a little while Until indignation runs its course.”

— Isaiah 26:20 (NASB)

There are times when life becomes overwhelming and the rotten tomatoes are coming at you; some of them may even contain the missiles of the enemy. Those are the times to hide. Hiding with an almighty God is an especially good place to be.

2 - Stand Up

I know this might sound counterintuitive, especially when the world is flinging gloppy, rotten tomatoes at you. I also just got done telling you to hide, but there are times in life when the best thing we can do is take a stand.

If you have been following my blog for a while, you know that I have done studies on our unseen enemy and on the armor of God. As a refresher, take a look at these verses from Ephesians.

“10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might.
11 Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil.
12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.
13 Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist on the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm.
14 Stand firm therefore... ”

— Ephesians 6:10-14a (NASB)

Certainly, there are times those tomatoes are flying from the chaos of the lives we are living; cars breaking down, the dishwasher leaking, the kids getting sick, these are all struggles that we deal with. There are other times, where those stinky, red missiles are coming from an unseen source; the very one who is wanting us to give up hope and turn away from our Lord and protector.

3 - Trust

Let me take a moment at this point to talk about that idea of the Lord as our protector. Who hasn’t asked themselves, “If God loves us and He is our protector, then why are all these bad things happening?” The best way for me to explain this is to point out two factors.

The first is to remind all of you, we live in a fallen world. I was doing some reading in Hebrews for a devotional group I am in on Saturday morning. The comparison was being made of the old system of sacrificing bulls and goats to the one sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ. The author points out that God was not pleased with the system of sacrifice and provided a better alternative…the one time sacrifice of His Son Jesus Christ. The Father did not want to have the system of sacrifice, because His desire was to walk with the humanity He created in the perfect garden. It was mankind who chose to do wrong. The moment sin came into the world, God set Plan B into motion; the system of sacrifice and blood offerings.

The second point I want to make is that God provided a way, even after we messed things up. He always provides a way. It might be a way out, a way over, a way across, a way to hide or a way to take a stand, but He will always provide. Sometimes, we just have to wait on Him, as hard as it can be. Waiting is excruciating, especially when our struggle is overwhelming. We might have a terrible illness. We might be in constant pain. We might be battling an addiction either to drugs and alcohol or to pornography and toxic relationships. Still, if we can be still and wait, He will provide a way.

“23 Let’s hold firmly to the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful; ”

— Hebrews 10:23 (NASB)

4 - Believe

What is the difference between trust and belief? I would define them this way: trust is believing that someone or something is good or reliable. Belief is accepting that something is true. We can easily believe that God is good, yet not believe that everything that is in the scriptures is true. We can also believe that the Bible is true, but not necessarily believe that God is entirely good.

Belief is essential to having a right relationship with God. If we do not take God at His word we will always be doubting whether He can be trusted.

“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)

When we put our faith in God the Father, and in the plan of salvation that He set forth though His Son, Jesus, we are also putting our faith in His Word. Believing what the above verse is saying is true makes it easier to know that even the rotten tomatoes will somehow turn into something good, even if the only thing they are used for is compost.

5 - Rest

I decided to separate rest from hiding, because while it is true that we could rest while we are hiding, much like Elijah did in the cave in I Kings 19, it is also true that we can be hiding, but be all pent up inside and not truly getting any rest. There is physical rest, emotional and mental rest. The type of rest you might need when the tomatoes are flying might be all of them or it might just be one.

When I was sick back in the fall, I really needed physical rest, because with my cough I was not sleeping at all. However, I also needed mental and emotional rest. I did not know what was wrong with me and I also did not know if I would ever get better. I had to keep going back to the truth of what I believed in Scripture.

“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 would get off the couch the next morning, having to face another day of not feeling well, but I trusted what Christ said in that passage. Even though I wasn’t actually sleeping, He always got me through every day. I am so thankful He finally got me to a point where I was able to get help and start healing.

Rest may not always be the physical rest or the mental rest we think we need. There are times where the rest is simply laying back in the arms of our Savior and letting Him get us through those really bad days.

I don’t know what you might be facing as this new year progresses, but I hope that you will remember, even if you are being assailed by rotten tomatoes, God is right there with you and He will help you through.

When Darkness Comes - Wrap Up

October 08, 2021 by Amy Christensen in Belief, Belief in God's Word, Belief in Jesus, Belief in the Bible, Bible, Bible study, Bible teaching, Blogging, Blogging on faith, Christ-like, Christian, Christian belief, Christian blog, Christian blogger, Christian faith, Christian faith blog, Christian life, Convinced of Christ, Darkness, Darkness vs. Light, Difficulty, Disappointment, Faith, Faith Blog, Faith blogger, Faith in God, Faith in Jesus, Faith in the bible, Fear, Feeling overwhelmed, Giving thanks, God controls the darkness, God is all knowing, God is all powerful, God is all present, God is for us, God is good, God is light, God is over the darkness, God is sovereign, God is Spirit, God is with us, God is within the darknes, God loves us, God the Creator, God the Father, God the Holy Spirit, God the Son, God's strength, God's word, God's work in my life, Growing in Our faith, Growth, Growth in God, Having to wait, Hope in God, Jesus is the life, Learning from the Bible, Learning lessons, Let there be light, Light in the darkness, Looking at scripture, Our hope in christ, Pierced by God, Pierced by God's truth, Reading the Bible, Rest in hard times, Scripture, Seasons of life, Storms of life, Struggling, Studying God's word, Suffering, Suffering with Christ, Thankful, Thankfulness, Thanksgiving, Truth

We have been doing a series on when darkness comes into our lives. Darkness can be anything that you encounter that causes you to struggle, doubt or grow weary. From the very beginning we learned that darkness is not necessarily a bad thing. In fact when we read the creation account at the beginning of Genesis we learn that God created the darkness for our benefit. However, there are times when it seems that darkness has moved in to our lives like some sort of dank, slimy giant who is determined to make his new home with us. It seems that life will never know the light again and that the only thing we will know is that musty smell of wormwood.

Image by Rudy and Peter Skitterians from Pixabay

For this final post, I just want to review some of the things we learned over the last few weeks. It is rather apropos that in the midst of doing this series, I was blasted with a health crisis. It has stretched me to my limits. I know there are so many people who have had much more difficult health problems, but it is the incessant illness and the ensuing steps of trying to get things diagnosed, going to doctors, urgent cares and even the emergency room, still to no avail. The waiting; the not knowing; the feeling of hopelessness that things will ever get any better wears a person down.

The very thing that kept me going through all of this, were the lessons I had been learning previously when I was going through more of a mental and emotional crisis. That is what I have shared with you in this series. The verse that has kept coming back to me during the non-stop coughing, long nights of wheezing and not being able to sleep, and the not having answers is this:

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

— Psalm 27:14 (NASB)

All to often waiting is exactly that, waiting. It has more of a passive feel to it. There are times, where that is exactly what we need to do. However, many of the verses in the Bible that use the word wait, have an active voice. Waiting, involves, anticipation, expectation and even an element of seeking. Waiting is not for wimps! Why do you think the psalmist went on to say, “Be strong and let your heart take courage…”? He knew that waiting requires strength. I will leave that for another lesson. Today, I just want to review what we can take away from the series, When Darkness Comes.

1 - God created the darkness - The very first lesson in this series explored the truth, God created the darkness. While dark and light are no different to Him, He knew that our world and the people He created would need the darkness and its benefits.

2 - Darkness became associated with being bad when Satan challenged God’s authority - Remember, not only did Satan challenge God’s authority, but he was angry. In his anger he attacked God’s creation by tempting Adam and Eve to sin. It was after this event that the darkness became a place to hide and cover sinful deeds.

3 - God is in the darkness - No matter what dark days we are going through, God is over, under, around and within our darkness. The darkness is as light to Him, so there are no worries that He won’t be able to find us. He is right here with us.

4 - Being in the dark does not mean we did something wrong - God is sovereign and it is in this Lordship over all that He determines when and where we walk, and whether that way will be in the light or in the dark.

5 - When we are walking in the dark we need to remind ourselves of who God is - This is the first step in being able to dwell in the dark place. We have to remember who God is. A good way to do this is to write in a journal, but that is not the only way. Writing, singing, reading all help us to get back to the core truths in scripture about who God says he is.

6 - When we are walking in the dark we need to remind ourselves of who we are - We tend to put on false faces when we are going through difficulties. We tend to not want others to see how we really feel, or what we are really thinking. In order to dwell in the dark place, and even flourish in that darkness, we need to be honest about our feelings, and who God’s word tells us we are.

7 - There is a time when we need to reveal our true hearts - In other words, there are times we need to be starkly honest with God. Yes, He already knows what we are thinking and feeling, but we need to acknowledge these things out loud. Being able to vent our true hearts before Him is an important part of being able to survive a dark time.

8 - Growth, in a dark place, is directly related to letting God’s truth meet the raw edges of our ragged emotions - The scriptures are full of people with real emotions. David, Abraham, Moses, Paul and others didn’t just bring us the inspired words of God, but His truth, seasoned with their very own emotions. So much of scripture is meant for helping us deal, temper and work through our intense emotions. Letting His truth touch our emotions allows His Spirit to bring light to all of our dark places.

9 - Thanksgiving is essential to the growth process - There is a reason God said to give thanks at all times and in everything give thanks. Gratitude is the next step in allowing the darkness to empower, rather than overpower us.

10 - Dark places cannot remain dark when God’s piercing happens within our hearts - The process of going through these steps as we walk in darkness has the ultimate outcome of light coming in to the dark place. Truth, while not always pleasant, will always reveal. Obedience to God’s movement in the dark place will always open small windows that will let the light in.

I hope you enjoyed this series on When Darkness Comes and that by sharing my own process of walking in a dark place you will be better able to get through your own times of darkness.

Thanks for following along, on the blog. Have a great weekend.

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

September 17, 2021 by Amy Christensen in Bible, Bible study, Bible teaching, Blogging, Blogging on faith, Children of God, Christ-like, Christian, Christian belief, Christian blog, Christian blogger, Christian faith, Christian faith blog, Christian life, Faith Blog, Faith blogger, Faith in God, Faith in Jesus, Faith in the bible, Creation, Darkness, Darkness vs. Light, God is all knowing, God is all powerful, God is all present, God is for us, God is good, God is light, God is over the darkness, God is sovereign, God is Spirit, God is within the darknes, God loves us, Growing in Our faith, Growth in God, Hope in God, Jesus is our hope, Jesus is the life, Jesus is the light, Jesus is the source, Jesus is the way, Knowledge of God, Knowing the enemy, Learning from the Bible, Learning lessons, Light in the darkness, Looking at scripture, Our hope in christ, Our relationship to God, Scripture, Storms of life, Struggling, Studying God's word, Suffering, Suffering with Christ, Surviving difficulties, the Christian life, Walking in the dark, Walking in the light, Walking with Christ, Wanting to be loved, When darkness comes, When storms come, God's measureless love, God's extravagant love, Pierced by God, Pierced by God's truth, Beautiful piercing, Slavery in OT times, Piercing the ear, Exodus 21:1-6, Genesis 6:13-22, Exodus 25:10, Exodus 25:17, Exodus 26:1-6, Job 38:4-6, Ephesians 3:14-19, Psalm 103:11-14, Beth Moore, Beth Moore Podcast

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.

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)

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.

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:

“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

August 19, 2021 by Amy Christensen in Bible, Bible study, Blogging, Blogging on faith, Belief, Belief in Jesus, Belief in the Bible, Belief in God's Word, Christian blog, Christian blogger, Christian belief, Christian faith, Christian faith blog, Christian life, Faith, Faith Blog, Faith blogger, Faith in God, Faith in Jesus, Faith in the bible, Learning from the Bible, Darkness, Darkness vs. Light, Despair, Difficulty, Disappointment, Scripture, Walking in the light, Walking with Christ, Walking in the dar, When darkness comes, When storms come

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.

“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)

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)

“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.

“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

August 14, 2021 by Amy Christensen in Abide in Christ, Acknowledging pain, Analogy of Christian life, Anxiety, Being a woman, Being afraid, Being God's child, Being in Christ, Belief, Bible, Bible study, Bible teaching, Blogging, Change, Child-like faith, Children of God, Christ-like, Christian, Christian belief, Christian blog, Christian blogger, Christian faith, Christian faith blog, Christian life, Cleaning up, Coming back to God, Commitment, confession, Darkness, Darkness vs. Light, Despair, Difficulty, Disappointment, Emotional stress, Enduring, Faith, Faith Blog, Faith blogger, Fear, Feel emotions, Feeling invisible, Feeling overwhelmed, Feeling worthless, Feelings of grief, Feelings of guilt, Filling our Minds, God controls the darkness, God is all knowing, God is all powerful, God is all present, God is for us, God is good, God is light, God is over the darkness, God is sovereign, God is with us, God is within the darknes, God loves us, God's faithfulness, God's word, God's work in my life, Growing in Our faith, Growth in God, Healthy emotions, Healthy thoughts, Hurts, Jesus, Jesus is our hope, Jesus is the life, Jesus is the light, Jesus is the way, Jesus is the truth, Knowing God, Know God Better, Life's storms, Looking at scripture, Praising God, Prince of Peace, Reading the Bible, Renewal, Renewing our minds, Revealing our hearts, Acknowledging feelings, Wonderful Counselor, When storms come, When darkness comes, What if We were Real

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.

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.

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

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

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

July 28, 2021 by Amy Christensen in Abide in Christ, Acknowledging pain, Adopted by God, Analogy of Christian life, Being afraid, Being God's child, Being in Christ, Being in the light, Belief, Bible, Bible study, Bible teaching, Blogging, Christian, Christian belief, Christian blog, Christian blogger, Christian faith, Christian faith blog, Christian life, Condemnation, Darkness, Darkness vs. Light, Deep waters, Despair, Difficulty, Faith, Faith Blog, Faith blogger, Feeling overwhelmed, Feeling worthless, Feelings of grief, God controls the darkness, God is all knowing, God is all powerful, God is all present, God is for us, God is good, God is light, God is over the darkness, God is sovereign, God's faithfulness, God's protection, God's strength, God's word, God's work in my life, Hope in God, Hopelessness, Learning from the Bible, Life's storms, Light in the darkness, Long Suffering, Looking at scripture, Magnificent promises, Meditating on scripture, Our hope in christ, Precious promises, Reading the Bible, Rest in Christ, Rest in hard times, Scripture, Storms of life, Struggling, Studying God's word, Suffering, Suffering with Christ, the Christian life, Walking with Christ, We have value, When darkness comes, When storms come

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.

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

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

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

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

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.

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 5: Finding God in the Darkness

July 08, 2021 by Amy Christensen in Bible, Bible study, Bible teaching, Blogging, Christian, Christian belief, Christian blog, Christian blogger, Christian faith, Christian faith blog, Christian life, Darkness, Death of dreams, Devil, Disappointment, Division, Faith, Faith Blog, Faith blogger, Feeling overwhelmed, Feeling worthless, Feelings of grief, God controls the darkness, God allows change, God is all knowing, God is all powerful, God is all present, God is for us, God is good, God is light, God is over the darkness, God is sovereign, God is with us, God loves us, God the Creator, God the Father, God the Holy Spirit, God the Son, God's word, God's work in my life, Growth in God, Growing in Our faith, Hopelessness, Jesus, Jesus is our hope, Jesus is the life, Jesus is the light, Knowledge of God, Light in the darkness, Listening to God, Reading the Bible, Relationship with God, Salvation in Jesus, Scripture, Truth, Walking in the light, When darkness comes, Work of the Holy Spirit

This post will be rather long and contains aspects of my own experience in the darkness, but I share the details to help you understand the process.

We have been learning about the darkness. We have seen its beginning; created by an Almighty God for the benefit of His creation. Darkness was not meant to be bad. It was not meant to hide evil and torment the sinner, but our unseen enemy wanted to make the good bad. From the moment he became enamored with his beauty and too proud to place himself under the authority of the divine creator he has chosen to manipulate that which is good, right and true.

Image by Brigitte makes custom works from your photos, thanks a lot from Pixabay

If I came to you and said, “I am going through a very dark time,” wouldn’t you assume I was struggling? Wouldn’t you pray for the light to come back into my life, so I might once again be walking in the blessedness of my Savior’s love? Why do we assume, darkness is not the place we are meant to walk? How did we get to the point where struggle and disappointment in life is thought to be in our lives because of something we did or did not do? Why do we embrace the light, the sun, the beautiful blue skies and gentle breezy days, but not the night, the dark, the gray lumbering clouds over a storm tossed sea? Isn’t all of it allowed by our Heavenly Father? Doesn’t every circumstance that comes into our lives come first through the gentle and loving hands of our risen Lord?

“I form light and create darkness;
I make well-being and create calamity;
I am the Lord, who does all these things.”

— Isaiah 45:7 (ESV)

I will be the first to admit, I do not like this truth, but truth it is. The scripture is full of God’s truth. We are not allowed to take one truth, but not the other. We do have a free will and we can dislike some of the truths that are in the Bible, but that does not change the fact that they are the truths put forth by a holy and perfect God. Part of the key to being able to accept God’s truth is to really get to know Him. Many people read one verse and decide, God is fickle, or angry, or malevolent, but they are not seeing the entire picture. Just as we take time to get to know the person we fall in love with, falling in love with God takes time and a willingness to trust.

Image by S. Hermann & F. Richter from Pixabay

I want to take this part of my series on When Darkness Comes, slowly. These are the things we need to understand, and know with the very core of our being. This is where the Holy Spirit makes effective the work that Jesus did on the cross. This is the time when our head knowledge, must become heart knowledge.

My Experience

About a month ago, I was having a particularly difficult time. I have long struggled with my self image, often feeling worthless and useless. Over the last 34 years as a wife and mother I have struggled with the poor choices I made, my lack of love and compassion for both my spouse and our daughters. I grieved over the death of my father, the ensuing changes in my mother’s life and how that made life more complex. I witnessed divisions and strife in our church. I became aware of the trauma one of my family members suffered at the hands of a supposed “man of God.” I saw this same family member walk away from the church and begin a self-destructive path of rebellion against God and self-indulgent behavior. During this period I sought counsel from a licensed counselor and was told I was “mercy gone wild.” I learned about boundaries and letting go of many of the dreams I had for myself and my family. I was regularly building coffins, throwing my dreams inside, nailing them shut and burying them.

Image by Rob van der Meijden from Pixabay

Life slowly began to be less chaotic, but things were, and still are, hard. Recently, we learned our youngest daughter has a brain tumor. In addition to that she has been having a multiplicity of symptoms such as numbness, pain, tremors, dizziness and nausea. To this day, those things are still unresolved and the doctors do not believe her symptoms to be related to the tumor, which is very small and which, for now, they are keeping an eye on. This is just another straw on that proverbial camel’s back that makes the load heavier and heavier.

In my desire to draw closer to God, He lead me to see there is only one way to do this. I must take Him completely at His word. During that time a month ago, I had a three day period of a sadness so deep, I did not know how God was going to bring me out of it. I was hopeless. Hopeless for our country, hopeless for my daughter, hopeless for those who think they know truth, but are wearing blinders, hopeless for so many young people who have walked away from the church and from Him, and hopeless for myself. I never felt so completely lost in the darkness. I cried. No, I sobbed. I could not stop sobbing. Hour after hour I wondered how I could make so many tears.

Finally, when the tears began to dry up, I heard God’s voice telling me, “Get your journal and tell me what you know.”

This is the first step to finding Him in the deep darkness. Remind yourself of who God is.

Learn Who God is, and then Tell Him

(excerpt take from my journal - Bible verses added after)

Lord, I know Your truth. Your word gives me that truth and it never changes.

“Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth.”

— John 17:17 (NASB)

“The grass withers, the flower fades,
But the word of our God stands forever.”

— Isaiah 40:8 (NASB)

I know Your lovingkindness is everlasting.

“But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting for those who fear Him,
And His justice to the children’s children,”

— Psalm 103:17 (NASB)

I know Your mercies are new every morning.

“For His anger is but for a moment,
His favor is for a lifetime;
Weeping may last for the night,
But a shout of joy comes in the morning.”

— Psalm 30:5 (NASB)

I know Your grace is matchless.

“For of His fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace.”

— John 1:16 (NASB)

You have freely given, so I might freely receive.

“Now we have not received the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the things freely given to us by God.”

— 1 Corinthians 2:12 (NASB)

You have bridged the gap between our sin laden world and your perfect heaven. I know You gave us Jesus. It was Your plan that He be the perfect sacrifice.

“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish, but have eternal life.”

— John 3:16 (NASB)

I know all have sinned and fall short of Your glory.

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

— Romans 3:23 (NASB)

I know the punishment for sin is death.

“For the wages of sin is death, but the gracious gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

— Romans 6:23 (NASB)

I know, whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.

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

— Romans 10:13 (NASB)

I know it is not by my own power and strength, but because of your mercy, that you saved me.

“For by grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not of yourselves, it is the gift of God;
9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast.”

— Ephesians 2:8-9 (NASB)

I know you have removed my sin as far as the east is from the west.

“As far as the east is from the west,
So far has He removed our wrongdoings from us.”

— Psalm 103:12 (NASB)

Every truth, I believe about God is backed by scripture and these are just a few of them. You could do whole studies on the attributes and characteristics of our Almighty Redeemer. It is important when we are in the darkness to go back to what we know is true and to cling to it.

Next week we will look at the next phase of our journey as we walk in the dark. Thank you for following along.

Foolish? Yes!

April 02, 2021 by Amy Christensen in Being in Christ, Belief, Bible, Bible study, Bible teaching, Blogging, Children of God, Christ's humility, Christ's righteousness, Christ's vulnerability, Christian, Christian belief, Christian blog, Christian blogger, Christian faith, Christian faith blog, Christian life, Consider the Gospel, Easter, Faith, Faith Blog, Faith blogger, Father, Foolishness, Fully God, Fully man, God is good, God the Father, God the Holy Spirit, God the Son, God's word, Good Friday, Jesus death on the cross, Foolish to the world, Jesus sacrifice, Sin, A wall between us and God

It is easy to let the busyness of life keep us from focusing on what is going on around us. For instance, this weekend is Easter weekend. Today is Good Friday. With all the other things vying for our attention we really need to invest a little time into remembering why this day and this weekend is important. Sure, it is fun to color eggs, have candy, eat together with the family and do fun things for the kids, but it is also easy to get totally caught up in that busyness and forget the whole reason we as Christ followers celebrate. Just as Jesus is the reason for Christmas, He is also the reason for Easter.

The Easter bunny has become the focus of the secular world as far as Easter celebrations go. It gives families another reason to have a meal together and gives parents and grandparents another event to show love and share fun with the little ones. But this holiday is not just a light hearted parade of colorful eggs and Easter grass. It is a celebration of a battle that was fought and won; a life that was laid down; a gap that was bridged.

The term Good Friday is a conundrum. How can something that seems so bad, be good? How does the Roman practice of tying people to two cross pieces of wood and raising them up so they slowly asphyxiate give us a warm feeling? How is it, a holy being, deciding to become a man, brings us joy. For people who know nothing of Easter, or its true meaning, that whole dying on the cross must look ridiculous and macabre. They probably think those of us who believe in such a historical event as being foolish. We are.

“For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.”

— I Corinthians 1:18 (NASB)

You see, the entire basis of our faith as Christ followers is on these two things: the death and the life. Without the death, there was a wall between us and God. Without the life, there was no way to bring down the wall. Where did the wall come from? It was built brick by brick by man’s choice to sin. It started with Adam and Eve and has gotten bigger and bleaker with each passing generation.

“Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all mankind, because all sinned”

— Romans 5:12 (NASB)

God is a holy being. He cannot sin. He cannot tolerate sin. Now He has a problem. His creation, the beloved thing that He spoke into existence, can no longer be in His presence. The only way for His fallen creation to be united with Him is through their ability to be holy, as He is holy. This is where the system of laws, feasts and sacrifices came in.

Now, don’t think for a moment, that God didn’t already know that He was going to send His only Son. He knew this, but He was setting the stage. God does everything with a purpose. His plans are perfect. His thoughts and ways are way beyond what we are able to think or imagine. He is a holy, eternal being after all. While we all bear His image, we are most certainly not God.

Jesus chose to do the Father’s will, to make a way for us to once again be reunited with His Father. It is His shed blood that was offered as the final sacrifice. No longer do we have to offer a lamb, because He is the spotless lamb.

“The next day he *saw Jesus coming to him, and *said, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!”

— John 1:29 (NASB)

“17 For if by the offense of the one, death reigned through the one, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.”

— Romans 5:17 (NASB)

Good Friday is about remembering Christ’s sacrifice. This sacrifice was necessary for us to be able to once again, walk with God.

Are we foolish to believe in Calvary? Are we foolish to believe that Jesus paid it all? Yes, but only to the world.

“For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not come to know God, God was pleased through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe.”

— 1 Corinthians 1:21 (NASB)

Our Unseen Enemy - Part 6: Zoomorphism - The Serpent

January 20, 2021 by Amy Christensen in Analogy of Christian life, Belief, Bible, Bible study, Bible teaching, Blogging, Christian, Christian allegory, Christian belief, Christian blog, Christian blogger, Christian faith, Christian faith blog, Christian life, Death, Devil, Evil, Faith, Faith Blog, Faith blogger, Father of Lies, Foolishness, Genesis 3, God, God is all knowing, God is all powerful, God is all present, God is for us, God is good, God is light, God the Father, God the Holy Spirit, God the Son, God's protection, Growing in Our faith, Growth in God, Held Captive by the Devil, Hope in God, Hostility towards God, Ezekiel 28:13-17, Jesus is our hope, Jesus is the truth, Jesus is the way, Knowing Satan, Knowing the enemy, Learning from the Bible, Liar, Looking at scripture, Lying, Manipulation, Origin of Satan, Reading the Bible, Scripture, Satan, Satan as a lion, Satan as the schemer, Satan is a liar, Satan the divider, Satan the serpent, Suffering, Struggling, The devil is a liar, The devil, The unseen enemy, Truth, Snake characteristics

I want to finish up this series on our Unseen Enemy before I move on to a new topic on my Faith page. It would probably be beneficial if I start with just a little bit of review, to refresh our minds. Satan is our Unseen Enemy. He is a very powerful angel; a created being of God, but one who became proud because of his beauty and decided to try to usurp the throne of the Almighty One. Due to his rebellion, God cast him out of heaven. He now roams about on the earth seeking to create chaos and destroy. We learned that he is a manipulator, a schemer, a liar and a divider. We are now looking at three images, found in scripture that describe the devil. In the case of the lion, which was the first image we looked at, we discovered that it is his predatory behavior that is most lion like. He prowls, he stalks, he harasses and he kills.

This week we are going to look at the image of the serpent. Perhaps the most telling passage on this creature is at the very beginning of the Old Testament, where we see the Serpent in the Garden of Eden. Ezekiel 28:13-17 was mentioned in the introductory post of this series. If you remember it talks about a being who was in Eden, the Garden of God, who was very beautiful, and covered in all manner of jewels. This being, I believe, was Satan in the form of a serpent. (These are just my opinions, and conclusions I am drawing from the totality of the Scriptures. I am not a theologian or Bible scholar. You can do more of your own research by reading the Word and by looking at Bible reference materials like concordances, study Bibles, and texts on the original Hebrew language.)

“Now the serpent was more cunning than any animal of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, “Has God really said, ‘You shall not eat from any tree of the garden’?” 2 The woman said to the serpent, “From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat; 3 but from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat from it or touch it, or you will die.’” 4 The serpent said to the woman, “You certainly will not die! 5 For God knows that on the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will become like God, knowing good and evil.” ”

— Genesis 3:1-5 (NASB)

I want to look at several snake characteristics first and then I want to examine the above passage in a little more detail.

Snake Characteristics

Loose, flexible jaw - Most members of the snake family have these loose flexible or hinged jaws. These jaws allow them to ingest their food whole, as they do not have normal teeth for chewing.

Backwards, curved fangs - Unlike most other creatures, including ourselves, whose teeth remain in place by a combination of jaw, roots and gums, the snake’s teeth are permanently fused to the supporting bones of the head.

No eyelids - The eyes, that remain open at all times, are covered by a transparent membrane, also know as ocular scales.

Make no noise - Unlike most animals, snakes make very little noise. Other than hissing and certain types with rattles, they make no noise at all.

Good camouflage - Many snakes live close to the ground in dens, or nests that are not easily visible to the human eye. There are numerous snakes that also blend in with their surroundings, making them less visible to their prey.

Ways they kill their prey - Most snakes prefer to consume their prey live. They do not feed off carrion. They will typically seek out a place where various prey come and go, then lie in wait until they see something they want. After they pick out a victim, they will stalk it, then strike at the opportune moment. Depending on the type of snake they will kill one of three ways: pinning prey to ground, squeezing prey so it can’t breath, or injecting prey with poison.

Now that we have a better understanding of snaky characteristics, let’s see how Satan works like snake. I am using the terms serpent and snake interchangeably.

He knew the habits of his prey - I wanted to address this first, because I feel it is important to the rest of the story. Satan knew where Eve would be at that particular time, on that particular day, because he had been watching her. Don’t underestimate the patience of our Unseen Enemy. He is used to waiting. He waited and watched until Eve was alone. If you read on in the Genesis account there is some debate on weather Adam was actually with Eve when she was tempted or if time had passed and when she convinced him to eat the fruit he was with her. (Here is an article on that point if you are interested.)The main point to take from this is that our enemy knows our weaknesses and he most often attacks when we are alone.

Image by PublicDomainPictures from Pixabay

He uses his jaws - There is an old idiom that most of my older subscribers would be familiar with - flapping your jaws - which means to talk in a meaningless, aimless or idle manner. Satan used his jaws to speak to Eve. He immediately caused her to question God’s love and authority. “Has God really said…” The use of the word really indicated that beautiful serpent was out to deceive Eve from the moment he started flapping his jaws.

He sinks in his teeth and swallows - The wily serpent was, no doubt, beautiful, but don’t look at his smile. Those sharp fangs are ready to grab on and not let go. Isn’t it interesting that Satan didn’t speak complete lies to Eve. He just set her on a path and then gave her a snippet of truth; just enough to get her questioning and wondering. Isn’t it often the case that when we start to obsess over something bad that has happened or the way someone has treated us, that we eventually start begin consumed? A snake swallows his prey whole, slowly causing death by asphyxiation. Satan uses the same tactic. If he can get the bite on you, causing you to overthink, overreact, fuss and fret, then he will gradually attempt to swallow you whole, burying you alive in the villi of his hate.

He never stops searching - Remember how we talked about the lion prowling, well the snake is similar, in that it waits for its prey, then stalks its prey. While the snake is waiting, his eyes are always open. Satan is always looking for prey, or for the opportunity to trip up those who follow Christ. He never closes his eyes.

He doesn’t make noise - Satan is proficient at quietly creating havoc. Sure, the outcome we see is typically noisy, violent and hateful, but no one would attribute the events going on in our country to an unseen enemy. We are creatures who want to have someone to blame. It used to be funny to say, “The devil made me do it.” Now the devil is merely looked at as a fictitious creature with red skin, horns, a tail and a pitchfork. He is an entity that is used to mock those who actually believe in an Almighty God and the enemy who hates Him. Evil has gone through the cartoon box and come out the other side looking like a character who might have interactions with Bugs, or Daffy.

He is good at camouflage - One of the reasons I began this series on Satan was to help you identify his behavior out in the world. When we review this past year and even what happened recently as people stormed the capitol, we need to recognize that this is not just people with diverse opinions and simmering frustrations. These are blatant manipulations of the enemy. He is hiding behind the scenes, but clearly waiting for the opportune moment to encourage hate, and violence.

His ultimate goal is our death - Satan doesn’t just want to lie, manipulate, scheme and divide, he wants to destroy. The only thing the snake is concerned about is feeding his appetites, whether it be his appetite for food, safety or sex; his desires are primal, unaffected by compassion, goodness or joy. Satan wants to crush that which the Creator begat, the crown of His creation, us.

Next week, we will look at the last zoomorphic analogy, that of the dragon. I hope you will continue to follow along.

Have a great week!

Thinking About Christmas - A Closer Look at Scripture

December 06, 2020 by Amy Christensen in Isaiah 9:6-7, Messianic Prophecy, A Child is born, A Son is given, Belief, Bible, Bible study, Bible teaching, Blogging, Christ's humility, Christ's righteousness, Christ-like, Christian, Christian belief, Christian blog, Christian blogger, Christian faith, Christian faith blog, Christian life, Christmas, Christmas thoughts, Confidence in Christ, Faith Blog, Faith blogger, Filling our Minds, God is all knowing, God is all powerful, God is for us, God is good, God the Father, God the Holy Spirit, God the Son, God's faithfulness, Growing in Our faith, Jesus is our hope, Jesus as Messiah, Learning from the Bible, Looking at scripture, Magic of Christmas, Meditating on scripture, Our hope in christ, Our relationship to God, Reading the Bible, Relationship with God, Salvation in Jesus, Scripture, True meaning of Christmas, Write my Way to Christmas, Lauren Ash Lambert, Instagrammer, Advent Scriptures, Scriptures for Christmas

Happy Sunday, everyone. I don’t usually post on Sundays, but my schedule has been all over the place, so I figured I would post, when I get something out there for you to read.

I was going to keep plodding through my series on Our Unseen Enemy, but then I began to feel that we needed to take a break from that, to put our minds, and focus on the beauty surrounding the birth of Christ in the Scriptures. I know that many people celebrate Christmas without any regard for the birth of Christ. In fact, there are some movements to do away with the greeting of “Merry Christmas”, because we are a nation of mixed religions and belief systems. I would hope that those who desire to do away with the Christ in Christmas would at least take a moment to think about what they are asking. It is the case, in fact, that if I must tolerate and have respect for the many religions and thoughts systems that do not honor Christ, then ought not the same be done towards those of us who still choose to believe in the Christ of Christmas? I am not going to spend any more time on that, but I am going to encourage everyone who takes the time to read my blog, to extend the kindness, goodness and gentleness of our Lord Jesus to everyone you come into contact with at this time of year. Many are suffering and dealing with tragedies and brokenness and we are to be the light of the world.

I came across a challenge on Instagram put out by Lauren Ash Lambert, a Faith, Fashion and Lifestyle influencer, who also does videos which are posted on Instagram. The challenge was called, Writing my Way to Christmas and is basically a list of scriptures in both the Old and New Testaments covering the prophecies and actual story of the birth of Christ. I thought it would be a great thing to do. My only problem, I haven’t gotten past the first day. I got so wrapped up in the first scripture and have just been spending time each day savoring that, that I have not gone any further. That’s when it came to me, to do a few blog posts on these beautiful Words of God.

The passage I want to look at first is Isaiah 9:6-7. Just like we do in my Mulling It Over series, I want to delve into these verses and take them apart piece by piece.

“For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given;
and the government shall be upon his shoulder,
and his name shall be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
7 Of the increase of his government and of peace
there will be no end,
on the throne of David and over his kingdom,
to establish it and to uphold it
with justice and with righteousness
from this time forth and forevermore.
The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.”

— Isaiah 9:6-7 (ESV)

You may recognize this passage from Handel’s Messiah. Turn up your speakers if you listen to it and imagine the angles in heaven singing this on the night of His birth.

For to us…

This announcement was made to us. To every single individual on this little, blue and green gem of a planet. Why is this important? Because if this announcement was made to the angels, or to some other entities that might be out there some where, it would be meaningless. We are God’s created beings. It is us, He chose to have a relationship with and place His image upon. This three word phrase is mentioned twice. I believe something twice mentioned is worth listening to twice as close.

…a Child is born…

I chose to use the English Standard Version in this post, but I want to point out, in the New American Standard translation, there are several words that are capitalized. I will be showing those as capitals in the subtitles. I think it is important to look at several translations of the Bible when you are doing a more in depth study to see the different nuances of each.

The capital letter on Child causes me to believe this child is one of great importance. All of us, when referred to by our proper names, receive a capital letter at the beginning of our names. We all were taught that proper nouns, names of people, places, days of the week, months and so on, all begin with a capital letter. I am not sure why these details vary from one translation to the next, but this passage has long been looked at by theologians as a Messianic prophecy.

…a Son is given…

Image by Dorothée QUENNESSON from Pixabay

Once again, we see that Son is a proper noun. The belief is, both Child and Son, are referring to Jesus. Jesus, the Child of Mary; Jesus, the Son of God. He is fully God, but also fully man. The blessing in this phrase is that the Son is given. If it is the case that the Son is given, we need to ask ourselves, why was He given? Revisiting a familiar verse, will remind us of the why.

“16 “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish, but have eternal life.”

— John 3:16 (NASB)

…and the government shall be upon His shoulder…

My NASB version gives several cross references for this phrase. What does it mean, exactly, that the government will be on His shoulder?

“18 And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me.”

— Matthew 28:18 (NASB)

First of all, it means that Jesus was and is, the complete authority. This authority was placed upon Him by His heavenly Father. The Father did this, so His Son would have the final say.

“25 For He must reign until He has put all His enemies under His feet.
26 The last enemy that will be abolished is death.
27 For He has put all things in subjection under His feet. But when He says, “All things are put in subjection,” it is clear that this excludes the Father who put all things in subjection to Him.
28 When all things are subjected to Him, then the Son Himself will also be subjected to the One who subjected all things to Him, so that God may be all in all.”

— 1 Corinthians 15:25-28 (NASB)

Second, this phrase, “…and the government shall be upon his shoulder…” reveals that he alone will have the ultimate power over his enemies, who will all be subject to Him; even the most final enemy of all, death.

Take a look at verses 27 and 28 of the 1 Corinthians passage. The Son, who was given the authority and responsibility by His heavenly Father, recognizes His place and subjects Himself, “..so that God (the Father), may be all in all.”

You have probably heard the quote, “With great power, comes great responsibility.” Truly that applies to our Savior. He took on this responsibility to save us.

There is so much in these verses, and I don’t want this post to get too long, so I am going to stop there and pick it up again in a few days. It is my hope that taking a look at these verses will remind you of the hope that you have, no matter what your current circumstances are.

Have a great day!

Our Unseen Enemy - Part 4: The Liar - Lies About Others

November 06, 2020 by Amy Christensen in Bible, Bible study, Bible teaching, Blogging, Children of God, Christ-like, Christian, Christian belief, Christian blog, Christian blogger, Christian faith, Christian faith blog, Christian life, Faith Blog, Faith blogger, Devil, Doubts, Evil, Father of Lies, God's word, God's work in my life, Growing in Our faith, Growth, Growth in God, Held Captive by the Devil, Knowing God, Knowing Satan, Knowing the enemy, Lies about God, Lies about Ourselves, Lies about others, Looking at scripture, Our choices affect others, Our hope in christ, Satan, Satan as the schemer, Satan is a liar, Manipulation, Schemer

We are studying our unseen enemy, the devil. We have looked at his ability to manipulate, scheme and the last few weeks have been studying his lies. His greatest work is in the lies he convinces people to believe. Our beliefs about certain things affect our choices, our relationships and many other aspects of our lives. Take, for example, two children who are raised in completely different environments. One is raised in a home that offers stability, love, protection and kindness. The other is raised in a home that showed neglect, verbal and/or physical abuse and possibly abandonment. It will most likely be easier for the child who is raised in the nurturing home, to feel good about themselves, and be able to see good in other people. The child who comes out of the abusive home may struggle with self-acceptance issues, trust and may think that abuse and neglect is the norm, or that they did something wrong to deserve it. Standing on the outside we can see the erroneous thinking on the latter child’s part, but without counsel and without love and consistent examples in their life, he/she will probably always struggle.

Satan targets our beliefs and understanding about God, ourselves and others, because he knows that if he can wear away at the foundation, the house will eventually fall. This same analogy is true in our relationships with other people. Satan knows that relationships built on trust, love, self-sacrifice and the desire to truly care for others will stand firm, but relationships that use manipulation, criticism, harshness or deceit will likely fall apart.

Let’s take a look at lies, Satan tempts us to believe in our relationship with others.

You Owe Me

This is probably one of the biggest deceits that Satan uses to undermine relationships between people. In a marriage this is especially concerning due to the fact that both partners come into the relationship with their own sets of emotional baggage. If a man is raised in an environment where his dad talked down to his mother and treated her in a derogatory manner, then he will most likely take that into the marriage. He will believe the lie, that because this woman is his wife, she is obligated to be at his beck and call and to be his doormat if he so chooses.

Women can also have this attitude. How many times have you had the thought run through your mind, “Well, I cooked him a good meal, cleaned the house and took care of the kids, now it is his turn. He owes me.” Since when did the marriage relationship become a bargaining table? Unfortunately, this is the society we live in.

Once again, Satan’s tactic is to get us to focus on what we are not getting, rather than focusing on our Heavenly Father and every single thing we have to be thankful for. I am not condoning violence, abuse or any sort of degradation in a marriage. If you are in a relationship of this nature, please contact someone who can help you. Many cities have domestic abuse hotlines.

We see this same attitude among many people in our society today. They believe that they deserve something. Whether it be government aid, freedom of speech (especially with regard to things that are unnecessary or vulgar), or the ability to do whatever they want, whenever they want, people, especially in our country, have forgotten that things like hard work, commitment, investment, education and other factors are what make a difference in the world, not freebies that they think are owed to them.

“Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law.”

— Romans 13:8 (ESV)

We have all felt the need to receive compensation for our hard work at times, whether it be a mom who just wants to hear, thank you, a wife who wants to hear, I love you, or an employee who wants to be commended for his efforts. It is not wrong to want these things. The lie of the enemy is when the desire becomes an obsession and drives our thoughts and attitudes.

You Offended Me

Would I be snarky if I started this off by saying, “I hope I don’t offend anyone?” I believe that offense is a result of the fall. If there were no sin, there would be no offense. What does the Bible say about offense?

“A brother offended is more unyielding than a strong city, and quarreling is like the bars of a castle.”

— Proverbs 18:19 (ESV)

“Whoever covers an offense seeks love, but he who repeats a matter separates close friends.”

— Proverbs 17:9 (ESV)

“Good sense makes one slow to anger, and it is his glory to overlook an offense.”

— Proverbs 19:11 (ESV)

“as it is written, “Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense; and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.””

— Romans 9:33 (ESV)

Taking offense seems to be a natural part of who we are, but that does not make it right. It is even more disturbing that in our current circumstances people are taking offense over things that never should have been part of our society. The Bible is clear though, that we will do better if we seek to overlook an offense.

I have noticed in the last ten years the excessive use of foul language in books, movies and in social settings. It used to be, the use of such language was offensive. Now you can see the F-bomb on tee shirts, book covers and music titles. I personally find that offensive. However, I do not control what publishers publish, movie makers produce or what the fashion industry finds trendy. I do control me, or at least I try to. Ha, ha.

The problem is, the above example is just a symptom of an internal darkening; a belief that everything is allowable. God never said that, Satan did. Today, what people are finding offensive is the expression of truth, God’s truth. The Bible is clear in its stance on many behaviors that people engage in. It does not mince words. The message is clear, certain things are sins and sin is wrong. That offends people.

In the Romans 9:33 passage Jesus is the “stone of stumbling and a rock of offense…” and the passage does not end there, it says that if we believe in Him we will not be put to shame. Satan is manipulating the world and lying to them. He is wooing them to sleep with his song of freedom and equality, which really is a song of enslavement and imprisonment.

It’s All Your Fault

As we have seen in the first few chapters of Genesis, the blame game has been around since the beginning of time. Adam blamed Eve. Eve blamed the Serpent. What Satan started in the Garden of Eden has carried through to the current age. Children, tweens, teens, young adults, middle agers and the elderly have all been guilty of ascribing blame.

The idea of individual responsibility is pertinent to ending the blame cycle. Every individual is responsible for their own attitudes, actions and beliefs. No matter what the Father of lies is whispering in your ear, you are responsible for you.

I had to talk to my grandson about this a week or so ago. He had gotten several answers wrong on an assignment. The words he was supposed to use to fill in the blanks were at the top of the page in a bolded box. I told him the answers were right there. He started telling me he didn’t see that box, the instructions weren’t clear, the teacher isn’t a good teacher and so on. Once again, I explained that he is responsible for making sure he reads the whole paper. He is responsible for him self. The sad and funny thing was, when his mom got home and I told her about it, she looked at the paper and began to make excuses for him saying she wouldn’t have seen the box either, there weren’t clear instructions on the sheet and a few not so impressive remarks about his teacher.

I am not saying this to put my grandson or my daughter down. She is doing a great job as a single mom and he is doing pretty well in school, so I can’t really complain. However, I do think it shows a tiny sample of what is going on in our society nationwide. No one wants to be responsible.

- Can’t do your job? Blame your boss.

- Burn your dinner? Blame your kids.

- Have an affair? Blame your spouse.

- Get pregnant? Blame the sperm donor.

Satan has pretty much convinced hundreds of thousands of people they are not to blame; they are not responsible; they do not have to deal with the consequences.

“1 Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted.
2 Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.
3 For if anyone thinks he is something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself.
4 But let each one test his own work, and then his reason to boast will be in himself alone and not in his neighbor.
5 For each will have to bear his own load.”

— Galatians 6:1-5 (ESV)

Our unseen enemy doesn’t care who you are, what color your skin is, how much power you have, nor how much money you earn, he is only interested in your failure and one of the ways he can get you there is to convince you, you are not to blame and you are not responsible.

Satan is the Father of Lies. What greater deceit could an enemy have than to convince the world he is not real? Take out the enemy factor and we are left with a world full of suffering, death, violence and hatred, all brought about by people. So much for the idea of ongoing evolution. We are not evolving into smarter, better human beings. We are devolving back into the primordial goop that we came from.

I would much rather believe we are on a battleground, fighting for our lives and the lives of those around us from an enemy that is beautifully deceptive and seeking whom he may devour!

There are many other lies our unseen enemy temps us to believe. The best way to know a lie is to know the truth and make a stand on it. Believing even one small lie, opens our hearts and our minds to believing others. Knowing God’s words as they are written in the Bible helps us separate the truth from the lies. I challenge you to be in His word and to regularly ask yourself, “What do I believe to be true, and does it coincide with the Scripture.”

Have a great weekend everyone!

Our Unseen Enemy - Part 4: The Liar - Lies About Ourselves

October 30, 2020 by Amy Christensen in Being in Christ, Belief, Bible, Bible study, Bible teaching, Blogging, Christ-like, Christian, christian, Christian belief, Christian blog, Christian blogger, Christian faith, Christian faith blog, Christian life, Confidence in Christ, Death, Devil, Difficulty, Emotional stress, Evil, Faith, Faith Blog, Faith blogger, Father of Lies, Feeding our appetites, Feeling overwhelmed, Feeling worthless, God is all powerful, God is all knowing, God is for us, God is with us, God loves us, God the Father, God the Holy Spirit, God the Son, God's faithfulness, God's strength, God's word, God's work in my life, Growing in Our faith, Growth, Growth in God, Held Captive by the Devil, Hope in God, Jesus is our hope, Jesus is the life, Jesus is the light, Know God Better, Knowing God, Knowing Satan, Knowing the enemy, Learning from the Bible, Liar, Lies, Lies Women Believe, Listening to God, Lying, Lying is an abomination, Jr., Martin Luther King, Relationship with God, Sanctification, Satan, Satan as the schemer, Satan is a liar, Lies about God, Lies about Ourselves, Struggling, Studying God's word, Suffering, Suffering with Christ, We are sinners

Last week we saw how Satan uses lies about God to manipulate our feelings and beliefs towards Him. I showed you specifically lies about the earth’s origin, God’s goodness, God’s authority and God’s desire to have an intimate relationship with us. There are many more lies that Satan weaves about our sovereign God, but I only want to spend one week on each of these areas.

Today we are going to look at lies Satan tells us about ourselves. Have you ever noticed that voice that whispers in your ear, telling you, you aren’t pretty enough, smart enough, good enough and so on. Have you ever felt that your rights are being infringed upon, that you deserve better or that you are not being treated fairly? I believe most of us could say yes to at least a few of those questions, if not all.

Let’s look at a few of the lies Satan tells us. Be prepared for a multiplicity of opposing messages.

I am Not That Bad

Aside from our struggles with self-worth I think many of us like to think, we really aren’t that bad. But, what does God’s word say about us?

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

— Romans 3:23 (ESV)

“6 For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.”

— Romans 5:6 (ESV)

“ 8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

— Romans 5:8 (ESV)

“23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

— Romans 6:23 (ESV)

We really are a hot mess aren’t we? We are sinners. This is a word we rarely see in our society and one that is preached on less and less in the church. We are sinful. We have missed the mark of perfection that God ordained from the first day of creation, because Adam and Eve chose to listen to that beautiful, beguiling serpent.

No matter how good you are, you are not good enough. That doesn’t mean we aren’t capable of doing good things, of serving others, of donating money, of helping those who are not able to help themselves, but that does not make us good enough for heaven.

“8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not of yourselves, it is the gift of God;
9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast.”

— Ephesians 2:8-9 (NASB)

This is an important tenant of the Christian faith. Look at that verse again. What was Satan’s biggest sin? Pride. If he had never been prideful, consumed with his beauty and desirous of God’s position, he probably would still be in heaven. Pride, is an insidious sin. It reaches its tendrils deep into our hearts. Why is salvation a gift of God? Because he knew our capacity for pride. Humility is key to entering the Kingdom of God. Remember the Rich Young Ruler? (See Matthew 19:16-26 for the full story) How many will be kept away from the streets of gold, by Satan’s lie, that they really aren’t that bad?

I am Not Enough

Image by Ryan McGuire from Pixabay — Image by Ryan McGuire from Pixabay

Is it any wonder we feel confused all of the time? When we listen to Satan’s lies, we hear messages like the first, telling us we aren’t that bad, we are all going to get into heaven in the end. On the other hand he is constantly telling us, “You are a loser, a failure and you are never going to measure up.”

Our enemy is quite proficient at making us feel like we don’t quite hit the mark. We are constantly being bombarded by these messages through social media, movies, books, advertising and so on. Believe me, even in the blogosphere there is a great temptation to compare ourselves to each other. I fall easily into the message that I am not as pretty as, as thin as, or as productive as. When we hear these voices (or more specifically, our enemy’s voice) in our head we need to go to scripture and see what God says about us.

Yes, we have already established that we are sinners and nothing we can do will measure up to God’s perfection, yet, there is something we can do. We can acknowledge Christ as our Lord and Savior. It is by His perfect sacrifice and His spilt blood that we come to realize our worth in God’s eyes.

“There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”

— Romans 8:1 (ESV)

If we are Christ followers, then Satan’s words are useless against us, as long as we claim truth. I have done a study on Romans 8 and if you remember verse 1 is one of my favorites. Every time, I hear those thoughts in my head that say, “You are an idiot; What a failure; You’ll never amount to anything,” I take that verse and I wield it like a sword. No one can condemn me, because I AM HIS! His blood made me enough, no matter what anyone else says or thinks.

I Deserve This

Being a wife and mother, as you have no doubt heard, is a thankless job. One of the lies that Satan loves to taunt us with is the idea that I deserve something. How many times have you felt let down because your husband didn’t notice your new hair cut, or remember your birthday or anniversary? How often did your kids neglect to say thank you or acknowledge all that you have done to make their lives easier? How did it make you feel when that friend who said they’d meet you for lunch, never showed up? It definitely makes a person feel invisible. I know, because I have been there.

During these times, it is easy to listen to Satan’s voice telling us we deserve to be angry, feel slighted or discouraged because of the way others have treated us. In addition, we often feel, that because we have been wounded we deserve to treat ourselves whether it be to a shopping trip or a pint of ice cream. Unfortunately, the only thing that listening to Satan’s lies gets us is a bad attitude, bills and extra pounds.

Our best defense is to be on the offense. Recognize that your spouse, kids, friends and others who have let you down are human, just like you. We will look more at that when we look at Satan’s lies about others. The best thing to do when we are feeling like we deserve something is to take those feelings to our Lord and let Him examine them. Are they feelings brought about by a success or an accomplishment? By all means treat yourself, but if they are feelings brought about by pain and discouragement there is only one place to feel fulfilled and at peace. At the nail pierced feet of our Lord, Jesus.

Read the whole of Psalm 139 for a reminder, that God knows you inside and out and He is always attentive to your feelings.

“23 Search me, O God, and know my heart!
Try me and know my thoughts!
24 And see if there be any grievous way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting!”

— Psalm 139:23-24 (ESV)

I Have a Right

Image by skeeze from Pixabay — Image by skeeze from Pixabay

The desire for rights is innate in us. We want things to be fair. We want to be treated with respect and dignity and want that all people are treated that way; at least we say we do, until our rights are infringed upon.

I do believe there is a place for rights in our world, but I also believe that what God intended as a preservation for those who were and are afflicted and needy has become the war cry of anyone who wants to get their way. Look at all the law suits that have gone to court over attempts at misplaced rights. How much money did McDonalds have to pay to compensate the customer who spilled coffee on themselves and sued the retailer because she got burned? I’m sorry, but if I am buying a cup of coffee at McDonalds, I want it to be hot. If I spilled scalding coffee on myself, I would automatically think, “What a klutz I am,” and then go home and nurse my wounds. I would have never thought that my rights had been infringed because the retailer gave me exactly what I asked for.

The problem with a rights based mentality is that everything that does not measure up to your standard suddenly becomes about your rights. How many of the riots that happened over the last few months were truly about rights? How much of the violence that ensued at many of them were instigated by people who had nothing at all invested in the protest? Please don’t get me wrong. I believe racial, and economic disparities need to be investigated and changed, but in a true rights oriented society rights are for the good of the whole society, not just one particular person or group.

Satan will use whatever means it takes to create division, hatred, lust and covetousness among us all. He knows that these things will be our undoing and undoing is exactly what he wants.

Martin Luther King, Jr. is probably one of the first people we think of when we think of human rights in our country. He was a man of spiritual depth and wisdom. Read the following quotes.

“Property is intended to serve life, and no matter how much we surround it with rights and respect, it has no personal being. It is part of the earth man walks on. It is not man.”

— Martin Luther King, Jr.

“An individual has not started living until he can rise above the narrow confines of his individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity.”

— Martin Luther King, Jr.

“The limitation of riots, moral questions aside, is that they cannot win and their participants know it. Hence, rioting is not revolutionary but reactionary because it invites defeat. It involves an emotional catharsis, but it must be followed by a sense of futility.”

— Martin Luther King, Jr.

“We are not makers of history. We are made by history.”

— Martin Luther King, Jr.

“Love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into friend.”

— Martin Luther King, Jr.

“People fail to get along because they fear each other; they fear each other because they don’t know each other; they don’t know each other because they have not communicated with each other.”

— Martin Luther King, Jr.

“In the process of gaining our rightful place, we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred. We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again, we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force”

— Martin Luther King, Jr.

There are many more tidbits of wisdom from this man. Being a black man at the time, he completely understood the gaping crevice caused by the disparity between blacks and whites, but he also understood that the way to bring about change was not through hatred. Demanding our rights through anger, violence and force is a plot of the enemy, to be sure, both for those who are angry and for those who are fearful.

I Shouldn’t have to Feel Pain

Perhaps one of the most detrimental lies the enemy dangles in front of our faces is that we shouldn’t have to feel pain, have things go wrong or live without pleasure. I am lumping this all together, because so often pain and pleasure go hand in hand.

God created a perfect world; a world without pain or suffering, but Adam and Eve’s choice to eat from the tree God had told them not too, ushered in a lifetime of generations of pain, sorrow and hardship, most of which are directly related back to sin. Childbirth, as most women who have had children naturally know, is painful. Kidney stones are painful. Surgery, cuts, headaches, achy joints and aging can all be painful. The amount of money, time and effort that our world spends trying to deal with pain is overwhelming and the ramifications of the desire to live without pain is evident in the catastrophic use of pain meds, psych meds and related therapies that cost millions of dollars every year. Many of these drugs lead to permanent addictions, that are extremely hard to pull out of and cost millions more to pay for different drugs, counseling and therapies.

In addition our society is consumed with pleasure. The desire to feel good all the time has become a way of life that eats away at our time, our pocketbooks and our very souls. Pleasure seeking and its related pursuits also results in many forms of addiction and bondage from eating disorders and drug use, to pornography and human trafficking.

Satan would like us to think that we shouldn’t have to deal with pain or that gnawing sense of emptiness. His lies tempt us to believe that people, or things, drugs or drink, sex or perversion will assuage the numbness that becomes our death companion when we are alone. People do not want to be alone and they don’t want it to be silent, or they will remember they are not fulfilled or happy.

“Man is also rebuked with pain on his bed and with continual strife in his bones,”

— Job 33:19 (ESV)

“For I am ready to fall, and my pain is ever before me.”

— Psalm 38:17 (ESV)

“But I am afflicted and in pain; let your salvation, O God, set me on high!”

— Psalm 69:29 (ESV)

“Why do you cry out over your hurt? Your pain is incurable. Because your guilt is great, because your sins are flagrant, I have done these things to you.”

— Jeremiah 30:15 (ESV)

“He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.””

— Revelation 21:4 (ESV)

Pain is a reality and the yearning we feel that often goes unfulfilled is the imprint of God on our hearts. He was, is and always will be the One who was meant to fill all of your longings.

Satan is lying to us about God and he is lying to us about ourselves. He uses our desire to be “somebody”, our desire to get what we think we deserve, our demand to have our rights fulfilled, and our desire to not feel pain, but only pleasure, to control us. The freedoms we as people are yelling about have become the shackles binding our hearts and our minds. He has us bound and has thrown away the key.

But, there is good news. Someone has a copy of the key and He can release us from these binds.

I hope you are encouraged in your walk with Jesus through this study we have been doing on our

Our Unseen Enemy - Part 3: The Schemer

October 09, 2020 by Amy Christensen in Armor of God, Be bold, Being faithful, Being in Christ, Bible, Bible study, Bible teaching, Blogging, Christ-like, Christian, Christian belief, Christian blog, Christian blogger, Christian faith, Christian faith blog, Christian life, Ephesians 6:10 -18, Ephesians 6, Faith, Faith Blog, Faith blogger, God is all knowing, God is all powerful, God is all present, God loves us, God's protection, God's word, Growing in Our faith, Growth in God, His ways are perfect, Hope in God, Knowing Satan, Knowing the enemy, Light in the darkness, Listening to God, Schemer, Satan as the schemer, Warriors, Walking with Christ, Truth, Trusting God, The unseen enemy, the Christian life, The armor of God, Suffering, Struggling, Studying God's word, Sin, Job, Proverbs 23:10, 2 Corinthians 11:13-15, A roaring lion

Last week we looked at Satan’s tactic of manipulation. Truly he is a master manipulator. He takes truth and twists it so that it seems different than it was really meant to be. We saw that specifically in how he manipulated Eve in the Garden of Eden in his form of a serpent. While last week we saw that he stuck to the truth, but bent and twisted it so that it was a slightly different version of the truth, this week we are going to look at how Satan schemes. This ability to connive and plot affects not only unbelievers, but Christ followers as well.

The Schemer

This guy looks like he is scheming doesn’t he? He’s hunkered down, his beady eye keeping watch for the prey and he is probably thinking about when his quarry gets close enough, he is going to use those powerful toothy jaws to latch on and gobble it up. Our enemy is much the same way as our reptilian friend. He has a scheme, a plan, and a plot. He is waiting, hunkered down, looking for each and every opportunity to trip up his quarry or even more boldly, to latch on and swallow them down.

Image by Surendra Shekhawat from Pixabay — Image by Surendra Shekhawat from Pixabay

“10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might.
11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.
12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.”

— Ephesians 6:10-12 (ESV)

We can see from the above passage that our enemy already has schemes in place to use against us. Verse 12 reiterates that our struggle is not against flesh and blood, although in our country right now it seems that many of our problems are being manifested on the physical plateau. Obviously, Satan will not keep his battles in the spiritual realm. He will strike in our physical realm whenever he is given the leeway. Let’s take a look at another passage in the Bible that deals with just this issue.

“6 Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came among them.
7 The Lord said to Satan, “From where have you come?” Satan answered the Lord and said, “From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and down on it.”
8 And the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil?”
9 Then Satan answered the Lord and said, “Does Job fear God for no reason?
10 Have you not put a hedge around him and his house and all that he has, on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land.
11 But stretch out your hand and touch all that he has, and he will curse you to your face.”
12 And the Lord said to Satan, “Behold, all that he has is in your hand. Only against him do not stretch out your hand.” So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord.”

— Job 1:6-12 (ESV)

Image by WikiImages from Pixabay — Image by WikiImages from Pixabay

This passage might be a little uncomfortable to read. Here we see Satan coming to God, so it tells us that he still has access to God. I have to imagine, that even though Satan was cast down from heaven, God still knew exactly what he was up to and where, after all, God knows everything and is everywhere present. Whatever the case, Satan came to God among the other sons of God. Perhaps he was wearing his disguise as an angel of light, and while God would know who he was, perhaps the others in attendance, most likely other angels, would not see through his fraudulent exterior.

“13 For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ.
14 And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light.
15 So it is no surprise if his servants, also, disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. Their end will correspond to their deeds.”

— 2 Corinthians 11:13-15 (ESV)

Looking at what takes place in this passage, I am sure, Satan entered into this assemblage with a scheme in mind. Whether he was hoping to make a fool of God, usurp his throne or just wreak havoc, Satan wasn’t coming hoping to have tea. He was plotting. Of course, I am convinced that God knew exactly what Satan was up to.

We might be tempted to think God was unfair to Job to unleash Satan’s wrath on everything he had. If you read the passage following, we see that Job lost all of his children, everything he owned was destroyed and his health evaporated. This only happened because God allowed it. God knew Job’s heart and knew through it all Job would remain faithful. He also knew the ultimate outcome, restoration. If you read the book through to its conclusion we see that Job learned some very important lessons about God, but God restored him sevenfold. Yes, he would always miss the children that he lost, but he knew this fully to his core:

“But he knows the way that I take;
when he has tried me, I shall come out as gold.”

— Job 23:10 (ESV)

Let’s move this into the context of today’s world. There are many terrible things happening. We are inundated every day, multiple times a day with the knowledge that evil is running rampant. If you don’t believe in the devil, I would ask you to reconsider. He is alive and well and scheming to bring about your ruin. However, nothing comes into our world without God knowing. It says in Matthew 10:30 that every hair of our heads is numbered. God knows what Satan is about and the time will come, when all that is lost will be restored, but know this, until that time Satan is scheming to take us down.

“Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.”

— 1 Peter 5:8 (ESV)

Image by Hans-Jürgen Münzer from Pixabay — Image by Hans-Jürgen Münzer from Pixabay

Satan isn’t just sitting around twiddling his thumbs. He is at work. He is plotting, planning and scheming the best ways to keep the world in darkness and extinguish the lights of those who know Jesus. Think about the state of our country. Darkness is being exalted and the light is being hidden. This is not just a matter of political and socioeconomic differences. What we see happening has the mark of a hidden power; one that will not rest until every flame is put out.

But…we have hope! Jesus is alive. Everything that He did on the cross still stands. The only way we can change this world is by bringing the light of the Gospel to those who are walking in darkness. Do not be afraid. Do not hide. Pray, speak truth and lift up the name of Jesus.

Image by Greg Montani from Pixabay — Image by Greg Montani from Pixabay

“16 In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one;
17 and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God,
18 praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints”

— Ephesians 6:16-18 (ESV)

May the Source Be With You: An Exclamation, an Explanation and an Effect

September 19, 2020 by Amy Christensen in Being God's child, Being in Christ, Belief, Bible, Bible study, Bible teaching, Blogging, Christ-like, Christian, Christian belief, Christian blog, Christian blogger, Christian faith, Christian faith blog, Christian life, Faith, Faith Blog, Faith blogger, Father, Feeling worthless, Glorified with Christe, God is for us, God is good, God is with us, God is Spirit, God's faithfulness, God's love, God's word, God's work in my life, Gospel, Growth, Growth in God, Growing in Our faith, His spirit, Holy Spirit, Jesus as Messiah, Jesus is the life, Jesus is the truth, Jesus is the source, Living water, Fountain, John 4:7-41, Knowing God, Looking at scripture, Making choices, Relationship with God, Reading the Bible, Purpose, the Christian life, The Samaritan Woman, We have value, Be bold, Witness, Source of living water

Last week we looked at John 4:7-26. This passage of scripture tells us about the encounter a Samaritan woman has with the Lord Jesus. We learned that Jews and Samaritans had long been bitter enemies and would not talk to each other, let alone would a Jewish man approach a Samaritan woman to give him a drink. Jesus did, however, and a conversation ensued that would not only change the woman’s life, but the lives of many in her village. Let’s look at the next part of the passage.

“27 At this point His disciples came, and they were amazed that He had been speaking with a woman, yet no one said, “What do You seek?” or, “Why do You speak with her?” 28 So the woman left her water pot, and went into the city and *said to the men, 29 “Come, see a man who told me all the things that I have done; this is not the Christ, is it?” 30 They went out of the city, and were coming to Him.”

— John 4:27-30 (NASB)

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The Exclamation

We can see in the verses above, the disciples were “amazed that He had been speaking with a woman.” They did not question him however, and the woman, who was obviously so excited she left her water pot behind, went into the city and exclaimed, “Come, see a man who told me all the things that I have done; this is not the Christ, is it?”

I find it interesting that the men of the city listened to her. Once again, I think this woman, while not the most proficient at keeping a husband, seemed to have some amount of sway in the community. She asks them to confirm what she was already on the verge of believing herself: Jesus was the Messiah. She was not afraid of being laughed at, bullied or ridiculed. Her excitement seemed to overflow and she could not resist the urge to let the truth of what had happened to her and what Jesus had taught her, bubble forth, like a spring of water.

Image by Achim Böhmer from Pixabay — Image by Achim Böhmer from Pixabay

“31 Meanwhile the disciples were urging Him, saying, “Rabbi, eat.” 32 But He said to them, “I have food to eat that you do not know about.” 33 So the disciples were saying to one another, “No one brought Him anything to eat, did he?” 34 Jesus *said to them, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to accomplish His work. 35 Do you not say, ‘There are yet four months, and then comes the harvest’? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look on the fields, that they are white for harvest. 36 Already he who reaps is receiving wages and is gathering fruit for life eternal; so that he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together. 37 For in this case the saying is true, ‘One sows and another reaps.’ 38 I sent you to reap that for which you have not labored; others have labored and you have entered into their labor.””

— John 4:31-38 (NASB)

The Explanation

After the woman left, the disciples seemed overly concerned with Jesus’ physical need for food. Knowing their eyes were still not open at this point to His true identity he takes a few moments to teach them about His true purpose and mission, to do the will of His Father and to accomplish His work. He draws an analogy from the fields around them likening them to the harvest of souls for eternal life. While I am not Bible scholar, it seems to me, Jesus was not only teaching them about His purpose, He was going back to answer their initial question as to why He was talking to that woman. She was part of the harvest that He was going to reap. He was also drawing the parallel that physical food is not as important as doing the will of God.

“39 From that city many of the Samaritans believed in Him because of the word of the woman who testified, “He told me all the things that I have done.” 40 So when the Samaritans came to Jesus, they were asking Him to stay with them; and He stayed there two days. 41 Many more believed because of His word; 42 and they were saying to the woman, “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves and know that this One is indeed the Savior of the world.””

— John 4:39-42 (NASB)

The Effect

It is with excitement and awe we read about the effect of this woman’s testimony. The Word is clear, “From that city many of the Samaritans believed in Him because of the word of the woman who testified, ‘He told me all the things I have done.’” Jesus stayed on two more days at their request and, “Many more believed because of His word.”

There are several things I want us to take away from this: As women we have value, we can and should be bold, and we have the source of living water.

What prompted me to go this direction on my Faith page was a devotion I read in Oswald Chamber’s My Utmost for His highest. If you regularly follow me, you know that is one of my favorite devotional books and I use it regularly. The title of September 7th’s devotion was, “Fountains of Blessing.” You can read the entire devotion by clicking on the link.

Image by Arek Socha from Pixabay — Image by Arek Socha from Pixabay

Our value is directly tied to the fact that we are a creation of God, and His Son, Jesus, chose to give His life for our eternal well being. It doesn’t matter if you are a man, woman, adult, child, black, white, red or yellow; you have value because of who God is and who you are to Him.

We can and should be bold in our witness for Him. That doesn’t mean we need to know special verses or have just the right words to say. All we need to do is be obedient. If He gives us the opportunity to share the gospel, we need to do it. If we merely share what Christ has done for us, or as the Samaritan woman did, share that Jesus knows everything about us, yet He still loves us. There is nothing in the Bible that says we have to be another Billy Graham to share God’s love. Believe me, in the world we are living in right now, we need to speak truth, His truth, even if it is uncomfortable.

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If we have the Spirit of Jesus living in us, we are a fountain of living water for everyone around us. A fountain continues to give water, at all times. It doesn’t get tired or turn itself off, because its source is coming from deep down inside. Recently, I have seen how Christ has been this source of living water in my own life. It seems everyone around me, needs something and many around me are tired, overwhelmed and negative. All of that has the tendency to suck us dry. However, when I know the source of my strength, joy and peace is coming from Him, I never do run dry. His living water keeps me from becoming a desert wasteland.

The best way to receive the living water is to know the source of that living water. If you know Jesus as your Lord and Savior you already have that source and you only need ask and He will give you refreshment over and over.

I hope you are having a great weekend and don’t forget to spend some time going to the source .

May the source be with you always!

May the Source Be With You: A Woman, a Well and some Water

September 09, 2020 by Amy Christensen in Analogy of Christian life, Being a woman, Being in Christ, Being let down, Belief, Bible, Bible study, Bible teaching, Blogging, Christ's humility, Christ's righteousness, Christ's vulnerability, Christian, Christian belief, Christian blog, Christian blogger, Christian faith, Christian faith blog, Christian life, Disappointment, Divine appointments, Faith, Faith Blog, Faith blogger, Father, Feeling overwhelmed, Feeling worthless, God the Father, God the Holy Spirit, God the Son, God's faithfulness, God's word, Heart knowledge, Jesus is our hope, Jesus is the way, Jesus as Messiah, Woman at the well, Worship, worship in spirit, God is Spirit, John 4:7-41

I was going to start a series on the devil, but I am going to put that off for a week or two. I was doing my devotions the other day, when I came across something I thought may be more helpful for today. I know all of us are struggling with the chaos that we call “the new normal.” None of us really wants to have to deal with the ripple affects of a pandemic, but we are.

Image by David Mark from Pixabay — Image by David Mark from Pixabay

With the advent of fall we are seeing universities and schools struggling to stay in session. My husband’s university has 60% of their classes online, or hybrid, which is an online, face to face combination of teaching. It has most of the faculty and staff feeling exhausted and overwhelmed. I know the same is true for my grandson’s elementary school as teachers and staff try to deal with technology glitches and having live stream school sessions that last from 9 in the morning to 3:30 in the afternoon. His school is hoping to go to a hybrid plan next week, where students will attend school two days and have three days off. I can’t even imagine how hard this is for everyone. We are not able to go places, see extended family and have regular meet ups with friends at coffee shops or bookstores.

In addition to that, incidents of protests, riots and violence across our country continue to take place. We are heading into an extremely volatile election and the silencing of many with contrary views to the underpinning current of anti conservative voices is leaving us feeling exhausted, anxious and hopeless.

When I read this verse and Oswald’s accompanying devotion, I realized that no matter what happens in the world around us, we are always at liberty to return to the Source

“Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’””

— John 7:38 (ESV)

If we believe in Jesus, we have the source of living water. If you take the time to read the story of Jesus and the Samaritan women here in John 4:7-41, you will see this idea of living water spoken of previously by Jesus. This woman who came to the well, knew what hardship was like. She was not only a Samaritan, who the Jews did not look favorably on, she also had been in a number of relationships that went haywire. As Jesus pointed out, she had had five husbands and the man she was currently living with was not her husband.

It was not coincidence that brought her to the well at the exact same time Jesus came to quench his thirst. We can learn a lot from this passage, so let’s take a closer look.

Jesus took the initiative.

“A woman from Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” ”

— John 4:7 (ESV)

Under normal circumstances a woman was expected to do a man’s bidding. Not only that, but the woman would have had a vessel of some sort, something she could carry water in, making it easier for her to draw water. For Jesus to tell her to give him a drink, would not have been unusual. However, the fact that He was a Jew and she was a Samaritan, made it completely abnormal that Jesus would talk to her, let alone allow her to give him a drink.

She knew her place.

“The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?” (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.)”

— John 4:9 (ESV)

This woman wasn’t in denial. She knew that Jews did not like Samaritans. She also knew she was a woman in a man’s world. Her response to Jesus was’t one of bitterness or snippiness. I believe she responded with genuine surprise. She restated something both she and Jesus already knew.

Jesus got right to the point.

“Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.” ”

— John 4:10 (ESV)

Jesus didn’t argue with the woman about whether she should draw water for Him. He immediately began to tell her about what He had to offer her…living water.

She knew history.

“The woman said to him, “Sir, you have nothing to draw water with, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? 12 Are you greater than our father Jacob? He gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock.”

— John 4:11-12 (ESV)

Image by Yoosaf Abdulla from Pixabay — Image by Yoosaf Abdulla from Pixabay

Just in case you are wondering, the Samaritans were Jewish descendants from the tribes of Joseph’s sons Manasseh and Ephraim. They were all descendants of Jacob. The main source of contention between these two people groups revolved around the chosen place to worship God. They were considered mongrels by the Jews due to their being descendants of Jews who had been in captivity in Assyria. In truth, they were all Jews, in the same way today’s term Christian includes both Protestants and Catholics.

Jesus used a physical object to explain a spiritual truth.

“Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.””

— John 4:13-14 (ESV)

Often when Jesus was teaching he would speak in allegorical pictures. In this particular instance He is describing the relationship with God that all can have, if they just drink His truth. From personal experience, I know this to be true. I have never known anything nor anyone to satisfy like Jesus. Yes, I still walk in this flesh and it craves all sorts of things from clothes to chocolate, but those splurges almost always leave me feeling dissatisfied. Only the time spent with Him in prayer, study of the word, journaling, ranting or singing truly makes me feel full and complete.

You see, the water that Jesus offers to give us is no ordinary spring. It is a spring from an unlimited source and it bubbles eternally. There is no end to this source of living water. It is both unlimited and fulfilling. You might be wondering, how can it be both limitless and yet give complete fulfillment? What would be the point of it being unlimited, if we only had to drink from it once and have our thirst forever quenched? We will get to that in a bit.

Right response, wrong reason.

Image by sutulo from Pixabay — Image by sutulo from Pixabay

“The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water.””

— John 4:15 (ESV)

The woman’s response is one of desire. She wants this living water, but not for the reason Jesus offered it to her. She wasn’t looking beyond her immediate circumstances and comfort. She wanted the water she thought He was offering, so she would never have to worry about coming to the well again. My suspicion is, she was not always looked upon with kindness in her daily journey to the well. It would have been so much less trouble if she never had to go to the well again.

Nothing is hidden from Jesus.

“Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come here.” 17 The woman answered him, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You are right in saying, ‘I have no husband’; 18 for you have had five husbands, and the one you now have is not your husband. What you have said is true.” ”

— John 4:16-18 (ESV)

If the Samaritan woman had been alive today, she would have been wondering if Jesus was part of the CIA or MI6. She would have immediately started looking for hidden cameras and microphones. However, those types of technology didn’t exist back then and even if they did, there was no reason to spy on a middle aged Samaritan woman who was having a string of bad relationships.

The woman was paying attention.

“The woman said to him, “Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet. 20 Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship.”

— John 4:19-20 (ESV)

I believe this woman was rather intelligent. She knew the history of her people, the Samaritans, but she also knew the beliefs of the Jews. Perhaps she is trying to direct the conversation away from the spotlight Jesus has shone on her personal life, or she may actually be curious to know what His opinion was on the point of contention between her people and His. She seems to me, a curious and articulate individual.

A prophet and so much more.

Image by John Hain from Pixabay — Image by John Hain from Pixabay

“Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. 22 You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. 24 God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”

— John 4:21-24 (ESV)

The next few sentences Jesus articulates, open a window of knowledge to the woman. I absolutely love how Jesus, in this passage is affirming the value of women. Not only is He speaking to her, even though she is a Samaritan and He is a Jew; He is speaking to her like he would speak to a man. He is giving her an opportunity that many in that time period would not have had. He is giving her a peek into the future. He is also giving her a one on one theology lesson.

Jesus plainly states that things are not going to remain as they were. A day was coming when neither the Jews or the Samaritans would be worshipping in the temple nor on the mountain. If you know anything about Jewish history, you know that is true. In addition, Jesus instructs her that soon all true worshippers would be worshipping God in spirit and in truth. I believe he was giving her a little look into the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. (This is just my opinion. You can find a much more knowledgable opinion in Matthew Henry’s Bible Commentary, here.)

She believes in the Messiah.

“ The woman said to him, “I know that Messiah is coming (he who is called Christ). When he comes, he will tell us all things.” ”

— John 4:25 (ESV)

This woman has faith. She believes the Messiah will come and that when he does, he will explain everything.

Jesus makes a declaration.

“Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am he.””

— John 4:26 (ESV)

Image by Raheel Shakeel from Pixabay — Image by Raheel Shakeel from Pixabay

I will continue with this passage next week, but what I want you to take away from this week’s portion is these ideas:

1 - Nothing happens by chance. Jesus knew he would meet this woman, in fact it was known from the foundation of the world.

2 - He knows everything about you. I know as a woman, I have always had this romantic desire that the man who loved me would study me. He would know everything about me, from the tiniest wart on my toe to the grandest dream I have ever had. My hubby is a good guy and I love him dearly, but he ain’t no Jesus. He is fallen and flawed just like the woman he married.

3 - Women and their desires and dreams are just as valuable and important to Jesus as men.

4 - Only Jesus can provide the living water. All of our efforts to satisfy, get by, pull ourselves up by our own bootstraps, and so on only lead to exhaustion, anxiety and discouragement.

I hope you will join me again next week for the rest of the story. Have a great week.

Tended Dreams

August 26, 2020 by Amy Christensen in Acknowledging pain, allegory, Analogy of Christian life, Christian, Christian allegory, Christian belief, Christian blog, Christian blogger, Christian faith, Christian faith blog, Christian fiction, Christian life, Creative fiction, Death of dreams, Faith, Faith Blog, Faith blogger, Father, Feelings of grief, God loves us, God the Son, Hope in God, Hurts, Imagery, Jesus, Jesus is our hope, Letting go, My Hope, Our relationship to God, Relationship, Relationship with God, Struggling, Suffering, the Christian life, The Grand Weaver, The work of Christ, Trusting God, True Love, Abortion

This is a fiction piece by Amy D. Christensen

So many coffins! Why were there so many coffins?

Image by Lisa Yount from Pixabay — Image by Lisa Yount from Pixabay

The One who stood beside me looked out over the vast area filled with every manner of death box imaginable. There were pine boxes, reminding me of the Old West, golden sarcophagi, dark cherry wood polished until it shimmered and many, many more. It would take days to count how many coffins filled the valley: literally a valley of dry bones. Here and there I could see beings of light, I assumed were angles, tending to the coffins.

“Who are they,” I asked looking up into his dark eyes.

They were brown, but seemed to be edged with golden light; a light that came from deep within His heart.

He smiled at me, though I could tell there was a deep sadness behind that smile. “Not who, but what?”

“I do not understand.”

Image by Jackson David from Pixabay — Image by Jackson David from Pixabay

He took my hand, squeezing it firmly. It felt as though just a bit of strength tingled from his fingers into mine filling my whole body with warmth. It was as though someone had just draped a warm blanket over my shoulders.

“These coffins hold dreams.”

“Dreams?”

“Come. Let’s walk and I will show you.”

I was afraid. I had always been afraid to be around death. I never liked going to funerals and walking through grave yards was fine during the day when the sky was blue, but when the sun went down and the mists began to creep along the ground, no thank you! I planted my feet firmly.

He turned to look at me. “It will be alright. You are with me, and I would never let anything hurt you. Not any more.”

His eyes took in the depth of my soul. It was then I knew. He knew everything about me and yet, it was completely obvious how much He loved me.

“Come.” He smiled again and I let myself be pulled along.

We moved in among the elongated boxes and I couldn’t help but admire how intricately beautiful some of them were. Many were very simple and completely unadorned, while others had been carved and embellished with decorative swirls and etchings, some of which looked to be letters in various languages.

He stopped before a dark box whose wood was so polished and smooth I could see myself in it.

Image by composita from Pixabay — Image by composita from Pixabay

“This one belongs to a man who took great pride in his work. He built his own business from the ground up. When he met his wife, he knew he wanted to have a family. He wanted many children, hoping that a few of them would one day carry on the family business. His wife died in child birth. He never remarried and eventually sold the business.”

He moved me along to another box a little ways away. This one was much more ornate than the last one. It was covered in beautiful scroll work.

“This one belongs to a woman who married young. She had dreams of becoming an archeologist, but her husband said her place was in the home with the children. She had a brood, and when there were no more children to be birthed, her husband left her for a younger woman.”

“How terrible!”

The next coffin he stopped before was smaller. Not the size of a child, but not a full adult either. It was white and decorated with pretty pink and yellow flowers.

“The girl whose dreams reside here was only 16 when a drunk driver took away her ability to walk. She wanted to be a dancer hoping that sad people would find joy in the movement of music and dance.”

He stretched out his hand and rubbed the top of the pretty box, as if remembering.

I felt my eyes sting with tears. He began to walk again and I pulled my hand from His.

“Why are you showing me these things?”

He did not speak. I could see tears in his own eyes. He held out his hand.

Once again, I placed mine in his and we walked for a while in silence.

The next box we stopped in front of was rather simple and unassuming. In fact as we had walked it occurred to me there were many coffins like this. They weren’t plain and simple like an Old West pine box, nor were they richly adorned. They were, in fact plain and unnoticeable.

“Why are there so many like these?”

He looked out over the valley, turning his head from one side to another. “These are the dreams of mothers for their children; wives for their marriages; grandmothers for their grandchildren. As is so often the case these go unnoticed. Mothers go about their lives, most often never asking for the help they need, the desires that go unmet and the thanks they so deserve. Unlike many, who have one major dream of what they want to do with their lives, mothers, wives and grandmothers often have the most dreams and, as you can tell by these coffins, so very many of them must be laid to rest.”

Image by Richard Mcall from Pixabay — Image by Richard Mcall from Pixabay

“Well, if that’s the case, why aren’t their coffins more ornate and noticeable? Why are they so plain?”

“Because their desires were simple. They wanted their children to grow up without damage and problems. They wanted their husbands to talk to them. They wanted their families to get along…simple things really, yet so important. Unfortunately, very few take into account the dreams of a mother. They love her and are glad for her, but they rarely get to know the woman that she is underneath all that she does: the writer, the singer, the artist, the leader, the warrior. So very many dreams that had to die.”

“But why?” I was beginning to feel upset. “Why should they have to give up their dreams?”

“Because they knew what was really at stake. They knew that the most important part of life was relationship. They were willing to give up everything else, so that relationships with their children, husbands and grandchildren could continue. You see life is not about the dreams that come true, it is about the relationships that are built, or abandoned, along the way.”

He stepped away from the box. “Come. I have one last thing to show you.”

Again, he took my hand and once again I felt the mild tingle of His strength moving me forward and warming me.

The sight we came to next took my breath away. A sea of tiny, infant sized coffins, each adorned with a small, flickering candle, floated silently on a huge glassy lake. The light on each coffin produced a shimmering reflection in the surrounding water. It was all at once beautiful and horrifying.

Image by Hans Braxmeier from Pixabay — Image by Hans Braxmeier from Pixabay

He sensed my discomfort and putting his arm around my shoulders, pulled me close.

“Even a baby has dreams. In the world as you know it, when babies are born they do not have language, but the truth is, all that are conceived have the imprint of heavenly language. It is in this realm that they dream. They dream of small things, but still they are dreams. Smiles, green grass, blue skies, their mother’s face, their father’s laugh, the feeling of human touch, but alas, none of these dear ones ever got to realize their dreams.”

I gasped, as the sea of coffins seemed to go on forever. Tears slipped down my face.

He turned me towards him.

“You have dreams too. I showed you all these things because I want you to know that each and every dream you have is important to me. Each and every dream that you must give up, I will know about and I will tend to. That is how much I love you!”

* * * * * * *

Often, when I write a piece like this, I feel it is God giving me a way to express my own feelings and thoughts, but in the form of a story. An allegory tells a story in the form of imagery. I hope that the picture I painted above shows you, that Jesus loves you with an everlasting love and that every single dream you have achieved, and every single desire you have had to give up, He is aware of and He holds in the palm of His hand. I write, because I need to remember this, and maybe you do too.

You are deeply loved!