My Favorite Things - Trust, Healing and Refreshment

September 08, 2022 by Amy Christensen in Abide in Christ, Being in Christ, Belief, Belief in God's Word, Belief in Jesus, Belief in the Bible, Believe, Bible, Bible study, Bible teaching, Blogging, Blogging on faith, Blogging on the Bible, Children of God, Christ-like, Christian, Christian belief, Christian blog, Christian blogger, Christian faith, Christian faith blog, Christian life, God's word, God's love, Growth in God, Head knowldege, Heart knowledge, Knowledge of God, Learning from the Bible, Learning lessons, Listening to God, our walk with God, Proverbs 3, Proverbs 3:1-8, My Favorite Things, The Sound of Music, Trust, Trusting God, Trust in the Lord, Teaching, Peace, Peace of Christ, Acknowledge Him, Wisdom, Wisdom from God

Many of you who follow me are familiar with the Sound of Music, a musical drama staring Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer set in pre WWII Austria. The film, one of my favorites, is an adaption of a stage musical by Rogers and Hammerstein. The movie is filled with uplifting musical numbers, beautiful scenery and budding romance. A number that has been with me since our choir sang it in junior high was My Favorite Things.

I had the idea come to me this morning that it might be fun and beneficial to share with you a number of my favorite passages of scripture. There is always a reason we have favorites. We might have a favorite ice cream, perfume or movie. Our faves are ones we like to revisit over and over.

I love to see a garden full of bright colorful flowers. Flower gardening is an activity I would like to do, but like so many things, I just don’t seem to get to it. That is okay. I can still enjoy the flowers at our local botanical gardens and adorning the front walkways and porches of many homes I drive by in the summer time.

Scripture is something that I desire to cultivate in my life. I am learning over and over how important and powerful God’s word is in my life, and that is why I want to share with you passages that I go back to on repeat. Just like the beautiful flowers we see in the warm weather, God’s word is a beautiful. It is meant to be looked at, mulled over and enjoyed. Yes, there are hard bits, bits that I remind me of my sin and my short comings, but God’s word is so much more than that. Let’s take a look.

“1 My son, do not forget my teaching,
But let your heart keep my commandments;
2 For length of days and years of life
And peace they will add to you.
3 Do not let kindness and truth leave you;
Bind them around your neck,
Write them on the tablet of your heart.
4 So you will find favor and good repute
In the sight of God and man.
5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart
And do not lean on your own understanding.
6 In all your ways acknowledge Him,
And He will make your paths straight.
7 Do not be wise in your own eyes;
Fear the Lord and turn away from evil.
8 It will be healing to your body
And refreshment to your bones.”

— Proverbs 3:1-8 (NASB 1995)

God’s word is meant to teach us. As I look at this portion of Proverbs 3 I know the author is King Solomon, David’s son by Bathsheba. Isn’t it amazing how God took a messy, sinful situation and turned it into something for His glory and honor? He is a master at that.

As Solomon penned these words we know that he was inspired by God, and it is written like a father speaking to his son. Whether Solomon had a son in mind when he penned these words, or he was relaying what God’s spirit inspired him regarding the Father - child relationship we have with God, I am not sure, but these words apply just as readily to us today as they did to people from long ago.

These verses could be said to be written like poetic couplets. Each set of two verses goes together with the first verse being a command, and the second verse being the benefit of obeying the command.

“1 My son, do not forget my teaching,
But let your heart keep my commandments;
2 For length of days and years of life
And peace they will add to you.”

— Proverbs 3:1-2 (NASB 1995)

The writer is telling his son to not forget the things he taught him. He even speaks to the issue of his heart. Why is it important for our hearts to keep God’s commandments? The simple truth is, head knowledge does not make us more godly or Christ like. It is when we allow the words of the Scriptures to permeate our hearts that we truly delve into the layers that are God.

The author gives the reason heart knowledge is so important, because it benefits us. “…length of days and years of life and peace they will add to you.” Our society pushes the idea of exercise and eating right to help us live longer, but that is not the only piece of our health puzzle. Living our lives for God in obedience to, and in love with our Lord will benefit us in more ways than we can even understand.

“3 Do not let kindness and truth leave you;
Bind them around your neck,
Write them on the tablet of your heart.
4 So you will find favor and good repute
In the sight of God and man.”

— Proverbs 3:3-4 (NASB 1995)

We hear so much about being kind these days. We see the phrase, “Be kind” written on signs in front of schools, on tee shirts and other apparel and we are constantly telling our children and grand children to be kind. The idea of kindness isn’t new and obviously, if Solomon felt it was necessary to mention, then you can bet back in his day there were probably all sorts of bullies and social difficulties. The man had 700 wives and 300 concubines! How could there not be social difficulties? Have you ever heard of a cat fight? Ha, ha.

It wasn’t just kindness that Solomon suggested, he said kindness and truth. He told the reader to bind them around their neck and write them on the tablet of their heart. As women we like to adorn our necks with jewelry or pretty scarves. A pretty statement necklace or flowy scarf really take an outfit up a notch. Being kind is always more appealing than being nasty. Being truthful is typically better than being deceitful, especially if the first lie leads to more and more lies.

Once again we see a reason why the command is given, “So you will find favor and good repute in the sight of God and man.” We aren’t just pleasing God, but we will be looked up to and respected by others when we are kind and truthful.

“5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart
And do not lean on your own understanding.
6 In all your ways acknowledge Him,
And He will make your paths straight.”

— Proverbs 3:5-6 (NASB 1995)

These two verses are probably the more well known of all the verses in this chapter. Once again Solomon speaks of the heart. We are to trust the Lord, not just with our heads, but with “all” our hearts. The next phrase is huge. In a society where we are constantly being told we can do it, we can figure it out, we got this, we are fierce and infallible, it is very hard to not lean on our own understanding. Don’t I know what is best for me? Well, not really. Only the One who made you knows what is truly best for you.

The author goes on to say in all our ways to acknowledge Him and this is where we hone in on the real problem; the heart problem. We don’t acknowledge God in any of our ways, or maybe we do in one or two of our ways, but that is precisely why we lean on our own understanding. “I” will figure it out. “I” will fix this. “I” will do what it takes. “I” don’t need anyone’s help. We can be all about that, but in reality there will be times you can’t figure it out, fix it or do what it takes and you are going to need help. His help.

He will make your paths straight. Once again, the command is followed by the benefit. God will take all the crooked, messed up pile of chaos that you created and He will make it straight. Quit leaning on your own understanding. Trust with all of your heart. Acknowledge Him and He will do it.

“7 Do not be wise in your own eyes;
Fear the Lord and turn away from evil.
8 It will be healing to your body
And refreshment to your bones.”

— Proverbs 3:7-8 (NASB 1995)

The final couplet again speaks to wisdom and its source. Solomon tells the son to not be wise in his own eyes. Do you ever think of yourself as wise? Have you ever had one of those pride moments when you figured out how to fix something or found out something you said helped another person. It is wonderful to have those moments, but we have to remember where all wisdom comes from. Solomon speaks to it in the next line, “Fear the Lord…” Wisdom starts with the Lord. Solomon takes it one more step, “…and turn away from evil.”

Turning away from evil is essential to having true wisdom. Solomon is a case study, because as wise as he was, he ended up being influenced by all of his many wives who came from various heathen countries and worshipped various heathen gods. For all the wisdom he had, he wasn’t very wise about keeping things under God’s authority.

Why should we fear the Lord and turn away from evil? The answer is in the second part of the couplet: so we will have healing and refreshment. Following after evil can be hard on the body, not just the physical ramifications of overeating, drinking alcohol or taking drugs, but also on a person’s mental and emotional well being causing anxiety, fear, depression and even eventual suicidal tendencies.

I hope you enjoyed this look at one of my favorite passages. I hope you have a wonderful weekend.

A Series of (Un)Fortunate Events - Part 2: The Necessity of Misfortune

September 01, 2022 by Amy Christensen in Acknowledging pain, Analogy of Christian life, Anxiety, Beauty for ashes, Being a woman, Being afraid, Being in Christ, Being in the dark, 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, Blogging on the Bible, Change is difficult, Children of God, Christ-like, Christian, Christian belief, Christian blog, Christian blogger, Christian faith, Christian faith blog, Christian life, Confidence in Christ, Darkness, Dealing with change, Death of dreams, Despair, Difficulty, Disappointment, Discouragement, Drudgery of life, Emotional stress, Faith, Faith Blog, Faith blogger, Faith in God, Faith in Jesus, Faith in the bible, Fear, Fatigue, Feeling overwhelmed, Feeling worthless, Feelings of grief, Feelings of guilt, Finding rest, God as the gardener, God is all knowing, God is all powerful, God is all present, God is faithful, God is for us, God is good, God is with us, God loves us, God provides a way, God remembers us, God's love, God's protection, God's strength, God's word, God's work in my life, Grief, Growing in Our faith, Growth in God, His ways are perfect, Hope in God, Jesus is our hope, Jesus' example to us, Job, Know God Better, Learning from the Bible, Learning lessons, Listening to God, Long Suffering, Looking at scripture, Our hope in christ, Patience when wronged, Peace of Christ, Perseverance, Reading the Bible, Renewing our minds, Scripture, Self centeredness, Selfishness, Struggling, Studying God's word, Surviving difficulties, Trusting God

Last week I introduced you to A Series of Unfortunate Events, a book series by Lemony Snicket (Daniel Handler) that has also been made into a movie with Jim Carey, and a Netflix series with Neil Patrick Harris. The series follows three orphans, Violet, Klaus, and Sunny Baudelaire, who are trying to find out why their parents died in a fire, while at the same time trying to find a guardian who will love and care for them. The inheritance of their future fortune marks them easy prey for villains wanting their money, specifically Count Olaf.

I made the comparison that often we are like the orphaned Baudelaire’s experiencing one tragedy after another. Misfortune is, as the word’s meaning defines, unfortunate. The word fortunate is defined as - “bringing some good thing, not foreseen as certain; receiving some unexpected good.” Misfortune is defined simply as, “an unhappy situation.” When we call someone unfortunate we are saying they are “marked or accompanied by misfortune.” (Definitions from Webster’s Online Dictionary.)

All of us experience misfortune, but we don’t necessarily see everyone as unfortunate, where every day seems to be a struggle and hope is as elusive as an early morning mist. In fact, when a tragedy happens we will often say, “You were very fortunate. It could have been so much worse.” While this is true, it isn’t always the best thing to say.

If you have been following me for a while, you have probably heard me say that struggles and difficulty are not always all bad. We’ve all heard stories or watched a Hallmark movie, where something beautiful has come out of a terrible situation. In my own life I have seen the hand of God extend mercy in situations where the outcome of people’s choices could have been total tragedy.

Last week I discussed the necessity of Jesus’ departure from earth, so the Holy Spirit could come. Without the Helper’s constant guidance and revelation of God’s word we would be lost. Thus the need to recognize, not all tragedies and difficulties are truly unfortunate. With the Holy Spirit’s help we can recognize four key things about our difficulties.

1 - Allowed by God.

Image by José Manuel de Laá from Pixabay

If you believe what the Bible says about God’s characteristics then you must acknowledge His sovereignty. If God is sovereign, all things that come into our lives are sifted through His fingers. We have the book of Job as one for instance of God allowing great difficulty into one man’s life. But, even after all the tragedy, Job knew God was good and sovereign.

“He said, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb,
And naked I shall return there.
The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away.
Blessed be the name of the Lord.””

— Job 1:22 (NASB 1995)

“9 Then his wife said to him, “Do you still hold fast your integrity? Curse God and die!”
10 But he said to her, “You speak as one of the foolish women speaks. Shall we indeed accept good from God and not accept adversity?” In all this Job did not sin with his lips.”

— Job 2:9-10 (NASB 1995)

I can still remember a sermon I heard a few years ago when we were going through an especially hard time. The preacher made two points:

1 - God is sovereign and God loves you.

2 - When you are going through something hard refer back to point number 1.

It sounds pretty simple, but in reality it is. Our Almighty God is not trying to trick us, or manipulate us. He is completely straight forward. His holiness is pure. His goodness is everlasting. His mercies are new every morning. Most importantly, He loves us. Plain and simple.

2 - For our benefit.

Most of us want things that are beneficial for us whether healthy food and exercise, a place to get away and rest, peace of mind and loving, nurturing relationships. God wants things that are beneficial for us as well. The difference is that as the author of all creation He has a far better grasp of what we truly need.

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

— Romans 8:28 (NASB 1995)

Notice in the verse it says that God causes ALL things to work together for good. It isn’t only the happy, joyful, peaceful things that work for our good, it includes the mind numbing, tragic and ugly parts of life. How can this be the case? Because it is God who is doing the working for the good. We are hardly capable of getting ourselves out of bed in the morning, how is it we are going to know the deep needs of our own selves? We think we do…happiness, peace, no longing, no fear, no confrontation…but we are unwilling to go to the One who knows us inside out.

3 - Meant for God reliance.

A trapeze artist knows the importance of being in excellent shape physically, and mentally. They know their muscles must be strong and their minds must not be distracted by the difficulties of life. In addition, they are completely reliant on their equipment. A broken wire, or rusty chain must be repaired or replaced. How do they know these things? By being taught by others who went before.

When we encounter unfortunate events it is the perfect opportunity to check our relationship with God. Are we maintaining our connection with Him. Are we keeping short accounts on our sin? Are we spending time in His word? Are we searching for scripture and advice on how to get through our difficulties by His strength and with His grace?

I don’t care what the commercials are telling you…be all you can be. I don’t care what the social media influencers are preaching…you are strong, you got this, you are woman hear you roar…most messages that come from a source outside of God Himself, while encouraging are not going to keep you sane when the bottom falls out of your world.

“5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart
And do not lean on your own understanding.
6 In all your ways acknowledge Him,
And He will make your paths straight.
7 Do not be wise in your own eyes;
Fear the Lord and turn away from evil.
8 It will be healing to your body
And refreshment to your bones.”

— Proverbs 3:5-8 (NASB 1995)

“6 Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time,
7 casting all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you.”

— 1 Peter 5:6-7 (NASB 1995)

“63 It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life.”

— John 6:63 (NASB 1995)

“8 It is better to take refuge in the Lord
Than to trust in man.”

— Psalm 118:8 (NASB 1995)

“10 ‘Do not fear, for I am with you;
Do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you, surely I will help you,
Surely I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.’”

— Isaiah 41:10 (NASB 1995)

We are meant to be God dependent, not independent.

4 - Renewal: God’s best outcome.

Image by AC works Co., Ltd. from Pixabay

Coming through a series of unfortunate events is the perfect time for God to build something new in you. As you practice abiding in Him and relying on Him He will begin to weed that garden that He is cultivating in you. It may be that the misfortunes are actually His way of pulling the weeds of pride, self-centeredness and bitterness from your soul. Let Him be about His work for this will have the best outcome. You will come through your difficulties with a deeper, new found faith and knowledge, not only of who you are, but more importantly of who God is.

“And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.”

— Romans 12:2 (NASB 1995)

“Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day.”

— 2 Corinthians 4:16 (NASB 1995)

“He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit,”

— Titus 3:5 (NASB 1995)

I want to encourage you to remember, you are not alone in your difficulty. There is a loving, omnipotent God working through your series of (un)fortunate events.

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

August 26, 2022 by Amy Christensen in Belief, Belief in God's Word, Belief in Jesus, Belief in the Bible, Believe, Bible study, Bible, Bible teaching, Blogging, Blogging on faith, Blogging on the Bible, Christ-like, Christian, Christian belief, Christian blog, Christian blogger, Christian faith, Christian faith blog, Christian life, Convinced of Christ, Faith, Faith Blog, Faith blogger, Faith in God, Faith in Jesus, Faith in the bible, Feeling overwhelmed, Disappointment, Discouragement, Growing in Our faith, Growth in God, Holy Spirit, Hope in God, Imagery, Jesus, Jesus is our hope, Knowledge of God, Learning from the Bible, Learning lessons, Lessons from movies, Long Suffering, Looking at scripture, Mulling It over, Our hope in christ, Our relationship to God, Perseverance, Scripture, Struggling, Storms of life, Studying God's word, Suffering, Suffering with Christ, Surviving difficulties, Tools for growth, Truth, When storms come

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

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

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

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

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

— John 16:33 (NASB - 1995)

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

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

— John 16:13-15 (NASB - 1995)

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

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

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

The Holy Spirit is not constrained by time or space.

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

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

— Psalm 51:11 (NASB - 1995)

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

— Isaiah 63:10 (NASB - 1995)

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

— Matthew 1:18 (NASB - 1995)

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

— Matthew 3:11 (NASB - 1995)

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

— Luke 1:41 (NASB - 1995)

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

The Holy Spirit reveals truth to us.

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

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

— Hebrews 13:5b (NASB -1995)

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

— Romans 8:28 (NASB - 1995)

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

— Philippians 4:6-7 (NASB - 1995)

The Holy Spirit will guide us.

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

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

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

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

The Holy Spirit discloses God’s words to us.

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

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

What am I Rejoicing In?

June 02, 2022 by Amy Christensen in Blogging, Blogging on faith, 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, God, God is faithful, God is for us, God is good, God loves us, God's faithfulness, God's word, Rejoice, Rejoice always, Relationship with God, What are we rejoicing in?, Who are we rejoicing in?, Saul, Genesis 1:26-28, Genesis 3:8-10, 1 Sam. 11:15, 1 Samuel 13:8-11

As I continued to look at the word rejoice, I came across another story in the Old Testament that I thought might be worth sharing. From the beginning of time God wanted to be the center of men’s worship. As we look at the Biblical account of how the world came into being and how God made everything in it, we see that He created man with a purpose much different than any of the other things He created. God made man to have a relationship with Him.

“26 Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”
27 God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.
28 God blessed them; and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” ”

— Genesis 1:26-28 (NASB 1995)

We see that God gave man a job, to rule over the earth, and that means take care of it, not abuse and misuse it.

“ 8 They heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.
9 Then the Lord God called to the man, and said to him, “Where are you?”
10 He said, “I heard the sound of You in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid myself.””

— Genesis 3:8-10 (NASB 1995)

From the above text we can reason that God regularly walked in the garden, and he also walked and talked with Adam and Eve. They heard the sound of the Lord, so they were familiar with His footfall, his voice or maybe he was singing as he walked along. They hid from Him, because they were ashamed. They knew they had displeased the One who walked and talked with them in the garden.

It is not that God needs us. He is God and is outside our understanding of what need is. God is, and God moves. One day He decided to create and from that creation came our world, and us. However, His creating wasn’t a random act. He had thought it through and had a plan. Part of that plan was that He would have preeminence in our lives. He created us with His image imprinted on us. He and we are connected.

After the days of Moses leading the people out of Israel and wandering around the wilderness, the people became set on having someone who could rule them. They no longer wanted God to be their ruler. After going through a period of various judges, God gave them what they wanted. They wanted a man who could be king, and so we have Saul, the first in a long line of kings for Israel.

“15 So all the people went to Gilgal, and there they made Saul king before the Lord in Gilgal. There they also offered sacrifices of peace offerings before the Lord; and there Saul and all the men of Israel rejoiced greatly.”

— ! Samuel 11:15 (NASB 1995)

When I read this verse I was suddenly struck by the question, “I wonder what Saul and the men of Israel were rejoicing in?” In Deuteronomy the act of rejoicing always had to do with the Lord. It was associated with feasts and celebrations of remembrance of God’s provision and salvation. When we read Hannah’s story in I Samuel we also see that she rejoiced in the Lord and in His provision for her and for the nation of Israel. It does say that the people made Saul king “before the Lord,” and “they also offered sacrifices of peace offerings before the Lord.” It does not say that they specifically rejoiced in the Lord or in what He had done.

I may just be nitpicky and perhaps looking for something that is not there, but it does make me ask myself, “In what or whom am I rejoicing?” You see, it was only a few chapters later and we read that Saul had only been king for two years and he messed up.

“8 He waited seven days, the time appointed by Samuel. But Samuel did not come to Gilgal, and the people were scattering from him.
9 So Saul said, “Bring the burnt offering here to me, and the peace offerings.” And he offered the burnt offering.
10 As soon as he had finished offering the burnt offering, behold, Samuel came. And Saul went out to meet him and greet him. 11 Samuel said, “What have you done?”...”

— 1 Samuel 13:8-11 (ESV)

Saul decided he could be both king and priest, which was not God’s plan. Saul was impatient and prideful and we see that he eventually becomes obsessed with David’s demise, eventually making him unfit to be king. It seems trouble followed Saul, which brings me back to the question, who did Saul rejoice in?

There are two questions we should ask ourselves when it comes to rejoicing.

What are the circumstances that led us to rejoice? Was it something we did? Was it a task we accomplished? Or was it something God accomplished?

Who is receiving the honor and glory in this celebration? Is it me? Is it another individual? Or is it God? We honestly like to receive honor and glory don’t we? I’ve often felt if I became a best selling author would I be able to handle that honor and glory? Or would I become big headed about my talent and ability?

If we are rejoicing in ourselves and our accomplishments, or if we are rejoicing in someone else and their accomplishments, that celebration is momentary. You see the root word in rejoice is joy. To rejoice is to have and impart joy over and over again. There is only one being who can bring us that sort of deep, unyielding joy and that is God. Yes! It is good to rejoice and find joy in good things and in good situations; to celebrate life and all the special moments, but true rejoicing happens in the wilderness when we remember who got us through every single moment of every single day.

“Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice.” (Philippians 4:4 - NASB)

Becoming a Child to Tear Down a Wall

April 22, 2022 by Amy Christensen in Analogy of Christian life, Being faithful, Being God's child, Being in Christ, Belief, Belief in God's Word, Belief in Jesus, Belief in the Bible, Believe, Bible, Bible study, Bible teaching, Blogging, Blogging on faith, Building a wall, Child like faith, Children of God, Christ-like, Christian, Christian allegory, Christian belief, Christian blog, Christian blogger, Christian faith, Christian faith blog, Christian life, Faith, Faith Blog, Faith blogger, Faith in God, Faith in Jesus, Faith in the bible, God is faithful, God is for us, God is good, God is Spirit, God is sovereign, God is with us, God loves us, God the Creator, God's word, God's work in my life, Growing in Our faith, Growth in God, Jesus is our hope, Jesus is the life, Jesus is the light, Jesus is the truth, Jesus is the way, Know God Better, Knowing God, Learning from the Bible, Luke 18:16-17, Writers block, Trusting God, True Love, Becoming a child, Back to basics, Tearing down walls, 2 Corinthians 10:3-5

Writing a faith post is not always as easy as writing a fashion post. A fashion post is just a matter of choosing an outfit, taking a few pictures and then talking about it. The hardest part is probably deciding what to put on. That, and my photography skills are still a work in progress. However, a faith post requires more thought. Not only that, but when I talk about God, and His word, I want to make sure that what I am saying makes sense and is accurate according to His truth.

Today I was reading in my devotional book. I have a copy of Oswald Chamber’s My Utmost for His Highest. I have been using this devotional for years. The copy I currently have is 15 years old. It is pock marked, highlighted and written all over, much like my oldest Bible. The thing I like about this devotional is that the truths he spoke about, back in the early years of the 19th century are still just as true today. That is the thing about God’s word and devotionals that stick to Biblical truth, it does not change. It is constant.

I know many people will say that is the problem. We need to change to keep current in this crazy world. The problem is I do not believe that. God’s word is living and active. It has, is and will continue to have the ability to move and change lives. The focus in today’s world is what will make me happy. After all, being happy is all that matters, right? If I am happy, and everyone else is doing what they want to be happy, then there will be no more wars, no more greed, no more racism, no more hatred and no more crime. Everything will be perfect. Not!

Oswald said something interesting this morning.

“It is our own opinions that make us dense and slow to understand, but when we are simple we are never dense; we have discernment all the time.”

— My Utmost for His Highest - Oswald Chambers

Have you ever noticed how set in our ways we become as we get older. Our brains stop making new pathways and we just do the same things over and over again. Now, researchers and scientists studying Alzheimer’s are saying we need to do things differently. We need to be learning and changing our routines to keep our brains active and get longevity. The same is true in our spiritual lives. We don’t need to change God’s word so that it fits our lives, we need to change our hearts and minds to get back to the basics of God’s word.

When is the last time you had a deep, gut wrenching prayer time with God? How often do you spend really reading and understanding His written word? Is your worship just a Sunday morning thing, or do your regularly lift your voice and your heart heavenward?

When I think of simplicity I think of what Jesus said regarding children.

“16 But Jesus called for the little ones, saying, “Allow the children to come to Me, and do not forbid them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.
17 Truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child will not enter it at all.””

— Luke 18:16-17 (NASB)

As Oswald said, it is our own opinions or creeds that keep us from really hearing and understanding what Christ is saying to us. Jesus puts it straight forward in the above verses. It is only by becoming like children that we will be able to enter heaven. What qualities does a child have, that makes it easier for them to believe?

1 - An ability to believe without seeing.

If you tell a child there is an ice cream truck outside, they will probably go running out the door to see it. Children take what we say at face value. They don’t try to rationalize, or come up with arguments for why they shouldn’t believe, they just do it. Children are the most likely to believe in magic, Santa Claus and the Tooth Fairy, even though they have never seen the real deal. Jesus knows, in order for us to have eternal life, we have to believe without actually seeing Him with our physical eyes.

2 - An ability to trust.

Children are very trusting, especially when they are little. Unfortunately, this is why predators target them. It is easy to coax a small child at a park to come see the box of puppies you have in your car trunk, because they will trust you. It is not until they have gone through bad experiences that children learn to not trust people. Jesus is absolutely trust worthy. He knows that without that complete, unreserved trust in Him we will not see the kingdom of Heaven.

3 - An imagination.

What are we without the ability to imagine, whether it is to imagine a world in a fictional story, or the ability to imagine that English Cottage garden we’ve always wanted? God gave us an imagination. Being able to imagine God, in all His forms is harder for us to do as adults. A child, however, will create a God who is all at once super hero and amazing bearded giant all rolled into one. Using the imagination that God has given us is the very means for the camel to fit through the eye of the needle. (Matthew 19:24)

4 - Joy.

Going back to my study of the word rejoice and eventually the word joy, I find it fitting that one of the simplest traits of children is that of joy. Think about how children view things like Christmas, animals at the zoo, rides at the park, picnics, puppies, kittens and flying kites. They most often do these things with a celebratory air of joy. This joy is that which gives us the ability to transcend this earthly shell and commune with the very being whose name is “I AM.”

Recently, in my Saturday morning Zoom group we were looking at 2 Corinthians 10. This section stood out.

“3 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh,
4 for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses.
5 We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ,”

— 2 Corinthians 10:3-5 (NASB - 1995)

I am not going to get into the whole idea of spiritual warfare as I have covered that previously on the blog, but there was something that stood out to us. In the above version we see the term “lofty thing”. In other versions we see, “high thing” (KJV), “lofty opinion” (ESV), “every pretension” (NIV), and “every proud obstacle” (RSV). Our facilitator, April, said that according to one thing she read these lofty things or lofty thoughts are like walls. These are barriers that have been built by us and keep the truth of God’s word from getting through.

Think about this for a minute. What does pride, bitterness, hatred, and other strong emotions do to our minds when left untended? In addition, what does a regular diet of vain philosophies, manipulative ideologies and other false doctrines do in our minds? They begin to be the bricks in a wall that we build, separating us from the one who loves us most; the only one who is always looking out for our best interests and who always speaks truth to us.

What Oswald said nearly 100 years ago is still true today…we are dense! We are too thick headed to see that we are being manipulated by the enemy. We come up with these ideas and opinions, not because we are being so open minded, but because we are cutting ourselves off from His truth. We don’t like what the Bible says about this or that, so we rationalize, then we cauterize and burn it away. While the coals from that fire are still glowing we start adding bricks to our wall.

Dear ones, I recognize that not everything the Bible says is easy to hear. Not every command is easy to follow. We might even say that not every story or example is applicable to the lives we are now living. BUT, this same God who created the world with a word, set the heavenly bodies in their exact places and breathed life into dust, also provided a way…the Way, the Truth and the Life, (John 14:6)

The only way we are going to be able to tear down the walls that are making us dense is becoming like a child once again, with the ability to believe without seeing, trust without reserve, imagining the reality of the spiritual realm and experiencing joy in all that He has given and done for us.

Have you built a wall between yourself and God? Ask Him today to help you tear it down.

Rejoice Always: A Case Study - Part 4

April 01, 2022 by Amy Christensen in Abide in Christ, Acknowledging pain, Acknowledging feelings, Bearing fruit, Being faithful, Being in Christ, Being in the dark, Being in the light, Being Thankful, 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, Child-like faith, Children of God, Christ-like, Christian, Christian belief, Christian blog, Christian blogger, Christian faith, Christian faith blog, Christian life, Commitment, Confidence in Christ, Cry out to Jesus, Difficulty, Faith, Faith Blog, Faith blogger, Faith in God, Faith in Jesus, Faith in the bible, Faithfulness, Giving thanks, Glorifying Jesus, God is for us, God is good, God is sovereign, God is with us, God loves us, God provides a way, God remembers us, God is faithful, God's faithfulness, God's love, God's measureless love, God's word, God's work in my life, Growing in Our faith, Growth in God, Hope in God, Jesus is the truth, Jesus is the way, Joy, Knowing God, Learning from the Bible, Lift up your eyes, Listening to God, Looking at scripture, Our relationship to God, Patience when wronged, Praising God, Prayer, Rejoice, Rejoice always, Studying God's word, The word of God, The work of Christ, Trusting God, Trust, Women in the Bible

Today I am going to finish up this particular case study of Hannah in the Old Testament. Hannah, who was Samuel’s mother, was a woman a great strength, deep desire and phenomenal trust in her God. A portion of the scripture we are going to look at is Hannah’s song of thanksgiving. This is what we are going to focus on and I want to do it just a few verses at a time, so we can slowly savor the thoughts and ideas.

“Then Hannah prayed and said,

“My heart exults in the Lord;
My horn is exalted in the Lord,
My mouth speaks boldly against my enemies,
Because I rejoice in Your salvation.”

— I Samuel 2:1 (NASB)

Keep in mind, Hannah is singing this song of thanksgiving after she has given her only son, Samuel, to Eli the priest to serve in the House of the Lord.

Hannah exults in the Lord. The word horn as it is used in this passage refers to strength, so Hannah is saying her strength is exalted in the Lord. The word exalt is a verb that means to lift high, to elevate by praise, to raise in rank or to enhance the activity of. In other words we could say, “My heart lifts high because of the Lord.” “My strength is elevated in the Lord.”

I do not know if Hannah was thinking of Penninah, her husband’s other wife, when she sang these words, or if she was thinking of her status as an Israelite, but either way she speaks boldly, because she rejoices in God’s salvation.

“There is no one holy like the Lord,
Indeed, there is no one besides You,
Nor is there any rock like our God.”

— 1 Samuel 2:2 (NASB)

Hannah states the truth she knows. As an Israelite she has been taught the scriptures, the laws and the commands. Her husband was a committed Jew, making sure he and his family got to the House of the Lord. But now, Hannah also has personal experience. She took her heart’s desire to have a child to God, and He remembered her and provided.

“Do not go on boasting so very proudly,
Do not let arrogance come out of your mouth;
For the Lord is a God of knowledge,
And with Him actions are weighed”

— 1 Samuel 2:3 (NASB)

I have a feeling Hannah was a pretty observant woman. She knew her scriptures, which probably also meant she knew the history of her people. This verse could have been a reference to Penninah, but for some reason I think Hannah was above that. I think this had more to do with the enemies of Israel.

The following verses are both declarative and somewhat prophetic for the state of Israel and the future of the nation as well.

“4 The bows of the mighty are broken to pieces,
But those who have stumbled strap on strength.
5 Those who were full hire themselves out for bread,
But those who were hungry cease to be hungry.
Even the infertile woman gives birth to seven,
But she who has many children languishes.
6 The Lord puts to death and makes alive;
He brings down to Sheol and brings up.
7 The Lord makes poor and rich;
He humbles, He also exalts.
8 He raises the poor from the dust,
He lifts the needy from the garbage heap
To seat them with nobles,
And He gives them a seat of honor as an inheritance;
For the pillars of the earth are the Lord’s,
And He set the world on them.
9 He watches over the feet of His godly ones,
But the wicked ones are silenced in darkness;
For not by might shall a person prevail.
10 Those who contend with the Lord will be terrified;
Against them He will thunder in the heavens,
The Lord will judge the ends of the earth;
And He will give strength to His king,
And will exalt the horn of His anointed.””

— 1 Samuel 2:4-10 (NASB)

This ends Hannah’s song, but it certainly does not signify the end of her adventure with God. If we read further in this chapter we see God’s continued blessing on her.

“18 Now Samuel was ministering before the Lord, as a boy wearing a linen ephod.
19 And his mother would make for him a little robe and bring it up to him from year to year when she would come up with her husband to offer the yearly sacrifice.
20 Then Eli would bless Elkanah and his wife, and say, “May the Lord give you children from this woman in place of the one she requested of the Lord.” And they went to their own home.

21 The Lord indeed visited Hannah, and she conceived and gave birth to three sons and two daughters. And the boy Samuel grew up before the Lord.”

— 1 Samuel 2:18-21 (NASB)

Hannah did not forget Samuel. She lovingly made him a robe and every year when they would go up to offer their yearly sacrifice they would bring the robe and she would give it to him. She kept her promise to the Lord and He gave her more children.

What can we learn from our study of Hannah on the word rejoice?

Our joy is not dependent on our circumstances.

We all like to think that if we only had this or that, or if our circumstances changed then we would have joy. Joy, unlike happiness is eternal. It is a state of being that comes from God and is not dependent on what is going on in our lives.

Remember the definition of rejoice: to give joy to; to feel great joy or delight. We learned from the book of Deuteronomy in the Old Testament that rejoice was a command given by God to the people of Israel and it always coincided with a feast or celebration of remembrance of God’s faithfulness and provision.

Our ability to rejoice is a choice to remember how God has provided and been faithful throughout our lives. Even in our current difficult circumstances.

Our joy is directly linked to our choice to focus on God.

I know this can be hard, but this is what makes the difference between living large and languishing. When I choose to remember God’s faithfulness, I take my eyes off my current difficulties and place them on Him. Even if life has been difficult for a while, I can still focus on His character and His promises. He is good. He is faithful. He is just. He is holy. He is pure. He is righteous.

Back in Chapter 1 we saw when Hannah prayed she lifted up the name of God. She exalted Him. She said, “Lord of armies.” It was a simple statement, but think about all that it encompasses. The word Lord, would signify power and authority. Lord of armies, shows that He is in charge of all those who can bring about justice and peace. That three word statement was one of worship and direct focus on the powerful and amazing God.

Focusing on God and who He is and His great faithfulness will make rejoicing as important as drinking water. It is essential for life.

Like C.S. Lewis, we might be Surprised By Joy.

Hannah found joy even after she gave up her son. She gave him to God before he was even conceived. She had no regrets. She did not waver in her promise. When the boy was old enough, she took him to the House of the Lord and left him there. Yet, she had joy.

In the middle of our adversity, in the crushing weight of our darkness, we will be surprised by joy, because it is God who gives us the ability to rejoice. Just like hope, patience, goodness, kindness and all the other fruit we can bear, it comes from Him.

Rejoice always!

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 1

February 17, 2022 by Amy Christensen in Being faithful, Belief, Belief in God's Word, Belief in Jesus, Belief in the Bible, Believe, Bending to God's will, Bible, Bible study, Bible teaching, Blogging, Blogging on faith, Change, Child-like faith, Christian, Christian belief, Christian blog, Christian blogger, Christian faith, Christian faith blog, Christian life, Commitment, Confidence in Christ, Convinced of Christ, Daughters of God, Despair, Difficulty, Disappointment, Faith, Faith Blog, Faith blogger, Faith in God, Faith in Jesus, Faith in the bible, Feelings of grief, God is all powerful, God is for us, God is good, God loves us, God the Creator, Growing in Our faith, Hope, Hope in God, Lift up your eyes, Long Suffering, Looking at scripture, Prayer, Prayer for hope, Humility, Rejoice, Samuel, 1 Samuel 1, Struggling, Studying God's word, turth, Hannah, Hannah's prayer

Today, I want to talk about a woman who knew how to rejoice. Remember a few weeks ago I talked about my word for the year, which was believe. I talked about how the action of belief encompasses two other actions: abide and trust. The woman we are going to look at, knew how to abide, and trust, and she believed God.

Case Study: Hannah

“1 Now there was a man from Ramathaim-zophim from the hill country of Ephraim, and his name was Elkanah the son of Jeroham, the son of Elihu, the son of Tohu, the son of Zuph, an Ephraimite.
2 And he had two wives: the name of one was Hannah and the name of the other Peninnah; and Peninnah had children, but Hannah had no children.”

— 1 Samuel 1:1-2 (NASB)

What can we learn about Hannah from the first two verses of the first book of Samuel? Without consulting a Bible commentary we learn that Hannah was married. She was married to a man named Elkanah. We also learn that Elkanah had two wives: Hannah and Penniah. We don’t know why he had two wives, but we might guess that he was first married to Hannah, but Hannah had no children. He then married Penniah to bear him offspring.

Does this story sound familiar? Didn’t Abraham do the same thing? He was married to Sarah, but Sarah had no children. At her suggestion, Abraham lay with Sarah’s handmaid, Hagar, by which he had his first son Ishmael. If you are familiar with this story, you know that God gave Sarah a son, Isaac. The animosity and difficulty between Sarah and Hagar became a sticking point for Abraham for the rest of his life.

In Hannah’s story there is a similar problem between the two women.

“3 Now this man would go up from his city yearly to worship and to sacrifice to the Lord of armies in Shiloh. And the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were priests to the Lord there.
4 When the day came that Elkanah sacrificed, he would give portions to his wife Peninnah and to all her sons and daughters;
5 but to Hannah he would give a double portion, because he loved Hannah, but the Lord had closed her womb.
6 Her rival, moreover, would provoke her bitterly to irritate her, because the Lord had closed her womb.
7 And it happened year after year, as often as she went up to the house of the Lord, that she would provoke her; so she wept and would not eat.
8 Then Elkanah her husband would say to her, “Hannah, why do you weep, and why do you not eat, and why is your heart sad? Am I not better to you than ten sons?””

— 1 Samuel 1:3-8 (NASB)

Is it any wonder that there was a problem here? I don’t want to be the one to male bash, but come on Elkanah, do you really think showing favoritism between your two wives is going to help? He also has the audacity to say to his grieving bride, “Am I not better to you than ten sons?” What??? That was my first response, but it does show something on Elkanah’s part that he noticed his wife’s grief and he was trying to cheer her up.

Hannah was devastated. She hadn’t had any children, and it didn’t look like she ever would. In a society and time period that only saw the value of a woman in her ability to bear children, Hannah had to have felt regularly challenged that she had no worth. In addition, Penniah would provoke and mock her. I can just hear her, “You can’t have any kids, nah, nah! I’m better than you, nah, nah!” Okay, so maybe I am embellishing the Scriptures, but you get the idea. I can only imagine how Hannah felt. I can only imagine how a woman feels who really wants to have children, but is unable. It can be truly devastating.

When my youngest was two, I began to want more children. I really wanted to have four. My spouse, however, believed that we were done. One child per parent was his motto and he wasn’t budging. I had people suggest to me, just forget to take your pill, once you’re pregnant what is he going to do about it? That was not who I was. I would never deceive my spouse in such a way, and I knew that I had to let the Lord work this out in my own heart. I wasn’t going to pressure my spouse. I still wish we had four, and those months and years that I still wanted more children were very hard. I suffered in silence, but gradually God replaced that desire for a child with a deeper desire for Him.

Let’s look further at Hannah’s story:

“9 Then Hannah got up after eating and drinking in Shiloh. Now Eli the priest was sitting on the seat by the doorpost of the temple of the Lord.
10 She, greatly distressed, prayed to the Lord and wept bitterly.
11 And she made a vow and said, “Lord of armies, if You will indeed look on the affliction of Your bond-servant and remember me, and not forget Your bond-servant, but will give Your bond-servant a son, then I will give him to the Lord all the days of his life, and a razor shall never come on his head.””

— 1 Samuel 1:9-11 (NASB)

In these verses we see that Hannah did finally pull herself together have something to eat and drink. It is obvious she and Elkanah had a special relationship and she wanted to please him. After doing his bidding by eating and drinking she went, and stood somewhere near the Tabernacle of the Lord. Her distress revved back up and it says, she “prayed to the Lord and wept bitterly.”

The interesting part comes next. She made a vow to God. We can learn more about Hannah by dissecting her prayer.

“Lord of armies,”

I wonder why Hannah called God the Lord of armies. I looked up the same passage in several other translations. The ESV and KJV both say, “Lord of hosts…” The NIV says, “Lord Almighty…” Hannah knew to whom she was speaking. There was no misunderstanding on Hannah’s part about who God was. She addressed Him, knowing Him to be the One who commanded heavenly hosts.

“if You will indeed look on the affliction of Your bond-servant, and remember me, and not forget Your bond-servant,”

Hannah spoke from a place of humility. She brought her heartbreak and deep desire to God most high, asking that He would look at her affliction and that He would remember her. She didn’t try to petition from the height of pride, saying, Look how I have borne this affliction from my husband’s other wife. Look at how I have tried to be a good woman. No! She spoke from the low point of prostration.

“but will give your bond-servant a son,”

She gave God her heart’s desire. Once again, she does so from a place of humility.

“then I will give him to the Lord all the days of his life, and a razor shall never come on his head.”

Hannah’s desire for a child was so great, that she was willing to give him back to the Lord for His use. Hannah could have asked for a daughter, but she asked for a son. My opinion is she did this because a son would be able to serve in the temple. She also deemed him a Nazarite, which was an added commitment. A Nazarite was a Jew who made a vow to not drink wine, cut his hair or be defiled by the presence of a corpse.

What can we learn from Hannah’s prayer? We can follow her example in praying from a position of humility, recognizing God as the Most High, bringing Him our innermost desires, and praying that the outcome will be to His glory and honor.

We have already learned so much from this woman named Hannah. Next time we’ll see criticism coming from a prominent source and how Hannah responds to it.

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.

When Darkness Comes - Part 9: The Transformative Power of Thanksgiving

August 26, 2021 by Amy Christensen in Acknowledging feelings, Acknowledging pain, Being in Christ, Being in the light, Being let down, 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, Darkness, Darkness vs. Light, Dealing with change, Despair, Difficulty, Disappointment, Disobedience, Emotional stress, Faith, Faith Blog, Faith blogger, Faith in God, Faith in Jesus, Faith in the bible, Feel emotions, Feeling overwhelmed, Feelings of grief, 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's faithfulness, God's protection, God's authority, Learning from the Bible, Life's storms, Gratitude, Thankful, Thankfulness, Thanksgiving, The power of thanksgiving, Scripture, Spiritual protection, Struggling, Studying God's word, Suffering, Suffering with Christ, Surviving difficulties, the Christian life, The word of God, The unseen enemy, Truth, Trusting God, Walking in the dark

We all have heard the old saying that we are to have an attitude of gratitude. Most of us are aware of the difference a mindset of thankfulness can have on our thoughts, emotions and actions.

Image by Here and now, unfortunately, ends my journey on Pixabay from Pixabay

“Nothing is more honorable than a grateful heart.”

— Seneca

“Gratitude can transform common days into thanksgivings, turn routine jobs into joy, and change ordinary opportunities into blessings”

— William Arthur Ward

“Gratitude turns what we have into enough.”

— Aesop

God’s Word is clear on the importance of giving thanks.

“in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God for you in Christ Jesus.”

— I Thessalonians 5:18 (NASB)

Just as the Bible commands us to, “Rejoice always” (1 Thessalonians 5:16), and “pray without ceasing” (I Thessalonians 5:17), we are also commanded to give thanks at all times in everything. That means we are to give thanks when the darkness is upon us. We are to give thanks for it, in it and after it has left us. Why is it so important that we thank God when we are in the darkness? Let’s look at a few different reasons.

1 - It places us under His authority.

The act of remembering who we are and who God is enables us to have perspective. Being thankful places us in our correct standing before Him. Pride, which places us above God, saying we can get through this ourselves and we don’t need anyone’s help, especially His, makes us the authority and not God.

“Every person is to be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God.”

— Romans 13:1 (NASB)

Knowing there is authority and actually placing ourselves under it are two different things. When we give thanks we recognize God as the one true authority.

2 - It places us under His protection.

“1 One who dwells in the shelter of the Most High
Will lodge in the shadow of the Almighty.
2 I will say to the Lord, “My refuge and my fortress,
My God, in whom I trust!”
3 For it is He who rescues you from the net of the trapper
And from the deadly plague.
4 He will cover you with His pinions,
And under His wings you may take refuge;
His faithfulness is a shield and wall.

5 You will not be afraid of the terror by night,
Or of the arrow that flies by day;
6 Of the plague that [a]stalks in darkness,
Or of the destruction that devastates at noon.
7 A thousand may fall at your side
And ten thousand at your right hand,
But it shall not approach you.
8 You will only look on with your eyes
And see the retaliation against the wicked.
9 For you have made the Lord, my refuge,
The Most High, your dwelling place.
10 No evil will happen to you,
Nor will any plague come near your tent.

11 For He will give His angels orders concerning you,
To protect you in all your ways.
12 On their hands they will lift you up,
So that you do not strike your foot against a stone.
13 You will walk upon the lion and cobra,
You will trample the young lion and the [d]serpent.

14 “Because he has loved Me, I will save him;
I will set him securely on high, because he has known My name.
15 He will call upon Me, and I will answer him;
I will be with him in trouble;
I will rescue him and honor him.
16 I will satisfy him with a long life,
And show him My salvation.””

— Psalm 91

Why does giving thanks place us under His protection? The choice to be thankful requires a shift in our mindset. We know our Unseen Enemy loves to play mind games. If we are teetering on the edge of anger, bitterness, malice, wrath and other bad emotions, we are going to be more susceptible to making choices that are not for our benefit. Dark emotions are part of our sin nature, and very normal, but God does not want us to stay in those murky places. Staying there will result in our undoing.

3 - It lets in the light.

Giving thanks is like turning on a flashlight or lighting a candle when you are in a very dark room. When darkness is present in our lives and we are grieving, depressed, struggling, or lost, the choice to thank God allows Him to open the tiniest window into our shadowed world. You might not see the light right away. Often we become accustomed to the darkness and we might even forget what it was like to walk in the light, but light will always pierce the darkness.

When I was going through the dark time I have been sharing with you, I spent three days praying and journaling, most of which I have been sharing with you through these posts. On the last day, the last thing I did was lay before God the reasons I felt the way I did. There is a difference between acknowledging the emotion and knowing why we feel what we are feeling.

“Lord, perhaps what would help my sagging spirits is to confess to you all that is making me sad. I am sad...”

— Amy's Journal - 5/23/21

I went on to tell Jesus, exactly what I was grieving over: my marriage, my family, relationships, being alone, my imperfections…the list went on. I ended that section with this.

Image by Christine Engelhardt from Pixabay

“So, I bring it all to You. The desires, the sadness, the disappointment. I bring it to You, and I choose to wait on You. I don’t know what to look for - a miracle? A rescue? A ta da moment? Whatever it is I trust You to bring it about. In the mean time I lean into Your strength and Your courage.””

— Amy's Journal - 5/23/21

However, I did not stop there.

“Now I need to give thanks.

I thank You, that the darkness and the light are the same to You.

Thank You, that as You hovered over the darkness of the deep at the beginning of Creation - You are here in my darkness - hovering over, beneath, beside and through.

Thank You, that while I do not have a friend right now to talk to or hang out with, I do have You.

Thank You, that You have shown Yourself to me since I was very young.

Thank You, that no matter what others say, You call me beloved!

Thank You, that I am not condemned, because I am in Christ Jesus.

Thank You, that as I choose to wait on You, You give me strength and courage. ”

— Amy's Journal - 5/23/21

There was more on that list, and when I finished thanking God, I felt Him say to me, “You done good, now rest.”

Did I feel better? Not really, but I felt as though I had wrestled and wrangled. I wouldn’t realize the sword of the Almighty had pierced me until the next day. I’ll share that next week.

Until then, be thankful. God truly uses all things for our good.

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 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.

When Darkness Comes - Part 3: Darkness Gone Bad

June 16, 2021 by Amy Christensen in Christian blog, Christian blogger, Christian belief, Christian faith, Christian faith blog, Christian life, Bible, Bible study, Bible teaching, Blogging, Christian, Darkness, Darkness vs. Light, Faith, Faith Blog, Faith blogger, Father of Lies, Fear, Feelings of guilt, Anger, Violence, Shame, Death, Devil, Evil, Feelings of grief, Genesis 3, Go to the light, God is all knowing, God is all powerful, God is all present, God is for us, God is good, God is light, God the Creator, God the Father, Hopelessness, Internal decay, Ezekiel 28:13-17, Our relationship to God, Reading the Bible, Salvation in Jesus, Satan as the schemer, Satan is a liar, Satan the divider, Satan the serpent, Scripture, Spiritual warfare, Studying God's word, The devil, The unseen enemy, Walking in the light, We are sinners, We have choices, When darkness comes, Disobedience

The last two weeks I have taken you through the first few verses of Genesis 1 and saw how God created the world, including darkness and light. We learned that darkness wasn’t evil. Darkness was the absence of light and to God there was no difference between darkness and light. When God separated the light from the darkness He did it with our benefit and the earth’s well being, in mind. He created the lights in the heavens including the sun, moon and stars, as ways to separate the seasons and to differentiate day from night. Day was made for work and night was made for rest.

When did darkness become bad? When did we start making the association that darkness wasn’t good and wasn’t for good people? When did darkness become associated with sin and evil? I want to show you a progression that took place. In order to understand this we need to go back to Genesis. If you regularly follow my Faith posts, you know I went over the passage in Genesis 3 when I did the series on Our Unseen Enemy. We need to look at this again. We can never look at God’s word too often.

“1 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.”
6 When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took some of its fruit and ate; and she also gave some to her husband with her, and he ate.
7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves waist coverings.”

— Genesis 3:1-7 (NASB)

In the series on Satan, we learned that he was enamored with his own beauty. He became prideful and wanted to usurp the throne of God in heaven and take over. The first step in the darkness becoming bad was the choice of a created being to look within, rather than looking to God.

Step 1 - Self-Reliance

It all started with Satan’s choice to look at his own beauty and his obsession with it. He forgot about who God was and that God had created him, not the other way around. The very same thing happened when Satan went to Eve. He got her to focus, not on all the beauty she had in the garden; not on the husband and companion God provided for her; and certainly not on the God who had made her. Satan tempted Eve to look within herself and see just what she was lacking.

Step 2 - Misery Loves Company

The next step in the progression towards darkness becoming bad was Satan’s desire to take others down with him. What fun would it be to rebel all by his onesie? He gladly found others among the angels willing to follow him. In the same way, Eve was not content to be the only one to bite into the forbidden fruit. She had to tempt her husband to make the same mistake. Once this choice was made, there was no going back, for either Satan or Adam and Eve.

Step 3 - Anger and Shame

Our study reveals two prominent emotions: anger and shame. Satan’s response to not getting his way in heaven was anger and hatred. Satan wasn’t just angry, he became violent.

“15 You were blameless in your ways
from the day you were created,
till unrighteousness was found in you.
16 In the abundance of your trade
you were filled with violence in your midst, and you sinned;
so I cast you as a profane thing from the mountain of God,
and I destroyed you, O guardian cherub,
from the midst of the stones of fire.
17 Your heart was proud because of your beauty;
you corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor.
I cast you to the ground;””

— Ezekiel 28:15-17 (ESV)

Adam and Eve, on the other hand, felt shame. Look again at Genesis 3:7:

“7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves waist coverings.”

— Genesis 3:7 (NASB)

This was the final step in the progression of darkness becoming associated with all that is bad. The eyes of Adam and Eve were open. Before this happened we can assume, to them, there was no difference between darkness and light, other than that it represented a time change. Darkness wasn’t bad, scary or evil, but the sin of rebelling against God through disobedience suddenly made them want to hide. Darkness became a covering for sin and sinful actions.

In addition to this, even though their eyes were opened, Adam and Eve’s minds became dark. They no longer had the light of God, or the fellowship of His presence. They were banished, just as Satan was banished from heaven.

“22 Then the Lord God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of Us, knowing good and evil; and now, he might reach out with his hand, and take fruit also from the tree of life, and eat, and live forever”—
23 therefore the Lord God sent him out of the Garden of Eden, to cultivate the ground from which he was taken.
24 So He drove the man out; and at the east of the Garden of Eden He stationed the cherubim and the flaming sword which turned every direction to guard the way to the tree of life.”

— Genesis 3:22-24 (NASB)

I want to leave you with this idea; darkness is still God’s. Satan does not own it. He did not create it. Yes, he dwells in it and makes the world believe it is his domain, but God is still hovering over the darkness and He can see everything, we can’t.

Next week we will look at where God is in the darkness. Thanks for following along. Have a great day!

When Darkness Comes - Part 2: The Dark

June 09, 2021 by Amy Christensen in Analogy of Christian life, 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, Darkness, Darkness vs. Light, Faith, Faith Blog, Faith blogger, Fear, Feelings of grief, God is good, God the Father, God the Holy Spirit, God the Son, God's creativity, God's faithfulness, God's love, God's word, God the Creator, Jesus is our hope, Jesus is the light, Jesus is the truth, Knowing God, Knowledge of God, Learning from the Bible, Light in the darkness, Our relationship to God, Peace of Christ, Reading the Bible, Rest, Struggling, the Christian life, Trusting God, Walking in the light, When storms come, When darkness comes

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

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

— Exodus 10:21 (NIV)

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

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

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

— Genesis 1:1 (NASB)

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

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

1 - To God Darkness and Light are no Different.

Image by jplenio from Pixabay

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

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

— Psalm 139:12 (NASB)

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

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

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

— Deuteronomy 31:6 (NASB)

2 - Darkness was for our benefit.

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

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

— Genesis 1:14-19 (NASB)

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

3 - Darkness is not bad.

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

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

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

Our Need for Rest - Part 1

April 21, 2021 by Amy Christensen in Belief, Bible, Bible study, Bible teaching, Blogging, Christian, Christian belief, Christian blog, Christian blogger, Christian faith, Christian faith blog, Christian life, Difficulty, Faith, Faith Blog, Faith blogger, Growth in God, Jesus, Jesus is our hope, Jesus' example to us, Know God Better, Knowing God, Knowledge of God, Learning from the Bible, Our hope in christ, Rest, Rest in Christ, Anxiety, Hope, Hopelessness, Misplaced trust, Lack of rest

As I was pondering what to talk about this week on my Faith page, it occurred to me, perhaps we need to talk about rest. I have heard many people throwing around the term Covid fatigue and have had conversations with multiple friends who say how tired they feel. I know both my husband and I are tired. We all are longing for those days when we don’t have to wear masks and we can go about life as usual, but what if that day never comes? How can we find rest during the “new normal?” I am even tired of hearing that phrase. Pooh on the new normal. I would, very much, like to go back to the normal, normal! Ha, ha.

The word rest is mentioned over five hundred times in the Bible. The word, as we know it, originated before the 12th century with the Old to Middle English word, rasta - rest, and reste - literally stoppage, short for areste, as well as Anglo-French - rester - to remain. God, from the beginning, designated a cessation from activity on the 7th day of creation, or what He termed the Sabbath.

“By the seventh day God completed His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done.”

— Genesis 2:2 (NASB)

“but the seventh day is a Sabbath of the Lord your God; on it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male slave or your female slave, or your cattle, or your resident who stays with you.”

— Exodus 20:10 (NASB)

I am often amazed that so many people fight against rest. This is very different from the inability to sleep. Insomnia is a widespread problem and is leaving hundreds of thousands of people sleep deprived. Stress, diet, lack of exercise and excessive screen time is contributing to the zombification of our world, but this is not the kind of rest that I am talking about today. The rest I want to look at has to do with an inner peace and calm.

I want to take a look at a few things that cause us to miss out on the internal rest that God has for us, and then I want to provide a few ideas for how to obtain His rest.

Anxiety

Anxiety is an ever increasing problem in our world. More and more people are feeling the pull of worry, much like the pull of gravity that keeps us rooted to the earth. Anxiety has become a companion that we try to ignore, but are all too aware of. I am picturing a pirate with his trusty parrot constantly sitting atop his shoulder, muttering about crackers and dead men telling no tales. Our anxiety is like that companion. It is unwanted, yet we seem to be unable to shoo it away, settling instead for the weight of it on our shoulders, but also trying to completely ignore it.

Lack of Hope

Hope is a word we sprinkle in our everyday conversations without really thinking about what we are saying. “I hope I get a raise.” “I hope it snows today.” “ I hope I can take a vacation this summer.” “I hope I get to go to the concert.” We are a people who desire hope, yet we don’t know how to truly obtain it. It is not wrong to want a raise, enjoy a weather change or take a vacation, but deeper hopes become longings and all to often our longings go unmet. When we are longing for something we often become weary with the desire.

Misplaced Trust

Most of us have been guilty of putting our trust in someone or something and having it or them disappoint. Over the last year, I have heard people putting their trust in science, the CDC, WHO and their elected officials. Millions of us place our trust in our masks, the vaccine and social distancing, thinking that is the answer to all of our problems. The Right places its trust in conservatism and the will of the people and the Left places its trust in liberality and their elected officials. As we have seen, all of the things in which we place our trust, can let us down.

So what is the answer? How do we obtain much needed rest, when the world around us is still a chaotic frenzy of half truths, and unknown ramifications? How do we help ourselves to find rest, when we are unable to stop the influx of negative information? Let’s take a look at what Jesus says about rest.

“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)

We know in the Old Testament, the Sabbath was a day of literal rest. No one was supposed to do any sort of work on that day. While Jesus did away with the need for the law, I still believe God wants us to rest from labor. In addition to that I would add that God would want us to rest from the things that are causing us a lack of rest.

In the above verse we see that Jesus calls us to action. Even though we are weary and burdened, He tells us to do three things: come, take and learn. The result is palpable: we will find rest for our souls. Why do we find rest when we come to Him? Let’s take a closer look.

Action 1 - Come

Webster’s Online Dictionary has a slew of meanings for the word come. It means to move towards something or someone; to arrive at a particular place or end result; to take on the aspect. Our coming to Jesus makes us more like Him. How will we ever be transformed if we are not spending time with our Savior? How will ever find rest, when we are not still at His feet? How will be ever overcome anxiety, or misplaced trust if we do not go to the source of truth and true trustworthiness?

Action 2 - Take

What is it that we are to take from Jesus? He instructs us to take His yoke upon us. The meaning of the word yoke as Jesus uses it in this verse is the “wooden bar or frame by which two draft animals are joined at the heads or necks for working together.” (Webster’s Online Dictionary) Why, of all things, would Jesus want us to take on this type of yolk. The point of a yolk is equal distribution of weight. In a farming situation, the yolk joined two powerful animals, like oxen together, to plow a field or pull a heavy load. Oxen must be trained to wear the yoke. Often the farmer will use an older more experienced ox with a younger less experienced ox to train them.

It might seem counterintuitive to take on a yoke, when we are in need of rest, but Jesus knows best how we should live this life and obtain rest. The goal is to take on His yoke so we are working through life together; so we are not bearing the difficulties of life alone. This working together, enables us to find rest in Him.

Action 3 - Learn

When we take on Jesus’ yoke he also wants us to learn from Him. Why does Jesus tell us to learn from Him? He says it is because He is gentle and humble in heart. We will not learn what is most important if our teachers are prideful, arrogant or filled with selfishness and hatred. Think about the teachers you had during your years of education. Which ones were the ones you learned the most from? I definitely remember several Sunday School, elementary, middle and high school teachers who had the greatest influence on me. Every single one was a person of character, humility and gentleness.

We can learn from Jesus, because of His humble and gentle heart. It is these characteristics that incline us to rest. Humility and gentleness enable us to find rest, because we are not trying to do everything in our own strength. Our reliance is on Christ.

Next week I’ll take a look at few practical ideas for finding rest. Until then, go to Jesus, take on His yoke and learn from Him.

Our Unseen Enemy - Part 7: Zoomorphism - The Dragon

March 11, 2021 by Amy Christensen in Belief, Bible, Bible study, Bible teaching, Blogging, Christian, Christian belief, Christian blog, Christian blogger, Christian faith, Christian faith blog, Christian life, Dragons, Faith, Faith Blog, Faith blogger, Faithfulness, Fighting the enemy, Flame, God's word, Growing in Our faith, Hope in God, Jesus, Jesus is our hope, Knowing God, Knowing Satan, Knowing the enemy, Knowledge of God, Our hope in christ, Putting on God's armor, Reading the Bible, Satan, Satan the divider, Satan as the dragon, Spiritual protection, Spiritual warfare, The devil, The unseen enemy, Trusting God, Walk in the Spirit, Job 41, Leviathan, Sea dragon

This final post in Our Unseen Enemy series has been long in coming and I apologize. Life is just very busy and sometimes overwhelming, but then, isn’t that exactly like our enemy? He likes to distract us from the things that are really important.

Whether you believe in dragons as actual created beings or not, the imagery of a dragon has been around for a very long time. The Bible uses the word dragon according to the New American Standard translation 16 times. Three of these are in the Old Testament and 13 are in the New Testament, with all thirteen used in the book of Revelation. Why God chose to relay the image of the dragon to John on the Isle of Patmos when he received the vision of the revelation of God, we are not sure, except that the idea of a dragon has always been one that evokes the idea of strength, and power which is used for fiery destruction.

Being a writer and reader of fantasy, I have always liked the idea of dragons. Until shows like Merlin and movies like How to Train Your Dragon, dragons have typically had a nasty reputation. While I enjoyed the aforementioned shows, a dragon is not really a creature you want to cozy up with. They are scaly, stubborn and vengeful.

If we look at history, early dragons were serpent like in their form and it wasn’t until later that dragons acquired wings, armor and the ability to breath fire. The idea that there might have been something closer to the image of what we think of as a dragon, as being real comes from a few passages in the Old Testament, where a great beast, called the Leviathan, or sea monster is mentioned. Note in the following passage Leviathan is referred to both as a serpent and a dragon.

“On that day the Lord will punish Leviathan the fleeing serpent,
With His fierce and great and mighty sword,
Even Leviathan the twisted serpent;
And He will kill the dragon who lives in the sea.”

— Isaiah 27:1 (NASB)

This next passage is the one that causes me to pause and think, that maybe, dragons were real. After all, why couldn’t a God who created the earth from nothing, and man from dust, make a dragon? Perhaps that serpent that came to Eve in the garden, was actually a dragon. He walked upright and was very beautiful. I am pretty sure a dragon would be a beautiful creature to behold.

““1 Can you drag out Leviathan with a fishhook,
And press down his tongue with a rope?
2 Can you put a rope in his nose,
And pierce his jaw with a hook?
3 Will he make many pleas to you,
Or will he speak to you gentle words?
4 Will he make a covenant with you?
Will you take him as a servant forever?
5 Will you play with him as with a bird,
And tie him down for your young girls?
6 Will the traders bargain for him?
Will they divide him among the merchants?
7 Can you fill his skin with harpoons,
Or his head with fishing spears?
8 Lay your hand on him.
Remember the battle; you will not do it again!
9 Behold, your expectation is false;
Will you be hurled down even at the sight of him?
10 No one is so reckless that he dares to stir him;
Who then is he who opposes Me?
11 Who has been first to give to Me, that I should repay him?
Whatever is under the entire heaven is Mine.

12 “I will not be silent about his limbs,
Or his mighty strength, or his graceful frame.
13 Who can strip off his outer covering?
Who can pierce his double armor?
14 Who can open the doors of his face?
Around his teeth there is terror.
15 His strong scales are his pride,
Locked as with a tight seal.
16 One is so close to another
That no air can come between them.
17 They are joined one to another;
They clasp each other and cannot be separated.
18 His sneezes flash forth light,
And his eyes are like the eye of dawn.
19 From his mouth go burning torches;
Sparks of fire leap forth.
20 From his nostrils smoke goes out
As from a boiling pot and burning reeds.
21 His breath sets coals aglow,
And a flame goes forth from his mouth.
22 In his neck dwells strength,
And dismay leaps before him.
23 The folds of his flesh are joined together,
Firm and immovable on him.
24 His heart is as firm as a stone,
And as firm as a lower millstone.
25 When he rises up, the mighty are afraid;
Because of the crashing they are bewildered.
26 The sword that reaches him cannot prevail,
Nor the spear, the dart, or the javelin.
27 He regards iron as straw,
Bronze as rotten wood.
28 The arrow cannot make him flee;
Slingstones are turned into stubble for him.
29 Clubs are regarded as stubble;
He laughs at the rattling of the javelin.
30 His underparts are like sharp pieces of pottery;
He spreads out like a threshing sledge on the mud.
31 He makes the depths boil like a pot;
He makes the sea like a jar of ointment.
32 Behind him he illuminates a pathway;
One would think the deep to be gray-haired.
33 Nothing on earth is like him,
One made without fear.
34 He looks on everything that is high;
He is king over all the sons of pride.””

— Job 41 (NASB)

Presupposing Leviathan is a type of sea dragon, there are several characteristics I want to draw out here and then we will move over to Revelation to look at what those scriptures say about that dragon.

1 - He is strong and armored.

2 - He has sharp teeth.

3 - He has scales (that is part of his armor).

4 - He breathes fire, or is able to produce fire, in the same way a snake produces poison.

5 - He is stiff necked (part of his strength).

6 - His heart is as hard as a stone.

7 - He is able to raise himself up and crash around. (This might mean he could walk on land, perhaps even on his hind legs. It could also mean he could fly. I think this is less likely the case because God mentions so many other parts of his anatomy, but not wings.)

8 - Weapons of that time: spears, javelins, swords, were really not sufficient to kill him.

9 - His underparts were somehow armored or at least sharp.

10 - There was nothing on earth like him.

11 - He did not fear.

We might question, why God would even make such a fantastical beast, but God is God. As a writer, I can understand that desire to create. God could have made a dragon, if that is what pleased Him, just as easily as He could have made a unicorn, a griffin or a three headed dog.

The book of Revelation, which is the last book of the Bible has long been held as a book about end times, or a book of prophecy of things yet to come. The imagery and things talked about have been debated and discussed over and over and there are various interpretations of just what exactly the images are referring to. My best girlfriend, Stacey Kowalewski, who is a believer, became interested in end times prophecies, when we were in junior high and we used to discuss what that would look like. It wasn’t until a few years ago, that Stacey decided to research and do her own in depth study of Revelation. I asked her for some feedback on these specific dragon related passages in Revelation and she provided very interesting insights.

The following is a document Stacey wrote up that specifically addresses the dragon as mentioned in Revelation 12. I know this is long, but she explains it so well. I am going to type BEGIN where the document starts and END, where it ends, as well as put quotation marks.

BEGIN (The first section is from a Bible Study that Stacey wrote. After it says “end of excerpt” is the rest of her commentary.)

“Revelation 12:4
4 And his tail *swept away a third of the stars of heaven, and threw them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she gave birth he might devour her child.

This passage shows the tail of the dragon sweeping away a third of the stars and throwing them to earth, which stands in contrast to the passage in verse 9, where the dragon and his angels are thrown down to earth with his angels by Michael and his angels. It also implies that the 1/3 of stars being cast down by the tail of the dragon happens before the dragon stands before the woman to devour her child. There are some similarities to the following passage from Daniel, and most commentaries believe that the verses in Daniel 8 were fulfilled by Antiochus IV Epiphanes who serves as a type of the Antichrist to come.

Many scholars say that the stars and host here are speaking of the Israelites themselves, in light of the twelve stars of the woman’s crown, this is possible.

Daniel 8:9-12
9 Out of one of them came forth a rather small horn which grew exceedingly great toward the south, toward the east, and toward the Beautiful Land.
10 It grew up to the host of heaven and caused some of the host and some of the stars to fall to the earth, and it trampled them down.
11 It even magnified itself to be equal with the Commander of the host; and it removed the regular sacrifice from Him, and the place of His sanctuary was thrown down.
12 And on account of transgression the host will be given over to the horn along with the regular sacrifice; and it will fling truth to the ground and perform its will and prosper.

The casting down of these stars by the dragon fits with the timing laid out in the scripture, under Antiochus (the tail of the dragon?) as Daniel shows, the Israelites were cast down. This happened roughly 170 years before the birth of Christ. Then the dragon stands before the woman about to give birth to devour her male child upon his delivery. This initially was Satan’s attempt to kill Jesus shortly after His birth, when Herod slew the male children (Matthew 2:13-23) , as well as His crucifixion, when the dragon thought he had gained victory in cutting off the life of the messiah, but he could not prevent His resurrection and His birth into the heavenly Kingdom. You see that it is the redemption of the child that Satan is trying to prevent. He could not stop the “Head” of the Child from being born into the heavenly kingdom, and He will not devour the “body” of the child, the body of Christ, also known as the Church from being born into the heavenly kingdom either. Just as Jesus was caught up, so will those who are part of the body of Christ be.

Revelation 12:5
5 And she gave birth to a son, a male child, who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron; and her child was caught up to God and to His throne.

Following the rapture or catching up of the child we see the woman fleeing

Revelation 12:6
6 And the woman fled into the wilderness where she *had a place prepared by God, so that there she might be nourished for one thousand two hundred and sixty days.

Though the timeline seems to put the flight of the woman directly after the catching up of the child when moving on to the rest of the chapter we are given more clarity, that the woman flees “after” the dragon is cast down to earth (Revelation 12:13-17). So the timeline is as follows:

1. The tail of the dragon sweeps away 1/3 of the hosts (Israel under the rule of Antiochus IV Epiphanes).

2. Satan stands before the woman (Jerusalem/Israel) to devour her male child. Jesus the head plus the body of Christ. This encompasses the gap between Daniel’s 69th and 70th week.

3. Jesus (the head) is caught up to His throne, followed by His body- the church, who is also caught up (the rapture).

4. War breaks out in heaven between Michael and his angels and the Dragon and his angels.

5. The dragon and his angels lose and are cast down to earth.

6. The dragon persecutes the woman.

7. The woman flees to a place of safety prepared for her by God.

8. The dragon becomes enraged and makes war with the rest of the woman’s children.

Though parts of this passage had a past fulfillment under Antiochus, according to Jesus who lived after that happened, it will have a future one as well, when authority is given to the mouth of the beast or the “little horn” as Daniel calls him when the Antichrist is indwelled by the beast from the pit and commits the abomination of desolation as spoken of by the prophet Daniel (Matthew 24:15), he will then turn against the “host” or “saints” and trample them down.

_______________________________End of Excerpt________________________________________

The birth of the male child encompasses the church age; or the age of grace as we call it. Jesus the head is caught up to His throne and then one day His body will also be caught up to His throne. We know that in a normal childbirth the head is delivered first, followed by the body. The church age, is essentially the birthing process, hence the “birth pains”. It isn’t about the church being born onto the earth, but rather being delivered into heaven via the rapture/ resurrection.

What I would say this shows about the dragon, is that he is always standing before us, looking for an opportunity to devour us, which is consistent with:

1 Peter 5:8

8 Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls about like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.

The dragon shows up in Chapter 13 standing on the seashore welcoming the rise of the “beast”, the chapter goes on to tell us that people will worship the dragon because he gives his authority, power and throne to the beast. This “beast” IMO is the kingdom of the antichrist. And the head that was “slain” and the mouth are the antichrist. The reason people are so enamored with the beast is because he basically comes back from the dead.

Revelation 13:3–4

3 And I saw one of his heads as if it had been slain, and his fatal wound was healed. And the whole earth was amazed and followed after the beast;

4 and they worshiped the dragon, because he gave his authority to the beast; and they worshiped the beast, saying, “Who is like the beast, and who is able to wage war with him?”

How can you wage war with someone who defies death?! Think about it, Jesus rose from the dead and forever changed the world as many followed in His ways. This imposter will try to do the same!

We see another picture of the beast in chapter 17, shown with the “woman” sitting upon him. This “picture” is an analogy that looks very similar to the description of the dragon in chapter 12. We see the scarlet beast defined in the passage as representing various elements of the end times Kingdom of the 70th week. It is the geopolitical representation of Satan’s kingdom on earth, that kingdom reflects the attributes of Satan the dragon. Just like Jesus came to establish a kingdom, Satan also sets out to establish a kingdom.

This tells me that the dragon is powerful and cunning and has a plan to deceive the nations into worshipping him as God. That has been his goal from the start; to be worshipped as god and for his protégé the antichrist also to be worshipped by the people of earth. The following passage in 2 Thessalonians speaks to this idea, the Thessalonians falsely believed that the Day of the Lord had come and IMO they thought they missed the rapture.

2 Thessalonians 2:3–12 (Parenthesis mine)

3 Let no one in any way deceive you, for it will not come unless the apostasy comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction,

4 who opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, displaying himself as being God. (The abomination of desolation)

5 Do you not remember that while I was still with you, I was telling you these things?

6 And you know what restrains him now, so that in his time he may be revealed.

7 For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only he who now restrains will do so until he is taken out of the way. (The rapture)

8 And then that lawless one will be revealed whom the Lord will slay with the breath of His mouth and bring to an end by the appearance of His coming;

9 that is, the one whose coming is in accord with the activity of Satan, with all power and signs and false wonders,

10 and with all the deception of wickedness for those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved.

11 And for this reason God will send upon them a deluding influence so that they might believe what is false,

12 in order that they all may be judged who did not believe the truth, but took pleasure in wickedness.

The “dragon” will be working fiercely during the 70th week to accomplish his goal while he is given the authority to act.

Isaiah 14:13–14

13 “But you said in your heart, ‘I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God, And I will sit on the mount of assembly In the recesses of the north.

14 ‘I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.’

I wonder if Satan actually believes he can succeed, or if he just wants to take as many down with him to the pit as he can.

Obviously, the dragon in this passage is referencing Satan.”

END

As we are have learned over the last few months of studying our unseen enemy, we know that Satan, the accuser wants to bring us down. His focus is on the individual, the family, the church and even on our government. A dragon knows, just like the snake to go for the prey when they are weak, when they are at odds, fighting among themselves. He knows to tear down truth and muddy the waters is the best way to shred our belief system.

By using the analogy of the dragon to compare Satan to, we see that he is a beast with a heart of stone whose only goal is our destruction. While he knows he cannot destroy God, he will do the next best thing and destroy His creation and try with fierceness to scratch out the name of Jesus, not only from our country, but from our hearts.

Now, what are you going to do about it?

“3 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not wage battle according to the flesh,
4 for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses.
5 We are destroying arguments and all arrogance raised against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ,”

— 2 Corinthians 10:3-5 (NASB)

“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 [f]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, having belted your waist with truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness,
15 and having strapped on your feet the preparation of the gospel of peace;
16 in addition to all, taking up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.
17 And take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
18 With every prayer and request, pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be alert with all perseverance and every request for all the saints,”

— Ephesians 6:10-18 (NASB)

“10 Then your light will break out like the dawn,
And your recovery will spring up quickly;
And your righteousness will go before you;
The glory of the Lord will be your rear guard.
9 Then you will call, and the Lord will answer;
You will cry for help, and He will say, ‘Here I am.’”

— Isaiah 58:10-9a (NASB)

“15 Now when the attendant of the man of God had risen early and gone out, behold, an army with horses and chariots was circling the city. And his servant said to him, “This is hopeless, my master! What are we to do?”
16 And he said, “Do not be afraid, for those who are with us are greater than those who are with them.”
17 Then Elisha prayed and said, “Lord, please, open his eyes so that he may see.” And the Lord opened the servant’s eyes, and he saw; and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.”

— 2 Kings 6:15-17 (NASB)