Look to the JOY Set Before You...

Every step that we take in God may require us to lay down some things.  We are learning about this in church and prayer.  God is showing me that I shouldn't focus on what He is wanting me to lay down, but instead to focus on where He is taking me and the JOY set before me.  Really, what could be so important for us to hold on to that would be better than God's plan for our life?  NOTHING!  God is so good and if I really trust Him, then I will be able to lay down the things He is telling me to lay down.  It's for my benefit anyway.

In Hebrews 12:2 it says that, "...Jesus, for the joy that was set before Him, endured the cross, despising and ignoring the shame, and now is seated at the right hand of God."  Jesus is our example, and He laid down something that none of us could imagine laying down:  His life.  He was perfect in every way and had never sinned and yet He laid down His flawless, sinless life for the JOY that was set before Him.  He was always pleasing the Father and He was reward minded.  He sewed His life in faith, believing that He would reap a family!  Me and You are part of that family now, because Jesus laid something down. 

It goes on in Hebrews 12:3 to say, "Just think of Him Who endured from sinners such grievous opposition and bitter hostility against Himself (reckon up and consider it all in comparison with your trials), so that you may not grow weary or exhausted, losing heart and relaxing or fainting in your minds."  We are to compare what we may be having to lay down to what Jesus had to lay down.  There is NO COMPARISON!  We have grace to walk in the place God has called us to walk in.  That means we have the ability to lay down ANYTHING that He tells to lay down! 

We must be obedient.  The very salvation of others could depend on it.  Let's look to that; the JOY set before us.  This is how Jesus was able to lay down His life.  Let's follow His example!

Redeemed? SAY IT!

This morning I was thinking about how everything that wasn't right in my life has been made right by the blood of Jesus. He has redeemed me FROM the curse of the law. He has redeemed me TO "The Blessing". It is so comforting to know this truth.

The bible says, "let the redeemed of the Lord say so," so it must be important to confess that we are redeemed. We must do this in order to always be aware of the good life that Jesus came to give us. If something in our life isn't right or doesn't line up with the Word, then we can say that we are the redeemed of the Lord. The blood of Jesus has paid the price for me; spirit, soul, and body. We're not just redeemed FROM sickness, we're redeemed TO healing. We're not just redeemed FROM lack, we're redeemed TO abundance!

I purpose to be whole in my spirit, my soul, and my body because Jesus has redeemed me and I will say so!


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Short and Ugly

Here is a pic of me and Cort at the ugly Christmas sweater party. We definitely did not have the ugliest sweaters, but all Christmas sweaters from 1986 qualify as ugly. They also qualify as (I can't believe I see your boxers and belly button) way too short.




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Faith HEARS and ACTS

The message Nate preached yesterday was a great message on faith. It was so simple: Faith is HEARING from God and DOING what He said. Hearing and Doing. Most of us know that faith comes by hearing the Word of God (Romans 10:17), but sometimes it's unclear to us on how to RELEASE that faith. During the message yesterday the Holy Spirit put it to me this way: Faith comes by hearing; faith is released by doing. We must do what God is telling us to do so that our faith will actually work! It's clear in James 1:22, faith without works is DEAD, but the man who acts on what he hears is blessed (James 1:25)!

True faith does what it hears regardless of the circumstances.

Faith is complete only when it is acted upon.

A good example of this would be Rahab. In Joshua, it talks about how Rahab and her people had heard of the great works that the God of Israel had done. She made her statement of faith in Joshua 2:11, "for the Lord your God, He is God in heaven above and on earth beneath." This same woman who is an idol-serving harlot hears about the one true God and changes what she believes after she hears about the God of Israel! She made a decision to ACT on what she believed, risking her very life to hide the two Israelite spies. She took them at their word (which was really God's word to her) and DID what they said by hanging the scarlet cord out her window.

Just as she believed, her and her family and her possesions were spared and she lived with the Israleites from that day forward. This is almost like being saved Old Testament style, getting to live with and become a part of God's chosen people! Her reward of hearing and DOING what she heard didn't stop there. By ACTING in faith, she positioned herself right in the geneology of Jesus! She became the great-grandma to king David! She went from being a forced prostitute serving idols, to becoming an ancestor of the Saviour through an ACT of faith!

What will our acting on what we hear do for us? Let's find out!

I need Your Faith...

What are you believing God for? Is it big? Small? Significant to you? Significant to others?

I'm sure that you are believing God for something, and I'm also sure that it is very significant to you. What you need to know, however, is that it is also very significant to me. I need you to have faith in God and receive the promises He has for you. You need me to do the same. As part of the same body, it only makes sense that when one part is strengthened the entire body is strengthened. Not only that, but your faith victories will give me hope and determination to have my own faith victories. God's promises manifested in our life are not just some random, feel good, isolated things in our life. They are VITAL to the body of Christ. I know this may be a long post, but let me give you an example of why this matters.

Most everyone knows about the struggle and (natural) impossibility it was for Abraham and Sarah to have a child. However, it is not as well known that "Isaac and Rachel" and "Jacob and Rebekah" went through similar circumstances. It took faith on Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob's part in order for God to be called the "God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob." What if Isaac didn't have faith in God that Rachel would have a child, would God just be called the God of Abraham and Isaac? Isn't it interesting the struggle that the first three sons of the covenant went through to have a son. The enemy knew what was to come out of these three men and he tried to stop God's plan of redemption. But as it is all throughout the Word, we see that faith became victory for these three men and their wives. It also became victory for me and you...

My relationship with God now relied solely on Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob's faith then. Does this make you wonder what you're believing God for that could possibly hinge on the salvation of others? What is it that we need to be believing God for that could be a blessing to others and bring God glory in the earth? Your faith in God for His promises is vital not only for you, but for me. It is vital to others that we don't even know yet and may not even see until heaven. This should encourage us to be strong in faith (just like Abraham) and become fully persuaded that what God promised, He is also able to perform. "Quit" is not an option. The very lives of others may depend on it....HAVE FAITH IN GOD. He is faithful to do what He said He would do. All we have to do is believe Him!

TRUST

Proverbs 3:5 (amp) says, "lean on, trust in, and be confident in the Lord with all of your heart and mind and do not rely on your own insight or understanding."

When you lean on something with all of your weight you are putting trust in that thing to support you. When you lean on it with half of your weight, then you don't trust it can support all of you. I won't lean on my Christmas tree but I will lean on my fridge. I know the characteristics of the two well enough to know that I can fully lean on one but not the other.

Every characteristic that God has shows us that we can trust in Him with ALL of our heart. God's faithfulness alone shows me that I can fully put all of my trust in Him. I can lean on Him with all my weight and know that He will support me.

I know that most Christians think they trust God, but the truth is that they may only trust Him for salvation. They're not willing to trust Him with their LIFE. Do we trust Him enough to just lean on Him a little but still have our feet under us just in case?

If we really trust God then we will lean all that we are on Him, so that if He falls we fall. But thank God He will NEVER fall or fail. We can trust Him! He is FAITHFUL!




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Wondering Leads to Wandering....

Lately, I have found myself wondering about what's next in my life. What does God have for me to do next? Where am I to be at right now? I wonder if I should be doing something different? I wonder.......

This morning in prayer, I told God that I was not going to wonder anymore. I told Him that I was simply going to trust His Word and the leading of the Spirit and He began to show me that my wondering has led to lack of revelation in my personal time with him. For quite a while now when I would go to read my Word, it would feel empty, powerless, and just blah. And now I know why. I looked up some definitions of wonder and here is what it said: to think or speculate curiously, to doubt. I could not believe that this is a word that I used in my walk with God. I could see that by wondering about the future that I was really wavering and doubting. Those words are ugly and we don't like to use them, but wondering is basically the same thing.

As I began to sit down and write some notes on this, God told me that wondering leads to wandering. As Christians, we're familiar with the term wandering and we know that it is not something we're interested in. To wander means to deviate from what you believe. The Israelites wandered around aimlessly in the desert because they would not TRUST God. The opposite of wondering is trusting. To trust means to be planted like a tree. When the wind blows, and the storms come, and dogs pee, that tree is not going anywhere because it is rooted deep. We must be rooted deep in the Word of God so that when circumstances arise we will stay planted and stay trusting God.

I will no longer wonder, I will only trust. I don't have to wonder about the future because the Holy Spirit will show me things to come. I don't have to wonder about what's going to happen because God's Word is true and it will never fail. Pslams 40:4 says, "Blessed is that-> -> ->man that makes the Lord his trust. It's simple, TRUST God and you will be blessed. That's what I'm going to do.

I will not let wondering lead me to wandering, but rather let TRUST in God lead me to the blessing!