Blessed Builder

photo via flikr by Simon Whitaker

I saved a poem off of a church bulletin many years ago, I cannot find it right now, but I think I have it memorized, so here goes:

The ways diverge,
I stand and look them over
and hot thoughts surge about my heart.
And this I know,
I must choose one by which to go.
This one is flower strewn I see,
that one is rock strewn,
steep and foreboding,
dark and grim,
yet Christ walked there,
I'll walk with Him.

If you have read my blog off and on over the years, you might have glimpsed that I love contrast. Maybe it has to do with my "artistic leaning" (though I don't consider myself great at any of the art forms...I love dance, design, decorating and drama~well, at least watching the drama...)

As shadows enhance the light in paintings, I delight in observing how the bitter in life enhances the sweet. I love that in God's word we often find contrasts: Dark/Light...Evil/Good....Strong/Weak...etc.

Life is characterized by contrast and I feel it as well within my own heart. A contrast. Perhaps a synonym would be more appropriate: a conflict or divergence...

Since I invited Jesus to take ownership of my life, I desire to please Him, but often end up doing the opposite of what I want to do. Paul talks about that in Romans 7:21, 22 ...when I want to do good,, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God's law; but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind... and it hurts. It hurts when I fail...It hurts God, me and others.

...but he gives us more grace...(I am forever grateful!)

I sense contrasts in our society today as well; there are conflicting beliefs and ideas that are bringing a spirit of disunity. The devil is up to his destruction~inducing schemes. But we, His followers must not get weary, we need to remember the opposition Jesus endured and be encouraged. And we must remember what he instructed us to do in the face of conflict. Love and pray for our enemies, speak the truth in love, and do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

That is a tall order for someone who confessed a paragraph above that I don't do what I want to do...(being obedient in these areas), but the good news is found a couple of verses later in Romans 7:24, 25...What a wretched man I am!Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God-through Jesus Christ our Lord!

What that means is that I cannot do it. In my human strength I cannot love my enemies or overcome my sinful tendencies. That is humanly impossible. But by the grace of Jesus, after being baptized into him, and by His power in me, I can...I can! We can! You can!

Look at these contrasts: (I saw these on LPM blog today)

In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Acts 2:17 (GOOD!)


But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. 2 Timothy 3:1 (BAD)

Contrast?!? Yes! As we increasingly see the disunity and bickering, finger-pointing, and deception, immorality and rebellion, we will also be seeing more of God. (WAAAHOOOOO!!!)  That is what I am determining to focus on and look for from this day forward. You see, it is easy to see the darkness closing in, but it is an act of faith to see past it to the Light that overcomes the darkness!

Lord, help me abide in You, to fix my eyes on You, the Light of the world!

★WALK BY FAITH★NOT BY SIGHT★

I was reading Lysa's post this morning about a mountain she faced early in her adoption story, when it came to me again; our walks of faith are simply responses to God's activity in our lives. If we respond with "yes" and with trust, then no mountain can stop us!

It takes the pressure off of us when we know that the mountains are not ours to scale alone. Wherever God calls us, wherever we find ourselves, He is there and He equips us with everything we need. As Susie Larson stretches out her arm, she explains that living by faith is always something beyond our arm's reach. Something that we cannot do in our own strength. That illustration stays with me. Whenever I face something I feel is impossible, I recall the outstretched arm and I realize this is where faith must kick in.

If you go read Lysa's story, you see God. You put yourself in her shoes through her words and you can see the impossibility, and then you know she has scaled the mountain, and you know she didn't do it on her own. God is magnified.

Like Lysa, I just dropped off a boy at college. I look behind me at the mountain that I just climbed and I see God, because I know I know my son wouldn't be standing by my side singing his heart out to Jesus on Sunday morning worship at College if it wasn't for God, His Spirit, and His word.

Micca Campbell's book came out in March/April 2009. I received a copy from her to read and write a review on. I believe she asked me because I have posted about wrestling much with fear. It has been good to go through this study over the long time period that it has taken in preparing our yard for Kayla's wedding. I have had much to ponder as I planted flowers, watered, and pulled weeds.



God has been pulling some weeds from my heart at the same time...



My struggle with fear hasn't been so much over "lions and tigers and bears", but the"What if's?" What if I fail at...what if I don't get that done....What if that person yells at me(my personal pronouns are quite revealing).

I first encountered Micca @ She Speaks last summer. I attended a workshop she spoke at. I remember sitting there thinking, "I would love to have a chat with her, I think we could be fast freinds." She was very comfortable in her own skin, and exhibited true love for Jesus. She used alot of her personal stories to highlight her message. She does the same thing in her book.





Micca knows the answer to fear is faith in God. The entire book points to His power, His love, and His ability to handle anything that comes our way. Each chapter paves the way for the next. The first chapter is her story of loss, and how she struggled, but through faith, found her peace and rest in God. Because of this experience, she can encourage us in all our struggles... Warning, I cried! You probably will too! But it is good to know how God has carried our sister.





Reading the book was like having a friend to dialog with about my fears. Micca shared so many personal stories that I could relate with. The Lord would bring to mind incidents in my own life with similarities. Many times I was encouraged that I had turned over fears to the Lord, and other times, I was seeing why the struggle had become difficult...due to my wrong focus, or wrong thinking about God.

There are questions at the end of each chapter to draw out how we think about things, or what we are currently struggling with, and scripture studies to encourage, and transform our thinking...

I have not been struggling currently with any overwhelming fears, but from time to time, the wedding prep has brought "what if's" to my heart, and I have been using those times to put my faith into practice and turn it over to the Lord...

Thank you Micca, for being faithful to share what the Lord called you to share. Isn't it beautiful how He brings good from everything?

Now I am having a bloggy give-away! Today is Sunday, July 12th. Next Sunday, July 19th, I will draw from comments for a copy of Micca's book!!

BTW, I did have a chat with Micca in the lobby of the hotel at the end of the confrence, and even though she didn't know me from Eve (smile) she was sweet like I knew she would be...

Well, our Monday Bible study just finished "Becoming A Woman Of Faith" by Cynthia Heald. It seemed every week the girls would say "I really liked this chapter!" It's a good study; we highly recommend it!!

Faith. It is such a little word with such a large impact! By faith we receive salvation. By faith we do things that look crazy to the rest of the world (Think: Noah, Abraham, Daniel, etc) and recieve the promise we hold out for. By faith we don't panic when things look bleak and scary, instead we turn to the promises of scripture and stand on them.

In the last chapter, we studied the keeping and enabling power of Jesus. He is able to keep us from falling and present us blameless on the day He returns. (1 Thess. 5:3,4). Our faith rests upon His faithfulness. We could not have faith if God wasn't faithful. If He had not given us His word, we would have nothing to stand on.

I love that the written word is so valuable. Think of the ways that words on paper have such high value...the marriage license, the contracts for construction or landscaping, the diploma, your mortgage papers...all things that can be referred to if there is ever a dispute.

We have the truth of God's word written for us to refer to in every circumstance. What a treasure chest!!

A few nuggets we mined worth mentioning from the book of Jude (vs. 20-23)regarding our responsibility:

1. To build ourselves up in our most holy faith.
2. Pray in the Holy Spirit.
3. Keep ourselves in the love of God.
4. Be merciful to those who doubt.
5. Snatch others from the fire.
6. Show mercy mixed with fear, hating the garments stained by corrupted flesh.

A final VIP (very important part) of our study is PROCLAMATION! I said it in big letters because I think we under emphasize the necessity and value of it. If we read Psalms, we see it often. We also see it in Esther, Job, Daniel, Habakkuk...here is the example from Habakkuk 3: 17-19:

Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will be joyful in God my Savior. The Sovereign LORD is my strength; he makes my feet like the feet of a deer, he enables me to go on the heights. For the director of music. On my stringed instruments.

So, build yourself up in your faith, stand on the promises and proclaim the truth, cover them all in prayer, and you will be called "A Woman of Faith".

We are through our 7th week in the study. I lead Monday morning and again Monday night. I want to tell you that if once is good, twice is better. It has been such an enriching experience for me to go through this study with different groups because of the different perspective each one brings. Even the different mixes of people bring different facets of experience and understanding to the study.

Faith.
It is foundational to all other aspects of our walk w/ Jesus. Without it, we are wandering on our own in dangerous territory. Because of this, our enemy seeks to destroy it more than any other piece of armor. The shield has the mobility to "cover" every other piece of armor. If the enemy disables it, he has much greater access to our salvation, righteousness, and peace...

I have fought a good fight, I have finished the race, and I have remained faithful. 2 Tim 4:7 NLT

Testing of faith is an ongoing daily experience in the life of every believer. We can expect opposition at every turn. Sometimes in the form of Goliaths, and other times smaller annoyances, but always our faith is tested to produce a stronger faith. How would it grow if it wasn't tested.

We discover in scripture that the righteous will have many troubles, but the Lord will deliver him from them all. (Ps 34:19; John 16:33; 2 Tim 3:10-12; and 1 Peter 4:12-13)

Jesus also taught that tribulation is part of living in the world, but we are to "take heart" or be encouraged, and on top of that, to rejoice because He has overcome the world. In other words, we are promised victory in every battle as long as we trust Him.

We rejoice that the testing is producing perseverance, character, hope, rewards in heaven, salvation, completeness, praise, glory and honor!! (Rom 5:1-5; Hebrews 10:32-39; James 1:2-4; 1 Peter 1:3-9)

Faith and gold are contrasted because they both have to go through the same method of purification, (heating and stirring~and I know you all "get that"!) but faith lasts eternally and gold perishes. So how much more valuable to pursue faith! How God proves His love for us in taking the time to stand over us and watch over the process until we reflect His likeness!

Wonderful are the assurances in the Word of God for our victory~ it is promised that He is able to restore us, and make us strong, firm and steadfast. (1 Peter 5:10,11; Hebrews 2:14-18)

If we look @ Abraham offering Isaac on the altar, Jesus' temptation in the wilderness for 40 days, and Peter being "sifted by Satan", we see how Abraham and Jesus were faithful and rewarded, and how when Peter's faith failed, he "wept bitterly" but Jesus had prayef for him and true to His promises, He restored him when He returned. The promise is for victory!!

We can rejoice that whatever Satan means to use to "take us down", God uses for our strengthing and establishment in His family!

Another cause for joy in the midst of trial is that as part of the family of God, whenever we face trials and temptations we have our Great High Priest, Jesus who interceeds for us. We have armor, Scripture, promises of victory, power to overcome, and a choice to count it all joy...No weapon formed against us will prosper when the King of Kings is on our side!

And then~ we receive the goal of our faith, the salvation of our souls, and a crown when we will one day appear with Jesus in His glory!

Alas another song pops in my head. This one by Steve Green... The chorus: Heaven is my passion and prize, the goal on which I firmly fix my eyes... reward of the faithful, desire of the wise...heaven is my passion and prize.

Let us be longing for His appearance and our reward for faithfulness~all glory to God!

Before I start, I remembered I promised to reveal the mystery from my last post, as I was having a "vintage moment"; my friend Holly had to refresh my memory. Usually I am a note taker, but Lysa must have captivated me so that I never took out my notebook...

• First thing: Go to God daily...He is our portion, like manna, we need everyday~our daily bread.
• Next thing: Do the logical thing...read His word (Ps 119) Like pulling up a chair to the table.
• The most important thing: acknowledge Him in all your ways...(see previous post)
• Last thing: Every evening THANK GOD for all His wonderful blessings of the day.

A sweet reminder...keep the Main Thing the main thing :) And now onto the study...

This week's chapter was entitled, "The Shield of Faith". It became very apparent that the shield of faith is essential in protecting every area, even the other armor. If you think of the armor listed in Ephesians 6, the helmet of salvation, the breastplate of righteousness, the belt of truth, the boots of the gospel of peace. All of those cover, but the shield covers them. We also notice there is no armor for the back, so we need to have other believers around us to guard our backs so-to-speak, to be victorious. We need their shield of faith along with our own.

As long as a Christian has faith, he is secure.

The soldier's shield that Paul had in mind when he wrote this verse was aprox. 2.5'x4', made of leather, and often wet down to quench the fiery arrows. We decided it was a quarter of a piece of plywood, and would be really heavy and cumbersome (for us girlfriends). But what effort it would take to keep holding this shield as well as keeping watch for the enemy.

Walking by faith is no "walk in the park"!

Walking by faith is essential to standing against our enemy who continually seeks to defeat us, and includes:

• Standing in the armor.
• Taking up the shield, helmet and sword.(Eph 6)
• Being self-controlled and alert
• Resisting the devil.(1 Pet 5:8,9)
• The victory that overcomes the world is our faith. (1 Jn 5:4,5)

Taking a look at the story of David and Goliath in 1 Sam 17:45-51, we see small, young David conquering the giant with confident faith. He never wavered in his confidence that God would defeat the one who was defying Him. He PROCLAIMED the truth with his mouth.

We draw a parallel to the story of David and Goliath. We believers are David, the world is Goliath. Don't you feel like that sometimes? You hear about the darkness that is enticing our kids, our teens, and feel like "WHEN IS IT GOING TO STOP?" or our own battles with temptations...

This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith... Let's have confident expectation that God is Almighty and can conquer every enemy!

In looking at a few passages from Psalms, we discover that many of the Psalmists expressed their faith by crying out loud, proclaiming or declaring, and recalling God's promises and past works. A stake was placed in the ground with the declarations of what they believed. We need to do this too! We need to boldly proclaim the TRUTH over our circumstances, and stand there!!

The voice of Truth tells me a different story...we will not be defeated by our testings and trials when we focus on that voice~the very real promises of God.

In 2 Chr 16:1-10 we read of Asa in fear of Israel calling on the King of Aram and making a treaty with him, rather than trusting in God for his help as he had done before. As a result he was defeated. If we turn to other-than-God methods of handling battles, we will grovel and grope for hope and victory until we once again call out to Him.

So what type of fiery darts do you deal with and how do you quench them? Do you struggle with fear of rejection? God is your refuge and strength (Ps 46). Do you struggle with controlling your tongue? Eph 4:29...How about discouragement? Josh 1:6,7.

Paul , in talking about the shield of faith, is speaking of a protection which will defend the innermost life from foul and destructive invasion...He did not seek a shield to ward off ill circumstances, but he sought a shield to keep ill circumstances from doing him harm. His shield was a vital faith in Jesus.

Let's rest completely in God and His commitment to protect us...

You who sit down in the High God's presence, spend the night in Shaddai's shadow,Say this: "God, you're my refuge. I trust in you and I'm safe!" That's right—he rescues you from hidden traps, shields you from deadly hazards. His huge outstretched arms protect you— under them you're perfectly safe; his arms fend off all harm. Fear nothing~ Psalm 91:1-3 Message

We live by faith, not by sight. 1 Corinthians 5:7

How's that for an easy memory verse? If only it was that easy to do. Since we are natural, it is much easier to look at things with our natural eyes. To walk by faith takes an intentional effort to shift from the earthly mindset to the heavenly mindset.

Matthew Henry says that faith is for this world, and sight is reserved for the other world...

Cynthia Heald (the author) states "While we are here, we must excercise our faith and live for the eternal~the reality we cannot see now." (emphasis mine)

When we recieve Jesus into our hearts, our lives are transformed/ changed/ made new. Here are a few points that we drew out of scripture describing the changes Jesus has made in our lives:

2 Cor 5:12-21

• we take pride in what Jesus did on the inside rather than on the outward appearance.
• everything in our lives is for God.
• Christ's love compells us to live for Him.
• We regard no one from a worldly point of view.
• We have a message to carry; we are ambassadors of Christ.

Galatians 2:20

• We are crucified with Christ, we no longer live, it is Christ who lives in us, we live by faith in Him.

Galatians 6:14

• We never boast except in the cross of Christ through which
• the world has been crucified to me and I to the world.

Ephesians 2:19-22

• I am a citizen with God's people, members of His household.
• In Him I am being built withother believers into His dwelling where He lives by His Spirit.

Here are examples of how Paul lived his life by faith:

• He boasts in his weaknesses; delights in weaknesses, insults, persecutions, hardships, difficulties, for Christ's sake. 2 Cor. 12:7-10
• He became a servant of the gospel by the gift of God's grace & does the will of God. Phil 3:1-14
• He was poured out as a drink offering; fought the fight, finished the race, kept the faith. 2 Tim 4:6-8

As I look even now at these 3 points, I can see that Paul absolutely believed that God was in control in all things. He was willing to give his all for the Lord. He no longer lived for himself, but for the Lord's will. He fulfilled his calling by trusting in the "grace of God" or the Spirit at work within him.

Next we look at the importance of living for eternity:

• We are God's fellow workers; we are builders of God's house. It is important that we build with valuable materials because all of the things we do will be tested with fire. We will be rewarded according to the things we do while we are here. 1 Cor 3:9-15.
• We are able to endure light and momentary troubles knowing they are producing something of value within us for eternity. 2 Cor 4:16-18
• We set our minds and hearts on things above; we have died to this life, and will appear in glory in eternity. Colossians 3:1-4

In order to live for eternity, we need to understand the dangers of worldly entanglements:

• Worldly entanglements (worries, wealth, desires for other things) choke the word of God & hinder fruitfulness. Mark 4:18-19
• The world and it's desires pass away (or will pull us away) but the one who does he will of the Father endures forever. 1 John 2:15-16

Application question: What tends to pull you away from keeping an eternal perspective? Is it worries? Is it wealth? Is it desires for other things?

For a peek into the unseen world we looked at 2 Kings 6: 8-21. I love this story! To have the spirit of Elisha! Here we find him standing in total peace and confidence in the face of a mighty army because he saw the invisible chariots of fire standing between him and the army. We can have such confidence if we trust in the Lord...walk by faith.

The angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear him, and delivereth them.Psalm 34:7

Psalm 18: 1-3
I love you, O LORD, my strength.
The LORD is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge. He is my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.
I call to the LORD, who is worthy of praise, and I am saved from my enemies.

Heavenly Father, help us to fix our eyes on what is unseen rather than what is seen for what is seen is temporaty, but what is unseen is eternal. Help us to walk by faith and not by sight. To live totally and radically sold out for you! In Jesus' Name. Amen.

"But they took their stand in the middle of the field. They defended it and struck the Philistines down, and the LORD brought about a great victory." 1 Chr. 11:14

Discouraged...frustrated...restless...

I find I waver sometimes (maybe monthly-if you know what I mean:) I have great faith some days when I pray. I have great faith for others' when I pray for them, but the Lord convicted me of not-so-great faith sometimes when I pray. There are some things that I have prayed about for 19 years and I have not seen an answer to. I look at those unchanged things and tend to get...discouraged...frustrated...restless...

I had a dear passionate-for-prayer friend stop in the shop last weekend and I was lamenting about some "unchanged" things and she kept reinforcing; "God will do it..." "God is going to..."
When she left I was so unsettled. I went to prayer about it, and the Lord showed me that I am not praying with faith for those long awaited things. I had begun "losing heart".

So this morining in my one year Bible, God highlighted the above verse. Then He reminded me of Ephesians 6 ...STAND. and when you have done all to STAND, STAND firm then...

It also reminded me of Galatians 6:9 Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.

So the Lord has encouraged me to press on in prayer and faith. If you have been experiencing a little of "losing heart", I have attached a very encouraging link at the end of this article.

May we STAND together and take the ground that the Lord has already promised to us.

Lord, Please help me to walk by faith and not by sight. To not grow weary or lose heart, but to keep my eyes on you and your power and faithfulness. Help me remember that with You all things are possible. Forgive my unbelief. In the precious name of my sweet Savior, Jesus. Amen.
http://www.prayertransformation.com/pdf_files/word_for_intercessors.pdf