Have Faith in God

            We sing a great hymn in church sometimes called Have Faith in God.  I was thinking about the lyrics the last time we sang it and realized how applicable that song is to my life right now.  Our assistant pastor also found it applicable to his sermon.  He preached out of Luke 8:22-25 about the time when Jesus calmed the storm at sea.  The disciples were doing exactly what God wanted them to do when the storm hit, and that shows us that even if we are following God’s will in our lives, the storms of life can still hit.  We may think we have control for a while, but when things get rough, we finally turn to God in prayer.  That is something we often forget, trials are not always due to sin or wrong choices, they sometimes come to teach us or to remind us of who is in control.  Even if things seem unfair and we don’t understand why, God is still there and He still cares for His children.  We live in a fallen world where bad things are going to happen.  Those of us who are Christians have the task of shining God’s light in the darkest of times and reaching out to those who are lost and hurting.  So, when the darkness falls within our own lives, we must keep our eyes on Christ and have faith.  He can calm the storms and bring peace in His time.

These are the lyrics to Have Faith in God, written by B. B. McKinney:

 

Verse 1: Have faith in God when you pathway is lonely,

He sees and knows all the way you have trod;

Never alone are the least of His children;

Have faith in God, have faith in God.

 

Chorus: Have faith in God, He’s on His throne;

Have faith in God, He watches o’er His own;

He cannot fail, He must prevail;

Have faith in God, have faith in God.

 

Verse 2: Have faith in God when you prayers are unanswered,

Your earnest plea He will never forget;

Wait on the Lord, trust His Word and be patient;

Have faith in God, He'll answer yet.

 

Verse 3: Have faith in God in your pain and your sorrow,

His heart is touched with your grief and despair;

Cast all your cares and your burdens upon Him,

And leave them there, oh, leave them there.

 

Verse 4: Have faith in God though all else fail about you;

Have faith in God He provides for His own;

He cannot fail though all kingdoms shall perish,

He rules, He reigns upon His throne.

Xerxes

“This is what happened during the time of Xerxes, the Xerxes who ruled over 127 provinces stretching from India to Cush.” Esther 1:1 (NIV)

This post will actually be focusing more on Xerxes' wife, Esther.  Esther is another one of my favorite books; her story is so inspiring.  King Xerxes needed a new wife, so he conducted a search among the young single women in his kingdom, and a Jewish girl named Esther was chosen.  Mordecai, her guardian and cousin, found out that Haman had persuaded King Xerxes to sign an edict to kill all the Jews.  He asked her to plead with the king for mercy, but she said she could not approach him without being summoned or she could be sentenced to death.  Mordecai replied, “If you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father’s family will perish.  And who knows but that you have come to royal position for such a time as this?” (Esther 4:14, NIV).  Esther fasted and prayed for 3 days, then went to King Xerxes.  After she talked with him, Xerxes overruled the edict and her people were saved.  God put Esther in the right position for His will to be carried out and even though she was probably scared, she was willing to follow Him when the time came for her to take a stand.  If you haven’t read through the book of Esther, I would highly recommend it because there are a lot more interesting details to her and Mordecai’s story.

 

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I am currently participating in the Blogging from A to Z April 2015 Challenge. My theme is life lessons from the Bible. You can find more information about the challenge by clicking on the badge to the right or click here for a list of participants. It has been an interesting experience so far and I have enjoyed finding and visiting other blogs. If you are a fellow participant, thanks for stopping by and feel free to leave a comment!

Vessel

“But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of earth; and some to honour, and some to dishonour. If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the master's use, and prepared unto every good work.” 2 Timothy 2:20-21 (KJV)

There are many times that Christians are compared to vessels, more commonly known as jars of clay.  We are being formed at the potter’s wheel by the hands of the potter.  Through trials and blessings God, the potter, is forming us into the people He wants us to become.  Creating a vessel is a very long, thought out process.  The piece must be shaped at the wheel and the potter’s hands must be in exactly the right position.  So, if we try to get out from under God’s hands, we can end up deformed.  However, as it says in Jeremiah 18:1-6, the potter can reform the marred pot.  Once it’s shaped, in order to keep that shape it needs to be refined by fire.  “For you, O God, tested us; you refined us like silver” (Psalms 66:10, NIV).  The fiery trials that we go through in life are God’s way of refining us so we can become more purified and stronger vessels.  When we try to struggle against the potter’s hands or escape the fire, we must remember that God is using that process for our good. 

 

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I am currently participating in the Blogging from A to Z April 2015 Challenge. My theme is life lessons from the Bible. You can find more information about the challenge by clicking on the badge to the right or click here for a list of participants. It has been an interesting experience so far and I have enjoyed finding and visiting other blogs. If you are a fellow participant, thanks for stopping by and feel free to leave a comment!

Trust

“Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.” Proverbs 3:5-6 (KJV)

Due to some unforeseen circumstances, I don’t have as much time to concentrate on this post as I would like. So, I thought I would share some verses about trusting God that help me through tough times. Because, God is with us and He knows the individual trials we each may be facing. We just need to trust Him and allow Him to work through those trials in life.

^“I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust.” Psalms 91:2 (KJV)

“For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” Jeremiah 29:11 (NIV)

“Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content. I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: everywhere and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.” Philippians 4:11-13 (KJV)

I hope everyone has a great Thursday and enjoy the letter T!

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I am currently participating in the Blogging from A to Z April 2015 Challenge. My theme is life lessons from the Bible. You can find more information about the challenge by clicking on the badge to the right or click here for a list of participants. It has been an interesting experience so far and I have enjoyed finding and visiting other blogs. If you are a fellow participant, thanks for stopping by and feel free to leave a comment!

Ruth

“But Ruth replied, ‘Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God.’” Ruth 1:16 (NIV)

The book of Ruth is one of my favorite books in the Bible. What a woman to look up to! When a widow named Naomi lost her two sons, she told their wives to go back to their homeland and she would return to hers. Ruth was not willing to go back to her old way of life; she wanted to follow Naomi. God rewarded Ruth’s willingness to turn to a new way of life. He provided food for them and a new husband for Ruth. It may not be the most romantic story, but it is an illustration of God’s faithfulness to those who follow Him. In those times, women were dignified by their children and their heritage. Ruth was the grandmother of King David and in the lineage of Jesus. And it was all because Ruth made a choice to follow a good example and listen to her advice. What can you learn from those you choose to admire? Do you set an example for others to follow?

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I am currently participating in the Blogging from A to Z April 2015 Challenge. My theme is life lessons from the Bible. You can find more information about the challenge by clicking on the badge to the right or click here for a list of participants. It has been an interesting experience so far and I have enjoyed finding and visiting other blogs. If you are a fellow participant, thanks for stopping by and feel free to leave a comment!

Prayer

“Pray without ceasing.” 1 Thessalonians 5:17 (KJV)

 As soon as I came up with a theme for this challenge, I knew that P would be for prayer. Prayer is very powerful and my church has recently gone through a tragedy that has proved its power. My assistant pastor’s children were in car accident with their grandparents in February and the youngest was in severely critical condition. They didn’t think she was going to make it, and my church did the best thing we could do, we prayed. It has been 8 weeks since that accident, and she is still in the hospital but she is doing much better. Her life is a miracle of God and she has brought many people together in prayer. It is also a miracle that the rest of the family in the accident were unharmed besides her brother who had a fractured ankle, and he is already walking around again. This is a very dear family to me and this circumstance has helped me to see that in those moments when all seems hopeless, God is still right there with us. When things are completely out of our control, there is liberation in handing it all over to God. “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present you requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 4:6-7, NIV). It is much better to lift everything up to God in prayer, not just in times of disaster. Sometimes, He won’t answer the way we expect, but He will work things out for good according to His will. For further study on prayer, I suggest reading Matthew 6:5-13 and James 5:13-18. And if you do pray, keep this little girl in your thoughts as she is on the road to recovery, her name is Victoria.

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I am currently participating in the Blogging from A to Z April 2015 Challenge. My theme is life lessons from the Bible. You can find more information about the challenge by clicking on the badge to the right or click here for a list of participants. It has been an interesting experience so far and I have enjoyed finding and visiting other blogs. If you are a fellow participant, thanks for stopping by and feel free to leave a comment!

Redeemed, How I Love to Proclaim It

            Recently, after sharing his own testimony, Pastor Clay encouraged those who are Christians to share their own. A few weeks later, at the camp in Missouri, the counselors and campers were encouraged to share their testimonies during the girls’ nightly devotion. I had never really told anyone the full story until that night. I guess it's because I compare myself to others too much. I don't remember the specific date. I wasn't saved from a life full of regrets. Many testimonies people give include factors like those and I guess I always found mine to be uninteresting in comparison. In retrospect, I now know that my viewpoint has been wrong. Jesus Christ saved me from my sins. It doesn't matter how great or small those sins are in the world's eyes "For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23). So, getting saved was the most important thing I've ever done, and I will share my personal testimony.

            For most of the first 9 years of my life, I attended Mesa Baptist Church. I remember some of my Sunday school and singing in the children's choir. My more vivid memories come from AWANA on Wednesday nights. I remember practicing verses and struggling with praying in front of my mom. I also remember one night when the leaders invited us to accept Jesus in our hearts and I raised my hand and was led to another room with some other kids. I was 6 and I really didn't understand what was happening. I knew who Jesus was, but I didn't have a grasp on what it meant to be saved. A few years later, my family moved and we had a hard time finding a new church. I still wanted to be involved in AWANA, so my dad took me to a new church on Wednesday nights, but the rest of my family didn't come. During those years, my family was struggling a lot. We would attend church together some Sundays, but it was always somewhere different. We tried my cousins' church for a while, we tried local churches, and we even went with a family friend, but his church was a little too far. Eventually, Sunday church seemed to fade out except when I visited my grandma, who was as devoted to her church family as she was to her ailing husband. Despite the spontaneity of my church attendance, it seemed that one message still rang through everywhere I went. God loves me, He has a plan for me, and He sent His Son to die on the cross to save me. I think understanding finally hit me after my cousins were baptized when I was 10 or 11. I remember asking questions about what they were doing and my mom explained that baptism was a visual representation of salvation. I don't know how much time passed after that, but I do remember reading my Bible one night in my bedroom, and I fully understood that I was lost and needed a Savior. I remember talking with my mom and I accepted Jesus into my heart that night and I was excited! I brought my Bible over to my neighbor's house the next day and tried to lead her and my brother in a salvation prayer. Only God knows if they really understood what I was so excited about or what the words they repeated meant, but I hope that I at least planted a seed. Since I was not a member of any particular church, I was not baptized until my family moved to Oklahoma. Although baptism is not necessary for salvation, it does symbolize the cleansing and new life God gives us when we are saved, and I was glad to finally feel like I was a part of the church body. That is the story of how God saved me. I wish I would have shared sooner, I felt so free after sharing with the girls in Missouri. I also wish I would have had a better grasp of time when it happened; I think it was part way because I was homeschooled for 3 years and I had no sense of time or what day it was or even the month! It took me many years before I began keeping track of time. :)

            If you are reading this and you don't understand what I'm talking about, then I would be happy to show you some more verses from the Bible that explain our sinful nature and our need for salvation. We all are like lost sheep in need of a shepherd to save us. I don't really think there's a right or wrong way to pray, you just need to admit to God that you are a sinner and that you believe with all your heart that His Son, Jesus Christ, died on a cross for our sins and He rose from the grave on the third day. Salvation is a gift from God, and if you accept His sacrificial gift, you can be saved from an eternity in Hell. If you are a Christian, then I challenge you to share your salvation testimony with at least one other person. It truly feels great to let others know what God has done for us. Like one of my pastors likes to say: if God never blessed you after the moment of your salvation, you are still blessed and have a reason to be joyful! I have been blessed in so many ways beyond my salvation, and I know I’m not usually the brightest light to others, so this challenge goes to myself as well. We do have joy and hope and even if circumstances are tough, we know that one day we will all be in Heaven. Let’s share this message that God has commissioned to us so that others may join us.

“Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you; and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen.” Matthew 28:19-20

Love and Marriage from a Single's Perspective

            Normally, around Valentine’s Day, well really the first couple weeks of February, I am very anti-valentine. I have worn black, recruited single friends, and I even once posted a picture I made proclaiming it was S.A.D. (Singles’ Awareness Day) on my Facebook profile. But, something is different this year…maybe it’s because of the unusual blizzard we had this month, maybe it’s because more of my close friends are now married, or the fact that I’ve been writing and reflecting on my thoughts more often, or maybe it’s some of the books I’ve read recently. Whatever it is, I don’t feel as much hatred toward this holiday as I used to. I am still very aware of my singleness, I’m reminded of it almost every time I go into Wal-Mart with its flood of balloons and flowers. But if we lay the commercialism aside, the purpose of Valentine’s Day isn’t so bad. It is a celebration of love; a time to show your loved ones how much you care for them. True romance and chivalry are dying breeds and should be recognized even more than just on Valentine’s Day or a couple’s anniversary.

            Personally, I cannot claim to be an expert on marriage, although I have learned a few things over the years from observing the couples around me. I may not have an in-depth understanding until I gain some experience, but I have an idea of what it takes to have a healthy marriage. So, in honor of the holiday, I’d like to share some of the things I’ve learned through my observations. The first key is to love and honor God. Many of you have probably heard the acronym for JOY: put Jesus first, then Others, and then Yourself. If you are in a relationship with God through prayer and reading His Word, then your relationship with your spouse will benefit. I have seen prayer work in many marriages. Relationships have been healed, struggles have been taken care of, and lives have been changed through the power of prayer. For singles, building a relationship with God is the best investment you can put into your future. He can carry you through your worries and trials and bring a sense of peace if you allow Him to have control. In marriage, you should love each other as Christ loves the church.

            Another key to marriage is trust. I have seen relationship after relationship fall apart because of a lack of trust. The best way to build trust is to be honest with one another. Don’t hide the past and let your husband or wife know when you make a mistake. If you try to bury the things you’ve done, there is always a chance that they will become unearthed. And I’m not just talking about sexual immorality, there are other things couples hide from each other. Poor financial decisions, taking sides with their kids, and sometimes even illnesses are examples of things that are kept secret that shouldn’t be. Another key to marriage, which is also a good way to build trust, is communication. One of the first things I’ve seen many couples do when they’re angry is shut each other out. Sometimes you may need to cool down from a heated argument, but fuming over the issue and giving each other the “silent treatment” is not going to fix anything. If a problem is not addressed immediately, it will probably come up again or escalate into something far worse. Communication isn’t just about settling arguments either…couples should also express their ideas and interests with each other. Talk about your childhood, participate in each other’s hobbies, discuss how to discipline your kids, share your worries, and the list could go on and on. When couples are communicating well, they will be able to handle things better if an area of conflict or an unexpected trial comes up.

            I am speaking with a voice of inexperience, but I believe with God as the foundation and trust and communication as part of the building blocks, a strong marriage can be built. And as with any building project, it takes a lot of work, but it’s worth it when you see the results. There are so many scriptures that cover love and marriage, here are some I’ve found if you would like to do some “homework:”

            * Proverbs 31:10-31 (a virtuous woman)

            * 1 Corinthians 7:10-15 (divorce)

            * 1 Corinthians 13 (what is love?)

            * Ephesians 5:20-33 (roles of husbands and wives)

            * 1 Peter 3:1-9 (more on marriage roles)

Also whether you’re single, courting or dating, or married these are some good books I’ve read or heard about on the subject of marriage or preparing for marriage:

            * Preparing to be a Help Meet by Debi Pearl

            * The Five Love Languages and The Five Love Languages for Singles by Gary Chapman

            * Karen Kingsbury’s Redemption series, which includes Redemption, Remember, Return, Rejoice, and Reunion (I know they’re fictional, but she worked with a relationship expert named Gary Smalley to write these books that address major issues and troubles that come up in marriages and families. I really enjoyed reading them and may have learned a thing or two in the process.)

Happy Valentine’s Day!!

Let Us Give Thanks

            “Give thanks to the Lord for He is good; His faithful love endures forever.” Psalm 107:1

            What better time to be reminded of thankfulness than right around Thanksgiving?  I started reading a new book at the end of October. It’s called “Preparing to be a Help Meet.” It was supposed to give me tips about attracting men…no, not really, it was about how single woman can serve God and prepare themselves to become wives someday. What I wasn’t ready for was the chapter on gratefulness I read a couple weeks ago. Since it is November, of course I was already surrounded by messages of being thankful for what I have and the blessings God gives. But that chapter pointed something out in way that finally got my full attention. I realized that just stating what you’re thankful for is not true gratefulness. True gratefulness involves taking in all the blessings God has given and thanking Him for what He has done. A few days after reading that, my pastor preached on Thanksgiving. He repeated a phrase he has used before, but I never really took it to heart until then. He basically said that if God never blessed you with anything else beyond your salvation, you still have reason to give thanks to Him. Believe me, God has blessed me with so much since the day I was saved; I probably could not count them all. After that sermon, I thought some more about the message of that chapter. It talked about negative thinking, which I had never equated to ungratefulness before. I figured my negative thoughts were just triggered by depression and the way I was raised. I blamed my family; they were usually pessimistic, so naturally, I would be too. I blamed my circumstances. It seemed everyone in my life was moving on, getting married, having kids, finding fulfilling jobs, etc. Since nothing was happening for me, I had a right to be depressed and self-pitying, or so I thought. God has something else in mind.

            Instead of trying to reword the author, Debi Pearl’s words, I’m just going to quote a section of that chapter I read: “Most women say they can’t help how they feel. This is a lie which will keep you bound to a wretched life…It is not that one woman has a wonderful life and the other has nothing but misery; it is that one sees life through the eyes of thankfulness and the other through a heart of discontentment. A downcast attitude is a dishonor to God and your husband-to-be.” Ouch! I was talking to my friend, Cynthia a couple months ago about this subject. We decided we needed to stop focusing on the negative in our conversations and thoughts. I have not kept up my end of the bargain. I remember one day in church when 2 different people at 2 separate times told me I need to smile, things aren’t that bad. I’m sad to say that that almost made me feel even more sorry for myself. It’s not easy, but a thankful attitude is a choice, not a condition. So, this is a proclamation to my readers that I need to have a more grateful spirit. No more moping around in self-pity. God has done great things for me, and I should be filled with joy and thanksgiving. As Madam Blueberry said: “A thankful heart is a happy heart, I’m glad for what I have, that’s an easy way to start.” When I get into that state of discontent again, I just need to remember to count my blessings. Let’s all take Philippians 4:11 to heart: “…for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.”