My God is Good

One of the things I have struggled with most recently is knowing that God is there, hearing my prayer, and working out a good plan.  It seems that my prayers are going unanswered and that nothing is working or happening on our behalf regarding housing on our mission field.  With each delay and difficulty I have questioned “How can this be good?”  When these emotions surge I am learning that I must take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ.  One way I do that is by placing Scripture Verses all over my house, so that I can see them and be reminded of God’s true Word, even when it doesn’t “seem” to match my experience.  This is one set of signs that I have recently placed on the wall I see first when I wake up in the morning.

   

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My God is Near // My God is Good // My God has a Plan

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My God is Near // My God is Good // My God has a Plan

The Lord is my Rock

Photo from Moab, UT

Sometimes life overwhelms me and I feel like I’m sinking.  Sometimes I’m sinking in laundry and dishes; other times it is in self-pity or guilt.  I can never pull myself out of that desperate place on my own.  I have to remember that the Lord is my rock.  He is a firm foundation, even when I feel like life is ever-shifting around me.  He never changes, even my kids’ schedules and my emotions are on a roller coaster.  He is my defense from those darts of guilt and shame and condemnation that the enemy flings my way. 

When I was in Moab, UT and I saw this rock, Psalm 18:2 came to my mind. Psalm 28:7  came to mind also.  It says, “The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusted in Him, and I am helped: therefore my heart greatly rejoiceth; and with my song will I praise Him.”  When I go back to the fortress, my heart is helped.  When I put my trust back where it belongs, I find rejoicing and my song returns.

The Answer to “Why”

I recently listened to this interview with Naghmeh Abedini, wife of Iranian-American pastor Saeed Abedini who is serving an eight-year prison sentence for his faith.  I was touched by his answer to the “why” question in regards to suffering.

There is no way to compare my “suffering” or trials with what this family has gone through, but the answer to my “why” questions is the same.  The answer is “Who” – Who is in control.

The answer to the "why" is "Who." Who is in control? The Lord Jesus Christ is in control. I desire for you to learn important lessons during these trying times, lessons that you carry now for the rest of your life. The answer to the "why" is "Who." The confusion of "why has all of this happened," and why your prayers are not answered is resolved with understanding Who is in control—the Lord Jesus Christ, our God.

God is in control of that whole world and everything that is happening in it, for His good purpose, for His glory, and will be worked out for our good (Romans 8:28). Jesus allows me to be kept here for His glory. He's doing something inside each of us and also outside in the world.

--Saeed Abedini, in a letter to his daughter for her 8th birthday

I have recently asked a lot of “why” questions.  Why deputation?  Why does it take so long?  Why did we wait to start until we had four children?  Why isn’t there another way?  Why twins?  Why is child training so difficult?

The answer is “Who.”  Who is in control?  The Lord.  He has designed this process for me and my family, at this time.  He has designed it to mold us more into the image of Christ.  He has designed it to make us more of a testimony of the Gospel and it’s power to change lives.  He has designed it to teach us to rely on Him for everything, even our “daily bread.”  He has designed it to give us more ministry experience and to let us see other churches in operation and to hear stories of successful church plants so that when we go to the Bronx we are armed with lessons learned from the experience of others.

The answer to “why” is “Who.”  That’s a powerful thought that can realign my focus to where it needs to be – on Christ.

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Pouring in the Scriptures

Being a mom of little kids can be exhausting physically – and spiritually.  So many times I come to the end of my day or my week, and to my shame I realize how little time I have spent in prayer or in reading the Word of God.  And the time that I have spent in those activities has been in five minutes here or a whispered quick prayer there.  Rarely is it a large chunk of time that I get to indulge in my devotional time.

But when I am running on empty and feeling dry, that is when I really need to pour the Scriptures into my life and speak the truth to my heart.  If I don’t I will trip and fall into that trap of the enemy – again.  I will make a mess of relationships and situations – again.  I will rely on myself – again.  This is so dangerous because Romans 7:18 says “For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing…”

And yet sometimes it is just impossible to carve out that chunk of time.  Many times I can do it if I choose to – if I check Facebook less often, or shorten my nap, or leave the dishes in the sink.  But there are times when I just can’t get up earlier because I’ve been up all night with the baby.  Or I can’t find quiet time because the kids are acting out today. 

The Lord has shown me some creative ways that I can still pour the Scriptures into my heart, and meditate on the truth of God.

• “Decorate” my house with the Word of God.  When a verse or passage really speaks to my heart or to the situation I am facing, I print it out and hang it in a visible place in my home.  I have a cluster of verses on the wall where I will see them first thing in the morning.  All of my kitchen cabinets are covered in verses.  This helps me to see God’s Word many times through the day and be reminded to meditate on it or pray it for my family and friends.
• Listen to sermons.  We don’t have a washing machine, so someone has to spend a couple of hours at the laundry mat each week.  I load up my iPhone with podcasts (Revive Our Hearts with Nancy Leigh DeMoss) and sermons (Ambassador Baptist College Chapel) and I listen as I work.  I play them while I’m in the shower and the kids are busy elsewhere.  I play them in the car when we’re driving.  God always uses the sermon/podcast next in my list to be just what I need at that moment.  This has been so helpful also since I often don’t get to sit through a whole church service without leaving to feed the babies.
• Play Christian music in the home.  Sometimes it is just too much noise, but I try to have background music on as much as possible.  Even just a phrase that I catch as I pass through the room will stick in my head throughout the day and encourage or challenge me.
• Teach my children.  God is using parenting my littles to really refine several areas in my own life.  And so often the song I choose to teach them, or the Bible story we read has one application to them, and a different facet of an application to my own life and situation.  He challenges me, encourages me, and convicts me as I teach my children.  Even just the simple prayers that they offer to God are a challenge to me.  They are so faithful to remember certain people, never forgetting to mention them in prayer.  And often I wish I was that dedicated to prayer for others.

How about you?  How do you keep the Scriptures a priority when time seems short or your season of life is so overwhelming?

Every Thought Obedient

Last week was pretty rough.  Looking back I can see that many of the “problems” stemmed from giving in to my feelings and listening to my wrong thoughts.  I didn’t counsel my heart according to the Word of God, but I relied on myself and my instincts. 

Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ…
2 Corinthians 10:5

I must always be on the offensive, taking those wrong thought patterns and putting them in their place – under the authority of Christ.  He died to give me the ability to do so.  He died so that I didn’t have to live enslaved.

I have recently realized (through a Bible study at church) that the reason I choose to live by my own feelings and listen to my own thoughts is because I am an idolater.  I have idolized myself so much that I choose to listen to me instead God’s Word, that I choose to operate on what I feel rather than on what He says is true.

It is definitely a moment-by-moment battle.  I can’t lock all the thoughts away at the beginning of the day and be done.  I wish it were that easy.  I’m thankful that we have the Holy Spirit who there moment-by-moment to fight the battle, to counsel my heart, to lead me in the right.

Though my sin nature is ever present, it doesn’t have to have any dominion or power over me.  This excerpt from my devotional book today really describes it well.

I don’t want to live enslaved to a tyrant who no longer has a right to demean and terrorize me, tormenting me with guilt and self-doubt.  I’m tired of giving the devil more airtime in my mind than I give the Holy Spirit.”

~Lazarus Awakening, by Joanna Weaver

God is Good, All the Time

I had a professor in college who would sometimes begin class by saying, “God is good…” to which we would reply, “All the time.”  Then he would say it again in reverse order – “All time time…” and we would finish with “God is good.”

Sometimes in the midst of trials or difficult circumstances it seems hard for us to believe that statement.  Can God really be good, even in this?  It is at times like these that we must counsel our heart according to the truth of God’s Word.  Our feelings are not always true, and they are often circumstantial.  But God never changes.  The Bible tells us that Jesus is “the same yesterday, today, and forever.”  No matter what – He was, is, and always will be good.

There is a young woman in our church who is heavy on my heart right now.  Her husband just passed away in a diving accident.  She is ready to deliver their first child in a couple of weeks.  This should be one of the happiest times of her life, but it is overshadowed by deep sorrow.  She is now a young widow.  She will give birth alone.  She will raise her daughter…alone. 

And I found myself asking why this had to happen – to her, right now.  But then I remembered that God is good.  All the time.  Even in times of sorrow.  Certainly when we don’t understand.  And as believers, we can find the joy and peace of God in knowing that He is sovereign, He is in control, and He still has a plan.

I had my own share of difficult circumstances this week.  Nothing to compare with losing a spouse, but hard none the less.  I didn’t feel like rejoicing or thanking God.  I didn’t feel like He cared or was in control.  But I had to remind myself that He is.  His Word says He is.  I just have to believe it.

God is good, all the time.
All the time, God is good.

The Process of Sanctification {Personal Holiness}

1 Peter 1:13-16 
Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ;  14 As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance:  15 But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation;  16 Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.

The last night of our church’s revival meetings with Evangelist Jim VanGelderen brought this message.  It was just what I needed!

Before we can obey the command to “Be holy as God is holy,” we have to obey the commands in verses 13-14. 

1. Gird up the loins of your mind: Put off the wrong thinking so that it no longer hinders me.  Embrace right thinking.  This is a crisis.
2. Be sober: Maintain right thinking.  Just as with alcohol, do not allow the inebriation of the wrong thought processes to re-invade my thinking.  This is a condition.  This takes place when I put the word of God in my heart. 
• Memorization puts God’s Word in my brain
• Mediation puts God’s Word in my heart, as I make it second nature and use it.
3. Hope to the end for the grace: I have to live expecting God’s grace at work in my heart.  With reckless abandon, I must have this hope.
• Hope is expectant reliance on God
4. As obedient children: We are to expect the grace so that we can take steps of obedience. The attitude is “I want grace so that I can obey.”   There are 3 areas of obedience…
• Godly Appearance – Clothing.  Whatever is in your heart should be advertised on the outside.  So don’t dress like you did when you were hell-bound.  Don’t identify yourself in your clothing with pop-culture’s ideas which are anti-Biblical.  This is an insult to the Gospel.  Grace is not looking like the world – and loving it!  Grace is not about the rules.  Grace is bigger than that!
• Godly Actions – all manner of conversation.  This encompasses media choices, music, etc.
• Godly Attitudes
5. God graces me with supernatural enablement when I take steps of obedience.  Grace shows up when expect it, and in our obedience it enables us.  Grace loves to obey God even if all the other Christians aren’t.  It’s not about doing what other Christians say is okay – it’s about obeying God’s Word.

So the process of personal holiness is this:

Reject wrong thinking
Embrace right thinking
Put God’s Word in my heart
Expect grace
Take steps of obedience
God graces me

Deuteronomy 6:5

Thinking Differently

I guess I might be described as a pessimist.  I tend to think negatively rather than positively.  But I am trying to change the way that I think.  If I am walking in the Spirit, then I will be thinking with the mind of Christ.  I am reading in Ephesians, and chapter 6 describes the Christian’s armour.  Verse 17 tells us that we have the helmet of salvation.  The helmet protects the head {obviously}.  A wound to the head would almost surely be fatal.  But we have the salvation of Christ to protect us. 

Salvation has a daily, present, practical outworking {not just the future home in heaven} called sanctification – the process of becoming like Christ.  If I am walking in sanctification today, then it will protect my head – my thinking.  So many times I know that Satan attacks me by getting me to think wrong thoughts, which lead to wrong attitudes, and wrong actions, and cause hurt and remorse.  I want my thinking to change – to be saved!

Here is how that looks to me:

• I think I can’t handle this but God’s Word says, “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.” (Philippians 4:13)
• I think this isn’t fair but God says, “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.” (Jeremiah 29:11)
• I think there is so much noise and chaos in my house right now but God says, “Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee.” (Isaiah 26:3)
• I think this situation is terrible but God says, “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.” (Romans 8:28)
• I think I have too much to do but God says, “And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.” (2 Corinthians 12:9)
• I think my kids are so much work – why did I want to be a mom? but God says, “Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD: and the fruit of the womb is his reward.” (Psalm 127:3)
• I think I can’t love/forgive that person but God says, “…the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.”  (Romans 5:5).  It is His love in me that I can offer to that person.
• I think I can’t get victory – it’s just my besetting sin but God says, “But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” (1 Corinthians 15:57) and “There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.” (1 Corinthians 10:13)