Help

Today I was reading an adoration passage in Psalm 60.  Verses 11-12 say,

Give us help from trouble: for vain is the help of man.
Through God we shall do valiantly: for He it is that shall  tread down our enemies.

I was struck with this thought…

Sometimes my enemies aren’t physical people.  Sometimes my enemy is doubt, or fear, or worry.  Sometimes my enemy is stress, or emotions out of control.  Sometimes my enemy seems like five little kiddos all demanding a piece of me at the same time (but that’s really just stress, right?)  So the question that struck me today is, where do I turn for help?  Too often I ask my husband to help, or I turn to my own creativity to solve a problem.  Start a movie for the kids.  Sit down and breathe.  Make a to-do list.  Sometimes I yell and lose control of the situation.  But vain is the help of man. 

What I really need when all of the situations hit me in the face is to turn to God for help.  When I am drowning in doubt, or guilt, or out-of-control emotions, I don’t just need another set of hands, or a fresh look at the situation – I need God.  I need to turn to Him FIRST.  I need to realize that any victory will only be through His strength.

When I shout, “HELP!” it needs to be to God first.  Sometimes He may use the help of man (or my husband, or my friend, or my kids) to help me.  But I need to turn to Him first.

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

What I Am

In my devotional book I read this excerpt from Having A Mary Spirit by Joanna Weaver:

If Satan can’t make me fall away from God’s grace, he will do everything he can to keep me from fully embracing God’s grace. Satan wants me—and he wants you!—to be so constantly preoccupied with what we’re not that we never get around to realizing all that God is.  Our enemy wants to keep us so consumed with our inadequacies that we never get around to appropriating the love and transforming power God has made available to us through His Son. {emphasis mine}

I had one of those days yesterday.  When I seemed to be able to only see the problems, the negatives.  Satan had me so focused on what was wrong that I failed to remember my escape, my Advocate, and the grace He has promised.

So what it is that we are in Christ?  Here is a short list:

• Justified – not condemned.  God doesn’t look at me and see the sinner anymore.  He looks at me and sees His Son Jesus Christ.
  Romans 8:1  There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
• Armed – not defenseless.  I can put on the armor of Christ and defend myself—and defeat the enemy. 
  Ephesians 6:11  Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
• Seated with Christ. Victorious.
  Ephesians 2:6  And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:
  Romans 8:37  Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.
• Able to Enter the Throne Room.  I don’t have to give in to Satan’s temptations or doubts.  I can march into the throne room of heaven and gain the ear of God, finding grace to help in my moment of need.
  Hebrews 4:16 Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need. 
• Adopted – a son/child of God Himself.  A part of the family of God…with all of the rights and benefits that go with it.
  Romans 8:15  For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.
  John 1:12   But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:
• Loved.  Accepted. Without condition. Forever.
  1 John 4:19  We love him, because he first loved us.
  Jeremiah 31:3  The LORD hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee.
  Romans 8:38 - 9:1  For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,  39 Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. 

Thoughts on Thorns

Here are some highlights from a sermon preached by Evangelist Jim VanGelderen at our church’s Family Revival Meetings this week.  This sermon really touched me, and many in our church.  It is from 2 Corinthians 12.

Many Christians want Christ’s strength {the end result} but they despise the ticket to getting that strength {the means}.  The ticket is weakness.

The Apostle Paul was given a thorn in the flesh.  Brother VanGelderen pointed out that this “thorn” may very well have been a person.  His argument comes from the Greek word for messenger in verse 7.  This particular word is never used of an inanimate object, but always of a being – whether human or angelic.

So Satan can use “thorny people” in our lives to provoke us, to cause problems, to tempt us to sin.  But God wants us to take that thorny situation and depend on Him for strength.

We cry out, “Lord change ___________”, but God responds
with “I want to change you.”

Thorns reveal our weakness.  They are our ticket to God’s strength.  But we avoid the thorns because we don’t like to be reminded that we are weak.

We tend to think of strength and weakness only in physical terms.  We think, “Lord I can do this maybe 25%, but I need you to give me the strength for the other 75%.”  However, the word for weakness is really just the word for strength, negated.  It means zero strength.  Not little strength, but absolutely no strength.  It is speaking of spiritual strength.  Jesus said, “for without me ye can do nothing.” (John 15:5). 

This really resonated with me because that is exactly how I think.  I think that I can sorta do it, but not well, or not completely.  Then when He helps me do it I get proud and think that I did it myself.  Then I stop depending on Him.

So I don’t just need help to do it.  I need God to do it for me.  Through me. 

Our weaknesses need to scream so that we realize it is God doing it.  When I allow the weakness to make me a channel for His strength, then my weakness can scream so much that others are blown away with the power. They may see my weakness, but they will see what God can do with weakness.  They will want to be used by God too.

Every weakness I have is a potential channel for His strength.  He keeps thorns in my life so that we never forget that we are weak.  I  can realize my weakness, and live expecting His Divine power to work in me and through me.  Human strength is powerless to stop the enemy, but inside of me is He Who is Strength.

Sharpen Your Arrows

Psalm 127:3-5  Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD: and the fruit of the womb is his reward.  4 As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man; so are children of the youth.  5 Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them: they shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate.

At my high school graduation, my mom shared these verses.  They were the verses that helped my parents decide to homeschool all three of us kids, from kindergarten to high school graduation.  In her speech, my mom said something like this {I found this file buried on the hard drive of my computer}…

“The message was that we are in a spiritual battle and our children are like the weapons of a mighty warrior. A warrior takes time to be sure his arrows are fit for battle – strong and straight and the feathers shaped just right. He is sure the arrows are sharp and will fly to hit their target. A warrior would not think of taking his arrows to someone else to be formed and shaped – they may surely come back with the feathers missing or with a dull point. God’s obvious hand leading me was in convincing me then that I wanted to have kids that were sharp and on target for Him. And who could I trust to do that forming and sharpening that would care more than your Dad and I?”

Parenting is an important job.  The more I realize how much my little ones are absorbing {things that I am not even trying to teach them}, I realize that it is a job with eternal consequences.  I really enjoyed Erin Davis’ thoughts on this same passage from Day 14 of the 30-Day Mom Makeover. 

This passage from Psalm 127 is a deep, deep well. As mothers, we are wise to dip our buckets down into it and draw up truth often. The key message is that children are a blessing. We will unpack that little gem tomorrow. But today, let’s focus on the arrow analogy and how it applies to continuing to see our family as a mission field.

This passage describes children as arrows. But not arrows left sitting in an unused quiver or arrows gleaming but unused in a display case. No. This passage says our children are like arrows in the hand of a warrior. They are to be taken in to battle and used against our Enemy.

Jim Elliot explained it this way, “Children are arrows in a quiver, and they are to be trained as missionaries and shot at the Devil.”

The purpose of raising kids who follow Christ isn’t so that you can line them up as evidence of good works on your mantle. The purpose is raise children who will eventually be dangerous to the Enemy by championing the cause of Christ.

That “sharpening” requires that you seek to know how God has uniquely equipped and gifted your children and then partnering with God to grow them toward Kingdom work. Your job is more important than raising kids who use the potty, stand well in line and make good grades in school. You are called to a much bigger task of equipping your children to be used by God to accomplish His purposes.”

Go do some arrow-sharpening today!

“None of self, and all of Thee”

I am reading a book called Rivers of Living Water by Ruth Paxson.  She was a missionary in China, and spoke at many conferences.  The book is a compilation of many messages she spoke on the Spirit-filled life.  The chapter I just finished deals with choosing Christ or choosing self – the two natures which dwell in the Christian.  Miss Paxson closes the chapter with this poem.  No author is specified, so I am assuming she wrote it.  It touched me as I seek to live the Spirit-filled life, and I wanted to share it here.

Oh! the bitter shame and sorrow,
That a time could ever be,
When I let the Saviour’s pity
Plead in vain, and proudly answered--
“All of self and none of Thee.”

Yet He found me: I beheld Him
Bleeding on the cursed tree;
Heard Him pray, “Forgive them, Father,”
And my wistful heart said faintly--
“Some of self and some of Thee.”

Day by day His tender mercy,
Healing, helping, full and free,
Sweet and strong, and oh! so patient,
Brought me lower while I whispered--
“Less of self and more of Thee.”

Higher than the highest heavens,
Deeper than the deepest sea;
Lord, thy love at last has conquered:
Grant me now my soul’s petition--
“None of self and all of Thee.”

The Armour of Light

“The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light.”
Romans 13:12

It truly is a spiritual warfare we are living in.  If we are not actively fighting, then  we are passively giving the enemy the victory.  We cannot (and should not!) be neutral.  “But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” (1 Corinthians 15:57).  He has already provided the victory and won the battle – we must just claim it!

2 Corinthians 10:3-5  For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh:  4 (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;)  5 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;

He has also given us the spiritual armour (the armour of light) to fight the enemy.  It is found in Ephesians 6.

Ephesians 6:11-17   Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.  12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.  13 Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.  14 Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness;  15 And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace;  16 Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.  17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:

Today I want to cast of the dark works of my old man, and I want to walk in the light of fellowship with Christ.  “But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.”( 1 John 1:7).  I want to put on the armour of light and win the victory!