When God Moves, We Want to Run

When Mary found out she was pregnant, she could have freaked, knowing that being pregnant and unmarried could result in death, and at the very least, losing the man she loved. But as Elizabeth spoke…

And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what had been spoken to her by the Lord. Luke 1:45

To stop natural law from killing her she could have tried to take the natural solution and kill her baby. She could have run and hid, then given the baby away. I’m sure many ideas raced through her mind in the dead of night. So many paths she could direct and be in control. Anything other than the unnatural walk of faith. In many cases, faith means do nothing except trust God. In Mary’s case, to save her life. How could he?

For nothing will be impossible with God. Luke 1:37

Believe and Advance

God speaks to us to advance us. We must couple what we hear with belief.

And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what had been spoken to her by the Lord. Luke 1:45

Read the bible and ask God to take you into the words, to speak to you. When something really seems to connect with your heart, that is God speaking to you. Unite that connection with your belief, wait and persevere through all the doubts and wondering that follow. That is faith.

Don’t try to be too specific in how you apply this heart-felt connection to the events in your own life. We rarely see God’s big picture. Also, it’s hard to hear clearly for matters of our own life because biases, hopes and fears  cause us to filter and twist our interpretation. We need help. That’s why Paul wrote…

In the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established. 2Cor 13:1

So look for the intersection of your own experiences along with others speaking to you unaware of your circumstance.

Fear One Way, Faith the Other…

Look both ways before you cross the road.

That’s what my mother taught me. Now days, I often see fear one way and faith the other.

When I have a big decision, I often have the feeling I am about to step out into traffic on a busy interstate. I’m just waiting for the proverbial bus that is going to mow me down. Failure! BAM! That is fear.

I also have the choice of faith. Believing for the best. I have free will to choose where to place my heart. Faith is trusting in the Lord. Fear and faith cannot occupy the same space in my heart at the same time. The following scripture encourages me to choose faith, to realize that I am blessed no matter what happens.

And blessed is he who trusts in the Lord. Proverbs 16:20

I must believe I am going to be blessed simply by the fact that I am trusting in the Lord, and not because of the quality of my decision making. I do believe you can influence the outcome through faith. But I must let events play out over time to make the ultimate assessment of whether I was blessed or not. I can say that after 25+ years trusting the Lord, I have never come up short. But the paths I have ended up walking have been very different and very rough at times. But the rough spots always bring about the character transformation that is foundational to receiving the blessings mentioned in Proverbs 16:20. It is the transformed character that brings about true happiness we all seek. That is the true blessing.