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.

Faith Based Age

Last night I was watching the Teen Choice Awards. Things haven’t changed much since the sixties, except that it’s all now just been branded.

This morning the Lord told me not to interpret my age in the context of contemporary culture. My age says I am out of date, unable to connect, irrelevant. Hollywood will not accept me as a relevant producer. God’s word says different…

A grey head is a crown of glory; it is found in the way of righteousness. Proverbs 16:31

So I must train my mind to not see myself in the negative, even though Hollywood does discriminate. But God… He does not conform to culture, and He does not expect us to, either. He is the grand exception to the world system. That is one way our faith comes into play. We must believe that we, too are the grand exemption. But the exemption only happens when we are standing, thinking, doing by faith.

So too, do not allow yourself to “think” that your faith makes you irrelevant to the people. The irony is, it does in fact make you irrelevant to the culture, but your are not irrelevant to people; you are actually more relevant.

Do not play the voices of other people in my head, what I think they are saying about me… they wag on and on about my weaknesses and faults. Or they complement me in my carnal vanities, reinforcing my fallen nature. Either way, they separate me from what God thinks about me. And, God thinks I am wonderful. Train your mind on His word, what He says. For example, as lost and fallen, apart from his blood, He loved me enough to die for me. As a believer, under His blood, God sees me perfect, righteous and actually “unfallen”. God has made me a joint heir with his son Jesus Christ. I am entitled to everything He has given Jesus. I am now a child of the King.

I really should “think” that way.

Out of Control

And that’s the way I like it.

Because God’s ways are above our ways, we can never fully understand our journey. We do not see the big picture. We cannot be in control of our life because we do not see it as He does. Therefore, we deceive ourselves if we think we can figure His will and then go do it.

Trying to understand is a natural instinct, but only creates uncertainty and anxiety because results do not match up to expectations. The things of God are spiritually appraised. If we truly believe He loves us as a loving father, then we can trust Him to work out the big picture and give us wisdom for the many little things. With this kind of faith, we will do His will not fully knowing we are. Just love Him, pray and ask for guidance.

But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised. 1 Cor 2:14