by: James Smith, 1871
Showing posts with label faithfulness. Show all posts
Showing posts with label faithfulness. Show all posts
10 September, 2014
Refreshment for the Savior's Flock Through Bible Verses/Part 7
Saints are always in His keeping.
Tis sweet, though trials may not cease,
The time is short — oh, who can tell
If Christ is mine — then all is mine,
I am your God — well think of this,
And could you, my Savior, die,
The mercy of God is like the sun — ever communicating, but never decreasing. It is fixed on all who fear God.
My soul, forget not what is due,
To you, O Lord, I look alone;
Whatever our hands shall find to do,
View, dearest Lord, my longing heart,
A few successful struggles yet,
08 December, 2013
THE PRECIOUSNESS OF TRIAL - Part 4
EXCERPT FROM THE BOOK: THE PRECIOUS THINGS OF GOD -
by Octavius Winslow, 1859
THIS BOOK HAS BEEN FORMATTED AS A KINDLE AND IT IS AVAILABLE FREE OF CHARGE . click here
Trial has brought us to our right place—the feet of Jesus. There, in the spirit of self-examination, of self-loathing, of self-renunciation, we have been led to ask, "Will this evidence serve me when I come to die? will this love give me boldness in the day of judgment? will this faith present me faultless before the throne of God and the Lamb?" Thus relinquishing our vain fancies, our foolish dreams, our dubious evidences, we have been enabled to take a renewed hold of Christ, to fly afresh to the fountain of His blood, and to enfold ourselves more closely within the robe of His righteousness. Thus emptied, humbled at His feet, we praise and adore Him for the discipline that consumed the dross, scattered the chaff, swept from beneath us the sand, and that strengthened our evidences, brightened our hope, unfolded the Spirit, and enthroned the Redeemer, more vividly and supremely within our soul. O precious trial! dark though you are, that yet bear beneath your somber wing blessings of grace so sacred and costly as these!
As a moral discipline it would seem impossible to overrate the preciousness of trial. No believer has been placed in a true position for the formation, development, and completeness of his Christian character who has not passed in some degree through this discipline. Not more essential is it that the vessel of the craftsman should be exposed to the heat of the furnace, in order to impart transparency to the material, consolidation to its form, and brilliance and permanence to the colors his pencil has traced upon it, than it is for a "vessel of mercy whom God has afore prepared unto glory," to be tried though it be as by fire. From this moral discipline there is in the family of God no exception. It is a remark of the seraphic Leighton—true as it is beautiful—that, "God had but one Son without sin, and never one without suffering."
How touching and conclusive the argument and appeal of the apostle—himself purified in this crucible and instructed in this school—"You have forgotten the exhortation, which speaks unto you as unto children, My son, despise not you the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when you are rebuked of him: for whom the Lord loves he chastens, and scourges every son whom he receives. If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons: for what son is he whom the father chastens not? But if you be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are you bastards, and not sons. Furthermore, we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live? For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness. Now, no chastening for the present seems to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto those who are exercised thereby."
Thus is it clear that chastisement or trial is an evidence and seal of adoption; and that without it we should lack that spiritual discipline, apart from which there is no proper symmetry and completeness of Christian character. Who has not marked the wide and striking difference in the character and deportment of a child trained beneath the wholesome discipline of a parent, and a child who has grown up without that discipline, left to its own self? To what is that difference to be traced but the forming influence of discipline in the one, and its entire absence in the other? There is a development and strength of character, a maturity of mind and mellowed refinement of feeling and address in the child thus schooled, which you in vain look for in the child neglected. "A wise son hears the instruction of his father."
In the Hebrew this passage may be literally rendered, "A wise son is the chastisement of his father." On this text, thus rendered, in all probability the Jews founded their proverb, "If you see a wise child, be sure that his father has chastised him." Now, how gracious and tender is our heavenly Father to condescend thus to deal with us! In everything would He sustain the relation He stands to us as a Father. Not only in loving us, thinking of us, providing for us, guiding and keeping us, but also chastising us. He has undertaken a father's office, and He will fully and faithfully discharge it, even though it may compel the frequent and painful, though loving and righteous, use of the rod. Oh to be assured that this stroke is a fresh seal of adoption! Who would not cheerfully exclaim, "The cup which my Father has given me, shall I not drink it?"
How touching and conclusive the argument and appeal of the apostle—himself purified in this crucible and instructed in this school—"You have forgotten the exhortation, which speaks unto you as unto children, My son, despise not you the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when you are rebuked of him: for whom the Lord loves he chastens, and scourges every son whom he receives. If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons: for what son is he whom the father chastens not? But if you be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are you bastards, and not sons. Furthermore, we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live? For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness. Now, no chastening for the present seems to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto those who are exercised thereby."
Thus is it clear that chastisement or trial is an evidence and seal of adoption; and that without it we should lack that spiritual discipline, apart from which there is no proper symmetry and completeness of Christian character. Who has not marked the wide and striking difference in the character and deportment of a child trained beneath the wholesome discipline of a parent, and a child who has grown up without that discipline, left to its own self? To what is that difference to be traced but the forming influence of discipline in the one, and its entire absence in the other? There is a development and strength of character, a maturity of mind and mellowed refinement of feeling and address in the child thus schooled, which you in vain look for in the child neglected. "A wise son hears the instruction of his father."
In the Hebrew this passage may be literally rendered, "A wise son is the chastisement of his father." On this text, thus rendered, in all probability the Jews founded their proverb, "If you see a wise child, be sure that his father has chastised him." Now, how gracious and tender is our heavenly Father to condescend thus to deal with us! In everything would He sustain the relation He stands to us as a Father. Not only in loving us, thinking of us, providing for us, guiding and keeping us, but also chastising us. He has undertaken a father's office, and He will fully and faithfully discharge it, even though it may compel the frequent and painful, though loving and righteous, use of the rod. Oh to be assured that this stroke is a fresh seal of adoption! Who would not cheerfully exclaim, "The cup which my Father has given me, shall I not drink it?"
And yet we think there is a yet higher end accomplished by precious trial, even than this authentication of our adoption. We refer to the Divine holiness to which it assimilates us. "He for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness." Next to his justification, sanctification must be the grand aim of the believer; and whatever is promotive of this must be precious. God would make us happy, but He can only make us happy by making us holy. Happiness and holiness are cognate truths: they are relative terms; they are twin sisters. He must be happy who is holy. Sin is the parent of all misery; holiness the root of all happiness. Now the holiness which God would bring us into sympathy with, and make us partakers of, is His own holiness. There is much that passes in the religious world for holiness which is spurious in its nature, and which is disowned by God.
There is no real holiness but that which moulds us into the Divine image—that which makes us God-like. We cannot possess God's essential holiness, but we may partake of His imparted holiness. In the same sense in which we are said to be "partakers of the Divine nature" (2 Pet. 1:4), we are "partakers of the Divine holiness." What a portrait is a child of God purified, sanctified, and disciplined by trial! God is the divine original; he is the human copy. Upon that heart softened, upon that spirit subdued, upon that will laid low, the holy Lord God has imprinted, inlaid, His own likeness. And as the polished mirror reflects the likeness of the man who looks into it, and as the glassy lake images the sun that beams down upon it, so does the disciplined child of God,—the grossness of the fleshly eliminated from the spiritual—the dross of the natural separated from the divine—his purified soul reflects, and sparkles, and shines with the holiness of God.
Oh, to be like God, who would not welcome the trial, exclaiming with the psalmist, "I know, O Lord, that your judgments are right, and that you in faithfulness has afflicted me." How tenderly, soothingly, lovingly does your Father address you, His tried child—"My son, despise not you the chastening of the Lord." Is there rigor in the discipline?—there is love in the rod. Is there bitterness in the cup?—there is sweetness upon its brim. Is there acuteness in the suffering? there is soothing in the relation—"My son!" Never can He forget in the severest discipline, in the most painful correction, that He is our Father, and we His children. "Is Ephraim my dear son? is he a pleasant child? for since I spoke against him, I do earnestly remember him still: therefore my affections are troubled for him; I will surely have mercy upon him, says the Lord." Never does God employ a rebuke without a cordial, or the pruning knife without the balm. How frequently the mercy precedes, and thus prepares for, the judgment. It was so in the case of our first parents.
Before God pronounces the dreadful sentence, He breathes the gracious promise. Mercy digs the channel of judgment—prepares and paves its way. Thus, God's corrections, rebukes, and chastisements come tempered, softened, and subdued; and like the smitings and reproofs of the righteous, are a "kindness," and "an excellent oil, which shall not break the head." Thus it is that the tried believer can look into the face of his Father and say, "Righteous are you, O Lord, when I plead with you; yet let me talk with you of your judgments" (Jer. 12:1). How sweetly and tenderly did Jesus blend the warning with the consolation, "In the world you shall have tribulation, but in me you shall havepeace!" Our Lord wisely and graciously presents the world to us as a scene of sorrow, trial, and tribulation, but the counterpart shall be that in its midst we shall experience His presence, love, and grace as our peace. Thus the remark of a quaint writer holds good, "Affliction's rods are made of many keen twigs, but they are all cut from the tree of life.
It is a great mercy to have a bitter put into that draught which Satan has sweetened as a vehicle for his poison." Never is the believer so near to Christ's heart, and the Spirit's comforts, and Heaven's joys, as when the flood of dark and broken waters is surging beneath and around him, lifting him upon their crested billows. The higher the ark which bore the Church of old rose upon the flood, the nearer it mounted toward heaven. As earth receded, heaven approached; and the vessel, floating away upon the bosom of the swelling deep, mounted higher and higher. Is it not so with the believing soul when floods of great waters come into it? As these waters swell and rise, sinful follies, worldly vanities, carnal pursuits, pride, self, and ignorance, disappear, and the soul gets nearer to heaven. Precious trial that buries earth's vanity and corruption, and unveils heaven's joy and glory to the soul! Thus out of the eater comes food. The trial that looked so threatening has brought such mercy.
The cloud that seemed charged with electricity empties a fruitful shower. Oh, trying seasons are our most spiritual, most prayerful, most Christ-endearing, Christ-conforming seasons, and so trial becomes precious. Stars shine the brightest in the darkest night; torches are the better for the heating; grapes do not come to the proof until they come to the press; spices smell sweetest when pounded; young trees root the fastest for shaking; vines are better for bleeding; gold looks the brightest for scouring; glow-worms glisten best in the dark; juniper smells the sweetest in the fire; the palm tree proves the better for pressing; cammomile, the more you tread it the more you spread it. Such is the condition of all God's children; they are then most triumphant when most trampled, most glorious when most afflicted; often most in the favor of God when least in man's; as their conflicts, so their conquests; as their tribulations, so their joys; they live best in the furnace of persecution, so that heavy afflictions are the best benefactors to heavenly blessings, and when afflictions hang heaviest corruptions hang loosest, and grace that is hid in nature, as sweet water in rose leaves, is then most fragrant when the fire of affliction is put under to distill it out." (Spencer.)
Favored child of God, whose Father's discipline in providence and grace wafts such blessings into the soul! Precious trial that makes Jesus more precious, the throne of grace more precious, the discipline of the covenant more precious, holiness more precious, the saints of God more precious, the word of God more precious, and the prospect of going home to glory more precious! "Happy the believer who, the more afflictions assail him, cleaves the more closely to the Lord. Like the traveler overtaken in a storm, who, when the rain beats upon him, or the snow drifts upon his person, or the mountain wind drives furiously against him, lays firmer hold of his cloak and wraps it closely around him, he, amid the storm of troubles, keeps faster hold of the 'Man who is an hiding place from the wind and a covert from the tempest.'"
There is no real holiness but that which moulds us into the Divine image—that which makes us God-like. We cannot possess God's essential holiness, but we may partake of His imparted holiness. In the same sense in which we are said to be "partakers of the Divine nature" (2 Pet. 1:4), we are "partakers of the Divine holiness." What a portrait is a child of God purified, sanctified, and disciplined by trial! God is the divine original; he is the human copy. Upon that heart softened, upon that spirit subdued, upon that will laid low, the holy Lord God has imprinted, inlaid, His own likeness. And as the polished mirror reflects the likeness of the man who looks into it, and as the glassy lake images the sun that beams down upon it, so does the disciplined child of God,—the grossness of the fleshly eliminated from the spiritual—the dross of the natural separated from the divine—his purified soul reflects, and sparkles, and shines with the holiness of God.
Oh, to be like God, who would not welcome the trial, exclaiming with the psalmist, "I know, O Lord, that your judgments are right, and that you in faithfulness has afflicted me." How tenderly, soothingly, lovingly does your Father address you, His tried child—"My son, despise not you the chastening of the Lord." Is there rigor in the discipline?—there is love in the rod. Is there bitterness in the cup?—there is sweetness upon its brim. Is there acuteness in the suffering? there is soothing in the relation—"My son!" Never can He forget in the severest discipline, in the most painful correction, that He is our Father, and we His children. "Is Ephraim my dear son? is he a pleasant child? for since I spoke against him, I do earnestly remember him still: therefore my affections are troubled for him; I will surely have mercy upon him, says the Lord." Never does God employ a rebuke without a cordial, or the pruning knife without the balm. How frequently the mercy precedes, and thus prepares for, the judgment. It was so in the case of our first parents.
Before God pronounces the dreadful sentence, He breathes the gracious promise. Mercy digs the channel of judgment—prepares and paves its way. Thus, God's corrections, rebukes, and chastisements come tempered, softened, and subdued; and like the smitings and reproofs of the righteous, are a "kindness," and "an excellent oil, which shall not break the head." Thus it is that the tried believer can look into the face of his Father and say, "Righteous are you, O Lord, when I plead with you; yet let me talk with you of your judgments" (Jer. 12:1). How sweetly and tenderly did Jesus blend the warning with the consolation, "In the world you shall have tribulation, but in me you shall havepeace!" Our Lord wisely and graciously presents the world to us as a scene of sorrow, trial, and tribulation, but the counterpart shall be that in its midst we shall experience His presence, love, and grace as our peace. Thus the remark of a quaint writer holds good, "Affliction's rods are made of many keen twigs, but they are all cut from the tree of life.
It is a great mercy to have a bitter put into that draught which Satan has sweetened as a vehicle for his poison." Never is the believer so near to Christ's heart, and the Spirit's comforts, and Heaven's joys, as when the flood of dark and broken waters is surging beneath and around him, lifting him upon their crested billows. The higher the ark which bore the Church of old rose upon the flood, the nearer it mounted toward heaven. As earth receded, heaven approached; and the vessel, floating away upon the bosom of the swelling deep, mounted higher and higher. Is it not so with the believing soul when floods of great waters come into it? As these waters swell and rise, sinful follies, worldly vanities, carnal pursuits, pride, self, and ignorance, disappear, and the soul gets nearer to heaven. Precious trial that buries earth's vanity and corruption, and unveils heaven's joy and glory to the soul! Thus out of the eater comes food. The trial that looked so threatening has brought such mercy.
The cloud that seemed charged with electricity empties a fruitful shower. Oh, trying seasons are our most spiritual, most prayerful, most Christ-endearing, Christ-conforming seasons, and so trial becomes precious. Stars shine the brightest in the darkest night; torches are the better for the heating; grapes do not come to the proof until they come to the press; spices smell sweetest when pounded; young trees root the fastest for shaking; vines are better for bleeding; gold looks the brightest for scouring; glow-worms glisten best in the dark; juniper smells the sweetest in the fire; the palm tree proves the better for pressing; cammomile, the more you tread it the more you spread it. Such is the condition of all God's children; they are then most triumphant when most trampled, most glorious when most afflicted; often most in the favor of God when least in man's; as their conflicts, so their conquests; as their tribulations, so their joys; they live best in the furnace of persecution, so that heavy afflictions are the best benefactors to heavenly blessings, and when afflictions hang heaviest corruptions hang loosest, and grace that is hid in nature, as sweet water in rose leaves, is then most fragrant when the fire of affliction is put under to distill it out." (Spencer.)
Favored child of God, whose Father's discipline in providence and grace wafts such blessings into the soul! Precious trial that makes Jesus more precious, the throne of grace more precious, the discipline of the covenant more precious, holiness more precious, the saints of God more precious, the word of God more precious, and the prospect of going home to glory more precious! "Happy the believer who, the more afflictions assail him, cleaves the more closely to the Lord. Like the traveler overtaken in a storm, who, when the rain beats upon him, or the snow drifts upon his person, or the mountain wind drives furiously against him, lays firmer hold of his cloak and wraps it closely around him, he, amid the storm of troubles, keeps faster hold of the 'Man who is an hiding place from the wind and a covert from the tempest.'"
A time of trial is a time of sensibility. God often sends it for this very end. There is nothing in the gospel of Christ that forbids emotion, everything to awaken it; there is nothing in the religion of Jesus to crush sensibility, everything to create it. Christianity is a religion of feeling—deep, hallowed, sanctified feeling. It is the only religion that thoroughly appeals to our emotional nature, that touches the deep, hidden springs of our humanity, and tells us we may—weep. With Christ's tears at Bethany, and with his drops of blood in Gethsemane before us, surely we may express the deepest sympathy with the adversity of others, and may indulge in deep, chastened grief with our own. Weep on, then, beloved mourner! We would not seal up those tears.
"Jesus wept," and you too may weep. "No chastening for the present is joyous, but grievous;" therefore, it is no sin to give expression to emotion, to indulge in sensibility, to "water our couch with tears, and to make our bed to swim." Without a measure of grief our affliction would leave no trace of good. When God speaks, we should hear; when He smites, we should feel. Only let your grief be moderate, chastened, and submissive, embodying its sentiment, and expressing its intensity in the language and spirit of the "Man of Sorrows," "Not my will, O my Father, but your be done."
"Jesus wept," and you too may weep. "No chastening for the present is joyous, but grievous;" therefore, it is no sin to give expression to emotion, to indulge in sensibility, to "water our couch with tears, and to make our bed to swim." Without a measure of grief our affliction would leave no trace of good. When God speaks, we should hear; when He smites, we should feel. Only let your grief be moderate, chastened, and submissive, embodying its sentiment, and expressing its intensity in the language and spirit of the "Man of Sorrows," "Not my will, O my Father, but your be done."
What shall we then say to these things? Shall we not count among the precious things of God, not the least precious, the trial whose discipline removes from us so much evil, and confers upon us so much good? How little should we know experimentally of the Lord Jesus—what depths there were in His love, what soothing in His sympathy, what condescension in His grace, what gentleness and delicacy in His conduct, what exquisite beauty in His tears, what safety beneath His sheltering wing, and what repose upon His loving heart, but for this very adversity. Your ark is tossed amid the broken waters, but you have Christ on board your vessel, and it shall not founder. He may seem, as of old, "when asleep upon a pillow," ignorant of, and indifferent to, the storm that rages wildly around you; yet the eye of His Godhead never slumbers, and He will, and at the best moment, arise in majesty and power, hush the tempest and still the waves, and there shall be peace.
And will you not then count that a precious adversity that awakens in your breast the adoring exclamation, "What manner of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him?" Yes; Christ treads the limpid pathway of your sorrow. He comes to you walking upon the sea of your trouble. He approaches to quell your fears, to calm your mind, to give you peace. And but for this alienation of property, this sore bereavement, this terrible calamity, this wasting disease, this languor, suffering, and decay, these restless days and wakeful nights, oh, how many a precious visit from the Beloved of your soul would you have lost! Be still then; trial will bring a precious Jesus to you; and the presence, the love, the sympathy, and the grace of Jesus will lighten, soothe, and sweeten your trial.
We shall soon be at home, where "God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain." The last truth of God will be seen, the last lesson of holiness will be learned, the last taint of sin will be effaced, and there will be no more need of sorrow's discipline, nor the hallowing influence of precious trial; the last ember of the furnace will be extinguished, the last wave of trouble will die upon the shore, and we shall be forever with Jesus. Until then, "commit your way unto the Lord," leave your concerns in His hands, "trust in Him," and come up from the wilderness clinging to His almighty arm, and leaning upon His loving breast, to uphold you in weakness, to soothe you in grief, and to bring you home to Himself, where the days of your mourning shall be ended, and "GOD SHALL WIPE AWAY ALL TEARS FROM THEIR EYES."
And will you not then count that a precious adversity that awakens in your breast the adoring exclamation, "What manner of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him?" Yes; Christ treads the limpid pathway of your sorrow. He comes to you walking upon the sea of your trouble. He approaches to quell your fears, to calm your mind, to give you peace. And but for this alienation of property, this sore bereavement, this terrible calamity, this wasting disease, this languor, suffering, and decay, these restless days and wakeful nights, oh, how many a precious visit from the Beloved of your soul would you have lost! Be still then; trial will bring a precious Jesus to you; and the presence, the love, the sympathy, and the grace of Jesus will lighten, soothe, and sweeten your trial.
We shall soon be at home, where "God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain." The last truth of God will be seen, the last lesson of holiness will be learned, the last taint of sin will be effaced, and there will be no more need of sorrow's discipline, nor the hallowing influence of precious trial; the last ember of the furnace will be extinguished, the last wave of trouble will die upon the shore, and we shall be forever with Jesus. Until then, "commit your way unto the Lord," leave your concerns in His hands, "trust in Him," and come up from the wilderness clinging to His almighty arm, and leaning upon His loving breast, to uphold you in weakness, to soothe you in grief, and to bring you home to Himself, where the days of your mourning shall be ended, and "GOD SHALL WIPE AWAY ALL TEARS FROM THEIR EYES."
"When sore afflictions crush the soul,
And riven is each earthly tie,
The heart must cling to God alone:
He wipes the tear from every eye.
And riven is each earthly tie,
The heart must cling to God alone:
He wipes the tear from every eye.
"Through wakeful nights, when racked with pain,
On bed of languishing you lie,
Remember still your God is near
To wipe the tear from every eye.
On bed of languishing you lie,
Remember still your God is near
To wipe the tear from every eye.
"A few short years, and all is o'er;
Your sorrows, pains, will soon pass by;
Then lean in faith on God's dear Son,
He'll wipe the tear from every eye.
Your sorrows, pains, will soon pass by;
Then lean in faith on God's dear Son,
He'll wipe the tear from every eye.
"Oh, never be your soul cast down,
Nor let your heart desponding sigh,
Assured that God, whose name is Love,
Will wipe the tear from every eye!"
—Mrs. Mackinlay
Nor let your heart desponding sigh,
Assured that God, whose name is Love,
Will wipe the tear from every eye!"
—Mrs. Mackinlay
13 October, 2013
Faith - Part 10/10
Hebrews
11:6 “But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that comes to
God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently
seek him.”
Faith is not as easy as we think it is. It is so easy for us to
criticize the Israelites for not trusting God when they could not find water,
just three days after they have had such great experiences with God. The only
way we can understand why it was so hard for them to do something that appear
so simple is to walk a mile in their shoes. Faith is not that easy when your
life depends on it.
When I was led to a place where I truly had to trust God and
believe with all my life that it was the right thing for me to lose everything,
become penniless, homeless and jobless the first thing I said to Him was “ you
mean I have to believe for real?” I
was not trying to be funny or clever. Those words came out of my mouth simply
because I came face to face with my idea of faith and God’s idea. My idea of
faith consisted of words, experiences, activities, emotions and so on and it
was all beautiful as far as I was concerned and also for people observing me. There
was no effort, no building up on faith, no trying to do anything that was
peculiar, no God to impress, no letting go of my common sense and believe
anything mystical about this Christian life.
When I uttered the words “you want me to believe for real?”
All of the sudden I realized He was asking me to trust someone that no one has
ever seen. He was asking me to believe those words that I have been reading in
the Bible which were inspired by an invisible God. He was asking me to believe
all those things I have been reading about Salvation and Christ truly died and
most of all I had to believe that He truly ascended into heaven. Yes, by the time He asked me to believe and
bet my life on Him, I was experiencing Him and He was so real to me, but that’s
not faith either. I found myself asking Him “but, how do I know you are not a
figment of my imagination?” The reason we have this “fight and flight” response
when God is testing our faith, it is because everything about faith defy logic
and when common sense is out of the windows we have nothing else to go on.
When we look at Hebrews 11:6 most of us go through it and do not
even think twice about what we are repeating. It was a frightening thing for me
to master just this tiny part of the verse which is: “For he that comes to
God must believe that he is.” Do you realize even the demons are ahead of
us? They believe so much that they shudder in the presence of Christ. You might
think that this is beside the point that I am trying to make in this post. But
it is not. The reason is, throughout my walk with God I never lose sight of the
fact that even demons shudder in Christ’s presence and they live with great
reverence toward God. So, I need to know that my walk goes further than that
and the only way it is going to differentiate me from the demons is what I
decide to do with my trust in Him and how well I am going to accept His
leadership. In that sense, His leadership has to become a reality in my life
and yours. I will never be content with an assumption that I am probably being
led by Him.
I did not trust God right away and I spent days weighing things and
trying to work it all out in my heart. One day, the Holy Spirit knew I was
struggling with the idea of banking real life and real consequences with an
invisible God that might not be real.” The compassion of the Holy Spirit was
out of this world, with so much understanding and tenderness, He said “Jess”
look into your heart, don’t try to understand with your mind but think about
the changes that you know happened within you. Are these real changes? I had to
say yes because few minutes at the feet of God is worth months of learning and
changes on the inside. I knew I had become a different person because I had a
spiritual relationship with Him. This life was mine and no one could take it
away from my heart and I knew for a fact, this inward change and spiritual
relationship were not my imagination. So, the Holy Spirit said then hold onto
to what you know is true in this relationship and take the next step of faith
with Him, this part of you that you cherish so much has been given to you by
this invisible God you are doubting right now.
Only then, I knew I could trust Him for the next step.
Notice something, when I was not able to trust Him I did not get
busy trying my earnest to bury what was going on in my life, through friends,
social media, time spent on the internet or church activities. I stayed close to Him and continued my Bible
and prayer time along with mediation with a heart ready and willing to receive
more instructions. Another thing I found
out, God is happy when we trust Him, but He is glorified when we trust right
away within thinking twice about what He asks of us. So, He keeps taking us
through more testing and as time goes by, we too we can see how fast we react
in trusting His leading. But, even when
God is taking us through further testing, I find that sometimes we are totally
oblivious to what He is doing until we take our focus off of us and look onto
Jesus.
Throughout the years God has never let go and has always been by
my side. It turns out, I never had to be on the streets because God had chosen
a place for me to go and He prepared this person to receive me. But when you
are dealing with a mean drunk who is always looking for the next fight, it is
not easy. While God prepared the heart
of this person to give me a place to live, He did not take away his need to
blackmail me day in day out. Everyday I lived with a constant reminder that I can
be out on the streets. As anxieties set
in, it took me a few weeks to understand that I had no right to panic.
One day I received the usual threats and I was shown the doors,
all of the sudden I realized that I have been living with anxieties in my heart
instead of trusting God. I remember stopping what I was doing and instead of
getting upset or taking the doors like I was told, one verse came to mind and I
thought about the lilies of the valleys. Then I told myself, if God takes care
of them, I am so much more than a lily to Him. I realized I had an
extraordinary opportunity to once again trust His word and have faith in Him. I
can smile about it now when I see how much God used this man’s meanness to keep
testing my faith in Him until my faith was as strong as an oak tree.
God used this person's character to keep me deeper in my
surrendering. There, I found not only there are three levels of surrendering to
God but after a while you learn to live a life totally abandoned to Him. (&
yes I found out there was a major spiritual difference between living the
surrendered life and a life of complete abandonment to His will.) I personally learned that the life of total
abandonment resemble to the life of a branch attached to the tree of life and
sucking everything needed to survive and flourish. No, you are not perfect, and
you can step out of the abandoned life once in a while but the beauty of living
a life totally abandoned to Him, is that you know when you step out of Him, because
you are like a fish out of water.
I also learned, the faith that God is looking for has nothing to
do with the opportunities we create for ourselves while forging our own
footprints. Because, true faith is always about not knowing and not seeing, yet
you chose to believe and walk the path however hard and in spite of the
consequences. Our faith is directly related to our obedience to God‘s
word. Throughout the Bible faith is
never about how well we believed in the past, but how well we pass today’s test
of faith, Christianity is a continuous spiritual fight to keep your faith
renewed in Him daily.
Brothers and sisters there is nothing glorious about my life, it
is actually full of shame and hardships. I poured my heart out to you and shared
my shame because if God could use my story to bring your forward and stop a
man-made Christian walk, if you can end up in His arms of love, then glory to
Him! You and I will not only meet in heaven but we will be right there serving
as royalty, by His side.
In His Agape Love & Service
MJ
24 September, 2013
Faith - Part 1
Heb.
11:6 "But without faith it is impossible to please Him"
1 Peter
1:7 “These have come so that your faith--of greater worth than gold, which
perishes even though refined by fire--may be proved genuine and may result in
praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.”
Hebrews
11:1-39 “Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we
do not see.”
Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary describes faith in this
way: “11:1-3 Faith always has been
the mark of God's servants, from the beginning of the world. Where the
principle is planted by the regenerating Spirit of God, it will cause the truth
to be received, concerning justification by the sufferings and merits of
Christ. And the same things that are the object of our hope, are the object of
our faith. It is a firm persuasion and expectation, that God will perform all he
has promised to us in Christ. This persuasion gives the soul to enjoy those
things now; it gives them a subsistence or reality in the soul, by the
first-fruits and foretastes of them. Faith proves to the mind, the reality of
things that cannot be seen by the bodily eye. It is a full approval of all God
has revealed, as holy, just, and good. This view of faith is explained by many
examples of persons in former times, who obtained a good report, or an
honourable character in the word of God. Faith was the principle of their holy
obedience, remarkable services, and patient sufferings. The Bible gives the
most true and exact account of the origin of all things, and we are to believe
it, and not to wrest the Scripture account of the creation, because it does not
suit with the differing fancies of men. All that we see of the works of
creation, were brought into being by the command of God.”
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When I started going through the wilderness with God, there are
times I truly did not know what to do and I needed help figuring out my next
step. As I went through this process, I understood Abraham’s decision to go to Egypt
As I was seeking help to understand how to move forward with God,
I went to three different leaders of the Church (two were elders) on three completely
separate occasions I got the same scripted answer every single time. The answer
was for me to start doing stuff, choose between the choices that I have and pray
God to block my way if He does not want this for me. In their defence I have to
say most of the pastors all throughout the internet, the mega television
evangelists and many more out there have all used this analogy. What is strange
is that I have seen pastors who have solid faith in God also used this analogy.
Sometimes, I am not sure if they use it because they want to please more people
out there or if it is due to the lack of experiencing God. Either way, God
taught me that this way is wrong on so many levels, I would need to write a
specific post to talk about it.
About 18 months after
I left the Church, the guy who led me to Christ invited me to work with him in
church planting. As I went there to investigate things I was already on my
fourth year in the wilderness and I was still waiting for God’s leading before
getting involved in any kind of big venture. While I did not ignore any opportunity offered
to me, but I always left it to God to make the call. So, I was talking to two
people that I met and these people were already involved in the Church planting
ministry, they were trying their best to entice me. I started explaining to
them how I am waiting for God to show me where exactly He wants to use me
before I make a commitment to any project. One of the past elder of the Church
that I left behind, interject himself in the conversation as if because of his
status he had something that I did not have. So, he interrupted us to tell me
how wrong I was to wait for God to make decision for me and that we are given common
sense and we ought to use it. Somehow he thought this would be a big finale as
he stood there, and said: “there is nothing wrong with using common sense along
with God.” – I did not say a single word and since the people I was talking to
did not know Him, no one made any comments.
What this guy did not know is that years prior to this encounter
with him, God showed me how disobedient
he was and how in spite of everything that God put Him through, (believe me
when I tell you he was going through a lots of trials in his life) God was not
able to get this guy to a place where he would stop and think in the spirit
before making the numerous decisions He made in order to go forward with God. As
God is my witness I am telling you the truth. At one point God showed me so
much about this guy, I wrote an email to my Bible group leader and explained
all that I have been seeing and how deep this guy disobedience was getting with
God. I received an email back saying “you cannot confront him.” I replied back
that was not my intention. You see, the
reason I sent the email to my group leader was because they were all part of
the same leadership consortium and I was hoping that someone in the leadership
would get hold of what was going on and perhaps come alongside of this guy at
one point. Did I handle it wrong? YES BIG TIME.
This was during the time God used to show me things about people
and I did not know I was supposed to pray for them. Nevertheless God always
sustains me when I get bad advice from people and He always walk alongside of
me to make sure I stay the course. Walking
in the Spirit is so essential to our Christian faith. This ex Church elder
never realized that his walk with God is the equivalent of the Israelites walk
of faith that we find when reading 1 & 2 Kings. We find that many kings
failed because they could not bring themselves to the point of destroying the
high places their predecessors erected. So, they have learned to worship God on
their terms. (Man’s way) If we say we believe in Scripture, then we have to
believe that God recorded these things about the high places in 1 & 2 Kings
for a reason. While we might not have
high places in the same way, today’s Christians have to deal with high places
in their hearts.
The truth is, when
it comes to faith we can’t be satisfied with words we repeat like in Hebrews 11:1
“Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do
not see.” We have to learn to live
diligently as we are told so that we can grasp the opportunities that God bring
into our lives to get us there and to test us. Yes we find solace and great joy
in repeating those words, but God wants us to take them one step further by
allowing Him to work them out in us. That’s what’s pleasing to Him.
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