These Things Remain....

Now we see only an indistinct image in a mirror, 

but then we will be face to face. 

Now what I know is incomplete, 

but then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known. 

Right now three things remain: faith, hope, and love. 

But the greatest of these is love.

1 Corinthians 13:12-13

FAITH

I have faith. Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ as Messiah and Lord. In His power to heal and save. I have faith. Faith in our heavenly Father who created all things through His breath and His Word.

Or so I think.... Or so I say....  But do I? Do I really?

A series of unfortunate events have entered our family scenario over the past five years or so. Small but significant in our lives. As time goes on, they bare increasingly collective weight upon us emotionally, physically and financially.

Things have intensified during the past several months in almost all these areas.  As Jacob did, I found myself wrestling with God on more than one occasion about many of these things.  Asking for His blessing. I've been on my knees in prayer many hours for many months over many of the same things. I do recognize the testing here. Waiting for the mountain to move. Waiting for the persistence in prayer to pay off. Waiting for resolution or absolution, whatever the case may be. It has not come. The pressure increases. The waiting is difficult. I know in my mind that the waiting will bear fruit but I struggle still.

Hard questions like this one come forth in hard times. The testing and trials of this life.  God wants us to back up our words with action. We say we have faith in Him but do we really mean it? He will test us in our faith. Guaranteed.

Do I have faith that He exists? Yes. Do I have faith that He sent His son to die for my transgressions, be raised again on the third day to new life? Yes. Do I believe that by confessing, repenting and receiving His gift of salvation, I receive His grace daily and have a future in eternity. Yes and Amen!

But yet....  Do I have true faith? If I don't have true faith, then I don't trust Him, do I?

Faith and Trust

Faith and trust go hand-in-hand.  Only through pure faith can you have complete trust in the Lord Almighty.  After all, He is unseen and often works in mysterious ways. You can't see Him, touch Him, smell Him. Not in absolutes like the things of this world. He defies explanation. He is beyond human comprehension. He is not of this world. Not of flesh but spirit. His instruction manual is one book, His Holy Word. Sounds simple but yet it isn't. He talks through prophets, apostles, angels, kings, parables and His Spirit. His technical school is on-the-job training through the school of 'hard knocks' in walking through this life one day at a time.  It takes a lifetime to learn His will and His ways.

Faith earns its muscle through the testing and trials of this life.  We do believe yet we lack faith. Our faith is often shallow.  We like to live in the faith that fulfills our human desires rather than the desires that God has for us. He desires us to become more like Him and acquire the things that are not of this world. To live in the Spirit rather than the flesh.

As long as things are flowing smoothly in our lives, we stand confident in our faith. However, when the winds of change blow our way and our world is turned upside down by the unforeseen, unexpected circumstances, we waiver. We grasp to hold onto something secure, something within our sphere of influence. We want to take control. We often put our faith in our own abilities to fix things. Our pure faith falters. Our trust walks right out the door taking our faith with it.  We fall on our faces suffering the consequences of lack of faith.

But then we remember Who is always in control.  Of EVERYTHING.

Who has ascended to heaven, and then descended? 

Who has collected the wind in His hands? 

Who has wrapped up waters in a garment? 

Who has established all the farthest points of the earth? 

What is His name, and what is His son’s name? Surely you know! 

Proverbs 30:4

HOPE

As this journey continues, I find myself taking things one day at a time most of the time. Thanking Him for life and breath, for blessings, and focusing on the positives. Having faith.  But then, the darkness will begin to close in, the oppressiveness of the situation looms large, and I cry out in desperation and fear. I have lost hope.  I have lost sight of the One Who is control of everything.

I must walk by faith and not by sight.   For we live by faith, not by sight. 2 Corinthians 5:7  If I lose hope, I have a faith that falters. I forget that He is in control. That He works all things together for good. That He is for me, not against me.

In the trials and the testing, do I falter in my hope because of fear and doubt? Do I take Him at His Word and believe ALL of His promises or do I subject His Word to my own interpretations? Most importantly, is my love for Him conditional upon a smooth, trial-free life?

I need to remind myself that I can make my plans but He directs my steps. Do I place my hope in myself or in other people?  Do I place my hope in the things of this world?  My reasoning is faulty at best because I don't see the whole picture. I lack His vision.

LOVE

Perfect love casts out fear.  When I have doubt or fear, my love for Him is wavering. If our love for Him is pure, then we can boldly stand in victory no matter what the circumstance. We can trust in His ways and His will.

Love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength. Everyday and in every circumstance. Faith, Hope, Love. Fully devoted in heart and soul demonstrated by a fullness of walking life out in faith in His promises. Having the mind of Christ, to walk like Him, talk like Him, do what He would do. Living in the power of His love and pouring it out on others.

And, if love is the greatest of these, then we must walk out our lives in fullness of faith and hope knowing, beyond a doubt, that He is true to His Word always.  That He is LOVE. His love is honest, pure and unconditional. Our love for Him should be rooted in Who He is and not what He does for us.

FAITH, HOPE and LOVE

Faith, hope and love--they work together for our good. Faith and hope produce trust, obedience, surrender, peace, and the unsurpassed, unconditional love that He desires.  We want what He wants. Our will becomes as His. We must have a secure faith and unrelenting hope in Him to love Him as He deserves. Our relationship with God becomes more important than anything. As we draw closer to Him, He draws closer to us. The darkness will gradually fade and everything will be brought into His marvelous light. 

Faith, hope and love. They give us humility and confidence as we approach the throne of grace. With purity in these three things, we win the spiritual battle and attain perfect peace. His is our peace. We are solely devoted to Him through a pure faith, hope and love. Nothing can separate us!

But now, in union with the Messiah Jesus, 

you who once were far away have been brought near 

by the blood of the Messiah.

For it is he who is our peace. 

Ephesians 2:13-14

May the God of peace Himself 

make you holy in every way. 

And may your whole being—spirit, soul, and body—remain blameless 

when our Lord Jesus, the Messiah, appears. 

1 Thessalonians 5:23

For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers,

 nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, 

  nor anything above, nor anything below, nor anything else in all creation

 can separate us from the love of God

 that is ours in union with the Messiah Jesus, our Lord. 

Romans 8:38-29

FOR FREEDOM, FOR LOVE

On this night of deliverance
Our freedom was bought by just One.
Who seemed of no significance
When the horrific deed was done.

Who, in His sacrifice, died once for all
He redeemed the broken, the fallen, the weak.
While self appointed judges looked upon Him appalled,
Those who believed stood watching unable to speak.

The Bread of Life, the blood outpoured.
As the earth shook and the thunder roared,
Tears flowed and tempers soared.
Sacrificed as the Lamb unblemished.
As grace grew and sin diminished,
He gasped His last breath and uttered “It is finished”.

In victory, the veil was torn.
A new age of redemption and healing was born
Through the one and only Son so scorned.
He ushered in the law of liberty.
In tremendous triumph, the cold tomb lay empty.
Death is defeated; we are no longer held guilty.

All for Freedom.
All for love.
Mighty as a Lion.
Yet gentle as a dove.

Into the wind we sing praises to His name.
For Freedom, for life ever after, for amazing love.
In unity, in spirit we are one the same
Because of this beautiful gift of God from heaven above.

All glory and honor and praise to our Heavenly Father and our Messiah, Jesus the Christ through Whom we have the gift of life eternal!

IN THE EYE OF THE HURRICANE

For the past six months, I've been on a boat in the middle of the sea....with Jesus, Son of the Living God.

He invited me there. I stepped out in faith, out of my comfort zone, into uncharted waters. Reluctantly. In submission to His will. Not my choice but His. Surrounded by uncertainty (to some degree). Waiting....

My sea has not been one of glass just yet. Still some waves crashing on the sides now and then. The wind was still, quiet sometimes, leaving us a drift which left me wondering a bit. Nonetheless, I remained in the boat as I know it is not time to get out of the boat just yet.

God has been faithful, during this quiet time, in providing blessings along the way to bring me peace and focus while I wait. He has given me an abundance of opportunity to spend time with Him in prayer, in fasting, in study and in fellowship.

Sailing was relatively smooth until January. Then I was hit by a very unexpected storm. It built slowly but, in a matter of days, it became a hurricane!

I came down with pneumonia. A very serious case of pneumonia. So much so that I became hospitalized. First time ever!

At first, the doctors weren't sure it was pneumonia. The antibiotics didn't appear to be effective. I was poked with way too many needles, hooked up to a symphony of noisy machines, exposed to too many gamma rays (my husband tells me I don't yet glow in the dark) and had a thermometer stuck in my mouth more times in a week than I did a fork! A good night's sleep was reduced to multiple catnaps during the course of a 24 hour period. A shower consisted of dry soap used in the important areas; the rest of me had to wait for a week for the kind of soap you use with water. Not the hotel of my choosing!

My heart missed my family. I missed my own bed, my own pillow, my shower and my kitchen. The thought of death did cross my mind (as people do die from pneumonia)......

......but only for a moment! All those weeks of abiding in Him were beginning to bear fruit! From the first moment in the doctor's office, into the ER, and once admitted. In an instant. I did not recognize myself.......because it wasn't me, it was the power of His Spirit.

My normal questioning, anticipating-the-worst self took a hiatus! No feelings of stress or panic. I surrendered to His will at that moment and became transformed. I had peace, I was calm. My eyes were on Him. I was truly in the eye of the storm! I heard Him speaking to me in chaos and through circumstances, saw Him in the people who came to visit me, those who helped with meals for my family, and helped out with home schooling. I sensed His love and saw His provision.

   It is not that I am looking for a gift. 

No, I want to see that you receive the fruit that increases to your benefit.  

 I have been paid in full and have more than enough. 

I am fully supplied, now that I have received from Epaphroditus what you sent—a fragrant aroma, a sacrifice acceptable and pleasing to God.   

And my God will fully supply your every need 

according to his glorious riches in the Messiah Jesus.   

Glory belongs to our God and Father forever and ever! Amen. 

Phillipians 4:17-20

And, I became empowered through His Spirit to minister to others. I took my focus off of my pain and struggle, focusing instead upon others in the hospital. I took personal interest in almost everyone who I came in contact with during my stay. Even when they were sticking me with needles, giving me treatments, or taking me to the X-ray lab in a wheelchair. Despite my illness, my mind and heart had the energy to touch the lives of others. By His provision. By His grace.

The joy it brought me to be used in this way by God is indescribable. The sense of purpose in Him was magnified in me. Through it all, He was glorified!

Our gracious Lord took a stressful, unpleasant experience and truly used it for good and for His glory. I am healed physically by His hand as I did most of my recovery at home without antibiotics. I am healed spiritually by His power within me as I yielded to His sovereignty, His authority, and died a spiritual death to self in that moment. Thy will be done.

 Jeremiah said, “They won’t turn you over. Obey the Lord 

in what I’m telling you, and it will go well for you and you will live.   

But if you refuse to surrender, this is what the Lord has shown me:  

Look, all the women who are left in the house of the king of Judah 

will be brought out to the officers of the king of Babylon, and will say,

‘These friends of yours have mislead you
    and overcome you.
Your feet have sunk down into the mire,
    but they have turned away.’

Jeremiah 38:20-22

No struggle, no questioning, just obedience. In turn, He empowered me to touch lives, to bring light, to speak life into others. To be a light in a dark world, in a place filled with stress and suffering. Even when my own circumstances had dark possibilities. Therein lies the beauty of His provision. He knew the hurricane was coming and He prepared me for it during those months of quiet. He prepared me to survive it, to overcome, and to serve Him.  Not just through submission. Through surrender. This time it was my choice! He showed me the way....

I'm still in the boat riding the wind and the waves with my Savior. It is still not time to step out onto the water just yet. My hospital experience was a test run. My strength comes from my God alone. And, the victory belongs to Jesus!