Being a Faithful Follower

     What does someone who is faithfully following God look like? Are they missionaries that leave their family and homes and go to a different country? Are they pastors and other church leaders? Or are they simply people who go to work every day and do their best to apply God’s will to their daily walk? Being a faithful follower simply means that you have asked for God to show you his will for your life and you are willing to follow it. That doesn’t mean it is going to be easy! In fact, I would bet that following God’s will for your life will leave you in many uncomfortable positions throughout your walk, but God promises to remain faithful to us if we are faithful to Him (see 2 Samuel 22:26).

     One of the most important aspects of being a faithful follower is prayer. Seeking God every morning will get your day off on the right foot and renew your spirit for whatever challenges the Lord may have in store for the next 24 hours. Romans 12:12 says, “Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.” A faithful follower will faithfully pray and seek God’s will every day.

     Another important part of being a faithful follower is to be willing. If you are going to ask God to show you his will for your life, you had better be prepared for His answer. God doesn’t often call us to do things that will be comfortable and easy for us. Not that there won’t be times when you will feel like following God’s will is easy, because there may be. But most often, we are called to step out of our comfortable boxes and once we step out in faith, God will probably burn that old comfortable box you kept yourself in for you will no longer need it!

     Being a willing follower will not be easy. God never said it would be. In fact, He tells us plainly that following Him will be hard. In Matthew 7:14 Jesus says, “Small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few will find it.” Have you ever tried to thread a needle with a very small eye? It is extremely difficult and very frustrating! But some amazing person created this little thing called a needle threader to make this task a little easier. God is our needle, Jesus is the threader, and we are the string. Jesus died on the cross so that we would be able to find that narrow path that leads to the Father and in so doing, be able to be used by Him.

     Following God faithfully will probably be the most difficult, uncomfortable at times, choice you will make in your life. But it is the most important, rewarding one. If we remain faithful to God and his will for our life, He will remain faithful to us in everything. The things we will be asked to do and to endure will be difficult, but they are always for our good. For the Lord “is the rock, his works are perfect, all his ways are just. A faithful God who does no wrong, upright and just is He” (Deuteronomy 32:4).

Growing in Faith

     Hebrews 11:1 tells us that “faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do no see” (NIV). If you are growing in your faith, your personal relationship with God is becoming stronger and you are becoming more and more certain that God is at work. There will be a deep trust between you and your Creator and a powerful knowledge of His will for your life. There will also be a hunger for constant communication with Him. Now, the methods you use to develop this relationship will be as unique as you are, however, there are a few things that are necessary for any relationship to be successful. You need trust, knowledge of the other person involved and communication. Lots of communication.  

     Let’s start with trust. Trust is difficult in any relationship. You won’t feel like growing a relationship if you don’t think you can trust the other party involved. This holds true for our relationship with God as well. If you don’t think you can trust that God has your best interests at heart, you will have trouble with your faith. But the great thing is that God doesn’t expect us to trust blindly. He has given us plenty of examples through His word of His trustworthiness. He promised Abraham a son in his old age and He delivered. He promised to lead the Israelites out of Egypt and He did, with no shortage of miracles along the way. All we have to do is read through the Old Testament to see God over and over again proving His trustworthiness.

     And it doesn’t stop in the Old Testament. Think about this: Would you trust someone who was willing to give up His own son in order for you to have life? That’s what He did. He sent the ultimate proof that He is worthy of our trust by sending his son to die in our place. It is hard to grasp sometimes, but Jesus was a real, live, flesh and blood man that felt hunger, thirst, pain and all the other things we experience on a daily basis. Then He died a horrific, painful death just because He loved us and wants our trust. In John 14:1 Jesus tells us, “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; also trust in me.” Take heart friends, He wouldn’t command us to trust Him if He wasn’t worthy of our trust.

     Knowledge of God’s will for your life can also help deepen your relationship with Him. How does God provide us with that knowledge? He gives us His word. Literally. The Bible is full of instruction on how God’s wants us to live our lives, and if we are the Christians we profess to be, we will seek this knowledge on a regular basis. In John Ortberg’s book titled “The Me I Want to Be” he reminds us that “only God knows your full potential, and he is guiding you toward that best version of yourself all the time.” God wants us to know what his will for our life is and He will guide us into that place if we are willing to go. All we have to do is spend time in His word, trust His guidance, and ask Him to keep us on track.

     That brings us to communication. Sometimes, communication can be the hardest part of a relationship. I think this is especially true in our relationship with God. He doesn’t respond in the typical way, does he? We have to learn to listen for God’s voice throughout our day. Sometimes He will respond directly to us through his word and we know it’s Him. Other times He will respond through someone else, through a situation we are dealing with or maybe even a book we are reading. Regardless of how He responds, if you are not actively listening and watching for His response, you will miss it. Growing this part of your relationship may seem the hardest. How do you find time in your busy day to talk to God? And how do know that you haven’t missed his answer? The demands of your job and home life may make you feel like you don’t have the proper time to spend communicating with God. While it is important to spend some quiet time alone with God everyday, that doesn’t mean that He won’t value the short, seemingly broken conversations you may have with Him during your busy day. A quote from Thomas Kelly’s book “A Testament of Devotion” sums up this concept beautifully:

“There is a way of ordering our mental life on more than one level at once. On one level we may be thinking, discussing, seeing, calculating, meeting all the demands of external affairs. But deep within, behind the scenes, at a profounder level, we may also be in prayer and adoration, song and worship and a gentle receptiveness to divine breathings.”

     Moses’ words to the Israelites serve as a reminder to us all, “Now choose life, so that you and your children may live and that you may love the Lord your God, listen to his voice and hold fast to him. For the Lord is your life…” (Deuteronomy 30:19-20). Make the Lord your life, and He will not fail to lead you if you hold to his teachings, trust him and listen to his voice.

An Ornament to Grace your Neck

     One of the definitions given for grace on Dictionary.com is, "a pleasing or attractive quality or endowment." This definition applies to the verse in Proverbs 1 that I shared a couple weeks ago and it also applies to the next verse in the Bible where the word grace appears.
     Proverbs 3, verses 21 and 22 say, "My son, preserve sound judgment and discernment, do not let them out of your sight; they will be life for you, an ornament to grace your neck." Solomon clearly believed in adorning ourselves with things besides nice clothes and jewelry! Just to review, Proverbs 1:8-9 say "Listen, my son, to your father's instruction and do not forsake your mother's teaching. They will be a garland to grace your head and a chain to adorn your neck."
     Garlands for our heads, chains and ornaments for our necks. What are these pleasing qualities and attractive endowments that Solomon is referring to? Sound judgment, discernment (or understanding) and our parent's teachings. If you haven't read the first few chapters of the book of Proverbs, I would invite you to do that. Solomon spends a lot of time talking about how godly wisdom, knowledge, understanding, sound judgment and other desirable qualities are way more important than rubies, gold, jewels, or any other wealth.
     Why? My guess is because Solomon was extremely rich and he wanted his people and his children to know that there were things out there more desirable than material wealth. Solomon was appointed as king at the tender age of 12. God appeared to him in a dream and told Solomon that he could ask for whatever he wanted and the Lord would give it to him. What did that 12 year old boy who just became king ask for? Did he ask for riches? Gold and silver? Precious jewels? Nope. He was humble and knew he did not have the wisdom and knowledge at his age to run a kingdom. So that is what he asked for. He wanted to be able to rule his people with a wise and understanding heart and to distinguish between right and wrong (1 Kings 3:6-9). Because God was so pleased with Solomon's request, not only did he give him the wisdom he asked for, God also gave him extreme wealth. In fact, it is believed that King Solomon was the richest king ever!
     What is it that you are adorning yourself with each day? I know for me, it's not always wisdom, understanding, or patience, especially with my kids. But I really want it to be! And I know that if I humble myself and ask my heavenly Father to give me wisdom to be a good wife and mother He will. And you know what? He will give those things to you too. So as Ephesians 6:14-17 says, lets put on the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, fit our feet with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace, put on our helmets of salvation, pick up our shields of faith and our swords of the Spirit and do battle each day against the evil one who loves nothing more than for us to be unkind, impatient and selfish people. I pray that today you will resist the devil and choose the abundant life that God has for you. Have a blessed day!

3 Life Lessons in 3 Miles

     As I was running this morning, some things occurred to me. I'm not a fast runner and I don't have great form. Truthfully, I struggle with running. But I love the way it makes me feel. Once I have settled into the run, usually after about a mile, and for the rest of the day I feel as if I'm on top of the world (if you're having a Leonardo DiCaprio moment right now I'll pause for you..........................). Okay, back to reality. :-) When I run, I tend to pray a lot and think a lot. Today my thoughts started to center on how running and life are very similar.
     First, I thought about my pace. Like I said, I'm not a fast runner. I have to set a steady pace or I just can't run as far as I want. If I start out to fast, then I end up walking because I've run out of breath or I get a cramp. If I start to slow, then I find myself wanting to give up because the run is taking to long. The same thing applies to life. If we jump into something to fast, we tend to burn out or make mistakes because we didn't plan ahead. But when we take the time to plan and set goals, we can accomplish what we set out to do. In 1 Peter 5:10, Peter says, "And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast." Sometimes when in life and in running, we suffer. But we have to trust that God will restore us and make us strong and steadfast so we can finish this life race for Him.
     The second thing that occurred to me while running was that I don't have very good form. Meaning, I tend to slouch and plod. If you are a runner then you know what slouching and plodding can do to you. It's hard on your joints and your muscles when you plod along. And slouching makes it hard to take the good breaths you need to keep your oxygen levels up. So I have to focus on keeping my shoulders back and listening for the sound of my foot steps so I know if I'm plodding. Trying to keep good form when I'm running is almost more tiring than the run itself! But I discovered that if I keep my head up and my eyes focused ahead, my form was better almost instantly. Why? Because I was focused on what was ahead of me. Not the ground under my feet or the distractions to my right or left. This also allowed me to adjust my pace because I could see the hills coming and I knew that if I wanted to run up them, it would require a little more effort.
     When we keep our eyes focused on what is ahead of us in life, instead of the distractions to our right and left, we can see the obstacles we are about to hit before they get to us. Oh how often I have had something hit me right in the face all because I was distracted by something that wasn't even on my path! James 4:7 says, "Submit yourselves, then to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you." I consider those distractions, those things that are behind me that I can't change, those things that are beside me yet not on my path, I consider those things to be from the devil. Simply reminding my self to resist him and he will flee helps me to keep my eyes focused ahead on the path the God has for me.
     The last thought about life that cropped up during my run was that it's better with someone. My pace was much slower today than on Sunday when I ran a 5K race with my daughter. It was so cool to have a lot of people around encouraging you in your run and being able to encourage them too was awesome. We weren't meant to do this life by ourselves. We need to be around friends and family that will encourage us in our walk with the Lord so that we will stick with it. There is something wonderful about being surrounded by a group of people that are doing what you are doing. They know how difficult it is, they know how far you have to go because they have to go the same distance too. Hebrews 3:13 says, "But encourage one another daily, so long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness." The devil will come against us in this life with distractions, trying to make us think that our sin is better than what God has planned. Surround yourself with other believers who will encourage you every day so that you don't get distracted.
     I know this was a bit longer of a post than I usually write but I wanted to put my thoughts down somewhere permanently as much for myself as for you. I hope you will keep in mind that when we follow the Lord, we are not guaranteed as easy race. We have to keep our eyes on Him, keep moving forward and surround ourselves with others who are doing the same thing. Have a blessed day friend!

A Garland to Grace your Head

When my daughter was little, she loved to play dress up. Truthfully, I don't know many little girls who don't! She would put on fancy dresses, shoes, silk gloves, and pretty necklaces and tiaras. She would want her hair done up like a princess and I was happy to help. She looked so pretty when she was done and the smile on her face as she twirled around in her outfits is something I hope I never forget.

Some of that little girl still lives in all of us ladies. I know I still love to get dressed up in something beautiful, have a great hair do, and wear beautiful necklaces. And I think there is a time and a place for those things. But the Bible tells us there is something else, something better than any jewelry that we should be adorning ourselves with.

 Proverbs 1 verse 9 is the second time the word "grace" appears in the Old Testament (NIV version). The verse says, "They will be a garland to grace your head and a chain to adorn your neck." In order to understand what this verse is talking about, we need to look at it along with verse 8. Together they say, "Listen, my son, to your father's instruction and do not forsake your mother's teaching. They will be a garland to grace your head and a chain to adorn your neck."

Solomon is telling us that the wisdom and instruction of our parents are like fine jewelry that will make us look beautiful if we heed that instruction. Some of you may be thinking, "My parents were far from wise," and that may be true. But God didn't just give us our parents to rely on. We have His Word as well, which truthfully, is far better than anything else we could look to for wisdom and instruction on how to live life and guide our own children.

Grace in this verse, is used a little differently than in Psalm 45:2 which we looked at last week. But I think the concept is still the same. God will give us everything we need if we seek Him. That includes wisdom and knowledge like we could never imagine. We can't earn godly wisdom by doing good deeds or being a "morally good" person. It has to come from the Creator. He is the bestower of the garland of wisdom. He is the Father who secures the necklace of knowledge around our necks. He loves you and me and He wants these things for all of us and He has made it easy to get them. We just have to ask Him.

Grace: How do we get it?

I have wanted to take a trip through the Bible, only focusing on grace.  I will be starting in the Old Testament and working my way through the entire Bible. It will take some time but I plan to write a post on each verse and what I learned from it. I will not be looking at verses that use any other form of the word "grace". So nothing with graceful, gracious or graciously. I hope you will join me in this journey to learn more about what the Bible says on grace and what it means for us.

The first verse, using the NIV Bible (New International Version), that we come across is Psalm 45:2. This was written for the wedding of one of King David's sons. The verse says, "You are the most excellent of men and your lips have been anointed with grace, since God has blessed you forever." At first reading, I didn't really think this applied to me at all. The writer was clearly speaking to a man and doing his best to honor a son of the king. So what can I learn from it?

Well, one of the first things that I noticed was that it said his lips were anointed with grace, since God has blessed him forever. Or if you flip it around, since God blessed him forever, his lips were anointed with grace. He did not receive grace because of something he did. The grace was given to him as a blessing from God. Ahhh, now I can relate. I have also been given grace as a blessing from God. Why? Because I believe in Jesus as the Son of God. I believe Jesus of Nazareth died on a cross in order that I might be saved from the penalty of my sin so that I can live with Him forever in heaven. That's the only reason I have been blessed. I didn't nor can I do anything to earn God's grace. It is freely given to all who believe in his son Jesus. As John 3:16 says, "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life" (emphasis is mine).

All we have to do is accept the gift. When we do, we become part of God's family. Set apart to do His work on Earth while we are here. Blessed just as David and his offspring were blessed, with grace to anoint our lips. Do your lips reflect the grace that has been given to you if you are a child of God's family? I confess, sometimes mine don't. But that is the wonderfully amazing thing about grace. When we forget we have it or choose to ignore it, God doesn't take it away. In fact, He promises that it will be new every day. May God's grace to you be new this day and every day!

Serving in Obscurity

Serving in obscurity.  This phrase jumped out at me this morning from my daily emailed devotion. It was about David. Yep, that David. The devotion was an excerpt from a book called "Unstoppable" by Christine Caine. I have not read the book, but hope to in the future.

The more time I spent thinking about the phrase "serving in obscurity" and how it related to David, the more I found it related to me. Most of the time, I want to be one of David's brothers. You know, standing there in line, waiting to see if I'm the one that God has chosen for this great task. I definitely don't see myself out in the field with the sheep. But really, that is where I am. Only my field looks more like a dirty bathroom and my sheep are getting to that age where they want to spend more time with other sheep than me.

I want so much to be acknowledged by God in great ways. I want to spend all day writing (and hopefully getting paid to do it). I want to do great things for God to further His kingdom. But I need to have patience. I need to be content to serve in obscurity until God calls me forward.

I hope that you will be content to serve God wherever you are. Know that He has not forgotten you. His eyes are always on you, whether you are still out in that field or if He has already said ".......this is the one". (1 Samuel 16:12).