Living By Faith

“We live by faith, not by sight.”  2 Corinthians 5:7

“Blessed is she who has believed what the Lord has said to her will be accomplished!”  Luke 1:45

I do believe... I really do.  By His grace I live by faith.  Lately though I’ve been tempted to pay attention to the “circumstances” around me rather than to keep my eyes on the One and Only God Who overcomes all those “circumstances”.  I don’t mean to pay attention to them, but sometimes the heat of the “circumstances” seems to demand my attention.  It is at that point that I can take my eyes off of the Lord and place them on the things that are going on around me.  I temporarily forget that He is the Sovereign God and Lord of all.  My mind goes to the place of wondering how things will ever be changed.  Thankfully, at that point I am called back by His Holy Spirit to the place of faith. I can again see that He is in complete control over all and that nothing is too hard for Him.  I can trust Him in everything.  HE, not I, will change the situations that weigh so heavily on my heart.  I remember His Word....

“Jesus looked at them and said, ‘With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God.’”  (Mark 10:27)

“I am the Lord, the God of all mankind.  Is anything too hard for Me? (Jeremiah 32:27)

“For nothing is impossible with God.”  (Luke 1:37)

I am so thankful for the Lord’s mercy in returning me to the place of faith.  He is so good to me.  And so we continue to walk together along this path lived out in faith.  All praise, honor and glory be unto Him!

“‘No weapon forged against you will prevail, and you will refute every tongue that accuses you.  This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and this is their vindication from me,’ declares the Lord.”  (Isaiah 54:17)

Hope

As the challenges before me increase, my hope is in the Lord.  Where else can I go?  He alone does the impossible.  He is my Lord God Almighty, omnipotent and ever-present.  He alone will be my Deliverer.  To Him I surrender all.  By His grace I am more than a conqueror in all that I face.  Praise Him!  

Psalm 91- “He Who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.  I will say of the Lord, “He is my Refuge and my Fortress, my God in Whom I trust.  Surely He will save you from the fowler’s snare and from the deadly pestilence.  He will cover you with His feathers, and under His wings you will find refuge; His faithfulness will be your shield and rampart.  You will not fear the terror of night, nor the arrow that flies by day, nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness, nor the plague that destroys at midday.  A thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand, but it will not come near you.  You will only observe with your eyes and see the punishment of the wicked.  If you make the Most High your dwelling-- even the Lord, Who is my Refuge-- then no harm will befall you, no disaster will come near your tent.  For He will command His angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways; they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.   You will tread upon the lion and the cobra; you will trample the great lion and the serpent.  ‘Because he loves me,’ says the Lord, ‘I will rescue him; I will protect him, for he acknowledges My Name.  He will call upon Me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him and honor him.  With long life will I satisfy him and show him my salvation.” 

Proverbs 18:10- “The Name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous run to it and are safe.”

Amazing Love

“If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in Heaven give good gifts to those who ask Him!” (Matthew 7:11)

Yesterday my Abba Father gave me a gift too wonderful for words.  He told me why.  Oh, I know that He does not have to ever tell me why He does things in my life in the ways that He does them, but this time He did.  Until yesterday I have just walked by faith concerning those things, knowing that what He did was perfect and in His eternal purpose for me.  All I knew at that time was to follow in obedience wherever He led me.  However, in those many years of following in radical obedience to Him and seeing Him act in miraculous and mighty ways (thus increasing my faith), my heart ached and the walk was excruciatingly hard.  Like Paul I would have died had it not been for the mercy and daily deliverance from the Lord.  Despite an overwhelming fear during those days of losing all that I loved here on Earth, the Lord protected me and those around me and not one thing was lost.  Needless to say, though, I carried scars with me from these years of radical obedience to the Lord that I loved and still love with all my heart, soul, mind and strength.  I wondered “Why?”.  Why did it take such radical obedience to follow Him during those particular years?  I had no answers but walked forward with Him anyway.... until yesterday.  

As I was listening to a testimony on the radio yesterday afternoon, I suddenly became acutely aware that the Lord was speaking to me through this woman’s testimony.  I began to weep as the Lord whispered into my heart about my past.  I was overwhelmed by what He told me.  I cried more.  I felt confused by what He was telling me and continued praying about and thinking about it all.  Last night He put it all together and it all made sense to me.  In His amazing love, mercy and grace He completed a deliverance from all my wounds and scars left by that extremely difficult period following Him in such radical obedience.  I understand now.  As hard as those years were, I now know the answer to my question of so many years of “Why, Lord?”.   Who but He Who is Perfect Love could have done that for me?  

“He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.”  Psalm 147:3

“I will be glad and rejoice in Your love, for You saw my affliction and knew the anguish of my soul.”  Psalm 31:7

Shoes...

I love shoes.  I like black ones, white ones, navy ones, any color ones, but especially red ones.  Red ones really make me feel great.  Although I’ve been told “you should never wear red shoes”, I just feel wonderful when I wear red shoes.  Yes, I love shoes.  

Lately the Lord has blessed me with some new shoes that are too wonderful for words.  Just what I’ve been needing for so long.... shoes for my always-in-pain feet.  I am so grateful and ever thankful for His gift to me.  Once again He has provided for my need according to His glorious riches in Christ.  He just showers His love on me in so many ways.  I am  grateful and humbled.  

With comfortable new shoes I’ve been thinking at lot lately about walking with the Lord.  That seems to be a theme in His dealings with me recently.  Even though I was saved in 1976, I never really began an increasingly intimate relationship with Him until 1993.  Seventeen years is a long time to walk with Him in a lukewarm relationship.  Yes, I was active in church all those years, but was not even certain of my own salvation during that time.  Only when I attended Bible Study Fellowship and delved deeply into His Word did I grow closer and closer to Him.  It’s amazing what He does when you seek Him with all your heart.  Something only HE can do.  

The more I think about walking with the Lord, the more I desire to go deeper with Him.  I keep thinking about Enoch who “walked with God; then he was no more...” (Gen. 5:24)  Enoch walked so closely to God that he simply walked into Heaven with God and didn’t think it strange.  He kept his eyes on the Lord and stayed close to Him... a closer walk with the Lord.  I’ve found myself in recent years praying that the Lord would keep my eyes on Him and keep me close to Him.  I desire a deeper walk with Him.  While I know He will answer my prayers, I cannot imagine where that walk will take us.  By faith and by His grace I will follow Him wherever He leads me, trusting that He knows what is best for me.  My Abba Father will take good care of me along the journey.  He is faithful.  

“Pray that the Lord your God will tell us where we should go and what we should do.”  Jeremiah 42:3

“Simon Peter answered Him, “Lord, to whom shall we go?  You have the words of eternal life.  We believe and know that You are the Holy One of God.”  John 6:68-69

Walking...

My Daddy has been carving things as long as I can remember.  During our October visit with him, I asked him if he would make me a walking stick.  To my surprise he had finished it by the time we came to celebrate Christmas with him and my sister’s family.  I am thrilled with what he has made, but then I always am.  He does a wonderful job no matter what he makes.  He carved an angel on it for me.  How perfect for me!  

I began my fascination with walking sticks on a mission trip to Costa Rica.  Our team took a “day off” and went to La Paz Butterfly Gardens.  Surely it is very close to what the Garden of Eden looked like in the beginning.  Such beauty filled me with a powerful sense of the presence of the Lord in that place.  While there most of the team members walked to the bottom of the gardens where there were beautiful waterfalls.  My two companions had picked up walking sticks before we left the lodge, but I did not know that they were available at that time, so I trekked off with them without a walking stick.  Little did I know what the Lord had in store for me along the journey.  It was not too long until I knew that I really needed a walking stick to make my feet steady.  I started to pray.  A few minutes later the three of us came to a landing (an infrequent level place on the path down the mountain) and I was amazed and humbled by what I saw there... a walking stick just for me.  I was stunned, overwhelmed with gratitude and humbled as I picked up the walking stick and finished our journey down to the bottom of the falls with the walking stick steadying my steps as I walked on.  There was absolutely no doubt in my mind and in my spirit that the Lord had once again provided my need according to His glorious riches in Christ Jesus.  Absolutely NO doubts.  It still humbles me as I write about my experience.  All I could do that day was thank Him for His perfect provision.  

I love my new walking stick for it symbolizes my daily walk with the Lord.  Every time I see it I think about His faithfulness to me.  That leads me to a desire to follow Him in obedience wherever He leads me.  As 2011 begins that is my “resolution”... to draw closer to Him day by day and go where He leads me.  My new walking stick is a constant reminder of that “resolution”.  May I strive to follow Him moment by moment by His grace as He leads me forward.  I pray that you too will seek Him more and walk with Him

wherever He leads you.  

Have a wonderful Christ-centered 2011.  I can’t wait to see all that He has in store for me and you this year.  

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” 

Jeremiah 29:11

“... We do not know what to do, but our eyes are upon you.”

 2 Chronicles 20:12