May 21, 2012 ~ Trusting God

Trust in the LORD with all your heart And do not lean on your own understanding.

Proverbs 3:5

Thoughts~

My parents bought a couple of acres in the mountains when I was in the fourth grade. The lot was on a hilly terrain and over the years they built a cabin, complete with a bunkhouse for the kids. We spent every summer and many weekends up north and had no television there for a very long time. We weren’t really TV kids back then anyway. Mini-bikes, fishing, exploring and late night reading were all part of our entertainment.  And jigsaw puzzles.

We loved putting puzzles together and all 4 of the kids and my parents would work on one, on and off. One rainy day the whole family was working on a gigantic puzzle and when we came to the end, we discovered a missing piece. We searched everywhere for it and only after looking for at least 5 minutes did my little brother pull it out of his pocket. Smiling, he exclaimed he wanted to add the last piece because it was the most important.

Trust in God is like a puzzle at times. We want to hold back a piece of ourselves, not surrendering our “all” to Him. We subconsciously can’t believe He would care enough, love us enough, or have enough power to change our lives. And the reason for this lack of complete faith is that we are not God. As humans, we are not completely trustworthy.  We try to be and most of us are to a point, but there is a part of us that reserves a little piece of a puzzle, just in case we need it.

In order to fully trust the Lord, we cannot lean on our human understanding. When we are putting our trust in Him for a particular situation, we must pray for His help in teaching us to trust Him. Banning the enemy of God from trying to deceive us, we need to come to God with the trust of a little child. We must put our whole heart into trusting Him. And when we do, our lives will forever be changed.  

Action~

I keep a single puzzle piece in my wallet as a reminder that God always has the missing piece. You might like that idea too.

Is it hard to put all of our trust in God? Sure it is . . . and that is what faith is all about. Keeping a journal of your trials and how God rescues you time and time again will help you to see that He is faithful and consistent in His love for you. His love never fails.

This acronym might help:

Trials bring us to the point of trusting God

Rest in God’s ability to put the puzzle pieces together

Unending awareness of God’s holiness, love and power  

Surrender to God your anxieties, worries, frets, burdens

Thankful for God’s better plan than our own.

Pray~

Father, forgive my lack of trust in You. Your example of trustworthiness in my life never fails. I fail, but You do not. Thank You for Your amazing love. Thank You for my life lessons.

Trusting in Him,

Becky

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May 20, 2012 ~ What God Expects

But Peter and the apostles answered, 

“We must obey God rather than men.”

Acts 5:29

Thoughts~

My long ago past is littered with pink slips of disobedience. I understand how Paul feels when He talks about what a sinful life he lived. Count me in, Paul! I’m right there with you. When I reflect on how I lived, even though I was a believer, I wonder how I survived those days where I did my own thing and ignored God’s word. Yes, I was saved, but, did I trust the Lord? Did I follow Him? Did I obey Him? Absolutely not. I was sowing my wild oats and God allowed me all the room I wanted.

Even as I write this blog post, I am cringing at some of the ways I ignored God. And I am so incredibly thankful for His forgiveness. He is Holy and God hates sin. Again, GOD HATES SIN! And as long as we continue sinning, He is often going to allow us the freedom to sin because we are not robots wired to say yes. We have been given free will; to choose Jesus as our Savior or reject Him. To say “Yes, God, I will obey You” or “No, sorry Lord, my way is more fun. You are kind of old fashioned, you know.”

Sin isn’t talked about much in many churches today. The church staff worries that if too much sin is mentioned, people will not feel good after the service is over. They worry about people being comfortable and happy. They worry that the word “obey” turns people off. They worry about numbers.

God doesn’t worry about numbers in church.  He knows the true hearts of every single person that is sitting in every single church pew or chair around the world.  He knows who is pretending to love Him and who really does.  He knows who is there for free coffee, donuts and a fluff sermon and who is there to grow in the word of God.  He knows. He sees. He forgives. And He wants us to stop sinning. He wants us to obey Him.

Action~

It’s important to listen to the word of God and know that every single word was inspired by God. Not just some of it. There is no compromising when it comes to God’s word. Trust me on this: Paul and I have been there and it isn’t pretty.

Now is the time for you to listen to God.  The Holy Spirit is alive in believer’s hearts and He will show you what needs to be changed in your life.  He will show you were you are not obeying and where you are compromising. This may hurt your feelings but I wish someone has talked to me a long time ago.  I wasted years of my life living apart from God even though I was saved. I was a lukewarm Christian who did not care what God had to say. God since has certainly used my story for His glory when I share my testimony, but those years I would rather forget and still live with the consequences.

Ask yourself if you are obeying God or man.

Pray~

Father, I know what obedience is and I want to follow You and not live by my own whims. Thank You for forgiving me for my disobedience. Give me Your power and strength to live an abundant life. Give me a new bounce to my step, a joyful love for Your word.

Trusting in Him,

Becky

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May 19, 2012 ~ The Race

You were running a good race. Who cut in on you to keep you from obeying the truth? 

Galatians 5:7

Thoughts~

Never in my life have I run a race and if I have my way, I never will. Running is not something I enjoy at all but I love walking, especially in small towns that I have never explored before. Once I walked for a charity, raising money for it, and the crowds of people trying to pass me and cut in on my space made it difficult to enjoy.  My focus was on the end zone; I wanted to walk the entire course. And I did, but it was difficult.

When we set our eyes on the goal of living our lives for the Lord, living in obedience to His word and practicing love at every opportunity, we are certain to be cut off by the enemy of God. In fact, as believers, we will be targeted by the enemy and by people who oppose Jesus.  Stand strong and don’t let anyone cut in on your race . . . focus on the goal of living for eternity with the One who loves you. Don’t compromise; don’t cave in to the demands of the world. Do what is right in God’s sight.

Action~

Think about these three things:

*Who am I allowing to cut in on me and trip me up?

*What am I doing that is in disobedience to God?

*Where do I hang out that is not a place I should be?

Pray~

Oh Lord, forgive me for allowing others to take me off the course You have set for me.  Help me to obey You.

Trusting in Him,

Becky

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