Putting Doubt to Bed

I was at a group during a devotional time last year and the leader read the oft-told bible passage about the disciples in a boat during a storm. Waves crashed about while Jesus slept through it all. But this time, when one part of that story was read, I distinctly felt in my heart that God was talking to me about my own doubts. "Teacher," a disciple cried, "Don't you care that we are going to drown?" I realized that with an impending financial loss, I had been holding that same accusation in my own heart. That stung.

In the passage Jesus, in an instance, calms the wind and the waves. Of course He wasn't worried. With the very same ease Jesus can and will come to my rescue as well. His sleeping on the boat actually signaled that 'all is well' even as it looked like 'anything but' to the rest of us.

Thomas was in that same  boat with all of the rest of the disciples when Jesus calmed the waters. He saw and even participated in the miracles with Him. But when Jesus rose - even seen by his closest buddies, he didn't believe it until he could see Jesus for himself.

Jesus said to Thomas, (Jn 20:27-9) Stop doubting and believe...v29  “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

You and I speak life or death over ourselves by speaking words of faith or doubt. Life and death are in the power of the tongue and those who love it will eat its fruit - Proverbs 18:21 We have the choice to empower hope in our lives or empower our doubts.

Doubt is to fear as hope is to faith.That means taking Him at His Word, without the 'buts'. He promises to provide for my every need, but... He said He would never leave me, but... He says He'll work all things  for good, but...Her testimony about God coming through was great, but...Prayer changes things, but...

When I doubt God, I make Him a liar. I become fearful of the outcomes in my life. That fear leads me to try to be self-sustaining and make things happen. I can surely  'make things happen' and they may even be good things, but not God things. Resting in hope is entirely different and with an entirely different result: I can hope because I have faith in the God on whom my hope depends. 

WE ARE TO DO MORE THAN BELIEVE IN JESUS. WE ARE TO BELIEVE JESUS. 

We put our doubts to bed and rest in the reassurance that we have a God who is quite ready and willing to fulfill the promises He's made to us and bring goodness out of our calamities (Romans 8:28).   It's an act of the will. 

It's speaking the truth out loud. It's testifying to the promises whether or not they have yet manifested. That disembowels doubt.

Oh Lord, help me to believe and remember that even when it seems that Jesus is asleep on the boat, at least He's in the same boat I'm in.

Still Believe - Kim Walker Smith

Part 2 - Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Book (of Revelation)?

My prior post invites us to reconsider the aversion so many Believers have to the words written in this scroll of the disciple John's. Preachers, bible teachers and followers of Jesus alike often share a common allergy to the judgments, tribulations and apostasy that this book foretells. I'm not too crazy about some of it, myself! I'd be insane to minimize the severity of the events foretold. But the word "apocalypse" means a disclosure of information or an unveiling (as in a revelation). The word itself doesn't mean "the end of the world"!

Much of this unveiling is of the glory and conquest of our fierce, magnificent God - the Lion of the Tribe of Judah. The Lion who comes to rescue His people.

In addition to sober warnings, this book has given comfort to hurting and persecuted Christians for centuries. The letter to the church at Smyrna, for instance, gives encouragement and comfort to faithful believers who are suffering for their faith. He says, "I know your works, tribulation, and poverty (but you are rich) Rev. 2:9
He promises His faithful ones in chapters 2 and 3 that they will eat of the Tree of eternal life, of "hidden manna", receive a name only known to Him and have "power over the nations".

Those presently suffering can know that our God is still on the throne and that vengeance is truly His; so much so that we must pray, "in your judgment, remember mercy" for our enemies. The judgment coming to the wicked isn't something you'd wish on anyone, but it will be just.

And who, when losing a loved one in Christ doesn't take comfort in knowing that now they know no sorrow or pain and that even the memory of their hard times have been wiped away forever. That rather than ceasing to exist, our loved ones in Christ have stepped into a realm of Eternal Glory we can only dream of but never fully imagine. A dream that we will all someday enjoy together (Revelation 21-22).

It's in His kindness that God reveals these things to us. It is to give us courage in trials, hope in suffering and patience in waiting,  knowing that our Righteous Judge will avenge His children and celebrate our reunion with the wedding banquet of all banquets. Jesus is the celebratory Bridegroom God who will throw the best party in the Universe!

I invite you to let Him reveal something from this Book that will set your heart ablaze.

Chasing after Rainbows

Chasing after rainbows is an expression that usually means to try to get something that you will never obtain. But I literally chase after rainbows, searching rain-streaked skies for signs of refracted light after a storm. Upon my last rainbow sighting two days ago, I texted a rainbow-loving friend "Rainbow over Elmont, due East!" It turns out that she had already asked God to let her see a rainbow, and she saw it, too.

As I sat in a parking lot staring at the rainbow for at least 20 minutes I saw all kinds of people milling about in the same shopping center, not even looking up. If they did look up I didn't see anyone stopping to point. That speaks to me about so many of God's wonders. How often do I pass by an everyday miracle or provision of the Lord like it's a commonplace thing? Where and when did I lose the awe?

Praying over meals: I'm often halfway through a bite - or even a plate - before I remember to stop and pause, realizing the gift food is. I know that American women have an obsessive love-hate relationship with their bodies. I have never met a woman who is satisfied. Never. What must this obsession do to the heart of the God who calls us "fearfully and wonderfully made" and whose continual thoughts towards us are "like the sands of the sea"?

As soon as the sun breaks through the rain clouds I know to look up. Can I train myself - can we train ourselves to "look up" every time we smile from pleasure, share an embrace, hear a child's laugh, find a penny on the ground, take another breath and see that we're still alive?

Can we look up every time the Word of God pierces our heart whether for encouragement or conviction, knowing that we serve a Father loving enough to raise up his children right?

May God help me to stop focusing on the scuff marks on my shoes and to look up and praise the One who is most certainly looking down at me.

Loving While Blind - Part 3 - Salve for our eyes

I remember once listening to the radio testimony of a murderer who had come to Christ. It felt so good; I had all this compassion for this unknown brother in the Lord and didn't let the horror of his past life offend me. Then the Lord immediately brought to my mind a person for whom I had no such compassion; a person I selfishly kept at arms length for sins that were utterly insignificant by comparison. Oh the pain of that chastisement! Thinking I was an enlightened believer while inside harboring a merciless hypocrite. Ouch.

You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see.

Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest and repent.

                       Revelation 3: 17-19

Jesus had more mercy for the blind beggar Bartemeus who knew what his need was - sight - than for puffed up, self sufficient believers who thought the'd seen it all. (Mark 10:46-52) 

The rebuked Laodicean church is often compared with the church in America: proud, rich, self reliant. The truth is even more profound - there are times when we can all lapse into that Laodicean mentality. Pride is a universal sin.

We are "wretched, poor, blind and naked" whenever we think we are without sin; when we think our flesh doesn't need daily crucifying; when we think we actually know the potential of the darkness of our own hearts. And we are especially blind and wretched when we compare ourselves favorably over and above others. 

I had a good cry after God pierced my heart that day over 20 years ago. I would love to say that I haven't judged a soul since, but I'd be lying. But I feel like I'm  in such a safe place whenever I throw myself at the Lord's mercy from time to time for a good cleansing. Jesus makes an eye wash that helps us see ourselves - the good as well as the bad - as He sees us. He's so very merciful and ready to heal. 

The view from behind His eyes is so much better than the view from behind my own.

Eye wash, anyone?

Loving while blind - part 2 - Do Miracles Build Our faith?

Lots of things mystify me as I get deeper and deeper into this theme of "Loving while blind" - of having a faith that not only stays intact even when we can't see the outcome of things but that actually grows and matures through those dark nights. I'm always trying to look for the formulas for faith that I can apply to my own walk. 

One faux formula of mine goes like this: "if God just shows me more stuff I will believe Him better."

What baffles me is how people who do have these continuous, miraculous encounters with God - audible voices - visions of angels - dreams of heaven - still fall and falter in their faith because of unbelief. Just how does that work?  How is this possible? What is in the human psyche that cancels out what we ourselves have seen and handled and experienced once the pressure comes? 

The Israelites saw the signs and wonders of judgments against Egypt, the Red Sea parting, the fire of God on a mountain, manna from heaven, water from a rock and a whole generation still died in the desert  of unbelief. They crossed the Red Sea as if on dry land and still made a golden calf to worship because Moses took too long coming down from the mountain! 

According to 1 Cor. 10:1-12 - it was their own grumbling, complaining attitude and ingratitude that kept them from receiving the promise. A bad attitude can actually cancel out our own faith ...polluting the very memory of God's prior provision!

In a parable Jesus told, a rich selfish man who ends up in hell asks the patriarch Abraham to send someone back to warn his family to be more faithful than he was.

I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my family,  for I have five brothers. Let him warn  them,so that they will not also come to this place of torment.’  “Abraham replied, They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them.’  “‘No, father Abraham,’ he said, ‘but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.’ “He said to him,  

‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.’” - Luke 16:31

Before giving us greater revelation, God insists that we believe the revelation already given. The revelation of His written Word. Of His created universe. Of what He has already personally spoken and demonstrated to us. 

"But Lord, If I just had the open heaven experiences and visions and dreams and audible voices and financial provision like so-and-so, I would have great faith, too!" (Yea, I've prayed that, too)

Jesus says, "No. You wouldn't. Trust me, I've been doing this a looong time and seeing Angels in your bedroom at night wouldn't make you a person of greater faith."

The better faith formula for "loving while blind": putting one foot in front of the other, praising God with each step.  Choosing to strengthen your faith by believing what He has already proven to you even when you can't see the next step. 

Faith isn't always a warm, mushy feeling. Sometimes it's just an act of the will.

Stop doubting and believe!  - John 20:27

Can you think of a time when have you seen but still not believed? 
Next week - Part 3  "Salve for our eyes"

The Day the Manna Stopped

For 40 years of wilderness wandering God provided a miraculous supply of heavenly bread, the Israelite's  clothing and shoes magically never wore out; they probably grew right along with their bodies. Water came from a rock, quail fell from the sky...

Then they got to where they were going and it all stopped. I don't know why but this struck me the other day. I know there was something more to this account in scripture than what I've read or heard taught from a pulpit. The Apostle Paul said, "For the spiritual did not come first, but the natural. After that the spiritual". So there was a literal meaning then, but a spiritual principle remains.

I ask: Lord, why did the Manna stop? What principle do you wish to speak to me and to us at this moment in time about the end of the rain of this miracle bread?

As He so often does, the Lord answers me even as I write this and ponder. His answer is:
"What happens when the blessings stop reveals your heart"   Wow, Lord.

Now, I know that in the biblical account the manna, quail and water-from-rock stopped ostensibly because, now, in the land "overflowing with milk and honey" the children of Israel would be able to sustain themselves agriculturally. But in our lives today and mine in particular, I can be riding a wave of blessings in various parts of my life and then hit a brick wall: relationships strain, bills pile up, illnesses threaten. I am haunted thinking about His words, "What happens when the blessings stop reveals your heart".

If God was good yesterday, is He suddenly bad today when I got the medical report? If God was almighty last week, was He weak this week when I suffered from depression?Will I be faithful even if it appears that God has left me?

Perhaps what seems like a cruel twist of fate is the continual proving process of growing us up: Yes, says the Lord. You are dependent on me as a sucking child. Now I am withdrawing the easy milk so that you have to secure it for yourself. Now you have to learn to live with hunger pains and thirst for the first time and learn that though it may tarry, your supply will come and your supply is Me.

Jesus said that He was, in fact, the spiritual manna from heaven. Scripture also says that even the rock from which supernatural water flowed was Christ. Perhaps it takes times of famine to make us cling to His every word and search the desert for His water of life. Maybe the desert mirage that makes us believe that the blessing was in the financial security, the marriage or the achievement is finally exposed when only the true blessing is left.

When the manna seems to end, I can comfort myself in these words of God's faithfulness: He humbles you, causing you to hunger and then feeds you...(Deuteronomy 8:3) 
Your next meal will come.