Tag: faith

Christian

Our Wounded Hearts are Best Laid at the Feet of Jesus

Highlighting Hope

One of the verses my daughter  learned at school when she was 5 was, “Hear and increase in learning.” Proverbs 1:5. An abundance of wisdom is found in that little verse, and as I have heard her recite it over and over again, I have been reminded of how important it is to take the time to listen. Here recently, I have made a greater effort in really listening to those around me, and take to heart the stories others share.

A story shared, is piece of someone’s heart that’s being given out and that is something of great value. As I have taken greater strides in listening, I have been able to see how much we really all have in common. We have all known happiness, sorrow, acceptance, rejection, fulfillment, and emptiness…etc; and all of these we have been acquainted with through various life experiences. But in the midst of our difficulties, can we all say that we have experienced true joy and peace?

Hardships do come. The size of the hardships may vary, but they do come, often leaving wounds that require time to heal and a course of treatment. But, how we treat our wounds makes all the difference in how well those wounds heal, and improperly cared for can result in something far worse than what you started with.

Our hearts are deceitful, especially when pain is present, making us more likely to respond to our hardships foolishly. When we are heavy with burdens, God, our Heavenly Father, lovingly extends an invitation to come and give those over to Him (Matthew 11:28). Choosing to obey and follow God’s call to come to Him when our hearts are hurting and our wounds are so deep, results in a great blessing and sets us on the path of true healing.

Regardless of the burden you carry today, regardless of how deep your wounds, we have a God who heals, who extends to us a surpassing peace, blesses us with joy in the storm, and bestows upon us His constant presence in our lives! Our wounded hearts are best cared for when we lay them at the feet of Jesus; and when we lay them there and leave them there, we can be sure that we will experience His healing, His joy, and His peace!

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

Christian

Is it Time to Stop Praying?

Highlighting Hope

Is today the day that God may be saying to you that it’s time to stop praying?…. What a bogus question to ask, right? Or is it? Now, before you write me off for asking something so outlandish, please hear me out. I promise there is good reason for asking a question such as this.

I truly love praying! Cast ALL of my MANY cares upon the Lord??? Umm…. YES, PLEASE! Prayer is a privilege and it allows us to commune with God. He calls us to come to Him with all sorts of prayers and requests at all times of the day! Time and time again, I have gone back and read through my prayer journals and I have enjoyed reading past prayers and then recognize that God has answered so many of them in amazing ways. Even small little prayers that I had forgotten all about! Praying and watching God lovingly respond, is such a blessing and is a major faith builder for me.

But, is there a time when God calls us to stop praying about something? And surprisingly, I believe the answer is YES. If you are familiar at all with the book of Exodus then you already know that this book is all about God’s deliverance. I never get tired of going back and reading this book! How in the world can reading about God splitting the Red Sea so that He could lead His people out of a land of slavery get old? It’s such a faith builder and it helps me keep a true perspective of God as it beautifully puts His power on display.

But as I was reading this week, I stumbled across some verses that had never stood out to me before. Just as the Israelites were nearing the Red Sea, Pharaoh’s army continued moving closer to them. Fear quickly overtook the large crowd of escapees and Moses assures them that on this very day they would see the deliverance of the Lord.

But it’s the verse following this that really grabbed me.
Exodus 14:15 says, “Then the Lord said to Moses, “Why are you still crying out to me? Tell the Israelites to move on.”
Wow! “Why are you still crying out to me?” This is what the Lord asked Moses as they stood in front of a large body of water with a massive army getting closer to them by the minute. I believe I would have still been crying out to the Lord too!

But what God was saying to Moses here in the middle of an intense, scary, and chaotic moment, is that there is a time when we are to stop praying and to start walking in faith!

God had heard the cries of His people and their prayers were being answered with each passing step. They just had to trust the God who was delivering them and allow their faith to be greater than their fear.

So could it be that God is asking us the very same question, “Why are you still crying out to me?” Maybe you have continued to pray about something and as God is answering your prayer, He is calling you out into the unknown and to trust Him.

I think that it’s important to ask ourselves, and to recognize if today is the very day that God is saying it’s time to stop praying about it and it’s time to start walking!

Christian

Our Shine Should be Reflective

Highlighting Hope

My daughter developed a fascination with the moon around the age of two. Her fascination soon grew to a love and she eventually named the moon “Finder.” For years our family would look for the moon on a regular basis and watch it “shrink” or “grow”, as it cycled through its phases, and of course the full moon was always our favorite find. We have stopped at red lights or even stood out on our driveway countless times, looking with awe at “Finder’s” beautiful glow against the dark night sky. As beautiful as “Finder’s” glow may be, it is a light that is not his own. I can still remember the shock that I felt as a child when I finally learned that the moon produced no light of its own, but it merely reflected what was shining upon its’ surface, and only giving off more light the more its surface became fully exposed to the sun.

The moon’s light only being a reflection of the sun’s light is actually what makes it beautiful and breathtaking. In Philippians chapter 3 Paul writes about how those of us that are in Christ are to “shine like stars in the universe.” As God continues working in us for His good purpose and pleasure, He begins the process of refining our character, and as we walk in obedience we will shine like the stars. Not that we are the star, but rather we will shine like one!

Just as the moon possess no ability to produce this beautiful, radiant light on its own, neither do we! God has allowed us the privilege of coming into His presence and then He instantly begins to shine His light upon us so that we can reflect His glory and out pouring of love, grace, and mercy. When we position ourselves fully before God, reflecting His light will be the inevitable result. Remain in God’s presence and shine His light for the world to see!

“Those who look to Him are radiant; their faces are never covered with shame.” Psalm 34:5shine

Christian

Reaching Certainty Through Surrender

Highlighting Hope

I think that embedded in all of our hearts is a desire for certainty. It may seem in vain to have this desire because what aspects of life are certain?

Although uncertainty is true for this life, it is not true for God, and a having a misplaced source to fill this desire for certainty will only cause us to experience heightened insecurities, doubts, fears, and emptiness. The control over our lives that we seek to have results only in an increased deficit of control, which is the opposite of what we are seeking. I know this to be true because I have been there and I will admit to being a first-hand witness.

I sought after this control over my life. I thought I was grabbing a good dose of certainty and direction when I went off to college for the first time. I went as far from home as I could go without leaving the state. I was going to fix my life and things were about to get better for me, so I thought. I was going to make a big turnaround and finally do things the right way, but the, “do things right” part was short lived- if ever lived at all.

This pursuit only left me empty and lost. My insecurities continued to grow with each passing day. There were moments when I attempted to pray that God would intervene and change my heart and life. I knew that I was stuck in a life and rhythm of doing things my way, and even though its results only offered more emptiness, I struggled with wanting to leave it.

Months later, God did answer those halfhearted prayers. He flooded my heart with conviction and brokenness. I experienced His presence for the first time in a way that is truly indescribable. It’s what happened next though that really surprised me. That day, God called me to leave that college and go back home. Upon that call, so many questions filled my mind. How could I quit college in the middle of spring semester? What would my parents say? What would people think? Is this really the right thing to do? As God’s heavy urge to simply “go home” grew louder, the questions began to fade away. That day I withdrew from that school and took my first step towards true certainty even though I didn’t know what would lie ahead of me and so many of my questions were still left unanswered.

Our insecurities and uncertainties about life and all that it beholds will always be trumped and silenced by God’s call; but this is only true if we choose to obey His call. Obedience to God, whether or not we understand all the aspects of the “where and why” He is leading us a certain way, solves a lot of our problems.

Honestly, it was gut-wrenching to go from “my way” to “His way”. In the end, the control I thought I had, and the ability to self-fix only served to keep me enslaved to emptiness, disappointment, and heart ache. Sometimes we seek out this grand formula to follow and if we can’t find one, we create our own.

The plan for us to follow though is simple- it’s simply surrender. Surrendering to God’s call and walking in obedience to Him was the first plan He had in place, and abandoning it the Garden of Eden is where all the trouble began. Obedience to God solves the true root of our problems, and it will always provide us with the true certainty we are longing for.

Christian

Our Fulfillment Must Come From the Task-Giver, Not the Task!

Highlighting Hope

There is no doubt that God uses the pains and scars from the past for a greater good and purpose, and as well as a means to give us new sight. I have watched God’s light give beauty to my painful memories, but I have to tread very carefully to keep the painful memories of my past in full view of His light, because without His light, they just become painful memories.

God longs to use what was once difficult, or what may be currently difficult, as a powerful opportunity to give a testimony of His work in our lives; but in our opportunities to serve and make Him known, they are not to be used for the purpose of filling those voids and mending our wounds. The voids that need to be filled and the healing that needs to take place, must be done by the ‘Task Giver’ (God), not in the task itself.

In the process of giving my all to the tasks God has called me to, I have struggled with the tasks consuming me, and becoming my ‘all in all’ by seeking my fulfillment in these tasks instead of being filled by my ‘Task Giver –  God! When I seek to make God’s calling as the main source of my fulfillment, instead of God Himself, it taints the purity of the task at hand.

Our service to God also shifts when the task and its’ outcome becomes the priority instead of striving to know and honor God first, and allowing the outcomes from our labor to belong to Him! 

We love to see results, but in our service to Him, they do not always look the way we think they should, if we even see them at all! When the results we can see becomes the focus, the ministry God has called us to can quickly become a burden.

Bottom line, God longs for a true and sincere heart that is in service to Him!  He is looking at the motives within our hearts, He longs to be what  fill us up, He longs to be our all in all, and He longs for us to leave the outcomes to Him!

When our mission starts with God, we will find ourselves fueled and ready for the tasks He has laid before us,  with our voids already filled and the burden of results taken from our hands!

“But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The LORD does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.” 1 Samuel 16:7

Christian

Stop Praying For Victory

Highlighting Hope

We love words like ‘triumphant’ and ‘victory’. There is a sense of accomplishment surrounding these words, and they result in a particular outcome that we are pleased with (and naturally so). As we embark on a new year, new goals will be set that we hope to accomplish in the months to come. Goals are good and they give us something to aim for, something to strive for, and sometimes we set a goal with the end result in mind without even considering the work that will be required to get us to the finish line.

Likewise in our Christian walk, we love to experience victory and we want to share testimonies of how God is working in our lives. We long for success, but we often forget what the true root of victory and success is, and that is obedience. Jerry Bridges says in his book, The Pursuit of Holiness, “We pray for victory when we know we should be acting in obedience… we do not understand the proper distinction between God’s provision and our own responsibility for holiness” Hebrews 12:14 implores us to make EVERY effort to be holy and therefore, effort means we have a responsibility, and that responsibility is obedience.

We oftentimes prefer words like ’triumph’ or ‘victory’ over a word like ‘obedience’, but at the heart of those things is obedience. If we examine the lives of God’s people throughout scripture, you can see some clear patterns.  When did they experience victory? They experienced victory when they were obedient and therefore their victory was a RESULT. When did God’s people experience defeat? They experienced defeat as a RESULT of disobedience.

Friends, nothing has changed! For us to experience true victory today, we must have hearts fully devoted to God and strive for obedience. How different would this upcoming year be if we set our hearts on obedience? How different would this year be if we started working to say “no” to what separates us from God started saying “yes” in our pursuit of being holy? Let’s stop praying for victory when it’s really an act of obedience that is required. May God set our focus on the right things and the right outcome is sure to follow.

May God bless you in 2024!

Christian

Stop Praying For Victory

Highlighting Hope

We love words like ‘triumphant’ and ‘victory’. There is a sense of accomplishment surrounding these words, and they result in a particular outcome that we are pleased with (and naturally so). As we embark on a new year, new goals will be set that we hope to accomplish in the months to come. Goals are good and they give us something to aim for, something to strive for, and sometimes we set a goal with the end result in mind without even considering the work that will be required to get us to the finish line.

Likewise in our Christian walk, we love to experience victory and we want to share testimonies of how God is working in our lives. We long for success, but we often forget what the true root of victory and success is, and that is obedience. Jerry Bridges says in his book, The Pursuit of Holiness, “We pray for victory when we know we should be acting in obedience… we do not understand the proper distinction between God’s provision and our own responsibility for holiness” Hebrews 12:14 implores us to make EVERY effort to be holy and therefore, effort means we have a responsibility, and that responsibility is obedience.

We oftentimes prefer words like ’triumph’ or ‘victory’ over a word like ‘obedience’, but at the heart of those things is obedience. If we examine the lives of God’s people throughout scripture, you can see some clear patterns.  When did they experience victory? They experienced victory when they were obedient and therefore their victory was a RESULT. When did God’s people experience defeat? They experienced defeat as a RESULT of disobedience.

Friends, nothing has changed! For us to experience true victory today, we must have hearts fully devoted to God and strive for obedience. How different would this upcoming year be if we set our hearts on obedience? How different would this year be if we started working to say “no” to what separates us from God started saying “yes” in our pursuit of being holy? Let’s stop praying for victory when it’s really an act of obedience that is required. May God set our focus on the right things and the right outcome is sure to follow.

May God bless you in 2024!

Christian

Holding on to Hope

Highlighting Hope

We highlight or underline in books what we have found to be profound and worth remembering. We highlight or underline so that as we flip back through the pages, those statements will grab our attention in order that our minds may dwell upon its’ riches once again.

Highlighting Hope was inspired by Hebrews 10:23 which says, “Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for He who promised is faithful.” In the midst of a difficulty, I read this verse and it gripped my heart. Although this storm was big in appearance, it was miniscule in the presence of my Savior. I prayed for months on end for God to remove this thorn in the flesh, and when it remained present, I knew that God was calling me to trust Him and to hold unswervingly to this hope that can only be found in Him.

Proverbs 13:12 tells us that “hope deferred makes the heart sick.” Our need for hope is great and yet that is exactly what Jesus offers, and He longs to meet this need in our lives! He is our living hope and the beauty here is that this is just the beginning! Colossians 1:5 tells us that faith and love springs up from this hope that Jesus offers!

As I have sought hope and have watched God “highlight” all around me this hope that I have in Him, I have come to realize that hope is just the starting point. As we read about, see, and experience His hope, it is a means in which He produces a greater faith and love in our lives! Praise God for His exponential work continuously being played out in us!FB_IMG_1580684964014