Category: faith

Being Still in a Restless Age–by Jonathan Coe

“There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love.”

1 John 4:18

As I write this my heart goes out to everyone who is struggling to find serenity in an age filled with restlessness. Been there done that. You feel the pressure on all sides. There’s too much month and not enough money. Your marriage is showing signs of fraying around the edges. You have a sullen teenager who doesn’t relate to the biblical Christianity that you have embraced. You have plenty to do but not enough time to do it. Debt seems to be piling up and the house may soon be underwater. Your job feels unsatisfying and your boss plays a big role in that. New health problems have emerged that you didn’t have in the days of your youth. In short, life hasn’t turned out like you thought it would and inner stillness and peace seem elusive.

In speaking from my heart, I just want to begin by saying that God loves you much, much more than you know. You may want inner stillness but he wants to give you that peace infinitely more than you want it.

Imagine yourself as his anxious child. He will not forbid the children to come to him. You can crawl up onto his lap and tell him all your problems. Do you see his loving eyes as you’re talking to him? Ask the Holy Spirit to show you Christ’s loving eyes, because if you can see those eyes, it will help you with fear and anxiety, because perfect love casts out all fear according to John the apostle (I John 4:18).

If you can’t do this, then think about someone you know who really loves you without any strings attached. Doesn’t God love you at least twice as much as this person? Of course he does and infinitely beyond that. This is the God whose lap you’re sitting on.

Please know that in all your prayers, there’s no guarantee that God will change your circumstances. The struggling business you run may not survive. The unhealthy marriage may not get better and the child with leukemia may not get healed despite your prayers and fasting. God may not change your circumstances, but he will give you the grace to triumph during your time of affliction. He will you give you a supernatural peace that transcends understanding. You will know it didn’t come from you, but, instead, its origin is divine. Guard your heart against offense because many Christians become offended at God when he doesn’t change their circumstances.

If your prayer life is almost non–existent, I don’t write this to condemn you. However, if you want inner stillness and serenity, some kind of quiet time with God is a must. Prayer is the context by which we give God our anxiety and he gives us his peace.

This is where we cast all our cares on him because he cares for us. It’s a salutary exchange that we can’t live without. The Holy Spirit is a gentle teacher and will lead you into a robust prayer life. Start small and don’t despise small beginnings. 5–10 minutes is okay to begin with for awhile and then add to it as God’s grace increases in your life. If you try to pray for an hour right off the bat, you’re liable to burn out. God is patient with you so be patient with yourself.

ybic,

Jonathan

Letters from Fawn CreekIf you liked this post by Jonathan, you may also like his book, Letters from Fawn Creek, that is now out on Amazon and also can be purchased at this link:

https://www.tatepublishing.com/bookstore/book.php?w=9781628542035

My Faithful Savior

Many things in this life are uncertain, causing even the faithful to struggle and doubt. Even at such times, or maybe even more so then, I am thankful that God has promised that He will never leave me or forsake me.

I am reminded of the words of the Apostle Paul:

Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.
2 Corinthians 4:16-18 (NIV).

When times are tough, may this triolet remind you of your faithful Savior Jesus.

My Faithful Savior

My faithful Savior will always be near
In my struggles and pain, when I doubt
that anything will ever change
My faithful Savior will always be near

I know someday He will exchange
the tears I cry for a glorious crown
My faithful Savior will always be near
In my struggles and pain, when I doubt

aasignLinda

Wondering Where the Lions Are?

http://lyndafinchart.com/lyndafinch/Prophetic/productdescriptions/good-lion.htm
Lynda Finch Art

“Twelve lions stood on the six steps, one at either end of each step. Nothing like it had ever been made for any other kingdom.”

1 Kings 10:20

These statues had to be remarkable.  They seemed to stand guard, everyone who entered had to pass by them.  Symmetrically and aesthetically, they would’ve been placed six on the right and six on the left.  Each lion was placed at the end of the step.  Over the centuries, lions are a wonderful symbol of sovereignty , and in them, like nothing else, we can hold concepts of strength, dignity and royalty.

Lions are emblematic of ‘rootedness’ and stability.  Those who ‘wear the lion’ are intentionally connecting to this ‘strength’ and are stating they admire and respect all that the lion represents.  King Solomon intentionally chose the lion to guide the kingdom and give direction.

Lions cannot be domesticated.  They serve no one.  They cannot be made tame or docile.  Being carnivorous their appetites are something to be aware of.  (Lions have a tendency to be a tad irrational when hungry.)  But in spite of this they are amazing animals.  Fierce and intense, when they need to be, they watch over each other.  They do not mingle with other species of animals. They are set apart.

For the Christian believer, there is a definite ‘lion connection’.  We know Jesus as ‘the Lion of the tribe of Judah’, (Rev. 5:5).  His majesty and power have been intentionally referred to by believers throughout the centuries.  Jesus exhibits all the good attributes about lions, and none of the bad.

I wonder where the lions are?  Where are those who would stand against the evil we see today?  John, the Baptist stood in the light, and he would not take a step back.  We see him boldly confronting the wickedness of his day, and in it all, he would not bend; and yet it seems that’s what others thought he should do.

The lions, where are they?  There is a boldness that is missing in our churches.  It seems as if the lions on the front steps have been taken from us.  We haven’t even noticed, but they are not there anymore.  Even if the lions were returned to us, there would be a whole scale rejection of such fanaticism.  Lions are simply not ‘in style’ for the modern American believer. Lions defy so much of the protocol and etiquette of this present moment. They are simply not ‘politically correct.”

But what will we do without the lions?  Their absence may seem somewhat minor.  We don’t need them to give us authority or moral courage, after all we really should do this on our own. But we must receive a boldness and decisiveness from the Holy Spirit.  He has the ability that we need to follow Him.  We need men and women to live their lives as ‘spiritual’ lions.

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ybic, Bryan

An Explosive Church

nuclear_mushroom_cloud

“On the whole, I do not find Christians, outside of the catacombs, sufficiently sensible of conditions. Does anyone have the foggiest idea what sort of power we so blithely invoke? Or, as I suspect, does no one believe a word of it? The churches are children playing on the floor with their chemistry sets, mixing up a batch of TNT to kill a Sunday morning.”

“It is madness to wear ladies’ straw hats and velvet hats to church; we should all be wearing crash helmets. Ushers should issue life preservers and signal flares; they should lash us to our pews. For the sleeping god may wake someday and take offense, or the waking god may draw us out to where we can never return. ”

Annie Dillard

flourish20

I think that as Church-going people we should be regarded as spiritually “armed and considered dangerous.” We are the true subversives. And we should always be on the verge of a “loving goodness’ that explodes within us .

“But the people who know their God shall prove themselves strong and shall stand firm and do great exploits [for God].”

Daniel 11:32, AMP

I admit I once considered Christians as weak and passive people. They were far too tame for me. At least the kind of believer that I found in most churches.  I wanted dynamic, and active. I somehow surmised that the church couldn’t provide this for me.

“But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

Acts 1:8

The feast of Pentecost is where the power and fire of God bonded with the disciples. It was said that flames of fire could be visible on each believer. It was precisely at this point they were all filled with the Holy Spirit. They would never be the same– indeed, the world changed.

It was sometime later I was reading Hebrews 11. I was amazed by these believers who endured so much in their faith. I’ve come to the conclusion that to live your faith you’re going face obstacles that will be quite challenging. You will end up quite often doing the improbable which most think is impossible.

 32″How much more do I need to say? It would take too long to recount the stories of the faith of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, and all the prophets. 33 By faith these people overthrew kingdoms, ruled with justice, and received what God had promised them. They shut the mouths of lions, 34 quenched the flames of fire, and escaped death by the edge of the sword. Their weakness was turned to strength. They became strong in battle and put whole armies to flight.35 Women received their loved ones back again from death.

But others were tortured, refusing to turn from God in order to be set free. They placed their hope in a better life after the resurrection. 36 Some were jeered at, and their backs were cut open with whips. Others were chained in prisons. 37 Some died by stoning, some were sawed in half, and others were killed with the sword. Some went about wearing skins of sheep and goats, destitute and oppressed and mistreated. 38 They were too good for this world, wandering over deserts and mountains, hiding in caves and holes in the ground.”

Hebrews 11:32-38, NLT

We have got a hold of something, or someone, that is quite real, and very disrupting  (in a good way!) We should expect to do exploits, and live in a manner that would seem dangerous to people without faith.

aabryplain

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