O Ye of Little Faith

By faith Abraham, when he was called, obeyed by going out to a place which he was to receive for an inheritance; and he went out, not knowing where he was going.  By faith he lived as an alien in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, fellow heirs of the same promise; for he was looking for the city which has foundations, whose architect and builder is God. 

We see in this passage that Abraham obeyed God and went out to a place he did not know.  He believed God!  He believed in God's promises and ultimately became a man known for his great faith.  If you are anything like me, you feel nothing like Abraham as you struggle with a lack of faith.  For me, this lack of faith can range from a prideful reliance on self to a downright alarming faithlessness always resulting in crippling fear.  The question that comes to my mind when I think of this struggle is, "How can we struggle with a lack of faith when we can so easily see the hand of God in our lives?"

When I look back on my life, I can clearly see the hand of God in EVERY situation!  He has been incredibly faithful even when I have been incredibly faithless.  One clear example was when the financial markets collapsed back in 2008.  I was the manager of a manufacturing plant in Nevada.  We fabricated steel joist which is heavily dependent upon commercial real estate.  These markets dropped precipitously in the latter days of 2008.  Our order books went from fairly robust to nothing in a matter of weeks.  The price of steel, our main material, dropped by half before we could make the necessary adjustments.  In short, my little world fell apart in a very short amount of time.  Within a few months, we went from a booming business to bust and we ultimately had to go through the difficult task of laying off all of our employees.

As I went through this time, I struggled mightily with all that had happened.  I have to admit that I asked on many occasions why God would allow the plant to close and so many people (including me) to lose their jobs...their livelihood.  In my mind, I had worked hard and ran the business to God's glory.  We made a ton of progress over the five years that I was there running the facility; yet there we were in that conference room telling our employees that we were shuttering the plant.  Even in writing these words, the pain of what happened is still present in my gut.

During that time, I struggled mightily with things.  I can't remember struggling with my faith in the sense of salvation but I certainly remember struggling with the practical aspects of my faith.  My world had been changed and everything that I had depended upon for security in this world was gone.  To make matters worse for me, I didn't have a job and it seemed that no one really wanted me.  One by one, we were able to celebrate our former employees finding work.  It was very good to see God's faithfulness as these people, many of whom were Christians, found work (in many cases better jobs).

Eventually, the Lord gave me an opportunity to move to South Carolina to stay with the company; but in the meantime, I struggled through the longest year of my life.  In that time, I struggled with a staggering lack of faith; but as I look back, I see the hand of God and His incredible faithfulness.  I also see amazing spiritual growth.  We know from James 1,  Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials,3 knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.   

And believe me, I have grown spiritually from the whole experience.  

As we study the life of Abraham, we see that he was not without his moments of struggle with lack of faith.  God promised to bless Abraham with many descendants yet Abraham and Sarah were childless.  We read in Genesis 16,  Now Sarai, Abram's wife had borne him no children, and she had an Egyptian maid whose name was Hagar. So Sarai said to Abram, "Now behold, the LORD has prevented me from bearing children. Please go in to my maid ; perhaps I will obtain children through her." And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai.  After Abram had lived ten years in the land of Canaan, Abram's wife Sarai took Hagar the Egyptian, her maid, and gave her to her husband Abram as his wife.    

In this account, we see the breathtaking lack of faith on the part of Abraham and Sarah.  They took matters into their own hands and the result was not good (though God worked even this to His glory).  I write this to remind us that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose (Romans 8:28).  We struggle with things that happen in our lives including the loss of our earthly security; but we need to remember that God is always working for our good and His glory in all things.  

And ultimately, we see that God uses us in our weakness for His glory and in this we see that all praise is to God for HIS faithfulness!

Brandon

    

A New Creature

Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.  Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation,  namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.  He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. 
(2 Corinthians 5:17-21 NASB)

Today, I had the opportunity to go to the local YMCA in order to play basketball with my boys.  We have been going there to shoot a few baskets in the afternoon when the gym isn't busy.  I have a great time together with my boys in a competitive setting which gives me plenty of opportunity to teach them about life and ultimately about our Lord.  Sometimes, we are able to play a pickup basketball game with some of the young guys hanging out at the court.  We never know who will be available.  It makes for a fun and sometimes colorful time.

As we played ball today, I was able to observe some of the young men on the court.  There are many bright guys there and it is wonderful to spend time with them though I am saddened to see the sin exhibited coupled with little to no Biblical knowledge to guide them.  Most of these young men are boats without a rudder.  Sadly, it would seem that most of them have precious little godly leadership in their lives.  As I look at these young men, I see the desperate need for the Gospel.  I see the desperate need for godly men to come alongside these youngsters in order to teach them to properly go about their lives; but more specifically to give them the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  I look at my own two sons and see the desperate need in their lives as well.  

Looking back at my youth, I see many of the same sin issues that I saw on the court today.  My life was riddled with sin.  I struggled with pride, lust, laziness, a self-righteous attitude and an anger that was dangerous to me and to those around me.  I am certain there is more sin to mention; but you get the point.  I was an incredibly sinful young man and I needed a Savior.  I am thankful that God sent a man to share the Gospel with me and I am thankful that the Lord made me a new creature in Christ.  I still work through the many sin issues some of which are the same as before.  In other words, I still struggle with the flesh; but now I AM A NEW CREATION IN CHRIST!  I have been cleansed.  I can now confess my sin to my Lord and be confident that He has forgiven me and cleansed me from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9)!

In 2 Corinthians 5, Paul says that anyone in Christ is a new creation.  It is cool to note from this passage that God is reconciling men to Himself through the Lord Jesus Christ, His Son.  It is even cooler when we see that as Christians we have the honor of being a part of God's plan in spreading this "message of reconciliation".  We have been entrusted with the Gospel of God.  Those bright young men on the court today and the ones on my kids' baseball teams and the ones roaming around in church on Sunday all need to hear the good news of the Lord Jesus Christ and we have been given that awesome responsibility.  We have been charged to spread the best news we could ever spread that God in Christ is reconciling Himself to men.  

The Gospel message changes lives and even better it has the power to change the hearer's eternal direction!  But, in order for the message to do it's good work, we need to ensure that we are spreading the true Gospel of God.  It saddens me to see the watered down Gospel being shared today.  In the YMCA that we attend, the Gospel has been reduced to a moral message.  It has been reduced to a few good things we can do and boast about on a cool T-Shirt; but is not the Gospel of God.  We need to show all people that God is the holy Creator of all men who WILL judge sin in His good time.  He has sent His Son to die on the cross as the perfect sacrifice for sin so that in Him we might have the righteousness of God!  That is what Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5:21 and that in a nutshell is the good news that will reconcile man to his sovereign Creator!  

As ambassadors of the King, our desire is to be pleasing to Him and to be heralds of His message.  We need to understand that we have been entrusted with the good news that reconciles the irreconcilable and we need to shout it from the rooftops begging all people to repent and turn to Christ!     

The disciples were amazed at His words. But Jesus answered again and said to them, "Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God!  "It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God." They were even more astonished and said to Him, "Then who can be saved ?"  Looking at them, Jesus said, "With people it is impossible, but not with God; for all things are possible with God."  (Mark 10:24-27 NASB)


   


    

God's Call

The LORD had said to Abram, "Leave your country, your people and your father's household and go to the land I will show you.  "I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you."   Genesis 12:1-3

Leave your country, your people and your father's household and GO...this was the clear message from our Lord to Abraham.  It is probably difficult for us to imagine this type of call especially from our perspective.  We live in a great and largely peaceful country.  Here in the United States, we have more wealth and more comfort than most of the rest of the world.  As we sit here in our comfortable and secure surroundings enjoying our coffee and tea, it is hard for us to understand Abraham's world and the seriousness of his decision to follow God to the land of Canaan.     

We know that Abraham was born in Ur of the Chaldeans which was located in Mesopotamia near the mouth of the Euphrates river.  His family had relocated to Haran to the north of Ur just east of the Euphrates.  We know from Josephus that Abraham was an astronomer who probably worshiped false gods until the Lord opened his heart to the truth.  We can only imagine the persecution and ridicule this man must have faced from his countrymen as he began to proclaim belief in the one true God.  It was at this point that God called Abraham to leave all that he knew to follow Him.

We can learn much by looking at God's calling of Abraham's.  As we study his call, we need to understand that he didn't know much of anything about where he was going.  We know that Abraham was a learned man; but it is difficult to imagine that he would have known much about the land that he was to inherit.  As a matter of fact, if he knew anything it was probably the fact that the land was inhabited by other peoples and he probably knew that these folks might not think so kindly of him coming to their land to inherit it.  We know for certain that there was no army or police force to protect him and his family and flocks once there.  

We need to understand that not only did Abraham not completely understand the place he was called to go; but he didn't have the luxury of knowing all the things we know about his Creator.  The Scriptures as we know them had yet to be written.  He may have had knowledge of God handed down from Noah; but we can't be certain how much he knew other than the promise we see in the first three verses of Genesis 12.  Abraham was armed with a promise from God and had little else to go on.  Not only these things but this promise included making him a father.  The problem was that he was 75 years old and he was childless married to a woman with a barren womb! 

One can only imagine how it would have felt to leave all that you know to go to a place you know next to nothing about for a promise that would have seemed ludicrous to most sane folks.  To put it simply and bluntly, he was leaving all that he knew and all that he had for a crazy promise.  

We know from Romans 4:3bthat "Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness." This is a wonderful truth that we see throughout Scripture.  Abraham believed!  This is the issue.  Abraham believed this crazy sounding promise.  He believed the God of the universe!  And this belief was credited to him as righteousness.  He believed God!  We see from Hebrews 11 that he believed God not just for an earthly promise but for a heavenly promise.  He was looking forward to a city designed and built by God.  What promise are you believing?  Do we believe in the here and now or do we believe in the promise of a Heavenly City whose architect is Jesus Christ?  That's the question every human heart must answer!  

By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise.  For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God.  Hebrews 11:8-10

The Perfect Result

Therefore, do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God, you may receive what was promised.

For yet in a very little while, He who is coming will come, and will not delay.
But My righteous one shall live by faith; And if he shrinks back, My soul has no pleasure in him.

But we are not of those who shrink back to destruction, but of those who have faith to the preserving of the soul. (Hebrews 10:35-39 NASB)

This morning, I find myself contemplating life's many difficulities.  There is not a person in this world now or ever who is immune to the difficulties of life.  We know life has been made very difficult as a result of the fall of man recorded in Genesis 3.  The ground we tread is cursed because of man's sin.  There is great difficulty in rearing children and all of our relationships have been made incredibly difficult.  All because of man's transgression against his Creator. 

It is very clear from Scripture that life brings us many trials.  We deal with failing grades, difficulties at work and problems in our relationships.  Christians face persecution in its many forms.  All humans face sickness and face the ever present enemy: death. 

As Christians, we know from James 1 that the testing of our faith (trials) produces endurance. In other words, we grow in our ability to stand tall with confidence in the Lord in the midst of our many trials.  Just prior to this statement, James told his readers, consider it all joy...when you encounter various trials.  We can consider it all joy because we know that our trials produce endurance and that endurance will have its perfect result: our sanctification.  Enduring many trials and tribulations makes us more like our Lord Jesus Christ.  

The problem is that we are weak.  More often than not, in the midst of our trials, we simply fail.  We fail to react in a godly way.  We fail to trust in the Lord.  We fall back and become fearful; but our Lord doesn't intend it to be this way for the Christian!  We have been redeemed.  We have been given confidence in the Lord!  We find great reward in holding on to the that confidence.  Our lives can be very difficult; but we know that Christ is our Solid Rock and if Christ is for us, then who can be against us?  And this we know and have confidence in that our Lord is going to return in victory.

In summation, in the midst of our lives as we experience tribulation, we may fail; but those trials (and our failures) are used by our Master to make us into the His own likeness from glory to glory; because we are not of those who shrink back to destruction, but of those who have faith to the preserving of the soul. 

I have been encouraged by the words from the second verse of the song, "Here I Am" by downhere.  I hope it will be encouraging to you as well:

When setbacks and failures, and upset plans,
Test my faith and leave me with empty hands,
Are you not the closest when it's hardest to stand?
I know that you will finish what you began.

These broken parts you redeem,
Become the song, that I can sing
Brandon

Learning to Be Patient

The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.  2 Peter 3:9

When I read that verse I'm amazed that I have any thought of being impatient with others.  If it weren't for the Lord's patience towards me I would perish!  This is a good verse to memorize so that it's always a reminder of the Lord's patience towards me and how I should follow His lead.  Being impatient is thinking that I know better than God.  No one knows better than God.  I am a sinner in need of God's mercy, grace and patience.  The Lord has shown me those things through salvation.  I'm thankful that I can trust completely in a God whose plan is always perfect even when I can't see it.  I cannot alter God's plan.  So as I struggle with being patient with others, it's all part of God's perfect plan to sanctify me.

God uses many ways to teach me patience but the most common ones are my children and driving.  I have 4 children that I love dearly but I struggle with getting frustrated with them at times.  I often have to stop words from coming out of my mouth and pray for patience.  My children need the Lord as much as I do.  Therefore I , the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love Ephesians 4:1-2  Since I know what great patience the Lord has shown me and continues to show me, even when I'm impatient with my kids, how can I do anything other than be patient with my kids.  Sometimes my lack of patience has nothing to do with my kids even though it comes out towards them.  Those are the times that I am struggling with other sins and it manifest itself as impatience.  I enjoy driving but I definitely tend to struggle with patience at times.  Sadly I even struggle sometimes when I'm the passenger!  This morning as I took my oldest son to school I was reminded of how impatient people are in rush hour traffic.  It's easy to get into my son's school to drop him off but a little more difficult to get out since I have to turn left.  This morning a car turning right into the school stopped and held traffic so several of us could turn left and I'm always thankful when people do this.  Sadly a few cars behind the car holding traffic started honking at that car.  I was saddened that someone would be unkind to someone who was doing something kind but again reminded of the depravity of man.  Or do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and tolerance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance? Romans 2:4  The most convicting thing for me when I get impatient driving is that I set a terrible example for my kids.  You know it's bad when I'm having a "patient" day driving and one of my kids blurts out something like "come on!, Why are they going so slow?!, etc."  How unfortunate that I've taught them that but now it's time to show them humility and teach them what is right.  I apologize for teaching them those sinful things then tell them what God says about being patient and loving.  How amazing and faithful is our God that even though I sin I can repent and am granted forgiveness and can still teach my children what is right!  I love what Paul says here: It is a trustworthy statement, deserving full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am foremost of all.  Yet for this reason I found mercy, so that in me as the foremost, Jesus Christ might demonstrate His perfect patience as an example for those who would believe in Him for eternal life.  1 Timothy 1:15-16

In less than 3 months I will be living in southern California in the midst of terrible traffic.  My family will be adjusting to a new place, including making new friends and leaving old ones.  My husband will be going back to school, which he has been out of for almost 20 years.  I will be learning to live on a different/lower budget (I've been spoiled for a while).  Apparently God knows that I still have a lot to learn about being patient!

Patience of spirit is better than haughtiness of spirit.  Ecclesiastes 7:8b

Angie
   

Are You Being Loving?

Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things endures all things.  Love never fails; 1 Corinthians 13:4-8a


Wow, that's a lot of what love is and isn't!  It's amazing how much of my day I spend talking to my kids about loving one another (Mathew 19:19 and Leviticus 19:18) even as I type I have to stop to discuss with my child his lack of love towards his sibling.  Sometimes I wonder why they struggle so much with loving others and then I'm reminded of how much I struggle with it, not to mention that we are sinners.  I want so much to always be loving but in the words of Paul, For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want. Romans 7:19  Sadly it is not natural for me to be loving and that is exactly why I have to seek scripture and pray for God's help and mercy.  Now just because I struggle with loving others doesn't mean I can't correct and teach my children or others.  Of course I need to take the plank out of my own eye before going to someone else.  I am commanded to train my children in God's ways and what a great injustice I would do to them if I neglect to correct their sin.

I've talked about love in reference to my children but it applies to so much more.  Whether you are driving in your car, at the grocery store, school, work or whatever you are doing you always have opportunity to love others.  That gold mini van just cut you off; how do you respond?  Your boss just chewed you out in a managers meeting for making a mistake; do you think "I'm thankful that my boss desires for me to do better?"  There are many scenarios, insert what applies to you.  Now look at the verse I put at the beginning and ask yourself if you are doing each thing that love is or isn't.  Are you being patient, kind, jealous, etc.  I know that I fail daily when I answer these questions.  God wants us to obey in everything so if you earnestly ask and diligently seek God for help in this area, He will supply all you need to obey.

If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.  If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.  And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I surrender my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing.  1 Corinthians:1-3    

Several years ago I had a dear friend ask me "are you being loving?"  She was responding to my ability to discern sin in someone and just want to tell them about it because they were in sin.  She clearly saw my sin and responded in love and was instrumental in teaching me that I was being a noisy gong.  It doesn't matter if I can see sin in someone if my desire is not to see them restored to the Lord.  Without love I am nothing!  It profits me nothing to correct sin in someone if I am unloving and do not have God's glory in mind.  I will forever be thankful for my dear friend's words and loving rebuke that are a constant reminder to keep me in check.

I encourage you to memorize 1 Corinthians chapter 13 so that you can fight sin with God's word as soon as it rears its ugly head.

Angie

What Me Worry?

I am traveling with my brothers in Christ to the Shepherd's Conference in Los Angeles.  This annual pilgrimage to Southern California is always a delightful time. I am treated with the opportunity to spend time my brothers and to meet many new people. 

Each year the trip has its own unique stories. Late flights, snow filled roads and bad Chinese restaurants always find their way into the lore of THE trip. This is not to mention the trials on the home front whether it be sick children or work issues and other things that make the trip memorable. 

This year, during the plane ride out, there was a gentleman in the seat in front of me who carried a small idol in his hand.  He rubbed little statue for all it was worth (which was not much) from take-off to landing. The scene of this old man rubbing his little trinket made me reflect on the nature of fear and worry.  We all struggle with these sins at times. We may not keep a little idol to pray to or rub when we are fearful but we have our own idols that we look to in times of need.

Worry and fear are evil twins and the father of these two horrible and ugly siblings is sinful pride!  They look pretty on the outside but they are rotten to the core.  In our sinfulness, we pridefully trust in ourselves instead of trusting in the one true God.  Whether the vehicle of our trust is our abilities, our wealth, our looks or our status in society; the result is all the same.  These things will ultimately fail and inevitably cause us to sink into sinful worry and anxiety which can lead to a variety of other sins!  This paints a stark picture for us!  

In America, we are taught to trust ourselves!  Trust in oneself is the "American Way"!  We celebrate our independent spirit. We use phrases such as, "He is a self-made man!"  But...does God intend it to be this way?  The answer is a resounding "NO!"  God created us to be dependent.  He literally created us to be dependent on Him, yet we trust in ourselves.  He created us to have an intimate relationship with Him, our Creator, yet we choose to hide from Him in the thorny weeds of our sin. Scripture tells us that it all went horribly wrong in the Garden of Eden.  After sinning against the Lord, Adam and Eve hid from Him and we have been hiding since then. We hide from Him even though He is our constant help!

In the sermon on the mount, Jesus admonished His listeners not to worry.  He said, " ...do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own". (Matthew 6:34 NASB).  Just prior to this verse, our Lord used the Father's care for the lowly things of Earth such as birds and the lilies of the field arguing that He if He cares for those things how much more so for man the jewel of His created work!  Jesus teaches that the Father cares for us and will never forsake us!

It is a certainty that we live in a fallen and dangerous world and our tendency is to pridefully trust in ourselves and our own abilities.  If you have not repented of your sins, there is no other way but to trust in yourself.  If you find yourself in this position, repent and turn to Christ and He will take your burden!

Even those who have repented and placed their trust in Him can forget that our Creator has provided the door of opportunity to know Him through His Son.  In knowing Him, we find that we can trust and depend upon Him.  The cross of Christ provides for our greatest needs the way of salvation and an intimate relationship with our Creator which allows us to cast our cares upon Him and never be disappointed!

I will lift up my eyes to the mountains;  from where shall my help come? My help  comes  from The Lord,  Who made heaven and earth. He will not allow your foot to slip; He who keeps you will not slumber. (Psalms 121:1-3 NASB)

Brandon