Walk of Faith

We live by faith, not by sight.
II Corinthians 5:7

I have been writing this blog labeled “Walk of Faith” since August of 2009 and as we head into the new year I thought I would take a minute and reflect on what it means to actually walk by faith as a follower of Jesus Christ. There are a lot of people that claim to have faith in Jesus and I am not in a position to say whether or not their faith is true or right or genuine or real, that is for God to know and work with. My purpose here is to evaluate what the Scriptures say and discuss it with you.

Much of what I will share with you is from the wisdom of other people like Charles Stanley and Phillip Yancy with my own perspective on it. My goal is not to offend, judge, or rebuke. My goal is to use the Scriptures as a mirror like James says to in chapter 1 verses 22-25. We, as Christians, are to read the Word and do what it says. So lets look at what the Word has to say about faith in general and what this walk should look like.

As humans we differentiate and observe things in this world with our senses. We see the beautiful sunrises and sunsets, we hear the songs the birds make, we smell the spring flowers on the air, and we taste the beautiful creations that chefs like myself and others make (just taste alone has so many subtleties and complexities to it as our palate distinguishes sweet, salty, bitter, sour, and umami). For those that lose one of those senses the other four are often amplified as they attempt to make their way in the world. The five senses are truly a gift from God that He has blessed us with to enjoy His creation. I pray that we never take them for granted.

Our senses allow us to perceive things as truth. When we see it is raining outside we know we should put on a raincoat or grab an umbrella. When our hands come close to the fire on a stovetop we know to instinctively pull our hand away. Our senses protect us. Yet God tells us that there is a higher truth that we cannot see. He instructs us to live and walk by faith and not according to what we see, hear, taste, smell, and touch . God, in His grace and mercy, even gives us this gift of faith in order to make our way in the world.

For it is by grace that you have been saved, through faith-and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God.
Ephesians 2:8

So, what is this Christian faith that God has given us? Faith as defined by the dictionary is confidence or trust in a person or thing. It is a belief that is not based on proof. Faith according to Hebrews 11:1 is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. Faith in God means that we have a confident conviction that He is who He says He is in His word. It is not based on assumptions, feelings, opinions, or circumstances and it is not based on science or what the world says.

Often the picture of faith that emerges in the Bible and in our lives does not fit into a tidy formula. If you muster up enough faith you will not necessarily get rich, stay healthy, and live a life filled with contentment and all your prayers will not be answered in the fashion that you expect. Sometimes faith leads to victory and triumph but oftentimes it requires a gritty determination to hang on at any cost. But no matter what if you hang on the belief that God is in ultimate control and will keep His promises then this is true faith.

If we look at the “Hall of Faith” in Hebrews 11 we see men and women that did not often get what they thought they would from their faith. Some of them were beaten and ended up poor and penniless. Others were left hiding out for their lives wearing animal skins. Not exactly the health-and-wealth message that can be found in many of today’s churches. We must remember though that in verse 16 God says of these people who had faith in Him that He has a city prepared for them and that this kind of faith pleases Him. This type of faith is like a difficult race that must be run. Later on in Hebrews 12:1 the author tells us to “throw off everything that get’s in our way” of finishing this race. This faith described here is tough and we must constantly commit ourselves to it. This type of faith is hanging on to God against all odds and believing that He is who He says He is and that He will do what He says He will do, no matter what.

Next year we will spend more time looking into what this faith looks like when it is manifested in our lives on a daily basis. Until then have a happy and safe New Year’s Eve and God bless.

Be Still

"Be still, and know that I am God!"
Psalm 46:10 (NLT)

I don’t know about you but I have an awfully hard time sitting still. My profession requires me to be on my feet and constantly observing the goings on of a 1500 square foot kitchen for 8 hours a day. When I do sit down it is only for a minute or two. I don’t get a lunch hour to sit and relax and if I did I don’t think I would know what to do with it.

When I get home I get the joy of running around the backyard with my son, having adventures, playing sports, and ensuring that the time we get together is quality togetherness time. As the sole proprietor of my home all the maintenance and upkeep is up to me.

There are many days that I wake up before 5:00am and the first time I sit still for any length of time is when I sit down after dinner around 6:00pm. My day is jam packed with things to do, responsibilities that need to be taken care of and a wonderful baby boy to spend time with. Don’t misunderstand me, I am not complaining.......I wouldn’t have it any other way!!

The consequence of all this busyness is that when I do finally take a load off and relax I have what some call “Monkey Mind”. My mind is like a monkey, swinging from thought to thought, never resting on any one thing for very long. When the Psalmist says, “Let all that I am wait quietly before God” in Psalm 62:5 my mind says, “Yeah right, what about that shopping list, and the project at work, and the tree in the backyard needs to be cut, and......”

I wish that I could quiet my mind long enough to sit before The Almighty and just listen to see what He has to say. It’s bad enough to be praying and all of a sudden I am thinking about my favorite book or television show but to actually sit still, be quiet and listen........my mind just doesn’t allow it!!

Why? I don’t need to get God’s attention as it is immediate and unavoidable, all I have to do is focus on eternal things!! This inner quietness will come to me when I stop trying to possess things. When all that I do possess is held in my open hand and not held onto with an iron grip, that is when I will know the peace that will allow my mind to sit still. When I realize that all I have been blessed with is for sharing with other people, when I let go of attachments to anything or anyone besides God, then nothing will disrupt my stillness.

Jesus said in Luke 14:26 that if we are to be His disciples we are to hate everyone else by comparison. This means that we are to not love anything more than Him. This doesn’t mean that we are to withhold love or hate as we know it but it does mean that we are to love only in the shadow of the Cross.

By demonstrating proper focus on eternal things, it will lead to true stillness and contentment.

God bless.

A Troubled Heart

John 14:1
Jesus, the Way to the Father
"Don't let your hearts be troubled.”

In my last post I talked about what to do when you are anxious and stressed out. Today I would like to continue this discussion with a short discussion based on a devotional I received today from Charles Stanley.

Is there anything troubling your heart right now? What is it that has a grip on your heart and causing you to lose sleep? The list could be endless. It could be the thought of fighting the crowds and completing your holiday shopping on time. It could be a health issue that you or someone important is going through. It could be a relationship that you are in that is causing you stress. Any countless number of things could be causing you to lose sleep.

Jesus tells us to not let our hearts be troubled but this statement by Him alone doesn’t change our feelings or emotions as we go through challenging situations. Mr. Stanley says that our interpretation of this phrase has been skewed by the limited English language. A more accurate understanding of this phrase uttered by Jesus in John 14:1 is, “Be troubled no longer.” Jesus isn’t saying that we are to deny our feelings or emotions in difficult circumstances and just put on a happy face like everything is alright. He is telling us that we shouldn’t let our feelings and emotions overwhelm us or conquer us. In my last post I stated that our emotions are slaves to our thoughts. Yes, we will experience difficult times, but by fixing our thoughts on the promises of Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit, we can endure struggles with the peace of Christ promised further on in John 14.

27 "I am leaving you with a gift—peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don't be troubled or afraid.

In order to move from stress and anxiety to this peace and tranquility we must immediately focus on the Lord and not on the circumstance. We must trust Him to help us through whatever it is that has our hearts all knotted up. We must spend time in the Word so that when these trying circumstances come, and they will come, we will have the ammunition necessary to combat the lies of the enemy with the perspective of Jesus Christ. It’s when we look at things from His perspective on the problem and seek His promises that we will have victory in these times.

The thing that makes all of this work, the one thing that ties it all together, is obedience. After we believe Jesus we must be obedient in the circumstance. You cannot have the gift of peace He offers without obedience. This is where I get tripped up all of the time. I get anxious over my finances even though Jesus promises to take care of me, after all he takes care of the birds of the air and the lilies of the fields, right? I know His promises concerning my finances. If I am faithful in my giving and prudent with the money He has allowed me to have than He will bless me beyond measure. When I start to get anxious I seek out the many promises that Christ has made concerning my bank account but the problem is I never remain obedient or consistent in my obedience for any amount of time. Because of this the peace Jesus promises has eluded me.

So when trouble hits your heart like a sledgehammer remember:
• focus immediately on the Lord
• read Scripture to gain His perspective
• believe!!
• be obedient
• present your anxiousness to the Lord in prayer, not just with a request that He take it away but also with thanks for His strength to endure them.

Have a great day and God bless you!

Pray, Ponder, Practice

As many as three years ago I was impacted by a small group of verses in the small book of Philippians. I stumbled upon them by accident as is usually the case when walking in faith. God has a way of getting your attention when you are entirely unprepared for it!!

Philippians 4:4-9
4 Always be full of joy in the Lord. I say it again—rejoice!5 Let everyone see that you are considerate in all you do. Remember, the Lord is coming soon.
6 Don't worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done.7 Then you will experience God's peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.
8 And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.9 Keep putting into practice all you learned and received from me—everything you heard from me and saw me doing. Then the God of peace will be with you.

How many of us are stressed out at this time of year? Between work, school, finances, the pain over failed relationships, poor health, and the high expectations I put on myself for giving my son a good Christmas I have been a wreck. I don’t think I have slept more than four or five hours a night for months. My body is rebelling against me with a constant wheezing in my chest and pain in my joints. I wish I could afford to go to the doctor but I can’t so I just have to tough it out!!

What does Paul say for me to do in verse 4? Be filled with joy? Are you kidding me? Then he puts an emphasis on it by saying it again!! “Rejoice!” he says. Rejoice? Really? I love Jesus but I am not exactly filled with “joy in the Lord” right now. I have too much stuff going on externally and internally.....rejoice he says! Pfft!!!! How exactly am I supposed to rejoice.........what’s that? Wait a minute, he goes on to tell me exactly how to do this in the following verses!!

In verse five Paul tells us that the key to not being anxious is to simply talk to God about it. If you want peace all you have to do is tell God what’s on your mind and be thankful for what you already have. No matter how bad our situation may be there are a lot of people in the world that have it worse. We are blessed to live in the land of plenty. Think about this.....most of the world only has enough water for each person to use two gallons a day. Two gallons!! That includes drinking water, cooking, and bathing. Heck every flush of our toilets uses almost as much as most people get to use per day!!! If you thank God for all of the blessings you already have it might be hard to remain in a grumpy, stressed-out mindset.

If we bring our anxiousness to God and thank Him for all He has already done for us we can experience peace like never before!! So PRAY in a thankful manner!!

In verse eight Paul goes on to tell us that we must think about certain things. By fixing your thoughts on good things your mood will reflect these good things. Your emotions are a slave to your thoughts. This is something that has taken me a long time to figure out. Did you know that you have the power to control and change your thoughts? Try it right now.....think about a time or place (or person) that brings happiness and peace to you. Now think about something that makes you angry. Did you notice anything? For me when I think of that one person that pisses me off my pulse increases, adrenaline starts to course through my body, and I get a knot in my stomach. When I think of the time I brought my son to Disneyland for vacation it brings a smile to my face and my eyes actually well up with tears of happiness. Our thoughts are powerful dictators of our emotions. Paul knew this two thousand years ago and he tells us to focus our thoughts only on what is excellent and worthy of praise.

So what then shall we fix our thoughts on? Look at the list Paul gives us; true, honorable, right, pure, lovely, and admirable. Do you know anyone that meets all of that criteria? I do. Jesus Christ, my Lord and Savior!! He meets every single one of those and so many more. So I will PONDER my Lord and think about He that is excellent and worthy of praise!!

Paul closes out his sermon in verse nine by telling us to keep practicing everything that he has talked about and taught us. The key is to listen to what he has said and practice them. Let me be clear....it’s going to take a lot of hard work and continuous practice for us to get this right and only through the grace of God will we truly get it. Our process of sanctification is a continual one that will not end until the day we fix our mortal eyes on the immortal Jesus Christ!! With PRACTICE we will get better.....just like with anything, playing guitar, karate, healthful eating habits all get easier with diligent and persistent practice.

For many of us what I have talked about today may seem daunting. You may not have any idea how you could Pray, Ponder, and Practice these things on a daily basis in hopes that your stress level goes down. Not to worry. Paul gives us the key a few verses later.

Philippians 4:13
For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength.

Amen and God bless!!

Has God spoken to you lately? (Tuesday, November 16, 2010)

2 Corinthians 12:7-10 (NLT)
7 So to keep me from becoming proud, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger from Satan to torment me and keep me from becoming proud.
8 Three different times I begged the Lord to take it away.9 Each time he said, "My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness." So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me.10 That's why I take pleasure in my weaknesses, and in the insults, hardships, persecutions, and troubles that I suffer for Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

I have been going through an inordinate amount of hardships lately. Between my health, my finances and my “thorn” I have been struggling mightily in my walk of faith. This weekend I had a discussion with God about how easy it is to latch on to tangible things like possessions and earthly relationships but it isn’t always easy to have a relationship with Him. I find this is especially true when I don’t hear from Him in a while (it’s often the fact that I am not listening not that He isn’t talking).

One hardship has been with my finances and the fact that my mortgage and home is sucking the life out of me. After my divorce I always knew I might not be able to afford to stay in my home and during the past two years it has only gotten more difficult. Each month I seem to be slipping further into debt and when interest rates fell I decided to try and take advantage of them. After working with the bank for 4 months I have been declined for a refinance that would have helped me out a lot. I prayed long and hard for this refinance to go through but it evidently wasn’t in God’s plans for me. I have had a hard time dealing with this.

To add fuel to the fire I have been reading and hearing about this new movie that is out right now called Inside Job. The movie documents all of the unethical practices and politics that have led to the housing bust and recession recently. My coworkers and I have been discussing it and yesterday I left work more enraged than when I got there.

Fast forward to last nights devotional time with my Lord. I opened up our time by asking Him to speak clearly to me. Well God spoke to me in a major way through many verses, the first of which I opened this blog with. In 2 Corinthians 12 Paul speaks about when he goes through hardships God is always there. As a matter of fact God works in these times of weakness in His children’s lives in amazing ways. We must not forget the grace of God.....it’s all we need.

The next verses in my devotional were found in Micah chapter 2. These verses were like a sledgehammer to the forehead.
Micah 2:1-3 (NLT)
Judgment against Wealthy Oppressors
1 What sorrow awaits you who lie awake at night,
thinking up evil plans.
You rise at dawn and hurry to carry them out,
simply because you have the power to do so.
2 When you want a piece of land,
you find a way to seize it.
When you want someone's house,
you take it by fraud and violence.
You cheat a man of his property,
stealing his family's inheritance.

3 But this is what the LORD says:
"I will reward your evil with evil;
you won't be able to pull your neck out of the noose.
You will no longer walk around proudly,
for it will be a terrible time."

Can this get any more blatant and clear based on what I told you about my situation? Basically God said that He knows about all the unethical practices that are going on and it is not for me to worry about. He has my back.

The last group of verses also spoke to me. They were found in the tiny book of Philippians.
Philippians 4:11-13 (NLT)
11 Not that I was ever in need, for I have learned how to be content with whatever I have.12 I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything. I have learned the secret of living in every situation, whether it is with a full stomach or empty, with plenty or little.13 For I can do everything through Christ,* who gives me strength.

I make decisions every day—what to eat, what to wear, where to go. If I find myself complaining…or frequently irritated, then I need to make the decision to be content…to be satisfied with my circumstances in life. It’s not hard, but it does take practice. Next time I think of what’s wrong with my situation, stop! Instead of complaining because I wasn’t able to refinance my home, I need to be thankful that I still have a home.

So God answered my request yesterday and spoke to me in an amazing way.....with verses that were already printed in my daily devotional long before I needed them.

God said to me last night, “My grace is enough, I have your back and I know what you are going through, be content with what you have.”

Thank You Lord.

A Time of Reflection

As I close in on my 40th birthday I have become extremely introspective and reflective. A month ago I passed my 6th anniversary of the most glorious day in my life-the day of my salvation, the day I came to call upon Jesus as the only one to save me. In the last 6 years I have had extreme highs and plummeting lows. I have known the joy of having a son being an integral part of my life and the pain of having a spouse ripped from my grasp. Each week my joy abounds when my son gets to come home with me and each week I drown in despair as he is taken away from me. I have experienced times of health and lately, times of sickness. I have been filled with joy and hope and other times sadness and pain overwhelm me. I have struggled financially but God has always come through and provided exactly what I needed when I needed it. I have had successes and failures. I have stuck to my convictions and other times I have strayed far from what I have believed. It has been a roller-coaster ride of ups and downs.

The thing that has seen me through all of these highs and lows has been my relationship with Jesus and the amazing brothers and sisters in the faith that He has surrounded me with. I can’t tell you how humbling it is to know that there are men and women out there praying for me on a daily basis. My name comes before the Throne of God every day as my friends intercede on my behalf. When my world was falling down around me I turned to these friends for advice and support. I turned to my friend Jon on an almost daily basis as a source of strength and encouragement. I turned to my friend Dan and his Band of Brothers as a refuge and as a source of inspiration. I turned to my best friend Rob for advice and counsel. I turned to the men and women in my community group for all of the above. Laura, Mike, Paul, and Jen have all blessed me with their love, support, encouragement, and prayer. Without these men and women talking to me, listening to me, praying for me, and just being there for me I would not have gotten through years 38 and 39 of my existence.

Now as I close in on 40 I am filled with peace and joy. I am filled with hope. My hope comes from my relationship with Jesus Christ and the things He has promised me in His Word. My peace and joy come from being surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses that He has provided to help see me through the good and the bad. What a wonderful time to be alive!!

To all those mentioned and the many I may have forgotten......THANK YOU and God bless you!!