Just in case you don't read Lisa Shay's response to my last post, here it is below because it's something we can all apply to our lives and should. Thank you Lisa, I needed this strong reminder. Thanks for taking the time to share this with me. It's hard sometimes to keep believing when all you see are the circumstances but God has always been incredibly faithful to my family and myself. I cannot afford to lose my grip on His truth.
Jos, I'm leaving you an excerpt from the book I'm reading. It's my Saturday morning Bible Study. It's been awesome. I know I've told you that before, but it really is amazingly filled with incredible truths of our capable, loving and unbelievable God.
"Loving God with All Your Mind" by, Elizabeth George
Here it goes:
Chapter 19
"We know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those called according to His purpose." Rom. 8:28
The women from our church were crowded into a large conference room for our annual retreat. We were meeting at the headquarters of Campus Crusade for Christ which, at the time, was in Arrowhead Spring, CA. Our speaker was Ney Bailey from their staff, and I still remember the story she told that first evening--a story that I read again later in her book, Faith Is Not A Feeling...
One quiet summer day, Ney was meeting in the Colorado Rocky Mountains with 35 other women leaders from Campus Crusade. Suddenly sirens broke the peaceful stillness and megaphones barked, 'Evacuate immediately! Flash flood coming! Evacuate immediately!'
The women immediately got into their cars and left. As they crossed over a bridge, the realized the urgency of the situation when the raging waters cascading down the mountain washed away the bridge they had just driven over! Continuing on, the women traveled to a fork in the road, got out of their cars, asked for directions, jumped back into the cars, and drove on.
Ney Bailey's care went one way, and another car went a different way. Tragically, the seven women in the other car drowned. Not knowing of her friends' deaths, Ney and her companions huddled together in prayer once their car reached higher ground. With the authority of Scripture under-girding her, she began praying, "Lord, Your Word says, 'In everything give thanks, because this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning us.' So while we are in this, we choose with our wills to thank You.
"And Lord, Your Word says, 'All things'--including this--'work together for good to those who love You'--and we do--'and are called according to Your purpose'--and we are.
"You have also said that heaven and earth will pass away before Your Word passes away. So Your Word is truer than anything we are feeling or experiencing right now."
Faith is not a feeling, and Ney lived out that truth in the situation I just described. Despite whatever she was feeling--panic, fear, worry--Ney chose to put her faith in God and the truths of His Word and not in her feelings. As her prayer reveals, she turned to God and clung to the promises found in His Word when her feelings and thoughts might have run wild. Ney Bailey's prayer taught me 3 lessons I have tried to apply in my own Christian life.
1. Pray "Your Word says..."--Ney showed me how to pray using the authority of Scripture. I saw right away the value of praying "Your Word says...," of letting God's truth guide my petitions. Now, whenever I counsel a woman who needs help praying about difficult issues, I share Ney's prayer with her and tell her to pray God's Word.
2. Pray the truth of Rom. 8:28--Ney's prayer taught me how to use the truth of Rom. 8:28 concerning my life. Following her model, I now pray, "God, Your Word says 'all things', including this _____ (and I fill in the blank, naming my present problem)--'work together for good.'" The simple exercise of "filling in the blank" forces me to acknowledge God's involvement in my life and reminds me that He is the source of my strength and hope.
3. Pray to be faith oriented--This prayer taught me that I can never view my life through the lens of feelings. They are too varied and unstable! No, I must be faith oriented rather than feeling oriented. Faith is not a feeling. Faith looks to God and trusts Him to work out the present difficulty for His purposes and my good. I must look to God and to His Word--and to Rom. 8:28!--and I must remember that He will indeed work all things for my good!
As we're continuing to learn, God is in complete control of every aspect of our lives. Furthermore, He promises to work "all things" for our good and His purposes. We can definitely have hope in Him and put our God-given faith in Him.
Jos, I'm leaving you an excerpt from the book I'm reading. It's my Saturday morning Bible Study. It's been awesome. I know I've told you that before, but it really is amazingly filled with incredible truths of our capable, loving and unbelievable God.
"Loving God with All Your Mind" by, Elizabeth George
Here it goes:
Chapter 19
"We know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those called according to His purpose." Rom. 8:28
The women from our church were crowded into a large conference room for our annual retreat. We were meeting at the headquarters of Campus Crusade for Christ which, at the time, was in Arrowhead Spring, CA. Our speaker was Ney Bailey from their staff, and I still remember the story she told that first evening--a story that I read again later in her book, Faith Is Not A Feeling...
One quiet summer day, Ney was meeting in the Colorado Rocky Mountains with 35 other women leaders from Campus Crusade. Suddenly sirens broke the peaceful stillness and megaphones barked, 'Evacuate immediately! Flash flood coming! Evacuate immediately!'
The women immediately got into their cars and left. As they crossed over a bridge, the realized the urgency of the situation when the raging waters cascading down the mountain washed away the bridge they had just driven over! Continuing on, the women traveled to a fork in the road, got out of their cars, asked for directions, jumped back into the cars, and drove on.
Ney Bailey's care went one way, and another car went a different way. Tragically, the seven women in the other car drowned. Not knowing of her friends' deaths, Ney and her companions huddled together in prayer once their car reached higher ground. With the authority of Scripture under-girding her, she began praying, "Lord, Your Word says, 'In everything give thanks, because this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning us.' So while we are in this, we choose with our wills to thank You.
"And Lord, Your Word says, 'All things'--including this--'work together for good to those who love You'--and we do--'and are called according to Your purpose'--and we are.
"You have also said that heaven and earth will pass away before Your Word passes away. So Your Word is truer than anything we are feeling or experiencing right now."
Faith is not a feeling, and Ney lived out that truth in the situation I just described. Despite whatever she was feeling--panic, fear, worry--Ney chose to put her faith in God and the truths of His Word and not in her feelings. As her prayer reveals, she turned to God and clung to the promises found in His Word when her feelings and thoughts might have run wild. Ney Bailey's prayer taught me 3 lessons I have tried to apply in my own Christian life.
1. Pray "Your Word says..."--Ney showed me how to pray using the authority of Scripture. I saw right away the value of praying "Your Word says...," of letting God's truth guide my petitions. Now, whenever I counsel a woman who needs help praying about difficult issues, I share Ney's prayer with her and tell her to pray God's Word.
2. Pray the truth of Rom. 8:28--Ney's prayer taught me how to use the truth of Rom. 8:28 concerning my life. Following her model, I now pray, "God, Your Word says 'all things', including this _____ (and I fill in the blank, naming my present problem)--'work together for good.'" The simple exercise of "filling in the blank" forces me to acknowledge God's involvement in my life and reminds me that He is the source of my strength and hope.
3. Pray to be faith oriented--This prayer taught me that I can never view my life through the lens of feelings. They are too varied and unstable! No, I must be faith oriented rather than feeling oriented. Faith is not a feeling. Faith looks to God and trusts Him to work out the present difficulty for His purposes and my good. I must look to God and to His Word--and to Rom. 8:28!--and I must remember that He will indeed work all things for my good!
As we're continuing to learn, God is in complete control of every aspect of our lives. Furthermore, He promises to work "all things" for our good and His purposes. We can definitely have hope in Him and put our God-given faith in Him.
No comments:
Post a Comment