Let Your Faith Treadmill Do It's Work!

The little cricket of our childhood Disney adventures sang, “When you wish upon a star, makes no difference who you are…” I spent much of my childhood just like other kids, wishing upon stars.  I do remember even as a little girl praying after every wish, “Dear Jesus, please make it so.”

I still have dreams and wishes. I still have hopes and plans. I still look for the silver lining and the first star of the night. But wishing isn’t enough.  People wish all the time – that they had fame, fortune, favor, etc.  A wish is a very comfy sofa. You can lounge there forever.  It takes nothing to lounge and the rewards are nowhere to be found.

But faith is a treadmill. It’s work! It runs on and on. It takes you where you can’t be on your own. It will make you feel much better, but it will cost you. Faith is the substance of things hoped for. It’s the evidence of things not seen. Why would anyone run on a treadmill if they didn’t expect results?  No, they’d recline on the sofa and dream their life away.  Faith jumps up and demands action. Faith gets the blood pumping and the heart pounding. Faith responds to faith. So as we build on faith we find we have more faith!

Unlike the cricket who sings to us to wish on a star, the Lord shows us how to increase our faith. He gives us His precious promises so that when we pray we know we are heard.  Our own wishes, hopes and dreams can fail us, disappoint us and leave us seeking for more, but God’s will never leaves us hanging.  As we hop on the treadmill of the Word and learn it and put it into practice, we find we become stronger and stronger in the faith.  We can spend our entire lives trying to fulfill our own dreams, make our own wishes come true and still fall short of contentment, joy and peace. But once we make God’s goals our goals and let Him infuse our dreams with His will we find the greatest fulfillment in Him.

Oh beloved, you may be sitting in a heap, looking at your dashed hopes and unfulfilled wishes. God knows that you had great hope for your life, your family, your spouse, your job…  You’ve tried to make it all happen, yet people, places and things disappoint you over and over.  You haven’t been feeling fulfilled in such a long time that you may be thinking of chunking your wishes out the door and giving up.  Don’t despair! God is with you. He promises to stay by your side and to make all things new. He will either exchange your dreams for His and give you a fresh start or He will refine your dreams that are from Him and make them come to pass!

He can be trusted! Why? Because He loves you! His Word can be taken in and lived out! Why? Because He is God! Let Him have your wishes, put away the stars and let Him have your heart, your mind and your soul and rejoice as your faith treadmill does its work just the way He plans for you!

Philippians 2:13 for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.

Romans 8:27 and He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.

Isaiah 55:9 For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so My ways are higher than your ways and My thoughts higher than your thoughts.

Romans 10:17 So faith comes by hearing [what is told], and what is heard comes by the preaching [of the message that came from the lips] of Christ (the Messiah Himself). ( AMP )

Galatians 2:20 I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.

God Will Change What You see Through Eyes of Faith

Our vacation has taken a little detour. We had plans but the circumstances of the plans made for much prayer and consideration. Finally we felt that we should go in another direction.  And we did.  

As we rode I realized something. The mountains we traveled through and the road we traveled on are the same ones we’ve come through many times before. But this time was different. In fact, it was very enjoyable.  I’m just not fond of cliffs or hairpin curves but yesterday was exceptionally wonderful.   We met people, we shared Jesus, we encouraged lives and we laughed together.  We asked for divine guidance and He answered.  I asked for help to make it and He responded.

Sometimes when we’re going through the mountains of difficulty our only prayer is for relief.  Could it be that from time to time God wants us to grow through the trouble rather than be relieved of the difficulty? 

I discovered as I rode behind my husband on the motorcycle through the mountains that there are times when God just helps us get through it. Sometimes He teaches us a better way. Sometimes He allows a detour. Sometimes He changes destinations, outcomes and plans.

We want the circumstances to change.  We don’t like the difficulties, the strain, the stretch, the helplessness we feel when in the hard spot or on the difficult road.  God wants growth.  His desire is not to destroy us or to keep us going through the same path of trouble over and over. But His desire is that we will learn to rely on Him more and more, so that when we’re done with the road we’re on, we find that we know Him better and are able to actually thank Him for the good things that came, even while traveling the hard road.  

One thing I know for sure, regardless of the circumstances of life, just one touch from the Lord changes everything.  Just one touch from the Lord changes me.

We all face troubles. We all go through trials. We all have high places of suffering, difficulty and pain. It’s inevitable.  If we focus on the danger we may make it through but we’ll be miserable. But if we focus on the Lord, not only will He get us through it, He will give us joy in the midst of it all. He will give us a better outlook and purpose in it. We can relax and find blessings in the ride, even when it’s hard. The only way to do that is to let God touch it all. 

Oh beloved, run to the road map of life and read: The Bible is full of God’s promises for your trip.  He has the absolute best plans for you.  You may not understand the road you are on, but God knows every turn and every twist. He has gone ahead of you to prepare for your safety. He is behind you to encourage you to go on through.  He is within you to give you courage, strength and grace beyond your natural abilities.  He says I AM your way, I AM your truth, I AM your life. If you will trust Me, I will change what you see and give you eyes of faith to ride the mountains of difficulty, cruise the valleys of despair and survive the winds of change, the storms of life and the detours you never planned. 

God loves you and He’s with you all the way and that’s worth trusting Him wherever the road of life leads you, knowing it’s His touch that changes everything. 

2 Corinthians 5:7  for we walk by faith, not by sight. (NAS)

Isaiah 43:2 When you go through deep waters, I will be with you. When you go through rivers of difficulty, you will not drown. When you walk through the fire of oppression, you will not be burned up; the flames will not consume you. 

Hebrews 11:8 It was by faith that Abraham obeyed when God called him to leave home and go to another land that God would give him as his inheritance. He went without knowing where he was going.

Isaiah 42:6 I will lead blind Israel down a new path, guiding them along an unfamiliar way. I will brighten the darkness before them and smooth out the road ahead of them. Yes, I will indeed do these things; I will not forsake them.

Isaiah 12:2 Behold, God, my salvation! I will trust and not be afraid, for the Lord God is my strength and song; yes, He has become my salvation.

A Marriage Made in Heaven!

When Danny and I got married I instantly had access to many things I didn’t have on my own. He had a truck, a car and a motorcycle.  He had furniture, a bank account and a savings account.  He didn’t keep his things to himself.  He put me on his checking account. It no longer read “Danny Beene”, but the checks said “Mr. or Mrs. Danny Beene”.  Really everything he had when we married, I was privileged to have access to when we said our vows.

No longer was I known by my maiden name. I took Danny’s last name as my own. I took his entire family as mine as well.  Although I’d never known my own grandparents, Danny shared his two grandmothers, his two grandfathers, and his great grandmother with me. There were aunts and uncles and cousins as well. Although I was born into my own family, because of our marriage, I became a member of a completely different family.  

Although they didn’t do everything the way I had been taught by my family traditions, I learned new ways of living and doing things. All in all, I made a commitment to take on his name, his family and his ways.  Literally, I was no longer my own, but I was his. Everything I had was his as well. I held nothing back – I gave it all to him.  Because I put all my trust in my husband, he took complete care of me. I really had no needs, for he provided everything for me.

When we’re born again, we become members of a completely new family – the family of God. This family is comprised of other believers who have made a commitment to Jesus Christ – to follow Him and live according to His precepts throughout the world. We have taken on His name, His nature and His identity. Everything that Christ has – we have access to.   We are no longer our own and as we hold nothing back and give everything to Him, He takes our lives and completely changes us.  Because of this amazing access to the riches and blessings and precepts of God, we have everything provided for us – we are completely taken care of all the rest of our lives.

Are you lacking anything this morning? Have you put your trust in Christ? Have you said yes, I do, to Him and given your whole heart to let Him live through you? Maybe you’ve been trying to meet your own needs – working, planning, doing – and still coming up short.  You may have been in relationships where the other party didn’t treat you so well.  Whether marriage, family or friendship – the other party kept back some of their love, their kindness, their compassion, their forgiveness. They stopped short of complete acceptance and complete commitment. 

Oh beloved, run to God’s Word and read! Rejoice in your marriage to Christ this morning! You who are in Christ are very rich indeed! He is speaking to your heart this morning and He says, beloved, all you have need of My hands have provided! All my good and perfect gifts I give to you from My Father.  Everything you will ever need for your physical and spiritual life I have provided.  I AM everything for you! I will be your access to perfect love, perfect peace and complete joy. I AM yours and you are Mine. I love you and because I laid down My life for you, all your past has gone into the grave with Me. I love you and because I rose to live again, you have a completely new life in Me.  I love you and because I live to make intercession for you, you are protected, provided for and redeemed. You are safe in My arms, always in My heart and always on My mind.  

 

Whatever your needs are this morning, beloved, give those needs to the Lord. He will either fix the situation, replace the broken condition or make all things new. Everything He does for you will be oh so very good because He loves you and He’s for you and that’s your access to all you will ever need, even all the way to heaven!

2 Corinthians 5:17-18  This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun! And all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to himself through Christ...

2 Peter 1:3-4 By His divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know Him, the one who called us to Himself by means of His marvelous glory and excellence.  And because of His glory and excellence, He has given us great and precious promises. These are the promises that enable you to share His divine nature and escape the world’s corruption caused by human desires.

Colossians 1:12 always thanking the Father. He has enabled you to share in the inheritance that belongs to His people, who live in the light.

Psalm 23:1 The Lord is my shepherd; I have all that I need.

Run to the Mailbox and Open that Invitation!

We get lots of invitations in the mail. There are invitations to attend something, win something and try something. Some of those invitations are great and we get involved with gusto. Others are not so wonderful and we often tear them up. Credit card applications, funeral plans, getting something for nothing ideas. We could apparently win a car, win a boat, win a fortune and more. It gets ridiculous sometimes. Invitations to participate in events and belong to groups and fraternities come to us as well. With every invitation comes something to sign and generally something to buy. It can get overwhelming to decide what you need to participate in and what you need to leave alone.

The Word of God sends us invitations that are incredible and out of this world! We are invited to participate in the simplest plan of salvation ever recorded. But it doesn’t stop there. We are invited to join God’s fraternal organization known as the family of God. Through this organization we are members of one family, children of one Father, partakers of God’s divine nature and more. It costs us nothing except willingness to participate. If we had to pay to participate in it, we could never afford it. It has been paid for us along with all the benefits.

Wonderful things are included in God’s Word for us! We get invited into fellowship with God! We get invited to pray, seek His face, live in His Light, walk His paths, and learn His precepts. Each invitation to participate in God’s activities is good for us and worth the effort. Responding to God is always in our best interest and for our highest good. Giving towards our faith is met with a tenfold response into our spirits. It’s just plain good for us.

There are other invitations sent to our hearts on an ongoing basis: unforgiveness, animosity, fear, anger, resentment, discontent, discouragement, disappointment, frustration, bitterness, wrath, malice, wrangling, worry – just to name a few. Every invitation that doesn’t line up with God’s Word and doesn’t match our new life in Christ should be torn up and thrown out. Don’t even think about participating in these things, for they promise a lot but only deliver more trouble to our heart, mind and spirit.

Oh beloved, God has delivered to you His invitation to all you will ever need! He has made a way for you to be free of junk mail and to have delivered to your heart all the wonderful blessings you will ever need! His invitation is free and it carries all the hidden delights your heart longs for – grace, peace, contentment, blessings, love, faith, joy. He knows you’ve gotten lots of invitations in the past. Some of them you opened and found that they were meant for your harm. Toss them in the trash heap and renew your fellowship with the Lord! He speaks to your heart and says Trust Me. I AM everything you need. In Me is fullness of all you are looking for – topped off with extreme joy! I AM your road to success, your way to riches and your trip to heaven!

Run to God’s mailbox, His Word, this morning and reach in and take freely and participate fully in all He has for you. It’s all sent to you from the Lord of Heaven and earth stamped with His incredible, magnificent love and sealed with His abiding care!

1 Corinthians 1:9 God will do this, for He is faithful to do what He says, and He has invited you into partnership with His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

2 Peter 1:3 By His divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know Him, the one who called us to Himself by means of His marvelous glory and excellence.

Isaiah 55:2 Why do you spend money for what is not bread, And your wages for what does not satisfy? Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good, and delight yourself in abundance.

2 Corinthians 1:20 For all of God's promises have been fulfilled in Christ with a resounding "Yes!" And through Christ, our "Amen" (which means "Yes") ascends to God for His glory.

Check the Mailbox of God's Love

Where I work I deal with loads of mail generated from our office. From soil samples to manure samples to water samples. There are fact sheets and information brochures along with flyers and newsletters and reports. Lots of mail. We even have our own postage meter to deal with the large volume of mail.

The fact that we generate lots of mail means that eventually and occasionally something we send out gets lost in the mail. It happened recently. A water sample mailed at the end of last month never showed up at the appropriate lab.  Thankfully the check that was mailed with it wasn’t cashed, but still no sample and therefore no results available.

Work gets stressful when people don't understand that these things happen.  I checked and double checked the address (it was new) and the information I had made copies of and called the lab.  After reassuring myself that I had done everything right, I went on to reassure others that it was simply lost in the system.  You want to blame someone, to get to the root of it – so it doesn’t happen again, but it’s impossible to ensure this because the system itself is fragile and while no one at my end, at the postal service end or the laboratory end wants something lost, it’s going to happen sometimes.

Life gets stressful and we don’t always understand why things happen. Things get lost. People get lost. Lives are lost. Hopes are lost.  It’s bound to happen – the loss of friends, spouses, children, jobs, money, treasures, and more. Admittedly, some things are more treasured than others, but a loss is a loss. Try as we might to get something we considered quite valuable back, it’s out of our hands.  We often wring our hands and cry out that we just want it back. If we’re not careful we’ll spend the rest of our days in mourning for the loss of something we can do nothing about.

People can get stressed, angry, unforgiving and suspicious when they don’t get their wants- but life in Christ never causes stress for His promises are never lost!  

Are you mourning the loss of someone or something you know you’ll never get back in this lifetime?  Are you wringing your hands and worrying about what you’re going to do without that treasured object or a treasured loved one? It’s hard to go it alone, it’s hard to move on, it’s difficult to smile and not let stress overtake you. But life in Christ will never leave you stressing for His promises are never lost! Even when things look bleak, when you’re awake in the wee hours of the morning or you’re in the middle of the day and you remember, God’s promises are right on time. They are ready for you every time you need them! Unlike the mail system, that might lose something in the mail, you never lose God’s promises for they are right with you always!

Oh beloved, run to the mailbox of God’s love - the Word-this morning and let Him show you the treasures of your life from His Word. Everything you need to live is written by the hand of the Lord just for you! Before the foundation of the world God Himself set up His richest storehouse of treasures to give liberally to His beloved ones! You don’t have to travel, you don’t need postage and you don’t have to wait until you are good enough to enjoy it all. Lean on the Lord! He knows your heart is broken, He knows you may be angry or agitated that things got lost, but your relationship with Him is solid. He is for you and His Word is hope for your heart in a day when all may look lost – look into the treasures God gave to you and rejoice. His love and care are yours no matter what.

2 Samuel 22:31 God’s way is perfect. All the Lord’s promises prove true. He is a shield for all who look to Him for protection.

Numbers 23:19 God is not a man, so He does not lie. He is not human, so He does not change His mind. Has He ever spoken and failed to act? Has He ever promised and not carried it through?

Psalm 12:6 The Lord’s promises are pure, like silver refined in a furnace, purified seven times over.

Psalm 119:140 Your promises have been thoroughly tested; that is why I love them so much.

Psalm 138:2 I bow before your holy Temple as I worship. I praise Your name for Your unfailing love and faithfulness; for Your promises are backed by all the honor of Your name.

Psalm 119:89 Your eternal word, O LORD, stands firm in heaven.

Isaiah 40:8 The grass withers and the flowers fade, but the word of our God stands forever.

Worn Out Getting Ready for the Day? Rest in Him!

Wow, just a few more days till Christmas!  If you’re like me, there are still quite a few things to do to get ready for the day.  I keep thinking I need to add an arrangement to a table, an ornament to the tree, a package underneath or another string of lights outside.  Most of us, if truth be told, have lots more Christmas ideas than days left to accomplish them!  I find that right about now, I begin to lose ground between my ideas and plans and daylight hours. I also find that I am getting tired.  It’s a hustle bustle world out there and if we’re not careful, we can get too busy to remember what Christmas is really about.    

Mary and Joseph spent the night in the stable because there was no room in the inn. Because it was one of those hustle bustle times around Jerusalem, the big tax season, there were a lot of people in town. Everyone was busy, some were worrying about paying their taxes, others were worried about seeing the right people and having the right connections. Joseph was worried about Mary and Mary was thinking about her unborn child.

For us, we can scarcely imagine giving birth, delivering our baby, in a barn! The germs, the animals, the hay, the unsanitary conditions! We would be fretting to say the least. We’d be demanding something better. Yet Mary wasn’t fretting or worrying about the situation.  Why? How could she stand it?

Because Mary had already spent time with God, she knew He could be trusted. She knew that even if things looked dreary, dim and dark, that He would be there for her.  Not only had an Angel of the Lord, spoken with her, she had listened! The Word said, “she pondered all these things”. 

Oh beloved! This morning as you wipe the sleep from your eyes and your recount all the things yet to be done, won’t you stop a moment and listen? Listen closely, for amid the sounds of so much rushing and doing and planning there is Someone trying to speak songs of love and truth to your heart! He is the way and as you put your trust in Him, you will find favor! The Lord Himself says to you this morning, Rest in My promises, for each one of them are for your good and My glory! Rest in My care for I AM the one who brought you this far and will care for you all the way to heaven. You cannot trust circumstances, but you can trust Me. You cannot trust yourself, but you can believe that I AM all you need for this holiday, for the holy occasion. As you celebrate so busily, don’t forget to celebrate Me! For I AM the fount of living water, the Redeemer of your heart, the Restorer of your soul and the One Who loves you beyond your wildest hopes and dreams! And if I love you, I will surely be for you always.

Luke 1:30 “Don’t be afraid, Mary,” the angel told her, “for you have found favor with God!

Matthew 1:23 “Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel, which means ‘God is with us.’”

Psalm 27:8  My heart has heard you say, “Come and talk with me.” And my heart responds, “LORD, I am coming.”

Psalm 31:16  Let your favor shine on your servant. In your unfailing love, rescue me.

Psalm 139:17-18 How precious are your thoughts about me, O God. They cannot be numbered!  I can’t even count them; they outnumber the grains of sand! And when I wake up, You are still with me!

Isaiah 25:1 O LORD, I will honor and praise your name, for you are my God. You do such wonderful things! You planned them long ago, and now you have accomplished them.