Deliciously Faithful: What is your Faith based on?

I trust in Thy word.  Psalm 119:42

 

Have you ever prayed and asked God to give you courage, and then all of a sudden you realize that your life has been impacted by so many circumstances that require courage?  Perhaps it was not courage you prayed for, but strength in certain situations, and all of a sudden your strength was being challenged on a regular basis.  Or, maybe it was perseverance, and you found that you were having to persevere through one situation or circumstance after another. Maybe you have asked God to give you a spirit of kindness, an attitude of kindness — and you have encountered people time after time who made you want to be anything but kind!

When my children were little, I would pray continually and sincerely, that God would give me patience.  Soon after I started for praying for God to give me patience, I found that I was surrounded by “opportunities” in which practicing patience was required.  For example, my spouse’s career required that I quit college. We moved to a new town with our children one week before Christmas! Everything was packed and loaded by moving men. I didn’t have a clue where anything was, except that it was being stored on a moving truck.  We moved into a small hotel room, and the kids and I spent the next week trying to figure out how we fit into this picture.  At first, the children thought it was a fun adventure. But then, after so many re-runs on the limited hotel television and rainy weather, we were ready to move out of the hotel and into a box! 

Then the challenge went from worse to worser, as my grandson says!  The remodeling work being done on our new home was not yet finished.  The company wanted us to move out of the hotel,  so we rented a very small, very old mobile home from an older couple who lived in a nice house next door.   Christmas eve came and we moved into the tiny mobile home. I found one Christmas tree left over at a lot in town, and the man gave it to me for free.  Our lovely Christmas ornaments were packed somewhere on a truck that was in a place that only the moving company and God knew of!  I searched department stores for wrapping paper, and there was none left.  So, I wrapped the few presents I had been able to purchase for the children while they were with me — in comic newspapers.  I tied them with strips of wide ribbon I had purchased in the sewing department and placed them beneath the tree.  Christmas came and went, and we made it through with a few hidden tears on my part.

I drove by our new home daily and reminded myself that this “home-in-a-box” was temporary, and I learned that I could do anything for a short time.  But, days turned into weeks and a major blizzard hit the state.  December’s move-in date turned into January, and January turned into February.  We had two bedrooms smaller than most modern master baths, and a combined family of five children.   Daily I prayed, “Lord, Father, please give me patience, especially with the children and with this situation.”

I think that my sense of adventure helped some.  I would make a point to take the kids to explore our new community. We made long afternoons pass by at the library.  Lent came and we learned a new lesson in patience as it was our habit to give up television during Lent — except for Sundays.  Long winter evenings were passed sitting together on the small sofa, library books piled high — and we read more than 30 books a week.  Board games were abundant in our living room, and we found a renewed interest in puzzles.

Februrary turned into March, and we waited and anticipated. Then the March rains and ice storms came. The people  we were acquiring our home from had chosen a white carpet for the living room. We didn’t dare move in until the rains and the storms  passed and drier weather allowed the recently landscaped front lawn to turn to something other than a mire of mud.  As the days grew longerand spring came, I found that my patience had grown.   I learned a valuable lesson that year– be careful of what you ask God for!  God does answer prayers,  but His ways are not our ways.  While I wanted an instant injection of patience, my heavenly Abba knew that just like wheat, patience only grows with a little rain and a whole lotta of dirt and sunshine!

Eventually, after what seemed like years — we had the “go ahead” to move into our new home.  The moving truck arrived with out belongings which had been packed away so many months before hand.  In the big bedroom with the large bay windows that night, I realized that I missed the little home over the hill where we had so snuggly spent the past few months.  We had a new home, and our belongings had been returned to us. It was a lot like Christmas!  But, something more had come and that was patience, not only patience with the children, but patience with God’s timing and with life.

Psalm 119:42 says, “I will trust in Thy word.”  The original Hebrew word used in this passage is    בּטח    bâṭach,   which is pronounced baw-takh’ .  It can mean,  to “hide in” or to “take refuge in” or to “place one’s hope in” — to have faith in and in this case, David is saying that he is placing his faith in — he is taking refuge in — he is “hiding” in God’s word. 

Our world tells us that we need to trust ourselves, trust our instincts, trust our feelings, trust our intuition.  If I could tell you how many times I’ve trusted my feelings only to find that what I was feeling was not anywhere in the ballpark of what I should been doing!  I’ve made so many bad decisions and bad choices because I trusted my “instinct” or because I trusted my “intuition ” instead of trusting in God’s Word!  

When we place our faith anywhere except in God’s Word, we are just as apt to make a mistake as we are not. It is like the man who through coins up in the air, and as they came down he made his decision on whether they landed heads up or heads down — and he made that decision (heads up or down) by tossing another coin! 

Recently, I’ve been praying about faith. By recently, I mean over the past five to seven years!  I can look back now and see the footprints, the times when I’ve had to rely only on God’s Word to just get me through from one moment until the next — literally from minute to minute!  When I became a widow, my feelings, my intution, my emotions, and even many of my initial experiences told me that I was deserted by God and by the church — I was alone in the world. 

But, I knew God’s Word said,

 Heb 13:5 “ …. for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee”

When everything said I was husbandless, God’s Word said,

“I am the advocate (husband) to the widow.” (Deut 10:18)

 When I felt that I had been plucked from the hand of God, God’s Word said,

“Rom 8:38-39 For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor anything above, nor anything below, nor anything else in all creation can separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”  

 In founding and directing Lydia Ministries International, and in starting new ministries with LMI, such as Rachel’s Ministry and MOSES Ministry, I am constantly challenged to grow in faith.  What I always have to remember is to put faith where it belongs — in God’s Word. Why?

Because many times I’m presented with opportunities to minister, but the financial resources are not already present. In other words, the money is not yet in the bank and even the manpower of volunteers has not yet been received.  If I waited for volunteers to show up on the doorstep, or for the money to appear in the bank, I would never move forward in ministry. I would never respond to the requests of pastors and women around the world.  If I put faith in what I could see, I would not do anything, but stay at home and watch television!  I have to believe in my Abba’s Word, for His Word says, 

  Php 4:19 “But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.”

The word in the original Hebrew for supply,  πληρόω plēroō  and proncounced, play-ro’-o, means to make replete, literally to cram (like cramming a net full of fish, or a bowl full of berries), to level up, (like to fill-in any empty places, like leveling a pot hole and making it full) to furnish, to satisfy, to execute (such as an office), to finish (like a period of time or a task), to verify (to coincide with a predicition), to accomplish, to be complete, to fulfill, to perfect — to supply. 

In other words, I trust that God is going to make replete every need to accomplish His work that He has started in me. He will not be stingy with provision. He will fill up every low place where there is need; he will cram full every corner until it is filled with what has been lacking.  God Himself will furnish every volunteer and satisfy every need for helpers.  He will execute every office and unction that must be executed, and he will complete to perfection His plan.

When I take God’s Word at what it says, when I put my faith in God’s Word, when I rely on God’s Word, when I trust in God’s Word, and not in my own feelings or misgivings or sentimental judgements, then

                       “I know that I can do anything through Christ who strengthens me.” Phil. 4:13

As you pray and ask God for what is your heart, according to the riches of His Word, you can know that He will answer — but remember, our ways are not His ways. You do not have to fear asking God for anything, for He has said,

 

 

 

“What father among you, if his son asks for bread, would give him a stone, or if he asks for a fish, would give him a snake instead of the fish?” Luke 11:11. 

 If we, who are not holy would be gracious unto our sons and daughters, how much more so can we trust God to be gracious to us. He is Holy and Good and Trustworthy. Therefore, do not be afraid to ask with reverance and awe, and He will answer according to His riches and glory in heaven.

 

 Please remember: TEAM KENYA 2009 is still accepting applications for volunteers for our September 9-23, 2009 mission to Kenya.  We especially need people who have a heart to work with orphans and street kids in the areas of dance, music, and drama productions, along with playing games and interacting with these precious kids.

We can still use a few key people who can help build a church for a Maasai tribe in Namanga on the border of Tanzania and Kenya.  Please contact us or visit  http://www.lydiaministry.com/teamkenya2009.html

Thank you and God bless! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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