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Be Still and KNOW

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Be Still and KNOW

Tag Archives: Christian

KNOWING GOD

27 Saturday Sep 2014

Posted by carolyncam1 in Uncategorized

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believer, Bible, Christ, Christian, God, Jesus, love, Seek

I surprised myself a few days ago when I was able to answer a rather complicated question about God posed by a preacher on the radio. As I sat feeling a bit more smug than I should, it occurred to me that the answer would not have been found in any one Scripture that I might have been able to call to mind.  I hadn’t memorized the answer from one of the many books I have read or a sermon I’ve heard.  I was able to arrive at the answer because I know God.  Oh, I still have a lot to learn about Him, but it was a lightbulb moment when I understood that the Creator of the universe is knowable.

When I first became a Christian, I was desperate to learn all I could about the events and people in the Bible. My goal was to learn and remember as much as I could.  I wrote out genealogies, a chronology of all the major events, and each of the Jewish festivals and the meaning behind each one.  I mapped out a timeline of kings adding important notes about each one, whether they were good or bad, whether they ruled in Judah or Israel.  I wanted to be sure I knew what message each of the prophets delivered, to whom they tried to speak, and how they died.  I was clearly learning historical facts about God’s work in our world.  What I didn’t realize was that I was also learning about God Himself.  Through the events He included in His message to us, I learned about His faithfulness, His goodness, and how great His love is for us.

Deuteronomy 4:29 – “But from there you will seek the Lord your God, and you will find Him if you seek Him with all your heart and with all your soul.”

Each year for the past five years I have read the entire Bible. Each year God brings so many new things to my attention. Each time I spend time in God’s Word, I remind myself that this book is how God chose to tell us things He wants us to know and I feel so close to Him.  Sometimes I am surprised at the thoughts He brings to my mind, the insights He gives me.  Some days I read and don’t have this experience but even on those days I feel near to God as I read.  It’s so amazing to know the God that created me wants me to know Him.  The relationship is not one-sided – it is not merely that God knows me so intimately – He has provided ways for me to know Him in the same way.

In addition to reading the Bible, I regularly listen to respected Christian teachers on the radio, at my church and on TV (although I have learned to be very careful about whom I watch on TV – it seems to be the one media where false teachers abound!). Allistair Begg, James MacDonald, Erwin Lutzer, Ravi Zacharias, Hank Hanegraaff, Charles Stanley, Michael Yousseff, Adrian Rogers, Ron Jones, Chip Ingram and Tony Evans are just a few that I can count on to present sound Biblical teaching.  Christian authors are another provision from God to help us know Him better: Arthur Murray, C.S. Lewis, George Muller, A.W. Tozer, Dietrich Bonhoffer, and many current Christian authors.  Each day, after reading and meditating on Scripture, I read other Christian books, often two or three books at a time!  On days when I feel down I pop on the earplugs and listen to Christian music.  It is so uplifting and provides a way for me to praise God instead of focusing on myself.  It’s better than any anti-depressant I have ever been prescribed!

To know God, we must seek Him – earnestly and diligently. There’s no quick or easy way to do this.  Just as in our human relationships, it takes time.  Don’t neglect this essential aspect of your Christian life.  It is so much easier to obey and serve God when you know Him.  It’s easy to come up with excuses.  Those dirty dishes will still be there, the laundry will remain in that hamper until you’ve spent time with God.  Knowing Him will actually make washing those dishes and clothes a more joyful activity – because you will understand how every activity in your day can be used to glorify Him!

For so many years, I worked on memorizing other people’s answers or finding Scripture that answer questions others might ask about God. But as I have got to know God better, I can reason through what I know to be true about Him.  Knowing His character and His attributes is the best way to equip ourselves to lead others to Him and to help them know Him rightly.  Knowing Him also helps me make decisions that will glorify Him and bless me, giving me the best life possible.  Knowing Him helps me get through difficult times because I know of His faithfulness and great love.  He is a very real presence in my life when I make Him the priority.  Not only does He make each day more joyful, His strength and comfort have become real resources that I can call on to get me through the struggles.

How blessed are we that we serve a God that wants us to know Him and has provided so many ways that enable us to have a relationship with Him!

1 Chronicles 28:9 – “As for you, my son Solomon, know the God of your father, and serve Him with a loyal heart and with a willing mind; for the Lord searches all hearts and understands all the intent of the thoughts. If you seek Him, He will be found by you; but if you forsake Him, He will cast you off forever.”

LET NOT YOUR HEART BE TROUBLED

27 Sunday Apr 2014

Posted by carolyncam1 in Uncategorized

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Christian, COMFORT, eternity, God, Holy Spirit, Jesus, peace, promise, struggles, trouble

 

So many people I know have been dealing with some mighty struggles in their lives lately, including me. It helps when those struggling know that God is holding us up, helping each one of us get through the struggle if we’ll turn our gaze on Him. However, I know I did not fully embrace God’s promises of care and comfort until I was experiencing some rather deep pain. One morning I heard James MacDonald give a sermon on John 14:1 that reminded me where our thoughts need to go at the first hint of trouble.

Philippians 4:7 –“ And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

This promise is not an easy one to claim – it’s difficult to accept that it can become a reality in our lives. When I accepted God’s calling to follow Him, it was the promise I couldn’t believe was possible. In no uncertain terms, I let God know that I knew following Him could never bring the peace I desired because it was loved ones in my life that left me paralyzed with fear and overwhelming sadness that I could no longer find the strength to cope with. I didn’t see any way He could ease my troubled heart unless He drastically changed these people or their circumstances and I didn’t see any earthly way that could happen soon enough to quiet the storms I was experiencing. That was my biggest error – I thought the only solutions were earthly resolutions. I sold God short – He has other ways of bringing us peace.

Romans 8:28 – “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”

Well, God didn’t change the circumstances and He didn’t perform personality exorcisms on my friends and family. But in a matter of weeks I experienced a peace about it all. Being a new Christian and full of doubt about God being able to fulfill this particular promise, I can assure you I hadn’t done anything to bring about this newfound peace to my soul. It truly just came upon me. Nothing about the situations changed, yet somehow I experienced a peace about it all. I spent a lot of time thinking about this miracle He performed in my life, trying to figure out exactly how it had come about. After four-plus years of thought on the matter, the only thing I’ve ever come up with is that, for the first time in my life, I KNEW God was real. I KNEW He loved me and would be working in my life. These facts went from beliefs I held to knowledge of the reality of God and the power and love He has. This knowledge resulted in a newfound confidence that no matter how things worked out, I COULD trust Him. Knowing that eternity is a reality and is actually God’s plan for us helped me know that I would see good from those things I allow God to work out even though I might not see them in this physical world. I could truly claim this!

 I think as I work out my faith, too often I focus on the doing. As I’m confronted with struggles, I focus on praying, reading my Bible and, when peace does not come, I conclude I’m not “doing” enough, that I’m missing something or there’s some secret Christian thing I haven’t yet discovered. Prayer and Bible study are good things to do and in the midst of a trial bring momentary comfort to me. But as soon as I get back out in the world where I am unable to formally pray or pick up my Bible that sick feeling in my stomach often comes back, reminding me of the terrible things that could happen as a result of struggles. What I fail to remember is that I have the Holy Spirit dwelling within me, longing to bring me peace just as He did when I first yielded my life to Him. Too often, I don’t let Him do His work, feeling there is something I must do rather than simply relying on His strength. Simply being still with Him, thinking about Him and fixing my eyes on Jesus is all I need to “do.” A quick reminder in the middle of any situation that He is with me is all I need to squash that sickening fear and panic that often comes upon me.

 Praying, reading and spending time with God must be something I practice consistently to build my relationship with Him so that when the struggles come I am properly equipped to receive His peace. Waiting to do these things in the midst of a struggle adds to my burden because, along with coping with the emotions I must now get His Word into my mind and heart. When they are already planted there, I can immediately recall them and be comforted, receiving His peace before the fear and sadness are unmanageable.

Proverbs 30:5 – “Every word of God is flawless; He is a shield to those who take refuge in Him.”

As Pastor James said, it is no sin to have a troubled heart, but as we continue to be troubled, sin can easily come into our lives. The longer we dwell in this place, the more negative emotions we feel, the more overwhelming the situation becomes and our hope quickly begins to fade. As the weight of our situation bears down on us, we are more likely to seek solace from substances, physical pleasure, self-pity, angry words or behavior. But as soon as we can look to Jesus for comfort, our tendency to go to these things is diminished and we can respond in His way. Be prepared by strengthening your knowledge of God and always remember you have the Holy Spirit just waiting for you to call on Him. That is how we can quickly find the peace He promises in every situation. Don’t wait for the doubt and fear to take hold before you call on Him!

CHRISTIAN CLASSICS

12 Saturday Apr 2014

Posted by carolyncam1 in Uncategorized

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Christ, Christian, faith, God, Jesus, Lewis, Muller, Murray, spirituality, Tozer

If you’ve never read any of the “Christian classics,” I highly recommend you do so. I began reading authors like CS Lewis, AW Tozer, Andrew Murray and George Muller and the book Pilgrim’s Progress late last year and cannot tell you how inspiring I found them to be. I actually read CS Lewis a couple of years ago and have yet to finish all of his works, but it definitely left me hungry for more. As I read or listen to respected Christan leaders, I take note of references to these early Christian authors and keep a list to read. I am now working my way through my collection, sometimes reading 2 at a time! You can get entire collections in one book and because most are no longer on any Best Seller lists (but should be!), you can generally get them for a little bit of nothing. My only regret is that I bought most of them to read on my Kindle so I cannot pass them along to others to read!

 I do have to warn you, many people find it a bit challenging to stay in them long enough to get hooked but if you can stick with it and get used to each of the authors’ idiosyncrasies, it is well worth it. For the older authors and books, the language is not what we are accustomed to, but that is part of the attraction for me. We have so butchered and “dumbed down” the English language! To read it as it was once spoken and written can take some getting used to but it is like listening to great music! Experiencing the beauty of words and phrases seldom used anymore is heavenly (pardon the pun)! I read that Tozer wrote much of his work in a cramped upstairs apartment in the middle of Chicago – whether that’s true or not I haven’t taken the time to confirm. But, if true, I agree with one commentator I read – it’s hard to believe such inspired work came out of such a familiar, everyday place.

Numbers 21:9 (NIV):9 So Moses made a bronze snake and put it up on a pole. Then when anyone was bitten by a snake and looked at the bronze snake, they lived.

It’s not only the language, it’s also their treatment of Scripture that we seldom see in modern-day authors. In contrasting the classics with modern-day works I think Tozer hits the nail on the head. We are so busy defending the faith or outlining how to get it into our lives that we seem to have lost the only real answer: fix our gaze on God; remind ourselves continuously of His presence. Just as in Numbers where God directs Moses to make a serpent of brass and put it upon a pole in sight of all the people so that those who have been bitten can gaze upon it and live, so should we simply “look” constantly throughout our days upon Jesus as if He is sitting at our side. I guess this wouldn’t sell many books or programs. Living a life of faith, and experiencing the many blessings God promises us, according to Tozer, is simply this: looking at Him, for looking is believing. The first chapter would be the last chapter. As we move farther away from the simplicity of it, we are inundated with book after book and method after method of how to get our faith into our lives. I know I sound like a broken record when people come to me seeking relief from a burden in their lives. I can think of no other answer but to remind them to look to Jesus, keep your eye on Him, abide in Christ, remind yourself of Him every minute of every day.

 As I began to grow in my faith, I sought out mature Christians, writers, speakers, preachers to help me understand what living for Christ should look like in my life; how I could rely on an unseen being to bring me comfort. It was overwhelming: I was introduced to all kinds of lists of things I should do; the beginning letter of each item on each list would begin with the same letter to help me remember the things I should be doing. But I couldn’t keep it all straight and my life became very similar to what it was before I found Christ – constantly working at developing better life habits. There was just one habit they failed to tell me about: reminding myself every minute of every day of Christ’s presence in my life (a.k.a. the Holy Spirit). This truth became clear to me as I read Andrew Murray’s “Abide in Christ.” It became clearer as I read Tozer’s “The Pursuit of God.”

 Each of the authors I have read so far has given me a gift – Lewis has brought me extended knowledge and new ways to think about Scripture; Murray has added a level of peace to my life I never thought imaginable; Pilgrim’s Progress formed truths about our walk with God into visual pictures for me. I’ve not read enough of Muller to find what impact his writing is going to have. But Tozer has left me with a concept that I pray all Christians would grasp hold of and can be included in all of the things mentioned here: spiritual receptivity – our willingness to accept that the unseen spiritual world is as real as the physical world we can see.

 I ran across Tozer’s concept of spiritual receptivity in his book The Pursuit of God and in my mind it answers the question as to why these works have lasted, why one person stays in the Bible consistently while another does not, why one Christian can truly find peace with Christ while another does not, while one finds it “normal” to walk with God while another struggles to stay in that place, why one struggles with handling their emotions while another has learned how to act on them in a Biblical manner . We must understand and KNOW that the spiritual realm of God is an unseen reality, and though we cannot experience with any of our five senses, it is no less a reality. One can believe in the principle of God, but not in the reality of Him. As long as I have even the slightest doubt about the reality of Him, I have no real being on whom I can rely. Though I tell myself I hand my burdens over to Him, if I do not truly believe there is anyone really “there” to see to them, I am left with nobody to take care of them.

 I have spent the last 4 years desperately trying to understand what living out my faith should look like in my day-to-day life. I felt it shouldn’t be something that changed with my emotions or the circumstances I found myself in each day. It needed to be so ingrained in me that, when external things threatened my peace or my joy, I overcame it no matter what the threat was. I wanted God’s presence in my life to be so entrenched in my minute-to-minute living that when I found myself feeling the consuming fear I had lived with for so long, I would be able to turn loose of it because I truly trusted God and His working in my life. I reached that level of trust and faith as I read Andrew Murray (Abide in Christ; The Two Covenants). His revelations were reinforced by Tozer’s concept of spiritual receptivity (The Pursuit of God and Man: The Dwelling Place of God). I found I can live more spiritually not by checking things off of a list of behaviors that all beginning with the letter “P” but by keeping my mind on Christ as much as possible. As I read my Bible each day, I formed a “book club” with Murray and Tozer. Their written words elaborated on what I was reading in God’s Word, emphasizing the points I wasn’t paying enough attention to, pasting together the verses that I needed to see in one place about living this Christian life.

 If you want to accept my challenge to begin reading the Christian classics, I recommend starting with Tozer’s The Pursuit of God. The prayers at the end of each chapter are amazing. I truly believe you will find a new level of spirituality as you gain insight from these amazing followers of Christ!

A LITTLE TOO CHRISTIAN

09 Sunday Feb 2014

Posted by carolyncam1 in Uncategorized

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beatitudes, behavior, Bible, blessing, Christian, desires, forgiveness, God, Holy Spirit, Jesus, Peter, Sermon on the Mount, sin

Some years ago I was with my daughter and her in-laws at a local Farmer’s Market.  As we passed through a sizeable crowd my daughter and I got separated.  When she found me she said, “Well, that was pretty sad.  I just heard a woman coming out of that store say, ‘That was a little too Christian.’”   We weren’t sure what had happened but wondered what someone might have done that could be deemed “too Christian.”  Had someone been too honest?  Too nice?  Too accommodating?  Too helpful?  The incident has stayed with me over the years.  Whatever it was, that person did something that was so opposite of what the world expected that it struck a nerve.  It still troubles me that the witness viewed the actions as negative rather than behavior we should aspire to.

Four or five years later I still wonder what transpired in that little market but know it could not have been too weighty.  A crowd didn’t gather, there was no screaming or yelling.  Perhaps someone returned money or excused someone for excessive rudeness.  As small as the incident had to have been, I wonder what this woman’s reaction would be to the mother who forgives the man that murdered her child; the husband who forgives his wife for infidelity; the man who spends his last dime to help someone he barely knows.  Most of us have a mental list of behaviors we deem nice enough or that we are willing to forgive; we also have a list of behaviors we feel are too tolerant, too risky, or that should not be forgiven.  As Christians, we are to follow God’s direction regarding our behavior.  As we work to implement these into our lives, we must remember that our culture will not understand them; most are deemed to be unreasonable and too much to expect from any human being.

Matthew 6:15 “But if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.”

I love the back story about Peter asking Christ how often we are to forgive.  The Jewish practice was three total offers to forgive (Job 33:29; Amos 2:4, 6).  In Peter’s typical impulsive manner, he graciously asserts that perhaps seven times would be more in keeping with Jesus’s teachings.  But Jesus provides an answer I imagine Peter probably felt was unreasonable:  we are to forgive 70 x 7 times.  Jesus was telling Peter that we are to forgive others an infinite number of times.  We are not to keep track – forgive each time we are wronged with no regard to the type of offense and no regard for how many times we have had to forgive any particular person.  This is how our heavenly Father forgives us.  I am very thankful that God is not keeping a tally sheet of the times He has forgiven me – I passed 490 times a long, long time ago!  Nor is He listing my behaviors in columns titled “Not So Bad,” Really Bad,” or “Almost Too Bad to Forgive!”  I have a lot that would fall under this third column.

While I struggle with expressing Godly love, I do not struggle with the idea of forgiveness.  God has forgiven me of some terrible things and I need that forgiveness, so must I forgive others.  I somehow understand that even the most wretched and horrible person was not born that way.  Something in their life happened – perhaps it was bad nurturing, maybe mental illness, natural desires that are difficult to control.  That is not to say I condone sinful behavior – even the smallest sin is reprehensible to God, thus it is repulsive to me – nor do I believe it is necessary to continue interacting with anyone who continues to wreak havoc in our lives.  Forgiveness doesn’t require either of these.  But forgiveness does demand I recognize my own sinfulness and that we all need Jesus. I don’t stop needing Him after I have accepted Him.  When I look at my fellow sinners, I see someone God can save and I must be available for God to use to accomplish that, I must pray for them without regard to what they are doing.  Jesus is the only way to truly and permanently change the human heart.

The Sermon on the Mount provides us with a list of behaviors Jesus expects us to implement into our Christian lives.  They are principles the world finds unreasonable.  But when we can read this sermon without dismissing any and see the benefits we will gain from adopting them, why they are right, we are coming to a fuller understanding of God.  In his lesson “The Sermon on the Mount” (at www.Bible.org) Bob Deffinbaugh writes: “In this day and age, when we in the church seem to be looking more and more like the society around us, there may be no better medicine than the Sermon on the Mount. It describes what human life and human community look like when they come under the gracious rule of God … Different … not the same….  We should note that the beatitudes do not refer to different groups of people as if some are merciful, others are peacemakers, and still others are called upon to endure persecution. Rather, this is a beautifully poetic way of describing the qualities of a kingdom citizen. All these qualities are to characterize each of His people.

Some have taken the beatitudes (and in fact the whole sermon) as a description of what one must do in order to enter the kingdom of God. …This cannot be further from the truth. It is clear from the text that Jesus is describing the qualities and duties of those already in the kingdom. The Sermon on the Mount is not a presentation of the gospel telling one how to get saved. As Dr. S. Lewis Johnson has humorously pointed out, when the Philippian jailer asked the apostle Paul, “what must I do to be saved?” (Acts 16:30), Paul did not reply with, “Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” The Sermon on the Mount is not how to get into the kingdom, but how you are to be because you are in the kingdom.”

Living our lives as directed in the Sermon on the Mount is difficult because it is against human nature– in the world’s eyes, they are all “a little too Christian.”  But Jesus isn’t in the business of offering suggestions.  We are to work towards making them a part of our daily lives, our chosen responses.  And because they are not behaviors that we can adopt naturally, we must rely on the Holy Spirit to help us.  When we exhibit these behaviors our testimony is strengthened and we have the blessings Jesus promises in the second half of each beatitude.  At work I am often challenged because my passionate love for Jesus leads me to respond in unexpected ways.  Some days I handle these situations better than others.  On bad days, I often think that I’m wasting my time.  It seems much more acceptable for people to growl at each other and make rude remarks.  On those days I entertain the thought that since my efforts are viewed as insincere or hypocritical anyway, I might as well give up and act like the people around me.  But God reminds me that my standard of behavior is not other people.  I can’t give in to wanting to be accepted or to criticism.  My standard of behavior is Jesus.  There are no exceptions and no wiggle room.  I cannot justify bad behavior by explaining to God that His requirements aren’t acceptable to the people around me, that they might find them a little “too Christian.”

Matthew 10:34-36 – “Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a person’s enemies will be those of his own household.”

There are people in society that many have decided we should not waste our time on.  But we are not the ones to decide to give up on anyone.  When God lays someone on our hearts, we must plant seeds until He directs us to stop.  When someone questions why I spend time helping someone that has caused a lot of problems at work, I simply tell them it’s not my prerogative to give up on her. There are people in my family that haven’t spoken to each other in years and some who have created great chaos for my loved ones.  But when God lays them on my heart, I cannot ignore God’s calling to spread His message to them, even when my family doesn’t understand.  The pain my family goes through because of their inability to forgive is tremendous and it saddens me.  But I must continue to be “too Christian” in every environment I am a part of.  I know it is the only thing that will fix broken relationships and it is one way to glorify God.   

Irwin Lutzer asked the question: What does it mean to live passionately for Christ?  His answer: “To live as if Jesus lives.”  Love the people Jesus loves (everyone); love them the way Jesus loves them (unconditionally); serve in the way Jesus served (humbly and daily).  We have to give up the expectation that the world is going to understand why we live the way we live.  Until someone truly turns their life over to Jesus, our behaviors will be viewed as irrational and naïve. 

The next time I wrong someone, whether it is intentional or not, I pray the person I’m dealing with behaves in a way that is “a little too Christian.”  Heck, I’d even take someone who is striving very hard to meet the minimum requirements!  “A little too Christian” would be a real blessing!

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