Prove Your Faith

James 1:12 (NCV) – When people are tempted and still continue strong, they should be happy. After they have proved their faith, God will reward them with life forever. God promised this to all those who love Him.

Proving your faith does not mean never sinning. And sinning does not mean losing salvation. Proving your faith means always returning to Christ…to seek His forgiveness, to seek restoration to Him, to repent and turn away from your failure. Your faith is proved when you pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and move on determined to obey and glorify God better from that point on.

May God lift you today as you seek to prove your faith, while waiting for His glorious promise of life forever with Him!

I Don’t Get It! How Can God Use ME??

The Israelites never cease to amaze me.  They were the chosen people of God Almighty.  He spoke directly to them, and performed one incredible miracle after another to, through, for them.  He demonstrated His power time and again, and showered them with blessings.  God Himself gave them the best land, a land filled with milk and honey.  He defeated their enemies on countless occasions.  He was actually present with them in a tangible form (in a pillar of cloud, a pillar of fire, and on the seat of the ark of the covenant).  Yet, over and over and over again, they rejected Him.  They refused to obey God’s commands.  They worshiped false gods.  How in the world could they turn from the presence of the God who communicated directly to them, whom they could see was alive and well and all-powerful, to worshiping a chunk of metal or rock?  I don’t get it!

Still God used them to bless the entire earth!  He used this group of ungrateful, back-stabbing, faithless people to send the Messiah, the Savior for all, to this sinful world.

While I ponder this miracle, I see a reflection…an image that looks all too much like the Israelites…me.  My life is a mess.  Oh, I don’t mean that my marriage is on the rocks and my children are all out carousing and getting in trouble.  I mean I’m a sinner!  I am selfish.  I have a quick temper.  I am impatient.  I can be judgmental.  I falsely accuse.  I fight my attitude all the time.  The list goes on.  Yet somehow, in an amazing miraculous way, God has chosen me as a vessel.  He shares His messages through me, the pen in His hand.  I don’t get it!

I am so grateful that “God does not see the same way people see.  People look at the outside of a person, but the Lord looks at the heart” (1 Samuel 16:7b).  Thank God He knows my heart!  Thank God he knows the depth of my desire to serve Him!  Thank God He understands that I am a sinner, saved by His grace!

Unfortunately, people don’t know my heart.  They see the outside.  They see the mistakes I make.  They see the sinful me.  And I am certain that it is far too easy to believe that I cannot possible be used by God, after all, look how frustrated and impatient she is with her children when they are goofing off in church, or messing around in the store.  Look at how she lost her temper with that teacher when something happened to her child at school.  They can’t imagine how God can use me.  They don’t get it.

But God is using me.  I don’t deserve to be used of God!  I know that all too well.  But I want to obey Him, more than anything.  And so I keep struggling through everyday life, making mistakes, committing sins and seeking forgiveness…and remaining open to the leading of the Holy Spirit in my life.

I know that I need to look different.  My witness, and God’s message, are tarnished by my sinfulness.  I must seek to serve Him, and obey Him in every area of my life, not just my calling.  Titus 3:1-2 (NCV) – “Remind the believers to yield to the authority of rulers and government leaders, to obey them, to be ready to do good, to speak no evil about anyone, to live in peace, and to be gentle and polite to all people.”

I am so thankful that God knows my imperfections, and that His work is not complete in me…it won’t be until the day Christ returns.  I can’t expect perfection from myself, or anyone else, for that reason alone.

If you believe God can’t use you because of your sin, you are wrong.  Remember that all things are possible with God.  Just ask Him to use you, be open to His leading, and be obedient to His call.  Being used by God is not up to you, or your abilities.  It is up to God and His abilities.  You, my friend, are an open slate!  Rejoice in that!!!

If you are obeying God’s call, as I am, and think your sins shout “hypocrisy” from the highest mountain, don’t quit.  Don’t give up.  Do work on it!  The Bible tells us in many places the kind of behavior we should exhibit as followers of Christ.  We must work to look and behave differently.  We will fail.  Get used to it.  But, by the grace of God, our failures will be less and less.  Do not lose hope because the Spirit will help us…we just need to listen, and obey.

If you are a person standing at the foot of the mountain and hearing the cry of “hypocrisy,” be discerning.  Remember how God used the Israelites (and so many other flawed and sinful people in the Bible).  Listen to the message.  Weigh it against the Word of God and pray for God to reveal His truths to you.  Remember that the message, the lesson, whatever it is that is coming to you through another person, perfect and holy or not, comes from the Holy Spirit, not the person.  Look past their failures, and look to what God wants you to know.

“I stand amazed in the presence of Jesus the Nazarene, and wonder how He could love me, a sinner, condemned, unclean.  How marvelous!  How wonderful!  And my song shall ever be:  How marvelous!  How wonderful is my Savior’s love for me!”

Use Your Noggin!

As I am reading through Paul’s epistles to the early churches, one of the themes I see over and over again is the warning against false teaching.  Often it is in reference to the increase of false teachings as the end times approach, but it is a general warning for all times as well.

After my first son was born, I went through a lengthy period of time where I battled postpartum depression.  I was awake many, many hours during the night with a premature baby who needed to be fed regularly, but did not wake easily.  As my husband snored beside me, I would turn on a Christian television station.  God used the programs on that station to lift me, and remind me of His constant presence with me.  Yet I was bothered by the extreme flashiness of the shows and the people on them.  The jewelry they wore looked large enough to tip people off their feet.  The rings alone certainly had to weigh enough to make lifting their hands in praise to God a literal work-out!  The furniture was covered with gold.  It was a virtual paradise!  Perhaps they were broadcasting straight from heaven itself!  They obviously had plenty of money, but still they would plead for more to support their ministry and their missions.  I’m sorry, but are you kidding me?????  Sell your jewelry and your fancy furniture!  Use something more practical and you won’t need to beg for so much assistance…is our money even going towards a ministry and mission?  Or is it going to line your pockets and create a life of ease for you?  Where is your heart?

In 1 Timothy 6:3-10 (NCV) Paul warns Timothy to watch for those who teach things that are against what Christ taught and use them to become rich.  “Anyone who has a different teaching does not agree with the true teaching of our Lord Jesus Christ and the teaching that shows the true way to serve God.  This person is full of pride and understands nothing, but is sick with a love for arguing and fighting about words.  This brings jealousy, fighting, speaking against others, evil mistrust, and constant quarrels from those who have evil minds and have lost the truth.  They think that serving God is a way to get rich.  Serving God does make us very rich, if we are satisfied with what we have.  We brought nothing into the world, so we can take nothing out.  But, if we have food and clothes, we will be satisfied with that.  Those who want to become rich bring temptation to themselves and are caught in a trap.  They want many foolish and harmful things that ruin and destroy people.  The love of money causes all kinds of evil.  Some people have left the faith because they wanted to get more money, but they have caused themselves much sorrow.”

God taught me this lesson long ago.  While He used that “Christian” television station to comfort me, there was always a question about their true faith, and their motives.  I am grateful that God allowed me to discern the falseness in their teachings.  It is vital, especially today as we see the time of Christ’s return upon the horizon, that we cling to our Bibles and seek the wisdom and discernment of the Father when it comes to the teachings we are exposed to.

I listen to Christian radio a lot during the school year when I drive from school to school, some more than an hour away.  I am always cautious of what I am hearing.  I weigh it against what I know of God’s Word, and what He has taught me through the Spirit.  If I hear something that is suspect, I take the time to check it out.  I look in the Bible for verses that support what was being taught, and I pray.  When I hear consistent false teachings from a radio pastor, I turn them off!!  And I don’t go back!  I do not want to open myself up to teachings that would lead me astray.  I must guard myself with the “belt of truth,” the “shield of faith,” and “the sword of the Spirit!”  I expect you to weigh my words in the same way.

Be careful, too, of the specifics of the false teachings.  Is it a particular Bible verse that is taken out of context, but still teaches truths that align with the teachings of Christ?  Then perhaps it is a simple matter of the teacher misunderstanding the leading of the Holy Spirit.  These times happen to us all because no one understands fully the entire truth of the Scriptures.  We learn as we go, and as the Spirit reveals those truths to us.  Are the false teachings occurring consistently?  If this person teaches falsely on a regular basis, it is time to shut them off.  They are not led by the Spirit, and so the teachings are not of God.  How serious are the infractions?  Recently I learned of a prominent teacher who has declared that Jesus quit being the Son of God when He took on our sins.  This is huge!!!!  That would mean that He was not God, that the Trinity became a duo, that Jesus, as God, ceased to exist!  Uh-uh!  No way!  I don’t care how many other good teachings this person gives.  This is major, and I will not open myself up for more.  Finally, what are the motives of the teacher?  Is there evidence to show that their heart is to follow God’s leading and not a personal desire for fame or fortune?  Be careful!  Use the noggin God gave you, with a healthy dose of His wisdom and discernment, and the Bible and Holy Spirit as fact-checkers.  God doesn’t want you to be led astray.  If you seek Him, He will guide you on the right paths.

One additional note for those who are, or have been led to believe that becoming a Christian will automatically bring you into a life of wealth and abundance.  You are being deceived!  This is a false teaching!  God never promised wealth and abundance in return for your belief in Him!  He promised forgiveness of sins, salvation from eternal damnation in hell, and eternal life with Him in His glorious presence.  If you look back at the passage from Timothy that I copied above, you will see that Paul says the richness we have in serving God is being satisfied with what we have.  If we have food and clothing, and are satisfied, then we are rich.  Choose to believe in and serve God for HIS promise of eternal life, not for a man-made deception of earthly wealth that will decay, and be left behind when we leave here.

May God bless you, and guide you to His truths today!