Walk By Faith

Once again I have been convicted by how often I lack to “walk by faith.” Because of some recent circumstances that have come up I have been so tempted to try and figure things out my self instead of giving my all to my Father in Heaven. Linda Dillow has helped me see this through her book “Calm My Anxious Heart”

Walking by faith in a way has been difficult for me because I’m asked to believe what I can’t see. This means I have to walk on a dark path. And this I don’t always enjoy! God as always has been so faithful to me, to show me where I am weak!

My problem is I don’t like darkness. But if I can see what God is doing- how He is working everything together for good. Then sometimes I’m tempted to think I don’t need faith. I think many people have this problem. We say we want more faith, but what we really want is sight. Sight says, “I see that it’s good for me, so God must have sent it,” but faith says, “God sent it so it must be good for me. “ God asks us to walk by faith, not by sight. Faith is walking in the dark with God, holding His hand.

Linda Dillow says:

“As God weaves His pattern into the fabric of our lives, sometimes we sit in a “darkened room.” The darkness seems suffocating. We can’t understand what he’s doing and can’t discover any possible good in darkness. Yet, if we fix our focus on our faithful weaver, we will someday know that the most exquisite work of all our life was done in those days of darkness.”- How encouraging!

While dwelling on this topic, I remembered the lyrics of a song by Jeremy Camp that were very encouraging to me.

“Walk By Faith”

Will I believe you when you say
Your hand will guide my every way
Will I receive the words you say
Every moment of every day

I will walk by faith even when I cannot see
Because this broken road prepares you will for me

Help me to rid my endless fears
You’ve been so faithful for all my years
With one breath you made me new
Your grace covers all I do.

Isaiah 50:10- “Who among you fears the Lord and obeys the voice of his servant? Let him who walks in darkness and has no light trust in the name of the LORD and rely on his God.”

Holy Father, I desire to trust you when I can’t see what you are doing. You are my steadfast rock. Please help me to look only to you. I want to believe you for what I don’t understand, what I can’t see, and what doesn’t make sense to me. May I become one who pleases you because I walk “by faith.”

-Candace-

Wales Update, #2

Hey, On Sunday we had a chance to lead worship in Sovereign Grace church here in Myrther Tydville. The church is fairly small seeing that it has only been around for two years. Kyle did an awesome job leading the church as we worshiped our holy saviour. Mike then preached on Luke 15, which tells the stories of the woman and the coin, the Shepherd who had a sheep go astray, and the prodigal son. He did a great job of describing how low he had dropped to as a pig feeder. A Jew could arguably not fall any lower than feeding pigs, you wouldn't find a Jew in that place ever. But, the love of the father never changed, as soon as the son realized his sin the father was there waiting for him. It was a great service. Afterwards our family(Kyle, Fran, Linda, Matt, Amy, and I) went back to the house and had a nice relaxing afternoon. After tea time(dinner) we had a wonderful time sitting around the piano and singing worship songs. Monday consisted of us scavenging neighborhoods handing out leaflets about the church and the fun day happening on Saturday. At first we were just putting them through the mail slots, but then we tried knocking on doors and interacting with people. Everyone liked talking to people and having conversations with the local people much better so we continued that after lunch. That night we had a chance to congregate with the whole church as we had Chinese food(lol) of all things. Tuesday and Wednesday morning consisted of handing out many leaflets also and a few fun things. Last night we had a chance to go spend some time at a historical village, which was very cool and informative. Then we experienced the best play of the year(haha) jokingly. It was entertaining, but not because it was good but because we could laugh at it. Then today after passing out leaflets in the morning we had a chance to go to Cardiff, the capital of wales. There was a castle right in the center of the city, we did some shopping and then had dinner. I hope everything in Jville is nice and dandy, I am having a great time.

In Christ,

Nate

P.S. pray for Saturday, that it will be clear.

Girls Going Mild(er)

Newsweek had an interesting article that I found online earlier this week. According to some "experts" our culture is beginning to see a budding interest in the concept of dressing modestly. Here is an excerpt from the article that I thought most girls would find helpful and maybe even encouraging.

Consider the following style tips for girls: skirts and dresses should fall no more than four fingers above the knee. No tank tops without a sweater or jacket over them. Choose a bra that has a little padding to help disguise when you are cold. These fashion hints may sound like the prim mandates of a 1950s "health" film. But they are from the Web site of Pure Fashion, a modeling and etiquette program for teen girls whose goal is "to show the public it is possible to be cute, stylish and modest." Pure Fashion has put on 13 shows in 2007 featuring 600 models. National director Brenda Sharman estimates there will be 25 shows in 2008. It is not the only newfangled outlet for old-school ideas about how girls should dress: ModestApparelUSA.com, ModestByDesign.com and DressModestly.com all advocate a return to styles that leave almost everything to the imagination.

I'm not sure if this is a "Christian" movement or not, but either way it would be very nice to see more clothes on women theses days :) click here to read the entire article.

-Kyle-

Calm My Anxious Heart

Recently I have been reading the book “Calm My Anxious Heart” by Linda Dillow and have been freshly reminded of what it is to be content in the Lord.

It is amazing to me how two different people can have two completely opposite opinions. Most of us categorize our lives in both positive and negative ways. You could write a list of the positive things in your life, and you can then write a list of sobering negatives. Both lists are true, but the focus of each list is the problem. Linda Dillow gives us a great example. She says….

“Two women looked through prison bars
One saw mud, the other saw stars.”

I asked my self the question, which list do I spend the most amount of time dwelling on? Sad, but true I often find myself dwelling on the one with the sobering negatives.

We can focus on the mud or lift our eyes up to the stars. Every one of us occasionally has circumstances that appear to be prison bars and feel that there is no escape. Linda Dillow says, “God wants you and me to be content in our circumstances, not when they improve.” She asks, “How is this possible?”

Philippians 4:6- Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanks giving, let your requests be made known to God.

Our part in the process of learning to be content is a heart choice, a choice to pray rather than be anxious. Paul commands us to have nothing to do with anxiety and everything to do with prayer, sadly many of us reverse this and worry about everything, praying as a last resort! Psalm 116:17 helps me to understand what it means to pray with thanksgivings.

“I will offer to you the sacrifice of thanksgiving and call on the name of the Lord.”

Linda Dillow reminds us that “when confronted with negative circumstances, we will have a choice: will we pray about the problem or will we worry about it?” If we make the choice to pray instead of worry, we will personally experience God’s peace, what a promise! In a world of problems, heart ache, and anxiety, all of us need peace.

Matthew 6:34- “Therefore, do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

Father I pray that when I’m faced with hard circumstances that I would make you my blessed controller. Please help me to accept your ways, accept your outcome, and let my trust be in you alone. Give me grace not to look down at the mud, but to lift my eyes up to the stars!

~Candace~

Wales update

Hey, we just arrived about 3 hours ago. the plan from Charlotte to London was delayed about 2 hours so we didn't get off until about 10 PM. We then landed in London around 10 AM local time, 5 AM eastern time. We then preceded to travel by car to myrther where I am now. We hit a little traffic but not to much, if couldn't have guessed it is now raining. Please pray for it to be clear for the family fun day next Saturday, which is mainly why we are here. It is so beautiful, my mom would be so jealous of where I am staying. The house is in the hills surrounded by trees and fields where sheep are meandering. The house has a stand alone fireplace and is very antiquey homy. The people are wonderful. Linda and Fran are their names if you would like to pray specifically and thank God for them, because I know I am grateful. I hope everything is going well back home. I have this internet connection probably every night from their house so there I will probably blog pretty regularly. Pray for God to work while we are here. I miss you guys but this is an unbelievable experience.

In Christ,
Nathan

God's Steadfast Love & Faithfulness

April 1, 2007, my sister Brittany was in a grease fire in her kitchen. After two weeks in the hospital, multiple hyper-barrack treatments, daily gut-wrenching burn treatments and three skin grafts, she was released from the hospital. She was released with the prognosis that she would need intense physical therapy and would not walk for a couple of months. She would not be able to operate at full capacity for a year and even then, they weren’t sure.

It has been three months since my sister’s accident and she is a “walking” testimony of God’s steadfast love and faithfulness. After only a month, her skin was healing incredibly fast and she was walking around. Total days of physical therapy were zero.

Brittany came to visit last Friday. Several thoughts flooded my mind upon seeing her. My thoughts were something like, “Wow I’m so glad she’s here!”, “She looks great!”, and some other “sisterly” thoughts I’m sure. =) But on the backend of those thoughts were, “Wow I’m so glad she’s here, and that God spared her life when she was in a grease fire three months ago.” and “She looks great! God has been so good to have healed her burns so quickly.” Then I felt God say to me, “Look at my faithfulness sitting right before you. Look at my grace and mercy manifested before your eyes. Yes, the fire harmed your sister and might have taken her life, but I have taken those trials and afflictions and worked them out for everyone’s good and for my glory.” How kind of God to grant these thoughts to me. On my own I would not think them!

I bow down toward your holy temple and give thanks to your name for your steadfast love and your faithfulness, for you have exalted above all things your name and your word. Psalm 138:2

Whenever I am tempted to be anxious about something or try to be a “back seat driver”, as Ryan so appropriately put it, I often feel the Lord prompt me to remember His faithfulness. If I recount every single decision or trial in my life, I would not be able to come up with one time that God was not faithful or my plans were better than His. Why then do I ever doubt Him or try to take control? God is teaching me to take a moment each time I am tempted to worry or be self-sufficient and “remember” His faithfulness.

When I look at my sister now, by His grace, I see a beautiful picture of God’s steadfast love and faithfulness.

“Thank you Lord for Your steadfast love and faithfulness. How patient You are with me when I try to take matters into my own hands or worry about the outcome of something. Thank you for Your faithfulness to my sister and for working this trial out for our good and Your glory! With each passing day, may I become more prone to remember and less prone to forget. May I have the awe inspired tears of knowing what I deserve, and instead receiving the grace and faithfulness of a Holy God. ”

For great is his steadfast love toward us, and the faithfulness of the LORD endures forever. Praise the LORD! Psalm 117:2

-Lana-

Keep Me Near

In my daily flight to trust in the God for whom nothing is too hard I have recently found myself searching for my strength and joy to be found in the Lord. God in his great mercy has been doing such a work in me.

Recently there have been two songs that I find myself listening to over and over again throughout my days. So much so that I have written certain lines of the songs on index cards and posted them in areas of my house I’m in the most.

"Keep Me Near"

Keep me near O precious Jesus when
My days are filled with light
When the sun is warm and golden
And your goodness fills my eyes
Let me not forget whose mercies
Poured such grace upon my life
Keep me ever looking to you
Walking always at you side

"It Was Your Grace"

In you alone my strength is found
In you alone my hope abounds
In you alone my strength is found
My life is bound up in you

And in my weakness give me still more grace
Grace to cast myself on you
In every trial let me find you peace and joy
Grace to humbly walk with you

Give me more grace O God,
And new mercies every morning!

Habakkuk 3:18-19 "Yet I will rejoice in the Lord; I will take joy in the God of my salvation. God, the Lord, is my strength!"

One thing I know that I have found through every trouble that surrounds God is the rock that never fails and He is good, He is great, His love is never ending, and He is the only one I need. I can’t comprehend his love for me and by his grace I know I can live free. To God is the glory for all that He has recently done in my life!

Father my prayer is that in my recent days of needing you more to trust you for the unknown that I would seek to know you more and find you as my strength. Thank you for the grace you have so richly poured out on my life. Psalm 31:14-15 "But I trust in you, O Lord; I say “you are my God.” My times are in your hand!

-Candace-

Putting God in the Driver Seat

So your driving with your buddies and its somewhere not as familiar to you. And then it starts to happen, the buddy in the back seat seems to know exactly where to go and the best way to get there. "What are doing" "The left lane is faster" "Should have turned there, too late" And it finally gets to the point when you have had enough and ask, "Would you like to Drive?"

I was reading in Acts and was amazed how this applies to our walk with God. I pray all the time to God to help me live a life pleasing to Lord and according to His will, I tell Him I want to surrender all to him and put Him in the driver seat of my life. Meanwhile I turn into the annoying buddy in the back seat who thinks he knows everything. Leaning over God's shoulder, I seek to give direction and insight on the best route for my life.

God is good to give us a clear picture of what it looks like to put God in the driver seat of our life. In Acts 16 we can see how Paul truly submits the direction of his life to God and his Glory. Paul has been going from town to town preaching the gospel, working wonders, and seeing hurdreds coming to the Lord. After joining up with Timothy they move on to the next town but it is here where we see Paul take the back seat. It says they passed through the town "having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia." Alright no problem one city, but then again at the next city. They pass because, "the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them." So here Paul is moving along in his mighty ministry only to get denied in two cities and then get called to a city thats at least a 3 days travel. When Paul arrives there is not much happening till he "gets annoyed" and casts out an evil spirit then finds himself brutality beaten and in prison.

It is at this point when I would begin to start questioning the "Drivers" ability to get me where I need to go. I would probably see the path of taking a Rod to the face and my feet in chains as a missed turn somewhere. Responding something like this, "Clearly I should have stopped in those other towns, I knew it, how did I get here." But Paul, being filled with the spirit and more aware of grace then I has a totally different response, one that is both convicting and encouraging. Acts 16:25 "About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God..." This is first convicting because it is far from my response but encouraging to know that there is joy to be found when God is in the driver seat of our lives. We all know the rest of the story: They are a witness to the jailer, God works , and His Name is Glorified. But all of this could have been missed if Paul did not yield to the Lord's "driving ability. "

I thank God for showing me my shortcomings but also His Abundant Grace. May I put God in the Driver Seat and sing praises in the back seat.

- Ryan -

Fully God and Fully Man

For the past 6 months, my accountability partners and I have been studying and discussing Bible Doctrine by Wayne Grudem (the watered down version of systematic theology). Currently we are going through the section on the Person of Christ and more than anything I have found this to extremely informative and great for brushing up on my apologetics. Recently I had been looking for a good definition of the deity of Christ in regards to the Incarnation. How does one biblically and clearly explain the divine and human nature that is Christ Jesus? Apparently this was an issue in the early Christian church as well. In an effort to suppress the rising confusion and heresy within the local church concerning the deity of Christ, the Chalcedonian Definition of A.D 451 was written over a period of 24 days (Oct. 8 till Nov. 1) in Constantinople, which is modern day Istanbul. The quote itself was not only biblically sound but very edifying and encouraging. The Chalcedonian Definition epitomizes the roll of Christ in His descension to earth. Here it is as I found it in Bible Doctrine:

"We, then, following the holy Fathers, all with one consent, teach men to confess one and the same Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, the same perfect in Godhead and also perfect in manhood; truly God and truly man, of a reasonable soul and body; con substantial (co essential) with the Father according to the Godhead, and con substantial with us according to the Manhood; In all things like unto us, without sin; begotten before all the ages of the Father according to the Godhead, and in these latter days, for us and for our salvation, born of the Virgin Mary, the Mother of God, according to the Manhood; one and the same Christ, Son, Lord, Only-begotten, to be acknowledged in two natures, in confusedly, unchangeably, indivisibly, inseparably; the distinction of natures being by no means taken away by the union, but rather the property of each nature being preserved, and concurring in on Person and one Subsistence, not parted or divided into two persons, but one and the same Son, and only begotten, God, the Word, the Lord Jesus Christ, as the prophets from the beginning have declared concerning Him, and the Lord Jesus Christ Himself taught us, and the Creed of the holy Fathers has been handed down to us."

Praise be to God for preserving His Word so that we might derive such helpful and influential doctrine as the Person and Deity of Christ. This is not an accident. God is very purposeful in bringing glory to His Son.

-Kyle-

Finding Joy In Silence

To continue our theme on joy, I have felt the Lord impressing on my heart the importance of cultivating that joy. If the source of our joy is to be God, than in risk of overstating the obvious, we need more of God. How then can I accomplish that? Well, God has been showing me that, like Mary, I need to come and sit before his feet.

In Roberto Rivera y Carlo's article on Boundless.org titled "Into Great Silence" he talks about the film that features the Carthusian monks who live most of their lives praying, studying and working in silence. The result of this purposeful silence is a joy in knowing that "God is" and knowing His goodness in a way that few of us can even imagine. Here's an excerpt from his article:

*The product of what the Carthusians acknowledge is a difficult rule that few can follow is a "joyful penitence" spent in an "everlasting prayer" where the monk (or nun: there are Carthusian nuns) can, in the midst of solitude and stillness, know that "God is" and know His goodness in a way that few of us can even imagine...
What drives their joyful penitence isn't misanthropy or fear but the conviction that if God is to be found, if He is to be truly known, He must be pursued wholeheartedly — a conviction Gröning drives home by inserting text cards with verses such as "Anyone who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple" (Luke 14:33). A big part of this wholehearted pursuit is putting oneself in a position where you can hear God who, as the passage from 1 Kings tells us, will not (and should not) turn the volume up to compete with the noise generated by a world turning out of control. The Hebrew kol d'mama daka, translated as "still small voice," can also be translated "still silent voice" or, my favorite: "the voice of eloquent silence." *

Carlo goes on to speak about the importance of stillness and silence in our lives and recalls Jesus' own discipline of withdrawing to secluded places. He says that if Jesus knew the need to find a "quiet" place, how much more are we in need of that? Now I'm not saying that I think everyone needs to become monks or nuns to accomplish this, but my hearts prayer is to embrace the verse: "Be still, and know that I am God." Psalm 46:10

The more I get alone
The more I see I need to get alone more, more
Cause just when I think that I'm alone
Your Spirit calls out to me
And even silence has a song
Cause that's when you come
Sing over me

Oh this world, it falls around me
And flutters all it's beauty in my eyes
But let me choose the solitude
Simplicity has always simply changed my life
Cause even stillness makes me move
Cause that's when my heart
Learns to dance with you

Still, let me be still
Let me be OK
With the quiet in my heart
Still, I want to be still
I'm so quick to move
Instead of listening to you
Shut my mouth
Crush my pride
Give me the tears
Of a broken life,
Still
I'm your child
Tame my heart
Obedience
To me impart
Still

"O Lord, forgive my failure to be still and know that You are God. Help me become less enamored with noise and love silence more in order to know You better. And in knowing You better, my joy will be secured in the only place that it can last. Let me remember that You can move in silence and that's when my heart learns to dance with You. "And those who know your name put their trust in you,for you, O LORD, have not forsaken those who seek you. Psalm 9:10 "

-Lana-

Strength and Joy for the Unknown

As I’m entering into a new phase of life with a very busy, chaotic, and an amazing month and a half behind me, I am freshly aware of God’s grace in my life. I have recently had a greater understanding of the fact that God is so good to me!

At the Florida Ladies retreat I was convicted by how often I can find myself turning to worthless things that will get me no where in life instead of spending time seeking to know God more and deepen my relationship with him. In just graduating and walking into a new phase of life with no idea what my future holds, I am tempted to worry at times. I have found that the only thing that will get me through this “waiting time” is to have my full trust in God and know that the joy of the Lord is my strength.

I was so encouraged by a quote that Jenny Detwiler provided for us at the Florida Ladies retreat by John MacArthur:

Spiritual joy, on the other hand, is not an attitude on chance or circumstances. It is the deep and abiding confidence that, regardless of one’s circumstances in life, all is well between the believer and the Lord. No matter what difficulty, pain, or disappointment, failure, rejection, or other challenge one is facing, genuine joy remains because of the eternal well-being established by God’s grace in salvation. Thus, Scripture makes it clear that the fullest, most lasting and satisfying joy is derived from a true relationship with God. It is not based on circumstances or chance, but is the gracious and permanent possession of every child of God.

This quote helped me in so many ways. It helped me to realize that there is nothing in my future that will bring me more joy then my relationship with Jesus Christ! My prayer daily in this new season of life is that in every thing I do, the joy of the Lord will be my strength!

One thing I ask of the Lord,

that will I seek after;

that I may dwell in the house of the Lord

all the days of my life,

to behold the beauty of the Lord

and inquire in His temple.

Psalm 27:4

-Candace-

After talking to her father...

Apparently these have been in circulation among Sovereign Grace bloggers for a few years now, but this is the first time I've heard about them.

Top 10 Courtship Pick-Ups:

10. "So I talked to your dad last night..."
9. "I lost my phone number. Maybe through a purposeful relationship, we can find out if I'm supposed to have yours."
8. "Your Bible...or mine?"
7. "We're perfect for each other. Our parents have so much in common!"
6. This one comes right out of the book of Song of Solomon, "You're so, so, how can I say this biblically? Your teeth are like a flock of ewes that have come up from the washing...Your hair is like a herd of goats running down a mountain!"
5. "Do your feet hurt? 'Cause you've been running through God's plans for me all eternity long!"
4. "Let's get our siblings together and go out sometime."
3. "I can't wait to see what you look like at 50."
2. "Your modesty's showing."
1. "My parents are back in town. Wanna come over?"

10, 9, and 4 are definitely my favorites, but I have to say; number 5 is a bit cheesy.

So, who can think of some more funny ones?

(HT: On the Silent Planet)

-Amber-