Redeeming the Past

I have heard it said and said it myself that the past is the past and we need to let it go. The past is a weight and will poison our future if we hold onto it. In one sense these are true words, but there are sometimes things from our past (time) that we need to redeem. Redemption sometimes requires us to restore things lost in the past, sins of commission or omission against others. I am realizing today that just because we failed to do something in the past does not mean the opportunity is lost forever. Admittedly righting a past failure is a bit more difficult than having done the right thing to begin with, but far from impossible.
When I first began this blog my purpose was to share my Scribbles with others in the hope of encouragment. There was also a prayer that as God inspired me to write regarding His love, His mercy, and His redeeming Grace the words would find a place in hungry, hurting hearts. That is still my desire, but recently I have been reminded of the people who have passed through my life since that day in March of 1962 when God mercifully filled me with His Holy Spirit and my walk with Him began.
In those days I was a bit timid in fulfilling my commission to be a witness for Him, and prayed only to be a 'living testimony' as I lived and walked with God. So, as an eighth grader I began to live my Godly convictions and live a repented life. I continued through school to try to be that 'living testimony' of God's power to save. I graduated from high school, married a year later and began a family. Life was good, God was Great and my life was blessed but still my lips were silent - I was still just living my testimony.
God began to convict me for failing to speak my testimony - for my failure in reaching out to others with His Word. They were good people, they went to church, but did they "know Him in fullness and truth"? I began to pray for another chance to be the witness I had failed to be when I first came to know Him. About fifteen years ago I began my Scribbling era as I was inspired by sermons, by my children's successes and failures as well as my own, and by the written Word of God. I scribbled on the fly leaf of my Bibles, on scraps of paper from my purse, and finally bought small notebooks for my scribbles. In the beginning the messages were probably for me - but as time progressed I wanted to share them and thought 'I could write a book!' Well, that didn't happen and for a time the scribbling stopped. Life had gotten in the way and I wasn't being inspired too often. Then along came blogging (introduced to me by my daughter) and I began to share my Scribbles.
I have come to understand that God wants more of us than just 'living testimony' - He desires our boldness in sharing our testimony of what He and He alone has done in our lives. Yes we are to live Godly lives before others and before Him, but we are to speak of the Power of God that enables us to walk in His Grace and Mercy.

Lord, grant that I may speak boldly of You; sharing your Word and your Plan for each of us. Give me wisdom to couch my testimony in such a way as to encourage others to seek Truth, and to know you as the Apostle Paul in Phil 3:10: "That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death".

Walls

He who builds a wall of protection about himself often creates a prison cell occupied by those things he has held onto from the past. A sanctuary created not by walls of mortar and stone, nor walls created by bars of steel, yet walls none the less cemented into place by scars and memories. Once enclosed in this 'sanctuary' the builder may find himself tormented by those things from which he sought to protect himself.
We humans have been conditioned over the ages to defend ourselves from those things which cause pain. We want to live safely, peacefully, painlessly. In a perfect world this would be possible; however, we no longer live in a perfect world. The perfect world existed 'in the beginning' and then was lost through disobedience. Our only hope for a perfect world lies in a journey to the cross.
Our journey to the cross begins when we leave the safety of our walls, walls which can only be erased by the blood of the Lamb. At the cross we find His Sanctuary, His Joy, His Peace and there we begin our journey to His Perfect World.

One More Thought on Faith

Job 13:15-16
15 Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him; but I will maintain my ways before Him.
16 He also shall be my salvation: for an hypocrite shall not come before Him.

True Faith…
Job desired to ‘reason with God’. He desired that God would ‘explain’ things to him. When God visited Job in the “whirlwind” He required answers of Job – a lot of questions and in those questions Job found his ‘explanation of the unreasonable’. Job’s faith in God was not one of reason; rather, Job believed in the goodness and righteousness of God in spite of what was happening in his life, in his flesh. Faith is not reasonable – faith is believing in spite of all reasoning. Faith believes the unbelievable.
Peter walked on water until he realized he was doing the impossible. Peter took his eyes off of Faith and looked at his fleshly feet sinking beneath the waves. Peter was sinking because he could not believe the impossible, the unreasonable, the unbelievable.
Our walk with God defies the ‘reasoning of men’; our faith in Him – in His word – cannot be explained; it is not a matter of reasoning. It is a matter of faith – ‘Now Faith’; ‘By Faith’, ‘Through Faith’ and ‘True Faith’.

Thoughts on Faith

Hebrews 11:3
3 Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the Word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.

Through Faith…

"Things are not as they appear." I remember how often my mom told me this truth, that things aren't alway as they seem and we just need to wait for the truth to be made known. Somehow as a young person that was not so comforting, since I was dealing with the here and now and how things appeared at the time. As I have grown older and wiser, I have realized that mom was simply paraphrasing Hebrews 11:3. Waiting for the truth to be made known is "through faith" simply moving forward and trusting God. Our finances, our children, all those things we see with our own eyes in the here and now are test of our "through faith". We wonder how we will ever see our prayers answered when we just can't see it coming to pass. We need to ask God to give us 'faith vision'- eyes that look beyond what is happening right now and see what God sees just a few miles on down the road.

“Through Faith” is the vehicle that carries us forward when the road we travel becomes a trail and the trail seems to disappear. “Through Faith” carries us on realizing that because God is leading us we can follow the path He is cutting ahead of us. “Through Faith” simply follows the trail markers. “Through Faith” is the all terrain vehicle that moves forward, over and through the obstacles to our progress toward God-set goals and destinations. "Through faith" allows us to see beyond those things that appear to be and view the truth of what God has set in motion and believe that what He has promised will come to pass.

A Few Thoughts on Faith - "By Faith"



Heb 11:8-12; 17-19
8 By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the place which he would receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going. 9 By faith he dwelt in the land of promise as in a foreign country, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise; 10 for he waited for the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God.
11 By faith Sarah herself also received strength to conceive seed, and she bore a child when she was past the age, because she judged Him faithful who had promised. 12 Therefore from one man, and him as good as dead, were born as many as the stars of the sky in multitude — innumerable as the sand which is by the seashore.
17 By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises offered up his only begotten son, 18 of whom it was said, "In Isaac your seed shall be called," 19 concluding that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead, from which he also received him in a figurative sense.

Abraham’s faith in God surpassed reason:
He went out without knowing where he was going…
He and Sara became parents when they were far beyond the natural ability to do so…
He offered up his only son in obedience, to the seeming detriment of God’s promise to make him the father of many.

By Faith…..

“By faith” is the route we travel toward goals set by God for our lives. Abraham had no map when he set out in search of the ‘city not made by hands’. He had a goal, a target to reach for, but the only direction he had was his faith in a promise made by a God he desired to believe and please.
“By Faith” is the vehicle by which we will attain our goals. When we do not understand and have no road map to follow, faith in God’s promise requires only our commitment to follow as He leads us.
“By Faith” is the act of saying, “I have decided to follow Jesus – I will not turn back – I will trust Him to lead me in the path I should go.

Thoughts on Faith

Hebrews 11:1-2
1 Now Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. 2 For by it the elders obtained a good report.

Now Faith….
“Now Faith” has substance; it is revealed in the things we hope for though we may not be able to ‘see’ it’s reality. “Now Faith” is the space ( ) we leave for God to fill. It is evidence that we believe the promise that God has given us concerning His plan to prosper us. “Now Faith” is evidence of our trust in His Purpose for our existence. “Now Faith” rejoices in those things we cannot yet see.

It seems so simple, just have faith! To have faith implies belief. It seems so simple to just say 'I believe' and yet it is not simple at all. Words are easy to come by - we are all wired to speak. Faith is more than saying the words, "I believe". Faith is 'allowing' God to fill a vacuum in our lives with His own will as we hope for fulfillment of His promises. Intellectually we may believe, but faith puts aside our intellect, our own abilities and leaves space for God.

Reminder from a teapot-

I have a friend who collects teapots of all sizes and kinds. Miniature tea sets and life sized usable teapots. I had her as a secret sister and wanted to give her a 'pot' for her collection. So one Saturday while wandering around in a thrift shop I found a small teapot and cup, one of those stacking sets. It was used but in good condition and both feminine and usable. So, I bought the teapot for a couple of bucks and took it home. I cleaned it up and wrapped it nicely intending to leave it for my secret sister the next morning at church. Then I remembered I hadn't bought a card for the gift. So, I sat about writing a short note to attach to the gift. This is the result:

Reminder from a teapot!

I'm just a little teapot,
Not very much to see.
Short and round
A handle, a spout
And a lid to steep the tea.

Like you I serve a purpose.
Like you a job to do!

So, add me to your collection
and as you make your tea,
Remember the reason that
You and I were made.

Since that time, I have often thought about the job of that little teapot - just steeping the tea, and yet it brings such enjoyment and comfort. Our own jobs are just as simple - just doing His will, and yet we often set aside His purpose in order to pursue our own will. How often have you seen a teapot refusing to be a teapot and do it's job? Silly question, you may say since that little teapot has no will of it's own, no choice in the matter. But we as Christians need to learn from that little teapot the lesson of 'being what we were made to be'.
We were made to be like Him a reflection of Him. We were created to be His own.

Gen 1:27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.

Remind Me of the Cross

Remind me of the cross
Let me see myself there.
Remind me that my sins were
The nails that held you there.
Remember Lord I’m human
And sometimes I forget
That it should have been me
And yet…
In love you took my place.

Remind me that on the cross
I was purchase by your blood.
Remind me that my sins are gone
For in my place you stood.
You took the slander and
Counted it not loss.
Remember Lord I’m human
Remind me of the Cross.

Take a little time to LISTEN

Another day....I seem to be pretty far behind in posting to my blog. Life in the Chance household has been pretty hectic and I seem to need more "vegging" time now days. Life seems to be rushing by at lightening speed and I am not doing a very good job of keeping up. So let's see if I can 'share' what's been happening in my 'world'.

About mid-2008 James, my other half for the past 40+ years, and I decided to make a change in where we attended worship. We began going to the Promise Center in Santa Rosa - a church that is on the move, growing and reaching out to the community. This church has been around for a number of years, but about 3 years ago a young minister and his wife came as pastor of the church and in the past 3 years there has been enormous growth in the congregation. We have a great youth department, dedicated Bible Study teachers, growing attendance in our small group ministry, and we are just beginning a bus ministry. The pastor is an excellent Bible teacher and an inspired evangelistic minister. We are baptizing new people in the name of Jesus on a weekly basis and seeing an outpouring of the Holy Ghost in our altars every service. This congregation is comprised of folks in all phases of learning to walk with God as well as those who have been in that walk for 40+ years. God is blessing us and fulfilling promises at the Promise Center.

So, we are busy working in the Kingdom and enjoying the fellowship of God!

In addition to the change in our place of worship, I have taken a new job. I moved from the position of loan officer at the credit union into the corporate office as a department supervisor. I am beginning to think I should have allowed God a little bit more time to answer my query about whether or not I should take the 'promotion'. I am on a steep learning curve with the new responsibilities and have a very short period in which to get on top of things. The good news is I will either pass or fail in a short time and the pressure will be over. The bad news is I don't exactly do well with failures and like to do all things well. So, since I jumped into the promotion without sufficient conversation with God, I am throwing myself on His Mercy and hoping He has a handle on the 'Electronic Services' department.

There is a lesson in all of this! My mom used to tell us that if something seems too good to be true...it usually isn't. Now God would say, take time to seek me in all of life's decisions and after seeking, take time to listen.

So slow down, don't be hasty in your listening and let Him make your decisions. Life seems to work better that way. Now, if I can just follow my own advice. Hmmmmmm....