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’.