It’s okay to stop and enjoy the view, but don’t linger too long on the trail without moving forward.
My muscles burned as I hiked up the steep incline toward the Las Trampas ridgeline. Orange California Poppies and yellow wildflowers dotted the grass that covered the rolling hills surrounding me. Turning to admire the view of the valley below, I put my hands on my hips and breathed deeply. The friends walking beside me caught their breath and marveled at the elevation we’d gained in such a short period of time.
The women I hiked with had spent the last seven months together delving into the Bible weekly in a group called “FaithWalk.” We’d chosen the name because we were all on a spiritual journey moving ever closer to God. Although we were at different places in our walks with Him, all of us had a desire to move forward.
As our months of formal study came to an end, we decided to take our “FaithWalk” out of the living room and onto the hiking trail. Exerting some energy, getting to higher ground and stopping to take in the view gave us a whole new perspective on life. This was true for us physically on the trail as much as it was spiritually when we’d studied Scripture together.
What we experienced is true of anyone who has been involved in a Bible study. In the past year we’ve made significant spiritual strides, whether it was in FaithWalk, Focused Living or somewhere else. Studying the truth revealed in God’s Word has deepened our wisdom and encouraged our faith. Significant connections have been made with others and we’ve grown in our prayer lives. We’ve traveled to higher ground and have discovered a new perspective.
Now we are moving into that “limbo” time of year when formal Bible studies end and summer classes are still a long way from starting. After gathering with others to study the Bible consistently, we’re now left to our own initiative to keep growing spiritually. It’s a little like hiking to the top of the ridge and then having our companions scatter in different directions. If it’s our first time up the trail, it can be especially disconcerting because we’re not sure where to turn next.
For many of us, this becomes a season when we slack off in pursuing God. Our faith that burned so brightly cools to flickering embers. Maybe we stop reading our Bibles because we don’t have a study to direct us or we forgo gathering with fellow believers because our weekly meetings have ended. Perhaps we even cease praying as apathy creeps in slowly.
This doesn’t have to be our reality, however. God never clocks out; He never has an end of the year brunch and then retreats from us until the fall. He doesn’t put His Word on a shelf next to the other books He’s studied. Likewise, we can continue pursuing Him without being tied to the parameters of a formal Bible study. Instead of getting lulled into complacency, we can persevere by keeping our focus on Jesus.
“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith.” (Hebrews 12:1-2a)
Instead of seeing the end of a formal Bible study as a time of spiritual slackening, we can view it as a time to draw nearer to God. We can dig deeper into the things that we didn’t have time to pursue during the year. It’s a chance to spend unstructured time getting to know Him personally. If you need some help figuring out how to do this, I’ve included few ideas below. Hopefully they’ll help keep you engaged with Jesus and His Word instead of wandering in the wilderness:
-If you were involved in a book study this year, chances are there was at least a lesson or two that you didn’t fully complete. Go back, re-read and finish the lessons and look at how they fit into the context of the whole study. Then do the next suggestion below.
-If you finished all your studies, go back through them and make lists highlighting the things you learned. Get a journal and make it the place where you record specific quotes, words of wisdom and verses that made an impact on you. Continue to add to it with each new study you do.
-Choose a Christian book or personal Bible study to go through daily. Better yet, invite a friend or a small group of people to join you. Find a time to meet together weekly to discuss it. This is a great way to stay accountable. Here are few places to shop for books:
CPC’s Community Book Shoppe (for those who are local)
CPC Library (for those who are local)
-Ask someone to be your prayer partner. Share requests and pray that both of you can stay engaged in God’s Word. Meet together, e-mail, text or talk on the phone regularly to stay connected.
-Continue to check in with this Life in Focus blog for spiritual encouragement. I’ll be posting throughout the summer. If you don’t follow the blog yet, click on the “follow” icon on the right side of the screen so you’ll be notified each time I post something new.
-Subscribe to an online study or devotional. Check out these options:
-Subscribe to a Christian magazine. Check out these options:
“Homelife” Magazine (Lifeway)
“Today’s Christian Woman” Magazine
-Add some variety to your time with God by listening to Christian music, writing prayers in a journal or taking prayer walks outside regularly. Branch out and be creative!
Whatever you choose will help you continue growing in your walk with Jesus. It’s okay to stop and enjoy the view, but don’t linger too long on the trail without moving forward.
“But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 3:13b-14)
What are your plans to stay connected with God and His Word once Bible study ends? How will “pressing on’ look in your daily life? Do you have books, studies or ideas to suggest? Leave a comment to inspire others!
For further inspiration, click on the link below to hear the song “Press On” by Building 429,featuring Blanca Callahan.
I recently returned from a trip to Disney’s California Resort with my family. We had a fantastic time together going on rides, watching shows, eating treats and reminiscing about previous trips there. I love Disneyland, even if it is just the tiniest bit over-stimulating for me.
The only part I don’t like is this little issue I have with motion sickness (and I’m slightly in denial about it). Posted outside each thrill ride is a very clear warning listing all of the horrible things that could happen to people subjecting themselves to it. The signs clearly state that motion sickness will be “aggravated” by the rides. Every time I strapped myself in, I knew what the consequence would be, but I didn’t want to miss out on having fun with my family.
After one ride full of steep climbs, sudden drops, sharp turns and upside down loops, I decided to take a break. I needed to let my stomach and head find their equilibrium again. I waved happily from a bench as my husband and kids headed back for another round. After I’d recovered a few hours later, I got in line with them for yet another roller coaster and walked past yet another warning sign.
My stomach had finally settled, but I didn’t want to miss out on being with them. The familiar queasiness returned as soon as we made the first high-speed turn. At the end of the ride my upset stomach told me it was finished with thrills for the day. I listened to my body and steered clear of roller coasters after that.
Surprisingly, my little adventure with the roller coasters has a few parallels with Nehemiah chapter 9. Like me, the Israelites were given clear warnings, but they failed to heed them and doomed themselves to repeat the same “roller coaster ride” for much of their history. In Nehemiah 9, the Israelites prayed and reviewed the pattern of their people, starting with Abraham. They recognized the cycle that their ancestors followed from one generation to the next:
1) Receive God’s Blessing and Faithfulness
2) Rebel/ Fall Away / Face Hardship
3) Receive God’s Discipline and Repent
4) Reconcile with God/ Receive God’s Blessing
The people of Nehemiah’s time saw how they continued the cycle and realized God’s faithfulness in spite of their faithlessness. They confessed to God and sought His help:
“In all that has happened to us, you have remained righteous; you have acted faithfully, while we acted wickedly. Our kings, our leaders, our priests and our ancestors did not follow your law; they did not pay attention to your commands or the statutes you warned them to keep. Even while they were in their kingdom, enjoying your great goodness to them in the spacious and fertile land you gave them, they did not serve you or turn from their evil ways. But see, we are slaves today, slaves in the land you gave our ancestors so they could eat its fruit and the other good things it produces. Because of our sins, its abundant harvest goes to the kings you have placed over us. They rule over our bodies and our cattle as they please. We are in great distress.” (Nehemiah 9:33-37)
The people were in “phase three” of their usual cycle and trying to move to “phase four” from my list above. Sadly, this would not be the last time the pattern would repeat. Among the many lessons we can learn from the Israelites, two stand out to me. First, they didn’t deal well with difficulty. Second, they didn’t remember God in their times of ease.
Dealing with Difficulty
Kelly Minter explains: “whenever the Israelites faced difficulty in the desert they chose to believe something false about God. Three of the biggies were that He had abandoned them, withheld from them, or wouldn’t meet their needs.” (Nehemiah: A Heart That Can Break p. 125).
Like the Israelites, we can make big mistakes when we view difficulties as unusual or when we expect to be spared from them. Hard things happen, but God is still good. In fact, He often uses hardships to refine our faith and draw us closer to Him. Jesus said it clearly, “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33)
When we have established in our hearts and minds that God is good then the difficulties we face cause us to rely on Him instead of questioning Him. Similarly, when we believe God is sovereign, we trust Him to handle the injustices we experience. Even when we don’t understand the trials we face, we know He’ll use them mature us and refine our faith.
“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls.” (1 Peter 1:3-9)
“Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. (James 1:2-4)
Forgetting God in Times of Ease
Nehemiah 9:35 explains that even when the people were enjoying God’s “great goodness” and the “spacious and fertile land,” they failed to acknowledge Him.
Sometimes it is harder to remember to focus on God when life is easy and things are going well. We get lulled into thinking that the ease of our circumstances is our “new normal” or that we’ve done something right to deserve it. We can become complacent, apathetic and spiritually lazy. Our circumstantial peace should allow us time to study God’s word, grow with Him and serve Him. Yet sometimes when circumstances are smooth, we tend stray away and give our time and attention to other things. We take God’s goodness for granted and forget to use His blessings to benefit others and honor Him.
Jesus makes a strong point about this in the Parable of the Talents in Matthew 25. In His story, a wealthy landowner calls his servants to him before leaving on a long journey. To each he gives a sum of money called a “talent.” Each one receives an amount “according to his ability.” To the first, he gives five talents, to the second two and to the last, one.
When the landowner returns, he discovers that the first and second servants have invested the talents wisely and have doubled their amounts. The landowner praises each of them similarly: “Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness.” (John 25:21).
The third servant has only the original one talent to return to his master. Instead of investing it, he simply dug a hole and hid it, fearing his master.
“His master replied, ‘You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed? Well then, you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned I would have received it back with interest.
“‘So take the bag of gold from him and give it to the one who has ten bags. For whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them.’ “ (Matthew 25:26-29)
The servant given the smallest load to bear failed miserably. My Bible’s study notes put it this way: “The talents represent any kind of resource we are given. God gives us time, gifts, and other resources according to our abilities, and he expects us to invest them wisely until he returns. We are responsible to use well what God has given us. The issue is not how much we have, but how well we use what we have.” (Zondervan Life Application Bible 1991)
When life is going smoothly, it is the time to use our health, wealth, skills, experience, education and spiritual gifts to bless others and honor God. It is not the time to coast and live a life of ease and comfort, but a time to stretch, grow and help further the Kingdom of God.
Let’s choose not to be like the Israelites, continually cycling through obedience, rebellion, discipline and repentance. Getting caught in a pattern like that consumes energy without producing growth or maturity.
It’s a bit like my roller coaster experience. I knew what rides might make me sick, but I went on a few anyway hoping for a different outcome. I quickly realized that not heeding the posted warnings would ruin my day. My body was telling me to stop and if I ignored it, I would have been too sick to enjoy the day at all. I had to break the cycle. Once I did, my stomach settled and I had a great time instead of muscling through more hours of nausea.
If you find yourself stuck in your own version of “the cycle,” be encouraged. You are not the only one! When you’re headed for that roller coaster you know you shouldn’t be riding, pray and ask God to help you step out of line. Click on the link below to hear Josh Wilson’s song “Know By Now.” It will remind you of God’s sovereignty, faithfulness and patience with us in spite of our failings.
My husband’s parents gave him a precious gift this past Christmas. It is a family Bible that has been passed down through four generations. A hand-written note tucked in the front of this fourteen-pound, four-and-a-half inch thick heirloom states that his great-grandfather would pay $25.00 for the Bible. It is dated March 22, 1886. Twenty-five dollars in 1886 equates to $629 today. That is a substantial investment for a Bible. It’s a blessing to belong to a family that has valued the Word of God for so many generations.
The book of Nehemiah describes a similar value for the Word of God. Nehemiah and the Israelites finished rebuilding the wall around Jerusalem in an incredible fifty-two days after it laid in ruins for nearly a century and a half. Once it was completed and the exiles had returned to the city, they tended to some important business.
First on the agenda was gathering the people to read from the Book of the Law of Moses. This was the Torah, the first five books of the Old Testament. Nehemiah chapter 8 tells us the men, women and children stood before the priest, Ezra, as he read aloud “from daybreak till noon…And all the people listened attentively” (8:3).
Did you catch that? Men, women and children stood and listened for five or six hours while God’s Word was read aloud to them. At the conclusion “Ezra praised the LORD, the great God; and all the people lifted their hands and responded, ‘Amen!’ Amen!’” (8:6).
I looked up the definition of “Amen” in my Webster’s Dictionary. It is a Hebrew word “used to express solemn ratification or hearty approval.” This is amazing considering that “all the people had been weeping as they listened to the word of the Law” (8:9b). Instead of being defensive or indignant when they learned how far they had strayed from God’s Word, their hearts broke with remorse. They didn’t try to make excuses or rationalize their failure to follow it, they sought to make things right. How refreshing that response seems in comparison with people who want to ignore the parts of the Bible they find convicting, inconvenient or outdated.
Kelly Minter describes the Israelite listeners this way: “The Lord had given His Word to them, and it was far from obsolete or impractical to their daily lives…The people were deeply aware that they were to live every moment of their lives by God’s words…they recognized that ordinary life was to be inspired and directed by the rule and reign of God” (Nehemiah: A Heart That Can Break, p.103).
What was true for the Israelites returning to Jerusalem is still true for us today. We need God’s Word to inform our lives and the choices we make daily. We need to trust that His Word is a lamp for our feet and a light for our paths, as Psalm 119:105 describes it.
The Bible is not a list of rules to read once and then put on the shelf as a reference book. “For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart” (Hebrews 4:12). The Bible is not just words on a page; it is living and active. When we engage it and apply it to our lives, it changes us. It changes our attitudes, our desires, our relationships and the things we value. It is a guide for every aspect of daily living. It is our solid foundation and the plumb line that keeps us aligned with Truth.
I’ve begun to notice a clear difference between the lives of people who are actively engaging God’s Word and people who simply embrace the Christian lifestyle and its values. People who spend time in the Bible have a passion and a sense of purpose in what they do. They serve others out of gratitude to God, not as an obligation. They grapple with hard truths and have teachable spirits. They are hungry to know more about God and how He’s calling them to live. They don’t follow rules and checklists–they abide with Jesus and let the Holy Spirit guide them. Their lives are not safe and predictable. They trust God when things get messy and complicated. They have too much integrity to worry about whether or not they are “showing well.” They are profoundly aware that they are sinners only saved by Gods’ grace. Their resulting gratitude causes them to give their lives for God’s Kingdom purposes.
For the Israelites in Nehemiah’s time, living out the Word of God meant they began observing festivals that had been forgotten for many years. “They found written in the Law, which the LORD had commanded through Moses, that the Israelites were to live in booths during the feast” (8:14). They were obeying God’s command to celebrate the Lord’s Feast of Tabernacles. While it might not have been convenient to build and live in temporary shelters for seven days, the purpose of the feast was to remind the people in each generation that God brought them out of Egypt. (You can read the specifics in Leviticus 23:40-43).
God knows people are prone to forget Him, so observing different festivals provided tangible reminders of His faithfulness at regular intervals. Maybe part of the reason the people wept when they heard Ezra read the law is that they realized the many blessings they’d missed. The generations before them had failed to obey God’s command given through Moses:
“These are the commands, decrees and laws the Lord your God directed me to teach you to observe in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess, so that you, your children and their children after them may fear the Lord your God as long as you live by keeping all his decrees and commands that I give you, and so that you may enjoy long life. Hear, Israel, and be careful to obey so that it may go well with you and that you may increase greatly in a land flowing with milk and honey, just as the Lord, the God of your ancestors, promised you.
Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates” (Deuteronomy 6:1-8).
Today we are not exempt from this command to marinate in God’s Word and impress it upon the younger generations. Whether we are parents, grandparents, or have never had kids, there are younger people around who need to know the Word of God. We can do this as youth leaders, Sunday school teachers, or volunteers in the nursery. We can be a safe haven for kids in our neighborhoods or godly volunteers in public or Christian schools. We can mentor at-risk kids or lead at Vacation Bible School. We can open our homes to foster children or even adopt a child. We can sponsor kids through Missions organizations and send them letters reminding them of God’s love, faithfulness and provision.
Impressing God’s Word on children starts first and foremost at home. Here are some ideas for incorporating Biblical influence into your home, for the sake of your own kids and any others that might walk through the door.
-Listen to Christ-centered stories in the car and at home instead of only watching shows or playing video games. Focus on the Family has great radio dramas such as “Adventures in Odyssey.” The Vision Forum also has Biblically-based audio dramas such as “The Adventures of Jonathan Park.”
-Listen to Christian music at home and in the car (Try KLOVE, which is nation wide on FM radio, or The Message on satellite radio)
-Try having family meetings weekly. Use the time to read through a portion of the Bible, share prayer requests and pray together as a family.
-Read a devotional with your kids as they eat breakfast in the morning or at night before bed (the student version of Sarah Young’s Jesus Calling is a current favorite for us)
-Read Christian-themed books aloud to your kids or encourage them to read them to themselves. Janet and Geoff Benge have a great series of biographies called “Christian Heroes: Then & Now” (Christian books and magazine subscriptions are great gifts in an Easter basket for any age)
-Invite some friends to do a Christian parenting study with you (Chip Ingram’s DVD series “Effective Parenting in Defective World” is a great place to start)
If you’re feeling overwhelmed by the suggestions above, take a deep breath. Resist the urge to feel like you have to do them all. Stop before you start to feel inadequate or critical of yourself. Don’t let yourself get legalistic by creating a checklist to complete. Start by praying and asking God to reveal one area where you can influence your own kids or others with God’s Word. Whatever you do, make sure it is authentic and done with pure motives. If you have a spouse, talk it over before jumping to action. Incorporating these things into your life might stretch you but they should still align with your character and not be forced on your family in a way that will turn them off. Pray for their hearts before you announce implementation of a great new plan to get them into God’s Word more! Do what blesses you and your family, not what feels like a burden. If you’re already actively doing something that impacts kids with the Bible, please post a comment to give other readers ideas.
Click on the link below to hear Matt Maher’s catchy song “And All the People Said Amen.” Although it’s inspired by 1 Chronicles 16:36, the sentiment is quite similar to Nehemiah 8.
In the Northern California climate, bare root roses are usually planted in January. My husband and I moved into our house a number of years ago in mid-February. So, for close to a year I eagerly anticipated the time when we could finally start our very own rose garden. We went to a nursery and studied labels, carefully choosing the colors and varieties we wanted to plant along the side of our driveway in the front yard.
It was hard work digging holes and planting in the winter soil, but it was worth the effort when we envisioned the beautiful roses that would bloom a few months later. We’d chosen colors in a variety of shades: pink, yellow, white, red, coral and lavender. They had names like “Mr. Lincoln” and “Touch of Class” embossed on metal tags hanging around the main stalks of the plants. We kept them attached even after planting so we could remember their names later.
As winter turned to spring, green shoots and fat buds began to appear on our new rose plants. I’d check them regularly– excited to see which colors would show first. Then, one morning, I discovered all of the buds were gone. It looked almost as if someone had come into our yard and snipped them off with a pair of clippers. I was perplexed, angry and disappointed. I couldn’t imagine who would have done such a thing.
Later that evening, as the sun was setting, a family of dear gracefully wandered into our yard. As I moved to the window to watch them, I was horrified to discover they were brazenly snacking on my rose plants. What had looked like a clean cut from a pair of garden shears had actually been the teeth of several deer.
When I went back to the nursery where we’d bought the roses to explain our predicament, the employee there was less than sympathetic: “Yea, deer eat just about anything. They don’t care about thorns. I can sell you some stuff to spray on the flowers to make them taste bad, but you have to use it all the time. Those deer are pretty tenacious.”
I bought the spray and tried it for a while, but finally gave up. It smelled bad and the deer ate the blooms anyway. For several years, we just relinquished any hope of ever seeing a bud, let alone a fully blooming rose. I couldn’t even remember what color flowers we’d planted and had only the metal tags to remind me.
Finally, one winter we decided to risk uprooting our rose bushes and re-planting them in the backyard. It would either kill them or give them a new lease on life. We hoped they would survive the transplant and would thrive safely tucked behind our high fence where deer couldn’t get at them. Sure enough, that spring, we began to see buds forming. Eventually after years of waiting to see roses, our backyard was filled with blooms in a multitude of colors. I could enjoy them from the window or clip them to put in vases or give them to friends. All it took was guarding the roses from the hungry deer that devoured them.
Those roses were one of the first things I pictured as I read Kelly Minter’s words in the week 2 lesson of Nehemiah: A Heart That Can Break. Until I fenced them in for protection, they never reached their full blooming potential. In the study, Minter describes how Nehemiah and his fellow Jews focused their attention on rebuilding the gates around the walls of Jerusalem. She explains: “Little is as important to a city as guarding the places where people come and go. Jerusalem’s walls meant nothing without fortified gates—every door, bolt, and bar had to be scrutinized and secured. This led me to think about the ‘gates’ in my life, what I allow to enter my seeing and hearing…The question became, ‘What am I allowing in and out?’ Have you ever wondered if ‘mindless entertainment’ might actually be a wide-open gate in your life by which many hurtful and deceiving ideas are sliding straight into your thinking? What about the friendships you keep, the magazines you read, the conversations in which you choose to engage? Are your doors open to uplifting, truth-telling and life-giving, or to what corrodes your soul?” (p. 43).
If we’re not on our guards, the good things in our lives can be infiltrated and ruined by the enemy, just like my roses. Proverbs 4:23 says it clearly: “Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.” I started thinking about the times in my life when I’ve let my guard down and have allowed my heart to be influenced in ways that are not beneficial to my walk with God. See if you can relate to any of the areas below where your “soul gates” might need a bit of shoring up:
Entertainment
Kelly Minter mentioned in her video how people often excuse inappropriate subject matter because it is funny. She pointed out that even sin can seem funny but that “if it put Jesus on the cross, it’s not funny.” I started thinking about all the ways we can be entertained that have the potential to leave our “soul gates” wide open to ungodly influences.
-TV Shows and Movies: Often they subtly or blatantly give messages contrary to God’s teaching. I think about this in relation to my kids and ask myself how their worldview might be shaped by what they’re seeing. When we come across something that doesn’t fit with God’s word, we talk about it and point out the message that is contrary to God’s plans for us. Talk shows and reality shows espouse unbiblical worldviews as much as dramas and sitcoms, so it’s important to consider them too.
-Music: Song lyrics spout messages constantly. I have one child who particularly enjoys listening to “hit music” on the radio. Many of the songs are catchy and fun, but it’s important to listen to the message behind the beat. Recently my son and I had a conversation about a song with the recurring line: “Are you gonna stay the night/ Doesn’t mean we’re bound for life.” He was a little annoyed and embarrassed when we talked about how the song’s message didn’t fit with God’s design for sex, but he listened and accepted what I said. Now, when the song comes on we can joke about it and roll our eyes, realizing the not so subtle message it gives. Sometimes my boys and I look up song lyrics online to clarify or discuss the content. We can’t keep our kids or ourselves entirely in a bubble, but we can learn to recognize the way the world influences us so we don’t fall for it.
-Books: We need to be wise about the non-fiction and fiction books we read. Even those fun “beach reads” have an impact on our thought lives, for better or for worse. Our imaginations have few limits and when they’re fed ideas that don’t fit with God’s plan, we are opening our “soul gates” unwisely.
-Websites/ Chat rooms/ Blogs: The places we frequent on the Internet also impact our thought lives significantly and can lead to a breakdown in the walls around our souls. Are you considering that with the content you absorb online?
-Magazines: How are the articles you read influencing you? Do the magazines you read make you wish for bigger and better material possessions? Do they turn the personal lives of strangers into scintillating gossip? Do they tempt you to eat and drink in ways that you’ll regret later? Do they influence your worldview in ways that draw you closer to God or that pull you farther away from Him?
-Talk Radio: Talk radio can fill our minds with ideas. Do the people you listen to on the radio continually espouse specific views and label groups of people? Do they vilify certain people or groups? This happens easily on talk shows centered on politics. Keep in mind, whether you agree with someone’s political views or not, they are still loved by God. Sometimes when we draw political lines in the sand, it’s hard to reach out in love to people whose labels don’t match the ones with which we agree.
-E-mail forwards: Do you think carefully before you forward “thought provoking” or “funny” e-mails to friends and family? Do you think about how they have influenced you and how they might influence others? Do you check to see if information you are forwarding is factual? Do you think about whether the recipients need more e-mails in their inboxes?
The links below provide resources for reviewing movies, TV shows and other media. They are a great way to screen in advance what you plan to watch or to let your kids watch. The first is from Focus on the Family, the second is from Common Sense Media:
A good guideline to keep in mind for entertainment is to think of Philippians 4:8
“Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.”
Relationships
The people we spend time with influence us profoundly. Here are a few questions to think about how they might be influencing you in different ways:
-Do the people you spend time with point you towards God or away from Him?
-Are your peers positive and encouraging or negative and bitter?
-The Bible calls us to be salt and light to a world in darkness—are you rubbing off on your non-Christian friends and acquaintances or are they rubbing off on you?
-If you’re married: Do the people you spend time with make your marriage stronger? Do your friends know more about the highs and lows of your marriage than your spouse? What parameters do you place around your interactions with the opposite sex? (Sometimes we may think we’ve been married too long for these things to be issues-yet our culture is full of marriages that crumble even after twenty, thirty or forty years. We must be relentless in protecting our marriages at every stage in life.)
-Do you seek out friends to provide support and wisdom before you ever consider seeking God? Kelly Minter cautions: “Even well-meaning people can unintentionally draw us away from God’s will in our lives” (p.58).
-Do you spend time with people who take pleasure in being critical of others?
-How easy is it to get drawn into gossip in your circle of friends and acquaintances?
-Does the sarcasm and cynicism of others rub off on you?
-Do you spend time with people who expect you to “show well” and put up a façade?
-Do you downplay your faith around certain friends and acquaintances?
Colossians 3:1-17 provides some great instructions for relationships:
“Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is yourlife, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. Because of these, the wrath of God is coming.You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. But now you must also rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. Here there is no Gentile or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all.
Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.
Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”
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There are a lot of challenging issues to think and pray about in the paragraphs above. If you’re feeling convicted, just keep this in mind: the goal of these questions isn’t to make you feel guilty, but to help you find the places where your “soul gates” need strengthening. Strong gates allow your spiritual garden to flourish and give God room to develop your potential. Ask the Holy Spirit to keep your soul gates strong. Let Him monitor what comes and goes through them. You may not realize the ways you can bloom spiritually until you notice what is coming through your “soul gates” and guard against the things that will damage your walk with God. I didn’t realize the beauty I was missing until we took the time to move our roses. It was worth the effort.
For some additional perspective on this topic, click on the link below to hear Casting Crowns’ song “Slow Fade.” It’s a great reminder for why keeping your “soul gates” intact is so important.
Recently at our Focused Living Bible Study we had the privilege of hearing from three women in three different life stages. They all shared specifics about how they’ve seen God take them “Deeper Still” in their relationships with Him. All three had fantastic messages to share and we were blessed by their authenticity and candor. It just so happens that the last woman to share was my mom. During her talk she highlighted how much she values studying the Bible to keep aligned with God’s truth. She told us that she started formally studying the Bible in 1974 and has continued ever since in a variety of different classes and groups. My mom admonished us to see studying God’s word as an opportunity to make deposits in our “spiritual banks,” pointing out that truths we learn now can sustain us in the years to come. Isaiah 55:10-11 says pretty much the same thing:
“As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater,so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.”
Our Bible study is wrapping up another challenging and inspiring study, but before I add my workbook from Faithful, Abundant, True: Three Lives Going Deeper Still to the growing collection on my shelf, I’d like to reflect on what I’ve learned. Spending time looking back is an opportunity to make a deposit in our “spiritual banks.” Writing down the truths we’ve learned will bless us in the years to come and imprint them more deeply into our memories.
Truths Taught by Kay Arthur
-Don’t Shrink Back
Kay taught us about God’s faithfulness and encouraged us to make time for God’s word and to keep from entangling ourselves in the affairs of the world. Referring often to the book of Hebrews, she reminded us not to “shrink back” and to continue growing deeper with God.
Hebrews 10:35-39 “So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised. For, ‘In just a little while, he who is coming will come and will not delay.’ And, ‘But my righteousone will live by faith. And I take no pleasure in the one who shrinks back.’ But we do not belong to those who shrink back and are destroyed, but to those who have faith and are saved.”
-Handle God’s Word Correctly
Kay reminded us of the value of God’s word and the importance of learning to use and handle it correctly. She pointed out that studying the Bible is not just about getting us through our issues, but changing us from the inside out.
2 Timothy 2:15 “Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth.”
2 Timothy 3:16-17 “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of Godmay be thoroughly equipped for every good work.”
-Abandon Unbelief to Find the Rest of Faith
Kay also taught is that having faith means resting in the word of God. We cannot have the rest of faith if we have unbelief in our lives. If we truly believe God can do what He says, then we will trust Him and find rest, unlike the Israelites who doomed themselves to wandering in the desert for forty years because of their unbelief.
Hebrews 3:16-19 & 4:1-2 “Who were they who heard and rebelled? Were they not all those Moses led out of Egypt? And with whom was he angry for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies perished in the wilderness?And to whom did God swear that they would never enter his rest if not to those who disobeyed? So we see that they were not able to enter, because of their unbelief. Therefore, since the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us be careful that none of you be found to have fallen short of it. For we also have had the good news proclaimed to us, just as they did; but the message they heard was of no value to them, because they did not share the faith of those who obeyed.”
Truths Taught By Priscilla Shirer
-God Is Able
Priscilla Shirer showed us that God is able to surprise us in the midst of our impossible situations. She encouraged us to remember that knowing Who we’re dealing with changes the way we pray. When we pray, we can be confident knowing God has the power to do what we ask. She also encouraged us to pray: “God, do this, or do something better!”
Ephesians 3:20-21 “Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.”
-An Abundant Life is Not Free of Difficulty
Priscilla reminded us that God’s abundance is not about experiencing peace because of our circumstances, but in spite of them. We can experience the fullness of God even in the midst of our impossible situations. He is the only dependable constant in our lives in a world that is ever changing.
2 Corinthians 12:7-10 “Therefore, in order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”
-Don’t Just Learn About God; Believe His Word is True for You Personally
Priscilla pointed out the importance of translating the head knowledge we gain from studying God’s word into heart knowledge that causes true life-transformation.
Hebrews 12:1-2 “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”
Truths Taught By Beth Moore
-We Must Activate the Mind of Christ
Beth emphasized that anyone who accepts Christ has the ability to have the mind of Christ. She says, “Our challenge is to learn how to activate His mind in our thought processes regarding the reality of our experience.” (p.108)
1 Corinthians 2:15-16 “The person with the Spirit makes judgments about all things, but such a person is not subject to merely human judgments, for, ‘Who has known the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?’ But we have the mind of Christ.”
-Discernment Doesn’t Happen By Accident
When the Holy Spirit resides within us, we possess the potential for great discernment, but it is like a muscle that must be exercised to grow stronger. We grow in our discernment through “prayer, pursuit and practice.” (110)
Hebrews 5:13-14 “Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.”
-God’s Spirit Fills Us to the Extent We are Willing to Yield
God will only take us as far as we are willing to let Him go on our spiritual journeys. Without obedience to Him, we prevent ongoing growth from occurring.
John 14:15-16 “If you love me, keep my commands. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever—the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will bein you.”
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That is quite a bit of truth to absorb in six weeks of study! I feel like I just made a huge deposit in my “spiritual bank.” How about you? What truths do you want to savor and remember before you move on to the next study? If you’re not attender of Focused Living, what things are you learning right now that you want to remember later? Make a comment below and share with us (click on “leave a comment” at the top of this post and the comment field will appear at the bottom of the post). You can also make a comment on Facebook if you prefer.
I’ll close by making Paul’s prayer for the Philippians in 1:9-11 my prayer for you:
“And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God.”
Click on the blue sign below that says “Watch Vimeo” to see the “Deeper Still” testimonies of the three women at Focused Living.
October, November and December are months filled with celebrations in my family. It seems we’re continually enjoying birthday dinners, Halloween candy, Thanksgiving delicacies and Christmas treats at a fairly steady pace for a long stretch of time. Although we generally try to eat healthy food, it seems there is always an excuse for a “splurge” during those months. This December, my husband and I realized that our “fun splurges” were becoming a regular part of our diet. By the end of the Christmas holidays, we were both feeling the effects of too many months of making bad choices with food. It was time for a change.
My meal planning and cooking had been on autopilot for quite a while. I’d chalked it up to a busy schedule, but the truth was, I was getting pretty lazy. We were eating the same four or five meals all the time and making things interesting by eating plenty of unhealthy snacks and desserts in between. We didn’t feel good physically and often criticized ourselves for the bad food choices we were making. Then, we’d do the same thing again the next day.
Driving home from a visit with family over the holidays, I began perusing a book that outlined a twenty-eight day plan for eating healthy, cleansing our bodies and rebooting our metabolisms. It sounded a bit daunting, but after some serious thought, we decided the health benefits were worth the effort.
To implement this plan required full buy-in for both of us. We had to commit to following all of the guidelines of the plan for twenty-eight days. There was no way to eat on autopilot anymore. I was checking our book so much that the pages were dotted with splotches of food from reading recipes while I cooked. I had to write meal plans for the week in a spiral notebook and check it frequently. My husband would regularly ask, “Is this in the plan?” I’d grab the book to check, not trusting my memory to guide me.
Having to think about meals so much required more effort than our old ways of interacting with food. We had to be intentional in planning menus, preparing ahead and anticipating possible challenges along the way. However, we were also seeing the benefits of the plan and were feeling great. I’d never given so much thought to what, when and how I was eating until then- but my metabolism seemed to be responding well.
I realized a striking similarity between our new eating plan and our spiritual lives. We can’t go on autopilot. We can’t just check off our thirty minutes reading the Bible and praying in the morning and then move on with the day. Instead, we need to be in tune with God’s Spirit and connecting with Him at regular intervals throughout the day to get the strength and wisdom we need. My eating plan required healthy snacks and meals at regular intervals to fuel my metabolism and keep it burning. Our spiritual metabolisms also need regular fuel to function fully. I’m finding Beth Moore’s words to be true: “Dependable discernment comes only by walking in the Spirit, and walking in the Spirit comes only by walking and talking with God Himself…The Spirit of God fills us only to the extent that we yield to His authority and welcome His Presence. (Beth Moore, Faithful, Abundant, True: Three Lives Going Deeper Still p. 138)
There is an obvious comparison between eating healthy and maintaining spiritual well being. Both require constant vigilance. We need to be intentional with our efforts to connect with God instead of becoming lazy spiritually or relying on others to keep us growing in our faith. Beth Moore uses the story of the Israelites and Moses from Exodus 20:18-21 to illustrate this:
When the people saw the thunder and lightning and heard the trumpet and saw the mountain in smoke, they trembled with fear. They stayed at a distance and said to Moses, “Speak to us yourself and we will listen. But do not have God speak to us or we will die.” Moses said to the people, “Do not be afraid. God has come to test you, so that the fear of God will be with you to keep you from sinning.” The people remained at a distance, while Moses approached the thick darkness where God was.
Beth explains: “That’s how a lot of people still want their religion today. We still say in effect, ‘I’m not looking to be close to the Father God and to get to know Him intimately through His Son Jesus Christ. I just want someone to tell me what to do and what not to do and I’ll go on with it from there’…What people with this mind-set don’t understand is that they’re missing the most satisfying love relationship of their entire existence…We will never live one single day in the Spirit accidentally. It simply cannot happen…You show me a godly woman, and I’ll show you a woman who pursued God” (Beth Moore, Faithful, Abundant, True: Three Lives Going Deeper Still p. 137 & 139).
Not surprisingly, the Bible has quite a bit to say about staying tuned into the Holy Spirit. Galatians 5:25tells us: “Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.” Our job is to match the cadence of our steps to those of the Holy Spirit. We can only do this through consistent time in God’s Word and prayer.
Over the past few years as I’ve learned more about the Holy Spirit, I’ve incorporated a few regular phrases into my prayer life. They help me keep in step with the Spirit and remain intentional in my pursuit of Him. The first is: “God, pour out your Spirit on me today.” When I pray this, I imagine God taking a pitcher of water and pouring it over my head so that everything around me is soaked with His Spirit. Although I know that His Spirit already resides in me, asking for more of Him increases my capacity to be filled and used by Him. Ephesians 5:18b admonishes us to be “filled with the Spirit.” The footnotes in my study Bible explain this verse well: “The Greek present tense is used in this verse to indicate that the filling of the Spirit it not a once-for-all experience. Repeatedly, as occasion requires, the Spirit empowers for worship, service and testimony.” (Zondervan NIV Study Bible p. 1832)
Another regular prayer of mine is “God, align my heart with Your Spirit.” Essentially, this means asking God to make me want the things He wants. This is what it means to pray “in Jesus’ name.” In John 14:13-14 Jesus says “And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.” When we ask in Jesus’ name, it acknowledges our desire for God to be glorified by our requests. It’s not like a closing salutation for a prayer; it is a statement of wanting our wills to align with God’s and to ask in prayer for the things we know He wants.
Just like I read my meal-planning book throughout the day, we have to consult the Bible regularly to stay aligned with God’s will and Spirit. We have to be actively engaged in studying His word, praying and seeking Him. We can’t base our faith on memories of the past. That would be like cooking on autopilot and making the same default meals over and over. God has something new to show us all the time. He wants to keep our spiritual metabolisms moving to ingest new truths so that we can use our gifts to bless others and honor Him.
“I am the Lord; that is my name! I will not yield my glory to another or my praise to idols.See, the former things have taken place, and new things I declare; before they spring into being I announce them to you.” -Isaiah 42:8-10
Maybe it’s time to think about your spiritual metabolism. Are you on autopilot cruising along spiritually without giving much thought to your need for the Spirit? Is there an area you need to surrender so that you can obey God more fully? It may seem daunting, but once you address these things, you won’t want to go back to autopilot again. God has too many great things in store for you and will give you exactly what you need to live walking in His Spirit.
I’ve attached a link below to a song that is a little older. It is called “Rushing Wind” and is by a Christian musical artist named Keith Green who passed away in a plane crash in 1982. Although it may not sound as current as some of the songs I usually include, I hope it will bless and inspire you. I first heard it as a freshman in college in 1988 and it is still one of my favorites.
In Faithful, Abundant, True: Three Lives Going Deeper Still Priscilla Shirer says: “As I’ve considered different seasons of my life, it’s occurred to me that I’ve often been waiting on my circumstances to change before feeling like I can experience God’s abundance. We often think: If I can just get out of this season and into the next one, then I know abundance will be waiting for me. If I can just get out of this disappointing, frustrating circumstance I’m in, then I know I’ll experience God’s best” (p.68).
Like Priscilla, this thought process has occurred in different seasons of my life. One time that stands out was my freshman year in college when it felt like all of the comforts and security of home were stripped away from me. Instead of embracing the exciting new phase I’d entered, I grieved the end of my childhood. Making meaningful connections with new friends was a struggle and I longed to be known and valued. I viewed my new surroundings in Southern California with a critical eye and compared everything to home. Nothing met my unrealistically high standards. I thought: If I could just leave this place, I would be happier.
In spite of my struggles, I knew I had to figure out how to make things work. I grew up in a home where “We Don’t Quit” was a motto—I could even picture the paper with my dad’s printing written in green felt pen and pinned to my brother’s bulletin board. I didn’t want to give up so easily after all the hard work of getting into college and I certainly didn’t want to disappoint my family.
So, in the midst of my intense loneliness, I turned to God– the only One I felt really knew and loved me in this strange place so far from home. For the first time in my life I needed and wanted to spend time studying His word to find truths that would sustain and encourage me. I poured out my heart in prayer, sharing my struggles and heartaches. I listened to Christian music at night as I fell asleep. It bathed my mind with God’s comforting promises, which seemed more relevant to me than they ever had before.
As the school year progressed, I slowly began to accept my new surroundings, to find friends and to enjoy Christian fellowship. By the time my parents came to collect me in June, I realized that I was leaving a little piece of me behind as we drove up back to Northern California. More importantly, my relationship with God was stronger and deeper than it had ever been in my life.
In the midst of my misery and loneliness, I’d discovered the abundance of God’s love and the reassurance of knowing that He would always be with me. By removing me from the comfort and security of my earthly home, He showed me that my ultimate comfort and security came first and foremost from Him. God took my sour outlook and sweetened it slowly as He revealed Himself to me during that difficult year.
There have been many other times when I’ve struggled through hard things. Difficulties are always going to pop up, but that doesn’t mean we just have to grit our teeth and white-knuckle our way through them. God is there with us and has things to show us through our struggles. Priscilla Shirer says it well: “The abundant life is not when no impossible situations occur and you’re experiencing peace, joy, and happiness. While that’s nice, true abundance is really seen when you’re sitting in a prison circumstance, when you’re eye to eye with an impossible situation, and right in the heart of your impossible, you experience the fullness of God” (p.69).
Seven years ago I found myself staring impossible right in the face and felt hopeless to do anything about it. My Dad’s health was rapidly deteriorating as a debilitating neurological disease ravaged his mind and body. Although we loved each other, we’d never had a great relationship. We’d both made feeble attempts to connect at various times in life, but they never produced much. As I watched him decline, I despaired that I’d lost the chance to develop a close relationship with him because of his compromised state.
And then, right in the heart of impossible, God showed up and made the last two weeks of my Dad’s life our sweetest time together. He gave me the courage to initiate sharing thoughts with my Dad that I’d never been able to verbalize before. Although his ability to think and speak was painfully slow, he responded and we had several tender conversations. It was the first time we shared honestly how we felt about each other without the usual awkwardness or sarcasm that characterized our relationship. By the time my dad passed away I had a peace about our relationship that had eluded me for my entire life. I’d thought my Dad’s illness had eliminated any possibility of having a meaningful connection with him, but God used it to bring us together in a way I never would have anticipated.
Ironically, the relationship with my dad that had been such a source of pain and hopelessness for me was the catalyst that launched me into sharing my writing with others. After my dad passed away, I wrote about our final days together and submitted it for consideration in an anthology of short stories. To my surprise, the story was chosen and published in 2013 in a book called When God Makes Lemonade: True Stories that Amaze and Encourage. I was humbled to discover that God often uses the hardest things in our lives to reveal Himself to us. Reading the book has showed me the authors of the other stories experienced something similar.
The truth is we get access to God’s power when we lay our weaknesses and difficulties at His feet. The apostle Paul knew this when he wrote 2 Corinthians 12:7b-10:
“Therefore, in order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”
When we take our hard circumstances and our weaknesses and entrust them to Jesus, we invite Him to bring change. Sometimes He changes the hard things we’re dealing with, sometimes He gives us the courage to take action, but often He changes our perspectives more than anything else. There is no circumstance too large or too small for Him. Paul tells us God is “able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us” (Ephesians 3:20). We can have great hope remembering that He can go beyond our wildest imaginings.
Is there a sour circumstance in your life? Maybe something that seems impossible to change? God can and will work to bring sweetness to it in His perfect timing. He is able. Are you willing to let Him show you?
For added perspective on this topic, click on the link to listen to Laura Story’s song “Blessings.” It will show you how God uses hard situations to change us and to show us a new perspective.
“Twenty-six days until Christmas!” My twelve-year old son announced gleefully as we pulled into the driveway after a Thanksgiving trip visiting family. I could feel the knot of dread forming in my stomach. Christmas was less than a month away and I had not done one thing to prepare. It felt like the train was leaving the station and I was standing on the platform watching it go. On top of that, I was already worn out and not looking forward to jumping back into the regular responsibilities of daily life. I was feeling heavy hearted and discouraged that some old frustrations were re-surfacing after I thought they’d been resolved. Suffice it to say, it was not a good way to kick off the Christmas season.
I woke up early the next morning with my mind swimming. There were so many things I needed to do, I felt overwhelmed with where to begin. Knowing I wasn’t going to fall back to sleep, I pulled back the covers and decided I might as well be productive in spite of my lack of energy. I could already sense I was starting the day off on the wrong foot and realized before I tackled any tasks, I needed some time alone in God’s word and prayer. I grabbed my Bible study book and thumbed through to Week Two, Day Four in Faithful, Abundant, True: Three Lives Going Deeper Still. I had to laugh as I read the title “The Rest of Faith.” I’d never fully understood this phrase before and certainly wasn’t experiencing it at that moment. Did “rest” mean “remainder” as in “the rest of the story”? Or did it literally mean “peace of mind or spirit?” As I delved into Kay Arthur’s study it was as if the lesson had been written specifically for me to read on that very day.
The study examines the passage in Hebrews 3:7- 4:3. In case you don’t have a Bible handy, here it is:
So, as the Holy Spirit says: “Today, if you hear his voice do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion, during the time of testing in the wilderness where your ancestors tested and tried me, though for forty years they saw what I did. That is why I was angry with that generation; I said, ‘Their hearts are always going astray, and they have not known my ways.’ So I declared on oath in my anger, ‘They shall never enter my rest.’ ”
See to it, brothers and sisters, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called “Today,” so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness. We have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original conviction firmly to the very end. As has just been said:
“Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion.”Who were they who heard and rebelled? Were they not all those Moses led out of Egypt? And with whom was he angry for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies perished in the wilderness? And to whom did God swear that they would never enter his rest if not to those who disobeyed? So we see that they were not able to enter, because of their unbelief.
Therefore, since the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us be careful that none of you be found to have fallen short of it. For we also have had the good news proclaimed to us, just as they did; but the message they heard was of no value to them, because they did not share the faith of those who obeyed.Now we who have believed enter that rest, just as God has said, “So I declared on oath in my anger, ‘They shall never enter my rest.’”
And yet his works have been finished since the creation of the world.
Before diving into an explanation of the passage, the lesson directed me to read Numbers 13 & 14, which is the story that the Hebrews passage refers to in chapters 3 & 4. The Numbers passage describes the Israelites arriving at the Promised Land (the first time). In the Numbers story, 12 spies are sent by Moses to scout out the land for 40 days. Upon returning, they report that the land is flowing with milk and honey, just as God had promised. However, ten of the spies finish the description of the bountiful land with foreboding: “But the people who live there are powerful, and the cities are fortified and very large” (Numbers 13:28). Only two of the spies, Joshua and Caleb, advise the Israelites to go through with God’s plan. In Numbers 14:7-9, Joshua and Caleb say to the people:
“The land we passed through and explored is exceedingly good. If the Lord is pleased with us, he will lead us into that land, a land flowing with milk and honey, and will give it to us. Only do not rebel against the Lord. And do not be afraid of the people of the land, because we will devour them. Their protection is gone, but the Lord is with us. Do not be afraid of them.”
Instead of listening to Joshua and Caleb, the people cry out against them and ultimately, against God. Because of this rebellion, God declares that the Israelites will wander in the desert for 40 years, one year for every day the spies scouted out the land. Further, He strikes the 10 spies who had given a bad report with a plague and they die immediately. Out of all the adults over 20, only Joshua and Caleb survive and live to enter God’s rest in the Promised Land 40 years later. (You may remember the story of their second time entering the Promised Land from my earlier blog and/ or the live talk at Focused Living entitled “Finding Your 20 Seconds of Courage.”)
Kay Arthur points out how sad it is that “instead of believing and trusting God and His Word, [the Israelites] threw a tantrum of unbelief that cost them 40 years of wandering in the wilderness…Only Joshua and Caleb were spared, and that is because they were the two spies who believed in God” (p. 47).
Contrast the fear of the people with the reassurance that Caleb tries to provide them: “We should go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it” (Numbers 13:30). Kay explains: “This… is the rest of faith…Rest is uniting the Word of faith and living in it at that very moment. It’s the action of faith for today—for this moment, this situation” (p.47). According to Hebrews 3:19, the Israelites were disobedient because they showed unbelief. This is what prevented them from entering into God’s rest in the Promised Land. For them, the rest would have been both literal (not having to wander in the desert anymore) and figurative (having spiritual peace).
Hebrews tells us we do not have to make the same mistake the Israelites made. “For we who have believed enter that rest, just as He has said” (Hebrews 4:3). We enter into God’s rest when we accept Christ as our Savior, and we continue to enter into His rest every time we show Him we believe His word to be true through our actions and attitudes. Entering God’s rest starts with one decision and then becomes an ongoing series of choices in our lives daily.
Belief in God shows by our actions. This boils down to a simple question: Do we live like we believe? If so, we should be receiving His rest. For me, that means spending less time trying to work things out on my own wisdom and spending more time seeking God. Once I’ve laid a situation at His feet, my job is to trust Him by resting in Him. In my life, this has more to do with a change of focus than anything else.
The morning that I woke up with a bad attitude, heavy with discouragement and totally unprepared for Christmas, I had to do some serious soul-searching. I was convicted that if I really believed the Christmas season was about celebrating the birth of Jesus, then I had no reason to be stressed and anxious. I’d lost my focus by worrying about all of the tasks that seemed so daunting to me.
The start of the Christmas season is often accompanied by a ramp up of stress for many people. The holidays tend to accentuate areas in our lives where we don’t have peace. It could be something simple such as worrying about all of the shopping, decorating and cooking to be done. It could be something deeper. The holidays often exacerbate loneliness or shine a spotlight on difficult relationships. Sometimes they remind us of our weaknesses when we succumb to the temptation to eat and drink too much. They might emphasize the inadequacy we feel when our bank accounts can’t cover the purchases we want to make. For those struggling with depression, the dark days of December and the swirl of activity can make their spirits descend even further. Sadly, there are many of us who feel exempt from the Angels’ pronouncement in Luke 2:14 “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests.”
Regardless of the circumstance in our lives that rob us of our peace, God invites us to believe His promises and to find rest in Him. Scroll back up and take a look at the photo at the top of this posting. That sleeping little boy is my younger son when he was two–the same one who is now twelve that I mentioned earlier. He was so worn out after a busy day he’d spontaneously fallen asleep on the couch. He had no choice but to enter into the deep rest he so desperately needed. That’s what the rest of faith is all about- relinquishing our need to control and trusting God to work in His perfect timing.
If you find yourself feeling weary and worn, let the song below bring you some encouragement. You are not alone—let God’s redemptive power work in you as you trust Him to give you exactly what you need for each moment.
Click here to listen to “Worn” by Tenth Avenue North.
I grew up in a household that placed a high value on knowing and studying the Bible. It wasn’t so much in what my parents said as in what they did to show us their priorities. Throughout my childhood I watched my parents devote themselves to participating in weekly Bible studies that required a fair amount of homework. I can remember coming home from school to find my mom at the kitchen table with her papers spread all over as she pored over her enormous “parallel” Bible (four translations in one book). Any time I stayed home sick, I couldn’t watch TV until my mom had finished listening to her favorite Bible teachers on the radio. This was a daily activity for her as she worked in the kitchen or did housework while all of us kids were at school. It seemed boring to me at the time, but her actions influenced me more than I realized.
Looking back, I see my parents treated studying the Bible as a priority in their schedules. It wasn’t drudgery or something they did because the “had” to do it. And it wasn’t a luxury that they did only when they’d finished all of the other “important” tasks that demanded their time. It was just woven into the fabric of their schedules.
When my oldest son was born, one of my goals for my first year at home with him was to find a Bible study. Following my parents’ example, I wanted to immerse myself in God’s word with more discipline and consistency than I had before. It has been fourteen years since I set out to get serious about studying the Bible. I’ve been blessed to see the benefits of pursuing that goal. The more I’ve studied it, the more I’ve realized what a rich and layered book it is. And the more I’ve studied, the more I’ve changed, grown and gained wisdom as God has revealed Himself to me through the pages of His holy word.
Once I started seeing positive results, I was motivated to keep pushing myself further. Old things that used to seem appealing suddenly weren’t as enticing anymore. Each new truth I discovered opened my eyes to God’s character, goodness and grace, causing me to love Him more and to be grateful for all He’d done for me. His word gave me hope and strength in hard times and confidence to be stretched in new ways. Studying with others who had similar goals also helped me on the road to growing deeper.
Making time to study the Bible has not always been easy. Over the years I’ve crossed paths with many people like me who have faced challenges in their quest to know and live God’s word. Here are three of the most prevalent issues students of the Bible face:
Viewing Studying the Bible as Drudgery
Sometimes it’s easy to fall into the mindset of thinking studying scripture is something we “should” do because it’s good for us. Kind of like eating your vegetables when you’re a kid. Yet, in 2 Timothy, Paul says: “Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth.” (2 Timothy 2:15) If we dabble in Bible study and view it as drudgery, this makes it difficult to handle the word of truth correctly. If we’re doing it just to check it off our “to do” lists, chances are it’s not really impacting our lives much.
The writer of Hebrews describes it this way: “For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you have need again for someone to teach you the elementary principles of the oracles of God, and you have come to need milk and not solid food. For everyone who partakes only of milk is not accustomed to the word of righteousness, for he is an infant. But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good from evil” (Hebrews 5:12-14).
Viewing Studying the Bible as a Luxury
Kay Arthur comments in the Session 1 video of Faithful, Abundant, True: Three Lives Going Deeper Still that “we’re so entangled with the affairs of this life that we’re not studying the Word of God as we ought to.” Sometimes we view time studying the Bible as a luxury or a “bonus” that we can indulge once we’ve gotten all of our “important” tasks finished. When I get up in the morning I’m often tempted to check my phone or computer before I open my Bible. However, when I do this I usually get sucked into the day’s events and neglect that quiet time in God’s word I so desperately need. “It is written, ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.’” (Matthew 4:4) Just like we need food every day, we need God’s word every day. It’s not a luxury; it’s a necessity.
Losing Focus with Priorities
Sometimes I joke that the problem with America is that we have too many choices. There are so many things vying for our time and attention that seem good, important or just plain fun. We fill our schedules full and then complain that we “don’t have time” for studying the Bible. We’re so busy doing that we’ve forgotten how to be. Many Christians find disciplined study of the Bible infringes on their schedules in light of all their other obligations. When they do find themselves with “down time,” they are too exhausted for the serious study that leads to maturity.
Yet, in Hebrews 2:1, we see an important reminder: “We must pay more careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away.” Paying careful attention requires time, effort and commitment. Reading, studying and knowing the Bible needs to be woven into the fabric of our daily lives, not something we do haphazardly when we have a few extra minutes. When we let other priorities take precedence over studying God’s word, we don’t grow and mature as we’re meant to and we forego the vital spiritual nutrients we need to survive.
Ideas for Realigning Our Focus
Most of us have probably found ourselves in one or all of the categories above at different points in our lives. Read below to diagnose your current challenge and to get some practical ideas for getting back on track.
Drudgery: It may feel like drudgery when we’re more motivated by outward influences. If you find yourself feeling “guilty” for not studying the Bible more, it might have more to do with worrying what others think than really wanting to know God’s word. Perhaps you are someone who just plain doesn’t like reading, studying and doing homework. If either of these describes you, pray and ask God to increase your desire for His word and to help you see and feel why studying it is beneficial.
Luxury: If your problem is viewing studying the Bible as a luxury, try fasting from food for a day. (I’m serious). Every time your stomach rumbles, you’ll be reminded that food is a necessity, not a luxury, just like God’s word.
Prioritizing Your Time: If you struggle with making time in God’s word a priority, try evaluating your schedule. Take an honest look at how you spent your time in the last week. Are there moments that you could have used more wisely? In my life, screens can often be major time-suckers- whether it is checking e-mail, scanning Facebook, researching something online, relaxing in front of the TV or checking my phone. If you can relate, try to put time studying the Bible before these activities instead of saving it for after. Or, try turning off screens half an hour earlier so you can get up in the morning and start your day in God’s word.
Whatever might be keeping you from delving into the Bible more deeply, I encourage you to seek God’s help and ask a trusted friend to keep you accountable.
“Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. All of us who are mature should take such a view of things” (Philippians 3:13b-15a).
What tips do you have for encouraging others to be disciplined in their study of God’s Word? Take a moment to comment and let us know.
I started teaching high school at the tender age of 23– only five years after graduating from high school myself. Being a new teacher was hard. What made matters worse was that I looked like I could’ve been one of the students. I decided that the best way to gain respect was to hide my weaknesses and insecurities. I thought the students and parents would look down on me if I didn’t appear to have all the answers and everything “together” all the time. Even among the other faculty members, I felt wary about sharing struggles. I spent a lot of time compensating for my weaknesses and trying to cover them up. That year I found myself in the staff lounge bathroom from time to time crying my eyes out over some difficulty I was facing. Too proud to admit the truth, I’d blame my red, watery eyes on “allergies” if anyone approached me with concern for my wellbeing.
As I’ve gotten older, I’ve learned that admitting weaknesses is not only healthy and human– it’s also biblical. To think I can do things on my own without God is simply foolish pride. Maybe that’s why the story of Gideon appeals to me so much. There’s no doubt he was weak. He didn’t have the credentials needed to engage in battle against a formidable enemy—and that is exactly why God chose him.
Another reason I like Gideon is that he needed reassurance from God several times before he acted. Just before entering battle against the Midianites with his puny army of 300, God blessed Gideon with the chance to overhear a Midianite soldier talking with his tent mate about a dream he had. When Gideon overheard the dream and learned the men feared him and the army of Israel, he was greatly encouraged. The story below picks up just after this in Judges 7:15-21.
When Gideon heard the dream and its interpretation, he bowed down and worshiped. He returned to the camp of Israel and called out, “Get up! The Lord has given the Midianite camp into your hands.” Dividing the three hundred men into three companies, he placed trumpets and empty jars in the hands of all of them, with torches inside.
“Watch me,” he told them. “Follow my lead. When I get to the edge of the camp, do exactly as I do.When I and all who are with me blow our trumpets, then from all around the camp blow yours and shout, ‘For the Lord and for Gideon.’”
Gideon and the hundred men with him reached the edge of the camp at the beginning of the middle watch, just after they had changed the guard. They blew their trumpets and broke the jars that were in their hands.The three companies blew the trumpets and smashed the jars. Grasping the torches in their left hands and holding in their right hands the trumpets they were to blow, they shouted, “A sword for the Lord and for Gideon!” While each man held his position around the camp, all the Midianites ran, crying out as they fled.
When the three hundred trumpets sounded, the Lord caused the men throughout the camp to turn on each other with their swords. The army fled to Beth Shittah toward Zererah as far as the border of Abel Meholah near Tabbath.
I love imagining the sound of the shattering pottery and the shouts of the soldiers. I can just picture the shimmering light produced by the flames of 300 torches strategically placed in a circle on the hills surrounding the Midianite camp. The small band of soldiers had been too far apart to see one another as they waited in the dark for the signal. Imagine their triumph at the sound of the trumpet and the lights they all held high in the darkness.
These men did not fight with the traditional weapons of battle, yet God used their uncommon weapons to achieve a stunning victory. On paper, nothing about their plan worked from a worldly perspective- they didn’t have the manpower or the tools to achieve victory, but they had God on their side.
“The weaknesses we often despise are required for the light of Christ to be seen and for the darkness around us to be dispelled. Without the limitations and deficiencies of our vessels, we would not serve our purpose well. Your weakness is not a liability. It is one of your greatest assets. God’s presence and power are best seen when our large, impressive personalities aren’t getting in the way. So welcome His light into your weakness, and let it shine, let it shine, let it shine!” (Priscilla Shirer, Gideon, p. 125)
So, how does this look for those of us living in the 21st century? First and foremost, we need to recognize our weaknesses and realize they need to be surrendered to God.
For me, the process of seeing my weaknesses took quite a while. Throughout my teens and twenties, I struggled with insecurity. I’d grown so accustomed to it that I just assumed it was a part of who I was. Never once had I considered asking God to use it for His glory. I did my best to compensate for it in many ways- whether by trying to achieve more academically, to wear the “right” clothes, to associate with the “right” people or to hold positions of power and respect. While none of these things were necessarily “bad,” none of them helped to alleviate my insecurity. (Thus, the crying in the bathroom when I was a new teacher). Sadly, my compensating made me more intimidating and less approachable as I tried harder and harder to be “perfect” so that I would feel more secure.
It was not until after I had kids and participated in my first Beth Moore Bible study that I ever realized insecurity was a weakness I could submit to God. As I began to pray about it, God started to change me. He didn’t miraculously remove it from my life, but He used it to make me more sensitive to others. I began realizing that insecurity is a pervasive issue in our culture and that many women struggle with it. God showed me many ways Satan uses it to keep women from connecting with one another because they feel too threatened and intimidated. Insecurity prevents many of us from living into the people God is calling us to be. It causes us to put up unhealthy facades that prevent authentic connection. It renders our gifts useless and often leaves us feeling like outsiders with nothing to offer. Few Bible teachers address this issue, so it remains a silent struggle for many.
I still remember the first time I admitted that I battled with insecurity publically. I’d been asked to sit on a panel of women at our weekly Focused Living Bible Study. Each panelist was asked to share about an area in her life where she needed God’s intervention on a regular basis. I had a “safe” answer prepared in my head, but when the microphone was handed to me, I horrified myself by blurting out “I struggle with insecurity.” My face was red and my hands were shaking as I passed the microphone on to the next panelist. Inside, I was kicking myself for being so vulnerable.
To my surprise, when the panel ended several women made a beeline for me and thanked me for sharing aloud what they‘d been struggling with for years. Each woman thought she was the only one. When I let my clay vessel crack open and I exposed my weakness, the light of God’s love used my honesty to encourage others. The weakness I’d been hiding and trying to compensate for in a variety of ways became the very thing God used to make me more authentic, approachable and encouraging to others with similar struggles.
Whether or not we like to admit it, we’re all just simple clay vessels like those earthen pots the soldiers carried to battle. Your weaknesses may be different from mine, but you have something God can use for His glory, if only you’ll surrender it to Him. With the Holy Spirit living within us, God can use our weaknesses to shine His light to a dark world in desperate need of a Savior.
For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness, ”made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ. But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. 2 Corinthians 4:6-7
Click on the link below to hear Matthew West’s song “Strong Enough,” to be reminded that God’s strength trumps your weakness.
Click on the link below to hear Josh Wilson’s “Pushing Back the Dark.” You’ll be inspired to give your weaknesses to God and to watch how He uses them to shine His light to the world through you!
It’s okay to stop and enjoy the view, but don’t linger too long on the trail without moving forward.
