Murmuring + Discontent = Deadly

Day 20 of 40 days of Lenten Blogs

Life is rough, unkind and at times totally unfair. It is easy to complain and there are lots of people who will agree with you and add their list of complaints to yours. But special and precious is the one person who will remind you of all the things in your life that haven’t gone wrong.

If you don’t have a person like this in your life then you have to be that person to yourself. You have to recall the right things in your life and be thankful for them.

Murmuring and causing discontent is deadly.
We must be careful not to stir up discontent; discontent destroyed them. I Cor. 10:10 Message
The Israelites had first-hand experience with this. Numbers 14:26-29

A thankful heart is a full heart; an unthankful heart is one that is squeezed shut with bitterness.

When your world is spinning out of control and you wonder if you have any faith left to get you through, try this exercise. Make a list of those things you are thankful for.

Right now I am thankful for feeling good. Sunday I was sideswiped with twenty-four -hour flu. I hate being sick so I am thankful when my body is acting as it should. I am thankful my husband has a job after being unemployed for over a year. He isn’t real happy with this job but we are thankful for it. God will bring something else when the time is right. I am thankful for a car that runs well and a roof over my head. I am thankful for a free voice to write this blog. I am thankful for my dog, Sammy, she is a sweetie. I am thankful for my children and my grandchildren. I am thankful for a chair to sit in, for food on my table, and for friends. The list could go on and on but I think you get the idea.

I won’t give you a list of complaints, I could probably come up with a bunch of those too but I would rather put my thankful heart to work and watch my faith grow.

When I review all the good things in my life and all the times God has been faithful I know whatever I am going through right now my heavenly Father is with me and will bring me through this as I lay my requests before Him with thankfulness in my heart.

So if you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give good gifts to those who ask him. Matt 7:11 NLT

Sammy

Hot - Cold - Lukewarm

Today is the third day of Lent. I have set a goal of posting a blog for each of the forty days before Easter.

 

What is the temperature of your Faith walk?

Hot - Cold - Lukewarm

 

I know your deeds,

that you are neither cold

nor hot:

I wish you were either one or the other! 

So, because you are lukewarm-

neither hot nor cold-

I am about to spit you out of my mouth. Rev 3:15-16 NIV

If like me, you sometimes find yourself lukewarm in your Faith and spiritual walk, I think you will agree it is a very unsatisfying place to be. I am the only one who can change the unsatisfying lukewarm to the over the top satisfying Hot Faith walk.

God’s very Word tells me how to increase my Faith.

Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ. Rom. 10:17-18 NIV

There is the answer: my Faith fire will be fed by reading, and reading, and reading the Word of God.

My pastor has placed a challenge on our church that in 2011 we will all read through the entire Word of God. How could we not have spontaneous combustion.

The days leading up to Easter, our Lord's resurrection, is the perfect time to turn up the fire in our life.

Adventure with Daddy

When you pass through the waters, I will be with you. When you cross rivers, you will not drown. When you walk through fire, you will not be burned, nor will the flames hurt you. Isaiah 43:2 NCV

Adventure in the woods with daddy, that’s what this weekend was for my 33 month old granddaughter Callie. Her mom was at a women’s retreat and my son Robert, along with another dad, and his three boys, took off for a camping trip. From the pictures I have seen she was one happy camper. Can you imagine one little girl with five testosterone males? Anything could happen. I was praying.

This picture I posted of them speaks a thousand words to me. I see her daddy watching over her as she crosses a suspended log. Callie seems perfectly at peace, not demonstrating any fear. Why is that? She knows her daddy is right behind her. She has trust in him. If she starts to slip he will catch her. Callie knows this because she spends lots of time with her daddy and she knows he will be there for her. He has a good track record.

This picture made me think of our heavenly Father. Picture yourself as the little girl, with Father God behind you, ready to catch you if you should stumble, as you take the steps He is encouraging you to take. It can be scary when there are no handrails, no safety net, and looking down turns your stomach. Can you trust Him when He says, “Go ahead, I won’t let you fall.” If we haven’t spent time with Him, to know Him, we won’t have developed the trust we so desperately need. He has an unfailing track record.

Jesus said in Matthew 18:3 “I tell you the truth, you must change and become like little children. Otherwise, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven” NCV

I want to have the kind of faith and trust I see Callie demonstrating, child like faith.

Do you have that kind of faith?

Callie's dad is always finding injured birds. That is a real live humming bird in her hand.

Faith is a Fight

Life is a treasure box. Each morning we open it to see what it contains. Some days the box is filled with diamonds and pearls and other days it is filled with broken and splintered cheap plastic, good for nothing but to be thrown in the trash. But even the broken, splintered plastic is useful according to God’s word in Romans 8:28 And we know all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.

When our eyes can’t see the good that is being worked out, then we have to use Faith. Our pastor has been preaching on Faith and one of the things he keeps saying is: Faith is a Fight. Faith doesn’t just drop in our lap. We have to fight to keep it because we have an adversary who desires to snatch Faith away from us and fill us with doubt and fear.

1 Timothy 6:12 says Fight the good fight of faith. We wouldn’t be told to fight if there weren’t going to be temptations to draw us away from Faith. Faith Fighting is what I am doing right now, not that I don’t do it all the time, but right now there are circumstances which are causing me to be more aggressive in my fighting.

A church friend I have known for 20 years died two weeks ago from Cancer. She was in her 50’s, way, way too young. A single mom with a 24yr. old son. Her life was not completed. Today I received an email from another church friend whose husband has been battling Cancer for years. The doctors do not give him any hope. Vince is a man who has given his life to young people, encouraging them to excel in all they put their minds too. He has been an inspiration to many. His life is not completed.

When we question “why”, this is where Faith makes a stand for what the Word of God says. No matter what happens in the natural, even if the treasure box contains the broken, splintered cheap plastic, God is the same yesterday, today and forever. He is our healer and our strong tower. His Word gives us the weapons to use in our Faith Fight.