We all have things that seem insurmountable. Things that are hard and seem as if nothing good could ever come of them. Well, today, let’s just let our faith out of the box we’ve confined it to and live like we believe for those things to become real. It’s called a miracle and they still happen 
So when you’re washed up on shore in a heap of debris and broken shell, and when there’s nothing left but empty, you’re still sitting in God’s grace ’cause His grace runs on empty!
He gives something for nothing all the time, and when we’re so undeserving of even that next breath, He makes it happen just because He’s God and just because He’s all about you. His love is lavish and His mercy extensive, and it’s all over you in that heap of brokenness. So, when there’s nowhere to go….where to from here?
A good choice is right into His arms of protection! Ask Him to fix it and guide you in your next thought, your next choice, and your next step, and know that it’s all ok ~ it’s alright to be empty and broken ’cause that’s where we can be repaired and refilled and recycled for His glory.
You ~ broken, beautiful you, are right where He wants you. So begin today to reprogram with the One who made you. Oh, there might be loss in the healing and restoring process but growing closer to God through it all is our greater fortune! Rest for now in His healing presence and trust Him to fix it…
Job 42:10
“And the Lord restored the fortunes of Job when he had prayed for his friends. And the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before.”
Hosea 6:1
“Come, let us return to the Lord; for he has torn us, that he may heal us; he has struck us down, and he will bind us up.”
Jeremiah 32:27
“Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh. Is anything too hard for me?
Believers are called to believe in the living, active and victorious Lord. The One who lived, walked, taught, died, and rose to new life, conquering death to make a way for us to escape its grip and its ‘so forever’ penalty! It’s a simple ‘faith’ thing, so simple yet so complex, that we may tangle up its simplicity with our theology and head knowledge completely missing the soul mark and the fundamentals of it. It’s not a Social Gospel, It’s not about what we do and how much we do! It’s about our solid faith in our Saviour and what He’s done for us, not what we do for Him. Our works won’t cut it! But our faith in Jesus’ will.
The thing is, It’s not all that difficult, but it’s not just ‘simple’ either and we don’t have to understand it, we just have to accept it!
We’re called to enter into a faith that’s abstract and yet so very concrete and solid! Abstract, because we can’t see the one true God we worship, but solid because we see His creation, and we know that we know that we know, He’s present in our lives! Believers, without doubt, know that He has saved, renewed and transformed old life into new! We stand amazed in His presence when we stand before Him justified, cleansed, and forgiven in our moment of belief! That ~ beautiful one is a solid faith in a sovereign God! Old desires have passed and the new desire within our very being is to live to please Him. Oh yeah ~ That’s true saving faith; where divine grace meets us in the old mud puddles of yesterday and the same old, same old, that once got our attention and drew us into the sinking mire, dissipates before us, as we grow and mature in the faith! It’s called freedom and It’s a sweet life ~ no, it’s not easy; it’s not a bed of roses, and the way is difficult and long and heavy and broken at times ~ but it’s sweet and it’s abundant!
It’s not simple; it’s very complex to a hardened heart. Undeserved? Yeah, it’s undeserved, but we’re under grace and losers are winners in God’s economy. When He graces us with unconditional love, it’s a defining moment in our history, when the old is gone and the new has come.
We are so lavishly graced with such an awesome opportunity to repent and be freed of our bondage. Why do we linger on the fringes when now is the time of salvation?
“Behold now is the acceptable time; behold, now is the day of salvation”
2 Corinthians 6:2.
“When Jesus woke up He rebuked the wind and the raging waves. Suddenly the storm stopped and all was calm. Then He asked them,”Where is your faith?” Matthew 8: 24b
I wonder how many times He’s asked us the same question? In V.22 He made a statement to his disciples when He said,
“Let’s cross over to the other side of the lake.”
So they did the obvious. They got into the boat at His command and set sail across the water without care! All was well with their world and yeah, they could simply trust in the ergonomics of natural laws, and that the boat would get them there especially when their Lord accompanied them. All was smooth sailing and all was good ~ until a vicious storm rose up out of nowhere threatening to take them under. They were with their Lord but suddenly their fears were bigger than He was and He didn’t seem to be enough for their moments of panic. They forgot His words of stability and promise of direction about crossing to the other side and when He fell asleep in the boat they felt He fell asleep on the job! He wasn’t disturbed, anxious, upset or even awake! He suddenly seemed to be just like them, without control over the situation and they lost all confidence and all hope in their Saviour and in their circumstances. Beautiful soul, if He’s given the command to Cross to the other side, or to climb the mountain, or walk the valley, you can know He’s either in the boat, waiting on the mountain or walking that valley with you. He’ll get you there when the storms rage, the mountains fall, and the valley gets deeper. No need for panic when He walks the way or sails the seas with us. Yeah, we can know, He really is in control even when it appears hopeless, broken and crumbled.
So ~ For your next deep-water, nose dive that surfaces out of nowhere, or for your next “Where the rubber meets the road” experience; those hard places to maneuver through, and those panic attacks that render us useless, listen for His counsel. In Psalm 46:10 the psalmist reminds us of His words. “He says,
“Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.”
Dear one, He will be exalted in your storm, on your crumbled mountain and in your deepest of the deep valley. When He asks, “Where is your faith” say with the Psalmist in Psalm 121:2,
“My help comes from the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth.”
We gotta learn to trust Him even when we perceive He’s fallen asleep in the boat. Wake Him, ask for His help and let Him rebuke the wind and the waves as He speaks peace into the eye of your storm.
#BecauseofBethlehem #Soulnotetoself
