Faith

God has been showing me a lot about faith lately. I have always looked at those I admire for their faith and think (absurd) things like, “wow, look how faithful she is! She doesn’t even have to try!” Of course that’s a totally logical assumption to make about someone that I know very little about.


Ahem. Right.


I realize that I’ve been very guilty of wanting God to just pour that person’s mind-boggling faith in to me while I just sit still and do nothing about it myself.


Imagine waking up one morning and deciding you’re going to get strong. Get pumped up. Grow those muscles. And then you proceed to sit on your couch, arms spread wide open, waiting for your biceps to explode in Hulk-like fashion. I don’t know this first-hand (hi, have you met me and my spaghetti arms?) but I’ve been told that people go to this gym place daily. They work out. The lift weights. They essentially tear about their muscles, and then their amazing God-given bodies know how to repair and rebuild these injured muscles, making them stronger. Wash, rinse, repeat. Dedication and hard work make muscles happen.


Or imagine a high school senior deciding he’s going to be this year’s valedictorian. He imagines himself delivering an awe-inspiring and tear-jerking message to his peers at their commencement service. He will wear a rainbow of tassels around his neck as he walks across the graduation stage, a walking advertisement of his multiple achievements during his high school career. This is the story that fills his head daily as he goes to school…and does nothing. As he comes home from school daily and chooses video games over studying. He can’t wait to show up as valedictorian but he’s not willing to put in the work. It’s just not going to happen without daily choices and follow up actions that match those decisions.


Now think about your faith. It’s an attainable goal – living a faith-filled, faith-driven life. We actually can walk by faith and not by sight. But it’s most likely not going to happen simply because you want it to. Faith requires day-to-day decisions to be made! Am I going to listen to my emotions/my peers/the world about this challenge, or am I going to entrust it to the God who knows me, who sees me, who loves me immensely? Am I willing to be fully confident in God even though I can't see Him? If I'm honest, some days living by faith seems more like an hour-by-hour choice.


Is my faith this way because God has failed me? Because He’s not powerful enough to give me faith beyond understanding?


Absolutely not.


When I feel like my faith has been knocked down a few notches, it’s because I’ve been the one doing the knocking. I can know 100% of the right answers and wholeheartedly believe them, but if I don’t make the conscious decision to act on my beliefs with my faith leading me through the darkness, where does that leave me?


Right where I started. Simply holding down the couch with my arms spread open, waiting for God and hoping he’ll just serve me my faith right off of a shiny silver platter.


Faith requires choice. It requires actions. We are responsible for our faith on a daily basis. I've been working to remember this - that when I feel a lack of faith, if God ever feels distant, it's because I am not holding up my end of the relationship. God will never leave us or forsake us, and I pray we can return that kind of love and commitment to Him!

Overcome

We spent this past weekend in Pigeon Forge with our youth group at a winter conference. It was an amazing weekend filled with lessons and worship and fellowship that I pray had a lasting impression on our students and leaders!

During our final session together, the speaker (Algernon Tennyson - incredible, I encourage you to look him up!) spoke about overcoming fear. It was the exact lesson I needed to hear, with one point in particular resonating with me.

"Overcome strongholds by replacing them with something stronger."

If you have known me for any length of time, you probably know that I deal with anxiety. I was diagnosed with it officially a couple years ago, but my story with anxiety started even before that.

If anxiety is anything in my life, it's most definitely a stronghold. A stronghold is a fortress, a place of hiding and protection. Biblically speaking though, I think of a stronghold as a fortress that I've built around myself - something I've excluded God and His wisdom and His guidance from.

Anxiety leads me to fear things that haven't happened yet. Things that probably won't happen. Things that I have no reason to even believe could happen but you better believe I'm going to worry about it anyways. Because that's what anxiety is. For whatever reason - be it a chemical imbalance or genetics or the result of a traumatic event in your life, it's different for everyone - anxiety builds up walls around your heart and mind, refusing to let reason or logic or God in to those places. The places where He really wants to be and the places where I need Him to be.

For what may be the first time in my whole life, I've had a quote stuck in my head rather than a song, which is incredible considering the music we experienced during our times of worship this past weekend.

Overcome strongholds by replacing them with something stronger.

It's gotten me really thinking about what place I'm allowing God to have in my life. Am I making Him the first thing? The biggest thing? The strongest thing? Or am I keeping my things - my strongholds - as the top thing and then trying to slide God in underneath those things?

When I think about anxiety (or depression or fear or pride or any other stronghold that we may deal with) I picture it as a box. A box with sturdy walls, filled with all of the "what ifs" that swirl in my mind. The box is pretty much filled to the top, but there's some empty space in there and that's where I seem to be telling God He can go. When I refuse to break down and let go of my strongholds, I'm essentially telling God, "I'm not going to empty this box for you...good luck trying to fit in around the junk that I insist holding on to."

But what if I made God the most important thing? What if I did empty the box every morning, every couple hours, every time I feel anxiety trying to creep to the top, and fill it with God?

What if I let God - the most important thing, the strongest thing, the most perfect thing - actually be the biggest thing in my life?

What if I genuinely replace my anxiety, the time I spend dwelling on things, my anxious thoughts with God instead of just trying to shove Him in the box alongside all the anxiety?

God has been showing me that sometimes prayers aren't answered once and for all. Sometimes a big beautiful prayer can result in a changed life, but more often I think small daily prayers or hourly prayers or prayers by the minute are what we need and are equally as beautiful to God's ears. Prayer for the next step. Prayer for the ability to get up and do the thing you need to do. Prayer for strength to say the right words and clarity to make the next decision.

Keep praying the big prayers - pray for the miracles - but don't overlook the small steps on the way to the miracle.

When I don't let God be the strongest thing in my life, I'm limiting what I allow Him to do. I can pray and pray and pray for healing, but if I don't step aside and let healing happen, it won't.

"Overcome strongholds by replacing them with something stronger."

I hope that quote gets stuck in your head today in the same way that it's been rolling around in my head the past couple days. What strongholds need broken down in your life? How can you replace your strongholds with the love of God? What lies do you need to stop believing, what sins do you need to repent from, what areas of pride do you need to lay down at the feet of Jesus?

We all have those things that keep us from living the life God wants us to live. I pray that we can work together to recognize those sins, those areas that are holding back, and that we can start replacing them with the best thing: God. His perfect love, His mercy and grace, His forgiveness and guidance.

Algernon Tennyson

Be Still.

"You split the sea so I could walk right through it
My fears were drowned in perfect love
You rescued me and I will stand and sing
I am a child of God..."

These lyrics from Bethel Music are often tumbling around in my head. This is one of those songs that just gets me deep down in my soul every time I hear it. The song is called "No Longer Slaves" and it proclaims over and over that "I'm no longer a slave to fear, I am a child of God." Amazing, amazing song. I encourage you to look up the lyric video and soak it in for a few minutes.

I'd like to think if a sea was divided before me - a chance to walk right away from the enemy pursuing me - I would know it was God who split it.

I'm sure the Israelites, under the leadership of Moses and the divine presence of God, knew Who split the sea before them, allowing them to press forward to freedom on dry ground.

If we backtrack though, we see how often the Israelites struggle along this journey. Just a few verses before this miracle occurs, the Israelites are claiming that Moses brought them out here to let them die, caught between the sea and the Egyptians. They wondered why Moses didn't just let them stay in Egypt and die!

Oh, how often I think like the Israelites.

"Oh, this is great, God, I just got out of this one hard situation only to be brought to the next one!"

What about you? How often are you in that rock and hard place situation, where the valleys keep coming and the mountaintop moments feel like mere blips on the radar of your life? How easy is it to miss the fact that God's presence is right beside us?

While the Israelites were getting themselves all worked up, Moses was trying to calm them down with what has become one of my most favorite verses in the entire Word of God.

"Don't be afraid...stand firm and you will see the deliverance of the Lord today...The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still." (Exodus 14:13-14)

Be still.

The poor upset Israelites really had no choice but to literally stand still. "Good one Moses! Stand still! Where exactly do you think we're going to go?!" With an expanse of water before them and Pharaoh's army approaching behind them, what exactly did Moses think was going to happen here?

I have to think Moses wasn't trying to still their physical bodies, but rather their minds. Their hearts, their fears. In the very next verse, God tells Moses to get a move on.

I think it is important to be physically still in front of God. To wait for Him, to listen, to be calm and rest in His presence. I don't think He doesn't want our bodies to freeze in place forever though, but instead to still our hearts and minds before him.

Why?

Because when I'm still, when my fears and my brain have stopped their inner battle with my heart, when my knowledge of God stops conflicting with and overrides my anxiety, that place is the place where I can let the Lord start fighting for me.

There's a beautiful release of control that happens when I allow myself to be still for a moment. I step out of the way, God steps in, and that's when the miracles happen.

Imagine His presence beside you, waiting for you to move out of the way. When you hand over control to Him, that's when God parts the sea.

That's when the turmoil ceases and when the dry ground appears.

Be still.

Quit fighting.

Quit trying to lead the battle that doesn't even belong to you in the first place. He will fight for you, if you only let Him. He is right there with you, ready to go to battle.

I've found this is an incredibly powerful verse to pray when things are feeling hopeless.

"I'm still, God. Fight for me. I believe You can, and I know You will!"

What do you battle in your mind that keeps you from being still? Is it a particular sin? Some emotional distress? I hope that you will join me in praying this verse over yourself. Shed the things that hold you down and allow yourself to rest in the strength and provision of God.

www.bible.com (YouVersion)

The Lord shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace.
Exodus 14:14 KJV

https://www.bible.com/bible/1/EXO.14.14.KJVThe Lord shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace.
Exodus 14:14 KJV

https://www.bible.com/bible/1/EXO.14.14.KJV