08.23.2007

Isaiah 40:28-31
Do you not know? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom. He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. The will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.

Isaiah 41:10
…do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

Psalm 18:28,29
You, O LORD, keep my lamp burning; my God turns my darkness into light. With your help I can advane against a troop; with my God I can scale a wall.

Hello everyone-

As you may have noticed, there was not a Weekly Thing last week. Things in my world have been tossed around in all kinds uncomfortable ways. Much of this had been similar struggles that I was dealing with the last time I wrote, and the flow of life has given me a lot of ups and downs lately.
Although I don’t want to go into details about it, I would guess that a lot of you have had to face struggles and burdens that make you want to throw up your hands and say, “I can’t do it, I give up, I don’t want to do this anymore.” Whatever that struggle may look like for you, it’s definitely not a pleasant period to be stuck in and some of us may deal with those emotions heavier than others for various reasons. However, through all of the garbage that we have to dig through, may we all be encouraged to press onward. Keep digging. Keep praying. Keep crying out. Keep looking up. Keep hoping. Persevere.

A dear friend of mine (really, in some ways you could call her my Godmother) recently sent me a daily devotional that fell in line near perfectly with the way I’d been feeling as of late. I’d like to share a piece of it with you.

“Remain true to the faith. Along our journey of faith, God knows when we need encouragement, when our flesh is weak and we need to be challenged to press on. I am no different than you or any other man. I have my times of weakness, my moments of doubt, those days when the battles are simply too fierce. Satan is only too happy to seize those moments as he did when Jesus was in the wilderness for 40 days and nights. He comes to tempt me, acting as my friend who is concerned about my well being, giving me all the justification I need to take my eyes off the prize. This is how satan will come to you as well. Listen to me carefully: Satan is a liar.”

He also quotes Charles Spurgeon, a theologian from the 1800s:

“Perseverance is the badge of true saints. The Christian life is not a beginning only in the ways of God, but also a continuance in the same as long as life lasts. It is with a Christian as it was with the great Napoleon: he said, "Conquest has made me what I am, and conquest must maintain me." So, under God, dear brother in the Lord, conquest has made you what you are, and conquest must sustain you. Your motto must be, "Excelsior." He only is a true conqueror, and shall be crowned at the last, who continues till war's trumpet is blown no more. Perseverance is, therefore, the target of all our spiritual enemies. The world does not object to your being a Christian for a time, if she can but tempt you to cease your pilgrimage, and settle down to buy and sell with her in Vanity Fair. The flesh will seek to ensnare you, and to prevent your pressing on to glory. "It is weary work being a pilgrim; come, give it up. Am I always to be mortified? Am I never to be indulged? Give me at least a furlough from this constant warfare." Satan will make many a fierce attack on your perseverance; it will be the mark for all his arrows. He will strive to hinder you in service: he will insinuate that you are doing no good; and that you want rest. He will endeavor to make you weary of suffering, he will whisper, "Curse God, and die." Or he will attack your steadfastness: "What is the good of being so zealous? Be quiet like the rest; sleep as do others, and let your lamp go out as the other virgins do." Or he will assail your doctrinal sentiments: "Why do you hold to these denominational creeds? Sensible men are getting more liberal; they are removing the old landmarks: fall in with the times." Wear your shield, Christian, therefore, close upon your armor, and cry mightily unto God, that by His Spirit you may endure to the end.”

Keep digging. Keep praying. Keep crying out. Keep looking up. Keep hoping.

Persevere.

In love and in Him,
Your sister,
Yvonne

08.09.2007

1 John 3:1
How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!

Psalm 18:2
The LORD is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge. He is my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.

Hello everyone,

I hope that the Lord has been challenging and encouraging each of you, continually working in you and changing you and encouraging you as one of His beloved children.

I’m not really even sure where to start this week because God seems to be continually working on me about trusting Him and knowing that He is always providing. Much of what I’d like to say is a lot of what I had to say last week. Intermingled with all of what He is still teaching me is keeping my eyes open to the places where God is working, and His grace. I have to admit: earlier this week I had a hard time with these things and responding in continual gratitude despite how I felt at the time. If you’ve ever deeply struggled or felt like you were in a dark spot in your life, you know what I’m talking about. I suppose you could say that it’s like the shades have been pulled, but you know that there’s still light on the other side of it; you just can’t see it, or see it fully.
Something that I think we tend to easily forget is that in the dark times and struggles in our lives that are particularly difficult (even if they don’t last that long) there is also spiritual warfare going on. Ephesians 6:10-20 reminds us of this reality. Reading the Gospel’s account of Jesus’ encounters with spirits should make us all the more aware of the spiritual realm. I think in America we like to think and believe that evil spirits are arcane and make-believe – at least we act that way – but the truth of the matter is that they are real and they don’t like us. However, before we begin to think that we ought to fear the reality of evil, let’s be reminded that if we profess Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, He is the one that has victory. He is the one that saves and protects us. We do not have to fear because the One who is more powerful than the devil is on our side. Perhaps this is all a side note, but it is something I’ve thought about considerably this week (the sermon I heard on Sunday was a reminder).
What’s awesome about God in these instances of struggle and spiritual warfare is that God continually has grace and mercy on us. Even when we can’t see His face or hear His voice as clearly, He’s still there. Even when we aren’t as grateful for what He has given us, He’s still there. He’s still working and moving and prodding our little despairing hearts to assure us of His sovereignty and fatherly protection. And because we are His beloved children that will never change. We can have hope because we have God through Christ.

How much more, then, ought we to speak about Jesus to other people? In Ephesians, Paul makes sure to let us know that the reason why people in the world end up not having hope or they are despairing is because they do not have God. There are no promises for them to cling to. Before we were Christians, we were in the same boat… I think perhaps this is something I especially need to remember as I go throughout my day. And in those darker, fuzzier times in my life I need to remember that I have hope that it will pass because I have a God who is present and cares intimately about my life.

I pray then that we would all be constantly reminded about our hope in Jesus Christ, that we have a God in heaven who deeply loves us and is going to take care of us despite our current struggles, spiritual warfares, or whatever else is going on in our lives that cause us to despair or doubt. I also pray the Holy Spirit would continually be working in us concerning these issues and enabling us to have a heart of praise through thick and thin. I pray that we would be grateful people who see God working.

In love and in Him,
Your sister,
Yvonne

Ephesians 6:10-20
Be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.