Walking with Jesus

Some thoughts before bed...

I find that running is a wonderful picture of our lives as Believers, and tonight as I was getting a little exercise in on the treadmill some thoughts came to me that I wanted to write down and share.

Running is not easy. I love dreaming about being a great runner. Preparing for marathons (more like making my "plan" of how to prepare for a marathon), winning races, having that outer and inner strength that it takes to run with endurance even when the body is screaming for us to stop. O how beautiful and inspiring it all is as I sit and imagine about it all. And that is usually how I set out...I make my plans, dream my dreams, and then finally I go for a run. And do you know what?! That is when I realize how hard running is...and how my body really is screaming "NO!" At this point in time is when I usually want to quit (after looking at my watch and finding out to my dismay that only two minutes has passed!!!). I almost wish I had someone pulling me along or pushing me onward.

This is also a very true picture of what it is like to walk with the Lord. I love making Bible reading plans, setting down goals for Bible memorization and prayer time, envisioning great spiritual victories, anticipating sweet intimacy with the Lord, and overcoming the sin in my life. Then I finally set out on my spiritual journey, and I am all excited as I go along. The Lord seems nearer than ever before, His word seems alive in my heart, sin seems to have vanished, and all goes well for a time. But than 1 minute passes by, 2 minutes tick on, and 3...And my spiritual muscles start to ache, my soul starts to hurt, and suddenly I just want to quit. I don't see the results I wanted, my dreams fade from view, and all I have left is the dusty path I am running, my aching soul, and my longing for what I had anticipated.

It is in these moments that I do not feel God's presence, but I trust His promise. Jesus said He would never leave us nor forsake us, and so I know He is with me in this time. Walking with the Lord is not a short and quick sprint, but it is living life with Him day by day and step by step. Soon we realize that our little legs aren't strong enough and so we start drawing upon the hand that holds our little hand in His own. We pull on the Lord to find strength...little do we realize that we may think we are finding strength in pulling His hand when really we are gliding along because His hand is pulling us forward.

Jesus loves us! O think about that!! Jesus loves me!! And as I walk heavenward He is holding my hand in His own. I trust Him to lead me where it is best...I trust Him to strengthen me and carry me...I trust that He will never leave me. Yes Jesus is holding me and I will not fear!

Well, these are my rambling thoughts for the night! Be encouraged by Jesus' great, unfailing LOVE for YOU TONIGHT!!!

Show Me Your Glory

 One day Moses said to the Lord, “You have been telling me, ‘Take these people up to the Promised Land.’ But you haven’t told me whom you will send with me.

You have told me, ‘I know you by name, and I look favorably on you.’  If it is true that you look favorably on me, let me know your ways so I may understand you more fully and continue to enjoy your favor. And remember that this nation is your very own people.”

 The Lord replied, “I will personally go with you, Moses, and I will give you rest—everything will be fine for you.”

 Then Moses said, “If you don’t personally go with us, don’t make us leave this place.  How will anyone know that you look favorably on me—on me and on your people—if you don’t go with us? For your presence among us sets your people and me apart from all other people on the earth.”

The Lord replied to Moses, “I will indeed do what you have asked, for I look favorably on you, and I know you by name.”

Moses responded, “Then show me your glorious presence.”

The Lord replied, “I will make all my goodness pass before you, and I will call out my name, Yahweh, before you. For I will show mercy to anyone I choose, and I will show compassion to anyone I choose.

But you may not look directly at my face, for no one may see me and live.” The Lord continued, “Look, stand near me on this rock. As my glorious presence passes by, I will hide you in the crevice of the rock and cover you with my hand until I have passed by. Then I will remove my hand and let you see me from behind. But my face will not be seen.”

~

Exodus 33:12-23

     Yesterday after I got off work, I was enjoying some quiet moments crocheting and listening to some messages by Loui Giglio (I definitely recommend that you check him out on youtube!!). One message that I listened to yesterday was on WORSHIP. Within the message Loui used Moses as an example and used the verses from the passage above to make a very important and vital point.

     So before I continue on please take a moment and read (or reread) the verses from Exodus because they are so jammed packed with treasure and nuggets of gold.

     So the scene is set....Moses is meeting with God. That is enough to blow me away! But to give you a clearer idea of what is going on, I will back up for just a moment. In Exodus 32 a terrible thing has happened in Israel...Moses has been up on the mountain for forty days and nights, receiving from the Lord all the commands and laws that the Israelites are to live by. God has made the covenant with Moses that the people of Israel are His chosen and special people...He will be with them and take them into the promised land and bless them as long as they follow His laws and regulations with joy.

All the while this is happening, the people of Israel have assumed that Moses' is dead and they have decided to make themselves a gold calf to worship. They have turned away from the Living God and made an image that they can wrap their minds around and bow down to.

 

     God is not pleased with His people because of their faithlessness. So in chapter 33 He tells Moses to get going and lead the people of Israel into the promised land, but He Himself would not go with them. So now Moses is before God, asking Him to go with them...but He does not stop there.

     Moses dares to do what few of us would ever imagine. He is not satisfied with just the thought of God's presence going with them....He is not satisfied just knowing that God's favor is upon Him...Moses is not just satisfied because God told Him that he would have rest and be fine. No Moses wanted something more...something so much better and deeper and real. Moses wanted to see God's glory. He wanted to know this God who had promised to go with them into the promised land.

     And God did in part what Moses asked. He had all of His goodness pass before Moses as He hid him away in the cleft of the rock and than allowed Him to see his back. The Lord proclaimed His name that He is a God who shows mercy on those He wants to show mercy and compassion on those He wants to show compassion. And Moses was changed. His face was glowing! And the people saw it when He came back to the camp. They knew that Moses had met with God.

     But Moses' request was only partially answered...but years later in the town of Bethlehem a baby was born. And the angels shouted, "GLORY! Glory to God in the highest!! And on earth, peace to men on whom His favor rests." And that night born in a stable was the very Son of God who is the glory of God.

     Colossians 1:15 says: "Christ is the visible image of the invisible God..." Hebrews 1:3 also says: "The Son radiates God's own glory and expresses the very character of God ..."

     God's glory has come! Jesus Christ came to earth and has revealed the invisible, awesome God to us humans. How incredible is this truth!!!! Moses asked to God's glory, and He received his request in part only because the time had not come yet for Jesus Christ to be revealed.

     So now let me come in on this truth from my perspective. I read the story of Moses and I just long for such faith...for such a passion and commitment to God in my own life. I long to ask God to show me His glory, but often times I just know that He won't say yes yet because I still have so many things in my life that need to be fixed. I really don't want to be disappointed because I know that if I ask God to show me His glory that nothing miraculous will happen. I won't see flashes of light or see God's face or hear His voice. So I don't ask because I don't want to experience that let down nor do I think I am worthy to experience it. These are the conclusions my mind comes to all too often.

     But yesterday as I was listening to the message, something clicked in my mind...something I always tell others but find so hard to grasp myself. And that is this: God is not hiding His glory from me until I arrive at some pinnacle in my life where I have reached Moses like perfection. NOOOOOO!!! God has given me His glory in the person of Jesus. O I cannot even write the words that I long to express because this truth is so deep and we need to get this because our lives as Christians will not be what they are supposed to be until we do.

     Jesus Christ---the very Son of God, King of kings, Prince of Peace, Lord of lords, Creator and Sustainer or the universe, Word of Life, Eternal God, Majestic Lord, Mighty Savior---came to earth to DIE. Why? Because we were going to die. We broke God's law and the punishment was death...not just physical death but spiritual death and eternal separation from the goodness and love of God. All we would have know was God's wrath and that was our fate because of our sin. But Jesus came to take our place. Jesus came to take our punishment. Jesus came to give us His righteousness so that we could know God and not experience His Father's wrath. Jesus Christ died in our place and took our punishment and gave us new life. Jesus Christ was buried and on the third day He arose!!! Jesus Christ is no longer dead...He is ALIVE!!! And He stands at the Father's right hand interceding for us. When Satan accuses us, Jesus speaks up for us because He took our place and now we can be with Him forever when we die.

And now in this life we can see the glory of God in Jesus Christ. And it is miraculous!!!! God has completely transformed our hearts and as we look into the Word of God we are changed because we are looking into the glory of God because Jesus is the Word of God and we have His Word in our hands.

So today, ask God to show you His glory...and then set your face on Jesus. Look at Jesus, fix your eyes on Jesus, and let the things of this world fade away. Set your face like flint on seeking the Lord. Do not be satisfied with God's blessing and presence in your life. Go for more...KNOW GOD!!! Ask to see His glory, and He will not disappoint you. As you gaze at Jesus, you will be transformed. And this watching world will see that something is different about you. They cannot see Jesus, but they can see you and they will be wondering what in the world you are looking at as you gaze at Jesus. And then you will be able to say, "I am looking at my mighty, awesome Savior!"

Rekindling Joy

Recently the Lord has been reminding me of lessons that I thought I had already learned...and in His sweet kindness is so gracious and patient to teach me again. As I look over my time in the Coast Guard, I see that in that first year right out of boot camp, the Lord really taught me deep lessons in "JOY". I struggled when I first arrived at my boat (as you can see if you go back and read earlier posts from 2009), but the Lord stayed by my side. Even as I was swamped with my first set of quals that I needed to work on, feeling homesick once again, and not really liking where I was...the Lord showed me that it did not matter what I was doing but what really mattered was who I was doing it for.

he Lord has placed me here on this earth to glorify His name and s everything I do in life is for this ultimate purpose. I learned those early days in the Coast Guard that if I am going to paint a wall then I am going to do it for the Lord and because I am doing it for Him I can do it with a smile and joy. God taught my heart joy amidst circumstances that were far from what I would have wanted them to be.

And now as I come to my last year in the Coast Guard, I believe that the Lord is bringing this lesson back to the forefront. He is reminding me to not just endure my last year in the Coast Guard here in Eastport, but to use it as a way to point to Him by being joyful even when I am studying, washing the boats, standing radio watch, etc.

So here is my game plan so to speak(-:

Rejoice and be filled with thanksgiving!
-When I first wake up in the morning, I am going to spend those first few moments thanking the Lord for the new day before me and praise Him for who He is.
-When I go to work I am going to give thanks to God for the new opportunity to shine the light of the Gospel in a dark place.
-At work I am going to study hard and look for was to learn more and more.
-At work I am going to look for ways to show mercy and kindness and not to gossip and destroy people with my words.
-When I am skyping with my wonderful fiance Fidele, and the Internet connection is terrible and all I wan to do is cry, I will rejoice and thank the Lord that He has blessed me with such a good, wonderful man who is waiting faithfully for me to be His wife and who is giving up sleep and trying to skype with me even though it is not working.
-When I feel lonely and homesick, I will thank the Lord for the wonderful friends He has given me here in Eastport and the wonderful church family I have.

Those are just some starters...I find that once you give yourself to rejoicing that it is hard to find a place to stop. The Lord is so good and kind to us and the things that I can stop and thank Him for are endless. His mercies are new every morning! His faithfulness is beyond my comprehension! He is my glorious strength! And my steadfast peace that calms my raging soul. He is always with me so I will not give in to the struggles and worries that weigh upon my soul. The Almighty God is my refuge so I will not fear, but I will trust in Him.

So today I am learning to rekindle the joy that once was burning and alive in my heart. I thank the Lord that He can relight that fire in me and make it even more alive and bright than before. I pray that the joy of the Lord fills me now and transforms me to be about His work and to glorify His name here in Eastport, Maine.

Into God's Word

My Hat Projects

Today I was busy working on some crochetting projects I needed to get done. I was making a couple hats for a lady at my church. I thoroughly enjoyed spending the time crochetting while listening to some of John Piper's messages as well as watching a good movie called "No Greater Love" (I highly reccomend it!!). I also took a nice walk around Eastport and enjoyed some good thinking time.

As I have been thinking over the lessons I have been learning the past week (which I wrote about in my last post), I have also been struck with this: I so often long for God's presence with me and sometimes wonder where God is when I am struggling, but really I should examine my own life and see if I enter the Lord's presence. The Lord has not left us alone in this world. We have the Holy Spirit living inside of us, teaching and comforting us, and Jesus also promised that He would be with us always before He said goodbye to His disciples. We have God's Word in our hands, but what we need is to have His Word in our hearts, planted deep within our souls so that it can blossom and bloom in our lives.

Moses asked God to show him His glory and the Lord was pleased with Moses' request. God has revealed Himself to us as well and we can see His glory as we gaze into His Word. So I am challenged instead of spending time and energy wondering where God is and asking Him to be with me that really I need to be thanking Him that He is with me. His promises stand true today as they did back when He first gave them. And I need to enter the Lord's presence by sitting at His feet with His Word opened, as I take His Word in my hands and plant them deep in my heart. The Holy Spirit will transform our hearts through the Word so let's start digging deep into the Bible!



Almost A Year Has Passed!!!

A pic of me and my fiance, Fidele....story to come!

Wow!!!! I can hardly believe that it has almost been a year since I last wrote a post on my blog!!! Time has just flown by even though many days along the way, I never thought the time would pass...especially here in little Eastport, Maine! So much has happened this past year, so it is quite hard to know where to begin now that I am dusting off my laptop keys to write down some thoughts. Maybe the best place to start is right where I am today...

I am sitting at work tonight waiting for 10pm to roll around so we can go and do lock ups for the Coast Guard Station. Lately I have been struggling with a great deal of stress here at work because I am trying to become fully qualified in my job as a boat driver, but a lot of things overwhelm me and then I start worrying that I just will not make it and that I will end up failing. I pray and pray that God will strengthen me and give my heart peace, but sometimes it all seems slow in coming. However the Lord comforted me in a special way the past couple days with two different verses that I read from the Bible.

#1...As I have been praying for peace this past week to fill my heart and calm the raging in my soul, God graciously turned my eyes to Philippians 4:8-9: "And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise. Keep putting into practice all that you learned and received from me---everything you heard from me and saw me doing. Then the God of PEACE will be with you."

And after I read those verses, the thought came to me: This whole week I have been praying that God would just give me peace, but maybe He wants me to give me something more than peace (more than what I perceive peace to be, which is a calmness and stillness of my soul...a quietness within me). The Lord not only wants to give me a quietness in my soul, but He wants to fill the quietness with His presence....He wants to be my quietness/my peace. And so instead of focusing on the lack of peace in my heart and soul I need to be putting into practice all that I have learned and received from God's Word. I need to be thinking the kind of thoughts that Paul talked about...and then I will not just have peace...."Then the God of peace will be with me."

#2...I have also been praying that God would give me strength...strength to accomplish the things here at work and strength to serve Him...and to be honest the more I pray sometimes the weaker I feel. But the Lord also so kindly directed me to Psalm 89 tonight and two verses stuck out to me (16-17): "They rejoice all day long in Your wonderful reputation. They exult in Your righteousness. You are their glorious strength. It pleases You to make them strong."

WOW!! In many ways when I pray for strength, I know that I often think of receiving an increase in my own strength, but that is not God's idea of blessing me. No His plans are much higher and better! He does not want to just give me strength...He wants to be my strength!!!! And not only that He wants to be my GLORIOUS STRENGTH!! From this I really see that God is not a vending machine to ask for something and wait for it to pop out...prepackaged and ready to be consumed. No our God is a consuming fire. He is the Almighty One. The holy and majestic King enthroned in majesty! And He is so kind and merciful to us. I ask for strength, and I am disappointed and upset when He says no. But little do I realize that He says no because He wants to give me something better---HIMSELF!! The Lord wants to be my glorious strength in life.

God does not want to just give His children peace...
He wants to be their peace.
He does not want to just give us strength....
He wants to be our glorious strength.

So these are my thoughts from the past couple days and the lessons that have been tough for me to learn but so wondeful too at the same time. I will keep trying my best to update this blog on all the happenings of my life over the past year little by little....and keep it updated on my life right now as I serve the Lord in Eastport, Maine.

To God be the glory in my life today and tomorrow and forever!

God's Promises

GOD’S PROMISES

Eastport, Maine
June 29, 2011

 Once again it is time for the sun to set over the horizon, but since the fog has already settled over Eastport it is impossible to catch a glimpse of the sun’s golden rays. The frogs are happily singing now as I sit in my little motel room, thinking back over my day. A quiet peace has stilled my heart; a peace that only comes from God.



I spent my evening walking out by the water on the rocks, thinking about so many different things. Sometimes I feel like a fog rolls over my soul just like the fog that settled over the rocky cove; a fog that does not hide the beauty of the sun’s rays but the beauty of God’s promises. But just because I cannot see and feel God’s promises does not mean they do not strengthen me and attend me each moment as I journey heavenward. So as I sat on one of the giant rocks looking out over the bay, God reminded me once again of His great and precious promises: I AM WITH YOU, MY GRACE IS SUFFICIENT FOR YOU, MY COMPASSIONS ARE NEW EVERY MORNING, I WILL NEVER LEAVE YOU NOR FORSAKE YOU, I HAVE HIDDEN YOU UNDER MY WINGS, I AM YOUR REFUGE AND STRENGTH, MY NAME IS A STRONG TOWER, I AM YOUR SAVIOR, I AM YOUR REDEEMER, MY LOVE IS BETTER THAN LIFE, I WILL NOT LET YOU FALL, I WILL DIRECT YOUR PATH, I WILL FILL YOU WITH JOY, I AM ALL THAT YOU NEED……….



And as I sat there out upon the rocks thinking upon God’s promises my heart was renewed and it was like I was given new strength. The Lord is faithful and I praise Him for I can not stand a moment apart from His grace. He fills my heart with joy and makes my soul sing with glad songs…songs of praise to my God! So I think and dwell and meditate upon the promises of God for they give me strength and joy to press on hard after Jesus. I am sustained by God’s grace, and each moment becomes more sweet than the next because each moment Jesus is with me as I walk this narrow path.



So I am here in Eastport, Maine now in a new place that is filled with new people and challenges and adventures. I face all of these things in the strength that God supplies and I face them as I stand firm in the promises God has given through His Word. I am here to honor and glorify my Lord and Savior and that is what I will do by God’s grace. May I be spent, may I be broken, may I be completely used up for the glory of my Lord who I love with all my heart! Jesus is my treasure!!! He is my joy!!! He is my life!!!

Eastport, Maine

June 29, 2011


I began a new chapter in my life today as I waved goodbye to my family and turned to face my new life in Eastport, Maine. I am confident that it is God who has placed me here as His light in this small fishing community. The town itself is pretty small as it only takes about five minutes to walk from one end to the other. As I write, I am sitting in my small motel room, enjoying a quiet day. The temperatures a slightly colder here, seeing as how I am wearing my winter coat right now in the middle of June!!! I am excited about the new life I have ahead of me for the next two years. I do not know what God has in store, but I commit everything to Him that He may receive all the honor and glory.

I know that God will be teaching me many lessons here, stretching me in my faith, challenging me in my dependence on Him, and preparing me for the work and ministry He has in store for me in the future. This is my ministry now, but I know that God will use this experience to prepare me for new challenges that lay ahead. He will teach me deeper lessons in trust, surrender, humility, patience, and so much more. I know that what He has in store will exceed my wildest imagination, and so I step forth in His strength, ready to take on this new challenge.

I will be reporting into my new duty station on July 1 and also moving into my new and first apartment. I am excited and nervous, but most of all sure and confident that God is with me, leading me forth. I am His sheep and He is my shepherd. He leads me and I follow. And my soul cries out for a deeper walk with Jesus, a deeper love for my Savior, a deeper trust in the Almighty One as I follow Him and learn to trust Him more and more. I am nothing, but Jesus is my all and He sustains me by His grace. I do not walk on from here alone, but with the Shepherd of my soul leading me forth down this path that leads HOME.

Driving the Small Boats

I wanted to take a moment on this beautiful Saturday that God has blessed me with and write down what I did this week. Now that my class is finished with the classroom portion of our training, we have moved into the hands-on, more practical side of things. This week we have been going out on the 41’ small boats, conducting training. It has been a good challenge for me, getting me out of my comfort zone and learning new things.


I was terrified to drive the boat at first, but after taking the wheel and learning how to control the throttles, it actually turned out to be a blast! Yesterday we got a lot of practice driving the boat up to the pier…it is like learning how to parallel park but harder because you have to take the wind and current into consideration along with everything else. We also did a bunch of man overboard drills. We were learning how to maneuver the boat to be able to pick the person up out of the water.

For lunch each day we moored up to Yorktown pier. On Thursday a daycare class must have been out having a field trip to the beach, and they came over to our boats and were thrilled when we gave all the little three year olds tours of our small boats. The kids loved sitting in the driver’s seat pretending they were driving the boat. It was a lot of fun!

We have three more weeks of school here at Yorktown…then I will be heading to Maine! God supplies me with courage and excitement to serve Him there---way up in the northeast!

A little Update

It has been a while since I last wrote an update on all the happenings of my life here at school. I am nearing the end of my time here in Yorktown. I will be going into week nine of training, and I only have four more to go. Yesterday I took my final test, which covered everything we had learned thus far...so now I am all done with the classroom portion of my training. Now we will be going out on the small boats putting everything we have been learning about navigation into practice. I am excited that we get to do the practical part of training now…no more long days in the classroom!!!


I received my orders this week to my next duty station. I will be going to Station Eastport, Maine. Eastport is the east-most city of the United States. It is a very small town…the kind of towns where everybody knows what you are doing before you do! I hear it is beautiful country though, and I will be enjoying lots of snow!!! I know this is where God wants me to go. I am a slave of the Lord Jesus and I want to serve Him with all my heart, enthusiastically.

So I pray and commit this new chapter in my life to the Lord and I am excited to see all that God shall do. I am excited to see God’s name glorified. And that is what I want to do---GLORIFY THE LORD!!!

I am so blessed…God continues to strengthen my heart and fill me with joy in Jesus Christ. My life is His and I surrender to His plan joyfully. I love Him with all my heart; He is everything to me! So I press on today in the strength of the Lord, rejoicing in my God and Savior, and so very happy to be the slave of Christ.

Living In Light of Our LIVING HOPE

Living In Light of Our LIVING HOPE




I read in 1 Peter this evening and I want to share a verse from chapter one: “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” (1 Peter 1:3). After I read that verse, my heart just wants to explode with joy! I am so amazed by God’s amazing, endless and incomprehensible GRACE!

Every day of my life is transformed by God’s grace, which He has given me because of Jesus Christ. I do not deserve it at all, but He gives it to me anyway. He bestows mercy when all I deserve is wrath; He lavishes His love on me, when all I deserve is His hatred; He blesses me beyond my imagination, when I was His enemy. Jesus Christ has ransomed my soul, and so I sing and rejoice in the Almighty God who is the Living God. He is mighty to save!!! He is my Lord and Savior!!!!

I pray that each day of your life is transformed by God’s grace. Sometimes it is easy to live discouraged, defeated Christian lives because we do not fix our eyes on Jesus and instead focus on our sin or on our problems. If we would but focus our hearts upon Jesus we would be amazed by the joy that will overflow from our lives. He is the spring that alone can satisfy our hearts…so let us come to Him and be satisfied. Let us come to our LIVING HOPE.

Destroying Our Idols~ #1 Dust Cannot Lie

God has greatly challenged me the past several months to examine my life to see what idols I have set up in my heart. I do not often think of myself as a person who serves idols (that is something that people in the old testament did, not me!), but by God’s grace He has showed me how entrapped I am by the idols in my life. My heart is grieved and filled with such anguish as I stop and see how I actually live and act and invest my time and thoughts; I am no different than the children of Israel when they were in the wilderness, continually wandering away from the one who had rescued them from slavery.


So in the next several blog posts, I want to share with you what God has been teaching me about destroying my idols. I pray that you are convicted of sin and challenged to examine your own life and destroy any and all idols that you may have set up in your own heart.

To begin, I want to first challenge you to dig into God’s Word. Dust cannot lie. How desperately terrible it is when we who call ourselves followers of Christ can write Jesus’ name in the dust that collects on our Bibles. Jesus engraved our names in the palms of His hands by the shedding of His precious blood. He suffered and endured God’s wrath for our sin. He has given us such amazing grace, and in return for His kindness we offer Him a pile of dust that we have allowed to collect on His Word. Instead of investing ourselves knowing God and spending our lives glorifying His awesome name, we serve our idols. We do not want to serve the Jesus of the Bible (of course we would never say those words!). If we actually read our Bibles I think we would come face to face with the fact that the Jesus in the Bible is too dangerous, uncomfortable, unsafe, radical, challenging, and serious for our “Christianized American Dream”. Sure we want to follow Christ---we want to go to heaven---but we do not want to actually take up our instruments of death and follow Him down a narrow, unpopular, and lonely road. We do not want to die to self and give up the things we enjoy on this earth. We would rather linger in the rays of the sun than tremble in joyful awe before the throne of God; we would rather get married and enjoy our dreams than live radically for the one whose love for us was so radical that He endured our hell so we can be with Him; and we would rather live for this world than run hard for eternity.

Jesus must be our treasure and nothing else in this life. If this is not true than we are not true followers of Christ and we are on our way to Hell. Christ demands complete obedience, 100% commitment, and total dedication. There is no such thing as half-hearted Christians; those who consider themselves as such are not Christians at all.

So we must know Jesus and treasure Him with all of our hearts, and to do this we must look into God’s Word and see Him for who He really is---the Almighty Son of God, who is the Creator and sustainer of all things; who made Himself nothing and humbled Himself to the point of death; who drank the Father’s wrath and made atonement for sin; who was raised from the dead on the third day and is exalted at the right hand of God; and who is standing always to make intercession for His own. However, most of us do not look into God’s Word to see who Jesus is, but instead we pear into our mirrors and fashion a Jesus who looks like us, talks like us, thinks like us, and lives like us. So we make Jesus into something He is not but something we can handle and wrap our minds around. Instead of remembering that we were made in God’s image, we want to serve a god who is made in our own image. This is idolatry! Dear Brothers and Sisters if you examine this “Jesus” we have made, we are not worshipping the Lord God, but we are really worshipping ourselves.


O Lovers of Christ, may your hearts be broken as mine is, and may you be filled with great sorrow over your sin. Let us repent and turn back to the Living God, and let us serve Him with all of our hearts.

Let us destroy our idols!

Sara-Grace Waite
Yorktown, VA
May 6, 2011

A Sobering Reflection

“For the word of God is alive and powerful. It is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword, cutting between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow. It exposes our innermost thoughts and desires. Nothing in all creation is hidden from God. Everything is naked and exposed before his eyes, and he is the one to whom we are accountable.”

--

Hebrews 4:12-13

I know life can be very busy at times, but I would beg you to stop for a few moments and take a trip with me today. Trust me, where we are going is not easy, and what we must do when we get there and all along the way is even harder; but be assured, that if you do not take time to come with me now, your soul shall be in very grave danger. So let us go and search the depths of our hearts and souls, and let us cast down our idols and turn wholeheartedly to serving the Living God.



Perhaps you have never seen Bible churches in the United States filled with idols, or Christian homes adorned by false gods, but I have; and what grieves me most is that I am among them. We are people who do not treasure Jesus. We want to make Him fit our needs and our lifestyles so we distort the Truth and exchange it for a lie. We like serving a God of love, we enjoy going to a church with comfortable chairs, good music, and inspirational messages. We need our weekly pep talk, so we come and joke around and fulfill our spiritual duty; but we are not serving Jesus; we are worshipping ourselves.



Awake, O Church, and see that we have erected idols in our hearts: idols of comfort, security, ambition, family, retirement, money, greatness, fame, and so much more. The Word of God means so very little to us and we can see this proven true in the time we invest in it. O God, break our hearts! We have sinned and traded you for the gifts you bestow, for the glory that is your due, and for the trappings of this world. And dare we think that we serve the Living God when we neither put Him first in our lives nor seek Him above all things.



I speak from experience, we gather on Sundays bringing some of our idols with us. There are plenty of other idols of course waiting for us once we arrive at church. We check our face book and email before the service starts, check the clock and figure out how much longer until lunch, eat some snacks and drink a cup of coffee, complain about the weather, talk about sports, and then find our seats before the service starts. Like a movie theater we pick the best place to sit, sink into our comfortable chairs, we pop our knuckles while the announcements are being made, we sing, we pray, we listen or at least try to as we catch ourselves daydreaming about life and the new week ahead of us. We say goodbye, not really remembering what the message was about, but ready to get on with life and get back to what really matters. And that would be a typical morning church service for many people in the United States, including myself.



But I am left empty and haunted by questions: where are the tears, the sorrow for sin, the soul felt worship, the desperate cries for help and strength, the joy in singing to the Living God, the power of the Holy Spirit at work in our midst---where is God? Have we not come to worship Him on His glorious throne? But I do not see Him here; I do not feel His power and presence. However, I do see a throne and seated on the throne is a mirror, and I see myself bowing down before that mirror, investing time and energy appeasing it. I also see upon the throne my laptop with my facebook account open along with my email account and google searches…a reminder of my time spent. I see comfort and security, I see ambition and pride, I see fame and self-recognition, and I see dreams and lusts all piled high upon the throne and still do I wonder where my Lord has gone?



I have not come to church to worship the Living God, but to be entertained; I have not come to humbly bow before the Almighty Creator, but to satisfy my own “felt needs”; I have not come to exalt God, but to glorify myself. How can you tell me that we do not bow down to idols in this country when they are all around us; and every whisper from the world and countless “so called Christians” is to come along with them in their idolatry? Mirrors, facebook, email, food, weather, sports, goals, dreams, etc. are not bad; but neither is wood, gold, bronze, clay, and stones. However when we put them in God’s place and treasure them above our Almighty Savior then we have set them up as idols that we bow down to.



O Lovers of Christ, repent with me, and let us turn from our wicked ways! Let us return to the Savior of our souls, casting down our idols, which are worthless.



O hear this battle cry, all you Soldiers of the Lord! Turn off your TVs, turn off the radio, put your computers away, turn off your cellphones, and open the Word of God. We wonder why God’s Word is not powerful in our lives (as it sits collecting dust on the shelf!), we wonder why we feel so empty (as we fill our lives with empty pursuits!), and we wonder why the God of the Bible seems so different then the God we serve (as we do not even know the God of the Bible!).



If everything was stripped away, would Christ be enough? If all you had to look forward to on Sundays was to study the Bible, would you come? Jesus demands everything from us…if we are to be true followers of Christ we must deny ourselves, take up our crosses, and follow Him. This means dying to self-daily, and putting to death all our fleshly longings and desires. We must give up everything to follow after Jesus. His Word is our life! If this kind of discipleship is not your idea of Christianity then you are not a follower of Christ, and you are going to Hell where you will bear God’s wrath for your sin.



The battle is fierce, but by God’s grace I will fight, and by the power of His Holy Spirit, I beg Him to enable me to cast down the idols I serve and instead cling to the Living God who alone reigns supreme. I have no power in myself, I have no ability to serve God, I am nothing, I am a sinner saved by grace and I stand clothed in Christ’s righteousness. He is my beauty, my all, my treasure, and my joy. Battle, O Faithful Ones, for the faith that has been entrusted to you! Battle with all your might in the power of God!



You will find strength and help in the Word of the Living God, but you must read it and invest your life in knowing Jesus. The Word of God is living and sharper than a two edged sword. Do not come to it as any other book, but as the very Words of God given to us because that is exactly what it is.



Thrust down the idols that are set up in your heart and life and come to God’s Word and be transformed as you renew your minds. Bow in prayer to the Living God and cry out to Him to work in your life and to empower you by the Holy Spirit to live for His glory alone. Persevere in these disciplines and do not give up, but wait upon the Lord and hope in Him. He sees our hearts, and our motives are laid bare before Him. Let us repent, and live wholeheartedly for Jesus.



Week Two

As I come to the end of week two of my training here in Yorktown, I wanted to write a little update on all the happenings of this past week. God has truly blessed me abundantly, and each new day I struck by the wonderful mercies of my God who has saved me and given me true life. His hand sustains me each new step heavenward.


This week we received all of our Personal Protective Equipment: dry suits, gloves, boots, goggles, mustangs (like a body life vest that’s supposed to keep you warm), etc. This is all of the stuff we’ll need for going out in the small boats, depending on what weather conditions are. Today we tested our dry suits in the pool to make sure they don’t leak. We have been having classes this week on navigation and using charts. So we have been working on coursing and preparing some charts that we will use later on in training.

I have been really enjoyed reading in 1 John this week and learning about God’s great love for sinners. My heart is encouraged in the Lord. I press on this week as His servant to do His bidding. He is my joy, my strength, my song!

#3 The Lord Encamps Around Those Who Fear Him

April 5, 2011 One more day spent here at Training Center Yorktown, and the Lord truly blessed me with a fun time in training. During my time this morning with the Lord, I was soooooooo encouraged to read a verse from Psalm 34 saying that the Lord encamps around those who fear Him and delivers them. He is with me every moment…I am never alone! And He will deliver me. I may feel a hundred different things: fear, excitement, weakness, stress, pressure, joy, etc; but the Lord is always with me and with Him I shall do valiantly. We started out our training today with some physical training and team/leadership building games at the gym. Then we had more classes on leadership throughout the day. Now it is almost time to head to bed and get some sleep before tomorrow’s physical training test. As I close another day I am left truly amazed by the God whom I serve. He fills my heart with joy and cares so tenderly for His children. So I praise the Lord Jesus Christ for paying my sin penalty, for taking my place at the cross, and for giving me abundant life!! I do not deserve any of this, but this wonderful gift of grace is mine because of Jesus and His great love for sinners. And this is this is the message of good news I have to share. And I want to encourage all of you who also are saved by God’s amazing grace that this is the message God has called all of us to share. God has placed us in this world to encourage fellow Believers heavenward, to share the gospel and be an instrument to lead unbelievers to Christ, and for some we are the only bit of heaven they will ever know…so let us be spent today for what truly matters. Let us give these people in our lives HEAVEN on earth, showing them Christ’s love and kindness. Always remembering that the Lord encamps around those who fear Him and delivers them.

#2 My Times are n His Hands

April 4, 2011 As I sit here in BM “A” school feeling out of place and overwhelmed from being in a new and strange place, I am greatly comforted and encouraged by God’s unfailing and everlasting Word. In the Psalms it says that our times are in His hands. I can be certain and confident that it is the Lord who has placed me here…not by chance or by accident, but on purpose and for a set purpose. I am His witness---a partaker of the glorious salvation that is in Christ Jesus. At times all seems too difficult and I don’t see how I can go on, but Jesus is walking with me down this path. Yes He has brought me here to this uncomfortable, difficult place where I am to meet Him in the fire, proving that His love is better than life and He is my treasure far greater than anything else in this here…only 12 short weeks.

The Journals of A Guardian...#1 On the Road Again

March 31, 2011

My family and I left Copperas Cove, Texas this morning and put in some good miles on the road. We arrived in Meridian, Mississippi and enjoyed a meal of pizza and wings. We are making it closer and closer to my training school. I am excited, but also a little nervous. This I know for sure though, God is with me every second of this adventure. I know He will teach me and challenge me in new ways.

So I am excited to take this adventure that He has given me. For such a time as this God has placed me on the earth to be His witness and to gorify His name.

I want to make much of You Jesus!!!! I want to live every moment for You. Take my life...may I be used up for Your glory and fame...may I be wasted completely for You Jesus...broken and spilled out...wholly spent for Your name's sake.

So I am on the road again...taking the adventure God has for me.

Not Just Pretending

"Don't just pretend to love others. Really love them. Hate what is wrong. Hold tightly to what is good. Love each other with genuine affection, and take delight in honoring each other."

Romans 12:9-10

It is easy to pretend. A lot of the time, I just go through the motions and put on a good act so that others have a good impression of me. My words are very big, but my actions are so very little. I will say that I love others and care for them, but that is as far as it goes. However, this does not please the Lord at all. He does not want me to pretend...HE HAS COMMANDED ME TO LOVE MY BROTHERS AND SISTERS IN CHRIST...and love is not a feeling but an action. So I must put love in action in my life and "really love others" and not just pretend.

Jesus did not just pretend to love sinners...He loved us with genuine affection. He humbled Himself and became like us so that we could be saved. Jesus came to us and met us in the depths of our spiritual poverty. We were living in the shadows of death, walking about as dead men in the darkness of evil; and He came and gave us life...He is the light of the world. He did not just give us a message of love, but His entire life was a picture of love as He demonstrated God's love by pouring out His very life on the cross and endured the wrath of the Father that should have been ours to bear. He gave up His life so that we might have abundant life. He suffered that we might share in His joy. We were helpless, hopeless, desperately lost, blind, and completely wicked, but Jesus did what we could not do. He saved us...He helped us...He is our hope....He found us....He has given us sight....He has cleansed us by His blood and now we are clean. Hallelujah! What a Savior!!! We are redeemed by Jesus..Praise His name!!

Jesus is our example of REAL LOVE, and we must follow in His steps. We must be a picture of Jesus' love here on earth. We must be spent, be poured out, emptied, used up, and be absolutely WASTED FOR JESUS because He is supreemely valuable in our lives. He is the greatest treasure, the greatest pleasure, the greatest joy we shall ever have.

So be spent for Jesus and live as He lived. Let us really love one another and no just pretend. Put love into action as Jesus did. And remember only Jesus can strengthen us and enable us to do so. So rely completely on Christ to obey His command to love...depend upon Him and surely He will do it.

THE MISSION

Written for my family as they move to Cameroon, Africa to share Jesus love with the people there.

Rejoicing in all God has done.
In your lives, I see Him displayed
As your greatest treasure of all;
Your mission: to proclaim His name.

Fix Your eyes on Christ…Run hard to the goal.
Consider the work He has done, He has saved your souls!

Press on, HOPE IN GOD…IN HIS HANDS you are safe. UNDER HIS WINGS…you are held---
you are HELD BY GRACE.
Take up your cross, follow Christ, let His praises resound.
Be BROKEN AND SPILLED OUT
as you journey HOMEWARD BOUND.

Cheering you on as you go
As you make much of Jesus today,
Considering all else as loss
Compared to the Savior’s name.

Fight the battle of faith…stand firm in Christ.
Trust Him with all of your heart, give Him your life.




Praying for you in my heart.
May God’s sustaining grace push you on
To follow Christ outside of the camp,
Calling the nations to join the song!

Jesus is mighty to save
For while yet sinners He died in our place.
Shout---shout His praise For He has given us grace!

Always Be Ready!

"I am ready to burn out for God. I am ready to endure any hardship, if by any means I might save some. The longing of my heart is to make known my glorious Redeemer to those who have never heard."

-William Burns

Lost in the shadows of world missions is the story of William Burns. He is not remembered in history as a great preacher, a successful evangelist, a deep thinker, a passionate missionary, or a vibrant Christian, and although he was all of these things and more, most people do not even know who he was or what he did. Before all else, Burns was a man of prayer: persistent, persevering prayer. He spent long hours seeking the Lord in prayer. His ministry went forth as He pressed on, on his knees. The deep spring of spiritual wealth and passion that watered his ministry found its source from his precious Redeemer who had transformed Burn's life by His love. 

William Burns was born in Scotland during the year of 1815. God saved Burns early in his life and filled him with a great passion and burden for lost souls who needed to hear the Gospel. God used him as a tool in the Kilsyth Revival of 1839. Burns faithfulness to spend time with God in prayer marked his ministry and set his heart ablaze for God's glory. Scotland was turned upside down as a result of God's transforming work through a man who was committed to pray.

However Burns was not satisfied, and after laboring to proclaim the Gospel in Scotland, He decided to go as a missionary to China. A man asked Burns when he would be ready to leave for China, and his reply held no hesitancy at all:  "Now, I am ready to burn out for God. I am ready to endure any hardship, if by any means I might save some. The longing of my heart is to make known my glorious Redeemer to those who have never heard."

Burns worked alongside Hudson Taylor for a time, and they both greatly encouraged and spurred on by each others faith. Their ministry together was bathed in prayer. During days of public preaching as they declared the Gospel boldly, one would always be in constant prayer as the other preached, and then they would switch off. Taylor wrote in his journal of the impression Burns had on him, "Those happy months were an unspeakable joy and privilege to me. His love for the Word was delightful, and his holy, reverential life and constant communings with GOD made fellowship with him satisfying to the deep cravings of my heart."

Burns labored hard and relentlessly for the Lord in China. He went from town to town preaching the Gospel to all who would listen. At the age of fifty-three, Burns became terribly ill and died. His life on earth was over but his legacy and passion for the Lord echo on in history as we are spurred on today by his example.

So as my story comes to a close, here is my charge: Let us follow in his steps being completely spent for our precious Redeemer. Let us remember that Burns was not a great man who did great things, but rather that he served a great God who does great things. To follow in his steps, we must begin on our knee. We must start in prayer, continue in prayer, and end in prayer. Prayer must suround our every move, it  must be the very air we breath. For in prayer we are looking to God to fill our every need. But we must not be so easily distracted from this pursuit; we must wait and wrestle with the Lord just as Jacob wrestled with the angel. Burns longed for believers to know the same sweet fellowship that he had with the Lord, "Oh, how is it that the Lord's own people have so little perseverance? How is it that when they do enter into their place of prayer to be alone, they are so easily persuaded to be turned away empty; instead of wrestling with God to pour out His Spirit, they retire from the secret place without the answer, and submit to it as being God's will."

Burns was always ready to do whatever the Lord called him to do because he persevered in prayer. Let us also be faithful to pray and spend our time seeking the Lord. O may God use us to turn the world upside down as we live our lives with Him in constant prayer.

Not home yet

The search is on; the search that consumes all of our lives, whether we know it or not. We all seek happiness; we all seek something that will satisfy our hearts. So like a scavenger hunt, we all race about filling our lives with what we think might make us happy and fill the void in our lives. However the sad fact is that I am not just writing about unbelievers who do not love the Lord, but also of those who love Jesus. How do I know this is so? Because I am one of them.


I love Jesus, and I confess that He is my Lord and Savior; but I am sinner. I easily take my eyes off Christ and seek my joy in other things. I forget that I am not home yet, and in a frantic rush I try to make this world feel like home. Is it any wonder when I lose heart and become discouraged because my attempts fail?! Only Jesus Christ can satisfy my heart and fill my soul with delight. I was not made for this world, and so it only makes sense that this world and everything in it will NEVER satisfy my heart.

At times life can be quite frustrating. I go off into the world to spread my wings, and find it a lonely, indifferent place so I long for the warmth of home, but when I get back home I do not find what I imagined to find. Instead I am left frustrated and wondering why I am not finding the happiness I sought. I have heard the same of marriage. Someone not married thinks that if only he were married, then he would be truly happy; but after the fact he thinks that maybe if he were single again he would be happier. We covet what others have; we envy others happiness; we claw for all we can grab in this world; we spend our money and buy what we see, hoping to buy something that will fill more than our hands; but we come away emptier than ever though we possess more than we ever had before. Perhaps we were made for something more than this…

In Jeremiah 20 the Lord says to His people: “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.” God has placed all of us in this world, and the search is on. The problem is we are searching for the wrong things! We are seeking earthly happiness that does not satisfy our souls. We must stop doing this, and instead look to Jesus to fill our hearts with joy. We must seek God with ALL OF OUR HEARTS and we will find Him; we will find true joy and satisfaction in Him alone.

This earth is not our home. So we must stop trying to make it look and feel like home. Fight the battle of faith, seek the Lord with all of your heart, run the good race; but know that this earth is not home and will never be home. Not until that day when we leave this body behind will we be home. And in that instant God will transform us into Christ’s likeness and the sin that so long tormented us on this earth will be forever gone. We will find our joy in Christ alone and the search will be over. But our happiness will have only just began…each moment will become better and more wonderful then the next.