Beware The Slow Blade

In the Sci-Fi book series Dune by Frank Herbert,  Paul Atreides notes: "In shield fighting, one moves fast on defense, slow on attack ... Attack has the sole purpose of tricking the opponent into a misstep, setting him up for the  sinister attack. The shield turns the fast blow, admits the slow kindjal!"  He is referring to fighting with a body shield that repels fast attacks from an opponent.  The slow attack is permitted to enter the shield and can be just as deadly as the fast attack.  In one scene in the book, Paul is practicing with a mentor and without warning looks down and discovers his 'opponents' (training mentor) blade has penetrated the shield.

There are times in the spiritual life we are so busy countering the attacks that come at us fast and furious that we neglect to look for slow gradual attacks.  These attacks are just as damaging as a fast attack if we are not looking for them, and can attack us without us even knowing.  Let me give you an example:  Recently I have been looking and watching for the fast obvious attacks coming at me from Satan and his henchmen.  Without realizing it, while I was busy countering those attacks, his slow blade had penetrated my 'shield'.  I had no clue.  The attacks came so subtlety that I did not see it and just thought it was just my own reactions to life situations around me.   I now know it for what it real was, a slow blade.

Just as in Dune, we are attacked hard and fast to distract us from the slow attack that creeps in with the attempt to destroy us slowly.  It is these slow attacks that we need others to be our eyes to watch out for us and to warn us of the slow blade.  If someone asks you if something is wrong and you don't think there is, consider the idea that it could be the slow blade penetrating your carefully constructed shield of faith, the armor that you think is impenetrable.  We need each other to counter these slow blade attacks.  Without the spiritual awareness of others, we could miss them and become bound by attitudes that can keep us from gaining all God has for us.

What are these slow blades?  There are many.  Some are failure, depression, anger, bitterness, etc.  They creep in so slow that we do not know they are tangling us up in their grip.  Listen to those that are spiritually attuned and know you well to help detect these slow blades.   Accept their observations and listen to them, and allow them to pray for you.  You may be surprised at the slow blades that have attacked you, keeping you from walking in victory in Jesus Christ. I learned my lesson, I pray that you can be made aware of the slow blades attempting to penetrate your shield so you can counter them.

What Does God want me to do?

Quite often I have heard people say: "What is God's will for me?  What should I do?   What kind of job or career should I go after? Where does God want me to go?"  And yes even I have asked these questions.  But lately I have been asking myself a different question.  "Should I even be concerned about God's long term plan for me?" 

If you look in the Bible, God very rarely told anyone what His long term will was.  Even Abraham.  God told him to leave his town and job and go to a place He would show him.  He didn't tell him why, or where, just told him to go.  The amazing thing is Abraham did it.  He had no way of knowing that where he was going was going to be ok or that there would be security.  All he did was do it.  Then later, God told him to leave another city and keep going.  As far as we know, he asked no questions, he just did it.  Did everything turn out alright for him?  Yes.  Did he have hard times?  Yes.  Did he have doubts about God's leading and about his own relationship with God?  Probably.  But Abraham did one thing.  He focused on what God wanted for him one day at a time.  He trusted God no matter what.  He focused on his relationship with God above even that.  That is what drove him to be the man that he became.

So that brings the topic to us.  What is easier to focus on, the long time or the short term?  If you think about it, its the long term.  You don't have to make plans for it (although you should) and you don't have to think about the present.  What if all we did was focus on our relationship/walk with God?  What if we surrendered so fully to God that there was no worry about tomorrow?  What if every day we asked God what He had planned for us today?  What if we just worshiped God for who He is and not where He is taking us?  Not an easy task if you think about it.  Isn't it more frightening to here God ask us to do such and such a task right now or pray for someone right now than it is to think about the future?

Sometimes God does give us a dream and desires.  And sometimes they work out great, and other times, they feel like everything is falling apart.  But when we focus our attention on God, on Jesus, on The Holy Spirit, there is no time to focus on the long term.  Go with God.  He knows the gifts and abilities He gave you.  If He hasn't told you what to plan for in the future, then don't worry about it.  Just worship Him and do what He asks of you day by day, moment by moment.  Will that be easy?  Probably not.  Will it be worth it?  Yes it will be, no matter the outcome. 

So the crux of this whole blog is to say, don't worry about God's will for you in the long term.  What does He want for us now?  If he tells you to get ready for something, to plan for something, then do it with all you have.  But if He does not, don't ask others what to do, or ask others what God's plan for you is if you are not focusing on what you are to do right now.  He may just give you a bigger plan for you than you ever dreamed of.  Start now and ask God "What do you want me to do right now, today?"  It may be small but that small step of faith may be just what He is waiting on to reveal to you His bigger plan.  The more in love and the more obedient you are to Him, the better the relationship you will have with him.  “So don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today’s trouble is enough for today." (Matthew 6:34).

Why do good people experience crisis?

Crisis comes when we least expect it and always when we don' want it.  But why does it come?  I have heard this question many times.  Usually the answer comes back in various ways.  Many times it comes back as "I am being punished for something I did" or "The devil is just out to get me."  Or even "It's just life, bad things happen to everyone so why not me."  All of these answers have a negative spin to them.  Does this mean that every time things go wrong or a crisis comes that it because of a something negative?  I don't believe so.  Stay with me, and I pray you will learn what I have learned recently about a crisis situation.

First let's look at Job from the Old Testament.  The book starts with God commenting on how Job seeks after God and points out his righteousness.  He is not commenting to the angels or another person, He is commenting to Satan.  Satan asks permission to bring about a major crisis in Jobs life.  God grants the request with one condition, that he cannot take Jobs life.  So within a short time, Job loses his wealth, his children, and his health.  He also has his wife speak very badly to him (I am sure after losing all ten of her children at once she was also feeling the effects of the crisis) and his best friends come and stare at him for 7 days before they tell him how horrible of a person he is and that they know that he must of dome something horrible for God to do this to him.  In the end, God corrects all of them, Job, his friends, and his wife.  So the purpose of God allowing Satan to come after him was 3 fold:  1) Satan wanted to prove to God that Job was not as good as God thought, 2) God wanted to prove to Job and his friends and all who heard his story how great and awesome God is and How he can create wonderful things out of tragedy, and 3) Job and his friends needed some fine tuning in their attitudes toward people and toward God and how God works.  This last reason I believe is the greatest of them all.  Because after Job learned the lesson and was fine-tuned, he was blessed and became even wealthier and more righteous than before.   The end of the story is greater than the beginning. 

So why do crisis events/bad things happen to us as followers of Jesus?  For the same reasons.  God not only wants to show us and others His great power and how much He loves us, but also to make us more into the image of Jesus so that we can be even more able to further the plans God has for us.  And just like Job, the end of the story for us can be greater than the beginning.  The hard part is recognizing the refining and attitude adjustment God is doing in our life.  It is never easy to go through a crisis, but if we keep our attention on the One who made us, we will see great things in the end.

Are these crisis events that come our way just for us?  Again looking at the story of Job, the crisis was centered on Job, but the effects reached farther than Job; his wife and friends were affected as well as all those that have heard his story.  They all learned that a crisis can be good in the end.  They all learned that was Satan had meant for evil to harm Job, was turned into a victory not only for Job, but for God.

If and when you find yourself in a crisis situation (because they will come), be asking God what the purpose is and what you need to do or what area He is targeting to transform into something wonderful.  Just like Job, you will have friends and family tell you that you must have done something horrible or that Satan is out to get you.  It is quite possible that Satan is out to destroy you, and maybe, just maybe it is the result of something you have chosen to do, but keep it positive.  Search your heart and soul and attitudes.  The purpose of it is to make you more into the kind of person that God wants and needs you in order to fulfill His purpose for you AND for those around you AND for all that hear about what God has done for you. 

I leave you with this final thought from Philippians 1:6 : "And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns."

Trash vs. Gold

I can just hear your thoughts.  "Trash vs. Gold?  There is no comparison.  Gold is where it's at.  Who wants trash?"  When you look at these two pictures there is no comparison.  I would go for the gold too.  But here is the problem.  Many of us feel that we are more like the second picture than the first one.  Many of us feel trashy, or at least not much better than trash.  Many of us try and try and may even try and make others think that we believe we are valuable, but deep down, we often don't.  We lie to ourselves.  But if most of us are honest we would have to agree that we are not anywhere close to gold, but much closer to trash. 

If you are a follower of Jesus Christ, you have probably heard the saying: "God doesn't make junk."  But the problem is that we believe it, but yet tell ourselves that we may not be junk, but are not much better than junk.  But have you ever thought about what God has says about each of us in His Word?  Have you searched the scripture to see what he has to say about your worth?  It is in there.  First look at Ephesians 2:10 "For we are God's workmanship..."  Now let's look at the word workmanship for a moment.  Some versions have instead masterpiece.  What is a master piece?  According to Webster's dictionary it is  "a work done with extraordinary skill; especially: a supreme intellectual or artistic achievement."  In other words, it is worth great value, worth much not only to the maker, but to all who look upon it.  Often masterpieces are a one of a kind and are priceless.  Not garbage, not junk, but worth tremendous value.  Look back at Ephesians 2:10, some versions say we are God's creation.  

Before we go any further, let's look at what the original word and meaning of the word translated as workmanship, masterpiece, and creation.  The original Greek word here is poiema.  It is the same word found in Romans 1:20 "For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities-- his eternal power and divine nature-- have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made..."  The inference here is that everything made by God has been made to declare who God is, and declare His power and nature.  Did you get that?  YOU have been made to show the rest of creation who God is and how powerful He is and What he is like.  That does not say junk or barely better than junk to me.  That says value.  That says that we are ALL made to not show each other that God is God and and that He makes us in such a way that we are valuable to His plan and purposes.

I don't want to stop there.  I want to go further.  When I found that Eph. 2:10 has also been translated as God's creation, my thoughts went back to Genesis 1:26 and 27 which says: "Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, ... So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them."  Did you see that?  We are created in God's image and likeness.  He didn't just say it once; in these two verses He said it repeatedly.  Look at it again and count the number of times.  1)"Then God said, "Let us make man in our image,  2)in our likeness, ... 3)So God created man in his own image, 4) in the image of God he created him; 5) male and female he created them."  Did you get it?  Not once, not twice, but 5 times God stated that he made us in His image.  When God repeats something over and over, especially right in the same passage, its important.  It's important because we have lost that sense of value because of sin, because of the sin of others. 

You are worth it.  You are worth ALL that He has done for you.  In fact, He values you more than gold.  How can I say that? Let's look at Revelations 21:18-21:  "The wall was made of jasper, and the city of pure gold, as pure as glass.  The foundations of the city walls were decorated with every kind of precious stone. The first foundation was jasper, the second sapphire, the third chalcedony, the fourth emerald, the fifth sardonyx, the sixth carnelian, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth, and the twelfth amethyst.  The twelve gates were twelve pearls, each gate made of a single pearl. The great street of the city was of pure gold, ..."  These verses describe the city He made for us, or as we know it, Heaven.  Did you see what the city was made of?  Precious stones, giant pearls, with the pavement being gold.  Yes gold.  Not just crowns, but the streets we will walk on will be gold.  We are that precious and valuable to Him. 

Even better than all of this, He allowed Himself to die in our place on a cross so that we could have the opportunity to discover our value, our worth.  He loves all of us enough to do this.  He made us valuable and so we always will be valuable.   Knowing all of this, why would we want to do things that make us less valuable in our estimation?  Why would we not want to be follow Him and be his friend and follower?  After discovering all of this, I like Paul want to say even more now than ever "I want to know Christ" (Phil. 3:10).

Lord. I pray for all those that read this that may feel they have little to no value.  I ask that something I have said here will impact them and change their life in way that helps them see how valuable they really are.

Whats your value?

We have all heard the phrase "God doesn't make junk."  I have heard many people quote this, but the truth is many of us think we are just a little better than junk, that we have little value to others, and especially to God.  Why does this happen?  IT happens to different people for different reasons but it is a major reason why many people are ineffective for the kingdom of God.  Many of us feel less value than someone else such as their pastor, or a national or international leader.  Just because someone is popular in the worlds eyes does not make you more valuable to God.  God has no favorites and views us all the same.  We are valuable no matter what the world says, no matter what our emotions tell us or our feelings.  He made us for a reason and has given us desires to do certain things for a reason.

As an example, I have a friend that as a young man was molested and raped and because a few others saw him as a person of little to no value, he also began to listen to those lies that told him that he was a low class person.  He believed that God really doesn't make junk, but life and others and told him that he was not worth much more than junk.  One day God broke in and changed all that.  He heard a pastor teaching about purity and realized that the reason he had felt inferior was because of others actions and that it was all based on a lie.  That moment revolutionized his life and he is now happy and ready to allow God to create a new person and value in him so that he can fulfill the purpose and call God has on his life, no matter what that looks like.

If you are reading this and you are feeling inferior to others or feel like you have little to no value to anyone, especially God, then you believe a lie.  I challenge you to ask Jesus to show you your value, not in the eyes of the world but in His eyes.  That is where true value lies.

Psalm 8  (NLT)

 

1O Lord, our Lord, your majestic name fills the earth!

Your glory is higher than the heavens.

2You have taught children and infants

to tell of your strength,

silencing your enemies

and all who oppose you.

3When I look at the night sky and see the work of your fingers—

the moon and the stars you set in place—

4what are mere mortals that you should think about them,

human beings that you should care for them?

5Yet you made them only a little lower than God

and crowned them with glory and honor.

6You gave them charge of everything you made,

putting all things under their authority—

7the flocks and the herds

and all the wild animals,

8the birds in the sky, the fish in the sea,

and everything that swims the ocean currents.

9O Lord, our Lord, your majestic name fills the earth!

How much does God love you?

Many have pondered this question for a long time.  Does God REALLY love me?  We all know the Bible tells us and we know the story of the crucifixion and yet we still wonder.  We all have our own reasons why we question this.  Sometimes it seems like it is just a nice saying or something we wish would happen.  We look at the circumstances of our lives and we wonder how true it really is.  We experience setbacks and we feel alone sometimes.  But we keep telling ourselves that God loves us, or at least we hope He does. 

I have heard many sermons on this topic but somehow it never quite becomes a part of me, or something that I truly believed.  That is until recently.  I was at a church service and the lyrics of the song being sung at the moment went something like this  "Oh I’m running to Your arms, I’m running to Your arms, The riches of Your love, Will always be enough, Nothing compares to Your embrace, Light of the world forever reign."  I just happened to be holding my two month old son who was asleep in my arms.  I looked down and I could tell I loved him, but did he know it?  How does he know it?  Suddenly I saw a picture in my mind of me holding my son. or so I thought, but when I looked down in this picture, it wasn't my boy, it was me relaxed and asleep in those arms.  I suddenly realized that God was allowing me to see myself as He does for a moment, resting in His arms.  As I looked at this picture, I knew how much I loved my son and how much I wanted the best for him and to protect him from harm.  I want the best for him, and I knew that there was going to be times when he might not think that what I am allowing him to go through is actually love.  As I looked at this picture, I was aware that if i loved my son that much and only knew what was happening at the present right where we are, then how much more does God love me who not only knows me as I am now, but knows the future and what I need to experience to make me a better man of God after the current situation is over and in the past.  I was overwhelmed with how much He truly does love me and in the current situation when it seems dark that He is holding me close and is using the present to shape my future for all eternity. 

As the service progressed, I became more aware of how much God loves each of us and that He allows things for a reason and those things are to perfect us.  We will never be perfected until we come to be with Him in His heavenly realm.  So If I love my son as much as I do, and would do anything to make his life better for him and want to protect him, how much more would God do the same for me, His son?  Things may be tough right now, but God knows what is coming against me and is working to correct that and not only make it better for me, but to make it work for His ultimate good for all mankind and so that His purpose is fulfilled more than my own plans and visions for my life.

God does this for every one of us.  None of us are exempt from this love.  He made us and knows us much more deeply and intimately than we know ourselves our own children.  Who knows what terrors would come upon us if He did not love us.  We may experience horrible things in our lives and wonder where He is, but God loves us enough to die for us and even to suffer the consequences of our sin, and unfortunately the sins of others.  But I can truly say that He truly does love us with a deep and everlasting love. 

I challenge to open up your heart and mind to experience that love that can only come from our Heavenly Father, the One who made us.  Even if you don't feel it, he really does love us and is holding us close to Himself.

Yes God DOES Keep His Promises

God's Promise Fulfilled

This blog is a follow-up to my previous blog titled "Does God Keep His Promises?"  In that blog I talked about how God promised me a son.  Well the day has come.  He is 8 days old today and is very happy and healthy.  After a bit of trouble on his birth day, he arrived healthy and squirmy.  He is a true miracle in every sense of the word.  He did not arrive easily like you would expect.  He came with some hard stressful times.  But that is usually the way God's promises are fulfilled.  I have learned that when God fulfills His promise it will happen in a way that only He could make happen, and it never happens the way you imagined it.  To sum it all up, I have put it this way:

When God makes a promise you can be sure He will come through in ways that far exceed your expectations or imaginings.

Lessons learned from the Feline persuasion

This may seem silly, but I have a cat that has taught me a thing or two that has helped in my spiritual life, and I pray that these insights help readers.

The first observation  I noticed was this:  my cat love being near me, sometimes on my lap, sometimes on the couch next to me, and other times just in the same room.  The lesson I learned is that this is the way we should view our relationship with God.  We should desire to be in His presence and close to Him as much as possible.  This is what we were made for.  How many times in the Bible do we read that God is jealous for us, that He longs for His children to be close to Him?  Sometimes we read it in story form and sometimes we read it in plain language that God desires for us to be near Him and wish for us to be obedient to His voice and Word above all other things.

Another observation I have made is this:  my daughter had a string that she using to play with the cat.  It was actually quite hilarious.  An 8 year old cat playing like an 8 wk old kitten.  After a while, she placed on my bedside table when she was finished.  After a couple days, the cat found it and dragged it out and dropped it and looked at it like she wanted to play, so we did.  Then I put it in a drawer so she would not see it, thinking that maybe out of sight might mean out of mind.  But no, she saw where we put it and would, and actually still does, will go that drawer and either look it and meow or paw it and meow.  She will do this until I take it out and play with her.  If  I don't, she will look at me and give me a pathetic meow as if to say "Can't we play?"   The lesson I learned is that she asked and kept on asking, she sought and kept on seeking, she knocked and kept on knocking (Mathew 7:7-8).  She is like the persistent widow in her asking.  She doesn't give up until she gets an answer to her plea.  Many times we are not like that.  We ask God once and if our plea does not get answered, we sulk away and never ask.  I am not saying we are like that, but I know many who are.  I have even done it.  Let's try and be more like my cat, and be persistent when we enter Gods throne room until we get an answer.  Sometimes God delays in answering because it's not the right time or because he wants to see if we will keep asking.  Sometimes He does answer but our ears are clogged with our life circumstances.  Ask and keep on asking, seek and keep on seeking, knock and keep on knocking.

The final observation I will make here is the fact that my cat is so sure that I will meet her needs (i.e. feed her, clean the litter box, keep her safe, etc.).  She never worries about food or water or even attention and love from us human folk.  If a cat, who is a creature, does not worry about those things because we take care of them, how much more will our God take care of our needs?  Many times we worry needlessly about things.  Jesus even taught us about this in these words:

         "Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you shall eat or what you shall drink, nor about your body, what you shall put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?   Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?  And which of you by being anxious can add one cubit to his span of life?  And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin; yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O men of little faith?   Therefore do not be anxious, saying, `What shall we eat?' or `What shall we drink?' or `What shall we wear?'   For the Gentiles seek all these things; and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all.   But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things shall be yours as well.   Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Let the day's own trouble be sufficient for the day." (Matthew 6:25-34) 

God is our provider, not our efforts.  At any time God can allow circumstances to allow you to discover that it is not your efforts, your intelligence, your hard work that provides for you.  That may be needed, but God is the ultimate provider.  So if  we know how to take care of our pets and those under our care, how much more can God, the creator and sustainer of all things, take care of all of us.

I pray that as you have read this, you take some comfort in what God can do and does when we seek Him.  I also pray that if you struggle with any of these areas, that you learn how to fully depend on God our Savior, friend, provider, and Lord.  The most important of these lessons is found in Matthew 6:33 which states: "But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things shall be yours as well."

Two Wave Vision

The other day I had a vision while worshipping God.  In the vision I was standing on what appeared to be a sand bar, but only drier.  Behind me and in front of me was a wave, both coming towards me.  In the vision I was holding out my hand and yelling at one of the waves to stop coming after me, my attention 100% on it.  The other wave was bigger and coming just as fast.  I knew immediately what they represented.  The one I was yelling at represented the past;  the good, the bad, and the ugly.  It represented where I had come from, spiritually, my heritage, where I have worked, where i have went to school, etc.  It also represented past sins or habits that I had dealt with and gotten rid of.  The other represented the future and what God has for me there.  This included spiritually, financially, occupation, family, everything about the future. 

What surprised me was that I was focused on the past, and not on the future.  The past threatened to crash back over me, especially those areas that I would never choose to revisit, and my attention was on the parts of the past that I liked as well, wishing for them again.  I realized that I was in the in between no mans land that was no fun for anyone.  I know this was an accurate picture of me since currently I am unemployed and have been looking for work for some time with no success and the old habits from the past due to stress wanted to overwhelm me.

 As I looked at the picture, I was reminded of the Israelites in the wilderness.  Where was there attention focused?   It was focused on Egypt, where they had come from and the bondage and hard life it represented.  They rarely focused on the Promised Land, or the future where God was leading them.

Lots of people are like this.  They find themselves in a hard place and discover it isn't where they want to be, they say they want the future where God is taking them but their thoughts and emotions are looking back to what they had, the comfortable life (although it may not have been easy, it was something familiar).  They know that a better future could be in store, but they long for the past.  They are tired of the hard place and think it best to go back. So they yell at the wave tell it to stop and are even tempted to go back all at the same time.  Sounds confusing, but it is true.  I have been there.  If you find yourself in this place, you might feel that you have done something wrong or that God has abandoned you or is [playing games.  You listen to your emotions more than the words of God in your heart and in His word.  You may even feel that you are the only person to have ever gone through this.  I have good news for you.  You are not the first nor will you be the last.  God took you out of your past into no man's land so that He could both prepare you for the future coming and prepare the future for you.  In faith we must believe and trust in God that what He is doing is the right thing and that He is not playing games.  We must look to the future and not focus on where we have been.  Paul puts it this way:

" But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ.  What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ-- the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith.  I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.  Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.  Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead,  I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus." (Phil. 3:7-14).

So what does this all mean?  Look toward Jesus and what he has ahead for you.  Do what you can to know Him more and more and become more conformed to His image.  This will not be easy because everything within you will want to turn back and return to the comfortable past life of things you know.  So be strong and courageous and allow God to do the work in you that He desires.  When the future promises come, you will be glad that you endured the sandbar of difficulties.

God's Promises

I have a question to ask you as I start. Do you believe that when God promises something that it will be kept?  I can hear many of you saying "Well, of course He does."  But many times we do not live as if we believe it.  As with anything, the believing comes in the action not the word.  For example:  You can say all day long that you believe a chair will hold you up when you sit on it, but until you actually sit on it, you are not acting on that belief and proving to yourself and others that you believe it.

I ran into a situation recently and found myself in a rough spot.  Suddenly a verse came to mind: "When the enemy comes in like a flood, The Spirit of the LORD will lift up a standard against him." (Isa. 59:19, NKJV).  I remember praying and reminding God that His word says that when the enemy comes against us, You will come against him.  I also said that I needed God to do this for me right now.  I was desperate.  As soon as I did, I felt the presence of God sweep by me and the onslaught of the enemy was gone.  My thoughts cleared up and returned to normal.  I was amazed to say the least.  I remembered thinking that "God's promises really work."  I didn't do anything special, all I did was prayed that scripture and believed and the situation was gone. 

To digress just a little, this verse in the Hebrew has no punctuation in the original writings.  All punctuation has been added later.  So, that verse can also be read this way: "When the enemy comes in, like a flood The Spirit of the LORD will lift up a standard against him."  As I meditated on it, it seems the 'like a flood' phrase can refer to either side of the equation.  It could also be rendered: "When the enemy comes in like a flood,  like a flood The Spirit of the LORD will lift up a standard against him."  This seems very accurate in my opinion.  And why not?  God is always able to come against the enemy with a bigger flood than the one the enemy produces.  And this thought also ran through my mind as well, if God is all powerful, just a lift of His pinkie will be enough to come against any flood the enemy can produce.

So what did I learn?  I learned that just because I can quote a scripture and tell others about it, does not mean I truly believe it until I put it into action.  That is why James says that faith without works is dead (James 2:26).  You must put action to your faith in order for it to be alive.  If you don't, it can be argued that you don't really believe it anyway.  So, all this to say, put feet to your actions so that you can be counted a person of faith.  Don't just say you believe something, action follow through with action.  Try it; you might just be surprised how willing God is to keep His promises.