In His Grip

Strength or Weakness?

I read "My Utmost for His Highest" as a devotional on pretty regular basis.  Yes, the picture is the copy I have, and I admit I bought it because it was pink. The last couple of days have seemed to catch me right where I am at.  When this happens I tend to really listen to what I should be learning because I know that these things do not happen by accident.  Since Easter I have heard several stories of people struggling with different temptations and real attacks by the enemy.  Here is a what was in today's devotion.

"Beware of thinking that the areas of your life where you have experienced victory in the past are now the least likely to cause you to stumble and fall....Unguarded strength is actually a double weakness, because that is where the least likely temptations will be effective in sapping strength.  The Bible characters stumbled over their strong points, never their weak ones.   ". . . kept by the power of God . . ." ---that is the only safety 1 Peter 1:5"

I will be depending on God's power to protect me, my family, and friends from the "strength" we think that we have.

Walking By Faith

This is the new Bible study we are doing on Monday mornings, 9:00ish at Indian Creek Community Church in room 216, if you are interested.  This will be a great followup study for me to the  "In A Pit With A Lion On A Snowy Day", book.

I have done the first day of week one, and I already feel a great challenge to walk by faith.  This book also brought up the people in the Bible that were not afraid to look foolish.  To quote, "The dictionary says that faith is a firm belief in something for which there is no proof---a belief that does not have to rest on the visible." I will continue to  try to show great faith, or is it foolishness?  Hmmm.

Fear of Foolishness

I have been so taken in by this book, "In A Pit With A Lion On A Snowy Day".  I am almost done with it, in fact I have one more chapter and I am having a hard time getting to work because I want to finish the book.  This morning I was reading  and here is a quote.

"....faith is the willingness to look foolish.

Noah looked foolish building an ark in the desert.  Sarah look foolish buying maternity clothes at ninety.  The Israelites looked foolish marching around Jericho blowing trumpets.  David look foolish attacking Goliath with a slingshot.  Benaiah looked foolish chasing a lion.  The wise men looked foolish following yonder star.  Peter looked foolish stepping out of the boat in the middle of the lake.  And Jesus looked foolish hanging half-naked on the cross.

....But I Corinthians 1:27 (NLT) God deliberately chose things the world considers foolish in order to shame those who think they are wise."

This has made me think that if maybe I should recognize my fear of foolishness as lack of faith? Hmmm?

"I'm afraid our version of Christlikeness is way too civilized and sanitized.... Jesus touched lepers, healed on the Sabbath, defended adulterers, befriended prostitutes, washed the feet of his disciples, threw temple tantrums, talked with Samaritans, partied with tax collectors, and regularly offended the Pharirazzi."

Well, I guess I will say it here, I am willing to be foolish if that is what it takes to be faithful.  Have I already shown faith and did not even know it? Hmmmm?

Imagine the Possibilities

"Don't accumulate possessions; accumulate experiences!"  This is a quote from the book I am reading, "In A Pit With A Lion On A Snowy Day." The subtitle is "How to survive and Thrive When Opportunity Roars."  This book is really waking me up to the way that God can work in my life.  I think I limit what God can do in my life to the possibilities that I can imagine.  Wow, how crazy is that!  After all we serve a very creative God that dreamed up everything from a rain drop coming out of the sky to the complexity of the human brain.  Surely He can direct things in my life that I cannot even begin to imagine.  I want to open myself to the possibilities I cannot even imagine today.