Never Stop Digging

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Sometimes we can become discouraged in our walk with the Lord. We can feel as though we are not making any progress... we may at times feel as though we are even going backwards! God allowed a time of famine to occur in the land in the time of Issac as a means to move him on to a new land where he would be a foreigner. He would prosper in this new land, but he would also be despised and rejected.

We read in Genesis 26 that Isaac reopened the wells that his father Abraham had dug and he restored the name of his father. But he was met with resistance from the other shepherds who filled in his wells... so he moved his whole family and dug again. Again, they filled his wells! With each move Isaac was met with arguments and hostility. But that didn’t stop him! He moved his whole family and all his servants and dug a third time! The third time was the charm! He found an open space and dug another well and there was no arguments or hostility over it! Isaac settled in Beersheba where the Lord appeared to him and reminded him that He was with him and not to be afraid! When things get difficult and we are met with continued resistance we can often give up and stop digging.

We may stop reading our Bible or going to church, and that’s exactly what the enemy wants! He wants to stop us. He wants to make us fearful and to paralyze any work that the Lord is doing in our lives. But, we cannot be bullied... we must continue to dig no matter how many times our well is filled! Not matter how hostile or how argumentative people are... we keep going... keep moving and keep digging! And if we do, we will reopen the wells of the living water and restore the name of the Lord Jesus!

We will be met with resistance as we dig, but we will also be met with reassurance that our Lord Jesus is right there with us encouraging us to keep going and to not be afraid! The response of Isaac in the end was that he built an alter and worshiped the Lord! May we have this same kind of persistence that Isaac had no matter the resistance! Whatever you do... Don’t stop digging! Genesis 26:17-25

Spiritual Leakage 

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Psalm 123:2 

Behold, as the eyes of servants look to the hand of their masters,

as the eyes of a maid to the hand of her mistress,

so our eyes look to the Lord our God,

until He has mercy on us.

As believers we are to be entirely reliant upon the Lord and not man. When we allow our eyes to lose focus on the Lord we begin to leak. We can lose focus in many ways: business of life, preoccupancy, procrastination and neglect of the Word. But one area of leakage we often fail to recognize is doubt. When we make spiritual progress and begin to take Spiritual Stands in our lives, often we later question our stand saying things like “Maybe I was too strong in my stand?” “Maybe I was a bit too pretentious?” “Maybe I’m expecting too much?” “I’ve been stretching myself for the Lord too much.” It’s then that we begin to leak spiritually. 

But remember, no effort for the Lord is too high! When we question we leak like when Eve began to question her stand she fell; we will, too. When we doubt God and question our stand for righteousness we are not trusting Him; instead we become concerned with what people think rather than what God thinks. Our reliance on God is gone and reliance on the world’s opinion takes His place. We lose our focus on the Lord and lift our eyes to pleasing people instead. 

Whenever we are in this place we are leaking spiritually. If there are holes in our boat we will sink if we don’t quickly remedy the problem. It only takes a quick readjustment to remedy spiritual leakage—get your eyes back on Jesus and in His word and your boat will patched in no time.

Nehemiah

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I skipped ahead a bit in my one year chronological bible to get to one of my all time favorite books...Nehemiah! And I'm so glad I did with the recent events in Texas. Nehemiah is the story of good verses evil... tragedy which triumphs in the face of adversity. It's a story of one man who listened to the call of God upon his life. His compassion became a burden from the Lord, which caused Nehemiah to put feet to his faith and move into action! I wonder if the Lord hasn't put something in our path that would move us into action. An injustice, a burden, a tragedy.

The Lord moves upon His people to do, and not just to say they will do. In light of the recent events in Texas... maybe we are the ones that the Lord is calling to pray, to act, to help rebuild. This is how it all started with Nehemiah... after he heard the news he did 5 things... he sat down, he wept, he mourned, he fasted and he prayed! This is all he could do at the time... but it was the most powerful thing he could do from a far. We may not be able to go to Texas physically, but we can stop our busy lives, sit down, weep for the loss of our brothers and sisters in Christ, we can mourn and fast and pray!

May the Lord stop us today just for a moment and cause us to intercede on behalf of our brethren.

Waiting for Mr. Right

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“Trust in the Lord, and do good; Dwell in the land, and feed on His faithfulness. Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord, Trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass.” Psalm 37:3-5

Each year most Americans spend 13 hours waiting on hold for customer service, 38 hours in traffic and 37 billion hours in line. Waiting is never easy. It always tests our patience and perseverance. We wait for people, food, answers to questions and we even wait for true love.

True love is different for the Believer than the non-believer. We are looking for certain qualities. The non-believer might want someone who appeals to their physical likes and is funny or has a secure job or brings home a good paycheck. Not that those things are bad in themselves, but the Believer should be looking for things that last. Things like good character and a strong family resemblance to Jesus. Looks and money and security are secondary to the strong family resemblance of Jesus.

When I met my husband I had just come out of a five-year relationship with a guy who had a resemblance of Jesus, but it wasn’t very strong. Then, I didn’t really know what I was looking for. But God had given me His Word and in that I got to know who Jesus was and what His character looked like. So, when I met my husband I saw exactly what I was looking for—a man who looked like Jesus. Of course he didn’t physically look like Jesus but he acted like what I read about Jesus. He knew the Word and shared it with me every day. He prayed with me and pointed me to Jesus, he sharpened me and treated me like a princess.

We as women were created to be the companion of man, to help him and to bring forth a family with him. God told Adam in the garden: “It is not good for man to be alone; I will make him a helper who is just right for him” (Gen. 2:18). It’s clear that we women were created for a special job. God created us to be “just right” for a man. Likewise, there is a man out there that is “just right” for you. However, the question is, “Are you willing to wait for the right one? The one God has especially picked and is preparing even now just for you.

Many women who are single and over 25 begin to grow weary in the wait. They begin to lose focus and instead of keeping their focus on the Lord they begin to focus on getting married and finding a man. They begin looking for a man instead of waiting for God to bring him. They test the waters, date around and if they aren’t careful they may even believe the lie that “nothing better will come around.”

I have heard countless single women tell me there are no godly guys out there! My first question is always, Where are you looking? My second question is, Why are you looking anyway? If you are single you should concentrate on being Mrs. Right, not finding Mr. Right! When our focus is on the Lord and on His work in our own lives we gain a heavenly perspective only those focused on the Lord will have. On the other hand, if our focus is on finding Mr. Right we will be so consumed by this on a daily basis that we will miss what God is trying to do in our own lives.

If we look closely at the scripture in Genesis 2:18 we see God telling Adam that He was making a helper for man. Now many of us sort of smirk at this scripture, not wanting to see it as it is. But the truth remains that we women were created to help our husbands. That is our sole purpose for being created, along with bearing children. Some women don’t like this and my answer is always the same, “I didn’t say it, God did, so you have to take it up with Him.” Personally, I have found great liberty in fulfilling my God given role as a woman, wife and mom. No one can do what I can do for my family. I have job security! We should be ecstatic about this instead of letting it infuriate us.

God has designed woman especially for man. We are not inferior; we just have different roles in the home, in church and in society. For me to argue with that is saying I am not content who God created me to be. I will admit that at one time in my life I did question my calling. I felt that it was too much work and certainly God wouldn’t have created me to do all this work! But, guess what? He did! He created us to be amazing multitaskers, to be able to feed a baby and vacuum at the same time. We have the capability to do laundry while talking on the phone and helping with homework. We can drive the carpool while drinking coffee and finishing our makeup! You get the idea. We are created for a very special task and yet we have to wait for it to come to pass in our lives.

We never want to be hasty in our decision of who we marry. Next to receiving Jesus as your Savior, marrying the right man is the most important decision of your life. You don’t want to jump the gun and marry outside of God’s perfect will for your life. You want to wait and let the Lord make you the woman you need to be before you meet Mr. Right. You want to be mature in the Lord and ready for His high calling of being a wife.

I tell young women all the time, “God will not bring you your husband until the two of you together are a stronger team than you are apart!” If you have a strong devotional life and your husband doesn’t then you are not going to be a very strong team. Ladies, you must look for a man that is further along in his walk than you are. He must lead you spiritually from the start because it’s not going to change after you get married no matter how much you try and convince yourself. You must keep your standards high because you are looking for a man who looks like JESUS and He was perfect! Will your husband be perfect? Of course not! But he will be a perfect complement to you and the two of you together will be a powerful team for Jesus.

So, ladies, please don’t grow weary in the wait. Get busy about your Father’s business, serve the Lord with your whole heart and He will bring your man when you are good and ready! Remember Psalm 37:3-5. IF you are trusting in the Lord, dwelling in the land, feeding in the Word, delighting in Him, praying to Him and trusting in Him, then He promises that HE WILL GIVE YOU THE DESIRES OF YOUR HEART and HE WILL BRING IT TO PASS. Don’t give up, girls, hang in there, get your standards high; focus on becoming the right person instead of finding one and you’ll be blessed with Mr. Right.

-Michelle Randall

A Resolute Resolution

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“For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified” 1 Corinthians 2:2

Whenever we come into a new year it’s always good to take inventory on what the Lord has done in and through our lives the past year; the answered prayer, changed lives, ministry opportunities, and even mistakes. We recount all the great things the Lord has done in our lives and we look expectantly for all the things He has yet to do. As 2016 comes to a close I ponder Jonathan Edwards resolutions: Resolution One: I will live for God. Resolution Two: If no one else does, I still will. Are you resolute to live for God no matter what the cost?

The day in which we are living calls for men and women to be resolute in their stand for God no matter what the cost. To be resolute means to be determined, adamant, single-minded, firm, unwavering, steadfast, tenacious and unshakable. Paul said in Acts 20:24: “But none of these things move me, nor do I count my life dear to myself, so that I may finish my course with joy, and the ministry, which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God.” Many things in life try and “move” us; they try and shake us to the core. But we must be resolute in our stand for righteousness, something I am learning slowly but surely the longer I walk with the Lord. When we experience times of shaking where do we turn, and who do we run to? It’s important that we turn to the Lord.

David and Jason Benham stood for what was right (marriage between a man and a women and the life of the unborn child) and were removed from HGTV’s reality show “Flip Forward”. There is always a cost to walking closely with the Lord, the higher the calling the greater the cost. They said in their book, Whatever the Cost, “When you pick up your sword to fight in the exposed places of your city, it will cost you something. The question is, will you obey whatever the cost?” How you see the battle determines how you will fight it. If you see the battle as a physical one, you will pick up the wrong weapon, just as Peter did when he cut off the ear of the high priest’s servant (John 18:10). But if you see with spiritual eyes as we should, then you will choose the correct weapons: truth and love. We as believers are to be love for God is love. We cannot walk in the Spirit while being hateful and bitter at the same time. This requires that we first know the God of love intimately and then that we act like the God we know and love. This is not an easy task, even for people that have served the Lord for 25 years.

When we are hurt or wronged we are just like anyone else. We want to defend ourselves. But the Lord tells us that He is our defense. He is our buckler, our rock and our fortress. He is where our strength comes from. In our distress, He leads us to the rock that is higher than us. He leads us to the solid rock, the only one that is immovable; the Rock Jesus. This is where we fall when times are tough, and this is where we go when we need to be lifted up. It’s here that we find strength and rest, forgiveness and the love that can only come from the Spirit. When we want to give up, He is there for us. When we want to give in, He strengthens us. When we want to run away, He finds us. Taking a Stand for what’s right doesn’t always feel right. Being bold for Christ will cost. The bolder you are the higher the cost. My prayer for you this year is that you will be resolute in your faith, firmly established in Christ and not easily moved. Take time today to consider the cost that Jesus paid for you and commit to in turn be resolute for Him! Happy New year and let’s make 2017 a year to remember!

-Michelle Randall