Ark Building Faith: Part Deux

After I wrote the preceding blog I had several thoughts jump into my mind. I'm sure you know I am a woman who muses over things by now. Anyway, I was thinking about the ark. It was built to the specific directive of Father God. He told Noah what type of wood to use, the dimensions, number of stories, windows and openings, etc. He told him to gather the animals in pairs of male and female of each species on the earth and to have areas prepared for them in the ark. He told Noah to bring food for his family and the animals and to bring extra animals for sacrifice. Now, God told him all this, but Noah was still operating by faith. As I wrote before, there had never been rain or a flood on the earth. Noah had no idea of the number of animals or the species and would have had to have help in getting them gathered for the boat ride. It took years for the ark to be built and I'm sure there were many difficult times and seasons during the building of the vessel that would keep them safe and get them to their new life. Father God's directions were so specific and perfect for the situation that later ships were built using the same ratio of dimensions to keep them afloat with the least danger of capsizing or sinking. But, it was all through obedience and faith on Noah's part that his family was saved.

When we operate out of that same obedience and faith to Abba Father's instructions, we are in the process of building a vessel that will be able to ride out the floods and rains in our lives. Our vessel (life) has been given with specific criteria to help us come through those floods victoriously! It normally takes years and can be an unfamiliar journey of walking in faith that what God has said He will do and how He says to do it will come to pass even when we don't see it. Faith! When we build our lives based on faith in the Word of God, our vessel is sound for the journey and less likely to capsize or sink when the flood levels rise! What an awesome thing! God pre-designed us to walk by faith and when we do, we please Him and are blessed with assurance in His plan! Don't you just love our extraordinary Father?!!!

Ark Faith

What is faith? Sure, I know the biblical definition that "faith is being sure of the things we hope for and knowing that something is real even if we don't see it" but, what is faith? I've been told that it is like sitting in a chair and believing the chair will hold me up, but is that really what faith is? I believe faith is bigger than a chair that holds me up. Noah built the ark under the directive of God when there had never been rain on the earth. He faced ridicule and rejection and yet, kept building until the ark was complete and the animals inside. Funny thing was, the rain didn't start immediately once they were all in. Did Noah or his family question his God during that wait? Probably some did. I'm sure those on the outside were laughing and mocking for a time. But then, the rain started and didn't stop and the laughing and mocking became cries and pleas for entrance to the ark. Noah and his family were saved because he knew God's word concerning the coming event was true even though he had never seen rain before. Faith.

The entire eleventh chapter of Hebrews is a recounting of many men and women of the Bible who chose to operate on a faith account rather than a visual one. Hebrews 12:1 states that we have been surrounded by a great cloud of people whose lives tell us what faith means! It is not trusting a chair to hold you up! It is heavy-duty, all encompassing trust that Abba Father is bigger than circumstances, bigger than reports, bigger than enemies, bigger than death and bigger than knowledge.

As I walk through my current circumstances, I'm having to walk in faith. Have I had doubts and fears to deal with? Sure, I have. I am choosing to walk into the unknown with the All-Knowing One. Would it be easier to do it my way and get a quick "fix" to my circumstances. Probably would be, but then I would miss out on the wonderful reward of knowing I have trusted God to do what He has said He will do. I can't please Him if I walk only in what I can see - I have to have faith! Sixty is not the age, in the natural realm, to be "starting over", but it is the age in the spirtual realm that I believe will produce the greatest life I have ever had - by faith! Many of my family and friends are having rough times in the current economic climate and are being faced with an uncertain future. What's going to happen and when are big questions in many hearts. We have to settle who and what we are going to believe. Are we going to believe there are "giants in the land' or are we going to believe that Abba Father has led or allowed us to reach this place in our lives so He can prove Himself mighty on our behalf and bring good for us out of the circumstances? What's it going to be? Faith or fear? Life or death? I encourage us all to choose faith and in choosing faith we will experience abundant life in God's favor and blessing! I love you! Be blessed today.

Happy Birthday, Daddy!

On February 3rd, ninety-eight years ago, a baby boy was born who would become my father thirty-seven years later. Daddy was born into a family of sharecroppers in Georgia. He learned to work hard as a little boy and worked in the cotton and tobacco fields until he left home as a young man. He only finished the eight grade at school and then worked full time to help support his family. Daddy's mother died when he was 12 years old and he told me that her death changed a great many things in his life and family. My grandfather married very soon after my grandmother's passing in order to have someone to care for their home and family. Not very romantic, but a necessity of life in the early 1900's.

I was my father's first-born and always knew that I was loved by him. When I developed acute rheumatic fever at the age of nine and was hospitalized for weeks, my daddy would stay with me every night in the hospital so I wouldn't be frightened when the nurses would awaken me for more shots or tests. One night I was awakened and he wasn't there because he had gone to the nurses' station for coffee. As I began to cry loudly in fear, Daddy came running back into the room. He held me in his arms there on my bed and told me that if he could take my place and be sick for me, he would gladly do just that. Even at the young age of nine years, I knew he was telling me of his amazing love for me - his little girl. I never forgot it! Many years later after dealing with heart problems related to the illness of my youth, I was missing my daddy and just thanking God for giving me my father when the revelation of what happened in my hospital room all those years before become very clear. God was revealing to my little girl's heart a picture of the sacrificial love of a father for his child that would prepare the way for me to fully know and accept the love of my Abba Father for me. Daddy loved me and wanted to take my place and take my disease, my pain and my fear, but he couldn't. Abba Father also loved me and wanted to take my place and take my disease, pain and fear - He wanted to, He could and He did! What a glorious picture of my Abba's love revealed through my daddy! I still miss my daddy but I have the assurance from God's Word that Daddy has not ceased to be - he is still very much alive! So, happy birthday, Daddy, from your little girl. Thank you for loving me and preparing me for the greatest love I can know! You did good, Daddy!

She Looks Like Her Daddy

From the time I was a very little girl, I was told that I looked like my daddy. I loved my daddy and enjoyed being told that when I was young. However, as I grew older my desire was to look like my mother or my older sister. It was the '50's and mothers in that decade wore dresses or skirts to work even if that work was at home. The dresses were gorgeous, full-skirted renditions that showed off the waist and figure. I thought my mother & sister were beautiful and I really wanted to be told I looked like them instead of my daddy. That never happened. They both had dark brown curly hair and dark eyes while I was blonde with manufactured curls and blue eyes. My daddy had the same color hair and eyes and we shared similar cheekbones and noses. He looked like a young Bing Crosby, even to the ears and I had those, too. He wasn't unattractive, he just wasn't pretty and I was all about pretty! Well, my daddy died when I was 27 and now I love it when someone states that I look much like my daddy. It helps me feel close to him when I see a reminder in the mirror or in pictures that show our similarities.

Today, my hearts' desire is that when others see me or interact with me, they see a resemblance to my heavenly Father, my Abba (Daddy). I still like pretty and I still think my mother and sister are beautiful, but my desire is more to glorify Him than myself while on this journey called life. I think my face is beginning to look more like Him because I know my heart is. The more I interact with Him, the more I look like my Daddy inside and out! Isn't that an awesome thing about our extraordinary Abba - how we are changed from within as we walk and rest in relationship with Him and then become more and more like Him in the process?! She looks like her Daddy are sweet words to my heart! Thank you, Daddy.

"Tell Them I Love Them"

For years, every time I have been asked to speak somewhere and asked Father what He wanted me to share, the answer has been, "Tell them I love them." I started to argue with Him after awhile because I wanted to share some of my own "insights" into the Word and not concentrate on His love. How arrogant can one person be? I have since learned and am continuing to learn that His love is the most important thing I can share with others and that it is the least thing we normally experience in our journey with Him. He loves you and He loves me with a love that is so much greater, broader and more compelling than anything we can experience in our earthly relationships! His love is completely unconditional and totally delightful! In fact, He delights in us and rejoices over us with singing. It is not about what we do or say or how many times we pray, but it's about us being His children, His sons and daughters. Zephaniah 3:17 states: "The Lord your God is with you...He will take great delight in you, He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing." That's the image of a loving father taking care of his children and enjoying them for who they are. As a parent and grandparent, I believe I have been given a glimpse into that type of love in regards to my offspring. I have always taken great delight in my little ones as they have maneuvered through life. I've beamed with pride at each new accomplishment, dried their tears and freely given my love. Sometimes, I just love watching them when they sleep or play because they are so precious to me - they're my kids and grandkids! I love them as unconditionally as humanly possible. A glimpse, but enough of one to give me an ability to trust Father God as my Daddy as I maneuver through life. In loving us as He does, He isn't into our performance for Him but He is into our relationship with Him. Father God isn't keeping score on what we do for Him because He wants nothing more than to cultivate a relationship with us. In fact, our score cards were completly filled by Jesus Christ and Father wants us to turn them in at His redemption center so we will start living our lives knowing we are fully loved by Him. Coming to that place of assurance, we will be able to trust Him for a relationship that supercedes our fears, our guilt and our lack for the sufficiency that is "Christ in us the Hope of Glory". My New Years' resolution this year is to bask in His love for me and to develop a deeper relationship with Him. I'm looking forward to telling others of His love and being able to share His love in every arena of my life. Abba Father is an extraordinary Daddy who delights in us, loves holding us in His arms and providing for our needs. He longs for time with us! Let Him be Daddy Father to you this New Year and, I promise, your life will never be the same! God's blessings on each of you in 2010 - you are loved!!!

Immanuel, God with us!

The cry is still permeating this season, "Keep Christ in Christmas!". We do need to remember that He is the reason that we celebrate at this time of the year. If we remember and honor Him as that babe in the manger and honor Him and remember Him as the Savior who died during the Easter season, we tend to think we have done our part. Those above mentioned acts are a definite part of the Christian faith and yet, we tend to by-pass God's ultimate plan. Since the Garden when Adam and Eve chose to eat from the wrong tree and to follow their own desires rather than Father's, God's plan was to provide a way for mankind to be able to enjoy a relationship with Him. Not a religious way of life with its rules and regulations, but a relationship with our loving Father, Son and Holy Spirit. All the way back to Isaiah in the Old Testament we are told that a virgin will conceive and give birth to a son. That son would be called Immanuel which means God with us. God with us! God having such sweet fellowhip with us that we know Him, trust Him, talk with Him, listen to Him and love Him. No other God has ever been able to do that and never will! Our God with us - never having to cover ourselves in shame, never having to hide our faces from His glory - but God with us in all His glory leading us ever closer into a deeper relationship with Him! Wow! What love and what a Savior! Now, thats a reason to be excited and desire to honor Him this Christmas! Celebrate His coming as that babe and celebrate and honor His sacrifice at the cross, but get excited about the fact that Emmanuel has come to dwell in us and to reveal His glory through us to the whole world! The world continues to wait and groan for that revelation to come. We need to seek hard after Him and make a relationship with Him our first priority so the world will see Him and get to know Him through us. Now, that is an extraordinary gift we ordinary ones can bless our world with this Christmas! Be blessed, dear ones, with the love and glory of a relationship with Emmanuel this season and throughout the rest of your lives.

What if Mary Had Said "No"!

This most wonderful time of the year gets my thoughts turned to the story of Jesus' birth in the first chapter of Luke in the New Testament. I've always been intrigued by the account of Mary's encounter with the angel, Gabriel. After greeting her as "highly favored of God", she's told that she's been chosen to bear the Son of the Most High God in her womb. As a young virgin engaged to be married to an older man, she knew what a pregnancy without a marriage meant in her culture. She knew that her betrothed could choose to put her away and that she would be ostracized by society among other things. She didn't know that it would mean having her baby in a stable, having to flee with him to Eqypt for his protection, watching him be misunderstood, humiliated and beaten. She certainly didn't understand that it meant she would witness His crucifixion on the cross. What if she had said, "No way, God! Not going to endure that! Not going there!" If she had refused, I believe God would have chosen another young virgin who would have received His call. But, Mary didn't refuse because God knew her heart and knew that she would yield her fears, her dreams and her life to His will instead of hers. She states in Luke 1:38, "May it be to me as you have said". The submission of this ordinary young woman to the plans and purposes of Father God show that she responded in faith to a unique calling. The fact that she was ordinary makes her so extraordinary! When you and I respond to Father God the same way Mary responded, we become extraordinary people. We get to share in the extreme joy of fellowshipping with the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, we get to be a humble servant, a devoted child, a patient teacher, and we get to share in Christ's sufferings. We become extraordinary not because of who we are, but because of Who He is in us as we submit our will to His. There is no place I would rather be this Christmas than to respond in faith to His plans and purposes for my life with, "May it be to me as you have said!" You are blessed and highly favored, dear ones, and you are loved with an awesome, never ending, extraordinary love! Rejoice!