Answers in Faith ~~ "Be still, and know that I am God"

BE STILL, AND KNOW THAT I AM GOD

Many years ago, I was walking to the barn to tend to the animals.  A light snow had fallen softly on the ground.  I looked down and found a small bird lying in the snow.  I picked it up wondering if it was injured or maybe just cold.  I held it in my hand and tenderly stroked the bird.  He stayed still in my hand as I gently stroked his head, his wings and his tiny body.  

I sensed a spiritual moment happening as I felt the gentle touch of the Holy Spirit tugging ever so slightly upon the strings of my heart.  It was as if time stood still, and I felt the awesome presence of the Lord.   Suddenly the bird came to life and flew away.

What had just happened?  The whisper of the Holy Spirit spoke softly to my heart.  “Be still and know that I am God.  Be still and let me pour my love upon you.  You are like that fleeting bird, and you flee away when I get close to you.   I want to touch you, warm your cold heart, and let you know that I am here. I will never leave you or forsake you. Take time to be still, and let me love you.”

Our Heavenly Father wants to touch us with His love. But we, like that bird, fly away because we think we are too busy with too many things to do, too many places to go, too many people to see, too many responsibilities on our plate, too many, too many……….

Let us learn to be still before God and let His love envelope us and fill us with His Presence.


Contributed by Ted and written by Lesta of Heartsong Treasures. 

"God is our refuge and strength,

A very present help in trouble.
Therefore we will not fear,
Even though the earth be removed,
And though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea;
Though its waters roar and be troubled,
Though the mountains shake with its swelling.

There is a river whose streams shall make glad the city of God,
The holy place of the tabernacle of the Most High.
God is in the midst of her, she shall not be moved; 
God shall help her, just at the break of dawn.
The nations raged, the kingdoms were moved;
He uttered His voice, the earth melted.

The Lord of hosts is with us;
The God of Jacob is our refuge.   Selah.

Come, behold the works of the Lord,
Who has made desolations in the earth.
He makes wars to cease to the end of the earth;
He breaks the bow and cuts the spear in two;
He burns the chariot in the fire.

Be still, and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth!

The Lord of hosts is with us;
The God of Jacob is our refuge."  Selah

Psalm 46, NKJV

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Real Women - Real Answers: The Demise of A Pretty Pink Dress

THE DEMISE OF A PRETTY PINK DRESS

     Years ago, when I was a young girl, I heard the story of how Jesus walked on water, held out His hand to Peter, said "Come," and Peter obeyed. Somehow, I missed the part that Peter sank!  In the same sermon, the Pastor read the scripture that with God, all things are possible.  Those are the two things that I heard in that sermon so long ago.

     You can do anything if you have enough faith, even defy gravity and walk on water.  Sounds easy enough!  In my young and innocent mind, I just knew this to be true, and I came up with a bright idea that would simply put that truth to the test.  After church and still dressed in my pretty pink dress of many pleats, I bravely walked out to the canal behind our house and just knew without a doubt I could do the same thing as Jesus did – because after all – all things are possible with God – right? 

     Well, I took my leap of faith, stepped off the canal bank and into the water – and guess what? Yep, you got it right!  I got wet – very wet, and my pretty pink dress with many pleats was now a brown muddy mess without any pleats.  Oh dear, now what was I going to do to?   How on earth was I going to keep my mother from finding out that I ruined that dress?  (She had bought it for me as an Easter dress and told me to take good care of it as it was a ‘dry clean only’).  I literally trembled with fear.  I hid that pretty pink dress and to this day, I have no idea or remembrance of what I did with it.   Must be lost in the sea of forgetfulness!  My mom, well, she never asked about it.  Talk about the mercy of God at work in my life and me not getting what I am sure I deserved! 

      I believe God had a good chuckle because of my foolishness. I did not drown that day and that dress was never to be found.  And -- I was spared my mother’s wrath!  It did not even enter my mind that she just might have been grateful that I didn’t drown! 

       While we are sojourners in this life, we walk by faith and not by sight.  Sometimes it is a blind faith because we do not see beyond our first steps as we travel life’s pathway.  Sometimes it may be a leap of faith by launching out into deep waters trusting God with the outcome.  Then there is a child like faith that is simple and uncomplicated by letting Him love us, taking Him at His Word, and knowing His promises are true.  There are other types of faith, some of which might be a misguided faith, foolish faith, unfounded faith and/or a misplaced faith.  Without question, the faith I operated in that day long ago was definitely one of those last four mentioned.  I took the portion of the Bible that I heard and by not hearing anything else, I acted very foolishly.  My question is, do we do that today?  Do we hear just what we want to hear to make us feel good, or do we desire the whole counsel of God?  Do we earnestly seek His face, study His Word, and learn to walk in His ways – or do we just pick and choose what we want to believe, see what we want to see, hear what we want to hear, and choose to walk our own way?

        I learned a few lessons about that event long ago.  God definitely has a sense of humor. He keeps us from drowning in the sea of our own foolishness, ignorance, and stupidity.  He forgives our sins and throws them into the sea of forgetfulness.  He holds out His hand and lifts us up out of the sea of circumstances.  He helps us up out of the miry clay, cleans us off, and places our feet on solid ground so we can walk with Him as we learn to walk in His ways.  Let us seek His face, study His Word, and learn His ways.  Let us walk in the Light of His Presence and trust Him in all things. The Holy Spirit is with us and abides within us. He will guide us, teach us, comfort us and empower us as we surrender our lives to Him.  God is more than able to keep us on the right path as we put our faith and trust in Him.  I just need to learn to do things His way, not mine. Yes indeed, I still believe with all my heart that with God all things are possible.  (Matthew 19:26)

Contributed by Lesta of Heartsong Treasures.

If you have a comment related to child-like faith or faith in general, I would enjoy hearing from you.

Keep the faith and Happy Reading!

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Faith Filled Friday: Filling A Prayer Box

How is your faith level these days?  I wanted to share how a little 3.5 x 2.5 inch metal box sent my faith soaring this past Saturday.

Ali Faith’s Faith

What a blessing to be living during the days of the technological boon of Ipads, Iphones, Iclouds, and on ad infinitum.  All of the aforementioned certainly help us to stay connected when our loved ones are far away. 

At 8:55 a.m. on Saturday, January 16th, I received the following text from one of my daughters,

“Good morning momma!   How ru guys?  We are great!  We have about 8 inches of new snow here and snowing now.  There’s a huge praise re pastor saaed!  Check out my FB post!”

I immediately dialed up her Facebook post which read,

“God DOES answer prayer!! So thankful that the 4 imprisoned Americans are free.”

Those of you who know me would agree that I am not always the calmest person on the planet, so when this news registered with my already caffeinated brain and nervous system, I was praising the Lord as loudly as I could. 

Suddenly, I remembered my birthday and Mother's Day gift from my precious granddaughter, Ali Faith.  It felt as though I was walking on air as I entered our bedroom, opened the top drawer to my dresser, and retrieved the little prayer box. 

After opening the lid (or as Ali Faith used to pronounce it, 'lib'), and reading the top prayer request, my eyes welled up with tears which freely flowed down my weathered cheeks.
                               

                                        

Implementing my trusty Iphone, I propped the little prayer box next to my ceramic coffee cone, snapped a few pictures to achieve the full effect, and texted them back to my daughter who shared them with her family.  Ali Faith and her younger brother were in awe of how God had answered a specific prayer that she had uttered so many times.  She attended the Prayer Rally for Pastor Saeed on the steps of our great state capitol building along with many other people.  In addition, during the summer months, Ali would round up some of the younger children in her neighborhood and invite them to her little tree house.  After making a lunch of sorts, she would read to them from the Bible, after which they would pray for Pastor Saeed. Yes, these would appear to be very early signs of an evangelistic anointing arising which is music to this grandmother’s ears.

On Jesus’ final journey to Jerusalem, He came to the region of Judea by the other side of the Jordan River.

“Then they brought little children to Him, that He might touch them; but the disciples rebuked those who brought them. But when Jesus saw it, He was greatly displeased and said to them, ‘Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of God.  Assuredly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will by no means enter it.’  And He took them up in His arms, laid His hands on them, and blessed them.”  [Mark 10:13-16.]

Children portray a profound sincerity of heart, trust, exuberance, child like faith, and total dependence on their parents.  The kingdom of God is comprised of those who respond to Him with that same type of trust that a young child renders to a parent.

While there have been a multitude of sermons preached on the subject of faith and libraries full of books regarding the same, there’s just nothing like first-hand experience that increases our faith and compels us to testify.

I would encourage you to read this blog post to your children and grandchildren and comment below with their responses.  Who knows?  Perhaps they might like to start a little prayer box of their own as they grow in their child like faith.  And I can only imagine how happy Pastor Saeed’s children and family members are to have him back home after 1,000 days!

Here's a freebie regarding the number 1,000: in a Biblical sense it is symbolic of divine completeness and the glory of God.

Are we giving glory to God for the release of Pastor Saeed along with the other three Americans?  You better know we are!

Happy Reading and Keep the Faith!


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