The Foundation of Faith

Is your faith set firmly on solid ground? Is your faith in Jesus new or even non-existent at this point? Is your faith a little shaky with the first sign of trouble on the horizon? Does doubt creep in? The Bible talks about the foundation of faith. Let’s take a look.

So this is what the Sovereign Lord says; “See, I lay a stone in Zion, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone for a sure foundation; the one who relies on it will never be stricken with panic. “  Isaiah 28:16

     This verse was written hundreds of years before Christ came to earth. Who or what is this precious cornerstone, this tested stone, the sure foundation, the one we should rely on so we will never panic?

The Scriptures are so deep and beautiful and true. Scripture interprets Scripture. I heard someone say something like this; the Bible is shallow enough for a child to understand and deep enough that the greatest scholar will never get to the bottom of it.

Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of His household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus Himself as the chief cornerstone. 

Ephesians 2:19-20

Yes, our faith is built on the Word of the prophets, like the verse above written by the prophet Isaiah and the verses above from Paul written to the church at Ephesus.

As for everyone who comes to me and hears my Words and puts them into practice, I will show you what they are like. They are like a man building a house, who dug down deep and laid the foundation on rock. When a flood came, the torrent struck that house but could not shake it, because it was well built. 

Luke 6:47-48

     Jesus tells us to dig deep into His Words. He compares those that hear and practice the Word as a man building a house on what? ROCK.  Jesus is the cornerstone. Don’t you love it?

      Why not begin to dig a little deeper and put His Words in your heart. Let’s build our spiritual houses on a firm foundation. The trials and tribulations of life can come gradually or unexpectedly. Either way, God will get us through on our foundation of faith. Trust the cornerstone. It’s always best to plan ahead and prepare before you see the next storm in the distance. Jesus will protect you before, during and after the storms of life. His arms are wide open and willing to take you into His shelter before the first drop of rain.

Dear Father,

Thank you for giving us Your Word that builds up our faith onto a solid foundation. Open our spiritual eyes to take in more and more of it. Jesus is the tested stone, the precious cornerstone of our sure foundation.

We praise You for that today.

Amen

                                                                                                       

The Feet of Faith

     My friend, Connie, and I have taught classes together, prayed for each other, celebrated victories and strengthened each other through desert times and trials. Somewhere along the way we discovered a shared joy in going barefoot. Socks? Despise them and we toss them aside as soon as we walk through the door. We both love to go barefoot around the house, spring, summer, winter or fall. The impossibility of going barefoot through months of long Minnesota winters only makes our anticipation and appreciation grow as spring and summer draw near.

     One day while reading the Bible, I paused at the following Scripture verse.

“Do not come any closer,” God said. “Take off your sandals for the place where you are standing is holy ground.”  Exodus 3:5 (NIV)

     Moses was called to meet God. We can only imagine the encounter and what it meant. The ground was holy. No sandals allowed. Imagine my surprise. God asked Moses to be barefoot while in His presence.

     In Old Testament days only the high priest could enter the Holy of Holies. This was the inner sanctum of the temple.  No ordinary folk allowed. It was a sacred place, a reverential place. It contained the presence of God.

     After Christ’s death, burial and resurrection, He gave His followers a   foretaste of heaven. He left His disciples (including us) with the gift of His Holy Spirit. Yes, the Spirit of God within us! Today, the temple of God is carried in us. Not only is Christ beside us, around us, and in front of us, His Holy Spirit remains in us.

     Now that the temple of the Lord is within us, everywhere we step can be considered holy ground.  Wherever you are right now is Holy ground. Wiggle your toes. Where will you step today? Will it be in God’s creation?

     You may feel the rough terrain of a mountain path or sift through the soft sand of a sunny beach. Let the fertile soil of your backyard garden ooze through your toes. Tap the linoleum of your kitchen floor as you wash the evening dishes. Feel the texture of the carpet as you tuck your kids in bed. Wrap your feet around the rungs of the chair beneath your desk. Feel God’s presence around you. Wherever you stand, walk, sit or dance is indeed Holy ground.

     We are the temple of the Spirit of God. Jesus is with us each day as we visit the magnificent and the minute, the extraordinary and ordinary, the mountaintop view and the laundry room floor, the miraculous and the mundane. What a profound thought. We are His ambassadors as we walk the earth!

     Take off your shoes as you wash, and tuck, and type, as you speak and listen, as you walk through your day.  Maybe you can lead others to see the holiness around them too.

     One day soon, Jesus will walk us from the pull of the earth’s blessed ground to step onto heaven’s eternal garden path. As I meet Him finally, face to face and He asks me to take off my earthly shoes, I will gladly obey and run barefoot with Him.

Dear Jesus,

Thank you for the gift of the Holy Spirit. Let that Spirit grow so strong that wherever we are and whatever we do, we recognize Your power and presence with each step.

Amen                                                                                              

Word for the Weekend

Word for the Weekend

    It was a joy-filled weekend for us; part of it spent with friends at a beautiful cabin. A time for reunions, good food, celebrating friendships that are decades old, along with the addition of grown kids, their kids, a new baby and a baby on the way. Time has flown by and I often stop now and look and listen and take in, with gratitude, these moments together.

    Tonight we are celebrating the 90^th birthday of a friend’s mom. She is in the last years of life. I hope you can celebrate each season with loved ones. Each day is a precious gift. These moments can be savored, one at a time, as you experience them and taken out later to remember with a smile.

    If this particular time in your life is not joy-filled take in these Words from the book of Nehemiah.

Nehemiah said, “Go and enjoy choice food and sweet drinks, and send some to those who have nothing prepared. This day is holy to our Lord. Do not grieve for the joy of the Lord is your strength.  Nehemiah 8:10 (NIV)

Dear Father,

Thank you for the precious moments in our lives. Fill us with Your joy which gives us strength to get through the days that are not so easy. Bless us today with your strength. The deep lasting joy of eternal life can give us strength for today.

Amen

     

Spiritual Growth

Week Two     Spiritual Growth

Day Five        Scripture

     Yesterday I drove a car for the first time in sixteen years. I gave up my driver’s license when I began to lose my peripheral vision due to an eye disease called retinitis pigmentosa. My friends and family, my wonderful husband and two daughters have taken on the added responsibility of chauffeuring me around. I have grown used to this loss of freedom.

    Last fall we bought a two seater cherry red roadster convertible with a stick shift and, boy, did I want to drive it. Yesterday we stopped at a large empty parking lot near the State of Minnesota fairgrounds and I drove around it several times. It filled me with delight and joy as if I were a small child. I have a huge smile on my face just thinking about it.

     Living with Christ as Savior can give you a lasting peace and joy that stays with you, not just a short spurt of it during a fast ride around a parking lot. He fills us with a lasting joy. This week we discovered we are sealed for eternity with the Holy Spirit; we soaked in the unconditional and sacrificial love of a God who rejoices over us with singing. We gave Him all of our fear and anxiety.

     I do love to picture heaven, when I will see my mom and dad again, where I see my brother leaping with joy after not being able to walk for a long time. I imagine those that have never had the gift of sight or hearing, taking in every sound and sight. I see reunions of family and friends as we recognize the fact that we will live eternally in a perfect place made just for us.

     The good news is, as the saying goes, “It is not just pie in the sky when we die; it is cake on the plate while we wait.” Jesus can fill in the missing pieces of our lives right now. He will minister to you, just as you are, in a way made uniquely for you. If you are like I was over twenty years ago, I did not believe the Bible was worth the time and effort. So many of us believe it is too difficult to figure out, that it was written so long ago it has nothing to do with us today or even that the Old Testament is all about wrath and judgment. None of the above are true. In fact, it is the oldest ploy of Satan; to keep us away from God’s Word. It began with the words to Eve, “Did God really say……?”

     All of God’s Word is beneficial to us. The Bible from beginning to end is true and the more you read, the hungrier you get for more. It is God breathed. (2 Timothy 3)  Here is a verse I love. It was written for the spiritually blind, but it speaks to my physical blindness as well.

I will lead the blind by ways they have not known; along unfamiliar paths I will guide them; I will turn the darkness into light before them and make the tough places smooth. These are the things I will do. I will not forsake them.   Isaiah 42:16

     I trust Him with my life and He has taken me on unfamiliar paths. I do have the only Light that matters. I pray you will find verses made just for you. Take some time to soak up His love, to get a grasp on our eternal gift and to listen for His voice leading you through the darkness into His glorious light.

Dear Father in Heaven,

Thank you for loving each one of us in a special way. Guide each person stopping by this site today to feel Your presence in a new way. And I pray for each one to feel those pure moments of joy as they try something new and beautiful. And not only those moments, but the deep joy of Your presence every minute of every day.

In Jesus name,

Amen

Spiritual Growth

Week Two     Spiritual Growth

Day Four       Safe

     We are blessed to live in a country of freedom. Today is our day to celebrate the United States of America. Do you feel safe? Are there fears within about the economy, your family, terrorists, violence or any one of a myriad of other reasons to fear?

     My daughter and I have both suffered from panic attacks in the past. They come out of nowhere and with heart pounding anxiety, we felt as if we couldn’t breathe. Both of us have relied on the following Scripture. Take it in; each Word.

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.   Philippians 4: 6-7 

     Look at these verses slowly with me.  Do not be anxious about what? ANYTHING.  What do we pray for? EVERYTHING.  He is interested in every detail of your life. As we present our petitions and requests, something begins to happen inside. We receive the peace that passes all understanding. It is a peace unlike any other. Give it all, all of your fear and anxiety, and He will guard not only your mind, but your very heart.

     There is one Word from the verses above we didn’t mention. As you pray give Him thanks. Thank Him for listening, thank Him for working in your life, thank Him for taking on all of your burdens and fears. Praise Him. Thank Him.

Dear Lord,

We do thank you for saving us, and for continuing Your work in us today and everyday. Thank you for the gift of freedom. Give us your peace and your freedom to love. We thank You for the way you have blessed this country as one nation under God. In You we trust.

Amen

Spiritual Growth

Week Two     Spiritual Growth

Day Three     Saturated

 One definition of the word “saturated” is to soak completely. Before we take another step into allowing God to change us spiritually and move us out in His purposes, let’s fill up, soak completely, until it overflows, in His great love for us.

Allow yourself to feel truly loved today by our Heavenly Father, as His Words soak into your soul:

so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, and I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge that you may be filled to the measure of all fullness of God.  Ephesians 3:17-18-19  (NIV)

 Jesus said: “Whoever believes in me as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.” John 7:38

The Lord your God is with you, the Mighty Warrior who saves. He will take great delight in you, in His love He will no longer rebuke you, but will rejoice over you with singing.  Zephaniah 3:17  (NIV)

See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him.  1 John 3:1  (NIV)

I hope you can read through those Words a few times today. These Words of love are extravagant, extreme, a love beyond our comprehension. Imagine, He delights in you and rejoices over you with singing. He lavished us with love and we are His children. I love the exclamation points in the verses from 1 John.  It is exciting!! When Jesus was speaking to the woman at the well about the living water, He promised she would never be thirsty again.

That type of love is enough. It is satisfying. It quenches our thirst. If no one else around you right now is able to show you love, Your Heavenly Father will lavish you with it and delight in you. His love is so long and high and wide and deep, we can barely grasp it.

Hang onto it today and everyday. Remind yourself of it everyday. It’s a love beyond our human understanding.  He loves you.

Dear Jesus,

How can we thank you for allowing us to be loved so completely, so unconditionally, that you would die for us and take on the sins of the world? We soak in the love you have lavished on us today. Fill us up to overflowing.

Amen

     

Spiritual Growth

Week Two        Spiritual Growth

Day Two          Secure

     Yesterday, we were sealed with the Holy Spirit forever, after placing our trust in Christ.  There is something eternal set deep within each one of us whether we want to admit it or not.

He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart, yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end. Ecclesiastes 3:11 (NIV)

     Something within us knows; there has to be, there must be something more than this earthly life. It is deep within our hearts. And if that is true, if there is something more and brighter and forever, does that change everything?

     The world around us places high value on the outer trappings of life; youth, beauty, fashion, cars, houses, degrees, power, prestige, sports. Now I like nothing better than watching a good hockey game and putting on a cute pair of shoes. The point is, where is your heart? Where does God want us to place the most value?

     But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, buto the Lord looks at the heart.” 1 Samuel 16:7 (NIV)

     Throughout the Bible God chooses the weakest link in a family or tribe to show His mighty power. He also often uses the weakest parts of each one of us to show His strength. He is ready to use you. Take the weakest part of you, the part with the deepest fear, the part crying out for help or understanding and give it to Him. Watch how He works. He has placed eternity in your heart.

    

     As we live out our lives, it is easy to move along with the world, focusing on those things that will not last. I am excited to begin these next few weeks focusing on our spiritual growth. Isn’t it interesting that the part of us that will last forever gets the least amount of attention? That’s the part God cares about. God sees your heart. And His heart is yearning for yours. He will keep it safe and secure forever.

Dear Lord,

Thank you for placing eternity in our hearts. Teach us how to focus a bit more in the days to come on You and Your eternal purposes. Your view from heaven is vast and impossible to fathom. Teach us Your ways.

In Jesus name,

Amen