Everyone who comes to Jesus comes by faith. Faith is the substance of things not seen. I believe God allows great faith experiences to new Christians to ground us in our new found faith. But the more we grow in our relationship to God, the more He requires us to exhibit our faith in greater ways. Maybe our prayers don't get answered as quickly as they used to. God just wants us to trust Him more and more. This doesn't get any easier as we grow older; well, not for all of us anyway. God continues to take us to new levels in our faith.
Recently God has brought me through a new test and I guess that wasn't good enough, because even before that one was over He brought another one on. I really was almost at the point of admitting that God perhaps DOES give us more than we can bear! But I have been with Him too long to really believe that!
Two months ago I lost my job. It was sudden and unexpected. I had not had to look for a job in the last 15 years of work experience. I had no idea where to start looking. I was in shock for at least two weeks or more - and thinking that there might have been a chance of getting my old job back. Finally, I realized that was not going to happen. Well, the first thing I knew I had to do was prepare my resume, which I did. Then someone told me I should put it online and recommended Monster.Com. Which I also did. I also sent it to some employment agencies. I started getting calls and interviews. I was so nervous with my first interview and I realized quickly a couple of things. I was not prepared for all of this! I went to the library and got some books on writing resumes and redid the whole thing. I read articles on how to do interviews and started implementing some techniques. With each interview my confidence grew. I started doing a couple of temp jobs and found that I liked it. The whole process was very humbling to start with, but I was praying ALOT and God was enabling me to take things one step at a time. I knew I had all the spirtual tools I needed, but I needed some practical skills, too. But time was pressing on and still no job offers. I knew God was stretching my faith because I was having to trust Him in areas that I wasn't used to. God gave me some great moral supporters through my husband and other family members and friends.
Just when it looked like something was going to work out with the job situation, God brought another trial into my life. It was like I had not learned anything about faith for the last two months, even though I thought I had! Several days passed and I was feeling a lot of stress and I finally realized that I hadn't been trusting God in this new trial at all. All of my actions and reactions were totally in the flesh! So now that I have admitted this, I have to put into practice what I know about God and leaving things in His hands and letting Him control my actions and reactions so that I can experience God's peace in the midst of the trial. This all came about tonight so I will let you know in a few days how this is going!
Remember that one of our weapons of warfare is the shield of faith. A shield protects us from the advances of the enemy - that enemy is self, in my case. The Bible tells us to die to self and death is painful, but just as physical death brings us into Christ's presence so also does spiritual death. As Christians, we are to live in the "Heavenly Realms." That's what the life of faith is all about!
Sunday, May 27, 2007
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
The Basics
When a soldier receives his basic training, he is going to learn things that he should never forget. These lessons are drilled into him so that he will never forget. He learns to follow the instructions of his commanding officer - without fail and without questioning! These lessons are all foundational for being equipped for battle. These lessons may very well safe his life and the lives of his fellow soldiers.
It's the same for the Christian. Hebrews 6:1 says, "Therefore let us leave the elementary teachings about Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again the foundation of repentance from acts that lead to death, and of faith in God..."
As a Christian, there are elementary or basic doctrines that we are taught that will help us all through our Christian life. One of the first, after salvation, is eternal security. That gives us hope. Hope that no matter what happens our eternal destiny is settled. A soldier going to battle has to face the fact that death may come and what better hope for a soldier to know that his death is not the end of His life! It is only the beginning of a new life. That is, if he is a Christian.
For the Christian, God does not equip us with spiritual weapons for no reason. He knows there will be trials and testings. God doesn't make robots out of us. And He won't force us to follow Him. He just gives us all kinds of reasons, in His promises to make us want to follow Him!
What would a soldier think if He was sent to war without any weapons or supplies? He certainly wouldn't have much confidence starting his journey, would he? God is no less concerned about "His" soldiers. He gives us everything we need for our journey.
It's the same for the Christian. Hebrews 6:1 says, "Therefore let us leave the elementary teachings about Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again the foundation of repentance from acts that lead to death, and of faith in God..."
As a Christian, there are elementary or basic doctrines that we are taught that will help us all through our Christian life. One of the first, after salvation, is eternal security. That gives us hope. Hope that no matter what happens our eternal destiny is settled. A soldier going to battle has to face the fact that death may come and what better hope for a soldier to know that his death is not the end of His life! It is only the beginning of a new life. That is, if he is a Christian.
For the Christian, God does not equip us with spiritual weapons for no reason. He knows there will be trials and testings. God doesn't make robots out of us. And He won't force us to follow Him. He just gives us all kinds of reasons, in His promises to make us want to follow Him!
What would a soldier think if He was sent to war without any weapons or supplies? He certainly wouldn't have much confidence starting his journey, would he? God is no less concerned about "His" soldiers. He gives us everything we need for our journey.
The Journey
We have talked about "The Journey". Each journey has a beginning. In the Christian life, there is a beginning. That is salvation.
I am doing a Bible Study about what happens at salvation. Did you know that the Bible tells us that every Christian "has everything we need for life and godliness?" So far, I have a list of over 100 spiritual attributes that God gives us at salvation and I am not through the New Testament yet!
I have been thinking about what to compare this "spiritual journey" to in our real life and the closest thing I have come up with is the life of a soldier. Now I have never been a soldier, but I have watched a lot of movies about them! And I have two sons and a husband that were in the Marines! Not that I have learned much about being a soldier from them. The Bible talks about being a soldier, too! I'll include those references at the end.
A recruit goes to basic training and learns what? The basics of course. Once a soldier has gone through his basic training and actually gets sent to battle, he is equipped with all the weapons he is going to need to fight. Now most of those weapons may or may not last him the whole course of his stay on the battlefield, but they will be replenished as he needs them. It is obviously up to the soldier whether he will use his resources or not. He does not have to ask for them. He just has to appropriate them. The soldier isn't issued offensive weapons only. He is issued other items, such as food, and clothing and shelter. And he has certainly been taught a sufficient amount of information to make judgment calls throughout his tour of duty which should give him emotional and psychological support. We know that the enemy is always working against him to rob him of his life, his weapons, his psychological being, etc. Also the forces of nature may impact his supply of food, clothing and shelter, as well as his emotional state of being. As we go along we will likely discover other areas of similarity in the life of a soldier as compared with the Spiritual Journey of a Solder of Christ.
So the Soldier starts out "strong, well-equipped and determined."
1 Cor 9:7; 2Ti 2:3; 2 Tim 2:4
I am doing a Bible Study about what happens at salvation. Did you know that the Bible tells us that every Christian "has everything we need for life and godliness?" So far, I have a list of over 100 spiritual attributes that God gives us at salvation and I am not through the New Testament yet!
I have been thinking about what to compare this "spiritual journey" to in our real life and the closest thing I have come up with is the life of a soldier. Now I have never been a soldier, but I have watched a lot of movies about them! And I have two sons and a husband that were in the Marines! Not that I have learned much about being a soldier from them. The Bible talks about being a soldier, too! I'll include those references at the end.
A recruit goes to basic training and learns what? The basics of course. Once a soldier has gone through his basic training and actually gets sent to battle, he is equipped with all the weapons he is going to need to fight. Now most of those weapons may or may not last him the whole course of his stay on the battlefield, but they will be replenished as he needs them. It is obviously up to the soldier whether he will use his resources or not. He does not have to ask for them. He just has to appropriate them. The soldier isn't issued offensive weapons only. He is issued other items, such as food, and clothing and shelter. And he has certainly been taught a sufficient amount of information to make judgment calls throughout his tour of duty which should give him emotional and psychological support. We know that the enemy is always working against him to rob him of his life, his weapons, his psychological being, etc. Also the forces of nature may impact his supply of food, clothing and shelter, as well as his emotional state of being. As we go along we will likely discover other areas of similarity in the life of a soldier as compared with the Spiritual Journey of a Solder of Christ.
So the Soldier starts out "strong, well-equipped and determined."
1 Cor 9:7; 2Ti 2:3; 2 Tim 2:4
Saturday, May 12, 2007
What Is This All About?
This is going to be about living the life of faith. The Bible says "As you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him."
I received Jesus Christ as my Savior by faith and trust and He remains my Lord as long as I continue to maintain faith and trust in Him for every aspect of my life.
I am so glad that God doesn't give us a list of do's and don'ts right at salvation that He expects us to follow immediately.
Instead He equips us "with every Spiritual blessing in Christ Jesus." He knows that salvation is only the beginning of our journey. Heaven is our destination, but in between those two is the "route."
Salvation is a three step process;
Conversion,
The life of faithfulness and service,
the climax of Heaven.
In Acts 9:2 the Christian Faith was called “the Way” Every “way” has a point of beginning, and a route, and an arrival at a destination. A person may be well equipped, strong, and determined when he starts out, Yet his arrival at his destination depends on the traveler following the route.
Will you join me in this journey? We are most likely at different locations on the route, but we can help one another. Those of us who are farther along can help pave the way, and those that are behind can remind us of what we have been through. Together we can help each other focus on God and what He has already equipped us with for our journey.
Travelers Together
Margo
I received Jesus Christ as my Savior by faith and trust and He remains my Lord as long as I continue to maintain faith and trust in Him for every aspect of my life.
I am so glad that God doesn't give us a list of do's and don'ts right at salvation that He expects us to follow immediately.
Instead He equips us "with every Spiritual blessing in Christ Jesus." He knows that salvation is only the beginning of our journey. Heaven is our destination, but in between those two is the "route."
Salvation is a three step process;
Conversion,
The life of faithfulness and service,
the climax of Heaven.
In Acts 9:2 the Christian Faith was called “the Way” Every “way” has a point of beginning, and a route, and an arrival at a destination. A person may be well equipped, strong, and determined when he starts out, Yet his arrival at his destination depends on the traveler following the route.
Will you join me in this journey? We are most likely at different locations on the route, but we can help one another. Those of us who are farther along can help pave the way, and those that are behind can remind us of what we have been through. Together we can help each other focus on God and what He has already equipped us with for our journey.
Travelers Together
Margo
Welcome!
Welcome to Meditate with Margo
This is my first day, Saturday, May 12, 2007. I am very excited to have my own blog. I have been thinking about it for a long time and I am finally doing it. I feel like I am in a place in my life where I need to experiment with new things - especially, technology - because I don't want to be left behind and I know that can happen very quick in these days.
My first experience with a computer was in the early 80's. I learned on a MacIntosh in the middle of the Amazon Jungles of Venezuela! I was a typist previously and it was SO different. Just understanding the arrow keys and the insert, delete buttons was a big trial.
Through the years as I moved back to the States and became part of the work world, my experience with and knowledge of computers has increased and I have loved every minute of it!
In the last year or two, though, I have noticed a lot of changes in technology that I have not kept up with and I have felt some concern.
As long as I had a job, I was okay, because I was using my computer skills all the time. However, recently, I found myself without a job and having to try to "sell" myself to various employers. So far, noone has asked me if I know anything about blogging, and it probably won't be a selling point on my resume, still I thought it was a small step I could take in increasing my computer savvy!
This is my first day, Saturday, May 12, 2007. I am very excited to have my own blog. I have been thinking about it for a long time and I am finally doing it. I feel like I am in a place in my life where I need to experiment with new things - especially, technology - because I don't want to be left behind and I know that can happen very quick in these days.
My first experience with a computer was in the early 80's. I learned on a MacIntosh in the middle of the Amazon Jungles of Venezuela! I was a typist previously and it was SO different. Just understanding the arrow keys and the insert, delete buttons was a big trial.
Through the years as I moved back to the States and became part of the work world, my experience with and knowledge of computers has increased and I have loved every minute of it!
In the last year or two, though, I have noticed a lot of changes in technology that I have not kept up with and I have felt some concern.
As long as I had a job, I was okay, because I was using my computer skills all the time. However, recently, I found myself without a job and having to try to "sell" myself to various employers. So far, noone has asked me if I know anything about blogging, and it probably won't be a selling point on my resume, still I thought it was a small step I could take in increasing my computer savvy!
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