My Journey of Faith

Welcome to one of the My Journey of Faith blogs. My name is Sandra and this page is where you can get to know me, post questions on Christian issues and share your experiences in Christ. There are others like me that want to share their own personal journeys of faith. Click on the names at the left to meet the others or click on this link for the main page:

http://myjourneyoffaith.com

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Monday, May 30, 2011

Feasting On HIs Word

If you are a Mom, aunt, sibling, cousin or just a observant soul, you probably have watched a baby feed on his milk.  He eagerly feeds as if he had never eaten before today.  He smacks his lips and makes all kind of sounds including contentment once he starts to feed.  If he doesn't receive nourishment, he begins to cry loudly from hunger in order to get your attention.  He wants it now and eagerly draws it in as quickly as he can. Without milk he will not survive, his growth will be stunted and he will die if not nourished. When we become a new Christian, God's Word is our milk.  We crave it and desire to dig in with everything we've got. We have an insatiable appetite for the Word.   

1 Peter 2:2-3 Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your  salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good.

So why is it that we do not "feed" our new Christians by helping them understand God's Word.   Babies are not expected to get their own meals. How then can we expect them to grow as Christians without teaching? So often, our churches rejoice at the salvation of a new soul but then leave them to fend for themselves to grow in the Word.  We don't seem to grasp the importance of mentoring and teaching them. Yes, the Holy Spirit illuminates the Word opening up each passage and making God's Word clear to every child.  But God has also gifted His children to teach and guide His "babies".  Even milk is ingested one swallow at a time.  Babies don't instantly become a mature person or a mature Christian.  We need to provide assistance/mentoring for them.  What a delight to see a new Christian growing in wisdom as he draws closer to the Lord!


Ephesians 4:11-16 So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ.

Do you provide mentoring to a new Christian by helping them understand God's Word? Help them have a full life. Share God's truths. Life without the Word is hopeless.

Saturday, May 14, 2011

Batter'd to Shape and Use

In my younger years, I made homemade yeast bread the old fashion way: starting from scratch (that means no frozen bread, no prepackaged mixture or bread machine was in use).  I began with basic ingredients such as flour, sugar, salt, shortening, yeast, etc. and mixed them together then set them aside to rise.  This rising process takes time as the yeast in the mixture begins to release gases to make the dough rise.
Once the dough doubles in size, it is punched down with your fist during a process called “kneading”.  “Kneading” means simply hitting or punching the dough. Kneading helps remove some of the gas bubbles that have been produced by the yeast and develops a protein called gluten giving the dough elasticity and causing the dough to rise properly. It is stretched to develop tenderness and is then put in a warm place to rise again before baking. Left to itself without the kneading process, the dough would become tough resulting in bread with a heavy texture and unpleasant taste.
The Christian life is much like the kneading process.  When we accept Christ as our Savior, God shapes us to conform us to the image of Jesus. Much like the kneading process where the bread is punched and hit to remove the results of the yeast, God sometimes has to do the same with us in order to remove sin or unChrist-like attitudes in our life and shape us into dough that will rise to His desired heights for our lives as we are shaped into the image of His Son.
Oswald Chambers refers to the kneading process by using the word batter'd.  Battered means to beat with precision, given blows so as to bruise, shatter or demolish. In his book My Utmost for His Highest, Chambers makes this statement: “God takes us out of our own ideas for our lives and we are ‘batter’d to shape and use’…”. God batters/kneads us in order to use us for His kingdom’s purpose.
Are you being bruised by circumstances? Have you been batter'd, kneaded or bruised by someone or something lately?  Is there something in your life that needs to be removed: an attitude, unforgiveness, a sin?  Is God kneading you for a purpose?  Want to find out? Open your heart and seek His answers.
1 Corinthians 5:6-8
Your boasting is not good.  Don't you know that a little yeast leavens the whole batch of dough? Get rid of the old yeast, so that you may be a new unleavened batch--as you really are.  For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed.  Therefore, let us keep the Festival, not with the old bread leavened with malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

Wednesday, May 4, 2011

In the Belly of the Whale


Jonah 1:1-17  The word of the LORD came to Jonah son of Amittai: 2 “Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me.”
 3 But Jonah ran away from the LORD and headed for Tarshish. He went down to Joppa, where he found a ship bound for that port. After paying the fare, he went aboard and sailed for Tarshish to flee from the LORD. 4 Then the LORD sent a great wind on the sea, and such a violent storm arose that the ship threatened to break up. 5 All the sailors were afraid and each cried out to his own god. And they threw the cargo into the sea to lighten the ship.  But Jonah had gone below deck, where he lay down and fell into a deep sleep. 6 The captain went to him and said, “How can you sleep? Get up and call on your god! Maybe he will take notice of us, and we will not perish.” 7 Then the sailors said to each other, “Come, let us cast lots to find out who is responsible for this calamity.” They cast lots and the lot fell on Jonah. 8 So they asked him, “Tell us, who is responsible for making all this trouble for us? What do you do? Where do you come from? What is your country? From what people are you?” 9 He answered, “I am a Hebrew and I worship the LORD, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the land.” 10 This terrified them and they asked, “What have you done?” (They knew he was running away from the LORD, because he had already told them so.) 11 The sea was getting rougher and rougher. So they asked him, “What should we do to you to make the sea calm down for us?” 12 “Pick me up and throw me into the sea,” he replied, “and it will become calm. I know that it is my fault that this great storm has come upon you.” 13 Instead, the men did their best to row back to land. But they could not, for the sea grew even wilder than before. 14 Then they cried to the LORD, “O LORD, please do not let us die for taking this man’s life. Do not hold us accountable for killing an innocent man, for you, O LORD, have done as you pleased.” 15 Then they took Jonah and threw him overboard, and the raging sea grew calm. 16 At this the men greatly feared the LORD, and they offered a sacrifice to the LORD and made vows to him. 17 But the LORD provided a great fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was inside the fish three days and three nights.
Have you ever been disobedient to the Lord?  Have you ever been rebellious and strong-willed wanting your own way?  If so, you may have experienced the same feelings that Jonah did.  You probably weren't swallowed by a whale physically but maybe you felt isolated, alone, depressed, and exhausted even to the point where things just didn't matter to you anymore.  You could even fall into a deep sleep and forget the world around you ignoring the fact that God told you to do a certain thing.

Jonah had no plan for being swallowed by the whale.  All he wanted to do was take a boat ride in the opposite direction of where and what God wanted for him.  You notice that not only did Jonah know the storm was a result of his disobedience but those around him knew as well.  His influence was great in his disobedience but greater still  in his obedience (after the whale belly incidence).

Funny how disobedience to the Lord always seems to catch up with you no matter how hard you try to forget it.  Disobedience is rebellion against God and rebellion against God is sin.  If the Lord has spoken to you and told you to do something, take a lesson from Jonah just do it.  Plain and simple but hard to do-just do it.  God has a reason and a plan for everything He asked you to do.  Serve Him for His kingdom's glory.

Are you in the "belly of a whale"? Do you know the Lord has asked you to do something for His kingdom by serving Him in a particular way?  Perhaps He asked you to forgive someone who has wronged you or speak to someone about Jesus.  Maybe He wants you to teach a class or serve Him in full time ministry.  The choice is always yours. You can do as He asked or you can turn and run in the opposite direction and risk being swallowed by "a whale".