My Faith

Don’t Be Afraid

/ SaxophoneWife / 6 Comments

The forecast is not good.

The warning is for world-wide famine. Food shortages are already obvious in supermarkets. Products just aren’t there anymore. It is unsettling, and the rising costs of what is there can be rather stressful.

However, we must not live in fear. Be aware. Pray. Economize. Apply godly wisdom to your choices. Just don’t be afraid. God is able to keep us in any storm, Christian. He can provide manna and quail from Heaven and multiply a few fish and loaves to feed thousands! We can trust Him.

Personally, I am not stockpiling. I always store a little extra, but that’s because I grew up in Earthquake Country where having a two-week supply of food and water is drilled into you. However, I’m not trying to survive on this earth. I live, because God wills it. If He wills it, He will provide what I need. My life is in God’s hands. He is God of all creation, and He created me to depend on Him.

“God helps those who help themselves” is not in the Bible. It is not holy writ. It is a dumb saying full of demonic falsehoods. That is not God’s promise to me in His Word. God’s promise to His children is…

“And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:19

Here’s the key – because every promise of God has a key to unlock it – the key is being in God’s will.

“Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him.” 1 John 5:14-15

You may ask, “Well, how can I know God’s will?” It starts with obedience to His Word. Has you surrender your will to His, you will find yourself in the center of God’s will for you. That is our place of safety and victory. Allow no compromise in your life. Measure yourself by His Word and ask the Holy Spirit to do whatever it takes. When He prompts you to surrender, obey Him.

The days ahead may be very challenging, but if we learn to walk by faith and not fear we will be safe and secure.

❤️

Wave Away the Smoke

/ SaxophoneWife / 1 Comment

We don’t always recognize Christ in our circumstances, but if Christ lives in us, He is definitely with us in every case—in our sorrow, pain, unrest, and turmoil.

No, He isn’t the source, and He hasn’t caused that circumstance, but He did promised to be with us in all cases. Our faith challenge is to find Him in the midst of the fiery furnace. So, wave away the smoke (I call that worship), until you’re eye to eye with your Savior. Keep your focus on Him.

Friends, if Jesus lives in our heart, we are not alone. If we will keep our eyes on Him and follow Him (I call that walking in repentance), He will not only keep us, but lead us out to safety, wholeness, peace, and rest.

“Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.” Isaiah 41:10

The Lord is faithful. He will keep you in the midst of the fires of suffering.

God bless you today! ❤

That Is Not A Cat

/ SaxophoneWife / 2 Comments

If you were trying to teach someone to identify a cat, how would you do it?

Would you show them pictures of rabbits and aligators and dogs and whales and zebras and every other animal in creation and then tell them, “That is not a cat”?

or

Would you show them pictures of Maine Coons and Abyssianians and Himilayans and Manx and Persians and Russian Blues and Siamese and tell them, “This is a cat”?

The answer’s pretty obvious, isn’t it? If you want to teach someone to recognize a cat, you show them pictures of cats. You might give them a cat to touch, or take them someplace where they could watch cats. You might even flick on a video about cats for them to see, or give them a book about cats to read. Toy cats would help, too! The point is, to learn to recognize a cat, you study the real thing.

It’s the same with anything we are trying to learn. We don’t learn to play the saxophone, by learnig to play the trombone. We don’t learn to cook, by ordering take-away. We don’t learn the types of flowers in our garden, by studying what isn’t a flower.

When we study the authentic item, we recognize the inauthentic easily. Bank tellers now have high tech means for testing counterfeit money, but they used to learn to recognize the coutnerfeit by studying the authentic. They learned everything there was to learn about real money, so that the counterfeit would stand out a mile away.

THIS IS A CAT

We live in a time when false prophets, false religions, false doctrines, and false teachers are rampant. They have always been around, but their numbers are multiplying. Gaining an audience is easier than ever; so is earning a profit. And, just as God raises up His true servants, so does Satan. The Devil is very good at promoting his own, but he is even better at deceiving the seeker. Why, he’s been doing that since the Garden! Adam and Eve walked with God, yet they were deceived by that lying serpent.

Well, the protection we need from being deceived isn’t going to be found by acquainting ourselves with these lies and liars. There are videos on YouTube, blog posts everywhere, and articles and books enough to fill a library that are full of these false religions and false prophets and false teachers. And, there are just as many that tear them apart piece by piece, telling you how they are each wrong—according to whomever is doing the telling. One video title I just saw was something to the effect of “Different Kinds of Witchcraft Christians Need to Know!” No, thank you! I don’t need to know about witchcraft. I need to know more about Jesus!

If we claim to be Christ followers, than knowing Him more should be a pleasure. How do we get to know Him? By reading His Word. We need to know what the Bible says. We need to study the Word of God, so that when someone makes a false claim we’ll know immediately to turn a deaf ear to them. We have to become that kind of people, especially in the day in which we live. Studying the counterfeit won’t help us recognize the authentic. It is knowing God’s Word that will equip us.

Bear in mind: we don’t have to become biblical scholars. We don’t need to dissect the cat and discover what a cat liver looks like compared to a dog liver. However, we do have to open the book. Being in the Word daily—throughout the day—will cause it to become ingrained in us.

Psalm 119:105 says, “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.” Could it be more clear? If you want to stay in the light of truth, if you do not want to stumble on this path you’re walking, know God’s Word.