Immovable Rocks - Guest Post by Meg

This post is a guest post by my sweet friend Meg. Meg is a 24 year old college graduate with a huge heart for Jesus and for people. She has been a blessing to me in the short time I have known her, and she has graciously agreed to share this post while I prepare for our next session together. 

Photo Meg took of those rocks

I went to the lake today to be alone with the Lord. After spending some time talking with Him sitting on top of a picnic table, I wanted to put my feet into the water. I walked around the edge of the lake until I found a place low enough to sit and dangle my feet.

I marveled at the Lord for awhile. I was reminded that the One who controls the waves is the One who gives me life.

The waves were pretty strong today, and I began to focus on how they hit the bank and shot up into the air before receding back into the lake. I was being soaked from my feet all the way up to my knees. Then my attention turned to some rocks on my other side, at the base of the land. The waves hit them with just as much intensity...but even the strongest waves that slammed into the rocks didn’t even cause them to budge. The rocks were immovable.

My mind immediately went to the passage in James that my bible study group has been dwelling in for the past couple of weeks.

“My bretheren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have it’s perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. For let not that man suppose he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double minded man, unstable in all his ways.”
James 1:2-8

The waves were like the trials and temptations in life. But he who is aware that those trials produce what we need to be sharpened and asks for wisdom in the trial, in FAITH...he will not be overtaken by the waves. He will be firm. Steadfast. Immovable.

Well, then my mind began to think logically about what my eyes were seeing. Realistically, these rocks weren’t EXACTLY immovable. Over time, as the continue to press down, the rocks are slowly worn down, layer by layer. Then my mind went back to the beginning of chapter 1 of James.

“Knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have it’s perfect work that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.”

Those waves are slowly wearing down the rocks but what is being taken away is temporal. When we are in the storm, standing firm in the waves, what the waves wear off of us are the parts that are not perfect and complete...the temporal and fleshly nature. What will be left will be stronger and sanctified -- if we keep our eyes on the One who is in control of the waves. He will not allow more than we can handle with the power of His Holy Spirit! ( 1 Corinthians 10:12-13)

So buckle down and be strong. Put on the whole armor of God (Ephesians 6) so that you can be

firm in the toughest storm….and when you are in the storm, trust that God is refining you into a more sanctified and stronger follower of His. If you need wisdom, ask Him. He’ll give it to you. Memorize the promises God gave you in His Word. Then stand on them. That’s why He gave them to you...to help you be firm. He has given you everything you need to be strong. You just have to take advantage of them and put them to use.

Love and prayers, dear friends!

You can follow Meg on her blog at 

http://megmariem.wordpress.com/

and on Instagram at http://instagram.com/megmariemmm

or on Instagram at http://instagram.com/infocusphotography13

Set Free 12 – Not Good Enough

There are so many times we struggle with not feeling good enough. This is a struggle we can keep returning to without meaning to. Satan preys on our feelings. His main goal is to get us away from focusing on Christ, and it doesn’t matter who gets hurt along the way. Even if it’s you. Even if it’s me.

He’s gonna try his hardest to make us feel not good enough.

Here’s the thing. We aren’t good enough.

We never will be.

Not by ourselves anyway.

This realization can get us down, and while we’re down we’re useless.

Useless.

I knew it.

Do you see the cycle?

Let’s get a fresh perspective, shall we?

Come with me – read our text, Psalm 34.

I’d love to draw out some key verses, but I want your thoughts first.

DO: Grab your journal and highlight verses in this chapter of Psalms that shine and soothe.

DO: Please share your answers in our community (comment below) keeping in mind that your answer may be different than mine, or than someone else’s. That’s the beauty of God’s Word; it’s alive and can be used for the varying needs of God’s children.

The verses that touched my aching heart in this chapter were especially verses 5, 7, 10, and 18.

7 and 18: being surrounded by God’s angels, and by the LORD Himself; my broken heart is of great value to Him.

10: I shall not be lacking any good thing. My heart is pure, valuable, precious and complete to Him. Any ‘not-good-enough’ is filled in with Christ.

And last but not least, verse 5:

Psalm 34:5 “Those who look to Him are radiant with joy; their faces will never be ashamed.” HCSB

Looking to Him, Creator, wise, holy… GOD, and not being ashamed? How can this be? I look in the mirror and feel ashamed, and I’m me. How can I look to God and not feel ashamed?

Because, Sweet Thing, He chose you, made you, knows you and loves you.

And not only that, but He fills in where we fall short.

Keep a finger in Psalm 34, but go take a look at these verses: Colossians 2:10, and then 2 Peter 1:3.

When He looks at you, He sees Christ’s completion.

Colossians 2:10 “And you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power.” NKJV emphasis mine
(or notice in HCSB, “And you have been filled by Him…” emphasis mine)

Because He is the One who completes us. That’s why He doesn’t see the not-good-enough us that we see! Because He sees perfection. Because He sees Christ.

2 Peter 1:3-4 “His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.” NIV

We get to participate in His nature.

With this mindset, of course we wouldn’t feel ashamed.

(Before we get too heady about this though, please read how Christ handles this lofty position in Philippians 2:6-8.)

Q: In Philippians 2:7, how did Christ respond to being equal with God?

Turn back to Psalm 34. Here’s the thing I’d like you to see.

When we’re feeling down, and feeling not good enough, we are not seeing ourselves the way God does. We are seeing ourselves as pre-Christ creations, not as the Christ-filled, Christ-transformed (2 Cor 5:17) creation that we are.

More importantly than that, we are not seeing Christ at all.

Yep. You read that right. Re-read Psalm 34 and answer the following questions – personally in your journal, or also in our community in the comments below.

Q: In verse 1, what does David say?

Q: In verse 2, who does David boast in?

Q: In verse 3, who are we to join in magnifying?

Do you get the idea? Keep going if you like, through the whole chapter, making a list of all the times, or circling in your Bible like I did, that you see the following exchange:
I praise – He protects

I look to Him – He is near.

Focus on Him – Lose all shame.

I’d like to close with a concept the Lord impressed upon my heart in a Bible study I attended 5 years ago that totally upended my view of God, and transformed my view of relationship with Him from Master-Creator/Slave-servant to Father/Child and all the love, understanding and acceptance that comes with it.

We were looking at 1 Peter 2:3-10.

(I’d like you to glance at it too, so you can have an idea where we were at. Notice the repeat from Psalm 34:8 and 1 Peter 2:3? Don’t you love how God ties things together?)

We looked at the concept of a stone, and how Christ is our cornerstone, holding it all together. God impressed upon me that night how precious we are (vs 9) to Him, and He gave my heart this picture (He often uses pictures with me because He knows it works and stays with me longer. You?):

Picture a diamond, pressured, cut, chiseled, carved. Now picture the prongs where it is set are actually the hands of God. We are that diamond or precious stone.

Repeat these words aloud until you believe them: “I am a stone, set like a jewel in the heart and hands of God.”

Know that. Know, too, that for that stone to be beautiful, it does require pressure, change (2 Cor 5:17 again!) and cutting and carving.

No stone starts out perfect. That’s why I said at the beginning today that we aren’t enough.

Because we’re not enough.

But with Jesus, we are beautiful, and with Jesus, we shine.

Shine, sister. That’s how He sees you, and that’s how He wants you to see yourself.

You are so precious to Him.

I hope you’ve been blessed by this segment on being Set Free. I know I have. We will be starting up another series Lord willing near the beginning of September, but should have a few devotionals in between.

How did your verse-memorizing go?

I’d love for you to share a short video on Twitter or Instagram of you reciting them (use tag #faithspokenof). It doesn’t have to be perfect. Remember what we learned about perfectionism, and today about not being good enough. That’s not the point. The point is you’re hiding His precious Words in your heart.

If you haven’t started yet, that’s fine too- you can start today. 

Download free printable verse cards here.

God bless you this week and we’ll see you soon! 

You can connect in the meantime on Facebook and Twitter.

Pearls and Glitter

 As we wrap up our Bride of Christ series, I’d love to do a short survey. When you hear “Bride” what’s the first thing you think of?

Wedding. Love. Young. Beautiful.

If you’re like many people, these are some of the things you associate with brides.

For me, my first thought is “white” and then my mind starts adding in glitter, flowers, and of course some tulle.

So that was fun. But do you get the idea? This is a momentous occasion that typically even the most rough-and-tumble get cleaned up nice for.

This is where we are at in our text. Please read Revelation 21.

We’re here finally. The dark times are over, all hard lessons learned. The last bit of polishing, smoothing and styling are done. The Bride is ready to present to her (literally) perfect Groom.

It’s been a long time coming.

Revelation 21:5-6 “And the one sitting on the throne said, “Look, I am making everything new!” And then he said to me, “Write this down, for what I tell you is trustworthy and true.” And he also said, “It is finished! I am the Alpha and the Omega—the Beginning and the End. To all who are thirsty I will give freely from the springs of the water of life.” NLT

Here is fulfillment. Here is where His promises are fulfilled, and all the faith and blind trust (but not always blind right? Haven’t we seen evidence of Him at work?) comes to fruition and we can actually put our hands on the tantalizing…

Revelation 21:7 “All who are victorious will inherit all these blessings…” NLT

…and the vows are spoken!

Rev 21:7 “…and I will be their God, and they will be my children.” NLT

That’s vow He’s been saying all along. He loves you so much, Dear One.

The bride. Just have a look. This is beauty. True, lasting beauty. Her heart is pure, sweet genuine smile on her face, a smile driven from endless gratefulness for a gift she can never repay. This is it. And an angel presents her.

When the Bride is presented, she shines and sparkles. (I believe God loves glitter and sparkly just as much as our inner Princess does. Don’t you agree?)

And her Groom wipes every tear from her eye (Revelation 21:4) whispering, “I love you more than you will ever know. You were so worth it. I’m glad you’re here. You will never have any more pain or any tears ever again. You are Mine.”

Oh that will be heaven. And it will literally be Heaven.

Are you reading this beautiful account?
It is so beautiful. Read it slowly, and picture in your mind what your Prince has in store for you!

I encourage you to look at verse 19, and then do an image search for each of those precious stones mentioned. And we are those precious stones, yes? See the beauty! And in it, see and feel a bit of God’s heart. He loves you so so much!

One thing too, I’d like to discuss, is the pearl mentioned in verse 21.

Revelation 21:21a “The twelve gates were made of pearls—each gate from a single pearl!” NLT

The ‘pearly gates’ are more rightly called the Pearl Gates, for they are not ‘pearl-like’ but each of the twelve gates is an actual pearl.

Go with me for a moment – remember how a pearl is made? Would these large of pearls even be possible without our awesome God?

I love pearls for this reason – they truly are a beauty birthed from discomfort; the waxing beauty out of pain, and the longer the pain, the greater the beauty.

Perhaps why God chose pearl gates? Beauty from pain. Beauty received only at the time of restoration, when God cracks open the shell, and holds the pearl in His loving hand. And the gates are pearl.

Beauty from pain.

Walk through it, Dear One. Walk into His beautiful presence as the pure, beautiful Bride of Christ.