Persistently Seeking

The whole idea of persistence started when a couple weeks ago when I was reminded once again of the widow and the unjust judge in Luke 18. 

Luke 18:1-8

1.       And he spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint.

2.       Saying, There was in a city a judge, which feared not God, neither regarded man:

3.       And there was a widow in that city; and she came unto him, saying, Avenge me of mine adversary.

4.       And he would not for a while: but afterward he said within himself, Though I fear not God, nor regard man;

5.       Yet because this widow troubleth me, I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me.

6.       And the Lord said, Hear what the unjust judge saith.

7.       And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them?

8.       I tell you that he will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?

Here is a woman that goes to a judge that she might have a protection order against those that sought her hurt.  This judge was not a compassionate person and made no effort to make life easier for those in his jurisdiction that were hurting or troubled.  He was a selfish and arrogant man and sought his own pleasure.  Now here comes a widow woman that has no one to be her advocate, no one to help her in her crisis.  She is completely at his mercy as her husband was dead and there appears to be no other family for her to turn.  This singular widow woman who was weak and without any other advocate, in the judge’s eyes she was meaningless and could do nothing to benefit him so he could write her off for sure.  He didn’t have time to get involved in the affairs of one so unimportant so he determined that he would just ignore her pleas.  But this widow was persistent.  Every day he went to the gate to dispense judgment, she was there pleading her cause.  No matter how much he ignored her, she refused to be unheard.  Finally, after her continued coming pleading judgment, he made the statement “Though I fear not God, nor regard man; yet because this widow troubleth me, I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me.” Due to this weak, unimportant widow’s persistence, she was avenged by an unjust judge. 

I know that I have petitioned God more times than I can count for things that only he can do.  Salvation, revival, family restoration, healing, etc… I have prayed these prayers so many times and there are times when I have wondered whether God has heard me at all.  I have reminded God of the promises that he made to me, promises of transformation, promises of a ministry, promises of comfort and care, yet these continue to seemingly go unfulfilled.  I don’t do well with being ignored, especially when it feels like God is the one doing the ignoring, so my frustration has grown to unmanageable proportions because of the apparent delay in fulfilling those promises.  I am not saying that God hasn’t answered any prayers that I have prayed but those promises and burdens that He placed in my heart are still outstanding.  Though it seems that my prayers have gone unheard and unfulfilled, I KNOW, based on the word of Jesus “Shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them? I tell you that he will avenge them speedily…” (Luke 18:7-8), that He will, in his faithfulness, fulfill that which he promised and also avenge me of my adversary. 

So as long as I persistently and faithfully seek him, he WILL answer me.  “The hand of our God is upon all them for good that seek him; but his power and wrath is against all them that forsake him.” (Ezra 8:22).

Nonbelieving Belief

Have you ever been given good news and it seemed too good to be true.  In our society of criminals, con-men and tricksters, the adage of “if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is (too good to be true).”  I think many times we allow this same thought process to get involved in our relationship with God.  He gives us, or tries to give us, blessings and/or promises but we have trouble believing that it could possibly be true.  Perhaps it is because we feel that we are too insignificant for God to bother with blessing us in such a way or maybe it is because we do not have an absolute belief in his absolute power.  Tuesday morning, I felt that God gave me a special word of blessings and promises but all day I have struggled with believing it to be true.  The first time I read the scriptures that he gave me, a deep sense of peace and anticipation came over me and with each subsequent reading it has only increased.  But once each reading is done and I start thinking about the connotations of the scriptures, a sense of disbelief comes over me.  There are things with which I have struggled my whole adult life and if the scriptures are to be believed then it seems the most difficult of those struggles will (soon hopefully) be over. Maybe the whole crux of it is that I just can’t imagine a life without struggle.  I am not indicating that God has promised me a euphoric existence; he just gave me a word regarding some of my hardest personal battles.  I do believe that God spoke to me through these scriptures so why can I not wrap my mind around the idea of it being fulfilled.  I know God to be a God of mercy and love; so why is it so hard to believe that he cares enough about ME to teach my children and stand up for my defense?  God is a God of grace, and I know that to be true, so is a promise from Him to show me kindness and peace so preposterous?  Sometimes I think we must just believe, even when it seems unbelievable.  I know that God spoke to me and gave me promises and hope.  Even though my humanity questions the logic and my insecurities question my worthiness, I will just believe that He did indeed speak to me and trust Him to fulfill that which He promised.   

Persistence from the Dirt

Today as I thought about the state of persistence, I thought of the woman with the issue of blood in Mark 5 and Luke 8. Allow me a little creative license as I tell her story.

She had spent all the money that she had. She was without any additional resources and due to her bloody issue, she was, more than likely, ostracized from her family and those that she held dear. She was down to utter desperation. She heard that Jesus was in town and that he had done wonderful miracles. He had opened blinded eyes, caused the lame to walk, healed leprosy and she knew that if she could get to him that he could heal her also. Her blood loss had put quite a toll on her body and she was so exhausted and barely able to function but she knew she would have to persevere if she wanted even the opportunity for Jesus to heal her. With great difficulty she cleaned herself up, got dressed and went out into the city. Much to her dismay, there was a very crowd gathered around him. As she stood there in consternation, tears welled up in her eyes and she felt like sobbing and giving up because she knew that, due to the throng, it would be very difficult to touch him, let alone speak to him. But the thought came to her, “this is your only option. If not this then it is a sure death.” So she took a deep breath, straightened her backbone and started over towards the crowd that surrounded her hope, Jesus. As she reached the outer edges of the throng of people, she realized that there is no way that she is going to be able to speak to him but if she could just touch him, surely that would be enough. As she tried to politely push through, the strength of the crowd overwhelmed her. As she weakly but doggedly made her way through the crowd, she got shoved and she fell to the ground. She tried to stand but no one was paying attention to her to give her a hand up and she was much too weak to rise on her own. “If I am going to make it to Jesus,” she thought, “I will have to do it from down here.” She moved through the crowd on her hands and knees  Dirt and dust from everyone's sandles were getting in her eyes and mouth.  It seemed that the closer she got to Jesus the weaker and dirtier she became but finally she saw a break in the crowd just ahead. It wasn’t a large break as people were thronging Him but it was enough that she could see the edge of his robe.  Finally she was able to stretch her arm out and touch the very edge of his garment. The healing virtue that flowed through her was wonderful. She felt the warmth of a healing touch staunch the bloody issue. But wait, he is now asking to know who touched him. “Surely he isn’t talking about me as there were a bunch of people touching him.” She thought, “See even his disciples said so; but he is saying that virtue left his body.” Struggling to get in the standing position, she told him it was she who touched him. Then he said the words that she had been longing for years to hear, “Daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace, and be whole of thy plague.” Turning away from him she made her way back through the crowd, only this time with a strength that she hadn’t felt in twelve years. Once she returned to her home, she marveled how life was completely transformed in such a short time due to touching Jesus.

There are times when life has us worn down to desperation. We do not feel strong enough to stand, let alone to do anything else, but we know that we cannot endure another day like this. Oh, we know about Jesus but He seems so far away and we do not feel strong enough to even call out to Him. Our sins and poor choices have weakened us to the point of hopelessness and we find ourselves spiritually, emotionally on the ground being stepped on and ignored by the crowd. It seems that no one cares about us. We have heard of Jesus and how they say He cares for us but despair has clouded our thoughts and causes us to be paralyzed in that state of hopelessness and fear. If you can somehow get just a tiny bit of strength to call on Jesus, he WILL transform your life. If you can just persist in reading His Word, He will speak to you and lead you in the right path. If you can just hold on to that miniscule hope within your heart and believe on Jesus, the Savior of the world, He will pull you through. Once you have persisted until you have touched Jesus, you will be in awe of your transformation. With a single touch of Jesus, your life can and will be changed. With a single Word from Him, your life will be filled with purpose, direction and meaning. Just be persistent until you have touched him.

Just a Bit of Persistence

I know that we all know what persistence means, along with persistent and persist, but somehow the dictionary explains words more clearly than I can. The below definitions are pulled from Merriam-Webster’s dictionary.
Persistence:

1. The action or fact of persisting

2. The quality or state of being persistent; especially: perseverance

Persistent: adjective

1. Existing for a long or longer than usual time or continuously: as

a. Retained beyond the usual period

b. Continuing without change in function or structure

2. Continuing or inclined to persist in a course

3. Continuing to exist despite interference or treatment

Persist: intransitive verb

1. To go on resolutely or stubbornly in spite of opposition, importunity, or warning

2. To continue to exist especially past a usual, expected or normal time.

For the past little while I have been struggling –spiritually. To be transparent, I feel as if I have been going through a time of Job. A time in which I have lost all that has been important to me. Those things that I treasured and valued seemed to be ripped from my hand and now lay in ashes. Within my heart and soul, I knew that I would not turn my back on God but it seemed that no matter which way I turned I was being robbed of all that I held dear and I just didn’t see how I could take another step. Spiritually, I felt that I was at the place of Job 2:8 “And he took him a potsherd to scrape himself withal; and he sat down among the ashes.” I had reached a place of being spiritually empty and barren of all hope, faith and inspiration and all I felt like doing was sitting in the ashes of the emptiness and mourning the loss of the very things that caused me to get out of bed in the morning. What is life without hope? What is a day of breath without faith to see the salvation of the Lord? What is the point of living without inspiration from the Word of God? That is where I found myself recently and a dear friend gave me a CD that somehow caused the clouds to part and for the unseen kernel of hope to start to sprout once again. The CD was of William McDowell and the song is “I Won’t Go Back.” It talks about how I have been changed and delivered from that which I used to be and I will not go back. As I listened to the song, I realized that though, I felt bereft of all, I had so much more than I had before God changed me. Though I felt hopeless, I had more hope that I used to have. God had changed me so much over the past several years that even in this time of barrenness; I still knew that would not go back to the way it used to be. As I continued listening to this song over and over and over again, I knew that no matter what I had to endure, no matter how the adversary of my soul would try to dissuade me, I absolutely WOULD NOT GO BACK! Even though I felt hopeless, I would trust in His faithfulness. Even though I felt my faith to be at an all time low, I would remember his Word and Promises and consciously decide to believe.

So here I am still feeling weak in faith and hope but knowing that, with persistence, I will see Job 42 in my life. If I continue to be faithful, regardless of how I feel or the trials that come my way, God will bless my latter end. All it takes is a little persistence.

Ashamed

Ezra 8: 21-23

21.   Then I proclaimed a fast there, at the river of Ahava, that we might afflict ourselves before our God, to seek of him a right way for us, and for our little ones, and for all our substance.

22.   For I was ashamed to require of the king a band of soldiers and horsemen to help us against the enemy in the way: because we had spoken unto the king saying, The hand of our God is upon all them for good that seek him; but his power and his wrath is against all them that forsake him.

23.   So we fasted and besought our God for this: and he was entreated of us.

Have you ever spoke The Word that God told you?  Or proclaimed a promise that God made to you?  You know that you know that you know that it was a Word from God or that He did indeed make a promise but then you become ashamed or embarrassed?  Have you made a stand for that which is right but then because God doesn’t show up when you thought he should you become embarrassed or ashamed.  I know that I am not alone in having those feelings because Ezra had the same embarrassed feelings.  Ezra had the responsibility of getting a large group of people along with silver, gold and precious vessels to Jerusalem.  The silver, gold and precious vessels alone would be valued about $20 million today; this was in addition to the personal treasures and belongings of the travelers.  When Ezra spoke to the king, he assured him that God would protect them and take care of those that were seeking God.  He spoke with confident faith that God was indeed on their side.  But then they reached the river that runs to Ahava and he viewed the people.  Perhaps it was when he felt the huge responsibility settle on his shoulders of leading the people back to Jerusalem, along with the highly precious cargo, that a bit of doubt crept in.  Perhaps he realized that the frailty and powerlessness of his humanity and that only God could keep the people and their substance secure.  He knew that God had called and sent him to Jerusalem, and he had spoken to the king on the confidence of that word from God.  As he surveyed the people and substance, he started feeling a bit foolish and thinking, “What if God doesn’t protect us?  What if we get robbed and/or murdered on the way?  Then people would say that our God couldn’t even protect us.  People would believe our God to be weak and not the God of all heaven and earth, even though I know that He is.”  Perhaps God had already intended to protect them from those that sought to rob or attack them, but Ezra needed assurance.  I feel like Ezra was telling God, “I made a stand for you so I need you to fulfill that which I spoke on your behalf.  I told the king that your hand would be on your people for GOOD and that your wrath was on those that forsake you, so I really need you to make it so.”  God did answer their prayers and supplication and fulfilled all that Ezra had spoken to the king.

How many times have you felt foolish on God’s behalf?  We spoke the Word that we KNOW God spoke to us.  We proclaimed the promises that He gave.  We prophesied that which he put in our hearts but then when the prophesying moment has passed we perhaps feel a bit foolish.  Not because we believe what we said to be untrue but we know that we can’t MAKE it happen and if God doesn’t follow through then we will be left holding the bag.  I know that I am no better than Ezra; there are times I have spoken that which I KNOW to be the Word of God.  I have shared the vision and proclaimed the day of liberty but then it seems that when God delays in fulfilling then doubt and embarrassment creep in.  It is in those moments that he delays that I wonder if perhaps I should not have spoken so boldly, perhaps I should have kept silent about the Word and Promises of God.  If I had but kept my mouth shut about that which God spoke to me, then when he didn’t fulfill then I wouldn’t be embarrassed.  But then I am reminded of Philippians 1:6 “Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it…”  It doesn’t matter whether we stepped out in faith and spoke the Word or whether we kept it to ourselves, God WILL perform that which he promised.  So though you might feel a bit foolish in the delay, be confident of God’s faithfulness and wait on Him.

Your Help Needed

If you are reading this blog, I do hope that you find it helpful and encouraging in your journey. I am on a journey also and there times when I wonder if I have made any difference; whether by giving hope, increasing faith or challenging someone to stretch out of there comfort-zone and grasp all that God has waiting for them. As i seek to expand my harvest field I find that I need helpers. In order to get this blog picked up by other blogs and search engines, I need you to spread the word. If you find a particular article helpful, please post the link on your Facebook or Twitter accounts. If you have a blog, please include a link on it. Also, please take a moment to become a follower of this blog. Together we can make an impact in our world.

Tapping into Limitless Power

The sons of Anak were a race of giants greatly feared by the Israelites. When the spies made their report about the Promised Land, it included to specific references to the Anakites: first, an observation that was true “Moreover we saw the children of Anak there” (Numbers 13:28); second, an interpretation that was false “We be not able to go up against the people; for they are stronger than we” (Numbers 13:31).

For forty years these giants had stood as a taunting symbol of the nation’s disbelief. So formidable were they that the nation had coined a saying, “Who can stand before the children of Anak!” (Deuteronomy 9:2). But Moses assured the Israelites that God specializes in dealing the Anakites.

Where are you facing “children of Anak” in your life? What impossible situation seems to stand squarely in the way of your spiritual progress? God’s word to Israel is also aimed at you: “The Lord thy God… goeth over before thee; as a consuming fire he shall destroy them” (Deuteronomy 9:3).

When your heart is filled with faith, there is no room left for fear.

So many times we look at the troubles or the situations that we are facing and we feel hopeless. We wonder: how in the world is this surmountable? How will we ever get past this? We can’t seem to see any light or anything positive about the situation. So many times we judge the hopelessness of the situation on our own capabilities instead of God’s. We look at the situation through the eyes of someone who has limited strength, limited wisdom, limited knowledge, limited resources, etc. instead of looking at it through the eyes of our God who is limitless in strength, wisdom, knowledge and power. He also has limitless resources as everything on the earth is his. Regardless of what the need or situation, God CAN take care of it. Throughout the days that Jesus walked on the earth he used variations of the phrase, “as your faith is so be it unto you.” That tells me the only thing hindering us from tapping into God’s limitless power and resources is our faith.