Thanks for the Memories

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One of the constant struggles I've had in my Christian life is what I call "selective memory". That is, when I'm faced with a trial in my life, I worry whether God can or will be able to help me with it even though he has done so over and over again. It's seems so easy to hang onto the pain and trials from the past, but hard to hold onto the victories Christ has given me.

The truth is, the disciples struggled with the same thing. In Mark 8, we come across an amazing case of "selective memory". Earlier in the Bible account, Jesus has performed the miraculous and fed five thousand people with 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish. The disciples not only witnessed it, but they collected 12 additional baskets of bread when it was over! Now, in Mark 8, here they are with four thousand hungry people and would you believe the disciples are wondering what to do? Jesus tells them that the people need to be fed and their answer is amazing, "But where in this remote place can anyone get enough bread to feed them?" Huh? Are they kidding? Isn't this like deja vu' to them? When I read it, I often think I would say, "Hey, let's give him a muffin and see what he does with that!" Ha! But instead, the disciples selectively forget what Christ can do. Jesus chastises them in verses 17 & 18 for their selective memory, "Do you still not see or understand? Are your hearts hardened? Do you have eyes but fail to see, and ears but fail to hear? And don't you remember?"

While it's easy to criticize and poke fun at the disciples expense as we look at the situation 2000 years later, in reality, we are no different. When difficulties come, we question him yet again. What we need to do is to REMEMBER. Remember when you accepted Christ as your savior, and the feeling of completeness that rushed into your soul? Remember the times that God stepped into your life and/or the lives of your family and friends in a way that was unmistakable? Remember how God saw you through a difficult situation where you thought there was no way out? The Bible says in Hebrews 13:8 that "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever." That means that he can and will do all those things again and more if we simply put our trust in him.

No matter what struggles you're facing today, he can still bring miracles into your life. All we need to do is hang on to the memories and expect His best!

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Walking on the Water

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Every time I read the story of Jesus walking on the water, I'm fascinated! It's an incredible story and so many books have been written about it alone including John Ortberg's best seller, "If You Want To Walk On Water, You Have To Get Out Of The Boat". (Awesome book by the way.)

But while it's often looked at as a story of one of Jesus' miracles, the real power in the story for me is not about Jesus, but about watching Peter. In other words, the question this story answers is not "Does Jesus have power?", but "Can the power of God impact ME, in my life?" Watching Peter step out of the boat and walk on the water with Jesus... the answer is "Yes" and the story provides clear perspectives on what we must do to receive that power.

Many of those perspectives are obvious and have been discussed before, such as:

• You have to be willing to step out in faith (get out of the boat)
• You have to keep your eyes on Jesus only.
• Etc.

But a different one hit me today. You have to always be looking for Jesus in your situations. The scripture tells us that Jesus "... saw his disciples straining at the oars, because the wind was against them." (Mk 6:48) In other words, they were in a fierce struggle for their lives and were simply focused on surviving it. However, in the midst of the storm, Jesus came walking. Actually, the Bible account tells us that "He was about to pass by them..." when they saw him, and if they hadn't looked up, they might have missed it.

Sometimes, we struggle in life and it's hard to understand why? Even though we've been faithful to trust in Him in our lives, we find ourselves "straining at the oars" to stay afloat. At those times, no matter how hard we look for answers, try to find ways out of the situation or rationalize the reasons, we need to always be checking the horizon for Jesus. This story gives us peace that He knows our struggle and that if we seek Him, He will come, even if it's not until the "fourth watch of the night".

Whatever you're struggling and straining with in your life, don't let Jesus pass you by... keep your eyes on the horizon, and get ready to climb out of the boat.

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Psst... Pass It On!

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Did you ever play that game when you were a kid called "Telephone"? Essentially, one person comes up with a phrase or saying and then whispers it to another person in the room. The second person has to take what they heard and whisper it to the next person and so on throughout the whole room. When it gets to the last person, that person tells everyone the message they received and guess what? ---it is completely different from the original! Why is that? Because each person has a different perspective, different experiences, different abilities to hear and remember and different ways to communicate. The bottom line lesson from this game is clear: unless you get information directly from the source, your information may be flawed. This same phenomenon can happen with our faith.

In the Old Testament, God gave Moses the law for all the people to follow. Over time, however, various people like the Pharisees and Sadducees read the law, gave their own interpretations and then taught others from their own perspectives. As time went by, the law became reduced to a series of rituals and behaviors and lost much of the spiritual impact that God had intended.

We can also see the same phenomenon in Christianity today with our many different denominations and factions. Differing interpretations about baptism, communion, rituals, forgiveness, family, etc. have all become issues for separation and debate. But, while having different views is not a bad thing, we have to realize the impact it can have on our faith. Like the game of "telephone", listening to mixed messages can confuse us about the true basis for our faith and lead us away from real spiritual growth. Therefore, we must always be vigilant to test what we hear with the true source... the word of God.

Jesus made the basis of our faith crystal clear in John 3:16-17 when he said:

"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him."

Have you been playing "telephone" with your faith? If the message you're holding onto has been changed dramatically from Christ's words above, maybe it's time to talk directly to the source. He's dying to set the record straight.

Jill Cohen

Vice President, Kohath Ministries

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That dirty word... Patience!

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Galatians 5:22 tells details clearly what is called "the fruit of the Spirit" -- the characteristics of Christ that we can experience for ourselves if we allow the Holy Spirit to guide and direct our lives. The passage tells us:

"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control."

Now, I definitely want to live by the Spirit and grow into the likeness of Christ. That is my life goal. But why does that one dirty word --- PATIENCE --- have to be there? The rest are so peaceful and happy and outwardly focused, but patience just gives me pain to hear the word!

Yes. It's true, I've always struggled with patience. When I get my mind focused on something... I want to see it come to fruition! While that's true in lots of different parts of my life, I think the hardest times for me are when God's promises are clear, but the results are slow. Or at least slower than I think they should be. It's in these times it's easy for doubts to arise and frustrations to set in much like they did for the Israelite people.

In the Old Testament writings, the prophets spoke of a Messiah who would come to save God's people and establish his kingdom forever. For a nation plagued with captivity and unrest from neighboring peoples, this was indeed a promise to count on. Yet, between the time of the prophets writings and the birth of Jesus there were more than 400 years of waiting -- simply waiting for God's promises to be revealed! The truth is, during this time, many people lost patience and fell away from trusting God, and sadly as a result, they missed the glorious fulfillment of God's promises in Christ Jesus.

You see, having a lack of patience tends to make us take our own approach, seek our own path and take over control ourselves. But having godly patience ensures that we keep our eyes on what God's doing and don't miss out on the blessings he has for us. No, it's not easy, but the apostle Paul tells us that such patience -- or "perseverence" -- is key to a life in Christ. He puts it this way:

"...but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance, perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit whom he has given us"

Romans 5:3-4

So, I guess there's good reason that "patience" is part of the "fruit of the Spirit" -- because it builds our hope and trust in God to deliver his promises in our lives. Promises that are always true, can never be forsaken and cannot be matched by any other source!

Hmmm... guess it's not a dirty word after all!

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Building like Nehemiah

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When the Israelites were in captivity, the walls of Jerusalem had been broken down into rubble. The very city that held the presence of God was in pieces and the walls were just piles of stones. Even when the Israelites began going back to live there. When Nehemiah heard this, he was cupbearer to the king of Persia and his heart was troubled. He knew that he needed to do something and so the king gave him permission to fix the wall.

Clearly, fixing the wall was something that God had called him to do. The way we know this is because his passion to do so was arisen in him and he sought God in every turn. In just a short while (versus what most people had expected), Nehemiah and the people of Israel completed rebuilding the wall -- accomplishing the task that God had called him to.

This is the perfect story of being called into service by God, the realities of service and the attitude and approach we should have in service. Here are some of the learnings I took out of this:

• Pray at every turn: From the very beginning when he talked to Artaxerxes about building the walls, he prayed to God before each step. This was clearly not about him, but about what God was leading him to do. How many times do we start projects because of a calling of God, but once we get into them, we make our own decisions and take it on ourselves to complete it. Too many in my case.
• Seek willing help with the same heart: The rebuilding of the wall was a tremendous task. Nehemiah knew that without others who were committed to the effort, it would never get done. So, he went out with his plans to the leaders and officials of the people and gave each family part of the wall to build. Sometimes I find myself in the middle of a calling by God trying to do everything myself and not asking others to step in and help. If it’s God’s calling, he will provide the resources to help, we must be prepared to ask.
• Be prepared for opposition: Whenever people step up to God’s calling, Satan does all he can to oppose the work. In Nehemiah’s case, the rebuilding of the wall incensed the neighboring people. So much that they threatened to attack them and murder Nehemiah. When the people heard about this they became discouraged. The work was already hard, and now there were threats on their lives. But Nehemiah knew that God was in control so he set up the people to provide defensive protection for the work. He told them not to be afraid, but to “remember the Lord, who is great and awesome”. I love this description of what they did: “Those who carred materials did their work with one hand and held a weapon in the other, and each of the builders wore his sword at his side as he worked” (Nehemiah 4:17-18). The truth is, if we serve God, we need to we need to be constantly armed against the work of Satan which will inevitably try to frustrate it. We cannot allow ourselves to become discouraged no matter what battles we have to face and “remember the Lord” in all things.

Nehemiah had lots of tools and lots of people working with him to rebuild the wall of Jerusalem, but the most important tool was his trust and commitment to God regardless of the challenge.

What walls are you trying to build for God? Make sure to carry Him in your tool belt.

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Renewing Your Strength

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I don't know about you, but in recent days I have been feeling just simply worn out! You know, the feeling... hours and days pass by with a continuing list of "to-do's" that never seem to get done. Everything including my personal devotional time and efforts for God become cumbersome... like pushing a big boulder up a hill. Absolutely nothing seems to go smoothly, and I find myself weary and wanting to simply give up. Are you with me?

During these times, it's easy say, "well, that's life" and just try to suffer through it, but the Bible tells us life shouldn't be that way for us. Actually, the Bible gives us a clear prescription for "renewed strength" and all we have to do is follow it to the letter.

"...but those who hope in the LORD

will renew their strength.

They will soar on wings like eagles;

they will run and not grow weary,

they will walk and not be faint." - Isaiah 40:31 (NIV)

Oooh! Renewed strength, soaring like eagles, running and walking without getting weary or faint -- that's just what I need, but what do I have to do to experience those? The passage is clear: HOPE in the LORD.

But what does it mean to "HOPE in the LORD". Other Bible Translations describe it in these ways: "wait on the Lord", "trust in the Lord", "look for the Lord", "expect the Lord [to act]", etc. In other words, to find the renewed strength we desire it's very simple. We need to let go of whatever boulder we think we're in charge of and surrender it completely to God. Not in part, not in words only, but completely.

The truth is, the boulders we push are not organic... they're made by our own two hands. We can make boulders out of all kinds of things including our jobs, our children, our relationships, our church programs and yes, even our spiritual life. But the Bible says that if we surrender them to God and earnestly seek his will through prayer and fasting, he will relieve our burdens and renew our strength.

So, if you.. like me... have been carrying some heavy boulders recently, I hope you too will surrender them to God today.

Prayer:

Lord, I'm am so weary. I have been trying so hard control things in my life especially around ________________. I realize that only you are truly in control of this situation and that only you can bring peace in the midst of it. I surrender this situation totally to you today, Lord, and I just pray that you would be glorified in and through it. Guide me in the path you would have me go, and renew my strength in you.

In Jesus' name. Amen.

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New Bible Study Helps Christians Live Abundant Lives

New Bible Study Helps Christians Live Abundant Lives

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