2 Timothy 1:7

Last night I had a breakthrough and it was centered around 2 Timothy 1:7.  This is a verse that I am very familiar with.  It is on my monitor at work,  I have it bookmarked on my phone and I even carry it written down on a piece of paper that I carry with me when we are on the mission field.  Last night I was listening to an audio book and there was 2 Timothy 1:7 again but this time was different, this time my breakthrough was there as well.  I have been struggling with trying to overcome an influence of the enemy for a long time.  I have resisted and succeeded, only to fail the next time the enemy feels he has come upon a more opportune time.  I have prayed again and again for God to give me the strength to overcome this and wondered why I did not receive an answer.  Then last night when I heard this in my book, I knew.  God did not just take it away like I asked and I did not receive the power to overcome it for a reason, and that reason is in 2 Timothy 1:7 - ⁷ For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline. 

You see, God did not need to act, to intervene in this issue, or to give me strength or power I did not have, because long before I was born he had already given me the tools that I would need to overcome the fiery darts of the enemy.  That God would use a novel of The Dresden Files to send me a message and to shine a light on the verse that I would need (after bringing this issue, and the roadblocks that it is causing in my life, again and again) to overcome this obstacle is both awesome and awesome at the same time. 

#resist

What Good is Faith ... ?  This is really only half of the question.  What good is Faith (yours or mine) if we only have in the good times?  I personally encounter this phenomenon quite a bit.  When things are going well, it is quite easy for me to have all the faith in the world.  But when the storm comes, when the devil returns to make another run at me I find it much harder to stand in faith much harder to resist.  In reality, this is when we need our faith the most, isn't it?  If we cannot stand in faith during these attacks, then how can we expect God to show up, to intervene on our behalf if we don't have faith that he will.  Faith is much like a muscle, it grows or gets stronger the more we use it.  Faith cannot be the shield that God meant it to be if we never use it, it cannot protect us from the fiery arrows of the devil if we don't hold it up, and keep holding it up.  The more fiery arrows headed our way the more we need that shield, the more resolute we must be in our Faith. 

I was thinking earlier today that it had been some time since I felt compelled to post anything, funny how these things work out.

God, I need you to show up in my life in a greater way, again.  To let me take refuge in your shadow, again.  If there is anything that I need to change, I humbly ask that you reveal it to me and give the willingness to listen.  And God, give the strength to keep holding that shield of faith between me and the devil, no matter how long the attack may last (I would consider a kindness though if the attack was shorter than longer).

And thank you for your word.

Isaiah 41:9-10 NLT
I have called you back from the ends of the earth, saying, ‘You are my servant.’ For I have chosen you and will not throw you away. Don’t be afraid, for I am with you. Don’t be discouraged, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you. I will hold you up with my victorious right hand.

Psalm 50:15 NLT
Then call on me when you are in trouble, and I will rescue you, and you will give me glory."

Psalm 34:4-6 NLT
I prayed to the LORD, and he answered me.  He freed me from all my fears. Those who look to him for help will be radiant with joy; no shadow of shame will darken their faces. In my desperation I prayed, and the LORD listened; he saved me from all my troubles.

2 Timothy 1:7
For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline.

Romans 8:28
And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.

Matthew 6:33-34
Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.  "So don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today’s trouble is enough for today.

Isaiah 54-17
But in that coming day no weapon turned against you will succeed.  You will silence every voice raised up to accuse you. These benefits are enjoyed by the servants of the Lord; their vindication will come from me. I, the Lord, have spoken!

Numbers 6:24-26
24 'May the Lord bless you and protect you. 25 May the Lord smile on you and be gracious to you.  26 May the Lord show you his favor and give you his peace.'

Deuteronomy 32:34-35
34 "The LORD says, 'Am I not storing up these things,
sealing them away in my treasury?
35 I will take revenge; I will pay them back.
In due time their feet will slip.
Their day of disaster will arrive,
and their destiny will overtake them.'

Psalm 27:13-1413 Yet I am confident I will see the LORD's goodness
while I am here in the land of the living.
14 Wait patiently for the LORD.
Be brave and courageous.
Yes, wait patiently for the LORD.

Psalm 60:12
12 With God we will gain the victory,
and he will trample down our enemies

Prayer As a Team Sport

The message in church today centered around prayer and it got me thinking about my own prayer life.  Specifically, about the times that I have prayed, both for myself and for others and the outcomes that my prayers generated.  I have seen healing in response to prayer many times since becoming a Christian, in several of these cases the healing occurred right before my eyes.  And yet I have prayed for my own healing and received no answer.  What is different in these experiences?  When I thought back this morning in church, I realized this simple truth, when I was praying for my own healing I was praying alone.  When I witnessed healing in response to prayer, I was not alone but I was praying as part of a group.  I'm not saying individual prayer is not effective, God has never let me down, he has never abandoned me.  What I am saying is that our prayers are so much more effective when we pray with others.  Prayer is not just for private conversations with God, it is also for us to gather together and lift our voices up as one, it is a "team sport" so to speak.

 Matthew 18: 19-20
¹⁹ Again I say to you that if two of you agree on earth concerning anything that they ask, it will be done for them by My Father in heaven. ²⁰ For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them.”

Ask - Believe - Receive

Psalm 34: 4-6
I prayed to the LORD, and he answered me.  He freed  me from all my fears.  Those who look to him for help will be radiant with joy; no shadow of shame will darken their faces.  In my desperation I prayed, and the LORD listened; he saved me from all my troubles.

These are more than just words in a book.


Two nights ago we were in the middle of a life altering event.  Handled incorrectly, this event would have changed our lives and not for the better.  This problem was not my area of expertise, so I was left with little to do but watch and wait while my partner worked on the problem, gathering data, documentation and so on.  While I waited I started to pray.  At first, I just asked for help, from God, from Jesus, then I asked for revelation.  I asked for revelation, I asked God to show us the way out of this mess, to tell me what we need to do, and I continued to pray.  After some time I just felt that it was ok to stop, so I relaxed sat down and waited as my partner continued on into the night working on her end.  While I waited, and silently rebuked the doubt that tried to fill my head with lies and negativity our answer came in an instant.  In an instant God gave us the answer we needed to guide us out of that mess.  In my desperation I prayed and the LORD listened; he saved us from our trouble, again.

The Impossibility of The Natural

Many days I spend much more time than I'm willing to admit just staring at my computer screen, waiting just waiting.  I wait for an answer, sitting before the computer as if it were an oracle that held the answers to the meaning of life, or maybe just the problems at hand.  The hard truth is there are no answers there, just the information that has been programmed into it by man.  I sit here searching for answers to questions such as: what decision to make, where to get the money to pay this bill or that, various HR issues and others.  As I sit here I realize that I am confounded by the impossibility of the natural, the idea that something man-made can provide the answers that I seek.  This idea is a trap that many find ourselves in, the idea that any problem or question can be solved solely by more effort or more work or more money spent on a problem that we can solve the issue ourselves in the natural, on our own.  I have spent a good part of today doing just this, looking for my answers in the natural, and I am once again reminded of the futility of this when the answers that I seek have already been given to me, in my language, in one book (that I have many copies of).  I know that I have to do my part, but sometimes I forget that includes going to my Bible for these answers and then standing in Faith that what God said will come to pass. 

Psalm 27:13-14
13 Yet I am confident I will see the LORD's goodness
while I am here in the land of the living.
14 Wait patiently for the LORD.
Be brave and courageous.
Yes, wait patiently for the LORD

Isaiah 26:3

³ You will keep in perfect peace
    all who trust in you,
    all whose thoughts are fixed on you!

But I haaaate minivans!

so we are on a business trip and we did all the right things as far as planning.  Way in advance we made hotel, plane and rental car reservations (as a preferred member no less).  Upon arrival we get to the preferred member board and instead of having our car number there next to my name it says go to preferred desk.  Great, at the desk we are told that they don't have any cars left just minivans!  Wonderful, apparently we are in the minivan capitol of the world!  So we go to our assigned minivan (complaining all the way and complaining loading our luggage while checking for damage ect) and my strong dislike of minivans seems well earned.  As I was loading the minivan it hit me how much complaining I was doing and I said Lord thank you that we don't have to take the bus or the airport shuttle or a taxi or walk I'm going to stop complaining now.  When I got in and started the vehicle the satellite radio came on and we changed it to 128 which is Joel Osteen radio and his topic is complaining!  Wow!  As we backed out of our space we lost the signal (this airport has the rental car lots in a parking garage).  Normally, by which I mean never, I don't activate the sat radio when I reserve the car, I love it and have it on one of our personal cars but for the time I'll be in a rental I just don't think it is worse the money.  However, on this trip not only have I been driving way more than usual but I have been alone most of the time all the while listening to Joel Osteen radio.  The enemy, loves to come after us when we are weakest and for me that is usually when I'm alone.  That's when tries to find an opening for his lies that's when he tries to get to lose my faith on the promises from God that I am believing on that I am praying for.  The enemy tried to ruin our trip by substituting a vehicle I hate but God knew I would need the encouragement from his word to get through this week so he took what the enemy meant for my harm and used it for my good, and he did by turning on the satellite radio.  Come'on Jesus!

Sometimes it really is that simple

While doing payroll today, I was trying to figure out the right way to pay holiday pay for an employee for the day after Thanksgiving.  Normally it would be this employee's day off but not always as she is more than willing to work this day of the week if needed.  As I was sitting at my desk (staring at my cubicle wall but not really seeing anything) and trying to decide whether to just do it or go look-up how I have done it in the past a paper that I had just pinned to the wall this morning suddenly came into focus.  It is a printout of a prayer that my wife had written some time ago and had been buried on my desk for the last month, the line that came into view was "God I plan to keep on giving to others....  Problem solved.