Where Do I Want to Dwell?

A few days ago, I read a Bible reference in Jesus Calling that I've been chewing on ever since. I've wanted to blog about it, but have avoided putting into words what I'm feeling, because I've allowed my enemy to tell my I'm being hypocritical to post something spiritual when it's been quite awhile since I've felt spiritual at all.

I'm in a funk.

I've eluded to this. I've even blogged a little about trying to let go of some worries, etc. But I keep coming back to a few places in my life where I'm continuing to struggle...to have faith to be honest. I have great desires...great passions...great dreams of doing great things for God...but the reality is that we often don't even have enough money for ourselves, so God hasn't been impressing upon us the opportunities to give. I miss giving. I actually yearn to do it. Every time I ask Him though, there is either a firm "No" or a pulling back (for lack of a better phrase)...a "wait until I give you the go ahead" sort of message.

So instead, we've been giving our time. We've been volunteering at Master Provisions, hosted some families and friends for swimming, continued to serve at Henry Hosea House and even sorted through clothes and tried to pare down what we have and give our abundance away to LifeLine Ministries. But then there's another side to serving: we'd hoped to serve as a family at a low income neighborhood...filled with single moms and their families...we only have one working car though and they meet within minutes of Dale's work shift ending. Unfortunately, it's not worked out for us to get there except for the first week. So sometimes even when the desire is there to give of our time (and something we wanted to do together as a family), poverty blocks us from the ability to do it.

And I know I'm whining...I own it. And I know God has the resources (a.k.a. money) to fulfill every desire He has laid upon my heart...but for some reason He's choosing to not send it this way. I know He will do it in His timing. Can I just say once more that I hate waiting?! I mean...what American doesn't? But I've been walking with Him long enough to know there is a reason for the wait...and one day, He will satisfy the desires of my heart. (Psalm 37:4)

Also, I've continued reading Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger by Ronald J. Sider and I am being greatly challenged, yet again to set aside my American wants because there are just too many in this world going without. But then I read the statistics and I see the percentages and he discusses the unequal distribution of wealth and my enemy starts coaxing me into a pity party..."After all, I am one of the impoverished he's writing about." While I don't want to wallow, I must admit I'm struggling to maintain a desire to give when there's nothing to give. Even now in this moment as I write, God's faithful Spirit is reminding me that when He does give us a blessing (whether it's financial, spiritual, physical or even time) and we share it from out of our poverty...then only He gets the credit. I can honestly say, the remembrance of times such as those does make me long to give again!

Back to the verse referred to in Jesus Calling that has begun to bring me some peace:

"May the beloved of the LORD dwell in security by Him,
Who shields him all the day;
And he dwells between His shoulders." (Deuteronomy 33:12)

In my Bible, there was an amazing cross reference:

"Like an eagle that stirs up its nest,
That hovers over its young,
He spread His wings and caught them,
He carried them on His pinions." (Deuteronomy 32:11)

Isn't that an amazing word picture? When the young aren't strong enough to fly on their own, He spreads His wings...catches them...and carries them on His pinions. Pinions are the outermost part of a bird's wings. The distal or terminal segment for you medical/science type people.

But there was one more cross reference that I found interesting:

"You shall put the two stones on the shoulder pieces of the ephod, as stones of memorial for the sons of Israel, and Aaron shall bear their names before the LORD on his two shoulders for a memorial." (Exodus 28:12)

This verse refers to Aaron, the high priest, brother of Moses. He was the one who stood before God and offered sacrifices for the sins of the people. I know this isn't Biblical, but if I let my imagination go for a minute, I can almost picture God saying, "You know what...that sin...yeah...I'm not going to let it slide...I am sick of the same thing...day after day...year after year (catches sight of Aaron pacing before the altar and sees the names of the 12 sons of Jacob engraved on the shoulders of Aaron's priestly garments)...but (deep breath) I remember the promise I made...to make you My people...to love you...and sometimes even carry you on My shoulders if I that's what it takes."



So yeah, I'm in a bit of a funk because things aren't happening the way I'd wanted or in the timing I'd hoped...but I know it will pass and I know His blessings and the growth that will happen in the waiting will have been worth it all. In the mean time, I think I'm going to climb up and dwell right where He wants me...

A Marked Woman

Have you ever felt like a moving target? I know I have. There have been times in my life where I felt like I must have a big, fat bulls eye painted right between my eyes, because the enemy's arrows were flying fast and furiously.

You can imagine my consternation and then relief to find out this wasn't just my melodramatic imagination running away with me. I actually do have a target on my head! Better still...if you're a Jesus-follower...you do too!

I first started pondering this I think a year or so ago. I believe it was in the Living Beyond Yourself Beth Moore Bible study that I heard her mention this. She was actually conveying the idea that we are "sealed" by the Holy Spirit when we place our faith in Jesus and claim Him as our Lord. Her biblical reference escapes me now, but she was trying to convey peace in knowing that you can never be possessed by demonic forces if you are a Jesus-follower, because they just can't get in.

It had to be this study, because I know when I repeated it a few months later, something occurred to me: "If the evil forces around me know that I'm sealed against them...then there must be a way...a sign...a symbol...that is recognizable to them. If that's the case...I'm a marked woman!"

Suddenly...it was as if the clouds parted, the stars aligned and the world finally made sense. Now I understood why so much had happened to us...why it seemed we could never "just get a break"...and what I had unleashed when for the last almost two decades I've told God time and again (with ever increasing levels of commitment) "No matter the cost, no matter the sacrifice, I will go wherever You lead and do whatever You want me to do!"

You see, that kind of talk is just crazy talk if you want to lead a nice, peaceful, "normal" life. But honestly, ever since I was a kid...I've wanted anything but "normal". I have a lot of passion, emotion, desire and life pent up in me and I guess somewhere inside of me I've always known I was meant for more than "normal".
Back to the idea at hand: a marked woman. When I first realized this, it also gave me great peace in knowing that either God has big plans for me (and our family) or we must already be at least in the proximity of the right path, because satan doesn't mess with his own. I'm not excusing any foibles we've committed along the way and I am the first to tell you that I'm so far away from perfect that it's not even in my sight lines. But I think there is something to this idea of not only experiencing great growth in your trials and God choosing to refine you when tragedy strikes, I think sometimes satan's also working overtime trying to bring down the ones that want to serve God first and foremost with their lives.

Then today in Beth Moore's study of Esther...joy of joys as she wrote again about this idea that we "are marked--even dressed--in ways obvious to both heaven and hell but invisible to man." She uses a references to Revelation 13:16-17 and Revelation 14:9-10 to propose the idea that what I grew up hearing called "The Mark of the Beast" is satan's counterfeit version of the true mark of God. This theory completely aligns with what I've just learned in Peterson's Reversed Thunder. Peterson points out that the antichrist and the false prophet are counterfeit versions of Jesus and even the dread number 666 is a knock-off of a complete 777....7 being often used in Scripture as a whole, complete or divine number.

When I read this today, I even jotted in the margin a note about phylacteries. According to dictionary.com a phylactery is 'either of two small, black, leather cubes containing a piece of parchment inscribed with verses 4–9 of Deut. 6, 13–21 of Deut. 11, and 1–16 of Ex. 13: one is attached with straps to the left arm and the other to the forehead during weekday morning prayers by Orthodox and Conservative Jewish men.' And I remembered the verse Deuteronomy 6:8, "Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads." The "them" is the commandments of God.

Were the phylacteries just a forerunner of a spiritual mark that we would one day inherit when the Holy Spirit arrived to reside in any man or woman that bound themselves to Jesus Messiah? Hmmm?? It's worth considering. And I definitely see how "The Mark of the Beast" is a paltry counterfeit to the divine stamp of God. Growing up fearing the dreaded "mark" and even having nightmares about it, it amazes me to look back now and wonder at what point I lost that fear. Hallelujah! "Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus" (Romans 8:1)

I know this was lengthy...but thanks for hanging with me to the end. It might not even mean that much to you right now. I just pray that the next time your world is crashing down all around you, you can can look up and be confident that you imagination is not running away with you...you are in fact, a moving target! And your enemy will hurl absolutely every arrow in his quiver at you. So quit wondering why it's happening! Instead, Ephesians 6:16 tells us when this happens, don't walk, don't dally...run to take up your "shield of faith".

After all every good dragonslayer knows "You always go for the shield!"

Propitiation

Funny how one little word can open up a huge path to understanding God's work in our lives even more. I grew up going to church. I know I've heard this word...propitiation...used many times before. But last week, as I was rereading the book of Romans in the Bible, I came across these verses,

"But now apart from the Law the righteousness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by the Laws and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe; for there is no distinction; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus; whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in his blood through faith." (Romans 3:21-25a, NASB)

There's that word that I've heard so many times and yet, have a very vague understanding of what it means...propitiation. Given the context of the verses and the surrounding chapters, plus the sermons in which I've heard it mentioned, I had come to the conclusion that it means an atoning sacrifice. While I think that is true, the research about the word that I felt Holy Spirit led me to undertake revealed that just assuming it could be defined as an atoning sacrifice only scratched the surface of how deeply meaningful this word is.

If you've read more than a few of my previous blogs, you'll know that I am not a Biblical scholar. I am not seminary trained. I am not a pastor, preacher or at this point even teacher of the Word. I consider myself a student...hungry for more of God, more of His supernatural Spirit in my life and full of a yearning to draw closer to Him so that He can transform my life into becoming the godly woman He intended for me to be since He first thought of me. So my disclaimer will always be that this is what Holy Spirit revealed to me about His Word. I can't always back up my thoughts with concrete evidence...but usually just with blind faith...blind faith that He's doing a good thing in me and will carry it on to completion (Philippians 1:6)

Okay, disclaimer aside...after reading chapter 3 in Romans, I wanted to investigate just exactly what this word, propitiation, means. First place I looked was in my Strong's Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible. The Greek word used for propitiation is "hilasterion"

hilasterion- An expiatory (place or thing), i.e. (concrete) an atoning victim, or (specifically) the lid of the Ark (in the Temple):--mercy seat, propitiation.

What? The lid of the Ark? Mercy seat?

Wow! The wheels were turning now! Everything I could remember about the mercy seat started to come back to me. I knew from a study of Hebrews (that also included studying some of the sacrificial requirements of Leviticus) I did with some ladies at church about 15 years ago that this is where the blood of the sacrifices was sprinkled. Correlations and sacrificial requirements started to fit together like pictures of a puzzle in my brain. The word picture of this and all the meaning behind it was opening up to me like never before. So I dug deeper.

When I looked up the word, propitiation, this passage in Romans is the only place it is used in the Greek. BUT, when I looked up the word, mercy seat...hilasterion IS used a second time in the New Testament. It's found in Hebrews 9:1-5

"Now even the first covenant had regulations of divine worship and the earthly sanctuary. For there was a tabernacle prepared, the outer one, in which were the lampstand and the table and the sacred bread; this is called the holy place. Behind the second veil there was a tabernacle which is called the Holy of Holies, having a golden altar of incense and the ark of the covenant covered on all sides with gold, in which was a golden jar holding the manna, and Aaron's rod which budded, and the tables of the covenant; and above it were the cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy seat, but of these things we cannot now speak in detail."

Right there in verse 5...the "mercy seat". I hope I'm not making too big of a leap here, but this was how Holy Spirit was teaching me and putting this all together...if Jesus is our "propitiation" (Romans 3:25) and that is also the word for "mercy seat" (Hebrews 9:5) what exactly was the mercy seat? And as the "lid of the Ark" (Strong's definition) what did it cover or contain?

When I researched "mercy seat" in the Old Testament or Hebrew definitions, I came up with nada...nothing. Actually, in Strong's Concordance, it said to see also Mercy and Seat. Well, there are no uses of seat in the Old Testament that refer to this mercy seat. They're all found under the word, mercy. And every reference in the Old Testament to the mercy seat is defined by the Hebrew word, kapporeth.

On it's surface, it seems like a rather insignificant word...

kapporeth- a lid (used only of the cover of the sacred Ark):--mercy seat.

But it's a derivative of the word, kaphar- to cover (specifically with bitumen): figuratively to expiate or condone, to placate or cancel:--appease, make (an) atonement, cleanse, disannul, forgive, be merciful, pacify, pardon, purge (away), put off, (make) reconcile (-iliation)

I never dreamed that such a little word, kapporeth or lid, could be full of so much meaning! Go along with me here...

Jesus is our "lid", our protective covering that placates, cancels, appeases, atones for, cleanses, disannuls, forgives, pacifies, pardons, purges away, puts off and makes reconciliation for MY sin...not His...mine! Wow! He is my covering...my protection!

"But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things to come, He entered through the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this creation; and not through the blood of goats and calves, but through His own blood, he entered the holy place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption." (Hebrews 9:11-12)

But in the Old Testament there are a few more references. Some are for how the mercy seat was to be made...very detailed specifications to what materials should be used, measurements for the size and instructions for how it is to be constructed. Exodus 25 gives the instructions of how it was to be built and Exodus 37:1-9 describes in detail what this mercy seat looked like. If you've ever seen Raiders of the Lost Ark,

you've seen a duplication of how it appeared.

But this isn't all...there is so much more! In Leviticus 10, we're told "Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took their respective firepans, and after putting fire in them, placed incense on it and offered strange fire before the LORD, which He had not commanded them. And fire came out from the presence of the LORD and consumed them, and they died before the LORD." (verses 1-2)

Leviticus 10:1-15 describes in exhaustive detail how Aaron was to make atonement for the sins of his sons. Aaron's cleansing ritual, just exactly how the animal sacrifices would be selected, how one "scapegoat" would be sent out into the wilderness [Just remembered how our "scapegoat" spent 40 days and nights in the wilderness (Matthew 4:1-11) before He began his earthly ministry, but not sure that's a correlation that could be drawn at this point?] and how the animals would be slaughtered and the blood sprinkled on the mercy seat. All of this was done to atone for the prideful sin of Aaron's sons and the sins of the Israelites.

But I still had one more question about the mercy seat.(see above) "And as the lid of the Ark (Strong's definition) what did it contain?" Refer back to Hebrews 9:4. Inside the Ark was a golden jar holding the manna, Aaron's rod which budded and the tables of the covenant. Am I making too big of a leap to say that ALL of these were embodied or "covered" by the sacrificial life of Jesus? He definitely lived out the perfection of the Ten Commandments or "tables of the covenant". He also told us that He is the "Bread of Life" (see http://writingabetterstory-ab.blogspot.com/2010/09/bread-of-life.html ) Wasn't the manna God's "bread of life" to the Israelites while they wandered in the wilderness for 40 years? So can I somehow find a correlation between Aaron's staff that budded?

I actually was not very familiar with this story of the Exodus. I had to look it up. And honestly, I was blown away by the significance of all that was coming together in my mind.

Aaron's rod buds in Numbers 17, but you have to back up to chapter 16 to understand the story. It seems that Korah, Dathan, Abiram and On together with 250 "leaders of the congregation...men of renown" "assembled together against Moses and Aaron, and said to them, 'You have gone far enough, for all the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the LORD is in their midst; so why do you exalt yourselves above the assembly of the LORD?'" (Numbers 16:3)

We're told that when Moses heard this, "he fell on his face". Moses knew the sin of pride and arrogance would not go unpunished by the LORD. He had already told them "I will have no other gods before Me." And Moses walked so closely with God that in that moment (not after serious contemplation or a month of fasting), he knew what God would have him say to these arrogant men. It was a test of sorts.

Each of the men were to take censers (instruments used in offerings), "put fire in them, lay incense upon them in the presence of the LORD; and the man whom the LORD chooses shall be the one who is holy." Kohath was even a descendant of Levi...the tribe responsible for the care of the tabernacle. It wasn't like he was a lowly Benjamite looking to attain some glory. More accurately, he was probably a man with a "little" piece of the action...but he wanted to be the BIG Kahuna. Do you see how his heart was in this for himself and not for the glory of God?

Well, you can guess what happened, right? When Korah and the 250 assembled before the doorway of the tabernacle, they brought "all the congregation" to stand against Aaron and Moses as well. God told Moses and Aaron, "Separate yourselves from among this congregation, that I may consume them instantly." (Numbers 16:19) But the two humble men fell on their faces before God and begged Him to not be angry with the whole congregation because of the sins of one man. So instead, God told everyone to get away from the dwellings of Korah, Dathan and Abiram. He opened up the ground around their dwellings, "and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up, and their households and all the men who belong to Korah with their possessions. So they and all that belonged to them went down alive to Sheol; and the earth closed over them, and they perished from the midst of the assembly." (Numbers 16:32-33) Fire also came from God and consumed the 250 men who were offering incense.

And can you believe it? The very next day it says, "all the congregation of the sons of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron, saying, "You are the ones who have caused the death of the LORD's people." (Numbers 16:41)

Now, I don't know about you...but I pray that I would have learned from the earth swallowing up people and fire consuming even more to not question God's choice of which man would serve Him in the tabernacle. But I know there are things over which I continually "grumble" to the Lord. Am I any different when I bring the same worries and concerns to Him over and over again?

Read through any of my previous posts and you'll see a pattern of doubt and worry over His provision. But if I read Matthew 6:19-34, and claim to seek first God's kingdom and God's righteousness, I should be able to put a stake in the ground and count on the fact that God will add "all these things" (food and clothing) to me. (verse 33) He even says only the Gentiles (or heathens) eagerly seek "these things" (food and clothing) and that my "heavenly Father KNOWS that I need these things" (food and clothing). Am I any less faithful than the Israelites when I worry about "these things"? You can bet that when I am worrying about them, I obviously am not 'seeking first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness!'

But back to the story of Aaron's budding rod. (I know, this has been a long back story...but we're almost there!) When the Israelites grumbled this time, God again said, "Get away from among this congregation, that I may consume them instantly." Did Moses and Aaron agree? NO! Yet again, they fell on their faces. But this time, they didn't even have a chance to plead for the lives of the people.

"Moses said to Aaron, "Take your censer and put in it fire from the altar, and lay incense on it; then bring it quickly to the congregation and make atonement for them, for wrath has gone forth from the LORD, the plague has begun! Then Aaron took it as Moses had spoken, and ran into the midst of the assembly, for behold, the plague had begun among the people. So he put on the incense and made atonement for the people. He took his stand between the dead and the living, so that the plague was checked. But those who died by the plague were 14,700 besides those who died on account of Korah." (Numbers 16:46-49)

Did you see it? Did you get the little nugget of glory that has made this VERY lengthy blog all worthwhile? Did you drink in what Aaron did? Right there, in verse 48..."He took his stand between the dead and the living, so that the plague was checked."

Aaron was the high priest that stood between the dead and the living. Can't we make the leap to the conclusion that in the same way Jesus is our High Priest that stands between the dead and the living so that the plague of death is checked?? Absolutely! Scripture tells us He is the High Priest in the order of Melchizadek (Hebrews 6:20-7:22). [To read more about Melchizadek, go to Genesis 14]

Is it any wonder then that to prove once and for all, when God asked one man from each tribe to write his name on a rod and allow Him to choose which man would serve as His holy high priest that He chose the rod of Aaron? God wanted no doubt...He didn't just make the rod bud...the next morning, it had "sprouted and put forth buds and produced blossoms, and it bore ripe almonds." (Numbers 17:8, emphasis mine)

I can almost hear Him say, "Any questions? I didn't think so."

And yes, let's put that in the Ark and cover it with My perfect gold mercy seat so if you ever wonder Who is the Bread of Life, Who perfectly embodies my testimony/commandments to you or Who was chosen as My perfect High Priest...the One who stands between your life and the plague of death (physical and spiritual)...you'll remember it's all contained in the life of the Perfect Covering that is as pure as refined gold...the only One that can "cover" it all with His blood sacrifice.

Jesus is the mercy seat...the propitiation. Amen!



**To get even more background on all of this...for I fear my words can never do justice to all that is contained within this lesson to my heart...read Genesis 14; Exodus 25, 26, 30, 31, 35, 37, 39, 40; Leviticus 16; Numbers 16, 17; Matthew 26, 27, 28; Romans 3, 4; Hebrews 9, 10**

Through or From?

I took a one week detour from discussing some of what I've been learning in Beth Moore's Living Beyond Yourself, because I so very much wanted to write what I was learning about giving as God is applying it to my life. And honestly, Moore's week on the fruit of the Spirit that manifests as kindness and goodness wasn't speaking to me the way the other weeks have. I don't know why, other than I felt compelled to write last week's blogs and may have been a bit distracted. But this week, the Holy Spirit is back in full force teaching me through His Word and the words He gave Beth Moore to share in this study.

This week's topic is Faithfulness. "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering (patience), kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law." (Galatians 5:22-23) I KNOW God has been faithful to me and to our family...and not just in our present circumstances. For as long as I can think back in our married life, His hand has consistently been apparent even if the results of His leading seemed to take a long time to complete. And He has often been kind enough to prepare our hearts ahead of time when there is "somthing coming", as I like to call it.

But this week as I went through the daily lessons, sometimes feeling led to do 2 or 3 days of lessons each day, I was overcome with love, joy, peace, patience, kindness and goodness at the remembrances of an Abba (Daddy) that has been more faithful than I could ever express. And as I'm beginning to believe will be the norm, Holy Spirit's timing about what He's teaching me was perfect! I went to church Sunday morning not knowing the topic of the day and guess what? Now, you KNOW it had to be faithfulness! Isn't He good?!

I appreciate how Moore always starts with the premise that we are NEVER capable of attaining any of the fruit of the Spirit unless God is the One growing it in us. I'm ashamed to say that as a teenager, steeped in a legalistic church environment and not having parents that I could bounce my spiritual questions off of, I posted an index card with these attributes of the Spirit and thought, "Okay, if I just work on love first, get that one under my belt, then I can work on having more joy...once I've got that one down, I'll move on to peace."

You probably know how well that worked...it didn't! Over the years I've been blessed to have Bible teachers, preachers, authors cross paths with me and a faithful Holy Spirit that has awakened me to the fact that I can't possibly "accomplish" putting the fruit into practice. Moore is driving this lesson home every day in this study.

She writes, "we will never believe God until we allow ourselves to discover that He is believable!" And, "the degree of our faithfulness is the direct result of our regard for God's faithfulness." "The faithfulness of God is His believability!" She spends a lot of time in the study having you reexamine HOW God has been faithful in His Word, His prophecies and in our own lives.

And when she asked me to seriously consider if I believe God because of "who He is" or because of "what He does", I had to stop and chew on that for awhile. In a meeting just this Saturday, I said to a group of Christians, 'So what if we fail in the world's eyes...it will still have been for our good and God's glory so we can't fail. We just have to be obedient.' I felt like yesterday Holy Spirit was asking me to examine my heart and see if I truly believe this.

Moore points out that if we have faith based on what God does, we are always going to be subject to life's ups and downs. After all, "the only thing we can count on is change." Right?

But my God is bigger than changing circumstances. Isn't He? And I found great comfort in a prayer she shared that she prays when in a confusing or painful situation. "God, I can't understand why You're doing this. But I know that, unlike me, Your actions cannot be inconsistent with Your heart, and I know Your heart is loving, good, and faithful. Somehow, some way, somewhere all these things are for good. If I could just know You better through this, that is all the good I need."

Yesterday, I was experiencing a lot of doubt about some choices we've made. Yet when we made those choices, we were certain that it was God's will for our family. I found myself aware that it was depressing me...causing fear and I thought Holy Spirit was calling me to reevaluate our situation and that some tough choices might need to be made.

But as I prayed over and over again, "Lord, I will believe You because of who You are, not because of what You do," the Holy Spirit reminded me that He is not the author of fear and doubt. He never uses confusion to speak to us. And as if a lightbulb went off in my head, I was able to say, "This isn't from You. Help me see You." The fear had been almost palpable but in that instant it fell away and the peace that only God can give was restored! Praise His Name!

Then today, I listened to Beth Moore's video session on Faithfulness and I'm not sure I can even express how much it meant to me to relive the faithfulness God has demonstrated in my life. Moore begins with a few scriptures in a portion of Hebrews that is known as the faithful Hall of Fame. The author of Hebrews recounts person after person in the Old Testament that believed God, acted on that faith and through whom God accomplished remarkable, amazing feats. And tucked away in three little verses is the following, "And what more shall I say? For the time would fail me to tell of Gideon and Barak and Samson and Jephthah, also of David and Samuel and the prophets: who through faith subdued kingdoms, worked righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, became valiant in battle, turned to flight the armies of the aliens. (Hebrews 11:32-34)

Do you see what I emphasized? These men...two cowards, a bragging philanderer that squandored his supernatural strength on a woman, an adulterer and murderer and a prophet whose sons took bribes, perverted justice and didn't follow in their father's footsteps were able 'through faith to subdue kingdoms.' What?

And Moore points to the word through. Why? Because often God chooses to deliver us through our circumstances and not from them. Sure God could carry us over, around or under our current situation. But if He is the Abba that will always work out everything for my good and His glory, then maybe the best way to deliver me is through the crisis, pain, unexpected situation or devastation that has happened.

In Exodus 13:17-18, God knew He had to let the Israelites go around the Philistines because they would give up if they had to battle them. They weren't ready yet. So Moore makes the statement, "A greater call to faith...is a faith that is called to press through. It's going to take a whole lot more faith to go through." And look back at that list of "faithful" men. God obviously wants to use the weak to make them strong. "For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe." (I Corinthians 1:21) It's pretty common for God to use the wrong person, the weak person, the person that has nothing for themselves to "subdue kingdoms". Then, He is the only One to receive the glory...then, He is the only One that could possibly have done the work.

And what kingdoms are slayed? Ephesians 2:2 tells that satan is the ruler of the kingdom of the air and Ephesians 6:12 reminds us, "For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms."

When my world is crashing down around me can I remember that there is a whole "other" part to this struggle? Lord, let me never forget that this is more than just my piddly troubles. There is a big picture and You are in complete control of it. And I once heard that if we can just remember that as Christians, nothing comes to us that hasn't come through God...allowed by Him, then there is freedom in knowing that it is for our good. I am not saying that He tempts us or causes someone to sin against us. We live in a fallen world where sin abounds. But there is no situation that because of His faithfulness to us cannot be used for our good and His glory.

I think that has to become one of my new catch phrases. "For my good and for His glory" needs to be right up there with "He must increase, but I must decrease" (John 3:30)

How does God bring me through? How do I open myself up to His work so He can be glorified? It sounds so simple but packs so much in one little word...pray. If you've ever known me, you know I have struggled with prayer. I'm sure this is an entirely different post...but for now I'll summarize by saying that as I have pursued a relationship with my Abba by talking to Him throughout my day, HE brings my thoughts back to Him over and over throughout the day, HE asks me to fast and pray, HE beckons to me when my brain wakes up in the morning and HE initiates the conversation.

And as I listen to Him drawing me near and I respond with an open heart and desire to know Him more, He just keeps pulling me in nearer, closer...seeking Him more. It's cyclical. So if you don't know God in this way...just start talking to Him...nothing formal...just talking. You may feel awkward...you may be in a situation right now where you're even resentful of what He's doing...that's okay, He's a big God, He can take it...tell Him exactly how you feel.

Who knows what He has planned for you? It may even be that "through faith (you)conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promised; who shut the mouths of lions, quenched the fury of the flames, and escaped the edge of the sword; whose weakness was turned to strength; and who became powerful in battle and routed foreign armies" (Hebrews 11:33-34)

Are there dark kingdoms you'd like to conquer? Do you know someone or a people that needs justice? Are there some lions in your life whose mouths you'd like shut? Any flames you'd like quenched? Then He's ready to turn your weakness into strength and make you powerful in battle.

Pick up your shield...it's called faith! (Ephesians 6:16) And you can absolutely count on Him to be faithful! So far He's batting a 1000 regarding His prophecies in the Bible...I think He can be counted on to have your back!



End Note: I wish I could attach the soundtrack that's been playing through my Ipod Shuffle as I was writing this. Keep in mind, Shuffles play songs in "random" order and about 8 of the last 10 songs have been about God's faithfulness. I think He wants me to count on Him! What do you think?