Faith Archives – Page 2 of 36

Finding Jesus Next to Me

10.21.2020 by Megan Abbott //

Welcome! I, Megan, am really excited to share with you on the topic this month – the Trinity, intimately knowing and growing. Take a look back to see Tracy and Jen’s posts.

As we start to dig into the Persons of God this month, we wanted to preface with a bit about what we believe. We believe in one God who exists in three persons—the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. They are three individual Persons of one magnificent God. There are numerous scriptures throughout the New Testament that reference the three Persons of God individually, and together, giving us glimpses of the personality and characteristics of God. If you wrestle with the thought of one God in three Persons, we encourage you to lean in, pray, and ask God to further reveal Himself. We pray you find comfort in the greatness and vastness of our God, knowing we will forever have more to learn about Him.

A couple months ago I was listening to a podcast (my friends may say this is how I start too many of my sentences), and heard a conversation that radically impacted how I have been seeking growth in my relationship with God over the last couple months. Annie F. Downs was interviewing John Eldredge, and they were discussing how they relate to each member of the trinity, and how that plays out in their relationship with the one God. I won’t dig into the specifics of their conversation, you can go listen to her podcast if you are interested, but I will say that when Annie mentioned her relationship with Jesus, how He sits with her, and is so present with her, especially through her dating life, it struck me hard. Considering my individual relationships with the individual members of the trinity was a new thought for me.

Digging In

I took a little time to scan through my prayer journals, to consider how I pray, and the way I address God in my prayers, and I quickly saw who I run to was a bit unbalanced. I don’t believe it has to be balanced, but it gave me something to consider. Almost all of my prayers were either addressed to “Father” or “Spirit”. I pray for wisdom and guidance from the Father. I pour out my heart knowing He created me, and knows me so well. I pray for the Spirit to guide my heart, to convict me, prompt me, and give me peace. Both of these relationships feel so real. So whole, to me. I know the Father, and I feel so confident in how I “hear” from the Spirit. They feel so three-dimensional and so present to me.

Jesus, honestly, probably isn’t in my journal hardly anywhere. He isn’t really in too terribly many of my prayers, aside from “in Jesus name”, thanking Him for his sacrifice, or praying “fix it Jesus”. It is not that I value Him any less than the Father or the Spirit, it is just that sometimes, honestly I feel like I don’t know HIm that well. I want more than just to know of His sacrifice.

I listened to Annie described her relationship with Jesus on the podcast, and thought, how is he so life-like for her? I spoke with a couple friends and asked them how they relate to God, the Spirit, and Jesus, and one spoke so strongly of Jesus it brought her to tears. Not about His sacrifice, but His presence with her now. I have always felt that with God, and the Spirit, but for me, Jesus has really only existed on the page where I read of His amazing sacrifice, and His example of love, ministry, and social justice. I believe He rose again after the crucifixion, but I don’t feel like I know Him this side of the crucifixion.

Turning Point

I have been a believer for around 16 years. I know Jesus’s story. I know and believe it is true. I am overwhelmed, and sometimes baffled by the incredible sacrifice He gave of himself for us. I read through the stories of Him during His ministry, particularly with people society overlooked, and think “man I want to be more like Jesus”. The thing is, I struggle a bit with the “fully God and fully man” concept. I know Jesus walked earth and was tempted with every temptation, but sometimes I think my brain feels like it is still unrelatable for me because He is also God… “He was sent here to be a perfect sacrifice, so of course He was perfect.”

As I started digging more into the thoughts coming from the podcast conversation, I started praying for God to reveal Himself to me in Jesus, that He would feel less far away and more relatable.

I heard a pastor speaking on Luke 22:42 (probably on another podcast):

Father, if You are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.” (NIV)

Not MY will, but yours be done. My will. Jesus had a will. He had a choice, and He said something like “okay Father, I do not want this, but I trust You are good.” It might seem little, but for me it felt huge! It was like the biggest lightbulb went off. How had it never caught my attention like this that in that moment Jesus didn’t want what the Father wanted? He knew how His story ended, and He wanted a different ending, but He submitted that desire to the Father. Whew. That I can relate to. How many times can I find in my journal, “God, I want ____ so badly, but ultimately I want your will.” How many times have I had to pray and pray to get to a point where maybe someday I will be able to add the “but ultimately I want your will” to some of those desires? Somehow this time when I heard Luke 22:42, Jesus jumped out at me. He was sitting on the Mount of Olives, submitting His plea to the Father. When I am sitting here praying for things I desire so much, and submitting them to the Father, Jesus is right there with me.

I have spent some time searching out Jesus in my everyday, and I am really starting to see how Him having walked this earth impacts my relationship with God. While I’m not sure I am 100% ready to share all of that journey, as it still feels like a sweet spot I’m exploring on my own, I can say with all confidence that God honors the promise He gave in Jeremiah 29:13:

You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.”

I pray you will find lightbulb moments of your own as you dig into the living word, and seek to grow closer to the Father, the Holy Spirit, and Jesus.

Knowing and Growing with God: God in Us

10.13.2020 by Jennifer Howe //

Hello! This month a FACET shares what’s happening here as we talk about knowing and growing with God:

Once upon a time…

I (Jennifer) put God in a box. He seemed, like the wind, invisible. In my ignorance, I assumed the situation was like Shrödinger’s cat: He was there, but I could never be sure if He was alive or dead. (Forgive me, Father!) I couldn’t be sure of what He might or might not do…or what He definitely wouldn’t do. My rebel heart was on a rampage.

Every so often it’s still tempting to throw a little tantrum when I can’t see what He’s doing, when I don’t know which way to go in the silence, when I can’t be sure He’s working in the way I’d like. (Key words: the way I’d like!)

The real truth is: this was nothing my Abba Father couldn’t handle or lead me through, and He graciously and mercifully did!

There was Someone I didn’t know…

I wasn’t reading enough of the Bible or looking very closely at the evidence surrounding me. It was the perfect setup for a setback in what should have been an intimate relationship with my God. How I calibrated “truth” in my life and heart mattered. A person’s version of truth and reality comes from somewhere; mine was a lot “loosey-goosey.”

Who is He?

When the conversation revolves around God, only ultimate truth will do. And His identity—Father, Son, and Spirit—that’s where His holiness, bigness, and otherness leaves me (and you?) speechless. Since it’s impossible to use my limited language and experience to express His identity with specific clarity, I know better than to try, I suppose. For simplicity, I want to think about the Person of God who has been my heart’s longing to know more and more intimately: His Holy Spirit.

Spirit of God…

The Spirit! I grew up reading ‘Holy Ghost’ in my Bible. Not a wrong translation necessarily, of course, but I’ve always had a certain mindset in connection with “ghost” because I lived through the extremes of the cultural conversation about spiritual things: Casper the Friendly Ghost and Poltergeist. It’s not surprising the culture holds mistaken ideas about His identity. What a challenging way to think about spiritual things and, ultimately, the Person of God!

God in us…

We have been given an incredible gift! Father God has always been for us; Jesus, Immanuel, is God with us; and Holy Spirit is God filling us. Please know there is little I can say here that is pinpoint accurate. I’m humbled with every word I try to put on the page.

You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. Romans 8:9 ESV

For me, silence falls on those words.

The gift of Him and assurance…

Not only does every believer receive the presence of the Person of God, Holy Spirit, as a definite seal of belonging to God.

1 …I do not want you to be uninformed. 2 You know that when you were pagans you were led astray to mute idols, however you were led. 3 Therefore I want you to understand that no one speaking in the Spirit of God ever says “Jesus is accursed!” and no one can say “Jesus is Lord” except in the Holy Spirit. 1 Corinthians 12 ESV

A sure sign of life in Christ! We cannot speak truth, or perhaps even desire godly things, without the beautiful activity of His Spirit. Thank you, God, that You never wanted any of us to die apart from You (Matthew 18:14) and gifted us Your Spirit! Thank you, Spirit of mercy!

As if He were not enough…

In humility I come to these words and sit with them. Really—as if HE were not enough, He generously fills us with truth, wisdom, strength, and integrity we couldn’t even attempt to muster up!

For it is God who is working in you, enabling you both to desire and to work out His good purpose.
Philippians 2:13 HCSB

And that’s why it has to be His truth, love, and power. Ours is flawed and weak in comparison. By His strength…

4 Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit… 11 All these [gifts] are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills. 1 Corinthians 12

Galatians 5:22-26 (fruit) and 1 Corinthians 12:4-11 (gifts) reveal how a believer is equipped. A range of gifts are given in order to glorify God and bless others. How generous is our God!

His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, 2 Peter 1:3 ESV

“All we need for life and godliness”…that’s what some translations say. Thank goodness! It’s the indwelling of the Holy Spirit that makes that happen.

A prayer…

I would love to pray for both of us, friend, if you’ll have it:

I’m asking You, Spirit, to do this very thing: work in us! Grant us fresh mercy.

Have mercy on me, O God, according to Your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions. Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin… Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me from Your presence or take Your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of Your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me. — Psalm 51:1-2, Psalm 51:10-12

Enable us to desire and do the will of God, which is “good and perfect and pleasing” (Romans 12:1-2). We know Your goodness, love, and holiness; and we are getting to know the things You will do! Holy Spirit, we want to be intimately knowing and growing with YOU! Help us lean into the Word of God instead of others’ takes on what the Bible says.

Neither by our human strength nor our measly power, ‘but by my Spirit, says the LORD of hosts’ (Zechariah 4:6).

“By my Spirit,” says the Lord. It’s a good word!

Thanks for reading, friend. Be blessed as you go today! Should you choose to share this with a friend, I’d be humbled.

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Is it really safe to be me?

09.29.2020 by Julie Jeffery //

Welcome to FACETS of Faith and our exploration of vulnerability through women’s stories of strength and resilience. I (Tracy) can’t wait to share Julie Jeffrey with you. She is beautiful in spirit and has eyes you could wade through – stunning. I find it interesting the original photo she selected hid her face. (She didn’t know what image God had led us to use for this series.) I took the liberty of choosing a different photo of her, because she is beautiful and her smile radiates. I felt God wanted you all to see her, really see her. See her physically. See her in her story. See her in the glorious redemption God has brought in her life. (Her pic is at the end of the piece.)

There is something powerful about redemption. It’s where God’s glory is revealed and hope is breathed anew in each of us. When we see what IS possible with God, we believe Him more and more for big things in our own lives. So sit back and read for yourself about the power of God at work in one woman’s life. We have a big God, my friends! Truly, One we can’t fathom even as we can know Him personally. Meet my sweet friend Julie as she shares her story with strength and dignity.

The easiest way for me to answer the question Is it really safe to be me is to open with a scripture I wear on my heart like a married woman wears a ring on her hand! “God is within her, she will not fall.” Psalm 46:5. Getting vulnerable with God is pretty easy for me. Getting vulnerable with other people, much harder.

To put it simply, I am a child of God. I am a single mother. I am a woman with a heart bigger than the whole outdoors but, and this is the hard part: I am also a recovering addict. A thankful, grateful recovering addict. I have heard the labels: junkie, druggie, loser, crackhead. You name it, I have probably been called it. Did it hurt? Absolutely. Even in my haze and fog the labels cut like a knife. Because that is not who I really am. That is not God’s plan or purpose for me. I realized that when I spiraled out of control and stopped eating. When my then 5-year-old daughter looked at me and told me, “I miss my smiling mommy. I wish you would eat again.” When my dad said he was going to be burying his firstborn daughter in 6 months’ time, and he didn’t want to be around me because it would hurt less to lose me, I knew this was not the life I was supposed to be living. Those, along with the demons in my head used to tell me I wasn’t good enough. I wasn’t worthy. I hid from my feelings of inadequacy and then felt ashamed because I used. Deep inside I knew that was not my purpose in life. I would cry. I would pray. I would beg my family not to give up on me, but I had given up on myself.

Then there was God. He never ever gave up on me. I know He was with me when I had used too much and should have overdosed, yet still lived. I didn’t know it then, but I do know now. “The Lord is close to the brokenhearted, he rescues those whose spirits are crushed.” Psalm 34:18 I was as brokenhearted as a person could be.

Little did I know, all I had to do was cry out to Him. He was always waiting, always ready. I had to surrender. I had to cry out to Him. And I did. One night in February of 2018 I decided I was ready to be done. I had literally been physically beaten, assaulted in a violent way. I had lied to family to get money to pay these dealers back. I wanted to be free of this ever-tightening grip that addiction, and all that came with it, had on me and my life. I looked down at my little girl with tears in her eyes, my teenage son was just done with me. I walked into the bathroom. I got down on the floor and for a good 30 minutes, I cried and prayed. I reached out to God, to Jesus to anyone listening . The prayer was to take my life or take this addiction. After 30 minutes of that, I got up and went out to where my kids were. I hugged my son who tried to shrug away from me. I hugged my little girl who held me tighter than anyone ever has, and we went in and laid down. I woke up the next morning with a purse full of pills, drugs, and paraphernalia and could have easily started the whole cycle over again. In my heart, I heard, “You know what to do.” So, without hesitation, I disposed of every pill, every drug, every item related to it and called my family to admit to them I had a problem that I could not deal with by myself.

My sister immediately came out, and we set up a family meeting that weekend. I prayed every single morning, noon, and night that whole week. I didn’t use. I felt a sense of peace I had never experienced before, and I now recognize as God’s love and spirit. By the time the weekend came, I had already been eating and sleeping. I had been totally transparent with my family. I had attended 4 NA meetings that I had to walk to because I had no car at the time. I also started therapy. The meeting was not the negative experience I thought it was going to be. I don’t remember the exact words that were said or who spoke first, but what does stick out to me is my uncle. A man of so few words and a man who hides his emotions, he had tears in his eyes when he told me he had been distancing himself from me because it was too painful to watch me slowly dying. He told me the story of how I had pneumonia as a little baby and he laid by my crib every night just to make sure I was breathing. Then he offered me something that changed my life even more: the chance to ride with him to church every Sunday! It was a small, beautiful church on a hill and when I walked through the doors, I felt surrounded by love and kindness. “Three things will last forever-faith, hope and love-and the greatest of these is love.” 1 Corinthians 13:13

Every person in that tiny church seemed so happy to see me, to meet me. I have never felt such an outpouring of love. I knew I wanted more. I even asked the Pastor how to become a Christian! I got my sponsor there in the church, started going to their Thursday Christian recovery group, and eventually I even got a job and saved up enough money to buy a car. Once that happened, I wasn’t just at the Sunday services, I went to ladies Bible study on Mondays, Wednesday service, Christian 12 step on Thursday, and Sunday services. I just could not get enough of any of it. God, the people, the messages, the worship songs all were what I needed to keep walking in victory. My little girl came with as well, and her life has changed too. Once my family saw the changes were sticking, some of them even started coming. My uncle, my brother-in-law and I all got baptized by the Pastor!

The journey to who I am now started February 18, 2018, my sober date. I have so much more to learn though! Jesus is my Lord and Savior. He saved my life from certain death, but even more than that, through him and through the love and support of the people at the church and the different programs, I am growing every day. I am moving forward toward the person I was created to be. I am not just staying sober, but I am coming alive. Learning, growing, changing. “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away.” 2 Corinthians 5:17

That is how I feel, brand new. I love Jesus. I know Jesus loves me! He loves us all so much that He gave his life for us. I well up with tears when I think about that. Knowing how much He gave for all of us makes me strive to live according to the 10 Commandments and God’s word. I am not perfect, not even close, but I have a heart for the Lord, and my daughter and I will serve the Lord. Maybe, just maybe, some of my loved ones who haven’t done so yet, will also serve the Lord too. I am thankful, grateful and blessed! I am a child of God, and I am not my mistakes. I am God’s masterpiece, but also a work in progress.

Join us in the conversation on FACETS of Faith’s Facebook page. Share how Julie’s story has impacted you. I’m sure it would bless her to know.

Need help?

If you need help with a substance abuse problem, seek help and support. Together, with Christ, recovery is possible. Julie is one of God’s walking miracles that prove that very fact. Many churches offer recovery support, as do Narcotics Anonymous and Alcoholics Anonymous. You are not alone. Immanuel, God is with you on this journey.