Fearless Faith and Awestruck Joy-6 Lessons for Peace filled Patience

Along this journey of life, we all too often want our reward to be visible now. At least that has been true in my case. I take one step of obedience and then, I with great anticipation wait for God to pour forth great visible rewards; as though, I deserved a prize for doing the very thing which love and gratitude demanded after all He had done to purchase my salvation. Why is it that I or we lose sight of the truth so easily and want to believe it is all about today; instead, of just clinging to the truth that God is working out the best plan formulated by His loving hands for me? We tend to look around us and compare our obedience with others—(of course we give ourselves a star for our own performance). When we do that we may see that someone else appears to be being rewarded more and we pout. “Haven’t I been generous, then where are my overflowing baskets?” “I stepped out in faith when you asked me to write, Lord. Why are none of my books best sellers, yet?” It has taken me years to realize, my baskets that are overflowing may never be on this earth—they are awaiting me in heaven and the writing? Oh, yes; I write to God for Him—if one person is helped along this journey or one person is lead to Christ then God has used me with all my faults to display His Glory. That is in itself a humbling act of God’s grace. There was a time that I asked God if we could just skip the lesson on patience because I just was never going to get it; but, He knew that it was a lesson that was necessary for me to live a life overwhelmed by awestruck joy in Him and fearless faith to face the trials of the pilgrimage journey. He never gave up and patiently, gently taught me along the way.

picture used by permission of Ronald Barba the artist.  For information regarding his art go to http://www.barba-art.com

God taught Abraham about patience and through that taught Abram about faith and joy. He called Abram out unto the land—then came famine, fighting with cousin, the large armies, and the barrenness of Sarah—his wife. Abraham, much like us, at times grew impatient and wanted to know “How, Lord are you going to accomplish this and where are the rewards you promised?” Yet, each step of the way; God would reveal just enough of His Glory to refocus Abram’s eyes upon God Himself instead of the circumstances.

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Fearless Faith and Awestruck Joy—4 Truths of Faith, Hope and Joy

As we continue on in our search for the key elements that develop fearless faith and a life filled with joy; it would be of great benefit to us to look a little longer at the life of Abraham. We see in his life moments of great faith such as when he left everything to go to a land he had never seen because God had commanded him. We are also amazed when he went upon the mountaintop to sacrifice his son Isaac, believing that God would raise him from the dead. Instead, God provided a substitutionary sacrifice to take the place of Isaac, a symbolic representation of Christ who would be the substitutionary sacrifice for all who believe and accept the gift of salvation. When we look at these two great acts of faith, we think of Abraham as some superhero of faith.

Yet, if we look at Abraham’s life; we can see that the faith that allowed him to go up on that mountain willing to sacrifice Isaac at God’s command was a faith that had been cultivated and grown step by step. His journey was much like our own. When God first called Abraham out to go to a new land of promise, it is like when we are first called to accept Christ as our Savior. At that point, we become heirs of all of God’s promises. We are called out by grace, much like Abraham.

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There are seasons of time when poems form in my mind and then there are seasons when poetry seems to remain silent.  Last week’s and this week’s poems I have pulled from my archive of poems.  As I read this one, I remembered that our life’s journey as Christians has it’s seasons as well.  We have moments in which we are truly on the mountaintop of joy and we have moments when the struggles of life are lashing at our minds and bodies so as to try to steal our joy.  Those seasons of struggle are also part of God’s Sovereign Plan of love.  They are the times when we are drawn back in to focus on God—who He is and all of His promises to us.  Those are the times we fall down before Him, wounded and weary—He restores us, wraps His arms around us and reminds us that we are His beloved, blessed and redeemed Child.  The counterfeit joys we so often cling to may go up in flames before us.  Hope, Joy, Love and Peace arises from their ashes as once more we realize—God is my Love, God is my Joy, and God is my hope.  Always and Forever, I need to remember: God is My One Desire.  I do not know where you, my friends are in this journey; but, I share this with each of you and hope it reminds you—that in Christ, you have all that you need to live a life of fearless faith and awestruck joy.  He is all you really need. 

My One Desire

By Effie Darlene Barba

 

In the midst of the darkest, lonely night

When all my world came tumbling down

Your ray of hope a glimmering light

Reached deep within my soul

 

To draw me nearer to thy cross

To gaze upon thy face of love

All else, this world I count as loss

Besides thee Lord, my one desire

 

Body worn from all the years

Of battles fought and battles lost

Despite the life so filled with tears

I find in you my peace, my joy

 

In Moments filled with guilt and shame

Your Love has held me tight

Never once to point in blame

You gave for me Your life

 

This world so filled with pain and fear

You are my only hope

I feel your heartbeat drawing near

Held tight within your arms

 

Your arms provide me strength and might

To face a brand new day

And cradle me through each dark night

With hymns of wondrous praise

 

As I gaze back o’er the years

With all their ups and downs

I see the laughter and the tears

That pointed me to You

 

I thank you Lord, Your guiding hand

Has lead me all the way

This life of mine as you had planned

On mountaintops and valleys deep

 

To draw me nearer to thy cross

To gaze upon thy face of love

All else, this world I count as loss

Besides thee Lord, my one desire

 

The artist that drew the picture “A Broken and Contrite Heart” featured on my header  is Ronald Barba.  Please go to his website ( http://www.barba-art.com) for information regarding obtaining copies or to commission him to create a masterpiece for you.  Feel free to email him at Ron@Barba-Art.com to discuss any art projects.

©2015 Effie Darlene Barba

Disclosure of Material Connection: I have not received any compensation for writing this post.  I have no material connection to the brands, products, or services that I have mentioned.  I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.

Fearless Faith and Awestruck Joy—What happened? Did I Get it Wrong?

All too often, we humans equate prosperity and comfort as success. Particularly, within the United States; we equate happiness and success to those who have obtained prosperity.

 

Even, as Christians we tend to believe that “if I am pleasing God, my life is going to go smoothly and I will enjoy success as well as happiness.” I will be healthy, my family will be always safe, and there will be few bumps along the road if I can just stay in God’s will and get this Christian walk right. By following after God, if my faith is strong enough; I can avoid pain and suffering on this earth as well as look forward to heaven one day. Too often we have it all wrong,

we think that if we live a “good enough” life we should have our reward here and now. Too often we misjudge others and say, “Well, if their faith was stronger or if they lived a better life this wouldn’t have happened to them.” Mistakenly we think that if trials and tribulations come it is because of a lack of faith or a failure to do what God has commanded us. This is faulty understanding of the gospel and just not true. Christ taught us in Matthew 5 that sometimes things will go well and sometimes they will go badly. “Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. ¹² Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you….¹⁶ Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.”

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Fearless Faith and Awestruck Joy-Sealed in Righteousness by Faith and Grace

Where do we find a faith that stands fearless against the circumstances that surround us? Where is there a faith that allows us to stand for God when we are surrounded by evil? Where do we find the faith that allows us to believe God’s promises to provide a way through our darkest hour, a shelter through the storms of life, His Joy to carry us through our deepest sorrows, and His Grace to seal us in Christ as His righteous, chosen, blessed, redeemed children?

Hebrews 11 “⁷ By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith.”

As time had gone by, the descendants of Cain continued to follow after their own selfish desires and intermarried with the descendants of Seth (who had been representative of those who followed after God). Less and less did anyone follow after or seek God in the world that God had created. Hero worship began as mankind grew stronger and stronger in the world-violence and corruption became their way of life.

picture used by permission of Ronald Barba, for more information concerning his art and how to obtain copies; please go to http://www.barba-art.com

“And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually…. and the earth was filled with violence.” (Genesis 6:5, 11). The word of God said, that God was grieved. God is grieved by man’s sin.  God so wanted to share His love, joy and Glory; yet, man wanted no part of God’s gifts.

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