The Reward for Abiding

Ok, so this is a little sensitive to talk about, but because of the outcome I have to talk about it to get to the end of the story.

Yesterday I got a UTI (Urinary Tract Infection)….they are not fun let me tell you.  Constantly feeling like to have to go to the bathroom  and when you do…the feeling doesn’t go away.  It’s like walking on pins and needles.  To top it off, we had Connect Group and it was at our house, so it’s not like I can just leave.  I sat there, hoping the evening would come to an end, even though I was enjoying the conversation.  Let me back up a couple of days….3 days ago, I was watching a video on Youtube, put out by Bethel TV.  It was the last day of the Healing and Impartation conference, featuring Randy Clarke.  As I was listening to his message, what stood out to me was the story of the women with the blood issue.  I have heard that a thousand times and understood it to be a moment of great faith.  It went a little further, because of her testimony, other’s just wanted to touch the hem of Jesus’ garment to be healed.  This time, this little message imprinted on my brain.  So…back to last night.  At the end of the evening, people were listing what they wanted to pray for and I was not going to say anything, but really felt God impress on me to speak up.  All I could think of was…if I could just touch the hem of His garment, I will be healed.  So, I shared in a vague way, my issue and got some prayer.  I felt nothing.  But this time, I was believing, and every time I had to go to the bathroom, I was doing spiritual warfare over that bacteria and infection.  After everyone had left, off to the bathroom once again, but this time….when I finished…it felt like I finished.  So, I just started praising God.  He gave me a gift of healing.  By the time I went to bed, everything felt normal.  The catch….when you receive a gift of healing, it is up to you to keep doing maintenance to ensure this issue doesn’t return.  This is different from a miracle.  A miracle is a complete healing with no chance of it coming back.  A gift of healing, requires something of you…so I have changed a few things already because I told God….I DO NOT want to go on antibiotics again…and He heard me.  He heard my petition of faith, and I stand on that this morning, claiming my healing and walking it out.  If I feel anything different….the warfare starts again.  I refuse to allow the negative thoughts of the enemy convince me of anything other than it was God who brought my healing on.  What does this all mean…well…it all has to do with abiding with God.  Getting to know Him intimately, to know how He thinks and what He wants of us.  I decided to abide with Him over my issue and He showed me He required me to humble myself and speak up, asking for prayer in our group.  I was obedient, and it was easy to do, but ultimately, so rewarding.  You don’t have to sit and be still to abide, you can abide 24/7.  I keep Him in my thoughts at all times, and rest on his promise that he wants me to live an abundant life.

This quote is from the Book and Study "I Am Loved" by Wendy Blight.  It inspires me...I hope it inspires you.

Life transformation flows from the time we invest in the Word, not from the teacher’s lectures or commentary. It’s sitting and soaking in our Bibles, allowing God to work in our hearts in and through the reading and the homework.

What Abiding is Doing For Me

From today’s devotional short snippets:

Beaten Up

If you diligently obey the LORD your God, being careful to do all His commandments which I command you today, the LORD your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth. — Deuteronomy 28:1

We all have those days when we feel like the stuffing has been beaten out of us. Without even realizing we’d entered a boxing ring, we’ve been punched in the gut and our nose has been bloodied. How can so many things be going sideways all at once when we have been diligently trying to obey God and follow His commandments? Rather than trying to formulate an answer, we remember that He who committed no sin had it even worse: He was betrayed, flogged, mocked, and crucified.

When we are feeling bruised and beaten, we need to remind ourselves that the Lord has been in the boxing ring with us.

He knows the blows we’ve taken, some because of our obedience to His commands. He has taken His own blows, as His hands and side attest. Yet even now He — who defeated sin and death — is lifting us up and will set us high above all nations.

Lord, when I’m feeling bruised and beaten, help me to remember that You are in the boxing ring with me, which gives me peace. Amen.

Targeted

Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven. — Matthew 5:10 NIV

When we are doing something good — when we are choosing wisely, doing the job that no one else will do, helping someone at a substantial personal cost of time, energy, or finances — why do we suffer? It doesn’t seem fair that the people who treat others as they themselves would like to be treated are the ones with a target on their backs. But

persecution doesn’t care about fair.

Jesus taught that His followers who are persecuted for His sake and because they are living according to His ways are blessed. Yet when we experience persecution because of our faith, we feel anything but blessed. When we’re lied about, framed, betrayed, or mistreated, we can still find peace in God’s presence with us and peace as we look to the future. After all, His promise is that those who suffer for Christ’s sake possess the riches of God’s kingdom.

So take comfort, for the result of this battle is sure: God wins. And when He does — when Jesus returns as King of kings — the Lord will bless you greatly and give you an abundance of peace.

I hardly feel blessed or at peace, but I cling to the Matthew 5:10 promise: Your Kingdom is mine because I’ve suffered for Your sake. Amen.

I think these are 2 key devotionals to help us with our day.  We get beaten up and persecuted, but we need to remember to keep our eyes fixed on Him.  Just reading these 2 little devotionals, I felt a sense of peace come over me and any worry I had just fell away.  I am learning to trust in him, abide in him.  When I think of the word ‘abide’, I get a picture of me cuddling up with Jesus, His arm around me, and listening to all that he has for me.  I feel His peace and feel contentment, safety, security.  When I take the time to sit, be still, and listen for His still small voice, I abide a little more.  It is becoming something that I look forward to every day….simply abiding with Him in a quiet, peaceful environment.  It helps me to abide with Him all day, even during busy times and hectic times and times when I don’t feel like it.  Abiding helps me remember Him at all times, putting Him first and foremost in my mind and I love that.  I never feel alone because He is always near me, even when I fail.

I had the privilege the other day, to be prayed over by our church interns.  Before I went, I said a prayer to God, asking Him to confirm to me that I was on the right path, that I had chosen what he wants me to be doing for such a time as this.  5 young people laying hands on me, prayed things over me that they could not have naturally know as some of it was from before I moved to this area.  My words to them were "you guys nailed it" and I sent the recording to my good friend, who knows my spiritual walk for the last 15 years.  She even commented that they nailed it big time.  What better way to get confirmation from my Daddy that I am doing the right thing, than have a group, hungry for God, pray over me in such a tangible way that builds, not only my faith, but theirs too.  I never get bored of moments like that.  It just makes me hungry for more.  Why settle for less, when you can have so much more, just by doing something simple like....abiding.

What's Your Focus On? Are You Living in the Past?

Focus on progress, not perfection.  Focus on Grace, not guilt.

That’s a good word!  It really jumped off the page for me.  If I miss a day of prayer, or reading the bible or doing a devotion, my Heavenly Dad doesn’t get mad.  He’s happy to see progress, and that is the main thing.  He doesn't want to see religious behaviour. If I grow a little closer to my Dad, that’s progress.  If I pray every other day instead of every few days, that’s progress.  Sometimes we need a word like this to encourage us, when we live in a day and age that likes to focus on the negative.  Focus on the positive, it will go a lot further in life. 

Phil 4:8 (TPT) So keep your thoughts continually fixed (focused) on all that is authentic and real, honourable and admirable, beautiful and respectful, pure and holy, merciful and kind. And fasten your thoughts on every glorious work of God, praising him always.

The enemy would like to keep my thoughts focused on my failures, leading to a typical guilt trip of which I sometimes feel I won’t ever get out of.  The verse in Philippians is great reminder on what we should focus our thoughts on.  When I keep my thoughts on the good things, I feel more peace, more freedom, more grace.  I abide with Him a little more.

“So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most.” Hebrews 4:16 (NLT)

Let's not focus on the past, but focus on the future.  Phil 3:13 (TPT) I don’t depend on my own strength to accomplish this;  however I do have one compelling focus: I forget all of the past as I fasten my heart to the future instead.

Have you had problems forgetting the past.  Are you still living in a moment in the past, be it good or bad?  I found this message by Christine Caine to be quite compelling.  Take time to watch if you feel led to.

Click HERE for video.

Peace: Abiding in the Chaos

We drove to Ottawa yesterday, although not my favourite thing to do.  Somedays, the thought of getting in a car and driving on a road makes me cringe.  I don't mind driving at all, but it's the other people.  People are always in a hurry and angry.  If you get in their way, they honk, or cut you off, or send you all kinds of wonderful finger gestures.  Who wants to be a recipient of that?

There was a time that things like that would bother me, I would want to get back at them in some way or another.  I remember a time when I was one of those people on the road.  Always in a hurry, impatient, saying things as if they could hear me.  I look back on that time and realize that I have come a long way.  I rarely get impatient, I rarely feel any anger and I do my best not to speak anything against someone.  When I do (because I am far from perfect), I repent.  I am trying.  I remember when I made a change and decided that I was going to slow down and not be in a hurry.  It was in Petawawa where I lived for 22 years.  It was almost instant, the relief I felt, the weight off my shoulders.  I found more peace while driving and I wasn't concerned about getting from A to B as much.  It was a quiet time that I could spend in conversation with my Heavenly Father.  It was a time to abide with him.

When you spend your career with the military, you develop a lifestyle.  You are more work driven and performance driven because that is what the military demanded of you.  This is contrary to what God wants for us, and certainly isn't peaceful.  He doesn't want our performance, he wants our heart.  So, when you spend over 20 years being performance driven, it is very difficult to slow down.  When you live your life at a thousand miles an hours, what does it take to pause, sit, relax, abide.  It's hard to do.  You have to shut your 'production' brain off and be able to listen for that still small voice.  I confess, I struggle with this every day.  I feel I should be doing something all the time. It's hard to abide when the 'to do' list keeps popping into your head.  So...if I just get this out of the way, then I can sit and relax.  Yeah right...it doesn't work that way.  I need to learn how to turn off the conveyor belt of thoughts and just sit and wait.  What helps?  Soaking music.  Something that has no words, just soft quiet music that causes me to pause, relax, wait and listen.  I can do it for about 10 minutes, then the 'to do' list pops up again. But, 10 minutes is a start.  I can abide for 10 minutes for now and see if it will expand to 20 and 30.  Like a lot of things in life, start small, develop that habit, and see where it grows from there.  

And So, The One Word Journey Begins

Well…it is 2018.  I have decided that Abide is going to be my word.  I read the latest devotional of the author of the “One Word’ idea and he listed the top 10 words chosen by his readers.  

Trust

Patience

Love

Discipline

Focus

Faith

Surrender

Peace

Listen

Joy

I look at this list and see that I could pick any of them and then I come back to Abide.  If I abide in Him, I learn to trust him, love him and others, gain more discipline from His wisdom throughout the scripture.  I learn to focus on Him all day, my faith grows and I surrender more and more to Him.  I have much peace, I listen for Him daily and my life is full of joy, even in the dark times.  So I will learn to abide daily.  Abide in Him, in His word, in His love, surrounded by His peace. It’s going to be an interesting year.  I look forward to checking in now and again, sharing snippets of what I have learned!

If you haven’t gotten a word, that’s no problem, you just have to decide what you want to be this year and follow this little chart, also provided by the author of the “One Word” idea:

Reflection Questions:

• What kind of person do you want to become this year?
• What drives your desire to be this kind of person?
• Describe the characteristics of this kind of person. Make a list of words based on this description.
• Reduce your list to ten words or less and research those words. Use the dictionary and your Bible, perhaps a thesaurus.
• Choose one word from your list to be your one word for this year.
• Also choose a Bible verse that speaks to you about your chosen word and memorize it. 
• This will provide a foundation of truth you can continually return to and will fuel your hope to change.
• What initial expectations do you have regarding the impact of your word?

Happy New Year!  Enjoy your one word!!

John 15:5 I am the vine, and you are the branches. If you abide in Me and I in you, you will bear great fruit. Without Me, you will accomplish nothing.