Category Archives: Christian Life

Posted on

Not Feeling It

Grace for Today

I think about the grace of God so often. The first time I actually comprehended the concept in real life was when I was in college. I was with my boyfriend in a borrowed car when he was stopped by a cop for speeding. He deserved a ticket. When the cop found out that he was a student at Western Baptist College, he was given a warning but let off the hook. It shook my boyfriend up a bit and his first words afterwards were, “That was grace!” He knew the cop could have given him a ticket.

And it was grace on the cop’s part. We later found out that the borrowed car’s speedometer wasn’t correct. He’d been speeding even more than he thought at the time! His exclamation, that it was grace, stuck with me. It made grace seem real to me. He deserved a ticket but received grace instead.

By the way, on a pleasanter note, he was the one person in my life that caused in me a desire to learn. He knew tons more than I did and was engaged in learning for learning’s sake. I loved that about him, and it impacted me then and forever after.

Every day we see evidence of God’s grace in the little and big. When I look for it, I see it everywhere, even in nature. When I don’t look, I am more apt to complain.

My maternal grandmother was a joy-filled person. She lived it. She walked it. She expressed it. It wasn’t because her life had been easy, though. She had had a lot of loss in her life, starting in childhood with the passing of her mother, yet I never heard her voice even one bitter word. That’s an amazing way to live. Her love for God flowed freely. She was a composer. The lyrics in her songs are full of God’s ministering Spirit.

Whenever my former pastor was preaching about God’s love, he opened his arms wide. He said that God’s love is for all people. I loved the visual. God’s love is that wide, and it’s a beautiful thing.

When I started knowing God through pure eyes–with no prior constraints, trying to not let my limitations color my view–His love flowed in me in a new way. His love became my love. His love for people is a love for their heart. My love for people became a love for their heart.

How I came to realize its presence in me was that my speech and thoughts were less about me and more about others. I had an intrinsic desire to see them come to Jesus for His healing grace. I wanted God for them, personally, not just for salvation and redemption, but for what He is and He gives.

I’ve always been very shy and insecure but the love of God trumps my fears and becomes a multiplied blessing. I love it when I see this grace of God in other people. This may sound weird, but I can read it in their expressions and hear it in their voices. They’ve fallen in love with the Savior, and He is a part of them. They are refined by His love. God is the Refiner.

Let Christ in. Let His wisdom flow in you. Give your fears and insecurities to Him. He will cleanse them and set you free. Like the song says, let the beauty of Jesus be seen in you.

A couple of suggestions.

  • Act when God makes a suggestion that could make a difference in somebody’s life.
  • Release yourself from your wounds and the bondage in your own life.
  • Ask God to help you do this.
  • Open your heart to God’s love. If this seems impossible, ask Him to help you to be willing to open your heart to His love.
  • Request His Spirit”s enabling in your life.
  • Praise Him for ministering in your spirit.

We are more than conquerors through Him who loved us (Romans 8:37). These words still ring true. Read further and you come to these words, nothing can separate us from the love of God. Nothing. Nothing between us and our Savior.

God is bringing many sons and daughters to glory. You and I have a purpose in this life. As Christ followers, we are Christ to the confused, hurting world. Christ is abundant life. His life in us is abundant and free. We can let the freedom of Christ reign in us.

Not feeling it? I would have you to not despair. You may not feel God’s love but that doesn’t mean it isn’t there with you. He has said He will never leave us or forsake us. You are not alone. You are not abandoned. You are wanted. You are loved by God. Look to Him. I believe you will find what you seek when you are ready to receive it. That circles back to my suggestions above, open and request.

Am I serious? Yes. Very serious. Are you serious? When you get serious about your interior self, your soul-side, and your walk with God, change will work its way into you inner being. It may get worse before it gets better. It is like when you are working at improving your gut health. There is a die-back period, when the bad bacteria is dying, which causes headaches, achiness, and joint pain. This has to happen before the good bacteria can multiply and thrive to bring about healing. Then the aches depart and renewed health is experienced.

Grace for today? I’ll end this post with a comment from a friend. She says, “Some days our journey is harder than others. Lately every day seems hard. We just have to persevere. And we need to remember that we are in good hands: His hands. Keep praying. Keep trusting. Keep looking up. God is guiding us on this journey. Amen!”

God is in this.

. . .

Photo by Boris Misevic, Unsplash

Posted on

When a Crisis of Faith Does Good

Faith in Crisis

A crisis of faith gets your attention. The believer hits a brick wall, a difficult time in their spiritual journey. His or her walk of faith is hard, the path unclear. An uneasy battle commences between the believer’s thoughts and feelings, beliefs and questions. Internal conflict wages. Doubt surfaces.

Uncertainty and angst interject in the daily. Fear and dread are a constant. A crisis of faith demands individuals take a look at their beliefs. They may say they’re done, and jump ship. Maybe after some deliberation, or maybe not. They may begin deconstructing their spiritual beliefs. They are figuring out what they will abandon or hold onto regarding their faith journey.

What is almost guaranteed is that the crisis of faith and what it does in their life changes them in their perceptions and understanding of matters of faith, the faith community, and God’s part in it all. The end result sees an altering in the person’s walk of faith. The crisis, when it comes, may be a private matter or it may be public. It may draw the person deeper in their faith, or it may be a dramatic exit from their Christian way of life.

A Crisis Shakes You

Will their faith survive? Will they continue on believing in God and the tenants of the faith, or are they, in fact, done, done? A crisis of faith can come from almost any direction, from both internal and external factors. Serious doubts about the faith community, in God, or His goodness often accompany the crisis.

Maybe it’s you, or it was you. You realize straddling the fence is not an option. You can’t play it like a game. You can’t pretend like your faith is something real when deep inside you’re questioning what you believe. Well, not for long, anyways. You can’t talk the talk and walk the walk if you are not positive your faith is legitimate.

Maybe that’s not it at all. Other set-backs which lead to crises of faith are more like explosions, and less like doubts. Something happens that shakes the person to the core. They might be hurt emotionally, wounded relationally, and frustrated spiritually. The crisis somehow upends them. They’re left reeling from the impact. There’s usually only one way through it: Hang on, go with it, and look for a place to land. No avoiding some things.

A Crisis Stops You

A battle that’s waging can be all over the map; One that’s not very pretty, but one that I would say is necessary to the faith journey. A crisis, one that is real and not an excuse to bail, navigates an unusual path. During the crisis of faith, some face a difficult, complicated situation loaded with fear, angst, anger, and even betrayal–only to find a new day has dawned in the process of dealing with it. Now they know God is enough in the deeper struggle, and that truth, indeed, set them free.

True faith continues to believe on some level even when the crisis comes. This faith expects God to intervene in the situation. Steadfast resolve determines to see the crisis through until answers are found. This requires their self to look at everything with critical discernment and with an air of detachment. They are wise to ask trusted friends to pray for them. We all need support during a crisis.

A Crisis Teaches You

Instead of faith demobilizing and ending in defeat, the person in crisis mode may discover a renewed vision. This comes as the crisis spends itself. God and His ways become clear in the process of devouring His Word, along with time spent searching for answers.

A true, honest, open-ended search for answers involves praying, crying out to God, reading, learning, listening, seeking. Talking with caring, strong people of faith is wise and productive. They have insights coupled with experience. Introspection and honest delving deeper reveals what has not been seen or understood before. For this person, the crisis, when passed, results in his or her spiritual walk revitalizing and becoming stronger.

Best of all, the crisis can open doors to enter into vital relationship with Christ. Peace at the center and sweet fellowship with God become a reality, delighting the soul, the icing on the cake. Father God has come so close that the person now knows the beauty of tender union as a beloved child of God.

A Crisis Brings Clarity

But that reality is not always the case. Some abandon their faith altogether. Their questions and doubts lead to unbelief, a denial of Christ as meaningful in their lives, and a distancing from Christianity. They walk away and leave it all behind, accompanied by bitter feelings. Some do a lot of blaming, bashing, and name-calling.

I hear their voices on social media. I read their stories across the web. Some are angry at those they used to fellowship with. Rightly or wrongly, I’m not privy to know. Some had ministries they’ve abandoned and books they’ve written that refute what they used to believe. The most notable but by no means the only is Joshua Harris of I Kissed Dating Goodbye fame.

A Crisis Provides an Opportunity

Strange as it may sound, I’m not angry with those whom have left the faith. I think they would rather be honest than fake. Some have disbelief and unbelief now. I truly am sad for them. I wish they had found Jesus to be their ‘enough,’ to be their real, personal Jesus. Jesus Christ cares so much for them. He died that they might live. I pray they will give Christ another glance, and that one day they will be restored to faith and full joy.

My own crises of faith have varied. They’ve not been about whether God exists. Mine have been caused by personal circumstances that overwhelmed to the point that my heart and being were negatively affected. Church shifts, problems, and situations have contributed to a crisis or two. The thing happens, the disconnect occurs, the emotions kick in, the examining begins, the thing is considered, a struggle ensues, a spiritual lesson is learned, the thing then aligns in my thinking. Crises of faith have brought about change in me in areas that benefited from them; even in how I view the Church at large.

This is about you. Don’t be afraid of a crisis of faith. Crises are quite common. Most Christians experience one or more in their walk of faith. A crisis of faith is harder than hard, and you feel all alone. A crisis of faith causes you to examine your faith, beliefs, and most importantly, your ‘why.’ A crisis draws you deeper. Though, if you aren’t prepared for it, serious doubt will try its best to topple you.

A crisis of faith actually frames an opportunity to strengthen your faith.

I wish you well on your spiritual journey. Remember, nothing is wasted in God’s kingdom. Everything has a purpose. Please pray for those who need a refreshing in their faith or a work of God in their lives. Thank you.

God bless you and keep you. May His face shine upon you.