Faith Challeged

Faith Challenged

I have been debating whether to share this or not and as I prayed about it, God showed me that He does miracles in our lives so that we may share them with others and He can receive all the glory, not so that we can keep it to ourselves.

Early this year a friend of mine shared a book with me titled God's Smugglers and told me that I had to read it. Little did I know the impact that it would have on my life and my faith when I agreed to read it. This book is a true story about a Polish missionary who lived during the cold war, he lived an incredible and dangerous life transporting Bibles across closed borders-and tells about the miraculous ways in which God provided for him every step of the way.

The part of the book that made the biggest impression on me was the training that brother Andrew received while in training to become a missionary. He was taught to rely only on God to provide for him financially for all of his needs and never to ask anyone to fund his missions. Time after time he told of these incredible miracles of how God provided for him. Time after time I read how God would help him "smuggle" bibles into communist countries and the guards at the entry point would be "blinded" and not notice the stack of bibles in his little car.

The more I thought about how this man trusted God to meet all his needs the more I craved to have this kind of faith. The more I craved it the more I was challenged to live this way myself. God's timing on this is so perfect. I was reading this book right around the time that Andre came home to tell us that He was receiving a ten percent pay cut on his salary. His employer was cutting back on a lot of things in hopes to keep the company viable. At this point we were already struggling to pay our bills with more bills than money every month, and now he comes home telling us we will have even less and we were pretty sure the company was on it last leg.

And now to what God was getting ready to teach me and reveal to me. I have had a credit cards to my name since I was sixteen. I have used them and depended on them all of my adult life. And through college and my marriage we have accumulated debt that we have not been able to pay off for a long time. In the last couple of years I have justified using them in thinking that I knew that God would understand when I used them because they were necessary things like gas, food and especially my insulin and testing supplies. But the more I read the more I was convicted of my dependence on these plastic cards. God allowed me to see that my faith and trust was not really on Him to meet all my needs but on the credit cards. I always relied on them to get me out of a jam if I ever needed them. And I was needing them a lot lately.

No one can serve two masters, either he will hate the one or love the other or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.
Mathew 6:24

So once I realized what He was revealing to me I decided that I wanted to live completely and totally dependent on Him and stop using my credit cards completely. I have always wanted to before but never had the courage or the conviction to do it. I told Andre what I had been reading about and I prayed and made a promise that I would not use the credit cards anymore no matter what. It felt really good and then....
God decided to put me to the test.

One week later I came home and thought, that we had a power outage in the neighborhood. Then I realized that it was only my house that did not have electricity. It was a Thursday afternoon and we had no money in the bank until Friday (pay day) and when I called the power company with my cell phone to find out what happened they told me that my check had bounced. The lady on the phone was really nice and told me I could use a credit card to get my power turned on again if I wanted to... but I had promised God... but it is an emergency... but I promised God no matter what... but we had no other choice... I went back and forth like this and decided to call Andre.

He told me to use the credit card and then we hung up. I couldn't do it. I did not want to go against my husband but I could not do it. I couldn't go against my promise to God. So I decided that I would call the lady back and I would give her my debit card number knowing that we did not have the balance in the account and there would not be enough money in it until Friday afternoon. But I took my chance and decided to trust God with the result.

I gave the lady my information and we hung up. I waited and I prayed, I went into the closet and got on my knees with my bible and began reading the psalms and praising God. I did not know what else to do. I waited and waited and pleaded with God to do a miracle. I told God that I wasn't going back on my promise and that we would use candles that night and cook some chicken on the grill but that I was not going to use the credit cards. About 15 minutes passed by and then... the electricity came back on!!! It was a miracle! I know deep down in my heart that it was. God heard my prayers and he saw the sincerity in my heart and blessed me for it. It was amazing. I was amazed!!!

It has been four months now and I have not used my credit cards once. God has provided free lance work for Andre to supplement our paycheck and we have not stopped paying our bills or tithing to our church. I am amazed. I was going to the credit cards on a very frequent basis and since I made my promise and was tested on it I have not had to use them at all!

I struggled to share this story because I was worried what other people would think of us and frankly I was embarrassed about where we were financially. And now even though we are not out of debt we are working to pay it off, not adding to our debt but most importantly living completely and totally dependent on God for our finances. Andre's job is still on very shaky ground but I can say with certainty that we know that God is in control. I think the biggest gift I have gained from all of this besides learning to trust in God has been the peace that has come with it. I have complete peace about our financial future and trust God completely Hallelujah!

I hope this blesses someone today.

Lazarus Waits, Rachel Weeps

Lazarus Waits, Rachel Weeps

Jesus tells the story of a rich man who is content to live comfortably with a great chasm between his success and a poor man’s predicament. At his own gate each day, the man passes a beggar named Lazarus, who is covered in sores and waits with the hope that he might be satisfied with something that falls from the rich man’s table. But Jesus describes the rich man as seeing neither Lazarus nor his plight. Ironically, when the rich man dies and is suffering in Hades with his own agony and aspirations, he still chooses to view Lazarus as inferior, worthy only of being a servant. “Father Abraham, have mercy on me,” he pleads, “and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am in agony” (Luke 16:24). Twice he makes it clear in his requests that he sees the man who sat at his gate as subordinate at best. Having refused all his days to see the waiting Lazarus as a fellow soul, a suffering neighbor, the chasms the rich man allowed in life had now grown fixed in death.

Another story that emerges from the life of Jesus came before he was old enough to tell stories of his own. The prophet Isaiah told of a child who would be born for the people, a son given to the world with authority resting on his shoulders. Hundreds of years later, in Mary and Joseph of Nazareth, this prophecy was being fulfilled. The angel had appeared. A child was born. The magi had come. The ancient story was taking shape in a field in Bethlehem. But when Herod learned from the magi that a king would be born, he gave orders to kill all the boys in and around Bethlehem who were two years old and under. At this murderous edict, another prophecy, this one spoken through the prophet Jeremiah, was sadly fulfilled: “A voice is heard in Ramah, mourning and great weeping; Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because they are no more” (Jeremiah 31:15, Matthew 2:16-18). While the escape of Mary and Joseph to Egypt allowed Jesus to tell the story of Lazarus years later, the cost, as Rachel and all the mothers’ who didn’t escape knew well, was wrenchingly great.

Of the many objections to Christianity, one that stands out in my mind as troubling is the argument that to be Christian is to withdraw from the world around us, to follow fairy tales with wishful hearts and myths that insist we stop thinking and believe that all will be right in the end because God says so. In such a vein, Karl Marx depicts Christianity as a kind of drug that anesthetizes people to the suffering in the world and the wretchedness of life. Likewise, in Sigmund Freud’s estimation, belief in God functions as an infantile dream that helps us evade the pain and helplessness we both feel and see around us. I don’t find these critiques and others like them troubling because I find them accurate of the kingdom Jesus described. I find them troubling because so many Christians live as if Freud and Marx are quite right in their analyses.

In our impervious boxes and minimalist depictions of the Christian story, we comfortably live as if in our own world, blind and unconcerned with the world of suffering around us, intent to tell our feel-good stories while withdrawing from the harder scenes of life. In fact, to pretend as if Christianity does not at times function as a wishful escape from the world is perhaps another kind of wishful thinking. There are some critiques of Christianity we ignore at our own peril.

In reality, the stories Jesus left us with are so much more than wishful thinking and his proclamations of the kingdom among us are far from declarations of escapism. The story of Rachel weeping for her slaughtered children and Lazarus waiting in agony at the gate of someone who could make a difference are two stories among many that refuse to let us sweep the suffering of the world under the rug of unimportance. The fact that they are included in the gospel that brings us the hope of Christ is not only what makes that hope endurable, but what proves Freud and Marx entirely wrong. For Christ brings the kind of hope that can reach even the most hopeless among us. And Jesus hasn’t overlooked the suffering of the world anymore than he has invited his followers to do so; it is a part of the very story we tell.

Thus, precisely because the faith we proclaim is not a drug that anesthetizes or a dream that deludes, we must tell the whole story and not merely the parts that lessen our own pain. We must also live as people watchful and ready to be near those who weep and wait--the poor, the demoralized, and the suffering. There are far too many Rachels who are still weeping and Lazaruses who are still waiting, waiting for men and women of faith to be the good news they proclaim.

Jill Carattini is managing editor of A Slice of Infinity at Ravi Zacharias International Ministries in Atlanta, Georgia.

The Kingdom of Godhttp://http://www.rzim.org/USA/Resources/Listen/JustThinking.aspx?archive=1&pid=897

The Charles Schultz Philosophy

The Charles Schulz Philosophy



&nbsp ;






& nbsp;


The
following is the philosophy of Charles Schulz,
the creator of the 'Peanuts' comic
strip.




You don't
have to actually answer the questions. Just
ponder on them. Just read the e-mail straight
through, and you'll get the
point.




1. Name the
five wealthiest people in the
world.

2. Name the
last five Heisman trophy
winners.

3. Name the
last five winners of the Miss America
pageant.

4. Name ten
people who have won the Nobel or Pulitzer
Prize.

5. Name the
last half dozen Academy Award winners for best
actor and actress..

6. Name the
last decade's worth of World Series
winners.

&n bsp;



&n bsp;
How did you
do?




The point
is, none of us remember the headliners of
yesterday. These are no second-rate achievers.
They are the best in their fields. But the
applause dies. Awards tarnish. Achievements are
forgotten. Accolades and certificates are buried
with their owners.

&nb sp;



&n bsp;

& nbsp; Here's
another quiz. See how you do on this
one:




1. List a
few teachers who aided your journey through
school.

2. Name
three friends who have helped you through a
difficult time.

3. Name
five people who have taught you something
worthwhile.

4. Think of
a few people who have made you feel appreciated
and special!

5. Think of
five people you enjoy spending time
with.

&nbsp ;




&n bsp;
Easier?




The
lesson:




The people
who make a difference in your life are not the
ones with the most credentials.. the most
money... or the most awards. They simply are the
ones who care the most!

&nbsp ;



&n bsp;
Pass this
on to those people who have made a difference in
your life, like I did.





"Don't
worry about the world coming to an end today.
It's already tomorrow in Australia
!"

&n bsp;



&nb sp;
"Be
Yourself, Everyone Else Is
Taken!"

Little i

Little i

Marybeth Whalen

"He must become greater; I must20become less."

John 3:30 (NIV)

Devotion:

The other night my husband and i were at an event where the words to the worship music were placed on a screen for all to see. But this night i noticed something: every time they used the word "I" on the screen, it wasn't capitalized. My editor's eye was drawn to this glaring error, and i spent much of the time that i was supposed to be singing trying to discern why they had done this. Oversight? Trying to be cute? It bugged me.

Then i felt God's whisper to my heart, causing me to go a bit deeper. "Why are you stressing about capitalizing the i?" He asked me. "Why does it need to be capitalized? Who decided that? Maybe these folks recognize that "i" am not important -- but I AM is."

While i am not proposing a little i revolution -- shaking up tradition and causing a crisis in the grammar world -- i am wondering, what does a little i life look like?

Sacrifice?
Surrender?
Slaying self?
Setting apart?
Seeking Him?
Serving others instead of doing what i want?

This little i thing could catch on. It should catch on, because it's the life Jesus called us to. We don't need to be capitalized. We need to be small, insignificant -- just a jot and a tittle, the littlest marks in the alphabet. Instead of a capital letter that announces our importance. At least, that's what i am learning these days -- and trying to live out.

Sacrifice, surrender and servanthood are hard. But i know that's what God calls us to do; laying down our wants, needs and desires and straining towards His.

Dear Lord, I want to make Your name famous and mine unimportant. Help me to be mindful of my tendency to make things about me. And help me Lord to keep the focus on You. In Jesus' Name, Amen.

Related Resources:

i am not but i know I AM by Louie Giglio

Share with your children the joys of focusing on the Lord with The Tale of Three Trees retold by Angela Elwell Hunt

God desires all areas of our lives to be set apart, even our finances. Read Marybeth's story of surrendering to God in this area in Learning To Live Financially Free by Marybeth and Curt Whalen

=0 D

Visit Marybeth's blog

Application Steps:

While not capitalizing your "i's" might not be proper or practical, journal some ways that you can consciously choose to make Jesus become greater in your daily life as you become less.

Reflections:

Do you struggle with taking the focus off God and putting it on yourself? Are there certain times or situations when this happens for you? What can you do to change your response when this happens?

Power Verses:

John 3:31, "The one w ho comes from above is above all; the one who is from the earth belongs to the earth, and speaks as one from the earth. The one who comes from heaven is above all." (NIV)

© 2009 by Marybeth Whalen. All rights reserved.

Proverbs 31 Ministries

616-G Matthews-Mint Hill Road

Matthews, NC 28105

The Next Survivor Series

THE NEXT SURVIVOR SERIES

Six married men will be dropped on an island with one car and
3 kids each for six weeks.

Each kid will play
two sports
and either take music
or dance classes. They will also attend cubs, brownies, sea cadets or
similar.

There is no fast food.

Each man must:
take care of his 3 children,
keep his assigned house clean,
correct all homework,
and complete science projects,
also, cook, do laundry,
and pay a list of 'pretend' bills
with not enough money.

In addition, each man
will have to budget in money
for groceries each week.

Each man
must remember the birthdays
of all their friends andrelatives,
and send cards out
on time--no emailing.

Each man must also
take each child to a doctor's appointment,
a dentist appointment
and a haircut appointment.

He must make
one unscheduled andinconvenient
visit per child
to A & E

He must also
make gingerbread men or choc chip cakes
for a social function.

Each man will be responsible for
decorating his own assigned house,
planting flowers outside
and keeping it presentable
at all times.

The men will only
have access to television
when the kids are asleep
and all chores are done.

The men must
shave their legs,
wear makeup daily,
adorn themselves with jewellery,
wear uncomfortable yet stylish shoes,
keep fingernails polished
and eyebrows groomed.

During one of the six weeks,
the men will have to endure severe abdominal pain, persistent lower
back
aches,
and have extreme, unexplained mood swings, but never once complain or
slow down from other duties.

They must attend
weekly school meetings, concerts & plays, church, and find time
at least once a week, to spend the afternoon
in the park or a similar setting.

They will need to
read a book to the kids
each night and in the morning,
feed them, dress them,
brush their teeth and
comb their hair by 7:00 am.

A test will be given at the end of the six weeks, and each father will
be required to know all of the following information:
each child's birthday,
height, weight,
shoe size, clothes size, teachers name, best friends name and doctor's
name.
Also the child's weight at birth,
time of birth,
and length of labour,
each child's favourite colour,
middle name,
favourite snack,
favourite song,
favourite drink,
favourite toy,
biggest fear and
what they want to be when they grow up.

The kids vote them off the island
based on performance.
The last man wins only if...
he still has enough energy
to be intimate with his spouse
at a moment's notice.

If the last man does win,
he can play the game over and over
and over again for the next 18-25 years
eventually earning the right
To be called Mother!

Forgiveness

Dead Men Walking

In war-torn relationships of Northern Uganda, forgiveness is complicated. Betty was a teenager when her village was raided by the Lord’s Resistance Army, a rebel army known for its brutal tactics and widespread human rights violations. She was kidnapped as a sex slave for a commander and ordered to commit callous acts of violence as a child soldier, until gradually she was broken and became an active member of the LRA.

After six years of bloodshed, however, Betty managed to escape, running across country to freedom. But coming home would not be a simple matter of returning. She had committed violence against the very people she hoped to rejoin. Her own guilt and shame was as palpable as the mistrust and anger of her village. In her absence, two of her own brothers had been killed by the same army Betty fought alongside.

In the midst of such loss, with so many permanent scars, forgiveness might seem hopeful, but perhaps naïve at best. Is reconciliation even to be desired when brokenness is irreversible? Does forgiveness cease to be hopeful when neither party can ever be the same again?

The people of Uganda believe it is. For hundreds and hundreds of children like Betty, terrorized by crimes they were forced to commit and returning home to terrorized villages, tribal elders have adapted a ceremony to make it possible for both. In a ceremony that includes the act of breaking and stepping on an egg and an opobo branch, the returnee is cleansed from the things he or she has done while away. The egg symbolizes innocent life, and by breaking and placing themselves in its broken substance, returnees declare before their village their desire to be restored to the way they used to be. In a final step over a pole, the returnees step into new life. In many cases, women returnees come home with babies who were born in the bush, usually a result of rape. When they arrive at the broken egg, the child’s foot is placed in the substance, too. The spirit of reconciliation, like warfare, must touch everyone.

...

In a single weekend, Christians have just remembered the crucifixion of Jesus, his burial on Good Friday, the silence of Holy Saturday, and the terror and amazement of Easter Sunday. In a weekend, we were reminded how the disciples failed him miserably, falling asleep when he needed them most in prayer, denying ever knowing him as he was convicted for being himself, watching him die alone from a distance. In a weekend, we moved from recognizing ourselves in this list of failures to sensing the hopeful confusion of the disciples, the overwhelm of Thomas, and the timid longing of the women at the tomb. In a single weekend, we moved from complete despair to shocking hope, total darkness to surprising light, the finality of death to the last word of resurrection, from broken and sinful to restored and forgiven.

In this solitary weekend, Christians remember a story that should make the bold and touching forgiveness of war-torn Ugandans seem natural, expected, and necessary, however shocking or complicated or slow-coming it might be for us. After the egg-breaking ceremony, Betty went from rebel to ex-rebel, shamed to restored. “I feel cleansed,” she said of the ceremony. After a day of being welcomed and celebrated, she adds, “Some of the bad things in my heart: they are gone.”(1) Alex Boraine, deputy chair of South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission, notes of such radical forgiveness: “[With its] uncomfortable commitment to bringing the perpetrator back into the family, Africa has something to say to the world.”(2)

So does Christ Jesus. In one eventful weekend, we remember the ugly depths of our sin and stare into the deep scars of the servant who bore it away. This utter shift in our condition is as overwhelming as Good Friday, as dumbfounding as Holy Saturday, and as inconceivable as Easter Sunday. But it is our ceremony. Christ is broken, we are covered in his blood, and we emerge as dead men walking. How beyond our knowing, that in the Father’s inexplicable mercy and loving-kindness, to redeem a slave, He gave a Son. Yet because God did, in a weekend, we can claim again this mystery; we can claim the power of reconciliation; we can claim Christ, who has moved us from perpetrator to family.

Jill Carattini is managing editor of A Slice of Infinity at Ravi Zacharias International Ministries in Atlanta, Georgia.

(1) Abraham McLaughlin, “Africa After War: Paths To Forgiveness--Ugandans Welcome ‘Terrorists’ Back” Christian Science Monitor, October 23, 2006.
(2) Ibid.