Do not fear...Don't be afraid

At the moment, my quiet time is taking me through Scriptures relating to obedience to God. I've found it challenging, scary and exciting all at the same time.

Today, my studies took me to Ezekiel 2 where Ezekiel is called by God to bring a difficult message to the Israelites, who God describes as ' a nation that is rebelling against me'. And God encourages Ezekiel with these words (Ezekiel 2: 6-7):

Son of man, do not fear them.
Don't be afraid even though their threats are sharp as thorns and barbed like briers,
and they sting like scorpions.
Do not be dismayed by their dark scowls.
For remember, they are rebels!
You must give them my messages whether they listen or not.

But they won't listen, for they are completely rebellious!

This is one of the fears that I am asking God to help me overcome. I love God and I want the whole world to know how He loves them and sent Jesus to die for their sins. And He wants them to spend eternity with them in heaven. But I have to be honest, it scares me. It's a message people find difficult to hear, and as wonderful as it is, I find difficult to give. The reason for this is exactly what God told Ezekiel about...their threats, the hurtful words hurled back at you, the dark scowls!

I found this passage very encouraging because even though it's difficult, I'm not in it on my own.

So this is my prayer:

Lord, I thank you for these words that you spoke to Ezekiel.
Help me to be obedient to you, even when it's difficult
because you promise to strengthen me.
Help me to overcome my fear of people's angry looks or hurtful words
when I tell them about you.
And I ask you to help me say the right thing in the right way
at the right time to the right people.
Thank you for your unconditional love.

Amen.

Complete Submission

Last night, Chris and I had 2 of our dearest friends over for dinner. Every time we meet up it we talk for hours and the time just flies by. When they left after almost 5 hrs of being with us (and to be honest it felt more like 2!) we commented that we hadn't had such uplifting conversation in a long time. We spoke about almost everything from the impact of watching certain shows and movies can have on a Christian to 'backsliders' to the role of the church today. Every conversation was drenched in Scripture.

One of the things that stuck with me about the conversations we had was the discussion of submission to God. And both of my bible readings (because I missed one yesterday) was about obedience - placing all our trust and reliance in God. The first study was taken from 2 Chronicles 14 , where King Asa begins his reign after his father King Abijah dies. One of the first things mentioned about King Asa was that under his reign 'there was peace in the land for ten years, for Asa did what was pleasing and good in the sight of the Lord his God' (2 Chr 14:2). Then Asa came under threat from Zerah whose army far outnumbered Asa's. But Asa cries out to God 'O Lord, no one but you can help the powerless agains the mighty! Help us, O Lord our God, for we trust in you alone. It is in your name that we have come against this vast horde. O Lord, you are our God; do not let mere men prevail against you!' (2 Chr 4:11). Jill Briscoe (whose study I am working through) comments that 'God interefered with his grace and gave Asa victory over his enemies'.

Unfortunately, Asa's obedience to God began to wane and 'he relied more on people than on God'. Even towards the end of his life he relied more on his physicians than on God (See 2 Chr 16).

The second study, which is the one that prompted this post, speaks of the 'Long Road of Obedience' and is taken from Jeremiah 2. Israel has once against turned against God and God sends Jeremiah to give Israel this message. The message compares how they once were, they loved God and was willing to please Him 'as a young bride' (Jer 2:2) but now they would rather exchange 'their glorious God for worthless idols!'

This made me question my own level of submission to God. Have I completely submitted to Him? Complete submission is what Adam & Eve struggled with in the Garden of Eden and to be honest, it's what I struggle with too. To hand my live over to God completely. Everything that I have and everything that I am. The things is, everything that I have and everything that I am comes from God. So, why do I find it so hard to give it back to Him? How can I call Jesus Lord of my life, if I find it hard to submit to His rules?

Chris phrased it well, by calling it 'a gravitational pull' towards sin. We feel ourselves being pulled towards our sinful nature, when what we want to do is to be free to go towards God. My prayer to God is to make me free to do this, through the power of the Holy Spirit. I want to live for God. I don't want to be controlled by my sinful nature! I want to be under the authority of a God who loves me perfectly!

Is submission borne out of obedience? Or obedience borne out of submission?

So I pray this prayer:

I ask God to heal my wayward heart (Jer 3:22)
and I confess to Him that disobedience is a sin not just a shortcoming (Jer 3:25)
Help me along the long road of obedience.
I know you'll be with me every step of the way.

Amen

Acts 29

Earlier this year I went to a New Wine's Women's Conference in Harrogate and the lady speaking asked us to turn to Acts 29 because she wanted to share something with us. As the pages rustled throughout the auditorium, searching through our Bibles, after a minute or so a wave of chuckling and laughing swept through the thousands of women who were there. There is no Acts 29!! And the presenter then proclaimed that we are Acts 29!

Chris encouraged me to read the book of Acts as I go through this difficult time. And I must admit, it is so encouraging and challenging to read. When I was reading Acts 3 these thoughts came to me:

After the lame man was healed by the Beautiful Gate and people saw that it was Peter and John who were involved. Peter saw it as an opportunity to address the crowd. And he told them about Jesus and how they can be saved and have a relationship for eternity with Him! And this really challenged me. I continue to pray to God for boldness and that I will always be ready to speak of Jesus. That I will not miss and opportunity because of fear of embarrassment. But this boldness can only come from God.

When I was telling this to Chris he asked me a question that has stuck with me ever since -'What will silence me?'

When Peter and the apostles were arrested and brought before the Sanhedrin because they were preaching about Jesus. The response was "We must obey God rather than human authority..." And Peter goes on to preach about the very thing they were arrested for! (see Acts 5).

Their boldness! Their assurance of faith! It's amazing! I want it! I crave it!

So I prayed for it. And God told me I have to be in it for the long haul - good or bad.

The disciples were arrested, whipped and most eventually killed for proclaiming the name of Jesus. Yet people lined up in the streets hoping that Peter's shadow, his shadow, would fall on them so that they can be healed. But the apostles were 100% committed to following and trusting God. Their faith did not waiver. They weren't in it to be liked. They were in to proclaim the truth so that "people could turn from their sins and turn to God so their sins would be forgiven".


What will silence me?