Trusting in the Lord and not leaning on your own understanding.

We have been talking about having faith and trusting in the Lord in our past posts. Coming from a personal experience, we have been trying to have that spiritual faith. Moving to a new city and not having a job takes a leap of faith. But instead, I believe we were relaying on our excellent resume, believing that God had our back and everything was going to be a piece of cake. Not! Even though we have a wonderful internship (that we are gaining a lot of experience with), it is unpaid. We have not been earning any income in the past 3 months. It has been rough. Trying to figure out how to pay for certain bills, rent, travel and food has been stressful. We have never been in this position before.

But God is Good! Just when I thought all was lost, he tells me in that small still voice "Trust and give it all to me. I will carry your burdens because my load is light. Believe and have faith in the promises I have for you." The minute I obeyed Him, the burden had been lifted off of me.

You see, I was trying to figure out how God was going to work it out. Was he going to give me a job or a paying gig? Was the money going to be divine and on my door step. Does God want me to play the loto and win the money? Am I going to find the money on the sidewalk? Does He want me to sell some of my items? All of these questions were going through my mind and it was driving me crazy. I started to go into a mini depression. Why wasn't God moving in the way He normally moves in my life? Why weren't the blessings coming? Like, doesn't he know my wants and needs? Yes, He has provided for the last past months and allowed us to survive without a means of income but when will it end? When will I be comfortable again and have a sense of security?

Than I had to take a step back and look within myself. I realize with the aid and revelation of the Holy Spirit, that I was being arrogant. How dare I question the Lord about how he was going to provide for me. Why was I second guessing God's faithfulness and His mercy? Why didn't I just trust in the fact that he is working behind the scenes, putting people in places and opening doors for my benefit? Yes, I said I was trusting in him but I was actually leaning unto my own understanding. In Proverbs 3:5 it says "Trust in the LORD with all your heart And do not lean on your own understanding."

A leader in our church broke it down like this. If we are trusting in God than we are wrapping ourselves around Him. Trusting that he will never leave us or forsake us. With that said, if we are wrapping our arms around Him, than we can not lean. We will not be able to bend or fall unto our own understanding. God gives us reassurance all the time. We just have to trust in His word. God is not man that he should lie. He keeps his promises.

So one night, my spirit was restless and I was worrying about certain situations. The Holy Spirit told me to wrap my hands around my pillow. I started to wrap my hands and I told the Lord, "I trust you. I am not in control. I give it all up to you. I will not question you with the Who, What, When, Where, How and Why. I want you to work it out for me."

Jesus said in Matthew 6:26, "Look at the birds in the sky. They don't plant or harvest or gather food into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. You are more valuable than they are, aren't you?" This is what I had to understand. My Father will supply all my needs. Not just some, but all. He is so wonderful that sometimes He blesses you before you even ask!

This weekend I made the effect to forget all my problems and I told myself that everything is already taken care of. The Lord blessed me with free travel this weekend to visit my mom through my close friend. He blessed us with money from a family member and friend that we were not expecting. I mean he blessed us with blessings that he had given others. What an awesome God we serve! He has revealed so much of his love and kindness in these 3 days that have been so amazing.

So my follow stormriders, when times get hard and you do not know what to do; trust in the Lord. Give all to him. He has it for you and he is just waiting for you to receive it. The door is open and all you need to do is step in.

Let's pray. Heavenly Father, thank you so much for your precious word. You are so good and your mercy endures forever. We shall never want because you supply all our needs. We just praise your Holy name and we honor you. We thank you for your promises and the covenant you have with us. Please continue to give us understanding and speak to our hearts. We know that you are working behind the scenes and that you have our best interest at heart. No more will we worry or be afraid. We will trust in you and know that the work is finished. All praise be to the Most High God! In the name of Jesus, Amen.

Flesh Faith vs. Spiritual Faith

Lately I have been reading a book from a church I have been attending for 4 weeks now. The book is called “The New Covenant Unveiled”, by David Wilkerson, the Senior Pastor and founder of Times Square Church. It has definitely been an eye opener and has revealed to me the understanding of the New Covenant that God has made with the Body of Christ. One of the subjects that stood out to me was the difference between flesh faith and spiritual faith.
Now you might ask yourself “faith is faith right?” How is it possible to have faith of the flesh?” Well I felt the same way until I read this passage in the book. “Death to all my striving to please him. And most of all, death to my past flesh-faith (p.54).’ Leading up to this passage Pastor Wilkerson was talking about death in Christ. When we are born again, we have a spiritual death in the world and now we abide with Christ in the spiritual realm. Now you forsake the flesh and live a spiritual life.
In the next couple of sentences Pastor Wilkerson goes into an example of flesh faith. “How many times have I struggled to muster up faith and tried to pump it up with promises? I repeated over and over, ‘Lord, I believe, I do believe, I really believe, I really truly honestly believe.’ But it didn’t work.” Have you ever done this before? You try to convince yourself that you are putting it all in God’s hands. You walk around saying “everything is going to be alright” and than it is followed up by “I hope so.” That is what you call flesh-faith(p.54).
Another point that Pastor Wilkerson made was that “you can always tell a request that’s of the flesh, because it comes with a deadline (p.54).” He goes on to say, “we give God what we consider a long enough time to act – but when he doesn’t perform on schedule, our so-called faith turns into ugly unbelief (p.54).” This can become a very dangerous practice for Christians to do. It can cause a lot of confession and one loses the authority that has been given unto them.
I have been there and sometimes I still go through it. It’s like I can believe God can work a miracle for someone else but when it comes to me it is a different story. I believe in the signs and wonders God did in Egypt. I believe that He parted the Red Sea and had manna fall down from heaven. I believe God heard Elijah’s cry and raised the widow’s son from the dead. I believe the Lord delivered Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego from the fiery furnace. I believe in all the signs, wonders and miracles that Jesus did here on earth. I believe in the power and gifts of the Holy Spirit that allowed the disciples and apostles to work in the name of Jesus. These are all things that I have not seen but I still believe that they happened.
At times, we feel like, well if God doesn’t answer my prayer, it’s ok because he has more important things to deal with. Or sometimes you just feel like it’s something you can do on your own. Well let me tell you, they are all lies from the enemy. You must know who you are in Christ. I use to believe those things but now I know I can’t do anything without the Father. I have to give everything up to him. That is what spiritual faith is all about. Removing yourself out of the equation and allow God to do it for you. I always say “Lord here is the situation, I can’t do it myself, I give it all to you. It’s not for me to wonder how you are going to do it or when. You know the when and how it is going to happen. You are just waiting for me to lose control of the situation and give it to You to handle.”
What a heavy burden to be lifted of one’s shoulders. God knows all and He wants the best for us. Sometimes we think we know what’s best for us and it just leads you down a path that you could have avoided. So my brothers and sisters, faith is an important and powerful tool that we have. It is the foundation of our walk with Christ. Without it, it is impossible to have a relationship with Him. Why would Jesus want a relationship with anyone that does not trust in His Word or does not believe in the authority that He has given unto you? In short you are basically calling Him a lair. And we know God is not like man to break promises. Jesus said in Matthew 17:20 "Because of your lack of faith. I tell you with certainty, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you.”
I pray that this will encourage you in your spiritual walk and that you will exercise in the power that has been given unto you in Jesus’ name. I recently read the book of Colossians and it addresses all areas of the Christian life. I suggest that you read it so that it motivates you to keep up the good fight and become a Strom Rider. God Bless

Resolving Issues According to Christ

We all have disagreements, with family, friends and co-workers. The bible talks about how to resolve your issues so that your actions honor God. In Luke 17:3 Jesus says, “Watch yourselves! If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him.” Exactly what does this mean? We must first examine the word “brother”. If you are a believer and a member of the Body of Christ then you have entered into a spiritual family in one accord with Christ. Likewise, your brother can also be considered your friend. According to Merriam-Webster Dictionary, the definition of “friend” is,

• a person attached to another by feelings of affection or personal regard.
• a person who gives assistance; patron; supporter:
• a person who is on good terms with another; a person who is not hostile:
• a member of the same nation, party, etc.

We are all these things to each other within the body of Christ. You and your brother therefore must be in one accord. The 1st part of the verse states “If your brother sins, rebuke him!” Now the sin can be against you, the body of Christ or another party. Remember you must only rebuke the person if he is your brother, which means technically he should know better, because he knows the Word of God. On the contrary, you can’t rebuke someone who is not your brother, because they are not in the body of Christ, and therefore does not adhere to the Word of God. This simple fact forces you to re-evaluate the friendship. Is it wise to be friends with someone who is not in the body of Christ? Better yet, can you blame someone that sins against you if they do not know that Word of God? At the heart of it all, you must decide if you and your “friend” are of one accord.

The 2nd portion of the verse states, “…if he repents, forgive him”. Now your brother should have no issue repenting because he knows the Word of God! This should be easy right? Well, what happens if your brother does not repent? The beautiful thing about Christ is that he has the perfect solution for every problem.

In Matthew 18: 15-17, Jesus says, "If your brother sins against you,[a] go and show him his fault, just between the two of you. If he listens to you, you have won your brother over. 16But if he will not listen, take one or two others along, so that 'every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.'[b] 17If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, treat him as you would a pagan or a tax collector”. The verse is pretty much self-explanatory, but lets pull out the major points.

• Just between the two of you – Never discuss your issues with a friend with anyone but that friend. This is very important! Out of respect for that person and respect for the Word of God you must not speak about your discrepancies with anyone other than the person that has offended you. Why is this so important? If you decide to tell your side of the story to someone other than the person that offended you, you have done several things wrong. 1. you have exposed your friend to outside judgment and have caused others to look at them in a non-complementary light. 2. you have dishonored your friend and the Word of God. 3. you have inadvertently gossiped about your friend, which is a sin. You must now repent for this because you too have sinned against your brother
• Bring counsel – Now if your brother does not listen or repent, you are allowed to bring two or three others to counsel. It is better to bring those that are in the Body of Christ, but if the majority of your friends are not in the body of Christ then you are in quite a predicament. This is why it is important to keep fellowship with equally yoked people. Make sure that the parties involved are not bias. This is also another reason why you should not talk about the situation, so that the parties that will come to help council will be hearing the problem for the 1st time and can give an honest opinion.
• Take it to the Church – Now do you understand why it’s important to fellowship with members of the body of Christ. You can’t take a non-believer to church! A non-believer sins because they are in the world, so how can they be aware that they have wronged you if doing wrong is a part of their life?
• The last resort – After all these things have passed and your friend still won’t repent, then they have lost the Word of God. They are not heeding to the Word nor are they honoring God. They have stepped out of the Body of Christ and therefore; you must treat them as such.

Friendships are a hard thing to manage, but if you heed to the Word of God, the solution to fix your strife is readily available to you. I ask you to please fellowship with equally yoked people. This does not mean that you should only fellowship with believers, for even the darkness needs light! If you have shared the gospel with unyoked friends and they still reject the Word of God, you must then decided if you are willing to still remain friends with that person. Managing friendships is very difficult, but let us thank the Lord for providing us with instructions as to how we should conduct ourselves in the mist of argument with our friends. Let us pray. Our Father who art in heaven, please teach me to forgive and likewise please teach me to repent. Show me how to deal with friendships in a way that honors your Holy Word. As you have forgiven me; may I learn to forgive others. In Christ name, Amen.