Tag: Walk with God

Generational faith

I have a friend who runs a lovely Facebook group. It is a space for women to discuss everything related to money and finance. It is a supportive group and she does an amazing job of moderating it. When I read comments I come across the phrase – generational wealth.

People want to build something for their children. They invest wisely and budget so they can help their kids. Whether it is through education investments, properties, or a plan to leave wealth to their children. I have no fault with this. Money drives our society and thinking of your own family is a caring and wonderful gesture.

I would just like to expand it a bit. I’d like to see families add the concept of generational faith. We wouldn’t just ask how can I best provide financially for my family, but also how best can I build faith for my family.

In the same way that there isn’t just one path to building financial success, there isn’t one way to building strong faith either.

The issue isn’t a ‘how to,’ but one of focus. If you are interested in building wealth it needs to be front and centre as you make decisions in your life. The same thing goes for faith. It needs to be a central pillar of our daily plans. It needs to be the lens through which we see the world.

So today I exhort you to contemplate generational faith.

Deuteronomy 6: 4 – 9 Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 
Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. 
These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. 
Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.

Choose God

We attended a wedding a few weeks ago. It was a joyous day watching a lovely young faithful couple declare their commitment to each other. Blue skies, warm weather and a crowd of family and friends were there to bless the bride and groom.

One can’t help but reflect on your own life in this situation. I am grateful that God brought Wes into my life. I am thankful that Wes chose me. There is a real honour in someone trusting you with their love and their future. I believe he feels the same way about me. Nice how that works isn’t it?

God chose me. Even before I knew him. Even before I was born he loved me. He loved me so much that he sent his son to die for me. God chose you too. Even before you were born he loved you. He offers his love to anyone who will chose to accept it.

An amazing choice – to receive another’s gift of love. We just need to accept. We can trust God with our love and our future. He is faithful.

John 3:16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son,
that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

Knock at the door

I listened to a podcast the other day. A lawyer was explaining how he got involved in a certain case. He said how a group of women followed him around and continued to badger him until they took their information seriously. I laughed because it was exactly what Jesus described in Luke.

T​he issue these women were carrying was greater than their concern for their reputation. Most times when someone brushes a person off, they retreat and give up. These women had a passion for what they were doing and they weren’t going to be brushed off. Their need outstripped all other concerns.

W​e see this as being about persistence. But it’s about more than mere persistence. It is about being so convicted in what you are asking for that you continue to knock, driven by your need for a result. If only we recognized our own need for God in this way. If only we pursued Him the way we pursue wealth or comfort. After all, we need salvation more than anything else.

L​uke 11: 5-10 Then Jesus said to them, “Suppose you have a friend, and you go to him at midnight and say, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread; a friend of mine on a journey has come to me, and I have no food to offer him.’ And suppose the one inside answers, ‘Don’t bother me. The door is already locked, and my children and I are in bed. I can’t get up and give you anything.’ I tell you, even though he will not get up and give you the bread because of friendship, yet because of your shameless audacity he will surely get up and give you as much as you need.

“So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.

Sounds like home

I remember as a child holding a big conch shell up to my ear. Some adult urging me to try it. If I held it to my ear, I’d be able to hear the sea.

I held it up to my ear, it sounded breezy and muffled. I was skeptical. I cupped my hand and placed it over my ear. The sound was different. Had I thought to try it with a coffee mug my skepticism would have been founded, as the sound is similar, but I didn’t.

This seashell was plucked from the sea, but if you listen close it whispers of its home. You could bring home a vial of sea water. It would look no different from slightly murky salted water. Or you could bring a jar of sand. Neither the water nor the sand will tell you where they came from. But the shell will, if you care to listen.

This is like humans. If we watch and listen, we can know where people are from. Not identifying their country by their accents, but rather to whom their loyalties lie. We can hear where they belong. I hope our lives whisper to those around us and let them know that we have a home with God.

Matthew 7: 16 – 20 By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them.

Pursue truth

These are confusing times. Nothing seems right. Families are fractured. Information abounds and so does pure propaganda. As Churchill said, “In wartime, truth is so precious that she should always be attended by a bodyguard of lies.”

What we are dealing with is a war of worldview. Issues of a worldly nature have occupied the part of our thinking that was devoted, in the past, to religious thinking. Theology has been supplanted by politics, philosophy, environmental and health concerns. When this happens it doesn’t elevate these issues to the status of the spiritual part of our minds, but rather it removes our measuring stick. We no longer have a moral compass by which to judge all other issues of life.

I see two reactions to this right now; rabid support of the new progressive thinking or violent reaction against. One pushes harder and faster. The other is looking wildly for answers.

We need to be careful. We need to step back from both sides and reclaim our measuring stick. READ YOUR BIBLE. Focus on the bible. Don’t tell the bible what to say. Don’t come to the bible to prove your side or disprove your enemy. Be open. Be humble before God. Recognize that truth lives outside you, that it is owned entirely by God.

Jeremiah 23: 16 This is what the Lord Almighty says: “Do not listen to what the prophets are prophesying to you; they fill you with false hopes.
They speak visions from their own minds, not from the mouth of the Lord.
They keep saying to those who despise me, ‘The Lord says: You will have peace.’
And to all who follow the stubbornness of their hearts they say,
‘No harm will come to you.’
But which of them has stood in the council of the Lord to see or to hear his word? Who has listened and heard his word?
See, the storm of the Lord will burst out in wrath, a whirlwind swirling down on the heads of the wicked. The anger of the Lord will not turn back until he fully accomplishes the purposes of his heart.
In days to come you will understand it clearly.
I did not send these prophets, yet they have run with their message; I did not speak to them, yet they have prophesied.
But if they had stood in my council, they would have proclaimed my words to my people and would have turned them from their evil ways and from their evil deeds.
“Am I only a God nearby,” declares the Lord, “and not a God far away?
Who can hide in secret places so that I cannot see them?” declares the Lord.
“Do not I fill heaven and earth?” declares the Lord.

The wilderness

Moses ran to the wilderness. It was in this self-imposed exile that he prepared for his great work. He then led the people of Israel through the wilderness for many years on their journey to their promised land and the work of building a nation.

Elijah also prepared in the dessert for his great mission. After the great triumph over the prophets of Baal he ran back to the wilderness; afraid, alone and seeking comfort from God.

Even Nebuchadnezzar was sent out into the wilderness to live like a beast. Learning in his madness of his place before God.

John the baptist was a man of the fields. Living off of honey and locusts, staying in the wilderness and speaking to all that would seek him out.

Jesus spent 40 days in the wilderness where he also prepared for the great work of his life. Fasting, praying and facing temptations, when he emerged he was fully ready to start the great work of returning God’s people to His care.

It feels to me like we are currently in the wilderness. I am not sure how long it will last, I am not sure what will happen next. Even the best guesses are at this point just guesses, time will tell what occurs next. But I do feel deep in my bones that we are being prepared for a great change.

We need to look at this wilderness and remember that we are being prepared for what comes next. Let us spend less time (and I’m looking squarely at myself here) worrying about what is to come, and focus on what we can gain and learn from this period. Accept the wilderness and grow. We need it to face tomorrow.

The light of the world

The sky showing the first signs of the rising sun in the east. The glowing red and orange merging with the dark of the night sky. The first blush of light. The large erect towers of the city aglow in a the gentle orange reflection. Their own internal lights masked and conquered by the vibrant glow of the sun. All this before the sun has even crested the horizon.

The great light of the sun more powerful than any light man can create. In a dark space even a candle will cast a light, like a soft reminder of the great light. But in the middle of the day with the sun blazing in the room the candle goes unnoticed. It’s use simply a waste of materials and energy.

Every morning the light returns. The sun rises. Let this give you courage to face whatever trouble or fear that lays in your way.

Psalm 27: 1 The Lord is my light and my salvation— whom shall I fear?
The Lord is the stronghold of my life— of whom shall I be afraid?

Oh, how I love Jesus

What does it mean to be a Christian?

At one point in my life I would have listed my denominational affiliation and my doctrinal beliefs, when asked this question. It was as though I sought an identity in a larger group. Of course, I never fully agreed with the group on everything – this is impossible. But, I found it easier to describe my walk with Christ in the framework of a recognizable structure and language.

That has changed. A lot. It has been hard to put my finger on how and why that changed, it evolved over a long period of time.

I was watching a documentary about India the other day. The host was interviewing a couple. He introduced the wife to the audience as a Hindu who has since become a Christian, who is married to a Muslim. He asked her why she became a Christian. She responded, “Because I love Jesus.”

Here it is. This! I turned my back on the definitions of denominational language and doctrinal differences because I want the world to see me as someone who loves Jesus.

Instead of looking at other Christians and people around me as my models for behaviour, I need to keep my eyes fixed on Jesus. He becomes my pattern, not a religious order. Do these groups have something to offer – YES. And do I love many people who still attend such groups – YES! But for me there is freedom in focusing on Jesus alone.

He can be there when I interact with my neighbours. He can be there when I chat to the homeless man I meet when I’m walking my dog. He can be there when I support friends who are being ostracized by society. He can be there when I teach and parent my kids. He can be there in those private moments with my husband. He is there always. I don’t have to check to see what my Church’s stance is on anything. I report only to Him. I keep my eyes on Him and worry about only being pleasing to Him.

1 John 4: 19 We love because he first loved us.

God’s wisdom

I matured in the era of the self-help book. I was a young adult, learning and charting my course, surrounded by a culture of instruction. It was everywhere, daytime television, books, classes, businesses… everywhere you ran into a basic formula. Do A,B,C and you will have a happy marriage. Do A,B,C and you will be successful in business. Do A,B,C your children will turn out and be wondeful. Do A,B,C and you will find inner peace.

Even churches did this. They abandoned generations of culture and learning to adopt the new step by step guide to getting to your desired destination. Correct doctrine – check. Appropriate levels of faith – check. Trust God – check. Be as prefect as you can be – check. Attend all the right services – check. Offer the right services in the community – check. Of course not every church was like this, but many were.

I am not suggesting for even a moment, that any of these ideas on their own are bad. It is the concept that we can live our lives by rote, by list, by ticking off all the boxes, that I strongly object to. As a young adult I stressed over every single decision, sure that every move I made would propel me on the right path or would take me off onto the wrong path. This belief was in the air I breathed.

Life is far more complex than that. Wisdom can’t be distilled into a list of dos and donts. No amount of planning can predict the future or prevent the chaos caused by our past. Life is messy. Humans are messy.

The best I can do is build my foundation on belief in God. When I do that I am anchoring myself to the Creator. I am drawing on His wisdom. I lean on His strength and guidance.

1 Corinthians 3: 18-19 Do not deceive yourselves. If any of you think you are wise by the standards of this age, you should become “fools” so that you may become wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God’s sight. As it is written: “He catches the wise in their craftiness.”