It Is Brave To Ask For Help

It Is Brave To Ask For Help

“Be pleased, O LORD, to deliver me; O LORD, make haste to help me.” Psalm 40:13

We call it, “The Dark Hole of our Marriage.” I was thirty and had birthed three kids in 2 ½ years. Everyone around me was a total jerk. Everyone. Other mammas, my mirror, the mailman, and especially that speed-walker dude on Kellogg. Trust me—but don’t trust me. I hadn’t slept and each day was a blur of diapers, feedings and potty accidents.

It wasn’t until I was thirty-three that I began to feel a bit human again. Kids were sleeping more—playing in the toilet less. I finally understood—maybe everyone around me wasn’t really a jerk. Maybe the honking lady in the Sprouts parking lot truly cared my baby was rolling away with my shopping cart. Maybe.

Perhaps, they were just offering an oxygen mask to a suffocating girl.

Life’s truly a canvas of mountains and valleys. One of the greatest dangers for extreme mountain climbers is lack of oxygen to the brain. When this happens, they get disoriented and can’t think clearly (Hello, motherhood!). They become incapable of ascending or descending the mountain alone. A fellow climber must place their own oxygen mask over the climber’s mouth and physically help them down.

This is how God designed fellowship to work. Because we all have ‘mountains’ to climb, dear ones!

On some mountains, you’ll be stronger than me. Your faith won’t falter. You’ll have a week when all the kiddos are healthy, and you’ve had bunches of quiet time with Jesus. Your oxygen tank will be 100% full with a backup in the mini-van.

On other climbs, I might be honking at your kiddo in a runaway shopping cart.

But what is our spiritual oxygen tank filled with? Encouragement? Wise words? Dinner on the doorstep?

All of these are precious and certainly loving. But we’re talking about our sisters suffocating! I don’t care how epic your baked pasta dish is, it’s not going to cut it.

Two things are made from the breath of God in the Bible: Mankind (Genesis 2:7), and God’s word (1 Timothy 3:16).

This is no coincidence. When our spirits are gasping for air, we need the breath of God’s word poured into us. But what happens when we’re too worn out to lift relief to our lips? You’re not the only gal who struggles to find time to read God’s word. But you don’t need to collapse on the trail and declare it hopeless.

Look around for other climbers—other believers. Use what’s left in your lungs to cry out, “Someone, please speak the word of God over my life right now!”

This is not shameful. This is brave.

Your life, your children, your marriage, your sanity—in some way—depend on your ability to recognize you’re too exhausted to ascend higher by yourself. Some days, we’ll need a sister to hoist us up, press the word of God upon our lips and carry us straight to Jesus.

And if this isn’t you right now, get ready for a search and rescue season. I guarantee there’s someone with an empty oxygen tank on your trail. Scoop them up, speak God’s truth into their life and take them to the King.

by Jenna Masters

Who Do You Say That I Am?

Who Do You Say That I Am?

“Jesus and his disciples left Galilee and went up to the villages near Caesarea Philippi. As they were walking along, he asked them, ‘Who do people say I am?’ ‘Well,’ they replied, ‘some say John the Baptist, some say Elijah, and others say you are one of the other prophets.’ Then he asked them, ‘But who do you say I am?’ Peter replied, ‘You are the Messiah.” Mark 8:27-29

In Chapter eight of Mark we’ve seen Jesus show compassion upon a hungry crowd, exasperation with the Pharisees who demanded a miraculous sign, and dismay with the disciples who had done miracles on their missionary journeys in Chapter seven, but were now worried over not having enough bread for themselves. They still didn’t see what he was trying to teach them.

As if to underscore that point, Jesus then healed a blind man, not immediately, but in stages. First he led him from the village. Then he gave him partial vision. Finally, he instructed the man to ‘look up’ and he opened the man’s eyes, giving him instant complete vision. What an example to the disciples, if only they would get it. They were still seeing through the eyes of the world. If only they would look up—to the heavenly perspective—their understanding would be opened and their vision would be sharp.

As the disciples walked with Jesus to the area of Caesarea Philippi, he posed a question—a question that would lead to the ultimate choice set before mankind—”who do you say that I am?”

Who do You say that Jesus is? Do you think of him as someone from the Bible accounts, a character from a book of myths? Someone whose status is debatable? Or…do you believe him when he says:

“I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.” John 14:6

He hasn’t left us any wiggle room. Either he is who he says he is…
the messiah who fulfills all the Old Testament prophecies, proven by his miraculous works…
the Lamb of God offering to lay down his sinless life for you and me…
the only way we may be accepted by God and set free from the chains of sin…

Or…

he is—at best—delusional and mentally ill… 
or—at worst—a liar and deceiver.

Have you chosen to believe he is Messiah, the true representation of Holy God, worker of miracles? Then don’t settle for cloudy vision. Look up. Be lifted up to a heavenly perspective.

When you look down on your circumstances through the eyes of Jesus, you will see that he doesn’t abandon you in tough times, but comforts and sustains you—with miracles, if necessary.. He doesn’t leave you to walk through loss without his promise to somehow work out good in your life. He doesn’t allow you to be hungry without bringing satisfaction from the bread of life and living water. 

Like Peter, when we confess our faith in who Jesus is, we are stones standing upon the Rock, God’s Messiah. It is this confession of faith which brings us into the church—the called out ones and family of God—and no power can overcome us.

…and upon this rock I will build my church and all the powers of hell will not conquer it.” Matthew 16:18

by Marilyn Allison



 

Joy At the Chapel

Joy At the Chapel

“And you must commit yourselves wholeheartedly to these commands that I am giving you today. Repeat them again and again to your children. Talk about them when you are at home and when you are on the road, when you are going to bed and when you are getting up.” Deuteronomy 6:6-7

Laughter, pure, and hearty. You know the kind—eye-watering, side-hurting-kind. Fourteen girls and boys in a small trailer—Chapel on Wheels. Their joy is infectious. Sometimes it’s nearly impossible to get them to sit quietly or still. But to have this time with them, we choose to do what we’re there to do and pray for the Lord to quiet their hearts.

The other day wasn’t a day for quietness. We had a Bible quiz—boys against girls. Question after question was asked, reviewing lessons in the Old and New Testaments. Candy was the prize and these amazing, funny kids were going for it.

The first round went to the boys, “Yeah!” You can just imagine what went on with that win. After a short lesson on how to be graceful winners they settled down. But, they did not stay on top.

The girls won round two. “Girls rule and boys drool.” By this time I was gasping for breath, The teacher and the other aide couldn’t hold their laughter either.

As I was driving back home I thought over that previous forty minutes. God never ceases to amaze me, teach me, grow me. His lesson for today: Lighten up Eve. So you couldn’t make it to the beach. For today, the time you spent with those boys and girls lightened your heart, just as time at the beach would.

It did.

“You make known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.” Psalm 16:11

by Eve Montano

Scripture

Scripture

“You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to the traditions of men.” Mark 7:8

It’s true what they say, that history repeats itself. When Jesus came, he was hated by the religious authority of the day because he was calling them out on their empty and vain worship. Worship had become more about traditions and less about God. Traditions set these leaders high on a pedestal of self-made importance that they certainly didn’t want to see toppled.

Fifteen hundred years later, the church—originally formed in response to the Holy Spirit moving to bring the saving grace of Jesus Christ to all people—had again turned to man-made traditions. And, once again, people were honoring God with their lips, though their hearts were far from him. They were worshiping in vain, following teachings that were merely rules taught by men.

Scripture was all but forgotten. God’s authority was unceremoniously stolen from him and doled out to the leaders of the church who—once again—sat high on self-made pedestals. According to these leaders, salvation came—not through faith in Christ alone—but instead through works and the unearned favor of purchased good merits. Merits that had supposedly been performed in abundance by Jesus, the apostles and the church-recognized saints, and which were held in reserve—to be distributed by the self-claimed authority of the church…for the right price. These merits (called indulgences), once purchased, gave people the unfounded security of their salvation and the salvation of their departed loved ones. How tragic!

But—where a hedge of tradition had grown up to block the path of truth—God found someone with an axe to chop it down and reveal his way once again, with Jesus always being the ultimate example. In the sixteenth century, it was Martin Luther, through whom God chose to reveal his narrow path once again.

Luther fully gave himself over to the authority of God and his Word, and came to this revelatory conclusion: “Without faith, the sacraments and the church were empty and must no longer pretend otherwise. It was faith in Christ that was the foundation for the church, and this faith did not come from us, who were all broken sinners, but was a free gift from God” *

Using Sola Scriptura (scripture alone) he hacked his way through the bramble of man-made tradition and was able to rediscover the heart of God and his will for men.

“All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness…”
2 Timothy 3:16

Jesus was the ultimate example of pointing to scripture to reveal God’s desire for man. When he taught with his own authority, and not the authority of previous rabbis, he was in essence kicking aside the stumbling blocks of man-made traditions to stand on God’s word alone. And, “just as Jesus had called upon the Pharisees to stop their outward obedience to God and go far deeper, to inward obedience, so Luther called upon every Christian to cease the petty obedience to church that was nothing when compared to the freedom and joy of actually obeying God.”*

Let us thank God for the provision of his word, and test everything against it, for it is a sure foundation.

“Test everything. Hold on to the good.” 1 Thessalonians 5:14

by Siara Borning

Martin Luther
by Eric Metaxas

How Do You See Him?

How Do You See Him?

“Late that night, the disciples were in their boat in the middle of the lake, and Jesus was alone on land. He saw that they were in serious trouble, rowing hard and struggling against the wind and waves. About three o’clock in the morning Jesus came toward them, walking on the water. He intended to go past them, but when they saw him walking on the water, they cried out in terror, thinking he was a ghost. They were all terrified when they saw him. But Jesus spoke to them at once. ‘Don’t be afraid,’ he said. ‘Take courage! I am here.’ Then he climbed into the boat, and the wind stopped They were totally amazed, for they still didn’t understand the significance of the miracle of the loaves. Their hearts were too hard to take it in.” Mark 6:47-52

This week the Thursday morning Bible study has focused on Chapter six of the gospel of Mark. Our teacher, Connie Grosse, has caused us to look at how Jesus was preparing his disciples for service. As they walked with him through the events recorded in this chapter, he exposed them to rejection, living dependent upon the unseen God to meet their needs, counting the cost of following him, and developing mind-blowing faith—all to come into a place of true worship of God and his perfect sacrifice.

I was considering the reactions of the disciples and the people, then the Lord made it personal.

He asked, “How do you see Jesus in the circumstances of your life?”

I wondered…

Am I like the people of Nazareth, so familiar with the person of Jesus that I fail to recognize the fullness of his diety, his power to work miracles on my behalf? Do I limit the supernatural, settling for contentment that comes from being comfortable?

Am I willing to be publicly identified with Jesus? Stand for what is right no matter the consequences? Serve God in the midst of hatred? Love my enemies and pray for them?

Am I willing to endure loss, trusting that God will provide for every need?

When faced with a new obstacle have I forgotten the power that resides in Sovereign God? That it is his nature to bless his children?

Or, like the disciples at the end of the chapter, am I caught up in a storm that overwhelms me? Am I so busy fighting fear and trying to figure out how to survive that I miss Jesus showing up, until he gets my attention and says, “Don’t be afraid. Take courage. I am here.”

Do you ask yourself similar questions?

The scriptural accounts of the lives of those who encounter God encourage me. They shed light on the struggles we all encounter on the path with Jesus. We spend years learning to trust in ourselves. Then Jesus enters in and says, “Follow me. Trust me. You can’t see what is coming, but I’ve got this. The wind will stop and you will get to your destination. Do not harden your heart. Only believe.”

“For every child of God defeats this evil world, and we achieve the victory through our faith.” 1 John 5:4

by Marilyn Allison