Lessons from Auntie Anne

One of the great takeaways from meeting Anne Beiler and reading her book, "A Twist of Faith", has been to see how she prioritizes the power of a giving heart.  Remember in an earlier entry Anne had said that "Success comes from hard work and effort but blessing comes from obedience." Obedience ingiving is a great key to a life that God blesses.  That blessing from the Lord is not always in the form of financial increase but the blessing is real and lasting.  Auntie Anne's mission as a business was to give away as much money as possible, what a great goal. Anne and Jonas Beiler understood that God in His mercy had given them so much and they had no choice but to give back to God by putting Him first in their finances. Early on in their life together Jonas, Anne's husband, made a decision to trust God and to give obediently in their tithe to the Lord and beyond that in their gifts to Him. The principal became part of their life when things were tough and tight and yet they saw God prove Himself over and over. In fact at one point of their life they decided that they wanted to not only tithe but to begin to give by faith and trust God for His provision. This is one more step of obedience and for many of us it is a difficult one to take, but it is one we must learn and practice.  We can trust God and put Him first so that He can and will bless us and use us to bless others. There is a principal of God's kingdom power that is tied to our willingness to give not because we have to but because we are allowed to be a part of His plan.  In times when people are worried about the economy and about what might happened, it is important that like Anne and Jonas Beiler we make a decision to give to God in our tithe and our offerings above that as an act of our obedience to the Lord.  May God teach us to trust Him and may He give us a heart that is obedient to give.

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"God's grace and forgiveness are what got me through it all. Today when I think about forgiveness, I wonder, Have I forgiven others as I have been forgiven?  Sometimes my old hurts begin to throb and I feel the emotions of anger and depressions. It's during these moments that I think about Jesus and what he said while dying on the cross surrounded by his accusers and executioners, "Father , forgive them." 

The Apostle Paul writes in the book of Colossians chapter 3 verse 13, "Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another.  Forgive as the Lord forgave you."  When we forgive it releases the flow of God to bring healing into our life and to the lives of others through us.  Unforgiveness is not a Christian response, there is no doubt that all of us have had moments when we wanted to hold on to past hurts but the Lord says as we forgive others He will bring peace to our lives.  So learn this lesson from Auntie Anne Forgiveness is something that all of us have received and all of us must give.  I will be praying that God encourages you each day of this new week.  Keep praying God is in control.

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Anne tells the story of her beautiful Angie, who was tragically killed in an accident while walking from Anne's house to the house of Anne's mother.  To make matters even worse the accident did not occur because of a stranger but because of Anne's sister who never saw Angie before she accidently ran her over. Now I can not begin to imagine what kind of trauma that Anne and her family had to face, but somehow with God's grace and by depending on Him, she was able to make it day by day and to move on with her life as God gave her the strength.    In the next couple of entries, I would like to share with you some of the thoughts that Anne Beiler speaks of through her words and through her life.  As she addressed the graduates and those who gathered on a sunny Friday afternoon, she began with this statement.  "Success," Anne Beiler said, "is a result of hard work and effort, but blessing is a direct of obedience.  We have been talking in this blog about following Jesus and what that means, and at times what that will require from us.  Here is a woman who not only has seen God's hand through suffering but also has understood the favor of God through obedience.  When Anne says that blessing is based on obedience, she is saying that God's favor is not up for sale, but only comes as we obey His voice and follow His path.  God wants to bless His children which includes you and I, but that blessing will not always come in financial reward but instead He gives things that  times with His peace in the midst of the greatest storms of our lives.  There is a song that was a staple of many of us from years gone by.  Trust and obey, for there's no other way to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.  Blessing, the Lord's favor and provision, is a direct result of Obedience to God.   May you and I hear and the words of Auntie Anne and walk in a life of obedience to the One who holds all of our tomorrows.

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NLT

Listening and Doing.  Jesus, made it very clear to His disciples those who follow Him, listens to what He says and then puts it into practice.  It is often been said that the difficult part of living for Jesus is not know what to do, it is doing it.  If we are honest with ourselves and with God, there have many times in our life that the Lord has very clearly spoken something to us through His word and we have not listened.  Or perhaps we have listened or not obeyed His voice. Jesus said that if we love Him we keep His commands. We can become so hard of hearing at times that the only one we listen to is ourselves.  We somehow decide that anything we want to do and anyway we want to act is in line with God's will and we attempt to justify it. The first key for me is to get to a place with God on a regular basis that I am ready to listen.  If we humble ourselves and say Lord we are ready to listen then God will speak but if we continue to refuse to listen, our loving Lord has not choice but to use circumstances to get our attention so that we might follow Jesus.   I heard something the other day that I thought really spoke to this point so well.  "God wants to speak to us in revelation what He is obligated to teach us in tribulation." When I heard that it reminded me that the Lord is constantly speaking to us but we are often too busy or too distracted to listen to His voice.  Is it possible that even today God is trying to speak to each of us about our life and our direction not only for the big things but also for the small ones?  James says in chapter one that if we listen to God's Word and don't do what it says we are fooling ourselves.

 That is exactly what we don't want to do, we have a desire to follow the Lord and His commands, to listen to His voice and promptings, but we must be willing to take those words and put them into action.  So often Christians (me included) try to rationalize why we shouldn't listen and obey, as if we know what is best in a given situation. If we truly want to follow Jesus we must listen and obey even when it goes contrary to our flesh or our own ideas. Think about the moments in your own life when God told you through His Word or through you own private prayer time, that you should forgive someone for a past hurt,  that would be very clear wouldn't it? (Colossians 3:13) But we can make every excuse for not listening and not obeying. Or if the Lord tells us to serve in some capacity or to serve someone else we will listen but not follow because our schedule is too full. 

What if we would take on a brand new pattern of our walk with Jesus, one in which we could say to the Lord, "I will hear your words and obey them." What do you think would happen?  I think we would start to be people that are more life our Master. People who learn to listen and obey, who learn to love like Jesus because Jesus tells us how to love,(Matt 5:43-47) people who learn to serve like Jesus because He tells us how to serve, (Mark 10:45) people who pray like Jesus because he tells us how to pray.  (Luke 18:1) There is freedom when we listen to His voice and obey His words.  The sooner you and I begin to sit at the feet of Jesus and listen and obey the sooner we will know the favor of God over each part of our life.  May you and I be people who listen and obey our Lord Jesus, in the big things and the small ones.   May God bless you with His favor as you obey His voice today.

But if you look carefully into the perfect law that sets you free, and if you do what it says and don't forget what you heard, then God will bless you for doing it.  James 1:22-25

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...Trusting for His Supply   Our World is changing very quickly isn't it?  Our nation is as well as we have gone from a country filled with hope to a people overwhelmed with concern and fear.  Every day news outlets tell us about that latest price increase on gasoline or food, and how we are only at the beginning of what is to come.  The fear mongers are on a constant campaign to speak into every corner of our life promoting nothing but fear of tomorrow. Without knowing it we can begin to live our life in a constant state of dread or impending doom, which is exactly opposite of what God has commanded us to do, which is, "Fear Not!" Jesus tells us to live a life free from fear, to live a life trusting in Him, to live a life that reflects the assurance that we have in Jesus to supply all we need according to His glorious riches in Christ Jesus. The Apostle Paul, from a prison cell in Rome writes to a group of people much like us. With a tendency to look around us instead of looking above, with the ability to lose the focus of following Jesus all the way and keeping our eyes and our hearts fixed on Him alone. They were actually facing far greater persecution than we have ever known in our lifetime in America.  They were being threatened by all those around and lived in a part of the roman world where it was not easy to follow Jesus.  Now their father in the faith, the Apostle Paul was writing them from a prison cell in Rome. How would you feel, how would you view things that were happening to you and to those you love because they were standing up for Jesus? Paul tells these loved ones to rejoice in the Lord, don't worry about anything, pray about everything, and allow God's peace to rule your lives.

 Even though Paul is in prison, he is not bound by fear, although he may be locked by physically restraints, he is free in Jesus.  His attitude and his outlook was not based on what was happening around him, but based on his love and life in Jesus. This is so hard for us not to be swayed by what is happening around us in our culture, so difficult to keep our focused fixed on Jesus.  We are all too often living like Peter as he is walking on the water to Jesus, looking at the waves instead of fixing our gaze on the Master of the Waves. Paul gives great words of encouragement to the believers in verse 19 That God will supply and provide and meet all their What Paul is passing on to these sons and daughters in the faith is the assurance that Jesus will provide for them on the inside by giving peace and on the outside by supplying their needs.  The people in the church at Philippi were not that much different than we are, trusting God in a world that often times paints a picture of fear of tomorrow and fear of the unknown.  Following Jesus means trusting the Lord to provide and supply all that we need according to His riches, His storehouse.  "Lord please allow each of us to look to you in this day we are living and see that you are still there and still able to provide for everything we need.  When you tell us not to be anxious about anything that is so difficult for us and yet you want us to live a life free from fear and free from worry.  I thank you Lord that you will provide everything we need as we follow and trust you.  Please Lord, Master of the waves of our lives give us new grace to keep our gaze and our focus only on you."

We may not know how God will provide for the needs we have in our daily life, but we know that He will.  Following Jesus is a call to a life of trust of faith that He will supply what we need.  Let's put Him first and trust Him Today.

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Remembering the Faithfulness of God. God's Word is so powerful and so pointed, it speaks to us about how we are to live out our lives and how we are to trust the Lord in every situation that we face.  Psalm 57 is an excellent reminder of the faithfulness and trustworthiness of God even at the most difficult times.  David the Shepherd boy anointed for the position ofKing of Israel is running from Saul.  David has already seen the Hand of God numerous times; he has killed a bear and a lion while watching his flocks. God then uses David to bring about a great victory over the enemies of Israel but killing Goliath. Things had been going pretty well, no problems people liked David and he was on his way to fulfill the call and the plan of God.  Just one small problem, even though David had been anointed future King, the current King Saul had other ideas.  Saul wanted to kill David at all cost; he pursued this hero of Israel in order to kill him.  David had seen God's hand again and again in his life, but just like us he needed to remember God's faithfulness.  There may be times in our life that we wonder whether the Lord has forgotten us or whether or not we will accomplish anything that matters for God.  Here David hiding in a cave running from Saul remembers a deep relationship with God that he can count on.  David reaffirms his hope in God and his confidence of the Lord's protection.  Look at verse 2 and see David's confidence and trust in the Lord revealed.

1 For the choir director: A psalm of David, regarding the time he fled from Saul and went into the cave. To be sung to the tune "Do Not Destroy!" Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy! I look to you for protection. I will hide beneath the shadow of your wings until the danger passes by.
2 I cry out to God Most High, to God who will fulfill his purpose for me.
3 He will send help from heaven to rescue me, disgracing those who hound me. Interlude My God will send forth his unfailing love and faithfulness.
4 I am surrounded by fierce lions who greedily devour human prey- whose teeth pierce like spears and arrows, and whose tongues cut like swords.
5 Be exalted, O God, above the highest heavens! May your glory shine over all the earth.
6 My enemies have set a trap for me. I am weary from distress. They have dug a deep pit in my path, but they themselves have fallen into it. Interlude
7 My heart is confident in you, O God; my heart is confident. No wonder I can sing your praises!
8 Wake up, my heart! Wake up, O lyre and harp! I will wake the dawn with my song.
9 I will thank you, Lord, among all the people. I will sing your praises among the nations.
10 For your unfailing love is as high as the heavens. Your faithfulness reaches to the clouds.
11 Be exalted, O God, above the highest heavens. May your glory shine over all the earth.

NLT

Why not take a moment now and thank the Lord for His love and provision, thank Him for His faithfulness and thank Him for His ability to keep us and use us.

Just like David we need to remember that God is the one who speaks life and hope. He is worthy of praise for His faithfulness, we are to exalt His name and remember, that He will fulfill His purpose for us.

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The Light That Never Fails

We all, with unveiled face, beholding . . . the glory of the Lord . . . -2 Corinthians 3:18

A servant of God must stand so very much alone that he never realizes he is alone. In the early stages of the Christian life, disappointments will come- people who used to be lights will flicker out, and those who used to stand with us will turn away. We have to get so used to it that we will not even realize we are standing alone. Paul said, ". . . no one stood with me, but all forsook me . . . . But the Lord stood with me and strengthened me . . ." (2 Timothy 4:16-17  ). We must build our faith not on fading lights but on the Light that never fails. When "important" individuals go away we are sad, until we see that they are meant to go, so that only one thing is left for us to do- to look into the face of God for ourselves.

Allow nothing to keep you from looking with strong determination into the face of God regarding yourself and your doctrine. And every time you preach make sure you look God in the face about the message first, then the glory will remain through all of it. A Christian servant is one who perpetually looks into the face of God and then goes forth to talk to others. The ministry of Christ is characterized by an abiding glory of which the servant is totally unaware- ". . . Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone while he talked with Him" ( Exodus 34:29  ).

We are never called on to display our doubts openly or to express the hidden joys and delights of our life with God. The secret of the servant's life is that he stays in tune with God all the time.

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 Remember that Abraham  was told to go to a land that God would show him, he was to leave his family, his comfort even his own county and trust God by following and obeying. Abraham did it and God said that it was a wonderful example to all of us of what faith is.  It seems so foreign to us, (or maybe just to me) to obey willingly without questioning or hesitation.  There are times in each of our lives that it seems that nothing makes sense, there is an awareness that things are not as they should be but we cannot figure out why things don't seem right, or worse yet something difficult is happening and you begin to wonder and doubt our Lord's faithfulness. Trusting God is hard for us because we often times limit God to human experience, everyone we have ever known or ever will know has the potential to let us down and yet the Lord says, He never will.  He will never leave us or forsake us and He will be there to guide us as we follow His heart and His ways, we are asking God to be who He is, Faithful, True and Loving.  That is where following Jesus means to trust Him in spite of the things that are happening around you or the people who may even become like Job's friends who were not very supportive in their approach or others who will be quick to point out where we missed it.  But the Lord is not that way; He can be trusted to always work out the challenges of our lives out for His glory and our benefit.  Discipleship is taking on a whole new definition for me, one in which I as the disciple are being called by the Lord to surrender my will and my ways into His hands and to trust Jesus to lead me through the path that He has planned for me.  Like the words of the hymn, "Jesus, Jesus, how I trust Him, how I've proved Him o'er and o'er Jesus, Jesus precious Jesus oh for grace to trust Him more.   As this new week begins with all that will happen in the days to come, I am praying that prayer for all of us, oh for grace to trust Jesus more.

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The life that you and I are being called to is not like the natural life that we know so well in the natural, it is a spiritual walk with a different set of guidelines, restrictions and opportunities. The Spiritual life of a disciple of Jesus is one in which the Lord is constantly calling us to come closer to Him, to be more like Him and to be a reflection of only Him. It is a spiritual life of daily surrender and fresh devotion, one that will form in us the image of God.  That may sound like a very heady thing to say but isn't that exactly what Paul meant when he said, "Christ in me the hope of Glory", Christ's life being see and manifested in and through us is what real discipleship is all about. That is the good news; the tough news is that the life of Jesus can only be formed in me as I lay down my life daily.  The Apostle Paul says in I Corinthians 15:31 "I die daily..." referring to his constant willingness to offer himself to the Lord as a sacrifice and a martyr if need be. In other words as much as I would like to make a one time commitment to discipleship, laying aside my own rights in a moment of complete and total surrender of myself to Him, I can not.  We can only make that surrender on a daily basis, because each day will have challenges that will attempt to pull us away from that commitment and each day will have needs that will drive us to a place of fresh realization of just what that daily surrender will mean. Paul said that every day he had to mortify the flesh, dealing with his own desires or the distractions' that arise around him in order to keep the focus of my life of surrender with Jesus.

This is where the struggle comes for me. The life that God has called us to, is constant call of dying to myself, and just when I think there is nothing else that needs to die, He shows me entire rooms of my life full of things that do not reflect His life in me. He does this, not so that I will get depressed and say that the goal is too lofty, but in order for me to realize my complete and total dependency on the Lord for daily strength in this life. Jesus longs for you and I to know Him on a far deeper level than we can imagine and that is why we are to surrender more and more of ourselves every day so that we are decreasing in importance and He our Lord and Master is increasing. In the days to come we will look at what discipleship is from the Lord's perspective and what it means for us to become His disciples.  But there is no substitute for you and me making this daily determination of laying our lives before the Lord, and becoming living sacrifices for God.  Lord teach me that in order to understand your life, I must die to myself daily.

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Forgiving

Recently a friend of my shared the above verse with me.  He said it is something that God has been really working on His life with and felt that it would be good for me as well.  He's right.  Following Jesus and making Him the Lord of all is not just giving up outward sins but inward ones as well.  As many of you know what of the great ladies in our church often says that everything comes down to a heart issue.  In many ways she is exactly right if we allow the Lord to change us and mold our hearts into His, than it is much easier for us to let go of ourselves and our attitudes that so often stop of block the flow of God's purpose in our life. Unfortunately we know all to well, or at least I do that living with an unforgiving heart blocks God's voice, God's promptings and often times God's flow in and through us.

Notice what Paul says here in Colossians 3, since we are chosen people, holy and dearly loved, (this speaks of our position of favor with God) we are to clothe ourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience (This speaks of how we continue to live in God's favor) as if we were putting on a garment, that fits well and looks natural.  This is equipment that comes along with our regular life in Jesus, if we are followers we don't have the option to clothe ourselves with these, they are standard equipment that are part of our life in Jesus.  Forgiveness is also part of that standard equipment every believer is left without a choice in the area of forgiving others. 

Look in awe at just how we who are followers of Jesus are to forgive, "forgive as the Lord forgave you". The Apostle Paul gives a clear understanding of how we are to forgive and to what level our forgiveness should reach.  Forgive as the Lord forgave you. Why then since it is normative for a believer in Jesus to have a Christ like attitude that forgives rather than holds a grudge to we find it so difficult to forgive?  The answer although simple is staggering.  I am so apt to do things my own way and respond out of my own humanity instead of responding like the one who is my Lord.  I am so quick to hold a grudge and make excuses for why instead of allowing the Lord to move in my heart to forgive. I am so quick to take offense and keep record of the wrongs done to me instead of remembering the Lord's forgiveness in my life.  It boggles the mind how quickly we forget God's mercy to us, how incredible are the ways of God towards us which we are to imitate in our dealings with each other.  Jesus said in Matthew 6 if we don't forgive others, God will not forgive us.  That is as clear as it comes. To be a follower of Jesus means to live a life of forgiveness. Jesus showed us that on the cross, Stephen showed us how when he was being stoned, the church martyrs even to the present day constantly show us that living our lives in an attitude of forgiveness and humility is the only way to please God.  We are so worried or at least I am about being vindicated and giving my side of the story so that people will "understand".  Notice, that the Word says to not only forgive wrongs done, but also any grievances that we have held against others.  What I need to be saying to Jesus is Lord I am sorry that I have not released others.  I ask your forgiveness for being so unforgiving to those who have hurt me.  I long to forgive as you forgave me; please let me become a person who walks in forgiveness as a life choice. I choose to clothe myself with your grace and give the grace that you have given me to others. When I choose to live in forgiveness it will open my heart and life to new levels of God's presence and open the door for me to follow the Lord more intimately.  It will not be easy to do, but the Lord never said it would be. I will be praying for you.

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