Be Still and Know that I am God

Waiting on God by Andrew Murray

"That Christ may be fully formed within, and that we may be filled to all the fullness of God."

Everything that is salvation, everything that is good and holy, must be the direct, mighty work of God himself within us.

God says: 'Be still and know that I am God.' There is no stillness like that of the grave. In the grave of Jesus, in the fellowship of His death, in death to self with its own will and wisdom, its own strength and energy, there is no rest. As we cease from self,and our soul becomes still to God, God will arise and show Himself...
There is no stillness like the stillness Jesus gives when He speaks. 'Peace be still."

Quietly

Taken from Waiting On God by Andrew Murray


"Take heed and BE QUIET: fear not, neither be faint-hearted." "In quietness and confidence shall be your strength." Such words reveal to us the close connection between quietness and faith. They show us what a deep need there is of quietness, as an element of true waiting upon God. If we are to have our whole heart TURNED toward God, we must have it TURNED away from man...

As long as the waiting on God is chiefly regarded as an end toward more effectual prayer, and the obtaining of our petitions, this spirit will not be obtained. But when it is seen that waiting on God is itself an unspeakable blessedness- one of the highest forms of fellowship with the Holy One- the adoration of Him in His glory will of necessity humble the soul into a stillness, making way for God to speak and reveal Himself. Then, it comes to the fulfillment of the precious promise, that all of self and self-effort will be humbled: 'The haughtiness of man shall be brought down, and the Lord alone be exalted in that day...

Take time to be separate from all friends and all duties, all cares and all joys; time to be still and quiet before God. Take time not only to secure stillness from man and the world, but from self and its energy. Let the Word and prayer be very precious...

The quietness is a confession of our meekness. It will be done with all our willing and running, with all our thinking and praying. We must receive it from God. It is the confession of our trust that our God will, in HIS time, come to our help-the quiet resting in HIM alone. It is the confession of our desire to sink deep into our nothingness, and let HIM work and reveal HIMSELF..."

In my weakness He is strong- "The Lord is my banner"

When the Lord brings us to significant junctures in our life it is important to stop and ponder and take in everything the Lord has for us to learn about what He is speaking to our heart. In the psalms David often uses the word selah-meaning think about that. He brings us to the place of ruin and brokeness not to keep us there but to destroy our flesh and build us up in His Spirit and grace. In our weakness He is strong. Sown in weakness, raised in power, His power. In order for this to happen, the flesh needs to be crucified.

In Exodus 17, Israel had just been delivered from years of bondage and the control of the Egyptians. They had come out of Egypt through the passover and crossed the Red Sea by the mighty salvation of the Lord, then they encountered the first enemy they had to deal with Amalek. Many scholars believe Amalek is a picture of the flesh. Because Amalek and his people were enemies of God they had to be subdued even if it meant going to war. Amalek did not fear God and was their first and constant struggle.

When Israel came out of Egypt and crossed the Red Sea, Moses said one of my favorite verses, (I carried this verse on an index card with me for 1 year) Ex 14:13-14 "Stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord which HE will accomplish for you...The Lord will fight for you , and you shall hold your peace." That is salvation! Then came Amalek and the command was "Go out and fight against Amalek-that's a picture of warfare.

In the battle against Amalek God instructs Moses to raise his rod over his head and when he did Israel prevailed, when he let his hands down, Amalek prevailed. Moses hands became so heavy that they put a stone under him, and Aaron and Hur supported his hand one on either side. The raised hands did not indicate Moses empowering. The Israelite's learned that their freedom was dependent only on their faith in God, not on their own strength.

I noticed two significant things here. To fight against the flesh it is going to hurt physically. That is why if we are going to have victory we must along with the obvious spending time in God's word we need to have a devoted steady prayer life and include times of fasting. Second, we must include our friends to help hold us up. Goodness do we need to chose our friends and counselors wisely. My husband is a counselor to me. The word instructs him as my husband to wash me in the truth of God's word. I've been praying the prayers from Stormie OMartin's book The Power Of A Praying wife for him. In the section for his repentance it says, "If there is suffering to be done, let it be the suffering of a remorseful heart and not because the crushing hand of the enemy has found an opening through unconfessed sin." How careful we must be that we recieve counsel from those who do not have unconfessed sin in their life which would block them from communicating the truth fully. We need to take counsel from those who are filled with the Holy Spirit.

There is a continuing warfare raging in our bodies. "For the flesh sets itself against the Spirit and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another." Gal 5:17 The flesh must continually be put to death. If we walk by the Spirit we will not carry out the desires of the flesh. We cannot battle the flesh in our own strength. All power and authority have been given to Jesus and what is His is ours as well by the indwelling of the Spirit that lives within all believers.

In Galatians, Paul explains to the Galatians that no works of the flesh will be justified but by grace through faith in Jesus. He challenged them because they seemed to begin in the Spirit then tried to be made perfect by the flesh. They fell into legalism which only enslaved them to works and not the liberty and freedom which came through Christ alone by faith. The hope of righteousness by faith in Christ not only brings justification before God but also growth in the Christian life until we are completely glorified by God and freed from the presence of sin.

We cannot fear God and fear man. Paul said, "For do I now persuade men or God? Or do I seek to please men? For if I still pleased men, I would not be a bondservant of Christ Gal 1:10."
Fear of man is a snare and a battle I've struggled with most of my life. The Lord is teaching me and moving my hearts full devotion to live to please the Lord alone and not to be enslaved under the acceptance and control of others.

"Because You Have Obeyed MY Voice" Gen 22:18

Gen 22:1-19-Abraham's faith confirmed.

This is an account of the Lord's loyalty to His covenant and to His servant Abraham. It reveals Abraham's incredible faith and points to the future sacrifice of God's only Son-Jesus.

V. 22: Begins with "After these things," meaning a new story is about to begin in Abraham's life where the "True God" reigns. He is no longer led by any false gods but obeys the voice of Jehovah-jireh-the Lord will provide. God tested Abraham to show his true character. After years of waiting for the birth of his son Isaac, God said, "Take now your son, your only son, whom you love and offer him as a burnt offering on the mountains I will tell you v 2." Abraham obeyed, he built an alter, arranged the wood, bound his only son and layed him on the alter. Then he stretched out his knife to slay him. Imagine...the test of belief and trust...

The angel of the Lord called from heaven and said, "do not stretch out your hand against the lad, FOR NOW I KNOW THAT YOU FEAR GOD, since you have not withheld your only son from me v 12." From this point on Abraham FEARED God and was in awe of Him. God told him he would be blessed and all the nations of the earth will be blessed through his seed "because you have obeyed MY voice v 18."

Prior to this moment in Abraham's life he feared man and listened to others because he had not fully recognized the Lord's voice. Years earlier because he feared to speak the truth to the Egyptians, he lied, and said his wife Sarai, who was beautiful, was his sister and they took her to Pharoah to be his wife. Plagues came to Pharoah, the truth was revealed and his wife was returned to him. One of the snares of the "fear of man" is when it is in our power to communicate the truth and we do no do so. Silence in some cases is good, we wait and we pray, however, there are times when being silent when we know the truth, and do not fully communicate that truth because we are afraid to do so, can lead to confusion, misunderstanding even destruction. Relationships can end because some part of truth is left unspoken.

Another example of fearing of man in Abraham's life was when he mistakenly listened to his wife, thinking the son of promise would come through Sarai's maid-servant Hagar, by sleeping with her and giving him a son-Ishmael. This led to family division.

When Abraham finally came to the place of recognizing the Lord's voice, he believed that no matter what God required of him, obedience to His plan was most important.

I love Jesus with all of my heart. In loving Him, my highest goal is to please and obey Him. This past weekend the Lord called me to lay something at the cross that has brought me an incredible sense of peace and I feel like a huge weight was lifted off my back that I realized was there but didn't think the Lord would remove.

Over the past 3 years the Lord has drawn me into a relationship and depth with Him that I so needed. I've struggled with deep insecurity most of my life and the Lord wanted to show me who I am in Him. My security and identity comes from Him not from others and my relations with them. So much of the fear issues I've had were from giving power to people in my life that didn't belong to them. We cannot be in right relation with others until we are in right relation with Jesus. In order for Jesus to do this we have to allow the Lord to draw us away to Himself so He can love us, minister to us and heal our deep wounds. This doesn't mean we exclude our self from fellowship. We need trusted friends to pray for us and share His truth with us. I've shared before my tears with the Lord have healed me. He loves me and cares for me so much. And I trust Him to know just what I need and how to provide it.

Sunday the Holy Spirit was unmistakably speaking to my heart of a sense of loneliness and torture that He wanted me to admit. Having lived a portion of my life in isolation feeling separated by my mental illness, in my heart I just didn't think Jesus was bigger than this or that He could release that fully. I thought I may live with that sense of separation and fear for the rest of my life. In faith the Holy Spirit mended a trust issue in my heart. In faith I obeyed the Holy spirtit speaking to my heart that superseded the voice of reason in my mind forcing me out of my comfort zone to a new level of trust in my Lord. Last week the Lord was helping me see that my mind needed to surrender to the Spirit. We can't experience God in our mind and intellect. He is much bigger and much greater than that. It takes faith to know and experience the voice of the Lord in our heart.

Surrendering in faith gives me the hope and promise of new life in my life. I couldn't know it until after I obeyed in faith but I layed down a great pain before Jesus that I believe His stripes only could heal. Thank you Jesus for the cross and for dying for my sin and for your forgiveness. Holy Spirit thank you for helping me. Fill me with your love and presence with an obedient heart.

In this walk of faith we never "arrive." We are continually being conformed into the image of Jesus until our last breath.

Is the Lord stretching your faith? Is He asking you to surrender something before Him that you are resisting?

To overcome fear and move in faith there is some act of obedience the Lord requires of us. A surrender to be layed at the cross of Christ. A death of self in some way whether it is an addiction, the letting go of a relationship, forgiving someone who has hurt you or a fear that has crippled you. Make it right with the Lord today. When we obey in faith, God reveals more of Himself to us.

"And They Overcame By the Blood Of The Lamb" Rev 12:11

Last weekend at our annual Womens Seminar at church I watched many of my sisters in Christ courageously share card board testimonies of what Christ has done in their life. There is the initial testimony of our savation, the assured moment we accept Christ as savior and then subsuquent testimonies of passages of death we go through as believers. Some cried as they publically shared how Christ has given them new life in Him. It was so powerful and moving. The theme for the weekend was the Cross. "For God so loved the world that He gave his only begotten SON that whoever believes in Him will not perish but have everlasting life. John 3:16"

Timing is everything and the weekend prior to the seminar was Easter or better described as "Resurrection Day" as we celebrate the "Risen Lord Jesus." Those who have accepted Jesus as Savior have a testimony of life before Christ and life after Christ whether we are 4 years old or 104 when we ask Him in our heart and acknowledge our sin and our need of His forgiveness and grace through His death and sacrifice on the cross.

One of the sessions that really spoke to me was "My response to the cross." As I consider my Jesus, and what He did for me, how am I going to let Him live through me for the rest of my days. My prayer is rid me of myself I belong to You. Lead me to lay my life down for You to love others through me. God's overwhelming love for us compells us to lay down our life for Him. One of the ways we can do that is to share with this lost world what Jesus has freed us from. "And they OVERCAME him by the blood of the lamb and by the word of their testimony. Rev 12:11" Everytime I share testimony of what Jesus has done through my life a piece of me is healed. When we give our life away in faith abandoning self for Jesus, He is pleased and glorifyied and we overcome. When His love so fills our heart we can't help but want to share it with all those around us. His love through us loving others. We do it for them to know Jesus because of our love for them. His love is unending and increases giving us capacity to love more and more. Jesus IS the fountain of life and He gives living water. The Holy spirit living in us enables our love for them to exceed our self-preservation. His love for them moves us beyond our fear to walk in full faith and surrender and it becomes all Him and no longer us. Genuine love comes from God, not us, it can't come from us. We don't have it in us to produce a pure, genuine love. Only Jesus perfect sacrifice on the cross atones for all our sin and forgiveness we need to genuinely love others with His love.

I have a gift of evangelism. God has given me a desire to teach and encourage others to share their testimonies of God's work in their life. I have always been encouraged to hear and read testimonies of how God delivered believers giving me hope that if He could do it for them, He could do it for me. He has. I encourage you if you have never written out what the Lord has done for you to do so. It will be healing and freeing and I promise you the Lord will bring someone or many in your path to share what He has done. The blood of the lamb has covered you to speak HIS truth and by this you will overcome. His kingdom is an unseen army of angels He gives His charge over us to stand in our place and enables us to speak the word of truth. As members of His Kingdom He empowers us with His authority.

More to share on this...

Bitterness TURNED To Joy

"And Hannah was in bitterness of soul, and prayed to the Lord and wept in anguish 1 Sam. 1:10."

I recently finished studying 1 Samual. As I reflect on the characters I relate so much to Hannah. Hannah was married to Elkanah who loved her but he could not give her what she desired. She was sorrowful in soul because the Lord had shut her womb and she had no children. To make matters more difficult Elkanah had another wife Peninnah who had children and she provoked Hannah severely. Her constant taunting drove Hannah to depression.

When she was falsely accused of being drunk while pouring her heart out in fervant prayer to God, I love how she owned her pain and did not deny it before Him. She said, "I am a woman of sorrowful spirit v15." Day after day she lived with this grief in her heart and yet her devotion to the Lord in her sorrow was evident and did not waver as she made the annual treks to Shiloh to worship God.


There was only One that she could TURN to who could answer and give her the desire of her heart. The Lord-Johovah-sabaoth. When she shared her petition with the priest, he said to her "Go in peace, and the God of Israel grant your petition v17." She went her way, her face no longer sad and the Lord answered her petition and she bore a child Samuel which she dedicated to the Lord to be His forever.


I can so personally relate to Hannah as Michael and I have had 4 miscarriages after Josh was born. I ran from my pain and denied it initially. I didn't think I did. I thought I had grieved and poured out my heart to God only to come to realize a few years later that I had been carrying bitterness in my heart from those losses and from pain in my teens and early 20's which I had not fully accepted nor surrendered. Suffering severely with bi-polar which I kept hidden from most people fearing their rejection and lack of acceptance if they really knew the truth about me. I covered it up by trying to appear perfect and performing for their approval. What an exhaustion. All the while I was seeking the Lord and never turned from Him but the Lord was driving me to a place of death and full admittance and full exposure which I feared. I couldn't run from the truth any longer. I stood and said "Yes, Lord I am bitter about my circumstances. I am bitter and broken and in agony of pain before You. YOU ARE THE ONLY ONE WHO CAN DELIVER ME FROM MY SORROW AND PAIN!"


Bitterness is a progression, as I learned, by God's design even though I fought it. Heb 12:15 says, "look carefully lest anyone fall short of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up causes trouble, and by this many become defiled." My root of bitterness was etched in years before I accepted Jesus as my Savior. As the Lord sanctyfies me He shows me my heart and what is there. It didn't matter the circumstances that he used, they are different for each one of us, only He knows the instruments needed to perform the heart surgury necessary. The wretchedness that He is purifying and purging. Repentance is agreeing with God about what is there and TURNING to Him and His word for cleansing and healing. It is the truth that sets us free not cover up for self preservation. To often instead of TURNING to God we run. We run from marriages, from our jobs, from relationships and from our churches. We blame others, put others down while raising ourself up, we stand in our accomplishments and our wealth and religiously work to deny our hurt refusing to acknowledge idol worship and give Christ Lordship over our situation in faith.


The problem begins when we don't think He Sees our situation. If He did how could He possible allow it to continue. Instead of dying to self we rely on false refuges rather than TURNING to the only True Reliable Deliverer- Jehovah-sabaoth. We don't believe HE is bigger and stronger. He is. When there is no other recourse for deliverance and we find ourself powerless and there is no other help, we can run to our Jehovah-sabaoth. He is the One who delivers and the One who judges. He leads us to the place where our knees are continually bowed before Him. God is not pleased when we honor Him with our lips and not with our lives. He is the strong tower- the RIGHTEOUS run into it and is safe.

Hannah was righteous in her heart and the Lord heard her cry. He turned her bitterness to joy! She was misunderstood, she had no where else to go and was provoked continually. Her strength was in God as she said, "My heart rejoices in the Lord, there is no One Holy like You, there is no other Rock like our God 1Sam 2:1-2." From this time on she had Holy confidence in her God and Deliverer. She smiled at her enemies they had no power over her!

Surrendering my bitterness and acknowledging it before the Lord has brought a freedom, peace and joy to my own heart. Jesus has given me contentment and His love and His Presense satisfies my heart completely. There is no other place that I long to be then at His feet worshiping Him. Thank you Jesus! I still experience disappointment but I know my God and trust that He Sees and knows what is best and that He alone is the "safe place" to run.

Has the Lord brought your life and circumstances to a place where only He can deliver you? TURN to Jesus and pour out your heart to Him. He alone saves and is waiting with open arms to deliver and comfort you with Himself.

False Prophets and Empty Oracles

Jesus said "many false prophets will rise and show signs and wonders to deceive, if possible even the elect. Mark 13:22." In a day where we are inundated with teachers, we have to be so careful not to follow teachers whose doctrine does not line up with the word of God but lead many astray. In Jeremiah 23, we learn how to determine a true and false prophet. V. 16-17 says "The false prophets speak a word from their own heart, Not from the mouth of the Lord...they walk according to the dictates of their own heart." V 21-22 says "I have not sent these prophets, yet they ran. I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied. But if they had stood in My counsel, and had caused my people to hear My words, then they would have TURNED them from their wicked ways and from their evil doings." Nelson's commentary explains, "The false prophets proclaimed a false hope of peace and security. They lack true knowledge and a word from God, the false prophets repeated false hopes and twisted God's words. The false prophet turned God's word to their own desired benefit." "A true prophet must be sent by God with a word from God. A true prophet of God calls people to repentance of sin or evil and to renewed faith." False teachers usurp the way of death to self and lead people after themselves. They lead others wickedly after themselves and do not teach them the way of repentance. They sow discord and are fleshly, concerned and led by popularity and position rather than being genuine servants of Christ through death to self. When we genuinely love we will speak the truth as we have lived that truth through suffering for Christ.

The culture today bombards us with a barage of methods to self-preserve. Self-help books, fortune-telling, and religion bandaid the heart where the real issues are. To Fight this deception we need to study God's word and come together corporately as a church to learn the ways of God verses the counterfiet.

"Unless a grain of wheat fall into the ground and die, it remains alone, but if it dies it brings forth much fruit. John 12:24" Lord give us discernment regarding the teachers we follow, that their message and life points to the cross of Christ.