When Faces Change

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anger, battles, christian journey, christian walk, disunity, faces, focus, freedom, others opinion, people's opinion, strife, trust

 

In chapter three of the book of Daniel, we find the famous story of Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego and the fiery furnace. We read how a decree was made in Babylon which said when music was heard from the palace orchestra everyone was to bow down and worship the idol that represented the king. Everyone did just that, except for Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. They would not bow to the king’s idol and were brought before him for punishment.

In verse thirteen of Daniel three, we read that King Nebuchadnezzar was in a furious rage when he heard they would not bow, but when they arrived he gave them another chance. After all, he was a reasonable man. Verses fifteen and sixteen tell us that the orchestra was all ready to play so Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego could fulfill the law and bow to the idol, but the three still refused. In fact, they answered with an incredible amount of faith. They said, “Nebuchadnezzar … if the God we serve exists, then He can rescue us from the furnace of the blazing fire, and He can rescue us from the power of you, the king. But even if he does not rescue us, we want you as king to know that we will not serve your gods or worship the gold statue you set up.”

Daniel 3:19 says, “Then Nebuchadnezzar was filled with rage, and the expression of his face changed towards Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego…” Hmmm… “The expression of his face changed”.

Unfortunately, I think many of us have experienced something like this in our lives. The expression of someone’s face towards us used to be favorable, but now it has changed. Sometimes, the reason is obvious. Sometimes, not so obvious and we are left wracking our brain trying to think of what we have done or, what could have warranted the new expression, but we are drawing a blank. We want the relationship to return to the previous favor, but it is not happening. So, what should we do when someone’s face changes towards us?

Before anything, we need to see if reconciliation is possible. Romans 12:18 says, “If possible, on your part, live at peace with everyone.” If you know the situation can be rectified, do it. If you are confused as to why their face has changed toward you, see if they are open to telling you what has changed. Sometimes, a simple misunderstanding can be rectified by open communication.

There are times though, when God has called you to take a stand and people simply will not comprehend it. They will not understand and it will cause them to look at you differently. Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego faced such a situation. There was no way they could agree with what King Nebuchadnezzar required of them. Their God was the one, true God and required monotheistic worship. They simply could not worship any other god and stay in right standing with their Creator. They could not straddle the fence. A stand had to be made. The result? The king’s face changed towards them.

When our beliefs go against the grain of our culture, oftentimes we find people’s faces changing toward us. When we stand up against homosexuality, pornography, promiscuity, gossiping or grieving the Holy Spirit, some people simply do not understand why we are so “straight laced”. Their faces change toward us. Do we like it? No. Do we invite it? No. We simply cannot straddle the fence any longer. We must keep standing and grow deeper in our walk with Christ. We must remember First Peter 3:10-12. It says, “For the one who wants to love life and see good days must keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit, and he must turn away from evil and do what is good. He must seek peace and pursue it, because the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and His ears are open to their request. But the face of the Lord is against those who do what is evil.”

We obviously would rather have a human’s face turned against us than our God’s. We must pursue what is right before His eyes above all else. Many human faces may change toward us, but we must be focused on the face of our Lord.

For those of you familiar with what happens to Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, you remember that they were not killed in the fiery furnace and that they, in fact, regained the favor of King Nebuchadnezzar. How did things turn around so quickly?

Daniel 3: 24-26 tells us. “Then King Nebuchadnezzar jumped up in alarm. He said to his advisors, ‘Didn’t we throw three men, bound, into the fire?’

‘Yes, of course, Your Majesty,’ they replied to the king.

He exclaimed, ‘Look! I see four men, not tied, walking around in the fire unharmed; and the fourth looks like a son of the gods.’”

This chapter goes on to tell us that King Nebuchadnezzar demanded that they come out of the furnace and declared that no one should say anything against Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego’s God. Verse 30 tells us that the King then rewarded the three and they became strong leaders once again in Babylon.

What a turnaround! What in the world happened?! How did the face of the king go from being against them to being for them? The answer is simple. He saw their close walk with God. He saw that God was with them and they were safe in His presence. He saw that his fury did not matter. What mattered was their God. His focus turned from the three to their God.

When someone’s face changes towards us, we need to use it as a time to press in closer to Jesus. When someone is so focused on us, we need to be so close to Jesus that when they see us, they cannot help but see Christ as well. We need to be willing to be where He is, even if it means going into a blazing furnace, so that others can see Him.

Oftentimes, I want to run around and try to fix things, try to make people like me again, when in reality, if I simply draw closer to Jesus He will take care of it. He will draw people to where they need to be. He will draw them in to see that we are walking free with Him in the middle of great adversity. They might rejoice with us and help us out of the fire or, they may choose to not see the “fourth man”, but we are where we need to be. We are in the arms of Jesus. His face toward us is delight. That’s our goal: His face. Psalm 105:4 says, “Search for the Lord and for His strength; seek His face always.” If I am looking at His face, it is much harder to see others’.

Numbers 6:25 says, “May Yahweh bless and protect you; may Yahweh make His face shine on you and be gracious to you; may Yahweh look with favor on you and give you peace.” That’s our goal. That’s our focus. Let’s remember Whose face we want looking at us with favor. Let’s strive to walk with Christ even in the fire. Let’s press in closer to Him so that others may see Him when they are trying to see us.

  O Lord, grant us the blessing of Your face shining on us. When others look at us in contempt instead of friendship, may we press in closer to where You are. Let others see You walking beside us, residing in us and un-fettering every chain as we walk unbound with You. O Lord, may all of our faces be ever turned towards Your grace. You are our only freedom.

Seeking Hearts Ministries         My Story

 

 

 

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What You Can Know

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basics of Christianity, Christian encouragement, christian walk, clinging to hope, devotional, encouragement, faith, faithfulness, family devotions, family time, focus, God, God's love, hope, joy, knowing, knowing God, life, love, our faithful God, perspective, truth

In a hymn by William Fullerton we see these words:

“I cannot tell how silently He suffered, as with His peace He graced the place of tears, or how His heart upon the cross was broken, the crown of pain to three and thirty years. BUT THIS I KNOW, He heals the broken hearted, and stays our sin, and calms our lurking fear, and lifts the burden from the heavy laden, for yet the Savior, Savior of the world is here.”

This beautiful hymn reminded me that even if life is intense and confusing, even if things around me are murky and unclear, there are many things that I do know. Many things that I can still trust. Many things to be encouraged by. Here are just a few:

God is love.

1 John 4:16 – “And we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and the one who remains in love remains in God, and God remains in him.”

Jeremiah 31:3 – “I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore, I have continued to extend faithful love to you.”

God is good.

Psalm 136:1 – “Give thanks to the LORD, for He is good. His love is eternal.”

God is light. No darkness dwells in Him.

I John 1:5 – “Now this is the message we have heard from Him and declare to you: God is light, and there is absolutely no darkness in Him.”

God is my protection.

Psalm 36:7 – “God, Your faithful love is so valuable that people take refuge in the shadow of Your wings.”

God is my sanctuary.

Psalm 55:22 – “Cast your burden on the LORD, and He will sustain you; He will never allow the righteous to be shaken.”

Psalm 71:3 – “Be a rock of refuge for me, where I can always go. Give the command to save me, for You are my rock and fortress.”

God is my portion.

Psalm 16:5 – “LORD, You are my portion and my cup ⌊of blessing⌋; You hold my future.”

Psalm 119:57 – “The LORD is my portion; I have promised to keep Your words.”

God is faithful.

Psalm 36:5 – “LORD, Your faithful love ⌊reaches⌋ to heaven, Your faithfulness to the clouds.”

Deuteronomy 7:9 – “Know that Yahweh your God is God, the faithful God who keeps His gracious covenant loyalty for a thousand generations with those who love Him and keep His commands.”

1 Corinthians 10:13 – “No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to humanity. God is faithful, and He will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation He will also provide a way of escape so that you are able to bear it.”

God is present.

Psalm 46:1 – “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.”

God is glorious and righteous.

Psalm 97:6 – “The heavens proclaim His righteousness; all the peoples see His glory.”

God is sovereign.

Psalm 138:8 – “The LORD will fulfill ⌊His purpose⌋ for me. LORD, Your love is eternal; do not abandon the work of Your hands.”

God is kind.

Romans 2:4 – “Or do you despise the riches of His kindness, restraint, and patience, not recognizing that God’s kindness is intended to lead you to repentance?”

God is peace.

John 14:27 – “Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Your heart must not be troubled or fearful.”

John 16:33 – “I have told you these things so that in Me you may have peace. You will have suffering in this world. Be courageous! I have conquered the world.”

Philippians 4:9 – “Do what you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, and the God of peace will be with you.”

God is Healer.

Psalm 103:3 – “He forgives all your sin; He heals all your diseases.”

Luke 6:17-19 –“After coming down with them, He stood on a level place with a large crowd of His disciples and a great number of people from all Judea and Jerusalem and from the seacoast of Tyre and Sidon. They came to hear Him and to be healed of their diseases; and those tormented by unclean spirits were made well. The whole crowd was trying to touch Him, because power was coming out from Him and healing them all.”

God is trustworthy.

Romans 4:20, 21 –  “He did not waver in unbelief at God’s promise but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God because he was fully convinced that what He had promised He was also able to perform.

God is incomparable.

Psalm 40:5 – “LORD my God, You have done many things— Your wonderful works and Your plans for us; none can compare with You. If I were to report and speak ⌊of them⌋, they are more than can be told.”

God is greater.

1 John 4:4 – “You are from God, little children, and you have conquered them, because the One who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.”

God is FOR me.

Psalm 56:9 – “Then my enemies will retreat on the day when I call. This I know: God is for me.”

God is worth it.

2 Samuel 22:4 – “I called to the LORD, who is worthy of praise, and I was saved from my enemies.”

Revelation 4:11 – “Our Lord and God, You are worthy to receive glory and honor and power, because You have created all things, and because of Your will they exist and were created.”

So, be encouraged. Even when life is bombarding you with situations out of your control and you are struggling to keep your head afloat, cling to what you know. Cling to the God you know. He will not fail.

Fullerton went on to write in his hymn:“I cannot tell how He will win the nations, how He will claim His earthly heritage, how satisfy the needs and aspirations of East and West, of sinner and of sage, BUT THIS I KNOW, all flesh shall see His glory, and He shall reap the harvest He has sown, and some glad day His sun will shine in splendor when He the Savior, Savior of the world is known.”

Trust that today. Trust what you know. Trust in the One you know. God has never failed anyone throughout all eternity and He will not fail you!

Seeking Hearts Ministries      My Story

When God says, “No.”

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all things for good, building, Christian encouragement, christian journey, christian walk, Christianity, devotions, dreams, encouragement, family devotions, focus, generosity, God, God saying no, God saying yes, God's plan, God's will, hope, investing, investing in the next generation, next generation, passing the torch, trust, vision, vision from God

In Second Samuel 7, we see that King David had it in his heart to build the Lord a temple. David was convicted that his dwelling was in a beautiful house, but His God dwelt in a tent. He got really excited and shared his vision with Nathan, the prophet, who also got excited. As we continue to read though, we see that later that night God told Nathan David wasn’t the one to build the Temple. Solomon, David’s son, would be the one to build the Lord a dwelling place. God did promise that David’s kingdom would be established for ever through the Messiah, but for now David himself was not called to finish the vision for the Temple.

The Word tells us that David went into the presence of the Lord and sat before Him. He wasn’t angry, or frustrated. He was in awe of what the Lord had promised him. He chose to focus on the promise and not the disappointment. David’s vision was so small compared to the Lord’s vision for His life. David realized that God wanted Him to do a much harder thing than build. God wanted David to extend his arm into the next generation and prepare them to build. That would require David being okay with less glory and for David to have the willingness to be humble while preparing the next generation to receive the accolades. David chose to obey. He chose not to press forward with his own vision as he allowed God to have His perfect way.

The Word tells us that even though King David knew he would not be the one to build, he still accumulated all kinds of wealth for the future building. He dedicated time and resources. He gave huge quantities of material and this inspired the people to give as well. He gave knowing he would never see the building of the Temple. He still gave with great generosity even with the knowledge that God had said, “No” to his being the one to build the Temple.

  David chose the hard thing. David chose to invest in the next generation, in the ministry to come. He chose to wait for God’s timing, God’s vision, God’s plan.

I have to ask myself, “When God says, ‘No’ to me, am I still willing to invest in the next generation?” Am I willing to be humble and let the next generation flourish without me? Am I willing to invest with great generosity knowing that the vision God has placed in my heart is not for me to build?”

As my husband and I are transitioning into a new ministry, it’s beyond hard to hear God say, “No” to what we have the vision to build here. But, I still can’t help going into His presence, sitting back on my heels before Him and praising Him for the things that He has allowed to happen in this place. I am in awe of Him and I am realizing that we needed the vision for the building of the Temple, the building of this family of believers, to be able to gather the resources for the next ministry in this place.

I am excited that we were chosen for a fraction of a moment to gather the materials needed for the next phase. I am choosing to invest every second we have left here for the building of the next generation of believers in this Body. As David said, “Who am I that God is mindful of me?”

I am also excited that God’s vision for us personally is so much bigger than what we would have chosen and even though God is saying, “No” to the further building of this ministry, He is saying, “Yes” to something greater. That’s a hard thing to accept it, but I am accepting it. In fact, I am choosing to embrace it. I am in awe of it because our God will never bring us to a place that does not bring Him more glory. Isn’t that our whole goal? To bring Him more glory?

So, what are you going to do when God says, “No” to your vision, or the timing of your vision? Will you willingly gather resources for the next generation, or will you hoard what resources you have been given because it’s not what you wanted?

I pray that we will always be willing to invest in those who come after us. I pray that we will always readily hear His voice and submit to His timing and His perfect ways. I pray that we will always seek Him before we run headlong into a vision that belongs to someone else and I pray that as we kneel together before Him we will always sit back on our heels in constant awe and wonder of who He is.

I love the vision that God has placed on our hearts for this church, but I love His vision more and I am excited to see and hear about the next phase…for all of us.

My Story             Seeking Hearts Ministries

Confessions of a Closet Hoarder

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Christian encouragement, christian journey, christian walk, Christianity, devotional, encouragement, faith, family devotions, focus, giving, God, hoarding, hoarding blessings, Jesus, perspective, receiving, trust

This morning as I was eating my grapefruit, things became a little messy. I probably need to explain that I eat my grapefruit like an orange. I peel it and then I go a bit further than most. I continue on and peel the inner skin as well. It only leaves the pulp and all I can say is that it is super yummy. Strange to some of you, and yes, it’s a lot of prep work, but …mmmmm….only grapefruit pulp? Well worth it. As you can imagine though, it gets quite messy at times. (I actually won’t eat citrus in public so my family won’t crawl under the table in embarrassment.)

As I was eating my grapefruit, I had already grabbed two paper towels and thought it would be plenty, but this particular grapefruit was extra juicy. Juice was running everywhere! As that lovely grapefruit goodness was running down my arms, I felt like a sticky mess and I began to argue with myself about getting another paper towel. I thought one more would be excessive. I thought it would not be frugal to grab another. ‘What if I have three paper towels with every grapefruit? Wouldn’t my grocery budget explode?’ I thought. Finally, I got up to get another paper towel in order to finish my grapefruit in comfort. As I took hold of it, I thought, ‘God provided these paper towels. Go ahead and use them. He provided them.’ I realized that He had this paper towel roll sitting on the counter just for me for this very moment. He knew I would need extra and it was already there, but I was so worried about having paper towels for the rest of the month, I refused to use the blessing right in front of me. If my God counts the hairs on my head as Matthew 10:30 says, wouldn’t He care about paper towels that I need?

It made me wonder how many times I save, or even hoard, His blessings in the now because I am afraid He won’t provide for me in the future.  I don’t say that, but that’s how I live.

Jesus prayed to His Father in Matthew 6 to “give us this day our daily bread”. That’s how we are taught to trust. We need to trust Him for daily provision. But, if I have “bread” stored up for weeks, just in case some tragedy happens, who am I really trusting in? Am I trusting in God, or how smart I’ve been to prepare? I do believe in being responsible, but when God tells us to give, we need to give. That’s what I’m learning.

I’m finding that when I refuse to give as God directs, I’m telling Him that I don’t trust Him for my future. If He tells me to give a bag of beans to someone and I refuse because I only have one, not two, I am telling Him that I don’t believe He will give me that bag of beans tomorrow, or whenever I need them. When He tells me to give a certain amount to church and I only give a partial amount, I am showing Him (and myself) that my trust only goes so far. He knows my trust level, but this allows me to see clearly, to see that my faith may not be what I thought it was, or say that it is.

Psalm 65:11 says, “Thou hast crowned the year with Thy bounty, and Thy paths drip with fatness.” If I believe that Christ’s bounty is around every corner of this year, why would I hoard anything? If I know His mercies are new every morning as Lamentations 3:22-23 tells me, why am I hoarding mercy for myself and not extending it to others? Why would I not give that mercy to others today?

Deuteronomy 8:7-10 says, “For the LORD your God is bringing you into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and springs, flowing forth in valleys and hills; a land of wheat and barley, of vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive oil and honey; a land where you shall eat food without scarcity, in which you shall not lack anything; a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills you can dig copper. When you shall eat and are satisfied, you shall bless the LORD your God for the good land which He has given you.” If I really believe He is bringing me into a good land, why would I hold anything back that He is asking me to give?

I’m finding that it’s all about leaving my hands open, not just to receive, but to give. Oftentimes I have only had my hands open to receive, but then I would quickly close them after receiving a blessing and hoard it for my family. Now, I am praying to keep my hands open to give as well as receive.

When my hand is laying open to give, I am finding that I am receiving more as well. I suppose it’s common sense, but I had never realized it before. As my hand lays open, I don’t decide whether I’m giving or receiving so now both can actually happen concurrently. As long as my hand is open to give, it is also open to receive and God allows this continuous flow to take place. Am I giving so I will receive? No! I am giving because I trust in His provision. He may choose to replace those beans I wrote about earlier, or He may choose to make me learn to like rice, or broccoli, or turnips. It’s up to Him and I trust Him.

Psalm 27:13 says, “I would have despaired unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living.” We are in the land of the living and we will see the goodness of the Lord if we simply open our eyes and I believe, our hands as well.

So, grab a grapefruit today, get three whole paper towels. Eat it like an orange and rest assured that your God will provide. In fact, He is providing for you this very minute. He is designing your future. He is integrating relationships in your life that you never imagined were still possible. He is restoring your health and vitality. He is growing your business. He is crowning your year with goodness. It may be with daily bread, or cups running over, but His sovereign hand has you exactly where you need to be. He is here. What more do you need?

Seeking Hearts Ministries

Lonely?