Grace and Faith

“Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see” (Hebrews 11:1).

I want to share an old song that I love:

Familiar things tend to go unnoticed, until one day what is familiar becomes new.

That’s what grace and faith did for me this week. They each showed up unexpectedly, tipped their hats and introduced themselves to me in a whole new way.

I was alone and thinking through my life. Some parts of it were making me sad, and to a certain extent, were drawing my attention away from God. So I took out my phone and looked at a text I had sent myself – the verse for the day: Ephesians 2:8 “For by grace you have been saved through faith.” As I read, I saw the words grace and faith and began to meditate about my life with new eyes.

In the middle of it all, a dawning came over me that God was at that very moment giving me His free gift of grace, covering my sin. Through faith in the One who is worthy to be believed, He was providing me with an opportunity to accept His precious gift. He was giving me the ability to view my circumstances differently, and then to live my life in accordance with that view.

God gives me grace to enable me to live my life for Him.

The more I thought about it, the more I allowed the grace to come in (it was my responsibility to receive it) and cover my sadness. I knew that God had things for me to do, tasks that required me to be ALL there.

On the foundation of His grace, my mind grew stronger, my body felt more equipped, and I knew in faith that I could go forward.

Knowing I was full of God’s grace, my thoughts turned to the next word, faith.

Faith is acting on the assumptions of my beliefs, even though I can’t prove any of it. I’m stepping forward as if…

…AS IF…

I act as if I can see God’s workings when in fact the evidence I SEE with my physical eyes is the opposite. Keeping my eyes on ‘the opposite’ is why my feelings can drive me to sadness ALL THE TIME.

Bravely walking full steam ahead into my situation, I believed that God would take care of me and would do what needed to be done through me.

Things would be much less complicated and much more pleasant without having to face the heavy things of my life. But if that were the case, my faith wouldn’t grow. I wouldn’t have a chance to test the grace that God pours out on me in His mercy, but also the grace of energy He gives me to do what is right. I wouldn’t experience giving grace (forgiveness) to others. I wouldn’t witness God’s power at work right in front of me.

And so it goes, I allowed sadness to teach me to lay it down in order to pick up God’s gifts of grace and faith with confidence to begin my tasks for the day.

The enemy always reminds me about why I should be so unhappy. He tells me I can’t live without this or that. He accuses me that I’m a horrible person and that I’m the one to blame in my circumstances.

Grace and faith tell me something different. They tell me that joy comes from anticipating God’s gifts in abundance, gifts that can always become good (even the sadness). They remind me that life really isn’t going to go as well if I don’t reach out to Him and accept daily the beautiful things He tries to offer me. A bad life isn’t the result of earthly loss (terrible circumstances can be overcome with His help). But, when I try to live life without God, I am truly helpless and empty. God loves me with passion and covers all my sins.

Sometimes, I hear Him nudge me with a bit of a self-satisfied smile to say; “You’re welcome.” (Because the things that used to make me sad end up becoming the very things that change my life into something wondrous to behold.)

THAT’S how to deal with the bothersome irritants that daily haunt me.

I thank you Father for even the sad times and for the confusing stuff of life that makes me feel out of control. Thank You for Your grace and for giving me the faith I need to believe in You. When I allow You in the picture, ALL things are redefined through a whole other perspective. Give me wisdom to see this way every day and not to buy into the enemy’s lies. Lord, help me to open my gifts from You with breathless anticipation and joy. May the wonder of Your gifts never die. Let me be like a child, jumping forward to receive what You have for me today. Give me visions of Your face as You give me gifts with great delight. You are my best gift. Thank You, Father. In Jesus name, Amen.

Inner Storm (Anger Series 2nd of 9)

…but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favor. So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast…Genesis 4:2-7 (NIV).

Abel’s acceptable offering stirred a jealous rage within Cain. God’s disfavor pointed a finger at his apathy in worship and called him to a higher plane, to worship in holiness. His anger seems to be tied to some inward lure of evil. Headed down a path of deeply ingrained habits, there is evidence, to my way of thinking, that Cain must have incessantly indulged himself in sour, unhappy thoughts. His anger was unreasonable. A more fitting response to God’s disfavor would have been humility.

Cain wasn’t simply frustrated or irritated; he was in the midst of a terrible, personal storm and intolerant of counsel, even from God himself. Locked behind prison bars of inner turmoil, his anger drove him to murder.

If I am trying to learn from Cain’s story, I gather that it would be wise for me to name the source of anger for what it really is. Ungodly anger springs up from evil thoughts, and more importantly, from evil himself (Satan), whose plans are to steal, kill, and destroy (John 10).

Luke 6:45 says, “A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.”

Have you ever wondered: if today’s explosive situation had happened yesterday, would it have been better handled? Why? The difference tells me that there is more going on than what the other person said or did or how a circumstance played out.

To glean a better understanding of the study passage, I listed some of my favorite quotes from Matthew Henry’s Commentary on the Whole Bible (Brackets and underlining are added by me):

“He [Cain] carried ill-nature in his face” “He should have been angry with himself for his own infidelity and hypocrisy.”
[Have you ever been angry at someone and were too stubborn to admit that YOU were the one at fault? If it is hard to say, ‘I’m sorry,’ you are missing out on one of life’s greatest lessons. Take a deep breath and jump off the diving board into repentance. God will bless you!]

From The Sermon Bible Commentary:
“Cain held a religion, but his religion did not hold him.” “Sacrifice has its ground in something deeper than legal enactments [legalistic acts, outwardly show]; it infers more than the giving up of a thing; it has something to do with sin, something to do with thanksgiving.”
[When I bring my offering, it’s not about what I bring with my hands, but what is in my heart…And what is in my heart will affect how I give with my hands.]

“Sacrifice becomes evil…when the offerer attaches any value to his own act and does not attribute the whole worth of it to God. The worship of one is accepted…[the] other disregarded, because one has faith and another has no faith.”
[I bring my offering (something that costs me a great deal). I can make a show or complain about it. I can compare it to someone else; OR, I can give in abandon. When I say my prayers, sing praises, clean toilets, or serve meals, and am more tuned in to me than to God, my offerings are no different from Cain’s offerings.]
(end of quotes)

Honestly, ‘Cain’ shows up in me and in the attitudes of those around me as well. Yet, it is my responsibility inside this anger, to use God’s ways to break free from stooping to Cain’s level. Pitiful, constant tears, stabbing, demeaning comments, and fierce, noisy anger harm relationships. Yet, God’s way is to lovingly speak the truth (Eph. 4:15).

I wrote in my journal: “I lost control today in arrogant pride. The enemy encouraged me to make poor choices, and I earned disrespect for myself. Claiming my own rights, I gained not higher ground; in fact, I lost ground. Valuable lessons came to me as I sat in the quiet with my Father.” Here they are:
“I am not the one who has all the answers. Learn from the very people who make you angry; stay humble; praise God in the storm; laugh a lot; serve well.”
“Speaking out ahead of God, no matter how right the cause, always ends in a form of loss.”
“Speaking out in God’s timing has power not of my own making in which the Spirit upholds my cause. And, even though I may not be guaranteed a listening ear or compliance, I have followed God’s will and that is enough.“

Examining my heart daily, I search within me for signs of anger, for possible causes and for what might remedy each cause. Whether it is anger at having to wait forty-five minutes, or even five minutes for customer service, at dreaded tasks of the day, disrespect from a peer or at God’s silence to my prayers, the storm gathers its forces. Hot buttons are pushed. I may steer clear of some storms or they may quickly blow over. Sometimes, however, the storm’s fury grows fast and furious and lingers long.

In the quiet, I ask myself, “What will anger accomplish? What will it do to ME (physically) and to the relationship (emotionally)? Wisdom instructs me to: rearrange my perspective, take captive my thoughts (II Cor. 10:5) and lay down my will for God’s will. If needed, I ask when, how, and where to speak any righteous anger and then let it go. In this study, I’ve had moments of euphoric peace and joy, in which anger is completely absent and my heart is unusually full. That is something to look forward to more of as time goes by!

Lord, I am unable to cleanse myself of anger-storms. I give you my tears and sorrow for my pride and arrogance. As I examine my heart for anger, reveal what I cannot see; guide me. Help me to let go. Forgive any murder in my heart (Matt.5:21, 22). Purify my thoughts. Help me to breathe life into all those you place before me. Keep ill-nature from my countenance. With an abandoned face, I set my will on your altar, placing all value and worth on you. I give up all claims to gifts my flesh attempts to manipulate from you, Lord. I depend not on worldly power, beauty, or approval for my joy, but I fully dwell in your happy presence. In Jesus name, Amen.