Tag: God

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Going Against the Status Quo: Radical Obedience

Then Elisha sent him a messenger, who said, "Go wash seven times in the Jordan and your flesh will be restored and you will be clean." 2 Kings 5:10 HCSB

God has been having me do a whole lot lately, to stretch myself and to rid me of attitudes, behaviors, and unnecessary things that have hindered my journey. One thing in particular has been an increase in having difficult conversations. If you know me, I typically avoid conversations I do not want to have. I felt like if I ignored a thing long enough it would simply go away. Sadly, I realize now that it is a product of the things that happened to me growing up–I ignored, or rather, refused to acknowledge, some ugly truths until some other stimulus forced it to emerge from the cauldron. It is like boiling anything under pressure. Once the pressure builds to a high enough level, that thing is bound to boil over, and for me, it was not always pretty when it came out–but I digress, because when is the truth ever pretty?

One of my prayers has been for boldness. God in His awesomeness forced my hand with the first situation, because I had no intention of paying this thing a second thought. But God had the situation come to me, and when I got off the phone, I felt the press on my heart to say something more. I ignored it, so I woke up the next day with the words to say on my mind. All day that following day I procrastinated, but I prayed for the courage to have the conversation. Then alas after a strange series of events that following morning, now day 3, I couldn’t fight myself anymore and had the conversation. To my surprise it went well, even after what felt like haggling to finally say what God instructed me to say. So since then, I have been presented with other situations to question myself while doing something out of my comfort zone…and all have left me asking God, why do You have ME doing this?

To that, there is no obvious answer. Whether it is having a difficult conversation, swallowing a pill of your being wrong and admitting it, arguing your view, following some strange course to be healed or ignoring the need to stand up for yourself, the purpose behind all of these situations is to teach us obedience. Nowadays we live in a world where obedience is a foreign language, albeit unrecognizable for most. We have media telling us to cry mutiny against our leadership and encouraging the proliferation of violence among our children and we also have cartoons teaching children to lie and be disobedient. Radical obedience seems to be unfounded; as I thought about this earlier, I was reminded of Naaman, in 2 Kings 5, the Syrian general who was also a leper. He heard of in Samaria through one of the servants and his ability to heal him. Upon arrival, Naaman offered Elisha money to be healed. Instead, Elisha sent one of his servants to tell Naaman to wash in the Jordan 7 times. This sounds like a pretty ridiculous thing to do to Naaman, (and me also) so he got angry–and replied that there were better rivers that he could have done the same thing in. How many times have you asked God for a thing and He gave you a reply like, go apologize or give that woman $20, or something absurd in your rational, human mind?

It was not until his servants rephrased it, thus shedding light on the situation, that Naaman actually considered the solution. After washing himself those 7 times, his skin was as a child’s skin and he was clean. I do not know what God’s entire purpose was in those things I experienced, I know teaching me boldness for sure and I assume building my confidence in Him, but I also gained the understanding of why we need to be obedient. You never know if your doing that radical thing God has been pressing on your heart is the key to your breakthrough, so why not at least try? In this process, I have encountered those less than willing to hear what I had to say, but I know that my reward is in doing what I was instructed to do. And the more you are obedient, God will entrust you with more and greater tasks…consider it an honor!

For to everyone who has, more will be given, and he will have more than enough. But from the one who does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him. Matthew 25:29 HCSB

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Having Faith When the Situation Seems Hopeless

We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God: those who are called according to His purpose. Romans 8:28 HCSB

How do you have faith when everything that you know comes crashing down? Have you ever felt hopeless?

I remember when I got sick in college. I had prayed that I did not have Lupus, repeatedly. In my mind, I was devastated because there was nothing the doctors could give me those two weeks I waited to find out, because they did not know what was going on. I was asking why me, why am I still alive, why am I suffering? I had lost hope, or rather I had lost faith. I had lost belief and trust in God because I could not understand what was going on at the time. I was thinking about myself, thinking about why did that thing had happened to me. But I remained prayerful, because it was the only thing I knew that would produce a result.

Of course all along I was praying, so I never lost sight of what I knew–which was that God had to heal me. Even though I was still in a vulnerable place, my faith was my reality and I knew that God’s word was truth. So sometime after I being released, I talked to one of my mentors. I told her that God was going to heal me and she said that God doesn’t heal everybody. I realized I could not receive her words because it went against the truth that God had revealed to me in my heart and in His word. I held on to that belief and rested in the fact that I could not accept things went against what I knew…and I can say that from 2003 to 2006 my lupus serologies were negative; it was positive once while I was hospitalized in February of 2006, and it has never been positive since.

I thought about these things today as I left the courthouse. I saw several men and a few women that have fallen into a state of hopelessness, or truthfully speaking, disbelief. They do not believe in anything and accept life as they see it as reality and their lives and choices manifest the evidence of it. And I asked God, how can we faith in a place like this? How can you have faith when the system (well, the legal system here in New Orleans, that is, and I’m sure several other places, but metaphorically speaking) is orchestrated for your failure?

I realized this as I got some news that would have depressed most people…but because I know that God has control of everything, I am faithful that it will work out and truthfully not concerned. We maintain faith in desolate places by remembering the truth of God’s word. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. Romans 10:17. It is the promises of God, and the things He has already done for us and for others that should serve as the foundation for our faith. I digress and I realize that most of you may not be like me; there are things that I know as truth and fact–The Word–and for those things there is nothing that can come against it. Being raised in the church and as the granddaughter of a preacher, one thing I was raised to know, was that the Word of God was, is and will always be fact. So despite doubting because I had momentarily accepted what I saw as reality, I was reminded of the scripture above that has come to be one of my favorites. Knowing or believing in a thing makes it a fact for us. When we condition our minds to acknowledge the Word of God as fact, all else fades away. It is at that point that your faith becomes your reality and the things you are believing God for are merely waiting in the queue, so to speak, to manifest. It is in having that Word database that you are able to encourage yourself and others when life may be saying otherwise.

So the key to having faith even when the world seems to be crashing around you, when everything you have known is no more, is in trusting what you know–trusting and relying on the promises of God. Even when your mind says no, you have to make the decision to keep trusting in God’s word. Trust in what He has done for you. Trust in what He has done time and time again and bear down in your faith and know that your breakthrough awaits. You must know that this situation and all others in your life will ultimately work out for your good, because like the Word, it is written.

We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God: those who are called according to His purpose. Psalm 34:19 KJV2000
Though you have made me see troubles, many and bitter, you will restore my life again; from the depths of the earth you will again bring me up. Psalm 71:20 NIV