Tag Archive | Isaiah

Perfect Peace

^“Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee.” –Isaiah 26:3

Yesterday through Facebook I got a frantic message that a very good friend of mine was in a motorcycle accident. It was a terrifying moment for me. I kept rereading the words and trying to make sense of them. I felt incredibly helpless. This friend lives on the other side of the globe and there was nothing I could do to help him. Or even to get more information.

How did it happen? Was he hurt? Would he be okay? Is he in the hospital?

I had so many questions and so little information. I was scared of losing him. “Please please please let him be okay”, I prayed, feeling the emotion welling up inside me. Irrationally, I considered going to the airport immediately to catch the next plane to get to where he is. There was a time that he and I had planned to get married and I still love him deeply even if the nature of that love has shifted. To consider that he might be seriously injured and I wasn’t with him was more than I knew how to handle. I really did not know what to do with myself. I kept refreshing my Facebook page over and over again, hoping for a new message from his friend. I was desperate for more information. I felt paralyzed. Absolutely helpless. The fear rising up in me was fierce.

Then suddenly it occurred to me that even from half way across the world, there was something I could do for him. I could trust God, and I could pray. My focus then shifted from the situation to God. I remembered that God is the Creator, the Almighty, and our Healer. Everything is in His hands. When I began to meditate on that, I immediately felt peace. I knew God was taking care of the situation. This time when I prayed, I prayed with the assurance that God was in control and no matter what happened He would still be in control. I reminded myself that this man knows the Lord. If the very worst should happen, he is still safe in the Lord’s care. Regardless of how long he has life on this earth, he has the promise of eternal life with the King.

I became completely filled with His peace. It is difficult to even explain it, but every ounce of fear left me. I was able to completely surrender the situation to Him. I continued to pray for my friend for mercy and healing, but it was no longer a prayer out of selfish desperation. It was a prayer based on who the Lord is and knowing what He is capable of doing. Mostly, I just prayed that the Lord’s will be done. I knew without a doubt that it would be.

A few hours later I got the message that my friend will be fine. He is scraped up, bruised up, and has a broken wrist, but he has no internal injuries. He will make a full recovery. The worst of my fears were not even remotely realized. If I had not surrendered to God, I would have spent all the time making myself sick with worry. All of my worry would not have accomplished anything.

I praise God that he is okay! Thank you Jesus for protecting my friend! I know it could have been much worse and the mercy of the Lord has kept him for another day. Thank you, Jesus for your peace in the midst of a storm. Thank you for calming the waves of fear and teaching me once again to trust in you!

Dear Reader, when you feel helpless, when a situation is beyond your control; it is never beyond God. He will give you perfect peace if you trust Him to handle every situation that comes up in life. In scary moments when loved ones may be hurt or in danger, give all of your fears and concerns the Lord. He will carry you through every difficult circumstance in your life if you let Him.

-Rebekah L.

The Heart Of The Matter

Feb18

“The Lord will give you the bread you need and the water for which you thirst. No longer will your Teacher hide himself, but with your own eyes you shall see your Teacher. While from behind, a voice shall sound in your ears: “This is the way; walk in it.” when you would turn to the right or to the left.” ~Isaiah 30:20-21

As you may have read in my post Declaring Citizenship, God has been really drawing my attention to all those moments in a day where I’m consumed by the world and not by my Father. Rebekah M just posted yesterday about a need to be separate from the world as well, to be in it and be a light in it but not to be of it. Is anyone else seeing a theme here???

Today God has been stretching that a bit further, essentially saying that He’s shone the mirror of His word on my heart. He’s reflected it back to me so I can see it. He’s entered me, perfect in His light, and shown me all of the dark places that are still there. Every spot of darkness shuts Him out, because He is the light. He’s told us that where there is light, darkness cannot enter. Lately He’s been saying to me that the opposite is also true. Where I harbor darkness, His light can expose it, but nothing more. For Him to cast it away, I have to let Him. I have to invite Him in to do more work. And I have to let those areas go.

My heart then, is a direct reflection of my choices. And of course I do have a choice. In every moment I can choose the world or I can choose God, but I can’t choose both. Lately, God’s been telling me that while my prayer life has become much stronger, and I can bind demons with my words, so too can I bind God with my actions and my choices. My heart yearns for Him and yet blocks Him at the same time.

So, there’s only one thing for me to do. Change my choices. For me, such changes come about in a day of fasting. God leads me to more fasting as He sees fit, or sometimes just the day is sufficient. Either way, tomorrow I will be shutting out the physical needs, the worldly and fleshly needs and wants that I have. Instead I’ll be depending on God for the spiritual nourishment that I really need. I need to get more kingdom-minded, so my desires can match up to the Lord’s a little bit better. If I am to be a citizen of Heaven, I need to see with Heaven’s eyes, and desire what Heaven desires.

Too long has God had to share my heart with the rest of me. He is telling me now that as a jealous God, He has had enough. He will no longer be bound by me, a worthless creature without Him. He desires my whole heart and will settle for nothing less. Fasting tomorrow will help me regain some focus on Him, and ultimately fill me with enough spiritual nourishment to overtake the darkness and cast it away. At the very least it’ll be a start!

I humbly invite you to join me in this. When I fast, I typically don’t eat any solid food for 24 hours and see where God leads me from there. It’s usually somewhere amazing, if you need some incentive. 🙂 I’m not asking for anything drastic though. Maybe you will just stay off of facebook for 24 hours. Maybe you’ll just stay off of facebook for a couple of hours. Maybe don’t send any texts. Maybe skip lunch. Or maybe dessert. Heck, skip salad. Just make a conscious decision to skip something for a certain time frame. Make sure that whenever you start thinking about what it is you’re skipping, let it be a call to prayer. And if you opt not to fast, maybe just say a prayer every time you eat for 24 hours. Whatever it is, allow God to open you up and bring you closer to His kingdom. Let’s give ourselves fully to the One who made us, and not make Him share our hearts any longer. He created us and saved us and granted us eternal life; surely He is worth it!

Whether or not you feel called to join me in fasting, pray that in your choices and your actions for the next 24 hours, you are not binding His will over you but granting Him full access to your heart. And if you need extra prayer, for anything at all, I’d love to give it to you!!!! Write to me at being.rebekah.a@gmail.com – I would love to hear what God’s been telling you, what you’ve been going through, or anything you may need prayer for.

I just feel God saying it is time to look deeply at our choices, words, and actions. They are true reflections of our hearts. The question is, do they reflect Him?

Good luck, and God bless!

~Rebekah A

Waiting on the Lord

Feb13

But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint. ~Isaiah 40:31

Having been on such a wonderful, happy high from Jesus just pouring things into my life… today it just suddenly felt like everything was fake and a facade. I barely slept last night, this weekend I didn’t really pray like I have been the past two months, and I realized that these guys most likely aren’t going to work out. Premature judgement? Yes. But sometimes, once you’re in a thinking pit, it’s hard to get out. I want to believe that He holds all wonderful things in our future- waiting for us to be ready to receive them. I want to believe that in the end, there is an Isaac who will finally see ME and love me for who I am. However, I just can’t shake the feeling that no one’s ever going to see this heart of mine for what it really is- someone who lives for Jesus with all that she can.

He quietly whispers to me “lay this at My feet my child, bring this to me.”

Jesus,

I lay my heart as an open book before these readers right now. I pray that somehow, someone who is also struggling to just get through this day or tomorrow also decides to just lay it all at Your feet. As the song says, I know that You are for me. I know that You will never forsake me in my weakness. Whether a man ever sees my true worth or not, I know that YOU do. I have felt You tell me how pleased You are that in my times of pain and sorrow, I chose to worship You. Lord, in this time of feeling strangely, I choose to worship You. I love You Lord. Despite all the mess of my past, despite everything You love me. I thank You and I lay my life at Your feet once more. I lay all that I am and will become in Your capable hands and just ask that You hold me up when I cannot stand any longer. Lord, I will wait on You. I will wait on Your promises. I will wait on Your faithfulness. I will worship You as I wait.

I will wait.

~Rebekah M.