Faith – Page 4 – goodchristianfiction

Whose Job Is It Anyway?

Posted on May 14, 2016 by Ramona Levacy Billingslea

Whether you run a major conglomerate or sell computers at a box store, you have a job description that more or less clarifies the duties, responsibilities and parameters that make your job unique. Accomplishing your tasks at work gives you a sense of success and even fulfillment.

But true fulfillment encompasses all aspects of one’s life. When we are at peace with God, our family, our work and our place in relationship to all these things, we might truly claim that elusive state of being known as fulfillment.

Chances are that people who feel unfulfilled are trying to do God’s job for Him. Does that seem shocking to you? As a perfectionist who is always worrying about whether I am doing what God wants me to do, even though I know I cannot earn my way into heaven, I live in the not-so-friendly world of trying to do God’s job. The consequences are that I am often anxious, frustrated, or hopeless. By questioning my life’s purpose in this way, I am denying God the job He promises to do of having my back.

“A person’s steps are directed by the LORD,” the wise man of Proverbs tells us. “How then can anyone understand their own way?” (Proverbs 20:24)

God’s word is replete with His admonition that we trust in Him. Jesus tells us not to worry because we cannot add one hair to our head. If God takes care of the birds and the meadows, He reminds us, how much more will He take care of us? The prophet Jeremiah is assured that God knew Him before the womb, sanctifying Jeremiah as a prophet before he took his first breath.

Whenever people try to take over God’s job in the Bible, trouble follows. When Ahab, the king of Israel, wants to go to war against Ramoth Gilead with the help of King Jehoshaphat of Judah, the two proceed against the advice of God’s prophet and attack the enemy even though God has said they will lose. By doing God’s job, the two kings fail, with Ahab actually losing his life (1 Kings 22).

How does a life look when we step aside to let God do his job? The Psalmist tells us that “the steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD; and he delights in his way (37:23).” And why wouldn’t the good man be delighted? When we wake each day knowing we are going to strive to follow God’s laws and be open to the work He puts in our path, how can we be anything but assured in our way? If God can place the stars in the sky, surely He can guide the steps of an earnest believer like me.

Embracing God’s sovereignty in all things puts His job description into sharp perspective. God judges, so my job is not to be critical of people around me. God punishes, so my job is to forgive. God saves, so my job is to love. Solomon writes,

“The mind of man plans his way. But the LORD directs his steps” (Proverbs 16:9)

Even though I still have decisions to make each day, knowing that the really important ones have already been made by God is very freeing. I need to lean into the realization that I am where God wants me to be. If I keep doing my job of believing, praying, and studying and acting on His Word, God will work everything in my life to the good (Romans 8:28). Success isn’t the amount of money in my bank account or the number of people who know my name, but living by faith:

I know, O LORD, that a man’s way is not in himself, nor is it in a man who walks to direct his steps. (Jeremiah 10:23)

Using faith as the answer to why can take the angst out of a perfectionist’s world. Letting God do His job will truly make all the difference in mine.

Faith, Living

This Wounded Heart

Posted on March 12, 2016 by Ramona Levacy Billingslea

Loss is a gift to the living, who find in grief the opportunity to truly know joy, in tears to embrace a hearty smile. Without loss, we would have no pain to compare to gladness. It would be a dull world indeed if every day was just the same without low points or high points. In the human condition, we must have low points in order to understand the highlights.

But none of this logic is very comforting in the midst of despair. Even though in despair is exactly where we should be most vigilant with our walk by faith, it is often in the valley of the shadow that we lose our way entirely. In the time of our greatest grief, we will lean heaviest on what is familiar. If we have spent our lives reaching for the one, true God, we will not have far to fall before we find Him. Where we strain most in darkness, His is the brightest light.

In February of 2015, a season of grief and shadows began in my faith walk. My grandmother passed away, my last remaining grandparent. At the funeral, my mother explained that she was having trouble using her hands, a worrisome affliction. Shortly after, my father-in-law was diagnosed with cancer. In a few weeks, we learned the condition was terminal. In October, my mother’s condition was much worse. She had been for many tests and finally came to a specialist in Houston, who diagnosed her with ALS, or Lou Gehrig’s Disease. Right before Christmas, my brother-in-law, who had been battling liver cancer since August of 2014, succumbed. Not even two weeks later, my father-in-law also died.

So, today, when my best friend asked me to help her with verses for her unborn grandchild’s funeral, I had to sit down to reflect, and I do my best reflections when I write. This feeling is ironic because in the aftermath of my mother’s diagnosis and my husband’s family tragedies, I have given in to the feeling that for the first time in my life, words have failed me. Grief may make you bitter or angry or sorrowful, but it can make you feel like a cheat, too.

First, you are a cheat in grief because you are the survivor, the one who didn’t get the fatal illness or have the mortal accident. But, the pain of grief can also make you feel like a cheat because, despite all your high-handed, faithful words in the past, there are moments, long moments, when you don’t feel in great accord with God as you grieve. You may feel like He is punishing you (not Biblical) or has promised You a life without this pain (also not Biblical). You may even, in your heart of hearts, be just a little bit angry with Him for allowing the world to be this evil place where bad things happen like people dying!

And, when you feel these feelings, the last thing you think you are capable of doing is telling somebody else what kind of faith they should be having in God. You don’t want to be a fair-weather friend to the LORD-All-Powerful, but you don’t feel so buddy-buddy, either.

Finding the Light in the valley of the shadow began for me with simple things, like hearing people on television discussing their own struggle to break out of a season in the slumps. One mantra, “Today is a good day for a good day,” helped me tremendously early on. By choosing to think about the good in the day I was in, I managed to while away the hours and even smile now and again.

Luckily for me, I have always spent a lot of time studying the Word and reading a wide variety of thinkers about their take on God. Long before this season of tragedy, I had read Philip Yancey’s Where is God When it Hurts?. I had taken many Bible studies with Beth Moore. I had studied the Word with Augustine and Randy Harris and Max Lucado. These foundations have helped me understand the process I am going through. I still have much to learn, much of which I will only learn by going where I have to go.

In the poem, “The Waking,” Theodore Roethke compares the process of living and dying to that of waking and sleeping. “I wake to sleep,” he writes, “and take my waking slow. I feel my fate in what I cannot fear. I learn by going where I have to go.” Because death is inevitable, the poet argues, the thing “Great Nature has to do to you and me,” we might as well embrace life in full knowledge of our coming death.

Even though life should be savored, I’ve come to understand, like A. E. Housman, that our post-death always may be ever more important. In Dead Lie We, the poet explains, “life to be sure is nothing much to lose, but young men think it is, and we were young.”

What do you say to a young woman who has to struggle through childbirth for a five-month fetus who has no beating heart? Philip Yancey puts it this way:

The notion of suffering as productive brings a new dimension to our experience of pain. Human beings undergo goal-directed suffering quite willingly, as athletes can attest. According to the Bible, a proper Christian response to suffering gives similar hope to the person on the hospital bed. As we rely on God, and trust his Spirit to mold us in his image, true hope takes shape within us, “a hope that does not disappoint.” We can literally become better persons because of suffering. Pain, however meaningless it may seem at the time, can be transformed. Where is God when it hurts? He is in us–not in the things that hurt–helping to transform bad into good. We can safely say that God can bring good out of evil; we cannot say that God brings about the evil in hopes of producing good.*

This transformation, this waking to sleep, is as old as the ages and takes as many forms as there are those who grieve and yet reach for the love of the ever-present God. In His Word, you will find examples of those who stood strong in faith despite tragedy, like David, those who railed against God in their despair, like many of the Psalmists, and those who put the will of God before their own needs, like Christ Himself.

As David proclaimed,

The LORD is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. (Psalm 18:2)

Only by establishing strongholds in God, either before tragedy or after, will you truly let God in to do his work of transforming you to the stronger person you are meant to be on the other side of the valley of shadow. Wounded hearts may never fully heal, but they feel much better when they are held in the loving hands of our all-powerful Father.

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid. (John 14:27)

In Christ,
Ramona

Faith

Know God Rejoices Over You

Posted on March 2, 2016March 3, 2016 by Ramona Levacy Billingslea

We should begin each day with a grateful prayer that God is patient.

How patient are you? Think about whatever annoys you most. Perhaps it is a yapping dog next door or a fussy baby at the next table in a restaurant. Maybe your nerves can’t stand the sound of loud music or large crowds.

Whenever one of these annoyances happens in your life, how long does it take for you to lose your cool? Do you move to another table, wear earplugs, stay home alone?

What if God were just as quick to let his righteous anger show? We deserve it. He says go right, and we zag left. He whispers for allegiance and offers a light hand. We turn stiff necks and deaf ears on Him.

We deserve to be thrown in the pit along with our Old Testament fellows, who defied God even when He gave them chance after chance to do what was right.

As Dr. Rubel Shelly explains in his upcoming book, More than a Fig Leaf, grace is not a concept that only comes along in the time of Christ. When you compare how God treats the people of the Old Testament to how they actually deserved to be treated, you see a God of infinite patience who always acts under a plan of grace.

What more blessing could we ask for than that our God rejoices over us? The Bible tells us:

The Lord your God is with you;
    the mighty One will save you.
He will rejoice over you.
    You will rest in his love;
    he will sing and be joyful about you.
–Zephaniah 3:17 (NCV)

Bad things happen. In this world where the devil gets to play, the bad things happen more often than any of us would want. And, being a Christian doesn’t save us from any of the downs that dominate certain seasons of every life. In fact, Jesus reminds us, “He causes the sun to rise on good people and on evil people, and he sends rain to those who do right and to those who do wrong” (Matt. 5:45).

But, how comforting it is to realize that the bad things that happen when we are in Christ are not because of God’s impatience. Instead, we are able to survive the bad things because of God’s love for us.

If you are in the valley, remember the One who has promised to trek with you is there. Know His peace, and you will live in peace.

Faith

5 Facts About Faith That Will Impress Your Friends

Posted on February 1, 2016 by Ramona Levacy Billingslea

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. (Hebrews 11:1)

Believing in the promises of God and living that belief is at the core of every Christian life. Here are five facets of faith to consider as you proceed with your Christian walk.

1. Faith is free to anyone willing to claim it.

Nothing worth having is usually free, but the greatest gift in the universe is on offer 24/7. All we have to do is ask for the gift of grace from God, acknowledging that we are a sinner in need of the salvation offered because of the sacrifice made for us on the Cross.

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son so that whosoever believeth in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life. (John 3:16)

2. Faith makes us right with God.

Paul tells us that we all are sinners (Romans 3:23). No one is exempt from the need to be made right with God. When we are made right with Him, we come back into the relationship with Him which had been broken by our sin.

The Bible tells us that in a time before man had the luxury of believing in a Savior, Abraham’s faith in God was counted to him as righteousness (Genesis 15:6). In other words, because Abraham believed, he was saved.

Until we embrace faith in Christ, we are cut off from God. But, when we accept Christ as our Savior, the curtain that separates us from a perfect God is torn away.

3. Faith expresses itself through love.

Faith is a two-way street of love. Not only is it the direct result of God’s love for us, but it also encourages us to show that same love to others.

If you have ever tried to do a good deed for a complete stranger, then you know that acts of kindness take a certain amount of courage. Your offer of help might be rejected. You might get called names. Only if you can feel love for someone you don’t really know, all because God loves you despite all your flaws, can you take the leap of faith required to do good things for strangers.

4. True faith can claim good works.

If you have faith in Christ, then you should be able to claim good works in His name. These works may be as simple as being kind to someone who is treating you badly or making food for a neighbor who is ill.

James tells us that “faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead” (2:17). In other words, if you call yourself a believer but you do not let that belief affect your actions, then just what, exactly, do you really believe?

True faith is life-changing because when you accept how truly awesome it is that the God of the universe cared enough about you to die for you, then you are moved to want to pay that beautiful gift forward.

5. Faith pleases God.

There’s a reason beyond the understanding of a humble human that God created us in His image. There’s a reason that He is ever so patient with a stubborn creation that repeatedly turns away from Him even though He is forever saving us from our own folly.

One thing we can understand, however, is that our faith in Him pleases God. The Psalmists tell us:

The Lord delights in those who fear him, who put their hope in his unfailing love.For the LORD takes pleasure in His people; He will beautify the afflicted ones with salvation. (Psalm 147:11 & 149:4)

The wise man of Proverbs assures us that “. . . those who deal faithfully are His delight” (12:22b).

Of all the wonders of faith, perhaps this is the most amazing thing of all–that we humans are capable of bringing joy to the God who tells the waves, this far.

In Christ,
Ramona

Christianity, Faith

Somebody’s Got To Die

Posted on December 30, 2015 by Ramona Levacy Billingslea

I just re-watched the Nicolas Cage film, National Treasure, the other day. If you will recall, the Nicolas Cage character (Ben) steals the Declaration of Independence in order to save it from the bad guy. When the FBI agent catches up with Ben, he keeps explaining, “Somebody’s got to go to jail Ben,” because the Declaration had been stolen. No matter that Ben had discovered a massive treasure for the nation, somebody still had to go to jail to make up for the crime of stealing a national document.

When it comes to a world filled with sin, the same concept applies. Because the “wages of sin is death,” in order to escape the sentence of death we all deserve, somebody’s got to die.

How fortunate we are that Christ was willing to come to earth and become the sacrificial lamb that died for the wages of all our sins. Because of this sacrifice, we all have the opportunity to escape the wages of the sin we inevitably commit. By accepting Him as the guiding force in our life, we open our arms to a different possibility. We get to live because somebody else died.

When we sin, we sever the relationship we have with God. In the times before Christ, that broken relationship could only be mended by the offering of sacrifices. Leviticus especially explains the requirements of many of these sacrifices. In most cases, the blood of a living thing, be it a dove or a lamb, would be required to be shed in order to take away the sin that had been committed and return the person back into relationship with God. Somebody had to die.

If we never take for granted the weight of knowing that somebody else has died for us, then surely we will do a better job each day of following in the footsteps of Christ. Kindness to others, showing love when we least feel like it, praising God, all these actions should be as second nature to us.

Yet, living in a world more than 2,000 years after sacrifice was a regular way of life, we may be slightly numb to the concept of a life given for us. The televised violence that flashes across our newscasts and even computer screens has desensitized us to the horror of an innocent life taken before its time. How well we would do to remember that, but for Christ, the life given for sin would be our own.

Yes, the life Christ saves is an eternal one, since all who are born to this earth also die from it. But, how much more important is the life of one’s soul compared to the blink of an eye which is this earthly existence? Paul explains:

What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. (Romans 6:1-4)

Our new life is the one led by the Holy Spirit in us, the ultimate sign of our healed relationship with God. Because somebody has died, that is, Christ, we have a permanent, unbreakable relationship with God as long as we accept that Christ is our savior.

In a politically correct world, where we create soccer leagues that give every child a trophy and where no one can stand up and say that is wrong without risking ridicule or punishment, it may seem blunt to say with conviction that a relationship with God requires a sacrifice. But, think again, for this same, seemingly strict God is the One who loves us so much that He was willing to become the sacrifice that paid the price for sin once and for all.

Somebody’s got to die. Thankfully, Somebody did.

Christianity, Faith, Uncategorized

This Christmas

Posted on December 19, 2015 by Ramona Levacy Billingslea

Nativity-Scene

How amazing is it that the God who created the universe was willing to take on the form of a mortal man, suffer the indignities of being human, and even let Himself be ridiculed and hung like a common criminal–all so we might be forgiven and brought back into relationship with Him?

Think about everything you hate having to do. God took out the trash, washed the dishes, fed the donkeys, and even bathed other people’s feet. He who could call upon a legion of angels to verify His power allowed Himself to be mocked by much lesser beings. He allowed himself to be whipped, spit upon, crucified.

He who could raise the dead allowed Himself to experience the horror of a last, desperate breath. He watched His own earthly mother mourn for Him. He knew the motley crew He called disciples would trudge home after His death in an unknowing sense of defeat.

Do you love someone? Are you willing to make yourself into the lowest common denominator for that someone? Would you be ridiculed for that someone’s sake? Would you stand in front of your longest rivals and let them call you a fake, fraud, loser? Would you really?

We humans like to humanize God. Yet, even though we are made in His image, we cannot even begin to fathom how far down the scale of existence our Lord traveled to become our Savior. Fortunately, we don’t have to understand it.

We just have to believe.

Christmas is about the most amazing birth that will ever happen in our world, when He who has the power to move mountains, took on the shell of a being incapable of lifting a pebble.

But if we fail to recognize His glory, even the rocks will cry out.

Christian Living, Faith

Are You A Weed?

Posted on November 16, 2015January 24, 2016 by Ramona Levacy Billingslea

There are two kinds of people in this world: those who bear fruit for God and those who do not. In the parable of the tares, Jesus defines these two types of people as the wheat and the weeds. Even though they are both sown at the same time, God waits until the harvest to separate the two.

What does it mean to be wheat instead of a weed? What does bearing fruit for God look like? Paul tells the Ephesians:

For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. (Ephesians 2:10)

Good works may best be understood as James defines it: “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world” (1:27). The more we do things to honor God and extend the mercy He has shown us to others, the more practically we ensure that we are growing into wheat, the fruit of the harvest, instead of the weeds to be burned when the harvest is done.

Becoming wheat involves a conscious decision every day to do the will of God. Joshua puts it this way:

Now respect the LORD and serve him fully and sincerely. Throw away the gods that your ancestors worshiped on the other side of the Euphrates River and in Egypt. Serve the LORD. But if you don’t want to serve the LORD, you must choose for yourselves today whom you will serve. (Josh 24:14-15a)

These words were spoken as an entreaty to the Israelites who had conquered the promised land with God’s help. They promptly swore to serve the God who had led their ancestors out of Egypt. But, as the story continues, the people very quickly forget this sincere promise, turning to the very gods they had sworn to Joshua to forget.

How easy it is to become distracted from the promise of heaven by the immediacy of the material things in this life. Just like the Israelites, we too place more importance on things than on our devotion to God. But we don’t have to be that way.

Being wheat instead of a weed can be as simple as having bottles of water to hand to the beggar on the side of the road, spending a few hours each week visiting a nursing home, sending cards to people who are recovering or serving overseas. Being wheat means embracing Jesus’s imperative that we love others as we ourselves wish to be loved.

At first, risking looking stupid by extending a part of ourselves to strangers will be scary. Pray about it. Remember that God promised us that the Holy Spirit will give us words even when we have none. Know that even when we look most stupid in the eyes of the world, we may be shining the brightest in the kingdom of heaven.

James contends that faith without works is a dead faith:

What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him? If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, and one of you says to them, “Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,” but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit? Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. (James 2:14-17)

If you really believe on a loving God who died to save you, James is saying, then how could you not do good things for other people? How could you not put love first when God’s love for you is your only chance for eternal life?

Extend some living water to those who are thirsty around you. Be wheat.

Christian Living, Faith

The Sower of Seeds: A Parable of Jesus

Posted on November 8, 2015 by Ramona Levacy Billingslea

Jesus often taught His lessons to the masses in the form of parables–spiritual truths gleaned from comparison to everyday experiences using analogy. The parable of the sower of seeds is one such parable, which gives us a good picture of the different kinds of responses that are possible to the message of Christ.

The sower’s seeds fall on four different kinds of ground:

Beside the road
On rocky places
Among thorns
On good soil.

The seeds beside the road never have a chance to grow because the birds eat them up before they can take any root. These represent people who have no response to the message of salvation. They hear His Word but don’t understand because Satan snatches the message away before they have a chance to believe.

The seeds that land on rocky places spring up quickly, but have no roots. Without roots, these same seeds just as quickly whither when the sun beats down on them. These seeds represent the emotional response to the Word. The rocky soil person hears God’s Word with joy, but because he has no root in himself, he gives up at the first challenge to his faith.

The seeds among thorns spring up, but get choked out by the thorns that surround them. This is a worldly response to the Word. Even though this person allows the seed to grow, very soon the worries of this world, the charms of wealth, and the pleasures of this world choke out the core message of the Word.

The seeds on good soil yield crops one hundred, sixty, thirty times the quantity of the original seed. These seeds represent the fruitful response to the Word, those people who understand Christ’s Truth and act in such a way as to bear fruit for the Kingdom of God because of that belief:

“But the seed in the good soil, these are the ones who have heard the word in an honest and good heart, and hold it fast, and bear fruit with perseverance.” (Luke 8:15)

Even though we cannot earn salvation, once we attain salvation through our faith, we don’t have any choice but to do the works that are the natural result of a true faith. The Ryrie Study Bible (NASB) explains it this way: “Both Paul and James define faith as a living, productive trust in Christ.” James writes,

What use is it, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but he has no works? Can that faith [which is a dead faith] save him? . . . You believe that God is one. You do well; the demons also believe, and shudder. But are you willing to recognize, you foolish fellow, that faith without works is useless? (James 2: 14, 19-20)

The seeds in good soil bear fruit, whether that is taking a meal to a widow or paying a compliment to a perfect stranger to brighten someone’s day. Any action that reflects the light of the Lord takes a step in faith of bearing fruit. “For just as the body without the spirit is dead,” James concludes, “so also faith without works is dead” (2:26). To grow our roots, we have to work to create the good soil that will foster our faith in the One and Only.

Perseverance is the key to making the parable of the sower a reality in your own life. Without perseverance, you might let the worries of this world choke out your faith. Without perseverance, you might fail to attain the roots you need to hold on to your faith when the troubles of this life challenge you. We fertilize our good soil by studying the Word, praying continually, and finding fellowship with other believers.

In good soil, we can truly persevere to bear fruit that is the end result of a faith that is fully awake.

*Note: The parable of the sower, made during Christ’s sermon on the seashore, can be read in Matthew 13:5, Mark 4:3-8 and Luke 8:5-8.

Faith

This Voice of Truth

Posted on September 20, 2015 by Ramona Levacy Billingslea

God moves in mysterious ways, His wonders to perform.

Have you noticed how God often reaches out to you in ways and in places where you least expect Him to? Maybe He allows you to barely miss having an accident on the road. Maybe He has a stranger compliment your appearance on a day when you are feeling low.

Earlier this week, He reached out to me through the words in a familiar song when I flipped from the ’50s station on my Sirius to our local Christian station, KSBJ. The song was Voice of Truth by Casting Crowns, and the words that really spoke to me come from the chorus of this Christian staple:

But the voice of truth tells me a different story
The voice of truth says, “Do not be afraid!”
The voice of truth says, “This is for My glory”
Out of all the voices calling out to me
I will choose to listen and believe the voice of truth

I’m sure this song speaks to you whether you are just dangling your toe in the water or have fully immersed yourself into the Word of God, but for those who really know their Bible, the depths of this chorus speak to promises God’s Word makes for all who believe in Christ.

First, when you hear the encouragement to not be afraid, you must reflect on verses like:

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid. (John 14:27)

Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. (Matthew 6:34)

“Are not two sparrows sold for a cent? And yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So do not fear; you are more valuable than many sparrows.” (Matthew 10:29-31)

Second, the phrase, “this is for my glory,” reminds you that God can turn even our most dire circumstances into an ultimate good:

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. (Romans 8:28)

And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit. (2 Corinthians 3:18)

The heavens declare the glory of God; /the skies proclaim the work of his hands. (Psalms 19:1)

In a world full of voices–the voices of the media, the voices on the internet, the voices of teachers, family, bosses, coworkers, friends–it is important to remember that the voice of truth comes, not from any of these earthy realms, but from the Logos of Heaven.

When I say, I can’t cope, the Voice of Truth says, We cope together. When I try to figure out what I will do about a potential problem two weeks from now, the Voice of Truth says, Concentrate on today and let tomorrow be My concern. When I think, what’s the point, anyway, the Voice of Truth says, Your greatest joy will come when you know that your life helps to glorify your Heavenly Father.

The last line of this wonderful chorus is perhaps the most important because it emphasizes the key element of a life lived to the full glory of God. I choose to say no to the negative things that I hear either from my own voice or from others. I choose to know the truth that is written in the Bible and to lean on that truth instead of the “crazy” things that often go through my own, type-A head. I choose to believe that God’s Word has more validity than my fears.

I was blessed to be reminded that my current trials are part of God’s greater plan for a world where He wants each one of us to accept Him as Savior. I may not be able to see right now how He will use my difficulties to glorify His name, but I feel more confident about facing each new day in the knowledge that God has the ultimate hand in my life. No planning I can do will change what He wills.

For your edification, here is the complete lyrics of this great song. I hope you have the opportunity to listen to it for yourself soon:

Voice of Truth

By Casting Crowns

Oh what I would do to have
The kind of faith it takes
To climb out of this boat I’m in
Onto the crashing waves

To step out of my comfort zone
Into the realm of the unknown where Jesus is
And He’s holding out His hand

But the waves are calling out my name
And they laugh at me
Reminding me of all the times
I’ve tried before and failed
The waves they keep on telling me
Time and time again. “Boy, you’ll never win!”
“You’ll never win!”

[Chorus]
But the voice of truth tells me a different story
The voice of truth says, “Do not be afraid!”
The voice of truth says, “This is for My glory”
Out of all the voices calling out to me
I will choose to listen and believe the voice of truth

Oh what I would do to have
The kind of strength it takes to stand before a giant
With just a sling and a stone
Surrounded by the sound of a thousand warriors
Shaking in their armor
Wishing they’d have had the strength to stand

But the giant’s calling out my name
And he laughs at me
Reminding me of all the times
I’ve tried before and failed
The giant keeps on telling me
Time and time again. “Boy you’ll never win!”
“You’ll never win!”

But the stone was just the right size
To put the giant on the ground
And the waves they don’t seem so high
From on top of them lookin’ down
I will soar with the wings of eagles
When I stop and listen to the sound of Jesus
Singing over me

I will choose to listen and believe the voice of truth

Faith

What If You Choose?

Posted on September 5, 2015 by Ramona Levacy Billingslea

What does faith look like?

I don’t think we really know what faith looks like in ourselves until we are faced with the kinds of challenges we least want to face. Perhaps, this truth is why Paul tells the Romans:

And not only this, but we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance; and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope; and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us. (Romans 5:3-5)

Challenging times are the reason why living as much like Christ as possible even during regular times is so important. The more your Christianity is a way of life, the less likely you will allow stressful times to direct you away from God.

I have been paying particular attention to the ways that other people with challenging times handle them lately because I am personally juggling so many things. Those Christians I’ve observed who seem to stay close to Christ during hard times share a unique trait. They have the distinct ability to choose to love Christ and follow His ways, no matter how many bad things happen to them. Here are three examples of this choosing ability:

The author, Charles Martin, on blogging about his natural fears about his dad’s serious cancer diagnosis, concluded, “Lord, the promise of Your Word is truer than my fear.” Instead of blaming God for his dad’s illness or giving in to doubt, Martin reminds himself that the Bible is full of promises that God has our back, even when we are at our lowest point. God promises us peace, a burden that is light, and to keep our paths straight. David writes, “For he will hide me in his shelter in the day of trouble; he will conceal me under the cover of his tent; he will lift me high upon a rock” (Psalm 27:5).
A young woman of my acquaintance who is a generation younger than I am has been teaching me quite a few lessons about choosing lately as she shares her challenges about the divorce her husband insists on getting from her. One day, she talked about how low she had been feeling earlier in the day. The only way she was able to lift her mood was to remind herself that she had joy in Christ to claim that she was not going to let Satan steal from her. I was profoundly moved by this attitude that shows such a spiritual maturity. So many times, I forget to claim the joy that is believing in Christ because I am busy worrying. My young friend’s reminder that the devil is a real person who takes every opportunity to get between me and God was a strong lesson in the power of our ability and need to choose.
Finally, a good friend said to me the other day that “sometimes you just have to adopt a Pollyanna attitude.” As a Christian, that means I need to embrace the promise God makes to work all things to the good for those who believe in Him (Romans 8:28). Every time I have a negative or worrying thought, I can choose to stop myself and believe instead that God will help me through whatever happens to me. I cannot expect to live a life without challenges, but if I choose to look at those challenges with a positive attitude, I am that much closer to persevering and feeling the love of God.

Choosing to believe that God loves me is what it means to walk by faith. But that choosing isn’t just a one-time thing. I have to make choices every day, from moment to moment, about how I will think and what I will do that will keep me close to God, which means grabbing the peace that is the promise of Christ.

Category: Faith

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