Notes of Faith May 21, 2023

Notes of Faith May 21, 2023

Why Boys Don’t Wrestle Girls

Article by Trent Rogers

Professor, Cedarville University

In my son’s first wrestling tournament, he was dominant. His preparation and good coaching were evident, as he pinned every opponent and won every match — that is, with one exception: a forfeiture.

The brackets were established by dividing the wrestlers on the basis of weight and age, with even some consideration given to experience. But one criterion considered inconsequential or nonexistent was that of biological sex. So, when my son was assigned to wrestle a girl, he forfeited the match. My wife and I had determined this course of action before the occasion arose. Even though, in the moment, my heart was inclined just to let him wrestle her, I gently explained to my young and highly competitive son why the nobler course of action was forfeiture.

Since that time, I have been burdened to explain my rationale to other brothers and sisters who might be facing some of the same pressures. In a world that is very confused regarding gender, sex, athletics, and fairness, I want to share the reasons I gave my son for why boys don’t wrestle against girls. Ultimately, it’s not because we think less of girls or their ability — it’s because we are committed to a way of life that honors women and seeks to develop reflexes of protection rather than dominance.

Because Boys and Girls Are Different

Though controversial these days, the truth that boys and girls are different is on the very first pages of Genesis, and that assumption runs throughout the Bible. Yes, boys and girls are equally made in the image of God (Genesis 1:27) and equally in need of salvation in Jesus Christ (Romans 3:23–25; Galatians 3:28). That equality, however, does not erase the fundamental created distinctions between boys and girls.

I don’t think most parents who allow their girls to wrestle boys have erased the idea of sexual differences in their minds. They know that girls are different from boys. But some parents seem to have subtly bought into and thus propagated the modern lie that “you can be anything that you want to be.” Against this claim, we assert, “In the image of God he created him; male and female he created them” (Genesis 1:27).

Because Boys Should Relate Differently to Girls

Scripture and biology make the physical differences between boys and girls obvious. Less obvious — and sometimes less convenient — are the distinct ways we should relate to one another as a consequence of our sex. Some Christians acknowledge the seemingly undeniable differences between boys and girls, but then they hesitate to extend those distinctions into actions and relationships. While it might raise the ire of many, I am teaching my son (and my daughters) that God created them to relate differently to the opposite sex.

At the wrestling meet, another father shared the advice he gave to his son in preparation for wrestling a girl: “Son, you can’t treat her like a girl. You’ve got to think of her like a boy, and go out there and be aggressive.” I don’t think this father was operating from ill will or a deliberate attempt to deny distinctions of sex, but his advice illustrates the problem of confusing those distinctions. He counseled his son to act contrary to reality, as if the girl were someone she is not. He counseled his son to unthink his right understanding of sex distinctions.

As Christians, we know that male and female are more than just a box checked on a birth certificate or marriage license. In God’s wisdom, he created differences of sex to be relational in nature, helping us to interact with one another rightly. But what are some of those distinctions in relationships?

Because Boys Should Honor and Protect Girls

A commonly implied and often explicit command in Scripture is for men to honor and protect women in their spheres, beginning with the family (Ephesians 5:25–33) and extending to the nation (Joshua 1:14). Abraham’s cowardice is on display when he exploits his wife rather than protecting her. To some degree, his sin of deception pales in comparison to his abandonment of protection. Shockingly, Isaac repeats this abandonment a generation later. In contrast, the men of Israel march off to war to protect their nation and families. It would have been unthinkable for them to send their wives, sisters, and daughters into battle.

“When we deny the distinctions between boys and girls, we exploit rather than protect women.”

The disposition to protect is both ingrained and nurtured in our sons’ minds and actions. They need our help to cultivate the mature manhood that calls them to prize and honor the women they encounter. When we deny the distinctions between boys and girls, we exploit rather than protect women.

Many people today wave the yellow flag that acknowledging any difference between boys and girls will lead to girls being mistreated and oppressed. The assumption is that acknowledging differences undermines equality. On the contrary, I am teaching my son that a boy’s physical strength is not for dominating a girl, but rather for protecting her. In fact, this emphasis seems truly countercultural in an environment rampant with abuse: one’s strength is for elevating, not suppressing, others.

Wrestling with Objections

When I went to the scorer’s table to report that my son would be forfeiting the match, I anticipated some anger and frustration. What surprised me was the surprise. Those at the table were puzzled, as if they thought, Haven’t we moved beyond that? Then the objections started flowing.

But they are prepubescent kids.

My argument is not primarily about sexual arousal, although that would strengthen my position as kids mature. My argument is about a fundamental created distinction and a biblical call to treat women with dignity and honor. The need to instill appropriate patterns of relationship does not begin at puberty, although it does become more obvious at that stage.

What about other sports?

The position I’m describing does have implications for other sports, but perhaps we could recognize a few clear distinctions. There is a difference between the physical dominance expressed in wrestling and racing someone to the finish line in track. The expression of physical dominance and the danger to the other contestant are not present in track. So I might not object as strongly to some co-ed athletics.

But your son is the one who loses, not you.

“My goal is to train my son to stand with conviction, even when it’s costly.”

It is true and regrettable that my son is the one who has the loss on his record, and his peers might look at him differently. But my goal is to train my son to stand with conviction, even when it’s costly. While he’s still in our home, I can gently shepherd, comfort, and train him for the larger sacrifices that will inevitably come his way.

Prizing Honor Over Victory

I do not intend to come across as judgmental toward parents who would allow their girls to wrestle boys or their boys to wrestle girls. I simply want to call us all to live in light of Scripture. As Christian parents, we cannot affirm the erosion of distinctions between boys and girls. We must not teach our daughters that it is normal to be subdued by a boy, nor teach our boys that it is normal to subdue a girl.

Rather, we should affirm God’s good purposes by teaching that he created humans in his image, either male or female, and his design has implications for how we relate to one another. I think most parents who register their girls to wrestle boys are acting with a genuine desire for their girls’ good, but they have a flawed and misguided sense of good. In that sense, their actions and consciences need to be recalibrated in line with biblical authority.

So, what might we say to our sons for why boys don’t wrestle girls? “We don’t wrestle girls because God calls men to honor and protect women, and I am raising you to be a man. Yes, it will cost you to act with conviction. And I am so thankful that I get to walk alongside you as you grow into manhood.”

It is easy to believe how we have come to tolerate, accept, and proclaim that men and women are equal. It is sad that so many make no distinction in the roles God designed and assigned for men and women. Attempting to identify as one or the other that one is not, does not make it so, nor is it right in the eyes of God who created them. Let us live to serve God and love others the way that God created us to be, male and female, He created them. Girls can win, not only at wrestling, but in many if not all other sports, but they were not designed by God to do so, and could be endangered, (as the weaker vessel), in physical competition. Hold to your convictions of the truth, that men and women are created different!

Pastor Dale

Notes of Faith May 20, 2023

Notes of Faith May 20, 2023

Chairs in the Tide

All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by His grace as a gift. — Romans 3:23-24 ESV

Have you ever placed your chair on the beach right on the ocean’s rim? It may be the most relaxing spot on shore. The chair legs sink into the wet sand so that you are completely stationary. Leaning back and lying still, feeling the breeze, you unwind as the waves come up and cool your feet as the tide tickles your toes. This is what vacations are made of.

When we receive the grace of God, it’s like taking a vacation for our soul.

When we receive the grace of God, it’s like taking a vacation for our soul. In a world where we are conditioned, educated, and trained on how to work for a living for food, entertainment, and daily needs, it’s easy to translate this work mentality to church and faith. Surely we must work as hard, if not harder, to be good and righteous enough for God, to get to partake in His gifts, peace, and promises. No wonder, when we fail in these attempts, that we feel defeated, maybe even angry or depressed: we didn’t hit the mark.

The Bible assures us that no one has hit the mark, but goodness and righteousness have already been attained for us. We are justified, made right, brought up to heavenly standards as a gift freely given by Jesus. Our souls can sit in beach chairs by the tide, lean back, and soak up the warmth of God’s radiant love. The ocean waves wash our feet just as Jesus washes us.

Jesus, my soul needs a vacation from striving toward unrealistic standards. Sit me by Your cleansing waters and help me receive Your goodness freely.

Excerpted from Devotions from the Beach, copyright Thomas Nelson.

I have never done the beach chair by the water’s edge. I prefer being among the trees of the forest but do get the same sense of peace from God. What an incredible free gift of God! Wherever you find your peaceful gift from God, go there often, even if it is just in your mind. You will find His grace is more than sufficient for all your needs. Give thanks today for His mercy and grace that He freely gives!

Pastor Dale

Notes of Faith May 19, 2023

Notes of Faith May 19, 2023

Old Lies, New Truth

Winning the War in Your Mind

If we are going to demolish our strongholds, we have to recognize the power that lies have over us.

Are you also a prisoner, missing out on the life you want but believe you can never have? You crave close relationships but are paralyzed by the fear of rejection. You want to try something new but assume you are destined to fail. You long to be debt free and give generously but feel certain that could never be you. You dream of losing weight and exercising but feel resigned to fail yet again. You want to change but think you never can.

Why?

You are constrained by a lie, something that doesn’t exist. The Enemy has arranged enough hurtful circumstances, in key places of your life, in which you got just enough jolt — a bit of a shock, a sting of pain to your heart — that you have decided trying even one more time is just not worth the risk. What makes it worse is that the number of places where you have stopped trying is growing ever larger.

The greatest weapon in Satan’s arsenal is the lie.

Perhaps his only weapon is the lie. The first glimpse we have of the devil in the Bible, we see him deceiving Adam and Eve in the garden. He created doubt in Eve’s mind by asking her,

“Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”

The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’”

“You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman.

“For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” — Genesis 3:1–5

What Satan did in the garden back then is the exact same thing he will attempt to do in your life today.

In 2 Corinthians 11:3, our thoughtology professor Paul said,

I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent’s cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ.

The greatest weapon in Satan’s arsenal is the lie.

Satan will whisper accusing questions and deceptive statements. He schemes to twist your mind, because if he can, he then

diverts you from your purpose,

distracts you from God’s voice,

destroys your potential.

If he can get you to believe a lie, your life will be affected as if that lie were true.

Unfortunately, Satan’s lies are easy to believe. Why? Part of the reason is that because of sin, we have a flawed internal lie detector. God warned us:

“The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure” (Jeremiah 17:9).

“There is a way that appears to be right, but in the end it leads to death” (Proverbs 14:12).

That’s definitely the problem, so what’s our solution? How do we access God’s power to stop Satan’s lies? How can we demolish his strongholds in our lives?

If Satan’s primary weapon is lies, then our greatest counter-weapon is the truth of God’s Word.

Not just reading the Bible but learning to wield Scripture as a divine weapon. God wants us to view His Word that way. See how Hebrews 4:12 offers a direct solution to the warning of Jeremiah 17:9:

The word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.

In Ephesians 6:17, Paul’s legendary armor of God passage, the Word of God is called “the sword of the Spirit.” God’s Word was the first weapon I learned to use to remove lies and replace them with truth, changing both my thinking and my life.

Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. — Romans 12:2

The second half of that sentence is in the passive voice, meaning it is not something we do but instead something that is done to us. The good news is that God is ready to renew our minds by leading us to “a knowledge of the truth” (2 Timothy 2:25). Why? So we can “come to [our] senses and escape from the trap of the devil, who has taken [us] captive to do his will” (2 Timothy 2:26). “Then,” as Jesus said, “[we] will know the truth, and the truth will set [us] free” (John 8:32).

Excerpted from Winning the War in Your Mind by Craig Groeschel, copyright Craig Groeschel.

We would like to think that everyone would share only truth with us and that we should believe them. That is until they prove themselves to be a liar… No, I think most of us have been hurt by the sin nature of others so that we are likely to trust no one. Trust is earned. Lying is assumed. Sad, but true. Let us sincerely renew our minds with the Word of God and use it to not only transform our lives but the lives of others God brings into our sphere of influence.

Pastor Dale

Notes of Faith May 18, 2023

Notes of Faith May 18, 2023

It’s Going to Turn Out All Right

Calm Moments for Anxious Days

These are anxious days. There's no denying it. Well-loved for his compassion and empathy, Pastor Max Lucado speaks straight to the anxious heart and shares biblical wisdom for stress, depression, and worries. Enjoy this excerpt of Calm Moments for Anxious Days!

“Don’t be afraid,” he said. “Take courage. I am here!” — Matthew 14:27 NLT

God’s call to courage is not a call to naïveté or ignorance. We aren’t to be oblivious to the overwhelming challenges that life brings.

We must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away from it. — Hebrews 2:1 NASB

Do whatever it takes to keep your gaze on Jesus.

When a friend of mine spent several days in the hospital at the bedside of her husband, she relied on hymns to keep her spirits up. Every few minutes, she stepped into the restroom and sang a few verses of “Great Is Thy Faithfulness.” Do likewise! Memorize Scripture. Read biographies of great lives. Ponder the testimonies of faithful Christians. Make the deliberate decision to set your hope on him.

As followers of God, you and I have a huge asset. We know everything is going to turn out all right. Christ hasn’t budged from his throne, and Romans 8:28 hasn’t evaporated from the Bible. Our problems have always been his possibilities.

Feed your fears, and your faith will starve. Feed your faith, and your fears will.

We know everything is going to turn out all right. That’s the promise of Romans 8:28. But it’s hard to remember when all the possibilities of what could go wrong are swirling around us. When fear is plentiful, let’s fix our gaze on Jesus and remember this:

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

God’s Promise to Me

The Lord is in control. He knows how it all turns out. And He promised it will be for my good. He will give me the courage to keep going and the hope to hold on.

Believe He Can

Don’t be afraid; just believe. — Mark 5:36

The presence of fear does not mean you have no faith. Fear visits everyone. Even Christ was afraid (Mark 14:33). But make your fear a visitor and not a resident. Hasn’t fear taken enough? Enough smiles? Chuckles? Restful nights, exuberant days? Meet your fears with faith.

Do what my father urged my brother and me to do. Summertime for the Lucado family always involved a trip from West Texas to the Rocky Mountains. (Think Purgatory to Paradise.) My dad loved to fish for trout on the edge of the white-water rivers. Yet he knew that the currents were dangerous and his sons could be careless. Upon arrival we’d scout out the safe places to cross the river. He’d walk us down the bank until we found a line of stable rocks. He was even known to add one or two to compensate for our short strides.

As we watched, he’d test the stones, knowing if they held him, they’d hold us. Once on the other side, he’d signal for us to follow.

“Don’t be afraid,” he could have said. “Trust me.”

We children never needed coaxing. But we adults often do. Does a river of fear run between you and Jesus? Cross over to Him.

Believe He can. Believe He cares.

Does the path ahead look uncertain, even frightening? Maybe this image will help. When a father leads his four-year-old son down a crowded street, he takes him by the hand and says, “Hold on to me.” He doesn’t say, “Memorize the map.” Or, “Take your chances dodging the traffic.” Or, “Let’s see if you can find your way home.” The good father gives the child one responsibility: “Hold on to my hand.” When fears threaten your faith, remember this:

My Scripture of Hope

You go before me and follow me. You place Your hand of blessing on my head. — Psalm 139:5 NLT

God’s Promise to Me

I don’t have to live afraid. Because God cares. He holds my hands and leads me safely to Him.

Excerpted from Calm Moments for Anxious Days by Max Lucado, copyright Max Lucado.

The peace that I experience every day comes from the words of Jesus…”I will never leave or forsake you. He is with me, in and through all things! And you too!

Pastor Dale

Notes of Faith May 17, 2023

Notes of Faith May 17, 2023

The Spiritual Discernment of Signs and Seasons

The message of Lamb & Lion Ministries is: “Jesus is Returning Soon!” All of our outreach can be boiled down to that singular message. Most people who believe Jesus is coming again share one common question: When?

Can We Know the Timing?

Is there anything we can know about the return of the Lord Jesus Christ?

If you had asked me that question years ago, I would have said, “No, absolutely not! There is not one thing you can ever know about the Second Coming of Jesus Christ.” But after over 45 years of intensive study of Bible prophecy, I’ve come to a different conclusion. When people ask me now, “Can we know when Jesus will return?” my answer is, “Yes and No.” No, we cannot know the date. Yes, we can know the season.

Now, when I say we cannot know the date that Jesus will return, I mean that with all my heart. The Bible makes it crystal clear we cannot know the date. In Matthew 24:36 Jesus Himself said, “of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone.” We simply cannot know the date. Unfortunately, there are a lot of sincere people who are setting dates. I do not doubt their sincerity, but they are sincerely deceived.

Why Date-Setting Is So Dangerous

You see, Satan loves date setters because they bring discredit to Bible prophecy. You know how it works. Somebody sets a date. People get their hopes focused on that date rather than on their Savior, Jesus Christ. They become obsessed and run around all over the place talking incessantly about the date. The press picks up on the story and focuses in on the date. Then, the date comes and passes, and scoffers heap ridicule on those who believed in the date. The individuals who put their faith in that date are embarrassed, and they become embittered. They say to themselves, “I’ll tell you one thing, I’ll never do that again!” Then, when a responsible prophecy teacher comes along and says, “I don’t know the date, but I do know Jesus is coming soon,” they say, “Oh sure, I’ve heard that nonsense before,” and they refuse to listen. They close their minds to God’s prophetic word. And Satan loves it.

The closer we get to the Rapture, the more of these date-setters Satan is going to deceive. The effect will be like the person who constantly yells, “The wolf is coming, the wolf is coming, the wolf is coming!” Although the false messenger continues to shout a warning, people grow frustrated and decide to ignore the message. And then the wolf comes.

So, while we cannot know the date Jesus is coming, we can know the season of the Lord’s return.

We Can Know the Season

One of the most important Scripture passages that proves we can know the season of the Lord’s return is in Paul’s letter to the Thessalonian church. In 1 Thessalonians 5:1-2 he wrote, “Now as to the times and seasons, brethren, you have no need of anything to be written to you. For you yourselves know full well that the day of the Lord will come just like a thief in the night.”

Notice that for most of the world, Jesus’ coming will be “like a thief in the night!” Verse 3 says it will occur while people are saying, “Peace and safety!” At that time, Paul says, “Destruction will come upon them suddenly like birth pangs upon a woman with child, and they shall not escape.”

But too many Christians stop reading at verse 3 and never get to the fundamental point found in verse 4. Underline that crucial verse in your Bible. Don’t ever forget it. The verse proves beyond a doubt that you and I can know the season of the Lord’s return. First Thessalonians 5:4 says, “But you brethren, believers, are not in darkness, that the day should overtake you like a thief; for you are sons of light and sons of day. We are not of night nor of darkness; so then let us not sleep as others do, but let us be alert and sober.”

Now, what does that verse tell us? Paul is saying Jesus is coming like a thief in the night. But not for the brethren, not for Christians. He’s coming like a thief in the night for the world. He’s coming like a thief in the night for pagans. He’s coming like a thief in the night for those professing Christians who do not have any personal relationship with Him, who have never really been born again, and who refuse to believe and study the Word of God.

What do you think Paul means when he says, “We are sons of light and not of darkness”? I think what He’s referring to is the fact that if you are truly a born-again child of God, you have the Holy Spirit residing inside of you. The Holy Spirit is the Person of God who inspired the Bible. So if you lean on the Holy Spirit, He will illuminate your mind and heart, opening your spiritual eyes to understand the mysteries of God’s Word — including the season of the Lord’s return. And so the Bible says point blank, Jesus is not coming as a “thief in the night” for those who know Him and those who love Him.

There’s a similar passage in Hebrews 10:25: “Do not forsake our assembling together as is the habit of some, but encourage one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near.” What day? The day of judgment mentioned in verse 27 — the day when the Lord will return. It is the day referred to in verse 31 where we are warned that it is a “terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God.” Note again verse 25 where it says that we are to encourage one another “as we see the day drawing near.” That means we can tell something about the season in which we’re living. It means we don’t have to be totally ignorant about the timing of the Lord’s return.

Looking Forward to the Blessed Hope

The point again is that, no, we cannot know the date; but if we exercise the spiritual discernment God’s Word tells Christians we should have, then, yes, we can know the season.

My friends, Jesus is coming soon, which is why every day I cry from the depths of my heart, “Maranatha!” Come quickly, Lord Jesus!

Live like Jesus is returning today! Focus your hope on Jesus, not a date!

Pastor Dale

Notes of Faith May 16, 2023

Notes of Faith May 16, 2023

Where are you in your faith? Where are you in your walk with the Lord? Have you been baptized? Did your baptism really symbolize the death of your old person? The identification with Jesus’ death? And did you come out of the water with the power of His resurrection? Are you a new creation in Christ? Do you know the word of God, so once you enter into your promised land, and when temptation is around the corner, you can resist it and be strong? It’s time for you to cross the Jordan of your life. It’s time for you to have that major step of faith into the water, into the unknown sometimes, knowing that God is there to take care of you. It’s time for you to leave the mentality of bondage, fear, and slavery behind, and enter your promised land. It’s time for you to get ready, to know that temptation is around the corner, but to be grounded in the word.

Are You A New Creation?

If a list was to be compiled of “life verses” submitted by Christians from around the world, some would comprise a top ten list of favorites.

2 Corinthians 5:17

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.

Galatians 2:20

I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.

Philippians 4:13

I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. This trio of pinnacle verses would almost certainly be among them, as well as a myriad of others. There is one verse, however, that may not make the list of familiar favorites, but captures the essence of all that we do.

2 Peter 1:2-4

Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

Verse 3 reminds us that we have been given, through His divine power, all things that pertain to life and godliness. That means we have been given the power through Christ to put the past behind us. We have been given the power through Christ to live a crucified life. We have also been given the power through Christ to do all things, including resist temptation.

1 Corinthians 10:13

No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.

In spite of these magnificent truths, there are many Christians who are waiting for or asking God for what He has already give them. Some pray, “Lord, help me break free from my past”, when He’s already given them the power to do so. Others pray, “Lord, help be get free from this addiction or bad habit.” Yet, He says through Peter, “I already gave you that power.”

It is also true that even with some of the familiar “life verses”, we overcomplicate them by overlooking the simple and waiting for the sensational. 1 Corinthians 10:13 does not say that the way of escape from temptation will have flashing lights and clanging cymbals to identify it as God’s way of escape. The way of escape might be as simple as “don’t go to this or that” or “you should leave as soon as you realize temptation is present.” For those who see the famed passage of Philippians mentioned above as a banner to hang over their lives, they need to make sure they read verse 12 which sets the context for it.

Philippians 4:12

I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need.

If we read into Philippians 4:13 that we can successfully do anything we want through Christ, we are going to be disappointed. If we see it, however, as saying that we can face anything that comes our way through Christ strengthening us, then we will experience the true meaning of the verse and realize this is one of the “all things that pertain to life and godliness” that His divine power has given us.

When you were baptized, you were publicly stating that the old you is dead and you are now a new creation in Christ. You have already been given the power to be the new you. The past cannot hold or control you. The future has now become certain, rather than obscure, and God has given you the power to live for Him in the present.

Remember when Israel was ready to cross over to the land of promise and they came to the Jordan during flood season? (Joshua 3 is where you’ll find the story) It wasn’t until the priests, who carried the Ark of the Covenant, had their feet in the water that they saw what God had already planned to do.

Maybe it’s time for some to get their feet wet and start walking in what God has already done for you. Step out in faith in the things He is leading you to do remembering that He didn’t build a bridge across the Red Sea or the Jordan River. Sometimes, He just makes the waters part or stand up in a heap because His children took a step of faith.

Today is the day to walk by faith and not by sight. Remember, one day we’ll walk by sight and not by faith. One day we will see Him face to face and forever be with the Lord.

Even so, come quickly, Lord Jesus,

Please think about reading “Has the Tribulation Begun” by Amir Tsarfati. The preceding is a devotional he wrote and his book is fantastic. We are living an exciting journey, but no, we are not there yet!

Pastor Dale

Notes of Faith May 15, 2023

Notes of Faith May 15, 2023

How to Handle and Express Our Disappointment with God

It is rightly said that God wants an honest, authentic, sincere relationship with us.

Paul goes so far as to say that this is one of the major, if not the major, goals of his discipleship ministry and teaching:

The goal of this command is love, which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. — 1 Timothy 1:5, emphasis mine

And the author of Hebrews reminds us that when we approach God,

let us draw near to God with a sincere heart. — Hebrews 10:22

This only makes sense because we can’t fake God out. After all,

the Lord searches every heart and understands every desire and every thought.

— 1 Chronicles 28:9

This means that if we are angry or disappointed with God, we should tell Him. Such prayers from the Old Testament have come to be called “laments,” which are passionate expressions of grief, sorrow, regret, or disappointment.

To lament is to wail, moan, cry, or sob; to offer a complaint (a statement that a situation is unsatisfactory or unacceptable, often expressed in anger or confusion).

Here is an example of a lament from the Old Testament prophet Habakkuk:

How long, Lord, must I call for help, but You do not listen? Or cry out to You, “Violence!” but You do not save. Why do You make me look at injustice? Why do You tolerate wrongdoing? Destruction and violence are before me; there is strife, and conflict abounds. Therefore the law is paralyzed, and justice never prevails. The wicked hem in the righteous, so that justice is perverted. — Habakkuk 1:2-4 (cf. Lamentations 3:1-18)

Out of 150 psalms, 48 are individual laments, and 16 are corporate laments (for a total of 64). There are 15 psalms of trust, 20 of praise, and 13 of wisdom. Remember, the book of Psalms was the hymnbook for ancient Israel, and 43 percent of their congregational singing proved to be complaints and expressions of sadness and disappointment with God!1

Why is this true? The Jewish worshipers wanted to approach God with sincere hearts, and they experienced a fundamental problem: God does not seem to keep His covenant (Psalm 44:17-26; cf. 89:34) or His promises (Psalm 9:9-10: “The Lord is a refuge for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble. Those who know Your name trust in You, for You, Lord, have never forsaken those who seek You”; see also Psalm 89).

God saved in the past but seems not to in the present, so perhaps He is arbitrary, fickle, and unfair (see Psalm 44), or maybe He is absent, indifferent, aloof, and far away (see Psalm 10:1; Psalm 77:7-9). He does not always answer when we call out to Him (see Psalm 22:3-6; Psalm 39:12; note that Psalms 39 and Psalm 88 are two of the saddest psalms in the Psalter because they end with no response from God, no hope, no resolution).

Many times God does not say how long the psalmist’s suffering will last (see Psalm 13:1-4; Psalm 35:17). Sometimes the psalmist claims that God has become an enemy (see Psalm 88:8-9; cf. Lamentations 3:1-18, esp. Lamentations 3:10: “like a bear lying in wait, like a lion in hiding”). These apparent features of God often become more of a struggle than our original source of pain. If we can’t go to God and get help, we are in far deeper trouble than from our original suffering. Our problems raise crucial life-and-death questions:

Why should I trust God in the first place, and if I do, what does it actually mean to trust God? What can I expect from Him? How can I claim His explicit promises that He Himself seems to contradict and on which He has reneged?

To get a feel for the various kinds of issues that provoked God’s children to cry out to (or against!) Him in lament, I urge you to take your time and read carefully the different psalms below. You may want to mark the ones that especially touch you, and if relevant, use them as beginning points for your own times of expressing lament to God.

Laments are the shadow side of faith. It is precisely because we take God seriously and desire to grow in faith and in our relationship with Him that we engage in honest lament.

Types of Lament Prayers

A cry of pain (Psalm 80:4-7)

A cry of anger (Psalm 44:11-13, Psalm 44:17-26)

A cry of complaint (Psalm 6 and Psalm 13)

A cry of argument — sometimes with and sometimes against God (Psalm 22; Psalm 35; Psalm 39; Psalm 42; Psalm 43; Psalm 74; Psalm 88; Psalm 90;

Psalm 102)

Look at the mocking tone of Psalm 74:11:

Why do You [Lord] hold back Your hand, Your right hand? Take it from the folds of Your garment and destroy [our enemy].

Psalm 90:13 (NASB) even enjoins God to repent:

Do return, O Lord; how long will it be? And be sorry for [the NASB footnote reads, “Or repent in regard to] Your servants.

These psalms present what Old Testament scholars call a “rîb-pattern” — a legal-type brief consisting of a carefully thought-out, reasoned case against God.

This sort of prayer finds precedent in various places in the Old Testament. For example, before Jeremiah offers a reasoned argument in prayer to persuade God to act on his behalf, he begins,

You are always righteous, Lord, when I bring a case [rîb] before you.

— Jeremiah 12:1

Elsewhere, Jeremiah does the same thing:

To you I have committed my cause [rîb]. — Jeremiah 20:12

Indeed, God actually invited his people to do this:

‘Present your case [rîb],’ says the Lord says. ‘Set forth your arguments’.

— Isaiah 41:21

Terms related to rîb are mishpat (“I would state my case [mishpat] before Him and fill my mouth with arguments” [Job 23:4]) and yakakh (“‘Come now, and let us reason (yakakh — reason, argue, adjudicate) together,’ says the Lord” [Isaiah 1:18 NASB]).

Lament’s Theological Convictions

We can feel the raw emotions dripping off each of these passages of lament. Now, obviously, when we are angry at God and express disappointment to Him for appearing to fail us in one way or another, the hope is that a time will come when we realize that God is not the fickle culprit we thought He was. But the best way to get to that point is to be honest and start with where we really are, even if it’s the place expressed in these psalms.

Expressing to God our honest feelings and beliefs is a good way to get things off our chest, stop stuffing our feelings, release anxiety, and begin a path toward a more intimate relationship with God.

Clearly, the fact that God’s people felt the freedom to express things to God like the ones we’ve just examined is based on foundational theological convictions. Here are some of them:

At the end of the day, God is indeed faithful, trustworthy, and caring, and He is a God who honors His promises (see Psalm 9:9-10).

God wants us to speak honestly with Him and not pretend we’re at a place that He knows we’re really not at (see Jeremiah 12:1; Jeremiah 20:12).

God listens to and responds to reasonable points we make. He can be reasoned with (see Genesis 18:20–33; Isaiah 1:18).

God can and sometimes is willing to change (see Psalm 6:4-5; Psalm 80:14; Psalm 90:13; cf. Genesis 6:6; Jeremiah 18:7-10).

I’d add a few New Testament considerations: (1) Our question is Peter’s question:

Lord, to whom shall we go? — John 6:68

(2) God will not allow us to suffer more or longer than we can bear, so when we ask God “How much longer?” we are on solid ground.

(3) God sees and has a bigger purpose than we do (see Acts 4:23-30).

Laments are the shadow side of faith. It is precisely because we take God seriously and desire to grow in faith and in our relationship with him that we engage in honest lament.

If we were indifferent to God, we wouldn’t waste our time with lament.

All these convictions raise some final questions:

How can we deal with disappointment with God?

If we seek to retain high faith expectations regarding God, won’t that just make us vulnerable to further disappointment and disillusionment?

If we lower our faith expectations, doesn’t something die inside us?

And is there a difference between hope and expectation?

If so, what is that difference, and is it desirable to concentrate on retaining one and letting the other go when faced with disappointment with God?

Maintaining a biblically based worldview, a larger perspective on life as to its meaning and purpose, can place our struggle with anxiety or depression in a larger, hopeful perspective. And while God doesn’t want us to be mentally ill, He often does not answer our prayers for relief and healing in the way we desire. Thus, it is important to learn how to express honestly and authentically our feelings and attitudes toward God in these times. There is biblical precedent for this, so we can go ahead and be honest.

1.For helpful resources on lament prayers in the Bible, see Dan B. Allender and Tremper Longman III, The Cry of the Soul: How Our Emotions Reveal Our Deepest Questions about God (Colorado Springs: NavPress, 1994); Bernhard W. Anderson, Out of the Depths: The Psalms Speak for Us Today (New York: United Methodist Church, 1970); Walter Brueggemann, The Message of the Psalms (Minneapolis: Fortress, 1984); Walter Bruggemann, Spirituality of the Psalms (Minneapolis: Fortress, 2002); Ingvar Fløysvik, When God Becomes My Enemy: The Theology of the Complaint Psalms (St. Louis, MO: Concordia, 1997); Tremper Longman III, How to Read the Psalms (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 1988).

Excerpted from Finding Quiet by J. P. Moreland, copyright J. P. Moreland.

Just get over it. Suck it up. These are not the way to handle the tough times of life. If we are in true relationship with God, we talk to Him about everything. We ask why. We implore Him for understanding. We can be hurt, even angry by what we do not understand and see from God’s perspective. Let us come to the throne of grace with an honest heart (God knows anyway) and share the whys of life with God, that He might give us wisdom and comfort, knowing that He is with us in all things.

Pastor Dale

Notes of Faith May 14, 2023

Notes of Faith May 14, 2023

Love Your Children, Love God More

Lessons from Sarah Edwards

Article by Sharon James

Sarah Edwards (1710–1758), wife of the great theologian and revival preacher Jonathan Edwards, is most often remembered for her lifelong devotion to God. She had experienced God’s grace even as a little girl. At age 16, she confided in her journal that she had been “led to prize nearness to Christ as the creature’s greatest happiness” (Sarah Edwards: Delighting in God, 27).

In addition to being a devoted Christian, Sarah was the mother of eleven children. Having married at the age of 17, she gave birth to her first baby the next year, and had ten more children at more or less two-year intervals until she was 40.

In the eighteenth century, childbirth was still painful and risky. Rates of maternal (and infant) mortality were high. Sarah’s life was in danger at least once during childbirth. We should not romanticize the physical and emotional burden of bearing and raising eleven children.

So how did she respond to the challenges of motherhood? What might her example teach us today?

God-Centered Home

Parsonages in Sarah’s time would have visitors constantly arriving and expecting accommodation. The Edwardses often had guests staying for extended periods. Such visitors consistently testified that theirs was a joyful home. Delight in God characterized daily family worship and everyday life as well.

“Delight in God characterized daily family worship and everyday life as well.”

The Edwards children were trained from the earliest age to obey their parents, but the training was not harsh. Jonathan and Sarah’s descendent Sereno Edwards Dwight included this glowing tribute to Sarah in his Memoir, written in 1830:

She had an excellent way of governing her children: she knew how to make them regard and obey her cheerfully, without loud angry words, much less, heavy blows. She seldom punished them, and in speaking to them used gentle and pleasant words. If any correction was needed, she did not administer it in a passion; and when she had occasion to reprove and rebuke, she would do it in few words, without warmth and noise, and with all calmness and gentleness of mind. (40–41)

The great English revival preacher George Whitefield visited the colonies in 1740 and was invited to preach at Jonathan’s Northampton church. As a guest in the Edwards home, he was impressed by this happy and godly family, and he confided in his journal the prayer that God would supply him with a life partner just like Sarah.

At the same time, neither Jonathan nor Sarah trusted that their parenting would automatically produce Christian children. During Whitefield’s visit, Jonathan asked him to speak about Christ with the older Edwards children (then aged 12, 10, 8, 6, and 4). After this visit, it became apparent that God was working in the lives of Sarah Jr., Jerusha, Esther, and Mary. Jonathan and Sarah were overjoyed. They did not assume the salvation of their children; each needed to experience God’s grace individually.

Ultimately, Sarah’s parenting rested on the truth that God gives the gift of children. So, despite the unremitting demands of nursing, broken sleep, caring for little ones through sickness, and the daily work of training them, Sarah regarded each child as a gift from God. She longed for God to be glorified in each of their lives. And she trusted that, by God’s grace, each would in turn tell of God’s glory to the next generation:

One generation shall commend your works to another,

and shall declare your mighty acts. (Psalm 145:4)

Her Eternal Perspective

Sarah loved her children dearly. But she loved God more. She was confident that whatever happened to them, she could trust in God’s goodness, wisdom, and love. He was working, and would always work, all things for his own glory and for the good of his people (Romans 8:28).

“Sarah loved her children dearly. But she loved God more.”

That assurance deepened in the spring of 1742 during a time of revival in Northampton. Over an intense three-week period, Sarah enjoyed a sustained and intense experience of God’s love. “My safety, and happiness, and eternal enjoyment of God’s immutable love, seemed as durable and unchangeable as God himself,” she testified (66).

Five years later, Sarah’s confidence in God’s goodness would be severely tested. Her second daughter, Jerusha, had helped to care for a visiting missionary, David Brainerd, who was suffering from tuberculosis (a major cause of death at that time). In October 1747, Brainerd died, aged 29. By then, Jerusha had contracted the disease. She died in February 1748, aged just 17. Unusually godly, Jerusha had been regarded as the “flower of the family” (106). Sarah grieved deeply, but she did not question God’s love. Her enduring delight in God was based on her conviction that God is sovereign in all things. She could trust him with the choice of life or death, comfort or pain, for herself and her loved ones.

Through this, and a series of further trials, Sarah was sustained by her eternal perspective. God’s supreme goal is the glory of his Son, and Christ seeks the glory of his Father (1 Corinthians 15:24). The ultimate success of that goal has been secured at the cross. The last enemy, death, has already been defeated (1 Corinthians 15:25–26).

And so, when Sarah’s beloved husband unexpectedly died in 1758, she was able to respond with towering faith:

A holy and good God has covered us with a dark cloud. O that we may kiss the rod, and lay our hands on our mouths! The Lord has done it. He has made me adore his goodness, that we had him [Jonathan] so long. But my God lives; and he has my heart. (115)

Shortly afterward, aged just 48, Sarah faced death herself. She died peacefully, assured that nothing, not even death, can separate the believer from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:38–39).

Every Child a Gift

Sarah Edwards’s assurance that children are a blessing from God stands in stark contrast to today’s society. Many view children as a threat to female fulfillment (and a barrier to the achievement of equal outcomes in the paid workforce). The availability of contraception (often a misnomer for abortifacient medication) often leads to the assumption that we, not God, are in control of when to have children. If a baby is “unplanned,” many claim the “right” to kill their unborn child.

Such is the depravity of a society that has rejected belief in the Creator God. But the consistent biblical teaching is that God is the giver of life. In a fallen sinful world, childbirth and childrearing involves pain and toil, yet even still, children are a blessing.

Conversely, in a society that elevates personal fulfillment over all else, some claim the “right” to have children (with or without a partner). And in churches where, rightly, motherhood is honored, some women see bearing children as the ultimate blessing. They wrongly assume that they cannot be truly fulfilled unless they bear biological children.

But Sarah reminds us that children are a gift, not a right. If God’s glory is our great desire, we will submit to his higher wisdom. He has planned from all eternity the good works he wants us to do (Ephesians 2:10). Christian women may be spiritual mothers, and a blessing to many, whether or not they bear physical children.

Whatever our circumstances, our deepest joy can be found in praising God and seeking his glory. And the testimony of Sarah Edwards can become our own:

The glory of God seemed to be all, and in all, and to swallow up every wish and desire of my heart. (78)

Sharon James works for The Christian Institute and is the author of several books, most recently Sarah Edwards: Delighting in God.

It is not often that we find such dedication, adoration, and trust in the Lord, in our world today. The perspective and focus of most is on the world and their daily circumstances instead of the eternal Creator and Sustainer who is with them in all of those circumstances. Let us seek to be like Sarah Edwards and love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength!

Pastor Dale

Notes of Faith May 13, 2023

Notes of Faith May 13, 2023

When a Tsunami Hits the Heart

The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit. Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all.

– Psalm 34:18-19

As I flipped through television channels this morning at breakfast, I stopped on a news story describing a car accident. A young woman was driving home with her baby strapped into a car seat in the back when, suddenly, an out-of-control tractor-trailer plowed into the back of the car, killing the child on impact. The headline spoke of the “latest heartbreaking local story”.

The tragedy horrified me; the term heartbreaking didn’t sound nearly strong enough.

Perhaps you’ve been there. You have struggled to find words to adequately describe the depth of your own heartbreaking moment.

Heartbroken that your child has wandered away from the faith.

Heartbroken that your husband wants a divorce

Heartbroken that doctors have diagnosed your child with a terminal illness

Somehow, the three-syllable word seems appallingly weak – and doesn’t even begin to touch the pain. That kind of agony changes the landscape of your heart.

Overcome is a strong word that fits well into the vocabulary of the heartbroken. It speaks to something being out of control. As women, we find it hard to accept the reality that we are often powerless. We want to make a difference in a hurtful situation, to do something to help, to protect, to soothe. But times come for all of us when we can do nothing. Nothing at all. And at those dark times, sorrow overcomes us and we feel we won’t survive.

The Letters on My Desk

I have the letters revealing our pain on my desk and on my computer, each one telling another story of heartbreak.

“My husband has left me and our three children. What do I tell them? They are heartbroken.

“My son is in prison. I did everything I knew to do. I raised him in the church. My heart is breaking.”

“My daughter’s cancer has returned. She has gone through so much, and just when we thought she was clear, it’s back. Why does God allow such heartbreak?’

These are devastating questions. The word overcome doesn’t seem to scratch the surface of such primal pain, so we dig deeper.

Overwhelming sorrow or grief > deeply afflicted

Overwhelm: To overspread or crush beneath something violent and weighty that covers or encompasses the whole. To immerse and bear down: in a figurative sense; as to be overwhelmed with cares, afflictions or business. (Websters)

If you have ever walked through a personal storm where you find yourself saying, “I’m not going to make it through this one,” your spirit will resonate with these words:

Overwhelmed

Crushed

Violent grief

The grief component in heartache can lead to terrible isolation. I’ve read that when a couple loses a child, the suffering often acts more like a wedge to drive them apart than a glue to hold them together. That tends to be as true for Christian couples as for those who profess no faith. We all deal with pain in different ways, but when we add prayer and hope and faith to the equation, seemingly to no avail, we can easily allow our sorrow to drive us into our own solitary corners.

One might hope that the place where heartache is understood and honored more than any other would be the community of faith. But I have arrived at a more sobering conclusion:

At times, the Church has no idea how to handle deep grief and heartbreak.

Not long ago I met a woman who had lost a child in a random accident. A few months later she told her Bible study group that on some mornings she honestly didn’t think she could make it. Someone saw her cue and declared, “Just remember this verse: ‘I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength!'”

The grieving woman took a risk and voiced her pain, and instead of being heard and given the space and grace to struggle, she was silenced by a verse that clearly she hadn’t lived up to. And how could she miss the clear implication that if you’re not strong, then you’re not relying on Christ.

How unutterably sad.

God didn’t give us His Word to use like a weapon or some kind of Hallmark card we can pass across the fence and keep some distance.

It is a weapon, but one designed for use against our enemy, not against our sisters. It is meant for encouragement, not for pat answers in the midst of real pain. Just because something is true doesn’t mean you must voice that truth in all circumstances. Shortly before His arrest, Jesus told His grieving disciples, I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear – John 16:12. His followers really needed to hear certain truths – things that would eventually help them – but hearing them at that moment would have crushed their spirits. So Jesus held His peace.

Oh, that we would read and embrace that memo!

Why do we do that? Why do we try to “contain” those who suffer or attempt to “fix” them? Do we think suffering is an embarrassment? Do we feel personally ineffective in our faith if we can’t make the pain go away? Do we think it detracts from the power and goodness of God when one of His daughters limps around wounded?

For whatever reason, heartbreak makes us most uncomfortable.

I have talked to women who have miscarried and heard how others have basically told them to “hurry up and get over it.” People seem to have a better knack for dealing with acute illness than with chronic conditions. Short shelf life, okay. Ongoing situation, not so much.

God has promised that whatever you face, you are not alone.

Bearing Burdens

Scripture speaks very clearly about how believers should respond to overwhelming heartache. Paul wrote the familiar verse,

Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. – Galatians 6:2

Just three verses later he wrote, For each will have to bear his own load.

At first reading, these verses might seem to contradict each other; but a better understanding of the underlying Greek words clears up the problem. The Greek term translated burdens refers to the thing used for carrying a ship’s load. In other words, no one should be expected to carry that huge weight alone. The term rendered load, on the other hand, speaks of the heavy packages we all have to carry at times – uncomfortable, perhaps, but necessary and manageable.

Paul tells us that when someone walks through the kind of heartbreak that feels suffocating, crushing, and overwhelming, the body of Christ must move in to help bear the weight. No one should have to try to carry such a burden alone.

While we might struggle to know how to respond to someone’s outpouring of heartbreak and grief, the Bible is brutally honest about the reality of human heartbreak – so honest I wonder whether we secretly wish to perform a lumpectomy on certain portions of Scripture. These passages feel too raw, too violent, too intense in their description of the storm wreaking havoc on a human soul:

My heart is troubled and restless. Days of suffering torment me. I walk in gloom, without sunlight. I stand in the public square and cry for help. – Job 30:27-28

‘O God my Rock’, I cry, ‘Why have You forgotten me? Why must I wander around in grief, oppressed by my enemies? Their taunts break my bones. They scoff, ‘Where is this God of yours?’ – Psalm 42.9-10

One of the bleakest and most heart wrenching of the psalms sits right in the middle of the book. Many psalms begin with a cry for help, but nearly all transition to a confident belief that God has heard and has answered. Not Psalm 88. It begins and ends in turmoil.

O Lord, God of my salvation, I cry out to You by day. I come to You at night. Now hear my prayer; listen to my cry. For my life is full of troubles, and death draws near. I am as good as dead, like a strong man with no strength left. They have left me among the dead, and I lie like a corpse in the grave. I am forgotten, cut off from your care. You have thrown me into the lowest pit, into the darkest depths. Your anger weighs me down; with wave after wave You have engulfed me.

– Psalm 88:1-7

If you wait for a lighter mood, you will wait for a long time. This is how it ends:

I have been sick and close to death since my youth. I stand helpless and desperate before Your terrors. Your fierce anger has overwhelmed me. Your terrors have paralyzed me. They swirl around me like floodwaters all day long. They have engulfed me completely. You have taken away my companions and loved ones. Darkness is my closest friend. – Psalm 88:15-18

Now, that is bleak.

Why would the Lord include such a dark, depressing song in Scripture? (Yes, it is a song.)

Because there are certain storms in life that bear witness to its truth.

There are times in all our lives when the heartache seems unrelenting. Haven’t you had moments like that? Haven’t you known times when you begged God to intervene, knowing He is powerful enough to change anything; but as far as you could see, He didn’t change anything? I know I have.

I walked through a tough situation in 2012 with some friends who had been like family to me for years – and then we had a parting of ways. I don’t think anyone was to blame. It was simply one of those difficult seasons where we each had to choose which direction to take and allow others to make their own choices. If all that sounds neat and tidy – it wasn’t. When we chose different paths, I found myself grieving for months at the abruptness of the separation.

I had a hard time sleeping at night. I woke up from terrible nightmares. At times it felt as if my heart were being torn in two. At my annual physical, my doctor expressed concern about my heart rate and sent me to a cardiologist. After batches of tests, the doctor told me that while I had a healthy heart, my heart rate had spiraled out of control.

“Have you lost someone close to you recently?” he asked, oblivious to my story. Even though no one had died, my loss felt like a death. I had no idea grief could have such enormous physical ramification. I think that’s what Gabriel Garcia Marquez meant when he wrote, “Your heart and your stomach and your whole insides felt empty and hollow and aching.”

If you have lost someone you love or walked through a divorce, it can feel as though that furiously personal storm destroyed everything that mattered to you, and you wonder how you will survive.

The Deepest Pains of All

As women, we usually find it easier than men to talk about how we feel. But some pains go so deep and feel so personal that no one else can fully understand our heartache. Even the most empathetic of friends or family can only go so far and no further. If you have not visited that particular place, you cannot possibly know the bitterness of that well.

And it’s there, in that place of quiet desperation, that the enemy loves to whisper from his festering cauldron of lies,

“God’s not listening to you.”

“You are all alone!”

“God doesn’t love you.”

“You’re not going to make it through this one!”

Perhaps you’re there right now, barely holding on by a thread. I have been there. I know the dank, bitter smell of that place and how hopeless everything seems. But here’s the truth – and I know you might find this hard to take in right now –

I also know what it feel like to have Christ walk you out of that cave, by the power of His Word and through other women brave enough to tell their stories. I have seen that transformation in countless lives, in women brought to the very edge of themselves. who found strength instead of destruction.

No, it is never a quick path.

But it is a faithful one.

God has promised that whatever you face, you are not alone. He knows your pain. He loves you. And He will bring you through the fire.

Excerpted from The Storm Inside by Sheila Walsh, copyright Sheila Walsh.

Life seemed a lot easier as a child and young adult, but as the years have flown by, life seems a whole lot harder…more grief, pain, and suffering. Even memories of past good times don’t seem as good as they once did. But God . . . in His grace and mercy has promised an abundant, rich, and fulfilled life now, and a glorious one that we could not imagine prepared for those who love Him and are awaiting His return. We need one another! We were made to live in community, family, social structures of towns, states, and nations. We were made to support one another during times of great crisis, disaster, grief, and suffering. We don’t need to try to make it stop, rather be there with one another in the path through the experience. God is always there leading the way through. We can and will be victorious over the devastating things in this life, in the power and strength of Christ and those He has given to come along side in our time of need. Seek out such people…those in need and those that will help in your time of need!

Pastor Dale

Notes of Faith May 12, 2023

Notes of Faith May 12, 2023

Leaving a Legacy

A good person leaves an inheritance for their children’s children…

— Proverbs 13:22

Webster’s Dictionary defines a legacy as “something coming from a predecessor”. Others will remember us by what we leave behind. As I have contemplated my predecessors and what their legacies have been to me, my mother comes quickly to mind.

Besides her sparkling wit, her commitment to world evangelism, her devotion to my father and her fierce loyalty to her children, the legacy that stands out above all else is the legacy of God’s Word. She loved it! She spent hours reading and studying it. At the end of her life, she was still memorizing passages from it. As a result, hers was a life well-lived. Because she didn’t just obey God’s Word, she also increasingly grew passionately in love with the One who is revealed in its pages.

Her legacy is summarized by the inscription she wrote in the flyleaf of the Bible she gave to me on the day I was baptized. It was a navy-blue Scofield King James Version that I treasure to this day. The inscription reads, To Anne, (Who on this January 13, 1957 publicly took her stand for Christ, her Savior). We give you this Book, your one sure guide in an unsure world. Read it, study it, love it, live it. In it you will find a verse for every occasion. Hide them in your heart. We love you. Mother

Her words could have been just inscriptions on a page, except for the fact that I saw them inscribed on her life. Their meaning is her legacy that ripples throughout my own life, my family and my ministry. Sixteen years after she moved to our Father’s House, her legacy is a spiritual inheritance that continues to bless her five children, 19 grandchildren, and over forty great-grandchildren…and beyond.

Which leads me to wonder…

What can I do today to make sure that I leave a rich spiritual inheritance for my children’s children tomorrow? What will be my legacy to those who come after me?

The counsel my mother gave me so long ago is one that has stood for a lifetime --it’s a legacy of faith that will stand. I want it to be my legacy also because it’s a sure foundation for those who come after me. It began for me in the log home of Western North Carolina where I was born and raised.

There's a long one-lane winding road that leads up to that home, the one I now refer to as my father's house. I know every curve, every foot along the way because when I was a child I was schooled down in the Valley. So I walked down this mountain every morning, and I walked back up this mountain every afternoon, five days a week.

But later in life when I moved away and had my own family, I would return to visit my parents in that same house. If I arrived after dark my mother would keep the light on near the driveway to let me know I was expected, and I was welcomed.

This home has always been a place where I felt welcomed, unconditionally loved, accepted, safe and comforted.

But the home is quite different today than it was during my childhood. All the sights and sounds of family activity are no longer here, because like many family homes - children grow up, move out, parents age and eventually pass on. And our homes can eventually become an empty shell.

What lives on is the eternal truth that was taught to me as a child. All the lessons I learned. Some were spoken, some were observed, some good, some difficult. Those were the truths that as a parent I sought to pass on to my children…and now my grandchildren… by my own words and by my example.

What are you passing on that has eternal value?