Integrity - The Essence Of Character

We’ve just completed Volume XIV Issue 2 of Enriching Your Quiet Time Magazine. The title of this edition is Integrity - The Essence Of Character. May you be encouraged with the articles and retreat with the Lord. God bless you. (Just click on the cover page to open in your internet browser). Enjoy!

Day 65: Jesus, You Perfect My Faith

Have you ever wondered about God’s purposes in the midst of a flurry of fiery trials? I’m about six months into my “Jesus Year.” The last six months have been some of the most difficult days I’ve endured. Today in my quiet time, the Lord took me to Hebrews 12:2 and showed me that He not only authors my faith, He perfects it. The word for “perfect” here is teleiotes from teleios and is “one who brings something through to the goal so as to win and receive the prize.” I love this picture of Jesus as my champion who enables me to win.

So how is our faith perfected? I believe we are best brought to a winning faith through suffering (see Hebrews 2:9-10). In the darkness of trials, we learn to look to the Lord, grab hold of His promises, and live in the light of His Word. Then, we practice that “hope against hope” kind of faith known to Abraham (see Romans 4), the ability to walk with an eternal perspective in the temporal storms of life. We live out the truth of Romans 15:4, persevering and hoping in the encouragement of one verse of Scripture after another. We exercise faith, believing that “He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him” (Hebrews 11:6).

Mrs. Charles Cowman in Streams In The Desert quotes from Spurgeon today: “Faith is the telegraphic wire which links earth to Heaven, on which God’s messages of love fly so fast that before we call He answers, and while we are yet speaking He hears us…Am I in trouble? I can obtain help for trouble by faith. Am I beaten about by the enemy? My soul on her dear Refuge leans by faith…” Mrs. Cowman continues: “Faith honors God; God honors faith.”

Today I choose faith—the kind of faith that stands resolutely strong in God’s promises. I want to always honor God and trust in the dark what the Lord has shown me over so many precious years of walking with Him—finding the promise, embracing the promise, trusting the promise, and living the promise. May we all experience the magnificence of walking by faith with the God who cares and finding hope when we need it most.

My Response: Lord Jesus, I bring to You today those things that weigh heaviest on my heart—especially the illnesses of loved ones. I pray for Your healing touch in their lives. Will you comfort and bless us with Your extravagant grace. I trust You as not only the author, but the perfecter of my faith. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Day 64: That Was You Lord, Wasn’t It!

Well, the Lord did it again! He gave me another one of those aha moments - a moment etched in time that was clearly from Him. A couple of days ago, in the midst of some fiery trials - and when I say “some” I am saying that when it rained it was pouring - the Lord brought a passage of Scripture to mind. He does this often, but His timing couldn’t have been more perfect. My faith was challenged on every front and I was praying “Lord help my unbelief.” In those moments, He brought Abraham to mind and specifically Romans 4:18 “In hope against hope he believed, so that he might become a father of many nations according to that which had been spoken.” When those words came to my mind, I turned to my Bible and read them again and again. I said, “Lord, that’s what I need - a hope against hope belief!” Yesterday, I looked up Romans 4:18 in numerous translations and paraphrases. They were all good - especially the Message, Williams, and Phillips.

The Message reads like this: “When everything was hopeless, Abraham believed anyway, deciding to live not on the basis of what he saw he couldn’t do but on what God said he would do. And so he was made father of a multitude of peoples.” I like that because sometimes everything seems hopeless and there doesn’t appear to be a way out. We are weak and inadequate for the mountain of obstacles. But no mountain is too great for God. Where do we find such hope and promise? In God’s Word. We must look not at the mountain but at our Maker - He is majestic and great and glorious - more than enough for the mountain. He always has a way - either He moves the mountain or takes us through (up and over it). Then, I liked Phillips - “Abraham, when hope was dead within him, went on hoping in faith, believing that he would become ‘the father of many nations.’ He relied on the word of God…” Here we see the secret - relying on the word of God - that’s the secret to “hoping in faith”. And then, the Williams Translation: “Abraham, building on hope in spite of hopeless circumstances, had faith, and so he actually became the father of many nations, just as it had been told him.” I like these words, because in them I am helped to understand that our faith has BIG results - the fruition of the promise from God in our lives. BIG promises require BIG faith. Hold to the promises of God, dear friend. Build on them and you will see something great and mighty happen as a result.

Well, my God moment didn’t stop there. This morning, I opened Streams In The Desert, and what verse do you think was the subject of the whole devotional? You guessed it - Romans 4:18. I thought, “Lord, really! Okay, I am just blown away now. It’s You Lord, isn’t it!!!” So, I turned to Romans 4:18 and read it again, preparing for what I would read in Streams.” Today’s devotion began with a story about a man that came to George Mueller and asked him about the best way to have strong faith. Here was Mueller’s response: “The only way,” replied Mueller, “to learn strong faith is to endure great trials. I have learned my faith by standing firm amid severe testings.” “Great faith must have great trials” - this is something a person can only learn in the school of faith. As I read Mrs. Charles Cowman’s words (author of Streams In The Desert), I realized, “The Lord has me in His school of faith. He is training my faith.” When Abraham believed with a “hope against hope” kind of faith, he became the father of many nations. God’s BIG plan required a BIG faith and “without faith it is impossible to please God” (Hebrews 11:6).

So, here’s the encouragement - if we are going through a fiery trial, then our circumstance, whatever it may be, requires a firm faith, and will result in fantastic fruit! Hold to God’s firm foundations, stand on those promises, build your life on them, and you will never be disappointed.

My Response: Lord, I’m holding my hands in the air to You, offering up a bouquet of thanksgiving and worship today. Thank you for Your steadfast encouragement personally to me. And thank You for teaching me in the school of faith. Strengthen my faith today Lord and give me an Abraham kind of faith - a hope against hope belief. In Jesus’ name, Amen.