Blind Faith

By:  G. Markland

Dolores Rivera had a dream, one that contained a message from God. She dreamed of a pillowcase slowly falling, and its four corners grabbed her attention. Some weeks later she heard of a town called Dolores Colorado, a few miles away from a place called the Four Corners.

The Four Corners is a unique location where Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah meet geographically. God called her to go to the Four Corners and pray.

After months of prayer, Dolores saved enough money for an airline ticket to Colorado, but was short the funds for a hotel and food for a week. Knowing that God would provide, Dolores exercised blind faith and obeyed.

Upon arrival she found that the airlines had lost her luggage, so what little money she had was spent on necessities. Undaunted, she pressed on. Upon entering the tiny town, she was amazed to see her name on everything. There was the Dolores Post Office, the Dolores Bed and Breakfast, the Dolores Gas Station and so forth.

After speaking with a nice man at the Dolores Hotel, she became aware of spiritual depression in the area fostered by Native American spiritism and witchcraft. God spoke to Dolores again and led her through town to the Dolores Restaurant. The owners inside were Hispanic and because of Dolores’ Hispanic background they had instant rapport.

The nice lady asked Dolores why she was there, and as she shared her story of God’s mission, the lady began to cry.

She said, “We have been praying for revival and asking God to send someone to help us.”

Later she introduced Dolores to a Pastor and some friends, then provided free room and board for her stay. Next, to the Four Corners they went.

Finally, reaching the very spot where the four states converge, they began to pray. She asked for God’s hand upon the land, beginning with the little nearby town of Dolores. Suddenly the sky opened up and a strong wind blew. She knew that her prayer had been heard. She was glad that she had obeyed.

Afterward, the very atmosphere in the town seemed to change. God blessed Dolores Colorado. The local church experienced revival and growth, particularly with the youth. And the restaurant owners, they were blessed and their business grew.

On her return flight, Dolores experienced a flight delay in Washington D.C. and was given free food and lodging in a first class hotel with a free ticket to anywhere! She used that day in Washington to pray for the Nation. She can testify to the scripture that says,

“For we walk by faith and not by sight” (II Corinthians 5:7 KJV).

The Bible tells us,

“It was by faith that Abraham obeyed when God called him to leave home and go to another land that God would give him as an inheritance. He went without knowing where he was going” (Hebrews 11:18 NLT).

Abraham obeyed with blind faith, and generations were blessed.

Another young man followed God’s call with blind faith. He packed up his family and traveled to an obscure neighborhood in a small town in Virginia. Having only seventy dollars in his pocket, he arranged to buy a run down television station in a dilapidated building.

To the casual observer, this TV station with its weak signal promised little more than a hobby. Yet like Dolores, Pat Robertson followed with blind faith in an adventure, which became the Christian Broadcasting Network, reaching the world for Christ!

If God is calling you to step out in blind faith, then obey Him and do it! Don’t wait for that perfect time. You might be unsure about some of the details, but don’t worry. When we show confidence in God’s call and obey Him, He honors our obedience and will enable us to succeed. He will not let you down. Blind faith is great faith, which leads to a wonderful life of adventures with God. Only He knows who will be blessed by your obedience.

Stepping out in blind faith is a delight to the Lord.

Remember,

“Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart” (Psalm 37:4 NLT).

Can God change your life?

Finding God's Timing

By:  D. Markins

Have you taken a moment lately to look at life as it is and consider some possibilities of how it could be. It’s easy to put this off and wait until later…but sometimes it seems that much of our life is spent waiting.

In a small sense we wait in line for a vanilla latte, we wait for our car to fill up with gas, we wait for the cable guy to show up (between 8 and 12…ha! usually it’s 2:10). In a bigger sense we wait to meet the man of our dreams, we wait nine months for our baby to be born, we wait for a job promotion or a pay increase. Waiting is a fact of life on earth.

But are you looking at your own life and evaluating how much time you’ve spent waiting? Have you waited (maybe too long?) to make a change, chart a new course or accept an unchangeable situation.

I waited a long time to make a serious commitment to writing and speaking. What held me back? As with each of us, my answers aren’t simple. I was raising children, working at having a good marriage and helping our business grow. Those are valid reasons; but in complete honesty I held back because of fear and lack of mentorship. When I finally broke through the fear and dove in, God was there to meet me and encourage my progress.

“But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles,” says Isaiah 40:31

The opposite is true as well. Sometimes we jump in and take action without spending much time or thought on the process or likely results. Have you ever tried to “fix” a situation instead of allowing God or others to take care of it? Acting too quickly can lead to comedic and sometimes tragic results.

Too many times to mention I’ve confronted people about things I believed were unfair or done poorly, just to find that they had good reasons for their actions or had already remedied the situation. Boy do I hate to go after someone with a full head of steam only to learn that my issue is obsolete or invalid. Alexander Pope said, “Fools rush in where angels fear to tread.” I’m guessing he knew that angels are much wiser than we humans can be.

In either case there is an antidote and a way to prevent a repeat. Check in with the Lord. A LOT! Talk to Him, read His word and get confirming wisdom from a spiritually mature friend. It would look something like this:

“Father, I really hate my job but am grateful to have it. Thank you for provision. Please bring me clarity about when/if I should take any action to change my circumstance.”

Then consider why God may have you there and the possibilities of making a change.

Find a Believing buddy and ask for his/her prayers, insight and encouragement.

Read in your Bible about people who’ve waited on the Lord and others who’ve taken obedient action. (Jesus has done both.)

Psalms 138:8 says, “The Lord will fulfill His purpose for me; your love O Lord, endures forever.”

His timeline is frequently much different than ours. When we wait on God’s timing, then take deliberate action, the outcome is likely to be refreshment and contentment.

I hope your life is filled with intentional waiting while God strengthens you, then fruit-bearing action when the time is right for you to soar like an eagle.

I AM THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD. - Yeshua

Your Association Matters

By:  John L.M.

I have found that it is better to be alone than in the wrong company. A single conversation with the right person can be more valuable than many years of study.

We become like those with whom we associate. You need to steer clear of negative-thinking "experts." Remember: in the eyes of average people average is always considered outstanding. Look carefully at the closest associations in your life, for that is the direction you are heading.   

Some years ago I found myself at a stagnation point in my life. I was unproductive and unable to see clearly God's direction. One day I noticed that almost all of my friends were in the same situation. When we got together, all we talked about was our problems.

The Lord showed me I needed to change my closest associations; that there were some other people I needed to have contact with on a regular basis. These were men and women of great faith, those who made me a better person just by being around them. They were the ones who saw the gifts in me and could correct me in a constructive, loving way. My choice to change my closest associations was a turning point in my life.

When you surround yourself and affiliate with the right kind of people, you enter into the God-ordained power of agreement. Ecclesiastes 4:9,10,12 (TLB) states: "Two can accomplish more than twice as much as one, for the results can be much better. If one falls, the other pulls him up; but if a man falls when he is alone, he's in trouble. And one standing alone can be attacked and defeated, but two can stand back-to-back and conquer; three is even better, for a triple-braided cord is not easily broken."

Hold Life Loosely

By:  P. Lundell

Twice in four days an LA County Sheriff's helicopter evacuated people from ambulances right by my house, once in the street and once in the park. Traffic stopped. People stared. The sky thudded with the beat of the helicopter rotors.

Then these people who had gotten up in the morning just as I did, eaten their breakfast, and gone off to do what they normally do, got hit. One by a car, the other by a heart attack.

I live in a suburb that's so peaceful, I sometimes think I'll go comatose. People move here and pay too much for their houses in order to avoid street drama and send their kids to good schools. And they typically prohibit anything they don't like—or they wish they could. Don't we all?

But drama ignores boundaries. Every one of us lives moment-by-moment, never able to say with certainty that we'll be free from affliction or even live another day. We all know people, young and old, who have died unexpectedly. Many of us have lived through hardships and even tragedies. And we all have bad days.

No amount of health insurance, life insurance, or stock portfolios can protect us from a serious illness, car accident, or act of violence. Nothing can ensure we won't be hauled off in a helicopter—followed by the sting of a hefty bill. Or a body bag followed by a hefty casket.

Seems the only smart thing to do is to stop clinging to what we ultimately can't hold anyway. Hold life loosely. And when we do, it sets well in God's hands. Easy to say. Doing it demands humility and faith—hard ingredients if we like having our own way.

All that "die to yourself" and "take up your cross" talk in the New Testament fits in about here. Jesus said it succinctly in Luke 9:23, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me." A cross is not a burden; it's an instrument of death. Later he slaps us with, "What is highly valued among men is detestable in God's sight" (16:15). God doesn't care about our trophies anyway.

It's no wonder God lets us be miserable at times, or for some of us it's much of the time. Seems that God wants our attention.

I find the more attention we give God, the less concern we have about what we have, what we accomplish, or how we try to protect ourselves. The only thing left of great value is eternal.

Maybe that's God's general idea. And it will forever fly in the face of conventional wisdom. The materialistic world we live in has little place for the eternal. But the eternal has little place for the materialistic world. One of them is temporary; the other will last forever.

Will you hold one loosely and reach for the other?

"Now listen, you who say, 'Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.' Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes" (James 4:13-14, NIV).

"Lord, the world deceives with false promises of security and significance. Show me how fragile my life is, how things can be taken from me, and how the best thing I can do with myself and what I have is to put it all in your hands…."

God's Protection

By:  S. Jadlow 

A friend shared her story with me:

Mom married Dad and soon found herself in a horribly abusive union. His abuse didn't stop with her. We children suffered under his tirades also. Many years later before she died, she shared a couple of incidents with me, her daughter.

At any minute Dad would fly into a rage with no real provocation. It could be caused by a slight misstep. A burned potato. Or a word said with a wrong inflection. All our lives were a constant tight-rope walk. His evil nature ever simmered below the surface like an agitated volcano, ready to erupt at any minute.

Mother learned early in life to rely on Jesus. Life married to Dad drove Mother more solidly into Jesus' arms. I truly believe she would have died at Dad's hand, had it not been for Jesus' protection.

She told me about a time she stood in her bedroom and heard him snarl from the kitchen, "I'm going to kill you."

By this time she was so worn from his explosions she prayed, "Lord, either save me or take me. I'm so weary."

His stocky footsteps thundered down the hall toward the bedroom. She braced for what was coming.

When he reached the open doorway he bounced back as if he had hit an invisible plate glass door. The impact threw him to the ground.

Mom turned to see him on all fours shaking his full head of dark brown hair, stunned.

"I'll get you for this," he said as he rose to charge a second time. He hit the invisible shield again and bounced back. He turned, rubbed his head, and staggered to his easy chair in the living room.

"He never spoke of it again," Mom said.

I asked her why she didn't leave him.

"Our pastor told me it was immoral to divorce or leave him. He said I should not provoke him. I tried. It didn't work."

On another occasion, after the children were grown and married, they moved to an acreage with a pond on the outskirts of the city. Mom wasn't a very proficient swimmer, but did enjoy an occasional dip in cool water on a hot summer day. One day she floated in the pond. She saw Dad stomping toward her, fists clenched, spewing curses.

"You b-----! I'm going to drown you here and now."

He waded into the water and reached for her arm with his huge hand. His grip failed. Each time he grabbed her he couldn't hold on.

"It was like I was all greased up," she said.

Finally, in frustration, he left, cursing as he went.

Shortly after, the Lord spoke to her heart. "I've saved you these many times from his murderous hand. You must not keep assuming I will rescue you. You must take responsibility. It's time for you to get away from him. Leave him and don't come back."

Mom finally did leave him. It took all the children to help her escape. Finally, in her late 50s, she was free of his daily abuse.

God is merciful. He desires all to come to Him rather than spend an eternity in hell. He will go to any length to bring a wayward sheep home.

Dad found the Lord in his later years, but was tormented by the memory of the hurt he had inflicted on others. He did not believe his sins would be completely covered by Jesus' blood. He lived in daily fear of hell.

When Dad was in his 80s and still lucid, alone in a nursing home, his niece came to see him.

He greeted her with excitement and said, "I'm not going to hell. They called me on the phone and told me. They said when I die it will just be a transition; a change into another type of life."

He was finally at peace. He died unexpectedly a month later. Oh, and Dad's room didn't have a phone.

Psalm 91:11 "He will give His angels charge concerning you, to guard you in all your ways (NASB)."

II Peter 3:9b "…not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance" (NASB)."

The Gift of a Second Chance

By:  K. O'Connor

Every day I walked along the concrete walkway that led from our condominium unit to the stairway. And each day I was annoyed by the sight of a dedraggled, overgrown plant hanging over the edge of the walkway above, down to the second floor where I lived at the time.

"Why doesn't Lois do something about that thing?" I asked half aloud. "It's an awful sight and it's practically dead anyway."

I complained to my husband about it.

"Don’t look at it," he said. "It's hers. Leave it be."

I should have listened, but I didn’t.

Later that week, I could no longer resist the urge to clip, clip! So I did. I reached over the railing with my pruning shears and snapped them shut around the ailing limb. It dropped into my free hand and from there I sent it down the trash chute! I felt better–almost heroic. I had put this poor thing out of its misery.

I went on with my day. About 11:00 I returned home from some errands, picked up our mail, and ran up the stairs, suddenly stopped by the sound overhead of a woman crying. Then I heard the soothing words of another woman. I looked up and there stood Lois, my neighbor on the third floor. Her neighbor Nancy stood with her, as the two commiserated about the plant that had been pruned.

I felt like a criminal. My heart pounded so fast, I could hardly talk. But I knew what I had to do. I had to confess or someone else in the building, and I knew who it might be, would receive the blame for something I had done.

I ran up to the third floor, breathless. "Lois," I said, "I'm the culprit. I'm the one who cut your plant. I’m so sorry. I should have asked first. But I thought it would be okay to prune it a little since it was hanging over the railing all the way down to the second floor...and...."

I couldn't stop. I was mortified, embarrassed, apologetic, and defensive all at the same time! How right the Bible was in reminding me that "God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble." Prov. 3:34 (NIV).

Lois stood listening with eyes wide in disbelief. And Nancy didn't know what to say. I stopped. Lois spoke. She told me how she had worked so hard to get that little plant going. She couldn't imagine why anyone would be so cruel. Of course she was right. It was a cruel thing to do–even though I didn't see it that way at the time. I was so caught up in my opinion of what looks good that I took action regardless of how it might affect another person. I certainly did not consult with the Lord about what to do. I simply had done what I wanted to do.

I apologized profusely, hoping Lois would understand that I wasn't motivated by spite (though I wasn’t sure at that point). I was only tidying things up a bit!

She thanked me for being honest, dried her eyes, and we parted. The rest of the day was pure misery for me–not so much because of the plant. I knew it would keep growing. I hadn't destroyed it. But I had hurt a neighbor. Someone I like. A person who lives close by.

I couldn't let it rest. I prayed about what to do. And the Lord spoke clearly. I needed to make amends. There was no second guessing his guidance. I ran downstairs, jumped in the car, and drove directly to the local nursery. I spent some time selecting a beautiful, thriving, flowering plant that looked similar to the one I had cut. I bought it, wrote a note on a card, acknowledging my fault once again, and asking for Lois' forgiveness.

Within moments of leaving the gift at her doorstep, I received a phone call. Lois accepted my apology and thanked me for such a thoughtful gesture. I was stunned at how easy–and how difficult–that experience had been.

That day had turned out differently than I expected, but still, it had turned out. I had made things right when I had been wrong—by asking for and receiving forgiveness–and in turn, my neighbor did something for me. She, like the Lord, gave me the gift of a second chance.

"Do not judge and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned" Luke 6:37 (NIV).