Category: Faith Fix

When the Heat’s On

When the Israelites had been taken into the captivity of Babylon, there were three young men, friends of Daniel, who refused to worship the golden idol as King Nebuchadnezzar had demanded. The consequence of their failure to comply was that they’d be thrown into the fiery furnace, meant to die in their disobedience to the king. As seen in Daniel chapter 3, these men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego, were bound and thrown into the fiery furnace that was so hot it burned up the men who threw them in! Look at Daniel 3:24-25, “King Nebuchadnezzar was astonished; and he rose in haste and spoke, saying to his counselors, “Did we not cast three men bound into the midst of the fire?” They answered and said to the king, “True, O king.” “Look!” he answered, “I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire; and they are not hurt, and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God.” If you continue reading, you see that the power of God and His protection in the midst of the fiery furnace even convinced the evil King Nebuchadnezzar that God was real!

This account reminds me of Matthew 18:19-20, “Again I say to you that if two of you agree on earth concerning anything that they ask, it will be done for them by My Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them.” God was in the midst of these three men who together agreed that going against their Lord was far worse than standing up to their enemy.

You see, there were thousands of God’s people who were captives of Babylon but we don’t hear about many refusing to worship other gods. We don’t hear about many being put in the fire. The devil is after the faithful. But God is on your side! Psalms 118:6, “The Lord is on my side; I will not fear. What can man do to me?” Many of the Israelites taken into captivity weren’t willing to stand up for their God. They were willing to obey the command to bow before their enemies and their false gods. We don’t hear about the deliverance they received. No, instead we hear about how God came through for those who came through for Him. Look at this important principle in scripture, Isaiah 1:19-20, “If you are willing and obedient, You shall eat the good of the land; But if you refuse and rebel, You shall be devoured by the sword”; For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”

What’s the fiery furnace of your life? Is it the fact that you seem to be living paycheck to paycheck but the Word tells you to tithe and give offerings into the kingdom of God? “But if we bring 10% forget having our car fixed! We’ll just compromise and skip out on that part of the Bible.” When you choose withhold from God, you choose to bow down to the false idol instead of trusting God to bring you through the furnace. Maybe you desire a spouse, or at least companionship, especially physical companionship…oh the devil will give you plenty of opportunities for that. But will you trust God in the furnace? Will you trust that He’s got someone for you if you remain in faith and patience? Don’t bow down to the false god. Don’t go the way of the world and settle for someone who isn’t serving God. Wait for the right time and the right person. The fiery furnace in your life could be your need for healing, it could be waiting for your wayward children to return, or it could be needing a new job. We can doubt God or we can trust Him regardless of the trial. Yes, regardless of the need, regardless of the opposition, we need to rest and trust God through it.

Proverbs 3:5-6, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths.”

Be Blessed,
Pastor Renee

What The Season Permits

Genesis 8:22
“While the earth remains,
Seedtime and harvest,
Cold and heat,
Winter and summer,
And day and night
Shall not cease.”

Waiting is not a popular thing. I was always so impatient, I never wanted to wait for anything. I remember one year when I was a kid I decided to snoop for Christmas presents. When I uncovered the cache, I found out what I was getting. The thing is, the timing was off as Christmas was still weeks away. When I finally got to open my presents, the excitement was spoiled. I never snooped or cared to know ahead of time ever again.
Isn’t fruit the same? We are blessed in the region we live to have a climate suited for some types of grapes. These are grapes usually used for juice or wine and as such the sugar content has to get to the right place before they’re harvested. The longer these grapes stay on the vine, the sweeter they get. If you happen across a vineyard in August, you will find grapes that look ripe and delicious but if you pop one in your mouth, you will be unpleasantly surprised. You will spit it out because the time is not right. Without waiting the grapes just aren’t ready. On the other hand, I’ve come across straggler vines that no one has picked and eaten grapes in November. Man how good they taste!

We have an interesting climate here because of the Great Lakes. Just a few miles away, the seasons are just different enough that the growing season is different. You know why grapes grow in this region? It is because the season permits it. So goes our life.
We may want things now but God knows the right time and place. We may want something to happen or to change but God knows when we are ready. So many people are chasing the next thing that they fail to seek the Lord and see what is for them now. They don’t wait on Him, but try and make it happen their way and in their time. So often, because they are out of order, these things become bitter in their mouth.
God wants good things for us all but He wants them in the right time, at the peak of perfection. Jeremiah 29:11 (God’s blessed plan for us) can be sure to us, but to get there we need to understand John 16:13, that His Spirit will lead us only if we follow. As a farmer waits for the fruit to ripen, so must we wait for God to ripen us. Proverbs 10:22 tells us, “The blessing of the Lord makes one rich, and He adds no sorrow with it.” God won’t give us what will hurt us.

If you are seeking God, endeavoring to follow Him, you have to learn something very important. Relax! In God’s timing, if you seek and follow Him, if you do what you know to do and wait for the next instruction, you will realize all He has for you. God wants you to get where you’re going more than you do. He also knows the best way to get there. Follow Him by following His Spirit and let the peace of God hold you until you get there. Then it will be sweet and satisfying, blessing you and those around you.

Galatians 6:9: And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart.

Be Blessed,
Pastor Jeff

He Makes All Things New (If You Let Him)

Revelation 21:5
Then He who sat on the throne said, “Behold, I make all things new.” And He said to me, “Write, for these words are true and faithful.”

Our first house together was an extreme fixer upper. By the time we had finally sold it, there was not one place that had been left untouched, some of them twice. This could often be a good representation of people who come to God. It was for me. I was an extreme fixer upper!

One of the many things we had to do with this house was replace the roof. Now if you’ve ever owned a home, one of the “biggies” is the roof, something that maybe most people don’t even think about, that is until something goes wrong. And for us, it did. With a good understanding of house maintenance when our roof started getting really leaky I knew it was time to get it fixed. The problem was, although I knew how to do the work, I don’t like heights. Our house had a very high, very steep roof. So I had no choice but to hire someone to do the work. At the time, we were also on an extreme budget. I did something I would never suggest to do, I looked for someone to do it cheap.

Well, this crew of yahoos ripped the roof off and put a new one on and it looked fairly decent all things considering. Everything was great, until it rained. I found I had a brand new roof that leaked more than it did before because it was the details they didn’t bother with. No flashing at the edges and no consideration for nail placement. That brand new roof watered our house like a gardener with a watering can!

This is what happens often in the church. People come usually because something or many somethings aren’t working. They come seeking something to fix it, hoping this time it will work for them. The problem is, all too often they forget about the details. Like these bad roofers, they are ok with (at least to start) the appearance of a fix. If it looks good on the surface they think they can get away with it. They don’t allow God to do a thorough work in them. Often it’s all because there are things they insist on hanging on to. Whether it be old ideas of how to do things or people that drag them down, people are too often content with just a surface fix. That is until it rains.

Jesus warned us to build our lives founded on the rock, which is Him and His Word. The Word, when we truly apply it, always changes us because He makes things new. It is not enough to just have a one time fix, we must continue to let God work things in and work things out. The Apostle Paul said in Colossians 1:23, “if indeed you continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast, and are not moved away from the hope of the gospel which you heard, which was preached to every creature under heaven, of which I, Paul, became a minister.” Notice, you can be moved away from the truth if you don’t continue in it.
In my life I needed a complete over haul. I have known many people throughout the years that needed the same. Many of those never grew at all and fell away from the truth. It isn’t because God Didn’t Work and because the Bible isn’t effective. The Word only works if we work it and continue in it. To be sold out to God and His Word is a promise of a good outcome, just as Jeremiah 29:11 tells us.

The Bible warns us not to get deceived. It warns us to stay with the truth. Jesus Himself warned us to live in His Word. We cannot blame God if we walk away from Him and then fail. God has given us the way, the only way, and that is His Son. We must go God’s way if we want to get where He is. We must stay on His path if we want the freedom He offers us.

Philippians 1:6 says, “being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ.”

Be Blessed,
Pastor Jeff

Doubt and Go Without

Have you ever had one of your kids call you a liar? Ok, maybe they didn’t come out and say the words themselves, but they let you know they thought you were a liar because they didn’t believe what you were saying. I know with my three children I’ve dealt with this quite a few times over the years. Recently, I told my daughter she had “silly sock day” at school and she said, “no, I don’t think so. I never heard that”. I proceeded to explain how I knew it was silly sock day and that I truly wouldn’t make that up, that I’d get nothing in return by lying, and that just because she didn’t remember hearing it before, it didn’t mean I wasn’t telling the truth.

I know that’s a very basic example, but the point of that is to say that God isn’t making things up. He doesn’t come up with fables or say one thing and mean another. God always tells the truth, because God is love, and love always tells the truth! God is saying to Christians that He’ll provide for them if they’ll do His Word and they’re saying, “no, I don’t think so”. God’s saying He wants you healed, but so many are saying, “I’m not sure I can believe that. I’ve never heard that before”. God’s saying all kinds of things in His Word that too many of us continue to question the validity of. The truth is, you can doubt and go without or you can trust Him and see the manifestation of His promises. By faith we obtain. It’s your choice, but it’s through faith and patience that we inherit, or walk in those promises.(Hebrews 6:12)

Look at Mark 11:23-24, “For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says. Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.” Well, God didn’t really mean this. He was just telling fables. Surely, this isn’t the truth. Right? No! God meant what He said and said what He meant. If you are dealing with an obstacle or a trial that seems daunting, it is as simple as trusting God’s Word and using it for your situation. Ephesians 6:17 encourages us to “take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God” when we’re dealing with a trial. But if we doubt God and doubt His Word, we’ll never be effective in this.

Back to a “Silly Sock Day”… even though I assured my daughter that I properly read the calendar and that it truly was “Silly Sock Day”, she still hid her silly socks under her leggings “just in case”. That may seem harmless when it comes to silly socks, but many Christians have this same mentality with God. They have “just in case” backup plans for if God doesn’t help with their situation. Remember, it’s only by faith we inherit His promises. Christians are walking around defeated and whooped. Children of God are calling Him a liar in their words, in their thoughts, and in their actions, but He’s reaching out and saying, “I’m telling the truth. Why would I lie, child?” Look at Psalm 9:10, “And those who know Your name will put their trust in You; For You, Lord, have not forsaken those who seek You.” Then look at what the Word says in Psalm 2:12, “Blessed are all those who put their trust in Him.” The more we get to know our Father, the more we’ll learn to trust Him. The more we learn to trust Him, the more we’ll walk in the blessings that are only accessible by faith. No wonder the enemy always wants to try to get us in doubt!

I leave you with this familiar, but often misunderstood scripture, John 10:10, “The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.” Remember, doubt and go without or faith and obtain. You choose.

Be Blessed,
Pastor Renee

Signed, Sealed, Delivered

God has always been covenant minded. God is filled with integrity and His character is such that He always fulfills what He said He would. Sometimes it’s hard for us as humans to understand the full implication of this, because covenant isn’t the same in our eyes as it is to God. But, if we’re fully going to understand the plan and purpose God has for our lives, we’ve got to look at the way God created covenant to be.

Covenant means a legal agreement, a testament, a compact, a contract meant to be upheld. In Genesis chapter 17 we see God established a covenant with Abraham, promising to make him the father of many nations, to multiply Him and to make him exceedingly fruitful. Look at Genesis 17:7, “And I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you in their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and your descendants after you.” God said it, and God meant it. Now look at Galatians 3:29, “And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.”

When God sent Jesus, He signed a covenant with us, with anyone who would call upon the Name of His precious Son. He signed an agreement that He could never go back on. Jesus was the seal of that new covenant. Look at Matthew 26:28, “For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.” There’s nothing more permanent, nothing more official, nothing more precious than the blood He shed for you and me. This is how God delivered us from the powers of darkness into the kingdom of His Son. (Colossians 1:13)

Romans 10:9-10 tells us how we enter into this covenant, “…if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” When we accept Jesus, that is us signing our end of the covenant. It means we’ve accepted Jesus into our heart and along with Him, we accepted what God gave us through Him. The confessing with our mouths is the same as us taking a legal oath to uphold our end of the covenant. If we’ve accepted Jesus, we are in covenant with God Himself. It’s a legal agreement. It’s meant to be upheld.

Sadly though, many Christians expect God to uphold His end of the covenant, but refuse to do their part. Christians want the safety of God, they want the peace of God, they want the provision of God, they want the health of God, along with all the other blessings He promised when He entered into covenant with us, but they won’t be doers of the Word. If you’re not all in with God, you can’t expect God to be all in with you. If you’re not tithing, if you’re not giving offerings, it’s like living in a household with your spouse and refusing to help pay for the mortgage, for the groceries, for the electricity, then wondering why the power is shut off. If you’re not coming to church to hear the Word of God, if you’re not reading your Bible and talking to God, it’s like trying to build a Lego spaceship without using the owners manual. It’ll end up crooked and things will be all out of order. If you want the health of God, but won’t put away the sins of the flesh, continuing to partake of life destroying substances, fornication, and the like, you can’t blame God when your healing doesn’t come.

See, a covenant only remains in tact if both parties remain faithful to that covenant. Think of a marriage where one spouse decided they didn’t want to be in covenant anymore and left. The other spouse can’t remain in covenant because they have no one to be in covenant with. People are abandoning God, divorcing God, but then expecting Him to continue to pay their bills, fight their battles, and bless their lives. We must not take God for a fool. He wants to bless us, multiply us, make us fruitful in all areas of life, but we must do our part. Let’s be all in with God! “God, what’s mine is yours and what’s yours is mine.” Amen?!

Be Blessed,
Pastor Renee

Chew Before You Swallow

1 Corinthians 3:2 (NKJV)
I fed you with milk and not with solid food; for until now you were not able to receive it, and even now you are still not able

Have you ever given a newborn baby a steak? It sounds crazy doesn’t it? You would not give a baby a steak because they would choke on it. At the same time, you don’t ever see a baby building a house, plowing a field, or running a marathon. Only those who are physically mature can do such things. Spiritually, many Christians never grow to the point where they can eat solid food.

The Word of God is meant to challenge us. Yes, it is to teach us but also to challenge us. The love of God always calls us up higher. As Psalms 42:7 says, “deep calls unto deep”. God wants us to know and this is why He gave us His Word. Yet so often you can preach a message straight out of scripture, maybe even one that Jesus Himself taught, and people choke on it. Like spiritual babes, they cannot tolerate the truth they are being fed.

I know, we are supposed to walk in love, right? After all, love covers a multitude of sins. I wholeheartedly agree and enthusiastically promote the love of God! There is however, something we must understand about love. Love ALWAYS tells the truth, even when it is hard. Now, what you have to understand is, I am speaking to Christians here. Don’t make a habit of going onto the street and Bible thumping nonbelievers! I am also not saying that we lie to non-Christians. Certainly not. The Bible tells us we must deal with them wisely and be seasoned with salt when we do. You catch more flies with honey, right? But to Christians, we need to get to the place where we mature, chew on the Word and swallow it, and allow it to nourish us as intended.
It is easy to hear messages about God’s grace and how much He loves us. It is easy to hear God wants you set free, and healed, and prosperous. It’s easy to swallow these things and yes, they all have their place. However, there are times when we need to be convicted to change, told we are wrong, and corrected. There are times when we need to be told, “be in church” and “you must live right” and “it’s not all about you.” Jesus did, Paul did, in fact all the apostles did. So did the prophets in the Old Testament. Correction is a staple of our faith and found throughout all of scripture. However, correction isn’t popular and is therefore, to a fault, often rejected. A Christian who is never challenged is one that never matures in the Lord. Imagine being a baby forever and yet we have many Christians who never progress past this.

We live in a culture that wants to patty cake everything. Sadly, that culture has crept into the church. We need to be people of love, in fact, the greatest examples of it. That said, love does not tell someone everything they do is good, but speaks the Truth. Love corrects, rebukes, exhorts, teaches, and calls up higher. Love encourages us to be better, stronger, and more Christ-like.
When you hear a message that steps on your toes don’t get offended or upset. Chew on it and ask yourself, “is this what scripture teaches?” Chew on it and consider, “would a good father teach their son or daughter this way?” Reject “Christianity” that constantly points to you and what you can do and receive the true Christianity that always points to Him and what He did. Seek first His Kingdom and His righteousness, for that is where you will find true freedom. There you will find the abundant life Jesus Himself told us He came to deliver.

Hebrews 12:5-6 (NKJV)
And you have forgotten the exhortation which speaks to you as to sons: “My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord, Nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by Him; For whom the Lord loves He chastens, And scourges every son whom He receives.”

Be Blessed,
Pastor Jeff