After having been through some immense difficulty recently, as mentioned in a few of my previous posts back, the Lord has mercifully delivered me out of the storm and placed my feet quietly on dry ground.
At times I would feel that I was going to break in two and believe me, I know how weak my flesh is and know how often I am tempted look to the circumstances instead of looking unto Jesus, the Author and Finisher of my faith. (Heb 12:2) I was compelled to keep my eyes on Him and allow Him to bring about whatever He needed to be brought about for all involved in this, regardless of the personal cost.
At times our common sense screams out, “This situation is irreconcilable – it is finished” But I know more than my common sense tells me and understand more than anything else in this life, that my Lord is ABLE, no matter what the outcome is eventually. It will be His outcome, because we are His, and that is all that really matters at the end of the day. We face these things in our own strength and we are sure to fail all round. We face these things with the Lord and allow Him to share the load, and we are guaranteed the correct outcome of the situation – not always what we want. He is indeed “the friend that sticketh closer than a brother.”
Praise God for all that I have learned about Him, for showing me things in me that I am still holding on to that He wished to remove – things I thought I truly had let go of, but still held on by a thread. The relief of being shown such things and taking them right back to Him, in repentance, is a joy that only a person who knows the Lord can surely understand.
Thank you for all your prayers in this. It was so comforting knowing you were praying for me -without even knowing what for. This is precious fellowship indeed!
May the Lord strengthen and bless you as I have been strengthened and blessed by you in return, so many times over.
Steph
August 29th. SUBLIME INTIMACY
Oswald Chambers
Said I not unto thee, that, if thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God?” John 11:40
Every time you venture out in the life of faith, you will find something in your common-sense circumstances that flatly contradicts your faith. Common sense is not faith, and faith is not common sense; they stand in the relation of the natural and the spiritual. Can you trust Jesus Christ where your common sense cannot trust Him? Can you venture heroically on Jesus Christ’s statements when the facts of your common-sense life shout – “It’s a lie?” On the mount it is easy to say – ‘Oh, yes, I believe God can do it’; but you have to come down into the demon-possessed valley and meet with facts that laugh ironically at the whole of your mount-of-transfiguration belief. Every time my programme of belief is clear to my own mind, I come across something that contradicts it. Let me say I believe God will supply all my need, and then let me run dry, with no outlook, and see whether I will go through the trial of faith, or whether I will sink back to something lower.
Faith must be tested, because it can be turned into a personal possession only through conflict. What is your faith up against just now? The test will either prove that your faith is right, or it will kill it. “Blessed is he whosoever shall not be offended in Me.” The final thing is confidence in Jesus. Believe steadfastly on Him and all you come up against will develop your faith. There is continual testing in the life of faith, and the last great test is death. May God keep us in fighting trim! Faith is unutterable trust in God, trust which never dreams that He will not stand by us.
Also - See this posting from back in September 2008
Faith is not Spelled Common Sense
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