Not a Single Word!

Through this journey one of the things that I have learned is that we can convince ourselves that we hear what we want God to tell us – and it is really easy to do. We are expecting our TA (Travel Authorization) literally any day now and once we get TA things have to happen very fast…. and there are still mountains in the way of those things happening. I convinced myself that now was the time for us to share what those mountains are. Between Sunday School and Corporate Worship yesterday morning I prayed and asked God to show me clearly whether I was right. What I heard and what Julie heard in the sermon were two completely different things. The 3rd point of the sermon was all about taking action and from that I concluded that God was telling me it was time for me to take action (and therefore share our needs and do everything I could within my own power to meet them). However, one thing I have learned a long time ago is that unless we both agree on something that is important we don’t change direction and our last direction was to keep quiet and watch God work. As we went to bed, I was still uneasy about what we should do. We prayed together, asking God to show both of us clearly what specific action He wanted us to take. As I prayed, He answered my prayer….. I was praying an example of where God gave the Israelites specific instructions. I said, “God, you gave Israel specific instructions on how to take Jericho and we need specific instructions just like you gave them. You told the Israelites to march around the city and not ……..” I couldn’t finish my sentence because I was speechless in the presence of God. The verse actually says, "Do not shout; do not even talk," Joshua commanded. "Not a single word from any of you until I tell you to shout (emphasis mine). Then shout!" (Jos 6:10 NLT)

One day, when this is over and Sara and Hannah are safely in their new family we will get to shout to the world what God has done for us to make this possible. In the mean time, we are clay and we are in the Potter’s hands and sometimes being molded into what God wants us to be hurts, but I will take those pains any day in order to become what God wants me to be!

Ben

Why Is It So Hard to Trust God?

The gospel is such a simple thing that we cannot really grasp it without the intervention of the Holy Spirit. The simplicity of the gospel is that we have to trust God and trust that He has a provided a way through Jesus Christ for us to spend an eternity with Him in heaven. We have to trust it so much that we don’t try any other ways to do it ourselves. We do good works because we love him and we have His heart and His Spirit lives in us, not because we are trying to earn our way to heaven. If you are not a Christian, the Bible says that this is all foolishness to you. Therefore, if think you are a Christian but you think this is foolish you should re-evaluate your relationship with Christ. The people that I know that call themselves Christian that have the spiritual fruit that matches their testimony completely get this.

So why is it that we can trust God with the most valuable thing to us (our soul for eternity), yet we find it so hard to trust Him in the small mundane things of this world? Through this adoption I have often pondered this question as Julie and I oscillate back and forth between total trust in God for these adoptions and thinking of ways to try to solve the problems on our own. God has clearly told us to ask people to pray, but not tell them specifically what to pray about – not even when they ask us. I don’t know all of the reasons that God has told us this, but every day it becomes clearer that one of the reasons is that we simply have not learned this simple truth yet – we CAN trust God for EVERYTHING.

I don’t know about you, but I think the reason there is a difference is that I know my eternal security is based solely on God and is not in any way dependent on anybody (including myself). However, in this world, God chooses to work through people and people often fail us even though God never does. As I think about how many times God has asked me to do something specific and I have absolutely refused or maybe intended to but never got around to it, I begin to wonder what if the people that God intends to use to overcome our obstacles are like me? What if they intend to pray for us but don’t? What if they pray, but have no intention of being used by God as the answer to those prayers? What if they pray and are used by God, but only participate in a token way instead of sacrificially? I ponder these questions in my spirit because I know how many times I have failed in these same ways.

Just last night we went through the remaining steps and what has to happen to complete the adoptions and I was totally overwhelmed as the obstacles were closer and bigger than I have ever seen them. My flesh immediately started brainstorming ways to overcome the obstacles and I began to get stressed out over it all. After some prayer, God calmed my spirit and reassured me AGAIN that He is in control and His timing is perfect. Yes, God works through people and people are not always obedient, but God has an infinite number of people He can work through and He will accomplish what He wants to accomplish and those who are not obedient to Him (like me so many times in my life) will simply miss out on the blessings God has for them. Julie and I both have found that we are praying more for God to help our unbelief (as Thomas prayed) than we are for God to solve our problems. God really is using this to mold and make us to be more like Him and that is ultimately what He wants for all of us.

Ben

What is Prayer?

God has really been teaching me a lot about prayer lately. How often do we think of prayer as taking our laundry list of things we want to God and rattling them off like we are sitting in Santa's lap telling what we want for Christmas? Even when we get pious and pray for others, we still often take a list of what we want God to do.... Don't misunderstand me -- I believe God does want to hear what your needs are, but even more important -- He wants to share with you about who He is. God wants to whisper in His still small voice some scripture for you to read that reveals something about Him. He wants to tell you something to do that will reveal something about who He is as you do it.

Doesn't it really bless you (not!) when you meet someone new and all they do is talk about themselves and tell you all about their goals, desires, needs, etc. Do you think sometimes God feels the same way when we talk with Him?

Prayer is communicating (two-way) with a Friend who is closer than a brother. It is talking with our "Abba Father (aka Daddy)" and getting to know Him better.

I want to challenge you as God has challenged me.... start approaching your prayer time this way and it will change your life.

Ben